Lyr Req: The Nobleman's Wedding

Subject: Lyr Add: THE NOBLEMAN'S WEDDING
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 Dec 10 - 01:34 PM

From The Music Master, A Love Story, and Two Series of Day and Night Songs by William Allingham (London: G. Routledge & Co., 1855), page 194:


THE NOBLEMAN'S WEDDING.
(To an old Irish Tune.)

Once I was guest at a Nobleman's wedding.
Fair was the Bride, but she scarce had been kind;
And now in our mirth, she had tears nigh the shedding.
Her former true lover still runs in her mind.

Clothed like a minstrel, her former true lover
Has taken his harp up, and tuned all the strings.
There among strangers, his grief to discover,
A fair maiden's falsehood he bitterly sings.

"O here is the token of gold that was broken.
Through seven long years it was kept for your sake.
You gave it to me as a true lover's token.
No longer I'll wear it, asleep or awake."

She sat in her place by the head of the table.
The words of his ditty she mark'd them right well.
To sit any longer this bride was not able,
So down, in a faint, from the carved chair she fell.

"O one, one request, my lord, one and no other,
O this one request will you grant it to me?
To lie for this night in the arms of my mother,
And ever, and ever, thereafter with thee."

Her one request it was granted her fairly.
Pale were her cheeks as she went up to bed;
And the very next morning, early, early,
They rose and they found this young bride was dead.

The bridegroom ran quickly, he held her, he kiss'd her,
He spoke loud and low, and listen'd full fain.
He call'd on her waiting-maids round to assist her,
But nothing could bring the lost breath back again.

O carry her softly! The grave is made ready.
At head and at foot plant a laurel-bush green;
For she was a young and a sweet noble lady,
The fairest young bride that I ever have seen.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE NOBLEMAN'S WEDDING (MacColl/Seeger)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 14 Dec 10 - 12:51 PM

From Till Doomsday in the Afternoon: The Folklore of a Family of Scots Travellers... by Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger (Manchester University Press, 1986), page 229:

THE NOBLEMAN'S WEDDING
(Laws P 31)

1. O, late last night I was asked to a wedding,
The wedding of a fair maid who proved to be unkind.
As she looked in the eyes of her new intended lover,
Thoughts of her old love run still through her mind.

2. Supper was over and all things was ended.
Every young man had to sing the bride a song,
Till it came to the turn of her old intended lover.
Thoughts of her old love run still through her mind.

3. O, how can you sit at another man's table?
How can you drink of another man's wine?
And how can you lie in the arms of another
When oft-times, dear, oft-times you have lain in mine?

4. Sobbing and sighing, she went to her bedroom.
Sobbing and sighing, she went to her bed;
And early next morning, her bridegroom awakened,
And turning around, he found his bride was dead.

5. O Annie, dear Annie, I knew you never loved me.
Your love and my love would never agree;
For I ken fine I've ta'en ye frae a better,
Ta'en ye frae a better than ever I could be.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Nobleman's Wedding
From: GUEST,padgett
Date: 09 Aug 06 - 06:10 AM

Now underway and hope to do my autobiography ~ 10,000 words so far and lots of songs to record for Volume 2 song texts to be included in my autobiography, songs will be unaccompanied and recorded mp3 and downloaded onto master CD

Format as Christie Moores Autobiog

Anybody any ideas on getting published!!

Ray

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Nobleman's Wedding
From: padgett
Date: 02 Feb 05 - 04:30 AM

Mainly Yorkshire songs, I'm at work

Poor Old Weaver's Daughter, Nobleman and Thresher, Down By Dark Arches, (Walter Pardon), Edward (Frank Hinchliffe) Rolling on the Grass (Arthur Howard), Old Wooden Rocker (Frank H)
Macafferty, Dalesmans Litany, Old Brown's Daughter (WP),
Muffin Man (AH), Sheffield Park (FH)

S/B 14 I'll fill in missing from Home

that's on Vol 1 'Stand Up Raymond' [o he is1] coined by Booker
Review expected in next Stirring (been out baout a year)

Ray Padgett 68 Longcauseway, Barnsley S71 2JA (£5)
NB no sleeve notes - any commercial interest? another CD in my brain at least, last learnt 'The Bonny Hawthorne' from Whitby a lovely chorusey song

On next (Vol 2) The Pear Tree, German Musicianer, Butter and Cheese an'All
Young Officer, Adieu to Old England (Tom and Bertha Brown), Poor Labouring Men, Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy, Country Carrier, Robin Hood and three Squires, Wiiliam Taylor etc

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Nobleman's Wedding
From: GUEST,Storyteller
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 05:00 PM

Off topic.

Raymond: what else have you got on this CD of yours, and how can we get hold of copies?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Nobleman's Wedding
From: GUEST,Storyteller
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 04:19 PM

"an Irish singer, whose name curently escapes me"

Eddie Butcher, I think from Topic's Voice of the People series Vol.6, on the CD Tonight I'll make you my bride:Ballads of true & false lovers TSCD656

He sings it beautifully.

There is another good version by Sheila Stewart on her Topic CD From the Heart of the Tradition TSCD515

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Nobleman's Wedding
From: padgett
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 07:31 AM

I have put an unaccompanied vesrion of this on my CD
'Stand Up Raymond' from an Irish singer, whose name curently escapes me~ he has a very lilting Irish accent, which I translated to my native Barnsley
The words are similar to Malcolms back in 2000

Starts:
Oh I was invited to another man's Wedding [Nobleman's]
All by a fair one that proved so unkind
And aye as she thought on her old former love
The thoughts of her darling still rang in her mind

When dinner was over and all things were completed it felleach youngman's lot to sing a love song
The lot it fall on her old former lover
To sing those few verses it will not keep you long

O manys the Lord was seven years from his lady
And many's the lord he nevewr came back again
But I was only one year away from my darling
when a nunconstant lover to me she became
etc

tune variant of All around my hat

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Nobleman's Wedding
From: toadfrog
Date: 01 Feb 05 - 01:00 AM

Belle Stewart gives an elegant, moving unaccompanied rendition of this song on Queen Among the Heather, CDTRAX 9055, (Remastered from a 1978 Topic recording.)

I had forgotten what a polished singer Belle Stewart is. You expect traditional singers to be rough listening. Not Belle! I recommend the entire recording, and this song in particular, with great enthusiasm.

Subject: Origins: The Nobleman's Wedding
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Feb 03 - 09:09 PM

Here's the entry from the Traditional Ballad Index.
-Joe Offer-

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Nobleman's Wedding, The (The Faultless Bride; The Love Token) [Laws P31]

DESCRIPTION: A man disguises himself to attend the wedding of the girl he loved before he went away. He sings a song that reminds her of her unfaithfulness and promises to return her love token. She swoons and returns to her mother's home. She dies before morning
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1855 (Petrie)
KEYWORDS: disguise wedding infidelity death
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) US(MA,MW,NE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Laws P31, "The Nobleman's Wedding (The Faultless Bride; The Love Token)"
SHenry H60a, pp. 400-401, "An Old Lover's Wedding"; H60b, p. 401, "The Laird's Wedding" (2 texts, 2 tune, the second mixed with "All Around My Hat")
Ord, pp. 132-133, "The Unconstant Lover" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 164, "The Nobleman's Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 142-143, "To Wear a Green Willow" (1 text)
DT 509, NOBELWED
RECORDINGS:
Sara Cleveland, "To Wear a Green Willow" (on SCleveland01)
Notes: According to Hazlitt's Dictionary of Faiths & Folklore, to wear the willow meant that one had been forsaken by a lover. - RBW
File: LP31

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Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Instructions

The Ballad Index Copyright 2002 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.

Subject: Lyr Req: the nobleman's wedding
From: Neese
Date: 08 Feb 03 - 08:54 PM

this song is recorded by Altan - any others?
it must be a few years old - no other info but it's a beautiful ballad. help....

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I moved this message here from another thread on the same topic.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Nobleman's Wedding ^^
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 18 Jul 00 - 12:58 AM

This song is beginning to look like it's borrowed some from a lost theater song of the second half of the 1670s. ZN3203 in my broadside ballad index is, "The Willow-Green, Or Distressed Lovers Complaint", 'To a new Tune, called, the willow green, Sung by Musicians, and in the Theater.' The tune direction here is good evidence that the broadside ballad is an expansion of a theater song. One verse of the broadside goes:

My love sleeps on another man's pillow,
  were it but for an hour or two,
Then i'de leave off this mournfull willow
  then Love see what you can do:
Was ever man more kind in tryal,
  to a Lass then I have been,
But she to me doth prove disloyal,
  and makes me wear the willow green.

No wedding of the disloyal lover in this, or her death, but the verse above is quite similar to lines in copies of "The Nobleman's Wedding". Steve Roud's folk song index notes a broadside copy of "The Nobleman's Wedding" in the Madden collection (Cambridge), but I haven't been able to find a copy on the Bodley Ballads website.

The green willow also occurs in "All Round My Hat" and "All Round My Hat" in JFSS #34, 1930, starts with the first verse of "All Round My Hat" then turns into "The Nobleman's Wedding", and concludes with the "All Round My Hat" verse. It is noted there that some versions of "The Nobleman's Wedding" (including that one) were sung to the tune "All Round My Hat".

ZN2784 in my broadside ballad index was sung to the tune of "My Love sleeps on another mans Pillow. Or, The Willow Green", but only "The willow green" is cited for ZN3587.

^^

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Nobleman's Wedding
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 17 Jul 00 - 10:49 PM

The blue clicky thing (above) for "To Wear a Green Willow" takes you to the version I collected from Sara Cleveland. I'm pleased to report that Sara's granddaughter, Colleen, who was about five years old when I was collecting songs from Sara in the mid-1960s, now sings the songs and ballads she learned from her beloved grandmother. The tradition continues!

Sandy

Subject: The Nobleman's Wedding ^^
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 17 Jul 00 - 09:14 PM

While we're cross-referencing, there are two versions already on the DT:

Wear A Green Willow  (No Laws number given)

(The) Nobleman's Wedding

There is an entry at the  Traditional Ballad Index:

The Nobleman's Wedding, (The Faultless Bride; The Love Token)   [Laws P31]

There's a version at Lesley Nelson's website, too:  The Nobleman's Wedding.

I really must get hold of a copy of Steve Roud's indexes...

Malcolm

Duly noted. Thanks, Malcolm.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Nobleman's Wedding
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 17 Jul 00 - 02:25 PM

It's Laws' P31 (search DT on 'P31' for an American text). Laws list some American, English, and Scots texts. Steve Roud's folk song index lists many more of these and adds Irish and Canadian ones, too. It's "The Awful Wedding" in Sharp and Karpeles' 'English Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachains'.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Nobleman's Wedding
From: Ranks
Date: 17 Jul 00 - 11:46 AM

There is another brilliant version on Davey Arthurs album called "Cut to the chase" on Blue Bowl.

Greetings,

Ranks

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Nobleman's Wedding
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 17 Jul 00 - 12:57 AM

Very nice traditional version of this, collected in the Adirondacks, on Sara Cleveland's Folk-Legacy recording, now available as a "custom cassette." (C-33)

Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Nobleman's Wedding
From: Bagpuss
Date: 16 Jul 00 - 03:29 PM

Thanks Malcolm, I could only remember the first 2 verses. Thats a great help.

Bagpuss

Subject: Lyr Add: A NOBLEMAN'S WEDDING ^^
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 15 Jul 00 - 05:44 PM

A NOBLEMAN'S WEDDING

Lately last night, I was asked to a wedding,
The wedding of a fair maid that proved to me unkind,
For that day as she thought of her intended young lover,
Thoughts of her old one had run through her mind.

Supper being over and all things were ended,
Every young man was to sing a fine song,
Until it came to the turn of her own foreign lover,
And the song that he sang to the bride did belong.

How can you sit at another mans' table?
How can you drink of another man's wine?
How can you lie in the arms of another?
Many a night that you lay in mine.

Many the one has been seven years parted,
Seven years parted and did return again,
But I have only been two years away love,
Two years away love and did return again.

The bride she was seated at the head of the table,
Very well she knew to whom the song did belong,
Her heart it grew faint she could stand it no longer,
Down at the feet of the bridegroom she fell.

Sobbing and sighing she rose from the table,
Sobbing and sighing she rose from the bed,
Early next morning the bridegroom awakened,
He turned to embrace her and found she was dead.

Saying, "Annie, dear Annie, I knew you never loved me,
My love and your love could never agree,
For I knew all along that your poor heart was breaking,
All for the sake of a foreign young man."

So now I must wear a frock of deep mourning,
A frock of deep mourning, one, two and three,
I must wear to her wake my own wedding garment,
Ne'er again shall I go between the bark and the tree.

From Altan's album, Harvest Storm.  Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh learnt the song from a neighbour, Maurice McBride, who in turn had it from his mother.

Malcolm^^

Subject: The Nobleman's Wedding
From: Bagpuss
Date: 15 Jul 00 - 09:13 AM

Does anyone know the words to The Nobleman's Wedding, as sung by Altan? It's slightly different to "Nobleman's Wedding" and "Wear a Green Willow" in the DT. I don't know if either of those versions are sung to the same tune or not.

Thanks,

Bagpuss