I’m no longer writing for Folklife West, but it’s well worth checking out for folk-related venue information as well as its articles..
David Harley
Recommended to me by my friend Andi Lee (The Ashen): a Mixcloud podcast series by Jon Wilks at The Old Songs Podcast. Here’s the current listing:
I’ve been dipping in and out of UK and Irish folk music for many decades now, and am well-acquainted with most of these songs, but still found much to enjoy here.
David Harley
This is an unaccompanied version of ‘Young Hunting'(Child 68) I found when I was still at school in the 1960s, though I’ve undoubtedly changed it since. I didn’t have a tune for it, so I cobbled one together. Unfortunately, I don’t remember where I found the words, though I’ve come across a fairly similar American text (unattributed) since.
I don’t always sing it unaccompanied, though.
Light down, light down my own true love
And stay with me the night
For I have a bed and a fireside too
And a candle that burns so bright.
I can’t light down and I won’t light down
Nor spend the night with thee
For I have a love and a true true love
Would think so ill of me
But he’s bent down from his saddle
To kiss her snowy white cheek
She’s stolen the dagger from out of his belt
And plunged it into him so deep
She’s taken him by his long yellow hair
And the maid’s taken him by the feet
They’ve plunged him into that deep doleful well
Full 20 fathoms deep
And as she’s turned her round to go home
She’s heard some pretty bird sing
Go home, go home you cruel girl
And weep and mourn for him
Fly down, fly down you pretty bird
Fly down and go home with me
And your cage will be made of the glittering gold
And the perch of the best ivory
I can’t fly down and I won’t fly down
And I’ll not go home with thee
For you have slain your own true love
And I’m feared you’ll murder me
I wish I had my bent horn bow
And drawn with a silken string
I surely would shoot that cruel bird
As sits in the briars and sings
I wish you had your bent horn bow
And drawn with a silken string
I surely would fly from vine to vine
And always you’d hear me sing
Audio capture:
Backup:
David Harley
‘Colossus of Roads’ began as a sketch for a song or poem, a humorous look at my own late-flowering and less-than-athletic assimilation into the keep-fit-FitBit-kulture.
Sometimes it’s the butterflies
Sometimes it’s the view
Sometimes it’s just the steps
I know I must accrue
Now that my world has shrunk to a 25-step indoor mini-stadion, it’s somehow become a full-blown article.
(c) David Harley 2020 – all rights reserved
Audio capture:
Backup:
Paper Tiger (words & music by David Harley)
Oh, you paper tiger,
Now see what you’ve done
You made your stand on shifting sand
And now begins the fun
Your bluff’s been called at last
So what do you do now?
Now someone got the drop on you
And finally faced you down
Oh, you paper tiger… (x2)
Oh, you paper tiger
Now see what you’ve done
Every chamber emptied
And nowhere left to run
How could you forget
The only code that you lived by
To move so fast and talk so soft
And keep your powder dry?
Oh, you paper tiger… (x2)
Oh, you paper tiger
Now see what they’ve done
They’ve picked you clean and strung you up
To dry out in the sun
Oh, you bigshot bankrupt
You flamed-out flat-lined fake
They’ll bake you in the ashes
Of your latest last mistake
Oh, you paper tiger … (x2)
The first version of this goes back to the late 60s or early 70s, but I’m not sure if I ever performed it in public. An attempt to write something blues-y that wasn’t a 12-bar.
Audio capture:
Backup:
Heard some lonesome whistle blow
How long Lord?
Now I know it’s time to go
How long?
When you get those hard luck blues
All you need is walking shoes
How long Lord?
Now how long?
Empty pockets, empty bed
So long Lord?
Empty dreams in an empty head
How long?
When you get those walking blues
Radio just plays bad news
How long Lord?
Now how long?
When you feel those cold winds blow
How long Lord?
You know the way you have to go
How long?
Thought I heard the DJ say
Got no reason left to stay
How long Lord?
Now how long?
Waiting by the railroad track
How long Lord?
Heading out with no way back
How long?
Standing in the pouring rain
I must have missed that Gospel Train
How long Lord?
Now how long?
All rights reserved
Backup:
Paper Tiger (words & music by David Harley)
Oh, you paper tiger,
Now see what you’ve done
You made your stand on shifting sand
And now begins the fun
Your bluff’s been called at last
So what do you do now?
Now someone got the drop on you
And finally faced you down
Oh, you paper tiger… (x2)
Oh, you paper tiger
Now see what you’ve done
Every chamber emptied
And nowhere left to run
How could you forget
The only code that you lived by
To move so fast and talk so soft
And keep your powder dry?
Oh, you paper tiger… (x2)
Oh, you paper tiger
Now see what they’ve done
They’ve picked you clean and strung you up
To dry out in the sun
Oh, you bigshot bankrupt
You flamed-out flat-lined fake
They’ll bake you in the ashes
Of your latest last mistake
Oh, you paper tiger … (x2)
Wheal Alice Music 