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Lyr Req: Plains of Waterloo (High Level Ranters)

04 Nov 98 - 12:48 AM (#44136)
Subject: plains of waterloo
From: David Polacheck

I very much need the lyrics to the song "The Plains of Waterloo" as performed by the High Level Ranters on their out of print Leader album "High Level"; sung I think by Tom Gilfellon. Help!

04 Nov 98 - 04:04 AM (#44160)
Subject: RE: plains of waterloo
From: Barbara

David, it's in the database. put [plains of waterloo] in the grey search box in the upper right hand corner of the page (like that with the brackets) and it will pull up a couple versions of the song for you. Blessings,
Barbara

04 Nov 98 - 07:42 AM (#44173)
Subject: RE: plains of waterloo
From: Liam's Brother

Hi David!

You notice that there are quite a few songs about this tremendous battle. I read the other day that 24% of the men present were killed in action or died of wounds suffered. Those were some 3 days!

All the best.

04 Nov 98 - 01:28 PM (#44200)
Subject: RE: plains of waterloo
From: Davd Polacheck

A appreciate the suggestion, Barbara, but it turns out that those particular texts are not the same as the version I seek. Anyone out there with a copy of the lp "High Level" who can help me?

Dave

04 Nov 98 - 08:33 PM (#44266)
Subject: RE: plains of waterloo
From: Susan of DT

David - There are at least 5 different Laws numbered songs called either Waterloo or Plains of Waterloo. A search for just "Waterloo" gets 32 hits. Look thru them and see if any of them are what you are looking for.

05 Nov 98 - 07:46 AM (#44317)
Subject: RE: plains of waterloo
From: Jon Eastmond

David,

I've got the album you refer to. Tom learned," the Plains of waterloo" from Martin Carthy. It was collected in the Ottawa Valley by Edith Fowkes.

Plains of Waterloo (1) in the index is the closest to the version of the song as sung by the Ranters. It shares the same outline and some of the same lines.

I can't find a printed source for the lyrics. If you're really stuck, e-mail me and I'll transcribe them, but it might take a while!

05 Nov 98 - 10:12 AM (#44327)
Subject: RE: plains of waterloo
From: Liam's Brother

Hi David!

If you're interested in a little bit of background, this song comes almost definitely from a broadside. To the best of my knowledge, no actual printed broadside sheet has never been found however. Additionally, it has not been recorded from tradition in the UK or Ireland... only in Canada. I'm sure everyone who sings it got it ultimately from the late O.J. Abbott. (Yes, there was another O.J., thank God!)

Mr. Abbott was recorded by Edith Fowke. He was born in Enfield, England and came to Canada when he was 12. He learned his songs early from the people he worked with on farms and in lumbercamps. They were all Irish.

In the late '70s, practically every good ballad singer who was taken seriously sang "The Plains of Waterloo." ...Frank Harte, Royston Wood, etc. It is not sung so much anymore, however. Good luck with this one and treat it kindly. It's a really great song.

All the best, Dan

05 Nov 98 - 07:20 PM (#44394)
Subject: RE: plains of waterloo
From: Bruce O.

Edith Fowke also published O. J. Abbott's version, with tune, in 'Traditional Singers and Songs from Ontario', #21, 1965.

06 Nov 98 - 02:41 AM (#44429)
Subject: RE: plains of waterloo
From: Liam's Brother

Bruce O. points us to a good source. If you are interested, you might want to check ... http://www.bookfinder.com/

This book and others sometimes appears there.

I thank Sandy Paton for letting me know about this site.

All the best, Dan

06 Nov 98 - 06:21 PM (#44524)
Subject: RE: plains of waterloo
From: Bruce O.

Re: www.bookfinder.com. I forget when I ran across it, but have had great difficulty living within my income since I did. Some Edith Fowke works are listed there now, but not the Ontario songs one.

09 Nov 98 - 05:52 PM (#44707)
Subject: RE: plains of waterloo
From: bigJ

You might also try Folkways FM 4051A - that's the LP of O.J. Abbott's that the song appears on. It might only be available on cassette now, of course but it should certainly have the lyrics with the sleeve notes. "Traditional Singers and Songs from Ontario" was published in 1965 by a short-lived but excellent publishing company called Folklore Associates, Inc. of Hatboro, Pennsylvania. It was under the general editorship of the late Kenneth Goldstein.

09 Nov 98 - 06:07 PM (#44710)
Subject: RE: plains of waterloo
From: bigJ

Whoops! Having looked in my own database of recordings I see that the song also appeared on 'Far Canadian Fields' Leader (1975) (LEE 4057) which is effectively a sampler of Canadian songs collected by Edith Fowke. It also features the song 'The Loss of the Ellen Munn' mentioned in a thread elsewhere.

11 Nov 98 - 01:10 AM (#44919)
Subject: RE: plains of waterloo
From: David Polacheck

Dear Jon Eastmont:

I'd like to respond to your kind offer, but I don't know your email. You can reach me at kpolacheck@mail.utexas.edu. All I need are the last two verses. Help!

11 Nov 98 - 09:22 AM (#44968)
Subject: Lyr Add: PLAINS OF WATERLOO
From: Liam's Brother

Hi David!

Here's some Mudcat instant gratification for you!

I've been singing it this way for 25 years. Should be close to what you're looking for:

Oh, as I was out walking on a fine summer's morning
'Twas all down by the banks of a sweet pearling stream
'Twas there I spied a fair maid making sad lamentation
I drew myself in ambush for to hear her sad complaint
Through the groves she strayed along, made the valleys for to ring-o
The small feathered songsters around her head they flew
Saying the wars are all over and piece it is returned again
Still my Willie's not returning from the plains of Waterloo.

I stepped up to this fair maid and I said, "My fond creature,
Dare may I make so bold as to ask your true love's name?
For I have been in battle where them cannons loud do rattle
And by your description I well might know the same."
"Willie Smith's my true love's name. He was a hero of great fame.
He's gone and he's left me in sorrow, 'tis true
But no one will me enjoy but my own darling boy
And still he's not returning from the plains of Waterloo."

"If Willie Smith's your true love's name, he was a hero of great fame
He and I have been in battle through many's the long campaign
Through Italy and Russia, through Germany and Prussia
He and I were constant comrades through France and through Spain
Till at last by the French oh that we were surrounded
And, like heroes of old, we did them subdue
We fought for 3 days till at last we did defeat him
That bold Napoleon Boney on the plains of Waterloo.

'Twas on the 18th day of June it ended the battle
And left many a gallant hero for to sign and to mourn
For the war drums did beat and the cannons loud did rattle
'Twas by a French soldier that your Willie he was slain
And as I passed by the spot where he lay bleeding
I scarcely had time for to bid him adieu
For in a faltering voice these words he kept repeating
"Fare thee well my dearest Annie, you are far from Waterloo."

Oh, when this fair maiden heard this sad acclimation
Her two rosy cheeks they grew pale and they grew wan
And when I saw this fair maid in such sad lamentation
I said, "My darling, Annie, I'm Willie, I'm the one
And here is the ring that was broken between us
In the midst of all dangers to remind me of you."
And when she saw the token, she flew into my arms the.
"Your welcome, dearest Willie, from the plains of Waterloo."

I just had a look at "Traditional Singers and Songs of Ontario" again and this is pretty close to what Mr. Abbott sang. As I said earlier, 24% of the combatants lost their lives at Waterloo. Many people knew somebody who didn't return, therefore, songs about Waterloo were numerous and popular.

Napoleon was seen both as a devil and a possible liberator by the downtrodden in Britain and Ireland. Additionally, that fellow who started out as a nobody and nearly took over all of Europe, did a lot for kindling the flame of ambition in many a mind. There were more songs about Napoleon than Nelson or Wellington. A friend of mine in California, Dick Holdstock, collects Napoleon songs. There are 7 in my book, "A Bonnie Bunch of Roses," including another "Plains of Waterloo" that I got from Fr. Charlie Coen.

All the best,
Dan Milner

12 Nov 98 - 07:27 AM (#45083)
Subject: Lyr Add: THE TRAINS OF WATERLOO (Les Barker)
From: AndyG

I couldn't resist this:

THE TRAINS OF WATERLOO

As I was a-walking one midsummers evening,
All among the brick-red of surburbian sprawl,
I met a young maid making sad lamentation,
And it seemed all Basingstoke heard her sad call,

She walks the street lined with small maisonettes(es),
The semi-detatched, the town houses too.
Crying day it is over, executives come home again,
But my Nigel's not returned upon the Trains of Waterloo.

I stepped up to this fair maid and said my fond creature
Oh, May I make so bold as to ask your true loves name
It's I have done battle in the Cannon Street rattle
And by some strange fortune I might have known the same

Nigel Clegg's my true loves name, Merchant Banker of great fame
He's gone to the wars out on platform two
No-one shall me enjoy but my own darling boy
No Milkman, and the Postman, and the Man from the Pru

If Nigel Clegg's his name a commuter of great fame
Then we fought together the daily campaign
His brave brolly poking invaders at Woking
He was my loyal comrade on the five-thirty train

We fought with our Guardians we fought with our Filofax
Our rolled umbrellas our telegraphs too
We fought every evening all down the platform
And back through the night on the Trains of Waterloo

Dear lady I bring you the saddest of tidings
The five-thirty train it was cancelled you see
And Nigel not looking he went to step onto it
Straight into the path of the five-thirty-three

Your poor Nigel Clegg I have brought you his leg
And so sadly she gazed at the limb she once knew
And fondly she browsed on one half of his trousers
Oh My Nigels not returning on the trains of Waterloo

Words:Les Barker
Sung by June Tabor and Lesley Davies on
ORANGES AND LEMMINGS
The Mrs Ackroyd Band
Mrs Ackroyd Records DOG 007

AndyG

14 Nov 98 - 05:14 PM (#45386)
Subject: RE: plains of waterloo
From: Art Thieme

Peter Rowan does this beautifully as a bluegrass song.

18 Nov 98 - 11:13 AM (#45940)
Subject: RE: plains of waterloo
From: Wolfgang

Andy, whenever in future you feel the urge to post a Les Barker parody, don't even try to resist it. I love them and smilingly remember at least Tamlyn and Everything glows (assuming that was you too).

Wolfgang

19 Nov 98 - 03:56 AM (#46074)
Subject: RE: plains of waterloo
From: skw@

Dan,
The Corries do a song, Bloody Waterloo:

A lassie she was walking all on the banks o' Clyde
The tear ran doon her rosy cheeks as I walked by her side
I saw her bosom heaving, her voice was sweet and low
She was weeping for her Willie lad that sailed for Waterloo

And the Black Family sing The Warlike Lads of Russia, about the retreat from Moscow, which portrays Napoleon as a great coward. Has your friend got those? - Susanne