The Rolling of the Stones- Schneyer; pre-1970s
[This is an adaptation of the ballad, "The Two Brothers," and is probably not traditional. It first appeared in the US under the "Rolling" title in 1939 from Mrs. Mary E. Harmon of Cambridge, Massachussetts, published in Linscott's Folk Songs of Old New England. Susequent versions came from Oscar Brand (1959), Joe Hickerson, Young Tradition and this version by Bok-Muir-Tricket.
In my opinion the term, "The Rolling of the Stones," has evolved from Highland games- "the putting of stones" or "the throwing of the stones." Here's an excerpt from Child B, collected by Motherwell from Widow McCormick, January 19, 1825; Westbrae, Paisley:
It's whether will ye play at the ba', brither,
Or else throw at the stone?'
Here are some notes:
Ed Trickett: This version of Child ballad #49 I learned from Helen Schneyer a number of years ago. While the text leaves some aspects of the story to the imagination, Joe Hickerson, at the Library of Congress, reports that some scholars have interpreted the ballad as describing an incestuous relationship between Susie and her brother. One can't tell from Helen's text. Regardless, it's a chilling song of mystery, magic, and love.
Helen Schneyer (1921- 2005) was known for her renditions of lugubrious ballads, work songs, African American spirituals and Baptist hymns, which she sang, among other places, on Prairie Home Companion, at the White House at the request of Eleanor Roosevelt, and in Mona Wasow’s living room. She shared the stage with many of America’s best-known folk singers and songwriters, including Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger, who urged her at an early age to sing.
THE ROLLING OF THE STONES c. 1970s Folk Legacy; Gordon Bok, Ann Mayo Muir & Ed Trickett - (trad., arr: TBM; FSl-1 10) 1:48
Will you go to the rolling of the stones,
The tossing of the ball,
Or will you go and see pretty Susie
Dance among them all?
Will you drink of the blood,
The white wine and the red,
Or will you go and see pretty Susie
When that I am dead?
They had not danced but a single dance,
Nor half the hall around,
When the sword that hung from her brother's side
Gave him a dreadful wound.
They picked him up and they carried him along
And laid him there on the ground,
And there he lay till the break of day,
Nor made no single sound.
Susie charmed the birds from the sky,
The fish from out the bay,
And she lay all night in her true -lover's arms,
And there was content to stay.
(repeat first verse)