There were three ravens on a tree
A-down, A-down, Heigh ho!
There were three ravens on a tree
Heigh ho!
The middlemost raven said to me,
There lies a dead man at yon tree.
A-down, a-down, a derry down, Heigh-ho!

There comes a lady full of woe
A-down, A-down, Heigh ho!
There comes a lady full of woe
Heigh ho!
There comes a lady full of woe
[ ... ] as she could go.
A-down, a-down, a derry down, Heigh-ho!

Who's this who killed my own true love?
A-down, A-down, Heigh ho!
Who's this who killed my own true love?
Heigh ho!
I hope in heaven he'll never rest
Nor e'er enjoy that blessed place.
A-down, a-down, a derry down, Heigh-ho!


abc | midi | pdf

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Source: Traditional Tunes, A collection of Ballad Airs, ISBN 1-86143-081-7

Notes:
Collected by Frank Kidson from John Holmes who remembered the air from his mother's singing from about 1825
This is an unusual version. Broadly there are two main threads of the Raven ballads - "The Twa Corbies" is a bleak ballad about how the knight is forgotten by everyone, whereas "The Three Ravens" is a more romantic song in which the body of the knight is carried home and honoured.
This song doesn't seem to fit perfectly into either strand, but it is closer to the second.

The earliest known version appeared in Thomas Ravenscroft's Melismata of 1611. A facsimile can be seen at Melismata.

Roud: 5 (Search Roud index at VWML) Take Six
Laws:
Child: 26