A Folk Song A Day

You’ll probably recognise this as Jon says, “I’ve recorded this with S&B and with Bellowhead,” but he also confesses, “Having performed it a couple of times with Maddy Prior I now realise that there are a good few mondegreens in my recorded versions, particularly ballad singer = balancer !! Still it’s a great song that really brings out the excitement and drama of the annual fair.”

You might be intrigued by this Mudcat thread that seems to nail the location to the Scottish Borders and Castleton, now Newcastleton a town that grew out of the original village in response to the burgeoning flax industry on the late C18th. In many ways I’m indebted to this gentleman for pointing me in the direction and for some interesting notes about the Border Reivers. But that leads to Mainly Norfolk and the notes to Tim and Maddy’s notes that suggest the hiring or ‘mop’ fairs continued in the area until after WW1. If anyone from that way knows more please share it below.

Jon Describes this as “Just a cheerful ditty really, although actually the story’s not that cheerful since it presumably ends in shame and destitution for the girl. Cheerful tune though.”

It fair romps along this one. I don’t know whether this is the same tune as is noted in this Mudcat thread, where you’ll also see the two common title variants, The Sentry Box and Soldier’s Cloak. You’ll find A.L. Lloyd’s Martin Carthy’s and Steeleye’s versions at Mainly Norfolk although some may well know this by The Pogues. I note Martin’s reference to chauvinism, picking up on the John Blunt theme. I must confess, my curiosity was taken by the almost throwaway line that “two wives are allowed in the Army, but one’s more than enough for me.” That got me wondering and I’m clearly not alone in that respect, with various forum discussions, although nothing definitive on the subject. The suggestions range from the colourful  of the ‘camp followers’ to the more prosaic of the repair kit (needle and thread, etc) issued to conscripts that was nicknamed ‘the soldiers wife.’ There is also the possibility that as a soldier you are simply ‘married’ to the army. If anyone knows more I’m intrigued. On the subject of chauvinism, I read somewhere that Pete Seeger had culled songs on those grounds, with the suggestion that it had a rather drastic affect on his repertoire!! Apocryphal it must be,  as surely the last things you turn to folk for are political correctness and as suggested previously, historical accuracy.

“Another ‘big song’ that I’ve only just got around to learning. There are so many good versions around, to choose from, but this is basically Carthy’s version I think.”

Actually according to Mainly Norfolk this follows Bert Lloyd’s version, having the extra verse, which seems to be about John Barleycorns revenge. We are of course at the other end of the cycle, having had Hey John Barleycorn back in September. Back then I think I gave you this link, which is worthwhile if a little involved on the John Barleycorn family of songs and the folk process in general. It’s interesting to read Martin Carthy’s notes at MN about the possible symbolism of three men coming “out of the west.” Bert’s notes about “refurbishment” brought a wry smile to my lips as well as by reputation, he’s surely in the know as far as that goes. Mind you I don’t suppose it much matters if you take the line of the folk song “as a live and growing thing, coloured and shaped in its course through centuries by the many minds through which it has passed.” It’s one of the nuggets that that fairly long article puts forward and although not the only take, it’s the one that strikes a chord with me. Anything else suggests an attempt to do for folk as the three from the west would do to John here. Thankfully that approach also seems to be equally unsuccessful. Should I mention Traffic, probably not but I have done, as they’ve been a big band in my life for more years than I care to mention. Along with several of their Island label cohorts they provided the first taste of folk music of my own choosing, long before I really had any idea of what it was.

Jon simply attributes this as “From Carthy. I like the gentle humour of this. As I’ve said before I’m not desperately keen on ‘funny’ songs, but this seems to me more like an Aesop’s fable.”

It certainly has a folklore tale element to it as Martin Carthy’s notes reprinted at Mainly Norfolk allude to. The tale of the argument and refusing to speak is very old and can be traced back to antiquity with the simple moral lesson found is Aesop and so forth. This song as one of the Child collection (#275), is probably of Scottish origin and probably itself very old, but there do seem to be several variations, some undoubtedly English. You may like to try this Mudcat thread too, although it’s mostly about the abiding chauvinism of folk songs, with bad wives more common than bad husbands. I’m sure that’s true, but neither party takes any credit out of this, jolly as it may be.

Jon calls this “A great song by Roger Wilson. Dan Plews has made this very much his own and it is something of an anthem in the Oxford session scene.”

Although Roger’s is a new name to me, I see he was a member of The House Band between 93-98 and has also played with Chris Wood and Martin Carthy. He’s obviously a writer, but hasn’t been exactly prolific with his own releases in a career of some 25 years. He has a brief entry on Wiki, but apart from that there’s little to add to the story of this fine song. I instinctively thought it American on first listening, which just goes to show how wrong you can be, but I love the detail in the song. Excellent stuff.