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All Things Are Quite Silent

[ Roud 2532 ; Ballad Index VWL013 ; trad.]

This song is a woman's lament for her husband who has been abducted from his bed and press-ganged into the navy. It was collected from Ted Baines of Lower Breeding, Sussex, in 1904 by Ralph Vaughan Williams. He and A.L. Lloyd published it in The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs.

It was recorded in 1967 by Shirley Collins for her album The Sweet Primeroses; this is also included in her anthologies Fountain of Snow and The Classic Collection. A live performance recorded in 1978 in Dublin can be found on both Harking Back and Within Sound. Another live version sung at the Folk Festival Sidmouth in 1979 can be heard on the festival's anthology and on the collection of Shirley Collins live recordings, Snapshots.

Steeleye Span recorded All Things Are Quite Silent for their first album, Hark! The Village Wait at the suggestion of Ashley Hutchings. Another version sung by Linda Adams can be found on the Fellside CD A Selection from The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs.

Lyrics

All things are quite silent, each mortal at rest,
When me and my love got snug in one nest,
When a bold set of ruffians broke into our cave,
And they forced my dear jewel to plough the salt wave.

I begged hard for my darling as I would for my life.
But they'd not listen to me although a fond wife,
Saying: “The king must have sailors, to the seas he must go,”
And they've left me lamenting in sorrow and woe.

Through green fields and meadows we ofttimes have walked,
And the fond recollections together have talked,
Where the lark and the blackbird so sweetly did sing,
And the lovely thrushes' voices made the valleys to ring.

Now although I'm forsaken, I won't be cast down.
Who knows but my my true love some day may return
And will make me amends for my trouble and strife,
And me and my true love might live happy for life.