{"id":83,"date":"2006-01-01T02:37:17","date_gmt":"2006-01-01T07:37:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/s265039441.onlinehome.us\/philpaine\/?p=83"},"modified":"2018-08-23T21:18:57","modified_gmt":"2018-08-24T01:18:57","slug":"14606-%c2%a0%c2%a0-edmonstoune-duncan-%e2%80%93ed-lyrics-from-the-old-song-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=83","title":{"rendered":"14606. (Edmonstoune Duncan \u2013ed.) Lyrics from the Old Song Books"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Golden<\/a>

Gold\u00aden Slum\u00adbers<\/em> by Nara\u00adsura of Kashi<\/p><\/div>\n

This is an anthol\u00adogy of song lyrics rang\u00ading from medieval times to the mid\u00addle of the nine\u00adteenth cen\u00adtury. It was pub\u00adlished by Rout\u00adledge in a stur\u00addy lit\u00adtle blue bind\u00ading in 1927. Some\u00adtimes you come upon a book which is a plea\u00adsure to read because of its con\u00adtents, and almost as much because the phys\u00adi\u00adcal feel\u00ading of the book itself gives plea\u00adsure. This one was a delight\u00adful find in at a Good\u00adwill store. Even the editor\u2019s name is charm\u00ading\u2026 I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever come across the name \u201cEdmon\u00adstoune\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first song is, of course, \u201cSumer is icu\u00admen in<\/em>\u201d, the old\u00adest Eng\u00adlish song for which we have a cer\u00adtain melody. This ver\u00adsion dates from about 1250, but the song must have been old even then, and it\u2019s earthy, pagan images make it feel like it echoed off the lin\u00adtels of Stonehenge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Groweth sed, and bloweth med<\/em>
\nAnd springeth the wude nu<\/em>
\nSing cuc\u00adcu! <\/em><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The bulk of the songs in the book are from the Tudor era. Lots of nightin\u00adgales and fa-la-las. Many are cred\u00adited to Eliz\u00ada\u00adbethan drama\u00adtists, includ\u00ading Shake\u00adspeare, who cer\u00adtainly liked a good pop song and stuffed many of them into his plays. Poets were still of this earth, and liv\u00ading among us, rather than pur\u00adsu\u00ading the abstruse goals they have for the last cen\u00adtury. They prop\u00aderly expect\u00aded their vers\u00ades to be bel\u00adlowed by drunks stag\u00adger\u00ading out of tav\u00aderns, stut\u00adtered by ner\u00advous teenagers try\u00ading to get laid, and sweet\u00adly sung by women hang\u00ading out the wash. But it\u2019s the anony\u00admous, straight-from-the-pubs-and-the-fields songs that have the strongest impact:<\/span><\/p>\n

One time I gave thee a paper of pins<\/em>
\nAnoth\u00ader time a tawdry lace<\/em>
\nAnd if thou wilt not grant me love<\/em>
\nIn truth I die before thy face.<\/em>
\nWhere\u00adfore, cease, make no delay<\/em>
\nAnd if you\u2019ll love me, love me now<\/em>
\nOr else I seek some oth\u00ader way<\/em>
\nFor I can\u00adnot come every day to woo. <\/em><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

In Eliz\u00ada\u00adbethan Eng\u00adland, love obsessed even the hum\u00adblest, and it struck like lightning:<\/span><\/p>\n

I did but see her pass\u00ading by<\/em>
\nAnd yet I love her till I die. <\/em><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The songs before the Eng\u00adlish Civ\u00adil War are almost all about love, in a back\u00adground of nature. Reli\u00adgion creeps in with the Puri\u00adtans, and War comes with it. Love songs nev\u00ader van\u00adish, but by the 18 th cen\u00adtury they com\u00adpete with polit\u00adi\u00adcal satire, patri\u00ado\u00adtism, war songs, and cyn\u00adi\u00adcal obser\u00adva\u00adtions on social climb\u00ading and greed. The Eliz\u00ada\u00adbethans were cer\u00adtainly no less vio\u00adlent than their suc\u00adces\u00adsors, but they appar\u00adently did not feel a need to sing about it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Domes\u00adtic love fig\u00adures as strong\u00adly as the pur\u00adsuit of poon\u00adtang. Some of the sweet\u00adest of the songs are lul\u00adla\u00adbies. Here is one cred\u00adited to Thomas Dekker, one of Shakespeare\u2019s com\u00adpeti\u00adtors \u2015 which you will almost cer\u00adtainly have heard with\u00adout know\u00ading it:<\/span><\/p>\n

Gold\u00aden slum\u00adbers, kiss your eye<\/em>
\nSmiles awake you when you rise<\/em>
\nSleep, pret\u00adty wan\u00adtons, do not cry <\/em>
\n\u2015 And I will sing a lullaby. <\/em><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

It is, of course, sung near the end of the Bea\u00adt\u00adles\u2019 Abbey Road. <\/em>. The Liv\u00ader\u00adpool Boys not only knew a good thing when they saw it, but they them\u00adselves were far more the legit\u00adi\u00admate heirs of Shakespeare\u2019s tongue than most prize-win\u00adning poets.<\/span><\/p>\n

I will no doubt be dip\u00adping into this book for years.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This is an anthol\u00adogy of song lyrics rang\u00ading from medieval times to the mid\u00addle of the nine\u00adteenth cen\u00adtury. It was pub\u00adlished by Rout\u00adledge in a stur\u00addy lit\u00adtle blue bind\u00ading in 1927. Some\u00adtimes you come upon a book which is a \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[946,18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-b-reading","category-bu-reading-2006"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=83"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9777,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83\/revisions\/9777"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}