Lyrics wanted to a traditional song sung b
David Stevenson
> I'm looking for the complete lyrics to a song I heard on a Steelye Span
> record (It may have been "Below the Salt") or it may have been by a
> differnt group altogether :-)
>
> It's a song about the hunting of the King -- in this case the "King"
> happens to be a Wren who is hunted, killed and his body passed from house
> to house at the time of the new year in a cross between a funeral
> procession and trick or treat...
the song you're after is on Steeleye Span's `Please to see the King' album
(their second, if memory serves - way back! - may still be available, though)
I understand that the wren was the bird of winter (not the robin!), and the
idea was to symbolise and celbrate the end of winter by carrying around a
dead wren in a box lined with plush silk or something, and sing about it!
from memory, goes something like:
Joy, health love and peace
be all here in this place;
by your leave we will sing
concerning our King
Our king is well dressed
in the silks of the best;
with ribbons so rare,
no king can compare
We have travelled many miles,
over hedges and stiles,
in search of our king,
unto you we bring
we have powder and shot
to conquer the lot,
we have cannon and ball
to conquer them all
old Christmas is past,
twelve-tide is the last,
so we bid you adieu,
great joy to the new!
p.s. great album altogether!
Martin Carthy was still with them then! - check also `Storm Force Ten',
when he and John Kirkpatrick `filled in' during changes in line-up
- classy!
cheers
david
M. Jonas
Tanais Fox <tan...@vixen.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>I'm looking for the complete lyrics to a song I heard on a Steelye Span
>record (It may have been "Below the Salt") or it may have been by a
>differnt group altogether :-)
>
>It's a song about the hunting of the King -- in this case the "King"
>happens to be a Wren who is hunted, killed and his body passed from house
>to house at the time of the new year in a cross between a funeral
>procession and trick or treat...
>
This is "The King" from their album "Please To See The King" (also recorded
as "The Wren" by Carthy/Swarbrick on Prince Heathen). Lyrics are in the
Digital Tradition (but are also easy to understand anyway).
>Now, in Leicester and Connaught the hunting still takes place, albeit sung
>to a completely different song to the one I'm after, but I don't believe in
>asking for something without giving something back (when I can), so the
>song I know is thus:
>
>"The Wren the Wren, the King of all birds,
>St Steven's Day was caught in the furze.
>Although he is little, his family's great
>I pray you goo landlady to give us a treat..."
>
Interestingly, Steeleye have recorded this one as well, on the stellar and
inexplicably still deleted album "Live At Last". It's "Hunting The Wren".
Martin
Mary Ellen Foster
David Stevenson <da...@cad.strath.ac.uk> wrote:
|In article AB1D2BC6...@vixen.demon.co.uk, tan...@vixen.demon.co.uk (Tanais Fox) writes:
|> I'm looking for the complete lyrics to a song I heard on a Steelye Span
|> record (It may have been "Below the Salt") or it may have been by a
|> differnt group altogether :-)
|>
|> It's a song about the hunting of the King -- in this case the "King"
|> happens to be a Wren who is hunted, killed and his body passed from house
|> to house at the time of the new year in a cross between a funeral
|> procession and trick or treat...
|
|the song you're after is on Steeleye Span's `Please to see the King' album
|(their second, if memory serves - way back! - may still be available, though)
|
"To Drive the Cold Winter Away" album...
MEF
--
Mary Ellen Foster, BNR co-op student (disregard any other name in header)
Send all mail to: ao...@freenet.carleton.ca (or via BNR COCOS)
Speaking only for myself.
Julie Dickinson
Tommy Makem In Person at Carnegie Hall". I think it's in the section where
they do the children's songs...
julie (julie dickinson, jdic...@novell.com)
In article <AB1D2BC6...@vixen.demon.co.uk> tan...@vixen.demon.co.uk (Tanais Fox) writes:
>I'm looking for the complete lyrics to a song I heard on a Steelye Span
>record (It may have been "Below the Salt") or it may have been by a
>differnt group altogether :-)
>
<snip>
jo...@netcom.com
> "The Wren the Wren, the King of all birds,
> St Steven's Day was caught in the furze.
> Although he is little, his family's great
> I pray you goo landlady to give us a treat..."
According to Holly Tannen (who is probably reading this, and will correct
me if I get it wrong), the reason the wren is King of the Birds is this:
The birds could not agree on which of them was to be king, so they agreed
to hold a contest to decide the matter. Since the most important thing
that a bird does is to fly, it was agreed that whichever of them flew the
highest would be the king. All the birds flew as high up into the sky as
they could, but one by one, the grew tired, until the only one left in
sight was the eagle. The eagle shouted out, "Now I am the King!"
"But you have not flown the highest," said a tiny voice from above him.
The eagle looked up, and there was the wren -- the tiniest of all birds --
who had just flown up from his perch on top of the eagle's head.
Probably got nothing to do with the song, but it's a great story.
--
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-__ __ /_ Jon Berger "If you push something hard enough,
//_// //_/ jo...@netcom.com it will fall over."
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