Line from 'Henry Lee' (Young Hunting)

Subject: RE: Line from 'Henry Lee'
From: CarlZen
Date: 10 Jul 99 - 04:03 AM

Joe- Thank you for supplying us with all of these wonderful bits of wizardry.

Can you explain why I can't get a decent print out of the lyrics to the songs on your home page?

I also tried the digital search to get the lyrics to your song of the week, Going To The West, but I couldn't find them.

ALSO, does anyone know of other available recordings of Dick Justice aside from the Anthology?

Subject: RE: Line from 'Henry Lee'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 10 Jul 99 - 03:37 AM

If you have RealPlayer G2, Click here to take a listen to this recording.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Line from 'Henry Lee'
From: Pete Peterson
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 11:00 PM

I don't have the recording, and it's been years, but my take on that line was "your cage will be of beaten gold, no need for poverty" which has the advantage, at least of making sense. Or is this my very own mondergreen? PETE

Subject: RE: Line from 'Henry Lee'
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 10:27 PM

Dick Justice was an amazingly gifted musician. He was also a wonderful blues player as well as balladeer.

Subject: Lyr Add: HENRY LEE
From: Bryant
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 05:12 PM

Sure. Um, I'm doing this from memory and I change a phrase or two for clarity. (The 2nd line if the 1st stanza is a good case in point.) So this is not Justice's version word-for-word, but it's pretty close. Feel free to correct anything.

HENRY LEE

'Come down, come down my Henry Lee and stay all night with me.
The very best lodging you can afford would be far worse than me.'
'I can't come down, no I won't come down and stay all night with thee.
For the girl I have in that merry, green land I love her better than thee.'

She leaned herself against the fence just for a kiss or two
With a little penknife held in her hand she plugged him through and through.
'Come all you ladies in the town, a secret for me keep.
With a diamond ring held in my hand I never will forsake.'

'Some take him by his lily-white hand, some take him by his feet.
We'll throw him in this deep, deep well more than one hundred feet.
Lie there, lie there my Henry Lee 'till the flesh falls from your bones.
The girl you have in that merry, green land she waits for your return.'

'Fly down, fly down you little bird and alight on my right knee.
Your cage will be of purest gold in need of ???' [or "of purest gold with a door of ivory."]
'I can't come down, no I won't come down and alight on your right knee.
A girl who would murder her own true love would kill a little bird like me.'

'If I had my bended bow, my arrow and my string
I'd pierce a dart so nigh your heart your warble would be in vain.'
'If you had your bended bow, your arrow and your string
I'd fly away to that merry green land and tell what I have seen.'

That's it. Sorry if the lines are all run together. I can't figure out how HTML decides to do things sometimes.

Bryant

Line Breaks
added. Thanks, Bryant.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Line from 'Henry Lee'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 03:37 PM

Well, Bryant, I can't agree with your "door of ivory" interpretation. It isn't what I hear on the recording - but it works, and I would certainly sing it that way myself because I can't make out what Justice is singing. Think you might be willing to post your entire transcription of the song? I don't think we have a version in the database that is so thoroughly American as the Dick Justice recording.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Line from 'Henry Lee'
From: Bryant
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 03:31 PM

Yeah, now that I listen to it, he's not singing "with door of ivory."

It's odd. She's trying to bribe the bird with a spectacularly beautiful cage, so why would it be "in need" of anything? In need of polishing? ;-)

Well, I'll go with the "door of ivory" when I play it. And I'll probably add the stanza that clarifies who's speaking. But any other guesses on what Dick Justice is singing would be fun.

B.

Subject: RE: Line from 'Henry Lee'
From:
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 03:31 PM

Yeah, now that I listen to it, he's not singing "with door of ivory."

It's odd. She's trying to bribe the bird with a spectacularly beautiful cage, so why would it be "in need" of anything? In need of polishing? ;-)

Well, I'll go with the "door of ivory" when I play it. And I'll probably add the stanza that clarifies who's speaking. But any other guesses on what Dick Justice is singing would be fun.

B.

Subject: RE: Line from 'Henry Lee'
From:
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 03:22 PM

Well, it seems I made a huge mistake in interpretation. In all of Child's versions it is the Lady, not Lord Henry, who is asking the bird to "alight on [her] right knee". It seems that the bird (a talking parrot) witnessed the murder and is threatening to reveal the secret, so she is trying to get the bird to fly down so she can kill him. But the bird is on to her and refuses.

What threw me off is that in the version on the Anthology there's no middle stanza saying that the bird witnessed the crime. After Henry Lee is stabbed and thrown in the well, the very next line is: "Fly down, fly down you little bird. . . " I just assumed the speaker there is Henry Lee (fly *down* i.e. into the well).

So the whole stanza is:

"'Fly down, fly down you little bird and alight on my right knee. Your cage will be the finest gold with door of ivory.' 'I can't fly down, I won't fly down and alight on your right knee. A girl who would murder her own true love would kill a little bird like me.'"

Kinda makes you see how variants get created, huh? I have all the advantages of a recording of the song and I still managed to change the whole story. Imagine if I had just learned it by ear.

Thanks for the lead Joe. This has been fun!

Bryant

Subject: RE: Line from 'Henry Lee'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 02:52 PM

Well, I hear "your cage shall be of purest gold" and then "in need of provecheer." As you can see, I can't make sense out of the second phrase....

Subject: RE: Line from 'Henry Lee'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 02:41 PM

Hi, Bryant. The album notes say this song is also known as "Young Hunting," which is Child Ballad #68. We don't have all eleven versions that Child has, but we have five. put #68 in the search box on this page, and maybe that will help. If you can post what you have of the lyrics here, that would help us work together to solve your mystery.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: Line from 'Henry Lee'
From: Bryant
Date: 09 Jul 99 - 02:07 PM

Hi,

Great fourm you guys have here. I've been enjoying it a lot the last few days.

I've been trying to decipher a line from Dick Justice's version of "Henry Lee" -- the one on Harry Smith's Anthology -- for awhile. Even tried to find it in the database here at Mudcat. All to no avail. The line's in the 4th stanza when Henry Lee is trying to coax the bird down into the well. The stanza starts: "Fly down, fly down you little bird and alight on my right knee.

Your cage will be your ??? in need of ???"

Anyone out there know this line? It's been bugging me because I can't figure out what Henry Lee's trying to do by luring the bird down into the well with him. Company? A means of escape? Seems like the answer's in that line, but those two or three words are alluding me. Sort of like having a crucial page or two missing from a novel. Anyway, any answers (hints) would be appreciated. Thanks.

Bryant