The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #73011   Message #1262926
Posted By: Malcolm Douglas
02-Sep-04 - 06:10 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Must I Be Bound
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Must I Be Bound
Sedley's notes are, as often, misleading. His collation includes only two verses deriving (modified to fit a different tune) from Sam Henry's collection (H218a): 1 and 3. Verses 2 and 4 are adapted from Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, II, 1881, 226-7). The first and last verses are "floaters"; Must I go Bound is really a different song. This one is less often found, and generally as The Belt Wi' Colours Three (as in Christie); there is no mention of physical violence in the Scottish examples.

Sedley seems to have adapted the tune from Christie, too, though (surprise...) he doesn't say. I do hope that Willa remembers the immediate source of this; it does look rather as if it's a slightly altered form of the Sedley collation rather than a genuinely traditional example, but you never can be sure without the details. I don't have time to "translate" Willa's tune indication, unfortunately, but it looks rather like Sedley's adaptation transposed.

I added some background information to the last thread where Willa posted this: Must I Go Bound