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My Apron Now

Apron Deary is a song about a seduced girl lamenting her pregnancy. It was printed in David Herd’s 1776 book Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc., Second Volume.

Ewan MacColl sang My Apron Now in 1964 on his and Peggy Seeger’s Folkways album Traditional Songs and Ballads. The album’s booklet noted:

Captain Frazer in his Airs and Melodies Peculiar to the Highlands of Scotland and the Isles asserts that My Apron Now is a Lowland remake of a Gaelic song N’t aparan goired—short apron. Allan Ramsay in the first volume of his Tea-Table Miscellany has a song beginning “Ah Chloe! thou treasure” which he directs to be sung to the tune of My Apron Deary; so the air must have been well known at that time. The earliest published version is in the Orpheus Caledonius, 1725.

Sophie Crawford sang My Apron Now on her 2018 album Silver Pin. She noted:

I heard a version of this sung by Ewan MacColl. I presume it is Scottish.

Lyrics

Apron Deary in Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs

’Twas early in the morning, a morning of May,
A soldier and a lassie was wauking astray;
Close down in yon meadow, yon meadow brow,
I heard the lass cry, my apron now,

Chorus (after each verse):
My apron, deary, my apron now,
My belly bears up my apron now,
But I being a young thing, was easy to woo,
Which maks me cry out, my apron now.

O had I ta’en counsel o’ father or mother,
Or had I advised wi’ sister or brother,
But I being a young thing and easy to woo,
It maks me cry out, my apron now.

Your apron, deary, I must confess,
Seems something the shorter, tho nae’thing the less;
Then had your tongue, deary, and I will prove true,
And nae mair cry out, your apron now,

Last chorus:
Your apron, deary, your apron now,
Your belly bears up your apron now,
Then had your tongue, deary, and I will prove true,
And nae mair cry out, your apron now.

Sophie Crawford sings My Apron Now

As I was a-walking one morning in May,
A sailor and his true love were walking astray;
Close by in the valley, in yon valley brow,
I heard the lass cry, my apron now,

Chorus (after each verse):
My apron, deary, my apron now,
My belly bears up my apron now,
But I being a young thing, was easy to woo,
Which maks me cry out, my apron now.

O had I ta’en counsel from father or mother,
Or had I advised wi’ sister or brother,
But I being a young thing, was easy to woo,
It maks me cry out, my apron now.

Your apron, deary, I must confess,
Seems something the shorter, tho nothing the less;
Hold your tongue, deary, and I will prove true,
And nae more cry out, your apron now,

Last chorus:
Your apron, deary, your apron now,
Your belly bears up your apron now,
But hold your tongue, deary, and I will prove true,
And nae more cry out, your apron now.

(repeat first verse)