The Lily of the West

A lovely murder ballad. I don't know much about the origins of this song, but i was reminded of it today, when a friend mentioned it, and send me a link to a video with Joan Baez. I sang this song a lot when I was a teenage folksinger in the 1960's, and it must be arounf 40 years since I last played it. But i have not completely forgotten. My fingers remember the fingerpicking I learned back then.

Category:

Music

Tags:

• The
• Lily
• of
• the
• West
• joan
• baez
• old
• time
• folk
• song
• music
• murder
• ballad
• finger
• picking
• harmony
• parlor
• guitar

[wade11dp]

hey.nice version. this is my favorit song. i'm playing on banjo and i try to learn it.can you write me the right hand technic for this song please?thank you!

[r810s]

@wade11dp I wouldn't know how to describe what I do in words. It is a basic three finger picking pattern I learned 35 years ago or more. The thumb takes care of the bass lines and melody and the index and middle fingers does a little roll pattern. It's something that you'll have to practice until the fingers do it "by themselves". I let the fingers do the walking, so to speak and I don't think about it. That's why it is hard to describe in words. Sorry.

[r810s]

@wade11dp I play bnjo too, and when I started years ago I transfered the three finger picking from the guitar to the banjo, and it worked very well. If you do three finger picking on the banjo, you might transfer it to the guitar.

[susiakasinead]

Well done, Jesper. I've heard this with Tim O'Brien. Of course noone will ever be able to beat Tim, but your recording is very nice. Very folkish!!!

[r810s]

Yeah, "folkish" is the word :-)

It shows that the finger picking style is very 60's like.

[r810s]

I don't know about Johnny Cash. Could be. A lot of people have recorded it. Bob Dylan, Bert Jansch, The Chieftains and a lot more. ANd I can see here among the related videos that Mark Knopfler has played it too.

[wade11dp]

I'm sorry, i did not express myself clearly, i know the "fingerpicking"technic. But i would like to know the roll for this song. Thanks a lot!!

[wade11dp]

@r810s thank you!could you write me this roll please?than you

[blaszlob13]

i'm hungarian, and love this song. my english teacher played this in class :D

[LEELOOjk]

"Lily of the West" is a traditional American folk song (there are older versions known in the west of Ireland, from which the US song was derived) about a man who travels to Louisville and falls in love with a woman named Mary, or Flora, the eponymous Lily of the West. He catches Mary being unfaithful to him, and, in a fit of rage, stabs the man she is with, and is subsequently imprisoned. In spite of this, he finds himself still in love with her.

[SuperBunja]

aaa this is music ! !!

[ArtPolo1990]

remember me the pentangle version..

[fridrikur]

@La3ap And I am supposed to be a fan of Bob Dylan lol. Thank you for enlightning me