More Ballad Extraction: Two Sisters
Jan. 17th, 2006 06:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kniteracyI'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)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2006-01-17 07:20 pm (UTC)There were two sisters side by side
Sing aye dum, sing aye day
There were two sisters side by side
The boys are born for me
There were two sisters side by side
The eldest for young johnny cried
I’ll be true unto my love
If he’ll be true to me
Johnny bought the youngest a gay gold ring...
sing aye dum etc
He never bought the eldest a single thing...
I'll be true unto my love if etc
Johnny bought the youngest a beaver hat...
The eldest never thought much of that...
As they were walking by the foamy brim...
The eldest pushed the youngest in...
Sister, oh sister give me thy hand...
And you can have johnny and all his land...
Sister I won’t give you my hand...
And I’ll have johnny and all his land...
So there she sank and away she swam...
Until she came to the miller’s dam...
Miller took away her gay gold ring...
And then he pushed her in again...
Miller he was hanged on the mountain head...
The eldest sister was boiled in lead...
no subject
Date: 2006-01-17 07:25 pm (UTC)