Subject: Martin Carthy From: gwenpatricia@hotmail.com Date: 22 Jan 99 - 04:25 PM I've just heard Martin Carthy sing a song calle 'The Bows(?) of London'. Can anyone tell me where I can find a copy of the lyrics and also a recording of it? Please e-mail me at: gwenpatricia@hotmail.com If you can help. Thanks |
Subject: RE: Martin Carthy From: Wolfgang Date: 27 Jan 99 - 03:14 PM a recording is on Carthy/Swarbrick "Life and Limb", Green Linnet #3052, SPD1030, 1993. I'll look for the lyrics tonight. Wolfgang |
Subject: RE: Martin Carthy From: Wolfgang Date: 28 Jan 99 - 06:29 AM I don't have the lyrics Martin Carthy actually sings, but here's what he writes on the leaflet coming with the CD: "Ever since I heard Jody Stecher sing a luminous song called "The Wind and Rain" -a version of "The Two Sisters"- I have wanted to sing it. Its overwhelming feature is its concentration on the aspect of the story dealing with the building from the murder victim's remains of a fiddle which then takes on a life of its own and ultimalely unmasks the murderer. Having found my own efforts at singing his to be as unconvincing as my efforts at American songs usually are, I cast around for a tune from this side of the water, came upon The Bows Of London and then tried to stay close to Jody's words. A "bow" is the bend in a river." Patricia, when you enter [twa sisters] in the upper right search window, you get more than one version. Better still, there are two songs in the DT-database, "The wind and Rain" and "Oh, the wind and rain" which are close to what Martin Carthy sings. Of course he has adapted the lyrics a bit, but with these two songs in hand you can easily follow what he sings. Wolfgang |
Subject: bows of london From: gary skinner Date: 14 Sep 99 - 03:00 AM Anyone got the lyrics of the bows of london, I havethe song on a Martin Carthy album but I cannot always hear excatly what he is singing |
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: bows of london From: lamarca Date: 14 Sep 99 - 04:03 PM Dear Gary - The song is a version of "The Twa Sisters", Child ballad #10; here is a list of all the versions in the DT and Forum: Two Sisters. If you look at some of the other versions, it might help you decipher Martin's decidedly quirky vocalisms. I have the album at home - if you let me know which lines you're missing, I can try to help you out, |
Subject: Origins: Whence 'The Bows of London'? From: mack/misophist Date: 14 Dec 02 - 05:43 PM Would anyone be kind enough to tell me the origin of the murder ballad Bows of London? It's not in the Digitrad or the forum history. A Google search yields nada. Mostly, I'd like to know what the hell a 'bow' is. My best guess is that it had something to do with St Mary le Beau Church, as in "born within the sound of Bow bells" to describe a Cockney. That doesn't fit the sense of the song, though. Any one out there know? |
Subject: RE: Origins: Whence 'The Bows of London'? From: RolyH Date: 14 Dec 02 - 05:54 PM According to Martin Carthy they are the bends ("Bows") in the River Thames. |
Subject: RE: Origins: Whence 'The Bows of London'? From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 14 Dec 02 - 06:06 PM It belongs to the Twa Sisters family (Child 10). There's a lot of related information in the Forum, but the search engine is broken at the moment. Fortunately, most of the DT files and Forum discussions have had lists of links to (most of) the others added. You may as well start with Lyr Req: bows of london It's a very short thread, but working through the links will give you more background information than you ever wanted, I should think. Don't believe everything that people say though; we've had some quite odd ideas come up from time to time. The refrain, by the way, is one of many different ones and is probably of very little significance. |
Subject: RE: Origins: Whence 'The Bows of London'? From: GUEST Date: 14 Dec 02 - 06:24 PM The "Bows" are really a tributary of the Thames in an area of London called "Bow", where the river snakes its way to the Thames.That's where the song is set. |
Subject: RE: Origins: Whence 'The Bows of London'? From: GUEST,Q Date: 14 Dec 02 - 06:24 PM Not a murder ballad, but a nasty mistress mistreating an apprentice within sound of Bow Bells, and blackmail resulting. "The Crafty London 'Prentice, or Bow Bells." Johnson Ballad 780, ca 1819-1844, Bodelian Library. Also Douce Ballads 3(14b), "The Crafty London Apprentice, or Bow Bells," ca. 1736-1763. Also other copies. Search- Crafty London prentice. Bodleian Library |
Subject: RE: Origins: Whence 'The Bows of London'? From: Gareth Date: 14 Dec 02 - 06:49 PM Geographiclly - look at the openening credits of that BBC Soap " East Enders" - No I don't watch it myself but my aged mother insists that I video it for her from time to time. Gareth |
Subject: Lyr Add: BOWS OF LONDON (from Martin Carthy) From: masato sakurai Date: 14 Dec 02 - 07:47 PM The Martin Carthy version is HERE>. According to A Concordance to the Child Ballads, 10F.1r 2 /About a' the bonny bows o London. 10F.3r 2 /And we'll view the bonny bows o London. 10F.21r 2 /At the bonny bows o London. 10O.1r 2 /At the bonny bonny bows o London 10H.1r 2 /At the bonnie bows of London town. ~Masato
Martin Carthy sings The Bows of London
There were two little sisters awalking alone
And the eldest pushed her sister in
Oh she pushed her in and she watched her drown
Oh she floated up and she floated down
And out and come the miller's son
Oh they laid her out on the bank to die
And he took some strands of her long yellow hair
And he made some strings from this yellow hair
And he made fiddle pegs from her long fingerbone
And he made a fiddle out of her breastbone
But the only tune that the fiddle would play
So the fool's gone away to the king's high hall
And he laid this fiddle all down on a stone
It sang yonder sits my father the king
And yonder sits my mother the queen
And yonder she sits my sister Anne
Roger Wilson sings The Two Sisters
There lived an old lord by the Northern Sea
Bow and balance to me
A young man came a courting there
As they walked down to the waters brim
She floated down to the miller's dam
Acknowledgements
The Bows of London transcribed by Garry Gillard. Roger Wilson's Two Sisters lyrics from the record's sleeve notes. Garry Gillard thanks Wolfgang Hell. |
Subject: RE: Origins: Whence 'The Bows of London'? From: mack/misophist Date: 14 Dec 02 - 09:30 PM I thank you all; each and every one. |
Subject: RE: Origins: Whence 'The Bows of London'? From: John MacKenzie Date: 15 Dec 02 - 05:35 AM There is an area of East London which is called Bow. Although it is not the most salubrious areas, it has given rise to what I think is one of the nicest sounding station names. i.e. Bromley by Bow. Does that name not call out for a poem, a song, or what? Giok |
Share Thread: |
Subject: | Help |
From: | |
Preview Automatic Linebreaks Make a link ("blue clicky") |