Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)

17 Feb 08 - 02:47 PM (#2264699)
Subject: Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Luyr. Add: THE BLUE BELLS OF IRELAND

1
News, neighbors, news, glorious news I've to tell,
Here's a waggon-load of patent beetroots come here to sell,
And if you'll be my customers, by gosh, I'll use you well!

Chorus-
And the blue bells of Ireland go well, boys, well,
And the clapper strikes on every side, bang young Fanny well!

2
In came a lady gay, the footman ran before,
Desiring that she might have one nine inches long- no more,
And when Johnny touched her Fanny up, she still cried encore!

Chorus-

3
In came the parson's wife, as demure as you please,
And she would have a little one, to give herself some ease,
For parson's beet-root, while a-preaching, dangled to his knees.

Chorus-

4
In came a gardener's wife, and she was clothed in green,
And in buying of a dozen, she stole away fifteen,
And crammed them in her hairy pouch, that they might not be seen.

Chorus-

5
In came the vintner's wife, and she was full of spleen,
And she would have the largest that ever yet was seen,
For she had been plagued with little ones, e'er since she was fifteen.

Chorus-

6
In came the sailor's wife, and she was from Blackwall,
She bought a waggon-load of roots, the waggoner and all,
To make amends for loss of time, while Jack was at Bengal.

Chorus-

7
The next there came a little miss, resolved to play her part,
And when she heard the roots were sold, I thought 'twould break her heart,
"Pray, give me leave," says she, "to rub my Fanny 'gainst your cart."

George Speaight, 1975, "Bawdy Songs of the Early Music Hall," David & Charles, Newton Abbot (Canadian ed., Douglas David & Charles Limited.

No score.
Not found in Mudcat, but I recall something of the sort in posts a few bonths back...

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17 Feb 08 - 03:31 PM (#2264739)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)
From: MartinRyan

Interesting book that, alright. I picked up a copy in Amsterdam last year. Several of the songs have Irish tunes associated with them - or certainly ones which we now think of as Irish.

Regards

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18 Feb 08 - 07:48 AM (#2265245)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)
From: pavane

It must have been quite old, because a song in the Bodleian collection dated between 1683 and 1696 gives the tune as Blue Bells of Ireland. The chorus to that one is

And the Blew Bells of Ireland rings well and rings well
And the Blew Bells of Ireland rings ding dong Bell



Joyful news for Maids and Young women
(about a shipload of white puddings)

I believe White Puddings and Beetroots both refer to the same part of the anatomy!

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18 Feb 08 - 02:27 PM (#2265543)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Thanks, Pavanne. I looked in the Bodleian, but just for the title I used.

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18 Feb 08 - 02:37 PM (#2265547)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)
From: Malcolm Douglas

William Chappell mentioned the tune in passing in his discussion of 'The Blue Bell of Scotland' (PMOT II, 739-140), but didn't suggest any connection, noting that he had 'not met with any tune under that name'. Simpson doesn't refer to it, and the chances are that it is lost.

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18 Feb 08 - 06:00 PM (#2265740)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)
From: GUEST,Lighter

Good sleuthing, pavane!

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19 Feb 08 - 10:19 PM (#2267007)
Subject: Lyr Add: JOYFUL NEWS FOR MAIDS AND YOUNG WOMEN
From: Jim Dixon

Here's my transcription of the broadside at the Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads, Douce Ballads 1(104b):

Joyful NEWS for
MAIDS and Young WOMEN:
BEING
An ACCOUNT of a Ship-load of white Puddings, brought from a far Country,
and are to be exposed to Sale at reasonable Rates, for the Benefit of Old and
Young Women. To the Tune of The Blue Bells of Ireland.

Licens'd and Enter'd according to Order.

[1] Young handsome Wives and Lasses, glad Tydings here I tell;
A Ship-load of white Puddings are come to Town to sell;
And for your ready Money, will please you passing well:

[CHORUS:] And the blue Bells of Ireland rings well, and rings well;
And the blue Bells of Ireland rings ding dong Bell.

[2] These dainty curious Puddings are pleasant, sweet, and sound,
Some weighs full fourteen Ounces, and others full a Pound;
You can't find better Puddings, search the three Kingdoms round: [CHORUS]

[3] Not far from London Tower, this ship is riding there;
Young Women they came flocking to buy this dainty Ware;
You never see such crowding, in London Smithfield-fair, [CHORUS]

[4] The Miller's Wife came huffing, her Tongue went like a Clapper,
For one she'd give a Tester, but facks(?) it was a thwacker;
And it was stuff'd as hard-beside as any Squibb or Cracker: [CHORUS]

[5] A Butcher's Wife near Shoreditch, was full resolv'd to go
To buy a curious Pudding, for why she well did know
Such Food would make a Woman as fat as any Doe: [CHORUS]

[6] Then came an antient Woman, who was both lame and old;
For one she gave five Shillings, as good as e'er was told;
She put it in her Warming-pan, to keep it from the cold: [CHORUS]

[7] The Wife of Tom the Cooper, did like a Hector swear,
Altho' she brought but Nine-pence, it seems to lay out there;
And for the nasty nine-pence, she'd pick and cull the ware, [CHORUS]

[8] The Wife of Tom the Taylor, did come to buy one then;
Altho' the Goods were guarded by six or seven Men,
In laying out of Three-pence, she cabbag'd nine or ten: [CHORUS]

[9] A Merchant's youthful Lady, whose husband was unkind;
She came to buy a Pudding, her Pocket was well lin'd;
She proffer'd twenty Shilling to have one to her mind, [CHORUS]

[10] There came an Old Fish-woman, Countess of Billingsgate;
And she bid ready Money for all the whole Ships Fraight;
The Women up with Puddings, and knock'd her o're the Pate: [CHORUS]

[11] They cry'd, You wretched Beldam, e'er you shall buy them all,
And raise them to Extortion, your Noddle we will mawl;
There shall be no monopolizing in this case at all, [CHORUS]

[12] Then came a Weaver's Daughter from off the Turkish Shore,
And bid them twenty Shilling to pick out half a score;
Yet e're she'd go without 'em, she proffer'd Two-pence more: [CHORUS]

[13] Then come away young Women, all you that Dainties crave;
You may have for a Tester what will your longing save;
They are as fine white Puddings, as Wives can wish to have: [CHORUS]

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20 Feb 08 - 02:38 AM (#2267138)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)
From: Malcolm Douglas

To which should be added:

Printed for S. Bates, at the Sun and Bible in Gilt-Spur Street.

The publisher's details are important, as they give an idea of the date among other things. The Bodleian puts this one at c.1720, which appears to be the year that Sarah Bates took over the Giltspur Street establishment from her (presumably, deceased) husband Charles Bates, who had been one of the later partners in a long and complicated series of overlapping broadside publishing partnerships going back to Coles, Wright, Vere and Gilbertson in 1655.

The edition transcribed above is a later white-letter reprint of a blackletter sheet issued by Brooksby, Deacon, Blare and Back some time between 1683 and 1696, and a copy of that too can be seen at the Bodleian site:

Harding B 39(128)

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20 Feb 08 - 02:50 AM (#2267142)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)
From: Malcolm Douglas

I had forgotten that 'Pavane's' link leads to the earlier edition, not to the later one Jim has transcribed. The texts (apart from the type used) appear to be identical.

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20 Feb 08 - 06:38 PM (#2267964)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)
From: Jim Dixon

Actually, I tried transcribing the blackletter one first, but I found several words illegible. Then I discovered there was another more legible copy, so I used that one to supply the missing words. While I was at it, I changed the capitalization, punctuation, and (in a few cases) the spelling to agree with the newer copy. I don't think I had to change any whole words.

Frankly, I didn't notice that the dates were significantly different, and I didn't insert the printer information because I didn't think anyone cared! Well, now I know. I will do that from now on.

Can anybody shed any light on the word "facks"—which I considered doubtful? I think I can tell the difference between an "f" and an "s" and this sure looks like an "f"—and anyway, "sacks" wouldn't make any more sense in this context than "facks".

As for "tester"—the American Heritage Dictionary online says:

Tester(3) – see teston (2).

Teston: 2. An English coin stamped with the image of Henry VIII's head. In this sense, also called tester(3).

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20 Feb 08 - 07:46 PM (#2268043)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

A tester is a sixpence. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Various editions, 1785 and later (mine is 1811).
Earlier (16th c.), the coin was worth a shilling (OED)

Fack is a variety of fake, in the sense of coiled. A Nautical word. When a sailor coiled a rope or hawser, he would lay the rope in fakes or facks. OED. My, that's quite a thwacker!
Also fake may mean to do damage to someone, but the meaning above is the one that applies. (OED)
A squib is a type of small firework, which "sparkles, bounces, stinks and vanishes." Grose, above cited Dictionary.

'White' was used as an adjective for all sorts of things; a white swelling was a bun in the oven, to put it in more modern slang, a wife who rousted her husband from the tavern was a white sergeant, and white tape was Geneva (gin).

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21 Feb 08 - 02:14 AM (#2268276)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)
From: pavane

Not really sleuthing, I posted a link to this song only a few weeks ago! So it was fresh in the memory.

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21 Feb 08 - 12:47 PM (#2268670)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Jim, thanks for the transcription. Those old ballad sheets ain't easy.

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21 Feb 08 - 12:57 PM (#2268680)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)
From: Charley Noble

Most intriguing.

It's nice to have these posts from another time.

I'll never look at a beet in quite the same way again.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

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21 Feb 08 - 01:02 PM (#2268686)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)
From: Q (Frank Staplin)

Reminds me of the old maid in the celery patch.

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22 Feb 08 - 02:47 AM (#2269279)
Subject: RE: Lyr Add: The Blue Bells of Ireland (bawdy)
From: pavane

Or The gardener's root

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24 Feb 08 - 09:52 PM (#2271531)
Subject: Lyr Add: MARY'S GARDEN AND THE GARDENERS ROOT
From: Jim Dixon

From The Bodleian Library ballad collection, 2806 c.16(64).
Harding B 11(2370) is similar.


MARY'S GARDEN AND THE GARDENERS ROOT

Young Mary had got a small garden so neat,
It blossomed so pleasing, so fair and complete,
And Johnny the gardener would long indeed,
To sow in young Mary's garden his seed.

No flower had yet blown in her garden at all,
So the gardener a root had and not very small,
So he showed it the maid, it her favour did win,
And at length she agreed that he should plant it in.

So next day was agreed on to finish the job,
When the gardener's root Mary said she would rob,
So he turned up the mould and to plant it began,
And the seed in her garden so quickly it ran.

Young Mary with transport and pleasure did cry,
When the root and the seed met her wonder struck eye,
Says she, Johnny, tell me what is it now speak,
I should guess from its length and its strength 'tis a leek.

Says he, 'tis a daffa-down-dilly my dear,
It's too large for my garden, says she sir, I fear,
Oh no it is not, he exclaimed with a grin,
If you'll lend me your hand we will soon get it in.

Their labour was hard, but they tried all their might,
And at length they contrived to put it out of sight,
When suddenly she in astonishment cried,
Why see here's two onions [left] dangling outside.

Says Johnny, my dear these two onions you trace,
They keep the root standing in the proper place,
Says she, why I thought so, I'm certain and sure,
Cause, I found when I squeezed them it stood more and more.

So Mary her garden from that very day,
Gave up to the care of young Johnny they say,
And before she'd no flowers at all I declare,
But now she has flowers twelve times every year.

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