Lyr Req: The Night before Larry Was Stretched

Subject: RE: The Stretching of Larry
From: Colm
Date: 08 Sep 97 - 04:25 AM

Thanks for the help everybody,

Colm

Subject: RE: The Stretching of Larry
From:
Date: 05 Sep 97 - 05:24 AM

I'll try to follow up the Irish end in the Irish Traditional Music Archive, next time I'm in Dublin.

Regards

Subject: RE: The Stretching of Larry
From: Bruce
Date: 05 Sep 97 - 12:29 AM

Here is tune for "The Night before Larry was stretched in ABC format. Chorus is given separately, because I couldn't get the 3/4 time to the right of the double bar after the main tune in ABC. CAUTION. My ABC screen display gives main tune incorrectly if chorus is displayed first. X:1 T:Tune: To the hundreds of Drury I write T:Tune for "The night before Larry was stretched" M:9/4 K:Gdor AB|B2G2B2A2G2^F2G3AB2|(A2c2)A2F3GA2c2A2cc|B2G2B2A2G2^F2G4D2|D2G2G2G3BA2BG3||B2B3cB2d3cB2f4A2|A2B2c2c2A2B2cA3c2|B2G2B2A2^F2A2G4D2|D2G2G2A3BA2BG3|]

X:2 T:Tune of chorus: To the hundreds of Drury I write M:3/4 K:Gdor B/2(G/2A/2)^F/2 G/2A/4B/4|c/4B/4A/4G/4 F/2B/2 A/4B/4c/4A/4| B/2G/2A/2^F/2 G|D/2G/2G/2B/2 A/4B/4c/4A/4|B3/4f/4(e3/4d/4e/4)f|c/4B/4A/4G/4 F/2B/2 A/4B/4c/4A/4|G/2g/2(f3/4d/4e/4)f|(3d/2e/2f/2 (3g/2d/2c/2 B/4A3/4|B/2G/4B/4 A/2^F/4A/4 G|]

Subject: Lyr Add: THE NIGHT BEFORE LARRY WAS STRETCHED
From: Bruce
Date: 04 Sep 97 - 08:30 PM

I think I've got the 'pasting' figured out now, thanks Joe.

NTLRYST

THE NIGHT BEFORE LARRY WAS STRETCHED
To the tune of "To the Hundreds of Drury I Write"

The night before Larry was stretched,
The boys they all paid him a visit;
And bit in their sacks, too, they fetched,
They sweated their dads till they riz it:
For Larry was always the lad,
When a friend was condemned to the squeezer,
But he'd fence all the togs that he had
To help a poor friend to the sneezer.
And moisten his gab 'fore he died.

I'm sorry, now, Larry, says I,
To see you in this situation;
'Pon my conscience, my lad, I don't lie,
I'd rather it had been my own station!
Och hone! it's all over says he.
For the neckcloth I'm forced to put on,
And by the this time to-morrow you'll see
Your Larry will be dead as mutton
Bekays why, my dear, my courage was good.

The boys they came crowding in fast,
They drew all their stools round about him;
Six glims round his trap-case were placed,
He couldn't be well waked without them!
I axed if he was fit for to die,
Without having duly repented?
Says Larry, that's all in my eye,
It's only what gownsmen invented
To get a fat bit for themselves.

The cards being called for they played,
Till Larry found one of them cheated;
He made a smart stroke at his head,
(The boy being easily heated,)
Oh, by the holy, you teef,
I'll skuttle your nob with my daddle;
You cheat me because I'm in grief,
But soon I'll demolish your noddle
And leave you your claret to drink.

Then in came the priest with his book,
He spoke him so smooth and so civil;
Larry tipped him a Kilmainham look,
And pitched his wig to the devil;
Then stooping a little his head,
To get a sweat drop of the bottle,
And, pitiful sighing, he said,
Oh, he hemp will be soon round my throttle,
And choke my poor windpipe to death.

So moving these last words he spoke,
We all vented our tears in a shower;
For my part, I thought my heart broke,
To see him cut down like a flower.
On his travels we watched him next day,
Oh, the hangman, I thought I could kill him;
Not one word poor Larry did say,
Nor changed till he came to King William,
Then, my dear, his colour turned white.

When he came to the nubbling chit,
He was tucked up, so neat and so pretty;
The rumbler jogged off from his feet,
And he died with his face to the city!
He kicked, too, but that was all pride,
For soon you might see 'twas all over;
Soon after the noose was untied,
And at darkee we waked him in clover,
And sent him to take a ground sweat.

The song is in 'The Festival of Anacreon', 7th ed., (Part 2) p. 177, 1789 (and a later undated edition of 1790 or 1791), with tune direction "To the hundreds of Drury I write." (Copy, Folger Shakespeare Library) [The publisher's imprints and edition numbers of the very few issues of this work are fictitious. This '7th' edition is probably actually the 2nd. The c 1790-91 edition (Copy, Lib. of Congress) is also styled the '7th' edition, but is probably the 3rd, and contains some new songs not in the earlier '7th' edition. The true publisher is found to be William Holland, by noting the frontispiece of the 1789 edition, and comparison with 'Paddy Whack's Bottle Companion', 1791, which has the same typography and many of the same songs, including "The Night before Larry was stretched", p. 49.]

The song bears no attribution in 'Festival' but is attributed to a 'Curren' in 'The Universal Songster', III, 140, 1828. [J. Philpot Curran or J. W. Curren? In 'Ballads from the Pubs of Ireland', p. 29, James N. Healy attributes the song to a William Maher, (Hurlfoot Bill) but doesn't note when Maher lived.]

The tune is not an Irish one, but stems from the first line of an English song "The Bowman Prigg's Farewell." BUCEM lists four single sheet copies with music, all tentatively dated c 1740, and there is another copy in the Julian Marshal collection at Harvard. However, the tune "To the Hundreds of Drury I write" is in the ballad opera 'The Devil of a Duke', 1732, Air #4. 'Bowman Prig' is mentioned in song #22 of the ballad opera 'The Fashionable Lady', 1730, but this may not be a reference to the song. 'Bowman Prigg' is a cant term for a pick-purse.

Earliest 'Irish' tune I've seen is in Levy's 'The Dance Music of Ireland', First Series, n.d. (1858). A slightly variant copy of the latter is in O'Neill's 'Music of Ireland', #39.

Tune and 1st verse of "To the Hundreds of Drury I write" are in John Barry Talley's 'Secular Music in Colonial Annapolis', 1988. His bibliography leaves much to be desired. "Night before Larry" is just possibly a reworking of, or was at least inspired by, "To the hundreds of Drury", and I'd like to see a full copy of the latter. The music was bound in at the end of 'The Devil of a Duke' and, unfortunately, had been torn off the only copy I've found (Library of Congress) when it was bound together with some other works.

File below is ASCII for use in Basic's PLAY command, measure by measure. Play starts at 3rd line. Tune is 9/4 to P00 and 3/4 after. Then 3/4 part is for a chorus. p0 and p00 are my markers to indicate end of a strain. Play command interprets these as a pause of 0 duration. The duration numbers 12 in the next to last measure are for notes in triplets. With use of symbols definitions used in Basic PLAY command you can invert the strings to a musical score.

"Title: To the hundreds of Drury I write"
18
t120 o2 g8a8
b-4g4b-4a4g4f+4g4.a8b-4
mla4>c4mnc4c8c8
d4g4g4g4.b-8a4b-8g4.p0
b-4b-4.>c8d4.c8f2 a4b-4>c4c4c8c4
d4g4g4a4.b-8a4b-8g4.p00
b-8mlg8a8mnf+8g8a16b-16
>c16c16 b-8g8a8f+8g4
d8g8g8b-8a16b-16>c16 b-8.>f16mle8.d32e32mnf4
c16c16 g8>g8mlf8.d32e32mnf4
d12e12f12 g12d12c12 b-8g16b-16a8f+16a16g4

W.B.O.

Subject: RE: The Stretching of Larry
From: Bruce
Date: 04 Sep 97 - 12:46 PM

Martin,

J. Philpot Curran is a possibility for the author, but the song is not attributed to him in 'Poets of Ireland', and I don't know if he wrote anything as early as 1789. I have run across mention of a J. W. Curren as a songwriter, but haven't found out anything about him. Healy, 'Ballads from the Pubs of Ireland' gives 'Hurlfoot Bill' (William Maher) as the author, same as yours with different spelling.

Anyone wanting a copy of the text and tune I have, send me an e-mail with your address and message 'Larry' to [e-mail]. I don't think there will be many requests, and I should be able to handle that. My text is a bit different in places from that posted.

Does anyone have the complete text of "The Bowman Prigg's Farewell" (commencing "To the hundreds of Drury I write")? It looks like this may have inspired our "Night before Larry was stretched" song. ['Bowman Prigg' is a cant term for a pick-purse]

Subject: RE: The Stretching of Larry
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 04 Sep 97 - 12:17 PM

I forgot to mention that Harte gives one "Hurlfoot Meagher" as the probable author.

Regards

Subject: RE: The Stretching of Larry
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 04 Sep 97 - 12:10 PM

Bruce

I'd love to see that version - and, more particularly, the tune. The "Curren" is probably John Philpott Curran, an early 19th century Irish poplitical figure, to whom I have seen the song attributed. Its not that likely, I suspect.

Anyway, here's the verses I omitted. They fall between the third and fourth verses of the version I put in the DT.

***** Now I'll be cut up like a pie
And my nob from ny body be parted
"You're in the wrong box then" sez I
"For blast me if they're so hard-hearted
A chalk on the back of your neck
Is all that Jack Ketch dares to give you
Then mind not such trifles a feck
Sure why should the likes of them grieve you?
And now boys come tip up the deck

The cards being called for they played
Until Larry found one of them cheated
A dart at his napper he made
For the boy, he being easily heated
"Oh Ho by the hokey, ye thief
I will scuttle your nob with me daddle
You cheat me because I'm in grief
But soon I'll demolish your noddle
And leave you your claret to drink"

Then the clergy came in with his book
And he spoke him so smooth and so civil
Larry tipped him a Kilmainham look
And he pitched his big wig to the devil
Then sighing, he threw back his head
Fot to have a sweet drop of the bottle
And pitiful sighing he said
"Oh the hemp will be soon round me throttle
And choke me poor windpipe to death"

But sure its the best way to die
Oh the devil, its better than living
For now when the gallows is high
Then your journey is shorter to heaven
But what harasses Larry the most
And makes his poor soul melancholy Is he thinks of the time when his ghost
It will come in a sheet to sweet Molly! Oh sure, it will kill her alive!

The advantage of the abbreviated version is that you can get away without too much boring explanation! On the other hand, of course, it misses the best line in the song.

Frank Harte recorded the song for Topic many years ago. In his "Songs of Dublin" book, he writes:

"This is only one of a group of execution songs written in Newgate Cant or slang style somewhere around the 1780's, others being The Kilmainham Minuet, Luke Caffrey's Ghost and Larry's Ghost which, as promised in the seventh verse, comes in a sheet to sweet Molly. The King William, at the sight of which Larrry grew pale, was a statue which stood in College Green but which since has been blown up."

Presumably College Green was en route to the execution.

Regards

Subject: RE: The Stretching of Larry
From: Joe Offer
Date: 04 Sep 97 - 02:30 AM

Bruce, if you type something up in a word processor, you should be able to "hightlight" the text and go to the edit menu and copy that test to memory. Then you come to the little reply entry box here, and "paste" it into the box. With most Windows 95 programs, you can highlight the text and click on it with your right mouse button, and a menu will pop up and you can select "copy" then you come here and right-click on the reply box, and a menu will pop up and you select "paste." The cut and paste commands will save you lots of work in many different applications. I use the same technique in a midi composer program. If a line is repeated, I can copy and paste an entire line in a song instead of typing it in all over again. It's pretty easy to learn.
Good luck.
-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: The Stretching of Larry
From: Bruce
Date: 03 Sep 97 - 07:09 PM

It appears I misremembered the source of my copy. I can't find a transcript among copies of songs I made from Festival of Anacreon, 1789. My copy of the song is probably from one that I have in The Universal Songster, III, p. 140, 1828. The latter copy attributes the song to a 'Curren' but has no tune direction.
I have done only 3 simple tunes so far in ASCII in ABC format, which apparently uses the SOUND command in BASIC for playing them, and I'm not very proficient at it yet. I have the tune "To the hundreds of Drury I write" it in a different ASCII format for use in the BASIC PLAY command. The tune is in John Barry Talley's Secular Music in Colonial Annapolis, p. 82, 1988.
I don't know what Jon means by 'paste' to thread.

Subject: RE: The Stretching of Larry
From: Jon W.
Date: 03 Sep 97 - 05:49 PM

oops I blew it. Where it says .ltbr.gt it should say <br>. And I meant to end the link after the word "link" but it works anyway.

Subject: RE: The Stretching of Larry
From: Jon W.
Date: 03 Sep 97 - 05:34 PM

Bruce, if you're running Windows or Mac you should be able to copy the text from your word processor or whatever and paste it into the "reply to thread" box. one word of caution - either put a slash between lines, or better yet a .ltbr.gt which is the HTML command for a new line, or the text will all run together. Please post the lyrics at least.

For tunes, you might want to try out abc format. Try this link to get to the abc home page for an explanation and a downloadable program. Abc supposedly allows you to enter the tune in a word processor and send it as an ascii file. I haven't had time to experiment with it myself, though.

Subject: RE: The Stretching of Larry
From: Bruce
Date: 03 Sep 97 - 12:03 PM

I have the seven verse song from 'The Festival of Anacreon', 1789, and the original English tune for it, "To the Hundreds of Drury I write (Boman Prigg's Farewell)", together with a purported author. But I don't have a way of sending tunes, and don't know how to appending the text in an ASCII file to this thread.

Subject: RE: The Stretching of Larry
From: Martin Ryan
Date: 03 Sep 97 - 10:43 AM

Bah! Humbug! I was hoping people would settle for the
abbreviated version! I'll post the remainder here later
with some background if possible.

Regards

Subject: The Stretching of Larry
From: Colm
Date: 03 Sep 97 - 06:57 AM

I see that there is an abbreviated version of "The Night before Larry was Stretched" in the database. Does anybody have the unabridged version handy and/or something on the song's background. Thanks in advance,

Colm