A heartfelt but short post today (a strained hand means I can’t type much at the moment). And unusually for Fiddletails, it’s a song, brief but beautiful – an old ‘twelve days’ counting song from iconic Yorkshire group The Watersons, to welcome in the ‘twelfthmost day’ on Epiphany, Twelfth Night.
Jolly Old Hawk is a Roud ballad; for possible origins and links to lyrics, see Mainly Norfolk, and the usual fascinating debate on mudcat.
Wishing you all a year of hope, health, happiness – and plenty of whatever music lights your life!
The Watersons
Norma Waterson, Elaine (‘Lal’) Waterson, Mike Waterson, John Harrison
From their 1965 first album, Frost and Fire.
(‘The Watersons – Jolly Old Hawk’, YouTube video, 1:09. Uploaded by SirD4venport on 14 Nov 2011. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XTRSBbrioSo)
For more singing and background to The Watersons, watch the BBC’s wonderful 1960s documentary, here
A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ONE AND ALL!
Jenny Glover's FIDDLETAILS 