> A.L. Lloyd > Songs > The False Bride
> Shirley Collins > Songs > The False Bride
> Sandy Denny > Songs > The False Bride (I Once Loved a Lass)
> June Tabor > Songs > The Week Before Easter

The False Bride / The Week Before Easter / I Once Loved a Lass / I Courted a Wee Girl

[ Roud 154 ; Ballad Index K152 ; trad.]

Cecil Sharp collected The False Bride in 1904 from Lucy White, Hambridge, Somerset. It was included by Ralph Vaughan Williams and A.L. Lloyd in The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. In 1960, A.L. Lloyd recorded it for the album A Selection from the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. Like all tracks from this LP it was reissued in 2003 on the CD England & Her Traditional Songs. Lloyd wrote in the album's sleeve notes:

A version of this sad, tender song was printed on a Newcastle broadsheet in the 1680s, but it may be more than three hundred years old. A feeble prettied version, called The False Nymph, was current in concert halls in the eighteenth century. But as often happens, the common people preserved the song in much finer form than fashionable folk had it. It seems to have lasted best in the South, for several sets have turned up in Somerset, Devon and Sussex. Cecil Sharp had this one from Lucy White of Hambridge, Somerset.

The False Bride was also sung by John Bowden (vocals, concertina) with Martin Carthy (guitar) on the Fellside anthology A Selection from the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. This album's sleeve notes said:

From Elizabeth Mogg, Holford, Somerset; noted in 1904 by Cecil Sharp. This melancholy song has remained long in the affections of country singers. Its age is uncertain. A version was published in the late seventeenth century, but it may not have been new then. Mrs White's text has been slightly amended with lines from two other Somerset versions collected by Sharp in 1904. Versions have been printed in Devon and Sussex.

Shirley Collins recorded The False Bride in 1963 for her EP Heroes in Love. She learned it from the repertoire of the Copper Family (Bob Copper sang this with the title A Week Before Easter). Like all tracks of this EP, it was included in her compilation Fountain of Snow and on the CD reissue of The Sweet Primeroses. It was also included in her anthology The Classic Collection. A live recording from the St Andrews Folk Club in December 1964 was released in 2002 on the Shirley Collins anthology Within Sound. In 1969 Shirley Collins used the tune of The False Bride for Austin John Marshall's poem Whitsun Dance on her album Anthems in Eden.

In 1971 in Edinburgh, Andrew Cronshaw recorded June Tabor singing The Week Before Easter a cappella with lyrics very similar to those of Shirley Collins. This recording was finally published in 2005 on the June Tabor anthology Always.

Sandy Denny sang a version with somewhat different verses that is sometimes known as I Once Loved a Lass. This recording was originally released in 1967 on Alex Campbell and His Friends and later reissued on the Saga LP Sandy Denny, on the Mooncrest CD The Original Sandy Denny, and in 2005 on Where the Time Goes. Sandy sang it with minimum accompaniment and maximum sensitivity; on this track she approached the quality shown on her solo radio broadcasts (as collected on The Attic Tracks Vol. 3). Two radio recordings from the BBC broadcast “The Johnny Silvo Folk Four” on November 7, 1966, where Sandy is backed by the Johnny Silvo Folk Group (Johnny Silvo, David Moses and Roger Evans), and from “Cellar Full of Folk” on March 21, 1967 are not released.

Sarah Makem sang this song as I Courted A Wee Girl in a recording made by Bill Leader in her home, Keady, Co. Armagh, 1967. This was published on her 1968 Topic LP Mrs Sarah Makem: Ulster Ballad Singer and on the anthology Come Let Us Buy the License (The Voice of the People Series Volume 1; Topic 1998).

Pete Coe sang I Courted A Wee Girl on his 1997 CD Long Company. He commented in his liner notes:

Back to Sarah Makem again—this version is based on hers. The song is variously known as The Week Before Easter, The False Bride, and The Lambs on the Green Hill. No fanciful imagery, no strawberries growing in the salt sea etc. Mrs Makem got down to the plain misery of this song on betrayal and lost love.

Jon Boden sang A Week Before Easter as the April 17, 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.

This video shows Olivia Chaney singing The False Bride on Guernsey in Summer 2011:

Lyrics

A.L. Lloyd sings The False Bride	Sandy Denny sings I Once Loved a Lass
	I once loved a lass and I loved her so well And I hated all others who spoke of her ill. And now she's rewarded me well for my love, For she's gone and she's wed another.
Oh, when that I saw my love in the church stand, With the ring on her finger and the glove in her hand, I jumped in betwixt them and kissed the false bride, Saying: “Adieu to false loves for ever.”	And I saw my love up to the church go With bride and brides-maidens she made a fine show. And I followed on with my heart full of woe For she's gone and she's wed another.
Oh, when that I saw my love out the church go, With the brides-men and bridesmaids they made a fine show, Then I followed after with me heart full of woe, For I was the man that ought to had her.
Oh, when that I saw my love sat down to meat, I sat myself by her but nothing could eat. I thought her sweet company better than wine, Although she was tied to some other.	I saw my love as she sat doon to dine. I sat doon beside her and poured the wine. And I thought of the lassie that should have been mine, Now she's gone and she's wed another.
	All men in yon forest they asked of me, “How many strawberries grow in the salt sea?” And I answered them with a tear in my e'e, “How many ships sail in the forest?”
Go dig me a grave both long, wide, and deep, And strew it all over with flowers so sweet, That I may lay down there and take me long sleep, And that's the best way to forget her.	Oh dig me a grave and dig it sae deep, And cover it over with wee flowers sae sweet. And I lay me doon for to tak' a long sleep And maybe in time I'll forget her.
	So they dug him a grave and they dug it sae deep And they covered it over with wee flowers sae sweet And he lay him doon for to tak' a long sleep And maybe in time he'll forget her.
Shirley Collins sings The False Bride
I courted a bonny girl for many's the day, And hated all people who 'gainst her did say. But now she's rewarded me well for my pains For she's gone to get tied to another. The week before Easter, the morn bright and clear, When the sun it shone brightly and keen blew the air, I went down to the forest to gather fine flowers But the forest won't yield me no roses. The first time I saw my love it was to the church go, The bride and the bridegroom they cut a fine show. While I followed after, my heart full of woe, For to see my love tied to another. The parson that married them aloud he did cry, All you'd who'd forbid it, I'd have you draw nigh. Well, thought I to myself, I'd a good reason why, Though I had not the heart to forbid it. The next time I saw my love, it was in the church stand, A gold ring on her finger, white gloves on her hand. Thought I to myself, I should have been that man, Though I'd never once mentioned to have her. And the last time I saw my love, she was all dressed in white, Made my eyes fill with tears, they quite dazzled my sight. So I picked up my hat and I wished her good night, Here's adieu to all false-hearted true loves. The ladies and gentlemen they are all asking me, “How many lilies grow in the salt sea?” But I'll ask them back with a tear in my eye, “How many ships sail in the forest?” Go dig my grave both long, wide and deep, And strew it all over with roses so sweet. So that I might lie down there and take a long sleep And that's the best way to forget her.

Music Transcription

Sandy Denny's version transcribed by Jan Hauenstein

Comment by Jan Hauenstein: I first learned this song from a Pentangle record. The singer was Bert Jansch, a Glaswegian, a real Scotsman. Small wonder that the Scottish accent that Sandy tries to emulate in the last verses was even more pronounced on the Pentangle version. yon=yonder, e'e=eye, sae=so, wee=tiny, doon=down, tak'=take. Both versions are absolutely beautiful. If you love Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention, you'll probably love The Pentangle, too.

Acknowledgements

The words are from The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, eds Ralph Vaughan Williams & A.L. Lloyd, Penguin, 1959. Thanks to Garry Gillard.