What is a ballad? Ballads are poems that narrate, telling a story – often personal, but also in some way very important in scope – over a series of short stanzas. Traditional ballads are typically anonymous and passed around orally. It is important to understand ballads as being a popular genre – this is music and poetry that would be listened to in the town square or pub, as people worked and gathered. Many ballads were written and sold as single sheet broadsides. Sometimes, ballads became quite political. Ballads were also a key component of the development of print culture in the early modern period: printed on cheap paper, broadside ballads were mass-produced and sold at very affordable prices. Aside from musical lyrics, these broadsides often included early journalism – reporting on disasters, political events and signs, wonders and prodigies, whether they were “real” or not; these slips of paper were hugely influential.
The Child Ballads were collected later, and it is critical to note that despite the name, they are not children’s songs: the lyrics are named for the man who collected them.
“The Cherry-Tree Carol” (Roud 453) is a ballad with the rare distinction of being both a Christmas carol and one of the Child Ballads (no. 54).[1] The song itself is very old, reportedly sung in some form at the Feast of Corpus Christi in the early 15th century.
When Joseph was an old man,
An old man was he,
When he courted Virgin Mary,
The Queen of Galilee,
When he courted Virgin Mary,
The Queen of Galilee,
As Joseph and Mary
Were walking one day,
“Here are apples and cherries,”
O Mary did say….
Then Mary spoke to Joseph,
So meek and so mild,
“Joseph, gather me some cherries
For I am with child….”
Then Joseph flew in anger —
In anger flew he,
“Let the father of the baby
Gather cherries for thee!”
Then Jesus spoke a few words,
A few words spoke he,
“Let my mother have some cherries;
Bow low down, cherry tree!
“Bow down, O cherry tree!
Bow low down to the ground!”
Then Mary gathered cherries
While Joseph stood around….
Then Joseph took Mary
All on his left knee;
Saying: “What have I done? Lord,
Have mercy on me!”
“Sir Patrick Spens” is one of the most popular of the Child Ballads (No. 58) (Roud 41), and is of Scottish origin.[1] It is a maritime balladabout a disaster at sea.
The king sits in Dunfermline toune
drinking the blude reid wine,
“O whar can I get skeely skipper,
To sail this ship o’ mine?”
Up and spak an eldern knicht,
Sat at the kings richt kne:
“Sir Patrick Spens is the best sailor
That sails upon the se.”
The king has written a braid letter,
And signed it wi his hand,
And sent it to Sir Patrick Spens,
Was walking on the strand.
To Noroway! to Noroway!
to Noroway oer the faem!
The king’s daughter to Noroway
‘Tis thou maun bring her hame.
The first line that Sir Patrick red,
A loud lauch lauched he;
The next line that Sir Patrick red,
A teir blinded his ee.
“O wha is this has don this deid,
This ill deid don to me,
To send me out this time o’ yeir,
To sail upon the se!
“Mak haste, mak haste, my mirry men,
Our guid ship sails the morne”:
“O say na sae, my master deir,
I feir a deadlie storme.
“Yestreen I saw the new moone,
Wi the auld moone in her arme,
And I feir, I feir, my master deir,
That we will cum to harme.”
O loth, o loth,
The Scots lords were
To weet their cork-heild schoone;
Bot lang owre a’ the play wer playd,
Thair hats they swam aboone.
O lang, lang may the ladies sit,
Wi’ their fans into their hand
Or ere they see Sir Patrick Spens
Come sailing to the strand.
O lang, lang may the ladies stand,
Wi thair gold kems in their hair,
Waiting for thair ain deir lords,
For they’ll se thame na mair.
Haf owre, haf owre to Aberdour,
Tis fiftie fathom deip,
And thair lies guid Sir Patrick Spens,
The Scots lords at his feit.
“The Wife of Usher’s Well” is a traditional ballad, catalogued as Child Ballad 79 and number 196 in the Roud Folk Song Index; it is originally from Britain but is also popular in North America.[1] No complete original version has survived, but the song has been ‘remade’ in America in a cohesive form.
The Wife of Usher’s Well
There lived a wife at Usher’s Well,
And a wealthy wife was she;
She had three stout and stalwart sons,
And sent them oer the sea.
They hadna been a week from her,
A week but barely ane,
Whan word came to the carline wife
That her three sons were gane.
They hadna been a week from her,
A week but barely three,
Whan word came to the carlin wife
That her sons she’d never see.
