Recordings & Info 178. Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon
CONTENTS:
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index
3) Child Collection Index
4) Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
5) Folk Index
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud No. 80: Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon (49 Listings)
Alternative Titles
"Adam Gordon, or The Burning of Cargarff"
"Adam Gorman"
"Sick, Sick"
Traditional Ballad Index: Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon [Child 178]
DESCRIPTION: (Captain Carr) decides to take a castle, calling upon the lady who holds it to surrender and lie by his side. She refuses (despite the appeals of her children). Carr burns the castle and slaughters the inhabitants
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1755
KEYWORDS: death murder fire family
FOUND_IN: Britain(England,Scotland(Aber)) US(NE)
REFERENCES: (19 citations)
Child 178, "Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon" (9 texts)
Bronson 178, "Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon" (6 versions)
GlenbuchatBallads, pp. 7-11, "Adam Gordon, or The Burning of Cargarff" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 231, "Edom O' Gordon" (3 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
Lyle-Crawfurd2 100, "The Burning of Loudon Castle" (1 text)
Percy/Wheatley I, pp. 140-150, "Edom o' Gordon" (2 texts, one a fragment from the Percy folio and the other Percy's published text, drawn partly from other sources
Flanders/Olney, pp. 134-139, "Adam Gorman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 173-184, "Captain Car, or Edom O Gordon" (2 texts, 1 tune; the "B" text is from "The Charms of Melody" rather than tradition)
Leach, pp. 488-491, "Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon" (1 text) {Bronson's #6, which he places in an appendix}
Friedman, p. 256, "Captain Car (Edom o' Gordon)" (2 texts)
OBB 77, "Edom o Gordon" (1 text)
PBB 46, "Edom o Gordon" (1 text)
Gummere, pp. 146-150+332, "Captain Car, or Edom o Gordon" (1 text)
Hodgart, p. 111, "Captain Car (Edom o' Gordon)" (1 text)
DBuchan 53, "Edom o Gordon"; 54, "Edom o Gordon" (2 texts)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 103-107, "Captain Car" (1 text)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 73-75, "Sick, Sick" (2 tunes, partial text) {Tune I is listed as Bronson's #2, but recast; Bronson does not print Chappell's tune II)
BBI, ZN3329, "It befell at martynmas, When wether waxed colde"
DT 178, ADAMGRMN*
Roud #80
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Corgraff
NOTES: Said to be the "sick tune" referred to, e.g., in "Much Ado about Nothing," III, iv, 42. This text, first found in the British Museum manuscript Cotton Vespasian A25 (late sixteenth century) is associated with a piece found in several lute books beginning no later than 1597. The events described are dated by Ritson to 1571; a piece labeled "Sick, sick" was licensed in 1578. - RBW, AS
The actual event this is said to have been based on is the attack of Captain Ker (an agent of Sir Adam Gordon, brother of George Gordon, earl of Huntly) upon the Forbes stronghold at Towie on October 9, 1571 (during the minority of James VI, when the Regency had great difficulty controlling the country).
The song, however, is by no means an accurate account of the assault -- which is curious given that the song seemingly came into existence so soon after the event. - RBW
Child Collection Index
Child Ballad 178: Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon
Child-- Artist-- Title-- Album-- Year-- Length --Have
178 Alex Robb Edom O Gordon The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955
No
178 Alison McMorland Edom O' Gordon Cloudberry Day - Scots Songs & Ballads 2000 4:40 Yes
178 Ewan MacColl Edom O' Gordon Blood and Roses - Vol. 1 1979 4:46 Yes
178 Ewan MacColl Edom O' Gordon Poetry and Song, Vol. 12 1967 No
178 Ewan Maccoll Edom O' Gordon No Tyme Lyke the Present - Traditional & Contemporary Folk Music 1976 4:56 Yes
178 Folkal Point Edom O' Gordon Folkal Point 1971 2:24 Yes
178 Malinky Edom O Gordon Scotland - the Music and the Song - a 20 Year Profile of Greentrax 2006 No
178 Malinky Edom O Gordon The Unseen Hours 2005 5:12 Yes
Excerpt from The British Traditional Ballad in North America
by Tristram Coffin 1950, from the section A Critical Biographical Study of the Traditional Ballads of North America
1950 edition: 178. CAPTAIN CAR or EDOM GORDON
Reed Smith lists this ballad as one of the Child survivals in America. See SFLQ, I, 2, 9 II. I have not been able to locate a published text, however.
1977 edition: CAPTAIN CAR or EDOM GORDON
Local Titles: Adam Gorman.
Story Types: A: Adam Gorman attacks Towie House when only the lady and her children are there to protect it. She, seeing the troops coming, thinks her lord has returned. When she finds this is not the case, she locks the castle up and attempts to persuade Adam to go away. Adam is infuriated by her actions, even though he proposes to her. However, when she rejects him, he orders the place sacked and burned. In the confusion, the daughter requests to be thrown over the wall. This is done and she is impaled on the point of Adam's spear. As Towie House burns Adam leaves.
Folk Index: Captain Car/Care [Ch 178]
At - Sick Tune
Friedman, Albert B. (ed.) / Viking Book of Folk Ballads of the English-S, Viking, sof (1963/1957), p258 [1580/1755ca]
Kines, Tom (ed.) / Songs from Shakespeare's Plays and Popular Songs of S, Oak, sof (1964), p 42 (Sick Tune)
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p488 [1580s]
MacColl, Ewan. Blood and Roses, Vol. 1, Blackthorne ESB 79, LP (1979ca), trk# B.04 (Edom O' Gordon)
McMorland, Alison. Cloudberry Day, Living Tradition LTCD 1003, CD (2000), trk# 3 (Edom O' Gordon)