Seventh King's Daughter- Church (NC) 1939 Brown 4G
[From Brown Collection Vol. 4; Music of the Ballads, Abrams title. The music is wed to the text of Frye's verse three. There are two recordings online.
R. Matteson 2014]
OLDER BALLADS MOSTLY BRITISH
Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight (Child 4)
For the history of this ballad in many lands and tongues, see Child's headnote in English and Scottish Popular Ballads and Grundtvig's in Danmarks gamle Folkeviser, and for its occurrence since Child's time in the British Isles and in America, see BSM 5-6 — and add to the references there given Arkansas (OFS I 47), Florida (FSF 237-41), and Missouri (OFS I 45-6). It is a favorite among the ballad singers of North Carolina; Mrs. Sutton reports that it was sung by Mrs. Hall in Buncombe county, by Mrs. Gordon in Henderson county, by Mrs. Brown in Avery county, and others. Mrs. Steely records three texts, with tunes, found in the Ebenezer community in Wake county. The name of the heroine varies. Most often it is Polly. The names Clovanne (in version C) and Cold Rain (in version D) may be assumed to derive from the May Colvin of British broadside versions. The villain, if named at all — as generally he is not in the North Carolina versions — is William. All three of the scenes that make up the story, the elopement, the drowning, the dialogue with the parrot, are present in all the North Carolina versions, even the much reduced F. Versions D, E, and G show the shift of grammatical person from the first person to the third which is so frequent in traditional balladry.
G. 'Seventh King's Daughter.' Sung by Mrs. J. Church. Recorded at Heaton, Avery county, July 30, 1939. There is no recording of Pat Frye's singing as mentioned in H, 25 [not correct; there is a recording online] ; only the text was taken down. Same approach to final as 'Pretty Polly,' 2A, 'The Seventh King's Daughters,' 2C, 'Pretty Cold Rain,' 2D and 'My Pretty Cold Rain,' 2D(1).
Listen: http://contentdm.library.appstate.edu/docapp/abrams/field_recordings/seventh_daughter.html
For melodic relationship cf. ***SharpK i, No. 3A; **FSS 521, No. 1B; and PSL 30; *FSF 268, beginning and ending; TBV 550, No. 3D, last four measures. Scale: Hexachordal, plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure: aa1acc1 (2,2,2,2,2) = aa1 (4,6) ; a1 is terminally incremented. Circular Tune (V).
[text upcoming]
"Mount off, mount off my pretty fair Miss,
Mount off, mount off, said he,
For six kings daughters I've drowned here
And the seventh you shall be, be, be,
And the you seventh shall be. "
"Pull off, pull off that little white silk
And spread it on the green;
It is too costly of a dress
To rot in the roaring sea sea sea,
To rot in the roaring sea."