minstrel: Tam Lin

[Brett and Karen Williams]

Dick Eney wrote:
> 
*snip*
> > I've read much on the ballads and how they were meant to be sung, but I
> > haven't found a tune for this particular ballad yet.
> 
> There's a version of Tam Lin on Steeleye Span (I know, I know),
> "Tonight's the Night - Live".  Also there's a monster compendium that you
> might be able to get through interlibrary loan, that has the tunes for the
> Child Ballads.  Sorry, I forget the exact title. It's volumes long.
> 
> =Tamar Lindsay 

Oh, right. <smack of head> Bronson. More particularly, Bertram Harris
Bronson, The Traditional Tunes of the Child Ballads, published in four
volumes by Princeton University Press, 1959-1972, and an abridged
version still in print as "The Singing Tradition of Child's Popular
Ballads", likewise Princeton University Press, ISBN 0-691-09119-6.

Abridged Bronson has three tunes for Tam Lin, the first verse of which
seems to match the words our querant gives. It's from Johnson's Musical
Museum, dated 1796 (V, No. 411, p.423), and apparently this particular
tune was stol-, er, borrowed by Burns for his own song, called 'O raging
fortune's withering blast'. 

Fair warning-- it is pretty much improbable that any tune found
associated specifically with the folk tradition of Tam Lin will be of
'period' date. And just as an aside, there's a killer dance tune making
the rounds of trad musicians right now called "Tam Lin", which can be
found attached to "Old Maid in the Garrett" on SS's latest album,
"Time".

ciorstan

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