More midis, sent 7th. September:

WILLIE O'DOUGLAS DALE filename[ WILDOUG  Text from David Buchan (A Book of Scottish Ballads, 1973): this is Child #101, version A.  The original source was Mrs. Anna Gordon Brown (1747-1810) of Fife; the tune given is Bronson's conjectural timing based on the original ms.

FOUNTAIN FILLED WITH BLOOD filename[ FOUNTINB  Tune written or arranged by Lowell Mason, (1830?) variously known as "Cowper", "Cleansing Fountain", etc...midi adapted from two found online.

STANDING STONES filename[ STANSTON  Version recorded by Peter Kennedy from John & Ethel Findlater of Dounby, Orkney, in 1955.  Midi made from Kennedy's transcription in Folk Songs of Britain and Ireland.

THE SEASONS ROUND filename[ SEASRND  Copper Family version, called by them The Ploughshare.  Also known as The Seasons of the Year.  Midi made from the transcription in Bob Copper's A Song for Every Season.

THE BOATSMAN AND THE TAILOR filename[ BOATTAIL  Whoever contributed this text gave no information of any kind as to where it came from.  It is, however, identical word-for-word to that collected by Cecil Sharp from Charles Neville at East Coker in 1908, so it seems reasonable to suppose that that is what it is.  James Reeves published it in The Idiom of the People (1958); he too gives the text only, but remarks: "In English Folk Songs...Sharp describes the words... as "boisterous and unprintable", and appropriates what he calls "its fine air" to another set of words, The Green Wedding."  I have therefore made a midi of that tune as published by Sharp.  The DT transcriber also failed to mention, incidentally, that the refrain "To my rally dally da do, rally dally day", is sung twice each time.

I AM A ROVER filename[ IMAROVR2  Source named, thankyou!  Watersons, from Kidson's Traditional Tunes (1891): I've made a midi from his version (#1), but, since the Watersons had made a number of changes to the melody and its phrasing by the time they recorded it, I felt obliged to make a midi of that, too.

WILD GEESE filename[ WGEESE  Yet another singer who felt that Carolan's Planxty Irwin was "too singable to be reserved for musicians", and couldn't resist the temptation to do something about it.  Oh well; Midi made on the off-chance that there's somebody out there who hasn't heard it 8 million times already...

GOING TO BANBURY filename[ GOBANBUR  No source mentioned (and whoever typed it up seems not to have known what a codling was), but it's identical to the version Cecil Sharp collected from Sister Emma of Clewer, Berkshire, in 1909.  Midi made from his notation (The Crystal Stream,1975).

HERRING'S HEAD filename[ HERRHEAD  Taken from a book called Irish Songs of the Sea, which I've never come across.  What I do have, though, is a version recorded by Peter Kennedy from Seamus Ennis in 1959 (and called The Herring Song), which is very similar indeed textually; I imagine, therefore (optimistically), that the same is true of the tune.  Midi made from the notation in Folk Songs of Britain & Ireland.

I WONDER WHAT IS KEEPING MY TRUE LOVE TONIGHT filename[ KEEPLOVE  No indication whatever as to where this one came from; what a surprise.  There don't seem to be many versions in print, though, so I'm going for the one in Kennedy, recorded from Mary McGarvey of Donegal by Seamus Ennis in 1954, and called The Green Grass It Grows Bonny.  For the people who like to add to threads "so-and-so [revival singer] has done a wonderful version of this", I'd say that this is where Kate Rusby got her tune from, though possibly at one generation's remove.

JOHNNY ARMSTRONG (2) filename[ JARMSTR2  Child #169: text from Allan Ramsay's The Ever Green; the Oxford Book of Ballads couples it with tune no. #356 in The Scots Musical Museum, from which I've made a midi.

HIGHLAND BALOU filename[ HIGHBALU  Robert Burns again.  Midi from notation in BP&S.

JUST AS THE TIDE WAS FLOWING filename[ JUSTIDE  No source named.  This song has only one tune, though, and versions don't vary very much; so, hey, it can have the one given by Kidson in Traditional Tunes, which has a similar (broadside) text.

THE KIELDER HUNT filename[ KIELDHNT  Willie Scott's version from The Scottish Folksinger: midi made from the tune in the book.

LE ROI A FAIT BATTRE TAMBOUR filename[ LEROIFAI  Presumably transcribed from a record, with consequent spelling mistakes!  I am not familiar with Anne Sylvestre or Cindy Mangsen, but the song is a very well-known one in France; I learned it myself when I lived there.  All the tunes I've heard it sung to have been closely-related; Midi made from the similar version, called La Marquise Empoisonnée given in Le Livre des Chansons (Henri Davenson, 1955), which is a particularly nice hypodorian melody.

THE SANDGATE LASS ON THE ROPERY BANKS filename[ ROPERY  Tune specified is Fy let us a' to the Bridal; midi made from the set in James Aird's collection (Volume I, 1782; .abc transcription by Jack Campin), slightly modified to fit.

Cross-references etc.:

SEAL SONG filename[ SEALSONG  Midi already at Alan's site, posted by me some months back, under its usual title of Hó i Hó i.

THE LASSIE WHA NEVER SAYS NO filename[ NEVRSAY  No source named . This is a not-terribly-good transcription by ear of the text of Jeannie Robertson's BONNIE WEE LASSIE THAT NEVER SAID NO (filename[ NEVSAYNO) for which I've already sent in a midi.  For all its faults, this file does at least have the verse omitted from the latter.

THE SEVEN WONDERS filename[ SVNWONDR  DT text from the singing of somebody called Jill King.  The English language version commonly known was recorded by Maddy Prior and June Tabor (Silly Sisters); they learnt it from Mick Tems of Pontadawe; ...see thread     for the full details.  Midi sent to Alan some months back: Seven Wonders, The.

FAREWELL TO THE MONTY filename[ FARWMNTY  Midi sent by me to Alan, re.thread  Tunes for songs

DOWN IN THE COAL MINE filename[ DOWNCOAL  Midi sent re. above thread.

THRESHING SONG filename[ THRESONG  This is a duplicate of OLD THRESHING SONG filename[ THRSHSNG, which has the tune THRSHSNG.mid

Malcolm