I can't find the little book of Welsh folksongs at this moment, so I can't identify it further, but I have an enlarged copy of Black Pig which has the following note:

"This popular humourous ballad could perhaps be called "The Lament For The Late Black Pig", and is sung to the tune of Lili Lon. Although in a light vein, it does emphasise the importance of the pig in a poor rural farming community.

The original words were composed by John Owen, a farm labourer who later became a nonconformist minister. They record the 'loss' of a pig belonging to a neighbour, David Morris.

There are any number of stanzas, varying from place to place in different parts of Wales, but always with the same refrain, sung with a mock grief for the dead 'mochyn'.

The tune was also used by ballad singers at fairs and similar gatherings. Ballad singers, in Wales as in England, were important conveyers of news before the advent of the popular newspapers, and were considered as commentators on 'the way of the world'."


I am very fond of the tune which I learned from the aforementioned book, brought home from a trip to Wales by my older sister. It is simple and easy, though it moves around a bit. Folks from my immediate part of the world (southern Ontario) may remember the tune (sans words) from an out of print cd "Eight Hands Round" by the band "Homespun", done with twin mandolins and guitar etc accompaniment.

Peace, Mooh.