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The Prickly Bush
The Prickly Bush / The Prickle-Holly Bush
[Child 95; trad. arr. Watersons]
This is a variant of The Briery Bush, or The Maid Freed from the Gallows (#95 in F.J. Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads) with the protagonist being male. It was sung by A.L. Lloyd accompanied by Alf Edwards playing concertina on his and Ewan MacColl's album English and Scottish Folk Ballads (1964). He commented in the album notes:
In the opinion of many scholars this is among the oldest, most typical and most interesting of ballads. It has turned up in countless versions in the Scandinavian and Baltic countries, in Central Europe, Hungary, Rumania and Russia, and the ballad specialist Francis J. Child considered that the best version of all is Sicilian. It has enjoyed very wide currency in the British Isles and also in the USA, where it has been described as “easily the favourite of all the traditional ballads among the Negroes.” In many versions, the story tells of a young woman captured by pirates or brigands; father, mother, brother, sister refuse to pay ransom, but the lover sets her free. In earlier forms of the ballad, the girl is condemned to die for the loss of a golden ball (or golden key, either signifying the girl's honour which, when lost, can only restored by her lover). There is a folk tale, once well-known in England, in which a stranger gives a girl a golden ball. If she loses it, she is to be hanged. While playing with the ball she does lose it. At the gallows, her kindred refuse to help, but the lover recovers the ball after terrible adventures in the house of ill-omen where it had rolled. It seems that verses from The Prickly Bush (also called The Maid Freed from the Gallows) were sung in the course of telling the story. The losing of the golden ball and the subsequent scene at the gallows used to form a children's game in Lancashire in the 19th century, again accompanied by the song. In Missouri, the song is used as part of a story of a Negro girl with a magic golden ball that will make her white. From a similar cante-fable, the admired Negro singer Huddie Ledbetter (Leadbelly) evolved a version that became well-known after it appeared on a commercial disc. Many layers of folklore, extenting to very primitive times, may be revealed by deep study of this ancient ballad, in which, at some stage and in certain versions, the condemned person has changed sex and become a man who is freed by his girlfriend.
The form of the ballad is likewise interesting. It is frequently suggested that the ballad originated as choral dances. That is, a group formed a ring and danced round. A member of the group sang a single line or set of lines, and the rest came in with a refrain. It has been further suggested that ballads were actually created in the course of this operation, with various members of the group improvising sequences (alternated with refrain) until the ballad story was carried to a conclusion. Now, not many ballads, as we know them, show signs of this kind of communal creation. But The Prickly Bush, with its extremely simple construction, may well have come into being in such a way. Few ballads show such clear signs of a primitive dramatic structure as this one, though the major tune, collected by Lucy Broadwood in Buckinghamshire, is probably fairly modern.
A 1948 radio transcription by Leadbelly, The Gallows Pole, was possibly the version mentioned above by Lloyd. It was included in 1975 on the on the anthology Electric Muse.
In 1951, Peter Kennedy recorded for the BBC Walter Lucas and villagers of Sixpenny Handley, Dorset singing The Prickly Holly Bush. This was released on Alan Lomax' The Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: England.
In 1981, The Prickle-Holly Bush was sung by the Watersons (Martin Carthy leading with Lal, Mike and Norma Waterson on chorus) on their LP and CD Green Fields. This track was reissued in 2004 on the Watersons' 4CD anthology Mighty River of Song. A live recording from the Triplex Theatre, Borough of Manhattan Community College, New York City of 4 December 1987 was finally made available in 2001 on The Carthy Chronicles. This version has a quite unusual Watersons line-up: Lal, Norma, Mike and Martin (who is singing lead as on the original LP version) are joined by Mike's daughter Rachel.
A.L. Lloyd commented in the Green Fields sleeve notes:
A book could be written about this song. There's a hint of the story in Euripides' Alkestis produced in 438 BC. But of course it wasn't till many centuries later that the tale became versified and turned into a ballad. It was spread all over Europe in several forms. In Hungary, a yellow snake fastens itself to a girl's breast, and neither father, mother, sister nor brother will take it away, till up steps the bold sweetheart and does the trick. Further east, a girl is captured by pirates, and, again, her family, one by one, refuse to pay the ransom, but eventually the sweetheart pays it. So on through the ages till our own day. American blacks took to the song (Leadbelly had a good version), and after the Watts ghetto riots of 1965, a set appeared in which a young black looter appears in court to face a heavy fine or the “gallows twine.” The rescuer in this case is neither father, mother nor sweetheart but a social worker who arrives with the money just in time. As to the “prickle-holly bush” refrain, not all British versions carry it. The symbology-nutters find deep meaning in it again, something to do with somebody's loss of virginity (what, again!) but if it means anything, it is probably merely as synonym for an awkward fix. The version here, with its fine tune, was recorded by Mike Yates from Bill Whiting, of Longcot, Berks.
A version of The Prickle-Holly Bush, with words similar to The Watersons' but a completely different tune, was collected by Bob Copper in about 1954 from Fred Hewett, of Mapledurwell [pronounced 'Mapley-well'], Hants: see Chapter 16, pp. 135-140, of Songs and Southern Breezes for the details; and the appendix for the words.
Steeleye Span recorded The Prickly Bush in 1996 for their album Time. The words are the usual traditional ones and the verse melody was written by Bob Johnson. The album notes comment:
This story is allegorical, the gold signifying the maiden's honour; which when lost can only be restored by one person - her lover. Gold seems from early times to have been the symbol of integrity, appearing in Danish ballads as the virgin's insignia. So too in the Scottish Ballad of Tam Lin - “I forbid you maidens all / that wear gold in your hair”
The “prickly bush” is familiar in English and Scottish ballads as the symbol of unhappy love. The real question is - do we remember the lessons learned whilst in the prickly bush?
Compare to this Shirley Collins singing The Streets of Derry on her album The Sweet Primeroses.
Lyrics
| A.L. Lloyd sings The Prickly Bush | The Watersons sing The Prickle-Holly Bush |
|---|---|
|
“O hangman, hold your hand,” he cried, |
“Oh, slack your horse,” cries George, |
|
“O father, have you brought me gold |
“Did you bring gold? |
|
“Oh no, I have not brought thee gold, |
“I've no gold, |
|
Oh, the prickly bush, the prickly bush, |
Oh, the prickle-holly bush, it pricks, it pricks, |
|
[Repeat for his mother and brother; then his sweetheart, who responds:] |
[Repeat for his mother and sister; then his sweetheart, who responds:] |
|
“O yes, I've brought you gold,” she cried, |
“I've brought gold, |
|
Oh, the prickly bush, the prickly bush, |
Oh, the prickle-holly bush, it pricks, it pricks, |
| Steeleye Span sing The Prickly Bush | |
|
Chorus: | |
|
“Hangman, oh hangman, | |
|
“Father, did you bring me me gold | |
|
“No, I didn't bring you gold | |
|
Chorus | |
|
[Repeat for his brother and sister; then his lover, who responds:] | |
|
“Yes, I brought you gold,, | |
|
Chorus |
Acknowledgements
Thanks to Greer Gilman for the Waterson's transcription.