Archie o Cawfield [Child 188]

DESCRIPTION: Archie is in prison for raiding. His brothers wish they could rescue him, and at last set out with ten men. Archie laments to his brothers that he is to die. The brothers break down the doors and escape the pursuing forces
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1780 (Percy papers)
KEYWORDS: borderballad prisoner escape rescue family brother punishment
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland) US(NE)
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Child 188, "Archie o Cawfield" (6 texts)
Bronson 188, "Archie o Cawfield" (7 versions)
Bronson-SingingTraditionOfChildsPopularBallads 188, "Archie o Cawfield" (3 versions: #1, #3, #7)
Gardham-EarliestVersions, "ARCHIE O' CAWFIELD"
Greig-FolkSongInBuchan-FolkSongOfTheNorthEast #75, pp. 2-3, "Johnnie Ha" (1 text)
Greig/Duncan2 244, "Johnnie Ha" (1 text)
Leach-TheBalladBook, pp. 509-516, "Archie o Cawfield" (2 texts)
Quiller-Couch-OxfordBookOfBallads 140, "Archie of Cawfield" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan 84, "Archie o' Cawfield" (1 text)
Warner-TraditionalAmericanFolkSongsFromAnneAndFrankWarnerColl 191, "Bold Dickie and Bold Archie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland, pp. 172-175, "Bold Dickie" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #4}
Buchan-ABookOfScottishBallads 34, "Archie o Cawfield" (1 text)
DT (187/188), (JOCKSIDE) JOHNWEBB*? BOLDARCH* BOLDARC2*
ADDITIONAL: Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 146, "The Bold Prisoner" (reproduction of a broadside page containing this and "The Land We Live In")
Michael Brander, _Scottish and Border Battles and Ballads_, 1975 (page references to the 1993 Barnes & Noble edition), pp. 264-269, "Archie o Cawfield" (1 text)
Leslie Shepard, _John Pitts, Ballad Printer of Seven Dials, London 1765-1844_, Private Library Association, 1969, p. 120, "The Bold Prisoner" (reprint of a Pitts broadside)
Roud #83
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Billy Broke Locks (The Escape of Old John Webb)" (tune & meter, theme)
cf. "Jock o the Side" [Child 187] (plot)
NOTES [152 words]: Child notes, "This ballad is in all the salient features a repetition of 'Jock o the Side' [Child #187], Halls playing the parts of Armstrongs."
Many American versions of this (Linscott-FolkSongsOfOldNewEngland's "Bold Dickie," Warner's "Bold Dickie and Bold Archie," and perhaps the variant printed by Barry in BFSSNE; the Gardner/Chickering-BalladsAndSongsOfSouthernMichigan text is still fairly Scottish) have taken on some American color, and it is possible that they are actually American inventions which have mixed with the British song. Or they may have seen influence from "Billy Broke Locks." The whole family is rather a mess.
Linscott claims that "It is known that the song was *not* sung by women." However, a number of field collections are from women. Indeed, based on names, it appears that slightly more women than men sang it (though there are a few informants whose gender is not clear). - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: C188

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