Outlandish Knight- Sam Larner (Nor) c.1957 REC
[From Sam Larner's recording: Cruising Round Yarmouth, (MTCD369-0). Sam Larner (1878 - 1965) was from Winterton in Norfolk, a sea-faring and fishing village.
R. Matteson 2018]
The Outlandish Knight- sung by Sam Larner (1878 - 1965) of Winterton, Norfolk.
A rich man from the north lands came,
He came a-viewing me,
He promised he’d take me to the north lands,
And there he’d marry me, there he would marry me,
He promised he’d take me to the north lands,
And there he’d marry me.
“Now go and fetch me some of your Father’s gold
And some of your Mother’s fee,
Two of the best nags from out the stable,
Where there stood thirty and three.”
[Repeats last two lines.]
Now, she mounted on a milky-white steed,
And he on the iron-grey,
They rode ‘til they come to the sea side,
Three hours before it was day.
[Repeats last two lines.]
“Pull off, pull off, your silken gown,
And deliver unto me,
For six pretty maids have I drownded here;
And the seventh then you will be.”
[Repeats last two lines.]
Now, if I’ve to take off my clothes,
Pray turn your back on me,
For it isn’t fit for a rogue like you
A naked woman to see.
[Repeats last two lines.]
Now, when he turned her (his) back on her;
She plunged him in the sea.
He cried “Oh help me, help my dear
I’m sinking beneath the sea.”
“Lay there, lay there, you wicked man;
Lay there, instead of me.
For six pretty maidens have you drownded here;
But the seventh have drownded thee.”
And, she mounted on her milky-white steed,
And leading the iron-grey,
She rode ‘til she came to her own Father’s hall,
Three hours before it was day.
[Repeats last two lines.]
Another of the big ballads, with 754 Roud entries (almost half of which are from North America) though only 103 of them are sound recordings, the others all being elated to printed sources - particularly books, of which there are 416 listed, the earliest British one being Herd, 1776, although there’s a German broadside dated 1550.
As The Outlandish Knight, not to mention Lady Isobel and the Elf Knight and a host of other titles, this ballad is exceptionally well-known all over the Anglophone world. It certainly seems to have caught the imagination of traditional singers, many versions having appeared throughout England and Scotland (as May Colvin), though it seems not to have been much sung in Ireland, though I should mention that Cornelius ‘Corny’ McDaid of Buncrana, Co Donegal, sang a very full and splendid version as False Lover John.
Other versions available on CD: Sarah Porter (MTCD309-0); Jumbo Brightwell (MTCD339-0); Bill Smith (MTCD351); Kevin Mitchell (MTCD315-6); Bill Cassidy (MTCD325-6); Fred Jordan (TSCD600); Gordon Hall (VT115CD); Mary Ann Haynes
(TSCD661); Lena Bourne Fish (Appleseed APRCD1035); Arthur ‘Hockey’ Feltwell (VT150CD).