Occasional Folk Songs

Sir John Fenwick's the Flower Amang them All

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.

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^th Century and the earliest known version appeared in the 1690 edition of Playford's “Apollo's Banquet” with the title Long Cold Nights. 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.

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. 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.

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”.

The Farne article can be found at: http://www.folknortheast.com/learn/core-tunes/sir-john-fenwick

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.

Occasional Folk Songs

A Caveat for Cutpurses &

Packington's Pound

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^th Century complete with tunes and the song “A Caveat for Cutpurses” was taken from that book.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Occasional Folk Songs

Never Weather Beaten Sail

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.

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.

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.

Occasional Folk Songs

Nightingale Sing

or

The Bold Grenadier

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.

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".

In this recording I have added a flute part between the verses and as an instrumental verse and also used a midi backing track.

The photographs are of The North Yorks Moors taken in the summer of 2010.

Occasional Folk Songs
The Dancing Master

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.

"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.

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.

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.

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.

I play Childgrove on a Mollenhauer dream alto recorder and Lady Catherine Ogle on a Mollenhauer dream tenor recorder.

Occasional Folk Songs
Rydale Waltz/Anna's Jig

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  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.

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.

The tunes are played on a Mollenhauer "Dream" tenor recorder. 

Occasional Folk Songs
The Lyke Wake Dirge

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.

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.

The song is in North Yorkshire dialect and is of considerable age. The earliest known version was collected by a 17th Century antiquarian, John Aubrey 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 Lyke Wake Walk, 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 Lyke Wake Walk website.

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.
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 Wikipedia and on the Yorkshire Garland websites. There are a few Mudcat discussions on the song including here and here.