Notes on the Sword Dancers' song and Interlude.
By
John Stokoe.
Monthly Chronicle: North-Country Lore and Legend, (Dec. 1887) pp. 462-5

With the advent of Christmas each year there comes a revival of some of the quaint and curious customs which marked the Yule Tide of our forefathers, and which are now slowly dying out. The play or interlude of the sword dancers (or guizards), which is still exhibited at this season in the streets and towns of the Wear and Tyne, is of ancient origin, and has been practised and played in all parts of Great Britain, from Cornwall to the remote Islets of Scotland; and it is curious to find one play with unimportant variations preserved traditionally by the common people in parts of the island so distant from each other and in many respects so different.

Of the origin of this antique custom little is known. One antiquary (Wallis) thinks the sword dance is the Antic dance or Chorus Armatus of the Romans. Brand supposes that it is a composition made up of the gleanings of several obsolete customs anciently followed in England and other countries. The Germans still practice the Sword Dance at Easter; and Sir Walter Scott gives an account of a similar play, in notes to his novel of "The Pirate" as performed in Scotland.

The performance in Northumberland and Durham is chiefly undertaken by pitmen, who, during the holidays, in parties of a dozen or more, each with a sword by his side, and clad in white shirts profusely decorated with ribbons f various colours, resort to the towns that perform the plays, accompanied by songs and music. The Captain of the band, who usually wears a cocked hat and peacock feathers in it by way of a cockade, is attended by a clown, or Bessy, who acts as treasurer and collects the money.

The Captain forms a circle, round which he walks; The Bessy opens the proceeding by singing the first verse, the Captain following by introducing the various characters personified in singing the succeeding verses. The fiddler accompanies the song in unison with the voice, repeating the air at the end of each stanza, forming an interlude between the verses, during which the characters as introduced by the singer make their bow, walk round and join the circle.

The Bessy chants:
        Good Gentlemen, all to our Captain take heed,
        And hear what he's going for to sing;
        He's lived among music forty long year,
        And drunk of the elegant {1} spring.


Sword Dance Song Music

The Captain then proceeds with the:-

Sword Dance Song
        Six actors I have brought who were ne're n the stage before,
        But they will do their best, and the best can do no more.

        The first that I call in, he is a squires son,
        He's like to love his sweetheart, because he is to young,
        Although he be to young, he has money for to give,
        And he will freely spend it all before he'll lose his love.

        The next that I call in, he is a tailor fine;
        What think you of his work? He made this coat of mine.
        So comes good master Snip his best respects to pay,
        He joins us in our trip to drive dull care away.

        The next that I shall call in, he is a soldier bold;
        He's come to poverty by spending of his gold:
        But though he all has spent, again he'll plough the main,
        With heart both light and brave, he'll fight both France and Spain.

        Next comes a keelman bold; he'll do his part right weel,
        A clever blade, I'm told, as ever puoyed a keel;
        He is a bonny lad, as you must understand;
        It's he can dance on deck, and you'll see him dance on land.

        To join us in this play here comes Jolly Dog
        Who's sober all the day when he can get no grog;
        But though he likes his grog, as all his friends do say,
        He always likes it best when he has nowt to pay.

        Last I come in myself, the leader of this crew,
        And if you'd know my name, my name is True Blue.

Here the Bessy gives an account of himself:-
        My mother was burnt as a witch,
        My father hanged on a tree,
        And it's because I'm a fool
        There's nobody meddled wi' me.

The dance then commences. It is an ingenuous performance, and the swords of the performers are placed in a variety of graceful positions so as to form stars, hearts, squares, circles etc. The dance is so elaborate that the performance requires frequent rehearsals, a quick eye, and a strict adherence to time and tune. Before it concludes the actors become disorderly, and are soon fighting. One character, who rushes in to make peace, receives his death blow, and is laid on the ground, while the others walk round singing the following verses in slow time:-

        Alas! our Parson's dead, and on the ground is laid;
        Some of us will suffer for't, young men, I'm sore afraid.

        I'm sure 'twas none of me, I'm clear of that crime;
        'Twas him that follows me that drew his sword so fine.

        I'm sure it was not me, I'm clear of the fact;
        'Twas him that follows me that did this dreadful act.

The Bessy sings:-
        Cheer up, cheer up, my bonny lads, and be of courage brave;
        We'll take him to his church, and bury him in the grave.

Captain:         Oh! for a doctor, a right good doctor - a ten pound doctor, oh!

Doctor:         Here am I.

Captain:         Doctor, what is your fee?

Doctor:         Ten pounds is my fee;
        But nine pounds nineteen shillings and eleven pence three farthings
        Will I take from thee.
         {Sings}
        See here - see here - a doctor rare,
        Who travels much at home;
        Come, take my pills - they cure all ills,
        Past, present, and to come.
        The plague, the palsy, and the gout,
        The devil within and the devil without;
        Everything but a love-sick maid
        And consumption in the pocket.

        Take a little of my nif-naf,
        Put it on you tif-taf,
        Parson, rise and fight again,
        The doctor says you are not slain.

The Parson gradually recovers, which is the signal for general rejoicing and congratulation.

Captain:{ sings }         You've seen them all called in, you've seen them all go round,
            Wait but a little time, some pastime will be found.

        Coxgreen's a bonny place, when water washes clean;
        And Painshaw's on a hill, where we have merry been.

        Then, fiddler, change thy tune, play us a merry jig;
        Before I will be beat, I'll pawn both hat and wig.

        Our play is at an end, and now we'll taste your cheer.
        We wish you a merry Christmas, and a happy New Year.

The Bessy:         And your pockets full of brass,
             And your cellars full of beer.

The ceremony concludes with a general dance to the tune of "Kitty Bo-bo." Our version is collated with Topliffe's and with that in Sir Cuthbert Sharp's "Bishopric Garland," and the music from the "Northumbrian Minstrelsy" published by the Newcastle Society of Antiquaries in 1882.

Kitty Bo-Bo Music

The version given below is the one now commonly sung by the pitmen from Earsdon, who have for above thirty years been accustomed to visit Alnwick Castle at Christmas. The rhythm of the verse requires a different tune to the one ancentley used, and is not incidental to the song.


Alternative song music

'Tis not for your gold or your silver,
Nor yet for the gain of your gear,
But we come just to take a week's pleasure,
To welcome the incoming year.
My lads they are all fit for action,
With spirits and courage bold;
They are born of a noble extraction,
Their fathers were heroes old.

Now this is the son of brave Elliott,
The first youth that enters the ring;
So proudly rejoice I to tell it,
He fought for his country and king.
When the Spaniards besieged Gibraltar,
Bold Elliott defended the place,
Soon caused them their plans for to alter:
Some died - others fell in disgrace.

Now my next handsome youth that does enter
Is a boy there are very few such;
His father beat that great De Winter,
And defeated the fleet of the Dutch.
His father was the great lord Duncan,
Who played the Dutch ne'er such a prank,
That they from their harbours ran funkin',
And they fled to the great Dogger Bank.

This one is the son of Lord Nelson,
That hero that fought at the Nile,
Few men with such courage and talent,
The Frenchman he did them beguile.
The Frenchmen they nearly decoyed him,
But the battle he managed so well,
In their fortress he wholly destroyed them,
Scarce one got off home for to tell.

Now my next handsome youth that does enter,
Is a boy of ability bright;
Five thousand gold guineas I'd venture,
That he, like his father, would fight.
At Waterloo and Tarryvary, {2}
Lord Wellington made the French fly;
You scarcely can find such another,
He'd conquer or else he would die.

Now my last handsome youth that does enter,
Is a boy that is both straight and tall;
He is the son of the great Bonoparte,
The hero that cracked the whole all.
He went over the Lowlands like thunder,
Made nations to quiver and quake;
Many thousands stood gazing in wonder,
At the havoc he always did make.

Now you see all my five heroes,
My five mobile heroes by birth,
And they each bear as good character
As any five heroes on earth:
If they be as good as their fathers,
Their deeds are deserving records.
It is all the whole company desires,
To see how they handle their swords.

The Sword Dance then follows as in the older version, usually to a tune in 6/8 time, selected by the fiddler's repository.

Notes:
1: "Helicon" observes Sir Cuthbert Sharp, "is of course the true reading."
2: Query: Torres Vedris.



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