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The Bonny Hind
"The Bonny Hind" is Child ballad number 50 (Roud 205). Synopsis A squire persuades a maiden to lie with him. Afterward, she asks his name, and he reveals that he is a lord's son. She calls him a liar: she is that lord's daughter. The horror-struck son reveals that he was long at sea. She stabs herself to death, and he buries her. He goes home and grieves for a "bonny hind" whatever his father can do to distract him. Variants Other ballads on this theme include "Sheath and Knife", "The King's Dochter Lady Jean", and "Lizie Wan".Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 1, p 185, Dover Publications, New York 1965 See also *The Bonnie Banks o Fordie "Babylon" or "The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" is Child ballad 14, Roud Folk Song Index, Roud 27. Synopsis An outlaw comes upon three sisters in the woods. He threatens each one in turn to make her marry him. The first two refuse and are killed. Th ... References Child Ballads Year of song unknown [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Child Ballad
The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads''. The tunes of most of the ballads were collected and published by Bertrand Harris Bronson in and around the 1960s. History Age and source of the ballads The ballads vary in age; for instance, the manuscript of "Judas" dates to the thirteenth century and a version of " A Gest of Robyn Hode" was printed in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The majority of the ballads, however, date to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Although some are claimed to have very ancient influences, only a handful can be definitively traced to before 1600. Moreover, few of the tunes collected are as old as the words. Nevertheless, Child's collection was far more comprehensive than any previous col ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roud Folk Song Index
The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world. It is compiled by Steve Roud (born 1949), a former librarian in the London Borough of Croydon. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadside Index (printed sources before 1900) and a "field-recording index" compiled by Roud. It subsumes all the previous printed sources known to Francis James Child (the Child Ballads) and includes recordings from 1900 to 1975. Until early 2006, the index was available by a CD subscription; now it can be found online on the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library website, maintained by the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS). A partial list is also available at List of folk songs by Roud number. Purpose of index The primary function of the Roud Folk Song Index is as a research aid correlating versions of traditional English-language folk song lyrics independently documented ove ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Francis James Child
Francis James Child (February 1, 1825 – September 11, 1896) was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, best known today for his collection of English and Scottish ballads now known as the Child Ballads. Child was Boylston professor of rhetoric and oratory at Harvard University, where he produced influential editions of English poetry. In 1876 he was named Harvard's first Professor of English, a position which allowed him to focus on academic research. It was during this time that he began work on the Child Ballads. The Child Ballads were published in five volumes between 1882 and 1898. While Child was primarily a literary scholar with little interest in the music of the ballads, his work became a major contribution to the study of English-language folk music. Biography Francis James Child was born in Boston, Massachusetts. His lifelong friend, scholar and social reformer Charles Eliot Norton, described Child's father, a sailmaker, as "one of that class of intelligent a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sheath And Knife
"Sheath and Knife" (Roud 3960, Child 16) is a folk ballad. Synopsis A woman is pregnant with her brother's child. He takes her to the greenwood to have her child, but she dies (or he kills her at her request). He buries her and laments her death. Variants "Leesome Brand", Child ballad 15, is closely related to this ballad, and some variants are hard to distinguish; the hero laments the death in the same language as "Sheath and Knife". Other ballads on this theme include "The Bonny Hind", "The King's Dochter Lady Jean", and "Lizie Wan".Francis James Child, ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads'', v 1, p 185, Dover Publications, New York 1965 Versions * Ewan MacColl sang this ballad and it is included on the collection ''Black & White''. * Sol Invictus has a live version on the 1994 album ''The Death of the West''. * Maddy Prior has a version on her 1998 album ''Flesh & Blood''. * Helen Bonchek Schneyer performed an a cappella version on her Folk-Legacy album ''Ballads, Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The King's Dochter Lady Jean
"The King's Dochter Lady Jean" is Child ballad No. 52. Synopsis The King's youngest Daughter, Jane, is sitting in her bower one day when she is overcome with the urge to gather nuts from the King's forest. She goes to the forest to do so when a forester appears, and commands her not to pick nuts in the forest without his permission. Jane asserts that she does not need his permission, at which point the forester rapes her. Jane says that he will pay dearly for raping the king's daughter, at which point the forester reveals that he is the king's son. He had been at sea for many years and so did not recognize Jane as his sister. Jane wished that they had never met and she ends the tale by hoping that she dies after giving birth to the baby they have conceived. In some variants, he kills her; in most, she goes home, and is tasked by her family for why she ails, and she and her brother both die when they meet there. Variants Other ballads on this theme include "Sheath and Knife", "The B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lizie Wan
"Lizie Wan" is Child ballad 51 and a murder ballad. It is also known as "Fair Lizzie". Synopsis The heroine (called variously Lizie, Rosie or Lucy) is pregnant with her brother's child. Her brother murders her. He tries to pass off the blood as that of some animal he had killed (his greyhound, his falcon, his horse), but in the end must admit that he murdered her. He sets sail in a ship, never to return. Parallels This ballad, in several variants, contains most of the ballad "Edward", Child 13. Other ballads on this theme include "Sheath and Knife", "The King's Dochter Lady Jean", and "The Bonny Hind". In popular culture The Ballad of Lizie Wan was the inspiration for the title song from English recording artist Kate Bush's album ''The Kick Inside''. It is directly referenced in an early demo recording of the song in the second verse: "You and me on the bobbing knee / Welling eyes from identifying with Lizie Wan's story." The final version of the song replaces the direct re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Bonnie Banks O Fordie
"Babylon" or "The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" is Child ballad 14, Roud Folk Song Index, Roud 27. Synopsis An outlaw comes upon three sisters in the woods. He threatens each one in turn to make her marry him. The first two refuse and are killed. The third threatens him with her brother or brothers. He asks after them and discovers that he is the brother. He commits suicide. Parallels Forms of this ballad are known throughout all of Scandinavia ("Töres döttrar i Wänge"). Recordings Traditional recordings Betsy Miller of Scotland sang a traditional version of the song, presumably learnt from her Scottish family or community, with her famous son Ewan MacColl on the 1960 album ''A Garland Of Scots Folksong;'' only three other Scottish recordings were made. Helen Hartness Flanders, Helen Hartness Fladers recorded several traditional versions in the New England region of the United States, and Kenneth Peacock recorded two Canadian versions (1951 and 1960). Popular recordings F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Child Ballads
The Child Ballads are 305 traditional ballads from England and Scotland, and their American variants, anthologized by Francis James Child during the second half of the 19th century. Their lyrics and Child's studies of them were published as ''The English and Scottish Popular Ballads''. The tunes of most of the ballads were collected and published by Bertrand Harris Bronson in and around the 1960s. History Age and source of the ballads The ballads vary in age; for instance, the manuscript of "Judas" dates to the thirteenth century and a version of " A Gest of Robyn Hode" was printed in the late fifteenth or early sixteenth century. The majority of the ballads, however, date to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Although some are claimed to have very ancient influences, only a handful can be definitively traced to before 1600. Moreover, few of the tunes collected are as old as the words. Nevertheless, Child's collection was far more comprehensive than any previous coll ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
