Newsletter #50 - South Riding Folk Arts Network

South Riding Folk Arts Network News No. 50
ADOPT A MORRIS DANCER!
Songs from Frank Kidson: 2 –an unusual idea from Sue Cain of ‘Boggarts
Breakfast’ and the Sheffield Folk Festival
Card-Playing Song: Here’s to You John Brown
It seemed a really good idea after a few beers in
Another song from the Yorkshire musical historian and folksong collector Frank Kidson’s ‘Notes on Old the Kelham Island Tavern just before Christmas.
Tunes’ series, originally printed in the Leeds Mercury between 1886 and 1887. Kidson wrote:
People adopt monkeys, yaks or even stick insects:
so why not Morris Dancers? It also seemed a
perfectly good way to raise some money for the
Sheffield Folk Festival.
“The next song I give is also traditional, but ... it is not one of those songs which can very well be sung
in cold blood, but only after the ‘fun has grown furious.’ It was given me by a friend, who learned it some
twenty-five or thirty years ago in India, and I have never seen it in print. It gives me the idea of being one
of those extemporaneous drinking songs, of which there are many, wherein each member of the
company contributes a verse or line as he drains off his glass, the chorus being sung by the whole party..
As there is a good deal of repetition, I will not occupy space by the entire song, but leave the blanks to
be supplied by the reader.”
The King will take the Queen,
But the Queen will take the knave;
And since we’re altogether, boys,
We’ll have a merry stave–
Here’s to you, John Brown;
Here’s to you, with all my heart.
We’ll have another glass, my boys,
At least, before we part.
Here’s to you, John Brown.
The Queen will take the Knave,
But the Knave will take the Ten;
And since we’re altogether, boys,
We’ll keep it up like men–
Here’s to you, John Brown...
The Knave will take the Ten,
But the Ten will take the Nine;
And since we’re altogether, boys,
We’ll drink the best of wine.
Here’s to you, John Brown...
The Four will take the Tray,
But the Tray will take the Deuce;
And since we’re altogether, boys,
We’ll never cry a truce.
Here’s to you, John Brown....
The Tray will take the Deuce,
But the Ace will take them all;
And since we’re altogether, boys,
We won’t go home at all.
Here’s to you, John Brown....
Kidson later published the song in his book
Traditional Tunes (1891), adding that his source
had been a Mr Washington Teasdale. ‘John Brown’
has now become ‘Tom Brown’, and we are told that
“a parody of the song is found in an early number
of Punch”. Perhaps it was by reference to that that
Kidson decided to change the name.
The song has recently been recorded by Eliza
Carthy and the Ratcatchers (Rough Music, Topic
Records TSCD554, 2005) though she learned
Ewan MacColl & Peggy Seeger’s expanded set
rather than taking it directly from Kidson. It’s a
thoroughly enjoyable arrangement which should
see the song being sung more widely again.
Kidson didn’t think the song particularly old, but
members of the Ballad-L discussion group have
recently shown that it’s really quite venerable.
Jonathan Lighter pointed out a broadside song-
page 6
sheet printed by James Catnach at Seven Dials,
London, in the early part of the 19th century, as
Tom Brown. After an introductory verse not in
Kidson’s set, it settles down into the same pattern:
The deuce take the cards
for they give me the gripes
Come landlord bring more liquor
some tobacco and some pipes.
Here’s to thee, Tom Brown,
And to you my jovial souls,
And to you with all my heart,
And you I’ll drink a quart,
And with you I’ll spend a pot,
Before that e’er we part.
Here’s to thee, Tom Brown.
The king will beat the queen,
and the queen will beat the knave,
And we are all good company,
more liquor we will have.
Here’s to thee, Tom Brown &c.
The sheet (reference Firth b.25(96) ) can be seen
at the Bodleian Library website:
http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ballads/
Even that was just, relatively speaking, a modern
re-write. Steve Gardham of Hull traces it back to
the 17th century, and to another broadside songsheet
published –again in London– in the 1670s:
Tom Browns delight. Or, The Good Fellows Frolick
(4o Rawl. 566(116) ). This can also be seen at the
Bodleian. There are additional verses, dropped in
later versions, but the card-playing sequence is
much the same.
It was my chance to be,
amongst a jovial Crew,
Who merrily did agree,
to make the ground look blue;
To thee Tom Brown,
to thee my jovial Lad,
There’s Gallants come to Town
and Money to be had.
Come let this health go round,
there’s none we will except,
For since that we are born,
‘tis fit we should be kept
To thee Tom Brown, &c.
People often assume that folk songs are much
older than they really are; here’s one that’s older
than anyone had thought.
Once I’d sobered up a bit it still felt like a good
idea, so I registered the web address http://
www.apoptamorrisdancer.co.uk/ and I am now
ready to start designing the site. If only I knew
something about web design! Thank you to all of
you who have offered to help so far; I will take you
up on it. If anyone wants to offer advice on how to
write Terms and Conditions, I’m all ears.
What I need now is some more ‘orphaned’ Morris
Dancers who are willing to be put up for adoption,
and this is where you all come in. If you are a
Morris Dancer from the Sheffield area (aged 18 or
over, please) and you are willing to be put up for
‘adoption’, please let me know by emailing me at
morris.this@virgin.net.
What’s the plan? Well, for £10 (cheques made
payable to Sheffield Folk Festival, please) someone
will be able to adopt you; but it’s OK, you don’t
have to go and live with them. In fact, the nondancers
I spoke to said that they would pay double
if we didn’t turn up at their door...
For their £10, they will get a photograph of you, an
information sheet containing details about Morris
dancing, the specific tradition that you dance, the
side you dance with and some information about
the Sheffield Folk Festival. As a bonus, I am
compiling a list of questions that I’d like you to
answer. They won’t be anything too personal, just
things like “how many beers can you drink before
you can’t dance any more?”, “how many sides
have you danced with?”, “how many sides do you
currently dance with?” and so on. There won’t be
too many questions but it means that if someone
wants to adopt a lot of Morris dancers, they’ll have
a set of cards to play Morris Top Trumps (what
on earth is that? –ed)
I’ll be borrowing a friend’s Marvel Comic Top Trump
cards to get the basic design. If anyone has ideas
for other questions, please email me or let me
know when you see me.
Obviously no personal details about you will be
published anywhere (other than your name, but you
can make one up if you like) and you can supply
your own photograph, showing you in kit; or perhaps
holding an empty beer glass and looking sad...
I’d like to get the site up and running for St George’s
Day, even if there are only a few Morris ‘orphans’
up for adoption at that time, but we can add more
as we go along. The more dancers there are for
adoption, the more money we can raise for the
Sheffield Folk Festival and the more fun it will be.
Harry Taylor, morris
dancer of Longborough
(Gloucestershire) about
80 years ago. Not currently
available for adoption!
–Sue Cain