Oh, the Wind and the Rain- Jody Stecher on Going up On the Mountain (1977)
[From the album, Going Up On The Mountain, Jody Stecher, 1977. This is not traditional but rather an arrangement. I'm including several arrangements, this one probably comes indirectly from Kilby Snow's version, which is the principle early version of "The Wind and the Rain." Stecher says he had heard Ethel Raim and Walt Koken sing more or less the same tune, but he cobbled the lyrics together from various versions of 'The Two Sisters' in ballad books. (Going Up On The Mountain, liner notes).
R. Matteson 2014]
Martin Carthy commented on his version, The Bows Of London, in the liner notes of Life and Limb:
"Ever since I head Jody Stecher sing a luminous song called The Wind and the Rain - a version of The Two Sisters - I have wanted to sing it. Its overwhelming feature is its concentration on that aspect of the story dealing with the building from the murder victim's remains of a fiddle which then takes on a life of its own and ultimately unmasks the murderer."
In the booklet to 'Going Up On The Mountain' (Acoustic Disc ACD-39), Stecher says he had heard Ethel Raim and Walt Koken sing more or less the same tune, but he cobbled the lyrics together from various versions of 'The Two Sisters' in ballad books - 'I added words and changed others to suit my tongue'. The ballad appears on Going up On the Mountain (1977) and an extended jam version is featured on Oh the Wind and Rain (1999) a collaboration with Stecher and Krishna Bhatt.
Oh, the Wind and Rain (The Two Sisters) Stecher- 1977 adapted from traditional sources
Oh, there were two sisters come a-walking down the stream
Oh, the wind and rain
And one of them pushed the other one in
Crying, oh, the wind and rain
Johnny gave the younger one a gay gold ring
Didn't give the elder one anything
She pushed her sister in the river to drown
And watched her as she floated down
She floated 'til she came to the miller's pond
Crying, Father, oh father, there swims a swan
Well, the miller laid her out on the banks to dry
And the fiddling fool come a-passing by
Way down the road come a fiddler fair
Way down the road come a fiddler fair
And he's made fiddle strings of her long yellow hair
And he's made fiddle strings of her long yellow hair
And he's made fiddle pegs of her long finger bones
And he's made fiddle pegs of her long finger bones
And he's made a little fiddle body of her breast bone
Whose sound would melt a heart of stone
But the only tune that the fiddle could play
Was, Oh, the wind and rain
The only tune that the fiddle could play
Was, Oh, the cruel wind and the rain