Subject: question on Outlandish Knight From: Wolfgang Date: 18 Feb 00 - 05:16 AM Outlandish Knight, a version of Child #4, is in the database. Martin Carthy sings it on his Shearwater LP. He starts with completely different lyrics for the first four verses. Later on the lyrics are much closer. Carthy starts "Lady Margaret sat..." which could possibly come from Child #74, Fair Margaret and Sweet William. I have only an abridged one volume Child (one of the bigger mistakes of my life, when I had the choice 20 years ago) and so I can't check myself what I'd like to know:
Is there a version of Child #2 in which there are starting verses about Lady Margaret? Wolfgang Search for "Outlandish" threads |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: wysiwyg Date: 18 Feb 00 - 08:44 AM Thanks to your question, I went to LINKS at top of page and soon found: Francis J. Child Ballads http://www.childballads.com Francis J. Child Ballads; with Biography of Child, Complete List of Child Ballads, Lyrics, Tune Information, Midis, Historical Background and Tune Related Links What it didn't tell me ans was a lovely surprise was that it includes Carolan stuff too!!!! When I went there briefly it began to lay me a tune. I'm going back there now! There was an entry there on Outlandish Knight. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Stewie Date: 18 Feb 00 - 08:51 AM Wolfgang, none of the versions of Child #2, 'The Elphin Knight', has any mention of Lady Margaret. --Stewie. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: GUEST,Arthur K. Date: 18 Feb 00 - 09:11 AM Heard Shropshire traditional singer, Fred Jordan sing a beautiful long version of the Outlandish Knight back in the fifties. I think he was recorded by Lomax and Kennedy about that time, and is on the Caedmon collection of The Folksongs of Britain. Try their reference TC1145 "The Child Ballads". Good luck. Arthur K. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Abby Sale Date: 18 Feb 00 - 10:11 AM Here begins confusion. Fair Margaret and Sweet William are stock characters & show in many ballads & floater verses. Child, himself, relates #74 to #73, Lord Thomas & Fair Annet. The DT version also has the whole parrot sequence. This is trad. in this song but itself a floater which I associate more with The Greycock series. I wouldn't pay much attention to names or subplots as to the core story of the ballad. (Not necessarily easy to line out either.) #4, Elf (Outlandish) Knight is a baddy, come to murder the seventh princess. She kills him instead. In #74, Fair Margaret and Sweet William are tragic lovers, he's (usually he) a ghost and we have the night-visiting element (usually.) But the lover may be revenant or live - it may wind up a simple night-visiting song or a ghost song. I generally "need" to place songs in relationship & sequence but there are exceptions. In this case I'd leave it alone. DT gives a favorite version of mine as the Peggy Seeger "Greycock" and (correctly) cites Child #48. Her & MacColl's Blood and Roses series (and Sam Hinton's Wandering Folksong) do a fine job of examples of the problem. Good luck. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 18 Feb 00 - 11:24 AM A. L. Lloyd did a version on Folkways many years ago, which is (more's the pity) not in the Smithsonian-Folkways collection..... ..It had no named characters at all, but was in the first-person voice of the female character. It started, "An outlandish knight from the northland y-came, And he came a-wooin' of me. And he said he would take me to that northern land, And there he would marry me." It ends with the parrot sequence. I had this song along with about 7 hours of unaccompanied Child ballads, sung by Ewan McColl and A.L. Lloyd, on reel-to-reel tape. The reels were mislaid for many years, and two of them just showed up. I'd like to find a technician who would try to deal with this old, old tape stock and copy it off to cassettes, if it's not too badly deteriorated. Any suggestions? Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Wolfgang Date: 18 Feb 00 - 12:04 PM Thanks for all these responses so far. The core story in Martin Carthy's song sure is the Outlandish Knight, but the starting sequence seems to be more different than what can usually be expected (and not just a Child variant I didn't know yet, thanks, Stewie). I still wonder a bit where Martin Carthy got his version from or whether he made it himself (as he sometimes does). Wolfgang |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 18 Feb 00 - 02:34 PM There were sleevenotes with the original (vinyl, 1972) release of Shearwater, though for some unknown reason they are replaced in the CD insert (1991) with a piece about Carthy by Maggie Holland and John Tobler. Beyond some general observations about The Outlandish Knight and MayDay in Padstow, Carthy says only, "The tune is my own". No clues to his source(s). Malcolm |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Abby Sale Date: 18 Feb 00 - 08:39 PM doesterr, that's most likely the Riverside/Washington series. Spectactular work with full Goldstein notes, glossary, etc. How I started to learn Scots. 1956. Still have them & prize them highly. I'm pretty sure all Folkways recordings are available on tape, if not CD. The Riverside collection is also a treasure & I do hope it can one day be recreated & made available. Lots of good stuff. Lots. Wolfgang, I'm not aware Carthy makes up that much as to texts. Tune arrangements & Anglicazations of Scots texts, yes, but I don't think much more. Well, how much do you want to know? Bronson has a huge number of versions of this & I could compare with DT. Or ask. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Pelrad Date: 18 Feb 00 - 08:56 PM Barrand and Roberts have recorded a version that seems similar to the A.L. Lloyd version, at least in lyrical content. It too has no character names and ends with the parrot. "An outlandish knight came to the northland. He came a-wooing me. He said he would take me into the northland and there his bride I would be..." It's on their album "A Present From the Gentlemen." |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Sandy Paton Date: 19 Feb 00 - 12:16 AM Joe Hickerson recorded a very similar (apparently) version for Folk-Legacy. Available on cassette, with booklet. Sandy |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Abby Sale Date: 19 Feb 00 - 11:11 AM BTW, I just received by US Federal postal service a fine Margaret MacArthur CD including this & other ballads too. Mostly New England (esp Vermont) versions. Surprisingly complete ones. Since I was "raised" on MacColl's approach, it's always a pleasure to listen to a gentle & compelling approach such as Margaret's. It works even for the bloodiest bits, just as MacColl works for the lovey bits. There's something about the great ballads in the mouth of a good singer... In this Vermont version, "She seized him up in her arms so brave / And threw him into the salt sea." (tough gal.) The parrot sequence is 5 verses including the lie that Lady has called the parrot (thus accidently waking her father) so parrot will scare away the black cat at te door. Men don't come off well in this song. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Sandy Paton Date: 20 Feb 00 - 12:06 AM It turns out that the version Joe Hickerson recorded for us on Drive Dull Care Away, Volume 2 was learned from Carl Sandburg's The American Songbag, but Joe mislearned the tune, switching it from Myxolidian to Aeolian. Sandburg has obtained a number of songs (without the tunes) from Robert W. Gordon who was the first head of the Archive of American Folksong at the Library of Congress, a position Joe Hickerson later held for a number of years. Gordon had the text from Mrs. O. Mobley of Springfield, Illinois. Joe thinks that Sandburg may have taken the tune he used from Kidson's Traditional Tunes (1891), but notes that it was in 4/4 rather than 3/4 there. Thus, kids, is the tradition modified. As Vonnegut would say: "And so it goes..." Sandy |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: John Moulden Date: 20 Feb 00 - 05:33 AM The version Bert Lloyd sang which begins "An outlandish knight ..." is in the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs and has probably recently been posted. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Garry Gillard Date: 20 Feb 00 - 07:26 AM Thanks for asking the question, Wolfgang. One thing I'd like to know, Abby, is what the hell is Martin Carthy's chorus line, the second line of the version he sings, which sounds something like Baba and the lily va which makes me sound stupid asking ... Gaz |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Grey Wolf Date: 20 Feb 00 - 09:00 AM Gaz,
I'd heard it as:
"Lady Margaret she sits, in here bower window
That is just a guess though Wolf |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Abby Sale Date: 20 Feb 00 - 10:49 AM Gaz, I have a bunch or MacColl/Seeger versions but not the Carthy Shearwater. Wolf's suggestion seems possible. If you'll type in the first 5 verses (ie, the different ones & the ref to DT) I will check Bronson.
Now here's something... - Incidentally, every time I get another Folk-Legacy record, and I have about 1,200 of them, I say Now that's my favorite. Very annoying. But, on my favorite F-L record, Fair Winds and a Following Sea, is a shorter version of "C'est l'Aviron," a song I learned from an actual French Canadian & we sang in the streets of Paris in 1959. Pretty good memories there. But the note-writer for the record notes a connection between this classic paddling song & Child #4. The notes follow Laura Smith & Child but this is a case I find I'd like to see the missing links. (I know Sandy is not now staking his life on this claim - it's just interesting.) |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 20 Feb 00 - 11:37 AM I just checked the version in the DT. It's very similar but to A.L. Lloyd's version I spoke of. The tune given, however, is quite different. .....Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Sandy Paton Date: 20 Feb 00 - 01:25 PM I can't comment on Tom McHenry's note, Abby, as I have no understanding of French, classic or Canadian. All I did was type what Tom wrote. I assume responsibility only for the typos in the booklet. And Joe Offer can testify as to my typo-frequency! He's called upon regularly to correct the worst offenders in my Mudcat posts. Someday, by golly, I'm going to get both of those Boarding Party Folk-Legacy recordings out on CD. They are really gems! Sandy |
Subject: ADD: Le Tueur de Femmes (Outlandish Knight) From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 20 Feb 00 - 02:57 PM These are the first four verses of the Carthy version. The first refrain line is, I think, meaningless; I've rendered it as close as I can to the sound, but others may be able to get closer. So far I am defeated by the first line of verse two! Lady Margaret she sits in her bower sewing Ba-ba and a lily-ba When she saw the knight with his horn a-blowing On the very first morning of May. "Oh (ought oh ought)?? would give to me rest And* that young knight lay here on my breast." Now the lady she had these words scarce spoken When in at her window the knight come a-jumping. "Oh, strange it is, oh strange, young woman I can scarce blow my horn since I heard you a-calling." * In the old sense, probably, meaning "If". After this we get to the usual sequence: Go get me gold... etc. I don't know about C'est l'Aviron, (though I'd be very surprised if "M'en revenant de" meant anything other than "While I was coming back from") but The Outlandish Knight is certainly well-known in France (as in a number of countries, of course) where it is usually called Le Tueur de Femmes. Now that I've mentioned it, I just have to post the thing... LE TUEUR DE FEMMES "Allons, la belle, nous promener, En attendant le déjeuner. Allons, la belle, allons-y donc: 'Y a du plaisir nous promenant." Ils ne furent pas à mi-chemin: "Mon Dieu, Renaud, que j'ai grand faim!" "Mangez, la belle, votre main, Jamais ne mangerez de pain." Ils ne furent pas au bord du bois: "Mon Dieu, Renaud, que j'ai grand soif!" "Buvez, la belle, votre sang, Jamais ne boirez de vin blanc." Et quand la belle fut promenée, Elle demanda-t-à se loger. Tu logeras dans le vivier, Ou j'ai sept femmes de noyées." Et quand ils furent au bord du vivier, Lui dit de se déshabiller: La belle ôta son blanc jupon Pour aller voir la mer à fond. "C'est pas à toi, franc chevalier, De voir ta mie déshabiller. Mets ton épée dessous tes pieds Et tourne-toi vers le vivier." Elle l'a pris, l'a embrassé, Dans la rivière elle l'a jeté: "Pêche, Renaud, pêche poisson; Si tu y en prends, en mangerons!" Quand le beau galant fut à l'eau, Il se raccroche à une branche; La belle tira son grand couteau, Coupa la branche au ras des flots. "Voici les clefs de mon château; La belle, je vous les donnerez." "Je m'soucie autant de tes clefs Que je me soucie de toi*." "La belle, qui vous ramenera Vers le château de votre père?" "Le cheval qui nous amena Bien doucement m'y ramenera." "Mais que diront tous vos parents De vous voir revenir seulette?" "Je leur dirai la vérité; Que tu as voulu me noyer!" * pronounced the old way, to rhyme with clefs. This version, from the Ile de France, was recorded by Jean-Francois Dutertre on L'Epinette Des Vosges (Chant du Monde LDX 74536, 1974). The song has sometimes been found as a second part to La Fille au Roi Louis, and it is from one of these -probably the version printed in Henri Davenson's Livre des Chansons, that Dutertre got his melody. I'll send a .midi to the midi site. Davenson also gives a (very similar) version, but with a far less interesting tune. "Let us go out riding, fair maid, while we wait for the midday meal. Let us go, fair maid, let us go, then; there is pleasure in going out riding." They were scarcely half way along the road: "My God, Renaud, I am very hungry!" "Eat your own hand, fair maid: you will never (again) eat bread." They were scarcely at the edge of the wood: "My God, Renaud, I am very thirsty!" "Drink your own blood, fair maid; you will never (again) drink white wine." And when the fair maid had taken her ride, she asked to go home. "Your home shall be in the pond*, where I have seven drowned wives." And when they were on the edge of the pond, he told her to undress. The fair maid took off her white petticoat, to go and see the bottom of the sea. "It's not for you, bold knight, to see your sweetheart undress; put your sword beneath your feet, and turn towards the pond." She has taken hold of him, put her arms around him; into the river she has thrown him. "Go fishing, Renaud: if you catch anything there, we will eat it!" When the handsome young man was in the water, he catches hold of a branch. The fair maid pulled out his** big knife (and) cut off the branch, level with the waves. "Here are the keys to my castle; I shall give them to you, fair maid." "I care as much for your keys as I do for you." "Fair maid, who will take you back to your father's castle?" "The horse that brought us here will take me back gently enough." "But what will your family say when you return all alone?" "I shall tell them the truth: that you tried to drown me!" * literally, an expanse of water where fish are bred. ** or "her", assuming she had one! Malcolm
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Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Sandy Paton Date: 20 Feb 00 - 08:40 PM Hats off to Malcolm! That's a wonderful contribution. Sandy |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Garry Gillard Date: 20 Feb 00 - 09:59 PM Yes indeed! Thanks very much to Malcolm. Gaz |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Wolfgang Date: 21 Feb 00 - 05:08 AM thanks a lot for all the information (and a special thanks to Malcolm for the first four verses and the French variant). Wolfgang |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Abby Sale Date: 21 Feb 00 - 11:53 AM Well done from me too, Malcolm. OK. I foolishly offered so I stuck myself. Bronson gives 141 versions, all but one or two with text. None have a refrain, chorus or nonsense burdon. The only similar sound I find is version 31 from Hampshire: In verse 1, line 2, instead of the common "And he came a-wooing to me," this version gives "He came a-bowing to me." Not much help. Ok. How about the start. Also no help. They always begin from his POV. Ie, the knight comes a-wooing or else He followed her up, he followed her down - many, though go straight to the point in line 1 - Go bring me some of your father's gold. Incidentally, at this point I see many versions in which she is Pretty Polly (no other relation to "Gosport" though) and it evolves from her being Pretty Polly into the Polly-the-parrot verses. Hmmm. So Bronson's no help. Still, the version Malcolm enters is very similar to Child A (given exactly in filename[ ELFKNIG2). This does have a burdon & begins: 1 FAIR lady Isabel sits in her bower sewing, Aye as he gowans grow gay [hey, Dick - change to 'the gowans'] There she heard an elf-knight blawing his horn. The first morning in May 2 'If I had yen horn that I hear blawing, ['yon horn'] And yen elf-knight to sleep in my bosom.' ['yon'] Hmm; since this is a Scottish version (Buchan) hold on a tic while I check Greig.... Greig did receive a good version from his chief informant but sorry, not much help there either. It's in Last Leaves and, of course, Greig~Duncan. But only a marginal assist. Two verses give the place Knight takes her as "that they call Beenie an by." Greig believes this is a Mondegreen for Binyan's bay. Buchan uses Binyan's bay and flat out states this is the proper local for the murder. It was, he claims, the early name for the site on which Peterhead now stands. Greig doesn't give much credit to that.
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Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Alan of Australia Date: 21 Feb 00 - 07:39 PM G'day, Thanks to Malcolm the tune to "Le Tueur de Femmes" can be found here at the Mudcat MIDI site.
Cheers, |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: GUEST,Wolfgang Date: 23 Feb 00 - 10:21 AM From my point of view, Abby has found it: the song M. Carthy sings is made out of different versions of Child #4. Wolfgang |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Garry Gillard Date: 27 Feb 00 - 12:14 AM And here is as close as I (with all the help above) can get to what Martin Carthy sings. Garry |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: pavane Date: 25 Jun 01 - 05:49 AM No-one seems to have mentioned that 'Outlandish' was just an old English word meaning 'foreign' - someone from outside the land. I presume the current meaning comes from the behaviour of foreigners in the past! Also, Knight was derived from a word originally meaning (young?) man, not a necessarily nobleman. This may throw new light on the meaning of the story. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 25 Jun 01 - 07:09 AM I suppose we just assumed that people knew about "Outlandish"; to be honest, I don't think that the derivation of "knight" from Anglo-Saxon "cniht" is particularly relevant here, given the currency of the word in so many ballads and the fact that none of the published texts of this song are particularly old. Still, it may be that people do make cultural assumptions based mainly on an understanding of the modern meanings only of such words, so perhaps an occasional reminder is useful. For reference, I've listed the Outlandish Knight material available here and at a number of other sites in another thread: Penguin: The Outlandish Knight Malcolm |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: pavane Date: 25 Jun 01 - 07:27 AM I think that the song may well be older! If the guy was a nobleman, would he be calling in secret, or would the parents perhaps welcome him, not knowing he was an early conman. He is often seen at the bedroom window, persuading the lady to elope with him - more suggestive of someone of a lower social standing than the 'bride'? An interesting twist to the incompatible social rank is found in the 'Royal Forester' song, where the whole story seems to indicate that he is a nobelman forced to marry a commoner, but it turns out that it is all a set-up, she is an Earl's daughter, outranking him, and that the 'shotgun wedding' was the only way they had to overcome the barriers! PS I like Nic Jones' version, now sadly unavailable.
Thanks for the link. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: pavane Date: 25 Jun 01 - 07:29 AM Nic's version of the outlandish Knight, I meant, in case my PS causes confusion! |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 25 Jun 01 - 08:09 AM Oh, the story goes back a long way, and turns up all over Northern Europe; Lajos Vargyas thought that it came ultimately from Central Asia more than two thousand years ago, but his (iconographic) evidence seems to have been slender, to say the least (ref. A.L. Lloyd, Folk Song in England, 1967). However that may be, the extant English language sets of the song that we have are, as I said, relatively recent, with a first appearance in print in (if I remember correctly) the late 18th century. There isn't much point in trying to analyse this kind of song according to a presumed internal logic, because most of the time there just isn't any; for myself, I'm happy enough with the supernatural explanation of some of the older sets, but I doubt if the majority of traditional singers in the last couple of hundred years saw the song as anything other than an entertaining melodrama. Malcolm |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: pavane Date: 25 Jun 01 - 08:13 AM I suppose so - and I never DID understand where he just happened to find a sickle handy, ' to cut down the nettles that grow so close to the brim'! |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Snuffy Date: 25 Jun 01 - 09:35 AM Pavane, Royal Forester is a version of Child #110. There are 5 versions in the DT database (Knight & Shepherd's Daughter), and many more in the forum. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: pavane Date: 25 Jun 01 - 09:50 AM DO they all have the twist in the tale? That was the whole point of the song. So many people lose the meaning when they retell stories. I remember one longish joke about the origin of the yodel. It ended with the punch line 'And your old Lady' (supposed to sound like a yodel, of course). I once heard some end it with 'And your old woman too'. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 25 Jun 01 - 10:32 AM Come on, everybody. Nobody has answered the important question "What is "baba and the lily va' really supposed to be?" Last year I, a Yank, took a cruise on an English boat, and most of my dinner-table companions talked like this all week. If English is to remain a medium of communication around the world, we have to help each other out in matters like this. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: pavane Date: 25 Jun 01 - 10:40 AM I will listen to Martin Carthy's version again and see if I can hear anything more - or can we ASK Martin what he actually sang/sings? |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 25 Jun 01 - 12:01 PM It probably means nothing at all; Carthy sang ba, not va, as I mentioned earlier (the sound is the result of a vocal mannerism). I suppose I could quote the following, which I didn't have at the time the question was originally asked. In a discussion of The Elfin Knight (Child #2), Bronson said, with reference to a blackletter broadside of c.1670, The Wind hath blown my Plaid away, or, A Discourse betwixt a young [wo]man and the Elphin Knight:
"..Without the testimony of the tune, however, we do not know how to read the first refrain-line. The other (second) refrain-line gives a norm, tetrameter iambic. But the first, "Ba, ba, ba, lilli ba," has only six, instead of eight syllables, and the accents are uncertain. The scansion would be settled instantly by the tune, but not the meaning of the line, if it had a meaning. Supposing it were meant to suggest the horns of elfland (whence the knight fetched his instrument), we should then know how they sounded. By the merest chance, a traditional version of this ballad was sung in West Newton, Massachusetts, about 1870, to a pentatonic tune with a hornlike second phrase containing the same number of syllables, thus:
Blow blow blow ye winds blow
It may be only a coincidence; but since the version is traditional, it is at least a curious coincidence. When we find in Scottish tradition, in the first decade of the present century, a form of the ballad to another tune but with twelve stanzas of the earliest text still recognizable, and with refrain-lines almost identical, we begin to suspect a persistent continuity, viz.:
Bo ba ba lee-lie ba
But the sense remains obscure... mere common sense prompts the conviction that originally neither refrain nor burden had anything to do with this ballad. No one, making a song on the riddling theme, could have thought up the refrain on rational grounds, or have supposed it appropriate."
-B.H. Bronson (The "Child" Ballads: Fractures in Tradition, paper of 1966)
Bronson goes on to suggest that the lines derive from an earlier, quite different song of the same title, which is not identified. He also quotes a number of variants of Child #2 found in the United States, which have taken nonsense refrains to a whole new level, Keedle up a keedle up a turp turp tay, Tum a lum a do, castle on my nay being one! |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: pavane Date: 25 Jun 01 - 05:39 PM There has been some suggestion that 'nonsense' lyrics or chorus may be a hangover from a previous language. For example, is 'hey derry down' related to the Welsh for Oak, which I think is deri. Hickory Dickory Dock is thought by some to be Celtic (?Druidic) counting for 8,9,10. An old shepherds song from ?Lincolnshire used 'yan tan tethera pethera' for counting, obviously derived from a Celtic language. So perhaps we are looking in the wrong place for sense in these words. It is not so far-fethced, because there have been recorded instances of songs in the Welsh language being collected from non-Welsh speakers. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 25 Jun 01 - 08:05 PM Certainly not impossible, but nevertheless extremely unlikely in this case. Speculation is often interesting, but we really do need a more specific proposal (original language? possible meaning?) in order to consider something of the sort as a possiblity. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Garry Gillard Date: 06 May 02 - 01:41 AM This song is on Waterson:Carthy's CD A Dark Light, which has not yet been released (but advance copies have been sold in the US). Is is the same song that Martin Carthy sings on Shearwater? Garry |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Anglo Date: 07 May 02 - 12:55 AM Norma said it's the version from the Penguin Book but she changed the tune a bit. The sleeve notes say "Similarly, [referring to her modal changes to the 'Death & The Lady' tune] but this time rhythmically, she also tweaked (ever so slightly) the tune of 'The Outlandish Knight' as found in [Penguin]." What was a 4/4 tune has become 3/4 (or 6/4 if you want to retain the original barring) but there are melodic changes too. It's a long way from Martin's Shearwater version. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: GUEST,Souter Date: 07 May 02 - 07:24 PM Why does it have to have any meaning? Maybe someone way back when couldn't think of the words that fit, so substituted nonsense syllables instead. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 08 May 02 - 09:34 AM Seems to me nonsense filler lines or nonsense choruses are best understood as an "instrumental break" of sorts. The pure story, unrelieved, would be "here and gone" too quickly, so to speak, and the sung nonsense lines give a kind of punctuation, stretching the story content into a slower passage through the mind of the hearer. Besides that, many if not most (I hate to say all) of these songs were originally dance songs. Note the etymological link between "ballad" and "ballet". The nonsense lines and choruses were intended to be chimed in with and sung by the audience. Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: michaelr Date: 08 May 02 - 09:15 PM I think it may be more than just nonsense. Those syllables remind me of the beginning of "The Great Silkie", where "an earthly norris (nursing mother) sits and sings; and aye she sings BY LILY WEAN" (this is the DT version). Maddy Prior, in the notes from her Ravenchild CD, gives it as BA LILY WAIN. And the other song in the DT, "The Grey Silkie of Sule Skerry", has the words BALOO MY BABE. So this appears to be representative of the sound of a mother cooing to her baby. Of course there's no mention of a baby in "The Outlandish Knight", but still... Cheers, Michael |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 08 May 02 - 11:04 PM Bye lily wean, or Ba lily wain is just to say (go to sleep?) pretty baby. Nothing nonsense about that. But talking about nonsense lines, I was referring to such verses as: A farmer was plowing his field one day Now those nonsense lines ARE nonsense, or that's the only way I can read them, and their function is to present a vocal musical passage purposely without sense, as I referred to earlier, to stretch out the story over a larger piece of music. They are, as I see it, the equivalent of an instrumental break. Dave Oesterreich |
Subject: outlandish knight From: GUEST,Roberto Date: 28 Sep 02 - 11:33 AM The Outlandish Knight as sung by Norma Waterson, in Dark Luight. In the seventh stanza, she sings: Go get me a sickle to crop off the thistle That grows beneath the brim It will not mingle with my curly locks ............ skin. I can't get the words before the final "skin". Can somebody please help me? Thank you. Roberto Hi, Roberto - I'm going to move you to the ongoing discussion in another thread. |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Joe Offer Date: 28 Sep 02 - 12:38 PM Refresh: anybody have the lyrics Norma Waterson sings? Gary Gillard's watersons lyrics site has at least one version (click), but I'm not sure it's the one you seek. I didn't see anything about curly locks. -Joe Offer- |
Subject: Lyr Add: OUTLANDISH KNIGHT From: GUEST,Roberto Date: 28 Sep 02 - 01:17 PM These are the lyrics I could write down.I've put the brackets when I'm not sure of the words. There can be more mistakes I'm not aware of, English being not my mother language. Can you please help me correct and complete this text? Thank you. Roberto Well, an outlandish knight from the northern lands came He came wooing of me He told me he'd take me up to the north lands There he would marry me Go fetch me some of your father's gold Some of your mother's fee And two of the best of your father's horses (There stands) thirty and three She's fetched him some of her father's gold Some of her mother's fee And two of the best of her father's horses There stands thirty and three Then she's mounted on her milk-white steed He's rode the dapple grey They rode till they came to the broad riverside Three hours before it was day Light down, light down my pretty fair maid Light down, light down, cried he Six pretty maidens I've drowned here And the seventh one you shall be Pull off, pull off your silken gown Deliver it over to me For it is too fine and much too fair To rotten (in) salt water sea Go get me a sickle to crop off the thistle That grows beneath the brim It will not mingle with my curly locks Or (…) skin He's got the sickle to crop off the thistle That grows beneath the brim She's caught him round by the middle so small Tumbled him into the stream Sometimes he sank, sometimes he swam Down to the bank came he Oh help me, oh help me, my pretty fair maid Or drowned I shall be Lie there, lie there, you false-hearted man Lie there instead of me Six pretty maidens you've drowned there And the seventh one has drowned thee She's mounted on her milk-white steed And led the dapple grey She rode till she came to her father's door An hour before it was day But the parrot was up in his window so high On hearing the lady, he did say I was afraid that a ruffian had done you harm You've tarried so long before day Don't prittle, don't prattle, my pretty Polly Don't tell no tales of me Your cage shall be made of the glistening gold And your perch of the best ivory But her father was up in the bedroom so high Hearing the parrot, did say What is the matter, my pretty Polly You've cried so long before day? Oh, there came an old cat in my window high To take my life away And I was just calling my young mistress To scare that old pussy away |
Subject: RE: question on Outlandish Knight From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 28 Sep 02 - 01:54 PM As stated earlier in this thread, Norma sings the set from The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, though she has modified the rhythm. The text from that book can be seen in an earlier discussion here: |
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