Discussion - William Taylor lyrics (answered)

Subject: Lyr Req: William Taylor lyrics?
From: GUEST,Renee
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 04:43 AM

I was at Common Ground on the Hill in Westminster this year and Paul Crighton gave me an unmarked CD with Burns songs and others he'd made, among them William Taylor. I googled the lyrics, but other versions of this song have radically different words (although the gist of the lyrics are identical.) Can somebody help me out?

When Taylor was a (brash? British?) young sailor,
Full of fire and full of play,
To his mind he did uncover to a ("yift"?) a lady gay,
Four and twenty British sailors
Met him on the King's Highway
As he went for to be married,
Pressed he was and sent away.

Faddle-deedle-dum, a do-rye diddle o,
Faddle-deedle-dum, come a do rye day.

A sailor's clothing she put on
And she went to a boat, on a man-of-war,
Fiddle-diddle fingers, long and slender
Soon were smeared with pitch and tar.
On that ship there was a battle,
She amongst the rest did fight,
The wind blew off her shiny buttons,
Breasts were bared that were snowy white.
(chorus)
When the Captain did discover,
He said, "Fair maid, what brings you here?"
"Sir, I'm seeking William Taylor,
"Pressed he was by you last year..."
"If you rise up in the morning
Early at the break of day,
There you'll spy young William Taylor
Walkin' with his lady gay."
(chorus)
She rose early in the morning,
Early at the break of day.
There she spied young William Taylor
Walking with his lady gay,
She produced a pair of pistols
On the ground where she did stand,
There she shot both William Taylor,
And the lady at his right hand.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: William Taylor lyrics?
From: maeve
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 06:16 AM

Guest, Renee- This link will take you to lyrics from a Patrick Street album version, as posted here by Alice. If you'll do a search right here on the Digital Tradition database (top right corner of this page "Lyrics and Knowledge search), you'll find links aplenty for a start. And if you join Mudcat, we could even send you PMs (private messages) as needed to help you zero in on the version you're searching for.

Tony Cuffe recorded my favorite version. Welcome to Mudcat!

maeve

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: William Taylor lyrics?
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 06:40 AM

William Taylor, Oxford priest and theologian, burnt as a Lollard heretic in 1423.
Otherwise an ubiquitous tale of crossdressing, duplicity and murder from Lichfield (allegedly) and usually sung far too fast.

Strangely, somone was inquiring about Bill Jones only the other day and there she was on Folk Radio UK this morning doing it.

By far the best version I know with a truly fantastic arrangement is on PJD's Flat Earth. But you won't find it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: William Taylor lyrics?
From: maeve
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 06:58 AM

Sorry, GUEST Renee, I neglected to make the promised link. Here you fo:

Detail.CFM?messages__Message_ID=516928

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: William Taylor lyrics?
From: Susan of DT
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 10:10 AM

It the Digital Tradition under Billy Taylor

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: William Taylor lyrics?
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 11:13 AM

There are a number of versions, with varied endings to suit your mood and gender preferences. (see this page for a few examples.)(Never seen this listing before - nice resource!)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: William Taylor lyrics?
From: Bill D
Date: 21 Aug 07 - 11:16 AM

Interesting enough that I will start a new thread on James Prescott's database.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: William Taylor lyrics?
From: GUEST,Renee B
Date: 22 Aug 07 - 05:30 PM

Thank you maeve! Those are the words I'm looking for... Paul's were only a bit different in other verses and the nonsense words of the chorus, but the first verse makes sense now.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: William Taylor lyrics?
From: GUEST,Pavane
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 06:08 AM

Just in case you are interested, there are a few versions in the Bodleian collection, including this early one:

The female lieutenant, or the fasithless lover rewarded

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: William Taylor lyrics?
From: GUEST,Pavane
Date: 23 Aug 07 - 06:13 AM

Oops - sorry about the spelling.

The intersting point about this version is that it names the ship of which she was supposedly given command. The Thunderbomb was a real ship, originally captured from the French, I think, and there is a dedicated (re-enactment?) society in the USA who were amazed to find their ship mentioned in a song.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: William Taylor lyrics?
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 24 Aug 07 - 07:10 PM

Other threads:
Lyr Req: William Taylor
Origins: William Taylor
Lyr Req: William Taylor (from Robin Williamson)