Welcome
Digitally remastered and available online. Listen to the full album here
About the songs
A collection of seventeen songs, primarily from the coastal and seafaring regions of Britain and Ireland. Remarkably, within a modest selection of songs, the full span of human themes is covered, such as: love, war, loss, infidelity, fantasy, deceit, travel, regret, imprisoned transportation, foreign shores and dreams of home, as well as advice or warning to future listeners. The men who would have sang these songs weren't well-known or famous. They would have sang these songs to pass the time, to fantasise or entertain, or to cope with their torrid circumstances, and they no doubt would have keenly shared the songs in new inns and ports wherever they ended up in order to keep the messages and themes alive. The songs capture a certain spirit and although some songs are now hundreds of years old, and sung by people who led lives that are almost unrecognisable to us now, the music, melodies and words allow us, almost by magic, to be able to connect to a previous time and the timeless human themes that seem to persist through the ages. We have digitally remastered this tape and made it available online and we hope you enjoy it. Each song is followed by a short narration.
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Chords |
Dm Dm F C Dm Dm C C C C C C Dm C Dm Dm |
This is an American shanty that was very popular with British sailors. The shanties were work songs and the crew often sang the chorus while they were working.
The story is about a battle between General Zachary Taylor and the Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna during the Mexican War (1846-1848). On March 28th 1845, the U.S. decided to take possession of Texas and to regard the Rio Grande as the Texas-Mexican border.
On March 8th 1846, U.S. President Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to advance to the Rio Grande with his army, and the U.S. declared war against Mexico on May 11th of that year. While General Wingfield Scott landed at Vera Cruz and took Mexico City in September 1846, General Taylor crossed the Rio Grande and captured Monterrey. It was after he had crossed the Rio Grande, in February 1847, that he met and defeated Santa Anna.
After the war, Mexico recognized the Rio Grande as the new frontier and, after a payment of fifteen million dollars, also gave up New Mexico and California (where gold had just been discovered).
Some versions of this song turn history "upside down", and Santa Anna defeats General Taylor. This is possibly because some British seamen deserted their ships during the war to fight in the Mexican army.
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Chords |
C C C C C C G7 G7 C Am Dm Em Dm F C C (capo: 2nd fret) |
There are a lot of English folk songs where you have a conversation between a sailor and his wife or girl-friend on the sea shore. In these songs they usually say goodbye to each other. In earlier days, saying goodbye was often a sad event as the sailor's life was very dangerous indeed. Today it would be like saying goodbye to somebody who is going on a rocket to the moon. You might never see that person again.
Songs like this are called sea-songs, but they're not really. They don't tell you anything about life at sea. All the action is on land. This is why many of these songs were sung and heard inland, in the country and villages, by people who never went to sea. They could identify themselves easily with the characters in the songs. Some of these songs have happy endings and some don't. This is one that doesn't have a happy ending.
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Chords Chorus |
C C F F G7 G7 C C C C F F G7 G7 C C Dm Dm F C C C G7 G7 C C F F G7 G7 C C G7 G7 G7 G7 C C F F G7 G7 C C |
This is a fantasy song. There are lots of English folk songs where the woman falls in love with the singer. In this song the two women fall in love with him. And he makes a profit, too! Of course, it's an illusion, but many men dream of meeting a widow with tons of gold or a daughter whose father owns a pub.
What is also typical of these songs is that although the singer is successful and makes a lot of money, he hasn't got anything left at the end. In fact, as soon as the money has gone, he isn't interested in the women any more. But he can always say he's had a good time. It's the sort of song that would be dangerous to write these days as women in the audience would soon accuse the singer of being a “male chauvinist”. However, at the time it was quite normal, probably because the singer's audience was all men.
Oh, soldier, soldier, will you marry me now?
With the hey, with the ho, with the sound of the drum.
Oh no, pretty maid, I couldn't marry you
Because I have no boots to put on.
socks
shirt
suit
So she ran to the shop as quick as she could run,
With the hey, with the ho, with the sound of the drum.
There she bought him boots of the very, very best,
socks
a shirt
a suit
Said, "Here, my small man, put these on."
this
(Last verse)
Oh, soldier, soldier, will you marry me now?
With the hey, with the ho, with the sound of the drum.
Oh no, pretty maid, I couldn't marry you
Because I have a wife of my own.
The theme is really the same as in "I rode my little horse".
The soldier wins the girl and makes a profit - he gets a new uniform. But in this song the soldier isn't dishonest; he simply doesn't tell the girl he's married. If she'd been sensible, of course, she'd have asked him before she started running to the shop. But then it would have been a much shorter song!
It isn't clear in the song whether the soldier hasn't got any clothes or whether his clothes are too old and dirty to wear for a wedding. In earlier days, of course, soldiers in their uniforms looked very good. They had lots of colours, blue, red, white, yellow.
This is an easy song for audiences to learn. Only one word changes in each verse. The song can be made longer by adding more items from a uniform (hat, gloves, coat, etc.).
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Chords Chorus |
G G C C G G Am D7 G G C C G G Am D7 G G C C G G D7 G |
This is a song for entertainment. This time it's a sailor's fantasy: Jack tricks two people and not just one. His success is also in the fact that he doesn't trick ordinary people, but a "squire" and a "lady". A squire was the social head of a town or village. He usually owned a large part of the land in the town or village. He was, therefore, a very important person. Similarly, the lady is wealthy, and so she's obviously very shocked when she sees Jack in the morning. But again it's a sailor's dream and has nothing to do with reality: No lady could mistake a dirty sailor for the village squire! And even if she did make the mistake, she would hardly prefer the sailor to the squire! It's interesting that the story of the string hanging out of the window appears only in this song or other versions of this song. It isn't a tradition of English lovers to hang pieces of string out of a window, so it's possible that the song developed out of a real situation.
Jack Tar was the name for all sailors in earlier days. They used to work with a lot of tar on the ships. Their clothes and hands were often covered with it. Today when sailors meet, they still call each other Jack if they don't know their proper names.
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Chords Chorus |
Em Em D Em C G Em Em G D Em Em C G Em Em G D Em Em C G Em Em (capo: 2nd fret) |
Handloom weavers were independent men who worked at home or in other people's homes. Factory weavers were mostly women and children. In the years after the Napoleonic War and the battle of Waterloo (1815), most working people in Britain lived in very poor conditions. Wages were low and prices were high. When machines were introduced into the factories, wages became even less. For example, in Lancashire, where this song probably comes from, wages fell from twenty-five shillings in 1800 to between five and six shillings in 1832. (Before the decimal system was introduced in 1971, there were twenty shillings in a pound.) A weaver who earned five shillings a week needed two shillings for the rent and one shilling for materials to work with, so he didn't have much money left to buy food and clothes. If a husband couldn't earn enough alone, he first sent his children, then his wife to work in the factories. Children aged 11-16 earned about four shillings a week.
The tyrants in the song are the factory owners. The singer thinks they - and not Napoleon Bonaparte - are responsible for all their problems. They claim the economy is bad; they say they can't sell anything because of the wars; and because they can't sell anything, they have to pull down wages and get rid of workers. The singer thinks this is all an excuse as Bonaparte is dead and the wars are over. He can also see how rich the factory owners are and how poor he and the other weavers are. He thinks they are keeping far too much money for themselves and are not paying the people who work for them enough.
This is one of the more optimistic of the industrial songs. The singer believes there is a solution: he wants lower prices and enough money to pay for what he needs. He is prepared to forgive and forget or, as he says, "rub off the old score". There are many such industrial songs that are not so optimistic.handloom weaver
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Chords Chorus |
Dm C F A Dm F C F F C C Am Dm Bb F C Dm Dm C Dm |
The weavers weren't the only workers who lived in poor conditions during the nineteenth century. The coal-miners, too, could see how their "masters" were getting richer and more powerful, while they were forced to work in terrible conditions and for less money. For example, not only women, but also children worked in the mines. Eight-year-old boys and girls often worked thirteen hours a day. Furthermore, like the factory owners, the coal-owners had also begun to pull down wages and pay the workers less rather than more money. The only way the workers could fight back was to go on strike, although they knew they had to live for weeks without any money at all. The owners' reaction was often to shut down the factory or mine completely and lock out the workers in the hope that the workers would accept lower wages rather than starve to death.
In the folk ballads that appeared during this period of industrial trouble, the workers wanted to tell the truth about events and working conditions, the truth as they saw it. As the "masters" often owned the newspapers, the folk ballads were the only opportunity the workers had to say publicly how they felt and to describe how they lived.
The tune is a traditional English folk tune. Many industrial songs were written to such existing folk tunes.
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Chords |
Am Am C C Dm Am Am C C C F C G7 C C C C F C C G7 Am Am C C Dm Am Am (capo: 2nd fret) |
This song is really a comment on the waste of war. Unfortunately, Harry seems to be quite happy to go. As far as he's concerned, this isn't a separation from Polly. He'd like to take her with him. Soldiers, of course, were allowed to take their women to the war, and many women followed the armies.
There aren't any dates in this song, but the war is probably the Seven Years' War (1756-1763), when Frederick the Great of Prussia fought against France, Austria and Russia. In this war, Prussia had a coalition with England, so Harry would have fought together with the Prussian soldiers. Without British soldiers and British money, Frederick wouldn't have been able to defend himself in the West against France. It was in Britain's interest to support Prussia as they were afraid that France would become too powerful.
High Germany was the area of Prussia. Low Germany was Holland and Belgium. Over the years this song became one of the most popular songs about the army and the uselessness of war.
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Chords |
Dm Dm F C Dm Dm C Dm Dm F C Dm Dm Dm F F C C Dm Dm C Dm Dm F C Dm Dm Dm |
Today Van Diemean's Land is known as Tasmania. It's an island off the south coast of Australia. During the nineteenth century the British govern- ment used it as a penal colony to get rid of its criminals. (The prisons were already full.) Another colony was Botany Bay on the Australian continent. The system was called transportation. The convicts were called transports. After they'd completed their sentences, the convicts could return to England or stay in Australia. Many decided to stay, and they later became rich and prominent citizens. Today many Australians are proud that their ancestors came from England as convicts. Transportation stopped in 1853. The really long sentences came in the early nineteenth century when many people were very poor and very hungry, and the only way to get food was to steal it. For example, if a man was found with a rabbit-trap, he could be sent to Van Dieman's Land for seven years. A hungry family was no excuse. The punishment was threefold: the journey on the ships (hundreds of people together with very little room), the separation from England (they were sent as far away as possible), and the length of the sentence (in this song fourteen years for stealing some game).
This song has been found all over the country and when it appears, it always uses the places and names in that area. This version says the convict was from Lancashire, but he could easily have been from Scotland or London.
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Chords |
G G C G C D7 G G G G C G C D7 G G G G C D7 Em Bm Em Em G G C D7 Em Bm Em Em G G C G D7 C G G (Capo: 4th fret) |
You rambling lads of Liverpool I'd have you all beware.
When you're on board a packet ship have good warm clothes to wear.
And always wear a life belt or keep it close at hand,
For there blows a cold, nor'-westerly wind on the banks of Newfoundland.
We had on board some passengers, big Swedes and many more.
It was in the year of sixty-two, those sea boys suffered sore.
We'd pawned our clothes in Liverpool, we'd sold them out of hand,
Never thinking of the nor'-westerly winds on the banks of Newfoundland.
We had on board a fair young maid, Bridget Wellford was her name,
To her I'd promised marriage, on me she had a claim;
She tore her pretty petticoats to make mittens for my hands,
For she couldn't see her true love freeze on the banks of Newfoundland.
I had a dream the other night. I dreamt that I was home.
I dreamt that me and my true love were in old Marlyebone.
The girl I loved sat on my knee, I'd a bottle in my hand,
But I woke up broken-hearted on the banks of Newfoundland.
And now we're passing the Virgin Rocks and stormy winds they blow,
With a crowd of sailors on the deck, we're shovelling off the snow.
We'll wash her down, we'll scrub her decks with holystone and sand,
And we'll say goodbye to the Virgin Rocks on the banks of Newfoundland.
And now we're passing Sandy Hook, and the cold winds they still blow.
With a tug-boat right ahead of us, into New York town we'll go.
We'll fill our glasses to the brim, with a jug of rum in hand,
And we'll say goodbye to the packet ships and the banks of Newfoundland.
Newfoundland is an island off the coast of Canada. It was on the route
from England to America. The journey was difficult for both sailors and passengers, especially in the winter. The sailors had often sold their winter clothes to get money to buy drinks. The passengers - they often came from Ireland and wanted to start a new life in America - didn't have the necessary clothes either. The song warns people what the journey is like and what clothes they need.
The packet ships were originally ships that took letters and other mail to America. Later they took cargo and passengers. As the journey was so diffi- cult and dangerous, the crew and the passengers worked together and helped each other. Strong relationships often developed. In this song it's a love affair.
There is a similarity between this song and "Van Dieman's Land". Here the sailor compares his own life with that of a transport. He's far away from home; he's suffering, and it's a girl who helps him. Dreams of home are typical of many folk songs. The singer dreams he's back with his friends and his family, but he wakes up in a cold, unfriendly place.
The year sixty-two is 1862. Marlyebone is a part of Liverpool. The Virgin Rocks is a local place near the coast of Newfoundland. Sandy Hook is a part of New Jersey to the south of Manhattan Island.
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Chords |
Em Em G G G D Em Em Em Em G G G D Em Em G D D Em Em Em D D Em Em G G G D Em Em |
Cold blows the wind over my true love,
Soft fall the drops of rain.
I never had but one true love
And in Greenwood she was slain.
I'll do as much for my true love
As any young man may.
I'll sit and mourn upon her grave
For twelve months and a day.
But when twelve months were come and gone,
The spirit began to speak.
"Who sits and mourns upon my grave
And keeps me from my sleep?"
"It's me, it's me, your own true love,
It's me that you hear mourn.
Just give me one kiss of your lily-white lips,
And I'll leave you alone."
"My lips, they're cold as clay, true love.
My breath is heavy and strong.
If you take one kiss of my clay-cold lips
Your life, it won't be long."
"If my life is long or short, true love,
One kiss is all I crave.
Then I'll be by your side, my dear,
Lying in my grave.
"Oh, don't you remember the garden, love,
Where you and I used to walk?
The fairest flower that blossomed there
Is withered to a stalk."
"The stalk is withered, my true love,
So must we all decay.
So rest yourself content, my dear,
Till God calls you away."
This is one of the oldest traditional English ballads, and there are hundreds of versions of it. It's based on two beliefs. One was that if you sat at a person's grave for twelve months and one day, you could bring that person back to life. The other belief is that too much grief and sadness disturb the peace of the dead person.
In this song the spirit advises the singer to go on living and not to mourn and cry so much. God will decide when life is over. In this way the spirit can go on sleeping and hasn't got to return. Greenwood isn't the name of a particular forest. It just means a forest, any forest.
If the singer is a girl, she can change the words in the first verse to "he" and "girl". The melody is a variation of the tune to "Van Dieman's Land".
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Chords |
Am Am Am Am C C Am Am Am Am Am C Am Em Am Am |
I'm a young married man and I'm tired of life
For ten years I've been wed to a pale sickly wife.
She does nothing all day only sit down and cry.
I'm praying, oh praying to God she would die.
A friend of my own came to see me one day
He told me my wife, she was fading away.
He afterwards told me that she would get strong
If I'd get her a bottle from dear doctor John.
I bought her a bottle just for a try.
The way that she drank it, you'd think she was dry.
I bought her another, it vanished the same
Till I thought she'd got cod-liver oil on the brain.
Chorus
Oh doctor, oh doctor, oh dear doctor John,
Your cod-liver oil is so pure and so strong.
I'm afraid for my life I'll go down to the soil,
If she doesn't stop drinking your cod-liver oil.
She likes it so much - that there isn't a doubt.
My wife she got fat and terribly stout.
And when she got stout, then of course she got strong
And then I got jealous of dear doctor John.
Chorus
Our house, it resembles a big chemist's shop
With bottles and bottles from bottom to top.
Each morning when the kettle is starting to boil,
I'd swear that it's singing of cod-liver oil.
Chorus
It's always assumed that this is an Irish song because the melody sounds typically Irish. It's a song for entertainment only. In the old days only men met in the taverns and pubs, so "Cod-liver oil" - like "I rode my little horse" - would have developed out of that kind of situation: a man singing to a male audience. Like "I rode my little horse" it's a song of exaggeration. In a folk club this is the kind of song you sing after a serious or quiet song. It's light-hearted and the audience laughs. It isn't as "male chauvinist" as you might think. At the end the wife is healthier and stronger than the husband - because of the cod-liver oil.
Before there were vitamin tablets, cod-liver oil was used to build you up, that is make you healthier and stronger.
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Chords Chorus |
Dm F C C Dm Am Dm Dm Dm Dm Dm Am Dm C Dm Dm Dm Dm Dm Am Dm C Dm Dm Dm Dm C C Dm Am Dm Dm F F C C Dm Dm C C Dm Dm C C Dm Am Dm Dm |
When I first landed in Liverpool,
I went upon a spree.
My money, at last, I spent it fast,
Got drunk as I could be.
And when my money was spent and gone,
It was then that I wanted more.
But a man must be blind to make up his mind
To go to sea once more.
Chorus
Once more, once more, to go to sea once more.
A man must be blind to make up his mind to go to sea once more.
As I was walking down the street,
I met big Rapper Brown.
I asked him if he'd take me in,
But he looked at me with a frown.
He said, "Last time that you were paid off,
You didn't settle your score.
But I'll take your advance and I'll give you a chance To go to sea once more."
Chorus
Once more, once more, to go to sea once more.
I'll take your advance and I'll give you a chance to go to sea once more.
He shipped me on board a whaling ship
That was bound for the Arctic seas,
Where the cold winds blow through frost and snow
And Jamaica rum would freeze.
And worst of all, I'd no hard-weather gear,
I'd spent all my money ashore.
It was then that I wished that I was dead,
So I'd go to sea no more.
Chorus
No more, no more, so I'd go to sea no more.
It was then that I wished that I was dead, so I'd go to sea no more.
Sometimes we catch the whales, my boys,
But mostly we catch none.
With a twenty-foot oar in either hand
From four o'clock in the morn.
And when daylight's gone and night's coming on,
We rest on our weary oar;
And it's then, oh boys, I wish I was dead
Or safe with the girls ashore.
Chorus
Ashore, ashore, or safe with the girls ashore.
It's then, oh boys, I wish I was dead or safe with the girls ashore.
Come all you bold seafaring men
And listen to my song.
When you come off those hard-weather trips,
You'd better not go wrong.
Take my advice, drink no strong drinks,
Keep all your money in store.
Get married instead and spend all night in bed And go to sea no more.
Chorus
No more, no more, and go to sea no more.
Get married instead and spend all night in bed and go to sea no more.
There's a whole family of songs about Jack's adventures on shore. In this song Jack, like many sailors, has gone out, enjoyed himself and spent all the money he's earned instead of saving it. In order to pay his debts, he's got to go to sea once more, although he doesn't really want to.
In the last quarter of the nineteenth century life on the ships had become very hard. The pay and conditions were very bad. The tougher the ship was, the harder it was to find a crew as many men didn't want to work on them. A man wouldn't work on a ship looking for whales in the Arctic sea unless he really had to. And this is where people like Rapper Brown were important. Rapper Brown was a boarding master, that is he rented rooms to the sailors when they were on shore. But he was also an agent who supplied ships with crews, especially the ships that couldn't get a crew. Sometimes he arranged it so that the sailor was robbed (usually by a woman) or he allowed the sailor to make debts with him. In order to pay the debts back, the sailor had to accept a job on one of the ships that the master had found for him. The master also took the first month's pay - the "advance" - to cover his debts. The advance was really for the sailor to buy clothes for the trip. So the sailor went to sea without proper clothes and with no money.
This situation must have been very common in the late eighteen hundreds as this song was very popular. It was probably experienced by many sailors!
go (up) on a spree
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Chords |
G G C G G G D7 D7 G G C G G G D7 G |
Chorus
It's all through the grog, the jolly, jolly grog
All through the beer and tobacco.
I've spent all my tin
With the lassies drinking gin,
And across the western ocean I must wander.
Where are my boots, my jolly, jolly boots?
All gone for beer and tobacco.
The heels they're all worn out,
And the soles are knocked about,
And my feet are looking out for better weather.
Chorus
Where is my shirt, my jolly, jolly shirt?
All gone for beer and tobacco.
The collar's all worn out,
And the front is knocked about,
And the tail is looking out for better weather.
Chorus
Where are my pants, my jolly, jolly pants?
All gone for beer and tobacco.
The pockets are all worn out,
And the waist is knocked about,
And my legs are looking out for better weather.
Chorus
I'm sick in the head, and I haven't been to bed
Since I first came ashore with my plunder.
I see centipedes and snakes,
And I'm full of pains and aches,
So I'd better make a push out over yonder.
Chorus
This is almost the same theme as in "Go to sea no more" (p. 36). But it's not a story about how everything happened. It's a description of how the sailor feels when he realizes he's spent everything.
In the eighteenth century sailors in the British Navy, the "Royal Navy", were given half a pint of rum at noon and another half pint at six o'clock in the evening, that is one pint every day. (A pint is about half a litre.) This often led to drunkenness (though it may also account for a lot of Naval victories!). So in 1740 Admiral Vernon ordered that a quarter pint of water should be added to each half pint of rum to weaken it. Admiral Vernon was known as "Old Grog" because he often wore a coat made of grogram (from the French "gros-grain"), a coarse cloth made of silk, wool and mohair. As a result the mixture of rum and water became known as "grog". Over the years the strength and the amount of the daily ration was progressively reduced. The rum ration was eventually abolished altogether in 1970. Outside Royal Navy circles the term "grog” can now mean any mixture of spirits and water, either hot or cold. The expression "groggy", meaning unwell or unsteady on one's feet, also comes from "grog". This is a song that can be made longer by adding more verses with different items of clothing.
socks……. toes…… heels…… feet
coat……. collar……. sleeves……. arms
hat……. lining……. brim……. head
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Chords |
G G C D7 G G G C D7 G G G C D7 G G G D7 D7 G (capo: 2nd fret) |
Chorus
On the banks of the roses my love and I sat down
And I pulled out my German flute and played my love a tune.
In the middle of the tune, oh, she sighed and she said,
"Oh, Johnny, darling Johnny, don't you leave me."
Oh, when I was a young girl, my father used to say
He'd rather see me dead and buried in the clay
Sooner than have me married to any runaway
By the lovely sweet banks of the roses.
Chorus
Indeed I'm no runaway and soon I'll let them know
I can drink a glass of cider or leave the stuff alone.
And the man who doesn't like me, he can keep his daughter at home
And young Johnny will go roving with another.
Chorus
And if ever I get married, it'll be the month of May
When the leaves they're all so green and the meadows all so gay.
And I and my true love can sit and sport and play
On the lovely sweet banks of the roses.
Chorus
This is a song about a girl who's in a difficult situation. She has to choose between obeying her parents or continuing to go out with a boy they wouldn't like her to marry. Unfortunately, she thinks that her parents won't like him instead of allowing them to meet him.
He tries to tell her that there is also a good side to his character which might impress her mother and father. But then in the last two lines of verse three, he says something that shows that her parents might be right after all. As in "I rode my little horse" (p. 14) the boy claims to be in love, but he seems prepared to forget his girl-friend very quickly if it suits him. Once again, it's a timeless situation.
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Chords |
C C C C C C G7 G7 C G7 C C F G7 C C (capo: 2nd fret) |
In a neat little town they call Belfast,
Apprenticed to trade I was bound,
And many an hour's sweet happiness
Have I spent in that neat little town.
A bad misfortune came over me,
And caused me to stray from the land,
Away from my friends and relations,
Betrayed by the black velvet band.
Chorus
Her eyes they shone like diamonds,
I thought her the queen of the land,
And her hair it hung over her shoulder,
Tied up with a black velvet band.
I took a stroll down Broadway;
I didn't mean to stay long,
But who should I see but a pretty fair maid,
As she came walking along.
She was fair and she was lovely,
Her neck it was just like the swan,
And her hair it hung over her shoulder,
Tied up with a black velvet band.
Chorus
I took a stroll with this pretty fair maid,
And a gentleman passed us by.
I knew she meant to do him some harm
By the look in her mischievous eye.
She took his watch from his pocket,
And placed it right into my hand,
And the very next thing that I said was:
“Bad luck to the black velvet band."
Chorus
Before the judge and jury
Next morning I had to appear.
The judge he said to me,
"Young man, Your case it has been proved clear.
We'll give you seven years as a sentence.
You'll be sent far away from your land,
Far away from your friends and relations,
Betrayed by a black velvet band."
Chorus
So come all you jolly young fellows,
Beware of the black velvet band,
Before you've got time to leave her
She'll land you in Van Dieman's Land.
Chorus
This is a famous and very popular Irish street song. A street song is a song that was written in a large town or city, printed on a piece of paper and sold commercially. This song has stayed popular because of its chorus.
Although it's a popular and happy song, there's a serious theme to it. A man becomes a criminal through no fault of his own. In the nineteenth century when crimes were punished so strictly, even people who had committed "unimportant" crimes could easily be transported to Australia for many years. Here the man's mistake is not to steal food but to meet a beautiful woman. Because of the woman he's involved in a crime and caught. The woman gets away.
This is a commercial folk song, and the writers usually copied ideas, sometimes whole lines, from old traditional songs. The warning at the end of the song is such an example. It doesn't really have a function. In "Go to sea no more" or "The banks of Newfoundland" the warning to the listener was very important indeed. If the listener didn't pay attention, he'd probably find himself in the same situation as the singer one day.
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Chords |
D D Chorus D G D G D G D G D G D G G G G D G D |
Oh, the summertime is coming,
And the leaves are sweetly blooming,
And the wild mountain thyme
Grows around the blooming heather.
Will you go, lassie, go?
Chorus
And we'll all go together
To pull wild mountain thyme
All among the blooming heather.
Will you go, lassie, go?
I will build my love a bower
By the clear crystal fountain,
And on it I will build
All the flowers of the mountain.
Will you go, lassie, go?
Chorus
If my true love, she won't come,
Then I'll surely find another
To pull wild mountain thyme
All among the blooming heather.
Will you go, lassie, go?
Chorus
This is a very popular song that audiences like to sing at the end of an evening. In fact, there could still be one or two folk clubs where it is always the last song of the evening.
Originally this was a Scottish song, but in its present form it's from Northern Ireland. It's one of the best love songs in British folk tradition. However - and this is typical of so many folk songs - the singer is prepared to run away with another girl if he can find one.
In the chorus "go" really means "go with me". In many folk songs certain flowers are symbolic. Thyme is often a symbol of hope.