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Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards
DigiTrad:
GAME OF CARDS
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Subject: Lyr Req: game of all cards? From: GUEST,kaaren Date: 10 Feb 04 - 12:40 PM Yo mates! I'm lookin' for the lyrics (and title-author) to a song that goes something like this... As I was out walking one mornin' (in autumn) I spied a young man and the lute he did play... And there I did spy a beautiful maiden As she was a-walkin' along the highway... I said my fair maiden now where are ye goin' May I come along in your sweet company? (She said) I'm goin' on down to visit my neighbors And goin' to work in the place I was born... Then she turned her head and smiling right at me Sayin' you may come with me kind sir if you please... Well we hadn't been goin' but a few miles together When this fair young maiden began to show green... She sat down on a rock sayin' sit down beside me And she took out her pack and began to cut cards... And the game we shall play shall be one, two and three... I said my fair lady I'm fond of the gamin' But there's one game I know I would like you to learn The game it is called the game of all cards... etc. Bits and pieces anyway...any ideas? Can't wait to hear from yous...thanks! Kaaren... And we'll play the game over and over and over again! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? From: DMcG Date: 10 Feb 04 - 12:48 PM Try here: The Game of All Fours |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? From: The Borchester Echo Date: 10 Feb 04 - 12:56 PM As the link shows, June Tabor and Maddy Prior as Silly Sisters recorded 'The Game of Cards'. A really excellent version of this song is done by Patterson Jordan Dipper on their Wild Goose recording Flat Earth (WG 5309CD). |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 10 Feb 04 - 01:10 PM It's in the DT, of course: GAME OF CARDS There's an odd error in one line, and no source of any kind is credited. I think someone probably has got it by ear (and memory) from the Silly Sisters recording. I'll come back to this one later. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? From: The Borchester Echo Date: 10 Feb 04 - 01:18 PM Oh. On 'Bright Shiny Morning' Norma Waterson says she got it from Queen Caroline Hughes, the traveller. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? From: DMcG Date: 10 Feb 04 - 01:18 PM Thanks Malcolm - I missed the DT entry because I looked for 'all fours'. The link I gave says it came from Queen Caroline Hughes. Norma Waterson wrote, on 'Bright Shining Morning': Of all English Traditional singers I think that Queen Caroline Hughes is my favourite. I first heard of her from Ewan MacColl in the early 1960s after he had recorded her for the radio ballad "The Travelling People" (Topic TSCD 808). Lal, Mike and I had a tape from (I think) Ewan in the early 1960s. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? From: masato sakurai Date: 10 Feb 04 - 01:24 PM Silly Sisters: The Game Of Cards (lyrics). |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? From: masato sakurai Date: 10 Feb 04 - 01:27 PM Norma Waterson: Game of All Four (lyrics). |
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Subject: origins: game of cards, all fours From: Joe Offer Date: 10 Feb 04 - 01:32 PM There's an entry in the Traditional Ballad Index: Game of Cards, TheDESCRIPTION: A young man meets a girl by the highway. They walk together; she would play a game. He wants her to learn "the game of all fours." When the "cards" are "dealt," she takes his "jack." If he will return, she offers to "play the game over and over again."AUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (Sharp) KEYWORDS: cards sex bawdy seduction game FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,Lond)) REFERENCES (3 citations): Kennedy 175, "The Game of Cards" (1 text, 1 tune) MacSeegTrav 36, "All Fours" (2 texts, 2 tunes) DT, GAMECARD Roud #232 ALTERNATE TITLES: One-Two-and-Three The Game of All Fours As I Walked Out Notes: The actual card-game of "All Fours" is also known, in the USA, as "Seven-Up", "Old Sledge", "High-Low-Jack," and "Pitch" -- but the use of the game as a sexual metaphor did not make it across the ocean. - PJS File: K175 Go to the Ballad Search form The Ballad Index Copyright 2003 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: masato sakurai Date: 10 Feb 04 - 01:45 PM From Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads: game of all fours [title] See also folktrax (Game of Cards). |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: pavane Date: 10 Feb 04 - 03:34 PM Hey, that Steam Loom Weaver on the same page shows promise - I haven't seem it before, anyway. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 10 Feb 04 - 03:38 PM Although Norma Waterson got her set from Caroline Hughes, she was not the source of the DT text I referred to. Tabor and Prior didn't credit any source on their recording, but they used the exact text that Peter Kennedy recorded from Charlie Wills at Morecombelake, Bridport, Dorset, in 1952 (Kennedy, Folksongs of Britain and Ireland p 402) except that they altered his "Leicester" to "Warwick", and didn't repeat the second half of each verse as he had. They didn't use his tune, though; that appears to be the one that George Gardiner (and whichever of his chums was writing the music down on that occasion) had from William Randall at Hursley, Hampshire in June 1905 (Tune, with text from another singer: Purslow, Marrowbones, 35; text: Reeves, The Everlasting Circle, 43). The DT set is a bit of a puzzle. The tune with it is Charlie Wills' version right enough, but no repeats are indicated in the text, so it doesn't fit. The text seems to be a mixture of his and the example in Purslow (the text of which came from Fred Osman, Lower Bartley, Hampshire, November 1908; assuming, that is, that Purslow followed his usual practice of naming the source of the tune first); though if that's the case, some alterations have crept in somewhere along the line. Of course, there may be a genuinely traditional text in that form somewhere; the song was found a good few times by various collectors, at least into the 1970s. On the face of it, though, it looks like an unacknowledged collation which has become a little garbled in places. The line "Which made her High, Low, and Jack\(emand the Game" should read "Which made her High, Low, Jack and the Game." The song appeared on broadsides both as Game of all fours (see above) and as The Cards. Further examples at Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads: The Cards Frank Purslow commented (1965) that the song was "probably only 140 years old at the most." Presumably he based this on the period when the card game of "all fours" was popular enough to have been used as an image. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: The Borchester Echo Date: 10 Feb 04 - 04:17 PM Oh again. Only thing I can add is that Queen Caroline Hughes was actually her name. The 'Queen' was no affectation. And to confirm that in the PJD version I mentioned above, the line is "Which made her high, low, jack and the game". As a final line, James Patterson adds "and thats where a woman may conquer a man". |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: GUEST,MC Fat Date: 11 Feb 04 - 04:52 AM Sir Kenneth Johnston of Brampton sings it and a version was recorded by Robin Garside with an extra verse which concludes the song better |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: The Borchester Echo Date: 11 Feb 04 - 04:57 AM Is that using the line I just mentioned or is it something else? If so, could you post the verse, please? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: GUEST,MC Fat Date: 11 Feb 04 - 05:18 AM If my memory serves me right it's not that line. Will try and pinch it of Ken |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: GUEST,kaaren Date: 11 Feb 04 - 07:29 PM literally brought tears to me eyes to find this...you all have again far surpassed my expectation and desire...I shall now go me way singing merrily all the lyrics! thanks so much for all the kind responses! Kaaren |
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Subject: Lyr Add: GAME OF ALL FOURS (from Norma Waterson) From: Jim Dixon Date: 14 Feb 04 - 12:33 AM I don't see why we shouldn't have all available versions in the forum. Copied from http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/watersons/songs/gameofallfours.html GAME OF ALL FOURS [Trad. arr. Norma Waterson, Eliza Carthy, Ben Ivisky, Mary MacMaster] As I was walking from Broadway to Glasgow, As I was walking one fine summer's day, Who should I meet but a fair pretty damsel As we were walking all on the highway. I said, "Where are you going, my fair pretty damsel? Where are you going all on the highway?" She said, "I'm a-going away up to Glasgow. Can I walk with you along the highway?" Well, we walked and we talked on together Till we came to an old elder tree. There we sat down and I sat down beside her And that's how I come now Jack I love the game. I said, "My young lady, now are you fond of gaming? For I know a game I'm sure you could learn. The game it is called, well, the game of all fours now." I took out my pack and I played the first turn. Well, she cut the cards and she dealt out the pack then. I threw the deuce and then she threw the queen. She led off her ace and she stole me jack from me, And that's how she come now Jack I love the game. She says, "Will you play a bit longer?" "Oh, no! I am weary and tired as well." But I said, "Young lady, well, I'll let you beat me If we can play that game over again." "Oh, will you be this way tomorrow? Oh, will you be here, love, all on the highway?" "I promise you that I will be here tomorrow And so we can play the game over again." As I was walking from Broadway to Glasgow, As I was walking one fine summer's day, 'Twas there that I met with a fair pretty damsel As we were walking all on the highway. [As sung by Norma Waterson on "Bright Shiny Morning." She credits Queen Caroline Hughes.] |
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Subject: Lyr Add: GAME OF CARDS (from M Prior & J Tabor) From: Jim Dixon Date: 14 Feb 04 - 12:35 AM Copied from http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/steeleye.span/songs/thegameofcards.html THE GAME OF CARDS [Trad. arr. Prior / Tabor] As I was a-walking one midsummer's morning, I heard the birds whistle and the nightingales play, And there did I spy a beautiful maiden As I was a-walking all on the highway. "Oh, where are you going, my fair pretty lady? Oh, where are you going so early this morn?" She said, "I'm going down to visit my neighbours. I'm going down to Warwick, the place I was born." It's "May I come with you, my sweet pretty darling? May I go along in your sweet company?" Then she turned her head and smiling all at me Saying, "You may come with me, kind sir, if you please." We hadn't been walking but a few miles together Before this young damsel began to show free. She sat herself down, saying, "Sit down beside me, And the games we shall play shall be one, two and three." I said, "My dear lady, if you're fond of the gaming, There's one game I know I would like you to learn. The game it is called The Game of All Fours." So I took out my pack and began the first turn. She cut the cards first and I fell a-dealing. I dealt her a trump and myself the poor jack. She led off her ace and stole my jack from me, Saying, "Jack is the card I like best in your pack." "Since I dealt them last time, it's your turn to shuffle And my turn to show the best card in the pack." Once more, she'd the ace and the deuce for to beat me. Once again, I had lost when I laid down poor Jack. So I took up my hat and I bid her good morning. I said, "You're the best that I know at this game." She answered, "Young man, if you'll come back tomorrow, We'll play the game over and over again." [As sung by Maddy Prior and June Tabor on their album "Silly Sisters."] |
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Subject: Lyr Add: GAME OF ALL FOURS (from Bodleian) From: Jim Dixon Date: 14 Feb 04 - 12:40 AM Transcribed from the broadside at the Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads Firth b.34(120) GAME OF ALL FOURS As I was walking one Midsummer morning, The trees and the meadows they look'd so gay, And there did I meet a pretty fair damsel, As she was walking all on the highway. I said fair maid where are you going, All so early in the morn? She said, kind sir, I'm going to Windsor, That pretty place where I was born. He said, fair maid, shall I go along with you, All for to bear your sweet company? She turn'd her head, and smiling, said, You may do just as you please with me. They had not walk'd above two miles together, Before the couple well acquainted became, He said fair dame come sit down by me, And I will show you a pleasant game. She said, kind sir, I am not given to gaming, But a game of you I'm willing to learn, The game that I play shall be at all fours, And there I will hold you three to one. Then she cuts the cards, 'twas his turn to deal them, Dealing himself never a trump but a jack, While she had the ace and the deuce for to beat him, Which are commonly called the best cards in the pack. She played the ace, and took the jack from me, Which made her high, low, jack, and the game, She said, you must own I've fairly beat you, Unless you will play the game over again. He took up his hat, and bid her good morning, Still she was high, low, jack, and the game, He said, fair maid, I'll be this road to-morrow, And then we'll play the game over again. [I find the shifting point of view in this version rather disconcerting. First the young man in the story is the narrator, then he is not. It makes me suspect there is an older version somewhere that doesn't have this flaw. Is this wishful thinking on my part? Anyway, the Bodleian has several copies, by different printers, that are remarkably alike—except sometimes the song is called THE CARDS. –JTD.] |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 14 Feb 04 - 01:12 AM Norma Waterson sings an unaccompanied set on Bright Shiny Morning; the inclusion of Eliza Carthy, Ben Ivisky and Mary MacMaster as co-arrangers seems to be a mistake (they are not so credited on the record). There are one or two small errors of transcription, but nothing of great importance. The text is rather different from the only transcription I've seen of Caroline Hughes' version, but doubtless she sang it differently on different occasions. "Queen" was not her given name, incidentally, as Diane states; though it was what she was generally called. In her case it was a family honorific as well as a nickname (older people will know that Carolines were commonly called "Queenie"). I've already detailed the sources of the Tabor/Prior arrangement, and named the traditional singers (and the collectors) that they failed to acknowledge. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: The Borchester Echo Date: 14 Feb 04 - 04:58 AM Oops, that's the last time I'll believe anything Martin Carthy says... ;-) |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: Joybell Date: 14 Feb 04 - 04:23 PM Thank you Malcolm Douglas. I've been singing this song for over 40 years and have never been able to give credit where it's due. It's always bothered me. As a side-note - I once sang it while walking around among my audience. At the line "I'm going down to Warwick...." I found myself meeting the eyes of a young man sitting nearby. I sang it right at him. He and his companion fell about laughing. Seems his name was Warwick, although he hated it and no one ever dared to use it around him. The name is almost unheard of here in Australia. Funny business. Joy |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: The Sandman Date: 18 Jun 25 - 01:26 AM All fours All fours is the national card game of Trinidad and Tobago, where it is typically played as a four-player partnership game with the following variations to the standard rules. Deal and play are anticlockwise and game is 14 points .The Song is an example of double entendre genre |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: The Sandman Date: 18 Jun 25 - 02:13 AM Mainly Norfolk: English Folk and Other Good Music > Silly Sisters > Songs > The Game of Cards > John Kirkpatrick > Songs > The Game of All Fours > Tony Rose > Songs > The Game of All Fours > Norma Waterson > Songs > Game of All Fours The Game of Cards / The Game of All Fours [ Roud 232 ; Master title: The Game of Cards ; Ballad Index K175 ; GlosTrad Roud 232 ; DT GAMECARD ; Mudcat 66884 ; trad.] Wally Fuller sang The Game of Cards in a recording made by Peter Kennedy at Laughton near Lewes, Sussex, on 11 November 1952. He also recorded Queen Caroline Hughes singing this song in her caravan near Blandford, Dorset, on 19 April 1968. Both recordings were included in 2012 on the Topic anthology I’m a Romany Rai (The Voice of the People Series Volume 22). Sam Larner sang All Fours in a Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger recording made in 1958-60 on his 1961 Folkways album Now Is the Time for Fishing. Tom Willett sang The Game of Cards at home on a caravan site near Ashford, Middlesex in 1962. This recording by Bill Leader and Paul Carter was released on the Willett Family album The Roving Journeyman. Sarah Porter sang The Game of All Fours at The Three Cups in Punnets Town in 1965. This recording by Brian Matthews was published in 2001 on the Musical Traditions anthology of 1960 recordings from Sussex country pubs, Just Another Saturday Night. Charlie Wills sang Game of Cards on his eponymous 1972 Leader album, Charlie Wills. Phoebe Smith sang Game of All Fours on 8 January 1969 at the King’s Head. This recording was included in 2012 on the Musical Traditions anthology of 1968-70 traditional performers at the King’s Head Folk Club. Levi Smith sang The Game of Cards in a recording made by Mike Yates in 1972-75 on the 1975 Topic album gypsies, travellers and country singers, Songs of the Open Road. This was also included in 1998 on the Topic anthology My Father’s the King of the Gypsies (The Voice of the People Series Volume 11). George Dunn sang All Fours on his eponymous 1975 Leader album, George Dunn Another recording by Roy Palmer from 14 July 1971 was included in 2000 on his Musical Traditions anthology Chainmaker. The accompanying booklet noted: On the surface we are dealing with card play, and Hoyle’s Rules of Games (1955) indeed lists All Fours. In her edition of Cecil Sharp’s Collection of English Folk Songs (1974), Maud Karpeles places in the section devoted to sports and pastimes The Game of Cards, a version of the song he noted in 1908. Yet this is a transparently erotic piece which had to wait until 1960 to appear in respectable print, in James Reeves’s anthology of English traditional verse, The Everlasting Circle. That it was well known a century earlier is attested by the broadside issued by Henry Disley of London, a political adaptation or parody dealing with Garibaldi’s struggle for Italian unity under the title of The Game of All Fours (British Library, 11621 h 11, Crampton Ballads, vol. 7, fol. 263). At much the same time, the catalogue of the Manchester ballad printer, T Pearson, included the original Game of All Fours, twinned with The Steam Loom Weaver. George Dunn’s mention of Leominster is merely a localisation: other versions have Leicester, Glasgow, Croydon and Windsor. His two-verse coda is not found elsewhere; he has to vary his languorous tune to accommodate it, and the moralising is at odds with the erotic tone of the rest of the song, in which the apparently naive woman proves the sexual superior of the man. Maddy Prior and June Tabor sang The Game of Cards in 1976 on their album Silly Sisters. They were accompanied by Nic Jones, guitar; Andy Irvine, mandolin; Johnny Moynihan, whistle; and Danny Thompson, bass. John Kirkpatrick and Sue Harris sang The Game of All Fours in 1977 on their Topic album Shreds and Patches. Her returned to The Game of All Fours in 2004 on Brass Monkey’s fifth album, Flame of Fire, where he noted: The Game of All Fours is the name of an old card game, also called Seven Up, whose very title cries out for a saucy song. Enormously popular, you find versions of it everywhere. This tune is the one recorded by Mike Yates from the Surrey gypsy Levi Smith, first published on the Topic LP Songs of the Open Road in 1975. Pete and Chris Coe sang The Game of All Fours as the title track of their 1979 album Game of All Fours. Pete also recorded Betsy Renals in 1978 singing Game of All Fours; this was published in 2003 on the Veteran/Backshift anthology of songs from their Cornish Travellers family, Catch Me If You Can. Tony Rose recorded The Game of All Fours in 1999 for his CD Bare Bones. Norma Waterson sang Game of All Fours in 2000 on her third solo album Bright Shiny Morning. She noted: From Queen Caroline Hughes. My very favourite first line in a song. Patterson Jordan Dipper sang The Game of All Fours in 2002 on their WildGoose album Flat Earth. Kate Rusby sang The Game of All Fours in 2005 on her CD The Girl Who Couldn’t Fly. Jim Causley sang The Game of Cards in 2011 on his WildGoose album of Devon songs, Dumnonia. He noted: The Game of Cards is a well known song throughout the British Isles and is definitely one of the instantly recognisable titles on this album. I have exercised my 21st century liberty here and combined the text from Charlie Wills of Somerset with the tune from Queen Caroline Hughes of Dorset. But before you call me a dissenter I would just like to present that the lyrics do feature Devon place names and the Marshwood Vale area which covers the three counties is well known for having its own sense of identity regardless of the county borders. Andy Turner learned The Game of All Fours from the singing of Tom Willett and sang it as the 1 November 2013 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week. The Hungarian group Simply English sang The Game of Cards on their 2017 CD Long Grey Beard and a Head That’s Bald. Emily Portman and Rob Harbron sang The Game of Cards on their 2022 album Time Was Away. They noted: Refreshingly, there are none of the typical tragic folk song endings for this heroine, who walks along the highway without a care and also happens to be an ace card player. Emily’s source for this version is Romany singer Levi Smith who came from a musical family and lived near Epsom, Surrey when Mike Yates recorded him for the 1975 Topic album Songs of the Open Road. Emily decided to add to the ambiguity of the song by taking out any reference to gender of the narrator, who was male in Levi’s version. Additional lines are magpied and (mis)remembered from other versions of this popular song, printed in broadsides widely around England as early as 1780. |
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Subject: ADD: ALL Fours (sung by Sam Larner) From: The Sandman Date: 18 Jun 25 - 02:15 AM Lyrics Sam Larner sings All Fours ALL FOURS As I walked out on one midsummer’s morning It happened to be on a sunshiny day ’Twas them I espied a pretty fair damsel As she was got walking all on the highway. I stepped up to her and I bid her good morning Saying, “Where are you going so early this morn?” She said, “Kind Sir, I’m going to Lisbon In that little town wherein I was born.” Said I, “Pretty fair maid, and may I go with you? And may I accept of your sweet company?” She said, “Kind Sir, you’re heartily welcome You’re heartily welcome to walk with me.” Now, we had not been walking scarcely half an hour, Before acquainted, acquainted came we She said, “Kind Sir, come sit down beside me And there I will play you a sweet civil game. Said I, “Pretty fair maid, I’m not given to gaming, But still for all that, I am willing to learn” “Now the game that we play shall be as all fours And that I can beat you three to your one.” Now, she cut the cards, it was my turn to deal them I dealt her all trumps, I alone had poor Jack And she had the ace and the deuce for to follow. Which are the very best cards in the pack. Now, she led of her ace and she stole poor Jack from me Which made her both high, low, Jack and game She said “Kind sir, I freely beat you Unless you can play the game over again.” Now, I put on my hat and I bid her good morning Although she was high, low, Jack and the game She said “Kind Sir, call this way tomorrow And we’ll play me game over and over again.” The Silly Sisters sing The Game of Cards As I was a-walking one midsummer’s morning I heard the birds whistle and the nightingales play. And there did I spy a beautiful maiden As I was a-walking all on the highway. “O where are you going, my fair pretty lady? O where are you going so early this morn?” She said: “I’m going down to visit my neighbours; I’m going down to Warwick, the place I was born.” It’s “May I come with you, my sweet pretty darling? May I go along in your sweet company?” Then she turned her head and smiling all at me Saying: “You may come with me, kind sir, if you please.” We hadn’t been walking but a few miles together Before this young damsel began to show free. She sat herself down, saying: “Sit down beside me, And the games we shall play shall be one, two and three.” I said: “My dear lady, if you’re fond of the gaming There’s one game I know I would like you to learn. The game it is called: The Game of All Fours.” So I took out my pack and began the first turn. She cut the cards first and I fell a-dealing. I dealt her a trump and myself the poor jack. She led off her ace and stole my jack from me, Saying: “Jack is the card I like best in your pack.” “Since I dealt them last time, it’s your turn to shuffle And my turn to show the best card in the pack.” Once more she’d the ace and the deuce for to beat me, Once again I had lost when I laid down poor jack. So I took up my hat and I bid her: “Good morning,” I said: “You’re the best that I know at this game.” She answered: “Young man, if you’ll come back to-morrow We’ll play the game over and over again.” Tony Rose sings The Game of All Fours Now as I was a-walking one fine summer’s morning, Oh the fields and the meadows were pleasant and gay. Who should I spy but a handsome young fair maid As she was a-walking along the highway. Oh, I stepped up to her and wished her a good morning, “Where are you going so soon in the morn?” She answered, “Kind sir, I’m a-going to Windsor, “To that pleasant place where I was born.” “Well said, my fair maiden, and shall I go with you For to keep your sweet company?” She turned herself round and a-smiling so sweetly, Said “Sir, you may do just as you please.” Oh we hadn’t been walking past one mile together Before that we better acquainted became, And I said, “My fair maid, come and sit you down by me And I will show to you a sweet pleasant game.” She said, “My kind sir, I’m not given to gaming, But nevertheless so I’m willing to learn. But the game that we play it must be all fours And then I will hold you three to one.” So she cut the cards, but ’t was my turn to deal them, And I dealt myself one trump, it was only poor jack. She had the ace and the deuce for to beat me And they are the very best cards in the pack. So she played off her ace and she took the jack from me, ’t left her the high low jack in the game. She said, “My kind sir, well I fairly beat you, Or else we will play the game over again?” Well I picked up my hat and I wished a good morning And I left her high low jack and the game. Then I said, “My fair maid, I’ll be back in the morning, And then we will play the game over again.” Norma Waterson sings Game of All Fours As I was a-walking from Broadway to Glasgow, As I was a-walking one fine summer’s day, Who should I meet but a fair pretty damsel As we were walking all on the highway. I said, “Where are you going, my fair pretty damsel, Where are you going all on the highway?” She said, “I’m a-going away up to Glasgow. Can I walk with you along the highway?” Well, we walked and we talked on together Till we came to an old elder tree. There we sat down and I sat down beside her And that’s how I come now Jack I love the game. I said, “My young lady, are you fond of gaming? For I know a game I am sure you could learn? The game it is called, well, the game of all fours now.” I took out my pack and I played the first turn. Well, she cut the cards and she dealt out the pack then. I threw the deuce and then she threw the queen. She led off her ace and she stole me jack from me And that’s how she come now Jack I love the game. She says, “Will you play a bit longer? Oh no, I am weary and tired as well.” But I said, “Young lady, well I’ll let you beat me If we can play that game over again.” “Oh will you be this way tomorrow? Oh will you be here, love, all on the highway?” “I promise you that I will be here tomorrow And so we can play the game over again.” As I was a-walking from Broadway to Glasgow, As I was a-walking one fine summer’s day, ’Twas there that I met with a fair pretty damsel As we were walking all on the highway. Brass Monkey sing The Game of All Fours Oh, as I was out walking one fine summer’s morning, Oh, as I was out walking all on the highway, Who should I meet but a fair pretty creature And unto her then I quickly did say: “Oh, it’s where are you going to, my pretty fair maid, Oh, where are you going so soon in the morn?” “Well I’m going to Windsor, kind sir,” the maid answered, “A sweet little town, it’s where I was born.” Well I says, “My fair maiden, and shall I go with you All for to bear your sweet company?” And she turned herself round and smiling so sweetly, “Kind sir,” she says, “You may do just as you please.” So we both walked, we both talked a few miles together. By a shady beech tree we sat down. “Oh, if I sit down first, won’t you sit down here beside me? Then I will show you a sweet pleasant game.” “Oh sir,” she said, “sir, I’m not given to gaming, But nevertheless I’m willing to learn. But if I do play you it must be all fours For then I shall hold you three to one.” So as she cut the cards, it was my turn to deal them. I dealt me one trump, it was only poor jack. And she had the ace and the deuce for to beat me And they are the very best cards in the pack. So, and she played her ace and she stole my jack from me That made a high low jack in the game And she says, “My kind sir, well I fairly beat you, Or else shall we play the game over again?” Well I picked up my tip for I wished a good morning I left her high low jack and the game. But I says, “My fair girl, if you’re this way tomorrow, We’ll play the game over and over again.” |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: Jack Horntip Date: 19 Jun 25 - 02:12 PM The Game of All Fours c1961. The Wanton Muse LP. Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: RTim Date: 19 Jun 25 - 02:56 PM I have been interested in this song for years and have Never learnt it... It was collected from Fred Osman of Bartley in Hampshire by Dr. Gardiner; that being within 5 miles of where I was born.. I do also find it interesting that the girl/woman was on her way to Windsor..!! However, I also wonder if Gardiner heard this Wrong...as the village of WINSOR is Less than a mile or two from where Fred Osman lived!!!?? Tim Radford |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: The Sandman Date: 20 Jun 25 - 02:07 AM All fours is a traditional English card game, once popular in pubs and taverns as well as among the gentry, that flourished as a gambling game until the end of the 19th century. It is a trick-taking card game that was originally designed for two players, but developed variants for more players. According to Charles Cotton, the game originated in Kent,but spread to the whole of England and eventually abroad. It is the eponymous and earliest recorded game of a family that flourished most in 19th century North America and whose progeny include pitch, pedro and cinch, games that even competed with poker and euchre. Nowadays the original game is especially popular in Trinidad and Tobago |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: game of all cards? / Game of Cards From: The Sandman Date: 21 Jun 25 - 01:28 AM I sing the place name PORTSMOUTH, which is a euphemism fpr the womb [ the place i was born] |
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