Lyr Add: Show's the Way to Wallington

Subject: Lyr Add: SHEW'S THE WAY TO WALLINGTON
From: Conrad Bladey (Peasant- Inactive)
Date: 18 Mar 00 - 10:56 AM

Shew's The Way to Wallington

 

O canny man, O shew me the way to Wallington,
I've got a mare to ride, and she's a trick o' galloping,
I have a lassie, beside, that winna give o'er her walloping,
O canny man, O shew me the way to Wallington.

Weel or sorrow betide, I'll hae the way to Wallington
I've a grey mare' o' my ain that ne'er gives o'er her galloping,
I've a lass, forbye, that I canna keep frae walloping,
O canny man, O tell me the way to Wallington

Sandy, keep on the road, that's the way to Wallington,
O'er by Bingfield Kame and the banks o' Hallington,
Thro' by Bavington Hh', and in ye go to Wallington,
Whether ye gallop or trot ye're on the road to Wallington.

Off, like the wind, he went, clattering to Wallington,
Soon he reached Binfield Kame, and passed the banks o' Hallington,
O'er by Bavington Syke, the mare could'nt trot for galloping,
Now my dear lassie i'll see, for I'm on my way to Wallington.

--- For tune see forthcoming abc file

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Show's the Way to Wallington
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 22 Dec 00 - 04:49 PM

This comes from Bruce and Stokoe's Northumbrian Minstrelsy  (1882).  Notes:

"Shew's the Way to Wallington has always held a premier position as a pipe-tune in the fancy of small-pipe players.  The tune is, to use a colloquial expression, as old as the hills, but the ballad that was first adapted to it is lost.  The verses here appended were composed by a person of the name of Anderson, a miller at Wallington, who hunted with his landlord (Mr. Blackett) upon a certain grey mare.  On rent-days Anderson, who was a good piper, used to go with the other tenants to pay his rent -but not with money.  Taking the pipes under his arm, he struck up and amused the landlord and tenants with his favourite tunes and songs the whole day long.  The result of his piping was that he returned home with a receipt in full for his rent in his pocket, singing in triumph all the way to his little grey mare -'Shew me the way to Wallington'."

Malcolm