There's News Lasses News
written in 1795
There's News Lasses News - meaning Summary
Playful Demand for a Suitor
This short, comic Scots song presents a young woman insisting that she will not go to bed until she secures a man to father her child. The repeating refrain links the baby, the cradle and a cod (a cradle fitting), using local speech and plain domestic concerns to turn a simple household request into a brazen demand for courtship or consent. The narrator mixes practical details with playful defiance, portraying female agency and sexual desire within a rural, working-class setting. The tone is jaunty and conversational rather than moralizing.
Read Complete AnalysesThere's news, lasses, news, Gude news I've to tell, There's a boatfu' o' lads Come to our town to sell. The wean wants a cradle, An' the cradle wants a cod, An' I'll no gang to my bed, Until I get a nod. Father, quo' she, Mither, quo she, Do what you can, I'll no gang to my bed, Till I get a man. The wean wants a cradle, An' the cradle wants a cod, An' I'll no gang to my bed, Until I get a nod. I hae as gude a craft rig As made o' yird and stane; And waly fa' the ley-crap, For I maun till't again. The wean wants a cradle, An' the cradle wants a cod, An' I'll no gang to my bed, Until I get a nod.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.