The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #58013 Message #916430
Posted By: Malcolm Douglas
23-Mar-03 - 06:23 AM
Thread Name: Lyr/Origins Req/Add: The Sally Buck
Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: SALLY BUCK
I was quite mistaken to say that the set published by Cecil Sharp in Nursery Songs from the Appalachian Mountains was a collation. Looking more closely, I see that it's entirely Alex Coffey's version, though "tidied up" for publication. It isn't really necessary to post it, but here it is, anyway; for the sake of completeness and so that the editorial process can be seen. I omit the repeats after the first verse, as in the book.
SALLY BUCK
(Sung by Mr Alex Coffey at Nash, Va., May 9, 1918)
As I rode out a-hunting, 'Twas on a winter day, The trees was in full bloom, And the flowers fresh and gay, Yes, the flowers fresh and gay.
As I rode down to the river brim I spied a thousand deer All on the tide did swim...
I cocked my gun immediately And under water went; For to kill one of them deers, It was my whole intent...
I being under water, Ten thousand feet or more, I fired off my pistol, Like cannons they did roar...
I killed one of them deer And out of water went; For to seek for those that fled It was my whole intent...
I bent my gun in a circle, And shot all round the hill, And out of five-and-twenty deer Ten thousand I did kill...
As I stood there a-gazing, I saw the moon draw nigh; And I clapped my wings upon my back, Hopped on as she passed by...
And as the moon went down at night She fetched a certain whirl; And that's the way this poor boy Fell into the world...
The money that I got For my meat and skin, I put it in a forty foot barn, And it would not all go in...
The balance of my money I lent it out of hand, And now intend to live A jolly, jolly gentleman...
Cecil Sharp & Maud Karpeles, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, II, 159B, p. 218.
X:2 T:Sally Buck S:Alex Coffey, Nash, Va., May 9, 1918 Z:Cecil Sharp B:English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, II, 159B, p.218 N:Pentatonic. Mode I. N:Roud 3607 L:1/8 Q:1/4=100 M:2/2 K:G G2|c2 c2 A2 G2|c2 A4 G2|c2 c2 d2 c2|e6 d2|e2 e2 d2 d2| w:As I rode out a-hunt-ing, 'Twas on a win-ter day, The trees was in full c4 A2 G2|c2 c2 A2 E2|G4 G3 G|c2 c2 A2 E2|G6|] w:bloom, And the flow-ers fresh and gay, Yes, the flow-ers fresh and gay.
Sharp also noted variations for bars 2, 6-7 and 10-11.