William Riley's Courtship [Laws M9]

DESCRIPTION: William falls in love with Colleen at sight. Although warned about her harsh father, he seeks employment from the old man to be near Colleen. At last he asks to marry her. He is fired. The two try to elope. They are captured; the father has Riley jailed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1805 (broadside cited by The Colonial Music Institute)
KEYWORDS: love courting father elopement prison servant
FOUND IN: US(MA,So) Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Laws M9, "William Riley's Courtship"
Hayward-UlsterSongsAndBalladsOfTheTownAndCountry, pp. 96-98, "Willy Reilly's Courtship" (1 text)
Randolph 114, "Coleen Bawn" (1 text, with the name spelled "Coleen" in the title but "Colleen" in the text; 1 tune)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 53, "Fair Julian Bond" (1 text, 1 tune. The opening of this ballad clearly resembles Laws M9, but the conclusion is closer to M10. The fragmentary state of the text may indicate a conflate version)
Carey-MarylandFolkLegendsAndFolkSongs, pp. 105-109, "William Riley" (1 text, very long, which appears to combine "William Riley's Courtship" [Laws M9] and William (Willie) Riley (Riley's Trial)" [Laws M10])
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 38, pp.86-89, "William Riley's Courtship" (1 text)
Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 74, "Courtship of Willie Riley" (1 very long text, 1 tune)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 104, "Loving Reilly" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Forget-Me-Not-Songster, pp. 181-190, "William Reily's Courtship"+"Reily's Trial"+"Reily's Answer, Releasement and Marriage with Coolen Bawn" (sic). (1 continuous text, divided into sections for the three songs)
Hylands-Mammoth-Hibernian-Songster, pp. 118-119, "William Reilly's Courtship" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1987, p. 137, "Reiley's Courtship" (3 references)
MidwestFolklore, Mary O. Eddy, "William Reily's Courtshup: A
Nineteenth Century Broadside,'" Volume II, Number 2 (Summer 1952), pp. 113-118, "William Reily's Courship, trial, Answer, Releasement and Marriage With His Fair Coolen Bawn/Reily's Courtship" (1 text, 43 stanzas that I would guess are every Riley stanza they could fit in the available space)
cf. Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan, pp. 482-483, "William Reily's Courtship," "Reily's Trial," "Reily's Answer, Releasement, and Marriage with Coolen Bawn" (source notes only)
Roud #537
RECORDINGS:
cf. "The Footboy" (plot)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "William (Willie) Riley (Riley's Trial)" [Laws M10]
cf. "Erin's Lovely Home" [Laws M6] (plot)
cf. "Henry Connors" [Laws M5] (plot)
cf. "Jock Scott" (plot)
cf. "The Footboy" (plot)
NOTES [184 words]: Laws, following Cox, considers the three William Riley ballads (this one, William Reilly's Trial [Laws M10], and "Reilly's Answer, Releasement, and Marriage with Coleen Bawn" -- the last supposedly not found in tradition) to be a set of songs about the same character. The songs overlap, however, and may be the result of separate composition, with either M9 or M10 inspiring the other two. - RBW
Laws considers Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 74 to be both M9 and M10. This 78 verse version is divided by Creighton into "Riley's Courtship" (26 verses: meets Laws' description of M9), "Trial" (20 verses: meets Laws' description of M10), "Marriage" (32 verses: meets Laws' description "which has not, so far as I know," says Laws, "been recorded from tradition, Riley is sentenced to be transported and is freed through his own petition to the Lord Lieutenant in time to rescue the girl from Bedlam and marry her." What am I missing? As I've noted, Creighton-SongsAndBalladsFromNovaScotia 74, is one of Laws' sources for M9 and M10: why didn't he consider it for the "not ... recorded" Mx?). - BS
Last updated in version 6.1
File: LM09

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography