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Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs Related threads: ADD: The Love Token / Down by the Seaside (23) (origins) Origins: What comprised a broken token in ballads (13) Lyr Req: Parodies of broken token songs (44) Lyr Req: Pocketful of Broken Tokens (24) broken token sailor maid walkikng (2) |
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Subject: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: GUEST,CallowLilly Date: 15 Mar 03 - 02:47 AM Hi, I'm trying to research broken token songs and songs of similar composition for a term paper I'm writing. Can anyone suggest some songs or give me any information on where to look? Songs in both English and in Gaelic would be helpful. Also, I'm interested in the significance of the common links in the songs. Why do they all take place in May? What is the significance of being away for seven years? Any help at all would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much! Melissa |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: Joe Offer Date: 15 Mar 03 - 03:50 AM Hi, Melissa - try a Digital Tradition Keyword Search for "token." That will give you some, and you'll notice that some have crosslinks to threads and other songs. You can also try a Digitrad and Forum Search for broken token, or for broken or token alone. (click here to search for "broken token"). You may also want to search for broken or token at the Traditional Ballad Index. That should give you a good start. -Joe Offer- Search for "token" threadsAs for the significance of May, perhaps it's the only month Britain and Ireland have with decent enough weather for people to feel amorous... Maybe not... |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: nutty Date: 15 Mar 03 - 04:09 AM Hi Callowlily ...... 'May' is significant in the UK because of the Pagan festival (May Day) connected with courtship and procreation that is still celebrated today. 'SEVEN YEARS' was often the minimum lenght of time that a young man as conscripted (whether voluntarily or pressed) into the army or navy. PS ... I'm not sure that all these things took place in May or if that month provided the songwriter with a convenient rhyme. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: ooh-aah Date: 15 Mar 03 - 05:17 AM Songs I can think of with broken tokens include 'All in the Dead of the Night', 'The Poor and Young Single Sailor', one version of 'William Taylor', as well as 'The Broken Token' itself. There are many songs with a similar theme but without the actual token, such as the famous 'Banks of Claudy', High Germany', 'I Would That the Wars Were all Over', and 'Young Emma'(also known as Edward in the Lowlands'). Good luck! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: ooh-aah Date: 15 Mar 03 - 05:29 AM Forgot to mention that seven years was also the traditional period of time for an apprenticeship, after which the young man would be free to set up business for himself - perhaps back at home where he left his truelove. 'The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington' makes this clear. Another point to make with a lot of these songs is that often she doesn't recognise him because he is so well dressed, having had 'made it' and then come back to impress her (which is why in 'The Poor and Young Single Sailor', for example, she says she is 'not fit to be (his) servant'. A final point is that where the young man is not recognised he often gives her a test to see if she is faithful to him, pretending that he is a friend of the dead lover and checking her reaction. As Eliza Carthy pointed out, his continency during the 7 years isn't usually enquired into! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: Strupag Date: 15 Mar 03 - 06:04 AM Dark Eyed Sailor on Al O'Donal's 2nd Album is a cracker |
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Subject: ADD: The Maid of Melrose Town (Les Barker) From: Dead Horse Date: 15 Mar 03 - 07:06 AM My own personal favourite, which encapsulates the theme perfectly. THE MAID OF MELROSE TOWN (by Sir Les Barker)(What! Not knighted yet?) There is a maid in Melrose town, and she must grieve full sore For her bold and handsome Willie, says that he must go to war. He has taken the king's shilling, and he has to go to Spain And it's "Oh I am unwilling, for it looks a bit like rain. And it's "Oh my dearest William, must ye gang awa' to Spain?" "Let this wardrobe be our love token. Let us split it all in twain. "On the day those halves unite, then so too shall we, my love;" And she gave him half a wardrobe, and the poor sod staggered off Willie's gone to be a soldier, Willie's gone for quite a while With a wardrobe on his shoulder, down the M6 at Carlisle; Laden down with half a wardrobe, all through England. France and Spain, Where he found the war had finished, so he set off home again. And he marched back into Melrose, and he took his token out, But his fair, his dearest maiden, told him war had broken out. "Brave Willie, you must go" she said, and blew the sweetest kiss, And she handed him his token, saying 'don't go without this. So he marched to Barcelona, where he found he'd been misled For this war was in Sweden, and his true love hadn't said. Poor brave Willie knew his duty, and he set off straight away, But when he got to Stockholm, it had finished yesterday. Willie met them Swedish girls, and how poor Willie was enraged, For when a man's got half a wardrobe, you can tell that he's engaged. So he had an idea that his half he'd maybe swap And he went into Ikea, changed his bottom for a top. And he marched back into Melrose, thinking soon he would be free For we cannot make a wardrobe, and she'll think it isn't me. But alas, his sweetest true love, had been making other friends And she had been to Ikea, and had cunningly changed ends. There is a maid in Melrose town, on her face the widest grin, For her bold and handsome Willie, has returned from where he's been. Who the hell are you? she says; I don't think you're my love; If your half don't fit on my half, well then, you can just sod off I'll go with that, said Willie, for the boy had used his wits, And he took his half a wardrobe, and then.. bloody hell, it fits! There is a wife in Melrose town; some say that they are fools, For she didn't want to marry; Nor did he; but rules are rules. Click for related message |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: JJ Date: 15 Mar 03 - 07:18 AM The New York City Subway Token is being done away with after fifty years, but that's not quite the same thing now, is it? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: Bruce Date: 15 Mar 03 - 09:11 AM Check the DT listing for Pride of Glencoe ... token is a glove ... the Battlefield Band did a nice version (The Lass o' Glencoe) on their rain, hail or shine CD. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: Charley Noble Date: 15 Mar 03 - 09:18 AM Dead Horse- The broken token song you posted above has reduced me to tears. It reminds me of another classic one in which the young lady provides her lover a piano leg to wear around his neck. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Mar 03 - 11:24 AM Then there are the parodies. . . |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: Abby Sale Date: 15 Mar 03 - 11:42 AM Nutty, I believe that long-term naval conscription did not come until relatively late - 1853. That meant the sad, lamented demise of the press gang and all those wonderful songs that might have been written later on. No 7 is just a magic number, figuring in many songs. Three would be too short a period for him to be away for her to forget what her truelove looks like. (Unless she's blond but the song never says that.) May is a good month to fix a song, as said avove, for love interest. June would likely be equal to it. Because ballads are mini-novels, it is helpful, like a novel, to fix the setting - time, place, weather, characters, etc. Although a huge number of songs mention a specific date, those are more likely to relate to actual historical events, especially ship wrecks - Other choices are around seasons - Martinmas time, First day of Spring, a week before Easter, etc. I have the notion that once May got into the Broken Token songs, it kind of stuck there by a matter of tradition. I admire your efforts in this paper, Callow. Your head could begin to spin as you get further into a type of song what Sam Hinton calls "The Wandering Folksong." That is, there are many certainly Broken Token songs that never get around actually having any token. Some of those can easily confound with Returned Lover songs and those with Revenant Ghost (ie Grey Cock) songs which are generally indistinguishable from Night Visiting Songs. Or even Jackeroo songs (Female Sailor) if she decides not to wait but follows him instead. Certainly makes my head spin. But maybe my head spins easier than yours (I've often been told it spins too easily) I hope so. Please post your eventual list of varients when you finish. It'd be interesting. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: Sooz Date: 15 Mar 03 - 11:54 AM In my opinion Les Barker's broken token is the definitive. I'm not sure about the knighthood - how about Poet Laureate? |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: dick greenhaus Date: 15 Mar 03 - 04:20 PM Just curious--has anyone tried to break a ring (or any other token)? Not easy. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: Stilly River Sage Date: 15 Mar 03 - 04:49 PM I think these tokens have included ribbons or lace, haven't they? Not so difficult. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: Nigel Parsons Date: 15 Mar 03 - 05:12 PM Not folk, but I always like "Half a sixpence" (1967 film with Tommy Steele) based on the book 'Kipps' by H G Wells. I can't see the lyrics on the net, but the subject matter is clearly the same! (partial lyrics) "And though that Half-a-Sixpence can ony mean half a romance, Remember that half a romance is better than none. But when I'm with you, one and one make two, And like those two half sixpences joined together we're one" Nigel |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: Susanne (skw) Date: 15 Mar 03 - 06:13 PM Plains of Waterloo has an actual broken token, a ring! In Logie o' Buchan the other half of the broken sixpence has not yet returned.In Her Mantle So Green it's not so much a broken token but an embroidery in the said mantle that he knows about. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: BROKEN TOKEN (Biggs Tinker (Ed Bronstein) From: Charley Noble Date: 15 Mar 03 - 07:57 PM Here's the other Broken Token song parody I was thinking about: BROKEN TOKEN-2 (Written by Biggs Tinker (Ed Bronstein) As sung by Bobbi Keppel, 1998 Tune: "Wayfaring Stranger") D-------------------A-------D It happened on a Monday morn-ing, --G---------------------D A mournful maiden shed a tear, -----------G----------G7 Because her true bespok-en lover, --------D Was off to sea for many a year. But ere the time had come for parting, Into her parlor then she went; She pulled the leg from her grand piano, Off it came, all broke and bent. "Take this piano leg," she told her lover, "And while you're gone, I'll truly yearn; The piano now is all lopsided, I cannot play 'til your return." Then off to sea this young man traveled, Worked seven years upon the deck, Then he returned to claim his true love, The piano leg around his neck. But he approached unrecognized, His back all bowed just like an egg, So heavy was his constant burden, Around his neck, the piano leg. He said, "My dear, I've come to marry." She said, "Oh no, that cannot be; I'm betrothed to another Who sails upon a distant sea." He said, "I am your true betrothed; This piano leg will prove it so; Pray place it back 'neath the piano, From whence it came so long ago." She cried,"My dear, I'm glad to see you; The piano is lopsided yet;" They placed the leg back beneath the piano, And side by side played a duet. Now you've heard the tale of a broken token, When a dear possession's broke in two, And when the parts are all reunited, Two lovers cry, "My god, it's you!" Enjoy! It is one of the songs I requested be sung at my wedding celebration back in 1998. Cheerily, Charley Noble |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Broken Token Songs From: vectis Date: 15 Mar 03 - 08:57 PM The original words to one Mayday song REALLY are (or so my Uncle Edward insisted) "Hail! Hail! the first of May O Outdoor shagging starts today O. I didn't believe it then. But maybe, just maybe... He had the right idea. Den Giddins' song sums up the token busioness thus... Now sailors always seem to sing About their love with half a ring Well they never seems to laugh Well; she's pawned the other half And thet's a most amazing thing |
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