Wake You Up- (KY) pre1967 Sweet Rivers of Song
[My title. not date or informant given. Collected by unknown collector at Burea College in Kentucky; from Sweet Rivers of Song, 1967 edited by Jameson. Stanza 9 and 10 were added from a Child version. Her noted follow.
R. Matteson 2014]
EARL BRAND is the oldest ballad found in the Appalachians. It is thought that the Danes brought its first narrative form to England about 800 A.D. There it was slowly molded into poetic form. There was an Earl O'Bran at some period in English hlstory who was an exciting character though this was not one of his exploits. The title renains but he becomes Lord William in the ballad. The scene is the farm of Blackhouse in Selkirkshire, Scotland. The Douglas Burn, where the lovers stop to drink, flows into the Yarrow. Stanzas 9 and 10 are taken from Child's Engtlsh and Scottish Ballads to complete the picture of the night's terrible drama.
"Wake You Up, You Seven Sleepers." EARL BRAND
1. "Wake you up, wake you up! You s€even sleepers,
And do take warning of me;
O do take care of your oldest daughter
For the youngest is going with me."
2. He mounted her up on his bonny bonny brown,
Himself on the dappled gray,
He drew his buckler down by his side,
And away he went singing away.
3. He rode and he rode that livelong day,
Along with his lady so dear;
Until he saw her seventh brother bold,
And her father walking so near.
4. "Get you down, get you down, Lady Margret," he said,
"And hold my horse for awhile,
until I fight your seventh brother bold,
And your father walking so nigh. "
5. She held, she held, she better better held,
And never shedded a tear,
Until she saw her seventh brother fall,
And her father she loved so dear.
6. "Do you choose for to so, Lady Margret," he cried,
"Do you choose for to go or stay?"
I'll go, I'll go, Lord William", she cried,
"For you've left me no other way. "
7. He mounted her up on his bonny bonny brown,
Himself on the dark dapple gray,
He drew his buckler down by his side,
And away he went bleeding away.
8. O they rode on, and on they rode,
And all by the light of the moon,
until they came to yon wan water,
And there they lighted down.
[9. They lighted down to take a drink
Of the spring that ran so clear,
And down the stream ran his good heart's blood,
And sore she began to fear.
10. "Hold up, hold up Lord William," she cried,
"I fear you are slain."
" 'Tis nothing but the shadow of my scarlet cloak
That shines in the water so plain".]
11. O they rode on, and on they rode,
And all by the light of the moon,
Until they came to his mother's Hall,
And there they lighted down.
12. "Get up, get up, lady mother" he says,
"Get up and let us in.
Get up, get up, lady mother," he says,
"For this night my fair lady I've win."
13. Lord William was dead long ere midnight,
And Margret long before day.
And all true lovers that go together,
May have more luck than they.