The Pentangle - Cruel Sister - 4/6

The Pentangle
Cruel Sister (1970)

4. Cruel Sister
(traditional)

There lived a lady by the North Sea shore
(Lay the bent to the bonnie broom)
Two daughters were the babes she bore
(Fa la la la la la la la la la)

As one grew bright as in the sun
So coal black grew the elder one

A knight came riding to the lady's door
He'd travelled far to be their wooer

He courted one with gloves and rings
But loved the other above all things

Oh sister will you go with me
To watch the ships sail on the sea?

She took her sister by the hand
And led her down to the North Sea strand

And as they stood on the windy shore
The dark girl threw her sister o'er

Sometimes she sank, sometimes she swam
Crying sister reach to me your hand

Oh sister, sister let me live
And all that's mine I'll surely give

It's your own truelove that I'll have and more
But thou shalt never come ashore

And there she floated like a swan
The salt sea bore her body on

Two minstrels walked along the strand
And saw the maiden float to land

They made a harp of her breast bone
Whose sound would melt a heart of stone

They took three locks of her yellow hair
And with them strung the harp so rare

They went into her father's hall
To play the harp before them all

But as they laid it on a stone
The harp began to play alone

The first string sang a doleful sound
The bride her younger sister drowned

The second string as that they tried
In terror sits the black-haired bride

The third string sang beneath their bow
And surely now her tears will flow


Jacqui McShee
Bert Jansch
John Renbourn
Terry Cox
Danny Thompson


Photo:
Giulio Pili (1872-1950)

• Category

  Music

[catchic0000000000000]

Indeed!!! The British and European cultures have so much wonderful things worth preserving. It would be a shame for the world to lose this.

[njgirl96]

beautiful song, i love pentangle

[FGCUprof]

Renbourn was a talented sitar player but gave the instrument up when the fad passed in the 70's.

[littlenonnoms]

Was 13-14 when my elder brother bought this album in 1970, he loved it, me, I used to hear it and it just grew on me, even then. Never forgot about Pentangle and now just listen to them loads - one of the greatest folk musicians ever and individually all talented. xx

[zenstrike1]

Exquisite! This melody stays with me for days after listening. The musicianship is very high. Is that sitar with the vary twangy sound?

[Glenn Harcourt]

perhaps their best song -- with the exception of the long version of Jack Orion, an English folk oratorio and the most amazing piece of music to come out of the whole English folk movement.

[Eric John Sawyer]

Absolutely right.

[Trent Duvall]

I think Davy Graham would have a word on that.....sadly now no longer with us.

[catriona patience]

Bent- a coarse grass or heather, bonnie-pretty, broom- a shrub similar to gorse. Some people think this line has sexual connotations, others think that bent and broom refer to the sisters, though as this line is not in any older versions of The Two Sisters this interpretation is unlikely.

[Noa Corcoran-Tadd]

don't forget that the use of sitar on this song complicates the simplistic idea that great song somehow exemplifies a 'pure' European music...

[fairygirl1957]

I've also loved them since the early days and used to sing this with my sister while she played guitar. These traditional songs are stunning, and will last forever as long as people still listen to and appreciate them. Fortunately we have the recordings so that they can - how talented they ALL are. What a legacy.

[promerops]

Hear, hear! Let's hope there will always be a strong respect for and appreciation of this beautiful tradition.