> Steeleye Span > Songs > The Wife of Usher’s Well
> Frankie Armstrong > Songs > The Wife of Usher’s Well
> Martin Carthy > Songs > The Wife of Usher’s Well

The Wife of Usher’s Well

[ Roud 196 ; Master title: The Wife of Usher’s Well ; Child 79 ; Ballad Index C079 ; GlosTrad Roud 196 ; ThreeBabes at Old Songs ; Folkinfo 194 ; DT USHERWEL , USHRWEL2 ; Mudcat 77241 ; trad.]

Dean Christie: Traditional Ballad Airs James Kinsley: The Oxford Book of Ballads John Jacob Niles: The Ballad Book of John Jacob Niles Roy Palmer: Everyman’s Book of British Ballads James Reeves: The Idiom of the People Jean Ritchie: Folk Songs of the Southern Appalachians Sir Walter Scott: Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border Cecil Sharp: English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians

Buell Kazee recorded Lady Gay on 16 January 1928 in New York City for a 78rpm Brunswick record. This recording was included in 2015 on the Nehi anthology of British songs in the USA, My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean. Steve Roud noted:

Well over 100 traditional versions of this Child ballad have been collected in North America, which is five times as many as have been found in Britain and Ireland. Its relative rarity in Britain is surprising, as the story, though simple, is very effective and even prompted Child to remark that it was “profoundly affecting”. This ballad also demonstrates problems involved in dating traditional items. Because of its stark simplicity, many people assume it to be very old but the earliest text we have was collected about 1800, although a version collected in the 1820s was claimed to have been learnt “seventy years” previously.

Texas Gladden sang The Three Babes to Alan Lomax in August 1941 in a recording that was included on Bertrand H. Bronson’s Library of Congress album Child Ballads Traditional in the United States (II). It was also included in 2001 on her Rounder anthology in the Alan Lomax Collection series, Ballad Legacy. A later recording from 24 August 1959 was included in 1997 on the Rounder anthology of “songs from the southern mountains”, Southern Journey Volume 2: Ballads & Breakdowns. The first album’s booklet noted:

This ballad of a mother mourning the death of her three babies takes on a mystical, religious turn. References to a knight, gramerie, a table of bread and wine, and a winding sheet evoke an ancient history. In some versions, the ghosts of the children disappear when the Savior calls them: “The tears my dear mother has shed for me / Would wet my winding sheet.”

Gladden commented, “Three Babes, it was an English ballad, and it was one of Child’s. The lady sent her kids off to school and there was some sort of epidemic. It bore on her mind; she worried of it. It was all in her mind’s eye: The story bears out that they were spirits; the spirit of the children came back. She thought it was some kind of punishment ’cause she sent them away to school. They refuse [their mother’s food] because they were only there in spirit.”

In The Folksongs of North America, Alan Lomax suggested that the pioneer women actively cultivated such songs because they were “vehicles for fantasies, wishes, and norms of behavior which corresponded to… [their] emotional needs… [These ballads] represented the deepest emotional preoccupations of women who lived within the patriarchal family system of their close-knit society.”

Andrew L. Kaye writes, ”It is a delicate melody using only six tones (an authentic pentatonic mode with the octave repeated) and remains within the range of an octave (the scale is D-F-G-A-C’-D’). The interval of the minor third is emphasized in both the lower and upper tetra chords of the melody.”

The song is also known as The Lady Gay, and it was recorded commercially with banjo accompaniment in the late 1920s by Buell Kazee. Tracy Schwan of the New Lost City Ramblers has been singing Gladden’s unaccompanied version in concerts. His vocal style makes it sound like Ralph Stanley doing an old Baptist hymn. Bob Dylan selected Lady Gay for Sing Out! magazine. In an interview, he said, “Folk music is the only music where it isn’t simple. It’s never been simple. It’s weird, man, full of legend, myth, Bible and ghosts. I’ve never written anything hard to understand, not in my head anyway, and nothing as far out as some of the old songs.”

Linnie Landers of Jonesboro, Washington County, Tennessee sang The Three Little Babes to Maud Karpeles in September 1950. This recording was included in 2017 on the Musical Traditions anthology When Cecil Left the Mountains. Mike Yates noted:

Professor Child called this ancient piece The Wife of Usher’s Well. It is still rather common in parts of America, although it seems to have faded from British tradition. The idea that excessive grief disturbs the dead is also to be found in the ballad of The Unquiet Grave (Child 78), and I am tempted to believe that, ultimately, the ballads are giving out sound advice on how to cope with bereavement—and this long before psychologists had been heard of! In other words, whilst excessive grief might harm the dead, it can certainly be as harmful, and probably more so, to those still living. David Atkinson, in a fascinating study History, Symbol, and Meaning in ‘The Cruel Mother’ (Folk Music Journal vol.6, no.3. 1992. pp.359-380) links The Wife of Usher’s Well to a number of other ballads, including The Cruel Mother (Child 20), on the grounds that in these ballads the revenant children establish a connection between their respective mothers and Christ.

The final word in verse 1, ‘gramarie’, is often translated as meaning ‘witchcraft’. It comes from the Scottish word ‘glamourize’, meaning the ancient world of ‘Glamoury’, which comprises Celtic lore connected with the natural world of animals, plants, seasons, the weather etc. It can also imply the casting of spells, of charming the eye, and of making objects appear more beautiful than they really are (in the eighteenth century Alam Ramsay used the expression ‘glamourit sicht’) and it can mean ‘witchcraft’, but, in this case, probably refers more to sympathetic magic.

Cecil Sharp originally collected the ballad from Lizzie Landers on 5 September 1916, and this set can be found in the book Dear Companion (EFDSS, 2004, pp. 76-77 & 132).

Texas Gladden, a fine Appalachian singer, can be heard singing her versions on two Rounder albums (CD1702 & CD1800) and Buell Kazee’s version is included on JSP JSP77100B. A version that I recorded from another Appalachian singer, Eunice Yeatts MacAlexander, of Virginia, can be heard on Appalachia – The Old Traditions Volume 1.

Peggy Seeger sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 1957 on her Topic album Eleven American Ballads and Songs. This album was reissued in 1996 as part of her Fellside CD Classic Peggy Seeger. She also sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 1986 on her and Ewan MacColl’s album Blood & Roses Volume 5. Alan Lomax noted on the first album:

This British ballad (Child No. 79) has been found much more in America than in the British Isles. It is one of the great favourites among mountain women, who feel deeply the cruelty of the mother who “sent her babes way off yonder over the mountains to study their grammer”. Actually, “grammaree” is an ambiguous term, sometimes referring to general education and sometimes to the practice of magic, and in several versions of the song, the children return wearing (birch) bark caps, which is a sure sign of magic.

John Laurie recited The Wife of Usher’s Well in 1959 on the anthology The Jupiter Book of Ballads.

Jean Ritchie sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 1960 on her Folkways album British Traditional Ballads in the Southern Mountains, Volume 2. Kenneth S. Golstein noted:

The oldest versions of this ballad which were known to Child (both of Scottish provenience) appear to be fragmentary, for no motivation is suggested for the sons’ returning to their grieving mother. And, indeed, only in the American texts, which may be descended from some unreported earlier form of the ballad, is a fully coherent story found in which the sons return to inform their mother that excessive grief on her part disturbs their rest by wetting their winding sheets.

In addition to the motif of the dead being disturbed by excessive grief, this ballad contains the equally wide-spread belief concerning the forced return of the dead to their graves at the crowing of the cock and the dawn of the day.

Jean Ritchie’s version, learned from her Uncle Jason, is an important recording, for it follows neither of the two story types for this ballad as it has previously been reported in America. Indeed, it is the first American text to conform with the early Scottish texts printed by Child. Jean’s version closely folloys Child’s A text, originally published in Scott’s Minstrelsy, in 1802, and in addition contains the otherwise unreported stanza 5 of Child’s B text (see Jean’s text, stanza 10). Jean’s version, like the British texts, supplies no motive for the sons’ return, but, as Child has said: “… supplying a motive would add nothing to the impressiveness of these verses. Nothing that ye have is more profoundly affecting.”

Hedy West sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 1965 on her Topic album Old Times & Hard Times. She and A.L. Lloyd noted:

“This is basically the version that Nan Perdue of Fairfax, Virginia, learned from her mother-in-law Eva Samples (born in 1906 near Carrollton, Georgia). I’ve combined this variant with a similar one from my grandmother. It was a popular ballad in the Gilmer County community, and it was part of Etta Mulkey’s repertoire.”

Altogether this ancient and mysterious song has persisted far better in America than in the land of its origin, whether England or Scotland. The last version of it found in the British Isles was noted down in 1883 from an elderly fisherman at Bridgworth, Shropshire, but in the United States it has turned up repeatedly, especially in the South and Midwest.

Lorna Campbell sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 1968 on her and her brother Ian Campbell’s Transatlantic album of ballads from Scotland, The Cock Doth Crow. They noted:

A visit from the dead to the recently bereaved is a common occurrence in traditional ballads, although this song is unusual in that it gives no real reason for the visit. It is true that the mother threatens a curse on the wind and the sea unless she sees her sons again, but it seems unlikely that the celestial powers would feel it necessary to authorise the visit in order to prevent the curse becoming operative. Conventionally, the dead often return in order to prohibit excessive grieving, and this may well be the implication here. The magical and sacred properties of the birch tree have long been recognised in northern European religions so it is likely that hats o’ birk were being worn by revenants long before some Christian singer decided that the birches must grow at the gates of Paradise.

Nott’s Alliance sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 1972 on their Traditional Sound Recordings album The Cheerful ’Orn. They noted:

The words of this balad are quite well known but sung versions are seldom heard. The set of words is from Scott’s Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border and the fine pentatonic tune to which Ian [Stewart] sings it here is taken from Dean Christie’s Traditional Ballad Airs. The story contains what must surely rank as one of the saddest scenes in all baladry—after the mother has feasted her sons on their return:

Then she has made for them a bed
She has made it lang and wide
And she’s ta’en her mantle her aboot
Sat doon at their bedside

She doesn’t go to sleep because she knows she can’t afford to waste a moment of her sons’ company; when the cock crows they must leave her again, and this time they won’t return.

Pete and Chris Coe sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 1972 on their Trailer album Open the Door and Let Us In. Pete Coe recorded it again in 2010 for his CD Backbone. They noted on the first album:

A Scottish supernatural ballad, with a fine tune which was learned from Ray Fisher.

Nimrod Workman of Chattaroy, West Virginia sang Lady Gay on his and Phyllis Workman Boyens’s 1974 album Passing Thru the Garden.

Steeleye Span recorded The Wife of Usher’s Well in 1975 for their album All Around My Hat. A live recording from the Rainbow Theatre between 1975 and 1977 was released on the UK version of the 2 LP collection Original Masters.

John Roberts and Tony Barrand sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 1977 on their Folk-Legacy album Dark Ships in the Forest. Their version was collected as There Lived a Lady in Merry Scotland by Ralph Vaughan Williams from Mrs. Loveridge at the Homme, Dilwyn, Herefordshire, in 1908. It was published in Ella Leather: The Folk-Lore of Herefordshire in 1912. They noted:

Scotland would seem to be the birthplace of this ballad, though, in common with many other of the ballads ennobled by their inclusion in the Child canon, it has flourished better on this side of the Atlantic, particularly in the Appalachians. [Bronson] lists two English variants; ours was transcribed by Ralph Vaughan Williams from a phonograph recording of a Mrs. Loveridge of Dilwyn. Not only do the children return from the dead, but we have the extra supernatural element, more proper to the religious piece The Carnal and the Crane, of the roasted cock crowing in the serving platter.

Spencer Moore of Chilhowie, Virginia, sang The Three Little Babes to Kip Lornell on 28 March 1977. This recording was included in 1978 on the Blue Ridge Institute album in their Virginia Traditions series, Ballads From British Tradition. He also sang it to Gwilym Davies on 29 November 1997 which was included in 2020 on the Musical Traditions anthlogy of songs from the Gwilym Davies collection, Catch It, Bottle It, Paint It Green that accompanied Davies’ book of the same name. He noted:

Mr Moore learnt this song from his father. It derives from the old British ballad of The Wife of Usher’s Well, long forgotten in the British Isles but still in oral tradition in the Appalachians.

Eunice Yeatts MacAlexander from Meadows of Dan, Virginia sang The Three Little Babes to Mike Yates on 6 August 1979. This recording was released on 1982 on Yates’ Home-Made Music anthology Appalachia – The Old Traditions Volume 1 and in 2002 on the Musical Traditions anthology of songs, tunes and stories from Mike Yates’ Appalachian collection, Far in the Mountains Volume 1. Mike Yates noted basically the same as for Linnie Landers’ recording above but added:

Eunice recorded a version of this, and other ballads, for A.K. Davis of the Virginia Folklore Society on 10 August, 1932.

Heather Heywood sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 1993 on her Greentrax CD By Yon Castle Wa’. She noted:

A supernatural ballad. Again, ballads reflect the feelings and beliefs of people at the time. It is difficult to understand now the lengths of time people would be away when they joined the navy and the uncertainty which must have existed when people were presumed to have died. Dreams and feelings of disaster must have been something which many people would have had to live with without the opportunity for a telephone conversation to see what was happening.

Sara Grey sang Lady Gay in 1994 on her Harbourtown album Sara. She noted:

This is also known as The Wife of Usher’s Well or The Three Babes. A mother’s uncontrolled grief over her recently dead sons disturbs their repose. They return for a visit, not as incorporeal wraiths but as flesh and blood, living corpses—the typical ballad revenants. Only their birch hats—birch protects ghosts against the influence of the living—and their compulsion to be off before daylight mark the sons as ghostly visitors. The text from Sir Walter Scott’s Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border has often been praised, especially poignant is the hint in the last line that one of the sons is leaving behind a sweetheart as well as a mother. A version from Shropshire in Shropshire Folk-Lore edited by C.S. Burne, 1883, paints out the pagan superstitions with a heavy coat of Christian colouring, while a version from Tennessee, sung by T. Jeff Stockton at Flag Pond in 1916, found in Child’s English Folk Songs From the Southern Appalachians, makes the whole visit a dream, thus deleting the supernatural altogether. One odd feature of many American versions of this ballad is a pair of verses in which one of the sons chides his mother, as she makes the bed and sets the table, for her excessive pride. Observe also that the sons of the older versions have become babes in America. On Child Ballads Traditional in the United States, Libarary of Congress AAFS L58, it is sung by Mrs Texas Gladden at Salem, Virginia in 1941, recorded by Alan Lomax.

Jacqui McShee, Gerry Conway, Spencer Cozens sang The Wife of Usher’s Well on their 1995 CD About Thyme. A live recording from the Little Theatre, Chipping Norton in April 2000 was released in the same year on Jacqui McShee’s Pentangle’s Park CD At the Little Theatre.

Frankie Armstrong sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 1996 on her Fellside ballad album Till the Grass O’ergrew the Corn. Brian Pearson noted:

The coldest of all the ballads and the most stark, a song in which the world seems bound tight by the glacial cold of the bereaved mother’s implacable longing for her dead children. There is something very Scandinavian about her, some kinship to those fierce, enduring women from the Icelandic sagas. The ballad seems to have died out in Britain, but has been dear to the Appalachian singers in the present century. Frankie has anglicised the beautiful text published by Walter Scott “from the recitation of an old woman residing near Kirkhill, in West Lothian” and added some stanzas from other versions. Cecil Sharp collected the lovely tune from Mrs Zippo Rice, Rice Cove, Big Laurel, NC, in 1906.

Martin Carthy sang The Wife of Usher’s Well on his 1998 album Signs of Life. He played guitar and Eliza Carthy played fiddle. This track was also included in 2001 on the English folk anthology And We’ll All Have Tea. Martin Carthy noted:

[…] A huge tragedy told in such matter-of-fact terms as to make you ache all over. The matter-of-fact is a cloak donned by many songs the better to carry such ideas. Similarly, certain conventions are there in song, the better to help the subject of the song to cope with things like dead. Such as the notion fuelling The Wife of Usher’s Well, that one should mourn the dead for one year and one day and then let go, or else the dead will return—but then, sometimes such things make not a scrap of difference to the plummeting, consuming grief that the wife feels. The tune is Basque and bent slightly from that taught to me by Ruper Ordorika and Bixente Martínez of Hiru Truku and it’s called Bakarrik Aurkitzen Naz [it can be found on the CD Hiru Truku II, and Martin Carthy is playing on this track, too; -Ed.]

A video of Martin and Eliza performing The Wife of Usher’s Well can be found on YouTube. Unfortunately I can’t embed it here.

Robin Laing sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 1999 on his Greentrax CD Imaginary Lines.

Alasdair Roberts sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 2001 on his CD The Crook of My Arm.

The Cecil Sharp Centenary Collective sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 2003 on their Talking Elephant album As I Cycled Out on a May Morning.

Alison McMorland sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 2003 on her and Geordie McIntyre’s Tradition Bearers CD Ballad Tree. Geordie McIntyre noted:

The depth of the mother’s grief will not allow the dead to rest. The revenants, in this and other ballads, are substantial flesh and blood, living corpses. The ghosts wear hats of birk to protect them from the influence of the living. They must return from where they came at sunrise or cock crow. This is the ‘A’ text from Scott’s Minstrelsy (1802).

Jim Eldon sang this ballad as Farewell Stick and Farewell Stone in 2004 on his CD Home From Sea.

Hammered dulcimer player Cammi Vaughan from Tucson played the tune of The Wife of Usher’s Well on her 2005 album Lass of Roch Royal.

Paul and Liz Davenport sang The Old Wife of Coverdale in 2006 on their Hallamshire Traditions CD Under the Leaves. They noted:

This Yorkshire sword dance tune seems to be more mentioned in calling-on-songs than it is actually played. The tune is written in both 6/8 and 9/8 with some other oddities. This version of The Wife of Usher’s Well recounts the superstition that excessive mourning ties the soul of the dead to the earth and does not allow rest for the deceased. The song has some interesting links with The Unquiet Grave and the revenant broadsides such as The Bay of Biscay and The Grey Cock.

Elizabeth LaPrelle sang Three Little Babes on her 2007 album Lizard in the Spring. She noted:

This version of the Child ballad The Wife of Ushers Well came from a recording of Texas Gladden (Hobart Smith’s sister) made by Alan Lomax in 1959. The lyrics of the last verse are somewhat open to interpretation cold clouds, clods, or cloths down by my feet? Somehow all three?

Karine Polwart sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 2007 on her CD Fairest Floo’er.

Cath and Phil Tyler sang Lady Gay on their 2009 album The Hind Wheels of Bad Luck.

Lynne Heraud and Pat Turner sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 2010 on their WildGoose CD Tickled Pink. They noted:

Currently our favourite traditional ballad (Child, no. 79). Echoing the power of love, longing and magic, it tells the story of a mother’s grief at the death of her three sons. They come back to visit her for one night but have to leave again before the cock crows. And, yes, we’re still working on the hats…

Bellowhead recorded The Wife of Usher’s Well in 2012 for their CD Broadside. Live recordings from 2015, the video from De Montford Hall, Leicester, on 19 November 2015, were released in 2016 on their CD and DVD The Farewell Tour. They noted on the first CD:

Like Cold Blows the Wind, the theme of this ballad is extreme grief. A mother’s lamentation is so strong that it impels the corpses of her sons to ignore the channeling of their worms (no, we’re not sure what that means either), make themselves hats of birch bark to protect themselves (from wifi, we’d imagine—or it could be alien space emanations), and return home for a while to ogle the serving maid.

Sue Brown and Lorraine Irwing sang Lady Gay, “a remarkable ballad on the theme of persistent grief and tears disturbing the sleep of the dead”, in 2012 on their RootBeat CD The 13^th Bedroom.

Martin Simpson sang Lady Gay in 2013 on his Topic CD Vagrant Stanzas. He commented:

Also in Child’s collection is The Wife of Usher’s Well, which appears here as Lady Gay. I learned this in the most part from Hedy West. The song has only two versions in Child’s collection, but it thrived in the USA, and there are nine different texts in the North Carolina Folklore, Ballads collection alone.

The Askew Sisters sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 2014 on their RootBeat CD In the Air or the Earth. They noted:

Many of the songs on this album deal with that most human fascination with life, death and the boundaries in between. The Wife of Usher’s Well is the tragic story of a woman who loses her three sons. Most versions of this song were collected in America, where it often gained a Christian context. Our version is based on an older text collected from an old woman in Kirkill, West Lothian, and published by Sir Walter Scott in 1833, which hints that the wife has more mystical powers. These old ballads don’t dwell on emotion and are often told in the plainest terms, yet somehow every line of this song aches with the wife’s agonising grief and desperation to bring her sons back.

False Lights sang The Wife of Usher’s Well Live at Folk East on 17 August 2014, and recorded it in 2015 for their CD Salvor.

Georgia Lewis sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 2015 on her eponymous EP Georgia Lewis and in 2017 on her RootBeat CD The Bird Who Sings Freedom. She noted:

A ballad considered to be from Scotland, although no complete original version has survived. Here we’ve adapted the lyrics and written a new melody. The song implicitly draws on an old belief that one should mourn a death for a year and a day, for any longer may cause the dead to return.

Barbara Dymock sang Usher’s Well on her 2016 CD Leaf an’ Thorn. She noted:

I had the bright idea of setting the Child Ballad The Wife of Usher’s Well to a melody composed by Fatoumata Diawara from Mali, and Christopher [Marra] ran with it.

The Outside Track sang The Wife of Usher’s Well on their 2018 CD Rise Up. They noted:

The Wife of Usher’s Well is a song that has travelled from one side of the Atlantic to the other, and back again. It’s a tragic tale of a mother who sends her three children away to school, only for them to sadly pass away. She then imagines them coming home for one last supper, wishing in her heart they could stay.

Fiona Hunter sang The Wife of Usher’s Well on the 2019 album Scott’s Sangs that revisited the ballads of Walter Scott’s Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border. Emily Lyle noted:

This ghost story appears in the first edition of the Minstrelsy, and Scott’s version came from “the recitation of an old woman residing near Kirkhill, in West Lothian”. In the 1800s Kirkhill was the seat of the Earl of Buchan on the bank of the Brox Burn, near Uphall, about twelve miles west of Edinburgh. Fiona Hunter learned the ballad from the singing of Alison McMorland, who was her tutor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, (now the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland).

Fiona Hunter: “I learned it when I was a student in my final year. There were certain ballads that Alison held back on until she felt I was ready for them. My favourite verse is: ‘The cock doth craw, the day doth daw, the channerin [=gnawing] worm doth chide…’ ”

The tune is by Alison McMorland’s husband, singer Geordie McIntyre, and was recorded by them together on their 2005 album Ballad Tree. Thanks to Geordie for kind permission to use the tune.

Fiona Ross sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 2020 on her and Shane O’Mara’s CD Sunwise Turn. She noted:

I learned this version of the ballad from the singing of Alison McMorland. I particularly like this tune, composed by Geordie McIntyre. For me, it underlines the supernatural aspect of the story, and the notion that it’s the power the mother possesses, even more than her anguish, that brings her three revenant sons back to her.

Jim Causley sang The Wife of Dunkeswell on his 2021 CD Devonia. He noted:

Traditional, Baring-Gould Collection. Collected from Sally Satterley of Huckaby Bridge.

Vic Shepherd and John Bowden sang The Lady Gay in 2022 on their Hallamshire Traditions album Revel in the Stories. They noted:

This chilling ballad, one of the bleakest we know, is a version of The Wife of Usher’s Well, variants of which have been recorded by numerous traditional and revival singers in Britain and North America, although it seems to be far more common in tradition in America than in Britain. This version is based on the singing of the wonderful Ozark singer Almeda Riddle, and musician and Baptist minister Buell Kazee from Kentucky.

“Grammaree” may have something to do with learning magic, which adds a further supernatural element to the song, and the children’s warning reflects the widely held belief that excessive mourning would prevent the deceased from being able to rest in peace. When you hear this song you can almost literally feel the temperature drop!

The Furrow Collective sang The Wife of Usher’s Well in 2023 on their Hudson album We Know by the Moon. Lucy Farrell noted:

Chris Coe sang me this version of the classic supernatural ballad in a singing lesson while I was on the folk music degree course in Newcastle. Mostly taken from A Book of British Ballads by Roy Palmer [but shortened by six verses], it is a Scottish version with a few edits here and there; I think I stole ‘the lark’ from an American version, apparently meaning the plague.

Lyrics

Texas Gladden sings The Three Babes

There was a knight and a lady bright,
And three little babes had she.
She sent them away to a far country
To learn their gramerie.

They hadn’t been gone but a very short time,
About three months and a day,
Till the Lord called over this whole wide world,
And taken those babes away.

It was on a dark, cold Christmas night,
When everything was still,
She saw her three little babes come running,
Come running down the hill.

She spread a table of bread and wine,
That they might drink and eat.
She spread a bed of winding sheet,
That they might sleep so sweet.

“Take it off, take it off,” said the oldest one,
“Take it off, take it off,” said she.
“I can’t stay here in this wide wicked world,
For there’s a better one for me.

“Cold clods, cold clods down by my side,
Cold clods down at my feet.
The tears my dear mother has shed for me
Would wet my winding sheet.”

Linnie Landers sings The Three Little Babes

They hadn’t been married, but a very short time
Till children they had three
They sent them away to the North Country
To learn their gramarie

They hadn’t been there but a very short time
Just six weeks and three days
Till sickness came into their cold town
And swept her babes away

She dreamed a dream when the nights were long
When the nights were long and cold
She dreamed she saw her three little babes
Come walking down to her hall

She spread them a table on milk white cloth
And on it she put cake and wine
“Come and eat, come and eat, my three little babes
Come and eat and drink of mine”

“No mother, no mother, don’t want your cake
Nor either drink your wine
For yonder stands our Saviour dear
To take us in his arms”

She fixed them a bed all in the back side room
And on it she put three sheets
And one of the three was a golden sheet
Under it the youngest might sleep

“Take it off, take it off, dear mother” they said
“We haven’t got long to stay
For yonder stands our Saviour dear
Where we must shortly be

“Dear mother, dear mother, it’s the fruit of your poor pride heart
Which caused us to lie in the clay
Cold clods at our heads, green grass at our feet
We are wrapped in our winding sheet”

Jean Ritchie sings The Wife of Usher’s Well

There lived a wife at Usher’s Well,
And a wealthy wife was she;
She had three strong and stalwart sons
And she sent them o’er the sea.

They hadn’t been gone but a week from her,
But a week and only one;
When word was sent to this wealthy wife
That her sons were dead and gone.

They hadn’t been gone three weeks from her,
Three weeks and only three,
When word was sent to this wea thy wife
That her sons she’d never see.

She prayed the wind would never cease,
Nor troubles in the flood,
Till her three sons came home to her
In their own flesh and blood.

It feel about the Martinmas time,
When nights are long and dark,
This wife’s three sons came home to her
With robes all shining bright.

Blow up the fire my maidens fair,
Bring waters from the well,
For we shall have a merry, merry feast
Since my three sons are well.

O it’s she has made for them a bed,
She made it large and wide,
And placed her mantle over them all
And sat down at their side.

The cock he chaffed his wings and crawed
Before the break of day;
The eldest to the youngest said:
It’s time we were a-way.

The cock doth crow, the day doth dawn,
The merry birds doth chide,
We shall be missed out of our place
And we must no longer bide.

Lie still, lie still, but a little while,
Lie still but if we may,
If our mother misses us when she wakes up
She’ll go mad o’er the break of day.

So fare ye well my mother dear,
For we must say goodbye
And fare thee well the bonny lass
That kindles my mother’s fire.

Hedy West sings The Wife of Usher’s Well

There was a woman and she lived alone
And babies she had three.
She sent them away to the north country
To learn their grammarie.

They’d not been gone but a very short time,
Scarcely six weeks to the day,
When death, cold death spread through the land
And swept them babes away.

She prayed to the Lord in Heaven above,
Wearing a starry crown:
“Oh, send to me my three little babes,
Tonight, or in the morning soon.”

It was very close to Christmas time;
The nights was long and cold.
And the very next morning at the break of day
Them babes come a-running home.

She set the table for them to eat,
Upon it spread bread and wine.
“Come eat, come drink, my three little babes;
Come eat, come drink of mine.”

“Oh, mother, we cannot eat your bread,
Neither can we drink your wine,
For tomorrow morning, at the break of day,
Our Saviour we must join.”

She made the bed in the back-most room,
Upon it she spread a sheet,
Upon the top a golden spread
For to help them babes asleep.

“Rise up, rise up,” said the eldest one,
“Rise up, rise up,” said she,
“For tomorrow morning, at the break of day,
Our Saviour must we see.

“Cold clods of clay roll o’er our heads,
Green grass grows on our feet,
And thy sweet tears, my mother dear,
Will wet our winding sheet.”

Nimrod Workman sings Lady Gay

There lived a lady, a lady gay
And children she had three
She sent them away to a north country
To learn of most grammarly

They hadn’t been gone but a very short while
Scarcely three weeks come a day
Till death came hasting all around
And swept those babes away

Pray bring to me my three little babes
To keep me company
Her three little babes came running down
All though their mother’s hall

She set a table before them
Spread over with bread and wine
Come eat, come eat, my three little babes
Come eat and drink of wine

We cannot eat your bread mother
Nor neither drink your wine
For yonder stands our Saviour dear
Unto him we must rely

She made a bed in the backymost room
Spread over with clean sheets
And over top with a golden spread
To make those babies sleep

Take it off, take it off, cried the oldest one
Take it off, I say again
Take it off, take if off, cried the younger one
For the cock’s done crowed for day

Cold clay lays at our head, mother
Green grass grows at our feet
The tears you shed last night for us
Has wet your winding sheet

Steeleye Span sing The Wife of Usher’s Well

There lived a wife in Usher’s Well
A wealthy wife was she;
She had three stout and stalwart sons
And sent them o’er the sea.

They had not been from Usher’s Well,
A week but barely one,
When word came to this carlin wife
That her three sons were gone.

“I wish the wind may never cease
Nor flashes in the flood
Till my three sons return to me
In earthly flesh and blood.”

It fell about the Martinmas,
The nights were long and dark,
Three sons came home to Usher’s Well
Their hats were made of bark

That neither grew in forest green
Nor on any wooded rise,
But from the north side of the tree
That grows in Paradise.

“Blow up the fire, my merry merry maidens,
Bring water from the well
For all my house shall feed this night
Since my three sons are well.”

Then up and crowed the blood red cock
And up and crowed the grey,
The oldest to the youngest said,
“It’s time we were away.

“For the cock does crow and the day doth show
And the channerin worm doth chide
And we must go from Usher’s Well
To the gates of Paradise.”

“I wish the wind may never cease
Nor flashes in the flood
Till my three sons return to me
In earthly flesh and blood.”

Spencer Moore sings Three Little Babes

There was a bride, a most beautiful bride
Three little babes had she
She sent them away to a northern college
To learn their grammaree.

They hadn’t been away but a little while
‘Bout three months and a day
‘Til death spread wide all over the land
And took her babes away.

“Oh, Saviour dear,” cried the beautiful bride
Who used to wear a crown
“Send to me my three little babes
Tonight or in the morning soon.”

But it being close [to] Christmas time
And the nights being long and cold
Down come running those three little babes
Into their mother’s home.

She fixed them a table in the backside room
Spread over with bread and wine
“Come and eat and drink, my three little babes
Come and eat and drink of mine.”

“We can’t eat your bread, sweet mother dear
Neither can we drink your wine
For yonder stands my sweet Saviour
From this we must resign.”

She fixed them a bed in the backside room
Spread over with a nice clean sheet
On top of that was a golden spread
She fixed them a place to sleep.

“Take it off, take it off, sweet mother dear
Take it off,” then again said he
“How can we stay in this wide wicked world
When there’s a better place for me.”

John Roberts & Tony Barrand sing The Wife of Usher’s Well

There lived a lady in merry Scotland,
And she had sons all three,
And she sent them away into merry England,
To learn some English deeds.

They had not been in merry England
For twelve months and one day,
When the news came back to their own mother dear,
Their bodies were in cold clay.

“I will not believe in God,” she said,
“Nor Christ in eternity,
Till They send me back my own three sons,
The same as they went from me.”

Old Christmas time was drawing near,
When the nights are dark and long,
This mother’s own three sons came home,
Walking by the light of the moon.

And as soon as they reached to their own mother’s gate,
So loud at the bell they ring,
There’s none so ready as their own mother dear
To loose these children in.

The cloth was spread, the meat put on;
“No meat, Lord, can we take;
It’s been so long and so many a day
Since you our dinner did make.”

The bed was made, the sheets put on;
“No rest, Lord, can we take;
It’s been so long and so many a day
Since you our bed did make.”

Then Christ did call for the roasted cock,
Feathered with His holy hands,
He crowed three times all in the dish,
In the place where he did stand.

He crowed three times all in the dish,
Set at the table head,
“And isn’t it a pity,” they all did say,
“The quick should part from the dead.

“So farewell stick, farewell stone,
Farewell to the maidens all,
Farewell to the nurse that gave us suck,”
And down the tears did fall.

Eunice Yeatts MacAlexander sings The Three Little Babes

Spoken: This song, my mother called The Three Little Babes. She learnt it from her mother. It’s very old.

There lived a lady, lady gay,
And children she had three.
She sent them away to a northern school,
To learn their gramarie.

They had not been gone but a very short time,
Scarcely three weeks to the day.
’Til death, cold death, came stealing along
And stole those babes away.

“There lives a King in Heaven,” she cried,
“A King of a high degree.
O send me back my three little babes.
O send them back to me.”

Christmas time was drawing nigh,
The night being clear and cold.
She saw her three little babes coming back,
Coming back to their mother’s home.

She spread them a table of bread and wine,
Just as neat as it could be.
“Come eat, come drink, my three little babes.
Come eat, come drink with me.”

“We can’t eat your bread,” said the oldest one,
“Neither can we drink your wine.
For the Saviour Dear is standing near,
To Him we must resign.”

She made them a bed in the far back-room,
Put on it a neat white sheet.
And over the top spread a golden spread,
That they might better sleep.

“Take it off, take it off,” cried the oldest one,
“Take it off, take it off,” cried one.
“What’s to become of this wicked world,
Since sin has first begun?

“Cold clay, cold clay, hangs over my head,
Green grass grows over my feet.
And every tear that you shed for me,
But wets my winding sheet.”

Martin Carthy sings The Wife of Usher’s Well

There lived a wife in Usher’s Well
And a wealthy wife was she;
She’d three fine and stalwart sons
And sent them o’er the sea.

They’d not been gone a week,
And a week but barely one,
When death sweeping over the land
Took ’em one by one.

And they’d not been gone a week,
A week but barely three,
When word come to that young girl
Her babes she’d never see.

“I wish the wind would never blow
No fish swim in the flood
Till my darling babes are home,
They’re home in flesh and blood.”

And there about the Martinmas,
Nights are long and dark,
Her three kids come to her door
Their hats were made of bark.

And the tree never grew in any ditch
Nor down by any wall
But at the gates of Paradise
Grew strong grew tall.

“Blow up the fire, my maidens all,
Bring water from the well,
Since my darling babes are home
They’ve come home safe and well.”

So she has laid the table
With bread and with wine,
“Come eat and drink, my darling babes,
Eat and drink of mine.”

“We may not eat your bread mother
Nor may we drink your wine,
For cold death is lord of all,
To him we must resign.

“The green grass is at our head
And the clay is at our feet,
And your tears come tumbling down
And wet our winding sheet.”

So she has made the bed for them,
Spread the milk-white sheet.
She’s laid it all with cloth of gold
To see if they could sleep.

And up and crew the red cock,
Up and crew the grey,
And the youngest to the eldest says,
“Brother, we must away.”

And the cock had not crowed once
And clapped his wings for day,
When the eldest to the youngest says
“Brother, we must away.

“For the cock crow the day dawn,
The chunnering worm chide,
And if we’re missed out of our place
Then pain we must bide.

“Farewell, farewell, my mother dear,
Farewell to barn and byre,
And farewell the sweet young girl
Kindling my mother’s fire.”

Robin Laing sings The Wife of Usher’s Well

There lived a wife at Usher’s well,
And a wealthy wife was she;
She had three stout and stalwart sons
She sent them o’er the sea

They hadnae been a week from her,
A week but barely one,
When word’s cam tae the carlin wife,
That her three sons were gone.

And they hadnae been a week from her,
A week but barely three,
When word’s cam tae the carlin wife
Her sons she’d never see.

“I wish the winds might never cease,
Nor fashes in the flood,
’til my three sons come hame tae’ me
In earthly flesh and blood.”

And it fell aboot the Martinmas,
When the nights are lang and mirk
The carlin wife’s three sons cam’ hame,
But their hats were o’ the birk.

And it neither grew in syke nor ditch,
Nor yet in ony sheugh;
But at the gates o’ Paradise
That birk grew fair enough.

“Blow up the fire, my maidens,
Bring water from the well.
For a’ my hoose will feast this night
Since my three sons are well,
Since my three sons are well.”

And she has made tae them a bed
And she’s made it lang and wide
She’s pu’d her mantel her aboot
Sat doon by the bed-side.

Then up and crew the red, red cock
And up and crew the grey,
When the youngest tae the eldest said,
“It’s time we were away.”

And the cock it hadnae crawed but yince
Nor clapped its wings at a’,
When the eldest tae the youngest said
“Brother, we must awa.

“And the cock doth craw, the day doth daw
The channerin’ orm doth chide,
Gin we be missed oot o’oor place
It’s a sair pain we maun bide.

“Then fare thee weel, my mother dear,
Fareweel tae barn and byre.
And fare thee weel the bonny lass
That kindles my mothers fire,
That kindles my mothers fire.”

Alison McMorland sings The Wife of Usher’s Well

There lived a wife at Usher’s Well,
And a wealthy wife was she,
She had three stout and stalwart sons,
And she sent them o’er the sea.

They hadna been a week frae her,
A week but barely ane,
When word cam tae the carline wife
That her three sons were gane.

They hadna been a week frae her,
A week but barely three,
When word came to the carline wife
That her sons she’d never see.

“I wish the wind may never cease,
Nor fashes in the flood,
Till my three sons come hame tae me,
In earthly flesh and blood!” -

It fell about the Martinmas,
When nights are lang and mirk,
The carline wife’s three sons cam hame,
And their hats were o’ the birk.

It neither grew in syke nor ditch,
Nor yet in ony sheugh;
But at the gates o’ Paradise,
That birk grew fair enough.

“Blow up the fire, my maidens fair,
Bring water frae the well!
For a’ my hoose shall feast this nicht,
Since my three sons are well.” -

And she has made tae them a bed,
She’s made it large and wide;
And she’s ta’en her mantle her about,
Sat down at their bedside.

Up then crew the reid reid cock,
And up then crew the gray;
The eldest to the youngest said,
“’Tis time we were away.” -

The cock he hadna craw’d but once,
And clapp’d his wings at a’,
The youngest to the eldest said,
“Brother, we must awa.

“The cock doth craw, the day doth daw,
The channerin worm doth chide;
Gin we be missed oot o’ oor place,
A sair pain we maun bide.

“Fare ye weel, my mother dear!
Fareweel tae barn and byre!
And fare ye weel, thou bonny lass
That kindles my mother’s fire.”

Paul and Liz Davenport sing The Old Wife of Coverdale

There lived an old wife in Coverdale
    Merrily turns the Wheel
There lived an old wife in Coverdale
Children she had three
She sent them away to northern lands,
She sent them away for to learn their grammerye

Sad news came to her at Martinmas
    Merrily turns the wheel
Her children had sickened and died
And buried they were all three
My curse on the moon and the stars she cried
My curse upon God, he that took them away from me

The moon it rose high on Coverdale
    Merrily turns the wheel
The old wife she wept bitter tears
As she lay in her narrow bed
And there in the doorway her children stood
Their hats were of birch and their eyes as grey as lead

She arose to prepare a feast for them
    Merrily turns the wheel
And all the while tears down fell
And so bitterly she did weep
We want none of you meat or your ale mother
But let us return to our graves for to take our sleep

The cock it crows loud in Coverdale
    Merrily turns the wheel
The sun it rose red as blood
And the Moon it fled to the west
The worm it is calling us home mother
And all of your tears they will not let us rest

Bellowhead sing The Wife of Usher’s Well

There lived a wife at Usher’s Well
And a wealthy wife, a wife was she
She had three stout and stalwart sons
And she sent them out over the sea

They had not been a week from her
A week, a week but barely one
When word it came to the carline wife
That her three sons, her sons were gone

They had not been a week from her
A week, a week but barely three
When word it came to the carline wife
That her three sons she’d never see

“I wish the wind may never cease
Nor fashes, nor fashes in the flood
Till my three sons come home to me
In earthly flesh, in flesh and blood!”

It fell about on the Martinmas,
When nights were long and dark
The carline wife’s three sons came home
And their hats were of the bark

It neither grew in syke nor ditch
Nor yet in any wood
But at the gates of Paradise
The birch trees there they stood

“Blow up the fire, my maidens three!
Bring water, bring water from the well!
For all my house we shall feast this night
Since my three sons, my sons are well”

And she has made for them a bed
She’s made it large and she’s made it wide
She’s took her mantle thereabout
Sat down, sat down at their bedside

Up then crew the red, red cock
Then up and crew the rooster grey
The eldest to the youngest said
“’Tis time, ’tis time we were away”

The cock he had not crowed but once
And clapped his wings, his wings and all
When the youngest to the eldest said
“O Brother, brother we must away

“The cock does crow, the day does dawn
The channering worm does chide
And we must be out of our place
A sore pain we must bide

“And fare thee well to my mother dear
Farewell to barn and byre
And fare thee well to the bonny lass
That kindles my mother’s fire!”

It fell about on the Martinmas
When nights were long and dark
The carline wife’s three sons came home
And their hats were of the bark

The Furrow Collective sing The Wife of Usher’s Well

There was a lady and ladylike,
And three little babes had she.
She sent them away to a northern school
To learn their grammarie.

They hadn’t been gone but a very short time,
About three months and a day,
When a lark spread over this whole white world
And swept those babies away.

“Why do you mourn for your gold, your gold,
And for your white money?”
“I am mourning for my three sons
That death has taken from me.”

It was about the Martinmas
When the nights were long and still,
She dreamed she saw her babes come running,
Come running over the hill.

It was about the Christmas time
When the nights were long and dark,
She dreamed she saw her babes come running,
And their hats were covered in bark.

“What got ye there, my three bonnie sons,
Upon your heads so high?”
“We got these in Paradise,
But there grows none there for you.”

“Blow up the fire, you makers all,
Bring water from the well;
All this house shall feast this night
For my three bonnie sons are well.”

The cock he crowed a merry morning,
And he flapped his wings so wide;
The youngest to the eldest said:
“Nae longer can we bide.”

“For the cock he crows a merry morning,
And the wild fowls bode the day;
And the gates of heaven will be shut,
And we will be missed away.

She’s flown between them and the door
Like any baited bear;
They’ve all flown over her head
Like the wild fools of the air.

Acknowledgements

Transcribed from Martin Carthy’s singing by Garry Gillard.