Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?

Subject: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: michaelr
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 06:01 PM

Just heard the last bits of a song sung by Maddy on the radio which contained the stanza "I fell in love with the (air?) marshall as he brought me over the sea" and ended with "hanged you shall be".

I know that's not much but I trust mudcatters will come through!

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: Terry McDonald
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 06:41 PM

'Queen Eleanor's Confession?'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 06:50 PM

Another Classic Mondegreen ! http://www.mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=4835

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 06:52 PM

Ooops !! Earl Marshall

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 24 Apr 10 - 07:43 PM

"Marshall" is either a family name or (presumably developed from that) a male given name.

"Marshal", one L, is a military or police rank or function (thus "air marshal), or an officer appointed to organize and oversee some project, as "the parade marshal". That last meaning is often essentially ceremonial, a way of honoring some well-known person.

All of these, of course, related to "martial", and going back to Mars.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: michaelr
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 12:00 PM

Thanks, guys! An interesting song, new to me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: Liberty Boy
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 12:58 PM

Child #156

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: G-Force
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 01:06 PM

I may be wrong, but I don't think 'marshall' and 'martial' are etymologically related.

'Martial' is an adjective from 'Mars', relating to war.

'Marshall' is derived from 'mare schalk' or something like that, and is the young lad who looked after the horses. He obviously went up in the world over the years.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: growler
Date: 25 Apr 10 - 04:36 PM

The term derives from Germanic Saxon 'Mara Schalh', which roughly translated, means keeper of the horses. The Song refers to 'John The Marshal' who served three kings, but was second only to Edward 111. He died in his nineties, unheard of in those days

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 26 Apr 10 - 09:28 AM

Okay, I was wrong on the etymology.

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Apr 10 - 09:33 AM

See if you can ever listen to our Bernard on here singing it and doing the voices of the King, the Earl Marshall and Queen Eleanor. Adds a whole new dimension...

:D (eG)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: GUEST,highlandman at work
Date: 26 Apr 10 - 11:44 AM

But was the air marshall related to Lady Mondegreen?
-Sorry just couldn't help myself, I'll go back to work now.
-Glenn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: Bernard
Date: 26 Apr 10 - 04:30 PM

Well, I nicked it off Rosie Hardman back in the late 60s, and she nicked it from June Tabor (I think).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: Anne Lister
Date: 26 Apr 10 - 05:24 PM

My grandfather was an Air Vice Marshall, but I don't think it's about him.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: Effsee
Date: 26 Apr 10 - 11:04 PM

..."Well, I nicked it off Rosie Hardman back in the late 60s, and she nicked it from June Tabor (I think)."...

Think that may be the other way round Bernard!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Apr 10 - 07:33 PM

By the way, Earl Marshal is a hereditary office, not a personal name. The current Earl Marshal is Edward William Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk.

(In the DT copy of QUEEN ELEANOR'S CONFESSION, it is consistently misspelled "Earl Marshall.")

One of those bits of trivia I picked up when visiting Arundel Castle in 1985. That was my first trip to England, so it made a pretty big impression on me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Apr 10 - 07:50 PM

By the way (again) Wikipedia says the characters in QUEEN ELEANOR'S CONFESSION are Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II of England, and William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, a.k.a. Guillaume le Maréchal. The office he held was called Lord Marshal in those days—it was called Earl Marshal after 1397, some 178 years and 14 office-holders later.

So right off the bat, the story contains an anachronism, but the whole thing is fictional anyway.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Maddy Prior 'air marshall'?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 03 May 10 - 01:05 AM

Perhaps I spoke too soon in saying "Earl Marshall" was an incorrect spelling. It depends on the source. "Marshall" is incorrect according to today's usage, but in earlier times, spelling varied.

Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads contains 6 versions of QUEEN ELEANOR'S CONFESSION. These are the spellings used there:

Version A: Martial
Version B: Marishall, marishal
Version C: Marischal
Version D: Marshall
Version E: Marshall
Version F: Marshall