Tune Req: The miseries of the framework knitters

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The miseries of the framework knitters
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 17 Jan 11 - 10:05 AM

Thanks Brian. I don't have sound on this computer just now so couldn't check your link.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The miseries of the framework knitters
From: Brian Peters
Date: 17 Jan 11 - 09:00 AM

Jack's tune is the one that Roy Palmer set to the lyric. Bob's is the same one I linked for 'King John & the Abbott'.

I'm not sure whether the original broadside specified a tune, but the kind of melody required would be obvious from the chorus anyway. The point is that either of those 'Derry Down' tunes would fit the bill, and there were many songs set to 'Derry Down'. Harry Boardman sang 'The Dreadnought' to Jack's version.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The miseries of the framework knitters
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 17 Jan 11 - 08:52 AM

I've been using the derry-down tune which is well-known as that of "The Coal Owner and the Pitman's Wife", a midi file of which can be heard here -- at the bottom of the page is a link which says "click to play". If anyone believes a variant or different tune is more appropriate for "Miseries" I would certainly like to know it.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The miseries of the framework knitters
From: Jack Campin
Date: 17 Jan 11 - 08:11 AM

Here's a "Derry down" tune (from the "Embro, Embro" pages on my website):

X:1
T:Derry down
Z:Jack Campin: "Embro, Embro", transcription (c) 2001
F:08play/abc/Derry.abc
S:A Song of Songs GUL N.b.23(163)
M:6/8
L:1/8
Q:3/8=80
N:double bars added; third to last bar in the broadside
N:is |d>AB c>BA| matching a text with feminine rhyme
K:Gmin
G    |d>ed B>BA |B>GG ^F2||
^F    |G>AG GA/A/G|G>^FG A2||
(c/B/)|A>GF F>GF |F>GF f2||
^f/f/ |g>dB e>dc |d>AB c2||
B/A/ |G3   d3    |c>BA G2|]

Subject: RE: Tune Req: The miseries of the framework knitters
From: Brian Peters
Date: 17 Jan 11 - 07:57 AM

The song is in Roy Palmer's book 'A Touch on the Times', p204, attached to one of the 'Derry Down' tunes that I know as 'King John and the Abbott of Canterbury'. However, the version of 'King John & the Abbott' in the DT has a different Derry Down tune to the one that I know. This would do fine for 'The Miseries of the Framework Knitters' if you can't find the Palmer book, even though it's a different version of 'Derry Down'.

Subject: Tune Req: The miseries of the framework knitters
From: GUEST,Hazel
Date: 17 Jan 11 - 06:14 AM

Does anyone know of a tune for this song - the lyrics are...

Ye kind-hearted souls, pray attend to our song,

And hear this true story which shall not be long;

Framework knitters of Sutton, how ill they are used,

And by the bag-masters how sorely abused.

Chorus

Derry down, down, down derry down