Words to bawdy songs?
Kent Reuber
the Renaissance such as catches and works like "Watkin's Ale". (Apparently,
Watkins was a brothel-keeper and the title doesn't refer to any sort of
drink.)
--
Kent Reuber
Computational Specialist
Brandeis University Biology Dept.
reu...@hydra.rose.brandeis.edu
Art Kaufmann
>I was wondering where I could get the words to some of the bawdy songs from
>the Renaissance such as catches and works like "Watkin's Ale". (Apparently,
>Watkins was a brothel-keeper and the title doesn't refer to any sort of
>drink.)
>>--
collections of bawdy songs; unfortunately their scholarship is spotty and you
may need to do some research to validate that the songs are "period."
If anyone out there can cite some references, I'd appreciate it too.
---
Art Kaufmann |
a...@ElSegundoCA.NCR.COM |
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"... and should anyone actually read this drivel, any knowlege of your actions
will be denied by AT&T and NCR Corporation"
Robert Altizer
"The Catch Book" published by Oxford University Press contains over 150
catches (similar to rounds), many of which are bawdy enough when sung
through, and downright lewd when sung in parts with proper juxtaposition.
There's the one about the fair young lass whose whole estate is large,
you can kiss her if you come but near -- in performance it's several
times through:
V1: her whole her whole her whole
V2: you can kiss you can kiss you can kiss
and such like. Lots of drinking, smoking, belching, farting too, if you
don't like sexual themes. I got my copy by calling Music Mart in Albuquerque;
they have an 800 number.
I'm also interested in other bawdy song sources, preferably four part, for my
madrigal group Canterbury Transfer to sing at the Arizona Renaissance Festival
and various other gigs.
Regards,
Bob
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beth diane garfinkel
>I was wondering where I could get the words to some of the bawdy songs from
>the Renaissance such as catches and works like "Watkin's Ale". (Apparently,
>Watkins was a brothel-keeper and the title doesn't refer to any sort of
>drink.)
So that's where it comes from! I once put someone in an awkward position
by asking her if she knew the words to that, and she said, "No, but I've
drank it." It turned out she was referring to WATNEY'S ale. I've found
those lyrics elusive.
Probably the best place is recordings of those songs--after some 15
years of searching for them, I finally found the lyrics to "Watkin's Ale"
included in the cd of the same name by the Baltimore Consort, of all places.
There are some other equally choice lyrics with their other cd, "The Art
of the Bawdy Song," which also lists its sources.
Some of the more innocuous ones are in William Chappell's "Popular
Ballads of Olden Times" or whatever the title is, although he tended
to be a bit squeamish about some of the more outspoken ones. The book
is probably out of print, but most reasonably complete music libraries
would have it, and I'm sure you have access to at least one of those :)
There are many more catches than just the ones on the cd above, and
they continued to be reprinted and new ones composed of similar
character throughout the 18th century and possibly into the 19th as
well. Again, try the Brandeis music library first, and look for either
20th-century (probably 1960's or after) editions or facsimile reprints.
Use "catches" for a keyword search.
Otherwise, you run the danger of encountering such deceptions as a
lovely 19th-century collection called "The Rounds, Catches, and
Canons of England", edited by a J. Metcalfe, with words either
quietly bowdlerized ("If all be true that I do think/There are five
reasons why we should NOT drink") or replaced altogether (I forget what
the new words to the one with the title listed in parentheses as "P-- on
you!" were, but they might have been the ones about why Milton refused
to teach his daughters to understand Latin--"One tongue was enough for a
woman, he said") which I found in the Van Pelt Library at the University
of Pennsylvania, both an original copy and a modern reprint by Da Capo
Press. It's quite a funny book to read through if you are already
familiar with the originals.
Beth
p.s. Has anyone out there seen the Latin words to "My Lady and her
Maid"? I think they're in "The Aldrich Book of Catches", but we don't
have a copy of that here at IU, alas.
--
"Under the green wood tree/Who loves to lie with me/And tune his merry
note/Unto the sweet bird's throat/Come hither, come hither, come hither/
Here he shall see/No enemy/But winter and rough weather."
--William Shakespeare
Jennifer Geard
> "The Catch Book" published by Oxford University Press contains over 150
> catches (similar to rounds), many of which are bawdy enough when sung
> through, and downright lewd when sung in parts with proper juxtaposition.
One of the favourites around here is a three verse catch about the beloved
Mariana, who is Roger's daughter, and who lives ("does she?") in yon cottage.
V1: Mariana! Mariana!
V2: Roger's Roger's
V3: Does she? Does she?
Another source for bawdy songs is the recording "When Dalliance Was in
Flower, and Maidens Lost Their Heads" (spelling uncertain: urban folklore has
it that this was the first recording on the Virgin Records label). It's not
the best-researched collection, but it's a start.
Hmmm... you might also have a look in a library for Cecil Sharpe's
collection of folksongs. Most of them are of uncertain age, but there are
some cute ones:
"For I'm young and merry and almost weary of my virginitee."
________________________________________________________________________
Jennifer Geard blood...@sloth.equinox.gen.nz
Christchurch, New Zealand
Robyn McNamara
Only last month I acquired a CD entitled "The Art of the Bawdy Song", by the
Baltimore Consort and The Merry Companions. It's on the Dorian label,
DOR-90155, and includes all the lyrics in the liner notes as well as
references to sources.
The CD cost A$29 in Allen's music shop, Collins St., Melbourne.
Anyone who has scores, however fragmentary, or lyrics for bawdy songs and is
willing to send me copies, send me some mail. My renaissance choir practice
sessions need spicing up!
--
Robyn A. McNamara The Cosmic Froggy
fro...@zikzak.apana.org.au
"...take these sunken eyes and learn to see..."
James Langdell
that includes lyrics as nasty as you could ask them to be
for songs early and late.
--James Langdell jam...@eng.sun.com
Sun Microsystems Mountain View, Calif.
Ken Koester
>I was wondering where I could get the words to some of the bawdy songs from
>the Renaissance such as catches and works like "Watkin's Ale". (Apparently,
>Watkins was a brothel-keeper and the title doesn't refer to any sort of
>drink.)
lyrics. I'd type them in, but it's a bit long (-:
Robert M. Burns
most of the catches therein are not of the Renaissance but later from
the time of Purcell and therefore somewhat Baroque. Especially the
bawdy ones.
Brent Chivers
beth diane garfinkel <bgar...@silver.ucs.indiana.edu> wrote:
>
> p.s. Has anyone out there seen the Latin words to "My Lady and
> her Maid"? I think they're in "The Aldrich Book of Catches",
> but we don't have a copy of that here at IU, alas.
Lascive manus dabant Ancilla et Heroina
Et flatu ventris decertabant quae palmae sit Regina
Joan lychnes tres accendit, et erectos collocabat
Et uno nisu tres extinxit et alio revocabat.
Su^ a tot^ a cum virili Matrona tunc accedebat
Et lumen in fumum et fumum in lumen et contra convertebat.
My Lady and her maid, upon a merry pin,
they made a match at farting, who should the wager win;
Joan lights three candles then, and sets them bolt upright;
with the first fart she blew them out, with the next she gave them light.
In comes my Lady then, with all her might and main,
she blew them out and in and out and in and out again.
--
______________________________________________________________________
Brent Chivers McLean, VA bchi...@mitre.org
Allan Janus
Melancholy" has wonderful bawdy songs. There's a selection available on
Saydisc, with the same title. Also on Saydisc is a recording by the Citie
Waites with ballads & such... Does anyone remember the album title?
Conrad Leviston
There are lyrics to bawdy songs on the ftp site ftp.nau.edu under
sca\ioseph. Please note that these will have to be unzipped. I haven't
actually looked at them myself, so I can't vouch for their content.
--
Conrad Leviston | Got to find a brightness in the soul,
mongoose@yoyo. | Not look outside to find out where we are,
cc.monash.edu.au | Otherwise you won't be satisfied,
Save the gherkin | 'Til you've made possession of the stars. (K.Wallinger)
David Adams
The same CD is available through BMG for $15.98. (# is 100657) You can always
get it on sale there too.
---
--David C. Adams Statistician Cray Research Inc. dad...@cray.com
Kilo Golf Zero India Oscar -(KG0IO)-
Beth Lee
collection I have been told about called _Wit and Mirth: Pills to Purge
Melancholy_, by one Thomas D'Urfey (I think that's how his name is
spelled). It was printed in 1719. I don't know whether there is a modern
edition, but anyone interested in this book can probably find it in some
form or other in one's local university music library.
Cheers!
Beth
bl...@sas.upenn.edu