Lyr Add: Here's a Health unto Her Majesty

Subject: Health unto her majesty
From:
Date: 30 Jun 97 - 06:15 PM

Looking for gif to a tune called something like this:

queens jig or health to the queen or health unto her majesty

it goes something like this.. here's a health unto her majesty with a fa la la la

Subject: Lyr Add: HEALTH UNTO HER MAJESTY
From: Musique174
Date: 03 Oct 05 - 06:41 PM

We sing this song all the time at the ren-faire. :)

Lyr Add:

Health Unto Her Majesty
Here's a health unto her Majesty
With a fa la la la la la la
Confusion to her enemies
With a fa la la la la la la
And he who would not drink her health
We wish him neither wit nor wealth
Nor yet a rope to hang himself

Chorus:
With a fa la la la la la la la la laaaaaaa
(Hold last note while another downs a drink)
With a fa la la la la la la

May she live in mirth and jollity
With a fa la la la la la la
And pass time with good company
With a fa la la la la la la
And he who would not join in glee
Must Puritan or Papist be
And him we curse with misery

Chorus

Let the Queen's good health go round and round
With a fa la la la la la la
And let her praises loud resound
With a fa la la la la la la
And he who would not have it so
May he be cursed with a gouty toe
And days of wrath and nights of woe

Chorus

Our goodly Queen is fair of face
With a fa la la la la la la
Endowed with every female grace
With a fa la la la la la la
And every woman in this shire
Who doth not to the like aspire
May her breast be dun and her hair be wire

Chorus

So now we've raised our tankards high
With a fa la la la la la la
We've raised them full and lowered them dry
With a fa la la la la la la
Elizabeth, long may she reign
(God save the Queen)
May all here join in this refrain
And fill our tankards up again

Chorus


I also have an MP3 of the song if you need it. Hope this helps.
~Musique

Subject: RE: Health unto her majesty
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 03 Oct 05 - 07:30 PM

Mea culpa!

At my instigation, My band Cyderman's Fancy collectively wrote all but the first of the above verses.

the pastime with good company verse was penned by Jon Berger, the gouty toe verse was written by Steve Aultman, and (blish) the "breast be dun/hair be wire" verse was cobbled together by me, Claire Beorn Norman. All of us had a hand in that final verse, as I recall.

This was many years ago (maybe early '80s?). We inaugurated the held note/downed pint thing too--unless we reinvented it, which is of course possible.

It is wonderful to know that the song and treatment are still remembered.

I got the words to the first verse (the only verse printed in the book I got the song from) in a tattered old Penguin paperback book that I acquired, used and coverless, in Canada and whose name, sadly, I do not recall. I may have it at home -- I'll check. The song was called "A Health Unto His Majesty" and was maybe 18th century. Anyway, the tune we used was from there as well.

Cheers!
Claire

Subject: RE: Health unto her majesty
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 03 Oct 05 - 08:07 PM

The original song (there is only one verse, so far as I know) has been posted here before so far as I recall (the search engine will tell you). It appears in most British "national song" collections of the later 19th and early 20th centuries, but was written in the latter half of the 17th; by Jeremiah Savile, according to William Chappell. I don't think it has anything at all to do with The Queen's Jigg.

I must say, it's a nice change to have someone other than Jim MacLean confessing to authorship of the "extra bits" of a song. Well said, Claire.

Subject: RE: Health unto her majesty
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 04 Oct 05 - 11:22 AM

Thank you, Malcolm. Confession is good for the soul. It's just so odd to see something that was very definitely crafted as a Renaissance Faire in-joke crop up years later on a public forum! Most peculiar.

I went home last night and checked my bookshelf. Yes, I do still have the book, now without title page and almost completely unidentifiable. However it has a preface still in place with the editor's name at the end, together with the year of publication (1951). I can probably identify it from those.

Also, there is actually more than one verse -- two or three, much the same in character as the ones we wrote but not quite so silly. Tomorrow, when with luck I shall remember to bring the book with me to work, I promise to post the whole original lyric, together with whatever I can track down about the book.

Claire

Subject: RE: Health unto her majesty
From: MMario
Date: 04 Oct 05 - 11:31 AM

Clair - if there is any way you could scan the music?

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Health unto her majesty
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 04 Oct 05 - 11:53 AM

I expect I could. Will let you know tomorrow when I have the book in hand.

Subject: RE: Health unto her majesty
From: gnomad
Date: 04 Oct 05 - 04:27 PM

ClaireB:

I suspect that what you have is the Penguin Songbook, of which I too have a coverless copy. Landscape format, icludes the dots, rather poor quality paper and a worse "binding" (now departed)?

Like you I am presently away from my copy, so cannot put up the missing verses tonight, but will hope to do so in a few days if you don't get there first.

Subject: RE: Health unto her majesty
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 04 Oct 05 - 04:54 PM

Yup, that's the one -- The Penguin Song Book, edited by Leslie Woodgate. I called my husband for the editor's name this morning and tracked it down as expected.

Terrible paper, now tan and brittle with age! Worse binding! But a fun collection of "old chestnut" songs.

Claire

Subject: Lyr Add: HERE'S A HEALTH UNTO HIS MAJESTY
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 04 Oct 05 - 05:14 PM

Very slight variation to the words quoted above, and a slightly more precise (though whether accurate!) date:

From The Scottish Students Song Book (Dec 1887):

HERE'S A HEALTH UNTO HIS MAJESTY
Old English Toast
Air by J.Savile (1670)
Arr. by W Augustus Barratt

Here's a health unto His Majesty,
With a fa la la la la la la;
Confusion to his enemies,
With a fa la la la la la la;
And he that will not drink his health,
I wish him neither wit nor wealth,
Nor yet a rope to hang himself,
With a fa la la la la la la la la la,
With a fa la la la la la la.


If no-one else gets a scan to MMario I'll do so once I get my scanner lead back off my son!

Nigel

Subject: RE: Health unto her majesty
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 04 Oct 05 - 08:34 PM

I've always understood it as dating from the (English) Civil War rather than after the Restoratiion, which that 1670 date would suggest. But since it's given there as the date for the tune, maybe the toast was current earlier.

Subject: Lyr Add: HERE'S A HEALTH UNTO HIS MAJESTY
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 05 Oct 05 - 10:18 AM

Once more, sans typos! Clones, feel free to delete the previous posting.

HERE'S A HEALTH UNTO HIS MAJESTY

Music: Jeremy Savile

Here's a health unto his majesty,
With a fa la la la la la la,
Confusion to his enemies,
With a fa la la la la la la.
And he who would not pledge his health
We wish him neither wit nor wealth
Nor yet a rope to hang himself.

With a fa la la la la la la la la la
With a fa la la la la la la.

Here's a health unto his majesty,
With a free and loving loyalty,
Now who would not his goblet drain
We wish him neither joy nor gain
To fill an empty purse again.

The traitor who will not comply,
A traitor's death then let him die,
And he that will not pledge the King,
We wish for him no better thing
Then that he lack what now we sing:

(repeat first verse)

As promised, these are the original lyrics from the Penguin Song Book, ed. Leslie Woodgate, pub. 1951. No attribution of the lyrics is included in the book.

Claire

yes'm -joeclone

Subject: RE: Health unto her majesty
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 05 Oct 05 - 11:08 AM

Mmario -- scan dispatched.

Claire

Subject: RE: Health unto her majesty
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 05 Oct 05 - 11:32 AM

It isn't the same song, but if you go to this site

http://moas.atlantia.sca.org/topics/danc.htm

You should be able to hear and download "A Health to Betty," a Playford tune which I think was a not-too-reverent well-wish for Elizabeth I.

Subject: RE: Health unto her majesty
From: MMario
Date: 05 Oct 05 - 11:38 AM

scan recieved - abc soon.

Subject: Tune Add: HERE'S A HEALTH UNTO HIS MAJESTY
From: MMario
Date: 05 Oct 05 - 12:10 PM

X:1
T:Here's a health unto his Majesty
C:from ~1670
I:abc2nwc
M:4/4
L:1/8
K:F
z6F G|A2A2A2A2|G3A F2F G|A2A2A2G F|G4F2(F G)|
w:Here's a health un-to his Ma-jes-ty,With a fa la la la la la la! Con_
A2A2A2A2|G3A F2F G|A2A2A2G F|G4F2A2|A3B c2A2|
w:-fu-sion to his en-e-mies,With a fa la la la la la la! And he that will not
d2d2c2A2|A3B c2A2|G2F2E2(F G)|A2A2A2A2|G2A2C2F G|
w:pledge his health,we wish him nei-ther wit nor wealth, Nor_ yet a rope to hang him-self, with a
A2A2A2G F|G F G A B2F G|A2A2A2G F|G2F4z2
w:fa la la la la la la la la lawith a fa la la la la la la

Subject: RE: Health unto her majesty
From: MMario
Date: 05 Oct 05 - 12:14 PM

Not a bad thread considering it sat domant for 8 years!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Here's a Health unto Her Majesty
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 06:23 PM

Dormant now for another 7 years.
I returned to this for Queen Elizabeth's Jubilee.
The tune as noted by MMario above is similar to that in the Scottish Student Songbook, as noted above. But with slight variations to words & music (different key, different positioning of syncopation,) I won't claim the kudos for typing this up. I just copy/pasted Mmario's into Folkinfo and got it automatically transposed, & then I went through adjusting!

X:1
T:Here's a health unto his Majesty
C:from ~1670
M:C
L:1/8
K:Amaj
A B|c2c2c2c2|B2c2A2A B|c2c2c2B A|B4A2(A B)| c2c2c2c2|B2c2 A2A B|c2c2c2B A|B4A2c2|c3d e2c2| f2f2e2c2|c3d e2c2|B3AG2(A B)|c2c2c2c2|B2c2!fermata!E2A B| c2c2c2B A|B A B c d2A B|c2c2c2B A|B4!fermata!A2||
w:Here's a health un-to his Ma-jes-ty, With a fa la la la la la la! Con-*fu-sion to his en-e-mies, With a fa la la la la la la! And he that will not drink his health, I wish him nei-ther wit nor wealth, Nor_ yet a rope to hang him-self, with a fa la la la la la la la la la with a fa la la la la la la

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Here's a Health unto Her Majesty
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 06:37 PM

At the same time, another little songbook: The Oxford Songbook, collected and arranged by Percy C Buck, (pub)Oxford University Press 1919, has the song with two verses,the second of which does not appear above, so:

Here's a health unto His Majesty,
With a fal lal la la la la la!
Confusion to his enemies,
With a fal lal la la la la la!
And he that will not drink his health,
I wish him neither wit nor wealth,
Nor yet a rope to hang himself,
With a fal lal la ...

All Cavaliers will please combine,
With a fal lal la la la la la!
To drink this loyal toast of mine,
With a fal lal la la la la la!
If anyone should answer 'No,'
I only wish that he may go
With Roundhead rogues to Jerico,
With a fal lal la ...

Cheers

Nigel

Subject: Lyr Add: Here's a Health unto Her Majesty
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 14 Jun 12 - 05:38 AM

Or, Cardiff Folk Club 12/6/2012
Revised words: Nigel Parsons

A HEALTH TO HER MAJESTY
Here's a health unto Her Majesty,
With a fal lal la la la la la .
Confusion to Her enemies,
With a fal lal la la la la la l
And he that will not drink her health,
I wish him neither wit nor wealth,
Nor yet a rope to hang himself,
With a fal lal la la la la la la la la.
With a fal lal la la la la la .

Here's to the Duke, Her Royal spouse,
With a fal lal la la la la la .
Who shares with Her a Stately house.
With a fal lal la la la la la .
He stands behind Her, seldom blinks.
Stolid, silent as The Sphinx
But then he says just what he thinks!
With a fal lal la la la la la la la la.
With a fal lal la la la la la .


Let us raise a glass now to Her son,
With a fal lal la la la la la .
'Charlie', 'Jug-ears', that's the one.
With a fal lal la la la la la .
He weds a lass, and causes pain,
Gets heirs, and then gets free again.
I hope he never gets to reign.
With a fal lal la la la la la la la la.
With a fal lal la la la la la .

Here's to Andrew's daughters, two,
With a fal lal la la la la la .
They keep their mother out of view.
With a fal lal la la la la la .
Their mother's always almost broke,
Cannot find another bloke.
And their headwear's only for a joke.
With a fal lal la la la la la la la la,
With a fal lal la la la la la .

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Here's a Health unto Her Majesty
From: GUEST
Date: 14 Nov 18 - 02:17 AM

The song is quoted in "The Devil in Velvet" by John Dickson Carr

ChrisD

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Here's a Health unto Her Majesty
From: r.padgett
Date: 14 Nov 18 - 03:32 AM

Pass the good old bumper round and never count the score
Drink the good old liquor down and boldly ask for more
For its he who would not merry merry be shall never taste of joy
See see the Capes in view Hark forward my brace boys

etc

seems to have much in common with the above

Ray

Subject: Lyr Add: GLEE (Here's a health unto Her Majesty)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 17 Nov 18 - 04:10 PM

From The Musical Times, Vol. 6, No. 126, London: June 15, 1854, page 120:

Some weeks ago, several members of the establishment of her Majesty's Printers gave a concert to their fellow-workmen, concluding with Saville's "Here's a health unto Her Majesty" (see Musical Times, No. 69), to which were added two original stanzas, by J. S. Durtnall. We subjoin them for those who may wish similarly to use them:—

GLEE.
Saville, 1600.

[The first verse adapted from the old song, the second and third supplied.]

Here's a health unto Her Majesty,
  With a fal, lal, lal, lal, la. la, la,
Confusion to her enemies;
  With a fal, &c.
And he that will not pledge her health,
I wish him neither wit nor wealth,
Nor yet a rope to hang himself.
  With a fal, &c.

Here's a health unto her family,
  With a fal, &c.
Long may they live and happy be;
  With a fal, &c.
And he that won't uphold this wish,
May he have neither flesh nor fish,
His fortune be an empty dish.
  With a fal, &c.

Here's a health unto our native land,
  With a fal, &c.
Long free and happy may it stand;
  With a fal, &c.
And he who joins not fellowship,
Throughout the country let him skip,
"In every honest hand the whip."
  With a fal, &c.