vrijdag 16 februari 2018

Nightingale's Song (1690's) / Bold Grenadier (1710's) / Soldier and the Lady (1907) / Wild Rippling Water (1934) / Fiddling Soldier (1937) / Song to Woody (1962) / With God on our Side (1963) / One Morning in May (1963)


"The Nightingale" or "One Morning in May" (Roud 140, Laws P14) is a folk song which has been collected from traditional singers in England and the USA and has also been recorded by revival singers. Through the use of double-entendre, at least in the English versions, it tells of a sexual encounter between a grenadier (or soldier) and a lady. Lyrics have been traced to the late 17th or early 18th Century. 
There are a number of textual and musical variants, and the song has many titles. The most frequent in the Roud Index are "The Nightingale", "The Bold Grenadier", and "One Morning in May", in that order.


The earliest known text is a Broadside ballad titled "The nightingale's song: or The soldier's rare musick, and maid's recreation" published between 1689 and 1709 by W. Onley of London, in the Bodleian Ballad Collection (Roud Number 140)
This text has a pious moral at the end which both later publishers and traditional singers dispensed with. The tune is: "No, no, not I" or "Peggy and the Soldier"
 




Anoter early variation in the Bodleian Ballad Collection is a Broadside titled: "Bold Grenadier".

 

CLICK HERE TO ZOOM IN: Bold Grenadier (Bodleian Sheet)




In 1903 "As I Was Walking One Morning in May" appears as song # 663 in part II of the Petrie Collection of Irish Music, bearing the attribution "From P. Coneely".
Its relation to "One Morning in May" (Roud #140) is unclear.
  




On December, 1903 Ralph Vaughan Williams collected a version ( as "The Dragon and the Lady") from Mr. Garman from Forest Green, Surrey, England
 

Larger picture is here:  add_ms_54188_f025v.jpg (1157×1500)


On January 9, 1905 Ralph Vaughan Williams collected a version from Mr. Carter from King's Lynn, Norfolk, England




Early 20th century Henry Marvin Belden collected some versions in Missouri, USA, that were compiled in "Missouri Folk-Lore Society ballads, songs, rimes, games, riddles, etc. collected between 1903 and 1917".
This material was most likely given to George Lyman Kittredge in 1917, but not deposited in the library until 1932.

SEE ALSO page 344-346 on the next link: Ballads and Songs on JSTOR


Series: II. Ballads and songs, British and American (#40) See Next Link:

- WS Johnson 1903 in Tuscumbia - pp.239-244 (version a)


-Will J. Carrington in Jefferson City - pp.239-244 (version b)


-Version collected in Columbus, Kansas - pp.239-244 (version c)


-Mrs. Turley 1912 in Farmington - pp.239-244 (version d)


-Mrs. Edwards 1911 in Bartold - pp.239-244 (version e)


-Mrs Case 1916 in Harrison County - pp.239-244 (version f)




Cecil Sharp collected 9 versions from Somerset, England, between 1904 and 1907:

-Mrs. Trott, August 22, 1904 in Langport, Somerset.


Larger picture is here:  SHA-01-0344.jpg (1124×1500)



-Susan Williams, September 2, 1905 in Haselbury Plucknett, Somerset



-William Stokes, August 27, 1906 in Chew Stokes, Somerset


-Jim Proll, September 10, 1906 in Monksilver, Somerset



-John Wedlock, January 11, 1907 in Chew Magna, Somerset


-Alfred Emery, April 4, 1908 in Othery, Somerset



-Alfred J. Nevill, August 10, 1908 in East Coker, Somerset


-Lucy Dunston, April 16, 1909 in Bridgwater, Somerset.


-Frederick Vowles, January 7, 1916 in Meare, Somerset




Henry Hammond noted it down five times in Somerset and Dorset between 1905 and 1907.

Amos Ash, April 1905 in Combe Florey, Somerset


Larger picture is here: HAM-02-605.jpg (1108×1500)


William Bartlett, August 1905 in a workhouse in Wimborne, Dorset


Mrs Poole, June 1906 in Beaminister, Dorset


J. Newman 1907 in Dorset


Marina Russell, Jan/Febr 1907 in Upwey, Dorset




Lyrics and tune were included in "Lonesome Tunes (Folk songs from the Kentucky Mountains)" with words collected and edited by Loraine Wyman / pianoforte accompaniment by Howard Brockway)  published in 1916 by H.W. Gray Co., New York
These lyrics and the tune were used by Jo Stafford in 1947 for her version of "The Nightingale".
The tune combined with new original lyrics was used by Dominic Behan when he recorded "The Patriot Game" and Bob Dylan used the same tune combined with his own lyrics when he wrote and recorded "With God on Our Side".
These lyrics, combined with a new original tune were used by Bill Keith and Jim Rooney in 1963 for their version of "One Morning In May", covered by James Taylor on his 1972 album One Man Dog, and by The Country Gentlemen on their eponymous 1973 album.
 






Lyrics and a different tune also collected in 1917 by Cecil Sharp and published in "Folk-songs of English origin in the Appalachian Mountains" published in 1921.


 





The lyrics of "The Nightingale" also appear in "Song Ballads and Other Songs of the Pine Mountain Settlement School  (APRIL 1923)



The corresponding tune was found in "Lonesome Tunes" (1916) (see there)




In 1917 Cecil Sharp made a trip to the USA, where he collected 1 version from Tennessee and 7 versions from Kentucky.

Chester Lewis, April 25, 1917, Harrogate, Tennessee / Harlan County, KY


Mrs. Poff, May 17, 1917, Barbourville, KY


J.L. Baker, May 27, 1917, Berea, KY


Mary Ann Short, August 29, 1917, Pine Mountain, KY


Kate Thomas, September 12, 1917, St. Helen's, KY



Margaret Dunagan, September 12, 1917, St. Helen's, KY


Girls at Hindman school, September 20, 1917, Hindman, KY


Leona Melton, October 2, 1917, Hyden, KY





These versions with lyrics and tune were included in "English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians vol 2" (including 39 tunes collected by Olive Dame Campbell) and published in 1932.


 




Lyrics also appeared in 1927 in The American Songbag by Carl Sandburg, having come through Gilbert Raynolds Combs.
 





RECORDED VERSIONS

Here's audio of 4 versions from the James Madison Carpenter Collection, recorded between 1927 and c.1943

First one is a cylinder recording of a Summer School Singer.


Or after 3 min and 27 sec in the next MP3:  JMC//sr222.sr222bsl.mp3


Second one is also a cylinder recording of Duncan Bell or Bell Duncan ?



Thirth one is another disc recording of a Summer School Singer


Or after 3 min and 25 sec in the next MP3:  JMC//sr181.sr181asl.mp3


Fourth one is a disc recording of Duncan Bell or Bell Duncan ?





(c) Alec Moore (1934)  (as "The Wild Rippling Water")
Recorded in November 1934 in Austin, Texas by John A. Lomax.
Alec Moore was a crippled retired cowboy, when recorded, was selling ice-cream in the streets of Austin.





(c) Aunt Molly Jackson (1935)  (as "One Morning in May")
Recorded in March 1935 in Wilton, Conn. by John A. Lomax.

This version by Molly Jackson employs the same tune used in 1945 by Woody Guthrie, when he recorded "1913 Massacre" and by Bob Dylan in 1962, when he recorded "Song to Woody"






(c) Bill Cox (1937) (as "Fiddling Soldier")
Recorded November 18, 1936 in New York,
Released on Melotone 7-08-70
 



Listen here:




(c) Marvin E. Thornton (1938) (as "The Soldier and the Lady")
with guitar, banjo and fiddle by group from Fort Thomas, Ky
Recorded by Elizabeth and Alan Lomax in March 1938 in Cincinnati, Ohio





(c) Coon Creek Girls (1938) (as "The Soldier and the Lady")
Recorded May 30, 1938 in Chicago, IL
Released on Vocalion 04504



Listen here




(c) Mrs. G.A. Griffin (1939) (as "The Walls of Jericho")
Recorded June 1, 1939 in Newberry, Florida by John A. and Ruby T. Lomax.


Listen here:




(c) John Jacob Niles (1941) (as "One Morning in May (The Nightingale)")
Contained on the album American Folk Lore (Volume 3)
Released October 1941 on the RCA Red Seal label (#824).


This album-set contained four 78's with the following songs:
 2171 You got to cross that lonesome valley / The lass from the low countree ;
 2172 Black is the color of my true love's hair / 1 Go 'way from my window 2 One morning in May ;


 2173 The wife of Usher's Well ;
 18087 The death of Queen Jane ; Little Mattie Groves


Niles used the lyrics from "Lonesome Tunes", to a different tune.

Listen here:





(c) Jo Stafford (1947) (as "The Nightingale")
with the Paul Weston Orchestra
Recorded October 31, 1947
Matrix #2405
Released on the album "American Folk Songs"(Capitol CC-75)




Jo Stafford used the lyrics and tune from "Lonesome Tunes (Folk songs from the Kentucky Mountains)" with words collected and edited by Loraine Wyman / pianoforte accompaniment by Howard Brockway)  published in 1916 by H.W. Gray Co., New York (see sheetmusic earlier in this post)
The tune sung by Jo Stafford was used a decade later by Dominic Behan when he recorded "The Patriot Game" and Bob Dylan used the same tune a few years later when he wrote and recorded "With God on Our Side".

Listen here:




(c) Bob Atcher (1949)  (as "The Nightingale")
Recorded November 1, 1948
Released on Columbia 20608


Listen here:


Or to a sample here:




(c) Frank and Rena Trammell (1950)  (as "One Morning In May")
Recorded January 11, 1950 in Fayetteville, Arkansas




(c) Jean Ritchie (1952)  (as "One Morning In May")
Jean Ritchie recorded 2 versions for the album below.



First version:


Second version:





(c) Luke Stanley (1954) (as "The Bold Grenadier")
Recordings of the Plough Play (a Mummer's Play performed on Plough Monday, the first Monday after Twelfth Night) in Barrow-On-Humber (Lincolnshire), East Midlands (England), January 1954: collected by Alan Lomax.

Listen here: The Bold Grenadier



(c) Alan Lomax (1958)  (as "The Wild Rippling Water")



FROM THE LINER NOTES OF THE ALBUM ABOVE:
THE WILD RIPPLING WATER, from the book, "Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads" (1938) (page 181), and the singing of Alec Moore in 1934. This western form of the popular English ballad, "The Soldier and the Lady", shows how freely western singers treated the traditional ballads they brought with them into the plains. The soldier (sometimes sailor) comes a cowboy from Arizona; his fiddle reminds the girl of the English nightingale, whose song was never heard on the western plains.

Listen here:




(c) Neil Morris (1959) (as "The Irish Soldier And The English Lady (The Nightingale Song)")
This is an Alan Lomax recording.
Recorded October 1959, probably at the home of Neal Morris in Timbo (Stone County), Arkansas (United States)
Introduction to song - discusses learning it from his grandmother who learned it from her grandmother and her (the great-great grandmother and the song's) Scottish roots.



Released in 1960 on the album "Folk Songs From The Ozarks" (Prestige Int. INT-DS-25006)




(c) (Bill) Keith and (Jim) Rooney (1963)  (as "One Moring in May")
In 1963 Jim Rooney wrote a new arrangement for this traditional song.
This version was the inspiration for James Taylor's version in 1972.



Listen here:




(c) Ian Campbell Folk Group (1963) (as "To Hear the Nightingale Sing")





(c) Tom Paley and Claudia Paley (1964)  (as "The Fiddling Soldier")



Listen here:


Or to a sample here:




(c) Dubliners (1964)  (as "The Nightingale")
Recorded live before an invited audience at London's Livingston Studios in late 1963.





(c) Judy Collins (1964)  (as "Wild Rippling Water")
Recorded March 21, 1964 at the Town Hall, New York City


Listen here:




Or to a sample here:




A version of the song sung by Isla Cameron is used in the 1967 film "Far From the Madding Crowd".
Cameron provided the singing voice for actress Julie Christie's part in that movie.

(c) Isla Cameron (1967) (as "The Bold Grenadier")


Listen here:




(c) James Taylor (1972)  (as "One Morning In May")
with Linda Ronstadt on second voice.
Copying his Boston buddies Bill Keith and Jim Rooney (who recorded this in 1963)


Listen here:




(c) The Broadside from Grimsby (1973)  (as "The Bold Grenadier")

The Broadside from Grimsby sang The Bold Grenadier in 1973 on their Topic album of songs and ballads collected in Lincolnshire, The Moon Shone Bright. They commented in their liner notes: […] from the singing of Luther (Luke) Stanley of Barrow-on-Humber [as collected by Ethel Rudkin in 1957]. It is often called The Soldier and the Lady. Freud would have been interested in its symbolism. Luke's tune is a member of the Polly Oliver family. John Conolly sings it here in the ornamented style of Joseph Taylor.


Listen here:


or here: 




(c) Jacqui McShee's Pentangle (1998) (as "The Nightingale")


Listen here:





As I said earlier on there is a wide range in the music used with this song. For example, the version recorded by Jo Stafford in 1947 (as "The Nightingale") employs the same tune used in 1959 by Dominic Behan, when he recorded "The Patriot Game" and by Bob Dylan in 1963, when he recorded "With God on Our Side".

Listen here:





Another version by Molly Jackson (1935) (as "One Morning in May") and Marvin E. Thornton (1938) and  the Coon Creek Girls in 1938 (both as "The Soldier and the Lady") employs the same tune used in 1945 by Woody Guthrie, when he recorded "1913 Massacre" and by Bob Dylan in 1962 when and recorded "Song to Woody"

Listen here:












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