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One morning in the month of May
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Subject: One morning in the month of May From: Phil Edwards Date: 01 May 08 - 05:44 AM A friend of mine once said there's really only one English folk song: "One morning in the month of May, I went out and met a charming maid. We had sex, then I dumped her. The end." This is, of course, far from the truth. Further research has established that there are two English folk songs, the other one being: "One morning in the month of May, I went out and met a charming man. We had sex, then he dumped me. I'm pregnant and my life is ruined. The end." Here's the question: how do the other traditions compare? Picture the scene: it's one morning in the month of May; you are the Scots/Irish/Appalachian/Australian/etc tradition. What did you do next? |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: theleveller Date: 01 May 08 - 05:48 AM It usually takes place on Radcliffe Highway! |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: BusyBee Paul Date: 01 May 08 - 05:50 AM Oh dear, I must be getting old. I didn't even think about sex this morning. Not that it would have done me any good if I had! ;-) |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: davyr Date: 01 May 08 - 05:58 AM What about all the jolly stuff the Coppers sing about the delights of ploughing, mowing, reaping, sowing, being a Shepherd of the Downs, etc? To say nothing of all the industrial songs about being oppressed by looms, shuttles, poverty, sadistic overseers, and so on... Or all the salty sailor, no women within a thousand miles, haul on the bowline mullarkey? Need I go on? ;-) |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Sugwash Date: 01 May 08 - 05:58 AM At the risk of perpetuating a sterotype, a Yorkshire version could be: As I was a walking one morning in May I espied a young damsel so comely and gay And as I was rehearsing just what I might say She asked me for money; I sent her on her way! Cleckheaton, born and bred and proud of it. |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Paul Burke Date: 01 May 08 - 06:03 AM All the industrial songs were made up by Ewan McColl and Bert Lloyd, as any fule kno. Stan Hugill made up the shanties. Baring-Gould and Cecil Sharp made up all the ploughboys and maids and Roger at the fair songs, and left out all the naughty bits, which were made up by Martin Carthy, who made up all the tunes. |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: GUEST,LTS pretending to work Date: 01 May 08 - 07:28 AM What about the poor maid that the Kippers sing about? That woman walked out every morning one May and didn't get so much as a nibble... She lost a stone and gained thighs like telegraph poles, but still... Regretably there are not that many pretty ploughboys around east London, and at least two of the three Rogers I know would still have been in bed at 10.00am LTS |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: GUEST, Topsie Date: 01 May 08 - 07:46 AM And I believe the third is at this moment cavorting around London with a Jack (no idea what he was up to at dawn, mind). |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: mandotim Date: 01 May 08 - 07:57 AM Have you noticed how no-one ever roves out on a wet Wednesday morning in November? And how the Roving Out season always starts in either May, or the week before Easter? Tim |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Dave Hanson Date: 01 May 08 - 08:25 AM 4 songs you forgot dead miners and dead sailors. eric |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: curmudgeon Date: 01 May 08 - 08:29 AM On another note, Tim... "Twas a cold and dreary morning in December..." And everything just got worse - Tom |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Frank_Finn Date: 01 May 08 - 08:46 AM Or this classic As I roved out one May morning in the merry month of June . . . . . |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: SINSULL Date: 01 May 08 - 09:03 AM But those miners and sailors invariably left behind a pregnant wife and girlfriend and a bunch of hungry children whose lives were ruined. |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: theleveller Date: 01 May 08 - 10:29 AM Billy Bragg summed it up when he said folk music was about death and shagging. |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Dave Hanson Date: 01 May 08 - 10:30 AM Yeah it's a fine old British tradition. eric |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: GUEST,leeneia Date: 01 May 08 - 11:07 AM One morning in the month of May: I met my love on a mountain and strangled her. I robbed a bank I closed the cotton mill I worked in a coal mine I sang songs in the fields I had a farm, ee i ee i o it was a beautiful day o dl ay ee hoo! |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: davyr Date: 01 May 08 - 11:11 AM "Billy Bragg summed it up when he said folk music was about death and shagging." Funny how there aren't any songs about necrophilia (or are there?)... |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: theleveller Date: 01 May 08 - 11:20 AM Th Unquiet Grave gets pretty close |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: open mike Date: 01 May 08 - 12:35 PM James Taylor did a song that might have been some American's first contact with British Ballads...(is this a trad. Brit. ballad, or composed by James Taylor, or someone else? One morning, one morning, one morning in May I spied a young couple, they were making their way One was a maiden so bright and so fair And the other was a soldier and a brave volunteer Good morning, good morning, good morning said he And where are you going my pretty lady I'm going out a walking on the banks of the sea Just to see the waters gliding hear the nightingale sing Now they had not been standing but a minute or two And out of his knapsack a fiddle he drew And the tune that he played made the valleys all ring Oh hark cried the maiden hear the nightingale sing Oh maiden fair maiden tis time to give o'er Oh no kind soldier please play one tune more For I'd rather hear your fiddle at the touch of one string Than to see the waters gliding hear the nightingale sing Oh soldier kind soldier will you marry me Oh no pretty maiden that never shall be I've a wife in London and children twice three Two wives and the army's too many for me Well I'll go back to London and I'll stay there for a year It's often that I'll think of you my little dear And if ever I return it will be in the spring Just to see the waters gliding hear the nightingale sing To see the waters gliding hear the nightingale sing |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Ruth Archer Date: 01 May 08 - 12:40 PM "Funny how there aren't any songs about necrophilia (or are there?)..." "The Unquiet Grave gets pretty close" Not forgetting the Holland Hankie, which at least contains some post-mortem snogging. Nine months dead...eeeeeeew! |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: GUEST Date: 01 May 08 - 01:00 PM What about As I walked out one morning in the dew |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego Date: 01 May 08 - 02:16 PM Here is a contemporary take from the pen of Broadway lyricist, Sheldon Harnick: Completely round is the perfect pearl the oyster manufactures. Completely round is the steering wheel that leads to compound fractures. Completely round is the golden fruit that hangs on the orange tree. Yes, the circle shape is quite reknowned. 'Tis sad to say it can be found in the low-down dirty run around My true love gave to me. Yes, my true love gave to me. Completely square was the velvet box he said my ring would be in. Completely square was the envelope he said farewell to me in. Completely square was the handkerchief I burnish constantly. As it dries my eyes of the tears I shed And blows my nose 'til it turns bright red for a perfect square is my true love's head. He will not marry me. No! He will not marry me. Rectangular was the hotel door, my true love to sneak through. Rectangular was the transom over which I had to peek through. Rectangular was the hotel room I entered angrily. Now rectangular was the wooden box Where lies my love 'neath the golden flox. They say he died of the chicken pox. In part, I must agree. One chick too many had he. Triangular is the piece of pie I eat to ease my sorrow. Triangular is the hatchet blade I plan to hide tomorrow. Triangular the relationship that now has ceased to be, And triangular is the garment thin that fastens on with a safety pin To a prize I had no wish to win. It's a lasting memory that my true love gave to me. |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: JeffB Date: 02 May 08 - 08:49 AM As I roved out one May morning I was singing a country song when I met with a folk song collector, and oh he did me wrong, for he sat me down upon the bank, took out his reel of tape, and he had my country ditties down before I could escape. anon (probably) |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Dave Hanson Date: 02 May 08 - 08:54 AM It's Sidney Carter actually, he wrote, " I met a man with a microphone " not folksong collector. eric |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: davyr Date: 02 May 08 - 09:17 AM In reply to Open Mike, "To hear the nightingale sing" is trad Irish, according to the DT database. Definitely not by James Taylor, anyway. |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: JeffB Date: 02 May 08 - 02:59 PM Ta eric, Sid Carter of course. Man with microphone. Was there ever a verse 2? |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Tootler Date: 02 May 08 - 04:59 PM I always thought "nightingale sings" was trad English. The DT actually says it was recorded by the Clancy's. That doesn't necessarily make it Irish [g] I notice that there is also an American version in the DT database. |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: MartinRyan Date: 02 May 08 - 05:04 PM Apart from which..... there are no nightingales in Ireland. Regards |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: GUEST,The Mole Catcher's unplugged Apprentice Date: 02 May 08 - 05:04 PM One morning in the month of May: I met my love on a mountain and strangled her. I robbed a bank I closed the cotton mill I worked in a coal mine I sang songs in the fields I had a farm, ee i ee i o it was a beautiful day o dl ay ee hoo! And hanged I shall be! Charlotte R |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Gurney Date: 02 May 08 - 05:22 PM JeffB, I'll put it on a ''Lyric Add' thread. |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: TheSnail Date: 02 May 08 - 05:22 PM Met my sister. We had sex. She got pregnant. Killed her. Failed to convince my mother that I'd slaughtered my livestock. Went into exile. |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Phil Edwards Date: 02 May 08 - 05:27 PM You forgot the "Fol-de-rol-de-riddle-ol-day". |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Liz the Squeak Date: 02 May 08 - 05:58 PM No, no, no... with May songs it's not 'fol de rol' it's Fa la la la la la la... as in Thomas Morley's famous Maying song.... 'Now is the month of Maying, When merry lads are playing, Fa la la la la la la Each with his bonny lass, upon the greeny grass, Fa la la la la. The Spring clad all in gladness, Doth laugh at Winter´s sadness, Fa la la la la. And to the bagpipes sound, The nymphs tread out their ground, Fa la la la la. Fie then! why sit we musing, Youth´s sweet delight refusing? Fa la la la la. Say dainty nymphs and speak, shall we play Barley break? Fa la la la la. LTS |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Gurney Date: 02 May 08 - 05:59 PM Me and the hounds chased after Reynard, and tore him to pieces in the old barnyard. But though we've searched here and we've searched there, we still can't catch that bloody white hare. |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Surreysinger Date: 02 May 08 - 06:53 PM Jeff B Second verse, as remembered at this juncture some 30 years after I used to sing it: Now to Tin Pan Alley he took my song, And there he chanced to meet a publisher Who cleaned it up, and gave my song a beat And now they rock and now they roll And now they pay a fee to that nice young man with the microphone And nobody thinks of me. There is third verse, but I've never quite been able to remember it properly. IIRC it finishes up with something along the lines of: Don't ever trust a roving man, whoever he may be With his hand upon the microphone and not upon your knee |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Surreysinger Date: 02 May 08 - 06:58 PM Actually having just got back from the club, and sung TWO songs with the wonderful words "As I walked out one May morning" in the first line ... in both of them the girl ended up with the guy.... Searching for Lambs, and The Bold Fisherman ... in both cases girl meets boy, boy makes overtures and offers to marry her... no sex actually ensues in the song, and in the latter case the last verse records that he does actually follow through with the offer of marriage... so does that actually make THREE English folk songs ? |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Richard Mellish Date: 02 May 08 - 07:04 PM In further response to > Funny how there aren't any songs about necrophilia (or are there?)... I agree that the Holland Handkerchief is the best example, but one other that gets somewhat towards it is Clerk Saunders, where May Margaret sleeps through the murder, and wakes up in the morning to find Saunders dead in her arms. And in Bruton Town (and versions set in other places), the girl spends some days with her lover's corpse until cruel hunger drives her home to confront her brothers. Richard |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Kent Davis Date: 02 May 08 - 09:49 PM There is at least one more folk song: "I met a girl. She dumped me, so I died, so she died, and thorny vines grew from our graves." The version of Barbara Allen that I know best, from Patrick Gainer of Central West Virginia, begins: "One morning in the month of May, The green buds were a-swelling, Young Johnny Green on his death-bed lay, For the love of Barbara Allen..." Kent |
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Subject: RE: One morning in the month of May From: Dave Hanson Date: 03 May 08 - 07:33 AM JeffB, I don't think there is any more, I have just the one verse as an introduction in Stephen Sedleys book ' The Seeds Of Love ' eric |
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