Isle of Wight Folk Archive

Dave and Anwyl

 

*NEW*

Mp3 Collection see 15 below

Link to Old Time Folk Music France

Contents List

1 Introduction

2 The original IOW songs by Dumbledore

3 Sea Songs of the IOW and Solent

4 IOW songs yet to fully record mp3s & words

5 Sheet Music

6 Notes and more songs

7 Orchestrated Songs (and IOW Folk Orchestra)

8 Music Mixture - Irish, Bluegrass and more (Good for Sessions)

9 "New" IOW folk songs

10 Singing Games by Alice Gillington and James Orchard Halliwell's work

11 Polly Oliver Isle of Wight Versions

12 The Isle of Wight Tune Book

13 Isle of Wight Dialect Recordings

14 Folk Music and the ABC Program.  Includes large IOW Sea Songs example

15 Mp3 Collection

16 Bumper Box 2021  Christmas Carols, the Smith Family Story, the Three Little Pigs

17 Update 1 and 2 Nov 2020

18 Sea Songs of the Isle of Wight   Electronic Book Version

 

Passed on to Fiddler's Green

Paul Marsh of Forest Tracks and Hampshire Voices passed away suddenly a few years ago.  Sadly his extensive website is now gone. In fact it is up for sale as a domain name! His sudden passing is a huge loss to Hampshire and the folk community. We do hope that all his extensive folk music researches are not lost.  He was a compatriot of Steve Roud who created the Roud Folk song index. It does make us think and although this archive is not in the same league as Paul's it would be a shame to be lost. Help from a fellow nerd would be much appreciated!

LINKS

This is an essential link for all things folk on the Isle of Wight.  It is Folk on Wight. The Island Folk History gives you many other essential links.

Here it is:

https://folkonwight.wordpress.com/

There is also a Face book page for all things going on at the moment.

1  Introduction

Welcome to Dave and Anwyl's IOW folk archive.  

Contact us via wholvac@yahoo.com   

This site seems to be getting ever bigger. More material is always welcome. "New IOW" folk songs most welcome.

The Isle of Wight folk archive is made up of the original part done over 40 years ago and various snippets of mp3s and the words we have collated from a mouldy box of bits and bobs found more recently. The Notes at the end give you more clues about these songs.  

Many thanks to Anwyl for all the typing and to so many people that have shown interest. We are amazed that folk music and dance is such a big thing again on the island since our days of booking guests at the Sloop Inn Folk Club. May it long continue. Enjoy singing these songs and playing IOW tunes!

 

2  Original IOW songs by Dumbledore

We did record some fully on cassettes back then. Here are the words and scores from the original.

IOW Songs Part 1

IOW Songs Part 2

IOW Songs - Glossary for Parts 1&2

IOW Songs - Notes on Parts 1&2

We transferred the actual songs to mp3 and put them all up on the cloud.  We have a Dropbox connection. Here they are:

IOW Songs Part 1

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/j82c3dtrqnupsbe/AACRaHbLjHWPP8LB52DySLeBa?dl=0

IOW Songs Part 2

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ c2cc2p3fnxd931p/AAC2nEzevWD_ WsFYCpE8UBr-a?dl=0

Here is a list of the completed ones in Part 1 and 2.

Part 1: Scrow Day, The Widow, Recruiting Sergeant, Summer, Newtown Randy, Man O War, Winter, My Maid, Shickshack Day, Shrove Song, Polly Oliver, Little Cappender.  Part 2: Sayings Song, Crossing the Bar, Spring, Wilderness Fox, Carter's Mate, Christmas Party, Autumn, Forsaken, Three Drunken Maidens, Home Harvest Evening, Jolly Waggoner, The Old Grey Hen, March of the Wight Men.

Clare lead singer, Dave guitar and vocal, Anwyl whistle, autoharp, and vocal. Martin recording.

Many more were not fully recorded at the time.  From a mouldy pile of words, music and recordings we will try and make the songs more accessible. We will put on rough versions of the songs and hopefully steadily improve them one day. I have put notes up for the songs. Do put them through your own folk/musical process! 

It would be great if they could have a new life, maybe out of the traditional folk mould! Folk rock, cafe sound, bluegrass feel ...  We have put up a condensed version of music we made for a Brass Band or Symphony orchestra.

 

3  Sea Songs of the IOW and Solent

The Dropbox Connection

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/skfdennyx4uhxpj/AAAr_pNtvmSZYAgRPVNnjf1Ja?dl=0

Notes on the CD

Isle of Wight and Solent Sea Songs

Words of the Sea Songs

Sea songs complete set of words

 

4  IOW songs yet to fully record mp3s & words

mp3s (Snippets)

Apple Tree Wassail

Brading Haven

Clowns Courtship

Crockery Ware

Damask Rose

Golden Gorse

Lumps of Pudden

Mary Maid of Wight

Old Man Clothed in Leather

Parson of Chale

Roger and Dolly

Shroven

Silver Bow

Song of Sixpence

Whistle Daughter Whistle

Words 

Apple Tree Wassail

Brading Haven

Clowns Courtship

Crockery Ware

Damask Rose

Golden Gorse

Lumps of Pudden

Mary Maid of Wight

Old Man Clothed in Leather

Parson of Chale

Roger and Dolly

Shroven

Silver Bow

Song of Sixpence

Whistle Daughter Whistle

 

5  Sheet Music

Actual Music for snippets and sea songs

 

6  Notes and more songs 

IOW Song notes to list above

Mixed Bag of Notes 1

Mixed Bag of Notes 2

IOW Country Dances Notes

IOW stories, tales, sayings, rhymes, jokes and other beasts

Midwinter on the Isle of Wight  

Folk ballads and other songs  

Extra Notes Stone Black Long

The 1839 Legends and more

Exploring Wines with Vernon Vine 

 

7 Orchestrated Songs and IOW Folk Orchestra

IOW music for Symphony Orchestra or Brass Band or ensemble. This is a very condensed version compiled by Martin who did the first recordings.  It contains a variety of tunes that tell a story / give a picture of the IOW.  The start for instance is your arrival on the island in a mist, it covers the island and a widow is waiting on the quay. The tunes are Scrow Day, The Widow, Recruiting Sergeant, Summer, Man O'War and the Reprise of Recruiting Sergeant and Man of War.  We intended to do a second and third part. Click Below

https://www.dropbox.com/s/vtxos1q41upr70n/IOW%201st%20Movement.mp3?dl=0

 

Isle of Wight Folk Orchestra and Choir

Folk Orchestra Notes 2

Folk Orchestra Tune Sets (Actual Music)

 

8 Music Mixture - Irish, Bluegrass and more (Good for Sessions)

The Isle of Wight has always had a mix of folk bands. Over the years we have played in most types, here is some of the music we used.

For Music Mix:  Click Music to find information on  Irish, Bluegrass, Old Time, Cajun, Jug Band and Breton / French Song. 

IOW Irish Song and Tune notes click music above to find session sets.

Celtic Plus tunes for extra session spice

Bluegrass and Old Time notes

 

9 "New" IOW folk songs

New IOW folk songs welcome here.  

Here are some words from the 1960s and 1970s

Sea Songs of the Isle of Wight

 

10 Singing Games  by Alice Gillington and James Orchard Halliwell's work

Old Isle of Wight Singing Games  Alice E Gillington  1909

https://imslp.org/wiki/Old_Isle_of_Wight_Singing_Games_(Gillington%2C_Alice_E.)

We noted this book over 40 years ago and disregarded it as it seemed that the songs were in other places. Her idea was to make some singing games more accessible to teachers and parents. Today we may think the songs more suitable for adults.  Recently research has taken place into the work of Alice Gillington.  Forest Tracks produced a major article but sadly this is no longer available as the person who ran this Hampshire site has now passed on. 

It now seems that she did visit the island and was based in Hampshire.  Also some other collectors found Singing Games on the island (from Miss E Smith).  

There are many versions of these singing games to be found throughout the UK.  There were major publications of this genre such as:

Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland  Alice Bertha Gomme   Vol 1 1894  Vol 2 1898

http://www.gutenberg.org/files/41727/41727-h/41727-h.htm

 Alice Gillington collected 22 IOW ones that she published in her book. She did produce a number of these books from other counties and some are repeats.  Here is the list.

The wind blows high

See this pretty girl of mine

The Dairy Ho!

Bingo

The Jolly Miller

Rosy apple, lemon or pear

Threadle the needle

Oats and beans and barley

Babes in the wood

A hunting we will go

When I was a lady

My man John

The grand old Duke of York

Hark, the robbers

English Soldiers

Yellow Gravel

London is the Capital

There stands a lady

Sally Waters

Down in the meadows

How many miles to Barbary land

Here comes the Duke from sunny Spain

The book contains the words, the music for voice and piano, the dance and some pictures. 

Here are the words and some extra notes. 

Isle of Wight Singing Games words and notes

More work needs to done to check if any are actual IOW versions. From Miss E Smith of Cowes in the 1880 /90s were collected the following and possibly more; Down in the Valley, Milky Pails, Jenny Jones (see notes).  Much work needs to done to make them more useful for singing today.  We will work on the music and chords. Some would make great IOW folk songs!

James Orchard Halliwell (Phillipps) 1820 - 1889

Halliwell is more well known for his Shakespearean work but he also produced two major works on nursery rhymes which he mainly collected from the oral tradition.  These are:

The Nursery Rhymes of England 1842 (first edition)

Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales 1849

Both of these books are available on the net. Some of the tales are connected with the IOW.

The Nursery Rhymes of England

Contains the first printed version of 'The Three Little Pigs'.  Set in Shanklin on the Isle of Wight.

Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales 

Dragon- Flies. Under the Nature Songs section.  Has a dialect and standard version.

The Wood Pigeon.  Under the Nature Songs section. An Isle of Wight legend about the pigeon's nest.

Wassel (Wassail) Under Customs and Rhymes / New Year's Day.

Isle of Wight Shrovers. Under the Customs and Rhymes section.  This tells about Shroven and also includes the Shroven songs.  His correspondent is Captain Henry Smith. Later Major Henry Smith who wrote the first dialect dictionary 'A Glossary of Words in use in The Isle of Wight'.  It also describes how doughnuts were peculiar to the Isle of Wight.

A Christmas mummer's play is included.  He obtained 6 versions possibly one from Smith on the Isle of Wight.

His work was followed after by Alice Gomme and Joseph Jacobs books.

There may be more Isle of Wight connections hidden amongst the vast number of rhymes.

 

11 Polly Oliver Isle of Wight versions

Here is an investigation into a particular IOW song.  The tune is already within the Dumbledore collection.  Here are the notes and versions.