Compare to "Anathea", recorded by Judy Collins (album, year?) which tells a similar story.
(thanks to Ben Taylor and Man of Peace)
>"Anathea" appears on "Judy Collins No. 3" (Elektra EKS 7243, >released 3/64).>From Judy Collins' liner notes for "No. 3": "I think 'Anathea' is an ingenious >combination of *traditional-sounding* lyrics and melody. I am told that Lydia >Wood was given the poem when she was in Paris a few years ago...
>In "The Judy Collins Songbook", Grossett & Dunlap, New York, 1969, >the song is credited to Neil Roth (words) and Lydia Wood (music), >copyright 1963 by Fall River Music, Inc., 200 W. 57th St., New York, N.Y.
>According to Heylin ("Stolen Moments"), 'Seven Curses' was first recorded >as a Witmark and Sons demo in May 1963 (p. 41) and copyrighted on 10 Jun 1963..
Judy Collins has said: (taken from a rec.music.dylan posting)
>Absolutly, the seven curses are related to Anathea. There are old theme, >world themes, centuries old dramas that get worked out in the creative >process by artist after artist. Thanks for all the good work, and I'm glad >you are doing this. I see what Dylan has always done is to connect with this >inner , subterranean river of the subconscious. It is what every artist must >do. The fame, the records, the success--these are all simply manifestations >of the fact that the universe needs to hear the story again!!! >best wishes >Judy Collins
From the Bootleg Series notes (John Bauldie)
The song's story is as old as the hills - the tale used by Shakespeare for Measure for Measure is an obvious variant - and it's been told in folk song many time sdown the years, under such titles as "The Prickley Bush", "The Briery Bush", and "The Prickle Holly Bush". Perhaps the earliest version is the Child Balld number 95 "The Maid Freed From the Gallows", but it seems likely that Dylan's direct source was a song called "Anathea", often performed by Judy Collins, whom Dylan knew well at this time
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