Henry's Songbook

Queen Mary Queen Mary, my age is sixteen
My father's a farmer on yonder green
He's plenty o' money tae dress me sae braw
But there's nae bonnie laddie wha'll tak' me awa'

One morning Ah rose and Ah looked in the glass
Says Ah tae mysel', Wi' a shop ye might pass
Ma hands by ma side, and Ah gie'd a 'ha-ha'
But there's nae bonnie laddie wha'll tak' me awa'

Repeat 1

(as sung by Ray & Archie Fisher)

[1970:] These were the Glasgow back-court songs which we added to our repertoire of the games played all over the country at their appropriate season. 'Queen Mary, Queen Mary my age is sixteen', 'Broken bridges falling down', 'The Bonnie Bunch o' Roses', 'Down in yonder valley where the green grass grows', and 'Water water wallflower, growing up so high'. We moved delicately through the movements, oblivious of mothers and grannies who occasionally glanced our way from their tenement windows, self-absorbed and transported into a graceful mannered world. We were merciless on those who couldn't or wouldn't learn the movements fast enough, and who spoilt the rhythm, and we'd pounce on the hapless novice and put her through it again and again until she got fed up. (Molly Weir, Shoes Were For Sunday 39)

[1994:] There was also the constant threat of the 'Green Lady' health visitor, who had the power to knock on any door at anytime and inspect your home. At the first sight of a Green Lady in the vicinity the bush telegraph swung into action, sending all the women of Blackhill on a furious tidying spree, in case the Green Lady picked on their house and gave a bad report because something was out of place. The Green Ladies were forever trying to outsmart the women, [so they] often came on a Monday, washing day, when they knew that the majority of women would be tied to the boiler [...]. This made them doubly unpopular of course [...]. Another good time was Friday afternoon, when the women were waiting for their men to come home with their weekly pay packets so that they could do some shopping. So again the last person they wanted was the Green Lady arriving [...] and of course they couldn't refuse to let her in. There was a children's street song that we used to sing [...], the first line of which was "Queen Mary, Queen Mary, my age is sixteen". So powerful were the Green Ladies that I thought the line started with "Green Lady, Green Lady", and I sang those words for years without questioning them. (Henderson, Finding Peggy 88f)

[1995:] 'Tales From The Nursery' on Radio 2 was cruel disillusionment for those who believe nursery rhymes mean something, however obscure. World authority Iona Opie denies categorically that Ring A Ring O' Roses has anything to do with the Great Plague, or Mary Mary with Mary Queen of Scots. (Sue Arnold, The Observer, 8 October)