From: Frederick.A.Ringwald@dartmouth.edu (Frederick A. Ringwald)
Newsgroups: rec.music.gdead,rec.music.folk,rec.music.early,rec.music.dylan
Subject: Answer: Fennario/Peggy-O
Date: 27 Sep 92 02:53:51 GMT
Organization: Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
X-Posted-From: InterNews1.0a5@newshost.dartmouth.edu

Some time ago I posted an inquiry on the origin of the song "Fennario,"
also called "Peggy-O". Various versions of this song, under various
titles, have been recorded by various artists, including Joan Baez, Bob
Dylan, the Clancy brothers, Judy Collins, and Simon and Garfunkel. Oh,
and some other band you might have heard about, too. 

I found a version of this song surprisingly similar to the one I am
used to in the collection of Cecil J. Sharp, edited by Maud Karpeles,
of _English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians_, Vol. II (Oxford
Univ. Press, 1932), p. 59. The notes say it was sung by Mrs. Combs,
Knott Co., Ky., 1908. Three other versions of this song follow, all
significantly different. The notes on p. 387 say:

   Texts without tunes: 
      Gavin Grieg's Folk-Song of the North-East, i, art. 15. 
      Ford's Vagabond Songs and Ballads, p. 121. 
      Broadside, 'Pretty Peggy of Derby', by Pitts.
   Text with tune: Christie's Traditional Ballad Airs, i. 276.

  'Pretty Girl of Derby O,' is the name of the air to which 
      Thomas Moore, under the mistaken impression that it was 
      an Irish tune, set his 'Evelyn's Bower'. In the set
      given by Ford, cited above, the scene is laid in Derby, but in
      Christie's version and the two variants noted by Gavin Grieg, 
      Fyvie is substituted for Derby.

Fennario or Peggy-O is not in the famous collection of English and
Scottish popular ballads of Francis James Child, although it seems
related to some of the songs there, particularly the variant "Pretty
Polly" of "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight," which did not appear to
have been written down until the first quarter of the nineteenth
century, according to Bertrand Harris Bronson, in _the Traditional
Tunes of the Child Ballads_, vol. 1, (Princeton Univ. Press, 1959), p.
82. It is also noted that "Pretty Peggy O" is a version of the Scottish
"Lass of Fyvie." Unable to read music, I can only take these
comparisons so far, of course.

As far as I can tell, "Fennario" is a mythical place name, like
"Utopia." It does not appear to correspond to any real place. Likewise,
the events in the song do not appear to correspond with any historical
events. If you can conclusively show these assertions are wrong,
though, I'd like to know about it. And of course, the name of the
original author is lost, although this song has changed tremendously
over the years, like I gather most folk songs do (this being my
first-ever exercise in folk musicology). Hey, I know: it was written by
Traditional...and have you ever noticed, Traditional's work is usually
much more consistent in quality than Anonymous's? ;-)

I'll be moving to England in the next year, to Staffordshire, which is
near Derbyshire. If I find this song there, I'll be sure to post about
it. My thanks to everyone who helped with this, it was very
educational.

fred.ringwald@dartmouth.edu
Newsgroups: rec.music.gdead