The Three Crows- Marshall (Va.) c.1900 Davis L
[From Davis, Traditional Ballads from Virginia, 1929 p. 137-145. Davis's notes follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
10. THE THREE RAVENS
(Child, No. 26)
IN Virginia "The Three Ravens" have become "The Three Crows," som€etimes "The Two Crows." The Virginia variants, though they may differ in many resp€ects, both as to words and tune, are sufficiently alike to prove a similar origin. They lack at once the tenderness of the English "The Three Ravens" and the cynicism of the Scottish "The Twa Corbies." Their verbal resemblance with the Child texts ceases after the first two stanzas, and in spirit they are far removed from the human drama, touching or cynical, of the Child counterparts. Human actors have been entirely eliminated. "The Three Crows " is usually a comic animal song, which lends itself rather easily to improvisation and even parody. Two interesting civil war parodies are given as appendices to the ballad. C is a good example of comic addition to the old ballad. Minor variations in the several texts are exceedingly interesting.
For American texts, see Barry, No. 27; Brown, p. 9 (North Carolina); Bulletin 4,5, 7-10; Campbell and Sharp, No. 10 (Virginia; cf. Sharp, Songs,II, No. 5); Cox No. 6, and p. 522 (melody); Heart Songs, p. 485 Hudson, No. 5 (Mississippi); Jones, p. 301; Journal XX, 154 (Beatty, Wisconsin), 273 (Tatlock, Ohio); for additional references see Cox, p. 31, Journal, XXXI, 273.
L. "The Three Crows." Collected by Mr. John Stone. Sung by an Englishman near Scottsville, Va. Albemarle County. November 10, 1919. Mr. Stone writes: "Nearly twenty years ago I heard an Englishman named Marshall sing this song in the lower part of Albemarle County. I think he came from York or Hull. He lined it of two lines at a time and then sang the words to the tune of 'Bonny Doon.' Two years ago I was telling Dr. J. C. Blair, of Scottsville, Albemarle County, about it, and he told me that he had heard it sung in the same way to practically the same tune when he was a boy years ago. He did not know Mr. Marshall. Burns wrote 'Bonny Doon' late in the eighteenth-century and sang it to the tune of an old Caledonian war-song.
Did 'The Three Crows' get its tune from the war-song, or the war-song get its tune from 'The Three Crows'or did some latter-day wag fit the words to the tune of 'Bonny Doon.' The crow song evidently came from 'The Three Ravens.' "
1 There were three crows sat on a tree,
As black as any crows could be. (All sing.)
2 One of these crows said to his mate,
"What shall we do for food to eat?" (All sing.)
3 "There lies a horse in yonder lane
That has been only three days slain. (All sing.)
4 "We'll sit upon his bare backbone
And pick his eyes out one by one." (All sing.)