[Bow Your Bend To Me] The Two Sisters- Jean Ritchie (KY) c. 1930, Recorded 1946
[Ritchie's title. From Jean Ritchie, Child Ballads Traditional in the United States, recording by Moser in 1946. In Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians as Sung by Jean Ritchie, Jean said she learned this from her sister, Una Ritchie when she was very small (c. 1930). Jean titles it after the refrain, Bow Your Bend To Me.
Notes from the recording follow.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
THE TWO SISTERS (Child No. 10)
A1. [(c) Sung by Jean Ritchie of Viper, Kentucky, 1946. Recorded by Artus Moser.]
"The Two Sisters" has been very popular among Scandinavians and English-speaking people for many generations. It tells a tragic story of sisterly jealousy and murder; but when it first appeared in print, about the middle of the seventeenth century, it had already been refashioned for burlesque" uses; and, judging by its widespread employment in this country at "play-parties" as a dancing-song during the last hundred years or so, it has not been taken with complete seriousness in later times.
In a less sceptical era, the song seems to have contained a strong infusion of the supernatural, involving a primitive belief that a departed spirit may take up residence in other physical forms, --in birds, animals, or plant or even retain the power of utterance through some more enduring part of its former human domicile, as bones or hair. So here, the body of the drowned sister, transformed into a tree, could be fashioned into a musical instrument whieh revealed the guilt of the murderess at the latter's wedding. In a more fanciful version, from eighteenthcentury Scotland, a harper comes by the miller's dam, looks upon the drowned beauty with compassion and strings his harp with three locks of her yellow hair, which thereupon reveal the secret
-For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak With most miraculous organ.
Miss Ritchie's version is a good example of the ballad as commonly sung in the 'southern half of the United States. The repeating lines and full refrain reduce the burden of memory" and enable the singers to give most of the attention to the dance. The refrain, though irrelevant, has been associated with the ballad for at least a century, and certainly alleviates the sombre cast of the narrative --an effect which is furthered by the gay and lilting tune.
[Bow Your Bend To Me]- Jean Ritchie, from her sister Una.
1. There lived an old lord by the Northern Sea
Bow down
There lived an old lord by the Northern Sea
Bow your bend to me
There lived an old lord by the Northern Sea
And he had daughters, one, two, three
I'll be true to my love
If my love will be true to me.
2. A young man came a-courting there,
Bow down
A young man came a-courting there,
Bow your bend to me
A young man came a-courting there,
And he took choice of the youngest fair,
I'll be true to my love
If my love will be true to me.
3. He gave the youngest a gay gold ring,
Bow down He gave the youngest a gay gold ring,
Bow your bend to me
He gave the youngest a gay gold ring,
The oldest not a single thing,
I'll be true to my love
If my love will be true to me.
4. O sister, O sister, let us walk out,
Bow down
O sister, O sister, let us walk out,
Bow your bend to me
O sister, O sister, let us walk out,
To where the ships go sailing about,
I'll be true to my love
If my love will be true to me.
5. As they walked by the salty brim,
Bow down
As they walked by the salty brim,
Bow your bend to me
As they walked by the salty brm,
The oldest pushed the youngest in,
I'll be true to my love
If my love will be true to me.
6. O sister, O sister, lend me your hand,
Bow down
O sis'ter, O sister, lend me your hand,
Bow your bend to me
O sister, O stster, lend me your hand
I will give you my house and land,
I'll be true to my love
If my love will be true to me.
7. I'll neither lend you hand nor glove
Bow down
I'll neither lend you hand nor glove
Bow your bend to me
I'll neither lend you hand nor glove
But I will have your own true love,
I'll be true to my love
If my love will be true to me.
8. Down she sank and away she swam,
Bow down
Down she sank and away she swam,
Bow your bend to me
O, down she sank and away she swam,
Into the miller's pond she ran,
I'll be true to my love
If my love will be true to me.
9. O miller, O miller, go draw your dam,
Bow down
O miller, O miller, go draw your dam,
Bow your bend to me
O miller, O miller, go draw your dam,
Here's either a mermaid or a swan,
I'll be true to my love
If my love will be true to me.
10. He robbed her of her gay gold ring,
Bow down
He robbed her of her gay gold ring,
Bow your bend to me
He robbed her of her gay gold ring,
And then he pushed her in again,
I'll be true to my love
If my love will be true to me.