Recordings & Info 49. The Twa Brothers
CONTENTS:
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Folk Index
4) Child Collection Index
5) 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
6) Mainly Norfolk (lyrics and info)
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud Number 38: The Twa Brothers (209 Listings)
Alternative Titles
Two Brothers
The Rolling of the Stones
The Murdered Boy
Two Little Boys Going to School
The Cruel Brother
The Little Schoolboy
Two Pretty Boys
The Twa Brithers
Billy Murdered John,
John and William
Little Willie
Said Billie to Jimmie
Take My Fine Shirt,
The Dying Soldier
The Rolling of the Stones
The Two Brothers
The Two School Boys
Two Born Brothers
Two Little Boys
Two Little Schoolmates
Monday Morning Go to School
Traditional Ballad Index: Twa Brothers, The [Child 49]
DESCRIPTION: Two brothers agree to wrestle on their way to school. In the process, one is wounded by the other's knife. The unwounded brother (often) tries to save the wounded one, but it is too late; all that is left is to arrange for his burial and make excuses
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1825 (Motherwell)
KEYWORDS: contest death fight stepmother brother murder magic
FOUND IN: Britain(England,Scotland(Bord)), US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,NW,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (34 citations):
Child 49, "The Twa Brothers" (8 texts)
Bronson 49, "The Twa Brothers" (41 versions plus 4 in addenda)
Lyle-Crawfurd2 160, "The Twa Brithers" (1 text)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 99-106, "The Two Brothers" (1 text plus many excerpts including a complete Kentucky version, 1 tune) {Bronson's #21}
Belden, pp. 33-34, "The Two Brothers" (1 text)
Randolph 10, "The Two Brothers" (3 texts plus a fragment, 4 tunes) {Bronson's #13, #40, #3, #2}
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 24-25, "The Two Brothers" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 10A) {Bronson's #13}
Eddy 9, "The Twa Brothers" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #28, #30}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 96-99, "Edward Ballad [listed as "Child 13" but obviously this piece though Bronson considers it a "too literary" mix of the two ballads with a peculiar tune]; pp. 230-232, "Martyr John" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #41, #38}
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 316-331, "The Twa Brothers" (4 texts, 5 tunes; the last two tunes are variants taken from the same informant) {A=Bronson's #41, B=38}
Linscott, pp. 278-280, "The Rolling of the Stones or The Twa Brothers" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14}
Davis-Ballads 11, "The Twa Brothers" (11 texts, 6 tunes) {#23, #31, #5, #33, #10, #24}
Davis-More 15, pp. 92-101, "The Twa Brothers" (5 texts, 5 tunes)
BrownII 13, "The Two Brothers" (1 text)
Chappell-FSRA 6, "The Two Brothers" (1 text)
Hudson 7, pp. 73-74, "The Two Brothers" (2 texts)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 166-167, "The Twa Brothers" (1 text, locally titled "The Two Brothers")
Brewster 9, "The Two Brothers" (2 texts)
JHCoxIIA, #6, p. 21, "The Two Brothers" (1 fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's #8}
Creighton/Senior, p. 25-26, "The Twa Brothers" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #39}
Peacock, pp. 827-830, "The Two Brothers" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Leach, pp. 163-167, "The Twa Brothers" (2 texts)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 136-138, "Two Brothers" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBB 63, "The Twa Brothers" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 169, "The Twa Brothers" (2 texts)
Niles 20, "The Twa Brothers" (1 text, 1 tune -- a fragmentary text that opens like "The Twa Brothers," but has an ending that might be anything)
Gummere, pp. 174-175+343, "The Twa Brothers" (1 text)
SharpAp 12 "The Two Brothers" (12 texts, often short, plus a fragment ("E") that may be this; 13 tunes) {Bronson's #17, #10, #31, #24, #18, #19, #11, #9, #1, #15, #27, #25, #32}
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 11, "The Two Brothers" (1 text, 1 tune -- an expanded composite version) {Bronson's #11}
LPound-ABS, 18, pp. 45-46, "Two Little Boys" (1 text)
JHCox 7, "The Twa Brothers" (2 texts)
DT 49, TWOBROS TWOBROS2* TWOBROS3* TWOBROS4* ROLLSTON*
ADDITIONAL: Bob Stewart, _Where Is Saint George? Pagan Imagery in English Folksong_, revised edition, Blandford, 1988, pp. 23-24, "The Two Brothers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #52-53, "The Wta Brothers" (1 text)
Roud #38
RECORDINGS:
Charlotte Decker, "The Two Brothers" (on PeacockCDROM) [one verse only]
Nellie McGregor, "The Two Brothers" (on FSBBAL1)
Hobart Smith, "The Little Schoolboy" (on LomaxCD1702)
Belle Stewart, "The Two Brothers" (on Voice03) {Bronson's #13.2 in addenda}
Lucy Stewart, "The Twa Brothers [The Two Brothers]" (on FSB4, FSBBAL1) (on LStewart1) {Bronson's #11.1 in addenda}
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" [Child 155] (lyrics)
cf. "The Unquiet Grave" [Child 78] (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Rolling of the Stones
The Murdered Boy
Two Little Boys Going to School
The Cruel Brother
NOTES: In Friedman's A version, the brother is killed, not wrestling for fun, but in a fit of passion. - PJS
Indeed, this motif (which is not unusual; many of Davis's texts have it, for instance) gives rise to the possibility that what we have here is two songs mixed. Call them "The Twa Brothers" and "The Rolling of the Stones." In the former, the one brother kills the other as a result of accident or perhaps a (step?)mother's malice.
"The Rolling of the Stones," though it involves a death and is usually listed as a version of this song, has a very different feel. It is definitely a song of passion and jealousy, and ends with Susie, the girl of the piece, dancing to try to bring the dead man back to life.
The two have certainly mixed verses, making them hard to tell apart, but I'm not at all convinced that they are the same song. A curiosity is that the "Rolling of the Stones" texts seem to be mostly American, even though American texts rarely involve magic. But it should be noted that the endings of the texts in Child are very diverse; it may be that he simply hadn't found one of the "magic" endings.
Stewart evidently thinks the whole thing goes back to early myth; on p. 24 he declares, "The story is clearly found in Celtic and pre-Celtic myth and lore, in classical mythology, and in ancient Egyptian and Eastern religious allegory.
"The plot is very simple, one brother kills another in competition for a woman. The murdered man is then brought back to life by his true love."
In other words, Stewart sees this song as a a version of the Egyptian tale of Osiris, Seth, and Isis (Osiris having been murdered by his brother Seth and revived by Isis). Given the content of "The Rolling of the Stones," it does appear that something like the Osiris story was known in Britain. But it must be repeated that most versions of this song *don't* have a resurrection theme. They're a much more basic tale, of a stepmother's desire to gain an inheritance for her son over her older stepson.
Stewart, similarly, suggests that the questions at the end are an attempt to gather oracles from a dying man. Certainly the idea that the dying can see the future is well-attested. But why, then, are the dying brother's answers all excuses for the younger brother or, in one case, a curse? And, at that, a curse which apparently never comes true?
Again, Stewart thinks the "Rolling of the Stones" variants hint at human sacrifice. At most, it appears to me, they hint at the mass, and the conversion of win into the blood of Jesus.
In any case, everything that gets Stewart's mythological juices flowing comes from variants of "The Rolling of the Stones," not the mainlineversions of "The Twa Brothers."
Linscott has one of her usual folklorish explanations: "The event from which the ballad gets its theme happened near Edinburgh in 1589, when one of the Somervilles was killed by the accidental discharge of his bother's pistol." This connection ignores the fact that brothers are more than a little apt to quarrel over inheritances....
E. K. Chambers (English Literature at the Close of the Middle Ages, p. 72) quotes a passage from a thirteenth(?) century fragment of a song which has not been connected with this piece, but which I find rather interesting:
Atte wrestling my lemman I ches,
And atte ston-kasting I him for-les.
i.e.
At wrestling my love I chose,
And at stone-casting I him lost. - RBW
Also collected and sung by Ellen Mitchell, "Twa Brithers" (on Kevin and Ellen Mitchell, "Have a Drop Mair," Musical Tradition Records MTCD315-6 CD (2001)) - BS
Folk Index: The Two Brothers [Ch 49/Sh 12]
Rt - Rolling of the Stones ; Monday Morning Go to School
Friedman, Albert B. (ed.) / Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-S, Viking, sof (1963/1957), p169 [1823] (Twa Brothers)
Friedman, Albert B. (ed.) / Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-S, Viking, sof (1963/1957), p171 [1827] (Twa Brothers)
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p165 (Twa Brothers)
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p166 (Two Little Boys)
Adkins, John B.. Cox, John Harrington (ed.) / Folk-Songs of the South, Dover, Sof (1967/1925), p 34/# 7B [1916/04/01] (Little Willie)
Bennett, Virginia. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 75/# 12K [1918/09/13]
Bikel, Theodore. Folk Box, Elektra EKL 9001, LP (1964), trk# 66
Block, Allan. Alive and Well and Fiddling, Living Folk LFR 104, LP (197?), trk# 16
Clayton, Paul. Bloody Ballads, Riverside RLP 12-615, LP (1956), trk# A.04
Dunagan, Margaret. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 69/# 12F [1917/09/05]
Fitzgerald, Florence. Sharp, Cecil & Maude Karpeles (eds.) / Eighty English Folk Songs from th, MIT Press, Sof (1968), p 31 [1917ca]
Fitzgerald, Florence. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 76/# 12M [1918/04/23]
Ford, Carrie. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 69/# 12E [1916/09/18]
Freeman, Lucindie. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 74/# 12J [1918/09/03]
Ginandes, Shep. Sings Folk Songs, Elektra EKL 133, LP (1958), trk# 2
Gladden, Texas. Anglo American Ballads, Vol. 2, Rounder 1516, CD (1999), trk# 3 [1941]
Gladden, Texas. Ballad Legacy, Rounder 1800, CD (2001/1941), trk# 17 [1941/08]
Goodhue, F. M.. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 76/# 10A [1930/11/24]
Griffin, Mrs. G. A.. Morris, Alton C. / Folksongs of Florida, Univ. Florida, Bk (1950), p254/#152 [1934-39] (Two School Boys)
Huff, Ollie. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 73/# 12I [1917/05/31]
Keeton, Ozzo. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 68/# 12D [1916/09/26]
Knuckles, Delie. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 71/# 12G [1917/05/16]
Lovingood, Charity. Scarborough, Dorothy(ed.) / A Song Catcher in the Southern Mountains, AMS, Bk (1966/1937), p166 [1930ca]
Mandel, Ben. Brave Boys, New England Traditions in Folk Music, New World NW 239, LP (1977), trk# 3 [1964/06]
Maples, Mr. & Mrs. Jas. A. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 76/# 12L [1917/04/17]
McDonald, Mrs. H. L.. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 80/# 10D [1942/02/10]
Ramsey, Kate. Niles, John Jacob / Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles, Bramhall House, Bk (1961), p113/N 20 [1933/07] (Murdered Boy)
Redpath, Jean. Father Adam, Philo 1061, LP (1979), trk# B.02 (Twa Brothers)
Roberts, Lizzie; and Mrs. Smith. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 65/# 12A [1916/09/13]
Rowe, Mrs. Foster. Moore, Ethel & Chauncey (ed.) / Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest, Univ. of Okla, Bk (1964), p 38/# 14A [1933/01/02] (Yonder School)
Shelman, Eliza. Pound, Louise (ed.) / American Ballads and Songs, Scribner, Sof (1972/1922), p 45/# 18 [1909] (Two Little Boys)
Shiflett, Mary Woods. McNeil, W. K. (ed.) / Southern Folk Ballads, Vol 2, August House, Sof (1988), p136 [1965/09/03]
Short, J. Will. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 77/# 10B [1941/08/15]
Sloan, Sudie. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 72/# 12H [1917/05/06]
Smith, Rosie. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 66/# 12B [1916/09/25]
Snider, Mrs. Charles. Cox, John Harrington (ed.) / Folk-Songs of the South, Dover, Sof (1967/1925), p 33/# 7A [1915/04] (Twa Brothers)
Sorrels, Rosalie. Rosalie's Songbag, Prestige International INT 13025, LP (196?), trk# 9 (Willie and John/Johnny)
Sperlin, O. B.. Tolman, Albert H. / Some Songs Traditional in the United States, Amer. Folklore Soc. JAF, Bk (1916), p158 [191?] (Twa Brothers)
Stewart, Belle. Queen Among the Heather, Greentrax CDTrax 9055, CD (1998), trk# 12 [1976/05] (Twa Brothers)
Stewart, Lucy. Folk Songs of Britain, Vol 4. The Child Ballads, I, Caedmon TC 1145, LP (1961), trk# B.02 [1950s] (Twa Brothers)
Tuttle, Mildred. Randolph, Vance / Ozark Folksongs. Volume I, British Ballads and Songs, Univ. of Missouri, Bk (1980/1946), p 79/# 10C [1941/12/31] (Two Little Boys)
Walton, Nuel. Sharp & Karpeles / English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, Oxford, Bk (1932/1917), p 67/# 12C [1916/09/26]
Williams, Flora A.. Cox, John Harrington(ed.) / Traditional Ballads Mainly from West Virgini, WPA, Bk (1939), 6 [1927ca]
Younger, John. Moore, Ethel & Chauncey (ed.) / Ballads and Folk Songs of the Southwest, Univ. of Okla, Bk (1964), p 39/# 14B [1940s] (Willie and John/Johnny)
Rolling of the Stones [Ch 49]
Rt - Two Brothers
Atwater-Donnelly. Where the Wild Birds Do Whistle, RIM 1005-2, CD (1997), trk# 13
Barrett, Ruth; and Cyntia Smith. Early Years, Aeolus AM 006CD, CD (1999), trk# 12
Bok, Gordon;, Ann Mayo Muir & Ed Trickett. Minneapolis Concert, Folk Legacy FSI 110, LP (1987), trk# A.04
Harmon, Mary Ellwood/Ellingwood. Linscott, Eloise Hubbard (ed.) / Folk Songs of Old New England, Dover, Bk (1993/1939), p278 [1920-30s]
Hickerson, Joe. Drive Dull Care Away. Vol 1, Folk Legacy FSI 058, LP (1976), trk# 4
Young Tradition. Galleries, Vanguard VSD7 9295, LP (1968), trk# 7
Monday Morning Go to School
Rt - Two Brothers
Seeger, Ruth Crawford (eds.) / American Folk Songs for Children, Doubleday/Zephyr Books, Sof (1948), p177
Seeger, Peggy and Mike. American Folk Songs for Children, Rounder 8001/8002/8003, CD( (1977), trk# 2-45
Child Collection Index
Child-- Artist-- Title-- Album--- Year-- Length-- Have Recording
049 Abunai! Two Brothers Two Brothers 2003 7:29 Yes
049 Abunai! Two Brothers (version) Two Brothers 2003 15:20 Yes
049 Alasdair Roberts The Two Brothers No Earthly Man 2005 9:13 Yes
049 Alison McMorland & Peta Webb Two Pretty Boys Alison McMorland & Peta Webb 1980 4:08 Yes
049 Alison McMorland, Geordie McIntyre & Kirsty Potts The Two Brothers Ballad Tree 2003 4:20 Yes
049 Allan Block Two Brothers Alive and Well and Fiddling 197? No
049 Andrew Cronshaw, Roger Nicholson & Jake Walton The Rolling of the Stones Times and Traditions for Dulcimer 1976 No
049 Andrew King Two Brothers Changes + Andrew King 2005 8:31 Yes
049 Andrew Rowan Summers Two Brothers The Lady Gay 1954 No
049 Atwater-Donnelly The Rolling of the Stones Where the Wild Birds Do Whistle 1997 3:24 Yes
049 Belle Stewart The Twa Brothers Queen Among the Heather - Scots Traditional Songs and Ballads 1998 4:05 Yes
049 Belle Stewart The Two Brothers The Voice of the People, Vol. 3: O'Er His Grave the Grass Grew Green - Tragic Ballads 1998 4:04 Yes
049 Belle Stewart: Two Brothers The Voice of the People - A Selection from the Series of Anthologies 1998 No
049 Belle Stewart Two Pretty Boys The Bonny Hoose O' Blair 1979 No
049 Ben Mandel The Two Brothers Brave Boys - New England Traditions in Folk Music 1977 1:29 Yes
049 Betty Cabupp Three Little Babes The Mary Elizabeth Barnicle-Tillman Cadle Collection No
049 Big Medicine Two Brothers Too Old to Be Controlled 2002 3:24 Yes
049 Blood Axis + In Gowan Ring The Rolling of the Stones Witch-Hunt - The Rites of Samhain 2001 5:50 Yes
049 Blowzabella Epping Forest + The Rolling of the Stones + Dans-tro Plinn In Colour 1983 5:23 Yes
049 Bok, Muir & Trickett The Rolling of the Stones The First Fifteen Years, Vol 2 1992 1:49 Yes
049 Bram Taylor The Two Brothers Song Singer 2007 No
049 Christine Kydd The Twa Brithers Dark Pearls 1999 5:53 Yes
049 Dan Evans The Rolling of the Stone Spirit Dancing 1994 2:28 Yes
049 Dave & Toni Arthur Two Pretty Boys Folk on Friday 1971 3:44 Yes
049 Dave & Toni Arthur The Two Brothers John Howson Collection 1970-1995 No
049 Dick & Anne Albin The Two Brothers Red Roses, Green Briars and Milk-White Steeds 1975 2:48 Yes
049 Directing Hand Two Brothers What Put the Blood 2008 No
049 Eileen McGann The Rolling of the Stones Heritage 1997 4:11 Yes
049 Elizabeth Stewart Two Pretty Boys Binnorie: Songs, Ballads and Tunes 2005 No
049 Elizabeth Stewart The Twa Brothers Old Songs & Bothy Ballads - Nick-knack on the Waa 2008 No
049 Ellen Mitchell Twa Brithers On Yonder Lea - Scots Songs & Ballads 2002 No
049 Emma Hensley Monday Morning Go to School (Two Brothers) Black Is the Colour - Maud's Appalachian Collection, Vol. 1 1976 No
049 Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger The Two Brothers Two-Way Trip 1961 Yes
049 Fay Hield Two Brothers Looking Glass 2010 3:51 Yes
049 Fiddler's Dram The Two Brothers To See the Play 1978 4:38 Yes
049 Florence Fitzgerald (Mrs. J. Puckett) The Two Brothers Cumberland Gap - Maud Karpeles' Appalachian Collection 2 1976 No
049 Fred High Two Brothers The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection 2:43 Yes
049 Gavin Davenport Two Pretty Boys Brief Lives 2010 No
049 George Edwards Edward Ballad The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
049 George Lay Two Brothers The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection 3:07 Yes
049 Gordon Bok, Ann Mayo Muir & Ed Trickett The Rolling of the Stones Minneapolis Concert 1987 1:49 Yes
049 Green Man The Rolling of the Stones What Ails Thee? 2002 1:51 Yes
049 Heather Heywood Two Bonny Boys Lassies Fair and Laddies Braw - Scots Songs & Ballads 2000 4:36 Yes
049 Hobart Smith The Little Schoolboy Southern Journey Vol. 2: Ballads and Breakdowns 1997 4:16 Yes
049 Hobart Smith Two Brothers (The Little Schoolboy) Blue Ridge Legacy 2001 3:44 Yes
049 Holly Tannen & Pete Cooper Rolling of the Stones Frosty Morning 1979 2:48 Yes
049 In Gowan Ring The Rolling of the Stones Witch-Hunt - The Rites of Samhain 2001 5:58 Yes
049 In Gowan Ring Rolling of the Stone Miroque - Die Mittelalter Compilation, Vol VII 2002 5:57 Yes
049 Isabel Sutherland The Two Brothers The Licht Bob's Lassie 1975 No
049 Isabel Sutherland The Two Brothers Vagrant Songs of Scotland 1966 3:57 Yes
049 Isla Cameron Two Brothers Songs from ABC Television's “Hallelujah” 1966 No
049 Jean Redpath The Twa Brothers Father Adam 1979 6:47 Yes
049 Jeannie Higgins (Robertson) The Two Brothers BBC Recordings No
049 Jeannie Robertson The Twa Brothers The Twa Brothers 1959 No
049 Jeannie Robertson The Twa Brothers The Gypsy Lady - Jeannie Robertson Sings the Big Ballads [The Muckle Ballads of Scotland] 1979 4:40 Yes
049 Jeannie Robertson The Twa Brothers Ballads and Songs of Tradition 2000 6:28 Yes
049 Jerry Epstein The Two Brothers Her Bright Smile Haunts Me Still 1999 No
049 Jim Causley Rolling of the Stones Lost Love Found 2007 3:42 Yes
049 Jimmie Rodgers Two Brothers At Home with Jimmie Rodgers - an Evening of Folk Songs 1960 No
049 Jimmy Driftwood Two Brothers The John Quincy Wolf Folklore Collection - Ozark Folksongs 2:48 Yes
049 Joe Hickerson Rolling of the Stones Drive Dull Care Away, Volume I 1976 3:28 Yes
049 John Langstaff The Two Brothers John Langstaff Sings - Archival Folk Collection 1949-1961 2004 No
049 Jon Boden Two Pretty Boys A Folk Song a Day - August 2010 2:31 Yes
049 Josiah Kennison Two Brothers (1) The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
049 Josiah Kennison Two Brothers (2) The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
049 Judith Silver The Two Brothers The Summertime is Over 1963 No
049 Judy Cook Jessel Town If You Sing Songs .. - Unaccompanied Songs & Ballads 1998 4:41 Yes
049 Judy Domeny Two Little Boys Calling Me Back 1983 No
049 Kevin & Ellen Mitchell Twa Brithers Have a Drop Mair 2001 3:27 Yes
049 Lily Delorme Martyr John The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
049 Lizzie Higgins The Twa Brithers In Memory of Lizzie Higgins - 1929-1993 2006 No
049 Lizzie Higgins Twa Brothers Up and Awa' with the Laverock 1975 No
049 Lucy Stewart The Twa Brothers The Folk Songs of Britain, Vol 4: The Child Ballads 1 1961 1:22 Yes
049 Lucy Stewart Two Pretty Boys (The Two Brothers) Lucy Stewart: Traditional Singer from Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Vol. 1 - Child Ballads 1961 3:44 Yes
049 Lucy Stewart + Nellie McGregor The Two Brothers Classic Ballads of Britain & Ireland - Folk Songs of England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales, Vol 1 2000 3:43 Yes
049 Lucy Stewart + Nellie McGregor The Two Brothers The Elfin Knight - The Classic Ballads 1 1976 No
049 Magpiety The Rolling of the Stones Pype in an Ivye Leaf - Folksongs from Northumbria & the South 2001 No
049 Magpiety The Rolling of the Stones John Barleycorn Reborn - Dark Britannica 2007 2:05 Yes
049 Mary Stewart Robertson The Twa Brothers The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
049 M.J. Harris & Martyn Bates The Two Brothers Murder Ballads (The Complete Collection) 1998 17:08 Yes
049 Mike Waterson The Two Brothers Mike Waterson 1999 1:00 Yes
049 Mrs. R.W. Duncan Twa Brothers The Helen Creighton Collection No
049 Mrs. Will Barry Twa Brothers The Helen Hartness Flanders Collection No
049 Nic Jones The Two Brothers Nic Jones 1971 3:50 Yes
049 Nonesuch The Twa Brithers Rye Dill Caraway 2008 No
049 Ollie Gilbert Two Little Boys The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection :54 Yes
049 Ollie Gilbert Two Little Boys The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection 1:09 Yes
049 Oscar Brand The Rolling of the Stones A Folk Concert in Town Hall, New York 1959 3:00 Yes
049 Paul & Liz Davenport The Rolling of the Stones Under the Leaves 2006 No
049 Paul Clayton Two Brothers Bloody Ballads - Classic British and American Murder Ballads 1956 3:09 Yes
049 Pete Castle Two Brothers Xtracted 1997 No
049 Peter Bellamy Two Pretty Boys (The Two Brothers) The Fox Jumps Over the Parson's Gate 1970 2:24 Yes
049 Peter Bellamy Two Pretty Boys (The Two Brothers) Fair England's Shore - English Traditional Songs 2008 2:23 Yes
049 Phil Cooper & Margaret Nelson The Rolling of the Stone The Only Dance We Know 1995 4:20 Yes
049 Phil Cooper, Margaret Nelson & Kate Early Kangaroo + Rolling of the Stone Love & War 2005 5:54 Yes
049 Rattle on the Stovepipe Monday Morning Go to School No Use in Cryin' 2009 No
049 Reba Dearmore Two Little Boys The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection 2:30 Yes
049 Roy Harris The Two Brothers Live at the Lion 2003 No
049 Rubus Rolling of the Stones Nine Witch Knots 2008 4:39 Yes
049 Ruth Barrett & Cyntia Smith The Rolling of the Stones Aeolus 1981 2:57 Yes
049 Ruth Barrett & Cyntia Smith The Rolling of the Stones The Early Years 2007 3:05 Yes
049 Sheila MacGregor The Twa Brothers Scottish Tradition 5: The Muckle Sangs - Classic Scottish Ballads 1992 5:30 Yes
049 Sheila Stewart The Twa Brothers Scots Women - Live from Celtic Connections 2001 2001 4:32 Yes
049 Sheila Stewart Twa Brothers From the Heart of the Tradition 2000 4:33 Yes
049 Sheila Stewart The Twa Brothers Hurrah Boys Hurrah - Old Songs & Bothy Ballads 2011 No
049 Shep Ginandes The Two Brothers Shep Ginandes Sings Folk Songs 1958 4:26 Yes
049 Silly Wizard The Twa Brithers Caledonia's Hardy Sons 1978 6:15 Yes
049 Sue Brown & Lorraine Irwing Two Pretty Boys Call & Cry 1997 3:03 Yes
049 Sunny Schwartz Two Brothers Sunny's Gallery of Folk Ballads 1963 No
049 Texas Gladden The Two Brothers The Library of Congress - Archive of Folk Culture: Anglo-American Ballads, Vol. 2 1999 4:13 Yes
049 Texas Gladden The Two Brothers Ballad Legacy 2001 4:13 Yes
049 The Demon Barbers Two Brothers Waxed 2005 6:40 Yes
049 The Hare and the Moon The Rolling of the Stones The Hare and the Moon 2009 4:40 Yes
049 The Owl Service Child Ballad #49 (Or the Rolling of the Stones) (1) Field Music - Collected Live Recordings 2008 3:56 Yes
049 The Owl Service Child Ballad #49 (Or the Rolling of the Stones) (2) Field Music - Collected Live Recordings 2008 4:04 Yes
049 The Owl Service Child Ballad No 49 (Or the Rolling of the Stones) A Garland of Song 2007 2:59 Yes
049 The Owl Service The Rolling of the Stones The Petrifying Well 2008 3:51 Yes
049 The Owl Service The Rolling of the Stones #1 Chime Hours - Live in a Room, Autumn 2007 2007 2:55 Yes
049 The Owl Service The Rolling of the Stones #2 Chime Hours - Live in a Room, Autumn 2007 2007 1:59 Yes
049 The Young Tradition The Rolling of the Stones Galleries Revisited 1973 :59 Yes
049 Theodore Bikel Two Brothers The Folk Box - A Comprehensive Anthology of American Folk Song 1966 No
049 Tim Radford The Rolling of the Stones Home from Home 2005 3:46 Yes
049 Willy & Brian Claflin The Rolling of the Stone In Yonder's Wood 2009 No
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
49. THE TWA BROTHERS
Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 99 / Belden, Mo F-S, 33 / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 55 / Brown Coll / BFSSNE, V, 6 / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 17 / Child, 1, 443 / Cox, F-S South, 33 / Cox, Trd Bids WVa, Davis, Trd Bid Va, 146 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 26 / Haun, Cocke Cnty, 97 / Hudson, F"S Miss, 73 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, #7 / JAFL, XXVI, 361 ; XXVIII, 300; XXIX, 158; XXX, 294; XLVIII, 298; LII, 35 / JFSS, VI, 87 / Linscott, F-S Old NE, 278 / McGill, F-S Ky Mts, 55 / Morris, Flo, F-S, 388 / North American Review, CCXXVIII, 223 / Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 45 / Pound, Nebr Syllabus, 10 / Powell, 5 V& F-S, 15 / Randolph, Oz,
F-S, I, 76 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 1 66 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplchns, # 1 1 / SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, I, 69 / Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 7 / SFLQ, II, 65; VIII, 141 / Vt Historical Society, Proceedings, N.S., VIII, 1939, 102 / Va FLS Butt, :$:s 35, 7, 9, 10.
Local Titles: Billy Murdered John, John and William, Little Willie, Said Billie to Jimmie, Take My Fine Shirt, The Dying Soldier, The Rolling of the Stones, The Two Brothers, The Two School Boys, Two Born Brothers, Two Little Boys, Two Little Schoolmates.
Story Types: A: Two brothers wrestle (or fight in some way), and, because of jealousy over a mutual sweetheart (though this is often not clear), one pulls a knife and tills the other. Sometimes the older is the murderer; sometimes the younger. After the crime, there is a dying dialogue in which the killer asks his brother what he is to tell the family and the true-love. In some versions the dying lad's replies are actually repeated by the killer to the persons involved. Regardless, when the girl hears of the murder she charms the dead lover from his grave and requests a last kiss. The request is refused, and in a few texts the grief of the maid is revealed.
Examples: Davis (A); Belden; SFLQ, VIII, 141.
B: The story is the same as that of Type A, except the crime is accidental, rather than being the result of jealousy, passion, or the like.
Examples: Linscott; JAFL, XXVI, 361; XXIX, 158; SharpK (C).
C: The story is the same as that of Type A, except that all traces of the love affair and the jealousy have vanished.
Examples: Brewster (A, B); Davis (J); Randolph, Oz F-S (A, B, C).
D : From The Dying Soldier title and the absence of the murder, the story seems to have assumed a battlefield locale. It has become a plea for Willie to wrap "his" wound, carry him to the church, and bury him.
Examples: SFLQ, II, 66.
E : The murder happens as the result of spontaneous anger during a day-long test of strength between two brothers in the woods. The whole Type A story is included. Additional Edward, stanzas occur at the end and serve to add most the Type A of that ballad, as well as to implicate the mother in the crime. This last feature is in direct contradiction of The Twa Brothers
reason for the crime.
Examples: Vt. Historical Society, Proceedings.
Discussion: The American texts of this ballad may well be older than the Child B version which is the parallel of so many of them. Barry, Brit Bids Me, icoff. in relating his own texts with the SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplchns, and Me Gill, F-S Ky Mts, southern versions expresses this view and points to the marked similarities in the widely separated texts, as well as to the fact that no songbook copies exist.
Child B has major points in common with most New World versions (See Type A). The stabbing is on purpose and not accidental, the fe-ending is not present, and the kissing of the ghost motif (from Sweet William's Ghost, 77) appears. Generally, American versions name the girl Susie and not Margaret as in Child, though the boy's names, John and William, are re- tained. Usually, the brothers of Child become small boys whose age is incompatible with the events of the story.
Barry (BFSSNE, V, 6ff.) suggests the rivalry was originally for the incestuous love of the sister. Belden, Mo. F-S, 33 and SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, K lend support to this idea. Incestuous love is not uncommon to the ballad, as is indicated by Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgstr, 94. See also Child 11 and 51.
Other American texts follow Child A (my Type B) and the Child D-G series (my Type E). Type B simply has the accidental death, which is a well-established mitigation of the tragedy. Type E adds the Edward-snAing. With this addition, the Flanders, Ft. Historical Society, text goes even farther than the Child D-G series in modelling a new story about 49 by means of 13. The
implication of the mother is utterly out of place here because we are told earlier that the murder is the result of anger and frustration caused by the even struggle. For further study of this unique (to America) combination, Child G (the children's game); Cox, F-S South, 33; and Powell, 5 7a F-S (for similar start) should be investigated. See, as well, Morris (SFLQ, VIII,
140) who points out the relationships of The Twa Brothers to Edward, Sir Orfeo, and Sir Hugh in its theme, harping, and nursery language.
Type C stories reflect the process of forgetting. Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 79 prints a comment in a headnote that is revealing. " 'It was originally a long piece', she (his informant) said, 'about a fool boy who murdered his brother with a pocket-knife, just because he did not feel like playing baseball!" Type D may well relate to this same group, although the battlefield locale
seems to indicate localization. The Kirklands (SFLQ, II, 65) state that the singer believed the ballad to be a Civil War song. See also the last stanza of the Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, 7 text.
Two other American deviations worth note are the Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 17 version which is unusual in that the older boy throws the younger on a pit of stones before killing him and is told to inform the parents as well as the true-love where the body is buried; and the Haun, Cocke 'Cnty, 97 text which has a number of lines directed at mean school-teachers and has the
dying boy ask to have his teacher told he is going where he can get some peace. This latter song was collected from a little girl at school, which may account for the change. The Cox, Trd Bids W Va, 15 version is remarkable in that it opens with "girls a-rolling stone" as well as the usual boys playing ball.
Zielonko, Some American Variants of Child Ballads, 76ff. discusses a selected group of texts quite thoroughly.
Mainly Norfolk: The Two Brothers / Two Pretty Boys
[Roud 38; Child 49; Ballad Index C049; trad.]
Peter Bellamy sang Two Pretty Boys unaccompanied on his third solo LP, The Fox Jumps Over the Parson's Gate. A.L. Lloyd commented in the liner notes:
Francis James Child called this ballad The Two Brothers, and it's No. 49 in his great compilation. As is often the case, there is more to this ballad than meets the ear. The songs has its relatives not only in Britain but on the continent too, and tracing its sundry versions we find that it concerns not merely a violent bit of schoolboy horseplay but a murderous quarrel over a patch of land, and beyond that, in the oldest versions of all, we find that the root of the dispute is in incestuous jealousy, with both brothers enamoured of their sister.
Peter Bellamy learnt the song from a recording by Lucy Stewart of Fetterangus, Aberdeenshire (see: The Child Ballads 1 (The Folk Songs of Britain Vol. 4, Caedmon 1961, Topic 1968).
Belle Stewart sang The Twa Brothers too (in a recording made by Fred Kent in Blairgowrie, Perthshire in May 1976) on her album Queen Among the Heather and on the anthology O'er His Grave the Grass Grew Green (The Voice of the People Series Vol. 3, 1998).
Nic Jones recorded this ballad with its customary title, The Two Brothers, and with somewhat different lyrics for his eponymous second album, Nic Jones. He commented in the album notes:
The motive for the murder is not given in this ballad but other versions include the possibility of jealousy on the elder brother's part. Superstition and the supernatural rear their ugly head in the last verses of the song as the buried man explains that he cannot sleep peacefully in his grave while his love weeps and mourns. It seems to me to be highly predictable that supernatural elements should appear in folk songs, for superstition has obviously played a massive role in the mental attitudes of the imaginative, but largely uneducated mass of people. It is only when education and reason begin breaking through, that the old superstitions begin to die out until some social upheaval again plunges people in insecurity and a world of primeval phantoms and witches. Perhaps we shall never be quite rid of it, at least, not as long as folk songs are still sung!
Former Witch of Elswick, Fay Hield learnt Two Brothers from Peter Bellamy's recording and sang it in 2010 on her first solo CD, Looking Glass.
Jon Boden sang Two Pretty Boys as the August 10, 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.
Other Two Brothers songs
Mike Waterson sang a burlesque song with the same title, The Two Brothers, on his eponymous LP, Mike Waterson. A.L. Lloyd commented in the sleeve notes:
This burlesque of a traditional song was a music hall success of the 1850s. It came to the surface again as a college boys' song in America in the 1880s, with the brothers re-named as Bohunkus and Josephus. Frank Crumit gave it new life in the early 1930s. And here it is again, just to prove you can't keep a damnfool song down. This is another one that Mike got from Paul Graney.
Isla Cameron's Two Brothers on the album Songs from ABC Television's “Hallelujah” is still another song with just the same title
Lyrics
Peter Bellamy sings Two Pretty Boys
Two pretty boys was going to school,
All in the evening coming home,
Said the biggest boy to the littlest boy,
“Oh, can you throw a stone?”
Well, I can either throw a stone
And a little can I play at the ball,
But if you come down to yon green wood
I will try you a wrestling fall.”
So they're away to the merry greenwood
For to try a wrestling fall,
But big brother John stuck his little penknife
And stabbed William to the ground,
He stabbed William to the ground.
“Oh, you'll pull off my white linen shirt
And tear it from gore to gore,
And wrap it all around my wound
That the blood may flow no more.”
So he's pulled off his white linen shirt
And he tore it from gore to gore,
And wrapped it round his brother's wound
But the blood came ten times more
“Oh what will your dear father think
Tonight when I come home?”
“Just tell him I'm away to the London school,
And a good boy I'll return.”
But what will your dear step-mother think
Tonight when I come home?”
“Just tell her that I've breath(?) it right for me,
Was that I might never return.”
Nic Jones sings The Two Brothers
Well it's of two brothers a-going to school,
A-going to the very same school.
And one of them to the other said,
“Can you take a wrestle and fall?”
And the very first fall the eldest gave,
He fell into the ground.
And he's taken out his little penknife
And he's given him a deadly wound.
“Take me up, take me up all in your arms
And carry me to yonder church ground.
And dig a grave both wide and deep
And gently lay me down.”
O he's took him up all in his arms
And he's carried him to yonder church ground.
And he's dug a grave both wide and deep
And gently laid him down.
“And what shall I tell my mother dear
This night when I go home?”
“Just tell her I'm running in yonder green wood,
A-bringing my school books home.”
“And what shall I tell your Suzie dear
This night when I go home?”
“Just tell her I'm down in yonder churchyard,
A-buried beneath the ground.”
But she's wept and she's cried so bitterly,
She's wept from door to door.
And she's wept him away from his own gravestone
For rest he could find no more.
“And why do you weep my Suzie dear,
And why do you weep for me?”
“It's just one kiss from your clay lips
That's all I ask of thee.”
“Then go home, go home, my Suzie dear,
Go home and leave me be.
And don't stay here to weep and mourn
For my body you'll never more see.”
Well it's of two brothers a-going to school,
A-going to the very same school.
And one of them to the other said,
“Can you take a wrestle and fall?”