Lord Lovel- (KY) c.1914 McGill
[No informant named. From Folk-Songs of the Kentucky Mountains by Josephine McGill. This was collected in Hindeman region during the summers of 1914 or 1915.
R. Matteson 2015]
LORD LOVEL.
Lord Lovel he stood at his castle wall
Combing his milk-white steed;
Down came the Lady Nancie Belle
A-wishing her lover good speed.
"Where are you going, Lord Lovel" she cried,
"Where are you going" cried she;
"I'm going, my dear Lady Nancie Belle,
Strange countries for to see."
"When will you come back, Lord Lovel" she cried,
"When will you come back" cried she;
"In a year or two, or three at most,
I'll return to my Lady Nancie."
He hadn't been gone but a year and a day
Strange countries for to see,
When a languishing thought came over his mind-
It was of the Lady Nancie.
He rode and he rode on his milk-white steed
Until he came to the town;
And there he heard St. Pancras' bells,
And the people all mourning round.
"What is the matter" Lord Lovel, he cried,
"What is the matter" cried he;
"There's a lord's lady dead," the women replied,
"Some call her the Lady Nancie."
He ordered the grave to be opened wide,
The shroud to be turned down;
He kissed, and kissed her clay-cold lips,
Then the tears came trinkling down.
"I'll take a kiss, kind Madam," said he,
"I am sure you can never kiss me;
But I'll vow a vow to great God above
That I'll never kiss lips after thee."
Lady Nancie Belle died like it might be today;
Lord Lovel, like it might be tomorrow;
Lady Nancie Belle died for pure, pure grief;
Lord Lovel, he died for sorrow.
Lady Nancie was laid in St. Pancras' Church,
Lord Lovel was laid in the choir;
And out of her breast there grew a red rose,
And out of his a briar.
They grew, and they grew to the old church top,
Then they could grow no higher;
There they tied in a true lover's knot
For all true lovers to admire.