Subject: The Butcher Boy - I Dies For Love From: GUEST,Jill B. Date: 16 Oct 00 - 07:30 PM Hi, I am trying to find the music and lyrics to a song that was sung by the character of Emily, in a first season episode of BBC's "Upstairs, Downstairs" called "I Dies For Love". She was an Irish Catholic maid who fell in love with a coachman, and ended up committing suicide at the end when their love was thwarted. So I suspect this folk song, which I've been told was called The Butcher Boy, is originally from Ireland. It was sung in the background several times as the episode drew to its sad close, and the music and words were very haunting. If anyone knows anything, please post it or email it to dar120@yahoo.com, and I would be most grateful. Thanks! - Jill |
Subject: ADD: The Butcher Boy ^^^ From: Zebedee Date: 16 Oct 00 - 07:45 PM This may be what you're looking for (taken from this page) Talk about floating verses... The Butcher Boy In More Street where I did dwell I wish, I wish, I wish in vain I wish my baby it was born He went upstairs and the door he broke "Oh make my grave large, wide and deep Is this the song you want? Zeb ^^^ |
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Butcher Boy - I Dies For From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 16 Oct 00 - 08:26 PM It's a very large family of songs, and examples are found in tradition on both sides of the Atlantic; quite a few are available here if you look around for them. You might like to check out the links on this thread: I Wish, I Wish Malcolm |
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Butcher Boy - I Dies For From: GUEST,Jill B. Date: 16 Oct 00 - 10:05 PM Thanks Zeb and Malcolm, you've given me quite a bit to work on. I think the version sung in Upstairs, Downstairs was slightly different, but the storyline is basically the same: the girl hangs herself, which is what happened to Emily in the story. I suppose the Upstairs, Downstairs writers probably had the money and access to find an old vintage sheet music of it from somewhere to base their lyrics on. - Jill |
Subject: ADD: The Butcher Boy ^^^ From: mg Date: 16 Oct 00 - 10:19 PM here are the words I know as remembered from Ryans' Fancy In Dublin town where I did dwell Lived a butcher boy I loved right well He courted me my life away And still with me he would not stay I wish I wish I wish in vain I wish I was a maid again A made again I'll never be Till apples grow on an ivy tree She went upstairs to go to bed And calling to her mother said Give me a chair till I sit down And a pen and ink till I write down At every word she shed a tear At every line cried Willie dear Oh what a foolish girl was I To be led astray by the butcher boy He went upstairs the door he broke He found her hanging from a rope And with his penknife he cut her down And in her pocket these words he found Oh dig my grave dark wide and deep Place a marble stone at my head and feet And in the middle a turtle dove So the world may know That I died for love.^^^ |
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Butcher Boy - I Dies For From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 17 Oct 00 - 07:25 AM Is anyone in a position to post the tunes for these two versions? Is there any information on where Kirsty McColl and Ryan's Fancy got them from? Malcolm |
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Butcher Boy - I Dies For From: GUEST,Jill B. Date: 17 Oct 00 - 11:16 AM The one MIDI file I heard for The Butcher Boy had just the melody line. It matches up with what I heard on the Upstairs, Downstairs episode "I Dies For Love", which was made in 1971 or 72 (available on video, I got mine at my local library), so the music obviously must be available from some obscure source. :) I am presently working on a MIDI file for it with both bass and treble clef, so it is a little more interesting and effective to listen to, for my website Melody Lane at http://www.melodylane.net. It should be up online in the folk music section, in a day or two. |
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Butcher Boy - I Dies For From: George Seto - af221@chebucto.ns.ca Date: 17 Oct 00 - 05:58 PM The song has many variants which usually has a change in the location of the community as well as other minor details. Usually known as The Butcher Boy, there are variants collected all over the English Speaking world. I recently heard Eleanor Shanley do a great version. |
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Butcher Boy - I Dies For From: GUEST,Jill B. Date: 17 Oct 00 - 10:40 PM Hi, just an update that I finished my MIDI file for "The Butcher Boy" or "I Died For Love", and it can be enjoyed here: http://www.melodylane.net/butcherboy.html Thanks for all your help! - Jill, Melody Lane
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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Butcher Boy - I Dies For From: GUEST Date: 30 Nov 03 - 02:34 AM Hello, My Mom use to sing this song to me...A verse I remember is: There is a house in the same town Where he goes right in and he sits right down, He takes another girl on his knee And he tells her things that he want tell me. Then I remember the last verse of: Oh dig my grave both wide and deep And on grave place a snow-white dove To prove to the world I died for love... Does anyone have these lyrics? |
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Butcher Boy - I Dies For From: Joybell Date: 30 Nov 03 - 02:51 AM There are so many. "Jamie Douglas" Child Ballad 204 - from Scotland, seems to be one of them and the earliest I've come across. The much more recent "Love is Pleasin'" is the version usually thought of as the Irish one. |
Subject: Lyr Add: THE BUTCHER BOY From: Red and White Rabbit Date: 30 Nov 03 - 04:08 AM This is the version I sing In yonder city there did dwell A butchers boy,I loved him well He courted me m life away And then with me no more would stay She went upstairs to make her bed And not one word to her mother said Her mother she went upstairs too Saying daughter daughter what troubles you Oh mother mother I cannot tel That butchers boy I love so well He courted me my life away And now at home he will not stay There is a place in London town Where the butchers boy goes and sits down He takes a strange girl on his knee And tells to her what he wont tell me Her father came home from his work Saying where is my daughter she seems so hurt He went upstairs to give her hope And found her hanging from a rope He took a knife and cut her down And in her bosom these words found Go dig my grave both wide and deep Place a marble slab at my head and feet He dug her grave both wide and deep A marble slab at her head and feet And on the coffin placed a snow white dove To warn the world that she died for love |
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Butcher Boy - I Dies For From: Kent Davis Date: 30 Nov 03 - 10:43 PM There's a rock version, "Jersey City", on a cd by Cordelia's Dad, "Comet". The lyrics are already posted. (Enter "Jersey City" in the 'Lyrics and Knowledge search' on this page.) |
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Butcher Boy - I Dies For From: Mudlark Date: 30 Nov 03 - 11:24 PM In the version my Gran sang (she was partly raised by an Irish family) it was the father that found the daughter...slightly different verses than the one above... Her mother then left her alone In sadness there to weep and moan And when her Daddy he came home He said, "Now where has my daughter gone?" He rushed upstairs, knocked down the door And found her hanging to the floor He took his knife and cut her down And in her pocket this note he found. My Gran always sang this with a dramatic quaver in her voice, quite unlike the voice she used to sing Ta Ra Ra Boomp De Ay! |
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Butcher Boy - I Dies For Love From: GeoffLawes Date: 29 May 17 - 10:36 AM The girl doing the washing up at about 1.08 into this YouTube video of the Upstairs Downstairs episode, hums and sings a bit of the song, |I think. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpgBotjJO9Y |
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Butcher Boy - I Dies For Love From: GeoffLawes Date: 29 May 17 - 10:43 AM She sings it again while cleaning the grate at about 7.30 into the episode. Hope this helps even if it is a long time after the original post. |
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Butcher Boy - I Dies For Love From: leeneia Date: 30 May 17 - 12:58 AM Let's see if I have this right. Boy meets girl. Girl gets pregnant. Boy leaves girl. Girl's family reacts with blame, rejection, greed. Girl commits suicide. And then we sing that she died for LOVE? |
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