Lord Thomas- Gordon (NC) 1939 Brown 4P REC
[From Brown Collection of NC Folklore; Volume 4, 1957. Their notes follow. Recorded c. 1939 by Abrams. Some fragmented hard to understand stanzas are found at the bottom of this page.
Recording: http://omeka.library.appstate.edu/files/original/2f51ecf1a89ffb19041b7537db3252a3.mp3
R. Matteson 2014]
Lord Thomas and Fair Annet (Child 73)
Of all the old ballads, this probably stands next to 'Barbara Allan' in popular favor. For its range in living tradition, both the old country and in America, see BSM 37-8 and add Tennessee (SFLQ XI 122-3), North Carolina (FSRA 23-4), Florida (SFLQ
VIII 147-50), Arkansas (OFS i 99-101, 106-8), Missouri (OFS 1 94-9, 1 01 -6), Ohio (BSO 29-34), Indiana (BSI 58-70), Illinois (JAFL Lii 75-6), and Michigan (BSSM 37-9). American texts follow one general pattern with various differences in detail — mostly cases of leaving out or putting in. Of the fourteen texts in the Brown Collection only a few are here given in full.
P. 'Lord Thomas and Fair Annet.' Sung by Mrs. Rebecca (Aunt Becky) Gordon. Recorded at Asheville, July 19, 1939. Mrs. Gordon learned her songs from her mother, who was born and reared near Tuxedo, Henderson county. Another title given is 'O, Lily O.' There is no first stanza on the recording; the text of the remainder can only partially be understood. Textually, the form reminds one of version K, particularly in the repetition of the penultimate line.
For melodic relationship cf. *SharpK i 115, No. 19A, measures 1-2 and 5. In the latter, the daring ascending skip of a sixth leading into the upper octave is, in our version, more cautiously undertaken: first a fourth, then a third, and again a third.
Scale: Mode III, plagal. Tonal Center: e-flat. Structure: abcddi (2,2,2,2,2); the second phrase is terminally incremented.
[Is this your bride Lord Thomas? she said,]
I'm sure she's very brown,
When you could have got a fairer one,
And then the sun e'er shone on,
And then the sun e'er shone on.
And a . . . . . sharp knife
That'd just lately
He it. . . . . through . . . heart
And the blood came tinkling, tinkling down.
And the blood came tinkling, tinkling down.
Lord Thomas, Lord Thomas, don't you see
And don't you. . . .
. . . . . . .
Your heart's blood came tinkling down,
Your heart's blood came tinkling down.
Go dig my grave both deep and wide
And paint my coffin black,
. . . . . . . .