The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #107605 Message #2231868
Posted By: Les in Chorlton
09-Jan-08 - 06:22 AM
Thread Name: Folklore: Dingle Regatta: Why 'Hey ho' etc?
Subject: RE: Folklore: Dingle Regatta: Why 'Hey ho' etc?
Quite a few tunes have a verse at the start but the tune still stands on it's own rather than also being a song.
A tune, which I have forgotten, but played by, amongst others, the Chieftains:
"If I had a wife the plague of me life
I'll tell you what I would do
I'd buy her a boat and shove her afloat
and paddle me own canoe"
Lots of Morris tunes start with a verse in a similar way:
"Oh dear Mother what a fool I've been
Two young fllows came a courting me
One was blind and the other couldn't see
Oh dear Mother what a fool I've been"
From Lads a buncham I think
The idea came to me one day that it might be that some musicians, who might play in a range of contexts, social dance, church or whatever, would be called on to play for Morris at irregular intervals and could not immediately recall the tunes. The dances might then sing out a verse so that the musicians could recall the tune in question.
I have no evidence for this and although it sounds plausible that does not count as evidence.
Any views?