The Maid of Fife
trad
I love this song. However, I do question what it was about the lady that caused the soldier's death.
There once was a troop of Irish dragoons
Come marching down thru Fife-y, O
And the captain feel in love with a very bonny lass
And they called her by name pretty Peggy-o
There's many a bonnie lass in the town of Auchterlass
There's many a bonnie lass in Gairioch-o
There's many a bonnie Jean in the streets of Aberdeen
But the flower of them all lives in Fife-y, O
O come down the stairs, Pretty Peggy, my dear
Come down the stairs, Pretty Peggy-o
Come down the stairs, combin' back your yellow hair
Bid a long farewell to your mammy-o
What would your mother think, pretty Peggy, my dear
What would your mother think, pretty Peggy-o
What would your mother think if she heard the guineas clink
And saw the soldiers marching all before you o
The colonel he cried, mount, mount, boys, mount
The captain, he cried, tarry-o
O tarry yet a while, for another day or twa
Til I see if the bonnie lass will marry-o
I never did intend a soldier's lady for to be
I never will go with a soldier-o
I never did intend to go to a foreign land
And I will never marry a soldier-o
Long ere we reached the town of Auchterlass
We had our captain to carry-o
And long ere we reached the streets of Aberdeen
We had our captain to bury-o
Green grow the birks on bonnie Ethanside
And low lie the lowlands of Fife-y, O
The captain's name was Ned and he died for a maid
He died for a chambermaid of Fife-y, O
Black-and-Orange
Dad’s favorite colors were black and orange, preferably together. He painted the Harley black-and-orange. He painted our mailbox black-and-orange.
The mailman refused to deliver the mail to a black-and-orange mailbox.
The United States Postal Service has very detailed regulations about the size, shape, color and positioning of mailboxes, as well as what materials can be used for the support post, the mailbox itself, the signal flag and the handles. At that time, they could only be certain shades of red or green, or unpainted metal. Check it out - https://about.usps.com/publications/engineering-standards-specifications/spusps-std-7b01/welcome.html
So Dad restored the mailbox itself to an acceptable green but retained the black and orange stripes on the support post. Although the material the support post could be made from was governed by regulation, the colors were not.
