The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #159389   Message #1872939
Posted By: Tootler
31-Oct-06 - 08:56 AM
Thread Name: Origins: Lyke Wake Dirge
Subject: RE: Phrase from: LYKE WAKE DIRGE
I came across this thread while looking for a complete set of words for this song as the recorded versions I have are incomplete - as is the version in the DT database. There is one exception on a vinyl LP of my wife's which has a complete version but I do not have a working record player at the moment.

I think at least some of the versions listed earlier in the thread should be added to the DT database as they represent the whole song, especially the version headed "Cleveland Lyke Wake Dirge" as this feels authentic to me. The other versions seem to me like "tidied up" polite versions, albeit in somewhat archaic language. The LP I mentioned above has an introduction to the song which I clearly remember specifically mentions that "Christ tak' up thy saul" is what was normally sung (rather than "Christ receive thy soul").

On "Whinny Moor": This need not relate to a specific place, but is quite possibly a generic reference. A Yorkshire dialect dictionary we have at home gives "Whinny" as Gorse. So a "Whinny Moor" is simply a "Gorse Moor" and gorse is a common plant on rough land over much of Britain.