The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #150785   Message #3518515
Posted By: Suzy Sock Puppet
23-May-13 - 03:44 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Lord Lovel (Child #75)
Subject: RE: Origins: Lord Lovel (Child #75)
Thanks for sorting that out Mick.

Btw, have you ever read what Niles had to say about this ballad?

The ballad of "Lord Lovel," the third in the tragic trilogy, presents the legend of a weakling member if the nobility who suffered from an Englishman's usual desire to see far places...We may safely say that Lord Lovel died a laggard's death. In my family, the ballad of "Lord Lovel" was thought to be slightly ridiculous, and was sung for humor's sake, if at all... Lord Lovel has been printed more often in American songbooks and broadsides than any other Anglo-American ballad.

Ouch!