Venereum Arvum / Fower Muckle Sangs / Scowan Urla Grun Supplement



i) Tam Lin / 18.15

O I forbid you maidens all that wear gold in your hair
to come or go by Carterhaugh for young Tam Lin is there
there's none that goes by Carterhaugh but they leave him a pledge
their rings of gold or mantels green or else their maidenhead
Janet has tied her yellow hair a bit above the brow
and she's away to Carterhaugh as fast as she can go

When she came to Carterhaugh Tam Lin was at the well
and there she found his steed standing but away was himself
she hadn't pulled a double rose a rose but only two
when up when started young Tam Lin says lady pull no more
why pull the rose Janet he said, and why break thou the wand?
and why come thou to Carterhaugh without my command?
Carterhaugh it is my own my father gave it me
I'll come and go by Carterhaugh and ask no leave of thee
Janet has tied her yellow hair a bit above the brow
and she is to her father's hall as fast as she can go

Four and twenty ladies fair were playing at the ball
and out then came the fair Janet the flower among them all
four and twenty ladies fair were playing at the chess
and out then came the fair Janet as green as any glass
out then spoke an old grey knight from o'er the castle wall
and says alas fair Janet for you but we will all be blamed
hold your tongue you old faced knight some ill death may you die
father my child on whom I will, I'll father none with you
out then spoke her father dear and he spoke meek and mild
ever alas sweet Janet he says I think you go with child
if that I go with child father myself will bear the blame
there's not a lord in all your hall shall get the baby's name
if my love were an earthly knight but he's an elfin grey
I wouldn't give my own truelove for any lord you have
the steed that my truelove rides on is lighter than the wind
with silver he is shod before, with burning gold behind
Janet has tied her yellow hair a bit above her brow
and she has gone to Carterhaugh as fast as she can go

When she came to Carterhaugh Tam Lin was at the well
and there she found his steed standing but away was himself
she hadn't pulled a double rose a rose but only two
when up then started young Tam Lin says lady pull no more
Why pull the rose Janet he said among the groves so green?
and all to kill the bonny babe that we got us between
O tell me tell me Tam-Lin she says for's sake that died on tree
if e'er ye was in holy church or Christendom did see
Roxburgh was my grandfather took me with him to bide
and once it fell upon a day that woe did me betide
and once it fell upon a day a cold day and a snell
when we were from the hunting come and from my horse I fell

The queen of fairy she caught me in yon green hill to dwell
and pleasant is the fairy land but an eerie tale to tell
and at the end of seven years we pay a tithe to hell
and I so fair and full of flesh this time it be myself
but the night is Hallowe'en lady, the morn is Hallowday
o win me win me and ye will for weel I what you may
just at the dark and midnight hour the fairy folk will ride
and they that would their truelove win at Milescross they must bide
How shall I know thee Tam Lin she says o how my truelove know
among so many stranger knights the like I never saw
o first let pass the black lady, and then let pass the brown
but quickly run to the milk white steed and pull the rider down
for I'll ride on the milk white steed the nearest to the town
because I was an earthly knight they give me that renown
my right hand will be gloved lady, my left hand will be bare
and there's the tokens I give you no doubt I will be there

They'll turn me in your arms lady to an adder or a snake
but hold me fast and fear me not for our baby's sake
they'll turn me to a bear so bold and then a lion brave
but hold me fast and fear me not and you will love your child
they'll turn me in your arms my love to a red hot bar of iron
but hold me fast and fear me not I'll do to you no harm
and at last they'll turn me in your arms into the burning lead
then throw me in the well-water and throw me in with speed
and then I'll be your own truelove I'll turn a naked knight
so cover me with your green mantle and cover me out of sight

Gloomy gloomy was the night and eerie was the way
as Jenny in her mantle green to Milescross did ride
about the middle of the night she heard the bridles ring
and Jenny was as glad at that as any earthly thing
first she let the black pass by and then she let the brown
and quickly ran to the milk-white steed and pulled the rider down
for he rode on the milk white steed the nearest to the town
because he was an earthly knight they gave him that renown
his right hand was gloved, and his left hand was bare
and there the tokens she gave him and no doubt he was there

They turned him in his truelove's arms lady to an adder and a snake
she held him fast and feared him not for their baby's sake
they turned him to a bear so grim and to a lion bold
she held him fast and feared him not and she will love her child
they turned him in his truelove's arms to a red hot bar of iron
she held him fast and feared him not and he did her no harm
and last they turned him in her arms into the burning lead
she threw him in the well-water she threw him in with speed
at last he was her own truelove he turned a naked knight
she covered him with her mantle green and held him out of sight
so well she minded what he said and young Tam Lin did win
she covered him with her mantle green as blythe's a bird in spring

Out then spoke the fairy queen out of a bush of broom
them that's gotten young Tam Lin has got a stately groom
out then spoke the fairy queen an angry queen was she
she's taken away the bonniest knight in all my company
O had I known Tam Lin she says what I this night have seen
I would have taken out your eyes and put in two of treen


Rachel - singing, organ drones & processing
Sean - horn loop, crwth drones & processing
Traditional Scottish / Adaptation by Rachel McCarron




ii) King Orfeo / 21.52

This is the original version of this piece prior to the editing necessary to bring it down to size / for words, instrumentation etc. see Scowan urla Grun



Thomas the Rhymer / 21.05

As with Orfeo, this is the original version prior to editing / also differs in featuring extended crwth improvisation on the theme of Where Man is Not, Nature is Barren (see From the Proverbs of Hell)



Twa Corbies / 15.56

O there were twa corbies sat on a tree, large & black as black might be
the ane unto the ither gan say, where shall we gan & dine today?
Shall we dine by the wild salt sea? or shall we dine 'neath the greenwood tree?

As I sat by the deep sea strand, I saw a fair ship night at land
I waved my wings I beat my beak, that ship it sunk & I heard the shriek
The drowned ones lie, one, two & tree, I shall dine by the wild salt sea

Come and I'll show ye a sweeter sight, a lonesome glen & a new slain knight
His blood yet on the grass is hot, his sword half drawn, his shafts unshot
And nae one knows that he lies there, but his hawk & his hound, & his lady fair

His hound is to the hunting gane, his hawk to fetch the wild fowl hame
His lady's awa' with another man, so we maun make our dinner long
Our dinner's sure, our feasting free, come & dine 'neath the greenwood tree

Ye shall sit out on his white hause bane, & I'll pike oot his bonny blue een
Ye'll take a tree of his yellow hair to theek wa nest when it grows bare
The gowlden down on his young chin will do tae row my young ones in

Aye cold and bare his bed will be when winter storms sing in the tree
Ay his head a turf, at his feet a stane, he'll sleep nor hear the maiden's moan
Ower his white bones the birds shall fly, the wild dear bound & foxes cry
Ower his white bones, when they are bare, the wind shall blaw for ever mair


Rachel - singing, organ & drum programming
Sean - singing, crwth, whistle flutes & bird

From Motherwell's collection, featured in J. S. Roberts Legendary Ballads of England & Scotland, otherwise unknown, apart from the last line which has been grafted on from the more well known version. The tune, such as it is, evolved in free-style ballad singing around the folk-clubs of the North East of England; here it is set with other gothic tracery by way of the picturesque (those flowers, take them away etc.) evolving into the crwth improvisation by way of inconclusion. Note:- this represents the bones of the piece - a mere sketch which we never got round to fleshing out, thus it remains, skeletal, cadaverous, rattling in the braw howling winds that flail across the fell.