Tag Archives: Roger Whittaker

‘The Ash Grove’

Music tonight, as is so often the case with me on Fridays. Way back in the 1970s, I acquired an album by the late Roger Whittaker, entitled “Folk Songs of Our Time,” sadly no longer available as such. It was a loose collection, featuring some numbers that weren’t strictly folk songs at all. “Folk,” of course, is a nebulous category. It can mean a song genuinely passed down mouth to mouth through generations, or merely a song written last week in the folk style.

Anyway, I grew quite fond of the album, and the song, “The Ash Grove,” was one of my favorites. Mr. Whittaker sings it above, though I’m not sure it’s the same arrangement.

The song evokes the unmistakable air of antiquity. According to Wikipedia, it was originally a Welsh song, and was first published by the harpist Edward Jones in 1802. But a similar tune is found in John Gay’s “The Beggar’s Opera” (1728), and that tune has in turn been traced back to a Morris song called “Constant Billy,” published in 1665.

In my own imagination, I suspected it was a heathen song. The ash tree has deep folkloric significance – I have a little book about British tree superstitions down in my basement somewhere. In my novel, The Year of the Warrior, I give Father Ailill a mad, homicidal heathen slave who likes to sing “a song about an ash grove.” The original lyrics as we have them were by Jones in Welsh, of course, and they’re actually about a man mourning his lost love.

A good folk tune never escapes the hymn writers. “The Ash Grove” is well-known in churches as the tune to “Let All Things Now Living,” and “Sent Forth With God’s Blessing,” as well as a few others less familiar.

R.I. P. Roger Whittaker (1936-2023)

I was not aware until a couple days ago that the great Roger Whittaker died Wednesday, Sept. 13, at his home in France. At a certain time in my life, his music meant a whole lot to me, and I still listen to it with a thrill.

The song, “The Last Farewell,” was actually the result of a contest on a TV program Whittaker hosted. Audience members were encouraged to write and submit songs, and the best would be performed on the air. TLF, of course, possessed special magic.

The song itself is about a sailor during the 20 Years’ War, who falls in love with a West Indian girl and has to go back to sea.

By the way, I might mention that I’ll be at Norsk Hostfest in Minot, ND next week. Look for me in the Viking Village. My posting after Monday will be sporadic or nonexistent.

‘The Last Farewell’

You might be surprised to know that Sissel is not the only singer I’ve been obsessed with over the years. Though my obsession for Roger Whittaker was of a different sort. I never fantasized about marrying him, for instance.

“The Last Farewell” came out at a time in my life when I was susceptible to such a song, and it knocked me for a loop. I kept the radio on all the time, waiting for it to be played, until my roommate took me out to a store (Target, I think) to get the album. (The idea of buying music was still unfamiliar to me in those days.)

The song itself is actually about the 10 Years’ War of the 18th Century. The situation is supposed to be that an English sailor has fallen in love with a beautiful Caribbean woman. Now he has to sail off to fight. It was written in response to a sort of competition they held on a TV show Roger Whittaker hosted in England. People would send their original songs in, and if one passed muster Roger would sing it on the show.

Hope you enjoy it. Have a great weekend.