From: jonb@Ingres.COM (Jon Berger)
Subject: Re: REQ Black Velvet Band-Irish Trad
Reply-To: jonb@ingres.com
Organization: Ingres, an ASK Company
Date: 13 Nov 92 00:53:49 GMT

>In article <Nov.12.18.03.00.1992.15613@andromeda.rutgers.edu>, dmr@andromeda.rutgers.edu (Daniel Rosenblum) writes:
>         D
> 1. In a neat little town they call Belfast,
>                               A7
>    Apprenticed to trade I was bound,
>        D       A7           D
>    And many an hour's sweet happiness
>           A7                        D
>    Have I spent in that neat little town.

Teensy quibble: it's very common to play a Bm at the end of the
penultimate line.

Which reminds me, does everyone here know about Martin Leclerc's
wonderful "chord" program?  This is exactly the sort of situation it's
meant for: you give it a plain-text input file, with a very simple
format and suitable for email transmission, and it reformats it into
Postscript, with the chords over the syllables they go with, and with
all sorts of nifty options like 2-up/4-up and page numbering.  It even
(optionally) prints out guitar tab for all the chords used in the song,
and it knows how to transpose.  It's available by anonymous FTP from
either of these places:

   freja.diku.dk  /music/programs/chord-1.2.shar.part.1
                                  chord-1.2.shar.part.2
 
 
   lth.se  /archive2/netnews/alt.sources/volume92/sep/chord.v1.2.part.1_2.Z
                                                      chord.v1.2.part.2_2.Z

I realize that not everyone is blessed with access to Postscript printers,
but for those who are, I highly recommend this utility.  Just as an
example, here's the same song formatted as an input file for chord:

---------- Cut here ---------------------------------- Cut here ----------
{title:Black Velvet Band}
{st:according to Seeger and MacColl}
In a [D]neat little town they call Belfast,
Apprenticed to trade I was [A7]bound,
And [D]many an [A7]hour's sweet [D]happi[Bm]ness
Have I [A7]spent in that neat little [D]town.

A [D]bad misfortune came [G]over [D]me,
And caused me to stray from the [A7]land,
A[D]way from my [A7]friends and rel[D]at[Bm]ions,
Be[A7]trayed by the black velvet [D]band.

{start_of_chorus}
Her [D]eyes they shone like diamonds,
I thought her the queen of the [A7]land,
And her [D]hair it hung [A7]over her [D]shoul[Bm]ders,
Tied [A7]up with a black velvet [D]band.
{end_of_chorus}

I [D]took a stroll down Broadway,
Meaning not long for to [A7]stay,
When [D]who should I [A7]see but a [D]pretty fair [Bm]maid,
Come [A7]tripping along the path[D]way.

She [D]was both fair and handsome,
Her neck it was just like the [A7]swan,
And her [D]hair it hung [A7]over her [D]shoul[Bm]ders,
Tied [A7]up with a black velvet [D]band.

{c: chorus}

I [D]took a stroll with this [G]pretty fair [D]maid,
And a gentleman passing us [A7]by,
I [D]knew she [A7]meant a [D]doing for [Bm]him
By the [A7]look in her roguish black [D]eye.

His [D]watch she took from his pocket,
And placed it right into my [A7]hand,
And the [D]very next [A7]thing that I said [Bm]was:
"Bad [A7]luck to the black velvet [D]band."

{c: chorus}

Be[D]fore the judge and jury,
Next morning I had to ap[A7]pear;
The [D]judge he [A7]said to [D]me: "Young [Bm]man,
Your [A7]case it is proved [D]clear.

"We'll give [D]you seven years penal [G]servi[D]tude,
To be [D]spent right away from your [A7]land,
Far a[D]way from your [A7]friends and rel[D]at[Bm]ions,
Be[A7]trayed by the black velvet [D]band.

{c: chorus}

So come [D]all you jolly young fellows,
I'll have you take warning by [A7]me,
When [D]you are [A7]out on the [D]liquor, my [Bm]boys,
Be[A7]ware of your pretty [D]coleen.

They'll [D]treat you to strong [G]drink, my [D]boys,
Till [D]you are not able to [A7]stand,
And be[D]fore you have [A7]time to [D]leave [Bm]them,
They'll [A7]land you in Van Dieman's [D]Land.

{c: chorus}
---------- Cut here ---------------------------------- Cut here ----------


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
   -__ __ /_   Jon Berger              "If you push something hard enough,
  //_// //_/   jonb@ingres.com          it will fall over."
_/ ---------                              - Fudd's First Law of Opposition