This song is mentioned in The White Peacock (part 3 Chap 6). It was, according to Jessie Chambers, the favourite song of his youth, and his description of George Saxton singing it in his rocking chair, with the baby joining in, is a delightful passage.
This song is also mentioned in The White Peacock (Part 1 Chap 5). It was the first song ever collected by Cecil Sharp, in 1903, and contains beautiful symbolism involving flowers and trees.
One of the French songs mentioned in Chapter 18 of Aaron's Rod when the Marchesa sings to the accompaniment of Aaron's flute. The song is ostensibly a children's song, but contains coded sexual imagery. Sabots or clogs, for example. A foot going into a shoe is commonly used to imply sexual intercourse. In the same chapter, there is a description of the Marchesa's footwear, preparing the reader for the seduction, which follows.
Mellors in Lady Chatterley's Lover was a blacksmith in the army. The Gypsy in The Virgin and the Gypsy is a coppersmith. There are parallels with this song: the hammering has an erotic charge; they are both married and they both write letters to their lovers. In folklore the blacksmith is a powerful, virile character.
In August 1928, Lawrence was staying with the Brewsters in Gsteig, Switzerland. One afternoon they were singing "The Two Magicians". The image of the milk white lady and the coal black smith pleased Lawrence so much that he painted a picture of the couple, with a hare and greyhound in the background: two of the shapes assumed by the couple in the course of the song. Many of his works contain images of dark men and fair women, and the battle between the sexes, and this was also reflected in his own relationship with Frieda Weekley.
A much older, Scottish version of the previous song, containing stronger, more erotic imagery. This is a more authentic song than "The Two Magicians", which was watered down, for use in schools.
A song which extols the pleasures of sex for its own sake. The bird is an obvious phallic symbol, and is used in Lady Chatterley's Lover. The sun and the moon symbolise masculine and feminine aspects of nature. Man is a part of the cosmos.
Metaphors of hunting to represent courtship are common in Lawrence. I chose this song mainly because I like it, and it makes me laugh, and I think Lawrence would have appreciated it.
Another song which conveys the transformational aspect of sex. The scene by the River Trent between Paul & Clara in Sons and Lovers (Chapter 12) has parallels. Images of water and floods symbolising sexual release are common in Lawrence.
This song is relevant to Lady Chatterley's Lover. Although Clifford is not old, his experiences in the war have rendered him impotent, driving Connie into the arms of Mellors.
An ancient song with variants all over the world. Its themes are death and resurrection, and the redeeming power of love. The brothers represent dark and light, summer and winter, positive and negative etc. and there are obvious parallels with the wrestling scene between Birkin and Crich in Women in Love (Chapter 20).
Lawrence began writing a novel about Robert Burns, set in the Midlands. Its hero was called Jack Haseldine, after this song. Sir Walter Scott wrote the words, based on a much older song and the theme of elopement of a high born lady with a commoner is relevant to Lawrence's own life and work.
A song which mingles pagan and Christian imagery. In the short story The Shades of Spring mention is made of the wounded knight of Arthurian legend, whose wounds never heal. For me, this song takes the singer and audience into a deeper level of consciousness, and some of the imagery could be related to Lawrence's ideas about the Unconscious, particularly the images of blood, and the dark and light river.