Sidebar 4: The Three Ravens

The Three Ravens

1. There were three rauens sat on a tree
Downe a downe, hay downe, hay downe
There were three rauens sat on a tree
With a downe
There were three rauens sat on a tree
They were as black as they might be
With a downe derrie derrie derrie downe downe

2. The one of them said to his mate,
"Where shall we our breakefast take?"

3. "Downe in yonder greene field,
There lies a knight slain vnder his shield

4. "His hounds they lie downe at his feete,
So well they can their master keep.

5. "His haukes they flie so eagerly,
There's no fowle dare him come nie."

6. Downe there comes a fallow doe,
As great with yong as she might goe.

7. She lift vp his bloudy hed,
And kist his wounds that were so red.

8. She got him vp vpon her backe,
And carried him to earthen lake.

9. She buried him before the prime,
She was dead herselfe ere euen-song time.

10. God send euery gentleman,
Such haukes, such hounds, and such a leman.

The four-part setting given above is Ravenscroft's, with the lyrics and music aligned as they are in Melismata. As you can see, the music for the underparts matches the lyrics imperfectly (except in the refrains). If you wish to perform the ballad as written, you'll have to decide whether to modify the lyrics used by the lower voices to fit the music, whether to have instruments play the underparts - with voices only coming in on the refrains - or whether to have the lower voices sing wordlessly on the verses.

In practice, you will rarely hear this ballad performed in four parts. Most performers just sing the ballad to the melody line. Further, modern performers of "The Three Ravens" inevitably make changes to suit their audiences. If you learn this ballad from a modern recording, make sure that you are aware of the changes the performer has introduced. If you retain those changes, it should be through choice, not through ignorance.

For a start, modern performers often collapse the ten verses into five (not a bad idea for most modern audiences), by singing the first line of each verse once, instead of three times. The first two verses, for instance, become

There were three rauens sat on a tree
Downe a downe, hay downe, hay downe
They were as black as they might be
With a downe
The one of them said to his mate
"Where shall we our breakfast take?"
With a downe derrie derrie derrie downe downe

Modern performers also tend to adapt the melody itself to modern tastes: The plainsong-like 4/4 time is often changed to 6/8. The Dorian melody is often simplified to a vanilla minor by flatting the sixth and dropping the accidentals. The timing of the refrains is often made more regular. (For example, the second `tree' will often be given the same half-note duration as the first, rather than a quarter note. This sort of modification is not necessarily a bad adaptation to the removal of the underparts.) The point I wish to stress again is that if you make such changes, it should be because you are familiar with the original and believe that the changes would make the song more effective for your audience -- not because that's how you learned the song from a Peter, Paul and Mary recording.

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