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Subject: Lyr Add: MIDNIGHT ON THE WATER (Ron Kavana) From: aldus Date: 17 Apr 98 - 08:36 AM I think these are the words'' MIDNIGHT ON THE WATER I never thought much/of that fancy dancin, With my two left feet and my rovin eye. But when the band plays so well/in that 3/4 time, I could dance with my darlin/until mornin' comes. Play me a fiddle tune, sing me a song. anish misfortune, my time is not long. Midnight on the water/so steady and slow. Stay up til the mornin/one more for the road. Midnight on the water/so steady and slow. let's have another drink and set em up Joe. Chorus Well, I've done all my dancin/ down in those barrooms. Dancin and drinkin go hand in glove. So Give a beer to the fiddler, play all the old tunes So I can dance closer to the one that I love. Chorus Midnight on the water so steady and slow. Lets have another drink and set em up Joe. Hope this is it. Click to play |
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Subject: RE: lyrics to Midnight on the Water From: Date: 18 Apr 98 - 01:38 AM Thanks Aldus That's the words I have heard. I will copy them and show them to the woman I know and see what she says. What a nice little song, especially when it goes straight into the Midnight on the Water tune. Helen |
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Subject: RE: lyrics to Midnight on the Water From: JB Date: 18 Apr 98 - 02:50 AM Martin Carthy credits Ron Kavana with writing the (above-mentioned) "song around the Texas waltz Midnight on the Water" in his liner notes for the c.d. Waterson/Carthy. |
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Subject: RE: lyrics to Midnight on the Water From: aldus Date: 20 Apr 98 - 08:15 AM Regardless of Martin Carthy"s claim as to who actually wrote the words, huge chunks of these lyrics appear in many other songs..especially Banish misfortune, my time it ain't long... other parts are found in a lot of other songs of this vintage. As for the tune, it is a great "kitchen fiddle tune" ,isn't it ? |
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Subject: RE: lyrics to Midnight on the Water From: Terry Allan Hall Date: 18 Dec 99 - 01:23 PM "Midnight On The Water" is an old Texas waltz. |
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Subject: RE: lyrics to Midnight on the Water From: Susanne (skw) Date: 18 Dec 99 - 07:14 PM IIRR, Martin Carthy DOES say that Ron Kavana was one of several people who'd tried their hand supplying words to this old tune - or something to this effect. I can't look it up just now. - Susanne |
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Subject: Lyr Add: MIDNIGHT ON THE WATER (Thomasson, Croizat From: georgetownboy Date: 05 Feb 01 - 09:02 AM The best version of this song I've heard is by THE MILL RUN DULCIMER BAND, Annandale, Virginia. They credit the music to Benny Thomasson, words to John Croizat.
There are times when I am blue, thinking of you and me.
CHO: Though they are gone like falling leaves,
There are times when I am blue thinking of you and me,
Though they are gone like floating leaves. Repeat last verse. |
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Subject: RE: lyrics to Midnight on the Water From: GUEST Date: 16 Apr 03 - 09:18 AM |
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Subject: RE: lyrics to Midnight on the Water From: Stewart Date: 16 Apr 03 - 01:06 PM What a great song! I just picked up a copy of the CD Waterson:Carthy, on which this is the last track. See this web page CLICK HERE and scroll down to the bottom for notes on this song. Cheers, S. in Seattle |
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Subject: RE: lyrics to Midnight on the Water From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 16 Apr 03 - 01:32 PM That's one good way to make songs, pick up bits from other songs and stick them together, like a collage. |
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Subject: Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: Les from Hull Date: 16 Apr 03 - 01:43 PM Certainly Ron Kavana wrote the words. Perhaps some of the words have been used before. Isn't that the point? It would be really difficult to write a song using words that hadn't been used before! The song appears on Ron's 1989 CD 'Think like a hero'. Ron Kavana is an excellent songwriter, singer and musician and deserves the credit for this and the other fine songs he has written. The (correct) words that he wrote are: MIDNIGHT ON THE WATER (original lyrics) (Ron Kavana) Well I never was one for musch fancy dancin, My two big left feet follow my wanderin' eye But when I hear that slow air played in 3/4 time I could waltz with my darling until morning light (chorus) Play me a fiddle tune sing me a song Banish misfortune our time is not long Midnight on the water so steady and slow The lark in the morning one more for the road Midnight on the water so steady and slow Pour me one last drink, set 'em up Joe Now most of my waltzing has been done in barrooms 'Cos drinkin' and dancin' go hand in glove Buy a beer for the fiddler and request that slow song So I can dance closely with the one that I love (chorus) |
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Subject: RE: lyrics to Midnight on the Water From: GUEST,Q Date: 16 Apr 03 - 02:03 PM The Fiddle tune, "Midnight on the Water," was composed by the Thomasson Family (date?). An excellent performance in on the Mark O'Connor cd, "Midnight on the Water. Mark O'Connor learned it from Benny Thomasson. On the track listing, a clip of the O'Connor recasting of the tune is available in Real Audio. Midnight on the Water |
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Subject: RE: lyrics to Midnight on the Water From: sharyn Date: 16 Apr 03 - 02:23 PM I have heard that there is another set of words to this tune, nothing like the Ron Kavana words. Does anyone know? |
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Subject: RE: lyrics to Midnight on the Water From: GUEST,Q Date: 16 Apr 03 - 02:34 PM Luke Thomasson, waltz "Midnight on the Water." Tab and notes by John Holman at Midnight on the Water This may differ quite a bit from the Luke Thomasson original. A tab by Bryan Kimsey is at Midnight on the Water Chords and brief sheet music at wildfiddle: Midnight on the Water |
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Subject: RE: lyrics to Midnight on the Water From: GUEST,Q Date: 16 Apr 03 - 02:42 PM I have heard that words were set to the waltz, but I have no idea who or what. The tune is treated as an instrumental in all the recordings that I can find. I woud like to find them too. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: GUEST,Q Date: 16 Apr 03 - 06:59 PM Crozat words to Tomasson's Midnight On the Water in thread 30387, 05 Feb 01. Apparently this has all been posted before. Midnight on the Water lyrics |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: GUEST,Guest Date: 29 Oct 03 - 02:26 AM Judith Edelman has recorded this tune on her "Only Sun" CD and set different words to it. 1998 Compass Records. |
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Subject: Add: Midnight on the Water (John Croizat) From: GUEST,Rosie Mundy Date: 26 Sep 04 - 03:39 PM I have a recording of the late Kate Wolf singing Midnight on the Water. The words are entirely different for those of Ron Kavana. MIDNIGHT ON THE WATER (John Croizat - as sung by Kate Wolf) There are times when I am blue thinking of you and me At midnight on the water and how it used to be. The stars among the trees in some old memories I know At midnight on the water not so long ago. Though they're gone like floating dreams, The scenes were there as in a mirror Made by the moon upon the water, And our love was never stronger. But the picture was broken by the waves we left behind, At midnight on the water once upon a time. There are times when I am blue thinking of you and me At midnight on the water and how it used to be. In the stillness of the lake where these thoughts take me again, At midnight on the water,do you remember when? Though they're gone like floating dreams, The scenes were there as in a mirror Made by the moon upon the water, And our love was never stronger. But the picture was broken by the waves we left behind, At midnight on the water once upon a time. I only have the recording on a tape, so I don't know who wrote these words. Rosie Mundy. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: open mike Date: 27 Sep 04 - 01:50 AM the one that kate sang is by John Croizat. this has been discussed many timie before here.. follow the bouncing blue clicky.. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: GUEST Date: 22 Mar 09 - 09:39 PM According to Kate's site, John Croizat wrote they lyrics. The music is traditional. You might enjoy hearing Caroline Herring's version of this song. http://www.myspace.com/carolineherring |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: GUEST,mqharris Date: 28 Dec 10 - 07:43 AM Yes, Caroline Herring's version of this will knock your socks off. Not only does she do a beautiful instrumental on the guitar, her voice will will make you swoon. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: BanjoRay Date: 28 Dec 10 - 08:20 AM Yup - Caroline Herring's version is gorgeous. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: Tootler Date: 28 Dec 10 - 10:53 AM I much prefer the Ron Kavana lyrics with the fiddle tune references in the chorus. I was somewhat underwhelmed by Caroline Herring's version, but that's a matter of personal taste. I have heard Steve Dawes do the Ron Kavana version a few times with Midnight on the Water tune played on Harmonica which I much prefer. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: PHJim Date: 29 Dec 10 - 01:07 AM I played in a group, The Piper's Hut, in the '90s who used John Croizat's lovely lyrics to this song. They manage to capture the mood perfectly. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: GUEST,bolddubhglas Date: 26 Jan 12 - 02:26 AM I think that it is good that Traditional music is constantly evolving. Its part of the Oral Tradition where songs may be misheard, as like Chinese whispers, over time we end up with several variants of an original song or ballad. Ron Kavana certainly add some words but kept to an old tradition. Who knows how far back this tune goes? It was probably taken to the US by British Emigrants in the 18th or 19th centuries. Its a lovely tune though. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: GUEST,FloraG Date: 26 Jan 12 - 03:07 AM Warning. Its a great tune and song but you need the voice to go with it. Mine just isn't good enough. I can sing all the words in the right order and in tune but I know its not a good listen. FloraG. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: Peter C Date: 26 Jan 12 - 07:10 AM Guest, Q is correct. The tune is by the Thomasson family from Texas, not traditional - 1950's? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: GUEST,blazerD Date: 19 Mar 12 - 04:43 PM sounds a lot like like "old paint" to me |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: GUEST Date: 30 Apr 22 - 05:44 PM Because of the sloppy way that lyrics and credits are posted on the internet I had a fairly strong argument today at a session with someone who was insisting that Norma Waterson wrote the song ! It seems commonplace now to look up a lyric,and, just because it has been recorded by someone, they are, even if only on the internet, credited as the author. Yeah, right. And Luke Kelly wrote the Old Lags' Song too...... |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: GUEST Date: 01 May 22 - 05:50 AM and can you ply 'Dirty Old Town' by the Pogues?- its just laziness |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Midnight on the Water (Ron Kavana) From: Steve Shaw Date: 01 May 22 - 08:04 AM It's worth mentioning that Ron's words are not sung to the actual waltz tune but to a different tune, and that the sung part alternates with the instrumental waltz tune. Until our session folded a few years ago we did it every week for many years! The waltz tune sits very well on a diatonic (low) D harmonica, as Tootler mentions. The best folk club night we ever had was on 1 October 1993 at the Tree Inn at Stratton in Cornwall. The guests were Ron with his octave mandola, his wife Miriam (a terrific fiddle player) and the button accordion player Fran Byrne - a sort of stripped-down version of his Alias Band. During the interval I asked Ron to sing Midnight On The Water for the Shaw family, and he obliged with a gorgeous, languid, slow version, after which, without taking a breath, they launched into a killer set of reels. I still have a scratchy old cassette recording of it somewhere. From that same evening I got the words of his song about the Spanish Civil War, Maria de la Rosa, years before he recorded it for his Alien Alert CD, and a few years ago sent them to Geoff Lawes' thread on songs in English about the Spanish Civil War. The gig went on for a good two hours past the prescribed time, they (and we) were enjoying it so much. A couple of years later, Ron contacted our organiser asking if they could come again as they has a particular night free. We couldn't book them because we already had Tom Paxton for that evening! Not much is heard about Ron these days. I understand that he became disillusioned with the music business and went into academia. He and his band, which we saw several times, are legends in our household. He made one CD called Galway To Graceland that hardly got out of the blocks, something to do with copyright issues I suspect, though I could be wrong about that. I cherish my copy above almost everything else in my collection. |
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