Lord Lovell- Bundy (WS) c.1892 Stratman-Thomas
[My date. From Folk Music from Wisconsin AFS L55 - Library of Congress (online and PDF). Notes from Helene Stratman-Thomas follow. Also from Peters: Folk Songs Out of Wisconsin (1977) pp.202-203. Winifred Bundy was born in 1884. Lord Lovell was a song that was sung in her home in her earliest memory, and one that her grandfather sang.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
References: Chappell, pp. 27-28; Child, pp. 159-161; Cox, pp. 78-82; Eddy, pp. 39-45; Flanders and Brown, pp. 215-216; Gardner and Chickering, pp. 43-45; Linscott, pp. 233-235; Motherwell, pp. 203-204; Percy, pp. 358-360, p. 399; Pound, American Ballads , pp. 4-7; Randolph, I, pp. 112-115; Sandburg, p. 70; Scarborough, pp. 98-103; Sharp, English Songs , I, pp. 146-149.
LORD LOVEL (Child No. 75)- Sung by Winifred Bundy at Madison, 1941. Recorded by Robert F. Draves and Helene Stratman-Thomas. Miss Bundy's earliest memories went back to the singing of "Lord Lovel" by her grandfather, James D. Morgan. This version bears a close similarity to many of those collected in the southern states and in Ohio. Miss Bundy firmly believed that her version is one handed down in her grandfather's family in England and came with him to Canada and then to Wisconsin at the time of the Civil War.
Miss Bundy's style of singing "Lord Lovel" is wellexpressed in Sandburg's quotation of Reed Smith of the University of South Carolina: "'Lord Lovel' clearly shows how necessary it is to deal with ballads as songs and not merely as poems. The text of 'Lord Lovel' is sad and mournful. The tune, however, is lilting and rollicking, and with the triple repetition of the last word of the fourth line, turns the tear into a smile. The difference between reading it as a poem and singing it as a song is the difference between tragedy and comedy."
In the closing verses of "Lord Lovel" the love after death motif is expressed by the rose and the briar growing from the graves of the departed lovers, and entwining toward Heaven. Motherwell states, "This phenomenon is common to all ballads, in which two lovers are buried near each other."
Lord Lovel he stood at his castle gate,
A-combing his milk-white steed,
When along came Lady Nancy·Belle,
A-wishing her lover good speed, speed, speed,
A-wishing her lover good speed.
"O where are you going? Lord Lovel," she cried,
"O where are you going?" cried she.
"I'm going, my dear Lady Nancy Belle,
Strange countries for to see, see, see,
Strange countries for to see."
"When will you be back, Lord Lovel?" she cried,
"When will you be back?" cried she.
"In a year or two, or three, or more,
I'll return to you, Lady Nancy, cy, cy,
I'll return to you, Lady Nancy."
He had not been gone but a year and a day,
Strange countries for to see,
When languishing thoughts came into his mind,
Lady Nancy Belle he would see, see, see
Lady Nancy Belle he would see.
He rode and he rode on bis milk-white steed,
'Till he came to London town,
And there he beard the church bells ring,
And the people all mourning around, round, round,
And the people all mourning around.
"O who is dead?" Lord Lovel he said,
"O who is dead?" said he.
"A lady is dead," the people all said,
"And they call her the Lady Nancy, cy, cy,
And they call her the Lady Nancy."
He ordered the grave to be opened forthwith,
The shroud to be folded down,
And there he kissed her clay-cold lips,
Till the tears came trickling down, down, down,
Till the tears came trickling down.
Lady Nancy she died as it might be today;
Lord Lovel he died tomorrow.
Lady Nancy she died out of pure, pure grief;
Lord Lovel he died out of sorrow, sorrow, sorrow,
Lord Lovel he died out of sorrow.
Lady Nancy was laid in the cold church-yard;
Lord Lovel was laid in the chair,
And out of her bosom there grew a red rose,
And out of his backbone, a briar, briar, briar,
And out of his backbone a briar.
They grew and they grew till they reached the church top,
And they couldn't grow up any higher.
And there they entwined in a true lovers' knot,
Such as true lovers ever admire, mire, mire,
Such as true lovers ever admire.
------------------------