NOTE ON PERFORMING: Hey, Viper here. This song is a three-fer. That means that, while each “voice” line works as a song on its own, the different lines are also set up to be sung together.
There’s lots of possible combinations & permutations. But the Viper typically does it like this: Voice #1 alone, then #1 & #2
together, then #2, then #3, then all three
together.
Experiment! Make it new! And then…
In this particular case, the midi mp3 I’ve linked to in the usual way at the beginning of this page may be possibly the worst way to follow along with the sheet music. Much better to listen along to the following two performances.
Here’s the version that appeared on our one and only studio recording, Everything For Everyone, which contains, aside from the pleasure feel every time I get to hear Edward Burch singing a lyric I wrote, also what I think of as the single best moment where the multiple rhythms of this song locked in (it’s the Sno-cap chomping part).
Then there’s this lively and perfectly imperfect live performance from the much-missed Klas restaurant in Cicero, IL from a PRK Auktoberfyst festival in 2011:
But, honestly, the best way to familiarize yourself with the song is to follow this Lowands saga of our discovery, engagement, and ultimatel face-to-face encounter with the Rambling Boys of Pleasure of Ghent, Belgium, who had somehow discovered, learned, and video recorded themselves playing this very same very Champaign-Urbana-specific song.
It’s a truly marvelous story, and I invite you, earnestly, to avail yourself of its existence in this three-, then four-, part story of its happening.
Part 1: COME ALL YE RAMBLING BOYS OF PLEASURE…
Part 2: …AND LADIES OF EASY LEISURE…
Part 3: WE MUST SAY ADIÓS! UNTIL WE SEE ALMERIA ONCE AGAIN
And then… Part 4: Y STIJN DEBROUWERE, EL REY DEL AMÉRICA, in which matter and anti-matter collide as a Rambling Boy of Pleasure meets up with a Famous Orchestra in Madison, Wisconsin in 2012.
The Viper & His Famous Orchestra 