{"id":2097,"date":"2020-04-13T13:25:59","date_gmt":"2020-04-13T13:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=2097"},"modified":"2023-11-28T09:38:14","modified_gmt":"2023-11-28T09:38:14","slug":"pulling-hard-against-the-stream","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/pulling-hard-against-the-stream\/","title":{"rendered":"Pulling hard against the stream"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>Do your best
Do your best for one another
In this world
In this world I gaint my knowledge<\/td><\/tr>
1st Pub<\/td>Jan 1867<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Lyrics<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton<\/td>Music<\/strong><\/td> Harry Clifton<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN1958<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Music Hall performers<\/strong><\/td>Harry Clifton 1860s<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Source singers<\/strong> listed in vwml<\/a>:
Willie Scott, nd, Scotland
Alice Mary Bond, 1890s, Cambridgeshire, England
Miss RM Ripley, 1905, Surrey, England
M Ward, 1905, Sussex, England
Hilda Garland, 1924, Somerset, England
WB, 1929, Norfolk, England
HE, 1929, Norfolk, England
Elizabeth Janet Black, 1952?, North Carolina, USA
Janet Armstrong, 1957, Qu\u00e9bec, Canada
Lucy Stewart, 1960, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
James Brown, 1963, New Brunswick, Canada
Mr Holley, 1965, Bedfordshire, England
Silas Sainsbury\/Dan Downer, 1966, Newfoundland, Canada.
Willie Williamson, 1971, Shetland, Scotland
Ted Laurence, 1971-79, Suffolk, England
Mr Parrot, 1977, Gloucestershire, England
Vincie Boyle, 2003, County Clare, Ireland
Modern Performances<\/strong>
Kirsty Potts 2016
Seth Lakeman 2017<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
From UK Sheet Music (Personal copy)\n\nPULLING HARD AGAINST THE STREAM\nWritten and sung by Harry Clifton, arranged by M Hobson.\n\nIn this world I\u2019ve gained my knowledge,\r\nAnd for it I\u2019ve had to pay.\r\nThough I haven\u2019t been to college\r\nYet I\u2019ve heard a poet say \u2013 \r\nLife is like a mighty river,\r\nRolling on from day to day, \r\nMen are vessels launched upon it, \r\nSometimes wrecked and cast away.\nSo then\r\n\nDo your best for one another,\r\nMaking life a pleasant dream,\r\nHelp a worn and weary brother\r\nPulling hard against the stream.<\/em>\r\n\nMany a bright good hearted fellow,\nMany a noble-minded man,\nFinds himself in water shallow;\nThen assist him if you can.\nSome succeed at ev\u2019ry turning,\nFortune favours ev'ry scheme:\nOthers too, though more deserving,\nHave to pull against the stream.\nSo then\n\nIf the wind is in your favour,\nAnd you\u2019ve weather\u2019d ev\u2019ry squall,\nThink of those whose luckless labour,\nNever get fair winds at all; \u00a0\nWorking hard, contented, willing,\nStruggling thro' life\u2019s ocean wide;\nNot a friend and not a shilling;\u00a0\nPulling hard against the tide.\nSo then\n\nDon\u2019t give way to foolish sorrow,\nLet this keep you in good cheer:\nBrighter days may come to-morrow\nIf you try and persevere.\nDarkest nights will have a morning,\nThough the sky be overcast;\nLongest lanes will have a turning,\nAnd the tide will turn at last.\nSo then<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
Collected from singers on both sides of the Atlantic (Newfoundland, Canada, America, Ireland, Scotland and England) and found in broadsides and song books from the late 19th century on, Pulling hard <\/em>has been an extremely popular song in traditional circles for many years! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Various different people have claimed to have written it, and its sometimes described as “Trad”, but whilst it may borrow phrases from other songs we can be reasonably sure that the original was written by the great Harry Clifton, and that it was first published it in early 1867<\/a>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Jan 24, 1867; Daily Telegraph<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
Harry Clifton<\/a> (1832 to 1872) was the son of a carpenter, and a successful singer-songwriter as well as performer. He wrote highly successful comic songs such as Polly Perkins of Paddington Green<\/em> and A Dark Girl Dressed in Blue<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But he was also very well known for his so-called \u201cmotto songs\u201d like this one, Paddle Your Own Canoe, Wait for the Turn of the Tide, <\/em>and Work Boys and be Contented. <\/em>He was perhaps one of the more respectable Music Hall songwriters and his songs often sold well as parlour ballads: sheet music for the respectable middle classes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To some modern writers his motto songs have been dismissed as trite: promoting a particularly Victorian ethic of hard work as its own reward. Contemporary writers reported that his songs were equally popular with the poorer working class audiences, and this may be because they heard them delivered as songs<\/strong>, rather than just seeing them written down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I accept it’s quite possible to read the lyrics above and dismiss the song as middle-class wishful thinking or propaganda, but listen to the version by Kirsty Potts below, to get a sense of how powerful this song can be in the right hands.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n