Twa Corbies - Steeleye Span video free download

Sam Pajanna

This is a beautiful tune. To hell with nationalism, music is beyond such childish political stupidity. Way beyond.

Mjodulf

As I was walking all alaneI heard twa corbies makin' mane;And tane ontae the tither did say,“Where shall we gang and dine the dayWhere shall we gang and dine the day?”“In behind yon aul fail dykeI wot there lies a new slain knight;And naebody kens that he lies there-oBut his hawk and his hound and his lady fair-o,His hawk and his hound and his lady fair.”His hawk is tae the hunting gane,His hound to fetch the wildfowl hame;His lady has ta'en anither mate-oSo we may make our dinner sweet-o,We may make our dinner sweet”“Ye'll sit on his white hause-baneAnd I'll pike out his bonny blue een;With many a lock of his golden hair-oWe'll theek our nest when it grows bare-o,Theek our nest when it grows bare.”“Many a one for him makes maneBut nane shall ken where he is gane;O'er his white bones when they are bare-oThe wind shall blow for evermare-o,The wind shall blow for evermare.”

wardog91

I had read this as a mocking of the reasons for battle. His death has become meaningless except for the dining of the ravens. This and Three Ravens are VERY distinct. In this version, everyone (hawk, dog, and woman) desert him.

Karen Varian

I love this version of Twa Corbies, Maddie Prior, ahhhh....

58TWODOGS

in triplicate no carbon paper

hawkmoon03111951

@RavenAshbourneBlack You seem to forget that the French connection to England is even stronger. Many of our words have French formations. The border lands of medieval Britain had many shared words too. I have already stated that this is a Scottish version. The actual origin of the song is nowhere near so clear. Not that any of it matters. The song stands, on its own, as something to be enjoyed.

Lowkey Liesmith

@hawkmoon03111951 it's scots by origin, only scots call ravens corbies, from the french corbeu, the french connection to scotland goes back to mary queen of scots, and even before, robert the bruce is from bruges

hawkmoon03111951

@DeoMachina You may be right, but my chip is not with the Scots it's with the English who hate anything to do with England, it's history, it's culture and wish to destroy it. As for the song being Scottish, well I've also heard that this tune is from Breton. Who knows what it's origin? The whole point is that it is a great tune and poem.

DeoMachina

@hawkmoon03111951 You've got a wee bit of a chip on your shoulder eh? Wouldn't the song be Scottish if it was written prior to the Union?

Brent Fielden

@hawkmoon03111951 sweet thanks love this song.

hawkmoon03111951

@TheHummingbirdsong It's off 'Hark the Village Wait'.

Brent Fielden

Which album is this off of

Nigel Longhurst

Who cares (of even knows) in which corner of these geographically-linked and culturally interbred islands this song orginated. It's by Anon - and that's good enough for me. What many people seem to miss - and I did too, until a very wise English lit teacher pointed it out - is that the reason that only 'his hawk and his hound and his lady fair' know that 'he lies there-o', is because his lady killed him. Discuss.... (1000 words on my desk by Friday :) )

hawkmoon03111951

I can believe that. The Scots and Irish have always been an irritable lot. They kept trying to let the French in to invade England through the back door. Mind you the main reason for the war of independance was the old familiar one. Greed. The colonial businessmen wanted a bigger cut.

fartyfairy

@locheelad2 Loch Lomond was written by a Lady sombody or other and she used the irish tune RED IS THE ROSE. I have seen this in songbooks in the past. tonight i researched the tune red is the rose so to learn it and found it to be the same as Loch Lomond. The Irish song is older as far as i know. funny enough i was browsing folk tunes on here and saw your comment. : )

George Davy

It is a border ballad from the Scot-English border. Until the union the language of the northern English and Scots was the same, derived from old Northumbrian. Much like the Kielder Hunt is a Northumbrian song but might seem Scottish to many.

humptyflippingdumpty

Mine was vinyl. I bought the CD last year from HMV online

hawkmoon03111951

Tunes in folk music are inter-changeable. Much like the old hymns. You are right in that the version I have posted is Scottish, but until the union is disolved, it is also British. Luckily for the Scots they can claim things are Scottish. To claim something is English is to run the risk of being accused of 'racism'.

hawkmoon03111951

As with most folk songs the 'actual' original is lost to obscurity. Most of them have several regional variants. 'Twa Corbies' is a variant of 'The three Ravens'. They developed in the British Isles (although there are probably very similar songs on the continent, who influenced who?).

celtmaiden

one of my favourite ballads - hauntingly beautiful. thanks for this!

Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span - Cold, haily, windy night

Omnia

Omnia - Twa Corbiez

Twa corbies

Twa corbies - Two Ravens, English folk ballad, Pied Pipers.