Lyr Add: Rambleaway (Waterson:Carthy)

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: RAMBLEAWAY (from Waterson:Carthy)
From: Snuffy
Date: 26 Jan 02 - 02:19 PM

I got this version by Waterson:Carthy from a Topic sampler CD. The lyrics are sufficiently different to those in the DT, and the tune resembles neither of those in DT (presumably from Hickerson and Redpath).

RAMBLEAWAY

As I was a-going to Pocklington Fair
In my fine scarlet jacket and everything rare
Enough to 'tice all the young girls that day
When they set their eyes on young Rambleaway
Rambleaway, rambleaway
When they set their eyes on young Rambleaway

Now the very first steps I took to the fair
I saw lovely Nancy a-combing her hair
I smiled at the lass and she laughed and she sighed
Says I to myself, I'll be there by and by
There by and by, there by and by
Says I to myself, I'll be there by and by

And as I was a-walking that night in the dark
I took that young maiden to be my sweetheart
She sighed in my face and these words she did say
Are you the young fellow called Rambleaway
Rambleaway, rambleaway
Are'nt you the young fellow called Rambleaway

I said, Pretty Nancy, don't smile in my face
I do not intend to stay long in this place
I packed up my clothes and I went from the fair
I told her I'd ramble the devil knows where
Devil knows where, devil knows where
I told her I'd ramble the devil knows where

When twenty-four weeks, they were over and past
This pretty young girl she did sicken at last
Her gown wouldn't meet nor her apron strings tie
She longed for the sight of young Rambleaway
Rambleaway, Rambleaway
She longed for the sight of young Rambleaway

Come all you young maidens, wherever you be
When you're courting fellows don't make yourself free
For if you do, you'll rue the sad day
You met with the likes of young Rambleaway
Rambleaway, Rambleaway
You met with the likes of young Rambleaway

MIDI file: RAMBLAW2.MID

Timebase: 480

Tempo: 110 (545454 microsec/crotchet)
Key: G
TimeSig: 6/8 36 8
Name: Rambleaway
Text: C:Trad, arr Waterson:Carthy
Start
0000 1 74 127 0239 0 74 000 0001 1 71 127 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 67 090 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 67 090 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 67 090 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 66 120 0239 0 66 000 0001 1 67 090 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 71 127 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 72 090 0239 0 72 000 0001 1 74 090 0239 0 74 000 0001 1 76 090 0479 0 76 000 0001 1 79 090 0119 0 79 000 0001 1 79 090 0119 0 79 000 0001 1 76 127 0239 0 76 000 0001 1 74 090 0239 0 74 000 0001 1 72 090 0239 0 72 000 0001 1 74 090 0239 0 74 000 0001 1 76 120 0239 0 76 000 0001 1 74 090 0239 0 74 000 0001 1 71 127 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 67 090 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 67 090 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 67 090 0479 0 67 000 0001 1 74 090 0239 0 74 000 0001 1 76 127 0239 0 76 000 0001 1 76 090 0239 0 76 000 0001 1 78 090 0239 0 78 000 0001 1 79 090 0239 0 79 000 0001 1 81 120 0239 0 81 000 0001 1 79 090 0239 0 79 000 0001 1 78 127 0239 0 78 000 0001 1 74 090 0239 0 74 000 0001 1 76 090 0239 0 76 000 0001 1 78 090 0479 0 78 000 0001 1 78 090 0239 0 78 000 0001 1 78 127 0239 0 78 000 0001 1 78 090 0239 0 78 000 0001 1 78 090 0239 0 78 000 0001 1 79 090 0239 0 79 000 0001 1 78 120 0239 0 78 000 0001 1 76 090 0239 0 76 000 0001 1 74 127 0239 0 74 000 0001 1 71 090 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 67 090 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 76 090 0239 0 76 000 0001 1 74 120 0239 0 74 000 0001 1 72 090 0239 0 72 000 0001 1 71 127 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 67 090 0239 0 67 000 0001 1 66 090 0239 0 66 000 0001 1 67 090 0719 0 67 000 0001 1 74 127 0239 0 74 000 0001 1 74 090 0239 0 74 000 0001 1 76 090 0239 0 76 000 0001 1 71 090 0479 0 71 000 0001 1 74 090 0239 0 74 000 0001 1 76 127 0239 0 76 000 0001 1 78 090 0239 0 78 000 0001 1 76 090 0239 0 76 000 0001 1 74 090 0239 0 74 000 0001 1 71 120 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 74 090 0239 0 74 000 0001 1 72 127 0239 0 72 000 0001 1 71 090 0239 0 71 000 0001 1 69 090 0239 0 69 000 0001 1 67 090 0479 0 67 000
End

This program is worth the effort of learning it.

To download the March 10 MIDItext 98 software and get instructions on how to use it click here

ABC format:

X: 225
T:Rambleaway
M:6/8
L:1/8
Q:80
C:Trad, arr Waterson:Carthy
S:Waterson:Carthy
N:filename [RAMBLAWA
D:Common Tongue, Topic TSCD488
K:G
d|
BGG GFG|Bcd e2g/g/|edc ded|BGG G2d |
eef gag|fde f2f |fff gfe|dBG(edc)|
BGF G3 |dde B2d |efe dBd|cBA G2 ||


WassaiL! V

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: Desdemona
Date: 26 Jan 02 - 02:23 PM

This actually raises an issue I've had literally for YEARS: why is it that, in traditional/folk songs, girls never fail to get pregnant the first time they have sex?!

Think about it.......it's an EPIDEMIC!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 26 Jan 02 - 02:48 PM

Not only in folk songs! Actually, I think it's what's called a "device" -- similarly, what are the odds of meeting a significant person every time you go rambling through the woods on a May morning? Of course, a different sort of device might have prevented the problem you mentioned, Desdemona....

There's also a version of Rambleaway that John Roberts and Tony Barrand did on their first album, "Spencer the Rover is Alive and Well and Living in Ithaca" -- when I have the time I'll post those lyrics, if nobody beats me to it.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: Jeri
Date: 26 Jan 02 - 03:48 PM

Here's the one in the DT to which Snuffy refers.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 26 Jan 02 - 04:34 PM

Martin Carthy's notes (Common Tongue, Topic TSCD488, 1997) don't say where he got the text, but do mention that the tune is "more usually associated" with Old Mother Crawley (a song which seems only to have been collected once); presumably Waterson:Carthy set the text to this tune.  Carthy used an adaptation of the same tune for his re-write of Jack Rowland.  Pocklington is in Yorkshire, incidentally; it's unclear whether this is a traditional Yorkshire version or a Waterson:Carthy localisation.

The DT file doesn't name any traditional source for its text, which presumably came from a Joe Hickerson record.  The first tune, RAMBLAW2, is the one used by Jean Redpath (and others before her); her text -somewhat different- was, she thought, a composite of several she had heard from other people.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: Snuffy
Date: 26 Jan 02 - 05:54 PM

Thanks, Malcolm.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: pavane
Date: 27 Jan 02 - 03:48 PM

Seems a bit of a tame version. I like the verse where 'So I gave her three doubles, with fair length and (oops, forgotten that bit)' (Young Tradition and no doubt other versions). And as for getting pregnant on the first time, well they WOULD say it was, wouldn't they.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: Desdemona
Date: 27 Jan 02 - 05:34 PM

AHA----excellent point!!!!

It is indeed a "device", and one that can be pretty amusing if you think of it in the light Mark mentions above: "Sheesh! Every time I walk out the door to go to market day, to check on my father's sheep, to have a ramble on the moor/heather/woodland, or just to milk the damn cow, I run across some irresistible silver-tongued devil who immediately gets me pregnant!!!"

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: Snuffy
Date: 27 Jan 02 - 06:24 PM

Pavane , That verse is in the Hickerson/Redpath version which is already in the DT with two different tunes. See Jeri's blicky (above) for the link to it.

WassaiL! V

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: GUEST,English Jon
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 06:38 AM

Who's eaten my biscuit?

I knew the song (with this tune) from my Dad's singing. He MAY have got it from Tim Hart, hence W:C COULD HAVE got it from Steeleye repetoire. Pure conjecture, however. I'll ask him later.

EJ

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: nutty
Date: 28 Jan 02 - 03:45 PM

There's another slightly different version in the Bodleian Library

Young Rambleaway

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 05:08 AM

nutty, I believe that's where the Roberts/Barrand version came from. Unfortunately I didn't write their version down, and while I have their record I don't have a turntable. But it's similar to the Bodleian one. John Roberts wrote on the album jacket (1971), regarding their "Rambleaway": "Very common in the English tradition, especially in the South, I learned this version at the Manchester University Folk Song Club, from a singer whose name I am afraid I don't recall." And him with a degree in folklore and everything!

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: Lyr Add: RAMBLEAWAY (from J Roberts & T Barrand)
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 05:29 AM

Found it!

RAMBLEAWAY
as recorded by John Roberts and Tony Barrand, 1971

As I was walking down Birmingham Street
In my new scarlet jacket all neat and complete
The young girls they smiled as they passed me by
Saying one to anohter, there goes Rambleaway

And as I was walking through Birmingham fair
I spied pretty Nancy combing her hair
She smiled to my face and to me did say
Ain't you the young lad they call Rambleaway?

I said, "Pretty Nancy, don't you smile in my face
I do not intend to stay long in this place"

"Then where are you going? Come tell me, my dear"
I told her I'd ramble, the devil knows where

When twenty-four weeks they were over and past
This pretty young wench she grew thick round the waist
And her gown wouldn't meet nor her apron strings tie
And she longed for the sight of young Rambleaway

So come all you young maidens, take a warning from me
When you're courting your fellows, don't be easy or free
Don't dress yourselves up and go out on the play
For it's there you may meet with young Rambleaway

The tune is vaguely similar to the first one in the DT, if you squint your ears.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: Wolfgang
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 09:27 AM

Desdemona,

if you had sex for the first time and got NOT pregnant were you likely to talk about it to the world? All those many times that happens nobody but the two knows usually and with nobody else knowing there will be no song.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 12:35 PM

John Roberts & Tony Barrand "Spencer the Rover is Alive and Well.." has finally been reissued on cd by Swallowtail Records (ST-0001). It's available from Swallowtail (although their web site says they only have cassettes) or Golden Hind Records (which is John & Tony's label/distribution site). (Unfortunately, the link to the "lyrics and notes" there is either dead or premature...)

~ Becky in Tucson

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: Sandy Paton
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 07:39 PM

It's also available from Folk-Legacy, as are all of the CDs by John and Tony. Folk-Legacy makes shopping easy for internet purchasers by accepting credit cards (except American Express). By the way, wasn't John's degree in psychology, as was Tony's?

Sandy

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: Mark Cohen
Date: 29 Jan 02 - 09:42 PM

Of course, Sandy, but that's the folk process at work. Makes for a much more effective line that way...! Actually, though, I seem to recall seeing them in Philly in the 70s and hearing that one or the other or both was/were in the Department of Folklore at Penn. Though that could very well have been somebody else. Hedy West would know.

Aloha,
Mark

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: GUEST,JohnB
Date: 30 Jan 02 - 12:20 PM

I like the version which the Albion Band do, not sure what albumn it's on though. JohnB

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 30 Jan 02 - 07:09 PM

J & T went from grad school at Cornell in perceptual psychology (whatever the heck that is) to teaching and "psychology & the arts" at Marlborough College in Vermont, then John dropped out of teaching and Tony went on to Boston U., where he teaches now, continuing an interdisciplinary approach to psychology & arts.

A. Phan
(Thanks to Keith Fotheringham in Sing Out! Vol. 42#3)
(or ignore this, and develop the myth further as you choose! ;-) )

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: Desdemona
Date: 30 Jan 02 - 07:45 PM

I suppose Wolfgang's point is well-taken: it wouldn't make for a very dramatic song if all you had to work with was: "I went out to milk the cows/check the sheep/have a ramble, met a handsome young rogue & had sex & that was the end of it"!

Subject: RambleAway
From:
Date: 17 May 02 - 12:42 PM

Help anyone - I am looking for lyrics to RambleAway - not the one that is given in the search, although it is similar. I sang it years ago & would like to do it again but have lost words - Eliza Carthy does a version which is similar.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: RambleAway
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 17 May 02 - 12:58 PM

A transcription of the set recorded by Waterson-Carthy was posted in this earlier discussion: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy. They didn't name a source for the text, and have set it to a tune from another song. Also in that thread is the text recorded by Barrand and Roberts, which they learned from an unnamed singer in a folk club. It's pretty much the usual one that was circulating in the folk clubs in the 1960s and 70s.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: RambleAway
From: nutty
Date: 17 May 02 - 05:45 PM

The Bodleian Library has a similar ballad (circa 1850) printed in Preston (Lancs) that the Watersons version may have come from .........

Young Rambleaway

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: GUEST,Pat
Date: 23 May 02 - 03:36 PM

Please does anyone know the version which starts: As I was a walking to Tetbury fair????

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Rambleaway, Waterson:Carthy
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 23 May 02 - 03:48 PM

Ian White has just posted the information to uk.music.folk that this is the set recorded by the Albion Band on their album 1990 (Topic TSCD 457), and that the track also appears on the Folk Heritage II sampler (MCCD 049). I haven't found any references to a Tetbury Fair version in tradition; does anybody know if the Albions named their source?