The Tunes of the English and Scottish Ballads in the James Madison Carpenter Collection
by Julia C. Bishop
Folk Music Journal, Vol. 7, No. 4, Special Issue on the James Madison Carpenter Collection (1998), pp. 450-470
The Tunes of the English and Scottish Ballads in the James Madison Carpenter Collection
JULIA C. BISHOP
An important feature of the ballads which James Madison Carpenter collected in England and Scotland in the period 1929-35 is the presence of the melody transcnbed from sound recordings, as well as the text of each ballad. This artide considers the signficance of this tune corpus and discusses in some detail several items from it, as well as describing the way in which Carpenter collected and transcribed the ballad melodies.
IT IS HARDLY SURPRISING, in view of James Madison Carpenters 'Harvard background, that he should have pursued the collection of the so-called 'Child ballads' so single-mindedly almost from the start of his 1929-35 sojourn in Britain.[1] The sheer quantity o f ballads he recorded, on the other hand, is remarkable. According t o Carpenter's calculations his collection c ontains a total of 701 'traditional texts' (that is, versions recorded from oral tradition) of 123 of the Child b allads, of which 611 texts (representing 116 ballads) were obtained in Britain.[2] The fact that Carpenter also recorded the melodies of the ballads and later came to insist on the ballad as a song, not just a poem, is even more remarkable. At Harvardh e would have been introduced to the ballad as a literary g enre, a nd his teacher and mentor, K ittredge, whilst allowing that the ballad was 'a song that tells a story', defined it as 'a short narrativpe oem, adaptedfosrin ging'.[3] Yet it was precisely t he experience of hearing
the balladsu ngw hich convinced C arpenter of their fundamental unity o f text and tune, as will be seen below. By using the Dictaphone machine, he collected 848 tunes of 114 Child ballads, 788 of these (representing 10 7 ballads) in Britain.[4]A s
Carpenter was fond of pointing out, he thusc ollected fifteen t imes m ore b allad tunes thant here are tunes contained in Francis James Child's English a nd S cottish Popular Ballads, and 'approximately th e same number o f Child B allads w ith tunes as those found by Cecil Sharp, Gavin G reig, and R everend J . B. Duncan during t he whole of their lifetime'.[5]
Throughout his life, Carpenter ke pt alive t he hope t hat h e would o ne day p ublish the Child b allads from h is collection a ndt o this end he completed a large a mounto f the necessary tr anscription an d e diting w ork.W hilsth is ambitionw as ultimately left unrealized, most of these texts and tunes are available for study at the Library of
Congress where h is C ollectionis now held, o r on the microfilm copy o f the C ollection
(see note 2). The tune transcriptionaps pearin the forrno f whats eem to be rough
workingisn musicm anuscripnto tebookss,v ithouvt erbatl extsa nds ometimews ithout
attributiotno anyp articulasrin ger,6a nde lsewhereth erea ren eat,f airc opieso f tunes,
attributedto specifics ingerso, ften transcribeidn severals tanzaas nd completew ith
texts.[7] T he exactr elationshibpe tsveent he rought ranscriptionans dt he fairo nes has
yet to be established, b ut both sets of transcriptionas pparentlyr elate to the ballads
which Carpenterc ollected in Britain. The transcriptionas lso need to be correlated
with the 179 Dictaphone cylindersm ade by Carpentera nd, secondarilyw, ith the 12-
inch acetate disc copies which he made of many of the cylinders.8
This article will describe the way in which the tunes of the English and Scottish
balladsw ere recorded and transcribedb y Carpenter.D rawing on my own work of
indexingt he balladt une transcriptions,i9t w ill alsoi llustratet he richnesso f the melodic
tradition which Carpenter documented and discuss salient features of sample ballad
texts and tunes from his collection.
Collecting with the Dictaphone
Carpenter attributed his success at collecting ballads to his single-minded pursuit of
them during the first two-and-a-half years of his stay in Britain, and his discriminating
approach:
Owing partlyt o a certainp assivityo f mind (the 'good-listenera' ttitude)e ssentialt o collecting,
partlyt o the magic of traditionaml aterialo n the lips of folk singers,f olk-songc ollectorss eem
almosti nevitablyt o lose theirs enseo f proportionc, omingt o regarda s of genuinev aluee verything
they hear, even the most criveling [sic] doggerel.
Feeling, a s have all folk-loristst,h is insidious t endency, b ut realizing, early in my researcht,h at
a collectorc an do only so much, I determinedto concentrateu pon what seemedt o me to be the
best. The resultso f such a methods eem incredible.10
The best, as far as Carpenter was concerned, was an orally transmitted ballad in as complete a version as possible. Hence he took pains to establish the oral pedigree of his singers' ballads, his notes to each song regularly containing the all-important
words 'never saw in print'. He also pumped singers for stanzas which they may have accidentally omitted whilst dictating their ballads to him." In some cases, too, Carpenter went back to singers and re-recorded both the texts and tunes to check their
[12] accuracy.
By Carpenter's o wn account, it was the experience of hearing ballads being sung that excited his interest in collecting the tunes as well as the texts of the songs. Yet even before he heardb alladsp erformed,C arpenterd ecidedt o employ the Dictaphone
machine in his fieldwork. In particular, he had already used it on his first trip to
Britain in 1928 to collect the texts and tunes of sea shanties, despite the fact that, at
this stage, he was unable to transcribe the tunes from the Dictaphone cylinders
himself[13] He therefore sought professional help, but with little success:
When I was in Englandi n my firsts ummer,i n 1928, I was collectingm y ballads[ shanties?o]n
the Dictaphone record, and I went to a man in Bristol and asked him ... if he could transcribe
some tunes for me. And he said, well yes, he thought he could. He was a famous musician. So
when he heard my Dictaphone with the nasal twang of the hom. . . he said, 'Why, I don't hear
any tune', he says, 'I hear a sound, but I don't hear any tune with it.' And another man undertook
to transcriboe ne or two tunes, then. He couldn'td o a thing with it, or, that is, he'd just write
the notes, but if there was any grace note or any slur. . . he just ironed out square, and put this
note one after another.'4
ClearlyC arpenterw as keen to get accuratea nd detailedm elodic transcriptionosf the
shanties, but this may have been with an eye to eventual publication since he did not
include or discuss the tunes in the doctoral thesis he was writing at the time.'5
Carpenterr eturnedt o Britaint o continue collectingw ith the Dictaphonei n 1929.
His subsequent encounter with a living ballad-singing tradition had an enormous
impact on him, even allowing for a touch of public-lecture hyperbole in this
description:
I was prompteda t the outset,o f course,b y the strangef ascinationw hich some of the olderb allads
have always held for me, as for others, even in their bare texts alone. But when I heard the
traditionabl allad-plastic oralv ersec hantedt o ancient( oftenm odal)t une, which had been constantlyc
hangingf romt he very firsto f its long traditionajol urneyingsd own froma recordlesps ast,
varyinge ndlesslym, ouldinga ndr emouldingc, rossingw ith othert extsa ndt unest o form countless
pattems; and which, by virtue of its uniting in a single art form the dual elemental magic of
rhythmicasl peech and melody, had managedt o slip the mooringso f the past, steal impalpably
down the centuries,a nd come even to our own time-when, I repeat,I heardu pon the lips of
the folk the living ballad,I realizedt hati t is a uniquea rtc reationi n thati t embodiest he essential
qualitieso f both poetrya ndm usic.F or example,i n contrast o the gibberishc hantedt o folk tunes
by Africano r Indiant ribesmeno, r the doggerels o often accompanyintgh e tuneso f ordinaryfo lk
songs, a greatm anyo f the olderb alladsa rem arkedb y poetryo f the highesto rder,w ith tunesi n
keeping.[16]
It was this experience, then, that impressed upon him the significance of the ballad
as song and persuaded him of its aesthetic superiority over other forms of traditional
song (European or otherwise). He also became convinced that, pace Child, ballads
had been songs, not poems, from their very origins. [17]
One of the attractionso f the sung balladf or Carpenter,a s for many of the English
folksong collectors at the turn of the century, was the fact that many of the tunes did
not conform to standardm ajor/minort onality but were modal. Carpenterr egarded
the use of the Dorian and Aeolian modes, or the modal minors as he termed them,
as a particularfe atureo f Scottish, especiallyG aelic, song,18 and he was enchantedb y
their sound. As the above quotation suggests, the modal tunes had an 'ancient' sound;
they also had exotic and evocative qualities for him. The songs of one couple from
whom he collected, for example, were 'twenty of the rarest, most beautiful ballads
of my entire collection; the tunes, coming from the Highlands, being marked by the
plaintive sweetness and haunting strangeness characteristic of Gaelic music'.[19]
Despite his fascination with modal melodies, his excitement at hearing ballads
performed live, and his developing interest in the unity of text and tune in balladry,
Carpenter unfortunately did not record renditions in their entirety on the Dictaphone.
Instead, he adopted the strategy of recording the singing of up to six stanzas of a
ballad on the Dictaphone and then asking the singer to begin again and dictate the
words whilst he typed them:
[The singers]w ere excitedb y the Dictaphone. .. andw hen I was gettingt he littles implep reparations
ready for it, [the singer] was all ... needles and pins, ready to sing.... At first, I recorded
the tunes.A nd so then I'd say, 'Well, now, sing rights traighta long,t wo or three or four stanzas
of it.' And often he'd sing too high or too low. And I'd just ... let him have a chance to correct
it and get it where i t ought t o be. And then he'd sing throughs tanzaa fters tanza. I'd learned a bout
how closet o keep the instrumentto his moutht o get a good recordingT. hen, aftert hiss inging. ..
I'd take the little portablet ypewritero n my knees,a nd say to him, 'Now dictatet he song to me,
two lines at the time.... There was no conversationw ent on at all. I'd just hold up my finger
and. . . he'd dictate another two lines.[20]
One presumes that Carpenter developed this technique of collecting as a compromise.
Recording just the first part of the song on the Dictaphone allowed the singers to
pitch the song comfortably and settle into the melody, and so provide Carpenter with
a record of the tune, without using up too much of the cylinder or the machine's
six-volt battery.
'A Wrestler with Sounds'
Carpenter taught himself to transcribe his recordings on his return to Harvard in
1935,21 no doubt feeling that he could do a better job than the musicians to whom
he had turned in 1928. It was a slow and laborious process, as he described in a letter
to Katharine Duncan:
I wrestle with the tunes, then get out and play tennis, or swim, and get rid of the tenseness; th en tackle t he j ob afresht he next moming.T he proverbt hatt opsm y list of tunesr unst hus:' A wrestler with sounds is a wrestler w ith shadows:t hey areh ere, they are there,t hey are gone-impalpable
,22 as a morningg ossamery; et they rackt he pursuerli ke ancienti nstrumentos f torture'.
Carpenter's method was to memorize the tune so that he could sing it himself exactly
and then work out the notation by 'gripping the tune and remembering [the] scale
at the same time, and holding the notes against the scale that was in my mind'.23
After writing it down, he would replay the passage in question, usually one line of
the stanza, and check it. In this way, he transcribed the nearly eight hundred British
ballad melodies in his collection over a period of about two years, supported by the
Humanities Fund at Harvard.[24]
It is notable that in these transcriptions Carpenter more often than not reproduced
two or more stanzas of the music and words rather than just one stanza.[25] As will be
seen below, these stanzas do not always represent consecutive textual stanzas as far as
the fuill textual transcriptions are concerned. Rather, they appear to reflect the occurrence
of melodic variation between the stanzas of a ballad. The fact that Carpenter
had recorded several stanzas of the song on the Dictaphone, of course, enabled him
to perceive such variation and notate it. By 1938, therefore, he was proclaiming the
advantages of sound recordings in the transcription of traditional music over notation
by ear in the field:
Transcriptions from records a re truer r epresentations of folk tunes than notationt akend own in
the field. In permanentr ecordo nly is it possiblet o hear over and over againe xactlyt he same
rhythmicaal nd melodicp atternsS. ingersi nevitablyv aryo n secondo r thirdr epetition'. Iranscriptions
can be checked by many people.
... the collectort akingd own notationi n the field is likely to get fragmentos f the tune fromt wo
or threes uccessives tanzas- the firsth alff romt he firsts tanzaa, nda quartere ach fromt he second
and third.( Thati s to say, if he does not take down the wordst hen and there;a difficulpt rocess.)
The resulti s often a limping,h altingr epresentatioonf the true tune as sungb y the folk.
It is not clear, though, whether he originally set out to obtain such precise tune
transcriptions and to record melodic variation by the use of the Dictaphone, or only
later realized the advantage of his having used the machine to record more than one
stanza of the song.
In this connection it would be interesting to know more concerning when and
how Carpenter became interested in the finer points of music transcription and melodic
variation. One wonders, in particular, whether Carpenter was influenced by
Percy Grainger's 1908 article in Journal of the Folk-Song Society, 'Collecting with the
Phonograph', with its advocacy of mechanical sound recording in folksong collecting,
and its (for the time) heretical views on folksong transcription and the documentation
of melodic variation.27 Carpenter does not acknowledge Grainger as such anywhere
in his collection or his writings, but it is notable that Grainger's work was the only
precedent in Britain for Carpenter's extensive use of sound-recording equipment in
folksong collecting, and that the article was based on Grainger's experience of
recording shanty singers as well as other traditional singers. Indeed, it is even possible
454 JULIA C. BISHOP
that the article gave Carpenter the idea of using the Dictaphone machine in the first
place.
Severalp oints of similarityb etween the practicesa dvocatedb y Graingera nd those
adopted by Carpenterm ake it at least plausiblet hat Carpenter'sc ollecting methods
were directlyi nfluencedb y the Graingera rticle.F irsto f all, Grainger'sd epictiono f the
advantageso f using the phonographw ould have carrieds ome force for the musically
untrained Carpenter:
It cannotb e made too widely known that the phonographp uts valuablef olk-song,s ea-chanty,
andm orris-dancceo llectingw ithin the reacho f all possessedo f the needfull eisurea nd enthusiasm.
Anyone who knows a folk-songw hen he or she hearsi t, and can distinguishs tirringt unes
from dull ones, can, even if devoid of accurateh earinga nd experienceo f the technicalitieso f
musicaln otation,g ive invaluableh elp towardst he preservationof the rich traditionatlr easureos f
these islandsb y phonographinpg easanta nd sailors ongs,c hanties,a nd dancesf or futuren otation,
study,r eferencea, nd comparison.
Secondly, Grainger, following Cecil Sharp's opinion, cautioned collectors
to alwaysn ote down all wordso f songsi ndependentloyf the phonographf;o r thoughi t is generally
possiblet o detecti n the machinee ven minuted ialectd etailso f alreadyn oted words,i t is seldom
easyt o distinguishu nknownw ordsw ith reliabilityp, articularliyn the caseo f faintr ecords.29
As seen above, Carpentert yped the complete texts of the balladsf rom the performer's
dictation as well as recording his or her singing. Thirdly, Grainger stressed that
it is ... of the utmosti mportancteh ats uchr ecordsb e handedo verf or theirt ranslatioinn to musical
notationt o none but collectorsa nd musiciansh ighly versedi n the wide possibilitieso f musical
notation,a nd if possibled oweredw ith insighti nto, and experienceo f, the vastr ealmso f irregular
rhythm.30
As also described above, Carpenter initially attempted to get his shanty tunes
transcribedb y professionaml usicians,a lthought his proved of little benefit and led to
his teaching himself to do music transcription.
Intriguinglyt, here seem to be severalf urtherp oints of similarityb etween Grainger
and Carpenter. Both stress the benefit of mechanical sound recording for the exact
transcriptiono f pitch and rhythmic 'irregularitiesi'n performance.31F urthermore,
Carpenter'so bservation,m ade in 1938, that 'the transcriptiono f from two to six
stanzas( with words), reveals,i n many cases,a mazinga daptationso f tune to the emotionalc
ontexto f the verse'32 seems to echo Grainger'sh ighly unconventionalp oint of
view on melodic variation:
As a composerw ill differentlyh armonizea nd score repetitionso f the same theme to satisfyh is
cravingf or contrasta nd variety,s o will the samei nstincts.. . lead the creatively-giftefdo lk-singer
or chantymanto evolve more or less profusem elodic,r hythmica, nd dynamicv ariantso ut of his
normalt une't o meet thee motionanle edos fd ifferenvte rsesa,n dm atcht heirc hangingw ord-rhythms.33
Whilst Carpenter'sr ecordingm ethods and his views on melodic variationb ear a
distinctr esemblancet o those of Graingerh, owever, Carpenter'sm ethod of transcribing
both texts and tunes was not nearly as detailed as that of Grainger. This was
because Carpenter, unlike Grainger, was not a formally trained and experienced
musician.A lthough Carpenters trovef or exact transcriptionsh, is auralp erceptiona nd
facility with music notation would undoubtedly have been less well developed, making
the task of transcriptione ven harderf or him:
Quite apartf rom the mass of accuratea nd detailedi nformationr equiredf or dealingw ith the
irregularitieosf folk music,I soon realizedt hatt he mostb ewilderingta sko f all wast hato f training
the reflexes( of eye, ear, and hand) to jump to the oral gymnasticso f excited, eccentric,a nd
generallyu ntraineda nd unconventionasli ngers.34
The Tuneso f the Englisha nd ScottishB allads 455
The fair copies of Carpenter's tune transcriptions do follow Grainger's method
to some extent. Each has a metronome marking and there are clearly places where
Carpenter has attempted to render the rhythm as exactly as possible using conventional
music notation (see, for example, Figure 6). As already noted, Carpenter also
transcribed two or more melodic stanzas, complete with the relevant words, to show
melodic variation. He further attempted to retain 'the native idiom and local dialect
forms of English and Scottish communities from Land's End to John o' Groats',
although without employing detailed phonetic representations of pronunciation as
Grainger had done.35
There are significant differences between Carpenter's transcriptions and those of
Grainger, however, While Grainger took care to indicate the original pitch of the
performance on the transcription, even though he sometimes transposed the melody
for the music notation, Carpenter did not consider the original pitch of a performance
important. He opted instead to write out the tune in any key that lay comfortably
within his own vocal range:
But there'sa lwaysa n excitementi n the recordingA. nd the purist,w ho makess o much of pitchit's
the stupidestt hing alive. Often, throught enseness,t hey'll. .. usuallyg et their song pitched
too high. And when you're recording[ notating?i]t , I leamedj ust to iron that rights traighto ut.
I'd ... sound my note from my key note, and whatever I wanted, and keep it in my mind, and
when he'd sing ... the high-pitchedn otes, I'd thinka nd rememberth e low note that I knew and
I'd copy it down with the low scale. In other words, I was transposingw hile I was copying.
Now ... a lot of recorderss eem sort of hipped [sic]w ith the sound.... I know Sharpw as that
way. He often got some of his songs so high that nobody could sing them. And it seems to me
that what I did would be possible for anybody, just to pull it down to a normal key, and then
when he's singing high, the consecutive notes are the same, and I just ... put it down on the
lower note.36
Neither was Carpenter influenced by Grainger's radical concept of 'one single loosely knit modal folk-song scale'.[37] Rather, Carpenter tends to indicate the mode of the tunes when they are pentatonic or hexatonic, or in the Dorian or Aeolian mode (see, for example, Figure 4) .[38] In many ways, then, Carpenter's ballad tune transcriptions
lie between the highly detailed ones of Grainger's, made from the phonograph, and
the 'normal tune' transcriptions of Cecil Sharp, made directly by ear in the field.
Since Carpenter was self-taught, the question also arises as to how reliable his
tune transcriptions are. This can only be checked by means of a comparison of
Carpenter's transcriptions with the recordings from which they were made. At present
there are a number of problems associated with this. Firstly, Carpenter copied his
cylinders onto 12-inch 78-rpm discs and it is these which have been dubbed onto
tape by the Library of Congress and made available for consultation. The playback
quality of the discs is, for the most part, very poor for, it appears, the transfer was
made acoustically and, in addition to the surface noise associated with cylinder
recordings, the disc recordings have acquired turntable rumble.39 Secondly, it is not
always a straightforward matter to correlate the transcriptions with the items on the
discs, for the list of the discs' contents made by Carpenter is somewhat erratic in its
identification of the singers with the specific songs which they sang. Idealiy, the
transcriptions should be correlated with and checked against Carpenter's original field
recordings on the Dictaphone cylinders and their contents lists. The cylinders seem
to be in fairly good condition as of the present time and it is very much to be hoped
that working copies of them will become available as soon as possible.
Some Ballad Texts and Tunes from the Carpenter Collection
Despite all the editing and transcnrptiown ork carriedo ut by Carpenter on his ballad collection, the material stayed in his hands until 1972 when it was purchased by the Library of Congress. This was the same year in which the fourth and final volume of Bertrand Bronson's compendium of all the extant Child ballad tunes and previously unpublished texts, The Traditional Tunes of the ChildB allads, was published.[40] Carpenter's collection is listed among B ronson's s ources[41] but none of his materiali s included because, as Bronson's headnotes to certain ballads suggest, he was stil planning to publish it himself:
THE WYLIE WIFE OF THE HIE TOUN HIE (Child 290)
Mr James M. Carpenter has collected a tune from Scotland for this piece . . . but he has not yet published i t. No others have been divulged, to my knowledge.[42]
THE WHITE FISHER (Child 264)
Greig failed to recover a tune for the ballad, and none has yet been printed. James M. Carpenter, however, in the twenties collected one in Scotland which he may in time disclose.
As these comments illustrate, a number of Carpenter's recordings represented the earliest,a nd sometimes the only, known extant tune for a particularb alladt ype. A detailed discussion of these must await a future publication, but the following examples illustrate the interest of and problems associated with their study.
In the case of 'The Wylie Wife of the Hie Toun Hie' and 'The White Fisher', the tunes which Carpenter had collected came from his most prized singer, Bell Duncan, an eighty-two-year-old woman living in a shepherd's cottage at Lambhill in the parish of Insch, Aberdeenshire.[44] She was the most prolific of his singers,[45] having over sixty Child ballads in her extensive repertoire, and he planned to give her songs-and her photograph-pride of place in his projected book.[46] Bell Duncan's version of 'The Wylie Wife' appears to be the only twentieth century version collected (see Figure 1),[47] for Bronson reprints no text or tune versions for the ballad. Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads c ontains just four versions, of which the D text, 'from the recitation of Eppie Fraser, daughter of a tramp, and unable to read, about 1840', is the closest to that of Bell Duncan.[48] In Eppie Fraser's and Bell Duncan's versions, the men are identified as soldiers and there are similarities in the wording in the initial stanzas in particular. In Bell Duncan's version, however, the portion of narrative in which the 'lass' questions t he man as to his name is omitted, so that the narrative m oves straight into the lass's crying and cursing o f the treacherous 'auld wife'. To judge from the dashes in Carpenter's transcription, Bell Duncan had apparentlyf orgotten the next part of the ballad in which, in Eppie Fraser's version, it is revealed that the soldier becomes a captain and returns to marry the lass. The two versions end similarly with the lass now singing and blessing the auld wife.
A comparison of the full text of the song as transcribed by Carpenter and the corresponding stanza in the tune transcription shows that they are not exactly the same. This is probably because the latter was transcribed from the cylinder recording of the singer's performance whilst the full text was taken down at the singer's dictation. It is not clear why Carpenter has chosen to transcribe the words and music of the fourth stanza of the song; perhaps Bell Duncan only recollected other parts of the text later, after some prompting from Carpenter. Although he does not note it on the music transcription, the tune is hexatonic, lacking the sixth degree, and, according to his method of modal classification, would be designated Dorian/Aeolian.
THE WYLIE WIFE- Bell Duncan
0 'tis sae good an' it is sae fine, An' it's
new come fae a fo - reign land, And gin ye wid my
fa - vor win, Come in and taste a glass o' wine.
The sojers a' sat drinking wine,
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
'I'd gie ony ane a pint of wine
. . . .
An' sae wid I the ostler's wife
An she would entice yon lassie in.'
The ostler's wife gaed doon the stairs,
An' aye she say, 'Good morrow, dame.
An' gin ye would my favor win,
Come in an' tak a glass o wine.'
The lassie she's gane up the stair,
An' the ostler's wife gaed her ahin,
An' ilka door that the lassie opened,
The auld wife lockit her behind,
Until she cam enti the room
Where a' the merry young men sat in.
He's taen the lassie in his airms;
Sae gently as he set her doon.
In spite o tears an' lamentations,
He keepit her till late at noon.
An' noo the lassie sits an' greents [sic-JCB],
An' files she says a word atween;
An' hoo the lassie sits an' greets
An curses the auld wife that fesh her in.
. . . . [verse missing]
. . . .
. . . .
. . . .
An' noo the lassie sits an' sings,
An' file she says a word atween;
An' noo the lassie sits an' sings
An' blesses the auld wife that fesh her in.
Figure 1
'The Wylie Wife', as sung by Bell Duncan, and recorded and transcribed by James M. Carpenter
Courtesy of the James Madison Carpenter Collection, Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklfe Center, Library of Congress
THE WHITE FISHER- Bell Duncan
'Tis a month and it is nae maer, my dear, since ye mar - ried me, And there
is a ba- by a - tween my twa sides, And I'm sure and it's nae to thee. 0
is't til a laird, or is't til a lord, Or ane o' high de - gree, Or
is it tae ane o' yer fa - ther's men? I'm sure ye may tell me. It
is a month and it is nae maer, my dear, since I mar - ried thee, And there
is a ba- by a- tween your twa sides, And I'm sure it nae to me. 0
is't til a laird, or is't til a lord, Or ane o' high de-
gree, Or is it tae ane o' yer fa - ther's mer - ry men? I'm
sure ye may tell me, dear love, I'm sure ye may tell me.
"Tis a month an' 'tis nae mair,
My dear, since I married thee,
An' there is a baby atween thy sides,
An' I'm sure an' it's nae tee me, dear love,
An' I'm sure an' it's nae tee me.'
"Tis a month an' 'tis nae mair,
My dear, since you married me,
An' there is a baby atween my sides,
An' I'm sure an' it's nae tee thee, dear love,
An' I'm sure an' it's nae tee thee.'
'O is't till a laird? or is't till a lord?
Or ane o high degree?
Or is't tee ane o your father's merry men?
I'm sure ye may tell me, dear love,
I'm sure an' ye may tell me.'
'It's nae till a laird, it's nae till a lord,
Nor ane o high degree,
Bet it's tee my father's kitchie boy;
I'm sure I willna lee.
'It wis my father's kitchie boy
Atween the kitchie an' the ha';
He laid his han' on my shoulder,
An' he caused me bak to fa'.'
'Gang tee your booer, my lily flooer,
Till a' your months are gane,
An' sometimes you'll read upon a book,
An' sometimes sew your seam, dear love,
An' sometimes sew your seam.
'An I'll rank oot a bonnie boat
An' sail upon the main,
An' be it weet or be it dry,
That nicht I will be hame, dear love.'
It fell ance upon a day
In travailins he fell by,
An' her ain gweed lord in anither room
He heard her thus ti cry:
'Had my young son been tee my ain gweed lord,
He wid hae eased my moan;
Had my young son been tee my ain gweed lord,
He wid hae come an' gone.'
It's up he rase an' in he gaes,
It wis ti ease her moan;
Up he rase an' in he gaes,
An' he saa his bonnie young son.
'Ye'll tak my young son in your airms
An' hae him far fae me;
Ye'll tak my young son in your airms
An' droon him i' the sea.'
He's taen up his bonnie young son
An' clasped him tee his breist,
An' he's awa tee his mither's booer,
Faar she his laid tee rest.
'Ye'll open your door tee me, mither;
Ye'll rise an' lat me in,
For the dew fa's on my yellow hair,
An' it's weetin my bonnie young son.
'I taul ye afore, my son, Willie,
Fan ye gaed there ti woo,
That yon wisna a leal maiden,
An' I taul it unto you.'
'But mither, ye ken I had anither sweetheart
Fan I wis ayont the sea,
An' this is ane o her love tokens
That she's sent hame tee me.'
'If that be true, my son Willie,
As I trust weel it be,
There's be nae mair ill deen tee your young son
Than ever wis deen tee thee.'
'Fan my lady comes here,' he says,
As aft she comes ti dine,
Ye'll aye be merry wi my bonnie young son,
But be sure ye dinna ca' him mine.'
Up he rase an' awa he gaes,
As fast as he could gang,
An' fan he cam till his lady's booer,
He heard her makin her mane.
'My bonnie young son's tee the white fishin,
An' he's ower young for the sea,
An' lang, lang will I think for fish
Ere he fesh hame tee me.
'My bonnie young son's tee the white fishin,
An' he's ower young for the main,
An' lang, lang will I think for fish
Ere he fesh ony hame.'
'Gang tee your bed, my dear,' he says,
'Gang tee yer bed,' says he.
'Gang tee yer bed, my dear,' he says,
'An' a drink I'll mak tee thee.'
'I winna gang tee my bed,' she says,
'An' a drink I winna tak fae thee,
For them that wid a droont my bonnie young son,
Wid surely poison me.'
'O haud your tongue, my dear,' he said;
'Say nae mair ill tee me;
There'll be nae mair ill deen tee your young son
Than ever wis deen tee me.
'An' fan ye gang tee my mother's booer
As aft ye gang ti dine,
Ye'll aye be merry wi your bonnie young son,
But be sure ye dinna ca' him thine.'
Figure 2
'The White Fisher', a s sung by Bell Duncan, a nd recorded a nd transcribed by James M. Carpenter
Courtesy of the James Madison Carpenter Collection, Archive of Folk Culture, American Folklife Center, Library of Congress
Bell Duncan learnt her version of 'The White Fisher' (Figure 2) from her mother.[49] As Carpenter comments elsewhere, Bell Duncan's 'texts are long and full, many of the songs learned from her mother and others sixty-five, seventy years earlier',[50] so this would date it back to 1860 or 1865. There are only a few other extant versions of the ballad, all of them consisting of the words alone: that in Peter Buchan's Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland,[51] and two versions collected by Gavin Greig in Aberdeenshire, from Miss Bell Robertson and Mrs Annie Robb.[52] Bell Duncan's is closest to Annie Robb's version in its verbal details but is six stanzas longer and, as in the Buchan and Robertson versions, stresses t he mother's disapproval of the unvirtuous wife.
Carpenter made several recordings of Bell Duncan singing 'The White Fisher' and he transcribed the music for several stanzas from two of these recordings, illustrating the melodic variation incorporated by Bell Duncan. It is noticeable from the complete text that stanzas 1-3 and 6 (and 7?) consist of five lines, whereas, in all but one stanza, the melody only has provision for four. The final music stanza, however, reveals that Bell Duncan extended the last phrase of the melody to accommodate the extra line, which becomes the penultimate line of the stanza, and then repeats the normal form of the final phrase to finish.
Another rare ballad recorded by Carpenter is a version of 'The Wife of Usher's Well' (Child 79) from Mrs Annie Kidd of Glen Ythan, Rothienorman, Aberdeenshire (Figures 3 and 4).[53] As Carpenter's note indicates, the ballad was learnt from the
singer'ss isteri n Ythan Wells, Aberdeenshirea, round 1865. Carpenterw as aware of
the rarityo f this balladw hich has flourishedi n the Appalachianbs ut has seldom been
reportedi n Scotlanda nd England.[54] C hild's E nglish a ndS cottishP opular Ballads c ontains
only two versions of the ballad, both from Scotland, and Mrs Kidd's ballad shows
some textual similaritiest o Child's A version, 'from the recitationo f an old woman
residing near Kirkhill, in West Lothian'.[55] As Carpenter was at pains to point out,
though, Mrs Kidd's version was an orally transmittedo ne which she 'had not seen
in print' and he in fact had rejected a written-out version of one of the texts in Child
in favour of Mrs Kidd's own:
I remember one time, the most beautiful ballad that I have-I say the most beautifil:, the rarestthat's
'The Wife of Usher's Well' ... - outside of America, I don't believe there's a tune for 'The
Wife of Usher's Well'. I went to a woman who was going to give it to me, an older woman, and
when I got there -her niece was taking care of her, she was in rather poor health -and she
handed me a manuscript. And so I read it, looked at it, and there was the Child 'Wife of Usher's
Well'. And the old woman said, 'Well', say, 'it isn't my way o't', says, 'that's not the way I know
it, but', [she] says, 'my niece said that you'd rather have it in the book.' So I threw the manuscript
away and let her sing on her song, as she knew it. And there, you see, I was just about to miss
that version of 'The Wife of Usher's Well' lovely old minor tune, with two of the most dramatic
stanzas I've ever seen.56
Despite the verbals imilaritieso f Mrs Kidd'st ext in some stanzast o the Kirkhillt ext,
the plot of Mrs Kidd's version contains some significant differences. There is no
mention of the sons having been sent to sea, and it contains the possible implication
that the wife's overt and public mourningi s in some way responsiblef or their return.
Unique to Mrs Kidd's version, and surely one of the dramatic stanzas to which
Carpenter refers, is the penultimate stanza describing the wife's desperate attempts to
prevent her sons from leaving. The shift from the image of the cock crowing to the
poignant suggestion that the sons themselves are like wild fowls flying away is another
unique feature of Mrs Kidd's text.
Carpenter'st ranscriptiono f Mrs Kidd's tune consistso f four stanzas,w hich evidence
a small amount of melodic variation. These correspond to the first four textual
stanzasa nd, as found in the tune transcriptionsd iscusseda bove, there are several
differencesb etween the words as found in the tune transcriptiona nd the words as
-rs. -nnie~ idd, Ivy cottage, The Wife Mlrs. Anni e Kidd, ly,Cottage,
Gle7n Ythan, :Rothienorman, Scotland. Learned fromasis- ter , A%=le Bannerman IJppsrx
Rasbie Slack, Ythan- We11s,X
sixty-five years ago. Had
not seen in print. -Sister,
while spinning, sang a hun- It's she has made dred songs without stopping. She's made it lang in' she' s taen her "Why mourn ye for your gowd, your gowd An? ss-eht' s -lain close An' for your white monee, The cock he crawd But I do mourn for my three bonni.e sons Tn' flapped his lThat death has teen fae me. Fan the youngest "I'll hie me doon tee yon green ki.rkyard; "7ae langer can It lies low anent ta sin; "For the cock he I'll chap upo' them een an' eean, an the wild--hfoolas See weel's the wardle may kein." An te.wldfol An' the psalms o It fell upol a Yule time,
An' we'll be missed Fan the nichts were lang an' dark, "For the cock he Fan in it cam her three bonnie sons, An' the wild fools An' their hats clad ower wi bark. An' the gates: o "Faar gat ye that, my three bonnie sons A well be missed UpQ' your heids sae hee?" She's flowen atweem "It's-we got this in' Paradise, She's owen ated But there grows nane there for thee." Like thy'a baited But the'
"Come ben, come ben, my three bonnie sons; Like the wild.fools Come ben' an' sup wi me. "Fareweel, fareweel, For a' my hoose shall sup this nicht Fareweel tee barn--Fan my three sons are here. An' fare ye weel- That, wis stayin 'Blawr up the fire, my maidens a',
Bring water fae the well,
For a' my hoose shall feast this nicht
Fan my three bonnie sons ara hale."
"We winna sup wi thee, mother
Nor drink nanm o your wine,
. . . . . . . . . .......................................
Thoch it cam - tp,^t8-n ' tswn,
"But ye'll mak tee us a lang, lang bed,
An' ye';l mak it lang an' neat,
An' y'111 tak yere nichtgoon ye aboot,
An' ye'll lie close doon at wir feet."
Figure 3
'The Wife of Usher's Well', as sung by Mrs Annie Kidd, facsimile of the text as transcribed Courtesy of the James Madison Carpenter Collection, Archive of Folk Culture, American Folkltfe Center, Library This content downloaded on Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:50:52 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
462 JULIA C. BISHOP
,1-Hg 1oQ l<fsp a),;ssye ushr's i<1L - Ls *,kiJJ
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rss beu ^;; S*s rQt etti 64s 4^^444
t I { *1 -t 1t 18 l a L 4't
9S^) sxz2 . $ do4 Ev dDZ ;¢tC ttj t 5t tzWs
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j *1 br ^ [- 1 1 ¢ w! -{ I j t
a>4 bX Xa";r ssv 5sZ ssQ,.).5 +t,S, WtL 4¢ (<x H
,>.11 1 1 18f r : CI
9t toetk ap oZ tto tMu>2 ;5> yitl2^ ar G
; ,: : I 2- i wP -1' Lt 2'1 g ( l X
^ *Cht5 f )6*t a > S a r 2 Wsz { o { t >< hw (^
4 T 5945 1A tht.s hats <*(4 osvr & ( bqr(t
t *t 1 l 1 1- r l i g Li L ; 1e 1
+g>hC'< , ¢tXt u^ hrb- bo^<f So - S QPa;
1 14- j t 1- tS d ty J }' L'¢-t .1 I
D< ttt hsa s 5< S LJt Tat +v)( s X 0
.\ J
1; .1 "1 .1 1 'ix I y, iE *i -i / tZ L s Z w % -- -l \ E t -w Wt -l
P't < - °> - j S 2/ B 8 Ah=<t ? 8vt xs aaetrs Ft r tl x < c
Figure 4
'The Wife of Usher'sW ell', as sungb y Mrs Annie Kidd,f acsimileo f tune as transcribebdy
James M. Carpenter
Courtesyo f theJamesM adisonC arpenteCr ollectionA, rchiveo f Folk CultureA, mencanF olklfe Center,
Libraryo f Congress
found in the complete text. Mrs Kidd's pentatonic tune is unlike any of the other
extant tunes for this ballad, of which Bronson has only three from Britain.57
In additiont o supplyingt exts and tunes of comparativelyr areb allads,C arpenter's
recordings and transcriptionsg reatly amplify the extant ballad corpus in general,
especially the tune record. The ballads he collected in Britain alone amount to about
a sixth of the total number of ballads contained in Bronson's compendium. Carpenter
collected the majority of these ballads directly from singers, but there are several
which he came acrossb y other means.T hey include a handfillo f manuscripvt ersions
and texts from obscure printed sources and, most importantly, a number of ballads,
copied from the collection of Reverend James Bruce Duncan whose papers were, at
that time, in the possession of his daughter, Katharine Duncan.58
Amongst the ballads recorded by Carpenter himself are a number sung by performers
from whom others had collected before the First World War. The majority of
these were informantso f Gavin Greig andJ amesD uncan in the northeasto f Scotland,
such as Mrs Goodall of Alford, Mrs Lyall of Skene, Isaac Troup of Ythan Wells and
Alex Robb of New Deer, but they also include several singers visited by Sharp, such
as SamB ennett of Ilmington,W arwickshire.5F9u rtherr esearchm ay revealt hat others
among Carpenter'ss ingersa re relatedt o or descendantso f singersf rom whom earlier
collectors noted material. Certainly, some of Carpenter's singers have since been
re-recorded, such as George ('Geordie') Robertson and John Strachan by Hamish
Henderson.60T hus, Carpenter'sc ollectaneap rovide a vital link in the documentation
of singers and their songs over the first half of this century. In some cases Carpenter
recorded songs not previously collected from these singers, as well as documenting
the progress of previously noted songs some twenty-five to thirty years on. Carpenter's
Dictaphone cylinders also furnish sound recordings of singers like Alex Robb for
whom there were previously only silent transcriptions.
As one might expect, these comparative recordings contain evidence of stability
in a singer'sr endition of a particularb allad,b ut there is also a surprisingn umber of
differencesb etween Carpenter'st ranscriptionos f these recordingsa nd the tune notations
of others. A comparison of Isaac Troup's version of 'The Duke of Gordon's
Daughter' (Child 237) as collected by James Duncan and by Carpenter, for example,
revealss ome substantiadl ifferences( Figure5 ).61 The phrases tructureo f the Duncan
versioni s a straightforwarAd BAB pattern.T he Carpenterv ersions hows an altogether
more complex phrases tructure,t he firstt wo phrasesb eing entirelyd ifferentf rom the
correspondingo nes in Duncan. In this case, Carpenter'st ranscriptions eems to be
reliable when checked against the sound recording from which it was made. It seems,
then, that Troup varied these phrases, although whether he regularly sang the tune
one way or another, or changed over time, is impossible to say in the absence of any
further recordings.
The difference is nevertheless an interesting one since it affects the classification
of the tune. On the basis of Duncan's transcriptionB, ronson has placed it in his
Group Ac, yet, if he had had the Carpentert ranscriptionh, e might well have placed
it in Group Ab where the other tune versions have a similar opening.62
Another interesting feature of the Isaac Troup tune as recorded by Carpenter is
its rhythmically compressed ending, resulting in a seven-bar melody. This suggests
that it was, for some reason,a departuref rom his usualw ay of singingt he ballad,a nd
this, in turn, may account for the variant melody in the first half of the tune. It is
also notable that Isaac Troup provided both Duncan and Carpenter with only one
THE DUKE OF GORDON'S DAUGHTER
Isaac Troup
Duncan MS I -I I
(Transposeddo wn , , 1 '
a tone)
Carpenter MS I I
SO4 WI; > W}LS |4ddl L _ 4 |i
71 C 7 - 7 - I 1 I ITI r l'
.rM'WerECJ )o pir io iL_ of l th i I I. I IT I 1 i w. -_ I
I
F .F
S 1
Figrure 5
Comparison of the tune transcriptions of 'The Duke of Gordon's Daughter', as sung by
Isaac Troup, made by James B. Duncan and James M. Carpenter
Carpentetrr anscrspticoonu rtesoyf theJamesM adisonC arpenteCr ollectionA, rchiveo f Folk Culture,
AmericanF olklifeC enterL, ibraryo f Congress
stanza of the ballad, suggesting this song was probably a passive item of repertoire
and therefore not performed very often, if at all.
Carpenter also collected extensively from Alexander Robb of New Deer, a singer
from whom Gavin Greig had noted many songs twenty-five years earher. In the case
of 'The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington' (Child 105) as sung by Robb and collected
by Greig and Carpenter, the tunes are virtually identical. This time, however, it is
the words of the first stanza which are noted differently by each collector. Carpenter's
tune transcription gives them as follows:
There was a boy an' a bonny boy,
An he was as clear's the sun,
An' he's fa'n in love wie the bailie's dochter
At home in the Toslington, ton
At home in the Toslington.3
Greig's transcription runs thus:
There was a boy and a bonnie boy
And he was a squire'sa e son,
And he's faen in love wi the bailiff's daughter,
At home and at Oslingtown-town;
At home and at Isling town.64
As Greig was a native of the region, one is inclined to see his transcription as the
more reliable. Carpenter certainly admitted that he had trouble in understanding the
Scottish language at first, a point which invites caution when dealing with his Scottish
65 song transcriptions.
Although the majority of the ballads were collected by Carpenter in Scotland,
there are also a number of interesting versions among those he collected in England.
THE MAID FREED FROM THE GALLOWS
J7=16 William Titchener
9,1
Rag - a man, Jag - a - man, stay a - while, And stay for all thee
A~~~~~~
sor - row, I thought I see my own dear fa - ther come
trip - pl - in' o - ver the stile. 0 fa - ther, 0 fa - ther, hast
D.- -- . I--&-1 A- ----
O) I
t
I-t r - I r : g ':;_-J J 1 1 w 4
brought me gold, Or a - ny white mo - ney to set me free, Or
,LD~, I * *---- 1. ,, n
b'ist thou come for to see me hung All on the high gal- lows tree?
I 9 L i I W F _
0 son, 0 son, I've brought thee no gold, Or
aught white mo - ney to set thee free, But I'm a - fraid I've come for
to see thee hung All on the high gal - lows tree.
3 3
.Lr21 r-J : - J :J, f
9) w S I I -~ , _ w
Rag - a - man, Jag - a - man, stay a - while, 0 stay for all thee
sor - row, I thought I saw me own dear fa - ther Come
IXF F-rI '
trip -p - in' o- ver the stile. 0 fa - ther, 0 fa - ther, hast
Figure 6
'The Maid Freed from the Gallows', as sung by William Titchener, tune transcribed by
James M. Carpenter
Courtesyo f theJamesM adisonC arpenteCr ollectionA, rchiveo f Folk CultureA, mericanF olklifeC enter,L ibraryo f Congress
This content downloaded on Mon, 14 Jan 2013 18:50:52 PM
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions
466 JULIA C. BISHOP
1 I -1-
brought me a -ny gold, Or a - ny white mo - ney to set me free, Or
b'ist thou come for to see me hung All on the high gal- lows tree?
',
1) VIt rI Kr- F r
0 son, 0 son, I've brought thee some gold And
A$ Ir 1L
some white mo- ney to set thee free, For I am not come for
A
_ 0 . JI _l . I
0) I . _ .
to see thee hung All on the high gal - lows tree.
r - T ~
Rag - a - man, Jag - a - man, stay a - while, And stay for all thee
AI , - I I -_I
! k 1* 7 ,__ ' r ' '
sor - row, I thought I see my own true love Come
trip - pl - in' o- ver the stile. 0 love, 0 love, hast
brought m'a - ny gold, Or a - ny white mo - ney to set me free, Or
b'ist thou comefor to see me hung All on the high gal- lows tree?
0 the briar, the briar, the pri - ckl - y briar That
prick-e th my heart so sore 0, If I e - ver get out of the
pri - ckl - y briar, I'll ne - ver get in it no more.
Figure 6 continued
One of the most striking of these is 'The Maid Freed from the Gallows' (Child 95) as
sung by William Titchener of Stanford-in-the-ValeB, erkshire( now in Oxfordshire).
Carpenter'st ranscriptiono f the complete text containss even quatrains tanzas.6T6 he
tune transcriptionc ontainsn ine textuala nd musicals tanzas,t wo of the textuals tanzas
(correspondingt o the fifth and sixth stanzaso f the text-only transcription)b eing
repeated.67T he textuals tanzasa re also differentlya rrangedin the music transcription
(Figure 6). It is notable that parts of the tune form double stanzas, consisting of what
begin as two relatively distinct 8-bar melodies (A+ B), punctuated by single stanzas
which repeatt he B tune only. This groupingo f the melodic stanzas( ABB)i s common
to a handful of other tunes found in conjunction with this ballad,68a nd coincides
with the speakersoft he dialogue:
A + B Melodies
Man on the Gallows: Request to 'Ragaman, Jagaman' to wait,
Questioning of Father/Lover.
B Melody
Father/Lover: Response to Man on Gallows (or 'Prickley
Briar' stanza at end).
The musical form of Titchener's version is not as clear-cut as this may suggest,
however, since the second half of the B tune is, from the outset, similar to the second
half of the A tune. As the performance progresses, moreover, the first half of the A
tune becomes increasingly similar to the first half of the B tune. Despite this, a
comparison with the melodies brought together by Bronson reveals that, whilst Titchener's
tune contains echoes of the broad tune family associated with the ballad, it
represents a highly distinctive version, especially in its mid-stanza cadences to the
lower 5th (middle C) in both A and B tunes.69
Fromj ust these few examples,i t will be clear that Carpenter'sb alladc ollection,
and especially the melodic corpus it contains, forms a large and valuable supplement
to Bronson's Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads. The significance of Carpenter's
ballad collection lies not only in its sheer quantity, but also in the number of rare or
unique items that it contains. A further point of interest is the comparative value of
some of the ballads in relation to fieldwork conducted both before and since Carpenter'st
ime. Furthermorei,f the Dictaphonec ylindersc an be digitallyr e-masteredt, hey
will provide sound recordings of performers whose singing has never been heard
before, even though the cylindersc ontain but portions of performancesr athert han
complete ones. Much work remains to be done on the ballad collection and the
background to it, but its special importance compels further research and, one hopes,
eventual nublication.
Notes
' For more detail on Carpenter's academic background, see my article, "'Dr Carpenter from the
Harvard College in America": An Introduction to James Madison Carpenter and his Collection', in this
issue of Folk MusicJournal.
2 TheJamesM adisonC arpenterC ollection is held at the Archiveo f Folk Culturew ithin the American
Follife Center, Library of Congress, AFC 1972/001. There is also a microfilm and tape copy of the
collection at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, London, VWML Microfilm Reels 46-55 and
VWML Reel Tape Collection 303-324, and another copy of the microfilm at the Aberdeen Public
Library. Carpenter's statistics come from 'British and American Traditional Ballads', unpublished
typescriptA, FC 1972/001,F older6 7 (Box 3A); on MicrofilmR eel 5. The remainingb alladsw ere
recordedin Americam, ostlyf ollowingC arpenterr'se turnt herei n 1935.
3English andS cottisPho pulaBra llades,d .b y HelenC hildS argenatn dG eorgeL ymanK ittredg(eB oston:
HoughtonM ifflin,1 904),p . xi (emphasiasd ded)D. iscussedin the introductiotno TheS ingingT radition
of Child'sP opulaBr alladse,d . by BertrandH arrisB ronson( PrincetonN, J:P rincetonU niversityP ress,
1976), xxi-xlvi (p. xxiii).
4 'Britisha ndA mericanT raditionaBla llads'.
5 'Britisha ndA mericanT raditionaFl olkM aterial'u, npublishetdy pescrip[t1 971],A FC 1972/001,
Folder4 (not on the Microfilm)T. heE nglisha ndS cottisPho pulaBr alladse,d . by FranciJsa mesC hild,
1882-98; repr. in 5 vols, New York: Dover, 1965.
6 See AFC 1972/001,F olders1 36, 142-143 (Box 6, Packets5 B and6 F-6G);o n MicrofilmR eel 8,
andF olders1 65-173 (MailsackP,a cketl A-lI); on MicrofilmR eel 10.
7 AFC 1972/001,F olders1 00-121 (Box 5, Packet1 ); on MicrofilmR eel 7.
8 AFC1 972/001D, ictaphonCe ylinders4,5 01-4679,a ndA FC1 972/0011, 2-inchD iscs,A FS1 4,830-
15,040.
9 I am gratefutlo the MusicL ibrarieTsr ustf or theirg enerousu pporot f thisp roject.
10 Lettert o HenryA llenM oe, 2 Februar1y9 36,A FC 1972/001,F older1 79 (MailsackP,a cket2 C);
on MicrofilmR eel 10.
" See my article," 'Dr Carpentefrr om the HarvardC ollegei n America"'f,o r a more detailed
descriptioonf thiss trategy.
12 See 'Englisha ndS cottishT raditionaBla lladws ith Tunes',u npublishetdy pescripetn closedw ith a
lettert o FrankC . Brown, 12 March1 938, in Duke UniversityA rchivesD, uke UniversityE, nglish
DepartmentR, ecords,F acultyf iles, and lettert o John A. Lomax,3 Februar1y9 38, AFC 1972/001,
Folder 12 (not on the Microfilm).
13 Tape-recordeidn tervieww ith AlanJ abbourc,o nducted2 7 May 1972,a t BoonevilleM, ississippi,
AFC 1972/001,R eel Tapes,A FS 14,762-14,765c; opy at the VaughanW illiamsM emoriaLl ibrary,
VWMLC assette1s 21-122.O n the otherh and,C arpentesrt atedt hath e hads havedt he cylinderfsr om
thisf irstc ollectingt rip,a ndy et notebooksc ontainingtu net ranscriptiofnrso m 1928m ayb e foundi n
the CollectionT. hisa pparenatn omalyd eservefsu rtheirn vestigationF.o rm orei nformatioonn Carpenter'ss
hantyc ollectings, ee RobertY oungW alser", 'HereW e Come Home in a LeakyS hip!":T he
ShantyC ollectiono f JamesM adisonC arpenteri'n, thisi ssueo f FolkM usicJournal.
14 Interview.
-5' ForecastlSeo ngsa ndC hanties'(,u npublisheddo ctoratlh esisH, arvarUd niversity1, 929);a microfilm
copy is availablaet the VaughanW illiamMs emoriaLl ibraryV, WMLM icrofilmR eel 42.
16 'CollectingF olklorein Britain'u, npublishetdy pescripAt, FC1 971/001F, older1 48 (Box6 , Packet
6L);o n MicrofilmR eel 8.
17 See 'CollectingF olklorein Britain'a, ndF ranciJs. Child,' BalladP oetry'i, n UniversCaly clopaedia
and Atlas, ed. by Rossiter Johnson, 12 vols (1874; rev. edn, New York: Appleton, 1902), I, 464-68;
repr. inJournalo f FolkloreR esearch3,1 (1994), 214-22.
18 See 'CollectingF olklorein Britain'',B ritisha ndA mericanT raditionaFlo lkM aterial['1 971],a nd
'Englisha ndS cottishT raditionaBla lladws ith Tunes'i n lettert o Brown.
19 'Collecting Folklore in Britain'.
20 Interview.
21 Interview.
22 Lettert o Miss [KatharineD] uncan [daughtero f ReverendJ amesB . Duncan], no date, AFC 1972/
001, Folder 122 (Box 5, Packet 2A); on Microfilm Reel 7.
23 Interview.
24 Letter to the Committee on the Humanities Fund, 13 January 1937, AFC 1972/001, Folder 74
(Box 3H); on Microfilm Reel 5.
25 A rough count of the tune transcriptionisn AFC 1972/001, Folders 100-121 (Box 5, Packet 1);
on MicrofilmR eel 7, revealst hat approximatelytw ice as many consist of two or more stanzaso f music
than consist of one stanza.
26 'English and Scottish Traditional Ballads with Tunes' in letter to Brown.
27 Percy Grainger,' Collecting with the Phonograph'J, ournalo f the Folk-SongS ociety,3 .12 (1908),
147-242.
28 Grainger, pp. 149-50.
29 Graingerp,. 148.
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The Tuneso f the Englisha nd ScottishB allads 469
30 Grainger, p. 150.
31 Graingerp,. 152;c f Carpenter'E, nglisha ndS cottishT raditionaBla lladws ith Tunes'i n lettert o
Brown, quoted above.
32 'Englisha ndS cottishT raditionaBla lladws ith Tunes'i n lettert o Brown( emphasiasd ded).
33 Graingerp,. 153 (emphasiasd ded).
34 Lettert o the Committeeo n the HumanitieFs und.
35 Lettert o the Committeeo n the HumanitieFs und;c f Graingeprp . 160-61.
36 Interviewc;f marginalioan the lettert o KatharinDe uncan.
37 Graingerp,. 158.
38 In his lettert o HenryA llenM oe, Carpentesrt atest hath e intendst o classifyth e tunesb y mode.
39 I am indebtedt o John Howell,D irectoro f the JeffersonT echnicaCl omplex,S pecialF ormats
FacilityM, otionP ictureB, roadcastinagn dR ecordedS oundD ivision,L ibraryo f Congressf,o r these
observationIs .a mm ostg ratefutlo the ParsonFs undf orE thnographLy,i braroyf Congressf,o r funding
my visitt herei n 1996a ndt o the staffa t the Librarfyo r theirh elp.
40 BertrandH arrisB ronson,T heT raditionTaul neso f theC hildB allads4, vols (PrincetonP: rinceton
UniversityP ress,1 959-72).
41 Bronson,T raditionTaul nesI,V , 523.
42 Bronson,T raditionTaul nesI,V , 388.
43 Bronson,T raditionTaul nesI,V , 71.
44 See 'Forty Thousand Miles in Quest of Ballads', unpublished typescript, AFC 1972/001, Folder 161 (Box 7, Packet 2E); on Microfilm Reel 9. It should be noted that Duncan is a common surname in Scotland and that Bell Duncan was apparently no relation to Reverend James B. Duncan.
45 Interview, and 'Forty T ousand M les i Quest of Ballads'.
46 'British and American T raditional Ballads'.
47 The text is from AFC 1972/001, Folder 98 (Box 4R); on Microfilm Reel 6, the tune from Folder 120 (Box 5, Packet 1U); o n Microfilm Reel 7, and there is a recording on AFS Disc 14,971 (Carpenter Disc No. 282).
48 Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, IV , 155.
49 The texti s fromA FC1 972/001F, older9 7 (Box4 Q);o n MicrofilmR eel 6, the tunef romF older
120 (Box 5, Packet1 U); on MicrofilmR eel 7, andt herea res oundr ecordingosn AFSD iscs1 4,972,
14,973,1 4,975( CarpenteDr isc Nos. 283, 286, 289).
50 'Britisha ndA mericanT raditionaFlo lkM aterial'.
51 AncienBt alladasn dS ongso f theN ortho f Scotlandh,i thertuon publishewdi,t he xplanatonroyt es2, vols
(Edinburgh1,8 28),I , 200;r eprintedin Child,T heE nglishan dS cottisPho pulaBra lladsI,V , 435-47.
52 TheG reig-DuncFano lkS ongC ollectioVn,o lume2 , ed. by PatrickS huldham-Shaawn dE milyB .
Lyle( AberdeenA:b erdeenU niversitPy ressin associatiown itht he Schoolo f ScottishS tudiesU, niversity
of Edinburgh1),9 83,p p.4 1-43.
53 The text of Mrs Kidd's version is here taken from AFC 1972/001, Folder 97 (Box 4Q); on
MicrofilmR eel 6, the tunef romF older1 20 (Box5 , Packet1 U);o n MicrofilmR eel 7, andt herei s a
recordingo n AFSD isc 14,854( CarpenteDr isc No. 50). A secondt unet ranscriptiofonr 'TheW ifeo f
Usher'sW ell',w ith no indicationo f singeri,s foundi n the samel ocationa s MrsK idd'st une,a lthough
the two tunesa re distinctt;h erei s a correspondintgex t transcriptio(ntw o stanzaos nly)i n Folder5 0
(Box2 , Packet2 G);o n MicrofilmR eel 4, but no sourceg iven,a ndt hisi s not founda gaina mongt he
textsi n Folders8 1-99 (Box 4); on MicrofilmR eel 6. The text andt une of MrsK idd'sv ersiona nd
thoseo f the secondv ersionh aveb een collateda ndp ublishedin EverymanB'so oko f BritishB alladse,d .
by Roy Palmer( LondonD: ent, 1980),4 4-47.
54 Bronson,T raditionTaul nesI,I , 246.
55 Child,E nglishan dS cottisPho pulaBra lladsI,I , 238-39.
56 Interview.
57 The only resemblancweh ichI haveb een ablet o find is an echo of MrsK idd'sf inalp hrasein a
versions ungb y MrsJ aneG entryH, ot SpringsN, orth Carolina2, 4 August1 916, collectedb y Cecil
Sharp( seeB ronson,T raditionTaul nesI,I , 262).
58 Cf Ian Olson,' ScottishS ong in the JamesM adisonC arpenteCr ollectioni'n this issueo f Folk
MusiJco urnal.
59 Cf IanO lson,' ScottishS ongi n theJ amesM adisonC arpenteCr ollectiona' ndD avidA tkinson,
'The ChildB alladfsr omE nglanda ndW alesi n theJ amesM adisonC arpenteCr ollection'i,n thisi ssue
of Folk MusicJournal.
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470 JULIA C. BISHOP
60 The recordingbsy Hendersonar ed epositedin the SoundA rchiveo f the Schoolo f ScottishS tudies,
Universityo f Edinburgh.
61 Carpentert'us net ranscriptioisn i n AFC 1972/001F, older1 07 (Box5 , Packet1 H);o n Microfilm
Reel 7, andt her ecordinigs on AFSD isc 14,855( CarpenteDri scN o. 52), track4 . The versionc ollected
by Duncani s entided' The Tentso ' Foundlan"s,u ngb y IsaacT roup,p ublishedin TheG reig-Duncan
FolkS ongC ollectioVno, lume6 , ed. by PatrickS huldham-ShaEwm, ilyB . Lylea ndE laineP etrie( Edinburgh:
M ercatP ressf or the Universityo f Aberdeenin associatiown ith the Schoolo f ScottishS tudies,
Universityo f Edinburgh1,9 95),p . 75.
62 BronsonT, raditionTaul nesI,I I,4 12. Indeedt,h er esemblancisep articularsltyr ikinbge tweenT roup's
versiona ndt he firsth alfo f thatb y MrsL yalli n GroupA b (see TheG reig-DuncaFno lkS ongC ollection,
VI, 74).
63 AFC1 972/001F, older1 00 (Box5 , Packet1 A);o n MicrofilmR eel 7; thesew ordsa res ubstantially
the samea s they appearin the text transcriptioinns Folder5 3 (Box 2, Folder2 J);o n MicrofilmR eel
4, andF older6 8 (Box3 B);o n MicrofilmR eel 5.
64 'The Bailiff'sD aughter's, ung by AlexanderR obb, publishedin The Greig-DuncaFno lkS ong
CollectioVno, lume1 , ed. by PatrickS huldham-Shaawn dE milyB . Lyle( AberdeenA:b erdeenU niversity
Pressf or the Universityo f Aberdeenin associatiown ith the Schoolo f ScottishS tudiesU, niversityo f
Edinburgh1,9 81),p . 437.
65 Interview.
66 The text asf oundi n AFC 1972/001F, older9 3 (Box4 M);o n MicrofilmR eel 6, is reproduceidn
full in Atkinson',T he ChildB alladfsr omE nglanda ndW ales';it cana lsob e foundi n Folder4 8 (Box
2, Packet2 E);o n MicrofilmR eel 4.
67 The tune is takenf romA FC 1972/001,F older1 16 (Box 5, Packet1 Q); on MicrofilmR eel 7
(witht wo errorsin Carpentert'ism e signaturceh anges ilentlyc orrected)a,n dt herei s a recordingo n
AFSD isc 14,987( CarpenteDri sc No. 314)b y 'Singern earB amptonw' homo ne takest o be Titchener
sincet heb alladti tlei s listedb y Carpentewr ithh isd istinctivoep ening', RagamanJ,a gamanst, aya while'.
68 See, for example,' The SycamoreT ree', sungb y MrsR uth SimmonsJ, acksonvilleF,l oridai,n
Bronson, TraditionaTl unes,I I, 454.
69 Bronson,T raditionaTl unes,I I, 448-75.