Sovay - Martin Carthy [Traditional Folk Song with Score]

[ Roud 7 ; Laws N21 ; Henry H35 ; Ballad Index LN21 ; VWML CJS2/10/2685 ; Bodleian Roud 7 ; Wiltshire 561 ; trad.] Sovay is a traditional English folk song about a young woman who dresses and arms herself as a highwayman in order to test her suitor. In disguise she robs her suitor of nearly all his possessions, but even under threat of death he refuses to give up the gold ring given by Sovay, thus proving his devotion. Sovay subsequently confesses the ruse to her lover and returns his various possessions, admonishing him only that had he indeed given up the ring, she would have killed him. The name 'Sovay' is probably a corruption of 'Sophie' or 'Sylvie' - both of which appear instead in some versions of the song. This version is performed by Martin Carthy (guitar and vocals) and Dave Swarbrick (fiddle). “The tune sung here was collected by Hammond in Dorset and slightly altered rhythmically by Bert Lloyd giving it a somewhat Balkan lift. The text is collated from various versions.” - Martin Carthy Live version (Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick): /watch/oTTSDKjupkpuS Bert Lloyd recording: /watch/8IgmXPXK_hxKm Authentic recordings: /watch/IEpA0mqpSgHpA /watch/4Ie5QTcLT3uL5 /watch/IyJseOkhInZhs /watch/kX1RWoUzU0azR Sources: https://mainlynorfolk.info/martin.carthy/songs/sovay.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sovay This score was created for the purposes of this video. All scores are transcribed by ear onto Sibelius software. For copyright reasons, these videos will not be monetized. Subscribe for more folk transcriptions and comment any suggestions of songs you'd like to see! [Note: I have recently noticed that I missed lots of details in the vocal part. I'll probably revise this one and reupload an updated version!]

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