tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28917802818371011822024-03-07T23:50:18.457-08:00Occasional Folk SongsThis was inspired by "a folk song a day" and similar projects by others involved in folk music.Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.comBlogger28125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-51907931408234915272012-11-06T08:19:00.000-08:002012-11-06T08:19:24.988-08:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">The Unquiet Grave </span></h2>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Child #78</span></h3>
<span style="font-size: small;">This song is one of the <span style="font-size: small;">Child Balla<span style="font-size: small;">ds<span style="font-size: small;">. Although <span style="font-size: small;">many have claimed that the origins of the <span style="font-size: small;">ballad are a<span style="font-size: small;">ncient, <span style="font-size: small;">no evidence of t<span style="font-size: small;">he <span style="font-size: small;">existence of the song before 1800. </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The main theme of the song<span style="font-size: small;">, that <span style="font-size: small;">over long mourning by the living will disturb the rest of the dead, is widespread in European Folklore and this <span style="font-size: small;">has been taken as pointing to the song being of great antiquity <span style="font-size: small;">- possibly pre-Christian. However as Steve Rou<span style="font-size: small;">d and Julia Bishop point out in <i>T<span style="font-size: small;">he New <span style="font-size: small;">Peng<span style="font-size: small;">uin Book of English Folk Song</span></span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">, </span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<blockquote>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">"...th<span style="font-size: small;">e probl<span style="font-size: small;">em <span style="font-size: small;">with 'ancient<span style="font-size: small;">' motifs which have remain <span style="font-size: small;">current in society, as this one ha<span style="font-size: small;">d, is that they are available for incorporation in<span style="font-size: small;">to a song at any time in th<span style="font-size: small;">eir history, not just at the beg<span style="font-size: small;">inning<span style="font-size: small;"> of it and their presence is no proof of antiquity"</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></blockquote>
Leaving all this aside, this is a great song and the theme of warning against excessive grief which is how I see the song is a timeless one.<br />
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Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-55146628086337256062012-11-06T07:47:00.000-08:002012-11-06T07:47:37.054-08:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Spencer the Rover</span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Acc<span style="font-size: small;">ording to <i><span style="font-size: small;">The New Penguin Book of English Folks <span style="font-size: small;">Song</span></span></i><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">, <span style="font-size: small;">t</span></span></span></span>he earliest collecte<span style="font-size: small;">d version of this song was from Derbyshire in the 1870s but i<span style="font-size: small;">t appeared in Br<span style="font-size: small;">oadsides dating back to the 1820s and 1830<span style="font-size: small;">s.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The song <span style="font-size: small;">was popular <span style="font-size: small;">with singers in Yorkshire and a number of <span style="font-size: small;">collectors thought <span style="font-size: small;">it must have been composed in Yorkshire as <span style="font-size: small;">most versions make reference to Yorkshire as a location<span style="font-size: small;"> within the song.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">This was clearly a popular song with country singers b<span style="font-size: small;">ut when I first heard it I fe<span style="font-size: small;">lt it had something of the sentimental Victorian parlour ballad a<span style="font-size: small;">bout it.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">In my version I accompany myself on ukulele as I do on most sub<span style="font-size: small;">sequent songs that will appear in this blog as I <span style="font-size: small;">have become involved in <span style="font-size: small;">producin<span style="font-size: small;">g entries for the <span style="font-size: small;">Uk<span style="font-size: small;">ulele Underground <i>Se<span style="font-size: small;">asons of the Ukulele</span></i><span style="font-size: small;"> series of conte<span style="font-size: small;">sts.</span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span></span><br />
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Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-71495353050230911832012-11-06T07:08:00.000-08:002012-11-06T07:22:48.397-08:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Bonny Light Horseman</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: normal;">I first heard this song sung by Eliza Carthy but this version came from Roy Palmer's book The Rambling Soldier which documents the life of the soldiers of the British Army from 1750 to 1900 through their writings and their songs. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: normal;">This song comes from the Napoleonic wars and according to the description in Roy Palmer's book was popular at the time of Waterloo and remained in oral circulation for a century afterwards.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: normal;">The first verse describes Napoleon's basic tactics, particularly his use of cannon in his major battles. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: normal;">There are a variety of versions of this song in circulation with a number of different verses and with other tunes.</span><br />
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Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-38155081524702453482012-08-26T10:48:00.000-07:002012-08-26T10:48:51.257-07:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">On the Banks of the Leven</span></h2>
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Another Graeme Miles song, once again featuring the river Leven. This and "She Walks Alone" were both taken from his book "Forgotten Songs Remembered" and were both written in 1966.</div>
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I was particularly struck by the poetry of the words of this song. When I first looked at it, I felt it stood alone as a poem without the melody but a song needs a melody and Graeme, as usual, has provided a good one that complements the song beautifully.</div>
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My version is accompanied on a Kala soprano ukulele in D-tuning.</div>
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Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-53539508695116884962012-08-26T10:35:00.001-07:002012-08-26T10:35:32.680-07:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">
She Walks Alone</span></h2>
<div>
It's a while since I posted an entry to the blog so I've got a bit of catching up to do which I hope to do over the next week or so.</div>
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She Walks Alone is a song by Teesside Songwriter Graeme Miles. </div>
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Graeme's songs celebrate the part of Yorkshire just south of the River Tees both the industrial world along the river's banks and the beautiful North Yorks Moors. His songs are known and sung around the country, but are special to the area in which I live and in one folk club I go to, the White Hart at Mickleby you are almost guaranteed to hear at least one Graeme Miles song every week</div>
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This song features the river Leven which is a tributary of the Tees rising on the Moors above Kildale and flowing into the Tees near Yarm. The song is clearly a sad one and I like the way he leaves the ending uncertain. </div>
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My version as with most of the next few songs was recorded for Ukulele Underground Forum's weekly competition, "The seasons of the ukulele" so the songs are accompanied on ukulele. In this case on a Flea soprano ukulele.</div>
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Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-15369925062331737982012-06-19T13:45:00.000-07:002012-06-19T13:47:33.959-07:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Cruel Ship's Carpenter</span></h2>
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A murder ballad in which a man murders his girlfriend. He then takes ship, the ship runs into trouble and the girl's spirit returns to deal with the murderer.</div>
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According to the <i>New Penguin Book of English Folk Songs;</i> "This song was widely collected in Britain and Ireland with a huge number of versions found in North America where it was one of several songs called <i>Pretty Polly.</i>"</div>
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The song originated in much longer form in the 18th century but was published in shorter form in the early and mid 19th century in shorter form by several broadside printers. There are a number of broadsides of this ballad in the <a href="http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ballads/" target="_blank">Bodleian Library Broadside Ballad Collection</a>. In them, a sailor's suspicion that a ship with a murderer on board is unable to sail on further is invoked. In this case the murderer, having denied his crime is confronted by his ghost of his victim who tears him limb from limb.</div>
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The version I sing here, I found in Cecil Sharpe's and Maud Karpeles's book of songs they collected in the Appalachians in 1916/17. In this version the ship carrying the murderer sinks and his victim's soul comes to escort the murderer's soul to hell. I find this somehow more satisfying, I don't know why but it somehow feels more convincing.</div>
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I accompany myself on a soprano ukulele and have added a shruti box drone which added to the almost constant Gm chord, I think helps to convey something of the darkness of this song. </div>
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I recently heard another version of this song sung by Bob Conroy of Long Island, USA on a visit here to the UK. His version was interesting because it lacked the ghostly element.</div>
</div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-86581796468668872692012-06-19T08:53:00.000-07:002012-06-19T08:53:35.632-07:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Freeborn Man</span></h2>
This song was written by Ewan MacColl for the radio ballad <i>Travelling People</i> which was originally broadcast in 1964 and was the last of eight radio ballads broadcast between 1959 and 1964.<br />
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The radio ballads were the original creation of Charles Parker, a BBC radio producer together with Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger who between them created a form of documentary which mixed the voices of the actual participants involved with sounds recorded in the field and songs written by Ewan MacColl and arranged by Peggy Seeger.<br />
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The radio ballads were groundbreaking in using the actual voices of participants involved in the events which the radio ballad was based on. Previously, in documentaries about ordinary working people, participants were interviewed and then the topic of the interview would be scripted and actors would then be used on the actual programme. The format devised by Parker was very successful and the BBC had to repeat them as a result of requests from listeners after they were first broadcast.<br />
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I first came across them in the late 1960s when I found the first one, <i>The Ballad of John Axon</i>, on an LP in the local library. I was captivated and went back looking for more. The local library had two more, <i>Singing the Fishing</i> and <i>The Travelling People</i> and there was reference to a fourth, <i>The Big Hewer</i>. I found the mixture of dialogue and song compelling and there were some wonderful songs.<br />
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<i>The Travelling People</i> is concerned with the gypsy and tinker population who were, and are, a people who live on the margins of our society and are still treated with suspicion to this day by the rest of the population.<br />
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You can find out more about the radio ballads on the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/radioballads/original/orig_history.shtml" target="_blank">BBC website</a> or Google "radio ballads" and follow the links.<br />
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In my own version of Freeborn Man, I simply accompany myself on a soprano ukulele.<br />
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<br />Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-81839964054715144132012-06-11T13:24:00.000-07:002012-06-11T13:24:11.279-07:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">All Things are Quite Silent</span></h2>
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I first heard this song some years ago sung by Jo Freya. The story it tells of a man taken from his marriage bed by the press gang is a sad one, but the tune is truly lovely.</div>
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It is the first song in <i>The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs</i> and was collected by Vaughan Williams in Sussex in 1904 from a Ted Baines. It is the only time this song has been collected in the oral tradition.</div>
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Impressment as a means of "recruiting" men to serve in the Royal Navy seems to date back to the time of Edward I but the first act legalising impressment was in 1563. Over the next 250 years a number of acts of parliament governing impressment were passed and the practice was at its most active during the wars of the eighteenth century and particularly during the Napoleonic wars. The practice died out after 1815 though the various acts have never been formally repealed. </div>
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The press gangs were both feared and hated as they could take people at any time, though their main targets were men with either seagoing or river boat experience and landsmen were less likely to be taken and taking someone from their home in the manner described was probably extremely rare, though undoubtedly very distressing. </div>
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The notes on the song suggest it probably dates from before 1835, the date of the last act regulating impressment.</div>
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I recorded the song as an entry for a competition for the Ukulele Underground Forum. The condition was a single take and no post processing so the video is simply what I recorded using my camcorder with the sound being from the camcorder's internal mic. I did remove the bits at each end of me switching the camera on and off as it annoys me when I see that on You Tube videos. I accompanied myself on a soprano ukulele tuned ADF#B</div>
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<br /></div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-8357121422655226022012-05-30T16:33:00.001-07:002012-05-30T16:33:37.607-07:00<h4>
Occasional Folk Songs</h4>
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The
Old Man From Lee</b></span></span></h2>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I
found this song in the Penguin Book of English Folk Songs (original edition). I've never
heard a recording of it so the arrangement is purely my own
uninfluenced by any other.
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The
Penguin book is slightly contradictory about the origins as the song
is credited to an unnamed singer from Coggeshall, Essex but the notes
at the back say it their version was amplified from a Wiltshire
version. Who knows? The notes have this to say about the song:</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>The old man's courtship is an ancient joke of which country folk never
seemed to tire. In a form similar to the song we publish [sic] the
song appeared in the Musical Miscellany (London) in 1730. It
seems widespread in Scotland and Sharp found it common in the West
Country. Versions have been reported from Yorkshire, Worcestershire
and Wiltshire.
</i></span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There
is a Mudcat thread on the song <a href="http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=19426#197574" target="_blank">here</a> which has a number of versions,
including some from North America.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">In
the version in the Penguin book, the old man gets as far as asking
the girl to marry him at the end of the song, but in other versions
the wedding takes place with unfortunate consequences for both
parties. I like it left as it is here not knowing whether the girl
will accept.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I sing the song accompanied on a concert ukulele to which I added a shruti box drone which I thought suited the modal melody.</span><br />
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</div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-45204247183241177202012-05-30T16:12:00.003-07:002012-05-31T03:00:59.371-07:00<h4>
Occasional Folk Songs </h4>
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<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The
Jovial Beggarman</b></span></span></h2>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">This song is from the 17<sup>th</sup> century. It
was originally part of a play called “The Jovial Crew” or “The
Merry Beggars” by Richard Brome. It was first staged in 1641 or
1642 and was revived soon after the restoration and Pepys records
seeing it in 1661. The play seems to have remained in the repertoire
until about 1708 and it is thought to have influenced John Gay when
he created the “Beggars' Opera” in 1728. The song occurs in the
play under the title of “The Beggars Chorus”. It also appears in
broadsides between the 17<sup>th</sup> and 19<sup>th</sup> century
and there are several versions in the Bodleian Library broadside
collection. There is also a Mudcat thread on the song <a href="http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=82650&messages=20" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div>
<div class="western">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Maddy
Prior has recorded this song with the Broadside Band, though she
updated some of the references in it. I have sung a selection of
verses from the original, though I have also made some slight
alterations.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I
sing it accompanied using a concert ukulele.</span><br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dHt7eqedQkM" width="560"></iframe>
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</div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-4496849914849783872012-05-19T11:18:00.000-07:002012-05-19T11:18:57.908-07:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">
In a Far Place</span></h2>
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This is a lament I wrote after a relative of a friend was killed in Afghanistan. The person concerned was working for a charity, not the military but was being transported in a military helicopter when it was shot down. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I play the tune in three parts on a wooden flute and tenor and bass recorders, first with all three instruments in unison, though the bass recorder has to make octave jumps from time to time. I then play it through again with the flute on the melody and the recorders adding harmony.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="&file=http://alonetone.com/geofftootler/tracks/in-a-far-place.mp3&height=20&width=250&frontcolor=0x3C3C3C&backcolor=0xf3f3f3&lightcolor=0xFF944B&screencolor=0xFF944B&showdigits=false" height="20" src="http://alonetone.com/flash/alonetone_player.swf" width="250"></embed>
</div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-73314232782043481162012-05-19T04:29:00.000-07:002012-05-19T04:29:21.430-07:00<h4>
<span style="font-size: small;">Occasional Folk Songs</span></h4>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Green Bushes</span></h2>
<div>
I first heard this song on a Magpie Lane CD and decided I wanted to learn it which I did from their CD. I later came across other versions and learnt and extra verse (The second verse in the version here). According to Roy Palmer in <i>An English Country Songbook</i>: "The song dates back to the 1760s though it remained popular until the early years of this [the 20th] century. The tune derives from a version collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams in Essex in 1904. A number of people have recorded versions of this song over the years. June Tabor did a particularly fine version with a different tune at the Folk Prom in August 2011 which can be found on You Tube.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I sing it here unaccompanied.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="&file=http://alonetone.com/geofftootler/tracks/green-bushes.mp3&height=20&width=250&frontcolor=0x3C3C3C&backcolor=0xf3f3f3&lightcolor=0xFF944B&screencolor=0xFF944B&showdigits=false" height="20" src="http://alonetone.com/flash/alonetone_player.swf" width="250"></embed><br />
<br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Searching for Lambs</span></h2>
</div>
<div>
This song was collected in Somerset by Cecil Sharp in 1905. I came across the tune first in a recorder or tin whistle tune book and only found the words later. The version I actually first heard on a recording was by Mary Humphreys who uses a different tune which she says was one collected by Cecil Sharp in 1904. I found an excellent version using the more familiar tune on a compilation CD I bought in Past Times. In that case it was sung by Ian Giles. A number of other people have recorded it over the years. A comment by Tony Rose that I found on <a href="http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/shirley.collins/songs/searchingforlambs.html" target="_blank">this site</a>, I think sums up this song;</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Searching for Lambs is for me as near as one can get to the perfect folk song. When I say that it has a timeless quality about it, I mean that I cannot imagine a time when it would not give me pleasure to sing it.</i><br />
<i><br /></i><br />
Again, I sing it here unaccompanied<br />
<br />
<embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" flashvars="&file=http://alonetone.com/geofftootler/tracks/searching-for-lambs-2.mp3&height=20&width=250&frontcolor=0x3C3C3C&backcolor=0xf3f3f3&lightcolor=0xFF944B&screencolor=0xFF944B&showdigits=false" height="20" src="http://alonetone.com/flash/alonetone_player.swf" width="250"></embed><br />
<br />
<br /></div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-30570239595374586622012-05-04T14:59:00.001-07:002012-05-04T14:59:28.717-07:00<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">Scarborough Fair</span></h2>
<div>
Scarborough Fair is a variant of the Child Ballad no. 2, "The Elfin Knight". </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The oldest known version of The Elfin Knight is in a Ballad Sheet from 1673. Many variants of the song have been collected both in the British Isles and North America. The "Parsley Sage..." refrain seems to be particular to the North East of England and the version commonly sung was collected from a retired Lead Miner from Teessdale called Mark Anderson. Similar versions have been collected in and around Whitby and the Northumbrian Minstrelsy carries a similar version titled "Whittingham Fair", Whittingham being a village in Northumberland on the River Alne. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
There are a number of discussions on Mudcat on this song with much interesting information including a number of variants of the song. <a href="http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=32141&messages=41" target="_blank">This thread</a> is probably as good a starting point as any as it goes back some time. <a href="http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=111333&messages=86" target="_blank">This thread</a>, though more recent is quite lengthy and has links to other threads on the subject.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The song is probably most widely known from the version recorded by Simon and Garfunkel on their album "Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme". It led to something of a spat between Paul Simon and Martin Carthy because of Paul Simon's failure to acknowledge the song as Traditional and to acknowledge Martin Carthy's Guitar riff which Paul Simon used, though the two of them did in fact make peace over the affair. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My version uses the tune as sung by Martin Carthy and Simon and Garfunkel but the words were taken from the Northumbrian Minstrelsy (though those from Mark Anderson are more or less the same). The song describes a lovers tiff with each setting the other a series of impossible tasks. In today's terms, it sounds like a couple going through a particularly bitter divorce. That's the way I see it, at least.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I kept my recording simple with an accompaniment on a soprano ukulele tuned to A, D, F#, B (a tone higher than normal).</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/RHPlS9hmfIY" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;">
After recording it, I felt I had pitched a little low, so I have since rearranged it a third higher and accompany myself on a concert ukulele tuned to the normal G, C, E, A.</div>
</div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-21285642287333468722012-04-24T15:05:00.001-07:002012-04-24T15:05:53.056-07:00<h4>
Occasional Folk Songs</h4>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;">
Johnny Todd</span></h2>
<div>
This traditional song was collected by Frank Kidson and published in 1891 in a collection called <i style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">Traditional Tunes: A Collection of Ballad Airs</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">. </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">Kidson's notes for this song say: "Johnny Todd is a child's rhyme and game, heard and seen played by Liverpool children. The air is somewhat pleasing, and the words appear old, though some blanks caused by the reciter's memory have had to be filled up."</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">A <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theme_from_Z-Cars" target="_blank">Wikipedia article</a> on the song also states that: "</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">There is also what appears to be a version of the same song, mentioned in the first of the Para Handy </span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">stories, written in Scotland in 1905, which claims that the tune was popular around 30 years earlier.</span><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 21px;"> The song also appears in the book </span><i style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">Songs of Belfast</i><span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 21px;"> edited by David Hammond (Cork: The Mercier Press, 1986), who heard it from a Mrs Walker of Salisbury Avenue, Belfast, who claimed it dates from around 1900.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">The tune for this song was used by the BBC police drama series <i>Z Cars</i> in the 1960s and a recording of the tune arranged by Fritz Spiegl and played by Johnny Keating and his orchestra was a top ten hit in 1962.</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">In my recording I simply accompanied myself on a soprano ukulele tuned A, D, F#, B which was the most common tuning for the soprano ukulele until the late 1940s. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;">The ship in the video isn't going anywhere. It sits in the River Tees in Stockton and I couldn't resist putting in the Photo of the statue of Capt. Cook</span></span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 21px;"> </span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 21px;">in Whitby</span><span style="font-family: sans-serif; line-height: 21px;"> with a seagull crapping on its head.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: sans-serif;"><span style="line-height: 21px;"><br /></span></span>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DDv3igAo9_4" width="560"></iframe>
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<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-51888533849509622932012-04-13T14:59:00.002-07:002012-04-13T15:00:41.987-07:00<h4>
Occasional Folk Songs</h4>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sir John
Fenwick's the Flower Amang them All</span></h2>
<div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sir
John Fenwick's the Flower Amang them All is considered one of the
classics of the Northumbrian Repertoire. It is often considered a
beginners tune which is a pity because it is an excellent tune. It's
one I like very much and find satisfying to play.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There
is an excellent article on the Farne Website (Farne: Folk Archive
Resource North East) which traces the known origins of the tune and
also looks at some of the variants that have appeared over the years.
The tune dates back at least to the late 17<sup>th</sup> Century and
the earliest known version appeared in the 1690 edition of Playford's
“Apollo's Banquet” with the title <i>Long Cold Nights</i>. A near
contemporary version under the title “Flower of Yarraw” appeared
in a manuscript book compiled by a Northumbrian Fiddler, Henry
Atkinson about 1694/5.
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
version usually played today is one which is in the first
Northumbrian Pipers' Tune Book and is very similar to one which
appears in the Northumbrian Minstrelsy of 1882. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There
have been a number of other variants of the tune that have appeared
over the years and the Farne Article examines some of these.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
title by which the tune is now known is thought to refer to a leader
of the Jacobite supporters in Northumberland who was executed in 1697
for his involvement in a plot to overthrow William of Orange and
restore James II (and VII) to the throne. Alistair Anderson tells
that the singing of this tune caused a riot in Newcastle and the
Northumbrian Minstrelsy has a similar story saying that “... this
song, carelessly sung cost two gentlemen of the county [of
Northumberland] their lives”.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;">The
Farne article can be found at:
<span style="color: #3465a4;"><a href="http://www.folknortheast.com/learn/core-tunes/sir-john-fenwick">http://www.folknortheast.com/learn/core-tunes/sir-john-fenwick</a></span></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">For
my own version, I have taken the modern version and added a set of
variations mostly based on the version in the Henry Atkinson
manuscript (which is available in digital form on the Farne website).
I play it on an alto recorder. The accompaniment is played from a
midi file through my Yamaha MU15 midi module using a harpsichord
patch.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F43036010&show_artwork=false" width="100%"></iframe>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><br />
<br /></div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-72025862329448210102012-04-13T14:19:00.004-07:002012-04-13T15:01:44.615-07:00<h4>
<span style="font-size: small;">Occasional Folk Songs</span></h4>
<div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>A Caveat for
Cutpurses &</b></span></span></h2>
<h2 align="CENTER" class="western">
<span style="font-size: large;">Packington's Pound</span></h2>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Several
years ago I was browsing a bookstall at the Society of Recorder
Players (UK) national festival when I came across a book of Broadside
Ballads. It had a wonderful selection of songs from the 17<sup>th</sup>
Century complete with tunes and the song “A Caveat for Cutpurses”
was taken from that book.
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Broadside
ballads were songs printed on a single sheet of paper, usually two to
four songs on a sheet sometimes with music but mostly without. The
more usual practice being to specify a popular tune of the day for
the song to be sung to. The Broadsides were sold round the country at
local fairs and markets usually for one penny. Broadside sellers were
often in league with cutpurses who frequented the fairs relieving
people of their money. A common practice was for the seller to gather
a crowd round him and before starting his patter would warn the
members of the crowd to beware of cutpurses. The natural reaction was
for people to check that they still had their purses which would be
suspended by a string from their belts, often out of sight under
their outer garment so as to prevent the cutpurses taking them. The
cutpurses would note which side the people had tapped and move in to
take them. A bit of seemingly accidental jostling and an apology and
you don't notice your money has gone till it's too late.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
song says something of that as well as pointing out the penalties if
you get caught, usually hanging. The original in the book is much
longer but most of the verses were simply reiteration of the way they
worked so I just kept enough verses to tell the basic story.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The
original song, in shorter form, came from a comedy by Ben Jonson
called “Bartholomew Fair” which dates from 1614. The tune is
called “Packington's Pound” and dates from the late sixteenth
century. It is thought to have been named after a courtier of
Elizabeth I, Sir John Packington. It was a very popular tune of the
period and was often specified for ballads, especially for ones
relating to crime and punishment.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">My
recording, I have kept very simple just using a shruti box to provide
a drone accompaniment. At the end, I play the tune at a quicker tempo
on an alto recorder. I was originally going to use a soprano recorder
for this, but I realised that if I played it on an alto with the same
fingering I could keep the shruti box drone at the same pitch.</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/N_a-Uqhiqjo" width="560"></iframe>
</span></div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm; text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-19881633486683450112012-04-09T12:09:00.001-07:002012-04-09T12:09:43.793-07:00<b>Occasional Folk Songs</b><br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Never Weather Beaten Sail</span></b></h2>
<div>
This song was written by Thomas Campion, a poet and musician who lived during the reigns of Elizabeth I and James I of England. He published a number of poems and several books of songs. Never Weather Beaten Sail came from his "First Booke of Ayres" which was published about 1613 in which he wrote both words and music. Campion also wrote a number of masques, a book criticising the use of rhyme in poetry, though he did not always follow his own advice and a book on counterpoint in music.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
After his death in 1620, his work fell into oblivion and was eventually resurrected in the late 19th Century. A number of 19th century composers have arranged his songs including Thomas Parry. In more recent times his work is popular with Early Music practitioners and choral groups and there are several recordings on You Tube of Never Weather Beaten Sail both by solo singers with lute accompaniment and by vocal ensembles. Maddy Prior recorded the song on the album "Hang up Sorrow and Care", an album of 17th century popular song which she made with the Broadside band.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
My version here is my own arrangement. I have used a Tenor Recorder to provide a harmony line as well as to play an instrumental verse. The accompaniment was created using midi through a Yamaha midi synthesiser module.</div>
<div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe frameborder="no" height="166" scrolling="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F42549915&show_artwork=false" width="100%"></iframe>
</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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</div>
<div>
<br /></div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-84821509892615300732012-04-02T14:10:00.002-07:002012-04-02T14:10:54.803-07:00<b>Occasional Folk Songs</b><br />
<h2 style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Nightingale Sing</span></b></h2>
<h4 style="text-align: center;">
<b>or</b></h4>
<h3 style="text-align: center;">
<b>The Bold Grenadier</b></h3>
<div>
<b><br /></b></div>
<div>
I don't know where I first heard this song, but I think it was during my childhood. I came across it again in my early twenties when I first got seriously involved with folk music. I have always enjoyed it but it was only later that I realised the sexual significance.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
It seems to have been collected many times both here in the UK and in America and has also been recorded many times. It was used for a scene the film of Thomas Hardy's novel "Far From the Madding Crowd".</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In this recording I have added a flute part between the verses and as an instrumental verse and also used a midi backing track.</div>
<div>
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<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4GGyWKgDyjY" width="420"></iframe>
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<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
The photographs are of The North Yorks Moors taken in the summer of 2010.</div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-73369608524780995592012-03-04T13:43:00.001-08:002012-03-04T13:43:54.437-08:00<b>Occasional Folk Songs</b><br />
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Dancing Master</span></b><br />
<br />
The dancing master was something of a 17th century publishing sensation. First published in 1651 as "The English Dancing Master" it eventually ran to 18 editions over the next 80 years with the eighteenth edition being published about 1728. The title was changed to "The Dancing Master" with the second edition in 1652. The Dancing Master was a book of country dances with instructions for dancing the dances together with a tune for each dance. Although the dances possibly originated in the dances of the country folk, these were dances for the upper and middle classes and possibly originated as light relief to the complex dances danced at the court.<br />
<br />
"The Dancing Master" is important as a source of dances as danced by the upper and middle classes during the period of its publication - and possibly for some time after. Playford dances have often been used in costume dramas in film and on TV, including adaptations of Jane Austen Novels which were written almost 100 years after the last publication of The Dancing Master.<br />
<br />
It is also important as a source of popular instrumental tunes from the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. There are over 500 tunes in The Dancing Master and many of the tunes in the first edition were current during the last years of Elizabeth I.<br />
<br />
Playford's work was rediscovered by Cecil Sharp in the late nineteenth century and he set about trying to recreate some of the dances. Many have disagreed with his interpretations but he was working in the dark with an unfamiliar form of notation. In addition, The Dancing Master, especially the early editions, was notorious for the number of errors it contains. Successive editions would correct errors only to introduce new ones. Others have since worked on recreating the dances.<br />
<br />
My own interest is in the tunes and there are some wonderful tunes. I include two here that I have arranged, Childgrove from the 11th Edition of 1701 and Lady Catherine Ogle which first appeared in a supplement to the 7th Edition in 1687 as "Lady Catherine Ogle, a new dance". Lady Catherine Ogle is normally considered a traditional Scots tune, but it has been suggested that it was actually composed by Irish Harper Rory dall O'Cahan who spent much of his adult life in Scotland.<br />
<br />
I play Childgrove on a Mollenhauer dream alto recorder and Lady Catherine Ogle on a Mollenhauer dream tenor recorder.<br />
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</div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-73522970731387615852012-01-24T16:05:00.000-08:002012-01-24T16:08:30.629-08:00<b>Occasional Folk Songs</b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Rydale Waltz/Anna's Jig</span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span">Two tunes of my own composition. Rydale waltz is named after Rydale a valley at the South Western end of the North Yorkshire Moors. The River Rye passes through Helmesley and eventually joins the River Derwent. The Derwent itself rises at the South Eastern end of the North Yorkshire Moors and then flows in a Westerly direction to the south of the Moors </span> eventually flowing into the Humber. The pictures in the video are of Rievaulx Abbey, a former Cistercian Monastery which is in Rydale. The Cistercian Monks changed the course of the River Rye several times in order to ensure an adequate water supply for various activities carried out by the Monastery.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span">Anna's Jig is named after my younger daughter and originated in a tune a wrote for a poem about Christmas she wrote for me when she was about 10 or 11. I was taking a music course at the time and had been set the task of setting some words to music. The tune as originally written only had the A and part of the B music so I slightly modified and extended the B music to created two eight bar sections of a conventional jig.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span">The tunes are played on a Mollenhauer "Dream" tenor recorder. </span><br />
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<br /></div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-25476783216055954672012-01-24T15:49:00.000-08:002012-01-24T15:49:22.969-08:00<b>Occasional Folk Songs</b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The Lyke Wake Dirge</span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span">The Lyke Wake Dirge relates the journey of the soul after death through a series of trials the outcome of which are dependant on actions in life. The imagery is very much that of medieval Christianity though much of it is thought to be of heathen origin.</span><br />
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In times past, the body of the dead had to be taken to consecrated ground for burial and parishes were much larger in area than they are now so there were recognised routes to the parish church along which coffins were carried to the church. Such routes were often known as "coffin trods". The term "Lyke" means a dead body and survives in "Lych Gate" which is a roofed over gate at the entrance to the church ground. It is here that the coffin would rest until the time came for it to enter the church for the burial service. The opening verse refers to "Fire and fleet and candle light", namely to the essential comforts of hearth and home. The soul then met trials at Whinny Moor where if they had given a gift of shoes and stockings they could avoid being prickled by the whinnies, namely gorse, as the passed across the moor, then to the "Brig o' Dread" where if they had given alms (silver or gold) they could pass over the bridge (Brig = bridge) and finally they came to the flames of hell. If they had given food and drink in life they would not be touched by the flames and would pass to heaven. If they had failed to give alms (at Brig o' Dread) or food and drink, then the sould would burn in hell.<br />
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The song is in North Yorkshire dialect and is of considerable age. The earliest known version was collected by a 17th Century antiquarian, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Aubrey" target="_blank">John Aubrey</a> in 1686 and he records that it was known at least as far back as 1616 though it is likely much older. It seems the song continued to be sung over dead bodies in the Cleveland Area of North Yorkshire until the early years of the 19th century. More recently the song has become associated with the <a href="http://www.lykewake.org/index.php" target="_blank">Lyke Wake Walk</a>, a 40 mile treck across the North Yorkshire Moors from just above Osmotherley to near Ravenscar on the east coast. The words I sing are essentially those on the <a href="http://www.lykewake.org/dirge.php" target="_blank">Lyke Wake Walk website</a>.<br />
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There are a number of recordings of the song. Best known are probably those by The Young Tradition, Pentangle and Steeleye Span. Unlike the words, the tune used now is thought to be fairly modern - of late 19th or early 20th century origin.<br />
There are number of references and descriptions of this song on the internet, including different sets of words. There is some useful background material on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyke-Wake_Dirge" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a> and on the <a href="http://www.lykewake.org/dirge.php" target="_blank">Yorkshire Garland websites</a>. There are a few Mudcat discussions on the song including <a href="http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=8878" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=22801&messages=29" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<br /></div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-79127902230525809602011-12-31T11:31:00.000-08:002011-12-31T11:31:22.365-08:00<b>Occasional Folk Songs</b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Some Tunes</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Johnny Cope</span></b><br />
Johnny Cope was originally a song, written in 1745 by an Adam Skirving just after the Battle of Prestonpans when Charles Stuart's (Bonnie Prince Charlie) army defeated the government forces under Gen. Sir John Cope. The song mocks Cope and insinuates that he ran away and that he brought the news of his own defeat to Newcastle. A myth, but then who ever let the truth get in the way of a good story?<br />
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The tune, however acquired a life of its own and became the subject of sets of fiddle variations and various versions exist in manuscripts on both sides of the Anglo Scottish Border. The tune also made its way to Ireland where it became a six strain hornpipe. Although I had previously heard the song, I first heard a set of Johnny Cope variations played on fiddle by <a href="http://www.kathryntickell.com/home/" target="_blank">Kathryn Tickell</a> on her album "On Kielder Side". I was bowled over by them and I promised myself I would track down and learn to play a set. Kathryn Tickell based her six strain version on several manuscripts in North East England and in Edinburgh. I eventually found a four strain set on the <a href="http://www.folknortheast.com/about-farne" target="_blank">Farne</a> website in the Lister Manuscript which had been compiled in County Durham some time between 1840 and 1860. It was a four strain set so I added two variations that I had composed myself sometime ago. I play it in C on a Mollenhauer "Dream" Alto recorder with a shruti box drone in the background.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;"><b>Cleveland Hills/Down Along the Tees.</b></span><br />
These two tunes are my own compositions. I was inspired to write Cleveland Hills after hearing a tune on another Kathryn Tickell Album. Rothbury Hills was written by Northumbrian Piper and Accordionist, Jack Armstrong and was the first track on the Kathryn Tickell album "Northumbrian Collection". The inspiration was to write an air celebrating the area where I live. The Cleveland Hills are almost on my back doorstep, and are part of the <a href="http://www.northyorkmoors.org.uk/" target="_blank">North York Moors National Park</a>. I couple it with another tune of mine which I called "Down Along the Tees". It came out of my "noodling" on the recorder one day and the tune just seemed to flow so I named it after the river on which Middlesbrough is situated - and where I live. The Tees is one of only two major Yorkshire rivers not to flow into the Humber. The other is the Esk which flows into the sea at Whitby. I play the tunes on wooden flute and I am accompanied by my friend Nick on guitar who I met when I used to go to a singaround in Thirsk. This was done courtesy of the internet. I left the tune on a website, he picked it up, added the guitar and sent it back to me.<br />
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Cleveland Hills/Down along the Tees is featured on the six CD set put together by members of <a href="http://www.mudcat.org/" target="_blank">Mudcat</a>. They can be purchased through Mudcat. <a href="http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=141789&messages=16" target="_blank">Information Here</a>.<br />
<br />Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-62352327091644427482011-12-24T00:02:00.000-08:002011-12-24T00:02:24.495-08:00<b>Occasional Folk Songs</b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">I Sing of a Maiden</span></b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: large;">Fifteenth Century Carol</span></b><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span">I had a copy of this in a poetry anthology I own together with about three other early anonymous poems (Sumer is icumen in, Adam lay ybounden and Westron winde). When my wife bought a poetry anthology recently it was also included in it with the heading "Carol" which made me think about adding a tune. When I suggested it her comment was "don't make it one of your usual dirgy ones". I think she was referring to the minor mode tunes often found in folk song. It gave me pause for thought and I realised that a jig I had written some years ago might work so I gave it a try. I found that the 15th century English did not quite fit the tune and also one verse only used half the the melody. As a result, I rewrote the poem in modern English, combining two verses into one so that it used a complete tune. By repeating the original first verse I was able to create a three verse song.</span><br />
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Here is the original poem<br />
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I sing of a maiden<br />
That is makëless<br />
King of alle kingës<br />
To here sone she ches<br />
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He cam also stillë<br />
There his moder was,<br />
As the dew in Aprillë<br />
That falleth on the grass<br />
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He cam also stillë<br />
To his modres bowr,<br />
As the dew in Aprillë<br />
That falleth on the flowr<br />
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He cam also stillë<br />
There his moder lay,<br />
As the dew in Aprillë<br />
That falleth on the spray<br />
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Moder and maiden<br />
Was never non but she<br />
Well may swich a lady<br />
Godës moder be.<br />
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And my version (complete with the chords I used on the ukulele)<br />
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I <span style="color: red;">[G]</span>
sing of a maiden that was matchless</div>
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King of all kings for
her son she <span style="color: red;">[D]</span> chose</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
He <span style="color: red;">[C]</span>
came so <span style="color: red;">[G]</span> softly where his mother <span style="color: red;">[D]</span>
was</div>
<div class="western" style="margin-bottom: 0cm;">
As the <span style="color: red;">[C]
</span>dew in <span style="color: red;">[G]</span> April falls <span style="color: red;">[D7]
</span>on the <span style="color: red;">[G]</span> grass</div>
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I sing of a maiden that
was matchless</div>
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King of all kings for
her son she chose</div>
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He came so softly to
his mother's bower</div>
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As the dew in April
falls on the flowers</div>
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He came so softly where
his mother lay</div>
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As the dew in April
falls on the Spray</div>
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Mother and maiden was ne'er
one but she</div>
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Well may such a lady
God's mother be.</div>
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Since doing this I found that the original had survived in the oral tradition and that it had been recorded by Shirley Collins but I have not heard her version.</div>
<br />Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-28405950451203484972011-12-21T16:43:00.000-08:002011-12-21T16:43:19.220-08:00<b>Occasional Folk Songs</b><br />
<b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Carols</span></b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span">Carols are very much part of Christmas and most people know the common ones and will join in even if they are not particularly religious.</span><br />
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Most carols we sing nowadays date from the 19th Century and later though there are a significant number that are much older. Here is one, the Seven Joys of Mary. This carol dates from the 15th Century and exists in a number of variants. The number of "joys" vary from five to nine, though there are actually more verses than nine known and so the "joys" themselves will vary in different versions.<br />
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the word "Carol" comes from the French "caroler" which in turn came from the Latin 'choraula', and from the Greek 'choraules', meaning a flute player for chorus dancing and finally derived from the Greek word 'choros' which was originally a circling dance.<br />
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Early carols were not specific to Christmas nor sung in Church but did have religious/semi mythical themes.<br />
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Carol singing was banned by the Puritans who felt Christmas should be a solemn day.<br />
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Although no longer sung in public it seems likely that carols went "underground" and were still sung in private gatherings. Some carols in fact survived in the oral tradition and were rediscovered by late 19th. Century folk song collectors.<br />
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The revival of carols and the writing of new carols began in the mid 18th. Century but the revival really "took off" in the mid 19th. Century. However the singing of carols in church only started in 1881 when the Bishop of Truro initiated the first service of nine lessons and carols.<br />
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A number of the Carols collected by folk song collectors in the late 19th and early 20th centuries have found their way into the popular repertoire and others have remained less well known. Here is a carol that was collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams in Castleton, Derbyshire in 1908. The carol originally dates back to the 16th Century and an earlier form called the "Corpus Chrisit Carol" was included in a manuscript compiled by a Richard Hill, an apprentice grocer sometime about 1504.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">The pictures in the two videos were all taken by me. In the Seven Joys of Mary they feature a Holiday in Switzerland in January 2010 and Down in Yon Forest the pictures are of the North York Moors with the buildings being from the Rydale Folk Museum at Hutton-le-Hole.</span></div>
</div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2891780281837101182.post-63846896615731006082011-11-27T13:44:00.001-08:002011-11-27T13:59:40.632-08:00<b>Occasional Folk Songs</b><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Van Dieman's Land</b></span><br />
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I've not posted for a while. Here's a song about poaching and transportation.<br />
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I first came across this song in 1965 in a little
red book called “101 Scottish Songs”. In there, the song was titled “The Poachers” and the source was
given as “From Ord's Bothy Ballads”. Some 20 years later, I bought
a copy of Roy Palmer's “English Country Song Book” and in it
found the same song with one extra verse and a different final verse
and with a different tune. I later came across several other versions
in the Bodleian Library's Broadside Ballad collection.<br />
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An article in <a href="http://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/bbals_22.htm" target="_blank">Mustrad</a> discusses ballads relating to transportation to Van
Diemen's<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">*</span> land in general and refers to this ballad in particular. Van Diemen's land was not normally a first destination for
those transported but was used as a transfer destination from other
places for convicts who had transgressed further. Transporation for
poaching was not common – figures given in the Mustrad article
suggest that only about 300 out of about 162 000 males transported.
(It seems female poachers were unknown). Roy Palmer suggested that
the ballad was written in response to an act of 1828 which provided
that if three men were found in a wood after dark and one of them
carried a gun or bludgeon all three were liable to transportation for
14 years. Roy Palmer uses this to suggest that the ballad dates from
about 1829 or 1830. The ballad gives a pretty graphic description of
the conditions in Van Diemen's land and ends with an admonition to
give up poaching. The song circulated widely throughout the British
Isles and has been found in Ireland and Scotland as well as England.
The tune I use is the one I found in 101 Scottish Songs and is a
variant of “Dives and Lazarus” but in 6/8 time.</div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">*</span> Note: Van Diemen's land is the correct spelling
for the name of the colony (later Tasmania) but the ballads nearly
all spell it Van Dieman's land.</div>Geoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10437464961558755272noreply@blogger.com0