Broadside ballad entitled 'Young Jamie o' the Forty-and-Two'

Commentary

Verse 1: 'One evening as I walk'd by Clyde's banks so gay ; / It was for recreation that way I did stray ; / A fair maid I heard singing her own mournful lay / Saying, the lad I lo'e dearly's gane noo far away.' No publication details have been given here, although it is possible these were on the other half of the sheet, which seems to have been torn off.

Jamie is a soldier in the 'Forty-and-Two', which is the 42nd Highland Regiment, more commonly known today as the Black Watch. The mention that Jamie has been posted to the (West) Indies, in the final verse, makes it likely that the song was composed in the late eighteenth century. The 42nd went on expedition there in 1793, for over three years. They captured the islands of St Lucia and St Vincent.

Early ballads were dramatic or humorous narrative songs derived from folk culture that predated printing. Originally perpetuated by word of mouth, many ballads survive because they were recorded on broadsides. Musical notation was rarely printed, as tunes were usually established favourites. The term 'ballad' eventually applied more broadly to any kind of topical or popular verse.

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