Songs that can be sung long or short

Subject: RE: Songs that can be sung long or short
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Jul 15 - 10:17 AM

Wow, the thing I'm thinking of (it was En Passant Par La Lorraine that I had thought of at first, but figured A La Claire Fontaine would be more known) is a French thing and I never noticed! I love being that bilingual. There are children's books I am surprised to find were in one language or the other, too.

You other Europeans, does the "repeat the last line as the first of the next in couplet songs" happen in German or Italian or anything?

Subject: RE: Songs that can be sung long or short
From: Uncle_DaveO
Date: 17 Jul 15 - 10:09 AM

This song is not well-known. That's for the very good
reason that I wrote it almost forty years ago for my
youngest son. It has the last-and-first-line repetition,
but I don't think it would work, trying to eliminate the
line, because the repetition becomes part of a separate
sentence in that next verse, and of course it would mess
up the tune. So, alas, no long-or-short option, and of
course it's pretty short as it is.

                  LULLABY FOR A BREASTFED BABY

Go to sleep, my little boy   (girl)
Dream about a milk-filled booby!
Mama nurse you in a while
When your time has come.

When your time has come, my boy   (girl)
Mama milk there'll be in plenty
When your mama has let down
And nursin' time has come.

When nursin' time has come, my boy   (girl)
Mama milk will fill your tummy
With the nipple in your mouth
You'll never need your thumb!

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: Songs that can be sung long or short
From: Snuffy
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 03:23 PM

I heard it sung once at a Festival singaround with the "I never did intend.." verse as the chorus (which rather blunted the point of the denouement).

Subject: RE: Songs that can be sung long or short
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 02:17 PM

Yes, it's that one MGM-Lion - "Many a bonnie lass". It IS quite commonly sung as a chorus up here, though, yes, strictly speaking, it is not one. Some bands will repeat it after every second or third verse rather than every one.

Subject: RE: Songs that can be sung long or short
From: MartinRyan
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 10:36 AM

On a slightly different note, there are a number of songs where versions of differing length seem to live quite independent existences. In the Irish tradition, Spancil Hill and The Clarin's Mossy Banks (also known as "The Other Fields of Athenry") are two good examples.

Regards

Subject: RE: Songs that can be sung long or short
From: Ged Fox
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 10:00 AM

The Three Ravens -
"There were three ravens sate on a tree (X 3)
And they were black as black can be"

or do it without the repeats in half the time.

Subject: RE: Songs that can be sung long or short
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 16 Jul 15 - 09:47 AM

T.Bogle -- Which part of Bonnie Lass Of Fyvie do you "know as the chorus"? It isn't a chorus song -- Jon Raven of The Black Country Three, I recall, used to introduce it as regretfully having none, but saying they would use the "Many a bonny lass in the Howes of Auchterless" verse as a chorus "because we like singing choruses".

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Songs that can be sung long or short
From: RTim
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 06:05 PM

I used to sing The Three Butchers - but if time was short I would sing The Two Butchers instead!!

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Songs that can be sung long or short
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 04:55 PM

Maybe not quite what you were thinking of, but there are plenty of songs which I would think of as chorus songs, but some people do not sing them as such, maybe only singing the part i know as the chorus at beginning and end of the song - leaving us who like joining in choruses a bit disappointed! Examples would include Dumbarton's Drums and Bonnie Lass of Fyvie - the latter can however be very long of you sing all verses and a chorus each time!

Subject: RE: Songs that can be sung long or short
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 04:28 PM

Also "Auprès de ma blonde". But it does seem to be a French thing. Racking brains to think of an English language instance; but in vain so far!

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Songs that can be sung long or short
From: Joe_F
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 03:36 PM

Maybe it's a French thing. I know another French one: "En passant de la Lorraine, avec mes sabots...".

Subject: Songs that can be sung long or short
From: GUEST,Mrrzy at work
Date: 15 Jul 15 - 12:30 PM

Hey, a thought came up on a BS thread that made me wonder - I know several songs where, for instance, each final line of verse is also repeated as the first line of the next verse. There are times I skip the repetition and sing the song "short" and times I do all the repetitions, and sing it what I think of as "the long way around." I am trying to think of examples and they are all coming up in French, but I am sure I know English songs this happens with also.

For instance: A la claire fontaine m'en allant promener / J'ai trouve l'eau si belle que je m'y suis baignee
then the next verse is supposed to be "J'ai trouve l'eau si belle que je m'y suis baignee / Sur la plus haute brance le rossignol chantait" and then that second line would be repeated as the first line of verse 3, but I sometimes just don't repeat it and the next verse just starts with the rossignol and goes on.

Why can't I think of any examples in English? Are there any? Is there a term for this type of song?