Lord Lovell- Porter (NY-VT) 1935 Flanders F
[From Flanders; Ancient Ballads; 1966, version F.
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.
F. Lord Lovell. Sent by Mrs. Marjorie Porter of prattsburg, New York, as learned in her family, formerly of Basin Harbor, Vermont. H. H. F., Collector Spring, 1935
Lord Lovell he stood at his castle gate
A-combing his milk-white steed.
Lady Nancy Bell she came riding by
And wished her lover good-speed, good-speed,
And wished her lover good-speed[1].
"Oh, where are you going, Lord Lovell," said she,
"Oh, where are you going," said she.
"I'm going away," Lord Lovell did say,
"strange countries for to see-see-see,
Strange countries for to see."
Oh, he'd scarcely been gone twelve months and a day
Strange countries for to see,
Before the that came o'er his mind
Lady Nancy Bell he'd go see-see-see,
Lady Nancy Bell he'd go see.
So he rode and he rode on his milk-white steed,
He rode till he reached the town,
And there he heard St. Varney's bell
And the people all mourning around- 'round- 'round,
And the people all mourning around.
"And what is the matter?" Lord Lovell said he,
"Oh, what is the matter?" said he.
"A lady has died but yesterday morn;
Some call her name Lady Nancy-Nancy,
Some call her name Lady Nancy."
So he ordered the coffin to be opened straightway,
And the corpse to be laid on the ground,
And then he kissed the clay-cold lips
And the tears 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 on the morrow;
Lady Nancy died of pure, pure love,
Lord Lovell he died out of sorrow, sorrow, sorrow,
Lord Lovell he died out of sorrow.
Lady Nancy was buried in St. Mary's tomb,
Lord Lovell was buried beside her,
And out of her bosom there grew a red rose
And out of Lord Lovell's a briar-briar-briar,
And out of Lord Lovell's a briar.
And they grew and they grew till they reached the church tower,
And then they could grow no higher,
And there they entwined in a true lover's knot,
For all true lovers to admire-admire,
For all true lovers to admire.
1. originally good speed- good speed. I've taken off the second, "good speed" which I assume was a mistake or aberration.