BALLAD INDEX
Child 81
Roud 52
The ballad:
This ballad is from Northern England/Scotland/Ireland, first recorded in the early 1600’s, but then crosses the Atlantic and has many lives in Appalachia, Nova Scotia, and the Caribbean. The names in the song change often, Jean Richie has a great recording of her families version called Little Musgrave.
This is one of my favorite murder ballads. Amazing one liners.
The story:
A Lord’s wife (often something like Lord Darnell, his wife seems to be mostly is unnamed) goes to church and spots hot young Matty Groves. She approaches him and begs him to go home with her and sleep with her. He says that he can’t sleep with her because she’s married, and she says not to worry because her husband is away. One of their servants overhears this and rushes off to tell the Lord what is transpiring, often swimming across a river to reach him.
Matty and the Lord’s wife smash and then fall asleep. But then! Matty Groves wakes up to the husband standing over his bed asking Matty if he likes his nice bed, his nice sheets, and his wife. Cheeky Matty says yes, he does like the Lord’s nice bed, and sheets, but best of all, he likes the Lord’s wife! Lord Darnell challenges Matty to a duel. The Lord says that he’ll give Matty his best sword and let the boy strike first, but then swears to kill him in the duel. They fight and Lord Darnell kills hot, cheeky Matty.
THEN the Lord asks his wife who she likes more: Matty Groves, or him, her husband. She replies that she’d “rather a kiss from dead Matty’s lips” than him, so he stabs his wife and kills her. :( The Lord calls for a grave to be dug for the both of them, but instructs the gravediggers to to place his wife on top because she was noble born.
In the version that Bozena and Liam sing, Matty is the winner of the duel, and no one misses Lord Darnell except the gay servant boy.
Gorgeous, classic, stunning
Recorded by Grandpa John in 1963, North Carolina
Stunning, Appalacian, unaccompanied