This submission relates to the present
categories: Song, Romance

In January of 1998 after many years away, I moved back to Davis.  I was eager to do some music. Friends told me about  Dick and Carol Holdstock who were leaders of  a local music club.  So on a Wednesday evening I gave the Holdstocks a telephone call.  As it happened, the Pickers and Singers Music Club were meeting that night in their home.   I walked in and faced a circle of guitar players.  The theme, they explained, was Animal Songs.  One by one, each person in the circle lifted a guitar and sang.  A bald, blue-eyed man sang “Is there anything left for me?”  apparently about a dog at the dinner table.  A woman with a velvety alto voice sang “Mister Rabbit.”   Then on the other side of the room from me, a small man with a big voice, a tweed jacket and thick glasses raised his mandolin and sang George Harrison’s “Piggies.”  (Ron sings 3 min.) It was a stirring performance with wonderful mandolin  playing.   My turn was coming.  I had no guitar.  What could I sing?  Suddenly I remembered a song from The Babies’ Opera, a collection of songs  my father had loved to sing to my brother and me.  The song that came floating up into my conciousness was “There was a lady loved a swine.”  (Wendy sings 1 min. 27 s)

For three months Ron and I sang on opposite sides of the room.  I believed he was singing to me.  (Later Ron said he wasn’t.)  Then, one evening at Jean Rissman’s house, the theme was Hollywood Endings.  I finally introduced myself to the man with the big voice and thick glasses.  And that weekend we began to sing duets.

There was a lady loved a swine,
HNR 130
a
There was a lady loved a swine,
Honey, quoth she,
Pig-hog wilt thou be mine?
Hoogh, quoth he.

b
I'll build thee a silver sty,
Honey, quoth she,
And in it thou shalt lie.
Hoogh, quoth he.

c
Pinned with a silver pin,
Honey, quoth she,
That thou may go out and in.
Hoogh, quoth he.

d
Wilt thou have me now,
Honey? quoth she.
Speak or my heart will break.
Hoogh, quoth he.

Piggies

by George Harrison, The Beatles

Have you seen the little piggies
Crawling in the dirt
And for all the little piggies
Life is getting worse
Always having dirt to play around in.

Have you seen the bigger piggies
In their starched white shirts
You will find the bigger piggies
You will find the bigger piggies
Stirring up the dirt

Always have clean shirts to play around in.
In their styes with all their backing
They don't care what goes on around
In their eyes there's something lacking
What they need's a damn good whacking.

Everywhere there's lots of piggies
Living piggy lives
You can see them out for dinner
With their piggy wives
Clutching forks and knives to eat their bacon.