THE OLDER BALLADS— MOSTLY BRITISH
[On the left hand column the individual songs/ballads are attached to this page. Click to open.]
AS MIGHT be expected from the liistory of the state, North Carolina is rich in the older traditional ballads. The Frank C. Brown Collection shows as many of the ballads admitted by Child to his English and Scottish Popular Ballads as the Virginia Folklore Society found in that state (as reported in Davis's Traditional Ballads of Virginia) and more than any other state collection except that of Maine (as reported by Barry in British Ballads from Maine). And among them are not only what might be called the standard favorites, ballads that appear in almost all American regional collections — 'Barbara Allan,' 'Lord Thomas and Fair Annet,' 'Sir Hugh or The Jew's Daughter,' 'The Farmer's Curst Wife,' 'The Golden Vanity' — but others that have seldom or never been recovered before on this side of the water. One of them, indeed, 'Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne,' a broken and decayed but none the less indisputable form of the original, has not been found anywhere in tradition since someone wrote it down in the famous Percy Folio three hundred years ago. 'The Wee Wee Man,' too, is unique in modern tradition. 'Thomas Rymer' has not heretofore been found in America. Others — 'Babylon,' 'Child Waters,' 'The Lass of Roch Royal' (as a complete ballad; certain stanzas of it are ubiquitous in American folk lyric), 'Sweet William's Ghost,' 'The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter,' 'Robin Hood Rescuing Three Squires,' 'The Bonny Earl of Murray,' 'The Suffolk Miracle' — are unusual in American, some of them also in British, tradition. And there are some very interesting old songs outside the Child canon : 'The Ghost's Bride,' 'The Turkish Factor,' 'The Prince of Morocco,' 'Nancy of Yarmouth,' 'The Bramble Briar,' and relics of the old carols — 'The Dilly Song,' 'The Twelve Joys of Mary,' 'The Twelve Days of Christmas.'
It is not surprising that North Carolina has kept these old songs as a live tradition. We sometimes forget that the earliest English settlement in America was made in North Carolina, on Roanoke Island, some twenty years before the permanent planting at Jamestown. And when, not long after, permanent settlements were made in North Carolina, they consisted, for the most part, of simple folk. So much so as to arouse in William Byrd of Westover, cultivated Virginia gentleman (and shrewd-eyed appraiser of land values), a hundred years later, an amused contempt for the people south of the Dividing Line — parsonless, largely lawyer-less, and lazy, a Lubberland folk. Of Edenton. on Albemarle Sound, a town in 1728 of some forty or fifty small and inexpensive houses, he opined that it was "the only metropolis in the Christian or Mahometan world where there is neither church, chapel, mosque, synagogue, or any other place of public worship of any sect or religion whatsoever"; but he added that "not a soul has the least taint of hypocrisy or superstition, acting very frankly and above-board in all their excesses."
Plain people, evidently; the sort of people that would naturally retain the old ballads as the poetic expression of their life and feelings. And when, later in Byrd's century, the wave of Scotch and Scotch-Irish came across the water to the New World, they brought their old songs with them. In North Carolina, as in the adjoining colonies north and south, the newcomers found the richer lands along the coast already taken up and went inland, towards the mountains, establishing themselves there on the frontier and again, a generation or two later, proceeding over the mountains to occupy a new frontier in Kentucky and Tennessee. Their descendants are still there, in the mountain counties, living much as their forefathers did when they first came and singing many of the same songs. Mrs. Sutton's notes on the ballads she collected in Caldwell and neighboring counties provide many delightful pictures of these people, some of which will be found in the headnotes to the ballads. They still make ballads of their own, too. Thomas Smith of Zionville tells of a ballad singer of Watauga county, John Yarber, who was famous for his renditions of 'Barbara Allan' and 'The House Carpenter' ('James Harris'):
"People of our settlement used to call on Mr. Yarber to sing whenever he visited them. . . . Mr. Yarber (we always called him 'Uncle Johnny') was not an educated man, but took great delight in music. He even composed songs on local happenings, etc., and sang them to his friends who wished to hear them."
CONTENTS
I. THE OLDER BALLADS— MOSTLY BRITISH
[There are many alternative titles for these ballads; I'm including some in blue after the title]
1. The Elfin Knight 12 [Cambric Shirt; Are You Going To Scarborough Fair?]
2. Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight 15 [King's Daughter; Sweet William]
3. Earl Brand 27 [Douglas Tragedy; As I Rode Up To the Old Man's Gate]
4. The Two Sisters 32 [Old Man from the North Countree; Miller's Two Daughters]
5. The Cruel Brother 35 [O, Lily O]
6. Lord Randal 39
7. Edward 41
8. Babylon; or, The Bonnie Banks Fordie 44
9. The Three Ravens 46
10. Thomas Rymer 46
11. The Wee, Wee Man 47
12. Captain Wedderburn's Courtship 48
13. The Two Brothers 49
14. Young Beichan 50
15. The Cherry Tree Carol 61
16. Sir Patrick Spens 63
17. Child Waters 65
18. Young Hunting 67
19. Lord Thomas and Fair Annet 69
20. Fair Margaret and Sweet William 79
21. Lord Lovel 84
22. The Lass of Rock Royal 88
23. Sweet William's Ghost 92
24. The Unquiet Grave 94
25. The Wife of Usher's Well 95
26. Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard 101
27. Bonny Barbara Allan 111
28. Lady Alice 131
29. Lamkin 140
30. The Maid Freed from the Gallows 143
31. The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter 149
32. Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne 151
33. Robin Hood Rescuing Three Squires 152
34. Sir Hugh; or, The Jew's Daughter 155
35. Queen Eleanor's Confession 160
36. The Bonny Earl of Murray 160
37. The Gypsy Laddie 161
38. Geordie 168
39. Katharine Jaffray 169
40. James Harris (The Daemon Lover) 171
41. The Suffolk Miracle 180
42. Our Goodman 181
43. Get up and Bar the Door 183
44. The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin 185
45. The Farmer's Curst Wife 188
46. The Crafty Farmer 188
47. The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity) 191
48. The Mermaid 195
49. Trooper and Maid 198
50. The Dilly Song 199
51. The Twelve Blessings of Mary 206
52. The Twelve Days of Christmas 208
53. I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In 210
54. Dives and Lazarus (I) 210
55. Dives and Lazarus (II) 211
56. The Romish Lady 212
57. 'Let's Go A-Hunting,' Says Richard to Robert 215
58. The Ghost's Bride 216
59. The Dark Knight 218
60. The Turkish Factor 220
61. Nancy of Yarmouth 223
62. The Bramble Brier 229
63. The Prince of Morocco; or, Johnnie 232
64. The Gosport Tragedy 234 [Pretty Polly; Cruel Ship's Carpenter]
65. The Lexington Murder 240 [Knoxville Girl]
66. On the Banks of the Ohio 247 [Banks of the Ohio; I'll Never be Yours]
67. Rose Connally 248 [Down in a Willow Garden]
68. Handsome Harry 250
69. Beautiful Susan 251
70. The Lancaster Maid 253
71. The Drowsy Sleeper 255 [Awake, Awake; In Old Virginny; Silver Dagger]
72. The Silver Dagger 258 [Awake, Awake; Oh Molly Dear; Drowsy Sleeper]
73. Come All Young People 259
74. Chowan River 261
75. Pretty Betsey 262
76. Molly Bawn 263
77. Fair Fannie Moore 264
78. Mary of the Wild Moor 265
79. Young Edwin in the Lowlands Low 266
80. The Three Butchers 269
81. The Butcher Boy 271
82. The Lover's Lament 279
83. As I Stepped Out Last Sunday Morning 283
84. Locks and Bolts 284
85. New River Shore 286
86. The Soldier's Wooing 287
87. Early, Early in the Spring 290
88. Charming Beauty Bright 293
89. The Glove 296
90. A Brave Irish Lady 299
91. Servant Man 302
92. A Pretty Fair Maid down in the Garden 304
93. John Reilley 305
94. Johnny German 306
95. The Dark-Eyed Sailor 310
96. Lovely Susan 311
97. Polly Oliver 312
98. Mollie and Willie 313
99. Jack Munro 314
100. The Girl Volunteer 317
101. Charming Nancy 319
102. A Rich Nobleman's Daughter 320
103. Little Plowing Boy 322
104. The Sailor Boy 323
105. Scarboro Sand (Robin Hood Side) 329
106. William Taylor 330
107. The Silk-Merchant's Daughter 331
108. Green Beds 334
109. Poor Jack 339
110. Little Mohea 340
111. The Faithful Sailor Boy 342
112. The Sailor's Bride 344
113. Barney McCoy 346
114. In a Cottage by the Sea 347
115. A Song About a Man-of-War 348
116. Captain Kidd 350
117. Poor Parker 351
118. High Barbary 352
119. The Lorena Bold Crew 353
120. The Sheffield Apprentice 353
121. The Rambling Boy 355
122. My Bonnie Black Bess 356
123. The Drummer Boy of Waterloo 357
124. Caroline of Edinburgh Town 358
125. Roy's Wife of Aldivalloch 360
126. I Wish My Love Was in a Ditch 361
127. Shule Aroon 362
128. William Riley 363
129. Johnny Doyle 365
130. Sweet William and Nancy 366
131. The Irish Girl 367
132. Pretty Susie, the Pride of Kildare 368
133. I Was Sitting on a Stile 369
134. I Left Ireland and Mother because We Were Poor 369
135. Three Leaves of Shamrock 370
136. Skew Ball 371
137. When You and I Were Young, Maggie 371
138. The Happy Stranger 372
139. Sweet Lily 373
140. Once I Had a Sweetheart 374
141. A False-Hearted Lover 375
142. Mama Sent Me to the Spring 375
143. Annie Lee 376
144. Hateful Mary Ann 377
145. The Girl I Left behind Me 378
146. The Isle of St. Helena 385
147. The Babes in the Wood 388
148. The Orphan Girl 388
149. The Blind Girl 392
150. Two Little Children 394
151. The Soldier's Poor Little Boy 396
152. The Orphan 397
153. Fond Affection 399
154. You Are False, but I'll Forgive You 408
155. We Have Met and We Have Parted 410
156. Broken Ties 415
157. They Were Standing by the Window 417
158. The Broken Heart 421
159. This Night We Part Forever 422
160. Parting Words 423
161. Bye and Bye You Will Forget Me 424
162. The One Forsaken 425
163. Don't Forget Me, Little Darling 426
164. She Was Happy till She Met You 427
165. The Ripest Apple 428
166. Sweetheart, Farewell 428
167. My Little Dear, So Fare You Well 429
168. Dreary Weather 431
169. My Sweetheart's Dying Words 432
170. The Homesick Boy 433
171. Over the Hills to the Poor-House 434
172. You're the Man That Stole My Wife 436
173. I'm Going to Get Married Next Sunday 436
174. Katie's Secret 437
175. The Farmer's Daughter 438
176. The Derby Ram 439
177. The Miller and His Three Sons 440
178. I Tuck Me Some Corn to the County Seat 444
179. The Old Dyer 444
180. Father Grumble 445
181. Johnny Sands 448
182. The Old Woman's Blind Husband 450
183. The Dumb Wife 452
184. The Holly Twig 454
185. Nobody Coming to Marry Me 456
186. Whistle, Daughter, Whistle 457
187. Hard of Hearing 458
188. The Three Rogues 458
189. Bryan O'Lynn 459
190. Three Jolly Welshmen 460
191. The Good Old Man 463
192. The Burglar Man 465
193. Billy Grimes the Drover 466
194. Grandma's Advice 467
195. Common Bill 469
196. Swapping Songs 471
197. Dog and Gun 474
198. Kitty Clyde 476
199. Father, Father, I Am Married 477
200. If I Had a Scolding Wife 478
201. The Scolding Wife 478
202. The Little Black Mustache 479
203. No Sign of a Marriage 481
204. Wilkins and His Dinah 482
205. Thimble Buried His Wife at Night 484
206. Boys. Keep Away from the Girls 485
207. The Boys Won't Do to Trust 486