I had a chance to experiment with dynamics on this one. I took my cue from Tony Rose’s version: in his reading, some passages are lightly-voiced, almost spoken, while others are sung with a deliberation and solemnity that’s almost (but not quite) over the top. The challenge was to cover that kind of expressive range while also holding the song together and keeping the tempo audible (something I always try to do with the songs I sing unaccompanied; I don’t like hearing singers go ‘off the clock’).
There’s a bit towards the end, in the repeat of the first verse, where I sound ‘bleary-eyed’ myself – not intentional! A ‘Method’ reading of the song would be interesting, but probably more for the singer than the audience.
Fifty-Two Folk Songs 