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I was recently approached by Feter McBlues about an old English folk song he'd recorded on his mandolin and wanted me to sing for him. When he sent me the backing track I was bowled over by it ... the simplicity and fragile delicacy of it really touched me on a deep level. It sounded like a medieval recording which had somehow spun its way down the centuries.
I've done my best to sing it in the same spirit as Feter's original track, with the same fragility and honesty.
The song is hundreds of years old and exists in many versions ... it's also sometimes known as The North Country Maid. It certainly resonates for me because I'm a country girl and loathe London!
For those who don't know Feter, he's an Iraqi musician from Baghdad and creates his music under circumstances very different from mine. The fact that my country is embroiled in the military occupation of his makes this collaboration all the more poignant for me, especially as the song is about homesickness. It certainly brought me to the verge of tears while I was recording it.
I'm afraid if you're looking for technical perfection you won't find it ... this is lo-fi magic.
Rebsie: voice
Feter: 4-string mandolin
I've done my best to sing it in the same spirit as Feter's original track, with the same fragility and honesty.
The song is hundreds of years old and exists in many versions ... it's also sometimes known as The North Country Maid. It certainly resonates for me because I'm a country girl and loathe London!
For those who don't know Feter, he's an Iraqi musician from Baghdad and creates his music under circumstances very different from mine. The fact that my country is embroiled in the military occupation of his makes this collaboration all the more poignant for me, especially as the song is about homesickness. It certainly brought me to the verge of tears while I was recording it.
I'm afraid if you're looking for technical perfection you won't find it ... this is lo-fi magic.
Rebsie: voice
Feter: 4-string mandolin
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Lyrics
A north country maid to London has strayed
Although with her nature it did not agree
She's wept and she's sighed, she's wrung her hands and cried
Oh I wish once again in the north I could be
Now sadly I roam and lament my dear home
Where lads and lasses are making the hay
Oh the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree
They flourish at home in my own country
Oh the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree
They flourish at home in my own country
No doubt if I please I could marry with ease
Where bonnie lasses are, soon lovers will come
But the lad that I wed must be north country bred
And carry me back to my north country home
Oh the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree
They flourish at home in my own country
I like not the court, nor the city resort,
Since there is no fancy for such maids as me
Oh the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree
They flourish at home in my own country
Although with her nature it did not agree
She's wept and she's sighed, she's wrung her hands and cried
Oh I wish once again in the north I could be
Now sadly I roam and lament my dear home
Where lads and lasses are making the hay
Oh the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree
They flourish at home in my own country
Oh the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree
They flourish at home in my own country
No doubt if I please I could marry with ease
Where bonnie lasses are, soon lovers will come
But the lad that I wed must be north country bred
And carry me back to my north country home
Oh the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree
They flourish at home in my own country
I like not the court, nor the city resort,
Since there is no fancy for such maids as me
Oh the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree
They flourish at home in my own country
thoddi
Another excellent example of the power of macjams.
It's good to see what magic can come from this place:)
Beautiful work from both of you.