Bluegrass Messengers

Recordings & Info 295. The Brown Girl

[This ballad is not to be confused with the popular ballad, Child No. 73- Lord Thomas and Fair Annet, which is known in the US and Canada as "The Brown Girl." 

In 1917 Sharp published his book, EFSSA, which categorized the "Rich Irish Lady" versions he collected in the Appalachians as "The Brown Girl." This established the title "The Brown Girl" in subsequent collections for versions of the various US "Rich Irish Lady" ballads. Sharp used Child as the basis for his categorization and when Child used Baring-Gould's fraudulent text as his B version that introduced elements of Sallie and Billie/Rich Irish Lady as part of Child 295. The only US version that mentions "the brown girl" was "collected" by Patrick Gainer and is also of questionable authenticity.
 
It has been pointed out to me by Steve Gardham, who has been helping me with my Child ballad research, that The Cruel Nymph is a broadside which Child No. 295 (Version A) The Brown Girl was based. Here's some information from Steve:

Steve Gardham: You can't have any versions of Child 295 because they do not exist. 295A only survived as a small fragment in another rare Scottish song, and 295B is a blatant forgery by Baring-Gould. All of the secondary versions related to 295B are of the late 18th century broadside 'The Sailor from Dover/Sally and her Truelove Billy' of which there are hundreds of broadside versions.  Baring Gould welded together two late 18th century broadside ballads to make 295B. 295A is very scarce and only exists on a handful of broadsides usually titled 'The Cruel Nymph', and 'Sally and Billy' is very common and continued to be printed throughout the 19th century. American collectors were so anxious to collect Child ballads in the early 20th century that they accepted Baring-Gould's forgery without question. It wasn't until about 1950 that they began to realize their mistake.
 
If you wish I can easily set out which stanzas came from The Cruel Nymph/Brown Girl and which came from Sally and Billy to make the forgery [See Steve's article in Folk Song Tradition, Revival and Re-Creation, edited by Ian Russell and David Atkinson, University of Aberdeen 2004, chapter 28]. Child spotted other forgeries Baring Gould sent him but by the time he got to 295 he knew he was on the way out and personally I think he was sick of the stuff he was having to print in the final volumes and just wanted to get it out of the way. Read Dover volume 5 p. 182. That'll give you his final feelings.

Note: Reed Smith (SFLQ, I, #2, 9 1 1) lists The Brown Girl in its traditional form among  the survivals of Child ballads in America. I have not, however, been able to locate a published  text.

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 418 / Belden, Mo F-S, in / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 164 /  Broadsides: Claude L. Fraser Coll., Yale University; Brown University Library / Brown  Coll / Cambiaire, Ea Tenn Wstn 7 a Mt Bids, 1 19 / Cox, F-S South, 366 / Davis, Trd Bid Fa,  537 / Flanders, Vt F-S Bids, 244 / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 150 / Green  Mountain Songster, 23 / Haun, Cocke Cnty, 83 / Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 134 / Hudson, F-S  Miss, 128 / Hudson, F-T Miss, 8 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, #25 / JAFL, XXVII, 73;  XXXII, 502; XXXIX, 1 10 ; XLV, 53; LII, 12 / Leach-Beck Mss / Lomax and Lomax, Our  Sgng Cntry, 160 / Morris, F-S Fla, 483 / Owens, Studies Tex F-S, 18 / Powell, 5 Va F-S, g / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 205 / Scarborough, Sgctcbr So Mts, 97 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplcbns,  #36 / SharpK, EngF-S So Aplcbns, I, 295 / Smith and Rufty, Am Antb Old WrU Bids, 67 /

Local Titles: A Brave Irish Lady, A Irish (Young) Lady, Doctor, Fair (Pretty) Sally, Love Billie, Sally and Her True Love Billie, Pretty Sally of London, Rose of Ardeen, Sally, Sallie,  (Pretty) Sally and Billy, Sally Sailsworth, The Bold Sailor, The Brown Girl, The Fair Damsel  (Rich Lady) from London, The Rich (Irish) Lady, The Royal Fair Damsel, The Sailor from  Dover, There Was a Young Lady.

Story Types: A: A young girl, once attached to a man, tells him she cannot  love him as she has fallen for another. He becomes proud. Later, when she  falls deathly ill, she sends for the scorned one and requests that he restore  her faith and love. He arrives and mocks her situation, reminds her how  she scorned him, and says he will dance with glee on her grave. Often, she
gives him a ring to wear while dancing on her grave, a gift which he scorns.

Examples: Brewster, Davis (A), SharpK (A).

B: See The Death of Queen Jane (Child 170): Type D.

Examples: Davis, p. 420; SharpK, p. 303,

C: The story is like that of Type A, except that the man repents his cruelty and says he will soon die and wed the girl in death.
Examples: SharpK (G).

D: The same story is told as was told in Type A, but the ending is happy. The lover repents and tells the girl to "cheer up". He then marries her.

Examples: Barry (A, E), Gardner and Chickering, Flanders.

E : The story is the same as that of Type A, but it is the man who gets ill  and the girl (like Barbara Allen) who goes to see him, scorns him a second  time, and is given the rings to wear when she dances on his grave.  Examples: JAFL, LII, 12.

F: The story is very like that of Type A. However, the man spurns the  girl at the start by telling her that he will only marry her if forced. She then  becomes proud, gets ill, and sends for him. He spurns her again in the usual  fashion. Examples: Leach-Beck Mss.

G: A degeneration exists in which a sea-captain, Pretty Polly, and Miss Betsy are involved in a confusion in which the "are you the doctor" stanzas  are the only intelligible part.

Examples: JAFL, XLV, 54.

Discussion: The American forms of this ballad can all (excepting Smith's find, if that find is genuine) be traced back to English derivatives of the  Child song that went under titles such as Sally and Billy and The Bold Soldier. In this country, the girl is no longer brown, the sexes have been reversed so that the lover mocks and scorns the dying girl, and the "are you  the doctor" stanzas have become a central feature of the ballad. See Belden, Mo F-S, in for a detailed discussion of the American and British features of the song.

There has been a certain amount of doubt and hesitation among the collector-editors in deciding whether or not to include the American Brown Girl as part of the Child 295 tradition or not. Barry and Gardner and Ctickering publish their finds as secondary versions of the traditional song, while  Randolph, Brewster, Sharp-Karpeles, and Davis include theirs as American
variants. See Hudson, F-S Miss, 128; the Kirklands, SFLQ, III, 79; and  Powell, 5 Va F-S, 78 for discussions of the problem.

The story of The Brown Girl, as given by Child, V, 166, is as follows: A young man who has been attached to a girl sends her word by letter that he cannot fancy her because she is so brown (he has left her for another). She sends a disdainful reply. He writes again that he is dangerously ill (he is lovesick), and begs her  to come to him quickly and give him hack his faith. She takes her time in going, and  when she comes to the sick man's bedside, cannot stand for laughing. She has, however, brought a white wand with her, which she strokes on his breast, in sign that she  gives him back the faith which he had given her. But as to forgiving and forgetting, that she will never do ; she will dance upon his grave.

The American story types are, of course, quite dissimilar to this narrative.  Type A is the normal American tale. The Type B variation is due to the  corruption of Child 170, The Death of Queen Jane (See Type D under 170).  Types C and D reflect different degrees of sentimentality and, particularly  in the latter case, weaken the story considerably. Type E is interesting in
that the sexes reverse back to the British form, although the girl remains the  scorner at the start. Part of this story was narrated, and the change may be  due in some degree to faulty memory. Type F echoes the British Brown Girl  also in that the man spurns the girl before she becomes haughty. However,  this text is clearly the derivative song, and the variation is probably connected to the fact that some of the verses were unknown to the singer. Type  G is a most unbelievably confused and garbled text.

The SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, F text should be noted in that it reveals the "doctor" stanzas taken so literally that the lover has become a  physician. See also Powell, 5 Va F-S.
 

Folk Index: Brown Girl I [Ch 295]

Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p678

The Brown Girl II [Laws P 9/Sh 44]

Uf - Fair Sally

Fair Sally [Laws P 9/Sh 44]

Rt - Brown Girl II ; Rich Irish Lady ; Dover Sailor
At - Fair Sarah
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), P679 (Brown Girl I)
Allison, J. L.. Morris, Alton C. / Folksongs of Florida, Univ. Florida, Bk (1950), p330/#177 [1934-39] (Pretty Sally)
Bennett, Virginia. Sharp, Cecil & Maude Karpeles (eds.) / Eighty English Folk Songs from th, MIT Press, Sof (1968), p 53 [1917ca]
Bennett, Virginia. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p302/# 44I [1918/09/13] (Brown Girl II)
Blackard, Joe (Blackett, Joe). Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p300/# 44H [1918/08/28] (Brown Girl II)
Chisholm, N. B.. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p297/# 44E [1916/09/23] (Brown Girl II)
Heed, Lottie Marsh. Hubbard, Lester A. / Ballads and Songs from Utah, Univ. of Utah, Bk (1961), p 46/# 19 [1947/09/03] (Brown Girl II)
Kinnard, H. D.. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p299/# 44G [1917/05/27] (Brown Girl II)
Moore, Mrs.. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p298/# 44F [1909/05/02] (Brown Girl II)
Patrick, Polly. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p304/# 44K [1917/08/14] (Brown Girl II)
Prewitt, Opal. Niles, John Jacob / Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, Bramhall House, Bk (1961), p336/N 64 [1932/10] (English Lady Gay)
Rice, Mrs. Tom. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p296/# 44B [1916/08/17] (Brown Girl II)
Richards, Frances (Mrs.). Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p303/# 44J [1918/08/16] (Brown Girl II)
Sands, Mary. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p295/# 44A [1916/07/31] (Brown Girl II)
Shelton, Wm. Riley. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p297/# 44D [1916/08/29] (Brown Girl II)
Short, Lillian. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p208/# 40B [1940/08/28]
Wallin, Mitchell. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p296/# 44C [1916/08/04] (Brown Girl II)

The Rich Irish Lady [Laws P 9/Sh 44/Me I-A40]

Rt - Sailor from Dover ; Fair Sally
At - Sally and Billy ; Fair Damsel From London ; Sally and Her True Love ; Bold Sailor ; Royal Fair Damsel
Sm - Our Forefathers Song
Laws, G. Malcolm / American Balladry from British Broadsides, Amer. Folklore Soc., Bk (1957), p252
Flanders, Helen H. & George Brown / Vermont Folk Songs and Ballads, Folklore Associates, Bk (1968/1931), p244 [1830s] (Fair Damsel From London)
Armstrong, Frankie. Lovely on the Water, Topic 12TS 216, LP (1972), trk# B.02 (Brown Girl II)
Baker, Anna. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p205/# 40A [1934/04/30] (Pretty Sally of London)
Chadwick, Maggie. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p208/# 40C [1942/03/02]
Funk, Sofia. Cox, John Harrington (ed.) / Folk-Songs of the South, Dover, Sof (1967/1925), p368/#114C [1916] (Pretty Sally)
Gunning, Sarah Ogan. Girl of Constant Sorrow, Folk Legacy FSA 026, LP (1965), trk# B.09 [1963-64] (Sally)
Haigood, Elizabeth Penelope. Owens, William A. (ed.) / Texas Folk Songs. 2nd edition, SMU Press, Bk (1976/1950), p 40 [1938]
Hill, Sylvia. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p210/# 40E [1940/08/16] (Rich Lady)
Hunt, Mrs. E. A.. Cox, John Harrington (ed.) / Folk-Songs of the South, Dover, Sof (1967/1925), p366/#114A [1917/01] (Pretty Sally)
Ingenthron, Charles. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p211/# 40F [1941/09/06] (Rich Lady from Londo
Mayhan, Judy. Folk Songs of Old Eire, Tradition TR 2075, LP (1962), trk# 11
Nuzum, Carrie. Cox, John Harrington (ed.) / Folk-Songs of the South, Dover, Sof (1967/1925), p367/#114B [1916]
Nye, Pearl R. (Captain). Lomax, John A. & Alan Lomax / Our Singing Country, Dover, Sof (2000/1941), p160 [1937] (Irish Lady)
Seeger, Peggy. Sing Out Reprints, Sing Out, Sof, 6, p54 (1964)
Summers, Andrew Rowan. Unquiet Grave, Folkways FA 2364/FP 64, LP (1951), trk# A.03 (Pretty Sally)
Wallis, Velma. Moore, Ethel & Chauncey (ed.) / Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest, Univ. of Okla, Bk (1964), p140/# 59 [1930s] (Rich Lady from Dublin)
West, Hedy. Old Times and Hard Times, Folk Legacy FSA 032, LP (1967), trk# B.05
Wilson, Mrs. S. E.. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p209/# 40D [1940/07/21] (Rich Lady)
Wine, John N.. Cox, John Harrington (ed.) / Folk-Songs of the South, Dover, Sof (1967/1925), p369/#114D [1917/05]

Rich Lady [Laws P 9]

Us - Rich Irish Lady

The Rich Lady from Dublin [Laws P 9/Me I-A40]

Us - Rich Irish Lady

A Rich Lady from London [Laws P 9]

Us - Rich Irish Lady

The Sailor from Dover [Laws P 9]

Rt - Rich Irish Lady
Durston, Lucy. Williams, R. Vaughan; & A. L. Lloyd (eds.) / Penguin Book of English Fol, Penguin, Sof (1959), p 93 [1909]

The Brown Girl

Roud 180, Child 295A
by Steve Gardham

The folk song collector's dream - to be able to travel back in time to previous centuries and hear the folk songs being sung and even being made.  Not as daft as it sounds!  Okay, actually listening to a young sailor from Nelson's fleet in the foc's'le bursting forth with an old ballad is not yet on the agenda, but how about discovering ballads hidden away in obscure collections that were obviously a vital part of the folk process two or more centuries ago, or turning up a hitherto undiscovered Child ballad c1820 along with its tune?

These are just some of the delights to be enjoyed in searching through the street literature collections which are rapidly becoming more accessible to scholars due to modern technology and the foresight of a few archivists who are putting their archives onto the internet and microfilm.  Yes, it means wading through the endless sheets of Dibdin songs and parlour pieces, but the end results are well worth the effort, and this I intend to demonstrate in this series of articles presenting scarce and interesting broadside ballads to a wider audience.

Let's start with a Child ballad with only one version thought by many to exist.  The Brown Girl (Child 295A) was printed by John White of Newcastle c1780.  Child gives two versions, both sent to him by Baring Gould, the A version as above, the B version Baring Gould claimed to have collected from a local singer.  In reality this B version is a splicing of the A version and a well-known broadside ballad Sally and her True love, Billy, a splendid hoax which has lasted for well over a century.  For a full history of the hoax and its effect on later collections see Folk Song Tradition, Revival and Re-Creation, edited by Ian Russell and David Atkinson, University of Aberdeen 2004, chapter 28.

The version of the ballad given here The Cruel Nymph has two more stanzas than The Brown Girl (8 & 10) and it was found buried in the enormous Madden Collection of ballads in Cambridge University Library (Madden Collection, VWML microfilms 71/418, slip songs A-G).

Parts of this ballad did survive into the twentieth century in Scotland.  Stanzas 2, 3, 4 and 6 have lines in common with a ballad, itself a collection of commonplaces, called The Rue and the Thyme.  The closest version to The Brown Girl is version A of The Greig-Duncan Folk Song Collection Mercat Press 1995 Volume 6, p.156, No.1139.

The Cruel Nymph, A New Song 

I am as brown as brown can be,
And my eyes black as a sloe;
I am as brisk as a nightingale,
And as wild as any doe.

My love sent me a letter,
Far from yonders town;
He could not fancy me,
Because I was so brown.

I sent his letter back again,
His love I value not;
Whether he could fancy me,
Or whether he could not.

My love sent me another letter,
That he lay dangerous sick,
And I must needs go presently,
To give my love physick.

But now you shall hear what a love I had,
And a love for that sick man;
That I was a whole summer's day,
One mile a going on.

When I came to my love's bed side,
Where he lay dangerous sick,
I could not then for laughing stand
Upright upon my feet.

I set me down on his bed-side,
And laid a white wand on his breast,
And then cry'd I, since you're so well,
I hope your soul's at rest.

No sooner I had spoke these words,
He lifted up his eyes;
But since you see how bad I am,
'Tis you your love denys.

I'll do as much for my true love,
As any pretty maiden may,
I'll sing and dance upon your grave,
For a twelvemonth and a day.

When I have done what I can do,
I'll sit me down and cry,
And every tear that I do shed,
I'll hang them up to dry.
 
As Child points out in his notes, most of these stanzas have equivalents in other Child ballads, which is probably why he decided to include it in his collection, having already rejected some spurious material sent by Baring Gould.