> Martin Carthy > Songs > Sovay
> Dave Swarbrick > Songs > Sovay
> A.L. Lloyd > Songs > Sovay, the Female Highwayman
> Anne Briggs > Songs > Sovay

Sovay

[Trad. arr. Martin Carthy]

Sung by Martin Carthy in 1965 on his first album Martin Carthy. A slightly different version is on the 1983 LP Brass Monkey, re-released in 1993 both on the CD The Complete Brass Monkey. and on Rigs of the Time: The Best of Martin Carthy and in 2003 on the Martin Carthy anthology The Definitive Collection. A live recording with Dave Swarbrick at the Folkus Folk Club in 1966 is available on Both Ears and the Tail, another one - recorded at Focal Point, St. Louis, Missouri in 1990 - is on their album Life and Limb.

Martin Carthy commented in his original recording's sleeve notes:

Sovay Sovay was a great favourite among country singers and was printed by Such, among others, under its alternative title of The Female Highwayman. Her name varies from place to place - Sovay, Silvy, Shilo, Sally, etc. - but the story remains the same being a rather involved and slightly chancy way of establishing her lover's good faith. The tune sung here was collected by Hammond in Dorset and slightly altered rhythmically by Bert Lloyd giving it a somewhat Balkan lift. The text is collated from various versions.

A.L. Lloyd sings a very similar version (same tune, slightly different words), on First Person. This was re-released, for example, on the CD reissue of Bold Sportsmen All and on Classic A.L. Lloyd. These are his sleeve notes:

Another girl who dressed in men's clothes, high-spirited this time to a dangerous degree. The heroine of this piece has been called “the kinkiest girl in folk song”. It's not quite clear whether her name is really Sylvie or Sophie, but of her fortright and adventurous character there can be no doubt. Lucy Broadwood found this “an exceedingly favourite ballad with country singers”, and every collector of prominence has found versions of it. The good Dorian tune here is akin to the one Sharp published to the words of The Flash Lad (he called it The Robber) in his Somerset series, Vol. V, and is substantially the same as H.E.D. Hammond's Sovie tune from Long Burton, Dorset. In a couple of places I've added a pinch of spice to the rhythm which seems to me to suit the character of both the song and its heroine.

And Anne Briggs recorded Sovay in 1973 but the ensuing album was shelved only to be released in 1996 as Sing a Song for You. She comments:

Other people have minutely psychoanalysed this song, so I won't! Just to say it's an amusing exchange of gender roles - “it made him blush like a rose” when he realised that he'd been had. But “she'd have pulled the trigger and shot him dead” if he'd blown it. Strong stuff.

See also The Male Female Highwayman on The Kipper Family's album Since Time Immoral.

Lyrics

Martin Carthy's 1965 version

Sovay, Sovay all on a day
She dressed herself in man's array
With a sword and pistol all by her side
To meet her true love, to meet her true love, away did ride

As she was riding over the plain
She met her true love and bid him stand
“Your gold and silver, kind Sir,” she said
“Or else this moment, or else this moment, your life I'll have”

And when she'd robbed him of his store
She said, “Kind Sir, there is one thing more
A golden ring which I know you have
Deliver it, deliver it, your sweet life to save”

“Oh that golden ring a token is
My life I'll lose, the ring I'll save”
Being tender-hearted just like a dove
She rode away, she rode away, from her true love

Now next morning in the garden green
Just like true lovers* they were seen
He spied his watch hanging by her clothes
Which made him blush, made him blush, like any rose

“Oh what makes you blush at so silly a thing
I thought to have had your golden ring
'Twas I that robbed you all on the plain
So here's your watch, here's your watch and your gold again”

“Oh I did intend and it was to know
If that you were me true love or no
So now I have a contented mind
My heart and all my heart and all my dear is thine”

*MC pronounces it loviers or lovyers.

Brass Monkey's version

Sovay, Sovay all on a day
She dressed herself in man's array
With a sword and a pistol all by her side
To meet her true love, to meet her true love, away did ride

And as she was a-riding over the plain
She met her true love and bid him stand
“Your gold and silver, kind Sir,” she said
“Or else this moment, or else this moment, your life I'll have”

And when she'd robbed him of his store
She says, “Kind sir, there is one thing more
A golden ring which I know you have
Deliver it, deliver it, your sweet life to save”

“Oh that golden ring a token is
My life I'll lose, the ring I'll save”
Being tender-hearted just like a dove
She rode away, she rode away, from her true love

Oh next morning in the garden green
Just like true lovers they were seen
Oh he spied his watch hanging by her clothes
And it made him blush, made him blush like any rose

“Oh what makes you blush at so silly a thing
I thought to have had your golden ring
It was I that robbed you all on the plain
So here's your watch, here's your watch and your gold again”

“I did intend and it was to know
If that you were me true love or no
For if you'd have give me that ring she said
I'd have pulled the trigger, I'd have pulled the trigger, and shot you dead”

A.L. Lloyd's version

Sovay Sovay all on a day
She dressed herself in man's array
With a brace of pistols all at her side
To meet her true love, to meet her true love, away she ride

As she was galloping on the plain
She met her sweetheart and bid him stand
“Stand and deliver, young man,” she said
“If an you do not, if an you do not, I'll shoot you dead”*

He delivered up his golden store
And still she craved for one thing more
“That diamond ring that I see you wear
Oh hand it over, oh hand it over, and your life I'll spare”

“From me diamond ring I wouldn't part
For it's a token from me sweetheart
Shoot and be damned you rogue said he
And you'll be hanged and you'll be hanged for murdering me”
She being soft-hearted much like a dove
She turned her horse and she rode away from her true love

Next morning in the garden green
Young Sophie and her love were seen
He spied his watch hanging by her clothes
Which made him blush lads, which made him blush like any rose

“Why do you blush you foolish thing
I thought to have that diamond ring
Twas I who robbed you all on the plain
And here's your gold love, and here's your gold and your watch and chain”

“I only did it for to know
Whether you were a man or no
If you had given me that ring she said
I'd have pulled the trigger I'd pulled the trigger and shot you dead”#

* Malcolm Douglas hears this as “if'n”, but I think of the “an” as the archaic word also meaning “if”.

Acknowledgements

Transcriptions by Garry Gillard.