Lord Lovel

AKA Lord Lovat
Lord Lovell
Lyrics Trad Music Trad Roud RN48

Music Hall performers Sam Cowell 1850s
JW Sharp 1840s
Folk performances Too many to list! 

 As sung by JW Sharpe 

Lord Lovel he stood at his own castle gate
A-combing his milk-white steed
When up came Lady Nancy Bell
To wish her lover good speed, speed, speed
Wishing her lover good speed.

 'Oh, where are you going, Lord Lovel?' she said
 'Oh, where are you going?' said she
 'I'm going my Lady Nancy Bell
 Foreign countries for to see, see, see
 Foreign countries for to see.

 'When will you come back, Lord Lovel?' she said
 'When will you come back?' said she
 'In a year or two or three or four
 I'll come back to my Lady Nancee, ee, ee
 I'll come back to my Lady Nancee.'

 He had only been gone for a twelvemonth and a day
 Foreign countries for to see
 When languishing thoughts came into his head
 Lady Nancy Bell he would go see, see, see.
 Lady Nancy etc

 So he rode, and he rode on his milk white steed
 Till he came to London Town
 And there he heard St Pancridge's Bells
 And the people all mourning around, and round
 And the people all mourning around.
 And the people etc

 'Oh, what is the matter?' Lord Lovel he said
 'Oh, what is the matter?' said he
 'A London lady is dead,' the people all said
 'And they call her Lady Nancee, ee, ee
 And they call her Lady Nancee.'

 Then he ordered the grave to be opened wide
 And the shroud to be turned down;
 And then he kissed her clay-cold lips
 Whilst the tears came trickling down, down, down
 Whilst the tears etc

 Then he threw his self down by the side of the corpse
 With a terrible grunt and a guggle;
 Gave two hops, three kicks, heaved a sigh, blew his nose,
 Kicked the bucket, and died in the struggle
 Kicked the bucket etc

 Lady Nancy she died, as it might be to-day
 Lord Lovel died as to-morrow
 Lady Nancy she died out of pure, pure grief
 And Lord Lovel he died out of sorrow, ow, ow
 And Lord Lovel he died out of sorrow.

 Lady Nancy was laid in St Pancridge's Church
 Lord Lovel was laid in the choir
 And out of her buzzum, there grew a red rose
 And out of her lovier's, a briar, briar, briar
 And out of her lovier's, a briar.

 So they grew, and they grew, to the church steeple top
 And they couldn't grow no higher
 So they twined themselves in a true lovers knot
 For all lovers true to admire, mire, mire
 For all lovers true to admire.

Like Billy Taylor this is an extremely popular song in the folk tradition, existing in multiple forms, with nearly 600 entries in the Vaughn Williams Memorial library. A useful sampling of the song’s history in the folk world is given at Mainly Norfolk

This was one of a number of serious 18th-century songs which were sung to comedic effect in the taverns and early music halls from the 1830s to the 1850s. The comedy would come from the way the song was sung rather than the actual words. The switching of v’s and w’s which is sometimes seen in these versions is less prevalent here, but I suspect this verse has been added for comic effect:

Then he threw his self down by the side of the corpse
With a terrible grunt and a guggle;
Gave two hops, three kicks, heaved a sigh, blew his nose,
Kicked the bucket, and died in the struggle
Kicked the bucket etc

Sam Cowell (1820-64) spent his early years in America and made his stage debut in Boston at the age of nine. He spent some time working as an actor in Scotland, initially supplementing his income by appearing as a “character singer”, before dropping the acting entirely. Apparently he had “a remarkable gift for facial expression [which] emphasised his comedy…” and this goes some way to explaining how he could take apparently serious songs and make them funny. He was well-known for singing similar ballads to comic effect, always dressed in character, most famously Billy Barlow and Villikins and his Dinah. He toured extensively in the late 1850s and early 1860s, both in the UK and America, but the hectic lifestyle caught up with him, and he died tragically young the age of 44.

Child and some of the early folk song collectors were uneasy about this ballad and were very aware of it having been sung as a comic song. Steve Gardham is quoted in Steve Roud’s New Penguin Book of Folksongs as saying: “To me, “Lord Lovell” is a burlesque of a lost ballad or just a skit of the whole genre”.

Perhaps Roud’s thoughts about Billy Taylor in The New Penguin Book of Folk Songs (2004) are equally relevant here:

A late 18th century serious song that was quickly picked up and performed as a burlesque, …… Traditional singers then learnt the burlesque words and started to sing them “straight”, and in their performances it became a serious song again.

At the very least we can confidently say that it was another folk song that passed through the Halls and was affected by the journey..

Sources:

Jean Ritchie sings it in the Appalachian style: