Lord Lovell- Hughes (GA-FL) pre1950 Morris C
[From Morris; Folksongs of Florida; 1950. His notes follow.
R. Matteson 2015]
LORD LOVEL
(Child, No. 75) (Archive 262-82)
C. "LORD LOVELL." Text obtained from the singing of Mrs. Ida M. Hughes, Micanopy, who learned it as a girl in Ohio.
Lord Lovell stood at his castle gate
Combing his milk-white steed,
When up came Lady Nancy Bell
To wish her lover good speed.
"O where are you going, Lord Lovell?" she said,
"O where are you going?" said she.
"I'm going, my Lady Nancy Bell,
Strange country for to see."
"How long will you be gone, Lord Lovell?" she said,
"How long will you be gone?" said she.
"In a year of two, or three at the most,
I'll return to my fair Nancy."
He hadn't been gone but a year and a day
Strange countries for to see,
'Til longing thoughts came into his head
Lady Nancy Bell he must see.
So he rode and rode his milk-white steed
'Til he came to London town,
And there he heard St. Anthony's bells
And the people all mourning 'round.
"Oh, what is the matter?" Lord Lovell said,
"Oh, what is the matter?" said he.
Alas, Lady's dead," the women replied,
"And they called her Lady Nancy."
He ordered the coffin to be opened wide,
The sheets to be folded down,
And there he kissed her clay-cold lips,
'Til the tears came trickling down.
Lady Nancy died as it were today,
Lord Lovell died tomorrow;
Lady Nancy died, free of grief,
Lord Lovell died of sorrow.
Lady Nancy was buried in St. Anthony's church,
Her lover in the choir,
And out of her bosom there grew a red, red rose,
And out of Lord Lovell's a briar.
Th.y grew and grew to the church steeple's top,
'Til they couldn't grow any higher,
And there they twined in the true lovers' knot;
The red rose and the briar.