Tune Req: Original tune of 'The Bergen'

Subject: Tune Req: Original tune of 'The Bergen'
From: GUEST,Jake
Date: 18 Feb 20 - 08:27 PM

Just as the title says I'm looking for the original melody to "The Bergen" written by Jez Lowe. I'm fairly certain it wasnt an original tune. Recently I had heard something, probably a hymnal piece, that sounded like it used the same tune and now I'm searching for it.

Subject: ADD: The Bergen (Jez Lowe)
From: cnd
Date: 18 Feb 20 - 08:53 PM

Info on the song:

From the Folkways liner notes for And So Will We Yet

THE BERGEN
(Jez Lowe)
©1986, Fellsongs
Side 2, Band 4.
Jake Walton and Jez Lowe recorded this on their Fellside album, Two a Rue, from which I quote:
"The Bergen was a ship from Finland that was wrecked on the Northeast coast of England a hundred years ago. The song was written when Jez came across the graves of its unnamed crew in his local
churchyard." [GB]
Ann: lead vocal and harp; Ed: 6-string guitar; Gordon: 'cellamba.

Sleep, why do you wake me with these dreams you bring?
    Dreams came to me where I lay.
Deep the melody the wild waves sing
    My love is far, far away.

CHORUS
Oh, pity the hearts the wild waves part;
My love sails the bonny barque, the Bergen.

(Similarly:)

They heap their nets upon the decks by the light;
Then creep out, gentle at the dead of night.

They reap their harvest from the cold night sea;
It leaps with herring in the hold for me.

Steep waves ride above his cold,fair head;
Keep him safe to lie here in my bed.

It weeps with rain tonight where my love lies;
Oh, sweep the foreign sand from out of his eyes


You can listen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LyODMb95Pu0

More from an earlier Mudcat thread: https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=1232

To be honest with you, the tune doesn't sound like a hymn to me, or at the very least a traditional hymn, but that doesn't mean there couldn't be one.

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Original tune of 'The Bergen'
From: Joe Offer
Date: 18 Feb 20 - 10:58 PM

I learned the song from the Bok-Muir-Trickett, but the Jes Lowe recording seems to have the same tune:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XYZwIf17Dc

But as for where Lowe got the tune, I don't know. Here are the Digital Tradition lyrics, posted originally by Mary LaMarca with her usual precision. I can't see anything that needs correction, but I marked a couple spots where the words could be heard differently.

---

THE BERGEN
(Jez Lowe)

Sleep, why'd you wake me with these dreams you bring
    Dreams came to me where I lay,
And deep the melody the wild waves sing,
    And my love is far, far away.

CHORUS
Oh, pity the hearts the wild waves part,
My love sails the bonny barque, The Bergen.

They heap their nets upon the decks by light
Dreams came to me, etc
And creep out gently (Then creep out gentle?) at the dead of night
And my love is far, etc.

They reap the harvest of the cold, night sea...
It leaps with herring 'neath his decks for me...

Steep waves rise above his cold, dark (fair?) head,
Oh, keep him safe to lie here in my bed.

It weeps with rain tonight where my love lies
It sweeps the foreign sands (the foreign sand?) from out his eyes.


note: This song was written by Jez Lowe; he said that he saw a
graveyard on the coast of Scotland or Northern England
where the local people had buried the bodies of a Norwegian
fishing boat that had gone down offshore in a storm. They
didn't know the crewmen's names, so they put the name of the
ship, The Bergen, on the grave markers. Jez Lowe wrote the
song from the point of view of a wife or sweetheart left
at home wondering what happened to her loved one. I'm
typing the lyrics from memory, so they may be a bit
folk-processed...MLaM
@sailor @wreck
filename[ BERGEN
MLaM
OCT98

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Original tune of 'The Bergen'
From: r.padgett
Date: 19 Feb 20 - 08:10 AM

Following my facebook posting I can confirm that Jez Lowe asserts that the tune to "The Bergen" is his!

Ray

Subject: RE: Tune Req: Original tune of 'The Bergen'
From: Joe G
Date: 19 Feb 20 - 08:33 AM

Meanwhile if anyone needs to fill any gaps from the Fellside years of Jez's recording career this is an absolute steal

Jez Lowe - The Fellside Years 5 CD set