A Folk Song A Day

You’ll also find this on Vagabond the Spiers & Boden CD, given a lively treatment. Returning it here to an unaccompanied song, Jon also reverts to the racier lyrics. As he says, “From Lou Killen. Some debate as to the meaning of ‘doldrums’ – see Mudcat thread.” You’ll find that here and note Jon is an active participant in the thread. I can’t add to the Doldrums debate, so will leave you to draw your owninferences and conclusions…

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Jon says, “Bellamy was always a bit disappointed that this setting of a Bob Copper poem didn’t become more of an anthem for the folk club circuit. I suspect the problem is it’s a bit too wordy, but it’s a shame because it just sums up very well the enduring appeal of folk songs and folk singing.” We’re back to Songs An’ Rummy Conjurin’ Tricks for Peter’s version of this and wordy or not, it’s another welcome addition here, although of course this is another that isn’t Trad. Arr.  You’ll find the lyrics and more at Mudcat here. For those short on time, this is the most interesting entry on the thread.

Bob Copper originally wrote this as a poem around 1945; the above is his revised version of 1984, which Peter Bellamy set to music.  Bob had this to say about it, in an interview with Peter for Sing Out! magazine conducted in 1970: “I felt as if I was the only man in the country who thought the old songs were worth saving…we had no idea of the existence of the English Folk Song Society, even though [in 1887] Granddad had been instrumental in its formation…I was frantically trying to find someone who was interested in these things and who shared my feelings for them.  I even became a member of the Sussex Archaeological Society, and I wrote to them saying that I was in possession of a large number of songs which I considered to be as important as a part of Sussex history as any bit of flint, or old tomb or piece of old furniture (though I was interested in those too), and much more vulnerable, but that didn’t come to anything.  Anyway, this reflects what I was feeling at the time.”

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A version of this appeared on the Spiers & Boden Songs CD with the same tune and Jon Says, “This is one of a number of ballads that I’ve set to a popular English country dance, in this case The Dark Girl Dressed In Blue. Martin Carthy first (?) employed this trick setting The Maid And The Palmer to From Night Till Morn’. Since many instrumental tunes started life as song melodies it seems very natural to reverse the process.” The notes  about the track on Songs say “Or Gil Maurice (Gil Morice and Bill Norrie also -admin)- once a very well known ballad in Scotland inspiring tawdry dramatic adaptations and cropping up all over the place in various ballad versions. Our version is based on a version collected from Banffshire in 1826 from Widow Michael, a very old woman.”  Fittingly it’s also Child Ballad #83 and is likely to prove one of the hardest for anyone to learn on account of its length. As usual, Mainly Norfolk turns up trumps with details of the recordings and you’ll also find some Mudcat here under one of the title variants (there are others, but Child Morris won’t get you anything.) Elsewhere, there are threads that pick at the similarities to Mattie Groves and Little Musgrave, with a Lord Bernard (Barnard) putting the titular subject to the sword in a jealous rage, although the reason here is somewhat different. If you have time this Mudcat thread, trying to nail Lord Barnard in history is quite entertaining, although somewhat futile. If you don’t have time, suffice to say that someone has plucked a reference to Musgrave being sung from a play apparently first performed in 1607.

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Although I’m struggling to imagine let alone explain the circumstances, I cannot doubt Jon’s sincerity when he says, “One of the proudest moments of my career to date was singing this song unaccompanied and unamplified at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, London whilst sporting a purple beehive wig and no shirt.” A sight to behold no doubt, especially given the somewhat salacious content of this bawdy ballad.  This mainly Norfolk entry gives you an idea of the recordings made, and of those Jon again refers to Peter Bellamy as his source, as does Martin Carthy. Both Sides Then is starting to look like a worthwhile CD purchase for those wishing to explore the singer’s art further, although I’m sure many of you out there will have it already. This wasn’t on the original LP but is on the CD and I’m almost sure it won’t be the last time we’ll reference it. The Mainly Norfolk link is especially appropriate as English variants of this song seems to have been found exclusively in that region. As you’d expect, there’s some Mudcat stuff debating the Australian/English provenance. It rests on whether the river banks should be those of the Hawkesbury, just North West of Sydney, or Oxborough (Oxberry)as in Oxborough Hall on the banks of the River Gadder near Kings Lynn.  The lyrics would seem to point to the former, with the reference to “the forests of native Australia.” The latter is perhaps the Anglicisation of it, possibly due to the Eastern sea ports connection with the transports and the through flow of both the sailors and those returning having served their sentence. Any further evidence will be appreciated.

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This is one of those songs that possibly has more to it than meets the ear, as Jon explains, “Having studied Old Norse literature at university I’m interested in the idea that the character of the blacksmith (who crops up in many folk songs) may be an oral-tradition descendant of Volundr (or Weland) the smith – a very significant cult figure on Norse and Anglo-Saxon heathenism. Certainly blacksmiths in folk song seem to have a slightly ‘outlandish’ other-worldly feel to them, whether they are jilting lovers or severing hands of rival suitors.” I’ll add that I’ve read somewhere in my delving that the blacksmith is associated with virility and the hammer is an obvious phallic symbol! Anyway, the tune has an immediate familiarity to it as Vaughan Williams used it for To Be A Pilgrim. The tune became known as Monks Gate, named after the Sussex hamlet near Horsham from where Vaughan Williams first collected it, apparently from the singing of a Mrs Verral. He collected it again form the singing of a Mrs Weobley in Herefordshire five years later. This link gives you a couple of variations of the tune and lyrics with midi files. This Mainly Norfolk link gives you nice detail of many of the recordings, particularly those by Shirley Collins. It’s worth noting that her original EP was recorded by Bill Leader and released in that format at least partly because of the parlous state of Topic Records finances at the time. It’s also worth following the link on Mainly Norfolk through to Our Captain Cried All Hands, which shares the same tune and some of the lyrical sentiment, although the leaving seems to be a more noble quest for war and the last verse suggest resulting death. This Mudcat offers a slight lyrical variation and also suggests that Cecil Sharp collected it from A York broadside circa 1825. You’ll find more discussion on Mudcat here.

The buy links should now work properly. We had some problems with a duplicate track and everything needed to be updated, but I’ve just tested them and they are now OK!

You can buy the digital album now from the following stores: