The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #3602 Message #3649753
Posted By: Jim Carroll
10-Aug-14 - 02:55 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Barring of the Door
Subject: ADD Version: John Blunt
The English version from The Hammond collection, was included in Frank Purslow's Marrow Bones and was a standard item in both Sandra Kerr's and Frankie Armstrong's repertoires and could have been recorded by them - they both made an excellent job of it.
JOHN BLUNT
There was an old couple lived under a hill, And Blunt was their name-O. They had good beer and ale for to sell, And it bore a wonderful name-O.
John Blunt and his wife drank free of this ale, Till they could drink no more-O, Then its off to bed this old couple went, And forgot to bar the door-O.
Then they a bargain - bargain made, They made it strong and sure-O, The which of them should speak the first word Should go down and bar the door-O.
Then there came travellers - travellers three, Travelling in the night-O; No house, nor home, nor fire had they, Nor yet no candle light-O.
Then straight to John Blunt's house they went, And gently opened the door-O; The devil a word the old couple spoke For fear which should bar the door-O.
They went to his cellar and drank up his drink Till they could drink no more-O. They went to his cupboard and ate up his meat Till they could eat no more-O.
Then quickly they procured a light And gently walked upstairs-O. They pulled the old woman out of her bed And put her on the floor-O.
Up speaks John Blunt – You've ate of my meat, And laid my wife on the floor-O . You've spoke the first word, John Blunt - she said Go down and bar the door-O.
Barrin' O' the Door was an old MacColl favourite from the early days; it can be found on the Lloyd MacColl Riverside series 'English and Scottish Popular Ballads, also on MacColl and Seeger's Folkways album 'Two-Way Trip' This is the text with Ken Goldstein's notes from the Riverside series
GET UP AND BAR THE DOOR (275) This This amusing domestic comedy has numerous analogues in the tales and literature of Europe and Asia 5EE Child's headnote). The generally ribald nature of the ballad has encouraged the creation of additional bawdy stanzas, and versions embellished are in vogue as a college students' song. The origin of this new oral tradition, however, is based on printed texts to which the bawdy stanzas have been added. The ballad has been collected from tradition several times since Child, most of these texts being reported in America. MacColl's version, learned from his father, follows Greig and Keith text very closely. See Child (275), Volume V, p. 96ff ;Coffin, pp. 145-146: Greig & Keith, pp. 216-218.
GET UP AND BAR THE DOOR (275)
It fell aboot i the Martinmas time, And a fine time it was then, O. That oor gudewife got puddens to mak And she boiled them in a pan, O. An' the barrin' o' oor door, weel, weel, weel, An' the barrin' o' oor door weel.
The wind it blew fae East to West, An it blew upon the floor, O, Says oor gudeman to oor gudewife, "Get up bar the door, O."
"My hand is in my hissy-skip, Guidman as ye may see, O; Though it shouldna be barred this seven year. It'll no' be barred by me, O."
They made a paction 'tween themselves And fixed itfirm and sure, O, That the yin wha spoke the foremost word, Should rise and bar the door O.
Twa gentlemen had lost their road, At Twal' o'clock o' the nicht, O, And they couldna find neither hoose nor ha' No coal nor candle-licht, O.
"Now whether is this a rich man's hoose, Or whether is it a poor.O?" But ne'er a word would yin o' them speak, For the the barrin o' the door, O.
Well first they ate the white puddens And syne they ate the black.O, And ond gudeman said to himsel', The De'il gang doon wi' that.O."
The young man to the auld man said, "Here, man, tak ye my knife, O, And gang and shave the gudeman's beard And I'll kiss the gudewife, O"
"There is nae water in the hoose. And what'll we da then.O?" "Whit ails ye at the PUDDEN- BREE That boils INTAE the pan. O?"
Then oot it spak the auld gudeman, And an angry man was he, O: "Would ye kiss my wife afore my een,? Scaud me wi' pudden bree.O ?
Then up it raise the auld gudewife, Gae three skips on the floor.O: "Gudeman, ye spak the foremost word Get up and bar the door.O."
We recorded it in tale form from Kerry Traveller Mikeen McCarthy in London in the 1970s and included it on our Traveller album, 'From Puck to Appleby
12 - Go for the Water (Story - Aarne-Thompson 1351:The Silence Wager) Mikeen McCarthy There was a brother and sister one time, they were back in the West of Kerry altogether, oh, and a very remote place altogether now. So the water was that far away from them that they used always be grumbling and grousing, the two of them, now, which of them'd go for the water. So they'd always come to the decision anyway, that they'd have their little couple of verses and who'd ever stop first, they'd have to go for the water. So, they'd sit at both sides of the fire, anyway, and there was two little hobs that time, there used be no chairs, only two hobs, and one'd be sitting at one side and the other at the other side and maybe Jack'd have a wee dúidín (doodeen), d'you know, that's what they used call a little clay pipe (te). And Jack'd say:
(Sung) Oren hum dum di deedle o de doo rum day, Racks fol de voedleen the vo vo vee.
So now it would go over to Mary: Oren him iren ooren hun the roo ry ray, Racks fol de voedleen the vo vo vee.
So back to Jack again: Oren him iren ooren hum the roo ry ray, Rack fol de voedleen the vo vo vee.
So, they'd keep on like that maybe, from the start, from morning, maybe until night, and who'd ever stop he'd have to go for the water.
So, there was an old man from Tralee, anyway, and he was driving a horse and sidecar, 'twas… they'd be calling it a taxi now. He'd come on with his horse and sidecar, maybe from a railway station or someplace and they'd hire him to drive him back to the west of Dingle. So, bejay, he lost his way, anyway. So 'twas the only house now for another four or five miles. So in he goes anyway, to enquire what road he'd to take, anyway, and when he landed inside the door, he said: "How do I get to Ballyferriter from here?" And Mary said:
(Sung verse)
So over he went, he said, "What's wrong with that one, she must be mad or something", and over to the old man. He said, "How do I get to Ballyferriter from here?"
(Sung verse)
So he just finished a verse and he go back over to Mary and he was getting the same results off of Mary; back to Jack. So the old man, he couldn't take a chance to go off without getting the information where the place was, so he catches a hold of Mary and started tearing Mary round the place. "Show me the road to Ballyferriter", he go, and he shaking and pushing her and pull her and everything:
(Sung verse)
And he kept pulling her and pulling her and tearing her anyway, round the place, and he kept pucking her and everything.
"Oh, Jack," says she, "will you save me?"
"Oh, I will, Mary," he said, "but you'll have to go for the water now."
Mikeen's story, set in his own native Kerry, is widely travelled, both as a tale and as a ballad. A version from India, entitled The Farmer, his Wife and the Open Door is described as claiming 'the highest possible antiquity'. It is also included, as part of a longer story, in Straparola's Most Delectable Nights (Venice 1553). In Britain it is popular in ballad form, best known in Scotland as Get Up and Bar the Door and in England as John Blunt. Mikeen has a large repertoire of stories, at least half a dozen of them having Jack and Mary as hero and heroine. Ref: Folk Tales of All Nations, F H Lee, George G Harrap & Co, 1931.