>
Frankie Armstrong >
Songs >
The Brown Girl
>
Martin Carthy >
Songs >
The Brown Girl
>
Steeleye Span >
Songs >
The Brown Girl
The Brown Girl
[
Roud 180
; Child 295
; Ballad Index C295
; MusTrad DB01
; Bodleian
Roud 180
; trad.]
Frankie Armstrong sang The Brown Girl in 1972 on her Topic album Lovely on the Water. A.L. Lloyd noted:
A proud, vengeful creature, spurned “because she was too brown”. The implication is, she wasn’t fine enough, ladies had lilywhite hands, skin as fair as milk; working girls got suntanned and coarsened in the field, unfit for gentlemen. The ballad, containing echoes of Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor, Barbara Allen, and others, doesn’t seem to have been very common it its original form, more or less as Frankie sings it. But in altered shape, in which it is the man, sometimes a sailor, not the girl who is slighted and pitiless, it had wildfire success in England as The Dover Sailor, and the USA, as A Rich Irish Lady.
Steeleye Span recorded The Brown Girl in 1976 for Rocket Cottage, their last album (and one of my favourites) with their “classic” line-up Tim Hart / Bob Johnson / Rick Kemp / Peter Knight / Nigel Pegrum / Maddy Prior.
Gay and Terry Woods sang The Brown Girl on their 1976 album The Time Is Right.
Martin Carthy sang The Brown Girl on his and Dave Swarbrick’s 1992 album Skin and Bone. He noted:
Francis James Child wrote in his notes to The Ride in the Creel, “no-one looks for decorum in pieces of this sort, but a passage in this ballad, which need not be particularised, is brutal and shameless almost beyond example.” He didn’t relish the prospect of nosey parents being treated with such a lack of respect. Noses put well out of joint—and a few other things beside.
Same in The Brown Girl, but informed by real anger. She’s thrilling, desirable, wanted—in fact fine and dandy, but only up to a point. When push comes to shove, though, the fact that he blows hot and cold then hot again, fuels a fury in her that is awesome to behold. No pity for the pitiless (and why should she). The tune is from the Sharp MS and called Sweet Kitty.
Gill Berry sang The Brown Girl in 2006 on Bob and Gill Berry’s WildGoose CD BitterSweet. This track was also included in 2007 on the WildGoose anthology Songs of Witchcraft and Magic. They noted:
An awesome song with undertones of revenge with the scorned lover finally dancing on his grave. Gill got this song from the singing of the great ballad singer Frankie Armstrong. Interestingly when Frankie heard Gill sing it several years later she was pleased to note that Gill had extra verses in her version. Gill doesn’t know where they came from! A fine example of “the folk process” at work.
Jon Boden learned The Brown Girl from the singing of Frankie Armstrong; and he sang it as the 30 November 2010 entry of his A Folk Song a Day project.
Lynne Heraud and Pat Turner sang The Brown Girl in 2019 on their WildGoose CD Watching for Winkles. They noted:
An English ballad from a 17th century working girl. She wasn’t quite the ticket, but she had hidden talents!
Angeline Morrison sang The Brown Girl as the title track of her 2022 album The Brown Girl and Other Folk Songs. She noted:
This song always strikes me as more of a revenge fantasy than an attempted homicide. The brown girl in this version feels slightly less hot and angry than she does in others—but she still knows her worth. As a teenage folkie I used to dream and wonder about whether the girl in the song might be my sort of brown (i.e., someone of colour). So this song was a sort of talisman to me, leaving a small space of possibility that I might find people like me in these songs. This song contains elements of ballads such as Barbara Allen, and Lord Thomas & Fair Eleanor/Ellender…
Derived from this song but with switched roles is The Sailor From Dover (Roud 180; Laws P9) as sung by e.g. A.L. Lloyd on his album A Selection From the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs.
Lyrics
Frankie Armstrong sings The Brown Girl
I am as brown as brown can be and my eyes as black as sloes,
I am as brisk as nightingale and wild as forest doe.
My love he was so high and proud, his fortune too so high,
He for another fair pretty maid left me and passed me by.
He sent to me a love-letter, he sent it from the town,
Saying no more he loved me because I was so brown.
I sent his letter back again, saying his love I valued not,
Whether he would fancy me or whether he would not.
When that six months were gone and past, were over gone and past,
Then did my love, once so bold, grow sick with love at last.
When that six months were past and gone, were over past and gone,
Then did my love, once so bold, lie on his bed and moan.
Oh, first he sent for the doctor-man, “You doctor must me cure.
The pains that now do torture me I can not long endure.”
Oh ne’er a bit the doctor-man his sufferings could relieve;
Never a one but the brown, brown girl that could his life reprieve.
Oh, then did he send from out the town, oh then he sent for me,
He sent for me, the brown, brown girl who once his wife should be.
Now you shall hear what love she had for that poor love-sick man,
How all one day, one summer’s day, she walked and never ran.
“I’ll do as much for my true love as any young girl may,
I’ll dance and sing all on his grave for a twelve month and a day.”
Steeleye Span sing The Brown Girl
I’m as brown as brown can be,
my eyes are black as sloes,
I’m as brisk as a night-time nightingale
as wild as the forest doe.
My love was high and proud,
a fortune by his side,
But a fairer maiden than ever I’ll be
he took to be his bride.
He sent me a letter of love,
he sent it from the town,
He wrote to tell me that his love was lost
because I was so brown.
I sent back his letter of love,
in anger I wrote down:
“Your love is wasted on such as me
because I am so brown.”
Chorus (after every other verse):
𝄆 I’ll dance upon your grave for twelve months and a day;
I’ll do as much for you as any maiden may.
I’ll make you rue the very day that you were born;
I’m a bonny brown girl. 𝄇
I heard not another word more
until six months passed by,
The doctor said he had a broken heart,
without me he would die.
I went to his bedside,
I walked and never ran,
I laughed so loud and then louder still
all at this love-sick man.
“I prithee forget,” said he,
“I prithee forget and forgive,
Oh, grant to me just a little space
that I may be well and live.”
I’ll dance upon your grave
for twelve months and a day.
You’ll die for betraying a bonny brown girl
all on one summer’s day.
Martin Carthy sings The Brown Girl
She said, I am brown as brown can be, I have eyes like a sloe,
I’m brisk as the nightingale, wild as any doe.
Chorus (repeated after each verse):
She sang lall lall de deedle derro
Lall lall de deedle derro
Sing lerril-lie-dee
Said, my love wrote a letter, a love letter from town,
That he could not love me cause I was so brown.
I sent it back again, I valued him not,
Whether he loved me or whether he not.
Now six months being over being over and past,
He wrote another letter he was sick unto death.
There never was a doctor could his pain relieve,
Would you go to him speedy and his life redeem?
Now you’ll hear the love she had for this lovesick man,
All that summer day she would walk, she’d not run.
Yes you’ll hear the love she had for this lovesick man,
She was a whole summer day in the mire walking on.
When she come to his bedside where he lay so weak,
She could not for laughing stand up on her feet.
And I’ll do as much for my love as any young girl may,
I’ll dance upon his grave for a twelve month and a day.
Gill Berry sings The Brown Girl
I am as brown as brown can be,
my eyes are black as sloe;
I am as wild as wild can be,
and free as any doe.
My love he comes from a high family,
his fortune too was high,
Oh he for another fair pretty maid
left me and passed me by.
My love he sent a letter,
he sent it from the town,
He said he could not fancy me,
because I was so brown.
Well I’ve sent his letter back again,
saying I valued not,
Whether he would fancy me,
or whether he would not.
Well then six months were past and gone,
six months were gone and past,
Oh when my lover, once so bold,
fell sick in bed at last.
At first he sent for the doctor-man,
saying, “Doctor you must me cure;
These pains that I do feel within
I cannot long endure.’
But nary a bit that doctor-man
his sufferings could relieve;
No nary a one but the brown, brown girl
his life she would revive.
So my love he sent a messenger,
a messenger to me,
At last he sent for the brown, brown girl,
who once his wife should be.
Well you shall hear what love she’s had
for this poor love-sick man,
Oh how she’s walked on that summer’s day,
yes walked and never ran.
And when she’s come to his bedside,
she’s laughed, she’s laughed, she’s cried,
She’s laughed so much she could not stand
upright upon her feet.
“You’ve slouted me, you’ve scouted me,
and many another one;
And now the time has come at last,
for all that you have done.”
She took a white wand in her hand,
she strake him on the breast:
“I give thee back thy love and troth,
so may thy soul have rest.”
“O prithee thee, forget, forgive,
o prithee thee forgive;
Take once again my love and troth,
that I may longer live!”
“O never will I forget, forgive,
never will I forgive;
I’ll dance, I’ll dance on the green, green grass,
while you do lie beneath!”
Angeline Morrison sings The Brown Girl
I am as brown as brown can be,
I have eyes as black as sloe.
I am as brisk as the nightingale,
and as wild as the forest doe.
My love he was so high and proud,
and his fortune too so high,
He for another fair pretty maid
left me, and passed me by.
He sent to me a love letter,
and he sent it from the town,
Saying no longer that he loved me,
because I was so brown.
I sent his letter back again,
saying his love I valued not,
Whether he would fancy me,
or whether he would not.
When that six months was gone and past,
was over, gone and past,
O then did my love, once so bold,
grow sick with love at last.
When that six months was past and gone,
was over, past and gone,
O then did my love, once so bold,
lie on his bed and moan.
O first he sent for the doctor man,
saying you doctor must me cure,
For the pains that now do torture me,
i cannot long endure.
O never a whit could the doctor man
his sufferings relieve,
O never a one but the brown, brown girl
who could his life reprieve.
O then did he send from out the town,
o then did he send for me!
He sent for me, the brown, brown girl
who once his wife should be.
O you shall hear the love she had
for this poor, lovesick man;
’Twas all on a day, on a long summer day,
she would walk, she never ran.
O I’ll do as much for my true love
as any a young girl may,
I’ll dance upon his grave and sing,
for a twelvemonth and a day.
Acknowledgements
Martin Carthy’s version transcribed by Garry Gillard. The Steeleye Span lyrics were taken from the CD sleeve notes and slightly adapted to the actual singing of Maddy Prior. Thanks to Graham Nelson and Patrick Montague for further correcting the lyrics.