The Maid Freed from the Gallows

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"The Maid Freed from the Gallows" is one of many titles of a centuries-old folk song about a condemned maiden pleading for someone to buy her freedom from the executioner. In the collection of ballads compiled by Francis James Child, it is indexed as Child Ballad number 95; eleven variants, some fragmentary, are indexed as 95A to 95K. The ballad existed in a number of folkloric variants from many different countries, and has been remade in a variety of formats. It was recorded in 1939 as "Gallis Pole" by folk singer Huddie Ledbetter (better known as Lead Belly), but the most famous version was the 1970 cover of the Lead Belly version by English rock band Led Zeppelin, which was entitled "Gallows Pole" on the album Led Zeppelin III.

Synopsis

Although it exists in many forms, all versions recount a similar story. A maid about to be hanged (for unknown reasons) pleads with the hangman, or judge, to wait for the arrival of someone who may bribe him. The first person (or people) to arrive, who may include the father, mother, brother, and sister, have brought nothing and often have come to see her hanged. The last person to arrive, often her true love, has brought the gold to save her. She may curse all those who failed her.

The typical refrain would be:

Hangman, hangman, hangman / slack your rope awhile

I think I see my father / ridin’ many a mile

Father did you bring any silver / father did you bring any gold

Or did you come to see me / hangin' from the gallows pole

No, I didn’t bring any silver / no I didn’t bring any gold

I just come to see you / hangin’ from the gallows pole

The song is also known as "The Prickly Bush", a title derived from the oft-used refrain lamenting the maid's situation by likening it to being caught in briery bush, wherein the brier prickles her heart. In versions carrying this theme, the typical refrain may add:

O the prickly bush, the prickly bush,

It pricked my heart full sore;

If ever I get out of the prickly bush,

I'll never get in any more.

In "The Maid Freed from the Gallows", the first person (father, mother, brother) (or people) has come not to free the condemned, but to see her hanged, but the last person (lover) has brought the bribe with which to free her.Although the traditional versions do not resolve the fate of the condemned one way or the other, it may be presumed that the bribe would succeed.

It has been suggested that the reference to "gold" may not mean actual gold for a bribe, but may instead stand for the symbolic restoration of the maid's honor, perhaps by proof of her innocence or fidelity. Such an interpretation would explain why a number of variations of the song have the maid (or a male condemned) asking whether their visitors had brought them gold or paid their fee. In at least one version, the reply comes that "I haven't brought you gold/ But I have paid your fee.

Variants

In some versions, the protagonist is male. This appears to be more prevalent in the United States, where hanging of women was uncommon. The crime for which the protagonist faces hanging is occasionally mentioned. The woman may be being held for ransom by pirates; or, she has stolen something from her employer. Other instances tell of her having lost a treasured golden ball, or indicate that she is being hanged for fornication.

The most extensive version is not a song at all, but a fairy story titled "The Golden Ball", collected by Joseph Jacobs in More English Fairy Tales. It encompasses the theme of the song. The story focuses more on the exploits of the fiance who must recover a golden ball in order to save his love from the noose; the incident resembles The Story of the Youth Who Went Forth to Learn What Fear Was. Other fairy tales in the English language, telling the story more fully, always retell some variant on the heroine being hanged for losing an object of gold.

Origin

The song likely originated in a language other than English. Some fifty versions have been reported in Finland, where it is well known as Lunastettava neito. It is titled Den Bortsålda in Sweden, and Die Losgekaufte in German. A Lithuanian version has the maid asking relatives to ransom her with their best animals or belongings (sword, house, crown, ring etc.). The maiden curses her relatives who refuse to give up their property, and blesses her fiancé, who does ransom her.

Francis James Child found the English version "defective and distorted", in that, in most cases, the narrative rationale had been lost and only the ransoming sequence remained. Numerous European variants explain the reason for the ransom: the heroine has been captured by pirates. Of the texts he prints, one (95F) had "degenerated" into a children's game, while others had survived as part of a Northern English cante-fable, The Golden Ball (or Key).

Child describes additional examples from Färöe, Iceland, Russia, and Slovenia. Several of these feature a man being ransomed by a woman.

The theme of delaying one's execution while awaiting rescue by relatives appears with a similar structure in the classic fairy tale "Bluebeard" by Charles Perrault in 1697 (translated into English in 1729).

"Gallows Pole" and the era of recorded music

Legendary folksinger Huddie Ledbetter (better known as Lead Belly), who also popularized such songs as "Cotton Fields" and "Midnight Special" first recorded "Gallis Pole" in the 1930s, and set the stage for the song's popularity today. Lead Belly's rendition, available through Folkways music and recently re-released by the Library of Congress, differs from more familiar recordings in several notable ways. The Lead Belly version is performed on acoustic twelve string guitar, and following an introductory phrase reminiscent of the vocal melody, Lead Belly launches into a furious fingerpicking pattern. His haunting, shrill tenor delivers the lyrical counterpoint, and his story is punctuated with spoken-word, as he "interrupts his song to discourse on its theme".

Bob Dylan recorded a thematically similar "Seven Curses" in 1963 during the sessions for his Freewheelin' album. The song tells a similar story, but from the point of view of the condemned's daughter. Dylan's song has been recorded by many artists, and Judy Collins song "Anathea" is based on Dylan's song. The definitive folk version of the song is probably that by Nic Jones recorded as 'Prickly Bush' which he performed live and is featured on the 'Unearthed' album.

This plotline is followed in perhaps the most familiar version today. English band Led Zeppelin first recorded the song for their album Led Zeppelin III in 1970. The album is a shift in style for the band towards acoustic material, influenced by a vacation Jimmy Page and Robert Plant took to the Bron-Yr-Aur cottage in the Welsh countryside. The music suits the building tension in the song. It begins as a simple acoustic guitar rhythm, and builds to a crescendo of mandolin, banjo, drums, bass and electric guitar, increasing in tempo as the song progresses. The acoustic guitar chord progression (in standard tuning) is simple with a riff based on variations of the open A chord and the chords D and G occurring in the verse. The Led Zeppelin version is unique in that, despite the bribes, which he accepts, the hangman is still explicitly described as carrying out the execution:

The song has been recorded by numerous other artists, including Almeda Riddle, Odetta, Uriah Heep, and Alvin Youngblood Hart. German folk metal band In Extremo has version of this song called "Der Galgen". Jasper Carrott performed a comedy version in which the narrator is hanged before he can finish the first verse.

A few lines of the song are sung by a woman strumming a guitar in a 1949 John Wayne movie, "The Fighting Kentuckian".

Names

In addition to "The Maid Freed from the Gallows", "The Prickly Bush" and the more recent "Gallows Pole", variations of the song have been recorded or reported under more than a dozen names. These include:

"Gallis Pole"
"The Prickilie Bush"
"Hangman"
"Hangman, Slacken
"Gallows"
"Freed from the Gallows"
"Maid Saved"
"By a Lover Saved"
"Down by the Green Willow Tree"
"Girl to be Hanged for Stealing a Comb"

"Ropeman"
"Ropeman's Ballad"
"Prickle Holly Bush"
"Derry Gaol"
"Hold Your Hands, Old Man
"Old Rabbit, the Voodoo"
"The Briery Bush
"The Golden Ball"
"Mama, Did You Bring Any Silver?"
"Hallowed be thy name", Iron Maiden

References

External links

Lyrics available at Wikisource:

The Maid Freed From the Gallows several variants
Song facts on variants
The Maid Freed From the Gallows, with commentary

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Last updated on Monday February 18, 2008 at 23:16:21 PST (GMT -0800)
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