|
|||||||
Lyr Add: The Night Before Larry Was Stretched DigiTrad: THE NIGHT BEFORE LARRY WAS STRETCHED Related thread: Lyr Req: The Night before Larry Was Stretched (14) In Mudcat MIDIs: The Night Before Larry Was Stretched (from More Irish Street Ballads, by Colm O Lachlainn (1965). Tune also used for "The March of Intellect.") |
Share Thread
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Night Before Larry Was Stretched From: Bruce O. Date: 02 Nov 99 - 11:33 PM 1780's may have been when the Irish took up composing cant songs, but the English had been doing it for a long time by then. There are several cant songs at the end of 'The Scoundrel's Dictionary', 1754, and G. A. Stevens wrote a few in the 1760's. Wm. Logan reprinted several in 'The Pedlar's Pack', and there is a book of them (which I don't have) by J. S. Farmer.
I find I have the 1st verse (only) of "The Bowman Prigg's Farewel"
To the hundreds of Drury I write,
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Night Before Larry Was Stretched From: Bruce O. Date: 02 Nov 99 - 11:12 PM Sorry, Barry, I don't have any of them. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Night Before Larry Was Stretched From: Barry Finn Date: 02 Nov 99 - 09:49 PM Bruce & Stewie, those others mentioned above ('The Kilmainham Minuet', 'Luke Caffrey's Ghost' and 'Larry's Ghost') does anyone have the words to these or where I might find them? Thanks. Barry |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Larry Was Stretched (2) From: Barry Finn Date: 02 Nov 99 - 08:32 PM & the condemed was hung with their face to King Willy so he'd be the last face they'd see before meeting their maker. Barry This message was moved here from another thread. |
Subject: Lyr Add: The Night Before Larry Was Stretched (2) From: Stewie Date: 02 Nov 99 - 07:00 PM As I indicated in the other thread on this that I would post the Harte/O Lochlainn text. I almost forgot the damn line breaks again - it would have looked a fine mess:
THE NIGHT BEFORE LARRY WAS STRETCHED
The boys they came crowding in fast,
I'm sorry, dear Larry, says I,
And I'll be cut up like a pie,
The cards being called for, they played,
Then the clergy came in with his book,
Though sure 'tis the best way to die,
So moving these last words he spoke,
When he came to the old numbing chit, This message was moved here from another thread.
The tune (from O Lochlainn) is also used for "The March of Intellect." Click to play
|
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Night Before Larry Was Stretched From: JTT Date: 02 Nov 99 - 06:34 PM You'll get the words on the album Common Ground, where Elvis Costello sings it well. A few translations: "They sweated their duds till they riz it" - they pawned their clothes till they raised the price of it; "the squeezer" - the gallows; "a sneezer" - a few pinches of snuff; "gob" - mouth; "glims" - candles; "that's all in my eye" - that's all nonsense; "knob" - head (in this case); "jack ketch" - the hangman; "they mind not such trifles a feck" - they don't mind such trifles a bit; "tip us the deck" - get out the cards; "napper" - head; "soon I'll demolish your noddle" - soon I'll demolish your head; "and leave you your claret to drink" - leave you your blood to drink...oh, for goodness sake, this is going on and on. Someone else finish it. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Night Before Larry Was Stretched From: Stewie Date: 02 Nov 99 - 06:34 PM Barry, I don't know. There is merely a mention of them by McDonagh. Bruce O: The version sung by Frank Harte is identical to that printed in Colm O Lochlainn's 'More Irish Street Ballads'. It has 2 additional stanzas to the text given in your website and there are minor textual variations in almost every line - the folk process at work over the years, no doubt. Some of them are decided improvements (IMO): for example, 'A dart for his napper, he made' instead of 'He made a smart stroke at his head' or 'Then sighing, he threw back his head/To get a sweet drop of the bottle' instead of 'Then stooping a little his head'. I will post the Harte version as a 'Lyr add' thread so that it may perhaps be taken up in DT as the fullest available version. May I also congratulate you on your magnificent website. Cheers, Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Night Before Larry Was Stretched From: Bruce O. Date: 02 Nov 99 - 03:48 PM The copy of the song in 'The Festival of Anacreon', 1789, gives the tune citation as "To the hundreds of Drury I write", which is the first line of an English single sheet song entitled "The Bowman Prigg's Farewell", c 1730. I suspect "The Night before Larry was stretched" was an imitation, but, though I have the tune, I've never found a text of the song. [Cant- a bowman prigg was a pick-purse] |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Night Before Larry Was Stretched From: Bruce O. Date: 02 Nov 99 - 11:13 AM The song and three tunes for it are in the Scarce Songs 1 file on my website. The song is in the Universal Songster, 1828, with attribution to "Curren" which is probably an error for John Philpot Curran |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Night Before Larry Was Stretched From: Barry Finn Date: 02 Nov 99 - 10:47 AM Hi Stewie, would these others that you mentioned have choruses in the same style as The Night Before Larry Was Stretched (spoken)? I've heard (from Shay) that this was considered to be one of the few Newgate Ballads. Barry |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Night Before Larry Was Stretched From: Stewie Date: 02 Nov 99 - 10:12 AM In his notes to Harte's 'Dublin Street Songs', Donagh McDonagh says it was one of a group of execution songs written in Newgate slang or cant style in the 1780s, others being 'The Kilmainham Minuet', 'Luke Caffrey's Ghost' and 'Larry's Ghost'. He says 'Larry' is attributed to one 'Hurlfoot' Bill Maher. It's a great song. Cheers, Stewie. |
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Night Before Larry Was Stretched From: Liam's Brother Date: 02 Nov 99 - 08:47 AM Larry was no one in particular... except to his friends. The author was probably Zozimus (Thomas Moran), the Dubliner broadside scribe. In addition to a recording by the Wolf Tones, it has appeared (earlier) in a number of folk song books (e.g. collections by James N. Healy and Frank Harte) and was recorded by the latter. Shay Walker, another Dubliner who lives in Boston, sings it quite often.
All the best, |
Subject: The Night Before Larry Was Stretched From: Clifton 53 Date: 02 Nov 99 - 08:30 AM This song again is from a Wolfe-Tones record, I think "Irish to the Core" but I'm not positive. Can anyone tell me to whom they are referring and the author? The version I have is a little different from the DT, which says that it is much shortened from the original. |
Share Thread: |
Subject: | Help |
From: | |
Preview Automatic Linebreaks Make a link ("blue clicky") |