The False Lover Won Back Explained

"The False Lover Won Back" is a Scottish ballad, cataloged as Child Ballad 218 (Roud 201).

Origins

Francis James Child cataloged the song as Child Ballad 218, recovering two texts representing it. It is also cataloged as Roud 201.^[1] The song spread in some form from its origins in Scotland through England as far as the United States, although it is among the lesser-known ballads.^{[2] [3] [4]}

The song has similarities to and may share an origin with other ballads, such as Child Waters. It has sometimes also been called "Young John" or "The Fause Lover."^{[5] [6] [7]}

Synopsis

In the ballad, a woman pursues her lover, who is leaving her for another who is more beautiful. He begs her to forsake him, plying her with gifts, but eventually buys her a wedding gown or a wedding ring and agrees to marry her.^{[8] [9]}

According to Walter Morris Hart, the ballad is somewhat unusual for its depicting a situation in which "it is the maiden who does the wooing."^[10]

Legacy

Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger performed the song on their 1956 album Classic Scots Ballads. The song was also included as a bonus track on a reissue of Martin Carthy's 1972 album Shearwater.

References

1. Web site: The False Lover Won Back / Honey for the Bee / Young John / The Sun Shines High (Roud 201; Child 218; G/D 5:974) . 2024-06-10 . Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music.
2. Moore . John Robert . 1921 . A Missouri Variant of "The False Lover Won Back" . The Journal of American Folklore . 34 . 134 . 395–397 . 10.2307/534929 . 534929 . 0021-8715.
3. Book: Greig, Gavin . Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads and Ballad Airs . 1925 . Buchan Club . en.
4. Book: Lyle, Emily . Scottish Ballads . 2010-07-01 . Canongate Books . 978-1-84767-593-4 . en.
5. Book: Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas . The Oxford book of ballads, chosen and edited by Arthur Quiller-Couch . 1910 . Oxford Clarendon Press . Robarts – University of Toronto.
6. Book: Shoolbraid, Murray . The High-Kilted Muse: Peter Buchan and His Secret Songs of Silence . 2010-04-02 . Univ. Press of Mississippi . 978-1-4968-0115-9 . en.
7. Book: Smith, James Cruickshanks . A Book of Ballads for Boys and Girls . 1913 . Clarendon Press . en.
8. Book: Coffin, Tristram Potter . The British Traditional Ballad in North America . 1963 . American Folklore Society . 978-0-292-70719-1 . en.
9. García . Ana Belén Martínez . 2017 . Formulaicity in Child Ballads as a Means to Express Assertiveness . Folklore . 128 . 2 . 175–188 . 10.1080/0015587X.2016.1270612 . 26445791 . 0015-587X.
10. Book: Hart, Walter Morris . Studies and Notes in Philology and Literature . 1907 . Published under the direction of the Modern Language Depts. of Harvard University by Ginn & Company . en.