Hi,

This is a simple explanation: the Died for Love ballads are similar in style, melody and theme to Sailor Boy/Sweet William. [A maid falls in love, is separated from her love, searches for him, finds he's dead and kills herself.] While singers were blending the two ballads, printers kept printing the same stock broadsides-- not taking tradition into account. Still it seems odd that a version with the added Died for Love stanzas was not printed. The ballad was popular in North America and UK and a number of traditional versions in the US date back to mid-1800s-- so it's been here long before that.

Unlike the Butcher Boy, its cousin, no prints were made in the US.

I'm posting this excellent version from Jim Cleveland of Brant Lake, New York collected by Gwilym Davies in 1998. Jim is the oldest son of Sara Cleveland (1905-1992) one of the outstanding ballad singers in the US. She got her repertoire from her Irish/Scottish family and local singers.

Butcher Boy-- sung by Jim Cleveland (b. 1924) of Brant Lake, New York about 14 February, 1998.

1. In Dublin City, where I did dwell
A butcher boy I loved full well,
He courted me, both night and day,
But with me now he will not stay.

2. When my apron was hanging low
My love would follow through rain or snow
But now my apron is to my knees
He'll pass me by as he knew not me.

3. Oh mother dear I feel so bad
I sometimes think I shall go mad;
O daughter dear do not grieve so,
For life is filled with pain and woe.

4. She went upstairs to make her bed,
And nothing to her mother said,
Her father came and the door he broke
He found her hanging to a rope.

5. He took his knife and cut her down
And on her bosom these words he found:
A foolish girl, I know am I
To hang myself for a butcher boy.

6. Must I go bound while he goes free,
Must I love a boy who won't love me?
Or must I live my life in shame,
And raise a child without a name?

7. Go dig my grave both wide and deep,
Place marble stones at my head and feet.
And on my breast lay a turtle dove
To show the world that I died for love.

The setting is Dublin and the "full well" in the second line place it in the UK as an old version. Although short, it's missing nothing and the sixth stanza is very powerful and heart-breaking. This was one of Jim's best ballads.

Richie