| Author | Topic: Add: Just as the Tide was Flowing | |
| dmcg | Posted - 28 Sep 02 - 03:42 pm | |
Just as the Tide was Flowing One morning in the month of May Down by a rolling river, A jolly sailor I did stray, When I beheld some lover So carelessly along did stray A picking of the daisies gay So sweet she sang a roundelay Just as the tide was a-flowing Oh her dress it was as white as milk, And her jewels did adorn her Her shoes were made of the crimson silk Just like some lady of honour. Her cheeks were red, her eyes were brown, Her hair in ringles hanging down, She'd a lovely brow without a frown, Just as the tide was a-flowing I made a bow and said - Fair maid How came you here so early? My heart by you it is betrayed For I could love you dearly. I am a sailor come from sea, If you will accept of my company To walk and view the fishes play Just as the tide is a-flowing No more we said - but on the way We ganged along together The small birds sang and the lambs did play And pleasant was the weather When we were weary we both sat down Beneath a tree with the branches around And what was done shall never be found As long as the tide is a-flowing. But as she lay upon the grass Her colours they kept changing Till she cried out and said - Alas! Never let your mind be ranging Here is twenty pounds I have in store, Meet me when you will - there's plenty more, For my jolly sailor I adore Just as the tide is a-flowing We both shook hands and off we steer Jack Tar drinks rum and brandy To keep his shipmates in good cheer The lady's gold is handy And along with some other pretty maid I will go To a public house where the brandy do flow Success to the maid that will do so Just as the tide is a-flowing Source: Marrowbones, Ed Frank Purslow, EFDS, 1965 Notes: Collected from Walter Diment, Cheddington, Dorset. July 1906 by Hammond (D.570) Database entry is here Vaughan Williams arranged a version of this for choir which is similar to the first few verses of the above.The most common version in the folk clubs and recording these days (in my experience!) uses a returning lover theme, an example of which is performed by Shirley Collins on the Albion Country band "No Roses" recording(1971) which has also been recorded by 10,000 Maniacs on "The Wishing Chair" (1984). Edited By dmcg - 9/28/2002 5:46:15 PM Edited By dmcg - 11/17/2002 7:09:48 PM | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 30 Sep 02 - 05:29 pm | |
Roud 1105 Not much published by the early folk song collectors (for the usual reasons) but evidently popular in the 19th century. Broadsides were issued by the usual suspects, and examples from Fortey and Such can be seen at Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads, along with Just as the tide was flowing Printed between 1813 and 1838 by J. Catnach, Printer, 2, & 3, Monmouth-Court, 7 Dials [London]. Harding B 11(3634) These are all very similar to Walter Diment's text. One that shows a little variation is Tide is flowing Printed by R. Barr, at the Circulating Library, York Street, Leeds. [n.d.] Johnson Ballads 1837. Cecil Sharp noted a full set in Somerset; again, very close to the broadsides. Frank Purslow noted that the tune is a close relative of that known to Morris dancers as The Blue Eyed Stranger. An earlier form was used by Ramsay for his Corn Riggs are bon[n]y (1729). It seems first to have appeared as the tune for Thomas D'Urfey's song Sawny Will Never Be My Love Again, which he wrote for his play The Virtuous Wife; or, Good Luck at Last (1679). It subsequently appeared regularly as "A Scotch Tune" and the like, but this may simply reflect the subject-matter of the original song, rather than the source of its melody. No composer is known, but Chappell (Popular Music of the Olden Time, vol. II p. 618) thought it likely to have been written by Thomas Farmer, who wrote other pieces for D'Urfey's play. The tune also shows strong similarities to Irish versions of The Parting Glass, and to another song, Sweet Cootehill Town (also called The Peacock). These appear to be much later than English and Scottish examples. | ||
| Peter Standing | Posted - 11 May 07 - 11:39 am | |
I know a version of this from Kidson's Traditional Tunes - A Collection of Ballad Airs. It only has four verses and is broadly similar to the version noted above, however the last two lines are:- Then to the church we soon were bound Just as the tide was flowing I note some other versions which are also only four verses long, again with the last two lines being:- For my true love at last I'd found, Just as the tide was flowing. Kidson's entry was noted by Mr Charles Lolley of Leeds. Here are Kidson's notes:- This is another old sailors' favourite noted down for me by Mr Lolley. The air is old and much resembles "The Peacock" - an Irish tune seldom met with, but included in R A Smith's Irish Minstral, circa 1826, and in one of Holden's collections of Irish Airs, circa 1800. The air has much of the characteristics of a Scotch melody. It is also sung to this air in the North Riding. The words are from a broadside. So were these versions bowdlerised for the purposes of civility? | ||
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