Talk:John Peel (farmer)
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It strikes me that this is probably the source for the James Bond title "A View to a Kill".
- I'm fairly sure it's documented as being such, somewhere. May even be in our own A View to a Kill entry. Angmering
- It is indeed. I wondered if the origins (words usually attributed to John Woodcock Graves 1795-1886, most popular tune possibly part of W. Metcalfe's version, 1868) & further lyrics of the song would enhance the entry, something like:
[edit] Alternative versions
As is common with songs often sung from memory, this has been recorded with other verses and minor differences in lyrics, most obviously in the lines also rendered: 'From the drag to the chase, From the chase to the view' and 'From a view to a death in the morning', as quoted, for example in the title of Matt Cartmill's book "A View to a Death in the Morning: Hunting and Nature Through History".
It also is usually sung with a repeated refrain:
- D'ye ken John Peel with his coat so gay?
- D'ye ken John Peel at the break o' day?
- D'ye ken John Peel when he's far, far a-way.
- With his hounds and his horn in the morning?
Chorus:
- For the sound of his horn brought me from my bed,
- And the cry of his hounds, which he oft-times led;
- Peel's view halloo' would waken the dead,
- Or the fox from his lair in the morning.
- Yes, I ken John Peel and Ruby too,
- Ranter and Ringwood, Bellman and True;
- From a find to a check, from a check to a view,
- From a view to a death in the morning.
- For the sound of his horn etc.
- Then here's to John Peel from my heart and soul,
- Let's drink to his health, let's finish the bowl;
- We'll follow John Peel through fair and through foul,
- If we want a good hunt in the morning.
- For the sound of his horn etc.
- D'ye ken John Pell with his coat so gay?
- He liv'd at Troutbeck once on a day;
- Now he has gone far, away;
- We shall ne'er hear his voice in the morning.
- For the sound of his horn etc.
J. W. Graves
Additional verses
- And I've followed John Peel both often and far
- O'er the rasper fence and the gate and the bar
- From Low Denton Holme to the Scratchmere Scar
- When we vied for the brush in the morning.
- For the sound of his horn etc.
- Do ye ken that hound whose voice is death?
- Do ye ken her sons of peerless faith
- Do ye ken that a fox with his last breath
- Cursed them all as he died in the morning?
Alternative verse
- Then here's to John Peel with my heart and soul
- Come fill, fill to him a brimming bowl
- For we'll follow John Peel thro fair or thro foul
- While we're waked by his horn in the morning.
There are a number of stories as to the more detailed identity of John Peel, but I lack the authority or references to sort them out.
What do you think to the suggestions? Salvianus 23:20, 18 November 2006 (UTC)
