Digital Tradition Mirror

Braw News is Come tae Toon

Braw News is Come tae Toon

     Braw news is come tae toon,
     Braw news is carried;
     Braw news is come tae toon,
     Jean Tamson's mairried.

     First she gat the fryin-pan,
     Syne she gat the ladle,
     Syne she gat the young man
     Dancin on the table.
     ________________________________________________________

     Montgomerie SC (1948), 71 (No. 92), from Angus, perhaps via
     Chambers PRS (1842; 1847, 256-7; 1870, 118), who gives
     the male version also, with a different second stanza:

        First he gat the kail-pat,

Syne he gat the ladle,
        Syne he gat [a dainty wean]

And syne he gat [a] cradle.

     The significance of the bracketed words is unclear; has
C. expurgated something?  The names of course differ in every
version, since a local [and temporal] reference is made.
ODNR (241, no. 270) gives Halliwell's version (1846), featuring
"Jemmy Dawson"; stanza 2, "First he got a porridge-pot,/ Then
he bought a ladle;/ Then he got a wife and child,/ And then
he bought a cradle." The first 2 lines reflect a broadside of
c. 1690, "The Unconstant Maiden", and the folksong "A
blacksmith courted me." [see e.g. FSJ no. 17 (IV.4), 1913,
279; 31 (VIII.1), 1927, 17].  Cf. also "Glasgow Ships"; and
Gomme II.338, "Wallflowers", version from Sussex.

MS

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