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13 Feb 03 - 05:29 AM (#889290) Subject: Lyr Add: DUST TO DUST (John Kirkpatrick) From: rich-joy DUST TO DUST (The Grave Digger's Song) (John Kirkpatrick) As recorded by John Kirkpatrick on "Mazurka Berserker" (2001) 1. Digging graves is my delight, A-digging graves for you to lie in. Digging graves from morn 'til night, I earns me living from the dying. Diggin' graves the whole day long, And as I dig I sing this song To anybody that comes along: Dust to dust and ashes to ashes, And thus I sing my song. 2. Rich and poor all come the same. I'll bury you all; there's none has favour. Don't spend your time in seeking gain. No gold from death will ever save yer. Mighty men with wealth and riches, Beggars too in rags and stitches, All end up in the wooden britches. Dust to dust and ashes to ashes, And so my sing goes on. 3. Some we bury with foul diseases. Some will die still young and pretty. Death will take just who it pleases, For in death there is no pity. Men, good men, with sightless eyes, Babes in arms and maids likewise, Fit or foolish, weak or wise, Dust to dust and ashes to ashes, And thus my song goes on. 4. You might be dancing in the street. You might be gay; you might be grieving. You might be singing a song so sweet, But you'll not cheat death; there's no deceiving. In the street or in the hall, Whether you skip or whether you crawl, Death could come anytime at all. Dust to dust and ashes to ashes, And so I sing my song. 5. Death come early, death come late, It takes us all; there is no reason. For every purpose under heaven, To each a time, to each a season; A time to love and a time to cry, A time to laugh and a time to sigh, A time to be born a time to die. Dust to dust and ashes to ashes, And thus I end my song. Top little number!! Bits of this song have been quoted in a number of other threads, so I figured we needed the whole thing. Cheers! R-J John Kirkpatrick recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3rj1xV30Zs |
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13 Feb 03 - 12:10 PM (#889563) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: DUST TO DUST - John Kirkpatrick From: Malcolm Douglas John Kirkpatrick noticed that there were almost no English language songs in the Locrian mode, so he wrote one. As a rule, I'd avoid all that elision of final -g unless it's essential to the song; here, I think it's just one person's pronounciation. |
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13 Feb 03 - 03:40 PM (#889728) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: DUST TO DUST - John Kirkpatrick From: RolyH John K sang this himself on his first album 'Jump at the Sun' (LER 2033),alas locked away by Mr Bulmer at the moment as is the Roy Bailey version. |
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13 Feb 03 - 05:50 PM (#889813) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: DUST TO DUST - John Kirkpatrick From: rich-joy Aaahh ... I was wondering why I'd never seen that early Roy Bailey offered on CD!! Sorry Malcolm, I'd been copying Roy, not the Good Grammar Guide!! (he obviously felt Grave Diggers were not likely to be Public School edumucated!!) Cheers! R-J |
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13 Feb 03 - 07:49 PM (#889922) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: DUST TO DUST - John Kirkpatrick From: Malcolm Douglas If my memory isn't completely off-track here, I think that John entered this song for some sort of competition that Jim Lloyd was running on "Folk On Two", or whatever the programme was called in the late '60s, and either won or came close to it. It was the first time I'd heard of him, but I never forgot that "Locrian Mode" business. The point about transcription probably deserves its own discussion, but I'd just make a few points here. When transcribing a song text from a traditional singer, there may be a case for reflecting as accurately as possible the way in which it is sung; that's about being true to the source, though it should be remembered that it's virtually impossible to reflect individual pronounciation without descending into bizarre "mummerset", and that most of the old singers considered that they were singing in "normal english", and would have been mortified to see their words represented in a mutilated form that reflected an ousider's perception. Transcribing from a record made by a professional performer is an entirely different matter. People like Roy Bailey are not traditional singers (and don't claim to be), so their personal pronounciation of words is irrelevant, particularly in the case of a modern song like this one. If you insist on writing "digging" as "diggin'", and so on, you are in effect establishing a spurious authority for that form; people will learn the text as you have given it, and many will believe that they have to sing it like that. For what it's worth, the only grave-digger I've ever known at all well was public-school educated, but that's beside the point (as is the story about the skull he took home). I can assure you that Roy won't have moderated his pronounciation in order to reflect the educational background (real or perceived) of the fictional narrator of this song; that's just the way he sings. It has nothing whatever to do with grammar, but everything to do with ease of communication, and the intent of the writer. Of course, if John actually wrote diggin, grievin and so on, then I'll go and get my coat. Meanwhile, though, I really do think that it's best to present a lyric in straightforward form, with as little subjective moderation as possible. It's fine to reflect dialect in transcription (when you really know what you're doing), but in cases like this, pronounciation is quite another matter, and really has nothing at all to do with the song. Not a personal criticism in any way, I should add; just something that I've long felt the need to comment on here, as so many song transcriptions in the Forum and DT are made from recordings by Revival performers, whose personal approaches to phrasing and pronounciation are usually irrelevant to the songs under discussion. |
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13 Feb 03 - 08:07 PM (#889939) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: DUST TO DUST - John Kirkpatrick From: GUEST,Q There are a number of grave digger songs and poems, most of them picturing the digger as an honest, hard-working man who is performing a necessary and noble service. Not one of them seems to be about the crafty, greedy seller of corpses to the Resurrection Men. Through their interpreters, the song writers, all of the diggers seem to be stable, healthy, long-lived men who speak good, standard English and who would regard folk singer language as beneath them. |
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13 Feb 03 - 08:15 PM (#889947) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: DUST TO DUST - John Kirkpatrick From: GUEST,Q Oh, well- just found a couple about the resurrectionists in the Bodleian. |
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14 Feb 03 - 05:40 AM (#890149) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: DUST TO DUST - John Kirkpatrick From: Auxiris I have checked the John Kirkpatrick songbook just to be sure, to be sure and Malcolm is right: the text is indeed written with the final g on words like digging, dying and so on. cheers, Aux |
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14 Feb 03 - 08:46 PM (#890712) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: DUST TO DUST - John Kirkpatrick From: rich-joy Humble apologies to all Grave Diggers, Malcolm, Q, John, Roy, and EVERYONE. I'll get back in my Colonial box now, Cheers! R-J |
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14 Feb 03 - 09:13 PM (#890719) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: DUST TO DUST - John Kirkpatrick From: Malcolm Douglas Not your fault. It's an issue that I've been wanting to bring up for quite some time (because I think it's important), and this was the perfect opportunity. Sorry that you copped for it; an awful lot of people do exactly the same thing, and I wish they wouldn't; unless they really know what they're doing. Auxiris: is there any chance you could post the tune here? |
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10 Jun 20 - 10:42 PM (#4058705) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dust to Dust (John Kirkpatrick) From: Joe Offer John Kirkpatrick recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3rj1xV30Zs The Roy Bailey recording is at 5:17 on this recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJs-hkLZci0 I was getting instruction from Robert Rodriquez about the Resurrection Men of Edinburgh, and this song came up in my searching. Robert brought up the Burke and Hare songs. -Joe- |
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10 Jun 20 - 10:58 PM (#4058707) Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Dust to Dust (John Kirkpatrick) From: Joe Offer Casey Casebeer sings a slightly different version. I'll try to find the original Kirkpatrick lyrics later. DUST TO DUST - John Kirkpatrick Digging graves is my delight, A-digging graves for you to lie in. Digging graves from morn' till night, I makes me living from the dying. Digging graves the whole day long, And as I dig I sing this song To anybody that comes along, Dust to dust and ashes to ashes, And so begins my song. Rich and poor all come the same, WHO I’ll bury you all there's none has favour. Don't spend your life in seeking gain; No gold from death will ever save yer. Mighty men with wealth and riches, Beggars too in rags and stitches; All end up in the wooden britches. Dust to dust and ashes to ashes, And so my song goes on. Some we bury with foul/fell diseases, HOW Some will die still young and pretty. Death will take just who it pleases, For in death there is no pity. Mangled men with sightless eyes, Babes in arms and maids likewise, Fit or foolish, weak or wise. Dust to dust and ashes to ashes, And so I sing my song. You might be dancing in the street, WHAT You might be gay, you might be grieving. You might be singing a song so sweet, but You'll not cheat death, there's no deceiving. In the street or in the hall, Whether you skip or whether you crawl, Death could come any time at all. Dust to dust and ashes to ashes, And so my song goes on. Death come early, death come late, WHY It takes us all, there is no reason. For every purpose under heav’n, To each a turn, to each a season. A time to weep and a time to sigh, A time to laugh and a time to cry, A time to be born and a time to die. Dust to dust and ashes to ashes, And so I end my song. |