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More Ballad Extraction: Two Sisters
I've been familiar with "Two Sisters" for a long time, and of course I love all the English versions with harps and stuff, but I fell in love with a "Wind and Rain" version I heard on an Armstrong Family CD years ago, and that's the version that stayed with me.
I don't particularly like "Bonny Swans" versions, although![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bardling sand me a "Binnorie" one that I liked very much.
The "Wind and Rain" version I learned so long ago was very short, and I knew there must be a little more to it. Now, some Appalachian versions add a tag where the miller/fellow who builds the instrument from her bones is hanged for her murder, and some add a version where the sister is executed because she is accused by the sister, but I'm not sure I like that ending. But it can be evocative when you add a little imagery.
Anyway, here's the version I'm working on learning:
Two Sisters/The Wind and the Rain
There were two sisters of a valley town
Oh the wind and the rain
One was fair and the other was brown
Oh the dreadful wind and rain
And they both had love of the miller’s son
Oh...
But he was fond of the fairer one
Oh...
So she pushed her into the river to drown
And watched her as she floated down
She floated ‘til she came to the miller’s pond
Dead on the water like a golden swan
And she came to rest on the river’s side
And her bones are washed by the rolling tide
Then along the road came a fiddler fair
And found her bones just a lying there
So he made a fiddle peg of her long finger-bone
He middle a fiddle peg of her long finger-bone
He strung his fiddle bow with her long yellow hair
He strung his fiddle bow with her long yellow hair
And he made a fiddle fiddle of her breastbone
He made a fiddle fiddle of her breastbone
But the only tune that the fiddle would play
The only tune that the fiddle would play
(almost entirely from the singing of Gillian Welch, from one of the Songcatcher CDs)
I don't particularly like "Bonny Swans" versions, although
bardling sand me a "Binnorie" one that I liked very much.The "Wind and Rain" version I learned so long ago was very short, and I knew there must be a little more to it. Now, some Appalachian versions add a tag where the miller/fellow who builds the instrument from her bones is hanged for her murder, and some add a version where the sister is executed because she is accused by the sister, but I'm not sure I like that ending. But it can be evocative when you add a little imagery.
Anyway, here's the version I'm working on learning:
Two Sisters/The Wind and the Rain
There were two sisters of a valley town
Oh the wind and the rain
One was fair and the other was brown
Oh the dreadful wind and rain
And they both had love of the miller’s son
Oh...
But he was fond of the fairer one
Oh...
So she pushed her into the river to drown
And watched her as she floated down
She floated ‘til she came to the miller’s pond
Dead on the water like a golden swan
And she came to rest on the river’s side
And her bones are washed by the rolling tide
Then along the road came a fiddler fair
And found her bones just a lying there
So he made a fiddle peg of her long finger-bone
He middle a fiddle peg of her long finger-bone
He strung his fiddle bow with her long yellow hair
He strung his fiddle bow with her long yellow hair
And he made a fiddle fiddle of her breastbone
He made a fiddle fiddle of her breastbone
But the only tune that the fiddle would play
The only tune that the fiddle would play
(almost entirely from the singing of Gillian Welch, from one of the Songcatcher CDs)
no subject
But with a dulcimer, let's see.... How about The False Knight on the Road? Look for the Maddy Prior version; I think it's on Summer Solstice, a CD I've unfortunately lost somewhere in the trail of history.
Oh where are you going said the knight on the road
I'm going to my school said the boy as he stood
As he stood, and he stood, and 'twere well that he stood
I'm going to my school, said the boy as he stood. etc.
A lot of ballads I'm not sure would be exactly suited for your voice, because your voice is too good. If that makes any sense. So you need to find something you can sing straight, with spare ornamentation and not a lot of frill, because that's where your voice sounds best. If that makes any sense.
no subject
I have "False Knight on the Road" on a few things I think... let's see...
(I could swear I have Frankie Armstrong singing it but if I do it's LP and I haven't heard it in years so maybe that's wrong)
I have Steeleye Span doing False Knight on albums: "Marrowbones" and "Please to See the King" (not apropro here but can't help mentioning I also have a charming Neil Gaiman/Charles Vess illustrated version of it that ran in Dirty Linen, signed by Vess) ;-)
I have June Tabor doing Anachie Gordon on her album: "Always"
I've also always been fond of "Thomas the Rhymer" but think it may be overdone, and "Allison Gross/King Henry/etc". That one does tempt me. Doubtless I could find a lot of interesting versions of that.
I also have long meant to play around with Geordie because I want to add that one to my songs with strong female protagonists collection. (I particularly love the way that it is done on the Silly Sisters album.)
Thanks for the ideas.
Re: my voice... Hmm... I know what you mean about my voice being "too good" I suspect you mean "too trained". I'll never sound traditional, certainly not traditional appalachian. I like to think that I could take a ballad and make it my own though. One reason Lyle sucked me into early music so quickly was that I could do a nice straight tone without ornamentation and although through the years I've just naturally picked up various ornamentation styles I can still use them or not as tools pretty well I think. Probably what I'd do is try to pick up as many recorded versions of the ballad as I could and play around with mimicing them until something uniquely mine coalesces out of the mix. (that's typically how I approach a cover I guess).
How do YOU approach working on a ballad vocally?