A Broken Token Ballad
Sep. 19th, 2013 03:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
browngirlStuck in my journal just because it's sweet.
http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiBROKTOK2.html
Broken Token (2)
Broken Token (2)
As I walked out one bright May moning
A fair young lady I chanced to see
I asked her if she had a sweetheart
And this reply she gave to me
"It's seven long years since I had a sweetheart
It's seven long years since I did him see
And seven more I will wiat upon him
Till he returns for to marry me"
"I don't know how you can love a sailor
I don't know how you can love a slave
Perhaps he's married or else he's buried
Or lying in his cold watery grave"
"Well, if he's married, I wish him happy
And if he's buried I wish him rest
But for his sake I will never marry
For he's the young man that I love best"
He put his hand into his pocket
His fingers being so long and thin
Pulled out a ring that was bent and broken
And when she's seen it then she fell
He lifted her into his arms
He gave her kisses three by three
Sayin' "Who am I but your only sailor boy
Just returned for to marry you"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
recorded by Cyril Tawney on "Voices. Traditional English Songs" (1991)
"Broken Token Ballads abound in the English tradition. The general idea
is that the lovers divide a 'token' (usually a ring) when they part
(he usually goes off to foreign parts as a soldier or sailor) and agree
to be faithful. He later returns, but she does not recognise him at first,
etc. etc. Cyril learnt this version in his native West Country from his
mother and this goes to show how difficult it is to regionalise folk
songs because she learnt it from her Grandmother, Mary Sharkey, in
Northern Ireland!" - Paul Adams
http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiBROKTOK2.html
Broken Token (2)
Broken Token (2)
As I walked out one bright May moning
A fair young lady I chanced to see
I asked her if she had a sweetheart
And this reply she gave to me
"It's seven long years since I had a sweetheart
It's seven long years since I did him see
And seven more I will wiat upon him
Till he returns for to marry me"
"I don't know how you can love a sailor
I don't know how you can love a slave
Perhaps he's married or else he's buried
Or lying in his cold watery grave"
"Well, if he's married, I wish him happy
And if he's buried I wish him rest
But for his sake I will never marry
For he's the young man that I love best"
He put his hand into his pocket
His fingers being so long and thin
Pulled out a ring that was bent and broken
And when she's seen it then she fell
He lifted her into his arms
He gave her kisses three by three
Sayin' "Who am I but your only sailor boy
Just returned for to marry you"
----------------------------------------------------------------------
recorded by Cyril Tawney on "Voices. Traditional English Songs" (1991)
"Broken Token Ballads abound in the English tradition. The general idea
is that the lovers divide a 'token' (usually a ring) when they part
(he usually goes off to foreign parts as a soldier or sailor) and agree
to be faithful. He later returns, but she does not recognise him at first,
etc. etc. Cyril learnt this version in his native West Country from his
mother and this goes to show how difficult it is to regionalise folk
songs because she learnt it from her Grandmother, Mary Sharkey, in
Northern Ireland!" - Paul Adams
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 08:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 09:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 10:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-19 11:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-09-20 03:33 am (UTC)A fair young maid, all in a garden
Strange young man come ridin' by
He asked her for to marry him
"This then sir, is my reply:
"Oh no, kind sir, I cannot marry thee
For I've a love who sails upon the sea.
Though he's been gone for seven years
No man on earth shall marry me."
"What if he's in some battle slain,
Or if he's drowned in the deep salt sea,
Or if he's found another love
And in some far place they married be?"
"If he's in some battle slain,
The I shall die when the moon shall wane,
Or if he's drowned in the deep salt sea,
I still am true to his memeory.
"If he's found another love
And in some far place they married be,
Then I wish them health and happiness
Where they live across the sea."
He picked her up in his arms so strong
And kisses gave her one, two, three
Saying, "Weep no more, my own true love,
For I'm your long-lost John Riley."
Nearly identical in substance, but lacking a token. Your version has some effective compression-- that third verse in particular packs a lot into a small space. Wonder how the melodies compare.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-22 02:23 pm (UTC)Thank you for sharing this lovely song with me! It really is fascinating how the same idea can spread out and diversify into different artworks. And I love the mental idea of you singing this. :)