29. Lamkin

29. Lamkin  (Child 93)

[See music below; additional lyrics in blue]

This gruesome little ballad is traced no further back than the  latter eighteenth century, but was widely known and sung a hunred and fifty years ago; Child has twenty-six versions of it (some of them merely fragments). And it is still not forgotten. It has  been reported since Child's time from Aberdeenshire (LL 71-2),  Cambridgeshire (JFSS v 83-4), Surrey (JFSS i 212-13), Hampshire (JFSS II III), and Somerset (JFSS v 81-2), and on this  side of the water from Newfoundland (FSN 17), Maine (BBM 200-6, JAFL Lii 70-4), Massachusetts (FSONE 303-5), New York  (JAFL XIII 117-18), Virginia (TBV 354-9). Kentucky (SharpK I 202-7), Tennessee (FSSH 91-3, BTFLS viii 75), North Carolina (JAFL xiii 118, SharpK i 201-2, SSSA 62-4, FSRA 76,  SFLQ V 137-8), Arkansas (OFS i 141-2), Ohio (BSO 59-60,  Indiana (BSI 122-4), and Michigan (BSSM 313). The name  Lamkin (which takes in tradition a variety of forms, some of them scarcely traceable to that original) is explained by Miss Gilchrist (JEFDSS I 1-17) as a Flemish form of the name Lambert; Flemings were famous for their skill as masons and were sometimes brought to England as builders. The motivation of Lamkin's  savagery, in many texts, is that he has not been paid by the lord  for the building of his castle, but in many other texts no motive is offered. The daughter Betsy appears in two of Child's versions  and frequently in American texts. The false nurse, with her bitter  hatred of her mistress, is a persistent figure. The macabre humor of Lamkin rocking the cradle in which the baby is screaming its  life away while the nurse carries on a long dialogue with the lady  upstairs marks most of the Child versions and is retained in many  of the American texts.

A. 'Beaulampkins.' Sent by Thomas Smith of Zionville, Watauga county, in March 1914 to C. Alphonso Smith and afterwards added to the North  Carolina collection. "As sung by Mrs. Emma Smith and Mrs. Polly Rayfield, both of whom heard it when children, probably forty or fifty  years ago. . . . Mrs. Rebecca Isenhour of this place sings the sixteenth verse ... as follows:

'Oh father,' said daughter Betsy,
'Pray do not blame me.
For Beaulampkins has killed your lady
And little babye, babee.' "

The name Beaulampkins is evidently a folk-etymology of Bolamkin,  i.e., bold Lamkin, a form under which the name appears in many texts.  

1 Beaulampkins was as fine a mason
As ever laid stone.
He built a fine castle
And pay he got none.

2 Said the landlord to his lady,
'When I am from home
Beware of Beaulampkins
Should he catch you alone.'

3 'Oh no,' said his lady,
'You need not fear him.
Our doors are fast bolted
And our windows barred in.'

4 But Beaulampkins rode up
When the landlord was away,
And, seeing the false nurse
At a window, did say:

5 'Where is the landlord.
Or is he at home?'
'He is gone to merry England
For to visit his son.'

6 'Where is his lady?
Or is she within?'
'She is upstairs sleeping,'
Said the false nurse to him.

7 'How will I enter?'
Said Beaulampkins to her.
The false nurse then arose
And unbolted the door.

8 'If the lady is upstairs
How will we get her down?'
'We will stick her little baby
Full of needles and pins.'

9 Beaulampkins rocked hard
And the false nurse she sung,
While tears and red blood
From the cradle did run.

10 The lady came downstairs
Not thinking of harm.
When Beaulampkins arose
And caught her in his arms.

11 'Oh spare me, Beaulampkins!
Oh spare me one day!
And you shall have as much gold
As your horse can carry away.

12 *Oh spare me, Beaulampkins!
Oh spare me a while!
Don't you hear how mournful
My little baby does cry?

13 'Oh spare me, Beaulampkins!
Oh spare me one hour!
And you shall have my daughter Betsy,
My own blooming flower !'

14 'You may keep your daughter Betsy
To wade through the flood.
Hold here that silver basin
To catch your heart's blood.'

15 'Oh stay, my daughter Betsy,
In your chamber so high
Till you see your dear father
As he comes riding by.'

16 'Oh, father,' said his daughter Betsy
When the landlord came home,
'Beaulampkins has killed my mother
While you was gone.'

17 Beaulampkins was hanged
To gallows so high,
While the false nurse was burned
To a stake standing by.

B. 'Bo Lamkin.' Contributed by Frank Proffitt, Sugar Grove, Watauga  county, in 1937. Fourteen stanzas, much like A; B1 4 5 6 7 8 9 10= A1 5 6 8 10 II 13 14, B14= A 17. Stanzas 2 and 3 of B read:

He swore by his maker he'd kill them unknown.
'Beware of Bo Lamkin when I am gone.'

Bo Lamkin came to the castle door, he knocked till it rung.
There was no one ready as the faltress;[1] she arose and let  him in.

And stanzas 11-13 of B run:

Daughter Betsy a-sitting in the parlor so high.
She seen her dear father coming riding hard by.

Oh father, dear father, don't blame me for what's done;
Old Bo Lamkin has been here and killed your dear son.

'Old Bo Lamkin has been here and killed your dear lady;
Old Bo Lamkin has been here and killed your baby.'

1. Corrupted, apparently, from "false nurse."

[Warner collected this from Proffitt c. 1959 and titles this Bolamkin, which obscures the origin. The "Bo" is short for "Bold." The Brown Collection of NC Folklore first collected the song from Proffitt in 1937 (See above) several years before the Warner's visited Beech Mountain (c. 1939) after buying a dulcimer via the mail from Nathan Hicks, Frank Proffitt's father-in-law in 1938. ]

Bo Lamkin- Proffitt collected by Frank Warner c. 1959; recorded by Frank Profitt, Folk Legacy
 
Bo Lamkin was as fine a mason
As ever laid a stone
He built a fine castle
And pay he got none (repeat last 2 lines)

He swore by his Maker
He`d kill then unknown;
Beware of Bo Lamkin
While I'm gone from home.

Bo Lamkin he comes to the castle
And he knocked loud and long,
There was none as ready as a faultress, (false nurse)
She arose and let him in.

Oh where is the landlord?
Or is he at home?
Oh, no, he's gone to merry England
For to visit his son.

How will we get her downstairs
Such a dark night as it is?
Stick pins and needles in the little baby,
Stick pins and needles in the little baby.

Bo Lamkin rocked the cradle
And the faultress she sung,
While the tears and the red blood
From the cradle did run.

The lady comin' downstairs
Not thinking no harm,
Bo Lamkin stood ready
He cotched her in his arms.

Bo Lamkin, Bo Lamkin,
Spare my life one hour,
You can have my daughter Betsy
My own blooming flower.

Bo Lamkin, Bo Lamkin,
Spare my life one day,
You can have all the gay gold
Your horse can tote away.

Oh keep your daughter Betsy,
For to go to the flood,
To scour the silver basin
That catches your heart`s blood.

Daughter Betsy was a-settin'
In the castle so high,
She saw her dear father come
A-ridin' hard by.

Dear father, dear father,
Come see what's been done.
Bo Lamkin has been here
And he's killed your dear son.

Bo Lamkin has been here,
He's killed your baby,
Bo Lamkin has been here
And killed your lady.

Bo Lamkin was hung
To the scaffold so high,
And the faultress was burned
To a stake standin' by.


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29. Lamkin (Child 93) [Music]

A. 'Beaulampkins.' Sung by Mrs. Emma Smith. Recorded as MS score at Zionville, Watauga county, in March 1914. As in other songs with numerous versions, one can also here find some musical idioms which seem to be standard.  Note particularly the ending, which is alike in all four versions. Both 29A  and 29A(i) differentiate their cadences, while in 29A(2) and 29B both cadences  are alike.


For melodic relationship cf. ***SharpK I 201, No. 27 A, measures 1-4, last  four in the basic outline ; ibid. 205, No. 27D, last two measures; **FSSH 9 (from  the impossible notation of the tune nobody would suspect any melodic relationship with our version); BMFSB 20, especially the cadences, besides other similarities. Scale: Mode III, plagal.  ab (4,4).   Tonal Center: a-flat. Structure: abcb1 (2,2,2,2) = ab (4,4).

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A(1) 'Beaulampkins.' Sung by Mrs. Nancy Prather. Recorded at Milam, Ashe  county, August 5, 1939. Very closely related to 29A, especially in both cadences,  which are alike in each one of the two songs.



For melodic relationship cf. ***SharpK i 201, 204, No. 27A, C, excepting  the final cadence; ibid. 205, No. 27D, where the last two measures are identical;  **FSSH 91 (same remarks as made in previous version apply here also);  BMFSB 20, cadences are alike besides other similarities. Scale: Mode III, plagal.  Reprisenbar.   Tonal Center: a-flat. Structure: aa1ba1 (2,2,2,2) = ab (4,4).

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A(2)  'Beaulampkins.' Sung by anonymous singer. Recorded, but no date or place  given. Excepting one minute difference, this tune, beginning with the third  measure, is identical with 29B. In contrast to the preceding two versions, both  the first and second cadences in this and the following version are alike.


For melodic relationship cf. *BMFSB 20, last two measures. Scale: Hexatonic (4), plagal. Tonal Center: f. Structure: aba1b (2,2,2,2) =  aa1 (4,4).

B. 'Bo Lamkin.' Sung by Frank Proffitt, Sugar Grove, Watauga county. Recorded, but no date or place given. In a second recording of the same singer the tonal material is strictly pentatonic.



For melodic relationship cf. *BMFSB 20, last two measures. Scale: Hexatonic (4), plagal. Tonal Center: g. Structure: aa1ba1 (2,2,2,2)  =: Reprisenbar.