Crusher Bailey
From Oscar Brand:Crusher Bailey went to college
Hob y deri dando
For to get a little knowledge
Let us sing again boys.
When the proctor seen him coming,
Jane, sweet Jane,
He went right home to hide his woman
Jane, Jane, come to the glen,
To sing praise of Sean Fach FwynCrusher Bailey had a sister
Laughed like blazes when you kissed her
Couldn't knit or darn a stocking
What she could do sure was shocking.Listen, I will sing a solo
'Bout his ship, the "Marco Polo"
See her puffing through the water
Wish I was abed with the captain's daughterCrusher Bailey had a stoker
He thought himself a bloody joker
Just to watch the steam go higher
He'd make water on the boiler.From Oscar Brand's book (Bawdy Songs and Backroom Ballads; Dorchester Press, 1960; LOC#M60-1010): -- * liner notes translate as "Sean Fach Fwyn" as "sweet little Jane."
[From: Eric Berge]
From Susie Cool Foster of the Spiral Circle
Crusher Bailey's Auntie Maude
Said that children came from God
But it wasn't the Almighty
That lifted up her nightie.
Did You Ever See
From: Why Was He Born So Beautiful
and other rugby songs1. Oh, I got an Aunty Sissy,
And she's only got one titty,
But it's very long and pointed
And the nipple's double jointed.Cho: Did you ever see
Did you ever see,
Did you ever see,
Such a funny thing before.2. I've got a cousin Daniel,
And he's got a cocker spaniel,
If you tickled 'im in the middle
He would lift his leg and piddle.3. Oh, I've got a cousin Rupert,
He plays outside half for Newport.
They think so much about him
That they always play without him.4. Oh, I've got a cousin Anna,
And she's got a grand piana,
And she ram aram arama,
Till the neighbors say "God Damn Her."
From: John (Yogi) Allen, (Hasher & Rugby enthusiast):
Cosher has an Auntie Julia,
She was taken most peculiar,
Something 'appened to 'er liver,
And she overflowed the river.Cosher's little cousin Lily,
She played socker for Caerphilly,
Ah, but when she took up rugger,
Well she was a silly billy,Oh the choir on Sunday night,
Sing much better when they're tight,
And their version of Cwm Rhondda,
[ie, "Guide me, O Thou Thou great Jehovah"]
Makes the angels blush up yonder.You should see the bees at Gower,
As they flit from flower to flower.
You should see them at Llangollen,
As they gather in their pollen.Cosher Bailey he did die,
In a coffin he did lie,
But alas they heard some knockin...
Cosher Bailey? - Only joking...
Hob Y Derri Dando
(Traditional)
The Welsh: Ni bu ferch erioed gan laned
Hob y deri dando
Ni bu ferch erioed gan wyned,
Dyna ganu eto
Ni bu neb o ferched dynion
Siân fwyn, Siân
Nes na hon i dorri 'nghalon
Siân fwyn, tyrd i'r llwyn
Seiniwn glod i Siani fach fwyn:
Siân fwyn, tyrd i'r llwyn
Seiniwn glod i Siani fach fwyn.And the English:
Never was there maiden sweeter
Hob y deri dando
More alluring, livelier, neater
Hob y deri dando
Nor one to my fancy nearer
Jane, sweet Jane
There is no one I love dearer,
Jane, run down the lane
There in the grove we'll kiss again
Jane, run down the lane
There in the grove we'll kiss again.The Welsh uses old traditional verses / rhymes. There are another two verses in English and Welsh in this particular book ... Caneuon Cenedlaethol Cymru - The National Songs of Wales, Boosey & Hawkes, which may still be available.
From Siân Thomas.
The Welsh:Wyt ti'n hoffi dyri', Derwydd?
"Hob y deri dando,"
Unwaith oerais i o'th herwydd --
Dyna ganu eto:
Ym mhob ardal y mae byrdon,
Canig hen y co';
Pwy na allant ddweud penillion,
Hen gan co
Canig hen y co,
Hob y deri dan y to.And the English:
All the day I sigh and say, love
"Hob y deri dando".
All the night I dream or pray, love,
"Hob y deri dando".
Ah, since that first time we met,
I do naught but complain,
Tho' I fear thou dost forget,
I hope on in vain.
All night and day,
I say and pray
for thee, dear Jane.
Also From Siân Thomas,
Published by Brinley Richards in The Songs of Wales (1873). These two are the S.Wales ones, In the above version, the English is not a translation of the Welsh.
Miscellaneous Verses
Sent by Dick Greenhaus:"Cosher Bailey's Engine".
Just to make the smoke rise higher,
Jane Sweet Jane,
He'd make water on the fire
Jane, Jane, come to the glen etc.
Sent by Kevin Sheils
5. Cosher Bailey's brother Rupert
He played stand-off-half for Newport,
In the game against Llandaff
He got kicked in the elbow.Did you ever saw, did you ever saw
Did you ever saw, such a funny thing before.
Which may sound grammatically clumsy to the English ear but at least it rhymes :-)
Sent by Joe FinemanCosher Bailey had a grandma
Who could play the grand pianna,
And she also played the fiddle,
Down the sides and up the middle.Cosher had a brother Matthew
Who was always making statues,
But one day, while doing Venus,
He fell down and broke his elbow.Learned at a rockclimbers' party in Kingston, NY, ca. 1969.
Also, there is a stanza is quoted in Goodbye to All That by Robert Graves, one of the student ones.
Sent by Joy Hilbert (of bawdy-l)
Cosha Bailey's sister Ella
Had a beautiful umbrella
And she thought so much about it
She would never be without itOne day Ella had a date
With her best friend's brother's mate
'Twould have been a tale of folly
If she hadn't had her brolly
According to Joy Hilbert, "Folly" was a coded word at the time implying rape. That is, she went out with someone she didn't know well enough, and he would have raped her if she hadn't hit him with her brolly. Since brollies are not that vicious as weapons, she probably hit him in the groin.
General notes: Thank you for all the help - Anni Fentiman, Ruth Meakin, Andy Alexis, Paul Schoenwetter, Eric Berge, Joe Fineman, Gerry Milne, Kevin Sheils, Steve Ashton - and especially to Sian (Siân) Thomas for all the Welsh material & who did a lot of work, indeed. The primary versions & details of this fine chantey/love song/political satire are shown. Any misunderstandings or inaccuracies are certainly my own.
Siân (Sian) Thomas http://www.telecottages.org/iws: says Siani Fach fain (pronounced SHAN-ee Vach Vine, using the gutteral "ch" as in German) and it means Slender Little Siani/Janey. She continues: Two versions: one North, one South Wales. More or less the same words, but different(-ish) tunes. The South Wales tune is probably the best known and most used currently, but "usually" with words written this century by a famous Welsh poet, Crwys, about Uncle Dafydd and his suit of homespun cloth courting Siân Fwyn (Gentle). The Pint & Dale words Crawshay/Cosher Baily words (often sung to quite a different tune here in South Wales) and very popular in the 70s with the rugby fraternity.
It is an extension of the very old Welsh tradition of "canu penillion" - singing verses. You use a popular tune, usually with a nonsense alternative lines, and sing a hotchpotch of verses to them as the mood moves the singer. Or in groups it becomes "ymryson canu" - contest singing (but more like "bandying" verses). So, one singer sings his/her verse then someone else has to take it up with something else that fits (either traditional or improvised).
Hob y Deri Dando was probably collected first by a man named William Jones around the end of the 18th C. He says that it was noted down from a very old man in the Llangadfan area who, "used to sing with stops and trips". I don't know what tune the Mystic Chantey-men used, but the meter sounds to me like the North Wales one. "Stops and trips" refer to the harp accompaniment which would have stood instead of the Hob y Deri Dando line. When we sing it, we tend to (??) draw out the "dando" to another full bar, and straight into the next line, but the harpers would, apparently rap three times. ("hob y der-i dan-do "tap" "tap" "tap") Those are the stops. The Words could be much older than 18th century and connected with an ancient meter of poetry. The "singing with stops and trips" might refer to ... the dancers bow/curtsey to the harp/musicians before the dance begins.
"Can-y-gan-y-eto" which is a garbled version of the 3rd line of one Welsh version: Dyma ganu eto. (Duh-mah GAN-ee e-to) or (lit.) Here's the singing of it again. It's basically the sea-shanty words, as it was never thus connected here in Wales.
The Edward Jones (1794) publication and subsequent Brinley Richards one will tell you ..."Hai down i'r deri danno," - (come let us hasten to the oaken grove) is the burden of an old song of the Druids. The old English song, "Hie down down derry down" &c.," is probably borrowed from the Druidical song." But "Hob y deri danno" literally means, "The swine (or pig) under the oaks." It's basically a nonsense phrase these days, but was once a come-on ..."Meet me under the oak, honey!" The town oak was the meeting-place in general - much like a village square where the youngsters hang out.
The old story that the song is an ancient call to worship by the Druid's was set rolling by the original publisher (Edward Jones) in 1794 when London was a-wash with (re-)creating a romanticized Druidic movement. EJ took it from Wm. Jones' report that Hob y deri dando referred to the Oak grove. Yes, Oaks = druids ... but it was also a choice spot for young lovers, which brings us tidily back to Jane, Jane, come to the Glen which was, in Welsh, Siân, Siân, come into the bushes (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)
--
Gerry Milne noted: Stan Hugill gave both Welsh and English versions in Shanties from the Seven Seas, where he says it was one of the two popular capstan shanties sung by Welsh crews, the other being "Mochyn Du", or "The Black Pig". The tune to "Mochyn Du" is the same as "Cosher Bailey" as sung by rugby fans and the folk world. The shanty that Abby heard at Mystic goes to a totally different tune:-
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Kevin Sheils: As to meaning of 'bliner' -- 'bliner' could be the Bleanau Ffestiniog railway in the Snowdonia region (spelling may be iffy here). Or possibly it's a corruption of Baleana (sp?) the ship in other nautical songs.
--
Siân Thomas: Given the reference to Nefyn, it could well be Blaenau (pron. Bline-eye), which was and is a huge slate quarrying town in Snowdonia. It would have shipped it's slate around the world, and freighted it out from Blaenau by train to Porth Madog.
--
The "happy?" file gives us: "As a result of the Grouping (ie, of 123 separate railway companies into just four) the Taff Vale Railway ended as an entity on 1 Jan 1922. The original 1836 line ran 32 miles, including some short branches, from Merthyr Tydfil to Cardiff Docks. Its coal traffic became enormous, as shown by its having 271 locomotives working over just 124 miles. The line was built by the ironmaster, Cosher Bailey. Personally driving the engine on its first trip, he got stuck in a tunnel."
--
There cannot, of course, be any factual connection between any Bailey and a steam engine and the famous sailing ship, Marco Polo "puffing through the water."
--
Some of the extreme glee with which Bailey's difficulties are treated - as well as the enthusiam of the bawdy verses - may be set against the historical man. According to A Brief History of Wales (http://www.britannia.com/wales/whist14.html) for the year 1839: "In May, The Cambrian reported on an anti-Chartist meeting held the previous month, chaired by Crawshay Bailey, (the iron master of Dowlais, in the Merthyr District, who had fortified his mansion against possible assaults from his own workers). It seemed that many of the iron masters were terrified of the new radical movements that were spreading throughout the valleys. Bailey spoke, he said, to 'counteract the baneful effects of the principles of the Chartists and to show the inhabitants of this place who are their real friends.' He had known some of the protesting workers for 20 years or more, he said, and they should be grateful for his favours, as none of the Chartists will give them employment as he had done. Reminding his listeners of all the work he had brought to the valley 'from Brynmawr to Aberbeeg,' increasing its population from 200 to more than l0,000, he would as rather sacrifice his life, he went on, than lose any of his property."(Seems there's a page size limit here)