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| Lyr Req: Tavistock Goosey Fair (C. John Trythall) |
Related thread:
Lyr Req: Tavistock (10)
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Subject: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: JB3 Date: 11 May 98 - 03:17 AM Each day on my way to work, I take a street called "Tavistock" and it reminds me of a song I heard in England about 20 years ago (title above). Its a humorous tale that starts out something like: Aye there was the twa of us, Bill Tumperdown and me... A lot of it was in dialect--Geordie, perhaps? Looking for lyrics and other infor. Thanks! |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: Helen Date: 11 May 98 - 07:43 AM Hi I have a vague idea that Vin Garbutt may have sung this - he's a Geordie so it's a fairly good chance that he did sing it when he was out here in the 70's performing in the downunder version of Newcastle, i.e Newcastle*-on-Hunter* rather than Newcastle-on-Tyne. Helen, in Oz |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: RayBanks Date: 11 May 98 - 07:54 AM This is a west country song, not a geordie one. A mate of mine used to sing it twenty years ago, and the west country words and accent used in it are superb. I can't remember much of it, but it had lines like "Uz did 'ave a zing-zong" , and is basically about going to Tavistock in Devon to the fair and having a good time, and getting so confused that they didn't know "whether uz was in 'annerford bog or Tavistock Goosey Fair". |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: Bob Bolton Date: 11 May 98 - 06:16 PM G'day JB3, Just an aside on your starting point. Here in Sydney, Australia, we have a half a dozen local streets or roads with the name Tavistock. Some years back there was a radio program that included a segment by an historian answering questions about local suburb names and personalities. One listener commented on the number of Tavistocks and asked for whom they were named - as there seemed to be no record of a prominent person of that name. The history buff's answer was that the council surveyors often ran short of names in new subdivisions (the current fashion is to look up the Encyclopedia Botanica and name everything after trees). When really desperate a name and peering at the landscape over their theodolites, their eyes would light on the nameplate of that theodolite - Government Store issued "Tavistock" brand! No relation to the request but these things appear ove the morning coffee. Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: Pete M Date: 11 May 98 - 07:21 PM Well uz only lived in Tav'stock fer forteen years, so we'em definitely off comers and not really qualified to comment on't m'dear. S'far as I 'member them Geordies be furriners from way up North past Exeter somwhere so uz dunno how theym got involved. (Gives up trying to write in Devonshire accent). Don't know the song I'm afraid, but Goosey Fair is held on the third Wednesday in October. It originates of course in the fairs held to sell geese fattened on the gleanings from the harvest to be killed and stored for winter. So far as I know Tavistock and Nottingham are the only Goose fairs still held. Nottingham being on the preceding weekend. Tavistock was the seat of the Stannery Parliament after Crockern Tor became too inconvenient (1749). Following on from Bob's post, I've often wondered how the Australians came up with the pronunciation "Lawn cess tun" for Launceston which should of course be pronounced "Larnsen". Perhaps that derives from a similar source, rather than as I had assumed being named by settlers in memory of their original home? Pete M |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: Alan of Australia Date: 11 May 98 - 07:31 PM G'day, Even in Oz "Lawn cess tun" is incorrect although most Aussie mainlanders pronounce it this way. Tasmanians will tell you it's pronounced "LON cess tun". Cheers, |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: PKD on Teesside Date: 12 May 98 - 06:28 AM Hi, I know someone who sings this - so I can get the words but it'll take a week or so. Cheers Paul |
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Subject: Lyr Add: TAVISTOCK GOOSEY FAIR From: PKD on Teesside Date: 12 May 98 - 08:21 AM Hi again, A bit of luck, I have a recording of Tony Rose singing this from about 1969. Sorry I don't know the L.P. name. Tony is a grand singer from down Devon way-on. He used to go round the clubs in the late 60s - early 70s. Still gets to festivals but only does clubs more local now.
"Tavistock Goosey Fair" is a good funny song with a great chorus - you need loads of good harmonies.
And what be you a doin'-of there? Heave down your prong and stamp along To Tavistock Goosey Fair Us went on all them roundabouts and into all the shows And then it started raining, and a-blowin' to our face So off us goes up to the Rose to have a dish of tea And there us had a sing-song and the folks kept droppin' in And what with them what knowed us, well us had a drop of gin And what with one and t'other, well us didn't seem to care Whether us was to Boliver Tor, or Tavistock Goosey Fair
And what be you a doin-of there? Heave down your prong and stamp along To Tavistock Goosey Fair And when us got past Merriville Bridge the mare, her took a fright Well to Bill says I "Be careful, you'll have us in them drains" Says Bill to me "Cor Bugger", says he, "Why haven't you got the reins?" Just then the mare ran slap against a whackin' gert big stone Her kicked the trap to flibbets and her trotted off alone And when it came to reckonin' t'weren't no good standin' there So us had to traipse home thirteen miles from Tavistock Goosey Fair
And what be you a doin-of there? Heave down your prong and stamp along To Tavistock Goosey Fair Cheers Paul |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: Dave Bradford Date: 12 May 98 - 04:09 PM The Tony Rose recording mentioned by PKD is on an album called "Young Hunting" (1970) on Trailer Records LER 2013. |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: Bob Bolton Date: 13 May 98 - 03:10 AM G'day Pete M and Alan of Oz, I concur that most of us mainlanders lengthen Launceston from local pronunciation ~"Lonseston" to "Lawnsesston". I also remember that my wife's grandmother (born 1876, in Hobart, grew up in Kempton and other parts of rural Tasdmania, survived to be oldest living Australian before her death in 1984) always pronounced it "Lonst'n". Her husband was from the prosperous mercantile family of Ellises (quietly descended from an ancestral Ellis transported from Devon, for embezzling 5 shillings and sixpence). His accent may have influenced hers, as her family, the Stonehouses, had come from Durham. Still, Tasmania is one of the few places in Australia where a clearly recognisable accent is noticed by the average broad Australian speaker. I well remember hitching up in the north east of Tassie in 1965. I asked a local how much further it was to the next town and was told it was "... a fur piece along the bittuhmen..". Regards, Bob Bolton |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: JB3 Date: 14 May 98 - 03:04 AM Thanks for the lyrics and all the info. Didn't know there was still an annual Goosey Fair at Tavestock, or even where Tavistock was, as you can see. Gives me even more to ponder on my way to work. When I'm not singing! |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: jehill Date: 01 Jun 98 - 02:22 PM I've just read through this thread.. I'm not sure that Vin Garbutt will like being described as a "Geordie" as that means you are from Newcastle-on-Tyne. I think that Vin is from Hartlepool. That probably means that he is a "monkey-hanger" if you want to be descriptive. Ragards John Hill |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: jehill Date: 03 Jun 98 - 07:31 PM If you are after a recording of this song it is on one of the several Cd's and tapes by Dave Webber and Annie Fentiman. They performed this song last Friday at Burton on Trent Folk Club. Dave recently performed this for an audience of about 300 Americans when they were over the other side of the pond. It seems that the Americans had trouble understanding the concept of driving geese to a fair to sell them, especially the idea of painting tar on their feet so they didn't get sore. One came up to Dave and said "You mean you have goose-pokes in England?" Regards John |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: Hawker Date: 01 Mar 01 - 06:47 PM My Husband's dadhas sung this song for years, and my husband discovered today the name of the author - a C. John Trythall. (he found a book in a custoners house where he was working to read in his lunch hour!) He reckons, reading the book that it was written farly early in the 1900's but after Sabine Baring gould had collected, as he never recorded it - and he would have! More bits of useless information for those who are interested! Regards, Lucy |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: nutty Date: 01 Mar 01 - 07:44 PM jehill .... Vin would also be upset to be described as coming from Hartlepool which is on the other side of the River Tees to South Bank .... where Vin hails from |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: bill\sables Date: 01 Mar 01 - 07:57 PM nutty, doesn't Vin come from Eston near Middlesborough, that's where he used to live in the sixties but I think he said he had moved to Loftus near Saltburn last time I spoke to him. |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: nutty Date: 02 Mar 01 - 03:47 AM Vin does now live near Loftus but was born and raised in South Bank (or Slaggy Island) |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: Hawker Date: 02 Mar 01 - 05:36 AM Have just found it in a book! The song was written around or before 1912.....entitled according to the sheet music: 'Tavvystock Goozey Vair words and msic by C. John Trythall. copyright 1912 for all countries by JH Larway 19, Hanover Square, London W1! The book I found it in was from the Library entitled: To Tavistock Goosie Fair by Clive Gunnell ISBN 0 906456 06 1 printed by Bossiney Books 1978 There that's enough information for today! Lucy |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: wes.w Date: 02 Mar 01 - 10:38 AM PKD ..and Tony Rose comes from Somerset (Deven? gor bugger no!), has a new CD out,and is settling down (up?) to a new career (comeback?) after retiring from teaching a few months back. I reckon he's singing better than ever. Look out, Rozer's about! |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: Greyeyes Date: 02 Mar 01 - 05:32 PM It can also be found in "Ian Marshall's 20 Songs of Devon". |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: Dave Bryant Date: 14 Mar 02 - 07:48 AM South Bank is not very far from Eston - where he (and I) used to sing in a lovely little folk club (run by the late Fred Ingano) at "The Cleveland Bay". |
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Subject: RE: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: Herga Kitty Date: 14 Mar 02 - 06:33 PM Yes, well, Anni Fentiman has learned to sing "Tavistock Goosey Fair" West Country style, so she can sing it with Dave, while Dave has been practising "motor boats and razor blades " in Geordie so that he can sing "The row upon the stairs". I think Anni eventually won over whether the White Cockade involved marrying in Newcastle or the springtime. They are about to move north to County Durham, but are booked at Herga for a farewell concert on Monday 25 March (Lady Day, for any Billie Holiday fans). |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tavistock From: GUEST,Bill Murray Date: 08 Dec 08 - 05:14 PM Tavvystock Goozey Vair, published by JH Larway, 14 Wells Street, Oxford Street, W. in 1912 - words and music by C John Trythall - who was he? I have spent 40 years trying to find out. The best answer that I have been given was from Marilyn Tucker who when I posed the question came up with ''The man who wrote Down pon Ole Dartymoor ''! That is as far as I know, the only other song that he wrote and as Martin Graebe has written above (thanks) is the title of my recent CD of songs and music from the northern slopes of Dartmoor. My own feeling is that C John Trythall was the pseudonym of Mr.Charles Hey Laycock (1879 - 1943)the folklorist, collector of folk songs, pianist at the pub on Sunday lunchtimes, motor cyclist, and all round good chap who purchased a house in Moretonhampstead in 1909. Now Moreton just happens to be almost exactly thirteen miles in the right direction from Merrival Bridge where the terrible accident happened and as the song goes ...''So us 'ad to trudge 'ome thurteen mile fr'm Tavvystock Goozey Vair.'' One of the songs that Charles Laycock collected in Moreton was called ''Little John Bottle John'' it is about a little feller who is enticed to the bottom of the sea by a pretty mermaids singing - are there any other records of this quaint song? |
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Subject: Lyr Add: TAVVYSTOCK GOOZEY VAIR (C. John Trythall) From: Jim Dixon Date: 10 Dec 08 - 01:50 AM I found this posted in a blog. There is another copy here. TAVVYSTOCK GOOZEY VAIR [C. John Trythall, 1912] 1. Tes jis a month cum Vriday nex' Bill Champernown an' me, Us druv' acrost ole Dartymoor, th' Goozey Vair to zee. Us made our sles quite vitty, us shaved an' graised our 'air, An' off us goes in our Zunday cloes be'ind Bill's ole gray mare. Us smelled th' sage an' onions arl th' way fr'm Whitchurch Down, An' did'n us av a blaw out when us put up in the' town! An' theer us met Ned 'Annafurd, Jan Steer an' Nicky Square, Ut sim to we arl Deb'n mus' be to Tavvystock Goozey Vair. CHORUS: An' uts "Aw thun, whur be'e gwaine, an' wot be'e doin' of there? 'Aive down yer prong an' stap down long, tes Tavvystock Goozey Vair." 2. Us went an' zeed th' 'osses an' th' yaffers an' th' yaws, Us went 'pun arl th' roundabouts an' inter arl th' shaws; An' then ut started rainin' an' blawin' too, Ess Fai, So off us goes back to th' Rose an' 'aves a dish o' tay. An' then us ad a zing zong an' the folks kep drappin' in, An' them wot knawed us arl cum roun' an' 'ad a drap o' gin; Till wot with one an' t'other us didn' sim to care Whether us wor to Bellevur Tor, er Tavvystock Goozey Vair. 3. 'Twas rainin' straims an' dark as pitch when us started 'ome that night, An' when us got pas' Merrival Bridge th' mare 'er tuk a vright; Sez I to Bill, "Be careful er you'll 'av us in th' drains." Sez Bill ter me, "Begad", sez 'e, "Why, abm yew got th' reins?" Jus' then th' mare run slap agin a whackin' gurt big stoan, 'Er kicked th' trap to flibbits an' 'er trotted off alone, When us cum to us reckind twarnt no gude settin' there, So us 'ad to trudge 'ome thurteen mile from Tavvystock Goozey Vair. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: Jim Dixon Date: 10 Dec 08 - 02:04 AM The British Library Integrated Catalogue lists 3 songs by C. John Trythall: TAVVYSTOCK GOOZEY VAIR, London : J. H. Larway, (1912.) THE DINKY FARM NIGH BURRATOR, London : J. H. Larway, 1916. DOWN 'PON OLD DARTYMOOR, London : J. H. Larway, 1916. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tavistock Goosey Fair From: GUEST,Bill Murray Date: 10 Dec 08 - 04:26 PM Jim - you're a star! The Dinky Farm Nigh Burrator - that's news to me! I will try to get a copy and learn it. Thanks Bill |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tavistock Goosey Fair (C. John Trythall) From: Dave Sutherland Date: 21 Jan 10 - 02:45 AM Oddly enough the late Trevor Crozier used to say that there was a North Eastern version of "Tavistock Goosey Fair". It was pretty much the same all the way through except the last line which was "we had to traipse home four hundred and thirty miles......." |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tavistock Goosey Fair (C. John Trythall) From: Gurney Date: 21 Jan 10 - 04:25 PM I've had the 'Young Hunting' LP for 35 years, and I've often wondered if the 'heave down your prong' line is fully decent.... ;-) Any ideas? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tavistock Goosey Fair (C. John Trythall) From: BB Date: 22 Jan 10 - 02:56 PM 'Throw away your pitchfork' - what's indecent about that? It's the old equivalent of 'switch off your computer'. Barbara |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tavistock Goosey Fair (C. John Trythall) From: GUEST,Shimrod Date: 23 Jan 10 - 10:59 AM I once went to Tavistock and I thought that it was very nice - a peaceful, unhurried, rather handsome town with quite a few interesting shops, cafes etc. Trouble is I couldn't get that bloody song out of my head! Oh no! It's started again now!! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tavistock Goosey Fair (C. John Trythall) From: BB Date: 25 Jan 10 - 02:44 PM It's called an earworm... Think of another one, quick! Bampton Fair, Weyhill Fair, Thame Fair. How many other fair songs can you think of? That should sort it... Barbara |