Fflat Huw Puw - translation

Subject: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 24 Feb 04 - 11:45 PM

I'm collecting saucy songs to play for a cakewalk, and one I'm considering is the Welsh folk Fflat Huw Puw (The Barge Hugh Pugh).
The lyrics are below. Can anyone give me a rough translation?

Mae sŵn yn Mhortinllaen, sŵn hwylie'n codi:
Blocie i gyd yn gwichian, Dafydd Jones yn gweiddi:
Ni fedra'i aros gartre yn fy myw;
Rhaid i mi fynd yn llongwr iawn ar Fflat Huw Puw.

Fflat Huw Puw yn hwylio heno,
Sŵn codi angor; mi fyna'i fynd i forio:
Mi wisga'i gap pig gloyw tra bydda'i byw,
Os cai fynd yn llongwr iawn ar Fflat Huw Puw.

Mi bryna'i yn y Werddon sane sidan,
Sgidie bach i ddawnsio, a rheiny a bycle arian;
Mi fyddai'n ŵr bonheddig tra bydda'i byw,
Os ca i fynd yn Gapten llong ar Fflat Huw Puw.

Mi gadwai'r Fflat fel parlwr gore,
Bydd sgwrio mawr a chrafu bob ben bore;
Mi fydd y pres yn sgleinio ar y llyw,
Pan fydda i yn Gapten llong ar Fflat Huw Puw.

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: sian, west wales
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 04:10 AM

Mae sŵn yn Mhortinllaen, sŵn hwylie'n codi:
There's a sound in Portinllaen, the sound of sails a'raisin'
Blocie i gyd yn gwichian, Dafydd Jones yn gweiddi:
The blocks are squeaking, Dafydd Jones a'yellin'
Ni fedra'i aros gartre yn fy myw;
For the life of me, I can't stay home
Rhaid i mi fynd yn llongwr iawn ar Fflat Huw Puw.
I must go as a real sailor on Huw Puw's Flat


Fflat Huw Puw yn hwylio heno,
Huw Puw's flat is sailing tonight
Sŵn codi angor; mi fyna'i fynd i forio:
The sound of anchor raising; I must go to sea
Mi wisga'i gap pig gloyw tra bydda'i byw,
I'll wear the sailor's cap (cap with a shiny peak) throughout my life
Os cai fynd yn llongwr iawn ar Fflat Huw Puw.
If I may go as a real sailor on Huw Puw's flat


Mi bryna'i yn y Werddon sane sidan,
I'll buy silk stockings in Ireland,
Sgidie bach i ddawnsio, a rheiny a bycle arian;
Little dancing shoes with silver buckles
Mi fyddai'n ŵr bonheddig tra bydda'i byw,
I'll be a gentleman all my live
Os ca i fynd yn Gapten llong ar Fflat Huw Puw.
If I may be the Captain on Huw Puw's Flat


Mi gadwai'r Fflat fel parlwr gore,
I'll keep the Flat like the best parlour,
Bydd sgwrio mawr a chrafu bob ben bore;
There'll be such scouring and scraping each morning,
Mi fydd y pres yn sgleinio ar y llyw,
The brass on the wheel will gleam
Pan fydda i yn Gapten llong ar Fflat Huw Puw.
When I am Captain on Huw Puw's Flat.


... but ... it isn't saucy. (Am I missing something?)

I've got some background notes somewhere, too.


regards
sian

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 05:35 AM

I don't know about 'Saucy', but it could be another cross-dressing song, a-la "Sweet Polly Oliver" if sung by a girl.

Nigel

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: Jeanie
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 06:02 AM

Maybe even saucier if sung by a man: "I'll buy silk stockings in Ireland...I'll be a gentleman all my life...."

This looks to be a lovely song. What's the tune ?

- jeanie

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 08:29 AM

Here's the tune from J.Glyn Jones' Cerddi Huw Puw (written originally for his children according to the preface). His notes for this are:

"Fflat Huw Puw ('Huw Pugh's Flat'). Tune: Dydd cyntaf o Awst; JP 92. This tune looks like a fiddler's setting of the insipid tune of Come Jolly Bacchus (early eighteenth century, Ch 658) which appeared, to other words, in The Beggar's Wedding, as the Glorious First of August; whence the Welsh title. I have altered Parry's score slightly regretfully sacrificing some lively top notes, which do better for a fiddle then for a sing-song with sea words. The rhythm of the words follows that of hte music, in violation of footrule prosody. The available rhymes to Huw Puw petered out, and brought the song to an abrupt close

Since Huw Puw's Flat has come into prominence, I had better give a short history. There was such a flat, commemoratedin a dramatic stanza:-

Fflat Huw Puw yn hwylio,
Dafydd Jones yn rhifflio
Huw Puw wrth y llyw
Yn gweiddi Duw a'n helpo

This single episode of a sqall is all that I really know of her. The rest I have invented".

(The references are JP: John Parry's Welsh Harper, 1848 and Ch:Chappell's Popular Music of The Olden Times)

Mick

---

X: 1
T:Fflat Huw Puw
M:C
L:1/8
C:J. Glyn Davies
S:Cerddi Huw Puw - J. Glyn Davies
K:A
E|E>F E>D C2 E2|F2 F2 E2 E2|
w:Mae swn yn Mhor-tin-llaen, swn hwy-lie'n cod-i
FG AF G2 B2|AB cd c2 HB>
w:Blocie i gyd yn gwich-ian, Daf-ydd Jones yn gwei-ddi
E|E>F E>D C2 E2|F2 F2 HE2
w:Ni fed-ra'i ar-os gar-tre yn fy myw;
HA2|FG AF GA BA|c2 A2 A2 z2||
w:Rhaid i mi fynd yn llon-gwr iawn ar Fflat Huw Puw
c2 c2 B2 B2|A2 A2 G2 G2|
w:Fflat Huw Puw yn hwyl-io he-no
(FG) AF G2 B>B|AB cd c2 HB>
w:Swn_ cod-i ang-or; mi fyn-a'i fynd i for-io
E|E>F E>D C2 E2|F2 F2 HE2
w:Mi wis-ga'i gap pig gloew tra bydd-a'i byw,
HA2|F>G A>F GA BA|c2 A2 A2 z|]
w:Os ca i fynd yn llong-wr iawn ar Fflat Huw Puw

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: Jeanie
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 08:46 AM

Ooh, thank you, Mick !

- jeanie

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 10:14 AM

By "saucy" I was referriing to the dotted notes, which add a certain I-don't-know-what to it. "Jaunty" would be a better term.


Thanks very much for the translation, Sian. The song is very appealing. However, it is felicitous or ominous to board a ship with Davy Jones himself on board? (In wales do people use the expression "Davy Jones locker" to refer to the bottom of the sea?)

I will ask Joe Offer to post the MIDI I've prepared.

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 10:31 AM

I've sent the MIDI in. The bass part is clumsy, just a quick indication of what the chords should be. I got the music from a book by the folk band Mabsant. It has a couple of fermatas, and I don't know whether these are for real or not. I omitted them. (Sometimes things like this mean that an amateur transcriber got confused.)

I would appreciate it if someone familiar with the tune would listen and see how it sounds.

Hm, both "amateur" and "amatuer" look wrong.

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: Chris in Wheaton
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 11:01 AM

Jeeneia - if you want another good 'un, how 'bout Lleucu Llwyd?
We're doing that for the St. David's Day Dinner.
Chris in Wheaton

Lleucu Llwyd            (Y Tebot Piws - Dewi Morris)
C                                     F
Lleucu Llwyd, rwyt ti'n hardd,
             C                         G                   C
Lleucu Llwyd, rwyt ti'n werth y byd i mi.
                                        F
Lleucu Llwyd, rwyt ti'n angel,
             C                         G                   C
Lleucu Llwyd, rwy'n dy gar -u di, di, di.
___________
G7       C       G       C   C7
Rwy'n cofio cwrdd â ti
       F                     C
Ac rwy'n cofio'r glaw
                            F                           
Ydy'r eos yn y goedwig?
            D                                 G
Ydy'r blodau yn y maes ger llaw?
            C      G          C      
Yn yr afon mae cyf-rinach,
       F                  C
Dy gusan gyntaf di
                                  F            
Yn y goedwig mae y blodau
      G                     C
yn sibrwd dy enw di.
____________
G          C       G             C    C7
O mae'r oriau mân yn pasio
       F                           C
Fel eiliad ar adain y gwynt,
                                  F
O gorweddaf ar ' ngwely,
   D                                           G
Efallai, daw'r freuddwyd yn gynt,
             C          G       C            
O mae rhywun yn agosáu.
       F                         C
Mi glywaf wichian y glwyd
                                    F
Ac yn nabod s_n yr esgid –
             G                         C
mae'n perthyn i Lleucu Llwyd.         

My English chorus --

C                                 F
Lucy Grey, come with me
          C                      G                C
Lucy Grey, walk with me, just we two
                                  F
Lucy Grey, you're an angel
          C                        G                  C
Lucy Grey, you're my world, be my lovc
-------------------------------------
I remember meeting you, and I remember the rain,
Is the nightingale in the forest?
Are the flowers in the field nearby?
The river holds the secret of your first kiss,
And in the forest the flowers are whispering your name.

The small hours pass like a second on the wings of the wind,
I'll lay on my bed and maybe the dream will come sooner.
Someone is coming nearer,
I can hear the squeaking of the gate
And I recognize the sound of your shoe -
it belongs to Lleucu Llwyd.

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 01:39 PM

leeneia - re the fermata. The abc I posted has them (the Hs before the notes) as given in Davies' book, which I suppose were ones he intended to be there. You can compare them with the Mabsant version to see if they've just copied his placing of them.

Mick

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: sian, west wales
Date: 25 Feb 04 - 04:40 PM

A good cross-dressing one is Llongau Caernarfon, in the same book as MCP posted above.

"Holaf ym mhob llong ar hyd yr harbwr,
Oes 'na le i hogyn fynd yn llongwr"

I will ask at each ship in the harbour
'Is there space for a boy to come along as a shipman/sailor'

Sung by a girl, I think it makes sense ...

sian

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: Joe Offer
Date: 26 Feb 04 - 08:58 PM

Hi, leeneia-
I uploaded the MIDI yesterday, but then we had a big storm and the phones went out; and I wasn't able to post a link to it until just now.
Sorry 'bout that.
-Joe Offer-

---

Click to play

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 27 Feb 04 - 03:51 AM

I've had a quick listen to the MIDI and it's substantially the same as Davies' own published tune, with only the repeated notes (in the midi) at the start of the 3rd line in each half different, and a minor difference in the 2nd line of the 2nd half. And the omitted fermatas of course!

Mick

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 27 Feb 04 - 10:50 AM

folk process, no doubt.

I like the Em and B in the middle.

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: sian, west wales
Date: 27 Feb 04 - 03:42 PM

3rd line? Am I counting wrong? The fourth line is different from the way we'd sing it (and to the notation in "Fflat Huw Puw a Cherddi eraill"). That fermata (gettin' awful technical-like here, aren't we?) at the end of the 3rd line is a hallmark of this song - almost. Could be fun to change it for solo performances but you'd get people tripping over you if you did it this way for an audience of Welsh speakers. (There is no way you can do this without everyone joining in, in a Welsh speaking area!)

sian

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: GUEST,MCP
Date: 27 Feb 04 - 04:44 PM

Sorry! 3rd should have read 4th (I'd been up from the middle of the night with a sick doggg - not a euphemism, but does have a fermata   ;-))

Mick

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: GUEST
Date: 10 Aug 15 - 02:30 PM

I am looking for the music, a well know welsh man wrote a Welsh Temperance hymn to this tune. And the Salvation Army published it c1890.

I am looking for the music, I have a so fa version but it is not very well done.

It would be preferable in stafes the melowdy.

Rev, Wena D Parry

[e-mail]

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 10 Aug 15 - 02:43 PM

You've already got it. Copy the ABC that Mick posted on 25 Feb 04, and paste it into the box at http://mandolintab.net/abcconverter.php . Hit "Submit". You will get a box with staff notation; if you click on that you will get the MIDI (there was absolutely no need for someone upthread to create it specially) and there are options for downloading it in other formats like PDF.

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: Jack Campin
Date: 10 Aug 15 - 05:55 PM

As a footnote, that is the least appealing tune I've come across in a very long time. The words better be VERY good to compensate.

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 11 Aug 15 - 11:42 AM

There are at least three versions of this song on YouTube. I was surprised to observe that there are two different tunes for it.

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Aug 15 - 11:33 AM

I always distinctly hear the English phrase "bird's eye view" macaronically introduced late on at a line end to provide one of the rhymes for the eponymous 'Fflat', but don't find it in any of the versions or translations above. Have I been mishearing all these years? If not, how does it fit into the narrative?

BTW, I have always understood the title to mean "Hugh Pugh's boat" rather than "The boat called Hugh Pugh". Which is correct?

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: Snuffy
Date: 12 Aug 15 - 12:17 PM

Michael, the penultimate lines of verses 2 & 3 end thus:
......... tra bydda'i byw,

which is pronounced approximately "tra bitheye biew"

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: MGM·Lion
Date: 12 Aug 15 - 02:17 PM

Ah! Thank you, Snuffy. I gather it means "All my life"?

≈M≈

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 12 Aug 15 - 07:52 PM

On the 25th of February, 2004, Sian of West Wales told us that one line of the song means "I must go as a real sailor on Huw Puw's Flat." There's another line like that. So Hugh Pugh must be the owner of the boat.

I believe we across the pond would call the boat a barge.

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: Snuffy
Date: 13 Aug 15 - 05:56 AM

A seagoing, sailing barge then. Wikipedia tells us:

Hugh Pugh (1794 or 1795 – 10 August 1865), was a legendary Welsh mariner. Pugh was the captain of a 60-ton "flat" named the Ann of Liverpool, which traded between Runcorn and Caernarfon. His exploits were recorded by John Glyn Davies in the ballad Fflat Huw Puw. The ship was wrecked off Barmouth in 1858, but Pugh survived and retired to Caernarfon and later to Llanidan, where he died.

Runcorn to Caernarvon is coastal and estuarial waters, but the song also mentions sailing to Ireland, some 60-70 miles of open sea.

Here are some images of flats

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: Snuffy
Date: 13 Aug 15 - 06:01 AM

And more info about Huw and his boat

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 13 Aug 15 - 10:04 AM

Thanks for the information, Snuffy.

I see that a flat has the same function as a barge - "Flats were shallow boats that were used to sail up rivers". However, there is isn't much similarity in appearance.

I don't think I would want to take one on the sea.

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Aug 15 - 07:24 AM

Flat anne is the name of the boat, Huw Puw was the owner of it.

Caernarfon is my home town.

Wena D. Parry (mrs)

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: Alice
Date: 21 Jul 19 - 11:23 PM

I am enjoying the recording on youtube by these gentlemen: Ar Y Gweill: Fflat Huw Puw.

Here are the lyrics posted with the video.

Mae swn yn Mhortinllaen,
swn hwylie'n codi:
Blocie i gyd yn gwichian,
Dafydd Jones yn gweiddi:
Ni fedra'i aros gartre
yn fy myw;
Rhaid i mi fynd yn llongwr iawn
ar Fflat Huw Puw.
      Fflat Huw Puw
       yn hwylio heno,
      Swn codi angor;
       mi fyna'i fynd i forio:
Mi wisga'i gap pig gloew
   tra bydda'i byw,
Os cai fynd yn llongwr iawn
   ar Fflat Huw Puw.

Mi bryna'i yn y Werddon
sane sidan,
Sgidie bach i ddawnsio,
a rheiny a bycle arian;
Mi fyddai'n wr bonheddig
tra bydda'i byw,
Os ca i fynd yn Gapten llong
ar Fflat Huw Puw.
      Mi gadwai'r Fflat
       fel parlwr gore,
      Bydd sgwrio mawr a chrafu
       bob ben bore;
Mi fydd y pres yn sgleinio
   ar y llyw,
Pan fydda i yn Gapten llong
ar Fflat Huw Puw.

_____________________

There's a sound in Port Dinorwig,
   the sound of sails being raised:
All the blocks screeching,
Dafydd Jones shouting:
I cannot stay at home
for the life of me;
I must go to be a sailor true
on Huw Puw's Flat.
      Huw Puw's Flat
       is sailing tonight,
      The sound of the anchor being raised;
       I will go to sea!
I will wear a cap with a shiny peak
as long as I live,
If I can go to be a sailor true
on Huw Puw's Flat.

In Ireland I will buy
silk stockings,
Little dancing shoes,
and those with silver buckles;
I would be a gentleman
as long as I live
If I can go to be a ship's Captain
on Huw Puw's Flat.
      I would keep the Flat
       like the best parlour,
      There will be much scrubbing and scraping
       at the start of every morning;
The brass will shine
on the steering wheel
When I become ship's Captain
on Huw Puw's Flat.

tr: 2008 Richard B Gillion

Alice in Montana

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: Mr Red
Date: 24 Jul 19 - 03:03 AM

I don't think I would want to take one on the sea.

Did it have a side keel that could be lifted for shallow rivers?

Wiki on one "Flat" with links (but no useful pictures).

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: leeneia
Date: 25 Jul 19 - 10:24 AM

Thank you very much, Alice! After four years you posted what the words mean. I think Huw Puw means Hugh, son of Hugh.

I'm going to add this tune to my book of travelling recorder tunes.

Subject: RE: Fflat Huw Puw - translation
From: leeneia
Date: 25 Jul 19 - 10:41 AM

Oops. Not after four years, after fifteen. The mills of the gods grind slow.