A Ballad for Everything
Aug 28th 2009
Sabrina JeffriesOn Writing! & Sabrina Jeffries
I like ballads, the kind that go back a century or two (or three). The kind that tell stories. To be honest, our historical romance plots owe a LOT to traditional ballads. Check out “Willie of Winsbury,” where the king comes home to find his daughter pregnant by his serving man, but the serving man turns out to be a rich man himself, who only pretended to be a serving man because he fell in love with the king’s daughter.
And those cross-dressing heroines? There’s “Sovay,” who dresses as a highwayman and robs her true love to see if he would hand over the ring she’d given him. When he refuses, she knows he’s faithful. Or the many versions of “William Taylor,” where Willie is impressed and taken to sea. His true love dresses as a sailor and goes to sea looking for him, but her disguise is uncovered by her captain, who tells her that Willie has married another while away. So she finds Willie and shoots him dead. In some versions, the captain marries her. In others, he makes her “the chief commander of a ship and a hundred men” as a reward for her shooting Willie. I like both versions, myself!
There’s a couple of truly macabre ones, too, for you suspense writers. Like the many versions of “The Cruel Sister,” where one sister drowns the other, either to gain a man’s love or to gain their mother’s love. Some men who find the body make a harp out of it (the ballad goes into great detail about how that’s done). In some versions, the crime is discovered when the harp plays a song about how she was drowned. Then there’s “The Cruel Mother” (lots of cruelty going around in ballads) who kills her babies to hide her illegitimate pregnancy so she can marry, but the children appear at her wedding to haunt her.
As you can see, some of these end happily … some of them, not so much. I eat them up. I don’t know why. Probably because I grew up listening to folk music, which taps a lot of old ballads. I think they’re a lot like the really old fairy tales, which aren’t nearly as “nice” as Disney makes them out to be. Look at “Bluebeard”–they won’t be making a Disney movie out of THAT anytime soon.
So do you like ballads? Or any song that tells a story, recent or old? Do you have any favorites to share? What about old fairy tales? Tell me some of your favorites that are off the beaten path. I’m in the mood for drama and neat twists of fate!
68 Comments »
68 Responses to “A Ballad for Everything”
LisaK on 28 Aug 2009 at 3:11 am #
Wow, that’s so my topic.
But first, I’ve got a question: In English, does the word “ballad” require the whole thing to be sung? Or is it like the German “Ballade”, which can be songs but also just long poems?
Schiller wrote quite a few of those which I really, really like – “Die Bürgschaft” (“The Hostage”) comes to mind, or “Der Ring des Polykrates”. Annette von Droste-Hülshoff wrote wonderful ballads about nature and ghosts (“Der Knabe im Moor” – “The Lad on the Moor” is by her) which I find quite fascinating because they can really capitvate you.
I also like “The Highwayman”, which was set to music by Loreena McKennitt. It’s the one and only song that always, always makes me cry. That’s why I can never listen to it when I’m in a cheerful mood. It’s so tragic and yet so beautiful!
LoriHandeland on 28 Aug 2009 at 5:02 am #
I’ve never listened to the old time ballads. But sounds like today’s country music to me. I’m not a huge fan, but I do like Toby Keith and Trisha Yearwood.
Ever listen to Keith’s “Beer for My Horses.” Love that story! Also “She’s in Love with the Boy” by Trisha Yearwood.
As for fairy tales, I’m mostly familiar with the tried and true–Sleeping Beauty etc. I always liked that one. Being awoken from a long sleep by a prince. Now that’s the way to wake up!
Pesky on 28 Aug 2009 at 6:44 am #
The irish are big into ballads. The one we sing as both a fight song and a slow ballad is “The Fields of Athenry” which tells the story of what happens when a young man rises up against the crown and gets shipped off to Botney Bay, leaving his wife to raise their children with dignity.
Another one is In Dublin’s Fair City (Molly Malone). He loved her…she died.
The Rose of Tralee, He loved her, he went to fight in India, She died (or he died, it’s not specific, there was death).
Then there’s Galway Bay by The Clancey Brothers, about a naggin wife with a mouth the size of Galway bay that has a tattoo of Galway. He wishes she was dead.
Ahhhhh the Irish, we’re such an uplifting bunch.
Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 6:57 am #
I confess, Pesky, that I’m not only part-Irish, but I listen to a lot of Celtic music, which is where I get most of my ballads. And I also like artists like Connie Dover and Loreena McKennitt, who put a lot of poems to music or sing traditional ballads.
I can never figure out why I love tragic ballads when I don’t like tragic books. Maybe because they’re short? *G*
LisaK, “The Highwayman” always makes me cry, too! I love that song. Do you listen to any of her other albums? She does ballads particularly well. I love “The English Ladye and Her Knight,” where an English lady is poisoned on the eve of her wedding by her brother, who says he’ll never see a “Scottish knight” the lord of all. So the Scottish knight kills him “So perish all would true love part” and then goes off to the Crusades to die “for her sake in Palestine/ So Love was still the lord of all.” I love that ballad. And “Annachie Gordon” where Annachie’s love refuses to marry for money at her parents’ wish while he’s away, but they marry her off to a rich old man anyway, and she dies for love. When Annachie finds her dead, HE dies for love.
Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 7:01 am #
Lori, I think you’re right–I think in America, country music has replaced ballads. A lot of those songs ARE stories, funny or sweet or sad. I wish I liked the actual music of country music, because I think I’d like the lyrics. I just don’t like the music that much. Which is odd, because bluegrass, folk, and country all owe a debt to English ballads, and I love folk and some bluegrass.
Did any of you see the movie “Songcatcher,” about a woman who goes to the Appalachians to find the music preserved among the people there? It’s all old English and Celtic ballads, but they sing them in a different fashion. I loved that movie.
Lisa H on 28 Aug 2009 at 7:01 am #
Hi Sabrina- I’d love to read the words to those Ballads you mentioned in your blog today. I have not heard of any of them before.
My favorite Fairy Tale when I was a little girl was by the brothers Grimm, called “The Tinderbox” I love the dogs with eyes “as big as saucers” but it really isn’t a nice story although the soldier gets the girl, he kills the witch who was nice to him and helped him get the gold. That part of the story always bothered me.
I remember one old ballad I think John Denver used to sing about two woman who stumbled upon a drunk Scottsman passed out on a bench in the park. They lifted his kilt and tied a blue ribbon around his “member” and later when he awoke he said something like, “My friend, I don’t know where you’ve been, but I see you’ve won first place.” Funny!
TrishD on 28 Aug 2009 at 7:08 am #
I love ballads but mostly modern. My fingers will be all over google later today to find the ones you mentioned.
A favorite of mine is “Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald” by Gordon Lighfoot. It has a violent storm, a huge ship with hard working men, the heart ache of never finding them, the mystery of not knowing what happend… and it is all true!
I agree with Lori, love Toby and “Beer for My Horses”.
Jennifer on 28 Aug 2009 at 7:17 am #
I’ve always enjoyed “The Gypsy Rover” (or “The Whistling Gypsy Rover”) about a woman who leaves her home and family (sometimes she has a child, but not always) to run off with a whistling gypsy man. In some versions he’s a wealthy lord, but I like the one where he’s is a gypsy man. Sung most famously by “The Highwaymen”.
Lisa H, you’re talking about “The Scotsman” most noteably by “The Irish Rovers”. A very fun song. “In a startled voice he says to what’s before his eyes/lad I don’t know where you’ve been but I see you’ve won first prize!” Great melody, too.
And just for fun there’s “Do Virgins Taste Better?” (sung to “The Irish Washerwoman”) which is asking a fire-breathing dragon why he only wants virgins. And the idea at the end, of course, is that if there are no more virgins, then the dragon will go away.
Jennifer on 28 Aug 2009 at 7:24 am #
Since country music has been mentioned a lot, I’m surprised no one has mentioned “Poncho and Lefty” (most noteably by Willie Nelson) about crime, betrayal, and the price of both. It’s one of my husband’s favorites (as is “The Wreck of the Edmond Fitzgerald”, Trish D). I’m not a country music fan (at all!), but that and “Beer For My Horses” are ones that my husband plays enough to get stuck in my head sometimes.
Lisa H on 28 Aug 2009 at 7:26 am #
I always liked “Coward of the County” by Kenny Rodgers. A modern day ballad.
Thank you Jennifer. I’d only heard the song once or twice, but it cracked me up!
dbrown3400 on 28 Aug 2009 at 7:29 am #
The first song that came to mind was “The Ballad of Davy Crockett.” The second was “Remember When” by Alan Jackson which tells of life’s journey from first love to old age, a beautiful country song.
Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 7:32 am #
There’s two lyrics for “Sovay” at http://www.celtic-lyrics.com/forum/lofiversion/index.php/t74.html . They’re both completely different. The first is a humorous take on crossdressing. The second is the one I love (but I’d love to find a version of the first now).
The lyrics for one version of “Willie Taylor” are at http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=35281 . I have two versions, but I don’t have a song with the one where the captain marries her. I’d like to find that one.
“The Cruel Sister” has been done by EVERYBODY in some form. Loreena McKennitt does it as “Bonny Swans,” Betsy McGovern does it as “The Two Sisters,” and Old Blind Dogs does it as “The Cruel Sister.” They’re all slightly different. I love them all. But I love my sister, trust me. *G* Got nothing to do with her.
LisaK, “ballad” means lots of things in English–it can mean anything from a story in song to a soulful song, which makes it a little confusing. I’m specifically talking about the kind that tells a story, but we use the term for other songs, too.
Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 7:35 am #
LisaH, the Brothers Grimm were particularly good at gruesome stories, I think. Oh, and I like “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald,” too!
Jennifer, I know I’ve heard “The Gyspy Rover.” Now I’ll have to find a version of it that I like! And this “Beer for Horses” song has got me curious. Y’all are giving me great ideas for more music!
Lorena on 28 Aug 2009 at 7:43 am #
Tam Lin. Thomas the Rhymer. Barbara Allen (which is based on an even older theme).
One of the things I love best about the old ballad is the use of images and themes we don’t really know anything about any more…we just know they were important. So we use those themes to raise expectations in the story (I used to teach a class on magical elements in fairy tales)…like the wood, because NO ONE ever goes into a forest in a fairy tale and comes out the same way they went in…as an example.
And I love Celtic music–both old and new, but I admit I’m mostly fond of pub music–love the group Gaelic Storm, for one — and the story of Darcy’s Drunken Donkey (and the race at Donegal) …try singing that one after a few pints!
A musician I met once said that the hallmark of a great Irish tale was that someone’s gonna fall in love, someone’s gonna get drunk, and someone’s gonna die. I suppose it’s a happy tale if the last doesn’t happen to the hero or heroine!
I saw The Songcatcher…interesting movie.
KarenC on 28 Aug 2009 at 7:45 am #
I agree that country music has by and large carried the narrative ballad banner in contemporary times, but hard rock/metal bands sometimes come out with something that blows everyone’s doors off. I’m dating myself here, but waking up, what immediately springs to mind are the songs of my misspent youth…
18 & Life by Skid Row gave me the shivers as a teen — wait, that might’ve been Sebastian Bach. LOL. Young punk kid who, in a drunken haze, shoots and kills his best friend and goes to prison.
Metallica was the master of narrative ballads in the land of early metal. Even non-headbanges have heard One, the story of the boy sent off to war who comes back with no arms, legs, sight, hearing, speech… MTV played Unforgiven into the ground, too. The old man looking back, bitterly, at the shell of a life he’s lived.
Pearl Jam’s Jeremy. Haunting and evokative.
Gwynlyn MacKenzie on 28 Aug 2009 at 8:03 am #
Ballads are great. Being a Gordon Lightfoot fan, the first that comes to mind is “The Wreck of the Edmond FitzGerald.” Then there’s the story of Anne Bolyn haunting the tower “With her Head Tucked Underneath her Arm.” Tom T Hall told cute country stories like “Sneaky Snake”.
Of course, Loreena McKennet (sp?) had some great ones, too. The one about Bess and her Highwayman made me cry.
Madeline Hunter on 28 Aug 2009 at 8:06 am #
These posts are reminding me of ballads I know, some so well I could sing them. I just don’t always know the titles!
I agree that maybe country music is where the ballads mostly are today. I hadn’t thought about that, but there is often a story in those songs.
Does a ballad have to have a certain kind of music? Slower and quieter? or just tell a story? Because I can think of some rock songs that tell pretty complete stories. Some of Rod Stewart’s, for example.
TrishD on 28 Aug 2009 at 8:07 am #
KarenC, If you’re dating yourself I’ll joing your party.
I love 80’s music and can’t believe I forgot 18 & Life. Singing the song in my head is giving me shivers right now… Sabastian didn’t do much for me.
The one that always makes me cry is “Tears in Heaven” by Clapton. The reason he wrote the song breaks my heart. This was also the first song I heard on the radio the morning after I found out the mom of my best friend while growing up died. I drove to work sobbing that day.
Kerri on 28 Aug 2009 at 8:11 am #
So many country ballads – how about “Whiskey Lullaby” with Brad Paisley and Allison Krauss?
Or, going WAY back, “American Pie” – it’s over seven minutes long, I’m still not sure if I know what all the imagery means, but it definitely is a ballad (and I like it!)
Pesky on 28 Aug 2009 at 8:12 am #
How about Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain by Willie Nelson? I tend to head to the Singer/Songwriter section in Itunes, this is where you get the modern day ballads. “Bottom of the Barrel” by Amos Lee, “What if You” by Joshua Radin and “Bright Lights” by Matchbox 20
Ok, here’s an oldie but goodie, “Danny Boy” I’ll be here in sunshine and in shadow, oh Danny Boy, oh Danny Boy, I love you so.
Claudia Dain on 28 Aug 2009 at 8:17 am #
I tend to not like ballads, but I think it’s more about the artist and the subject matter than being an actual ballad. So some ballads I like, but most I don’t. How’s that for a gray answer?
Cail on 28 Aug 2009 at 8:19 am #
Sabrina, as I’ve said before, I’m VERY into Irish music. Most of what I listen to is Celtic, and I used to be in a Irish Folk group in college. Irish Ballads are the best! I love how songs tell the whole story.
I’m also partial to the medieval ballads. In college I studied them through an ‘Acting Medieval Literature’ class and independent study. For the class, we would do little bits from the ballads/songs/poems we read and perform them. For the independent study, I did a 20 min long abridged tale of one of the Welsh King Arthur tales. I was very surprised one day, when on a whim I googled myself and discovered that two of them were online! As a whole they’re far more interesting to watch in person, but it’s fun storytelling.
nancyg on 28 Aug 2009 at 8:32 am #
Does Meatloaf’s “Paradise By the Dashboard Lights” count?
I grew up in the era of the heavy metal “power ballad”, so for me, Kiss’s “Beth”, Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive”, Night Ranger (Sing Me Away, When You Close Your Eyes, Sister Christian), and the like were what I was exposed to as a teen.
Guns ‘N Roses “I Used to Love Her (but I had to kill her) really offended me until I found out he wrote it about his dog…
I smile everytime I hear Queen’s “You’re My Best Friend” and Nickelback’s “Rock Star”…
I LOVE “story” songs! Favorites include The Pogues’ “Fairytale of New York”, Peter Gabriel’s “Solsbury Hill”, Steve Earle’s “The Galway Girl”, and Elvis Costello’s “Everyday I Write the Book”.
With fairy tales, my favorite is still the tried and true Cinderella.
I agree that country music is the ballad champion these days… Mary Chapin Carpenter’s “He Thinks He’ll Keep Her” and Garth Brooks’ “Much Too Young (to feel this damn old)” immediately come to mind.
nancyg on 28 Aug 2009 at 8:43 am #
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Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 8:55 am #
For me, any song that tells a story counts. Some of my favorite modern ballads are James Taylor’s “The Frozen Man,” John Mellencamp’s “Jack and Diane,” The Charlie Daniels Band’s “Devil Went Down to Georgia,” and Cher’s “Gypsies, Tramps, and Thieves.” I know there are others, but I’ll have to think about it some.
Nancyg, your mention of “I Used to Love Her” reminds me of a more obscure song by James Taylor about his pet pig, Mona. The chorus is:
“Mona, Mona
So much of you to love
Too much of you to take care of
Mona, Mona
You got too big to keep
And too damn old to eat.”
It’s a love song to his long departed pig! My favorite verse is “When you were just a football / At your mama’s side/I reckon everyone figured you/For a bar-b-que when you died/And here i’m thinking about you lying underground/Pushing up a pine tree in my field.” I just think it’s very sweet.
Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 9:05 am #
Personally, I’d call Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” a ballad, too, since it is a story in song, and I love that song. It’s one of the rare ones with a happy ending.
Cail, I haven’t heard many medieval ballads. I bet I’d like them, though.
Kerri, I’d don’t know if I’d count “American Pie” as a song telling a story, but I definitely like the song!
Madeline, I’m focusing more on the meaning of ballad as how the lyrics work, not how the music works. But the term is also used in rock music to refer to a slower song. Some of the ballads I know that I love are quite rollicking. And some even end happy–like “Mally Leigh” where she wows everybody at a ball and gains a nice laird for a husband. Love that song.
Lorena, I tried Gaelic Storm but they didn’t really do it for me much. I do like some other Celtic Fusion groups, however–Wolfstone, Bad Haggis, Enter the Haggis, Ashley MacIsaac, Keltic Electric … bands like that.
Cail on 28 Aug 2009 at 9:09 am #
Sabrina, I emailed you a link.
Nicole Jordan on 28 Aug 2009 at 9:24 am #
I’m kinda with Claudia, ballad’s aren’t my thing. But I do love some Country songs that could be called ballads. Garth Brooks had a few.
And I love Devil Went Down to Georgia! I remember years ago someone did a parody about Notre Dame’s football team, the Irish, going down to Georgia to play GA Tech, my school. It was great fun. Maybe I liked it because I had an emotional investment.
Jennifer on 28 Aug 2009 at 9:36 am #
If we’re doing rock songs… Summer of 69 by Bryan Adams comes to mind. Most Ozzy songs would fit. But King Diamond has to be the… well, king at telling stories, although the music is definitely an acquired taste.
I think, unfortunately, that most rock songs are just too short to tell a good story. And so many are… well… forgettable. It’s like they can’t really stand the test of time because they’re too genre or era specific.
Oh, and yes, KarenC, you are *completely* right about Metallica. MOST of the songs could be considered ballads, even though they’re not usually romantic and some are too hard to be considered ballad material.
If the song doesn’t have to be slow at all, then let’s throw Twisted Sister’s “We’re Not Gonna Take It” and anything by Stray Cats in there, too, okay?
Ellen on 28 Aug 2009 at 9:45 am #
Sorry Gals. I am sooo out of my league with this topic. Let me put it this way. When I was young there was a song called “Wildfire” that made me cry. It was about a missing horse. My brothers would tease me by singing “She ran calling Wiiiiilld Fy Rrrrrrrrrrrr”
I recently heard the song and couldn’t help but laugh at the memory.
Ellen on 28 Aug 2009 at 9:47 am #
Er…how bout Cher’s “Gypsies Tramps and Thieves?”
Ellen on 28 Aug 2009 at 9:51 am #
ooopsie…Sab already mentioned that one. But how bout this oldie…
“The Night the Lights went out in Georgia.”
It was song by Vicki Lawrence.
anybody?
amy1242 on 28 Aug 2009 at 10:16 am #
Loving this topic today!
Ellen, I also used to cry listening to Wildfire. Every once in a while a “hoot owl” cries outside my window at night too. I always think of that song and get a little sad. (sniff)
I need to make a list of these and somehow get them on my ipod. There’s some great stuff here!
And Ellen, was Vicki Lawrence the first to sing that song? I thought someone else did it first?
Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 10:27 am #
I loved “Wildfire,” too. And definitely “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia.” Oh, and there were a bunch of ballads in the seventies that I loved: The Eagles’ “Hotel California” and Helen Reddy’s “Angie Baby” (for spooky), “Brandy (You’re a Fine Girl),” and “Ode to Billie Joe.”
Julia London on 28 Aug 2009 at 10:42 am #
Willie Nelson. All of his songs are little stories. He’s an American classic in my book.
Karen Hawkins on 28 Aug 2009 at 10:44 am #
You guys have some very diverse listening tastes. I’ve got a list of songs I’m going to head off and search for. I love Lauren McKennit’s song The Highwayman. The poem is phenomenal, but oh, the song … shiver!
I never thought of how country music is more ballad oriented because it tells stories, but that’s true. I went to the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville where songwriters go to test out their new material and to play their hits. It was FASCINATING to hear why they wrote what they did, and almost every song was a complete story in and of itself. Very cool!
Sabrina, this is a terrific topic! I’m off to listen to some good muzak!
Ellen on 28 Aug 2009 at 12:15 pm #
Gee I never thought of this before, but couldn’t the Who’s “Tommy” be considered a ballad? Or for that matter “Bohemian Rhapsody?”
Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 12:18 pm #
I thought of some other contemporary artists who do a lot of ballads. Warren Zevon does some: “Excitable Boy” (and talk about creepy–that one’s really creepy), “Roland, the Headless Thomson Gunner,” and “Frank and Jesse James.”
Great Big Sea has one I love: “French Perfume,” about a smuggler. The Decemberists have some great ones, too.
nancyg on 28 Aug 2009 at 12:21 pm #
I think Billy Joel is an amazing songwriter and storyteller – Scenes From an Italian Restaurant, New York State of Mind, Moving Out, My Life…and of course, Piano Man.
nancyg on 28 Aug 2009 at 12:23 pm #
My husband and daughters always sing along to “Billy The Mountain” (Frank Zappa) and “Ode to Billy Joe” (Bobbie Gentry) when they come on the radio, lol…
Ellen on 28 Aug 2009 at 12:24 pm #
OMG Nancy…Biily Joel reminds me so much of college naps. We’d come home from classes and crash in our beds while “…bottle or red, mmmm, bottle or white. whatever mood youre in tonight…” played in the background.
I still think of one of my first loves when I hear “Just the way you are.”
evlqn on 28 Aug 2009 at 12:30 pm #
Lisa H I have a VERY soft spot in my heart for The Drunken Scotsman. That was my granddaughter’s very first lullaby. When she was just a couple of hours old my sons sat in the hospital room with daddy holding his “Pincess” and singing it to her. She will be five in a couple of weeks and she still likes unconventional songs. Celtic Thunder does absolutely great ballads.
Wind Beneath My Wings will do me in every time. Tom T Hall was always one of my favorite storytellers.
Willie Nelson has a nod from me too Julia. His Red Headed Stranger album was great.
Vickie Lawrence did Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia first, Reba did it later. Vickie Lawrence’s husband wrote it for her.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band does some good ballads also, Upright Piano is a tear jerker.
There is site called Jango where you can build your own radio station.
Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 12:32 pm #
Yeah, Billy Joel is great for ballads, too! I have a bunch of his albums.
Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 1:28 pm #
BTW, I don’t know if any of you were thinking about going to my Walmart signing this afternoon, but if so, don’t go. It’s been cancelled. I just received word from the store that the books ended up somewhere across the country, so there are no books. They want to reschedule for some time in the next two weeks.
If you think you might be interested in going, let me know and I’ll keep you posted about the new date and time. Sorry for the inconvenience–sometimes these things happen.
Now I’m off to write, since apparently I’m not doing a signing this afternoon after all!
Judy F on 28 Aug 2009 at 2:25 pm #
I love Gordon Lightfoots song.
Also Richard Marks Hazard song gets me every time.
Judy F on 28 Aug 2009 at 2:26 pm #
Oh Ode to Billy Jo
I think that is the title.
PJane1031 on 28 Aug 2009 at 2:31 pm #
Wow. I couldn’t sleep last night, so wound up doing an internet search for a ballad that I heard on “Highlander” (just finished watching Season 6 on hulu this last week). . . found a version by Loreena McKennitt on iTunes. . . called ‘Bonny Portmore’. It’s just hauntingly beautiful, and I’m so glad I have it now! I’ll have to check out some of her other tunes, from the sounds of it!
Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 3:00 pm #
Ooh, PJane, I LOVE Highlander! They used some great music on that show, too. One of these days I’m going to have to buy the seasons so I can watch them again.
Yes, “Bonny Portmore” is one of her songs (I have all of her albums), and it really is beautiful. She just has a gorgeous voice. I tend to be attracted to voices more than instrumentals.
PJane1031 on 28 Aug 2009 at 4:12 pm #
Yeah, and Adrian Paul isn’t too hard on the eyes, either!!
So, which of Lorenna’s albums would you recommend for a newbie, Sabrina?
Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 4:41 pm #
PJane, Elemental and The Visit have more traditional songs, but I also love The Book of Secrets and The Mask and the Mirror (which was my first by her). Honestly, though, I love them all. I don’t think she’s ever made a bad album.
Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 4:43 pm #
Oh, and yes, Adrian Paul is hot, but my favorite was always Peter Wingfield as Methos. Yum!
PJane1031 on 28 Aug 2009 at 4:56 pm #
I was going to also mention Peter, but I was spacing on his last name!! If I had to pick between the two, I’d probably go with Peter over Adrian, BUT, rather than fight you for him, I’ll be perfectly happy with the left-over!!
Methos had a good one-liner in one of the episodes I just saw–he was battling another Immortal, and they’re circling around one another with their swords, and the second Immortal says, “I’ve been waiting 200 years for this!” To which Methos replies, “Do the words obsessive/compulsive mean anything to you?!” *G*
Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 5:00 pm #
Yeah, PJane, that’s a case where the leftover would be pretty darned good!
LOL on that line! They gave Methos a lot of good lines, I have to say, and Peter Wingfield delivered them beautifully. I think it’s a shame that he hasn’t done much since then.
evlqn on 28 Aug 2009 at 5:30 pm #
I am such a Highlander fan I have jewelry I bought from the Highlander Store, season 1,2,&3, all the music from the show and the movies, including the cd’s Jim Byrnes put out. I absolutely love Queen’s music from the shows. I have the Watchers screen savers too.
Methos gets my vote as the best. I loved Roger Daltry as Fitz.
Kathleen O on 28 Aug 2009 at 5:30 pm #
I am Irish, Scottish and a little bit English,, so there are lots of ballads I have heard over the years… One such balled is called the Isle of Innishfree.. It was my dad’s favourite and the first time I have every seen my dad shed a tear over a song..
It is about a yourng lad who goes to America to make his fortune, but works in the Pittsburg steel mills slagging iron, and lives his life longing for his homeland.. which is what my father did when he came here from Ireland.. It was acutally the presimise of the move “the Quiet Man” starrying John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara… not this is a classic if ever there was one…
Jean on 28 Aug 2009 at 5:45 pm #
Jim Croce has a number of ballads — the Ball of Kerrymuir is too funny! and Vicki Carr’s version of Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves is the one I like best…
evlqn on 28 Aug 2009 at 5:52 pm #
I’m supposed to be doing homework but I’ve fired up You Tube with Celtic Thunder. Bad Sabrina, you got me off track.
Solveig on 28 Aug 2009 at 5:58 pm #
Hi girls .Ö)
I´m not much into ballads but I LOVE opera, especially Cinderella by Rossini and The Barber of Sevilla.
We have this one very dark old ghost story about a couple, Guðrún (Guð means God) and The Deacon of Dark River who love each other very much. But once when he is going to visit her to take her to a Christmas feast he drowns in the river after knocking his head very badly on the ice. The next morning his horse is found wounded and cold by his home and his family starts looking for him and finds him dead with a heavy wound at the back of his head so the scull is showing. No news reaches Guðrún so the next day she is getting ready for the Deacon to fetch her when there is a knock at the door. Another woman goes to the door but there is no one there. After a short while there is again knocking at the door and now Guðrún goes to the door and there is the Deacon and his horse. She goes with him but is in such a hurry she does not bother to put her overcoat on entirely but leaves one arm out of the sleave. They ride towards his home but when they reach the river and the horse jumps out onto the ice the Deacons hat jumps and Guðrún sees a white patch at the pack of her….
Solveig on 28 Aug 2009 at 6:10 pm #
… at the back of her lovers head. at that very moment the moon comes out from behind the clouds and the Deacon says
“The moon glides
death rides,
can´t you see a white spot
at the back of my head,
Garún, Garún?” (he can´t say God as he is dead)
Guðrún is now very uneasy. When they come to Dark River he sets her off his horse in front of the churchyard gate and tells her to wait for him while he puts his horse away but when she looks into the churchyard she sees an open grave. She gets very scared and starts to ring the churchbell wildly but at the same time the Deacon grabs her coat but as she did not put it on properly he rips it off her shoulder and as she turns around she sees him flying with the rest of her coat into the open grave and the dirt shoveled swiftly into the grave by invisible hands right on top of him. She is so scared she keeps ringing the churchbells loudly until the people of Dark River come out and get her. That same night and many nights afterwards it is said that the Deacon haunted Guðrún so heavily that she had to sleep with a priest by her bedside to ward him off. Finally they had to get a great sourcerer to take down the ghost….
Solveig on 28 Aug 2009 at 6:15 pm #
The sourcerer had the family dig up a great big rock and roll it to the house. When the Deacon comes again that night to get Guðrún the sourcerer trappes him by the side of the house and “swears him down” (don´t know how it is said in English when you chant a ghost into the ground) and rolles the stone on top of him. There he lies to this day but poor Guðrún was never the same.
Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 6:28 pm #
Solveig, that sounds a little like a ballad I like called, “The Holland Handkerchief.” The heroine’s fiance comes to fetch her home from a far off place, where her father had sent her to separate her from her poor fiance, and they ride for a while. He says his head is hurting, so she wraps a handkerchief around his head. When they reach her house, he goes to put the horse up, and she goes in. Her family is shocked to see her. She says that her fiance had brought her home. They tell her that’s impossible, because he’s in the grave. They dig up the grave and find her handkerchief tied around his head.
Yours sounds a lot spookier, though!
Jean, you’re right–Jim Croce has some great ballads. I like “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown.”
Kathleen O, I’ll have to check out the “Isle of Innishfree.” I like all the ballads about immigrants.
Eviqn, sorry to take you away from homework!
evlqn on 28 Aug 2009 at 6:36 pm #
I have a 200-300 word post on how MCP could have been less sexist in a discussion question post. Sometimes these exercises are not as easy as others. Tell me again why I wanted to go back to school after a 40 year break???
Long Black Veil is another really good ballad. Any one remember Tom Dooley??
Sabrina Jeffries on 28 Aug 2009 at 6:43 pm #
I like “The Long Black Veil,” too, Eviqn. Have you ever heard the album the Chieftains did with various rock stars called The Long Black Veil? It has Mick Jagger singing the title song, along with Sinead O’Connor singing “He Moved through the Fair” and “The Foggy Dew,” The Rolling Stones singing “Rocky Road to Dublin,” Mark Knopfler singing “The Lily of the West,” and Sting singing “Mo Ghile Mear.” I love that album!
And yes, I remember Tom Dooley! My dad used to play the Kingston Trio all the time.
evlqn on 28 Aug 2009 at 6:51 pm #
No, I haven’t but I think I will.
Patricia Barraclough on 28 Aug 2009 at 11:37 pm #
I liked folk music and listened to it all through college.
One song I had to sing at work and hadn’t heard for a very long time until recently.
“Oh, Johnny be fair and Johnny be fine and asked me for to wed. I would have married Johnny, but my father up and said, “I’m sad ti tell you daughter what your mother never knew, but Johnny lad is a son of mine and so is kin to you”. You continue on using the names of all the boys in town until you come to the last verse where she bemoans her fate at never being able to marry because she is related to every boy in town. Her mother consoles her saying “your father’s not your sire, so marry who you will.” It is based on an old Irish joke and there are many versions out there.
So many of the Irish, Scottish and English ballads told such lovely and sad stories. The Ash Grove, You Take the High Road, Scarborough Fair, The Foggy Dew, there are so many. I listen to Celtic music and it is full of these wonderful songs.
Pesky on 29 Aug 2009 at 12:12 am #
evlqn – Hang down your head Tom Dooley, hang down your head and cry, hang down your head Tom Dooley, Poor boy you gonna die….nah…don’t remember it at all.
Sabrina Jeffries on 29 Aug 2009 at 8:18 am #
Patricia, I love the lyrics for that song you just shared! It sounds just up my alley. I’ll definitely have to find that song and download it.
I like “Scarborough Fair,” too. I have a bunch of Simon and Garfunkel, who also loved to sing ballads.
eviqn, gee thanks, now how am I supposed to get “Tom Dooley” out of my head? *G*
Jennifer on 31 Aug 2009 at 9:15 am #
I forgot to mention Eddie From Ohio. Almost all of their songs tell fun stories. I like the one where the whole song is about being a jealous little girl of the “cool” girl, Sarah, “One Thousand Sarahs”. “And all the boys think she’s pretty, and all the girls think she dresses so well, and all the teachers think that she’s the smartest one in class, but I think she ought to go to hell”. Always makes me laugh to hear it; although what that says about me, I’m not sure I want to know.
The song “Tom Burleigh’s Dead” is a very good drinking song. “Tom Burleigh’s dead, curiosity killed him. He opened the door, didn’t have time to blink. Remember the cat, curiosity killed him. Tom Burleigh’s dead but it wasn’t the drink!” Basically, the guy opened the door and got hit by a stray bullet during a drive-by shooting. Still a great song.
Also, the songs “Old Dominion” (about Virginia), “Hey Little Man” (a lullaby), “Fifth of July” (about independence after graduation), “Mrs. Fritchie (a Maryland heroine!), etc. etc. They have tons of songs like that. And they do lots of acapella songs, too. I highly recommend them.