Cruel Mother from Falling Forward by Lissa Schneckenburger
Source: “British Ballads From Maine”
edited by Phillips Barry, Fannie Hardy Eckstorm, and Mary Winslow Smyth
Tracklist
| 3. | Cruel Mother | 3:30 |
Lyrics
There was a lady lived in York
All alone and alone oh
She fell in love with her father's clerk
Down by the Greenwood side
She leaned her back against a thorn
And there those two pretty babes were born
She took her pen knife keen and sharp
She pierced her pretty babes to the heart
She wiped her pen knife in the clay
And there she wiped the stains away
She dug a grave both long and deep
She lay those pretty babes down to sleep
When she returned to her father's hall
She spied her pretty babes playing ball
She said pretty babes if you were mine
I'd feed you on good cakes and wine
Dearest mother when we were thine
You never fed us on cakes and wine
Babes oh babes if you were mine
I'd dress you up in silk so fine
Dearest mother when we were yours
You dressed us up in bloody gore
Babes oh babes it's you can tell
Whether I'm fit for heaven or hell
-Mrs. Susie Car Young, Bucksport, Maine
Credits
Lissa Schneckenburger (vocals, fiddle) Rachel Aucoin (piano) Mali Obomsawin (double bass) Natalie Haas (cello)
Music is traditional
Produced by Katie McNally
Recorded and mixed by by Alan Stockwell at Ghost Hit Recording (Springfield, MA)
Mastered by Toby Mountain at Northeastern Digital
Graphic design by Mariel Vandersteel
License
All rights reserved.Tags
The traditional music of New England can be as warm and comforting as a winter fire or as potent and exhilarating as a summer thunderstorm. Fiddler, singer, and composer Lissa Schneckenburger is a master of both moods, a winsome, sweet-voiced singer who brings new life to old ballads and a skillful, dynamic fiddler who captures the driving rhythm and carefree joy of dance tunes old and new.