The False Knight On The Road- Edmund Henneberry with Kenneth Faulkner on fiddle (FM 4006 1956) on the compilation 3 CD "Canada -- A Folksong Portrait
[Attached to this page is the article: Case Study of Ben Henneberry, about Edmund's father. Below are two versions. R. Matteson 2011]
One Nova Scotia version of "The False Knight On The Road", Edmund Henneberry with Kenneth Faulkner on fiddle (FM 4006 1956) was released on the compilation 3 CD "Canada -- A Folksong Portrait". Mercury 769748000-2. Henneberry, from Devil's Island, Nova Scotia, learned the song from his father, Ben Henneberry, who was one of the singer Helen Creighton collected in the 1920s until Ben's death in 1951. Ben's version was published in 1932 in Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia By Helen Creighton. It has the "Hi diddle diddle dum" chorus.
Charles Jordan and Joyce Sullivan version is nearly identical and the "Hi diddle diddle dum" chorus which comes originally from the Henneberry family.
Here's a link to Charles Jordan and Joyce Sullivan's Nova Scotia version: http://members.shaw.ca/slower/cfs/CFS-1.html
Charles Jordan and Joyce Sullivan [Track 2, side A]
Canadian Folk Songs: 9-LP set from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and RCA Victor was released in 1967. The chorus is based on Flowers of Edinburgh tune. The internal rhyme isn't used in some of the verses: Milk/silk and then "grass/coarse". He pronounces "primer" as "prim". Therese Doyle also recorded a version.
The False Knight On The Road Charles Jordan and Joyce Sullivan play a traditional version based on the original Henneberry and Faulkner families' ballad.
Oh what have you in your bag, what have you in your pack?
Cried the false knight to the child on the road
I have a little primer* and a piece of bread for dinner
Cried the pretty little child only seven years old
CHORUS: Hi diddle deedle dum, deedle diddle deedle dum
Deedle deedle deedle diddle deedle deedle dum.
Diddle diddle dee, deedle deedle deedle dum
Diddle diddle diddle deedle diddle dee de dum.
What is rounder than a ring, what is higher than a king
Cried the false knight to the child on the road?
The sun is rounder than a ring, God is higher than a king
Cried the pretty little child only seven years old.
What is whiter than the milk, what is softer than the silk?
Cried the false knight to the child on the road.
Snow is whiter than the milk, down is softer than the silk
Cried the pretty little child only seven years old.
What is greener than the grass, what is worse than women coarse?
Cried the false knight to the child on the road
Poison's greener than the grass, the devil's worse than women coarse
Cried the pretty little child only seven years old.
What is longer than the wave, what is deeper than the sea?
Cried the false knight to the child on the road
Hell is longer than the wave, love is deeper than the sea
Cried the pretty little child only seven years old.
Oh a curse upon your father, and a curse upon your mother
Cried the false knight to the child on the road
Oh, a blessing on my father, and a blessing on my mother
Cried the pretty little child only seven years old
*Children's book
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The False Knight On The Road- Edmund Henneberry with Kenneth Faulkner on fiddle (FM 4006 1956)
http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/window/media/page/0,,4537166-13895879,00.html False Knight sound clip of Edmund Henneberry- Faulkner plays the fiddle tune, Flower of Edinburgh, as an instrumental chorus instead of singing, "Hi diddle diddle deedle dum."
Oh what have you in your bag, what have you in your pack?
Cried the false knight to the child on the road
I have a little primer* and a piece of bread for dinner
Cried the pretty little child only seven years old
CHORUS: [Fiddle solo]
What is rounder than a ring, what is higher than a king
Cried the false knight to the child on the road?
The sun is rounder than a ring, God is higher than a king
Cried the pretty little child only seven years old.
What is whiter than the milk, what is softer than the silk?
Cried the false knight to the child on the road.
Snow is whiter than the milk, down is softer than the silk
Cried the pretty little child only seven years old.
What is greener than the grass, what is worse than women coarse?
Cried the false knight to the child on the road
Poison's greener than the grass, the devil's worse than women coarse
Cried the pretty little child only seven years old.
What is longer than the wave, what is deeper than the sea?
Cried the false knight to the child on the road
Hell is longer than the wave, love is deeper than the sea
Cried the pretty little child only seven years old.
Oh a curse upon your father, and a curse upon your mother
Cried the false knight to the child on the road
Oh, a blessing on my father, and a blessing on my mother
Cried the pretty little child only seven years old
*Children's book