Patsy Cline

Patsy Cline

happy Labor Day

me: hehe i will do the history of silly folk songs in my freetime! ^_^ to relax!

also me: reading old boring newspapers for 3 hours just to see if one guy mentions one song one time a year before the folk song is dated as being published.

all of the best current folksong research is being done by disabled queers on tumblr

Can you do "Hares on the mountain" by Shirley Collins and Davy Graham? Cheers!!

Suggested Song

(do you want the history of your favorite folk song? dm me or submit an ask, and I'll do a full rundown like here)

"Hares on the Mountain" Shirley Collins and Davy Graham, 1964

"Hares on the Mountain" is a traditional English and Irish folk song that was first mentioned in print in 1837 in "Rory O'More A National Lovestory" (vol. 1 p.234) as "blackbirds and thrishes"

It's almost certain that the song has existed prior, and it could be incredibly old.

the first time it was collected in song was by George Petrie in "The Complete Collection of Irish Music" (1902)

as "All the young maidens were blackbirds and Trushes" like the other book.

i remade this melody so you can hear what it could have sounded like

It was then later collected by Cecil sharp in 1903 and Publish 1904 in "Folk Songs of Somerset" as having two distinct versions

i remade these into melodies as well

version 1

version 2

here

Around the same time, Cecil Sharp would also collect the song, "O Sally My Dear" but wouldn't publish it because of the sexual nature of this song and its relatives, "Pretty Polly" "Nancy and Johnny" and "The Knife in the Window"

This specific family of songs could also be the descendants of an even older folk song that has almost disappeared. except for verses in its descendants. : "The Twa Magicians," which is all over Europe in various forms.

For "Hares on the mountain" The earliest recording I could find of Hares on the Mountain was in 1942 in Somerset, but i don't have access to it. i just know it exists.

The earliest recording I could find that is available publicly is by Horton Barker from just a couple of months later (in the USA), "To My Right", which is the same song as the original "Hares on the Mountain"

Shirley Collins' Version is particularly interesting for combining the lyrics of both "Hares on the mountain" and "Sally My Dear" and making it into a cohesive story. I also love how it seems that Sally is singing "Hares on the Mountain" *to* the young man.

Even though this song is old and has hundreds of versions with dozens of different names, this version is my favorite. It seems that in many versions, the lyrics are meant to be humorous or scandalous, but in Shirley Collins's version, they take on a different tone. They're sad, spooky, and tragic. I like the way that she renders the conversation between the two characters, and her voice is simply angelic. I'm glad that the traditional started to get more attention thanks to her version.

I actually didn't know anything about this song (or that it existed at all) when starting this project as my knowledge is focused on American folk, but as soon as I heard it I knew it was now one of my favorite songs ever. Also! as of last year, Shirley Collins has released another version of the song. Nothing can beat the '60s version, but this one is pretty nice too.

people's songs newsletter 1947-8

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