OLDER BALLADS MOSTLY BRITISH; 3. Earl Brand (Child 7)
[RECORDINGS:
Judy Cook, Far from the Lowlands, Cook CEI-JC02-0005, CD (2000), trk# 4 (Sweet William/Willie)
I. G. Greer & Mrs. I. G. Greer, "Sweet William and Fair Ellen Pts. 1 & 2" (AFS; on LC12) (Paramount 3236, 1930); Country Turtle 6001, LP (1970)
Daw Hanson, Kentucky Mountain Music, Disk 3; (Lady Margaret and Sweet William)
Henry McGregor, "The Douglas Tragedy (Earl Brand)" (on FSBBAL1)
Margaret MacArthur, Ballads Thrice Twisted, Whetstone WR 05, CD (1999), trk# 9
Ewan MacColl, English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) Vol. 5, Washington WLP 719, LP (1963/1956), trk# A.05 (Douglas Tragedy)
Ward, Fields. Round the Heart of Old Galax, Vol 2., County 534, LP (1980), trk# B.06 [1937/10]also on New World NW 245, LP (1977), trk# 3 (Sweet William/Willie)
Frank Warner, Come All You Good People, Minstrel JD 204, LP (1976), trk# B.01 (Sweet William/Willie)
Nancy Hicks Winningham, Hicks Family: A Cumberland Singing Tradition, Tennessee Folklore Soc. TFS 104, LP (1982), trk# 22 [1978/10/28] (Lady Margaret)
OTHER NAMES:
Sweet Willie
Jolly Soldier
Lord William's Death
William and Ellen
Brandywine
The Child of Ell
Fair Ellender
Sweet William and Fair Ellen
As He Rode Up to the Old Man's Gate
Lady Margaret
Lady Margaret and Sweet William
"The Bold Soldier" [Laws M27] is related to Earl Brand. The instance of a man fighting off six enemies but then being wounded from behind is also found in The Braes of Yarrow, another Child ballad rarely found in the US.
The classic recording is The Greer's, "Sweet William and Fair Ellen." I'm making available Lomax' recording of Daw Henson on Kentucky Mountain Music- Listen: Daw Hanson- "Lady Margaret and Sweet William" Daw Henson came from the crossroads of Billy's Branch in Clay County, KY in the middle of what is now the Daniel Boone National Forest. His version is confused-missing many of the important events that are charateristic of this ballad. It does include the dream, an event not always present.]
3. Earl Brand (Child 7)
This admirable specimen of the tragic ballad seems to have held its place in the favor of ballad singers better in America than in the old country. Greig reports it from Scotland, to be sure, both in the Folk-Songs of the North-East and in Last Leaves, and Ord has it in his Bothy Songs; but the absence of any mention of it in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society seems to show that it is extinct in English tradition. On this side of the Atlantic it has been reported as traditional song in Newfoundland (BSSN 7-8), Nova Scotia (BSSNS 9-11), Maine (BBM 35-40), Virginia (TBV 86-91, SharpK I 21-3, 25), West Virginia (FSS 18-19), Kentucky (SharpK i 24-5), Tennessee (FSSH 36-7, BTFLS viii 64-5), North Carolina (JAFL xxviii 152-4, SharpK 1 14-19, SSSA 45-6, BMFSB lo-ii, SCSM 115-16), Georgia (SharpK I 19-20), Mississippi (FSM 66-8), Florida (SFLQ viii 136-8), the Ozarks (OMF 219-21, OFS I 48-9), Indiana (BSI 37-8), and Illinois JAFL IX 241-2). 'The Soldier's Wooing,' reckoned by some as a secondary form of "Earl Brand,' is dealt with later in the present volume. The American texts follow in general the tradition of Scott's form of the ballad ('The Douglas Tragedy' of the Minstrelsy, Child's version B), clinging in particular to the '"buglet horn" that "hung down by his side," recognizable through a variety of transformations. Old Carl Hood has vanished entirely. Most of the North Carolina versions, and also that from Georgia, have introduced a new element, the question of the hero's origin. *When scornfully described by the girl's father as "a steward's son" (transformed in texts A, C, F below into "Stuart's son"), he proudly declares that his father is a regis king and his mother a Quaker's queen. Possibly this has been picked up, and corrupted, from the English stall ballad of 'The Orphan Gypsy Girl,' the opening line of which in Cox's West Virginia version (FSS 335) runs: "My father is king of the gypsies, my mother is queen of the Jews."
A. 'Fair Ellender.' Secured from Miss E. B. Fish of White Rock, Madison county, in 1913. The spelling "mound" for "mounted" in stanzas 3 and 10 appears also in Perrow's version, JAFL xxviii 152-3, and is perhaps phonetic. Indeed, upon close inspection this text is the same as Perrow's except that that has "steward's" instead of "Stewart's" in stanzas 1 and 2 and has "Fair Ellender she sat still" instead of "Fair Ellender she still sat still" as the first line of stanza 7. Perrow says that his text is from a manuscript "lent E. N. Caldwell 1913" from North Carolina. Inasmuch as Miss Fish was an independent collector and had a considerable store of ballad manuscript, it seems probable that the manuscript Perrow used was hers. I therefore do not print the version here. Presumably the two slight differences noted above are editorial corrections on Perrow's part.
B. 'Sweet William and Fair Ellen.' Contributed by I. G. Greer of Boone. Watauga county, in 1913. The "sight" of stanza 6 is probably a mis-reading by somebody of "light" — though A has here "sit." There is in the Collection another copy of Greer's version which lacks the last two stanzas.
1 Sweet William rode up to the Old Man's gate
And boldly he did say;
'The youngest daughter she may stay at home
But the oldest I'll take away.'
2 'Come in, come in, all seven of my sons,
And guard your sister around.
For it never shall be said that the steward's son
Has taken my daughter out of town.'
3 'I thank you, sir, and it's very kind;
I'm none of the steward's son;
My father was a rich Reginer's king,
My mother a Quaker's queen.'
4 So he got on his snow-white steed
And she on the dappled grey.
He swung his bugle horn around his neck
And they went riding away.
5 They hadn't gone more'n a mile out of town
Till he looked back again.
And he saw her father and seven of her brothers
Come trippling over the plain.
6 'Sight down, sight down, fair Ellen,' said he,
'And hold my steed by the rein
Till I fight your father and seven of your brothers
Come trippling over the plain.'
7 She got right down and she stood right still,
Not a word did she return.
Till she saw her father and seven of her brothers
A-rolling in their own heart's blood.
8 'Slack your hands, slack your hands, sweet William,' said she,
'Your wounds are very sore;
The blood runs free from every vein.
A father can I have no more.'
9. So he got on his snow-white steed
And she on the dappled grey.
He swung his bugle horn around his neck
And they went bleeding way.
10. Soon they rode up to his mother's gate
And tingling on the ring.
'Oh mother, oh mother, asleep or awake,
Arise and let me in !
11 'Oh mother, oh mother, bind my head!
My wounds are very sore.
The blood runs free from every vein;
For me you will bind them no more.'
12 About two hours before 'twas day
The fowls began to crow.
Sweet William died from the wounds he received,
Fair Ellen died for sorrow.
13 Sweet William died like it was today,
Fair Ellen died tomorrow.
Sweet William died from the wounds he received,
Fair Ellen died for sorrow.
C. 'Seven Brothers.' Contributed by Thomas Smith of Zionville, Watauga county, "just as sung by Miss Julia Grogan, March 17, 1915. She heard it over 40 years ago." Stanza 9 seems to be peculiar to the southern Appalachians; it appears, sometimes confused, in the Georgia text and in two of those from North Carolina in the Sharp-Karpeles collection. In the Mississippi text it is the woman who repents:
I wish myself in old Ireland
And you in the middle of the sea.
1 He rode up by the old man's gate
And boldly he did say:
'Your oldest daughter you can keep at home
But the youngest one I'll take away.'
2 'Come in, come in, all seven of my sons.
ril bring your sister down;
For I never intend to have it said
Stuart's son took my daughter off.'
3 'I thank you, sir, this is very kind.
I'm none of the Stuart's sons.
My father's a rich old king,
My mother she's a queen.'
4 He mounted on a milk-white steed
And her on a dapple grey.
He swung his bugle horn around his neck
And blowed as he rode away.
5 He had not got more'n a mile from town
Till he, looking back again,
He saw her father and seven of her brothers
Come tripping over the plain.
6 'Light you down, fair Ellen,' said he,
'And hold my steed by the rein
Till I fight your father and seven of your brothers
That's tripping over the plain.'
7 She got down and stood right still
And never turned a word.
Till she saw her father and seven of her brothers
Wallowing in their own heart's blood.
8 'Slack your hand, Willie,' said she;
'Your wounds are very sore.
The blood flows free from every vein.
But a father I can have no more.'
9 'If you don't like what I have done
You may like some other one.
For I wish you was in your father's chamber
And I in some house or at home.'
10 He mounted on his milk-white steed
And her on the dapple grey.
He swung his bugle horn around his neck
And went bleeding away.
11 He rode till he came to his mother's gate
And tangled at the ring.
Saying, 'Mother, are you asleep or awake?
Rise and let me come in.'
12 He went into his sister's room.
Where he had often been before.
Saying, 'Sister, bind my head for me,
For it you'll bind no more.'
13 Sweet William died betwixt that and midnight;
The fowls had begun to crow.
Sweet William died from the wounds he received,
Fair Ellen died from sorrow.
D. 'As He Rode Up to the Old Man's Gate.' Contributed by Mrs. N. T. Byers of Zionville, Watauga county, in 1922. Corresponds stanza by stanza to version C with slight verbal differences, except that it lacks the ninth stanza of C entirely, that "Stuart" becomes "steward." that it is the oldest, not the youngest daughter that he carries off, and that he asks his mother, not his sister, to bind up his wounds.
E. 'Sir William and Fair Ellender.' Reported by W. Amos Abrams. It belongs to the same tradition as C and D, and offers no significant variants from C except that, like D, it omits the ninth stanza of C, has "steward" instead of "Stuart," omits the penultimate stanza of C, and has a "rich risen king" and "a quaker queen" in stanza 3.
F. 'Sweet Willie.' Reported by Mrs. Sutton from the singing of Myra Barnett (afterwards Mrs. J. J. Miller) in the Brushies of Caldwell county. It was from Myra that Mrs. Sutton (then Maude Minish) first learned many of the ballads in her collection. Mrs. Sutton notes that this ballad is very widely known in the South: "There is at least one ballad singer in every mountain county that sings it." The text belongs to the same tradition as the others already listed. The man is Sweet Willie, the girl is Lady Margaret. Regarding his ancestry Sweet Willie says
My father is a raging king,
My mother she's a Quaker's queen
and denies that he is a Stuart's son.
The ninth stanza is here retained:
'If you don't like what I have done,
Go hunt some other man,
Or stay at home in your mother's chamberie
Or in some house or room.'
The last three stanzas are:
12 'Oh, mother, mother, come bind my head;
My wounds they are very sore.
The blood runs from every wound.
My head you'll bind no more.
13 'Oh, mother, mother, make my bed,
And make it long and wide,
Lay my good broadsword at my feet,
Lady Margaret by my side.'
14 Sweet William he died before midnight.
Lady Margaret died tomorrow.
Sweet Willie died of the wounds he received,
Lady Margaret died of sorrow.
G. 'Sweet Willie.' Another text contributed by Mrs. Sutton, who sang it for Dr. Brown, May 15, 1921, "just as they were sung to me in a little hut on Beach Mountain"— but she does not say by whom. It corresponds closely to F except at the close, where instead of the last three stanzas of F appear the following— taken, as Dr. Brown has noted on the manuscript, from 'The House Carpenter' (i.e., 'James Hams') : a striking example of the way in which ballad elements may be shifted about.
11. 'I'm not a-weepin' fur your silver er your gold
Er either fur your store ;
I'm just a-weepin' fur my sweet little babe
That I never shall see no more.
12. She had not been on sea three months,
I'm sure it was not four,
Until there sprung a leak in her true love's ship
And sunk it to rise no more.
13 'A curse, a curse on all seamen,
A curse forever more.
For you have robbed me of my house carpenter
That I never shall see any more.
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Earl Brand (Child 7)
For the versions of this song which follow it should be said that, with the exception of the versions by I. G. Greer, 3B, and Mrs. Nancy Prather, 3D(i), all have the identical cadence, measures 7-8. This is in addition to the individual relationships between the various tunes which will be mentioned in connection with each version.
'Sweet William and Fair Ellen.' Sung by Dr. I. G. Greer. Recorded at Boone, Watauga county, 1913. Also score No. 55.
For melodic relationship, cf. **BMFSB lo, the first four measures ; *SharpK I 14, No. 4A.
Scale: Heptachordal, plagal. Mode III very evident. Tonal Center: f. Structure: abcd (2,2,2,2). Circular Tune (V).
B(I) 'Sweet William and Fair Ellen.' No evidence of singer, date, or place of recording. Melodically very similar to Prather 3D(i), Byers 3D, Johnson 3C, and less so to Sutton version 3G. The general outline of the M. B. Miller version also shows considerable relationship.
For melodic relationship, cf. *BMFSB 10.
Scale: Mode II, plagal. Tonal Center: c. Structure: abcb1 (2,2,2,2) = ab (4,4).
B(2) 'Sweet William and Fair Ellen.' Contributed by Mrs. Sutton. Score only, taken down at Lenoir, Caldwell county, 1921 or 1923. Mrs. Sutton rarely, if ever, gives the name of the singer, but it may be assumed to be Myra, i.e., Mrs. Miller. The beginning shows some melodic relationship to the Johnson 3C, Byers 3D, and Prather 3D(i) versions.
For melodic relationship, cf. *BMFSB lO, first four measures.
Scale: Mode II, plagal. Tonal Center: e. Structure: ab (5,3) ; a is internally incremented, b is contracted.
C. 'Seven Brothers.' Sung by Mrs. Anna Johnson. From the recording of Dr. W. A. Abrams in North Wilkesboro, Wilkes county, September 14, 1941. At least in the first four and somewhat in the last measures this version is related to the Sutton version 3G; likewise to some extent to the anonymous 3B(i), Byers 3D, Prather 3D(1) and M. B. Miller 3F versions. The text is varied, combining B and F versions. For further text variants cf. BB 6-7 ('The Douglas Tragedy').
For melodic relationship, cf. **BMFSB 10, first four measures.
Scale: Mode II, plagal. Tonal Center: c. Structure: abcb1 (2,2,2,2) =. ab (4.4).
D. 'As He Rode Up to the Old Man's Gate.' Contributed by Mrs. N. T. Byers. Score No. 56, dated 1922, Zionville, Watauga county. Originally the ms score with words gives exactly the Smith text (version C) with regard to the youngest and oldest girl. Judging from the printed text (II 30) 3D, there must have been another text furnished later which changed all this. Measures 3-4 of Greer version 3B are practically the same as in this version.
For melodic relationship, cf. **BMFSB 10, first four measures.
Scale: Mode II, plagal. Tonal Center: d. Structure: abcbi (2,2,2,2) := ab
(4,4).
D(I) 'As He Rode Up to the Old Man's Gate.' Sung by Mrs. Nancy Prather, recorded at Milam, Ashe county, August 5, 1939. Noteworthy are the cadences, which are practically identical, the second being merely transposed a fifth down. A close melodic relationship is found in the Miller 3F and the Byers 3D versions. Only partly related is the Sutton version 3G.
For melodic relationship, cf. **BMFSB lo.
Scale: Hexatonic (6), plagal. Mode II is evident. Tonal Center: c. Structure: abcb1 (2,2,2,2) = ab (4,4)-
F. 'Sweet Willie.' Sung by Mrs. Myra Barnett Miller. Recorded by Mrs. Sutton in the Brushies of Caldwell county. This tune is very similar to that of the Johnson 3C and the Sutton 3G versions. Both the Miller and Sutton versions show how fundamentally identical structures can be altered through the incrementation of some sort. Basically, both structures are identical with those of the previous versions. The shift of time values in the individual case accounts for the different aspects.
For melodic relationship cf. **BMFSB 10.
Scale: Mode II, plagal. Tonal Center: c. Structure: abcb1 (2,2,2,2) = ab (4,4).
G. 'Sweet Willie.' Sung by Mrs. Maude Minish Sutton, May 15, 1921. As far as the text is concerned, we have here a combination of the C and D versions. Melodically, this tune is more or less related to the Miller 3F, anonymous 3B(1), Byers 3D, and Prather 3D(1) versions.
For melodic relationship, cf. *BMFSB 10.
Scale: Mode II, plagal. Tonal Center: c. Structure: abcb1 (2,2,2,2) = ab (4.4).