The Black Velvet Band

The Black Velvet Band is a traditional folk song with roots in Ireland and the British Isles. It tells the story of a young man who is tricked by a beguiling woman and sent to Van Diemen’s Land as punishment. Like many folk songs, it has been passed down through generations, each singer shaping the story in small ways.

I wanted to create my own version, as I relate deeply to the tragedy of being deceived, to the sense of fate and misfortune overtaking ordinary life. 

 

 • • • 

Her neck arched pale – a swan in flight –
Yet terror slept beneath that light;
The gentle laugh that drew me near
Was Zeus’s craft, precise and clear.
O heed, young lads, take warning well:
The fairest eyes may cast a spell;
What seems so soft may bind so fast –
I learned too late, and paid at last,
In the cruel black velvet band.

Before the judge I stood undone,
Seven hard years beneath the sun;
Friends and kin like smoke withdrew,
My youth went cold, my name untrue.
Yet still her hair, that swanlike grace,
Pursues me through each barren place;
Her eyes – her eyes – like diamonds gleam,
The afterimage of a dream,
Held tight by the black velvet band.

So hear me, lads, when ale is poured
And laughter skims the tavern board:
For beauty keeps a killing art,
And innocence a sharpened heart.
Her diamond gaze still takes its stand,
Her hair a wing at my command –
And I, by fate and lust unmanned,
Went down beneath the velvet band.