Lyr/Chord Req: Cottager's Reply (F Mansell/C Wood)

Subject: Chord Req: Cottagers Reply-As played by Chris Wood
From: GUEST,Mark
Date: 01 Mar 13 - 06:00 PM

Can anyone help me with the chords for Cottagers Reply. I am pretty fresh to playing and love this song, but everytime I think I have it in the bag I play it the next day and there are several spots where it is just jarring! Not sure if he maybe plays it in some "exotic" (to me) tuning.

Thanks in advance.

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Cottagers Reply-As played by Chris Wood
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Mar 13 - 06:26 PM

Funny you should mention that song -it's one of my favourites, too... I like the way CW does it but not as much as my version... ;-) CW's "lilty" guitarwork, although excellent, doesn't quite do it for me - I sorta slowed it down a tad with a simplified finger picked backing using just G C and D (I know- sounds a bit lame , but it works!!)Not sure about CW's tuning though, I'm afraid (OpenD, maybe?)Fiddle about with the chords to suit yourself and see what happens.. Good luck..

Regards to all....Spot :-)

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Cottagers Reply-As played by Chris Wood
From: GUEST,Mark
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 05:24 AM

Thanks Spot

Subject: RE: Chord Req: Cottagers Reply-As played by Chris Wood
From: Newport Boy
Date: 02 Mar 13 - 05:56 AM

Chris Wood's rewrite is OK, but nowhere near as good as Frank Mansell's original poem. It's a good arrangement, though - I think Frank would have liked it.

Phil

Subject: Lyr Add: THE COTTAGER'S REPLY (Frank Mansell)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 09:19 PM

This seems to be the original poem. I have no idea how Chris Wood might have adapted it.

From Cotswold Ballads by Frank Mansell (Stroud: Richard Courtauld, 1974), page 60:


THE COTTAGER'S REPLY
Frank Mansell

You say you'll pay ten thousand pound
For this old house and a bit of ground,
You like these hills and have it planned
To settle here, on Cotswold land.

Well, come you in and sit you down,
You would-be buyer from the town,
And listen to me while I tell
The reasons why I will not sell.

This stone-tiled cottage you call 'nice'
Was gained at far too high a price,
That I should lightly sign away
What others toiled for, night and day,

Who hammered blue-stone by the yard
To pay the rent when times were hard,
Who spent themselves beneath the sun,
Tending the fields you gaze upon.

Their time is over, but for me
Remains the wild hare running free,
And snuffling brock who travels still
Ancestral highways on the hill.

And I, as Cotswold bred as these,
Have likewise need of fields and trees,
To feel the soil that nursed my race,
Beneath me in my native place.

Nor would I tread the barren street
With strangers round me, none to greet,
Expectant at each opening door
To find some face I see no more.

Enough for me this cot of stone,
A mite of land to call my own,
A friend to drink with, wench to smile,
And Cotswold country by the mile.

So take your glass and drain it down,
You would-be peasant from the town,
Go on your journey, let me bide,
Content in my own countryside.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chord Req: Cottager's Reply (F Mansell/C Wood)
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 09:38 PM

It uses basically five chords. If it's played in D the chords he uses are

D, Dmaj7, G, A and in one spot I think a Bm.

Nice song.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chord Req: Cottager's Reply (F Mansell/C Wood)
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Mar 13 - 09:57 PM

Mark, how long have you been playing for?

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chord Req: Cottager's Reply (F Mansell/C Wood)
From: GUEST,Mark
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 07:53 AM

@999

Thanks for the chords.

About 3 months now. No ambitions towards greatness, basically I am a percussionist that found the gaps in "working" with in bands frustrating. So I got myself a guitar to fill in by playing at local folk clubs etc. as i just love playing live and hate a 6 week hiaitus between gigs.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chord Req: Cottager's Reply (F Mansell/C Wood)
From: breezy
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 08:00 AM

i was playing it outdoors one day and someone asked me if I was Chris Wood !

Another time I was asked by a senior gentleman if I knew Frank Mansell. I said I did not.

He took my address and shrotly after kindly sent me a booklet of Mansell's works

Therein was the Cottagers Reply in its entirety as posted above by Jim D

I have taken the liberty of marrying the the two versions while staying true to the original.

I particularly liked the lines

'to feel the soil that nursed my race'

'friend to drink with , wench to smile'

So I have a fuller version knowing that 'folksong listeners/academicians ' will have no difficulty follow the whole story, being as we are of superior concentration powers than some


As for the guitar I have the C Wood runs etc based upon a dropped D tuning
my voice can sing it in D
I play an F shaped chord on the 10th fret to begin the run

The Bm comes on the word ''land' at the end of the song

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chord Req: Cottager's Reply (F Mansell/C Wood)
From: GUEST,999
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 08:31 AM

Good to meet you, Mark. Assuming you are right handed--your left hand chords and your right hand picks/strums--the following stuff may be helpful.

Unless you are in a single drop D (a tuning in which the bass E string is tuned down one tone (that is it goes from E down to D)), the Dmaj7 is done thus

X00222

The X means don't play the string, the 0 means it is left open, and the 2 means you fret that string at the second fret.

The usefulness of the drop D breezy plays it in will come clear after you use it for a while. However, it will eventually require the use of your chord-hand thumb (with the A chord for example). The chord would look like

202220 or 20222X with the thumb doing the 2 on the bass string.

Double drop D means both the bass and treble E strings are tuned down one tone--or from E to D. That becomes a different animal and might best be left alone for a while. I wish you every success with the guitar.

############################3

You shouldn't have mentioned being a drummer. It's kinda like saying you play banjo. Opens you up to all kinds of abuse.

Q) What do you call a guy who hangs out with musicians?

or

Q) How do you know that the stage is level?

or

Q) How do you get a drummer off your porch?

Good luck.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chord Req: Cottager's Reply (F Mansell/C Wood)
From: Newport Boy
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 08:40 AM

Thnaks, Jim, for posting the words. It's a great poem from a genuine countryman. Listening to Frank's reading of it, I'm always struck by the subtle difference between the first and last verses:

Well, come you in and sit you down,
You would-be buyer from the town

So take your glass and drain it down,
You would-be peasant from the town

and the slight emphasis that Fran put's on the word 'peasant' in the last verse - his contempt is clear.

I had the pleasure of providing the musical interludes to a reading by Frank at our poetry group in the early 70s. He was not a man I could forget.

Phil

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chord Req: Cottager's Reply (F Mansell/C Wood)
From: GUEST,jeff
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 08:57 AM

Studied this song relentlessly and can say it's in a 'Csus' tuning. A whole step below D. One needs extra thick strings and a light touch to keep from buzzing. For my own purposes I play in a simple 'dropped D' tuning. One drops the low E string to D and leaves the rest of the guitar in standard.

Doing a 'travis style' pattern of going back and forth between the 6th and 4th string while playing the single note melody Chris' version sketches out works very nicely. Using 'double stops' to harmonize the melody works very nicely as well. Like 'breezy' my voice can handle the song in D. Our versions are probably pretty similar.

I've worked up a version on the mandolin as well. The fact that it's in D lends itself very well as one has the open D and A strings available. Have long wanted to try out my mandolin arrangement on an OM, but haven't been able to obtain one, yet.

Living rural in Tennessee, USA we're expeiencing very much the same sort of gentrification explored in the original work by Frank Mansell. I've reworked the lyrics to suit the local situation and 'southern expressions' while staying true to the spirit of the original. I'm always careful to express that this is an Americanized version of an Anglicized version of a Frank Mansell poem by Chris Wood. The Cotswold Ballads get pointed to as the collection of works from which the song was composed.

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chord Req: Cottager's Reply (F Mansell/C Wood)
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 09:00 AM

@999

Thanks for the help, much appreciated.

Q: There is a $100 bill on the floor, who picks it up?

a)A drummer with a good sense of tempo?
b)The Easter Bunny?
c) A banjo player with a PhD?

A: b, because the other two don't exist.


Gotta go now, the guy has paid for his pizza and wants me gone :)

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chord Req: Cottager's Reply (F Mansell/C Wood)
From: GUEST,Mark
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 09:04 AM

Last post by me. Forgot to put my name, giving all the potential abuse a grounding in fact.

"Hey 999, the guy can't remember his own name"

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chord Req: Cottager's Reply (F Mansell/C Wood)
From: GUEST,Lavengro
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 09:27 AM

Saw Chris Wood recently and when he played this his introduction to the song included a (as he put it) little one verse "country" version. He said he had been asked for permission to use his version by a couple who were fed up of unsolicited requests from semi retired bankers wanting to buy their ranch. He did say that their version was up on youtube but I couldn't find it.

In terms of the sentiments expressed I think it chimes a lot with Imagined Village updated Hard Times of Old England?


For five generations my family have farmed
By horse and by tractor by hoe and by hand
But that won't stave of the banks latest demand
Singing oh the hard times of old England

Time was I could sell all I grew at the shop
Then Tesco turned up all of that had to stop
Now I can't make a living out of my crop
Singing oh the hard times of old England

More and more of our village gets sold every day
To folks from the city who seem happy to pay
For their holiday cottage to stand empty all day
Singing oh the hard times of old England

The Countryside Alliance expects I suppose
Our support as they're marching to bloody Blair's nose
But they said not a word when our post office closed
Singing oh the hard times of old England

The hedgerows my grandfather tended have gone
And with them the lapwing and the corncrakes sad song
And I fear I'll be following on before long
Singing oh the hard times of old England

And now to conclude and to finish my song;
Let's hope that these hard times they will not last long,
And I may soon have occasion for to alter my song
Singing oh the good times of old England
In old England very good times
                                

This last verse is one I tag into the sbove version when I play it



Well our local has turned into a 'gastro pub'
Armani and Prada, like a city boys club
Now the beers too expensive for us to keep up
Singing oh the hard times of old England

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chord Req: Cottager's Reply (F Mansell/C Wood)
From: GUEST,Seaking
Date: 08 Mar 13 - 03:41 PM

I learned this a couple of ears ago after a lot of trial and error and ended up in CGCGCE tuning. Sounds pretty close after a bit of working out but I can't say for definite what tuning Chris Wood uses.

Chris

Subject: RE: Lyr/Chord Req: Cottager's Reply (F Mansell/C Wood)
From: Tim Chesterton
Date: 19 Apr 14 - 09:57 PM

I'm pretty sure Chris Wood uses CGCGCD, actually.