Annachie Gordon

"Annachie Gordon" is the Scottish ballad Lord Saltoun and Auchanachie (Child 239, Roud 102). Its story is that Jeannie's father forces her to marry the wealthy Lord Saltoun though she loves Annachie Gordon; she refuses her wedding night and dies of a broken heart, and Annachie returns from sea, kisses her lips and dies beside her. Mainly Norfolk places it near Elgin and Fraserburgh. The words were printed in James Maidment's North Countrie Garland (1824) and Buchan's Ancient Ballads and Songs (1828), and Alan Lomax recorded Aunt Molly Jackson singing the American variant "Archie D" in the 1930s.

Jones adapted a tune from Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs and combined verses from several collected versions, with Harking where earlier versions have Buchan. Mainly Norfolk's author remarks that the words are very similar to Child 239 but the tune seems very much Nic's own. His recording closes The Noah's Ark Trap (1977) at 6:33; Alan Murray called it a storming version, and albumreviews.blog ranks it fourth among his best songs, a tale of star-crossed lovers like Romeo and Juliet. He recorded it twice for John Peel sessions, and a live Peel performance is online. Many later versions derive from his, among them Mary Black's on her debut album (1983, learned through her brother Shay), Loreena McKennitt's on Parallel Dreams (1989), June Tabor and the Oysterband in 1990, John Wesley Harding on Trad Arr Jones (February 9, 1999), the Unthanks (2009), Jon Boden (2011) and Jenn Butterworth's "Jeannie" (2025). Joe Rae says he sang a traditional version learned from his grandfather before Jones's recording.

We found no chart entry or video, and could not tell whether our upload is the 1977 studio version.