Category: songs

A.L. Lloyd 1952

 

‘White Stocking Day’ was the day each month when a sailor’s female relatives dressed up in their best clothes to collect his half-pay or ‘allotment’. Lloyd asserted it was based on a collected song (maybe from the South Georgia Islands?) but he also wrote songs himself and said they were collected.

Kate Rusby: Bold Riley – Kate Rusby

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAQn9c_u5aQ

Oh the rain it rains all day long, Bold Riley-o, Bold Riley, And the northern wind, it blows so strong, Bold Riley-o has gone away. Chorus Goodbye my sweetheart, goodbye my dear-o Bold Riley-o, Bold Riley, Goodbye my darlin’, goodbye my dear-o, Bold Riley-o has gone away. Well come on, Mary, don’t look glum, Come White-stocking Day you’ll be drinkin’ rum We’re outward bound for the Bengal Bay, Get bending, me lads, it’s a hell-of-a-way,

 

 

Dave Webber 1984

 

Dave Webber & Anni Fentiman: Bonnet & Shawl

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pq0QB96EdQc

Chorus: I’ll show the sun ‘cross the fields in the morn, I’ll fetch thee a bonnet and deck it with corn, I’ll buy thee a shawl, thread with ribbons of blue, To show you the measure I trouble for you. Now madam I’ve waited a very long time, To ask you if you could but spare me some time, For there’s things in me heart I’ve been longing to say, But try as I might sure I can’t find a way. Now I know that me fortune be pitiful small, And apart from me cottage I’ve nothing at all, But there’s store in me garden and fruit on me tree, And I’ll be awful proud if thou’d share it with me. Now I’m thinking it likely as you’ll never be mine, For I’d be a poor catch for a woman so fine, But if I never ask thee then I’ll never know, If by some small chance you some favour might show. Now Madam I see by the look in your eye, That you might be thinking the same thing as I, So come take me hand and we’ll walk in full view, And give the old gossips some tonguing to do.

 

 

trad 

 

Jess & Rich Arrowsmith

http://ellisnasqc.quickconnect.to/as/sharing/w8B3S30x/L011c2ljL0plc3MgJiBSaWNoYXJkIEFycm93c21pdGgvT2ZmIFdlIEdvIEFnYWluIS8zOCBCb25ueSBhdCBNb3JuLm1wMw==

The sheep’s in the meadow, the kye is in the corn Thou’s o’er long in thy bed, bonny at morn Chorus: Canny at night, bonny at morn Thou’s o’er long in thy bed, bonny at morn The birds in the nest and the trout’s in the burn Thou hinders thy mother at many’s a turn We’re all laid idle we’re keepin’ the bairn The laddie won’t work and the lassie won’t learn

 

 

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John Roberts said in 1982 he learned it in London around 1970 from Maddy Prior & Tim Hart. Cyril Tawney said in 1994 he got it from Henry Trefusis, who died in 1975 in London and apparently morris danced in USA with Cecil Sharp

Roberts & Barrand: Boozing

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_K1EiH6eso

Now what are the joys of a woman or man? Boozing, bloody well boozing! And what are they doing whenever they can? Boozing, bloody well boozing! You may think I’m wrong and you may think I’m right, I’m not going to argue, I know you can fight, But what do you think we are doing tonight? Boozing, bloody well boozing! Chorus Boozing, boozing, just you and I Boozing, boozing, when we are dry. Some do it openly, some on the sly. But we all are bloody well boozing. Now what are the joys of a poor married soul? Boozing, bloody well boozing! Whether they’re full of cash or if they’re on the dole? Boozing, bloody well boozing! They go out a’shoppin’, make merry with all, They’re drinking and singing and having a ball, But what brings them home, hanging on to the wall? Boozing, bloody well boozing!

 

 

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Jim Malcolm: “Dick Gaughan found the words for this song in the Jacobite Relics of Scotland by James Hogg, and wrote this wonderful tune last time Scotland had the chance to vote for independence, in the 1970s. It was originally a comment on the Act of Union in 1707, and calls for mutual respect on both sides of the River Tweed, which in parts constitutes the Scotland-England border.”

Dick Gaughan: DICK GAUGHAN Both Sides The Tweed, with Aly Bain and Phil Cunningham

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pkCiSQjkDo

What’s the spring-breathing jasmine and rose? What’s the summer with all its gay train Or the splendour of autumn to those Who’ve bartered their freedom for gain? Chorus: Let the love of our land’s sacred rights To the love of our people succeed; Let friendship and honour unite And flourish on both sides the Tweed. No sweetness the senses can cheer Which corruption and bribery bind; No brightness that gloom can e’er clear, For honour’s the sun of the mind. Let virtue distinguish the brave, Place riches in lowest degree; Think them poorest who can be a slave, Them richest who dare to be free.

 

 

Robb Johnson 1990

 

Melrose Quartet: https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/boxing-day

https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/boxing-day

When I sit down at my table, Clasp my hands and bow my head, Should I thank my heavenly landlord For my daily crust of bread? When the hunters in his stable And the hounds in his pack, Get the pickings of the harvest On which I break my back. There’s a fence around the common land, Put there by the law. It’s called hunting if you’re gentry But it’s poaching if you’re poor. And the law forgives your trespass Like the hounds forgive the fox, You must number all your blessings With the ha’pence in your box. Chorus: And it feels like winter spit to eat and hell to pay, It feels like Reynardine on Boxing Day. It feels like winter spit to eat and hell to pay, It feels like Reynardine on Boxing Day. Now the forest is a shipwreck And the field is full of stone, It’s hard to find a blade of grass Some bastard doesn’t own. And they stopped the earth up for us And they drove us into town; Now they say there’s no work for us And they’ve closed the factory down. They’re still meeting in the country For the hunt and for the course, You can join the bloody gentry If you can afford a bleedin’ horse. And we raid along the railway And we pray we don’t get caught, God damn you merry gentlefolk For your money and your sport. When I sit down at my table, Clasp my hands and bow my head, Should I thank my heavenly landlord For my daily crust of bread? For the whip and hand that feeds us And keeps us in our place, One day we’ll turn and wipe the smile Clean off your bloody face.

 

 

Phil Ochs 

 

The Bracero programme ran from 1942 until 1964 and saw over four million contracts being issued allowing for Mexican migrant workers to work on North American farmlands, more often than not at wages and working conditions that local workers would deem unacceptable. In early 1942, in fear of a World War Two inspired labour shortfall, the State of California requested Government support by the way of temporary seasonal contracts for Mexican farm workers.

Phil Ochs: Bracero

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U442h3Xj2qo

Wade into the river, through the rippling shadow waters Steal across the thirsty border, bracero Come bring your hungry body to the golden fields of plenty From a peso to a penny, bracero Chorus: Welcome to California Where the friendly farmers will take care of you Come labor for your mother, for your father and your brother For your sisters and your lover, bracero Come pick the fruits of yellow, break the flowers from the berries Purple grapes will fill your bellies, bracero And the sun will bite your body, as the dust will dry you thirsty While your muscles beg for mercy, bracero In the shade of your sombrero, drop your sweat upon the soil Like the fruit your youth can spoil, bracero When the weary night embraces, sleep in shacks that could be cages They will take it from your wages, bracero Come sing about tomorrow with a jingle of the dollars And forget your crooked collar, bracero And the local men are lazy, and they make too much of trouble Besides we’d have to pay them double, bracero Ah, but if you feel you’re falling, if you find the pace is killing There are others who are willing, bracero

 

 

Alec Thompson 

 

Recorded by the Melrose Quartet in 2019

Melrose Quartet: https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/bright-new-year

https://melrosequartet.bandcamp.com/track/bright-new-year

Now all around is cold and chill, but take good heart, fear no ill, For through the frost of winter comes a bright new year. A bright new year, A bright new year For through the frost of winter comes a bright new year. Food and drink to make us grow, swell the seed that we would sow, So comes the rain in springtime and a bright new year. Warmth and light to make us strong, bring the ripest fruit along So comes the sun in summer and a bright new year. When harvest time has gone around blow out the chaff, clear the ground So comes the wind in autumn and a bright new year. So when all around is cold and chill, take good heart, fear no ill, For through the frost of winter comes a bright new year.

 

 

trad 

 

Included in 1889 ‘Sussex Songs’ collection by Lucy Broadwood

Curate’s Egg: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hhX3IA44q4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hhX3IA44q4

The bright shining morning smiles over the hills With blushes adorning the meadows and rills Chorus And the merry, merry, merry horn cries come, come away (x2) Awake from your slumbers and hail the new day (x2) The fox runs before us, he seems for to fly And he pants to the chorus of a hunt in full cry When our day’s work is ended, we home do retire And we pull off our boots by the light of the fire Come, fill up your glasses, let the toast go around And we’ll drink to all hunters, where e’er they are found

 

 

Jim Boyes 

 

Jim Boyes: jim boyes – bringing in the sheaves Youth Trad Song Committee 2019: Bringing In The Sheavesÿ

Though it’s way past harvest time Some still toil and work and wagons rattle Corn still stands in rank and line And defies us all We can see it in our past Blood will out and joy will battle Though we work in different ways we’re bringing in the sheaves Chorus: Bringing in the sheaves, we’re bringing in the sheaves. Though we work in different ways we’re bringing in the sheaves Though we started from the land Some of us do roam abroad The hand upon the gliding plough is not for everyone Changing seasons help us see Those who hear a different drummer Though not in one harmony, we’re bringing in the sheaves What lay dormant in the soil Is wakened by the kiss of summer So the fruits of yesteryear become the years new corn Every stem has at its core, part of those who went before In turn they will be kept in store by bringing the sheaves In conclusion bear in mind What example has begun What today you do in kind has power for everyone True strong aims will pass along To your daughters and your sons So may they in years to come be bringing in the sheaves