Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland

Subject: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From: GUEST,Carla
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 12:46 PM

I'm looking for the origins, in particular a rough time period, for a song called "Sarah" It's a traditional Irish/Newfounland song and the chorus is "Sarah, Sarah, will you come out tonight/Sarah, Sarah, the moon is shining bright/Put your hat and jacket on/tell your mother you won't be long/And I'll be waiting round the corner". I'd like to use the lyrics in a book I'm writing, but need to know roughly when the song was written, as the book is set in the late 1700s. Thanks in advance for any help. Carla

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From:
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 01:17 PM

Carla, we have the Lyrics and Knowledge Search box up at the top. Using it (actually the Advanced search), I was able to find this thread. Lyr/Chord Req: Sarah

Think it answers some of your questions. Or at least starts to.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 01:34 PM

You'd be looking for SARAH. The link is to the Digital Tradition file here; the line is usually "won't you come out tonight", which is probably why you weren't able to find it.

See also these earlier discussions:

im looking for chords to 'Sarah'  (the link is to the only post that contains substantive information).

Sarah: Traditional Newfoundland Folk song

No information there (or elsewhere on the web, so far as I can see) taking it back much beyond the 1950s. On the face of it, it looks like a popular-style song of the late 19th or early 20th century, but that's guesswork based on the writing style, and I haven't heard the tune. At any rate, it's very unlikely to be anywhere near old enough for your purposes, and it doesn't look Irish, either.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From:
Date: 10 Apr 05 - 01:37 PM

Well, it looks like all anyone can decide is that it IS traditional, and it IS from NEwfoundland. No one seems to place a date on it, or show an older song it might be derived from.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From: GUEST
Date: 07 Mar 12 - 05:04 PM

Sarah, Sarah, aren't you coming out tonight?
Sarah, Sarah, there's something in the pale moonlight,
Sarah, when we're sitting on the old back porch,
Tell your little brother not to shine his torch!
Oh, Sarah, Sarah, aren't you coming out tonight?

Sang by my family in the 1940s in (Sydney) Australia, to a totally different tune to the Newfoundland version. The lyrics above seem very much like a music hall ditty.

Nina Berry

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From: GUEST,999
Date: 07 Mar 12 - 05:29 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=CAecqqGVAgM

You can hear it there done by Buddy Wasisname and the Other Fellers.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From: Sandy Mc Lean
Date: 07 Mar 12 - 11:09 PM

I have a three year old grandaughter named Sarah. She loves it when I sing it to her! I first heard it from Buddy Wasisname.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From: GUEST,Linda in Lowestoft
Date: 20 Feb 14 - 04:05 PM

My grandmother used to sing this to me here inn Suffolk, England. I never knew the origin but she would now be 106 :)

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From: GUEST,Linda in LowestoftLinda
Date: 20 Feb 14 - 04:53 PM

Hello again, this thread did get me thinking. My grandmother came from a long line of traditional fishermen here on the east coast of england, suffolk, norfolk. She wud sing traditional songs. I didnt really think about the history of the song as a child but still sing it today. I did find this history link interesting http://m.planetsuffolk.com/site/mobile?dm_path=%2Fsuffolkpei.htm&fw_sig_access_token=a403d9096010070ad332cbaf71a1384e96315792&fw_sig_potential_abuse=1&fw_sig=bee4f4873d2da28a6f4e72e118f4abfd&fw_sig_session_key=695e03f6ee82c48b27ecdd27b191301873c647351840913dfd3ced273b85521f-69586837&fw_sig_tier=1&fw_sig_time=1392003453249&fw_sig_url=http://www.planetsuffolk.com/&fw_sig_api_key=522b0eedffc137c934fc7268582d53a1&fw_sig_locale=en-US&fw_sig_permission_level=0&fw_sig_permissions=none&fw_sig_site=69586837&fw_sig_premium=1&fw_sig_is_admin=0&fw_sig_social=1&fb_sig_network=fw#2123
and wonder maybe that the song was taken over to Canada from the east coast of England and thus being a traditional song of the period :) just a thought. Any one wanting to contact me can at [e-mail]

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From: Noreen
Date: 20 Feb 14 - 05:35 PM

A tidier link for Linda in Lowestoft:

Planet Suffolk: Bringing together the Suffolks of the world

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From: GUEST
Date: 21 Feb 14 - 02:50 AM

Thanks Noreen :) it was late here in uk and I was using my phone, couldn't really see what I was doing ;)

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 21 Feb 14 - 11:16 AM

Would suggest if you want to know anything about Newfoundland song, you contact Margaret Bennett at Gracenote Publications

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From: GUEST
Date: 01 Apr 14 - 11:25 PM

My great grandfather used to sing this song to me when I was a little girl. This would have been in the 1950's. He said he learned it as a young man in Ireland. My great grandparents immigrated to Canada shortly after they were married.
They would have been born around 1890.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From: GUEST,jim bainbridge
Date: 02 Apr 14 - 12:25 PM

Again, can I point out a wonderful new book/CD about the great Jerome Downey of Codroy Valley, Newfoundland, songs collected by Margaret Bennett and Kenneth S. Goldstein in 1980 and newly issued in an issue by Gracenote Publications called- 'Jerome- just one more song'. I've reviewed it on www.mustrad.org.uk so if you have any interest in Newfoundland song and its origins in UK & Ireland, don't miss this...

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From: GUEST,another sarah
Date: 16 Jan 17 - 09:00 AM

GUEST,
those lyrics you posted are the same ones my family sung to me as a kid and I was trying to find a version of it or at least some more info but I've turned up blank, all i can find on the internet is this thread. Do you have any idea who the artist is? Or anything else about it at all?

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 16 Jan 17 - 10:09 AM

Clues to the origins of songs can sometimes be found in the lyrics themselves. The electric torch wasn't invented until 1899 and in America and Canada it was/is called a flashlight. Presumably a flaming torch is not being referred to. Unfortunately there are lots of Music Hall songs that start their titles with the name Sarah as you would expect.

Subject: RE: Origins: Sarah -- traditional Irish/Newfoundland
From: meself
Date: 16 Jan 17 - 12:31 PM

Newfoundland was not part of Canada till 1949 - more than just a technical matter; much Nfld diction is not shared with the rest of North America. Having said that, I don't know if 'torch' for 'flashlight' was ever common usage there.

As for the OP - as with others, I would be doubtful if 'Sarah' is pre-19th century. And it would strike as out of place in a novel set in the 1700s. Most readers wouldn't think twice about it, of course. Wonder if it made it in? Carla - are you out there?