“The Cornish Placename Song” is  Davies Gilbert’s “Cornish Cantata: Lapyeor Tom’s Song” set to music by Richard John Noall and included in a pamphlet of songs titled “Cornish Patriotic and Dialect Songs” published in 1934.

The Cornish Cantata – Lapyeor Toms#’s Song as published by Davies Gilbert in the “Cornish Magazine” Vol 3. J Philp, Falmouth. 1828 p199:

Noall based his song on an article in the Old Cornwall Journal Vol 1 April 1925 “A COrnish Cantata” by Robert Morton Nance who cpommented:

“Of these lines the old magazine says that when given the correct local pronunciation: “they cannot fail to affect a Cornish heart with that peculiar sort of pleasing melancholy which is excited by the portrait of a dear departed friend,” and Davies Gilbert’s intention in writing them seems to have been that of preserving in rhymed verse the sounds of the “dear departed” old Celtic Language as still traditionally used in place-names. In this he has been more successful than some of his imitators in more recent years. His spellings are occasionally questionable and his hyphens seem misplaced at times, but on the whole there is little difficulty in identifying the places and giving their names the correct Cornish pronunciation. To identify all, and, still more, to attempt to interpret their meanings, would be an interesting task, but if this is to be done it must be in a later issue of Old Cornwall. Sung to a Welsh penillion air, these verses have a truly Celtic ring, and should make a welcome feature at Cornish concerts.”

R.M.N

The introductory lines by Davies Gilbert which is incorporated into the verese by Morton Nance and Noall seem to be a reference to Guize Dancers, and activities such as: lapyeor is a dialect term for step dancer; shallal is a a procession through the streets with improvised percussion; Jallow Clathing and petticoats could be the bizarre costume and cross dressing of the Guize dancers; and to sing like a jaypie would be to shout and bellow.

See also Lapyor Tom’s Song Hengan

Merv Davey 2020