Lyr Add: Fly Up My Cock

Subject: Lyr Add: FLY UP MY COCK (from Steeleye Span)
From:
Date: 05 Sep 97 - 09:37 PM

FLY UP MY COCK

Fly up my cock
You're my well-fathered cock
But don't crow 'til the break of day

And your rosy red comb
It shall be of the beaten gold
And your neck of the silvery grey

My cock he flew up
And my cock he flew down
But he crowed one hour too soon

And this young man arose
And he hurried on his clothes
But it was only the light of the moon

Oh when shall ye return
My Jimmy she cried
And wed with a gay golden ring?

Seven moons said he
Shining over the lea
And the sky to yield up no more rain

For now I have seen
Of the contrary way
And I am forced to live single or be bound

Transcribed from "The King" -- Steeleye Span

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: FLY UP MY COCK
From:
Date: 05 Sep 97 - 10:46 PM

I wouldn't put my name on this either

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: FLY UP MY COCK
From:
Date: 06 Sep 97 - 02:50 PM

DITTO!

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: FLY UP MY COCK
From: bigj
Date: 07 Sep 97 - 08:05 PM

I should also try "The Grey Cock" - "Saw You My Father" - and "The Lover's Ghost" which are versions of the same song.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: FLY UP MY COCK
From: Barry
Date: 07 Sep 97 - 08:59 PM

I Went To Market

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: FLY UP MY COCK
From: rechal
Date: 07 Sep 97 - 10:44 PM

Now, in the first line, is it really "my well-fathered cock," or "my well-feathered cock?" Just curious.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: FLY UP MY COCK
From: Murray
Date: 08 Sep 97 - 02:18 AM

There's a line missing!!

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: FLY UP MY COCK
From: markyp
Date: 08 Sep 97 - 01:20 PM

Re: "my well-fathered" vs. "my well-feathered". 'Tis the former (or at least Maddy Prior thinks so) -- I listened to it closely just now.

And . . . Okay, so there's a line missing . . . which one? Where?

Subject: Lyr Add: THE BONNY BUSHES BRIGHT
From: bigj
Date: 08 Sep 97 - 07:19 PM

1. By the bonny bushes bright on a dark winter's night.
I heard a fair maid making moan.
She was sighing for her father, lamenting for her brother,
And grieving for her true lover John

2. O, Johnnie he was sweet and had promised her to meet,
But he tarried on the way an hour too long.
'He has met with some delay which has caused him to stay.
And I'm weary, weary waiting all alone.'

3. Johnny comes at last and he found the door was fast,
And he slowly, slowly tinkled to get in.
Then up this maid arose and hurried on her clothes
In order to let young Johnny in.

4. His sweetheart gave consent and into the room they went,
And these lovers they sat talking of their plan;
Oh John my love, said she, I wish this night to be
As long as when this world first began.

5. Fly up; fly up, my pretty little cock,
And do not crow 'till the break of day,
And your cage shall become of the very brightest gold,
And your wings of the silvery grey.

6. This cunning little cock, so cruel as he was,
Flew down and crowed an hour too soon;
You have sent my love away all before the break of day,
And it's all by the light of the moon.

7. Then up this maid arose and hurried after him
Saying when will you come back to me?
When the fishes they do fly and the seas they do run dry
And seven moons shine briefly o'er the lea.

8. Once I thought my love was as constant unto me
As the stones that lie under the ground
But now that I see that his mind has changed to me
I would rather far live single than be bound.

From Sam Henry's "Songs of the People" where it's called 'The Bonny Bushes Bright'

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: FLY UP MY COCK
From:
Date: 08 Sep 97 - 07:34 PM

This is like the Ghostly Lover. I heard a version of The Grey Cock which followed the storyline of the Ghostly Lover but it seems to be sung to an entirely different tune. The one I know begins "Here's a health unto all true lovers", but follows the ghost story rather than the usual folk song that begins that way. Don't ask me who recorded it -- I have it on vinyl somewhere. Probably Tamarack, who, BTW for all of you in the Windsor/Detroit area, are playing at the old courthouse here in Windsor on February 6, 1998. You will know me as the man singing along, amidst all of the non-breathers who are acting like they are in a library or at a museum exhibit.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: FLY UP MY COCK
From: Bruce
Date: 08 Sep 97 - 10:13 PM

Grey Cock (Child #248): As with other songs first printed by David Herd, this was widely reprinted later. Three single sheet editions with music are listed in BUCEM, as well as a magazine copy.

One of these, 'Saw You my Father. A Favourite Scotch Song.' was published by R. Falkner, c 1772, and a version with identical heading is in 'Universal Magazine,' 1773, according to BUCEM. (earliest copy of tune?)

Also with identical heading is a five verse version printed with music (Folger Shakespeare Lib. M1497/C52 #1), but publisher's imprint at end is R.(super)d B.(super)t. Can anyone identify the publisher for me? Robert Bride, on which a careless engraver switched superscripts around? [R.(super)t B.(super)r is Robert Bremner for #186 in the collection, "There's Nae Luck about the House"]

Note: Herd's 1769 version only had 4 verses, with 3 more added to the 1776 edition.

[#160 in this collection is 'A New Christmas Carol' commencing "Let all that are to mirth inclined", with imprint, in monogram form, of Charles and Samuel Thompson. 5 verses, chorus, and (new) music. This is NOT the traditional version, as noted several days go.]

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: FLY UP MY COCK
From:
Date: 09 Sep 97 - 06:55 PM

There is a Nova Scotia version of this ghost/lover song in the Helen Creighton collection, but I do not have it to hand so can't give the words or title.

Subject: RE: LYR ADD: FLY UP MY COCK
From: bigj
Date: 10 Sep 97 - 06:17 PM

For other versions see - BISCAYO / THE COCKS ARE CROWING / HERE'S A HEALTH TO ALL TRUE LOVERS (That's the one from Nova Scotia in Helen Creighton's 'Maritime Folk Songs')/ I'LL GO SEE MY LOVE (from Canada)/ THE LIGHT OF THE MOON / THE LOVER'S GHOST / NIGHT VISITING SONG / I ONCE LOVED A LASS / SAW YOU MY FATHER / THE SWEET BANN WATER / WILLIE O , and finally Frank Warner collected a version called PRETTY CROWIN' CHICKENS from Hattie Hicks Presnell of Beech Mountain, North Carolina in 1951.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Fly Up My Cock
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Feb 19 - 04:58 PM

The page for this song (here) suggests that there is a midi available, but it doesn't play, and appears not to exist.

Does anyone have the midi (FLYCOCK.mid)?

By the way, the song is 'Fly Up My Cock', not 'The King'.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Fly Up My Cock
From: GUEST
Date: 25 Feb 19 - 06:16 PM

Sorry, the page I was trying to link to is here.