LL-L: "Songs" LOWLANDS-L, 26.JAN.2000 (10) [Ap/E]

Wed Jan 26 21:33:58 UTC 2000

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 L O W L A N D S - L * 26.JAN.2000 (10) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
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From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at fleimin.demon.co.uk]
Subject: LL-L: "Songs"

> From: Richard L Turner [fr.andreas at juno.com]
> Subject: LL-L: "Songs" LOWLANDS-L, 25.JAN.2000 (01) [E/S]
>
> O, eah, we sang it awraat. But Aa don't reckon at hit's Appalachian in
> hit's arjin. Aa heerd at ol Froggy was Sir Francis Drake.

Interesting! I was rather thinking the Scots version was the original, but
if it's really about Sir Francis Drake it may well have been a West Country
(Wessex) song that spread from Plymouth to the Americas and from which the
Scottish version was developed, too.

Lina Eckenstein's "Comparative Studies in Nursery Rhymes" (1906) quotes a
few lines from various English versions, the oldest known version starting:

It was a frog in the well,
Humble dum, humble dum,
And the mouse in the mill,
Tweedle, tweedle twino.

Eckenstein says "humble dum" occurs in other songs and seems to indicate
triumph (the "tweedling" represents the sound of pipes, as you might
expect). She gives various other versions with assorted nonsense phrases
(you might want to see if you can make anything of them: "Crackledom hee,
crackledom ho", "Cocki mi chari chi", "Twiddle come, tweedle dee", "Heigho,
says Rowley", "Heigho, says Anthyony Rowley", "Heigho, crowdie", "with a
howdie crowdie"), but nearest to the Scots version is:

There was a frog lived in a well,
Kitty alone, kitty alone,
There was a frog lived in a well,
There was a frog lived in a well,
Kitty alone and I!
And a farce mouse in a mill,
Cock me cary, kitty alone,
Kitty alone and I.

Eckenstein says that "the origin and meaning of this burden remains
obscure", which I find interesting because in the Scots all the "nonsense"
phrases have perfectly clear meanings, even if not in context:

There dwalt a puddy in a well,
Cuddy alane, cuddy alane,
There dwalt a puddy in a well,
Cuddy alane an I!
There dwalt a puddy in a well,
An a moosie in a mill,
Kickmaleerie, cowdin doun,
Cuddy alane an I.

cuddy - a donkey, or a derogatory term for a horse
alane - alone
kickmaleerie - any flimsy, insignificant thing
cowdin doun - to "cowd" in Scots means "to float or rock gently on the
waves", so for example "cowdin doun the burn" is floating gently downstream
with a rocking motion.

I'd suggest that the English version is older, the terms having become
obscure, and the Scots have replaced the obscure terms with real Scots words
they'r familiar with (cock me cary -> kickmaleerie, kitty -> cuddy). Does
this make sense?

I really enjoyed singing Margaret's version - it's like an unbowdlerised
version of what I learned in school, but the tune I learned repeats three
times as in the Scots version, before finishing off. There must be a few
intermediates floating around.

Some comments:

> 'Without ma Uncle Rat's consent,'
> Uh-huh! Mmm-hmmm!
> 'Without ma Uncle Rat's consent,
> A would not maary the Prezident!'
> Uh-huh! Mmm-hmmm!

I suppose it's no surprise that the obviously American verse comes as an
insertion between two verses that are consecutive in the Scots version -
this is the oral tradition at work, so much more creative than our modern
written-down "canonical" ideas!

> First to araav wuz Bumble Bee
> Uh-huh! Mmm-hmmm!
> First to araav wuz Bumble Bee,
> A-playin hiz fiddle 'pon his knee!
> Uh-huh! Mmm-hmmm!

Now this gets me wanting to translate some of those verses into the Scots
version!

> They's at ever' party, mus' luv t' daynse!

This brings up something I've always wondered when trying to sing
Appalachian songs - sometimes it's nearly impossible to get my tongue round
some of the lines! Am I pronouncing syllables I ought to be dropping, and
consonent clusters that should be simplified? Lines I find particularly
difficult in "Skip to my Lou" for example, are:

Can't get a redbird, a bluebird'll do,
Can't get a redbird, a bluebird'll do,
Can't get a redbird, a bluebird'll do,
Skip to my lou, my darlin.

and "Cripple Creek" is just murder on the tongue:

Going down Cripple Creek, going at a run,
Going down Cripple Creek, to have a little fun!
Going down Cripple Creek, going in a whirl,
Going down Cripple Creek, to see my girl!

How is it physically possible to sing this at the necessary speed?!

> An if'n they hain't stoppt, they's a-runnin still!

This really reminds me of "The Jack Tales" - a lot of Appalachian stories
seem to end with something like, "and (as far as I know/if he ain't
stopped), he's a-(runnin/laughin/choppin wood) yet!"

> [spoken] Nosir, there won't!
> [I feel a bit uncomfortable about this last line because it seems to
> hark to ideas about the undesirability of mixed marriages, but
> that's how I heard it]
>
Or hark forward to ideas about the undesirability of genetic engineering!
Maybe our descendents will be horrified to think that their ancestors once
so narrow-minded as disapprove of allowing cows to be crossed with tomatoes!
What would that give you, "comatose"? Or just hamburgers that wouldn't need
ketchup?  :)

Sandy
http://scotstext.org
http://www.fleimin.demon.co.uk

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