Lyr Add: Little Turtle Dove

Subject: Lyr Add: LITTLE TURTLE DOVE
From: Mad Maudlin
Date: 04 Jun 01 - 05:22 PM

I'm aware that there's another version of this song already in the DT, but I thought I'd add this one as well. This is how I learned it from a book. I have no possibilities of adding a MIDI, but if you're interested in the sheet music to it, PM me,and I'll scan it for you!

Cheers, Nathalie

P.S.: Does anyone have a clue about age and origin of this song?

LITTLE TURTLE DOVE

(trad.)

O can't you see yon little turtle dove
Sitting under a mulberry tree?
See how that she does mourn for her true love
As I shall mourn for thee, my love,
As I shall mourn for thee.

O fare thee well, my little turtle dove,
And fare thee well for a while!
But though I go, I surely will return
If I go ten thousand miles, my love,
If I go ten thousand miles.

Ten thousand miles is very far away
For you to return to me.
You'll leave me here to lament and, well-a-day!
My tears you will not see, my love,
My tears you will not see.

The crow that's black, my little turtle dove,
Shall change its colour to white.
Before I prove false to the maiden that I love
The noon-day shall be night, my love,
The noon-day shall be night.

The hills shall fly, my little turtle dove,
The roaring billows burn
Before my heart shall suffer me to fail
Or I a traitor turn, my love,
Or I a traitor turn.

The stars shall fall, my little turtle dove,
And the rocks melt with the sun.
I'llnever prove false to the maiden that I love
Till all these things be done, my love,
Till all these things be done.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Little Turtle Dove
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 04 Jun 01 - 10:14 PM

&TitleThis one is a lot more complicated than it might at first appear! What was your source? There are quite a few related songs here and at other sites, though the point at which shared stanzas actually demonstrate a connection between them is moot. These are worth looking at for purposes of comparison. In the DT:

TURTLE DOVE -no source named or tune given. Pretty much the same as the text that Natalie posted, though it lacks her final verse.

TURTLE DOVE (2) Not a traditional set, but the confection from Stephen Sedley's book The Seeds of Love (1967), the text of which is collated "from the set given to [Cecil] Sharp by Kitty Sorby, a late 18th-century garland (The True Lover's Farewell) and two Dorset texts collected by Hammond. The tune is a collation of two similar songs from Dorset in Hammond's manuscripts and is a good example of the song's most usual melody-type. Tune B is given by way of an appendix: it is a version of the Anglo-American music-hall burlesque song Mary Ann, dating from the 1850s, which may have been modelled on a traditional (Scots?) melody, and which was normally sung with two or three Turtle Dove stanzas plus gently comic verses." I quote Sedley's notes because the DT does not.

TEN THOUSAND MILES Noted by Cecil Sharp from Rosie Hensley in Carmen NC, in 1916: with tune.

THOUSAND MILE BLUES Set from Jean Ritchie, without tune.

HE'S GONE AWAY From Sandburg's American Songbag, with tune. No original source named.

THE STORMS ARE ON THE OCEAN -from the Carter Family, with tune.

MY LOVE IS LIKE A RED, RED ROSE Robert Burns; with tune.

RED ROSY BUSH From Frank Warner, collected from Lee Presnell, TN 1951. With tune.

MARY ANN Text and tune from Stephen Sedley, The Seeds of Love.

FARE THEE WELL MARIANNE "As sung by Mike Cross", whoever he might be. No original source named or tune given.

In the Forum:

10,000 miles song from Fly Away Home Includes partial and complete texts of The Unkind Parents (1690-96) and Mary Anne.

He's Gone Away (Slightly Different Words)

The Time Draws Near

ADD: My Dearest Dear Text from the Ritchie family?

The Blackest Crow: meaning? One unattributed text, plus text and tune as recorded by "Sweeney's Men", without provenance, together with a great deal of (very) irrelevant discussion.

There's probably more.

At The Lester S. Levy Collection of Sheet Music:

MY MARY ANN. THE YANKEE GIRLS SONG. Words credited to Barney Williams, music to M. Tyse. Published Baltimore, Henry McCaffrey, 1856.

At the Max Hunter Folk Song Collection:

Who Will Shoe My Foot As sung by May Kennedy McCord, Springfield, Missouri on October 21, 1960.
O, Who Will Shoe your Pretty Little Foot As sung by Mrs. Oliva Hauser, Fayettville, Arkansas on June 21, 1958.

At Lesley Nelson's Folk Music site:

The Little Turtle Dove Version collected by Cecil Sharp, presumably in Appalachia; with tune.
The True Lover's Farewell Collation by Cecil Sharp from several traditional English versions (100 English Folk Songs, 1916.

At the Traditional Ballad Index:

Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot
Storms Are on the Ocean, The (False True Lover, The True Lover's Farewell, Red Rosy Bush, Turtle Dove)
Lover's Lament, The
Fare You Well, My Own True Love
My Dearest Dear

Evidently we can go back to the late 17th century on this one; probably to England, though several different tunes are involved along the line, including the ubiquitous Gilderoy (more recently known as Star of the County Down). There's an argument that the verses that sometimes appear including "Who's going to shoe my pretty little foot" may indicate a connection to The Lass of Roch / Loch Royal (Lord Gregory), but that's probably a bit too tenuous to be proven.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Little Turtle Dove
From: Mad Maudlin
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 01:15 AM

Good work, Malcolm! I never thought there werer so many variations...Funny, when I did a search for "Turtle Dove" the only one I got was "Turtle Dove 2" in the DT. My source was a book called "Folk Sing", released by Hollis Music, Inc., New York (no author given). There's no information given about the song either, except that it's traditional. Thanks again, Malcolm,for the many links,now I'll go and compare lyrics...

Nathalie

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Little Turtle Dove
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 05 Jun 01 - 01:30 AM

DON'T DON'T DON'T depend upon a title search. if you go to the lyrics search, and enter [turtle dove] (the square brackets show that it's a phrase) you'll find lots!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Little Turtle Dove
From: GUEST,Mike New
Date: 31 Mar 11 - 06:28 AM

Where can I find the lyrics to this one Jon Boden sings on AFSAD?
Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Little Turtle Dove
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 04 Apr 11 - 08:46 PM

You can download a free podcast of any of 106 episodes of "A Folk Song a Day" from itunes here.