Hughie Graham
"Hughie Graham" or "Hughie Graeme" is Child ballad number 191, existing in several variants. It was collected by Robert Burns.[1]
Synopsis
Hughie Graham is caught for stealing the bishop's horse, and sentenced to hang. Several pleas to ransom him are unavailing. He sees his mother or father and sends greetings to his father, his sword to Johnnie Armstrong, and a curse to his wife. (The legend is that his motive for the horse-theft was that the bishop had seduced his wife.)
Recordings
Ewan MacColl recorded a version on his album of traditional Scottish ballads (Topic TSCD480 English & Scottish Folk Ballads).
Dáithí Sproule recorded a version with fiddling master James Kelly and button box master Paddy O'Brien (Offaly) on the Shanachie album Traditional Music of Ireland.
The Scottish folk band Malinky recorded a version of this song, called "Hughie The Graham", on their 2005 album The Unseen Hours.
English folk singer June Tabor recorded a version of this song on An Echo of Hooves in 2003.
The Czech folk group Asonance recorded a version translated to Czech called "Hugo Graem (Hughie the Graeme)" on Vzdálené ostrovy (Remote Islands) in 2003.
Connie Dover recorded the song as "Hugh the Graeme" on her album The Wishing Well.
Footnotes
- Kinsley, James, ed. (1969) The Oxford Book of Ballads. Oxford: Clarendon Press; pp. 579-81 & 704