Wanted - Canal tunes and songs

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: GUEST,Dave Illingworth
Date: 12 May 12 - 02:15 PM

Mr. Red.

Ref DPN+1/Dusty Miller canal songs, our CDs are part of a cottage industry (as is Dusty's forthcoming songbook). We are happy for anybody to sing them if they wish to, just as long as we get an acknowledgement out of courtsey.

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: Mr Red
Date: 12 May 12 - 09:31 AM

Many thanks for these posts.
I am avoiding anything that could be a copyright problem for the moment. If I can ask, I will, but commercial recordings are a bit of a nightmare without access to the composers.
I have got a few original tracks named after local places from the Folk Club. And I may just turn up at Braunston. End of June is a Folk Festival free time.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE E-RI-E
From: Flash Company
Date: 10 May 12 - 09:59 AM

We were forty miles from Albany, forget it I never shall,
What a terrible storm we had one night on the E-ri-e canal!

CH
Oh the E-ri-e was a-rising,
And the gin was a-getting low,
And I hardly think we'll get a drink till we get to Buffalo-o-o
Till we get to Buffalo.

The Captain he stood up on deck with his spy glass in his hand,
And the fog it was so 'tarnal thick that he couldn't spy the land!

CH

The cook she was a grand old gal, she wore a ragged dress,
We hoisted her up on a pole as a signal of distress

CH

Well the captain he got married, and the cook she went to jail,
And I'm the only son of a gun who lived to tell the tale!

CH

Search Burl Ives and you will probably find the tune, I used to sing it in an earlier life!

FC

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: GUEST,woodchuck
Date: 09 May 12 - 11:41 PM

George Ward (www.mulesong.com) would be the "go to guy" for canal lore and songs on this side of the pond. The only one that comes to mind from your side is a funny ballad called the "Cruise of the Calabar" (all sorts of hits come up if you Google it). Good Luck!

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 May 12 - 07:47 PM

Sorry, my mistake. Ian Campbell it is.

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: Ian Hendrie
Date: 09 May 12 - 05:35 PM

To quote from John MacKenzie above :

"There's also Ewan McColl's, It's a Hard Life on the Cut."

Unless someone knows otherwise, I believe this song was written by Ian Campbell.

More details at : http://www.waterwaysongs.co.uk/hard_life.htm

Additional information (and corrections of what's already there) for the Songs of the Inland Waterways website is always welcome.

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 09 May 12 - 01:15 PM

Irish Canal tune..unnamed

I'm a dublin bargee and i travel y see
wid a cargo of turf on me boat
an when folks ax in jest, what's the plast i like best
i tell them to listen an note

every satterday night sure i feel gay an bright
as e apls an i joke an we talk
we meet girls that we know at the fine gpo
and mosy down bachelor's walk

i may take aa few jars wid me butties in bars
twud be dry fun widout eer a wet
for the horses and dogs i've oft panwed me togs
like some chaps will do for a bet

now on dollymount strad i've spent days so grand
when we swam out from off the bull wall
and we'd argue for gas wud it eer come to pass
we'd see the lagoon built at all

in the the town of athlone lives a widdah alone
and she has a agreat failthe for me
while sweet eileen asthore from outside tulla more
said to wed me she'd surely agree

then in carlow ther's kate wid a form trim an nate
all her folks want to fix up the day
an in far killaloe there's a dark colleen who
believes o'er me heart she holds sway

tho i go far afloat on me oul canal boat
an i meet with fair colleens galore
yet i alwas return to me own magser byrne
who waits for me near inchicore

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: ChrisJBrady
Date: 09 May 12 - 12:49 PM

To aid you in your creation of yet another canal-cased musical tradition from modern times there are some free downloads here:

The BBC 'Narrow Boats' LP can be found here:
http://www.oysterbroadcast.co.uk/click.html

The Folkweave Canals Trilogy can be found here:
http://www.oysterbroadcast.co.uk/click.html

Cry from the Cut - Birmingham Ballad is here:
http://www.mediafire.com/?8yi2pivbm13n1

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: sciencegeek
Date: 09 May 12 - 12:26 PM

perhaps Tom Lewis has a few tunes/songs - since he has lead a number of canal boat tours in the midlands over the years.

C Fox Smith wrote a poem "The Jolly Bargeman" concerning World War I and the government placing the canals "under government"... Charley Noble & Mike Kennedy each have a song version... Charley will have his out on CD in the near future.

George WArd, Dick Swain & Lee Murdoch are three good resources for American canal songs... imho

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 May 12 - 08:24 AM

Instrumental

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 09 May 12 - 08:10 AM

There you go, lots to choose from

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: JohnDun
Date: 09 May 12 - 07:23 AM

Here's a good one that's sung a lot over our way.   It's in another thread with the story, lyrics and tune...

Finest of them all

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: Splott Man
Date: 09 May 12 - 05:48 AM

There are some tunes named after places that are on a canal:
Treforest Waltz - The Glamorganshire
Llanover Reel - The Brecon & Abergavenny

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: mayomick
Date: 08 May 12 - 08:24 PM

MG It would be great .

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: GUEST,Derek
Date: 08 May 12 - 07:34 PM

"It's the Crinan Canal for Me"

YouTube

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: GUEST,mg
Date: 08 May 12 - 02:36 PM

I have a song in a little songbook..Walton's 152 best irish songs and ballads that a Mudcatter kindly sent me.

It has no title but it starts out

I'm a Dublin bargee and I travel y see
Wid a cargo of turf on me boat


last verse

tho i go far afloat on me oul canal boat
an I meet with fair colleens galore
yet I always return to me own magser Byrne
Who waits for me near Inchicore

I'll type it up later if anyone wants it. mg

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: GUEST,Dave Illingworth
Date: 08 May 12 - 12:27 PM

I am afraid I cannot help you with tunes, but our band DPN+1 has plenty of mainly orginal canal songs. Our first canal CD "The Unknown Boatman" is out of print, but our new canal CD (as yet untitled) should be available at Historic Narrowboat Festival at Braunston (last weekend in June) where we will be playing again.
Dusty Miller (who has written most of the songs) is producing a canal songbook containing all the relevant songs, which should be also available at the same time. Most of Dusty's songs are on Ian H. Bruce's excellent website "Songs of the Waterways":-

www.waterwaysongs.co.uk.

If using any of the songs, please email either:-

Dusty Miller      [e-mail]

Ian H. Bruce      [e-mail]    or

Dave Illingworth      [e-mail]


Good luck,

Dave   Illingworth (DPN+1)

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: Amos
Date: 08 May 12 - 12:07 PM

The two popular Erie Canal songs are representative from this side of the pond: "The ER-I-E" and "The Erie Canal" (they start, respectively, "Oh, the E_RI_E was a rising high, forget it I never shall....", and "I've got a mule and her name is Sal...." both of which obviously rhyme with "canal". :D

There's a poignant canal-related tune in Burl Ive's repertory called "The Locktender's Lament". from the same neighborhood (upper New York State).

These may not be much use to your project if you are focusing mostly on UK canal life which is a bit different.


A

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: open mike
Date: 08 May 12 - 12:06 PM

speaking of canals...

there is a U.S. song about the Erie canal....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5RJYisIYlk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HcNJ2RMOd3U

The popular song "Fifteen Miles on the Erie Canal" was written in 1905 by Thomas S. Allen after Erie Canal barge traffic was converted from mule power to engine power, raising the speed of traffic above fifteen miles per day. The tune is sadly nostalgic. ...The song memorializes the years from 1825 to 1880 when the mule barges made boomtowns out of Utica, Rome, Syracuse, Rochester, and Buffalo, and transformed New York into the Empire State.
...Erie is one of the Great Lakes.

one of those You Tube songs is done by George Ward http://www.mulesong.com/

and one of the most famous palindromes is
a man a plan a canal panama
(reads the same backwards and forwards)

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: SINSULL
Date: 08 May 12 - 11:50 AM

Check with John Roberts re:
"If it doesn't lift your spirits it will leave you numb
Best cure for the river is a bottle of rum"

Sorry - can't remember the title.

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: Mr Red
Date: 08 May 12 - 11:41 AM

I found M. Paris - he is a regular at the Chester Arms Oxford 2nd Tues French session, I have listed in on cresby.com for a long time!. Tonight - if I was that organised.
see here

mayomick - thanks, but I am a Bodhranista (I tune cuase I care) - and telephone is not quite the quality I need. But I may be in touch.

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: mayomick
Date: 08 May 12 - 11:31 AM

There's a nice tune called The Canal Boat which sounds like it would have had lyrics to it at some time . It's in PW Joyce's book , Ancient Irish Music and Ballads. I don't know how to put the notation up here . If you're still stuck for tunes I'll whistle it for you if you ring me. email me on mickbur@gmail
mick

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: mg
Date: 08 May 12 - 11:21 AM

There is some big folklore project going on about the erie canal in usa..google folklore and erie and 2012. a seminar and call for papers for new york in november. several folklorists are workiing on this and there have been somemodest grants awarded. mg

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 08 May 12 - 11:19 AM

Forgot, there's one about the Union Canal in Scotland too.

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 08 May 12 - 11:18 AM

I think it was Gary and Vera Aspey who had a song about a Bollinder Engine in a canal boat. There's also Ewan McColl's, It's a Hard Life on the Cut.

Subject: RE: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: Mr Red
Date: 08 May 12 - 11:09 AM

I found Fréderic Paris
and his album is on sale here and it suggests the tune is Bourbonnais. Which as a dancer at French & Breton dances that is far more fitting to my reasoning.
It is one of the best Schottisches going - IMNSHO. I may use it several times. Now to find M.Paris himself...........

Subject: Wanted - Canal tunes
From: Mr Red
Date: 08 May 12 - 10:55 AM

Principally canal tunes but songs are OK. And I am looking to record music at festivals, sessions & local clubs etc.

This is to put behind a video (the slide show parts). It is a record of the Stroudwater & Thames & Severn restoration ongoing currently here in Stroud. All low key and definitely not for sale, but I will be giving away a shed load of DVDs to various contributing parties.
Obviously I don't want to tread on any toes (copyrighted that is).

I have Jon Raven's permission to use his tune for "Tommy Note" and other recordings that I have already are:
"Legging Boats" (trad) from Trim Rig & A Doxy.
one from Jim Mageean called Captain Something. (the camera is my memory)
"Canal in October" from a session at Upton FF variously reported as a Breton tune, and composed by Fredrick Parry. Any info on him might be useful.
One from a Shanty singer in Stroud (memory again)
But am looking for other tunes that people might suggest like "Push Boys Push"

The local Folk Club is in on the search. Two people have composed tunes for me. They may contribute "Stroud" tunes.

So if I button hole you at a festival with a camera in my hand - there could be a DVD in it for you ........

The local museum will get one as a matter of course.

whaddayareckon?