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The Wife Of Usher's Well (Child 79)

from Blood & Roses Volume 5 by Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger

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This haunting piece has died out in the British Isles but it lives a rich and varied life in North America, where most of the versions are similar, pointing perhaps to a common printed source. The story has obvious supernstural overtones, as the children go off to study gramarye (old English for the occult sciences) and return wearing bark hats. Child's B-text begins:

The hallow days o' Yule are come,
The nights are lang an dark,
An in cam her ain twa sons
Wi' their hats made o' the bark.

Child states in his note that our ballad takes up where No. 72 ("The Clerk's Twa Sons o' Owsenford", see BLOOD AND ROSES, Vol. 4) leaves off. This particular version is from the singing of Lena Hill, Lexington, Alabama.

lyrics

There were a fair and a beautiful bride
Children she had three;
She sent them away to a northing school
For to study gramaree.

They were away but about three months
Three months and a day;
When there came death all over that land
And stole her little babes away.

There be a king in heavens above,
Wearin' of a golden crown,
Please send home my sweet little babes
This night or in the morning soon.

It were about old Christmas-time,
And the nights was long and cool;
She dreamed she seen them sweet little babes
Come a-running to their mother's room.

She set a table with a clean white cloth,
Spread with bread and wine;
Come eat, come drink, my sweet little babes,
Come eat and drink of mine.

We can't eat your bread, mother,
We can't drink your wine;
For in the morning, the morning soon,
With our Saviour we must dine.

She made a bed in the backmost room,
Spread with a Holland sheet;
And over the top run a golden quilt
Come; my sweet little babes, and sleep,

Green grass grown at our heads; mother,
Green moss at our feet;
And every tear you weeped for us
Just wets our windin' sheet.

Wake; awake; said the eldest one,
Wake; It's almost day;
Yonder stands our Saviour dear;
And with him we must away.

Farewell mamma and pappa too,
Farewell Kitty and the Queen;
How can I stay in this dark world?
There's a brighter one for me.

credits

from Blood & Roses Volume 5, released September 14, 1986
Peggy Seeger - vocals, banjo

Produced by Calum MacColl
Engineered by Nigel Cazaly

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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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