Recordings & Info 218. The False Lover Won Back
CONTENTS:
1) Alternative Titles
2) Traditional Ballad Index [Two entries]
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
6) Mainly Norfolk (lyrics and info)
ATTACHED PAGES: (see left hand column)
1) Roud No. 201: The False Lover Won Back ( Listings)
Alternate Titles
It's Hard That I Like You Sae Weel
The Sun Shines High
Oh, When Will Ye Come Back, Bonny Love?
Traditional Ballad Index: False Lover Won Back, The [Child 218]
DESCRIPTION: A man saddles his horse to leave his lover (and her unborn child). She follows him from place to place, begging him to return. At each stop he buys her a gift and tells her to go home. At last he repents and buys her a wedding ring
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
KEYWORDS: abandonment hardheartedness marriage love
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(So)
REFERENCES: (10 citations)
Child 218, "The False Lover Won Back" (2 texts)
Bronson 218, "The False Lover Won Back" (5 versions)
Greig #93, pp. 1-3, "The False Lover Won Back" (5 texts)
GreigDuncan5 974, "The False Lover Won Back" (8 texts plus two verses on p. 603, 4 tunes)
Belden, p. 78, "The False Lover Won Back" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 575-576, "The False Lover Won Back" (1 text)
OBB 72, "Young John" (1 text)
DT 218, BONLOVE*
ADDITIONAL: W. Christie, editor, Traditional Ballad Airs (Edinburgh, 1876 (downloadable pdf by University of Edinburgh, 2007)), Vol I, pp. 144-145, "The Place Where My Love Johnny Dwells" [Child 218B]
Peter Buchan, Ancient Ballads and Songs of the North of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1875 (reprint of 1828 edition ("Digitized by Google"))), Vol I, pp. 261, 313, "The Fause Lover"
Roud #201
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "The False Lover Won Back" (on SCMacCollSeeger01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Foot Is in the Stirrup"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
It's Hard That I Like You Sae Weel
The Sun Shines High
Oh, When Will Ye Come Back, Bonny Love?
NOTES: Greig's texts include one from Christie, _Traditional Ballad Airs_ (1876-1881), and one from Buchan, _Ancient Songs and Ballads of the North of Scotland_ (1828). - BS
Child Collection- Child Ballad 218: The False Lover Won Back
Child --Artist --Title --Album --Year --Length --Have
218 Alex Robb The False Lover Won Back The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
218 Barbara Scott False Love Won Back Wandering in the World 2005 No
218 Bell Duncan The False Lover Won Back The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
218 Beth Leachman & Margot Krimmel The False Lover White Birds 2005 No
218 Caswell Carnahan The False Lover Won Back New Leaves on an Old Tree + Borderlands 1995 4:26 Yes
218 Caswell Carnahan The False Lover Won Back New Leaves on an Old Tree 1981 4:19 Yes
218 Cilla Fisher & Artie Trezise False Lover Won Back For Foul Day and Fair 1978 4:36 Yes
218 Duck Soup The False Lover Won Back Open on Sundays 2010 No
218 Ed Miller The False Lover Won Back Come Awa' Wi' Me 2011 No
218 Ed Trickett Bonny Love Gently Down the Stream of Time 1977 2:45 Yes
218 Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger The False Lover Won Back Scottish Drinking and Pipe Songs 1984 4:51 Yes
218 Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger The False Lover Won Back Classic Scots Ballads 1997 5:01 Yes
218 Frankie Armstrong The False Lover Won Back The Garden of Love 1999 6:01 Yes
218 Jimmy Hutchison False Lover Won Back Corachree - Scots Songs & Ballads 2000 No
218 Jimmy Hutchison The False Lover Won Back Old Songs & Bothy Ballads - There's Bound to Be a Row 2010 No
218 Malinky The False Lover Won Back 3 Ravens 2002 8:43 Yes
218 Martin Carthy False Lover Won Back Shearwater 1972 4:14 Yes
218 Mary Thain The False Lover Won Back The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
218 Mrs Alex Campbell False Lover Won Back The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
218 Mrs Elizabeth Craig The False Lover Won Back The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
218 Raymond Crooke False Lover Won Back <website> 2007- 4:43 Yes
218 Shirley & Dolly Collins Young John The Harvest Years 2008 6:23 Yes
218 Shirley & Dolly Collins Young John Love, Death and the Lady 2003 6:24 Yes
218 Sol & Rachael The False Lover Won Back St. Anne's Reel 2003 4:02 Yes
218 The Witches of Elswick Honey for the Bee (The False Love Won Back) Out of Bed 2001 4:01 Yes
218 Tropical Harps The False Lover Won Back Upcountry Celtic 2006 4:15 Yes
218 Unknown Female Singer False Lover Won Back The James Madison Carpenter Collection 1927-1955 No
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
218. THE FALSE LOVER WON BACK
Texts: Belden, Mo F-S, 78 / Golden Book, IX, 50 / JAFL, XXXIV, 395.
Local Titles: The True Lover.
Story Types: A: A girl watches her lover pass her door and asks him where he is going. He replies that he is on his way to woo a girl lovelier than she. She is philosophical about his fickleness, but warns him that she will turn to other men. Then she follows him, and at each town he buys her a present and tells her to go home. She persists, and finally he buys her a wedding
gown.
Examples: Belden.
Discussion: This ballad is not easy to find in America. The Missouri text is like Child A. However, John Moore (JAFL, XXXIV, 396) points out that the Missouri version suppresses three stanzas in which the girl persistently asks her lover if he will not be fond of her again and one stanza in which he says she can turn to other men if she wishes but he will be true to his new
love. These four stanzas all appear in Child 218 A.
Folk Index: The False Lover Won Back [Ch 218]
Leach, MacEdward / The Ballad Book, Harper & Row, Bk (1955), p571
Caswell Carnahan. New Leaves on an Old Tree, Kicking Mule KM 313, LP (1981), trk# B.04
Fisher, Cilla; and Artie Trezise. For Foul Day and Fair, Folk Legacy FSS 069, LP (1978), trk# 11
MacColl, Ewan. Classic Scots Ballads, Tradition TLP 1015, LP (1959), trk# A.02
Mainly Norfolk: The False Lover Won Back / Honey for the Bee / Young John
[Roud 201; Child 218; Ballad Index C218; trad.]
Martin Carthy sang the ballad The False Lover Won Back in a John Peel BBC Radio session recorded on May 22, 1972 and broadcast on May 30. This recording was included as bonus track on the 2005 CD reissue of his album Shearwater.
Cilla Fisher and Artie Trezise sang The False Lover Won Back in 1978 on their album Four Foul Day and Fair. They commented in their liner notes:
Cilla started singing this song after hearing one of our favourite singers, Jimmy Hutchinson, performing it. The song exists in many forms, and this version is one that Ewan MacColl sings.
Frankie Armstrong sang The False Lover Won Back in 2000 on her Fellside album The Garden of Love. She commented:
This song is a softer and more romantic reworking of the old ballad of Child Waters. The heroine is threatened with abandonment because she is not rich and high-born enough to be a suitable marriage partner, but true love triumphs in the end. The tune is so gorgeous you could eat it.
Malinky sang The False Lover Won Back in 2002 on their second CD, 3 Ravens. They commented in their liner notes:
Karine set the lyrics to the pipe march Mary's Dream, which she learned from ace-piper Mike Katz. The lyrics she found in the Greig-Duncan collection (which inspired our first album Last Leaves). And when she finally checked out Cilla and Artie's version of Billy Taylor (thanks to Steve being at Mark's house, seeing Mark's fiancée Islay's Mum's bloke Dave's record collection—follow?) she found this song on the same album (learned from Jimmy Hutchinson of South Uist). Spooky! Thanks to them for singing good songs in the first place. Thanks also to Harry F from Sparks, Nevada.
The Witches of Elswick sang this as Honey for the Bee in 2003 on their first album, Out of Bed. They commented in their liner notes:
Gillian learnt this from the Scottish band Malinky who fused traditional words with a Highland pipe tune called Mairi's Dream.
Shirley Collins sang a variant of this Child Ballad with the title Young John during the sessions for her and her sister Dolly's album Love, Death & the Lady. But, as three other ones, this track was left out and only found its way onto the album's 1994 and 2003 CD reissues. She commented in the CD notes:
Another ballad from The Oxford Book of Ballads. I wondered why several of the tracks on this album came from this source—until I spotted the inscription in the front of the book. It had been a birthday present from Dolly in the year the album was recorded—so I'd obviously made good use of it. The tune is my own.
Lyrics
Martin Carthy sings The False Lover Won Back
Oh, the sun shines high on yonder hill,
And low in yonder town;
In the place where my love nifty dwell,
The sun goes never down.
“Go and saddle to me the black and the blank,
Go and saddle to me the brown,
That I may ride around here, girl,
That I may ride around.”
“Oh, but when will you come back again?
And when will you be home?”
“When the heather hills are nine times burnt
And all grow green again.”
“Oh, but that's too long to stay away,
That's too long from your home.
And the babe that lies in my true side
Will be too long want his name.”
But he turned his high horse all about
And fast away rode he,
And she's kilted up her gay clothing
And fast, fast followed she.
And the very first town that they come to,
Oh, he's bought her a broach and a ring.
And he's bid her rue and get along now,
No more follow him.
Crying, “Love for love that I do want
And love for love again.
Oh it's hard that I like you so well
And you not me again.”
And the first town that they came to
He's bought her the bonniest hose and shoes,
And bade her rue and turn back now
And never follow him again.
“But it's love for love that I do want
And love for love again.
It's hard that I like you so well
And you not me again.”
But the very next town that they come to,
Oh, he's bought her hose and shoen.
And he's bid her rue and get along now,
No more follow him.
“But it's love for love that I do want
And love for love again.
Oh, it's hard that I like you so well
And you not me again.”
And the very next town that they come to,
Oh, he's bought her a wedding ring.
And he's bid her dry up her rosy cheeks
And she should follow him.
“There's comfort for the comfortless,
There's honey for the bee;
And there's none for me but you, dear girl,
None for you but me.
“And it's love for love that I have got
And love for love again.
So turn your high horse head about
And we will head for home.”
The Witches of Elswick sing Honey for the Bee
The sun shines on yon high, high hill
And the sun shines on yon derry, derry dell.
The sun, it never goes down no more
On the place where me and my love dwell.
And it's, “When will you be back, bonnie laddie?”
And it's, “When will you be back again?”
“When the heather has been nine times burnt
And the grass is growing green again.”
“For it's over long to bide away
And it's over long away for thee,
When the baby that is yet unborn
Will be round wantin' a name.”
Chorus: Comfort for the comfortless
And honey for the bee,
Comfort for the comfortless
But there's none but you for me
He's mounted up his good black steed
And he's saddled up to ride.
She's kilted up her petticoat green
And she ran swiftly by his side.
(Chorus)
And the second town that they came to
He's bought her the bonniest silken gown,
And bade her rue and turn back now
And never follow him again.
(Chorus)
And the third town that they came to
He's bought her the bonniest wedding ring,
And bade her dry her rosy cheeks
And up and ride along with him.
“For it's love for love that I do want
And love for love again.
And there's none for you but me, dear girl,
None for you but me.
(2* Chorus)
Shirley Collins sings Young John
A fair made stood in her bower door,
A-wringing her lily hands;
And by there came a sprightly youth
Fast tripping over the strands.
“Oh, where are you going, young John,” she says,
“So early in the day?
It makes me think by your fast step
Your journey's far away.”
He turned around with a dreadful look
And said, “What's that to you?
I'm off to see a lovely girl
I love far better than you.”
“Now since you've played me thus false, love,
In summer mid the flowers,
So I will pay you back again
In winter mid the showers.”
“But again, dear love, and again, dear love,
Will you not turn again?
For as you look to other women
So shall I to other men.”
“Go make your choice of whom you please
Or I my choice will have.”
“I've chosen a maid more fair than you,
I never will deceive.”
She's gathered up her gay clothing
And after him rode she.
But still he bade her turn again,
No farther go with him.
And the first town that they came into,
He bought her a muff and gloves.
But still he bade her turn again
And choose some other loves.
“But again, dear love, and again, dear love,
Will you not turn again?
Alas for loving you so well
And you not me again.”
The next town that they came into,
He bought her a blazing ring;
But still he bade her turn again,
No further ride with him.
“But again, dear love, and again, dear love,
Will you not turn again?
Alas for loving you so well
And you not me again.”
The next town that they came into,
His heart it grew more warm,
And he was as deep in love with her
As she was over again.
And the last town that they came into,
He bought her a wedding gown
And so she was as happy a lady
As ever the sun shone on.