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Lovely Joan

  • (Trad)

    A fine young man it was indeed
    Mounted on his milk-white steed
    He rode, he rode and he rode all alone
    Until he came to lovely Joan

    Good morning to you, my pretty maid
    And twice good morning, sir, she said
    He tipped her the wink and she rolled a dark eye
    Says he to himself, I'll be there by and by

    Oh don't you think these pooks of hay
    A pretty place for us to play
    So come with me, my sweet young thing
    And I'll give to you my golden ring

    So he took off his ring of gold
    Says, My pretty fair miss, do this behold
    Freely I'll give it for your maidenhead
    And her cheeks they blushed like the roses red

    Come give that ring into my hand
    And I will neither stay nor stand
    For your ring is worth much more to me
    Than twenty maidenheads, said she

    And as he made for the pooks of hay
    She leapt on his horse and she tore away
    He called, he called, but he called in vain
    For Joan, she ne'er looked back again

    Nor did she think herself quite safe
    Until she came to her true love's gate
    She'd robbed him of his horse and ring
    And she'd left him to rage in the meadows green

    (as sung by Martin Carthy)

Susannes Folksong-Notizen

  • [1959:] Many of our amatory folk songs show a double sentiment of gaiety and irony that comes as a surprise to those expecting merely yokel quaintness. The young lady may show herself at a loss over the conduct of a false lover, but, confronted with importunity, she remains as a rule unruffled, completely mistress of herself. And if the subterfuges she adopts are of doubtful honesty, the implied judgement is that she is a smart girl and it serves that young fellow right. Thus, Lovely Joan seems to be sister to such resourceful girls as the heroine of Broomfield Hill or of the traditional sets of Blow Away the Morning Dew. The song has been taken from oral tradition in Sussex, Suffolk, Somerset, and Wiltshire. (EFS118)

  • [1965:] The heroine of this song may not have had witchcraft at her disposal but succeeds no less in thwarting the young man's designs by swift action rather than chicanery. Found in southern England, East Anglia and elsewhere. (Notes 'Martin Carthy')

  • [1967:] The broadsides of the capitalist age show another amiable democratic figure in the profusion of dauntless lower-class heroines. Lovely Joan the milkmaid is a true descendant of those witty highborn ladies who fooled their would-be seducers by the power of magic or their coaxing tongue in The Broomfield Hill or The baffled knight. (Lloyd, England 155)

  • [1979:] Masculine strength against feminine guile: the contest must have been familiar for centuries. It has been the subject of many songs in which women by the exercise of superior wit out-manoeuvre men whose advances they find importunate. In some versions of Lovely Joan it is a threatened rape that is averted; here, merely a seduction. [Sic!] The splendid melody was used by George Butterworth in his Folk Song Suite [...]. (Palmer, Country 120)

  • [1982:] Lovely Joan was a girl of the same way of thinking, evidently, as the heroine of Blow away the morning dew. (Indeed, the song may be yet another descendant of the same original ballad.) [...] Vaughan Williams was among the collectors who noted this song - at Acle in Norfolk - and he used the tune as the second theme in his well known Greensleeves arrangement. (Pollard, Folksong 33)

  • [1988:] Several [songs], like the well-known Lovely Joan, taunt a man for failing to take advantage of the situation. [Sic!] (Palmer, History 213)

Quelle: England

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