Looking for US handloom songs

Subject: Looking for US handloom songs
From: GUEST,Ewan McVicar
Date: 12 Mar 03 - 04:31 PM

Subject: RE: Looking for US handloom songs
From: GUEST,Ewan McVicar
Date: 12 Mar 03 - 04:32 PM

I'll try again.
On behalf of a singer I am seeking American songs about handloom weaving or spinning by hand. I have located many about factory weaving, zilch about handlooms. Any thoughts?

Subject: RE: Looking for US handloom songs
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 12 Mar 03 - 05:24 PM

Lyr. Add: I Am A Little Weaver
^^
I am a little weaver, and pleasant are my days,
My little wheel keeps whirling, and round me kitty plays:
My life so calm and happy, so bright and active is,
There's no joy I wish for to crown my earthly bliss,
My songs are never silent, but in the peaceful night,
I always rise to labor when day is growing light,
But tho I am so busy, I'm sure I do not care,
They rather should be pitied who always idle are.

And while my wheel keeps whirling, the hours they seem not long,
I feel each day so happy, so lively is my song;
My work it never wearies, but gives me strength you see,
And I am always cheerful, oh! don't you envy me.
I care not for the dainties, nor all the splendid things,
That from beyond the ocean the rich man's vessel brings,
My daily food so humble, I am content to eat,
Nor will I ever envy the wealthy or the great.

By E. C. B., copyright by G. P. Read, 1853; S. Brainard Songs.
Sheet music and lyrics, Vocal Beauties 6, American Memory website.

Subject: RE: Looking for US handloom songs
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 12 Mar 03 - 05:27 PM

Forgot to mention, "I am a Little Weaver was printed in Cleveland, Ohio.

Subject: RE: Looking for US handloom songs
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 12 Mar 03 - 06:21 PM

I presume you have found "The Old Spinning Wheel" by William J "Billy" Hill, pub. 1933. See thread 5982 and post by Gargoyle: Spinning Wheel

The song is in the DT, but not credited to the author.

Subject: RE: Looking for US handloom songs
From: CarolC
Date: 12 Mar 03 - 06:28 PM

"Pop Goes the Weasel" is a spinning song. I explained how it is/was used in this post:

Songs sung by spinners

Subject: RE: Looking for US handloom songs
From: CarolC
Date: 12 Mar 03 - 06:32 PM

I just reread your initial post. I don't think Pop Goes the Weasel is an American song. But I could be wrong about that. I learned that bit of the song's history while I was an apprentice weaver.

Subject: RE: Looking for US handloom songs
From: GUEST,Q
Date: 12 Mar 03 - 08:57 PM

Always thought it was a cobler's song.
Round and round the cobbler's bench, The monkey chased the weasel. But it ain't.
The song is English and the weasel is a metal tool used by hat-makers in England. The weasel was often popped (pawned- old cant). Randolph in Ozark Folksongs cites Gomme, Traditional Games, II, 1898, p. 63. I
am not sure he is right- see verse below.

In Roll Me in Your Arms, Randolph provides some pretty good "unprintable" lyrics for the song.
Versions in the Bodleian Collection go back to the late 18th century.
It was also a dance tune (may be the origin).
Old versions in the Bodleian Collection concern a dance:

Now all the girls are going mad,
For- Pop goes the weasel!
And the finest tune we ever had,
Is- Pop goes the Weasel!
It is danced by Albert and the Queen,
Chummies done it round the green,
And many girls have ruined been,
By Pop Goes the Weasel!

Firth b.25(206), J. Evans, London, 1780-1812 (date obviously wrong for this printing). Several others shown, all use Pop goes the weasel as a euphemism.

So- one of Randolph's verses:
A shilling for a spool of thread,
A penny for a needle,
A dollar gold for a piece of cock,
Pop goes the weasel.

Subject: RE: Looking for US handloom songs
From: GUEST,Ewan McVicar
Date: 13 Mar 03 - 05:30 PM

Many thanks for these, which I've passed on to my singer friend. It is puzzling how few handloom weaving or spinning songs American songs there are, compared to the wealth of British ones.

Subject: RE: Looking for US handloom songs
From: pattyClink
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 11:33 AM

What's puzzling about a younger country begun only a couple generations before the industrial revolution not having a lot of songs for old hand-trades?

Subject: RE: Looking for US handloom songs
From: GUEST,Ewan McVicar
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 03:24 PM

But not all handloom weaving disappeared the moment the Industrial Revolution began. It has not stopped yet, in isolated communities and as a craft activity in Scotland and elsewhere. Machine weaving created the cheap fabrics, the fine work was still done by hand for many many years. And I thought there were quite a lot of song-creating WASPs in America for quite a while before the country was 'begun'. One of my favourite US songs, Peg And Awl, complains about the IR doing away with handmade shoes. Many more people made cloth by hand than made shoes.

Subject: RE: Looking for US handloom songs
From: Hester
Date: 14 Mar 03 - 03:59 PM

You might try asking the

Handweavers' Guild of America

Cheers, Hester