Lyr Req: Ffarwel fo i Langyfelach lon

Subject: Ffarwel fo i Langyfelach lon
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 05:23 AM

I siaradwr Cymreig: Rydw i'n chwilfa'r geiriau hyn. Dyma fe.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ffarwel fo i Langyfelach lon
From: Llanfair
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 05:57 AM

Bore da, Dai bach.
I'll ask Howard-across-the-road.
Hwyl, Bronwen.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ffarwel fo i Langyfelach lon
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 06:07 AM

Is that Howard-across-the-road-Return, or Howard-across-the-road-One-Way?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ffarwel fo i Langyfelach lon
From: sian, west wales
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 06:54 AM

Ydych amdanyn nhw i gyd?? Can hir ... Galla' i eu cael nhw heno, os oes modd i chi ddisgyl cyhyd... Maen nhw ar gael yn yr hen hen lyfrau (allan o brint erbyn hyn), Caneuon Traddodiadol y Cymry Cyf I a II (neu deitl tebyg).

sian

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ffarwel fo i Langyfelach lon
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 07:26 AM

Fi'n gobeithio dy ddim yn gofalu'r gwaith 'urddasol' hwn... tros y llesiant ein, wrth gwrs

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ffarwel fo i Langyfelach lon
From: GUEST,Roger the skiffler
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 10:41 AM

Ach y ffi!
RtS (Rhodri y scifflw'r)[only foolin' don't understand a bleddyn word!]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ffarwel fo i Langyfelach lon
From: sian, west wales
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 11:04 AM

Well, Rhodri annwyl, I didn't get much of that last message from Dai, either! (You been drinkin', Dai Bach????) (Or you using one of those translation packages? If so, rethink!)

I'll look for the words when I gets m'self t' home. And thanks for reminding me of that one. Haven't sung it in ages.

sian

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ffarwel fo i Langyfelach lon
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 11:19 AM

Mae Dando rhwng yr eglwys ac yr esgidiau. Diolch yn fawr.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ffarwel fo i Langyfelach lon
From: sian, west wales
Date: 10 Aug 01 - 01:18 PM

Oh, Dai. You say the sweetest things ... ! I've gone all wobbly over you!

Anyhoooo,

Ffarwél fo i Langyfelach lon
A'r merched ieuainc i gyd o'r bron;
'Rwy'n mynd i dreio pa un sydd well,
Ai 'ngwlad fy hun neu'r gwledydd pell.

A martsio wnes i yn y blaen
Nes imi ddod i dre Pontfaen
Ac yno 'roeddent fawr eu sbort
Yn listio'r gwy^r at y Duke of York.

Mi droes fy mhen ac i ryw dy^,
Yr aur a'r arian oedd yno'n ffri
Y dryms a'r ffeiffs yn cario'r sw^n -
A listio wnes at y Light Dragoon.

'Rôl imi fartsio i Lundain fry,
Diwti caled ddaeth arnom ni,
Sef, handlo'r dryll a'r cleddyf noeth,
Y bwlets plwm a'r powdwr poeth.

Fe ddaeth despatch yn fore iawn,
A daeth un arall y prynhawn,
Fod yr English fleet ynhwylio i ma's
I frwydr dros y moroedd glas.

Ffarwél fy nhad a'm hannwyl fam,
Sydd wedi'm magu a'm dwyn i'r lan
Yn dyner iawn ar aelwyd lân,
A chan ffarwél fo i'r merched glân.
******************
Os hola rhai pwy wnaeth y gân,
Atebwch hwy mai merch fach lân
Sydd yn gweddio nos a dydd
Am i'w hannwyl gariad gael dod yn rhydd.

'Rôl imi aros amser hir,
Yn rhydd y daeth, 'rwy'n dweud y gwir;
Dychwelodd ef i'w fro ei hun,
Ces roddi cusan ar ei fin.

Fe ddaeth ag arian ganddo'n stôr
O'r gwledydd pell tu draw i'r môr,
A'r cyntaf peth a wnaeth o'i serch
Oedd chwilio am ei annwyl ferch.

Offeiriad alwyd yno'n glau
I'n rhwymo ni yn un ein dau;
Cawn fyw mewn llwyddiant drwy ein hoes
A chysgaf rhwng ei freichiau'r nos.

Cymerwch gyngor, ferched llon,
Os aiff eich cariad dros y don:
I geidio rhodio'n wamal ffôl,
Ond byddwch driw nes try yn ôl.

Mi gefais gynnig lawer gwaith,
Do, ar gariadon, chwech neu saith
Ond, coeliwch fi, 'roedd ganmil gwell
Im gofio'r mab yn y gwledydd pell.

Fe aeth â'm calon gydag e,
Ond eiddo'i hun rodd yn ei lle,
A deddf atyniad cariad cun
A wnaeth ein c'lonnau bach yn un.

As you PROBABLY KNOW (ahem) the verses before the **** are from the soldier's point of view, the others are from the girlfriend's.

Sian

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ffarwel fo i Langyfelach lon
From: The_one_and_only_Dai
Date: 13 Aug 01 - 03:43 AM

Many thanks Sian, for your work and for sharing this beautiful song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Ffarwel fo i Langyfelach lon
From: sian, west wales
Date: 13 Aug 01 - 09:34 AM

Oddly enough, I just settled down to read through my Welsh Folk Song Society Journal 2001 and came across an article by Penny Robinson on Songs of Farewel. You may not be the least bit interested in historical background but, tough. Here's some anyway...

***************

We see that a good tune can attract more than one set of words, but sometimes the words themselves are so good that they acquire enormous popularity and develop a life of their own. Some time in the early years of the nineteenths century a Glamorganshire poet called Siemsyn Twrbil wrote a ballad of thirteen verses, inspired by the small human dramas of the Napoleonic Wars. In it he portrayed the naive young countryman caught up in the excitement and glamour of the Army's recruiting campaign, the harsh reality of Army life, the anxiety of the girlfriend he left behind, the relief and romance of his safe return and the matronly advice given by his happy new bride to all the other girls who might find themselves in a similar position. The song, of course, is 'Ffarwel fo i Langyfelach lon', and it was enthusiastically taken up in other parts of the country, with the first line altered to suit. Thus we have 'Ffarwel i dref y Bala lon' and 'Ffarwel i dre Caernarfon lon'. The Caernarfon version was already in print by the mid-nineteenth century, published by Peter Evans, and then by Hugh Humphreys of Caernarfon in his book Cerddi Gwlad y Gan.

The original version had had the new recruit marching from Llangyfelach to Pontfaen and at some stage in the song's history, as noted by Tom Parry in his book Baledi'r Ddeunawfed Ganrif, an anonymous singer in Arfon took pity on the poor boy's feet by shortening the now impossible journey from Carnarfon to Ponfaen, subtituting 'Portinllaen' at the crucial moment. (tune inserted)

The tune that is now usually sung to the Llangyfelach version of the words is the lovely on from the Journal of 1912, but in Asaph's collection of songs, entered in the Colwyn Bay Eisteddfod of 1910, the tune is a minor key 'Lisa lan' variant, and David de Lloyd in Forty Welsh Traditional Tunes repeats a second 'Lisa lan' variant, this time in the major key collected by J.Ffos Davies during the 1920s. (tune inserted)

Turning to the Caernarfon version of the words, we find a third 'Lisa lan' tune in Hugh Humphreys' mid-nineteenth century book, again in a minor key. Finally, the 1948 issue of the Journal published yet a fourth 'Lisa lan' variant in a minor key, sung to J. Lloyd Williams many years previously by the late Robert Roberts of Cricieth, a native of Caernarfon. It may be, therefore, that the 'Lisa lan' tune family can stake a good claim to having provided the original melody for this famous ballad. (tune inserted)

A third, unrelated, cheerful little tune appears in a collection of folk-songs sent by R.E.Vaughan Roberts, ... to J. Lloyd Williams in the early 1920s. It is attached to a single verse of the ballad with the venue changed to Bala. (tune inserted, includes 4 bars of ffal di rals)

I can't help feeling that the 'ffal di ral' chorus would become more than a little tedious after thirteen verses, but it may have been danced, of course, which would make the effect more varied. It would be interesting to know whether this Bala version of the song had the reference to Pontfaen altered, in the same way that occured in the Caernarfon version and, if so, what the alteration was.

In Cerdd a Chan, edited by Wyn Thomas in 1982, there is a reference to a Monmouthshire version, 'Ffarwel fo i dref Cas'newydd lon' and who knows how many more there may have been?

c Penny Robinson ********************

Right, that's me done!

sian