Origin: May We Go Now (from Ian F. Benzie)

Subject: May We Go Now - any info?
From: Drumshanty
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 07:14 AM

ON Ian F Benzie's 1995 album "So Far" there is the following song. The liner notes say it is a fragment of something he once heard in someone's car. There is no more information. Does anyone out there know anything about the song? Specifically, is it traditional? Are there more verses? Has anyone else recorded it?

May we go now, may we go now
May we go to where the musing goes
Where the musing goes
When we put our pipes away
Where the musing goes, where the musing goes
When we put our pipes away

We'll sing and dance
We'll sing and dance, we'll play
With our hearts and with our voices
With our voices, in the storm against the wind
With our voices, with our voices
In the storm against the wind.

Thanks

Tracy

Subject: RE: Help: May We Go Now - any info?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 07:53 AM

Where the musing goes
When we put our pipes away

I wonder if that was "where the music goes" misheard in the car?

Subject: RE: Help: May We Go Now - any info?
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 08:11 AM

The words are lovely. I'd love to know more, too!

Subject: RE: Help: May We Go Now - any info?
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 30 Jul 01 - 08:25 AM

I just did a Google search. It's amazing how many parodies there are of Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
Arthur: O Knights of Ni. We have brought you your shrubbery. May we go now? Knight of Ni: Yes, it is a good shrubbery. I like the laurels ...
"Oh, Borg who say "Ni" > We have brought your shrubbery > May we go now? You now must defeat the Q Continuum with... a _herring_! > With a ... " etc.

But I only found musical references to Ian Benzie, no other recordings or web pages with the words "may we go now"
But I'd still like to hear the song!

Subject: RE: Help: May We Go Now - any info?
From: Drumshanty
Date: 31 Jul 01 - 09:17 AM

Refresh.

It is a lovely song and I have been humming it constantly since hearing it. I love the idea of the music going "somewhere else" when you stop playing it. Ian Benzie sings it with a girl harmonising but I also think it could be sung by a group of people.

Tracy

Subject: RE: Help: May We Go Now - any info?
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 31 Jul 01 - 06:26 PM

Do the sleevenotes mention WHO the woman doing the harmonies is? I've only got it on tape but it's a lovely piece of music.

Subject: RE: Help: May We Go Now - any info?
From: Drumshanty
Date: 31 Jul 01 - 07:21 PM

The woman is Clare Harper - I don't know the name but I think her voice is lovely.

Tracy

Subject: RE: Help: May We Go Now - any info?
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 01 Aug 01 - 05:21 PM

Thanks, Drumshanty. I agree!

Subject: RE: Help: May We Go Now - any info?
From: GUEST,ian f benzie
Date: 12 Sep 03 - 04:14 AM

It`s true, I heard the song on a cassette in someone`s car, I got a copy.It was mainly Kathryn Tickell but one track was a duo with a singer that could have been Vin Garbutt, by the sound of his voice. The background noises led me to believe it may have been recorded in a folk club, glasses clinking and applause etc.

The female vocals on my version is indeed Clare D Harper, my partner, who had some success as part of an all female band in Aberdeen several years ago, the band being The Lemon Tarts, now defunct.

As to " where the musing goes ". The vocals were indistinct and I thought " music" at first but preferred " musing " Musing may be the correct word but if not, it was my invention

Hope this helps

Ian F Benzie

Subject: RE: Help: May We Go Now - any info?
From: Drumshanty
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 05:14 PM

Ian

Thank you very much for that. Spookily enough, it's come at quite a good time because I'm just about to introduce the song to the group of people I sing with. Hopefully they'll like it and we can add it to our repertoire.

Tracy

Subject: RE: Help: May We Go Now - any info?
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Sep 03 - 07:27 PM

I'm a great believer in the principle that it's quite OK to incorporate mondegreens into a song when they make poetic sense. It's always happened that way as songs have passed along the oral lifeline.

Subject: RE: Help: May We Go Now - any info?
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 14 Sep 03 - 07:01 PM

Thanks, Ian. That info certainly helps, though I'd dearly love to know where the song originated from. Still, it's a great piece of music as it stands.

Subject: RE: Help: May We Go Now - any info?
From: nutty
Date: 15 Sep 03 - 09:22 AM

Ian .... if its the same (wonderful) track as I have got on a folk sampler LP, the singer was Billy Bragg.

Subject: RE: Help: May We Go Now - any info?
From: ianfb
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 08:08 PM

Billy Bragg eh ? I didn`t think of that one. Is a copy possible say MP3 via email? I`d love to hear it again

Ian F Benzie

Subject: RE: Help: May We Go Now - any info?
From: Drumshanty
Date: 19 Sep 03 - 08:36 PM

Nutty, what's the LP called?