The late John Denver was known for many songs. But I was not familiar with this until I started using youtube. Bells of Rhymny was written by Pete Seegar. John Denver performs this song beautifully.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KUc41gKw0iQ

This must be based on the children's song "Oranges and Lemons." I wonder if there is a Pete Seeger version somewhere?

First I heard of Wales being 'in the west of this country '(as he has it) To the West of it, yes, but the Welsh are a strange lot who think, reasonably, that they have their own country, with a border with England , their own language and everything.(Their national anthem, in Welsh, of course, is all about going back to it, which must make it the only national song predicated on the singers being somewhere else ) 'In the West' makes Wales sound like Devon.

Yes, dg, the whole idea of the song is definitely that of Oranges and Lemons ('say the bells of Saint Clemens'). But he left out the bit about 'and here comes the chopper to chop off your head'!

In 1957, protest singer Pete Seeger wrote The Bells of Rhymney, one of his most famous songs which he first recorded live at New York's Carnegie Hall.

But its origins can be traced back to the 1926 General Strike, when budding poet Idris Davies vowed to educate himself and leave behind the his life of toil as a miner in Rhymney.

The poem, published by Davies in his first book Gwalia Deserta in 1938, had been inspired by the hardship of the mining communities, and was written in a style similar to the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons. - http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southeast/sites/caerphilly/p...bellsofrhymney.shtml

(Good site, that BBC.com. You should look it up some time, dg. )

Pete Seegar - The Bells of Rhymney

Roger McGuinn - The Bells Of Rhymney

Don Maclean on Banjo (Bad Audio)

Thanks, DG. Unfortunately, the Seeger version is only available in the US. I think the Don Maclean version was better than John Denver, even with the bad audio.... sorry, LR.

Fred:

quote:

Yes, dg, the whole idea of the song is definitely that of Oranges and Lemons ('say the bells of Saint Clemens'). But he left out the bit about 'and here comes the chopper to chop off your head'!

Here comes a candle to light you to bed
And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!
Chip chop chip chop - The last man's dead.


I always liked those last lines. I probably hung around outside Newgate in a past life

"I probably hung around outside Newgate in a past life Big Grin"

quote:

Originally posted by dg:
Thanks, DG. Unfortunately, the Seeger version is only available in the US. I think the Don Maclean version was better than John Denver, even with the bad audio.... sorry, LR.

Fact of the matter is I wasn't aware of these other versions. The real bonus here is I now have seen it played on the banjo, of which I'm taking lessons on. So this will be a future project for me to work on

DG-Thank you for the added links & information. I had not anticipated this much response to the topic. I consider the new information & youtube links to be another bonus.

No, the thanks is to you, LR. I wasn't even aware of the song. It's always good to see what others are listening to. I wish more people would post music clips.
And DG, less of the eye rolling. My puns are no worse than yours, or, jr and Fred's for that matter

By the way, the place in the song title isn't pronounced 'Rim-ni' .It's 'Rum-ni'.John Denver does avoid other traps though.He must have had some guidance. He gets Rhondda and Merthyr right ( they're 'Ron-tha' and 'Mur-tha').And Blaenau as 'Blai-na' is accepted locally in 'the Valleys'. Welsh purists would have it as Blai-now.( Welsh speakers would pronounce Dylan Thomas as 'Dull-an' Thomas but he, no Welsh speaker, called himself 'Dillan', so they have to make an exception in his case too)

Rehearing the clip,the reference to Wales is worse than thought.He doesn't say it's in the West. He says it's in the western part of your country.This means war!