Legend Land: Volume 2 by G. Basil Barham - HTML preview

PADSTOW AND ITS MAY DAY SONGS

MAY Day in Padstow, on the north Cornish coast, is celebrated by an ancient custom of peculiar interest. The whole town is en fete, the ships in the harbour decked with flags, the people adorned with flowers. The feature of the day's celebrations is the Hobby Horse Dance, or procession, to two very old tunes. Until comparatively recent times the Maypole was still erected each year in the town.

Padstow's two old May songs date from the Middle Ages, but they have suffered much corruption in the course of time. Words and music have been altered, but the version given here is from an old source, and, owing to the irregularity of the metre of the lines, as in all traditional songs, a considerable amount of ingenuity is called for on the part of the singer to fit the words of the second and subsequent verses—particularly of the Day Song—to the tune. But it can be done.

The May Morning Song has eighteen or more verses—each followed by the chorus—all of which obviously cannot be printed here. There are a dozen that begin "Rise up...," the name of the person before whose house it is being sung being inserted.

The reference to "Un Ursula Bird" in the second verse of the Day Song has a traditional reference to an old dame who, it is said, led a party of Cornish women in red cloaks, headed by the Hobby Horse, in procession round the cliffs in days gone by and so frightened away a hostile French ship, whose  captain mistook the women for soldiers. A similar story is told of Fishguard in South Wales in Legend Land Leaflet No. 11.

(Listen to MIDI version of the above)
 Sheet Music: Page 1, Page 2.

With the merry singing and the joyful spring,

For summer is a-come in to-day,

How happy are those little birds that merrily doth sing

In the merry morning of May!

Chorus: Unite! all unite! &c, after each verse.

Young men and maidens, I warn you every one,

For summer is a-come in to-day,

To go unto the green woods and bring the may home

In the merry morning of May!

Rise up, Mr ——, with your sword by your side,

For summer is a-come in to-day,

Your steed is in the stable and waiting for to ride

In the merry morning of May!

Rise up, Mr ——, and gold be your ring,

For summer is a-come in to-day,

And send us out a cup of ale, and better we shall sing,

In the merry morning of May!

Rise up, Mrs ——, all in your gown of green,

For summer is a-come in to-day;

You are so fair a lady as waits upon the queen,

In the merry morning of May!

Rise up, Mr ——, I know you well a fine,

For summer is a-come in to-day;

You have a shilling in your purse, but I wish it was in mine,

In the merry morning of May!

Rise up, Miss ——, and strew all your flowers,

For summer is a-come in to-day;

It is but a while ago since we have strewed ours,

In the merry morning of May!

Rise up, Miss ——, and reach to me your hand

For summer is a-come in to-day;

You are so fair a damsel as any in the land,

In the merry morning of May!

Rise up Master ——, and reach to me your hand,

For summer is a-come in to day;

And you shall have a lively lass, and a thousand pounds in hand,

In the merry morning of May!

Where are the maidens that here now should sing?

For summer is a-come in to day,

Oh, they are in the meadows the flowers gathering,

In the merry morning of May!

The young maids of Padstow, they might if they would—

For summer is a-come in to day—

They might have a garland, and decked it all in gold,

In the merry morning of May!

Where are the young men that here now should dance?

For summer is a-come in to day;

Oh some they are in England, and some they are in France,

In the merry morning of May!

The young men of Padstow, they might if they would—

For summer is a-come in to-day—

They might have built a ship, and gilt her all in gold,

In the merry morning of May!

Now fare ye well, we bid you all good cheer,

For summer is a-come in to-day,

We'll call once more unto your house before another year,

In the merry morning of May!

(Listen to MIDI version of the above)
 Sheet Music: Page 1.

Up flies the kite,
And down falls the lark, O!
Un Ursula Bird she had an old ewe, O!
And she died in Old Park O!

Oh, where is St. George?
Oh where is he, O?
He's down in his long boat,
All on the salt sea, O!

Oh, where are those French dogs?
Oh, where are they, O?
They're down in their long boats,
All on the salt sea, O!

Oh, where are those French dogs?
Oh where are they, O!
They shall eat the grey goose feathers,
And we will eat the roast, O!

The last verse of the Morning Song is sung to its own tune to conclude the Day Song.

Padstow itself is a queer old fishing town, fifteen miles from Bodmin, from which place it is easily reached by train. It is situated at the mouth of the Camel, the finest salmon river in Cornwall, and has at St. Enodoc, on the other side of the estuary, one of the best golf courses in England.

 The Old Hobby Horse