some "english" ballads and folk songs recorded in ireland, 1952-1954

Some "English" Ballads and Folk Songs Recorded in Ireland, 1952-1954Author(s): Marie SlocombeSource: Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, Vol. 7, No. 4 (Dec., 1955), pp. 239-244Published by: English Folk Dance + Song SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4521487 .

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SOME "ENGLISH" BALLADS AND FOLK SONGS

RECORDED IN IRELAND I952-I954

Tim songs here transcribed are selected from a large number of recordings made in Ireland during a series of recording expeditions carried out by the B.B.C. between 1952 and 1954. The collectors concerned, Seamus Ennis and Peter Kennedy, were assisted by Sean O'Boyle of Armagh.

In Ireland, we have found the art of folk singing more flourishing than in anv other part of these islands (except possibly the Hebrides), and among the songs in the English language which are remembered and sung there today are a considerable proportion of the older ballads and folk songs which may, without begging the question of ultimate origin, be regarded as of common Anglo-Irish-Scottish stock. From these the present transcriptions have been chosen.

Recording is still in progress. The field can never be covered exhaustively, and return visits have taught us that some memories, particularly Irish ones, are virtually unfathomable. Nevertheless, the following figures may be of interest, if it is borne in mind that in recording for the B.B.C. there is considerable sifting and selection, as well as pressure of time, and we also have to observe certain criteria apart from the purely academic ones. During the last eight years we have recorded, from well over a hundred singers, some 500 songs in Ireland. Of these about 140 were Gaelic songs. The rest included many purely local and political songs, but I have been able to compile a list of sixty-five separate songs-counting variants, over one hundred recordings-which are songs of "common stock", i.e. songs which from the evidence of the earlier published collections, or from our own collecting in other areas, have been widely current elsewhere. So far in Scotland we have only recorded forty of these 'English' songs, although this includes neither the harvest of a major trip last year, nor recordings made by the School of Scottish Studies. In Wales, we have found only fifteen (the area, however, is smaller and we have made fewer recordings there on the whole). In England our tally of songs, without counting variants, is over 230. This includes a number of categories, notably sea shanties, seasonal or ritual songs and Christmas carols, which are scarcely represented at all in the Irish collection.

Outside England itself, therefore, Ireland at the moment stands first as regards survival of the type of song under review, and among the sixty-five songs listed, there is a high proportion of ballads, including the following sixteen Child ballads, nearly all represented by at least one very good and complete version:-

239



Barbara Allen: Child No. 84. (Two versions). Captain Wedderburn's Courtship: Child No. 46. (Three versions). The Cherry Tree Carol: Child No. 54. (Two versions: one Gaelic, one English-two verses only

in each case. There is evidence that in Ireland these verses formed part of a folk tale based on the Apocryphal Gospel story, in which the 'dialogue' verses were introduced).

The Cruel Mother: Child No. 20. Edward: Child No. 13. (Two versions, one transcribed in JEFDSS 1953, p. 129). The Elfin Knight: Child No. 2. The Farmer's Curst Wife: Child No. 278. (Three versions). The Gipsy Laddie: Child No. 200. (Three versions). The Grey Cock: Child No. 248. (Three versions). The Green Wedding (or the Company Dressed in Green): ? Child No. 221. The Keach in the Creel: Child No. 281. The Lass of Loch Royal (or Lord Gregory): Child No. 76. (Two versions). Lord Bateman: Child No. 53. Lord Rendal: Child No. 12. (Two fragmentary English versions, and two versions in Gaelic). Our Goodman: Child 274. (Two versions in English and one in Gaelic. There is a Gaelic folk tale

of which this song is the culmination). Sweet William's Ghost: Child No. 77.

In England, although a greater number of songs have been found, they are more often remembered in fragmentary form. It is clear from our experience that, Gaelic singing apart, in Ireland the practice of singing traditionally is much more active among the people, and the singers we have recorded have almost invariably a singing style superior to that of the English singers. Most of the Irish singers have a richly ornamented style. This may be the direct influence of Gaelic singing, especially in the case of bilingual singers, or it may be the survival, in more favourable conditions and perhaps with the encouragement of surrounding Gaelic styles, of a way that used to be more prevalent in England also. We have in the last few years found but slight traces of ornamentation in England, whereas in Ireland it has been the exception to find a singer without it.

The sixty-five songs I have mentioned, and their variants, were contributed by thirty-seven singers from many different parts of the country. Six of them are Gaelic speakers and, although these have a larger repertoire of Gaelic songs, their con- tribution of songs in English is of the highest quality and interest.

Another notable feature in Ireland is the occurrence of several very large individual repertoires. It is, in our experience, much easier to find these encyclopaedic memories in Ireland than in England today, although we have one or two instances in the North-East of Scotland and (for Gaelic songs) in the Hebrides.

One Irish singer, Thomas Moran, is particularly remarkable in this respect, having given versions of all except three of the Child Ballads mentioned above and a total of forty-five songs for our collection as a whole.

Three songs from this collection are given below. A further selection will be printed in the next issue of the Journal. The notes have been contributed by the collectors. The ages given are, of course, approximate.

MARIE SLOCOMBE.

240



THE SHOOTING OF HIS DEAR (MOLLY BAWN OR POLLY VAUGHAN)

Sung by John Connell, Ballyvourney, Co. Cork. September, 1952. Recorded and transcribed by Seamus Ennis.

Let'sutreiv (R.P.L. 19024)

Jem - my went fowl - ing with his gun in his hand

Fowl - ing all day un - til eve - ning came on, His

_ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ _ __ , .

sweetheart being out walk - ing, he took her as a swan And he

shot His Mol - ly Bawn by the set - ting of the sun.

Jemmy went home with his gun in his hand Sad and broken-hearted, as you may understand, Saying "Father, dearest Father, if you knew what I have done I have shot my Molly Bawn by the setting of the sun."

Out bespoke the Father although his locks were grey Say "Son, dearest Son, do not think of going away, Stay in this country, until your trial come on. And you shall never die for the loss of a swan."

It was in three months after to her uncle she appeared Saying "Uncle, dearest Uncle, don't think to shoot my dear, My white apron being around me he took me as a swan But alas to his sad grief, I was his own Molly Bawn."

Molly you were my stoirin,* my joy and heart's delight, If you were to live with me I'd make of you my bride, You were the pride of this country, the rose of them all, O its soon 1 will follow you my own Molly Bawn.

* Gaelic-Little treasure (cf. English 'store').

JOHN CONNELL. Aged about forty. Lives in a very comfortable farmhouse at the top of a steep and

almost impassable road. Learned his songs from an old man on the next farm, from whom he has gone on learning songs since I first met him in 1948. He is one of the best singers we have recorded, with a beautifully ornamented style. (Seamus Ennis).

241



THE LOWLANDS OF HOLLAND

Sung by Mrs. Brigid Tunney, Beleck, Co. Fermanagh. July, 1953.

Recorded by Peter Kennedy and Sean O'Boyle, and transcribed by Peter Kennedy and Michael Bell.

(R.P.L. 20026)

'-88

t>-* - - >_=

3,

1. The night that I was mar - ried and laid in mar-riage bed.

in 3 - _s_~~0 - _P

_ n _ . _---

1 C ' 1 - - _ _

Up came a bold sea cap - tain and stood at my bed - head

AP- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Saying A - rise, a-rise you wedded man, and come a - long with me

(Considerable variation here)

To the Lowlands of Holland for to face your en - e - my.

For I Holland is a bonny place and in it grows fine grain It I is a place of I re-si-dence for I soldiers to the I Main Where the I sugar-cane grows I plentiful and the I tea grows on each I tree. I I never had but the I one sweetheart he's I far abroad from I me.

Said the I mother to the I daughter: "Leave I off your sore la- i ment There's men enough in j Galway to I be your heart's con- I tent." There's men enough in Galway, but a- I las there's none for I me Since I the high wind and I stormy seas I parted my love and me.

I'll l wear no stays a- round my waist, no I combs all in my I hair No I handkerchief a- round my neck to I shade my beauty I fair Nor I either will I I marry, love, un- I til the day I I die Since I the high wind and I stormy seas I parted my love and I.

(Sung to last two lines of tune) For the i stormy winds be- I gan to blow and the I seas did loudly roar And the I captain and his 1 gallant ship was I never seen no I more.

(Note abruptly taken off at end of last word)

242



MRS. BRIGID TUNNEY Age 67, wife of a farmer at Garvery, near Beleek. She was born and bred at Pettigo,

Donegal, and spent some years in Glasgow before finally migrating to Fermanagh in 1927. There is a great musical tradition in the family she has reared; her three sons and three daughters have all been recorded. Mrs. Tunney herself learnt her songs from father, grandfather, aunts and uncles on both sides of the family. Her singing style is richly ornamented. (Peter Kennedy).

CAPTAIN WEDDERBURN'S COURTSHIP

Sung by Thomas Moran, Mohill, Co. Leitrim, December, 1954.

Recorded and transcribed by Seamus Ennis (R.P.L. 22026)

= = = # -~~~ = _ O _ =c __

A gen - tle-man's daugh-ter roved down a nar-row lane, Meet-ing with young

Woodbor - in the keeper of the game; He says un-to his servant man If on - ly for the

law, I would havethis fair one in the bed Andshe'dbe next the wall.

"Go your way, young man," she says, "and do not trouble me Before you lie one night with me you'll answer questions three You must get for me three dishes, suppose I eat them all Before you and I in one bed lie at either stock or wall."

"You must get me for my breakfast a cherry without a stone You must get me for my dinner a bird without a bone You must get me for my supper a bird without a gall Before you and I in one bed lie at either stock or wall."

"When the cherr) is in the blossom it also has no stone, And when the bird is in the egg it surely has no bone The dove she is a gentle bird, she flies without a gall, O so you and I in one bed'll lie and you'll lie next the wall."

243



"Go 'way, go 'way, young man," she says, "and do not me perplex Before you lie one night with me, you'll answer questions six Six questions you must answer me while I set forth them all O before you lie one night with me at either stock or waUl."

"O then what is rounder than a ring or higher than a tree Or what is worse than women-kind or deeper than the sea What bird sings best, what tree buds first or where does the dew first fall Before you and I in one bed lie at either stock or wall."

"Well the globe is rounder than a ring, Heaven's higher than a tree, The devil's is worse than women-kind, Hell's deeper than the sea The thrush sings best, the heath buds first and on it the dew first fall So you and I in one bed'll lie and you'll lie next the wall."

"You must get for me some winter fruit that in December grew You must get for me a silk mantle that weft it ne'er ran through A sparrow's horn, a priest unborn, to join us both in twa Before you and I in one bed lie and you lie next the wall."

'"0 my father he has winter fruit that in December grew My mother has a silk mantle that weft it ne'er ran through A sparrow's horn is easy got, there is one in everv claw And Damocles is a priest unborn, he'll join us both in twa."

THOMAS MORAN Age 79 at the time of recording and still in good health, was introduced to me

(Seamus Ennis) by his nephew, Michael Colreavey, in November 1947. Michael brought me to Moran's house through the winding by-roads of County Leitrim-a townland called Drumrahool, near Mohill. 1 then recorded several items from him for a Radio Eireann broadcast. I departed, saying I would come back some day. I did. In December 1954. The only song I mentioned which Thomas Moran had not heard was "The Golden Vanity". There were very few songs in a long questionnaire for which he could not supply a full text and an interesting tune.

Thomas has been a farmer all his life. I suspected from some of the songs he sang that he must have travelled. "No," he said, "I learnt that song from a neighbour who hardly ever crossed a cow-track in his life." "Were you ever in Scotland or in Eng- land?" "I was once in England, on a couple of weeks' foolishness." Thomas Moran's songs came to Leitrim in Cromwellian times-the Plantation Period-and exist there today purely because of the gifted memory of those who rarely use pen and paper. Thomas said, jokingly, "The songs came in by these by-roads, and the condition of the roads would not let them out again".

Certain repertoires of folk song in Ireland are greater than Thomas Moran's repertoires which include both Gaelic and English, and both Anglo-Irish ballads and purely Irish songs, but Moran is the one in all my experience who has excelled in preserving the ballads of England, and particularly of older vintage. (Seamus Ennis).

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some "english" ballads and folk songs recorded in ireland, 1952-1954

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