Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain (Hall, Macgregor)

Subject: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin hall
From: GUEST,Rick
Date: 30 Sep 04 - 04:35 PM

Does anyone know the lyrics to "Hares on the Mountain"? (the version that Robin Hall and Jimmie Macgreggor did).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin hall
From: GUEST,Henryp
Date: 30 Sep 04 - 05:16 PM

You'll find one version in Digitrad. Browse under H in the box above right.

Subject: Lyr Add: HARES ON THE MOUNTAIN (Hall/MacGregor?)
From: Reiver 2
Date: 30 Sep 04 - 06:14 PM

The words I have are these:

HARES ON THE MOUNTAIN

Young women they run like hares on the mountain.
Young women they run like hares on the mountain,
And if I was a young man, I'd soon go a-huntin'.
To me right-fal-a-diddle-dare-oh, right-fal-a-diddle-day.

Young women they sing like birds in the bushes.
Young women they sing like birds in the bushes,
And if I was a young man, I'd go beat those bushes.
To me right-fal-a-diddle-dare-oh, right-fal-a-diddle-day.

Young women they swim like ducks in the water,
Young women they swim like ducks in the water,
And if I was a young man, I'd soon go swim after.
To me right-fal-a-diddle-dare-oh, right-fal-a-diddle-day.

(Repeat first verse.)

I'm pretty sure those came from Robin Hall and Jimmie MacGregor. I have a cassette tape or two by them, but I can't locate either just now.

Reiver 2

Subject: Lyr Add: HARES ON THE MOUNTAIN (Chris Wood)
From: The Borchester Echo
Date: 30 Sep 04 - 07:00 PM

Chris Wood's rewrite is one of the loveliest songs I have ever heard:

If all you young girls were like hares on the mountain
We'd soon get our boots on and go out a-walking.
But if all you young girls were like swans in the water
We'd soon take those boots off and dive in there after.

And if all you young girls were like stars in the dark
We'd chase round the world to avoid the dawn's spark.
And if all you young girls were like the sun in the morning
We'd sit bleary-eyed just to see the day dawning.

And if all you young girls were like rain from the sky
We'd stand out in T-shirts and shun all things dry.
And if all you young girls were like the hot August sun
Then we'd sit out with ice-cream and get nothing done.

And if all you young girls flew south like the swallow
There's be nothing for it but to up sticks and follow.
But if all you young girls were like my own true lover
Then all you young men would love them as I love her.

(C J Wood)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin h
From: Mary Humphreys
Date: 30 Sep 04 - 07:01 PM

The song , considered by Child to be a version of the Two Magicians,was collected from the sisters Louisa Hooper and Lucy White of Hambridge, Somerset in September 1903.
There are other verses which Sharp collected:
Young women they are as rushes a-growing
If I was a young man I'd get a scythe & go mowing.

Young women they fly as birds in the air
If I was a young man I'd cock and let fire.

There are other verses from other singers which are even more explicit...
Mary

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin hall
From: Lighter
Date: 30 Sep 04 - 07:33 PM

Steeleye Span's version is about the same as Reiver 2's.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin hall
From: MartinRyan
Date: 01 Oct 04 - 04:20 AM

Niamh Parsons sings this to a speeded up version of "The Bold Fenian Men". Is this the tune others use?

Regards

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin hall
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 01 Oct 04 - 05:39 AM

Not usually, I think, though the metres are much the same.

Child made no reference to the song that I recall. The putative connection to The Two Magicians was floated by later scholars. Bronson thought a derivation "very probable". Most of the examples he quotes are from the West of England, with one Irish example (without words) from Petrie. Related or overlapping songs (Sally My Dear etc) were common enough, and found mostly in England and New England; occasionally in Canada and Ireland. No sign of any Scottish examples so far as I can see.

Hall and MacGregor certainly used the set Sharp got from Louie Hooper and Lucy White, as Mary suggests; probably they got it from one of Sharp's books, but there may have been an intermediate revival source, as "beat them bushes" appears to be a modern alteration of "bang the bushes". Steeleye Span, too, recorded an arrangement of the Hambridge set (though they acknowledged no source in their sleevenotes) so it's hardly surprising that the words are essentially the same. The song did the rounds of the folk clubs quite a lot in the late '60s and early '70s, commonly with extra verses added from other sources, or made up to the same formula.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin h
From: Mary Humphreys
Date: 01 Oct 04 - 10:50 AM

Sorry - slip of the keyboard - where I said Child I meant Bronson!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin h
From: GUEST,Rick
Date: 01 Oct 04 - 11:40 AM

The version I'm thinking of starts out:
If all the young girls were hares on the mountain
If all the young girls were hares on the mountain
Young men would take guns and go out a' huntin

This is the only verse I can remember.

Subject: Lyr Add: HARES ON THE MOUNTAIN (f. Hall/MacGregor)
From: Genie
Date: 01 Oct 04 - 11:43 AM

Here are the lyrics as sung by Robin Hall and Jimmie MacGregor (at least on the record that I have). They are different from those in the DT.

HARES ON THE MOUNTAIN

If a' the young girls were like hares on the mountain, (x2)
Young men would take guns and they'd go out a-huntin'
Sing whack-fol-a-diddle-i-do, whack fol-a-day. (x2)

If a' the young girls were like blackbirds & thrushes,(x2)
Young men would take sticks and go beat in the bushes.
Sing whack-fol-a-diddle-i-do, whack fol-a-day. (x2)

If the girls were a' trout and salmon, so lightly,(x2)
Then divil a man would eat fish on a Friday.
Sing whack-fol-a-diddle-i-do, whack fol-a-day. (x2)

But I fear the young men are like dew on the corn,(x2)
At night they are with ye, in the morning they're gone.
Sing whack-fol-a-diddle-i-do, whack fol-a-day. (x2)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin h
From: Genie
Date: 01 Oct 04 - 11:46 AM

FWIW, as is my wont, I added a verse so the woman can have the last word:

But a lass needn't grieve when a young lad is gone. (x2)
There'll be plenty more waiting, and we'll carry on.
Sing whack-fol-a-diddle-i-do, whack fol-a-day. (x2)

§;-D

Subject: Lyr Add: HARES ON THE MOUNTAIN
From: curmudgeon
Date: 01 Oct 04 - 12:11 PM

I've been singing this song for a very long time now. I got it originally from a recording by Ewan MacColl and Isla Cameron. Later mixed in verses from Hall-MacGregor, and came out with something similar, but not quite the same as any of the verses above. You may repeat the first line and add the whack fol the diddle aye do yourselves.

Oh Sally my dear, but I wish I could woo you...
Then try if you can, but don't let it undo you, sing...

Oh Sally my dear, but your mouth i could kiss it...
Then try if you can love but try not to miss it, sing...

Oh Sally my dear, but I wish I could bed you...
Then try if you can, but don't say I misled you, sing...

If lassies they ran like the hares on the mountain...
The all the young lads they would soon ride a huntin'. sing...

If lassies they sang like the blackbirds or thrushes...
The all the young lads would go beat in the bushes, sing...

If lassies they bloomed like the laurel in Springtime...
The all the young lads they would soon go and pluck them, sing...

If lassies they swam like the salmon so lively...
The devil a man would eat meat on a Friday, sing...


MacColl also stated this to be a fragmentary version of the "Twa Magicians."

Enjoy -- Tom

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin hall
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 01 Oct 04 - 01:24 PM

Personally, I'm not convinced that there is any real connection with The Two Magicians at all, but back in those days everybody wanted there to be. Even Bronson doesn't quote any real evidence. Roud classes the songs separately, and in that probably reflects current thinking on the subject.

That apart, Tom's post illustrates what I was saying about the song's popularity in the folk clubs 30 and more years back. Verses from all over the place got bolted together, and new(ish) ones made up, which makes it hard to tell where much of the material came from. Genie's transcription from Hall & MacGregor is very different from Reiver's, and assuming it's the right one, then my earlier comments re. derivation (based on the latter) would almost certainly be wrong.

Where did those other two verses come from, I wonder? They don't occur in any traditional version I've seen so far.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin hall
From: GUEST,Lighter at work
Date: 01 Oct 04 - 01:42 PM

But there's hardly a doubt that this song gave rise to the bawdier and more self-consciously clever "Roll Your Leg Over." An American creation?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin hall
From: eechlay
Date: 04 Aug 06 - 03:59 AM

Does anyone know the lyrics to the Shirley Collins version? It starts with "Oh Sally my dear, it's you I'd be kissing" I think...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin hall
From: An Buachaill Caol Dubh
Date: 04 Aug 06 - 10:23 AM

There's another set of verses (with air) in Colm O'Lochlainn's "Irish Street Ballads" (or, "More I. S. B."), tho' from memory I think its words are substantially the same as some of those above. Can't see that "The bould Fenian Men" would fit it very well, but ain't never heard N.P.'s version.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin hall
From: Barry Finn
Date: 04 Aug 06 - 05:11 PM

To add to the late history of this. The PC police attacked this song during the 70's & as I recall it hardly ever got sung again at least in the Boston area. I can remember singing this, I guess back in the mid 70's (I think), & was verbably abused by a female listener who I later heard trashing my name. My intro to the song was although some may take offence to singing this, to let it die was a far bigger crime. I can only remember a few verses, I don't think I've sung the whole song (well, the song as I had it) since.

"If all the young women were hares on the mountain (2x)
Young men would soon take guns and go out a' huntin....singing

If all the young women were like blackbirds & thrushes(x2)
Young men would take sticks and go beat in the bushes....singing

If all the young women were bricks in a pile (2x)
Young men would turn masons & lay them in style...singing

If all the young women were bells in a tower (2x)
Young men would turn sextons & bang on the hour...singing"

I can't remember much more. I'm glad to see that's it's once more exceptable to sing once more

Subject: Lyr Add: HARES ON THE MOUNTAIN (Shirley Collins)
From: Xie Kitchen
Date: 04 Aug 06 - 07:07 PM

lyrics to the Shirley Collins version from Folk Roots, New Routes:

Oh Sally my dear
It's you I'd be kissing
Oh Sally my dear
It's you I'd be kissing
She smiled & replied
You don't know what you're missing

Oh Sally my dear
I wish I could wed you
Oh Sally my dear
I wish I could bed you
She smiled & replied
Then you'd say I'd misled you

If all you young men were hares on the mountain
If all you young men were hares on the mountain
How many young girls would take guns & go hunting?

If the young men could sing like blackbirds & thrushes
If the young men could sing like blackbirds & thrushes
How many young girls would go beating the bushes?

If all you young men were fish in the water
If all you young men were fish in the water
How many young girls would undress & dive after?

But the young men are given to frisking & fooling
Oh the young men are given to frisking & fooling
So I leave them alone & attend to my schooling

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin hall
From: GUEST,Lighter
Date: 04 Aug 06 - 08:44 PM

Barry, your final two stanzas are more or less as Brand sang them in "Roll Your Leg Over."

(Just showing off - no criticism implied.)

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin hall
From: Charley Noble
Date: 04 Aug 06 - 08:47 PM

If all them young ladies were bats in a steeple,
If all them young ladies were bats in a steeple,
I'd be a bat and there'd be more bats than people!

If all them young ladies were singing this song,
If all them young ladies were singing this song,
It would be ten times as filthy and ten times as long!

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain Lyrics, robin h
From: Artful Codger
Date: 05 Aug 06 - 01:55 PM

Young women they giggle like geese in a gaggle, [2x]
And if I were a young man, my wiggle I'd waggle.

Married women they kvetch like crows 'round a bowery,
And if I married one, I'd disappear with her dowry.

Codgerly...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain (Hall, Macgrego
From: GUEST,Rozirow
Date: 24 Aug 08 - 07:28 AM

No-one mentions the last line, as I have learnt it:

"The young men are given to frisking and fooling...

I'll let them alone and attend to my schooling."

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain (Hall, Macgregor)
From: GUEST,beachcomber
Date: 24 Aug 08 - 08:44 AM

Genie those are the words as sung by Robin Hall & Jimmie McGregor , but I think the chorus goes :-

         "Sing, wack-fol-de-diddle-i-do,
          Si-ng, wack-fol-de-day !"

Your added verse fits in excellently with the song and should pacify any feminists in your audience.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain (Hall, Macgregor)
From: Lighter
Date: 24 Aug 08 - 11:29 AM

Didn't the part about "schoolin'" first appear in Sharp's _Folk Songs for Schools_?

"The folk" don't usually recommend education over fornication, especially in songs about the latter.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain (Hall, Macgrego
From: Genie
Date: 25 Aug 08 - 12:47 AM

Ah, yes, Beachcomber, 'tis nice to be appreciated. : D

One of my fondest memories of my misspent youth was, when I was a student participation in a Baptist summer retreat, spending many a happy hour with a similarly misguided girlfriend skinny dipping in a beautiful lake in Wisconsin and making up new verses to "Roll Your Leg Over" (the song aptly identified by Lighter as the heir of "Hares On The Mountain") - but a year or three before I ever heard Robin Hall and Jimmie MacGregor sing.

This is, indeed, one of those songs that a) is so melodic, "ethnic," and "traditional" sounding that sophomoric smut can, in its guise, pass for "art" and b) in that same vein, lends itself to endless new poetic creations (aka "verses").


Genie

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain (Hall, Macgregor)
From: Hoblander
Date: 25 Aug 08 - 09:08 AM

The version I've been singing for many, many years comes from an LP by the High Level Ranters, called The Lads of Northumberland,Trailer LER 2007 1969, sung by Tommy Gilfellon, and contains the ususal hares, blackbirds and thrushes, trout verses and the following

Oh Sally me dear, won't you come to bed to me
oh sally me dear, won't you come to bed to me,
she smiled and replied, I'm afraid you'll undo me,
to me right foldadiddellero to me right foldariddleday

Oh Sally me dear I will not undo you x2
she smiled and replied you may come to bed to me
to me right etc

Oh Sally me dear I can't undo me britches x2
she smiled and replied take a knife and cut the stitches
to me right etc

So he's undid his britches and into bed tumbled x2
and I'll leave you to imagine how that young couple fumbled
to me right etc

Young women they're given to frisking and fooling x 2
I'll leave them alone and attend to me schooling
to me right etc.
I've also added a few extra verses at the top which I borrowed from Mary Humphreys
Cheers Kevin

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain (Hall, Macgregor)
From: GerryM
Date: 03 Oct 23 - 01:20 AM

The Shirley Collins recording (From: Xie Kitchen, Date: 04 Aug 06 - 07:07 PM) is surely put to the same tune as Bold Fenian Men, but where the 4th line of each stanza of BFM is "Glory-o, glory-o, to the bold Fenian men," there is no 4th line of lyrics on the Collins recording. Instead, there is some guitar work where the 4th line would otherwise be.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Hares on the Mountain (Hall, Macgregor)
From: GerryM
Date: 03 Oct 23 - 01:20 AM

The Shirley Collins recording (From: Xie Kitchen, Date: 04 Aug 06 - 07:07 PM) is surely put to the same tune as Bold Fenian Men, but where the 4th line of each stanza of BFM is "Glory-o, glory-o, to the bold Fenian men," there is no 4th line of lyrics on the Collins recording. Instead, there is some guitar work where the 4th line would otherwise be.