The Well Below the Valley- Reilly (Dublin) 1967
The notes from Volume 3: O’er His Grave the Grass Grew Green - Tragic Ballads (Topic TSCD 653) list The Well Below the Valley sung by John Reilly, Dublin 1967, recorded by Tom Munnelly. Bronson lists a recording by Reilly by Tom Munnelly and D.K. Wilgus as Feb. 22, 1969. Broson's lyrics from the second longer recording, which I may add later, differ slightly from the lyrics below. John Reilly died shortly thereafter.
Listen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vrdrQpJIm-M Volume 3: O’er His Grave the Grass Grew Green - Tragic Ballads (Topic TSCD 653)
The Well Below the Valley- sung by John Reilly, Dublin, 1967. Roud 2335, Child 21.
AKA The Maid and the Palmer. In this unique and mystical ballad we find John Reilly, surely one of society’s most maltreated members, sharing a jewel of unprecedented beauty with us all. The story of the woman of Samaria was once known across Europe, especially throughout Scandinavia and France. Somehow, in the telling, Mary Magdalen has also entered the story. Child tells the following story, based on several Scandinavian tales. A woman at a well or a stream is approached by Jesus, who asks for a drink. She say she has no vessel to serve him with. He replies that if she were pure, he would drink from her hands. She protests innocence with oaths, but is silenced by his telling her that she has had three children, one with her father, one with her brother, one wioth her parish priest. She falls at his feet, and begs him to shrive her. Jesus appoints her a seven years’ penance in the wood. Her food shall be the buds or the leaves of the trees, her drink the dew, her bed the hard ground; all the time she shall be harassed by bears, wolves and snakes. The time expired, Jesus returns and asks how she has liked her penance. She answers, as if she had eaten daintily, drunk wine, slept on silk or swan’s-down, and had angelic company. Jesus then tells her that a place is ready for her in heaven
THE WELL BELOW THE VALLEY- Sung by John Reilly, 1967
1. A gentleman he was passing by.
He axed a drink as he got dry
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows the lily O
Right among the bushes O.
2. My cup it is in overflow
And if I do stoop I may fall in
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows the lily O
Right among the bushes O.
3. Well if your true love was passing by
You'd fill him a drink if he got dry
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows, etc.
4. She swore by grass and swore by corn
That her true love was never born.
I say, fair maiden, you've swore in wrong
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows, etc.
5. Well if you're a man of that noble fame
You'll tell to me the father o' them
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows, etc.
6. Two o' them by your father dear
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows, etc.
7. Two more o' them came by your uncle Dan
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows, etc.
8. Another one by your brother John
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows, etc.
9. Well if you're a man of the noble fame
You'll tell to me what happened then
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows, etc.
10. There was two o' them buried by the kitchen fire
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows, etc."
11. Two more o' them buried by the stable door
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows, etc.
12. The other was buried by the well
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows, etc.
13. Well if you're a man of the noble fame
You'll tell to me what will happen mysel'
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows, etc.
14. You'll be seven long years a-ringin' a bell
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows, etc.
15. You'll be seven more a-portin' in Hell
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows, etc.
16. I'll be seven long years a-ringin' the bell
But the Lord above might save my soul
From portin' in Hell
At the well below the valley O.
Green grows the lily O
Right among the bushes O.
Notes: "Recorded by Tom Munnelly, D. K and E. Wilgus and sent by Mr. Munnelly to the Editor. Printed with musical score. Child No. 21, "The Maid and the Palmer"
"It was not to be expected that a traditional version of this ballad which had barely survived in a fragmentary form in Scotland a century and a half ago, should have turned up in Ireland after the Second World War. But such is the case, and we have word of yet another variant in the same vicinity in the year 1970. The musical tradition is very unstable, and perhaps the tunes have been borrowed for the nonce, from material well worn in other connections. In the British Isles, the persons of the ballad are equally blurred and indistinct in identity. On the Continent, the Christ is more perceptible, but the Magdalen and the woman of Samaria are still confused. In the penances forecast, the ballad seems very probably to have crossed the sturdier tradition of "The Cruel Mother" (No. 20)."
Quoted from p. 83, Bertrand Harris Bronson, 1976, "The Singing Tradition of Child's Popular Ballads," Princeton Univ. Press.