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Crazy Jane
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This song dates from before 1800, and was written by Matthew 'Monk' Lewis, one of the darkest and strangest Gothic writers. The tune is 'Fie! Gar Rub Her O'er Wi' Strae', Scottish traditional.
singer songwriter acoustic folk british guitarist song celtic traditional fingerstyle scottish scotland guitar kelso
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Solo singer-songwriter and tunesmith playing British fingerstyle steel and nylon string guitar, and historic instruments. Scots and Irish influences.
I've been writing and playing songs and tunes since teenage years in folk clubs and pubs. I co-organise the Kelso Friday night live music sessions at the Cross Keys (hosted singaround 7.45-10pm) and Cobbles Inn (10-12pm open mic with The Cobbles Band) with the help of many friends. All welcome! Visit us at kelsofolkandlive co uk. It is worth clicking on the tab because the sound quality of my tracks is far higher than the auto player on this page. Many can be streamed or downloaded at 320KBps and the enhancement for solo guitar/voice far exceeds the benefit you get for highly compressed band recordings. My recordings are full dynamic, not compressed. Just select Hi-Fi for the first song, and an MP3 high bitrate window will open - you will still get a sequence of songs. Most of my downloads are free, but some 320KBps tracks are paid-for. These are selected because they make up my main instrumental album. I now have a YouTube page and have started doing some video recordings for fun: @daviddkilpatrick I have mainly played Lowden guitars since 1999. I current play a 1985 S5FN (nylon string), 1986 S22 (jumbo O-size mahogany/cedar), and 1995 S32 (small body rosewood/spruce). I also play my own 1997-built Martin 'kit' Grand Auditorium rosewood/spruce, a Sigma OM-T, Furch Little Jane, Tacoma Papoose, Guild 8-string baritone, Vintage V880 parlour guitar and Gordon Giltrap signature model, a Troubadour mahogany/spruce classical and an Adam Black 12-string. And that's just the guitars... also viola, mandolin, mandola, waldzither, bouzouki, Appalachian dulcimer, low D whistle, keyboards.
Song Info
Charts
Peak #2
Peak in subgenre #1
Author
Matthew G. Lewis/Traditional/arr. David Kilpatrick
Rights
David Kilpatrick 2007
Uploaded
March 11, 2007
Track Files
MP3
MP3 3.3 MB 320 kbps 3:34
Story behind the song
Matthew Lewis, a friend of Walter Scott and his circle, became infamous for his novel 'The Monk' which had a Gothic sensuality unacceptable in his time - but popular enough to make him a best-seller. 'Monk' Lewis took his own life. 'Crazy Jane' is a little-known song lyric I discovered in an 1812 volume of Scottish tunes, set down as 'alternative words'. I am not aware of anyone who has recorded this song, clearly written for a woman to sing, but rather fun for a mad bloke to sing too. It is, for me, the 'See Emily Play' of the Regency Gothic-Romantic period. It is accompanied on a tiny guitar, a Brook Bovey, possibly the smallest regularly tuned (13-56 strings) guitar made with its 21.7 inch scale and miniature body. The guitar has no problems at all with volume. Everything is miked - two Behringer C2s for the guitar, one AKG C2000B for the vocal, but all live simultaneously and with loads of crossfeed. There's a stack of reverb and vocal fx added just to boost the haunted abbey atmosphere of this galant parlour song.
Lyrics
Why, fair maid, in every feature, Are such signs of fear expressed? Can a wandering wretched creature With such terror fill they breast? Do my frenzied looks alarm thee? Trust me, sweet, thy fears are vain; Not for kingdoms would I harm thee, Shun not then poor crazy Jane. Dost thou weep to see my anguish? Mark me and avoid my woe; When men flatter, sigh, and languish, Think them false – I found them so. For I loved, oh so sincerely! None could ever love again! But the youth I loved so dearly Stole the wits of crazy Jane. Fondly my young heart received him, Which was doomed to love but one, He sigh’d – he vow’d – and I believed him, He was false, and I undone. From that hour has Reason never Held her empire o’er my brain; Henry fled – with him for ever Fled the wits of crazy Jane. Now forlorn and broken-hearted, And with frenzied thoughts beset, On that spot where once we parted, On that spot where first we met, Still I sing my love-lorn ditty, Still I slowly pace the plain; Whilst each passer-by, in pity, Cries, “God help thee, crazy Jane!” Matthew 'Monk' Lewis, 1790s
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