| Author | Topic: Add: The Prickly Bush | |
| dmcg | Posted - 13 Apr 03 - 10:52 am | |
Prickly Bush, The "O hangman, hold thy hand", he cried, "O hold thy hand awhile; For I can see my own dear father Coming over yonder stile. "O father, have you brought me gold? Or will you set me free? Or be you come to see me hung, All on this high gallows tree?" "No, I have not brought thee gold, And I will not set thee free; But I am come to see thee hung, All on this high gallows tree." Chorus: O the prickly bush, the prickly bush, It pricked my heart full sore; If ever I get out of the prickly bush, I'll never get in any more." "O hangman, hold thy hand", he cried, "O hold thy hand awhile; For I can see my own dear mother Coming over yonder stile. "O mother, have you brought me gold? Or will you set me free? Or be you come to see me hung, All on this high gallows tree?" "No, I have not brought thee gold, And I will not set thee free; But I am come to see thee hung, All on this high gallows tree." Chorus: O the prickly bush, the prickley bush, It pricked my heart full sore; If ever I get out of the prickly bush, I'll never get in any more." "O hangman, hold thy hand", he cried, "O hold thy hand awhile; For I can see my own dear brother Coming over yonder stile. "O brother, have you brought me gold? Or will you set me free? Or be you come to see me hung, All on this high gallows tree?" "No, I have not brought thee gold, And I will not set thee free; But I am come to see thee hung, All on this high gallows tree." Chorus: O the prickly bush, the prickley bush, It pricked my heart full sore; If ever I get out of the prickly bush, I'll never get in any more." "O hangman, hold thy hand", he cried, "O hold thy hand awhile; For I can see my own dear sister Coming over yonder stile. "O sister, have you brought me gold? Or will you set me free? Or be you come to see me hung, All on this high gallows tree?" "No, I have not brought thee gold, And I will not set thee free; But I am come to see thee hung, All on this high gallows tree." Chorus: O the prickly bush, the prickly bush, It pricked my heart full sore; If ever I get out of the prickly bush, I'll never get in any more." "O hangman, hold thy hand", he cried, "O hold thy hand awhile; For I can see my own dear sweetheart Coming over yonder stile. "O sweetheart, have you brought me gold? Or will you set me free? Or be you come to see me hung, All on this high gallows tree?" "Yes, I have brought thee gold, And I will set thee free; And I am come, but not to see thee hung, All on this high gallows tree." Chorus: O the prickly bush, the prickly bush, It pricked my heart full sore; If ever I get out of the prickly bush, I'll never get in any more." Source: Broadwood, Lucy, 1893, English Country Songs, Leadenhall Press, London Notes: Lucy Broadwood wrote:
Database entry is here. (I can't place my finger on it, but this version of the tune seems a little too gentrified to me. I could be wrong!) Edited By dmcg - 13/04/2003 10:58:28 | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 13 Apr 03 - 06:47 pm | |
Roud 144 Child 95 Writing in the late 1950s, Bertrand Bronson described this as the thirteenth most popular (of the ballads listed by Child) in the British-American tradition. It has been found in significant quantity, and under all sorts of names, in all the usual places; but in particularly large numbers in the USA. Sets from 20th century American tradition at The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection: Hunter #216 The Hangman Hunter #290 Hangman, Hangman Hunter #778 Hang Me, O Hang Me Hunter #1174 Freed From the Gallows Hunter #1302 Hangman Hunter #1510 Hangman Analogues of this song turn up all over Europe, at least 50 examples having been found in Finland. The following is a quote from an abstract of a paper, Lithuanian Folk Songs About Setting Free And Their Parallels In The Ballads Of European Nations, by Auðra Zubavièiûtë:
Child considered the English versions to be "defective and distorted", in that, in most cases, the narrative rationale had been lost and only the ransoming sequence remained. Of the texts he prints, one (95F) had "degenerated" into a children's game, while others had survived as part of a Northern English cante-fable, The Golden Ball (or Key). He describes a number of European analogues, including examples from Färöe, Iceland, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Slovenia and so on. A Danish version was published as a broadside, but, in spite of the song's widespread popularity, it doesn't seem to have appeared on broadsides in Britain. | ||
| masato sakurai | Posted - 14 Apr 03 - 01:33 am | |
Eleanor Long studied this ballad cycle extendedly in her "The Maid" and "The Hangman": Myth and Tradition in a Popular Ballad (University of California Press [Folklore Studies: 21], 1971, xiii+170 pp.). This is not a collection of versions. | ||
| masato sakurai | Posted - 14 Apr 03 - 02:05 am | |
An Ozark version (with audio) is also at the Wolf Collection. HANGMAN, SLACKEN (THE MAID FREED FROM THE GALLOWS; HOLD YOUR HANDS, OLD MAN) Sung by: Almeda Riddle. Recorded on 5/10/62 | ||
| dmcg | Posted - 21 May 06 - 08:05 am | |
While browsing an online set of More English Fairy Tales (Joseph Jacobs), I can across a version of The Golden Ball (see Malcolm's comments above), which clearly has a version of the Prickly Bush embedded in the text. | ||