A Folk Song A Day

This belongs to a family of ‘Hangman’ songs referred to as Child ballad #95, where the victim is saved by a last minute reprieve. It includes Gallows Pole and Pricklie (Prickly, Prickleye) Bush and often the condemned is female, although that isn’t the case here.  Jon Says, “I really love the first verse of this – doesn’t seem to have much to do with the story but it somehow elevates the rest of the song, perhaps because of being somewhat abstract. I forget who Bellamy learnt this off. Paddy Tunney maybe?” According to this mainly Norfolk link it will have come from Sarah Makem and the sleeve notes Of Spiers & Boden’s Songs, from Jon’s previous recording of the song, make the same connection. This variant is sometimes called The Streets Of Derry, which you’ll note on that MN link it’s what Shirley Collins called it, with Cara Dillon also recording a version with that title more recently. There seems a sense of looming injustice in this, with the priest seeking to delay the execution by insisting on hearing a confession, where it is more usually the condemned who seeks a stay. Is it just me or does the mention of the victim “Being more like a commanding officer,” when marched through the streets give this a political edge?  There are lots of threads at Mudcat to keep you busy should you need further reading.

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As Jon says, “This is another classic from the Copper family,” then rather more surprisingly adds,  “The Witches of Elswick used to perform this on roller-skates, I can’t remember why exactly but I’m sure there was a good reason.” We’re back in shirtless, purple beehive territory then, although someone can possibly explain. Any road, this is possibly one of the oldest songs in the Coppers’ considerable repertoire, being discovered in a manuscript notebook printed around 1700. Although it subsequently appeared in several important collections, including Allan Ramsay’s attractively titled Tea Table Miscellany, it wasn’t much favoured by the main broadside printers in the 19^th Century and as such, it is really down to the Coppers that the song survives at all. Despite that, the shepherd and the maid, or nymph, were a popular pairing with poets, song writers and other artists, although the story certainly has its roots in antiquity and can be found in Greek mythology (probably other ancient tales too.) There’s the sense of a union with nature with the shepherd unburdened of any worldly concerns, mixing in a desire for a return to Eden like paradise and a simpler, purer life. This link is interesting showing a poem by Christopher Marlowe and a riposte by Sir Walter Raleigh no less. The notes are instructive, as Raleigh’s picking over the Shepherd’s offer of love seems somewhat cynical.

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We’re upping the mystical ante again with “Another blacksmith song and interestingly, Brown Adam has been exiled from his family and from civilisation – a feature common with Volundr who lived in the woods, forging magical rings to try and bring back his swan-maiden sweetheart.” This is Child ballad #98 and is, therefore, Scottish as most of the lyric sets available on line, such as this one on Mudcat, make clear from the dialect used. As Jon picked this one up from Martin Carthy it has been Anglicised and Martin also wrote his own tune for it. Given the Nordic influence over Scotland, it’s also quite possible that the saga has made it’s way through the years and either been integrated with other elements or more simply made to fit the storytellers requirements. Mainly Norfolk has the reference to Martin Carthy’s version, originally released on his Landfall album in 1971,the year that he quit Steeleye Span and still available on the CD of the same record.

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Neatly including today’s date in the lyrics, Jon picked this up from The Watersons, of whom he says, “My first introduction to The Watersons was on a Topic LP Sea Songs that I borrowed from Winchester library at a tender age. I had heard Norma sing on the first Waterson:Carthy album but was absolutely knocked out by the ferocity of the sound the three siblings and  cousin John could produce. This was one of three Waterson tracks on the album.” You’ll find it on currently on The Waterson’s  Early Days CD and this Mainly Norfolk post tells you just about everything you need to know. Note the considerable differences between Bert Lloyd and The Waterson’s versions, with the latter greatly abridged. Jon’s take is equally short and unfortunately I can’t lay my hands on a ‘full-fat’ version as it doesn’t seem to be currently available. Mainly Norfolk also quotes the sleeve notes from the CDs and reveals that the year of 1864 in this version of the song is historically inaccurate, as the song is easily 140 years older than that. Mudcat has little extra to add to that but here’s a thread should you require it.

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Another of Bellamy’s settings of a Kipling poem of which Jon says,  “A hell of a song this. Kipling lived in Rottingdean for many years and would almost certainly have come across the Copper family. Although this poem was written once he had moved to Batemans, it may be that the character of Hob could have been influenced by characters like James ‘Brasser’ Copper. As is sometimes the case with Kipling the sentiment does verge on patronising, but overall I think it comes down on the side of respect, deference and reverence for the old farming families of England.” I realise that Kipling can be controversial and not everyone approved of Bellamy’s bringing him into the folk fold, but I’d also say that Kipling nails his colours to the mast of this poem with the verse…

Georgii Quinti Anno Sexto, I, who own the River-field, / Am fortified with title-deeds, attested, signed and sealed, / Guaranteeing me, my assigns, my executors and heirs / All sorts of powers and profits which are neither mine nor theirs.

The details of the passing ownership, so gleefully documented are an irrelevance as Hob, an ever-present force in tune with the arcane laws of nature, is the only one fit to be called master. Those more sage than I might have more to say on the Kipling conundrum, but as a poem and then as a song, this is brilliant and it fills me with joy! You can of course Mudcat away here.

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