Suitable singing material for the Lyke Wake Walk

Q. We are about to set off with our team of ten on the Lyke Wake Walk and I have been asked to provide appropriate suggestions for songs en-route to lift the spirit and keep those boots in action.

We are a mixed bunch and thought your contributions from experienced walkers might offer us some inspiration for the right singing material.

Can you help?.

Marie Clair

A. When I started to walk along the river, which is near my home city, the walks got longer and longer. I found out, that my MP3-Player was a nice Tool to keep me walking, when my feets start hurting. And I started to collect songs for a playlist.

This is my "walking around/arriving"-playlist as it has evolved since today:

Mitch Miller And The Gang / Don't fence me in
Manfred Manns Earth Band / Davy's on the road again
J.J. Cale / Call me the breeze
Canned Heat / Going up the country
Willie Nelson / On the road again
The Proclaimers / I'm on my way
Russian Red Army Choir / Tipperary
Dion Dimucci / I'm a wanderer
Fats Domino / I'm Walking
The Proclaimers / I would walk 500 miles
Johnny Cash / I walk the line
Johnny Cash / Rawhide
Fleetwood Mac / Go your own way
Elvis Presley / King of the road
Blues Brothers / Ghost riders in the sky
Canned Heat / On the road again
Talking Heads / Road to nowhere
ACDC / Highway to hell
Lee Marvin / I was born under a wandering star
U2 (Johnny Cash) / The Wanderer
Supertramp / Take the long way home
John Denver / Take me home (country roads)
Otis Redding / Sitting on the dock of the bay
Jackie Leven / I've been everywhere

For 24 I took the "Jackie Leven Version" because of the german towns, otherwise it would be version sung by Hank Snow ;-)

Greetings from

KC Walker, A Small Town In Northern Germany

A. The LW Walk is named after the Cleveland Lyke Wake Dirge, an ancient funeral lament from this part of the North Riding of Yorkshire.

To really get into what this walk is about you need to have read (or sung) the Dirge which refers to the passage of the Soul over a difficult moor as a trial after death when the deceased's good deeds (or lack of them!!) are assessed and the soul's ultimate fate determined.

It is worth memorising at least a verse or two to recite along the way when you do this walk (particularly at night).

It starts:

This 'ere neet, this 'ere neet,
Ivvery neet an' all.
Fire & fleet an' candle leet,
And Christ tek up thy soul.
When thou frae hence away art passed.
Ivvery neet an all,
To Whinnie Moor thou comes at last,
And Christ tek up thy soul. .....'.

To understand all this and the culture of the Lyke Wake Club which is based on the Dirge & local Yorkshire folklore check out the LWW wiki page, the LW Club website (www.Lykewake.org). Or better still get hold of an early edition (1960s or 70s are best) of the book by Bill Cowley Lyke Wake Walk: 40 Miles across the Yorkshire Moors (Dalesman Books); the more modern guides don't capture as well as these early editions the ethos of the Walk.

Cheap copies of Bill Cowley's book are available on internet (try Abe Books, not Amazon -too expensive).

To celebrate the Walk's 60th anniversary BBC Radio 4 Rambings did a section of the Walk (podcast available)

Ian Evans, Willoughby, Lincolnshire, England

A. A version of The Lyke Wake Dirge by Pentangle can be heard on You Tube along with a number of other versions. See The Lyke Wake Dirge.

Claudio Capriolo, Turin, Italy

A. Here's two to start you off:

'Lyke and Virgin' - Madonna
'Walk Lyke and Egyptian' - Bananarama

Anyone else got any suggestions?

Mike (Editor)

A. And here's some more:

'Wake me up before you go go' by Wham - Doug Davies
'I Lyke it' by Freddie and the Dreamers - Doreen Souther
'Walk of Life' by Dire Straits - Dave Harmeston
'Sleepers' Wake' by Bach - John Turton
'Go your own way' by Fleetwood Mac - Steve MacDonald
'Walking On Sunshine' - Katrina and The Waves - Walkfan, Canada
'Walking on the Moon' - The Police - Walkfan, Canada