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Jack Orion / Glasgerion

[ Roud 145 ; Child 67 ; Ballad Index C067 ; trad.]

A.L. Lloyd, accompanied on fiddle by Dave Swarbrick, sang Jack Orion on his 1966 LP First Person; this recording was later included in the Fellside anthology CD Classic A.L. Lloyd and in 2003 on the Dave Swarbrick anthology Swarb!. Lloyd commented in the original album's sleeve notes:

In the roll call of famous musicians the sonorous name of the Bardd Glas Geraint—Geraint, the Blue Bard—occurs. He was a ninth century Welsh harper of such legendary eminence that when Chaucer wrote his House of Fame he set “the Bret Clascurion” up in the minstrels' gallery alongside Orpheus and similar well known string-pickers. That was in the 1380s, some five hundred years after the harper's time, but his fame endured for much longer in the English folk ballad named Glasgerion, that by chance came to be called Glenkindie when it spread to Scotland. The ballad of Glasgerion dropped out of tradition long ago, but the story it tells is an engaging one (a modern and more democratic parallel is the well-liked Do Me Ama) and it seemed to me too good a song to be shut away in books, so I took it out and dusted it off a bit and set a tune to it and, I hope, started it on a new lease of life. Farm boys, tailors' apprentices, stable-grooms and other tricksters who overhear assignations and forestall the lover are standard stuff in folklore, but they don't usually come to such an unjustly sticky end as opportunistic Tom, the apprentice minstrel of our ballad. The fiddler Dave Swarbrick likes this one: does he see himself as Jack or Tom?

Martin Carthy sang Jack Orion on his 1968 album with Dave Swarbrick, But Two Came By, and it was included on both the compilation album This Is... Martin Carthy and on the definitive Martin Carthy anthology, The Carthy Chronicles. He commented in the original album's sleeve notes:

A.L. Lloyd has done exceptional work in many fields, especially, to my mind, in knocking into singable shape songs that were lost in tradition, but have attractive and not to say very powerful story lines: Jack Orion is such a one. It is a reworking of the ballad Glasgerion or Glenkindie, and has a story not unlike the sea song Domeama, but more detailed and with an exceedingly violent end. The song in its traditional form was, according to evidence at our disposal, not very widespread, which serves to highlight one of the curious features of the folk revival, that is, the many songs which were not at all common in tradition are very commonly sung in the revival and vice versa.

Another version was sung by Bert Jansch as title track of his Transatlantic album of 1966, Jack Orion.

Jon Boden sang Jack Orion as the March 18, 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.

Lyrics

A.L. Lloyd sings Jack Orion

Jack Orion was as good fiddler as ever fiddled on a string
And he could drive young women mad with the tune his wires would sing

He could fiddle the fish out of salt water or water from a marble stone
Or the milk out of a maiden's breast though baby she had none

So he sat and played in the castle hall and fiddled them all so sound asleep
Except it was for the young countess and for love she stayed awake

And first he played a slow slow air and then he played it brisk and gay
And o dear love behind her hand this lady she did say

“Ere the day has dawned and the cocks have crown and flapped their wings so wide
It's you may come up to me bedroom door and stretch out at me side”

So he lapped his fiddle in a cloth of green and he stole out on his tip toe
And he's off back to his young boy Tom as fast as he could go

“Ere the day has dawned and the cocks have crown and flapped their wings so wide
I;m bid to go to that lady's door and stretch out at her side”

“Well lie down rest you my good master, here's a blanket to your hand
And I'll waken you in as good a time as any cock in the land”

And Tom took the fiddle into his hand, fiddled and he sang for a full hour
Till he played his master fast asleep and he's off to that lady's bower

And when he come to the countess' door he twirled so softly at the pin
And the lady true to her promise rose up and let him in

Well he didn't take that lady gay to bolster or to bed
But down upon her bedroom floor right soon he had her laid

And he neither kissed her when he came nor yet when from her he did go
But in and out of her bower window the moon like a coal did glow

“Oh ragged are your stockings love and stubble is your cheek and chin
And tangled is that yellow hair that I saw late yestre'en

“Me stockings belong to me boy Tom and they were the first come to me hand
And I tangled all me yellow hair when coming against the wind

He took his fiddle into his hand, so saucy there he sang
And he's off back to his own master as fast as could run

“Well up well me master dear for while you sleep and snore so loud
There's not a cock in all this land but has flapped his wings and crowed”

Jack Orion took the fiddle into his hand and he fiddled and he played so merrily
And he's off away to the lady's house as fast as go could he

Well when he come to the lady's door the fiddler twirled upon the pins
Saying softly, “Here's your own true love, rise up and let me in”

She says,“Surely you didn't leave behind a bracelet or a velvet glove
Or are you returned back again to taste more of me love?”

Jack Orion swore a bloody oath by oak and ash and bitter thorn
“Lady I never was in your room since the day that I was born”

“Oh then it was your little foot page that falsely has beguiled me
And woe that the blood of that ruffian boy should spring in my body”

And home then went Jack Orion, crying, “Tom me lad come here to me”
And he hanged that boy from his own gatepost high as the willow tree

Martin Carthy sing Jack Orion

Jack Orion was as good fiddler as ever fiddled on a string
And he could drive young women mad by the tune his wires would sing

But he would fiddle the fish out of salt water, water from bare marble stone
Or the milk from out of a maiden's breast though baby she had none

And there he played in the castle hall and there he played them fast asleep
Except it was for the young countess and for love she stayed awake

And first he played there a slow slow air and then he played it brisk and gay
And it's, “O dear love,” behind her hand the lady she did say

“Ere the day has dawned and the cocks have crown and flapped their wings so wide
It's you must come up to me chamber there and lie down by me side”

So he lapped his fiddle in a cloth of green and he stole out on his tip toe
And he's off back to his young boy Tom as fast as he could go

“Ere the day has dawned and the cocks have crown and flapped their wings so wide
I'm bid to go up to that lady's door and stretch out by her side”

“Lie down, lie down, me good master and here's a blanket to your hand
And I'll waken you in as good a time as any cock in the land”

So Tom took the fiddle into his hand and he fiddled and he sang for a full hour
Until he played him fast asleep and he's off to the lady's bower

And when he come to the countess' door he twirled so softly at the pin
And the lady true to her promise rose up and let him in

Well he did not take that lady gay to bolster nor to bed but down
Upon the hard cold bedroom floor right soon he had her laid

And neither did he kiss her when he came nor when from her he did go
But in at the lady's bedroom window the moon like a coal did glow

“Oh ragged are your stockings love and stubbly is your cheek and chin
And tousled is that yellow hair that I saw late yestre'en”

“Me stockings belong to my boy Tom but they were the first came to my hand
And the wind did tousle me yellow hair as I rode over the land”

Tom took the fiddle into his hand and he fiddled and he played so saucily
And he's off back to his master's house as fast as go could he

“Then up then up my good master why snore you there so loud for there
Is not a cock in all this land but has clapped his wings and crowed”

Jack Orion took the fiddle into his hand and he fiddled and he played so merrily
And he's off away to the lady's house as fast as go could he

And when he come to the lady's door he twirled so softly at the ring
Saying, “Oh me dear it's your true love, rise up and let me in”

She said “Surely you didn't leave behind a golden brooch nor a velvet glove
Or are you returned back again to taste more of me love?”

Jack Orion he swore a bloody oath by oak, by ash, by bitter thorn
“Lady I never was in this room since the day that I was born”

“Oh then it was your own boy Tom that cruelly has beguiled me
And woe that the blood of that ruffian boy should spring in my body”

Jack Orion took off to his own house saying, “Tom my boy come here to me”
And he hanged that boy from his own gatepost as high as the willow tree

Acknowledgements

Transcribed by Garry Gillard. Thanks for suggestions to Wolfgang Hell and Susanne Kalweit. There are still a few small guesses and/or assumptions here. And then still more changes, thanks to Malcolm Douglas: from this Mudcat thread. Here is another one.