Lyr/Chords Req: Needle of Death (Bert Jansch)

25 Sep 00 - 06:39 PM (#305305)
Subject: Can anyone help????
From: GUEST,[e-mail]

I'm looking for lyrics (and chord) for these songs: Needle of Death (by Bert Jansch?) Travellers´ Prayer (The John Renbourn Group) John Barleycorn (The John Renbourn Group)

Also, I would very much like to know what the style of the two Renbourn numbers are called, who wrote them and who else play that kind of lovely music.

And who is that John Barleycorn bloke by the way????

Thanks in anticipation

Morten.

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25 Sep 00 - 07:13 PM (#305329)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Can anyone help????
From: NightWing

John Barleycorn is an OLD, OLD song. Thus, there are lots of different versions. Robert Burns published one notable version, but it seems that most folkies like a slightly simpler, shorter version than his. I don't know quite what version your particular band sings, but here are a number of sites with slightly different wordings. That oughta get you started.

http://www-scf.usc.edu/~ipereira/pagan/barleycorn.html http://www.csc.calpoly.edu/~kwang/songs/barleycorn.3.html http://www.acronet.net/~robokopp/scottish/johnbarl.htm http://ingeb.org/songs/johnbarl.html

And who is this John Barleycorn bloke anyway? Real, literal barley. He gets buried (planted), then rises up (sprouts), grows a beard (flowers), is cut down (harvested), and ground between stones (milled). His blood (beer) makes many things happen: turns boy into man, turns man into ass, turns silver into brass (from buying it all night long *WHHEEEEEE*), makes a man forget his woe, and makes a widow's heart sing. Look at the poetry and you'll find lots of other references.

Barley (and other grains) is also the personification of the ancient "Dieing God" archetype: the God who gives up his life to feed his people and then is reborn, usually having fathered himself on an ever-living Earth Goddess.

Finally, "John Barleycorn" is the title of a novel by Jack London, which can be found in its entirety at the following URL:

http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/London/Writings/JohnBarleycorn

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25 Sep 00 - 07:23 PM (#305338)
Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: Can anyone help????
From: Malcolm Douglas

I've put links to all the reliable John Barleycorn material available on this site, and several others, in this thread:  John Barleycorn

I don't recall exactly which version Renbourne recorded, but I think that it was very close to the "Penguin Book" set given on that thread.

,amlcolm

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