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The Wife of Usher's Well

from Crossroads of Galahad by Austin Moffa

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about

I came across this song by way of "Lady Gay", two versions I know of as performed by Joan Baez and Dave Van Ronk. While I find the "Lady Gay" version of the song beautiful, something about "Usher's Well" captured me completely. It could be that it's a song about brothers and sons (I myself am one of five sons), or that the ghostly aspects are much more explicit in this (and I do love a good ghost story). Whatever the reason, I feel like I can really lean into this one when I sing it.

lyrics

There lived a wife at Usher's Well,
And a wealthy wife was she;
She had three stout and stalwart sons,
And she sent them over the sea.

They had not been a week from her,
three days by the dawn
When word had come to their mother dear
That her three sons were gone

"I wish the wind may never cease,
Nor flashes in the flood,
Till my sons come home to me,
In earthly flesh and blood."

It came about the Martinmass,
When nights are long and dark,
those three sons came home,
And their hats were made of bark

"Blow up the fire my maidens dear,
from the vault bring us wine;
For at my house, we feast this night,
for the three, sweet sons of mine."

And she had made, a bed for them
She made it large and wide,
And with a cloak on her about,
She slept at their bed-side.

The rooster had, not crowed but once,
the sky it was still dark and gray
When the youngest to the eldest said,
Tis time we must away.

"Fare ye well, my mother dear!
Farewell to sun and green green vine
And fare ye well, you bonny maids
That bring us warmth and wine"

credits

from Crossroads of Galahad, released May 3, 2021
Guitar and Vocals - Austin Moffa
Traditional

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Austin Moffa Fairfax, Virginia

Austin Moffa is a musician based out of Fairfax, VA. He has previously released 10 industrial/ambient albums under the pseudonym "ROZKOL". Moffa was born and grew up in a small Pennsylvanian town along the Allegheny Mountain Range.

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