(note by Elisabeth Higgins Null with Charles H. Baum)
It's quite likely that Peggy first became familiar with "Loving Hannah" while transcribing all the melodies and guitar chords for Alan Lomax's Folk Songs of North America, (New York, Doubleday: 1960). The version in the book, like most songs of that name, comes from the singing of Jean Ritchie, who in her 2nd edition of Folksongs of the Southern Appalachians, (University Press of Kentucky 1997), says "she learned it from her father Balis and her cousins, Jason and Isom." The following e-mail excerpt (Jean Ritchie to Elisabeth Null 3/13/07) goes into more detail and describes how a song may be pulled together from several sources and blended into one singer's distinct version:
"Well, Dad knew a fragment of it; Uncle Jason Ritchie knew three verses; the total song I finally heard from another old member of the family, Isom Ritchie. All three of them had the same general melody, and mine is a melding of the three I guess. The words also- the three nearly-the-same variants had lyrics that meant the same but with subtle differences, as did mine when it had "settled" in my mind and heart as a song-story.
Jean says that in her "long life and much rambling about the world I haven't found, outside my family and the small Kentucky Mountain community where my dad was born and raised, this particular version of "Loving Hannah." [communiqué by "kytrad," 3/08/06 in topical thread, "Songs to Avoid ," Mudcat Café internet forum]
Peggy kept Jean's tune but shifted the words around a bit herself, borrowing lines and images from other floating verses associated with this song family. Hannah, in Peggy's song for instance, is "tall and handsome" while Jean's Hannah is "fair and proper." Peggy's Hannah is valued for her good nature whereas Jean's Hannah is "quite good lookin'." In either case, "that's the best of all."
"Loving Hannah" is extremely popular in Ireland, Scotland, and England where it has been recorded by Shirley Collins and Mary Black as well as by younger singers such as Isobel Campbell. Many simply assume it is a Scots song, especially as it was a mainstay in the repertoire of traditional Aberdonian singer, Jeannie Robertson. The song's peregrinations are a bit more complicated.
Sandy and Caroline Paton, American folk singers who run Folk-Legacy Records, made a collecting trip to Scotland in 1958. They recall visiting Jeannie Robertson and hearing her sing "Loving Hannah" "slowly and majestically, in the Scottish 'big ballad' style." When they asked her how she acquired the song, they were startled by Jeannie Robertson's reply: "when the American folksinger Jean Ritchie was visiting here, she gave me a wee record of some of her own songs. I learned it off of that record."
Jean Ritchie had met Jeannie Robertson on a Fulbright in 1952, collecting songs and sharing those from her own Appalachian tradition. She had made a small, vinyl lp of "Loving Hannah" and five other songs for HMV and not only passed the disc along to Jeannie Robertson, but sang the song for Elizabeth Cronin, an important source singer from Cork, Ireland. This became a second means by which the Ritchie family song injected itself into Scots and Irish oral tradition. By the mid-nineties, Mary Black, the well-known Irish singer, told Jean that she had learned "Loving Hannah" from her brother, "who had it from an old lady down the street from him." And so this song has returned to the old world from whence it came: "Loving Hannah" is catalogued (without image) as part of the Bodleian Library collection of early modern broadsides at Oxford.
How appropriate, then, for Peggy, who has lived in both Britain and America, to sing this song! No matter how specific its meanings are for Jean Ritchie, the song also speaks of universal sentiments and has lodged itself in the repertoires of traditional singers from several countries. It has become, in effect, a folk standard.
For further information about Loving Hannah and the variants to which it is related, search for texts in the traditional Ballad Index and recordings in Jane Keefer's Folk Music Index.
I went to church on Sunday
My true love passed me by
I knew her mind was changing
By the roving of her eye.
By the roving of her eye,
By the roving of her eye,
I knew her mind was changing
By the roving of her eye.
O Hannah, loving Hannah,
Come give to me your hand,
You said if ever you'd marry
That I would be your man,
That I would be (etc)
Now you have broke your promise
Go home with who you please,
While my poor heart is aching,
Here lying at your ease. (etc)
My Hannah's tall and handsome,
Her hands are long and small,
I know she is good-natured
And that's the best of all. (etc)
I'll go down to the river
When everyone's asleep,
I'll think of loving Hannah
And then sit down and weep. (etc)
Peggy is one of the most influential folk singers on either side of the Atlantic. She is Pete Seeger’s half-sister and Ruth
Crawford Seeger’s daughter; her first life partner was the English songwriter Ewan MacColl, who wrote First Time Ever I Saw Your Face for her. She has made more than 22 solo recordings to date. Please check ewanmaccoll.bandcamp.com for other albums featuring Peggy....more
There's a similarity in song writing between Richard Thompson and Hugh Cornwell which maybe isn't surprising as they went to the same school at the same time, although Thompson is older.
Due to Thompson's association with John French of Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band I searched for his work on the Bandcamp app. French, Thompson and Cornwell all have albums on the app which I'm very pleased about. Only Thompson has released contemporary albums, much to his credit. yellowcakeuf6
Three of the most talented folk/roots/acoustic artists currently at the very top of their game. Spoiler alert; is Spanish Lady actually about Catherine of Aragon or have I been reading too much Hilary Mantel? ***** bass_campdelta
Sweet harmonies & strummed melodies; the duo delve into decades-old folk, jazz, and country to find a timeless kind of love and connection. Bandcamp New & Notable May 23, 2018
Bright and skipping songs that foreground the sound of the banjo and fingerstyle guitar in music that feels timeless. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 5, 2020
