Roberts was born in Swabia, Germany, to a German mother and Scottish father, though was raised in Kilmahog, a hamlet close to the small town of Callander, near Stirling in central Scotland, where he started playing the guitar and writing music. In 1994 he adopted the name 'Appendix Out' and started playing small venues. This is where he was discovered by American musician Will Oldham, and a contract with US label Drag City was soon to follow.
After three albums with Appendix Out, Roberts recorded his first solo album, The Crook of My Arm, in 2001. This album consisted almost entirely of solo vocals and guitar in marked contrast to the occasionally experimental sound of the Appendix Out records. All the songs are traditional, and Roberts credited the singers from whose performances he'd learnt the songs (these included his father, Alan Roberts, and Alan's sometime musical partner, Dougie MacLean).
Two further albums of traditional folk songs followed: "No Earthly Man" and "Too Long in This Condition", plus three albums of original songs - "Farewell Sorrow", "The Amber Gatherers" and "Spoils". A fourth album of original songs, A Wonder Working Stone, was released in January 2013.
Each album has a distinct character, and Roberts songwriting has shifted in recent years from the relative economy of "Farewell Sorrow" and "The Amber Gatherers" to a much denser wordplay, filled with allusions to mythology, esoteric spirituality and gnosticism, on "Spoils" and subsequent releases.
The Cruel Mother
Alasdair Roberts Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The sun shines down on Carlisle Wall
Then she has a bonny babe born
And the lion shall be lord of all
She layed him beneath some marble stone
The sun shines down on Carlisle Wall
Thinking to go a maiden home
As she looked over her father’s wall
The sun shines down on Carlisle Wall
She saw that pretty babe playing a ball
And the lion shall be lord of all
Oh bonny babe if you were mine
The sun shines down on Carlisle Wall
I’d dress you in that silk so fine
And the lion shall be lord of all
Oh mother mine when I was thine
The sun shines down on Carlisle Wall
I didn’t see any of your silk so fine
And the lion shall be lord of all
Oh bonny babe pray tell to me
The sun shines down on Carlisle Wall
The sort of death I shall have to die
And the lion shall be lord of all
Seven years of fish, fish in the flood
The sun shines down on Carlisle Wall
Seven years of bird in the wood
And the lion shall be lord of all
Seven years of tongue to the warning bell
The sun shines down on Carlisle Wall
Seven years in the flames of hell
And the lion shall be lord of all
Welcome, welcome fish in the flood
The sun shines down on Carlisle Wall
Welcome, welcome bird in the wood
And the lion shall be lord of all
And welcome tongue to the warning bell
The sun shines down on Carlisle Wall
But God keep me from the flames of hell
And the lion shall be lord of all
"The Cruel Mother" is a traditional ballad that tells the story of a mother who kills her own child out of shame after becoming pregnant out of wedlock. The opening lines suggest that the cruel mother leans against a thorn bush while she gives birth to her child, which foreshadows the tragedy that is to come. The repetition of the line "the sun shines down on Carlisle Wall" throughout the song creates a sense of time passing and a world that continues in spite of the tragedy that has occurred.
The cruel mother then lays her child under a marble stone and goes back to her father's house, indicating a desire to distance herself from what she has done. However, when she looks over the wall, she sees the ghost of her child playing a ball, indicating the guilt and remorse that she feels as a result of her actions. The haunting nature of the song is intensified by the repetition of the line "and the lion shall be lord of all," which suggests a sense of doom or inevitability.
The final stanza suggests that the mother is seeking forgiveness for her actions and hoping to avoid damnation. The imagery of seven years of fish, bird, and tongue being punished suggests that she believes her own punishment should be severe and all-encompassing. The final lines express a desire to be saved from the flames of hell, but the repetition of the line "and the lion shall be lord of all" suggests that the consequences of her actions cannot be escaped.
Line by Line Meaning
She leaned her back up against the thorn
She rested against a thorn bush
The sun shines down on Carlisle Wall
It is a sunny day in Carlisle
Then she has a bonny babe born
She gave birth to a beautiful baby
And the lion shall be lord of all
A proclamation of dominance by a powerful force
She layed him beneath some marble stone
She buried the baby under a marble slab
Thinking to go a maiden home
She planned to go home as an unmarried woman
As she looked over her father’s wall
She peered over her father's wall
She saw that pretty babe playing a ball
She saw the buried baby playing with a ball
Oh bonny babe if you were mine
She spoke to the buried baby
I’d dress you in that silk so fine
She would dress the baby in fine silk
Oh mother mine when I was thine
The buried baby replied to the woman
I didn’t see any of your silk so fine
The baby never had the chance to wear silk
Oh bonny babe pray tell to me
The woman asked the baby a question
The sort of death I shall have to die
She wanted to know how she would die
Seven years of fish, fish in the flood
The buried baby prophesied her death
Seven years of bird in the wood
The buried baby continued prophesying
Seven years of tongue to the warning bell
The prophesying continued with another timeframe
Seven years in the flames of hell
The final prophetic timeframe was the most dire
Welcome, welcome fish in the flood
The woman welcomed the prophecy of fish in the river
Welcome, welcome bird in the wood
She welcomed the prophecy of birds in the woods
And welcome tongue to the warning bell
She welcomed the tongue warning of the prophecy
But God keep me from the flames of hell
She pleaded to God to not suffer the worst fate
Contributed by Alice F. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Karen Varian
I think he is one of the best singers I've heard in quite some time. Eerie but beautiful song about infanticide. His version of Lyke Wake Dirge is the best I've ever heard.
tuebalt
One of the most epic songs I ever heard. Hope he gets more attention. He deserves.
graindivision
I did the sound for him in Leeds last year and he performed this song a capella - put his guitar down and stood up. It was awesome. Came here looking to see if anyone had uploaded a similar version from anywhere.
James Jeffrey Paul
One of the greatest of all ballads.
Home Sweet Somewhere
This is incredibly beautiful!
Fantasy Talk
I agree.
John Curr
The version of this song "Anna & Elizabeth - Greenwood Sidey- The Cruel Mother" gives a differnt meaning .
A society in which men held power decreed that a child born out of wedlock and the child's mother were outcast . Such was the power of the social convention that mothers hid their pregnancy , murdered their child then bore their grief, guilt and certain knowledge of eternal hellfire until death relieved them.
Rey Mohammed
John Curr At one time, infanticide of this kind was so rampant that the public privies of Edinburgh resounded with the squalls of discarded babies drowning in filth, sometimes even being eaten alive by maggots before they drowned. To this day, in allegedly civilized America, babies are found in bathroom trashcans, sometimes in time and sometimes not. Though laws allowing anonymous surrender at firestations and hospitals have lessened the number of such incidents, they still occur. Until babies are not regarded as scarlet letters inflicted on women as punishment for having sex, this story will not find an end.
Robert Ommundsen
i have this on cd.quite experimental arrangements
Cori Jones
I've heard so many haunting versions of this ballad. In my view, this is the most powerful. Somehow "the lion shall be lord of all" gives the tale a strength that is missing in "down by the greenwood side-y-oh."