Origins: Shepherd O Shepherd

Subject: RE: Origins: Shepherd O Shepherd
From: Reinhard
Date: 09 Feb 21 - 03:35 AM

One album off, keberoxu ;-) It's the first song on Martin Carthy's "Sweet Wivelsfield".

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Shepherd O Shepherd
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Feb 21 - 09:17 PM

Ballad Index entry:

O Shepherd, O Shepherd

DESCRIPTION: Shepherd's wife offers a breakfast of bacon and beans if he will come home; he refuses, he must tend his sheep. She offers a dinner of pudding and beef, then a supper of bread and cheese. Finally she offers clean sheets and a pretty lass. He accepts.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Reeves-Circle)
KEYWORDS: marriage sex food dialog humorous wife shepherd
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber),England(South))
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Reeves-Circle 97, "O Shepherd, O Shepherd" (1 text)
Williams-Thames, pp. 176-177, "Shepherd, Come Home to Thy Breakfast" (1 text) (also Wiltshire-WSRO Gl 45)
Purslow-Constant, p. 90, "Shepherd, Come Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan7 1513, "The Shepherd's Wife" (1 text)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 74-75, "O Shepherd, O Shepherd" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SHEPWILD SHEPWIFE (cf. the notes to BONSTJON)
Roud #1055
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Greensleeves" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Bonnie Saint John (DT, BONSTJON)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Shepherd, O Shepherd
NOTES [112 words]: This seems to exist in two forms, "O Shepherd O Shepherd" and "The Shepherd's Wife." The two have identical plots, but the latter -- at least as recorded by Gordeanna McCulloch, based on the version in Herd -- *feels* much bawdier, as well as more fun. (Anne Gilchrist thinks it may be derived from a singing game, and it does have rather that feel.)
The distinction is so strong that I thought of calling them separate songs, but I can't imagine a clear dividing line.
The tune of the "O Shepherd O Shepherd" versions is described as a "modal version of Greensleeves." This is a bit strong; the tune has been altered in more ways than the simple removal of accidentals. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.2
File: VWL074

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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Shepherd O Shepherd
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 08 Feb 21 - 09:00 PM

... and so does Martin Carthy,
if I recall right,
this song is the opening track of his album
"Crown of Horn."

Subject: Lyr Add: Shepherd O Shepherd
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Feb 21 - 08:34 PM

Robert Rodriquez sings this. Google comes up with these lyrics.

Shepherd o shepherd will you come home
Will you come home will you come home
Shepherd o shepherd will you come home
To your breakfast this morning

What have you got for my breakfast
My breakfast my breakfast
What have you got for my breakfast
For my breakfast this morning

Bacon and beans a bellyful
A bellyful a bellyful
Bacon and beans a bellyful a bellyful
For your breakfast this morning

My sheep are all in the wilderness
The wilderness the wilderness
Sheep are all in the wilderness
So I cannot come home this morning

Shepherd o shepherd will you come home
Will you come home will you come home
Shepherd o shepherd will you come home
To your dinner this evening

What have you got for my dinnertime
My dinnertime my dinnertime
What have you got for my dinnertime
For my dinner this evening

Pudding and beef a bellyful
A bellyful a bellyful
Pudding and beef a bellyful
For your dinner this evening

My sheep are all in the wilderness
The wilderness the wilderness
Sheep are all in the wilderness the wilderness
So I cannot come home this morning

Shepherd o shepherd will you come home
Will you come home will you come home
Shepherd o shepherd will you come home
For your lodging this night oh

What have you got for my lodging my lodging
My lodging my lodging
What have you got for my lodging
For my lodging this night oh

Clean sheets and a pretty lass
A pretty lass a pretty lass
Clean sheets and a pretty lass a pretty lass
For your lodging this night oh

Then I'll leave my sheep out in the wilderness
The wilderness the wilderness
Leave my sheep out in the wilderness the wilderness
And I will come home this night

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4zRrf1vqn8