| Author | Topic: Add: O Good Ale Thou art my Darling | |
| dmcg | Posted - 22 Sep 03 - 09:33 am | |
The landlord he looks very big, With his high cock'd hat and his powder'd wig Methinks he looks both fair and fat But he may thank you and me for that (Chorus) For 'tis O, good ale, thou art my darling And my joy both night and morning. The brewer brew'd thee in his pan, The tapster draws thee in his can; Now I with thee will play my part And lodge thee next unto my heart For tis, etc Thou oft hast made my friends my foes And often made me pawn my clothes; But since thou art so nigh my nose Come up, my friend, and down he goes. For 'tis, etc Source: Sabine Baring Gould, 1895, Old English Songs from English Minstrelsie Notes: This is taken from the selection of the eight volume work by Baring Gould of the same name, reprinted by Llanerch Publishers. Notes are not given in the selection, but are in the full eight volume work to which I do not have access. Therefore I can give very little information about the origins of this song. The most common melody heard today is that sung by the Copper family. The melody here is also well-known, but for the life of me I cannot place it! An Apted dance, perhaps? A version of Gilderoy? A phrase taken from 'Turpin Hero'? hmmmm.... Database entry is here. Edited By dmcg - 22-Sep-2003 09:34:08 AM | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 22 Sep 03 - 01:13 pm | |
Roud 203. Chappell includes music and three verses in Popular Music of the Olden Time, 1859, II, 660-1: "This tune is still current in three different shapes. The first as O good ale, thou art my darling; the second to a song about Turpin, the highwayman; and the third to the above song about cock-fighting [The Hathersage Cocking]. They differ so much at the beginnings and endings that it is necessary to treat them as separate tunes." The melody he prints is "from a broadside with music"; tune and text are the same as later printed by Baring Gould. Chappell remarks on the resemblance of the first part to John, come kiss me now, which is in Playford. There are three broadside editions at Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads: O good ale thou art my darling Chappell further prints a set of O Rare Turpin, Hero, from the singing of the comic singer Charles Sloman (1840), illustrating the relationships of the tunes. The song was included in volume 7 of Baring Gould's English Minstrelsie (xix-xx, 60-61). He commented: "This old tune has gone through many changes, and has been adapted on one side to a cock-fighting song, and on the other has become that still popular song, O Rare Turpin Hero, which is sung by our peasantry. Mr. Chappell points out that O Good Ale resembles in the outset the air John, come kiss me now. It is also used for the popular ballad of The Gypsy Countess. The song is to be found on half-sheet music in the British Museum (G. 312). There is an additional verse which I have not thought necessary to print with the music. It runs - But if my wife should thee despise, By Jove, I'd bang out both her eyes; But if she loves me as I love thee, A happy couple we shall be." Edited By Malcolm Douglas - 26-Sep-2003 01:51:27 PM | ||
| dmcg | Posted - 11 Feb 04 - 01:31 pm | |
I've just noticed we didn't have Turpin Hero in the database so I have added a version. This is from that 'well-known scholarly work', "The Jolly Herring", given to my eldest son when he was born, along with various nursery rhyme books. If I come up with a more authorative version I will start a proper thread for it. Edited By dmcg - 11-Feb-2004 01:38:28 PM | ||