Key signature: Dmajor
Submitted on September 29th 2002 by glauber.
This tune has been added to 175 tunebooks.
Also known as Beauty In Tears, Llwyn Onn, The Master Hath Come, Sir Watkin William Wynn.
Recordings of a tune by this name:
X: 1
T: Ash Grove, The
M: 3/4
L: 1/8
R: waltz
K: Dmaj
|: "A"A2 | "D"d2f2ag | "D"f2d2d2 | "G"e2 gfed | "A"c2A2A2 |
"D"d2fedc | "G"B2G2B2 | "D"A2d2"A7"c2 | "D"d4 :||: e/f/g |
"D"a2fgab | "D"a2g2f2 | "A"g2efga | "A7"g2f2e2 | "D"f2defg |
"Bm"f2e2d2 | "A"c2a2"E"^g2 | "A"a4 A2 | "D"d2f2ag | f2d2d2 |
"G"e2gfed | "A"c2A2A2 | "D"d2fedc | "G"B2G2B2 | "D"A2d2"A"c2 | "D"d4 :||
Ash Grove
We sang this in church today, and can't get the melody out of me head, so here goes.
I'd normally notate like this (using 1/4 as base instead of 1/8):
X:15
T:Ash Grove
R:waltz
M:3/4
L:1/4
K:D
|: "A"A | "D"dfa/g/ | "D"fdd | "G"eg/f/e/d/ | "A"cAA |
"D"df/e/d/c/ | "G"BGB | "D"Ad"A"c | "D"d2 :||: e//f//g/ |
"D"af/g/a/b/ | "D"agf | "A"ge/f/g/a/ | "A7"gfe | "D"fd/e/f/g/ |
"Bm"fed | "A"ca"E"^g | "A"a2 A | "D"dfa/g/ | "D"fdd |
"G"eg/f/e/d/ | "A"cAA | "D"df/e/d/c/ | "G"BGB | "D"Ad"A7"c | "D"d2 :||
This is supposedly a Welsh tune. The "Fiddler's Companion" confirms:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?X17B122F1
I believe it shows up in O'Carolan's repertoire too.
I think this is a nice lively waltz, that can take a fair amount of ornamentation without losing its character.
# Posted on September 29th 2002 by glauber
Ashgrove
Unfortunately in England tune is used for ribald Rugby club verses
-the oppposite of church usage.
# Posted on September 29th 2002 by timjellies
My mother has a little rhyme to the first part of the tune, which she picked up in the school playground in Liverpool:
My teacher is a bunion,
Her face is a pickled onion,
Her nose is a squashed tomato,
And her hair is barbed wire.
Never underestimate the importance of childrens rhymes in traditional music.
# Posted on September 29th 2002 by CreadurMawnOrganig
David, you call that bawdy lyrics? I'm sure the English can do much better!
# Posted on September 30th 2002 by glauber
Equine italian person
well,the version i know involves a 'big' italian fella and it's far too rude to post here but a censored first line goes something like:
(please stop reading if these sort of things offend you)
there was an italian,with b**** like a f****** stallion
and the hairs on his ********* reached down to the floor...
...it continues in similar fashion.if you want to know the rest,ask a rugby player.
by the way,i always thought this was an english tune but that's probably because we used to sing it at school. not the above version,of course!
# Posted on September 30th 2002 by biggus dave
Well, Glauber, my mother grew up in a rather middle-class suburb of Liverpool, and it was the 1940s. What's more, if she did know a less genteel version of the song, she'd hardly teach it to her son, would she?
# Posted on October 4th 2002 by CreadurMawnOrganig
Definitely a Welsh tune. My Welsh grandmother used to sing it to me in Welsh when I was a child, but I'm blowed if I can remember any of the words after all these years. If I can track them down I'll post them. Incidentally, any Welsh version should be "clean". Welsh apparently has no native swear words; about the worst thing you can call someone in Welsh is "mochyn", meaning "pig", possibly with the addition of the Welsh word for "dung". If you hear a Welsh person using swear words while speaking Welsh the chances are that they are words imported from the English.
trevor
# Posted on December 4th 2002 by Trevor Jennings
There are numerous Welsh versions; I don't now know which one my Welsh grandmother sang, so of several I've chosen this one ("Llwyn Onn" - "llwyn" means "grove", and "onn" means "ash tree")
Yn Nyffryn Llwyn Onn draw mi welais hardd feinwen
A minnau'n hamddena 'rol byw ar y don;
Gwyn ewyn y lli oedd ei gwisg, a disgleirwen
A'r glasfor oedd llygaid Gwen harddaf Llwyn Onn.
A ninnau'n rhodiana drwy'r lonydd i'r banna,
Sibrydem i'n gilydd gyfrinach byd serch;
A phan ddaeth hi'n adeg ffarwelio a'r wiwdeg,
Roedd tannau fy nghalon yng ngofal y ferch.
Cyn dychwel i borthladd wynebwn y tonnau,
Ond hyfryd yw'r hafan 'rol dicter y don;
Bydd melys anghofio her greulon y creigiau--
Un felly o'wn innau 'rol cyrraedd Llwyn Onn.
A thawel mordwyo wnaf mwyach a Gwenno
Yn llong fach ein bwthyn a hi wrth y llyw;
A hon fydd yr hafan ddiogel a chryno
I'r morwr a'i Wenno tra byddwn ni byw.
For further detailed information about this tune and many different sets of lyrics in English and Welsh go to www.gurman.org/ashgrove, which is dedicated to this tune. On gurman's site you will also find the "Mayor of Bayswater's Daughter" version which Jeremy would most certainly not allow on thesession.org!
trevor
# Posted on December 4th 2002 by Trevor Jennings
I've always liked this tune; it's one of the most beautiful tunes I've heard. It has a very sad sort of sound to it.
-Max
# Posted on December 4th 2003 by Max Becher
Turlough O'Carolan
Accually, Carolan was the orriginal composer of a song called "Beauty in Tears." someone took this peice and changed it up a whole lot and put lyrics to it and called it "The Ash Grove." It makes me angry to think that Carolan basicly created this peice but got zip credit. grrrrrr
# Posted on March 12th 2008 by un0111
Also sung as a hymn
Very lovely tune! This is also a hymn called 'The Master Hath Come'. Here are the verses:
The Master hath come, and he calls us to follow
The trach of the footprints He leaves on our way;
Far over the mountain and through the deep hollow,
The path leads us on to the mansions of day:
The Master hath called us, the children who fear him,
Who march 'neath Christ's banner, His own little band;
We love Him and seek Him, we long to be near him,
And rest inthe light of His beautiful land.
The Master hath called us; the road may be dreary,
And dangerous and sorrows strewn on the track;
But God's Holy Spirit shall comfort the weary;
We follow the Saviour and can not turn back;
The Master hath called us: though doubt and temptation
May compass our journey, we cheerfully sing:
"Press onward, look upward," thro' much tribulation;
The children of Zion must follow thier King.
The Master hath called us, in life's early morning,
With spirits as fresh as the dew on the sod:
We turn from the world, with its smiles and its scorning,
To cast in our lot with the people of God:
The Master hath called us, His sons and His daughters,
We plead for his blessing and trust in His love;
And through the green pastures, beside the still waters,
He'll lead us at last to His kingdom above.
Sara
# Posted on January 2nd 2009 by Celtic Lass