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16 Dec 20 - 11:01 AM (#4083737) Subject: boony little bunch of rushes o From: The Sandman I used to sing this song and have recorded it i eas trying to remember all the words and got as far as the verse about she modestly gave consent and on the ground we both sat down for fear of any moisture she spread benth her cambric gown and the lovely larks and linnets . it was the version collected from robert barret of piddletown, thanks |
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16 Dec 20 - 03:10 PM (#4083790) Subject: RE: bonny little bunch of rushes o From: GUEST,Nick Dow It's in Marrowbones. If have not got a copy it's on line, or it used to be. Try Worldcat. |
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16 Dec 20 - 03:52 PM (#4083793) Subject: RE: bonny little bunch of rushes o From: Reinhard The Bunch of Rushes at the VWML |
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16 Dec 20 - 04:23 PM (#4083797) Subject: RE: bonny little bunch of rushes o From: The Sandman Thanks to both of you |
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30 Jan 21 - 04:32 PM (#4090741) Subject: RE: bonny little bunch of rushes o From: The Sandman i am just relerning the concertina accompaniment from one of my concertina tutor books, they have their uses as a memory prop Nick, can you tell me is the last verse in marrowbones [ which must have belonged to my ex partner] is it so modestly she gave consent, and finishes with to you i will prove constant, i swear by all the powers above I have just noticed in the version [kindly provided by reinhard] an extra verse that i am not all that keen on |
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30 Jan 21 - 05:39 PM (#4090747) Subject: RE: bonny little bunch of rushes o From: Steve Gardham In the second edition of MB these 2 lines are in 2 separate verses. v4 starts The so modestly she did consent, and v3 finishes with To you I will prove constant. It appears to be exactly as Barratt sang it. I can scan it for you if it's any help, Dick, but it's on the VWML site. There are probably broadside versions on the Bodl site. |
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31 Jan 21 - 12:55 AM (#4090782) Subject: RE: bonny little bunch of rushes o From: The Sandman thanks, steve, i have it now |
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01 Feb 21 - 04:51 PM (#4091002) Subject: RE: bonny little bunch of rushes o From: Joe Offer I didn't find lyrics for this one. Can you help, Dick?
Gathering RushesDESCRIPTION: The singer meets a maid with rushes she'd been gathering. She goes with him to a shady grove. See asks him not to tease her nor break her rushes. They have sex. She says her mother will chide her and, if she has a baby, the world will "scoff and frown"AUTHOR: unknown EARLIEST DATE: before 1813 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(42a)) KEYWORDS: courting sex promise betrayal foreignlanguage seduction mother baby FOUND IN: Ireland Canada(Mar) Britain(England(South)) REFERENCES (5 citations): Fowke/MacMillan 64, "The Bonny Bunch of Rushes Green" (1 text, 1 tune) AbbottFowkeEtAl 59, "The Bonny Bunch of Rushes Green" (1 text, 1 tune) Creighton-SNewBrunswick 22, "Bonny Bunch of Rushes Green" (1 fragment, 1 tune) Reeves-Circle 48, "Gathering Rushes" (1 text) Brocklebank/Kindersley-Dorset, p. 28, "Bunch of Rushes" (1 text, 1 tune) ST RcABLtlb (Full) Roud #831 and 3380 RECORDINGS: Philip McDermott, "The Reaping of the Rushes Green" (on Voice18, IRHardySons) Maire O'Sullivan, "An Binnsin Luchra (The Little Bench [or Bunch] of Rushes)" [fragment] (on Lomax42, LomaxCD1742) BROADSIDES: Bodleian, Harding B 17(42a), "Bunch of Rushes, O!" ("As I walk'd out one morning"), J. Evans (London)), 1780-1812; also Harding B 11(393), "Rushes Green," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 11(3369), 2806 c.17(371), "Rushes Green"; also Harding B 11(485), Harding B 11(486), "[The] Bunch of Rushes" CROSS-REFERENCES: cf. "Gathering Rushes in the Month of May (Underneath Her Apron)" (theme of rushing and seduction) NOTES [254 words]: Reeves-Circle: "'Rushing' is in the lingua franca of folk song frequently a metaphor for female sexual adventure, as ploughing, sowing and reaping are for male." - BS Fowke/MacMillan notes to 64: "This is an English version of the widely known Irish Gaelic song ... In JFSS III 17 Lucy Broadwood gives a version from Waterford, Ireland, with alternate English and Gaelic stanzas." Fowke/MacMillan includes the "Arabian Queen" reference that ties it to Creighton-SNewBrunswick. Broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(393), which is in English, is -- like Fowke/MacMillan -- just about seduction; it refers to "any queen" rather than "Arabian queen" and shares the reference to hunting dogs and singing birds with Fowke/MacMillan. -BS Roud has a rather different split of this song than we do, making two Irish versions titled "The Reaping of the Rushes Green," from Paddy Tunney and Philip McDermott, #3380 and all other texts #831. It appears to me that these may be the versions closest to the Irish Gaelic. After some puzzling, I've decided to put both types here, to let you figure it out for yourself. The description above is for the English versions. Ben Schwartz wrote the following descriptions for the Irish Gaelic texts: Irish Gaelic: Singer, going to the water-meadow, meets a girl who has cut rushes. He bids her join him in the forest. She reproaches him; he'd promised a home and fine clothing, "all in payment for the bench of roses and the trouble I had over it." The whole thing probably needs another look. - RBW, (BS) Last updated in version 5.1 File: RcABLtlb Go to the Ballad Search form Go to the Ballad Index Instructions The Ballad Index Copyright 2020 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle. Here's the 1951 recording of by Alan Lomax and Seamus Ennis Maire O'Sullivan singing An Binnsín Luachra (The Little Bench of Rushes) |
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01 Feb 21 - 05:52 PM (#4091006) Subject: ADD: bonny little bunch of rushes o From: The Sandman bonny little bunch of rushes o
Early one summers morning abroad as i did walk for sport. |
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03 Feb 21 - 04:33 AM (#4091213) Subject: RE: bonny little bunch of rushes o From: The Sandman so now we are parting when shall we meet again he answered in a few days then the clerk shall say amen so come all you gentle readers as to there guides you do go pray dont forggt the answer to the new made bunch of rushes o not much of a verse, imo, broadside doggerel worthy of mcgonagall. |
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04 Feb 21 - 03:13 PM (#4091492) Subject: ADD: Gathering Rushes (from Reeves) From: Joe Offer 48 Gathering Rushes GATHERING RUSHES As I walked out one morning, thinking to take some sport Down by a crystal fountain where people did resort, 'Twas there I spied a fair maid and she was all alone With a bunch of rushes in her hand she’d been gathering all the morn. CHORUS She’d been gathering all the morn, She’d been gathering all the morn, With a bunch of rushes in her hand she’d been gathering all the morn. Good morning to you, fair maid, how came you here so soon? I have been gathering rushes and now I am returning home. He said, Fair maid, come along with me down to yon shady grove And for evermore I will prove true, I’ll swear to the powers above. Chorus: I’ll swear to the powers above . . . Then he took her by the lily-white hand and gave her kisses sweet. She said, Young man be civil, don’t me ill entreat. She says, You’re going to delude me because that I am poor and low, So I pray, young man, don’t tease me or break my rushes, oh. Chorus: Or break my rushes, oh . . . Then this fair maid consented to lay her rushes down, The morning being dewy she spread her morning gown. And now if trouble I should gain, the world will on me frown; I shall remember gathering rushes and spreading my morning gown. Chorus: And spreading my morning gown . . . Notes from Reeves:
Ms. gives title "As I Walked out one Morning" Chorus lines written out in full after each stanza. Rush-gathering and related occupations such as basket-making were traditionally female (cf. Green Besoms, No. 55, and Three Maids a-Rushing, No. I 32). ‘Rushing’ is in the lingua franca of folk song frequently a metaphor for female sexual adventure, as ploughing, sowing and reaping are for male. That this may also be so in the East is suggested by a very beautiful anonymous fourth-century Chinese love-song translated by Arthur Waley in his 170 Chinese Poems as "Plucking the Rushes." #48 in The Everlasting Circle, by James Reeves ©1960, pp118-119 |
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04 Feb 21 - 03:38 PM (#4091493) Subject: ADD: The Reaping of the Rushes Green From: Joe Offer THE REAPING OF THE RUSHES GREEN As I walked out one morning, it being in the merry month of May, Me and my two wild beagles, hoping to find some game to kill. When I spied no one but Mary; she appeared to me like a virgin queen She being at her daily labour at the reaping of her rushes green. She says, "Young man, be easy! Go on your way, aye, and let me be. Do not toss or spoil my rushes. Hard labour I have toiled by thee." "If I toss or spoil them carelessly, a far greener bunch I'll reap for thee. So sit you down beside me; some pleasant stories I'll tell thee.” "I know it's hard to refuse thee, although you might lead me astray. So I'll sit down beside you till the morning dew melts fast away." As my love and I sat courting. it being 'neath yon green laurel tree. And the small birds sang melodiously, changing their notes from tree to tree. The larks sang loud in chorusly [chorus] while I embraced my virgin queen. Mary, my love Mary and her bonny bunch of rushes green. Since my love and I got married, great riches she has gained by me. She has servants to attend her and to keep her from all slavery. Her waist grew long and slender. This whole wide world I'd reign for her. For Mary, my love Mary and her bonny bunch of rushes green. sung by PHILIP McDERMOTT Recorded by Keith Summers in McGrath's bar, Brookeborough, Co. Fermanagh, 6 August 1980 From Voice of the People, volume 18, To Catch a Fine Buck Was My Delight: Songs of hunting and poaching https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRkoQ8_Oyek |
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04 Feb 21 - 03:51 PM (#4091496) Subject: RE: ADD: bonny little bunch of rushes/Gathering Rushes From: Felipa This song is related to An Binsín Luachra Some hints that the English language versions may derive from the Irish language song are that it is referred to in Bunting's collection of 1809, earlier than the 1813 broadsheet mentioned above, and that a bit of Irish is retained in this English language version ending: My heart you've captivated On this place where the rushes grow, And for ever I'll embrace you, And your bonny bincheen luachara O! (see Jim O'Carroll's 6 July 2013 message in the linked thread which goes on to say: A popular Irish song was sometimes given an English dress and issued as a broadsheet; and in this case I give the broadsheet version in place of a strict metrical translation of the original. The humble and unknown translators of such pieces knew Irish well, but their knowledge of English prosody was far to seek; and so, probably quite unconsciously, they imitated the assonance of their originals. To realise this to the full, one must bear in mind that the pronunciation is that of the Irish countryside—"daycent" for "decent", "crayture" for "creature", "plaising" for "pleasing", "aisy" for "easy", and so on. The internal assonance then becomes obvious. To take the third verse as an example: I said, 'My charming crayture, Be plaz'sing to me and kind, This moment is the sayson That engages my tender mind. These rushes cost some labour, 'Tis plarn that the like do grow ; Then grant me your kind favour, Embrace me and ayse my woe'. "} And in the message just previous to mine, Joe Offer could also have mentioned Rabbie Burns "Green Grow the Rushes o" |
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04 Feb 21 - 04:02 PM (#4091499) Subject: RE: ADD: bonny little bunch of rushes/Gathering Rushes From: The Sandman a different song?Green Grow the Rashes O This is one of the most characteristic of all Burns Songs, although one of his earliest. In August 1784, he sets it down in his commonplace book, with some remarks on "the various species of young men" whom he divides into two classes - "the grave and the merry" The former he reckons to be those who are either "goaded on by the love of money," or else "whose darling wish it is to make a figure in the world," and the latter he notes as "the jovial lads, who have too much fire and spirit to have any settled rule of action, but without much deliberation follow the strong impulses of nature". "I do not see," he adds, "that the turn of mind and pursuits of such a one as the following verses describe - who swoons thro' the vale of life, amusing himself with every little flower that fortune throws in his way, is, in the least, more inimical to the sacred interests of piety and virtue. I do not see but he may gain heaven as well as he who, straining straight forward, and perhaps bespattering all about him, gains some of life's little eminences, where, after all, he can only see and be seen a little more conspicuously than he whom in the pride of his heart, he is apt to term the poor, indolent devil he has left behind him." So wrote Burns about Green Grow the Rashes. Now what he is saying in all that, and in the song, is that we should all grab our pleasures where we can and when we can and that there is nothing wrong with this attitude. There is nothing complicated about this song, it is a simple theme. Is a person any better or worse ( as a person ) if they follow a rigid, narrow path in life, than one who is carefree? Burns puts forward the view that the happiest hours and the most joyfull times ( and therefore the most carefree ) are spent in the company of the opposite sex. I suppose taking this view further, but here we are taking the poem into areas which are not exactly stated but are implicit, is that in a Calvanist society the feelings of guilt are man made, God will not punish us for enjoying ourselves, nor will He judge us on that basis either. This is one of the most characteristic of all Burns Songs. It was originally written without the final verse. Burns was rewriting an old song of which there are at least three bawdy versions. Burns complete recasting of these course old fragments into a finished song which has a note of tenderness and at the same time a leavening of wit is characteristic of his method as a song writer. His version expresses the complete abandon to the moments emotion which is the theme of so many of his best songs. Its delicacy of phrasing and aptness of expression produce a peculiar sense of inevitability which has kept the song universally popular. It also fits aptly to the tune and was one of the first of Burns songs to be printed with music. It appeared in the Scots Musical Museum 1787. Green grow the rashes, O Green grow the rashes, O The sweetest hours that e'er I spent Are spent amang the lasses, O He then builds the song up to a gradual climax of extravagance and ends with a deft compliment to the lasses. There's nought but care on ev'ry han' In every hour that passes, O What signifies the life o' man An' 'twere na for the lasses, O The war'ly race may riches chase An' riches still may fly them, O An' tho' at last they catch them fast Their hearts can ne'er enjoy them, O But gie me a cannie hour at e'en My arms about my Dearie, O An' warly cares, an' warly men May a' gae tapsalteerie, O For you sae douse, ye sneer at this Ye're nought but senseless asses, O The wisest Man the warl' e'er saw He dearly lov'd the lasses, O Auld Nature swears, the lovely Dears Her noblest work she classes, O Her prentice han' she try'd on man An' then she made the lasses, O This has all the qualities of a good song. It distills a single mood yet it has structure, working up to a climax. It is thoroughly singable; indeed, it sings itself, even without the tune. The phrasing is deft, and even witty; yet the ideas do not not stand out from the poem to distract attention from the simple, emotional quality. Although the poem in a sense constitutes a profession of faith, there is nothing rhetorical or sententious about the utterance; the maintaining of the lilt (helped by the repetition of that final O in every second and fourth line) is adroitly done and, helps to remind us continuously that this is a song, not a recitation. All in all, this apparently simple lyric is the consummate singing presentation of man who loves. In this particular direction, art can go no further. Gringo, This was often used in Latin America to refer to people from the United States,and has a Scottish connection. The term originates from the Mexican War (1846-1848), when American Soldiers would sing Robert Burns’ Green Grow the Rashes, O!, or the very popular song Green Grows the Laurel (or lilacs) while serving in Mexico, thus inspiring the locals to refer to the Yankees as gringos, or green-grows. The song Green Grows the Laurel refers to several periods in Scottish and Ulster-Scottish history; Jacobites might change the green laurel for the bonnets so blue of the exiled Stewart monarchs of Scotland during the Jacobite Rebellions of the late 1600’s and early 1700’s. |
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04 Feb 21 - 04:16 PM (#4091503) Subject: RE: ADD: bonny little bunch of rushes/Gathering Rushes From: Felipa I know it is a different song,Sandman. I was referring to Joe Offer's comment - actually two messages before my contribution - "Rush-gathering and related occupations such as basket-making were traditionally female (cf. Green Besoms, No. 55, and Three Maids a-Rushing, No. I 32). ‘Rushing’ is in the lingua franca of folk song frequently a metaphor for female sexual adventure, as ploughing, sowing and reaping are for male. That this may also be so in the East is suggested by a very beautiful anonymous fourth-century Chinese love-song translated by Arthur Waley in his 170 Chinese Poems as 'Plucking the Rushes.'" The chorus of Green Grow the Rushes o certainly puts me in mind of the various songs about courting at the edge of harvests, at the hay-making as well as when cutting rushes. yes, Sandman, what I heard in school was that the word Gringo came from a penchant for singing Green Grow the Lilacs |