Lyr Req: Valentine Chant (Roud 1142)

Subject: Lyr Req: Valentine Chant (Roud 1142)
From: GUEST,BlackAcornUK
Date: 10 Feb 21 - 01:26 PM

Hello all - does anyone have lyrics - or accompanying tunes! - to the song Valentine Chant, also known variously as Good morrow, Valentine; Good Morning to You Valentine; etc?

I've searched on here and can only find one in-passing previous reference; it also proves elusive on Mainly Norfolk (a version by English Tapestry is noted on the 1974 Folksound Records compilation 'The First Folk Review Record').

The Roud index number is 1142; here's the link to the VWML reference:
https://www.vwml.org/search?view=search&q=rn1142.

Many thanks for any/all pointers!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Valentine Chant (Roud 1142)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 10 Feb 21 - 02:15 PM

There is a long text from Alfred Williams in the Roud index listing and two or three tunes, though two look partial. (Look at the Media fields)


Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Valentine Chant (Roud 1142)
From: GUEST,#
Date: 10 Feb 21 - 03:05 PM

https://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getfolk.php?id=1190

https://history.wiltshire.gov.uk/community/getfolk.php?id=1190

Worth a look there maybe.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Valentine Chant (Roud 1142)
From: GUEST,#
Date: 10 Feb 21 - 03:13 PM

Here it is being sung.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Valentine Chant (Roud 1142)
From: GUEST,BlackAcornUK
Date: 10 Feb 21 - 04:20 PM

Many thanks all, very useful/interesting. Other renditions also very welcome. Does it only exist as a single verse?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Valentine Chant (Roud 1142)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 10 Feb 21 - 04:44 PM

There's a full text in the Alfred Williams mss. It's entry #20 in the Roud index search Roud 1142 or you can use this direct link to the entry: Valentine's Day. (This is the text I was referring to above, not the fragmentary versions).

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Valentine Chant (Roud 1142)
From: GUEST,BlackAcornUK
Date: 10 Feb 21 - 05:28 PM

Further thanks Mick - if I can read Williams's hand correctly, it's:


Valentine’s Day comes once in a year,
It was early in the morning betime,
When a young man came to my bedside
And he fain would bring me a Valentine.

He took hold of my lily-white hand,
And led me in the garden so green,
And what he said there I will freely declare,
For the green leaves are plainly to be seen.

Now this young woman says, “You promised to marry me
And the very same thing you can’t deny,
You said that I should be your own true love,
So don’t break my heart and tell a lie.”

“O you might be in distress, my sweet, pretty maid,
But the promise was nothing of mine,
Unless you can tell me the place, where and when,
And the very same hour and the time.”

“O I can tell you where, and I can tell you when,
And the very same hour and the time,
It was underneath my father’s red rosy bud,
Just as the clock was striking nine.”

Then he gave consent to marry this poor girl,
Without any further delay,
But instead of marrying this poor girl,
He took shipping and boldly sailed away.

“He is gone! He is gone! And the Lord knows where.
Perhaps his body may be lying in the cold,
But if ever he returns again from sea any more
I’ll encourage him for being so bold.”



...The young man seems so be something of a cad...


It's so interesting that of all the folk songs I can find directly referencing Valentine's day, none are tender or conventionally romantic; but instead, the above is accompanied by tales of fox-hunting (Last Valentine's Day) and piracy on the high seas (The Bold Princess Royal / The Fourteenth of February)!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Valentine Chant (Roud 1142)
From: Reinhard
Date: 10 Feb 21 - 05:57 PM

Looks like you could read it. At first glance I don't see any differences to the Wiltshire website's Valentine's Day.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Valentine Chant (Roud 1142)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 10 Feb 21 - 06:04 PM

Seems so! The version from Shakespeare is no better: Origin: Tomorrow Is St. Valentine's Day

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Valentine Chant (Roud 1142)
From: Reinhard
Date: 10 Feb 21 - 06:06 PM

Frank Kidson has a single verse of "My Valentine" (Roud 945) in his book Traditional Tunes:

Oh! It happened to be one Valentine Day,
One morning so early betime,
That a pretty, pretty maid came to my bedside
And she wanted to make me her valentine.

with the comment: "The reader must be content with the first verse; the whole song is poor doggrel."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Valentine Chant (Roud 1142)
From: GUEST,BlackAcornUK
Date: 10 Feb 21 - 06:32 PM

Ha ha, I tend to agree Reinhard. Very disappointed as I thought it might have been an interesting song. Oh well.

Mick, thanks for that other link - I found an extended version by the Oxford Waits that I personally find distastefully bawdy...

https://youtu.be/n6bZiQQX-SA

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Valentine Chant (Roud 1142)
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 10 Feb 21 - 06:47 PM

It seems to be the same 4 verses quoted by Masato and me in the Origins: Tomorrow... thread.

Mick