Lyr Req: the worcestershire wedding

Subject: Lyr Req: the worcestershire wedding
From: GUEST,ooh-aah
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 09:36 PM

I've a very good recording of Martin Carthy singing this very funny song with his usual skill - however because of the rapid delivery I can't pick up all the words. It's off his Crown of Horn album - can anyone help?

Subject: Lyr Add: THE WORCESTERSHIRE WEDDING
From: Sorcha
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 09:48 PM

THE WORCESTERSHIRE WEDDING
[Trad. arr. Martin Carthy]

Sung by Martin Carthy on his 1976 album Crown of Horn. Martin Carthy said in the record's sleeve notes:

The Worcestershire Wedding is another of Martina Russell's songs. Again she could only recall the tune and part of the text, so what is sung here is a severely truncated version of the text published from an 18th century broadside in The Foggy Dew, also compiled by Frank Purslow from the Hammond and Gardiner MSS.

Lyrics
An old woman all clothed in grey
Had a daughter both charming and young
That Roger deluded away
With his false flattering tongue
With him she so often had lain
Abroad in the meadows and fields
Till her belly grew up to her chin
And her spirits right down to her heels

O the diddle oh foll the doll diddle dum day


Cries her mother that's what you expect
When you play the hey ding-a-ding
Why didn't you follow my rule
And tie your two toes in a string
It was Roger the daughter replied
Called me his dear pretty bird
He said he would make me his bride
But he wasn't as good as his word

Foll the diddle oh foll the doll diddle dum day

Go fetch me me crutches she cried
And bring me me spectacles too
For if he will not make you his bride
I'll sure split his head into two
She come to him there at the mill
At him with her crutches she fly
Cries Why don't you marry me daughter
And make her as honest as I

Foll the diddle oh foll the doll diddle dum day

Oh what will you give he cries
If I take her now off your hands
You must make me the lord of your store
Your money your building and land
Cries she you shall have all you wish
Me cattle me silver and gold
Says he I've been looking for this
It'll keep out the wind and the cold

Foll the diddle oh foll the doll diddle dum day

Then hey for a girl or a boy
Young missus looked fine as a duchess
Mother danced and she capered for joy
And she danced a fine jig on her crutches

Foll loll the diddle oh foll the doll diddle dum day

Acknowledgements
Transcribed by Garry Gillard, with help from Wolfgang Hell. Thanks also to Ruth Bygrave.
http://www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de/~zierke/martin.carthy/songs/theworcestershirewedding.html

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the worcestershire wedding
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 10:59 PM

That's Marina Russell, née Sartin (1833-1908). She lived at Upwey in Dorset, and sang 100 songs for Henry and Robert Hammond in the course of a mere two visits in January -or February- and December of 1907. Being quite elderly, her memory for the words was a bit vague, and many were quite fragmentary. She had a lot of interesting and unusual tunes, and, it seems, a fondness for the Dorian mode. She must have had a formidable repertoire in her youth. A lot of her versions of songs are still sung today; in the main, sadly, by people who don't bother to acknowledge her, or who have learned them from others who didn't bother. Martin Carthy is an exception, and always gives her proper credit.

Quite a few songs that come from her have been posted here at one time or another. There are others, too, not traditional as such but collated from traditional and printed material, which are set to tunes noted from her. I've listed some of these in previous threads.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the worcestershire wedding
From: Sorcha
Date: 17 Nov 03 - 11:16 PM

Thanks,Malcolm...I just copied and pasted as usual. I don't really know provenences...

Subject: Lyr/Tune Add: THE WORCESTERSHIRE WEDDING
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 18 Nov 03 - 12:17 PM

No reason why you should know; and the mis-spelling wasn't your fault. It did need correcting, though.

Here is the song as Mrs Russell had it. It's sometimes tempting to see parallels in a singer's life with songs that they sang, though we can't know whether their repertoire was necessarily influenced. At any rate, one of Mrs Russell's unmarried daughters got pregnant; but there seems to have been no happy ending in that case, and Marina brought up the illegitimate grandson herself.


THE WORCESTERSHIRE WEDDING

(Noted from Mrs Marina Russell, Upwey, Dorset, Feb. 1907, by Henry and Robert Hammond)

An old lady was clothed in grey
Whose daughter was charming and young.
Young Roger delude her away
With his false flattering tongue.
Three guineas he gave her in hand;
He told her she must not dispute.
He brought her unto his command,
And 'tis done, and 'tis not to be helped.
Fal the dal the did-dle al,
Fal the dal did-dle al day.

"Oh! what will you give me, bold Hodge,
If I do take her from your hand?
Will you make me lord of the manor,
Likewise of your houses and land,
Your barns and your stables also
Both every wether and yeowe,
If I do take her as my bride?
And speak up, if you will, 'Yes,' or 'No.' "
Fal the dal the diddle al,
Fal the dal diddle al day.

Then the bargain it was soon made,
And the job it was soon done.
The old woman wished them good luck,
And was proud of her daughter and son.

*     *     *     *     *

You see they are greater than duchess [es]
The old woman wished them good luck,
And she danced a fine jig on her crutches.
Fal the dal the diddle al,
Fal the dal diddle al day.


Journal of the Folk Song Society III (11) 1907 119-120.


X:1
T:The Worcestershire Wedding
S:Mrs Marina Russell, Upwey, Dorset, Feb. 1907
Z:Henry and Robert Hammond
B:Journal of the Folk Song Society III (11) 1907 119-120
L:1/8
Q:1/4=100
M:3/4
K:A
E E|A2 B2 A2|=G2 F2 E2|A4 A2|
w:An old la-dy was clo-thed in grey Whose
d2 e2 d2|c2 c2 B2|A4 E2|E2 A2 A2|
w:daugh-ter was charm-ing and young. Young Ro-ger de-
=G2 F2 E2|A4 A2|d4 d2|c2 A2 B2|A4 A2|
w:lude her a-way With his false flat-ter-ing tongue. Three
A2 B2 c2|d2 e2 c2|d4 c2|d2 c2 d2|
w:gui-neas he gave her in hand; He told her she
e2 =g2 f2|e4 A2|A2 e2 e2|A2 B2 A2|
w:must not dis-pute. He brought her un-to his com-
=G2 F2 E2|B2 c2 d2|e2 d2 c2|B4 ||
w:mand, And 'tis done, and 'tis not to be helped.
A A|A3 A A B|=c6|d3 e =f2|e2 =c2 A2|A4|]
w:Fal the dal the did-dle al, fal the dal did-dle al day.


The song is no. 1594 in the Roud Folk Song Index. Beside Mrs Russell's set, the Hammonds also got a version from Mrs [Edith] Bowring at Cerne Abbas (Dorset, 1907) and there is a text in John Bell's MSS (Northumberland). Editions of the broadside can be seen at  Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:

The old woman cloathed in grey

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the worcestershire wedding
From: GUEST,Pat
Date: 28 Mar 04 - 02:49 PM

Hello list,
Looking at the broadsides for this song in the Bodleian -- I can't tell if they've been dated? Am I just being thick? Can anyone enlighten me?
I'm wondering if "The Worcestershire Wedding" might have been sung as far back as the 1770s.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the worcestershire wedding
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 28 Mar 04 - 03:39 PM

Well before then, probably. Those broadsides aren't dated, but there are examples with music extant elsewhere from c. 1705. The song was quoted in A Collection of Old Ballads (1723-1725, II, 230) so was likely not new at the beginning of the 18th century. Claude Simpson (The British Broadside Ballad and Its Music, 1966, 405) thinks it likely that it was in circulation during the later part of the 17th century, but notes that there appear to be no copies surviving from that period.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the worcestershire wedding
From: GUEST,Pat
Date: 28 Mar 04 - 04:06 PM

That's great news for me. Thanks so much for the reply!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: the worcestershire wedding
From: GUEST,steve mann
Date: 21 May 04 - 02:09 PM

I think the last verse is:

well hey for a girl or a boy young missus looked blithe as a dove
she smiled as she capered for joy and she danced a fine jig on her crutches