The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #99030   Message #1968704
Posted By: Abby Sale
15-Feb-07 - 11:52 AM
Thread Name: Dame Durden
Subject: RE: Dame Durden
Wall, you asked the right person...

That's the one I sing, too. But there are choices if it's only the DATE you want, not the commemoration:

1.      On the fourteenth of February we sailed from the land,
        In the Bold Princess Royal bound for Newfoundland,
        With 40 brave seamen for our ship's company,
        From the Eastward to the westward and so sail-ed we.

               The Bold Princess Royal (see DigTrad)

        Note, however that this song, as many others, comes with a variety of dates, there's a reasonable suggestion that sailors at sea would change the date to be the one their own ship sailed.

Or:

        Ye loyal fox hunters, attend to my song,
        If you'll give your attention I'll not keep you long;
        In eighteen eleven, the date of the year,
        The fourteenth of Fe-b'ry, as soon doth appear,
        When the hills and the valleys did oft times echo,
        And respond to the sound of a loud "Tally-ho!"

                "The Fylingdale Fox Hunt," in Frank Kidson, Traditional Tunes, (Yorkshire & South of Scotland); 1891; p.137.

Or:

        Last Valentine's day, bright Phoebus shone clear,
        We had not been a hunting for the space of one year.
        I mounted Black Clover, that horse of great fame,
        For to hear the horn blow and the words "Tally ho! ho!"

                "Last Valentine's Day" from Popular Songs of Sussex (collected by Lucy Broadwood.)

But the conception that one is in Love just may be related to what may be "too much of a coincidence." Feb 14 is also Trifon Zarezan - "Viticulturist's Day" in Bulgaria. This is an ancient holiday there, dating to ancient Grecian times. There are plenty of songs celebrating wine and it is thought that a good healthy celebration of wine may often lead to love. Or to something similar.

I like to sing "The Vintner" to celebrate.