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The National Song Book - Part 2
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Message 1.聽
Posted by stalti (U14278018) on Wednesday, 15th June 2011
having laughed (and cried) about the memories and songs in the original post - i realise us fossils need to leave a legacy to the youth of today
we need an actual songbook to be sung from on the back seats of coaches on school trips and round campfires
so - you have to list the songs you used to sing in the good old days = not just the title - must be a couple of lines
nothing later than 1970 and no pop songs
you must have sung it yourself in your youth
campfire or school
the 麻豆约拍 will obviously pick up on this and
1. produce a songbook for posterity
2 produce a top selling dvd - possibly sung by the Birmingham gang show choir
my contributions are (pinching a few already mentioned but known by me lol)
bobby shafto
bobby shafto went to sea - he"ll come back to marry me
silver buckles on his knee
bonny bobby shafto
blow the man down
blow the man down bullies blow the man down
wey hay blow the man down
blow the man down bullies blow the man down
give me some time to blow the man down
marianina
O'er the ocean flies a merry fay,
Soft her wings are as a cloud of day,
As she passes all the blue waves say:
Marianina, do not roam,
Whither, whither is your home,
Come and turn us into foam,
Marianina, Marianina,
Come, O come and turn us into foam!"
(this was sung and taught to me by my sister from her english folk songs lesson - honestly it was called that )
english country garden
How many kinds of sweet flowers grow
In an English country garden?
We'll tell you now of some that we know
Those we miss you'll surely pardon
etc etc
st -
Message 2
Posted by TwinProbe (U4077936) on Wednesday, 15th June 2011
Hi st
I always thought 'She was poor but she was honest' showed greater incite into the class struggle than 'The Red Flag', but I have sung both.
Do they count? I imagine I'd be modded promptly if I gave you more than the titles!
TP -
Message 3
Posted by raundsgirl (U2992430) on Wednesday, 15th June 2011
Would you like me to quote all the words of my favourite folksong, "Lovely Joan"?
(don't say yes!) Not only is it a genuine English song , unlike 'Marianina', but the story it tells was used by Haydn in his oratorio "The Seasons" and the tune was used by Vaughan-Williams in his 'Fantasia on Greensleeves'. If it had an alternative title, it would be 'Never underestimate the power of a woman' -
Message 4
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Wednesday, 15th June 2011
I'm afraid the songs we sang in the back of coaches in my student days would be instantly modded but I remember from my guide days
Land of the silver birch, home of the beaver,
Lands where the mighty moose wanders at will.
By the light of the peat fire flame,
light of life, of love, of laughter.
Campfire's burning.
Various versions of
She'll be coming round the mountains when she comes. -
Message 5
Posted by Caro (U1691443) on Wednesday, 15th June 2011
Well, we learnt Pokare kare ana at school, no doubt.
Pokarekare ana,
Nga wai o Rotorua,
Whiti atu koe hine
marino ana e.
E hine e
hoki mai ra.
Ka mate ahau
te aroha e.
Translated as:
"They are agitated the water of Rotorua, but when you cross over, girl, they will be calm. Oh girl, return to me. I die of love for you." But never sung in English.
Except for schoolkid versions of which I remember:
Pokarekare ana, I had a rotten banana, I threw it at the teacher, She said 'come here'. I said, "No fear".
I couldn't remember the rest and there are variations I see, some mild (which is what I remember) some about knickers etc.
Other than that the main one I remember is Marianina. I think we learnt Men of Harlech but I always disliked it intensely for some reason; I actually found the tune frightening, I don't know why.
But NZ's main pub song is Ten Guitars, too late to fit your criteria, stalti.
Caro. -
Message 6
Posted by rooster (U14062359) on Thursday, 16th June 2011
Hi folks
I remember singing an infant school song with the first lines as:
'Oh little brown houses what secrets you hold,
treasures of purple and crimson and gold.'
The song was about bulbs that one planted in the garden, then came up as flowers. I remember Hyacinth as being one of them, but my memory fails me as to the others.
I tried to rediscover the song a couple of years ago via the internet, but to no avail I'm afraid.
Does anyone else remember this song?
Regards, Rooster. -
Message 7
Posted by stalti (U14278018) on Friday, 17th June 2011
hi tp
u mentioned "she was poor " in the previous thread - i have never heard of it - hum the melody lol
or - i dare u put words and **** in the bad parts
raundsgirl
yes
what about "green grow the rushes oh" - brought my kids up on that - got to be in the book
ill give u one oh
green grow the rushes oh
one is one and all alone and ever more shall be so
2 2 the lilleywhite boys all dressed up in green ho ho
3 3 the rivals
4 for the symbols at your door
5 for the gospel makers
6 for the 6 proud walkers
7 for the 7 stars in the sky
8 for the april rainers
9 for the 9 bright shiners
for the 10 commandments
11 for the 11 apostles
12 for the 12 disciples
etc etc - can anyone remember this one -
no idea what it all meant lol
st -
Message 8
Posted by Silver Jenny (U12795676) on Saturday, 18th June 2011
st, I have no idea what it is about.
It is four - gospel maker,s & 5 -symbols at your door.
One of the ones we sang on bank holiday coach outings, along with Ilkla Moor,
She'll be coming round the mountain, and as many Green bottles as you had voice for!. -
Message 9
Posted by Jak (U1158529) on Saturday, 18th June 2011
In school in Lancashire in the 1940s, there was a song "Owd John Bradlum" which was very popular. It was full of 'thous' and 'thees' and 'thys' so was like our - otherwise frowned upon - playground language.
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Message 10
Posted by Jak (U1158529) on Wednesday, 29th June 2011
Can remember a coach trip from school in 1950, singing (lustily) a then popular song with the lyrics:
"Cigareets & whisky & wild wild women
They'll drive you crazy, they'll drive you insane..."
and -
"Cigareets are the curse of the whole human race:
A man is a monkey with one in his face..."
Can't recall the rest of it, but we all knew all the words, then.
Didn't smoke, nor drink, nor knew any wild women (if only!), in those days.
But maybe that old song's due for a revival. -
Message 11
Posted by ritajoh (U10855204) on Thursday, 30th June 2011
when i was a little girl at junior school we used to skip to this song
Old daddy dicson a nice old man
he used to teach you all he can
reading writing arithmatic
but he never forgot to give you the stick
when he did he made you dance
out of england into france
out of france into spain
over the hills and back again. -
Message 12
Posted by bandick (U14360315) on Thursday, 30th June 2011
Quartermaster鈥檚 Store
There were eggs,eggs,
That walk about on legs
In the store, in the store
ALL
There were eggs,eggs,
That walk about on legs
In the store, in the store
CHORUS
My eyes are dim, I cannot see
I have not bought my specks with me
I have not bought my specks with me
AS MANAY VERSES AS YOU LIKE
Some examples:
There was gravy, gravy, enough to sink the navy.
There were rats, rats, as big as blooming cats.
There was kippers, kippers, smelling like skippers slippers.
The woodpeckers hole
I put my finger in the woodpeckers hole and the woodpecker said
God Bless my soul, take it out, take it out, remove it.
So i took my finger from the woodpeckers hole and the woodpecker said
God bless my soul put it back, put it back, replace it
So I stuck my finger in the woodpecker's hole and the woodpecker said god bless my soul
Turn it round, turn it round, turn it round, revolve it.
The great American railway
In eighteen hundred and eighty one The American Railway was begun
The American Railway was begun
The Great American Railway
I was wearing corduroy breeches
Digging ditches
Swinging switches
Dodging hitches
I was working on the Railway
Or
Patsy - atsy - or - ee - ay
Patsy - atsy - or - ee - ay
Patsy - atsy - or - ee - ay
The Great American Railway
Underneath the spreading chestnut tree
Under the spreading chestnut tree,
Where I knelt upon my knee,
We were as happy as could be,
Under the spreading chestnut tree.
Under the spreading chestnut ____,
(Replace 'tree' with action:
Place arms close to side, bent upward
from the elbow, hands spread, with palms up)
A frog he would a wooing go
A frog he would a-wooing go,
Heigh ho! says Rowley,
A frog he would a-wooing go,
Whether his mother would let him or no.
With a Rowley,
powley, gammon, and spinach,
Heigh ho! says Anthony Rowley.
Roll out the barrel
Roll out the barrel,
We'll have a barrel of fun
Roll out the barrel,
We've got the blues on the run
Zing boom tararrel,
Ring out a song of good cheer
Now's the time to roll the barrel,
For the gang's all here
D鈥檡e ken John Peel
D'ye ken John Peel with his coat so
gay,
D'ye ken John Peel at the break of
day,
D'ye ken John Peel when he's far away,
With his hounds and his horn in the
morning.
For the sound of his horn brought me
from my bed
And the cry of his hounds which he
oft times led,
Peel's 'view hullo' would awaken the
dead
Or the fox from his lair in the
morning.
Yes I ken John Peel and Ruby too
Ranter and Ringwood and Bellman and
True,
From a find to a check, from a check
to a view
From a view to a death in the morning
Then here's to John Peel with my
heart and soul
Let's drink to his health, let's
finish the bowl,
We'll follow John Peel through fair
and through foul
If we want a good hunt in the morning.
There was a wee piper who lived in fife: loads of verses
There was a wee cooper wha' lived in Fife,
Nickety nackety, noo, noo, noo
And he hae gotten a gentle wife,
Hey Willie Wallacky, Ho, John Dougal,
Alane quo' rushety roo, roo, roo.
Mac tavish
Oh! Mactavish is dead
And his brother don鈥檛 know it
His brother is dead
And Mactavish don鈥檛 know it
They鈥檙e both of them dead
And in the same bed
And neither one knows that the other is dead!
The battered elm tree
From out of the battered elm tree
The Owl鈥檚 cry we hear
And from the distant forest
The cuckoo answers clear.
Cuckoo, Cuckoo, tawit tawit tawooo..
Roll me over lay me down
I鈥檓 looking over a four leaf clover
Ging gang gooly
The good ship sails on the ally ally oh
You鈥檒l never get to heaven
You鈥檒l never get to heaven in an old Ford car
Cause an old Ford car won鈥檛 go that far
I ain鈥檛 a gonner grieve my Lord no more
I ain鈥檛 a gonner grieve my Lord
I ain鈥檛 a gonner grieve my Lord
I ain鈥檛 a gonner grieve 鈥 my Lord no more
And what ever verses fit into the song -
Message 13
Posted by stalti (U14278018) on Thursday, 30th June 2011
hi bandick
superb!!!
i remember them all
actually u are disqualified as this is not memories - this is the order of battle of one campfire night of the 1st brigadoon scouts
i could actually see the dixie on the fire with the campfire cocoa in it (with 4lbs of sugar) lol
how about "we"re riding along on the crest of a wave"
or
"barney had no tail at all tail at all tail at all
barney had no tail at all only a powder puff
same song second verse
could get better gonna get worse
barney had no tail at all only a powder puff
same song third verse
could get better gonna get worse etcetcetc" -
Message 14
Posted by Peggy Monahan (U2254875) on Friday, 1st July 2011
I learnt a version of this version
Red Fly The Banners, Oh
Twelve for the chimes of the Kremlin Clock,
Eleven for the Moscow Dynamos,
Ten for the works of Lenin,
Nine for the nine bright satellite states,
Eight for the Eighth Red Army,
Seven for the days of the working week,
Six for the Tolpuddle Martyrs,
Five for the years of the 5-year plan,
Four for the four years taken,
Three, three the rights of Man,
Two, two the hands at toil
Working for the living-oil,
One is workers鈥 Unity
And evermore shall be so. -
Message 15
Posted by stalti (U14278018) on Saturday, 2nd July 2011
superb
where did u learn that
are u one of the Woodland Folk ??
st -
Message 16
Posted by Silver Jenny (U12795676) on Saturday, 2nd July 2011
We sang many of the above and included the immortal lines
'Lloyd George knew my father
Father knew Lloyd George'
sung to the tune for Onward Christian Soldiers. & sung until the initiator was silenced or the bus driver roared ' put a sock in it' - again.
Not historically correct as it happens but moving towards keeping to the subject of history!. -
Message 17
Posted by Jak (U1158529) on Monday, 4th July 2011
Yep, I remember some of that one from the Airforce nearly sixty years ago:
"......
Three, three, the Righ-igh-ights of Man.
Two, two, the hands of toil
Working for a living-oh !
One is workers鈥 Unity
And evermore shall be so."
Obviously, from the Soviet Russian refs, this dates from a bit later than the well-known WW1 parodies of hymns ("The Church's one Foundation", "What a Friend we have in Jesus" etc.)
I doubt if this sort of thing still goes on in the Forces today. The lack of tuneful source-material will surely inhibit any would-be parodists. -
Message 18
Posted by Peggy Monahan (U2254875) on Monday, 4th July 2011
superb
where did u learn that
are u one of the Woodland Folk ??聽
I learnt it at university (in the good old days iof student radicalism post-68.
Our version had seven for the stars of the Connolly Plougn and Nine for the days of the general strike.
In fact ours was anti-Stalinist but I can't remember it all and this was the only version I found on internent. -
Message 19
Posted by Peggy Monahan (U2254875) on Monday, 4th July 2011
And three was "Bread, peace and land".
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Message 20
Posted by Caro (U1691443) on Wednesday, 5th October 2011
Dragging this thread back. I bought some sheet music the other day and among it is Famous Student Songs of the World. Don鈥檛 know the date. Can鈥檛 see war songs so suspect before WWI (though there is Mademoiselle from Armentieres but it was written earlier), but it says 4/6 which sounds a bit dear for that era, even if it over 60 pages. It has songs I remember from school: Turkey in the Straw, The Mermaid, Billy Boy, and did we learn Massa鈥檚 in de cold cold ground? See below. And surely we didn鈥檛 learn Fifteen Men on a Dead Man鈥檚 Chest with its talk of rum, drink and the devil. But I have known it for a long time.
It also has lots of, well, nationalistic songs from different countries, Britannia the pride of the ocean, The Marseillaise, Song of Australia, Dear little shamrock, Red, White and Blue (which I have heard during our Rugby World Cup), and Rolling 麻豆约拍 to Bonnie Scotland. Though it is an Australian book, I don鈥檛 see any New Zealand songs.
But there are also some songs that would not be sung readily these days: I鈥檚e goin鈥 back to Dixie. And how do I know Abdul the Bul Bul Ameer? I can鈥檛 really mention one of the songs since its title has words not allowable any more and certainly not on this board. Gone where de good ____ go. Best of all, perhaps was a song called 鈥淗e wouldn鈥檛 wear his trousers creased鈥. The words were: 鈥淎 wild and warlike Zulu chief was he, His costume was as brief as brief could be; He vowed that he would woo and win a maid; But she skipped out and left him in the shade; At first she loved him, This was why she ceased 鈥 He simply wouldn鈥檛 wear his trousers with a crease.鈥 People in the past were more relaxed about these matters.
And about others: I also picked up the music for a song called The Story of Two Cigarettes, whose theme is the same as Lipstick on my Collar. He recognises his best friend鈥檚 brand of cigarette.
I think I shall have to look further afield for something to play/sing at our music group on Friday evening. Neither drinking songs nor racial songs are quite suitable.
Cheers, Caro. -
Message 21
Posted by somewhatsilly (U14315357) on Wednesday, 5th October 2011
I presume this is your music collection Caro,
The website proposes a publication date in the 50s which would make sense since I recall lots of these songs but I can't remember whether it was from school, the radio or the Black and White Minstrels on the telly. Old Black Joe for instance, I haven't even thought of for decades but I could, if so minded, sing it through now. Should I admit that? Very catchy tune.
However, as a student in the 60s, I don't remember the beer bar in the Union ever giving voice to any of these, at least not with the original lyrics!
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