The information from Anne Neilson about Jeannie Robertson's tunes for Mattie Groves is interesting -- but confusing. I've only heard the one that Bill D posted a clip of, which I have on the CD issued by Rounder as part of the Alan Lomax Collection. That is certainly not the same as Bronson's no. 15, from Jean Ritchie.

> Obviously it was sung as a Scottish version

The words of Jeannie's version are very similar to some of the American versions, and not like any of the Scots versions in Child.

GUEST,The Folk E said
> You can really wear yourself out dancing to those real long folk ballads.

That prompts me to recall something from my late friend Edgar Ashton. He spent part of his teens in the Faroes (where his mother came from) and where they have kept the old kind of ballad that is danced (hence the name) and lasts half the night. One particular ballad "belonged" to his family, but he told me that you had to know the whole thing word-perfect (which he didn't) before you were allowed to lead it.

Dick mentioned Gordon Hall's marathon versions, disparagingly. I find them of interest as performances, and not boring, but I haven't yet made up my mind what I think of them as storytelling. Certainly the main elements of the stories can be told much more concisely, but would that be better? Come to that, Jeannie Robertson took a lot longer than some singers would for any given ballad, by singing very slowly.

I have always wanted to learn and sing Clerk Saunders. The reason I have not done so is my failure to decide between two approaches: one similar to June Tabor's, taking it at a fairly fast pace, and the other similar to (for example) Jean Redpath's, where the tragedy unfolds slowly and inexorably. Some singers keep the length down by being selective about which verses to include, leaving out some of those where the brothers take turns to express their points of view, and/or Part 2, otherwise known as Sweet Willam's Ghost, Child 77. I see all of that material as enhancing the story and therefore worthy of inclusion, but have been wary of the combination of slow pace and numerous verses. Some of the postings above provide encouragement not to worry about the overall length.

Richard