Track Notes & extra detailsStormy Winds
Shepherds have had an up-and-down time throughout the ages. Once, when wool was England's main export they were privileged in the village community. Everyone looked up to them for advice and judgement. Later, when agriculture was the big thing, the shepherds sank in prestige (and in wages too!) and in some parts they were reckoned one stage up from tramps. Their songs are proud, tough, and this one's a good example, set to a stately variant of a melody that has carried scores of texts from the carol of Lazarus to (its bluntest form) The Star of the County Down. The composer Balfour Gardiner heard it from an old man approaching eighty, Benjamin Arnold, of Eaton, near Winchester. Only the tune attracted the composer, but later the words were recovered from the stationmaster at Cliddesden, near Basingstoke.Sedgefield Fair
Sedgefield is just north of Stockton-on-Tees, and in the nineteenth century its fair was renowned for draught horses. In this comedy song the sellers had poor luck. "Titty fa lairy, fire up (or flare up) Mary" was quite a favourite chorus for many mid-nineteenth century songs. Some say it refers to the steam threshing machine then coming into favour. David Hillery got the song from Jack Beeforth of Wragby, Yorks, and then passed it on to the Watersons. Fare Thee Well, Cold Winter
Sometimes called Farewell He in various forms this was once spread all over England. Baring Gould noted it in Devon, and Frank Kidson found a fairly long version near Leeds (he called it Let Him Go). Usually, a girl is the 'victim' of the song. Mike Yates recorded this set from a 90 year old singer, George 'Tom' Newman, who lived near Bampton, and sometimes accompanied the morris men with his 'one-man band'. Young Banker
"Banker" sounds grand enough. In fact it was used to describe a man who made embankments, stone walls and such. It's probably not local to Yorkshire, though that is where it has most often been found. This set was noted by Frank Kidson from Mrs Kate Thompson of Knaresborough. While Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping
Most songs of the poacher-gamekeeper "wars" of the early nineteenth century were pretty violent, sometimes lethal affairs. But this one (based on a real happening?) tells a story that is ultimately full of charm. Bob Roberts, the former sprits'l barge skipper sings this version. It's well known among gypsies and travellers too, who sometimes introduce Romany or 'cant' words into the story. The Prickle-Holly Bush
A book could be written about this song. There's a hint of the story in Euripides' Alkestis produced in 438 BC. But of course it wasn't till many centuries later that the tale became versified and turned into a ballad. It was spread all over Europe in several forms. In Hungary, a yellow snake fastens itself to a girl's breast, and neither father, mother, sister nor brother will take it away, till up steps the bold sweetheart and does the trick. Further east, a girl is captured by pirates, and, again, her family, one by one, refuse to pay the ransom, but eventually the sweetheart pays it. So on through the ages till our own day. American blacks took to the song (Leadbelly had a good version), and after the Watts ghetto riots of 1965, a set appeared in which a young black looter appears in court to face a heavy fine or the "gallows twine". The rescuer in this case is neither father, mother nor sweetheart but a social worker who arrives with the money just in time. As to the "prickle-holly bush" refrain, not all British versions carry it. The symbology-nutters find deep meaning in it again, something to do with somebody's loss of virginity (what, again!) but if it means anything, it is probably merely as synonym for an awkward fix. The version here, with its fine tune, was recorded by Mike Yates from Bill Whiting, of Longcot, Berks. We'll All Go A-Hunting Today
Those pink-coated upper class savages look dashing enough as they go bellowing over the meadows on their thundering beasts, though it seems rough on the fox, racing in terror for mile on mile, and wiping a bloody fox's tail across a little girl's face is one of the uglier rites of initiation. Still, the hunt provided a bit of excitement for villagers, and many pretty good songs have come from it, sometimes made by the squire and his friends rather than by the traditional folk song makers. This is another song that David Hillery got from Jack Beeforth, the North Yorks singer. Hares in the Old Plantation
The Eastern counties and up to Yorkshire was the main ground for this poaching song. Frank Kidson's tireless correspondent Mr Lolley sent a version of it from Goole, and he considered the words so deficient in rhyme and reason as to be "not to be worth the trouble of transcription". Too fussy by far. Later, Vaughan Williams recorded a set from a singer named Noah Fisher, and this is the version the Watersons use. Rosebuds in June
Probably the most famous version of this beauty is the one obtained by Cecil Sharp from a farmer, William King, of West Hastree, Somerset. Gustav Holst, for one, made an orchestral setting of the melody. Eighteenth century print may have helped to keep in alive, both words and music. It was sung on the stage in a play called The Custom of the Manor in 1715, but it's doubtful whether a town composer made it, even though it's an unusual shape for a traditional tune. Most probably he lifted it from tradition. The Watersons found this present version in Mr H. Mason's Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs (1878). The Furze Field
This now widely-known bit of amorous symbology was collected by George B. Gardiner from Moses Mills, Preston Candover, Alresford, Hants, in 1907. Apparently most of the generous invitations come from the lady (which doesn't mean it wasn't a man who first made the song). Colin Cater added a bit at the end of the song. I Went to Market
This song is sung pretty well everywhere on account of the simple comedy of the often repeated word "cock". Perhaps for the same reason it's scarce in print. According to the Watersons, this came from Derek and Dorothy Elliott by the way of the grandfather of John and Hazel Browell of Bradford. Three Pretty Maidens
Rev. Baring Gould got this version from three farm-workers of Lew Down, Devonshire. It's unusual in that the amorous get together of young man and young woman takes place in the presence of witnesses (in fact these all seem to be waiting their turn). There are many versions of this amiable song, some more explicit than others. When the parson first heard it, he thought it went a bit too far, and he re-wrote the song entirely. Later he got a bit more used to its saucy idea, and republished the song its original words, "only slightly modifying them". Frank Kidson had a Yorkshire version from near Leeds, but he jibbed at printing the words. The Lincolnshire Shepherd
The words of this song were got from Jesse Bagaley of Lincoln by Maurice Ogg of Colby, Lincs. The tune seems to be Mr Ogg's. The "yan tan tethera" refrain is said to be a distorted version of numerals used before the English language was spoken, and which for some reason survived among shepherds and schoolchildren. It's doubtful if many shepherds employ it today for scoring their sheep, but example of it may still be heard in playgrounds, especially in Cumbria, where it is used for counting-out. The Brave Ploughboy
This piece, common enough, is sung here in the version printed by the Rev. John Broadwood, squire of Lyne, near Dorking, as far back as 1843. His collection of Old English Songs was the first to be published for the sake of the tunes, and apparently most if not all of them were heard by him at Christmas time, sung by singers "who go about to the neighbouring houses singing, or 'wassailing', as it is called, at that season". Brave Ploughboy isn't a typical wassail piece, rather more like the sort of things sung at the ceremonial boozing parties after harvest time, but wassailers were seldom fussy about their repertory. |
