Lyr Req: The Daysman (from Eddie Butcher)

Subject: words to Eddie Butcher song
From: GUEST,songester
Date: 01 Dec 07 - 10:28 AM

I have a recording of Eddie Butcher singing a ballad off an album
(I think it's called) 'Ballad of a Days man' the song in question is called 'Conversation' I can't make out all of the words. Can anyone help me with this, I dont want to become a classic member of the 'Lady Mondagreen' society.
    songester

Subject: RE: words to Eddie Butcher song
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 01 Dec 07 - 10:35 AM

It's actually on Shamrock Rose & Thistle (though The Daysman is on it) and the record has words on the insert. I'm just off to walk the dog now, but when I come back I'll post them (and have a listen too - words on sleeves are not protected from Mondegreens either!).

Mick

Subject: RE: words to Eddie Butcher song
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 01 Dec 07 - 11:43 AM

songester - I need you to clarify something. If this is the album Shamrock Rose & Thistle, Conversation is at the end of Tossing The Hay and is just that - conversation clarifying the meaning of the word winnin' in the song.

So perhaps you are right - it's something on the Once I Was A Daysman LP, which I'm afraid I don't have.

Mick

Subject: RE: words to Eddie Butcher song
From: GUEST,songester
Date: 01 Dec 07 - 12:26 PM

Mick I was given a copy of this album years ago on an audio tape and have just found it again. It is called 'Shamrock Rose and Thistle' I don't have a copy of the sleeve notes though and would appreciate it if you could post the words to 'Conversation'
many thanks
         songester

Subject: RE: words to Eddie Butcher song
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 01 Dec 07 - 12:58 PM

OK - Here it is. If this is not what you want, but one of the songs, post the starting line and I'll get you the rest.

The conversation is between Hugh Shields (HS) and Eddie Butcher (EB) (with a fragment from Ursula(U) at the end):


Spoken
HS:
There's a bit in that song about her brother going to put turf in winnin' rows I think... Would you tell me what those are?

EB:
Footin's. Putting them up in footin's... Whenever you cut turf you see they're wheeled oot and laid in the barrows and then you go up and you spread them all roon' wi' your hands on the ground flat. And you go back up again and you set them up on their end then in rows: winnin' rows, footin's.

HS:
Yes... Does that meanthat those rows are for 'winnin'' the turf, or is it the wind that comes into it?

EB:
It's these - the wind - putting them in winnin' rows, when you put them up in these rows, the wind blows through.

HS:
The wind blows through: so it's to let the wind through.

EB:
Let the wind blow through them to dry them.

Recorded, July 1969, in E.'s house.

EB:
A creel of peats, a creel of clods, a creel of wee black peat clods. Can you say that?

U:
A creel of peats, a wee - a creel o' wee black peat bogs.

Recorded, July 1969, at Glack, co. Derry. Ursula is the sister-in-law of E.'s son John (then aged 10).



Hope this is what you want.
Mick

Subject: RE: words to Eddie Butcher song
From: GUEST,songester
Date: 01 Dec 07 - 01:10 PM

Sorry Mick it's the song following that, it's a song about someone listening to two lovers talking about emigrating. The title of the song I thought was 'Conversation' as it is about the conversation between the two lovers. (I didn't copy the album, someone else did and I am depending on their notes etc) I can make out most of the words but the odd line or part of a line escapes me. Thanks anyway for helping, I do appreciate it.
songester.

Subject: Lyr Add: KILLYCLARE
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 01 Dec 07 - 01:42 PM

That's OK. On the LP sleeve, the track listing gives:

Tossing the hay
Conversation
A creel of peats
Killyclare

though Tossing the hay, Conversation and A creel of peats are actually all part of track 5 on the LP.

So it's not surprising that there's some confusion. I assume the song you're after is Killyclare, which I give below with the notes from the record sleeve. I haven't checked the transcription for this yet (I will in a little while), but I imagine it's good - the notes at the start say that unless stated all transcriptions are verbatim. (Note however the comment in the notes about the missing 2 lines of the first verse; you might want to reinstate them if you plan to sing it.).

Mick

---

KILLYCLARE

As Luna spread her golden rays disclosing many's a scene
I overheard a youthful pair conversing on a green.

As the skylark dropped her evening notes, left Nature quiet and still,
For to hear their conversation I intend to use my skill.
With the corncrake loudly calling they my footsteps did not hear
And the hawthorn it proved my trusty friend as to them I drew near.

He says, My dear, I am about to sail to fair Columbia's shore
On board of that ship Britannia, strange lands for to explore.
When she heard of his departure she her arms around him threw
And the crystal tears bedimmed her eye and her locks they were wet with dew.

- It's when you reach Columbia's shore some pretty maids you will find:
Dressed up in their country's fashion they'll soon bear me from your mind.
- Oh, no, my dear, where'er I go a stranger's fate I will share,
I will never forget the hours I spent with you round Killyclare.

He pressed her to his bosom while the tears did gently flow,
He says, We must get married, love, and that before I go.
Then you will go along with me across the ocean foam:
What pleasure's would I ever have if I left you at home?

She gave consent to marry him, her young heart kind and true,
They joined their hands in wedlock's bonds: oh, what more could lovers do?
From Derry quay they sailed away, the seas were calm and fair
And now they are in America, far, far from Killyclare.


Notes:
1955. 'Carrowclare', where the author lived, is at Myroe on the banks of Lough Foye. He was Jimmy McCurry, a blind fiddler who died about 50 years ago, author of several songs still known locally. vv. 5-6 were added by E.; I have also recorded a text complete with them from his nephew Robert, who learned them from another man. On the other hand, E. omits the original first two lines:

  On a fine and Summer's evening as my walks I did pursue
  The flowers were blooming fresh and fair: they had a verdant hue.

In 2 ii, E. usually sings: I was forced. cf. Henry 169. E. also uses this pentatonic air for the song Ann Jane Thornton, a female sailor ballad published in his brother's version in Ulster Folk Life X (1964) 42-5.


Source: Sleeve notes by Hugh Shields from LP Shamrock Rose & Thistle - Eddie Butcher

Subject: Lyr Add: THE DAYSMAN (from Eddie Butcher)
From: GUEST,Jim Carroll
Date: 01 Dec 07 - 02:51 PM

This one

The Daysman

1        I once was a daysman, I wrought cause anent
And a day in the week was kept off for the rent,
We had a row o'er the hours, my blood being on fire,
So I packed up my bundle and I started to hire.

2        My mother with fleeching she near made me curse,
She says, - You'll go further and maybe fare worse.
I had a fiver saved up, it was hid in the byre,
So I broke up the bank and set off for to hire.

3        I stood in the fair from morning till eve,
Not a bid for my body did I e'er receive;
Says I to myself, - It's a glass you require
And stretch away home for you're not going to hire.

4        I just had resolved when two lassies came by
And the one was well featured on me cast her eye;
Says she to the other, - Jean, here's our desire,
This man with the bundle he's wanting to hire.

5        I knew by the joke and the way they were dressed
They were two servant lasses, no more nor no less,
Though their impudent cheek I was forced to admire
The well featured one that had asked me to hire.

6        Ten pounds I was offered for to milk night and morn,
From all sorts of drink to be teetotal sworn,
On my nights with the neighbours to no call and pass
And then keep my hand off the young servant lass.

7        I was to be fed on the best of strong tea,
A duck egg to my breakfast and that every day;
But in case that the servant no courting might stand Says I,
- On the mistress I'll first try my hand.

8        I threw my arm round her, she struggled and fought,
She seen that I had her, she knew she was caught;
So I split up the fiver and a drink I did share
And I courted her home the night of the fair.

9        But still I'm a daysman and I work cause anent
And the day in the week's aye kept off for the rent,
But I have no fiver now to hide in the byre
For the bank is the wee lass that asked me to hire.

This recent song is the Ulster equivalent of a 'bothy ballad'. 'If you're working cause anent,' said Eddie, 'you're feeding yourself and you're getting the money but no meat . . . you'd be paid so much a week. You're no fed nor clad nor naething . . . you get something extra when you're cause anent.' - 6919. The expression, properly "cost anent', is Scots in origin and common in Ulster: see UFL VIII (1962) 41. Hiring fairs were held twice yearly in May and November (see p. 11): this amorous skirmish with consequences no doubt took place in May. In 1961 Eddie left out v. 5 with its explanation that the 'lassies' were two servants; without this verse the story is altered, with it a kind of rural irony adds relish to the good 'offer' made in v. 6-7. During Oct.-Nov. 1932, correspondence in the Northern Constitution revealed widespread discontent among farm workers hired for the season; boys were said to have emigrated to Canada because they were being offered £6-£8 for six months (5 Nov.).

Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: words to Eddie Butcher song
From: GUEST,songester
Date: 02 Dec 07 - 10:22 AM

That was it Mick, many thanks.
I had most of the verses but a few bits I couldn't make out.
I have read through 'The Daysman' and now it is more clear (I would have become a member of the Mondegreen society if I had sang what I thought was the words) Many thanks to you both for taking the time to post these ballads, I must see if I can buy this album and forget about the copies of audio tapes.
Thanks once again.
            songester