Lord Lovel- Rogers/Luellen (NH-PA) 1845 Flanders D
[My date. From Flanders; Ancient Ballads; 1966, version D. This is from either the mother from Pennsylvania, Ruth Dodd Luellen (b. 1837), or the father, Daniel Farrand Rogers (b. 1828), who may have learned them from his father, Peabody Nathaniel Rogers, born in 1794.
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.
D. Mrs. Frederic P. Lord of Hanover, New Hampshire, loaned for copying a manuscript in the family heritage of the Rogers family, formerly of Plymouth, New Hampshire, now of Long Beach, California. Among early forebears was Peabody Nathaniel Rogers, a graduate of Dartmouth in 1816, who became a lawyer and, an abolitionist in concord, where he published a paper called The Herald. Because of his independent views, he and his family were ostracized in the community; he [was] excommunicated [from] the church in Concord! These songs were taught either by the mother from Pennsylvania, Ruth Dodd Luellen, or the father, Daniel Farrand Rogers, who may have learned them from his father, Peabody Nathaniel Rogers, born in 1794. Copied literatim et punctatim.
Lord Lovel
Lord Lovel he stood in the castle gate
A-combin' his milk-white steed,
Lady Nancy, she came a-ridin' by,
A-wishin' her lover good speed, speed, speed,
A-wishin' her lover good speed.
"Oh where are you going, Lady Nancy?" she said,
"Oh! where are you going?" cried she'
"I'm going away from my Nancy Bell," dear
Strange countries for to see, see, see,
Strange countries for to see.
"When will you be back?" Lady Nancy, she said
"When will You be back?" cried she,
"In a Year or two or three at most
I'll be back to my Lady Nancee, cee, cee,
I'll be back to my Lady Nancee."
He hadn't been gone but a year and a day,
Strange countries for to see,
When a languishing thought came into his mind,
His Nancy Bell he must see, see, see,
His Nancy Bell he must see.
So he rode and he rode all on his white steed,
Till he came to London town;
And there he heard St. Sepulchre's bell
And the people all mournin' around, 'round, 'round,
And the people all mournin' around.
"Is anyone dead?" Lord Lovel he said,
"Is anyone dead?" cried he.
"The Lord's daughter is dead," the people said,
And her name it is called Nancee, cee, cee
And her name it is called Nancee.
He ordered the tomb to be opened straight away,
And the shroud to be folded down,
And he kissed Lady Nancy's clay cold brow,
And the tears came a-trick-el-in' down, down, down,
And the tears came a-trick-el-in'down.
Lady Nancy she died as it were today,
Lord Lovel he died tomorrow;
Lady Nancy she died of pure true love,
Lord Lovel he died of sorrow, sorrow, sorrow,
Lord Lovel he died of sorrow.
Lady Nancy was buried all in the churchyard,
Lord Lovel was buried right by her,
And out of her grave there grew a red rose,
And out of her lover's a brier, rier, rier,
And out of her lover's a brier.
They grew and they grew to the steeple's top,
Till they couldn't grow any higher;
And there they entwined a true lover's knot
For true lovers to admire, mire, mire,
For true lovers to admire.