Lyr Req: My Only Jo and Deary-O

Subject: Lyr Add: MY ONLY JO AND DEARIE-O
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Jun 00 - 01:02 AM

I was suprised not to find this in the Trad; I am only missing a few lines, if anyone can fill them in we can do a Lyrics Add...And I'd like, if at all possible, the exact wording that Cynthia Gooding uses on Faithful Lovers and Other Phenomena.

MY ONLY JO AND DEARIE-O

Thy cheek is of the roses' hue, my only jo and dearie-O;
Thy neck is of the silver dew upon the bank so briary-O;
Thy teeth are of the ivory
O sweet's the twinkle of thy knee
Neither joy nor pleasure blink on me [that's what I hear]
My only jo and dearie-O.

When we were bairns on yon brae, and youth was blithe and bonny-O
And we would (??) the lee-long day, our joys full sweet and many-O
And I would chase thee o'er the lea
And round about the thorny tree
Or pull the wildflowers all for thee
My only jo...

I have a wish I cannot (hide?) though [through?] all the cares that grieve me-O
A wish that thou wert ever mine and never more to leave me-O
And I would doss thee night and day
Nor e'er a wordly care I'd hae
Till life's warm spring forgot to play (that's what I hear)
My only jo...

I may be missing an entire verse... but this is one of the most beautiful love songs I've ever ever heard.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo And Deary-O
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Jun 00 - 09:41 AM

OK, I have looked at the album cover now. First, it's on Queen of Hearts, not Faithful Lovers. Second, the back cover says: Almost all good folk tunes have had many sets of words them... the middle of the nineteenth century... many books still exist from this period... one such in my possession... includes My Only Jo And Dearie-O which I have not found anyplace else.... So this might be one that many people might not know. IT IS BEAUTIFUL. The only way that I can think to get the tune to y'all would be for me to sing it to AllanC or BeauDangles and have them write down the chord progression (kind of like how I can do software but not hardware, I can do lyrics but not chords...)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo And Deary-O
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 17 Jun 00 - 04:38 PM

The song is by Richard Gall and is in 'Scots Musical Museum', #531, (1803) and Graham's 'Songs of Scotland', II, p. 138, but it is not "My Jo and only dearie". It is to the tune of "My Jo and only dearie".

The tune, untitled in 'The Scots Musical Museum', is called "My only Jo and dearie" in the 3rd book of Gow's 'Complete Repository', 1806, and there said 'supposed Irish'. Wm. Stenhouse in 'Illustrations to SMM' gave a verse remembered by Mr. Thomas Oliver to the tune from the pantomime of 'Harlequin Highlander', which goes as follows:

My love's the sweetest creature That ever trod the dewy green; Her cheeks they are like roses, Wi' the op'ning gowan wet between.

Oliver could remember no more and requested Gall to write a song to the tune.

This fragment is undoubtably connected to the same tune in 'Riley's Flute Melodies', I, #277 (1816), where it's called "My Love's the Kindest Creature'.

"My love's the fairest creature" is a song by Sidney Owenson, 1805, to a different Irish tune not found earlier, but later found as "Little Sheila O'Connollan".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo And Deary-O
From: Mrrzy
Date: 17 Jun 00 - 09:36 PM

Thanks for the history! Now if only someone has the Cynthia Gooding album and can fill in those little holes...this is such a beautiful combination of melody and poetry - and I think it's possible what with all the bairns and braes and leas, that the missing words are Scottish terms with which I am unfamiliar...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo And Deary-O
From: SeanM
Date: 18 Jun 00 - 04:14 PM

refresh

M

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo And Deary-O
From: Mrrzy
Date: 18 Jun 00 - 10:20 PM

Thanks Sean, I was about to...

I think I need a scottish person to listen to the record I have. Well, Mom has. I think that the reason I'm not getting those 2 words is that they aren't English... HELP! Áine? Any other people who do celtic languages?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo And Deary-O
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 19 Jun 00 - 10:41 AM

Following Bruce's remark that the song is not called "My Only Jo and Dearie-O" (though the tune is), it occurred to me to look for it as "Thy Cheek is o' the Rose's Hue", which appears to be the right title.  Unfortunately I haven't been able to find a text, but it does seems to be available in two books at present:  Songs of Scotland  (edited by Wilma Paterson) and  Seventy Scottish Songs  (selected and arranged by Helen Hopekirk) -the second book is a lot cheaper!

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo And Deary-O
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 19 Jun 00 - 11:35 AM

Malcolm, thanks! Will check them out as soon as I can get to a real bookstore! However I have looked at the list of what is in those, and only saw John Anderson My Jo, which is different. I didn't see Cheeks of Roses. But there were several in not-English... Can you tell me which title is to the tune of My Only Jo and Dearie-O?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo And Deary-O
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 19 Jun 00 - 12:56 PM

The write-up for "Seventy Scottish Songs" doesn't give a full listing of the contents, but there is a search facility on the site,  here.  thy cheeks are o' the rose's hue comes up in a search as being in that book.  The write-up for the Paterson collection mentions "Thy Cheeks..." under chapter two, Lads Want Lassies.  Incidentally, I suspect that the bits you haven't been able to make out are Scots; not Gaelic, probably just a bit broad.  I'm glad that you brought this one up; when Bruce mentioned the Gow collection, I had a look at the tune -it is rather good, isn't it?  I think I'll send a midi of Gow's arrangement of it to Alan's midi site.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo And Deary-O
From: Alan of Australia
Date: 28 Jun 00 - 08:59 PM

G'day,
Thanks to Malcolm the tune for "My Only Jo And Deary-O" can be found here at the Mudcat MIDI site.

Cheers,
Alan

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo And Deary-O
From: Mrrzy
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 05:15 PM

Beautiful, and slightly different from what I have. I've been trying to sing along and either it doesn't scan or Cynthia dropped some lines out of each verse. Will try to repeat parts and see if I can get it to match...Now if only some nice and very old scottish person would fill in those 2 holes!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo And Deary-O
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 29 Jun 00 - 08:30 PM

I neglected to mention that I included Gow's repeats for both parts, which presumably should be omitted when singing the song.  It's also more decorated than you'd probably want for singing.  Bearing those things in mind, it can be made to scan quite easily.  Sorry for any confusion!

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo And Deary-O
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 12:55 PM

Aha, thanks, and it's still lovely!

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: THY CHEEK IS O' THE ROSE'S HUE
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 05:07 PM

Normally I don't bother with parlor songs if they're not related to folk songs, but there seem to be questions here as to the verses and fitting of the tune to them, so here's Gall's song from 'The Scots Musical Museum', #531 (1803/4), with the vocal score there. The tune is less embellished than Gow's, and isn't as long, but some of Gow's extra slurs are helpful in fitting the verses to the tune.

On reexamining the evidence at hand I can't find that the tune was published before that in 'The Scots Musical Museum' (no earlier copy noted under any title in Charles Gore's massive 'The Scottish Fiddle Music Index') and John Glen in 'Early Scottish Melodies' disputes Gow's contention that the tune was Irish. Stenhouse apparently assumed in 'Illustrations to SMM' that the tune was earlier called "My only Joe and dearie, O", but there is nothing in the verse quoted from Mr. Oliver to support that conclusion, and the tune in 'Riley's Flute Melodies' does not support that title.

Of the three copies noted in the huge recent "Sources of Irish Traditional Music' the only copies of the tune noted are those in SMM, Gow's, and one in George Thompson's 'A Select Collection of Original Irish Airs', II, 1816, for a song commencing "Thy ship must sail, my Henry dear" (by William Smyth, with the tune untitled). Thompson may have just taken his authority for the tune being Irish on Gow's say so. Hence, the title "My only Joe and dearie, O" may well have come from the burden of Gall's song below. Maybe Murray at Saltspring can further enlighten us.

Thy cheek is of the rose's hue.

Thy cheek is o' the rose's hue,
My only joe and dearie O,
Thy neck is like the siller dew
upon the bank sae brierie O;
Thy teeth are o' the ivory,
O sweets the twinkle o' thine e'e,
Nae joy nae pleasure blinks on me,
My only joe and dearie O.

The birdie sings upon the thorn
It's sang o' joy fu' cheerie, O.
Rejoicing in the summer morn,
Nae care to mak' it eerie O!
But little kens the sangster sweet
Aught o' the care I hae to meet,
That gars my restless bosom beat,
My only joe and dearie, O!

Whan we were bairnies on yon brae,
An youth was blinkin' bony O.
Aft we wad daff the leelang day,
Our joys fu' sweet and monie O.
Aft I wad chace thee o'er the lee,
And round about the thornie tree,
Or pu' the wild-flowers a' for thee,
My only joe and dearie O!

I hae' a wish I canna tine
'Mang a' the cares that grieve me O!
A wish that thou wert ever mine,
And never mair to leave me O.
Then I wad daut thee night and day,
Nor ither war'ly care wad hae'
Till life's warm stream forgot to play,
My only joe and dearie O.

X:1
T:THY CHEEK IS O' THE ROSE'S HUE.
S:Scots Musical Museum, #531
Q:1/4=90
M:C
K:Dm
A/|d3/2 e/ f/e/ d/^c/|dAA3/2F/|G3/2B/ A/G/ F/E/|FDD3/2A/|\
d3/2e/ (f/e/) d/^c/|dAA3/2F/|G3/2B/ A/G/ F/E/|FDD3/2||A/|\
d3/2 e/ fd|e3/2^c/Az/A/|d3/2e/fe/d/|eccd/e/|\
f3/2d/ (f/e/) (d/^c/)|d3/2e/ f3/2F/|G3/2B/ A/G/ F/E/|\
FDD3/2||]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo And Deary-O
From: GUEST,Mrr
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 05:15 PM

YAY! SUCCESS and extra verses! Boy I love this community, flamers and all!
OK, now, what do these MEAN?

we wad daff the leelang day - sounds just like what I hear but what does it mean? Laugh? Play?

I hae' a wish I canna tine 'Mang a' the cares that grieve me O! What is the tine? Then later you have I wad daut thee night and day, which I hear as "doss" (an archaic term for kiss).

One point: the Jo that means lover doesn't take an e that I know of... as in Jon Anderson my Jo. Great 2-letter Scrabble word.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo And Deary-O
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 30 Jun 00 - 05:38 PM

Daff:  sport, play, flirt, romp, "toy amorously".
Tine:  lose, forfeit.
Daut:  fondle, dote upon, make much of.

Joe is a perfectly good alternative spelling.

Definitions selected from Chambers Scots Dictionary.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo And Deary-O
From: Mrrzy
Date: 01 Jul 00 - 02:54 PM

Thanks! And especially for the extra verse which I shall not have to learn... And I'm surprised about Joe, but like learning new things, so I shall sit corrected. Not surprised I heard Doss for Daut, and in fact using Kiss for Fondle hardly changes the meaning...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo and Deary-O
From: Mrrzy
Date: 22 Jun 20 - 02:52 PM

And Joe is *not* an alternate spelling of Jo. Peevy.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: My Only Jo and Deary-O
From: leeneia
Date: 24 Jun 20 - 05:39 PM

Thanks all, including Malcolm RIP. I've downloaded the duet linked above from the Mudcat MIDI's, and I hope that before too long the friends and I can get together and play it. It's a corker.