Lord Baker- Coyle (TN) 1966 Burton/Manning
[From Folklore: Folksongs (Burton and Manning) I; 1967. Their notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
LORD BAKER (Child 53)- Sung by Mrs. Mary Coyle, April 18, 1966.
(The obvious avoidance of the third and the sixth scale degrees would immediately suggest some form of mode IV, except for the presence of both BD and BQ ). The hexatonic IV, incorporates the Bb , but B natural seems to dominate here. If, on the other hard, it were basically mode I, which would admit an arbitrary seventh, the absence of the sixth would be improbable.
1. There was a man lived near old England,
And Lord Baker was his name.
He was vastly rich, but discontented;
He sailed east and he sailed west.
2. He sailed east and he sailed west:
He landed on Turkish shore
The Turks they picked him up and kept him
Till he could scarcely stand no more.
3. And they bore holes through his shoulders
And nailed him fast unto the wall-
And fed him on lone[1] bread and water,
Lone bread and water once a day.
4. The Turks they had one only daughter;
She was fair and beautifully.
She stole the key from her own father's prison
And vowed Lord Baker she would set free.
5. "Have you gold and have you silver,
Have you riches to a high degree ?
Would you share it all with a lady fairest
To set you at your liberty?"
6. "Yes, I have gold and I have silver,
I have riches to a high degree.
I'll give it all to the lady fairest
Who'll set me at my liberty."
7. There was a vow between them made,
Seven long years it was to stand.
He was to court no other woman,
She was to court no other man.
8. Seven long years had passed and over,
And seven more there was to be.
She dressed herself in radiant splendor
And sailed for months, it's two or three.
9. At last she reached Lord Baker's dwelling
And knocked so loudly at the ring.
"Who's this, who's this," said the brisk young porter,
"That's knocked so loudly and can't come in?"
10. "Is this Lord Baker's dwelling,
Or is it the man himself within?"
"Oh no, oh no," said the brisk young porter,
"He's this very day brought his new bride in. "
11. "Go and tell him for me, porter,
Of the unjust to her and me,
And tell him that the fairest lady
Is Susie Pryor across the sea."
12. "There is a lady at your gate;
She is as fine as fine can be.
She has a ring on every finger
And on her middle finger, three."
13. He stove his fist down on the table
And burst it into pieces three,
Saying, "I'll venture all my life and fortune
That Susie Pryor's crossed the sea."
14. "If you will marry my brother William,
I will divide my land with thee."
"Oh no, oh no, that'll never do, sir;
Remember our vow across the sea."
15. He took her by her lily-white hand
And led her through rooms, 'twas twenty and three
And changed her name from Susie Pryor
And called Lord Baker's fair lady.
1. means "only"