Lyr Req: The two brothers

Subject: The two brothers
From: Dorrie
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 07:21 PM

Right OK I know what you are going to say look in the DT and I have this is what I found (at the bottom). But it’s only partly the song I know. It’s too long and it just wrong in some areas.

This is the beginning song I kinda know - Two pretty boys were going to school and in the evening come home the biggest boy said to the littlest boy oh can you throw a stone, oh can you throw a stone

Then there’s something about going to the merry green fields, then the big boy stabs the little boy and then tries to bandage him up with his shirt but the little boy dies I think

Sorry if I’m not making too much sense

Love
Dorrie xx

O brother, can you toss the stone
Or can you play the ball?
I am too little. I am too young.
Go, brother. leave me alone.

His brother took his little penknife.
He hung it by his side.
He put it deeply deathly wound
As it hung by his side.

O brother, take my Holland shirt,
And rip it from gore to gore.
You tie it around my bleeding wound
And still it'll bleed no more.

His brother took his Holland shirt
And ripped it from gore to gore.
He tied it around his bleeding wound,
But still it bled the more.

O brother, take me on your back.
Carry me to Chesley Town.
You dig me a deep and large, wide grave
And lay me there so sound.

You put my bible at my head,
My solberd (psalter?) at my feet,
My little bow and arrow by my side,
And sounder I will sleep.

His brother took him on his back.
He carried him to Chesley Town.
He dug him a deep and large, wide grave
And laid him there so sound.

He put his bible at his head,
His solberd at his feet,
His little bow and arrow at his side,
So sounder he will sleep.

O brother, as you go home at night
And my mother asks for me,
You'll tell her I'm along with some schoolboys,
So merry I'll come home.

And if my true love asks for me,
The truth to her you'll tell.
You'll tell her I'm dead and in grave laid
And buried in Chesley Town.

With my bible at my head,
My solberd at my feet,
My little bow and arrow at my side,
And sounder I will sleep.

And as his brother went home at night,
His mother asked for him.
He told he's along with some schoolboys,
So merry he'll come home.

And then his true love asked for him.
The truth to her he told.
He told he was dead and in grave laid
And buried in Chesley Town.

With his Bible at his head,
His solberd at his feet,
His little bow and arrow at his side,
So sounder he will sleep.

And then his true love put on small hoppers
And tied them with silver strings.
She went hopping all over her true lover's grave
A twelve-month and a day.

She hopped the red fish out of the sea,
The small birds out of their nests.
She hopped her true love out of his grave,
So he can't see no rest.

Go home. Go home, you rambling reed.
Don't weep nor mourn for me.
For if you do for twelve long years,
No more you'll see of me.

HTML line breaks added. --JoeClone, 1-Mar-02.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The two brothers
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 08:02 PM

If you enter #49 in the blue search box, you'll find five or six variants.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The two brothers
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 27 Jul 01 - 08:45 PM

If you think it's "wrong" in some places, what you need to do is tell us where, and which version of it you are quoting.  There are a lot of different versions of this song!  If you could also give us a clue as to where you may have heard the set you want, we might be in a better position to help you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The two brothers
From: Dorrie
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 06:34 PM

the boy pretends hes gone to boarding school but actually his brother has killed him and even tho he tore his shirt from 'gore to gore' he couldn't save him

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The two brothers
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 08:13 PM

In DT, the "solberd" placed at his head is translated as psalter?. There are many ways to spell psalter (see OED) but none mentioned ends in "berd." Psaltery (sawtrey, etc.) has variations in spelling also, but there is no indication in the verses that the dying brother was musical, so that possibility doesn't help. Psalter is probably the best word.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The two brothers
From: Sorcha
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 08:23 PM

As Dick said, enter #49 in the blue search box and you will find 5 versions. 2 of them mention schools....if it's neither of those, you need to post what you have, dorrie, please?