Lyr Req: Tony Rose's George Collins

Subject: Lyr Req: Tony Rose'S George Collins
From: GUEST,Roberto
Date: 21 Nov 03 - 04:20 AM

Please, somebody to check this one, George Collins as sung by Tony Rose on Bare Bones. Thank you. Roberto

George Collins walked out on a May morning
When May was all in bloom
There he espied a fair pretty maid
Washing her marble stone

O, she's whooped and she's holler'd (?), she's highered her voice
Held up her lilywhite hands
Come hither to me, George Collins - she said
For your life shall not last you long

He set his foot on the broad(?) water side
O'er the lea sprung he
He embraced her 'round the middle so small
Kissed her red ruby cheeks

George Collins rode home to his father's own gate:
Rise, mother, and make my bed
And I will trouble me dear sister
For a napkin to tie 'round my head

For if I should chance to die this night
As I suppose I shall
Bury me under the marble stone
That's against fair Eleanor's hall

Fair Eleanor sat in her room so fine
Working her silken skein
She saw the finest corpse a-coming
That ever the sun shone on

And she said unto her Irish maid:
Whose corpse is this so fine? -
That is George Collins's corpse a-coming
That once was a true love of thine

Come lower him down, me six pretty lads
And open the coffin so fine
That I might kiss those lilywhite lips
Ten thousand times they have kissed mine

And go you upstairs and fetch me the sheet
That's wove with the silken twine
Hang it over George Collins's head
Tomorrow it'll hang over mine

And the news was carried to fair London town
Wrote on London's gate:
Six pretty maids died all in one night
All for George Collins's sake

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tony Rose'S George Collins
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 21 Nov 03 - 09:55 AM

I'd be surprised if Tony didn't say in his sleeve notes where he got this. Perhaps you would tell us? It appears to be the text from The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs, which is in the DT: George Collins (3).

If that is the case, then a few trivial changes have been made, which can be compared with the DT text (where, of course, "thousnad" is a typo). See also comments in your previous George Collins thread.

One note: a common problem people have when transcribing songs from recordings made by revival singers is the confusion between the words "me" and "my". Where it is a matter of pronounciation rather than dialect (which is the case here) it is best to show the correct "my", which is how the word is spelled in what I take to be Tony's source. Different procedures are often employed when transcribing from traditional singers, as in such cases the context is as important as the material; though the extent to which accent or dialect can be faithfully reflected without making the result unreadable or having recourse to the phonetic alphabet is a matter for debate. Here, however, pronounciation is largely irrelevant.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tony Rose'S George Collins
From: boldreynard
Date: 21 Nov 03 - 10:40 AM

Unfortunately Tony Rose didn't list his sources for any of the songs on Bare Bones.
The tune and most of the words are quite close to those sung by Enos White on the Topic Voice of the People anthology "O'er his grave the grass grew green". Mr White was recorded by Bob Copper in Axford, Hampshire in July 1955. His lyrics are as follows ( changes in brackets according to the sleeve notes):

George Collins walked out [one] May morning
When May was all in bloom
[And there he saw the] fair pretty maid
[A-]washing her [white] marble stone

[She] whooped, [she] hollered, [she called so loud],
[She waved] her lilywhite hands
Come hither to me, George Collins -[ she said]
For your life [it won't] not last you long

[He put his benbow down on the bankside
And across the river he sprung.
He clips his hands] 'round [her] middle so small
[And] kissed her red ruby cheeks

George Collins rode home to his father's own [house
And he knocked at the ring.
"Arise, arise, dear Father," he cried
"Arise and let me in."

"Arise, arise, dear Mother," he cried,
Arise and shake up] my bed
[Arise, arise, dear sister," he cried,
"Get] a napkin to tie 'round my head

For if I should die this night
{Which] I suppose I shall
[You] bury me under [that white] marble stone
That [leads from] fair [Ellender's home."]

Fair [Ellender] sat in her [hall one day
A-weaving her silk so fine]
She saw the finest corpse a-coming
That ever [her eyes] shone on

[Fair Ellender] said unto her head maid:
Whose corpse is this so fine? -
[She made a reply, "George Collins's corpse
An old true lover] of thine."

[Oh put him down, my little brave boy]
And open [his] coffin so wide
That I might kiss George Collins's cheek
For] thousand times [he has] kissed mine

[Rose's next verse is absent]

[This] news [being] carried to fair London town,
[And] wrote on [London gates]:
[There was] six pretty maids died all in one night
['Twas] all for George Collins's sake

Hope this is of interest.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tony Rose'S George Collins
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 21 Nov 03 - 11:17 AM

You might have a look at Roberto's previous George Collins thread, where we have already been over the Enos White business in some detail; though nobody posted his full text. There is a link to the discussion in my previous message. It's unlikely that this was Tony's source; "Penguin" is a far closer match, as the other link I gave will show.

On the whole, it is best to stick to just the one one thread when asking questions about differing forms of the same song; it saves unnecessary repetition.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Tony Rose'S George Collins
From: Roberto
Date: 21 Nov 03 - 01:47 PM

Malcolm, I think you've already told me to avoid writing "me" instead of "my", etc, when it is only a matter of pronunciation. I agree with you, but I often write the words as I hear them to remind me of how actually the singer sang the song, to hear it in my mind while I read it. Roberto