Redesdale and Wise William

Chris Coe: On Autumn Harvest ah007: Old Songs & Bothy Ballads: Grand to Be a Working Man. Recorded at the Fife Traditional Singing Festival May 2008.

Text and tune adapted by Chris Coe from the Perthshire repertoire of the Harris sisters written down in the early 1800s. Amelia Harris learned the ballad in childhood from her old nurse and no other tune appears to have been found, The ballad is included in FJ Child's The English and Scottish Ballads (Child 246) where he has three versions. The tune and text from the Harris sisters are included in Bertrand Bronson's The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads Volume 4 (1972). The songs and ballads of the Harris sisters are the subject of a recent monograph by Emily Lyle et al: The Song Repertoire of Amelia and Jane Harris, Scottish Text Society (2002).

1: Redesdale and wise William,
Sat drinking at the wine,
And all the talk between them two,
Was about the ladies fine,

Was about the ladies fine.

2: Said Redesdale unto William,
"I'll tell you what I'll do,
I'll wager ma lands against your head,
And that is what I'll do,

And that is what I'll do."

3: "That there's no woman in all this land,
In a bower wherever she be,
That I can not her favour win,
But with one blink of my eye,

But with one blink of my eye."

4: Says William, "I've a sister,
In a bower wherever she be,
And you will not her favour win,
Not with ten blinks of your eye,

Not with ten blinks of your eye."

5: So Redesdale took young William,
And placed him in prison strong,
That he may neither go nor ride,
Nor one word of warning send her.

Nor one word of warning send.

6: But William wrote a letter,
Between the night and day,
And he sent it to his sister,
By the white feather and the grey,

By the white feather and the grey.

7: Now she looked out of her west window,
For to see what she could see,
And there she saw him - Redesdale,
Come riding over the lea.

Come a-riding over the lea.

8: "Come down, come down you lady fair,
One face of you I'll see,
For the gowns are of the silks so fine,
That I will give to thee,

That I will give to thee."

9: "If yours are of the silks so fine,
Then mine's of the bonnie brown,
So get you gone you Redesdale,
For I will not come down

For I will not come down."

10: : "Come down, come down fair lady,
One sight of you I'll see,
For the rings are of the gold so fine,
That I will give to thee

That I will give to thee."

11: "If yours are of the gold so fine,
Well mine's of the silver clear,
So sling your hook you Redesdale,
For you should not be here,

For you should not be here."

12: "Come down, come down fair lady,
One sight of you I'll see,
Or I will set your house on fire,
If better canna be,

If better canna be."

13: So he has set her house on fire,
And quickly it did flame,
But there came a short, sharp shower out of the west,
And put it out again,

And put it out again.

14: Then out from among the smoke and flames,
The bonnie lady's come,
With as much red gold wrapped around her neck,
As could buy him ten times over,

As could buy him ten times round.

15: Oh woe betide you ill woman,
And an ill death may you die,
For you have won your brother's head,
And landless I must fly,

And landless I must fly.

Note from Chris: Delighted that you're using Redesdale and Wise William. I worked to make it singable about 20 years ago as I had never heard it sung and found the story very satisfying. The text is from Child and the tune from Bronson but the song has changed during the years of singing and I haven't a set-in-stone way of singing any song. I enjoy playing with rhythm, words etc. The text is mainly Child B (i.e. Harris) with use of the Child A text when it helped Anglicise. I've flattened the tune and that's a shame. I'll work on it for future singings! Apologies re the childhood colloquialism 'sling your hook' - from a sailing father - that I sing sometimes as a joke!