7. Died for Love Roud 60; Roud 495; Roud 18830; Roud 409; Roud 18832 Some Titles: Rambling Boy; Answer to the Rambling Boy; The Maidens Complaint for the Loss of her Love; The Butcher Boy (Butcher's Boy); Jersey City; London City; Brisk Young Lover (Brisk Young Sailor/Farmer/Lad); There is an Alehouse (Alehouse); The Cruel Father, or, Deceived Maid ("A squire's daughter near Aclecloy"); Squire's Daughter; Oh Willie; There is a Tavern in the Town; I Wish, I Wish; I Wish in Vain; Lady's Lamentation; Adieu; Radoo, Radoo, Radoo; Foolish Young Girl; Irish Boy; Maiden's Prayer; Adieu; What a Voice;
What a foolish young girl was I, To fall in love with an Irish boy,
A. Died for Love-- Roud 60, Roud 495 ("I Wish, I Wish," "Alehouse")
a. "The Maidens Complaint for the Loss of her Love" date c.1750. No imprint, next BS no.5 dated 1743.) From BL 14.11.17 (1880 b.29) Description: 2 cuts at top of sheet: 18thc gent with wine glass in hand surrounded with flowers, lady with plants.
b. "The Effects of Love- A New Song," broadside; 1 sheet; 1/80. British Library 11621.k.4(158), London c.1780.
c. "Strange House," sung in Ulster c.1860s; from: The Irish Book Lover - Volumes 9-13 - Page 130 by John Smyth Crone, Seamus O'Cassidy, Colm O Lochlainn - 1917.
d. "There's An Alehouse" from Ella Bull who it learned from Hannah Collins a domestic servant native of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire in 1886 and sent to Lucy Broadwood in December 20, 1904.
e. "There is a House." No informant or location given. From: English Dialect Society - 1896; Publications, Volume 41 by English Dialect Society
f. "There is an Alehouse" taken from an old singer from Lancaster; 1904 Kidson From: Songs from the Collection of Mr. Frank Kidson; by Frank Kidson and Lucy E. Broadwood; Journal of the Folk-Song Society Vol. 1, No. 5 (1904), pp. 228-257.
g. There Is An Ale-House In Yonders Town- sung by William Clark, of Barrow-on-Humber Lincolnshire, on August 3, 1906. Collected by Percy Grainger.
h. "Died for Love," three stanzas sung by Joseph Taylor of Saxby, Lincolnshire for Lucy Broadwood on March 7, 1906. Also sung by Joseph Taylor on a wax cylinder recording made by Percy Grainger in 1905 and 1908.
i. "The Alehouse." Sung by Henry Way of Stoke Abbott, Dorset in May 1906. Collected by H.E.D. Hammond. Significant since it's related to "She's Like the Swallow."
j. "There is an Alehouse," sung by James Channon (b. 1857) of Basingstoke, Hampshire in September, 1907. Collected by G.B. Gardiner, Charles Gambin.
k. "I Wish, I Wish." Sung by Miss H. Rae, Sandhaven, about February 1908. From The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection - Volume 8 - Page 256; by Patrick N. Shuldham-Shaw, Emily B. Lyle - 2002. Rare version with suicide.
l. "There Is An Ale House," sung by Charles Ash of Crowcombe, Somerset on 15 September, 1908. Collector: Cecil J. Sharp. Hybrid with Constant Lady, then with Pitts' "Sheffield Park."
m. "There is an Alehouse," sung by a 70 year old carpenter, Mr. James Bayliff of Bardon, Westmorland in June, 1909. He learned it about 60 years earlier when he was 10. Collected and noted by Anne Gilchrist.
n. "Apron Low," sung by Charles Benfield, of Bould Oxfordshire on 11 Sept., 1909. Collector: Cecil J. Sharp.
o. "There is a Tavern" sung by Mrs. Lucy Jane Lee of South Marston, Wiltshire before 1916. Collected by Alfred Williams. Has suicide, not related to composition.
p. "I Wish, I Wish," sung by Ethel Findlater of Dounby, Orkney about c.1918 as recorded by Alan J. Bruford in 1968. Ethel learned the first two verses from her mother around fifty years before, and got the last verse from a People's Journal folk song supplement.
q. "Betsy Williams," sung by Kathleen Williams of Wigpool Common, Gloucestershire on 6 September, 1921. Collector: Cecil J. Sharp.
r. "I Wish in Vain." Sung by F. P. Provance of Fayette County, Pennsylvania in 1943. Collected by Samuel P. Bayard, with music. From: Korson, Pennsylvania Songs & Legends pp.48-49.
s. "The Apron of Flowers" Sam Henry recovered it from Mrs. H. Dinsmore of Coleraine on December 26, 1936. A hybrid from Ireland.
t. "I Wish, I Wish," sung by Cecilia Costello. Recorded by Marie Slocombe and Patrick Shuldham-Shaw, 30.11.51
u. "Early, Early All in the Spring," sung by Winnie Ryan in Belfast in 1952. Recorded by Peter Kennedy and Sean O'Boyle.
v. "There is an Alehouse," sung by 'Pop's' Johnny Connors, a Wexford Traveller c. 1953. BBC Recordings of Folk Music and Folklore, Great Britain and Ireland, Section 1: Songs in English.
w. "What a Voice," sung by Jeannie Robertson of Aberdeen in October, 1953 for Hamish Henderson and J. Anthony (School of Scottish Studies). Jeannie learned it from her mother, Maria Stewart.
x. "I Wish, I Wish," sung by Charlotte Higgins (1895-1971) of Blairgowrie, Perthshire in July, 1961. Recorded by Hamish Henderson; Maurice Fleming. Learned from her great grandmother.
y. "I Wish, I Wish," sung by Elsie Morrison of Moray in 1956. Recorded by Hamish Henderson. School of Scottish Studies; Track ID - 20022.
z. "She Died In Love - Collected by Kenneth Peacock in 1959 from Mrs Thomas (Anastasia Ryan) Ghaney [1883-1959] of Fermeuse, NL. From: Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 3, pp.707-708, by The National Museum Of Canada (1965) by Kenneth Peacock.
aa. "There is an Alehouse," Sung by Tom Willett. Recorded by Ken Stubbs, c.1960. From the recording, The Willett family “Adieu to Old England” 1963, Topic Records.
bb. "Died for Love." Sung by Tom Willett Recorded by Paul Carter, 1962. The Willett family, “Adieu to Old England” 1963, Topic Records.
cc. "I Wish my Baby Were Born" Dillard Chandler, Madison NC, recorded bu John Cohen in 1965.
dd. "Died For Love," sung by Sarah Porter, recorded in 1965 in The Three Cups, Punnetts Town.
ee. "I Wish I Wish," sung by Sam Larner (1878- 1965) a sailor/fisherman of Winterton, Norfolk around 1961. From the recording: Sam Larner, Cruising Round Yarmouth (MTCD369-0)
ff. "Blind Beetles," sung by Dorset gypsy Carolyne Hughes (1902-1971), as recorded by MacColl around 1963. It was later recorded by Peter Kennedy in 1968 who titled it "Blind Beetles."
gg. "There Is a Tavern in the Town," sung by Emma Vickers from Lancashire. From a recording made by Fred Hamer in Autumn 1963 that he printed in his 1967 EFDS book of English folk songs, Garners Gay.
hh. "I Wish (Till Apples Grow)," by the Dubliners 1964, sung solo by Ronnie Drew. From the Album The Dubliners (Bonus Track Edition) released January 1, 1964. Has "Love is Teasing" stanza.
ii. "Died for Love," sung by Alf Wildman of Shefford, Bedfordshire at the King's Head Folk Club on February 25, 1970. From recordings made at the King's Head Folk Club (MTCD356-7) from 1968-70, track 17.
jj. "I Wish, I Wish," sung by Mrs. Belle Anne MacAngus of Ross. Recorded by de Groot in 1971. The informant was born in 1881 and brought up in Hilton. She was a fishwife.
kk. "There is an Alehouse," sung by Andy Cash of Wexford County in 1973, from Jim Carroll and Pat McKenzie Collection.
ll. "Died for Love," sung by Geoff Ling of Blaxhall, Sussex on December 17, 1974. Recorded by Keith Summers. From: Singing Traditions of a Suffolk Family: The Ling Family-- Topic Records 12TS292.
mm. "Over Yonder’s Hill" sung by Amy Birch; recorded by Sam Richards, Paul Wilson and Tish Stubbs in the singer's trailer at Exebridge, Devon, November 1976.
nn. "I Wish I was a Maid Again," sung by Eugene McEldowney, recorded at Tom Maye's Pub in Dublin, June 16, 2004.
B. The Cruel Father ("A squire’s daughter near Aclecloy,") her love is sent to sea- dies of a cannonball; Roud 23272
a. "The Cruel Father or Deceived Maid," from the Madden Collection, c.1780.
b. "Answer to Rambling Boy" from a chapbook by J. & M. Robertson, Saltmarket, Glasgow; 1799. http://digital.nls.uk/chapbooks-printed-in-scotland/pageturner.cfm?id=108856194&mode=fullsize
c. "The Squire's Daughter," printed by W. Shelmerdine and Co., Manchester c. 1800
d. "Answer to Rambling Boy," four printings from US Chapbooks: 1. The Harper: to which are added, Shannon's flowery banks, The rambling boy, with The answer. Bung your eye, Henry and Laury [i.e. Laura]. London [i.e., Philadelphia : s.n., 1805?] 2. The Rambling boy, with the Answer : to which is added, Blue bells of Scotland, Good morrow to your night cap, Capt. Stephen Decatur's victory, Green upon the cape. From Early American imprints., Second series, no. 50722. [Philadelphia]: [publisher not identified], 1806; 3. The Bold mariners: The rambling boy, and the answer: Roslin Castle, to which is added the answer: Flashy Tom. [Philadelphia? : s.n.], January, 1811; 4. Ellen O'Moore. The Bold mariners. The Rambling boy. Barbara Allen. [United States : s.n.], January, 1817.
e. "The Killarney Tragedy," an Irish broadside printed by John F. Nugent Printer 35 Cook St. Dublin c. 1850s.
f. "Rambling Boy."From Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, John Lomax 1916 edition.
g. "Cruel Father" sung by Fanny Coffee of White Rock, Virginia on May 8, 1918. Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection.
h. "The Wrecked and Rambling Boy" from Mrs. Audrey Hellums, Tishomingo, Mississippi. Hudson C, 1926
i. "Oh Willie" from Mary Lou Bell of Staunton Virginia; 1932
j. "The Isle of Cloy" collected by E.J. Moeran in the 1930s in Suffolk from George Hill and Oliver Waspe.
k. "I Am a Rambling Rowdy Boy," sung by Rena Hick of Beech Mountain, NC collected in December, 1933 by Melinger Henry. Songs Sung in the Southern Appalachians, by Mellinger Henry, London c.1934.
l. "Black Birds.' Miss Lura Wagoner of Vox, Allegheny County, NC, 1938
m. "Oh Willie" sung by Rod Drake of Silsbee Texas; See Owens, 1952.
n. "Beam of Oak." Sung by Stuart Letto of Lance au Clair, Labrador in July, 1960 from "Folk Ballads and Songs of the Lower Labrador Coast" by MacEdward Leach.
o. "Rude and Rambling Boy," Buna Hicks Sugar Grove, NC , 1966. Warner
C. The Rambling Boy ("I am a wild and a rambling boy") Roud 18830, c. 1765
a. "The Wild Rover," The Musical Companion (British Library) London, c. 1765.
b. "Rambling Boy," To which is Added, The New Vagary O, Shepherds I Have Lost My Love, The Drop of Dram, Fight Your Cock in the Morning. Published by W. Goggin of Limerick BM 11622 c.14, dated 1790.
c. "Rambling Boy," from a chapbook by J. & M. Robertson, Saltmarket, Glasgow; 1799. Same text as "Rambling Boy" printed by William Scott in Greenock no date, probably early 1800s [c. 1812].
d. "Rambling Boy," broadside J. Pitts, 14 Great St. Andrew Street, Seven Dials, London c. 1806
e. "The Wild Rambling Boy," T. Birt, Printer, 39, Great St. Andrew Street, Seven Dials; London c. 1833.
f. "The Rambling Boy" broadside first line "rake and rambling boy" (Manchester Reference Library, Ballads Vol. 5, page 392) Gardham 5A.
g. "Sweet William." Brown Collection M from Thomas Smith, with the notation that it was "written down about July 1, 1915. By Miss Mae Smith of Sugar Grove, Watauga county, from the singing of her stepmother, Mrs. Mary Smith, who learned it over forty years ago."
D. Brisk Young Lover ("A brisk young sailor courted me,") Roud 60
a. "The Lady's Lamentation for the Loss of her Sweetheart," from the Manchester Central library; c.1775. After stanza 4 it becomes stanzas of "Constant Lady" c. 1686 also titled "Oxfordshire Tragedy" by Chappell.
b. "A New Song Call'd the Distress'd Maid," London, (no imprint) in the Madden Collection Cambridge University Library (Slip Songs H-N no. 1337) c.1785.
c. ["A Faithful Shepherd"] - from John Clare (b. 1793 in Helpstone), MS dated 1818
d. "Brisk Young Sailor," broadside by W. Pratt, Printer, 82, Digbeth, Birmingham; c.1850
e. "Brisk Young Sailor," broadside by Bebbington, Manchester; c. 1855
f. "Brisk Young Sailor" sung by Starlina Lovell, gypsy, in Wales area. Collected by Groome, published 1881.
g. The Brisk Young Miner- sung by John Woodrich, no date as early as 1889. Woodrich was a blacksmith from Wollacot Moor, Thrushleton [sic], Devon. Sabine Baring Gould, from his MS notebook version A
h. "Brisk Young Miner," attributed to Sam Fone of Mary Tavy, Devon. March 30, 1893. Collected and arranged by Sabine Baring Gould. From his MS notebook version D.
i. "Brisk Young Sailor," sung by Emma Overd of Langport, Somerset on August 19, 1904- Sharp MS
j. "A Brisk Young Sailor," sung by William Spearman, (also Spearing; see Sharp MS) of Ile Brewers, Somerset on April 6, 1904; Sharp MS.
k. "A Brisk Young Farmer," sung by Thomas Bowes of Westerdale, Yorkshire on 23 July, 1904, collected by Vaughan Williams.
l. "A Bold Young Farmer." Sung by John Denny at Billercay Union, Essex on April 25, 1904. Collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams
m. "There Was Three Worms," sung by Mr. Bartlett of Dorset in 1905; collected by H.E.D Hammond. From: Songs of Love and Country Life by Lucy E. Broadwood, Cecil J. Sharp, Frank Kidson, Clive Carey and A. G. Gilchrist; Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 5, No. 19 (Jun., 1915), pp. 174-203.
n. "A Bold Young Sailor," obtained by Vaughan Williams from an old man named Mr. Anderson in St. James's workhouse in that town on January 10, 1905.
o. "A Brave Young Sailor," sung by Mrs. Gulliver of Combe Florey, Somerset in May 1905. Collector: Hammond, H.E.D.
p. "A Farmer's Son He Courted Me," sung by William Bailey of Cannington, Somerset on August 18, 1906. Collected by Cecil Sharp.
q. "A Brisk Young Sailor." Sung by Thomas (William) Colcombe, Weobley, Herefords, noted F.W. Jekyll, Sep. 1906.
r. "A Brisk Young Sailor," sung by Sam Davidson 1863–1951 of Auchedly, Tarves Aberdeen; a farmer of North Seat Farm and well known singer who learned ballads from his farm hands. Greig I [has suicide]
s. "A Brisk Young Sailor." Tune noted by Francis Jekyll in 1908. Tune and 1st stanza given by Mr. Ford of Scaynes Hill, Sussex; additional words by Mrs. Cranstone. From the George Butterworth Manuscript Collection (GB/12/3).
t. "A Brisk Young Man- sung by Mrs. Elizabeth Smitherd [Smithers] (b. circa 1843) of Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire on 11 April, 1908. Collector: Sharp.
u. "A Brisk Young Sailor," unknown informant from Ranworth, Norfolk on April 17, 1908; Collected Ralph Vaughan Williams.
v. "Brisk Young Drummer," sung by William Alexander of Hampshire? about 1909. Collector: G.B. Gardiner.
w. "A Brisk Young Sailor." Words and tune from Mrs. Bowker of Sunderland Point, Lancashire in July, 1909; collected by Anne Gilchrist.
x. "The Brisk Young Lover." Sung by Miss DELLA MOORE at Rabun Co., Ga., May 2, 1909. From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachian, II, 1917.
y. "A British Young Waterman," sung by Mrs. Hollingsworth of Thaxted, Essex on 5 October, 1911. Collected by Clive Carey.
z. "Brisk Young Soldier," sung by Robert Feast of Ely, Cambridgeshire on Sept 11, 1911 Sharp MS
aa. "A Sailor Bold," sung by Mrs. Joiner of Herts; collected in 1914 Broadwood
bb. "Died For Love" (A bold young farmer) sung by Isla Cameron on February 2, 1951 in London, England; recorded by Alan Lomax.
cc. "A Brave Young Sailor," sung by Alice Davies, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire 11 August, 1954. Collector: Collinson, F
dd. "Died For Love" (a young farmer) Collected by Desmond and Shelagh Herring at Rattlesden, Suffolk 1958-59 from the singing of Emily Sparkes.
ee. "A Bold Fisherman Courted Me," From the singing of Danny Brazil, Gloucester 9 May 66 and Lemmy Brazil, Gloucester 29 September 1967 (Springthyme 66.5.21 & 67.6.32).
E. Butcher Boy ("In Jersey city where I did dwell") Roud 409; Roud 18832; Laws P24
a1. "The Butcher Boy." broadside [Philadelphia]: J.H. Johnson, song publisher, 7 N. Tenth St., Philadelphia, 1858.
a2. "The Butcher Boy," broadside from H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864 Bodleian, Harding B 18(72) c. 1860
a3. "The Butcher Boy of Baltimore," broadside words and music by Harry Tofflin. "Wm. J. Schmidt, 2507 W. North Ave. NY c. 1865. Standard text with Baltimore added.
a4. "The Butcher Boy" Henry De Marsan's New Comic and Sentimental Singer's Journal, Issue 1, p. 16, NY, 1871
a5. "The Butcher Boy." Broadside by Henry J. Wehman, Song Publisher, No. 50 Chatham Street, New York City; c.1880.
b. "The Butcher Boy." Contributed by Lorraine Purvis, Grundy Center, as sung by older members of her family about 1870; Stout H.
c. "In Jersey Town," sung by an English nurse in Virginia; from: The London Ballads by W. H. Babcock; The Folk-Lore Journal, Vol. 7, No. 1 (1889), pp. 27-35.
d. "Butcher Boy." Sung by Ida M. Cromwell of central Iowa. From: Songs I Sang on an Iowa Farm by Ida M. Cromwell, Eleanor T. Rogers, Tristram P. Coffin and Samuel P. Bayard; Western Folklore, Vol. 17, No. 4 (Oct., 1958), pp. 229-247+312.
e. "Ballad of the Butcher Boy." From the singing of Billy Hartman, aged wandering farm hand, at Speedwell Mills, Lancaster County, August 7, 1899. From: Keystone folklore quarterly, Volume 2, no. 1, p. 26; Spring 1957.
f. "The Butcher Boy." Stout A. Contributed by Miss Edith Stanley, Massena, as dictated by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Stanley, Massena- learned before 1901.
g. "The Butcher Boy." Secured by Miss Williams in 1903 from Eva Packard, of Clinton County, who learned it 'from a hired girl.'Belden A, from Ballads and Songs; 1940.
h. 'The Butcher Boy.' Secured in 1903 by W. S. Johnson from Mr. Vaughan, principal of the high school in Tuscumbia, Miller County. Belden B, from Ballads and Songs; 1940.
i. "In Jessie's City- English version from maid, Emma Turner at Ingrave Rectory, Essex, in 1905 collected by R. V. Williams; fromJournal of the Folk-Song Society-Volume 2- p.160 by Folk-Song Society (Great Britain), 1905.
j. "Butcher Boy." Secured by Miss Charlotte F. Corder in 1906 from Nellie Martin of Corder, Lafayette County, who learned it from her tattler, who knew it as a boy in South Carolina. Belden C, from Ballads and Songs; 1940.
k. "Butcher Boy," sung by Almeida Riddle; recorded by John Quincy Wolf, Jr. in Miller, AR 8/22/57. Learned from a fellow student in 1912.
l. "The Farmer's Boy"' From Miss Lura Wagoner's manuscript book of songs lent to Dr. Brown in 1936, in which this song is dated March 15, 1913; Brown version K.
m. "The Butcher's Boy." Text obtained by Lillian Gear Boswell at Hartville, Wyoming, 1914, from American Ballads and Songs by Louise Pound, 1922.
n. "The Butcher's Boy," text collected by Miss Mary O. Eddy from Miss Jane Goon, both of Perrysville, Ohio; from: Some Songs Traditional in the United States, by Albert Tolman, c. 1915; reprint JAF 1916.
o. "Butcher Boy," sung by Jane Hicks Gentry of Hot Springs, NC on August 23, 1916; Sharp B. One stanza from Sharp's English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians and the rest from his MS.
p. "The Blue Eyed Boy," sung by Hezekiah Crane of Flag Pond, Tennessee on September 3, 1916. Collected by Cecil Sharp. From: Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/9/2474).
q. "The Butcher's Boy." Cox A, communicated by Miss Sallie Evans, Elkins, Randolph County, 1917; obtained from Miss Nellie Haddix, who got it from her mother, who learned it from her parents. Folk Songs of the South, 1925.
r. "The Butcher Boy." Cox B; Folk Songs of the South, 1925. Communicated by Professor C. E. Haworth, Huntington, Cabell County, 1917; obtained from Miss Virginia Ransom, who got it from a woman servant who had lived in Kentucky.
s. "Butcher Boy." Sung by Ellen Bigney of Nova Scotia, publsihed in 1919 book, Quest of the Ballad; Mackenzie A
t. "In Jefferson City." Brown A, from Mrs. Sutton's manuscript book of ballads of North Carolina, where this item was entered probably about 1920.
u. "Butcher Boy," sung by William Amos “Doc” Abrams (1905-1991), originally from Pinetops in Edgecombe County, North Carolina, learned when he was a little boy. From W. Amos Abrams Folksong Collection; Digital Collections at Appalachian State University.
v. "Butcher's Boy," sung by Kelly Harrell of Wythe County, Virginia on January 7, 1925 Victor REC, NYC.
w. "Butcher Boy," sung by Spencer Moore of Chilhowie, Virginia with guitar; learned in 1925. Recorded by Gwilym Davies in 1997.
x. "Butcher Boy." Hudson A; contributed by Mrs. G. V. Easley, Tula, Mississippi, from a MS. sent her by her relative, Mr. Z. J. Jenkins, a former resident of Calhoun County. From: Ballads and Songs from Mississippi by Arthur Palmer Hudson; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 39, No. 152 (Apr.-Jun., 1926), page 122.
y. "In Kosciusko." Communicated by Mr. Sanford R. Hughston, Principal of the Courtland (Panola County, Mississippi) Public School; taken from a pupil; hudson b, Ballads and Songs from Mississippi by Arthur Palmer Hudson; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 39, No. 152 (Apr.- Jun., 1926), page 122.
z. "In Jersey," Henry C, this version of the song did not come from the South. It was obtained from Miss Nancy Giannotti, Dickinson High School, Jersey City, New Jersey, 1926, who after hearing various versions of the song, then recorded the version of the song.
aa. "Go Bring Back my Blue-Eyed Boy" sung by Frances Ries Batavia, Ohio, before 1927. Carl Sandburg's "American Sandbag," 1927; Sandburg A.
bb. "London City," no informant named, sung in US before 1927-- text from Robert W. Gordon probably from US south. Sandburg B
cc. "The Butcher Boy," sent in by farm Life reader; from: Farm Life - Volume 46, Issue 3 - page 16, 1927; reprinted in Arkansas Review: KQAR. - page 199, 1999.
dd. "The Butcher Boy." Contributed by Mrs. Willard Thompson, Cape John, Pictou County, NS; Ballads and Sea Songs from Nova Scotia, W. Mackenzie, 1928, version B. Appears to be Irish, has "Dublin" and "rain and snow" stanza.
ee. "Butcher's Boy," sung by Frank Luther. Recorded on GG 4133, mid 1928, in NYC.
ff. "The Railroad Boy," sung by Buell Kazee of Magoffin County, Kentucky. Recorded on January 16, 1928 in New York City.
gg. "Butcher Boy," sung by Bradley Kincaid, first recorded July 12, 1928. This version is from the 1963 recording on Bluebonnet. Also in his 1928 booklet, My Favorite Mountain Ballads & Oldtime Songs (only 5 stanzas).
hh. "Butcher Boy." Sung by Mrs. Bessie Anderson, Powell, Mo., Aug. 30, 1928. From Ozark Folksongs, Vol. 1 British Ballads and Songs; 1946 by Vance Randolph, version A.
ii. "Butcher Boy." Contributed by Mrs. Ruth Hains, Jane, Mo., July 16, 1928. From Ozark Folksongs, Vol. 1 British Ballads and Songs; 1946 by Vance Randolph, version C.
jj. "Butcher's Boy." From the Harrisburg Telegraph a newspaper dated September 14, 1928 printed in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. No informant named.
kk. "Butcher Boy," sung by Mr. Edward Hartley, c.1929, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia; Helen Creighton's, Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia, Toronto & Vancouver: J.M. Dent & Sons, Limited, (1932).
ll. "In Jersey City," Henry D, was recorded by Thaddeus Napiorski, a student in Dickinson High School, Jersey City, NJ, 1929.
mm. "In Johnson City." Obtained from Mrs. Minnie Church of Heaton, Avery county, NC in 1930. From Brown Collection; version I.
nn. "Butcher's Boy." Obtained from Miss Rachel Tucker, Varnell, Georgia, who had it from her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Harmon, of Cade's Cove, Blount County, Tennessee, October, 1930. Henry, version A.
oo. "In Jersey City." Version A was obtained in 1930 from Miss Bessie Martin, Sebewaing, who had learned the song from having heard it sung at country gatherings in the "Thumb District" from the time that she began attending such gatherings fifteen years earlier. From Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan, by Chickering and Emelyon Elizabeth Gardner, 1939.
pp. "The Butcher's Boy." Contributed by Lois Whitbee, probably in NC about 1930. From the Bascom Lamar Lunsford Collection, Box 69, Folder B; Southern Appalachian Archives, Liston B. Ramsey Center for Regional Studies, Mars Hill University; Identifier mh00021.
qq. "The Butcher's Boy," contributed by Dora Blanton of Gaffney, Rt. 3, Cherokee County, South Carolina about 1930. From the Bascom Lamar Lunsford Collection, Box 69, Folder B; Southern Appalachian Archives, Liston B. Ramsey Center for Regional Studies, Mars Hill University.
rr. "The Butcher's Boy." Version C, no informant, location probably NC, date (1930) estimated from age, location of MSS in collection. From Bascom Lamar Lunsford Collection, Box 69, Folder B; Southern Appalachian Archives, Liston B. Ramsey Center for Regional Studies, Mars Hill University.
ss. "Jefferson City." Version D, no informant, location probably NC, date (1930) estimated from age, location of MSS in collection. From Bascom Lamar Lunsford Collection, Box 69, Folder B; Southern Appalachian Archives, Liston B. Ramsey Center for Regional Studies, Mars Hill University.
tt. "Johnson City." Version E, contributed by Gera Norris, location probably NC; date (1930) estimated from age, location of MSS in collection. From Bascom Lamar Lunsford Collection, Box 69, Folder B; Southern Appalachian Archives, Liston B. Ramsey Center for Regional Studies, Mars Hill University.
uu. "Jaunson City." Version F, from Clyde West of Robbinsville, Graham County, North Carolina, date (1930) estimated from age, location of MSS in collection. From Bascom Lamar Lunsford Collection, Box 69, Folder B; Southern Appalachian Archives, Liston B. Ramsey Center for Regional Studies, Mars Hill University.
vv. "The Butcher Boy." Recovered Mr. Brown, September 15, 1930 in Bennington, Vermont, from the singing of Mrs. Ralph Harrington. She learned this from her mother. From "Vermont Folk Songs and Ballads" Flanders/Brown, 1933.
xx. "Butcher's Boy." Sung by Rosie Oikle, white, aged about 30 of Liberpool before 1931. From Folklore from Nova Scotia collected by Arthur Huff Fauset (1899-1983), New York : American Folk-Lore Society: G.E. Stechert and Co., Agents, 1931.
yy. "Butcher's Boy," sung by Ora Johnson, of Russell Fork, Council, Virginia about 1931. Scarborough B; A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains, 1938.
zz. "Butcher's Boy," sung by Bessie Musick of Artrip, on Big A Mountain, Buchanan County, Virginia about 1931. Scarborough C; A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains, 1938.
aaa. "Butcher's Boy." sung by Mrs. Mary N. Presley, of Council, Virginia about 1931. Scarborough D; A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains, 1938.
bbb. "Butcher's Boy," sung by Mrs. Lillian Corbin, of High Hampton, North Carolina about 1931. Scarborough G; A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains, 1938.
ccc. "Butcher's Boy," sung by Mrs. Charity Lovingood, whose homestead was at the head of Owl Creek, on Hanging Dog Road, near Murphy, North Carolina. about 1931. Scarborough H; A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains, 1938.
ddd. "Butcher Boy," sung by Paul Lorette of Manchester Center, VT, 1931; collected by Flanders; from Box 2, Cylinder 15 of the Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College Special Collections & Archives.
eee. ""The False Lover." Stout B, contributed by Paul Parmer, Maquoketa, as known by his aunts, Miss Belle Parmer and Mrs. Chas. Robbins. From Folklore from Iowa, collected and edited by Earl J. Stout, 1936.
fff. "The Butcher's Boy." Stout I, contributed by Anna Marie Lauterbach, Reinbeck about 1931. From Folklore from Iowa, collected and edited by Earl J. Stout, 1936.
ggg. "London City," Henry B. Obtained from Miss Mary E. King, Gatlinburg, Sevier County, Tennessee, who had it from Dock Stinnett, Sevierville, Tennessee. From Mellinger Henry, Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands (New York: J. J. Augustin, 1938.
hhh. "My Love Willie (Mon Cher Willie)" sung in French/Cajun by Hippolyte Dupont of Kaplan, Louisianna in June, 1934. From Lomax recording June 1934 and Traditional Music in Coastal Louisiana: The 1934 Lomax Recordings by Joshua Clegg Caffery.
iii. "The Butcher Boy," Brewster A. Contributed by Mrs. Ira V. Rothrock, of Mount Vernon, Indiana. Posey County. May 20, 1935. From Brewster, Ballads and Songs of Indiana, 1940.
jjj. "The Butcher's Boy." Contributed by Mrs. Hiram Vaughan, City, Indiana. Gibson County. March 7, 1935. From Brewster, version B, Ballads and Songs of Indiana, 1940.
kkk. "The Butcher's Boy." Contributed by Mr. Kenneth Williams, of Oakland City, Indiana. Gibson County. Secured by him from an uncle. March 19, 1935. From Brewster, version C, Ballads and Songs of Indiana, 1940.
lll. "The Butcher's Boy," sung by Aunt Molly Jackson of Kentucky in September 1935; recorded in New York City, New York. From Internet Archive's Collection of Alan Lomax's Kentucky Recordings, 1937-1942.
mmm. "The Butcher's Boy," sung by Jimmy Morris of Hazard, Perry County on October 20, 1937. From Internet Archive's Collection of Alan Lomax's Kentucky Recordings, 1937-1942.
nnn. "Railroad Boy," sung by Nell Hampton of Salyersville, Magoffin-- recorded October 26, 1937 by Alan Lomax in two parts; From Internet Archive's Collection of Alan Lomax's Kentucky Recordings, 1937-1942.
ooo. "The Butcher's Boy," sung by Ben Rice of Springfield, Missouri; recorded by Sidney Robertson Jan. 1937. From Library of Congress recording AFS 03224 A01. California Gold: Northern California Folk Music from the Thirties.
ppp. "The Butcher's Boy," sung by J. F. (Farmer) Collett of Marrowbone Creek, Gardner, KY on Sept. 26, 1937. Incomplete transcription. From Internet Archive's Collection of Alan Lomax's Kentucky Recordings, 1937-1942.
qqq. "In Jersey City," by Minnie Curtis. Taken from Ruth Shoon Oct. 1 1937, a student at App State, who got it from her mother Mrs Fred Shoon, who got it from Mrs. Shoon's mother, Mrs. Minnie Curtis. From Abrams Collection, App State.
rrr. "The Butcher's Boy," sung by a young boy, Irving David Caldwell, of Ashland, Kentucky, Boyd County recorded at the home of Jean Thomas on June 28, 1937. From Internet Archive's Collection of Alan Lomax's Kentucky Recordings, 1937-1942.
sss. "The Butcher's Boy," sung by Virgie Bailey of Hyden, KY on September 29, 1937. Incomplete transcription. From Internet Archive's Collection of Alan Lomax's Kentucky Recordings, 1937-1942.
ttt. "Butcher's Boy," sung by Liza Stewart of Hazard, Perry County, KY on October 18, 1937. From Internet Archive's Collection of Alan Lomax's Kentucky Recordings, 1937-1942.
uuu. "The Butcher Boy," sung by Captain Pearl Nye on 11-03-1937; collected by John Lomax. Library of Congress from Captain Pearl R. Nye collection AFS 1609 A03 at American Folklife Center. cf Kelly Harrell.
vvv. "The Butcher Boy," text (written down by Agnes Rogers) from Lily Green, a native of Tristan da Cunha c. 1938.
The Song Tradition of Tristan da Cunha; 1970 by Peter Munch.
www. "Jefferson City." Obtained by Miss Irene Mache, Belleville. She learned it from Henrietta Knefelkamp, also of that city who learned the song from a neighbor. Neely A, from Tales and Songs of Southern Illinois pages 145-148 by Charles Neely published in 1938.
xxx. "Butcher Boy." Mr. Dave H. Adamson of Belleville gave Neely this variant, Neely B. From Tales and Songs of Southern Illinois pages 145-148 by Charles Neely published in 1938.
yyy. "Butcher Boy," Secured by Mr. William H. Creed from the MSS book of Mrs. Clara Walpert of that city, Neely C. From Tales and Songs of Southern Illinois pages 145-148 by Charles Neely published in 1938.
zzz. "Butcher Boy." Miss Irene Mache, Belleville also gave me this variant which she obtained from Mrs. Ida Thompson, Neely D. From Tales and Songs of Southern Illinois pages 145-148 by Charles Neely published in 1938.
aaaa. "Butcher Boy," sung by Ada F. Kelley of West Harwich, Massachusetts, learned this song from her uncle, a descendant of David O'Killy, who came from Ireland about the middle of the seventeenth century. It has been a great favorite in the Kelley family for many generations. From Folk Songs of Old New England, Linscott, 1939.
bbbb. "Jersey City." From Mrs. Melissa Moores, Perrysville, Ohio before 1939. As found in Ballads and Songs from Ohio, 1939 by Mary Eddy.
cccc. "The Butcher Boy," sung by Mrs. M. E. Warner, Melco, Ohio before 1939. From Ballads and Songs from Ohio, 1939 by Mary Eddy.
dddd. "London City." Sung by Edith Walker. Recorded, but no date or place given. From The Brown Collection of NC Folklore, Volume 4, 1956, version 4K.
eeee. "The Butcher's Boy." Collected from James York of Olin, Iredell county, in 1939 From The Brown Collection of NC Folklore, Volume 4, 1956, version B.
ffff. "The Butcher's Boy." Sung by May Kennedy McCord, of Springfield, Missouri, 1939. From Texas Folk Songs by William Owens, 1950 edition.
gggg. "Butcher's Boy." From an old MS, entitled, "Song Ballet," and is signed: Bernard B. Smith, and Brax Combs of Spider, Kentucky (Knott County). From Folk-Songs from the Kentucky Highlands collected by Josiah Combs, 1939.
hhhh. "The Butcher's Boy," sung by The Blue Sky Boys of Hickory, NC in 1940. Bluebird recording B8482, on 2-5-1940 reissued on "Classic Country Remastered: Atlanta, GA – New York City 1940-1947.”
iiii. "In Jersey City," no informant named. Sung pre1940 in New York. From: Body, Boots, & Britches: Folktales, Ballads, and Speech from Country New York by Harold Thompson, pp. 387-388, 1940. Thompson A.
jjjj. "Butcher Boy," voice performance by Lena Bourne Fish at E. Jaffrey (New Hampshire). Classification #: LAP24. Dated 1940 with a second recording dated 1943. D04B, archival cassette dub from Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College Special Collections & Archives.
kkkk. "Butcher's Boy." Sung by Mrs. Lillian Short, Galena, Mo., Sept. 17, 1941. She learned it years ago from Mrs. Lucy Short Dillard, Crane, Mo. Ozark Folksongs Vol. 1 British Ballads and Songs; 1946 by Vance Randolph, version E.
llll. "The Butcher Boy." Yet another from Stanly county, obtained from Autie Bell Lambert before 1943. From The Brown Collection of NC Folklore, Volume 2, 1952, version F.
mmmm. "Butcher Boy," voice performance by Alice Robie at Pittsburg, New Hampshire. Classification #: LAP24. Dated 07-19-1943. From D37805, a digitized archival cassette in the Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College Special Collections & Archives.
nnnn. "In Jersey City," (London) sung by Miss F. Watts and Miss A. Teesdale with music, 1943. From Late Joys at the Players' theatre, London - page 69.
oooo. "Butcher Boy," sung by Paul Peterson at Providence, Rhode Island on Jan. 28, 1945. From a digitized archival cassette in the Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College Special Collections & Archives.
pppp. "Butcher Boy," Amos Eaton at S. Royalton (Vt.) on August, 12, 1945. From a digitized archival cassette in the Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College Special Collections & Archives.
qqqq. "Butcher Boy," furnished by Mrs. Walter Gilley, Mrs. T. L. Lassiter and Miss Ruby L. Robinson, all of Smithville, Tennessee. From Memory Melodies- A Collection of Folk-Songs from Middle Tennessee- McDowell; 1947.
rrrr. "Butcher Boy," from two voice performances by Oliver Jenness at York (Maine). Classification #: LAP24. Dated 09-20-1947 and 09-23-1948. D52B, archival cassette dub from Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College Special Collections & Archives.
ssss. "Butcher Boy," from Cal Conklin, itinerant handyman of the Tallman-Monsey-Laden-town section of Rockland County. From Ballad of the Butcher Boy in the Rampano Mountains by Anne Lutz, New York Folklore Quarterly - Volume 3, 1947.
tttt. "Johnson City," sung by Robert Wallace Tuscaloosa, Alabama on June 18, 1948. From: Folksongs of Alabama by Byron Arnold. — University : University of Alabama Press, 1950.
uuuu. "The Butcher Boy," sung by Mrs. Robert A. Hill of Golden City, Missouri on July 20, 1950. [From Ozark Folksong Collection; Reel 63, Item 5. Collected by Merlin Mitchell. Transcribed by Mary C. Parler, version E.
vvvv. "Railroad Boy." Recorded from the singing of Mrs. J. F. Hornbeak, Moss Bluff, Florida who learned the song in Kentucky. Folksongs of Florida; Morris, 1950-- Morris A
wwww. "The Butcher's Boy." Text received from Miss Annie Mary Register, who obtained it from Mrs. L. B. Brady, a native of White Springs, Florida. Folksongs of Florida; Morris, 1950-- Morris B
xxxx. "The Butcher Boy," from E.L. Simons (recorded in 1951): Both my grandfather and grandmother Simons are acquainted with this version, and I suspect that it was learned from my great-grandmother Raburn.
yyyy. "The Butcher Boy," sung by Bert Fitzgerald of Trepassey, NL. From: MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada
zzzz. "Butcher Boy," voice performance by William Webster at Wakefield (Rhode Island). Classification #: LAP24. Dated 11-13-1952. From D37805, a digitized archival cassette in the Helen Hartness Flanders Ballad Collection at Middlebury College Special Collections & Archives.
aaaaa. "Butcher Boy," obtained from Leona DuBois Lipscomb at Clarksville on November 21, 1953. Lipscomb had it from her grandmother, Effie Villines Tucker (Mrs. George Tucker), a native and longtime resident of Cross Plains, in northeastern Robertson County. From Folk Songs of Middle Tennessee, George Boswell Collection. Notes by Charles Wolfe.
bbbbb. "Butcher's Boy," sung by Inez Gibson of Fayetteville, Ark. on May 18, 1956. "My mother taught me." From Ozark Folksong Collection; Reel 311, Item 5. Collected by Mary C. Parler, Parler G.
ccccc. "The Butcher Boy," sung by Sarah Makem of Keady, County Armagh, Northern Ireland. One of Sarah Makem's two 1956 recordings made by Diane Hamilton is included on her Musical Traditions anthology "As I Roved Out"
ddddd. "Butcher's Boy," sung by Vesta Belt of Wichita Kansas who learned it from her mother Mrs. E. D. Massenger-- as performed on youtube by Joan O'Bryant. From Folksongs and Ballads of Kansas; Collected and performed by Kansas native Joan O'Bryant on Smithsonian Folkways, 1957.
eeeee. "The Butcher Boy." Sung by Mrs. Lucy Quigley Huntsville Road, Eureka Springs, Arkansas September 2, 1958. From Max Hunter and also Ozark Folksong Collection; Reel 253-54, Item 18. Collected by Max Hunter.
fffff. "Butcher Boy." Sung by Gladys McChristian of Huntsville, Arkansas July 16, 1958. From Ozark Folksong Collection; Reel 245, Item 6. Collected by Gladys McChristian for Mary C. Parler, version D.
ggggg. "Soldier Boy," Sung by Mrs. Pearl Brewer Pocahontas, Arkansas on August 28, 1958. from Ozark Folksong Collection; Reel 297, Item 4. Collected and transcribed by Mary Celestia Parler, version F.
hhhhh. "The Butcher's Boy." Sung by Buck Buttery of Lincoln, Arkansas on August 19, 1958. From Ozark Folksong Collection; Reel 281, Item 23. Collected by Marvin Wallace for Mary C. Parler, version H.
iiiii. "Butcher Boy." As sung by Mrs. Doug "Ina" Harvey, Rolla, Missouri on June 30, 1958. From Max Hunter Collection; Cat. #0145 (MFH #37), version C.
jjjjj. "Butcher Boy." No informant named, Pennsylvania, 1958 From: Samuel P. Bayard; Western Folklore; Vol. 17, No. 4 (Oct., 1958).
kkkkk. "Butcher Boy," Amelia (Wallace) Kinslow [1903-1985] of Isle aux Morts, NL, 1959. Collected by Peacock. From: Songs Of The Newfoundland Outports, Volume 3, pp.707-708, by The National Museum Of Canada (1965) by Kenneth Peacock.
lllll. "Butcher Boy." Sung by Mrs. Mildred Ratliff of Dutton, Arkansas on January 4, 1959. From Ozark Folksong Collection; Reel 270 Item 12. Collected by Billie Lou Ratliff for Mary C. Parler, version A.
mmmmm. "The Farmer's Boy." Sung by Mr. J. Ralph Vass, with guitar, Hillsville, Virginia, March 27, 1959. From: Folk Songs of the Blue Ridge Mountains by Herbert Shellans; 1968.
nnnnn. "The Butcher's Boy." As sung by Dorothy Ross, Rogers, Arkansas on August 19, 1959. From Max Hunter Collection; Cat. #0397 (MFH #37), version D
ooooo. "Butcher Boy." Sung by Bessie Atchley Green Forest, Arkansas July 7, 1960. From Ozark Folksong Collection; Reel 387, Item 2. Collected by M.C. Parler, version B.
ppppp. "The Butcher Boy," collected from Mr. Edwin Mays in Columbus, Ohio (he learned the song in Irish Creek, Virginia). From: The Butcher Boy by Donald M. Winkelman; Western Folklore, Vol. 21, No. 3 (Jul., 1962), pp. 186-187.
qqqqq. "The Butchler's Boy" sung by Vern Smeiser, 1963. From Art of Field Recording Volume 2.
rrrrr. "Butcher's Boy." sung by Grant Rogers as recorded by Sandy Paton, in Walton, New York, in 1964. From: Songmaker of the Catskills, Folk Legacy FSA 027, LP (1965), trk# 20.
sssss. “Snow Dove” by Bob Baker and the Pike County Boys; recording released in 1991; learned from his parents in Pike County, KY. From the recording "Mountain Music Bluegrass style" Bob Baker and the Pike County Boys; released in 1991; published old-Time string band Book, 1964.
ttttt. "The Butcher Boy" sung by Maybelle Simmonds of Lowlands, Nevis about 1965. From: Charles Walters: West Indian Autolycus by Roger D. Abrahams; Western Folklore, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Apr., 1968), pp. 77-95
uuuuu. "Butcher Boy," sung by LaRena Clark of Ontario, recorded c. 1965. From: A Family Heritage: The Story and Songs of LaRena Clark by Edith Fowke, Jay Rahn, LaRena LeBarr Clark.
vvvvv. "Butcher Boy," sung by Jim Cleveland (b. 1924) of Brant Lake, New York about 14 February, 1998. Learned from his mother. From a recording made by Gwilym Davies in 1998.
wwwww. "Butcher Boy," sung by Lem Griffis of Fargo, Georgia (on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp) collected about 1966 and dated back to the late 1700s, early 1800s by his grandparents. From Storytellers: Folktales & Legends from the South edited by John A. Burrison; 1991.
xxxxx. "The Butcher's Boy." As sung by Sam Hinton, originally from Texas, in 1966. From Folkways Records Album No. FA 2401; 1966
yyyyy. "Down in Adairsville," sung by Hedy West, with banjo, recorded 1967. From Hedy West's recording "Ballads" on Topic Records first released 1967. Adairsville is a city in Bartow County, Georgia.
zzzzz. "Alabama City" sung by Mrs. Carter, 77 years old, from New Market, Alabama; from a tape recording by Mrs. Alice Dill, 1968. From: Bulletin - Volumes 34-37 - Page 84; Tennessee Folklore Society - 1968.
aaaaaa. "The Butcher Boy," sung by "Queen" Caroline Hughes of Blandford, Dorset in in April 1968. From Topic anthology I'm a Romany Rai (The Voice of the People Series Volume 22), 2012.
bbbbbb. "Butcher Boy." As sung by Ollie Gilbert, Mountain View, Arkansas on June 25, 1969. From Max Hunter Collection; Cat. #0797 (MFH #37), version E.
cccccc. "Butcher Boy." As sung by Roy Wrinkle, Mountain View, Arkansas on August 26, 1969. From Max Hunter Folk Song Collection- Cat. #0834 (MFH #37), version G.
dddddd. "The Butcher's Boy." Sung by Mrs Buell Bush of Cox's Mill, WV c.1971 Learned from her grandmother Mary Brown, who emigrated from England in 1877 at the age of seventeen. From Michael E. "Jim" Bush's Folk Song of Central West Virginia, volume II, c. 1972.
eeeeee. "Butcher Boy," As sung by Bill Ping, Santa Rosa, California on September 20, 1972. From Max Hunter Collection; Cat. #1473 (MFH #37), version B.
ffffff. *"The Butcher Boy"- obtained from Mrs. N. C. Waugh before 1918, who learned it from her mother. From Canadian Folk-Lore from Ontario by F. W. Waugh; The Journal of American Folklore; Vol. 31, No. 119 (Jan. - Mar., 1918), pp. 4-82. *added out of chronological order.
gggggg. *"The Butcher Boy"- sung by Mrs. Schell, Banner Elk, NC in 1933. From Beech Mountain Folk Songs and Ballads- Maurice Matteson/ Mellinger Henry, 1936. *added out of chronological order.
hhhhhh. "Butcher Boy," sung by Dimple Savage Thompson of Monroe County, Kentucky; published in 1975. From: Monroe County Folklife - page 16; 1975.
iiiiiii. "London City Where I Did Dwell" sung by Morgan Sexton of Linefork, Southeastern Kentucky. From the recording on June Appal — Shady Grove also from the video Morgan Sexton: Banjo Player from Bull Creek.
jjjjjj. "The Butcher Boy," as sung by Betty Smith of NC. From The continuing tradition. Volume 1: Ballads on Folk-Legacy Records, 1981.
kkkkkk. "Butcher Boy."Sung by Russell Lahew an 84 year-old from Mannington, West Virginia during winter of 1997-1998. Transcribed from a recording by Gwilym Davies in West Virginia.
F. Foolish Young Girl, or, Irish Boy ("What a foolish girl was I,") Roud 60
a. "The Irish Boy," Elizabeth St. Clair of Edinburgh, c.1770; Clark, The Mansfield Manuscript (2015) pp.4-6.
b. "A New Love Song," Gil, No. 6, printed by Bart. Corcoran, Inn's Quay, Dublin c. 1774?
c. "The Maid's Tragedy," a broadside from St. Bride's Printing Library S447 (my ref BS 1900), c1790.
d. "The Irish Boy," a broadside, Poet's Box, 80 London Street, Glasgow, c. 1872
e. "Sailor Boy," sung by Georgina Reid of Aberdeenshire, about 1882 Duncan C
f. "Foolish Young Girl" From John Strachan, of Strichen, b. 1875 heard the song as a child. His mother used to sing it, c. 1885.
g. "The Student Boy," sung by William Wallace of Leochel-Cushnie, Aberdeenshire about Sept. 17, 1908. From The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection- Volume 8- page 521 by Patrick N. Shuldham-Shaw, Emily B. Lyle, published 2002.
h. "Irish Boy," sung by Annie Shirer (b. 1873) of Kininmonth who got her ballads from her father and Uncle Kenneth Shirer. Collected by Gavin Grieg, c. 1908.
i. "The Foolish Young Girl," sung by Willie Mathieson of Ellon, Aberdeenshire. Recorded by Hamish Henderson in 1952. This variant includes stanzas from three different songs. Text proofed with MS provided by Cathlin Macaulay and Caroline Milligan of the School of Scottish Studies.
j. "Foolish Young Girl," sung by Jean Elvin, Turriff, 1952- recorded by Hamish Henderson. From "Tocher: Tales, Songs, Tradition" - Issue 43 - Page 41, 1991.
k. "I Wish I Was a Maid Again" sung by Bella Stewart; Recorded by Calum Iain Maclean in 1955. School of Scottish Studies.
l. "A Student Boy," sung by Norman Kennedy of Aberdeen about 1958. Folk-Legacy Records: Ballads and Songs of Scotland, FSS 034, LP (1968)
m. "The Irish Boy," sung by Phyllis Martin, Dalbeattie Scotland who learned it c. 1960s from her mother Joan Cron of Wigtonshire, who is in her 80's.
n. "The Young Foolish Girl," sung by Jeannie Hutchison, Traditional Music from the Shetland Isles (online) SA1974.13.3, March, 1974.
G. Queen of Hearts ("The Queen of Hearts and the Ace of sorrow") Roud 3195
a. "The Queen of Hearts" Pitts Printer; Wholesale Toy and Marble warehouse 6, Great St. Andrew street; 7 Dials, London- c.1820
b. "The Queen of Hearts" Wright, Printer, 113, Moor-Street, Birmingham c. 1833
c. "Queen of Hearts" Collected Baring-Gould as sung by a workman engaged on the Burrow-Tor reservoir at Sheepstor, the water supply for Plymouth, 1894
H. The Darling Rose ("My love he is a false love,"); broadside, an imitation of a minstrel version.
a. "The Darling Rose," a broadside (GPB 585) Air- Beauty and the Beast; October 4, 1851
I. There is a Tavern in the Town by William H. Hills, c.1883. ("There is a tavern in the town") Roud 18834; "Radoo, Radoo Radoo;" "Adieu;"
a. "There Is a Tavern in the Town" from 1883 edition of William H. Hill's Student Songs. Also R. Marsh songbook of similar date published Marsh & Co., St. James's Walk, Clerkenwell, London. Derived from earlier songs including the "Died for Love" songs.
b. "Radoo, Radoo, Radoo," an African-American song from which part of the chorus of "There is a Tavern" was borrowed. Radoo is dated pre1869 when it was heard during a tour of US South by Irish writer Justin McCarthy. Earliest print is circa 1883 in R. Marsh songbook published Marsh & Co., St. James's Walk, Clerkenwell, London. The music was published by Bessie O'Connor about 1885 who also learned it years earlier in the US south. it appears in two London songsters; W. S. Fortey's "The Popular Songster" and W. S. Fortey's "Yankee Barnum's Songster" [no date given] and with music in the 1886 fictional book, "The Right Honourable": A Romance of Society and Politics, by McCarthy and Campbell-Praed; published by D. Appleton and Company.
c. "Tavern in the Town" by F. J. Adams, 1891.
d. "Adieu." Communicated to Miss Hamilton in 1911 by Shirley Hunt of the Kirksville Teachers College.
e. "Adieu," sung by Mrs. Nathaniel Stone of Culpper Virginia on Nov. 15, 1916 in Traditional Ballads of Virginia by Kyle Davis Jr.
f. "I'll Hang My Harp on a Willow Tree." Contributed by Miss Amy Henderson of Worry, Burke county, NC; not dated, but at some time before 1916. Brown Collection III, 1952.
g. "Grieve, Oh Grieve." Sung by Sam Hinton of Texas in 1966 he learned it from his mother when he was a boy; dated 1927.
h. "The Drunkard Song." Rudy Vallee, 1934
J. Maiden's Prayer ("She was a maiden young and fair") c.1908; Roud 18828 [possible ref. "The Best of Friends Must Part" J. Blockley, printer, London].
a. "The Soldier's Love," sung by Fred Cottenham (Kent) c.1925
b. "Maiden's Prayer," Airman's Song Book, p126 by C Ward Jackson and Leighton Lucas, dated c. 1933.
c. "A Maiden Young and Fair," 1933 Airman's song; Posted online at Aircrew Remembered, "sent anon." to Webmaster Kelvin Youngs.
d. "All You Maidens Sweet and Kind." From Hamish Henderson's "Ballads of World War II" (Caledonian Press, Glasgow, 1947). Recorded (almost) verbatim on Ewan MacColl's "Bless 'em All and Other British Army Songs" (Riverside, 1959).
e. "Miner Came from Work." kixgrix: sung to me by my welsh father when I was little; he learnt while in the army (WWII). Posted in 2007 by kixgrix-- http://able2know.org/topic/52-2.
f. "The Sailor’s Lament." sung by Vern Williams of Dora Creek, NSW, Australia in 1947. From: WarrenFahey.com, one of two version from Australia posted.
g. "A Man Came Home From Work One Night," sung by Sheila Stewart (1937-2014) of Blairgowrie, Perthshire; recorded by Maurice Fleming in Sept., 1954. School of Scottish Studies; Track ID - 33027; Original Tape ID - SA1954.122.
h. "A Maiden's Prayer" by Duffems: My grandfather used to sing this at Christmas time, he was born 1900 and I think the rhyme is a 19th. century song. Dated c. 1955.
i. "A Sailor Coming Home On Leave," sung by Derek and Hazel Sarjeant. Derek learned it, "Many many years ago in Kent" (about 1958). From: Youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e91Ug-CAjAc&feature=youtu.be titled Derek and Hazel Sarjeant in Concert - Hahnstatten, Germany, 1988.
j. "Borstal Boy." from his Brendan Behan's 1958 autobiographical book Borstal Boy.
k. "The Maiden’s Prayer." sung by Harry Cavanagh of North Ryde, NSW (near Sydney) Australia during July, 2000, learned circa 1959. From: WarrenFahey.com, one of two version from Australia posted.
l. "The Maiden's Prayer." Collected by John Meredith in 1959 at Gulgong NSW. Australia. Sung by "Cat" McManus who learned it from Alan "Killer" Riley. From: "Folk Songs of Australia and the men and women who sang them" John Meridith and Hugh Anderson. 1967.
m. "Sailor Coming Home." No source named. A cut the recording "Up The Foc'sle" by The Lower Mess-Deck Chorale Ensemble on Summit Records, 1966, ATL 4219.
n. "A Man Returning Home," from the singing of Harold Sykes of Hull aged 40 on 19th May, 1967. Recording by Steve Gardham.
o. "A Miner Coming Home One Night." From "More Rugby Songs" Sphere Books copyright Harry Morgan 1968.
p. "A Sailor's Leave." Sung by Georgiansilver who sang this acapella at [UK] Folk clubs in the 1970's. Posted by Georgiansilver on Mudcat discussion Forum in Dec., 2016.
q. "Maiden's Prayer," sung by Doreen Cross of Hessle, East Riding, Yorkshire in 1974. From "An East Riding Songster," 1982 by Steve Gardham.
r. "Sailor Boy." sung by Tony Ballinger of Brockworth. Recorded by Gwilym Davies, Upton St. Leonards, Gloucestershire on 14 April, 1977; Gwilym Davies Collection.
s. "A Working Man Came Home One Night," sung by Brian 'Jumper' Collins a member of Royal Navy, recorded in Cyprus, 1984. From: Gwilym Davies Collection. Recording supplied by Gwilym.
t. "A Girl Who Led a Life so Straight," sung by Stan Walters Stansted Mountfitchet (Essex) in 1989. From: Veteran VT135CD ('The Fox and the Hare'), 2012.
u. "A Father Came Home." Lauralillee of East Anglia (Suffolk/Norfolk) about 1991. She comments: I remember the song from when I was little about 20 years ago. From URL: http://able2know.org/topic/52-2. Posted Thurs 13 Jan, 2011 05:22 pm.
v. "Father He Came Home," as sung by Vicky S learned from her nanny and cousins in the UK about 1994. Posted URL: http://able2know.org/topic/52-2 on Tue 24 Aug, 2010 05:26 pm.
w. "A Soldier Boy Came Home." Jamaican version posted by mellyjane April 16, 2010. From URL: http://able2know.org/topic/52-2.
x. "A Soldier Boy," posted by AJxKraZe on Fri 6 May, 2011; I know this is right- I know this because my nanan & my auntie used to sing it to me.
y. "Died for Love." Sung by Freda Black in August, 2012. Black is about eighty-five and was born a Traveller in a Somerset field near Chew Magna. From Song Collectors .org online.
K. "Died for Love" hybrids (Composite versions with Died for Love stanzas which cannot be categorized with A-J)
a. "Betsy, My Darling Girl." Recorded on March 19, 1937, from the singing of Mrs. G. A. Griffin, Newberry, Florida, learned from her father in Georgia by 1877-- with music. First published in Southern Folklore Quarterly - Volume 8 - page 189, 1944; then in "Folksongs of Florida," Morris, 1950.
b. "Down In The Meadows," Louie Hooper & Lucy White at Hambridge, Somerset on Dec. 28 1903. From Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/10/64).
c. "There is An Alehouse," a second longer version from Ella Bull who it learned from Hannah Collins a domestic servant native of Cottenham, Cambridgeshire in 1886 and sent to Lucy Broadwood in December 20, 1904. From the Lucy Broadwood Manuscript Collection (LEB/5/60/2).
d. "The Farmer's Boy." Brown Collection version K from Miss Lura Wagoner's manuscript book of songs lent to Dr. Brown in 1936, in which this song is dated March 15, 1913. Includes four unusual stanzas.
e. "Little Sparrow," obtained through Mrs. Pearl H. Bartholomew from Mrs. Ella Taylor, both of Warren, Ind. Hybrid version from Some Songs Traditional in the United States; Tolman; Journal of American Folklore, Volume 29; 1916.
f. "Dearest Billie," sung by Miss Agnes Presley of Arden, NC in June 1917 who learned it from her mother. The song came from her mother's great-grandmother Polly Wynne who came from Ireland and settled in North Carolina before the Revolutionary War. From: Mountain Songs of North Carolina by Suzanne Wetmore and Marshall Bartholomew, 1927.
g. "Must I Go Bonds [Bound]" - sung by Peter Dyer. Aged about 55. Came to the United States at an early age, and settled in Nova Scotia about 20 years ago. From: Folklore from Nova Scotia collected by Arthur Huff Fauset, 1931. Also found in "Must I Go Bound."
h. "As I Walked Out." Sung by Eden Hash collected by Mrs. McDowell [no date] but published in 1947. From Memory Melodies- A Collection of Folk-Songs from Middle Tennessee- McDowell; 1947.
i. "The Forsaken Girl." sung by Eden Hash, collected by Mrs. L. L. McDowell published in 1947. From Memory Melodies- A Collection of Folk-Songs from Middle Tennessee- McDowell; 1947.
j. "Lullaby," sung by Carrie Grover of Gorham, Maine. From A Heritage of Songs, page 24 by Carrie B. Grover; Norwood, Pa., Norwood Editions, 1973 (completed in 1953).
k. "Morning Fair." Sung by Frank Proffitt of Beach Mountain NC, in 1962. From the recording Frank Proffitt of Reese, NC CD-1: American Folk Music by Folk-legacy, 1962. Learned from his aunt, Nancy Prather.
* * * *
The "Died for Love" Extended family of Ballads/Songs (Appendices)
7A. The Sailor Boy, or, Sweet William
7Aa. The Sailor on the Deep Blue Sea
7B. Love Has Brought Me To Despair
7C. Sheffield Park (The Unfortunate Maid)
7D. Every Night When The Sun Goes In
7E. Will Ye Gang Love, or, Rashy Muir
7F. My Blue-Eyed Boy
7G. Early, Early by the Break of Day
7H. She's Like the Swallow
7I. I Love You, Jamie
7J. I Know My Love
7K. Love Is Teasing (Love Is Pleasing)
7Ka. Oh Johnny, Johnny
7L. Careless Love
7La. Dink's Song
7M. The Colour of Amber
7N. Through Lonesome Woods
7O. Must I Go Bound?
7P. I am a Rover (The Rover)
7Q. Deep in Love (Deep as the Love I'm In)
7R. Yon Green Valley (Green Valley)
7S. Down in a Meadow (Unfortunate Swain)
7T. Bury Me Beneath The Willow
7U. Wheel of Fortune
7Ua. Young Ladies (Little Sparrow)
7V. The Ripest Apple (Ripest of Apples)
________________________________________
[The deeply emotional expression "Died for love" (archaic "Dy'ed for love") is one found throughout history. What greater sacrifice can there be than one who's died for the love of another? In many of our ballads in this study the maiden dies, "To show to the world that I died for love." This maid's epitaph is found in most ending stanzas of our ballads and is used to identify this large group of ballads. The "Died for Love" ballads are a series of ballads about a rejected maid who dies for the love of her false sweetheart. In many similar tragic ballads and legends a maid has died for her lover:
Tristan and Iseult (also Isolde)[1] is a tale inspired by a Celtic legend which was made popular during the 12th century through French medieval poetry. After her beloved Tristan dies, Isolde, who has no physical wound, dies of love upon Tristan's body. In the early 13th-century Mort Artu[2], the Demoiselle d’Escalot dies of unrequited love for Lancelot and drifts down a river to Camelot in a boat. In The idylliums of Theocritus[3] with Rapin's discourse of pastorals Theocritus by René Rapin (1621-1687), "A Goatherd perswades the Shepherd Thrysis to bewail Daphnis who dy'd for Love, and gives him a large Cup and Goat for a reward." In a collection of old English poems in six volumes[4] by several hands from Robert Dodsley (1703-1764), the tenth poem seems to be related to our ballads:
“No days of bliss my sorrows shall aslake,
For him I'll ever drop the dolorous tear:
Adieu the circled green, the buxom wake,
Since Colin's gone I taste of nought but drear.
Stretch me, ye maidens, stretch me on the bier,
And let my grave-stone these true words adorn:
A wretched maiden lies intombed here,
Who saw a shepherd brighter than the morn,
Then pin'd her heart way, and dy'd of love forlorn.”
In many of the "Died for Love" ballads the maiden's grave stone is also adorned - sometimes by a turtle dove so that "the world may know I died for love." This stanza is one of the important identifiers of this ballad and the related ballads;
Dig me a grave, both wide and deep;
Place a marble-stone for to cover it,
And in the middle a turtle dove,
To show young virgins I dy'd for love!"[5]
The ending stanza (above) from the 1700s is one of the earliest examples of this stanza which is very similar to the stanzas found in our complex series of ballads. An earlier stanza is found in 1675 "The Forlorn Lover," taken from the Bagford Collection (Ebsworth, Roxburghe Ballads, vi, 233, stanza 11):
O dig me a grave that is wide, large, and deep,
With a turf at my head, and another at my feet!
There will I lie, and take a lasting sleep,
And so bid her Farewel for ever[6].
In Observations on Popular Antiquities[7], John Brand observed, "This custom of laying flat stones in our churches and churchyards over the graves of the better class of folk, for the purpose of inscribing thereon the name, age, and character of the deceased, has been transmitted from very ancient times." In this ballad the inscription on the grave of a turtle dove showed the maiden "died for love."
Variations of this stanza are found throughout the 305 Child Ballads. Two short examples will suffice[8]:
1. Lord Randal (12H 11) : “Put a stone to my head and a flag to my feet; ”
2. The Twa Brothers (49F 16): “a headstane at his head, another at his feet.”
Even closer version than Dodsley's tenth poem(above) to our "Died for Love" versions is a song found in Henry Hawes' 2nd book of A Treasury of Musick[9] of 1669, containing select Ayres and Dialogues to sing to the Orbo-Lute or Basse-Viol. It's been attributed to Nicholas Lanier c.1625-50[10]. The last stanza has the 'marble stones' which is what alerted me to this old love song:
Stay, Silly Heart, and do not break,
But give a Lover leave to speak,
To tell a tale that stones may move
To pity me that dies for Love.
Thy Heart is harder far than flint,
And will not suffer Cupid’s print;
But beats his arrows back to Jove,
But which, alas! I die for Love.
When I am gone, true lovers mourn,
Deck all your heads with withered corn,
Wear on your hand a Sable Glove,
To testify I died for Love.
Then bear me softly by her door
And there with mourning heads deplore,
Cry loud, look down you pow’rs above,
On her that slew me for her love.
Then in an unfrequented cave
Where fairies haunt, prepare my grave
Among wild satyrs in a grove
That they may sing, I died for love.
Last, build my tomb of lovers’ bones,
Set round about with marble-stones,
My Scutcheon bearing Venus Dove,
My epitaph, I died for love.
A number of broadside ballads were printed in the 1600s showing the maid's despair after losing her lover. The first that has provided text to the Died for Love ballads was lutenist Robert Johnson's "A Forlorn Lover’s Complaint," dated c.1611, which later about seventeen years later[11] was refashioned and became the "Deceased Maiden Lover." A companion ballad, "The Faithlesse Lover" was printed together on a single sheet with "Deceased Maiden Lover" by "the Assignes of Thomas Symcocke" about 1628. Together they again were rewritten and combined to form the 1686 broadside "Constant Lady and false-hearted Squire" from which stanzas are found in the Died for Love songs and their relatives. "Constant Lady" does not have the core stanzas of Died for Love, instead, it has additional stanzas and has been used as a composite (see for example Da, the 1777 broadside, "The Lady's Lamentation for the Loss of her Sweetheart"). Other important early broadsides include "The Distressed Virgin," "The Forsaken Lover," "Nelly's Constancy," and "The Jealous Lover" -- most of which will be covered in detail later. From the late 1600s and early 1700s came one broadside titled "Arthur's-Seat Shall be my Bed, OR, Love in Despair" which has an identifying stanza showing the maid has been abandoned and is in great despair:
O Arthur's Seat shall be my Bed,
and the Sheets shall never be fil'd for me
St. Anthony's well shall be my Drink,
Since my, true Love's forsaken me.
Near Edinburgh, Scotland is the hill named Arthur's Seat, while St Anthony's well is a small spring coming out of the side of the hill. Several stanzas from Arthur's Seat show it to be one of the antecedents of the Died for Love songs:
Should I be bound that may go free?
should I Love them that Loves not me?
I'le rather travel into Spain,
where I'le get love for love again.
Oh! if I had ne're been born,
than to have dy'd when I was young.
Then I had never wet my Cheeks,
for the Love of any Womans Son.
Oh, oh! if my young Babe were born,
and set upon the Nurses Knee,
And I my self were dead and gone,
for a Maid again I'le never be.
The last two stanzas in modified form would become the core stanzas of the "I wish, I wish" ballads one of the fundamental ballads of "Died for Love" group that became popular later in the 1700s and were widely collected in the UK in the 1900s. The theme of the abandoned "maid in despair" would become central to the "Died in Love" songs and their relatives.
* * * *
A maid in despair
The epitaph, "I died for love" has been echoed in the many various ballads of this study. The "Died for Love" ballads today are identified by certain characteristics-- some of which are missing or have changed which makes categorization of these related ballads difficult. The general characteristics are:
1. The ballad story is told by a maid who falls in love with a false lover, who is sometimes a rambling boy. She tells him of her deep love and that she would leave her family and friends to go with him.
2. When he is courting her he follows her through frost and snow. When she becomes pregnant he won't stop in and passes by her door.
3. He goes to a yonder town, inn, tavern, house or alehouse and takes another girl on his knee. She relates: He tells her things he won't tell me.
4. She laments: It's a grief, and I'll tell you why-- because she has more gold than I. But her gold will waste and her beauty will fly, then she'll be the same as I.
5. She wishes "her baby could be born and sitting on its nurse's knee" and that she would "be under the clay with green, green grass waving over me."
6. She wishes she was a maid again, but that can never be-- till an orange grows on an apple tree.
7. She goes up to her room and her mother asks, 'What's the matter with you dear?" She says her mother doesn't know of her pain, suffering and woe--her daughter asks her mother for a chair and then paper with a pen and ink to write a farewell note down.
8. When her father comes home late at light he asks for his heart's delight. He goes upstairs the door he broke, he found his daughter hanging from a rope. He takes a knife and cuts her down and on her breast a note he found saying: What a foolish girl am I to fall in love with a butcher (Irish) boy.
9. In her note are the famous burial instructions which appear in the stanza that concludes the ballad: Go dig my grave both wide and deep, place a marble stone at me head and feet, and on my breast put a turtle dove, to show the world that I died for love.
A, "Died For Love," is the title of this study and under this title fall a number of related ballads. Some stanzas are from archaic sources (1600s) while others have been refashioned and are of more recent origin. It is the general theme of A which unifies this study: A maid is suffering from either the loss or betrayal of her lover. She is pregnant and "wishes she were dead" or has "died for love." In A this death is usually implied-- her circumstances are dire and her death is imminent. In some versions a stanza is added from the related "Constant Lady" ballad and the maid dies of a broken heart[12]:
The green ground served as a bed,
And flowers, a pillow for her head;
She laid her down, and nothing spoke:
Alas! for love her heart was broke.
In many versions the maid is pregnant by her false lover and wishes she was a maid again or that she was dead and her baby could be born. She has not died but her death is imminent-- her demise not resolved. The text of an early broadside, my Aa, a link between the broadsides of the 1600s (c.1686, Nelly's Constancy, etc) and late 1700s Alehouse/Brisk Young Lover, was recently obtained (2017) from the British Library (BL 14.11.17, 1880 b.29). Dated c.1750, the broadside is titled, "The Maiden's Complaint for the Loss of her Love" with no imprint (London) and appears with 2 cuts at the top of the sheet and this woodcut: an 18th century gent with wine glass in hand surrounded with flowers, along side a lady with plants. It's given here in full without The Answer (see supplemental texts), a second part or response:
"The Maiden's Complaint for the Loss of her Love"
1. My love has left me, Dear it is true,
Sorrow has taken me, what shall I do,
My love has left me, I know not for why,
Because my love has more Means than I.
2. How often has your false tongue me told,
You did not court me for Silver nor Gold,
Oh! but if I had Gold in store,
You would court me now as you did before.
3. Gold it will waste, and Silver fly,
In Time you will have as little as I,
As little as I, that most surely will be,
For I would go thro’ the World with thee.
4. Will you be gone from me my Dear,
And leave me behind you in Sorrow and Care,
And is it so, that you care not for me,
Who would go thro’ the World with thee.
5. My Love he is as bright as the Day,
His Breath is as sweet as the Flowers in May,
’Tis his pretty Looks that entices me,
My Dear, I’ll go thro’ the World with thee.
6. My father will give me House and Land,
So that I’ll be at his Command,
But at his Command I never will be,
My Dear, I’ll go thro’ the World with thee.
7. But if you do not stay too long,
Disdainful Love will prove too strong,
’Twill prove too strong Love fancy me,
And I will go thro’ the World with thee.
8. Some will say that Love is blind,
But follow me Love and you shall find,
That Love was never so blind in me,
For Love I’ll go thro’ the World with thee.
9. If I had Gold, you should have Part,
As I have none, you have my Heart,
You have my Heart, if I had thee,
My Dear I’ll go thro’ the World with thee.
10. Farewel my sweet Jewel thou lovely Youth,
I find in your Words no Manner of Truth,
I’ll bid you adieu, you never will agree,
Tho’ I could travel the World with thee.
This broadside develops in more detail the significance of the "gold and silver" lines established by the c.1686 broadsides "Nelly's Constancy" and "The Jealous Lover." The "gold and silver" stanza is later found in "Alehouse," "Brisk Young Lover" and "Butcher Boy." The "gold and silver" in the later variants of "Died for Love" are possessed by her love's new lover while in "The Maiden's Complaint" they are possessed by her lover, a distinction that should not be overlooked. Stanzas 6 and part of 3 of "The Maiden's Complaint" are also found in C, Rambling Boy.
Another early broadside, Ab, "The Effects of Love- A New Song," printed in London c. 1780 introduces other important stanzas (the "apron" stanzas and the "I wish" stanzas) found in the "Died for Love" ballads. The core ballads under A (my B-G) show how and why "she died for love" with considerable variation. In the subsequent core ballads after A the maid's circumstances prove to be so dire (she's abandoned, pregnant) that she commits suicide or simply dies of a broken heart. In his 1954 article in The English Folk Dance and Song Society Journal (Volume 7, p. 168) J. W. Allen called the broadside Ab "a veritable pot-pourri of songs." Stanzas 4 and 5, for example, are found similarly in the circa 1701 broadside "Arthur's Seat Shall Be My Bed, or: Love in Despair," an older parallel broadside. This shows the difficulty of classifying these ballads which are made up of random floating stanzas from various older broadsides. These broadside constantly appeared with different arrangements in the late 1700s and early 1800s. They also entered tradition. I now give the complete text of Ab, which is more a love song than a ballad:
Ab, "The Effects of Love- A New Song, (broadside) London c. 1780:
1. O! Love is hot, and Love is cold,
And love is dearer than any gold;
And love is dearer than any thing,
Unto my grave it will me bring.
2. O when my apron it hung low,
He followed me thro’ frost and snow;
But now I am with-child by him,
He passes by and says nothing.
3. I wish that I had ne’er been born,
Since love has proved my downfall;
He takes a stranger on his knee,
And is this not a grief to me.
4. I wish that my dear babe was born,
And dandled on its daddy’s knee,
And I in the cold grave did lie,
And the green grass grew over me.
5. Ye Christmas winds when will ye blow;
And blow the green leaves off the tree,
O, gentle Death, when will you call,
For of my life I am quite weary.
6. Unloose those chains love, and set me free
And let me at liberty;
For was you hear (sic) instead of me,
I’d unloose you love, and set you free.
Ab had been copied in Sabine Baring-Gould's notebook by 1890 after he visited the British Museum. He used the broadside in several studies of ballads related to Died for Love and even claimed one of his informants had sung it in the late 1880s exactly as it was published[13] in 1780. Among UK collectors by the early 1900s "Died for Love" became a nebulous title that included Joseph Taylor's "I Wish" and all the Brisk Young Lover songs ("Brisk Young Sailor," etc.). The underlying broadsides were not carefully examined and Pitts' "Sheffield Park" (see "In Yorkshire Park," JFSS) as well as Christie's "Sailing Trade" were sometimes included as family members of Died for Love. Some of the melodies were interchangeable but the texts clearly were not. I've included "Sheffield Park" and "Sailing Trade" as appendices-- different ballads with some textual commonalities and similar themes. The song notes by early collectors were confused and frequently wrong-- a practice that has continued unabated today.
As is typical of many of the early broadsides, Ab consists of floating stanzas that convey the despair of a maid who has become pregnant and wishes death would claim her to end the suffering and the bonds of love. Stanzas 2, 3 and 4 are core stanzas of A, Died for Love. The older broadsides of the late 1600s about a maid in despair which include "Arthur's Seat," "Constant Lady and the False Squire," "Nelly's Constancy" and "Jealous Lover" established a foundation for the more closely related ballads of the 1700s. Besides Aa, "The Maiden's Complaint for the Loss of her Love" and Ab, "The Effects of Love" were other similar broadsides which also told a tale of the maid's despair. The "Forsaken Lover" of c. 1780 also had floating stanzas from a broadside with quite different stanzas titled "The Unfortunate Swain" as well as three stanzas closely related to Died for Love. Here are the first three stanzas:
"The Forsaken Lover[14]" (Excerpt)
I wish to Christ my babe was born,
And smiling in its daddy's arms,
I myself wrapt up in clay,
Then should I be free from all harm.
Had I but kept my apron down,
My love had ne'er forsaken me,
But now he walks up and down the town
With a harlot, and not with me.
What makes the Western winds to blow,
And blow the green leaves from the tree,
Come death, come death, & end my woe,
For a maiden more I ne’er can be.
"The Complaining Maid[15]" of c.1780 opened with three stanzas which are very similar to those found in Died for Love:
Must I be bound that can go free,
Must I love one that loves not me.
Let reason rule thy wretched mind,
Altho' I wink I am not blind.
He loves another one he loves not me,
No cares he for my company,
He loves another I'll tell you why
Because she has more gold than I.
Gold will wast and Silver will flys,
In time she may have as little as I,
Had I but gold and Silver in store,
He would like me as he has done before.
These and other broadsides of the 1700s such as the parallel but different broadside "Wheel of Fortune" were sung from the perspective of a maid in deep despair. They were usually constructed of floating stanzas that evolved from the early ballads of the 1600s which established the general Died for Love theme about a maid who has been rejected by her false lover, is pregnant and wishes she were dead. The variants of A have the "apron" and "I wish I Wish" stanzas of Roud 495 plus they include at times the "alehouse" stanza and sometimes the "foolish young girl" stanza. The emphasis of A is on the three Died for Love stanzas of Aa (stanzas 2, 3 and 4) but A includes Characteristics 1-6 (see the earlier list) which includes the alehouse stanza (Roud 60). A does not have the Brisk Young Sailor opening nor the suicide; instead, it has three endings:
1. The first and most common ending is associated with the "I Wish, I Wish" stanza:
I wish, I wish, I wish in vain,
I wish I was a maid again,
But a maid again I never shall be,
Till an apple grows on an orange tree.
After this ending, it is presumed that the maid continues on in her pregnant condition in a state of despair. No conclusions are drawn about what will happen in the future.
2. The second comes from the common stanza as found in c1780 broadside, The Effects of Love:
I wish that my dear babe was born,
And dandled on its daddy’s knee,
And I in the cold grave did lie,
And the green grass grew over me.
This ending also has no specific finality to it although her condition is so extreme it seems her wish will shortly come true.
3. The last ending is drawn from the parallel broadside, The Constant Lady and the False-Hearted Squire. This ending is taken from Elsie Morrison of Moray in 1956 as recorded by Hamish Henderson[16]:
To her bed this fair maid went
She placed the lilies below her head
Twas there she lay and she never spoke
Twas all through love that her young heart broke.
In this ending, borrowed from the Constant Lady broadside, the maid dies of a broken heart. This popular ending appears in Died for Love broadsides of the mid-1800s but it dates back to the Constant Lady broadside of c.1686 and its antecedents.
From the ashes of the maid's ruin came B, titled Cruel Father after Ba, a Madden broadside of c.1780. Although B was printed in the last half of the 1700s, it seems to be from a much older missing broadside-- one which could be the originator of the older members of the Died for Love family[17]. Evidence of this missing antecedent is found in Rambling Boy, C, which is B without B's detailed story line. "The Cruel Father" along with "The Rambling Boy" introduced an important new twist to the maid's vague story, an element not found in the floating stanzas of the "maid in despair" broadsides:
the maid-- distraught over the loss or abandonment of her lover--writes a note then commits suicide. Her father comes home, finds her hanging by a rope and cuts her down. He reads the note on her breast which instructs him to bury her in a certain way so the world will know she "died for love."
This new twist is found in many of the subsequent members of the Died for Love family and is especially important in Butcher Boy and Maiden's Prayer, a variant still popular in the UK today. And most importantly-- B and C introduce the culminating "Died for Love" stanza ("Dig my grave both wide and deep") which is a unifying stanza found in the "Died for Love" songs and their relatives. Since Ba has the common "died for love" ending and suicide, it places B as a family member in spite of its very different story. Although Bb from a Scottish chapbook is titled "Answer to Rambling Boy," it is not closely related to the "Rambling Boy" (my C) that precedes it or the Pitts "Rambling Boy" broadside of c.1820 which begins, "I am a wild and rambling boy." Both the chapbook "Rambling Boy" and the Pitts broadside, are different ballads than those of B-- they are B with B's plot removed. Both "The Rambling Boy" and Bc, "The Answer to Rambling Boy," were also published four times in the US (Philadelphia) in the early 1800s[18]. A number of very corrupt versions[19] of B, usually appearing in collections under the "Butcher Boy" title, have been collected in the US. Here is Ba, "The Cruel Father or Deceived Maid" from the Madden Collection, dated c1780:
A squire’s daughter near Aclecloy,
She fell in love with a prentice boy,
Buy when her father came to hear,
He separated her from her dear.
[Now all for to increase her pain,[20]
He lent her true love to the main;]
To act his part with a gallant tar,
On board the Terrible man of war.
He had not been three months at sea,
Before he fell in a bloody fray;
It was tins young man's lot to fall.
And he lost his life by a cannon-ball.
That very night this man was slain,
His Ghost unto her father came,
With dismal moans by the bed he stood,
His neck and breast all smear'd with blood.
A fortnight after this lady fair
She fell in fits for her only dear
That very night on her bed awoke,
And hung herself in her own bed-rope.
He took a knife and cut her down
And in her bosom a note was found.
It was wrote in blood by a woman's hand,
These few lines as you shall understand.
A cruel father you was [worst] of men,
'Tis you have brought me to my sad end,
You sent my jewel where the stormy winds did blow,
Now, alas! it has prov'd my overthrow.
Once my dear love is slain
And bury'd in the watery main,
May this warning be, for your cruelty,
I will die a maid for my jewel's sake.
Dig me a grave, both wide and deep;
Place a marble-stone for to cover it,
And in the middle a turtle dove,
To show young virgins I dy'd for love!"
After the first stanzas it's clear that B has a much different story than A, C-F or for that matter: any other versions except G, which has two stanzas of B added at the end. Except for the opening lines, suicide and ending, B is a different ballad. The three extant older print titles include: "The Cruel Father or Deceived Maid," "Answer to Rambling Boy" and "The Squire's Daughter." "The Killarney Tragedy," a heavily rewritten broadside of about 1850, was printed in Ireland. Besides a number of corrupt traditional versions found in the US, there are three credible traditional variants; the first, titled Cruel Father, was collected by Sharp in Virginia[21] in 1918; the second, titled "Isle of Cloy," was collected by E.J. Moeran in Suffolk in the 1930s while the last, titled "Beam of Oak,"was collected by Macedward Leach in Labrador in 1960. B has these identifying characteristics with variation:
1) A maid, who is a squire's daughter near Auchnacloy, (County Tryone, Ireland) falls in love with a prentice boy/rambling boy. When her "cruel" father finds out about their love, he separates them by pressing her lover to sea. A similar theme with a different ending is found in the "Drowsy Sleeper" broadsides.
2) Several months after the prentice/rambling boy is sent to sea on a man-of-war, there's a battle and he dies by a cannonball. That very night, his bloody ghost visits the father.
3) A fortnight later his daughter hears of her lover's death and distraught-- writes a note and goes to her room. Her father comes home, looks for his daughter and getting no answer breaks down her door to and find her hanging from a rope. "He took a knife and cut her down and in her bosom a note was found." The note, written in blood, blames the "cruel father" for her "sad overthrow."
4) The ending of Ba, "Cruel Father," is the standard stanza: "Dig me a grave, both wide and deep/ Place a marble-stone for to cover it/ And in the middle a turtle dove/To show young virgins I dy'd for love!" Both the suicide and ending show Ba's association with Rambling Boy, Butcher Boy, and the more modern version of the 1900s, Maiden's Prayer.
Because the male suitor is from Auchnacloy, (County Tryone, Ireland) its possible that B and also C are of Irish origin. Notice in B, that there is no false lover, no pregnancy is mentioned and that she does not hang herself because of her false lover but because her cruel father separated them and sent her lover to sea where he was killed by a cannonball. B, therefore, is a different ballad but as mentioned earlier: by its opening lines, the suicide, and ending stanza, B is included here as a version of "Died for Love." Corrupt versions of B, without identification, have often been lumped together in collections with versions of "The Butcher Boy" and other "Died in Love" ballads. The existence of B was pointed out by Roger deV. Renwick in his chapter 'Oh, Willie': An Unrecognized Anglo-American Ballad from his book, Recentering Anglo/American Folksong: Sea Crabs and Wicked Youths. Although Renwick fails to identify the original antecedents of his "new" ballad, he does show the differences and identifies most versions in various collections. The American versions of B that Renwick calls "Oh Willie" are found between Bf-Bo except for Bj, which is English. Most of the traditional US versions are badly corrupted and are missing most of the story. Only in Bg (Sharp MS from Virginia in 1918) are enough details given to approximate the ballad story. Many US versions of B just mention the father who "swore he'd use his cannon ball" and for Renwick that was enough to include them a versions of "Oh Willie," my B. Another American identifier for B is the name "Willie" who in most American versions is not sent to sea, not killed at sea and his ghost doesn't return to haunt the cruel father. Surprisingly, there is no Roud number for B and despite Renwick's article, B is still not recognized. The Traditional Ballad Index calls B, "Beam of Oak," after the excellent version from Labrador, yet after a sketchy analysis they call it Roud 18830, the apparent Roud number for C, Rambling Boy. The various Died for Love ballads were at one time lumped under Roud 60 and through the diligence of Steve Gardham the vast Roud 60 was broken up and assigned different Roud numbers from the 18820s and 18830s. Some minor modification of Roud numbers is still required along with a new Roud number for B.
An unusual Irish version of B was found in the Trinity broadside collection[22] titled, "The Killarney Tragedy" which was issued by John F. Nugent Printer, 35 Cook St. Dublin c. 1850s. Here's the text in full:
Come all you men and Maiden's fair,
Unto these line now lend an ear,
There's not a word of this you'll hear,
But each couple courting will shed a tear.
Down by the lakes of Killarney side,
It was there young Sally she did reside,
She was courted by her young Johnny dear,
But soon her father he came to hear.
Now when her father he came top know,
Like a man distracted straightway did go,
unto his desk where his pistols lay,
And swore he johnny he'd shoot next day.
Young Sally hearing her father say,
He would kill Johnny upon the next day,
Straightway she went and made no delay,
Until she came where her true lover lay.
Oh rise up My Johnny, and go away,
To some Lonesome Valley-- Make no delay,
For my father stamped and he bitter swore,
That he'd have you bleeding, all in your gore.
Oh Johnny, Johnny, I love you well
I love you better than tongue can tell,
I Love you well, but I dare not show it
Since my cruel father he came to know it.
Houses and Lands Johnny father has for me,
All of them you'll gain if you come with me,
At your request Love, that never shall be,
Until apples grow on an ivy tree.
Like a Maid distracted straightway she went
And spent that night in great discontent,
And every tear that fell from her eyes,
For my Johnny Green I will surely die.
Her father he being out late one night,
Johnny inquired for his heart's delight,
Upstairs he went and the door he broke,
And found her hanging with her own bed-rope.
He called for a knife to cut her down,
And then in her bosom a note was found,
That the whole world may plainly see,
I loved this Man but he did not love me.
Now since young Sally did end her life
Johnny stamped and he took a knife,
He pierced his heart and the blood did pour,
And embraced young Sally all in his gore.
Come dig our grave both Long and deep,
With a marble stone then to cover it,
Place in the middle a white turtle dove,
To let the world know we died for love.
So all young Men and Maidens fair,
i pray take warning by this sad pair,
It was sly Cupid that did pierce his heart,
Which this couple their lives to part.
This is a unique variant of B. The cruel father, instead of separating the two lovers, gets his pistol and swears he will shoot Johnny. When Sally warns Johnny and asks him to go with her he says -- that will never be. Unable to resolve the conflict, and have her lover leave, she hangs herself and Johnny finding the body kills himself-- a double suicide. In this version of B, "The Killarney Tragedy" her lover finds her dead body instead of her father, a rare variation.
B and C share a very similar first line and probably sprang from the same source. Let's look at some similarities. The male suitor is usually named "Willie" in B, in some versions of C the suitor's name is also "Willie" and occasionally in C he cuts down the rope when he finds his love hanging-- a role usually carried out by her father. Her suitor is also named "Willie" in Robertson's 1799 version titled "Rambling Boy," my Cc. Another reason to believe both B and C were once derived from a single older print version is the "I wish I were a black-bird or thrush" stanza found in two American traditional versions of B and also Cd, the Pitts' "Rambling Boy." Other similarities are found in Robertson's 1799 "Rambling Boy," my Cc, which has the suicide and “Go dig my grave both wide and deep" stanza found in Ba.
A few traditional ballads tell the full story found in Ba-Bd. One of them, "The Isle of Cloy," Bh, was collected by the composer E.J. Moeran in the 1930s in Suffolk from George Hill and Oliver Waspe. In the US there are a number of versions of B, most very corrupt. Notice that Bb, "Answer to Rambling Boy," was printed in the United States (Philadelphia) four times between 1806 and 1817. These US printings I've listed under Bd. The US printings seem to have had little effect on tradition and although "Oh Willie" versions have been found-- it's unclear if they are from a British tradition or a US print. A variant titled "Rude and Rambling Boy," from Buna Hicks of Sugar Grove, NC has been traced to Rebecca Harmon, daughter of old "Counce" Harmon who disseminated ballads his forbears brought from Virginia about the time of the Revolutionary War. The use of "bed rope," an antiquated term found only in the older broadsides and archaic traditional versions, indicates the Hicks/Harmon ballad to be very old.
One other variant, H, The Queen of Hearts, has the story of B but it is significantly abbreviated and added as two stanzas at the end of that broadside. I've separated them and indicated the commonality. It's important to note that although B was not printed after 1800, the stanzas of B were printed in the Queen of Hearts, a broadside of the 1820s-1850s. This means the ballad story of B was still known although the ballad seemed to disappear and even now has not been properly acknowledged.
* * * *
The Rambling Boy
C, "The Rambling Boy" was printed in collections and chapbooks in England, Ireland and Scotland in the 1700s. The earliest record of it is in "The musical companion: Being a chosen collection of the new and favorite songs, sung at the theatres and public gardens." This collection of 18 songs was printed in London about 1765. In this collection the title is "The Wild Rover," a title not commonly used for the "Rambling Boy" songs. Today, "Wild Rover" is a title for different songs but there is a related family member titled, The Rover ("I am a rover who is quite well-known") with vaguely similar opening lines. "Rambling Boy" was first printed under the "Rambling Boy" title in a chapbook "The Fencibles in the Suds: A New Song to which are Added, 2. the Rambling Boy. 3. the Irish Lassey. 4. the Roving Tinker" printed in Dublin in 1782. Another chapbook published by W. Goggin of Limerick has "Rambling Boy, To which is Added, The New Vagary O, Shepherds I Have Lost My Love, The Drop of Dram, Fight Your Cock in the Morning," BM 11622 c.14, and is dated 1790. A Scottish chapbook by J. & M. Robertson, has "Rambling Boy with the Answer" (the Answer is B) which was printed in Saltmarket, Glasgow in 1799.
The Rambling Boy usually begins, "I'm a wild and rambling boy" or "I'm a rake and rambling boy" both of which are found in a different ballad about a highway robber (Laws 12, Roud 490) similarly titled "Rich and Rambling Boy," or "Rambling Boy," and also "A Wild and Wicked Youth," "In Newry Town," "The Robber's Song," "The Roving Blade," or "The Flash Lad." Since the opening line and the titles are sometimes the same, it's easy to confuse the two. The highway robber ballad, which was probably fashioned after the opening line of A and/or B, has remained popular throughout the 1900s especially in America while C, The Rambling Boy was never popular in America and only one fragment collected from NY in the 1820s plus a corrupt version from the Brown Collection[23] have been found. Only B with its similar opening line ("I am a rowdy rambling boy") has been found in America, but usually in a very corrupt state.
The Rambling Boy (Roud 18830) text from the Musical Companion (2nd song) of 1765, London, follows:
1. I am a wild and a rambling boy,
My lodgings are in the Isle of Cloy,
A wild and a rambling boy I be,
I'll forsake them all and follow thee.
2. O Billy! Billy! I love you well,
I love you better than tongue can tell
I love you well but dare not show,
To you my dear, let no one know.
3. I wish I was a blackbird or thrush,
Changing my notes from bush to bush,
That all the world might plainly see,
I lov'd a man that lov'd not me.
4. I wish I was a little fly,
That on his bosom I might lie.
And all the people fast asleep,
Into my lover's arms I'd softly creep.
5. I love my father I love my mother,
I love my sisters and my brothers
I love my friends and relations too,
I would forsake them all to go with you.
6. My father left me house and land,
Bid me use it at my command
But at my command they shall I never be;
I’ll forsake them all love and go with thee.
7. My father coming home late one night
And asking for his heart's delight.
He ran up stairs, the door he broke.
And found her hanging in a rope.
8. He took a knife and cut her down,
And in her bosom a note was found:
Dig me a grave both wide and deep.
And a marble stone to cover it.
The text is a series of floaters and "I Wish" stanzas from older broadsides with stanzas 1, 7 and 8 being somewhat in common with B. The first stanza is sung in first person while the remainder is sung by the maid. Although the Rambling Boy says at the end of Stanza 1 that he will follow her-- that does not seem to be the case. The floating stanzas from 2-6 show that the maid madly loves him and that he has been untrue. Her solution to her dilemma takes place in the 7th stanza with her suicide. Stanza 2 is taken directly from the 1686 broadside Nelly's Constancy which is found modified in a number of Died for Love ballads and is even the title of one-- I Love You Jamie, a Scottish variant. Stanzas 3 and 4 are from the tradition of Died for Love ("I Wish, I Wish") being instead the "I wish I was" ballad stanzas (see: Pitman's Love Song). Stanza 5 is a floater found in many Died for Love songs and older broadsides while stanza 6 is unique but appears with considerable variation in later versions (see the Irish version of Be, "The Killarney Tragedy"). Stanzas 2-6 are designed to show the maid's deep love for her Rambling Boy. However, the abrupt and sudden suicide show the ending stanzas with the suicide were tacked on and the connecting stanzas were missing. It's as if a broadside writer took B and removed the plot and filled it with floating love stanzas. Aa also retains the name Billie/Willie as found in B. The same Rambling Boy text was reprinted a number of times in broadsides of the 1800s, probably first by J. Pitts of 14 Great St. Andrew Street, Seven Dials, London about 1806. About 1888 Baring-Gould, who has access to the British Museum(Library) broadsides, copied the opening stanzas of the Pitts broadside in his notebooks as his version C. The broadside, "Rambling Boy" as printed by J. Catnach, at 7 Dials between 1813 and 1838 was "sold by T. Batchelar, 14, Hackney Road Crescent; Marshall, Bristol; Price, St. Clement's; Bennett, and Boyse, Brighton; J. Sharman, Cambridge; & J. Pierce, Southborough," showing that it was widely distributed.
As stated earlier, the difference between B and C is that the plot of B is missing and is replaced by random stanzas showing the maid's deep love for her rambling boy-- she is trying to prove her love for him but since he is a rambling boy it seems he's left her and she's broken-hearted. The problem is: in the "Rambling Boy" there is little or no justification for the suicide whereas in B but the reason for the suicide is reasonable: she kills herself because her father send her lover to sea where he's killed by a cannonball. In Cc, as in some versions of B, it's the rambling boy who comes home and finds his lover:
My love he came late in the night,
Seeking for his sweet-heart's delight;
He ran up stairs, the door he broke,
And found his love all in a rope.
The Rambling Boy was popular by the end of the 1700s and several versions of it were printed in plays of the early 1800s where it was known as a street ballad as demonstrated by this excerpt from the 1806 "Songster's Museum of Celebrated Modern English, Irish, and Scotch Songs" ("v" is written for "w" as in the old comic style):
(Spoken) — Come, good customers, here's an entire new song, call'd 'I am a vild and roving boy,'—
'Come you sir, strike up.' — Stop Doll, let's rosin first.
(To the tune sung by the Beggars in the streets)
She.-- I am a vild and a rambling boy,
He.-- My lodgings in the isle of Troy;
She.-- A rambling boy although I be,
He.-- I'd leave them all, and follow thee.
(That 'ere man vants a ballad, Doll, vy don't you look about.)
She.-- l vish I vas a little fly,
He.-- In my love's bosom all for to lie,
She.--That all the world might plainly see,
He.-- I loves the girl that loves not me.
(This is a bad halfpenny, your honor, I'd thank you for another.)
That the ballad in 1806 is now being sung by "the beggars in the streets" is an indication of its popularity. It's known primarily as an Irish ballad as the rambling boy is from Auchnacloy, although its real source is unknown. In Lady Morgan's 1833 work "Manor Sackville" which was published as the first of three drama plays in "Dramatic Scenes from Real Life" she depicts scenes from Irish life and includes part of the ballad “Rake and Rambling Boy”[24]:
[Denis O'Dowd is heard singing on the stairs]
I am a rake, and a rambling boy,
My lodging it's in Auchnacloy;
A rambling boy, dear, altho' I be,
I'll forsake my home, love, and follow thee.
Fal lal la, fal lal lal la.
I wish I was a little fly,
On my love's buzzom I would lie;
Then, all the wor-ald might plainly see,
That I loved a girl, and she loved not me.
Fal lal la, fal lal lal la.
My fader being out very late one night,
He called sorely for his heart's delight;
He went up stairs, and the door he broke,
And he found her hang-ging by a rope.
Fal lal la, fal lal lal la.
Another example is from Roderic Random, a comic opera (in three acts) by Samuel William Ryley, dated 1800. This version includes one stanza of Rambling Boy, the rest is similar to stanzas from the related older broadside ballads[25]:
Joe and Bet, the Ballads Singers
I. Down by a Christian [crystal] River side,
Where little fishes they do glide;
A damsel there I chance to see
That cry'd out-- woe is me.
II. [Joe.]-- I wish I was a little fly,
[Bet.]--That on his bosom I might lie;
[Joe.]-Then all the world might plainly see
[Bet.]-I lov'd a man that lov'd not me.
III. [Joe.]--This Damsel now began for to complain,
[Bet.]--And her true love she called by his name;
Ah! wretched woman that I be,
[Joe.]--My true love's gone-Ah! woe is me.
IV. [Joe.]-- Come all true Loviers listen a while,
[Bet.]-How a false man did me beguile,
With my poor heart he did make free,
[Joe.]--Which makes me cry, Ah! woe is me.
The last example that the ballad had already become popular in the early 1800s is found in the actor's skit found in "The Actor's Budget; Consisting of Monologues, Prologues, Epilogues, and Tales" by William Oxberry[26], 1811:
Vocal and Rhetorical Imitations of Ballad-Singer
There's Dolly and I, when ballads we cry,
On a couple of stools see us stand;
The people all crowd, while she bawls aloud,
And I takes my fiddle in hand —(Imitates.)
(Speaking in a squeaking tone of voice.) Come, neighbours and friends, here's a new song, entitled and call’d, I am a wild and roving boy, -Come, play up,
(Speaking in a gruff tone.) Stop, let's rosin first
(Singing with a squeaking voice.) “I am a wild and roving boy,”
(Singing in a gruff voice.) “And my lodging is in the island of Cloy;”
(Squeaking.) “A rambling boy altho' I be,”
(Gruff) “I’ll forsake them all, and I'll follow thee.” Speaking.) There's a man wants to buy a ballad there—
(Squeaking) “Were I a blackbird or a thrush,
(Gruff) “Hopping about from bush to bush.”
(Speaking.) Sing, Moll—(Squeaking.) “Then all the world might plainly see,”
(Speaking) It’s a bad halfpenny, Moll.—
(Singing.) “I love the girl that loves not me.”
The two stanzas from the ballad singers skit (once removed from the dialogue) appear as:
I am a wild and roving boy,
And my lodging is in the island of Cloy;
A rambling boy altho' I be
I’ll forsake them all, and I'll follow thee.
Were I a blackbird or a thrush,
Hopping about from bush to bush.
Then all the world might plainly see,
I love the girl that loves not me.
Since our ballads are usually about a girl or maid in deep despair the last line (above) as sung by a maid would appear, "I lov'd a man that lov'd not me" or similarly. Cc, "The Rambling Boy" was printed along with Bb, "Answer to Rambling Boy" in a Scottish chapbook by Robertson in 1799 under the title, "The Rambling Boy, with the answer." Four printings were also found in US chapbooks from 1805 until 1817. No direct evidence that the US printings ever entered tradition has been found. Cc has the suicide found in B and F and also the complete quatrain “Go dig my grave both wide and deep"-- not found in all versions of C-- most versions give only two lines:
Dig me a grave both wide and deep.
And a marble stone to cover it.
Cc has a slightly different first line identified with several "rake and rambling boy" broadsides and begins:
I am a rake and a rambling boy.
I’m lately come from Auchnacloy;
A rambling boy although I be,
I'll forsake them all and go with thee.[27]
The location of his lodging in the 1811 Oxberry skit above-- the Island of Cloy-- has persisted in broadsides and become the title of a traditional version and may be the title of a missing broadside[28]. The location has appear in this corrupt state in both B, and C. Both stanzas in the 1811 example above are found similarly in Cc, The Rambling Boy in the Scottish chapbook. The Isle of Cloy (Roud 23272) is also used in B, where her father sends her lover to sea and he dies when struck by a cannonball. After his death she hangs herself (as in Butcher Boy) leaving a note which blames her father. E. J. Moeran collected The Isle of Cloy in the 1930s in Suffolk from George Hill and Oliver Waspe. A.L. Lloyd sang this song in 1956 on his Tradition album The Foggy Dew and Other Traditional English Love Songs. It begins:
"It's of a lady in the Isle of Cloy"
It also appears in the Pitts Broadside "Rambling Boy" as (second line):
"My lodgings are in the Isle of Cloy,"
In Recentering Anglo/American Folksong: Sea Crabs and Wicked Youths by Roger Dev Renwick he says, Isle of Cloy is "not found in any official British place names [and hence may be a folk name][29]" which shows he doesn't know the source. It become apparent through a series of spellings as the place-name appears in the older prints. Notice the slight change in The Cruel Father or Deceived Maid-- Madden Collection,
"A squire's daughter near Aclecloy,"
to the accurate place-name in a chapbook by J & M Robertson, Saltmarket, Glasgow (1799):
"I'm lately come from Auchnacloy;"
Auchnacloy is an archaic spelling (meaning "field of the stone") for Aughnacloy, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland. So
Isle of Cloy= Aclecloy= Auchnacloy. The folk process!!
* * * *
The Died for Love songs of D, are The Brisk Young Lover variants which usually begin "A brisk young sailor courted me." In some versions the word, "sailor" is replaced by the word "farmer" or "soldier" or other names. Da, the earliest record of Brisk Young Lover variants, is a broadside titled, "Lady's Lamentation," which dated circa 1775. Curiously, it is combined with the circa 1686 broadside titled, "The Constant Lady and False-hearted Squire" (hereafter: "Constant Lady") that Chappell called "The Oxfordshire Tragedy[30]." Here are four stanzas of Brisk Young Lover that appear before the stanzas of "Constant Lady":
The Lady's Lamentation for the Loss of her Sweetheart- broadside from Manchester Central library; BR f 821.04 Bal. Vol. 5, p.309, c.1775.
1. A brisk young lad came courting me,
He stole away my liberty;
He stole my heart with a free good will,
He has it now, and he'll keep it still.
2. But when my belly it was low,
He followed me thro' frost and snow;
But now my apron's up to my chin
My love passes by and says nothing.
3. There is a ale-house in yonder town
Where oft my love sits him down.
He takes a stranger to his knee.
Which makes me sigh in misery.
4. He takes a stranger, I know for why,
Because she hath more gold than I;
Her gold will waste, and her beauty blast,
And she will become like me at last.
That Da uses "Constant Lady" as its last stanzas is not surprising. A dozen traditional UK and US/Canada versions of A, D and E have used this ending: "She laid her down, and nothing spoke/Alas! for love her heart was broke," or other stanzas. A modified version of "Constant Lady" also became the ending for the Pitts' "Sheffield Park" broadside which is one reason collectors assumed that Sheffield Park was closely related to Died for Love. The other reason is that "Sheffield Park" has a similar theme and its opening stanzas are similarly found in the Butcher Boy. There is a close relationship and borrowing between Constant Lady and the Died for Love songs and their relatives.
Since Constant Lady was wed to the end of Brisk Young Sailor in The Lady's Lamentation this would indicate a possible earlier date than the c.1750 date I have ascribed for D, versions of the Brisk Young Lover. The ballads of D use the standard Died for Love theme established by A with a slight variation[31]: A maid is courted by a brisk young sailor(lad) by whom she becomes pregnant (he takes away her liberty). He stole her heart but she loves him still. When she wasn't pregnant (wore her apron low), he followed her frost and snow-- but now that she's getting round (her apron's to her chin), he passes by and won't come in. The famous Alehouse stanza used in A, E (Butcher Boy), I (There is a tavern in the town) and J (Maiden's Prayer) is next: "There is an alehouse in the town/My love goes in and sits him down/He takes a stranger to his knee/Which is a most sad grief to me." Db, "A New Song Call'd the Distress'd Maid," is the earliest extant complete version and, like C, finishes with floating stanzas:
In Cupid's chains I am fast bound,
No one can loose me but my love
It's O come loose me and set me free
And set me at my liberty.
There is a man under yonder hill
A heart he has is hard as steel,
Two hearts he has instead of one
he will be a rogue when I am gone.
I wish my pretty babe was born,
And smiling in his Daddy's arms;
My soul to God my body to clay,
Then all my sorrows fled away.
After the standard opening and "Alehouse" stanzas, Dd, a standard broadside[32] from the mid-1800s, follows with other floating stanzas:
[1] Ah, griev'd I am, I'll tell you why,
Because she has more gold than I,
Her gold will waste, her beauty blast,
Poor girl she'll come like me at last,
[2] I wish my baby it was born,
Set smiling on its father's knee,
And I was dead and in my grave,
And green grass growing over me.
[3] There is a bird all in yonder tree,
Some say 'tis blind, and cannot see,
I wish it had been the same by me,
Before I had gained my love's company,
[4] There is a man on yonder hill,
He has a heart as hard as steel,
He has two hearts instead of one,
He'll be a rogue when I am gone.
[5] But when they found her corpse was cold,
They went to her false love and told,
I am glad says he, she has done so well,
I long to hear her funeral knell.
[6] In Abraham's bosom she does sleep,
While his tormenting soul must weep,
He often wished his time o'er again,
That his bride he might make her merry & marry her soon.
Notice that no suicide takes place in the broadsides of D. The six floating stanzas come from older broadsides with modification: Extra stanza 1 is from Nelly's Contancy as is the end of 3. Stanza 2 is found in Aa and is a core stanza. Stanza 4 is the "Two hearts" found in older broadsides as well as the related "Early Early at the Break of Day" and "She's Like the Swallow." The Abraham's bosom is a variation on Arthur's Seat. D appears under a variety of titles besides the "Brisk Young Sailor." In Isla Cameron's version titled "Died for Love," he is a brisk young farmer. It begins:
A bold young farmer courted me
He gained my heart and my liberty.
Except for the opening stanza, D is the same as A and both usually do not have the suicide (a rare traditional version of D with the suicide is "A Brisk Young Sailor," sung by Sam Davidson 1863–1951 of Auchedly, Tarves Aberdeen). Both A and D have the Alehouse stanzas which are also fundamental to E, Butcher Boy. It has been presumed that versions with the Alehouse stanza that do not have the "A brisk young sailor came courting me" stanza are missing the latter stanza because it has somehow been forgotten-- it seems more likely that the "brisk young lover" stanza was added later. It's as if the Alehouse stanzas were always there (see the 1686 "Nelly's Constancy" as one example) but a new introductory stanza was created to begin the ballad.
Here are the two fundamental alehouse stanzas found in A, D, E and F as taken from the English Dialect Society version in Publications, Volume 41, 1896:
There is a house in yonder town,
Where my love goes and sits him down;
He takes a strange girl on his knee,
O don't you think that's grief to me?
O grief, O grief, I'll tell you why,
Because she's got more gold than I.
But her gold will waste, and her beauty blast;
Poor girl, she'll come like me at last.
The difference between D and A: Variant D has the "brisk young sailor" stanza and A does not. Only one version of "Brisk Young Lover" has been collected in the US-- it was collected by Isabel Rawn in Georgia in 1909 who forwarded it to Campbell. This US version appears as version A of English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachian, II, 1917 under the generic title, "The Brisk Young Lover." Since Butcher Boy is not mention in the Georgia text, it is an authentic version not a hybrid. Several New England versions also have 2 lines of the first stanza of D but not the complete version.
Since the Alehouse stanza appears in the US in rare versions of A and commonly in Butcher Boy, this is further evidence that the Brisk Young Lover stanza is a late 1700s variant that was not brought to America.
* * * *
E, is a largely American variant[33] usually titled, "The Butcher Boy" or "Butcher's Boy." Sometimes the ballad is titled after the city where the maid dwells--such as "Jersey City," "London City" or "Johnson City." The earliest extant broadside was printed by J. H. Johnson in Philadelphia(Ea1) in 1858 and De Marsan printed a nearly identical text in New York(Ea2) about 1860. Several years later "The Butcher Boy of Baltimore," words and music by Harry Tofflin" was printed in New York. "The Butcher Boy of Baltimore" is the same text as the earlier printings except Baltimore has been added. The ballad was printed at least five times before 1900 and became very popular in the US. Here is the standard print version[34]:
The Butcher Boy.
In Jersey City, where I did dwell,
A butcher-boy I loved so well,
He courted me my heart away,
And now with me he will not stay.
There is an inn in the same town,
Where my love goes and sits him down;
He takes a strange girl on his knee,
And tells to her what he don’t tell me.
It’s a grief for me; I’ll tell you why:
Because she has more gold than I;
But her gold will melt, and her silver fly;
In time of need, she’ll be poor as I.
I go up-stairs to make my bed,
But nothing to my mother said;
My mother comes up-stairs, to me
Saying “What’s the matter, my daughter dear?”
“Oh! mother, mother! you do not know
What grief, and pain, and sorrow, woe—
Go get a chair to sit me down,
And a pen and ink to write it down.”
On every line she dropped a tear,
While calling home her Willie dear;
And when her father he came home,
He said, “Where is my daughter gone?”
He went up-stairs, the door he broke—
He found her hanging upon a rope—
He took his knife and he cut her down,
And in her breast those lines were found:
“Oh! what a silly maid am I!
To hang myself for a butcher-boy!
Go dig my grave, both long and deep;
Place a marble-stone at my head and feet,
And on my breast a turtle dove,
To show the world I died for love!”
The ballad story was told by Belden in 1940[35]; "a girl, who lives in Jersey City, tells how she loves a butcher boy, who has transferred his amours to another girl 'because she has more gold than I;' foretells that he will cease to love this other girl when her gold is gone; goes upstairs to make her bed, lamenting to her mother and bidding her bring a chair, pen, ink, and paper; then (with a sudden shift to third person narration) her father comes home, breaks open her door, finds her hanging in a rope, cuts her down, and in her bosom finds a letter giving directions for her burial, including the placing on her breast of a turtle dove 'to show the world I died for love.' "
The broadsides are 8 1/2 stanzas and give the core stanzas of Butcher Boy. It's likely the broadside text is taken from a traditional New England version then copied. The Butcher Boy was popular long before the first 1858 broadside was printed and was brought to various locations in North America presumably during the Colonial period. The broadside location, Jersey City[36], also used in tradition, is most likely named after that city in the state New Jersey. The state New Jersey and Jersey City were originally named after the Isle of Jersey located between the northern coast of France and the southern coast of England; the island uses English customs and language and its recorded history extends over a thousand years. The second most common location is London City, a location that appears mainly in more archaic versions and indicates that the version is most likely not based on print or recordings. Apparently the fundamental location of London City was changed-- assuming the ballad was brought to the New World.
The origin of the Butcher Boy and many of the Died for Love ballads has baffled musicologists from the early 1900s onward. The music notes today are largely based on the faulty assumptions of the past which continued in the Spring 1916 JAF[37] when Kittredge added notes to a version of Butcher Boy in the article, Some Songs Traditional in the United States, by Albert Tolman. Among his notes Kittredge states:
The piece appears to be an amalgamation of “The Squire's Daughter” (also known as “The Cruel Father, or, Deceived Maid”) with “There is an Alehouse in Yonder Town” (well known as a student song in this country under the title “There is a Tavern in the Town”)."[38]
Since the Cruel Father, my B, has a plot which is nothing like the Butcher Boy, Kittredge can only be referring to the suicide, which is also found in C, Rambling Boy. In B, the details of the suicide are wrong, so using the Cruel Father is a poor choice for an amalgamation. He's right that stanzas from "Alehouse" are used in Butcher Boy. However, "Alehouse" is not the same as the student song "Tavern in the Town""-- which is an obvious rewrite of core stanzas with new material not found in "Alehouse."
Cox in his 1925 Folk-Songs of the South[39] added a more detailed description of its origin: "The Butcher Boy" is made up of modified extracts from (1) "Sheffield Park"; (2) "The Squire's Daughter" (called also "The Cruel Father, or, Deceived Maid"); (3) "A Brisk Young Sailor" (or its abbreviated version, "There is an alehouse in yonder town"); and (4) "Sweet William" ("The Sailor Boy").
Cox adds (1) 'Sheffield Park" which in its original form is titled "The Unfortunate Maid." The Pitts and Birt broadsides of the 1820s are titled "Sheffield Park" and have a modified ending that uses four stanzas of "Constant Lady." It's true that stanzas 1, 2, and 4 of Unfortunate Maid-- which are the same as the first three stanzas of the Pitts broadside-- are very similar to stanzas from the Butcher Boy. The similarly is obvious when comparing Butcher Boy with the opening of Sheffield Park. The opening stanza of the Pitts "Sheffield Park" broadside as well as the 2nd stanza, where the maid goes upstairs to bed, and the first half of 3rd stanza, the maid's response to her mistress-- follow:
Sheffield Park (Pitts broadside, c. 1820)
1. IN Sheffield park, O there did dwell,
A brisk young lad, I lov'd him well,
He courted me my heart to gain,
He is gone and left me full of pain.
2. I went up stairs to make the bed,
I laid me down and nothing said,
My mistress came and to me said,
What is the matter with you my maid.
3. O mistress, mistress you little know,
The pain and sorrow I undergo,
The maid's mistress has become her mother in Butcher Boy:
Butcher Boy (Wehman's broadside)
In London City where I did dwell,
A butcher boy I loved so well;
He's courted me my heart away
An' along with me he will not stay.
I go up-stairs to make my bed,
But nothing to my mother said;
My mother comes up-stairs to me saying,
"What's the matter, my daughter dear?"
"Oh! mother, mother! you do not know
What grief, and pain, and sorrow, woe—
This similarity found in these three stanzas suggests a common ancestry. This was pointed out by Belden in his headnotes to Butcher Boy in 1940. Stanzas of Constant Lady are commonly added to the Died for Love songs and one member of the Died for Love extended family "Love has Brought Me to Despair" is derived entirely from "Constant Lady." "Sheffield Park" has three similar stanzas but is a different ballad. Since Sheffield Park is not found in North America it's not a good example of commonality. Cox's (2) and (3) were partially discussed after Kittredge's quote. Cox's (3) "Brisk Young Sailor" is identified by its opening stanza which is not found in Butcher Boy. Only one version and a few remnants of this opening stanza are found in two of the 200 US and Canada versions examined so only "Alehouse" can properly be considered an antecedent. All the printed versions of (4) Sweet William or The Sailor Boy (Sailing Trade etc.) have only one stanza in common with Butcher Boy-- the letter or song writing stanza. Only in tradition, and Cox is probably referring to Kidson's version[40] with the suicide, have common Died for Love stanzas been added to Sailor Boy. Butcher Boy and 7A Sailor Boy are different ballads. Both Kittredge and Cox were off the mark concerning Butcher Boy but they were missing 100 years of new information. In his 1940 "Ballads and Songs" Belden gave some new accurate information in his one page headnotes as well as pointing out the similarities between "Sheffield Park" and "Butcher Boy." The conclusions of these early scholars and others from the UK are still regurgitated today. The main cause of confusion is the fundamental antecedents, of which there are many, and missing information.
Some conclusions are:
1) The Cruel Father (also "Squire's Daughter") has a different ballad theme--it's about her cruel father sending her lover to sea where he dies by a cannonball aboard a man-o'-war. His daughter hangs herself and blames the father in her suicide note (see B for more details). So The Butcher Boy is not derived from Cruel Father-- only the suicide by hanging is held in common which is also found in Rambling Boy and a few rare Scottish versions of Alehouse/Brisk Young Lover (see Grieg-Duncan) from the late 1800s and early 1900s. The "Go dig a grave" ending stanza is common in most Died for Love ballads and is found in Cruel Father, Rambling Boy and consistently in Butcher Boy.
2) Both "The Unfortunate Maid" or "Sheffield Park" in either form (early or rewritten) are different ballads than all the Died for Love core ballads. There are three stanzas similar to Butcher Boy which suggest a common ancestry. The Pitts "Sheffield Park" broadside has added stanzas mainly from "Constant Lady," also a different ballad. Some stanzas from "Constant Lady" are found in the "Died for Love" ballads including Butcher Boy. A few stanzas of Sheffield Park have been added to the core Died for Love songs but examples are rare (see Sheffield Park headnotes).
3) The Sailor Boy (Sweet William/Sailing Trade/A Sailor's Life) is a different ballad with several different opening stanzas. Only the letter writing stanza is held in common and the context is different. Both ballads have shared a similar melody. Sailor Boy's theme resembles B, Cruel Father but vaguely-- certainly not enough to warrant and claims of commonality. The print versions have no stanzas in common except the "letter/song writing (suicide note)" stanza while traditional versions are found with the common "Go dig a grave" ending and rarely other stanzas. In some traditional Sailor Boy versions the "suicide by hanging" is found. The three extant Sailor Boy versions with the suicide by hanging in the US have a different setting; while one of the three in the UK has the same hanging as Butcher Boy, the other two are taken from Maiden's Prayer and a variant Sailor Boy text.
4) The Butcher Boy's intermediate stanzas are similar to those Alehouse. The Butcher Boy is identified by its unique opening stanza (In London City where I did dwell) and its suicide. It has stanzas in common with "Alehouse," the suicide note is common with Sailor Boy and the suicide is held in common with "Cruel Father" and "Rambling Boy." Since the Butcher Boy is a consistent form with an opening similar to Sheffield Park, it's most likely derived from an unknown British broadside which has long disappeared in the UK.
5) An obvious postulation is that the various print versions of Butcher Boy dating from the mid-1800s in Philadelphia and New York were derived from a single traditional version collected from the New England area that was copied by other publishers and reprinted.
Although it's impossible to date the arrival of Butcher Boy in North America in any quantitative way, the ballad's arrival is certainly late 1700s and possibly earlier. One example of dating the Butcher Boy as it passed down through family lines is the ballad as sung by Lem Griffis which came from his grandmother who was born in the late 1700s in Georgia (see text several paragraphs below). The virtual disappearance in the UK of the name butcher boy as associated with the false lover means that versions arrived in America and British Colonies[41] many years ago. Just as the name butcher boy is absent in UK versions[42], the popular versions in the UK of the "brisk young lover" are found only once in North America (Georgia, see Sharp A).
A single stanza from New York Folklore Quarterly - Volume 3, 1947 that appears in article The Ballad of the Butcher Boy in the Rampano Mountains by Anne Lutz may prove to be a significant piece of the puzzle about the origin of the popular "Butcher Boy" variant. The notes and stanza by Lutz follow:
ONCE THERE was in London a butcher boy who made love to a girl and left her, and she hanged herself. At least there is an English version of “The Butcher Boy” that begins:
In London town where I did dwell,
A butcher boy whom I knew well
He courted all my life away,
And now with me he will not stay.
That was sung for me by an old lady, now over ninety, who learned it as a child in Birmingham, England.
Even though this is just a standard single stanza, the fact that even one stanza with the name Butcher Boy was sung in Birmingham, England in the early 1860s is very important. It predates the US "Butcher Boy" broadsides c.1860 and seems to prove what is already obvious--that "Butcher Boy" long ago originated in England, probably as a broadside- now missing- and was brought to the US. One established belief (see Belden, 1940) is that the Butcher Boy originated in the US from an English variant of Died for Love/Brisk Young Sailor. Therefore versions of the Butcher Boy found in the UK originated from the US and crossed back over. This theory would be corroborated by UK versions of Butcher boy with Jersey City (Jessie's City) as the location. Since Lutz's informant was in her 90s- say 94- and Lutz collected it in c.1946 the informant would have learned it in Birmingham about 1860 when she was 8 years old. She was not influenced by the c.1860 US broadsides which were not printed in England.
Lutz's simple explanation for the origin of the ballad makes sense-- that "once there was in London a butcher boy who made love to a girl and left her, and she hanged herself." These questions about the origin remain: Why haven't more early traditional or any print versions with the "Butcher Boy" name surfaced in the UK? And-- why is the suicide not present in most versions of Died for Love/Brisk Young Lover-- the obvious predecessors of Butcher Boy in the UK?
An examination of versions in the US show Butcher Boy's early arrival, not only in the Northeast but through the Virginia colony in the Southeast. A version from Southeast Georgia was sung by Lem Griffis (c.1896-1968) who gave this history[43]: Well, I know another one, but I declare. My great-grandparents brought it from across the ocean, when they came over hyer. An' I think I still remember that song, all of it. But I know, my grandmother useta sing it years an' years ago.
Griffis' version was collected on the edge of the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia about 1966 and by his recollection was brought over by his great-grandparents. It has several archaic stanzas at the end and corroborates the evidence that "Butcher Boy" was sung long ago in the US.
Butcher Boy- sung by Lem Griffis about 1966
In London City where I did dwell,
A butcher boy I loved so well;
He's courted me my heart away
An' along with me he will not stay.
He goes downtown an' he sets 'isself down,
He takes a stranger upon his knee.
He tells to them things he won't tell me,
An' don't you know that it's grief to see.
He courts them shy, I can tell you why,
Because they have more gold than I.
But gold will melt and silver will fly,
But conscious love can never die.
It was late one night when her father came home,
Inquiring where his daughter had gone
She's gone away her life to destroy;
She's hung herself for the butcher boy.
He ran upstairs and the door he broke,
And found her hanging on a rope
He taken his knife and he cut her down,
And in her bosom this note was found:
"I love you Johnny, I love you well,
I love you better than tongue can tell.
I love my father an' mother too,
But I don't love them like I do you.
I wish an' I wish, but it's all in vain
I wish I was made [a maid?] over again.
According to some genealogical research, Lem's grandfather, Samuel B Griffis, Jr., and his grandmother were born in 1794 in Georgia. His great-grandparents, at least on his father's side, did not emigrate to the US but instead were from South Carolina. Regardless, the ballad through his grandmother's source probably dates to the late 1700s.
The popular lexicon of Butcher Boy can be found the suicide in the Maiden's Prayer still sung in the UK as well as different folk songs in the US such as "Hard, Ain't It Hard," a song of floating stanzas popularized by Woody Guthrie. An early version of the "Hard, Ain't It Hard" song was, "There is a House in this Old Town." It begins:
There is a house in this old town,
And that's where my true love lays around.
And he takes other women right down on his knee
And he tells them a little tale he won't tell me.
Guthrie's song is as much a composite of floating stanzas as the early broadsides, "Unfortunate Swain" or "Wheel of Fortune." All three have shared stanzas with the Died for Love songs.
Some Butcher Boy conclusions: The approximately 200 traditional "Died for Love/Butcher Boy" versions of North America in my collection exhibit a wide variety of ballad types and the extra stanzas mirror those found in the UK. The most popular extras stanza is "Must I go bound?" which has a variant: Shall I be young (bound) shall I be free." The ending is usually the same as the UK variants: "Till an orange grows on an apple tree." There are 5 variants with the stanza "There's is a bird in yonder tree/Some say he's blind and can not see"-- one sung in French from Louisiana. Other variants stanzas include "I wish I wish," "frost and snow" and "babe was born." Stanzas from Constant Lady have been found in nearly a dozen versions. Several stanzas have her searching for the "heart-ease" flower or making a bed of flowers upon which she dies of love (a broken-heart). For a detailed study of ButcherBoy/Died for Love in North America by regions, see: US & Canada Versions.
With the false lover's name consistently appearing as butcher boy in a variety of isolated regions, the obvious conclusion is the name and ballad originated long ago in the UK and was brought to America in the last half of 1700s by immigrants. The name and form of the first stanza died out in the UK and was replaced by broadside forms such as "Brisk Young Sailor" of the late 1700s in England. Because the opening stanzas are very similar to the "Unfortunate Maid/Sheffield Park" printed c. 1760 it would indicate that Butcher Boy evolved from a similar antecedent which disappeared after being brought to America. The suicide which is standard in North America is found in the early broadsides Rambling Boy and Cruel Father. One early version of Irish Boy (Foolish Young Girl) from the 1700s in Scotland also has the suicide. One or two Scottish versions of Brisk Young Lover also related to Irish Boy have the suicide. There is enough evidence to suggest that the suicide which is an integral part of Butcher Boy came from an early missing UK print version from the late 1600s or early 1700s and that The Unfortunate Maid/Sheffield Park also was rewritten from this earlier missing print version. This missing version or ur-ballad would have the opening stanzas of Butcher Boy, the "alehouse" stanza, the "gold and silver" stanza with the suicide and the "died for love" ending-- "Go dig a grave." The location Jersey City seems to be an American recreation even though it originated from the Isle of Jersey. It's possible the few versions of Butcher Boy in the UK and stanzas with the suicide are artifacts from long ago but they could also be derived indirectly from American versions or prints.
* * * *
More Antecedents
As mentioned earlier, several stanzas from the c. 1686 white-letter broadside titled "The Constant Lady and False-hearted Squire," also called "Oxfordshire Tragedy" by Louis Chappell, have become attached to versions of our Died for Love ballads. "Constant Lady" was the ending of "The Lady's Lamentation for the Loss of her Sweetheart" -- the first extant print version of Brisk Young Lover. Other similar ballads such as "Love Has Brought Me To Despair" (Laws P25) and the Canadian/English "She's Like a Swallow" as based almost entirely on "Constant Lady." The following "Constant Lady" ending stanzas appear in different "Died for Love" ballads:
The Lady round the meadow run,
and gather'd flowers as they sprung;
Of every sort she there did pull,
until she got her apron full.
"Now there's a flower," she did say,
"is named Heart's-ease, night and day;
I wish I could that flower find,
for to ease my love-sick mind."
"But oh, alas! 'tis all in vain
for me to sigh and to complain;
There 's nothing that can ease my smart,
for his disdain will break my heart."
The green ground served as a bed, and flowers,
a pillow for her head;
She laid her down, and nothing spoke:
alas! for love her heart was broke.
Rewritten stanzas of the "Constant Lady" are also found in D and the Pitts broadside "Sheffield Park," which are similar to these two stanzas from "Constant Lady":
The lady round the meadow run,
And gather'd flowers as they sprung,
Of ev'ry sort she there did pull,
Until she got her apron full.
The green ground serv'd her as a bed,
And flow'rs a pillow for her head;
She laid her down, and nothing spoke,—
Alas! for love her heart was broke[44].
Sheffield Park (see 7C. Sheffield Park), first printed about 1770 as The Unfortunate Maid, is a ballad with a very similar theme. The first stanzas are modeled after the opening of Butcher Boy suggesting a common antecedent. The ballad story of Sheffield Park begins with a young man fair, or brisk young lad, who courts a young maid and when she falls in love with him he "parts from her company." Her mistress sees the maid crying and offers to help by bringing her young man a letter. When he receives the letter he burns it saying did she think he could love only her and "Left her in grief to make her mourn." She cries, "O fatal death, come pity me/ And ease me of my misery." In the more modern 1800s broadsides such as the Pitts broadside, a new ending is added--when the mistress returns to the maid she finds her "cold as clay"-- dead from a broken heart. The mistress "gather'd the green grass for her bed/And a flowery pillow for her head/The leaves that blow from tree to tree/ Shall be a covering over thee." This ending and burial are similar to the one in the Constant Lady where the maiden prepares her funeral bed with leaves and flowers for a pillow. A new stanza is added in the Pitts broadside. After her lover burns her letter he says in stanza 7:
7. How can she think how fond I'd be,
That I could fancy none but she,
Man was not made for one alone,
I take delight to hear her mourn.
The opprobrious behavior of the false lover has reached new depths! Some traditional versions of Sheffield Park have a variation of this first line:
"Oh, foolish girl, to weep for me!
Think I could fancy none but thee?
The world was not made for one alone,
I take delight to hear thee moan."
This echoes Foolish Young Girl, but reworded. The stanza also is found in some versions of Died for Love. Curiously, Sheffield Park has not been found in North America although the opening is very similar to The Butcher Boy. The modern Sheffield Park of the 1820s broadsides has three stanzas recreated from the four ending stanzas of Constant Lady.
In Sam Henry's Songs of the People, the editor Gale Huntington lists the c.1628 "Deceased Maiden Lover" as a version of Died For Love. Apparently Huntington does so because the last stanza is sometimes found in Died for Love. However both "Constant Lady" and its antecedent "Deceased Maiden Lover" are different songs and are not versions of Died for Love. In "Deceased Maiden Lover" a maiden whose heart has been mortally wounded by a "false man" wanders about picking flowers and herbs for her death bed-- she cries "Alas there's none ere lov'd like me!"
When shee had fild her apron full
Of such sweet flowers as she could cull,
The green Leaves servd her for her Bed
The Flowers pillowes for her head.
[Chorus] Then down she lay, nere more did speak
alas with love her heart did breake.[45]
The antecedent of the twelve stanza "The Deceased Maiden Lover" is “A Forsaken Lover's Complaint” by Robert Johnson dated c. 1611. Johnson's original four stanza ballad is given in full:
“A Forsaken Lover's Complaint” by Robert Johnson c. 1611 from Wit and Mirth: Or, Pills to Purge Melancholy- Volume 3 by Thomas D'Urfey, 1711:
As I walk’d forth one summers day,
To view the meadows green and gay,
A pleasant Bower I espied,
Standing fast by a River side;
[chorus] And in’t a Maiden, I heard cry,
Alas! Alas! there’s none e’er lov’d as I.
Then round the meadow, did she walk,
Catching each flower by the stalk :
Such flowers as in the meadow grew,
The Dead-man’s Thumb, an Herb all blew,
[chorus] And as she pull’d them, still cry’d she,
Alas! Alas! none ever lov’d like me.
The Flowers of the sweetest scents,
She bound about with knotty Bents,
And as she bound them up in Bands,
She wept, sigh’d, and wrung her hands,
[chorus] Alas! Alas! Alas! cry’d she,
Alas ! none ever lov’d like me.
When she had fill’d her Apron full,
Of such green things as she could cull,
The green leaves serv’d her for a Bed,
The Flowers were the Pillows for her head;
[chorus] Then down she laid, ne’er more did speak;
Alas! Alas! with Love her heart did break.
Johnson's c.1611 ballad “A Forsaken Lover's Complaint” and the longer "The Deceased Maiden Lover" are antecedents of "Constant Lady." "The Deceased Maiden Lover" and a companion ballad, "The Faithlesse Lover," were printed together on a single sheet by "the Assignes of Thomas Symcocke" about 1628. Some stanzas from "The Faithlesse Lover" are also found in "Constant Lady" showing that both "The Deceased Maiden Lover" and its companion broadside, "The Faithlesse Lover," were used in its creation.
There are several traditional versions of Died for Love that use a reworded version of Constant Lady's first stanza:
Near Woodstock town in Oxfordshire,
As I walk'd forth to take the air,
To view the fields and meadows round,
Methought I heard a mournful sound.
"Morning Fair" as sung by Frank Proffitt of Beach Mountain NC, in 1962 is an example of a "pastoral" setting stanza which is similar (missing the opening line, "Near Woodstock" etc.) to Constant Lady:
As I woke up one morning fair
To take a walk all in the air,
I thought I heard my true love say,
“Oh turn and come my way." [Frank Proffitt, Beech Mountain, NC]
Apparently this reworded version is related to one tune (and text) of the broadside titled "As I walk'd forth to take the air" which was sung to Constant Lady. Another opening stanza from a different broadside, "The Unfortunate Swain (Picking Lilies)" also shows a resemblance to the Constant Lady, who is picking flowers for her death-bed:
Down in yon Meadow fresh and gay,
Picking of Flowers the other day,
Picking of Lillies red and blue:
I little thought what Love could do.
The ending line is different but the picking flowers "red and blue" (or different colors) shows up in our Died for Love songs usually attached to stanzas of Constant Lady. This shows the complexity and mingling of these older broadsides which extended to tradition. There are several other broadsides that have contributed stanzas to the "Died for Love" ballads. "Constant Lady" is a parallel ballad and stanzas are frequently found in Died for Love whereas "The Unfortunate Swain" has the floating stanza "Must I go bound?" in common with Died for Love but other stanzas are found in the extended Died for Love family.
Perhaps the most important antecedent not mentioned so far in this study is the c.1686 broadside, "Nelly's Constancy," in which the maid says in one line, "It pleases me to dye for Love." Many of the stanzas are similar but the first ones show a clear resemblance and were used in the Died for Love songs. Here are a few stanzas:
“An Excellent New Song, Called Nelly's Constancy; or, Her Unkind Lover. Who, after Contract of Marriage Leaves His First Mistress, for the Sake of a Better Fortune.” To A Pleasant New Tune; or, Languishing Swain.
I lov'd you dearly, I lov'd you well,
I lov'd you dearly, no tongue can tell.
You love another, you love not me,
You care not for my company.
You love another, I'll tell you why,
Because she has more means [gold] than I,
But Means [gold] will waste, Love, and Means [silver] will fly;
In time thou may'st have no more than I.
If I had gold, Love, you should have part,
But as I've none, Love, thou hast my Heart:
Thou hast my Heart, Love, and free good will,
And in good truth I love thee still.
Of the three stanzas selected from Nelly's Constancy (above), the first two lines of stanza two (You love another, I'll tell you why/Because she has more means than I,) are very close to those found in the Alehouse, Butcher Boy and Brisk Young Lover songs:
It’s a grief for me; I’ll tell you why:
Because she has more gold than I;
The first stanza (especially the first two lines) is found commonly found in Died for Love ballads and the extended ballad family:
I lov'd you dearly, I lov'd you well,
I lov'd you dearly, no tongue can tell.
You love another, you love not me,
You care not for my company.
A rare Scottish ballad "I love you Jamie" (see: appendices) opens with a variant of this stanza as its identifying stanza:
1. I love you Jamie, I love you well,
I love you more than tongue can tell,
I love you better than you loved me,
My darling Jamie ye're dear tae me[46].
Another broadside of about the same date (circa 1680) with similar stanzas to "Nelly's Constancy" is "The Jealous Lover" (Pepys 5.367). I've taken the following four stanzas from it:
"The Jealous Lover: Or, The Damosel's Complaint of her Seaman's Unkindness; To a new Tune, much in request."
Once you told me you lov'd me well,
That, none but your heart and tongue can tell;
You love another, you love not me,
And care not for my company.
You love another, the reason why,
Because she's got more gold then I;
But gold will wast, and silver fly,
In time she may have as little as I.
Your gold and silver it is dross,
And love, if I must bare the loss,
Of thee, because I have not gold,
This shews hot love is quickly cold.
If I had gold, love, thou should'st have part,
As I have none, dear, thou hast my heart;
Thou hast my heart, and free good will,
I vow and swear I love thee still.
The Died for Love stanzas in "Jealous Lover" are nearly identical to "Nelly's Constancy" and recur again in Aa. "The Maidens Complaint for the Loss of her Love" dated c.1750. The 3rd stanza of Jealous Lover hints at "Love is hot, love is cold" a different line with the same sentiment is found Ab. "The Effects of Love."
"Alehouse," "The Butcher Boy" and the other "Died for Love" ballads are based on, or similar to, stanzas from these assorted broadsides from the 1600s. Many of the "Died for Love" prints such as Aa, "The Effects of Love- A New Song," are random love stanzas which express the theme of "Died for Love" but do not tell a story-- a requirement of any ballad. Many of the Died for Love family members are love songs, not ballads. Other related ballads such as "Waly, Waly" (Water is Wide) and "Unfortunate Swain" are similarly constructed with random love stanzas some of which relate to Died for Love and the extended ballad family. Although there are one or two common stanzas between "Waly, Waly" and some versions of "Died For Love," the core stanzas are different. The main "Died For Love" theme with variation is "a young woman has been abandoned by her lover after falling pregnant by him- she dies for love or wishes she would die and provides instructions for her interment: "Go dig a grave both wide and deep. . ." Two additional themes are present: 1) The suicide-- found in B, C, E, F and J and 2) The cruel father, who sends her lover to sea-- found in B and G.
There is also a similarity and borrowing between Died for Love and the traditional song Betsy Watson/Sarah Watson (Roud 1493) which is based on what appears to have been a real pregnancy/suicide about 1812 in England.
Here's a poem by Irish poet William Allingham which is a rewrite of our "Died for Love" songs. I'm only giving the first part that relates to our ballads. It's taken from "Day and Night Songs" by William Allingham and was written in 1855.
XII. THE GIRL'S LAMENTATION.
(To an old Irish Tune.)
With grief and mourning I sit to spin;
My Love pass'd by, and he didn't come in;
He passes by me, both day and night,
And carries off my poor heart's delight.
There is a tavern in yonder town,
My Love goes there and he spends a crown,
He takes a strange girl upon his knee,
And never more gives a thought to me.
Says he, "We'll wed without loss of time,
And sure our love's but a little crime;"—
My apron-string now its wearing short,
And my Love he seeks other girls to court.
O with him I'd go if I had my will,
I'd follow him barefoot o'er rock and hill;
I'd never once speak of all my grief
If he'd give me a smile for my heart's relief.
In our wee garden the rose unfolds,
With bachelor's-buttons, and marigolds;
I'll tie no posies for dance or fair,
A willow twig is for me to wear.
For a maid again I can never be,
Till the red rose blooms on the willow tree.
Of such a trouble I heard them tell,
And now I know what it means full well.
This provides more evidence that the Died for Love themes were known in Ireland in the first half of the 1800s. The following variant was well known in Scotland and may be similar to the traditional antecedent of Butcher Boy since it has the suicide which was found also in variants collected by Grieg in the early 1900s.
* * * *
F, "The Foolish Young Girl," or, "Irish Boy" (Roud 60) is identified by its opening stanza[47]. This version sung by Jean Elvin, of Buchan is titled, "Foolish Young Girl" and begins as follows:
A foolish young girl was I, was I,
To lend my love to a farmer's boy;
A farmer's boy although he be,
He spoke broad Scotch when he courted me.
In the above text "farmer's boy" often appears as "Irish Boy." F, is largely Scottish[48]. The oldest extant traditional version is Fa, titled "The Irish Boy," as sung by Elizabeth St. Clair of Edinburgh, c.1770[49] which begins:
O what a foolish girl was I
To fall in love with an Irish Boy
Who could not speak good English to me
Which was the thing that did undo me.
Of great interest is St. Clair's suicide stanza which is later found in a few rare Scottish versions of Alehouse/Brisk Young Love by Greig and Duncan:
Home her father dear came then
Asking for his daughter Jean
Up stairs he ran and the door he broke
He found her hanging on a rope.
These suicide stanzas provide further evidence that "Butcher Boy"-- with the same suicide stanza-- came from an unknown UK print version from the 1600s or early 1700s which has disappeared. St. Clair's suicide stanza also disappeared, since many subsequent versions found in Scotland do not have the suicide. Aside from two Scottish versions and two English versions (one is a variant of the Sailor Boy) the suicide disappeared in the early 1900s only to emerge again in the UK versions of "Maiden's Prayer (see Died for Love, J)."
Other versions with the "Foolish Young Girl" stanza include "The Irish Boy," a broadside from Poet's Box, 80 London Street, Glasgow, c. 1872; "The Maid's Tragedy," a broadside from St. Bride's Printing Library S447 (my ref BS 1900), c.1790; "A New Love Song," Gil, No. 6, printed by Bart. Corcoran, Inn's Quay, Dublin c.1774; "Foolish Young Girl" From John Strachan, of Strichen, b. 1875 heard the song as a child. His mother used to sing it, c.1885 and "The Young Foolish Girl," sung by Jeannie Hutchison, Traditional Music from the Shetland Isles (online) SA1974.13.
Here's a broadside that opens with "Foolish Young Girl" but has stanzas from other members of the Died for Love family.
The Irish Boy
Poet's Box, 80 London Street, Glasgow; 1872
1. What a foolish young girl was I,
To fall in love, with an Irish boy;
An Irish boy I suppose was he,
He spoke good English when he courted me.
2. He followed me thro' the frost and snow;
He followed me when my apron hung low,
But now my apron's wearing short,
And he passed me by as he know me not.
3. I am a rover, but that's well known,
And I'm just going to leave my own,
To leave my own love behind to mourn,
Bot no one knows, love, when I'll return.
4. As I was crossing you rushy moor,
and leaving sight of my darling's door
I turned round, and I bade farewell,
And I took my journey where no one can tell.
5. I wish, I wish, but it's all in vain,
I wish I was but a maid again;
A maid again, sure, I ne'er will be
Till apples grow on yon willow tree.
This broadside has the Foolish Young Girl opening then the 2nd stanza is Died for Love and then the stanzas are the Died for Love extended family: stanza 3 is "I Am a Rover" and stanza 4 is "Rashy Muir." The last is Died for Love's famous "I Wish I Wish" stanza.
The "Foolish Young Girl" stanza is the second stanza of a version with the suicide collected by Grieg as sung by Sam Davidson 1863–1951 of Auchedly, Tarves Aberdeen:
1. A brisk young sailor came courting me,
He stole frae me my liberty;
He stole it with my ain free goodwill,
And I canna deny but I love him still.
2. Such a foolish young girl was I
To lay my love on a sailor boy;
A sailor boy altho' that he be,
He aye pro'ved true when he courted me.
This along with the St. Clair version show the "foolish young girl" stanza was part of the older tradition in Scotland-- a tradition that has included the suicide which is part of the American "Butcher Boy." In Scotland the "Butcher Boy" title is known as a variant of an entirely different ballad- The Berkshire Tragedy. It may be for this reason that the name Butcher Boy was not retained in Scotland.
F begins with a grand deception perpetrated by an Irish Boy[50] who spoke Scotch to a young maid: "A foolish young girl was I, was I/To lend my love to an Irish boy/An Irish boy altho' he may be/He spoke braid Scots when he coortit me." According to St. Clair's version it was "the thing that did undo me." And after being "undone," she falls madly in love with her Irish Boy. Following this opening stanza are a variety of stanzas showing the maid's love for her Irish boy and his rejection of her. In two versions (Fb and Fc) her lover gives her a letter showing that he no longer cares for her (compare with Butcher Boy; Sailor Boy). The oldest versions (Fa and Fb) have the suicide and Fb has the "dig my grave both wide and deep" ending. Fc is from Dublin with a different opening and has the "foolish girl" stanza near the end.
* * * *
G, titled "Queen of Hearts" is a variant of B, The Cruel Father. It's different enough to warrant its own letter designation. The common stanzas in B and G -- where the father sends her lover to sea and he dies of a cannonball-- are found at the very end of G. It's almost as if the two "Cruel Father" stanzas were added at the end to give the broadside some plot. Two broadside versions titled "The Queen of Hearts" are found at the Bodleian Library and one version was collected by Baring-Gould who published it in 1905 in the new and revised (the 3rd) edition of Songs of the West (now out of print)[51]. One broadside was printed by Evans and Batchelor which Baring-Gould also printed (the first stanza only) in Songs of the West. The longest broadside is nine stanzas by Wright of Birmingham as dated about 1833 which follows in full:
"The Queen of Hearts" Wright (Printer), 113, Moor-Street, Birmingham c. 1833
1. Oh my poor heart-- my heart is breaking
For a false young man or I am mistaken
He is gone to Ireland long time to tarry,
Some Irish girl I'm afraid he will marry.
2. The Queen of Hearts and the ace of sorrow,
He is here today and gone to-morrow,
Young men are plenty sweethearts few
But if my love leaves me what shall I do.
3. When he comes in, I gaze all around him,
When he goes out my poor heart goes with him,
To meet is a pleasure, to part is a sorrow,
He is here to-day and gone to-morow.
4. I wish I was on yonder mountain
Where gold & silver I could have for coun[t]ing
I could not count it for thinking on him
He is not kind to me, what makes me love him?
5. I love my father and likewise my mother,
I love my sister and also my brother
I love my friends and relations too,
I will forsake them all, and follow you.
6. My father will give me both houses and land
If I'll consent to be at his command,
At his command I never will be,
I will forsake them all, and go with thee.
7. O Billy O Billy I love thee well,
I love you better than tongue can tell,
I love thee dearly, and dare not show it,
You do the same, and no one shall know it.
8. But when her father came to hear,
That he was a courting his daughter dear,
He had him press'd and sent to sea,
To keep him from her sweet company.
9. He had not been there passing years three,
On board the ship called the Royal victory
It was his misfortune there for to fall
And killed he was by a cannon ball.
Part of stanza 4 appears in the first two lines of stanza 1 of Crawfurd's "Bonnie Blue-Eyed Lassie." His text runs:
O gin I were at the tap of yon mountain,
Gold in my pocket and money for the counting,
Stanzas 5-7 are commonplace stanzas found in many of the "Died for Love" songs. The last two stanzas are similarly found in B. In the last stanza line 2 appears these words, "On board the ship called the Royal victory." "Royal victory" is likely a corruption since the ship in the other broadsides is referred to as the "Victory" which is likely the HMS Victory, a 104-gun first-rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, ordered in 1758, laid down in 1759 and launched in 1765. She is best known as Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805[52].
In his notes Sabine Baring-Gould dated the "Queen of Hearts" to the reign of Charles II but it appears to be a recreation by broadside writers after the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805. A (traditional?) tune in a minor key, reminiscent of a late baroque melody, was published by Baring-Gould in 1905 and this has become the standard melody for versions by Martin Carthy (1965), Joan Baez (1965), Liz Dyer (1970) and many others. "Baring-Gould's tune," says Greg Stephens of Canada[53], "is very unusual in the English tradition by being in a minor key with a variable second (in A minor, say, the second note of the scale varies between B and B flat), an eerie and beautiful effect. There is an English fiddle air called the Northern Lass which deploys this effect also, and these are the only two tunes that do this in our tradition that I've ever heard."
* * * *
H. The Darling Rose ("My love he is a false love,") is a Died for Love text that's an imitation of a minstrel version. It's a
a broadside (Glasgow Poet's Box, 585) published October 4, 1851 in Glasgow, Scotland sung to the air-- Beauty and the Beast. The text of the chorus is written in a pseudo-minstrel style as is the last stanza. Neither are related to Died for Love, however stanzas 1-6 are. Here's the text:
1. My love he is a false love
He is loved and like by everyone;
He has my heart and my free good will
And I must confess that I love him still.
CHORUS: For I'm the girl that will make them sing,
With the white wash teeth and the coal black chin,
With the red red lips and the turn up nose
For I'm the beauty darling Rose.
2. I went upstairs to make the bed,
The mistress followed and this she said
What ails you, what ails you, the mistress said
What ails you, what ails you, my pretty maid
For I'm the girl &c
3. Oh mistress dear if you were to know
The killing pain that I do undergo;
It is the pain, the pain I do protest
It is the killing pain lies in my breast.
For I'm the girl &c
4. When my apron it was low,
The rogue followed me through frost and snow
But now my apron is up to my chine,
He passes by and says nothing.
For I'm the girl &c
5. My love he goes to yonder town,
He goes in an alehouse and there sits down;
He places another girl on his knee,
And is that not a grief to me.
For I'm the girl &c
6. There are three eagles in yonder plain,
Two of them blind and the other lame;
I wish it was the case with me,
Before his face I ere did see.
For I'm the girl &c
7. If you go down to town,
Do look around and you'll see your Brown;
He's as nice a man as ere you saw,
With his big big lips and black black jaw.
For I'm the girl &c
Stanza 1 is similar to Brisk Young Lover texts with modified first and second lines. Stanzas 2-5 are standard in Butcher Boy except it's "mother" instead of "mistress." Stanza 5 is the famous "apron low/frost and snow" stanza. Stanza 6 is a variant of the "There is a bird" stanza sung famously as "three worms" by Mr. Bartlett of Dorset in 1905. H, because of its chorus and pseudo-minstrel text is unique.
* * * *
Cover page for Sheet Music of "There is a Tavern in the Town" by F.J. Adams, 1891.
This popular song, "There is a Tavern in the Town," [hereafter 'Tavern'] was called a version of Alehouse by Kittredge in 1916[54]. It is a recreation of some stanzas of "Alehouse" (also found as 2nd and 3rd stanzas of Butcher Boy) however only one stanza, the end stanza "Go dig a grave," is reproduced closely from tradition. Other lines and stanzas are also borrowed from other songs-- the resulting composition or composite arrangement is attributed to William H. Hills, who published the song in 1883 in his Student Songs published in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The attribution that appeared in some printed versions of "Tavern" in UK student song books before 1900 was that it "originated as a song sung by Cornish miners." Since the chorus of "Tavern" is made up of a stanza from an African-America "Creole" song and part of a stanza from a Scottish poet-- this attribution is laughable-- although I don't doubt Cornish miners sang "Alehouse." Whether "Alehouse" or "Tavern" originated as a song sung by Cornish miners is another issue :)
The mystery of "There is a Tavern in the Town," my Ia, begins with an African-American song called "Radoo, Radoo, Radoo" [hereafter "Radoo"]. In a letter[55] to Rosa Campbell Praed(1851-1935) dated July 1885 Justin McCarthy(1830-1912)[56] refers to Bessie O'Connor who: created a sensation at Mrs. Jeune's the other night. . . I close with some words of the refrain of a song I used to hear long ago in the Southern States of America sung by negroes and of which I am reminded by one of Mrs. O'Connors songs--"And May the World go well with you!"[57]
Irish writer and Nationalist Justin McCarthy must have heard "Radoo" during a lecturing tour in the United States, c. 1869 and it seems "Radoo" was also known independently by Texan Bessie O'Connor[58], who published the music while living in the UK. The words and music appeared in The Right Honourable (1886) a "pseudo-fictional" book written by both Justin McCarthy and Australian writer Rosa Campbell Praed.
An article in the Pall Mall Budget: Being a Weekly Collection of Articles, Volume 35, 1887 states, "We have received from Messrs. Francis Brothers and Day [London publisher] a copy of a well known old negro song called “Radoo; or, May this world go well with you.” The words are said to be from a Creole song, and the music is arranged by Bessie O'Connor, with accompaniments for the piano and banjo. As Mr. Justin McCarthy says of it, “Nothing could be more sweet, simple, and pathetic, and any one who sings to the accompaniment of his or her banjo, or who desires a characteristic and very pleasing simple negro song, cannot do better than procure Mrs. T. P. O‘Connor’s."
This is a 1893 printing by the same printers and appears[59]:
RADOO RADOO RADOO (Adieu) Or, May this World go well with you. Words from a Creole Song. Music by Bessie O’Connor. Arranged for the Guitar by Walter Redmond. Published by Francis, Day and Hunter, 195, Oxford St, London. New York, T B Harms & Co. 18 east 22nd St. dated 1893. "The word ‘Radoo’ meaning ‘adieu’ is used by the Negroes of South America."
Radoo, radoo, kind friends, radoo, radoo, radoo,
And if I never more see you, you, you,
I’ll hang my harp on a weeping willow tree,
And may this world go well with you, you, you.
Shall I be bound, shall I be free, free, free,
And many is de girl dat don’t love me, me, me,
Or shall I act a foolish part,
And die for de girl dat broke my heart, heart, heart.
Give me a chair and I’ll sit down, down, down,
Give me a pen, I’ll write it down, down, down,
And every word that I shall write,
A tear will trickle from my eye, eye, eye.
Radoo, radoo, kind friends, radoo, radoo, radoo,
And if I never more see you, you, you,
I’ll hang my harp on a weeping willow tree,
And may this world go well with you, you, you.
"Radoo" was also published by, or before, 1884 [Bodleian date 1877-1884] in London in a collection of songs by R. March[60]. The chorus of "Radoo" is the same as the first stanza of the chorus of Hill's "Tavern." The second and third stanzas of "Radoo" are similar to those found in the Butcher Boy and the Died for Love family. The third line of the first stanza (I’ll hang my harp on a weeping willow tree,) is famously found in the Bible's Psalm 137: 2. The first stanza of "Radoo" appears to be simply a variant of the "adieu" stanza collected in the early 1900s. Although there is not yet evidence that the Adieu stanza predates "Radoo" and was adapted by African- Americans before the Civil War, logic would presuppose this inference. It simply makes sense that a version of "Adieu" was used to recreate "Radoo." Several versions of "Adieu" have been collected and at least two have been named after the famous "Hang my harp" third line. The Brown Collection (Vol. 3, 1952) has collected two versions which appear as "No. 259. I'll Hang My Harp on a Willow Tree." The notes by editors Belden/Hudson are as follows:
"Here the shoe-and-glove stanzas from 'The Lass of Roch Royal' are combined with the refrain of a very familiar song. There is a quite unauthenticated legend that this song, a very popular parlor song of the last century, was the work of a young British officer who fell in love with the Princess Victoria before she came to the throne. Its actual authorship seems not to be known. It is reported as traditional song in Scotland (Ord 56-7), is listed in the Shearin and Pound syllabuses, and is to be found in several books of popular songs — without, of course, the shoe-and-glove stanzas."
The "very familiar' song mentioned by Belden in the Brown notes immediately above is a very different song also titled, I’ll Hang My Harp on a Weeping Willow. The song has been attributed to a poem “I’ll hang my harp on a willow tree” written by Thomas Haynes Bayley (1795-1839) with music composed by Wellington Guernsey (1817-1885). An early version was published in Philadelphia about 1846. The first two lines of this different song appear:
I'll hang my harp on the willow tree,
I'm off to the wars again,
The "I'll hang my harp" line in Hill's "Tavern in the Town" could theoretically have come from the "popular parlor song" but that makes no sense. The placement and other lines in the stanza make it clear that "I'll hang my harp" line come from the "Radoo/Adieu songs which also predate Hills arrangement. The text of the Brown's A version of "I'll Hang My Harp" has the "shoe/glove" stanzas found in Child 76. The text follows:
"I'll Hang My Harp on a Willow Tree." Contributed by Miss Amy Henderson of Worry, Burke county; not dated, but at some time before 1916. Note that the rhythm of lines 1 and 5 has been changed from that found in these stanzas elsewhere.
1 'Oh! who's going to shoe my pretty little foot, foot, foot,
And who's going to glove my lily-white hand,
And who's going to kiss my ruby lips
When you're in a far distant land ?'
Chorus: Adieu, kind friends, adieu, adieu.
I stay no longer here with you.
I'll hang my harp on a willow tree
And go for the fellow that goes for me.
2 'My Pa's going to shoe my pretty little foot, foot, foot.
My Ma's going to glove my lily-white hand;
I know who'll kiss my ruby lips
When I'm in a far distant land.'
Even though the stanzas are different they still fit the tavern form. Another song with lines incorporated into William Hills "There is a Tavern in the Town" is "Fare Thee Well" which was written c.1835 by Scottish poet and songwriter Robert Gilfillan, who was born in Dunfermline, Fifeshire, on the 7th of July, 1798. It begins:
Fare thee well for I must leave thee,
But O! let not our parting grieve thee;
Happier days may yet be mine,
At least I wish them thine- believe me!
The "Adieu/Radoo" stanza itself also appears in various settings in tradition. The following example, which resembles the version from Brown, was collected by John Stone in Virginia in 1916. This variant also includes the floating stanzas of Child 76 "Lass of Roch Royal" (just the "Who will shoe my pretty little feet" parts). It was published in Traditional Ballads of Virginia as an appendix of Child 76 "Lass of Roch Royal." Here's what Davis says in TBVa[61]:
"In other variants of the same combination song (see below)- this "Adieu" stanza appears after the "shoe my foot" stanzas or - and more generally- as a chorus." It seem unlikely that the 1883 "Tavern" could have had any influence on this text which appears:
[Adieu] collected by Mr. John Stone. Sung by Mrs. Nathaniel Stone, of Culpeper, Va. Culpeper County Nov. 15, 1916. With music.
1. "Adieu, kind friend, adieu, adieu,
I cannot linger long with you;
I'll bid farewell to all my fears
While I am in a foreign land.
I'll bid farewell to all my fears
While I am in a foreign land."
2 "Must I go bond[bound] and you go free?
Must I go bond and you go free?
O, must I act the foolie's part
And die for a man that would break my heart?
O, must I act the foolie's part
And die for a man that would break my heart?"
"O, who will shoe those pretty little feet?
O, who will glove those lily-white hands?
O, who will kiss those ruby lips,
While I am in a foreign land?
O, who will kiss those ruby lips
While I am in a foreign land?"
"My father will shoe my pretty little feet;
My brother will glove my lily-white hands;
My mother'll kiss my ruby lips,
When you are in a foreign land.
My mother'll kiss my ruby lips
When you are in a foreign land."
Only the first two lines of the standard Adieu chorus remain unchanged in the version collected by Stone above. The connection with Radoo is more obvious since Stone's version also has the "Must I Go Bound" stanza. As mentioned earlier Irish writer Justin McCarthy heard "Radoo" about 1869 and included it in his fictional 1886 book, "The Right Honourable" co-authored with Australian writer Rosa Campbell Praed. They also include O'Connor's music and call it "a genuine plantation song." In the book "Radoo" was sung by the fictitious Zenobia (Zen) who heard it sung on plantation presumably before the Civil War. It was called a Civil-War song and was the African-American "attempt at adieu." On p. 171, just a little past the music, "Radoo" is called "A wild little American negro song. . ."
Years later O'Connor's arrangement of "Radoo, Radoo, Radoo" with the ‘There is a Tavern’ tune was reprinted in her 1913 book, My Beloved South. She published the book under her formal name, Elizabeth Paschal O'Connor, and it was co-authored by Mrs. T. P. O'Connor. The "Adieu" ("Radoo") stanza is associated with "Must I Go Bound" and is found in versions of My Blue-Eyed Boy (Bring Me Back My Blue-Eyed Boy), Roud 18831. Other traditional stanzas are found in the following two versions given by Belden[62]:
'Blue-eyed Boy.' Secured in 1909 by Miss Hamilton from Julia Rickman of the West Plains High School.
Must I go bound while he goes free?
Must I love a fellow when he don't love me?
Or must I act the childish part
And love a fellow when he broke my heart?
Adieu, adieu, kind friends, adieu,
I can no longer stay with you.
I'll hang myself on a green willow tree
Unless he consents to marry me.
and:
"Adieu." Communicated to Miss Hamilton in 1911 by Shirley Hunt of the Kirksville Teachers College. Note the 'eavesdropping' introductory stanza, a favorite opening for the pastourelle type of street ballad.
As I walked out one evening fair
To view the plains and take the air
I overheard a young man say
He loved a girl that was going away.
Chorus: Adieu, adieu, my friends, adieu,
I can no longer stay with you.
I'll hang my harp upon the willow
And bid this lonesome world adieu.
Go bring me back that blue-eyed. boy,
Go bring my darling back to me,
Go bring me back the one I love
And happy I shall always be.
Must I be bound and you go free?
Must I love one that don't love me?
Or must I act a childish part
And stay with one that broke my heart?
Sometimes you think you have a friend
And one you always can depend;
But when you think that you have got,
When tried will prove that you will not.
Stanza 1 of the second Belden version "Adieu" (above) has the same "pastoral" stanza occurs in several hybrid versions of Butcher Boy [see K. "Died for Love" hybrids; also notes on Constant Lady]. It ends with a variant stanza of "Never change the old one for the new." From these various sources and Died for Love (Alehouse/Butcher Boy) ballads came Hill's arrangement/composition. Here's is Hill's text of "Tavern," the penultimate stanza, also from Died for Love, does not appear in Hills' 1883 edition:
There is a Tavern in the Town- by William H. Hills
There is a tavern in the town, (in the town),
And there my dear love sits him down, (sits him down),
And drinks his wine 'mid laughter free,
And never, never thinks of me.
Chorus: Fare thee well, for I must leave thee,
Do not let this parting grieve thee,
And remember that the best of friends
Must part, (must part).
Adieu, adieu kind friends, adieu, adieu, adieu,
I can no longer stay with you, stay with you,
I'll hang my harp on the weeping willow tree,
And may the world go well with thee.
He left me for a damsel dark, (damsel dark),
Each Friday night they used to spark, (used to spark),
And now my love who once was true to me
Takes this dark damsel on his knee.
And now I see him nevermore, (nevermore);
He never knocks upon my door, (on my door);
Oh, woe is me; he pinned a little note,
And these were all the words he wrote:
Oh, dig my grave both wide and deep, (wide and deep);
Put tombstones at my head and feet, (head and feet)
And on my breast you may carve a turtle dove,
To signify I died of love.
Hills "Tavern" was published locally at Cambridge, Massachusetts in his 1883 "Student Songs: comprising the newest and most popular college songs as now sung at Harvard, Yale, Columbia, etc." Tavern appeared in subsequent editions including the 1884 edition which is available online at Google Books. Not only was Hills text published in a London songbook the same year but the music was also reprinted in other publications not endorsed by Hill. In 1887 the University of Toronto (student) Song Book published Hills original 3 stanzas with music. An arrangement of "Tavern" was published in 1891 by F. J. Adams whose publisher Willis Woodward and Co. also ignored Hills' copyright. The song became very popular, entered tradition and collected versions were published in American Ballads and Songs by Louise Pound in 1922 as well as other folk editions[63].
It was famously performed by Rudy Vallée in 1934 as the recording, "The Drunkard Song," my Ih. While singing the last verses of the song, Vallée started to laugh uncontrollably-- still he finished the song-- which was issued by Victor records. He and his band recorded the song again without laughing, and Victor released both takes in 1934.
In her 1908 Died for Love notes in English Traditional Songs and Carols, Lucy Etheldred Broadwood provided evidence that Tavern had also become established in Scotland. She commented,
A much shortened version of the old words, set to a frankly modern and jingly air and chorus, is in the Scottish Student's Song Book, as "There is a Tavern in the Town." It is there described as "adapted from a Cornish folk song." This version has found its way into cheap sheet music form, Paxton printing it. Another edition, with more modernised words and slightly altered chorus, is published by Blockley, with "The Best of Friends must part" as its first title. In its jaunty modern form it is a great favourite amongst our soldiers.
Now Hill's arrangement/composition printed in London and Toronto in the 1880s could add Scotland to the list of countries and Student Song Books in which it appeared. The fact that Hills' arrangement/composition existed similarly in tradition and print does not diminish its importance. "Tavern in the Town" simply became the best known of its Died for Love members. The term "tavern" is not a new nom de plume. The word "tavern" is an archaic synonym for "alehouse" that goes back at least to the 1700s. So the version published in the 1897 The Scottish Students' Song Book could indeed have been adapted in part from Cornish miners as the Scottish Song Book claimed. However, no specific Cornish version has yet been identified.
The last "modernized" version mentioned by Broadwood (as published by Blockley) could refer to the modern variant, J, Maiden's Prayer, which was a favorite among the Brit and Aussie solders during both World Wars. The notes by Broadwood established a possible early date of 1908 for Maiden's Prayer. So far I have been unable to locate a copy of "The Best of Friends Must Part" published by the London printer John J. Blockley. The "Best of Friends" line is not usually part of Maiden's Prayer and is usually found in "Tavern."
In the notes of their 1971 book, "Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland," Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger list "Tavern" as their 5th version of Died for Love-- in parenthesis they list the song "Let Him Go, Let Him Tarry." They call Tavern "a light hearted form somewhat similar to The Butcher Boy." They do not mention Hills arrangement/composition. "Let Him Go, Let Him Tarry" is part of the song family known as "Farewell He." A number of broadsides of "Farewell He" were printed in the early 1800s and a relationship with Died for Love is not usually recognized. The only similarly is the theme of the maid losing her uncaring lover. Here's the opening stanza of Catnach broadside (London 1813-1838):
Farewell He
It's fare you well cold winter
And fare you well cold frost
Nothing have I gained
But my true love I've lost.
I will sing and I be merry
While a caution I do see
And I'll rest me when I'm weary
Let him go, fare well he.
Let Him Go, Let Him Tarry (standard Chorus)
Let him go, let him tarry, let him sink or let him swim;
He don't care for me, and I'm sure I don't for him
He can go and find another, and I hope she'll bring him joy
For I'm goin' to marry a far nicer boy.
The inclusion of this group of songs along with Tavern was not explained by MacColl. It remains another mystery of the creation of Tavern and its related songs. What seems clear is that the phrase "There is a tavern/alehouse in the town" is traditional and that it predates the 1883 Hills composition. This phrase or first line and the first stanza were appropriated from Died for Love. Yes, Hills modified the third line but it's clearly a stanza taken from tradition. Hills' chorus is in two parts: the first part is derived in part from Scottish poet and songwriter Robert Gilfillan's "Fare thee well" and the second part with the "Hang my harp" line is taken from the tradition of "Radoo/Adieu." Since there is a tradition of "Adieu" (see above) it is probably the antecedent of "Radoo," the African-American "Creole" variant. Both "Radoo/Adieu" would necessarily predate the Civil War period in the US. Without discovering an antecedent of "Radoo/Adieu," their exact age is conjecture.
* * * *
J, titled "Maiden's Prayer[64]" (Roud 18828) begins "She was a maiden young and fair" and was created by an anonymous source in the early 1900s and sung during World War I or about 1918. This variant was popularized and spread by various branches of the Allied Forces but was particularly popular in the UK and AU Armed Forces during World War II and has remained popular in the UK. Curiously, the maid's suicide that left the UK in the form of the Butcher Boy, returned back again in the Maiden's Prayer, a shortened variant aligned with "My Blue Eyed Boy" and usually sung to its melody. One of the earliest authenticated versions, dated about 1925 but possibly older was sung by Fred Cottenham, of Chiddingstone, Kent who learned it when he was young from his father.
The Soldier's Love- sung by Fred Cottenham, of Chiddingstone, Kent.
A soldier came on leave one night,
He found his house without a light,
He went upstairs to go to bed,
When a sudden thought came to his head.
He went into his daughter's room,
And found her hanging from a beam,
He took his knife and cut her down,
And on her breast these words were found.
My love was for a soldier boy,
Who sailed across the deep blue sea,
I often thought and wrote to him,
But now he never thought of me.
I wish my baby had been born,
Then all my troubles would have gone,
So dig my grave and dig it deep,
And place white roses at my feet.
Now, all you maidens, bear in mind,
A soldier's love is hard to find.
But if you find one good and true,
Never change the old love for the new.
The last stanza "change the old one for the new" is not part to the Died for Love immediate family of ballads but is found in Blue Eyed Boy suggesting a similar ancestry. The two UK variants of Blue-Eyed Boy are "The Willow" and "Sailor Boy" (not 7A "Sailor Boy" or "Sweet William") and do not have the words "blue-eyed boy" in the chorus. The UK variant "The Willow" may date back to the the early 1800s. However, examples of "Don't change the old for the new" type stanza date back over one hundred years earlier. Here are two examples from the 1600s[65]:
O, art thou gone away from me,
And bidst no not adue?
Hast thou forsaken thy olde true love,
And changed me for a new.
---The woeful complaint of a love-sick maid, ZN292
My dearest love farewell!
A thousand times adew!
Seeing thou hast forsaken me,
And changed me for a new
I alwaies waile in woe,
i travaile still in paine:
I see my true love where shee goes;
I hope shee'l come againe.
---Lover's Complaint, ZN1345 Cf. "My fancie did I fix" in 'A Handful of Pleasant Delights.'
Note also the "Go dig a grave" ending stanza has been shortened in this this and other versions to:
So dig my grave and dig it deep,
And place white roses at my feet.
Other versions of the ending have four lines, retaining the "white roses at my feet" text. Steve Gardham who has collected and published Maiden's Prayer comments[66]: "This is the longest version I have of Roud 18828 the English 'Died for Love' which I think probably derives from 'Butcher Boy.' It invariably uses the tune of the American 'Blue-eyed Boy'. I have no versions that predate WWII. The page is from my book 'An East Riding Songster, 1982. My uncle and my sister sang slightly shorter versions. The tune is from my uncle's version. There is another version of the same length in Kennedy, p. 381, Sod's Operas over here in WWII. The English 'Died for Love,' Roud 18828, is basically the same tune as the American 'Blue-eyed Boy' Roud 18831."
The following full version was collected by Gardham in 1974 from Mrs. Doreen Cross of Hessle. East Riding of Yorkshire, England:
THE MAIDEN'S PRAYER (Died for Love)
1. A maiden young and fair was she,
Not born of high society,
A sailor young and bold was he,
The cause of all her misery.
2. A man came home from work one night,
And found his house without a light;
He went upstairs to go to bed,
When a sudden thought came into his head.
3. He went into his daughter's room,
And found her hanging from a beam;
He took a knife and cut her down,
And on her breast this note he found,
4. My love was for a sailor boy,
Who sailed across the deep blue sea,
I often wrote and thought of him,
But he never wrote or thought of me.
5. Oh, Lord, I wish my babe was born,
Then all my troubles would be gone,
For I could never bear the shame,
To have a babe without a name.
6. So dig my grave and dig it deep,
And place white lilies at my feet,
And at my head please lay a dove,
To signify I died for love.
7. So all ye maidens bear in mind,
A sailor's love is hard to find,
But if you find one that is true,
Don't change an old love for the new.
The version by Doreen Cross has the standard first stanza (A maiden young and fair was she) sung in some full versions. Although "Maiden's Prayer" is reminiscent of "Butcher Boy," which has the suicide, the differences suggest another antecedent needs to be considered. Since Maiden's Prayer by Doreen Cross has two stanzas (4 and 7) in common with one English type (My love, he is a sailor boy) of "Blue-Eyed Boy"-- its shows that these two songs may have a similar ancestry. Neither song is old and it's more likely that Maiden's Prayer sprung from the English versions of "Blue-Eyed Boy."
The phrase "hanging from a beam" is not found in versions of the Butcher Boy; neither is the ending phrase "place white lilies at my feet." The stanza "My love was for a sailor boy" is found in English versions of "My Blue-eyed Boy." The first and last stanzas are not part of Butcher Boy. Although Maiden's Prayer may be an amalgamation, only three of the stanzas of the Doreen Cross version above can be held in common with Butcher Boy and even those have a specific-- yet slightly different-- wording.
* * * *
Conclusions: The Died for Love songs form a large group of ballads that share a similar theme about a rejected maid who dies for the love of her false sweetheart. Usually the maid is pregnant or it is implied. A unifying "Dig my grave" stanza is given at the end stating that the maid has "died for love." The versions in my Died for Love family A-K are diverse and could be considered separate ballads. Only B and the related G have significantly different plots.
The Appendices 7A- 7V listed at the top of this page (after the Died for Love variants) are separate ballads and songs that use stanzas of the Died for Love songs or are related to them. A number of similar ballads with the "rejected maid" theme are not part of the group and some occasionally share the "Died for Love" ending stanza. A few of the ballads distantly related to the Died for Love family and extended family not found in the Appendices are worth mentioning:
1. "Early, Early in the Spring" (Laws M1 Roud #152) [Irish versions of Sailor Boy opening; "Died for Love" ending stanza]
2. "My Little Dear, So Fare You Well" (Brown II, No. 167) ["Died for Love" ending stanza; similar stanzas; see also Dink's Song]
3. "Betsy Watson/Betsy Williams" [broadside: "Effects of Love"] (Roud 1493) [Similar theme, similar stanzas)
4. "Black is the Colour" (Roud 3103) [related to a stanza in "Sailing Trade" and "The Colour of Amber."
5. "Madam, I've Come Courting" (Roud 146) [related to "Ripest Apple"]
6. "Waly, Waly" (Roud 87) [listed in an appendix to Jamie Douglas; found in Child's ESPB study as No. 204, see also "The Water is Wide"]
7. "I'm Always Drunk and Seldom Sober," (Roud 1049) [Related to "Love is Teasing," "Water is Wide," and "Peggy Gordon."]
Many of the broadside antecedents are covered here-- still others are found in the individual studies of the Appendices 7A- 7V. Some early broadsides are missing or unavailable[67]. In the future there's a chance a missing British broadside of Butcher Boy may turn up or other broadsides which are antecedents of Died for Love or the extended family.
I close this brief study with one of my favorite versions of Died for Love:
"What a Voice," sung by Jeannie Robertson of Aberdeen in October, 1953 for Hamish Henderson and J. Anthony (School of Scottish Studies). Jeannie learned it from her mother, Maria Stewart.
What a voice, what a voice, what a voice I hear,
For it's like the voice of my Willie dear.
But if I had wings like that swallow flyin',
For I would clasp in the arms of my Billie boy.
When my apron it hangs low
My true love followed through frost and snow.
But now my apron it is tae my shins,
And he passes me by and he'll ne'er speir[68] in.
It was up onto yon white hoose brae[69]
That he called a strange girlie to his knee,
And he tellt her a tale which he once told me.
O, I wish, I wish, O I wish in vain,
O, I wish I was a maid again.
But a maid again I will never be,
Till a aipple[70] grows on an orange tree.
O, I wish, I wish that my babe was born,
And smilin' on some nurse's knee.
And for mysel' to be dead and gone,
And the long green grass growin' over me.
For there's a blackbird sits on yon tree,
Some says it is blind and it cannae see.
Some says it is blind and it cannae see
And so is my-- true love tae me.
The first stanza of "What A Voice" is similar to (from a common source) or based on the broadside "A new song called William and Nancy or The two hearts"-- a version is in the Bodleian dated c. 1855 but it's also published in Belfast by Alex Mayne of High Street (see Appendix 7G. Early, Early by the Break of Day). This beautiful ballad by Jeannie Roberston encapsulates the diverse nature of the Died for Love ballads and their extended family.
R. Matteson Jr.-- May, 2017
Port St. Lucie, Florida
---------------------------
Footnotes:
1. There are numerous variations of this legend involving a love triangle with King Mark of Cornwall.
2. Elaine of Astolat is a figure in Arthurian legend who dies of her unrequited love for Sir Lancelot. Also referred to as Elaine the White and Elaine the Fair, she is the daughter of Bernard of Astolat.
3. Theocritus was a Greek poet who lived in the first half of the third century BC in Syracuse on the island of Sicily. A translation to English was made by Francis Fawkes in 1767.
4. See: Bell's Classical Arrangement of Fugitive Poetry: Poems in the stanza of Spenser; Canto I, no. 10.
5. This is the last stanza of Ba, The Cruel Father or Deceived Maid-- Madden Collection c.1790.
6. Only the first two line are cognate.
7. In 1777 John Brand, secretary of the Society of Antiquaries, published his widely popular Observations on Popular Antiquities a two-volume almanac of British superstitions and customs which was a revised and annotated version of Henry Bourne's Antiquitates vulgares.
8. The burial instructions are a ballad commonplace. The standard "Go dig a grave" Died for Love ending is not found in the Child ballads and tends to be added only to ballads within the extended family. For exceptions see: Conclusions.
9. This arrangement/composition by Hawes is attributed to Nicholas Lanier and can be viewed online (Second Volume):
http://imslp.org/wiki/The_Treasury_of_Musick_(Lawes,_Henry)
10. Nicholas Lanier, or, Laniere was an English composer and musician; the first to hold the title of Master of the King's Music from 1625 to 1666, an honour given to musicians of great distinction. Several recordings of Lanier's song may be found on Youtube.
11. The date given is 1628-1629 for The deceased maiden-louer: Being a pleasant new court-song: to an excellent new tune. Or to be sung to the tune of Bonny Nell.
12. This stanza from the "Constant Lady" broadside (c.1686) is found numerous times in tradition.
13. From the Sabine Baring-Gould Manuscript Collection (SBG/1/2/688). Baring Gould wrote down The Effects of Love broadside text (British Museum 11 621, R.4) in his notebook which he copied from the British Library before 1888, presumably the same time when he was looking at broadsides for Francis J. Child. After his A version, a copy of The Effects of Love broadside, he writes James Parsons, then write B and follows with a nearly identical version. No other versions have been found in tradition.
14. "Forsaken Lover. Tune Farewel You Flower Of False Deceit" (London, ca. 1780, no imprint. ESTC T040047, available at ECCO).
15. "The Complaining Lover - A New Song" (written by T.W.; London, ca. 1795, Madden Ballads 2-1082, ESTC T198961)
16. "I Wish, I Wish," sung by Elsie Morrison of Moray in 1956; recorded by Hamish Henderson. From: School of Scottish Studies; Track ID - 20022; Original Tape ID - SA1956.040
17. Although Ca "The Wild Rover," The Musical Companion (British Library) London, c. 1765 is the oldest extant member, it makes perfect sense that C, was derived from a missing B. Essentially C has no plot and is misshapen assortment of floating stanzas with the suicide while B has a plot and the suicide.
18. The first extant printing in the US was "The Rambling boy, with the Answer: to which is added, Blue bells of Scotland, Good morrow to your night cap, Capt. Stephen Decatur's victory, Green upon the cape." Published in Philadelphia [publisher not identified], 1806. See: Dorothy Jordan 1761-1816.
19. These corrupt versions of B, identified by Renwick as "Oh, Willie" began to be published in the US in 1916 with "Rambling Boy" in Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, John Lomax, 1916 edition.
20. These missing lines were added from another early broadside.
21. My title, "Cruel Father" named after the broadside, sung by Fanny Coffey of White Rock, Nelson County, Virginia on May 8, 1918. First stanza in EFFSA as Brisk Young Lover- C, the remainder from Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/10/4230).
22. This broadside was brought to my attention by Steve Gardham in early 2017 after I alerted him of the online collection.
23. See: "Rake and Rambling Boy" written down by Aimer Boyd from New York in 1826 and Brown M, 'Sweet William,' from Thomas Smith, with the notation that it was "written down about July 1, 1915. By Miss Mae Smith of Sugar Grove, Watauga county, from the singing of her stepmother, Mrs. Mary Smith, who learned it over forty years ago."
24. The three stanzas are commonly found with variation in the Rambling Boy prints.
25. The first stanza has a first line common to the Sailor Boy broadside while the remaining three line echo "Constant Lady." Stanza two is common to Rambling Boy. The last two stanzas establish the theme of Died for Love-- a maid abandoned by her lover.
26. "The Actor's Budget; Consisting of Monologues, Prologues, Epilogues, and Tales" by William Oxberry was first printed by Hildyard (London) in 1811 in two volumes and is available to be read at Google Books.
27. The last line of the stanza from "Rambling Boy," from a chapbook by J. & M. Robertson, Saltmarket, Glasgow (1799) is echoed in a number of traditional "Died for Love" versions.
28. E. J. Moeran collected "The Isle of Cloy" in the 1930s in Suffolk and it was later sung by A.L. Lloyd. The possibility that it was a broadside with the same title is indicated, although I have not found it.
29. See Recentering Anglo/American Folksong: Sea Crabs and Wicked Youths by Roger DeV Renwick p. 114.
30. See: William Chappell's 1840: "Collection of National English Airs,: Consisting of Ancient Song, Ballad, & Dance Tunes, Interspersed with Remarks and Anecdote, and Preceded by an Essay on English Minstrelsy" at Google Books https://books.google.com/books?id=nxI2AQAAMAAJ.
31. Simply put: D is the same as A (Alehouse/I Wish) with the new "Brisk Young Lover" stanza.
32. Dd is "Brisk Young Sailor," broadside by W. Pratt, Printer, 82, Digbeth, Birmingham; c.1850
33. A list of UK versions and those from British colonies with Butcher Boy may be found in the British and Other Versions headnotes. Either the versions were learned from print/US citizens abroad or are remnants of archaic versions that disappeared in the UK long ago.
34. Text from "The Butcher Boy," a broadside by Henry J. Wehman, Song Publisher, No. 50 Chatham Street, New York City; c.1880. The US broadsides are all 8 1/2 core stanzas-- virtually the same.
35. H. M. Belden, "Ballads and Songs." Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society (Columbia: University of Missouri Press, 1940).
36. The only other possibility is Jersey City is named after "some" city in the Isle of Jersey off the southern English coast.
37. See: Journal of American Folklore; Oct./Dec. 1922, title renamed "Traditional Texts and Tunes" by Tolman and Eddy.
38. Kittredge's statement was not the first (see JFSS versions of "Died for Love" in published ten years earlier in the UK) but was probably the most influential.
39. John Harrington Cox, ed., Folk-Songs of the South (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925).
40. "Early, Early All in the Spring" as sung by Mrs. Hollings originally from Lincolnshire (c.1870?); collected by Frank Kidson; published in JFSS, 2 (1906), 293–4.
41. The Butcher Boy was sung by from Lily Green, a native of Tristan da Cunha c. 1938 and c. 1962 by Maybelle Simmonds of Lowlands, Nevis.
42. See footnote 33.
43. From Storytellers: Folktales & Legends from the South edited by John A. Burrison; 1991. This is an archaic version from Lem Griffis of Fargo in south Georgia, born about 1896 and died in 1968. He was Georgia's best-known traditional storyteller.
44. As mentioned earlier, this stanza is found in tradition usually in the UK as an ending for A, the "Alehouse/I Wish" songs.
45. Both "The Deceased Maiden Lover" and “A Forsaken Lover's Complaint” by Robert Johnson feature a two line chorus not found in the later 1868 "Constant Lady."
46. "I Love You, Jamie" sung by Mr. Thompson of Aberdeenshire, collected by Gavin Greig in 1908.
47. A few versions categorized as version of "Foolish Young Girl" have the stanza later in the ballad.
48. Not every Scottish version has the "Foolish Young Girl" stanza, but most of them do.
49. The earliest extant traditional version of "Died for Love" is "The Irish Boy," Elizabeth St. Clair of Edinburgh, c.1770. See Clark, The Mansfield Manuscript (2015) pp.4-6. This has other stanzas not usually associated with "Died for Love."
50. Although he is an "Irish boy" in many versions he's also a "student boy" or a "trav'ller boy."
51. The editions of Songs of the West are many-- and confusing with different notes. See 5. A-Growing (The Trees They Do Grow High) British a& Other versions for a list.
52. The HMS Victory was christened on October 1760 and survived the French revolutionary and Napoleonic wars.
53. Greg Stephens quote was from a Mudcat Discussion Forum post.
54. See Kittredge's notes earlier in this study. Kittredge added notes to a version of Butcher Boy in the article, Some Songs Traditional in the United States, by Albert Tolman. They were reprinted in Journal of American Folklore; Oct./Dec. 1922, title renamed "Traditional Texts and Tunes" by Tolman and Eddy.
55. Our Book of Memories: Letters of Justin McCarthy to Mrs Campbell Praed (London, 1912)
56. Justin McCarthy was an Irish writer and politician.
57. "And May the World go well with you!" is another name for "Radoo, Radoo, Radoo."
58. Bessie O'Coonor is also known as Elizabeth Paschal O'Connor (1850- 1931). She was the wife of Tay Pay O'Connor, Irish politician and journalist. She grew up in Texas and published several books including My Beloved South.
59. This copy of "Radoo" was emailed to me by Steve Gardham in February 2017.
60. Published between 1877 and 1884 by R. March & Co., 18, St. James's Walk, Clerkenwell, London, E.C.
61. Traditional Ballads of Virginia by A. Kyle Davis Jr., 1929.
62. "Songs and Ballads" by H.M. Belden, 1940.
63. Other editions include versions printed by Spaeth, by Silber and by Fuld. Since "Tavern" was published internationally, it's difficult to gauge the influence of print-- the "folk" versions seem to be based on print.
64. Not to be confused with Bob Wills, "Maiden's Prayer."
65. Both versions are taken from Bruce Olson's website.
66. Gardham's comments are taken from Mudcat Discussion Forum as well as personal correspondence.
67. Several broadises are missing such as "Isle of Cloy" or are partially unavailable (as used from other sources).
68. to ask; inquire
69. The second line is missing but it's clearly the way she learned it.
70. her pronunciation of 'apple'.
__________________________________
Some Broadsides Related to the Died for Love songs/ballads and their extended family of songs:
(In no particular order)
Wheel of Fortune
http://ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/static/images/sheets/20000/19042.gif
When I was young I was much beloved
By all the young men in the country ;
When I was blooming all in my blossom,
A false young lover deceived me.
He has tried his whole endeavor,
He has tried all his power and skill,
He has spoiled all my good behaviour,
He has broken my fortune against my will.
I did not think he was going to leave me,
Till the next morning when he came in;
Then he sat down and began a-talking,
Then all my sorrows did begin.
I left my father, I left my mother;
I left my sister and brothers too;
And all my friends and old aquaintance,
I left them all to go with you.
But turn you round, you wheel of fortune,
It's turn you round and smile on me;
For young men's words they are quite uncertain,
Which sad experience teaches me.
If I had known before I had courted,
That love had been so ill to win,
I wad locked my heart in a chest of gold,
And pon'd it with a silver pin.
Then fare-ye-weel, ye false-hearted young man,
It's fare-ye-weel, since we must part;
If you are the man that has broke my fortune,
You're not the man that shall break my heart.
Of all the flowers that grow in the garden,
Be sure you pull the rose and thyme,
For all others are quite out of fashion,
A false young man he has stole my thyme.
But time will soon put an end to all things,
And love will soon put an end to me;
But surely there is a place of torment,
To punish my lover for slighting me.
____________________________________
"Forsaken Lover. Tune Farewel You Flower Of False Deceit" (ca. 1780, ESTC T040047, available at ECCO) shares three verses with "The Unfortunate Swain" and and includes variant forms of two more known from "Oh Waly, Waly":
I run my finger into a bush,
Thinking the sweetest rose to find,
I prick'd my finger to the bone,
And left the sweetest rose behind.
If roses be such a fading flower
They must be gather'd when they're green;
And she that loves an unkind man,
'Tis like striving against the stream.
Against the stream, love, I dare not go,
Because the stream it it runs so strong;
I'm deadly afraid I'm one of those,
That lov'd an unkind man too long.
I wish to Christ my babe was born,
And smiling in its daddy's arms,
I myself wrapt up in clay,
Then should I be free from all harm.
I leant my back against an oak,
Thinking it a trusty tree:
First it bow'd, and then it broke,
And so did my false love to me.
Had I but kept my apron down,
My love had ne'er forsaken me,
But now he walks up and down the town
With a harlot, and not with me.
What makes the Western winds to blow,
to blow the green leaves from the tree?
Come death, come death, and end my woe,
For a maiden more, love, I ne'er can be.
I cast my anchor in the sea,
And it sunk doen into the land;
And so did my heart in my body,
When I took my false love by the hand.
______________________________________________
A variant form of this stanza was used for a broadside ballad called "The Complaining Lover - A New Song" (ca. 1795, Madden Ballads 2-1082, ESTC T198961):
Must I be bound that can go free,
Must I love one that loves not me.
Let reason rule thy wretched mind,
Altho' I wink I am not blind.
He loves another one he loves not me,
No cares he for my company,
He loves another I'll tell you why
Because she has more gold than I.
Gold will wast and Silver will flys,
In time she may have as little as I,
Had I but gold and Silver in store,
He would like me as he has done before.
He gave me honey mixt with gall,
He gave me words and blows withal,
He bought me a dilacte [sic! i. e. delicate] Gown to wear,
Hem'd with sorrow and stich'd with care.
If I should gain my Liberty,
In a short time I shall get free,
I will buy me a dilacate gown to wear,
Not hem'd with sorrow or stich with care.
No Vallintine shall ev'r me see,
No wanton Lad shall lie with me,
No man shall come a near my ground,
'Until I see my loves health go round.
Tis his healthe I mean to drink,
From his arms I never will shrink,
He has my heart with a free good will,
And wherever he goes I will love him still.
My love he is not Black but he is brown,
And still he is worthy to where [sic! i. e. wear] a crown,
He has a handsome foot and a delicate toe
And a Blessing go with him wherever he goes.
______________________________________
Arthur's Seat Shall be my Bed, etc., or, Love In Despair
A new song much in request, sung with its own proper tune.
Laing, Broadside Ballads, No. 61, not dated but considered to have been printed towards the end of the seventeenth or the beginning of the eighteenth century, and probably at Edinburgh.
This beautiful old song has hitherto been supposed to refer to some circumstance in the life of Queen Mary, or at least to some unfortunate love affair which happened in her court . It is now discovered, from a copy which has been found as forming part of a ballad, in the Pepysian Library at Cambridge, (published in Muthenvell's " Minstrelsy, Ancient and Modern," Glasgow, 1827,) to have been occasioned by the affecting tale of Lady Barbara Erskine, daughter of John, ninth Earl of Maj-, ana wife of James, second Ma;nuis of Douglas. This lady, who was mairied in 1670, was divorced, or at least expelled from the society of her husband, in consequence of some malignant scandals, which a former and disappointed lover, Lowrie of Black wood, was £o base as to insinuate into the ear of the Marquis. What added greatly to the distress of her case, she was confined in child-bed at the time when the base plot took effect against her. Lord Douglas never again saw her. Her father, on learning what had taken place, came to the house and conveyed her away. The line of the Douglas family has not been continued tluough her. Her only son died Earl of An;:iis, at the battle of Steinkirk, unmarried; and the late venerable Lord Douglas was grandson of her ladyship's husband by his second wife. It must be allowed to add greatly to the pathetic interest of the song, that it thus refers, not, as hitherto supposed, to an unfortunate amour, but to the more meritorious distresses of " wedded love."
t Waly, a Scottish exclamation of distress. The first verse may be thus paraphrased, for the behoof of the English reader: "Alas I what reason nave I to bewail my walks with my lover up yon bank, down yon brae, and along yon river side 1"
Arthur's Seat is a hill near Edinburgh, forming part of the chase which surrounds the royal palace of Holyrood. St Anton's, or St Anthony's Well, is a small erystal spring proceeding from the side of Arthur's Seat, and taking its name from a hermitage half way up the hill, which it formerly supplied with water.
1 Come lay me soft, and draw me near,
And lay thy white hand over me,
For I am starving in the cold,
And thou art bound to cover me.
2 O cover me in my distress,
And help me in my miserie,
For I do wake when I should sleep,
All for the love of my dearie.
3 My rents they are but very small
For to maintain my love withall,
But with my labour and my pain
I will maintain my love with them.
4 O Arthur's Seat shall be my bed,
And the sheets shall never be fil'd for me,
St Anthony's well shall be my drink,
Since my true-love's forsaken me.
5 Should I be bound, that may go free?
Should I love them that loves not me?
I'le rather travel into Spain,
Where I'le get love for love again.
6 And I'le cast off my robs of black,
And will put on the robs of blue,
And I will to some other land
Till I see my love will on me rue.
7 It's not the cold that makes me cry,
Nor is't the weet that wearies me,
Nor is't the frost that freezes fell;
But I love a lad, and I dare not tell.
8 O faith is gone and truth is past,
And my true-love 's forsaken me;
If all be true that I hear say,
I'le mourn until the day I die.
9 Oh, if I had nere been born
Than to have dy'd when I was young!
Then I had never wet my cheeks
For the love of any woman's son.
10 Oh, oh, if my young babe were born,
And set upon the nurse's knee,
And I my self were dead and gone!
For a maid again I 'le never be.
11 Martinmas wind, when wilt thou blow,
And blow the green leqfs off the tree
O gentle Death, when wilt thou come!
For of my life I am wearie.
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Selected stanzas from: Arthur's-Seat Shall be my Bed, &c.
OR, Love in Despair [About 1701]
Should I be bound that may go free?
should I Love them that Loves not me?
I'le rather travel into Spain,
where I'le get love for love again;
Oh! if I had ne're been born,
than to have dy'd when I was young.
Then I had never wet my Cheeks,
for the Love of any Womans Son.
Oh, oh! if my young Babe were born,
and set upon the Nurses Knee,
And I my self were dead and gone,
for a Maid again I'le never be.
--------------
Waly, Waly, Gin Love Be Bony.
Ramsay's Tea-Table Miscellany, the second volume, published before 1727; here from the Dublin edition of 1729, p. 176.
2 I leand my back unto an aik,
I thought it was a trusty tree;
But first it bowd, and syne it brak,
Sae my true-love did lightly me.
4 O wherefore shoud I busk my head?
Or wherf ore shoud I kame my hair?
For my true-love has me forsook,
And says he'll never love me mair.
9 But had I wist, before I kissd,
That love had been sae ill to win,
I'd lockd my heart in a case of gold,
And pin'd it with a silver pin.
10 Oh, oh, if my young babe were born,
And set upon the nurse's knee,
And I my sell were dead and gane!
For a maid again I'll never be.
Love is Teasing
3 Waly, waly! but love be bony
A little time, while it is new;
But when 't is auld, it waxeth cauld,
And fades away like morning dew
-----------------------
Christie Traditional Ballad Airs 1876
The Air, “The Chain, of Love" was noted and arranged by the Editor in 1852 from the singing ol'a person who had it from the singing of his paternal grandmother, and from another set as sung in Banffshire. The Words given to the Air are those which the Editor’! grandmother sum; to it as far as could be remembered.
The Chain of Love.
DOWN in yon grove I chanc’d to rove,
One morning by the break of day,
And heard a fair maid sighing say,--
"The lad I love is gone away.
The lad I love, &c.
“ He’s gone away, and I know not where,
But to search for him is all my care ;
I will search the high hills and valleys low,
I’ll search him out though they were all snow.
I’ll search him out, &c.
" Oh, shepherd," she to me did cry,
“ Did you see a wand’ring swain pass by,
A wand’ring swain pass by this way,
That has just newly fled away?
That has just, &c.
“His words to me they were not few,
His words to me have been seldom true ;
Though his smile is like the turtle dove,
And around his neck hangs a chain of love.
And around, &c.
" And in the middle of that chain,
There is a well fixed heart of mine ;
It’s fixed in with a silver pin,
Tell him not to keep my poor heart in pine.
Tell him not, &c.
“I wish I were a little bird, [Blue-eyed Boy]
To change my notes from tree to tree ;
That all the world might plainly see
That I love a young man that loves not me.
That I love, &c.
“ Oh, if I were a little fly, [Rambling Boy]
On my love’s bosom I would lie ;
When all the world is fast asleep,
On my love’s bosom I would weep.
On my love’s, &c.
“But hark! oh, hark! I think I hear
The charming voice of my dearest dear ;
Oh, if I could but his favour gain,
I would never lose the dear lad again.
I would never, &c.
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In the Scottish song “Wally, wally, up the bank” Orpheus Caledenius” 1725. No 34. verse 3 runs:
I leant my back unto an aik
I thought it was a trusty tree,
But found it bowed & sure it broke,
And sae did my false love to me.
verse 9:
But had I wist before I trust
That love had been sae ill to win
I’d lock my heart in a case of gold,
And pin’d it with a silver pin.