Willow Tree- Shandres Petulengro (West) 1909 Thompson A
[My title. From: Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society, July, 1909 from Christmas Eve and After by Thomas William Thompson. Thompson's excerpt and footnote follow.
An MS of 4 pages (two sheets folded) in Lucy Broadwood's collection is dated 1909 (written on sheet in red "L.E.B. from Mr. T.W. Thompson Jan. 1909") Roud lists Thompson as the collector (Lucy Broadwood Manuscript Collection LEB/5/380/2). There are 4 versions:
1) Mr. P (Shandres Petulengro, b. Worcestershire in 1862- d. Westmorland in 1914) also incorrectly spelled Shadres. Roud has the last name Petulanengro, which is wrong.
2) Mrs. P (Mrs. Lavinia Petulengro, b. 1861)
3) a giorgio (My love He was a Sailor Boy)
4) Vensalena Petulengro, age 18 (their child?)
The informant's name is also Andrew (by Roud, Chandler) Smith. Petulengro being a Romany surname commonly written as Smith (Chandler). After looking at the MS, this is a composite from the three family versions, see also version B. The changes from MS for Mr. P (Shandres Petulengro) appear in footnotes.
Chandler's review (see below) has a date of 1912 (which is wrong) and that Broadwood collected the versions (also wrong).
R. Matteson 2017]
Keith Chandler in his review of Sheep-Crook and Black Dog (Musical Traditions Records MTCD365-6) says:
One peripheral example relates to the footnote for If I Only Had the One I Love, where among the collected versions we find two noted in 1912 and attributed to Mr and Mrs Petulengro. 'Petulengro' is, of course, a Romany surname commonly written as 'Smith'. From my own research towards a forthcoming volume on Gypsy musicians active prior to 1900, I can reveal that these 1912 informants are, in fact, Shandres (also known as Andrew) and Lavinia Smith. He was born in Worcestershire in 1862 and died in Westmoreland in 1914; she born in Flintshire in 1861. His musical experiences were likely typical for a player of his generation : supplying music for dancing (social and step), ad hoc performances in the pub, and for personal diversion for himself and family beside the camp fire. They had been encamped near Kendal for six or seven months when they were visited by the renowned Gypsiologist Thomas William Thompson on Christmas Eve, 1908. In a piece published in the Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society a short time later, Thompson, unencumbered by the restrictive value judgements which would shortly come to prevail among the leading song collectors and their acolytes regarding what was and was not worthwhile within an informant's repertory, succinctly summarised both the broadness of Smith's repertory and his all-encompassing attitude towards it:
Shandres was at home, and was mending his fiddle. When this had been successfully accomplished he very kindly consented to play for us, and, once begun, he played on and on, passed from one tune to another, dance-music and Christmas-carols, songs and hymns all coming alike to him. As he remembered some almost forgotten melody a beaming smile lit up his still handsome face, and never was he more pleased than when he played and sang a beautiful and pathetic old folk-song...
at which point Thompson gives both tune and words, the latter beginning 'As I passed by a willow tree', which is clearly the one referenced here as having been collected subsequently by Lucy Broadwood in 1912.
Excerpt from Christmas Eve and After by Thomas William Thompson July 1909:
But this loitering profiteth nothing, so let me hasten to add that Shandres was at home, and was mending his fiddle. When this had been successfully accomplished he very kindly consented to play for us, and, once begun, he played on and on, passed from one tune to another, dance-music and Christmas-carols, songs and hymns all coming alike to him. As he remembered some almost forgotten melody a beaming smile lit up his still handsome face, and never was he more pleased than when he played and sang a beautiful and pathetic old folk-song:
[The Willow Tree]
Willow Tree[1] sung by Shandres [Petulengro], a gypsy singer of Kendal, Westmorland. From the article, Christmas Eve and After, by Thomas William Thompson (Journal of the Gypsy Lore Society - July, 1909).
As I passed by a willow tree,
A leaf fell down[2] and followed me;
I picked it up, it would not break;
My love passed by, he would not speak.
'Speak, young man, and don't be shy,
You are the only one for me:
If you can't love one, you can't love two;
Never change the old one for the new.
'I wish my heart was made of glass[3],
That you might view it through and through,
Might view the secret of my heart —
How dearly, dearly I love you.'
Then give me back that one I love,
O! give, O! give him back to me;
If I only had that one I love,
How happy, happy should I be.
_______________________
Footnotes:
1 There are a large number of variants of this song, which was a favourite with the old Gypsies. It is still remembered by the Gypsies of the Eastern Counties as well as by those of the North Country. The tune was recorded by the Misses M. and N. Dixon of Kendal. The third and fourth verses are sung to the same tune as verse two.
2. Originally he sang "blew off"
3. Originally: I wish my heart was made of glass,
That I might view the secrets through,
To view the secret of my heart —
How happy happy should I be.