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

Tags:

• jazz
• rock
• folk

[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

[sbengt100]

a haunting song that tells a tale of jealousy and murder that the perpetrator doesn't get away with. exposed in her father's hall. the bones tell a story. romanticizes forensics. pentangle keeps the ancient quality with a mix of unusual instruments. like ancient farytales, ballads often relate a deeper psychological message that transcends our individual cultures.

[Sumer61]

Pentangle have reunited!! :)

[TheAstrofighter]

one word, a w e s o m e.-

[DarkEmperess86]

0:00 0:00 0:00 0:00  0:00 Free replay buttons for all! Wonderful masterpiece...can't get this out of my head, I've been singing it for 3 days now...

[nomenklaturahippie]

Monumentale..... avevo 16 anni quando l'ascoltai la prima volta

[SevenMidgets]

The first 3 seconds definitely influenced Stairway To Heaven..

[mightyzebra]

@bravexbroadcast Fairport Convention, heard of them? Incredible String Band?

[elrhiarhodan]

@mandolinic

Spoil sport.

;P

[ruthiecoop]

@mandolinic LOL! 

[mandolinic]

Never mind the what motivated the dark haired sister, what about the motivations of the minstrels?

This rotting corpse float ashore, and they say to themselves "That'd make a good harp". And then they take this gruesome object to the castle and instead of being arrested, they're allowed to play!

Surely when the sister went missing there'd have been a large scale search, and as soon as the girl's body came ashore they'd have twigged who it was.