Locks and Bolts [Laws M13]

DESCRIPTION: The singer misses his love. Her parents, learning she loved a poor man, locked her away (in her uncle's house). The young man breaks the locks and rescues her (possibly fighting a battle along the way). The two are married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1876 (Christie, _Traditional Ballad Airs I_); a song "Locks and Bolts Do Hinder" was in William Thackeray's broadside catalog by 1690
KEYWORDS: love poverty separation rescue marriage
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,Ro,SE,So) Britain(England)
REFERENCES (24 citations):
Laws M13, "Locks and Bolts"
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety, pp. 168-169, "Locks and Bolts" (1 fragment)
Randolph 110, "I Dreamed of My True Lover" (2 texts, 1 tune)
High-OldOldFolkSongs, p. 24, "They Will Fite for Each Other" (1 short text)
McNeil-SouthernFolkBalladsVol1, p. 74, "Rainbow Willow"; pp. 75-76, "I Dreamt Last Night of My True Love" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Arnold-FolkSongsofAlabama, p. 62, "Last Night I Dreamed of My True Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brown/Belden/Hudson-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore2 84, "Locks and Bolts" (1 text)
Brown/Schinhan-FrankCBrownCollectionNCFolklore4 84, "Locks and Bolts" (1 excerpt, 1 tune)
Chappell-FolkSongsOfRoanokeAndTheAlbermarle 74, "Sylvania Lester" (1 text)
Hubbard-BalladsAndSongsFromUtah, #67, "Rainbow Willow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moore/Moore-BalladsAndFolkSongsOfTheSouthwest 96, "Rainbow Willow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Owens-TexasFolkSongs-2ed, p. 54, "I Dreamed Last Night of My True Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster-BalladsAndSongsOfIndiana 65, "Locks and Bolts" (1 text from tradition plus a text from the Pepys Ballads)
Sharp-EnglishFolkSongsFromSouthernAppalachians 80, "Locks and Bolts" (5 texts, 5 tunes)
Sandburg-TheAmericanSongbag, p. 149, "I Dreamed Last Night of My True Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thompson-BodyBootsAndBritches-NewYorkStateFolktales, p. 399, "(no title)" (1 text)
Kennedy-FolksongsOfBritainAndIreland 162, "Locks and Bolts" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-EightyEnglishFolkSongs 31, "Locks and Bolts" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version)
MacColl/Seeger-TravellersSongsFromEnglandAndScotland 79, "Locks and Bolts" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Chase-AmericanFolkTalesAndSongs, pp. 132-133, "Locks and Bolts" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord-BothySongsAndBallads, pp. 438-441, "The Lass o' Bennochie" (3 texts, very diverse; the second is mixed with this song)
Abrahams/Foss-AngloAmericanFolksongStyle, pp. 111-112, "Rainbow Willow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber/Silber-FolksingersWordbook, p. 145, "Locks And Bolts" (1 text)
DT 328, LOCKBOLT*
Roud #406
RECORDINGS:
George Maynard, "Locks and Bolts" (on Maynard1) (on FSBFTX15)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Locks and Bolts" (on NLCR16)
Almeda Riddle, "Locks and Bolts" (Vanguard VRS-9158, n.d.); "Rainbow 'Mid Life's Willows" (on LomaxCD1707)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Iron Door" [Laws M15] (theme: girl locked away by father)
cf. "The Gallant Shoemaker" (theme: girl locked away by father)
cf. "The Sailor and His Love" (theme: girl locked away by father)
cf. "The Lass o' Bennochie" (theme: girl locked away by father)
cf. "Johnie Scot" [Child 99] (theme: girl locked away by father)
cf. "Bredalbane" (theme: girl locked away by father)
cf. "The Farmer's Daughter and the Gay Ploughboy" (theme: girl locked away by father)
cf. "William (Willie) Riley (Riley's Trial)" [Laws M10] (theme: girl locked away by father)
cf. "Behind the Cold Iron Door" (theme: girl locked away by father)
cf. "Andrew Lammie" [Child 233] (theme: girl locked away by father[?])
cf. "All Over Those Hills" (theme)
cf. "The Drowsy Sleeper (II)" (theme)
cf. "The Farmer's Daughter and the Gay Ploughboy" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Lass o' Bennachie
At the Back o' Bennachie
NOTES [150 words]: "Rainbow 'Mid Life's Willows" is a truncated version of the song, ending with the singer's lamenting his separation from his true love; his breaking down the door is omitted. It does contain the key line, "Locks and chains [bolts] doth hinder," which places it as a version of this song.
The versions of "Locks and Bolts" found in MacColl/Seeger-TravellersSongsFromEnglandAndScotland, "The Lass o' Bennachie" and "At the Back o' Bennachie" should not be confused with the song indexed as "Where Gadie Rins", although the latter is also called "The Back o' Bennachie" and was collected from the same singer as MacColl/Seeger's "B" text. The songs are different. - PJS
Belden-BalladsSongsCollectedByMissourFolkloreSociety notes a song from Martin Parker called "The Lover's Joy and Grief" with the burden "but locks and bolts doe hinder." It is not clear what is its relation with the present song. - RBW
Last updated in version 5.0
File: LM13

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