Innocent Hare Presents: The Windings of Their Wandering Song: A Tribute to John Clare

Credits

Chloe Middleton-Metcalfe: Fiddle, Harp, Recorder, Vocals

Jake Middleton-Metcalfe: Concertina, Vocals

Andrew Metcalfe: Fiddle, Guitar, Vocals

Recorded by Jake Middleton-Metcalfe

Mastering: Scribe Records

Photography: Colin Kempster

Location: Milton Keynes Museum

Sleeve notes: Dr Chloe Middleton-Metcalfe (January 2025)

Album Art: Ian Middleton

A Note on the Music

This album has been inspired by the music manuscripts of poet, fiddler and shepherd John Clare (1793-1864). Clare’s notebooks were compiled by George Deacon and published in John Clare and the Folk Tradition (1983). John Clare was born in Helpston, then in Northamptonshire, and spent his last years in The Northampton Asylum. Clare’s music has a resonance for the Metcalfe family, members of which have been based in Northamptonshire for eight generations.

Innocent Hare (taking their name from the Copper Family song ‘Sportsmen Arouse!’) consist of father and daughter Andrew Metcalfe and Chloe Middleton-Metcalfe, and Chloe’s husband Jake Middleton-Metcalfe. Innocent Hare have been playing music and performing together formally since 2014. This album is an interpretation of John Clare’s music, we like to think that Clare, who was also partial to re-writing the songs he collected, would have approved of the liberties we have taken in our approach. We take our Clare numbering system from Deacon’s book (2nd edition 2002). The album title is taken from ‘Wild Bees’ a poem written by John Clare in the 1820s.

Wild Bees by John Clare

These children of the sun which summer brings

As pastoral minstrels in her merry train

Pipe rustic ballads upon busy wings

And glad the cotters’ quiet toils again.

The white-nosed bee that bores its little hole

In mortared walls and pipes its symphonies,

And never absent couzen, black as coal,

That Indian-like bepaints its little thighs,

With white and red bedight for holiday,

Right earlily a-morn do pipe and play

And with their legs stroke slumber from their eyes.

And aye so fond they of their singing seem

That in their holes abed at close of day

They still keep piping in their honey dreams,

And larger ones that thrum on ruder pipe

Round the sweet smelling closen and rich woods

Where tawny white and red flush clover buds

Shine bonnily and bean fields blossom ripe,

Shed dainty perfumes and give honey food

To these sweet poets of the summer fields;

Me much delighting as I stroll along

The narrow path that hay laid meadow yields,

Catching the windings of their wandering song.

The black and yellow bumble first on wing

To buzz among the sallow’s early flowers,

Hiding its nest in holes from fickle spring

Who stints his rambles with her frequent showers;

And one that may for wiser piper pass,

In livery dress half sables and half red,

Who laps a moss ball in the meadow grass

And hoards her stores when April showers have fled;

And russet commoner who knows the face

Of every blossom that the meadow brings,

Starting the traveller to a quicker pace

By threatening round his head in many rings:

These sweeten summer in their happy glee

By giving for her honey melody.

England’s Glory

‘England’s Glory’ (Clare no.117) is also known as the ‘Parson in the Suds’. With this latter title it was published in Johnson Choice Collection (Volume 6, 1751) and can also be found in Joseph Barnes’s Carlisle manuscript c.1762. It also bears resemblance to ‘May Day’ found in HSJ Jackson manuscript from Wyresdale (c.1823). Over the tune Jake reads ‘January’ from Clare’s epic poem The Shepherd’s Calendar which was first published in 1827. 

La Bel Jean (La Belle Jeanette)

The earliest version of ‘La Bel Jean’ (Clare no.28), titled ‘La Belle Jeannette’ was printed in The Entire New and Compleat Tutor for the Violin. This was written by one Francesco Xaverio Geminiani an Italian virtuoso violinist who lived in London at several times during his career. His violin tutor was published before his death, and republished several times throughout the 18th and 19th centuries.

Robin Hood Rescuing Three Squires

This song has no title in Clare’s manuscript (Peterborough MS. B4 p.45) but George Deacon notes that it is a version of the song known as ‘Robin Hood Rescuing Three Squires’. In this song Robin Hood rescues three brothers who are wrongly accused of theft. He uses the time-honoured tactic of hostage taking and threatens the abysmal Sherriff until the cowed man agrees to Hood’s conditions and the three innocent men are released. Deacon expressed the opinion that this is the only one of Clare’s Robin Hood ballads that was recorded from oral tradition. Deacon twinned the song with a tune from A Lytell Geste of Robin Hode by E.F.Rimbault (1847) which we have modified along with the lyrics, paring it down from its original 16 verses. We also added a modified version of the B-part of the tune ‘Go to the Devil and Shake Yourself’. Then we paired this song with the jolly but rather obscure tune ‘Bedford Races’ (Clare no.86), for which I am yet to uncover any antecedents. While Bedford doesn’t have a horse racing track now it did in Clare’s day and in 1811 it even held the first steeplechase over manufactured fences. We commenced the ballad with a French tune ‘Branle de Poitevin’ learnt from the French folk band Malicorne.

Clare’s Hornpipe (Duke’s/180/Egg)

‘Duke’s Hornpipe’ (Clare no.254) can be found in a number of 19th century manuscript books under various aliases. The earliest version yet discovered comes from the manuscript of fife player John Miller of Perth wherein it is named ‘Black’s Hornpipe’. Miller was a military musician, and was possibly in the Black Watch, his manuscript is dated between 1799 and 1801 (see also notes on Clare’s Bugle). Although lacking a named composer, and residing under a number of different titles, ‘Duke’s Hornpipe’ was evidently very popular in the 1800s. To give some examples: it can be found in Joshua Burnett’s Yorkshire manuscript (c.1835) as ‘Lady Flashdash Hornpipe’; in John Rook’s manuscript, from Cumbria (c.1840) as the ‘Loyalist Hornpipe’; and in Joseph Kershaw’s Yorkshire manuscript (c.1820) as ‘Kershaw’s Hornpipe’. It can also be found in Ireland and was published in O’Neill’s Dance Music of Ireland (1907) where it has the title ‘Back of the Haggard’. The last tune, the ‘Egg Hornpipe’ (Clare no.253) is more commonly known as ‘Fisher’s Hornpipe’. This tune was possibly written by John Abraham Fisher (b.1844 in Dunstable), a former ballet master at the Covent Garden Opera House. The earliest dated publication of this tune is as ‘Hornpipe 1’ in his Sixteen Cotillons Sixteen Minuets Twelve Allemands and Twelve Hornpipes (John Rutherford, London, 1778). Joshua Gibbon’s fiddle manuscript (1823-1826) also called this tune the ‘Egg Hornpipe’. This probably refers to a form of theatrical dance, where to show their skill and dexterity dancers had to dance over and around eggs placed on the stage without cracking them.

Young Viola (As Three Maiden’s Played at Ball or The Cruel Brother)

The original first line in this untitled manuscript was ‘As three maiden’s played at ball’ (Peterborough MS B7 p.34). Deacon suggests that this song was probably one that Clare would have heard sung and written down from memory. There are older broadside versions of this story and the song is more widely known as ‘The Cruel Brother’. Amidst the liberties taken with this song, we gave the unfortunate protagonist a name, Young Viola. This is a rather gruesome ballad with a beautiful refrain “Roseys sweet in Mary”. A knight asks to marry a maiden who consents providing her family are all in accord. The knight replies that he has already asked her family and they consent to the marriage, so does her lover John, who has also been referred to as her brother. The brother/lover, who it transpires is already married then changes his mind and kills Viola, and the song ends in a curse for him and all of his kin. The tune is our adaption of that suggested by Deacon ‘The Three Knights’ from Some Ancient Christmas Carols by Davies Gilbert (1823).

Clare’s Bugle (Bugle Horn/The Recovery/The Novelty)

‘The Bugle Horn’ (Clare no.75) is reminiscent of the tradition of bugle playing on coach journeys, where the bugle was used to signify manoeuvres such as “coach overtaking on the left” or to tell the passengers “coach leaving town”. ‘The Bugle Horn’ tune was first published in Thomas Wilson’s Companion to the Ball Room (1816 p. 114). It was also noted in the notebooks of William Clarke’s MS from Feltwell, Norfolk (1820-1850). The earliest version of ‘The Recovery’ (Clare no.48) so far discovered is dated to 1814 (William Cahusac’s The German Flute Preceptor) and the title appears to be a reference to the celebrated recovery of George III in 1789. It is believed that the King was suffering from Porphyria, a blood disorder known as the vampire disease as its symptoms can occur after exposure to sunlight. We finish the set of with ‘The Novelty’ (Clare no.154). This tune is well represented in British and Irish music manuscripts but under a variety of different names. The earliest version appears to come from John Miller of Perth’s 1799 Manuscript where it is known as the ‘Downshire Quick March’ (JMP 97). It was also published in O’Farrell’s Collection of National Irish Music for the Union Pipes as the ‘Ulster Rondo’ (1804). In Wales it has two names ‘Ffaniglen’ (Fennel) or ‘Ymdaith Gwyr Dyfnaint’ (March of the Men of Devon).

Clare’s Maggot (Lullaby/Montrose’s Reel)

John Clare’s ‘Lullaby’ (Clare no.53) is a beautiful gentle tune, and is incidentally one of the few self-titled lullaby tunes that can be found in English and Irish manuscripts. The same tune (‘A Lullaby’) was later printed in O’Neill’s Music of Ireland: Eighteen Hundred and Fifty Melodies (1905) tune number 233. We follow the lullaby with ‘Montrose’s Reel’ (Clare no.29). The ‘Dutchess (sic) of Montrose’s Reel’ from which Clare’s tune probably derives was printed in 1796 Aird’s Selection of Scotch, English, Irish and Foreign Airs (vol 4, 1796, no. 118, p. 46). 

Clare’s Fancy (Tank/Tink-a-Tink/Sham Peter)

This set comprises of: ‘Tank’ (Clare no.157); ‘Tink-a-Tink’ (Clare no.56); and ‘Sham Peter’ (Clare no.228). ‘Tank’ has been dated back to 1812 and the playing of Scottish violinist Nathaniel Gow, where it was noted that the tune was played at his annual Ball for country dancing, ‘Tink-A-Tink’ dates back to a similar period (1814), this time to an aforementioned book called The German Flute Preceptor. In the 18th century Fête Champetre’s were an upmarket variety of garden party which derived from the French Court. These events could be quite costly featuring, for example, musicians hidden in bushes. Sham Peter was therefore either a mis-hearing, or a deliberate parody of the sophisticated Fête Champetres. Thompson published a jig called ‘Fete Champetre’ in his Compleat Collection of 200 Favourite Country Dances (1780) but it is not obvious if the two tunes are related.

March In Scipio

‘March in Scipio’ (Clare no.60) is more commonly known as ‘March from Scipio’, this melody was written by Handel for his opera in three acts Scipione which premiered in 1726. Handel’s original opera was written about the life of the Roman general Scipio Africanus, who was best known for defeating Hannibal. Handel’s melody became popular for ceremonial occasions, and is the regimental march of the Grenadier Guards and, as we found out when playing for the Guild of Fletchers in London, the tune is also much requested at London Guild suppers.

Legalaw

In Clare’s manuscript ‘Legalaw’ has the slightly less than catchy title: ‘A Sensless [sic] song with a most beautiful Melody taken down from my Mothers [sic] singing’ (Peterborough MS. B7 p.23). George Deacon has found a version with the title ‘Legalaw’ issued by a nineteenth century broadside printer and he speculates that this was one of many songs taken from oral tradition by printers. It is a song of Irish origins and in the printed ballad version reference is made to keeping the beautiful island of Legalaw safe from invaders who would plunder it, a thinly veiled reference to the English. “Protect us from your foreign country” Clare’s mother sang “Who come over here a plan to draw”. Sadly, the ‘most beautiful Melody’ was not written down, so Deacon paired the words with a tune called ‘Loch Na Garr’ collected in 1908 by Cecil Sharp from Mr John Murphy in Marylebone Workhouse. We have based our melody on this tune. Confusingly ‘Loch Na Garr’ is a famous poem by English romantic poet Byron. The tune Murphy sang was not the one usually associated with the ballad version of Byron’s poem. But according to Joyce in Old Irish Folk Music and Songs (no 96) Murphy’s tune was often used by the people of Limerick, and bears similarity to ‘The Bunch of Green Rushes that Grew at the Brim’ (‘Irish Songs’ Gilcrest et.al. JFSS 5 no.18 pp. 49-50). We finish the song of with ‘Jackson’s Lodge in the Morning’ from Peter Kennedy’s Traditional Dance Music of Britain and Ireland: Jigs & Quicksteps, Trips & Humours (1997). The earliest reference to this tune is the 1805 Irish publication O’Farrell’s Pocket Companion for the Irish or Union Pipes as ‘Jackson’s Coge in the Morning’. A version of this tune with the title ‘Jackson’s Cougy in the Morning’ can be found in the Gunn Family manuscript from County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland c.1865. As ‘Jackson’s Cog in the Morning’ it is found in the Scottish John Glen Collection (1891-1895).

Clare’s Slip Jigs (The Roodlum/The Grinders/New Drops of Brandy)

There are three tunes in this set: ‘The Roodlum Irish’ (Clare no.204) which we have retitled ‘The Roodlum’; ‘The Grinders’ (Clare no.200) and; ‘New Drops of Brandy’ (Clare no.161). I was worried that Clare’s title was a Hibernian slur (hence our abbreviation) but it might have derived from attribution. For example, in O’Farrells Pocket Companion for the Irish or Union Pipes being a grand selection of favorite tunes both Scotch and Irish (1806) the same tune with the title ‘Roudlum’ (tune 73) is given the attribution ‘Irish’. A version of it called ‘The Boodulum’ can be found in  Scottish collector Charles Kirkpatrick Sharpe’s Manuscript Book (c.1835) and ‘Roudlum a Jig’ in the John Glen Collection (published in Edinburgh between 1891-1895).  Peter Kennedy published two versions of ‘Roudlum’ in Traditional Dance Music of Britain and Ireland: Slip Jigs and Waltzes (1999). ‘The Grinders’ is more widely known in the 19th century historical record across England, Scotland and Ireland – there is even a copy of it in Thomas Hardy’s Mss (c.1800). The Grinders was also printed in Archibald Duff’s A Choice Selection of Minuets, Favourite Airs, Hornpipes, Waltzs &c. (Edinburgh 1812). Other names for this tune include ‘Tobias the Grinder’ (J. Jones Shropshire MS 1801) and in O’Neill’s Dance Music of Ireland: 1001 Gems (1907) as ‘Terry Heigh Ho The Grinder.’ We finish of with the most popular tune of the three. Versions of ‘New Drops of Brandy’ have been dated back to a 1734 Scottish publication A Collection of Countrey Dances Written for the use of his Grace The Duke of Perth by David Young, often called The Drummond Castle Manuscript.

Clare’s Delight (Devil Amongst the Taylors/Speed the Plough/Money Musk)

This set comprises: ‘Devil Amongst the Taylors (Clare no.199); ‘Speed the Plough’ (Clare no.76 and 189); and ‘Money Musk’ (Clare no.20). The earliest version of the popular tune ‘Devil Amongst the Tailors’ is in a Scottish publication – Robert Petrie’s Third Collection of Strathspey Reels (1802). This tune has the unusual honour of being explicitly mentioned in Thomas Hardy’s short story ‘Absent Mindedness in a Parish Choir’ (from Life’s Little Ironies 1894). In Hardy’s story ‘Devil Amongst the Tailors’ is played at an inauspicious moment in place of the evening hymn, the title of the tune adding irony to the humorous set-up. As Barry Callaghan had it in Hardcore English (2007 p. 49) ‘Speed the Plough’ was “Composed by John Moorhead, a violinist at Covent Garden, for Thomas Dibdin’s Show The Naval Pillar in 1797, it was [then] used in Thomas Morton’s 1800 play Speed The Plough (which introduced the character of Mrs Grundy to the world) and quickly adopted that name.” Our version of ‘Speed the Plough’ comes from Peter Kennedy’s Fiddler’s Tune Book (1994). ‘Money Musk’ is credited to the Scottish fiddle player Daniel Dow (1732-1783). Dow published the tune in his Thirty Seven New Reels and Strathspeys (c.1780). The title probably takes its name from the Monymusk baronial estate, in Aberdeenshire.                                                                                       END