Happy May Day! (May Day Songs)

Subject: RE: Happy May Day!
From: Jim Krause
Date: 01 May 01 - 03:35 PM

Noreen, How about the Internationale. I thought seriously about hanging a red flag out in front of my house in commemoration of May Day.

I was joking with a friend before church last Sunday. I said to him, "In honor of May Day, I should play all those labor union hymn parodies." He said they'd go right over everyone's heads. He was probably right.
Jim

Subject: RE: Happy May Day!
From: pastorpest
Date: 01 May 01 - 06:13 PM

On May Day, those ancient celtic women, before the church spoiled things, presented the men they wanted with carrots they preserved from the year before. If the man accepted they were mated. Off to the woods they went so the child would be born on February 1, just like the lambs. My politics are left wing but the ancient celts have it all over the modern version of May Day

---

Duplicates deleted. --JoeClone

Subject: RE: Happy May Day!
From: Little Hawk
Date: 01 May 01 - 06:53 PM

pastorpest - Are you this repetitive in front of the congregation? :-)

Hooray for May Day!

- LH

Subject: ADD: Queen of Man
From: Peg
Date: 01 May 01 - 07:21 PM

Queen of May recorded by Nancy Thym...

The winter has gone and the summer is come
and the weasther looks pleasant and gay
I met a fair maiden so sweetly sang she
Her lips like the blossoms of may.

I said, fair maiden, can I go with you
to the meadows to gather some may
but she said t me I would rather refuse
For I fear you will lead me astray...

etc.

I must learn the rest of the words so I can sing this at the Singers' Club this Wednesday...

Subject: RE: Happy May Day!
From: GUEST,Northerner
Date: 01 May 01 - 08:59 PM

Hooray!! Hooray!!

It's the First of May!

Outside Screwing

Starts today!!!

Subject: RE: Happy May Day!
From: Susan from California
Date: 01 May 01 - 09:48 PM

I celebrated by having my gardening class make May Day baskets for all the teachers at my school, well over 100 flowers altogether. We are a K-8 school, which is unusual for our area, and some of the primary teachers don't like the big kids as much as I do. I try to do help the students do nice things for the little ones to earn us some brownie points. I must admit that I leave out the info about mating and the like....7th & 8th graders :-) are hormonally challenged without any added info, and doing anything was a wee bit risky as several local schools have banned May Day, Hallowe'en etc.....

The big kids enjoyed it!

Subject: RE: Happy May Day!
From: Skipjack K8
Date: 02 May 01 - 07:08 AM

Yo Susan! Didn't know I could've been schooled in being K-8! I'm self taught.

Funny old thing, Mayday, historically and hi-jackers. Lot of chaps rioting in London, complaining about cannibalism. Funny old world, innit?!

Skipjack K8

Subject: RE: Happy May Day!
From: Les from Hull
Date: 02 May 01 - 08:16 AM

Our May Day Holiday will include some celebrations in a nearby village, Skipsea, where me and our lass have been conscripted to play for Maypole Dancing (o goody). But then we'll have a song or two and a tune or two and a jar or two.

Unite and unite and let us all unite
Les

Subject: RE: Happy May Day!
From: Gervase
Date: 02 May 01 - 09:16 AM

Apropos Mayday in London, things turned rather ugly as the evening wore on in town.
For some God-unknown reason I hung around the Oxford Street area (where I have an office) longer than I should have done as sporadic clashes flared up in the maze of little alleys and courtyards behind Oxford Street, and at times things were rather unpleasant.
What was extraordinary is how young the hooligans were - the average age must have been about 15, with some surely no older than 12; scarves over their faces and scrabbling around for anything to hurl at the police.
Another worrying thing was how many of the kids were Asian and Hispanic - I would estimate at they represented least a quarter of those I saw right in the thick of it (Christ, I sound so un-PC there, but that's what I saw...). Of the rest maybe half were poor white kids - they looked as if they'd come up for the day from Becton and the poorest parts of town, with fuzz-cut hair and that veneer of grime that very poor kids often have - while the balance was made up of an assortment of crusties with multiple piercings and facial ironmongery and ordinary students there out of curiosity and sucked into it.
As for organisation - forget it. Whatever you may read in the right-wing rags about sinister anarchist forces orchestrating the violence is cobblers - this was an inchoate, spiteful series of running spats with the police; just random acts of viciousness committed by a mob high on booze and adrenaline and completely uncontrollable.
In fact the whole thing was deeply depressing and - I'm ashamed to say - my sympathies lay largely with the police last night, personal bumps and knocks and bruises notwithstanding.
The kids had clearly come for a ruck and were determined to goad the police into giving them one. Thus there were all the usual risks for those near the front, with lumps of wood, scaffold clips and assorted pieces of masonry hurled indiscriminately forward from behind the main press and more often than not falling on the poor sods pressed up against the shield wall.
At one stage a group of kids tore down some heavy wire panels surrounding a building site and used it as a shield themselves to hurl crap at the police (and I mean crap - the contents of restaurant bins and dog shit in plastic bags and stuff like that!).
A couple in late middle age, who looked like Quaker veterans of the Aldermaston Marches, tried to remonstrate with the kids and were pushed and shoved and told to fuck off and worse, which left rather a sour taste in the mouth. In fact most of those involved in the daytime protests had gone, and the rioting was nearly all done by the kids - who, I'd imagine, aren't remotely politicised and couldn't give a shit about globalisation or whatever. In fact a good many of them were wearing Nike trainers, Adidas baseball caps and all the branded crap about which the protest was supposed to revolve.
Many of them were drunk as skunks and armed to the teeth with cans of cider, Tennants and Special Brew - so much so that when I found myself in a press of them it smelled like a pub at chucking out time. Thank God cider is now sold in plastic bottles rather than glass, though, as the empties were then hurled towards the police.
And the language, my dear! One kid of about 14 stood in front of a PC in his riot gear and let rip a stream of invective - "You fucking this that and the other, your are a complete cunt...etc" and the PC just looked at him and said: "Do you mind not calling me those names. I'm a human being too, you know!"
There were a couple of baton charges as the shield squads rushed out to nick people, and I got knocked over by a horse and later got a minor thumping as a squad of shield officers rushed forwards to clear one of the alleys - not as bad as a former colleague from the Standard, Jeremy, who was taking pictures and got quite a mauling, while some Spanish students were also quite severely battered.
I say severely, but the police tactics are to whack at arms and legs with their batons, so the injuries are superficial - but probably extremely painful nevertheless.
Anyway, as the evening wore on and I realised I didn't have any film fast enough to carry on taking pictures in the fading light, I ended up next to Jeremy, sweating like a pig and knackered. He looked at me and said: "Fuck me - Barmy (my old office nickname)! What are you doing here?" I have to admit I didn't really have a sensible answer to that. He went on: "You must be fucking mad - I have to be here, but you don't. You really are barmy!"
At which I realised that he was absolutely right, and made my way to the rather more civilised surroundings of Cecil Sharp House where we sang some proper May songs.
So, that was my evening. I'm bloody stiff this morning, but what the heck - it was marginally more interesting than staying in and listening to the Archers.

Subject: RE: Happy May Day!
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 02 May 01 - 09:26 AM

Cracking good story Gervase and very well put. Nice to see a balanced and honest view of the events rather than what the right and left wing rags write. Glad I wasn't there though!

Funny old thing isn't it. We have witnessed the hi-jacking of Mayday by political extemists. As I mentioned earlier it was probably hijacked by the early Christians from older religions as well. Must be a popular festival if everyone wants it so much!

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: Happy May Day!
From: John J
Date: 02 May 01 - 09:50 AM

Well I got up at 4.50am in good time for coffee and sunrise at 5.34am. That's the good news. The bad news is the local spot for dancing on Mayday mornings (Alderley Edge, Cheshire, England) was closed due to Foot & Mouth Desease restrictions. Boo-hoo! At least I welcomed in the May-o! John (Knackered) J

Subject: RE: Happy May Day!
From: Skipjack K8
Date: 02 May 01 - 10:49 AM

That's a stunning bit of reportage, Gervase. You ought to flog it to the press, but then again, they never let the truth get in the way of spin. Sorry to hear about your battering. It's more John Peel R4 Saturday morning stuff. Worth a try.

Skipjack

Subject: RE: Happy May Day!
From: Mrrzy
Date: 02 May 01 - 10:54 AM

Well, it's the first of May, or it was yesterday, and there I was outdoors, where was all the action that is supposed to be going on outdoors now???!?

Subject: RE: Happy May Day!
From: catspaw49
Date: 02 May 01 - 11:02 AM

Lots of good posts but........

GERVASE......Very well done and a truly classic piece....Thank you.

Spaw

Subject: Lyr Add: THE MONTH OF MAY (Copper Family)
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 29 Apr 10 - 02:48 PM

THE MONTH OF MAY
Traditional
As recorded by the Copper Family (Bob & Ron) on "Come Write Me Down: Early Recordings of the Copper Family of Rottingdean" (2000)

'Twas in the pleasant month of May in the springtime of the year,
And down by yonder meadow there runs a river clear,
See how the little fishes how they do sport and play
Causing many a lad and many a lass to go there a-making hay.

Then in comes that scytheman that meadow to mow down,
With his old leather-ed bottle and the ale that runs so brown.
There's many a stout and a labouring man goes there his skill to try,
He works, he mows, he sweats and he blows and the grass cuts very dry.

Then in comes both Tom and Dick with their pitch-forks and their rakes
And likewise black-eyed Susan the hay all for to make.
There's a sweet, sweet, sweet and a jug, jug, jug, how the harmless birds do sing,
From the morning till the evening as we were a-haymaking.

It was just at one evening as the sun was a-going down,
We saw the jolly piper come a-strolling through the town.
There he pulled out his tapering pipes and he made the valleys ring,
So we all put down our rakes and forks and we left off haymaking.

We call-ed for a dance and we tripp-ed it along,
We danced all round the haycocks till the rising of the sun.
When the sun did shine such a glorious light and the harmless birds did sing,
Each lad he took his lass in hand and went back to his haymaking.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Pleasant Month of May
From: Jim Carroll
Date: 29 Apr 10 - 02:51 PM

Lovely song Peasant - quite popular on the Eastern side of England.
The old trawlerman, Sam Larner sang a very nice version.
Jim Carroll

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Pleasant Month of May
From: Jeri
Date: 29 Apr 10 - 03:50 PM

In the DT as "Month of May"