The Cruel Mother- Mrs. Jacob Courage (NL) 1930 Karpeles D
[Not a local title, assigned by Karpeles. From Folk Songs from Newfoundland, 1934, reprinted 1971, version D.
Following is an excerpt from Song Collecting in Newfoundland: Maud Karpeles, 1929 by David Gregory.
R. Matteson 2014]
Song Collecting in Newfoundland: Maud Karpeles, 1929
David Gregory, Athabasca University
Maud Karpeles (1885-1976) is best known for her song collecting with Cecil Sharp in the Southern Appalachians, her biography of Sharp[1] her commitment to preserving and teaching English folk dancing, and her work for the International Folk Music Council.
During 1929 and 1930 she made two collecting trips to Newfoundland, and they may be seen as the last important activities of the Late Victorian and Edwardian folk music revival and a coda to the work of Cecil Sharp.[2]
Why did Karpeles decide to go to Newfoundland? The reason is simple: Cecil Sharp had recommended it as a most promising place for further field-work. Newfoundland, incidentally, was not part of Canada when she visited it, since it would join the Canadian federation only after the Second World War.
Clarke’s Beach and North River
By now Maud had used up more than half the time she had available, and she had to make a difficult decision: whether to explore the islands of Twillingate and Fogo to the north-east, go further west to the Baie Verte peninsula, or return to eastern Newfoundland. She opted for the latter, taking a boat and train back to the relative civilization of Harbour Grace, where she did some more collecting before moving to Clarke’s Beach on the south-western shore of
Conception Bay.
The dozen or so outports Karpeles visited during the remainder of October included Clarke’s Beach, North River, Halls Town, Kit Hughes, Colliers, Conception Harbour, Harbour Main and Avondale.
The community that she found the most productive was North River, where lived a mix of families descended from both Irish and West of England settlers: the McCabes, Flinns, Boones, Snows, Halls, Fillers, and Sinclairs.
Another member of the Snow family, Rose, offered variants of “Young Floro” and “The Cruel Mother". . .
D. THE CRUEL MOTHER- sung by Mrs. Jacob Courage at Frenchman's cove, Garnish, Fortune Bay, 15th July 1930.
There was a lady lived in York,
Fair flowers the valley O,
She fell in love with her father's clerk
In the green woods of valley O.
She laid her back against the thorns,
And there she had two pretty babes born.
She put them in a cradle deep,
'Twas there she bound them hands and feet.
She took her penknife long and short,
'Twas there she pierced their tender hearts.
As she was walking her father's hall,
Two pretty babes came passing by.
Two pretty babes, if you were mine,
I'd dress you in the silk so fine.
O yes, false murderer, when we were yours,
You neither dressed us in coarser clothes.
Two pretty babes, O can you tell
Whether I'll go to heaven or hell.
Yes, false murderer, we can tell
Whether you'll go to heaven or hell.
Heaven is high and hell is low,
Fair flowers the valley O,
But when you dies to hell you must go
For murdering those babes of Bonny O.