Gil Morice (Child 83) (1982) - Ewan MacColl

Gil Morice / Bill Norrie / Child Norris / Child Norryce / Child Maurice (Child No. 83) (1982) - Sung by Ewan MacColl on "Blood & Roses, Vol. 2" (1982). Compare this to a surviving fragment from recent oral tradition:    • Child Maurice (Child 83) - Martha Stewart   Liner Notes: The earliest printed copies of "Child Maurice" belong to the mid-1700's, though it was probably in oral circulation at an earlier date. It provided the basis for Home's tragedy The Douglas, produced in Edinburgh in 1756 and, in its turn, the play seems to have created a vogue for the ballad. The version given here is a more recent and - dare we say it? - superior composition. In our ballad the argument between Gil Morice and his footpage has been developed in such a way as to give an extra dimension to the ballad. The footpage has ceased to be a mere lay figure; he is now a fully filled-out character, a hot-tempered young man whose advice has been ignored and whose loyalty to his master has been turned into flaming resentment. In other ways too, the ballad is a rewarding one, full of incident, interesting dialogue and memorable lines of poetry, as "I since was fu' o' Gil Morice as hip is o' the stane": surely one of the most potent metaphors for pregnancy in all literature. Song Transcription: http://sniff.numachi.com/pages/tiGILM... Unfortunately the ballad text is too long to fit into the Youtube video description. I added it to the comment section below.