We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.
/

  • Streaming + Download

    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    Purchasable with gift card

      €1 EUR  or more

     

  • Buy the Full Digital Album

about

There are many ballads for which the moral of the story is 'murder will out!' Some use a supernatural device to point the finger at the culprit. This macabre old number – Child Ballad 10 – once existed in dozens of core versions throughout the United Kingdom. You may know it simply as The Two Sisters, or as another Scots variant; Binnorie. In the final verses, I sing of the drowned sister's breastbone being fashioned into a harp, presumably something like a small Scottish clarsach, that minstrels could carry around. Others sing instead of a fiddle. Both are consistent with older versions of the song.
The 'harp' version of Binnorie inspired the beautiful illustration by Daria Kato - aka 'Tanmorna' - who has graciously given permission for its use on my Bandcamp site. You can find this and more of her work at tanmorna.deviantart.com/gallery/

lyrics

TWA SISTERS
(the second and fourth lines, the refrains, repeat throughout)

There lived a lady by the North Sea shore
Lay the bent tae the bonny broom
Two daughters were the babes she bore
Fa, la, la la, la, la, la,la, la, la

As one grew bright as is the sun
Lay the bent...etc
So coal black grew the elder one
Fa, la, la...etc

A knight came ridin' to the ladies’ door
He’d travelled far to be their wooer

He’s courted one with gloves and rings
But he’s loved the other above all things

Oh sister, sister, go with me
To watch the ships sail on the sea

But as they walked along the shore
The dark girl threw her sister o’er

'Oh sister, sister, let me live
And all that’s mine, I’ll surely give'

'Your own true love, that I’ll have and more
But thou shalt never come ashore'

And there she floated like a swan
The salt sea bore her body on

Two minstrels walking on the strand
They saw the maiden float to land

They’ve made a harp of her breastbone
Whose sound would melt a heart of stone

They took three locks of her yellow hair
And with it strung the harp so rare

They’ve gone in to her father’s hall
To play the harp before them all

But as they laid it on a stone
The harp began to play alone

The first string sang a doleful sound
'The brighter, younger sister drowned''

The second string, when first they tried
In terror sits the black-haired bride

The third string sang beneath their bow
And surely now her tears will flow

credits

from Lullabee: A sampler of a cappella songs from Elspeth Cowie, released August 7, 2023
Traditional, arranged Elspeth Cowie

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

Elspeth Cowie image

Elspeth Cowie Spain

Elspeth Cowie is a leading singer of folk and traditional songs, notably from Scotland, but also Americana. Her life and musical journey has spanned many places, genres, and decades. This shows in the arrangements she produces across, and sometimes fusing, genres. "If a song's got soul, it's worth singing whatever the label on it," she says. "Why paint with just one colour?" ... more

contact / help

Contact Elspeth Cowie

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this track or account

Elspeth Cowie recommends:

If you like Elspeth Cowie, you may also like:

Bandcamp Daily  your guide to the world of Bandcamp

On Bandcamp Radio

Seafood Sam joins the show to discuss his newest album, " Standing On Giant Shoulders".
listen now