Lyr Req: The Weaver and his Shuttle

Subject: The Weaver and his Shuttle
From: Margo
Date: 05 Jan 00 - 04:39 PM

I have a wonderful CD of Jean Redpath singing Robert Burns songs. One song, My Father Was a Farmer, is said to be sung to the tune of The Weaver and his Shuttle. I am wondering what the words might be to the Weaver song. The melody is absolutely delightful, one that is so infectious, I'm sure you'd love it if you heard it. I regret being a tech. dummy, no knowledge of how to post a MIDI. Sandy, maybe you know this one?

Margo

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Weaver and his Shuttle
From: Bruce O.
Date: 05 Jan 00 - 05:13 PM

Robert Burns' statement that the Irish had a song and tune "The Weaver and his Shuttle, O' (Interleaved Scots Musical Museum), with the tune the same as the Scots "Jockey's gray breeks" has never been verified. I checked the tune code of "Jockey's gray breeks" against the tunes in the Irish tune idnex on my website, but I can find no match under any title. There's a weavers song in Horncastle's 'Music of Ireland' 1844, but the tune isn't "Jockey's gray breeks".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Weaver and his Shuttle
From: Margo
Date: 05 Jan 00 - 06:10 PM

So Bruce, what are breeks? Is the word Jockey the same as it is to us now, a rider? Do you know the tune I am talking about? I think it's wonderful. I was curious about the reference to another song, thinking there might be other lyrics to sing. Margo

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Weaver and his Shuttle
From: fulurum
Date: 05 Jan 00 - 09:03 PM

could it possibly be the colton weaver.

i am a weaver a colton weaver i am a brash and a roving blade i have silver in my pockets and i follow the roving trade?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Weaver and his Shuttle
From:
Date: 05 Jan 00 - 09:49 PM

Calton Weaver is hardly Irish. And where's the shuttle?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Weaver and his Shuttle
From: Margo
Date: 05 Jan 00 - 11:52 PM

Anonymous, I am talking about a Scottish tune. I suppose it is possible that the shuttle got lost down the years... Fulurum, the meter of the line(s) you wrote could fit with the melody. Where's Colton, anyone know?

Margo

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Weaver and his Shuttle
From: fulurum
Date: 06 Jan 00 - 12:56 AM

in the song the weaver is going thru glasgow city. at the end of the song he says , im going backto the colton weaving no more will i make those shuttles fly, for i made more at the colton weaving than ere i did in the roving trade. or something to that effect.

this song is also called nancy whisky. i have heard both the irish and scots sing it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Weaver and his Shuttle
From: Murray on Saltspring
Date: 06 Jan 00 - 02:57 AM

You should search the DT and the forum for "Calton Weaver", which takes care of one bit of this. "The Weaver & his Shuttle" may well be an Irish song, but maybe only technically--I mean it might be a song produced in Ireland among Scots. Anyhow, the words would seem to be the same as those preserved in Peter Buchan's so far unpublished manuscript, "Secret Songs of Silence" at Harvard. Like this:
[This is from my in-progress "Musa Proterva"]
The WEAVER AND HIS SHUTTLE
1. Down by yon crystal river side,
Where Phoebus beams shine yellow, O;
I spied a pretty fair maid
That was baith brisk and mellow, O.
2. I stood a while and ponder'd,
To see her sweet behaviour, O;
She spoke wi' words most kindly,
Said — Ance I lov'd a weaver, O.
3. My heart did ake, I cou'dna speak,
To see a maid sae loving, O;
Then instantly, down by my thigh,
I found my shuttle moving, O.
4. My rubber strong, my need to please,
Put all things in good order, O;
This modest maid she asked me,
Gin I cou'd work her border, O.
5. On a bank o' broom I plac'd my loom,
Where primroses were springing, O;
My rural choice made birds to rise
And set them all a singing, O.
6. I hung my slaes to work at ease,
And kept a firm treadle, O;
I'm sure I drew twelve good long bores,
Before I broke a needle, O.
7. My treadle pin I fixed in,
Put all things in good order, O;
At every shot a double rock,
Until I wrought her border, O.
8. I pleas'd this jolly fairmaid,
Whose joys were wondrous double, O;
Though sorry at our parting,
She thank'd me for my trouble, O.
9. As she went alang, she sweetly sang,
The weaver and his shuttle, O;
Do far exceed in time of need
The doctor and his bottle, O.
10. So all ye pretty fairmaids,
And maids that sit a spinning, O;
There is a curious weaver,
Sae well can work your linen, O.
11. He works sae nice without a price,
The jolly handsome weaver, O;
And then for kissing fairmaids,
They count it as a favour, O.

__________________________________________________________ Peter Buchan, Secret Songs of Silence (1832), pp. 29-30. On the metaphor, cf. "The Bob o' Dumblane", "Let me in this ae night". The tune is a variant of Jockie's Gray Breeks; Burns says (note on this air, in Cromek [Reliques, 205] and Davidson Cook, 8): "Though this has certainly every evidence of being a Scottish air, yet there is a well-known tune and song in the North of Ireland, call'd 'The weaver and his shuttle, O,' which though sung much quicker, is, every note, the very tune." Buchan's song would seem to be the one mentioned; it will be noticed that there are some Hibernian touches to it. Burns directed his "My father was a farmer" to be sung to this air, whose Scottish version is the tune for Burns' "Again rejoicing Nature sees" (see in Dick, Songs, 68, # 67, and Kinsley, 313, #138), and appears in SMM I (1787), 28 (#27), to "Now smiling Spring again appears" (damned as "execrable" by the Bard), and Mayne's "Jenny's heart was frank and free", which is much better. The original words of "Johnny's gray breeks" are given by Herd (ed. Hecht, 1904), p. 184, and from the MS. by Dick, p. 375), a fragment of 8 lines beginning "I'll hae Johnny's gray breeks", and by Stenhouse (Illus., 27), 4 stanzas, beginning "When I was in my se'enteenth year", bearing no relation to Herd; though the prudent editor adds that he has "seen two additional stanzas to the song, but they appear to be the production of a different and very inferior pen; they are likewise coarse, and inadmissible on the score of delicacy." As Jocky's Gray Breeches the tune is in Oswald's Coll. of Curious Scots Tunes (1742), II.6, in 3/4 time, followed by a common-time version labelled "Brisk". Glen (ESM, 67) can't decide "whether there were two sets current at this time, or whether Oswald constructed the one tune from the other.". That's all I have at the moment.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Weaver and his Shuttle
From: Bruce O.
Date: 06 Jan 00 - 05:03 AM

It's obvious that I forgot all about Peter Buchan's MS collection. I recently got Oswald's untitled variations on "The Lowlands of Holland" for the book of 1742 that Murray mentioned above. It's the tune that S. P. Bayard thought was the likely original of "Rosin the Beau". Incidently, I heard that from Scotland that Oswald's 'Caledonian Pocket Companion' is being reprinted in the near future, but I don't know by whom or when.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Weaver and his Shuttle
From: Margo
Date: 06 Jan 00 - 09:18 AM

Gee, thanks Murray! The rhyme definately fits the melody. (Now I know what happened to the shuttle!) The end of the above notes mentions 3/4 time. This song is definately not in 3/4. Anyone know what Breeks are? Margo

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Weaver and his Shuttle
From: fulurum
Date: 06 Jan 00 - 09:34 AM

according to my dictioary;

middle english pl. of brek from old english brec breeches or of course pants.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Weaver and his Shuttle
From: Barbara
Date: 06 Jan 00 - 01:56 PM

Like fulurum says, it's breeches, Margo. In "Donald whar's yer troosers" there's the line "Ye canna get the breeks off a Hielan' man, for I don't wear no troosers".
Blessings,
Barbara

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Weaver and his Shuttle
From: Margo
Date: 06 Jan 00 - 03:20 PM

Hi Barbara! Glad to hear from you. That's pretty funny. I assume that means he's in a kilt. Either that or indoors....

Margo

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Weaver and his Shuttle
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 06 Jan 00 - 05:01 PM

There is another Weaver and his Shuttle at the Bodleian   here  but it's not as entertaining; a mother is trying to put her daughter off marrying a weaver.  No details of printer, date or tune are given.

Malcolm

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Weaver and his Shuttle
From: Margo
Date: 06 Jan 00 - 06:14 PM

Thanks Malcolm. It is entertaining in it's own way...Margo