The Folk Song Army
Jan. 25th, 2006 09:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
resonantLast night, in my sleep, I became obsessed with the various folk songs about a racehorse named Skewball. I dreamed that I demanded information from the flist on whether there was any historical background for Skewball, and that ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
darthfox and ellen_fremedon both came up separately and informed me that the name "Skewball" was actually a corruption of something entirely different in Gaelic.
Which is plausible, actually, though it's not true.
Evidently Skewball was a historical figure, as was "the gray mare" from the song. There's some info at www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Skewball/Skewball1.html. And 'skewbald' is apparently an archaic word for piebald, whicih explains the odd name.
I don't have a copy of the Peter, Paul, and Mary song that was my first introduction to the story of Skewball (it's the same tune John Lennon used for "So This Is Christmas," if that helps you remember it). Oddly, I also don't have a copy of the closely related bluegrass song, "Molly and Tenbrooks," though it was one of the very first songs I learned to sing as a kid. But to pay you back for tolerating my rambling, I do have June Tabor's "Skewball," thanks totheamusedone.
darthfox and ellen_fremedon both came up separately and informed me that the name "Skewball" was actually a corruption of something entirely different in Gaelic.Which is plausible, actually, though it's not true.
Evidently Skewball was a historical figure, as was "the gray mare" from the song. There's some info at www.tbheritage.com/Portraits/Skewball/Skewball1.html. And 'skewbald' is apparently an archaic word for piebald, whicih explains the odd name.
I don't have a copy of the Peter, Paul, and Mary song that was my first introduction to the story of Skewball (it's the same tune John Lennon used for "So This Is Christmas," if that helps you remember it). Oddly, I also don't have a copy of the closely related bluegrass song, "Molly and Tenbrooks," though it was one of the very first songs I learned to sing as a kid. But to pay you back for tolerating my rambling, I do have June Tabor's "Skewball," thanks to
theamusedone.