Peter
Registered: 07/27/08
Posts: 2,419
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Reply with quote | #1 |
This is the title of an ancient song (click to download MP3, it is not a You Tube link as I more often provide). The title is more usually singular, and the more usual lyrics make it swiftly plain what the song is about. Not these ones, which I prefer for their teasing subtlety:
Oh where are you going said the knight on the road
Well I'm going to my school said the boy as he stood
And he stood and he stood and full well he stood
Well I'm going to my school said the boy as he stood
Well what's that if you please said the knight on the road
Oh it's just my bread and cheese said the boy as he stood
And he stood and he stood and full well he stood
Well it's just my bread and cheese said the boy as he stood
Well won't you give me some said the knight on the road
Not one single crumb said the boy as he stood
And he stood and he stood and full well he stood
No not one single crumb said the boy as he stood
Well I wish you were in the sand said the knight on the road
With a good staff in my hand said the boy as he stood
And he stood and he stood and full well he stood
With a good staff in my hand said the boy as he stood
And I wish you were in the sea said the knight on the road
With a good boat under me said the boy as he stood
And he stood and he stood and full well he stood
With a good boat under me said the boy as he stood
And the water in shall pour said the knight on the road
Just a foot off from the shore said the boy as he stood
And he stood and he stood and full well he stood
Just a foot off from the shore said the boy as he stood
Oh methinks I hear a bell said the knight on the road
Aye it's ringing you to Hell said the boy as he stood
And he stood and he stood and full well he stood
Aye it's ringing you to Hell said the boy as he stood
Subtle, I hear you ask? What words could seem simpler than these, indeed. Yet it's all in the last verse, which reveals that the knight is no knight but the Devil, and the seemingly innocent questions of the first two verses lead to a game of spell and counter-spell, the prize being the child's soul. That last verse is an especially tricksy sally, a casual answer that was not a spell would mean doom. But the boy is up to the task, cleverly countering and sending the Devil shrieking back to Hell instead of being dragged down there himself.
I heard it first last night, love it and thought I would share, and that the religious/magical aspects made here appropriate. The artist is the great Richard Thompson, matchless guitarist and no one's idea of a great singer. Yet he knows his voice's limits, selects appropriate material and sings within those limits, in my opinion very well. The performance is live and not officially released and the song of course traditional, so I wouldn't think there would be any copyright issues. I hope some will enjoy it.
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BaronVonServers
Registered: 07/22/06
Posts: 8,792
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Reply with quote | #2 |
One has.
And I think I know of at least one other who will.
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Peter
Registered: 07/27/08
Posts: 2,419
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Reply with quote | #3 |
I'm glad, Baron. One more person than I expected having listened to it, later on I will upload Willie O' The Winsbury, which has a King in it! A King of Scotland who most certainly never existed, though the song is reckoned to be based on an alleged adventure of James V in his youth (though already King, as happened also to Jameses I, II, III and IV he succeeded as a child; of their respective predecessors Robert III died naturally but James I was murdered, James II died in war and James III was murdered, while James V's own father James IV died in battle -- it was not a comfortable crown to wear).
Anyway, the young James is supposed to have gone (true) in disguise (false) to the French court to woo the princess who eventually would be his bride (and tragically died not long after arrival in Scotland), and in a roundabout way the song's tale derives from this. You'll see, I hope. In the meantime, here's a You Tube link to a performance of False knight on the road, if you can watch it you'll see what I mean about the lyric being different and less ambiguous, and effective.
PS Alas I can't at present upload Willie O' The Winsbury. It plays fine on a normal player but the computer doesn't want to know, so I can't rip it to MP3, or WMA to be more precise. I'll have to try to get it again, which I will, I'm sure people here would like it a lot if they heard it.
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clark
Registered: 02/05/07
Posts: 755
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Reply with quote | #4 |
Thanks for putting up the youtube link. Not to be offensive, I just am a bit suspicious of downloading from strange sites.
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"For if Mary, as those declare who with sound mind extol her, had no other son but Jesus, and yet Jesus says to His mother, "Behold you have this son [John] also," then He virtually said to her "Lo, this is Jesus, who thou didst bear." Is it not the case that every one who is perfect lives himself no longer, but Christ lives in him; and if Christ lives in him, then it is said of him to Mary, "Behold they son Christ." " -Origen
http://laudochristum.blogspot.com/ |
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Peter
Registered: 07/27/08
Posts: 2,419
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Reply with quote | #5 |
Not at all, Clark. The site is Sendspace, used by millions worldwide to transfer files, free and supported by advertising, plus for heavy users there are advantages to paid membership. I've used it I don't know how many times without trouble. Of course, although it does automatically monitor for the electronic signature of copyrighted recordings and tells you off if you upload one, files uploaded are not otherwise checked, it would take an army. So someone could upload something dangerous, probably. I certainly haven't tried! So it's whether you trust me. Since you don't know me, I don't blame you if not.
The URL behind the link is http://www.sendspace.com/file/leb62h.
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BaronVonServers
Registered: 07/22/06
Posts: 8,792
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Reply with quote | #6 |
I 'trust' most every site the same.
I run linux (with SE in warn mode), AVG and a decent ( if home grown) firewall.
I still don't trust any of them.
I'm willing to take the risks, but I don't forget that the risks remain.
__________________
"In necessariis unitas, in dubiis libertas, in omnibus caritas"
I am NOT an authorized representative of my Government.
Learn more about the Dominion of British West Florida at http://dbwf.net |
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Peter
Registered: 07/27/08
Posts: 2,419
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Reply with quote | #7 |
I regard paranoia and brooding mistrust as essential tools of Internet survival, Baron, which is why I wasn't in the least put out by Clark's doubts. I've been scouting around You Tube for performances of Willie O' Winsbury (the title is seen both with and without the definite article, both usages occur in the song). There's a slew of them, unfortunately not including Thompson's justly celebrated version, and in fact none I tried were a patch on it. I settled on this, because it is tolerable, the words are clear and Scottish dialect pronunciation is preserved, which almost all other versions I heard didn't bother to do although half the lines then don't rhyme.
The singing is perfectly alright as I say, though not remotely as expressive as Thompson's, and the backing pales into insignificance in comparison. But it's not offensive and is a good enough account of the wonderful story-song. To give an idea of what the melody can be, here's Farewell, Farewell, Thompson's own frankly rather obscure but obviously very personal lyric set to the tune. So personal that at what was billed as a request show, where he would play any reasonable song asked for from the audience, this was the only one he declined to do. Instead he played Willie O' The Winsbury, on the grounds that the tune was the same, which it is, and he could bear to sing it. And that is the very performance I treasure.
The singer is the late, great Sandy Denny, Thompson playing guitar. If you put a gun to my head and asked me to choose between the two female vocalists most associated with Thompson, Denny and his former wife Linda, I'd say just shoot me.
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Peter
Registered: 07/27/08
Posts: 2,419
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Reply with quote | #8 |
I spoke today to a friend who is exceptionally knowledgeable about folk song. He says that False Knight On The Road was first collected in 1817, although it is obviously much older than that. Very rare, that original publication of it is the only British reference, though it has cropped up independently in Appalachian song.
Although it wasn't originally collected by Child it is included in his famous ballad collection, as part of a group of duel-with-the-devil songs. The lyrics Thompson sang and I gave are those originally published, the other is a 20th-century variant, inferior as he agreed because of its very lack of ambiguity, giving the game away in the second line. The title should be singular, which is a pity, I had grown rather attached to the s. I think that was all.
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Peter
Registered: 07/27/08
Posts: 2,419
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Reply with quote | #9 |
Here's a cheerful one, Bonnie St Johnstone. The link will take you to the Last FM site, who will kindly and I presume legally play you the entire song (look at the top right of the page). I won't post a WMA as the track is from a released album.
My friend whom I spoke to yesterday asked me what I thought of it. I said it sounded nice but I hadn't really listened. He could tell that, as it isn't nice at all. Harrowing in the nth degree. By way of apology for only belatedly paying attention:
Leaned her back against an oak, Edinburgh, O Edinburgh
Leaned her back against an oak, Stirling for ay
Leaned her back against an oak, first it bent and then it broke
And bonnie St Johnstone lies fair upon Tay
She's leaned her back against a thorn, Edinburgh, O Edinburgh
Leaned her back against a thorn, Stirling for ay
Leaned her back against a thorn, two bonniest babes that e’er were born
And bonnie St Johnstone lies fair upon Tay
She's pulled out a snow-white breast, Edinburgh, O Edinburgh
She's pulled out a snow-white breast, Stirling for ay
She's pulled out a snow-white breast, and bid them suck though it was the last
And bonnie St Johnstone lies fair upon Tay
And she's pulled out her little knife, Edinburgh, O Edinburgh
She's pulled out her little knife, Stirling for ay
She's pulled out her little knife, and pierced away their tender life
And bonnie St Johnstone lies fair upon Tay
She's washed her knife all in a brook, Edinburgh, O Edinburgh
Washed her knife all in a brook, Stirling for ay
Washed her knife all in a brook, the more she washed the redder it looked
And bonnie St Johnstone lies fair upon Tay
She looks over her father’s wall, Edinburgh, O Edinburgh
She looks over her father’s wall, Stirling for ay
She looks over her father’s wall, and sees two babes a-playing at ball
And bonnie St Johnstone lies fair upon Tay
O babes, if you were mine, Edinburgh, O Edinburgh
O babes, if you were mine, Stirling for ay
O babes, if you were mine I’d dress you in the silk so fine
And bonnie St Johnstone lies fair upon Tay
Mother, when we were thine, Edinburgh, O Edinburgh
Mother, when we were thine, Stirling for ay
Mother, when we were thine around our necks you pulled the twine
And bonnie St Johnstone lies fair upon Tay
Now we’re in the heaven so high, Edinburgh, O Edinburgh
Now we’re in the heaven so high, Stirling for ay
Now we’re in the heaven so high, and in hell fires you shall die
And bonnie St Johnstone lies fair upon Tay
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