Lyr Req: Schoolday's Over (Ewan MacColl)

Subject: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: Mr Happy
Date: 01 May 08 - 10:28 AM

From DT:


SCHOOLDAYS END
(Ewan MacColl)

A7 D
Schooldays over, come on then John,
G D
Time you was puttin you pit boots on
D G A Bm F#m Bm
On with your sark and moleskin trousers, time you was on your way
D G A
Time you was learnin the pitman's job, and earning a pitman's pay

Come on then Jim, it's time to go, time you was working down below
Time to be handling a pick and shovel, you start at the pit today
Time you was learning the collier's job, and earning a collier's pay

Come on then Dai, it's almost light, time you was off to the anthracite
The morning mist in on the valley, it's time you was on your way
Time you was learning the miner's job, and earning a miner's pay

*********

What does it mean 'sark?'

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: Peace
Date: 01 May 08 - 10:45 AM

"Sark (?), n. [AS. serce, syrce, ashirt; akin to Icel. serkr, Sw. särk.] A shirt. [Scot.]"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: Peace
Date: 01 May 08 - 10:49 AM

Sorry to be so abrupt. I wonder if it is in reference to shirt?

"On with your sark and moleskin trousers,"

Sark is one item to wear and moleskin trousers another.

I'm guessing here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: Mr Happy
Date: 01 May 08 - 10:59 AM

My old record of Luke Kelly singing it, I always heard it as 'sack'

Thanks for info- makes more sense

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: Folkiedave
Date: 01 May 08 - 11:25 AM

Sark as in "Cutty Sark" = short shirt.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: DonMeixner
Date: 01 May 08 - 11:27 AM

Sark as in shirt according to a live concert I heard with Macoll and Seeger on PBS 30 years ago. They sang this and several of the other Mining songs.

Don

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: Les in Chorlton
Date: 01 May 08 - 11:59 AM

Sark = Shirt in the glossary to the Ewan MacColl Peggy Seeger SongbookOak Publications1963.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: goatfell
Date: 01 May 08 - 12:25 PM

I sing first line as Tom because I have brothers called John and Jim and my name is Tom, so I've made it more personal.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: goatfell
Date: 01 May 08 - 12:26 PM

Come on then Dai, it's almost light, time you was off to the anthracite
The morning mist in on the valley, it's time you was on your way
Time you was learning the miner's job, and earning a miner's pay

I sing first line as Tom instead of Dai because I have brothers called John and Jim and my name is Tom, so I've made it more personal.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 01 May 08 - 05:06 PM

I've heard "Cutty Sark" translated as "short skirt." "Short skirt" sounds sexier, and more feminine, than "short shirt", and therefore a better name for a ship, but maybe that's just my bias!

Maybe sark is ambiguous and could mean either shirt or skirt—maybe it's a kind of shift or smock.

Come to think of it, I wonder if all these words—shirt, skirt, shift, sark, and smock—come from the same ancient root. I suppose the design of clothing, and the words we use to describe it, are as variable as music is, and could be considered a branch of folklore unto itself.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: GUEST,Don Meixner
Date: 01 May 08 - 05:49 PM

Is this the correct title then? I have always thought it to be "School Days Over"

Don

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: John Routledge
Date: 01 May 08 - 05:59 PM

Pretty sure School Days End is the correct title.

Also first verse relates to NE England where shirt was pronounced short so I sing " On with your short and moleskin trousers"

The Folk process is alive and well

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: John Routledge
Date: 01 May 08 - 06:00 PM

Sorry "Schooldays End."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: Gurney
Date: 01 May 08 - 06:16 PM

The verses imply Scottish, English and Welsh coalmining lads. I hadn't realised that until I turned a tape to CD last week, and listened carefully.
Another McColl nuance. He really was a superb songwriter.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: Joybell
Date: 01 May 08 - 07:59 PM

It was written under the title of "Schooldays End" but singers, here in Aus. anyway, call it "School Days Over" from the first line.

As a descendant of Cornish miners I've always thought that the threesome went - Cornish, English, Welsh. John/Jack being the Cornish one. I hadn't thought about the Scottish. Wouldn't a Scottish boy be Jock or Sandy?   
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: Joybell
Date: 01 May 08 - 08:10 PM

A quick look at the word "sark" for shirt -- suggests that it was used in Cornwall. Lots of place-names there still use it. So that sark does not necessarily suggest Scotland. I'm for Cornish, English and Welsh -- they were the areas known for their mines.
Cheers, Joy

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: Snuffy
Date: 02 May 08 - 09:27 AM

Not Cornish, Joy: it's about coal mining. I've always taken the verses to refer to Durham, Lancashire and South Wales respectively

"Pitmen" are from the North East of England, where they speak "pitmatic" (and the word sark is not unknown: Dolly Coxon pawned hers).

When I cam to Walker wark,
I had ne coat nor ne pit sark
But now aw've getten twe or three,
Walker pit's deun weel for me.

"Collier" seems to have been the preferred designation of Lancashire miners (especially in song).

Doubtless, MacColl could have written other verses to include Scotland, Yorskhire, etc., but felt that three were enough.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Schooldays End: McColl
From: Joybell
Date: 03 May 08 - 12:40 AM

You're right Snuffy. Of course it is about coal now that I look properly.
Cheers, Joy