Since these are the days for traffic between this place and the other. I will only point out possible causal relationship, in this version, between instrument and outcome. Also the cool linguistic fragment in the refrain, which is thought to be Norn.
via Mudcat
KING ORFEO
Der lived a king inta da aste
Scowan urla grun
Der lived a lady in der wast
Whar giorten han grun oarlac
Dis king he has a hunting gaen
He's left his Lady Isabel alane
"Oh I wis ye'd never gaen away
For at your hame is dol an wae
"For da king of Ferrie we his daert
Has pierced your lady to da hert"
***
And aifter dem the king has gaen
But whan he cam it was a grey stane
Dan he took oot his pipes ta play
Bit sair his hert wi dol an wae
And first he played da notes o noy
An dan he played da notes o joy
An dan he played da god gabber reel
Dat meicht ha made a sick hert hale
***
"Noo come ye in into da ha
An come ye in among wis a'"
Now he's gaen in inta da ha
An now he's gaen in among dem a'
Dan he took oot his pipes to play
Bit sair his hert wi dol and wae
And first he played da notes o noy
An dan he played da notes o joy
An dan he played da god gabber reel
Dat meicht ha made a sick hert hale
"Noo tell to us what ye will hae
What sall we gie you for your play?"
"What I will hae, I will ye tell
An dat's me Lady Isabel"
"Yees tak your lady, an yees gaeng hame
An yees be king ower a' your ain"
He's taen his lady, an he's gaen hame
An noo he's a king ower a' his ain.
I cannot access the sound files at the bottom of the Mudcat page although I got the excerpt of the Amazon mp3. Can this be heard elsewhere?
ReplyDeleteI haven't found this version posted anywhere. But all the versions I've heard are melodically pretty zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz... so I wasn't looking very hard.
DeleteIs the Amazon mp3 the Malinky one? I figure that's the likeliest candidate, short of digging up the field recording mentioned in the mudcat thread. Will dl tonight and see. There is an old Archie Fisher one up on YT, but that's from his overproduction period, so it's a bit heavy going.
I just clicked on the box to the right on your Mudcat link which, at the time, had scrolling titles - they seem to have gone now!
ReplyDeleteI never heard Archie Fisher but I was privileged to attend one of the last performances of his sister, Ray. Wracked with illness and seemingly frail she was spellbinding and unforgettable.
Oh, I'll bet she was. Ray Fisher sang like a force of nature. Also she was really funny.
DeleteDid you see her live?
ReplyDeleteJust once, unfortunately. She didn't get over here very often, but she came to our festival once, must have been ten or twelve years ago, and gave us a weekend's worth of great sets.
Delete