Andrew Lammie - Folklorist

“Andrew Lammie”

Description

Lord Fyvie's trumpeter Andrew Lammie, the fairest man in the county, and Tifty's Annie, are in love. When Annie's father hears of this, he complains to Fyvie; he wants his daughter to marry better. She is adamant; her brother kills her for her effrontery

Notes

Ord and Grieg have a song, "Charlie Mackie," which looks like a by-blow of this song. The plot is different -- the wealthy girl's parents don't want her wed to Mackie, though he finds his way to her in the end. But not only is the scansion the same, but many of the lines of "Charlie Mackie" are obviously corrupt derivatives of those found in "Andrew Lammie."

There is, apparently, a certain amount of truth in this song: We know little with certainty of Agnes Smith (nicknamed Nannie, hence Annie), save that her grave gives her date of death as January 19, 1673 (or, in other authorities, 1631; the stone, according to Child, eventually became illegible). However, legend has it that she was courted by Andrew Lammie, Lord Fyvie's trumpeter. Fyvie, desiring the girl herself, had Lammie transported to the West Indies. He made it back, but by then she had died, and he himself died cursing Lord Fyvie.

Another legend, according to Peter Underwood's _Gazeteer of British, Irish, and Scottish Ghosts_, has it that Lammie's ghost still appears to trumpet the deaths of the Lords of Fyvie. Indeed, Underwood lists many ghosts found at Fyvie, perhaps related to a curse laid by Thomas the Rhymer. - RBW

I was not able to read broadside Bodleian, 2806 c.11(1), "Andrew Lammie" or "Mill of Tifty's Annie" ("At Mill of Tifty lived a man, in the neighbourhood of Fyvie"), Brander and Co. (Elgin), n.d. - BS

Cross references

cf. "Pretty Betsey" [Laws M18] (plot)
cf. "Charlie Mackie" (lyrics, form, themes)

Recordings

Lucy Stewart, "Tifty's Annie" (on LStewart1)

References