Episode 5 - The Three Ravens
This episode focuses on Roud 3, “The Three Ravens.” A dark and dreary peek at death and love and martyrdom, this song -- first published in 1611, and thought to date back to the 13th century -- is not the darkest part of this episode. Wait until you hear about "Twa Corbies."
Also, the song at the end was "The Three Ravens" by Judy Henske & Jerry Yester off of their album Farewell Aldebaran.
I wish I could have fit in something about this song, because I think it's the funniest recording of The Three Ravens that exists. It's such a shining example of that drug-fueled, over-dramatic, ultra-flowery songwriting that was so popular in the late-60's/early-70's. It takes what is already a dramatic song and amps it up to the point of pure absurdity, in an attempt to wring some emotions out of the listener. It's like the child of and old folk ballad and MacCarthur Park. I love it and I must have listened to it 20 times while preparing for this episode. Make sure you listen to it at LEAST once.
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REFERENCES:
(all of these books or websites were resources I used in researching this episode)
BOOKS:
"Still More Ballads and Folk-Songs from the Southern Highlands" by Mellinger E. Henry
"The Other Print Tradition: Essays on Chapbooks, Broadsides, and Related Ephemera" edited by Cathy Lynn Preston and Michael James Preston
"The Three Ravens Explicated" by Vernon V. Chatman III in "Midwest Folklore Vol. 13, No. 3."
WEBSITES:
http://mainlynorfolk.info/steeleye.span/songs/twacorbies.html
http://mainlynorfolk.info/cara/songs/threeravens.html
http://library.efdss.org/cgi-bin/query.cgi?cross=off&index_roud=on&access=off
http://www.classiccat.net/traditional_english/_ttr.info.php
http://www.barbaramcmichael.com/three_ravens.htm
http://sangstories.webs.com/twacorbies.htm
en.wikipedia.org/