Lyr Req: Sweet England

Subject: Lyr Req: Sweet England
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Jun 03 - 05:47 PM

I'm looking for the lyrics for this song. I don't know it's origin and I don't know of any recording. Can anyone help?

Subject: ADDPOP: Sweet England (Tori Amos)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jun 03 - 06:09 PM

Hi - can you tell us anything more about the song? I have a feeling you may mean the "Sweet England" recorded by Shirley Collins, but I can't find that one just yet. In the meantime, here's "Sweet England" by singer-songwriter Tori Amos, from this site (click).
-Joe Offer-

---

oh sweet england
sweet england
sweet england
sweet england
ohbubylelelenono
nononono i said
i said she said
heeee...
"lie, lie, lies ev'rywhere," said the father to the son
your peppermint breath gonna choke 'em to death,
daddy watch your little black sheep run
he got a knives knives knives in his back ev'ry time he opens up
they got the earth in a sling
they got world on her knees
they even got your zipper between their feet
and i messed up my verses and i'm really sorry
but i gotta keep on singing this song
sweet dreams
sweet...
dre-he-he-ah-ams

Subject: ADD: Sweet England (Merry England)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 21 Jun 03 - 06:17 PM

Ah, I think this is it. I found it here (click). It's not exactly what Shirley Collins sings, but it's close. I may work up a transcription of the Shirley Collins recording later - unless somebody wants to beat me to it.
-Joe Offer-

---

Merry England
Sung to the tune of "When a Knight won his spurs"

As I was out walking one morning in spring
To hear the larks whistle and cony birds sing
I saw a fair maiden a making her mourn
"For alas I'm a stranger a long way from home"

"I came from sweet England with mother and dad,
They thought in America more might be had,
Of Gold and of Silver and of acres galore
And never know hunger or poverty more"

But alas for sweet England my father is dead
And my mother can earn but little for bread
And I weep as I gaze over far distant main
For a fine ship to take me to England again.

Now my mother is dead and I'm left all alone
But if I were in England no more would I roam
I've an Aunt in the country and she loves me a main
Oh will not some ship take me homeward again

There is a neat cottage with a rose at the door
And there with my Aunt I would live my life
O'er I would nurse her in sickness and I'd tend her in pain
And thank God I was back in sweet England again

I couldn't find any background information or printed examples of this song. Can anybody help on that? The tune we have for When A Knight Won His Spurs is close to what I hear on the Collins recording.

Subject: Lyr Add: Sweet England (from Sharp & Baring-Gould)
From: masato sakurai
Date: 21 Jun 03 - 10:29 PM

The Shirley Collins version comes from Sharp & Baring-Gould's English Folk Songs for Schools (No. 22), which is as fololws:

            SWEET ENGLAND

1. As I was a-walking one morning in spring,
    To hear the larks whistle, the colley-bird sing,
    I heard a fair maiden a-making her moan,
    O alas! I'm a stranger away from my home.

2. O where is your country I gladly would know,
    And what mean the tears, that so freely do flow?
    What made you to wander so far from your home,
    And causes lament in a strange land alone?

3. I came from sweet England, with mother and dad;
    They thought in America all might be had,
    Of gold and of silver and acres galore,
    And never need hunger in poverty more.

4. But alas, for sweet England! my father is dead,
    My mother could earn but a dollar for bread,
    And alack! the white wings of the ships as they fly
    Across the ble sea, and leave me here to die!

5. Now mother is dead, I am left all alone;
    If I were in England no more would I roam.
    I've an aunt who is grey, and she loves me amain,
    Oh, will not some ship take me homeward again?

6. She has got a neat cottage, a rose at her door,
    Her pans and her dishes I'd scrub, and her floor,
    I'd kiss her old cheeks, and I'd nurse her in pain,
    And thank God I was back in sweet England again.

Info from folktrax:

HAPPY STRANGER, THE - "As I was a-walking one morning in Spring" - "birds whistle and nightingales sing"- Courtship - ROUD#272 - Bs by John FORD of Chesterfield 1830s (Palmer Reprint 2001) "HS" - GREIG-DUNCAN 4 1990 #831 p245 - JOYCE AMOI 1873 p73 - JOYCE OIFMS 1909 p200 Co Limerick - GARDINER FSFH 1909 "The HS" - SHARP-MARSON FSS 2 pp42-3 Robert Dibble, Bridgwater, Somerset "Sweet Europe" - BARING GOULD-SHARP Schools "Sweet England" - SHARP-KARPELES CSC 1974 #389 p575 Robert Dibble "Sweet Europe" - WILLIAMS #246 Frank Cook, Burford, Oxfordsh (w/o) "Far from home" --- McGILL Ky p51 - SHARP FSSA 1917 2 #157 p212 "The Rebel Soldier or The Poor Stranger" Mrs Eliza Pace, Hyden, Leslie Co., Ky 1917/ Mrs Lawson Grey, Montvale, Va 1918 (Version B publ in FSEO 2nd ser)/ Mr Bridges, St Peters Mission, Franklin Co., Va 1918/ Joe Blackett, Meadows of Dan, Patrick Co., Va 1918 "The Poor Soldier"/ Miss Sally Jones, St Peters School, Franklin Co., Va 1918/ Miss Abby Moseley, Berea College, Madison Co., Ky 1917/ Mrs Margaret Dunagan, St Helens, Lee Co., Ky 1917 - COX FSOS 1925 pp346-7 W M Jarvis Ms, WVa (w/o) - RANDOLPH OFS 1946 1 pp270-2 Mrs Grace Etchison, Ark 1929 "Two Strangers in the mountains alone"/ Charles Ingenthron, Mo 1941 "The Lost Girl" -- see EVENING WALK - I AM A POOR STRANGER - Cf BONNY UDNY - INDIAN LASS -- Shirley COLLINS with John HASTED (banjo), Ralph RINZLER (gtr), Guy Carawan (gtr) rec by PK 1958 (ARGO): SEE FOR MILES SEE-212 1987 "Sweet England" - Jo FREYA SAYDISC SDL-402 (CD) 1993 "Sweet England"

~Masato

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet England
From: masato sakurai
Date: 21 Jun 03 - 10:36 PM

Editions at Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads are:

The Happy Stranger

The Happy Stranger. A new song

The Happy Strangers

Subject: Lyr Add: Sweet Europe
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 22 Jun 03 - 03:57 PM

The two texts quoted earlier are not traditional variants; the text published in English Folk-Songs for Schools was extensively re-written by Cecil Sharp's early collaborator, the Rev C. Marson, and Merry England is a mis-transcription of that. Here is the song as Sharp originally noted it:

SWEET EUROPE

(Noted by Cecil Sharp from Robert Dibble (85) at Bridgwater Union, Somerset, 15 August 1905)

As I walked out one morning in Spring
To hear the birds whistle and the nightingale sing,
I heard a fair damsel a-making her moan,
Saying: I am a stranger and so far from my home.

O where is your country, I long for to know,
And what's the misfortune that you does undergo
And that cause you to wander so far from your home
And make you a stranger in the deserts alone?

O the lads of sweet Europe they're all roving blades,
They take delight in courting and kissing pretty maids.
They'll kiss them, they'll court them, they'll call them their own
And p'raps their darlings lays mourning at home.

You believe me, dearest jewel, for the case is not so,
I never was married and the truth you shall know.
For the strangers agree that we all do well know,
So I wish you well, happy and safe at your home.


X:1
T:Sweet Europe
S:Robert Dibble (85) at Bridgwater Union, Somerset, 15 August 1905
Z:Cecil Sharp
B:Karpeles, Cecil Sharp's Collection of English Folk Songs, 1974, II, 389.
L:1/8
Q:1/4=100
M:3/4
K:C
G2|B2 A2 G2|(E2 D2) D2|A2 A2 A2|
w:As I walk-ed out_ one morn-ing in
A4 (GA)|B2 A2 G2|E2 D2 CC|
w:Spring To_ hear the birds whis-tle and the
D2 G2 G2|G4 G2|G2 B2 (Bc)|
w:night-in-gale sing, I heard a fair_
d2 c2 B2|B2 A2 G2|A4 GA|
w:dam-sel a-mak-ing her moan, Say-ing:
B2 A2 G2|E2 D 2CC|D2 G2 G2|G4|]
w:I am a stran-ger and so far from my home.


Maud Karpeles, Cecil Sharp's Collection of English Folk Songs, 1974, II, 389.


Sharp also found the song in America. Peter Kennedy's list, quoted above, omits an early example from tradition: The Poor Stranger (Christie, Traditional Ballad Airs, vol. II 1881, pp. 220-1).

There is an American example at  The Max Hunter Folk Song Collection:

One Morning in Spring

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet England
From: GUEST,D Girvan
Date: 22 Jun 03 - 05:06 PM

Thanks folks, that's sorted that one out!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet England
From: Geoff the Duck
Date: 23 Jun 03 - 04:04 AM

Small World! Just a few days back Mrs.Duck was looking for exactly the same song. She had heard it a couple of years back, and jotted down the words on a scrap of paper, which since disappeared. We did find words mis-typed (by me) into a Notepad on the computer, but this thread will confirm if we missed or misheard anything.
Quack!
GtD.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Sweet England
From: GUEST,"Sweet England"
Date: 09 Sep 05 - 03:13 PM

Check out Jim Moray's interpretation. www.jimmoray.co.uk