LL-L "Songs" 2002.11.23 (06) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

======================================================================
 L O W L A N D S - L * 23.NOV.2002 (06) * ISSN 189-5582 * LCSN 96-4226
 Web Site: <http://www.lowlands-l.net>  Email: admin at lowlands-l.net
 Rules & Guidelines: <http://www.lowlands-l.net/rules.htm>
 Posting Address: <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>
 Server Manual: <http://www.lsoft.com/manuals/1.8c/userindex.html>
 Archive: <http://listserv.linguistlist.org/archives/lowlands-l.html>
=======================================================================
 You have received this because you have been subscribed upon request.
 To unsubscribe, please send the command "signoff lowlands-l" as message
 text from the same account to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or
 sign off at <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
=======================================================================
 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
 L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic
               V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
=======================================================================

From: Sandy Fleming [sandy at scotstext.org]
Subject: "Song"

Lowlanders,

I sometimes sing the following song:

After you've gone,
   And left me cryin',
After you've gone,
   There's no denyin',
      You'll feel blue,
      You'll feel sad,
      You'll miss the bestest (g/p)al you've ever had.
There'll come a time,
   Now don't forget it,
There'll come a time,
   When you'll regret it,
Oh babe! Think what you're doin',
You know my love for you will drive me to ruin,
After you've gone,
   After you've gone away.

Recently a singer commented that this was exactly the way
she sings it, except for my lines:

Oh babe! Think what you're doin',
You know my love for you will drive me to ruin,...

which she sings as:

Someday, when you grow lonely,
Your heart will ache like mine and you'll want me only,...

She said she'd also heard the lines sung:

Someday, blue and downhearted,
We're gonna find ourselves right back where we started,...

I'm not sure how these variants arise: is it people forgetting
lines and supplying their own? Or is it people who reckon they
can improve on the original?

Anyway, all this reminds me of an article I read many years ago
in a Glasgow University publication called "The Scottish Slavonic
Review". In this article the authors were comparing aspects of
Czech and Scottish culture and in talking about variation in
Czech folk song, spoke of research into Scottish folksong where
the researchers had enumerated 17 (or something like that)
methods by which a certain young country girl was found to alter
her songs while in the very act of singing.

This intrigued me greatly, but unfortunately the author didn't
give a single description or example of any methods of ringing
the changes in a song "on the fly". I wonder if anyone here has
come across this sort of thing and might, at long and last,
enlighten me?

Sandy
http://scotstext.org/

==================================END===================================
* Please submit postings to <lowlands-l at listserv.linguistlist.org>.
* Postings will be displayed unedited in digest form.
* Please display only the relevant parts of quotes in your replies.
* Commands for automated functions (including "signoff lowlands-l") are
  to be sent to <listserv at listserv.linguistlist.org> or at
  <http://linguistlist.org/subscribing/sub-lowlands-l.html>.
=======================================================================