"The False Lover Won Back" is a Scottish ballad, cataloged as Child Ballad 218 (Roud 201).
"The False Lover Won Back" is a Scottish ballad, cataloged as Child Ballad 218 (Roud 201).
Francis James Child cataloged the song as Child Ballad 218, recovering two texts representing it. [1] It is also cataloged as Roud 201. [2] The song spread in some form from its origins in Scotland through England as far as the United States, although it is among the lesser-known ballads. [2] [3] [4] [5]
The song has similarities to and may share an origin with other ballads, such as Child Waters. [1] It has sometimes also been called "Young John" or "The Fause Lover." [6] [7] [8]
In the ballad, a woman pursues her lover, who is leaving her for another who is more beautiful. He begs her to forsake him, plying her with gifts, but eventually buys her a wedding gown or a wedding ring and agrees to marry her. [1] [3] [9] [10]
According to Walter Morris Hart, the ballad is somewhat unusual for its depicting a situation in which "it is the maiden who does the wooing." [11]
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger performed the song on their 1956 album Classic Scots Ballads. [2] The song was also included as a bonus track on a reissue of Martin Carthy's 1972 album Shearwater. [2]
"The Daemon Lover" – also known as "James Harris", "A Warning for Married Women", "The Distressed Ship Carpenter", "James Herries", "The Carpenter’s Wife", "The Banks of Italy", or "The House-Carpenter" – is a popular ballad dating from the mid-seventeenth century, when the earliest known broadside version of the ballad was entered in the Stationers' Register on 21 February 1657.
"The Elfin Knight" is a traditional Scottish folk ballad of which there are many versions, all dealing with supernatural occurrences, and the commission to perform impossible tasks. The ballad has been collected in different parts of England, Scotland, Ireland, the US, and Canada. As is the case with most traditional folk songs, there have been countless completely different versions recorded of the same ballad. The first broadside version was printed before 1674, and the roots of the song may be considerably older.
"Allison Gross", also known as "Alison Cross", is a traditional folk ballad. It tells the story of "the ugliest witch in the north country" who tries to persuade a man to become her lover and then punishes him by a transformation.
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The Famous Flower of Serving-Men or The Lady Turned Serving-Man is a traditional English language folk song and murder ballad. Child considered it as closely related to the ballad "The Lament of the Border Widow" or "The Border Widow's Lament".
"Unusually, it is possible to give a precise date and authorship to this ballad. It was written by the prolific balladeer, Laurence Price, and published in July 1656, under the title of The famous Flower of Serving-Men. Or, The Lady turn'd Serving-Man. It lasted in the mouths of ordinary people for three hundred years: what a tribute to the work of any writer, leave alone the obscure Laurence Price. Oral tradition, however, has made changes. The original has twenty-eight verses and a fairy-tale ending: “And then for fear of further strife, / he took Sweet William to be his Wife: / The like before was never seen, / A Serving-man to be a Queen”. – Roy Palmer, A Book of British Ballads
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"Young Hunting" is a traditional folk song, Roud 47, catalogued by Francis James Child as Child Ballad number 68, and has its origin in Scotland. Like most traditional songs, numerous variants of the song exist worldwide, notably under the title of "Henry Lee" and "Love Henry" in the United States and "Earl Richard" and sometimes "The Proud Girl" in the United Kingdom.
John of Hazelgreen or Jock o' Hazeldean is an English-language traditional folk song. Jock of Hazeldean is a poem and song by Sir Walter Scott based on a fragment of the ballad. Versions of the ballad were published by Chambers, Kinloch and Buchan. The version printed by John S. Roberts (1887) was compiled from those of Kinloch and Buchan.
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"The Cruel Brother" is a folk song.
"Christopher White" is an English-language folk ballad.
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"Walter Lesly" is a traditional English-language folk ballad.
Willie's Fatal Visit is an English-language folk song, most likely originating in Scotland.
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