The Banks of Green Willow

Go and get your father's good will,
and get your mother's money,
and sail right o'er the ocean
along with your Johnny

She had been not been a-sailing
been sailing many days, O,
before she want some woman's help
and could not get any

Oh fetch me a silk napkin
to tie her head up so easy,
and I'll throw her overboard
both she and her baby

Oh they fetched him a napkin
and they bound her head so easy,
and overboard he threw his love,
both she and her baby

See how my love do tumble,
see how my love to taver,
see how my love do try to swim,
that makes my heart quaver

Oh, make my love a coffin
of the gold that shines yellow,
and she shall be buried
by the banks of green willow (sung by Mrs Overd; Langport, Somerset)

Take some time to read these words over and explain to yourself (or those around you) what is happening in the story. Until recently it has never fully made sense to me, my original thoughts being; The lady in the song is obviously pregnant which is why she asks for a woman's help but the sailor's subsequent reactions after and incongruous to say the least, first tying up her head with a tissue, then throwing her overboard and finally lamenting her death and building her a solid gold coffin: inconsistency just doesn't cover this guy!

Collected in this format in 1904, The banks of green willow was originally recorded in 1882 as Child ballad no.24 "Bonnie Annie" or "The High Banks O Yarrow". The original versions go into far more depth about the circumstances that surround the woman's untimely death and reveal a Jonah-esque tale of tragedy and nautical superstition where the ship cannot continue its journey due to having a wrongdoer on board; indeed, in his notes in "English Folk Songs", Vaughn Williams comments that these superstitions actually predate the story of Jonah however, this meaning has somewhat been lost with the distortion of twentieth century versions. This post will look more closely at the story that is missing from the later version.

First off: what has this woman done wrong? Well for a start she's a woman at sea (but not a naked one); second she's pregnant without being married (inferring an act of a christian god) and third she has stolen her parents gold to fund the trip, reason enough it seems!

I mention the second reason with a certain level of scepticism partly because of Vaughn Williams' notes above but also because of a point that appears in Child's research on the song Bonny Annie: In this song, which Child suggests may be the original, it is the casting of "black bullets" (ballots?) that dictates the lady's death and as Child points out, this "strikes us as having more semblance of the 'corrupted currents of the world' than of a pure judgement of god". If this is the case then the whole message of the song is quite radically changed from a superstitious warning to a comment on the very superstitions that influence the sailor's actions, leading to questions of rigging.

The next gap in the story that has a notable effect on the way that the songs scan is the way that the captain (or rich squire) reacts to the choice of his sweetheart as the sacrifice. He offers the crew great sums of money to keep trying through the storm but to no avail, they tell him that they will not help him at risk of their crew. As a side note, when the paramour throws the lady overboard (or she jumps), she is said to taver; this could well be made up word which just rhymes with quaver but I feel still induces enough meaning that I'm going to start using it in everyday language (I'm taking it to mean flail and tumble)

So it appears that our story is coming together with loose threads being tied up; the reason for the woman being tipped over board is more clearly explained and thus the sailor's subsequent lamentation is more inkeeping with events. This is a song full of passion and despair that time and corruption has almost masked from sight.

One final thing to note about the song is that the most common tune that the words are sung to is a composition by Butterworth entitled The Banks of Green Willow written in 1913 and there seem to be no tunes to any of the versions of the song that come earlier than the twentieth century.

Notable versions of the song can be found on these abums:

Jackie Oates: Jackie Oates (2006)
Spiers & Boden: Through and Through (2001)
Nic Jones: Nic Jones (1971)

For my version of the song, I have written a tune called "Just one more minute" which I will upload just as soon as I have notated it down!

Jim Moray: In Modern History. A first review

So an exciting day today as Jim Moray's new album has been pre-released through Songlines magazine. This is a slightly shorter offering than that which will be released this summer but I thought it would be a good chance to have a look through it to give my first impressions.

Bristol Harbour: Contains a similar theme, tune and feel (in the beginning) to the start of Low culture and lays out his vision of the album's theme with the marimba creating a lovely texture to the music through the verse... and then the guitar kicks in and destroys it. The mystique, the atmosphere built up so carefully through the start of the song is wiped away without a second glance, it just doesn't click for me and it's because that the piece, despite getting louder, just doesn't "fill out" with the noise so all your left with is drums and guitar playing an uninteresting chord sequence (the bass just following the chords) with the vocals straining to be heard over the top, I don't know if the other instruments keep playing because it's impossible to hear them. There's a nice break toward the end but all it does is show you what the previous chorus' haven't managed to do, a bit of a poor start.

Jenny of the Moor: This gets back to what Jim does really well which is create the 'feeling' of the song with his arrangements that allow the story to come over, this one being performed wonderfully with Hannah Peel. The story is a classic "broken token ballad" with the sailor returning to his true love and showing here the ring they snapped in two. Despite not having much variation in the tune, the little intricacies that flit about in the background keep the song very much alive.

Hard: At first I was worried that this was going to be a cover of Chris Wood's song (something that should never be attempted)! At first listening, the song just seems a very-slightly above standard folk-indie-love-kinda song (my new genre) with a few clever lyrics and a few dropped catches shall we say... but on repeated listening I've found that it definitely is! The lyrics "it's hard to land on your feet when your falling, and you don't know which way is down" are sort of nice but just don't ride.

William Taylor: Cross dressing- Finally! and a strong song to boot with Saul Rose and Eliza Carthy creating a scratchy tune to set the scene before the orchestra comes in perfectly arranged (if a little James Bond) but, again, this is the sort of song that I really associate Jim's playing with, a bit off the cuff, a bit dramatic and really quite a lot of fun.

Actually, it's super James Bond, I wonder if that's the image he was going for: the disguised female hunting down her slighting lover?

The Lowlands of Holland: Very nice middle to the album, relaxing the whole feel and a really nice melody chosen. I've often felt that despite being a popular song, it's come across a bit soulless due to it's very "modal" feel but there's such warmth to this track that you can't help but feel that your watching the pivotal scene in a romance (a good one that is)

Silver Dagger: I love this... at first I was confused as I didn't recognise the lyric structure (the Joan Baez/ Show of Hands versions I've never fully got on with) but with a bit of reading into the background I can see the Romeo and Juliet imagery. The addition of modern lyrics puts me very much in mind of his second, self-titled (and possibly deepest and darkest) album and even reminds me of AFI's "End Transmission" (this is a good thing)! Modern History seems to be really hitting its stride now...

Cold Stone: A breathless and clever song about three brothers desiring their fathers gold with the narrator coming out on top, a well-worked twist on the original. I'm sure that I've heard the tune before, I think it was Bella Hardy.

Long Lankin: I agree wholeheartedly with Jim's statement on this song in the magazine, "I've always liked the idea of Long Lankin but not the actual song". A creeping and nasty song about probably the darkest character in English folklore and a reminder to children to always close the windows when you sleep. Originally La(m)kin was a stonemason who was refused payment by a Lord for his services and so exacts the most extreme sort of revenge but he has become very much a bogeyman figure creeping and stalking through the night. The arrangement is, again, Moray through and through drawing a definite Early English feel out through the melody right to the very end.

So overall, another great album by Jim Moray only hampered by a couple of tracks towards the beginning which keep it from possibly becoming my favourite of his works.

As stated before, this is just a preview of the full album coming out 7th June which will include bonus tracks. There is also Jim Moray: A beginners guide which is a collection of his work up to date including the rare 'I am Jim Moray' E.P which I've certainly been hankering after for a while now!

23rd April

Happy St George's day to you all
and to you all a good knight.

so what do I do?

Good eve one and all,

so thus starts another space of opinion and information... opinimation if you will (or informapinion). The idea for this was given to me by a friend during one of my rants about traditional/ folk music and how I have found that more and more recently that I have become rather pernickety about the people I will and will not listen to and the reasons, specific and spurious, by which I make those decisions. I assume that she felt strongly that my wise words needed to be heard by a wider audience...

More about me; I have been listening to folk all my life courtesy of keen parents, attending folk gigs since the age of four, singing and playing folk since my early teens and despite enjoying an eclectic array of genres, always find myself drawn back to the folk idiom like the pull of a favourite jumper or the pseudo-nostalgic comfort of a good Fred Astaire musical. I am currently based in Bath where I am playing some gigs, getting involved in the sessions and generally enjoying the scene which is young but it's daily growing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trees_They_Grow_So_High_(folk_song))

In this blog I will not be out to insight mass revolution or start arguments about which version of "seven yellow gypsies" is the best, where it came from, the verses that are historically accurate and who shot first (Han), this is a place for me to have my say about what I hear out there in a world embracing a nu-folk "revival" (a word that I say with dread). There is a lot of good music, passionate people and wonderful interpretations on our aural history out there and I hope that you, dear reader, will discover bands, songs and tunes that you didn't know even existed.

As a vague plan that I am making up right now, I will look at different tunes and songs and some of the versions and history around them, review new releases and specific albums that I really love or have problems with (Show of Hands and Martin Carthy, you will be mentioned).

This blog will not cater particularly to one specific country in terms of music although my background is heavily English with an Irish inflection, it will not be covering country 'n' western (we got both kinds) unless deemed absolutely necessary.

Also, there will be no mention of N****n F***kner

So I hope you enjoy this and I'll see you soon...