Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'

Subject: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: GUEST,sandynewlap
Date: 06 Jun 14 - 07:16 PM

Has anyone heard Jean Ritchie's song titled "Locks and Keys"? Apparently it is on the 1953 release of "Jean Ritchie - Songs from Kentucky volumes 1 & 2" (Argo issue numbers: ARL 1012, ARL 1013; re-released same year as TM 17, ™ 18) The song is not included in the US version of the LP released in 1957 (I've got that one). I've been searching online hoping to hear a snatch. Is it a variation of "Locks and Bolts"? Anyone know where I can hear it?

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: GUEST,Fred McCormick
Date: 07 Jun 14 - 05:41 AM

An intriguing one. I've just searched Steve Roud's folksong database and there is no song of that name listed. What's more I did an advanced search for anything which Jean Ritchie might have sung, with the word locks in the title. Again, nothing. Finally, I checked Songs from Kentucky and it came up with the interesting news that it had been released as Westminster WP 6037. This presumably is the US release which you mentioned? In any event, again, nothing.

The absence of Locks and Bolts from from the Westminster may be the result of their not being able to get two the two Argo LPs (10"?) onto a single 12" disc. But it is curious that she doesn't seem to have made any later recordings of this song.

Do let us know if you come up with anything.

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 07 Jun 14 - 11:57 AM

Nothing in Jean's Southern Appalachian book that could be interpreted as locks and keys. I don't think it would be related to Locks and Bolts Keys as that motif is very strong particularly in early broadside ballads and all of the versions I have seen the word 'bolts' is consistent.

I have seen 'locks and keys' used together as euphemisms, some versions of Chilbridge/Strawberry Fair for instance, but these haven't been found in America.

Could it be a local prison song?

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: GUEST,Fred McCormick
Date: 07 Jun 14 - 12:06 PM

Sorry, my previous post said "The absence of Locks and Bolts". It should of course have said Keys.

IAE., I agree with Steve that this is unlikely to be anything to do with Locks and Bolts, simply because locks and bolts are what you imprison people with. Keys are what you use to let them out.

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: Little Robyn
Date: 07 Jun 14 - 09:33 PM

I know kytrad doesn't post here now but is there any way someone can send a message to Jean or her family? She's probably the only one who can answer your question.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: Genie
Date: 24 Oct 14 - 10:19 PM

Maybe Dan Schatz knows the song?

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 12 Aug 17 - 02:02 PM

Hah! That's irony for you - I was just doing an internet search for this song when I came on Sandy's thread.

Jean recorded this as "Locks and Bolts" on her "The Most Dulcimer" CD. I'm looking at learning it, possibly for an upcoming tour with Jean's son Jon Pickow and protege Susie Glaze this Spring. Guess I'll just have to get the lyrics by transcription....

Dan

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: GUEST,Philippa
Date: 12 Aug 17 - 02:28 PM

re Fred McCormack's comment, "locks and bolts" is a song about a suitor who has to wrest his forbidden true love from (presumably) her family. "Oh love, oh love it's I'd be yours; but locks and bolts doth hinder." Love wins the day. I see no inconsistency with a song called "Locks and Keys"; indeed I also immediately thought of the Locks and Bolts song when I saw the title "Locks and Keys". I learned the song from Howie Burson and I don't remember his source.

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: Jeri
Date: 12 Aug 17 - 02:49 PM

I think it's unlikely you didn't try DigiTrad first, but: Locks and Bolts

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: Reinhard
Date: 12 Aug 17 - 04:33 PM

Fred didn't find a match three years ago but by now there is an entry for Locks and Keys in the Roud database. It is catalogued as Roud 406, as is "Locks and Bolts". It is from the Peter Hall Sound Colletcion and was sung by Maggie McPhee with the first line "I fell in love wi' a bonnie lass".

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: Reinhard
Date: 12 Aug 17 - 05:10 PM

This is possibly the same song that Maggie McPhee sang as "Back o' Benachie" as the title track of the 1968 Topic album Back o' Benachie.

Subject: ADD: Locks and Bolts (Ritchie Family Version)
From: Dan Schatz
Date: 12 Aug 17 - 07:22 PM

Here's Locks and Bolts, which is the one I was looking for. The Ritchie family's tune is remarkably lovely.

LOCKS AND BOLTS
traditional, Ritchie Family version

I dreamed of my true love last night
All in my arms I held her
When I awoke it was a dream
I was forced to lie without her

Her yellow hair like links of gold
Came rollin' down the pillow
Her yellow hair like links of gold
Came rollin' down my pillow

I rode up to her uncle's hall
Inquiring for my darlin'
Her uncle said "There's no such here,"
Which set my heart to wonderin'

I turned my horse to ride away
She called down from a winder
And said, "My dear I'd be with you
But locks and bolts doth hinder."

My passion flew, my sword I drew
Into that room I ventured
My passion flew, my sword I drew
Into that room I entered

The blood was shed on every hand
I took her from among them
Come now, brave boys who'll have your love
You must fight till you overcome them,

Her yellow hair like links of gold
Comes rollin' down my pillow
Her yellow hair like links of gold
Comes rollin' down my pillow

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Aug 26 - 12:44 PM

DO YOU HAVE TAB

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: GerryM
Date: 24 Aug 26 - 06:20 PM

I think "Locks and Keys" is a mishearing of "Lox and Cheese", although of course the mixing of meat and dairy would not be kosher.

Subject: RE: 'Locks & Keys' AND re lox & cheese
From: Felipa
Date: 25 Aug 26 - 04:08 PM

Ive known that "Locks and Bolts" song since the early 1970s from the in-person singing of Howie Burson. But did Jean Ritchie sing it, and/or is there another song called "Locks and Keys"?

Im fairly sure that GerryM is wrong (though of course he is joking) about this mondegreen, but I think he is also wrong on the second count -- Kosher makes a distinction between meat and fish. I wondered about that because smoked salmon and cream cheese on a bagel is such a popular sandwich. https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/815625/jewish/Is-lox-and-cream-cheese-kosher.htm
"Fish is pareve. This means that as far as the kosher laws of meat and milk are concerned, it is a neutral zone. It is neither a meat dish nor a milk dish and can be eaten with either. However, the Talmud1 warns us not to eat fish with meat, asserting that the combination is unhealthy. This is mentioned in the Code of Jewish Law2 with the admonition that health concerns are to be treated with even greater gravity than ritual laws.3 So the accepted practice is to change dishes and rinse one's mouth between fish and meat courses.

"So far, our precious lox and cream cheese is safe. But Rabbi Yosef Karo (1488-1575)4 mentions a health restriction concerning eating fish and milk as well. The subsequent commentaries, including Rabbi Moshe Isserles (1520-1572),5 argue that this statement of Rabbi Yosef Karo must be an error, because there is neither Talmudic basis nor any other rabbinical precedent for prohibiting milk and fish."

https://thekitchenknowhow.com/is-fish-and-cheese-kosher/ "For those who keep kosher, determining what food combinations are allowed according to Jewish dietary laws can get confusing. One area of frequent debate is whether it’s permitted to eat fish and cheese together. While some Jewish authorities prohibit combining the two, others argue it’s perfectly kosher. In this article, we’ll explore the reasoning on both sides of the issue and help explain this somewhat contentious kosher fish and cheese question. ..."

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: GerryM
Date: 25 Aug 26 - 06:19 PM

Felipa is right, of course, though I am reminded of what a school mate told me many years ago about the opinion of his father, a doctor. The doctor opined that Catholics who ate fish on Fridays when meat was forbidden to them had it wrong, as he felt there was no significant biological difference between fish meat and, say, cow meat.

Subject: ADD: Back o' Benachie / Lass o' Bennachie
From: Reinhard
Date: 26 Aug 26 - 12:17 AM

Felipa, I don't think there is another song called 'Locks and Keys'.

Maggie McPhee's song that I mentioned in 2017 is catalogued in the Roud Index with three different titles:

RoudFS/S197336
BACK O' BENACHIE
First line: I fell in love wi' a bonnie lass, a-herdin' o' her cattle
Roud no: 406    |   Sound recording   |   Audio
Topic 12T 180 ('Back o' Benachie')
McPhee, Maggie   |   Scotland - Banffshire - MacDuff

RoudFS/S152581
LOCKS AND BOLTS
First line: I fell in love wi' a bonnie lass
Roud no: 406    |   Book   |   Text; Music
MacColl & Seeger, Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland (1977) pp.253-259 (version b)
McPhee, Maggie   |   Scotland - Aberdeenshire

RoudFS/S337091
LOCKS AND KEYS
First line: I fell in love wi' a bonnie lass
Roud no: 406    |   Sound recording   |   Audio
Peter Hall Sound Collection (compiled & edited by Tom Spiers)
McPhee, Maggie   |   Scotland

In Travellers' Songs from England and Scotland, though, Ewan MacColl wrote in the first paragraph of the song discussion: "This is one of three Scots songs, all entitled 'The Lass of Bennachie' and all dealing with the same historical event. We will, however, use the Laws title above [Locks and Bolts] in the following discussion."

And the two printed lyrics he cited are titled with:
"A. 'The Lass o' Bennachie', sung by Jock Higgins."
"B. 'At the Back o' Bennachie', sung by Maggie McPhee"

Both versions use the phrase 'locks and keys', Jock Higgins several times:

THE LASS O' BENNACHIE
Sung by Jock Higgins

For I fell in love wi' a bonnie lass
At the herdin' o' her cattle;
Her father had me beguiled
And sent me off to battle.

It was over dyke, it was over dale,
It's over dykes and valleys;
When peace it came and as I come hame
A-spiering for my dearie.

As I gaed doon to my uncle's house
A-spiering for my dearie,
For they told me not such a one was there,
It made my heart grow weary.

For my true love, she heard my voice
All out of her high window;
It's 'Here I am, but I cannot come
Till the locks and keys lie sundered.'

I stood awhile to amuse myself
And being in angry passion,
My passion flew and my sword I drew,
I made locks and keys lie sundered.

I made locks and keys and double-dells
I made locks and keys lie sundered;
I took my love all by the hand
And my broadsword in the other.

Her uncle and her uncle's men
They cowardly followed after,
I told them a' to return again
Else try it in the battle.

For as I have been where the bullets flew
And the cannons loudly rattle,
For it's at the back o' Bennachie
Where swiftly flew the swallow.

AT THE BACK O' BENNACHIE
Sung by Maggie McPhee

I fell in love wi’ a bonnie lass
At the herdin’ o’ her cattle;
But her father he had me beguiled
And he sent me off to battle.

It was over hills, it was over dales,
It was over lofty mountains;
It was over hills, it was over dales
It was there we fought our battle.

But peace it come and home I came,
O, askin’ for my dearie;
But they told me not such a one was there,
Which made my heart to fury.

I stood awhile to amuse mysel’,
My passion couldna stand me;
My sword I drew and the locks I slew,
I made locks and keys to sunder.

I made broken doors, I made double-dells,
I made locks and keys a-sinder,
I took my lovey by the hand
And my broadsword in the ither.

For her father and her father’s men,
They cowardly followed after,
I told the cowards to retire again,
Or try it in a battle.

For my sword I drew and three I slew
And three lay mortally wounded;
For my sword I drew and three I slew
It was there I fought my battle.

It was at the back o’ Bennachie,
Where loudly goes the cannon;
It was at the back o’ Bennachie,
It was there we fought wor battle.

I do not have heard Jean Ritchie's song "Locks and Keys". But she recorded her Argo album "Songs from Kentucky Vol. 2" in 1953 while she was on a Fulbright scholarship in Britain in 1952/53, researching the origins of the songs she had learnt from her Kentucky family. So it is well possible that she heard the version she recorded in the Scottish Traveller community.

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: Reinhard
Date: 26 Aug 26 - 02:33 AM

But then, again from the Roud Index, Jean Ritchie's "Locks and Keys" has the first line "I dreamed last night of my old true love" which is similar to the Ritchie Family version of "Locks and Bolts" shown above by Dan Schatz...

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 26 Aug 26 - 08:13 AM

> no significant biological difference between fish
> meat and, say, cow meat

It's less biology than "what we can get away with if the rabbi/priest/imam has the Jesuit nature". The capybara spends so much of its time in the water that (according to legend) it was said to be acceptable for Catholics to eat capybara in Lent, when they are forbidden meat.

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 28 Aug 26 - 08:37 AM

I am certain I have come across a Martin Carthy album
in which he sings a song with the line,
"Locks and bolts do hinder,"
but I can't recall which album it is.

Subject: RE: Jean Ritchie's 'Locks & Keys'
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 28 Aug 26 - 08:40 AM

It was Crown of Horn.