> The Watersons > Songs > Hal-an-Tow
> Shirley Collins > Songs > Hal-an-Tow
> Ashley Hutchings and The Albion Band > Songs > Hal-an-Tow

Hal-an-Tow

[Trad. arr. Watersons]

Sung by the Watersons (Lal, Mike and Norma Waterson and John Harrison) on their 1965 LP Frost and Fire and reissued on CD in 1990. It was also published on the Topic CD sampler The Season Round and in 2004 on the Watersons' 4CD anthology Mighty River of Song A.L. Lloyd commented in the original album's sleeve notes:

The green calendar of spring has many songs. dances and shows, particularly around the opening days of May. Here and there are clear traces of old cults and superstitions (well-dressing against droughts, etc.) but generally their original meaning is lost. So the customs are transformed into ritual spectacles, festivities, distractions, opportunities for a good time, such as the old May Games that once comprised four sections: the election and procession of the May king and queen: a sword or Morris dance of disguised men; a hobby horse dance; a Robin Hood play. The Hal-an-Tow song was sung for the procession that ushered in the summer. A variant of it still accompanies the Helston Furry Dance on May 8th.

Shirley Collins and the Albion Country Band sang Hal-an-Tow on their album No Roses. This was also included on the compilations Walking on the Moon and New Electric Muse II. She commented in her album notes:

Sung as a part of the May celebration in Helston, Cornwall.

Hal-an-Tow is an ancient ritual song, well known perhaps because of The Oyster Band version. I learned mine from a 1951 field recording, again from the BBC archives. Does it mean “heel-and-toe“ as part of the dance? I'm not sure - I like the mystery of words that have been unconsciously altered and made strange in the process of being handed down by word of mouth over the centuries. Nobody really knows precisely what they mean, there's an echo there of things past, which is a great part of their charm.

Bob Hudson notes:

The term “halan” means “calends,” or first of the month, and “tow” means “garland”. This is No. 135, under the title Helston Furry Dance, in Palmer's Everyman's Book of English Country Songs.

Source-note: Frost and Fire gives no indication as to where the Watersons may have learned Hal-an-Tow, but in his notes to the album, A. L. Lloyd states, “A variant of [this song] still accompanies the Helston Furry Dance on May 8.” The LP The Folk Songs of Britain, Volume 9: Songs of Ceremony (Topic LP 12T197, 1961) has precisely that variant. (Note that “variant” is the correct word here. Although the tune is basically the same as the one the Watersons sing, a fifth line is added to both the stanza and chorus that is not present in the Watersons' version.) The recording does not indicate who made the tape or when. My guess, based on other sources, is that it was recorded by the BBC on May 8, 1944.

In the town of Helston, Cornwall, May 8 is called Furry Day (the Feast of St. Michael), and a procession is held each year. Early in the morning, in former times, a group of revelers would rise early in the morning, gather green boughs, and dance through the city streets. The revelers themselves were referred to as Hal-an-Tow. In recent times, the celebration consists of a kind of snake dance through the streets - and even in the front door of some residences and out the back.

A recording from the Helston May 8 festivities by Peter Kennedy can be found on the Saydisc LP All Round England & Back Again. Unfortunately, the sleeve notes don't say when this recording took place.

Lyrics

The Watersons sing

Take no scorn to wear the horn
It was the crest when you was born
Your father's father wore it
And your father wore it too

Chorus (after each verse):
Hal-an-tow, jolly rumbalow
We were up long before the day-O
To welcome in the summer,
To welcome in the May-O
The summer is a-coming in
And winter's gone away-O

What happened to the Spaniards
That made so great a boast-O?
Why they shall eat the feathered goose
And we shall eat the roast-O

Robin Hood and Little John
Have both gone to the fair-O
And we will to the merry green wood
To hunt the buck and hare-O

God bless the merry Moses
And all that power and might-O
And send us peace to England
Send peace by day and night-O
  
Shirley Collins sings Helston recording

Robin Hood and Little John
They both are gone to fair-O
And we will to the greenwood
To see what they do there-O
And for to chase-O
To chase the buck and doe

Robin Hood and Little John
Are both gone to the fair-O
And we will to the merry greenwood
To see what they do there-O
And for to chase-O
To chase the buck and doe

Chorus (after each verse):
Hal-an-tow, jolly rumbalow
For we are up as soon as any day-O
For to fetch the summer home
The summer and the May-O
For summer is a-coming in
And winter is a-gone

Where are the Spaniards
That made so great a boast-O?
Why they shall eat the goose feather
And we shall eat the roast-O
In every land-O
The land where'er we go
Chorus (after each verse):
Hal-an-tow, jolly rumbalow
For we were up as soon as any day-O
And for to fetch the summer home
The summer and the May-O
For summer is a-come-O
And winter is a-gone-O

And as for our good knight St. George
St. George he was a knight-O
Of all the knights in Christendom
St. George he is the right-O
In every land-O
The land where'er we go

As for St. George-O
St. George he was the knight-O
Of all the knights in Christendom
St. George he had the right-O
In every land-O
The land where'er we go

But for a greater than St. George
Our Helston has the right-O
St. Michael with his wings outspread
The archangel so bright-O
Who fought the fiend-O
Of all mankind the foe

God bless our merry Moses
And all that power and might-O
And send us peace in England
Send peace by day and night-O
In merry England
Both now and evermore

Links

Mudcat Café thread about this song

Another Mudcat Café thread about this song: this one contains links to all the Mudcat files about this: see Malcolm Douglas's contribution

Acknowledgements

Transcribed from the singing of the Watersons by Garry Gillard