Lyr Add: Soldier's Horse (Child 299)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Soldier's Horse (Child 299)
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 03 May 20 - 04:21 PM

The reference to C.C. “Lum” Pack was drawn from Helena Faust (Triplett)’s liner notes about where in the Louis Chappell collection of folk music she found it. (Helena Faust was then married to Jimmy Triplett of West Virginia at the time, but subsequently divorced, returned to her native New Zealand, and took back her maiden name.) A year or two after I made that Mudcat posting, Lisa Null and I went out to Morgantown, WV, to spend a few days browsing through the Chappell collection ourselves. We even made copies of the dubs of more than a dozen singers we admired. In reviewing those recordings, I discovered that the version Helena Faust sang has elements of Lum Pack’s version, but is much closer to a version by Oscar Morgan of Sandyville, Jackson County, West Virginia.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Soldier's Horse (Child 299)
From: michaelr
Date: 07 May 07 - 06:51 PM

AKA "As I Roved Out" (recorded by Planxty as "As Christy Roved Out").

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Soldier's Horse (Child 299)
From: Goose Gander
Date: 07 May 07 - 12:30 PM

From the Ballad Index . . . .

Trooper and Maid [Child 299]
DESCRIPTION: A trooper comes to a girl's door and convinces her to sleep with him. In the morning he is called to the colors; she follows and begs him to return or let her come with him. He will not let her come and will not promise to return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
KEYWORDS: courting soldier abandonment
FOUND IN: Britain(England(West),Scotland(Aber,Bord,High)) Ireland Canada US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES (15 citations):
Child 299, "Trooper and Maid" (4 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
Bronson 299, "Trooper and Maid" (27 versions)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 371-373, "The Trooper and the Maid" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14}
Randolph 41, "A Soldier Rode From the East to the West" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #8}
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 209-212, "A Soldier Rode" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Davis-Ballads 51, "Trooper and Maid" (2 texts, 1 tune entitled "The Trooper and Maid") {Bronson's #16}
Davis-More 46, pp. 356-360, "Trooper and Maid" (1 fragment, probably this but short enough that it might be something else)
BrownII 49, "Trooper and Maid" (1 text)
Brewster 27, "Trooper and Maid" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #9}
Leach, pp. 684-686, "The Trooper and Maid" (1 text)
Kennedy 121, "As I Roved Out" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 365-366, "The Trumpet Sounds at Burreldales; or, The Trooper and the Maid" (1 short text)
Niles 65, "Trooper and Maid" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Silber-FSWB, p. 161, "The Trooper And The Maid" (1 text)
DT 299, TROOPRMD (TROOPRM2*) LGHTDRAG
Roud #162
RECORDINGS:
Harry List, "The Light Drag'on" (on FSB2, FSB2CD)
Dillard Chandler, "The Soldier Traveling from the North" (on OldLove)
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "The Trooper and the Maid" (on SCMacCollSeeger01) {the text is Bronson's #18, but the tune is different}
Jimmy McBeath, "The Trooper and the Maid" (on FSB5 [as "The Trooper Lad"], FSBBAL2) {Bronson's #17}
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Love My Love (As I Cam' Owre Yon High High Hill)" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Trooper and the Maid
The Bugle Britches
The Bugle Boy
The Soldier and His Lady
The Soldier Travelling From the North
Notes: Randolph's are the first bawdy versions of the venerable ballad to see the light of print. - EC
Many versions of this have mixed with the "Seventeen Come Sunday" [Laws O17], the result may be known as "As I Roved Out" (so, e.g., the version in Kennedy), and you should probably check the references under both songs. It is often difficult to decide where to file such a piece (indeed, I managed to file the Kennedy text under both songs!). - RBW
Verse 3 of Child 299.B and verse 9 of Child 299.D is close to Opie-Oxford2 180, "Wine and cakes for gentlemen" (earliest date in Opie-Oxford2 is 1898)
Child 299.D: "Bread and cheese for gentlemen, An corn and hay for horses, Pipes and tobacco for auld wives, And bonnie lads for lasses." [For this see also Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #173, p. 127, ("Cheese and bread for gentlemen") -- though they describe it as "a fragment of a harvest song." - RBW]
Opie-Oxford2 180: "Wine and cakes for gentlemen, Hay and corn for horses, A cup of ale for good old wives, And kisses for young lasses." - BS

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Soldier's Horse (Child 299)
From: Keith A of Hertford
Date: 07 May 07 - 06:53 AM

See also
@displaysong.cfm?SongID=7410

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Soldier's Horse (Child 299)
From: Susan of DT
Date: 07 May 07 - 06:30 AM

Thanx, Charlie.

Subject: Lyr Add: Soldier's Horse (Child 299)
From: Charlie Baum
Date: 07 May 07 - 06:05 AM

^^
Soldiers Horse
(Child 299, The Trooper and the Maid)
Originally from the singing of C.C. "Lum" Pack
of Harts, Lincoln County, West Virginia;
in the Chappell Collection at the University of West Virginia, Morgantown, WV.
Learned from the singing of Helena Triplett, Green Are the Woods

She took him by the bridle hair;
She's led him to the stable.
"Here's oats and hay for the soldier's horse;
Come feed him while you're able."

She took him by the lily-white hand,
And led him to the table.
"Here's cakes and beer for you my dear;
Come eat while you are able."

She went upstairs to make her bed
To make it soft and easy.
The soldier up and he followed her.
"Miss Lizy, are you ready?"
("Miss Lizy, are you married?")

She's taken off her linen gown
And laid it on the table.
The soldier's off with his uniform
And laid in bed with the lady.

They hadn't been there but an hour or two
When he grew tired and weary.
"I thought I heard the bugle blow;
Miss Lizy, I must leave you."

"When will you be back again?
Oh, when will we get married?"
"When corn shells turn to silver bells,
Miss Lizy, we'll get married."

She followed him from town to town
'Til she grew tired and weary.
Poor Lizy in her tattered gown
Comes crying home to mammy.



--Charlie Baum