The Search for Simplicity inspired by Bill Coperthwaite
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Remembering Bill
by Rani Arbo

The first time I met Bill, in the spring of 2001, we were both at Knoll Farm for Peter and Helen's wedding. I found him shingling a tiny yurt outhouse up Bragg Hill and offered my unskilled help. And so we nailed, and all the while he sang, punctuating his songs with wry comments about my hammer skills. Every song was preceded by "Maybe you know this one?" and then he would launch another mischievous, melodic tune with many verses, of which he remembered three or four, and snatches beyond that. He seemed to have hundreds of these songs, and pulled out about as many of them as nails from his pocket that afternoon.

The last time I visited Bill, in the summer of 2013, we sat down together on the couch in the library yurt so he could show me his new concertina, on loan from a friend. "I think I could learn to play this in my old age," he said, noting that it was easier on knobby fingers than something with strings. He had written out a list of 14 songs in his spidery blue script; these, he thought, would be good ones to start with. Wabash Cannonball was at the top, followed by the Yellow Rose of Texas and Leatherwing Bat. Not being a concertina player, I did my best — we tested it out, located some chords for Amazing Grace, and wrote them down. Next, Bill presented a sheaf of lined paper, upon which he had handwritten and alphabetized a list of more than 450 songs and rounds. "There are many more, but these are the ones I can recall," he said. He suggested that some of these could be added to a book of songs for gatherings (in part, I believe, to solve the problem of being the only one who knew his favorites). That summer, we recorded part of a group sing in Guest Yurt. Listening back, I'm struck by how playful his singing is, full of dramatic pauses and trills, hey-hos, master storytelling and joy. I wish we'd known more of his verses to sing along, as he wanted, but it was also beautiful and moving to hear his tremulous, musical voice reaching back into memory for yet another verse.  

Bill's list is full of sea shanties, children's songs, college songs, and traditional folk songs from the U.S., Germany, and Mexico; it includes many songs from Joseph Marais, the Clancy Brothers, Harry Belafonte, Glen Yarborough, the Trapp family, and other popular folk revivalists of the 1950s. It also includes popular compositions from the late 1800s and early 1900s like "Grandfather's Clock" and "Nicodemus," "Bill Bailey," and "Alexander's Ragtime Band" that have remained favorites in parlor rooms (and yurts) for more than a hundred years.

NB: Bill's tally  (453) includes several doubles I removed from the list, and a few I left in (like "Jambalaya"/"Big Fun on the Bayou.  I corrected a few of the spellings (of International songs in particular) so that others can more easily search for them. A few were undecipherable to me; please correct the titles if you know them. I kept Bill's asterisks — his favorites — and notes about the source of some of the songs.
 

Rounds for Book for Gathering
Bill meant to have 50 but skipped #45, so there are 49 here.

1. Great Tom is Cast
2. Ghost of Tom
3. White Sands & Grey Sands
4. Gar en Haute
5. Margery, Serve well the Black  Sow
6. The Hart He Loves the High Wood
7. Music Alone Shall Live
8. To the Greenwood, Greenwood Tree
9. Take Your Lover to the Wood
10. Money Will Make My Mare to Go
11. Chairs to Mend
12. I Gave her Cake and I Gave Her Ale
13. Fie Thee, Prithee John
14. Little Tom Tinker
15. Alles Schweiget
16. Es Tönen Die Lieder
17. French Cathedrals
18. I Love the Mountains, I Love the Rolling Hills
19. Make New Friends, Keep the Old
20. Frere Jaque, Fray Filipe
21. He That Would an Alehouse Keep
22. Dona Nobis
23. Heigh, Ho, Nobody Home
24. Oh How Lovely is the Evening
25. Why Doesn't My Goose
26. My Dame Has a Lame, Tame Crane
27. White Coral Bills
28. Vine & Fig Tree
29. Little Jock Horner
30. People Who Live in Glass Houses
31. Slaves to the World
32. Three Blind Mice
33. London Burning
34. Late Last Night, When We Were in Bed (Hot time in the old town tonight)
35. Old King Cole
36. For Health and Strength
37. My Paddle's Keen and Bright
38. Liese tond die Abendglocke
39. Adieu sweet Amarilis
40. Signor Abate...
41. Bona not, mit ein rechotx (?)
42. God has created a new day
43. Put on your old grey bonnet
44. Sur le pont d'Avingnon
45. Down by the station
46. Scotland's burning
47. My candle burns at both ends
48. Der Jäger wollte schießen gehn
49. Es blies ein Jäger Noll in sine Horn...

Favorite Songs
Jan 25, 2013
453 songs (including 50 rounds)

*Alberta let your hair hang low
Als wir jungst in Regensbarg Waren
Au Claire de la Lune
Ame, Ame, Fure fure kaasan ga (Japanese)
Alla en el rancho grande
Amazing Grace
Abdulla Bul Bul Emir
A-Roving
Alles Scheezget??
* Away Rio
Angels watching over me
So. Australia
Alexander's Ragtime Band
After the Ball
Aupres de ma blonde
Annie Laurie
The Ash Grove

* Big Fun on the Bayou (Harry Belafonte)
Blowing in the Wind
Blow the Man Down
* Brazos River
Buckeye Jim
* Blow ye Winds of Morning
* Bold Taddy Quill (Clancy Bros)
Banks of the Ohio
Beautiful Ohio
Bosom of Abraham
Black-eyed Susy
Betsy from Pike
*Brennan on the Moor
Bist du ein fleißiger Gesell
Beautiful Brown Eyes
Bon Voyage, Monsigneur Dumollet
* Beside the Windmill (Marais)
* Brandy, Leave Me Alone (Marais)
Boire un Petit Coup
Border Trail
Bonnie Dundee
Big Rock Candy Mountain
Bury Me Not On the Lone Prairie
* Billie Barlow
* Black Velvet Band
Bimini
* Bill Bailey
Balm in Gilead
Bring a Torch
By the Light of the Silvery Moon
Battle of New Orleans

* Come to the Bower (Clancy)
Cruel War
* Come Listen Belle & Ball (Clancy)
Chocolate Whiskey & Vanilla Gin
Cherry Tree Carole
Cindy (get along home)
Ceilito Lindo
Chairs to Mend
Cockles & Mussels
Cookoo, Cooko
Capital Shop
Come All You Young Fellows
Camptown Races
* Cat Came Back (Marais)
Carolina Moon
Coney Island Washboard Blues
Come Follow, Follow, Follow Me
Copper Kettle
* Country Road
Cripple Creek
Chevalier de la Table Ronde
Coming Through the Rye
* Carolina on my Mind
Casey Jones
* Courtin' in the Kitchen (Clancy)

Deep Blue Sea
Darling Nellie Gray
Don't Cry Lady
Dixie
* Drummer & the Cook
Delia
Dark as a Dungeon
Der Jäger wollte schießen gehn
* Dem (?) Barton's Drums (dreams?)
Don't Leave me for an Old Maid
* Dark Island
Don't Fence Me In
Dan Tucker
Do Lord
Down by the Station
Dear Little Buffalo Boy
Daisy, Daisy, Give Me Your Answer, Do
Down by the Old Mill Stream
Danny Boy
Down in the Valley
Drunken Sailor

Eddystone Light
El Carcelero
Es Tonen die Lieder
Erie Canal
Es Blies em Jaeger
Ezekiel Saw the Wheel
Ein Hund Lief in die Kuche
Early One Morning Just as the Sun (Trapp)
Every Time I Feel the Spirit

Finnegan's Wake
Fiddler of Dooney
* Farewell to Tarwathie
Fox Went Out
Freedom Hymn (Lowell)
Follow the Drinking Gourd
For Me and My Gal
* Fiddler's Green
Foggy Foggy Dew

Go Down Moses
Git Along Little Dogies
* Greenland Whales
Girl I Left Behind Me
Go Tell it on the Mountain
* Gum Tree Canoe
Golden Vanity
* Generale muy Valiente
Gar en haut, gar en bas (?)
Go Tell Aunt Rhody
G.L.O.R.Y. for we're S.A.V.E.D
Green Grow the Rushes, Oh
Garden Song
Grandfather's Clock
Give Me that Old Time Religion

Heart of my Heart
Had I a Golden Thread
Holly and the Ivy
Hae Long Gone
Hai Lushka Lushka (Hindi)
Happy Plowman
He Ain't Gonna Race No More
Hallelujah I'm a Bum
Hard Times Come Again No More
Hey Look Me Over
Hard Ain't it Hard
Hush Little Baby
Haul Away Joe
He's Got the Whole World

I Love to Go A-Wandering
Irish Washerwoman
* I Was Wandering Down the Streets of Laredo
I Know Where I'm Going
I Come for to Sing (Glen Yarborough)
Irish Fragment (Glend Yarborough)
* I'm Comin' Home Again
* I Look to See the Wildflowers Blooming
* If My Words Did Glow
I've Got a Home in Glory Land
* Irish Rover
Ilka Moor Baht Hat
I Don't Care if You Go to Sea
I Don't Like McFarland (Redpath)
If You Knew Susie
It's a-me, oh Lord
I'm On My Way
I Ride an Old Paint
I want a girl just like the girl...
I've a Fine Felt Hat
I've Been Working on the Railroad
I Got Shoes
I Know the Lord
If I Had a Hammer
I'm Gonna Wash that Man
I'm Looking Over a 4-leafed Clover

Jacob's Ladder
Jambalaya
Jesus Walked This Lonesome Road
* John B. Sails
Jack's the Son of the Deep Blue Sea
Jack of Diamonds
Jon Pirivit ? (Marais)
Johnny at the Bandy Legs (Marais)
Juanito
John Henry
Joshua Fit de Battle of Jericho
Joe Hill
Jingle Bells
Jamaica Farewell  (Belafonte)
Jubilate
Jackie Boy? Master?

Kooka Burra
* Kilgarry Mountain (Clancy)
Kentucky Babe
Kisses Sweeter Than Wine
Katharine's Wedding (Marais)

* Leatherwing Bat
* Little Old Sod Shanty
* Land of the Horsefly, the Bedbug & Flea
Luke Tanner's Daughter
Lunnenberge Heide
Los Loch der Fugent
* Los Quatro Muleros
Las Mananitas
Lolly Tulum (?)
Little Brown Jug
* Logger Lover (also the Frozen Logger)
* La Llorona
* Lake of Ponchartrain
* La Bamba
Lavender Blue
Lord of the Dance
Let Me Call You Sweetheart
Landlord, Fill the Flowing Bowl
Loch Lomond
Lady Who Swallowd a Fly

Missouri Waltz
Mary Don't You Weep
Mary Had a Baby
Marianita
Marching to Pretoria
* My Darling When the Sun Goes Down (Marais)
Mrs. Murphy's Chowder
Mrs. O'Leary
Muffin Man
My Gal Sal
Mariah
Morenita
Mournier, Tu Dors
Mea mea Limonero (Mi Limon, Mi Limonero?)
Mary Hamilton
Michael Row Your Boat Ashore
My Rambling Boy
Man on a Flying Trapeze
My Blue Heaven
Midnight Special
Mountain Dew

* New York Girls, Can't You Dance the Polka
Noah Built the Ark
* Nicodemus
* Nel Flaherty Drake (Clancy)
No John, No
Now the Day is Over
Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen

Old Orange Flute (Clancy)
Old Man River
* Old Dan Tucker (he got drunk)
Oh I Went to Peter's Flowing Spring
On Top of Old Smokey
* One Morning in May (Trapp)
Old Time Religion
Over the Rainbow
* Old Rosin the Bow
Old Folks at Home
* Old Joe Clark
Oh Susanna

* Poor Miss Bailey
Polly Wolly Doodle
Puff the Magic Dragon
Palo, Palo, Palo
Put on Your Old Gray Bonnet
Putting on the Style
Pack up Your Troubles
Preacher Went Down in the Cellar to Pray

Red Corvette
River is Deep..
Red Wing
Roll On, Columbia, Roll On...
* Road to the Isles
* Rosita Alvirez (la Jorona)
Ra Ra Brunonia
* Rum by Gum (Salvation Army Fruitcake)
Rambling Boy
Rooty Toot Toot
Red is the Rose
Red River Valley
Riddle Song
Rio Grande
* Rising of the Moon (Clancy)
* Rock Island Line
* Railroading on the Great Divide
* Roses Gone Again

Sidewalks of New York
* So Long, It's Been Good to Know Ya
Soldier, Will You Marry Me
Sie Sagt Sie Latfiel Gulden (?)
Schone ist Ein Zylinderhut
Skeeters are A-humming
Slinging the ?? (rink?)
Skye Boat Song
Sweetheart's the Mule in the Mine
Sister Suzzy's Turn (poss. Sister Susie's Sewing Shirts?)
Saints Go Marching In
* Sir Wilt Thou Lend me (money will make my mare to go)
* Sound of the Jubilo
* Sheep are Coming Down the Road (Marais)
Silvie
* Spanish is a Loving Tongue
* South Coast
* Shuttle and Loom (Glen Yarborough)
Seeing Nellie Home
Sourwod Mountain
Sacrimiento
Shenandoah
Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
Simple Gifts
Shortnin' Bread
Some Enchanted Evening
Summertime
Sixteen Tons
She'l Be Coming Round the Mountain
Satisfied Mind
South Australia
Skier's Regimen
Swing Down Sweetheart
* Sarie Marais (Marais)
Starving to Death on my Government Claim
Sea Chanties
 
I Took My Girl Out Walking
Trotskyite Mam of Mine (?! can't find this one)
Tirloerland du bist so Schon
* Tam Pierce
Turkey in the Straw
To My Dear Wife, My Joy in Life
Trois Orfevres a Saint Eloi
* Tis Advertised in Boston
* That's My Pa
* This Old House (Clooney)
Tom Dooley
Tennessee Waltz
* Three Jolly Rogues of Lynn
*Tanta Mina (Marais)
Trail of the Lonesome Pine
Tipperarry
Take Me Out to the Ball Game
This Land is Your Land
Times are Getting Hard, Boys
This Little Light of Mine
There's a long, Long Trail A-Winding
Take This Hammer
This Old Man
Turn, Turn, Turn
There Ought to Be a Law Against That
Two Boards Upon Cold Powder Snow
Tante Koba (Marais)

Vrenli
Von Luzerne aus Weggis Zu
Virgin Unspotted

Wait Til the Sun Shines, Nellie
* Wild Colonial Boy
* West Virgia
When Pa was a Little Boy
Wenn es Schenit in Zillertal
* Wee Cooper of Fife
Won't You Waltz Again With Me
Wir Lieben die Sturme
We're Bound for Australia
Waltzing Matilda
* We Poor Sailors go Skipping
* Whiskey for the Devil (Clancy)
* Whistling Gypsy
* Wildwood Flower
* Wabash Cannonball (Huddie Ledbetter)
* Wreck of Old 97
*We Were all Sailors Till the Day (Bimini Bay)
Worried Man
Wenns die Soldaten
When You're Aching with the Miseries
* Whiskey in the Jar (Clancy)
While Peeking through the Knothole
Water is Wide
Wild West (Tom Lehrer)
Worried Man Blues
When I First Came to This Land
When the Saints Go Marching In
Well May the Keel Row (Yarborough)

Yellow Rose of Texas
You are my Sunshine