Henry's Songbook

   Diddle dow diddle dow diddle dow dow dow
   Diddle dee diddle da diddle dow-o

As I cam in by Tansy's Wid and doon by Tansy's Mill-o
Four and twenty o' Geordie's men took me against my will-o

When we were in the laverin' hoose we lived in a richt guid case-o
We never wanted meat nor drink nor bonnie maids tae kiss-o

A wee drap cabbage kail in a cog, a cog and a wee drap bun-o
A wee drap cabbage kail in a cog and a bodle bap abin-o

But noo I'm in the correction hoose and sair, sair dae I mourn-o
Noo I'm in the correction hoose and whippit tae my turn-o

And if I gain my liberty as I hope tae dae soon-o
I hope tae lead a decent life when a' their days are done-o

(as sung by Rod Sinclair)

  [1971:] This interesting little piece was printed in G. R. Kinloch's "Ballad Book", published in 1827. It seems to have been part of the repertoire of "Mussel Mou'd" Charlie Leslie, an Aberdeenshire itinerant ballad-singer who died in 1792, reputedly aged 105. He followed his chosen occupation till within a few weeks of his death. (Notes The Clutha, 'Scotia!')

  [1975:] It's too bad when the lady is the victim of a sexual assault and nonetheless finds herself in goal. Nonetheless she seems philosophical about it. The words - decorously titled The Magdalene's Lament - were printed in G. R. Kinloch's "Ballad Book" (1827). The tune, a re-working of the Keach In the Creel melody, is by Don Martin of Glasgow. (A.L.Lloyd, notes Frankie Armstrong, 'Songs and Ballads')

  [1979:] The legal position for rape victims or prostitutes [...] seems to have altered relatively little since this song was current at the turn of the eighteenth century. [Taken] from J.R. Kinloch's The Ballad Book, 1827. (Henderson/Armstrong 45)

  [1980:] Vergewaltigung: Damals wie heute ein Kavaliersdelikt, bei dem die Frau als Schuldige gilt, so bei The Whore's Lament [The Magdalene's Lament], in der die Vergewaltigte wegen Unzucht ins Arbeitshaus gesteckt wird. (Gabriele Haefs, Folk Michel 17, 30)

  [1988:] [The song], from Scotland, relates, or rather hints at, how a woman became a prostitute after a gang rape, then, after a period of affluence, landed in a house of correction where she was whipped. She longs for a way out of her predicament and for a conventional life-style. (Palmer, History 230)