Help needed tracking down quotes and song fragments
Amy Elizabeth Ksir
Baron) writes:
> I am trying to track down some quotes and song fragments that appear in an
> unpublished play by a deceased author.
> [. . .]
> And the bird... is on the wing...
This is in the song "Get Together," which may or may not be what you're
looking for. I don't remember who wrote it, but the Indigo Girls sing it
on their album _Strange Fire_.
[...]
> What oft was thought but ne're so well expressed
This is written by Alexander Pope, but in which work I don't know.
[...]
> Tam Pierce, Tam Pierce, lend me your gray mare, out along, out along
Burl Ives has recorded this. I am told it is rumored to be a favorite of
George Washington's. The lyrics go:
"Tam Pierce, Tam Pierce, lend me your gray mare
all along down along out along lee
Us wants to go to whittingham (?) fair,with Bill Brewer, Ian stewart, Peter Gant
ry, Peter Guerney, Dan'l Wynton, (H)arry (H)awk,
Old Uncle Tom Cobbly and all, Old Uncle Tom Cobbly and all.
When shall I see again my gray mare?
all along down...
By Friday noon or zaturday zoon,
with Bill Brewer...
But Friday came and Zaturday zoon,
all along down...
and Tam's gray mare did never come home
with Bill Brewer...
[This much I'm sure of. I can only remember fragments of the rest]:
"...and seed his gray mare a-makin' her will, with Bill Brewer..."
"...old Tam's gray mare doth appear GHASTLY WHITE, [dramatic pause] with Bill
Brewer..."
[...]
> Ah Sweet Mystery of Life
This is the title song from a musical by Victor Herbert. I think the whole
line is, "Ah, sweet mystery of life, at last I've found thee."
> ka...@ivy.isc.com INTERACTIVE Systems Corp.-A Kodak Company
Amy E. Ksir aek...@owlnet.rice.edu
John McCarthy
Come fill the cup and in the fire of spring,
Your winter garment of repentance fling.
The bird of time has but a little way to flutter,
And the bird is on the wing.
--
John McCarthy, Computer Science Department, Stanford, CA 94305
*
He who refuses to do arithmetic is doomed to talk nonsense.
Col. G. L. Sicherman
>
> Burl Ives has recorded this. I am told it is rumored to be a favorite of
> George Washington's. The lyrics go:
>
> "Tam Pierce, Tam Pierce, lend me your gray mare
> all along down along out along lee
> Us wants to go to whittingham (?) fair,with Bill Brewer, Ian stewart,
> Old Uncle Tom Cobbly and all, Old Uncle Tom Cobbly and all. [...]"
Here's the authoritative version, from _John Lennon in his Own Write_
(N.Y., 1964):
'Stob shouting those animoles.' Bud it hab no inflience
upod them. They carried on shotting alligarters, wild
boats, garriffes, lepers and Uncle Tom Cobra and all ...
Old Buncle Ron Gobble and all ... Bold Rumple, Bom
Dobby and all ... Bad Runcorn, Sad Toddy and all.
I agree, it's a beautiful song! Too bad Mr. Ives didn't bother to
research it more carefully....
-:-
"I fought the Tao and won"
--
Col. G. L. Sicherman
g...@windmill.att.COM
Ted B Samsel
It's "Whiddecombe Fair"....I first heard this as a wee sprat.
--
Ted Samsel (TSA...@USGSRESV.BIT)
Marguerite Petersen
>In article <1992Jan18.0...@ica.ivy.isc.com>, ka...@arte.isc.com (Kathryn
>Baron) writes:
>> I am trying to track down some quotes and song fragments that appear in an
>> unpublished play by a deceased author.
>
>> [. . .]
>
>> And the bird... is on the wing...
>
>This is in the song "Get Together," which may or may not be what you're
>looking for. I don't remember who wrote it, but the Indigo Girls sing it
>on their album _Strange Fire_.
>
>[...]
>> What oft was thought but ne're so well expressed
>
>This is written by Alexander Pope, but in which work I don't know.
>
Marg
pet...@jacobs.cs.orst.edu
a.k.a. Elvira
Betsy Perry
>
>Part One: Quotes
>
>[Young men burn with many things] Some for the glories of this world,
>some for the Prophet's Paradise to come
This is also a paraphrasing of Fitzgerald's "translation" of the
Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam:
'How sweet is mortal Sovranty!' - think some:
Others -- 'How blest the Paradise to come!'
>I fled HIM... down the nights... and down the days... under running
>laughter
From Francis Thompson's "The Hound of Heaven".
I fled Him, down the nights and down the days;
I fled Him, down the arches of the years;
I fled Him, down the labyrinthine ways
of my own mind; and in the mist of tears
I hid from Him, and under running laughter ...
>My life is in the yellow leaf.. the flowers and fruits are gone.
This sounds Shakespearean to me. Desiree? Dani?
>A women is only a women, but a good cigar is a--
Kipling. Can't remember the title of the poem, alas.
"A woman is only a woman, but a good cigar is a Smoke."
>
>Part Two: Song Fragments
>
>
>Oh waily, waily
>
>For love grows old and waxes cold
>Ah love is bonny awile, when it is no
All of these come from the same traditional song, which I've
seen under various titles ("Waly, Waly", "The Water Is Wide".)
Your playwright seems to have known a Scots version.
The version I know goes:
"The water is wide; I cannot cross o'er.
Neither have I the wings to fly.
Give me a boat that will carry two,
And both shall cross, my true love and I.
Ah love is fine, and love is fair,
Fresh as a flower when it is new
But love grows old, and then grows cold,
And fades away like morning dew.
I leaned my back against a reed,
I thought it was a sturdy oak,
But first it bowed, and then it bent,
And so did my false love to me. "
--
Betsy Hanes Perry (note P in userid) bet...@apollo.hp.com
Cooperative Object Computing Division, Hewlett-Packard, Inc.
No worst, there is none.
Brian OReilly
>
>Part One: Quotes
>
>
From Macbeth? (Act V, Scene III)
"My way of life
Is fallen into the sear, The yellow leaf;
And that which should accompany old age,
As honour,love, obedience, troops of friends,
I must not look to have; But in their stead,
Curses, not loud but deep, mouth-honour, breath
Which the poor heart would fain deny, and dare not."
Caution should be exercised though as it appears to me that the first part of
the quote is maybe (just maybe) a paraphrasal of Shakespeare, however the
second part may have a different origon. ie. 'the flowers and fruits are gone.'
--
-------------------/The Muon is a harsh mistress\----------------------------
Evolution is all \ Brian O'Reilly / "Most people have nation-
that separates us > Northwestern University < -alities, Jews and Irish
from the animals./ ir...@casbah.acns.nwu.edu \ have psychoses." (B. Behan)
David H. West
>Part Two: Song Fragments
>
>Whiskey, man ... whiskey
>That's the stuff to drink...
>For boyos that it hurts to think...
>Look into the magic pot
>to see the world as the world's _not_
(misquoted) from A. E. Housman, _A Shropshire Lad_, LXII
[Housman wrote "Ale, man, ale's the stuff to drink/For fellows whom
it hurts to think", and the word "magic" is also not in his version,
though I can't remember what he used instead.]
--
-David West d...@iti.org
We can no longer believe in our politicians' tired, old lies.
We must demand their replacement with newer, more vigorous lies.
David H. West
>The version I know goes:
>I leaned my back against a reed,
>I thought it was a sturdy oak,
>But first it bowed, and then it bent,
>And so did my false love to me. "
If you'd prefer it to rhyme, you could use:
I leaned my back against an oak
Thinking it was a trusty tree,
But first it bent and then it broke,
And thus did my love unto me.
(That's pretty much the version I remember.)
--
-David West d...@iti.org
"Animals, which move, have limbs and muscles; the earth has no limbs
and muscles, hence it does not move." -Scipio Chiaramonti, Professor
of Philosophy and Mathematics at the University of Pisa; 1633.
Arlyn B. Newcomb
> [...]
> >I leaned my back against a reed,
> >I thought it was a sturdy oak,
> >But first it bowed, and then it bent,
> >And so did my false love to me. "
>
> If you'd prefer it to rhyme, you could use:
>
> I leaned my back against an oak
> Thinking it was a trusty tree,
> But first it bent and then it broke,
> And thus did my love unto me.
The version I remember from a Peter, Paul, and Mary album has
the final verse "And so my love proved false to me."
It continues:
The water is wide; I cannot get o'er.
Neither have I the wings to fly.
Give me a boat that can carry two,
And boat shall row my love and I.
There. (For whatever it's worth...)
--
__
*********|==|****************************************************
______| |______ Have courage for the great sorrows of life,
| *---@.---* | and patience for the small ones; and when
Jimmy Dalin
>Baron) writes:
>> I am trying to track down some quotes and song fragments that appear in an
>> unpublished play by a deceased author.
>
>> [. . .]
>
>> And the bird... is on the wing...
>
>This is in the song "Get Together," which may or may not be what you're
>looking for. I don't remember who wrote it, but the Indigo Girls sing it
>on their album _Strange Fire_.
>
Youngbloods, and was written by Chet Powers, who called himself Dino Valente
(although I possibly am getting this backwards; it might have been
Dino Valente who called himself Chet Powers).
--
Jim Dalin "No Salga Afuera"
AT&T N.Y.C.T.A.
ATTMail id: !jdalin
Compuserve: 72260,1573
Taed Nelson
----------
"The Water is Wide"
[Made up of every version I could find]
Compiled by rec.music.folk and Taed Nelson (nel...@berlioz.nsc.com).
Alternate versions of lines are indented...
The water is wide, I cannot cross o'er
The water is wide, I cannot cross
And neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row, my love and I
Oh, love is gentle, love is kind
Now, love is tender, and love is kind
Now, love is handsome, and love is fine
The sweetest flower when first 'tis new
Bright as a jewel when first it's new
And love's a jewel when first it's new
And love is sweet when first it's new
But love grows old and waxes cold
But when it's old, love waxes cold
And fades away like morning dew
Down in the meadow the other day
I picked some flowers all wet with dew,
I picked some flowers all bright and gay
I picked some flowers all red and blue.
I little thought what love might do.
I reached out to a rosy bush,
I put my hand into a bush,
I put my hand in one soft bush,
Thinking the fairest flower to find.
Thinking the sweetest flower to find
I pricked my finger on a thorn,
And left the sweet rosebud behind.
And left the sweetest flower behind.
I leaned my back against an oak
I leaned by back against a reed
Thinking it was a trusty tree
Thinking it was a mighty tree
But first it bent and then it broke
And so did my false love to me
And thus did my love prove false to me
And thus did my love unto me
There is a ship and she sails the sea
There was a ship that sailed the seas
She's loaded deep as deep can be
Sunk as deep as deep can be
She's loaded deep with jewels rare
But not as deep as the love I'm in
I know not how I sink or swim
I know not whether I'll sink or swim
-8 Doug Landauer 8-
> Neither have I the wings to fly.
> Give me a boat that can carry two,
I always find myself (subconsciously?) wanting to make
the last line rhyme with the penultimate one, so instead of
> And both shall row, my love and I.
I end up singing
> And both shall row, my love and you.
Gives a whole different meaning to the verse ... :-)
--
Doug Landauer -- land...@eng.sun.com
SMI[STE]->SunPro::Languages.PE(C++);
2frj...@kuhub.cc.ukans.edu
> I posted this once before, but...
>
> ----------
waly waly, and while I was sitting here and thinking, I was looking through the
newsgroups around here, and sitting here and thinking, I thought, I bet I could
ask on rec.music.folk, but since the answer was posted, I don't have to.
Thanks.
Iskandar Taib
June Tabor's Waly Waly is an entirely different song.
Any comments?
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Iskandar Taib | The only thing worse than Peach ala
Internet: NT...@SILVER.UCS.INDIANA.EDU | Frog is Frog ala Peach
Bitnet: NTAIB@IUBACS !
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Neile Graham
Yes, it is an entirely different song. I think, though, that it
is the song that Kathryn Baron is looking for because it contains
three of the quotations she is looking for:
"for love grow old and waxes cold"
"Ah love is bonny awhile when it is no [new]"
"O waily waily"
June Tabor calls it "Waly Waly," but says one of its sources is
"Jamie Douglas" in Child.
--Neile Graham
ne...@u.washington.edu
David H. West
>
>Any comments?
From the notes on The Water Is Wide in Stephen Sedley's _The Seeds
of Love_ (London, 1967: Essex Music):
The versions from which the present text is drawn (several 18th-
century chapbooks and broadsides; Sharp; Ashton; Baring-Gould;
Sam Henry) all spill out into - or borrow from? - the other songs
in the group; _Johnny Johnny_; _Ripest Apples_; _Must I be Bound_;
_Waly Waly_; _Love Is Pleasing_; _I Wish I Wish_, etc. Many of the
stanzas in these songs are homeless [...]
Gary Varner
graciously sent me a copy of the chord pattern to the song as he plays
it (or at least the introductory version thereof).
Although Chris' version was helpful and deeply appreciated, I'd
appreciate receiving by email or posting any other versions guitarists
have figured out.
I really love the song but am all but incapable of transcribing music
myself. So I am humbly yours,
_____________________________________________________________________
| | |____ Gary Varner "A good wife is a comfort, |
| ___| | Philosophy a good dagger a blessing, |
| \ * | Texas A&M a good mount a necessity." |
| \/\ / e34...@tamuts.tamu.edu - Bedouin saying |
|_____\ /___________________________________________________________|
\(
Desiree Sy
>>My life is in the yellow leaf.. the flowers and fruits are gone.
>
>This sounds Shakespearean to me. Desiree? Dani?
I think it's from MACBETH, but I'm not quite certain. Will check
this evening.
-desiree
(d...@psych.toronto.edu) <-- use this, not 'r' to reply
David Casseres
>
> In article <1992Jan18....@rice.edu> aek...@spotted.owlnet.rice.edu (Amy Elizabeth Ksir) writes:
> >In article <1992Jan18.0...@ica.ivy.isc.com>, ka...@arte.isc.com (Kathryn
> >Baron) writes:
> >> I am trying to track down some quotes and song fragments that appear in an
> >> unpublished play by a deceased author.
> >
> >> [. . .]
> >
> >> And the bird... is on the wing...
> >
> >This is in the song "Get Together," which may or may not be what you're
> >looking for. I don't remember who wrote it, but the Indigo Girls sing it
> >on their album _Strange Fire_.
> >
> "Get Together" was recorded by - among others - Jesse Colin Young and the
> Youngbloods, and was written by Chet Powers, who called himself Dino Valente
> (although I possibly am getting this backwards; it might have been
> Dino Valente who called himself Chet Powers).
The actual title, at least on the Youngbloods' album, is "Dino's Song."
David Casseres