The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #164969   Message #3954861
Posted By: Richard Mellish
05-Oct-18 - 10:39 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: 'Adapting' ballad texts
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: 'Adapting' ballad texts
The Paddy Tunney version quoted by Jim is close to the version that Oliver Mulligan sings, which is the one that I am most familiar with. Neither has Anne's problematic verses: perhaps someone earlier in the chain of transmission likewise found them problematic and dropped them, consciously or unconsciously. My first thought was to leave them out, but then I realised that they do contribute something to the story, a moment when Margaret assumes (understandably!) that her visitor is alive, before he tells her otherwise.