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The Well Below The Valley

from The Brown Girl and Other Folk Songs by Angeline Morrison

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THE WELL BELOW THE VALLEY (Roud 2335, Child 21)
The famous Planxty version was my first experience of this intriguing ballad, and it has stayed with me. The ballad is very ancient, with early Scandinavian versions where the woman does penance in the wilderness for many years. Apparently it was not collected orally in the UK or Ireland until Tom Munnelly heard it sung by John Reilly in Boyle, Co. Roscommon. In this version, the woman seems to hold her hands up to the accusation of infanticide - but where incest is concerned, she is clear about her innocence.

lyrics

A servant-girl took up her pail
To draw spring water from the well, down below the valley-o.

Refrain:
Green grows the lily-o, right among the bushes-o.

A gentleman was passing by,
He asked for a drink as he got dry
At the well below the valley-o.

My cup is full up to the brim,
If I were to stoop I might fall in
At the well below the valley-o.

If your true love was passing by,
You'd fill him a drink if he got dry
At the well below the valley-o.

She swore by the grass, she swore by the corn
That her true love had never been born
At the well below the valley-o.

O no, fine maid, you're swearing wrong,
For six fine children you have born
At the well below the valley-o.

If you be a man of noble fame,
You'll tell to me the father of them
At the well below the valley-o.

There's two of them by your brother John
Two of them by your uncle Dan,
Two of them by your father dear...

If you be a man of noble esteem,
You'll tell to me what happened to them
At the well below the valley-o.

There's two of them buried beneath the tree
Two of them buried beneath the stone
Two of them buried beneath the well...

If you be a man of noble fame,
You'll tell to me what'll happen myself
At the well below the valley-o.

You'll be seven long years a-ringing the bell,
And seven long years a-porting in hell
At the well below the valley-o.

I'll be seven long years a-ringing the bell,
But the Lord above will save my soul from porting in hell.

credits

from The Brown Girl and Other Folk Songs, released May 1, 2022
Trad. Arr: Angeline Morrison
All voices: Angeline Morrison

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Angeline Morrison and The Ambassadors of Sorrow

"Bewitching and otherworldly... Morrison's voice is eerily confiding, strangely present, insistent even at its quietest" Folk Radio UK.

Believing in the beauty of sad songs, weaving folk, soul and beat sounds of the '60s into a tapestry of the human heart. Homespun sounds that reside in a nostalgic universe.

"Dark, unsettling folk that verges on the hymnal" BBC Introducing. ... more

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