Lyr Add: Guy Fawkes (from Arky's Toast)

Subject: Lyr Add: GUY FAWKES (from Arky's Toast)
From: rich-joy
Date: 12 Sep 02 - 07:54 AM

GUY FAWKES
as sung by Arky's Toast


Guy! Guy! Guy! Stick him up on high!
Stick him on a lamp-post and there let him die!

1. A ha'penny poke to feed the bloke
A pennyworth's cheese for him to choke
A pint of beer to wash his sins
And a good old fire to roast him.

Guy! Guy! Guy! Stick him up on high!
Stick him on a lamp-post and there let him die!
All the Boys! All the Boys! God Save the King!
All the Boys! All the Boys! God Save the King!
All the Boys! All the Boys! God Save the King!
All the Boys! All the Boys! God Save the King!

2. We'll burn his body and burn his head
And then we'll say Guy Fawkes is dead
They say he had a hearty try
To blow Westminster whole sky-high.

3. As I was marching across the fields
I met a beggar blacking his heels
I asked him if he could fight
His face and beard as black as night.

4. Now give the old Guy a penny
For we know he ain't got many
If you ain't got a penny, an ha'penny will do
If you ain't got an ha'penny, God Bless You.

I found this version on an old tape by Martyn Wyndham Read and Arky's Toast and others called "Maypoles to Mistletoe" ~ does anyone know the history of this particular Guy Fawkes song??

Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Guy Fawkes - arky's toast
From: Joan from Wigan
Date: 13 Sep 02 - 04:40 AM

It seems to be not so much one song as an amalgamation of several traditional bonfire-night children's rhymes. For a comprehensive collection, click here: Guy Fawkes Day Sayings and Chants, and you'll find bits of the above in several places.

Joan

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Guy Fawkes - arky's toast
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 13 Sep 02 - 05:44 AM

You could try contacting Martin. Arky's Toast are no longer together, but Jim still sings with a group called Hat-Trick.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Guy Fawkes - arky's toast
From: rich-joy
Date: 13 Sep 02 - 06:15 AM

Good idea Dave : Martin will be in concert in SE Queensland in early October, so I'll try to ask him then ...

Fascinating site that, Joan!! Thanks for the link.

Cheers! R-J

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Guy Fawkes - arky's toast
From: Herga Kitty
Date: 13 Sep 02 - 03:20 PM

Is this the Arky's Toast that I booked for Heritage when I was President in 1972?

Kitty

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Guy Fawkes - arky's toast
From: McGrath of Harlow
Date: 13 Sep 02 - 08:04 PM

As long ago as that, Kitty? Never!

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Guy Fawkes - arky's toast
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 05:59 AM

There's only ever been one group called Arkies Toast as far as I know - they were 3 fellows (policemen) who sang unnac. They took their name from a song written by a Mr Arkwright who was the licensee at one of the pubs in Charlwood (nr Gatwick). They used to be co-residents (with Martin W. R.) at Charlwood Folk Club. If you search the forum you'll find at least one other thread about "Arkie".

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Guy Fawkes - arky's toast
From: nutty
Date: 14 Sep 02 - 06:17 PM

Could someone please put me in touch with a member of Arkie's Toast ....... I believe they could give verification as to the origins of a song called English Meadow.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Guy Fawkes (from Arky's Toast)
From: michaelr
Date: 17 Oct 11 - 09:21 PM

I'm learning this song for a Nov. 5 gig, and it's been suggested to me that the refrain is not "all the boys" but "holler, boys" with the aitch dropped, sounding like "aller boys".

Here is a link to the Arkie's Toast recording. I'd appreciate opinions from our UK friends.

Cheers,
Michael

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Guy Fawkes (from Arky's Toast)
From: RTim
Date: 17 Oct 11 - 09:56 PM

Surely the chorus above is wrong? Should be:

Holler Boys, Holler Boys, God Save the King!
Etc

Tim Radford

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Guy Fawkes (from Arky's Toast)
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 18 Oct 11 - 08:55 AM

The new location for my chants and bonfire prayers site is
http://mysite.verizon.net/cbladey/guy/html/verse.html

http://mysite.verizon.net/cbladey/guy/html/verse.html


I am nearing completion of volume II of the massive fawkes bonfire project- "Faux Music" hard to believe about 300 pages of chants and songs.....watch this space....

Conrad

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Guy Fawkes (from Arky's Toast)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Oct 11 - 11:26 AM

From Notes and Queries, Volume 118 (10 S. X. Dec. 19, 1908), page 496:

In the days when bonfires were lighted and fireworks were let off on Tower Hill, say before 1858, the rimes sung by the London boys were:—

Please to remember the fifth of November,
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot;
I see no reason why Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

A stick and a stake
For King James's sake,
A stick and a stump
For old Oliver's rump.
Hip! Hip! Hip! Hooray!

Guy! Guy! Guy! stick him up on high.
Stick him on a lamp-post and there let him die!
A rope, a rope, to hang the Pope,
A penn'orth of cheese to choke him,
A pint of beer to wash it down,
And a jolly good fire to roast him.
Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! let the bells ring!
Holloa, boys! holloa, boys! God save the Queen!
With a hip, hip, hip, hooray!

S. S. McDowall.

[The typography doesn't make it clear whether those are supposed to be 3 separate rhymes or one continuous rhyme. I have inserted blank lines where it seems reasonable to break up the text.—JD]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: Guy Fawkes (from Arky's Toast)
From: Will Fly
Date: 25 Oct 11 - 12:38 PM

Colin Gates (ex-policeman) has been the organiser of the monthly singaround at Charlwood for many, many years. Martin Wyndham-Read was an early attendee, and still pops in occasionally to contribute a song. The singaround started at the Rising Sun in Charlwood and, over the years, migrated back and forth between the Half Moon and the Rising Sun - where it currently takes place on the second Monday of every month.

Arky Standing was a long-time resident and local character in Charlwood, and "Arky's Toast" is a song about the toasts he proposed in the pubs. I believe the song - like many others about the ancient village of Charlwood - was written by Colin, but I'll have to ask him the next time I see him.

The character of Arky was played by Jim Ward just last Saturday in a concert at Charlwood Village Hall called "Legends - Tales from beyond the Parish Pump", with script and songs by Colin, and many local musicians and dancers.