US & Canada Versions: 75. Lord Lovel
[Lord Lovel is well-known in the United States and has been barely collected in Canada. Of the 148 versions from North America in my collection only three are from Canada and two are a composite (Creighton). Several print versions are included and three parodies. Well over 200 tradtio0nal version were collected in North America but because they were similar or nearly identical to other versions in the collection-- the texts were not supplied or only the name of the bells (church) and the name of the Lord Lovel's lover was given if different from Child H, a standard print version (see Belden, Brown, Davis, Smith, and others). Davis, for example, gives 15 of the 37 versions form the Virginia Collection-- none of which are from the earlier and older ballad tradition found in child A-E, G and Walpole's 1740 version given to Percy. The ballad in American dates back to c.1780 in Brown E through family lines (fragment) and a full version MS is dated 1812 from Missouri (from Child H tradition).
The 5-line "comic" version was very popular in the 1800s and early 1900s from New England to the Southern Appalachians. The comic form appeared in the US in the early 1800s (1812 being the earliest collected) and was printed in the 1830s. This is the tradition of Child H but is found earlier in tradition and print in the US than the 1846 English broadside published by James Dixon (Child H a). Because of the similarity of the traditional and print versions, the "comic" ballad was not actively sought by collectors (Barry Thompson) and many collections printed one or two versions and listed the rest. Many of the listed versions give the name of the church and church bells (Belden; Brown etc.) the rest of ballad is the standard "comic" form.
According to Barry, "The earliest known printed copy of "Lord Lovel" is in The New England Songster, Portsmouth, NH, Nathaniel March and Co., 1832, pp. 86-88." The version in Hadaway's Select Songster (1840) can be viewed online. Below is a broadside printed c. 1853 in NY.
The printer John Andrews was located at 38 Chatham Street in New York from 1853 to 1859.
Some of the songster/print versions of Lord Lovel or parodies include: The New England Songster, Portsmouth, NH, Nathaniel March and Co., 1832, pp. 86-88; Every-body's Songster, (Cleveland) 1839; Hadaway's Select Songster- 1840 (also includes parody Sukey Soap Suds); The Guiding Star Songster- 1865; The Humming Bird Songster - 1858; Hutchinson's Republican songster, for the campaign of 1860 (parody) - 1860; The Wide World Songster - (parody) 1863; The 1863 Beadle's Dime Song Book, No. 10 (also other Beadle song books); The Pocket Songster; The American College Songster (parody) 1876. A sheet music copy was printed in Baltimore (Cazden) in 1835 and the ballad was first parodied in Hadaway's Select Songster as "Sukey Soap Suds" in 1840.
Young Lovell is a comic character and appears in various songsters in "The Mistletoe Bough." The name Lovel appears in other comic songs. A parody appears in Songs of Ireland and other lands- 1847 titled, "A Cure for the Nightmare." Barry (BBM, 1929) says, "It was frequently printed, was sung by everyone, and the texts neither vary much, nor show any special problems."
Barry's (BBM) and Cazden's (FSCatskills) extensive notes are found at the bottom of this page. It's clear that there are two versions of this ballad found in North America; the "comic" version (similar to Child H) and rarely, the older versions (similar to Child A and the Walpole version dated 1740).
Assertions by collectors that US and Canada versions are based in Child H are incorrect. The same ballad (in standard broadside 5 line comic form), as taken from tradition, predates Child version H in North America by at least 50 years. The version dated 1812 (Belden) was recovered in Missouri and other traditional versions (Virginia, Mississippi, Maine, Massachusetts) predate the 1846 broadside through family lines. The same or similar "comic" text was printed in The New England Songster, Portsmouth, NH, Nathaniel March and Co., 1832, pp. 86-88 and Every-body's Songster, Cleveland, Ohio in 1836-- years before Child H. The 1846 English broadside, therefore, is similar to American versions but they are not based on Child H. The "comic" tradition, I assume, dates back to the late 1700s.
This is not to say that print versions did not influence the ballad before the Civil War. It's nearly impossible to divorce the traditional from the print since they are nearly identical. The version sung by James Howard (1836) and published in Hadaway's was also spread by Howard's live performances. In February 1860 Sam Cowell, his wife and family returned to New York after his very successful music hall performances in Britain. The major part of the tour then began in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, and included stops in Cleveland, Cincinnati, Detroit, Chicago, but also in the south in Atlanta, Louisville, and Nashville [British Music Hall: An Illustrated History, p. 9; Baker]. Lord Lovel was one of Cowell's most popular songs and it was instructed to be sung, "Mock Pathetic," as in Davidson's Universal Melodist (1847). Because the ballad was widely performed, printed and parodied, collectors like Phillips Barry did not seek out versions of the ballad (BBM, 1929), since everybody sang the ballad and he could not tell if they were based on print.
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According to John C. French (North Pennsylvania Minstrelsy by Shoemaker; 1919 which has this line, "Lady Nancy was buried on the salt sea sand,"): "The phrase, 'salt sea sand,' I believe, reverts to an ancient practice of covering the coffin with a few feet of clean, white sand, and in some English towns, filling the graves with it, rounding off the graves with the white sand in which vegetation did not grow for a few years, except in flower pots. The quire or quirer was the burial vault beneath the entrance steps or portal of the church or choirgallery."
Choir and "quire" are both used interchangeably and in versions of the ballad the spelling is "choir" -- found in some versions as "buried her in the choir." This ending in found in both Child 74 (Fair Margaret) and Child 84 (Barbara Allen) and is also found less frequently in other ballads (Child 73, for example).
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Not all the US versions are of the tradition that became the comic form exemplified by Child H. There are 5 rare versions of the older ballad similar to Child A-E, G and the 1740 Walpole version. These versions may be recognized in part by the "That's too long" stanza that follows the "I'll be back in a year or two or three at most," stanza. Only three of the versions are complete. Versions from the US are:
1) Cox B; "Lord Leven" communicated by Mrs. Hilary G. Richardson, Clarksburg, Harrison County, who obtained it from Mrs. Nancy McDonald McAtee.
2) Brown A. "Lord Lovinder.' Circa 1900 from the John Bell Henneman collection, from North Carolina.
3) Barry; "Lord Lavel" date 1906, from Bulletin of the Folksong Society of the Northeast; Vol. 1, 1930.
4) Barry D; 3 stanza fragment from BBM, 1929.
5) Brown D; one stanza fragment from "Aunt Nancy Coffey, who lived in the Grandfather section of Caldwell" which has the "how long" stanza.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
CONTENTS: (To view individual ballads click on highlighted title below or on the title attached to this page on the left hand column)
1) Lord Lovel- Farthing (NC) c.1780 Brown E -- From the Brown Collection of NC Folklore; Vol. 2, 1953. Another text of Mrs. Sutton's finding, sung this time by Mrs. Farthing of Beech Creek, Watauga county, who traced it back as a family memory to Revolutionary times.
2) Lady Nancy Bell- Ashby (MO) 1812 Belden B -- From: Old-Country Ballads in Missouri II by H. M. Belden; The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 19, No. 75 (Oct. - Dec., 1906), pp. 281-299. Listed in Ballads and Songs 1940. From James Ashby's MS. ballad-book, where it is dated January 26, 1812.
3) Lord Lovel- Davidson (MO) c.1827 Randolph A -- From Vance Randolph; Ozark Folksongs Vol. 1; 1946. Sung by Miss Esther Davidson, Rocky Comfort, Mo., Feb. 3, 1927. Mrs. E. McAllister, Springfield, Mo., has an almost identical text which was brought from Scotland by her great-grandparents, and has been in her family for more than two hundred years. The date seems to be a guess but I'll leave it.
4) Lord Lovell- Hays (WV) c.1830 Cox -- From: Traditional Ballads & Folk Songs Mainly from West Virginia- John Harrington Cox- 1939 Edited by George Herzog and Herbert Halpert 1939 and George Boswell, 1964. The date is earlier by three generation making it circa 1830s. According to a 1860 Census record, Zacquill Morgan was born 1832 and married Elizabeth, she is apparently the source of this ballad, her family was from Pennsylvania.
5) The Ballad of Lord Lovel- (NE) 1830 Johnson -- From "What They Say in New England; a book of signs, sayings, and superstitions" by Clifton Johnson, 1897.
6) Lord Lovel & Nancy Bell- (OH) 1839 Barry C (print) -- From Every-body's Songster. Printed and published by Sanford and Lott, Cleveland, 1839; pages 52-54. Reprinted in British Ballad from Maine; 1929; Barry, Smyth, and Eckstorm.
7) Lord Lovel- Hadaway's Select Songster (PA) 1840 (print)
8) Sukey Soap Suds- Hadaway (NY) 1840 (Parody) (print)
9) Lord Lovel- Rogers/Luellen (NH-PA)1845 Flanders D
10) Lord Lovell- Craigue (VT) 1845 Flanders K
Lord Lovel- Kagey (VA) 1849 Davis H
Lord Lovel- Fish (NH-VT) c1850 Flanders C
Lord Lovel- (NY) c.1853 J. Andrews Broadside (print)
Lord Lovel- Mason (NE) 1863 Pound A
The New Ballad of Lord Lovel- Moore 1864 (Parody) [print)
Lord Lovel- Kneeland (ME) c1864 Flanders E
Lord Lovel- Bailey (VA) 1868 Davis L
Lord Lover- Carr (ME) c1868 Barry A
Lord Lovel- Carpenter (RI) 1872 Flanders B
Lord Lover- Griffin (GA-FL) pre1877 Morris A
General Farragut- Keeley (MO) 1880 Belden (parody)
Lord Lovel- Moore (ME) 1881 Flanders I
Lord Lovel- Bundy(WS) c1892 Stratman-Thomas REC
Lord Lovel- a lady (MA) 1896 Child Hc
Lord Lovell- McDowell (TN ) c.1897 McDowell
Lord Lovel- Stevenson (TN) c1900 McNeil II
Lord Lovinder- Henneman (NC) c.1900 Brown A
Lord Lovel and Lady Nancy- Williams (MO) 1903
Lord Lovell and Lady Ounceabel- Hayes (MA) 1904
Lord Lovell- I. L. M. (NJ) pre1905 Barry A JOAFL
Lord Lovell- M. L. S. (RI) pre1905 Barry B JOAFL
Lord Lovell- Graves (CT) pre1905 Barry A2 JOAFL
Lord Lavell- Ravior (NJ) 1906 Barry BFSSNE
Lord Lovell- Carnes (TN ) c.1906 Anderson A
Lord Lover- Welsh (ME) 1907 Barry D
Lord Lovel- Williams (MO) 1907 Belden C
Lord Lovel- Flint (RI) 1909 Barry MS
Lord Lovel- Haskell (MO) 1910 Belden (Parody)
Lord Lovel- Sykes (NJ) c1910 Barry MS
Lord Lovel- Dehon (SC) 1913; Sandburg 1927
Lord Lovel & Lady Nancy Bell- (VA) 1913 Davis K
Lord Lover- Gear (WY) 1914 Pound B
Lord Lovel- Ewell (VA) 1914 Davis C
Lord Lovel- Eubank (VA) 1914 Davis D
Lord Lovel- Christian (VA) 1914 Davis E
Lord Lovel- Dickson (VA) 1914 Davis G
Lord Lovel- Graham (SC) 1914 Smith D
Lord Lovel- Satterfield (WV) 1915 Cox A
Lord Leven- Richardson (WV) 1915 Cox B
Lord Lovel- Stringfellow (VA) 1915 Davis J
Lord Lovel- Groves (WV) 1915 Cox C
Lord Lovel- Hanford (OH) 1915 Brown I/ Eddy D
Lord Lovel- Niles (KY) c.1915 Niles
Lord Lovel- Sands (NC) 1916 Sharp A
Lord Lovel- Brower (NC) 1916 Brown C
Lord Lovel- (KY) c.1914 McGill
Abe Lincoln Stood- Cummings (VA) 1917 Davis App
Lord Lovel- Martin (VA) 1917 Davis A
Lord Lovel- Bell (VA) 1917 Davis O
Lord Lovel- Henry (KY) 1917 Sharp C
Lord Lovel- Fitzgerald (VA) 1918 Sharp B
Lord Lover- Boone (NC) 1918 Sharp E
Lord Lovel- Somers (VA) 1918 Davis I
Lord Lovel- Roberts (VA) 1918 Sharp D
Lord Lovel- (KY) c1918 Sharp/Farnsworth; Pine Mt.
Lord Lovel- Roberts (VA) 1919 Davis B
Lord Lovel- (PA) pre1919; Shoemaker
Lord Lovel & Lady Nancy- Wintemberg (ON) 1919
Lord Loven- Coffey (NC) c.1920 Sutton/ Brown D
Lord Lovel- Robertson (VA) 1921 Davis F
Lord Lovel- Doughty (VA) 1921 Davis N
Lord Lovel- Saunders (VA) 1921 Davis M
Lord Lovel- Ross (OH) 1922 JAFL Eddy A
Lord Lovel & Lady Nancy- Nichols (NC) 1923 Brown B
Lord Lovel- Bullard (MO) 1925 Randolph B
Lord Lover- DeCoster (ME) 1925 Barry B
Lord Lovel- Busbee (NC) pre1925 Scarborough
Lord Lovell- Hardaman (WV) 1926 Cox 8b
In Search of Silver & Gold- Hamilton (NY) 1928 Czd
Milk White Steed- Galt (KY) c.1928 Gordon
Lord Lovel- Carter (VA) 1930 Wilkinson B/ Davis AA
Lord Lovel- Farnham (VT) 1930 Flanders M
Lord Lovel- Smith (VA) 1931 Davis BB
Lord Lovell- Setter (KY) 1932 Thomas
Lord Lovell- Pierce (VT) pre1932 Flanders L
Lord Lovell- Havens (VT) 1932 Flanders G
Lord Lovell- Callahan (NC) c. 1932 Scarborough B
Lord Lovel- Ingersoll (NY) c.1932 Scarborough C
Lord Lovel- Tillett (NC) pre1933 Chappell
Lord Lovell- Purcell (VA) 1934 Davis CC
Lord Lovel- Muchler (MI) 1934 Gardner A-C
Lord Lovell- Montgomery (IN) 1935 Brewster A
Lord Lovell- Roberts (KY) 1935 Brewster C
Lord Lovel- Munson (IN) 1935 Brewster D
Lord Lovell- McGregor (IN) 1935 Brewster F
Lord Lovel- Gant family (TX) 1935 Lomax
Lord Lovel- Wilkin (IN) 1935 Brewster G
Lord Lovell- Porter (NY-VT) 1935 Flanders F
Lord Lovell- Smith (KY-FL) 1935 Morris B
Lord Lovell- Huffman (IN) 1936 Brewster B
Lord Lovel- Baynes (IN) 1936 Brewster E
Lord Lovel- Bancroft (MD) pre1936 Scarborough A
Lord Lovel- Abbot (VA) 1936 Wilkinson A
Lord Lovel- Ball (VA) 1936 Wilkinson C
Lord Lovel- Long (MS) pre1936 Hudson
Lady Nancy- Havens (TN) 1936 Anderson B
Lord Lovel- McCauley (TN-NC) 1937 Kirkland A & B
Lord Lovel- (TN) 1937 Campbell/Bronson 19
Lord Lovel- J. Linscott (ME) pre1939 E. Linscott
Lord Lovell- Martin (MO) pre1939 McDonald
Lord Lovel- Sefton (OH) pre1939 Eddy B
Lord Lovell- Housley (OH) 1939 Eddy C
Lord Lovell- Sneary (OH) pre1939 Eddy E
Nancy Bell & Lord Lover- Topper (OH) 1939 Eddy F
Lord Lovel- (NC) c.1939 Brown H, vol. 4
Lord Lovel- Kuykendall (NC) 1939 Brown F
Lord Lovel- Miller (NC) c.1939 Brown 4C
Lord Lovel- Bostic (NC) 1939 Brown 4C1
Lord Lovel- (NY) pre1939 Thompson
Lord Lovel- Hicks (NC) 1940 Brown J
Lord Lovall- Tucker (MD) pre1940 Carey
Lord Lovel- Richards (NH) 1943 Flanders H
Lord Lovel- Benedict (NY) pre1944 Cutting
Lord Lovel- Lowrimore (CA) 1945
Lord Lovel- Britton (VT) 1945 Flanders J
Lord Lovel- Henshaw/Pillans (AL) 1945 Arnold
Lord Lovel- (MD) pre1945 Abrams Var. 1
Lord Lovel- Steele (UT) 1947 Hubbard B
Lord Lovel- Gregg (TX) 1949 Wycoco-Moore
Lord Lovel- Williams/Grant (NS) 1950 Creighton
Lord Lovel- Cannon (UT) 1950 Hubbard A
Lord Lovell- Hughes (GA-FL) pre1950 Morris C
Lord Lovel- Lipscomb (TN) c.1951; Boswell
Lord Lovell- Taylor (MA) 1951 Flanders A
Lord Lovel- Guthrie (TX-AR) 1952 Wolf REC
Lord Lovel & Lady Nancy- Sturgill (KY) 1957 REC
Lord Lovel- Brewer (AR) 1958 Parler REC
Lord Lovel- Beam (KY) 1960 Roberts
Lord Lovel- McKeithan (NC) 1961 Hudson/Joyner
Lord Lovel- Ritchie (KY) 1961 REC
Lord Lovel- Proffitt (NC) pre1962 Warner/Patton
Lord Lovel & Lady Nanca Bell- Daley (OK-TX) 1964
Lord Lover- Gilbert (AR) 1969 Max Hunter REC
Lord Lovel- Jimmy Driftwood (AR) 1969 Max Hunter
Lord Lovell- Karickhoff (WV) pre1971 Boette
Lord Lovel- Gainer (WV) pre1975 Gainer
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[Notes from Ballads and Songs; Belden, 1940.]
Lord Lovel
(Child 75)
Practically all the American texts belong to the tradition of Child H, a London broadside. It is not infrequent in stall print and in songbooks, and its popularity is evidenced by the fact that it was parodied for political purposes, on both sides, in the Civil War-see below. The rose and brier ending is an almost unfailing feature in modern texts, tho it is lacking in three of Child's
versions, C D G. The name of the church in the English broadside, St. Pancras, appears to have sounded strange in American ears, and has undergone various changes: St. Pancreas, St. Pancridge, St. Patrick, St. Pauthry, St. Varnie, St. Vincent, St. Rebecca, so that one may suspect a rather close relation to print where the original name is retained, as it is in Missouri D and two of the texts in TBV.
Texts have been reported. since Child's time from Aberdeenshire (LL 57-8), Wiltshire (FSUT 145-6), Essex (JEFDSS I 134), Kent (JFSS VI 31-2), and from Irish immigrants to America (BFSSNE I 4-5). On this side of the Atlantic I do not find it reported from Canada or Newfoundland., but it is known in Maine (BBM 139-49, with valuable notes), Vermont (VFSB 215-6), Nantucket (JAFL XVIII 291-2, by way of New Jersey), Connecticut (JAFL XVIII 292, by way of New Jersey), Rhode Island (JAFL XVIII 293), New York (SCSM 102, FLSH 203-4), Pennsylvania (JAFL XXXV 342, NPM 140-1), Maryland. (SCSM 99-100), Virginia (TBV 240-58, SharpK I 747-8, 149, SFI-JQ II 70), West Virginia (FSS 78-82), Kentucky (FSKM 9-13, SharpK I 148), Tennessee (SFLQ II 69), North Carolina (SharpK T 146-7, 749, TNFS 55-6, SCSM 101-2, SFLQ II 70), South Carolina (SCB 721-4), Mississippi (FSM 90-1), the Ozarks (OMF 193-5), Ohio (JAFL XXXV 343), Indiana (JAFL XLVIII 303-5), Illinois (ABS 4-6, by way of Nebraska), Michigan (KNR 301), and Wyoming (ABS 6-7).
Six copies have come into the Missouri collection, but they are so nearly alike that it seems sufficient to give the text of one.
A. Secured by Miss Williams in Clinton County in 1903, and printed in JAFL XIX 283-4. No mention of church bells.
B. From the MS ballad-book of James Ashby of Mound City, Holt County, compiled in Civil War times or not long thereafter and secured for me by Miss Lois Welty in 1907. Printed in JAFL XIX 284-5. 'St. Patrick's bells.'
C. One of the many ballads secured thru Mr. C. H. Williams from his brother George of Bollinger County, in 1907. 'St. Varnie's bell.'
D. 'Lord Lovel.' Secured by Mr. D. Stewart of Chillicothe in 190? from G. B. Sherman of Grundy county. This text has 'St. Pancras' bell.'
E. 'Lord Lovel.' Communicated in 1910 by Professor G. C. Broadhead of Columbia as one of the songs he had known for more than fifty years. St. Pancridge's bells.'
F. 'Lord Lovel.' Sent to me in 1912 by Miss Frances Yeater of Sedalia, Pettis County. 'St. Vincent's bell.'
G. The collection has two fragmentary texts of a Civil War parody of Lord, Lovel satirizing Mansfield Lovell, the Confederate offficer who failed to defend New Orleans against Farragut in 1862. It was printed in the New Orleans Delta at the time as 'The New Ballad of Lord Lovell.' Cox lists it in FSS 78 but gives no text of it. In TBWV 28, however, he prints a text of two eight-line
stanzas from a man in Pennsylvania who learned it in New Orleans. The ballad was parodied also to satirize Lincoln; see TBV 258-9.
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[Notes by Reed Smith: South Carolina Ballads]
LORD LOVEL
(Child, No. 75)
This ballad is very common all through the South, sharing honors in this respect with "Barbara Allen," "The Hangman's Tree," "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight," and "Lord Thomas and Fair Elinor." It is also found widely in New England, where Mr. Phillips Barry reports finding six melodies. It is likewise reported from many places in the West.
Its popularity in America, however, like that of "Barbara Allen," can not be traced entirely to oral tradition. "Lord Lovel" was printed in American song-books five times between 1836 and 1865, besides being issued several times in broadside form. For specific references, see Cox's head-note, p.78, where are also listed other American texts, including comic and satirical
variants, and parodies; and see also A. H. Tolman, J. A. F. L., vol. xxix, p. 160, and note. There are five American manuscript texts among the Child manuscripts in Harvard University, in addition to the ten versions which are printed in Child's collection.
The tune published in Sharp is the same as that reproduced below. In regard to it, Sharp remarks: "I do not know of any publication in which the tune of this ballad is published." He speaks of having collected six versions in England but only one complete set of words. It would seem fairly certain that "Lord Lovel" is today much commoner in the United States than in Great Britain, as is also true of "Barbara Allen" and "The Hangman's Tree." It has a wide currency in South Carolina and elsewhere as a nursery song.
"Lord Lovel," by the way, clearly shows how necessary it is to deal with ballads as songs and not merely as poems. The text of "Lord Lovel" is sad and mournful. The tune, however, is lilting and rollicking, and with the triple repetition of the last word of the fourth line, turns the tear into a smile. The difference between reading it as a poem and singing it as a song is the difference between tragedy and comedy.
"Lord Lovel" is one of an interesting group of ballads which are usually classed together on account of similarities of plot, structure, and tone. The others are "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor," "Fair Margaret and Sweet William," "Lady Alice or Giles Collins," and "Bonny Barbara Allen." All unfold a love story of man and maid, and all end tragically.
A. and B. Version A and B are the same (lacking one stanza). See 1913 Dehon also published by Sandburg in 1927.
C. "Lord Lovel." Communicated by W. R. Dehon, of Summerville, S. C., in 1913. Same as variant A except that stanza seven of A is lacking.
D. "Lord Lovel." Submitted by Miss Ada Taylor Graham, of Columbia, S. C., December 28, 1914. (Stanzas 1-5 same as in A)
E. "Lord Lovel." communicated by Miss Belle Turner, of Richland County, S. C., in 1913. A variant of ten stanzas.
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[Notes by Vance Randolph; Ozark Folksongs Vol. 1; 1946.]
See also Scarborough (On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs, 1925, p. 55), Sandburg (American Songbag, 1927, p. 70), Reed Smith (South Carolina Ballad. 1928, p. 121), Shay (Drawn from the Wood, 1929, p. 134), Davis (Traditional Ballads of Virginia, 1929, p. 240), Tarkana (Southern Folklore Quarterly 2, 1938, p. 69), Chappell (Folk-Songs of Roanoke and the Albemarle, 1939,pp.
27-28), Eddy (Ballads and Songs from Ohio, 1939, pp.39-as), Gardner (Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan, 1939, pp.43-45), Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England, 1939, p. 233), Belden (Ballad's and Songs, 1940, pp. 52-54), Brewster (Ballads and Songs of Indiana, 1940, pp. 79-91), Morris (Southern Folklore Quarterly 8, 1944, p. 150), the Brown North Carolina Folk-lore Society) collection, where it appears as "Lady Nancibel," etc., and also the references in JAFL (29, 1916, p. 160, n. 1).
The popularity of this piece made it a great favorite with the parodists; see Tony Pastor's New Union Song Book (New York, 1862, p. 66) and Frank Moore's Songs of the Soldiers (New York, 1864, p- 17$. R. G. White's Poetry of the Civil War (New York, 1866, p. 115) contains a satirical song beginning "Lord Lovell he sat in the St. Charles hotel"- a reference to General Mansfield Lovell, who commanded the Confederate troops in New Orleans. A parody in which Abraham Lincoln figured was once very popular in the South (Allan's Lone Star Ballads, Galveston, Texas, 1874, p. 31), and there is a good modern take-off in Carolyn Wells' parody Anthology (New York, 1904, p. 326).
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[From Bulletin of the Folksong Society of the Northeast; Vol. 1, 1930. One of the few versions of the older ballad found in Child A-E and G.]
LORD LAVELL
We have here a version of the ballad very close to the original text which in the 1830's was turned into a comic stage song.
Ihe ballad at its best has little plot, and the balance between humor and pathos is unstable, but the mood of the Irish tradition has alwavs been serious. Irish versions accordingly, should always be taken down.
"An Irishman", said Mrs. Ravior, "always feels that going to England is to take a long journey to a foreign country."
1 Lord Lavell he stood at his own stable door,
Coming down his milk-white steed,
When along came Lady Anciebel,
Wishing Lord Lavell great speed.
2. "Where are you going, Lord Lavell?" she says,
"'Where are you going from me?"
"I am going to England, fair lady," he says,
Strange countries for to go see."
3. "Oh, when will you return, Lord Lavell," she says,
"Oh, when will you return unto me?"
"In the space of three years, fair lady," he says,
"It's then I'll return unto thee."
4. "Oh, that is too long, Lord Lavell," she says,
"Oh, that is too long for me!"
Oh, that is too long for a courteous young lady
To wait on your fair body!"
5. Lord Lavell, he rode a mile out of town,
O scarcely a mile or three,
When some anguishing thought came into his heart,
Lady Anciebel for to go see.
6. Lord Lavell he rode to his own father's gate,
And from that to his own father's hall;
There he heard the chapel bell ringing,
And the ladies in rnourning all.
7. And 'twas there then he asked who was dead,
And they answered, "Lady Anciebel;
She died for the sake of a courteous young lad,
And his name it was Lord Lavell."
8. Then he ordered the coffin to be opened,
And the sheets to be folded sown,
And there he Kissed her cold, cold lips,
And the tears they came trinckling down.
8. "It's often and often I've kissed your ruby lips,
And you have often kissed mine;
It's often and often I've kissed your ruby lips,
But we never shall kiss after dyin'!"
9. Lady Anciebel she died to-day,
And Lord Lavell supposin' to-morrow;
. . .
. . .
11. Lady Anciebel was buried in the old churchyard,
And Lord Lavell in the old church square;
Out of Lady Anciebel there grew a red rose,
And out of Lord Lavell a briar.
12. There they grew and there they twined,
Until they could grow no higher,
There they casted a true lover's knot,
And there they remain forever.
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Lord Lovel (Child 75) [Notes from Flanders' Ancient Ballads by Coffin]
Phillips Barry in British Ballads from Maine, 145-47, gives a good history of this song, telling of its popularity among the nineteenth-century printers and the many uses it served for political parody and music hall gaiety. The American versions which are known wherever ballads are sung almost all stem from the same tradition as Child H, an 1846 London broadside. American printers reproduced texts from this tradition throughout the period between the Mexican and Civil Wars. The Flanders versions are in no way exceptional and are much what one would expect to find. As with texts from other areas, the original name of the church, St. Pancras (see E), has undergone radical modification, but all in all proximity to print has held variation to a minimum. The tune to "Lord Lovel" is also consistent. In South Carolina Ballads (Cambridge, Mass., 1928), 121, Reed Smith comments that "the difference between reading [Lord Lovel] as a poem and singing it is the difference between tragedy and comedy." The use of a tune that is too light for the story no doubt accounts for the tact that parodies have turned up in Maine, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Missouri, among other places, in this country (see Coffin, 79, for a bibliography) and in Scotland (see Greig and Keith, 57) abroad. Bibliographical references can be had in Coffin, 78-79 (American); Dean-Smith, 85 (English); and Greig and Keith, 57-58 (Scottish).
The five tunes given here are related, four of them very closely. Only the Fish tune diverges. In order to save repetition of references, the related tunes for the group consisting of the Grindell, Moore, Britton, and Pierce. Tunes are given here: SAA,20; SSC, 122; Sharp , 149 (C), 149 (D and E), 116 (distant), and 147 (distant); AA, 124; DV,524, No. 20 (E, L, and O); EO, 39, 40; BES, 139 (not too close); BI, 92. obviously this tune group is very widespread and its correlation with the Child 75 text is great.
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[From: British Ballads from Maine; 1929. Barry, Eckstorm, Smyth.]
From a manuscript book compiled at least twenty-five years ago (around 1900) by Mrs. Susie Carr Young(b. 1862- d. 1933) of Brewer to preserve the old songs sung by her grandmother, mother, and others of the family.
I assume and Barry alludes that Mrs. Young says learned this song (at least sixty years before 1929) from her Grandmother Carr, the wife of Hugh Hill Carr (b.1790) of Bucksport, who was born Mary Soper (b.1791) of Orland, where the Sopers were very early settlers (Joseph Soper, from Boston 1654, thought to be the son of John Soper and Elizabeth Rhodes married in 1624 in London). It has without doubt been a long time traditional in that family, and Mrs. Young thinks the first emigrants of some branch in the ancestry brought it to this country with them.
"Lord Lovel." Written down by Susie Carr Young as the form traditional in her family for many generations. Certainly sung by her grandmother, Carr, born in 1793.
Lord Lovel he stood at St. Pancras' gate
A-combing his milk-white steed,
When up stepp'd Lady Nancy Belle
And bidding her lover Good spe-ed, speed, spe-ed,
And bidding her lover Good speed.
"Oh! where are you going, Lord Lovel," she said,
tt0h!where are you going?" said she,
"I go, my Lady Nancy Belle,
Strange countries for to see-e, see, see-e,
Strange countries for to see."
"Oh! when'll you be back, Lord Lovel?" she said,
"Oh! when'll you be back?" said she,
"In a year or two or three at the most,
I'll return to my Fa-ir Nan-cy, cy, cy-y,
I'll return to my Fair Nancy."
4 He had not been gone a Year and a day
Strange coun-tri-es for to see,
When"languishing thoughts came into his head:
Lady Belle he must go and see-e, see, see-e,
Lady Belle he must go and see.
5 So he rode and he rode on his milk-white horse
'Til he came to London town;
And there he heard' St. Pancras' bells
And the people all mourning round, round, round-
And the people all mourning round'
6 "Oh ! what is the matter ?" Lord Lovel he said,
"Oh ! what is the matter?" said he;
"They say that a Lord's Fair Lady is dead
And some call her Lady Nan-cy-y cy, cy-y-
And some call her Lady Nancy."
7 So he ordered the grave to be opened wide
And the shroud to be turned down,
And there he kiss'd her clay-cold corpse
Till the tears c&me flowing dow-own, down, dow-own,
Till the tears came flowing down.
8 Lady Nancy died, as it might be today;
Lord Lovel he died tomorrow;
Lady Nancy she died out of pure, pure grief,
Lord Lovel he died out of sor-row, row, ror-row,
Lord Lovel he died out of sorrow.
9 Lady Nancy was laid in St. Pancras' church,
Lord Lovel was laid in the Choir;
And out of her bosom there grew a red rose
And out of Lord Lovel's a bri-er, ri, rir-
And out of Lord Lovelts a brier.
10. And they grew and they grew to the Church steeple's top
And then they could grow no higher;
So there they entwined in a truelover's knot
For all truelovers to ad-mire, mi, mi-i-ire
For all truelovers to admire.
We have made no effort to obtain copies of "Lord. Lovel," sometimes declining to take them down, if time was short, and anything of more value seemed possible to obtain. It was frequently printed, was sung by everyone, and the texts neither vary much, nor show any special problems.
Maine A, B, of "Lord Lovel," are traditional forms of the "vulgate text" which corresponds to Child H. The earliest form of this text, known to Child, was from a London broadside of 1846. A still earlier record, however, is the following American version.
C."Lord Lovel and Nancy Bell." Every-body's Songster. Printed and published by Sanford and Lott, Cleveland, 1839; pages 52-54.
1 Lord Lovel he stood at his castle gate,
Combing his milk-white steed,
When up came Lady Nancy Bell,
To wish her lover good speed, speed, speed,
Wishing her lover good speed.
2 Where are you going, Lord Lovel, she said,
O where are you going said she;
I'm going my lady Nancy Bell,
Strange country's for to see, see, see,
Strange country's for to see.
3 When will you be back Lord Lovel she said,
O when will you be back, said she;
In a year or two or three at the most,
I'll return to my fair Nancie cie, cie
I'll return to my fair Nancy.
4 But he hadn't been gone a year and a day,
Strange countries for to see,
When languishing thoughts came into his head,
Lady Nancy Bell he would go see, see, see,
Lady Nancy Bell he would go see.
5 So he rode and he rode on his milk-white horse,
Till he came to London Town,
And there he heard St. Pancry's bell,
And the people all mourning round, round,
And the people all mourning round.
6 O what is the matter? Lord Lovel he said,
O what is the matter? said he.
A Lord's lady is dead, the woman replied,
And some call her lady Nancy, cie, cje,
And some call her lady Nancy.
7. So he ordered the grave to be opened wide,
And the shroud to be turned down,
And there he kissed her clay cold lips,
Till the tears they came trickling down, down,
Till the tears they came trickling down.
8. Lady Nancy she died as it might be to-day,
Lord Lovel he died to-morrow
Lady Nancy she died out of pure pure grief,
Lord Lovel he died out of sorrow, row, row,
Lord Lovel he died out of sonow.
9. Lady Nancy was laid in St. Pancry's church,
Lord Lovel was laid close by her,
And out of her bosom there grew a red rose,
And out of her lover's a briai, riar, riar,
And out of her lover's a briar.
10. It grew and it grew to the church steeple top,
And then it could not grow any higher,
So there it entwined in a true lover's knot,
For all true lovers to admire, rier, rier,
For all true lovers to admire.
Evidently the ballad was well known as a comic song, for in the same songster, on pages 9-11, is a parody, "Sukey soapsuds," one of the songs of T.H. ("Tom") Hadaway (1801-92). Gavin Greig (Last Leaves, p. 57) notes that"Lord Lovel," and a parody, "Joe Muggins," were sung by Sam Cowell in Aberdeen, 1850-55. The vulgate text has been many times printed in American broadsides and songsters. It was published with the melody, in sheet music form, by Ditson, in 1857, entitled: The celebrated Lord Lovel and, Lady Nancy Bell, Comic Ballad, arranged by J. C. J. The air printed by Ditson is a variant of the one published by Child (V, 416) "as sung in Aberdeen above forty years ago," that is, about 1850-55, while Cowell was popularizing the ballad, and is the same as the one printed in 1849 in Davidson's Universal, Melodist (I, 148), besides being the air to which, with minor variations, the vulgate text of "Lord Lovel" is universally sung by American folk-singers.
The history of the tradition of "Lord Lovel" may thus be tentatively made out. A version of the ballad, textually akin to Child H, and sung to a relatively modern, commonplace melody, had the misfortune to be taken up by the comic stage, probably about the second decade of the last century. It won popularity, was printed in America in the 1830's, and continued to be a favorite for a number of years on both sides of the water. Sam Cowell's singing of the ballad, and the Ditson print gave it such a lease of life that it became one of the best known of traditional songs, yet, as recorded. many times from singing, showing but little tendency to verbal change (such as the metamorphosis of the unfamiliar St. Pancras into Pancry, Pancridge, Patrick, and Peter), with even less melodic variation. It has never quite freed itself from the effects of its early evil associations.
The comedian, James Howard of Nibloos Garden (1836), sang "Lord Lovel," according to a note in Hadaway's Select Songster, p. 13. Sam Cowell (1821-64) was the son of the noted English actor, Joseph ("Joel") Cowell. His first part, acted when he was nine years old, was that of Crack, in The Turnpike Gate, a part made famous by his father. In 1829-30, father and son were acting and singing comic songs in the New York theaters (Odell, Annals of the New York Stage, III, 140 4L3, 472). After his return to England, Sam Cowell became one of the most popular burlesque artists of the time. One of his songs was "Lord Lovel," a copy of which, in sheet music form, in the Robert Gould Shaw Collection, Harvard University Library, bears the inscription:
The Pathetic Historie / of / Lord/ Lovel and Nancy Bell / as sung by / Mr. S. Cowell. / Edinburgh / Wood & Co. 12, Waterloo Place / Monro and May, 11 Holborn Bars.
On the coyer, is a lithograph bearing the date 1844, signed by the artist, J. W. Ebsworth (afterward editor of the Roxburghe Ballads), representing Cowell in the character of Lord Lovel, to illustrate stanza 7:
Lord Lovel look'd grave as the walls of St. Paul's,
And then riding out of the Town;
Pull'd his silk pocket-handkerchief out of his "smalls,"
'Cause the tears came a-trickling down, down, down,
The tears came a-trickling down.
We have no statement that Cowell sang "Lord Lovel" in America, but as the part of Crack included the singing of comic songs, it is quite probable that he did sing the ballad. We do, however, know that "Coal Black Roses" was one of his successes as a child actor, as were later, "Billy Barlow," "Vilikins and His Dinah," and "The Rat Catcher's Daughter." It may be, or it may not be, a mere coincidence that three of his songs, "Billy Barlow," "Coal Black Roses" and "Lord Lovel" are in Everybody's Songster. It is evident that "Lord Lovel" was one of his best-known songs; a newspaper clipping in the Robert Gould Shaw
Collection dated April 14, 1860, has reference to a parody:
"SAM COWELL, AIR LORD LOVEL
Mr. Sam Cowell's a right funny man,
And a right funny man is he.
And what's more, everybody worth mentioning knows it. (Very old song.)"
The version of "Lord Lovell" in Davidson's Universal Melodist, which has a silly stanza reprinted by Child (II, 213), was sung by the noted English comic actor, J. W. ("Jack") Sharp, one of the favorites of the Vauxhall Gardens, after 1846. Two copies of Sharp's version, in sheet music form, are in the Evert J. Wendell Collection, Harvard University Library.
D. MS Collection of Phillips Barry (Harvard University Library). Sung by Mrs. A. Welch, native of County Clare, at Brunswick, Sept. 4,1907. Melody recorded by P.B.
I "Where are you going, Lord Lovel?" she said,
"Where are you going from me?"
"I'm going, I'm going, Lady Anisabel, [1]
Strange countries now for to see."
2 "When will you come back, Lord Lovel?" she said,
"When will you come back to me ?"
"All for the space of three long years,
Lady Anisabel," said he.
3. "Oh, that is too long, Lord Lovel," she said,
"Oh, that is too long for me!
All for the space of three long years,
True lovers never to see."
our D-text, together with a longer County Sligo version, sung in Vineland, N.J., belongs to the earlier, better tradition of the ballad. This old tradition is represented by Child A, C, E, G, J, of which G calls the lady Isabell, and the others have retained some corruption of "Ann Isabel," To the same group belong Cox C, and one of the five texts in the Child MSS referred to by Professor Kittredge (JAFL, XXIX, 160), a text of Irish origin, which calls the heroine "Lady Ann, sweet bell(e)." The mood of this group of texts is serious, as is that of Child B, D, in which the lady is Nancybell, Nanciebel. Child F has a touch of sentimentality, which, in H, easily degenerates into comedy.
Mrs. Fred W. Morse, Islesford, when shown Cox's texts, said that Cox A was the form she knew (probably in Irelard), but that the lady was called Annabella. She picked out stanza 1, line 3, as similar, but not the same (aside from the proper name). Stanza 2, line 3, she gave as: "I'm going, my love Annabella." Stanza 3, she recalled as follows:
"O, when will you be back, Lord Lovel, to me,
O, when will you be back?" said she,
"In a year or two, or four at the least,
I'll return, Annabella," said he.
Stanzas 4, 5, 6, were similar, but she could not recall the name of the church bell. Stanza 7 was the same, except line2, which was similar, but not the same.
* Ann Isabel
________________________________________
From English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians by Sharp and Campbell- I; 1917 Sharp/Karpeles I, 1932. Notes from the 1932 edition follow.]
No. 21. Lord Lovel.
Texts without tunes: — Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, No. 75. Gavin Greig's Folk-Song of the North-East, art. ii. 159. A. Williams's Folk Songs of the Upper Thames, p. 145. Cox's Folk Songs of the South, p. 78 (see further references). Journal of American Folk-Lore, xix. 283.
Texts with tunes: —Journal of the Folk-Song Society, ii. 209 ; iii. 64; vi. 31. Child, v, p. 416. Gavin Greig's Last Leaves, No. 29. C. Sharp's English Folk Songs (Selected Edition), i. 22 (also published in One Hundred English Folk-Songs, No. 26). Journal of American Folk-Lore, xviii. 291 ; xxxv. 342. Reed Smith's South Carolina Ballads, p. 121. D. Scarborough's On the Trail of Negro Folk Songs, p. 55. Broadside, G. H. de Marsan, New York. Musical Quarterly, January 1916, p. 5. British Ballads from Maine, p. 139. Davis's Traditional Ballads of Virginia, pp. 240 and 573. McGill's Folk Songs of the Kentucky Mountains, p. 10.
Sandburg's American Songbag, p. 570.
_______________________
Extensive notes from "Folk Songs of the Catskills" Cazden et al. pg. 136 - 139:
"But reaching beyond the influence of such publications have been the numerous comic parodies of Lord Lovell. Barry notes the earliest among them to have been sung in 1836 by comedian James Howard of Niblo's Garden (Hadaway). Every-body's Songster in 1839 included another, sung by Thomas Hadaway himself, called Sukey Soapsuds. A sheet music publication of 1844, issued in Edinburgh by Wood and Co., contained The Pathetic Historie of Lord Lovell and Nancy Bell, as sung by Sam Cowell, who made it a spectacular success. Barry further mentions the 1857 sheet music issued in Boston by Oliver Ditson, listed also thus by Dichter, with the title The Celebrated Lord Lovel and Lady Nancy Bell, Comic Ballad, arranged by J.C.J. Finally, Barry notes the Joe Muggins treatment, which may be termed a parody of the parody.
Sam Cowell's comic parody of Lord Lovell was published twice, no later than 1855, in the Musical Bouquet series of London sheet-music issues. The earlier copy (#789) contains spoken interludes, as well as the comic ballad form proper. Information on the song copy (#857) states that both the comicked Lord Lovel and the even more famous Vilikens and his Dinah were sung in Sam Cowell's music hall show called The Ratcatcher's Daughter. One of the many instrumental medleys in which the tune of Lord Lovel appears, also published in the Musical Bouquet series (#787), was arranged by J. Harroway, and called Sam Cowell's Comic Quadrille.
All three copies show the same splendid color engraving on their covers. It depicts Sam Cowell, dressed in the character of Lord Lovell. He wears a formal morning suit, complete with top hat, but his trouser cuffs are turned up as though for wading a muddy stretch. Over one shoulder he carries a travel pack. His theatrically woebegone expression is shown full face, gleaming eyes peering from beneath exaggerated beetle brows.
Variant as well as newly improvised wordings were sure to develop during later performances of such a music-hall success, and some of them were incorporated into their published prints. Cowell's text, as it appeared in Davidson's folio of 1861, contains the slightly altered line:
All true-loviers to admire –rire-rire
Which draws hilarity from the ballad conceit of repeating syllables, such as in truth arises rather from musical structures when these are applied relentlessly to texts that will not support them…??
In H.M.S. Pinafore, verse 8 of Lord Lovell in the Davidson's Musical Library folio reads:
Then he flung himself down by the side of the corpse
With a shivering gulp and a guggle
Gave two hops, three kicks, heav'd a sigh, blew his nose
Sung a stave, and then died in the struggle–uggle-uggle,
Sung a stave, and then died in the struggle.
Cowell's parody form continued to be reprinted in London during the 1860's in Charles Sheard's Great Comic Volume, and in 1876 in D'Alcorn's Musical Miracles.
According to Barry, the Joe Muggins parody text was also introduced by Sam Cowell in the period about 1850. In an 1869 parody by E.F. Dixey, Lord Lovell is left not only with a broken heart but with broken kneecaps, the result of his smashing into a post while riding his velocipede.
Besides both a serious and comic text of Lord Lovel, the Edwin Ford Piper Collection contains a Civil War parody called A New Ballad of Lord Lovell, the brave defender of New Orleans. The item is mentioned by John Harrington Cox, and fragments of other texts are given by Horace M. Belden. Four stanzas have been recorded by Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger (ZDA 70). In this New Ballad parody, the original…
…narrative has dropped out, but the tune and the familiar pattern remain, to produce an ending with telling reference. This Lord Lovel was a "rebel swell," who "sat in St. Charles hotel," a-waving his sword on high:
He swore by the black and he swore by the blue
He swore by the stars and the bars
He would never fly from a Yankee crew
While he was a son of Mars, Mars, Mars
While he was a son of Mars
Inevitably, the dénouement to so swaggering an opening was that the hero and his 50,000 men fled, without firing a shot, at the first sighting of Farragut's fleet. But in faithful ballad fashion, the fateful end is satirized with an additional fillip:
When Lord Lovell's life was brought to a close
By a sharp shooting Yankee gunner
From his head there sprouted a red, red rose
From his heels a scarlet runner, runner, runner
From his heels a scarlet runner
Except for Barry, ballad scholars unfortunately appear either to have been oblivious to, or disdainful of, the documented history of these distinctly comic forms of Lord Lovell, while they have seemed hesitant as well to recognize the implications of their music-hall origins. Sandy Paton states (FSA 36F) that Child himself had a comic text, but would not print it with the others. At least nine of the versions compiled by Bertrand Bronson may be identified as comic treatments. Bronson does not single them out or mark them so, and while he does acknowledge that some humorous texts are known, he seems not to sense either that their humor is satirical or that it is stagey. Instead, he thinks of them as children's treatments or "nursery degenerations": "The high seriousness of the parents is the children's favorite joke." The obtuseness of ballad scholars in this regard must be appreciated as a very difficult feat, since the material available to them is hard to pass by without notice. Diversion of the humorous aspects onto this tack means overlooking their theatre-piece beginnings, and it means also ignoring their service as symptoms of the necessary wide previous audience acquaintance with the "straight" versions, such as satire requires.
Tristram P. Coffin mentions "burlesques" of the ballad, and to account for them, he finds no better explanation than a vaguely humorous inclination, somehow implicit in its tune. To this effect he quotes Arthur Kyle Davis, who in truth hardly qualifies as an expert on such musical subtleties: "The melodies are too light for the story and mitigate the tragedy. For this reason, the song has often been subject to parody." Reed Smith also, while otherwise taking note of five printings of the ballad in American songsters between 1836 and 1865, infers nothing from them as evidence of comic theatre forms, but attributes the comic effect to a "lilting tune." So speculative a "reason" becomes less persuasive as we observe that, while most known versions of both the serious and the comic text forms of Lord Lovell have been sung to the tune strain found in #33, which by this definition is "too light" to support a serious text, the identical "light" tune strain is found in use also for numerous versions of Child # 4 Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight; for one version of Child #25, Willie's Lyke-Wake (Greig); and for many versions of Child 73 Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor. For none of these have comic parodies appeared such as would supposedly have been induced by the tune.
Conversely, such "reasoning" or rationalization likewise cannot account for comic parodies of other ballads not known to have been afflicted with "light" tunes. Thus Davidson's Musical Library (ix 1862) contains a "comicked" treatment of Child 84, Barbara Allen, showing the ready application of the practice to "serious" sentimental themes. The common Billy McGee Magar form of Child 26, The Three Ravens (see notes to #99) is another for which neither the oldest nor the most familiar tune strains suggest "lightness."
Apart from the facile pitfall of attributing to a musical tune the verbal meanings and connotations of its associated text, we might do better to adduce rather a contrary principle – namely, that for successful parody, an obvious conflict between tune character and text is eminently desirable. For example, the rather lugubrious minor tune sung by Comical Brown for Billy Vite and Nelly Green helps to emphasize its satire of #66, The Arsenic Tragedy. The slow and mournful manner, in which Marvin Yale sang #142, Missie Mouse, made the ordinarily bouncy tune hilariously funny. It would be fair to say that the speculations of even the most reputable ballad scholars on musical matters, when they are not infused with the needed musical insights, may at times prove nothing short of childish.
Yet the approach they have taken reflects less an academic obtuseness on their part than a underestimation and a misapprehension of the role played by touring theatrical performers in developing and disseminating what later came to be idealized as an archaic oral tradition, romantically immune to such contamination. Instead, the notable uniformity among numerous collected versions of a ballad ought to have alerted students at once to the probability that organized means of mass distribution must have been responsible, rather than the localized, spontaneous, slow, and sporadic process of oral tradition.
Particularly is this evident with regard to ballad and song tunes. For wherever a tune can be located for any of the comic parodies of Lord Lovell, it always belongs to the same tune strain. Barry's designation of this tune as the "vulgate" form is confirmed by the additional examples we have noted, and by the tune of #33. How much this kind of musical uniformity may result in part from the many publications containing the notated music has often escaped consideration; it has been assumed that "the folk" is, by definition, musically illiterate.
George Davidson's Modern Song Book of 1854 contains no tunes. But included with its text (275-76) of Child 275, Get Up and Bar the Door, is a dutiful notice, "music at Duff & Hodgson's." Not only does that imply that the ballad must have been receiving popular notice and acclaim in the music hall sufficient to support the hope of selling the printed copies at a profit; it also implies that word-of- mouth tradition alone may not at all account for the numerous similar versions of the ballad "recovered" at a later date.
A further way in which tunes become familiar is their adaption for dancing. It was common practice, during the heyday of Lord Lovell as a stage hit, to use the latest music-hall numbers in the ballroom. The Musical Bouquet published the tune as part of three quadrilles and in three other instrumental medleys. The rival Musical Treasury in the same period was content with a single waltz adaptation. Other instrumental dance treatments were published during the 1860's by Boosey and Co., by William Chappell and B. Mackenzie in London, and by Elias Howe in Boston. Boosey's Musical Cabinet #5 contains Lord Lovell's Waltz, a salon piece for piano by Henri Laurent."
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[From Folk-Songs of America: The Robert Winslow Gordon Collection, 1922-1932; Band B5 online]
Nellie Galt of Louisville was from a prominent local family and, like some of Gordon's informants in Asheville, was a trained singer who had developed an interest in folksong. A manuscript containing 115 of her songs, obtained about 1928, is in the Archive of Folk Song. Presumably Gordon recorded her at about the same time. Gordon said of ballads:
Ballads are the unquestioned aristocrats of the folk-song world. They have the most poetry, the highest literary values; they represent the culmination of a long period of growing folk technique and artistry.
But for this very reason they are not fully representative. They are true folk-songs, but of a limited and peculiar type, with a special technique all their own. They occupy one tiny corner of an immense field. To the great body of folk-song they stand in much the same relation as does the short story to prose fiction, or the one-act play to drama. (Gordon, p.64)
"Milk White Steed" is a version of Child ballad #75, "Lord Lovel." This is Coffin's type A, the most common version, one which has wide distribution in North America because of its printing as a London broadside (Coffin, pp.72-3). As Coffin and others have noted, the contrast between the tragic story and the sprightly gait of the tune have made the song a popular candidate for burlesque; certainly the repetition in the fourth line of this version lends itself to that interpretation.
Gordon had five versions of this ballad from Adventure correspondents (423, 879, 1795, 2182, 2596), collected a version in California (Cal. 334), and received two other versions in manuscripts sent to the Archive of Folk Song (Newcombe MS. 4, p. 22; Purcell MS., p. 17).
MILK WHITE STEED
Gordon cyl. D1-1 (G96), Item Galt 3 (Misc.164)
Nellie Galt; Louisville, Kentucky; Ca. 1928 [?]
Lord Lovel he stood at his castle door
A-stroking his milk-white steed.
The lady Nancy came riding by
All looking for Lovel was she, she, she,
All looking for Lovel was she.
"And where are you going, Lord Lovel," she cried,
"Oh where are you going," cried she.
"I'm going away for a year and a day
"Far countries for to see, see, see,
"Far countries for to see."
He'd hardly been gone a year and a day
Far countries for to see,
When languishing thoughts came into his mind
Concerning his lady Nancy, -cy, -cy,
Concerning his lady Nancy.
So he rode and he rode on his milk-white steed
Till he came to London Town;
And there he heard St. Patrick's bell
And the people a-mournin' around, ‘round, ‘round,
And the people a-mournin' around.
"Is anyone dead?" Lord Lovel, he cried,
"Is anyone dead?" cried he.
"A noble lady's dead," the people replied,
"And they call her the Lady Nancy, -cy, -cy,
"They call her Lady Nancy."
So he ordered the grave to be open wide,
And the shroud to be laid aside,
And there he kissed her cold clay lips
While the tears came trickling down, down, down,
While the tears came trickling down.
The Lady Nancy, she died today,
Lord Lovel he died tomorrow;
The Lady Nancy she died of true love,
Lord Lovel he died of true sor-ro-ro-row,
Lord Lovel he died of true sorrow.
And they buried him in St. Patrick's church,
And they buried her in the choir.
And out of her bosom there grew a red rose,
And out of her lover's a briar, -riar, -riar,
And out of her lover's a briar.
And they grew and they grew to the church steeple top,
Till there they could grow no higher;
So there they entwined in a true lover's knot,
For all true lovers to admire, -ire, -ire,
For all true lovers to admire.
________________________________
[The US version from English and Scottish Popular Ballads; Vol. 10 Additions and Corrections. Dated pre1896 since Child dies Sept. 11, 1896 having completed most of X, published in 1898 by Kittredge. ]
211, H. I have received a copy recited by a lady in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which was evidently derived from print, and differs but slightly from a, omitting 83,4, 91,2.
1 Lord Lovel he stood at his castle-gate,
Combing his milk-white steed,
When up came Lady Nancy Belle,
To wish her lover good speed, speed,
To wish her lover good speed.
2 'Where are you going, Lord Lovel?' she said,
'Oh where are you going?' said she;
'I'm going, my Lady Nancy Belle,
Strange countries for to see.'
3 'When will you be back, Lord Lovel?' she said,
'Oh when will you come back?' said she;
'In a year or two, or three, at the most,
I'll return to my fair Nancy.'
4 But he had not been gone a year and a day,
Strange countries for to see,
When languishing thoughts came into his head,
Lady Nancy Belle he would go see.
5 So he rode, and he rode, on his milk-white steed,
Till he came to London town,
And there he heard St Pancras bells,
And the people all mourning round.
6 'Oh what is the matter?' Lord Lovel he said,
'Oh what is the matter?' said he;
'A lord's lady is dead,' a woman replied,
'And some call her Lady Nancy.'
7 So he ordered the grave to be opened wide,
And the shroud he turned down,
And there he kissed her clay-cold lips,
Till the tears came trickling down.
8 Lady Nancy she died, as it might be, today,
Lord Lovel he died as tomorrow;
And out of her bosom there grew a red rose,
And out of her lover's a briar.
9 They grew, and they grew, to the church-steeple top,
And then they could grow no higher;
So there they entwined in a true-lover's knot,
For all lovers true to admire.
________________________
Hadaway's Select Songster: 1840
edited by T. H. Hadaway
SUKEY SOAP SUDS.
An Original Song, sung by Mr. Hadaway, in the character of Peter Pensive, in the "Fatal Prophecies."—Air: Lord Lovel.
Sukey Suds, she stood at her vashing tub,
A vashing her clothes so nice,
Vhen I pops in my head, and to her I said,
"Sukey Suds, I am off in a trice, trice, trice!
Sukey Suds, I am off in a trice!"
"Oh, vhere are you going? my Sukey said,
"Oh, vhere are you going?" says she,
"I am going, my own dear Sukey," says I,
Strange places for to see, see, see!
Strange places for to see!"
"Oh, you false hearted Peter? says she, to me,
"You false hearted lovier, says she,
"You are a going a courting another young 'oman.
Because you are tired of me, me, me!
Because you are tired of me!"
"Oh, no, Sukey Suds," says I, " 'taint so, I vow it aint so," says I,
But Sukey, she pulls out her 'andkercher,
And sat herself down to cry, cry, cry!
And sat herself down to cry!
"Oh, Sukey, my dear, oh, Sukey, my dear!
I swear I am free of that sin;
So vipe your eyes, my Sukey, don't cry,
Take a sup from this bottle of gin, gin, gin!
Take a sup from this bottle of gin!
So ve both sot us down by the side of the fire,
Took a sup, turn and turn about,
Vhen Sukey, she turned the bottle up.
And drank every drop clean out, out, out!
And drank every drop clean out!
As soon as the bottle was fi-ni-shed,
Says Sukey, says she, to me,
"You've promised to marry me, many a time,
Come marry me now," says she, she, she,
"Come marry me now," says she.
"Oh, I can't marry you, Miss Sukey," I said,
"Oh, I can't marry you," says I,
"For to morrow I'm off to a strange country,
And I've got other fish to fry, fry, fry!
And I've got other fish to fry!
"You wile vicked monster," says she to me,
"For this you are parjured;
And if ever you marries another young 'omon
My ghost shall haunt your bed, bed, bed!
My ghost shall haunt your bed!"
Now her passion vas up as high as could be,
So it couldn't be up no higher;
Vhen she seizes a three legged stool by von leg,
And she -knocks me right into the fire, fire, fire!
And she knocks me right into the fire!
MORAL. (Spoken.) Young youths—
When you are a going to choose a young 'oman,
Whose true love you've been trying to vin,
Go veepin and vailing to vish her good bye,
But be sure you don't carry no gin, gin, gin,
Besure you don t carry no gin.
Vhat I am now saying, now don't you despise,
But do take this advice from a fool;
Never promise vhat you don't mean to perform,
Or bcvare of a three legged stool, stool,
Or bevare of a three legged stool!
_____________________________
Reed Smith and Hilton Rufty, American Anthology of Old-World Ballads (New York: Fischer, 1937), p. xvii. Smith says:
While usually ballad tunes are in emotional accord with ballad poems, sometimes they are not, and in every such case it is the music, not the words, that determines the emotional effect of the ballad. The words of Lord Lovel, for example, are sad enough.
The ballad tune, however, is a lilting air, with a triple repetition of the last syllable and repetition of the entire last line as a refrain, which savors distinctly of a comic effect. Thus the difference between reading Lord Lovel as a poem and singing it as a song is the difference between shadow and sunshine. Similarly, the lilt and gaiety of the tunes of Old Bangum, Lamkin, and The Mermaid lighten and soften their once serious plots and turn them from tragedy into comedy.
Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America
by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
75. LORD LOVEL
Texts: Allan's Lone Star Ballads (Galveston, 1874), 31 / Anderson, Coll Blds Sgs, 27 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 139 / Beadle's Dime Songs of the Olden Tradition (N.Y., 1863), 13 / Belden, Mo F-S, 52 / Brewster, Bids Sgs 2nd, 79 / Brown Coll / BFSSNE, I, 4 / Bull Tenn FLS, VIII, #3, 61 / Bull U SC, #162, #6 / CFLQ, V, 210 / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 27 / Child, V, 294 / Child Mss. / "Celebrated Lord Lovel and Lady Nancy Bell", Comic Ballad argd by y.C.y.j (Oliver Ditson, Boston, 1857) / Cox, F-S South, 78 / Cox, Trd Bid W Va, 24 / Cox, W. Va. School Journal and Educator, XLIV, 358 / Cutting, Adirondack Cnty, 69 / Davis, Trd
Bid Va, 240 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 39 / Everybody's Songster, (Sanford and Lott, Cleveland, 1839) / Flanders, Vt F-S Bids, 215 / Focus, IV, 215 / Gardner, F-L Schoharie Hills, 203 / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mick, 43 / Guiding Song Songster (N.Y., 1865), 84 / Hadaway's Select Songster (Portsmouth, N.H., 1832), 86 / Haun, Cocke Cnty, 91 / Hudson,
F-S Miss, 90 / Hudson, F-T Miss, 16 / Hummel, Oz F-S / Clifton Johnson, What They Say in New England (Boston, 1897), 225 / Jones, F-L Mich, 5 / JAFL, XVIII, 291 ; XIX, 283; XXIII, 381 ; XXVI, 352; XXXV, 343 ; XLVIII, 303 / JFSS, VI, 31 / Linscott, F-S Old NE, 233 / Mason, Cannon Cnty, 16 / McDonald, Selctd F-S Mo, 23 / McGill, F-S Ky Mts, 10 / Minish Mss. / Frank Moore's Personal and Political Ballads (N.Y., 1864), 321 / Frank Moore's Songs of the Soldiers (N.Y., 1864), 174 / Morris, F~S Fla, 417 / Musick, F-L Kirksville, 4 / New Pocket Song Book (N.Y., c. 1860), 20 / New York broadsides: c. 1855, J. Andrews; c. 1860,
H. deMarsan / North American Review, CCXXVIII, 220 / Tony Pastor's New Union Song Book (cop. 1862), 66 / Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 4 / Pound, Nebr Syllabus, 9 / Randolph, OzF-S> I, 1 12 / Randolph, OzMtFlk, 193 / Sandburg, Am Sgbag, 70 / Scarborough, On Trail N F-S, 55 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 99 / Sharp C, EngF~S So Aplchns, # 18 / SharpK, EngF-S
So Aplchns, I, 146 / Shay, Drawn from the Wood, 134 / Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly, 146 / Shoemaker, No Pa Mnstly, 140 / Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 8 / Singer's Own Song Book (Woodstock, Vt., 1838), 9 / Bob Smith's Clown Song Book, 51 / SFLQ, II, 70; VIII, 150 / Reed Smith, SC Bids, 121 / Smith and Rufty, Am Antb Old Wrld Bids, 20 / Thompson, Bdy Bts Bnchs, 379 / Thomas, Sngin Gathrn, 38 / Va FLS Builds 210 / Carolyn Wells, A Parody Anthology, 326 / R.G. White's Poetry, Lyrical, Narrative and Satires of the Civil War (N.Y., 1866), 115.
Local Titles; Lady Nancy, Lady Nancy Bell, Lord Lovel (Lovell, Lowell, Lovinder, Leven, Lover, etc.), Lord Lovel and (Lady) Nancy Bell (Nancibell), Lord Lovel and Lady Nancy, Nancy Bell and Lord Lover.
Story Types; A: Lord Lovel tends his horse while Lady Nancy wishes him "good speed". He tells her he is going to see strange countries and says how long he will be gone. Sometimes, he says he is going for "too long" and that she will be dead when he gets back. Lovel leaves. He misses Nancy and comes home early. However, on arriving, he hears funeral bells and discovers his love has died. Dying of grief, he kisses the corpse. Usually, the rose-briar motif follows.
Examples: Barry (A), Belden (C), Davis (A).
B : The story is the same as that of Type A, except that Lord Lovel returns after only two or three miles of travel when the ring on his finger "busts off" and his nose begins to bleed. Nancy's church-knell is underway before he is halfway back! Examples: Cox, F-S South (B).
Discussion: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 146 prints a brief history of this ballad. It is very common in America, and practically all the versions that are over here follow Child H, a London broadside. Most of them agree with each other. This similarity of texts and the song's popularity is undoubtedly due to its frequent inclusion in pre-Civil War songbooks and broadsides. See the bibliography, Belden, Mo F-S, 52 states that the church name (St. Pancras) can be used to judge how close to print a version from oral tradition is. The name has taken a great number of forms, many of which are listed in the introductory, descriptive essay in this study.
Reed Smith has remarked that "the difference between reading it (Lord Lovel) as a poem and singing it is the difference between tragedy and comedy". (See SC Bids, 121). Davis, Trd Sid Va, 2401 also points out that the melodies are too light for the story matter and mitigate the tragedy. For this reason, the song has often been subject to parody. Typical burlesques
appear in Barry, op. cit., 145; Belden, Mo F-S, 54; Cox, F-S South, 78; Cox, Trd Bid W Va, 28; and Davis, op. cit. 258 (on Abe Lincoln).
The conventional ending in Haun, Cocke Cnty, 91 finds one lover buried under an oak and the other under a pine. Their hands touch with the leaves. The Type A, Cox, F-S South, C text implies that Lovel has been false to Nancy and thus gives a more substantial reason for her death. The Type B text reflects the effect a cliche can have on the story of a ballad. The result is, of course, preposterous with respect to time. For a song with some similarities see BFSSNE, I, 4.
_________________________
Missing Versions:
American Folk Song Festival: Jean Thomas, The Traipsin' Woman
Various Artists FW02358 / FA 2358
Created in 1931, the American Folk Song Festival helped Kentucky mountain singers share their music with the world. Perhaps more relevantly, it allowed the rest of the world to hear the music of these singers, including members of the Hatfield and McCoy families. This album was recorded in the 1950s, and features singers of all ages.
Year Released 1960
Record Label Folkways Records 104 Lord Lovell Lucinda Perkins 2:15
--------------
Lord Lovel and Lady Nancy Belle; Acie Cargill
From the Album The Folk Music of Western Kentucky from Sarah Gertrude Knott and Hattie Tyler Cargill, Vol. I
--------------------
LORD LOVELY
Source Shearin & Combs, Syllabus of Kentucky Folk-Songs (1911) p.8
Performer
Place collected USA : Kentucky
LORD LOVEL
Source Johannsen, The House of Beadle and Adams 3 (1962) p.76
Performer
Place collected USA
LORD LOVEL
Source Journal of American Folklore 67 (1954) p.252
Performer Gregg, Edna
Place collected USA
LORD LOVEL
Source Bush, Folk Songs of Central West Virginia 4 pp.88-90
Performer Marks, Phyliss
Place collected USA : W. Virginia : Tanner
Collector Bush, Michael E.
LORD LOVEL [Chapell collected it from Tink]
Source Folktrax 926-90 ('Songs from the Outer Banks')
Performer Tillett, Mrs. Eleazar
Place collected USA : N. Carolina : Roanoke
Collector Warner, Anne & Frank
LORD LOVEL
Source Mason: Southern Folklore Quarterly 11 (1947) pp.124-126
Performer Bowen, Mrs. Dema
Place collected USA : Tennessee : Cannon County
Collector Mason, Robert Leslie
LORD LOVAL
Source Helen Creighton collection (Nova Scotia Archives) AR 5127 / AC 2184 / 982
Performer Ritchie, Mrs. W.B.A.
Place collected Canada : Nova Scotia : Wolfville
Collector Creighton, Helen
LORD LOVEL AND NANCY BELL
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.834 (version a)
Performer Ramey, Miss Linda
Place collected USA : Virginia : Clinch
Collector Hamilton, Emory L.
LORD LOVEL
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.834 (version b)
Performer Ewell, Miss Maud
Place collected USA : Virginia : Haymarket
Collector Morton, Susan R.
LORD LOVEL
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.834 (version c)
Performer Boles, Grant
Place collected USA : Virginia : Antioch
Collector Morton, Susan R.
LORD LOVEL
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.834 (version d)
Performer Peake, John
Place collected USA : Virginia : Hopewell Gap
Collector Morton, Susan R.
LORD LOVEL
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.834 (version e)
Performer Ewell, Miss Alice Maud
Place collected USA : Virginia : Haymarket
Collector McMurran, George K.
LORD LOVEL
Source WPA Collection, Univ. of Virginia, Charlotteville, No.834 (version f)
Performer
Place collected USA : Virginia : Clifton Forge
Collector Smith, Mary E.W.
LORD LOVEL
Source Combs, Folk-Songs of the Southern United States (1967) p.204 item 20(a)
Performer
Place collected USA : W. Virginia : Gilmer County
Collector Combs, Josiah H.
LORD LOVEL
Source Robert W. Gordon Collection (American Folklife Center, LOC) Cylinder D1-1 item GG 3
Performer
Place collected USA : Georgia
Collector Gordon, Robert W.
LORD LOVEL
Source Combs, Folk-Songs of the Southern United States (1967) p.204 item 20(b)
Performer Fortney, Belle
Place collected USA : W. Virginia : Morgantown
Collector Combs, Josiah H. / Woofter, Carey
LORD LOVEL
Source Library of Congress recording 2737 B1
Performer Ball, Ann Corbin
Place collected USA : Virginia : Richmond
Collector Halpert, Herbert
LORD LOVEL
Source Library of Congress recording 1786 A2
Performer Ball, Ann Corbin
Place collected USA : Virginia : Richmond
Collector Halpert, Herbert
LORD LOVEL
Source Library of Congress recording 1786 A2
Performer Lunsford, Bascom Lamar
Place collected USA : N. Carolina : Asheville (New York)
Collector Hibbitt, George W. / William Cabell Greet
LORD LOVEL
Source Library of Congress recording 1007 A1
Performer Nye, Capt. Pearl R.
Place collected USA : Ohio : Akron
Collector Lomax, John A.
LORD LOVEL
Source Library of Congress recording 1594 B
Performer Mullins, J.M.
Place collected USA : Kentucky : Salyersville
Collector Lomax, Alan & Elizabeth
LORD LOVEL
Source Library of Congress recording 3180 A1
Performer McDowell, Mrs. L.L.
Place collected USA : Tennessee : Smithville
Collector Robertson, Sidney
LORD LOVEL
Source West Virginia Folklore 9:2 (Winter 1959) pp.19-20
Performer Wilson, Mrs. Lennard
Place collected USA : W. Virginia : Newton
Collector Tawney, Mrs. G.G.
LORD LOVER
Source West Virginia Folklore 5:2 (Winter 1955) pp.23-24
Performer Glasscock, Mrs. Howard
Place collected USA : W. Virginia : Wetzel County
Collector Musick, Ruth Ann
LORD LOVEL
Source Haun, Cocke County Ballads & Songs (1937) p.91
Performer Haun, Mildred
Place collected USA : Tennessee : Cocked County
Collector
LORD LOVEL
Source Mason, Folk Songs and Folk Tales of Cannon County, Tennessee (1939) p.16
Performer Bowen, Mrs. Dema
Place collected USA : Tennessee : Geedville
LORD LOVEL [see Bostic in Brown collection]
Source North Carolina Folklore Journal 21:3 (1973) 143-144
Performer Bostic, Della Adams
Place collected USA : N. Carolina : Mooresboro
Collector Bostic, betty