Lyr Req: Watching the wheat

Subject: Watching the wheat
From: Pedders
Date: 24 Feb 99 - 11:26 AM

Does anyone know the lyrics to the Welsh song "Watching the Wheat"

Subject: RE: Watching the wheat
From: Penny
Date: 24 Feb 99 - 12:35 PM

So far surfaced from way back, and I know this won't format properly, sorry in advance:

"Through the mist and dawning light, the song of warblers mellow, Came floating o'er the meadow bright, where grew the wheat so yellow."

I'll see what else I can find, preferable in Welsh, which will (a) sound better, and (b) make more sense

Ev'n in sahrf Lun'un peopul knar veht its 'ay wot graus in medders, innit?

Subject: RE: Watching the wheat
From: Penny
Date: 24 Feb 99 - 05:21 PM

I've looked where I thought I had this, but no luck. Memory has revived a fragment of the last lines.

When (or then) the storm clouds drifted by .(de dah dah dah de dah dah), The sun whose rays so gladly shone, revived the wheat so yellow.

I'll keep looking

Penny

Subject: RE: Watching the wheat
From: Penny
Date: 28 Feb 99 - 02:50 PM

I've had a lovely time searching a local second hand book shop, and bought a great book about English history in song, but no luck with the wheat watching. However, try this address - the tune is the one I know, but the words are different. There are Welsh words, there, though.

http://www.acronet.net/~robokopp/welsh/misydd.htm

I don't know how to do the magic.....

Best wishes, Penny

Subject: Lyr Add: WATCHING THE WHEAT
From: GUEST,Pete
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 05:15 PM

I was given this English translation/version earlier this year. It might be of interest.

When I was young I wandered free like wind across the meadow
Astray among the silver wheat, without a path to follow
And wildly sang the summer birds and gaily danced the flowers
And roving sunlight wove its dreams of joy that last for hours.

And then one day of golden dawn, in sweet surprise of morning
I met the one that I must love and all my world was turning
I heard the cry of Curlewed sea, the Kestrelled sky still called me
But I was with my new found love, and all her ways enthralled me

I feared the rise of harvest moon with star frost in its shadow
When men would reap the silver wheat and leave the fields lie fallow
For owl would mourn the barren tree and fox would haunt the valley
And autumn winds might take from me the one I loved so truly

I made a wreath of garland leaves, the gold within them burning
And gave them to my to own true love in token of my yearning.
Let sun warmed summer pass away, let mountain stream go wander
Like reapers we would happy be and harvest joy for ever.

Subject: RE: Watching the wheat
From: Gareth
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 07:20 PM

Try this Blicky Max Boyce did a version in one of his later folk, not Rugby Vinyls, I will try and dig it out of the attick later when I'am soberer to get the publisher and Cat No.

Gareth

Subject: RE: Watching the wheat
From: Snuffy
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 08:03 PM

The Welsh Title is "Bugeilio'r Gwenyth Gwyn".

If you type "Gwenyth Gwyn" (including the quotes) into Google you'll get 9 hits including MaxBoyce.co.uk. The Official Website which apparently has an MP3 of him singing it.

WassaiL! V

Subject: Lyr Add: BUGEILIO'R GWENITH GWYN / WATCHING THE...
From: masato sakurai
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 08:30 PM

The Welsh title is "Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn"; English titles include "Watching the Wheat," "Watching the White Wheat," "Idle Days in Summer Time," "Harvesting the White Wheat," "Watching the Blooming Wheat," and "Shepherding the White Wheat."

WATCHING THE WHITE WHEAT
Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn

1. A simple youthful lad am I
Who loves at fancy's pleasure:
I fondly watch the blooming wheat,
Another reaps the treasure.
Oh! Wherefore still despise my suit,
Why sighing keep thy lover?
For some new charm, thou matchless fair,
I day by day discover.

2. Each day reveals some newborn grace,
Or does fond faith deceive me?
In love to Him who formed thy face,
With pity now receive me,
Then lift thine eyes, one look bestow.
Give me thy hand, my fairest,
For in thy bosom, lovely maid,
My heart's true key thou bearest.

3. While hair adorns this aching brow
Still I will love sincerely,
While ocean rolls its briny flow
Still I will love thee dearly.
Then tell the truth, in secret tell,
And under seal discover,
If it be I or who is blest
As thy true heart's best lover.

1. Mi sydd fachgen ieuanc ffol.
Yn byw yn ol fy ffansi
Myfi'n bugeilior gwenith gwyn,
Ac arall yn ei fedi.
Pam na ddeui ar fy ol,
Ryw ddydd ar ol ei gilydd?
Gwaith 'rwyn dy weld, y feinir fach,
Yn lanach, lanach beunydd!

2. Glanach, lanach wyt bob dydd,
Neu fi a'm ffydd yn ffolach,
Er mwyn y Gwr a wnaeth dy wedd,
Gwna im drugaredd ballach.
Cwnn dy ben, gwel acw draw,
Rho i mi'th law wen dirion;
Gwaith yn dy fynwes bert ei thro
Mae allwedd clo fy nghalon!

3. Tra fo dwr y mor yn hallt,
A thra fo 'ngwallt yn tyfu
A thra fo calon yn fy mron
Mi fydda'n ffyddlon iti:
Dywed imi'r gwir dan gel
A rho dan sel d'atebion,
P'un ai myfi neu arall, Ann
Sydd orau gan dy galon.
(From the page Gareth linked to)

Benjamin Britten arranged this song (text is HERE). The English lyrics are:

I was lonely and forlorn
Among the meadows mourning;
For I had wooed her oft and long,
Yet others reaped her loving.

Not to me this maid did come
To cure my painful yearning.
Yet I had watched, the fields among,
Her beauty and her blooming.

While the seas do ebb and flow
And minutes do not falter;
And while my heart beats in my breast,
My 'fliction ne'er will alter.

Ne'er shall I kiss her cheeks so fair,
Nor feel her arms embracing:
For I had watched the ripening wheat,
Yet others reaped her loving.

IDLE DAYS IN SUMMER TIME
(English lyrics by Walter Maynard)

Idle days in summertime,
In pleasant sunny weather,
Amid the golden colour'd corn,
Two lovers pass'd together.
There were words they did not speak
To give their thoughts expression;
Each knew the other's heart was full,
But neither made confession.

Winter came, and then, alas!
Came cold and dreary weather;
No more the lovers passed their days
Amid the fields together.
Fate had severed them apart,
And now they're brokenhearted;
Had they been wed in summertime,
They would not now be parted.
(From HERE, with midi)

THIS SITE has Welsh words, spoken Welsh audio, part audio [melody is on the tenor].

BUGEILIO'R GWENITH GWYN

Mi sydd fachgen ifanc ffôl,
Yn byw yn ôl fy ffansi,
Myfi'n bugeilio'r gwenith gwyn,
Ac arall yn ei fedi.

Pam na ddeui ar fy ôl,
Ryw ddydd ar ôl ei gilydd?
Gwaith rwy'n dy weld y feinir fach,
Yn lanach, lanach beunydd.

Glanach, glanach wyt bob dydd,
Neu fi sy â'm ffydd yn ffolach,
Er mwyn y gw+r a wnaeth dy wedd,
Dod im drugaredd (drugaredd) bellach.

Cwnn dy ben, gwêl acw draw,
Rho imi'th law wen dirion:
Gwaith yn dy fynwes bert ei thro
Mae allwedd clo fy nghalon.

Tra fo dw+r y môr yn hallt,
A thra fo 'ngwallt yn tyfu,
A thra fo calon dan fy mron,
Mi fyddai'n ffyddlon iti.

Dywed imi'r gwir heb gêl,
A rho dan sêl d'atebion (d'atebion),
P'un ai myfi, ai arall, Gwen,
Sydd orau gen dy galon.

Gwenith gwyn,
Bugeilio'r gwenith gwyn,
Bugeilio'r gwenith gwyn.

Background info: "Ann Thomas is better known as the Maid of Cefn Ydfa, a prosperous farm near Llangynwyd in the 1700's. She and Wil Hopcyn, a labourer, fell in love. Her widowed mother insisted that she marry Anthony Maddocks though. Maddocks was a wealthy young lawyer of a good family. This wonderfully tragic romance tells us much about class and parental authority in the rural Wales of that era. Heartbroken Wil Hopcyn wrote the famous Welsh love song 'Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn' (Watching the Blooming Wheat)." (From HERE)

~Masato

Subject: RE: Watching the wheat
From: masato sakurai
Date: 28 Oct 02 - 08:37 PM

"Idle days in summertime" has been posted HERE.

Subject: Lyr Add: WATCHING THE WHEAT
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 07:18 PM

Pedders, Penny.   Hope you are still hooked in after 3 years.
Here's a version sung by many, many English (& Welsh?) Male Voice Choirs. ENOCH CHORAL SEREIES 299 Arrangement by Henry Geehl? copyright MCMLIV Edwin Ashdown Ltd

WATCHING THE WHEAT

Through the mist and dawning light,
came floating o'er the meadow bright
where grew the whe-eat so yellow
Theerree at noon in sunlight bright
I watched the clouds a driiiift-iiing
And in the air the birds in flight
Wings to he-av-en lifting


All was peace and all was joy within that sunlit meadow
And happiness without alloy no care to ca-a-st a shadow
Then from out a stormy sky the angry wind did bellow
All crushed the wheat around me lay that once was fu-u-ull and yellow
O sad my heart with grief and pain in bitterness and sorrow
In fancy I saw once again that wheat so ripe and yellow
But (when the storm) when the storm clouds drifted by
And gaaaii---ly smiled the meadow
The sun whose rays so swiftly shone revived the wheat so yellow
Revived the wheat so-oo yellow


Different to Masato's but in line with the original request!


got the Welsh words too if you really insist!
Bradfordian (away from home!)

Subject: Lyr Add: JOHN/HENRY
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 29 Oct 02 - 08:22 PM

Whilst I'm sure I posted this recently, I can't find it. So, being suited to this thread, I'll post the words of "John/Henry"

JOHN/HENRY
Tune: Bugeilio'r gwenith gwyn. Lyrics Unknown

There was a man, he had two sons,
And these two sons were brothers.
John Henry was the name of one,
And Henry John, the other.

Now these two sons, the found a bike.
The found it in a hollow.
And whereso'er the front wheel went,
The back would surely follow,

Now these two sons, they bought a cow.
They milked it with a spanner.
The milk came out in shilling tins,
The smaller ones; a tanner.

Now these two sons took ill and died.
They died of eating jelly.
John Henry died upon his back,
And Henry John his belly.

Notes: 'shilling' 12 old pence, one 20th of a pound sterling.
'Tanner' six old pence. One fortieth of a pound.
Jelly: gelatinised fruit cup.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 19 Jul 03 - 06:36 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 19 Jul 03 - 06:38 AM

Where would I find the sheet music for this?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: masato sakurai
Date: 19 Jul 03 - 07:11 AM

Here is the tune. Tempo is Andante.

X:1
T: Idle Days in Summertime
T:Bugeilio'r Gwenith Gwyn
M:3/4
L:1/8
B:William Cole, Folk Songs of England, Ireland, Scotland & Wales (Charles Hansen, 1961, pp. 228-9)
K:D
D3/2 F/ A3 F|G3/2 G/ F3 G|A F D3 F|A A3zF|
G3/2 A/ B3 G|F3/2 G/ A3 F|F3/2 E/ E3 C|D D3z2|
D3/2 D/ d3 B|G3/2 G/ G3 F|E3/2 E/ e3 d|(cB)A2zF|
G (G/A/) B3 G|F3/2 G/ A3 F|F3/2 E/ E3 C|D HD3Z2|]

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 19 Jul 03 - 07:41 AM

In case Alison doesn't know and doesn't have abc software, just copy and paste into http://www.concertina.net/tunes_convert.html. PDF wild give you the best output for printing.

If Maeseto has no objections, I would quite like to "lift" his abc and Welsh words for a "song add" at folkinfo (I wouldn't normaly do that but I've loved this melody from maybe a 7 yr old living in Wales...). If I get the "OK", I can try to align the words so a PDF of the whole song rather than just the tune would be available for printing before todays out.

Jon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: masato sakurai
Date: 19 Jul 03 - 07:44 AM

Jon, I have no objections, of course.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 19 Jul 03 - 08:56 AM

Ow well, I have put my attempt here but I'm not sure how long it will stay there or whether I've aligned things correctly - I have to admit to being out of my depth with this one...

I had also realised after my last post that we didn't have a "real" source for the words I was using and that would be breaking the rules at folkinfo.

Maseto has kindly provided me with scans from the book he had taken the tune from and that would have been ideal but unfortunately the words are reading to me as a phonetic attempt to show Welsh for an English speaker. Here is an extract:

Me seeth vach-gen ye-yank foll
Un b'you un ol vuh fon-cee

Maybe a Wesh speaker could assist?

Jon

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: Helen
Date: 19 Jul 03 - 08:47 PM

I have the Welsh lyrics by Wil Hopcyn, and English translation by Walter Maynard in a copy from a book called Caneuon Cenedlaethol Cymru: The National Songs of Wales, Boosey and Hawkes, 1959. The book itself belonged to the choirmaster of a local Welsh choir here in Oz and I believe that it is a reliable source of information. The book also has the piano score of the music.

The English words are the same as those from The Contemplator site which masato linked to and start with " Idle days in summertime" with 2 verses only, but there are 4 Welsh verses.

The Welsh lyrics are the same as the ones at the "robokopp" site Penny linked to except for the second line in Verse 2 (8 lines per verse)

The robokopp version is:
Neu fi a'm ffydd yn ffolach,

but the book says: Neu fi yn wir sy'n ffolach

and the line in the second verse "Cwnn dy ben, gwêl acw draw" is written in the book as "Cwnn dy ben, gwêl oco draw".

The Welsh words which masato put in this thread are not the same as the ones at the "robokopp" site.

I don't speak Welsh so someone else will need to tell us what the difference is between these two lines, and whether they both make sense or whether one is full of typos.

You're right, Jon, the words you have are an attempt to sound the Welsh out rather than the real words.

Helen

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: GUEST,Jon
Date: 19 Jul 03 - 09:37 PM

Thanks Helen. Any chance of a scan of the words and tune as a jpeg or something of the version you have? (I can also take typed words and tunes as, MIDI, NWC, ABC, etc. but that's likely to mean more work for you).

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: Helen
Date: 20 Jul 03 - 01:15 AM

I'm waiting...waiting...waiting for my hubby to set the scanner up again. His computer area is "under construction" - well, not quite - and has been for the last few weeks. I have said I need the scanner for something else so I can add this to the list. I'm seriously thinking about kidnapping the scanner and shackling it to my computer instead. Seems to me that almost every time I want to use it "someone" has re-jigged the connections, or shifted the software or...or...or...

I'll see what I can do.

Helen

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: sian, west wales
Date: 21 Jul 03 - 04:50 AM

This is a slightly tangled web, across two threads. Masato's first set of words are those which are sung today (although the third verse should read "tra bo" and "thra bo"). The robokopp words are slightly different, and I haven't actually heard that version sung. ('acw' is correct; 'oco' isn't.) The "Neu fi a'm ffydd yn ffolach" goes back to the original publication of the song in ... 1844? ... in Maria Jane Williams' collection, Ancient National Airs of Morgannwg and Gwent. I have a facsimile edition at home and will check if robokopp is more similar to that version.

MJW had the words from the son of Iolo Morgannwg. IM had written the words down and, if memory serves, claimed the Wil Hopkin connection. However, IM was, shall we say, very creative when it came to history (he was also 'inventor' of the Druid/Eisteddfod connection) and, although the song evokes the Cefn Ydfa story in all who sing it, most scholars discount the Wil Hopkins claim. Nice story though.

Many of the words are very much in the style of Morgannwg songs and poems; indeed, the third verse is a 'floater', appearing in other folksongs, to other tunes. (In fact, I think I went to a lecture once that connects the style with ancient Indian sub-continent classical poetry. I'd have to check that.)

Tune-wise, I have an interesting note at home but won't be there for a few days. I'll post it when I can. From memory, it's connected with a tune called "Y Gelynnen" (The Holly) which was popular long before 1844. It eventually came so connected with the words that it was cited as a tune for other words as "Maid of Cefn Ydfa". I think also that the first half of the tune was a traditional style used for ploughing with oxen. Which is a whole other story ...

sian

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: AllisonA(Animaterra)
Date: 21 Jul 03 - 06:42 AM

I remember this melody from a Welsh men's chorus recording my father had. I have a little book of Songs of Wales but this isn't in it. Is there are "definitive" book of Welsh songs that would have this and other classic beauties?

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 12:43 AM

I don't know the tune, but as I read the words, the tune for "How Can I Keep From Singing" automatically attaches itself.

Art Thieme

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: Chris in Wheaton
Date: 20 Oct 05 - 10:07 AM

Also see David Llewellyn's site --
http://www.davidllewellyn.com/index.html -- for David's version.
Chris yn Wheaton

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: GUEST,Mesmee
Date: 15 Oct 11 - 05:29 PM

There is another version of this song in English, sung by the Treorchy Male Voice Choir with Tom Jones. It's on You Tube and is stunningly beautiful.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 16 Oct 11 - 09:14 AM

Tom Jones & Treorchy MVC on You Tube

Don't know how long this link will survive.

Cheers

Nigel

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: GUEST
Date: 29 Dec 11 - 08:27 PM

Hi Nigel there are many versions of teh Lyrics.

Do you hav ethe Lyrics Tom Jones sings with the Treorchy Choir.

Vince

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: GUEST,guest
Date: 26 May 14 - 05:16 AM

In my young and foolish days i fell in love forever
and she was young and foolish too, we fell in love together
as we strolled the country lanes
and saw the wheat there blowing
we little thought what life would bring
or where our love was going

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: GUEST,Folk Fan
Date: 17 Jul 14 - 07:01 AM

The lyrics I recall from 50 years ago

He was young and used to rove
According to his fancy
Until one day he met a maid and oh her name was Nancy
She was like a dewy morn upon the mountain heather
and she was fair as golden corn in lovely summer weather.

Wsh I could remember the rest they were every beautiful

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Watching the wheat
From: GUEST,Robert
Date: 06 Nov 20 - 06:52 AM

I was young and used to roam according to my fancy,
Until one day I met a maid, and oh, it was my Nancy;


The words are by Grace Williams found in her setting of Watching the Wheat for piano and voice, OUP c. 1952. It's based on the Welsh language poem of the same name. I can't find the words on-line which might be because it's not very well known and still in copyright.


Many years have flown away with many a youthful fancy,
Yet when the summer days return I grieve again for Nancy.