♪ Well, I pitch my tent
on this campground. ♪
♪ Few days, few days ♪
♪ And give old Satan another round ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
♪ I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ Few days. Few days, ♪
♪ Lord, I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
♪ Although I've liked the diggings here. ♪
♪ Few days, few days. ♪
♪ I won't stay here another year ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
♪ I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ Few days, few days, Lord. ♪
♪ I can't stay in these diggins. ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
♪ For years I've labored in cold ground. ♪
♪ Few days, few days. ♪
♪ But now, at last I'm homeward bound. ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
♪ I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ Few days, few days ♪
♪ Lord, I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
♪ These banking thieves I will not trust. ♪
♪ Few days, few days. ♪
♪ And with me take my little dust ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
♪ I can't stay in these diggings ♪
♪ Few days, few days. ♪
♪ Lord, I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
♪ I'm going home to stay awhile. ♪
♪ Few days, few days ♪
♪ Before I go, I'll plant a smile ♪
♪ And I am going home.
I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ Few days, few days ♪
♪ Lord, I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
♪ My mother, she has gone before ♪
♪ Few days, few days. ♪
♪ I'll meet her soon at Glory's door. ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
♪ I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ Few days, few days. ♪
♪ Lord, I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
♪ I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ Few days, few days. ♪
♪ Lord, I can't stay in these diggins. ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
♪ So I'll pitch my tent
on this campground ♪
♪ Few days, few days ♪
♪ And give old Satan another round ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
♪ I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ Few days, few days. ♪
♪ Lord, I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
♪ I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ Few days, few days. ♪
♪ Lord, I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
♪ I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ Few days, few days. ♪
♪ Lord, I can't stay in these diggings. ♪
♪ And I am going home. ♪
[Applause]
>> Lauren Breunig: Thank you. Thank you
all so much for being here.
We are Windborne.
This is Will and Lynn, and I'm Lauren
and we're so happy to be here,
bringing you songs
from a variety of different
cultures with harmony, singing
traditions, as well as songs of
social struggle from movements
of the past sung for the present day.
And as John mentioned,
unfortunately, our fourth member,
Jeremy, couldn't be with
us tonight due to a sudden
extenuating circumstances,
but that does give us the
opportunity to do something
we haven't done in a while,
which is perform as the original
Windborne trio.
We actually the three of us
were performing as Windborne,
just as friends for fun, but
for about nine years before
Jeremy joined the group. So
you're getting, you know,
the original Windborne tonight,
and it's been a really awesome
opportunity for us to sort of
dig back in the Windborne archives
here in the nation's archive.
So that first piece is a song that
comes from the American Gold Rush,
which we like to say didn't
pan out so well for everybody.
And it's one that we've been
singing since we were teenagers.
It's called I Can't Stay
In These Diggins,
and we'll follow it with a piece
that's from our album song
On The Times. It's a song that
originally comes from England,
from the Chartist movement,
which was a working class
movement for basic rights of democracy.
And it's the piece that sort of
launched us into doing music
full time, after having been
just sort of hobbyists with
Windborne for a long time.
It's called Song of the Lower
Classes, and this particular
version of the melody is by Ian Robb.
♪ We plough and sow, we are so low,
that we delve in the dirty clay ♪
♪ ‘til we bless the
plain with golden grain ♪
♪ And the vale with the fragrant hay ♪
♪ Our place we know we are so low,
down at the landlord’s feet. ♪
♪ We’re not too low the bread to grow
but too low the bread to eat. ♪
♪ We’re low, we’re low, we are so
low yet from our fingers glide ♪
♪ Thee silken flow and
the robes that glow ♪
♪ Round the limbs of the sons of pride. ♪
♪ And what we get and what we give ♪
♪ We know and we know our share. ♪
♪ We’re not too low the cloth to weave
but too low the cloth to wear. ♪
♪ Down down we go, we are so low,
to the hell of the deep-sunk mine, ♪
♪ But we gather the proudest gems ♪
♪ That glow in the crown
of the despot shines. ♪
♪ Whenever he lacks upon our backs
fresh loads he deigns to lay. ♪
♪ We’re far too low to vote the
tax but not too low to pay. ♪
♪ We’re low, we’re low as to war we
go to fight some foreign country ♪
♪ That was yesterday our greatest
riend, but today’s our enemy. ♪
♪ “God bless our boys!”
the papers scream ♪
♪ “Praise them!” the churchmen cry. ♪
♪ When the war is won and home, we
come, who cares if we live or die? ♪
♪ We’re low, so low, into boats we
go to flee war in our home country, ♪
♪ And we’ll try to make a better life
when we land across the sea. ♪
♪ But it’s "Send them back!"
the press cries out, ♪
♪ “Back to where they came!” ♪
♪ We’re far too low to feed and clothe
 but not too low to blame. ♪
♪ We are so low but soon we know
that the low folk will arise, ♪
♪ The tyrants in their towers of gold
shall hear the people’s cries! ♪
♪ No more shall they hold us in thrall.
their lies we will not heed. ♪
♪ But every heart shall hear the call,
and the people will be free! ♪
[Applause]
>> Will Thomas Rowan:
Thank you so much.
We are, as Lauren said, taking
some opportunities to delve back
into our old trio repertoire.
Three of us met at a singing
camp when we were
teenagers, a camp
called Village Harmony.
And one of the things that--
Yes, we have some Village Harmony
people in the audience it seems.
One of the things that
Village Harmony does
is brings teachers of
traditional harmony singing traditions
from various parts of the world
to share their traditions
with young singers.
And one of the traditions that
we were exposed to as part of
that program is music from
the country of Georgia.
And this particular song,
it's a harvest song
from Mingrelia in the
western part of Georgia.
Georgia has actually
three different languages
that are in the in the
language group that only
includes those three languages.
The languages spoken in Georgia
and Mingrelia, the language of
Mingrelia is spoken by pretty much
nobody out of outside of Mingrelia.
And so even the Georgians
that we talked to
don't really know what the song says,
but it is about the harvest.
So this is [Inaudible]
[Singing]
[Applause]
>> Lynn Mahoney Rowan:
So in 2004, teenage Lauren
came back from Village Harmony,
and she had just gone on a trip to
the island of Corsica, which is
an island in the Mediterranean.
And she said, Lynn
and Will, Lynn and Will,
I just learned this amazing
new type of music.
And it's a trio singing tradition,
so we should learn it and do it.
And we did.
And then we decided to call
ourselves Windborne and give
some concerts. And that was
basically how Windborne was born.
>> Lauren Breunig: Steve pointed
out to us in the oral history that we
did before this, that this is
the 20 year anniversary of
Windborne, which
makes us feel pretty old.
>> Lynn Mahoney Rowan:
And in the years following,
Will and I were also able to then
go to Corsica with Village Harmony
and then another trip later on.
And so collectively we've spent
a good amount of time in Corsica
studying with some of these
incredible, amazing singing
masters, including Jean Etienne
Loungani, our main mentor.
And Corsican music is,
It is at its heart a trio tradition.
We still do it today with Jeremy,
but it's at its heart
a trio tradition, and it is
semi-improvisational.
In order to understand how
Corsican music works, it's--
there is-- it's not something you teach
by writing and being written down.
It's not something we got
to look at notes to learn.
You have to understand how
the different parts play together.
There are certain roles
that you play because
there is a structure that the
song follows and understood
vague melody, but basically how
you get from one point to the
other in the song is filled
with lots of ornamentation and
sort of improvised.
So, you know, basically some
of the stops along the way.
But how you get there is
up to the individual singers
and the names of the different roles.
There's also rules of engagement
in how you interact
with each other.
It's a complicated style.
And so the part that I'm going
to be singing tonight is called
the segunda.
And segunda in Corsican
means second, which means I do
everything first.
[Laughter]
I get to lead the charge, as it were.
I get to say every word first.
They have to wait, which means
that basically I just get to set
the pace, I get to control
all the timing and I use ornaments
to speed this part up
or slow this part down.
And I think I just basically
am the team leader.
>> Lauren Breunig: Well, I'm going to
be singing a part called [Inaudible],
which is Corsican for third, which
means I sing above the segunda.
But and I get, you know, really
just as much control over the
push and pull and the timing
of the song, because my part has
just as not as much, really, if
not more control over the timing,
because I can spend as long
as I want playing with
these ornaments up top, and
it's only when I decide to land
on the next chord that
she's allowed to lead us on.
>> Will Thomas Rowan: Well,
I'm going to be singing
a part that's called the Bassu,
which you can probably guess means
is Corsican for most important.
[Laughter]
You know, Lynn's going to be
leading all these phrases.
And Lauren has a lot to say
about how they end.
And I'm kind of there as their
chaperone to kind of, you know,
provide the harmonic structure
for the piece and kind of
provide the base for
the piece, as it were.
And we're going to be singing
a song now about
a man named Bernardino.
And it says that since Bernardino
left me, I am alone, disconsolate.
Oh, Bernardino, how can
a bell ring without a clapper in it?
[Laughter]
I'll let you think about that one.
[Laughter]
And because this music
really, really leads--
doesn't lend itself well to us
being separated on different
microphones. We're going to go
over and sing it around that
single one over there.
[Singing]
[Applause]
We're going to sing a song now
that is probably one of the
most well-known labor songs
written in the United States.
Really one of the most well-known
protest songs in the world.
It was written in the 1930s by
a woman named Florence Reese,
who was part of the unionizing effort
in Harlan County, Kentucky.
And her husband Sam was
a miner and a part of,
also part of the union effort.
And, as is part of that,
that conflict, it ended up
one night that the sheriff
of the town, the company town,
came and tried to find
Florence's husband, Sam,
in her house in the middle of the
night with the intention of
killing him. And luckily, he
wasn't home that night,
but the sheriff and his men
sort of ransacked the house,
and stayed there all night
just waiting for Sam to show up.
And in the morning,
eventually they left. And
Florence was so angry that
she took the calendar off the wall.
She ripped a page out of it, and
she wrote this song on the back,
and she sang it as part
of that movement.
But then she also she sang
it for Pete Seeger, who then
learned it and went on to
teach it to millions and millions.
And it's really gone on
to have a life of its own
beyond that movement.
And you'll hear it sung at
various types of protests
and rallies, often with
new verses to suit whatever
the issue of the moment is.
And we're going to sing verses
that are from the original,
about the unionizing effort
in Harlan County at that time.
And you'll hear the
name J.H. Blair mentioned
in one of the verses,
who was the sheriff,
who showed up at Florence's house.
Um, but we actually wanted
to sing it with all of you.
It has a wonderful chorus, and
we wanted to get you singing.
So I'm going to find a C-sharp
and I'm going to teach it to you.
It sounds like this.
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
Try that.
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
And I'm going to sing that
second time, but with a slightly
different melody,
which sounds like this.
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ So back to back you have. ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ And then you have. ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Let's give that a try together. ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ *Nice. All right. ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Come all you good workers. ♪
♪ Good news to you, I'll tell ♪
♪ Of how that good old union
 has come in here to dwell. ♪
♪ Oh, which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ My daddy was a miner. ♪
♪ And I'm a miner's son. ♪
♪ And I'll stick with the union
till every battle's won. ♪
♪ Oh, which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ They say in Harlan County ♪
♪ There are no neutrals there. ♪
♪ You'll either be a union man
or a thug for J.H. Blair. ♪
♪ Oh, which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Oh, workers, can you stand it? ♪
♪ Oh, tell me how you can. ♪
♪ Will you be a lousy scab?
Or will you lend a hand? ♪
♪ Don't scab for the bosses. ♪
♪ Don't listen to their lies. ♪
♪ Us poor folks haven't got a
chance unless we organize. ♪
♪ So which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on?
Working for the union. ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
Keep going.
♪ Are you on organize? ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Oh which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Oh which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
♪ Oh which side are you on now? ♪
♪ Which side are you on? ♪
[Applause]
>> Lynn Mahoney Rowan: It's really fun
to sing with you all
and you can really hear you singing.
Nice job.
We're going to stick
with the union theme.
Do another union song.
[Applause]
This is a song that comes from
a movement, a strike in the
early 1920s in Lawrence,
Massachusetts, which is not too
far away from where we all live.
And this was a strike in
the textile industry,
and it came to be known as
the Bread and Roses Strike.
And it was called that
partially because of a speech,
a piece in a speech that was
given by one of the union
activists and organizers named
Rose Schneiderman, who said,
"What the woman that labors wants
is the right to live, not simply exist.
The right to life as the rich
woman has the right to life
and the sun and music and art.
The worker must have bread,
but she must have roses too."
[Applause]
It's really a shame that we still need
to fight for this over 100 years later.
But this song is not only a
piece about workers’ rights,
but it lies at the intersection
of women's rights
since many of the workers at
the time were women and also
immigrant rights because many
of them were also immigrants.
And this song has
become quite popular.
But we went looking for the
oldest version of the melody
that we could find, actually written
by a woman named Martha Coleman.
So it might be slightly
different from the
melody that, you know, if,
you know, Bread and Roses.
But first, we're going to let
you hear that melody by itself
before we bring in the full
windborne arrangement.
"Bread and Roses."
♪ As we go marching, marching,
♪ in the beauty of the day, ♪
♪ A million darkened kitchens,
a thousand mill lofts gray. ♪
♪ Are touched with all the radiance
that a sudden sun discloses. ♪
♪ For the people here a singing:
bread and roses, bread and roses. ♪
♪ As we go marching, marching,
in the beauty of the day, ♪
♪ A million darkened kitchens,
a thousand mill lofts gray. ♪
♪ Are touched with all the radiance
that a sudden sun discloses. ♪
♪ For the people here a singing:
 bread and roses, bread and roses. ♪
♪ As we go marching, marching. ♪
♪ We fight for children too. ♪
♪ For they are watching, learning. ♪
♪ And they'll make the world anew. ♪
♪ Our lives shall not be sweated
from birth until life closes. ♪
♪ Hearts starve as well as bodies. ♪
♪ Give us bread but give us roses ♪
♪ As we go marching, marching ♪
♪ Unnumbered women dead ♪
♪ Go crying through our singing
their ancient call for bread. ♪
♪ Their ancient cry for bread. ♪
♪ Small art and love and beauty
their drudging spirits knew. ♪
♪ Yes, it is bread we fight for
but we fight for roses too. ♪
♪ As we go marching, marching ♪
♪ Together we stand tall ♪
♪ For the rising of the women ♪
♪ Means the rising of us all. ♪
♪ No more the drudge and idler. ♪
♪ Ten that toil where one reposes. ♪
♪ But a sharing of life's glories ♪
♪ Bread and roses, bread and roses. ♪
♪ Bread and roses, bread and roses. ♪
♪ Bread and roses, bread and roses. ♪
♪ Bread and roses, bread and roses. ♪
♪ Give us bread but give us roses. ♪
♪ Bread and roses, bread and roses. ♪
♪ Bread and roses, bread and roses. ♪
[Applause]
>> Lauren Breunig: I was just
thinking as we were singing that,
shortly after we'd worked up
that arrangement,
the three of us were actually down
here for the Women's March in 2016.
I think that was and we sang
that at the march, and there was
this girl who apparently heard
us from singing from like,
you know, partway through the
crowd and came running over
and she had a part of
Bread and Roses written on a sign
and just stood there holding
it up as we sang.
And that was just
such a special memory.
Um, but we're going to sing you
another piece that--
So this piece sort of is a
reflection in our response to a
trend that we've seen in
American politics these days
that we don't like so much.
And there's, uh, sorry.
I'm still thinking about
Bread and Roses.
The trend of states all over
the country and legislation
being put forth that severely
restricts the rights of
queer, trans and non-binary people.
And so we think that it is more
important than ever now for us
to raise our voices in support
of all members of our community,
no matter where they fall on the
spectrum of gender and sexuality.
[Applause]
Thank you.
[Applause]
So to that end, we're
going to sing you a piece
that's a parody that
we've written of a song
that was originally called "The Stuff
They Call Money" by Big Bill Broonzy.
And in our verses,
we use a rotating cast
of narrators to sort of lay out
and then poke fun at some of
these stereotypes and
assumptions that people can make
that can be kind of harmful.
And we call our version
or we call our version
the trolley problem and take it away.
[Music]
♪ Well, I got on the
streetcar one day. ♪
♪ The conductor put out his hand. ♪
♪ He said, you can't get no free ride
here, man, don't you understand ♪
♪ Cause you must have the
stuff they call money ♪
♪ You must have - down in your pocket ♪
♪ You must have 
 the stuff they call money ♪
♪ You can't ride on here ♪
♪ So I went to the public transit meeting ♪
♪ And I raised all up my hand. ♪
♪ Don't you know the fellows got called? ♪
♪ One by one. ♪
♪ And I never got to make a stand. ♪
♪ Because you must have
the right equipment. ♪
♪ You must have down in your pants. ♪
♪ You must have the right equipment
or can't talk in here. ♪
♪ So I headed to the rally in
my tie and nice green hat. ♪
♪ But my mama, she looked
me up and down and said ♪
♪ Are you going out like that? ♪
♪ Because you must have the
right kind of clothing. ♪
♪ You must pass the proper presentation. ♪
♪ You must have the right
 kind of holy orchid. ♪
♪ Walk out there. ♪
♪ Well, the transportation bill got axed ♪
♪ and it brought tears to my eyes. ♪
♪ Then inside my head,
I heard a voice saying. ♪
♪ Stop that, man, don't cry. ♪
♪ Cause you must have the
right kind of feeling. ♪
♪ And you must show no emotion. ♪
♪ Well, you must have
a stony disposition. ♪
♪ Or you can't walk out there. ♪
♪ Well, the streetcar
crash on the morning ride. ♪
♪ So I went to get a scan ♪
♪ On the doctor's form
I had to choose ♪
♪ Check woman or check man? ♪
♪ Cause you must be one or the other. ♪
♪ And it must match
what's down in your pants. ♪
♪ You must be one or the other. ♪
♪ Or we won't see you in here. ♪
♪ You're trying so hard
to put me in a box ♪
♪ that you won't listen to me. ♪
♪ I'm just trying to help us
get from point A to point B. ♪
♪ And I don't need your opinions
about my body. ♪
♪ It's none of your business. ♪
♪ I just want transportation
for all folks round here. ♪
[Music]
♪ So I'll dress and act just how I want. ♪
♪ When I'm riding that streetcar, ♪
♪ Name my desires and speak my truth. ♪
♪ We are just who we are. ♪
♪ Cause you must have
freedom of expression. ♪
♪ And you don't need anyone's permission. ♪
♪ We must have a gender evolution. ♪
♪ So let's start right here. ♪
♪ Let's start right here. ♪
[Applause]
>> Lauren Breunig: Thank you.
We're going to travel back to
Europe and sing you a piece now
from Basque Country, which is
a region that sort of straddles
between France and Spain.
And this is a tradition
that we started singing
almost ten years ago when Jeremy
went and spent some time in
Basque Country studying
sword dancing like you do.
[Laughter]
He had practiced with
these sword dancing teams,
and then they'd all go
out to the pub and
sing some music afterwards.
And this is one of the
pieces that he learned.
It's called [Inaudible] which is
a love song that talks about
traveling through the Pyrenees
mountains and it says,
Fly, little bird, across the mountains.
Fly into my love's heart
as she has flown into mine.
[Inaudible]
[Singing]
[Applause]
>> Will Thomas Rowan:
We're going to sing a song
now that's from our project song
on the Times, which is a CD and
book that we that we put together,
really looking at movements
of social struggle,
movements of protest, movements
for change in the past that we
really feel resonated or really
were ongoing in the world,
songs as long ago as the 1600s of
movements that we really
felt they had current
relevance in the world today.
Um, and one of the movements
that we made sure we wanted to
include in that is the
abolitionist movement.
And while it may seem that the
abolitionist movement's goals
had have been achieved,
it turns out if you read
the fine print of the
constitutional amendment that
abolishes slavery, that in fact,
enslavement of people is
still legal as long as it's
as a punishment for a crime,
which means that there are
millions of people in this
country being enslaved as
punishment, and that
burden still falls highly
disproportionately on
communities of color.
And so we took this old
abolitionist song that we
learned from the singing
of Addie Graham.
And we took a couple
of the original verses,
but we also wrote some new
verses to sort of tie the thread
from the past abolitionist
movement to the present.
So this is our version
of Stolen and Sold.
♪ Stole and sold from Africa. ♪
♪ Transported to America ♪
♪ Like hogs and sheep ♪
♪ We march a drop ♪
♪ To bear the heat and endure the cold ♪
♪ See husbands taken
from their wives ♪
♪ Small children from
their mothers sides ♪
♪ All taken to some foreign land. ♪
♪ Made slave to wait on gentlemen ♪
♪ See how the officer’s gun them down ♪
♪ Their only crime being black or brown. ♪
♪ No more to wear the chains of slaves. ♪
♪ But now the chains of jails and graves. ♪
♪ Don't close your eyes. ♪
♪ Can't you see oppression
in our own country? ♪
♪ Attend the cry and hear the wail. ♪
♪ And fight for justice to prevail. ♪
♪ Attend the cry and hear the wail. ♪
♪ And fight for justice to prevail. ♪
[Applause]
>> Lynn Mahoney Rowan:
This is the moment
we go deepest back in the archives
and sing you a song that
we haven't sung in a while.
This is called Bayside Lament.
It's a song that Will and I wrote,
and we sang for a while
as a trio. And it's a song that
Will and I wrote in order to
sound like an old ballad.
Classic love story of the love
has to go far away at sea, and
so may not ever see them again.
And oh, it's dramatic and sad,
but we wanted to--
We made both of the characters
of this love story male, because
we wanted to tell the story
of relationships that were
happening back then, but maybe
aren't the ones who had their
stories put in song.
Bayside Lament.
♪ Oh, if my soul was formed for weeping ♪
♪ Oh, if my soul was formed for woe ♪
♪ I'd go on down by yonder bay side. ♪
♪ And cry my tears by the waves below. ♪
♪ I'd go on down by yonder bay side. ♪
♪ And cry my tears
where the seals do play. ♪
♪ Oh, for the love of a young sailor ♪
♪ Who rides the waves so far away. ♪
♪ All for the love of a young sailor. ♪
♪ With eyes so bright and cheek so fair. ♪
♪ Tis for the love of this bold sailor ♪
♪ That I do cry by the sea's dark shore. ♪
♪ Twas Monday last, he did embrace me ♪
♪ As he stepped. out all along the pier ♪
♪ Saying fare thee well,
my dear companion. ♪
♪ I must ship out for ten long years. ♪
♪ Oh, cry no more, thou foolish creature. ♪
♪ Oh, cry no more, thou foolish boy. ♪
♪ Tis well that thou
canst now forget him. ♪
♪ And mother's heart no more destroy. ♪
♪ Oh, no, dear sister. ♪
♪ I'll never forget him. ♪
♪ I'll never forget my
love's bright eyes. ♪
♪ These ten long years I will await him. ♪
♪ All by the bay
where the seagulls cry ♪
♪ Oh I curse on all the waves between us. ♪
♪ A curse on mother and father too. ♪
♪ And a curse on you. ♪
♪ My own dear sister. ♪
♪ Such words I never thought
to hear from you. ♪
♪ Oh, if my soul was formed for weeping. ♪
♪ Or if my soul was formed for woe. ♪
♪ I'd go on down by yonder bay side. ♪
♪ And cry my tears by the waves. ♪
♪ I'd go on down by yonder Bayside. ♪
♪ And cry my tears by the waves below. ♪
[Applause]
>> Will Thomas Rowan:
We're in the process of
making a new album and we're
actually fundraising for it now.
You can pre-order it if you can
find that on our website,
Windbornesingers.com or our
social media, that sort of thing.
It is an album of songs
for midwinter, songs
for the winter solstice, songs
for the New year, and various
celebrations that happen in midwinter.
And we wanted to sing
one of those with you now.
>> On this very wintery day.
>> On this very wintery 90 degree day.
And this is a wassail.
And if you're not familiar with
the custom of wassailing
that happens in the British Isles,
you go around either to orchards
or to people's houses, and
you share drink and song
and you bless, you bless your
neighbor's houses or your
neighbor's orchards.
in order that they may have
plenty in the coming year
And the chorus of this one is
has very few words, it says
Wassail, wassail. Ad joy
come to our jolly wassail!
And wassail is an Old English
word that means be in good health.
>> Lauren Breunig:
You were such good singers
on which side that we figured
we'd get you singing again.
>> Will Thomas Rowan:
And here's how the chorus goes.
♪ Wassail! ♪
Try that.
♪ Wassail! ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ And joy come to our jolly wassail! ♪
♪ And joy come to our jolly wassail! ♪
♪ Wassail, wassail ♪
♪ And joy come to our jolly wassail! ♪
>> Give that a try.
>> You wanna make something up?
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ And joy come to our jolly wassail! ♪
That sounds so good.
And I want you, as you're
singing this, to remember that
this is folk music. And so
there are no wrong notes.
There are only variations.
[Laughter]
Now the-- Oh, yeah.
>> Lynn Mahoney Rowan: And
that's how harmonies are born.
>> Will Thomas Rowan: Yeah, yeah.
If you hear something else that you
say, oh, I really want to sing that.
Or if you get stuck on
a note and you're like,
oh, that's interesting. Go for it.
♪ Now the harvest being
over and the winter draining ♪
♪ Please open your door
 and let us come in ♪
♪ With our wassail ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ And joy come to our jolly wassail ♪
♪ Here's the master and the mistress
sitting down by the fire. ♪
♪ While we poor wassail boys
 do trudge through the mire ♪
♪ With our wassail ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ And joy come to our jolly wassail ♪
♪ Here's the master and the mistress
 sitting down at their ease ♪
♪ Put your hands in your pockets. ♪
♪ And give what you please. ♪
♪ To our wassail ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ And joy come to our jolly wassail. ♪
♪ We hope that your barley
may prosper and grow. ♪
♪ That you may have plenty
 enough to bestow ♪
♪ On our wassail ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ And joy come to our jolly wassail. ♪
♪ Here’s the saddle and the bridle
they’re hung upon the shelf ♪
♪ If you want any more,
you can sing it yourself ♪
♪ With our wassail ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ And joy come to our jolly wassail. ♪
♪ Here’s an health to the master
and a long time to live ♪
♪ Since you've been so kind
 and so willing to give ♪
♪ To our wassail ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ And joy come to our jolly wassail. ♪
♪ Wassail ♪
♪ And joy come to our jolly wassail. ♪
[Applause]
>> Lauren Breunig: If you
like that kind of music
and singing those kinds of songs,
we will be back in this general area
on December 6th in Rockville, Maryland,
doing our Music of Midwinter show,
which will include that and
many more zesty songs like it.
>> Will Thomas Rowan: So we have time
for just one more song.
Before we sing that we wanted to say
an incredible thank you to all the
wonderful staff here at the Library of
Congress, the American Folklife Center.
[Applause]
For having us here.
[Applause]
And if you're interested in
taking our music home with you
and want to talk about that, you
can come see us after the show
down at the bottom of the stage.
Our last song for you.
Also, I should say that you can,
of course, follow us on our
TikTok or Instagram or Facebook
or Windborne singers in most places.
We also have a Patreon,
Patreon.com/windborne
where we release, uh, sort of
early view videos and tracks and
music that sort of doesn't
fit on an album, that
sort of thing. And behind
the scenes stuff as well.
Um, our last song for you
is another deep cut.
It is a French-Canadian song.
Um, actually a French-Canadian medley.
Two songs. The first one is called,
Yes, Very Well. And the second
is called Villalobos Van.
Um, and it sort of generally
tells the story, a meandering
story of a prince who goes off
hunting some ducks.
He shoots at the
black duck and misses.
But he hits the white duck
and then the white duck,
its feathers go everywhere
and it starts like crying diamonds
and coughing up gold.
Kind of as you might expect
from ducks when they got shot.
And eventually all these feathers
are flying everywhere.
And some there's some women on
the road who see all this mess,
and they sort of they pick up
all the feathers and they make
them into feather beds so that
passing strangers can have
places to sleep.
Yeah, it makes total sense.
Um, but we were so delighted
to be able to be here
and sing for you this evening.
And, we hope you have a
wonderful rest of your evening.
Yes. Very Well.
And Villalobos Van.
[Singing]
[Applause]