English Mad Songs

Subject: English Mad Songs
From: David W
Date: 02 May 19 - 07:02 PM

Just watched a vid on youtube here giving an interesting history of this subcategory

I've heard of

Bedlam Boys
Maid in Bedlam
The Black's Lamentation

I was wondering if anyone could add to my list

Cheers

Subject: RE: English Mad Songs
From: keberoxu
Date: 02 May 19 - 07:13 PM

Henry Purcell had a sort of soliloquy/monologue/scene of a song,
called "Bess of Bedlam" and I don't know who the author was;
but Purcell was the composer.
Benjamin Britten, who was mad for Purcell anyhow,
wrote an elaborate piano accompaniment
for Purcell's song.

Ends with the words ...
"... in her thoughts is as great as a king."

Subject: RE: English Mad Songs
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 02 May 19 - 07:57 PM

Are you only after trad songs, or contemporary ones, too?

Mad Lady and Me, written by Jimmy MacCarthy
Hills of Shiloh (Shel Silverstein & Jim Friedman)

Subject: RE: English Mad Songs
From: Stewie
Date: 02 May 19 - 10:12 PM

Here's another contemporary song by Alan Taylor from an early album - "Roll on the day".

THE MADMAN
(Alan Taylor)

The madman sits inside his cell, a tiny little room
No one's there to stare at him, the visitors have gone
The doctor's finished making notes from the same side of the door
While the madman screamed and tore his hair
And threw his body on the floor

The days were few and he was calm and still, and felt a little peace
Mostly he was victim to his merciless disease
It pushed him ever onward, ever deeper into hell
And finally it broke him
And he was crushed beneath the wheel

The madman cannot see the light at the far end of the road
His world is now his little room, he has nowhere else to go
What is there behind the eyes, that always seem to stare
He knows no one can help him
And he's forgotten how to care

The madman can't remember what he did before he came
Now he's lost forever and the days are all the same
The final race is over and the last game has been played
And his account is duly settled
But the price was dearly paid
The price was dearly paid
The price was dearly paid

Here is a link to an audio of the song:

Click

My favourite rendition of the song is Al O'Donnell's on his second album. Unfortunately, it is not on Youtube.

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: English Mad Songs
From: Stewie
Date: 02 May 19 - 10:29 PM

Re my previous post, I copied and pasted lyrics from the Net. I should have checked more closely.

Line 3 of the first stanza should read: 'from the SAFE side of the door'.

First line of stanza 2 should read: 'The days were few WHEN he was calm ...'

--Stewie.

Subject: RE: English Mad Songs
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 03 May 19 - 03:40 AM

Mad dogs and Englishmen

Subject: RE: English Mad Songs
From: GUEST,matt milton
Date: 03 May 19 - 04:26 AM

When I sing some of those'rambling' songs I can't help but think of mental illness. While the songs 'Rambling Robin' or 'Spencer the Rover' clearly aren't literally about going mad, they do touch on patterns of behaviour brought about by shame or stress or abuse. More depression than madness.

Subject: RE: English Mad Songs
From: Andy7
Date: 03 May 19 - 05:23 AM

The practice of keeping people with mental illness or with learning disabilities together in large hospitals, often in isolated locations away from larger towns and cities, continued well into the second half of the 20th century.

Here's a song I wrote some time ago, based on my own experiences as a young man training to become a nurse for people with learning disabilities in what was then called a 'subnormality hospital'.

HOSPITAL

Just gone seven in the morning,
I’m the one who’ll get you dressed;
“Wake up, Don,” I say, and then
I move along to wake the rest.

Back I come a short time later,
“I found you something nice to wear!”
Heave you up out of your bed,
Manoeuvre you into your chair.

        Hospital, this hospital has been your life,
        Hospital, you’ve been here since you were five.

Someone beat us to the bath,
Wrap this towel round to keep you warm.
After your wash, I help with your clothes,
Then wheel you into the dining room.

Scrambled egg and tinned tomatoes,
A plastic mug of lukewarm tea;
Now it’s time to go to workshop,
Packing nails in boxes all day.

        Hospital …

Yes, you told me once how your parents left you:
“It’s okay, Donny, it’s lovely here!”
You watched them walk off down the drive
With aching heart and streaming tears.

No one should have to live this way,
The rows of beds, one shelf above,
Sloppy food, boring work,
Lack of solitude, lack of love.

        Hospital …

Ah, but the summer fetes, now those are great,
And the patients’ café for tea and toast,
The country walks, the weekend discos,
And the outings you love the most.

Hey, remember last year’s trip to Margate?
The sun shone down the whole day long;
You laughed when we splashed your feet in the sea!
Then back on the coach we sang our favourite songs.

        Hospital …

Now the years have passed, I return for a visit,
The villas have all been razed to the ground.
What is left? Beautiful parkland
Dotted about with executive homes.

Now, I wonder, Don, did they ever ask you
Whether perhaps you’d like to stay?
Or did they just move you to a bungalow
In an unknown town, to start again?

       Hospital, you moved in there when you were five,
       Hospital, that hospital had been your life!

Subject: RE: English Mad Songs
From: Jack Campin
Date: 03 May 19 - 06:37 AM

Possibly more than any fully hinged person would want to know about another one, Matthew Lewis's Crazy Jane. I only knew it from a broadside which set it to Fy gar rub her ower wi stra, which is powerfully effective. This article shows there was much more to it than that.

https://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/bbals_44.htm

Subject: RE: English Mad Songs
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 03 May 19 - 12:33 PM

There are lots of 'mad songs' in the 17th century drolleries. There are lots of 'maid in bedlam' songs from the 18th century. Bedlam like other asylums was used as a tourist attraction at the beginning of the 18th century. People paid to come and look at the inmates.

For the 18th century examples go to the Bodleian Broadside Ballad website and type in the search 'bedlam' or 'mad songs'.

Subject: RE: English Mad Songs
From: GUEST,Gerry
Date: 03 May 19 - 07:19 PM

Some more contemporary songs:

Crazy Man Michael [Richard Thompson]
Twisted [Annie Ross, maybe better known by the Joni Mitchell recording]

Several Tom Lehrer songs may qualify. I Hold Your Hand In Mine. The Irish Ballad. The Masochism Tango.

Subject: RE: English Mad Songs
From: Steve Parkes
Date: 06 May 19 - 12:05 PM

A modern monologue. A bit of silly sentimental nonsense; but still ...

THE MADMAN'S WILL
Peter Cheyney and Richard Arpthorp, 1925
Performed by Albert Whelan (1875-1962)

In a work-house ward that was cold and bare,
The doctor sat on a creaking chair,
By the side of a dying madman's bed.
"He can't last much longer," the doctor said.
But nobody cares if a pauper lives,
And nobody cares when a pauper's dead.

The old man sighed, the doctor rose.
And bent his head o'er the ricketty bed,
To catch the weak words one by one,
To smile -- as the dying madman said:

"Beneath my pillow when I am gone --
Search -- hidden there you will find it still!"
"Find what, old madman?" the doctor asked,
And the old man said, as he died, "My WILL."

How they all laughed at the splendid jest ...
A pauper madman to leave a will.
And they straightened him out for his final rest,
In the lonely graveyard over the hill.

And the doctor searched for the paper and found
The red taped parchment -- untied it with zest,
Whilst the others laughingly gathered round
To hear the cream of the madman's jest.
Then the doctor with mocking solemnity said,
"Silence, my friends," and the Will he read.

"I leave to the children the green fields,
The fresh country lanes for their play,
The stories of fairies and dragons,
The sweet smell of heather and hay.

I leave to young maidens romantic
The dreaming which all maidens do.
And the wish that some day in the future
Their happiest dreams will come true.

To youth I leave all youth's ambition,
Desire, love, impetuous hate.
And to youth with years I leave wisdom,
And the hope that it comes not too late.

I leave to the lovers the gloaming,
The time when all troubles are old,
When true love, hand in hand, goes a-roaming
To the heart of the sunset of gold.

To the mother I leave children's voices
And curly heads close on her breast,
The soft whispered prayer that rejoices
Her heart as she puts them to rest.

I leave to old people sweet memories,
And smiles that endure to the last,
With never a fear for the future,
And not a regret for the past.

I die without earthly possessions,
Without the last word of a friend,
To you all I leave good cheer and friendship
That lasts through all time to the end.

I leave to the wide world my blessing
In the hope that the long years will find
That my wishes shall grow like a flower,
And bring God's good peace to mankind".

The ward doctor laid down the parchment,
His smile had gone -- turned into pain.
The faces around laughed no longer,
But grew grave with regret that was vain.

"No wonder that he looks so happy,
Whilst we who derided are sad,
For the things he has left are the best things in life
I wonder if he WAS mad?"

Subject: RE: English Mad Songs
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 06 May 19 - 01:50 PM

Coming more up to date there is Manfred Mann's "There is a man" which was the B side of "My name is Jack". Both of which are about madness in one way or another.

Subject: RE: English Mad Songs
From: Dave Sutherland
Date: 06 May 19 - 04:09 PM

Strangely enough I received a copy of The Askew Sisters new album last night which concludes with a track called Moorfields. I first heard this on a MacColl/Seeger radio programme "A Merrie Progress to London" as Through Moorfields which concerns a young lady committed to Bedlam.