Recordings & Info 267. The Heir of Linne
[Coffin points out a relationship with this ballad and "The Sea Captain" (See: US version collected by Perrow) along with the US broadside ballads- Johnny the Sailor; Young Johnny. See versions (Folk Index) listed under "The Green Bed."]
CONTENTS:
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Child Collection Index
4) Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
5) Folk Index
7) Mainly Norfolk (lyrics and info)
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud No. 111: The Heir of Linne (19 Listings)
Alternate Titles
The Heir o' Linne
Heir of Lynne
Heir of Lin
Traditional Ballad Index: Heir of Linne, The [Child 267]
DESCRIPTION: The Heir wastes his money in gambling and wild living, (sells his lands,) and falls into poverty. He remembers a (letter/key) to be used only when he is in need. It tells him where to find a treasure; the Heir is once again rich -- and now wiser
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1765 (Percy)
KEYWORDS: money gambling drink poverty begging
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(SE)
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
Child 267, "The Heir of Linne" (3 texts)
Bronson 267, "The Heir of Linne" (4 versions)
Greig #72, p. 1, "The Heir o' Linne" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 273, "The Heir o' Linne" (3 texts, 2 tunes) {A=Bronson's #2, B=#3}
Percy/Wheatley II, pp. 138-150, "The Heir of Linne" (2 texts, one from the Percy folio and one the heavily-expanded version printed in the _Reliques_)
Dixon IV, pp. 30-36, "The Heir of Linne" (1 text)
Davis-Ballads 41, "The Heir of Linne" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 637-641, "The Heir of Linne" (1 text plus one text for comparison)
OBB 80, "The Heir of Linne" (1 text)
DT 267, LAIRDLIN*
ADDITIONAL: Katherine Briggs, _A Dictionary of British Folk-Tales in the English Language_, Part A: Folk Narratives, 1970 (I use the 1971 Routledge paperback that combines volumes A.1 and A.2), volume A.2, p. 406, "The Heir of Linne" (a prose summary)
Roud #111
NOTES: Child lists many foreign analogues to this ballad. It should not be assumed, however, that they are actually related; the theme is commonplace. Indeed, it could easily be suggested by the Biblical story of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32); the only real difference is that, in the New Testament story, the father is still alive.
Still, Bronson links the tune loosely with "The Boom o' Cowdenknowes" -- which would make sense if someone were translating a text and fitting it to a British tune. - RBW
Child Collection- Child Ballad 267: The Heir of Linne
Child --Artist ---Title --Album --Year --Length --Have
267 Alex Robb The Heir O Lynn The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
267 Celtibillies The Heir of Linne The Shoemaker's Child 2004 No
267 Elizabeth Robb The Heir of Lynn (1) The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
267 Elizabeth Robb The Heir of Lynn (2) The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
267 Ewan MacColl The Heir of Lynne Scotland 1951, 1953, and 1958 (Lomax T3257) 1951 5:18 Yes
267 Ewan MacColl The Heir O' Lynne (The Heir of Linne) The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) - Vol. 6 [Reissue] 196? No
67 Ewan MacColl The Heir O' Lynne (The Heir of Linne) The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) - Vol. 3 1956 5:35 Yes
267 Steeleye Span Heir of Linne They Called Her Babylon 2004 6:48 Yes
Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America
by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
267. THE HEIR OF LINNE
Texts: Davis, Trd Bid 7 a, 479 / 7 a FLS Bull, #6.
Local Titles: The Heir of Linne.
Story Types: A: The heir of Linne sells his land to John o' Scales and squanders money for nearly a year. Then he is forced to beg without much luck. He recalls a note that his father gave him for use in a time of dire need, and the message reveals three chests of money in a castle wall. He takes the gold and goes back to John as if he were poor. John's wife will not trust him with a single cent. One man offers to lend him money. John offers to resell the lands for one hundred marks less than the original sale price. Linne takes the bargain to the consternation of John and wife, makes the man who offered to lend him money a keeper of his forest, and promises never to put his estate in jeopardy again.
Examples: Davis.
Discussion: The Virginia version is derived from the text published by Percy in his Reliques (1765), II, 309 and (1794), H I2- Thus the American form of the ballad is close to Child A, though much compressed and corrupted by some of the additions made by Percy and taken by him from The Drunkard's Legacy (see Child, V, 12 for a summary of the plot). The additions
are noted by Davis, Trd Sid 7a; 479 to be the introduction of the "lonesome lodge", "the rope 35 , and "one hundred marks" instead of "twenty pounds".
There is a North Carolina text (The Sea Captain) dealing with a sea-captain who appears poor and is rejected as a suitor for Polly's hand by the girl's mother. When he turns out rich, the mother does an about-face and even offers the couple a bed at once. He refuses and sets out to get drunk, XXVIII, 156. The song is not uncommon. For similar stories see JAFL XXV, 7 and Randolph, The Ozarks, 190. These songs may be considered derivatives or distant relations to the Child ballad, at best; their
original was the English broadside known as The Liverpool Landlady or Jack Tar, although Young Johnny or Johnny the Sailor are the common American titles.
Folk Index: The Heir of Linne [Ch 267]
Rt - Sea Captain
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p636
MacColl, Ewan. MacColl, Ewan / Folk Songs and Ballads of Scotland, Oak, Sof (1965), p43 (Heir o' Linne)
The Sea Captain
Rt - Heir of Linne
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p640
The Green Bed/Beds [Laws K36/Sh 58] (Johnny the Sailor; Young Johnny)
Rt - Wild Rover
At - Clean Beds
Semones, Claudia. 1941 Old Fiddlers Convention, Galax, Virginia, Voyage Beyond, CD (200?), trk# 1 [1941]
Sandburg, Carl (ed.) / American Songbag, Harcourt, Sof (1955/1928), p430 (Jackson)
Laws, G. Malcolm / American Balladry from British Broadsides, Amer. Folklore Soc., Bk (1957), p159 (Johnny the Sailor)
Sing Out Reprints, Sing Out, Sof, 11, p23 (1969) (Jackson)
Laws, G. Malcolm / Native American Balladry, Amer. Folklore Soc., Bk (1964), p274 (Jackson)
Arnold, Benjamin. Williams, R. Vaughan; & A. L. Lloyd (eds.) / Penguin Book of English Fol, Penguin, Sof (1959), p 48 [1909]
Broghton, Mollie. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p367/# 58C [1917/08/25]
Bullard, Linnie. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p251/# 53B [1926/07/10] (Johnny the Sailor)
Cantrell, J. B.. Kirkland Recordings, Tennessee Folklore Soc. TFS 106, LP (1984), trk# 18 [1938/07/14]
Drake, Rod. Owens, William A. (ed.) / Texas Folk Songs. 2nd edition, SMU Press, Bk (1976/1950), p 63 [1952] (Young Johnny/Johnnie)
Dryden, Mrs. Ben. Owens, William A. (ed.) / Texas Folk Songs. 2nd edition, SMU Press, Bk (1976/1950), p 62 [1941] (Young Johnny/Johnnie)
Gentry, Jane Hicks. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p365/# 58A [1916/09/12]
Gentry, Jane Hicks. Smith, Betty N. / Jane Hicks Gentry. A Singer Among Singers, U. Ky, Sof (1998), p166/#26 [1916/09/12]
King, Mrs. S. W.. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p250/# 53A [1927/02/26] (Johnny the Sailor)
Knuckles, Delie. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p366/# 58B [1917/05/16]
Lynch, Berda. Cox, John Harrington (ed.) / Folk-Songs of the South, Dover, Sof (1967/1925), p390/#124 [1917/01] (Young Johnny/Johnnie)
Mack, James. Thompson, Harold W.(ed.) / Body, Boots & Britches, Dover, Bk (1962/1939), p213 [1930s]
McCord, May Kennedy. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p253/# 53E [1939/02/05] (Johnny the Sailor)
Paley, Tom. Old Tom Moore and More, Global Village C 309, Cas (1991), trk# 10 (Young Johnny/Johnnie)
Rayburn, Otto Ernest. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p252/# 53D [1933/11/16] (Johnny the Sailor)
Risinger, Robert L.. Moore, Ethel & Chauncey (ed.) / Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest, Univ. of Okla, Bk (1964), p205/# 93 [1940s] (Young Johnny/Johnnie)
Rosenbaum, Art. Art of the Mountain Banjo, Kicking Mule KM 203, LP (1975), trk# 1.10
Rosenbaum, Art. Rosenbaum, Art / Art of the Mountain Banjo, Centerstream, Fol (1981), p64
Stephens, Mrs. Lee. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p252/# 53C [1928/08/09] (Johnny the Sailor)
Tanner, Ruth M.. Thompson, Harold W.(ed.) / Body, Boots & Britches, Dover, Bk (1962/1939), p211 [1930s] (Down Beds)
Wheeler, Laurel. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p368/# 58D [1918/05/01]
White, Everett. Folksongs and Ballads, Vol 1. Everett White, Augusta Heritage AHR 007, Cas (1991), trk# 1.08 (Little Johnny)
Mainly Norfolk: Heir of Linne
[Roud 111; Child 267; Ballad Index C267; trad.]
Maddy Prior sang Heir of Linne on Steeleye Span's 2004 CD They Called Her Babylon. She commented in the album's sleeve notes:
I have the mighty Martin Carthy to thank for directing me to this song. I spent a wonderful weekend last summer listening to him play and talk about ballads and he was waxing lyrical about this one, and in his generous way was enthusiastic for me to develop a version of it. For me, it encapsulates the image of the Dark Night of the Soul, when all is gone and despair drowns any hope. Only then is there a change in fortune. It would take a wisdom and ruthlessness that most of us don't possess to carry through the plan of the father.
Lyrics
The bonny heir and the well-faired heir,
The handsome heir of Linne,
Yonder he stands at his father's gate
And nobody bids him in.
See where he goes and see where he stands,
The weary heir of Linne,
Yonder he stands on the cold causeway
And nobody bids him in.
He's sold his father's estate and land,
He's sold it on a day.
Within three quarters of a year
He's not one brass penny.
For he has drunk of the wine so clear,
Good company spent his gold.
And now he wanders on the shore
Hungry, wet and cold.
His nurse at her window she looked out,
Beholding dale and down.
And there she saw this sad young man
Come walking to the town.
“Come here, come here my child,” she said,
“And rest yourself with me.
I've seen you in much better days
In jovial company.”
“Give me a slice of your bread, Nursey,
And a bottle of your wine.
I'll pay you for it o'er again
When I'm the Lord of Linne.”
“You'll get a slice of my bread, my child,
And a bottle of my wine.
But pay me when the seas run dry,
You'll never be Lord of Linne.”
Then he has turned him right about
As any mother's son.
So off he has set and found his way
And straightway came to Linne.
But when he came to the castle strong
They were all sat down to dine.
A score of nobles there he saw,
Sat drinking at the wine.
Some said, “Give him the beef, the beef,”
Some said, “Give him the bone.”
And some said, “Give him nothing at all
But let the beggar roam.”
Then up and spake the new-come lord,
A saucy word spoke he,
“Pass round the cup, let my rival sup,
Then send him on his way.”
He's turned him right and round about
As any father's son.
He's reminded of a leaden key
His father left with him.
His father left a meagre key
Just before he died,
He bade him keep it secretly
Till he was most in need.
The forth he went, these nobles left
All drinking in the hall.
And he has found a bolted door
Below the castle wall.
The key has opened up the door
Wherein lies all his hope,
But where he thought to find good gold
There stood a gibbet and rope.
Under the rope was placed a stool
All covered o'er with dust,
The father had condemned the son,
His sentence it was just.
The son he sighed, stood on the stool,
Never a word he spoke
But as he jumped to eternity
Down the gibbet broke.
It broke and cracked above his head,
He landed on the floor.
And round him rolling, shining bright,
Was a hidden golden store.
“Oft have I gone with bitter cold feet,
Likewise with legs all bare,
And many days walked at these gates
With sad sorrow and care.
But now my sorrow's past and gone,
Joy has all returned,
Now that I have gold enough
To buy my lands again.”
As he galloped back through town,
He jubilantly crowed,
And he's called out before them all
The nurse from out her house.
“Come here, come here my nurse,” he said,
“I'll pay you bread and wine.
Seas ebb and flow as they will,
Yet I'm the Lord of Linne.”
He's gone up the Gallowgate port
In tatty hose and gown,
But he was carried by fifteen lords
When he came back down.