When Andy Irvine revisited his recording career for the "Old Dog Long Road Vol. 2" album, he unsurprisingly stumbled over a couple of Child ballads.
Let's have a closer look.
Willie o Winsbury
»John Barlow«:
»Learned from another of my favourite singers, Robert Cinnamond from Balinderry, Co. Antrim. He called this song “The
Rich Shipowner’s Daughter”. I had recorded a different version of this song back in 1967 with Sweeney’s Men, called “Willy
of Winsbury”. Child Ballad #100.« (2020)
»Willy o Winsbury«:
»Learned back in the sixties from Professor Child's collection of traditional ballads which was like the bible at the time. This is Child 100. I collated words from different versions and as the story goes, on looking up the tune, I lighted on the tune to number 101 [Willie o Douglas Dale]. I'm not sure if this is true but it's a good story. I recorded it solo on Sweeney's Men's eponymous first album in 1968 accompanying myself on guitar.«
(2010)
A.L. Lloyd: »English singers have called this Johnny Barbary or Tom the Barber, but from Somerset to Aberdeen its distinguishing feature is that the seduced girl's father—often, as here, the king—is so taken by the young man's looks that he forgives all. Cecil Sharp, publishing a West country version, suppresses this amiable but equivocal motif. Ah well.«
(1971)
Willie O Winsbury is Child Ballad 100 (Roud 64). The song, which has numerous 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 a long 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 the heroine, gold, and land. The hero accepts the lady but declares the gold and the land to be his lady's, not his own.
Commentary
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'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.
Nowadays the song is often sung to the tune of "Fause Foodrage", rather than its own traditional tune.
Recordings
Andy Irvine sang "Willy O'Winsbury" on Sweeney's Men'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". 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".
Ye Vagabonds:
»As has unfortunately been the case with folk music since recording began, often credit is not given to people where it is due for their arrangements and work on songs. No one fixed version of any folk song exists until recordings are made. As far as we’re concerned, this is Andy Irvine’s arrangement of this song, since he was the first we know of to have sung it with this melody. We learned this song first from Andy and Anne Briggs’ recordings, and from our uncle Dominic who always sings it at family gatherings. We’ve been singing it since we were teenagers, at first imitating Andy—as we were when Myles O’Reilly first filmed us a few years ago, and the song has developed for us a fair bit since. We’ve heard and read a lot of versions of it under different names—sometimes also as Johnny Barton, John Barlow or John Barbour. In the great 1868 book The Legendary Ballads of England and Scotland a version of the song Lord Thomas of Winesberrie is thought to relate to events from 1536 when James V of Scotland married Magdalene de Valois, daughter of the king of France (who then died shortly after their return to Scotland just a month before her 17th birthday). Another theory is that Thomas of Winesberry was the name of the Chamberlain to the king of France who wooed the princess. In any case, most of these versions tells a less romantic, more materialistic version of the story. There is some questionable fatherly behaviour in this song, but the most remarkable part of the story for us is that the king himself seems to fancy Willie o Winsbury, so offers him his daughter in marriage rather than sending him to the gallows.«
(2019)
The Royal Forester:
»Learned from the singing of John Strachan of Fyvie, Aberdeenshire. This is a Child Ballad #110. John Strachan’s recorded version has the audience laughing at the
last couplet, where it’s revealed that the King’s high forester is actually a Blacksmith’s son and the lowly maid he has seduced but refuses to marry is the Earl of
Airlie’s daughter.«
(2020)
A knight persuades a shepherd's daughter to give him her virginity. Afterward she chases after him to the royal court, on foot while he is on horseback, and demands marriage. He attempts to bribe her, but she insists he must marry her or be executed. After the marriage it is revealed, either by the woman herself or by Billy Blin, that she is in fact the daughter of royalty or high nobility; it may also be revealed that the man is a noble instead of a mere knight.
Motifs
Steeleye Span:
»Subtitled “The Aboriculturist Meets Superwoman”.
From the singing of John Strachan. The first English text appeared in Anchovy Ram's elementary drum tutor Half Way to Para-diddle, published in 1293. Although a faithful translation of the original Latin, there is still scholarly dispute as to the spelling of the name ‘Erwilian’ and over the use of the word ‘leylan’.« (1972)
Her pursuit of the knight on foot while he is on horseback also appears in Child Ballad 63, "Child Waters", where it fits a very different plot. The motif is very similar to that of the loathly lady, particularly the variant found in Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Wife of Bath's Tale".
Lise et Mainfroi, a 1740 French imitation of this ballad, has an actual shepherdess as the heroine; she announces at the altar that she is satisfied without the wedding, and the king and his court must persuade her to agree.
Desmond and Shelagh Herring recorded Emily Sparkes of Rattlesden, Suffolk singing a version of the song in 1958, and another sung by Charlie Carver of nearby Tostock, both of which can be heard online via the British Library Sound Archive.
Commercial Recordings
Steeleye Span recorded a version as "Royal Forester" on their 1972 album Below the Salt, based on the aforementioned recording of John Strachan by Alan Lomax.
Other recorded versions are by The Young Tradition on the album So Cheerfully Round (entitled "Knight William") and by Dave Burland on the album Dave Burland (entitled "Earl Richard").
Malinky:
»A version of The Knight and the Shepherd’s Daughter, primarily from the singing of Maggie Stewart of Banchory (1954) and Lizzie Higgins of Aberdeen (1970), both Scottish Traveller tradition bearers. It’s a fairly well-known ballad but one in which the story has not always been clear owing to the mix of voices in the narrative. To make the ballad work for two singers, Steve [Byrne] incorporated additional stanzas from the singing of John Strachan, Willie Mathieson, Bell Robertson (and others in the Greig-Duncan Folksong Collection), plus Kinloch’s Ancient Scottish Ballads (1827), and Prof Child’s version G from the James Gibb of Joppa manuscript of 1860. If the tune sounds familiar, it is also that used for the ballad of The Battle of Harlaw, Child 163. In 2017, Steve taught a shortened version of The Forester to the main cast and soldiers while working as folk singing coach on the Netflix Robert the Bruce epic Outlaw King.«
(2019)
Joshua Burnell:
»Child Ballad 110 and apparently popular during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. Will it come soaring back into fashion during the reign of Queen Elizabeth II? We can but hope.
This is the segment of the album where I continue the long tradition of adding an original tune to a traditional song. I always think the best songs are those that come quickest. As I was tinkering around with the lyrics, the melody seemed to spring into my head from nowhere along with the tune and this is possibly my favourite of this collection.
At first I was a bit horrified that she ended up marrying the dastardly knight, but actually it's a real testament to her character that she insisted on the marriage and had the guts to face the king about it. In historical context, the consequences of not being married would have been fairly grim.«
(2019)
The Blind Harper:
»Another Child Ballad #192. I was on a solo tour in Britain in 1970 when I first heard Nic Jones. I was immediately captivated by his singing and guitar playing
and, in 1973, Planxty invited him to open the show for us at the Carlton Cinema in Dublin. Later again, in 1976, Nic and I went on tour, together with others, to
accompany Maddy Prior and June Tabor on their “Silly Sisters” tour. This was one of Nic’s great songs and my accompaniment is largely as he played it.«
(2020)
Andy Irvine "Old Dog Long Road Vol. 2 (1961-2015)", Own label, 2020
Martin Carthy:
»The Lochmaben Harper is a busker whose very wealthy ‘friends’ come severely unglued when trying to put him in what they consider to be his place—thanks also due to the imagination of his wife. The air is a pipe march called Follow My Highland Soldier.«
(1990)
Emily Smith:
»Another song from my home region of Dumfries and Galloway. This version dates back to the 1500s and tells the tale of a harper, in some versions a blind harper, who stole the King of England's best horse, the ‘wanton broon’.«
(2005)
Rakoczy:
»A folk song about equine fraud. Whilst nor horses were harmed in the recording of this song, please don't try this at home; we recommend finding safer ways of overthrowing the ruling classes.«
(2020)
A blind harp-player resolves to steal King Henry of England's brown horse, in some versions, as a result of a bet for substantial stakes. He tells his wife of his plans and that he needs their good grey mare to achieve them. She agrees, and tells him to leave the foal behind, as the mare will quickly return to her still suckling young. He sets off and, at Carlisle, he meets the king, who asks for a song. The harper replies that he'd rather have a stable for his mare. The king tells his stable boy to house the grey mare next to his own brown horse. Now the harper plays and sings so beautifully that he spellbinds his audience and they all fall asleep. He tiptoes out of the room, makes his way to the stable, tethers the two horses together and releases them. The good grey mare makes her way back home taking the stolen brown horse with her. When the morning comes, the harper falsely mourns the loss of his horse, saying that, as a result, her foal will die. The king tells him not to fret and makes good the harper's losses by paying him for the foal and three times the worth of the good grey mare. Thus the harper not only wins his bet but also gets handsomely remunerated for the animals that he never lost.
Commentary
This is another of the songs Robert Burns came across and contributed to a Scots Musical Museum. It is one of several songs about blind harpers from all over Britain and Ireland (for example, On a Blind Harper, The Blind Harper (traditional Welsh Song), The Blind Harper of Johnson Hall, The Blind Harper of Tyrone and Lament for a Blind Harper) although Roud only indexes the one. Blind harpers crop up frequently in British folklore and one features in another Child ballad, The Cruel Sister, where he is called to play at the wedding of the surviving sister. There are a number of paintings of them including The Blind Harper of Conway (1792) by Julius Caesar Ibbetson. In fact, traditionally, a good proportion of harpists were blind and these were often the most accomplished, for example, Turlough O’Carolan from Ireland (1670–1738), Ruairidh Dall Morison from Scotland (1646–1725) and John Parry (Bardd Alaw) from Wales (1760–1765). It has been suggested that this is because blind people were encouraged to take up a musical instrument.
»John Barlow«:
»Learned from another of my favourite singers, Robert Cinnamond from Balinderry, Co. Antrim. He called this song “The
Rich Shipowner’s Daughter”. I had recorded a different version of this song back in 1967 with Sweeney’s Men, called “Willy
of Winsbury”. Child Ballad #100.« (2020)
»Willy o Winsbury«:
»Learned back in the sixties from Professor Child's collection of traditional ballads which was like the bible at the time. This is Child 100. I collated words from different versions and as the story goes, on looking up the tune, I lighted on the tune to number 101 [Willie o Douglas Dale]. I'm not sure if this is true but it's a good story. I recorded it solo on Sweeney's Men's eponymous first album in 1968 accompanying myself on guitar.«
(2010)
A.L. Lloyd: »English singers have called this Johnny Barbary or Tom the Barber, but from Somerset to Aberdeen its distinguishing feature is that the seduced girl's father—often, as here, the king—is so taken by the young man's looks that he forgives all. Cecil Sharp, publishing a West country version, suppresses this amiable but equivocal motif. Ah well.«
(1971)
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