| Author | Topic: Add: As I was going to Banbury | |
| dmcg | Posted - 18 Dec 02 - 11:27 am | |
As I was going to Banbury As I was going to Banbury, Ri fol lat-i-tee O, As I was going to Banbury, I saw a fine codlin apple tree, With a ri fol lat-i-tee O. And when the codlins began to fall, Ri fol lat-i-tee O, And when the codlins began to fall, I found five hundred men in all. With a ri fol lat-i-tee O. And one of the men I saw was dead, Ri fol lat-i-tee O, And one of the men I saw was dead, So I sent for a hatchet to open his head. With a ri fol lat-i-tee O. And in his head I found a spring, Ri fol lat-i-tee O, And in his head I found a spring, And seven young salmon a-learning to sing. With a ri fol lat-i-tee O. And one of the salmon as big as I, Ri fol lat-i-tee O, And one of the salmon as big as I, Now do you not think I am telling a lie? With a ri fol lat-i-tee O. And one of the salmon as big as an elf, Ri fol lat-i-tee O, And one of the salmon as big as an elf - If you wand any more you can sing it yourself! With a ri fol lat-i-tee O. Source: Cyril Winn,A Selection of some less known Folk-Songs, Vol 2, Novello Notes: Collected by Cecil Sharp. No further details were supplied in the book. Database entry is here. | ||
| IanC | Posted - 18 Dec 02 - 01:05 pm | |
I suspect that, like quite a few of the songs sung by Bob Arnold, this is in Alfred Williams' "Folk Songs of The Upper Thames" (1923). I'll try and find it. :-) | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 18 Dec 02 - 04:15 pm | |
Roud 2423. Sharp noted this from Sister Emma (71) of Clewer, Berkshire, on March 13 1909. This song has been found only rarely in tradition. A slightly longer version appeared as A Shoulder of Mutton Jumped Over From France in The Journal of the Folk Song Society, vol.V, issue 20, 1916, pp.292-4: it was noted by Marian Arkwright from Mrs. Godfrey Arkwright, who had learned it c. 1835-40, and Kenneth Peacock got a set from George Reid of Codroy, Newfoundland, in 1960 (Songs of the Newfoundland Outports, vol. I p. 14, 1965) as A Leg of Mutton Went Over to France. Iona and Peter Opie (The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes, 1951; pp. 312-3) quote a single verse from James Orchard Halliwell's The Nursery Rhymes of England (1842): As I was walking o'er little Moorfields, I saw St. Paul's a-running on wheels, With a fee, fo, fum. Then for further frolics I'll go to France, Where Jack shall sing and his wife shall dance, With a fee, fo fum. They comment: "This seems to come from the ballad of Tom Tell-Truth [c. 1676], a copy of which, printed in black-letter, is in the Roxburghe collection: I see St. Paul's steeple run upon wheels, fal la &c. I see St. Paul's steeple run upon wheels and in the middle of all Moor-fields, With a fa la, fa la la la, fa la la la la la la." They go on to quote from Mrs. Arkwright's set, which also includes a form of that verse, and conclude "The precise locality of these strange happenings is here lost, but it is probable that it was Moorfields as in the broadside edition and the nursery rhyme. This would be an appropriate setting for a nonsense song, for in 1675 the old Bethlem Hospital was moved to Moorfields from Bishops Gate Without. An associated verse, also preserved in the nursery, is Upon St. Paul's Stands a Tree." | ||
| IanC | Posted - 18 Dec 02 - 04:27 pm | |
Some more info According to Lesley Nelson, a copy appears in the Crawford Collection (circa 1890) and in the Roxburgh ballads (circa 1770). The tune is a variant of Tanta ra ra ra, Tantivee (Tom Tell Truth) which was entered in the Stationers' Register in 1564/5 (see BruceO's Broadside Ballads). A codling is a variety of apple (Kentish Codling, Keswick Codling, etc.), and the word is a 16c. respelling of quodling, earlier (14c.-15c.) querdling, of disputed origin. All codling varieties are cooking apples (sour apples) and the word is also applied to an unripe apple (presumably by association). :-) | ||
| CapriUni | Posted - 25 Dec 04 - 07:35 pm | |
This reminds me of a game I learned at a Storytelling workshop many, many years ago. The teacher used it in her classroom to introduce high school students to the art of story telling (and listening). The game starts out with a dozen or so potential storytellers in a circle. The leader begins by reciting the following, pointing to each person in turn on each word, in eenie-meenie fashion: "As I went 'round the apple tree, All the apples fell on me. Apples for pudding, apples for pie. I would never tell a lie!" The person thus chosen had to tell a short story -- either lie or truth. At the story's conclusion, the listeners raised their hands, showing either 2 fingers, if they thought the tale was a lie, or 1, if they thought the tale was true. The teller then had to confess (truthfully) whether tale was truth or fiction, and won a point if she or he fooled the majority. | ||
| planetsam (guest) |
Posted - 22 Nov 09 - 03:22 pm | |
This is one of the songs we were taught to sing at school in the 1940s/50s As I was going to Banbury Fair Rifol rifol fol de riddle i fol I met a maiden selling her wares Fol de di Her eyes were blue, and gold her hair as I was going to Banbury fair Rifol rifol fol de riddle i fol Rifol rifol fol de riddle di | ||