FTX-241
- UNCLE TOM COBLEY AN' ALL
HARRY & BILL WESTAWAY
Recorded by Peter Kennedy at Belstone, near Okehampton, Devon in 1950 are two
Dartmoor brothers in their 80s. Bill, 82, and Harry, who thought he was 87 or
88, confirming Peter's belief that there must still be country singers in the
area covered by Baring Gould who might still have some memory of their family
singing traditions. It was in the 1880's the Westaway's father, also called
Harry, had provided collector Baring Gould with the words he published for the
well-known "Tom Pearce" Song. In fact it was very much because of locating
surviving traditional performers around the Sticklepath and South Zeal area
that brought about the decision by BBC to go ahead with Peter's West Country "Village Barn Dance" radio series in the 1950's. This in turn led to
the start of regular folk-music broadcasts.
1. WIDECOMBE FAIR (or TOM PEARCE) - 2'08"
2. BARBARA HELEN - 1'20"
3. DOWN BY THE OLD WATERMILL - 3'43"
4. THE BULLS WON'T BELLOW (chorus only) - 0'22"
5. JOHN LEE (known as BABBACOMBE LEE) - 1'07"
6. ALTHOUGH I'M SEVENTY TWO (or THE OLD TRUE BLUE) - alas part wiped
- 2'16"
7. THE WOUNDED OLD SOLDIER (or I'M GROWING OLD) - 2'37"
8. THE BALACLAVA CHARGE (or CARDIGAN THE FEARLESS) - 4'26"
9. WHERE DID YOU GET THAT HAT? - 1'36"
10. MOTHER'S OLD PETTICOAT - 0'10"
11. THE SCOLDING WIFE - 2'40"
12. THE MONTHS OF THE YEAR - (April-July only) - 1'32"
13. THE FOX WENT OUT - 4'50"
14. YOUNG HARRY THE TAILOR - 2'56"
Bill's brother, Harry:-
15. THE MONTHS OF THE YEAR - 3'43"
16. TOM PEARCE (or WIDECOMBE FAIR) - 1'41"
17. THE RUMOURS OF WAR - 3'27"
18. THE FOX WENT OUT - 3'30"
19. THE GAME OF CARDS - 2'42"
20. ADIEU TO OLD ENGLAND, ADIEU - 1'30"
21. Talk about Belstone Revels - 0'18"
22. THE BULLS WON'T BELLOW - 0'26"
22. EIGHTEENPENCE - 0'27"
Recorded & edited by Peter Kennedy. First published on Folktracks cassettes
1976.
#1 & 16. Few people realise that the Tom Pearce song is not confined
to Devon. Peter Kennedy has also recorded variants elsewhere in England including
Stow Fair (Gloucestershire) and in Sussex he came across LANSDOWN FAIR which
would seem to have originated from the annual fair held in Somerset in the area
above the city of Bath. A video of Bill singing his family version of "Widecombe
Fair" as well as "Where did you get that hat? (#9) are also available
from FOLKTRAX.
#4. Here are the words for this song:-
1. I used to be as happy as the little birds above - As lively as the lambs
at play
But now I'm broken-hearted for I've lost the girl I love - With a swell from
the town she's lately gone away
We worked upon one farm and my sport she would charm - When she would chant
a pretty little song
But every since the day that my false love went away - The farm and all upon
it has gone wrong
2. The hens have got the whooping cough and will not leave their coop - The
canary's got the moult and will not eat
The donkey's got bronchitis and the turkey's got the croup - And the geese
have all got chilblains on their feet
The ferrets and the weasels are all down with the measles - The wool is coming
off the sheep
The bull has got the tick and the cow her calf won't lick - And the horses
have the nightmare when they sleep
3. There's something wrong with everything since Jane has gone away - And I
am doing nothing else but fret
The cat with the back to the fire sits on the hearth all day - And the poor
old sheepdog's nose is never wet
The pigs won't curl their tails - the ducks won't eat the snails - The gander
won't come home to be fed
The poor old billy-goat has a big lump in his throat - And a hogshead full
of tears the sow has shed
#5 "The old lady named Keyes" was murdered and burnt in her home at
Babbacombe near Torquay in 1885. John Lee, "the man they couldn't hang",
though claiming innocence, was convicted of murder at Exeter Assizes on Feb
4th 1885. Three attempts at execution were made at Exeter Gaol but each time
the mechanism failed and, after 12 years, on the 18th of December 1907, he was
allowed to leave Portland Prison and to walk free to visit his aged mother at
Newton Abbot - DAVIES HC nd p3 Hants "A Terrible scene has been witnessed
at the scaffold" these were the words taken from a scrapbook with tune added
by the collector. However Fairport Convention's song was their own composition
based on the event itself rather than upon the traditional song.
#6. ROUD#4387 - WILLIAMS Ms from Sam Bennett, Ashton Keynes, Wiltsh "The Old
True Blue" --- WARNER TAFS 1984 #158 p359 --- Tink TILLETT: FTX-926 - George
McCALLUM rec by Edith Fowke, Grafton, Ontario, Canada 11962 FO-52.
#8. ROUD#1443 - HENRY SOP #829 - HENDERSON VSB 1937 p151 Bs (w/o) - DALLAS
CW 1972 p218 - PALMER RS 1977 p209 from Sam Henry & Bs - HOWSON SSIS 1992
p70 Roy Last, Mendlesham Green, Suffolk (w/o) "Battle of B" --- CREIGHTON MFS
1961 pp156-7 Dennis Williams, NS 1951 - Walter PARDON, Knapton, Norfolk: LEADER
LED-2111 1977 - Cyril DUNCAN, Australia: LARRIKIN 007 1976
#9. Composed by Joseph J Sullivan popularised by J C Heffron - SPAETH RE&W
1926 p154 - SAYDISC SDL-232 1972 (S) cassette: Musical box
#11. ROUD#2132 BS alt title "The Fire Shovel (MaddenColl) - JOYCE OIFM&S
1909 pp70-71 - JFSS 5 1916 p114 coll Duncan "The Scaudin' Wife" - KENNEDY FSBI
1975 #214 ppp470-1 Bill Westaway 1950 --- GARDNER & CHICKERING B&SSMich
1931 pp432-3 - RANDOLPH OzarkFS 3 1942 p122-3
#14. ROUD#1465 - BELL BSPE 1857 p235 Yorksh (w/o) - SHARP-KARPELES
CSC 1974 #312 2 pp346-7 Wm Stokes, Chew Stoke, Somerset 1909/ Wm Wooley, Bincombe,
Somerset 1907 - VAUGHAN WILLIAMS FSEC 1907 pp50-2 tune from Cambridgesh set
to words of "The Cobbler and the Tailor" - WILLIAMS #8 Harry Bennett, Cumnor,
Oxfordsh (w/o) - FMJ 1968 p256 - KENNEDY FSBI 1975 #131 p307 Harry & Bill
Westaway 1950 - Tune used for Morris Dance SWAGGERING BONEY and Song: JOE MUGGINS
(I DON'T CARE IF I DO) - Also known as "The Chapter of Donkeys" or "Gee- Whoa,
Dobbin"
