Lord Dannel's Wife- Ford (NC) 1916 Sharp F
[My title, Lord Dannel's (Daniel's) Wife. From Sharp/Campbell English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians I. Also in Sharp/Karpeles 1932, p. 161-182, versions A-Q. Notes from 1932 edition and notes from Sharp's diary follow.
The last verse of Sharp F is repeated. Verse 1 is irregular so Sharp wrote the music for verse 2. The text of the last stanza is also found in Child 73, Lord Thomas.
R. Matteson 2012, 2015]
1932 Edition Notes: No. 23. Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard.
Texts without tunes:— Child s English and Scottish Popular Ballads, No. 81. Reed Smith's South Carolina Ballads, p. 125. Cox's Folk Songs of the South, p. 94. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxiii. 371; xxv. 182.
Texts with tunes:—Rimbault's Musical Illustrations of Percy's Reliques, p. 92. Chappel's Popular Music of the Olden Times, i. 170. MotherwelJ's Minstrelsy,
Appendix, tune No. 21. W. R. Mackenzie's Ballads and Sea Songs of Nova Scotia, No. 8. Wyman and Brockway's Twenty Kentucky Mountain Songs, pp. 22 and 62. Journal of American Folk-Lore, xxx. 309. British Ballads from Maine, p. 150. Davis's Traditional Ballads of Virginia, pp. 289 and 577.
Sharp diary 1916 page 281. Monday 18 September 1916 - Asheville — Black Mountain [Friend/relative of Mrs. Buckner?]
Got our trunks off at 7.30 and ourselves at 8.30 to catch the 8.50 to Black Mountain, to find when we got to the station that the train had been changed! Came back & went into Asheville with Campbell to do some shopping. Wrote long letters to Ditson about publication of new f[olk] song book, and to Constance. Finally Maud & I got off by the 2.30 and reached Bl[ack] Mountain at 3.30. Put up at Gresham Hotel — a very second rate affair — and then called on Mrs Buckner from whom we took a dozen songs.
1. Go home with me, little Matthy Groves,
And keep me from the cold.
I wouldn't go home with you to-night
If I know'd it would save your life,
For I can tell by the rings on your fingers
That you're Lord Dannel's wife.
2 Well, if I am Lord Dannel's wife,
Lord Dannel is not at home;
He's gone over yonder to yon bright church
The Holy Word to hear,
The Holy Word to hear.
3 His little foot-page was standing by,
He took to his heels and run;
He run till he came to the broken bridge,
And he laid upon his breast and swum.
4 O Lord Dannel, you'd better go home,
. . . .
Little Matthy Groves in bed with your wife
Keeping her from the cold.
5 I heard Lord Dannel's bugle blow,
Lay still, lay still, little Matthy Groves,
And keep me from the cold,
For it's only my father's shepherd boy
Driving the sheep from the fold.
6 O how do you like my fine feather bed?
And how do you like my sheet?
And how do you like my pretty little wife,
That lies in your arms asleep?
7 Very well do I like your fine feather bed,
Very well do I like your sheet;
Much better do I like your sweet little wife
That lay in my arms asleep.
8 Get up from there, little Matthy Groves,
And put you on your clothes.
I wouldn't have it known in this native land
I'd slain a naked man.
9 I'll get up, put on my clothes,
I'll fight you for my life.
Your two bright swords hang by your side,
And me not even a knife.
10 My two bright swords hang by my side,
They cost me in my purse,
But you shall have the best of them
And I will have the worst.
11 You shall have the very first lick,
You strike it like a man,
And I will take the very next lick,
I'll kill you if I can.
12 Little Matthy had the very first lick,
He struck and hit the floor.
Lord Dannel had the very next lick,
Little Matthy struck no more.
13 He took her by the lily-white hand,
He laid her on his knee.
Which do you like the best of the two,
Little Matthy Groves or me?
14 Very well do I like your red rosy cheeks,
Also your dimpling chin,
Much better do I like little Matthy Groves
Than any of your kin.
15 He took her by the lily-white hand,
He led her in the hall.
He drew his sword, cut off her head
And kicked it against the wall.