| Author | Topic: Add: Reynard The Fox | |
| Ed | Posted - 14 Dec 02 - 11:07 am | |
Reynard The Fox Most gentlemen take great delight In hunting bold Reynard the Fox Twas by Gaffer Ghylls I did lie Where I lived upon fat geese and ducks Twas by Gaffer Ghylls I did lie Not thinking how soon I should die I was chased by a pack of fresh hounds That caused me from my country to fly Twas by Gaffer Ghylls I did lie And I lived at a plentiful rate Young lambs I plucked on their bones And the farmers 'gan for me to hate Lord Jones for the king's hounds did send Tommy Bosun he swore I should die And I left three brothers behind me That loves young lambs far better than I It's forty long miles I rambled And I done it in three hours space It made my old coat stand on end As the hounds followed on me apace For it's oftentimes I've been pursued By hounds that would run like a cow But in the whole course of my lifetime Never had such a breathing till now By Simon Sturt's I did ramble Where the gamekeeper shot through my thigh Oh pardon dear huntsmen and hounds But from this fatal wound I must die My old coat it lay close to my back To hear how the hounds they did hollo My sweat dropped like dew in the morning For to hear how the huntsmen did follow It was in Stony Fields where they killed me Oh the blood-thirsty hounds how they follow They tore my old jacket to pieces Good Lord how the huntsmen did hollo! And now that bold Reynard is ended To the tavern they'll go down to dine They'll dip my fore-paw in a bumper And they'll drink their lord's health in good wine Source: Kennedy, D (1987) Martin Carthy: A Guitar in Folk Music. Petersham, New Punchbowl Music Notes: Recorded by Martin Carthy on Out of the Cut (Topic Records, 1982). Carthy notes: "Reynard the Fox is memorable among other things for its use of the first person and is a Sussex version of a song which, considering the name - 'Gaffer Ghylls', probably has a more northern location. I learned it from Vic Gammon." Database entry is here | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 14 Dec 02 - 04:24 pm | |
Roud 1868. The song continues in tradition to this day, featuring in the repertoire of the Holme Valley Hunt in Yorkshire. A number of broadside editions may be seen at Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads. These include: The fox Printed between 1813 and 1838 by J. Catnach, 2 Monmouth-court, 7 Dials [London]. Harding B 11(1254) Death of the fox Printer and date unknown. Harding B 25(492) Death of the fox Printer and date unknown. 2806 c.18(84) Sly Reynard the fox Printed between 1820 and 1824 for W. Armstrong, Banastre-street [Liverpool]. Harding B 28(261) Textual variation isn't particularly great in the broadsides. The first-mentioned sheet names the place (usually just "yon stony common") as "Gaffer Gelding". We aren't told where Vic Gammon got his set, but it's worth mentioning that Lucy Broadwood published a version in Sussex Songs: Popular Songs of Sussex (1889) which is nearly identical in both text and tune. Bold Reynard [Reynard The Fox] is another version. | ||
| dmcg | Posted - 11 Jan 03 - 11:17 am | |
I have added a database entry for Gentlemen of High Renown, the Copper family version of the song.< | ||
| Guest Account |
Posted - 31 Jan 05 - 03:26 pm | |
From: Vic Gammon I did indeed learn it from Broadwood's Sussex Songs (1880) but may have altered it a bit in use. Vic Gammon, Senior Lecturer in Folk and Traditional Music, University of Newcastle | ||
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