From James Beale
Collected by Cecil Sharp, Warehorne, 23rd September 1908
Cecil Sharp MSS, Sharp Folk Tunes CJS2/10/1926
Cold Blow and a Rainy Night
From James Beale
Collected by Cecil Sharp, Warehorne, 23rd September 1908
Cecil Sharp MSS, Folk Words CJS2/9/1785, Folk Tunes CJS2/10/1928
The Moon Shines Bright
Mrs Alice Harding i.e. Alice Harden
Collected by Cecil Sharp, Ham Street, 11th October 1911
Cecil Sharp MSS, Folk Tunes CJS2/10/2704
This was presumably one of the songs which the Beale family would sing when they went out carolling. Sharp had previously noted the tune and words from Alice’s father James Beale, and Peter Kennedy recorded her brother Albert Beale singing the carol in 1954.
As I sat on a sunny bank
Mrs Alice Harding i.e. Alice Harden
Collected by Cecil Sharp, Ham Street, 11th October 1911
Cecil Sharp MSS, Folk Tunes CJS2/10/2705
This was presumably one of the songs which the Beale family would sing when they went out carolling.
Seven Joys Of Mary
Mrs Alice Harding i.e. Alice Harden
Collected by Cecil Sharp, Ham Street, 11th October 1911
Cecil Sharp MSS, Folk Tunes CJS2/10/2706B
This was presumably one of the songs which the Beale family would sing when they went out carolling.
Sharp did not note any words, which suggests that Mrs Harden’s text followed a standard pattern – see, for example, the verses printed in the Oxford Book of Carols, available at https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.546842/page/151/mode/1up
King Arthur
From Mr Barling
Collected by Francis Collinson, South Willesborough
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/1/41
The Thresher Man
From Mr Barling
Collected by Francis Collinson, South Willesborough, 3rd December 1942
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/1/15
This is very similar to the version of the song collected by Cecil Sharp from Clarke Lonkhurst at Hamstreet in 1908.
In Collinson’s MS the last two lines of verse 5 are highlighted and these alternative lines provided at the foot of the page (although with the note “don’t copy this”):
With my frail [sic] upon my shoulder and a bottle of strong beer
I’m as happy as those with ten thousand a year
The White Rose in the Broom
Collected by John Brune, August 1962
English Dance & Song 35:2 (1973) p.59
It seems unlikely that these words were collected from a travelling singer – they look suspiciously like the work of a modern songwriter attempting to write a romantic ballad. John Brune certainly collected songs from travellers, but he also wrote songs, and seems to have had a reputation for “improving” some of the songs he collected. There is no other entry in the Roud Index for number 3184, which tends to confirm these suspicions.
Kitty Gray
From Ted Briggs
Collected by Francis Collinson, Bethersden, 16th March 1943
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/1/1
The Sergeant in the Wagon Train
From Mrs Baker
Collected by Francis Collinson, Maidstone, Kent July 1944
Francis Collinson Manuscript Collection COL/4/24