Lyr Req: Jockey to the Fair

Subject: Lyr Req: Jockey to the fair
From: Little Robyn
Date: 23 Feb 04 - 03:12 AM

Are there any words that go with this morris dance tune? I'm sure I've heard Shirley Collins reciting a verse to the tune but is it a song?
Robyn

Subject: Lyr Add: JOCKEY TO THE FAIR
From: masato sakurai
Date: 23 Feb 04 - 04:09 AM

I'm not sure if this is the one asked for, but there's is a song with that title in Robert Bell's Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of England.

Jockey to the Fair

'TWAS on the morn of sweet May-Day,
When nature painted all things gay,
Taught birds to sing, and lambs to play,
And gild the meadows fair;
Young Jockey, early in the dawn,
Arose and tripped it o'er the lawn;
His Sunday clothes the youth put on,
For Jenny had vowed away to run
With Jockey to the fair;
For Jenny had vowed, &c.

The cheerful parish bells had rung,
With eager steps he trudged along,
While flowery garlands round him hung,
Which shepherds use to wear;
He tapped the window; 'Haste, my dear!'
Jenny impatient cried, 'Who's there?'
''Tis I, my love, and no one near;
Step gently down, you've nought to fear,
With Jockey to the fair.'
Step gently down, &c.

'My dad and mam are fast asleep,
My brother's up, and with the sheep;
And will you still your promise keep,
Which I have heard you swear?
And will you ever constant prove?'
'I will, by all the powers above,
And ne'er deceive my charming dove;
Dispel these doubts, and haste, my love,
With Jockey to the fair.'
Dispel, &c.

'Behold, the ring,' the shepherd cried;
'Will Jenny be my charming bride?
Let Cupid be our happy guide,
And Hymen meet us there.'
Then Jockey did his vows renew;
He would be constant, would he true,
His word was pledged; away she flew,
O'er cowslips tipped with balmy dew,
With Jockey to the fair.
O'er cowslips, &c.

In raptures meet the joyful throng;
Their gay companions, blithe and young,
Each join the dance, each raise the song,
To hail the happy pair.
In turns there's none so loud as they,
They bless the kind propitious day,
The smiling morn of blooming May,
When lovely Jenny ran away
With Jockey to the fair.
When lovely, &c.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jockey to the fair
From: Little Robyn
Date: 23 Feb 04 - 04:59 AM

That almost fits the dance tune. Thanks.
Robyn

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jockey to the fair
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 23 Feb 04 - 07:01 AM

Number 3344 in the Roud Folk Song Index. Most of the entries are examples in songsters, popular song books and broadsides, though sets from oral currency are listed at present from Nova Scotia, Tennessee, and Sussex. Various broadside editions can be seen, as Jockey to the Fair, Jockey & Jenny's Trip to the Fair, Jockey and Jenny, and Trip to the Fair, at  Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads:

Jockey to the Fair

It appears that the song was in great vogue in the 1780s, having perhaps first appeared in the preceding decade (Chappell says 1772, but Frank Kidson was unable to verify that date) and was also used as a Country Dance tune. The original tune appears to have been rather more complicated than the form in which it is used for the Morris.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jockey to the fair
From: pavane
Date: 23 Feb 04 - 11:42 AM

The Morris forms contain several variations. There are three main variants, with short, medium and long B music, some with 'slows' and some without.

The versions danced in a set usually have B music played 3 times, (corners) whereas the version used as a jig does not.

The tune is also included as a set dance in O'Neill's Music of Ireland.

Jockey, or Jock, was a general term for a young man, not necessarily a horse rider or Scotsman, as is commonly meant today.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jockey to the fair
From: masato sakurai
Date: 23 Feb 04 - 08:31 PM

Notes and Queries Vol_ 7 (167) Jan 8 1853 Page 49, the page Robert Bell referred to.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jockey to the fair
From: MAG
Date: 23 Feb 04 - 08:34 PM

Margaret Christl did a dynamite version of this on her first or second LP.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jockey to the Fair
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 25 Jan 17 - 04:56 PM

Thought this would be as good a place as any to revive this old thread and ask for further details.

Another song which uses the 'Jockey' tune is similar in sentiment but has no text in common. Mabs Hall sings on the VTCD Down in the Fields a song called 'Trip to the Fair' which starts:

One summer's morning Johnny he rose
And he dressed himself in his holiday clothes
Unto Miss Molly he then did say,
Come dress yourself, make no delay,
We'll trip unto the fair-o, we'll trip unto the fair-o, we'll trip unto the fair.

3 more longer stanzas. I can't find it in print anywhere or in any other versions.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jockey to the Fair
From: rich-joy
Date: 25 Jan 17 - 05:13 PM

Yes, I have been known to sing this, having learnt it from the recording [ no longer available ] by lovely Scots-Canadian singer, Margaret Christl. Not the easiest song to sing but very rewarding to get it right!

R-J
Down Under

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jockey to the Fair
From: Tradsinger
Date: 26 Jan 17 - 03:30 AM

Check out this traditional version:

http://glostrad.com/jockey-to-the-fair-2/

Tradsinger

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jockey to the Fair
From: rich-joy
Date: 26 Jan 17 - 05:26 PM

How lovely Tradsinger! Thanks for that link.
(Perhaps if I'd sang it slower I would've found it easier, LOL!)

Cheers,
R-J

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Jockey to the Fair
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 27 Jan 17 - 08:31 AM

I'll start a new thread for 'Trip to the Fair' when I've time.