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24 Oct 01 - 04:47 PM (#578966) Subject: Matty Groves From: GUEST,Shogie Does anyone have the words for Matty Groves. I looked in the database but all i could find was Fatty Groves!! I know Isla St.Clair sings it and the first verse is Sing high sing low sing holiday its the best day of the year young matty groves to church has gone some holy words to hear. Anyone know it?!?! |
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24 Oct 01 - 04:52 PM (#578968) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: GUEST,Ed Try Mattie Groves |
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24 Oct 01 - 04:54 PM (#578969) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: MMario Mattie Groves also here and here
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25 Oct 01 - 03:25 AM (#579226) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: pavane Shogie - have you heard Sandy Denny sing it? Well worth seeking out. It's on Fairport Convention's Liege & Lief. |
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25 Oct 01 - 09:50 AM (#579401) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: Maryrrf Couldn't agree more about Sandy Denny on that Fairport Convention album. I had always heard (and sung) the Joan Baez version which I like but I recently heard Sandy Denny and was absolutely flabbergasted - it's great, genius, wonderful - I can't praise it enough. That has to be the definitive version of "Matty Groves"! Check it out! |
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25 Oct 01 - 10:01 AM (#579413) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: Mrrzy Shep Ginandes did the ultimate version, to my mind, very close to the Joan Baez one. I never liked Doc Watson's version where HE seduces Lord Arling's wife instead of the other way around, it makes it more OK that he dies, somehow. Less tragic than if it was her idea. (Hmmm - wonder why that would be?) |
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25 Oct 01 - 10:54 AM (#579448) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: celticblues5 You should also try to get your hands on Christy Moore's version, Little Musgrave, my personal favorite - very atmospheric. Maybe it's his glorious voice, but I like the version of the lyrics too. I've never liked the versions where the lord of the manor cuts off his lady's head and "bounces it against the wall," which provokes an almost comic image rather than the intended. I feel the more powerful version is "He's taken out his long, long sword/to strike the mortal blow/through and through the lady's heart/the cold steel it did go." |
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25 Oct 01 - 11:07 AM (#579460) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: Malcolm Douglas Christy learned "his" version from a Nic Jones record, but previous discussions have dealt with all that. |
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25 Oct 01 - 12:36 PM (#579520) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: pavane This song is interesting in that it shows some of the censorship which British songs underwent in migrating to the US. Where in the English version, he wouldn't have it said that he slew a naked man, in some US versions it is an unarmed man. (It is well known that the language itself was 'puritanised', for example small birds in UK called tits, or titmice, became chickadees, cockroaches just roaches, and cockerels became roosters.)
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25 Oct 01 - 05:03 PM (#579798) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: Dave the Gnome Staff Folk (from Swinton) do a strange ending
Well thats the way this song's been sung since man came out of his tree I'll let you figure out how it goes from there. Or request it at Swinton on Saturday! DtG |
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26 Oct 01 - 02:55 PM (#580531) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: IanC Pavane Not altogether. "Naked" in this context actually means unarmed. Just a case of the language being updated (though I'm sure there was originally the intended pun).
Cheers! |
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26 Oct 01 - 04:06 PM (#580557) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: GUEST,Pete W. I always thought it was literally naked. After all, Mattie had just been caught in the arms of Lord Arlen's wife (or Lord Donald's - depending on which version). I'm sure some sing the line '...And I not a pocket knife' as a coy reference to no pockets, therefore no clothes. Incidentally, if you can, listen out for Meet On The Ledge's version (brilliant folk-rock band based in the English Midlands) - it'll blow your socks off. Pete W. |
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26 Oct 01 - 04:25 PM (#580569) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: IanC PeteW The double meaning's probably important, but the pocket knife reference and the "let it never be said in fair England I slew a naked man" make it clear that it's the old English usage meaning "weaponless" which is intended here.
Cheers! |
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26 Oct 01 - 07:38 PM (#580672) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: pavane Do they? |
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27 Oct 01 - 09:59 AM (#580884) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: Fiolar I agree with the term "unarmed." Otherwise why would Lord Barnard offer the "best of" his two swords to Matty/Little Musgrave? |
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27 Oct 01 - 09:11 PM (#581127) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: GUEST,Pete W. 'cos he was an honorable upper-class twit! And anyway, of course Mattie is unarmed if he's literally naked. Where would he hide his own sword? |
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28 Oct 01 - 07:42 PM (#581608) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: Joe_F For a thoroughly biased discussion of the motives of these characters, see "Manly Man Matty Groves" by Leslie Fish, in _The Incomplete Leslie Fish_. |
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28 Oct 01 - 07:58 PM (#581618) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: Snuffy And for a discussion of who comes out of the story with any credit and who is a total reprobate see this thread Matty Groves - who's the 'baddy'?. There's some great interpretations in this one - a classic thread. WassaiL! V |
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28 Oct 01 - 09:54 PM (#581673) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: DancingMom I love the Fairport Convention version. |
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29 Oct 01 - 08:03 AM (#581824) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: mkebenn While I like Denny's version, the live version F.C. recorded later had more power to my ears..Mike |
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29 Oct 01 - 07:14 PM (#582285) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: Noreen Thanks, Snuffy- the snivelling little page (called Gavin) always gets a hiss from the listeners when Catrin sings this. That was a fun thread. :0) |
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13 Jul 05 - 06:33 PM (#1521341) Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Matty Groves From: Le Scaramouche I couldn't seem to find this discussed, but where did Fairport learn theirs from? My apologies if this has been discussed before. |