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Lyr Req: When I Was Going o'er Salisbury Plain

24 Jan 00 - 02:35 PM (#167619)
Subject: When I was going o're Salisbury Plain
From: Sapper_RE

I know the 1st verse, can anyone help with the rest??

When I was going o're Salisbury Plain, A very fine sight I beheld, The ladies were crying and tearing their hair, The rousters had come for the Blues, The rousters had come for the Blues.

Aparently dates from the Napoleonic times.

Sapper


24 Jan 00 - 02:55 PM (#167638)
Subject: RE: When I was going o're Salisbury Plain
From: GUEST

"The rout it is come for the blues". Salisbury Plain/ Scarborough Sands


24 Jan 00 - 03:11 PM (#167640)
Subject: RE: When I was going o're Salisbury Plain
From: Malcolm Douglas

Indeed; The Rout of the Blues, or The Rout is Come for the Blues, etc.  Robin & Barry Dransfield recorded it on their first album, 30-odd years ago...what I remember of that version is:

As I was a-walking on Salisbury Plain
What a dainty fine sight I did view;
The lasses were crying and tearing their hair
For the rout had just come for the Blues:
The rout had just come for the Blues.

.........
Saying, "My heart is undone, it is true;
I'll......... 
And boldly I'll follow the Blues:
And boldly I'll follow the Blues.

The landlord and landlady walk hand in hand
And so do they pretty girls, too;
And each one took out a bottle of gin
To drink a success to the Blues:
To drink a success to the Blues.

Our ship it is rigged and we all set sail
How sweetly the French Horns(?) played too
And each one let out a loud huzzah
"Success to King George and his Blues!
"Success to King George and his Blues!"

With any luck, somebody will be along shortly to correct my lapses of memory!

Malcolm


24 Jan 00 - 03:16 PM (#167644)
Subject: RE: When I was going o're Salisbury Plain
From: Malcolm Douglas

Oh yes, and:

They're as gallant young fellows as ever you'll see
Though you search bonny Britain all through;
When dressed in his Majesty's suits you'll agree
There are none can compare with the Blues:
There are none can compare with the Blues:

Malcolm


24 Jan 00 - 07:01 PM (#167755)
Subject: RE: When I was going o'er Salisbury Plain
From: Stewie

Malcolm, the Dransfields' first couple of verses are slightly different from what you remember:

As I crossed over Salisbury Plain
What a dainty fine sight I behold
As lasses were crying and tearing their hair
Oh the rout has just come for the Blues
Oh the rout has just come for the Blues.
Then each one home to their mothers do run
Saying, 'Me heart is undone, it is true
I'll pack up me clothes without more delay
And boldly I'll march with the Blues
And boldly I'll march with the Blues'

The last 3 lines of the third verse are:

And each one poured out a bottle of gin
To drink a good health to the Blues
To drink a good health to the Blues

They repeat the first verse after the final 'They're as gallant' verse.

Cheers, Stewie.


24 Jan 00 - 07:52 PM (#167778)
Subject: RE: When I was going o're Salisbury Plain
From: Abby Sale

Miniscule addition - Robin gave me the following words for verse 3 in 1969. That's not necessarily what's on the record - just what he said.

The landlord and landlady walks hand in hand
And so do they pretty girls, too;
And each one brought out a bottle of gin
For to drink a good health Blues: x2


One French horn.

N.B. You know that "rout" refers to get up & go ... march out. Not at all rout as in wild defeat.


24 Jan 00 - 08:24 PM (#167796)
Subject: RE: When I was going o're Salisbury Plain
From: Malcolm Douglas

There; didn't I say they'd be along soon?

Thanks all!

Malcolm


20 May 04 - 04:01 AM (#1189338)
Subject: RE: When I was going o're Salisbury Plain
From: pavane

Does anyone know where the Dransfields obtained their version and tune?

There are about a dozen versions in the Bodleian Ballad library, under the title 'Success to the Blues'

They are all very similar, but noticeably different to the Dransfields song. Not one of them mentions Salisbury plain - they all have Rosemary Hill or Rosemary Lane, and none of them mention the French at all.


20 May 04 - 04:11 AM (#1189345)
Subject: RE: When I was going o're Salisbury Plain
From: pavane

An example - which seems garbled in places, as it doesn't scan well

Success to the Blues

As I was going down Rosemary Lane
A most beautiful sigh(t) I beheld
Of the pretty girls crying & wringing their hands
Saying the rout has just come for the blues

Now the daughter unto her mother did say
My Heart is fill'd with love for the blues (Should be Heart's filled?)
I'll pack up my clothes, and make no delay
And I'll travel the world with the blues

The Landlord and landlady walk arm in arm
And so do the youhg women too
You would have laughed to see them go round
To take their farewell of the Blues

The're as clever young fellows as ever you see
When dressed in His Majesty's clothes
You may search England o'er and Scotland all through
And there's none can compare with the blues

Our ship is in waiting and we must away
Drink success to King George and his Alies (an obvious misprint for Blues)
Then give three huzzas, success to King George
Success to King George and his Blues

Bodleian ref : Harding B 11(3353)


20 May 04 - 04:22 AM (#1189352)
Subject: RE: When I was going o're Salisbury Plain
From: GUEST,JOHN of ELSIE`S BAND

Our first verse:-
As I was-a-walking on Scarborough sands,
Some pleasures and pastimes to view,
The girls they were crying and wringing their hands.
Oh the rout has just come for The Blues, The Blues.
The rout has just come for The Blues.


20 May 04 - 10:43 AM (#1189653)
Subject: RE: When I was going o're Salisbury Plain
From: Malcolm Douglas

But where did you get it?

The song does seem to have appeared on broadsides localised to Scarborough; Ingledew, The Ballads and Songs of Yorkshire, 1860, 219, prints a text as Scarboro' Sands, with the comment "From a broadside penes me." This should not be confused with another Scarborough Sands -of which there is an example in the DT- which is unrelated.

The Dransfields seem to have got their text from a set noted by Cecil Sharp from Tom Gardiner, Blackwell, Worcestershire, in September 1909, which is almost identical; but their tune wasn't very like his, nor much like the few other examples I've seen.


20 May 04 - 01:31 PM (#1189884)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When I Was Going o'er Salisbury Plain
From: Amos

Ref


20 May 04 - 01:58 PM (#1189935)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When I Was Going o'er Salisbury Plain
From: Mary Humphreys

Something in the back of my mind tells me that the tune was noted by Kidson.I haven't seen the Kidson version's music myself so I am probably mis-informed. Does anyone know?
Mary


21 May 04 - 01:30 AM (#1190469)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When I Was Going o'er Salisbury Plain
From: pavane

When I lived in Chadwell Heath, 1960s to 1971, our local library had a copy of Kidson (Dated 1896). Wonder if it is still there. The date stamps in it went back to 1936 so it wasn't borrowed much!


21 May 04 - 03:05 AM (#1190501)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When I Was Going o'er Salisbury Plain
From: Herga Kitty

The song doesn't appear in my copy of Kidson's Traditional Tunes (republished 1970).

Kitty


21 May 04 - 04:58 AM (#1190560)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When I Was Going o'er Salisbury Plain
From: GUEST,MCP

Mary - Roud lists nothing for the song from Kidson. Versions seem to have been collected by Merrick, Fowke, Baring-Gould, Sharp, Gardiner, Duncan and Greig.

Mick


21 May 04 - 01:07 PM (#1190900)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When I Was Going o'er Salisbury Plain
From: Malcolm Douglas

Although Roud classes The Hopkin Boys et al. (Greig-Duncan I, no. 89, 217-221 ) under the same number (588) as The Blues, I can't help but feel that it's really a quite separate song, though on much the same subject. It shares a verse with Lancashire Lads (Roud 1430), and seems to have more in common with that song (though I haven't checked the tunes).


21 Jun 06 - 03:26 PM (#1765794)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When I Was Going o'er Salisbury Plain
From: GUEST,Sieffe

Third verse . . .

Then each one home to their mothers did run,
saying,"My heart is undone , it is true!"
"I'll pack up my clothes without more delay
and boldly I'll march with the Blues
and boldly I'll march with the Blues . . ."


21 Jun 06 - 03:44 PM (#1765813)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When I Was Going o'er Salisbury Plain
From: GUEST,Sieffe

I have to say that after searching fairly diligently on the net I see no mention of any job as a "rouster" . . . I presume this is a Mondegreen
but if anyone knows that there was a sort of military position called that, post quick! For a brief moment I was fooled there into thinking that I had been singing the song wrong for 25 years . . .


21 Jun 06 - 03:52 PM (#1765823)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE ROUT OF THE BLUES
From: GUEST,Sieffe

This is the version I have been using for 25 years . . .thanks for jogging my memory!



The Rout of the blues

As I was a-walking on Salisbury Plain
I heard such a fuss and to-do
For the lassies were crying and tearing their hair
For the rout had just come for the Blues
The rout had just come for the Blues.

Then each one home to their mothers did run
Saying, "My heart is undone, it is true
I'll pack up my clothes without more delay
And boldly I'll march with the Blues
And boldly I'll march with the Blues.

The landlord and landlady walk hand in hand
And so do they pretty girls, too
And each of them poured out a bottle of gin
To drink a success to the Blues
To drink a success to the Blues.

Our ship it is rigged and we all set sail
How sweetly the French Horns played too
And each one let out a loud huzzah
"Success to King George and his Blues!
"Success to King George and his Blues!"


21 Jun 06 - 03:56 PM (#1765825)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When I Was Going o'er Salisbury Plain
From: GUEST,Sieffe

oops! forgot this one . . .


A finer body of men you'll not find
though you search bonny England all through
When dressed in His Majesty's coat you'll agree
there's none can compare with the blues
there's none can compare with the blues


10 Aug 20 - 08:14 PM (#4067942)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When I Was Going o'er Salisbury Plain
From: Joe Offer

Anything we can do to refine this thread?


11 Aug 20 - 02:01 AM (#4067960)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When I Was Going o'er Salisbury Plain
From: Steve Gardham

What had you in mind, Joe?
The broadside versions are flagged up and the collectors of oral versions mentioned.


11 Aug 20 - 09:53 AM (#4067990)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: When I Was Going o'er Salisbury Plain
From: GUEST,Terry McDonald

The Hammond Brothers are not mentioned above but they collected a version which they called 'The Blues' from Robert Barrett of Puddletown, Dorset (c1906) with slightly different lyrics. They did, however, note that it was a 'Variant of tune "Rout has come for the Blues" in "Garland of Country Song" p.99.

As I was awalking down Staffordshire Square,
Some most beautiful place for to view,
Then I saw the girls acrying with the wringing of their hands
Saying the rout is now come for the Blues, the Blues,
Saying the rout us now come for the Blues.

Now the landlord and ladies all walk on the lawn,
And so do the young women too,
Good Lord how you'd laugh to see them plop down,
For to take a farewell of the Blues...

They're such clever young fellows as my eyes never see,
When dressed in the Majesty's clothes
You may search all England over, and Scotland all through,
You will find no such lads as the Blues....

One daughter to her own mother did say,
My heart's full of love it is true,
I will pack up my clothes, I will make no delay,
I will travel the world with the Blues...

Now our ship he's in harbour ready to jump in,
With the music aplaying so true,
We will give three huzzahs our voices to raise,
Here's a health to the Queen & her Blues, her bLues,
Success to the Queen and her Blues.