Lord Lovell- Havens (VT) 1932 Flanders G
[From Flanders; Ancient Ballads; 1966, version G.
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.
G. Lord Lovell. Sent by Mrs. Minnie S. Havens, Chester, Vermont. H. H. F., Collector; March 4, 1932.
Lord Lovell he stood at the castle gate
Combing his milk-white steed.
When along came Lady Nancy Bell
A-wishing her lover good speed, speed, speed
A-wishing her lover good speed.
Oh, when'll you be back Lord Lovell, she cried,
Oh, when'll you be back, said she,
In a year or two or three at the most
I'll return to my fair ladee, dee, dee
I'll return to my fair ladee.
He'd scarcely been gone a year and a day
Strange countries for to see,
When a languishing thought came into his heart,
Lady Nancy Bell he must see, see, see,
Lady Nancy Bell he must see.
So he rode and he rode on his milk-white steed
'Till he came to London Town
And there he heard St. Varney's bell
And the people all gathered around, 'round, 'round
And the people all gathered around.
Is anybody dead, Lord Lovell he cried,
Is anybody dead said he,
The Lord's daughter is dead, the people replied,
Some call her the Lady Nancee, cee, cee,
Some call her the Lady Nancee.
He ordered the grave to be opened forthwith,
The shroud to be folded back,
And then he kissed the clay-cold lips
And the tears they came trickling down, down, down,
And the tears they came trickling down.
Lady Nancy she died as it might be today
Lord Lovell he died tomorrow,
And over her bosom they planted a rose
And over Lord Lovell's a brier, ier, ier,
And over Lord Lovell's a brier.
They climbed and they climbed till they reached the church top,
And when they could climb no higher
They twined themselves in a true Lovers Knot
Which true lovers always admire, ire, ire,
Which true lovers always admire.