I first heard this tune performed by Fairport Convention with only two or three verses, written by them, none of which had anything to do with Willy. Later, I learned this version of the ballad from another electric folk group called Pentangle.<\/p>\n
Gordon Bok – cellamba; Tom Judge – fiddle; Nick Apollonio – guitar & vocal.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The king had been a prisoner
\nAnd a prisoner long in Spain
\nAnd Willie of the Winsbury
\nHas lain long with his daughter at home<\/p>\n
“What ails you, what ails you, my daughter Janet?
\nWhy you look so pale and wan.
\nHave you had any sore sickness
\nOr yet been sleeping with a man?”<\/p>\n
“I have not had any sore sickness
\nNor yet been sleeping with a man.
\nIt is for you, my father dear,
\nFor biding so long in Spain”<\/p>\n
“Cast off, cast off your berry-brown gown;
\nStand naked on the stone,
\nThat I may know you by your shape
\nIf you be a maiden or no.”<\/p>\n
So she cast off her berry-brown gown;
\nStood naked on the stone.
\nHer apron was low, her haunches round
\nHer face was pale and wan.<\/p>\n
“Was it with a lord or a duke or a knight,
\nOr a man of birth and fame,
\nOr was it with one of my serving men,
\nThat’s lately come out of Spain?”<\/p>\n
“It wasn’t with a lord or a duke or a knight,
\nNor a man of birth and fame;
\nBut it was with Willie of Winsbury
\nI could bide no longer alone.”<\/p>\n
The king has called on his merry men all;
\nBy thirty and by three,
\nSaying “Fetch me this Willie of Winsbury
\nFor hanged he shall be.”<\/p>\n
But when he came before the king,
\nHe was clad all in the red silk.
\nHis hair was like the strands of gold,
\nHis skin was as white as the milk.<\/p>\n
“It is no wonder,” said the king,
\n“That my daughter’s love you did win.
\nFor if I was a woman, as I am a man,
\nMy bedfellow you would have been.”<\/p>\n
“Now will you marry my daughter Janet,
\nBy the truth of your right hand?
\nWill you marry my daughter Janet,
\nI’ll make you lord of all my land.”<\/p>\n
“Oh yes, I will marry your daughter Janet,
\nBy the truth of my right hand.
\nOh yes I will marry your daughter Janet,
\nBut I’ll not be the lord of your land.”<\/p>\n
He’s mounted her on a milk-white steed,
\nHimself on a dapple grey.
\n|: He has made her the lady of as much land
\nAs she will ride in a long summer’s day :|<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I first heard this tune performed by Fairport Convention with only two or three verses, written by them, none of which had anything to do with Willy. Later, I learned this version of the ballad from another electric folk group … Continue reading