Died for Love- Tom Willett (Sus) 1960 REC
[From the recording, The Willett family, “Adieu to Old England” 1963, Topic Records. The liner notes follow.
R. Matteson 2017]
When these songs were recorded by Ken Stubbs, Tom Willett was 82 (born 1878) but he carried his years lightly, and was still a great singer. He spent much of his early life in and around Copthorne, on the Surrey-Sussex border. His main trade was as a horse dealer. His wife came of the well known show family, the Smarts ... Tom also worked as an animal
trainer in their circus. A sideline was training dogs for poaching and cocks for fighting.
Tom learnt most of his songs from his father but, with the quick ear of the singer in the oral tradition, he picked up others in the pub and the circus.
He was always glad of an opportunity to sing, and Chris recalls that his
father never needed beer to start him singing around the camp fire. He
was a close friend of George ‘Pop’ Maynard
2 - 11, Died for Love. Sung by Tom Willett Recorded by Paul Carter, 1962.
Oh, it’s down the green meadow
where the poor girls they roam
A-gathering flowers just as they grow
She gathered her flowers and way she came,
But she left the sweetest rose behind.
Now, there is a flower that I’ve heard say
That never dies nor fades away
But if that flower I could only find
I’d ease my heart and torment his mind.
Now, there is an alehouse where my love goes
Where my love goes and sits himself down
He takes a strange girl on his knee,
Now, don’t you think that’s a grief to me.
Now, a grief an’ old grief, I’ll tell you for why
Because she’s got more gold than I,
But her gold will glitter, her silver will fly
And in a short time she’ll be as poor as I.
Now, my love he is tall and handsome too
My love he is tall and slender too
But carries two hearts in the room of one
Won’t he be a rogue when I’m dead and gone.
Now, dig my grave both long and deep
A marble stone, both head and feet
And in the middle, a turtle dove
To show the wide world I died for love.
Spoken:
That’s it.
This is another recording of the same song to be heard on track 1 - 11, as There is an Alehouse. This favourite lyrical song has been often collected and is still sung in many parts of the countryside. The flower symbolism is sexual and may be compared with that found in such songs as The Seeds of Love; for instance, ‘rose’ in verse 1 of Tom’s song clearly refers to virginity. The country poet John Clare re-made the text of this song into his handsome poem: A Faithless Shepherd. A student re-make is There is a Tavern in the Town.
Roud has 249 entries, more than half of which come from England, and
include 46 sound recordings - indicating that it remained popular well into
the modern era.
The tune used by Tom Willett - one of many tunes attached to this song -
is related to the melody used by (perhaps adapted by) the mid-19th
century stage comedian Sam Cowell in his burlesque version of the ballad
of
Lord Lovel
. Several of Cowell’s tunes gained enormous currency in the
towns and villages
,
e.g.
Villikins and his Dinah
.
Other CD recordings: Sarah Porter (MTCD309-0); Danny Brazil (MTCD345-
7); ‘Pops’ Johnny Connors (MTCD325-6); Alf Wildman (MTCD356-7); Viv
Legg (VT153CD); Jean Orchard (VT151CD); Geoff Ling (TSCD 660); Amy
Birch (TSCD 661); Jasper Smith (TSCD661); Emma Vickers (EFDSS CD
002).