Author | Topic: Add: The Merry Haymakers | |
dmcg | Posted - 14 Mar 03 - 01:34 pm | |
Merry Haymakers, The 'Twas in the merry month of May in the Springtime of the year, All down in yonders meadows there runs a river clear, And to see those little fishes how they do sport and play, Caused many a load and many a lass to go there a-making hay. In comes three jolly scythesmen to cut those meadows down, With a godd leathern bottle and the ale that is so brown; For there's many a smary young labouring man comes here his skill to try, He whets, he mows, and he stoutly blows for the grass cuts devilish dry. Then in come both Will and Tom with pitchfork and with rake, And likewise black-eyed Susan the hay all for to make; For the sun did shine most glorious and the small birds they did sing, From the morning till the evening as we goes haymaking. Then just as bright Phoebus the sun was a-going down, Along comes two merry piping men approaching from the town. They pulled out the tabor and pipes, which made the hay-making girls to sing, They all threw down their forks and rakes and left off haymaking. They called for a dance and they jigged it along, They all lay on the haycocks till the rising of the sun. With "jug! jug! jug! and sweet jug!" how the nightingale did sing! From the evening till the morning as we goes haymaking. Source: Purslow, F, (1972), The Constant Lovers, EDFS, London Notes: Purslow's notes are as follow:
Database entry is here Edited By dmcg - 14/03/2003 15:33:51 | ||
Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 17 Mar 03 - 03:28 am | |
Roud 153 Found in tradition mainly in the South and South East of England, the exception being Huntington, Sam Henry's Songs of the People (1990) which has an unprovenanced set, Tumbling Through the Hay, presumably noted in Ulster. The broadside referred to by Lloyd was The merry hay-makers, or Pleasant pastime, between the young- men and maids, in the pleasant meadows, issued around 1720 (Bodleian) or 1695 (Lloyd) by S. Bates, in Gilt-spur-street, London. Copies can be seen at Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads, but they bear only a general resemblance to the song in question: The merry hay-makers A transcription appears in Pinto and Rodway, The Common Muse, 1957, and a shorter version, The Country Wake, with music, in Pills to Purge Melancholy, IV, p. 196, 1719-20. Later broadside editions (presumably those referred to by Purslow) are listed in the Madden collection, beginning "In the merry month of May" and "In the merry month of June". The Merry Haymakers at the Bodleian seems to be unrelated, though dealing with the same general subject. |