Karispers Polska/Gärdebylaten/Walla Fjord trad. Scandinavian
Three happy tunes from northern lands: the first is popular in New England to
accompany the hambo, a Swedish dance; the second is a Swedish walking dance;
the third hails from the Shetland Islands.
An American Army of Two by Diane Taraz and Jim Gleason
During the War of 1812, as British ships blockaded the coast and raided
coastal communities, the teenaged daughters of a Scituate lighthouse keeper
saved their town through musical subterfuge. When they saw a barge of Redcoats
approaching, Abigail and Rebecca Bates hid with their fife and drum behind the
dunes and made such a racket that the Lobsterbacks mistook them for a Yankee
encampment. This song celebrates their courage and invokes the tune they played:
Yankee Doodle, whose ancient melody was known as "the air from who knows where."
Moran's Hornpipe/Raftery's Favorite/The Friendly Visit trad. Irish
We found the first two tunes in the last collection of Capt. Francis O'Neill,
titled Waifs and Strays of Gaelic Melody,
published in 1922. O'Neill collected
Moran's in Chicago and noted that it was a favorite around Listowel in County
Kerry; he learned Raftery's from the playing of Edward Cronin of Limerick
Junction in North Tipperary.
The Factory Girl's Come-All-Ye trad. New England
Like all good work songs, this one from the mills of Lewiston, Maine, includes
a great deal of complaining about the conditions and especially the boss's
incessant nagging. The girls who sang this in the early 1800s rose before
dawn to work a 14-hour day and sent most of their earnings home to the family
farm. Versions have traveled as far west as Texas and south to the Carolinas.
The Diamond trad. Scots
This song probably dates from the mid-19th century, inspired by the hardy Scots
who hunted the whale in the Davis Straits, between Greenland and Baffin Island.
One of the ships toasted, the Resolution, was crushed in the ice in 1834, a
common fate in these dangerous waters. The song dwells not on the hardships
but on the joy of a full hold, and the departing sailors promise their tearful
lasses that when they return they'll rip up the bedclothes in celebratory ardor.
Message in a Bottle by Nancy Koch
Nancy composed this waltz 20 years ago and decided it had a vaguely nautical
feel; hence the vaguely nautical title.
Katy Cruel trad. New England
Sung in the colonies before the Revolution, this song tells the troubles of the
once-popular Katy, who may have been a camp follower. It's one of the earliest
ballads that seems to have originated on this side of the Atlantic, though the
last verse appears in several English songs. Thanks to band alumna Betsey
Hartford for teaching it to us.
The Easy Winners by Scott Joplin, arranged by John Berger
This gem of melodious syncopation was the first of Joplin's works that he
published himself, in October 1901 (most of his compositions were published
by John Stark & Son). In this orchestra-style arrangement, the guitar and
dulcimer handle the left-hand piano part, and the flute and accordion generally
take the right.
The Children's Hour music by Diane Taraz, words by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
In Longfellow's beloved poem about his daughters ambushing him in his study,
he compares their flurry of kisses to the experience of the 10th-century Bishop
of Bingen, who, according to German legend, took refuge in a tower in the Rhine
river to escape a horde of mice sent by God to devour him in retribution for his
cruel misdeeds (an obscure reference even in Longfellow's day). The Cambridge
house still stands, with the study preserved as it was when Longfellow heard
"the patter of little feet."
Tous les Bourgeois de Chartres / Le Carillon de Dunkerque trad. French
In Longfellow's poem "Evangeline," about the exile of the
French from Canada, these tunes are played at the wedding feast.
Suzanna Martin trad. New England
Martin, 67 years old in 1692, was hanged as a witch on July 19th of that year.
Her main "crime" seems to have been standing up to her accusers and laughing at
the fits they threw in the courtroom. An exasperated Cotton Mather described
her as "one of the most impudent, scurrilous, wicked creatures of the World."
We found this version, sung by Patsy Margolin, on a recording titled I Long to
Hear You, produced by Peter Johnson, who encouraged many of us to develop our
talents.
Mulloy's Reel / The Drunken Tinker / The High Reel trad. Irish
The titles of these reels unfortunately fit the stereotype of the inebriated
Irishman, but they go together so nicely we can't resist. Mulloy's (Ríl Uí
Mhaolmhuaidh) is found in Breandán Breathnach's
Ceol Rince Na hÉireann (Cuid 1),
#138.
Tiree Love Song trad. Scots
We learned this lovely song from an Eileen McGann tape at the suggestion of
Alex Liazos of the El Tremedal Coffeehouse in Watertown, Mass., in honor of
the marriage of two friends who met at a Gloucester Hornpipe & Clog Society
concert. Matchmaking is just one of our sidelines.
This last song was inadvertently left off the listing on the
back of the CD cover. Consider it a "bonus track."