Lyr Req: The Place Where the Old Horse Died

Subject: Lyr Req: Mike Waterson song about a horse
From: ossonflags
Date: 17 May 08 - 07:03 AM

Does any one have the words to this song;the only bit I can remember is; "theres his hoof upon the table his hide upon the chair"

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: mike waterson song about a horse
From: GUEST,Steve Gardham
Date: 17 May 08 - 01:28 PM

Osson,
Twas written by G J Whyte Melville and is called 'The Place Where the Old Horse Died'. I have various copies of the lyrics but try the index now you've got the title. It might give Mick's version. Otherwise I'll do you a copy for next Sunday at the Beck. Let me know if you don't get it by Googling or from the index, but I bet it's online somewhere.
Steve

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: mike waterson song about a horse
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 17 May 08 - 01:57 PM

For further information, see thread MY GALLENT [sic] HORSE DIED (March 2003)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: mike waterson song about a horse
From: nutty
Date: 17 May 08 - 02:01 PM

HERE    is the poem.

Subject: Lyr Add: THE PLACE WHERE THE OLD HORSE DIED
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 19 May 08 - 08:09 AM

From Baily's Magazine of Sports and Pastimes, Vol. 19, London: A. H. Baily & Co., January, 1871:

THE PLACE WHERE THE OLD HORSE DIED.
G. J. Whyte Melville.

IN the hollow, by the pollard, where the crop is tall and rank
  Of the dock-leaf and the nettle growing free—
Where the bramble and the brushwood straggle blindly o'er the bank,
  And the pyat jerks and chatters on the tree,
      There's a fence I never pass,
      In the sedges and the grass,
  But for very shame I turn my head aside,
      While the tears come thick and hot,
      And my curse is on the spot—
  'Tis the place where the old horse died.

There's his hoof upon the chimney, there's his hide upon the chair—
  A better never bent him to the rein;
Now for all my love and care, I've an empty stall and bare,
  I shall never ride my gallant horse again!
      How he laid him out at speed!
      How he loved to have a lead!
  How he snorted in his mettle and his pride!
      Not a flyer of the Hunt
      Was beside him in the front,
  At the place where the old horse died.

Was he blown?—I hardly think it. Did he slip?—I cannot tell;
  We had run for forty minutes in the Vale;
He was reaching at his bridle—he was going strong and well,
  He never seemed to falter or to fail.
      Though I sometimes fancy, too,
      That his daring spirit knew
  The task beyond the compass of his stride;
      Yet he faced it true and brave,
      And dropped into his grave—
  At the place where the old horse died.

I was up in half a minute, but he never tried to stir
  Though I scored him with my rowels in the fall;
In his life he had not felt before the insult of the spur,
  And I knew that it was over, once for all.
      When motionless he lay,
      In his cheerless bed of clay,
  Huddled up without an effort, on his side;
      'Twas a hard and bitter stroke!
      For his honest back was broke
  At the place where the old horse died.

With a neigh so faint and feeble that it touched me like a groan,
  'Farewell,' he seemed to murmur, 'ere I die.'
Then set his teeth and stretched his limbs. And so I stood alone,
  While the merry chase went heedless sweeping by.
      Am I womanly and weak
      If the tear was on my cheek,
  For a brotherhood that Death could thus divide;
      If sickened and amazed,
      Through a woeful mist I gazed
  On the place where the old horse died?

There are men both good and wise who hold that in a future state
  Dumb creatures we have cherished here below,
Shall give us joyous greeting when we pass the Golden Gate—
  Is it folly that I hope it may be so?
      For never man had friend
      More enduring to the end,
  Truer mate in every turn of time and tide;
      Could I think we'll meet again
      It would lighten half my pain
  At the place where the old horse died!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: mike waterson song about a horse
From: ossonflags
Date: 19 May 08 - 08:25 AM

Many thanks to you all.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: mike waterson song about a horse
From: Folkiedave
Date: 19 May 08 - 12:12 PM

There is an recording of the Watersons singing this too. C0ontact me via PM for details Mick.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: mike waterson song about a horse
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 21 May 08 - 07:57 AM

Folkiedave: Why not post your information here?

Though I can find several copies of the poem on the Internet, I can't find any evidence that anyone—let alone the Watersons or Mike Waterson—recorded it. Did they record it under a different title?