Origins: Songs from the Peak District

Subject: Origins: Songs from the Peak District
From: GUEST,Daniel
Date: 25 Jul 13 - 03:31 AM

Hello all,

Wonder if you can help. I've been listening to Bella Hardy's album The Dark Peak and the White and it's great to hear some songs from that neck of the woods.

Does anyone here have any other favourite traditional songs from Derbyshire they'd be happy to share here? That way, I can go and look them up!

As always, thanks.

Daniel

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Peak District
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Jul 13 - 03:54 AM

There was a song about Hannah badeley who appears in Pete Caslte's stories of the Peak

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Peak District
From: GUEST,Ed
Date: 25 Jul 13 - 05:48 AM

Daniel,

There's an old thread: What songs are native to Derbyshire? which is worth having a look at.

On that thread I also linked to an 1867 book which is free to download, and deserves another mention: The ballads & songs of Derbyshire

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Peak District
From: GUEST,Fred McCormick
Date: 25 Jul 13 - 06:09 AM

Ed. Thanks for pointing that out. My copy has about 20 pages missing and I've never come across another one at an affordable price.

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Peak District
From: GUEST,Howard Jones
Date: 25 Jul 13 - 07:02 AM

Check out the songs of George Fradley:

http://folkopedia.efdss.org/wiki/George_Fradley

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Peak District
From: GUEST,Fred McCormick
Date: 25 Jul 13 - 07:03 AM

I haven't got the link to hand but Veteran has made some of GF's songs available for download.

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Peak District
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 25 Jul 13 - 07:29 AM

The Manchester Rambler is set primarily in the Dark Peak if that counts.

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Peak District
From: Brian Peters
Date: 25 Jul 13 - 08:14 AM

Here's a good place to start:

Roud entries for Derbyshire

If you know Bella's work you'll be familiar with 'Down in Yon Forest' and the Castleton Christmas carols. Apart from those there seem to be plenty of children's songs, music hall, and a few 'Derby Rams', but not so many older folk songs and ballads - though I can see 'Spencer the Rover', 'The Jolly Miller', 'Farmer's Boy', 'Barley Mow' etc. George Fradley had a couple of Child Ballads ('Lamkin' and Two Sisters') in his repertoire along with some entertaining comic pieces.

One of the most interesting Peak District pieces is a very archaic version of 'Three Ravens' collected in Leeds but originating from the singer's mother in Stoney Middleton in the early 19th century. You can see the text of that on the wonderful (if off-puttingly titled) Bluegrass Messengers site here

That page gives a link to Ewan MacColl's rendition of the ballad, but if you want to hear a more irreverent version, try:
Brian Peters: Three Ravens (clip).

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Peak District
From: GUEST,Daniel
Date: 26 Jul 13 - 12:05 PM

Thank you all - this is brilliant.

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Peak District
From: GUEST,Don Wise
Date: 26 Jul 13 - 01:56 PM

Back in the early 1970s, when I still lived in the UK, I did a bit of 'digging' in the Local History section of what was then Derby Borough Library. This yielded various odds'n'sods such as versions of "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor","The Female Drummer", "The Uttoxeter Souling"( OK- East Staffs!), "Lumpty Tums" as well as assorted smaller items. Since there were no tunes given I was able to amuse myself making them up or adapting them from other songs. "The Uttoxeter Souling" seems to have got about a bit in the mean time!

Subject: RE: Origins: Songs from the Peak District
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 08 Aug 18 - 04:43 AM

Here's a link to a cracking website exploring the songs on this album:

The Dark Peak and the White