The Art of the Bawdy Song
The Art of the Bawdy Song
The Merry Companions
Mary Anne Ballard (treble and bass viols, rebec)
Mark Cudek (cittern, Baroque guitar, tenor viol, tenor recorder)
Custer LaRue (soprano)
Larry Lipkis (viol, soprano recorder)
Ronn McFarlane (lute)
Chris Norman (wooden flutes, bagpipe)
Peter Becker (baritone)
Alexander Blachly (baritone)
Paul Shipper (bass, belch-canto)
James Weaver (baritone)
Through these bawdy catches and ballads we journey to the taverns and other social gathering-places of the real Merry Old England. We may be shocked by the directness of these mostly 300 year old texts (especially those on a scatological theme), but we must remember that in the days before indoor plumbing and pooper-scooper laws, everyday life was of an earthier flavor than it is today.
—Mary Anne Ballard
Track List
Prelewd
1-2. Aniseed Robin / Cuckolds all a-row - (Anon. 1651)
To the Tavern
3. I gave her Cakes and I gave her Ale - (Purcell 1659-1695)
4. Taking his beer with old Anacharsis - (Aldridge 1648-1710)
5. Fye, nay, prithee John - (Purcell)
Men & Maids
6. Cold and Raw - (D'Urfey c. 1653-1723)
Coming of Age
7. The Miller's Daughter - (Purcell)
8. Will said to his Mammy - (Jones fl. 1597-1615)
Anticlimaxes
9. The Old Fumbler - (Anon. Pills 1719)
10. Walking in a meadowe greene - (Anon. 17th-c.)
Measure of the Man
11. Celia learning on the Spinnet - (Isum c. 1680-1726)
12. Tom the Taylor - (Purcell)
13. My Lady's Coachman John - (Purcell)
Dancing in the Grass
14. The Irish Jig orThe Night Ramble - (Anon. Pills)
Tobacco & other Stimulants
15. Come sirrah Jacke hoe - (Weelkes 1608)
16. Dainty fine Aniseed water - (Anon. 1652)
17. Most men do love the Spanish wine - (Anon. c. 1595)
Interlewd
18-19. Argeers / Gathering peascods - (Anon.)
Scat(ological) Songs
20. My lady and her Maid - (Ellis n.d.)
21. As Roger last Night to Jenny lay close - (Purcell)
22. Pox on you - (Purcell)
Fresh Ayre
23. Ladie lie near me - (Anon. 1651)
Men & Women
24. 'Tis Women makes us love - (Blow)
25. Sir Walter enjoying his Damsel - (Purcell)
Her Thing & His Thing
26. My Thing is my Own - (Anon. Pills)
27. Here dwells a pretty Maid - (Cranford d. ?1650-1675)
28. My man John had a Thing that was long - (Eccles c. 1668-1735)
29. When first Amyntas sued for a Kiss - (Anon. Pills)
Vinum Bonum
30. More Palatino - (attr. Sweelinck ?1562-1621)
31-32. Poor Owen / Where they drank - (Church ?1675-1741)
33. Come, come, let us drink - (Purcell)
Total time: 65:53
Release date: February 11, 1993
UPC: 053479015525
