The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #104540   Message #2142612
Posted By: ClaireBear
06-Sep-07 - 02:43 PM
Thread Name: origins: Horning the Colt/Horn Boys Horn
Subject: RE: Horning the Colt
The version you've linked to is the one I know (from the Watersons I think, or the Copper Family, or Shirley Collins...it was so many years ago that I'm afraid I've forgotten). I used to perform it with my singing partner Jon Berger, here in California.

We though it was far too short, though, so Jon wrote three more verses bringing in other meanings for "horns." Actually he didn't so much write them as borrow lines from other traditional songs and fill them them out a bit to make the song more or less cohesive. I quite like the result.

Later, Berkeley Morris crafted a dance to suit the tune, and it proved a crowd-pleaser as a dance as well.

So, if you don't mind verses that aren't traditional in the classic sense of the word, herewith submitted for your consideration is our four-verse version.* The traditional first verse is from the other thread:

SO SELFISH RUNS THE HARE

(Verse 1 traditional, verses 2 and later copyright Jonathan Berger)

So selfish runs the hare and so cunning runs the fox,
ho would think that this little calf would grow to a noble ox?
To live among the briars and to run among the thorns,
And die the death that his father did with a large pair of horns.

cho: Horns, large horns; horns, large horns,
And die the death that his father did with a large pair of horns.

The hunt is up, the hounds are out, the lark's song fills the air.
And we're away to the gay green wood to hunt the buck and hare.
The moon is riding down the sky to usher in the morn.
We'll rouse the town with fanfares blown on a large pair of horns.

cho: Horns, large horns; horns, large horns,
We'll rouse the town with fanfares blown on a large pair of horns.

Our miller had a lusty wife, her age was twenty-three.
She slept one night with sailor lad who had just come from the sea.
'Twas only nine months after that a pretty babe was born,
And the miller frowned for his head was crowned with a large pair of horns.

cho: Horns, large horns; horns, large horns,
The miller frowned for his head was crowned with a large pair of horns.

So come all you jolly fellows, drink your ale and down your beer
To welcome in the harvest and the turning of the year.
We'll drink the season with the blood of old John Barleycorn;
I'll drink to thee and thou to me from a large pair of horns.

cho: Horns, large horns; horns, large horns,
I'll drink to thee and thou to me from a large pair of horns.

                            ***

*Fond of puns, we planned to craft a fifth verse as an homage to Tolkien, with a chorus of "Huorns, large huorns..." but sadly we never got around to it. Any volunteers?