Million Dollar Highway

This week Sue regales us another tale of the West:

The Million Dollar Highway is a real place and it runs quite close to Angel Ridge in the Colorado mountains. The name is a declaration of desire both simple and direct: a road to the heart of the American dream. While this geographical certainty anchors the song firmly in the Americana tradition, its ideas are intended to be universal . 

Everyone has to travel the Million Dollar Highway, one way or another, like it or not. I started to think about what money means to me both before and after the crash: the fall that feels like a loss of innocence. I let the images gurgle away in my subconscious for a while and found that what came out drew heavily on bible stories, other songs in the bluegrass and gospel canon and mythologies of the wild wild west. I do not intend for this song to pass judgement but instead be an invitation to contemplate the complexities of our current situation in which most of us are complicit. To this end I took out all but the skeleton of a narrative, leaving images and characters to speak for themselves.  


Sue

It was a dead-eye day

When we all had to pay

The Devil’s costs

For getting us lost

On The Million Dollar Highway

And who did I see on that road with me

Burning up the dust

Going hell for bust

Like you can when you’re free?

Chorus

Hard times come to the Million Dollar Highway

You can lose your way on The Million Dollar Highway

Don’t ya sell your soul down The Million Dollar Highway.

He had fire in his eyes

And a belly full of lies

‘Don’t ya know who I am?’

‘I am The Lamb,

I am The Man in disguise.

Won’t ya catch a ride

Honey, come on climb inside

With your preacherman

Then we both can

Pass by on the other side'

Chorus

With his hand on the wheel

Of his automobile

He said ‘I am the light

And I know I’m right

You gotta have a heart of steel.’

And Preacher said he knew

Just what we had to do

He said ‘I think I’m gonna buy

Me a needle with an eye

I can drive on thru..

Instrumental ( chorus and half of verse)

I see angel bands

Holding out their hands

On the side of the road,

We never even slowed,

Rolling through The Badlands

Chorus

There’s the bankers and the conmen

The gamblers and the gunmen

The sad eyed soldiers

The paper folders

The mystics and the showmen

The slighted and the blind

The sorrowful of mind

All the working girls

With their stockings and their pearls

Rolling up behind

Chorus

Instrumental

Searching for Lambs

A warm welcome indeed to the merry month of May, to start this month here's a lovely little song that Cecil Sharp collected in a couple of villages in Somerset and described thus "Taking words and tune together, I consider this to be a very perfect example of a folk song". The 5/4 time signature (with a bar of 3/4 thrown in for good measure) and modal melody roll beautifully with the light hearted nature of the words.

I have heard this track done a few times and feel that the lad could be misread as being very forward with the young lady but to me there is an inference that he is on good terms already and perhaps the Spring air wins her over that sunny morning.

This recording was taken in Sam's kitchen, Bath during my gig there on Friday 4th May.

Tim

As I went out one May morning,
One May morning betime,
I met a maid, from home had stray'd
Just as the sun did shine.

What makes you rise so soon, my dear,
Your journey to pursue?
Your pretty little feet they tread so sweet,
Strike off the morning dew.

I'm going to feed my father's flock,
His young and tender lambs
That over hill and over dales
Lie waiting for their dams.

O stay! O stay! you handsome maid,
And rest a moment here,
For there is none but you alone,
That I do love so dear.

How gloriously the sun doth shine,
How pleasant is the air,
I'd rather rest on my true love's breast
Than any other where.

For I am thine and thou art mine;
No man shall uncomfort thee;
We'll join our hands in wedded bands
And married we will be.

Young Men Are False

 
This week we have a lovely song to finish the fourth month of the year sung by Beth Cutter:

"I felt as though this song was written from the perspective of a young girl, out walking one morning who hears the birds singing and instead of finding it romantic, as one might expect, hears a denouncement of men. The second verse reveals why; because she has had her heart stolen by one of the false young men she sings of in the chorus. In the final verse she reveals her determination not to be won over by other suitor. What is not clear is if she will not be seduced because she is now too cynical or if it is because she is still hopeful that her young man might still 'prove true' to her. I feel it's quite an ambiguous song - Tim has an entirely different interpretation that includes a narrator. I hope my interpretation doesn't fall too far from the mark though!

There are many versions of the song but this particular one I heard on Pilgrims' Way's album Wayside Courtesies"

Beth

It was on one April morning, just as the sun was rising,
It was one April morning, I heard the small birds sing.
They were singing Lovely Nancy,
For love it is a fancy,
And sweet were the notes that I heard the small birds sing.


ch: Young men are false, young men they are deceitful;
Young men are false and seldom can prove true.
With their rambling and their ranging
And their minds they're always changing
And they're always looking out for some other girl new.

O if I had but my own heart in keeping,
O if I had my own heart back again:
Safe in my bosom
I would lock it up forever
And it would wander never so far from me again.

ch:

Why do you spend all your long time in courting?
Why do you spend all your long time in vain?
For I don't intend to marry,
I'd rather longer tarry.
So young men don't you spend all your long time in vain.

ch:

Diamond Joe

Another cracking song from Ali George, a great driving rhythm and an attack on greed and wealth:

Diamond Joe is a cowboy song that was collected by Cisco Houston. Bob Dylan recorded it on his 1992 album GOOD AS I BEEN TO YOU, Which is where I originally heard it. There are several songs of the same name from the American folk tradition. Some of them come from the same thread as this one, and some have nothing to do with it.

The song tells the story of a greedy ranch owner who mistreats his workers, cheats and lies. The narrator (one of Diamond Joe’s unhappy workers) tells of the unfair treatment he has received from his boss over the years. In the last few lines of the song he declares with venom:

“When I’m called up yonder, and it’s my time to go,
Give my blankets to my buddies, give the fleas to Diamond Joe.”

Ali

There is a man you'll hear about
Most every place you go,
And his holdings are in Texas
And his name is Diamond Joe.

And he carries all his money
In his diamond-studded jaw.
And he never was much bothered
By the process of the law.

Well, I hired to Diamond Joe, boys,
I did offer him my hand,
And he gave me a string of horses
So old they could not stand.

Well I liked to die of hunger
'Cause he did mistreat me so,
And I never earned one dollar
In the pay of Diamond Joe.

Well his bread it was corn dodger
And his meat I could not chaw,
And he drove me near distracted
With that waggin' of his jaw.

While he tellin' of his story,
And I mean to let you know,
That there never was a rounder
That lied like Diamond Joe.

Well, I tried three times to quit him,
Boys, but he did argue so
That I still am punchin' cattle
In the pay of Diamond Joe.

And when I'm called to heaven
Last thing before I go,
Give my blankets to my buddies
And give the fleas to Diamond Joe.

Saucy Sailor

A little gold and silver can go a long way it appears, when it comes to overlooking a
certain ragged, dirty and smelly appearance. However, jolly Jack (or possibly Henry)
is not taken in by the country girl's expression of adoration after she learns what he's
got in his pocketses, and he then promptly displays an approach to true love which is
equally mercenary. I rather like this cynical example of gender equality.

As the lady in the lounge of the Star seems to have spotted towards the end of verse
two, I learned this version from Steeleye Span, and it is probably drawn from the
older 'The Saucy Sailor Boy'.

An 1887 edition of "(50) SAILORS SONGS OR 'CHANTIES'" (Frederick J.
Davis RNR) lists The Saucy Sailor Boy as a "Song for Pumping the Ship Out", and
according to Stan Hugill (known as the "Last Working Shantyman") in all likelihood
the song originated on shore, sometime in the 18th century. In The Saucy Sailor Boy,
the protagonists are a sailor and a fisher girl, though other variants have the woman
engaged in a somewhat more 'earthy' occupation. A similar idea crops up in the well
known 'Wild Rover', where the sailor goes to an alehouse and pretends to have no
money, and the landlady refuses him credit, only to welcome him with open arms
once he reveals that he does indeed have a few readies to hand.

A Victorian collector, William Alexander Barrett, maintained that The Saucy Sailor
has been in print since at least 1781. He cited it as being highly popular with East
London factory girls.

Well. There you go.

(Thanks to Mudcatters everywhere for the academicky bits)


Rob

Come me own one, come me fair one,
Come now unto me
Could you fancy a poor sailor lad
Who has just come from sea?

You are ragged love, and you're dirty love
And your clothes smell much of tar
So be gone you saucy sailor lad
So be gone you Jack Tar

If I'm ragged love, and I'm dirty love
And me clothes smell much of tar
I have silver in me pockets love,
And gold in great store.

And when she heard him say so
On her bended knees she fell
"I will marry my dear henry,
For I love sailor lad so well."

Do you think that I am foolish love?
Do you think that I am mad?
For to wed with a poor country girl
Where no fortunes to be had

I will cross the briney ocean
I will whistle and sing
And since you have refused the offer love
Some other girl will wear the ring

I am frolicsome and I am easy,
Good tempered and free
And I don't give a single pin me boys
What the world thinks of me.

Pace Egging

Happy Easter! To celebrate this Sunday I decided to put together a version of a traditional English song which was used as a calling on song for the mumming plays of the season; these plays celebrate the cycle of life, death and rebirth with a variety of stock characters that took on different guises from year to year and occur at particular points in the year; Christmas, Easter and All Hallows.

Pace egging itself is a custom from the North East where eggs would be boiled in onion skins on Easter Sunday and then used for a variety of games or given to the local players as payment as well as money and food to pay for the play to begin.

Pace itself as a term is a corruption of the old English word "pasch" which means literally "Easter" so here is a literal Easter Egg song for you all, enjoy and have a lovely holiday!

Tim

Ch: Here's one, two, three jolly lads all in one mind
We have come a pace egging and we hope you'll prove kind
We hope you'll prove kind with your eggs and strong beer
For we'll come no more nigh you until the next year

And the first that comes in is Lord Nelson you'll see
With a bunch of blue ribbons tied round by his knee
And a star on his beast that like silver do shine
And I hope he remembers it's pace egging time

And the next that comes in, it is Lord Collingwood
He fought with Lord Nelson till he shed his blood
And he's come from the sea old England to view
And he's come a pace egging with all of his crew

The next that comes in is our Jolly Jack Tar
He sailed with Lord Nelson all through the last war
He's arrived from the sea, old England to view
And he's come a pace egging with our jovial crew

The next that comes in is old miser Brownbags
For fear of her money she wears her old rags
She's gold and she's silver all laid up in store
And she's come a pace egging in hopes to get more

And the last to come in is old Tosspot, you see
He's a valiant old man and in every degree
He's a valiant old man and he wears a pigtail
And all his delight is a drinking mulled ale

Come ladies and gentlemen, sit by the fire
Put your hands in your pockets and give us our desire
Put your hands in your pockets and treat us all right
If you give nought, we'll take nought, farewell and goodnight

England So Green

This week's song is sung by Anne Gregson and is part of a wider project that she'll tell you about below:

The song England so Green is part of a recently composed folk-inspired opera called Make Room for Mummers, which is based on the play performed by Widcombe Mummers from Bath. The opera will be performed by the Fiery Dragon Folk Opera Company. I'm leading the song here but in the opera it will be sung as a duet between Tim Graham (as St George) and Rosie Atkins (as the Princess).

Narrated in song by the legendary King Bladud, who founded the city of Bath and his fair Queen, Mrs Bladud, Make Room for Mummers tells the story of a brave knight called George and the beautiful Egyptian Princess who is hunted by a dreadful fiery Dragon, another brave but unfortunate knight called Bold Slasher, and a doctor who is so skilled that he can bring the dead back to life again.

The opera will be performed as a special event at Chippenham Folk Festival on either the 3rd or 4th of June and also at the Michael Tippett Centre of Bath Spa University on the 8th June. For more information see www.fierydragon.org.uk

Anne

Oh will you come along with me?
Far away across the sea
To a land that's always green
I'll take you to old England

England so green
England so green
The greenest land you've ever seen
England so green
England so green
I'll take you to old England

Oh good sir night if I may be correct
You stand so tall, so wonderfully (ahem) erect
And although strong and warlike you may seem
You are the answer to my marital scheme

England so green
England so green
The greenest land you've ever seen
England so green
England so green
Take me to old England

Where the grass is always green
And our lives will be a dream
I'll be King and you'll be queen
When we're in old England

England so green
England so green
The greenest land you've ever seen
England so green
England so green
When we're in old England

There's a lovely valley can be seen
From my castle can be seen
With a lake and rippling stream
Back in dear old land

England so green
England so green
The greenest land you've ever seen
England so green
England so green
Back in dear old England

So my darling take my hand
To this green and pleasant land
Where my castle's rather grand
You will love old England

England so green
England so green
The greenest land you've ever seen
England so green
England so green
You will love old England

England so green
England so green
The greenest land you've ever seen
England so green
England so green
You will love old England