From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Bramble Briar
The Bramble Briar
The Briar", The Daughter"
"The Bramble Briar "The Merchant’s Daughter or "In In Bruton
• Martin Carthy recorded it as ’Bruton Town’ on his
Bruton Town (Roud 18[1]; Laws M32) is a traditional Eng-
Town" 1966 album Second Album
lish folk murder ballad that tells the story of how two Bruton
• Jacqui McShee recorded it as ’Bruton Town’ with
brothers murder a servant who is courting their sister. Pentangle on their 1968 album The Pentangle
There are many versions of the song going by a number • Sandy Denny performed a live version of Bruton Town
of different titles. in 1972 released on Who Knows Where the Time Goes?
(1986)
Synopsis • Maddy Prior and Tim Hart again used the title Bruton
Town for a recording on their Folk Songs of Old England
A girl of noble birth falls in love with a servant and the Vol. 1 (1968)
two agree to get married. However, her two brothers dis- • Louis Killen sang Bramble Briar on English and Scottish
cover the tryst and, because they consider him too low- Folk Ballads (1964)
born for her, decide to murder him. They go out hunt- • Martin Simpson used the same title for the ballad on
ing in the woods early in the morning and take the ser- Bramble Briar (2001)
vant along with them. One of the brothers kills the man • Meg Baird, Helena Espvall, and Sharron Kraus
and hides the body in a bramble thicket. Once back home, recorded it as "Bruton Town" on Leaves From Off the
their sister asks them why they are whispering to each Tree (2006)
other and what has become of the servant. One of the • In their Album release ’Matachin’ the British folk
brothers tells her that they have lost him somewhere band Bellowhead recorded this song as ’Bruton
that he will never be found. That night the girl dreams of Town’
her lover. He is dead and covered in blood. The following • Bryony Griffith & Will Hampson recorded it as ’The
day, she goes out to the woods where she eventually finds Murdered Servantman’ on their 2011 debut album
the corpse in the briars. She kisses his dead lips and sits Lady Diamond
mourning with his body for three days. When she at last
returns, her brothers asks her why she is whispering and
she tells them to get away from her, calling them "bloody
References
butchers". In other versions of the story, she severs the [1] http://library.efdss.org/cgi-bin/
head of the unfortunate victim, and takes it back with her query.cgi?index_roud=on&cross=off&type=Song&access=off&op_9
in a jar. VWML Online
[2] The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs by Ralph
Commentary [3]
Vaughan Williams and A.L. Lloyd (1959)
http://www.john-keats.com/gedichte/isabella.htm
The ballad was collected by Cecil Sharp in 1904 but is con- John Keats: Isabella
siderably older than that. It is a re-telling of a 14th cen-
tury tale called Isabella and the Pot of Basil by Boccaccio al-
though, according to the The Penguin Book of English Folk
External links
Songs the story was probably not new even then.[2] The • Bruton Town (The Bramble Briar)
English romantic poet, John Keats, adapted the story into
a poem called Isabella, or the Pot of Basil.[3]
Recordings
A large number of musicians have recorded this song in-
cluding:
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=The_Bramble_Briar&oldid=448670427"
Categories:
• Traditional ballads
• English folk songs
• Murder ballads
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Bramble Briar
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