To mark May Day, we revisit conversations with British folk artist Lisa Knapp, who has released two May-themed albums: Hunt The Hare: A Branch Of May (EP) in 2012 and Till April is Dead: A Garland of May (Album) in 2017. In his review of the latter album, Thomas Blake’s introduction sets the scene:
If T.S. Eliot was right and April is the cruellest month, then you might say that May is the kindest. May delivers on all the promises that April made and shirked. The sun comes out properly, and the swifts arrive. Hedgerows throng with life, and so do pub gardens. It is in May that the year finally turns its back on winter and all the hardship that the cold weather has brought. May, perhaps more than any other month, is celebrated in the traditional music of the British Isles, in songs that often have their roots in the pre-Christian rites that took place in the meadows, village greens and town squares across the country.
A Branch of May
Released in 2012, Lisa Knapp’s Hunt The Hare: A Branch Of May, is a tantalising five-track ‘May celebration’ on which she noted that these songs and the rituals that inspired them are both celebratory and sombre, heralding ‘a relief that winter is subdued’ and ‘reminding us that time is of the essence’.
May Folk Songs and Customs
When we interviewed Lisa in 2012, following the release of The Hare: A Branch of May, she told us:
I first came across May songs from two of my all-time favourite folk artists, Martin Carthy and Shirley Collins. When I first heard Shirley’s recording of ‘A Cambridgeshire May Carol‘, I was captivated by its’ simplistic beauty and strangeness.
I’d never heard of ‘May’ songs before; Calling the fair maids to take their May bushes in, talking in riddles of green fields and then asking for money, I mean, what a strange song. It’s actually a carol and does what many carols do in the asking of money and mentioning time, etc. It’s very Christmassy in that it is a totally seasonal thing, but yet full of spring and summer imagery. The next song that really hit me was Martin Carthy’s May Song from the album ‘Because it’s There‘.
What an amazing beat that has going, a totally grounded, driving, medieval and stringy sound and with John Kirkpatrick‘s concertina in that wonderful Morris tune style, clipped manner with that wonderful skip in it, and so driving, just wonderful. Of course, the lines ‘for the life of a man is but a span he’s cut down like a flower, he makes no delay he is here today and vanished all in an hour’…just completely spellbinding, as is the next verse…’..the worms they will eat your flesh good man and your bones they will waste away..’ so dark. Go and find them, you’ll be well rewarded I say. Both songs have that modal thing going, too, which is gorgeous.
Then, of course, there’s the Hal An Tow, which I first came across as a song on the Watersons‘ album ‘Frost and Fire‘.
Padstow May Day
Malcolm Taylor (at the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library, Cecil Sharp House) first showed me the Alan Lomax documentary on the Padstow May Day celebration, which is entitled ‘Oss Oss Wee Oss‘. I was completely stunned by it; a beautiful bit of footage about this fascinating custom, again really inspiring and rather mysterious.
Oss Oss Wee Oss (1953)
Oss Tales (Revisting Oss Oss Wee Oss)
What’s brilliant about nowadays with t’internet is you can watch so many of these on YouTube. Then a few years ago I discovered the Deptford Jack in The Green, a revived tradition whereby a man is totally covered in greenery and then paraded around parts of London with a bunch of musicians and whoever else wants to follow on.
Jack in the Green traditions were closely associated with the trade of chimney sweeping which I liked because it brought the idea of May celebrations as a town/city event and not just something that happened in villages. Being a Londoner I s’pose that resonates particularly.
Till April Is Dead ≈ A Garland of May
…Till April Is Dead is made up of equal parts darkness and light. It looks to the past as well as to the future. The songs are often sexy or coquettish but flirt constantly with danger. An appreciation of natural processes and the passing of the seasons is tempered by superstition. In short, this is a concept rich with variation and contradiction.
Thomas Blake
Why May?
In 2017, Thomas interviewed Lisa about Till April is Dead – A Garland of May and asked why she thought there are so many rituals and customs around May; read the extract below:
‘I don’t think anyone necessarily knows exactly why there are so many May rituals and customs,’ she admits, before offering her own theory: ‘It’s a time of year when the weather begins to be accommodating, and the trees and blooms look beautiful and are budding up again after what at that point always seems an interminable winter.’ And, of course, there is the simple but long-standing human need to have a good time. ‘People love to celebrate. Many of the events that exist now are reinventions and resurrections of older customs, but the first mention in England dates as far back as 1240 with the complaint of one Bishop Grosseteste complaining that his priests were demeaning themselves by joining in the ‘May games’. So, it’s certainly something that has happened in this country for many many centuries.’
As befits someone who has spent years studying and singing about folkloric traditions, Knapp is eloquent on her subject, going on to explain that ‘there were Roman celebrations of the goddess Flora at around the end of April happening circa 200 or so BC, and there are also early Germanic traditions which involve the month of May, but there are no references thus far in literature to substantiate a connection with those celebrations in England as far as I’m aware. Also, beware the internet in its description of ‘ancient pagan customs’ as I’ve not seen much evidence to link modern customs with anything ancient directly, although the feel of many of them is very pagan.
‘There are certainly records about maypoles from people like Pepys and beliefs about chimney-sweeps and milk maids celebrating May by collecting greenery and decorating themselves and processioning down streets collecting money, or making garlands and collecting money accompanied by musicians, dancing, and dare I say probably some alcohol.’
She is quick to recognise the practical as well as the artistic and ceremonial reasons for the popularity of May as a subject: ‘In modern times, I think there have been different reasons for different customs. Firstly, there is the fact that May is when the year finally turns from winter to summer (although it can be a bit juddery in that regard!), so people actually feel like coming together and celebrating outside. I also think that May has so many metaphoric resonances and has been mined by poets over the years for this reason, which has added to the romanticism of May, I think. It’s mentioned a lot as a month in folk song to be ‘walking out’ in, possibly because May is such a brilliant word to rhyme with as opposed to, say, August! I think ‘May’ represents potentiality, promise and mystery of the cycle of life – the life-giving sun is finally out, flowers begin to bud and bloom, the landscape changes so dramatically and beautifully, birds are singing, it all draws people to celebrate the fact that at last summer is here.
‘In times past when there weren’t modern comforts of central heating and abundance of food, the change in the weather would have been more substantially felt. I also think that there’s something special about feeling connected to the land, each other and the landscape in a time when we live a very urban lifestyle, less in touch with the outside and more isolated. I think also, in many of the celebrations like the Morris dancing at the crack of dawn to ‘bring in the May’ and the Jack in the Green processions and hobby horse rituals that there is just such an attractive element of mystery, ancientness and connectedness with tradition. Also, it’s a great time for a party.’
Have a great May Day…
Read the full interview here.
Explore Lisa’s music on Bandcamp: https://lisaknapp.bandcamp.com/