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Peggy Gordon hornpipe

There are 11 recordings of this tune.

Peggy Gordon has been added to 26 tunebooks.

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Two settings

1
Sheet Music
Sheet Music
2
Sheet MusicOhPeg-gyGor-don_ youaremydar-    ling
Sheet MusicComesityoudown_ u-ponmyknee_ Andtellto
Sheet Musicme_ theve-ryrea-    son
Sheet MusicWhyIamslight-ed_ so_ by_ thee.

Sixteen comments

Is this the song? ~ The Dubliners, The Corries, etc.?

Looks like it’s the air to song, “c”, - not entirely sure about the accuracy of the “abcs”, though. I once got dragooned into singing this with Mick Flynn in the main street of Miltown Malbay about 3 in the morning. Glad that’s not up on “YouTube”!

I actually like this song. I’d love to hear you sing it Kenny… 😉

I’m caught up in other things but will add another transcript later, hopefully that will help kat256 and be in time before Jeremy converts it to dots. The air is there in the notes given, but with problems in the timing…

“Peggy Gordon” ~ where’s the bars? 😏

Sorry, late getting back here but I see the bars now add up. However, while I did do a quick transcription, I don’t seem to be able to bar the damned thing. Here it is, the lines of notes representing the lines in a verse of the song, from the singing of Luke Kelly ~

X: 2
T: Peggy Gordon
M:
L: 1/8
R: song air
K: Fmaj
|: C2 FE- E2 F4- F4 G3 A B3 A F4- FGFE C4- C4- C2 |
A4 Bd c4- c3 A F2 A2 G4- G4- G2 |
A2 B3 d c6- cA B2 A3 F- F4- FGFE C4- C4- C2 |
AB- B2 d2 c4 F3 G E4- ED E2 F4- F4- F2 :|

beats in the lines: 20 / 14 / 19 / 16

For fingering, whatever key wind you’re tooting, here it is in G ~

X: 3
T: Peggy Gordon
M:
L: 1/8
R: song air
K: Gmaj
|: D2 GF- F2 G4- G4 A3 B c3 B G4- GAGF D4- D4- D2 |
B4 ce d4- d3 B G2 B2 A4- A4- A2 |
B2 c3 e d6- dB c2 B3 G- G4- GAGF D4- D4- D2 |
Bc- c2 e2 d4 G3 A F4- FE F2 G4- G4- G2 :|

My head hurts… 😛 ~ but it is a lovely air and song…

“Peggy Gordon” ~ the words

Chorus: O Peggy Gordon, You are my darling
Come sit you down upon my knee
And tell to me the very reason
Why I am slighted so by thee

I am so deep in love I can’t deny it
My heart lies smothered in my breast
But it’s not for you to let the whole world know it
My troubled mind can find no rest

Chorus

I put my head to a cask of brandy
It was my fancy, I do declare
For when I’m drinking, I’m always thinking
Wishing Peggy Gordon was there

Chorus

I wished I was in a lonesome valley
Where womankind cannot be found
And the pretty little birds do change their voices
And every moment a different sound

Chorus

I wish I was away in Ingo
Far away across the briny sea
Sailing o’er the deepest oceans
Where love nor care never trouble me

Chorus

Time Signature

This tune sounds remarkably like the air of a traditional English song called: “The Banks of the Sweet Primroses”.

If this is indeed the case, the time signature is 5/4 (yes, 5/4). And I don’t believe that there is a way of submitting a 5/4 tune to thesession!

Banks of the Sweet Primroses - Lyrics

As I walked out on a midsummer’s morning
For to view the fields and to take the air
Down by the banks of the sweet primroses
There I beheld a most love-lie fair.

Three short steps, I stepped up to her
Not knowing her as she passed me by
I stepped up to her, thinking for to view her
She appeared to be like some virtuous bride

I says "Fair maid, where are you going?
And what’s the occasion of all your grief?
I will make you as happy as any lady
If you will grant to me one small relief"

"Stand off, stand off, you’re a false deceiver
You are a false deceitful man, I know
’Tis you that has caused my poor heart to wander
And in your comfort lies no refrain"

So I’ll go down to some lonesome valley
Where no man on earth shall there me find
Where the pretty little small birds do change their voices
And every moment blows blusterous wind

So come all young men who go a-sailing
Pray pay attention to what I say
For there’s many a dark and a cloudy morning
Turns out to be a sunshiny day

5/4

Yes, there is, and it has been done before, including 5/8 & 7/8, using ABC notation conventions, either M: */* ~ or ~ [M: */*]… That said, two 5/4 waltzes I’ve contributed in the past have not survived… that may have been when things were more fiercely focused on Irish music, and while we did play these, I believe both were French…

Thanks for the added lyrics, which are familiar. Isn’t it in one of the old ballad collections, not necessarily Child, but something like that?

I used to be involved in some sea song carry on, and we’ve had friends who did that professionally, and this was part of that history. I’d forgotten all about it. Thanks Mix… There’s another name wanting to shake out of my head ~ Roy Palmer! ~ who has done a lot on song and published some great books on the subject. I think maybe this is also in one of his publications, which are always well documented, but I haven’t them here to refer to, except one. (quick check) ~ nope, it’s not in that one…

“Beyond the Compass: Sea Songs and Shanties”
by Roy Palmer, Herron Publishing, 2001
ISBN: 0-9540682-0-3

Banks of the Sweet Primroses

Ceol - this song was published in “The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs” (often jokingly referred to as “The English Folk Book of Penguin Songs”!)

It is however quite a serious book, as the source for each song and the date that it was collected is given in each case.

I have a copy of the book somewhere, but I can’t seem to lay my hands on it right now … maybe I lent it to someone, and didn’t get it back…

I’ve also heard many other versions of this song. And of course “as I walked out …” is an often-occurring first line in many English traditional songs.

Presumably this first line was inspiration for the title of Laurie Lee’s famous book: “As I walked Out One Midsummer Morning” …

I’m a long time and dedicated fan of Penquin books… I too, lent my copy out to someone… 😏 I think Roy Palmer had something to do with it too… He’s one of my heroes on that side of things… 😀 He’s done some great stuff on song, but I have never heard the man sing…

Come, kiss me love

This is also the melody that the Ian Campbell Folk Group used many years ago for the song “Come, Kiss Me Love”.