| Author | Topic: Add: Knife in the Window, The | |
| Ed | Posted - 04 Sep 02 - 10:04 pm | |
Knife in the Window, The Last Saturday night young Nancy laid sleeping Last Saturday night young Nancy laid sleeping And into her bedroom young Johnny went a-creeping With his long fol-the-riddle-i-do right down to his knee He said: Lovely Nancy, may I come to bed to you? He said: Lovely Nancy, may I come to bed to you? She smiled and replied: John, I'm afraid you'll undo me With your long fol-the-riddle-i-do right down to your knee His small clothes fell from him and into bed tumbled His small clothes fell from him and into bed tumbled She laughed in his face when his breeches he fumbled With his long fol-the-riddle-i-do right down to his knee My breeches fit tight, love, I cannot undo them My breeches fit tight, love, I cannot undo them She smiled and replied: John, you must take a knife to them With your long fol-the-riddle-i-do right down to your knee My knife will not cut, love, it ain't worth a cinder My knife will not cut, love, it ain't worth a cinder She smiled and replied: John, there's two on the window With your long fol-the-riddle-i-do right down to your knee He picked up the knife and he unrest his breeches He picked up the knife and he unrest his breeches The knife it was sharp and it cut through the stitches With his long fol-the-riddle-i-do right down to his knee All the night long how they rolled and they tumbled All the night long how they rolled and they tumbled Before daylight i' the morning Nancy's nightgown he crumpled With his long fol-the-riddle-i-do right down to his knee Now nine monthe being past, it fell on a Sunday Now nine monthe being past, it fell on a Sunday A child it was born with a knife-mark in the window With a long fol-the-riddle-i-do right down to his knee Source: Folksongs of Britain and Ireland - Edited by Peter Kennedy Notes: Collected from Harry Cox, Catfield, Norfolk, rec. P Kennedy, 1953: EFDSS LP 1004: Nancy and Johnny Kennedy notes: Sally my dear, shall I come to bed to you She laugh and reply: I'm afraid you'll undo me O Sally, my dear, why I will not undo you She laugh and reply: You may come to bed to me Sally, my dear, I cannot undo my breeches She laugh and reply: Take a knife and rip stitches O Sally, my dear , I cannot undo them She laugh and reply: There's a knife in the window Now he took off his breeches and into bed tumbled I leave you to guess how the young couple fumbled These five verses, noted by Cecil Sharp from a Somerset singer, were followed by three verses of Blackbirds and Thrushes. This same association of the two songs was also heard from Harry List in Suffolk. Needless to say Cecil Sharp, when he published Sally my Dear, wrote that the words 'had of necessity to be somewhat altered', and a completely rewritten text was published in his Somerset collection and also in the selected edition of English Folk Songs, vol. II, 1921. The words of the original Knife in the Window song therefore remained unpublished until they were included under Hares on the Mountains in Reeves: 1958. The fusion of Knife in the Window and Blackbirds and Thrushes/Hares on the Mountain, would appear to be widespread. Roy Palmer (Everyman's Book of English Country Songs) publishes a Berkshire version, which whilst quite similar to Sharp's unexpurgated set has a first verse of: Now if maidens were sheep, love and they fed on the mountains Now if maidens were sheep, love and they fed on the mountains Then all the young men they would go and feed with them Sing fal the ral i do, sing fal the ral day Database entry is here Ed | ||
| Ed | Posted - 04 Sep 02 - 10:22 pm | |
Note: there would appear to be a 'mistake' in Kennedy's score. According to the score, the F on the 'ing' at the end of the second line (Nancy laid sleeping) should be a half note (minim). That however gives the bar too many notes. I have therefore reduced the F to a quarter note (crotchet). It sounds right to me. If anyone has the book (Peter Kennedy; Folk Songs of Britain and Ireland, page 406) I would be grateful for any views Ed | ||
| kingbrilliant | Posted - 05 Sep 02 - 12:00 pm | |
That's a great song. I think I read (probably the same book - so I'll have a look later) somewhere that the bhild's "knife mark in the window" was supposed to be a blemish in his face or eye. I don't know how to read music properly, so I probably sing a bastardised version of the tune - but my "ing"s are certainly short rather than long. Kris Kris | ||
| Malcolm Douglas |
Posted - 07 Sep 02 - 04:13 pm | |
Roud 329. The Roud Index treats it as belonging to the widespread Hares on the Mountains group, which it used to be thought was a derivative of The Two Magicians (Roud 1350, Child 44). This is a view less widely held nowadays. | ||