Wexford Carol

History of the traditional Irish carol "Wexford Carol"

Taken from this website where the full description can be found at:  Your Irish Traditions

"Thought to have originated in Co. Wexford, hence its name, many traditions have arisen around the poem and song for example it was said that only men should sing it and this seems to have been the way for many years for example it has been sung by the likes of Tom Jones and the Mormon Tabernacle Choir although since regaining popularity in the 1990’s it has been sung by women like Alison Krauss and Julie Andrews.

Putting an exact date on the origin of this Carol is difficult as although it is also sung in Irish the words seem to be translated from the English version and it seems unlikely that an Irish worded Carol would originate from English speaking Co. Wexford.
The Wexford Carol is also known as the Enniscorthy Carol, this is due to Dr. William Henry Grattan Flood (1857 – 1928) who was the organist and music director at St. Aiden’s Cathedral, Enniscorthy, Co. Wexford.

He was said to have transcribed it from a local singer and had it published in the year of his death in 1928.
After publication it was quickly included in Carol collections all around the world, giving it, its popularity today.

The Wexford Carol has often been associated too with Bishop Luke Waddings of Ferns and his collection of Carols, The Kilmore Carols first published in 1684, long before Dr. Grattan Flood’s translation.

Bishop Waddings, whose family came from Ballycogley Castle Co. Wexford, was the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ferns from 1683 – 1692 and lived in Wexford town whilst he was a bishop, possibly where he first heard The Wexford Carol.

Whether it was published in 1648 or 1928 it is undoubtedly a beautiful Carol and today is still widely sung as part of a traditional Irish Christmas."

 

Beautiful version sung by Alison Krauss accompanied by Yoyo Ma

Wexford Carol

My dulcimer version video Janene Millen - Wexford Carol

My song sheet  Wexford Carol PDF SONG SHEET

My "version" of tablature is minimal and it helps if you are already familiar with the melody because I don't use musical notation.  The melody is documented with the chords hi-lighted in yellow...which is primarily all I play while singing.  I play fingerpicked melody for musical breaks.  I've split the song into PART A melody, and PART B melody to indicate what I am using for the brief breaks between verses.  I play the entire song, instrumental only...after the 3rd verse and to finish the song.

I am basically strumming or 3 finger plucking the chords with occasional linking notes while singing.  I try to not play the melody underneath the singing....PLUS, it's easier!

I like to make a "map" of the song (on the song sheets) when I'm singing it, to help me remember what I settled on, as a final version.  V1 = verse 1, V2 = verse 2, instrumental breaks etc.

 

 

 

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

According to Wikipedia:
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" is a song written in 1943 by Hugh Martin and Ralph Blane and introduced by Judy Garland in the 1944 MGM musical Meet Me in St. Louis. Frank Sinatra later recorded a version with modified lyrics. In 2007, ASCAP ranked it the third most performed Christmas song during the preceding five years that had been written.......

This is one of the first 5 songs or so, that I worked out a singing accompaniment for the dulcimer.
It has an instrumental break, a little intro, and I ended it with part of another (traditional) Christmas song.
I now think in terms of chords when working out a simple accompaniment, but at that time, I thought in terms of including melody notes (to keep me on key) with fillers, and tag endings to link phrases.  I was thinking of piano accompaniments of recorded versions of the song. My head just filled in the gaps between lyric phrasings.

It is played and sung in D-A-D tuning and doesn't require a 1+ fret.  It is being played on a mahogany, teardrop dulcimer which may account for a slightly "different" tone than what you're used to. Jack Larwa is the luthier and you can't see it in the video; it was custom made with a beautiful carved greyhound's head, and celtic knot sound holes. 


You can hear me play and sing the song on my YouTube Channel (Janene M).  You will hear dogs milling around, pet birds clucking.  Sorry for the quality.
YouTube Video "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

I also made a "teaching" video of the song, with the simple tablature (my version of tab) displayed line by line, and my demonstrating each line with and without singing.
YouTube Video (Teaching Version) "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

I have the song sheet uploaded as a PDF but doesn't stand well on its own.  I haven't modified it for public consumption.  I understand my own documentation for remembering the song as I arranged it.  It never occurred to me to share it as such, the 9 years ago I did it and am not interested in putting in the time to modify it to make it more understandable to others.   If you follow the "teaching video" it will make more sense.
PDF song sheet for "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

Bold Riley

My influences for learning this song were FIRST and foremost, hearing it sung and played by Aubrey Atwater on dulcimer, at the Dutchland Dulcimer workshop in Lancaster, PA, summer of 2018. It was a workshop on sea songs/shanties.  I loved the melody and when I went home, I discovered I had two other versions of the song on CDs.  I have Kate Rusby's version, and the Wailin' Jennys version.  I also like the full harmony version sung by The Teacups.  I also discovered the meaning behind some of the lyrics which is always so interesting. I know nothing about sea culture.

I've included a link to the Atwater-Donnelly CD which features this song.

The World is Old Tonight
Atwater-Donnelly Trio 2016   https://www.atwater-donnelly.com/shop.htm



"White stocking day" explained on BEFORE THE MAST Facebook Page

White-Stocking Day as mentioned in Bold Riley:

During the 19th Century in Liverpool, ladies of quality and fashion wore white cotton stockings. On White-Stocking Day, women were required to draw their 'allotment' which was the half pay of their sailor husband or son away at sea. These wives and mothers wore white stockings on that day, considering themselves 'ladies', if only for a day !

 

"bending" according to Darcy Lever: The Young Sea Officers Sheet Anchor: A Dictionary of Sea Terms  "Get bending lads, it's a hell-of-a-way"

bend.

A kind of Knot - as a Sheet Bend, &c. - or a Seizing - such as the Bends of the Cable.

To Bend.

To make fast - as to bend the Sails, the Cable, &c.

 

A very detailed account of the origins, many recordings etc. of Bold Riley can be seen at this website

https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/boldriley.html

Link to more lyrics http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/sea-shanty/Bold_Riley.htm

Link to MY Song Sheet PDF of Bold Riley https://docdro.id/Po7k0Ws
I indicate a C-G-C tuning which I have since lowered 1/2 step for my own voice.

The song goes HIGH in parts so after a lot of experimenting, I decided to attempt it with a LOW B-F#-B tuning, which my Simerman dulcimer can handle. This tuning was reached after first attempting it in D-A-D and continuing to tune it down a half step several times. My voice sounded too SHRILL in the higher keys, so I settled on the lower tuning. I have Baritone dulcimers as well, but just stuck with the same dulcimer which I like for fingerpicking, as it is a loud dulcimer, and my bare-fingered fingerpicking can be very faint.

Come All Ye Fair and Tender Ladies

There are so many versions of this song out there.  I found this version and deleted one of the verses because it was too difficult for me to phrase it while singing.  So if it won't be missed, I just drop a verse.  I usually try to keep the recordings short.  This one was fun to just strum the melody so I think I do it 3 times without deviating at all....unusual for me.  Getting the rhythm for the strum is difficult so you'd have to play around with it to get comfortable.  I've heard it done much slower than this, and also fingerpicked or might sound good with a banjammer or comparable dulcimer.

I listened to several versions to learn the song, by the following artists:
Amelia Hogan, Paul Siebel and Tony Markellis, Psaltrio (instrumental), Joan Baez, and Robin  Greenstein.  I think I liked Robin's version the best.

Here is a link to the version of the song I've posted on the DISCOVERING DULICIMERS and EVERYTHING DULCIMERS Facebook pages, as well as on my YouTube Channel

YouTube Video of Come All Ye Fair.....  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gu4gHfg9OsQ

Link to PDF of the song sheet (lyrics and chords) https://www.docdroid.net/kUHujsE/come-all-you-fair-and-tender.pdf

A discussion of the song on the MUDCAT website:
https://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=19342


According to Wikipedia:
"Come All You Fair and Tender Ladies" (a.k.a. "Tiny Sparrow" or "Little Sparrow") (Roud #451) is an American folk music ballad, originating from the Appalachian region.^[1] It has been recorded under either of its two title variations by numerous artists, including The Carter Family, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, Odetta, Peter, Paul and Mary, The Kingston Trio, Leon Bibb, Makem and Clancy, Emmylou Harris, Bob Dylan, Dave Van Ronk, The Rankin Family, The Country Gentlemen, Murray Head, Dolly Parton, and Gene Clark and Carla Olson.^[2][3][4][5] The title of the song varies from recording to recording, and prior to the 1960s the song was usually known as "Tiny Sparrow" or "Little Sparrow". Some versions substituted "Sparrow" with "Swallow", another species of bird.^[6] In more recent times, the song's title sometimes finds "Maidens" substituted for "Ladies", and "Come All Ye" or "Come All You" sometimes omitted.^[7]

In 2010, Marideth Sisco performed a portion of the song in the film Winter's Bone.^[8]

 

 

 

Paddy's Lamentation

Irish - Traditional
Believed to be written within 10 years of the end of the American Civil War

Beautiful study of this song gleaned from a discussion thread at Mudcat.org database >>>>

[19??:] This song I like very much on account of its honest expression. There are many ballads from this time dealing with emigration to America away from the hunger and deprivation of the famine that devastated Ireland in the 1840's. All of them extoll the praises of the 'Land of Liberty' where there was food and work for all and the 'tyrant landlords' did not exist. This is one of the few ballads that made its way back to Ireland telling a different story from the peace and prosperity which is talked about in other songs. The General Meagher referred to was General Thomas Francis Meagher otherwise known as 'Meagher of the sword' who led the 69th regiment in the American Civil War. The regiment so distinguished itself on the various battlefields that it earned the name of the 'Fighting 69th'. It was all but wiped out at the battle of Gettysburg, and its losses are commemorated by a Celtic cross on the actual battlefield.The title of the song is a corruption of an Irish phrase 'Bí i do thost' or 'be quiet' which in fact is translated in the first line of the song...By the hush me boys and that's to make no noise. (Frank Harte, notes 'Daybreak and a Candle-End')

• [1989:] Exile songs seem to me to have been wrung from the very souls of their creators; the yearning of the exile for his homeland being perhaps the very essence of the emotion of sadness. Happily for the emigrant, he may not only have left behind his native land, but also the hunger and persecution that forced him overseas.
  In By the Hush the unfortunate man sells up and leaves his farm in famine-torn Ireland for a new life in America, only to find on arrival that he has been drafted into the army of President Lincoln, to fight in the Civil War. In one of the battles that follows, he is severely wounded and thus the song's chorus carries a chilling warning to anyone contemplating emigration to America. The song ends with [a] powerfully simple line. (Notes Andy M. Stewart, 'By the Hush')
  [1995:] [A] stinging comment on emigration [that] reflected many Irish emigrants experiences in America when they arrived as the Civil War [1861-65] was in progress and were conscripted into the Army. (John O'Regan, Rock 'n' Reel 22, p 33)
• [2000:] According to The Sailor's Magazine, the monthly publication of the American Seamen's Friend Society, 32,217 Irish and 27,740 German immigrants were landed at Port New York in 1863. During the Civil War, at Castle Gardens, New York, recruiting agents would offer the new arrivals cash bounties to sign up for the Northern effort. In this song our generic "Paddy" complains that he was not given the opportunity to accept or reject the recruiter's offer but in fact was pressed in to "Lincoln's army". This "out of the frying pan and into the fire" circumstance left poor Paddy with the desire to return to his depressed homeland - dear old Erin. [Ian Robb] collected it from Edith Fowke's book 'Traditional Songs and Singers from Ontario' (Folklore Associates, Hatboro, PA, 1965). (Notes Forebitter, 'Voyages')
• [2000:] "Indian corn" was a type of Famine relief food shipped to Ireland from Amerikay which often caused more trouble than it seemed to be worth. People didn't know how it was to be cooked, and received no instructions with it. It was often served undercooked, which wreaked havoc on decimated human digestive systems already in severe crisis from malnourishment, disease, exposure, etc. So my guess is the line might be saying the singer thought it might have been a better plight to have stayed on in Ireland, even if it meant having to eat Indian corn to survive, than having been forced to "serve" in the American Civil War at gunpoint, just off the boat. (Janet Ryan, rec.music.folk, 28 Sep)

Probably rolled indian feed maize, 'hot' relative of sweetcorn - exactly the same as you will find today in animal feeds. It's dangerous stuff to use even with animals (sheep and goats mainly) because if you feed it neat, instead of with at least a 5:1 mixture of other foods, its overheats the digestive system - don't know exactly what this means or implies, but the result is a seriously swollen up animal. [...] It would need to be softened by overnight soaking rather like hard dried pulses, and cooked for a very long time. You probably need to soak it with lye, or vinegar, or something to help break it down. (David Kilpatrick, rec.music.folk, 28 Sep)

I've always interpreted [the reference to 'Indian buck'] as a nostalgia for Ireland, not for an American food. I think he's saying, in effect, "I'd count myself lucky to be back in Ireland even if I had to eat Indian buck." According to my beloved 10-volume "American Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia" of 1889, "buck" has been used in many, many, ways; one of them is a Cornish word for a fungus attacking stored corn (maize). "Indian" itself, as an adjective, was also used in many ways, one of them a shorthand reference to any food made with maize, which is, of course, an American vegetable. "Indian corn" was thus another name for maize, to distinguish it from the British "corn", which was wheat. So I've always thought of "Indian buck" as cornmeal mush, which was probably fed to General Meagher's "Irish Brigade", and "Indian buck" may have been a pretty local locution. (Sam Hinton, rec.music.folk, 2 Oct)

After the Civil War, veterans had difficulty in getting pensions. In fact, the special status of veterans in the U.S. dates to a movement which was started after the War by vets to get what they had been promised. In reading the song, I assume that By The Hush was written sometime within 10 years of the end of the War. (Dan Milner, www.mudcat.org, 13 Oct)  http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=4988

 Article and photographs of
Gettysburg Irish Brigade Monument

Paddy's Lamentation SONGSHEET PDF
lyrics I used in my video, along with chords.  C-G-C tuning (any 1-5-8 tuning will do depending on your voice)

 Paddy's Lamentation YouTube video

The Wind and Rain

a traditional song known as a 'murder ballad'

According to Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twa_Sisters
"The Two Sisters" is a Northumbrian murder ballad that recounts the tale of a girl drowned by her sister. It is first known to have appeared on a broadside in 1656 as "The Miller and the King's Daughter." At least 21 English variants exist under several names, including "Minnorie" or "Binnorie", "The Cruel Sister", "The Wind and Rain", "Dreadful Wind and Rain", "Two Sisters", "The Bonny Swans" and the "Bonnie Bows of London". The ballad was collected by Francis J. Child (Child 10) and is also listed in the Roud Folk Song Index.^[1]

Two sisters go down by a body of water, sometimes a river and sometimes the sea. The older one pushes the younger in and refuses to pull her out again; generally the lyrics explicitly state her intent to drown her younger sister. Her motive, when included in the lyrics, is sexual jealousy – in some variants, the sisters are being two-timed by a suitor; in others, the elder sister's affections are not encouraged by the young man. In a few versions, a third sister is mentioned, but plays no significant role in events. In most versions, the older sister is described as dark, while the younger sister is fair.

When the murdered girl's body floats ashore, someone makes a musical instrument out of it, generally a harp or a fiddle, with a frame of bone and the girl's "long yellow hair" (or "golden hair") for strings. The instrument then plays itself and sings about the murder. In some versions, this occurs after the musician has taken it to the family's household, so that the elder sister is publicly revealed (sometimes at her wedding to the murdered girl's suitor) as the murderess.

It should be noted that the variant titled The Two Sisters typically omits the haunted instrument entirely, ending instead with an unrelated person (often a miller) executed for robbing the murdered girl's corpse and the elder sister sometimes going unpunished, or sometimes boiled in lead.


YouTube Video of The Wind and the Rain, performed by Janene Millen
the Wind and Rain - video

PDF of the song sheet I've made for this song (lyrics and chords)
Wind and Rain SONG SHEET PDF
The first verse shows the fingerings for the chords.  To the right of the lyrics are the chord names for each line of lyric and the # of measures you play the chord (making it easier to learn the chord pattern before learning the lyrics).

There are MANY versions of this song by various names posted on YouTube and available through Spotify and Amazon Music.  A well known version was made by Jerry Garcia (of Grateful Dead)

You Belong To Me

This song is special to me because until 9-10 years ago, I was happy and felt challenged to just play tunes on the dulcimer.  I collected tablature and worked on quick fingerings for fiddle tunes and smooth melodic playing for celtic aires. Then I heard Kate Rusby sing this song, and I felt it vibrate in my chest. I had never heard her before and I fell in love instantly.  I wasn't content to just play a dulcimer tune from that day forward.  I wanted to participate in the song by singing it too.  I've never even approached her style of singing for this song, but I became fascinated with trying to work out an entire song...with an intro, and a little finish, and an instrumental break. Basically arranging a song for singing.  I had a never sung before except in the shower or in my car.

I enjoyed the challenge, although I felt very limited in my singing ability...I was forced to re-tune to find a comfortable key to sing in...later, through the addition of a 1+ fret, I learned to play in other keys while still remaining tuned in D-A-D...OR...by tuning down to C-G-C, and playing chords in the key of C with the fingerings I would use tuned to D-A-D, using my 1+ fret...I could also sing another step lower than the key of C without having to tune my dulcimer down so low, the strings might flap.  Did you follow that?  I purchased a 'G' Ginger dulcimer to give me more options...and pulled out my neglected Baritone dulcimer to see what options that would give me for singing.

For these last 9 years or so, 95% of my efforts have been put into finding songs with a story or melody I want to work out on the dulcimer to sing.  If I can't sing it (and there are many), I still want to play them.  It's just that when you sing multiple verses of the song, the song lasts longer.  I'm not real adept at repeating parts of a tune by playing them all over the fretboard for variety.  I need to work on that!  By singing a song, you can go through it 3 - 5 times with the different verses using just chord accompaniment, and then run through the song once as an instrumental.  Use some creativity on intro or tags between lines.  It's wonderfully challenging and rewarding.

Here is the song that inspired me to start singing with the dulcimer:
Kate Rusby - You Belong To Me

My song sheet of lyrics and chords I use to sing the song on the dulcimer.  This is NOT tablature for playing the melody.
You Belong to Me PDF song sheet

According to Wikipedia…

"You Belong to Me" is credited to Pee Wee King, Chilton Price and Redd Stewart.

Price, a songwriting librarian at WAVE Radio Louisville, had written the song in its virtual entirety as "Hurry Home to Me" envisioning the song as an American woman's plea to a sweetheart serving overseas in World War II. Afforded songwriting credit on the song mostly in exchange for their work in promoting it, King and Stewart did slightly adjust Price's composition musically and lyrically, shifting the focus from a wartime background "into a kind of universal song about separated lovers" and changing the title to "You Belong to Me".

…The first 1952 recording of the song was by Joni James

When I Was a Young Girl

traditional song

This very sad song can be found by numerous titles, most commonly "When I Was a Young Girl", "One Morning In May" (also a title for another well-known folk song), and "Bad Girl's Lament".
A "young girl" is looking back on her bad choices "I used to seek pleasure" and drink ale..."out of the ale house and into the jail house".  She has syphilis and the "salvating" or salivating she is experience is a side effect of the administering of mercury as a cure for the syphilis

taken from the website "FolkLyrics"

http://www.traditionalmusic.co.uk/folk-song-lyrics/One_Morning_in_May.htm

…In the Virginia variant sung here, and the Virgin Islands one which follows, a venereal disease is hinted at by use of the terms 'salivated'and 'salwation'.  Ointments of metalic mercury have been used in past times as a cure for syphilis, and one of the results of such curative attempts is an excessive flow of saliva on the part of the patient.  Funkand Wagnalls New Standard Dictionary gives as a definition for 'salivation': "An abnormally increased secretion and flow of saliva, especially when due to the effects of drugs, as mercury."

 I can't remember where I first heard this song.  I think I stumbled upon it on YouTube.  Probably a version by the Canadian folk/pop singer Feist. She has a very interesting treatment of this, apparently, old song.  All percussion...drums and bass.
When I Was a Young Girl, by Feist

I then found earlier versions of the song on YouTube.  Barbara Dane, does a very low, sultry version
When I Was a Young Girl, by Barbara Dane

Still another version, song by Nina Simone
When I Was a Young Girl, by Nina Simone

MY VIDEO
Here is a link to my version of the song, played on mountain dulcimer with the lyrics overlaid.
When I Was a Young Girl, by Janene Millen

SONG SHEET
My Song Sheet for the song, downloadable as a PDF.  This is NOT tablature, but rather the sheet I use of the lyrics, and chords to accompany the singing.
When I Was a Young Girl PDF Song Sheet

TUTORIAL VIDEOS
Here is a video of me demonstrating the basic chords and a progression of a strum that can use to play the song. This Tutorial is in FOUR PARTS

Part 1:  basic calypso strum  VIDEO TUTORIAL Part 1
Part 2:  calypso strum with slaps added  VIDEO TUTORIAL Part 2
Part 3:  calypso strum with hammer-ons added  VIDEO TUTORIAL Part 3
Part 4:  calypso strum with melody notes added  VIDEO TUTORIAL Part 4

SONG SHEET for VIDEO
Chord Melody Exercise for TUTORIAL VIDEO Part 4
CHORD MELODY Song Sheet