The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #171436   Message #4146009
Posted By: Joe Offer
30-Jun-22 - 06:47 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Add: Alan Bell: The Definitive Collection
Subject: Lyr Add: The Lakeland Fiddler (Alan Bell)
This was posted by Stu in a thread titled William Irwin, Lake District fiddler, but there were parts of Stu's transcription that I didn't agree with. This is what I hear. Please post any corrections, and I'll incorporate them here.

THE LAKELAND FIDDLER
(Alan Bell)

Well, I am a Lakeland fiddler
Bill Irwin is my name
And I live in Elterwater
Close by the Langdale lane
Ten hours a day I hew and toil
To earn my daily bread
But when my work time's over
I'll play my fiddle instead

CHORUS
So come all you dancing masters
Who call to the fiddler's tunes
Come lift your feet to the dancing beat
and step right round the room
And come all you lads and lasses
Throw all your cares away
Come sing a song as you pass along
And we'll dance the night away

When supper's on the table
with tattie pot to spare
The good brown ale keeps flowing
and banishes all care
And when the huntsmen gather
the choruses abound
They call on me to play a tune
And to help the jug go round

CHORUS

From Gosforth up to Keswick
From Keswick back to Shap
I've walked the lanes of Lakeland
With my fiddle and my cap
From Merry nights to dances
And balls at Christmas time
I'll play for happy couples
When wedding bells do chime

CHORUS

Well, I've heard the songs of Ireland
And the lilting harp of Wales
I've heard the English singers
Travelling through our dales
But the music of old Westmorland
Is the music I love best
So set to your partner form a square
And I will do the rest.

Alan A Bell
July 1986



Alan Bell recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lonVQUZGVkg

From Alan Bell: The Definitive Collection

Is "Lakeland" capitalized? How's my spelling on the other place names?