Young Officer- Mary Ann Haynes (sus) 1972 REC
[From: MY FATHER’S THE KING OF THE GYPSIES: MUSIC OF ENGLISH & WELSH TRAVELLERS & GYPSIES-- TSCD661
31 The Young Officer sung by Mary Ann Haynes, Brighton, Sussex, 1972. Roud 21, Child 4. Review notes follow.
R. Matteson 2018]
AKA The Outlandish Knight or Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight, to use Professor Child’s title, has often been collected from Gypsies. Most versions stem from the broadside issued in the early 1800s by John Pitts of London, although the story was old when Pitts first issued his sheet. Roud's Index has an astonishing 583 entries for this ballad, the majority of which are from North America.
Recent research links it with Saint Ladislas, an 11th century King of Hungary, who is depicted in medieval church frescoes lying asleep beneath a tree in whose branches hang the severed heads of his previous victims. His would-be victim, who is depicted delousing his hair, is forewarned of her impending fate when she glances upwards seeing not only the severed heads, but also the King’s concealed weapons. Elsewhere in Europe representations show not Ladislas but a Tartar or Scythian warrior, suggesting that the ballad’s origin is buried even deeper in ancient history.
Other Recordings: Fred Jordan (Shropshire) - who learnt the song from a Gypsy - Topic TSCD 600 and Rounder 1775. Charlotte Renals (Cornwall) - Veteran Tapes VT119. Sarah Porter (Sussex) - Musical Traditions MTCD 309-10. Jumbo Brightwell (Suffolk) - Veteran VT140CD and Rounder 1741. Lena Bourne Fish (New Hampshire) - Appleseed APR CD 1035.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3Dz4Rm8Ovs
The Young Officer sung by Mary Ann Haynes, Brighton, Sussex, 1972. [text upcoming]
There was a young officer from the North camp,
And he ran into play[1] unto me
And he swore he would take me down by the seaside
He says, Tonight I'll make you my bride.
Come get me some of your father's gold,
And some your mother's money,
And two of the very best horses he got,
Of twenty to fourteen to three[2].
______________
1. unclear
2. Distorted from "Where they stand thirty and three."