Pretty Fair Maid In The Garden - In The Style of Tim O'Brien - Mandolin

Details

Description

Video #24 of my 'Trad Thursday series!
Follow me on Instagram: johannesbroborn

Every week a new video is uploaded featuring a song or transcription of traditional music like "Old-time, Folk, Americana, Bluegrass, Celtic, Irish, Jazz or Blues.

Hope ya'll had a great St. Patrick's! I sure did and before we leave this great Irish holiday I wanted to share this amazing tune I found called Pretty Fair Maid In The Garden. The song is a traditional English folk song (Roud 264, Laws N42). And is also known as "Johnny Riley", "The Broken Token" and "A Fair Young Maid All in Her Garden", among other titles.

The song is derived from Homer's Odyssey, interpreted through the 17th century English folk ballad tradition, and tells the story of a prospective suitor who asks a woman if she will marry him. She replies that she cannot because she is waiting for her man to come home from war.

The man persists, asking her whether her man is worth waiting for and suggesting that he may have drowned, been killed in war, or married another woman. She steadfastly maintains that she will continue to wait for her man, regardless of his possible fate. In the last stanza, the suitor reveals that he is in fact her loving soldier, returned from the war, and has been testing his beloved.

Hope you will enjoy!

Equipment/Techniques:

Microphone: AKG Perception 120

Mandolin: The Loar LM-310F-BRB

Tuning: GDAE

Studioprogram: CakeWalk