Recordings & Info: 7O. Must I Go Bound?
[
--------------
Must I Go Bound
DESCRIPTION: The singer laments, "Must I go bound and you go free." (S)he hears someone sing "that marriage was a pleasant thing," but "My marriage day soon turned to woe." The singer's spouse has scorned/abused the singer; the singer hopes for revenge
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: marriage abuse betrayal
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H218a/b, p. 386, "Must I Go Bound" (2 texts, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Butcher Boy" [Laws P24] and references there
cf. "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (lyrics, theme)
cf. "Died for Love (I)" (theme)
cf. "Yon Green Valley" (lyrics)
cf. "Love Has Brought Me To Despair" [Laws P25] (lyrics)
Notes: This, like "My Blue-Eyed Boy," is so close to "The Butcher Boy" that I almost listed them as one song. But where "The Butcher Boy" is relatively coherent, this is little more than a lament composed of floating verses (e.g. from "Waly Waly") and the complaint "I heard (a shepherd//fair maid) sing That marriage was a pleasant thing, [but] My (marriage/wedding) day soon turned to woe." So I've listed them separately -- but there may well be intermediate versions.
For further discussion, see the notes to "The Butcher Boy." - RBW
--------------------------
DEEP IN LOVE - "Must I go bound or must I go free" - Overhears girl complaining about her false lover so she goes to the meadows to find a flower that will ease her mind but none does so she makes a bed of flowers - Alternative titles: APRON OF FLOWERS; PEGGY GORDON; O WALY WALY; UNFORTUNATE SWAIN; WATER IS WIDE - LAWS #P-25 ABBB 1957 p261 "Love has brought me to despair" - ROUD#60 - Cf CHILD #204 "Jamie Douglas" - GREIG-DUNCAN Coll 1995 vol 6 #1165 pp247-251 5var 12v/5m "My heart is sair" & #1156 p252 1v/m "Love it is pleasing" - BARING GOULD Ms #86 (a) Miss Octavia L hoare, Kimbolton, Cornwall (b) Mary Sackerey, Huckaby Bridge 1890 (c) Will Nichoils, Whitchurch 1891 (besides publ there are other collected versions as well as Logan, Garlands, Broadsides, Scots, Roxburgh etc) SOW #86 "A ship came sailing" Cornwall - BG-HITCHCOCK 1974 p96 "So deep in love" (as SOW) - SHARP-MARSON FSS 2 - Sel Ed 1 - Novello Schl Ser 2 - HUGHES ICS 1 1909 p68-9 "Must I go bound?" frag Co Derry 3v - HENRY SOP #218 "Johnny Johnny" (W & M versions) - JFSS 7:27 1923 p69-73 Hammond "Must I be bound" - JEFDSS 1954 p161 "The Unfortunate Swain" Article by J W Allen on "Waly Waly" with refs - REEVES IOP 1958 p38 "Waly Waly" - REEVES EC 1960 pp89-91 Hammond from Jacob Baker, Bere Regis, Dorset 1905 - PURSLOW MB 1965 p23 Hammond - BROCKLEBANK/KINDERSLEY DBFS 1966 p8 Hammond: J Pomeroy, Broadoak, Dorset "Must I be bound" - SEDLEY 1967 p160 "The Water is wide" & p125 "Must I be bound" - COPPER S&SB 1973 p219 2love" - KENNEDY FSBI 1975 p349 Copper from Gladys Stone, Fittleworth, Sussex 1954 --- COX FSS #142 "Maggie Goddon" - see also DIED FOR LOVE; DOWN IN THE MEADOWS; I AM A MAID THAT'S DEEP IN LOVE; SUMMER IS COME; WILL YE GANG, LOVE? -- Julia ADCOCK rec by PK, Watton, Norfolk 1950 7RTR-0009 "False Lover"/ 502 - Gladys STONE rec by Bob Copper, Fittleworth, Sussex 1954: RPL 22740/ 015 & 427 - Guy CARAWAN (with guitar) rec by PK London July 1957: 7"RTR-0499 "The Water is wide" - Jack LANGSTAFF (with piano): TRADITION TLP-1009 1957 "O Waly, Waly" (CJS) - Shirley COLLINS "The Ramblers" Skiffle Radio prog 1958 prod by Lomax: Ewan McCOLL, Peggy SEEGER with Bruce TURNER (clar), John COLE (harmonica) 7"RTR-0291/ CASS-30-1276 - KINGSTON TRIO: EMI T-1474 1961 "W is w" - RIPLEY WAYFARERS Derbsh: TRADITIONAL SOUND TSR-006 1971 - Cyril TAWNEY: ARGO ZFB-87 1973 Dorset (from Baring Gould) Cornwall - Sylvia MOORE Ensemble: 137 & 418 "W is w" - INN FOLK: 095 "W is w" --- Almeda RIDDLE rec by Jerry Epstein & Don Wade 1977: MINSTREL JD-203
----
GATHERING FLOWERS. (Play Game)
Sung by Fanny Coffey of white Rock Virginia on May 8, 1918. Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/9/3045)
As I walked out one morning in May,
Gathering flowers fresh and gay,
Gathering flowers pink and blue,
So little did I think what love would do.
The prettiest girl I ever did see
Come walking down by the side of me.
Must I go bound, must I go free,
Must I love a pretty girl that don't love me?
No. O no, it never can be,
Love can never conquer me.
I won't go bound. I will go free,
I won't love a pretty girl that don't love me.
My rambling days are over and passed,
And I've got a pretty little wife at last.
She was the one that once said No,
But now she says Yes, and it shall be so.
---------------
Must I Be Bound?
[ Roud 18829 ; Full English HAM/2/5/15 ; trad.]
Shirley Collins sang Must I Go Bound? in 1964 on her Collector EP Shirley Sings Irish.
H.E.D. Hammond collected Must I Be Bound? in August 1905 from Jacob Baker of Bere Regis, Dorset. Cyril Tawney sang this song in 1973 on his Argo album of traditional love songs from South West England, I Will Give My Love.
Jasper Smith sang this song as Down in the Meadow to Mike Yates near Epsom, Surrey, probably on April 26, 1975. This recording was included in 1979 on Yates' Topic anthology of songs, stories and tunes from English gypsies, Travellers, and in 1998 on the Topic anthology My Father's the King of the Gypsies (The Voice of the People Series Volume 11).
Yorkshire Relish (Derek, Dorothy and Nadine Elliott) sang Must I Be Bound? in 1980 on their Traditional Sound album An Old Family Business.
John Kirkpatrick and Sue Harris sang Must I Be Bound? in 1989 on her Topic album Stolen Ground. Their version comes from My Song Is My Own, compiled by Kathy Henderson with Frankie Armstrong and Sandra Kerr, published by Pluto Press in 1979.
June Tabor sang Must I Be Bound? in 1999 on her album A Quiet Eye. This recording was later included on the Topic anthology A Woman's Voice: First Person Singular.
Maddy Prior sang Must I Be Bound? with Liliana Bertolo, Evelyne Girardon, Sandra Kerr on their 1997 Fellside CD Voice Union.
Carolyn Robson and the Tabbush Sisters sang Must I Be Bound? in 2004 on the Mrs Casey anthology Evolving Tradition 4.
The Witches of Elswick sang Must I Be Bound? in 2005 on their second and last album, Hell's Belles. They commented in their liner notes:
This is an absolutely miserable song that Becky found when she was extremely single and wanted to whinge about men. It's from Sandra Kerr, Kathy Henderson and Frankie Armstrong's book My Song Is My Own [but it's not on their same-named LP]. We're glad Becky got it out of her system, because she's got a lovely fella now, unlike the one in the song…
Rachel Newton sang Must I Be Bound? in 2012 on her CD The Shadow Side.
Gladys Stone sang Deep in Love to Bob Copper at Fittleworth, Sussex on November 27, 1954. This recording was included in 2012 on the Topic anthology You Never Heard So Sweet (The Voice of the People Series Volume 21).
This video shows Jefferson Hamer and Rosie Hood singing Must I Be Bound? at Cecil Sharp House, London, in December 2015:
Lyrics
Cyril Tawney sings Must I Be Bound?
Mus I be bound, or must I go free
To love a young maid who never loved me?
Why should I act such a childish part,
To love a young maiden with all my heart?
She loves another, she loves not me.
She cares not for my company.
She loves another, I'll tell you why,
Because he's got more gold than I.
I put my back up against an oak
Thinking it was some trusty tree,
But first it bent, and then it broke,
And so did my false love to me.
I put my head into a bush
Thinking some sweeter flower to find.
I pricked my finger to the bone
Leaving that sweetest flower alone.
Since roses are such prickly flowers
They should be gathered when they're green.
And I did court such an unkind love,
I'm sure I'm striving against the stream.
Against the stream I dare not go,
For fear that it shall overflow,
And not so deep in love am I
That I care not whether I live or die.
She gave me honey all mixed with gall,
She gave me words and vows withall.
She gave me a delicate gown to wear
All stitched with sorrow and hemmed with fear.
Now here's her health I mean to drink,
And from her arms I will not shrink.
She hath my heart, go where she will,
Although she's false I must love her still.
The only real similarity with Roxburghe VII, 104-5 (The Maid's Revenge upon Cupid and Venus, written by Laurence Price) is the following:
Shall I be bound, that may be free? Shall reason rule my raging mind?
Shall I love him that loves not me? No, though I wink, I am not blind.
Must I Go Bound to the forum some time long ago. I also recorded it recently as an mp3 and it's on this page: Alice Flynn I learned it from Herbert Hughes Irish Country Songs Volume I, 1909, where Hughes labels it as "fragment of an old song" from County Derry. In the lyrics Hughes writes, it is "must I love the lass", but I change it when I sing to "must I love the lad".
From: Malcolm Douglas - PM
Date: 25 Feb 01 - 12:31 PM
This is one of those lyric songs which is made of "floating" verses, which turn up all over the place. It doesn't mean that songs which share a verse or two are necessarily related. The verses quoted from Peggy Seeger, for example, are a quite separate song called The Belt Wi' Colours Three; Alison MacMorland recorded the best-known set of it, having adapted it from the version in Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs From the North of Scotland; Seeger's words are rather cut-down, simplified and anglicised by comparison. Do you happen to know if she recorded a traditional version, or is it her own modification of one? There's an even longer one with a more coherent narrative in Ord's Bothy Songs and Ballads, without a melody.
----------------
(from a Peggy Seeger book, but I can't remember the title), is:
^^
Must I be bound and you go free? Must I love one who ne'er loved me?
Why should I act such a childish part, to love a lad who would break my heart?
The first thing that my love gave me, it was a cap well lined with lead.
The longer that I wore that cap, it grew the heavier on my head.
And next he bought me a gown to wear, with sorrow stitched and lined with fear.
And the drink he gave me was bitter gall, but the blows he gave me were worse than all.
The third thing that my lad gave me, it was a belt with colours three.
The first was sorrow, the next was shame and the third it was sweet misery.
But I shall gain my liberty and I shall climb a higher tree
And I shall find a richer nest and be with one I may love best.
Sedley's notes are, as often, misleading. His collation includes only two verses deriving (modified to fit a different tune) from Sam Henry's collection (H218a): 1 and 3. Verses 2 and 4 are adapted from Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, II, 1881, 226-7). The first and last verses are "floaters"; Must I go Bound is really a different song. This one is less often found, and generally as The Belt Wi' Colours Three (as in Christie); there is no mention of physical violence in the Scottish examples.
Sedley seems to have adapted the tune from Christie, too, though (surprise...) he doesn't say.
MUST I GO BOUND
from: Something to Sing About! - The Personal Choices of America's Folk Singers
Collected and arranged by Milton Okun, The Macmillan Company - Collier-Macmillan Ltd., London, 1968, p 184.
"Buffy Saint-Marie" , '…. For this collection Buffy has chosen a song of English origin, "Must I Go Bound," that has numerous versions. The poetry of the lyrics is among the most refined to found in any folk-art collection, as deft and subtle as the most polished work of a classical poet.'
Key of A 4/4
Must (A)I go bound while you go (E)free?
Must (E) I love one who won't love (A)me?
Must I then act the (A7) child-ish (D)part,
And (E7) love the one who'd break my (A) heart?
I put my finger to the bush
To pluck a rose of fairest kind,
The thorn it pierced me to a touch,
And so I left the rose behind.
I leaned my back against an oak.
I thought it was a trusty tree,
But first it bent and then it broke,
Just as my love proved false to me.
Oh, I'll go bound while you go free,
And I'll love one who won't love me,
And I will act the childish part,
And love the one who'd break my heart.
--------------
"Must I go bound and my love go free? Must I love a love who does not love me?" This folk song from County Wexford describes the age-old plight of the lover who is not loved in return. "...But though he's false, I must love him still."
----
Must I be bound in repertoire of Lord Shaftesbury
---------
Must I be bound that can go free?
Must I love one that loves not me?
Why should I act such a childish part,
To love a girl that will break my heart.
It had not been part of the original "Oh Waly, Waly, Gin Love Be Bonny". As already noted an early form of this particular verse can be found in another related older song, "Arthur's Seat Shall Be My Bed, or: Love in Despair" (available at NLS: The Word On The Street and in Child, p. 105). But the phrase "act such a childish part" seems to have been introduced by the "Unfortunate Swain". I know of no earlier occurrence. A variant form of this stanza was used for a broadside ballad called "The Complaining Lover - A New Song" (ca. 1795, Madden Ballads 2-1082, ESTC T198961):
Must I be bound that can go free,
Must I love one that loves not me.
Let reason rule thy wretched mind,
Altho' I wink I am not blind.
He loves another one he loves not me,
No cares he for my company,
He loves another I'll tell you why
Because she has more gold than I.
Gold will wast and Silver will flys,
In time she may have as little as I,
Had I but gold and Silver in store,
He would like me as he has done before.
He gave me honey mixt with gall,
He gave me words and blows withal,
He bought me a dilacte [sic! i. e. delicate] Gown to wear,
Hem'd with sorrow and stich'd with care.
If I should gain my Liberty,
In a short time I shall get free,
I will buy me a dilacate gown to wear,
Not hem'd with sorrow or stich with care.
No Vallintine shall ev'r me see,
No wanton Lad shall lie with me,
No man shall come a near my ground,
'Until I see my loves health go round.
Tis his healthe I mean to drink,
From his arms I never will shrink,
He has my heart with a free good will,
And wherever he goes I will love him still.
My love he is not Black but he is brown,
And still he is worthy to where [sic! i. e. wear] a crown,
He has a handsome foot and a delicate toe
And a Blessing go with him wherever he goes.
In 1905 Folklore collector H. E. D. Hammond noted a song from Jacob Baker in Dorset (Broadwood et al. 1923, pp. 69-70 and HAM/2/5/15 at The Full English). Here we find a couple of verses from "The Complaining Lover" combined with five from "The Unfortunate Swain". But the new version of the first stanza had not survived, instead Mr. Baker used the one from the latter song:
Must I be bound, or must I go free?
To love a young man who never loved me?
Why should I act such a childish part
To love a young man with all my heart?
He loves another, he loves not me,
And he cares not for my company;
He loves another - I'll tell you why:
Because she's got more gold than I.
[xxx]
[xxx]
Her gold will waste her beauty blast,
And in time she'll come like me at last.
I put my back up against an oak.
Thinking it was some trusty tree,
But first it bent and then it broke;
And so did thy false love to me!
I put my hand into a bush,
Thinking some sweeter flower to find;
I pricked my finger to the bone,
Leaving that sweetest flower alone [behind].
Since roses are such prickly flowers
They should be gathered when they're green;
And she did court such an unkind love,
I'm sure she's striving against the stream.
For against the stream I dare not go,
For fear that it should overflow;
And not so deep in love am I!
I care not whether he live or die!
He gave me honey all mixed with gold [?gall]
He gave me words and bows withal;
He gave me a delicate gown to wear,
All stitched with sorrow and hemmed with fear.
Now if I ever gain my liberty,
And that I trust I soon will be,
I'll buy me a delicate gown to wear
Not hemmed with sorrow nor stitched with fear.
Now here's his health I mean to drink,
And from his arms I will not slink;
He hath my heart, go where he will
Although he is false I must love him still.
This verse and especially the the expression "the childish part" showed considerable persistence. It was also adapted in North America for some other of songs. "The Man That Wouldn't Hoe Corn" in Louise Pound's American Ballads And Songs (1922, pp. 110/11, p. 249; a variant of this song called "The Lazy Man" without this particular verse is available in the Journal of American Folklore 29, 1916, pp. 181/2) - collected 1914 in Nebraska - shows a quasi-feminist approach:
"I won't be bound, I will be free,
I won't marry a man that don't love me.
Neither will I act the childish part
And marry a man that will break my heart".
In the same collection we can find a version of "My Blue-eyed Boy" from Nebraska (ca. 1905, p. 212) that also includes this verse. Frank Brown once noted that this song has "one of those Protean folk-lyrics whose identity is hard to fix because they shift from text to text, taking on new elements and dropping old ones from the general reservoir of the folk fancy" (Brown 1952, Vol. 3, p. 298). His own "Blue-Eyed Boy" as well a variant collected by Paul Brewster are very different from Pound's but have retained this particular verse (see for Brown 1952, dto.; Brewster 1940, p. 85, here as "I turn back to my childhood part" [sic!]). "Bring Me Back My Blue-Eyed Boy" in Carl Sandburg's American Songbag (1927, p. 324) looks more like a version of "The Butcher Boy" while "Brisk Young Lover" as sung by Jane Gentry in 1916 for Cecil Sharp (Smith, p. 175, the melody is also in Sharp 1917, No. 101B, p. 287) is in fact "The Butcher Boy" with a mutilated variant of this verse - without the "childish part" - added at the end of the song.
Sam Henry's Songs Of The People (Huntington 1990, p. 386) includes a complete song from 1928 called "Must I Go Bound" that opens with this verse but none of the others are in any way related to those known from the old broadside. In this case it has become the starting-point for a new song and has lost all connections to the original ballad. In 1954 American American Folk singer Susan Reed recorded a short song called "Must I Go Bound" for her 10-inch LP Old Airs From Ireland, Scotland and England (Elektra EKL 26).
Must I go bound and you go free,
Must I love a lad who doesn't love me,
Must I be born with a so little heart,
As to love a one would break my heart.
I put my finger into the bush,
To pluck a rose as fair as thyme,
The thorn it pierced me at a touch,
And so I left the rose behind.
Must I go bound and you go free,
Must I love a lad who doesn't love me,
Must I be born with a so little heart,
As to love a one would break my heart.
In fact this is a edited version of the two-verse fragment of "The Unfortunate Swain" collected by Herbert Hughes and published as "Must I Go Bound?" in his Irish Country Songs (Vol. 1, 1909, pp. 68-9). In Hughes' text the "childish part" was missing. Instead there was a rather strange line: "Was e'er I taught so poor a wit". Here it was replaced with another line of somehow dubious quality. In 1965 Buffy St. Marie recorded a much longer version of "Must I Go Bound" (at the moment available at YouTube) for her LP Many A Mile:
Must I go bound and you so free
Must I love one who doesn't love me
Must I be born with so little art
As to love a one would break my heart
I put my finger into the bush
I thought I'd find a lovely flower
The thorn it pierced me to a touch
And so I left the rose behind
I leaned my back up against some oak
I thought it was a trusty tree
But first it bended and then it broke
And so did my false love to me
Must I go bound and you so free
Must I love one who doesn't love me
Must I be born with so little art
As to love a one would break my heart
There is a ship that's sails the sea
It's loaded down as deep can be
But not so deep as the love I'm in
I know not there if I sink or swim
Oh love be gentle and love be kind
Gay as a jewel when first it is new
But love grows old and then grows cold
And fades away like the morning dew
Must I go bound and you so free
Must I love one who doesn't love me
Must I be born with so little art
As to love a one would break my heart.
This version has been supplemented with some verses from Pete Seeger's "The Water Is Wide". That means that the fragment collected by Mr. Hughes in Ireland was completed with some of the missing parts from just the right song. Both are derived from "The Unfortunate Swain" and both share one verse of the original broadside text as Seeger's edited version of Sharp's "Waly, Waly" still includes these lines:
I put my hand into some soft bush,
Thinking the sweetest flower to find.
I pricked my finger to the bone,
And left the sweetest flower alone .
"Must I Go Bound" is in fact "The Water Is Wide" with a different melody and a different lead verse: the one starting with "Must I go bound [...]". Both songs are modern variants of the same ancient broadside ballad with a little input from another old song-sheet. They have reached us on different transmission routes, but their trip was very similar: first was the broadside with scattered verses from older songs, then the "Folk" that stored these texts in their memory for a couple of decades, then the Folklore collectors who saved these verses from oblivion by writing them down and publishing their findings in books and then at last the Folk Revival singers who used them for new "old" songs.