Considered by F.J. Child to be

one of the noblest and most sterling specimens of the popular ballad.

The song is a dialogue between a mother and son as to why her son has blood on his sword.

With versions to be heard from singers in Ireland, England, Scotland, Northern Europe and America it is understandable that versions and interpretations vary, as noted by Radie and Alan in their discussion of one particular line ‘The cutting of a rod’.  With some researchers purporting a possible allusion to incest Radie admits

The Bad Girl / Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime

Also known as: The Unfortunate Lass

Song Indexes: Roud 2

List of sound recordings: Mainly Norfolk (1) Mainly Norfolk (2)

These are two versions of a related song Radie learned from two different women singers, Shirley Collins and Frankie Armstrong.

When I was a young girl, I used to seek pleasure
When I was a young girl, I used to drink ale
Right out of an ale house down into the jailhouse
Right out of the barroom down to my grave.

Radie was drawn to the first-person voice of a dying woman who saw hell as her fate, and then to what lay behind her story. The cause in earlier versions of the song is clearly syphilis, a cause that seems to have become sanitised along the traditional journey. Did a form of self-censorship affect the transmission of these and other songs over time, with dark themes becoming less palatable to audiences, or presumed less ‘suitable’ for collectors’ ears?

Shirley Collins and Davy Graham recorded ‘Bad Girl’ on Folk Roots, New Routes (Decca, 1964). This was the version sung by the now widely acclaimed Virginian singer Texas Gladden (1895-1966). Gladden and Collins met during Alan Lomax’s recording expedition in 1959.

The other version ‘Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime’ learned by Radie is from English singer Frankie Armstrong.  She recorded the song on her first album Lovely on the Water (Topic, 1972) describing it as

A girl’s descent through seduction and syphilis to the grave is traced with implacable lyricism.

Love Henry / Young Hunting

Song Indexes: Roud 47 ; Child 68

List of sound recordings: Mainly Norfolk

This song sits out among the majority of murder ballads in the tradition as the woman is the protagonist rather than the victim, and admittedly one of the reasons Radie likes the song.

But in the Drawing from the Well performance and discussion around ‘Love Henry’ we learn something more than versions, we get an insight into how Radie approaches working a song to make it her own. ‘Love Henry’ began with listening to and learning from recordings made by Judy Henske and Peggy Seeger. Then came the process of adapting words, even changing the melody to allow the song sit comfortably in the hands of a 21st century singer.

And just as Radie has shaped Love Henry, she also leaves the door open for another generation to learn and adapt what she has done. It’s the process of the tradition …

Drawing from the Well 2021 with Radie Peat is available to view on the ITMA YouTube Channel and ITMA Facebook page. Please Follow/Subscribe.

The 2021 series is Supported by Bank of Ireland Begin Together Arts Fund in partnership with Business to Arts.

Some further reading and links on the themes discussed in Murder, Lust and Incest which may be of interest.

• Atkinson, David, ‘Incest and Edward’ in The English traditional ballad: theory, method and practice. (Routledge, 2002)
• Jenkins, Richard, ‘The unfortunate rake’s progress: a case study of the construction of folklore by collectors and scholars’ in Folklore, vol. 130, part 2 (2019)
• The Roud Folksong Index. Hosted by the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library at the English Folk Song & Dance Society.

For more information on Drawing from the Well, and other projects at ITMA, please stay in touch by signing up to our monthly newsletter, and subscribing to the ITMA YouTube channel

You can also follow us on:

Facebook          Twitter          Instagram