The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #73011   Message #1264927
Posted By: Malcolm Douglas
05-Sep-04 - 07:22 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Must I Be Bound
Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: THE BELT WI' COLOURS THREE
X:1
T:The Belt wi' Colours Three
B:Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, II, 1881, 226-7
S:"The Editor can trace this beautiful old Air and Ballad, through his relatives, far into the last century".
N:Roud 5534
N:Some triplet indications omitted in original notation: added here as necessary.
L:1/8
Q:1/4=100
M:3/4
K:G
"Slowly and feelingly"B,|E3/2F/ {A}G2 (FE)|(3~(D3/E/)F ({F}E3/2D/) B, z/ B,/|G3/2A/ B2 {C}~B,2|
w:The moon shined bright up_on_ my pil_low In-to the cham-ber
G3/2A/ B2 (3(ABd)|B3/2A/ B2 ({G}F3/2E/)|(3~(D3/E/F) {F}E3/2D/ B, z/ A/|
w:where I lay I__ could not sleep that_ cauld__ win-ter's night But
B(A/B/) d2 (3(AB)d|(3(BA)F {F}E2 z d|e3/2d/ B2 (3(ABd)|
w:up I_ rose at_ the break_ o' day And though the nicht was__
(3(BA)F ({F}E3/2D/) B, z/ d/|e3/2d/ B2 (3(dBA)|~G3/2A/ B2 (3(ABd)|
w:cauld_ and fros_ty My man-tle green held__ me in heat I__
{d}B3/2A/ B2 (3(AFE)|(3~(D3/E/)F ({F}E3/2D/) B,z/ A/|"tr"B(A/B/) d2 (3(ABd)|(3(BA)F {F}E2 z|]
w:did me down un__to_ the gar_den And gaed in_ at the__ gar_den yett.


THE BELT WI' COLOURS THREE.

The moon shined bright upon my pillow
    Into the chamber where I lay;
I could not sleep that cauld winter's nicht,
    But up I rose at the break o' day.
And though the nicht was cauld and frosty,
    My mantle green held me in heat;
I did me down into the garden,
    And gaed in at the garden yett.

And there I heard a fair maid sighing,
    And tearing at her yellow hair;
She was tearing a' her dark green claithing,
    And fyling a' her face sae fair.
She cried, "For me there is no comfort,
    And for me now there is no supplie;
Lat ne'er a lass love any young man,
    Until she know that she lovèd be.

"The firsten thing my lad gae to me,
    It was a cap well lined wi' lead;
And aye the langer that I wore it,
    It grew the heavier on my head.
Oh, for me now there is no comfort,
    And for me now there is no supplie;
Lat ne'er a lass love any young man,
    Until she know that she lovèd be.

"The nexten thing my lad gae to me,
    It was a mantle wi' sorrow lined;
And lang will I wear that black mantle,
    Till one to borrow it I find.
        Oh, for me now there is no comfort, &c.

"The thirden thing my lad gae to me,
    It was a belt wi' colours three;
The first was shame, the next was sorrow,
    And the last of all sad miserie.
        Oh, for me now, &c.

"But I may climb as high a tree yet,
    And there find out as rich a nest;
And come down from it without e'er falling,
    And marry a lad I may loe best.
        Though for me now, &c."

"Oh, why should ye now climb a tree, may,
    Or pull the cherries ere they be ripe;
For if the gardener do ance you see, may,
    He'll throw you o'er the garden dyke."
Then up she rose, and gaed on slowly,
    And stately stepped o'er the lea;
And by this samin it is weel kenin',
    That mourners crave nae company.


Christie notes, "The Editor can trace this beautiful old Air and Ballad, through his relatives, far into the last century". It is not possible to judge the extent of editorial intervention here, but it may be considerable. Bronson notes that Christie's second strains seem generally to be of his own making.

It appears that the song has not been found independently elsewhere in anything like this form (but see the two Sam Henry Must I go Bound texts above, which borrow a few lines; quite possibly from this printed text rather than from tradition): the text in Ord, Bothy Ballads (1930, 194-5) appears to derive from Christie. A shortened text, lacking Christie's second strain (but specifically adapted from his example) was recorded by Alison MacMorland in 1977, and probably by now other people are singing her re-write of it, which is transcribed in Ailie Munroe, The Folk Music Revival in Scotland, Norwood Editions, 1985, 115-7, and in Sheila Douglas, Come Gie's a Sang, Edinburgh: Hardie Press, 1995, 108.


The introductory verses remind me rather of something else which I can't place just at present.