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Chylde Owlet (Child 291)

from Blood & Roses Volume 2 by Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger

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about

A death in the family is a common ballad feature and the instruments of death are fairly common as well: the knife, the axe, the stake, the pistol, the noose, all take their toll. Sisters, broth-era, fathers, mothers, aunts, uncles, nephews and nieces kill each other by stabbing, shooting, de-capitating, drowning, smothering, strangling and poisoning. There is something off-beat about having one's nephew torn to pieces by wild horses but, as Professor Child has observed, "the last two stanzas are unusually successful".

lyrics

Lady Erskine sits into her bower,
A-sewing her silken seam,
A bonnie sark for Chylde Owlet
As he gangs oot and in.

His face was fair, lang was his hair,
She's ca'd him to come nigh;
O, ye maun cuckold Lord Ronald
For a' his lands and kye.

O lady, haud your tongue for shame
That such should e'er be done;
How could I cuckold Lord Ronald
And me his sister's son?

Then she's ta'en oot a wee penknife
That lay beside her bed,
And pricked hersel' below her breist
Which made her body bleed.

Lord Ronald's come into her bower
Whaur she did mak' her mane;
O, who's is a' this blood, he says,
That sparks on your hearth-stane?

Young Chylde Owlet, your sister's son,
Is new gene frae my bower;
Gin I hadnae hae been a good woman
hae been Chylde Owlet's whore.

Then he has ta'en young Chylde Owlet
Cast him in prison strang,
And a' his men a council held
To work Chylde Owlet wrang.

Some said Chylde Owlet should be hung,
Some said that he should burn,
Some said they would hae Chylde Owlet
Between wild horses torn.

There are horses in my stable stand
Can rin richt speedily;
It's ye maun to my stable gang
And wile oot four for me.

They've put a horse to ilka foot
And ane to ilka hand,
And sent them oat ower Elkin Moor
As fast as they could gang. (go) every

There wasnae grass or heather knows
Nor broom nor bonnie whin,
But drappit wi' Chylde Owlet's blood
And pieces o' his skin.

There wasnae stane on Elkin Moor,
Nor yet a piece o' rush,
But drappit wi' Chylde Owlet's blood
And pieces o' his flesh.

credits

from Blood & Roses Volume 2, released April 12, 1982
Ewan MacColl - vocals

Produced by Neill MacColl
Engineered by Nick Godwin
Recorded at Pathway Studios

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all rights reserved

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Ewan MacColl London, UK

This site is maintained by the MacColl family, aiming to make Ewan's catalogue available to download.
Ewan MacColl is known to most as a songwriter and singer, but he was also of significant influence in the worlds of theatre and radio broadcasting. His art reached huge numbers through the folk clubs, greater numbers through his recordings and untold millions through the radio. ... more

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