Lord Lovel- Ritchie (KY) 1961 REC
[From FOLKWAYS RECORDS Album No. FA 2301 recording in 1961: CHILD BALLADS IN AMERICA, Volume 1 sung by Jean Ritchie. Notes by KENNETH S. GOLDSTEIN follow.
This could be from print source given her by her Uncle Jason. The ballad is not well known in Kentucky trough oral circulation.
R. Matteson 2015]
SIDE II, Band 2: LORD LOVEL (Child #15 )
When compared with many of the Child ballads, "Lord Lovel" is a ballad of rather recent vintage, the earliest known text dating from the last quarter of the 18th century. The ballad is very popular in America in texts which are all pretty similar. Almost all versions collected in this century in both Britain and America follow Child's H text, an English broadside from the middle of the 19th century. Undoubtedly both its popularity and the standardized form of the text are due to its frequent appearance in print, as it was published frequently in 19th century songsters and broadsides in this country.
Several scholars have commented on the seeming incongruity of the ballad text to its tune. Reed Smith (in "South Carolina Ballads", p. 121) writes: "The difference between reading it as a poem and singing it as a song is the difference between tragedy and comedy." A.K. Davis (in "Traditional Ballads of Virginia", pp. 240-241) in referring to the delightfully rollicking tunes to which the text is sung, comments: "They are quite out of harmony with the deep tragedy of the ballad story. To sing the tune is to mitigate the tragedy, perhaps even to run the risk of burlesquing it." And indeed, the ballad has been frequently burlesqued, and numerous parodies have been sung widely throughout the Southern states.
Jean Ritchie's version was learned from her uncle Jason.
For additional texts and information, see: Child, Volume II, p. 204 ff.; Coffin, pp. 18-19; Dean-Smith, p. 85; Greig-Keith, pp. 51-58; Sharp, Volume I, pp. 146-149; DaviS, pp. 146-151; Brown Collection, Volume II, p. 84-88.
SIDE II, Band 2: LORD LOVEL
(Child #75)
Lord Lovel he stood at his castle gate
A-combin' his milk-white steed,
When up care Lady Nancybell
To wish her lover good speed, -good speed,
To wish her lover good speed.
Where are you goin', Lord Lovel, she said,
Oh where are you goin', said she.
I'm goin', my Lady Nancybell,
Strange countries for to see, - to see,
Strange countries for to see.
When will you be back, Lord Lovel, she said,
Oh when will you come back, said she.
In a year or two or three at the most
I'll return to my fair Nancy , -Nancy,
I'll return to my fair Nancy.
But he hadn't been gone a year and a day,
Strange countries for to see,
When languishing thoughts came into his head,
Lady Nancybell he'd go see, -go see,
Lady Nancybell he'd go see.
So he rode and he rode on his milk-white steed
Till he came to London town,
And there he heard those parish bells ring
And the people go mournin' around, -around,
And the people go mournin' around .
Oh what is the matter? Lord Lovel he said,
Oh what is the matter, said he.
A lord's lady's dead, a woman she said,
And some call her Lady Nancy, -Nancy,
And some calls her Lady Nancy.
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 tricklin' down, tricklin' down,
Till the tears came tricklin' 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, of sorrow,
Lord Lovel he died out of sorrow.
Lady Nancy was laid in St. Francise's 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, -iar, 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 lover's knot
For all true lovers to admire, -admire,
For all true lovers to admire.