Origins: Anathea (from Judy Collins)

Subject: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: lghriver
Date: 28 Jan 97 - 09:40 PM

I'm looking for the lyrics to a song that starts something like "Anathea, stole a stallion, stole it from the misty mountains, and they chased him and they caught him, and in iron chains they bound him." It goes on about how his sister goes to the judge to save him though he tells her not to, and "from his golden bed at midnight, she did hear the gallows groaning." Then she curses the judge, a most magnificent curse. This has been bugging me for years, last time I heard it was in Circle in the Square in N.Y., way pre-hippie days even. Thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From:
Date: 29 Jan 97 - 11:07 AM

lghriver: The song is on an old Judy Collins album- I believe it's titled Judy Collins - 3. I can dig up the lyrics if you'll e-mail me where to send them or if you prefer and Dick G agrees I'll put them in DT

Les Blank

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 29 Jan 97 - 08:25 PM

Hi- It's already in the database. Try searching for any phrase if you don't get a hit on the title. [Stole a stallion] works fine.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: belter
Date: 31 Jan 97 - 01:58 PM

I had the darndest time finding it. It was under the title Anna Thea.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 01 Feb 97 - 09:43 PM

Hi- As I"ve often said, song names are a snare and a delusion. The easiest search would be for "stallion", or "stole a stallion."

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: belter
Date: 03 Feb 97 - 01:01 PM

for some reason the computer didn't like stole a stallion or stallion and I didn't get any hits untill I tried stole

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 03 Feb 97 - 11:51 PM

Hi Belter- I just tried a search for stole a stallion and got a hit; then tried the phrase [stole a stallion] and got it again; then tried just stallion and got 8 hits, including Anna Thea.

Don't know what went wrong when you tried it.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: belter
Date: 04 Feb 97 - 09:29 AM

computers are funny that way. It could have been my computer or mabee the server was busy at the nanosecond I hit return. or who knows what.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From:
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 01:42 AM

Lazlo Faro stole a stallion Stole it from the misty mountain And they chased him and they caught him And in Iron chains they bound him. Word was brought to Anathea That her brother was in Prison etc

I'm looking for the verses about the judge Who dies of a nasty disease.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: MMario
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 01:45 AM

guest, have you checked in the Digital Tradition as mentioned above? The verses there do tell about the judge dying of a dreadful disease

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Pene Azul
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 02:03 AM

ANNA THEA

(also e-mailed)

PA

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Pene Azul
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 02:16 AM

Hmmm. The e-mail bounced back. Oh well, I tried.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: kendall
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 08:57 AM

I heard Gordon Bok sing this 40 years ago, and the guys name was LAZLO. It was also 7 years, not 13.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Anglo
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 09:18 AM

I've heard it as Lazlo Feher, and/or Anna Feher, (though I'm not sure of the spelling). I think Julie Felix recorded it in England and got the hit there, and maybe Judy Collins learned it from that, though I'm not sure. It's a translation from the Hungarian, by Bert Lloyd. I've heard Suzanne Szasz sing the original.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: celticblues5
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 10:23 PM

It's in the Judy Collins songbook. The verse about the judge dying (and this is off the top of my head, because I don't have access to the book at the moment) is -

Cursed be the judge so cruel/13 years may he lie bleeding/13 doctors cannot cure him/13 shelves of drugs can't heal him.

(Pronounce "cursed" as a 2-syllable word to fit the rhythm.)

There is another verse after this (in case you don't have it either)-

Anathea, Anathea/don't go out into the forest/there among the green pines standing/you will find your brother hanging.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Jul 00 - 11:19 PM

I'm lobbying Dick to cross-reference songs in the database that have key words that can be spelled different ways. What are the common spellings of the name of the heroine in this song?
The only one I've heard is Anathea, as in the Judy Collins recording. Any other spellings that ought to be included?
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: alison
Date: 07 Mar 01 - 11:20 PM

so where is the song from? is it Hungarian?

slainte

alison

Subject: Seven Curses (Bob Dylan)
From: jaze
Date: 07 Mar 01 - 11:51 PM

Is this the song Bob Dylan rewrote as "Seven Curses"? The lyrics and story sound similar.

---

http://www.bobdylan.com/#/songs/seven-curses

Subject: Lyr Add: ANATHEA (from Judy Collins Songbook)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Mar 01 - 11:51 PM

I've never been completely satisfied with the lyrics in the database, so let me post what I found in the Judy Collins Songbook.
-Joe Offer-

---

ANATHEA
(words by Neil Roth, music by Lydia Wood)

Lazlo Feher stole a stallion,
Stole him from the misty mountain
And they chased him and they caught him,
And in iron chains they bound him.

Word was brought to Anathea
That her brother was in prison.
"Bring me gold and six fine horses,
I will buy my brother's freedom."

"Judge, oh, judge, please spare my brother,
I will give you gold and silver."
"I don't want your gold and silver,
All I want are your sweet favours."

"Anathea, oh, my sister,
Are you mad with grief and sorrow?
He will rob you of your flower,
And he'll hang me from the gallows."

Anathea did not heed him,
Straightway to the judge went running.
In his golden bed at midnight,
There she heard the gallows groaning.

"Cursed be that judge so cruel,
Thirteen years may he lie bleeding.
Thirteen doctors cannot cure him,
Thirteen shelves of drugs can't heal him."

"Anathea, Anathea,
Don't go out into the forest.
There among the green pines standing,
You will find your brother hanging."

© 1963, Fall River Music, Inc.

---

Interestingly, the Judy Collins "Live At Newport" album says the song is traditional, arranged by Judy Collins.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: alison
Date: 07 Mar 01 - 11:58 PM

thanks Joe,

those are the words I heard... I heard it done by an Irish group.... but it didn't sound like an Irish song..... just wondered...

slainte

alison

Subject: Lyr Add: SEVEN CURSES (Bob Dylan)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Mar 01 - 11:58 PM

Great minds think alike, Jaze. I was just about to post "Seven Curses." Seems to me these two songs must come from a common root.
-Joe Offer-

---

SEVEN CURSES
(Bob Dylan)

Old Reilly stole a stallion
But they caught him and they brought him back
And they laid him down on the jailhouse ground
With an iron chain around his neck.

Old Reilly's daughter got a message
That her father was goin' to hang.
She rode by night and came by morning
With gold and silver in her hand.

When the judge he saw Reilly's daughter
His old eyes deepened in his head,
Sayin', "Gold will never free your father,
The price, my dear, is you instead."

"Oh I'm as good as dead," cried Reilly,
"It's only you that he does crave
And my skin will surely crawl if he touches you at all.
Get on your horse and ride away."

"Oh father you will surely die
If I don't take the chance to try
And pay the price and not take your advice.
For that reason I will have to stay."

The gallows shadows shook the evening,
In the night a hound dog bayed,
In the night the grounds were groanin',
In the night the price was paid.

The next mornin' she had awoken
To know that the judge had never spoken.
She saw that hangin' branch a-bendin',
She saw her father's body broken.

These be seven curses on a judge so cruel:
That one doctor will not save him,
That two healers will not heal him,
That three eyes will not see him.

That four ears will not hear him,
That five walls will not hide him,
That six diggers will not bury him
And that seven deaths shall never kill him.

Copyright © 1963; renewed 1991 Special Rider Music

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTivMIKqa4E

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Stewie
Date: 08 Mar 01 - 01:06 AM

I heard it on a cassette tape someone gave me of A.L. Lloyd back in the 60s and it was called 'Lazlo Faier' ('Faier' might have been spelled differently), but god only knows where that is now. It was one of my favourites back then. I was under the impression - but this is probably totally wrong - that Lloyd had translated it from the Hungarian.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 08 Mar 01 - 01:33 AM

I've always liked Judy Collins' rendition. Thanks for posting the words, Joe. Interesting that authors' names are given in the Songbook (I still have mine, too!) but it's "trad-arr" on the Live at Newport album. I'm not familiar with the Dylan song, but considering the similarities of the two songs, I would bet there's a common root, and I'd also bet that somebody out there in Mudcatland knows it.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: zander (inactive)
Date: 08 Mar 01 - 02:08 PM

Stewie is correct A L Lloyd translated it from the Hungarian [ as he did lots of other Easter European songs ] it is correctly called 'Lazlo Feher'. Cheers, Dave

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: SINSULL
Date: 08 Mar 01 - 02:19 PM

Some pedantic trivia: Anathea is Greek for flower which also symbolizes virginity. "He will rob you of your flower..."

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Snuffy
Date: 08 Mar 01 - 02:40 PM

So should her name be Anathea or Anna Feher?

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Mar 01 - 02:42 PM

Gee, according to this page (click) Lazlo Feher was the "Real Man of the Month" for Playgirl Magazine in July, 1998. I also found information that leads me to believe there is or was an artist named Lazlo Feher. Can anybody come up with more information on the A.L. Lloyd translation?

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: GUEST,bigJ
Date: 08 Mar 01 - 04:21 PM

Hi Joe, looking through my own database I see that I have a cassette of a BBC radio programme broadcast on the 19th August 1993, it's called 'Voices from Arcadia' and the presenter is Georgina Boyes, wife of an occasional visitor to Mudcat. According to my listing of the programme it takes THIS form:-
1 Marta Sebestyan sings 'Fly, Bird, Fly'.
2 Boyes talks about Hungarian song of the late 1890's.
3 Haye Lazlo - narrative song.
4 Dave and Toni Arthur sing Lazlo Feyer (my spelling) - song translated by A.L. Lloyd.
5 Bob Dylan sings 'Seven Curses'
6 Boyes talks about the development of Hungarian folkson scholarship.

All I have to do now is try and find the cassette and see if there's anything on it that adds to this discussion.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Mar 01 - 05:43 PM

BigJ, when you whet my appetite with all that, I sure hope you can come through. I wonder if BBC might have it available online. Are there any A.M. Lloyd books that I ought to add to my library? Might this song be in one of them? -Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Lanfranc
Date: 08 Mar 01 - 06:58 PM

When I first heard this song in the 60s, it was introduced to me as a translation by A L Lloyd of a song collected by Bela Bartok.

Bartok and his contemporary Zoltan Kodaly were both active collectors of folksongs in the early 20th century in what was then Hungary. Today the boundaries have been redrawn to the extent that Bartok's birthplace Nagyszentmiklos in Hungary is now Sennicolau Mare in Romania.

Somewhere in my collection of tapes I have a recording of some of Bartok's collection sung in the original Hungarian, from a BBC radio broadcast many years ago. I think that Anna Thea (as I have always called it) may well be among them. The trouble is that I have never got round to cataloguing my tapes!

Anyway, I hope this contributes something, if only another line of enquiry.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: wes.w
Date: 09 Mar 01 - 09:09 AM

The Leader (or Trailer) label sampler LP circa 1970 had this track on as Lazlo Feher (my spelling), sung by a woman, but I can't remember who. Jim Lloyd (a radio presenter for the BBC) did a spoken intro for each track, and I think this is where I heard the 'Bert Lloyd translated it'.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: wes.w
Date: 09 Mar 01 - 12:10 PM

.. and I should add that Anna Feher rather than Anathea, makes sense in the 'O my sister' line above, which is how it sounded to my ears. It could have been Toni Arthur singing BTW, as it had a guitar accompaniment which could have been Dave.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Metchosin
Date: 09 Mar 01 - 09:32 PM

wes.w Annathea Feher, that would settle the surname problem.

I love this song, must cause my Magyar blood to stir I guess. I particularly prefer my brothers rendition of this song to Judy Collins' version, his is more up tempo with more gypsy flavour and intensity. This is a song you should perform while drinking Egri Bikavar not herbal teas.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: GUEST,bigJ
Date: 11 Mar 01 - 11:24 AM

Here you are Joe, this is as much as I have:-
Transcription of speech in programme 'Voices From Arcadia' presented by Georgina Boyes and broadcast on the 19th August 1993.

Intro:
The idea that music from the common people was worthy of notice arose at different times in different places. Throughout Europe translations of ballads collected in England and Scotland in the 18th century set a generation of romantic young writers attempting to copy them, and later, to find whether similar kinds of songs existed in their own countries.
This week we're going to look at the way this happened in a country whose music, through the performances of bands such as Makvirag and singers like Marta Sebestyan are becoming very familiar here.

Recording - Marta Sebestyan - Fly Bird, Fly.

Though a few enthusiast in Hungary were stirred by the emergence of English and Scottish ballad poetry in the late 18th century, it was the rise of nationalism leading up to the war of independence in 1848 that provoked the first attempts at collection in Hungary itself. The results of this earliest work were - later scholars have suggested rather sniffily - mixed.
The work contained all sorts of fabrications written by village notaries, priests, students and other amateur poets. (Hungarian name ?) the editor, had stuck various songs together, changed the order of verses in others, and made whole songs out of stanzas collected in different parts of Hungary. But among the newly written songs were several older ballads including 'Faye Lazlo'.

Recording - one verse in Hungarian.

Forms of the story told in 'Faye Lazlo', or 'Lazlo Faye' as it's sometimes known, have been collected across Europe. It'sa plot found in Shakespeare's 'Measure for Measure' but it only seems to be known as a narrative song in Spain, Italy and Hungary.
It's introduction to the song in England can probably be traced to a translation by A.L. Lloyd.

Recording - Dave & Toni Arthur.

'Lazlo Faye' as Dave and Toni Arthur learned it from A.L. Lloyd.
The song's recently been collected in the shorter form of a cursing song in Northern Hungary, and it's as Seven Curses that Bob Dylan reworked it.

Recording - Bob Dylan.

The appearance of (Hungarian Name above) caused some controversy but nowhere near as much as the next lengthy publication ................................

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Mar 01 - 01:58 AM

Thank you, BigJ. I really get a kick out of delving into the history of a song like this.
I'm wondering if there are any commentaries about Dylan's "Seven Curses." You would think every one of his songs would have been studied to death.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: wes.w
Date: 19 Mar 01 - 08:28 AM

I've since looked at my record sleeve where this song is credited as tune trad, translation A.L.Lloyd. I don't think Bert Lloyd would have claimed this song to be his translation if it wasn't. Which leaves me in a quandry with 'words by Neil Roth, music by Lydia Wood'. Do we need to 'name and shame' someone over this?

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: oggie
Date: 19 Mar 01 - 11:47 AM

Tony Capstick recorded it back in the early 1970's, I think that's the version on the Leader Records sampler. In his version it was Anna Fehar and he credited it to A L Lloyd.

All the best

Steve

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Joe Offer
Date: 19 Mar 01 - 07:59 PM

Another clue:
http://liber.ithaca.edu/MARION/ACS-1415 indicates "Lazlo Feher stole a stallion" came from a 1906 Bela Bartok collection called "Hungarian Folk Songs."
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: wes.w
Date: 20 Mar 01 - 08:12 AM

Does anyone know who Neill Roth and Lydia Wood are?

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 Mar 01 - 09:51 AM

If truly Hungarian, as it seems, the most likely name is Lászlo Fehér - Les White.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Mrrzy
Date: 20 Mar 01 - 09:53 AM

And there is no reason for a sister to have the same last name as a brother, unless she was still single. Anathea is most likely just her first name, no last name mentioned. I'll ask my Mom about this one, and if she can come up with the original Hungarian song, as is likely, I'll post those too...

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Mar 02 - 08:07 PM

The title used by Bartok in his "Magyar népdalok" is "Fehér László lovay lopoll." According to this site, the song was taken by Bartok from Child # 15, The Briary Bush (Not in Bronson; help please!) See this website: Fehér

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Mar 02 - 08:15 PM

The Contemplator has "The Briery Bush." Not much of a resemblance in the lyrics. Briery Bush

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Jon Bartlett
Date: 16 Mar 02 - 08:55 PM

I have it in the Hungarian as "Ladislav Feher" (with an acute accent on the "e" of Feher). I have the text as from Csanadi-Vargyas, "Ropulj", no. 70, with a translation of 16 verses commencing:

Ladislav Feher stole a horse/At the bottom of the black hill./His leather whip cracked noisily,/It was heard in the town of Gonc.

'Come on, come on, citizens of Gonc,/Ladislav Feher has been caught!:/Anna Feher has heard it,/She runs down into the stable:/

etc. etc. (I'll run all the words if someone asks me)

Last verse: "May thirteen rows of medecines/Be emptied for you,/May you be carried to the churchyard/At the end of the thirteenth year!"

So clearly we're talking about the same song. My source is a book of Hungarian ballads, the title for which I'll search and get back to this thread.

Curiously, Child did not connect this ballad with No. 209 Geordie. Though the modern versions one hears of Geordie all have to do with the same set of characters and circumstances as the Feher ballad: (1: a horse thief, 2: a capture, 3: a sister/wife asking a judge for mercy and 4: the mercy not forthcoming.), the Geordie story encapsulated in most of the Child sets have to do with a successful ransom-payment for an errant husband charged most often with a murder. Child suggests that this original story was adulterated with a later broadside "George of Oxford" who stole horses, sold them in Bohemia and was hanged (this set is printed as an appendix in Child IV pp. 141-142). The opening couplet connects strongly with modern versions of Geordie: "As I went over London Bridge,/All in a misty morning,/There did I see one weep and mourn/Lamenting for her Georgy." The words "Balleny" (Child G) "Bohemia" (Child F), and "Bevany" (Child J) are the markers as it were of this adulteration.

I too have read that Feher is translated by Lloyd out of the Hungarian, but cannot find the source of this.

Subject: Lyr Add: GEORGIE
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 16 Mar 02 - 10:17 PM

Jon Bartlett is correct, the relationship with Child # 209 is certainly clearer than to # 15 (as suggested in the website I posted), especially Group C, based on a version collected in Arkansas by Randolph. For those lacking Randolph, Bronson or Child:

GEORGIE

As I went over London's bridge,
'Twas early in the morning,
There I spied a pretty fair maid
pleading for the life of Georgie.

"Go saddle up my milkwhite steeds,
And bridle them so gaily,
That I may ride to the king's castle town
And plead for the life of Georgie."

She rode all day and she rode all night
'Till she was weak and weary;
While throwing back her fine yellow hair
She pleads for the life of Georgie.

She pulled from her pocket a purse of gold,
Saying, "Here is money a-plenty;
Lawyers, lawyers, fee yourselves,
And spare me the life of Georgie."

Up stepped George then unto the lawyer,
Saying, "I have not murdered any,
But I stole sixteen of the king's white steeds
And sold them in Boheeny."

Up stepped the lawyer then to George,
Saying, "George, I'm sorry for you,
But your own confession has condemmed you to die,
May the Lord have mercy on you."

George walking up and down the street
A-bidding adieu to many,
A-bidding adieu to his own dear girl,
Which grieved him the most of any.

George shall be hung with a golden cord,
For of such there is not many,
Because he came from a royal race,
And he courted a handsome lady.

I wish I were over on yon hillside
Where kisses are a-plenty;
With a sword and a pistol by my side
I would fight for the life of Georgie.

Sung by Georgia Dunaway (learned ca. 1898 from her father). Vance Randolph, Ozark Folk Songs, ed. Norm Cohen, pp. 52-53 with music. Related to the English songs going back to the 17th century.
It would be interesting to know the age of the Hungarian version and if it had been translated from English broadsides.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Hrothgar
Date: 17 Mar 02 - 04:46 AM

Does anybody have an answer to the Neil Roth and Lydia Wood "mystery?"

Subject: Lyr Add: LAZLO FEYER
From: vectis
Date: 17 Mar 02 - 09:08 AM

This is the version I first heard in the late 1960's. I was told it was a Hungarian song.
I used to sing it a lot and finally found a local flamenco guitarist who could sing it better than me and gave him the tune and lyrics.


LAZLO FEYER

Lazlo Feyer stole a stallion,
Stole him from the misty mountains
And they chased him and they caught him
And in iron chains they bound him.

Word has come to Annas Feyer
That her brother was in prison
"Bring me gold and six white horses
I will buy my brothers freedom."

"Judge. Oh! Judge please free my brother
I will give you gold and silver."
"I don't want your gold and silver
All I want are your sweet favours."

"Annas Feyer. Oh! My sister,
Are you mad with grief and sorrow?
He will rob you of your favours
Then He'll hang me from the gallows."

Annas Feyer did not heed him,
Straight way to the judge went running.
In his golden bed at midnight
She could hear the gallows creaking.

Annas Feyer. Annas Feyer.
Don't go out into the forest
There amongst the pine trees swaying
You will find your brother hanging.

Curse be on that judge so cruel!
Thirteen years may he lie bleeding!
Thirteen doctors cannot cure him!
Thirteen shelves of drugs won't heal him!

Lazlo Feyer stole a stallion
Stole him from the misty mountains,
And they chased him and they caught him
And in iron chains they bound him
And they hung him from the gallows.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 17 Mar 02 - 02:58 PM

Well that's more or less the version that Dave and Toni Arthur sang. I'm just wondering if the woman singer on the sampler mentioned by Wes.w was Frankie Armstrong.

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Mar 02 - 03:36 PM

And then there is the Robert Burns version, a few verses below:

Gar get to me my gude grey steed,
My menzie a' gae wi' me;
For I shall neither eat nor drink,
'Till Enburgh town shall see me.

And she has mountit her gude grey steed,
Her menzie a' gaed wi' her;
And she did neither eat nor drink
Till Enburgh town did see her.

And first appear'd the fatal block,
And syne the aix to head him;
And Geordie cumlh down the stair,
And bands o' airn upon him.

But tho' he was chain'd in fetters strang,
O' airn and steel sae heavy,
There was na ane in a' the court,
Sae bra' a man as Geordie.

etc. Taken from Bronson. In other versions he was sentenced for poaching deer and roe.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 17 Mar 02 - 04:22 PM

My trouble and strife and I have been trying to agree how to arrange the song for about 10 years!

Her first husband Barry worked a lot with Lloyd on the Idiot (a/k/a "the idiom of the people"). Our earliest written set of the lyrics are in his handwriting, but they also knew Dave and Tony Arthur quite well. She's asleep or I'd ask her more details.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 17 Mar 02 - 05:45 PM

Joan Baez sang the song as "Geordie," probably about the same time as Bok. In the Baez lyrics, he stole 16 royal deer and sold them in "Boeny."

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 17 Mar 02 - 10:31 PM

The reference on the website Dicho sited earlier on was wrong; it should have been Child #95, The Maid Freed from the Gallows, not #15, which is Leesome Brand.

I see no significant relationship between the Hungarian song and Geordie in any of its forms, and I don't believe that they can usefully be considered analogous.  The theft of horses and cattle is a commonplace in traditional song, as it was in life.  If there is a useful analogy to be made with anything in the Child corpus, it would be with #95, where the sexes of the protagonists are sometimes reversed, and where there is also a cumulative ransom motif.  Child cites a Swedish form which also includes a series of curses.  The song under consideration here was not known to Child, so we can't know how he would have classified it; so far, I am convinced that he would have referred to it under #95, not #209.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Art Thieme
Date: 17 Mar 02 - 11:13 PM

Frank Hamilton did a wonderful version of "Geordie" on a LP for Folkways.

Maybe this is the wrong place to mention it but in a Hungarian neighborhood along Lincoln Ave. in Chicago there is a wonderful small Hungarian bistro that is fairly well known for the contests they have every January to see which one among all the regular female patrons of the place is the most notorious rapper in the old country styles of that nation. Each year they make quite a show of giving her an award and naming her, officially, as the belle o' bar talk.

art

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Dicho (Frank Staplin)
Date: 18 Mar 02 - 12:35 AM

There are similarities to all of these.
Laszlo Feher-Annathea-
Man stole animal(s)
Man bound in chains
Man sentenced to hang
Maid rides to save him
Judge wants (gets) sexual favors
Man is hanged.

Child 95-
Maid (or man) stole silver cup (or crime not specified)
Maid (or man) sentenced to hang
Relatives won't help
Lover antes up and prisoner set free.
(A prickly bush or briery used in a chorus)

Child 209- (C versions)
Man stole animal(s)
Man may or may not be chained
Maid brings gold to save her lover
Her man confesses or he was already condemmed
Lawyer (or judge) says he has condemmed himself or been condemmed
Man is hanged.
(Main versions of 209 group concern a killing in battle)
The many variants make these songs difficult to classify, but the actions of relatives in Child 95, to me, sets that group apart. On the other hand, the venal judge sets Laszlo Feher-Annathea group apart. Admittedly, I am not a student of these songs, but I see more correlation in basic story between the "Hungarian" story and some of Child 209 versions.
So far, no history of the Hungarian song has been cited.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 18 Mar 02 - 08:57 AM

I heard Bert Lloyd sing it (Laszlo / Anna Feher) and he claimed to have translated it himself. Incidently it was Toni Arthur who sang laszlo Feher - Dave just provided the guitar accompaniment.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: GUEST,Rosemary Barrios
Date: 24 Dec 03 - 03:57 AM

Has anybody got the chords??? Thanks so much

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: breezy
Date: 24 Dec 03 - 04:47 AM

the 3rd Verse, 'Judge oh judge'

Is it at all possible that this verse is out of chronological order and ought to appear after she has gone to the judge?

I do think Dave Arthur would be interested in this thread.

I also think '!3 shelves of drugs wont ease his pain' has a more dramatic effect

start in an Am key

Am Lazlo..........................lion
F Stole him.......Am misty mount A major tains
F and they    ......   Am and they caught him
Am and G in F ir   Em on Dm chains they Am bound him


very dramatically and dynamic,like Toni, and wild hair

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: LesB
Date: 24 Dec 03 - 05:03 PM

I have just come across this thread and read it with interest. My memory of this song was from the singing of Mike Harding many years ago, and a right fine job he made of it too. He use to introduce it as having been translated from Hungarian.

Les

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 24 Dec 03 - 09:43 PM

Those chords are close but not quite as I hear it.

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: breezy
Date: 25 Dec 03 - 06:28 AM

HAVE YOU HEARD THE tONI aRTHUR version to compare ?

as thats my only source

Could nt stand listening to bert at the best of times.

Listen out for a revival of the song in St Albans.

happy Christmas

Subject: RE: Lyrics for Anathea stole a stallion
From: Bat Goddess
Date: 25 Dec 03 - 11:35 AM

By the way, Odetta recorded it about the same time as Judy Collins. I'd have to pull out the LP to give you more particulars, but it was late '60s, and was similar to the Judy Collins version, but had some differences (which at this date I can't remember).

Linn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: Leadfingers
Date: 20 May 05 - 08:29 PM

Am                              Dm               Am    A
Laszlo Feher stole a stallion - stole him on the Misty mountains
Dm                   Am                        Dm    Am   E   Am
But they chased him and they caught him - And they hanged him from
G   Am
the gallows

Thats the basic Chord run I have used since nineteen canteen , wish I could do the ABC or dots or whatever !! I have this as done by Bert Lloyd - but dont ask me for more info as its a LONG time ago !!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 11 Jul 05 - 03:59 PM

Brother was listening to Led Zeppelin's reworking of "Gallows Pole" and a thought struck me. Judy Collins was rather big in the 60s wasn't she? Could this possibly be where they had the idea for their ending, or maybe used Seven Curses?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: GUEST,Jack Campin
Date: 15 Nov 05 - 12:37 PM

Here's the ABC as somebody asked:

X:1 T:Laszlo Feher S:Dave and Toni Arthur Songbook, 1970 Z:Jack Campin http colon slash slash www dot purr dot demon dot co dot uk slash jack slash N:bugger this stupid forms interface that won't let me insert a real URL N:and use a fixed width font M:4/4 L:1/8 Q:1/4=120 % guess, not in the book K:D Minor D3 E F2 D2 |zA-A G F2 D2| w:Lasz-lo Fe-her stole* a stall-ion B3 B c3 B |A2 D2 ^F2 A2 | w:Stole him on the mis-ty moun-tain B3 B c2 B2 | A2 D2 E2 D2| w:And they chased him and they caught him A3 G F2 E2 | D6 C2 | D2 D6|] w:And in ir- on chains they bound him

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: Wilfried Schaum
Date: 18 Nov 05 - 08:58 AM

Dicho's post of 16 Mar 02: Wrong translation!
The title used by Bartok in his "Magyar népdalok" is "Fehér László lovay lopoll." According to this site, the song was taken by Bartok from Child # 15, The Briary Bush

The original:
John Bauldie behauptet eine Verwandtschaft zur Child-Ballade Nr. 15 "The Briary Bush" und übersieht dabei nicht nur die völlig andere Konstellation der Personen sondern auch den ungarischen Namen des Protagonisten.
[John Bauldie claims a relation to Child #15 and ignores not only the totally different constellation of the persons, but the protagonist's Hungarian name, too.]

Tatsächlich existiert ein ungarisches Volkslied mit dem Titel "Fehér László lovat lopott", das auch Béla Bartók bei seinen Bearbeitungen "Magyar népdalok" verwendet hat.
[In fact there is a Hungarian folk song "Fehér László lovat lopott" which Béla Bartók used in his adaptions of "Magyar népdalok".]

character code: Western (ISO-8859-1)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: GUEST,Noelle
Date: 28 Aug 08 - 03:48 PM

Hi...

I would like to listen to the song "Anna Thea" on line as Judy Collins sang it...but I haven't been able to find it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: bobad
Date: 28 Aug 08 - 04:34 PM

Noelle, try here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJvpRn5K23w

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: GUEST,DanLewis
Date: 30 Mar 09 - 08:22 PM

"Curse'd be that judge so cruel
Thirteen years may he lie bleeding
Thirteen doctors cannot cure him
Thirteen shelves of drugs not heal him!"

Great curse! Song structure and references to the powerful judge and overlord as well as the judge's golden bed all point to an 18th century origin more or less.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: Jack Campin
Date: 30 Mar 09 - 09:00 PM

Here's one of the Hungarian versions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ap5O9HHeOLk

There are a LOT of them. I have an MP3 CD of Bartók's cylinders (came with a book of transcriptions: Vera Lampert, "Népzene Bartók Müveiben", Néprajzi Múzeum, Budapest 2005, ISBN 9 789637 363092) which has 4 versions.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: Jack Campin
Date: 30 Mar 09 - 09:12 PM

Another try at the ABC I posted before, this time with the linebreaks right:

  X:1
  T:Laszlo Feher
  S:Dave and Toni Arthur Songbook, 1970
  Z:Jack Campin
  M:4/4
  L:1/8
  Q:1/4=120 % guess, not in the book
  K:D Minor
  D3 E F2 D2 |zA-A G F2 D2|
  w:Lasz-lo Fe-her stole* a stall-ion
  B3 B c3 B |A2 D2 ^F2 A2 |
  w:Stole him on the mis-ty moun-tain
  B3 B c2 B2 | A2 D2 E2 D2|
  w:And they chased him and they caught him
  A3 G F2 E2 | D6 C2 | D2 D6|]
  w:And in ir- on chains they bound him.

Not a lot in common with the Hungarian original.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: Jack Campin
Date: 30 Jul 10 - 08:23 PM

The Judy Collins version from 1963:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJvpRn5K23w

Introduced as "in the style of a French tragic ballad of the 13th century" and attributed to Lydia Wood. Complete with gratuitous yodelling and cowboy-horse-rhythm guitar accompaniment.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 31 Jul 10 - 12:18 AM

As someone ((possibly John Roberts) pointed out, the phrase "misty mountains" is almost a signature phrase for Bert Lloyd's work.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: Jean(eanjay)
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 07:35 AM

I have included a link to this thread in the information for this video which I have just uploaded to my YouTube channel. This is also attributed on the LP to L. Wood.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: GUEST,Don Wise
Date: 26 Aug 11 - 08:08 AM

In the dim recesses of my memory I seem to recall that 'Anna Feher' was the 'B'-side of a Dave and Toni Arthur single(!)-the 'A' side was 'Bushes and Briars' and was an attempt to cash in on the film version of 'Tess of the d'Urbervilles' starring Julie Christie. 'Bushes and Briars' as sung by Toni was featured in the film, possibly as the theme music.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: Anglo
Date: 28 Feb 13 - 02:20 AM

I revive this thread as I just sat within 10' of Judy Collins as she sang Anathea, as part of a retrospective concert set she did at Folk Alliance Toronto. She attributed it to the Lydia Wood mentioned above in this thread, but not in a way that indicated that she knew who she was. I spoke to her very briefly about this as she was on her way out, saying I thought A.L. Lloyd had translated it from the Hungarian, but she seemed more interested in leaving (in all fairness she had spent quite a while signing autographs and stuff backstage, and not everyone is as interested in song origins as I am).

Like some others who posted above, I would like to know who Lydia Wood is. As I said long ago (in another thread, I think), whenever the phrase "misty mountains" comes up in a folk song, you can put your money on Bert's hand being there. And with the British-based singers' attribution of the song to Lloyd, I can only assume that someone ripped it off for the US copyright.

I know Judy Collins to be generous with copyright - many years ago she learned a song from Lou Killen (it might have been Tarwathie), and attributed it to Trad. Arr. Collins/Killen. The first Lou knew about it was when the check came in the mail.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 28 Feb 13 - 07:04 AM

Judy Collins will be touring England and Ireland later this year.

What an amazing performer - her 12 string guitar must weigh more than she does!

Dates announced so far;

Sunday   16th June Lagan Valley Leisureplex Lisburn
Monday   17th June Waterfront Hall Auditorium & Studio Belfast
Thuesday 20th June Tivoli Theatre Wimborne
Sunday   23rd June Kendal Town Hall

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: GUEST,guest, JoanC
Date: 21 Nov 13 - 03:50 PM

I've thought that the key theme in both "Anathea" and "Seven Curses" was that of supernatural vengeance. The gallows groaning or the ground beneath the gallows groaning is the natural order asserting itself when human justice fails.

The payment to the judge is not a bribe, but a payment of what Germanic tribes called "weregild" - practice common to many tribal societies - that could be demanded by the relatives of a murdered man in lieu of the death penalty for the murder. This restores the social order by paying to the relatives an amount equal to what the dead man would have contributed to their clan. In both cases, the judge accepted the payment, but killed the thief anyway. This was the unavenged injustice. The judge is also cursed with a disease that cannot be cured by natural means. Thus, justice is meted out by supernatural means.

We have something similar in the "Bonnie Swans" or the "Twa Sisters", where a harp made of a murdered girl's breastbone and hair sings out the name of the murderer. In this case, we can only assume that justice will be brought about by the girl's relatives having the murderer arrested; but, it is initiated by supernatural means.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: Jack Campin
Date: 21 Nov 13 - 05:54 PM

The Laszlo Feher story is not Germanic, and Hungarian society had such extreme and pervasive class inequalities for so long that the idea of a poor person demanding "weregild" from an aristocrat would be unimaginable.

Subject: ADD: Seven Curses (Bob Dylan)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Apr 14 - 02:57 PM

This morning, I heard an American version of this story. I didn't catch the name of the song or the (female) artist. I thought it started out "Bold Riley stole a stallion," and then went on with the same story as "Anathea." Has anyone else heard this, and can they tell me the title of the song and name of the artist?

-Joe-

---

I should have searched a little more.

I'm the one who posted it above (click)
Source: http://www.bobdylan.com/us/songs/seven-curses

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: GUEST,Peter L. Neff
Date: 04 Jun 21 - 12:47 PM

I interviewed Ethan Kenning (George Edwards-The Village Singers/H.P. Lovecraft) on May 26, 2021. Here is an excerpt that maybe helpful. "There was this woman out there years ago called Lydia Wood, and when I mention that name to people, nobody’s ever heard of her. She wrote one song that was recorded by Judy Collins, it was called “Anathea." Lydia Wood was a phenomenal talent. David Crosby used to back her up on twelve-string guitar. She was around the Chicago scene and later on for a very brief time in the New York scene. When I mention her name, no one knows who she is. In my opinion, she was one of the best woman writers, performers, guitar players. She played kick-ass guitar. She had a Martin D-28, played her butt off, and had the greatest smoky voice you ever heard in your life. Nobody ever heard of her. It’s something how these people fall through the cracks."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 04 Jun 21 - 01:24 PM

Date: 07 Mar 01 - 11:51 PM I've never been completely satisfied with the lyrics in the database, so let me post what I found in the Judy Collins Songbook. Joe Offer
ANATHEA (words by Neil Roth, music by Lydia Wood)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: Jack Campin
Date: 04 Jun 21 - 02:19 PM

To put Don Wise straight for something he wrote upthread in August 2011: the film where Julie Christie's character sings "Bushes and Briars" was "Far from the Madding Crowd". That scene is all I remember from it except a lot of green hills.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Anathea (from Judy Collins)
From: GUEST,Jerry
Date: 04 Jun 21 - 03:06 PM

Quite right; a version of The Bold Grenadier also featured alongside the scenes featuring Sergeant Troy.