Recordings & Info 7H. She's Like the Swallow
She's Like the Swallow
DESCRIPTION: "She's like a swallow that flies so high, She's like a river that never runs dry, She's like the sunshine on the lee shore, I love my love and love is no more." A lament for a lost girl: "She laid her down, no word she spoke, until [her] heart was broke"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Karpeles-Newfoundland)
KEYWORDS: death separation loneliness
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf,Ont)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Peacock, pp. 711-714, "She's Like the Swallow" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 140-141, "She's Like the Swallow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 63, "She's Like the Swallow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 83, "She's Like the Swallow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke-Ontario 57, "She's Like a Swallow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 120, "She's Like the Swallow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 150, "She's Like The Swallow" (1 text)
DT, SWLLOW*
Roud #2306
RECORDINGS:
Anita Best and Pamela Morgan, "She's Like the Swallow" (on NFABestPMorgan01)
Omar Blondahl, "She's Like the Swallow" (on NFOBlondahl05)
NOTES: Fowke observes, "The lines suggest an English origin, and probably they formed part of a longer song [perhaps similar to "The Butcher Boy"?], but the years have polished the fragment that survives until it approaches perfection." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.6
There is a man on yonder hill,
He has a heart as hard as steel,
He has two hearts instead of one,
He'll be a rogue when I am gone.
But when they found her corpse was cold,
They went to her false love and told,
I am glad says he, she has done so well,
I long to hear her funeral knell,
"Brisk Young Sailor" (broadside) as printed in Axon Ballads No. 55
Washington, printer; Mancester.
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"She’s Like the Swallow":
Folksong as Cultural Icon
Neil V. Rosenberg
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She's Like the Swallow [Mainly Norfolk]
[ Roud 2306 ; Ballad Index FJ140 ; trad.]
Isla Cameron sang He's Like the Swallow in 1966 on her eponymous Transatlantic album, Isla Cameron.
Barry Dransfield sang She's Like a Swallow in 1972 on his eponymous album Barry Dransfield.
Coope Boyes & Simpson sang She's Like a Swallow in 1998 on their No Masters CD Hindsight.
Cara Dillon sang She's Like the Swallow in 2002 at the Cambridge Folk Festival. This recording was included in 2007 on the festival anthology Cool As Folk.
June Tabor sang She's Like the Swallow in 2005 on her Topic TD At the Wood's Heart. She noted:
First noted by Maud Karpeles in 1930, this Newfoundland song of unhappy love was collected by Kenneth Peacock in the 1960s. The swallow verse seems to be unique to the Maritimes.
Emily Portman sang She's Like the Swallow in 2008 on Rubus' CD Nine Witch Knots. She commented in their liner notes:
Passed onto me by the wonderful Chris Coe. She's Like the Swallow can also be found in The Penguin Book of Canadian Folk Songs, selected by the aptly named folklorist Edith Fowke.
Salt House sang She's Like the Swallow in 2013 on their CD Lay Your Dark Low.
Lyrics
Emily Portman sings She's Like the Swallow
She's like the swallow that flies so high,
She's like the river that never runs dry.
She's like the sunshine all on the lee shore,
She loves her love but she'll love no more.
Down in the meadow this fair maid went,
A-picking primroses just as she went.
The more she picked, oh, the more she pulled,
Until she gathered her apron full.
She climbed on yonder hill above
To give a rose unto her love.
Well, she gave him one, she gave him three,
She gave her heart for company.
And as they sat on yonder hill
His heart grew hard, and harder still.
He has two hearts instead of one.
She says, “Young man, what have you done?”
“How foolish, foolish you must be
To think I love no one but thee.
The world's not made for one alone,
I take delight in everyone.”
She took her roses and made a bed,
A stony pillow to rest her head.
She laid her down, no more to say,
And let her roses fade away.
She's like the swallow that flies so high,
She's like the river that never runs dry.
She's like the sunshine on the lee shore,
She loves her love but she'll love no more.