songs, hitherto unpublished, from the manuscripts of cecil sharp

Songs, Hitherto Unpublished, from the Manuscripts of Cecil SharpSource: Journal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society, Vol. 8, No. 4 (Dec., 1959), pp. 197-202Published by: English Folk Dance + Song SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4521587 .

Accessed: 17/06/2014 21:12

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range ofcontent in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new formsof scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected].

.

English Folk Dance + Song Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access toJournal of the English Folk Dance and Song Society.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded from 194.29.185.109 on Tue, 17 Jun 2014 21:12:05 PMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=efdss

http://www.jstor.org/stable/4521587?origin=JSTOR-pdf

http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp


SONGS, HITHERTO UNPUBLISHED, FROM THE MANUSCRIPTS OF CECIL SHARP

1. THERE WAS AN OLD WOMAN IN OUR TOWN (THE RICH OLD LADY)

Noted by Cecil Sharp and Maud Karpeles from Thomas Taylor at Ross Workhouse, Herefordshire,

September 10th, 1921.

1. There was an old woman in our town, In our town did dwell and she loved her husband _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ (a )_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ __ _ _ _ _ _

dear - ly, But an - other man twice as well. Sing whip she la - rey tid - i-foo la - rey,

Whip she la - rey 0.

(a)_ _ _ _ _

2. Now she went and got six marrow-bones And she made him suck them all, And that made the old man blind Till he couldn't see any at all.

3. The old man said he'd drown himself If he could find the way. The old woman quickly answered: O I'll show you the way.

197



4. She led him to the water And took him to the brim. And he said he'd drown himself If she would push him in.

5. The old woman she went to give a run To push the old man in, And he popped to the one side, And the woman went tumbling in.

6. She plunged about in the water A-thinking she could swim But the old man went and got a puthering prop And he propped her further in.

7. So now my song is ended, You may pen it down in ink. I won't bother my head to sing any more If you don't give me some drink.

Cecil Sharp noted only one other version of this song in England, but six in the Appalachian Mountains (see English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, I, 348).-M.K.

A very widely known song that, for some reason, has rarely found its way into printed collections in Britain. It is known in Scotland as 'The Wily Auld Carle' (see Gavin Greig, Folk-Song of the North-East, XIII), or 'The Wife of Kelso'. In Ireland it is sometimes called 'The Old Woman of Wexford' (some English versions, perhaps by adoption from Ireland, give Oxford as her dwelling-place). Herbert Hughes prints a version called 'Tigaree Torum Orum' in Irish Country Songs, Vol. IV. He says the song 'must have come to us from England generations ago, in spite of the Irish tang that is an essential ingredient'. H.M. Belden (Ballads and Songs collected by the AMissouri Folk-Lore Society, 1955) notes two forms of the song in America-an older one with the 'marrowbones' motif, and a more recent version spread by 19th-century stage performers, from which the marrowbones are missing (instead the wife ties the husband's hands; he tricks her; she drowns; he protests that he is unable to help because his hands are tied). The marrowbone-less version is often known by its stage-name, 'Johnny Sands'. In Grieg's version the marrowbones have become 'marble balls'.

Some sets of the song make the 'marrowbones' joke clearer. The wife goes to a doctor and asks him to prescribe something that will make her husband blind. She is advised to boil some marrowbones, 'and when he's sucked all the marrow out, he won't see any more'. The tune of the present version is clearly Irish.-A.L.L.

I have two versions of 'There was an old Woman', taken down in 1911 at Thaxted, both of them 'in Yorkshire' instead of 'our town': one akin to this one rhythmically, though different in shape, the other in quadruple time mostly-very awkward from the point of view of the words.-C.C.

198



This 'marrowbones' being a typical Irish form of the song (I have recorded a similar tune with the last line of the refrain: 'The blind man he can see' from Irish tinkers-RPL 18584 in the B.B.C. Library) I am adding Harry Cox's tune which is more typical of English variants-all rather 'one-notey' and slightly 'Music Hall' in character perhaps, but very singable. In the Sam Henry collection in Belfast the song appears as 'The Auld Man and the Churnstaff' with eight verses.-P.K.

n I* -jj- -T

Tid-i - li whack for diddle-um day,

Too - ral-loo - ral day.

199



2. POOR OLD HORSE

Noted by Cecil Sharp from C. Shire (blacksmith) at Langport, Somerset, August 19th, 1904.

L_J~~ __ _ _ _ q- _ _ 0__ ._ _ _ _ (i)__ - _ _ - - S#_

1. Once I was a young horse all in my youth-ful prime, My mane hung o - ver my

shoul - ders and my coat he did so shine, But now I'm get - ting old my

=Iz-emfi- 1' ,_ _ -_ ___\ t _ _

fea-tures do de - cay. My mas - ter he looks down on me and his words I heard him

say: Poor old horse, poor old horse, Poor old horse, let him die.

2. My master used to ride me at every chase all round, My legs they were so nimble I could trip over the ground, But now I'm getting old and scarcely able to crawl, My master he looks down on me, saying I am no use at all.

3. Once all in the stable I use good corn and hay That grows in yonder fields and likewise meadows so gay, But now I'm getting old I scarcely get any at all, For I'm obliged to nibble the short grass that grows against the wall.

4. Once all in the stable I was keep so fine and warm To keep my tender limbs from all aching, pain and harm, But now I'm getting old to the fields I'm obliged to go, Let it hail, rain or sunshine, or the winds blow high or low.

5. My hide unto the huntsman so freely I will give, My body to the hounds, for I'd rather die than live, Than lay my legs so low that have run so many a mile, Over hedges, over ditches, over turnpike gates and stiles.

200



3. SWEET KITTY Noted by Cecil Sharp from Captain Lewis at

Minehead, Somerset, September 12th, 1906.

_____

t= =____ - --____[5

~ ~ zrI

A bon - ny Scotch lad - die was rid - ing one day, He chanced to meet

g-rr______ _ ~_2_- 7 _IFm__ _t-. z_E"_Z_ i _'-L-___ -Z_ _ _ _* __ _2 E4 _- o

Mol - ly all on the high - way. He tipped her the wink and she rolled her darli

eye. Thinks he to him - self I'll be with you by and by, And sing fal the did-dle

ff i_ - izi---- # _ __ ._L_ __ -i0_ i do, Sing fal the did-dle i - do, Sing fal the dal day.

2. Here's fifty bright guineas if you will comply One night in my bedchamber with me to lie. With the sight of the money she soon gave consent And into his bedchamber quickly she went.

3. With hugging and kissing she lulled him to sleep And out of his bedchamber softly did creep. Gold rings and bright jewels and diamonds and gold, She robbed this young lord of a fine sum all told.

4. He saddled his horse and away he did ride Thinking to meet Molly down by the sea-side. Three times he passed by her but did her not know. She laughed in her sleeve and said: There goes my beau.

5. So now pretty Molly she lives on the shore, She never will go out a-courting any more, Unless some young sailor should greatly be in want For the loss of old England shall never want salt (?)

The opening stanza resembles the start of some sets of 'Sweet Lovely Joan'. Indeed, the plots of these two songs run closely parallel, and perhaps what we have here is a re-made version of 'Sweet Lovely Joan' (if, in fact, Joan is older than Kitty). The tune has echoes of the Irish air 'The Limerick Rake'-A.L.L. . . . an interesting Dorian tune.-F.M.C.

201



4. THE SEEDS OF LOVE Noted by Cecil Sharp from Jim Squires at

Holford, Somerset, August 29th, 1904.

I sowed the seeds of love And I sowed them in the spring, I

gathered them up in the morn-ing so soon While the small birds sweetly sing, While the

small birds do sweetly sing.

Jim Squires' version of this song closely resembles that of John England of Ham- bridge, which was the first song to be collected and published by Cecil Sharp. It is printed here for comparison with the same song recorded nearly fifty years later from his son William.

Noted from a recording made by Peter Kennedy and Maud Karpeles of William Squires (son of Jim) at Holford, January 5th, 1952.

(a) (b) 4 (c)

(d ___ _ _)_____d

__

(a) (a)_______(bi) ___

4 _~ ~___i g _l)~.l (c) (c) __________2(d)

202



songs, hitherto unpublished, from the manuscripts of cecil sharp

Documents