A tune from the Jean Ritchie repertoire that I found somewhat by accident is one of her originals, “One I Love.”  Having been originally attracted to Jean’s work for the intense and dramatic songs of the mining culture, the war protest, the romance and tragedies of the murder ballads, I had overlooked “One I Love” until one fateful evening.  I was attending a concert in Los Angeles by Judy Collins (who was hosting Stephen Stills as her discussion partner).  It was 2014 and the tribute album project “Dear Jean: Artists Celebrate Jean Ritchie” was in progress.  I knew that Judy was slated to add a song to this project (along with myself), so I approached her after the concert and let her know that she and I were going to soon be appearing on a new CD together.  “But,” I asked, “what song have you chosen to perform?”

In her characteristic flair, as she was signing an autograph, she swooped her pen-holding hand up in the air and declared her song title:  “One I Love!”

One I Love?  I didn’t even know that title, and even though I had Jean’s songbook with this song included, I had somehow skipped over it.  Lately, I’ve found Jean’s recording of this song included on a 2004 compilation on Elektra Records called “Jean Ritchie: Mountain Hearth and Home.”  It had appeared originally on another Elektra album “A Time For Singing” from 1965.  In her song notes for the 2004 recording, Jean wrote the following:

I have heard old people sing bits of this lovely sad song, mostly the first verse and the “Over the mountains” one, and there is one printed text in the Sharp collection (Cecil Sharp, folklorist), though an altogether different tune.  My verses, besides those two, come from my own indistinct memories and from my own invention, for, if I like a song very much, I won’t let it remain a short fragment.”

This passage seems to suggest that the source material for Jean’s ultimate version for this song was not from herself, but from collected folklore and oral tradition.  It certainly was the way of the Ritchie family to collect, re-work and re-tool bits of songs they heard and shared down through the generations into their own unique forms.  So though it may have been collected, Jean was correct in putting her name on the song she developed, performed and recorded for many years.

I myself have collected and performed this song since discovering it, thanks to Judy Collins, ever since 2015.  Below is Jean’s recording mentioned above, followed by Judy’s on the “Dear Jean” compilation, and myself from a live concert, in which I combined Jean’s tune “The Soldier” with “One I Love” into a rather dramatic/tragic/romantic medley.  I have always considered “One I Love” in context with issues of society’s disapproval of various romantic attachments.  The first verse spells this out exactly:

All of my friends fell out with me,
Because I kept your company;
But let them say whatever they will,
I love my love with a free good will.

One I Love
by Jean Ritchie

All of my friends fell out with me,
Because I kept your company;
But let them say whatever they will,
I love my love with a free good will.

Refrain:
One I Love, two, he loves, three, he’s true to me.

They tell me he’s poor, they tell me he’s young,
I tell them all to hold their tongue,
If they could part the sand and the sea,
Then they might part my love and me.

Refrain

For when the fire to ice will turn
And when the icy sea will burn
And when those rocks will melt in the sun,
My love for you has just begun.

Refrain

Over the mountains he must go
Because his fortune is so low,
With an aching heart and a troubled mind
For leaving his love so far behind.

Refrain

It’s when I’m awake I’ll find no rest
Until your head lies on my breast,
And when I’m asleep I’m dreaming of
My one, my dear, my absent love.

Refrain

 

As always, thanks for reading!  See y’all next time,
Love and Blessings,

Susie

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Award-winning recording artist, Broadway singer, journalist, educator and critically-acclaimed powerhouse vocalist, Susie Glaze has been called “one of the most beautiful voices in bluegrass and folk music today” by Roz Larman of KPFK’s Folk Scene.  LA Weekly voted her ensemble Best New Folk in their Best of LA Weekly for 2019, calling Susie “an incomparable vocalist.”  “A flat out superb vocalist… Glaze delivers warm, amber-toned vocals that explore the psychic depth of a lyric with deft acuity and technical perfection.”  As an educator, Susie has lectured at USC Thornton School of Music and Cal State Northridge on “Balladry to Bluegrass,” illuminating the historical path of ancient folk forms in the United Kingdom to the United States via immigration into the mountains of Appalachia.  Susie has taught workshops since 2018 at California music camps RiverTunes and Vocáli Voice Camp.  She is a current specialist in performance and historian on the work of American folk music icon, Jean Ritchie.  Her newest CD is “Do You Have This in Blue?” released April of 2023, produced by Joe Craven, with guest players Laurence Juber, Bill Cunliffe and Joe Craven.   Find it on Streaming Platforms Here!  Susie now offers private voice coaching online via the Zoom platform.  Email Susie Here.     Visit Susie’s website here!