Willie O Winsbury (

Child A child () is a human being between the stages of childbirth, birth and puberty, or between the Development of the human body, developmental period of infancy and puberty. The term may also refer to an unborn human being. In English-speaking ...

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. Roud's Index is a combination of the Broadsid ...

64) is a traditional English-language folk ballad. The song, of which there are many variants, is a traditional Scottish ballad that dates from at least 1775, and is known under several other names, including "Johnnie Barbour" and "Lord Thomas of Winesberry".

Synopsis

A king is away for some time. His daughter becomes pregnant by the hero, William or Thomas. The king threatens to hang him, but is struck by his beauty and offers him his daughter's hand, gold, and land. The hero agrees to marry the king's daughter but declares the gold and the land to be hers, not his own.

Historical Basis

This ballad closely parallels Child ballad 99, " Johnie Scot". In one variant, the lands are specifically described: he will be king when he returns to Scotland. It may, in fact, be based on

James V James V (10 April 1512 – 14 December 1542) was List of Scottish monarchs, King of Scotland from 9 September 1513 until his death in 1542. He was crowned on 21 September 1513 at the age of seventeen months. James was the son of King James IV a ...

's courtship of and marriage to Madeleine de Valois of France; James came to see the woman he was betrothed to in disguise, and went on to meet the princess, who fell in love with him. Thomas and his brother or possibly son William, both of Winsbury in

Shropshire Shropshire (; abbreviated SalopAlso used officially as the name of the county from 1974–1980. The demonym for inhabitants of the county "Salopian" derives from this name.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West M ...

, were given protection for being in Scotland in November 1336. Winsbury is a small township of 1 square mile just to the west of Chirbury. It was the base of the Winsbury family in the 13th and 14th centuries. Thomas was a mid-level official in the service of Shropshire and the English central authorities. There seem to be only one place named Winsbury.Ref [7. For details if the lives of Thomas and William see : John Davies and David Read'The Careers of Thomas 'The Elder' and Thomas'the Younger' of Winsbury, Shropshire. Shropshire History and Archaeology. Vol.99. 2024 pp 39-46 Annex.] Thomas and William, c.1290-c.1340 of Winsbury were in Scotland when these popular ballads were being composed. If there is a connection the exiled king would have been David II of Scotland, David II who was in France from 1333 to 1341, however he had no children. The song is often sung to the tune of " Fause Foodrage."

Recordings

Andy Irvine sang "Willy O'Winsbury" on

Sweeney's Men Sweeney's Men was an Irish traditional band. They emerged from the mid-1960s Irish roots revival, along with groups such as The Dubliners and the Clancy Brothers. The founding line-up in May 1966 was Johnny Moynihan, Andy Irvine and "Galway ...

's eponymous debut album in 1968, accompanying himself on guitar. The recording featured the tune of " Fause Foodrage" (Child 89), which is now commonly used for "Willie O' Winsbury". On the album's sleeve notes, band member Johnny Moynihan wrote, "A ballad for which Andy is renowned. He got the text from Child's 'English and Scottish Ballads'; looking up the tune he got his numbers confused and emerged with the wrong air. By chance it suited the song very well".Sleeve notes from ''Sweeney's Men'' LP, Transatlantic Records Ltd, TRA SAM 37, 1968. In 2010, Irvine re-recorded the song with a fuller arrangement of the same tune for his album '' Abocurragh'', adding: "This is Child 100. I collected the words from different versions and as the story goes, on looking up the tune, I lighted on the tune to number 101. I'm not sure if this is true but it's a good story".Sleeve notes from ''Andy Irvine - Abocurragh'', Andy Irvine AK-3, 2010. Being a well-documented song and publicised by

English Folk Dance and Song Society The English Folk Dance and Song Society (EFDSS, or pronounced 'EFF-diss') is an organisation that promotes English folk music and folk dance. EFDSS was formed in 1932 when two organisations merged: the Folk-Song Society and the English Folk Dan ...

, The Broadside Ballads Project, and Mainly Norfolk, the song was recorded by

Jon Boden Jon Boden (born 17 March 1977) is a singer, composer and musician, best known as lead singer and main arranger of Bellowhead. His first instrument is the fiddle and he is a proponent of "English traditional fiddle style" and also of "fiddle si ...

and

Oli Steadman Oliver "Oli" Steadman is a British-South African multi-instrumentalist. Stornoway Steadman is a founding member of Stornoway and through them is a volunteer with many nature conservation trusts including HIWWT, RSPB, Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, ...

for inclusion in their respective lists of daily folk songs "

A Folk Song A Day A Folk Song a Day was a project by the English folk singer and musician and Bellowhead member Jon Boden where he recorded and released a folk song each day for one year. The project ended on 24 June 2011. About The project started on 24 June 2 ...

" and "365 Days Of Folk". The song "Farewell, Farewell", recorded by

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English British folk rock, folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson (musician), Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Marti ...

on their album ''

Liege and Lief ''Liege & Lief'' is the fourth album by the British folk rock band Fairport Convention. It is the third album the group released in the UK during 1969, all of which prominently feature Sandy Denny as lead female vocalist (Denny did not appear on ...

'' in 1969, is an adaptation featuring new lyrics by

Richard Thompson Richard Thompson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Richard Thompson (animator) (1914–1998), Warner Bros. cartoon animator in the 1950s * Richard Thompson (cartoonist) (1957–2016), cartoonist who also worked as an illustrator * Richard Tho ...

. A recording of "Willie O' Winsbury" played and sung by Thompson was included in the 2006 boxset '' RT - The Life and Music of Richard Thompson''. A 1972 version by the British folk group

Pentangle Pentangle may refer to: *Pentagon, a five-sided polygon *Pentagram, a five-pointed star drawn with five straight strokes *Pentangle (band), a British folk rock band ** ''The Pentangle'' (album), a 1968 album by Pentangle *Miss Pentangle, a character ...

is perhaps the most commonly known rendition of the song in modern times. Following is a list of notable recordings of the ballad including, for each entry, the year of release, artist, song title, and album title:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Willie O Winsbury Scottish folk songs Child Ballads Traditional ballads 1770s songs 18th-century ballads Cultural depictions of James V of Scotland Songs about kings

Synopsis

Historical Basis

Recordings

See also

References