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The Merchant's Son and the Beggar Wench

[ Roud 2153 ; Master title: The Merchant's Son and the Beggar Wench ; G/D 2:303 ; TYG 65 ; Ballad Index K338 ; Bodleian Roud 2153 ; trad.]

Davie Stewart sang The Merchant’s Son and the Beggar’s Daughter in a recording made by Alan Lomax in Angus, Scotland on the anthology Songs of Seduction (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 2; Caedmon 1961; Topic 1968). This recording was also included in 2002 on his and Jimmy McBeath's Rounder compilation Two Gentlemen on the Road. Another recording of Davie Stewart singing The Merchant’s Son was made by Hamish Henderson in the home of James Ross, Edinburgh, in probably 1955 but possibly 1962. It was released in 1978 on his Topic album Davie Stewart, and included in 1998 on the Topic anthology They Ordered Their Pints of Beer and Bottles of Sherry (The Voice of the People Volume 13). Another recording made in Blairgowrie by Hamish Henderson, who also joined in on the chorus, was published in the early 1960s on the Prestige album Folksongs & Music from the Berryfields of Blair. A fourth recording of The Beggar Wench made by Peter Kennedy in Dundee in 1956 was included in 1994 on the Saydisc anthology Songs of the Travelling People.

John Strachan sang a fragment of The Merchant's Son to Alan Lomax and Hamish Henderson on 16 July 1951 in Fyvie, Aberdeenshire. This recording was included in 2002 on his Rounder anthology Songs from Aberdeenshire.

Jimmy McBeath sang The Merchant and the Beggar Maid on his 1967 Topic album, Wild Rover No More. Peter Hall commented in the sleeve notes:

The first known copy of this song is in A Collection of Old Ballads (London, 1723), and Logan, in his Pedlars Pack, prints a version from later in the some century under the title The Merchant’s Son and the Beggar Wench of Hull. Singers in Aberdeenshire were still giving Hull as the location when Gavin Greig was collecting at the beginning of this century although Dean Christie records hearing a version as The Beggar Wench of Wales.

Isabel Sutherland sang The Beggar Wench on the 1960 HMV album of broadside ballads old and new, A Jug of Punch.

Owen Hand sang The Beggar Wench in 1966 on his Transatlantic album I Loved a Lass. He noted:

One of the few songs I know in which the woman comes out the better from a casual love affair.

Archie Fisher sang The Beggar Wench in 1968 on his eponymous Transatlantic album, Archie Fisher. He noted:

The Beggar Wench and Bogie's Bonny Belle were both from the most outrageous musical character I have ever met and I sorely miss, the late Davie Stewart.

Norman Kennedy sang Oh, Hae Ye Heard o' the Merchant’s Son in 1968 on his Folk-Legacy album Ballads & Songs of Scotland. and on his Topic LP Scots Songs and Ballads.

Ian Manuel sang The Merchant’s Son and the Beggar Wench on his 1977 Topic album The Dales of Caledonia: Scots Traditional Songs.

June Tabor sang The Merchant's Son in 1976 on her first solo album, Airs and Graces. She commented in her sleeve notes:

From the singing of Dave Stewart; first heard from Ian Manuel of Hull.

The Tannahill Weavers sang The Merchant's Son in 1979 on their eponymous Plant Life album The Tannahill Weavers. They noted:

At last a blow for women's lib where, being short of a few bob, the young lady in question cons this rich young man out of his money and his clothes.

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