Lord Lovel- Bullard (MO) 1925 Randolph B
[From Vance Randolph; Ozark Folksongs Vol. 1; 1946. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
See also Scarborough (On the Trail of Negro Folk-Songs, 1925, p. 55), Sandburg (American Songbag, 1927, p. 70), Reed Smith (South Carolina Ballad. 1928, p. 12l), Shay (Drawn from the Wood, 1929, p. 134), Davis (Traditional Ballads of Virginia, 1929, p. 240), tarkana (Southern Folklore Quarterly 2, 1938, p. 69), Chappell (Folk-Songs of Roanoke and the Albemarle, 1939,pp.
27-28), Eddy (Ballads and Songs from Ohio, 1939, pp. 39-45), Gardner (Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan, 1939, pp.43-45), Linscott (Folk Songs of Old New England, 1939, p. 233), Belden (Ballad's and Songs, 1940, pp. 52-54), Brewster (Ballads and Songs of Indiana, 1940, pp. 79-91), Morris (Southern Folklore Quarterly 8, 1944, p. 150), the Brown North Carolina Folk-lore Society) collection, where it appears as "Lady Nancibel," etc., and also the references in JAFL (29, 1916, p. 160, n. 1).
The popularity of this piece made it a great favorite with the parodists; see Tony Pastor's New Union Song Book (New York, 1862, p. 66) and Frank Moore's Songs of the Soldiers (New York, 1864, p- 17$. R. G. White's Poetry of the Civil War (New York, 1866, p. 115) contains a satirical song beginning "Lord Lovell he sat in the St. Charles hotel"- a reference to General Mansfield Lovell, who commanded the Confederate troops in New Orleans. A parody in which Abraham Lincoln figured was once very poplular in the South (Allan's Lone Star Ballads, Galveston, Texas, 1874, p. 31), and there is a good modern take-off in Carolyn Wells' parody Anthology (New York, 1904, p. 326).
B. Lord Lovel. The ballad sung by Mrs. Linnie Bullard, Pineville, Mo., Nov. 10, 1925, has several slightly different stanzas:
Lord Lovel was a-standin' at his old castle gate,
A-combin' down his rnilk white steed,
Lady Nancy she come a-ridin' by
A-wishin' her lover good speed.
Oh where are you a-goin', Lord Lovel, she says,
Oh where are you a-goin', says she,
To some far country for to see,
To some far country for to see.
How long 'll you be gone, Lord Lovel, she says,
How long 'll you be gone, says she,
A year or two, or three at the furtherest,
An' then I'll return to my Lady Nancy.