Lord Lovel [Child 75]

DESCRIPTION: (Lord Lovel) is setting out on a voyage. (Lady Nancy) begs him not to go, but he is determined. Soon after he reaches his destination, he misses Nancy and turns for home. He finds that she has died for love of him. He proceeds to do the same
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1765 (letter from Horace Walpole to Percy); printed 1827 (Kinloch, Ancient Scottish Ballads, according to Child)
KEYWORDS: separation love death travel
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber,Bord,Hebr),England(All)) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,Ro,SE,So) Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (85 citations):
Child 75, "Lord Lovel" (11 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Bronson 75, "Lord Lovel" (71 versions+3 in addenda)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 75, "Lord Lovel" (7 versions: #8, #23, #32.1, #42, #46, #53, #57)
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "LORD LOVEL"
Lyle/McAlpine/McLucas-SongRepertoireOfAmeliaAndJaneHarris, pp. 144-145, "Lord Revel" (1 text)
Buchan/Moreira-TheGlenbuchatBallads, pp. 127-128, "Lord Lovell" (1 text)
Lyle-Andrew-CrawfurdsCollectionVolume1 20, "Lord Level" (1 text)
Porter/Gower-Jeannie-Robertson-EmergentSingerTransformativeVoice #77, p. 255-257, "Lord Lovat (Lord Lovel, Child 75)" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #32.1}
Williams-FolkSongsOfTheUpperThames, pp. 145-146, "Lord Lovel" (1 text) (also Williams-Wiltshire-WSRO Wt 371)
Cologne/Morrison-WiltshireFolkSongs, pp. 51-52, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
OShaughnessy-YellowbellyBalladsPart2 32, "Lord Lovell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud/Bishop-NewPenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs #122, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dixon-AncientPoemsBalladsSongsOfThePeasantryOfEngland, Ballad #6, pp. 78-80, "Lord Lovel" (1 text)
Bell-Combined-EarlyBallads-CustomsBalladsSongsPeasantryEngland, pp. 134-136, "Lord Lovel" (1 text)
Barry/Eckstorm/Smyth-BritishBalladsFromMaine pp. 139-148, "Lord Lovel" (3 texts plus 1 fragment, 2 tunes); p. 482 (additional notes) {Bronson's #36, #48}
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 52-54, "Lord Lovel" (1 text plus reference to 5 more; also texts of two Civil War parodies, the first of which, Ga, is "The New Ballad of Lord Lovell")
Randolph 17, "Lord Lovel" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #38}
Randolph/Cohen-OzarkFolksongs-Abridged, pp. 34-37, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 17A) {Bronson's #38}
Rainey/Pinkston-SongsOfTheOzarkFolk, p. 13, "Lord Lovell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnold-FolkSongsofAlabama, pp. 124-125, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune0 {Bronson's #17}
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 20, "Lord Lovel and Lady Nanca Bell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Eddy-BalladsAndSongsFromOhio 13, "Lord Lovel" (5 texts plus an excerpt, 4 tunes; the "E" text has its first line from "The New Ballad of Lord Lovell (Mansfield Lovell)" but is still this song) {Bronson's #30, #46, #59, #68}
Grimes-StoriesFromTheAnneGrimesCollection, p. 25, "Lord Lovel" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 6, "Lord Lovel" (1 text plus mention of 2 more, 1 tune) {Bronson's #63}
Peters-FolkSongsOutOfWisconsin, pp. 202-203, "Lord Lovell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown-VermontFolkSongsAndBallads, pp. 215-216, "Lord Lovell" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #22}
Flanders-AncientBalladsTraditionallySungInNewEngland2, pp. 148-173, "Lord Lovell" (12 texts plus a fragment, 5 tunes) {L=Bronson's #22}
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 233-235, "Lord Lovell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Davis-TraditionalBalladsOfVirginia 20, "Lord Lovel" (12 texts plus 3 fragments, of which "M" may not be this song; 4 tunes; 21 more versions mentioned in Appendix A) {Bronson's #18, #9, #45, #5}
Davis-MoreTraditionalBalladsOfVirginia 20, pp. 146-151, "Lord Lovel" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 21, "Lord Lovel" (2 texts plus 2 excerpts and mention of 3 more)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 21, "Lord Lovel" (6 excerpts plus a one-line fragment, 7 tunes)
Chappell-FolkSongsOfRoanokeAndTheAlbermarle 11, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #62}
Smith-SouthCarolinaBallads, #VI, pp. 121-124, "Lord Lovel" (2 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 2 more; 1 tune) {Bronson's #12}
Joyner-FolkSongInSouthCarolina, pp.41-42, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morris-FolksongsOfFlorida, #158, "Lord Lovell" (3 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #59, #69}
Hudson-FolksongsOfMississippi 12, pp. 90-91, "Lord Lovel" (1 text)
Hudson-FolkTunesFromMississippi 16, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #35}
Ritchie-FolkSongsOfTheSouthernAppalachians, pp. 16-17, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wolfe/Boswell-FolkSongsOfMiddleTennessee 12, pp. 24-25, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thomas/Leeder-SinginGatherin, p. 29, "Lord Lovell" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #54}
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #8, "Lord Lovel" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Scarborough-ASongCatcherInSouthernMountains, pp. 99-102, "Lord Lovell" (2 texts plus a fragment; 2 tunes on pp. 389-390) {Bronson's #8, #25}
Scarborough-OnTheTrailOfNegroFolkSongs, pp. 55-56, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14}
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 12, "Lord Lovel" (7 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #58, #41}
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 21 "Lord Lovel" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 5 tunes){Bronson's #33, #34, #6, #47, #7}
Sharp-OneHundredEnglishFolksongs 26, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #11}
Shoemaker-MountainMinstrelsyOfPennsylvania, pp. 146-147, "Lord Lovel" (1 text) (pp. 124-125 in the 1919 edition)
Carey-MarylandFolkLegendsAndFolkSongs, p. 97, "Lord Lovall" (1 text)
Wells-TheBalladTree, pp.108-109, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior-TraditionalSongsOfNovaScotia, pp. 41-43, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #40, #39}
Pottie/Ellis-FolksongsOfTheMaritimes, pp. 96-97, "Lord Lovell and Lady Nancee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner-FolkSongsAndBalladsOfTheEasternSeaboard, 48-49, "Lord Lovell" (1 text)
Leach-TheBalladBook, pp. 250-252, "Lord Lovel" (2 texts)
Friedman-Viking/PenguinBookOfFolkBallads, p. 97, "Lord Lovel" (2 texts, but the "B" text is "Abe Lincoln Stood at the White House Gate")
Quiller-Couch-OxfordBookOfBallads 155, "Lord Lovell" (1 text)
Cazden/Haufrecht/Studer-FolkSongsOfTheCatskills 33, "In Search of Silver and Gold" (1 text, 1 tune -- a facsimile of an "improved" version by George K. Hamilton which provides a happy ending for the piece)
Thompson-BodyBootsAndBritches-NewYorkStateFolktales, pp. 380-381, "Lord Lovell" (1 text)
McNeil-SouthernFolkBalladsVol1, pp. 93-95, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Niles-BalladBookOfJohnJacobNiles 30, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, p. 70, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #12}
Lomax-FolkSongsOfNorthAmerica 209, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pound-AmericanBalladsAndSongs, 2, pp. 4-6, "Lord Lovel"; pp. 6-7, "Lord Lover" (2 texts)
Cox-FolkSongsSouth 12, "Lord Lovel" (3 text plus mention of two more)
Cox/Hercog/Halpert/Boswell-WVirginia-A, #8A-C, pp. 32-37, "Lord Lovell," "Lord Lovell" (3 texts, 1 tune, but the "C" text is "The New Ballad of Lord Lovell (Mansfield Lovell)") {Bronson's #61}
Bush-FSofCentralWestVirginiaVol4, pp. 88-90, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gainer-FolkSongsFromTheWestVirginiaHills, pp. 45-46, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roberts/Agey-InThePine #17, "Lord Lovel" (1 text)
Boette-SingaHipsyDoodle, pp. 11-13, "Lord Lovell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #159, p. 1, "Lord Lovel" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan6 1232, "Lord Lovel" (8 texts, 7 tunes) {A=Bronson's #3? (Bronson prints no text), B=#4, E=#31}
MacColl/Seeger-TravellersSongsFromEnglandAndScotland 9, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Munnelly/Deasy-TheMountCallanGarland-Tom-Lenihan 38, "Lord Levett" (1 text, 1 tune)
Whitelaw-BookOfScottishBallads, p. 183, "Lord Lovel" (1 text)
Wolf-AmericanSongSheets, #1307, p. 89, "Lord Lovel" (1 reference)
Morgan-MedievalBallads-ChivalryRomanceAndEverydayLife, pp. 74-75, "Lord Lovel" (1 text)
Darling-NewAmericanSongster, pp. 44-46, "Lord Lovell" (1 text, plus texts of "Abe Lincoln Stood at the White House Gate" and "The New Ballad of Lord Lovell")
Fireside-Book-of-Folk-Songs, p. 96, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 178, "Lord Lovel" (1 text)
New-Comic-Songster, p. 62, "Lord Lovell and Nancy Bell" (1 text, 1 tune)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, Frank L. Warner [nephew of Frank M. Warner], "Songs My Uncle Taught Me" Vol. XI, No. 1 (Jul 1963), p. 27, "Lord Lovel" (1 text)
NorthCarolinaFolkloreJournal, W Amos Abrams, "Della Adams Bostic: Sweet Singer of Old Songs," Vol. XXI, No. 3 (Sep 1973), p. 143-144, "Lord Lovel" (1 text)
SongsOfAllTime, pp. 58-59, "Lord Lovell" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 75, LORDLOVL
ADDITIONAL: Flemming G. Andersen, "Technique, Text, and Context: Formulaic Narrative Mode and the Question of Genre," in Joseph Harris, editor, _The Ballad and Oral Literature_ Harvard University Press, 1991, p. 28, "Lord Lovat" (1 text, from Stanley Robertson)
Roud #48
RECORDINGS:
Winifred Bundy, "Lord Lovel" (AFS, 1941; on LC55)
Acie Cargill and Susan Brown, "Lord Lovel" (on HCargillFamily)
Nora Cleary, "Lord Levett" (on IRClare01)
Ethel Findlater, "Lord Lovel[l]" (on FSB4, FSBBAL1)
Lizzie Higgins, "Lord Lovat" (on LHiggins01)
Tom Lenihan, "Lord Levett" (on IRTLenihan01, IREarlyBallads)
Lucindia Perkins, "Lord Lovell" (on JThomas01)
Frank Proffitt, "Lord Lovel" (on FProffitt01)
Jean Ritchie, "Lord Lovel" (on JRitchie01)
Roxana Robinson, "Lord Lovel" (Piotr-Archive #699, recorded 10/01/2023)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2205), "Lord Lovel" ("Lord Lovel he stood at his castle gate"), J. Pitts (London), 1833-1851; also 2806 c.13(214), Firth c.21(17), Johnson Ballads 550 [some words illegible], Harding B 11(2204), Harding B 11(955), Harding B 26(380), "Lord Lovel"; Harding B 26(380), "Lord Lovel and Nancy Bell"
LOCSinging, as108050, "Lord Lovel" ("Lord Lovel stood at his castle gate"), J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Lily Lee" (plot)
cf. "Bright Phoebe" (plot)
cf. "Mother, Mother, Make My Bed" (floating verses)
cf. "Abe Lincoln Stood at the White House Gate" (lyrics, form)
cf. "The New Ballad of Lord Lovell (Mansfield Lovell)" (lyrics, form)
SAME TUNE:
Sam Cowell (Barry/Eckstorm/Smyth-BritishBalladsFromMaine p. 147; cf. the notes to "Billy Barlow (II)")
King Matty and Blair ("King Matty he sat in his big 'white house'") (Lawrence-MusicForPatriotsPoliticiansAndPresidents, p. 278)
Old Sukey ("Old Sukey she stood at the college gate, a-scratching her milk-white ear") (Henry Randall Waite, _Carmina Collegensia: A Complete Collection of the Songs of the American Colleges_ first edition 1868, expanded edition, Oliver Ditson, 1876, p. 94)
The Murray Cod ("Mister Gubbins was standing just outside his shop And he seemed in a deuce of a hurry") (by Charles R. Thatcher) (Anderson-ColonialMinstrel, p. 112)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Lord Lovinder
NOTES [244 words]: Although Child treated this as an entirely serious ballad, Bronson calls it "too too insipid," and believes it survives only because of its tune.
Comic versions are common. Sandy Paton states that Child refused to print a comic text that came to his attention. Cazden et al state that "At least nine of the versions compiled by Bronson may be identified as comic [and we note that many others might be but are fragmentary]"; they find a comic version in America as early as 1836. Numerous other parodies, comic versions, and rewrites are also listed -- Flemming G. Andersen suggests that this is because of the very sentimental ending, which invites exaggeration.
Stanley Robertson (Jeannie Robertson's nephew) explained the plot on the ground that Lord Lovat was going on crusade, which explains why Lady Nancy was willing for him to leave; she approved of his course.
It is sometimes stated that this is the original source of the rose-and-briar motif now widely associated with "Bonny Barbara Allan" [Child 84], though I don't believe this has been proved. Interestingly, some versions, such as Roxana Robinson's, substitute the gillyflower for the briar. The gillyflower is sometimes associated with heaven, so perhaps this is to indicate the lovers' fate. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging as108050: J. Andrews dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 6.8
File: C075

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