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Lady Isabel

from Ballads and the Blues by T.C. Elliott

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about

I wanted another hard rock arrangement to go along with "Why Shouldn't Poor People Fuck." I played along with a version of ‘Jesse James’ before hitting upon a version by the Pogues that was close enough to what I wanted to do to discourage me. I toyed with the idea of using “The Wife Of Usher’s Well” and was making some progress but felt that it would be hard to condense the lyric into a three minute (or so) tale. Then I hit upon “Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight.” A murderer with manners? A misogynist who would never credit a mere woman with the bravery, strength and determination (not to mention intelligence) to overcome her assailant? A poor excuse for a knight? All the above? I liked the story. I felt that it would be fairly easy to tell the story even in a shortened version.
I had a musical idea from the start. A repeating two chord vamp running at a healthy tempo so I set about compiling the lyric from the various versions I found.

lyrics

‘Go steal me some of your father’s gold
And some of your mother’s fee
And steal two horses from your father’s herd
Ride off and marry me’

She mounted on her milk-white steed,
He on a dapple grey;
They rode till they came to the side of the sea
Three hours before it was day

‘Get down, get down! my pretty fair maid,
Get down, get down!’ said he;
For six king’s daughters I’ve drowned here,
And the seventh you shall be!’
-
‘Take off that costly silken gown
And hand it down to me
It cost your father too much gold
To rot in the salty sea’

‘If I take off this costly silk
And hand it down to thee
Then you must turn yourself around
Face that willow-tree’

He turned ‘round with his back to the cliff,
His face to the willow-tree;
So sudden she took him up in her arms,
And threw him into the sea.
-
‘Lie there, lie there! you false-hearted man,
Lie there instead of me
If there are six king’s daughters drowned here
Go keep them company.’

credits

from Ballads and the Blues, released May 6, 2022
Traditional
Arranged by T.C. Elliott

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T.C. Elliott Columbia, Missouri

If Neil Young and The Holy Modal Rounders had a litter of baby songwriters then T.C. Elliott would be the runt of the litter.

T.C. has written over 1100 songs and at least one of them doesn't suck.

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