Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
I'll Tell You of a Soldier / The Bold Soldier / The Soldier and the Lady / The Bold Keeper / The Lady and the Dragoon (Roud No. 321) - Sung by Mr. James Henry Chisholm (1860–1940) of Greenwood, Albemarle County, Virginia, USA. Recorded by Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. on November 11, 1932. Previously collected by Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles on May 21, 1918, when Mr. Chisholm was living in Nellysford.
00:00:00 I'll Tell You of a Soldier - James Henry Chisholm
00:02:12 The Bold Soldier - Uncle Pat Frye
00:03:53 The Soldier and the Lady - Aunt Jennie Wilson
An excellent article by Mike Yates on Cecil Sharp's and Maud Karpeles' Appalachia trip in the 1910s can be read here: mustrad.org.uk/articles/sharp.htm
A selection of 1930s phonograph recordings made by folklorist Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. (1897–1972) of Virginia ballad singers has been digitised and made available for listening online: https://avalon.lib.virginia.edu/collections/7m01bk901
We get a chance to listen to some of the very same people Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles met and noted songs from in the 1910s.
The audio quality of these recordings is relatively poor, being made with portable equipment at that time, but the songs are interesting and worthy of attention. I had the idea of creating small compilations of related versions of each song for these videos. This is because I noticed that I often had more than one recording of each song available from singers who were related or lived in the same area.
Arthur K. Davis Jr. published the hundreds of Virginia ballads he collected in two books, "Folk-Songs of Virginia" (1949), and "More Traditional Ballads of Virginia" (1960) with the editorial assistance of Paul Clayton Worthington.
Note by Kevin W.:
An English broadside ballad. The story bears some semblance to The Douglas Tragedy (Child 7), but with a happy ending. Textually the songs are not related.
The song goes back to a 1695 London broadside titled "The Master-piece of Love-songs," or "The Bold Keeper", itself a remodel of a 1670 broadside titled "The Seaman's Renown in Winning His Fair Lady": bluegrassmessengers.com/bold-keeper--lon-1695-t-thackeray-broadside.aspx
The first known US text was published in Massachusetts in 1800 in "The Echo; or, Columbian Songster" under the title "The Bold Soldier": bluegrassmessengers.com/bold-soldier--ma-1809-minot-bakers-collection.aspx
Song transcription:
I'll tell you of a soldier, who lately came on sea,
He courted a lady both honorous and free.
Her riches was so great that it scarcely could be told,
And the lady she loved the soldier because he was so bold.
How would the lady call to be a soldier's wife;
My papy he's enraptured to gain my pleasant life."
He drew his sword and pistol and he hung over his side
Saying I'll marry you, my charmer, whatever shall be tried.
As they had been to church one day returning home again,
She spied her old father and several armed men.
It's up speaks the lady, I fear we shall be slain."
"Fear nothing, my charmer," he coaxes in vain.
It's up speaks this old man and unto her did say,
Is this your behaviour? Is this your wedding day?
But since you've turned so silly as to be a soldier's wife,
Now in this lonesome valley I'll finally end your life.
Up speaks the soldier, I'm fighting for that,
He caused him to pull off his coat and his hat,
He drew his sword and pistol and they began to rattle,
And the lady held the horse while the soldier fought the battle.
The first one he came to, he quickly had him slain;
The next one he came to, he did him just the same.
It's up speaks this old man, my blood you caused run cold,
I'll wed you with my daughter, ten thousand pounds in gold.
Give over, give over, the old man, he cried,
And you may have my daughter, ten thousand pounds is set,
Oh no, cries the lady, the money is too small,
Give over cries the old man, you can have it all.
I'll Tell You of a Soldier / The Bold Soldier / The Soldier and the Lady / The Bold Keeper / The Lady and the Dragoon (Roud No. 321) - Sung by Mr. James Henry Chisholm (1860–1940) of Greenwood, Albemarle County, Virginia, USA. Recorded by Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. on November 11, 1932. Previously collected by Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles on May 21, 1918, when Mr. Chisholm was living in Nellysford.
00:00:00 I'll Tell You of a Soldier - James Henry Chisholm
00:02:12 The Bold Soldier - Uncle Pat Frye
00:03:53 The Soldier and the Lady - Aunt Jennie Wilson
An excellent article by Mike Yates on Cecil Sharp's and Maud Karpeles' Appalachia trip in the 1910s can be read here: mustrad.org.uk/articles/sharp.htm
A selection of 1930s phonograph recordings made by folklorist Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. (1897–1972) of Virginia ballad singers has been digitised and made available for listening online: https://avalon.lib.virginia.edu/collections/7m01bk901
We get a chance to listen to some of the very same people Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles met and noted songs from in the 1910s.
The audio quality of these recordings is relatively poor, being made with portable equipment at that time, but the songs are interesting and worthy of attention. I had the idea of creating small compilations of related versions of each song for these videos. This is because I noticed that I often had more than one recording of each song available from singers who were related or lived in the same area.
Arthur K. Davis Jr. published the hundreds of Virginia ballads he collected in two books, "Folk-Songs of Virginia" (1949), and "More Traditional Ballads of Virginia" (1960) with the editorial assistance of Paul Clayton Worthington.
Note by Kevin W.:
An English broadside ballad. The story bears some semblance to The Douglas Tragedy (Child 7), but with a happy ending. Textually the songs are not related.
The song goes back to a 1695 London broadside titled "The Master-piece of Love-songs," or "The Bold Keeper", itself a remodel of a 1670 broadside titled "The Seaman's Renown in Winning His Fair Lady": bluegrassmessengers.com/bold-keeper--lon-1695-t-thackeray-broadside.aspx
The first known US text was published in Massachusetts in 1800 in "The Echo; or, Columbian Songster" under the title "The Bold Soldier": bluegrassmessengers.com/bold-soldier--ma-1809-minot-bakers-collection.aspx
Song transcription:
I'll tell you of a soldier, who lately came on sea,
He courted a lady both honorous and free.
Her riches was so great that it scarcely could be told,
And the lady she loved the soldier because he was so bold.
How would the lady call to be a soldier's wife;
My papy he's enraptured to gain my pleasant life."
He drew his sword and pistol and he hung over his side
Saying I'll marry you, my charmer, whatever shall be tried.
As they had been to church one day returning home again,
She spied her old father and several armed men.
It's up speaks the lady, I fear we shall be slain."
"Fear nothing, my charmer," he coaxes in vain.
It's up speaks this old man and unto her did say,
Is this your behaviour? Is this your wedding day?
But since you've turned so silly as to be a soldier's wife,
Now in this lonesome valley I'll finally end your life.
Up speaks the soldier, I'm fighting for that,
He caused him to pull off his coat and his hat,
He drew his sword and pistol and they began to rattle,
And the lady held the horse while the soldier fought the battle.
The first one he came to, he quickly had him slain;
The next one he came to, he did him just the same.
It's up speaks this old man, my blood you caused run cold,
I'll wed you with my daughter, ten thousand pounds in gold.
Give over, give over, the old man, he cried,
And you may have my daughter, ten thousand pounds is set,
Oh no, cries the lady, the money is too small,
Give over cries the old man, you can have it all.
