One more song. This has been sung on the radio by Pyewackett (among others) and starts 'Oh dear what a pity, ----- Golden city' and a variation is Emerald city. The next verse starts 'the wind blows high the wind blows low', and the chorus includes 'going faster, going faster' Has anyone got all the words, title and possible recording?

satguru

I've been IM'd the answer, it's a Scottish folk song called 'The wind, the wind'. Pyewackett sing a totally different version (my favourite one) and the chorus is 'ai ai ouster ai ai ouster ai ai ouster ai ai ou'. The verse I quoted goes: The wind, the wind, the wind blows high, The rain comes scattering from the sky; Lizzie Johnston says she'll die For all the boys on the rolling tide. She is handsome, she is pretty, She is the flower of the golden city; She is just by one, two, three; Pray come tell me who shall be. The complete song (a long one!) is here http://sniff.numachi.com/~rickheit/dtrad/pages/tiILLTEL3.html Feb 10 06, 9:39 AM

Baloo55th

The chorus also appears as 'She is the belle of Belfast City' with 'I'll tell me ma when I get home / The boys won't leave the girls alone / They tore my scarf and stole my comb / But that's all right till I get home' or something very similar. For other possible versions, refer to the archive on www.mudcat.org. Feb 10 06, 2:11 PM

satguru

That is a strange variation, as technically the two songs, while being different, overlap in many places so must share the same root. Tell my ma is Irish, and has a different tune for the verse, but very similar words and music in the chorus, whereas The wind is Scottish, apparently originally from Orkney and then spread across the mainland. But the version I know had the same tune but different chorus, and the whole lot focused on the golden city rather than the girl. I never realised how much history I'd discover by getting into folk music! Feb 10 06, 5:19 PM