Wednesday, July 2
Padstow
So, perhaps May Day is past, and so is the official astronomical start of summer, and St. Jean Baptiste day, but it's heating up and some appropriate seasonal folk music is in order, a version of the Day Song from the Padstow Obby Oss May Day festival, a quaint if inexplicable custom of great antiquity, and one which fortunately looks likely to endure. (Also, it has the unusual honor of having a cover done of it by British folk-rock group Steeleye Span, which, I think, tenaciously still exists out there somewhere, with pretty much none of its original members.)
And like all folk tunes with age-old words, nobody has any clue what it means:
Unite and unite and let us all unite,
For summer is a-coming today,
And whither we are going we will all unite,
In the merry morning of May.
The young men of Padstow, they might if they would,
For summer is a-coming today,
They might have built a ship and gilded her with gold
In the merry morning of May.
The young maids of Padstow, they might if they would,
For summer is a-coming today,
They might have made a garland with the white rose and the red,
In the merry morning of May.
Rise up Mrs. Johnson,
All in your gown of green,
You are as fine a lady as waits upon the queen,
In the merry morning of May.
O! where is King George [sometimes St. George],
O, where is he, O?
He's out in his long-boat,
All on the salt sea O.
Up flies the kite and down falls the lark O,
Aunt Ursula Birdhood she had an old ewe,
And she died in her own park, O.
With the merry ring, adieu the merry spring,
For summer is a-coming today,
How happy are the little birds that merrily doth sing
In the merry morning of May.
Where are the young men that here now should advance,
For summer is a-coming today,
Some they are in England and some they are in France,
In the merry morning of May.
And like all folk tunes with age-old words, nobody has any clue what it means:
Unite and unite and let us all unite,
For summer is a-coming today,
And whither we are going we will all unite,
In the merry morning of May.
The young men of Padstow, they might if they would,
For summer is a-coming today,
They might have built a ship and gilded her with gold
In the merry morning of May.
The young maids of Padstow, they might if they would,
For summer is a-coming today,
They might have made a garland with the white rose and the red,
In the merry morning of May.
Rise up Mrs. Johnson,
All in your gown of green,
You are as fine a lady as waits upon the queen,
In the merry morning of May.
O! where is King George [sometimes St. George],
O, where is he, O?
He's out in his long-boat,
All on the salt sea O.
Up flies the kite and down falls the lark O,
Aunt Ursula Birdhood she had an old ewe,
And she died in her own park, O.
With the merry ring, adieu the merry spring,
For summer is a-coming today,
How happy are the little birds that merrily doth sing
In the merry morning of May.
Where are the young men that here now should advance,
For summer is a-coming today,
Some they are in England and some they are in France,
In the merry morning of May.
![[SMMMHDH]](http://www.mgilleland.com/music/smmmhdh.png){kind=small}
