10 Jan 98 - 05:23 PM (#19010) Subject: old woman from belfast From: Denis Cunningham Does anyone know yhe words to the old woman from belfast. If you do I'd love to hear from you cheers Denis |
11 Jan 98 - 04:34 AM (#19032) Subject: RE: old woman from belfast From: alison Hi Speaking as a young woman from Belfast....it's not ringing any bells. Have you any more of the lyrics? Are you sure it's not William Bloat? If so it's probably in the database. Slainte Alison |
11 Jan 98 - 01:36 PM (#19045) Subject: RE: old woman from belfast From: Barry Could it start "There was an old woman from Belfast (Wexford), in Belfast she did dwell, she loved her husband dearly, but another man twice as well". If so it's in the DT. Have heard it both ways. Good luck Barry |
11 Jan 98 - 04:10 PM (#19053) Subject: Lyr Add: TUTHEREE OO AND TAN From: Bruce O. Here's a version thats a bit different.
TUTHEREE OO, AND TAN.
In Dundee there lived a carl, fu' blithe and merry;
She led him a life that fu' wae and weary,
This carl's wife she did na' play her hubby fairly,
Wife, said he, of life I'ze tired, and will gang drown me,
At the pond, said he, if my poor heart should fail me,
By a pond he stood that was deep full a fathom,
This is in 'The Universal Songster', I, 416, (1825) 1828, about the same time as "The Old Woman of Slapsadam" appeared. Another version is "Lawyer Brief; or, a new way of getting rid of a scolding wife", in 'The Universal Songster', II, 335, 1826. Song is Laws Q2,and see the reworked version "Johnny Sands", Laws Q3. Laws Q2 is the title song of Frank Purslow's 'Marrow Bones', 1965.
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11 Jan 98 - 05:49 PM (#19062) Subject: RE: old woman from belfast From: Susan of DT Eggs and Marrowbones is #344. search for #344 to see 5 versions. |
11 Jan 98 - 06:06 PM (#19068) Subject: RE: old woman from belfast From: Tim Jaques tjaques@netcom.ca This seems to be the same song as the one sung in Cape Breton as The Old Woman From Mabou. Steeleye Span recorded a version as Marrowbones, which doesn't give a place name, only "in our town." It's on Ten Man Mop, which is out on CD. |
11 Jan 98 - 09:23 PM (#19078) Subject: RE: old woman from belfast From: Denis Cunningham Thanks for all your replies to The old woman from Belfast query. I'm afraid I don't know any of the lyrics as I am doing a search for a friend who heard the song and can't remember much about it other than the name. It isn't the old woman from Wexford or any of the variations of that song. Maybe its very new, thanks again Denis. |
12 Jan 98 - 07:01 PM (#19131) Subject: Lyr Add: AN OLD WOMAN IN BELFAST From: Bob Landry Denis, I got these words from my cousin's daughter's husband some time ago. I thought is was the Old Lady from Wexford/Mabou but upon closer inspection found I was seriously mistaken. I have no idea who wrote this, how the tune goes, or what the chords are. But maybe it is what your friend is looking for.
AN OLD WOMAN IN BELFAST |
14 Jan 98 - 05:45 PM (#19224) Subject: RE: old woman from belfast From: Denis Cunningham Thank you very much Bob and thank your cousin's daughter's husband for me, thanks again..hope I can return the favour sometime, Denis |
14 Jan 98 - 09:39 PM (#19237) Subject: RE: old woman from belfast From: alison Any chance of a tune? slainte alison |
15 Jan 98 - 07:10 PM (#19274) Subject: RE: old woman from belfast From: Denis I'm working on it Alison. If I can get the tune out of my friend I'll let you know. |
15 Jan 98 - 09:30 PM (#19284) Subject: RE: old woman from belfast From: Elektra I found one in the database with the same kind of ****ty storyline filed under MADELINE SCHMIDT. It has a tune, though I don't know if it's the same. In case anyone cares. :) It doesn't seem quite as amusing as the one given here, though. |
23 Jan 98 - 03:28 AM (#19745) Subject: RE: old woman from belfast From: Murray The tune in the database is that of "Villikins and his Dinah", aka "Sweet Betsy From Pike", and that seems to be THE tune for this song. Note the 'tooraliyay" burden, which is "proper" to that tune. DT text very similar to the 2nd in Ed Cray's great collection, The Erotic Muse [2nd edition, 1992), 127. His references include Harry Morgan, "More Rugby Songs" (1968), 43. I have heard a Scots version [to the same tune] beginning "There was an old woman in Glasgow did dwell". The original town is by now beyond finding, I should think. |
23 Jan 98 - 03:52 AM (#19746) Subject: RE: old woman from belfast From: Bruce O. I'll do some checking, but I think the "Old Woman of Slapsadam" version is older than the "Villikens" tune, which, off the top of my head, is around 1840-43. |
08 Apr 99 - 12:09 AM (#68995) Subject: RE: old woman from belfast From: Sandy Paton I realize that "Old Woman from Slapsadam (or wherever)" of the "Eggs and Marrowbone, "Old Woman from Yorkshire" type seems not to have been the song being sought here, but I thought I'd offer this quote to Bruce O. From Western Rivermen, 1763-1861 by Michael Allen, (p. 190): James Hall, who collected boatmen's songs, published in 1828 a tune he had heard concerning a boatman's infatuation with a lass who was "so neat a maid" that she carried her stockings and shoes in her "lily white hands/for to keep them from the dews." Another popular song, "Woman in Our Town," concerned a promiscuous woman who "loved her husband dear-i-lee/but another man twyste as well." Could these Ohio River flatboatmen have been singing from The Universal Songster? I suspect the song was well into oral tradition by that 1828 date. There is no tune appended, of course. Sandy |
08 Apr 99 - 12:13 AM (#68996) Subject: RE: old woman from belfast From: Sandy Paton Help, Joe! Please change that first date from 1863 to 1763! Gawdamighty, I can't even proofread a one paragraph post! Sandy |