Joan Baez - Mary Hamilton (Lyrics) [HD]

Описание: Joan Baez sings the traditional ballad 'Mary Hamilton' from her 1960 Vanguard album 'Joan Baez'. The lyrics are in the video and below with comments about the song and Joan Baez.

[Vinyl/Lyrics/15-Images/WAV]

Mary Hamilton (Singer: Joan Baez)

Word is to the kitchen gone and word is to the hall
And word is up to Madam the Queen and that's the worst of all
That Mary Hamilton's born a babe
To the highest Stuart of all

"Arise, arise, Mary Hamilton
Arise and tell to me
What thou hast done with thy wee babe
I saw and heard weep by thee"

"I put him in a tiny boat
And cast him out to sea
That he might sink or he might swim
But he'd never come back to me"

"Arise, arise, Mary Hamilton
Arise and come with me
There is a wedding in Glasgow town
This night we'll go and see"

She put not on her robes of black
Nor her robes of brown
But she put on her robes of white
To ride into Glasgow town

As she rode into Glasgow town
The city for to see
The bailiff's wife and the provost's wife
Cried, "Alack and alas for thee"

"Ah, you need not weep for me," she cried
"You need not weep for me
For had I not slain my own wee babe
This death I would not dee"

"Ah, little did my mother think
When first she cradled me
The lands I was to travel in
And the death I was to dee"

"Last night I washed the Queen's feet
And put the gold in her hair
And the only reward I find for this
The gallows to be my share"

"Cast off, cast off my gown," she cried
"But let my petticoat be
And tie a napkin 'round my face
The gallows I would not see"

Then by 'em come the king himself
Looked up with a pitiful eye
"Come down, come down, Mary Hamilton
Tonight you'll dine with me"

"Ah, hold your tongue my sovereign liege
And let your folly be
For if you'd a mind to save my life
You'd never have shamed me here"

"Last night there were four Marys
Tonight there'll be but three
There was Mary Beaton and Mary Seton
And Mary Carmichael and me"

Songwriter: Traditional song, Arranged by Joan Baez
[Lyrics from Musixmatch]

Wikipedia states:

"Mary Hamilton", or "The Fower Maries" ("The Four Marys"), is a common name for a well-known sixteenth-century ballad from Scotland based on an apparently fictional incident about a lady-in-waiting to a Queen of Scotland. It is Child Ballad 173 and Roud 79.

In all versions of the song, Mary Hamilton is a personal attendant to the Queen of Scots, but precisely which queen is not specified. She becomes pregnant by the Queen's husband, the King of Scots, which results in the birth of a baby. Mary kills the infant – in some versions by casting it out to sea or drowning, and in others by exposure. The crime is seen and she is convicted. The ballad recounts Mary's thoughts about her life and her impending death in a first-person narrative.

Versions of the ballad have been recorded by a number of artists, including Joan Baez, The Corries, and Angelo Branduardi.

Joan Chandos Baez (/baɪz/;[born January 9, 1941) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing over 30 albums. Fluent in Spanish and English, she has also recorded songs in at least six other languages.

Baez is generally regarded as a folk singer, but her music has diversified since the counterculture era of the 1960s and encompasses genres such as folk rock, pop, country, and gospel music. She began her recording career in 1960 and achieved immediate success. Her first three albums, Joan Baez, Joan Baez, Vol. 2 and Joan Baez in Concert, all achieved gold record status. Although a songwriter herself, Baez generally interprets other composers' work, having recorded songs by the Allman Brothers Band, the Beatles, Jackson Browne, Leonard Cohen, Woody Guthrie, Violeta Parra, the Rolling Stones, Pete Seeger, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Bob Marley, and many others. She was one of the first major artists to record the songs of Bob Dylan in the early 1960s; Baez was already an internationally celebrated artist and did much to popularize his early songwriting efforts. On her later albums she has found success interpreting the work of more recent songwriters, including Ryan Adams, Josh Ritter, Steve Earle, Natalie Merchant, and Joe Henry.