Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl / Whirlie Wha

Subject: Whirly Whorl
From: Wolfgang
Date: 16 Dec 99 - 11:57 AM

I'd love to have lyrics to this song.

Wolfgang

Subject: Lyr Add: WHIRLY WHORL (from Liza Carthy)
From: Ed Pellow
Date: 16 Dec 99 - 01:51 PM

If your after Liza Carthy's version on the Kings of Calicutt album, it goes something like this:

Well, the very first wedding I was bridemaid at
Was on a Saturday
There was plenty of lively fun
And likewise sportin' and play
The bells was rung and our vows we sung
And to the Church went up
Then right up to bed with the silly old groom
To play at the whirly whorl

Well, first she modestly turned her back
And then she turned her front
And long she wished for kindliness
But kindness, she got none
'Til at last she dragged him all in her arms
And she pulled him against the wall
Saying "are you game, you silly old bugger?
You've lost your whiry whorl!"

"Well, woe be to my mother," she cried
"She's done to me much ill
She's married me to a silly old bugger
It's all against my will
I'll dress myself in my Sunday best
And my fairest bonnet and all
And find a young man all of my own
To play at the whirly whorl"

Well, the very first wedding I was bridemaid at
Was on a Saturday
There was plenty of lively fun
And likewise sportin' and play
The bells was rung and our vows we sung
And to the Church went up
Then right up to bed with the silly old groom
To play at the whirly whorl
^^

Hope this helps,

Ed

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: Bruce O.
Date: 16 Dec 99 - 02:05 PM

That's Anglicised from the Scottish text in in the Cunningham MS, and printed in Legman's edition of "The Merry Muses of Caledonia'. Murray on Saltspring can probably tell you much more about it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: Bruce O.
Date: 16 Dec 99 - 02:18 PM

I have never heard a recorded version, so don't know what tune was used there. The original tune, published in 1788, is given as an ABC on the internet. My old contents listing shows that there are to be two versions in Murray on Saltspring's forthcoming book of Scots bawdy songs, 'Musa Proterva', but I'm not clear as to whether he is going to include all tunes.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: Bruce O.
Date: 16 Dec 99 - 02:21 PM

I forgot to put in the correct title of the Scots version, "Whirlie-Wha".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: Ed Pellow
Date: 16 Dec 99 - 03:14 PM

Bruce O,

If you have a good knowledge of this song, then I'm sure that there's many who'd be interested to hear your expertise. How about posting the vesions that you know?

Ed

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: Emmie
Date: 16 Dec 99 - 04:10 PM

Annie Briggs does this song too, can't remember what album it is on though.

Emmie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: Bruce O.
Date: 16 Dec 99 - 04:50 PM

I notifed Murray on Saltspring of this thread by e-mail, and I expect he can add a lot more about it than I can.

Subject: Lyr Add: WHIRLIE-WHA / THE WHIRLEY WHA
From: Murray on Saltspring
Date: 17 Dec 99 - 05:09 PM

This is the present state of the entry in "Musa Proterva". I intend to print the 1788 tune, and maybe in an appendix another.

(A) WHIRLIE-WHA

1.
The last braw wedding that I was at
Was on a Hallow day
An' there was meikle meikle fun
An' there was meikle play.
The bells they rang the auld wives sang
An' to the kirk went they a'
The bride's to bed wi' the silly bridegroom
To play wi' his whilrie-wha.--

2.
First she turn't her back to him
An' syne she turn't her wame
Lang she leuk't for kin'ness
But kin'ness she gat nane.--
At length she's ta'en him in her arms
Flung him again' the wa'
Says lie ye there ye fumblin devil
Ye've lost yir whirlie-wha.--

3.
O wae light on my kith and kin
They've done me meikle ill,
They've married me to an auld man
Fou sair again my will
But I'll dress mysel in my ribbons sae green
Nae lassie will be sae braw
An I'll hire a bonny young lad o' my ain
To play wi' his whirlie-wha.--

-----

From the early 19th-century Cunningham MS., pp. 139-40; first printed in Legman's Horn Book (1964), 138-9; here from Merry Muses of Caledonia (1965), 125-6. Cf. B, from Buchan, 1832. No tune is indicated, and no air with this title has been found, but Legman finds it in the same rhythm, and possibly to the same tune, as "The Blythsome Bridal", q.v. This is, I think, not feasible. I would expect the present song to go to a regular 6/8 jig, whereas "The Blythsome Bridal" is a 9/8 (slip) jig. (Whence I have written a tune to fit.--tho the tune of "The Dundee Weaver" would fit nicely.) [P.S.: WBO has identified the required tune, dated to 1788.] In 3.2, Cunningham changed "harm" to "ill" (for the rhyme). "Whirlie-wha" is a sort of a nonce word, connoting "gewgaw, fantastic ornament, thingamajig". Legman's connection with "whilliewha", = "cheat" (followed by Randall) is evidently erroneous.
An expurgation of st. 1 in Cunningham's ed. of Works (pub. Jack, c. 1850, II.93), with differs: 1.1 bridal 1.2 Hallowmass 1.3 routh o' drink and fun 1.4 And mickle mirth and play. 1.5 and the carlins 1.6 And the dames danced in the ha'; 1.7 bride went 1.8 In the midst o' her kimmers a'.

(B) "THE WHIRLEY WHA"

1.
There was a bridal in our town
Upon a holy day,
And there was muckle, muckle mirth,
And there was muckle play.
The bells were rung, the auld wives sung,
We to the kirk gied a',
When the bride came hame wi' her silly bridegroom,
To play wi' his whirleywha.

2.
First she turn'd her back to him,
And then she turn'd her wame,
And lang she look'd for kindness,
But kindness there was nane.
She took him in her arms twa'
And kiest him 'gainst the wa',
Says--Ly ye there, ye silly auld diel,
Ye've lost your whirleywha.

3.
What's this my father's dane to me?
He's dane me muckle ill,
He's wedded me to a silly auld man,
Sair, sair against my will.
Had I been married to ony young man,
Though never a sark ava',
He's lovingly squeese me in his arms,
And play'd wi'th's [sic] whirleywha.

4.
Now a' the lasses o' our town,
They bear me muckle envy,
But gin their case was bad as mine
Their cheeks wou'd never dry.
But I'll dress mysell in ribbons fine,
Nae body was e'er sae braw,
And hire some bonny young lad o' my ain,
To play wi' his whirleywha. ^^

_________
Buchan, Secret Songs of Silence (1832), [MS. at Harvard], pp. 80-81. PB gives a footnote: "This was written by Mary Hay, daughter of one of the Earls of Errol, after she was married to General Scott, from whom she eloped for want of --." In st. 3.2, Buchan originally by mistake wrote "wrang" (cf. the similar error of Cunningham).

Subject: Tune Add: THE WHIRLIE WHA
From: Bruce O.
Date: 17 Dec 99 - 05:51 PM

Note, Murray's old notes after the 1st version are not yet updated to indicate we now have a tune for it. Here it is from Richard Robinson's website.

X:1
T:THE WHIRLIE WHA
S:Aird's 'Airs', III (1788) from Richard Robinson
M:6/8
R:Jig
K:D
A|\
A2d d>cd| e F>GF E A2d d>cd| e F>GF E A|\
d2a a"tr"fd| Bgf g>ec| d>ed d f>ed d>ef| eGF E<(dc)| d3 d2:|

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: Wolfgang
Date: 19 Dec 99 - 05:42 PM

Thanks a lot, all of you. I got all I had wanted and more than expected.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: Susan of DT
Date: 20 Dec 99 - 10:06 AM

See also Maids When You're Young Never Wed An Old Man

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: GUEST,eliza c
Date: 04 Mar 01 - 03:32 AM

hiya noticed a couple of wee mis-hearings in the lyric,try these:

"the bells was rung and us girls we sung and to the church we went all"

also:

"til at last she grabbed him all in her arms and she flung him against the wall saying 'are you there you silly old bugger you've lost yer whirly whorl'"

xxx

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: GUEST,Bruce O.
Date: 04 Mar 01 - 04:46 PM

Wow, thanks for bringing this thread back up. I'd completely forgotten about this thread when I posted to the twirly-whirlies one. I guess it's time I got checked for Altzheimer's. I really think my father had it near his end, although it was never diagnosed as such.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: Garry Gillard
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 06:43 AM

Thanks everyone, especially Eliza!

Corrected version here.

Garry

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Mar 01 - 12:02 PM

That's the only the commercial version.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Apr 07 - 02:21 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: mandotim
Date: 27 Apr 07 - 01:50 AM

Nice version of this on Isambarde's first album 'Brunel's Kingdom'.
Tim

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 29 Apr 07 - 12:17 PM

Garry Gillard's link doesn't work for me any more. Does anyone have the correct URL?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl
From: GUEST,Fergus Ray Murray
Date: 27 Jul 09 - 07:22 AM

I don't know what happened to Garry's own page, but the lyrics at this Hamburg University page seem to be taken from here - though shouldn't it be 'Then the bride's up to bed with the silly old groom', not 'right up'?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Whirly Whorl / Whirlie Wha
From: GUEST
Date: 04 Jan 19 - 03:08 PM

You can hear a great version of this song on the cd The 13th bedroom by Sue Brown and Lorraine Ewing, I bought it at a folk festival last year and had not heard the song before.