Lord Lovel- Muchler (MI) 1934 Gardner A-C
[From: Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan by Emelyn- Elizabeth Gardner and Geraldine Jencks Chickering, Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press London: Humphrey Milford, Oxford University Press: 1939.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
LORD LOVEL (Child, No. 75)
The Michigan texts most closely resemble Child H, a London broadside of 1846 in Dixon, pp. 78--0. They are very similar to "Lord Lovel and Nancy Bell," Everybody's Songster, pp. 52-54, reprinted by Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, pp. 144-145. This ballad has been so often printed in American songbooks and broadsides that the versions vary only shghtly. For additional texts, notes, and references see Barry, Eckstorm, and Smyth, pp. 139-149; Bulletin, I, 4-5; Cox, pp. 78-82; Davis, pp. 240--259; Eddy, No. 10; Flanders and Brown, pp. 215-216; Gardner, pp. 203-204; Scarborough, On the Trail of Negro Fol\~Songs, pp. 55-56; Scarborough, pp. 98-103; Sharp, I, 146-149; and Smith, pp. 121-124.
"Lord Lovel." Version A was sung in 1934 by Mrs. Charles Muchler, Kalkaska, who learned the song when she was a child.
1. Lord Lovel stood at his castle gate
Combing his milk-white steed,
When up came Lady Nancy Belle
Wishing her lover good speed, good speed,
Wishing her lover good speed.
2. "Where are you going, Lord Lovel?" she said,
"Where are you going?" said she.
"I am going, my Lady Nancy Belle,
Strange countries for to see, see, see,
Strange countries for to see."
3. "When will you be back, Lord Lovel?" she said,
"When will you be back?" said she.
"In a year or two or three at most
I'll return to my Lady Nancy, Nancy,
Til return to you, Lady Nancy."
4 He had not been gone but a year and a day,
Strange countries for to see,
When a languishing thought came into his head
Lady Nancy Belle he'd go see, go see,
Lady Nancy Belle he'd go see.
5 He rode and he rode on his milk-white steed
Till he came to London town,
And there he heard St. Patrick's bell ring
And the people all mourning around, around,
And the people all mourning around.
6 "O what is the matter?" Lord Lovel he said,
"O what is the matter?" said he.
"A lord's lady is dead," an old woman said,
"And some call her Lady Nancy, Nancy,
And some call her Lady Nancy."
7 He ordered the grave to be opened wide,
The shroud to be turned down,
And there he kissed her clay-cold lips
Till the tears came twinkling down, down, down,
Till the tears came twinkling down.
8 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, sorrow, sorrow,
Lord Lovel he died out of sorrow.
9 Lady Nancy was laid in the cold churchyard,
Lord Lovel was laid in the choir;
And out of her bosom there grew a red rose,
And out of Lord Lovel's a briar, briar, briar,
And out of Lord Lovel's a briar.
10. They grew and they grew to the church steeple top,
And there they could grow no higher;
So there they entwined in a true lover's knot,
For all true lovers to admire, admire, admire,
For all true lovers to admire.
B. Obtained in 1930 by Miss Ruth Barnes, Ypsilanti, from Miss Muriel Barr, who lad learned the song from her grandmother, Mrs. Guana Ryan, Munith, Michigan. Mrs. Ryan's brother-in-law, Mr. John Ryan, an Irish tailor, often sang this ballad as he worked. A good text of nine stanzas
C. Sung in 1934 by Mr. Chauncey Leach, Kalkaska, who learned the song from his sister-in-law, Mrs. Sarah Leach, about 1895, in Isabella County, Michigan A good text of nine stanzas.