Betsy Grant

I had hoped to pose this observation to you in person when you were due to attend Sarasota as part of the “Meet the Composer” season, but the event was sadly canceled for some hidden reason.

I found your site via a link from a video of the singing of the admirable June Tabor. (I do enjoy the new streams one finds by swimming in unfamiliar waters) Your intriguing setting of “The Only Tune” triggered a few memories. “Two Sisters” is one of the great folk ballads that, I’m sure you know, has resurfaced in many versions. It is curious that the story remains nearly the same in every version although the details vary. I suppose it is much like telling a joke: perhaps you only remember the punchline, but when it comes to retelling, the protagonists become one’s own chosen victims.

The MudCat Cafe website lists many versions of the song with some intriguing refrains:
“Binorie, oh Binorie” (surely a place?), “and the swans they swim so bonny”, “bow and balance to me”, “oh the wind and the rain” of course, and perhaps the most puzzling, “hey with a gay and a grinding”! “Grinding” is sometimes replaced by “grandeur” but that seems like a rationalization. Years ago, the “folk” (UK style not US) group “Pyewackett” recorded it very hypnotically with the “grinding” chorus. “Crooked Still” perform a nice version, with a featured cello, of “Wind and Rain” on YouTube.

If one were so inclined by talent or ambition, “Two Sisters” would make a grimly, gripping operatic moral tale. (Act one: the sisters fateful rivalry (earth); Act 2: the drowning murder; act 3: the fantastical denouement by the harp/fiddle). A sort of antique “who-done-it”. If the younger sister were ever to be tried, as a judge or juror, I would believe the words of magical harp any day!

The “Wind and the Rain” chorus also summons to mind Shakespeare’s song from King Lear. And to end this ramble, a thread on MudCat mentions an Icelandic version of “Two Sisters”, but I imagine you know of that one.

Glad you find the song worthy of exploration. I enjoy the results of your delving. Success attend you.

Best wishes,

Robert Lovejoy

why do these things happen? ;_;