A Folk Song A Day

Not that he’s ‘hammering’ a point here, but Jon says, “I’m very interested in the idea that this might be a remnant of a shape shifting myth, rather than a song about bad eyesight and interesting in reference to blacksmith ballads and the lay of Volundr (Wiki link here.)” It’s certainly a common enough story line going back to antiquity and the Greek myth of Cephalus, who shoots his wife having mistaken her for a deer is another example. Jon got this from Martin Carthy and this version is closest to his lyrically as you’ll see on this informative Mainly Norfolk thread here, which also quotes Carthy’s original sleeve notes, as well as A.L. Lloyd’s notes from Anne Briggs recording. The former again make reference to the many cultures in which women are transformed from or to swans, doves, (and also deer.) This Wiki link is interesting for a fairly exhausting (possibly exhaustive) list of recordings. I’m not convinced by the suggestion that this is anything but a retelling of the ancient myth, however. Mind you, having said that I found this from the Canadian Journal For Traditional Music via Mudcat referring to Molly Bawn (one Irish variant of the title), which is thorough to say the least and although rather long, if you have the time is well worth a read. I think the suggestion that there is some historical fact in the song is more likely a contemporary updating or recasting of the song to give it relevance. After all, that Wiki link makes the Mailí Bhán (Gaelic for fair Mary) shift look fairly obvious, nice though the idea of a conspiracy or cover up (explanation) of a murder (accidental death) might be. Given the number of versions of this, with apart from the usual suspects and sources, Bob Dylan, Martha Tilston, Alison Krauss (with The Chieftains and on her own), Alasdair Roberts, Bella Hardy, The Oysterband and many more having recorded this, I’m sure some of you will already be very much in-the-know. Your thoughts please.

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One that Jon got from Maddy Prior and Tim Hart again and he simply says, “A bit soppy but a nice tune.” Mainly Norfolk has the detail of Maddy and Tim’s version. This seems to be very old indeed, although here I am having trouble nailing the exact thread, but this Mudcat link should get you started. Please add what you can.

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Jon says, “Eliza Carthy taught me this and we performed it a fair few times. It nearly made it on to Rough Music but not quite. I’m hoping to meet up with Liza over the summer and get another version of this with her on lead.” Recorded versions of this seem really thin on the ground, so if anyone can add here please do so. I’ve picked up reference to it being in a book called Songs The Whalemen Sung by Gale Huntington and said volume is certainly available. Richard Thompson has a version on the RT: The Life And Music Of boxed set. I’ve picked up the lyrics as well and a footnote that Napoleon was a hero to the Irish (the enemy of my enemy.) I’ve also picked up the suggestion that Napoleon was far from unpopular with many of the English and a quick aside that without Nelson’s elevation to national hero, revolutionary fever may just have crossed the channel. I’m sure the historians out there can add to that and possibly to the history of the song, as I’ve come up pretty blank so far. Mudcat has some general threads about Napoleon, here’s one, but I can’t winkle out any specifics on Jon’s chosen song. Still it’s a good choice and I think the concertina (the Maccann Duet again) adds a finely judge accompaniment.

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We need to start off with a couple of thank yous for todays offerings. Firstly thanks to Dan Plews for being AFSAD’s first guest singer. Dan is working hard getting ready for a residential songwriting weekend he is running in Milton Keynes next week (click here for more details) so we are grateful that he could find time to meet up with Jon. Secondly big thanks to Ed Cooper who filmed and recorded the jam session. Ed and his partner Sarah are following Bellowhead at the moment collecting footage for a film, so we all look forward to seeing the results of that.

Now to the songs.

Here’s our first video for A Folk Song A Day… It mostly speaks for itself, but there are two songs here, including today’s Bold Sir Rylas. The first extra song is most timely, however, given the news that Nic Jones took to the stage himself at the Sidmouth Folk Festival . So as a complete bonus we have track 1 side 1 from Penguin Eggs, Canadee-i-o. It also answers a recent request for some harmony, so take it away Jon Boden and Dan Plews…

Bold Sir Rylas
Another from Spiers & Boden’s repertoire to be found once more on the Songs CD. Jon offers, “I was very excited when I came across this in a newly purchased copy of Folk Songs Of The Upper Thames. I didn’t think much of the chorus so changed that so that it would fit to the tune Enrico which was apparently Thomas Hardy’s favourite tune. Hardy was a fiddler of some note by all account.” The notes on Songs refer to it being a nicely compressed version of Sir Lionel (also known as Sir Eglamore and The Jovial Hunter and as Child Ballad #18.) It’s another song that seems to have a fairly confused history and there are similar songs that go back to Henry VIII and possibly before. I’ve found this that gives some indication of the age…

“Sir Eglamore, a hero of fourteenth-century French lais, came to England in the metrical ballad Sir Eglamore of Artois, in which the knight battles giants and wild boars for his beloved. He experienced resurgence in popularity at the start of the 1600s and Sir Eglamore And The Dragon (and parodies thereof) continued to appear in broadsides and songbooks into the eighteenth century. Child grouped Sir Eglamore with the Sir Lionel ballads (Child #18), a mostly-farcical collection which runs to heroes rescuing treed maidens from wild boars and their ilk. (Modern fantasy cliches notwithstanding, period songs rarely featured dragons: Wild boars were much scarier.) Our earliest written version of Sir Eglamore And The Dragon appears in Samuel Rowlands’s 1615 The Melancholie Knight. The author suggests an earlier source, writing “The history unto you shall appeare/Even by myselfe verbatim set downe heere:” [italics in the original], but he does not name his source. The song remained remarkably stable, eventually appearing in Pills To Purge Melancholy (D’Urfey, 1719/20) with only minor changes.”

I’ve copied that from a much longer article about Francis Child and Ballads in general, which may go into a general links section or glossary if I ever get the time to do it. Anyway if that’s not enough for you this Mudcat has more on the subject of Boars.

Bonus song: Canadee-i-o

Jon simply introduces this by calling it “A classic. I’ve heard many versions but I think my farourite is still Maddy Prior & Tim Hart.” It appeared on their debut pre Steeleye album Songs Of Old(e) England. You’ll note on this Mainly Norfolk post, from A.L. Lloyd’s sleeve notes for Peter Bellamy’s recording that this is one of the first pieces to be noted as from the Copper family’s collection and it appeared in the very first issue of The Journal Of The English Folk Song Society. Interestingly, despite Jon’s stated preference his lyrics more closely follow Bellamy’s version with a minor change in the order of the verses. This varies form the Coppers version (click here) as it transposes the first two lines from the third and forth verses. I’m not sure that Mudcat offers much extra, but if you want to pick through some threads, follow this link. Is it me or as with Rain It Rains, does the guitar bring that extra layer of melancholy here?

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