Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version

Subject: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: CET
Date: 09 Jan 05 - 06:20 PM

Does anyone know anything about the version of "The Wife of Usher's Well" that Martin Carthy sings on his "Signs of Life" album? I want to learn this song and have been comparing various versions. The Carthy version is more modern - no words like "sheugh" and "channering", but definitely sounds trad. The version on "Signs of Life" has some verses that don't appear in Child #79 or DigiTrad, and I would be interested to know Mr. Carthy's sources, or if he wrote any of the verses himself.

Thanks

Edmund

Subject: RE: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: CET
Date: 09 Jan 05 - 06:50 PM

My apologies: "chunnering worm" does appear in Martin Carthy's version.

CET

Subject: RE: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Jan 05 - 02:05 PM

I remember our English teacher, Miss Lewis (a very well spoken lady) telling me to stop "chunnering". I always took it to mean not to speak/gossip during class; does anyone agree that this is what it means? Since I have a recording of Martin Carthy doing "The Wife of Usher's Well" I must listen out for "chunnering worms".

Subject: RE: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 10 Jan 05 - 02:35 PM

Grumbling, muttering. More commonly found nowadays as "chunter".

Subject: RE: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: John C.
Date: 11 Jan 05 - 03:39 PM

I heard Martin Carthy sing his version of this ballad at the National Folk Music Festival (Sutton Bonnington) a couple of years ago; I'm sure he said that the tune that he used was Basque.
For another version of this ballad, see the version sung by Alison McMorland on the CD 'Ballad Tree' by Alison and Geordie McIntyre (The Tradition Bearers Series LTCD 1050, 2003). This is a wonderful CD of classic ballads, beautifully sung - highly recommended!
I've always thought that the eerie line, 'the channerin worm doth chide' refers to the impatience of the worms in the grave who are keen to get back to digesting the mortal remains of the 3 dead sons.

Subject: RE: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Jan 05 - 05:48 PM

In the sleeve notes (usually a good place to start) MC says:

The tune is Basque and bent slightly from that taught to me by Rupert Ordorika and Bixente Martinez of Hiru Truku and it's called "Bakarrik Aurkitzen Naz."

Subject: RE: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: CET
Date: 11 Jan 05 - 08:17 PM

I have the sleeve notes (from a German website devoted to English folk music), so I was aware of the Basque tune, but I would like to know something about the words. I am particularly interested in the verses:

So she has laid the table
With bread and with wine
Come eat and drink my darling babes
Eat and drink of mine

We may not eat your bread mother
Nor may we drink your wine
For cold death is lord of all
To him we must resign

The green grass is at our head
And the clay is at our feet
And your tears come tumbling down
And wet our winding sheet

Thanks for the reference to the Ballad Tree CD.

Edmund

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL
From: Joe Offer
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 02:25 AM

Reinhard Zierke took over Garry Gillard's Waterson-Carthy site a while back, and has been expanding the information. You'll find his piece on the song here (click). I'll post Garry's transcription of Carthy's version below.
-Joe Offer-

---

Martin Carthy's version	Steeleye Span's version
There lived a wife in Usher's Well And a wealthy wife was she She'd three fine and stalwart sons And sent them o'er the sea	There lived a wife in Ushers Well A wealthy wife was she She had three stout and stalwart sons And sent them o'er the sea
They'd not been gone a week And a week but barely one When death sweeping over the land Took 'em one by one	They had not been from Ushers Well A week but barely one When word came to this carlin wife That her three sons were gone
And they'd not been gone a week A week but barely three When word come to that young girl Her babes she'd never see
I wish the wind would never blow No fish swim in the flood Till my darling babes are home They're home in flesh and blood	I wish the wind may never cease Nor flashes in the flood Till my three sons return to me In earthly flesh and blood
And there about the Martinmas Nights are long and dark Her three kids come to her door Their hats were made of bark	It fell about the Martinmas The nights were long and dark Three sons came home to Ushers Well Their hats were made of bark
And the tree never grew in any ditch Nor down by any wall But at the gates of Paradise Grew strong grew tall	That neither grew in forest green Nor on any wooded rise But from the north side of the tree That grows in Paradise
Blow up the fire my maidens all Bring water from the well Since my darling babes are home They've come home safe and well	Blow up the fire my merry merry maidens Bring water from the well For all my house shall feed this night Since my three sons are well
So she has laid the table With bread and with wine Come eat and drink my darling babes Eat and drink of mine
We may not eat your bread mother Nor may we drink your wine For cold death is lord of all To him we must resign
The green grass is at our head And the clay is at our feet And your tears come tumbling down And wet our winding sheet
So she has made the bed for them Spread the milk-white sheet She's laid it all with cloth of gold To see if they could sleep
And up and crew the red cock Up and crew the grey And the youngest to the eldest says Brother we must away	Then up and crowed the blood red cock And up and crowed the grey The oldest to the youngest said It's time we were away
And the cock had not crowed once And clapped his wings for day When the eldest to the youngest says Brother we must away
For the cock crow the day dawn The chunnering worm chide And if we're missed out of our place Then pain we must bide	For the cock does crow and the day doth show And the channerin worm doth chide And we must go from Ushers Well To the gates of Paradise
Farewell farewell my mother dear Farewell to barn and byre And farewell the sweet young girl Kindling my mother's fire
	I wish the wind may never cease Nor flashes in the flood Till my three sons return to me In earthly flesh and blood

Subject: RE: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: CET
Date: 12 Jan 05 - 08:14 PM

Thanks Joe. This is indeed where I found the lyrics. It looks like a good site.

Subject: RE: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: CET
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 08:40 PM

I think I may have solved this question, or rather Charmion did, who put me on to it. The three verses seem to have been borrowed from "Lady Gay", an American variant of Wife of Usher's Well. The verses are almost identical to the version recorded by Buell Kazee in 1928. There is one notable difference, however. Mr. Kazee sang "For yonder stands our Savior dear, to him we must resign." Martin Carthy sings "For cold death is lord of all." I don't know if those particular words are "trad" or if he changed the lyrics to make them even harsher and less comfortable.

Subject: RE: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 09:29 PM

It may be that that, too, is at least partly derived from Buell Kazee. His second verse:

They had not been there very long
Scarcely six months and a day
Till Death, cold Death came hasting along
And stole those babes away

(Bronson, II, 257-8)

Subject: RE: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 13 Jan 05 - 09:34 PM

For anyone interested, the Buell Kazee and other verses of Lady Gay in thread 71401: Lady Gay
and also a version (Joan Baez, not credited in her songbook) in the DT.

Subject: RE: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: GUEST,Outa_Spaceman
Date: 30 May 08 - 08:09 PM

I'm working up a version of this song based on the Carthy tune and the Steeleye/Childe lyric...
What's a carlin wife then...?

Subject: RE: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: GUEST
Date: 06 Aug 10 - 07:14 AM

Here is the version by Alistair Hulett which is on youtube.



O'h there was a woman, and she lived alone, babies she had three
She sent them away to the north country, to learn their grammerie
They had not been gone but a very short time, scarcely six weeks to the day
Till death cold death blew over the land, and bore them babes away.

She prayed to the Lord in the heavens above, wearing the starry crown
Send to me my three little babes, tonight or in the morning soon
And as it grew near to old Christmas time, the night it was long and cold
That very morning at the break of the day, them babes came a runnin' home.

She laid a table in the uppermost room, on it put bread and wine
Come eat come drink my three little babes, come eat come drink of mine
They said Mother we cannot, we cannot eat your bread, neither can we drink your wine
For tomorrow morning at the break of the day, our saviour must rejoin.

Cold clouds of clay, roll ower our heads, green grass grows on our feet
And all our tears sweet mother dear, they wed a winding sheet.
O'h there was a woman, and she lived alone, babies she had three
She sent them away to the north country, to learn their grammerie

Subject: RE: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 06 Aug 10 - 09:00 AM

There's a fascinating variant by Jim Eldon up there too:

Farewell Stick ande Farewell Stone

My own is more standard, though the tune isn't, which was given to me by the fiddle in an instance of pure improvisation & stuck fast ever since!

Sedayne: Child Ballad #79 - The Wife of Usher's Well

Subject: RE: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 06 Aug 10 - 12:21 PM

"What's a carlin wife then...?"

from the unabridged dictionary:

1. a carl is a peasant or rough person (male)

2. a female carl is a carlin or carline. the word then morphed into a derogatory term for old woman or witch

3. carl is also a verb, meaning to snarl. so a carlin wife might be a snarling wife

Subject: RE: Origins: Wife of Usher's Well:Carthy version
From: GUEST,Sadie Damascus
Date: 07 Apr 15 - 06:23 PM

The version with the cock in the dish crowing, right out of "The Carnal and the Crane"? Very weird, but so beautiful. I believe it was recorded by Roberts and Barrand. I will be singing it or playing it if I can find it on my "Traditiional Ballads with Sadie" radio show this Thursday (and every Thursday, 6 to 8 pm, streaming at www.kggv.blogspot.com)

THE WIFE OF USHERS WELL

There lived a lady in merry Scotland
And she had sons all three
And she sent them away into merry England
To learn some English dee'

They had not been in merry England
For twelve months and one day
When the news came back to their own mother dear
Their bodies were in cold clay

I will not believe in God, she said
Nor Christ in eternity
Till they send me back my own three sons
The same as they went from me

Old Christmas time was drawing near
With the nights so dark and long
This mother's own three sons came home
Walking by the light of the moon

And soon as they reached their own mothers gate
So loud did the bell they ring
There's none so ready as their own mother dear
To loose these children in

The cloth was spread, the meat put on.
No meat, Lord, can we take.
It's been so long, been so many a day
Since you our dinner did make

The bed was made, the sheets put on
No rest, Lord, can we take
It's been so long, been so many a day
Since you or bed did make

Then Christ did call for the roasted cock
Feathered with His holy hand
It crowed three times, all in the dish
In the place where he did stand.

He crowed three times, all in the dish
Set at the table head
And isn't it a pity, they all did say
The quick should part from the dead

So farewell stick, farewell stone
Farewell to the maidens all
Farewell to the nurse that gave us suck
And down the tears did fall.

Child #79
Recorded by John Roberts and Tony Barrand on Dark Ships of the
Forest, Folk Legacy FSI-65.