Origins: I've been to Bristol...

Subject: Origins: Iand more-igins : I've been to Bristol...
From: Sam L
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 02:53 PM

...I've been to Dover
I've travelled this wide world o-over, over over
three times over...

What is this song called? and--

I have a few verses to the same tune and wonder how people consider and approach doing that, or not doing that, when it's not a simply a parody to a trad. tune. I haven't had verses for traditional tunes before except in fun and don't quite know what to think about it.

Subject: RE: Origins: I've been to Bristol...
From: nutty
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 04:18 PM

This is in the DT

I've been to Harlem

If you have more verses, please post them

Subject: RE: Origins: I've been to Bristol...
From: Sam L
Date: 12 Feb 03 - 05:41 PM

Odd differences from what I remembered.
Bristol/ Harlem

Drink all the brandywine and turn the glasses over/
Lift up your brandy glass and turn your glasses over.

When I heard it, there was as much as in the dt version you gave, and that was all, round and round again. I've wound up singing a few verses of my own, and had a little stylistic idea about it. Will try to search more for related topics.   Thanks

Subject: RE: Origins: I've been to Bristol...
From: Penny S.
Date: 13 Feb 03 - 03:40 PM

I have read somewhere, and it may have been in Bob Copper's book or something else about Sussex shepherd's, that there was a drinking game that went with this.
You needed a shepherd's hat, which was flat-topped and tarred to be waterproof, and a horn beaker (plastic would do, but not glass or china - read on).
On the appropriate night - I don't remember whether it had a name, or when it was - it might have been the end of shearing, it might have been called Black Ram Night, or I might have a very active imagination, the shepherds would gather in a suitable location. Maybe it was the pub (didn't need a PEL?) or a barn.
Then one of their number would have his beaker filled with liquor (beer or cider?) and balance it on the crown of his hat while holding the hat by the brim.
His colleagues would begin the song "I've been to Portsmouth, I've been to Dover...Drink what you have to drink and turn the glasses over.) Note the the restricted travel opportunities available in Sussex. While they sang, he had to drink the contents of the beaker, while holding the brim, not the beaker, and then, at "turn etc...", throw the beaker in the air, twist the hat over, and catch the beaker in the hat.
If he did not succeed at this trick, he would have to repeat it.
There may be a reason for the shortage of verses.

Penny

Subject: RE: Origins: I've been to Bristol...
From: Sam L
Date: 13 Feb 03 - 06:36 PM

Thanks Penny. That mixes oddly with my own rather dark and cautionary verses. I'm saved from worry about the propriety of adding to a trad. song by my lack of ambition about it.

I the version I heard was probably the Wattersons, on a radio show here.

Subject: RE: Origins: I've been to Bristol...
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 13 Feb 03 - 08:42 PM

It was "Turn o'the Year", but they also had "Black Ram" (end of shearing), so you're not far off.

"A favourite game at harvest supper was "Turn the cup over", presided over by a self-appointed chairman. Each man in turn had to drink all the beer from a horn cup placed on the crown of a hat, while the company sang:

I've been to London, boys, I've been to Dover
I've been a-travelling, boys, all the world over
Over and over, over and over
Drink up your liquor and turn the cup over.

When he'd drunk all the beer he had to toss the cup in the air and catch it in the hat, while the men were still singing. If he succeeded they repeated the last line, with a slight variation:

Over and over, over and over,
The liquor's drinked up and the cup is turned over.

If he failed he had to repeat the game as a forfeit, though the more he drank the less likely he was to succeed. At this point the chairman might call up somebody else."

-Bob Copper, A Song for Every Season, Leader LP LEA 4046-9, 1971: sleevenotes.

Subject: RE: Origins: I've been to Bristol...
From: GUEST,Penny S. (elsewhere)
Date: 14 Feb 03 - 12:25 PM

Thanks for that - I wonder where I got Portsmouth from! London is even nearer to Rottingdean, though. What irritates me about the activity is that my great-grandfather was a shepherd on Caburn, and he never told his grandchildren anything about it! His dog was called Turk, I think, and was the Old English type. We have a photograph of him with his flock at a layby by a gate to the hill which is still there. And that's it. (Correct use of apostrophe this time.) We don't know if he stayed up all night during lambing, or if the sheep were brought down, if he had one of those little vans or not, if he was buried with a twist of wool or not. Frustrating.

Penny