ADD: DAPHNE - When Daphne from Sweet Phoebus

Subject: Lyr Req: When Daphne from sweet Phoebus did fly
From: GUEST,Catlin
Date: 22 Jan 06 - 04:29 PM

Hit and Miss is the name of the English Country Dance tune and the song starts, "When Dapne...".

Thanks a bunch!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When Daphne from sweet Phoebus did fly
From: Peace
Date: 22 Jan 06 - 04:57 PM

Daphne
Anon, 16th Century England

When Daphne from fair Phoebus did fly,
The West Wind so sweetly did blow in her face.
Her silken scarf scarce sheltered her eyes
The god cried O pity! and held her in chase.

Stay nymph stay, cried Apollo,
Tarry and turn thee, sweet nymph stay.
Lion or tiger doth thee follow
Turn thy fair eyes and look this way.

O turn O pretty sweet
And let our red lips meet:
Pity O Daphne, pity, pity,
Pity O Daphne, pity me.

She gave no ear unto his cry,
But still did neglect him the more he did moan:
Though he did entreat, she still did deny,
And earnestly prayed him to leave her alone.

Never, never, cried Apollo,
Unless to love thou wilt consent,
And still with my voice so hollow,
I'll cry to thee while life be spent.

But prove if thou turn to me,
For certes thy felicity.
Pity O Daphne, pity, pity,
Pity O Daphne, pity me.


These are the words sung by Owain Phyfe on the superlative Where Beauty Moves and Wit Delights, Nightwatch NW 1002CD. Sample tracks from this CD, but alas not Daphne, can be found here. Chappell's words are virtually identical. The Roxburghe Collection (British Museum) is his earliest source.

from

tigerlilyworkshop.com/Wordpp/Daphne.html

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When Daphne from sweet Phoebus did fly
From: Peace
Date: 22 Jan 06 - 04:57 PM

The entire post above is from the site I noted.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When Daphne from sweet Phoebus did fly
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 22 Jan 06 - 05:41 PM

'A pleasant new Ballad of Daphne: To a new tune' appeared on a broadside of the early 17th century, "printed by the assignees of Thomas Symcocke", and later appeared in various chapbooks. It was reprinted in Roxburghe Ballads II, 530: the full text is quoted at http://www.xs4all.nl/~pboot/Daphne/WhenDaphne.htm. That site also has interesting material on the long popularity of the tune in the Netherlands.

Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time, I, 338-9) prints the tune with the Roxburghe text in modernised spelling; the text quoted above has been further shortened and altered in places; there's no indication as to where Phyfe got it.

No English broadside example at Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads, it seems; but there is a Dutch song, Liedeken op de vlucht van Daphn, voor Apollo set to the tune. No image is available.

See also notes at Andrew Kuntz's Fiddlers Companion: Hit and Miss and Daphne.

Details (though not the song text) are in Claude M Simpson, The British Broadside Ballad and Its Music, Rutgers University Press, 1966, 163-4.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When Daphne from sweet Phoebus did fly
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 23 Jan 06 - 03:41 AM

Fascinating that English folk music, so earthy in many respects should adhere to the sunday school version of the myth of Daphne - interpreting Daphne as the archetypal frightened virgin.

Robert Graves in his book about Greek myths reckoned this to be a mistaken view as the maenads of Daphnes temple were depraved blood soaked types......into human sacrifice and other forms of naughtiness!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When Daphne from sweet Phoebus did fly
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 23 Jan 06 - 07:48 PM

Seventeenth-century urban songwriters (I doubt if the song ever circulated in "tradition") didn't have the benefit of Mr Graves' personal, supernatural "insights". I also suspect that the tune was forgotten until revived in the 19th century; but I could, naturally, be quite wrong about that.

Can anybody fill some gaps?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When Daphne from Sweet Phoebus Did Fly
From: Catamariner
Date: 02 Oct 21 - 12:10 AM

Owain Phyfe adds the first verse to the end as well. Also, I have to add ONE LETTER so that the lyrics make a deal more sense. Apollo is telling her she has nothing to fear, she should not run, because "Lion NOR tiger doth thee follow." Nor makes much more sense... also, listening to the sung version it's easy to elide "Lion nor" into "lion or"... as ISTM must have happened at some point. -- Heather


Daphne anon. 16th C. (England)

When Daphne from fair Phoebus did fly,
The West Wind so sweetly did blow in her face.
Her silken scarf scarce sheltered her eyes
The god cried O pity! and held her in chase.

Stay nymph stay, cried Apollo,
Tarry and turn thee, sweet nymph stay.
Lion nor tiger doth thee follow
Turn thy fair eyes and look this way.

O turn O pretty sweet
And let our red lips meet:
Pity O Daphne, pity, pity,
Pity O Daphne, pity me.

She gave no ear unto his cry,
But still did neglect him the more he did moan:
Though he did entreat, she still did deny,
And earnestly prayed him to leave her alone.

Never, never, cried Apollo,
Unless to love thou wilt consent,
And still with my voice so hollow,
I'll cry to thee while life be spent.

But prove if thou turn to me,
For certes thy felicity.
Pity O Daphne, pity, pity,
Pity O Daphne, pity me.

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Don't know why, but I just love this cheerful little song :-)