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Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale

DigiTrad:
THE BROWN AND THE YELLOW ALE
THE BROWN AND YELLOW EARL


Related threads:
ADD: The Brown and the Yellow Ale^^^ (28)
(origins) Origins: The Brown and the Yellow Ale (19)
Lyr Add: S oro londubh bui (11)


GUEST,ZannaW 08 Nov 00 - 06:48 PM
GUEST,radriano 08 Nov 00 - 07:21 PM
MartinRyan 08 Nov 00 - 08:19 PM
MartinRyan 08 Nov 00 - 08:24 PM
MMario 08 Nov 00 - 08:37 PM
Barbara 08 Nov 00 - 09:29 PM
Susan A-R 08 Nov 00 - 09:29 PM
Malcolm Douglas 09 Nov 00 - 12:39 PM
GUEST,Martin Ryan 09 Nov 00 - 02:50 PM
GUEST,Martin Ryan 09 Nov 00 - 02:57 PM
GUEST,ZannaW 09 Nov 00 - 06:22 PM
Mary in Kentucky 09 Nov 00 - 06:33 PM
Mary in Kentucky 09 Nov 00 - 06:37 PM
Malcolm Douglas 09 Nov 00 - 08:16 PM
MMario 09 Nov 00 - 09:12 PM
GUEST,Brigie 10 Nov 00 - 08:25 AM
Mary in Kentucky 10 Nov 00 - 09:03 AM
Anglo 10 Nov 00 - 06:04 PM
Malcolm Douglas 10 Nov 00 - 09:12 PM
Anglo 10 Nov 00 - 10:52 PM
Malcolm Douglas 11 Nov 00 - 12:44 AM
GUEST 11 Nov 00 - 08:15 AM
GUEST,Zanna 13 Nov 00 - 07:14 PM
GUEST,carmelfair 14 Oct 05 - 11:14 AM
Mick Pearce (MCP) 14 Oct 05 - 11:38 AM
Artful Codger 06 Sep 06 - 09:09 PM
MartinRyan 07 Sep 06 - 02:34 AM
Bert 16 May 10 - 05:50 PM
Noreen 14 Mar 11 - 04:59 PM
MAG 08 Apr 11 - 12:06 PM
MartinRyan 08 Apr 11 - 12:16 PM
MAG 08 Apr 11 - 12:20 PM
GUEST,Johnmc 08 Apr 11 - 02:43 PM
MAG 08 Apr 11 - 05:54 PM
MartinRyan 09 Apr 11 - 05:00 AM
GUEST,Doug Saum 09 Apr 11 - 02:24 PM
GUEST,Pat Higgins 12 Sep 17 - 05:47 AM
Nigel Parsons 12 Sep 17 - 11:58 AM
GUEST,Martin Ryan 12 Sep 17 - 01:43 PM
GUEST,CAG 25 Oct 22 - 10:43 PM
GUEST,Martin Ryan 28 Oct 22 - 03:35 AM
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Subject: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: GUEST,ZannaW
Date: 08 Nov 00 - 06:48 PM

I am desperate to find the sheet music to a lesser known Irish folk song called, The Brown and the Yellow Ale. Does anyone out there know where I can find it???? It's very obscu


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: GUEST,radriano
Date: 08 Nov 00 - 07:21 PM

Hi, it's in Digitrad. Click on the title below.

The Brown and the Yellow Ale


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: MartinRyan
Date: 08 Nov 00 - 08:19 PM

... I KNOW there was a thread about this - but I'm damned if I can find it!

Regards


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: MartinRyan
Date: 08 Nov 00 - 08:24 PM

Here you go - but no sheet music. Click here

Regards


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: MMario
Date: 08 Nov 00 - 08:37 PM

This is on the "missing tunes" list. If anyone DOES find the sheet music and or a midi PLEASE let me know

MMario-whoisalwayswillingtonagaboutpostingtunetotheDT


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: Barbara
Date: 08 Nov 00 - 09:29 PM

Well MMario, I know the tune, have it on Voice Squad, and can transcribe it if needed.
Blessings,
Barbara


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: Susan A-R
Date: 08 Nov 00 - 09:29 PM

I was just listening to this one the other day, thinking about how downriht strane the plot line is. Any thoughts on it??


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 09 Nov 00 - 12:39 PM

There is another version in the DT, apparantly translated from the Irish by James Joyce:  The Brown and Yellow Earl.  Debby McClatchy's explanation of the song as a droit de seigneur story is attached.  Of course, there is considerable doubt that that custom was ever observed in Ireland (or England and Scotland, for that matter) but it is a part of folklore at any rate.  Whether or not it has anything to do with the song is another matter!  Really, we need the Irish text to get any further.

Malcolm


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 09 Nov 00 - 02:50 PM

Apart from the link I gave above, there was another thread where we tried to tease out what this one was about. If I can find it, it may make sense to pick up the story from there. I have at least one Gaelic text somewhere.

Regards


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 09 Nov 00 - 02:57 PM

While Joyce certainly used the song, I don't think he translated it. Was it James Stephens?

Can't find that other thread....maybe I'm imagining it.

Regards


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: GUEST,ZannaW
Date: 09 Nov 00 - 06:22 PM

I checked out the "James Joyce Songbook" and it includes a song called "The Yellow Ale" which is a similar version. No sheet music, just lyrics. Very interesting. Sounds like a mystery to me!

(Hi Debbie, fancy meeting you here!!) :)


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 09 Nov 00 - 06:33 PM

I just posted this message in the Obscure Tunes thread!

***************************************************

Hi Debbie,

A very quick search on Altavista turned up this < a href="http://www.partitura.be/DATA/groups/collections.htm">link [http://www.partitura.be/DATA/groups/collections.htm] It appears to be an online store in Belgium (maybe). Your song is listed about 5/6 of the way down the page under Songs of Dublin. It says it has the melody line and chords...and of course a price.

Good luck! Incidentally, that's one of the songs in the DT which doesn't have a midi with it. So if you get the sheet music would you please pass it on to someone here so we can make a midi to go with it?

Mary


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 09 Nov 00 - 06:37 PM

oops...try this link!


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 09 Nov 00 - 08:16 PM

Well, I've found a melody for the song (staff notation), here:  The Brown and Yellow Ale  (You'll need to scroll down a bit).

It appears to be from a play about Joyce by Maxwell Steer:  The Watcher In The Rain

He gives no source for the tune, however.

Malcolm


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: MMario
Date: 09 Nov 00 - 09:12 PM

thanks malcolm, I've sent a midi to alan and NWC file to dickg.


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Subject: Tune req. "Fiddling ladies"
From: GUEST,Brigie
Date: 10 Nov 00 - 08:25 AM

Have any of you ever heard of this one. It is brilliant and I would love to get hold of the notation. Any help?


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 10 Nov 00 - 09:03 AM

Hi Brigie,

I'm at work now and don't have time to create a thread for you...what you need to do is create a new thread with that name in the title.

Good luck.

Mary


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: Anglo
Date: 10 Nov 00 - 06:04 PM

Malcolm, I seem to recall that in the version you refer to above, the "earl" is the result of Debbie's misunderstanding of the pronunciation of "ale" - I think she learned the song aurally on a trip to Ireland. Her version was published in Come For To Sing magazine in Chicago, & I might well have done the transcription, as I did their music copying at the time.

It's published in Dominic Behan's book "Ireland Sings." And indeed the translation from the Gaelic is attributed to James Stephens.

I've also heard it sung by Frank Harte, who debunked the "feudal lord claiming his feudal right" theory, and attributed the story to the prevalence in Ireland particularly of older men marrying much younger women.


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 10 Nov 00 - 09:12 PM

Thankyou, Anglo: that makes sense.  As a rule, these fanciful explanations by people who know little history but who have highly developed imaginations result in a whole bunch of innocents believing that they have "the truth" of a song; particularly if they want to believe that folksongs are usually pagan pre-christian survivals, etc.  It's an interesting song, of course, but probably rather less complicated than a lot of people might suppose...

Malcolm


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: Anglo
Date: 10 Nov 00 - 10:52 PM

Yes, Malcolm, that's all true. Of course, it doesn't prove that a number of folk songs are _not_ pagan pre-christian survivals, any more than tracing the style of morris dancing to origins at Charles II's summer residence in Ascot-under-Wychwood proves that it's _not_ a fertility ritual.

(Sorry, couldn't resist...)


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 11 Nov 00 - 12:44 AM

Absolutely!


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Nov 00 - 08:15 AM

This was on Prairie Home Companion
click for PHC link
If the link doesn't work go to phc.mpr.org and type song title into search box.


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: GUEST,Zanna
Date: 13 Nov 00 - 07:14 PM

Wow, you guys are amazing. Ask and you shall receive, as they say!

Thanks!!!


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Subject: Lyr Req: The Brown and Yellow Ale
From: GUEST,carmelfair
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 11:14 AM

Can someone please supply me with the lyrics of The Brown and Yellow Ale? (The version sung by the Voice Squad?) I'd be much obliged. Thanks.


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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Brown and Yellow Ale
From: Mick Pearce (MCP)
Date: 14 Oct 05 - 11:38 AM

Have a look in the DT: The Brown And The Yellow Ale (which seems to be the Voice Squad's version), also the threads above.

Mick


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: Artful Codger
Date: 06 Sep 06 - 09:09 PM

The tune file links are broken in the DigiTrad versions, it isn't listed in the MIDI files (at least under Brown and Yellow Ale or the other names I tried) nor is it at Alan's site any longer (under a name I recognized.) Most other links in this and associated threads are stale - the joys of the Internet. Found samples by Karan Casey and the Voice Squad, but both were too fragmentary. Could someone please repost the MIDI, or provide a good link.

Also, in another thread Martin Ryan said: The origin seems to be a Donegal Gaelic song called variously "Cumha mo londubh buí", "Cuacha lón de buí" and similar. Is this the "Cuach Mo Lon Dubh Buí" which Altan performs on Blue Idol (also found on Best of Altan: The Songs)? The tune they use is different, and much more lively - possibly their own creation. If this is the song, the lyrics can be found at Celtic Lyrics Corner.


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: MartinRyan
Date: 07 Sep 06 - 02:34 AM

That's it alright. Several of the Gaelic versions use lively tunes ("Thugamar féin an sahmradh linn" is another example.)

Regards


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: Bert
Date: 16 May 10 - 05:50 PM

Here's a start


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: Noreen
Date: 14 Mar 11 - 04:59 PM

Luke Kelly singing The Brown and the Yellow Ale on youtube.com


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: MAG
Date: 08 Apr 11 - 12:06 PM

I've looked through all these threads, and can't find out what "she sent two men to timber" means.

If it's obvious and I don't see it, I apologize; if it's some idiom, please share.


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: MartinRyan
Date: 08 Apr 11 - 12:16 PM

She sent two men for timber and she never even cried

She's sending them for wood to make a cheap coffin ( a board of alder and a board of holly...).

Regards


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: MAG
Date: 08 Apr 11 - 12:20 PM

Thanks, Martin -- makes sense. She did not cry when he died; not didn't cry when whatever happened, happened.

The most helpful statement has been that about coming back to view one's own funeral.


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: GUEST,Johnmc
Date: 08 Apr 11 - 02:43 PM

Surprised no one has taken the opportunity to rave about how great the Voice Squad were.
I wish they would reunite if it were posssible. Listening to their harmonies literally created goosebumps.


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: MAG
Date: 08 Apr 11 - 05:54 PM

They are truly wonderful -- not enough of that deep male harmony singing around


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: MartinRyan
Date: 09 Apr 11 - 05:00 AM

While I love the Voice Squad version, I must say I really enjoyed the Luke Kelly set to which Noreen provided the link earlier in the thread - I'd never heard it before. To me, it's a nice example of how solo unaccompanied singing allows for better storytelling...

Regards


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: GUEST,Doug Saum
Date: 09 Apr 11 - 02:24 PM

W. B. Yeats did a loose translation called "Going the Road." I did a version of it on my THE ROSE @ THE CROSSWAY CD. lyric below:
GOING THE ROAD A67
                                                                words: William Butler Yeats
                                                                music: Doug Saum 4/14/97
1

I was going the road one day
(O the brown and the yellow beer),               
And I met with a man that was no right man
(O my dear, o my dear, o my dear).

2
'Give me your wife,' said he
(O the brown and the yellow beer),
'Till the sun goes down and an hour of the clock'
(O my dear, etc.)

3
'Good-bye, good-bye, my husband
(O the brown and the yellow beer),
For a year and a day by the clock of the sun'
(O my dear, etc).

4
'I know of a girl' said I
(O the brown and the yellow beer),
'Who can shorten the time by the clock and the sun'
(O my dear, etc.).

5
'And one's as good as another
(O the brown and the yellow beer),
So get you away with your no right man'
(O my dear, etc.).


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: GUEST,Pat Higgins
Date: 12 Sep 17 - 05:47 AM

I wonder if this is the source of Joyce's reference to the Bronze by Gold descriptions of the barmaids in the Ormond Hotel, in Ulysses ( Sirens epsiode )

Pat


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 12 Sep 17 - 11:58 AM

Rather late to this discussion, but from context I would query the earlier answer:
From: MartinRyan - PM
Date: 08 Apr 11 - 12:16 PM

She sent two men for timber and she never even cried

She's sending them for wood to make a cheap coffin ( a board of alder and a board of holly...).

Regards


I would have read it as "She's already buried two husbands/lovers and never even cried"

Cheers
Nigel


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 12 Sep 17 - 01:43 PM

Plausible, certainly- but you'd still have to account for the shroud!

Offhand, I don't recall how much of this is in the Irish language version. Must check sometime.

Regards


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Subject: RE: Lyr/Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: GUEST,CAG
Date: 25 Oct 22 - 10:43 PM

The notion of using holly and elder for a cheap coffin makes little sense to me. Holly wasn't a commonplace carpentry material. As a slow-growing hardwood it had special uses such as ornamental work, inlays and some furniture so it was not the sort of timber you'd use for a cheap coffin. Elder has a soft core which suggests it isn't suitable for such construction work. It is more often associated with pipes and chanters. Or magic wands, if you're into Harry Potter.

Both holly and elder trees were supposed to provide protection from evil spirits and witches. Holly also had associations with fertility beliefs. Elder was supposedly "feared by the devil".

Although it's purely supposition on my part, it appeals more to me that elder and holly boards are sought for these apotropaic protective qualities, especially if we are to accept the "noble enchanter" theory of what the song is about.

The folklore of trees is very convoluted and it's possible to get a wide range of interpretations if you keep browsing. One site I visited said another name for Elder was "witchwood" but that name can also be used in reference to the Rowan tree and (American) Mountain Ash. One use of witchwood that caught my eye (apart from warding off witches) was to "keep the unhappy dead in their grave". Yes that's all pretty tenuous but it does fit nicely with the story line of the song!

I rather like the fact that we will never know. Art and literature (including oral traditions) should stimulate our imaginations. It's quite okay for us to take away different interpretations of this song. It's a great and mysterious song that's worth keeping alive.


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Subject: RE: Chords Req: The Brown and the Yellow Ale
From: GUEST,Martin Ryan
Date: 28 Oct 22 - 03:35 AM

Thanks for that - a nice perspective.

Regards


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