Category: songs

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

 

 

trad 

 

about the West Greenland right whale fishing in the 1820s. The Diamond was lost with several other vessels in 1830, locked in ice in Melville Bay. She sailed from Peterhead in the 1820s and fished for whale in the Davis Strait. Wolfstone pairs it with “The Last Leviathan” which I think is a great contextualization.

Wolfstone: Bonnie Ship the Diamond

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

The Diamond is a ship, my lads, for the Davis Strait she’s bound, And the quay it is all garnished with bonny lasses ’round. Captain Thompson gives the order to sail the ocean wide, Where the sun it never sets, my lads, no darkness dims the sky. Chorus: And it’s cheer up my lads, let your hearts never fail, For the bonny ship, the Diamond, goes a-fishing for the whale. Along the quays of Peterhead, the lasses stand around, Their shawls all pulled about them and the salt tears running down. Now don’t you weep, my bonny lass, though you be left behind, For the rose will bloom on Greenland’s ice before we change our mind. Here’s health to the Resolution, likewise the Eliza Swan, Here’s a health to the Battler of Montrose and the Diamond, ship of fame. We wear the trousers of the white, the jackets of the blue, When we return to Peterhead, we’ll have sweethearts anoo O it’ll be bright both day and night when the whaling lads come home, In a ship that’s full of oil, my boys, and money to our name. We’ll make the cradles all to rock and the blankets for to tear, And every lass in Peterhead sing, “Hushabye, my dear.”

 

 

trad 

 

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!

 

 

trad 

 

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

 

 

Nancy Kerr 2014

 

Loosely based on the account of the 1593 meeting of Irish pirate queen Grace O’Malley and Queen Elizabeth I. O’Malley was petitioning the Queen for release of her children by an overzealous governor and according to legend carried herself in that meeting with the dignity of a queen meeting an equal, refusing to bow or accept the title of countess. The song was written as part of The Elizabethan Session, commissioned by Folk by the Oak and the English Folk Dance and Song Society.

https://kerrfagan.bandcamp.com/track/broadside

https://kerrfagan.bandcamp.com/track/broadside

Keep your land you gentry of England, France and Spain For there’s nothing like dominion of the water From the rocky coast of Kerry to the bloody Spanish Main It’s the best thing you can ever teach your daughter Chorus: Broadside to broadside, two captains collide Queen of the spheres and queen of the tide Regalia and rebellion go sailing side by side Haul away, sister, haul away Plunder men for treasure, and never heed their blows For there’s nothing given freely to a woman Be generous to friendship and lavish to your foes Then pirate queens may share the seas in common For blows will make you weary and marriage make a slave You’d be better on the sea like brave O’Malley And when that gallant vessel goes a rolling on the wave Be sure you’re on the deck not in the galley