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02 Jul 07 - 04:39 AM (#2092210) Subject: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: GUEST,PMB I know the song, but what is the significance of this colour combination? |
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02 Jul 07 - 05:25 AM (#2092230) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: Liz the Squeak Not everyone knows the song, what context are these colours in? Evil, purity, cowardice and envy are all conveyed by those colours, but they could just as easily be snooker balls. LTS |
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02 Jul 07 - 05:51 AM (#2092240) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: GUEST The song In Digitrad. The first verse or a variant thereof is often sung by morris dancers as an intro. ^^^ BLACK, WHITE, YELLOW AND GREEN There was an old woman, she kept fat hogs She made plum puddings, they poisoned the dogs They were black, white, yellow and green Black, white, yellow and green The rarest plum puddings you ever have seen They were black, white, yellow and green She took them and dropped them into the pot She boiled them until they were blazing hot They were black, white, yellow and green She baked them until they were blazing red One was like leather, the other like lead They were black, white, yellow and green She took up a pin and pricked the skin The gravy ran out and the maggots ran in They were black, white, yellow and green She took them and put them down on the floor They each in turn ran out of the door They were black, white, yellow and green She took them and put them up on the shelf If you want any more, you can help yourself They were black, white, yellow and green^^^
Thanks. -Joe Offer- |
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02 Jul 07 - 06:08 AM (#2092244) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: GUEST,PMB Sorry for the anonymity- I posted the above. |
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02 Jul 07 - 06:39 AM (#2092260) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: IanC Black & white is the normal colour of puddings ... yellow & green are various stages of degradation (cf "Green & Yeller"). :-) |
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02 Jul 07 - 07:07 AM (#2092268) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: TheSnail The tune is the Black Joke or Joak which derives from a bawdy 18C song which is in the DT - Black Joke and The Coal Black Joak. It seems to have resulted in lots of imitations at the time including Red, White, Yellow and Brown Joaks (but not Green so far) which I've found the dots to. They all seem to have the characteristic of having peculiar numbers of bars in one or more of the parts but are in various time signatures. There is also a True Joak recorded by John Kirkpatrick which has the same characteristic. I've also come across references to Blue and Grey Joaks and a few uncoloured ones. Not sure if any of this is remotely relevant but there you go. |
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02 Jul 07 - 07:59 PM (#2092791) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: Joybell I believe I've seen American variants of "Lord Randal" that mention eels of these colours. They have been boiled up and served to him as a poisoned meal. The versions in Child (12) don't have those exact colours - although black and white and blue are mentioned fairly often. Cheers, Joy |
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02 Jul 07 - 08:11 PM (#2092797) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: Joybell OK. Looks like a good place to look is in variants of "Lord Randal" called "Henry my Son". A song (music hall maybe) called "Green and Yeller" might be a good place to start. Joy |
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02 Jul 07 - 10:04 PM (#2092860) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: Q (Frank Staplin) Recorded by Seamus Ennis, 1955. By Leslie Bane? Listed on folktrax. |
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02 Jul 07 - 10:43 PM (#2092884) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: Bob Bolton G'day all, I think that IanC's expalnation is probably as close as we can get to the 'significance' of the colours. The Digitrad version of the song is as sung by the Mudcat's Burl ... perhaps he might be able to cast further light on any other significance. Regards, Bob |
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02 Jul 07 - 10:50 PM (#2092891) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: Malcolm Douglas Sung by Leslie Bane of Northrepps, Norfolk. Seamus Ennis recorded a few sings from him for the BBC archive, but I don't know of any substantive information about him. Roud 9212. The other examples listed are the nursery rhyme 'There was an old woman sold puddings and pies' which may or may not be related; at all events they tell us nothing much about this particular song. All revival examples appear to derive from Mr Bone's version. I wouldn't think there was any special significance to the list of colours except a design to sound amusingly revolting. |
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02 Jul 07 - 10:52 PM (#2092893) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: GUEST,crazy little woman "Black, white, green, and yellow" is a veiled reference to the Goldfinch Guerillas, a cadre of renegade codfisherman who were active in Nova Scotia in the mid-nineteenth century. The maggots, of course, were the Molly McGuires. |
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02 Jul 07 - 10:55 PM (#2092896) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: Q (Frank Staplin) All from Norfolk, of course. |
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03 Jul 07 - 10:50 PM (#2093603) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: Bill D Burl used to start many concert with that song...to get the audience's attention, and see if they could sing and were friendly..*grin*...when he was not performing for awhile, I decided to learn it myself...and have tested the self control of many friends since then. It's a fine song. |
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04 Jul 07 - 01:50 AM (#2093676) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: Liz the Squeak So not snooker balls then? *Grin* LTS |
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04 Jul 07 - 06:05 AM (#2093795) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: TheSnail "For those watching in black and white, the yellow ball is behind the green" |
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04 Jul 07 - 09:49 AM (#2093887) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: paddymac Crazy Little Woman - Explain, please. "The maggots, of course, were the Molly McGuires." |
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04 Jul 07 - 10:32 AM (#2093929) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: Jack Campin The puddings are the materials used in the alchemical process. Leslie Bane must have been an alchemical adept and he left a few colours out just to be confusing. "These transfigurations are particularly described in the Book of the Seven Egyptian Seals, where it is said (as also by all Authors) that the Stone, before it will wholly forsake his blackness, and become white in the fashion of a most shining marble, and of a naked flaming sword, will put on all the colours that thou canst possibly imagine, often will it melt, and often coagulate itself, and amidst these divers and contrary operations (which the vegetable soul which is in it makes it perform at one and the same time) it will grow Citrine, green, red (but not of a true red) it will become yellow, blue, and orange colour, until that being wholly overcome by dryness and heat, all these infinite colours will end in this admirable Citrine whiteness, of the colour of Saint Pauls garments, which in a short time will become like the colour of the naked sword; afterwards by the means of a more strong and long decoction it will take in the end a red Citrine colour, and afterward the perfect red of the vermillion, where it will repose itself forever." - Ripley's Exposition of the Hieroglyphicall Figures of Nicholas Flamel They are also the colours of four of the five Transcendental Buddhas. He left out blue/black, the colour of Akshobhya, the Buddha of killing and anger, who transforms those into Mirror-Like Wisdom. |
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04 Jul 07 - 12:49 PM (#2094035) Subject: The Philosopher's Pudding again From: Jack Campin Oops. The missing colour is RED, the colour of the Buddha Amitabha. Which is of course the climactic colour of the alchemical sequence. Obviously Bane didn't want to give such an important secret away. |
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04 Jul 07 - 01:02 PM (#2094048) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: Q (Frank Staplin) Wal, I never! |
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14 Feb 11 - 06:55 PM (#3095366) Subject: RE: Folklore: Black, white yellow and green From: boldreynard Does anyone know whether one can access an archived BBC recording online? The Roud index lists a version of this song as "BBC recording 22159" as recorded by Leslie Bane: is there any way to hear this? |