The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #18623   Message #185547
Posted By: Malcolm Douglas
26-Feb-00 - 10:39 PM
Thread Name: Tune Add: Copper Family Songs on the DT
Subject: Copper Family Songs on the DT
There are quite a few songs on the DT that come from the repertoire of the Copper family of Rottingdean in Sussex. Not all have tunes attached to them as yet, so I thought I'd send some to the Mudcat Midi Site. They are as follows:

HONEST LABOURER (filename [lyrics] HONLABOR: here.)

MONTH OF MAY (filename [lyrics] MONTHMAY: here.)
Called by the Coppers, "The Pleasant Month of May".

SHEPHERD OF THE DOWNS (filename [lyrics] SHEPDOWN: here.)

Sweep Chimney Sweep (filename [lyrics] CHIMSWEP: here.)
This is the Copper's version, though the entry in the DT doesn't mention them.

SWEET NANCY (filename [lyrics] SWTNANCY: here.)
The text here was taken from a recording by Tim Hart and Maddy Prior, who have some of the lines in a different order. The Coppers call it "Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy".

SWEET LEMENEY (filename [lyrics] LEMENEY: here.)
This is the Copper's version, though the entry in the DT doesn't mention them. There's some discussion of other versions on this thread

WARLIKE SEAMEN (filename [lyrics] WARLIKES: here.)

WOP-SHE-AD-IT (filename [lyrics] WOPSHEAD: here.)

The midis are based on the notation in Bob Copper's books, A Song For Every Season and Early To Rise; I've omitted the bass parts, where they occur, in the interests of clarity. The Copper Family has a website, incidentally, where you can find details of current recordings and their Songbook; here.

Malcolm