Lyr Req: Unquiet Grave, Hammond and Gardiner

Subject: Lyr Req: Unquiet Grave, Hammond and Gardiner
From: Penny S.
Date: 09 Nov 09 - 04:31 PM

I know there are versions in the Digitrad, and in threads, and on the internet generally, but none is the version I learned out of Marrow Bones, my copy of which is now lurking in a box somewhere while being moved about.

There is one line I can't remember, and oddly, it is in a half verse that isn't to be found by a search engine.

There is a verse beginning something like:

My lips they are as cold as clay
My breath is earthy and strong
And if you kissed my lily white lips
Your life would not be long

(Lots of versions of that)

And the second half I have managed to remember goes:

My life be it long or short sweetheart
But that is all I crave
..................................
Together in one grave

Can anyone end my frustration - it could take months before my book surfaces?

Penny

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unquiet Grave, Hammond and Gardiner
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 09 Nov 09 - 05:13 PM

Penny

To end your misery! This from Marrowbones:

  My lips they are as cold as clay.
  My breath be heavy and strong.
  You have one kiss of my lily-white lips,
  Your life will not be long.

  My life be't long or short, sweetheart,
  But that is all I crave,
  They I shall be along with you,
  A-lying in my grave.


If you pop along to the EFDSS Take Six search page and search for D483 on the Alternate reference number key, you can see the original ms. There seem to be a few minor textual differences between the ms and the published text.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unquiet Grave, Hammond and Gardiner
From: Penny S.
Date: 09 Nov 09 - 06:03 PM

Thank you - and for correcting what had become of my memory from many variants of the rest.

I'll be able to sing it again!

Penny

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unquiet Grave, Hammond and Gardiner
From: GUEST,jeffb
Date: 09 Nov 09 - 07:03 PM

The Dubliners had a nice variant of that verse :-

.... your time will not be long.

My time be short, my time be long
tomorrow or today -
may God in heaven have all my soul
but I'll kiss your lips of clay.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unquiet Grave, Hammond and Gardiner
From: Penny S.
Date: 10 Nov 09 - 02:59 PM

And Mick, that's a wonderful link. Thank you.

Penny

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unquiet Grave, Hammond and Gardiner
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 10 Nov 09 - 03:07 PM

It's not me that needs the thanks Penny - it's those nice people at the EFDSS.

I think we (Mudcat) haven't quite got into it enough yet. People go to the Bodleian site regularly for broadside sources, but I think the Take Six site has yet to really take off here as a regular place to look.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unquiet Grave, Hammond and Gardiner
From: Brian Peters
Date: 10 Nov 09 - 03:18 PM

It is indeed a terrific resource. I'd sung the version of 'Unquiet Grave' from Richards & Stubbs' English Folksinger for years, and now find it's there under Gardiner 1052. A lovely version, too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unquiet Grave, Hammond and Gardiner
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 10 Nov 09 - 03:48 PM

As I've known this song, the ghost's reply verse is


My lips are cold as clay, sweetheart
My breath smells heavy and strong
And if you kissed my lily white lips
Your time would not be long.

The last verse given above, as from the grieving lover, is omitted,
but the last verse I have is:

Oh down in yonder's garden green,
Love, where we used to walk
The finest flower that e'er was seen
Is withered to a stalk.

And, as most of us tend to do, I prefer this version, which I've known and sung for about fifty-five years, to any other suggested versions.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: THE UNQUIET GRAVE
From: GUEST,janemick
Date: 10 Nov 09 - 05:13 PM

The wind it blows today my love
A few small drops of rain
I never had but one true love
In cold grave he was lain

I'd do as much for my true love
as any young girl may
I'd sit and mourn upon the grave
a twelve month and a day

A twelve month and a day my love,
A voice spoke from the deep,
Who is it sits and weeps upon my grave
and will not let me sleep?

'Tis I, 'tis I thine own true love
That weeps upon thy grave
Until I have one kiss from your cold lips
No comfort will I have

My lips are cold as clay, my love
My breath is earthly strong
And hand you one kiss from my cold lips,
Your time will not be long

Down in yonder garden green
Down where we used to walk
The sweetest flower that ever I saw
Is withered to a stalk

The stalk is withered dry, my love
So will our hearts decay
So make yourself content my love
Till death calls you away.

This is (more or less) the version I learnt by heart for my O-level english exam back in 1969-ish. There is a recording of it by the Ian Campbell Folk Group from around that time. Cheerful sort of song...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Unquiet Grave, Hammond and Gardiner
From: Penny S.
Date: 11 Nov 09 - 01:32 PM

Wouldn't do that sort of thing all evening! Fitted the way I felt (and feel) though. (Though the reasons are quite different.)

Penny