>Hello everybody,
>
>in 1941 Paul Hindemith composed a set of
>variations for violoncello and piano
>about an old English Nursery Song
>"A frog he went a-courting".
>
To the best of my knowledge this and Robin's version are
two different things. The original quote is from an
american source, to hear a version of it search the back
catalogue for "Burl Ives". He recently passed away and it
was only when reading his obituary that I realised he had
been a "serious" folk singer once. I
suggest you would find the original in either
the Child ballads or some other collection of early
american folk music (Sharp, Cecil ? ). You will almost
certainly find it fiddled around with in the bluegrass
tradition, Ahem..
The tune has, in the manner of folk, been fitted out with
new words and is widely known by a certain type of British
Male. If you really, really want to hear this tune buy him
lots of beer and then ask him to sing "The Engineers Song".
You know, the one about the big brass wheel going round
and round and the whole damm thing being covered in shit ,
etc, etc, etc, etc, etc. It goes on for quite a long time.
I remember Robin's version from infant school. I wouldn't
be suprised to find it had been made up by some earnest
types in Victorian days to stop the working classes singing
songs about maypoles and such like lewd suggestive stuff.
It seems far to limp to be true folk music.
Nigel.
