400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: *#1 PEASANT*
Date: 09 Jul 10 - 11:12 AM

You will find a music section but also look under chants under the ritual menu have fun....

http://mysite.verizon.net/cbladey/guy/html/maina.html

Conrad

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: LadyJean
Date: 05 Nov 05 - 10:43 PM

There is, apparently, some evidence to suggest that poor Mr. Guido Fawkes was framed. That Robert Cecil cooked up the whole plot to get England to go to war against Spain. Any thoughts. Hope your Guy Fawkes was a blast!

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: GUEST,Sue the Borderer
Date: 05 Nov 05 - 06:39 PM

Caught up with this thread a bit late - for this year, anyway.

Thanks Shieldslad for the words of Cob-a-Coaling. I've been thinking of learning it for a while but not got round to it. I went hot-foot to find my copy of Frost and Fire - though I didn't remember Cob-a-Coaling being on there and it wasn't.

Apparently it was recorded for Frost and Fire but left off cos there wasn't room. It is on "Voices; English Traditional Songs" Fellside 1991 which - whoopee! - I have as well. It's also on the Watersons 4CD anthology "Mighty River of Song".

Now all I've got to do is remember where to find it next year.

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: Fidjit
Date: 05 Nov 05 - 10:58 AM

Sorry, wrong Barrie No not Barrie Roberts, but Barrie Beatie. Now where's he got to?

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: Tannywheeler
Date: 05 Nov 05 - 10:22 AM

BTW--Happy almost-Independence Day to all our Brit friends in the Mudcat Cafe. And many happy returns. Knock back a libation or 2 for those of us who aren't there, or (not being Brits) don't have "the right" to.                           Tw

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: GUEST
Date: 05 Nov 05 - 05:35 AM

Rather a lot of 5 Nov songs and chants - have a look here

http://www.twilightbridge.com/hobbies/festivals/guyfawkes/poem.htm

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: GUEST,Barrie Roberts
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 12:58 PM

Nutty -- you are, of course, quite right. I had forgotten one verse and never knew one of the others.

Fidjit -- Sometimes I wonder myself which Barrie Roberts this is! You can find edited highlights of my horrid career at www.barrieroberts.com. I don't think I ever taught 'Guy Fawkes' to a bloke who worked boats from Southampton to S.Africa, but perhaps my memory's failing.

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: Fidjit
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 12:55 PM

Has another verse too.
And creeping through those dreary vaults
He thought of all gas light sir
He thought to light that fatefull flame
At the witching hour of night sir
At last he would have used the gas
But in this he was prevented
For gas you see in Guy Faulkes time
It had not been invented

Singing fol de rol de day etc.

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: Fidjit
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 12:50 PM

Now which Barrie Roberts is that? I knew one years back when I was working on the boats from Southhampton to South Africa. Can't be the same? He gave me that song.

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: nutty
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 11:52 AM

Barrie ...the song you posted is the same as the one, in the Bodleian Library, that I posted the link to.... "Guy Fawkes and the Parliament". It is also more complete than the version you posted.

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 09:57 AM

You mean the only man to ever enter Parliament with honest intent.

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: GUEST,Barrie Roberts
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 09:19 AM

There's an early 19th Century Guy Fawkes song, which is as follows:

I sing a doleful tragedy, Guy Fawkes the prince of sinisters,
What once blew our House of Lords, our King and all his ministers,
At least he would have blwon them up and we would ne'er forget him,
His will was good to do the deed --- if only they'd have let him!

Chorus: Tow, row, row,
         Folderolderiddle, folderol, dol, delay.

Guy fawkes he went from Southwark side, wishing the State was undone,
And crossing over Vauxhall Bridge that way came into London,
At least, he would have come that way to perpetrate his guilt, sirs,
But just one thing prevented him -- that Bridge had not been built, sirs!

Now, when they caught him in the act, so very close the Crown's end,
They straightway sent to Bow Street for that brave old Runner Townsend,
And Townsend would have gone straightway, for fear he is no starter at,
But Townsend was not living then -- he wasn't born till arter that!

Guy fawkes is long dead and gone, but we shall long remember,
And boys still burn him once a year in dark and drear November,
At least, they burn his effigy, for truth is strong and steady,
Poor Guy alas they cannot burn, 'cos Guy is dead already!

God bless her gracious majesty, also her royal son, sirs,
And may he never get blew up if to our Throne he comes, sirs,
And if he does so then he will, so prophesies this song, sirs,
And if he don't, so then he won't, and still I shan't be wrong, sirs!

The tune is 'The Drummerr and the Cook' or 'The Barking barber'.

Dont forget -- Guy Fawkes was the only honest man who ever entered Parliament!

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: CannieShieldsLaddie
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 09:01 AM

Believed to be from Yorkshire/Lancashire border this is
a version I've sung for years. Watersons recorded it on Frost on Fire.


We come a-cob-a-coaling, cob-a-coaling, cob-a-coaling
We come a-cob-a-coaling for Bonfire Night

We come a-cob-coaling for Bonfire Night
For coal and for money, we hope you'll set right
Fal the ray, fal the ray
Fal the riddly aye dum day

Now the first house we come to is an old cobbler's shop
Wi' nowt in its cornice but an awd pepperbox
Pepperbox, ball of wax, morning to night
If you give us nowt, we'll tek nowt
Farewell and good night

Now me father is dead, he's dead and he's gone
Attention to his grave
Hello boys, hello boys, let the bells ring
Fire boys, fire boys, fire we sing!

The Fifth of November, we hope you'll remember
For gunpowder treason and plot
I see no reason why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot

We come a-cob-a-coaling, cob-a-coaling, cob-a-coaling
We come a-cob-a-coaling for Bonfire Night
We come a-cob-a-coaling, cob-a-coaling, cob-a-coaling
We come a-cob-a-coaling for Bonfire Night

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: Snuffy
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 09:01 AM

If you type Fawkes into the Lyrics and Knowledge Search box at the top of the page, you will find several threads with such songs, mostly posted by Conrad Bladey (#1 Peasant).

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 08:46 AM

Guido, Guido,
He's the man.
If he can't do it,
No one can!

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: Piers
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 08:18 AM

There is a song by Leon Rosselson called 'Penny for the Guy'.

Something along the lines of:

He was a failure
Didn't have a cent
Couldn't even blow up parliament.

Penny for the guy
Penny for the guy
Penny for the poor old penniless guy
Burn him, burn him
We're gonna burn him
Roast him
Toast him
Watch him fry

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: Splott Man
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 06:52 AM

Guy, Guy, Guy, stick him up on high
Tie him to a lamp-post and there let him die.
Holler Boys, Holler Boys, let the bells ring,
Holler Boys, Holler Boys, God save the king.

There are verses too, which I'll look up when I get home.

It was sung on Maypoles to Mistletoe by the trio Arkie's Toast who, I think, assembled it from fragments from various sources.

Splott Man

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: nutty
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 06:18 AM

There are TWO broadsides in the Bodleian Library directly relating to this subject. The first of which has the chorus given above. This is very interesting as I cannot remember seeing a full song containing these words.

A new speech for the 5th of November on the downfall of Guy Fawkes.

Printer:
             Batchelar, D. (London)
   Date:
          (not dated unfortunately)
   
             Imprint: Printed and sold by D. Batchelar, opposite the Refuge for the Destitute, Hackney Road, London
             Illus. Ballads on sheet: 1
      

Guy Fawkes and the Parliament

Printer:
             Pitts, J. (London)
   Date:
             between 1819 and 1844
   
             Imprint: Pitts, Printer, wholesale Toy and Marble warehouse, 6, Gt. St. Andrews Street, Seven Dials
             Ballads on sheet: 3

Subject: LYR ADD: WHAT A BEATIFUL DAY
From: Le Scaramouche
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 06:12 AM

The Levellers song "What a Beautiful Day" is about the Gunpowder Plot. As well as being the happiest song about it, I imagine it's the only one that charted.

[Chorus]
What a beautiful day,
I'm the king of all time,
And nothing is impossible,
In my all powerful mind.

Was on the fifth of November,
When time it went back,
Some say that that's impossible,
But you and I, we never looked back,
And wasn't it incredible,
So beautiful and above all,
Just to see the fuse get lit this time,
To light a real bonfire for all time.

[Chorus]

I was drinking in my nightclub,
It felt good to be back,
When Hepburn said, "I love you",
And Flynn said, "Make mine a double, Jack"
Was then we planned the revolution,
To make things better for all time,
When Guevara said "That's crazy",
And ordered up a bottle of wine.

[Chorus]

[Chorus]

In there on the big screen,
Every night I've seen,
The way all things could be,
For me,
For me, for me, for me.

The news broke after midnight,
That we'd pulled the temples down without a sound,
But the generals they were hiding,
And the ministers, well, they'd all gone to ground,
Wealth re-distribution,
Became the new solution,
So I got a paper bag,
But you got the one with all the holes.

[Chorus]

What a beautiful day,       (what a beautiful day)
I'm the king of all time,   (it's a beautiful day)
And nothing is impossible, (it's a beautiful,   )
In my all powerful mind.    (it's a beautiful day)
Oh yeah,
Nothing is impossible       (it's a beautiful,   )
In my all powerful mind.    (it's a beautiful day)
That's because,
Nothing is impossible,
In my all powerful mind.

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: nutty
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 06:03 AM

I do know of a song about Nov 5th that appeared in "MAYPOLES TO MISTLETOE" years ago. Martyn Wyndham-Read may have recorded it.
Unfortunately , at present, I don't have a clue where the words are.

Subject: RE: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: GUEST
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 05:50 AM

quatrocentenary?

Remember, remember
The fifth of November,
Gonpowder, treason and plot.
I see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.

Can't remember much of a tune to it though.

Subject: 400 Anniversary Gun Powder Plot - Songs?
From: Blowzabella
Date: 09 Aug 05 - 05:06 AM

As well as being the bicentenary of Trafalgar, 2005 is also the 400th anniversary (not sure what the word is for that) of the Gunpowder Plot - Guy Fawkes etc.

I'm curious as to whether there are any songs - either contemporaneous or written since, about these events. Does anyone have any info?