Lyr Req: Halloween (Violet Jacob)

Subject: Lyr Req: Last Halloween in France
From: mg
Date: 04 Oct 04 - 01:14 AM

I could have sworn we discussed this last year, but I can't find it, which doesn't mean much. It is a gorgeous song, words by Violet Jacobs and tune I believe by Jim MacLean of Mudcat...I have it on a Sangsters c.d....it is haunting...can anyone find the lyrics in DT? Guess I could go on google.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last Halloween in France
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 04 Oct 04 - 06:11 PM

Mary, I think what you are looking for is Hallowe'en by Violet Jacob, tune Jim Reid. Jean Redpath's version is haunting.

You may notice there's one word in the last verse I'm not sure about. Any help with that would be very welcome.

Subject: Lyr Add: HALLOWE'EN (Violet Jacob, Jim Reid)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 07 Oct 04 - 08:56 AM

Susanne: My "Scots Dialect Dictionary," compiled by Alexander Warrack, gives:

daff v 1 to be foolish. 2 to sport. 3 to jest. 4 to talk nonsense. 5 to flirt. 6 to romp. 7 to toy amorously.

Lyrics copied from http://mysongbook.de/msb/songs/h/hallowen.html

HALLOWE'EN
Words, Violet Jacob (1920). Music, Jim Reid.

The tattie-liftin's nearly through,
They're plooin' whaur the barley grew
And efter dark roond ilka stack
You'll see the horsemen stand and crack
O Lachlan, but I mind on you.

I mind fu' aften we hae seen
Ten thoosand stars keek doon atween.
The naked branches, and below
Baith fairm and bothy hae their show
A-low wi' lichts o' Hallowe'en.

There's bairns wi' guys that's at their tail
Cloorin' the doors wi' runts o' kail
And fine you'll hear the screechs an' skirls
O' lassies wi' their drucked carles
Bobbin' for aipples i' the pail.

The bothy fire is loupin' heat.
A new heid-horseman's kist is set.
Richt's o'er the lamp whaur by the blaze
The auld yin stood that kept yer claes.
I cannae thole tae see it yet.

But gin the auld folks' tales are richt
An' ghaists cam hame on Hallow'n nicht,
Oh freend, oh freends, what would I gie
Tae feel yer axe yer hand tae me
Atween the dark an' coral licht!

Awa' in France across the wave,
The wee lichts burn on ilka grave
An' you an' me their lowes hae seen.
Ye'll maybe hae yer Hallowe'en
Yont whaur you're lyin' way the lave.

There's drink an' daff an' sang an' dance,
An' ploys an' kisses get their chance,
But Lachlan, man, the place I see
Is whaur the auld kist used tae be,
An' the lichts o' Hallowe'en in France.

[As sung by Jean Redpath on "Leaving the Land," 1990. Also recorded by The Sangsters on "Sharp & Sweet," 2001; and by Sheena Wellington on "Scots Women," 2001.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last Halloween in France
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 09 Oct 04 - 04:08 AM

Thanks, Jim. You give 'daff' as a verb only, which doesn't really fit in the sequence of that line. Is it used as a noun as well?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last Halloween in France
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 11 Oct 04 - 11:34 AM

My dictionary doesn't SAY "daff" can be used as a noun, but if you assume it can, it certainly fits the context. If you're not comforable with that, I suppose you could sing "daffin'".

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last Halloween in France
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 11 Oct 04 - 05:06 PM

Well, there are uses that never end up in a dictionary. Anyway, I'll listen again, but it took me a while to work out the lyrics, and if she was singing something closer to 'daffin'' I'm sure I'd have put it down. Let's agree on 'daff' for the time being. Thanks again!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last Halloween in France
From: GUEST,Barney
Date: 26 Sep 08 - 10:48 AM

I've always thought it was "Drink an daffin, sand an dance".

By the way, the fourth line of the 3rd verse should be:

    O lassies wi their drookit curls

i.e. lassies with wet hair.

And the last two lines of the 4th verse should be:

    Tae feel ye rax yer hand tae me
    Atween the dark an caunle licht!

in English, that would be

    To feel you reach your hand to me
    Between the dark and candle light.

It's got nothing to do with axes!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Last Halloween in France
From: Susanne (skw)
Date: 26 Sep 08 - 11:17 AM

Thanks, Barney. Will be corrected!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Halloween (Violet Jacob)
From: GUEST,couthiegirl
Date: 11 Nov 08 - 01:26 PM

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Halloween (Violet Jacob)
From: GUEST,couthiegirl
Date: 11 Nov 08 - 01:32 PM

Ah how fine to see so many other folks who love that song - it is my Remembrance Day homage, and sung by me to myself on a day I celebrate personally for the arrival of my youngest son. Daff is a noun - we decided by using it! My Dad tells me that rax would be reach - he was raised in the Aberdonian countryside and is familiar with lots of doric speech from his Grannie's farm days...

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Halloween (Violet Jacob)
From: domo
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 03:50 PM

The correct words are as follows:
verse 3 there's bairns wi' guizards at their tail
verse 4 Richts o' the lum; whaur by the blaze
verse 7 Ther's drink and daffin', sang an' dance

guizards= mummers, lum=chimney, daffin=having fun or flirtatious behaviour.
Great song. Try and get the version by Elisa Lemaitre on hr CD "Time wears awa'"

Subject: Lyr Add: HALLOWE'EN (Violet Jacob)
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 12 Nov 08 - 05:21 PM

Violet Jacob's original text of HALLOWE'EN can be seen with Google Book Search in Bonnie Joann, and Other Poems by Violet Jacob, London: J. Murray, 1921:


HALLOWE'EN

The tattie-liftin's nearly through,
They're ploughin' whaur the barley grew,
    And aifter dark, roond ilka stack,
    Ye'll see the horsemen stand an' crack
O Lachlan, but I mind o' you!

I mind foo often we hae seen
Ten thoosand stars keek doon atween
    The nakit branches, an' below
    Baith fairm an' bothie hae their show,
Alowe wi' lichts o' Hallowe'en.

There's bairns wi' guizards* at their tail
Cloorin' the doors wi' runts** o' kail,
    And fine ye'll hear the screichs an' skirls
    O' lassies wi' their droukit curls
Bobbin' for aipples i' the pail.

The bothie fire is loupin' het,
A new heid horseman's kist is set
    Richt's o' the lum; whaur by the blaze
    The auld ane stude that kept yer claes—
I canna thole to see it yet!

But gin the auld fowks' tales are richt
An ghaists come hame on Hallow nicht,
    O freend o' friends! what wad I gie
    To feel ye rax yer hand to me
Atween the dark an' caun'le licht?

Awa' in France, across the wave,
The wee lichts burn on ilka grave,
    An' you an' me their lowe hae seen—
    Ye'll mebbe hae yer Hallowe'en
Yont, whaur ye're lyin' wi' the lave.

There's drink an' daffin', sang an' dance
And ploys and kisses get their chance,
    But Lachlan, man, the place I see
    Is whaur the auld kist used tae be
And the lichts o' Hallowe'en in France!


[*Mummers who go from door to door.]
[**Cabbage-stalks.]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Halloween (Violet Jacob)
From: GUEST,AR
Date: 29 Oct 14 - 12:04 PM

It's about the right time of year for this one.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Halloween (Violet Jacob)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 29 Oct 14 - 05:28 PM

Heard it sung twice already this week!

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Halloween (Violet Jacob)
From: GUEST,DTM
Date: 30 Oct 14 - 03:23 PM

"guizards" ????

When I was young we used to go "guisin'" and we were called 'guisers'
I've always been led to believe it was because we dressed up and knocked on people's doors in 'disguise'.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Halloween (Violet Jacob)
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Nov 14 - 06:54 AM

Surely not "guys"thats at their tail,but guisers

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Halloween (Violet Jacob)
From: Jim McLean
Date: 11 Nov 14 - 01:48 PM

As has already been posted, I didn't set this poem to music, it was Jim Reid. but it is one of my favourite poems. Jim Dixon's post is almost exactly a copy of that found in The Scottish Poems of Violet Jacob, 1944.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Halloween (Violet Jacob)
From: Scabby Douglas
Date: 12 Nov 14 - 10:12 AM

"Guizards" is what Violet Jacob wrote, and I don't think it's that much of a stretch to understand it as an antique version of the word "guiser". Bear in mind that she lived in India from about 1895 through to 1936, so she was writing from her memory of Angus Scots as she had known it.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Halloween (Violet Jacob)
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 24 Oct 20 - 06:26 AM

Refreshing as someone was looking for this on FaceBook, and was directed here.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Halloween (Violet Jacob)
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 24 Oct 20 - 09:22 AM

I always assumed that guisers, was a corruption of disguisers.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Halloween (Violet Jacob)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 24 Oct 20 - 04:05 PM

Not sure why the admin person on the Mudcat Facebook thread found it necessary to close down the thread to further comments after the lyrics had been posted: I had seen the thread earlier in the day and was going to go back and post the lyrics, but someone beat me to it. And, sure, that was answering the OP's original request for the lyrics, but there could have been further discussion, such as "What is your favourite version of this song?"
I'd find it hard to choose: so many good versions about: Jean Ritchie and Jean Redpath were both mentioned on Facebook. But Jim Reid himself sang it: then there are other great versions (some of which are mentioned by Jim Dixon above) - by Sangsters (Anne Murray), Sheena Wellington, Lucy Pringle, and West Lothian singing group, Tryst. And we'll no doubt hear a few other people sing it this week.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Halloween (Violet Jacob)
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 05 Nov 20 - 07:14 PM

They are a delicacy in Perigord in France! A bit rubbery, but if you find any chewy bits in your salad.....!