Standard Bearer, The

DESCRIPTION: "Upon the tented field a minstrel knight Beside his standard lonely watch was keeping... He strikes his lute while all around is sleeping." "The lady of my love I will not name. Although I wear her colors as a token." He dies in battle repeating his credo
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1869 (Wandering-Refugee-Songster)
KEYWORDS: soldier death music | knight
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Wandering-Refugee-Songster, p. 20, "The Standard Bearer" (1 text)
Wallace-Vocal-Gems-Songster, p. 60, "The Standard Bearer" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #2235, p. 150, "The Standard Bearer" (4 references)
Roud #23526
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, Crawford.EB.2400, "Standard Bearer," W. McCall (Liverpool), n.d.; also Crawford.EB.3789, "The Standard Bearer," Walker (Durham), n.d.
NOTES [102 words]: Although this is common in broadsides, I have not been able to find the author. Maybe whoever it was refused to put his name on such a piece of silliness; the number of "minstrel knights" was, to a first approximation, zero, and if a soldier knew a battle was coming the next day, his approach would generally be to get his weapons ready!
There is a somewhat similar song, also called "The Standard Bearer," that opens "The night now sleeps! the blue stars gem the sky." This is apparently a translation of a German song, "Die Fahnenwacht." I wonder if this song is also a reminiscence of that German original. - RBW
Last updated in version 7.1
File: WRSo020

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