7O. Must I Go Bound? Roud 18829 (Shall I Go Bound?; Must I Be Bound?; Shall I be Bound?; Should I Be Bound?)
A. "The Complaining Lover - A New Song." (ca. 1795) a broadside, Madden Ballads 2-1082, ESTC T198961.
B. "Must I Be Bound?" was collected by H. E. D. Hammond from Jacob Baker in Dorset in 1905.
C. "Must I Go Bound and You Go Free." From "Irish Country Songs," Volume I, 1909: collected by Herbert Hughes from N. Ireland: Co. Derry.
D. "Must I Go Bound?" Girl's version; from Sam Henry's Songs of the People, ed. Huntington and revised by Lani Herrmann, Univ. Georgia Press, 1990. P. 386.
E. "Must I Go Bound?" Lad's version; a recreation from Sam Henry's Songs of the People, ed. Huntington and revised by Lani Herrmann, Univ. Georgia Press, 1990. P. 386.
F. "Must I Go Bonds[Bound]," sung by Peter Dyer, a 55 year old African-America born in Barcelona, Spain who came to the United States at an early age, and settled in Nova Scotia about 20 years ago. From: Folklore from Nova Scotia collected by Arthur Huff Fauset (1899-1983), New York: American Folk-Lore Society: G.E. Stechert and Co., Agents, 1931.
[The archaic "Must I Go Bound?" stanza appears in a variety of songs and broadsides usually as a dramatic floating stanza. "Must I Go Bound?" also appears with slight modifications-- including:
1) Shall I Go Bound?
2) Must I Be Bound?
3) Shall I Be Bound?
4) Should I Be Bound?
5) O, am I bound? [Kidson "I Am a Rover"]
These variant titles will be hereafter called "Must I Go Bound" or "Must I Go Bound?" (since it is a question posed). As well as being a floating stanza found in the Died for Love songs and various other songs and broadsides, the "Must I Go Bound?" stanza has been added to several stanzas of a separate song published by Christie[1] called, "The Belt Wi' Colours Three," producing variant songs now titled: "Must I Go Bound?" Christie's song had three "gift" stanzas. These gifts, that prove to be a burden to the maid and are unwanted, are similarly found the broadside "The Complaining Maid," c. 1710. Recent versions of "Must I go Bound?" can be traced to Stephen Sedley's 1967 "The Seeds of Love," Essex/EFDSS 1967, 125 which is a compilation with some of Christie's text and tune.
A version titled, "Must I Be Bound?" was collected by H. E. D. Hammond from Jacob Baker in Dorset in 1905 also has a "gift" stanza. Baker's traditional version is similar to the broadside,"The Complaining Lover- A New Song" (ca. 1795, Madden Ballads). The last mentioned songs have a "gift" stanza that is similar to the two Irish songs titled "Must I Go Bound" (a girl's version and a lad's version) that were published by Sam Henry in the late 1920s with no attribution[2]. All the versions with "gift" stanzas will be covered in more detail later in this study.
The history of the "Must I Go Bound?" stanza is a long one-- dating back to at least the early 1600s. Here are some early broadsides that have the ubiquitous "Must I Go Bound?" stanza:
From "The Maiden's Complaint"[3], 1633-4,
Shall I be bound, that[4] may be free?
Shall I love them that love not me?
Why should I thus seeme to complaine?
I see that I cannot him obtain.
From Roxburghe VII, 104-5 (The Maid's Revenge upon Cupid and Venus, Laurence Price[5]):
Shall I be bound, that may be free?
Shall reason rule my raging mind?
Shall I love him that loves not me?
No, though I wink, I am not blind.
Here's another stanza from "Arthur's Seat Shall Be My Bed, or: Love in Despair" (ca. 1701):
Should I be bound that may go free?
should I Love them that Loves not me?
I'le rather travel into Spain,
where I'le get love for love again;
The question Must I be Bound? is posed in Exempla Moralia[6]:
Must I be Bound? What then? Am I now free?
From this early hypothetical query, the "Must I be Bound" question is posed by the singer:
Must I be bound and you go free?
or,
Must I be bound while he goes free?
or,
Must I be bound or must I go free?
This bondage imposed is not with a rope but rather it's a bond of love or the results of love: a pregnancy. "Must I go Bound" is routinely been attached to the Died for Love songs which are about a maid who has fallen in love with a false lover then becomes pregnant and is abandoned. Whether bound by love or the results of love, the maid bewails her helpless situation.
The opening "Must I Be Bound?" line is expanded to two lines in a variety of ways:
Must I be bound and you go free,
Must I love one who never loved me,
Must I go bound or must I go free
To love a young man who never loved me?
Must I be bound and you go free,
Must I be bound while he goes free?
Must I go bound while he goes free,
Must I love a boy that don't love me?
These two lines are expanded into stanzas. Perhaps the most common example of "Must I Go Bound?" is a stanza found in the Unfortunate Swain/Picking Lilies broadsides dating back to at least 1750:
Must I be bound, must she be free,
Must I love one that loves not me;
If I should act such a childish part
To love a girl that will break my heart.
This stanza has been varied in a number of ways-- here's the standard stanza as sung by the maid:
Must I be bound and you go free?
Must I love one who ne'er loved me?
Why should I play such a childish part
To go after a boy who will break my heart?
This is usually sung from the female perspective but is also sung from the male perspective:
Mus I be bound, or must I go free
To love a young maid who never loved me?
Why should I act such a childish part,
To love a young maiden with all my heart?
One early use of Must I Go Bound that is clearly related to the Died for Love songs is the broadside ballad titled "The Complaining Lover- A New Song" (ca. 1795, Madden Ballads). The first three stanzas are particularly relevant:
1. Must I be bound that can go free,
Must I love one that loves not me.
Let reason rule thy wretched mind,
Altho' I wink I am not blind.
2. He loves another one he loves not me,
No cares he for my company,
He loves another I'll tell you why
Because she has more gold than I.
3. Gold will wast and Silver will flys,
In time she may have as little as I,
Had I but gold and Silver in store,
He would like me as he has done before.
Stanzas 2 and 3 are found similarly in "Nelly's Constancy" of c1686 and are clearly related to the core stanzas of "Brisk Young Lover" and "Alehouse." "Must I Go Bound" is sometimes attached to Died for Love family member, Butcher Boy, found primarily in North America. An example of the common US stanza is found in Jane Hicks Gentry's "Butcher Boy" collected in 1916 by Cecil Sharp:
Must I go bound, must I go free,
Must I love a young man that won't love me?
O no, O no, that never shall be,
Till apples grow on an orange tree.
In Butcher Boy the popular extras stanza, "Must I go bound?" sometimes has this variation: "Shall I be young (bound), shall I be free." The ending is usually the same as some UK variants: "Till an orange grows on an apple tree."
7F, "My Blue Eyed Boy," is a member of the extended Died for Love song family and most US versions have the added "Must I Go Bound?" stanza. The UK variants of the Blue Eyed Boy family, "My love he is but a sailor boy (Sailor Boy)" and "Willow Tree" do not have the "Must I Go Bound?" stanza. Here's a typical US "Blue Eyed Boy" version from Carl Sandburg's "American Song Bag." I give only the first two stanzas:
Go Bring Back my Blue-Eyed Boy- sung by Frances Ries Batavia, Ohio, before 1927.
1. Go bring me back my blue-eyed boy,
Go bring my darling back to me,
Go bring me back the one I love,
And happy will I ever be.
2 Must I go bound while he goes free?
Must I love a man that don't love me?
Or must I act some childish part,
And die for the one that broke my heart?
The common "Must I Go Bound?" stanza in Blue Eyed Boy is the same as the one found in "The Unfortunate Swain," c. 1750. However, there are variations. Here the stanza as sung by early country singer Riley Puckett in 1929[7]:
Must I go bound and you go free?
Must I go bound and you go free?
No, no, no, that never shall be
That love like that shall conquer me.
In "The Blue Eyed Boy" the "Must I Go Bound?" stanza is usually present. Since the "Must I Go Bound?" stanza is held in common with The Unfortunate Swain, it therefore will be found in some derivatives of The Unfortunate Swain. These derivatives are titled after one of the floating stanzas (usually the first stanza) and usually include other stanzas from Unfortunate Swain. Examples of these ballads which may have the "Must I Go Bound?" stanza include the titles "Deep in Love," "Down In Yon Meadows," and "Prickly Rose." Since The Unfortunate Swain is also related to versions of "Waly, Waly" and "Water is Wide" they may also have the "Must I Go Bound" stanza.
In the late 1880s and early 1890s in Devon, England, Sabine Baring-Gould collected several versions with the Unfortunate Swain text and gave them the master title, Deep In Love-- a title that persists today. His B version (acquired before 1891) of "Deep in Love" is obviously better titled "Shall I Be Bound?" Here's his MS text as taken down from Mary Sacherly, an old woman at Huckaby Bridge, Dartmoor, who learned it from her father, a famous singer:
1. Shall I be bound, & she be free?
Shall I love one that loves not me?
Shall I play such a childish part?
For woman’s love to break my heart?
2. Ten thousand lovers in the room,
But my true love’s the fairest bloom.
I’m sure she is the fairest one
I will have her, or else have none.
3. I saw a ship come sailing by,
As heavily laden as she might be.
But not so deep in love as I.
I care not if I sink or swim.
4. Down in a meadow t’other day
A plucking flowers red and blue,
[I wandered doleful on my way,]
And little thought what love can do.
5. I put my hand into a bush
[I thought a lovely rose to find,
I pricked my finger to the bone
And left my lovely rose behind.]
The text in brackets was supplied from other MS adaptations of this version. The "Shall I Be Bound" stanza appeared in another ballad, "The Scornful Dame." The second stanza is also found in Scottish versions (see Sailing Trade) of 7A Sailor Boy. The authenticity of Baring-Gould's versions is questionable due mainly to his penchant for altering, fabricating or rewording his collected versions.
One rare US version with the "Must I Go Bound" stanza and "The Unfortunate Swain" opening was collected by Cecil Sharp in Virginia in 1918:
GATHERING FLOWERS. (Play Game) Sung by Fanny Coffey of white Rock Virginia on May 8, 1918. [Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection (at Clare College, Cambridge) (CJS2/9/3045)]
As I walked out one morning in May,
Gathering flowers fresh and gay,
Gathering flowers pink and blue,
So little did I think what love would do.
The prettiest girl I ever did see
Come walking down by the side of me.
Must I go bound, must I go free,
Must I love a pretty girl that don't love me?
No, O no, it never can be,
Love can never conquer me.
I won't go bound. I will go free,
I won't love a pretty girl that don't love me.
My rambling days are over and passed,
And I've got a pretty little wife at last.
She was the one that once said No,
But now she says Yes, and it shall be so.
This version is corroborated by a fragment of the play-party song collected before the Civil War in the US South published in the article "The Gin-Around" in 1874:
All of them pretty girls a marching away;" and which was soon exchanged for one which ran thus:—
"As I walked out, one morning In May,
A gathering flowers (I looked so gay).
The prettiest little girl I ever did see
Come a-walking along by the side of me.
"Shall I go bound, or shall I go free?
Shall Hove a pretty girl that don't love met
No, no, no! it never shall be
That ever love shall conquer me!"
These are rare US versions of 7S. Down in a Meadow (Unfortunate Swain). Two other Died for Love extended family members, 7P and 7R, also have the "Must I Go Bound?" stanza. My 7P, "I Am a Rover" has a broadside from around 1872 with this stanza[8]:
4. “O, am I bound or am I free?
Or am I bound to marry thee?
A married life you soon shall see,
A contented mind is no jealousy.”
In 7R, Yon Green Valley a similar stanza is found in a version sung by Bruce Laurenson of Bressay, Shetland collected by Patrick Shuldham-Shaw in 1952 that was covered by Frankie Armstrong:
O if he's gone, then I wish him well
For to get married as I hear tell
My innocent babe I will tender care
Of his false promise let him beware
O am I married, or am I free
Or am I bound, love, to marry thee?
A single life is the best I see
A contented mind bears no slavery.
In the first stanza the maid bewails her pregnant condition and situation: her lover has left her and has promised marriage to another. She decides in the second stanza that she's better off without him!
Very few songs or ballads with the "Must I Go Bound?" stanza are titled, "Must I go Bound?" Since the stanza is an independent floater, it must either be the Chorus (repeated after each stanza) or the first stanza to properly own the "Must I go Bound?" title. The first extant published version in the UK with the "Must I Go Bound?" title was a two stanza Irish fragment collected by Herbert Hughes. The "Must I Go Bound?' stanza is first and repeated at the end. The third line of the opening and closing stanzas is corrupt (missing "childish part"). The second stanza "I put my finger to the bush" is found in a number of songs including "Seeds of Love," "Prickly Rose," "Waly, Waly" and the Unfortunate Swain broadsides. It first appears in Martin Parker's "Distressed Virgin", 1629:
I put my finger to the bush,
thinking the sweetest Rose to find,
I prickt my finger to the bone,
and yet I left the rose behind.
Here's the Irish fragment published by Herbert Hughes in "Irish Country Songs," Volume I, 1909:
MUST I GO BOUND AND YOU GO FREE- Fragment of an old song from County Derry
Must I go bound and you go free,
Must I love the lass who wouldn't love me,
Was e'er I taught so poor a wit,
As to love the lass would break my heart.
I put my finger to the bush,
To pluck the fairest rose,
I pricked my finger to the bone,
Ah, but then I left the rose behind.
So must I go bound and you go free,
Must I love the lass who wouldn't love me,
Was e'er I taught so poor a wit,
As to love the lass would break my heart.
Hughes short song shows the association with Unfortunate Swain/Waly, Waly group of songs. Since "Must I Go Bound" is part of the Unfortunate Swain broadside it is also used in the ballads and song associated with that broadside which include "Seeds of Love," "Waly, Waly" and "Deep in Love[9]." This version titled, "Must I Be bound?" was collected by H. E. D. Hammond from Jacob Baker in Dorset in 1905. Baker's version is similar to the broadside, "The Complaining Lover- A New Song":
Must I be bound, or must I go free?
To love a young man who never loved me?
Why should I act such a childish part
To love a young man with all my heart?
He loves another, he loves not me,
And he cares not for my company;
He loves another, I'll tell you why:
Because she's got more gold than I.
. . . .
. . . .
Her gold will waste her beauty blast,
And in time she'll come like me at last.
I put my back up against an oak.
Thinking it was some trusty tree,
But first it bent and then it broke;
And so did thy false love to me!
I put my hand into a bush,
Thinking some sweeter flower to find;
I pricked my finger to the bone,
Leaving that sweetest flower alone.
Since roses are such prickly flowers
They should be gathered when they're green;
And she did court such an unkind love,
I'm sure she's striving against the stream.
For against the stream I dare not go,
For fear that it should overflow;
And not so deep in love am I!
I care not whether he live or die!
He gave me honey all mixed with gold [gall]
He gave me words and bows withal;
He gave me a delicate gown to wear,
All stitched with sorrow and hemmed with fear.
Now if I ever gain my liberty,
And that I trust I soon will be,
I'll buy me a delicate gown to wear
Not hemmed with sorrow nor stitched with fear.
Now here's his health I mean to drink,
And from his arms I will not slink;
He hath my heart, go where he will
Although he is false I must love him still.
The last line of Jacob Baker ballad is the end line of many Died for Love (see Brisk Young Lover) first stanzas! It's these mixing of stanzas that creates confusion and Jacob Baker's version is a hybrid with lines and stanzas from "The Complaining Maid," "Died for Love" and "The Unfortunate Swain." The most common use of the "Must I Go Bound" title is found in two Irish versions published by Sam Henry. These versions have a "gift" stanza similar to the one in the Complaining Maid:
He gave me honey mixt with gall,
He gave me words and blows withal,
He bought me a dilacte [delicate] gown to wear,
Hem'd with sorrow and stich'd with care.
If I should gain my Liberty,
In a short time I shall get free,
I will buy me a dilacate gown to wear,
Not hem'd with sorrow or stich with care.
The gifts her lover gave the maid were bittersweet. Similar stanzas were sung by Jacob Baker in 1905 and are reminiscent of the gifts bestowed on the youngest sister in Twa Sisters[10]. In Sam Henry's Irish version the "gift" stanza in the lad's version appears:
The first thing that she brought me was a necktie to wear,
It was lined with sorrow and bound with care,
She brought me vinegar mixed with gall,
And she gave me blows far worse than all.
These Must I Go Bound versions with the "gift" stanzas are categorized under Roud 18829[11] and are aligned with "The Complaining Maid," and several stanzas of a different song published by Christie called, "The Belt Wi' Colours Three." The Scottish "gift" stanzas appear:
"The firsten thing my lad gae to me
It was a cap well lined wi' lead
And aye the langer that I wore it
It grew the heavier on my head.
Oh for me now there is no comfort
And for me now there is no supplie
Lat ne'er a lass love any young man
Until she know that she lovèd be.
"The nexten thing my lad gae to me
It was a mantle wi' sorrow lined
And lang will I wear that black mantle
Till one to borrow it I find.
Oh for me now there is no comfort, &c.
The thirden thing my lad gae to me
It was a belt wi' colours three
The first was shame the next was sorrow
The last of all sad miserie.
Oh for me now &c.
These gifts prove to be a burden and are unwanted in both "Complaining Maid" and Christie's "The Belt Wi' Colours Three." In the modern arrangements the "Oh for me now" chorus has been replaced by the "Must I Be Bound" stanza which is sung as the chorus. A number of modern arrangements have been made which are usually titled "Must I Be Bound?" Here's June Tabor's version from "Quiet Eye"[12]:
Must I be bound while you go free?
Must I love one who never loved me?
Must I enact such a childish part
And follow one who will break my heart?
The first thing that my love gave me,
It was a cap well lined with lead.
The longer that I wore that cap,
It grew the heavier on my head.
You gave me a mantle for to wear,
Lined with grief and stitched with care.
And the drink you gave me was bitter gall
And the blows you gave to me were worse than all.
And the last thing that my love gave me gave me,
It was a belt with colours three.
And the first was pain and the next was sorrow
And the last it was sad misery.
But I will climb up that high, high tree,
And I will rob that wild bird's nest
And I will fall without a fear
And find me one that loves me the best.
These "modern adaptations" with the gift stanzas are the most common "Must I Go(Be) Bound" titles. A quite different version closely aligned with Died for Love and family member, Butcher Boy was collected in Nova Scotia[13].
Must I Go Bonds[14] [Bound] - sung by Peter Dyer (Colored. Born in Barcelona, Spain. Aged about 55). Came to the United States at an early age, and settled in Nova Scotia about 20 years ago. Retired grocer, Yarmouth.
Must I go bonds[bound], must I go free,
Must I love a man that don't love me?
And must I act the childish part,
To marry a man that'll break my heart?
1. Last night my lover promised me
That he would take me across the deep blue sea.
But now he's gone an' left me alone,
I'm an orphan girl without any home.
Must I go bonds, must I go free,
Must I love a man that don't love me?
And must I act the childish part,
To marry a man that'll break my heart?
2. There was a place in London town
Where my true love sat himself down.
He takes another girl on his knee,
And tells to her what he won't tell me.
Must I go bonds, must I go free,
Must I love a man that don't love me?
And must I act the childish part,
To marry a man that'll break my heart?
"Must I go bonds(bound)" is the chorus and the first stanza is found in Died for Love and 7Ua, Young Ladies (Little Sparrow). the second stanza is common to many of the core Died for Love songs including Alehouse, Brisk Young Lover, I Wish I Wish and Butcher Boy.
Conclusions
The ubiquitous "Must I Go Bound" stanzas are archaic floating stanzas found in a variety of songs and ballads. The stanza is commonly added to certain Died for Love songs and their extended family, in particular, US versions of Blue-Eyed Boy and Butcher Boy and UK versions of I am a Rover. Since the "Must I Go Bound?" stanza is included in The Unfortunate Swain/Picking Lilies broadsides aligned with Deep in Love/Waly,Waly/Water is Wide, the stanza may be found in these songs.
Recent titles of "Must I Be Bound" include the "gift" stanzas found in "The Complaining Maid," and Sam Henry's two published versions. The gift stanzas from Christie's "The Belt Wi' Colours Three" have been added to arrangements since the 1960s (See: Sedley's "Seeds of Love," 1967) and are the common added "gift" stanzas sung today. Hughes collected Irish version titled "Must I Go Bound" has also been a source of the "Must I Go Bound" titles.
See Died for Love and the Appendices for further examples.
R. Matteson 2017]
___________________________
Footnotes:
1. Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, II, 1881, 226-7
2. Sam Henry's Songs of the People by Gale Huntington, Lani Herrmann - 2010
3. Posted by Bruce Olsen on Mudcat; See complete text on p.97 of Publications of the Ballad Society, Volume 4 by Ballad Society.
4. This line always seemed like a word was missing: Shall I be bound, that [she] may be free?
5. Posted by Bruce Olsen on Mudcat; see his website.
6. Exempla Moralia: Or, a Second Book of New English Examples- Thomas Morell - 177.
7. "Bring Back My Blue Eyed Boy" sung by Arthur Tanner, banjo and Riley Puckett, guitar, on the April 12, 1929 recording, Columbia 15577-D.
8. Taken from "The Rover," a broadside from H.P. Such, while he was at 177 Union st. and Borough, Londonc. 1972.
9. "Deep in Love," first published by Baring-Gould, has become the master title for versions of Unfortunate Swain/Waly, Waly in the Roud index. See notes for "Deep in Love."
10. Twa Sister, Child version Y has: "He bought the younger a beaver hat/The eldest she thought much of that."
11. This Roud number is used for any songs or ballads related to The Unfortunate Swain/Pickin' Lilies. Unfortunately some of the songs are different and should be separated.
12. A Quiet Eye (1999- Topic TSCD510) is an album recorded by June Tabor, an English folk singer.
13. From "Folklore from Nova Scotia," collected by Arthur Huff Fauset (1899-1983), New York: American Folk-Lore Society: G.E. Stechert and Co., Agents, 1931.
14. "Bonds" is obviously a corruption of "bound" which is substituted throughout.
___________________________________________________________
Several Related texts:
"The Complaining Lover - A New Song" (ca. 1795, Madden Ballads 2-1082, ESTC T198961):
Must I be bound that can go free,
Must I love one that loves not me.
Let reason rule thy wretched mind,
Altho' I wink I am not blind.
He loves another one he loves not me,
No cares he for my company,
He loves another I'll tell you why
Because she has more gold than I.
Gold will wast and Silver will flys,
In time she may have as little as I,
Had I but gold and Silver in store,
He would like me as he has done before.
He gave me honey mixt with gall,
He gave me words and blows withal,
He bought me a dilacte [sic! i. e. delicate] Gown to wear,
Hem'd with sorrow and stich'd with care.
If I should gain my Liberty,
In a short time I shall get free,
I will buy me a dilacate gown to wear,
Not hem'd with sorrow or stich with care.
No Vallintine shall ev'r me see,
No wanton Lad shall lie with me,
No man shall come a near my ground,
'Until I see my loves health go round.
Tis his healthe I mean to drink,
From his arms I never will shrink,
He has my heart with a free good will,
And wherever he goes I will love him still.
My love he is not Black but he is brown,
And still he is worthy to where [sic! i. e. wear] a crown,
He has a handsome foot and a delicate toe
And a Blessing go with him wherever he goes.
______________________
British Library - Roxburghe 3.560 dated c. 1710. [Gifts]
THE Complaining Maid.
LONG time Ive been married, teh most of my grief,
Long time Ive been marryd and find no relief,
Long time Ive been marryd and still am a maid,
I am ruind, I am ruind, I am ruind she said.
I gave her fine sugar plumbs every night,
And told her there could be no greater delight,
No greater delight can be for a bride,
I am ruind. Im ruind she cryd.
I gave her fine ribbons all gilded with gold,
And many a story unto her I told,
But still she flew on me like a bird on a tree.
I am ruind, I am ruind, I am ruind she said.
My father gave me five acres of Land,
My mother gave me five hundred pounds,
And I kept it all for the sake of a man,
I am ruind, I am ruind, I am ruind do all that I can.
.
My husband lies by me like one thats bewitchd,
Fot the hem of my garment he ever will touch,
And I do lie by him like a distressd wife,
I am weary, I am weary, I am weary of my life.
I wishd that hed do as my neighbours have done,
To get me a delicate daughter or son,
For I long to enjoy the sweet gossiping erew,
[I] am ruind; I am ruind and what shall I do.
From Sharp's MS. The second one was from James Thomas (1906, Karpeles 35B, p. 172; Sharp Ms.: CJS2/9/989 (text), CJS2/10/923 (tune) at The Full English Digital Archive). Sharp used two of his four verses for the extended text published in 1916:
12. "Waly, Waly (Down In The Meadows)", sung by James Thomas (89), Somerset, 1906, collected by Cecil Sharp, from Karpeles, Sharp Collection, No. 35 B, p. 172
O down in the meadows the other day
A-gathering flowers both rich and gay,
A-gathering flowers both red and blue,
I little thought what love could do.
Where love is planted there do grow,
It buds and blossoms just like some rose,
For it has a sweet and a pleasant smell,
No flower on earth can it excel.
I fetched my back once against an oak,
I thought it had been some trusty tree,
For the first it bent and the next it broke,
So did my love prove false to me.
Must I go bound and she go free?
Must I love one that don't love me?
Why should I act such a childish part
To love a girl that will break my heart?
-----------------
Baring Gould from MS
B. "Shall I Be Bound?" Taken down from Mary Sacherly, an old woman at Huckaby Bridge, Dartmoor, learned it from her father, a famous singer.
1. Shall I be bound, & she be free?
Shall I love one that loves not me?
Shall I play such a childish part?
For woman’s love to break my heart?
2. Ten thousand lovers in the room,
But my true love’s the fairest bloom.
I’m sure she is the fairest one
I will have her, or else have none.
3. I saw a ship come sailing by,
As heavily laden as she might be.
But not so deep in love as I.
I care not if I sink or swim.
4. Down in a meadow t’other day
A plucking flowers red and blue,
[I wandered doleful on my way,] [1]
And little thought what love can do.
5. I put my hand into a bush
[I thought a lovely rose to find, [1]
I pricked my finger to the bone
And left my lovely rose behind.]
1. Filled in by Baring-Gould
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In Belden, "Ballads and Songs Collected by the Missouri Folk-Lore Society," as noted by Gargoyle, the "Must I go (be) bound" verse appears in three of the four versions of the "The Blue-Eyed Boy that he collected in 1909-1911. None has the mantle or vinegar-gall lines. Two involve a girl who is going away and in one the boy departs, leaving "an orphant girl without a home."
In a footnote, Belden suggests the song goes back to the 17th c. (Roxburghe Ballads VII 104-5), but not which verse(s). he does say "divers images or motifs seem to have been gathered around a refrain stanza (Bring me back the blue-eyed boy) which gives the name to the song."
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Christie's
THE BELT WI' COLOURS THREE
The moon shined bright upon my pillow
Into the chamber where I lay
I could not sleep that cauld winter's night
But up I rose at the break o' day
And though the nicht was cauld and frosty
My mantle green held me in heat
I did me down unto the garden
And gaed in at the garden yett.
And there I heard a fair maid sighing
And tearing at her yellow hair
She was tearing a' her dark green claithing
And fyling a' her face sae fair
She cried, "For me there is no comfort
And for me now there is no supplie
Lat ne'er a lass love any young man
Until she know that she lovèd be.
"The firsten thing my lad gae to me
It was a cap well lined wi' lead
And aye the langer that I wore it
It grew the heavier on my head.
Oh for me now there is no comfort
And for me now there is no supplie
Lat ne'er a lass love any young man
Until she know that she lovèd be.
"The nexten thing my lad gae to me
It was a mantle wi' sorrow lined
And lang will I wear that black mantle
Till one to borrow it I find.
Oh for me now there is no comfort, &c.
The thirden thing my lad gae to me
It was a belt wi' colours three
The first was shame the next was sorrow
The last of all sad miserie.
Oh for me now &c.
But I may climb as high a tree yet
And there find out as rich a nest
And come down from it without e'er falling
And marry a lad that I may loe best."
Though for me now &c.
"Oh why should ye now climb a tree, may
Or pull the cherries ere they be ripe
For if the gardener do ance you see, may
He'll throw you o'er the garden dyke."
Then up she rose and gaed on slowly
And stately steppèd o'er the lea
And by this samin it is weel kenin'
That mourners crave nae company.
Christie notes, "The Editor can trace this beautiful old Air and Ballad, through his relatives, far into the last century". It is not possible to judge the extent of editorial intervention here, but it may be considerable. Bronson notes that Christie's second strains seem generally to be of his own making.
It appears that the song has not been found independently elsewhere in anything like this form (but see the two Sam Henry Must I go Bound texts above, which borrow a few lines; quite possibly from this printed text rather than from tradition): the text in Ord, Bothy Ballads (1930, 194-5) appears to derive from Christie. A shortened text, lacking Christie's second strain (but specifically adapted from his example) was recorded by Alison MacMorland in 1977, and probably by now other people are singing her re-write of it, which is transcribed in Ailie Munroe, The Folk Music Revival in Scotland, Norwood Editions, 1985, 115-7, and in Sheila Douglas, Come Gie's a Sang, Edinburgh: Hardie Press, 1995, 108.