> A.L. Lloyd > Songs > Fair Margaret and Sweet William
> Shirley Collins > Songs > Lady Margaret and Sweet William
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Fair Margaret and Sweet William

[ Roud 253 ; Master title: Fair Margaret and Sweet William ; Child 74 ; G/D 2:337 ; Ballad Index C074 ; Fair Margaret and Sweet William at Fire Draw Near ; LittleMarg at Old Songs ; VWML HAM/3/18/6 ; Bodleian Roud 253 ; trad.]

David Herd: Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc., Maud Karpeles: The Crystal Spring James Kinsley: The Oxford Book of Ballads John Jacob Niles: The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles Jean Ritchie: Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians.

Daw Henson of Billy’s Branch, Kentucky, sang Lady Margaret and Sweet William on 11 October 1937 in a recording made by Alan Lomax for the Library of Congress. It was included in 2015 on the Nehi anthology of It in the USA, My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. Steve Roud noted:

Even Child commented on there being too many ‘Sweet Williams’ and ‘Lady Margarets’ in traditional ballads, and this one is sometimes confused with the ubiquitous Lord Thomas Brown Girl (Roud 4, Child 73). But it has a long history in its own right, being collected regularly in Britain and America in the 20^th century, with the earliest known printing dating from the 17^th century. The traditional ballad was rewritten by David Mallet and published as the poem Fair Margaret’s Ghost about 1724.

Cecil Sharp collected Fair Margaret and Sweet William from Jeff Stockton of Flag Pond, Unicoi County, Tennessee, on 4 September 1916. His son William Henry Stockton sang Sweet William and Lady Margaret to Maud Karpeles in September 1950, and Emma Shelton from Alleghany, North Carolina, sang Fair Margaret and Sweet William to Maud Karpeles on 10 August 1956. Both Karpeles recording were included in 2017 on the Musical Traditions anthology of historic recordings of Appalachian singers and musicians 1927-1955, When Cecil Left the Mountains. Mike Yates and Rod Stradling noted:

Versions of the Old-world ballad Fair Margaret and Sweet William have turned up repeatedly in the American South. Cecil Sharp collected three English versions, and seventeen Appalachian ones. Early versions appear in Rimbault’s Musical Illustrations of Bishop Percy’s Reliques (1850) and Chappell’s Popular Music of the Olden Time (1855-59). Both versions contain verses which also occur in other ballads, such as Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard (Child 81), Barbara Allen (Child 84) and Lord Lovel (Child 75).

A.L. Lloyd sang Fair Margaret and Sweet William in 1956 on his and Ewan MacColl’s Riverside album of Child ballads, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads Volume II. All of his ballads on this series were reissued in 2011 on his Fellside CD Bramble Briars and Beams of the Sun.

Pete Seeger sang Fair Margaret in 1957 on his Folkways album American Ballads and in 1963 on his Columbia live album We Shall Overcome: The Complete Carnegie Hall Recording 8 June 1963. He noted on the Folkways album:

This ballad was one of the first I ever learned, in 1935, from the country lawyer and old-time banjo picker of Ashville, North Carolina, Bascom Lunsford. My thanks to him. It is a medieval vignette, and the last verses describing the conversation between Lady Margaret’s ghost and her false lover are as close as we get to superstition in this LP.

Jean Ritchie sang Sweet William and Lady Margaret in 1960 on her Folkways album British Traditional Ballads in the Southern Mountains, Volume 2. Kenneth S. Goldstein noted:

This ballad traces back to at least the beginning of the 17^th century, for two stanzas from it are quoted in Beaumont and Fletcher’s Knight of the Burning Pestle (ca. 1611). By the end of the 18^th century, it had been printed frequently as a broadside or stall ballad, which may account for its popularity in tradition. Similarly, in America, where it has been collected frequently in versions quite far removed from the Child texts, frequent printings in early popular songsters may have accounted for its widespread distribution.

Like The Unquiet Grave, this ballad is a rich repository of popular superstitious beliefs: in it we find ghostly visitants, gruesome dream omens, the death kiss, and the continuity of love after death in the rose-and-briar motif.

Jean’s version, learned from Justus Begley of Hazard, Kentucky, corresponds closely to Coffin’s story type A.

For additional texts and information, see: Child, Volume II, p. 74 ff.; Coffin, pp. 76-78; Dean-Smith, p. 65; Sharp, Volume I, pp. 132-145; Brown Collection, Volume II, pp. 79-84; Davis, pp. 138-145.

Hedy West sang Little Margaret in 1964 on her Vanguard album Hedy West Volume 2.

Trees sang Lady Margaret in 1970 on their CBS album The Garden of Jane Delawney.

Almeda Riddle from Heber Springs, Arkansas, sang Lady Margaret in 1972 on her Rounder album Ballads and Hymns From the Ozarks.

Martin Howley of Fanore, north-west Clare, sang this ballad as The Old Armchair in July 1974 to Jim Carroll and Pat Mackenzie. This recording was included in 2004 on the Musical Traditions anthology Around the Hills of Clare. The collectors noted in the accompanying booklet:

The ballad of Fair Margaret and Sweet William was first quoted in part in the Beaumont and Fletcher play The Knight of the Burning Pestle in 1611, the first full text being a broadside or stall copy published in Percy’s Reliques in 1767.

While it has been found in the oral tradition in England and Scotland, it seems to have survived best among singers in the United States; all other sound recordings are American. The only other version to have turned up in Ireland was in the Percy manuscripts and had been written down by the mother of the Bishop of Derry in 1776.

Martin [Howley] learned his version “when I was very young” from a travelling woman named Sherlock some ninety years ago.

Martin Howley also sang this with the title Knight William at home in Ballyinagh, Fanore, Co Clare, on 10 August 1975 to Tom Munnelly. This recording was included in 1985 on the Folk Music Society of Ireland anthology Early Ballads in Ireland 1968-1985, reissued on CD in 2015 by An Goílín.

Shirley Collins sang this ballad as Lady Margaret and Sweet William in 1976 on her album The Power of the True Love Knot; it was also included in her anthology A Favourite Garland. She noted on the original album:

Another song from Jean Ritchie, as sung to her by Justus Begley of Hazard, Kentucky. There are more complete versions, but none I can find explain why Sweet William passed up Lady Margaret, or how she died or how he died. But with all its ambiguities, or maybe because of them, it remains the outstanding ballad of its type where the true-lover’s knot triumphs over human pride, tragedy and death.

Evelyn Ramsey sang Little Margaret to Mike Yates at her home in Sodom Laurel, Madison County, North Carolina on 29 August 1980. This recording was included in 1999 on the EFDSS anthology Root & Branch 1: A New World and in 2002 on the Musical Traditions anthology of songs, tunes and stories from Mike Yates’ Appalachian collections, Far in the Mountains Volume 2. Mike Yates and Rod Stradling noted:

Versions of the Old-world ballad Fair Margaret and Sweet William have turned up repeatedly in the American South. Cecil Sharp collected three English versions, and seventeen Appalachian ones, including two sets from Sodom Laurel singers. Early versions appear in Rimbault’s Musical Illustrations of Bishop Percy’s Reliques (1850) and Chappell’s Popular Music of the Olden Time (1855-59). A 1950’s Folkways recording by Bascom Lamar Lunsford is available on cassette from Smithsonian Folkways.

Dave Arthur with Pete Cooper and Chris Moreton (who later became Rattle on the Stovepipe) sang Little Margaret in 2003 on their WildGoose album Return Journey. They noted:

During the final session of a recent storytelling residency in a primary school, I gave the children the option of requesting anything that we’d done over the ten weeks, the top choice was the supernatural ballad of Little Margaret.

One of my sources for the song, Bascom Lamar Lunsford, the North Carolina lawyer, had actually learnt it from a nine year old girl. So it has gone full circle. He said of Little Marget (sic):

This fine text and melody is a centuries-old tale, with supernatural overtones that make it peculiarly effective. One time when visiting the Roaring Forks section of Madison County, N.C., I heard little nine-year old Alice Payne sing this song, just as given here. She had learned it from her mother and grandmother and had never seen a written copy.

So a song sent out into the world by a little girl in North Carolina, was loved and learnt by children in a village in the south of England seventy years later, and I’m sure some of them will be singing it to their children and grandchildren in years to come.

My other inspiration was a recording by banjo player, Obray Ramsey, played to me in Philadelphia, in the 1970s, by Kenny Goldstein. One of my all time favourite pieces of traditional singing. First quoted in Beaumont and Fletcher’s The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1611):

When it was grown to dark midnight
And all were fast asleep
In came Margaret’s grimly ghost
And stood at William’s feet.

Fair Margaret and Sweet William probably did the rounds as a broadside ballad before being pinned between the pages of Ramsey’s Tea-Table Miscellany (1740) and later Bishop Percy’s Reliques (1765). It has been collected throughout Britain, America and Canada.

June Tabor sang Fair Margaret and Sweet William in 2003 on her Topic CD An Echo of Hooves. Her version was collected by Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles from Jeff Stockton of Flag Pond, Tennessee in 1916. It is much older though; according to June Tabor’s notes it was first mentioned in Beaumont and Fletcher’s 1611 play The Knight of the Burning Pestle.

Mary Humphreys and Anahata sang Fair Margaret and Sweet William in 2004 on their WildGoose album Floating Verses. Mary Humphreys noted:

Collected by H.E.D. Hammond from Mrs Crawford, West Milton Dorset in May 1906 [VWML HAM/3/18/6] . We are not given any of the background to the disruption in the relationship between the two protagonists, but one can surmise that the reasons for Sweet William choosing a ‘nut-brown bride’ is the same as in many of the other love-triangle ballads— that of houses and land. Nut-brown was a derogatory term for a plain woman, that could also describe a sallow-skinned or sunburnt woman.

The verse relating to the rose and briar makes the end of the ballad a little less bleak for the listener. It is a motif that occurs elsewhere, notably Barbara Allen and Lord Thomas and Lady Eleanor.

John Brennan sang Lady Margaret and Sweet William live at he Bridge Folk Club’s fiftieth birthday party; this recording was released on the folk club’s anniversary CD 50 Years of Folk Music in Newcastle.

Pete Coe sang Fair Margaret and Sweet William in 2010 on his Backshift CD Backbone.

The Long Hill Ramblers sang Little Margaret on their 2012 EP Downs Barn Demo and on their 2014 album Beauty and Butchery. They noted:

Laura [Hockenhull] got this song from Obray Ramsey’s 1957 record Blue Ridge Banjo, recorded in the Western North Carolina State Hospital. It seems to be the same version as sung by the traditional singer Dellie Norton and her family from Sodom Laurel, Madison County, North Carolina.

Jim Moray sang Fair Margaret and Sweet William in 2016 on his CD Upcetera. He noted:

Words from Jeff Stockton of Flagpole, Tennessee, collected by Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles on 14 September 1916. The tune is my own.

Hannah Sanders and Ben Savage sang Lady Margaret on their 2016 album Before the Sun. Ben Savage noted:

Often confused with Little Musgrave, with which this ballad shares a number of verses, but telling a radically different tale. The eerie dream verses, with wild boar and a bride bed full of blood is so striking that by the time we realise Margaret has killed herself we are unsurprised, and the song’s crux comes in William’s stricken plan to join her.

SykesMartin sang Little Margaret on their 2022 album Unquenching Fire.

Cohen Braithwaite-Kilcoyne sang Sweet William and Lady Margaret on his 2024 album of English Folk Song in the Caribbean and Black America, Play Up the Music!. He noted:

Between 1916 and 1918, Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles spent a total of 46 weeks collecting folk songs in Appalachia, amassing a collection of over 1500 songs, predominantly taken down from the descendants of early British settlers who brought the old songs with them to America. The pair collected a total of three songs from Black American singers, two from Sinda Walker of Hyden, Kentucky in 1917, and one from Aunt Maria Tomes of Nellysford, Virginia in 1918. The diaries of both Sharp and Karpeles are full of glowing reports of the character and singing skills of these two women.

Sweet William and Lady Margaret is one of the two songs that was taken down from Sinda Walker. The ballad dates to at least the early seventeenth century and in The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Francis James Child discusses the connection between this ballad and Lord Thomas and Fair Annet which was, coincidentally, the second song that Sinda Walker sang for Sharp and Karpeles.

Lyrics

Emma Shelton sings Fair Margaret and Sweet William

Sweet William he arose one morning in May
He dressed himself in blue
“And pray can you tell me, that long, long love
Between Lady Margaret and you?”

“Oh I know nothing of Lady Margaret” he said
“Lady Margaret knows nothing of me
Tomorrow morning, about eight o’clock
Lady Margaret my bride shall see”

Lady Margaret was in her dower room
Combing back her yellow hair
She saw Sweet William and his new wedded wife
As they drew near to her

Oh down she threw her ivory comb
And back she threw her hair
And running to her bed chamber
To never no more appear

That very same night they were all in the bed
They were all in the bed asleep
Lady Margaret she arose and stood all alone
And sung at Sweet William’s bed feet

Saying, “How do you like your bed, Sweet William?
Or how do you like your sheet?
Or how do you like your new-wedded wife
That lies in your arms asleep?”

“Very well, very well, I like my bed
Very well I like my sheet
But ten thousand time better do I like the lady gay
That stands at my bed feet”

Sweet William he arose and stood all alone
He tingled at the ring
There was none so ready as her dear old mother
To arise and let him come in

“Oh where’s Lady Margaret” he said
“Oh where’s Lady Margaret?” he cried
“Lady Margaret is a girl I always adored
She has stolen my heart away

“Or is she in her dower room?
Or is she in her hall?
Or is she in her bed chamber
Among those merry maids all?”

“She is neither in her dower room
Nor neither in her hall
Lady Margaret she is in her cold coffin
With her pale faced turned to the wall”

Oh down he pulled those milk-white sheets
That was made of satins so fine
“Ten thousand times she has kissed my lips
So lovely, I’ll kiss thine”

Three times he kissed her cherry, cherry cheek
Three times he kissed her chin
And when he kissed her cold clay lips
His heart it broke within

Saying “What will you have at Lady Margaret’s burying?
Will you have some bread and wine?”
“Tomorrow morning, about eight o’clock
The same may be had at mine”

They buried Lady Margaret in the old churchyard
They buried Sweet William there
Out of Lady Margaret’s grave sprung a deep red rose
And out of William’s a briar

They grew to the top of the old church house
They could not grow any higher
They met and tied in a truelove’s know
And the rose hung on the briar

Jean Ritchie sings Sweet William and Lady Margaret

Sweet William arose one May morning,
And he dressed himself in blue,
We want you to tell us something about
That long love between Lady Marg’ret and me,
𝄆 But tomorrow mornin’ at eight o’clock,
Lady Marg’ret my bride shall see. 𝄇

Lady Margaret was standing in her own hall door
A-combin’ down her hair,
When who should she spy but Sweet William and his bride
And the lawyers a-riding by.
O she threw down her ivory comb,
Bound her hair in silk,
𝄆 And she stepped out of her own hall door
To never return any more. 𝄇

Well the day bein’ past and the night a-comin’ on
When most all men was asleep,
Sweet William a-spied Miss Lady Margaret’s ghost
A-standin’ at his own bed feet.
O how do you like the bed, she asked him,
And it’s how do you like the sheet?
𝄆 And it’s how do you like that pretty fair miss
That’s a-layin’ in your arms so sweet? 𝄇

Very well, very well do I like my bed,
Very well do I like my sheet,
𝄆 But the best one of all is that pretty fair miss
That’s a-standin’ at my own bed feet. 𝄇

Well the night bein’ past and the day comin’ on
When most all men was at work,
Sweet William he said he was troubled in his head
From a dream that he dreamed last night.
Such dreams, such dreams they are no good,
Such dreams they are no good;
𝄆 For I dreamt my hall was a-filled with wild swine
And my truelove a-swimming in blood. 𝄇

He called his merry men to his side
And counted one, two, three.
And the last one of them, go ask of my bride,
Lady Margaret I might go and see.
Well he rode and he rode to Miss Lady Margaret’s hall,
Tingled all on the ring,
𝄆 No one was so ready as Lady Margaret’s brother
To rise and welcome him in. 𝄇

O is she in her garden, he asked him,
Or is she in her hall?
Or is she in the upper parlour
Amongst those ladies all?
She neither is in her garden, he answered,
She neither is in her hall,
𝄆 But yonder she lies in her cold coffin
That’s a-sitting by the side of the wall. 𝄇

Fold down, fold down those milk white sheets,
They’re made of linen so fine;
Tonight they shall hang o’er my Lady Margaret’s corpse
And tomorrow they shall hang over mine.
Yes, fold down, fold down those milk white sheets,
Made of linen so fine,
𝄆 May I go and kiss those clay cold lips?
For they oftentimes have kissed mine. 𝄇

Well first he kissed her on her cheek
And then he kissed her chin,
And then he kissed her clay cold lips
Which crushed his heart within.
Lady Margaret she dies as it might be today,
Sweet William he died tomorrow,
𝄆 And out of her grave there sprang a red rose,
And out of his a briar. 𝄇

They grew and they grew to the steeple top.
They could not grow no higher,
𝄆 And there they tied a truelover’s knot
For all young people to admire. 𝄇

Shirley Collins sings Lady Margaret and Sweet William

Sweet William arose one May morning
And dressed himself in blue;
We want you to tell of something about
The long love between Lady Margaret and you.

“I know nothing of Lady Margaret’s love,
I’m sure she don’t love me.
But tomorrow morning at eight o’clock
Lady Margaret my bride shall see.”

Lady Margaret sat in her own hall door,
A-combing down her hair,
When she saw Sweet William come a-riding by,
Bringing his new bride home.

She first threw down her ivory comb,
Tied up her long yellow hair,
And out of the door went this lady gay,
To never return any more.

Now late that night when William was in bed,
And most all men was asleep,
lady Margaret’s ghost came to Sweet William’s side
And stood at his own bed feet.

Saying, “How do you like your snow-white pillow?
How do you like your sheet?
And how do you like the new found bride
That’s a-lying in your arms asleep?”

“Very well, very well do I like my pillow,
Better do I like the sheet,
But the best one of all is that pretty little girl
That’s a-standing at my own bed feet.”

So early next morning when William awoke,
And most all men was at work,
Sweet William said he was troubled in his head
By the dreams that he dreamed last night.

“Such dreams, such dreams I do not like,
Such dreams they are no good.
I dreamed that my hall was filled with wild swine,
Lady Margaret was drowning in blood.”

So he called his comrades to his side
And numbered them one, two, three,
And the last one of them, “Go tell my bride
Lady Margaret I’ve gone to see.”

He rode till he came to Lady Margaret’s hall,
Pulled all on the ring.
There’s none so ready as Lady Margaret’s brother
For to rise and let him in.

“Now, is she in the garden?,” he said,
“Or is she in the hall?
Or is she in the upper parlour
Among them ladies all?”

“She neither is in the garden,” he said,
“Nor yet into the hall,
But yonder she lies in her cold coffin
With her pale face turned to the wall.”

Lady Margaret was buried in the old churchyard,
William lay anigh her,
And out of her grave grew a red, red rose
And out of his a briar.

They grew and they grew on the old church tower
Till they could grow not higher
They met and they twined in a true lover’s knot,
The red rose around the briar.

Evelyn Ramsey sings Little Margaret

Little Margaret is sitting in her high hall door
Combing back her long yellow hair
She saw Sweet William and his new made bride
Go riding by so near.

She threw down her ivory comb
Threw back her long yellow hair
Said, “I’ll go down and bid him farewell
And never more go there.”

It was late in the night
They were fast asleep
Little Margaret ’peared all dressed in white
Standing at their bed feet.

Said, “How do you like your snow-white pillow?
How do you like your sheets?
How do you like that pretty fair maid
Who lies in your arms asleep?”

“Very well do I like my snow-white pillow,
Well do I like my sheets.
Much better do I like that pretty fair maid
Who stands at my bed feet.”

He called for his serving man to go
Saddle his dapple roan.
And he rode to her father’s house that night
And knocked on the door alone.

Said, “Is Little Margaret in her room?
Or is she in the hall?”
“Little Margaret’s in her cold black coffin
With her face turned t’ward the wall.”

“Unfold, unfold those snow-white robes
Be they ever so fine.
For I want to kiss those cold, cold lips,
For I know they’ll never kiss mine.”

First he kissed her on the chin.
Then he kissed her cheek.
And then he kissed her cold corpsy lips,
And he fell in her arms asleep.

June Tabor sings Fair Margaret and Sweet William

Sweet William arose on a May morning
And he dressed himself in blue;
We want you to tell of that long love that’s been
Between Lady Margret and you.

“Oh, I know nothing of Lady Margret’s love,
And I know she don’t love me.
Before tomorrow morning at eight of the clock
Lady Margret a bride shall see.”

Lady Margret was a-sitting in her own bower room,
Combing back her yellow hair,
And she saw Sweet William and his new wedded bride
And the lawyers a-riding by.

It’s down she stood her ivory comb
And back she threw her hair,
And it’s you may suppose and be very well assured,
Lady Margret was heard no more.

The day being past and the night coming on,
When most all men were asleep,
Something appeared to Sweet William and his bride
And stood at their bed feet.

Saying, “How do you like your bed making
And how do you like your sheets?
And how do you like that new wedded bride
That lies in your arms and sleeps?”

“Very well do I like my bed making
Much better do I like my sheets,
But best of all is that gay lady
That stands at my bed feet.”

The night being past and the day coming on,
When most all men were awake,
Sweet William he said he was troubled in his head
By the dreams that he dreamed last night.

“Such dreams, such dreams cannot be true,
I’m afraid they’re of no good.
I dreamed that my chamber was full of wild swine
And my bride’s bed floating in blood.”

He’s called down his waiting men
One by two by three,
Saying, “Go and ask leave of my new wedded bride
If Lady Margret I mayn’t go and see.”

He’s rode up to Lady Margret’s own bower room
And tingled all on the ring,
And who was so ready as her own born brother
To rise and let him in.

“Is Lady Margret in her own bower room
Or is she in her hall?
Or is she high in her chambery
Amongst the ladies all?”

“Lady Margret’s not in her own bower room
Nor neither is she in her hall,
But she is in her long cold coffin
Lies pale against yon wall.”

“Unroll, unroll those winding sheets
Although they’re very fine,
And let me kiss them cold pale lips
Just as often as they’ve kissed mine.”

It’s first he’s kissed her ivory cheeks
And then he’s kissed her chin,
And when he kissed them cold pale lips
There was no breath within.

Three times he’s kissed her ivory cheeks,
Three times he’s kissed her chin,
And the last time he kissed them cold pale lips
It crushed his heart within.

Lady Margret died like it might be today,
Sweet William he died on tomorrow,
Lady Margret she died for pure true love,
Sweet William he died for sorrow.

Lady Margret was buried in yons churchyard,
Sweet William was buried by her,
And out of her grave sprung a red, red rose,
Out of his a green, green briar.

And they both growed up the old church wall
Till they could not grow any higher
And they met and they tied in a true love’s knot,
Red rose around green briar.