The Bitter Withy or Mary Mild (
Roud
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 ...
#452) is an English
folk song
Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be c ...
reflecting an unusual and apocryphal vernacular idea of
Jesus Christ
Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...
. The ''
withy
A withy or withe (also willow and osier) is a strong flexible willow stem, typically used in thatching, basketmaking, gardening and for constructing woven wattle hurdles. '' of the title is the
Willow
Willows, also called sallows and osiers, from the genus ''Salix'', comprise around 400 speciesMabberley, D.J. 1997. The Plant Book, Cambridge University Press #2: Cambridge. of typically deciduous trees and shrubs, found primarily on moist s ...
and the song gives an explanation as to why the willow tree rots from the centre out, rather than the outside in. The song was recorded by the
Kingston Trio
The Kingston Trio is an American folk and pop music group that helped launch the folk revival of the late 1950s to the late 1960s. The group started as a San Francisco Bay Area nightclub act with an original lineup of Dave Guard, Bob Shane, and ...
on their album ''
The Last Month of the Year
''The Last Month of the Year'' is an album of Christmas music by the Kingston Trio, released in 1960 (see 1960 in music). It became the first Kingston Trio album release to fall below expected sales and Capitol withdrew the album from circulation ...
''. English folk artist
John Tams
John Tams (born 16 February 1949) is an English actor, singer, songwriter, composer and musician born in Holbrook, Derbyshire, the son of a publican. He first worked as a reporter for the '' Ripley & Heanor News'' later working for BBC Radio De ...
recorded the song on his album ''The Reckoning'' (2005; won 2006 the
BBC Radio 2 Folk Award for the 'Best Album') and is contained in ''The Definitive Collection'' (2007) also.
Lyrics
:As it fell out on a holy day,
:The drops of rain did fall, did fall,
:Our Saviour asked leave of His mother, Mary,
:If He might go play at ball.
:“To play at ball, my own dear Son,
:It’s time you was going or gone, or gone,
:But be sure let me hear no complaint of you,
:At night when you do come home.”
:It was upling scorn and downling scorn!
:Oh, there He met three jolly jerdins
:Oh, there He asked the three jolly jerkins
:If they would go play at ball.
:“Oh, we are lords’ and ladies’ sons,
:Born in bower or in hall, in hall.
:And you are but some poor maid's child
:Born in an ox's stall.”
:“Oh, if you are lords’ and ladies’ sons,
:Born in bower or in hall, in hall.
:Then at the very last I’ll make it appear
:That I am above you all.”
:Our Saviour built a bridge with the beams of the sun,
:And over He gone, He gone He;
:And after followed the three jolly jerdins,
:And drownded they were all three.
:It was up the hill and down the hill!
:The mothers of them did whoop and call,
:Crying out: “Mary mild, call home your child,
:For ours are drownded all!”
:Mary mild, Mary mild called home her Child,
:And laid our Saviour across her knee,
:And with a whole handful of bitter withy
:She gave Him slashes three.
:Then He says to His Mother: “Oh, the withy! Oh, the withy!
:The bitter withy that causes me to smart, to smart,
:Oh, the withy, it shall be the very first tree
:That perishes at the heart!”
Notes
External links
On hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com a blog of traditional music
A 1905 paper titled "The Ballad of Bitter Withy" which discusses the history of the ballad including story elements, folk etymology and different versions
English folk songs
Year of song unknown
Songwriter unknown
{{Folk-song-stub