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Young Girl Cut Down in Her Prime / The Unfortunate Lass / Bad Girl

[ Roud 2 ; Laws Q26 ; Ballad Index LQ26 ; VWML CJS2/10/2309 , GG/1/21/1431 ; GlosTrad Roud 2 ; DT UNFORTLS , LAREDS11 ; Mudcat 22885 ; trad.]

Young Girl Cut Down in Her Prime is one of countless songs of the Unfortunate Rake family. It was collected by Frances Jekyll from an unnamed singer in East Meon, Hampshire, in 1909 and printed both in the Journal of the Folk Song Society in 1913 and in Ralph Vaughan Williams’ and A.L. Lloyd’s The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. A.L. Lloyd commented in the book:

At the end of the eighteenth century a homiletic street ballad spread in England concerning the death and ceremonial funeral of a soldier “disordered” by a woman. It was called The Unfortunate Rake (in Ireland) or The Unfortunate Lad (on the broadside printed by Such). Many singers know it as St James’s Hospital. It is still a common song in the British Army, though printed versions are few. English sets have been reported from Yorkshire and Hampshire. Our song represents a later development, in which the sexes are reversed, but the ceremonial funeral is retained. Versions of this form have been recorded from Oxfordshire and Somerset as well as the present Hampshire version. In America, the song has been adapted to the cattle range (The Cowboy’s Lament or The Streets of Laredo) and the gambling hall (St James’ Infirmary). The motif of the ceremonial funeral remains constant, despite all the transformations of the chief character.

Texas Gladden of Salem, Virginia, sang The Bad Girl in August 1941 to Alan and Elizabeth Lomax. This recording was included in 1978 on the Blue Ridge Institute album in their Virginia Traditions series, Ballads From British Tradition, and in 2001, with the title One Morning in May on her Rounder anthology in the Alan Lomax Collection, Ballad Legacy. This album’s booklet noted:

This is widely sung as the story of the dying cowboy who has been shot in the heart. Most Americans know it as The Streets of Laredo, with the last verse, “beat the drum slowly and play the fife lowly, for I’m a young cowboy and know I’ve done wrong.” Texas Gladden is singing another version of the song, where the protagonist is dying of syphilis, not from a gunshot. In Gladden’s text, “my body’s salivated” is not a reference to salvation, but to the toxic effects of the mercury that was administrated in times past as a treatment for venereal disease.

An earlier Irish version found in print was called The Unfortunate Rake, and the form of the song has given birth to many parodies such as The Dying Aviator. In other versions it is known as St James Hospital, or as the blues/Dixieland song Saint James Infirmary. Gladden’s version presents the story from a young woman’s viewpoint. It has been suggested that the “roses” the dying person asked to be placed on the coffin were more to kill the smell of decay than to “soften the clods as they fall.”

The beauty and intensity of Texas Gladden’s singing has created a performance of this song that stands alone in American music. The voice of her protagonist is female; the song starts with “when I was a young girl, 1used to seek pleasure.” Gladden’s singing transcends the moralising that underlies other versions, transforming the song into a personal contemplation of tragedy and death.

Shirley Collins learned Bad Girl from the singing of Texas Gladden, and recorded it in 1964 with Davy Graham for their album Folk Roots, New Routes. She also sang Young Girl Cut Down in Her Prime in 1970 on her and her sister Dolly’s album Love, Death & the Lady.

Norma Waterson sang this song with the title The Unfortunate Lass on her and her sister Lal’s 1977 Topic album A True Hearted Girl. The title of that record was taken from the words of this song. This track was also re-released on the 1992 CD Green Fields and in 2004 on the Watersons’ 4CD anthology Mighty River of Song.

Norma’s daughter Eliza Carthy sang a quite different version of The Unfortunate Lass with the Ratcatchers (Jon Boden, John Spiers, Ben Ivitsky) on her 2005 album Rough Music. She noted:

This is put together from a few different sources. There are hundreds of versions of this song from all over the world, all with heartbreaking words, and this one contains lines from England, Aberdeen, Ireland, the West Indies and the American South. “My body’s salivating” refers to the reaction that the body has when taking mercury as a cure for syphilis.

Jim Causley sang Young Man Cut Down in His Prime in 2005 on the Fellside anthology of English traditional songs and their American variants, Song Links 2, and Sara Grey sang the related American variant The Bad Girl (One Morning in May). Paul Adams noted on the first song:

[…] It was later in the life of the song that variants appeared where a woman was the victim. The Unfortunate Lass was collected in Wiltshire by Gardiner, There Is a Young Girl, collected by Francis Jekyll at East Meon, Hampshire in 1909 and Sharp collected The Comely Maiden from ‘Shepherd’ Hayden at Bampton 1909. Lucy Broadwood who collected widely in Sussex and Surrey in the 19^th century noted: “A version of this was sung to me, inappropriately enough, by a little girl of seven in a Sussex field.”

and on The Bad Girl:

Widely sung in America, this song is known by many titles, The Streets of Laredo and the Dixieland version Saint James’s Infirmary being the best known. There’s The Unfortunate Rake, The Wild Lumberjack, The Cowboy’s Lament (“Once in the saddle I used to look handsome” is one opening line and “My home’s in Montana, I wear a bandanna” is another). The theme of death caused by venereal disease is a harsh fact that many people would have had to face, so it is little wonder that the song was adapted to new locations. In some variants there are new circumstances—one of them being that in The Dying Cowboy he dies of gunshot wounds.

This version is from the great Virginia singer, Texas Gladden. She called it One Morning in May, or The Bad Girl, and here the roles are reversed, it’s the young woman who has the disease. Texas, who was a strict Mormon, would, I imagine, have thought of the song as a warning to young women, but when she sang it, there was compassion there too.

Sara Grey says that when she sang The Bad Girl some years ago at the Kilmarnock Folk Club in Scotland, an old shepherd in the audience told her that the tune was a lament written by the Scottish piper, MacCrimmon. Since the MacCrimmons have been hereditary pipers to the MacLeod of MacLeod clan, from well before the 17^th century, this could be a very old tune indeed. It’s remarkable that it was so well preserved in the Virginia Mountains.

Jon Boden sang Eliza Carthy’s version of The Unfortunate Lass as the 17 November 2010 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.

Fay Hield sang Bad Girl’s Lament on Martin Simpson’s 2011 Topic album Purpose+Grace. He noted:

One of the marvellous aspects of folk songs is their ability to move and to morph. There is no better example then The Unfortunate Rake, an 18^th century English song about a young man expiring of syphilis. The song became When I Was on Horseback in Ireland, The Streets of Laredo and Tom Sherman’s Bar Room in the Western US, and St. James Infirmary and The Dying Crapshooter’s Blues. The main character [changes] from Rake to Cowboy to Soldier and Sailor, and here changes gender. The Bad Girl’s Lament, also known as One Morning in May, comes from the singing of Texas Gladden, a traditional singer who knew 300 songs by memory. She was recorded by Alan Lomax in Virginia in 1941.

In this video, Fay sings the Bad Girl’s Lament at the Bristol Folk Festival in April 2011:

Bella Hardy sang True Hearted Girl on her 2013 CD Battleplan. She noted:

This is an amalgamation of variants of The Unfortunate Rake collection of songs, which includes Young Girl Cut Down in Her Prime, The Unfortunate Lass, When I Was on Horseback, St James’ Infirmary, and Bad Girl (Roud 2). Concerning a girl dying of syphilis, I’ve taken the date of 14^th of May from When I Was on Horseback, and set it back a couple of weeks to tie in with a famous rhyme concerning first day of May activities (which would explain the contracting of the disease). My name for this song is a nod to Norma Waterson’s version which was always a favourite; she calls it The Unfortunate Lass, but used the True Hearted Girl title for the album by herself and Lal on which it appeared.

The Askew Sisters sang The Young Girl Cut Down in Her Prime in 2014 on their RootBeat CD In the Air or the Earth. They commented in their liner notes:

[…] In contrast to these two ballads, the young woman in The Young Girl Cut Down in Her Prime has accepted the onset of death and is resigned to her fate. The song takes the form of a dialogue between a mother and daughter, as the young woman recounts her demise, probably from syphilis, which was often treated with mercury pills. These verses are very popular and have assembled themselves into many different songs over the years, such as The Cowboy’s Lament, The Streets of Laredo, St James Infirmary Blues. We’ve gathered various verses from the many incarnations of this song, and use the tune collected by George Gardiner from Charles Shears of Salisbury Union, Wiltshire, in August 1909 [VWML GG/1/21/1431] .

Andy Turner sang Young Girl Cut Down in Her Prime as the 6 July 2014 entry of his blog A Folk Song a Week.

Lynne Heraud and Pat Turner sang When I Was a Young Girl I Used to Seek Pleasure in 2019 on their WildGoose CD Watching for Winkles. They noted:

An American homiletic ballad and a variant of The Bad Girl’s Lament. It was collected by Alan and Elizabeth Lomax in 1941 from Mrs Texas Gladden of Salem, Virginia.

The Norfolk Broads sang Young Girl on their 2021 album Yonder Green Grove.

Angeline Morrison sang When I Was a Young Girl on her 2022 album The Brown Girl and Other Folk Songs. She noted:

This one’s a member of the Unfortunate Rake family. It’s a big family, this ballad has variants in the UK, Ireland, the Caribbean and the USA, with many diverse names. My version here is mostly based on Nina Simone’s. The mighty and much-missed Norma Waterson sang the variant Bright Shiny Morning— which she had learned from the singing of Caribbean source singer Beatrice Mapsey Johnson—as the title track of her third solo album. Norma greatly inspired me as a singer, so this is dedicated to her.

Bryony Griffith and Alice Jones sang The Girl Who Was Poorly Clad on their album of Yorkshire songs, A Year Too Late and a Month Too Soon. They noted:

Another song from Frank Kidson’s collection, but it never appeared in any of his publications. It was, however, included in a 1906 Folk Song Society Journal article written by Frank himself, introducing songs from his own collection. He collected it from Frank Kelly, an Irish street singer who lived in Leeds. Kelly sang the song in Gaelic and Kidson had various translations of the first verse contained within his manuscript workings. He took the unusually worded title from the opening verse that features in this version of the song but, rather obtusely, chose to print a completely different translation in the folk song journal. It is a version of the Young Girl Cut Down in Her Prime.

Hevelwood sang The Unfortunate Lass on the 2023 anthology Sing Yonder 1. The Bandcamp online issue of this album also had twelve other versions of this song by John Baker, Broadoak, Tom Gregory, Liz Hassock, Tom Hughes, Joshua Kirch, Helen Lindley, Tina McKevitt, Gitika Partinaton, Marko Pauli, Sallows and Triple Threat. Hevelwood singer Tim Woodson noted:

Using Sing Yonder as my primary source, I found a melody that fit the chords in the book. Next, I removed the chords and replaced them with a deconstructed soundscape that centres the voice.

At the heart of this tragic song, I hear a young woman processing her unjust demise with rage and defiance. This arrangement frames the agitation of her lament with clipped, unpredictable patterns and rhythms.

She closes by demanding to be remembered, a ‘true hearted girl who’s never done wrong’, as the piano chords warp and distort in response to the strength of her conviction.

Compare to this song Norma Waterson singing Bright Shiny Morning, the title track of her third solo album Bright Shiny Morning, to A.L. Lloyd singing The Unfortunate Rake on his album English Street Songs and St James’s Hospital on his album First Person, and to Steeleye Span singing When I Was on Horseback on their third album Ten Man Mop. All of these songs share the funeral verses.

Lyrics

Texas Gladden sings The Bad Girl

When I was a young girl, I used to seek pleasure;
When I was a young girl, I used to drink ale;
Out of the alehouse and into a jailhouse,
Right out of a barroom and down to my grave.

“Come, Papa, come, Mama, and sit you down by me,
Come sit you down by me and pity my case;
My poor head is aching, my sad heart is breaking,
My body’s salivated and I’m bound to die.

“Oh, send for the preacher to come and pray for me,
And send for the doctor to heal up my wounds;
My poor head is aching, my sad heart is breaking,
My body’s salivated and Hell is my doom.

“I want three young ladies to bear up my coffin,
I want four young ladies to carry me on;
And each of them carry a bunch of wild roses
To lay on my coffin as I pass along.”

One morning, one morning, one morning in May
I spied thisyoung lady all wrapped in white linen,
All wrapped in white linen and cold as the clay.

Shirley Collins sings Bad Girl

One morning, one morning, one morning in May
I met this young lady wrapped up in white linen,
All dressed in white linen, cold as the clay.

“When I was a young girl, I used to seek pleasure,
When I was a young girl, I used to drink ale.
Right out of an ale house down into the jailhouse,
Right out of the barroom down to my grave.

“Come mama, come papa, and sit you down by me,
Sit you down by me and pity my case.
For my poor head is achin’, my poor heart is breakin’,
I am a poor young girl and I know I’ve done wrong.

“Send for the preacher to come and pray for me
Send for the doctor to heal up my wounds.
For my poor head is achin’, my sad heart is breakin,
My body’s salivated and I know I must die.”

(repeat first verse)

Shirley Collins sings Young Girl Cut Down in Her Prime

As I was a-walking one midsummer’s morning,
As I was a-walking along the highway,
When who should I see but my own dearest daughter
With her head wrapped in flannel on a hot summer’s day.

“Oh mother, dear mother, come sit you down by me,
Come sit you down by me and pity my case;
For my poor head is aching, my poor heart is breaking,
And I’m in low spirits and surely must die.

“Oh mother, dear mother, come send for the clergyman,
And send for the doctor to heal up my wound,
And likewise my young man whose heart it did wander
So that he may see me before I’m put down.

“And when I am dead to the churchyard they’ll bear me,
There’s six jolly fellows to carry me on;
And in each of their hands a bunch of green laurel
So they may not smell me as they march along.”

So rattle your drum and play your fife over me,
And sing the dead march as we walk all along;
Then return to your homes and think of that young girl,
“Oh, there goes a young girl cut down in her prime.”

Norma Waterson sings The Unfortunate Lass

As I was a-walking one fine summer’s morning,
Now as I was a-walking one midsummer’s day;
I met a young female, all a-dressed in white linen,
Aye, a-dressed in white linen and as cold as the clay.

“Oh mother, dear mother, come sit down beside me,
Now come sit down beside me and hear me sad case;
For I have loved a soldier who has lately deserted
And he’s gone and he’s left me in shame and disgrace.”

“Oh daughter, dear daughter, why didn’t you tell me?
Now why didn’t you tell me of it in time?
For I could have bought salt, aye, and the pills of white margery
You’re a true-hearted girl but cut down in your prime.”

“Come doctor, dear doctor, and fill up your bottles,
Come fill up your bottles and make them quite dry;
For me bones they are aching and me heart it is breaking
In this shame and disgrace I am a-feared I must die.

“Have six jolly sailors to carry me coffin,
Have six jolly soldiers to sing me a song;
Have six bonny lasses carry bunches of roses
So that you can smell me as we roll along.

“Then play your fife lowly and play the drum slowly,
Sing out the dead march as you go along;
Take me to the graveyard and throw the sods on me,
I’m a true-hearted girl but I never done wrong.”

Eliza Carthy sings The Unfortunate Lass

As I was a-walking down by the Royal Albion,
Oh bright was the sunshine and warm was the day,
I spied a young woman, wrapped up in white linen,
Wrapped up in white linen and colder than clay.

I asked her what ailed her, I asked her what failed her,
I asked her the cause of all her complaint.
Well, it was all on account of some handsome young sailor,
Now it’s he that has caused me to weep and lament.

And had he but told me before he disordered me,
Had he but told me of it in time,
I might have got pills and salts of white mercury,
But now I’m cut down in the height of my prime.

When I was a young girl I used to seek pleasure,
When I was a young girl, with a sailor so brave.
Then it was out of the ale-house and into the gaol-house,
Right out of the bar-room and into my grave.

Singing, come by dear mother and sit yourself by me,
Oh come by dear father oh sing me one song.
My poor head is aching, my sad heart is breaking,
I’m a true-hearted girl but I know I’ve done wrong.

Oh once on the quayside I used to [go with me?]
Oh in my young days when I used to be gay
Oh down by the dock with those handsome young sailors
Those boys are to carry me, poor me to my grave.

Now mother, come mother to wash and to dress me,
Send for my sister to curl my black hair,
And ask my dear brother to play the pipe slowly
And play the dead march as they carry me there.

And send for the minister to come and pray for me
Oh send for the doctor although it’s too late
My poor head is aching, my sad heart is breaking,
My body’s salivating and Hell is my fate.

Sara Grey sings The Bad Girl (One Morning in May)

When I was a young girl I used to seek pleasure,
When I was a young girl I used to drink wine.
Out of the alehouse and into the jailhouse,
Right out of the bar room and into my grave.

“Come Mama, come Papa, and sit you down by me,
Come sit you down by me and pity my plea.
My poor heart is aching, my poor head is breaking
My body sal’vated and I’m bound to die.

“Go send for the preacher to come and stand o’er me,
Go send for the doctor to bind up my wounds.
My poor heart is aching, my poor head is breaking,
My body’s sal’vated and hell is my doom.

“Go send two young ladies to come and stand o’er me,
Go send three young ladies to carry me along.
And ask them to carry a bunch of white roses
To strew o’er my grave as we roam along.”

One morning, one morning, one morning in May,
I spied a fair damsel all dressed in white linen,
All dressed in white linen and cold as the clay.

Bella Hardy sings True Hearted Girl

When I was on horseback, wasn’t I pretty,
When I was on horseback at the break of the day,
Wasn’t I pretty when I rode from the city
And met with my downfall on the first day of May.

Come mother, come father, and sit down beside me,
Come sit down beside me and hear my sad case.
For my poor heart it is breaking, and my head it is aching
And my soldier has left me in shame and disgrace.

Why couldn’t he tell me before he disordered me?
Why didn’t he tell me his secret in time?
For I could have bought pills, and the salts of white mercury,
But now I am done for, and cut down in my prime.

So beat the drum slowly, and play the pipes lowly,
Play me a dead march as we come along.
And lift my wretched body and lay me down easy,
I’m a true hearted girl, never meant to do wrong.

Angeline Morrison sings When I Was a Young Girl

When I was a young girl, I used to seek pleasure.
When I was a young girl, I used to drink ale,
Straight out of the alehouse and into the jailhouse,
Straight out of the bar room and down to my grave.

Come mother, come father and sit you beside me,
Come sit you beside me and pity my case,
For my poor head is aching, my sad heart is breaking,
My body salvating and I am bound for to die.

Go send for the preacher to come and pray o’er me,
Go send for the doctor to bind up my wounds,
For my poor head is aching, my sad heart is breaking,
My body’s salvating and hell is my doom.

I want six young maidens to walk by my coffin,
I want six young maidens to bear me along,
And each of them carrying a bunch of white roses,
To lay on my body as we pass along.

One morning, one morning, one morning in May,
I saw a young maiden wrapped up in white linen,
Wrapped up in white linen,
And cold as the clay…

Bryony Griffith and Alice Jones sing The Girl Who Was Poorly Clad

It was early one morning, as I went out a-walking,
One bright summer’s morn as I went on my way,
I met with a girl, who was clad oh so poorly,
All wrapped up in flannel and cold as the clay.

Once, in the street, I used to look handsome,
Once, in the street, I used to dress fine,
Buf now no man will have me, not for love or for money,
In this shame and disgrace I am bound for to die.

When I was a young girl, I used to seek pleasure,
When I was a young girl, I used to drink ale.
Right out of an ale house down into the jailhouse,
Then to the whore house and now to my grave.

Come hear me kind stranger, and sit you down by me,
Come sit you down by me and pity my case,
For my spirit is ailing, my body is failing,
I am a poor young girl and I know I’ve done wrong.

Please send for the clergy to come and pray for me,
Send for the doctor, though I know it’s too late.
For my poor head is achin’, my sad heart is breakin’,
My body’s salivated and I know I must die.

I want four young ladies to bear up my coffin,
I want three young maidens to follow me on,
And each of them carry a bunch of wild roses,
To lay on my body as I pass along.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Greer Gilman for the Norma Waterson transcription, to Bob Hudson for the note, and to Garry Gillard for help with Eliza Carthy’s version.