Yon Green Valley
"As the dew flies over the green vallee"
The Green Valley
[ Roud 2125 ; G/D 6:1183 ; Ballad Index K168 ; trad.]
Frankie Armstrong sang The Green Valley in 1972 on her LP Lovely on the Water. A.L. Lloyd commented in the album's sleeve notes:
Most of our lost-love songs are from the girl’s viewpoint. On this theme, girls’ songs probably outnumber the boys’ five to one, the proportion established by Bartók after a statistical survey of his huge East European collection, he concluded that “the figures mean that love relations are far more momentous to girls”: fair enough. They’re a confusing lot, these songs that tell no tale but convey a mood. They merely take a stock of images and commonplace verses, and combine and recombine them till one hardly knows whether one’s hearing a dozen different songs or a dozen versions of the same lyrical piece. So it is with this one, entirely constructed of verses that crop up here and there in countless lost-love songs, Nor does the tune help much to distinguish one piece from the other. In this case it’s a member of that vast melody-family of which Died for Love is the central figure.
Chris Coe sang Yon Green Valley in 2001 on her CD A Wiser Fool She noted:
I think of this as being a very English song, but it was in fact collected from Bruce Laurenson of Bressay, Shetland, by Pat Shuldham-Shaw.
The Devil's Interval (Emily Portman, Lauren McCormick and Jim Causley) sang Green Valley in 2008 on their WildGoose CD Blood and Honey. They commented:
From the inimitable singing of Chris Coe; this song got mangled up in Jim's head together with John Kirkpatrick's tune to Tarry Trousers. This is the monster that was spawned. The last line has become our motto for life.
Frankie Armstrong sings The Green Valley
A young man courted me all on sly,
And to his vices I did comply.
'Twas his false vows and flattering tongue,
He beguiled me, love, when I was young.
As I sat down at my love's right hand,
He swore by Heaven, by sea and land
That the rising sun he never would see
If ever that he proved false to me
For nine long months he proved true and kind,
A short time after he changed his mind.
He changed his mind to a high degree
And said farewell to yon green valley.
I mind the promise I made to you,
I'll have no more to do with you,
My father's choice I must obey,
So farewell darling, I cannot stay.
So off he's gone and I wish him well,
For to get married 'tis I hear tell.
My innocent babe I'll tend and care,
And to his false, false you soon beware.
Oh am I bound or am I free?
Oh am I bound to marry thee?
A single life is the best I see,
A contented mind bears no slavery.
Green Valley (MacEdward Leach)
A young man courted me earnestly,
It was to his wish I did agree;
He had a false and a flattering heart,
He courted me when I was young.
It was on a book he got me to swear,
Saying, that was her love, I do declare;
To wed no man, no man but he,
As the sun rose down over yon green valley.
You have a heart, love, and I got none,
Pray give me mine, love, and keep your own;
For you're as false as the wavering wind,
And I dote no more on false mankind.
You caught me fast, not to let me go,
Saying, you are my love, by right you know;
Perform those promises you made to me,
As the sun rose down over yon green valley.
Now he's gone and left me behind,
Some other fair one has changed his mind;
Some other fair one of a high degree,
Has changed his mind from yon green valley.
I wished, I wished, and I wished in vain,
I wished I was a maid again;
A maid, a maid I will never be,
Until apples grow on laurel trees.
I'll sing this verse and I'll sing no more,
Since the lad has left me, gone far away;
Since the lad has left me, gone far away,
Has changed his mind from yon green valley.
####.... Author unknown. Variant of a Scottish traditional, Yon Green Valley ....####
Collected in 1951 from Mrs Teresa (Leonard) Molloy nee Hayward (1910-?)of St Shott's, NL, and published in MacEdward Leach And The Songs Of Atlantic Canada © 2004 Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive (MUNFLA).
A variant was collected in 1951 by Helen Creighton [1899-1989] and published as Yon Green Valley in Maritime Folk Songs, pp.86-87 (Ryerson, Toronto, 1962/1972).
A variant was also collected by Peter Douglas Kennedy [1922-2006] of London & Leckhampton, Gloucestershire, UK on the Isle of Bressay, Shetland, Scotland, and published as #168, Yon Green Valley, in Folksongs Of Britain And Ireland (1975).
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Yon Green Valley
DESCRIPTION: Singer tells of a young man who courted her and swore he'd be true; for 11 months he was, but then left. She reminds him of his promise, but he must obey his "father's counsel." She recommends the single life, for "a contented mind bears no slavery."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: loneliness courting love sex marriage promise warning farewell abandonment baby lover oldmaid floatingverses
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber,Hebr)) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
GreigDuncan6 1183, "Yon Green Valley" (1 text)
Kennedy 168, "Yon Green Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 86-87, "Yon Green Valley" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 51, "Yon Green Vallee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 72, "Green Valley (The First Young Man Came A-Courting Me)" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GOBOUND
Roud #2125
RECORDINGS:
Marie Hare, "Green Valley" (on MRMHare01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rambleaway" (plot)
cf. "Must I Go Bound" (lyrics)
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] (lyrics)
0000000000
The Journal of American Folk-lore, Volume 22, Parts 3-4
Barry-- Irish Come-all -Ye's
1. Early early all in the spring,
When gentle small birds begin to sing,
Changing their notes from tree to tree,
As the sun arose over yon green valley.
2. For six long months my love she did prove kind,
And then six after, she changed her mind,
Saying "Farewell, darling, I must away,
You know my parents I must obey!"
3. He held her fast, he would not let her go,
Saying, "Mary, Mary, my mind you know,
Fulfil those vows you made to me,
As the sun arose over yon green valley !"1
1 "Early In the Spring," A, Folk-Songs of the North Atlantic Stales, from S. C, Boston, Mass., native of Co. Tyrone. Except in the last stanza, repeat third and fourth lines as refrain. I
* The presence of this stanza connects the ballad with the Rcturned-Lover cycle. A
4. "It was on a book, love, you made me swear,
If you read these few lines, you'll find it there,
That I can't marry, nor no one take,
Nor when you're dead, love none for your sakel"
5. "I'll think no more of her yellow hair, ...
Her two black eyes are beyond compare,
Her cherry cheeks, and her flattering tongue,
It was it beguiled me when I was young!"
6. Down in yon valley all closed around,
There's nothing there, but the small birds' sound,
I sing one verse, and I sing no more,
Since the girl has left me that I adore!
I change my mind like the waving wind,
And I'll dote no more on false womankind!
A fragment, sung by S. C. to a melody closely similar, may well be from another version of this ballad:—
3??
Ob, the rote is red, and the Ian - rel'i green, And
my love's face it might serve a queen; The drop of hon -ey in the
morn . ing dew Was not half so sweet as one kiss from yon l Mixolydian.
Oh, pret - ty lit - tie girl, come till we set the time That
yon and IH be mar - rled, and I can call yoo mine; That
version printed by Professor Belden (/. c. cf. note a, p. 379) makes the lover return after seven years' service in the King's navy.
1 ">f cLeane the Journeyman," A, Folk-Songt of the North Atlantic States, from S. C, Boston, Mass., native of Co. Tyrone. vOL. XXII. — NO. 86.