Lord Lovel- Busbee (NC) pre1925 Scarborough
[From: On The Trail Of Negro Folk-Songs; Dorothy Scarborough 1925, p. 55. Scarborough also reported this: Miss Lucy T. Latane reports a version entitled Lord Lovell and Lady Nancy Bell, which her mother and aunt learned from their Negro mammy in Louisa County, Virginia, in the forties.
R. Matteson 2015]
"Lord Lovel." Sung by Mr. Busbee, North Carolina; learned from his Negro nurse, Mammy Mahaly.
Lord Lovel, he stood at his castle wall,
A-combin' his milk-white steed;
Lady Nancy Bell came a-ridin' by,
To wish her fond lover good speed, speed, speed,
To wish her fond lover good speed.
"Oh, where are you goin', Lord Lovel?" she said.
"Oh, where are you goin'?" said she.
"I'm goin' away for a year an' a day,
Strange countries for to see, see, see,
Strange countries for to see."
He hadn't been gone but a year an' a day,
Strange countries for to see,
When very strange thoughts came into his head
About his Lady Nancy-cy-cy,
About his Lady Nancy.
He rode an' he rode all a long summer day,
Till he came to London town.
An' there he met a funeral,
An' the people a-moumin' around, round, round,
An' the people a-mournin' around.
"Oh, who is dead?" Lord Lovel he said,
"Oh, who is dead?" said he.
"It's my lord's lady," an old woman said,
"Some call her the Lady Nancy-cy-cy,
Some call her the Lady Nancy."
He ordered the bier to be opened wide,
The shroud to be folded down.
An' then he kissed her clay-cold lips,
An' the tears they come trinklin' down, down, down,
An' the tears they come trinklin' down.
Lady Nancy she died as it mought be to-day,
Lord Lovel he died to-morrow.
Lady Nancy she dies outen pure, pure grief,
Lord Lovel he died outen sorrow-row-row,
Lord Lovel he died outen sorrow.
Lady Nancy they buried by the tall church spire,
Lord Lovel they buried beside her.
And outen her bosom they grew a red rose,
And outen his 'n a brier-rier-rier,
And outen his 'n a brier.
They grew an' they grew to the tall steeple top,
An' there they could get no higher.
An' there they entwined in a true lovers' knot,
Which all true lovers admire-rire-rire,
Which all true lovers admire.