Lyr Req: (I Have Waited For) Many a Night and Day

Subject: (I Have Waited For) Many A Night And Day
From: Stiofáin
Date: 29 Jun 01 - 11:06 AM

I looking for the complete lyrics and every other useful information about this song. I had it on LP by a band called "Celtic Tradition" which featured the singer Noel McLoughlin. It's a ghost story of a girl who passed on and returned to her lover from the grave, and the lyrics started like this:

"Now you're welcome home again,
said the young man to his love,
I have waited for many a night and day."

I lost the Vinyl several years ago and I have never been able to find any other version of the song, which was one of my all-time-favourites. Are there other known versions or bands who have released it on CD?

Thanks,
Stiofáin

...who is starting is 3rd thread today after discovering the beautiful world of Mudcat :)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (I Have Waited For) Many A Night And
From: Sorcha
Date: 29 Jun 01 - 11:28 AM

I didn't find the exact lyrics to the version you want, but it looks as if you can replace the album here(click) (Scroll down). Site looks to be in Italian.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (I Have Waited For) Many A Night And
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 11:00 AM

The words for this were posted in Lover's Ghost, in a post from HelenII. Vin Garbutt sang a virtually identical version.

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (I Have Waited For) Many A Night And
From: MMario
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 11:40 AM

MCP - you are proving yourself a valuable addition to our zany crew. Thanks!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (I Have Waited For) Many A Night And
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 01:41 PM

Well, let's see if I can post this before Malcolm. Not doing too well, as I'd nearly finished this then lost it and have to start over...

This is a version of Child ballad #248, The Grey Cock, or, Saw You My Father; you can search the forum by entering "#248" to get some of the references to it.

For that particular version, the Lover's Ghost, Frankie Armstrong does it on "Till the grass o'ergrew the corn" (1996 Fellside Recordings FECD116). She got it from Bert Lloyd and it's available currently on "Classic A.L. Lloyd" (Fellside FECD98). But, Frankie's notes say, "The version is that learned by P.W. Joyce as a child in Glenosheen, County Limerickk and published in his 'Old Irish Folk Music and Songs' (1909)."

And here's the full scoop from the Ballad Index (search under "Grey Cock"):

Grey Cock, The, or, Saw You My Father [Child 248] DESCRIPTION: Man bids his love to let him in. After some hours of lovemaking, he tells her he must depart when the cock crows (or before). She hopes the cock will not crow soon, but it crows early. She learns that her lover is a ghost, and may never return AUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1769 (Herd) LONG DESCRIPTION: Man comes to his lover's window, bidding her open and let him in. They spend the night in lovemaking; toward dawn, he tells her he must leave when the cock crows for day. She prays the cock not to crow too soon, but the cock in fact crows early. She remarks her lover's cold lips and skin, realizing he has returned to her dead. As he leaves, she asks when she will see him again; he replies with impossibilities ("When the fish they fly, love, and the sea runs dry, love/And the rocks they melt in the heat of the sun") -- i.e., at the Judgment Day. KEYWORDS: love sex farewell death dialog nightvisit paradox supernatural lover ghost FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,West),Scotland) US(Ap,SE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland REFERENCES (8 citations): Child 248, "The Grey Cock, or, Saw You My Father" (1 text) Bronson 248, "The Grey Cock, or, Saw You My Father" (16 texts) Leach, pp. 611-612, "The Grey Cock" (2 texts) Warner 90, "Pretty Crowin' Chicken" (1 text, 1 tune) Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 52-53, "The Grey Cock, or The Lover's Ghost" (1 text, 1 tune) Hodgart, p. 148, "The Grey Cock" (1 text) SHenry H699, p. 383, "The Bonny Bushes Bright" (1 text, 1 tune) DT 248, GREYCOCK* RECORDINGS: A. L. Lloyd, "The Lover's Ghost" (on Lloyd1) (Lloyd2, Lloyd3) CROSS-REFERENCES: cf. "Night Visiting Song" (motif) Notes: [Of Bronson's sixteen versions,] only one is of the Night Visiting Song type and one of the I Once Loved a Lass type. - AS File: C248

These are among my favorite ballads, in recent years.

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (I Have Waited For) Many A Night And
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 01:48 PM

Whoops, didn't realize the line breaks would be lost in the Ballad Index info. Here's another try:

Grey Cock, The, or, Saw You My Father [Child 248]
DESCRIPTION: Man bids his love to let him in. After some hours of lovemaking, he tells her he must depart when the cock crows (or before). She hopes the cock will not crow soon, but it crows early. She learns that her lover is a ghost, and may never return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1769 (Herd)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Man comes to his lover's window, bidding her open and let him in. They spend the night in lovemaking; toward dawn, he tells her he must leave when the cock crows for day. She prays the cock not to crow too soon, but the cock in fact crows early. She remarks her lover's cold lips and skin, realizing he has returned to her dead. As he leaves, she asks when she will see him again; he replies with impossibilities ("When the fish they fly, love, and the sea runs dry, love/And the rocks they melt in the heat of the sun") -- i.e., at the Judgment Day.
KEYWORDS: love sex farewell death dialog nightvisit paradox supernatural lover ghost
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,West),Scotland) US(Ap,SE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Child 248, "The Grey Cock, or, Saw You My Father" (1 text)
Bronson 248, "The Grey Cock, or, Saw You My Father" (16 texts)
Leach, pp. 611-612, "The Grey Cock" (2 texts)
Warner 90, "Pretty Crowin' Chicken" (1 text, 1 tune)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 52-53, "The Grey Cock, or The Lover's Ghost" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 148, "The Grey Cock" (1 text)
SHenry H699, p. 383, "The Bonny Bushes Bright" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 248, GREYCOCK*
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "The Lover's Ghost" (on Lloyd1) (Lloyd2, Lloyd3)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Night Visiting Song" (motif)
Notes: [Of Bronson's sixteen versions,] only one is of the Night Visiting Song type and one of the I Once Loved a Lass type. - AS
File: C248
Makes me appreciate Malcolm's entries even more to go through that. He even gets the bolding in...

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (I Have Waited For) Many A Night And
From: GUEST,BigDaddy
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 01:54 PM

Niamh Parsons does a terrific job of "Lover's Ghost" on her "Loosely Connected" album.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: (I Have Waited For) Many A Night And
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 08 Nov 01 - 03:21 PM

As Becky points out, the text MCP linked to is the one printed by P.W. Joyce in his Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (1909) and more recently republished by Roy Palmer in Everyman's Book of British Ballads (1980 and 1998, as The Book of British Ballads), though Helen has changed a few words.

This song is quite a problematic one.  Only a very few traditional sets contain any supernatural element, and the one published by Joyce is not universally accepted as authentic; Hugh Shields (something of an expert on the subject) had reservations, and was a little inclined to suspect the first verse of being a literary addition.  I've just ordered a book of essays specifically for Shields' piece on this song group, as it happens, and hope soon to be better-informed on the subject.  My own initial impression is that the song is not a revenant ballad which has in most cases lost its supernatural element, but that it is a night-visiting song which has occasionally picked up supernatural elements from other sources; for example, Fair Margaret and Sweet William [Child #74].

Worth mentioning, too, that the set of The Grey Cock given in Child (taken from Herd's Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, 1776) appears almost in its entirety as the first part of Willie's Fatal Visit [Child #255]; it seems to have been grafted on, though (Child certainly thought so), and the 20th century traditional set Jeannie Robertson and her daughter Lizzie Higgins sing has dropped it.