Lord Lovell (Child 75)
[This is an version of Child 75, Lord Lovel, which dates back to 1740 in England. According to Barry, "The earliest known printed copy of 'Lord Lovel' is in The New England Songster, Portsmouth, NH, Nathaniel March and Co., 1832, pp. 86-88." The version in Hadaway's Select Songster (1840) can be viewed online.
The Child A text, Lady Owncibell, was supplied by Rev. P. Parsons of Wye in a letter sent to Percy and dated May 22, 1770. Parsons wrote, "I suspect it should be Dowsabell" on the MS (Dowsabell, meaning sweetheart). In this version the name has has changed now to "Nancy Bell."
R. Matteson 2014]
LORD LOVELL
1. Lord Lovell he stood at the castle gate,
A-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.
2. "Oh, where are you going, Lord Lovell?" she said;
"Oh, where are you going?" said she.
"I'm going, my dear Lady Nancy Bell,
Strange countries for to see, see, see
Strange countries for to see."
3. "Oh, when will you be back, Lord Lovell?" she says,
"When will you be back?" says she.
"In a year or two, or three at the most,
I'll return to your fair body, -dy, -dy,
I'll return to your fair body."
4. He had been gone but a year and a day ,
Strange countries for to see,
When languishing thoughts come into his head;
Lady Nancy Bell he would see, see, see,
Lady Nancy Bell he would see.
He rode and he rode on his milk-white steed,
Till he came from London town,
And there he heard Saint Varney's bell,
And the people all mourning 'round, 'round, 'round,
And the people all mourning 'round.
6. "Is anybody dead?" Lord Lovell he said,
"Is anybody dead?" say she.
"A Lord's daughter's dead," a lady replied,
"And some call her Lady Nancy, -cy, -cy,
And some call her Lady Nancy."
7. He ordered the grave to be opened forthwith,
And the shroud to be folded down;
And there he kissed her clay-cold lips
Till the tears came trickling down, -down, -down,
Till the tears came trickling down.
8. Lady Nancy died as it might be today;
Lord Lovell he died tomorrow,
And out of her bosom there grew a red rose,
And out of Lord Lovell's a brier, -brier, -brier;
And out of Lord Lovell's a brier.
9 They grew and they grew till they reached the church top,
And they couldn't grow any higher;
And there they entwined in a true lover's knot,
Which true lovers always admire, -mire, -mire,
Which true lovers always admire.
This ballad is remembered by Mrs. L. L. McDowell as above. Other persons remember parts in identical form, and a printed copy has been found almost exactly the same. It seems to be very widely known with remarkably little variation for a song in oral tradition. The tune is slightly different from that remembered by Mrs. McDowell, who sings it to the same tune as 'Falr
Eleanor and The Brown Girl.' The tune written above is remembered by her husband, and differed from the other only in the time, as can be seen. Compare, also, with the tune of The Six Kings' Daughters. Obviously these three are variants of the same tune, the principal difference being in the time. They were rarely used by the same person consciously as variants, but each individual sang one.