Jean Ritchie - The Darby Ram (Roud 126)
This recording was made by Alan Lomax in 1949. Most of the Lomax recordings are poor quality and absent from YouTube. I plan to remove as much background noise as possible and upload as many as I can. Here is a playlist with my other Jean Ritchie uploads: • Jean Ritchie - Geordie (Child 209, Roud 90)
Here is a link to my main channel, which mostly consists of informative and historical videos about traditional music and features many rare recordings: / @thefolkrevivalproject
Here is a version of the song sung by Jean's mother Abigail (née Hall) Ritchie (1877-1972), who learned it from her mother Martha Patsy Pratt (1854-1887): • Darby Ram (Ram of Darby) / Dance to Your D...
Here is an amazing traditional recording of the song performed by an Englishman: • Charlie Wills - The Ram Of Darby
I have included both versions in this video about the music of Appalachia on my main channel: • How the Appalachian Mountains preserved an...
This video will not be monitized. All credit goes to Jean Ritchie, Alan Lomax and whomever currently holds to rights to this music. I uploaded this video because the music needs to be heard.
I went down to Darby's house on a market day
There I found the finest ram that was ever fed on the hay
Fa la day, fa la diddle all day
The wool on the lamb's belly, it dragged nine miles on the ground
I went down to Darby's house and stoled a thousand pounds
Fa la day, fa la diddle all day
The wool on the lamb's back, it reached up to the sky
The eagles built their nests there to hear the young'ens cry
Fa la day, fa la diddle all day
Every tooth he had held a half a bushel of corn
Every foot he had covered a half a acre of ground
Fa la day, fa la diddle all day
The one that held his head got drownded in the blood
The one that cut his throat got washed away in the flood
Fa la day, fa la diddle all day