Lord Lovel- Kneeland (ME) c1864 Flanders E
[My date. From Flanders; Ancient Ballads; 1966, version E. James Henry Kneeland (b. July 20, 1843) married Amanda H. Crockett, of Stockton, ME on March 23, 1867. She was born May 6, 1849 and also sang the ballad. His father, Edward, was born in 1783 in Prospect, MA. His mother, Charlotte Black, was Edward's second wife.
There's no telling where James learned this - I suspect it may have been in the Civil War when he served with Company K, 26th Maine Volunteers.
R. Matteson 2014]
Lord Lovel
(Child 75)
Phillips Barry in British Ballads from Maine, 145-47, gives a good history of this song, telling of its popularity among the nineteenth-century printers and the many uses it served for political parody and music hall gaiety. The American versions which are known wherever ballads are sung almost all stem from the same tradition as Child H, an 1846 London broadside. American printers reproduced texts from this tradition throughout the period between the Mexican and Civil Wars. The Flanders versions are in no way exceptional and are much what one would expect to find. As with texts from other areas, the original name of the church, St. Pancras (see E), has undergone radical modification, but all in all proximity to print has held variation to a minimum. The tune to "Lord Lovel" is also consistent. In South Carolina Ballads (Cambridge, Mass., 1928), 121, Reed Smith comments that "the difference between reading [Lord Lovel] as a poem and singing it is the difference between tragedy and comedy." The use of a tune that is too light for the story no doubt accounts for the tact that parodies have turned up in Maine, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Missouri, among other places, in this country (see Coffin, 79, for a bibliography) and in Scotland (see Greig and Keith, 57) abroad. Bibliographical references can be had in Coffin, 78-79 (American); Dean-Smith, 85 (English); and Greig and Keith, 57-58 (Scottish).
The five tunes given here are related, four of them very closely. Only the Fish tune diverges. In order to save repetition of references, the related tunes for the group consisting of the Grindell, Moore, Britton, and Pierce. Tunes are given here: SAA,20; SSC, 122; Sharp , 149 (C), 149 (D and E), 116 (distant), and 147 (distant); AA, 124; DV,524, No. 20 (E, L, and O); EO, 39, 40; BES, 139 (not too close); BI, 92. obviously this tune group is very widespread and its correlation with the Child 75 text is great.
E. Lord Lovel. The following words were taken, down by Mrs. Bertha J. Kneeland of Searsport, Maine, in 1914, from the singing of her father-in-law, James Henry Kneeland, whose grandfather Edward Kneeland came to Cape Jellison from Boston about 1785. Frank E. Kneeland states that "This was much sung by Grandmothers Crockett and Kneeland." M. Olney, Collector
July 17, 1941.
Lord Lovel, he stood at his castle gate,
Combing his milk-white steed
When up came Lady Nancy Belle
To wish her lover God-speed-
To wish her lover God-speed.
"Where are you going, Lord Lovel?" she said,
"O, where are you going?" said she,
"I'm going, my Lady Nancy Belle,
Strange countries for to see
Strange countries for to see."
"When will you be back, Lord Lovel?" she said,
"O, when will you come back?" said she'
"In a year or two, or three at the most,
I'll return to my fair Nancy-
I'll return to my fair Nancy."
But he had not been gone a year and a day,
Strange countries for to see,
When languishing thoughts came into his head,
Lady Nancy Belle he would go to see*
Lady Nancy Belle he would go to see'
so he rode and he rode on his milk-white steed
Till he came to London town,
And there he heard Saint Pancras' bells
And the people all mourning 'round-
And the people all mourning 'round'
"O, what is the matter?" Lord Lovel, he said.
"O, what is the matter?" said he.
"A lord's lady is dead," a woman replied,
"And some call her Lady Nancy
And some call her Lady Nancy."
So he ordered the grave to be opened wide,
And the shroud, he turned down,
And there he kissed her clay-cold lips
Till the tears came trickling down
Till the tears came trickling down.
Lady Nancy, she died as it might be today,
Lord Lovel, he died as tomorrow;
Lady Nancy, she died out of pure, pure grief,
Lord Lovel, he died out of sorrow
Lord Lovel, he died out of sorrow.
Lady Nancy was laid in St. Pancras' church,
Lord Lovel was laid in the choir,
And out of her bosom there grew a red rose,
And out of her lover's a briar,
And out of her lover's a briar.
They grew and they grew to the church steeple top,
And then they could grow no higher,
So there they entwined in a true lovers' knot
For all lovers true to admire-
For all lovers true to admire.