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Earl Brand / The Douglas Tragedy

[ Roud 23 ; Child 7 ; G/D 2:220 ; Ballad Index C007 ; DT DOUGTRAD , DOUGTRD3 ; Mudcat 74343 ; trad.]

It is somewhat difficult to understand why Francis Child catalogued the similar but quite distict ballads Earl Brand and The Douglas Tragedy both as Child No. 7 but gave the likewise similar ballad Erlinton its own Child No. 8.

Professor I.G. Greer of Thomasville, North Carolina, accompanied by his wife on dulcimer, recorded Sweet William and Fair Ellen, on 26 October 1929 for Paramount. This recording was included in 2015 on the Nehi anthology of British songs in the USA, My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean.

Mrs Victoria Morris of Mt. Fair, Albermarle County, Virginia sang Wake Up, Wake Up (Earl Brand) in a September 1950 recording that was included in 2017 on the Musical Traditions anthology of historic recordings of Appalachian singers and musicians, When Cecil Left the Mountains. Rod Stradling and/or Mike Yates noted:

Earl Brand leaves home with his sweetheart. But they are betrayed by one Carl Hood and the girl’s father and brothers (usually seven in number) chase after them. Earl Brand kills the brothers but, in doing so, is mortally wounded and dies. In true ballad form, the sweetheart then dies of a broken heart. It seems likely that the ballad comes originally from Scandinavia or the region that is now present-day Germany. In Denmark it was called Ribold and Guldorg or Hildebrand and Hilde, while in Germany it goes by the name Waltharius. It has been suggested that in Scandinavian versions either Odin or Woden takes on the role of Carl Hood.

Bella Higgins of Blairgowrie, Perthshire, sang The Douglas Tragedy in 1954 to Hamish Henderson. This recording was included in 2005 on the Kyloe anthology Hamish Henderson Collects.

Ewan MacColl sang The Douglas Tragedy in 1956 on his and A.L. Lloyd’s Riverside anthology The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (The Child Ballads) Volume III. This and 28 other ballads from this series were reissued in 2009 on MacColl’s Topic CD Ballads: Murder·Intrigue·Love·Discord. Kenneth S. Goldstein commented in the album’s booklet:

This superb tragic ballad is well known in the Northern European nations, from whose analogues we are able to develop the complete ballad, for certain details are lacking in both the Scottish and English versions of the ballad. Two lovers elope from the castle of the bride’s father, only to be stopped by a relative (friend) of the bride’s family. After some discussion as to whether he should be killed, the lovers decide to bribe him into not telling the bride’s father. No sooner do the lovers depart than the malicious relative rides to the castle and tells the bride’s father. This is the point at which the Scottish and English versions of the ballad begin their story.

A second interesting detail not found in the British variants concerns the fight between the hero and members of the bride’s family. In the Scandinavian versions, the hero warns his bride not to speak his name while he is fighting. That is obviously a remnant of the primitive belief that a man’s name and his soul are one, and that to reveal his name is to weaken his body. As the bride sees her brothers and father being killed, she calls out her lover’s name and at that moment he receives his death wound. From that point on the British and Scandinavian ballads tell almost identical stories.

The ballad appears to have been extinct in England since Child’s time; it has been reported frequently in America and still exists in tradition in Scotland.

MacColl’s version was learned from the singing of his mother.

Henry McGregor of Perth, Scotland, sang The Douglas Tragedy (Earl Brand) in 1955 to Peter Kennedy and Hamish Henderson. This recording was included in 2000 on the Rounder CD Classic Ballads of Britain and Ireland Volume 1 which is an extended re-issue of the Caedmon/Topic anthology The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 5.

Paul Brady sang The Jolly Soldier in 1976 on his and Andy Irvine’s eponymous Mulligan album Andy Irvine Paul Brady. He noted:

This is a modern variant of the old ballad of Earl Brand where the father and seven brothers are slain by the lover they are pursuing. In the older version, the lady asks Sweet William to have mercy when he comes to her father:

“O hold your hand Sweet William,” she said,
“Your bull baits are wondrous sair,
Sweet-hearts I may get many a one,
But a father I will never get mair.”

However the lady in this ballad has a better eye to business:

“Fight on,” cried the lady, “for his offer is too small!”
“Stay your hand,” says the old man, “and you shall have it all.”

Sara Grey sang Sweet William in 1994 on her Harbourtown album Sara. She noted:

In Child’s collection this is known as Earl Brand (Child No. 7). Some versions from North Carolina end with “the blood red rose grew from her breast and out of his a briar – growed to the top of the church etc true loves knot”. Several mention “her father’s heart tumbling by her foot”. In one version “Sweet William died of wounds – Barbary died for sorrow – his mother died far the love of both and buried on Easter Monday”. Texts without tunes can be found in Gavin Greig’s Folk Songs of the North-East. Texts with tunes can he found in Northumbrian Minstrelsy and Cox’s Folksongs of the South. In one version several Scottish and Lancashire dialect words are found. The song is a close parallel with the Danish ballad Ribold and Guldborg and could be of Germanic origin. The lavish version fills in key incident it the fight scene that no version in English retains. As Ribold prepares for the onslaught he warns his beloved that in no case whatsoever no matter how hard pressed he appears, is she to call his name. But seeing all her family slaughtered and her lover about to dispatch the final survivor her youngest brother Guldborg calls out “Ribold, Ribold put up your sword!”. At that very moment, Ribold receives his death wound. Operating ever this incident is the primitive belief in name taboos. Ribold is fighting with supernatural fury, to call his name is to reduce him in human strength. Also Ribold’s adversary gains magical power over him by learning his personal name.

It is also known, in Mr. Motherwell’s Minstrelsy of 1827, as The Douglas Tragedy, Sweet William being Earl William Douglas. Sir Walter Scott also includes it in his Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border:

The ballad of The Douglas Tragedy is one of the few, to which popular tradition has ascribed complete locality. The famr of Blackhouse, in Selkirkshire, is said to have been the scene of this melancholy event. […] This wild scene, now a part of the Traquair estate, formed one of the most ancient possessions of the renowned family of Douglass; for Sir John Douglas, eldest son of William, the first Lord Douglas, is said to have sat […] in a parliament of Malcolm Canmore, held at Forfar. […] It is said to have derived its name of Blackhouse from the complexion of the Lords of Douglas, whose swarthy hue was a family attribute […]

From this ancient tower Lady Margaret is said to have been carried by her lover. Seven large stones, erected upon the neighbouring heights of Blackhouse, are shown, as marking the spot where the seven brethren were slain; and the Douglas-burn is averred to have been the stream, at which the lovers stopped to drink. […]

Many copies of this ballad are current among the vulgar, but chiefly in a state of great corruption, especially such as hove been committed to the press in the shape of penny pamphlets. The copy used in this edition was supplied by Mr [Charles Kirkpatrick] Sharpe.

The Cecil Sharp Project (Steve Knightley, Jackie Oates, Andy Cutting, Caroline Herring, Jim Moray, Patsy Reid, Leonard Podolak, and Kathryn Roberts) sang Earl Brand in a recording from Theatre Severn, Shrewsbury, or Cecil Sharp House, London, in March 2011 on their CD Cecil Sharp Project 2011.

Jim Moray sang Lord Douglas in 2012 on his CD Skulk. This track was also awarded “Best traditional track” at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2013.

Jeff Davies sang Earl Brand in 2013 on his and Brian Peters’ CD Sharp’s Appalachian Harvest. Jeff Davies noted:

Sung by Philander H. Fitzgerald, Nash, Virginia, 7 May 1918 (Verses 1-3 from Mrs. Moore, Rabun County, Georgia, May 1909).

This ballad was almost unknown England, but still common in Scotland during Sharp’s time; he noted twelve versions in the mountains. The visit with Mr. and Mrs. Philander Fitzgerald was brief but profitable. Arguably, Mr. Fitzgerald had the best name, and the best beard, of the all the singers. The first three verses were collected by Olive Dame Campbell, who deserves much credit for inspiring Sharp’s interest in the mountain music. Mrs. Moore’s verses include the line about a ‘Quaker’s Queen’—a wonderful and peculiar notion.

Gigspanner Big Band sang Earl Brand in 2020 on their CD Natural Invention. They noted:

Another discovery from Cecil Sharp’s Appalachian collection. A beautiful tune, but a tragic story. However, we take the image of the rose and the briar to symbolise love conquering all in the end.

Lyrics

Mrs Victoria Morris sings Wake Up, Wake Up (Earl Brand)

“Wake up, wake up, you seven sleepers
And it’s to be warned of me
You take you up your oldest daughter dear
For the youngest’s just a-going with me”

He mount(ed) her on a milk-white steed
Himself upon the dapple grey
He drew his broadsword down by his side
And away went a-singing away

“Wake up, wake up, my seven sons bold
And put on your armour so bright
I will never have it said that a daughter of mine
Shall stay with a lord all night”

Ewan MacColl sings The Douglas Tragedy

“Rise up, rise up, Lord Douglas,” she cried,
“And put on your armour bright;
Let it never be said that a dochter o’ yours
Was married to a lord or knight.

“Rise up, rise up, my sieven bonnie sons,
And pit on your armour bright,
And tak’ better care o’ your youngest sister,
For the eldest’s awa’ last night.”

Lord William looked ower his broad shouther,
It made him blink his e’e,
And there he saw her sieven brithers
Riding ower the lea.

“Get doon, get doon, Lady Margaret,” he said,
“And hold my horse in your hand,
For I must fight your seven brithers
And against your faither stand.”

She took his horse in her milk-white hand,
And never a tear did fa’
Until she saw her sieven brothers slain
And her father like tae fa’.

“O, haud your hand, Lord William,” she said,
“For your straikes are wondrous sair.
There’s mony a lad that I can get
But a faither I’ll never get mair.”

“Then choose, then choose, Lady Margaret," he said,
“You maun choose for tae gang or tae bide.”
“I’ll ride wi’ you, Lord William,” she said,
“For you’ve left me no other guide.”

They rode on and further on,
They rode by the licht of the moon,
Until they cam’ to the bonnie burn side,
And there they ha’e lichted doon.

He lichted doon tae tak’ a drink
O’ the water that ran sae clear,
An’ doon the stream ran his hairt’s blood,
And sair she began tae fear.

“Rise up, rise up, Lord William,” she said,
“For I fear ye are slain.”
“’Tis naethin’ but the shadow of my scarlet coat
That shines in the water sae plain.”

They rode on and further on,
They rode by the licht of the moon,
Until they cam’ to his mither’s ha’ door,
And there they ha’e lichted doon.

“Rise up, rise up, lady mither,” he said,
“O, rise and let us in;
Rise up, rise up, lady mither,” he said,
“That the soonder we may sleep.”

Lord William died in the middle o’ the night,
Lady Margaret she died on the morrow;
Lord William died for the sake o’ his bride,
Lady Margaret she died for sorrow.

Lord William was buried in the old Kirk yard,
Lady Margaret in Mary’s quire,
On the one there grew a bonnie myrtle tree,
On the other a bonnie sweet briar.

They grew and they grew and sae high that they grew
Till they could grow not higher,
And they grew taegether in a true-love knot,
For true lovers tae admire.