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Lyr Req: Long Preston Peggy (and tune)
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Lyr Req: Long Preston Sal (3)
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Lyr Req: Long Preston Peggy (and tune) Related thread: Lyr Req: Long Preston Sal (3) |
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Subject: Lyr Req: Long Preston Peggy (and tune) From: GUEST,bobcat Date: 20 Nov 06 - 01:30 PM Anyone know of the lyrics to this old north Yorks song about a lass who went from Long Preston, near Settle to join Bonnie Prince Charlie..true story..and her adventures. She returned to Long Preston and apparently enjoyed singing the comtemporary song composed about her...Might be in Leeds Mercury somewhere..Challenge for someone out there!! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Preston Peggy (and tune) From: greg stephens Date: 20 Nov 06 - 02:20 PM Log Preston Peggy to Proud Preston went RTo see the Scotch rebels it was her intent Sorry, that's as far as my memory goes. Proud Preston, for those unfamiliar with the geography, is Preston in Lancashire. I don't believe a traditional tune has come down to us, though maybe one has turned up. I also have a feeling this was published before 1745(the Bonnie Prince Charlie rebellion). It must be about the incidents in Preston in the 1715 eising ; or perhaps even about the Scottish army at Preston in the civil war. |
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Subject: Lyr Add: LONG PRESTON PEGGY From: GUEST Date: 20 Nov 06 - 02:58 PM This came from Harland's Songs of Lancashire Jim Carroll LONG PRESTON PEGGY. DURING the Rebellion of 1745 a buxom, handsome young woman of Long Preston, near Settle, Yorkshire, was very anxious to see Prince Charles Edward Steuart and his army, and came to Preston in Lanca¬shire for that purpose, a distance of 38 miles. Having gratified her curiosity by seeing them, she at once returned to her native village. A song was made, which became famous in Ribblesdale, for every country lad could sing it at that time. Peggy lived to a great age, and used to carol this song at all public meetings held at Rauthmell, Cross Keys Inn, and other places about Clitheroe, to the tune of Chevy Chace. This song, having apparently been handed down by tradition only, cannot now be recovered entire. How many verses it contained originally we know not; but the two following are all that survive in the memories of some old persons in and about Long Preston, who were wont to sing the song nearly a century ago. Long Preston is a township in the parish of that name, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, four and a-half miles 804th by east from Settle. Proud Preston is of course the central town of Lancashire, celebrated for its Guild. Long Preston Peg to Proud Preston went;' To see the Scotch Rebels it was her intent; A noble Scotch Lord, as he passed by, On this Yorkshire damsel did soon cast an eye. He call'd to his servant, who on him did wait, "Go down to yon girl who stands in the gate [i.e., road, street], That sings with a voice so soft and so sweet, And in my name do her lovingly greet." Many collectors have endeavoured, but in vain, to find more of this old Lancashire ballad than the two verses given by Dr. Dixon, in his "Songs and Ballads of the English Peasantry." The following version is much more complete than any yet given. Long Preston l'eggy to Proud Preston went, To view the Scotch Rebels it was her intent; A noble Scotch lord, as he passed by, On this Yorkshire damsel did soon cast an eye. I Another version of this verse is given in "New Tales of the Borders and of the British Isles," under the title of an "Old Yorkshire Ballad— Preston Peggy: From Long Preston, Peggy to proud Preston went, To join the bold rebels; it was her intent: For in brave deeds of arms did she take much delight, And therefore she went for the rebels to fight. He called to his servant, who on him did wait— "Go down to yon maiden who stands in the gate, That sings with a voice so soft and so sweet, And in my name do her lovingly greet." So down from his master away he did hie, For to do his bidding, and bear her reply; But ere to this beauteous virgin he came, He moved his bonnet, not knowing her name. "It's oh! Mistress Madam, your beauty's adored, By no other person than by a Scotch lord, And if with his wishes you will comply, All night in his chamber with him you shall lie." The two last verses were taken down from the lips of an old woman who recently resided near Ulverstone, by J. P. Morris, Esq., F.S.A. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Preston Peggy (and tune) From: greg stephens Date: 20 Nov 06 - 04:48 PM The difficulty with that account of the song is that the words aren't in an appropriate metre to sing to "Chevy Chase". So, if you want to sing it, you are at liberty to make up your own tune, or choose any appropriate tradirtional air. Harland reckons it was the 45, I see. I think I must have been wrong on that. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Preston Peggy (and tune) From: Joe Offer Date: 20 Nov 06 - 05:58 PM Bell's 'Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs' has these lyrics: Long Preston Peg (A Fragment)[Mr. Birkbeck, of Threapland House, Lintondale, in Craven, has favoured us with the following fragment. The tune is well known in the North, but all attempts on the part of Mr. Birkbeck to obtain the remaining verses have been unsuccessful. The song is evidently of the date of the first rebellion, 1715.]
-Joe- |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Preston Peggy (and tune) From: greg stephens Date: 20 Nov 06 - 06:01 PM Well, maybe I was right, it was the 1715. That ill-fted effort gave rise to a very beautiful song indeed, "Derwentwater's farewell": a fantastic marrying of words and music. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Preston Peggy (and tune) From: GUEST,guest Date: 21 Nov 06 - 02:00 AM A version of it was recorded on The Old Lamb and Flag for the last Preston Guild. This was a CD which featured Strawhead & Pat Ryan amongst others and was a history of Preston in story and song. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Preston Peggy (and tune) From: GUEST,bobcat Date: 21 Nov 06 - 10:58 AM Thanks folks. Great. I have a copy of Harry Speight's The Craven and North West Yorkshire Highlands of 1892 which refers to Peggy and has much the same information as GUEST(no name) He states Abraham Holdroyd added some doggerel verses in the 1890s. The version by Dixon is much better and perhaps nearer to the original. Perhaps someone out there has heard (oral tradition) other verses or fragments.Keep being challenged mudcatters. Thanks. I am hoping to find enough to put it together to revive the singing of it !! |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Preston Peggy (and tune) From: GUEST,Peter Taylor Date: 22 Nov 06 - 09:11 AM Greg is right, it doesn't fit the tune of Chevy Chase. But I checked Speight's book and he quotes from a History of Preston(1822), possibly the source for the Harland quote above, since we have 'a buxom, handsome young woman.....gratifying her curiosity', but going on to say that 'it was the occasion of producing a ballad, which obtained as much notoriety in Ribblesdale as the famous historical ballad of 'Chevy Chase.' So it looks like a misreading/misremembering/mistake. But all the sources agree that only a short fragment of the old ballad has survived. Speight also quotes from Ray's History of the Rebellion(1749) the story in which a sergeant, Dickson, his mistress and a drum captured Manchester. Later she returned to Long Preston where the boldness of her exploit led to a the composition of a ballad. There's a great story in there waiting to get out. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Preston Peggy (and tune) From: GUEST,Bobcat Date: 22 Nov 06 - 03:43 PM Thanks for that..any advances on this? has anyone come across any other fragments? maybe I should get off to the archives and look through old copies of Leeds Mercury to see what they printed in the 1800s.I am hoping some oral tradition survival lurks somewhere. |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Preston Peggy (and tune) From: Malcolm Douglas Date: 22 Nov 06 - 08:59 PM I doubt if you'll get anything from the Leeds Mercury. At any rate, none of Frank Kidson's articles in that paper mentioned it that I can recall. Dixon and Morris' correspondence can be seen in Notes & Queries for 1872 and 1873, if you have access to a good library or to an institution that subscribes to http://www.oxfordjournals.org/. In a discussion on the Ballad-L list a few years ago, the late Bruce Olson wrote, in answer to a question from Abby Sale about an obscure DT file: "Pretty Peggy is a version of 'Long Preston Peggy (the proud Preston Whore)'. Most texts are expurgated and fragmentary. See that in D I Harker's Songs from the Manuscript Collection of John Bell, [(Durham: Surtees Society, 1985, number 182; 298-299)]. The last verse goes: Now lang preston peggy lives nigh and see shor And she swears by old Ingland shel never sport more Unles with sum sailer or sum in great nead Since the whors of old Ingland is all gon indead." I can't remember how much text Harker printed, and it will probably be some time before I have the opportunity of checking. Assuming that the connection is genuine (and Bruce was usually right about things like that), then you might look at the -mostly fragmentary- sets of 'Sweet Kitty' collected by Cecil Sharp, which are clearly the same song as 'Pretty Peggy'. For one example, plus tune and some commentary, see http://www.folkinfo.org/: Sweet Kitty (note also the link to further discussion). |
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Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Long Preston Peggy (and tune) From: GUEST,Peter Taylor Date: 23 Nov 06 - 12:17 PM I looked up Sweet Kitty and found it is almost identical to Peggy and the Squire, in The Constant Lovers. Does anyone have the CD The Old Lamb and Flag, or know where it can be obtained? |
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