A Folk Song A Day

Jon accredits this as “From Barry Dransfield. The tune is very old but this is the best use of it I’ve come across.”

Mainly Norfolk seems to indicate that there are several different ‘nonsense’ chorus variants and this one seems to be Dransfield’s. I’m also intrigued by Bert’s notes about the age and origins of the story. Although I’m wary of accepting it as the actual root, it at least shows a common and widespread tale that crosses different cultures. You’ll note it’s in the Child collection as well and has several alternate title including The Cursed (or Curst) Wife. Mudcat away here as well as there’s plenty more information including a Rabbie Burns version. Is it just coincidence that along with yesterdays, there was a whistling part to this? OK! So, the one yesterday is a modern addition by the Highwaymen and today’s is a much older part based on the idea that whistling summoned the Devil, but spooky none the less. As for the tune – William Of Orange’s marching tune? Flutes, whistles? OOooer!

Jon reveals “I’ve only ever heard this sung on forest School Camps but I dare say it was sung a lot in the sixties. I’m guessing it’s an American version. Interesting that the subtext here is ‘you might as well run off with a gypsy because he might be a lord in disguise’, unlike Seven Yellow Gypsies where the subtext is more ‘keep an eye on your wife or she may run off with the gypsies.’ ”

This has stirred some sort of ‘folk-memory’ for me and frustratingly I can’t place it – is it recent, or a throwback to my youth? There’s something about the conjunction of tune and the lines “He whistled and he sang ‘til the greenwoods rang and he won the heart of a lady.” The more I try to peer through the mental fog, the more remote the setting seems, apart from some vague idea of having learned it as a child! On first glance this and Seven Yellow Gypsies both seem to fall under the same Child Ballad #200 along with Gypsy Davy, Black Jack Davy and Gypsy Laddie. All have the Lady running away with a Gypsy or Gypsies and the Lord setting off in pursuit, but this is different in that it has a happy ending with the Gypsy really being a Lord in disguise. But… This is also known as The Whistling Gypsy and was copyrighted by a Leo Maguire from Dublin in around 1950. His claim seems opportunistic at best, as numerous versions with almost identical words, including the “Aaah-di-do” chorus, were already known and widely performed. Still, Wiki here and you’ll note that The Highwaymen had a Top 40 hit with it, which may explain my stirrings, although I also note The Seekers name on the list and my Radio 2/BBC TV upbringing might also put them in the frame. It seems Mr. Maguire’s song-grab may have paid off handsomely, although by Child’s estimations there are versions as far back as the late C17th and C18th that carry the same story. You may want to Wiki again for more here, but I’d caution that Nick Tosche’s attempts to link this to historical fact are probably as dubious as Leo Maguire’s claims. Anyway, as usual I digress and maybe it’s simply that memory dredged up from somewhere that has me really enjoying this, despite now knowing that the darker versions of the tale are far superior.

Jon has this one down as “Possibly the first folk song I ever ‘performed’ – in a campfire scene in a school play. Basically a version of Verdant Braes Of Skreen and as before learnt from Planxty.”

I’ll refer you straight back to May 4^th and the other version of this. There are several variants with T For Thomas as another and even J For Johnny, although the P For Paddy variant became the popular version amongst some of the revival singers and is thus probably more widely performed today, although it isn’t necessarily the original. It was printed as a Broadside in the 1820s, and Cecil Sharp collected a version from a Gypsy singer in Gloucestershire.  In some versions the words get a bit muddled, but this seems more to be about a total lack of spelling ability than anything else. I’ll give you the Mainly Norfolk link that it shares with Verdant Braes… Aside from that there’s little I can add, except that I’m wiser about the whole ‘birds nest’ business!!!

Jon calls this one “A bizzarre little ditty from the Coppers that feels like it may have started life as a poem with a very peculiar meter.”

I’ll agree that it has something of the poetic about it and seems almost too thoughtfully structured to be anything but a very specific composition. For me it seems more of a song than a poem, although I’m not a singer and should probably defer to Jon’s judgement, but there’s almost something of the stage to it and perhaps not enough elaboration to be truly poetic. Still that’s pure speculation and it’s a jaunty little tune that obviously caught Bellamy’s ear as you’ll see ay Mainly Norfolk. Beyond that I really can’t offer anything more, other than having picked the title up as the name of a C 18^th ship, not that I’m suggesting there’s anything of the maritime about this.

Jon recalls “I remember my Gran (who died recently) singing me this as a child. If it had only been traditional I could get lots of folk points for that! I often sing this at festival soundchecks when the audience are watching (an awkward arrangement!) – the audience normally finish the chorus off.”

Sounds like a winner to me. Whatever you think of the merits of the song there’s a strange coincidence here. The song is the opening number of the musical Oklahoma and according to Wiki the show grew out of an unsuccessful play, which was adapted by a theatre group to include folk songs. It inspired the musical and Rogers and Hammerstein compositions that turned the fortunes of the flop around to become one of the longest running stage hits of all time and one of the landmarks of the Musical genre. There isn’t  much else to say about it although there’s an extensive Wiki entry for the stage show should you wish to know more.