Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!

Subject: Song Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Des Gander
Date: 07 Mar 24 - 02:59 PM

This is driving me nuts - I'm trying to recall a traditional song where basically the fella can't sleep through thinking of his girl. He gets up in the night and talks to her at her window and tries to persuade her to let him in come in. At first she refuses on the grounds that her parents will hear but in the end she succumbs to his wishes; he has his wicked way with her then they go off to church the next day.

Can someone work out what the song is please? My mind keeps coming up with Do Me Ama and Go From My Window and I know its not those!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Des Gander
Date: 07 Mar 24 - 03:02 PM

I should add that I don't need the lyrics here - I can look them up - once I know what the song's called!
Des

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Helen
Date: 07 Mar 24 - 03:03 PM

Is it this one?

When a man's is love-The Chieftains

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Des Gander
Date: 07 Mar 24 - 03:20 PM

Sadly no, though the lyrics suggests it should be. My memory (ha!) is of more of an an English traditional than Irish. If only I could pin it down .....

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: The Sandman
Date: 07 Mar 24 - 03:21 PM

1.The Carter Family - Who's That Knockin' On My Window (1938)
2 IM A ROVER

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Helen
Date: 07 Mar 24 - 03:46 PM

Close, but no cigar eh? LOL

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 07 Mar 24 - 08:09 PM

Hi, Des Gander - do you remember any snippets of the lyrics? That would help us a lot. I wonder if it might be The Grey Cock or a related song.

As Dick Greenhaus used to say, titles are not the best tool for finding songs. A couple of distinct phrases are the best tool.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: r.padgett
Date: 08 Mar 24 - 02:03 AM

"Seventeen come Sunday£ ~ may be close

and "I'm a Rover"

Ray

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Helen
Date: 08 Mar 24 - 02:57 AM

Links for the two songs suggested by The Sandman:

The Carter Family - Who's That Knockin' On My Window

I'm a Rover

and r padgett's suggestion:

Seventeen come Sunday

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Mar 24 - 03:17 AM

Cold Blow and a Rainy Night?

Let Me in This Ae Nicht?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Helen
Date: 08 Mar 24 - 03:27 AM

I agree with Joe. If you could give us some more information it would help with the search.

These are my usual questions - although I understand with an earworm it is difficult to bring more solid information to the surface of your brain:

Do you remember any more of the lyrics? Please post what you remember to help with internet searches.

When did you hear it or see it in written music collections? If it was in written music collections, what sort of collections are you likely to have seen it in?

Was it recorded? Did you hear it on the radio, see it on TV, hear it on vinyl, CD, digital, YouTube, etc?

Did you hear it live?

Singer(s) male, female, a group, solo?
Musicians? what instruments were used?

Lively, haunting, slow, fast, dance tune, etc, etc?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 08 Mar 24 - 04:03 AM

Could it be this.

ONE NIGHT AS I LAY.

One night as I lay on my bed
I thought about a fair young maid.
I was so distressed,
I could get no rest ,
Love did torment me so.
So along to my truelove's I did go.

When I came to my truelove's window
I boldly called her by name,
Saying "It's all for your sake
I'm come here so late,
All through the frost and snow.
So it's open your window my love do."

"My mum and my dad, they're both awake.
They're sure for to here us speak.
There'd be no excuse
Then, but sore abuse
And many a bitter blow.
So be gone from my window my love do."

"Your mum and your dad they're both asleep.
They're sure not to hear us speak.
They both sleep so sound
On their bed of down
And draw their breath so low.
So it's open your window my love do."

My love arose and opened up the door.
Like an angel she stood on the floor.
Her eyes they did shine bright
Like the stars at night,
No diamonds could shine so.
And it's in with my truelove I did go.

Recorded from June Tabor.


Robin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: GUEST,migginz
Date: 08 Mar 24 - 06:00 AM

Someone else has mentioned Cold HailyRainy Night, the lyrics are in Mudcat but I don't seem to be able to create a link
However this is one of my favorite versions
Cold, Haily, Windy Night

I'll be singing it all day now

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: GUEST
Date: 08 Mar 24 - 07:45 AM

There are lots of variations on the ‘night visit’ theme, some comic, some not. If. “yours ” ends in a wedding/ happily (?) that may narrow it down a little. Or is the church visit accompanied with a shotgun….?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Des Gander
Date: 08 Mar 24 - 08:17 AM

Thanks everyone, especially blackbelt caterpillar wrestler! 'One Night As I Lay On my Pillow'it is! That's the one, though I must have heard someone other than June Tabor, as I swear they went off to marry the next day, butnNow I've something to work on. Thanks again!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 08 Mar 24 - 08:35 AM

Another 247 (or so) songs in many languages match the description. It is a topic about as old as folk lyrics can get, and productive until the 1950s. "Go off to church the next day" is of course a metaphor.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 08 Mar 24 - 10:28 AM

'Forty Miles' is a popular song related to the one you've found. The endings can vary greatly. That's oral tradition for you.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: meself
Date: 08 Mar 24 - 11:18 AM

'"Go off to church the next day" is of course a metaphor.' For what? Seriously. Assuming that they're 'off to church' to get married, it seems more of a 'happy ending' that might make a song about a 'night visit' somewhat socially acceptable.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Helen
Date: 08 Mar 24 - 12:35 PM

Clip from the movie Under the Greenwood Tree (2005):

One Night As I Lay On My Bed

Other versions in a YouTube search are Steeleye Span, Jez Lowe, Steve Tilston, Ewan MacColl, etc

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Richard Mellish
Date: 09 Mar 24 - 04:44 PM

In my head I can hear Bert Lloyd singing the one posted by Robin. I think without any church-in-the-morning verse.
Anyone offer a Roud number?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Helen
Date: 09 Mar 24 - 05:21 PM

One Night As I Lay On my Bed

[ Roud 672 ; Master title: One Night As I Lay on My Bed ; Ballad Index VWL079 ; VWML HAM/5/32/1 ; Wiltshire 1018 ; DT LAYBED ; Mudcat 19428 ; trad.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: GUEST,Craig Edwards
Date: 10 Mar 24 - 11:57 PM

Steve, I'm a friend of Gibb Schreffler's, former director of Mystic Seaport Sea Music Festival and staff musician at Mystic Seaport, and am writing a book on the history of chanteys. I'd very much like to converse with you on this subject. My email address is [e-mail]. Would you please write me there?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: GUEST,Little Robyn
Date: 14 Mar 24 - 09:07 PM

Blow the candles out. But they don't go to church.
Maybe the wedding song - Come write me down ye powers above....
Robyn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Des Gander
Date: 15 Mar 24 - 06:24 PM

Yep, I now think I must have had two earworms going at the same time. Again, thanks everyone.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Helen
Date: 16 Mar 24 - 04:20 AM

Thanks Des Gander, but also could you please tell us which two of the songs mentioned here solve your mystery search. We have mentioned a few different songs.

You said yes to One Night As I Lay on My Bed, but what is the second worm in your ear? Is it the wedding song - Come write me down ye powers above, suggested by Guest, Little Robin?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Des Gander
Date: 16 Mar 24 - 05:55 AM

No Helen I can't! I'm just glad I was guided to the main one bugging me (One Night as I Lay on my Bed). I've looked at the other songs suggested but none ring bells with me.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Helen
Date: 16 Mar 24 - 01:42 PM

Ah earworms!! So difficult to pin down!

Do you remember any of the lyrics of the other one, or maybe there is a way that you could let us know the melody, if that is what you can hear in your head.

I usually make some progress on identifying the elusive earworms in that vague state between sleeping and waking in the early morning when my brain works in a slightly different way.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 17 Mar 24 - 01:57 PM

> that vague state between sleeping and waking in the
> early morning

You're not alone, Helen: Sir Pterry once claimed he got some of his best ideas at that time of day from "the rather better author who timeshares my brain while I'm asleep" (quote approximate). In less exalted news, I've recently lost a meta-satire, complete with a rather bouncy tune, from not getting up and writing it down in the middle of the night .... all I've got now is the fragment "Satire's gone on holiday".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Helen
Date: 17 Mar 24 - 02:15 PM

Ah, to be mentioned in the same sentence as Sir Pterry! What an honour!

Maybe your inspired satire will reappear as an earworm.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Helen
Date: 18 Mar 24 - 01:52 AM

BTW, we own a LOT of Terry Pratchett books - maybe not every book he has written, but we must be fairly close to the total. When I was a librarian I ordered every title as it came out for the library as well, so I did my bit for spreading the Sir Pterry addiction to others in the community too.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 19 Mar 24 - 04:09 AM

Our family Sir Pterry addiction is now into its second generation: Darling Daughter (alias Baggage) has started buying them all in hard copy, despite the Kindle habit documented in Turn The Page Over.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Helen
Date: 19 Mar 24 - 04:25 AM

Yes, I've passed the addiction on to family and friends as well. In fact I met a school friend by chance during my librarian days and I told her about Sir Pterry. When I finally met her late-teen daughter some years later the first thing my school friend said to her was, this is Helen, she introduced us to Terry Pratchett's books and her daughter's face just lit up like a Christmas tree. What a moment!

As for books versus digital copies, back in the '80's when I was studying for my post-grad librarian qualification I wrote an essay on whether hard copy books would become redundant. My opinion was that digital reading could never match the feeling of holding a hard copy book in a pleasant and comfortable environment and getting lost in the story.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: MaJoC the Filk
Date: 19 Mar 24 - 05:29 AM

Hard copy vs soft copy: Verily. There's also the practical points that hard copy doesn't need a power supply, and tends to not go *sproing* just as you're about to sing. Were hard copy the 20th-century's contribution to publishing, it'd be promoted as a wonder of the age, and Kindles would be called Caxtons.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 19 Mar 24 - 06:02 AM

I have published 2 eBooks but I don't read them myself!

They are both on such niche markets that I don't think it is worth making hard copy versions. So, perhaps there are others digital products out there that remain just digital. Which implies that some information will never see the light of day except in the digital world.

Robin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Helen
Date: 19 Mar 24 - 06:42 AM

We seem to have taken a detour from the topic of this thread. I guess I should take the blame for that after mentioning that strange land between sleeping and waking??

But, in relation to our little thread detour: Robin, I find it interesting how and why you arrived at the decision to publish digital products instead of hard copy books especially as you don't read digital books yourself.

I did actually start reading an online book during my tea breaks and lunch breaks in my last job. I decided to challenge myself to re-read Beowulf in the original Old English language again, about 45 years after studying it at Uni. I had forgotten most of the language so it was slow going but it was fun.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 19 Mar 24 - 07:20 AM

I've recently lost a meta-satire, complete with a rather bouncy tune, from not getting up and writing it down in the middle of the night .

A musical acquaintance of mine decided to keep a pen and paper next to the bed to overcome the problem described above. After sudden inspiration in the wee small hours, he woke up in the morning to find his pad filled with a completely unintelligible scrawl, as if a drunken spider had dipped in an ink pot and crawled all over the page.

DC

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Black belt caterpillar wrestler
Date: 19 Mar 24 - 11:53 AM

The decision to go eBook was based on not having much up-front costs on a project that I had no idea whether I would sell any. It then leaves it up to me how much effort I spend on advertising that it exists.

I won't put links here, just search my name on Amazon and you will find them, and also my father's (he had the same name).

I keep my phone by the bed and it has an mp3 recorder app. I have a few early morning compositions on it.

Robin Madge

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Please solve my earworm!
From: Helen
Date: 19 Mar 24 - 03:04 PM

Very funny, Doug. Do you have many drunken spiders living near open ink pots at your place? LOL

Thanks Robin, that seems like good economic reasoning.