Silver Dagger (song)

"Silver Dagger", or "Katy Dear" or "Molly Dear" or "Drowsy Sleeper" (Laws M4, Roud 2260 & 2261), is an American folk ballad, whose origins lie possibly in Britain.^[1]

Steve Roud observes

"A whole book could be written this song which involves its connections with other songs which involve young men at their sweethearts' windows at night, disapproving parents and silver daggers. 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" ^[2]

Two strands became popular in commercial Country music and Folk music recordings of the late 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.

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. The 1960 recording by Joan Baez features only a few of the many verses of a version collect and published in 1907. "Katy Dear" uses the same melody but different lyrics, telling a similar story from a male perspective.^[3]

History

The song was recorded commercially as O! Molly Dear Go Ask Your Mother by Kelly Harrell in 1926 as Sleepy Desert by Wilmer Watts And The LoneLy Eagles in 1929 and as Wake Up You Drowsy Sleeper by The Oaks family in 1930. As Katie Dear (Silver Dagger) it was recorded by the Callahan Brothers in 1934, and as "Katie Dear" by the Blue Sky Boys in 1938. (Country music authority Bill C. Malone states that the Callahan Brothers learned traditional ballads like "Katie Dear" from their mother). In 1956 it was recorded by the Louvin Brothers. The song was part of the repertoire of the Country Gentlemen, who toured both the bluegrass and folk music circuits during the 1950s and 1960s. In the early 1960s, "Katie Dear" was recorded by folk revival musicians, including Joan Baez, and Ian & Sylvia. Today it is commonly performed and recorded by bluegrass musicians.

The disagreement of the title and some lyrics are a result of the song being handed down through the unwritten, oral tradition for several decades, where each performer would undoubtedly and sometimes unknowingly add their own nuances to the song. However, the melody and events depicted in the song are so similar that most musicologists believe that these two songs trace back to one original source.

Lyrics

Recordings and performances

The song has also been widely performed and recorded by bluegrass musicians, as many songs thought of as traditionally bluegrass songs actually trace back to what is now known as "old-time" music.

20th century

• Kelly Harrell 1926. ^{[4] [5]}
• Wilmer Watts & His Lonely Eagles 1929. ^[6][7]
• The Oaks Family 1930. ^[8][9]
• Callahan Brothers, 1934. ^[10][11]
• Blue Sky Boys, 1938. ^[12][13]
• The Carter Family 1938. ^[14][15]
• Tragic Songs of Life, The Louvin Brothers, 1956.
• Joan Baez has been identified with the song, since including it on her 1960 debut album.
• The Country Gentlemen, 1963, on Hootenanny: A Bluegrass Special and on Bluegrass Country
• Four Strong Winds, Ian & Sylvia, 1964.
• "Silver Dagger" also appears on Bob Dylan's The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall album, with Baez singing what she refers jokingly to as "one of Bob's earlier songs". Dylan does not sing, but plays acoustic guitar and harmonica in accompaniment.
• American folksinger Dave Van Ronk performs a version of the song in his album Inside Dave Van Ronk, 1964.
• The song appears, in the long version, on Dino Valente's (Chet Powers) album, Get Together.
• During their concerts in the early 1970s, The Eagles usually prefaced "Take it Easy" with an a cappella version of four lines from "Silver Dagger", beginning with "My Daddy is a handsome devil..." Glenn Frey, Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner would harmonise around one microphone at the front of the stage with Don Henley also contributing from behind his drum kit.
• The Men They Couldn't Hang recorded a version of the song which is included as a bonus track on some releases of their 1987 album Waiting for Bonaparte.
• "Silver Dagger" was also recorded from a live performance by Rick Summer Droit and found on the Live at Cousin Andy's CD released in 1995.
• Dolly Parton recorded the song in 1999 for her The Grass Is Blue album.

21st century

• Old time revival string band Old Crow Medicine Show has a version of the song on their 2001 album Eutaw.
• Roger Mcguinn, the lead singer and guitarist on many of The Byrds' hits, released a version of the song on the four-CD box set The Folk Den Project 1995-2005.
• Silver Dagger was recorded for the 2005 live album Smugglers and Bounty Hunters by British band The Men They Couldn't Hang
• Irish-American Celtic group Solas recorded it for their 2006 album Reunion: A Decade of Solas.
• Bluegrass band The Gruff from Victoria, BC, Canada, recorded "Silver Dagger" on their 2006 self-titled album on Goat Tea Records.
• In 2007 it was recorded by Scottish singer Maeve MacKinnon and appeared on her album Don't Sing Love Songs.
• The song has been recorded by White Antelope aka Robin Pecknold of the Seattle band Fleet Foxes.
• The traditional singer Mary Lomax was recorded by Art Rosenbaum in 2007 singing The Drowsy Sleeper. The recording was issued by Dust-to-Digital Records on Art of Field Recording Volume I.
• This song has also been recorded by Lac La Belle, on their first album, called Lac La Belle, in 2009 (Detroit, USA).
• Jim Moray has recorded a version of this song which is available on his 2010 album In Modern History.
• The song is sung by Marideth Sisco in the 2010 film Winter's Bone.
• English folk trio The Staves often perform the song live. It has been included in their Live at Cecil Sharp House EP (2011).
• Birch Book has recorded his version of this song on his album Tomorrow's Sun Will Rise the Same (2010)
• In season 5, episode 2 ("Gently with Class") of the British television series Inspector George Gently, the song is performed by Ebony Buckle, who plays the role of singer "Ellen Mallam" in that episode.
• Seasick Steve has a version on his album Sonic Soul Surfer (2015)

Adaptations

• Dame Darcy recorded a quite different version of the song, found on her Greatest Hits album.
• British band Saint Etienne's song "Like a Motorway" is based on the ballad. It was featured on their album Tiger Bay (1994), an homage to folk music presented in a modern style. The melody follows the original closely, but new lyrics paint a darker picture of the suitor's fate.
• Hey Rosetta gave us their own take on this song, which found on her Red Songs EP. The song however, is entitled, "Who Is At My Window Weeping" rather than "Silver Dagger".
• William Gibson in the second book of his Sprawl Trilogy, Count Zero, uses the third stanza of this song to hint at the past of the heroine, Angie Mitchell.

See also

• Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies, another ballad with similar content

References

External links

• "Silver Dagger" at Roger McGuinn's Folk Den

http://www.dansher.com/band/SilverDagger.pdf - Words and chords to Silver Dagger