|
23 Mar 17 - 02:38 PM (#3846343) Subject: Lyr Add: SON OH SON (from Boiled in Lead) From: GUEST,diplocase Can anyone point me to recordings of this American version of Sheath and Knife, apart from Boiled in Lead on their album Orb? I don't have their liner notes. Any background on where it was first collected, any collection it appears in? Many thanks, diplocase Son Oh Son (Down By the Greenwood Side, Sheath & Knife Child #6 w elements of Edward, Child #13) as sung by Boiled in Lead It's up in the kitchen, down in the hall All a-lee and a-lonely Willie's the father of his sister's child Down by the greenwood side Took her down to the merry wood All a-lee and a-lonely There he shot his sister dead Down by the greenwood side He goes back to his mother's home All a-lee and a-lonely Welcome to me, my son, my son Down by the greenwood side Son, oh Son, why are you so pale? All a-lee and a-lonely I been down in the greenwoodd hunting quail Down by the greenwood side There's no quail away down there All a-lee and a-lonely I'm down there killing a white-tail deer Down by the greenwood side There's no pistol kills a deer All a-lee and a-lonely O Willie, where's your sister dear? Down by the greenwood side Oh Mother, oh, Mother make my bed All a-lee and a-lonely For I have shot my sister dead Down by the greenwood side Then Son, where will you go All a-lee and a-lonely For your Father will kill you when he comes to know Down by the greenwood side He'll bury you under yon mill All a-lee and a-lonely If he doesn't kill you, I surely will Down by the greenwood side |
|
23 Mar 17 - 03:36 PM (#3846357) Subject: RE: Son oh Son - Sheath & Knife From: Steve Gardham I'm not aware that this ballad has been collected from oral tradition since about the 1870s and that in Scotland. In fact the ballad was very scarce even then. However, if there are any American versions they should show up on Richie's fantastic Bluegrass website. There is supposedly a tune in Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs Vol2 p138, with other words set to it. But anything in Christie can't be guaranteed as genuine. There is a tune given in Johnson's Scots Musical Museum, Vol 2, p434. Generally speaking it is one of those scarce ballads that suddenly appeared in a few Scottish collections at the start of the 19th century. |
|
23 Mar 17 - 04:13 PM (#3846359) Subject: RE: Son oh Son - Sheath & Knife From: RTim The Wiki on the album suggests the song was written by Todd Menton - so who knows?? I have just listen to it on YouTube - it is a very good version well performed by a band I have never heard of before.........I am listening to a few other songs by them! Tim Radford |
|
23 Mar 17 - 05:53 PM (#3846369) Subject: RE: Son oh Son - Sheath & Knife From: JHW I can't help thinking I've heard the chorus lines somewhere else and know a melody immediately, might remember when I stop trying. Bluegrass Messengers site says bluntly [There are no extant US or Canadian traditional versions of Sheath and Knife.] Remembered - The Bonnie Banks of Airdrie similar choruses, it being similar to Bonnie Banks of the Virgie, Canada (Folk Songs of the Americas A.L.Lloyd +) |
|
23 Mar 17 - 06:24 PM (#3846372) Subject: RE: Son oh Son - Sheath & Knife From: Steve Gardham That chorus is most commonly found with Child 20 The Cruel Mother. See Bronson. Indeed it must have originated there as the mid 17thc 'original' (read earliest extant version) has parts of it. It may therefore be useful to compare the tune used above with tunes to The Cruel Mother in Bronson. |
|
24 Mar 17 - 11:30 AM (#3846464) Subject: RE: Son oh Son - Sheath & Knife From: Elmore there's a version of this ballad sung by Helen Schneyer on her Folk Legacy Recording. "Ballads, Broadsides and Hymns. It's available from Folk Legacy. Different words though. |
|
24 Mar 17 - 02:21 PM (#3846476) Subject: RE: Son oh Son - Sheath & Knife From: Bill D I have almost 2 dozen versions of Sheath & Knife, but Helen Schneyer's is about the only American one....one of the best though. Jean Redpath said it too her several years to find her own way thru it after hearing Helen. ... This version is 'what people do' in mixing two or more old songs to make an essentially different story. Child 16, mixed with Child 6 and 13... it's no doubt "Boiled in Lead's" own creation, so no other version is likely. |