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Diversus and Lazarus
Dives and Lazarus
[
Roud 477
; Child 56
; Ballad Index C056
; Bodleian
Roud 477
; GlosTrad
Roud 477
; Mudcat 47438
; trad.]
Dives and Lazarus is a story told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 16:19-31). It tells of an unnamed rich man and a poor beggar named Lazarus. In the Latin Bible, the unnamed rich man is referred to as Dives from dives, the Latin word for rich.
The ballad's variant Child 56A was taken from Joshua Sylvester's A Garland of Christmas Carols, ancient and modern, including some never before given in any collections, London, 1861. Sylvester cited “an old Birmingham broadside” as his source. Under 56A Child also cites a text in William Henry Husk's Songs of the Nativity (London, 1870s), derived “from a Worcestershire broadside of the last century”, and specifies the relatively minor particulars in which it differs from the main text. There are a number of broadside texts at Bodleian Library Broadsides, including four printed in Birmingham.
Dives and Lazarus is usually sung to a tune that is also used for other songs like Norfolk's Murder of Maria Marten, Scottish Gilderoy, and the Irish air Star of the County Down.
Ralph Vaughan Williams wrote an arrangement called Five Variants of Dives and Lazarus for harp and string orchestra.
Royston Wood sang Dives and Lazarus on the Young Tradition's eponymous first album, The Young Tradition. The album's liner notes commented:
Collected by both Sharp and Vaughan Williams, this is a simple but eloquent version of the story of rich old Dives who slighted the beggar Lazarus and got his desserts for doing so. The sung must have appealed to the countryfolk, who would have appreciated the idea of Lazarus, downtrodden on Earth, finding a place in Heaven, where he sits on an angel's knee. Since Royston started singing this song, it has undergone some subtle changes musically. The tune is related to the Irish air of Star of the County Down.
Swan Arcade learned Dives and Lazarus from the singing of Royston Wood and recorded it with their own tune for their 1983 LP, Together Forever. They noted:
The words came from Royston Wood when he sang with us. Heather [Brady] put them to this tune. The Story has a great sense of fair play which is not much on evidence in today's world.
June Tabor sang Dives and Lazarus in 1990 on her and the Oysterband's album Freedom and Rain.
Martin Simpson recorded Dives and Lazarus for his 2001 album The Bramble Briar.
Eliza Carthy sang Dives and Lazarus unaccompainied live at The Queen's Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland on 21 December 2003. The whole concert (with Rory McLeod, Mary Macmaster and lots of others) was published on the Green Linnet CD Cold Blow These Winter Winds.
Rick Kemp re-worked Diversus and Lazarus somewhat for Steeleye Span's 2004 CD They Called Her Babylon. He reasoned in the album's sleeve notes:
A perennial tale of haves and have nots, the dire consequences of greed and selfishness, the rewards of humility and frugality. This is assembled from several versions, and then wildly cut to make space for the riffs, but I think that the essence of the story remains.
And Steeleye Span's Maddy Prior sang Dives and Lazarus in 2008 on her Park solo album Seven for Old England. She noted:
Francis James Child collated the volumes of English and Scottish Popular Ballads between 1882-1898, and it is considered the major work of ballad lyric reference. By his numbering, this ballad is No 56 and it was apparently sung from memory by carol-singers at Christmas in Worcestershire, at Hagley and Hartlebury in 1829-39, although like all these printed versions, it will date frm much earlier, and is not now associated with any particular season.
James Findlay sang Sorry the Day I Was Married in 2011 on his Fellside CD Sport and Play. He noted:
A beautiful ballad taken from Luke 16:19-31. A classic Bible story of rich versus poor, bad versus good, and their final judgement before God. An oblique reference to the song appears as early as 1557 (A Ballad the Ryche Man and Poor Lazarus), but its place in the oral tradition—Cecil Sharp and Ralph Vaughan Williams collected versions—probably resulted from it being published in a popular chapbook, A Good Christmas Box, in 1847.
Derek Gifford sang Dives and Lazarus in 2015 on his WildGoose CD Songs from the Past … into the Future. He noted:
This was one of my early additions to my traditional repertoire which I learned from the singing of The Young Tradition. The simple moral of this tale of course is that if you're rich you'll go to hell and if you're poor you'll go to heaven—so we're all right!
Jon Wilks talked with Nick Hart Dives and Lazarus in April 2020 in Episode 7 of his Old Songs Podcast.
Lyrics
The Young Tradition's Dives and Lazarus | Steeleye Span's Diversus and Lazarus |
---|---|
As it fell out upon one day, |
As it fell out upon a day |
And it fell out upon that day, | |
Then Lazarus laid him down and down, |
Then Lazarus laid him down and down, |
“Thou are none of mine, brother Lazarus, |
“Thou art none of my brothers, Lazarus, |
Then Lazarus he laid him down and down, “Thou are none of mine, brother Lazarus, Then Lazarus he laid him down and down, “Thou are none of mine, brother Lazarus, | |
Then Diverus sent his merry men all |
Diversus sent his men |
Then Diverus sent his hungry dogs |
Diversus sent his hungry dogs |
Then it fell out upon one day, |
It fell out upon a day |
“Rise up, rise up, brother Lazarus |
“Rise up, rise up, my brother Lazarus, |
Then it fell out upon one day, |
And it fell out upon a day |
“Rise up, rise up, brother Diverus |
“Rise up, rise up, my evil brother, 𝄆 If I were alive again, |