> Tony Rose > Songs > Sheath and Knife
> Eliza Carthy > Songs > Sheath & Knife
> Maddy Prior > Songs > Sheath & Knife

Sheath and Knife

[ Roud 3960 ; Child 16 ; Ballad Index C016 ; trad.]

Tony Rose learned this incest ballad from a very young June Tabor—five years before her first album— and recorded it in 1971 for his second album. Under the Greenwood Tree. He re-recorded it in 1999 for his CD Bare Bones; and a live recording from Eagle Tavern, New York, in 1981 was included in 2008 on his CD Exe. He commented in the original album's sleeve notes:

Along with Lucy Wan, Edward, and The Bonny Hind, Sheath and Knife is one of the comparatively few ballads to deal with the rather sombre subject of incest. Apart from the obvious difficulty of being able to pin the events of these songs down to any particular date, it seems difficult too to gauge the sociological attitude of the people involved to their “crime”. In this song, as in Lucy Wan, there is no intimation that the act of incest itself is felt to be wrong or conductive to any kind of guilt. In both cases it is only after a child has been conceived that urgent action is felt to be imperative. Here the girl demands that she die at her brother's hand—a decision apparently motivated by the feeling of remorse and the wish to preserve her own and/or the family´s honour, and of course necessitating a terrifying act of penance from her brother. This is tragedy on an epic scale, and this is reflected in the power of the song.

Ewan MacColl sang Sheath and Knife in 1972 on his Argo album Solo Flight.

Jean Redpath sang Sheath and Knife in 1976 on her Trailer album There Were Minstrels. She commented in her liner notes:

I first heard this sung by Helen Schneyer, a fine singer from Washington. So strong was the impact of her singing, in fact, that it had taken more than two years for me to find my own approach to the story. This is surely one of the most powerful of the tragic ballads.

Gordeanna McCulloch sang Sheath and Knife in 1978 as the title track of her Topic album Sheath and Knife. Her album's liner notes commented:

The words of this version are more or less as collected by William Motherwell in Ayrshire in 1825. Robert Burns noted the tune during the 1790s.

Sheena Wellington sang Sheath and Knife in 1986 on her Dunkeld album Kerelaw. She commented:

An abridged version, and a slightly altered tune, but this is basically learned from the singing of the redoubtable Jean Redpath.

Janet Russell sang Sheath and Knife in 1993 on her Harbourtown album Bright Shining Morning?.

Eliza Carthy sang and played Sheath and Knife in 1996 on her CD Heat Light & Sound. She commented in the sleeve notes:

A woman gets pregnant, we never find out by whom, and in despair decides to commit suicide, saving her family's good name. But finding herself too frightened to do it on her own she asks her best friend to help her stage a hunting accident, and kill her when she gives the signal. What are friends for? This can be found in the Child Collection, where in some versions it is her brother that gets her pregnant and kills her.

Christine Kydd sang Sheath & Knife in 1997 on the Fellside anthology Ballads. Producer Paul Adams commented in the album's liner notes:

There are two classic ballads dealing with the subject of incest, Lucy Wan and Sheath and Knife. It is the sheer nobility of the tune which gives Sheath and Knife the edge. It is a truly magnificent ballad which has all the stature of a Shakespearean tragedy. Christine writes “Like most singers I am drawn to songs when I hear them sung and it seems that most of the great ballad singers of the folk revival have sung a version of this one, Gordeanna McCulloch, Jean Redpath, Sheena Wellington, Ewan MacColl and Tony Rose. The published written sources of which I'm aware are Motherwell's and Helen Mennie Shire's from the Dalhousie Manuscript. I have told the story in my own words rather than learning set verses and it has emerged as a compilation of all the ones I know. The bravery and resignation of this young woman and the grief of her brother are heart wrenching. I see this as not just a piece of history, it's stark modern reality.”

Maddy Prior learned Sheath & Knife from Tony Rose and recorded it in 1997 for her album Flesh & Blood. This was later included in the Park Records sampler A Stroll Through the Park and on the Maddy Prior anthology Collections: A Very Best of 1995 to 2005. She commented in the original record's sleeve notes:

One of the great incest ballads. A devastating and compelling story told in so few words. The rude intrusion of music and dancing into a mind torn with grief is heart rending.

I more and more realise how much of my taste and style is based in the 60's revival—formed by many talented musicians and singers all of whom researched with great energy their own repertoires that have now become part of a background body of material available to all. I am grateful for having been among them.

I first heard this sung by Tony Rose and it has taken me 20 years before I could find a way to sing it that did not lean too heavily on this version.

Corrina Hewat sang Sheath & Knife in 2003 on her CD My Favourite Place.

Mary Humphreys and Anahata sang Sheath and Knife in 2003 on their WildGoose album Sharp Practice. They noted:

Without an understanding of the metaphors of sheath and knife the song loses its meaning. Sir William’s self-mutilation in his abject despair and sorrow after he has shot his sister-lover Lady Margaret at her insistence is not made explicit in the ballad. Over the many years that Mary has been singing this song, she has anglicised the text and added the last verse from Scott s vestigial version in Child so that it gives Sir William the final emotional comments on the tragedy.

Broom is a very ubiquitous plant in folk song. It can be a symbol of witchcraft as in The Broomfield Wager or here, sexual activity: ‘going to the broom’.

Rachael McShane sang Sheath and Knife in 2018 on her Topic album with The Cartographers, When All Is Still. She noted:

I've heard this song described as “one of the great incest ballads”. It's certainly in my top ten! The lovely Maggie Boyle, who is sadly no longer with us, taught this rather sad song to me many years ago and I still love singing it.

Lyrics

Acknowledgements

Eliza Carthy's version transcribed by Kira White. Some small changes and thanks from Garry Gillard.