Lord Bacon- "Granny" Banks (NC) 1916 Sharp A
[My title. From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, 1917 Campbell and Sharp; also 1932 Sharp and Karpeles Vol. I.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
Lord Bacon (my title)- "Granny" Banks (NC) 1916 Sharp; Young Beichan A
1. Lord Bacon was a nobleman,
As fine as any you could see;
He'd gathered all his silks and rubies,
The Turkish land he'd go see.
2 He first blowed East and then blowed West,
And he blowed down to the Turkish land.
The Turks they got him and so sadly used him,
To love his life he was quite wearied.
3 They bored a hole in his left shoulder
And nailed him down unto a tree.
They gave him nothing but bread and water,
And bread and water but once a day.
4 The Turks they had but one fair daughter,
As fair a one as you should see.
She stole the keys of the prison strong (or, She stole the jail keep from her father)
And vowed Lord Bacon she would set free.
5 She said: Have you got any land or living,
Or have you any dwelling free?
Would you give it all to a prince's daughter
If she would set you free?
6 Then he says: I've got a land and living
And I have got a dwelling free,
And I'll give it all to you, (my), pretty creature,
If you will do that thing for me.
7 She went on to her master's cellar
And from her father stole a jail key.
She opened the dungeon both deep and wide,
And vowed Lord Bacon she would set free.
8 Then she took him to her master's (or father's) cellar
And drawed some of the best port wine,
And drink a health, you pretty creature,
I wish, Lord Bacon, you were mine.
9 And then they drawed each other's notes of love
And seven years they were to stand.
He vowed he'd marry no other woman
Unless(or Until) she married some other man.
10 Then she took him on to the sea-side
And left him sailing over the main:
Fare-ye-well, fare-ye-well, you pretty creature.
O when shall I see you again?
11 When seven years was passed and gone,
And seven months and almost three,
She gathered all her silks and rubies
And vowed Lord Bacon she'd go and see.
12 When she got to Lord Bacon's hall
She knocked so far below the ring.
Who's there, who's there (or O yes, O yes), said the bold, proud porter,
Who knock so hard fain would come in ?
13 Is this Lord Bacon's hall, she said,
Or is there any man within ?
O yes, O yes, said the bold, proud porter,
This day has fetched him a young bride in.
14 She says: Now you've married some other woman
And I have married no other man,
I wish I had my notes of love,
Straight back I'd go to the Turkish land.
15 She's got a ring on every finger
And on her middle one she's got three,
And gold around her neck a-plenty
To buy all Cumberland of thee.
16 Then up spoke the young bride's mother,
An angry spoken old thing was she,
Saying: Would you quit my own fair daughter
And take up with a Turkish lady?
17 He said: You may take your daughter home with you,
For I'm sure she's none the worse of me,
For the prettiest thing stands there awaiting
That ever my two eyes did see.
18 He took her by the lily-white hand
And took her to her father's cellar,
And drawed some of the best port wine,
Saying: Drink a health, you pretty creature,
Who freed me from such a prison strong.
19 He took her by the lily white hand
And gently led her to his hall,
And changed her name from Pretty Nancy,
And called her name, it was Noble Jane.