THE PARTING GLASS

Sung by Sheila Stewart of Blairgowrie on Autumn Harvest AH 002 Old Songs & Bothy Ballads - Here's a Health to the Company

A song of parting, of farewell and of friendship and a fitting song to bring the concert and the CD to a close. The song, which Sheila remembers from her mother Belle’s repertoire, has become one of her often requested songs in the last few years. A similar version is in Robin Morton’s Folksongs Sung in Ulster.

1: Oh kind friends and companions come join me in rhyme,
And lift up your voices in chorus wi mine;
Let's drink and be merry all grief to refrain,
For we may, or might never, all meet here again.

2: Oh now here's to the wee lass that I love so well,
For style and for beauty there's none can excel;
She smiles on me proudly as she sits on my knee,
And there's none in this wide world as happy as me.

Chorus:
Here's a health to the company, likewise to my lass,
Let's drink and be merry all out of one glass;
Let's drink and be merry all grief to refrain,
For we may, or might never, all meet here again.

3: Oh my ship lies in harbour, she's ready tae sail,
God grant her safe voyage without any gale;
And if we should meet again be it land or on sea,
I will always remember your kindness tae me.

4: Here's a health to the friendships that we hold so dear,
Here's a health to the sweethearts we once held so near;
A health to the true love that fortune bestows,
May the future make friends of all our foes.

Chorus:
Here's a health to the company and one to my love,
We'll drink and be merry all out of one glass;
Drink and be merry all grief to refrain,
For we may, or might never, all meet here again.

This a track on the album Old Songs & Bothy Ballads 1: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/ah02/" target="_self">Here's a Health to the Company</a>.

Sheila Stewart: The Parting Glass

DRIVE SORROWS AWAY

Sung by Bob Lewis on Autumn Harvest ah09: Bob Lewis: Drive Sorrows Away. Recorded at the Fife Traditional Singing Festival May 2009.

A song that Bob got from his good friend Bob Copper of Rottingdean. As it says in the Copper Family Songbook where the song is given the title Thousands or More - a good harmony song which became very popular in folk clubs up and down the country. (Roud 1220).

1: The time passes over more cheerful and gay,
Since we’ve learnt a new act to drive sorrows away.
Sorrows away, sorrows away, sorrows away,
Since we’ve learnt a new act to drive sorrows away.

2: Bright Phoebe arises so high in the sky,
With her red rosy cheeks and her sparkling eye.
Sparkling eye, sparkling eye, sparkling eye,
With her red rosy cheeks and her sparkling eye.

3: If you ask for my credit, you’ll find I have none,
With my bottle and friend, you will find me at home.
Find me at home, find me at home, find me at home,
With my bottle and friend, you will find me at home.

4: Now although I’m not rich and although I’m not poor,
I’m as happy as those that’s got thousands or more.
Thousands or more, thousands or more, thousands or more,
I’m as happy as those that’s got thousands or more, 

This a track on the album Bob Lewis: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/ah09/" target="_self">Drive Sorrows Away</a> and on Old Songs & Bothy Ballads: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/ah08/" target="_self">There's Bound to be a Row.</a>

Bob Lewis: Drive Sorrows Away

ROBIN HOOD AND THE TANNER

Sung by Bob Lewis from Saltdean, East Sussex on Autumn Harvest ah09: Bob Lewis - Drive Sorrows Away and also on ah08: Old Songs & Bothy Ballads: There's Bound to be a Row. Recorded at the Fife Traditional Singing Festival May 2009.

Robin Hood meets a stranger, they fight, the stranger wins and is praised for his prowess and asked to join the outlaw band. Of some 35 different Robin Hood ballads in Francis J Child's collection The English and Scottish Popular Ballads around 12 have survived in 20th century living tradition. Robin Hood and the Tanner (Child 126; Roud 332) first appeared in print in a Garland of 1663 and it was included in Ritson's Robin Hood of 1795. Versions have been collected in the south of England and in Virginia. This version comes from the George Gardiner collection from two singers in Hampshire in 1908. It was published in The Wanton Seed, EFDSS (1968). Bob was given the words by a singer at the Wadebridge Folk Club in the 1970s.

1: It's of a bold tanner in fair Devonshire,
His name it was Arthur O Brann;
There wasn't a man in all Devonshire,
Could make this bold Arthur to stand,
Ay, could make this bold Arthur to stand.

2: Bold Arthur walked out on a fine summer's morn,
For to view the merry green wood;
In search of a deer that runs here and there,
And there he spied bold Robin Hood,
Ay, and there he spied bold Robin Hood.

3: "Good morning bold fellow," says bold Robin Hood,
"How camest thou here?"
"I will tell thee in brief thou looks like some thief,
Thou art come for to steal the king's deer,
Ay, thou art come for to steal the king's deer."

4: "I will have a fat doe afore I do go,
Although it may cause me a fall;
For I have a staff made out of green graff, [graff = sapling
And I think he would do for you all,
Ay, and I think he would do for you all."

5: "And I have another," then says Robin Hood,
"Made out of the bonny oak tree;
Three feet and a half he would knock down a calf,
And I think he would knock down thee,
Ay, and I think he would knock down thee."

6: "Let's measure our sticks," then says Robin Hood,
"Before we commence our fray;
And if mine be half a foot longer than thine,
Well that shall be counted fair play,
Ay, and that shall be counted fair play."

7: They measures their sticks and at it they went,
For the space of an hour or more;
And every blow made the groves for to ring,
They played their game so sure,
Ay, they played their game so sure.

8: Hold on, hold on," then cried Robin Hood,
"I pray that your courage to fall;
Before that we break or our bones for to smash,
And gain no coin at all, [coin = corner, advantage
Ay, and gain no coin at all." 

9: Bold Robin pulled out his long bugle horn,
He blowed it so loud and so shrill;
And then thereupon he spied Little John,
Come a-trippling down over the hill,
Ay, come trippling down over the hill.

10: "Oh what is the matter," then says Little John,
"Bold Robin, I pray me tell;
There is something amiss, I see that there is,
For I see thee doesn't look well,
Ay, I see that thee doesn't look well."

11: "Oh here I do stand with my staff in my hand,
Bold Tanner he stands by my side;
He's a bonny brisk man, just fit for our gang,
And so well he has tanned my hide,
Ay, and so well he has tanned my hide.

12: "Oh if he's a tanner," then says Little John,
"The tanner that tans so true;
There's not the least doubt he'll have one more bout,
And so well he shall tan my hide too,
Ay, and so well he shall tan my hide too."

13: "Oh no, oh no," then says Robin Hood,
"For he is a hero so bold;
He's a bonny brisk blade and master of his trade,
And by no man he won't be controlled,
Ay, and by no man he won't be controlled."

This a track on the album Bob Lewis: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/ah09/" target="_self">Drive Sorrows Away</a> and on Old Songs & Bothy Ballads: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/ah08/" target="_self">There's Bound to be a Row.</a>

Bob Lewis: Robin Hood and the Tanner

GREEN GROWS THE LAURELS

Len Graham from Newry, Northern ireland: On Autumn Harvest ah011: Old Songs & Bothy Ballads 8: The Little Ball of Yarn Live from the Fife Traditional Singing Festival May 2011.

There could hardly be a better known or more widely dispersed song. The song is sometimes said to have given rise to the word gringo often used in Latin America to refer to people from the United States. The term could certainly have originated during the Mexican War (1846-1848) when American Soldiers were heard singing Green Grows the Laurel or Robert Burns’s Green Grow the Rashes, so inspiring the locals to refer to the Yankees as “gringos”, or “green-grows”. However it is pointed out that Gringo is a corrupted form of griego as used in the ancient Spanish expression "hablar en griego", that is, to speak an unintelligible language or "to speak Greek." Many of the versions of the song have political references in the last line of the chorus. So, Jacobites might “change the green laurel for the bonnets so blue" of the exiled Stewart monarchs of Scotland during the Jacobite Rebellions of the late 1600’s – early 1700’s. Scottish Lowlanders and Ulster Presbyterians later changed the green laurel of James II in 1690 for the “Orange and Blue” of William of Orange, and later on many of these Ulstermen would emigrate to America, and then “change the green laurel for the red, white and blue.”

Len has collected versions of the song from Eddie Butcher from Magilligan, Co. Derry and John Campbell from Mullaghbawn, Co. Armagh and from Lizzie Clarke from Bennefreaghan, Co. Tyrone and also recorded the song in 1996 on Claddagh CC62CD. Roud 279.

1: Green grow the laurel and soft falls the dew,
Sorry am I love I'm parted with you;
And it's sorry am I love, contented must be,
She loves another far better than me.

2: I once had a true love but now I have none,
She's gone and left me and I'm all alone;
Aye, and she's gone and left me, contented must be,
She loves another far better than me.

Chorus:
And it's green grow the laurel, soft falls the dew,
Sorry am I love I'm parted with you;
And it's sorry am I love, contented must be,
She loves another far better than me.

3: Oh I pass my love's window both early and late,
But the look that she gave me it did my heart break;
Oh the look that she gave me would ten thousand kill,
She loves another but I love her still.

4: Then I wrote her a letter in grand rosy lines,
And the answer she sent back was twisted and twined;
You write your love letter and I will write mine,
You write to your love and I'll write to mine.

5: Oh I wonder, I wonder why women love men,
I wonder and ever think why they love them;
Women are faithful and kind as you know,
But men are deceivers wherever they go.

6: Oh I once had a true love but now I have none,
She's gone and left me and I'm all alone;
Aye, and she's gone and left me, contented must be,
She loves another far better than me.

Chorus:
And it's green grow the laurel, soft falls the dew,
Sorry am I love I'm parted with you;
And it's sorry am I love, contented must be,
She loves another far better than me.

This a track on the album Old Songs & Bothy Ballads 8: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/ah11/" target="_self">The Little Ball of Yarn</a>

Len Graham: Green Grows the Laurel

THE BOLD FISHERMAN

Emily Portman, Tyneside: On Autumn Harvest ah011: Old Songs & Bothy Ballads 8: The Little Ball of Yarn Live from the Fife Traditional Singing Festival May 2011.

This rather strange and beautiful song has often been collected in southern England and was recorded by Harry Cox in a recording made in London in 1934. The song is usually greatly treasured by traditional singers - and is also treasured by musicians and musicologists as being a fine example of a tune in 5/4 time. Roud 291; Laws O24

1: One morning in the month of June down by a riverside;
There she beheld a bold fisherman come rowing by the tide.
 Come rowing by the tide.
There she beheld a bold fisherman come rowing by the tide.

2: “Morning to you bold fisherman, why come you fishing here?”
“Well I came a-fishing for your sweet sake all on this river clear;
 All on this river clear,
Well I came a-fishing for your sweet sake all on this river clear.”

3: He latched his boat up to a stem and to a lady went,
Well he took her by the milk white hand, for it was his intent,
 For it was his intent
He took her by the milk white hand, for it was his intent.

4: "I'll take you to my father's hall and there make you my bride,
Then you shall have a bold fisherman to row you by the tide. 
 To row you by the tide,
Then you shall have a bold fisherman to row you by the tide."

This a track on the album Old Songs & Bothy Ballads 8: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/ah11/" target="_self">The Little Ball of Yarn</a>

Emily Portman: The Bold Fisherman

THREE SCORE AND TEN

Brian Dawson, Lincolnshire: On Autumn Harvest ah011: Old Songs & Bothy Ballads 8: The Little Ball of Yarn Live from the Fife Traditional Singing Festival May 2011.

The song in memory of the fishermen of Grimsby and Hull who lost their lives in the gale of 8th and 9th of February 1889 was composed as a poem by Grimsby fisherman William Delf who published the text as a broadsheet. After losing a few verses and aquiring a fine chorus and tune, the song was collected in 1957 from master mariner J Pearson of Filey, a member of the Filey Fishermen's Choir who had preserved the song in their repertoire. The Watersons recorded the song and it became widely known in the folk revival of the 1960s. 

William Delf was born at Wangford, Suffolk in 1851. As well as Three Score and Ten (not his title), he wrote verses about other fishing and lifeboat disasters at Hull, Withensea, Filey and Southport. In the original broadsheet of the song he lists some of the fleet that went down - The Eaton, John Witheringham, Sea Searcher, Sir Fred Roberts, British Workman, Kitten, Harold, Adventure and Olive Branch. In verse 3, like other Grimsby singers of today, Brian has taken some words from the original to add to the collected version. 

1: Methinks I see some little craft,
Spreading their sails a-lee,
As down the Humber they do glide,
All bound for the Northern Sea;
Methinks I see on each small craft,
A crew with hearts so brave,
Going down to earn their daily bread,
Upon the restless waves.

Chorus:
And it's three score and ten,
Boys and men, were lost from Grimsby town,
From Yarmouth down to Scarborough,
Many hundreds more were drowned;
Our herring craft, our trawlers,
Our fishing smacks as well,
They long defied the bitter night,
And battled with the swell.

2: Methinks I see them yet again,
As they leave the land behind,
Casting their nets into the deep,
The herring shoals to find;
Methinks I see them yet again,
And all on board's all right,
With the sails close reefed and the decks cleared up,
And the side lights burning bright.

3: Me thinks I've heard the skipper say,
"Me lads, we'll shorten sail,
The sky to all appearances,
Is like an approaching gale."
Methinks I see them yet again,
And the midnight hour has passed,
And the little craft was battling there,
All with the icy blast.

4: October's night was such a sight,
'Twas never seen before,
There were masts and spars and broken yards,
Came drifting in to shore;
There was many a heart in sorrow,
There was many a heart so brave,
There was many a valiant fisher lad,
Did find a watery grave.

Chorus:
And it's three score and ten,
Boys and men, were lost from Grimsby town,
From Yarmouth down to Scarborough,
Many hundreds more were drowned;
Our herring craft, our trawlers,
Our fishing smacks as well,
They long defied the bitter night,
And battled with the swell.

This a track on the album Old Songs & Bothy Ballads 8: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/ah11/" target="_self">The Little Ball of Yarn</a>

Brian Dawson: Three Score and Ten

A great old bothy ballad from north-east Scotland sung at the end of the FifeSong2018 Saturday night concert in Falkland, Fife on 12 May 2018. The Old Songs and Bothy Ballad concert is the highlight of the annual Fife Traditional Singing Festival. Here the cast are led in song by Geordie Murison from Stonehaven. Others on stage: Pete Shepheard (melodeon), Geordie, Iona Fyfe, Chris Miles, Aileen Carr, Maurice Leyden, Jimmy Hutchison, Aly Macrae (fiddle).

Barnyards O Delgaty 1 - Full Cast

The "Freedom Come-All-Ye" is a Scots language anti-imperialist song written by Hamish Henderson in 1960. The songs is taken by many as the Scottish National Anthem. One of Henderson's most important songs, it presents a non-romantic view of the role of the Scots in the world at the time it was written. It describes a wind of change blowing through Scotland and the world, sweeping away exploitation and imperialism. It renounces the tradition of the Scottish soldier both as imperial cannon-fodder and colonial oppressor, mourning the loss of youth sent to harry foreign nations, and looks to a future society which is multiracial and just. Sung at the end of the FifeSong2018 Saturday night concert in Falkland, Fife on 12 May 2018. The Old Songs and Bothy Ballad concert is the highlight of the annual Fife Traditional Singing Festival. The cast are led in a final song by Jimmy Hutchison with Hamish Henderson's Freedom Come All Ye. Others on stage: Pete Shepheard (melodeon), Geordie, Iona Fyfe, Chris Miles, Aileen Carr, Maurice Leyden, Jimmy Hutchison, Aly Macrae (fiddle).

Freedom Come A Ye 1 - Full Cast

THE DAY I MET WI HECTOR

John Valentine, Aberdeen: On Autumn Harvest ah011: Old Songs & Bothy Ballads 8: The Little Ball of Yarn Live from the Fife Traditional Singing Festival May 2011.

A recent cornkister composed by Simon Brown of Aberchirder (known as Foggyloan) in Aberdeenshire under the full title Hector Hosie and Auld Broon. The song tells of a Hector Hosie, a character from Foggyloan when he and his pal Auld Broon go on a drinking spree. Composed by Simon Brown/ Transcribed as sung by John Valentine. 

1: Fur the sake o ma health I took a wauk one summer's day at dawn,
I met a man wi a horse an cairt on the road that I gaed on;
A friendly conversation passed atween that man and me,
The day 'at I met wi Hector and we both gaed on the spree.

2: Says he look man jump onto the cairt, it'll tak ye aff o the road,
The horse'll pul the two o us, it'll nae be heavy load;
He then produced a bottle and we drank most cheerily,
The day 'at I met wi Hector and we both gaed on the spree.

3: Says I, "Look man yer horse is tired, it must be very old,
It must be a five an a thirty year since that poor beast was foaled;
It used tae pul the hearse awa back in the year o forty three."
The day 'at I met wi Hector and we both gaed on the spree.

4: The harness it wis unca grey for it nivir saw a clean,
The strae hung oot o the collar and the saidle wis fairly deen;
It wis battered up wi rivets and tied wi baler twine ye see,
The day 'at I met wi Hector and we both gaed on the spree.


5: The cairt wis unca shaky but it wis made o the best o wood,
Aye, it had been in action since the time o Noah's flood;
He seldom greased he's aixles but one year oot o three,
The day 'at I met wi Hector and we both gaed on the spree.
 
6: As we cam in be Netherdale an in tae Foggie toon,
The folk aa stood an gaped at us an lookit us up an doun,
Bit the horsie stopped at the New Inn door, he'd bin there afore ye see,
The day 'at I met wi Hector and we both gaed on the spree.

7: Noo Hector's horsie it is dead an his cairt has gone for scrap,
An Hector he's aa mechanised an he disnae care a rap;
But we'll nae forget the happy days o the horse an cairt ye see,
An we'll meet again wi Hector and we'll both go on the spree.

The song contains a number of words in the north-east dialect of Scots, often referred to in the north-east as "the Doric". Click to access the <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/scotslanguage/" target="_self">Scots Language Dictionary</a>.

This a track on the album Old Songs & Bothy Ballads 8: <a href="http://www.springthyme.co.uk/ah11/" target="_self">The Little Ball of Yarn</a>

John Valentine: The Day I Met wi Hector

George Gall of Gateside in Fife sings Californie 0 - a song he learned many years before about the occasion at a feeing market or hiring fair when a farmer offers to engage a horseman tae haud the ploo. The farm of California is near Cumbernaiuld, and, as is often the case in Scotland, the farmer is known by the name of his farm - Californie as here.

The full text: Californie O:
1: An auld fairmer in his glee cam steppin up tae me,
Sayin, "Laddie will ye fee for the winter O?
If the wages they suit you, I'll engage tae haud your ploo,
The winter season through Californie O."

2: "Noo I'd like tae let ye ken, that I never push my men,
I never push my men when it's stormy O;
Baith horse and man will stop, be they newly tae the yoke."
Deceitfully he spoke, did Californie O.

3: Noo the first thing o the strife, he blamed me wi his auld wife,
He said he'd hae me life on the Monday O;
He wanted me away, aye wioot a farthing's pay,
I thocht it wadnae dae frae Californie O.

4: Noo the term is wearin in, an I've wrocht tae earn my tin,
I've dearly earned my tin - every penny O;
So if you're going tae fee, jist you tak this tip frae me,
For God's sake dinna fee wi Californie O.

Springthyme Archive SPR 84.01.02 (or 84.10.02).
Recorded by Peter Shepheard 16 August 1984.

Tracks by FifeSing