"Edward" is a traditional
murder ballad
Murder ballads are a subgenre of the traditional ballad form dealing with a crime or a gruesome death. Their lyrics form a narrative describing the events of a murder, often including the lead-up and/or aftermath. The term refers to the content ...
existing in several variants, categorised by
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 r ...
as
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 '' ...
number 13 and listed as
number 200 in the
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 ...
. The ballad, which is at least 250 years old (a text of its Swedish counterpart has been dated to the mid-17th century), has been documented and recorded numerous times across the English speaking world into the twentieth century.
Synopsis
A mother questions her son about the blood on his "sword" (most likely a hunting knife, given the era when the story is occurring). He avoids her interrogation at first, claiming that it is his hawk or his horse (or some other kind of animal depending on the variation of the song), but finally admits that it is his brother, or his father, whom he has killed. He declares that he is leaving and will never return, and various creatures (wife, children, livestock) will have to fare without him. His mother then asks what she will get from his departure. He answers "a curse from hell" and implicates his mother in the murder.
Traditional Recordings
Several
Appalachian musicians recorded the ballad;
Jean Ritchie
Jean Ruth Ritchie (December 8, 1922 – June 1, 2015) was an American folk singer, songwriter, and Appalachian dulcimer player, called by some the "Mother of Folk". In her youth she learned hundreds of folk songs in the traditional way (orally ...
sang the Ritchie family version in 1946 with her sister (recorded by
Mary Elizabeth Barnacle) and in 1961 on the album ''Jean Ritchie: Ballads from her Appalachian Family Tradition,'' whilst
Bascom Lamar Lunsford
Bascom Lamar Lunsford (March 21, 1882 – September 4, 1973) was a folklorist, performer of traditional Appalachian music, and lawyer from western North Carolina. He was often known by the nickname "Minstrel of the Appalachians."
Biography
...
(1935),
Horton Barker (1941), and
Almeida Riddle (1972) also had their traditional versions recorded. The children's writer
Edith Ballinger Price
Edith Ballinger Price (1897–1997) was a prolific writer and illustrator of children's books, best known for the imaginative stories and illustrations she created for 37 different books and stories. The granddaughter of landscape painter Willia ...
was recorded by
Helen Hartness Flanders
Helen Hartness Flanders (May 19, 1890 – May 23, 1972), a native of the U.S. state of Vermont, was an internationally recognized ballad collector and an authority on the folk music found in New England and the British Isles. At the initiati ...
performing a traditional version in 1945.
The song was recorded a handful of times in England; Mike Yates recorded
Frank Hinchliffe
Frank Hinchliffe (1923 - 15 March 1995) was an English folk singer and farmer. The folklorist Ian Russell described him as one of the finest traditional English singers "heard since the advent of sound recording."
He was born in either Fulwood ...
of
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...
,
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
singing his version in 1977 and
Danny Brazil of
Gloucestershire
Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean.
The county town is the city of Gl ...
singing a different version the following year. George Dunn of
Quarry Bank
Quarry Bank is an area in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England, covered by the Brierley Hill DY5 postal district. Locally, the name is often pronounced, "Quarry Bonk" (in the Black Country dialect).
History
Originally ...
,
Staffordshire
Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...
was recorded by Roy Parmer singing another version in 1971, which can be heard online via the
Vaughan Williams Memorial Library
The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) is the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), located in the society's London headquarters, Cecil Sharp House. It is a multi-media library comprising books, periodical ...
.
In Scotland, the song was generally known as "My Son David". Recordings were made of traditional
Scottish traveller
Scottish Travellers, or the people in Scotland loosely termed Romani persons or travellers, consist of a number of diverse, unrelated communities that speak a variety of different languages and dialects that pertain to distinct customs, historie ...
Jeannie Robertson
Jeannie Robertson (1908 – 13 March 1975) was a Scottish folk singer.
Her most celebrated song is "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day", otherwise known as "Jock Stewart", which was covered by Archie Fisher, The Dubliners, The McCalmans, T ...
(1953), her nephew
Stanley Robertson (1987) and daughter
Lizzie Higgins
Lizzie Higgins (20 September 1929 – 20 February 1993) was an Aberdeenshire ballad singer.
Early life
Born Elizabeth Ann Higgins in Guest Row, Aberdeen, she was the daughter of settled Travellers the piper Donald "Donty" Higgins and the sin ...
(1970)
singing the ballad; Lizzie Higgins' recording publicly available on the
Vaughan Williams Memorial Library
The Vaughan Williams Memorial Library (VWML) is the library and archive of the English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS), located in the society's London headquarters, Cecil Sharp House. It is a multi-media library comprising books, periodical ...
website.
Irish traditional singers such as
Thomas Moran
Thomas Moran (February 12, 1837 – August 25, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker of the Hudson River School in New York whose work often featured the Rocky Mountains. Moran and his family, wife Mary Nimmo Moran and daughter Ruth too ...
of
Mohill
Mohill (, meaning "Soft Ground") is a town in County Leitrim, Ireland. The town of Carrick-on-Shannon is approximately 16 km (10 miles) away.
History
The Justinian plague of Mohill devastated the local population in the 6th centur ...
,
Co. Leitrim
County Leitrim ( ; gle, Contae Liatroma) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the ...
(1954),
John "Jacko" Reilly of
Boyle
Boyle is an English, Irish and Scottish surname of Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon or Norman origin. In the northwest of Ireland it is one of the most common family names. Notable people with the surname include:
Disambiguation
*Adam Boyle (disambiguation), ...
,
Co. Roscommon (1967) and
Paddy Tunney
Paddy Tunney (28 January 1921 – 7 December 2002) was an Irish traditional singer, poet, writer, raconteur, lilter and songwriter. He was affectionately known as the ''Man of Songs''.
From Glasgow to Garvery
Tunney was born in Glasgow to Ir ...
of
Co. Fermanagh (1976) were also recorded singing authentic versions of the ballad. Versions collected orally in Ireland are usually named "What Put the Blood" or something similar. Tunney's version, for example, (released on his Folk-Legacy CD ''The Man of Songs'') was entitled "What put the Blood on Your Right Shoulder, Son?"
Parallels
This ballad may not be complete in itself. Large portions of the ballad are also found in the longer ballads "
The Twa Brothers
"The Twa Brothers" is a traditional ballad () existing in many variants.
Synopsis
Two brothers are wrestling when a blade that one of them is carrying mortally wounds the other; occasionally, one of them stabs the other intentionally.
Attempts ...
" (Child 49) and "
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 a ...
" (Child 51).
Parallels in other languages
This ballad type was also found in Northern Europe, where it is often known under "Svend i Rosensgård" or a similar name. Its general Scandinavian classification is
TSB
Banking
A trustee savings bank is a type of financial institution.
* In the United Kingdom:
** Trustee Savings Bank, a bank in the United Kingdom that merged with Lloyds Bank in 1995 to form Lloyds TSB until 2013
** Lloyds TSB, the name used by ...
D 320, and it is known in Danish (
DgF
''Danmarks gamle Folkeviser'' is a collection of (in principle) all known texts and recordings of the old Danish popular ballads. It drew both on early modern manuscripts, such as Karen Brahes Folio, and much more recent folk-song collecting activi ...
340), Icelandic (
IFkv 76), Norwegian, and Swedish (
SMB 153). In Finland, it is popular as "Poikani Poloinen", both as a poem and as a song, first published in the collection ''
Kanteletar
''Kanteletar'' is a collection of Finnish folk poetry compiled by Elias Lönnrot. It is considered to be a sister collection to the Finnish national epic ''Kalevala''. The poems of ''Kanteletar'' are based on the trochaic tetrameter, generally ...
''.
In the Scandinavian versions, and the Finnish one, the stress is more on the gradual divulge of the fact that the son will never return home to his mother.
Percy's "Edward"
The authenticity of one popular version of this ballad (Child 13B) has been called into question. This version originally appeared in print in
Bishop Thomas Percy's 1765 edition of ''
Reliques of Ancient English Poetry
The ''Reliques of Ancient English Poetry'' (sometimes known as ''Reliques of Ancient Poetry'' or simply Percy's ''Reliques'') is a collection of ballads and popular songs collected by Bishop Thomas Percy and published in 1765.
Sources
The basis ...
''. Percy reported that he received this Scottish ballad from Sir David Dalrymple, who said he heard it from an unnamed lady. This version appears inauthentic because it seems, in short, too "good": it makes exceptional use of literary devices for maximum impact. Moreover, unlike most other versions, the father is the victim rather than the brother, and the mother receives a curse at the end. There is also little evidence that this version was disseminated orally; it seems to have appeared most often in print form. The name "Edward" appears to have come from Percy's version; versions which seem to have existed independently of Percy's don't use this name for the protagonist.
Adaptations
* The version sung by
John ("Jacko") Reilly in the 1960s became very popular in Ireland and was covered by
Christy Moore
Christopher Andrew "Christy" Moore (born 7 May 1945) is an Irish folk singer, songwriter and guitarist. In addition to his significant success as an individual, he is one of the founding members of Planxty and Moving Hearts. His first album, ...
,
The Johnstons
The Johnstons were an Irish close-harmony folk band, founded in Slane, County Meath, Ireland, consisting of siblings Adrienne, Luci and Michael Johnston.
Career
The Johnstons began performing in the early 1960s in Slane. They signed to Pye Reco ...
,
Karan Casey
Karan Casey (born 1969) is an Irish folk singer, and a former member of the Irish band Solas. She resides in Cork, Ireland.
Early years
Casey was born in Ballyduff Lower, Kilmeaden, County Waterford, Ireland. Her family encouraged her to sin ...
, Al O'Donnell and others.
*
Carl Loewe
Johann Carl Gottfried Loewe (; 30 November 1796 – 20 April 1869), usually called Carl Loewe (sometimes seen as Karl Loewe), was a German composer, tenor singer and Conducting, conductor. In his lifetime, his songs ("Balladen") were well enough ...
set a German translation of Percy's version to music in his Op. 1, No. 1 (1817/18).
*
Franz Schubert
Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...
also used Percy's version in his "Eine altschottische Ballade"
D. 923 (1827).
*
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms (; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. He is sometimes grouped wit ...
was inspired by Percy's version of "Edward" twice in his ballades, in
opus 10 (1854) and opus 75, no. 1 (late 1870s).
*
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most popu ...
used a translation by
Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy
Count Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy (russian: Граф Алексе́й Константи́нович Толсто́й; – ), often referred to as A. K. Tolstoy, was a Russian poet, novelist, and playwright. He is considered to be the most ...
in his Six Duets with piano accompaniment, Op. 46, No. 2 (1880).
"Six Duets (Шесть дуэтов)"
Tchaikovsky Research
* Algernon Charles Swinburne
Algernon Charles Swinburne (5 April 1837 – 10 April 1909) was an English poet, playwright, novelist, and critic. He wrote several novels and collections of poetry such as ''Poems and Ballads'', and contributed to the famous Eleventh Edition ...
's poem "The Bloody Son" in his collection ''Poems and Ballads
''Poems and Ballads, First Series'' is the first collection of poems by Algernon Charles Swinburne, published in 1866. The book was instantly popular, and equally controversial. Swinburne wrote about many taboo topics, such as lesbianism, sado-ma ...
'', 1866
* Nic Jones
Nic Jones (born Nicolas Paul Jones; 9 January 1947) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Regarded as a prominent figure of the British folk revival, he has recorded five solo albums and collaborated with various musicians.
Biography ...
recorded a version of "Edward" on his 1971 album ''Nic Jones
Nic Jones (born Nicolas Paul Jones; 9 January 1947) is an English singer, songwriter and musician. Regarded as a prominent figure of the British folk revival, he has recorded five solo albums and collaborated with various musicians.
Biography ...
''.
* Steeleye Span
Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival, and we ...
recorded a version of "Edward", arranged in a 'question and answer' format by Bob Johnson on the 1986 album ''Back in Line
''Back in Line'' is the twelfth studio album by British folk rock band Steeleye Span. The album was released in 1986, after a hiatus of almost 6 years. It is their first album without founding member Tim Hart, who quit the music business ent ...
''.
* Amps for Christ
Amps For Christ is the current music project of Man Is the Bastard and Bastard Noise veteran and metal/noise pioneer Henry Barnes. The project is based out of Claremont, California.
Concept
Conceptually, Amps for Christ originated in 1996, whe ...
recorded a version on their 1999 album ''Circuits''.
* James Yorkston
James Yorkston (born James Patrick Yorkston Wright; 21 December 1971) is a Scottish folk musician, singer-songwriter and author from the village of Kingsbarns, Fife. He has been releasing music since 2001. As well as recording as a solo artist, ...
recorded a version on his 2004 album ''Just Beyond the River
__NOTOC__
''Just Beyond the River'' is the second studio album by James Yorkston and the Athletes. It was released in October 2004. The album was released on 12" vinyl and on CD, initial copies of the CD came with a 3-track CD of folk standards ...
.''
* Sam Amidon
Samuel Tear Amidon (born June 3, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.
Musical career
In 2001, Amidon self-released ''Solo Fiddle'', an album of traditional Irish fiddle instrumentals.
Amidon's first album of ...
recorded a version on his 2010 album ''I See the Sign''.
* Oysterband
Oysterband (originally The Oyster Band) is a British folk rock and folk punk band formed in Canterbury around 1976.
History Early history
The band formed in parallel to Fiddler's Dram, and under the name "Oyster Ceilidh Band" played purely as ...
recorded a version called "Son David" on ''Ragged Kingdom'', their 2011 collaboration with June Tabor
June Tabor (born 31 December 1947 in Warwick, England) is an English folk singer known for her solo work and her earlier collaborations with Maddy Prior and with Oysterband.
Early life
June Tabor was born and grew up in Warwick, England. As ...
.
*Terrance Zdunich
Terrance Zdunich (; born July 23, 1976) is an American artist, singer, actor, writer, composer, producer, illustrator and storyboard artist. He is most known for his role as GraveRobber in ''Repo! The Genetic Opera'', as Lucifer in '' The Dev ...
and Saar Hendelman recorded a version of "Edward" on their 2016 American Murder Song
American Murder Song (sometimes abbreviated AMS) is an American musical act founded in 2016 by cult film composers and performers Terrance Zdunich and Saar Hendelman. The project uses the murder ballad genre to explore American history, especi ...
album ''Dawn''
See also
*List of the Child Ballads
The Child Ballads is the colloquial name given to a collection of 305 ballads collected in the 19th century by Francis James Child
Francis James Child (February 1, 1825 – September 11, 1896) was an American scholar, educator, and folklorist, ...
References
External links
"The Murdered Brother", an American variant
{{Authority control
Child Ballads
Murder ballads