"The False Lover Won Back" is a Scottish ballad, cataloged as Child Ballad 218 ( Roud 201).
Origins
Francis James Child cataloged the song as Child Ballad 218, recovering two texts representing it. [1] It is also cataloged as Roud 201. [2] The song spread in some form from its origins in Scotland through England as far as the United States, although it is among the lesser-known ballads. [2] [3] [4] [5]
The song has similarities to and may share an origin with other ballads, such as Child Waters. [1] It has sometimes also been called "Young John" or "The Fause Lover." [6] [7] [8]
Synopsis
In the ballad, a woman pursues her lover, who is leaving her for another who is more beautiful. He begs her to forsake him, plying her with gifts, but eventually buys her a wedding gown or a wedding ring and agrees to marry her. [1] [3] [9] [10]
According to Walter Morris Hart, the ballad is somewhat unusual for its depicting a situation in which "it is the maiden who does the wooding." [11]
Legacy
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger performed the song on their 1956 album Classic Scots Ballads. [2] The song was also included as a bonus track on a reissue of Martin Carthy's 1972 album Shearwater. [2]
References
- ^ a b c Bronson, Bertrand Harris, ed. (2015-03-08), "218. The False Lover Won Back", The Singing Tradition of Child's Popular Ballads. (Abridgement), Princeton University Press, doi: 10.1515/9781400872671, ISBN 978-1-4008-7267-1, retrieved 2024-06-10
- ^ a b c d "The False Lover Won Back / Honey for the Bee / Young John / The Sun Shines High (Roud 201; Child 218; G/D 5:974)". Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
- ^ a b Moore, John Robert (1921). "A Missouri Variant of "The False Lover Won Back"". The Journal of American Folklore. 34 (134): 395–397. doi: 10.2307/534929. ISSN 0021-8715. JSTOR 534929.
- ^ Greig, Gavin (1925). Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads and Ballad Airs. Buchan Club.
- ^ Lyle, Emily (2010-07-01). Scottish Ballads. Canongate Books. ISBN 978-1-84767-593-4.
- ^ Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas (1910). The Oxford book of ballads, chosen and edited by Arthur Quiller-Couch. Robarts – University of Toronto. Oxford Clarendon Press.
- ^ Shoolbraid, Murray (2010-04-02). The High-Kilted Muse: Peter Buchan and His Secret Songs of Silence. Univ. Press of Mississippi. ISBN 978-1-4968-0115-9.
- ^ Smith, James Cruickshanks (1913). A Book of Ballads for Boys and Girls. Clarendon Press.
- ^ Coffin, Tristram Potter (1963). The British Traditional Ballad in North America. American Folklore Society. ISBN 978-0-292-70719-1.
- ^ García, Ana Belén Martínez (2017). "Formulaicity in Child Ballads as a Means to Express Assertiveness". Folklore. 128 (2): 175–188. doi: 10.1080/0015587X.2016.1270612. ISSN 0015-587X. JSTOR 26445791.
- ^ Hart, Walter Morris (1907). Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature. Published under the direction of the Modern Language Depts. of Harvard University by Ginn & Company.