Subject: RE: Tune Add: Missing Tunes Wanted-part V
From:
Malcolm Douglas
Date: 13 Feb 01 - 11:00 PM
Additional to my comments on John Barleycorn above:
Though Steeleye Span took the trouble on this occasion to acknowledge their source, and even dedicated their arrangement of the song to Margaret Hamer, they failed to quote Billy Bartle's words accurately, so the midi I've made is an uneasy compromise between the song as collected and their arrangement of it. No notes have been altered in pitch, but several have been lengthened (two 1/8 notes combined to form one 1/4 note) in order to match the tune to the text as given in the DT file. Bartle's version began:
There were three men came from the North,
Their fortunes for to tell,
And the life of John Barleycarn as well.
These lines were spoken. S. Span substituted "West" for "North".
The lyrics I give with the midi are those for the first sung verse plus chorus. S. Span changed Bartle's words, and the DT transcriber ( or his/her source) changed them too:
They laid him in three furrows deep,
Laid clods upon his head,
And they all began to sing joyously,
John Barleycorn is dead.
Oh John Barleycorn is dead.
(Bartle)
They laid him in three furrows deep,
Laid clods upon his head,
And these three men made a solemn vow,
John Barleycorn was dead,
John Barleycorn was dead.
(Steeleye Span)
They plowed him in three furrows deep,
Laid clods all on his head,
And they have made a solemn oath,
John Barleycorn was dead,
John Barleycorn was dead.
(DT text)
The embedded lyrics are those given in the DT, though I have changed the spelling of the nonsense words in the chorus back to those originally noted by Hamer.
1408) GREENLAND BOUND Version from A.L. Lloyd. The contributor mentions "an inferior variant in Ord, Bothy Ballads"; I don't see a great deal to choose between the two sets of very similar lyrics, though arguably the Lloyd set flows a little better as narrative. It seems likely that the tune will have been much the same (Ord, for example, got his tune from a lady in Saltcoats who had noted it from "an old gentleman whose grandmother used to sing it to him in his early childhood", and remarked that it was identical to the one he remembered from the North-East 40 years previously) so I've made a midi of Ord's tune. Unfortunately I've had to split a number of notes into two in order to accommodate Lloyd's rather uneven lines, but it can't be helped.
3013) ROULEZ, JEUNES GENS, ROULEZ! Midi made from a recording by "The Shanty Crew" (Stand To Yer Ground, Screw Productions PROP 1885A, 1989). It was collected in Haute-Normandie (Seine Maritime) by Michel Colleu from Captain Vedieu (Saint-Pierre-en-Port, 1974) and M. Cuvier (Eletot, 1976). NOTE: "voiles d'été" ("summer sails") in the DT text should be "voiles d'étai ("staysails").
1553) HIND HORN The DT text appears to be Child's example H, which was taken from Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland (1828), though the spelling has been anglicised in parts and there are some minor alterations of words and a few typos; verses 23 and 24 have been omitted:
He took nane frae Peter nor frae Paul,
Nane frae the high nor low o them all.
And frae them all he would take nane,
Until it came frae the bride's ain hand.
No tune is recorded for this particular version, but Bronson gives 23 variants. After some thought I have decided to go for his example 10, which comes from the Greig MSS., II, p.12, and was sung by Mrs. Rettie of Milbrex, in September 1906. Midi made from the notation of this; in order to accommodate the DT text, I have in two places split 1/2 notes into pairs of one 3/8 and one 1/8. Buchan and Child print the text in two-line stanzas, so there are two possibilities for matching it to the four-line tune; either in groups of two stanzas, or with an interleaved refrain such as that which occurs in many versions (see for example Hind Horn (2) ) -in many cases, the early collectors didn't bother to print such refrains. My feeling is that the narrative flow of this particular version works better without a refrain, so the midi contains text of verses 1 and 2 matched to the melody.
3416) THIS IS NO MA AIN HOOSE Midi made from the notation in Burns: Poems and Songs (James Kinsley, OUP 1969). There are two different texts at: This Is No My Ain House.
3123) THE SHEPHERD'S WIFE This is Robert Burns' rewrite of a traditional song, though the DT entry makes no mention of him. An earlier version and a bowdlerisation may be seen under
425) BONNIE SAINT JOHN; the tune will serve for all three. Midi made from the notation in Burns: Poems and Songs (James Kinsley, OUP 1969).
1658) I MAUN HAE MY GOON MADE The tune prescribed for this song is the same as that used for Let Me in this Ae Nicht. John of Brisbane sent a midi to Alan some months ago, but it hasn't appeared on the midi pages yet; a cross-reference should suffice when it does.
Malcolm
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