> Steeleye Span > Songs > Queen Mary

Queen Mary

[ Roud 6281 ; Ballad Index HHH230 ; trad.]

Gay Woods sang Queen Mary in 1998 on Steeleye Span's album Horkstow Grange. Bob Johnson commented in the liner notes:

This ring-game of little girls, in which the action is suited to the words sung, in a relic of Scottish ballad belonging to the close of the 1th Century. The tune a variant of The Band at a Distance.

The “music box” tune in between the verses is called Hunsden House.

Lyrics

Queen Mary, Queen Mary, my age is 15.
My father's a farmer on yonder green,
With plenty of money to make me sae braw.
But there's nae bonny laddy to take me awa'.

Each morning I rise and make myself clean,
With ruffles and ribbons and everything fine,
With the finest hair cushions and French curls twa.
But there's nae bonny laddy to take me awa'.