The Cruel Mother/The Willow Tree
Track Information
Original Track ID
SA1979.21.A1
Original Tape ID
Summary
Antitheses in supernatural song; the symbolism of colour; anecdote about Travellers' reaction to purple.
[Beginning lost.] Stanley Robertson comments on the antithesis between the thorn and the rowan in 'The Cruel Mother' and sings a verse. The meaning of the colour green is discussed, and Stanley sings some lines from 'The Willow Tree', where green willow is worn as a sign of mourning.
Old Travellers wore purple rather than black as the colour of mourning. David Clement tells an anecdote about an Irish friend who liked to wear purple. When he turned up to meet some Travellers in Kintyre they were terrified of him: they thought he was the Devil.
Item Notes
The dialogue song 'The Willow Tree' (beginning "How now, shepherd? What means that") is found in early 17th-century Scottish and English collections, and in the Skene Manuscript; it also appears later in Percy's 'Reliques of Ancient English Poetry' (1765).
See:
'Reliques of Ancient English Poetry' vol. 2 (T. Percy, 1906) pp. 270-271
'A Pedlar's Pack of Ballads and Songs' (J. Maidment & W. H. Logan, 1869) pp. 349-350
'The Ballad Literature and Popular Music of the Olden Time' vol. 1 (W. Chappell, 1855) p. 377
Recording Location
County - Aberdeenshire
Parish - Aberdeen
Village/Place - Aberdeen
Language
English
Genre
Collection
Source Type
Reel to reel
Audio Quality
Good