Lyr Req: The Horses of May Day (Harry Basnett)

Subject: Horses of May Day?
From: GUEST,Chris
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 07:47 AM

Someone mentioned a song called Horses of May Day on a thread some time back. Is this a song about the Padstow Hobby horse. I can't find anything about it or Harry Basnet who wrote it.
Thanx.

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: John J
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 12:39 PM

Try a PM to Harry Oldham, Harry Basnett's nom de plume (that's french you know).

John

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: Dead Horse
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 01:04 PM

Wot's a froggy know abart 'obby 'orses, then?

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: Matthew Edwards
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 01:45 PM

Harry has been offline for a while now, but here are some details of his CD Decked Out With Pride which features the song Horses of May Day.

The song refers to the ceremonial May Day parades of working horses in Lancashire towns before the Great War. The song goes on to lament the catastrophic losses of life of horses and men in that war. It is a powerful and intensely moving song, which Harry sings very well. You can see the photo on the site of Harry's great-grandfather in 1910 with his horse (and dog) ready for the parade.

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: Yvonne
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 04:41 PM

Horses of May Day is just one of a very fine selection of songs on this CD.

Yvonne

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: Joybell
Date: 13 Jul 04 - 06:10 PM

Thank you Matthew. What a wonderful picture. What sad memories about horses and war. Joy

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: GUEST,Chris
Date: 14 Jul 04 - 07:11 AM

Thanx Matthew. Any chance of the words please?

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: Matthew Edwards
Date: 14 Jul 04 - 01:39 PM

Hi, Chris. As already explained, the song has nothing to do with the Padstow Obby Oss, but a lot to do with the quite common ceremonial parades of horses in towns and villages all over the north of England on May Day. The horses were decorated and groomed, sometimes in a quite fiercely competitive spirit. The custom goes back at least to the mid-19th century and lasted well into the 20th. I wish Harry would come back online to tell some more about it. I've taken down the lyrics from his CD but I'd just like to check them with him first.

Matthew

Subject: Lyr Add: THE HORSES OF MAY DAY (Harry Basnett)
From: Matthew Edwards
Date: 14 Jul 04 - 08:11 PM

The Horses of May Day

By Harry Basnett

Introduction, and chorus:
The horses of May Day, they make a fine show,
Garlands and brasses all ready to go,
Dappled and grey, the black and the brown,
The horses of May Day are coming to town.

1. For the horses of May Day are decked out with pride,
And the carters all dressed in their best at their side,
And the streets of the city are crowded today
For the horses are coming to bring in the may.

2. Curried and combed with harness ablaze
With brasses that gleam in the afternoon haze;
The brown and the black, the dappled and grey,
The horses are coming to bring in the may.

The horses of May Day, they make a fine show,
Garlands and brasses all ready to go,
Dappled and grey, the black and the brown,
The horses of May Day are coming to town.

3. And the horses of May Day they strain through the mud,
Twelve to a team through the shellshock and blood,
With the cursing and shouting of men all around
Hauling artillery over strange ground.

4. And from the bruised earth a lark takes to the air,
The only reminder of summer that's there
As they drag another mile nearer to Mons;
The horses of May Day are bringing the guns.

The horses of May Day, they make a fine show,
Garlands and brasses all ready to go,
Dappled and grey, the black and the brown,
The horses of May Day are coming to town.

5. The horses of May Day are decked out with pride,
And the carters all dressed in their best at their side,
But there's not so many as there were before;
The Army recruited the horses for war.

6. Curried and combed with harness ablaze
With brasses that gleam in the afternoon haze;
The dappled, the grey, the brown and the black -
The horses of May Day that never came back.

The horses of May Day, they make a fine show,
Garlands and brasses all ready to go,
Dappled and grey, the black and the brown,
The horses of May Day are coming to town.

Words and music © Harry Basnett, 2003

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: mg
Date: 15 Jul 04 - 12:20 AM

That is an awesome song. Wish I could hear the tune.

Speaking of horse songs, Blessings Barbara sings a great one...and Hobe Kytr who runs the Ilwaco museum has written a great one about the horses used in fish seining on the Columbia River..it is very beautiful. mg

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: Mark Dowding
Date: 15 Jul 04 - 04:32 AM

Mary

If you click on the link to Harry's site above, the tune to Horses of Mayday is playing in the background.

Cheers
Mark

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: Dave Bryant
Date: 15 Jul 04 - 06:06 AM

The reference to the farm horses pulling artillery in WW1, also occurs in the Cicely Fox-Smith poem which Sarah Morgan set to music as "Home Lads, Home".

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: GUEST,Chris
Date: 15 Jul 04 - 07:11 AM

Thanx Matthew. I had no idea about this. I love songs like this which really make you think about things and draw your attention to bits of history. It's a great song thanx agin for taking the trouble to put the words down.

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 15 Jul 04 - 07:27 AM

Jon Harvison has a great song about the changes to farming in UK -

Gone are the labourers , No more Heavy Horses

For the tax man's moved in , down on the farm

Gone are the labourers , No more heavy horses

For the Tractor is king , Down on the farm

Down on the farm .

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: GUEST,Chris
Date: 15 Jul 04 - 07:32 AM

I take it Harry doesn't mind the song being sung then? I meant to ask this before.

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: Mark Dowding
Date: 15 Jul 04 - 07:36 AM

Harry would love you to sing his song. He was dead chuffed when I told him I'd been singing it.

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: GUEST,Chris
Date: 16 Jul 04 - 07:10 AM

Thanx Mark. I think what is interesting about this song is that its not just about farm horses because its easy to forget just how much horses were used in towns.

Subject: RE: Horses of May Day?
From: Matthew Edwards
Date: 16 Jul 04 - 01:48 PM

Just to say that Harry is really pleased about the interest shown in this song of his, which has got a lot of personal significance for him. He did want to remind people about how the towns and cities, just as much as the countryside, were once full of horses, so that people like his great-grandfather couldn't have imagined a world without horses. He wonders whether the urban May Day horse parades evolved from some Lancastrian equivalent of the Obby Oss ceremonies.

He wishes you good luck with singing the song, Chris (have I heard you singing at Nellies in Beverley, by the way?).