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Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST Date: 02 Mar 21 - 04:59 AM Elizabeth Shane Churnin Day |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST Date: 28 Sep 19 - 04:21 AM My grandmother (Co. Monaghan) had this: I went to my neighbour To ask her the favour To borrow the hitchet, the hatchet, the double kinatchet To beat up the rowdy dow dow She told me the rhyme made the sounds the dash made when churning |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: Thompson Date: 27 Apr 17 - 04:18 AM Pretty odd translation in the Scots Gaelic churning song way above in the thread. A little… idealistic in some of its translations! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: Steve Gardham Date: 26 Apr 17 - 04:43 PM TGS check out Shule Agra and Robin-a-Thrash |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST Date: 26 Apr 17 - 12:49 PM The Churnin' When I was at the churnin' I hadn't room to turn in, The way all the childer was around me on the floor. "Now who'd have control o' yez? Away out the whole o' yez!" And like a flock of chickens then I chased them to the door. It might have been a mouse itself was creeping round the house itself. And there was wee John in the corner all alone! And och dears the size of him, the big bewitchin' eyes of him. To say a cruel word to him you'd need a heart of stone. "I doubt you'll need a bating John! What is it that you're waitin' on? 'Tis out in the field with the rest that you should be." But och he had the smilin' ways, the 'witchin' sweet beguilin' ways. "I'm waitin' on a wee sup of buttermilk," says he. _______________________________________________ I learned this poem by rote when I was a child at school in the 1950's. I've never seen a copy of it written down but the teacher assured us that it was written in dialect and it was all right to speak like this on this one occasion! That was a long time ago and I may have made some mistakes in typing it from memory, but I think it's correct. They really drilled things into us in those days! I saw your request and thought I would have a go at getting the poem out of my memory and on to paper. I have been a primary school teacher myself for many years. I think the poem may have been written by Moira O'Neill, but I'm not sure. Best wishes from, Clare McAfee, "Avalon" 33, Kemp Park, Ballycastle, Co. Antrim. BT54 6LE |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: Jim Dixon Date: 01 Apr 17 - 11:04 AM From A Perfect Discovery of Witches by Thomas Ady (London: H. Brome, 1661), page 59: Another old Woman came into an house at a time when as the Maid was churning of Butter, and having laboured long and could not make her Butter come, the old Woman told the Maid what was woņt to be done when she was a Maid, and also in her Mothers young time, that if it happened their Butter would not come readily, they used a Charm to be said over it, whilst yet it was in beating, and it would come straight ways, and that was this: Come Butter come, come Butter come, Peter stands at the Gate, waiting for a buttered Cake, come Butter come. This, said the old Woman, being said three times, will make your Butter come, for it was taught my Mother by a learned Church-man in Queen Maries days, when as Church-men had more cunning, and could teach people many a trick, that our Ministers now a days know not. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST,Susie Date: 30 Mar 17 - 06:13 PM Not a full chant, but I can remember my grandma [born 1897] saying "come, butter, come' over and over again. This was in Crewe, Cheshire - railway town - in the late 1950s. She had a very big glass jar with a metal lid, through which there was a sort of paddle, and a mechanism on top with a handle. I recall being asked to turn the handle - dull work for a small child, but the butter was worth it. Magic! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST,Texas Grandmother's Song Date: 29 Mar 17 - 11:01 PM Curious to find out whether anyone can identify an old butter churning song passed down through the women in our family. Many of the words seem nonsensical, but I've probably forgotten some, since I learned this song as a young girl. My grandmother was of English-Irish-Scottish descent, but her family also lived in the American South - mostly Texas. (I've spelled the unfamiliar words phonetically.) Shoo-go, go sugar and a roo-go Shapperappa June papa June... A bask and a bottle and a fall doll dingle Jinka-linka bottle-linka brandy-oh... And for her dasher she uses her foot Nickety nackety day and dappety Willity wallity rustico polity Nickety nackety now, now, now! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST,Cathy Clyde Date: 30 Nov 16 - 05:26 PM It might o' been a mouse itself, come creeping in the house itself. But there was Wee John in the corner all alone. "I doubt you need a beating John. What is it that you're waiting on? It's out in the fields with the others you should be!" Ah, but the size o him The big coaxing eyes o him. "It's a wee drop o buttermilk I'm waiting on" says he. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST Date: 23 May 16 - 07:05 PM |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST,jacqueline Date: 30 Nov 14 - 05:42 PM My mother from Portadown taught me this as a young child and I still remember it (bar 1 line!) Hope this helps... Away out the whole of yous' who'd have control of yous', and like a flock of chickens I chased them through the door. Ah there's wee Johnny in the corner, all the size of him the big creeping eyes of him to say a cruel word to him you need a heart of stone .............................? what is it you're ' lookin' for "ah a wee drop of buttermilk" says he. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST,Mr Red Date: 27 Oct 13 - 07:13 AM I asked this question at the Acton Scot Farm Museum (Shropshire UK) in 1984 and was told they knew of the concept but didn't know the song. This was in the dairy with all the butter making equipment. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: Joe Offer Date: 26 Oct 13 - 04:27 PM I got word back from Michelle, who posted above. The poem she's looking for is this one (taken from post above):
Wae all the childer roun' me on the floor Away out the whole o' ye, the divil take the lot o' ye An' like a flock o' chickens I chased them to the door. The poem ended with the littlest child 'wee Johnny' creeping back in and when asked what he wanted the response was '"Just a wee sup o' buttermilk" said he' Anybody have the complete words of this poem? -Joe- |
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Subject: ADD: Churning (Jean Ritchie) From: Joe Offer Date: 26 Oct 13 - 04:08 AM Churning (as sung by Jean Ritchie) Copyright 1955 by Jean Ritchie Singing Family of the Cumberlands, page 23 CHURNING Churn, churn, make some butter for my little girlie's supper…
A bottle of wine to make her shine and pretty little boy to squeeze her! A bottle of likker to make her snicker and Poppy come home to tease her! A bottle of corn just sure as you're born and a pretty little boy to squeeze her! A bottle of red to suit her head and Poppy come home to tease her! for a little bad girl's supper….
Frog got to nodding and a lizzard come and stoled it! BRING BACK MY HOECAKE YOU LONG-TAILED NANNY-O!
For Mommy's baby's supper... This song was sung to Jean Ritchie as small child by her mother, who was "punishing" her by making her churn butter after she had broken a screen door. She sat on her mother's lap and, in fact, the "punishment" was mother's way of calming her little girl. Teachers may be interested to hear this version, though the text is likely inappropriate for children in school. Source: http://music.appstate.edu/sites/music.appstate.edu/files/prim1songs.pdf |
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Subject: ADD: Churning Song From: Joe Offer Date: 26 Oct 13 - 03:58 AM Churning Song (as collected in Eastern Kentucky) Sing to the tune of "Farmer in the Dell" CHURNING SONG Churn churn churn, this is churning day, Til the golden butter comes the dasher must not stay. Pat pat pat, make it smooth and round, Now the golden butter's done won't you buy a pound. Source: http://music.appstate.edu/sites/music.appstate.edu/files/prim1songs.pdf |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST Date: 25 Oct 13 - 11:00 PM Which "poem" within this thread are you seeking? There are so MANY. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST Date: 25 Oct 13 - 06:37 AM Hi there, I do hope you are looking at this for I would like the same poem for an old woman in an old folks home who recalled almost exactly the poem the way that you have written it and no more. Did you ever find it ? please let me know as I think it would mean a lot to her to know that someone heeded her. My name is Michelle and I live in Northern Ireland. Hope this finds you well. my email address is michelle.mccartney1@btinternet.com. Hope to hear from you. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: Charley Noble Date: 10 Feb 11 - 08:19 AM Big paddle keep on turnin' Proud Mary keep on churnin'-- Churin', churnin'', churnin'' out the butter! Well, I've curd wurst! Charley Ignoble |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST Date: 10 Feb 11 - 06:12 AM My late mother used to recite a poem which we called 'At the Churning' which would be Ulster-Scots/Scots-Irish derived. The first verse was I was at the churnin' and hadn't room tae turn in Wae all the childer roun' me on the floor Away out the whole o' ye, the divil take the lot o' ye An' like a flock o' chickens I chased them to the door. The poem ended with the littlest child 'wee Johnny' creeping back in and when asked what he wanted the response was '"Just a wee sup o' buttermilk" said he' I would love to have the complete version of the poem but have not been able to find it. I found this link and am hoping that someone may be able to help. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 18 Oct 10 - 06:58 PM This is the first reference I have found to a tune with a "Churning Chant." It also has an unusual drone...imitating the churn. Mursell, James L., et. al., Music for Living, Book Three, Now and Long Ago, California State Series, publishe by California State Department of Education, Sacrament, 1958, "A Churning Lilt" (Folk Song From the British Isles) p.103. (Two chords G and D7)
Bottom annotation - In Scottish dialect, a "wick" is a dairy house. "I wist" is "I know."
VERSE ONE
VERSE TWO
ABC Notation
X:1
T:A Churning Lilt
M:4/4
K:G
L:1/4
D| DGGG| AG2|
PLAY ON PIANO BEFORE AND THROUGHOUT SONG
Sincerely,
Another discovery - unearthed while searching for Joe's bloody-red sombrero. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 26 Sep 09 - 06:24 AM Thank you Sakurai for pointing a direction.
Thank you Mr. Dixon - very interesting.
SOURCE: Opie, Iona and Peter editors, Oxford Dictionary of Nursury Rhymes Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1955 pp 107-108.
Come, Butter, come,
Although this centuries-old charm was still in superstitious use at the time, it was set to music in 1798 as a 'Bagatelle for Juvenile Amusement'. Indeed its supernatural aid has been consistently called upon through 400 years of Protestantism. Thomas Ady, writing in 1656, knew an old woman who said the butter would come straight away if it was repeated three times, ' for it was taught my Mother by a learned Church-man in Queen Maries days, when as Churchmen had more cunning and could teach people many a trick, that our Minister now a days know not.
A writer in Folk-Lore in 1878 said, 'I have often heard our cook repeating [this rhyme] over her churn when the butter was slow in forming'. Crofton says it was 'well known in Reddish Vale, on the border of Lancashire and Cheshire in 1880.'
Another writer, in 1936, heard it recited in Southern Indiana 'to the accompanying splash of the old-fashioned churn when the butter was slow in coming. It is indeed easy to believe that the pixies have got into the churn when the cream will not clot, although one has been steadily turning the handle for twice as long as usual.
The strange line 'Peter stands at the gate' is found in other charms, as in one for toothache beginning ' When Peter sat at Jerusalem's gate', and may be traced back to the old story of St. Peter, when our Lord relieved him of his troubles 'Ad portam Galylee iacebat Petrus. Enit dominus et interrogavit eum…. It may be compared with a Spanish charm ' Appollonia was at the gate of heave', and perhaps be traced back ultimately to the prayer of Seth the son of Adam at the gates of Paradise in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. Footnoted from source: A Candle in the Dark, Thomas Ady, 1656 / Satan's Invisible World Discovered George Sinclair, 1685, probably quoting Ady / Christmas Box vol. iii, 1798 / JOH, 1842 / Northhamptonshire Words, A.E. Baker, 1854,
Also
' Churn, butter, churn. / Folk-Lore, 1878 and 1936 / Lincolnshire Glossary, Mabel Peacock, 1889,
"Churn, butter, dash, / Crofton MS, 1901 ' Mother Goose's NR, L. E. Walter, 1924.
Sincerely, |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: wysiwyg Date: 30 Jun 09 - 12:12 PM Wondering-- would African American slaves have used spirituals when they churned, or was the US South too hot for churning-- or is the churning cadence wrong for spirituals? ~S~ |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: Charley Noble Date: 29 Jun 09 - 01:28 PM Seems as if any old pumping shanty would have worked as well. We just sang any old ditty when we worked at the butter churn back in the olden days on the farm. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: Jim Carroll Date: 29 Jun 09 - 12:37 PM In this part of the world (West of Ireland) if a visitor called while churning was taking place, they were expected to 'take a turn' at the handle. If they didn't, it was believed that the butter would be poor. Jim Carroll |
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Subject: Lyr Add: KEEP ON CHURNIN' (Wynonie Harris) From: melodeonboy Date: 29 Jun 09 - 06:51 AM And here's an innocent little ditty on the subject: KEEP ON CHURNIN' (TILL THE BUTTER COMES) Written by Hairston - Glover - Mann Recorded by Wynonie Harris (1952) CHORUS: Keep on churnin' till the butter comes. Keep on churnin' till the butter comes. Keep on pumpin', make the butter flow, Wipe off the paddle and churn some more. 1. Little boy blue, come blow your horn. The cow's in the meadow, sheep's in the corn. Take the sheep, leave 'em be. Bring the finest brown cow straight to me. CHORUS TWICE 2. How now, brown cow, keep on eatin' your hay. Go in your shed, be sure you're fed. Go in your shed, be sure you're fed. Daddy needs butter for his shortening bread. CHORUS 3. Who now, moo cow, keep on swishing your tail. Don't kick over the pail. First comes the milk, then comes the cream. Takes good butter to make your daddy scream. CHORUS 4. I wanted some butter one day. A fine brown cow came my way. We kept on pumpin'. Butter came jumpin'. I'll milk you, cow, till my pail is full. Look out, heifer! Here comes your bull. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: breezy Date: 29 Jun 09 - 04:28 AM all I remember is that when I had to turn the churn as a kid of about 7/8 on my grandfather's farm is that I wanted to go out and play, it took ages, , I kept looking through the glass porthole, every few seconds, eventually I had a 'chunk' of butter. never did it again thanks for prompting the memory, will add it to my cv |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 29 Jun 09 - 01:30 AM White, Newman I. editor, The Frank C. Brown Collection of North Carolina Folklore, Durham, North Carolina, Duke University Press, "Popular Beliefs and Superstitions from North Carolina," edited by Hand, Wayland D., 1964, vol 7, "Superstitions: Animals, Animal Husbandry," Chapter XI, Cows: "Churning, Clabbering" pp 443-445
7553 - Baby wants some; Standing at the gate, Waiting for a cake.
Lida Page, Nelson, Durham county; Mabel Ballentine, Raleigh; and
Wheaton P. Webb has written an original song embodying the "Come,
7560 - Mattie's at the gate; Come, butter, come; come, butter, come; Missus wants to make a cake; Come, butter, come; come, butter, come; The baby wants some. Dorothy McDowell Vann, Raleigh, Wake county.
7566 - Come, butter, come; Granny stands at the gate, With a hot johnny cake; Come, butter, come.,
C. M. Hutchings, Durham county. Cf. Indiana: Brewster, Specimens,
7567 - Come, butter, come; Cows in the pasture; Churn a little faster; Come, butter, come. Susie Spurgeon Jordan, Brevard, Transylvania county.
Sincerely,
The Fox Fire book led me to this adventure.
A thank you to Misso - for his pointing to the reference The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes - for the history of this chant in the British Isles. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: Jim Dixon Date: 20 Mar 09 - 03:24 PM From Carmina Gadelica: Hymns and Incantations by Alexander Carmichael (Edinburgh: Printed for the author, 1900): CHARM OF THE CHURN ...The influence of an evil spirit commanded by an evil mind is believed to retard or wholly to prevent butter from coming upon the cream in the churn. This evil influence was used by one woman against another in order to spirit away the butter from her neighbour's churn to her own churn. This, however, could only be done if no stream ran between the two women. A fire for kindling carried across a stream, however small, loses its occult power and is ineffective in spiriting away milk, cream, butter, or other milk product. The following story was told me in 1870 by Mor Macneill, cottar, Glen, Barra. Sometimes the substance is spirited out of the milk, nothing being left but the semblance. On one occasion a household in Skye were at the peat-moss making peats, none remaining at home but the housewife and a tailor who was making clothes for the father and the sons of the house. The housewife was up on the 'ben' churning, and the tailor was down in the 'butt' sewing. He sat on the meal-girnel, cross-legged, after the manner of tailors. Presently a neighbor woman came in and asked for a kindling for her fire. She took the kindling and went her way. When she went out, the tailor leaped down, and taking a live cinder from the fire, placed it in the water-stoup below the dresser, and with a bound was back again cross-legged on the meal-girnel sewing away as before. In a little while the woman came back saying that she failed to kindle her fire, and [the actions are repeated two more times.] Towards evening the house-wife came down in sore distress, saying—'O Mary and Son, am I not the sorely shamed woman, churning away at that churn the livelong day till my spirit is broken and my arms are weary, and that I have utterly failed to bring butter on the churn after all! O Mary! Mary, fair Mother of grace! what shall I do when the people come home? I shall never hear the end of this churning till the day of my death!' 'Place thine hand in the water-stoup below the dresser and see if thy butter be there,' said the tailor. And with that the woman placed her hand in the water-stoup as directed, and three successive times, and each time brought up a large lump of butter as fresh and fair and fragrant as the beauteous butter-cups in their prime. The clever tailor had counteracted the machinations of the greedy neighbour woman by placing the live cinders in the water-stoup. THIG na saor, thig; Thig na daor, thig; Thig na caor, thig; Thig na maor, thig; Thig na faor, thig; Thig na baor, thig; Thig na gaor, thig; Thig na caoch, thig; Thig na caon, thig; Thig na caomh, thig; Thig na gaol, thig; Thig na claon, thig; Thig fear a churraig bhuidhe, Chuireas am muighe na ruith. Thig na saora, Thig na daora, Thig na caora, Thig na maora, Thig na faora, Thig na baora, Thig na gaora, Thig na caocha, Thig na caona, Thig na caomha, Thig na gaola, Thig na claona, Thig loma lan na cruinne, Chur a mhuighe na ruith; Thig Calum caomh na uidheam, 'S thig Bride bhuidhe chruidh. Tha glug a seo, Tha glag a seo, Tha glag a seo, Tha glug a seo, Tha slug a seo, Tha slag a seo, Tha slag a seo, Tha slug a seo, Tha seilcheag mhor bhog a seo, Tha brigh gach te dhe'n chrodh a seo, Tha rud is foir na mil us beoir, [fearr(?) Tha bocan buidhe nodh a seo. Tha rud is fearr na choir a seo, Tha dorn an t-sagairt mhor a seo, Tha rud is fearr na chairbh a seo, Tha ceann an duine mhairbh a seo, Tha rud is fearr na fion a seo, Tha lan cuman Cairistine Do mhiala boga bine seo, Do mhiala boga bine seo. Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a bhitheag; thig a bheathag; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chuthag; thig, a cheathag; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig an fhosgag a adhar, 'S thig cailleag a chin-duibh. Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Than an lon, thig an smeol, 'S thig an ceol as a bhruth; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chait chaothaich, Chur faoch air do ruch; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chuinneag, thig. Thig, a mhaduidh, 's caisg do phathadh; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a bhuichd; thig, a nuichd; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a dhiola-deirce Is deistiniche ruichd; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, gach creutair acrach, Us dioil tart do chuirp. Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; 'S e Dia duileach a chuir oirnn, 'S cha'n ora caillich le luibh. Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig a Mhuire mhin-ghil, Us dilimich mo chuid; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a Bhride bhith-ghil, Us coistrig brigh mo chruidh. Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Am maistreadh rinn Moire. Air astradh a ghlinne, A lughdachadh a boinne, A mheudachadh a h-ime; Blathach gu dorn, Im gu uileann; Thig, a chuinneag, thig; Thig, a chuinneag, thig. COME will the free, come; Come will the bond, come; Come will the bells, come; Come will the maers, come; Come will the blade, come; Come will the sharp, come; Come will the hounds, come; Come will the wild, come; Come will the mild, come; Come will the kind, come; Come will the loving, come; Come will the squint, come; Come will he of the yellow cap, That will set the churn a-running. The free will come, The bond will come, The bells will come, The maers will come, The blades will come, The sharp will come, The hounds will come, The wild will come, The mild will come, The kind will come, The loving will come, The devious will come, The brim-full of the globe will come, To set the churn a-running; The kindly Columba will come in his array, And the golden-haired Bride of the kine. A splash is here, A plash is here, A plash is here, A splash is here, A crash is here, A squash is here, A squash is here, A crash is here, [gulp A big soft snail is here, The sap of each of the cows is here, A thing better than honey and spruce, A bogle yellow and fresh is here. A thing better than right is here, The fist of the big priest his here, A thing better than the carcase is here, The head of the dead man is here, A thing better than wine is here, The full of the cog of Caristine Of live thing soft and fair are here, Of live thing soft and fair are here. Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou life(?); come, thou breath(?); Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou churn, come; Come thou cuckoo; come, thou jackdaw; Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou churn, come; Come will the little lark from the sky, Come will the little carlin of the black-cap. Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou churn, come; Come will the merle, come will the mavis, Come will the music from the bower; Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou wild cat, To ease thy throat; Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou churn, come. Come, thou hound, and quench thy thirst; Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou poor; come, thou naked; Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou churn, come; Come, ye alms-deserver Of most distressful moan; Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou churn, come; Come each hungry creature, And satisfy the thirst of thy body. Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou churn, come; It is the God of the elements who bestowed on us, And not the charm of a carlin with plant. Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou fair-white Mary, And endow to me my means; Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou beauteous Bride, And bless the substance of my kine. Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou churn, come; The churning made of Mary, In the fastness of the glen, To decrease her milk, To increase her butter; Butter-milk to wrist, Butter to elbow; Come, thou churn, come; Come, thou churn, come. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: Cool Beans Date: 20 Mar 09 - 01:56 PM To everything Churn, churn, churn There is a season Churn churn, churn... No? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: Jim Dixon Date: 20 Mar 09 - 01:04 PM From Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases by Anne Elizabeth Baker (London: John Russell Smith, 1854): [After quoting the above rhyme from Ady—] We have the following variations, which are probably of equal antiquity, as they have descended from one generation to another in this county:— Churn, butter, churn, In a cow's horn; I never see'd such butter, Sin' I was born. Peter's standing at the gate Waiting for a butter'd cake, Come, butter, come! Or,— Churn, butter, churn, Come, butter, come! A little good butter Is better than none. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: Jim Dixon Date: 20 Mar 09 - 12:57 PM The Year Book of Daily Recreation and Information by William Hone (London: William Tegg, 1832) Ady, by his "Candle in the Dark, 1655," helps us to another charm. He says, an old woman in Essex came into a house at a time when as the maid was churning of butter, and having labored long and could not make her butter come, the old woman told the maid what was wont to be done when she was a maid, and also in her mother's young time, that if it happened their butter would not come readily, they used a charm to be said over it, whilst yet it was in beating, and it would come straightways, and that was this: Come butter, come, Come butter, come. Peter stands at the gate. Waiting for a butter'd cake. Come butter, come. This, said the old woman, being said three times, will make your butter come, for it was taught my mother by a learned church-man in queen Mary's days, when as church-men had more cunning, and could teach people many a trick, that our ministers now a days know not. [p.s. All my quotes so far have been found by searching for the phrase "come butter come."--JD] |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: Jim Dixon Date: 20 Mar 09 - 12:41 PM From The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern by Allan Cunningham (London: John Taylor, 1825): When butter came with reluctance from the cream, it was, in ancient times, enticed or compelled to appear by the chanting of a charm; and I am not certain that such songs have wholly ceased to be used among the dames of the north. Come, butter! come, come! Come, butter, come! Saint Peter's at the gate, Waiting for my butter'd cake; Come, butter! come, come! Come, butter, come! If the butter could resist such a melodious call as this, especially when seconded by the labour of the singer, ordinary industry might despair. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: Jim Dixon Date: 20 Mar 09 - 12:34 PM From Researches in the South of Ireland by Thomas Crofton Croker (London: John Murray, 1824): In churning, should not the milk readily become butter, the machinations of some witch are suspected. As a test, the iron coulter of the plough is heated in the fire, and the witches name solemnly pronounced, with the following charm, on whom this spell is supposed to inflict the most excruciating tortures,— Come butter, come, Come butter, come, Peter stands at the gate Waiting for a buttered cake, Come butter, come. And if the milk has lost its good qualities by means of incantations, it immediately turns to excellent butter. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: Liz the Squeak Date: 19 Mar 09 - 07:49 AM Don't know it's quite what you're after but my grandmother, whilst making butter for the house would hum a tune which I later found was the Dorset Four hand Reel - a dance she taught me when I was very young, shortly before her last illness. The rhythmn seemed to fit the actions perfectly and she would often tap out the steps with her feet on the rungs of the stool. LTS |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: Joe_F Date: 18 Mar 09 - 09:20 PM Come, butter, come. Come, butter, come. Every lump as big as my bum. I have forgotten where I read that, tho. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: masato sakurai Date: 17 Mar 09 - 10:10 PM On "Come, butter, come," see Opie, The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, new ed. (p. 124). |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: MMario Date: 17 Mar 09 - 04:51 PM What about THIS eight year old example? |
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Subject: Lyr Req: Butter Churning Chants From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 17 Mar 09 - 03:30 PM Butter Churning Chants
Remarkable - but the MC does not appear to have a thread or example of these.
Uncovered this one this morning in The Foxfire Book Wigginton, E. editor, Anchor Books, Garden City, New York 1972, p 188.(collected in Rabun Gap - the Appalacians)
"Need a diversion to make the time go faster? You might like to try the traditional chant that the churner said in time to the up and down movements of the dasher. The arrows indicate the dasher movement."
<↓>Come<↑> butter <↓>come <↑> ---
<↓>Come <↑>butter <↓>come <↑> ---
<↓>Peter <↑>standing<↓> at the<↑> gate
<↓>Waiting <↑>for a <↓>butter <↑>cake
<↓>Come<↑> butter <↓>come <↑>---
Sincerely, |
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