Whatever note suits you - Internet rabbit hole # 9,122,901

[dreamshark]

A couple of weeks ago there was some kind of virtual filksing going on in my house and they finished up with All of the Filkers Are Singing, a silly song set to an unreasonably beautiful melody. Of course it lodged itself in my head, and next thing I knew I was playing it on the harmonica. And looking up the attributed melody (Banks of Sicily) on the intertoobs so I could hear something else in my head besides "Fare ye well all vestige of harmony..." 

Well, that went well. Now I have incomprehensible Scots dialect tumbling around in my head. I had no idea it was Scots, but that explains why the melody was so haunting. But now I have to look it up so I can figure out what on earth they are singing about. 

 

The pipie is dozie, the pipie is fey

He winna come roon for his vino the day

The sky o'er Messina is unco an grey

An a’ the bricht chaulmers are eerie

Turns out that "Banks of Sicily" (or more properly, The 51st Highland Division's Farewell To Sicily) is itself something of a filk song, written by Hamish Henderson to the tune of a bagpipe march playing in the distance as he was packing up to leave Messina at the end of WWII. And I guess it is the same tune, but Hamish cut the tempo in half, turning it from a jig into a waltz, so it really doesn't sound the same at all.

Then I looked up the lyrics and deciphered them, and listened to the YouTube version enough times that I could pick out all three of the slightly different melodies (the verse, the other verse, and the chorus) on the harmonica. And then something miraculous happened. I listened to the YouTube video one more time when I played it for Richard and I could understand every word!  It's a surprisingly complex song, with a chorus that changes each time it appears and an intricate rhyme scheme. Frankly, I don't know how anyone could actually sing it without a lyric sheet in front of them. I guess that's what happens when you let poets write your folk songs for you. It's kind of a beautiful poem once you understand it, bittersweet and just a bit bawdy. 

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Hamish Henderson himself is a pretty interesting guy, summed up by Wikipedia as "a Scottish poet, songwriter, communist, intellectual and soldier...[and]  a catalyst for the folk revival in Scotland."

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And, like a lot of bagpipe tunes, it sounds great on the harmonica.

Comments

[laramie]

I'm glad being subjected to the lack of all vestige of harmony led to an interesting experience for you. The original tune is a lovely melody. Now I am inspired to go listen to it in un-filked form.

[dreamshark]

Just follow my links. I recommend pulling up the lyrics to read along with while you listen. The link I provided even has translations of some of the more obscure Scots words at the bottom.

[mdlbear]

It's a lovely tune. Thanks for the links.

[carbonel]

I've also seen "D-Day Dodgers" (to the tune of "Lili Marlene") attributed to Hamish Henderson. But Wikipedia says that he collected it, but it was written by someone else.

[maruad]

D-Day Dodgers was popular with Canadian troops* in Italy during WWII. Some Brit nobleperson referred to the troops in Italy as D-Day dodgers when, if anything, the battles there were more difficult and supply and manpower shortages were making it even harder. It was sung ironically I assume.


* Likely all nations troops in Italy were singing a version of it.

[carbonel]

The alleged Brit nobleperson was Viscountess Astor ("Dear Lady Astor, you think you know a lot, standing on a platform and talking tommyrot"), but she denied it, and there's no actual evidence that she actually said it.

[pameladean]

I have been earwormed with this song ever since I read this entry. At least I know the chorus, and that will sometimes quiet things down. And, as you say, it's a really lovely tune.

P.