Edward, Child Ballad 13

Francis James Child (1825-1896), a Harvard professor, catalogued 305 folk songs and published his collection in five volumes. Because there are many versions of folk songs that have been spread through oral transmission in many countries, the Child Ballad numbers are one of the best ways to identify them. “Edward” may go by different names in different countries, or even in different counties in Appalachia.

Child described this ballad as “one of the noblest and most sterling specimens of the popular ballad.” It tells an archetypal tale of fratricide, a tale that figured prominently in Genesis and in many other guises down the ages. The textual variations sometimes reflect local culture. In America it may make reference to corn crops and in England hunting foxes with greyhounds. The ballad appears in John Jacob Niles’s later collection where he notes that the song is much more common in America and other countries than in its presumed English or Scottish birthplace.

Niles has a different tune than the one presented here. The wonderful thing about oral transmission is its variety. That may be a stumbling block to researchers looking for forensic answers to the music, but songs tend to be refined in the process of oral transmission. Features that don’t work so well or that don’t capture the imagination drop out, and the best features tend to stay.

I discovered this video some months ago and was tempted to share it immediately. But, as I recall, it was Lent and we had our hands full with sacred works. And coming out of Lent, we really needed some more cheerful selections. But this video struck me for a couple of significant qualities. First, the purity of the unaccompanied vocals, which can be quite compelling if done well. And second, the way the music lends itself to some rather modern improvisation.

Chris Thile has taken over the show formerly known as Prairie Home Companion (now Live From Here). This makes me think I should get reacquainted with it. And Sarah Jarosz (a good Texan apparently) brings the right combination of musical skill and folk authenticity.

When I studied folk styles in college, we had two categories of texts that were predominant: the romances, which often went unfulfilled and ended badly (as in Barbara Allen, Child 84), and the morality songs which generally end with some kind of justice being meted out. In this morality tale and many others, the murderer is sent away, able to return only when an impossible condition is met.

Image: YouTube thumbnail (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0)