Forglen (Forglen You Know, Strichen's Plantins)

DESCRIPTION: The singer comes across young lovers who are preparing to part. The man wishes he did not have to go, but he has no choice. He praises her in many lyric ways, some not obviously complimentary: "Your love is like the moon That wanders up and down."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Greig/Duncan8)
KEYWORDS: love separation parting
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #158, p. 1, "Brigtown's Plantins"; #2, pp. 1-2, "Strichen's Plantins"; #4, p. 3, "Strichen's Plantins"; "Folk-Song in Buchan," pp. 64-66, "In Strichen You Know" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 1 tune)
Greig/Duncan8 1547, "Strichen's Plantins" (30 texts, 19 tunes)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 79-80, "Forglen You Know" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: W. Christie, editor, Traditional Ballad Airs (Edinburgh, 1876 (downloadable pdf by University of Edinburgh, 2007)), Vol II, pp. 228-229, "As One Day I Chanc'd to Rove" (1 text, 1 tune)

Roud #6286
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Curragh of Kildare" (lyrics, form)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Forglen's Plantins
Forglen's Woods
In Strichen You Know
In Brigtown You Know
NOTES [113 words]: Versions of this take whole stanzas from the "Curragh of Kildare/Winter It Is Past" family; whether there is dependence I don't know.
The reference to David and his family being banished probably refers to 1 Samuel 22:3-4; although David himself had fled Saul three chapters earlier, this is the first reference to his family going into exile (in Moab).
The reference to Lazarus appears to be the Lazarus of Luke (16:19-31), not the Lazarus of John, even though Luke's Lazarus is simply the subject of a parable, not a real person; this is not the only instance in traditional song of this Lazarus being treated as real. - RBW
The second text in Greig #158 is Christie's text. - BS
Last updated in version 2.6
File: Ord079

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

The Ballad Index Copyright 2024 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.