Sweet William and Fair Ellen- Greer (NC) 1913 Brown B
[From the Brown Collection; 1952, one of 11 Versions. The Brown Collection includes music from Greer and Abrams housed at Appalachian State University- available online (some recordings). This is the Brown Collection text and music whcih is slighlty different from the The Library of Congress version recorded at Washington, D,C., 1946 by Duncan Emrich. The Greer's first recording listed by Meade was 10-26-29 made in NYC for Paramount.
A separate entry (Sweet William- Greer (NC) 1913 LOC REC) gives the recording text.
R. Matteson 2011, 2014]
3. Earl Brand (Child 7)
This admirable specimen of the tragic ballad seems to have held its place in the favor of ballad singers better in America than in the old country. Greig reports it from Scotland, to be sure, both in the Folk-Songs of the North-East and in Last Leaves, and Ord has it in his Bothy Songs; but the absence of any mention of it in the Journal of the Folk-Song Society seems to show that it is extinct in English tradition. On this side of the Atlantic it has been reported as traditional song in Newfoundland (BSSN 7-8), Nova Scotia (BSSNS 9-11), Maine (BBM 35-40), Virginia (TBV 86-91, SharpK I 21-3, 25), West Virginia (FSS 18-19), Kentucky (SharpK i 24-5), Tennessee (FSSH 36-7, BTFLS viii 64-5), North Carolina (JAFL xxviii 152-4, SharpK 1 14-19, SSSA 45-6, BMFSB lo-ii, SCSM 115-16), Georgia (SharpK I 19-20), Mississippi (FSM 66-8), Florida (SFLQ viii 136-8), the Ozarks (OMF 219-21, OFS I 48-9), Indiana (BSI 37-8), and Illinois JAFL IX 241-2). 'The Soldier's Wooing,' reckoned by some as a secondary form of "Earl Brand,' is dealt with later in the present volume. The American texts follow in general the tradition of Scott's form of the ballad ('The Douglas Tragedy' of the Minstrelsy, Child's version B), clinging in particular to the '"buglet horn" that "hung down by his side," recognizable through a variety of transformations. Old Carl Hood has vanished entirely. Most of the North Carolina versions, and also that from Georgia, have introduced a new element, the question of the hero's origin. *When scornfully described by the girl's father as "a steward's son" (transformed in texts A, C, F below into "Stuart's son"), he proudly declares that his father is a regis king and his mother a Quaker's queen. Possibly this has been picked up, and corrupted, from the English stall ballad of 'The Orphan Gypsy Girl,' the opening line of which in Cox's West Virginia version (FSS 335) runs: "My father is king of the gypsies, my mother is queen of the Jews."
B. 'Sweet William and Fair Ellen.' Contributed by I. G. Greer of Boone. Watauga county, in 1913. The "sight" of stanza 6 is probably a mis-reading by somebody of "light" — though A has here "sit." There is in the Collection another copy of Greer's version which lacks the last two stanzas. [The Library of Congress notes accompanying the recording of the Greer's says: Sung by I. G. Greer of Thomasville, N.C. with dulcimer by Mrs. I. G. Greer. Recorded at Washington, D,C., 1946. by Dancan Emrich. The Greer's first recording listed by Meade was 10-26-29 made in NYC for Paramount. R. Matteson 2011]
For melodic relationship, cf. **BMFSB lo, the first four measures ; *SharpK I 14, No. 4A. Scale: Heptachordal, plagal. Mode III very evident. Tonal Center: f. Structure: abcd (2,2,2,2). Circular Tune (V).
1 Sweet William rode up to the Old Man's gate
And boldly he did say;
'The youngest daughter she may stay at home
But the oldest I'll take away.'
2 'Come in, come in, all seven of my sons,
And guard your sister around.
For it never shall be said that the Steward's son
Has taken my daughter out of town.'
3 'I thank you, sir, and it's very kind;
I'm none of the steward's son;
My father was a rich Reginer's [1] king,
My mother a Quaker's queen.'
4 So he got on his snow-white steed
And she on the dappled grey.
He swung his bugle horn around his neck
And they went riding away.
5 They hadn't gone more'n a mile out of town
Till he looked back again.
And he saw her father and seven of her brothers
Come trippling over the plain.
6 'Sight down, sight down, fair Ellen,' said he,
'And hold my steed by the rein
Till I fight your father and seven of your brothers
Come trippling over the plain.'
7 She got right down and she stood right still,
Not a word did she return.
Till she saw her father and seven of her brothers
A-rolling in their own heart's blood.
8 'Slack your hands, slack your hands, sweet William,' said she,
'Your wounds are very sore;
The blood runs free from every vein.
A father can I have no more.'
9. So he got on his snow-white steed
And she on the dappled grey.
He swung his bugle horn around his neck
And they went bleeding way.
10. Soon they rode up to his mother's gate
And tingling on the ring.
'Oh mother, oh mother, asleep or awake,
Arise and let me in!
11 'Oh mother, oh mother, bind my head!
My wounds are very sore.
The blood runs free from every vein;
For me you will bind them no more.'
12 About two hours before 'twas day
The fowls began to crow.
Sweet William died from the wounds he received,
Fair Ellen died for sorrow.
13 Sweet William died like it was today,
Fair Ellen died tomorrow.
Sweet William died from the wounds he received,
Fair Ellen died for sorrow.
1. other versions have "regis"