ly req: original folk song from which

Subject: RE: ly req: original folk song from which
From: Wolfgang
Date: 05 Nov 99 - 05:54 AM

you're right, Bruce, but perhaps a somewhat shorter expression could do. Wolfgang

Subject: RE: ly req: original folk song from which
From: Bruce O.
Date: 04 Nov 99 - 02:42 PM

Wolfgang, 'original version which later became a folk song' may not sound good to you, but how else would you put it and still be accurate? That fits several broadside ballads in the Scarce Songs files and Laurence Price file on my website.

Subject: RE: ly req: original folk song from which
From:
Date: 04 Nov 99 - 10:58 AM

ACtually, he just used his last name for the message. Here it is for those who are also interested:

Spancil Hill - The Original Version

Subject: RE: ly req: original folk song from which
From:
Date: 04 Nov 99 - 10:53 AM

OK I found a thread on the Forum here "Where is Spancil Hill" and a fellow named Frank McGrath posted it about a year and a half back, May 98. So for those interested, search on the Forum for "Spancil Hill" in the Subject and "Frank McGrath" in the author field.

Subject: RE: ly req: original folk song from which
From:
Date: 04 Nov 99 - 10:47 AM

Just out of curiosity, where did you find this set of lyrics, and the story behind Spancil Hill? It's certainly a lovely song.

Subject: RE: ly req: original folk song from which
From: Wolfgang
Date: 04 Nov 99 - 08:57 AM

McGrath (Kevin, if I remember correctly from another thread), I partly disagree. I think we should make a difference whether there is an original version or only an earliest (known, printed). Songs like Three Score and Ten or Spancil Hill or Fiddler's Green have a known origin, i.e. have been written by a namable person at a specific time (and I remember how glad I was to read for the first time the original lyrics to Spancil Hill and to read the story around the song). For most ballads this information is lost forever and in these cases I prefer to read of "first known version" or "first collected by...".
Of course, 'original folk song' is a kind of misnomer, since the original version was not a folksong at the time of its writing. But the more correct 'original version to what later became a folk song' doesn't sound good to me.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: ly req: original folk song from which
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 31 Oct 99 - 06:58 PM

I think talking about "the original folk song" to which another song was written is to misinterpret the process by which (folk)songs grow and develop. You can look for the earliest version, and for earlier versions of related song, but looking for "the original" is like looking for the foot of a rainbow.

Even when so eone sits down and makes up a song and makes up a tune for it, if its any good, when you dig hard enough you can always find another song and another tune that fed into it.

Subject: RE: ly req: original folk song from which
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 31 Oct 99 - 09:43 AM

Hi- Search for Drim* in DigiTrad. It's there, along with a more political version.

Subject: RE: ly req: original folk song from which
From: Bruce O.
Date: 30 Oct 99 - 10:53 PM

It's "Drumionn Dubh Deelish" in the Scarce Songs 1 file at my website: www.erols.com/olsonw. The songs has been collected to other tunes than Leadbelly's in the 20th century, but none of these are the original tune for the song.

Subject: ly req: original folk song from which
From:
Date: 30 Oct 99 - 09:37 PM

I'm looking for the original folk song that the tune to Kisses Sweeter Than Wine is from. This same tune is used in a Leadbelly song called If It Wasn't For Drimmer (it's about a cow). In the jacket notes for the album (I no longer have the album, much less the notes), I'm sure it mentioned the title of the original folk song. I think it was probably Old English.