Fan-a-winnow

DESCRIPTION: "Fan-a-winnow daisy, Fan-a-winnow e-i-oh She's away with Barney the band tier." "A for apple, P for pear, D for dolling on the stairs All the world will never know The love I had for my lady-O" "B for Barney, C for Cross, O but I love Barney Ross"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (sung by David Hammond on "I Am the Wee Falorie Man: Folk Songs of Ireland")
KEYWORDS: love nonballad wordplay
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hammond-SongsOfBelfast, p. 26, "Fan-a-winnow" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "'B' for Barney" (text [see Sean O Boyle notes below))
NOTES [154 words]: Also collected and sung by David Hammond, "Fan-A-Winnow" (on David Hammond, "I Am the Wee Falorie Man: Folk Songs of Ireland," Tradition TCD1052 CD (1997) reissue of Tradition LP TLP 1028 (1959)) Sean O Boyle, notes to David Hammond, "I Am the Wee Falorie Man: Folk Songs of Ireland": "This is an amalgam of verses from two songs (one of them ''B' for Barney') The words are set to a hymn tune common in the 19th century. The title refers to the turning of the big fan that kept the moist air circulating through the mill to save the linen yarn from becoming too dry and brittle."
Also see, "'B' for Barney" [which is also on Hammond's recording]. Sean O Boyle, notes to David Hammond, "I Am the Wee Falorie Man: Folk Songs of Ireland": "This is a song among Belfast weavers and spinners at the beginning of the century.... A Band-tier was the man who bundled the lengths of thread as they came from the spinning frames." - BS
File: Hamm026

Go to the Ballad Search form
Go to the Ballad Index Song List

Go to the Ballad Index Instructions
Go to the Ballad Index Bibliography or Discography