Digital Tradition Mirror

This notation is pretty simple; dark circles mean covered holes; empty circles mean uncovered holes; a '+' below means to blow harder to get the upper octave; a '#' below means this note is too low for the whistle chosen and you'll have to fake it :) The author of this program always plays accidentals by closing holes, so you'll never see half-covered holes.

When I was starting, I found notation like this to be very helpful, and I know plenty of people who have trouble reading music who find this notation easier. Good luck!

Tom Bolyn

(C whistle)

(This score available as ABC, SongWright, PostScript, PNG, or PMW, or a MIDI file)
(Choose a whistle key: A B C D E F G Ab Bb Cb Db Eb Fb Gb A# B# C# D# E# F# G#)
Dulcimer tab for this song is also available

Tom Bolyn

Tom Bolyn was Scotchman born,
His shoes wore out and his stockings were torn
The calf of his leg come down to his shin.
"I'm a bell of a fellow," says Tom Bolyn.

Tom Bolyn had no boots to wear,
He bought him a goatskin to make him a pair,
The woolly side out and the skinny side in,
"Cool in the summer," says Tom Bolyn.

Tom Bolyn bought him an old gray mare,
Her sides was sore, her feets was bare;
Away he went through thick and thin.
"I'm going a-courting," says Tom Bolyn.

He rode over to a Dutchman's hall,
There he got down amongst them all;
"Come in, come in, I bid you come in,"
"I've come here a-courting," says Tom Bolyn.

"Come in, come in, you welcome guest,
Take which of my daughters that you like best."
"I'll take one for love and the other for kin,
I'll marry them both," says Tom Bolyn.

After the wedding we must have a dinner;
They had nothing to eat that was fit for a sinner,
Neither fish, flesh, food, nor no such a thing_
"It's a hell of a dinner," said Tom Bolyn.

And after the dinner, we must have a bed;
The floor it was swept and the straw it was spread;
The blankets was short and besides very thin,
"Stick close to my back," said Tom Bolyn.

But his wife's mother said the very next day,
"You will have to get another place to stay.
I can't lie awake and hear you snore;
You can't stay in my house any more."

Tom Bolyn got into a hollow tree,
And very contented seemed to be;
The wind did blow and the rain beat in.
"This is better than no house," said Tom Bolyn.

Tom Bolyn, his wife and wife's mother,
They all went over the bridge together,
The bridge it broke, they all went in,
"First to the bottom," said Tom Bolyn.

See also JOHNBOLYN
From Our Singing Country, Lomax . Collected from Eliza Pace, KY
  1937
RG

Thanks to Mudcat for the Digital Tradition!