Henery My Son- Perry (Langport, Somerset) 1904 Sharp B
[My title, could be titled Henry, My Son since it's sung "Hen-er-y." From "Folk-Songs Noted in Somerset and North Devon" by Cecil J. Sharp, Frank Kidson, Lucy E. Broadwood, J. A. Fuller-Maitland; Journal of the Folk-Song Society, Vol. 2, No. 6 (1905), pp. 1-60. See also One Hundred English Folk Songs 1916.
This is one of the forerunners of the modern form, identified by the repetition of the 3rd line (the response) with mother also repeated. The "make my bed" ending is almost a separate part and it flows quickly together,
R. Matteson 2018]
SECOND VERSION
SUNG BY MRS. PERRY,
AT LANGPORT, AUG. 23RD, I904.
"Where have you been to all the day Henery my son?
Where have you been to all the day? You're a pretty one."
"Out in the green fields, mother, out in the green fields, mother; make my bed quick,
I've a pain in my heart, and I wants to lie down."
"What have you been eating of, Henery, my son ?
What have you been eating of? You're a pretty one."
Eels, mother, eels, mother, make my bed quick,
I've a pain in my heart, and I wants to lie down."
What will you leave your father, Henery, my son?
What will you leave your father? You're a pretty one."
Land and houses, mother, make my bed quick,
I've a pain in my heart, And I wants to lie down."
"What will you leave your mother, Henery, my son?
What will you leave your mother? You're a pretty one."
Coals and horses, mother, make my bed quick,
I've a pain in my heart, And I wants to lie down."
What will you leave your brother, Henery, my son?
What will you leave your brother? You're a pretty one."
"Hen and chicken, mother, make my bed quick,
I've a pain in my heart, And I wants to lie down."
"What will you leave your sister, Henery, my son?
"What will you leave your sister? You're a pretty one."
"A rope to hang her, mother, make my bed quick,
I've a pain in my heart and I wants to lie clown."
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END NOTES:
Compare "Edward, Edward" (Percy's Reliques, i, 4I), "Lord Donald" (Kinloch's Ancient Scottish Ballads, p. 110) "Lord Ronald" (Sir Walter Scott's Minstrelsy of tho Scottish Border, p. i8), "Willie Doo" (Buchan's Ballads of the North of Scotland,
ii, 479), " Lord Ronald " (Professor Child's English and Scottish Ballads), and "Where hast thou been to-day" (Garland of Country Song, No. 38). In an interesting note to the latter, the Rev. S. Baring-Gould states that the ballad, besides being sung in Devon, Suffolk, and Ireland, as well as in Scotland, is well-known in Italy, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Hungary, Bohemia, and Iceland. It is certainly well known in Somerset, for I have taken it down there eight times. The tunes to the first, fourth, and fifth versions are ordinary ballad tunes in regular metre. But the tunes of the second and third versions follow the words closely and expressively and in a manner that is unusual in folk-song. Mrs. Bond of Barrington, Somerset, sang me a variant of the third version, and Mrs. Hutchings of Langport, a variant of the first version. Miss Doveton Brown informed me that she learned the song from her mother, who had it from her grandmother, born in I784. The words of her song follow Sir Walter Scott's copy.- C. J. S.
In the fourth volume of Johnson's Scots' Musical Museum (I792) is a mere fragment of this ballad, picked uip by Robert Burns in Ayrshire. The melody of this copy closely resembles the fine strains of "Lochaber no more," and has been hastily said to have been its original. It is very extraordinary that the ballad should have been so widely diffused; it points to a very early origin.- F. K.
For the words and story generally, compare "Edward," made famous by Loewe and Brahms.-J. A. F. M.
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Introduction by Cecil Sharp
FOLK-SONGS NOTED IN SOMERSET AND NORTH DEVON
THE following Songs have been chosen from a collection of five hundred tunes which I have noted in Somerset and North Devon. The task of selection has not been an easy one. After some consideration, I decided to print with each ballad all the variants and different versions of it that I had collected. The adoption of this principle will no doubt appeal to the expert in Folk-Song, although it has led in some instances to the inclusion of tunes that are scientifically interesting rather than beautiful.
If the whole collection had been printed instead of less than the seventh part, it would not, even then, have represented more than a tithe of the folk-songs which are still to be heard in Somerset and North Devon. For, with the exception of a few gleanings made during flying visits to Minehead, Holford, Ilchester, Clevedon, Bridgwater, and Lew Trenchard, all the tunes have been gathered in three small districts-in Hambridge and the villages hard by, where I have enjoyed the hospitality and whole-hearted co-operation of the vicar, the Rev. C. L. Marson; in Meshaw, North Devon, in company with the rector, the Rev. A. F. de Gex; and in East and West Harptree-thanks to the enthusiasm and to the kindly assistance given me by Mr. and Mrs. W. W. Kettlewell of Harptree Court. Thus it will be seen that as yet I have explored with thoroughness only a small part of the large area comprised in the two districts above mentioned. Remembering this, it is possible to form some estimate of the fulness of the harvest which awaits the collector in these Western Counties.
If reference be made to the singers from whom I have noted the following songs, it will be observed that the same names constantly recur. This is because quantity generally goes with quality; that is to say, those singers who have given me the largest number of songs have also given me the best ones. I have noted from two sisters in Hambridge, Mrs. Lucy White (labourer's wife) and Mrs. Louie Hooper (shirt-maker), no less than eighty-one songs; from Mrs. Overd (labourer's wife) of Langport, forty-five; from Mr. William Nott (tenant farmer) of Meshaw, thirty-two; and from Mrs. Lock (wife of tenant farmer) of Muchelney, twenty-one.
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With few exceptions all my singers are well over sixty years of age. Some of them are much older: Mr. Wyatt, of Harptree, is eighty-two; Mr. Nott is seventy-five; while Mrs. Eliza Carter, of Rackenford, is in her ninety-second year; and I once noted a song from a man in Hambridge-since dead-who was ninety-six years of age. But these are the exceptions, and it is, as a general rule, difficult to extract songs from singers who have overstepped the Psalmist's limit of three score years and ten. Between sixty and seventy years is the best age, for at that time of life the singer is old enough to remember the genuine traditional ballad, and young enough to be able to sing it.
Again, it will be noticed that, of the singers who have contributed songs to this volume, an unusually large proportion are women. This is partly because there are several cottage-industries in Somerset, e.g. shirt-making and glove-sewing; and it used to be the custom for workers in these industries to congregate, for company's sake, in one room; and this naturally led to the singing of songs. Nowadays, alas, the sewing-machine ties each worker to her own cottage, where she must either sing without an audience, or not at all. Personally, moreover, I find it easier to get on friendly terms with the women. They are-in Somerset at any rate-less taciturn than the men, and yield more readily to persuasion; they are available, too, in the day-time when the men are occupied in the fields.
On the other hand, men will only sing when things are convivial, when the cider is passing round and when pipes are lighted. One man, whom I pressed to sing to me in the early afternoon, refused with some show of indignation, because he said the neighbours would think he was drunk if he sang before the blinds were drawn! I have already referred to the help which I have received from the incumbents of Hambridge and Meshaw and from the squire of East Harptree. Thevi are several others--too many to mention here-from whom I have derived like assistance. Indeed it would be difficult to exaggerate the value to the collector of Folk-Songs of an introduction from the parson or the squire. Without it, much precious time is wasted in preliminaries, in disarming suspicion-for one's motives are naturally the subject of severe scrutiny.
Of the five hundred airs that I have collected one hundred and twenty-five are modal tunes. Of these, one half are in the Mixolydian mode, while the remainder are equally divided between the Dorian and Aeolian modes. I have not noted a single tune in the modern minor scale.
As to the value of the tunes and words printed in this number, I must leave others to judge. My own estimate is that the tunes are of the utmost value, but that the words are of less account. Indeed, so far as the words are concerned, I must reluctantly admit that the twentieth century collector is a hundred years too late. The English ballad if not dead, is at the last gasp: its account is well-nigh closed. And yet, although page after page of my word-book is filled with scraps of imperfectly remembered broadside versions, here and there it contains, sometimes a whole ballad (e.g. " The Devonshire Farmer's Daughter," No. 8), more often a verse or two, or, perhaps, a phrase only, of genuine folk-made traditional ballad poetry. Such indications are of the highest importance, for they help us to form some estimate of the literary value of the English ballad of days gone by, when it was still a living force, but when, alas, no one took the trouble to record it.
It has often been asked: How did the English Ballad, as literature, compare with the Scottish Ballad? Many writers-Mr. Andrew Lang for example-plump unhesitatingly for Scotland. But then they take the traditional poetry of England, as it now exists, and contrast it with the Scottish ballad of a hundred years ago. This, besides being grievously unjust to England, is also very bad criticism. Moreover, such critics forget, or they do not know, that a large number of so-called Scottish songs are still being sung-in corrupt and incomplete form, no doubt-and presumably have for many centuries been sung, by the peasantry of the South of England. (Compare in this number alone: Banks of Green Willow; The Two Magicians; Blow away the Morning Dew; The Trees they do Grow High; Geordie; Barbara Ellen; Lord Rendal; The Crabfish.)
Now, if this fact be held in mind, instead of contrasting the ballad literatures of the two countries, would it not be more reasonable to ascribe to them a common origin? Many collectors of English folk-songs will, I think, agree with me when I say that it is not a question of superiority or inferiority, but rather one of identity. I suggest that the Scottish Ballad (I am not of course referring to the Highland Gaelic Ballad, but to the Lowland Scottish Songs to be found in the collections of Sir Walter Scott, Motherwell, Buchan, and others) is no other than the English Ballad in northern dress; that it crossed the border together with the English language, of which it was part and parcel; that it took root there and is now mistaken for an indigenous product.
I hope that my remarks concerning the present and decadent state of the English Ballad will not deter the song-collector, especially the beginner, from paying to the words that attention which they undoubtedly deserve. He must, it is true, be prepared often to find the transcription of the words a thankless task, but every now and again he will be rewarded for his pains by recovering unrecorded lines of great beauty and of high scientific value.
The case for the tunes is very different. Fortunately, they have survived the words, and, for a few years more, it will still be possible to recover many ancient folk-melodies in England, if search be made in the right way and in the right place. But the time is short, and collectors must be up and doing, or the last chance will be gone. Perhaps the contents of this number may stimulate others to enter the field. There are many English counties, e.g. Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Wilts, Dorsetshire, etc., that have so far escaped the attention of the collector; and there is no reason to believe that any one of these counties would yield a less plentiful harvest than Somerset, Sussex, or North Devon.
The notes initialled, L. E. B., J. A. F.-M., and F. K., are contributed by the Hon. Secretary, Miss Lucy Broadwood, Mr. J. A. Fuller-Maitland and Mr. Frank Kidson, to whom especial thanks are due for the trouble they have taken in annotating the songs.
CECIL J. SHARP.
PRINCIPAL'S HOUSE,
HAMPSTEAD CONSERVATOIRE, N.W.,
January, I905.