A 15th century ballad based on a true story. It is one of the ballads collected by Francis James Child of Harvard and published in his work The English and Scottish Popular Ballads (1882-1898). The ballads in the collection are identified by numbers and are considered as truly traditional. Henry Martin is, therefore, called a Child ballad and has the number 250.
Burl Ives recorded it and it is on his first 78 rpm album "The Wayfaring Stranger" released in 1944.
lyrics
There were three brothers in merry Scotland,
In merry Scotland there were three,
And they did cast lots which one of them should go, etc.,
And turn robber all on the salt sea.
Well, the lot it fell first upon Henry Martin,
The youngest of all the three,
That he should turn robber all on the salt sea, etc.,
For to maintain his two brothers and he.
Well, they'd not been gone but a long Winter's night,
And a part of a short Winter's day,
When they espied a stout lofty ship, etc.,
Come a-riding down on him straight-way.
“Hello! Hello!” cried Henry Martin,
“What makes you sail so nigh?”
“Oh, I'm a rich vessel bound for fair London Town, etc.,
Would you pull to let me pass by?
“Oh no! Oh no!” cried Henry Martin,
“This thing it never can be,
For I have turned robber all on the salt sea, etc.,
For to maintain my two brothers and me.”
Bad news, bad news, to old England came,
Bad news to old London Town,
There's been a rich vessel and she's cast away, etc.,
And all of her merry men drowned.
I have recorded 16 albums of less known or forgotten traditional Croatian folk songs released by different labels as
compact discs, 3 of which are on BC. Here you can also find my recordings of folk songs from some other countries I have lived in (free download), some live concerts from the past (free download), and my singer-songwriter album Love Li(v)es....more
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