I was researching another song, and I came across the Traditional Ballad Index entry for "On Ilkla Moor Bah T'at," which says the song is sung to the tune of the hymn "Cranbrook" ("Ilkla" is sometimes called Ilkley Moor). If you Click here you will be wafted away to the Christian Classic Ethereal Library's entry for the tune, with MIDI and sheet music. You can Click here for historical information on the "Ilkla Moor" song, including the contention that it was first published as sheet music in 1916, and identification of "Cranbrook" as a Methodist hymn, written in 1805.
Here is the entry from the Ballad Index:
On Ilkla Moor Bah T'at
DESCRIPTION: On the dangers of visiting the moor without a hat: One singer tells the other he has been (courting) on the moor without a hat. He is told he'll die of cold. They will bury him, and worms will eat him; ducks will eat them, people eat ducks, and so it goes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917
KEYWORDS: clothes courting disease death
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North),Wales)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kennedy 303, "On Ilkla Moor Bah T'at" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 26, "Ilkley Moor Baht 'At" (1 text)
DT, ILKLAMOR
Notes: Kennedy reports, "The author of this local dialect song is supposed to have been a Thomas Clark who wrote it in 1805 to the hymn tune Cranbrook. Who he was or how the song came to be are not known. Yorkshire men all the world over regard the song with ritualistic respect." - RBW
File: K303Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index InstructionsThe Ballad Index Copyright 2000 by Robert B. Waltz and David G. Engle.
OK, so that's the background information. Now, here's my question: Can anybody find hymn lyrics that were sung to this tune? I've checked several hymnals with no luck - I even checked an 1878 Methodist Hymnal. I suppose if I ever heard this in church, I'd start laughing because I'd immediately relate it to "Ilkla Moor." The "Ilkla Moor" lyrics are in the Digital Tradition, but I'm looking for the hymn lyrics.
-Joe Offer-