My Little Gnudren,

In my time as a taker of assemblies at Christ Church Primary School in the 1970s to the 1990s I learnt a great deal. For example, I learnt that:

“Anancy is a spider
Anancy is a man,
Anancy is a lazy one
do little as he can…”

Anancy is a significant character in the folklore of the Akan People [now part of modern day Ghana]. He possibly looked like this:

but we can’t be certain. It is interesting how different ancient cultures created beings that were half animal and half human. Here are some but I don’t think they’re in the same league as Anancy:

Perhaps you can think of some contemporary examples of the human/animal mix that would like to add to the two examples above.

Be that as it may, the Anancy stories spread to other parts of Eastern Africa and eventually to the Carribean and even as far as Suriname. (Please do remember to pronounce Carribean in the modern way: Ca—rrib–beAnn. Apparently we had it wrong up to a few years ago and mistakenly called it the Carry—bee–Ann. Gnu also notices, that when his back was turned, By-zan-tyne has suddenly transmogrified into Bee-zan-teen. Very nasty business indeed.)

The children at Christ Church School loved the Anancy song, so Assembly-Taker-Gnu decided to arrange it for them in quasi-Carry-be-Ann style.

Composer Gnu at the piano, arranging music for Christ Church
School Assemblies, in those heady days of being the MD at CCC

As far as Old Gnu knows the melody is not in copyright. (If it is let us know, and it shall be acknowledged and/or removed from the website, and we shall duly castigate ourselves for transgression of the law). This arrangement was a great hit with the children, and they sang it raucously.

Never one to miss an opportunity of doing as little work as possible (like Anancy the Spider), Musical Director Gnu set about nicking the tune. He set it to words about Palm Sunday and Easter for the children to sing in Church at family service. They too loved it. You can find it within the album of Children’s songs as Jerusalem Was Crowded here. I am certain it didn’t do them any harm. I attended the wedding of one such mite on Saturday and she seemed perfectly normal.

In this act of nicking, Old Gnu takes his place alongside the other Great Nickers of all time. These include our great father in God Johann Sebastian Bach; but he did not sin or transgress the law. It’s in the Bible: read Romans 4:15, [and investigate the copyright situation in the 18th Century.] Bach was a Legitimate Nicker. There have been a lot of musical Nickers down through the years, and some have made a great deal of money out of it. J.S. Bach took concertos from Vivaldi and gave them a good run for their money; but he didn’t make any money. Like George Frederick Handel, he even nicked his own stuff!

Some of the World’s Great Nickers or those who have be wrongly accused of nicking:

So there we have it. But there must be good taste in what we do when we nick stuff, and, more importantly, adherence to copyright laws. Old Gnu recalls that he had to look enthusiastic about another such act of nicking on one occasion. A very senior colleague, used the tune of What shall we do with the Drunken Sailor to words about Jesus and his resurrection. It went like this:

We have a king who rides a donkey,
We have a king who rides a donkey,
We have a king who rides a donkey,
and his name is Jesus.
Hurray and up he rises,
Hurray and up he rises,
Hurray and up he rises,
Earl-lye in the morning.

To Gnu this didn’t seem in very good taste. The family service singers didn’t like it much; but then neither did many of the adult congregation didn’t like all Gnu’s remarkable creations. So try it yourself. You know the tune! Sing along lustily to the words above and let me know if you think it is a suitable expression of resurrection joy.

Take no notice of a prejudiced Old Gnu; this experience may even be a blessing to you and open a new window on spirituality; especially if you link arms with others and sway from side to side when you sing it.

Vetus Pater Gnu
Academiae Musicorum et Theologia
Turris [LA]
XXII Octobris MMXVII