Lord Bakeman- Davis (Vermont) pre1890, collected 1939 Flanders F
[From Flanders; Ancient Ballads, 1966. Notes by Coffin follow.
According to Ancestry.com, Asa E. Davis was born in 1879 to Ida D. Atkins (b. 1854) and Joel Davis (married 1874) in Duxbury, Washington, Vermont. His mother's father, Charles Atkins, was born circa 1841. Asa learned this before 1890 when his grandfather died.
The text here is nearly identical to the text from the broadside found in the c. 1846 Forget-me-not Songster, which may be the source of his father's Popular Songs book.
R. Matteson 2014]
Young Beichan
(Child 53)
This ballad has an extensive Anglo-American tradition and still is well known on both sides of the Atlantic. The American songs all trace back to early broadsides[1] and song books and quite generally refer to the hero as Lord Bateman or Bakeman. These texts vary somewhat in minor detail, but follow the Child L pattern as to plot outline, significant facts, and length. Nevertheless, a good many scholars have devoted a good bit of time to the minor variations of the American versions and more particularly to identifying the printed sources of the ballad in the New World. George L. Kittredge JAF, XXX, 295-97) used "the hole bored in the hero's shoulder" as a means of distinguishing texts closely akin to Child L from those related to the Coverly broadside in the Isaiah Thomas Collection, Worcester, Massachusetts, and Phillips Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 106 f., continues the probings and points out the "hole in the shoulder" stanza is characteristic of the South. There is also a good bit of information along similar lines in Jane Zielonko's Master's thesis, "Some American Variants of Child Ballads" (Columbia University, 1945), 83 f.
The Flanders versions below have been divided according to the findings of these researchers. Texts A-J seem to be similar to the Coverly broadside or to the version printed in the J. S. Locke of Boston Forget-Me-Not Songster (See A particularly) that goes back to an earlier broadside Coverly may have used. K-S are close to the text printed by Lucy E. Broadwood and J. A. F. Maitland in English Country Songs (London, 1893) and cited by Barry, op. cit., 116. This is a form of the song still known in Britain that evidently found its way into print in New England. In this series (see K-O) the hero's shoulder is not bored through as in many Child texts, but Bateman is tied to a tree[2]. T, it will be noted, contains further modifications and a compression
of the narrative. But, all in all, the Flanders texts are pretty typical of the northern findings for this ballad. Child, I,455 f., discusses the affinities of this song and the legend associated with Gilbert a Becket in the Middle Ages. However, analogous stories are known about Henry of Brunswick, Alexander von Metz, and a host of other heroes in Scandinavian and southern European balladry. A start on a bibliography can be had in Coffin, 63-65 (American); Dean-Smith, 5 (English) ; Greig and Keith, 40-43 (Scottish) ; and the notes in Child. Kittredge's JAF article contains a number of references, not easily available elsewhere, to printed American texts of "Lord Bateman" and its relative "The Turkish Lady." The latter, listed by Laws as O 26 and possibly derived from "Lord Bateman," is also immensely popular in America. Laws, AEBB,238, and Coffin, 65, give a
good many references for it.
The eight tunes for Child 53 are all related, and all correspond to tune group A in BC1. Two subfamilies appear: 1) the Davis, Kennison, Pierce, and Burke tunes, characterized by a triad at the beginning, this group corresponds to BCI group Aa. The other tunes together fit in with BCI group Ab, the Morton tune being relatively divergent from the others, however.
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1. In my opinion, this statement is simply inaccurate, "the American songs all trace back to early broadsides." Consider, for example, the Hick/Harmon version (Susan Price/Young Behan) which was collected from three different family members which they brought from Virginia (circa late 1600s) to the Carolina mountains probably around 1770 and has been passed strictly through oral tradition since then. [R. Matteson 2014]
2. It's likely that the "tied to a tree" reference is, in fact, an abbreviated form of the "hole in the shoulder" texts, where a piece of wood is inserted through the shoulder (see Child A, Brown notes. After all, there aren't many prisoners tied to a tree in a jail cell. [R. Matteson 2014]
F. "Lord Bakeman." Asa Davis of Milton, Vermont, sang this song as learned, from his grandfather, Charles Atkins, and from his father, Joel Davis of Duxbury, Vermont. His father owned, the book Popular Songs and gave tunes to many there. In July,
1946, and again for an L-P record, in 1953, Mr. Davis re-sang the song with the changes noted, below. Printed, in Ballads Migrant in New England , 54. H. H. F., Collector June 23, 1939. Structure: A B1 B2 Ba (2,2,2,2); Rhythm E; Contour: arc; Scale: major. For melodic relationship see SSC, 104; RO 1, 81; BES, 106 (very close); Sharp I, 80(C).
[music]
1. In India lived a noble lord,
His riches was beyond compare,
He was the darling of his parents,
And of his estate an only heir.
2. Oh, he had gold and he had silver,
And he had houses of high degree,
But he never could be contented,
Until a voyage he had been to sea.
3. He sail-ed east, and he sail-ed west,
Until he came to the Turkish shore,
There he was taken and put in prison,
Where he could neither see nor hear.
4. For seven long months he lay lamenting,
He lay lamenting in iron chains,
There happened to be a brisk young lady
Who released him out of his iron bands.
5. The jailor had one only daughter,
And a brisk young lady gay was she,
As she was a-walking across the floor,
She chanced Lord Bakeman for to see.
6. She stole the keys of her father's prison,
And vowed Lord Bakeman she would set free,
She went into the prison door,
And opened it without delay.
7. "Have you got gold, have you got silver?
Have you got houses of high degree?
What will you give to the fair lady,
If she from bondage will set you free?"
8. "Yes, I've got gold, and I've got silver,
And I've got houses of high degree,
I'll give them all to the fair lady,
If she from bondage set me free."
9. It's not your silver nor your gold,
Nor your houses of high degree,
All that I want for is to make me happy,
And all I crave is your fair bodee.
10. "Let us make a bargain and make it strong-
For seven long years it shall stand:
You shall not marry no other woman
And I'll not marry no other man."
11. When seven long years had gone and passed,
When seven long years were at an end.
She packed up all her rich gay clothing,
Saying, "Now I'll go and seek a friend."
12. She sail-ed east, she sail-ed west
Until she came to the Indian shore.
There she could never be contented
Until Lord Bakeman she did enquire.[1]
13. She enquired for Lord Bakeman's palace
At every corner of the street.
She did enquire of Lord Bakeman's palace
Of every person she chanced to meet.
14. And when she came to Lord Bakeman's palace
She knocked so loud upon the ring;
There was none so ready as the brisk young porter
To arise and let this fair lady in.
15. "Oh, is this Lord Bakeman's palace
And is the Lord himself within?"
"Oh, Yes," cries the brisk young porter,
"He and his new bride has just entered in."
16. She wept, she wept and she wrung her hands,
Crying, "I am undone,
I wish't I was in my native countree,
Across the seas there to remain.
17. "Tell him to send me an ounce of bread
And a bottle of his wine so strong
And ask him if he has forgot the lady
That released him out of his iron band."
18. The porter went unto his master;
He rapped so loud upon the ring[2]
"Arise, my brisk young Porter[3],
And tell me what the matter is.''
19. "There is a lady stands at your gate
And she does weep so bitterly,
I think she is the finest creature
That ever I chanced my eyes to see.
20. "She's got more rings on her four fingers
And on her wrist are diamond bands,
She got more gold about her clothing
Than your bride and all her kin.
21. "She wants you to send her an ounce of bread
And a bottle of your wine so strong
And ask you if you have forgot the lady
That released you out of your iron band."
22. He jumped into the middle of the floor,
He smashed the table in pieces three.
"You came here in a horse and saddle,
You may ride home in a coach and three."
(The previous stanzas Mr. Davis sang from memory. The following he read from Popular Songs.)[4]
23. Then up spoke his new bride's mother,
And she was a lady of high degree,
'Tis you have married my only daughter,
Well she is none the worse for me.
24. But since my fair one has arrived,
A second wedding there shall be;
Your daughter came on a horse and saddle,
She may return in a coach and three.
25. He took this fair lady by the hand,
And led her over the marble stones;
He changed her name from Suzannah fair,[5]
And she now is the wife of Lord Bakeman.
26. He took her by her lily white hand.,
And led her through from room to room,
He changed her name from Suzannah fair,[5]
And she is called the wife of Lord Bakeman.
1. Although some of it may have been sung, the spelling of "inquire" here indicates it was copied from a print version.
2 In 1946 and in 1953 this line was "He knelt so long up-on one knee."
3 In 1946 and in 1953 this line begins "Arise, arise. . ."
4. In 1946 and in 1953 these lines were sung with the rest, without reference to the book.
5. [Fair should be her last name.] In 1946 and in 1953 the girl is called Suzannah Freeman. The Lord is called Lord Bateman in 1946.