Lyr Req: older English folk songs

Subject: Older English Folk Songs-lyrics needed
From: moonsinger_9p
Date: 08 Sep 98 - 12:50 PM

I'm interested in finding lyrics to some of the older English folk songs sung around the 16th-17th century...including songs like "Lusty Young Smith" ( "A lusty young smith at his forge stood a-filing, his hammer nearby but his forge still aglow.."), as well as sea shanties and other songs. Although I don't have the capability to get the recorded music off the web, if you have access to the scores to these songs I would be very grateful.

Also, am looking for a version of "John Barleycorn" that starts out: "John Barleycorn to the sea has gone in a ship both stout and new, the thirst to slake of Captain Drake and all his loyal crew...",

also the song that starts "Now is come September, the hunter's moon's begun, and through the wheat and stubble we turn the green to dun...",

and a song that begins with "Come and I'll tell you 'bout my darlin' Andy...". I think that one is called "Loves me on Sunday" (?).

I would appreciate any information anyone could send me...thanks a lot! Jennifer

Lyrics are here:
THE LUSTY YOUNG SMITH
JOHN BARLEYCORN (Jon Berger, Stan Rogers)
ALL AMONG THE BARLEY
HOUSEWIFE'S LAMENT (O-ROY-O)
--JoeClone, 16-Dec-2007.

Subject: RE: Older English Folk Songs-lyrics needed
From: Joe Offer
Date: 08 Sep 98 - 01:13 PM

Hi, Jennifer - none of the specific songs you listed is in our folk song database, although we have some that are close. Play around with the database and have some fun with it - you can search right from this page, or go to our home page at www.mudcat.org and from there to the search page for more detailed hints on searching.You'll find that many tunes are available in MIDI format.
In the meantime, maybe somebody will come up with some of these songs you requested.
-Joe offer-

Subject: RE: Older English Folk Songs-lyrics needed
From:
Date: 08 Sep 98 - 06:35 PM

Go to http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/ballads/

Subject: RE: Older English Folk Songs-lyrics needed
From: Susan of DT
Date: 08 Sep 98 - 07:26 PM

Jennifer - there are quite a lot of older songs in the database, but they aren't coded that way, so you have to look for specific titles/words/phrases and see what comes up. Pick an older phrase and search for it. A number of the Child ballads are quite old - they can be searched by number from 1-305 (not all are in, but I am working on it), such as a search for #1 will give you all of the versions of Child #1.

Subject: RE: Older English Folk Songs-lyrics needed
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Sep 98 - 10:16 PM

That particular song..the "Lusty Smith" was recorded in the "When Dalliance was in Flower and Maidens Lost Their Head" series by Ed McCurdy...and later reduced to the one volume "Best of Dalliance"...which was put into a thin volume called 'Ed McCurdy's Song Book of Wit and Mirth'..(how's THAT for Bowdlerizing a concept?) the words can also be found here

Subject: RE: Older English Folk Songs-lyrics needed
From: Bruce O.
Date: 09 Sep 98 - 01:38 PM

"The lusty young smith/ blacksmith" was composed and written by Richard Leveridge, and there are several single sheet with music issues of c 1705. It was also reprinted with the tune in Vol. IV of 'Pills to Purge Melancholy', 1719.

Subject: RE: Older English Folk Songs-lyrics needed
From: Bruce O.
Date: 09 Sep 98 - 02:40 PM

Most of the real folk songs of pre 1800 origin can be found by looking for 'traditional' or 'Child' (ballad) in the broadside ballad index on my website. Texts of some of these may be found in my Scarce Songs file.

Some, however, are not know to have been issued as broadside ballads or in songbooks. "Froggie went a courting", was issued as a broadside in 1580, but there is no extant broadside copy. [See Ravenscroft on SCA -www.pbm.com/--- site noted above for facsimile of earliest copy] Among others from manuscripts are "I gave my love a cherry without a stone", "The fox went out on a moonlight night", "Monaghan Fair" (Derry's Fair), "Warrington Fair", "The Stuttering Lovers" and "Robbie and Granny".[Last 4 in my Scarce Songs file]

www.erols.com/olsonw

Subject: RE: Older English Folk Songs-lyrics needed
From: Bruce O.
Date: 09 Sep 98 - 02:58 PM

How could I do that! I missed "The Old Sea Crab" in my list above of folk songs from manuscripts. There's a version in the Percy Folio MS.

Subject: RE: Older English Folk Songs-lyrics needed
From: Annie Harper.
Date: 09 Sep 98 - 11:09 PM

Jennifer, I am curently researching a Phd at the University of Melbourne on 17th century Broadside ballads. I have several copies of John Barleycorn songs and also some blacksmith songs in my collection at home which I will look at and get back to you. If you would like to email me about any ballads etc my adress is [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Older English Folk Songs-lyrics needed
From: Jerry
Date: 11 Sep 98 - 12:50 AM

Jennifer,

Re old sea chanteys: based on what I know about their history and origins, there weren't many true chanteys before the 18th century. Chanteys -- sailor work songs -- started coming into their own in the mid-1700s and peaked around the time of the Civil War.

This lack of older chanteys may be due in part to the fact that no one collected them. Sailors used them only at work on board ship or at the docks, so they wouldn't have showed up in tune books or broadsides, and it wasn't until the 19th century that anyone became interested in collecting them. One of the oldest, according to Stan Hugill, is "Haul the Bowline" which he dates as an older chantey because the bowline was an important line in early 18th century vessels, but was obsolete technology by 1800.

Don't you just love how there are so many people who carry around such incredibly trivial knowledge?

Have fun, JB

Subject: RE: Older English Folk Songs-lyrics needed
From: Susan of DT
Date: 11 Sep 98 - 06:32 PM

Annie - Please share some of them here

Subject: RE: Older English Folk Songs-lyrics needed
From: erica
Date: 12 Sep 98 - 04:26 PM

JB--we all know that the trivial information everyone's carryin' about is the best part of this! you don't just get a song, you get all these wonderful tidbits to add to your own store of trivialities..and they make great filler when introducing a song and trying to tune the guitar...

cheers,
erica

Subject: RE: Older English Folk Songs-lyrics needed
From: JB3
Date: 16 Sep 98 - 05:39 PM

The song about the hunter's moon is listed in the database as "All Among the Barley", a great song about the harvesting of barley for beer, "to glad the heart of man."

Subject: RE: Older English Folk Songs-lyrics needed
From:
Date: 18 Sep 98 - 01:50 AM

You can find lyrics and sound clips for several of the songs mentioned at:

http://www.chivalry.com/cantaria/

-Kate Akers