From: jonb@Ingres.COM (Jon Berger)
Subject: Re: Words (and chords?) to "Fair Flower of Northumberland"
Reply-To: jonb@ingres.com
Organization: Ingres, an ASK Company
Date: 30 Dec 92 17:21:37 GMT

In article <1992Dec30.014656.10684@lokkur.dexter.mi.us>, scs@lokkur.dexter.mi.us (Steve Simmons) writes:
>Looking for words and chords to a song -- the title was something
>like "Fair Flower of Northumberland", and the tag line on each
>chorus was a minor variant of "and you're still the fair flower
>of Northumberland."  The story was that some handsome chieftan was
>captured but convinces the local noblemans daughter to free him.
>Has a nice pair of surprises at the end, neither of which I'll
>reveal here.  Ring any bells?  I've never heard it on record or
>radio, but the person who sang it claimed it was "traditional".
>I'd ask her myself, but haven't seen her in a decade or so.

Here's the version I sing, with an attempt at approximating the chords,
but they're iffy, because the only way I've ever done this song is a
capella (a.k.a. "singing without music").  I learned it from my friend
Claire, who sings harmony with me, and I suspect she learned it from a
long-defunct group called The Celtic Tradition.  So, this has been through
enough oral-tradition iterations that it probably doesn't resemble the
recorded versions too much.

I think I won't attempt the pseudo-Scottish spelling thing; too much
trouble, I'm not very good at it, and besides it's politically incorrect.


            The Flower of Northerumberland

        G                          C        D
    The provost's own daughter was walking alone
             G                       C    Bm
    And it's oh, but her love it was easy won!
             C             G                   D 
    When she heard a Scots prisoner making his moan.
        G                          C D  G       [pretty simplistic chords...]
    And she was the flow'r of Northumberland.

    "And it's oh, if a lassie would liberate me,
    And it's oh, but my love 'twill be easy won!
    I would make her a lady of high degree,
    For I am a lord in bonny Scotland."

    So she's gone into her father's bedstock
    And it's oh, but her love it was easy won!
    And she's stolen the key to many a bra'[*] lock
    And she's loosed him out of his prison so strong.

    And she's gone into her father's stable
    And it's oh, but her love it was easy won!
    And she's stolen a horse, both stout, fleet and able
    For to carry them both into bonny Scotland.

    But as they were crossing the wild Scottish moor
    And it's oh, but her love it was easy won!
    He said, "Get off my horse, you're a brazen-faced whore,
    And you're not the fair flow'r of Northumberland.

    "For I have a wife in my own country,
    And it's oh, but your love it was easy won!
    And I cannot do nothing with a lassie like thee,
    And you need to go back to Northumberland."

    "Well it's cook in your kitchen I surely will be,
    And it's oh, but my love it was easy won!
    For I cannot go back to my own country,
    Though I was the flow'r of Northumberland."

    "Well it's cook in my kitchen you cannot well be,
    And it's oh, but your love it was easy won!
    For my lady she would not have servants like thee,
    And you're not the fair flow'r of Northumberland."

    But loath was he this lassie to tyne[**]
    And it's oh, but her love it was easy won!
    So he's hired an old horse, and he's feed[***] an old man
    For to carry her back to Northumberland.

    And when she got home, her father did frown
    And said "Oh, but your love it was easy won!
    For to be a Scots whore when you're sixteen years old,
    And you were the flow'r of Northumberland!"

    But when she got home, her mother did smile,
    And said "Oh, but your love it was easy won,
    But you're not the first lassie the Scot has beguiled, [****]
    And you're still the fair flow'r of Northumberland.

    "And you shall not want gold, and you shall not want fee,
    And it's oh, but your love 'twill be easy won,
    And you shall not want silver to by a man wi'[*]
    And you're still the fair flow'r of Northumberland."


*    Ok, broke my own rule.  Sometimes the spelling is necessary for the
     rhyme scheme, or the English word just doesn't have the same meaning.

**   I always wondered what the hell this meant -- I just figured it was
     something like "be extremely nasty to" -- so I just went and looked
     it up.  In fact, two meanings are given for the Scottish word "tyne":
     "lose", and "destroy".  You can take your pick between the meanings,
     depending on just how much of a total dickhead you think the guy
     actually was.

***  That is, paid a fee to. 

**** Sic, that is, not "...the Scots have beguiled."  I always thought
     this was kind of ambiguous, in an amusing sort of way: "the Scot"
     could refer to the entire race of Scottish people, but it could
     also refer to the individual Scottish prisoner featured in the song.
     In the latter case, we can certainly see why Mom was so sympathetic.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------
   -__ __ /_   Jon Berger              "If you push something hard enough,
  //_// //_/   jonb@ingres.com          it will fall over."
_/ ---------                              - Fudd's First Law of Opposition
Xref: sparky rec.music.folk:8895 soc.culture.british:18177