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Hal-an-Tow (PDF)
Hal-an-Tow (WORD)
YOU CAN PLAY IN THE SAME KEY AS THE VIDEO! Thanks to Kat Summerbell for suggesting this song.
This songsheet is based on the 1965 recording of "Hal-an-Tow" sung by The Watersons, from their album Frost and Fire. For a few decades The Watersons were the first family of British folk music, and it all started with Frost and Fire: A Calendar of Ritual and Magical Songs. First released in 1965, it changed British folk music forever.
Re the song "Hal-an-Tow", Australian radio presenter, singer, and archaeologist Bob Hudson noted: The term "halan" means "calends" or first of the month, and "tow" means "garland". This is No. 135, under the title Helston Furry Dance, in Palmer’s Everyman’s Book of English Country Songs. In the town of Helston, Cornwall, May 8 is called Furry Day (the Feast of St. Michael), and a procession is held each year. Early in the morning, in former times, a group of revellers would rise early in the morning, gather green boughs, and dance through the city streets. The revellers themselves were referred to as Hal-an-Tow. In recent times, the celebration consists of a kind of snake dance through the streets—and even in the front door of some residences and out the back.
Here's an interesting history of the song from the Mainly Norfolk website:
And some other archived recordings: