> Louis Killen > Songs > The Bramble Briar / Bruton Town
> Martin Carthy > Songs > Bruton Town
> Sandy Denny > Songs > Bruton Town
> Tony Rose > Songs > The Murdered Servantman

The Bramble Briar / Bruton Town / The Murdered Servantman

[ Roud 18 ; Laws M32 ; Ballad Index LM32 ; Old Songs TwoCruelBros ; MusTrad DB21 ; VWML CJS2/10/263 ; Wiltshire 582 ; Mudcat 159779 ; trad.]

Bruton Town is a version of the story Isabella and the Pot of Basil, made famous by Boccaccio in The Decameron, but the ballad obviously draws on popular tradition since then. It is also known as The Bramble Briar, The Jealous Brothers, The Merchant's Daughter, and The Murdered Servantman, and can be found in 100 English Songs, edited by Cecil Sharp who collected it in 1904.

A.L. Lloyd sang The Bramble Briar in 1956 on his and Ewan MacColl's Riverside anthology Great British Ballads Not Included in the Child Collection. His songs from this series were reissued in 2011 on his Fellside anthology Bramble Briars and Beams of the Sun.

Louis Killen sang The Bramble Briar in 1964 on his LP Ballads & Broadsides (reissued on the Topic CD anthology English and Scottish Folk Ballads) and he sang it as Bruton Town in 1989 on his cassette The Rose in June. Angela Carter commented in the original album's sleeve notes:

Country singers have titled this passionate old ballad Bruton Town, The Brakes o’ Briar and, oddly, Strawberry Town. John Keats called the narrative poem he made out of the same story, Isabella and the Pot of Basil. But the story itself may not have been new when Boccaccio first set it down in writing in the fourteenth century. Hans Sachs also liked the story and put it into verse a couple of centuries after Boccaccio’s prose. So the theme has certainly not been without its share of literary admirers. But perhaps the stark language of balladry suits it best of all.

The ballad is not included in F.J. Child’s compendium. Some scholars think it was translated directly from the Italian of the Decameron into English broadside verse, perhaps in the seventeenth century. Versions have appeared in print this century from Somerset and Hampshire, usually with tunes of startling beauty. This tune comes from a Mrs. Joiner of Hertfordshire, who learned most of her songs when, as a little girl, she went to a ‘plaiting school’ where she and her friends exchanged songs and stories as they plaited straw, later to be made into straw hats. (They learned to read in between times.) This tune and a partially collated text are printed in The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs.

Alex Campbell sang Bruton Town in 1965 on his Transatlantic album Yours Aye, Alex. This track was also included in 2005 on his Castle anthology Been on the Road So Long.

Martin Carthy sang Bruton Town in 1966 on his Second Album. He commented in the album's sleeve notes:

In The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, A. L. Lloyd writes “this is based on a story that was probably not new when Boccaccio made it famous in the 14^th century. Hans Sachs put it into verse some two hundred years later and Keats rewrote it as the Ballad of Isabella and the Pot of Basil.” It would appear that Keats's version owes more to Boccaccio while the English traditional variants of the song have a lot in common with Sachs's version. The tune is from Mrs Overd of Langport, Somerset [ VWML CJS2/10/263 ] , with a composite text.

Ewan MacColl sang The Bramble Briar (Strawberry Town) in 1966 on his Topic album The Manchester Angel, and the Critics Group sang Strawberry Town on their 1970 album Living Folk. MacColl commented in the former album's notes:

This powerful story of social misalliance is perhaps the most notable ballad omission from the Child canon. Many writers and collectors have traced the plot to Philomena’s story in the fourth day of The Decameron, later versified by Hans Sachs in The Murdered Lorentz and by Keats in Isabella and the Pot of Basil. The tune used here is the one taken down from George Whitcombe at Westhay, Meare, Somerset, in 1906-7. The text is largely that given by Mrs Joiner of Chiswell Green in Hertfordshire, to Lucy Broadwood, in 1914. Both text and tune have undergone substantial changes in the course of being sung over the years.

Queen Caroline Hughes sang The Brake of Briars in a recording made by Peter Kennedy in her caravan near Blandford, Dorset, on 19 April 1968. It was published in 2012 on the Topic anthology of songs by Southern English gypsy traditional singers, I'm a Romany Rai (The Voice of the People Series Volume 22).

Davy Graham Bruton Town in 1968 on his Decca album Large As Life and Twice As Natural.

Pentangle sang Bruton Town in 1968 on their eponymous first Transatlantic album The Pentangle. They also sang in live at the Royal Festival Hall, London, 29 June 1968 which was released in the same year on their second album, Sweet Child, and at the Cambridge Folk Festival 2011.

Maddy Prior sang Bruton Town in 1968 on Tim Hart's and her duo album Folk Songs of Old England Vol. 1. The record's sleeve notes commented:

The village of Bruton in Somerset claims to be the locale of this ballad there being a lengthy version on the wall of a local public house. The story of the girl who severs the head of her dead lover whom her brothers have murdered, hides it in a pot of herbs and dies lamenting, has been used by many writers including Boccaccio (1313-1373) in his story of Isabella and Lorenzo, Hans Sachs (1494-1571) and more recently Keats in his Isabella and the Pot of Basil, although in his version she merely finds the body. The tune, which is in the Dorian mode, and the first verse come from Mrs. Overd of Langport in Somerset, whilst the remainder is from the singing of Mrs. Joiner of Chiswell Green in Hertfordshire.

Sandy Denny recorded Bruton Town live at the Paris Theatre, London, on 16 March 1972 for BBC “Radio 1 in Concert”, broadcast on 25 March 1972. This recording was published for the first time in 1986 on her anthology Who Knows Where the Time Goes? and later in 2004 on A Boxful of Treasures and in 2007 on the 3CD+DVD set Live at the BBC.

Martin Simpson recorded The Bramble Briar in 2001 as the title track of his album The Bramble Briar. Martin Carthy played guitar on the album, but not on this track.

Bellowhead learned Bruton Town from Folk Songs of Old England and recorded it in 2008 for their album Matachin. Jon Boden sang Bruton Town again as the 12 November 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.

Tony Rose recorded this song as The Murdered Servantman in 1976 for his third LP On Banks of Green Willow. A live recording of Bruton Town with quite different verses from Cheltenham Folk Club in 1969 was included in 2008 on his CD Exe. Tony Rose commented in the 1976 album's sleeve notes:

Another ballad with a distinguished literary pedigree is The Murdered Servantman, whose plot is traceable through Keats (Isabel and the Pot of Basil) and Hans Sachs to Boccaccio, which means the story is probably pre-14^th century. Not so Frank Purslow, in whose The Wanton Seed the song can be found!

Nancy Kerr and James Fagan sang Strawberry Town on their 2002 Fellside CD Between the Dark and Light.

Ed Rennie sang In Bruton Town in 2004 on his Fellside CD Narrative.

CrossCurrent sang Bruton Town in 2005 on their CD Momentum.

Sara Grey sang The Jealous Brothers in 2009 on their Fellside CD Sandy Boys.

George Gardiner collected A Famous Farmer in 1907 from Elizabeth Randall, aged 50, in Axford, Hampshire. Sarah Morgan sang this version in 2009 on the WildGoose CD The Axford Five.

Brian Peters sang The Brake of Briars in 2010 on his CD Gritstone Serenade.

Bryony Griffith sang The Murdered Servant Man in 2011 on her and Will Hampson's CD Lady Diamond. They learned it “from the book The Wanton Seed edited by Frank Purslow” and their verses are quite similar to Tony Rose's.

Arthur Knevett sang Bramble Briar on his 2016 CD Simply Traditional. He commented in his liner notes:

This ballad is based on the first part of a story included in Giovanni Boccaccio's 14^th century of collections (The Decameron; fifth story on the fourth day). The German poet and playwright Hans Sachs put the story into verse some 200 years later and English translations of the story were printed around the same time. In the 19^th century Keats rewrote it as Isabella: or The Pot of Basil. Clearly the story has had wide currency over a long period of time and it is not surprising that it has been turned into a ballad. Most English versions give the location as Bruton Town, though Cecil Sharp collected a Somerset version called Strawberry Town and Lucy Broadwood noted a Hertfordshire version called Lord Burling's Daughter. The version I sing here is from the singing of Bert Lloyd and it is interesting that he gives the location as Burling Gap.

Kelly Oliver sang The Bramble Briar on her 2018 CD Botany Bay. She noted:

Sung by Mrs Joiner in Chiswell Green, Hertfordshire, 1914.

A murder ballad of two evil brothers, one unassuming victim, and one revengeful sister.

Burd Ellen sang Bramble Briar on their 2019 CD Silver Came. Debbie Armour noted:

The tumbling melody and heartbreaking words are from Lou Killen's singing, but the story is an old one. The tale appears in Boccaccio's Decameron and has inspired the likes of Keats.

Jim Moray sang The Bramble Briar on his 2019 CD The Outlander. He noted:

Learned from Ewan MacColl's album The Manchester Angel. I think the tune started out as the standard version collected from Mrs Overd by Cecil Sharp [ VWML CJS2/10/263 ] , but is all the more interesting for Ewan's alterations.

Rosie Hodgson sang A Bruton Farmer in 2020 on The Wilderness Yet's eponymous album The Wilderness Yet. This video shows them at Wickfolk on 17 March 2019:

Patterson Dipper sang The Murdered Servantman on their 2021 album Unearthing. They noted:

5/4 time is rare in the original collections of English folk song but The Murdered Servantman, a song which has relationships with many others telling the same or similar stories, for example The Bramble Briar and Bruton Town, is one. James [Patterson]has long known this from its arrangement by Tony Rose and it is included in The Wanton Seed, one of Frank Purslow’s published selections of songs from the Hammond and Gardiner collection.

Lyrics

Acknowledgements

Martin Carthy's Bruton Town and Tony Rose's The Murdered Servantman were transcribed by Garry Gillard.