The Twa Corbies

[sandralynnsparks]

Very nerdy of you @kingbilgames. And - ? This song is: a Breton tune, originally Medieval Scots lyrics, and in this version, "pidgin talk," some of the words done in modern English so that the audience could understand the gist of it without resorting to Cliff notes. It's a version of a popular song. That's it. There's no reason it wouldn't be done at a Celtic festival or a folk festival, or, as far as I'm concerned, a jazz fusion festival. And I appreciate so many have listened and liked it.

[kloiten]

@sandralynnsparks It's very unkind of you to dismiss kingbilgames' legitimate linguistic information as "nerdy". It was informative and relevant.

[kloiten]

As for his comment, I agree. It's a Scottish song; it's not even in Scottish Gaelic. It doesn't matter whether the melody was originally Breton: that doesn't determine its 'nationality'. Also, by your logic, people shouldn't have a problem with rave techno playing at a recital of Beethoven's best compositions. Logical.

Anyway, this song would look strange at a Celtic festival unless you translated it into Welsh or Breton and performed it then. It's not a bad song by any means as it is, though.

[sandralynnsparks]

@kloiten - You're right I shouldn't have called him nerdy, but I get frustrated sometimes. Just because a festival called Celtic doesn't mean you will just get accurate renditions of accurate tunes or songs in accurate languages. Some of the most popular tunes at Celtic Festivals don't come from the Celtic regions. How many time has Stephen Foster's "Hard Times" been sung by irish bands? "I Live Not Where I Love" is an old English art song slightly rewritten. We blend but keep the roots.

[kingbilgames]

A Northumbrian folksong in a Celtic festival? What will they think of next!

[slapaddy]

Light weight, completely misses the sinister aspects of this song, very disappointing.

[912a219]

@slapaddy Hey, slapaddy, feel flattered, cause I actually created an account just to tell you what a moron you are. In its “lightheartedness”, this version probably accents the song's “sinister aspects” most of them all. Be it (on the performer's part) intentional or not.

And since I'm already here and commenting... anybody have an idea who painted the portrait at 2:35 (1630s girl with long hair), or who was the sitter?

[slapaddy]

Light weight, completelt misses the sinister aspects of this song

[sandralynnsparks]

Sorry I haven't been aorund for awhile. Lallans is a Germanic language that is parallel to English, having a lot of the same word roots. There is no Gaelic in it. For the poster who wondered about the pronunciation used - I took a LOT of liberties with the pronunciation otherwise no one would have understood a word. I tried to keep an idea of the medieval tone and still make it understood enough to need no translation.

[TheZoe236]

rebild our nest when it grows bear the wind will blow forever more o

[TheZoe236]

english: as i was walking all alone i heard to crows making noise one said to the other where shall we go and dine the day o behind a old turf wall there lies a new slain knight and no one nose that he lies there but his halk his hound and lady fair halk and his hound and his lady fair o his hound is to the hunting game his halk to fetch the wild fowl home and his lady fair anouther mate o so we may make our dinner sweet o ill peck out his eyes and a lock of his golden hair o we shall

[nuolc]

"Corbie" was a term enjoyed in the Border lands and Ballads of the 15c...Local Badman Reiver "Corbie Jack" and Black Barty Milburn. Corbie meant evil or treacherous

[Chomuno]

Why don't they pronounce the "r" and "ch" like it should be pronounced in Scots? And I notice that they use a common variant of the song, in N-W Scots, I think, or only old Scots.

[sandralynnsparks]

This is now available at reverb nation dot com search for Sandra Lynn Sparks

[enyeo]

This is great! Sexy!

[readingrox19]

what language is this in cuz i understand some of it but not the rest.

[sandralynnsparks]

@readingrox19

Scots Lallans, which is a parallel language to English - about half of it would be understandable. Both languages have German and Anglo roots.

[readingrox19]

@sandralynnsparks THANK YOU! :)

[KateFan]

@sandralynnsparks isn't Lallans a mixture of English and Gaelic? Or is that untrue?

[kingbilgames]

As another has said, it is untrue. Very untrue. Lallans is an English dialect spoken in Southern Scotland, but it is in the same dialect grouping as Northumbrian, Pitmatic and Geordie, which are more related to Lallans (and are very close to Lallans) than to southern English. Implying that Scots is a different language to English is just political nonsense, unless we say that Scots (Lallans) and the Northumbrian dialects are the same language, but not ''English''...

[kingbilgames]

@kingbilgames In which case the language should just be called Northumbrian and not Scots, for it is a pretty neutral name based on the region of Northumbria, which used to be its own kingdom stretching for the Firth of Forth (about Edinburgh) to just below the Humber (whence we get Northumbrians, "the people north of the Humber", though settlement occurred under it at the height of the kingdom... at Sheffield), which is a natural border between the East Riding of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

[TheZoe236]

@readingrox19 hi this is scottish it is english but it has little diffrent words like corbies means crows

[kingbilgames]

It is Northumbrian, which really covers both side of the Anglo-Scottish border. The grains of southern Scotland are usually the same grains of northern England and were the same country at one point before someone put a border down ceding north-east Northumbria to the king of Scotland.

[nolicnotrut]

The tune has a Breton origin that this 'poem' seems to have acquired in the 1950s. Look for 'An Alarch' on youtube.

[thuanguyenvo1085]

ờ, trộn tới trộn lui nó mới ngon, he he

[catonthemat30060]

these pictures are all from the nineteenth century romantic period, whilst the music is from the 1600s.

[sandralynnsparks]

@catonthemat30060

No, more than half of the paintings are Elizabethan, and the music is a Breton tune from more modern times (though I'm not sure of the date. The words are Lallans from medieval times.

[JDev82]

the song is likely from the early 1300s

[ADyingFaith]

Love this version.

[sandralynnsparks]

You can find it for download at sandra lynn sparks com (run that all together and add the dot before the com. ) The album is not available anymore but a new collection including it will be out soon.

The language is old Scots Lallans, which is not actually English, but a parallel language.

Glad you like it!

[nitramgnal]

Is this not Scotch English?

[Nerdminister]

yes

[sandralynnsparks]

@nitramgnal

It's Lallans. That's a Scottish tongue that is parallel to English, but not quite the same. They have many of the same words because they come from the same roots.

[nitramgnal]

Thank you. Good information. Is this also - or of the same family as - what my Edinburgh friend refers to as Scotch English - with its wonderful words like muckel, and which we find to some extent in the Wee Free Men by Terry Pratchett?

[Sandraelaa]

This is sooooooooooo beautiful! Does anyone know where I could find this version and download/buy?? Thanx

[vanefreja]

wow..i didn't know it was english!..its great:)

[wampierchen]

Actually it's sung in scottish (as far as I know)

[LokiSilverFlame]

Thank you for posting this vid!

I love this song, and enjoy all the different renditions I'm finding here, but yours is my favorite now. :)

I love your Muse of Fire! It reminds me of my Matron, the goddess Brighid. Blessings to you this season of Imbolc!

[Revenantch]

got someone the chords of this song? oder Tabs for guitar? need them :) thx

[skirmish703]

I've heard it out right now. It's a little difficult 'cause of the vocal arrangement.

I think it's:

Em - D - C

Em - D - C

Em - G - D

Em - D - C

Em - D - Cmaj7

[Revenantch]

thx a lot^^

[Huffelfurser]

I love the voice! The best Version of Twa Corbies i've ever heard...

so beautiful...

[cocochanelleke]

it pulls at one´s heart strings.

[silvivommond]

i love it!!!!

[M0DEAN]

Is this a medley with "The Butterfly"?

[carogee]

Yes, the tune they play in the middle is the butterfly.

[enyeo]

This is wicked and sexy!

[chaoskilla101]

wtf is a corbie

[charmeyn2]

a Corbie is what a Raven was called on the Scottish border's in the time that this ballad was written about the 16th century or earlier

[charmeyn2]

oops and "Twa" means "Two"

[charmeyn2]

"Twa Corbies" = "Two Ravens"

[lezlie2k2]

It still means raven in the Scots language, the language the poem was written in.

[charmeyn2]

depending on which language of the Scots you're referring to; the Northern, or Highland Scots spoke Gaelic, the Lowland, or Border Scots, home of the Border Reivers, spoke Old English. the poem "Twa Corbies" is an old Border Ballad thus written in a an English form, or more so a dialect of the English Language, not Scots

[charmeyn2]

when I refer to Border Scots, I am referring to the Border between Scotland and England

[lezlie2k2]

It depends if you define the Scots leid as a dialect of Inglis or a language. As Max Weinreich said "A shprakh iz a dialekt mit an armey un flot". Any way, by the time the poem was printed Old English or Anglo Saxon died out and Middle English was turning into early Modern English.

[strangegirl440]

this song is absolutly great!

[ksher58]

I discovered this quite by chance-What a great song.

[chiaroscurofx]

This was top-notch! C.