The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #17022 Message #3291791
Posted By: GUEST,leeneia
17-Jan-12 - 06:33 PM
Thread Name: Where's Fennario?
Subject: RE: Where's Fennario?
Here's how I sing it nowadays. It is my belief that a song should make sense and that rhythm and rhyme should be respected. That leaves out rhyming Derby with Killarney. It requires new names; Mary to rhyme with Fennari, and Danny, the closest I could think of to 'angry.' My version is based quite a bit on a song by the Battlefield Band.
As we march-ed down to Fennario
repeat
Captain fell in love
with a lady like a dove,
and the name she was called was lovely Mary-o.
Come go along with me, lovely Mary-o
[how can we resist singing "come go"?]
repeat
in coaches you shall ride
with your true love by your side
as grand as any lady in the are-o.
Come trippin down the stair lovely Mary-o
repeat
come trippin down the stair
combing back your yellow hair
and bid a fond farewell to your mother-o.
What would your mother think, lovely Mary-o
repeat
what would your mother think
for to hear the guineas clink
and the soldiers all a marchin a-fore you oh?
How can I come down, Captain Danny-o?
repeat
how can I come down
when I'm locked here in my room
and a great deep well beneath my window?
[She let him down gently, aware that he kills people for a living.]
I love you most of all Captain Danny-o
repeat
I love you most of all
but your fortune is too small.
I'm afraid that my mother would be angry-o.
Our captain he is dead, lovely Mary-o
repeat
our captain he is dead,
and he died for a maid
and he's buried in the Lousiana country o.
If ever we return to Fennerio
repeat
If ever we return,
that city we shall we burn
and ravage all the ladies in the are-o.
[play a breakdown[
repeat first verse, gently.
============
This is a nice tune on my dulcimer.
There's a novel by Jane Austen where there are four daughters in the family, and two of them are far too bedazzled by the local soldiers. Is it Pride and Prejudice? Anyhow, reading it puts this song in a broader context.