Song title needed-Shame & Scandal, etc.

Subject: Song title needed
From: BDenz
Date: 24 Nov 13 - 02:40 PM

There's a song whose title I cannot remember. Story is a father talking to his son about not marrying/dating the girl her loves because she might be his sister. So he goes to his mother and she assures him that the girl may be her husband's daughter, but he's not her husband's son. (I've also heard it from the girl's perspective)

Subject: RE: Song title needed
From: Acorn4
Date: 24 Nov 13 - 04:27 PM

I think Lucy Ward does this or something very similar, but I can't remember its actual title.

Subject: RE: Song title needed
From: Midchuck
Date: 24 Nov 13 - 04:32 PM

There are at least two songs with the identical story line. One is Irish, or at least Irish-sounding, titled "Johnny be Fine," or something like that. Buffy St. Marie recorded back during the Great Folk Scare. The other is a Calypso-style one, I don't know the title or who recorded it, the refrain is "Oh me, Oh me, shame and scandal on the fam-il-ee," more or less. I'll check with Mike Lussen, who knows it...

Subject: RE: Song title needed
From: Young Buchan
Date: 24 Nov 13 - 04:53 PM

Cy Grant got it into the lower reaches of the (British) charts in 1965 under the title of Shame and Scandal in the Family.

Subject: RE: Song title needed
From: Young Buchan
Date: 24 Nov 13 - 05:25 PM

Aaaarrrggghhh! I mean Lance Percival not Cy Grant!!!!!!

Subject: RE: Song title needed-Shame & Scandal, etc.
From: Joe Offer
Date: 24 Nov 13 - 05:26 PM

Oh, we had fun a few years ago, tracking down songs and recitations that tell this story. I've added crosslinks above to all the threads we have on songs and poems that tell that story.
Enjoy!

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Song title needed-Shame & Scandal, etc.
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 24 Nov 13 - 05:33 PM

Ewan MacColl used to tell it as a folktale. The young man kept telling his father that he was courting such & such a girl, but his father would always tell him "Nay, ye cannae wed her. She's ma ain natural daughter." Eventually his mother asked him why he was so sad. He told her, adding that he really loved the most recent girl. "Pay him nae mind lad," his mother said, "and just ye wed the lassie. He's no' your fayther at a'!"

I have been hunting this in the Aarne/Thompson Types Of The Folktale index. Will come back with its # if I find it.

~M~

Subject: RE: Song title needed-Shame & Scandal, etc.
From: Tug the Cox
Date: 24 Nov 13 - 06:30 PM

Shame and scandal in the family
Woe is me
Shame and scandal in the family

In Trinidad there was a family
With much confusion as you will see
It was a mama and a papa and a boy who was grown
He wanted to marry, have a wife of his own
Found a young girl that suited him nice
Went to his papa to ask his advice
His papa said: "Son, I have to say no,
This girl is your sister, but your mama don't know"

Oh, woe is me
Shame and scandal in the family
Oh, woe is me
Shame and scandal in the family

A week went by and the summer came 'round
Soon the best cook in the island he found
He went to his papa to name the day
His papa shook his head and to him did say
"You Can't marry this girl, I have to say no
This girl is your sister, but your mama don't know"

Oh, woe is me
Shame and scandal in the family
Oh, woe is me
Shame and scandal in the family

He went to his mama and covered his head
And told his mama what his papa had said
His mama she laughed, she say, "Go man, go
Your daddy ain't your daddy, but your daddy don't know."

Oh, woe is me
Shame and scandal in the family
Oh, woe is me
Shame and scandal in the family

Subject: RE: Song title needed-Shame & Scandal, etc.
From: GUEST
Date: 24 Nov 13 - 06:44 PM

The Kingston Trio recorded it as "Ah Woe Ah Me" on their early 60s Capital Record, Back in Town.

Subject: RE: Song title needed-Shame & Scandal, etc.
From: Joe Offer
Date: 25 Nov 13 - 01:15 AM

Thanks for that comment on the Kingston Trio. I thought they had recorded it, but I couldn't find it for the life of me (and I have that album). I'm sure that's where I first heard the song.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Song title needed-Shame & Scandal, etc.
From: GUEST,Little Robyn
Date: 25 Nov 13 - 01:44 AM

If it's the Buffy song you're looking for, you can hear it here.
The words are on another thread.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Song title needed-Shame & Scandal, etc.
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 25 Nov 13 - 02:22 AM

Lance Percivals version

Subject: RE: Song title needed-Shame & Scandal, etc.
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 25 Nov 13 - 02:28 AM

The original which was performed by Sir Lancelot in the 1943 film "I walked with a Zombie" vis also on Youtube ... If you put "I Walked With A Zombie" (Excerpt) you will get it!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mna6IdRKRqA