Author Topic: Add: The Unquiet Grave [Cold blows the Wind]

dmcg

 Posted - 09 Jan 03 - 01:58 pm
Unquiet Grave, The [Cold Blows the Wind]

Cold blows the wind to my true love,
And gently drops the rain,
I never had but one sweetheart,
And in greenwood she lies slain,
And in greenwood she lies slain.

I'll do as much for my sweetheart
As any youn man may;
I'll sit and mourn all on her grave
For a twelvemonth and a day,
For a twelvemonth and a day.

When the twelvemonth and one day was past,
The ghost began to speak:
Why sittest thou here all day on my grave,
And will not let me sleep?
And will not let me sleep?

There's one thing that I want, sweetheart,
There's one thing that I crave;
And that is a kiss from your lily-white lips
Then I'll go from your grave,
Then I'll go from your grave.

My breast it is as cold as clay,
My breath smells earthly strong;
And if you kiss my cold clay lips,
Your days they won't be long,
Your days they won't be long.

Go fetch me water from the desert,
And blood from out of a stone;
Go fetch me milk from a fair maid's breast
That a youg man never had known,
That a young man never had known.

O down in yonder grave, sweetheart,
Where you and I would walk,
The first flower that ever I saw
Is withered to a stalk,
Is withered to a stalk.

The stalk is witherd and dry, sweetheart,
Ad the lower will never return;
And since I lost my own sweetheart,
What can I do but mourn?
What can I do but mourn?

When shall we meet again, sweetheart?
When shall we meet again?
When the oaken leaves that fall from the trees
Are green and spring up again,
Are green and spring up again.



Source: Sharp, C (ed),1916,One Hundred English Folksongs,Boston,Oliver Ditson Co


Notes:

Cecil Sharp's notes are as follows:

This ballad, of which I have collected a large number of variants, is widely known and sung by English folksingers. A Scottish version, "Charles Grame", is in Buchan's Ancient Ballads and Songs; while several traditioanl versions of the words are printed by Child. Compare the ballad of "William and Marjporie" (Motherwell's Minstrelsy, p 186), and versions of the well-known "William and Margaret." For variants with tunes, see the Journal of the Folk-Song Society (volumne i, pp 119 and 192; volume ii, p 6); English Country Songs (p 34); Songs of the West (p 12, 2nd ed); and English Traditional Songs and Carols (p 50). The words of the sixth stanza in the text refer to an ancient belief that a maiden bethrothed to a man was pledged to him after his death, and was compelled to follow him into the spirit world unless she was able to perform certain tasks or solve certain riddles that he propounded. In this particular version the position is, of course, reversed, and it is the maiden who lies in the grave. Compare "Scarborough Fair".

Database entry is here.




masato sakurai

 Posted - 09 Jan 03 - 02:31 pm
Broadside versions at Bodleian Library Broadise Ballads are:

Cold blows the wind ("Cold blows the wind over my true love ...")
Firth c.18(123)
Printer: Pratt, W. (Birmingham)
Date: c.1850
Imprint: W. Pratt, Printer, 82, Digbeth, Birmingham

The weeping lover ("Cold blows the wind over my true love ...")
2806 c.17(461)
Printer: Heppel, R. (Birmingham)
Date: between 1827 and 1840
Imprint: R. Heppel, Printer, 113, Coleshill-st, Birmingham

The weeping lover ("Cold blows the wind over my true love ...")
2806 c.17(460)
Printer: Wright, W. (Birmingham)
Date: between 1820 and 1831
Imprint: Wright, Printer, Smithfield, Birming

Cold blows the wind ("Cold blows the wind over my true love ...")
Harding B 11(634)
Johnson Ballads 1435
Johnson Ballads 1436
Printer: Pratt, W. (Birmingham)
Date: c.1850
Imprint: W. Pratt, Printer, 82, Digbeth, Birmingham.
Note: Slip. Originally a sheet with 2806 c.17(71)







Malcolm Douglas
 Posted - 10 Jan 03 - 04:27 pm
Roud 51 Child 78

Found mainly in England; occasionally in the USA. Sharp alone collected some 25 examples (nearly half, tunes only) in the South and West.

The tune here was noted by Sharp from Mrs William Ree at Hambridge, Somerset, 4th April 1904, and was first published in the Journal of the Folk Song Society, vol. II issue 6, 1905. Mrs Ree knew four verses, as follows:

I'll do as much for my sweetheart
As any young man may;
I'll sit and mourn all on her grave
A twelvemonth and a day,
A twelvemonth and a day.

The twelve months and the day was past,
The ghost began to speak:
What makes you sit all on my grave
And will not let me sleep?
And will not let me sleep?

There is one thing more I want, sweetheart,
There is one more thing I crave;
And that is a kiss from your lily-white lips
And then I'll go from your grave,
And then I'll go from your grave.

My lips are cold as clay, sweetheart,
My breath smells heavy and strong;
And if you kiss my lily-white lips,
Your time will not be long,
Your time will not be long.


For the commercial arrangement, the other verses were introduced from other sets, and modified to fit them to Mrs Ree's tune and to the style of wording. This makes them difficult to place with certainty; but so far as I can tell from the published material, I'd say that verse 1 was mostly from William Spearing (Ile Brewers, Somerset, 6th April 1904); verse 4 uses his "sittest thou". Verses 5 and 6 look to be mostly from Mrs Elizabeth Smitherd (Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire, 11th April 1908); verses 7 and 8 from Mrs Elizabeth Hutchings (Langport, Somerset, 17th August 1904); verse 9 from Mrs Anna Pond (Shepton Beauchamp, Somerset, 16th August 1904). Mrs Pond was also the source for the tune (and some of the text) of Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor.

Sharp omitted "thou" in verse 3. I'm rather puzzled by "grave" in verse 7, which makes no sense and doesn't appear in any of the traditional sets. It ought to be "grove", but the word in One Hundred English Folksongs is certainly "grave". I half suspect a slip at the time on the part of a transcriber or typesetter; natural enough given the nature of the song.


Penny

 Posted - 11 Jan 03 - 10:43 pm
Just wanted to say that I've got some slightly different words for this song which I learnt from the Ian Campbell version, starting off:

The wind blows cold today, my love
A few small drops of rain.
I never had but one true love,
In cold grave she is lain.

I remembered it the other day and sang it .........but I really find it so sad that I don't sing it very often.

Lovely tune though.

Just thought I'd mention about the different words because it's interesting to me that there can be different versions of folk songs. Rather useful if you forget the words (after a couple of beers, say...) and have to make it up a bit to fill in the blanks!

Penny






Phil Taylor

 Posted - 12 Jan 03 - 01:25 am
A small point about the abc of this tune. The tied notes at the end of the second and last lines should be written as A3-A2 and D3-D2, rather than put in brackets. The result looks the same in staff notation, but sounds different. Brackets mean a slur, while the hyphen means a tie. Hyphenated (tied) notes are played as a single note, while bracketed (slurred) notes are played as two separate notes (but smoothly:-)






Guest Account
 Posted - 08 Dec 05 - 06:11 am
From: Mike

The Alt Band WEEN did a version of this tune with re-written lyrics as follows:

Cold Blows The Wind - Ween
Cold blows the wind over my true love
cold blows the drops of rain
I never had but one true love
and in Camville he was slain

I'll do as much for my true love
as any young girl may
i'll sit and weep down by his grave
for twelve month and one day

But when twelve months were come and gone
this young man he arose
what makes you weep down by my grave
I can't take my repose

One kiss, one kiss of your lily white lips
one kiss is all I crave
one kiss, one kiss of your lily white lips
and return back to your grave

My lips they are as cold as my clay
my breath is heavy and strong
if thou was to kiss my lily white lips
thy days would not be long

Oh don't you remember the garden grove
where we used to walk
pluck the finest flower of them all
twill wither to a stalk

Go fetch me a Nun from the dungeon deep
and water from a stone
and white milk from a maiden's breast
that babe ere never known

Go dig me a grave both long, wide and deep
as quickly as you may
I'll lie down in it and take one sleep
for twelve month and one day

Cold blows the wind over my true love
cold blows the drops of rain
I never had but one true love
and in Camville he was slain

I'll do as much for my true love
as any young girl may
i'll sit and weep down by his grave
for twelve month and one day


Malcolm Douglas
 Posted - 08 Dec 05 - 07:17 am
I expect it would be quite difficult to fetch a nun if she didn't want to be fetched (even from a dungeon deep), but it isn't much cop as an impossible task.

Could do better.




dmcg

 Posted - 25 Nov 06 - 02:50 pm
Added the Shropshire version ("Cold Blows the Wind") from English County Songs




brheine

(guest)
 Posted - 22 Aug 08 - 08:04 am
I expect it would be quite difficult to fetch a nun if she didn't want to be fetched (even from a dungeon deep), but it isn't much cop as an impossible task.

Could do better.



I don't think the fetching part is the impossible task so much as actually finding the nun in a dungeon to begin with.


Malcolm Douglas
 Posted - 23 Aug 08 - 01:21 am
No; that's the easy bit.


masato sakurai

 Posted - 26 Aug 08 - 04:58 am
This ballad is discussed by David Atkinson in his The English Traditional Ballad (Ashgate, 2002), chapter 2 [pp. 39-73]: "The Lover's Task in 'The Unquiet Grave.'"



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