![]() The plot of "Silver Dagger" is similar to that of "Drowsy Sleeper" whereby the parents object to a match between a boy and a girl, except that in "Silver Dagger" the dagger is used as a suicide weapon by the young lovers, while in "Drowsy Sleeper" the couple elope. Of interest are early versions of two songs, "Silver Dagger" and "Drowsy Sleeper", that are related thematically and may share a common origin in the older theme of night visit in traditional English songs, but they differ in lines, verse rhythm and outcome in their lyrics. Hugely popular with North American traditional singers, 'Drowsy Sleeper' was also collected regularly in Britain and appeared on broadsides there from at least the 1820s" "A whole book could be written on this song and its connections with other songs which involve young men at their sweethearts' windows at night, disapproving parents and silver daggers. Steve Roud observes on one version of the song titled "O! Molly Dear Go Ask Your Mother": The song exists in a large number of variations under many different titles, and with lyrics that may show a mixture of different songs. "Katy Dear" uses the same melody but different lyrics, telling a similar story from a male perspective. ![]() The 1960 recording by Joan Baez features only a fragment of the full ballad. In "Silver Dagger", the female narrator turns away a potential suitor, as her mother has warned her to avoid the advances of men in an attempt to spare her daughter the heartbreak that she herself has endured. These songs of different titles are closely related, and two strands in particular became popular in commercial Country music and Folk music recordings of the twentieth century: the "Silver Dagger" version popularised by Joan Baez, and the "Katy Dear" versions popularised by close harmony brother duets such as The Callahan Brothers, The Blue Sky Boys and The Louvin Brothers. ![]() ![]() " Silver Dagger", with variants such as " Katy Dear", " Molly Dear", " The Green Fields and Meadows", " Awake, Awake, Ye Drowsy Sleepers" and others ( Laws M4 & G21, Roud 2260 & 2261), is an American folk ballad, whose origins lie possibly in Britain. Problems playing this file? See media help. ![]()
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