When I Was a Lady
When I was a lady,
A lady, a lady--
When I was a lady,
Oh! then, oh! then, oh! then,
It was hey oh! this way,
This way, this way;
It was hey oh! this way,
Oh! then, oh! then, oh! then.
When I got married,
Got married, got married--[etc.]
When I got a baby,
A baby, a baby--[etc.]
When my baby cried,
Cried, cried--[etc.]
When my baby died,
Died, died--[etc.]
When I had a bustle,
A bustle, a bustle--[etc.]
When my bustle fell,
Fell, fell--[etc.]
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Nicholson Golspie (1897), 164; tune, 204, a version of
There's Nae Luck About the House. At "hey oh! this way"
the girls introduced some action (e.g. rocking a baby)
suggested by the earlier part of the stanza. N. quotes
comparable material from Jackson & Burne, Shropshire
Folk-lore (p. 514), and M. H. Mason, Nursery Rhymes and
Country Songs, 42, which latter "may be the original of
all", but certainly suggests that the Golspie lady is a
corruption of maiden: "When I was a maiden, O, then, and
O, then" etc. Several English versions in Gomme Trad.
Games II (1898), 362 ff. ("When I was a Young Girl"),
with note on pantomimic games; Gomme & Sharp II (1909),
10. Cf. also Colin Brown in The Thistle, xxix, who
refers to "the graceful movements of rows of little
girls marching and counter-marching to the sweet melody
. . . When I am a lady, a lady, a lady, When I am a
lady, a lady am I."
Opies Singing Game (1985), 294, has a Cumnock version
from 1961, with differs: 4 a lady was I. 5-6 'Twas this was
and that way, and this way and that way, 7-8 [as 3-4]. The
other stanzas feature "a gentleman", "a baker", "a teacher".
Similarly in Fraser (1975), 23, from Aucherarder, with a
version from Dunfermline, "Did you ever see a lassie, a
lassie, a lassie,/ Did you ever see a lassie do this way and
that?"--done in a ring; the one in the middle does some
action (hop, fancy step, etc.), imitated by the rest.
The Opies' tune (from Dumfries, 1960) is the same as that of
"Jack-a-needle", i.e. La Guaracha. See also their
comparative notes (296-7) from many countries. Cf. "I
Married a Wife", which is a more sophisticated
MS
oct99
Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!