Subject: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: GUEST,Alan Whittle Date: 11 Jan 11 - 07:38 AM Today i was moved to write this on the Banna strand thread 'yes its still a very sad song. When I was young I used to think that 18th century guy who wrote a happy ending to King lear was nuts. Nowadays, I'm not so sure. If Rc had stayed aboard the submarine , gone back to germany and had tea with the Kaiser. That would have been nicer.' Really we could write all folksongs to give them a happy ending. Does Matty groves always have to have his head cut off, must Tom dooley always face the hangman, do the Yellow gypsies have to go the same way..... these are our songs. Lets plan for a nicer world. |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: GUEST,MC Fat (at work) Date: 11 Jan 11 - 07:50 AM It would have been a lot better if Willie McBride had come back from the First World War and if they hadn't found Lord Lovels fairy bride in the Mistletoe Bough |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: GUEST,Suibhne Astray Date: 11 Jan 11 - 07:59 AM these are our songs. That's a common misunderstanding of the revival - they are not our songs, but the songs of those who made them. For sure we may remake them, but they then become something else - much as Stonehenge would become something else if we remade that. |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: TheSnail Date: 11 Jan 11 - 08:00 AM From what I have heard, in the original story of King Lear that Shakespeare knicked from Hollinshed and others, Cordelia defeated her sisters, restoresd Lear to the throne and then ruled in her own right after he died. |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: GUEST,Gail Date: 11 Jan 11 - 08:06 AM and if only Anachie Gordon had got home on the earlier tide.... |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: GUEST,colin holt Date: 11 Jan 11 - 08:08 AM And if John Ball had just kept his mouth shut ...... |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: GUEST,Alan Whittle Date: 11 Jan 11 - 08:10 AM Yes but someone (was it Garrick?) decided to piss about with shakespeare's masterpiece. Can't we piss about with materpieces? its our turn on the earth to live and breathe - must every folk evening have its Grand Guignol moments - and usually longer than moments. as Christy sang, 'some old songs aren't worth singing...' |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: theleveller Date: 11 Jan 11 - 08:31 AM "It's well I like your feather bed And better I like your sheets But I'd like it best if you hopped in And gave us both a treat." |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Silas Date: 11 Jan 11 - 08:39 AM And if only Franklin could have wated for global warming... |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Silas Date: 11 Jan 11 - 08:40 AM And if Benbow had jumped at just the right time... |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Will Fly Date: 11 Jan 11 - 08:43 AM And if only Dives had taken Lazarus down the pub... |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Steve Gardham Date: 11 Jan 11 - 08:52 AM Leveller, what's that about great minds? This is what jumped out at me. Lord Barnard looked at Little Musgrave His face was rather gleesome, He jumped right in between them both Crying 'Let's have a threesome!' Spooky or what? Of course if they'd all read the warnings in the first verse none of these bad endings would have happened. |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Nicholas Waller Date: 11 Jan 11 - 08:54 AM "Lady, come down the stairs," says Fat Lankin. "How can I see in the dark?" she says unto him. "You have silver mantles," says Fat Lankin. "Lady, come down the stairs by the light of them." Down the stairs the lady came, thinking no harm Lankin was ready to surprise her with a treat. There was food all in the kitchen There was food all in the hall There was food all in the parlour Where my lady she did eat. Now Fat Lankin shall be cheered to the rafters oh so high, And the good nurse shall be turning in the fire, another pie. Said the lord unto his lady as he rode tapping his tum "Beware of Fat Lankin, who learned cooking from his mum; Beware the wine, beware the cheese, beware of Fat Lankin Make sure the doors are bolted well Or toss your diet in the bin" |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Bob the Postman Date: 11 Jan 11 - 08:58 AM An all-purpose happy ending: Out by the henhouse the rooster did crow The sun through the casement did gleam The hectic events and the tragic results Turned out to be only a dream |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Taconicus Date: 11 Jan 11 - 09:08 AM Aww, there's nothing like a good sad-ending howler. But this reminds me of the Boy Scouts, where we sang songs rewritten with happy endings. Oh my darlin, oh my darlin, Oh my darlin Clementine, With artificial respiration I did save my Clementine! |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Crane Driver Date: 11 Jan 11 - 09:24 AM Hey, come off it lads - these are folk songs - we're not supposed to get pleasure from them! {runs for cover} ;-} |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Manitas_at_home Date: 11 Jan 11 - 09:28 AM Those Babes in the Woods should have used a Os map and kept to the path. |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: theleveller Date: 11 Jan 11 - 09:36 AM "Leveller, what's that about great minds? hahaha! Is that great or dirty? |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: GUEST Date: 11 Jan 11 - 09:41 AM Yes, I can hear Banks of Red Roses So he took out his pen knife, it was both long and sharp and he plunged it right into his own poor Mary's heart But lucky they were next to a top knotch hospital And Mary's now doing well, and Johnny's gang to jail... And it being Sweedan, he's soon to be reformed And will stop killing girl friends and leaving us forelorn Yes he'll stop knifing sweathearts, he now knows it is wrong And poor ol' Alan Whittle will have his happy song ah... and the inspiration of all this... to the tune of Banna Strand... Sir Rodger survied the hanging in dreay london town He dropped on Old Victoria and broke her bloody crown So she freed the Irish nation, invited us to tea She and Rodger took a holliday all on the Irish sea. And by the way the british fireing squad missed Connolly and all Just like our Cousin Rodger, who missed that dreadful fall Michael Collens had a hat band made of the finest steel The Titanic sank the iceburg, and Obama's change is real. (Sorry... YES, I DID vote for the bugger) |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Waddon Pete Date: 11 Jan 11 - 09:43 AM ...a holiday, a holiday, and the first one of the year.... Matty Groves saw it was raining, stayed in and had a beer! I guess we all feel sorry for Matty as he always gets quoted, but the when the Fairport track starts on Liege and Lief, it couldn't be any other song, could it! However a member of the audience said to me the other day, "I'm glad you don't sing all these miserable songs all night"......so I guess I'm leaning towards your argument here Alan.... Best wishes, Peter |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: InOBU Date: 11 Jan 11 - 09:48 AM Oh... banks of red roses and Rodger Casement, my songs, sorry, I did not know my cookie got ate... Lorcan Otway |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Bernard Date: 11 Jan 11 - 10:02 AM I've been singing this 'extra verse' to Claudy Banks, which gives the song the ending I thought it may really have had in the real world...! When Betsy, she heard him say so She smacked him around the head! Saying 'After I have finished with you You will wish you were really dead! You'll wish that you had perished All on the coast of Spain, And if you know what's good for you You'll just sod off again!' I've always thought the happy endings on most 'broken token' songs were a bit far fetched...! ;o) |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: muppett Date: 11 Jan 11 - 10:13 AM What if I'd not been a Wild Rover for many a year? What if I wasn't going to Scarborough Fair? What if Tom Pierse hadn't lent out his grey mare? What if that Sailor hadn't become Drunk, we wouldn't have to do owt with him? What if I hadn't gone off with that girl whose hair hung over her shoulder tied up with a black velvet band? |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: autoharpbob Date: 11 Jan 11 - 10:38 AM Saying "May I come along with you?" "Oh yes my love, may as well!" |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Bob the Postman Date: 11 Jan 11 - 11:03 AM Here's my ending for Claudy Banks: But when I had disclosed myself She threw a hissy fit. She threw her fist into my nose, Saying, "Johnny, you're a shit. You seem to think it funny To mess around my head. I wouldn't marry you If every man on earth were dead." And when I heard this dreadful news I said, "Fiddle-dee-dee. There's many a change worked on a chap By seven years at sea. I am an altered young man And so I wish you joy, 'Cause as for me I'd rather wed A handsome cabin boy." |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: GUEST,Alan Whittle Date: 11 Jan 11 - 12:35 PM The twelve month and a day being 'oer The ghost, it started off All right I'll pop back from the dead And then we'll have it off. |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: The Sandman Date: 11 Jan 11 - 01:19 PM Tom Dooley did face the hangman ,furthermore he was innocent, its a true story, FOLK SONGS as they are represent real life. they are not bollody mills and boon stories |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: The Sandman Date: 11 Jan 11 - 01:21 PM stop behaving like fecking iddjits if every song had a happy ending, it would be tedious, get a grip , you will be having sex changes next |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Geoff the Duck Date: 11 Jan 11 - 01:34 PM I think if you look again you will find Old Uncle Tom Cobbleigh got lost, but is warming his bones in the newly re-roofed Stonehenge "Hard Rock" cafe. Quack! #GtD. |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Dan Schatz Date: 11 Jan 11 - 02:12 PM I take this thread as an opportunity for plain old fun. If only Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender had sought pre-marital counseling.... Dan |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: GUEST,Alan Whittle Date: 11 Jan 11 - 02:59 PM sex changes....Famous flower of serving Men you can't tell me there wasn't a bit of hanky panky going on there, pre=revelation that is. how many men do you call....famous flower. You can kiss my tulips and play with my periwinkle, if there wasn't. And why do they have to burn Mum at the end.....? Ammended version Jump off the pyre and kiss me Mum! We'll both go shopping and be good chums. Seriously, wouldn't that be a lot nicer? |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: GUEST,SteveG Date: 11 Jan 11 - 03:05 PM The princess saw the hole in the boat And so she stuffed her crown in. Sir Pat and all his crew were saved She stopped em all from drownin'. (That's assuming the Norwegian princess was in fact the chief cargo as some say.) |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: sharyn Date: 11 Jan 11 - 03:35 PM Are you lot, serious? I can't tell. How about, for Clerk Colville, after his lady says, "Be sure you seek no well-faured may,"if the mermaid replies: I'll scarify my face, my lord, I'll black it good and rend my hair, Then we can f_ _ _ all night and day And of your lady have no care. Somehow I doubt this would change the outcome ... |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Joybell Date: 11 Jan 11 - 03:40 PM ...Some took off their coats and some took off their caps Just a-trying to fill in all those salty-water gaps ... And amazingly it worked. Stopped the water a treat. They hauled the little cabin boy out before he drowned and made friends with the enemy. Cheers, Joy |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Joybell Date: 11 Jan 11 - 03:51 PM So the king has written a broad letter And signed it with his hand And he's sent it to Sir Patrick Spens A walking all on the strand And the very first line Sir Patrick read A loud, loud laugh gave he "Silliest plan I ever saw" And he chucked it into the sea. |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Tootler Date: 11 Jan 11 - 04:44 PM For Sovay When he did perceive his love's intent He took off the ring and cast it at her feet Saying, "If that's how you trust me my sweet, Here's your ring which you may keep." So saying, he turned and walked away. |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Noreen Date: 11 Jan 11 - 05:06 PM Nice ideas folks, keep 'em coming! :) |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: olddude Date: 11 Jan 11 - 05:10 PM Good idea |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: GUEST,Alan Whittle Date: 11 Jan 11 - 05:26 PM Deadly serious! |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Bill D Date: 11 Jan 11 - 05:46 PM ♫They gave him his orders down at Monroe, Virginia, Sayin' Steve, you're way behind time, But take it real easy over White Oak Mountain, They can wait for their mail this time.♫ |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: GUEST,Alan Whittle Date: 11 Jan 11 - 05:48 PM Now we're off to India for seven long year Tantric sex in an ashram, you'll like that my dear. And if we ever return again, it'll be in the spring In our meaningful relationship, you know - that sort of thing.... |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Don Firth Date: 11 Jan 11 - 06:28 PM Lord Randal's "true love," for reasons unknown, does a Lucretia Borgia number on her young suitor and the result is one of the classic ballads. Back in about nineteen-ought-fifty-seven, a friend of mine and I took a class together at the University of Washington English Department, "The Popular Ballad," taught by Dr. David C. Fowler. The term paper was a doozy. Research a ballad and get together as many versions as you can find. My friend chose "Lord Randal." He turned up either full texts or references to over 1,013 different versions of the ballad! He found one American version which had been rewritten as a propaganda song for the dairy industry. Little Jimmie Randall had been inadvertently poisoned when his girlfriend fed him oleomargarine instead of real butter! But the real lulu was—believe it or not—"Billie Boy." He goes to visit his girl friend and she doesn't poison him, she feeds him cherry pie. Which she had baked herself, "quick as a cat can wink its eye." The sad part is that "she's a young thing and cannot leave her mother." Yup. It's a variant of "Lord Randal." Or the ballad "The Three Ravens." How about eliminating the dead knight, the hounds, the hawks, the fallow doe and all that stuff and have the three ravens all fly down to the local Burger King? Barbara Allen goes to see Sweet William, who is pining away for her to the point that the poor sod is dying. Instead of turning up her nose and walking out, how about she rips off her clothes, jumps into bed with him, and humps him to death? He dies anyway, but when they bury him by the old church tower, he has a smile on his face. Yeah, great idea! Let's give them all a happy ending! Don Firth |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: The Sandman Date: 11 Jan 11 - 06:31 PM horus: Shut the door their coming through the window, Shut the window their coming through the door, Shut the door their coming through the window, Oh the room is full and won't hold anymore. I went in for rabbits and I kept them in a hutch. I only bought two rabbits, it didn't seem like much. Next morning when I looked at them how they had multiplied. A thousand rabbits jumped right out and all the neighbors cried: |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: The Sandman Date: 11 Jan 11 - 06:33 PM you might not think that has a happy ending, but it is if you look at it from from a rabbit's perspective. |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: The Sandman Date: 11 Jan 11 - 06:45 PM 'Twas gettin' dark, the team got bogged, The axle snapped in two I lost me matches and me pipe, Now what was I to do? The rains come down, 'twas bitter cold, And hungry too was I And the dog shat in the tuckerbox Nine miles from Gundagai .. again the dog had been suffering from constipation for over a week, had tried senna pods, figs and had also eaten six cans of prunes, so he was very happy when he eventually shifted his load and christened the TUCKER BOX, SO from the dogs point of view it was a very very happy ending, and all due to drinking Watneys Red |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Mark Clark Date: 11 Jan 11 - 07:05 PM If folksongs were nice happy songs about happy things like the ones they gave us in grammar school, I'd never have become interested in them at all. No suspense, no insight into the human condition, nothing to see here (move along). Imagine singing a song to your daughter saying that she shouldn't go out in the woods alone with young men because it isn't considered the "nice” thing to do. Much more fun and effective to sing Pretty Polly or Omie Wise. Those will get her attention and she'll remember the song and the story and maybe even the lesson. What would I Know Where I'm Goin' be like if Johnny was a nice boy whom everyone's parents wanted for their daughters? - Mark |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Bill D Date: 11 Jan 11 - 07:20 PM ...so the child in "The False Knight on the Road" should have given some flip answers to the questions? ;>) |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: Clontarf83 Date: 11 Jan 11 - 07:21 PM a rewrite of will the circle be unbroken--rewritten as a wedding song: We have gathered, here together, on this bright and happy day For our love of, one another Is a love that's come to stay. We are standing, here before you, to give witness to our hearts We will care for, one another Until death we will not part As we walk through, life together, we will always be as one With our love for one another We will face each rising sun Chorus Yes this circle, will be unbroken By and by lord by and by For our hearts have surely spoken To the sky lord to the sky |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: GUEST,Alan Whittle Date: 11 Jan 11 - 07:43 PM Thats lovely Clontarf83! I dunno, forget about moral tales for the young Mark Clark. Give the people in folksongs a bit of a break. Think of pretty polly......poor lass! named after a bleeding parrot, what sort of a start in life is that. attracted to an inbred who spends half the night digging a grave for her. lets see if we can fix her up with a nice young man who will respect her and build up a tights empire in her honour. |
Subject: RE: lets rewrite folksongs with happy ending From: GUEST,Alan Whittle Date: 12 Jan 11 - 07:32 AM I love that - the old '97 chugs safely into the station after all these years! Well done Bill for bringing her home safe! |
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