Young Hunting- Gallagher (NS) 1937 Creighton A
[From Traditional Folk Songs from Nova Scotia by Creighton and Senior; 1950 version A.
Catherine Gallagher was from Halifax, Nova Scotia (1937). The following notes come from the PDF The Creighton-Senior Collaboration, 1932-51.
R. Matteson 2012, 2014]
The great discovery of 1937 was Catherine Scott, the wife of Edward Gallagher, the lighthouse keeper at Chebucto Head, whom the two women first visited on the 7th and 8th of August. Helen came to regard her as "the most delightful folk singer I have ever heard [with a voice that] is lovely and absolutely true. This is how she remembered the first collecting session with the Gallaghers:
Dear Mrs. Gallagher! How we grew to love her! That Saturday afternoon her floor had to be scrubbed so her house would be in order for possible Sunday visitors. She wanted to sing, and then did the thing most natural to her which was to sing while she scrubbed. This was her songs' function in her life anyway, for they accompanied her housework. (Walter Roast sang as he
ploughed and Ben Henneberry as he fished.) This is how we got "The Broken Ring", a song which became the basis of a folk opera. Her voice was true, and like Dennis Smith, she could stop anywhere and pick her tune up again in the same key. With other singers, Doreen made frequent erasures. This wasn't necessary here. ..Our real work began [after the children were in bed] as Mrs. Gallagher recalled one gem after another.
This was a happy home and a musical one. Mr. Gallagher played the accordion and mouth organ and in time the boys played musical instruments ...The weekend had given us eighteen new songs and variants of several already published in Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia. Four were Child ballads, and Doreen considered at least ten of the eighteen publishable. Helen Creighton with Catherine Gallagher and family [PANS HC Fonds Binder 17: 0649.153J
Mrs. Gallagher would prove to be one of Helen's more prolific informants as well as one of her finest singers, and she would be employed extensively in the CBC broadcasts of 1938 and 1939. The sister of another informant, Andrew Scott of Enfield,
Catherine was of Scottish descent and had learned many of her songs from her mother, and she had taught school before getting married. Her repertoire was varied, and Doreen noted seventeen tunes from her that year. For Helen the highlights were a version of Child # 68 "Young Hunting", the pirate ballad "Henry Martin" (Child # 250), a Robin Hood ballad titled "The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood" (Child #132), and a comic ballad that sanctioned wife beating, 'The Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin" (Child # 277). Broadside ballads included the "Broken Ring Song", the humorous "Quaker's Courtship", the naval ballad "Chesapeake and Shannon", "Brennan on the Moor", and "Well Sold the Cow", the tune of which particularly appealed to Doreen. "When Will Ye Gang Awa'" reflected Catherine's Scottish heritage, but Irish songs were actually more numerous, including "The Wild Irishman", "Paddy Backwards" and "The Courtship of Willie Riley". Since Catherine had young children it was hardly surprising that she also sang cumulative songs that could keep them amused or teach them things, such as "The Alphabet Song" and "The Tree in the Wood".
A. YOUNG HUNTING- Catherine Gallagher- Halifax, Nova Scotia (1937).
The lady stood in her bower door,
In her bower door stood she,
She thought she heard a bridle ring,
Which filled her heart with glee, glee,
Which filled her heart with glee.
"Oh, can you ride, fair lord," she said,
Can you ride under the moon?
For there's a doctor in yonder town
Can cure your mortal wound, wound,
Can cure your mortal wound."
"Will you alight, fair lord?" she said,
"And stay with me this night?
I'll give you bed, I'll give you board,
Charcoal and candle light, light,
Charcoal and candle light."
"I cannot ride, false lady," he said,
"I cannot ride under the moon,
And there's not a doctor in all of the world
Can cure, but God alone, alone,
Can cure but God alone."
"I'll not alight, fair lady," he said,
"And stay with you alone,
For I have a far better bride than you
To enjoy when I go home, home,
To enjoy when I go home."
She called up her waiting maids,
Three hours before t'was day,
Saying, "There's a dead man in my room,
I wish he was away, away,
I wish he was away."
Learning over his saddle girth
To kiss her ruby lips,
She had a penknife in her hand,
She wounded him full deep, deep,
She wounded him full deep.
Some took him by the golden hair,
Some took him by the feet,
They threw him in a deep, deep well,
Full thirty fathoms deep, deep,
Full thirty fathoms deep.
"Why wounds't me, fair lady?" he said,
Why wounds't me full sore?
There's not a lord in fair Scotland
Loves thee, false lady, more, more,
Loves thee, false lady, more."
Then up and flew a little bird
And sat upon a tree,
Saying, "Go home, go home, you false lady,
And pay your maids their fee, fee,
And pay your maids their fee."
"Come down, come down, you pretty bird,
And sit upon my knee,
For I have a golden cage at home,
I will bestow on thee, thee,
I will bestow on thee.
"I will not come down," said the little bird,
"Or sit upon your knee,
For you'll take my sweet life away,
Like the lord that loved thee, thee,
Like the lord that loved thee."
"If I had a bow all in my hand,
And an arrow to a string,
I'd shoot you through the very heart
Amongst the leaves so green, green,
Amongst the leaves so green."
"And if you had a bow all in your hand,
And arrow to a string,
I would take to flight, away I'd fly,
And never more be seen, seen,
And never more be seen."