The Grave and the Gay

The Grave and the Gay is based on the 17th-century English folk ballad Matty Groves. It is known by several variant names including Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard and is classified as Child 81. In the late nineteenth century American scholar Francis James Child collected and published 305 ballads from England and Scotland along with their American variants. Twentieth-century recorded versions by Doc Watson (1966) and Fairport Convention (1969) are particularly recommended.