Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 3 days ago
The Seven Brothers / The Seven Sleepers / Seven Sons Bold / Lady Margaret / Lord Thomas / Sweet William and Fair Ellen / The Douglas Tragedy / The Child of Ell / Earl Brand (Child No. 7) - Sung by Mrs. Victoria Shifflett Morris (s.p Shiflett) (1895–1964) of Mount Fair, Albemarle County, Virginia, USA. Recorded by Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. on November 21, 1932. Recorded again by Maud Karpeles and Sidney Robertson Cowell in September 1950.
00:00:00 The Seven Sleepers (1932) - Victoria Shifflett Morris
00:05:01 The Seven Sleepers (1950) - Victoria Shifflett Morris
00:06:05 Seven Sons Bold - Robert Shiflett
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.:
A traditional Virginia version of The Douglas Tragedy (Child 7). It had some currency in Albemarle County, Virginia and was noted from members of the Shiflett family and other singers in the area.
George Foss' account of the Brown's Cove, Albemarle County singers is well worth a read: klein-shiflett.com/shifletfamily/HHI/GeorgeFoss/whall.html
Child 7 exists in two distinct variants in America. One opens with "Rise up you seven sons bold" or "Wake up you seven sleepers" and resembles The Douglas Tragedy as it was sung in Scotland. That's the way it was sung by the Shiflett family and other singers in Albemarle County, Virginia. The other opens with "Sweet William rode to the old man's gate" and includes additional verses resembling the earliest known text of the ballad, the fragmentary "Child of Ell" from Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript of the middle decades of the 17th century. It was collected mainly from singers in North Carolina.
Song transcription:
"Wake up, wake up, You seven sleepers,
And heed the warning of me.
Please take care of your oldest daughter dear,
For the youngest('s) just a-going with me."
He mounted up on a milk-white steed,
Herself upon the dapple gray,
He drew his buckler down by his side,
And away went a-singing away.
"Wake up, wake up, my seven sons bold,
And put on your armor so bright,
I'll never have it said that a daughter of mine
Shall stay with a lord all night."
He rode, he rode, he better, better rode,
Along with his lady so dear,
Until she saw her seven brothers bold,
And her father a-walking so near."
Until she saw her seven brothers bold,
And her father a-walking so-near.
"Get you down, get you down, Lady Margret," he said,
"And hold my steed for a while,
Until I fight you seven brothers bold,
And your father a-walking so near."
She held, she held, a better, better hold,
And she never shedded a tear,
Until she saw her seven brothers fall,
And her father she loved so dear,
Until she saw her seven brothers fall,
And her father she loved so dear.
"Get you down, get you down, Lady Margret...
(Corrects herself)
He mounted up on the milk-white steed,
And herself upon the dapple gray,
"He drew his buckler down by his side
And away went a-bleeding away.
He rode, he rode, he better, better rode,
Along with his lady so dear,
Until he came to his own mother's stile,
Where he did love so dear'
"O Mother, Mother, go make my bed,
And make it soft and wide,
And lay my lady down by my side
That I may rest for a while."
Lord William he died about midnight,
Lady Margret before it was day,
And the old woman died for the loss of her son,
So there was eleven lives lost.
September 1950 Karpeles and Cowell transcription:
'Wake up, wake up, you seven sleepers
And it's to be warned of me
You take care of your oldest daughter dear
For the youngest's just a-going with me'
He mount(ed) her on a milk-white steed
Himself upon the dapple grey
He drew his broadsword down by his side
And away went a-singing away
'Wake up, wake up, my seven sons bold
And put on your armour so bright
I will never have it said that a daughter of mine
Shall stay with a lord all night'
The Seven Brothers / The Seven Sleepers / Seven Sons Bold / Lady Margaret / Lord Thomas / Sweet William and Fair Ellen / The Douglas Tragedy / The Child of Ell / Earl Brand (Child No. 7) - Sung by Mrs. Victoria Shifflett Morris (s.p Shiflett) (1895–1964) of Mount Fair, Albemarle County, Virginia, USA. Recorded by Arthur Kyle Davis Jr. on November 21, 1932. Recorded again by Maud Karpeles and Sidney Robertson Cowell in September 1950.
00:00:00 The Seven Sleepers (1932) - Victoria Shifflett Morris
00:05:01 The Seven Sleepers (1950) - Victoria Shifflett Morris
00:06:05 Seven Sons Bold - Robert Shiflett
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.:
A traditional Virginia version of The Douglas Tragedy (Child 7). It had some currency in Albemarle County, Virginia and was noted from members of the Shiflett family and other singers in the area.
George Foss' account of the Brown's Cove, Albemarle County singers is well worth a read: klein-shiflett.com/shifletfamily/HHI/GeorgeFoss/whall.html
Child 7 exists in two distinct variants in America. One opens with "Rise up you seven sons bold" or "Wake up you seven sleepers" and resembles The Douglas Tragedy as it was sung in Scotland. That's the way it was sung by the Shiflett family and other singers in Albemarle County, Virginia. The other opens with "Sweet William rode to the old man's gate" and includes additional verses resembling the earliest known text of the ballad, the fragmentary "Child of Ell" from Bishop Percy's Folio Manuscript of the middle decades of the 17th century. It was collected mainly from singers in North Carolina.
Song transcription:
"Wake up, wake up, You seven sleepers,
And heed the warning of me.
Please take care of your oldest daughter dear,
For the youngest('s) just a-going with me."
He mounted up on a milk-white steed,
Herself upon the dapple gray,
He drew his buckler down by his side,
And away went a-singing away.
"Wake up, wake up, my seven sons bold,
And put on your armor so bright,
I'll never have it said that a daughter of mine
Shall stay with a lord all night."
He rode, he rode, he better, better rode,
Along with his lady so dear,
Until she saw her seven brothers bold,
And her father a-walking so near."
Until she saw her seven brothers bold,
And her father a-walking so-near.
"Get you down, get you down, Lady Margret," he said,
"And hold my steed for a while,
Until I fight you seven brothers bold,
And your father a-walking so near."
She held, she held, a better, better hold,
And she never shedded a tear,
Until she saw her seven brothers fall,
And her father she loved so dear,
Until she saw her seven brothers fall,
And her father she loved so dear.
"Get you down, get you down, Lady Margret...
(Corrects herself)
He mounted up on the milk-white steed,
And herself upon the dapple gray,
"He drew his buckler down by his side
And away went a-bleeding away.
He rode, he rode, he better, better rode,
Along with his lady so dear,
Until he came to his own mother's stile,
Where he did love so dear'
"O Mother, Mother, go make my bed,
And make it soft and wide,
And lay my lady down by my side
That I may rest for a while."
Lord William he died about midnight,
Lady Margret before it was day,
And the old woman died for the loss of her son,
So there was eleven lives lost.
September 1950 Karpeles and Cowell transcription:
'Wake up, wake up, you seven sleepers
And it's to be warned of me
You take care of your oldest daughter dear
For the youngest's just a-going with me'
He mount(ed) her on a milk-white steed
Himself upon the dapple grey
He drew his broadsword down by his side
And away went a-singing away
'Wake up, wake up, my seven sons bold
And put on your armour so bright
I will never have it said that a daughter of mine
Shall stay with a lord all night'
