Come Lasses and Lads

Last updated
From Randolph Caldecott children's book Come Lasses and Lads, originally published in 1884 The lasses held the stakes - illustration by Randolph Caldecott - Project Gutenberg eText 18341.jpg
From Randolph Caldecott children's book Come Lasses and Lads, originally published in 1884

Come Lasses and Lads is a traditional 17th-century British song in 6/8 time signature with a "bright swing" mood, performed during festive dances around the Maypole. Folk words and music. There are many variants of the text, diverging in third-party details. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Text

One of the lyrics of the song:

Come, Lasses and Lads, take leave of your Dads, And away to the Maypole hie; For ev'ry fair has a sweetheart there, And the fiddler's standing by. Then Willie shall dance with Jane, And Johnny has got his Joan, And every maid shall trip it, trip it Trip it up and down. (Repeat last two lines)  Let's start, says Dick, Aye aye, says Nick And I prithee, fiddler, play Agreed, says Hugh, and so says Sue, For this is a holiday. Then every lad did doff His hat unto his lass, And every maid did curtsey, curtsey, Curtsey on the grass. (Repeat last two lines)  Begin, says Matt, Aye aye, says Nat We'll lead up Packington's Pound No, no, says Nolly, and so says Dolly We'll first have Sellenger's Round Then every man began To foot it round about And every girl did step it, step it Step it in and out. (Repeat last two lines)  You're out, says Dick, Not I, says Nick 'Twas the fiddler play'd it wrong 'Tis true, says Hugh, and so says Sue And so says every one The fiddler then began To play the tune again And every maid did jig it, jig it Jig it to the men. (Repeat last two lines)  Let's kiss, says Jan, Aye aye, says Nan And so says every she How many says Matt, Why three, says Nat For that is a maiden's fee The men, instead of three Did give them half a score And the maids in kindness, kindness, kindness Give 'em as many more. (Repeat last two lines)  Well there they did stay for the whole of the day And they tired the fiddler quite With dancing and play, without any pay From morning until night. They told the fiddler then That they'd pay him for his play And each a twopence, twopence, twopence Give him, and went away. (Repeat last two lines)  Good night, says Harry, Good night, says Mary Good night, says Dolly to John Good night,' says Sue to her sweetheart Hugh Good night, says everyone Some walked, and some did run Some loitered on the way And they bound themselves with kisses twelve To meet next holiday. (Repeat last two lines) 

Fiction

Captain Alexander Smollett in Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island (chapter XХ) whistles the tune of Come Lasses and Lads.

In Hall Caine's novel The Christian, it's Glory's favorite song.

Notable artists

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">May Day</span> Festival marking the first day of summer

May Day is a European festival of ancient origins marking the beginning of summer, usually celebrated on 1 May, around halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's Spring equinox and June solstice. Festivities may also be held the night before, known as May Eve. Traditions often include gathering wildflowers and green branches, weaving floral garlands, crowning a May Queen, and setting up a Maypole, May Tree or May Bush, around which people dance and sing. Bonfires are also a major part of the festival in some regions. Regional varieties and related traditions include Walpurgis Night in central and northern Europe, the Gaelic festival Beltane, the Welsh festival Calan Mai, and May devotions to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It has also been associated with the ancient Roman festival Floralia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maypole</span> Tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals

A maypole is a tall wooden pole erected as a part of various European folk festivals, around which a maypole dance often takes place.

A Shropshire Lad is a collection of sixty-three poems by the English poet Alfred Edward Housman, published in 1896. Selling slowly at first, it then rapidly grew in popularity, particularly among young readers. Composers began setting the poems to music less than ten years after their first appearance, and many parodists have satirised Housman's themes and poetic style.

<i>Barnaby Rudge</i> 1841 novel by Charles Dickens

Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of Eighty is a historical novel by English novelist Charles Dickens. Barnaby Rudge was one of two novels that Dickens published in his short-lived (1840–1841) weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock. Barnaby Rudge is largely set during the Gordon Riots of 1780.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Common riding</span> Common riding is a Scottish equestrian tradition

A common riding is an equestrian tradition mainly in the Scottish Borders in Scotland. Male and female riders ride out of the town and along its borders to commemorate the practice from 13th and 15th centuries where there were frequent raids on the Anglo-Scottish border known as the Border Reivers and also to commemorate the Scottish defeat at the Battle of Flodden. Today, the common ridings, rideouts, or riding of the marches continue to be annual events celebrated in the summer in the Borders of Scotland. Each town may have many rideouts over their festival week, usually having one on festival day. Some towns re-enact historic 'common ridings' – although many others have well-established 'festival rides' that are cemented within their town's history. The common riding towns are: Berwick-upon-Tweed, Hawick, Selkirk, Langholm, Lockerbie, Jedburgh, Coldstream, Penicuik, West Linton, Lanark, Lauder, Edinburgh, Melrose, Musselburgh, Galashiels, Duns, Sanquhar, and Peebles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Irish fiddle</span> Music style

The fiddle is one of the most important instruments in the traditional repertoire of Irish traditional music. The fiddle itself is identical to the violin, however it is played differently in widely varying regional styles. In the era of sound recording some regional styles have been transmitted more widely while others have become more uncommon.

"Over the Hills and Far Away" is a traditional British song, dating back to at least the late 17th century. Two versions were published in the fifth volume of Thomas D'Urfey's Wit and Mirth, or Pills to Purge Melancholy; a version that is similar to the second Wit and Mirth one appears in George Farquhar's 1706 play The Recruiting Officer. A further version appears in John Gay's The Beggar's Opera of 1728.

The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie is a Scottish folk song about a thwarted romance between a soldier and a woman. Like many folk songs, the authorship is unattributed, there is no strict version of the lyrics, and it is often referred to by its opening line "There once was a troop o' Irish dragoons". The song is also known by a variety of other names, the most common of them being "Peggy-O", "Fennario", and "The Maid of Fife".

<i>The Girls Wont Leave the Boys Alone</i> 2001 studio album by Cherish the Ladies

The Girls Won't Leave the Boys Alone is an album by Cherish the Ladies released in 2001 on the Windham Hill label. The title reverses the lyrics "the boys won't leave the girls alone" from the Irish song "Belle of Belfast City/I'll Tell Me Ma", popularized in the album Irish Heartbeat by Van Morrison and The Chieftains. The Boys Won't Leave the Girls Alone is also the title of a 1962 album by The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dervish (band)</span> Trad band from Sligo, Ireland

Dervish is an Irish traditional music group from County Sligo, Ireland which has been described by BBC Radio 3 as "an icon of Irish music". They were formed in 1989 by Liam Kelly, Shane Mitchell, Martin McGinley, Brian McDonagh, and Michael Holmes and have been fronted by singer Cathy Jordan since 1991. They represented Ireland in the final of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, singing a song written by John Waters and Tommy Moran. In 2019 they released an album on the US Rounder Records label called The Great Irish Song Book featuring a selection of classic Irish songs sung by a number of well known singers including Steve Earle, Andrea Corr, Vince Gill, Kate Rusby, Imelda May, Rhiannon Giddens, The Steel Drivers, Brendan Gleeson, Abigail Washburn, and Jamey Johnson. In 2019 they received a lifetime achievement award from the BBC.

<i>China Seas</i> (film) 1935 film by Tay Garnett

China Seas is a 1935 American adventure film starring Clark Gable as a brave sea captain, Jean Harlow as his brassy paramour, and Wallace Beery as a suspect character. The oceangoing epic also features Rosalind Russell, Lewis Stone, Akim Tamiroff, and Hattie McDaniel, while humorist Robert Benchley portrays a character reeling drunk from one end of the film to the other.

"Joke Over" is the thirteenth episode of the fifth and final series of the period drama Upstairs, Downstairs. It first aired on 30 November 1975 on ITV.

These are the films directed by the pioneering American filmmaker D. W. Griffith (1875–1948). According to IMDb, he directed 518 films between 1908 and 1931.

<i>A Lady of Chance</i> 1928 film

A Lady of Chance is a 1928 synchronized sound film directed by Robert Z. Leonard. While the film has no audible dialog, it was released with a synchronized musical score with singing and sound effects using both the sound-on-disc and sound-on-film process. The film is based upon the story "Little Angel" by Leroy Scott and is Norma Shearer's last silent film. Although the film was released with added dialogue scenes, Shearer had no lines. The film's copyright was renewed, so it did not enter the public domain until January 1, 2024.

<i>Worzel Gummidge</i> (TV series) British childrens TV series (1979–1981)

Worzel Gummidge is a British children's television series, produced by Southern Television for ITV, and based on the Worzel Gummidge books by English author Barbara Euphan Todd. The programme starred Jon Pertwee as the titular scarecrow and Una Stubbs as Aunt Sally. It ran for four series in the UK from 1979 to 1981. On a countdown of the greatest British children's programmes, this series was number 50 in the 50 Greatest Kids TV Shows on Channel 5 on 8 November 2013. Channel 4 reprised the show in 1987 as Worzel Gummidge Down Under, which was set in New Zealand.

<i>The Pigmans Legacy</i> 1980 novel by Paul Zindel

The Pigman's Legacy is a young adult novel written by Paul Zindel, first published in 1980. The book is a sequel to The Pigman following the lives of John and Lorraine shortly after The Pigman's death at the end of the first story and how they quickly make up for it.

<i>Between the Jigs and the Reels: A Retrospective</i> 2016 compilation album by Planxty

Between the Jigs and the Reels: A Retrospective is a two-disc anthology by the Irish folk band Planxty. It includes a 17-track CD and a 36-track DVD with over two hours of previously unreleased footage (1972–1982) from RTÉ archives.

The Lark in the Morning is an English folk song. It was moderately popular with traditional singers in England, less so in Scotland, Ireland and the United States. It starts as a hymn to the ploughboy's life, and often goes on to recount a sexual encounter between a ploughboy and a maiden resulting in pregnancy.

<i>Handsome Nell</i> Poem by Robert Burns

Handsome Nell was the first song written by Robert Burns, often treated as a poem, that was first published in the last volume of James Johnson's Scots Musical Museum in 1803 (No.551) with an untitled tune. Burns recorded in holograph on page three of his first Commonplace Book that he wrote the song or Rhyme at the age of only fifteen whilst living at Mount Oliphant Farm, it is regarded as his earliest production, inspired by a farm servant aged fourteen, named either Nelly Kilpatrick or Nelly Blair. Some confusion exists as he also gave his age as 16 in his autobiographical letter to Dr. Moore; the autumn of 1774 is generally accepted.

References

  1. "New Page 1". Archived from the original on 2021-05-09. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
  2. https://www.kodomo.go.jp/gallery/asstage/07_lasses/index_e.html Come Lasses and Lads By Randolf Caldecott. With a preface by Austin Dobson. Engraved and Printed by Edmund Evans. The Complete Collection of Pictures & Songs, 500 pages, 37,4×28.6cm, pp. 397—422. London: George Routledge and Sons, Limited, 1887 (1884).
  3. Come Lasses and Lads" Sheet Music for Piano/Vocal/Chords - Sheet Music Now [ permanent dead link ]