Lyr Add: Sair Fyel'd, Hinny

Subject: Lyr Add: SAIR FYEL'D, HINNY
From: Conrad Bladey (Peasant- Inactive)
Date: 03 Mar 00 - 12:35 PM

SAIR FYEL'D, HINNY

CHORUS: Sair fyel'd hinny,
Sair fyel'd noo,
Sair fyel'd hinny,
Sin' I kenn'd thou.

1. I was young an' lusty,
I was fair an' clear,
I was young an' lusty
Mony a lang year.

2. When I was young and lusty,
I could loup a dyke;
But now, at five-and-sixty,
Canna do the like.

3. Then said the auld man
To the oak tree,
"Sair fyel'd is 'e
Sin' I kenn'd thee!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sair fyel'd Hinny
From: Margo
Date: 04 Mar 00 - 02:47 AM

Wow! I love seeing the notation! It's great!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sair fyel'd Hinny
From: GUEST,Emily
Date: 02 Mar 06 - 04:59 PM

Does anyone know what the actual words mean? Or what dialect they're from?

Subject: Lyr Add: SAIR FYEL'D HINNY
From: Emma B
Date: 02 Mar 06 - 05:17 PM

Sair fyel'd hinny
Sair fyel'd now:
Sair fyel'd hinny,
Sin' I ken'd thou

Aw was young and lusty
Aw was fair and clear;
Aw was young and lusty
Mony a lang year

When aw was young and lusty
Aw could lowp a dyke;
But now aw'm awd an' stiff
Aw can hardly step a syke

When aw was five and twenty
Aw was brave and bauld;
Now at five and sixty
Aw'm byeth stiff and cauld

Thus said the auld man
To the oak tree
"Sair fyel'd is aw                                                 Sin' aw ken'd thee"

From the album of Tyneside Songs
J G Windows

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sair fyel'd Hinny
From: shepherdlass
Date: 02 Mar 06 - 05:20 PM

They're from the North East of England, and the song's in Bruce & Stokoe's Northumbrian Minstrelsy (1882). It's a lament about old age. The gist is that the old man sings to an oak tree that he's been sorely felled (sair fyel'd) by the sight of this tree (sin a ken'd thee = since I knew/saw you), presumably because it just gets stronger as it gets older, while he's losing his vitality and energy. (By the way, to "loup" is to jump).

There are some fantastic recordings of this song - an excellent recent one is by Bob Fox and the Hush.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sair fyel'd Hinny
From: GUEST,Keith(Pegleg Ferret)
Date: 02 Mar 06 - 05:31 PM

Emily they're from the northumbrian dialect. Sair Fyeld means in modern parlance "I'm past it or knackered". The singer of the song is an old man reaching the end of his life and growing more feeble. The version I know, and we sing on our Cd "Not Fooling Anyone" has an extra verse and is as follows:-

The chorus is the same as already written except it is sair fyeld now, not noo. The first verse is as written previously. The next verse is:

When aw was young and lusty
Aw could lowp a dyke
(This means to jump a hedge.)
But now aw'm awd an' stiff
Aw can hardly step a syke
(this means I can't walk far)


The extra verse is:

When aw was five and twenty
Aw was brave and bauld(bold)
Now at five and sixty
aw'm byeth stiff and cauld
(I'm both stiff and cold)

The final verse is:

Thus said the auld man
To the oak tree
Sair fyeld is aw
Si aw ken'd thee
(since I knew you)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sair fyel'd Hinny
From: greg stephens
Date: 02 Mar 06 - 05:39 PM

Talking of Pegleg Ferret(see previous poster), I first met Benny Graham when I was the musical director of "Byker Byker" in 1975(ish) in Newcastle. It was a musical produced by the Tyneside Theatre Company about the regeneration of Byker, and I got Benny along to be the "local colour" singer. Surprisngly, he didntg actually know Sair Fyeld Hinny, but I said it was the crucial song for the show, we worked it up, found a suitable key ( a tricky problem, it's got a big range) and put it in, surrounded by some much more modern music. He did a fantastic job, and whenever I hear that song now I think of Benny the Whale and me down in the orchestra pit a long long time ago.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sair fyel'd Hinny
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 03 Mar 06 - 05:44 PM

Stokoe also published it in Songs of Northern England (same version as in NM). My own favourite version is Louis Killen's on Along The Coaly Tyne.

I'll put the tune up later (if you take out the offsite link in Conrad's post - geocities keep wanting to put a cookie up).

Mick

Subject: Tune Add: SAIR FYEL'D HINNY
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 04 Mar 06 - 03:58 AM

Here's the tune from NM. I've transposed it from Cm to Bm and removed some extraneous repeat and DC marks from it (which were gone in SNE). The tempo marking is my suggestion.

From memory Louis Killen actually sings it in 4/4, essentially lengthening the last note of each bar to take up the extra beat, but that might be my faulty memory. If I've got time later I'll have a listen to Along The Coaly Tyne and check.

Mick (still rejecting Geocities cookies)

---

X: 1
T:Sair Fyel'd, Hinny
M:3/4
L:1/8
Q:1/4=56
S:Bruce & Stokoe: Northumbrian Minstrelsy
K:Bm % transposed from Cm
D2 (CD) B,B,|A2 (AG) (Fd)|
w:Sair fyel'd_ hin-ny, sair fyel'd_ now_
D2 (CD) B,B,|de (cA) HB2||
w:Sair fyel'd_ hin-ny, Sin aw ken'd_ thou.
Fc de cA|Fc de c2|
w:Aw was young and lus-ty, Aw was fair and clear,
Fc de cA|Bd cA B2||
w: Aw was young and lus-ty, Mony a lang_ year.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sair fyel'd Hinny
From: GUEST,Keith(Pegleg Ferret)
Date: 04 Mar 06 - 09:25 AM

Mick....The version I gave earlier is from Stokoe. As I've already said we sing it on our Cd. Anyone wanting to can check it out on our website www.peglegferret.comwww.peglegferret.com

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sair fyel'd Hinny
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 04 Mar 06 - 11:41 AM

That's www.peglegferret.com (you'd created a local link Keith). I haven't seen PLF for many a year, not since I used to know Barry The Fairly Accurate Trucker (may he rest in peace).

Mick

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sair fyel'd Hinny
From: Tootler
Date: 04 Mar 06 - 06:05 PM

There is also a version on Kathryn Tickell's album, "Northumbrian Collection". Her best, IMO.

This album also features Willy Taylor playing fiddle on a waltz set. Superb fiddle playing from an earlier generation, wonderfully crisp and precise.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sair fyel'd Hinny
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 05 Mar 06 - 04:10 AM

On ' The Northumberland Collection ' it is sung by Carolyn Robson, who in my opinion is the finest woman singer in English folk song today.

Check out her website for sound clips.

eric

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sair Fyel'd Hinny
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Mar 06 - 02:11 PM

Thankyou people who answered :) The words had been bugging me since I first heard the song. It makes a whole lot more sense now :)

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sair fyel'd Hinny
From: GUEST,Dave Brown
Date: 21 Dec 08 - 08:15 AM

Dyke is a dry stone wall
Syke is a drainage ditch

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sair fyel'd Hinny
From: Suegorgeous
Date: 21 Dec 08 - 08:56 PM

Anyone got a current link to this song?

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Sair fyel'd Hinny
From: GUEST,James Arthur
Date: 09 Jun 10 - 03:52 AM

Roly Veitch and James Birkett have a new cd called Gan Canny and Sair Fyeld Hinny is featured on the cd.Roly is the best singer of traditional songs in the Tyneside area.
John James