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Lyr Req: gamekeepers, bonny may -june tabor?

02 Oct 01 - 10:17 PM (#563906)
Subject: gameskeepers, bonny may -june tabor???
From: GUEST,shaina

2 songs recorded on june tabor's "airs & graces" i have been unable to decipher myself or otherwise find the lyrics "while gameskeepers lie sleeping" which begins "i had a dog and a good dog too..." and "bonny may", a variant on the broom of the cowdenowes anybody who could help me out? peace be with you, shaina

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While Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping in the Digital Tradition

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02 Oct 01 - 11:39 PM (#563938)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: gameskeepers, bonny may -june tabor?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull

Hi Shaina, June Tabor is one of my favourite singers, there is a website with some of her lyrics on it, I will try to find it for you.The song about the dog could be about her dog, her Anthology album was dedicated to Flynn- 1981-1991, there is a photo of him as well, he looks like a black labrador.She has a new album coming out soon, that does not start with A (her previous 9 albums all started with A).

03 Oct 01 - 04:07 AM (#564049)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: gameskeepers, bonny may -june tabor?
From: nutty

While Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping is in the DT

HERE
although the lyrics seem to be the ones Martin Carthy recorded

03 Oct 01 - 04:11 AM (#564050)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: gameskeepers, bonny may -june tabor?
From: nutty

The lyrics of BONNY MAY have been posted in the Forum
HERE
All was revealed using DT & FORUM SEARCH at the top of the page

03 Oct 01 - 02:20 PM (#564330)
Subject: Lyr Add: While the Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping
From: Barbara

Some of the lyrics are pretty hard to decipher from the album. I used the Copper Family's songbook (similar words, different tune) as an aid when I couldn't tell what she was singing. Here's the June Tabor version:

WHILE THE GAMEKEEPERS LIE SLEEPING
(trad)

Oh, I got a dog and a good dog too,
And I keeps him in my keeping
For to catch those hares that run by night,
While the gamekeepers lie sleeping

My dog and me went out one night
For to learn some education
Up jumps a hare and away she bolts
Right into some large plantation

She had not run so very far
'Fore something stops her running
"Oh, Aunt Anne!", she loudly cries,
"Half a minute, your uncle's coming!"

Oh, I took out my little pen knife
And quickly I did paunch her
She turned out one of the female kind,
And that and I, I caught her!

I picks her up and I strips her down
And I puts her in my keeping
I says to me dog, "It's time to be going now
While the gamekeepers lie sleeping"
Away me and my dog did go
back into the town
We took that hare to a lab'ring man,
We sold it for a crown

We went into some public house
And there we got quite mellow
We spent that crown and another one, too
Don't you think I'm a good hearty fellow?

Repeat 1st verse

Blessings,
Barbara

03 Oct 01 - 09:33 PM (#564623)
Subject: thank you barbara!!!!
From: GUEST,shaina

i am deeply grateful;) one thing, tho is it the hare who calls to her auntie anne? and if not, who? also, where might i find a copy of the copper family songbook? danke, shaina

03 Oct 01 - 10:06 PM (#564642)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: gameskeepers, bonny may -june tabor?
From: Jeri

Shaina, check out Garry Gillard's Copper Family page. There are songs there as well as information on getting the songbooks. There may be closer sources, depending on where you are.

03 Oct 01 - 10:30 PM (#564655)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: gameskeepers, bonny may -june tabor?
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull

Sorry I could not find the lyrics you want but it seems she has made 12 albums starting with A, I dont know what her new one is called.

11 Aug 05 - 04:07 AM (#1539919)
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: gamekeepers, bonny may -june tabor?
From: GUEST,Rob Wahl

Compare to the Copper Family song "Dogs and Ferrets":
http://www.thecopperfamily.com/songs/coppersongs/dogs.html

Steeleye Span also recorded a version of "Dogs and Ferrets" on the "Commoner's Crown" album. Electrifying, with a running base drone, hammer dulcimer clangs (which to me signify the sense of the hare's life-and-death anxiety) and sudden shifts from a relatively harsh, jagged chorus to mellow verses with lots of slides--the hunters, then the silently running hare? I think it's an outstanding ensemble piece. But June's version is so jaunty and playful, and it works well as a solo a cappella piece, so now it's the one I prefer. Well, she could make the telephone book work, but I digress...

My transcription of June's singing contains a few minor differences from that cited above:

Verse 2: away she bolts >> away she run

Verse 3: "Oh Aunt Anne," she loudly cried
The aunt/uncle pairing (as pet names) makes more sense when you remember that hare hunting is a common metaphor in folk songs for sex or rape. I suspect it really ought to be "I" who cried, as in the Coppers' version:
So loudly then she called out.
Aunt, I said, Uncle's just a-coming.

Verse 4: And that, and I >> How glad am I

Verse 5: strips her down >> smooths her down

Cheers!