SWALCLIFFE MAY DAY CAROL Magpie Lane, first public performance Oxford, 3 May 1993

I learned the song from Forty Long Miles: twenty-three English folk songs from the collection of Janet Heatley Blunt, edited by Tony Foxworthy and published by Galliard / EFDSS in 1976.

Swalcliffe (pronounced sway-cliff) is a village near Banbury in North Oxfordshire. The words of this carol were noted by Miss Annie Norris around 1840 from the singing of a group of children in the village. The words were passed onto the collector - and Adderbury resident - Janet Blunt in 1908, and she finally collected a tune for the song from Mrs Woolgrove of Swalcliffe, and Mrs Lynes of Sibford, at Sibford fete, July 1921.

May Day Carol

May Song by Magpie Lane

A song inspired by the May Day celebrations at Padstow in Cornwall where an ancient "Obby 'Oss" has for centuries been paraded through town. The words and tune, by contemporary songwriter Dave Webber, have entered the folk tradition.

May Song
This song is also known as Hail,hail the First of May Link to HAIL THE FIRST OF MAY posted above