Author Topic: Add: The Jolly Goss-Hawk

Pip Freeman

 Posted - 24 Oct 03 - 09:12 pm
Jolly Goss-Hawk, The
I sat on a bank in trifle and play,
With my jolly goss-hawk, and her wings were grey;
She flew to my breast, And there built her nest,
I am sure pretty bird you with me will stay.

She builded within, and she builded without,
My jolly goss -hawk and her wings were grey:
She fluttered her wings, And she jingled her rings,
So merry was she, and so fond of play.

I got me a bell, to tie to her foot,
My jolly goss-hawk, and her wings were grey;
She mounted in flight, And she flew out of sight,
My bell and my rings she carried away.

I ran up the street, with nimblest feet,
My jolly goss-hawk, and her wings were grey;
I whooped and hallo'd, But never she shewed,
And I lost my pretty goss-hawk that day.

In a meadow so green, the hedges between,
My jolly goss-hawk, and her wings were grey;
Upon a man's hand, She perch'd did stand,
In sport, and trifle, and full array.


Who's got her may keep her as best he can,
My jolly goss-hawk, and her wings were grey;
To every man she is frolic and free,
I'll cast her off if she come my way.


Source: Songs Of The West by S. Baring-Gould.

Notes:
Baring Gould notes:
Melody taken down from H. Westaway to "The Nawden Song," which begins-
"I went to my lady the first of May,
A jolly goss-hawk and her wings were grey,
Come let us see who'll win my fair ladye-you or me.

To the 2nd of May is "a two twitty bird," "a dushy cock," a "four -legged pig," "five steers," "six boars," "seven calves calving," "eight bulls roaring," "nine cocks crowing," "ten carpenters yawning," "eleven shepherds sawing," "twelve old women scolding," Mr C Sharp has taken it down in Somersetshire.
A Scottish version in Chamber's "Popular Rhymes of Scotland" 1842; as "The Yule Days," A Northumberland version; " The XII Days of Christmas," with air not like ours, in "Northumbrian Minstrelsy," Newcastle, 1882 p. 129.
A Breton version, "Gousper ou ar Ranad," in "Chansons Populaires de la basse Bretagne,"by Luzel, 1890 p94.
The West of England song has got mixed up with the "Goss-Hawk," another song. See "The Fond Mother's Garland," B. M. A companion song to this is "The Bonny Bird,". The song in Devonshire, goes by the name of "The Nawden Song.

Added to database here



dmcg

 Posted - 24 Oct 03 - 10:46 pm
The song from the notes sounds like the 'Jolly old Hawk' song that is on the Waterson's Frost and Fire.

Mudcat has the lyrics here - I've always been a bit dubious of that 'Five for fifth and a fairy', but that is how it sounds!

Edited By dmcg - 24-Oct-2003 10:54:41 PM




Malcolm Douglas
 Posted - 25 Oct 03 - 01:53 am
Roud 1048. Presumably the text in SW is one of Baring-Gould's own efforts. James Reeves quotes Harry Westaway's full text from BG's MSS in The Everlasting Circle, Heinnemann 1960 no. 78 pp. 167-8.

As so often, the DT set fails to credit any traditional source. The set recorded by the Watersons was noted by Cecil Sharp from William Chorley at Bridgwater, Somerset, 6 April 1907. He sang, so far as can be told, either "Five for fif and a fairy" (Journal of the Folk Song Society, V (20) 1916 282-3) or "Five for fif and a hairy" (Maud Karpeles, Cecil Sharp's Collection of Folk Songs, OUP 1974, II, no. 337 pp. 411-2). The latter may be a mis-print for all I know. In FSJ, Anne Gilchrist wondered if "forfif and a fairy" might have been a confusion of a dialectal form of "fieldfare", but no one is sure.

Mr Chorley didn't sing "Nine old boars" but "Nine old whores". I don't know where those boars came from.




Jon Freeman

 Posted - 25 Oct 03 - 02:16 am
You may be (and probably are) right Malcolm, but it certainly isn't one of the ones where he has made statemements along the lines of "we have been forced to rewrite the words".

Jon



Browse Titles: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W Y Z