Another performance from the late Bert Jansch, here live from Relix. He sings this British ballad about a servant girl who is seduced and then abandoned by a sailor lad. The story is found in several songs, including “Bell-Bottomed Trousers,” “Ambletown,” and “When I Was Young.” You can find more discussion of the origins from the wonderful and highly informed people over at mudcat.org
When I was in service in the Rosemary Lane,
I won the good will of my master and dame.
Till a sailor came there one night to lay;
That was the beginning of my misery.
He called for a candle to light him to bed;
And likewise a silk kerchief for to tie up his head.
To tie up his head as the sailors will do,
And he said, “My pretty Polly, will you come too?”
This ballad has had a life in a number of traditions, including Medieval English all the way to American Appalachian. The tune even crops up in Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War.” It’s a great tune with a set of contradicting lyrics that seem to obfuscate a deeper meaning, whether that is true or not. The video is the legendary Bert Jansch‘s gritty version of the song.
The song is fairly popular in the English Midlands, particularly in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Southern Yorkshire and Northamptonshire, which lends credence to the theory that the Nottamun in the song is a corruption of Nottingham.
Theories abound as to the meaning of the song, but two are generally accepted as probable:
1. That it derives from the Feast of Fools or Mummers’ Plays and their absurd topsy-turvy worlds.
2. That it refers to the English Civil War. In this war, Charles I of England raised his first army around Nottingham, and it may be a corruption of that city’s name that gives the song its title. A popular theme at the time with diarists and pamphleteers was ‘The World Turned Upside Down’ and there are many famous woodcuts dating from this period with illustrations of cats chasing dogs, men wearing boots on their hands and the like.
Nottamun Town
In Nottamun Town, not a soul would look up,
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down
To show me the way to fair Nottamun Town
I bought me a horse twas called a grey mare
Grey mane and grey tail and green stripe on her back
Grey mane and grey tail and green stripe on her back
Weren’t a hair upon her that was not coal black
Bert Jansch, of Pentagle fame, sings the Scottish version of what is apparently an old broadside ballad of indefinite origins. This version was made popular through the singing of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger. You’ll find more information about it’s origins and variants at …Just Another Tune, an incrediblewebsite I just came across for the first time.
I Loved a Lass
I loved a lass, and I loved her sae weel
I hated all others that spoke of her ill;
But noo she’s rewarded me weel for my love,
For she’s gaun to be wed till anither.
When I saw my love to the church go,
Wi’ bride and bride-maidens, they made a fine show;
An’ l followed them on wi’ a heart fu’ o’ woe,
For she’s gaun to be wed till anither.
When I saw my love sit down to dine,
I sat down beside her and poured out the wine,
An’ I drank to the lass that should ha’e been mine,
An’ now she is wed till anither.
Song of the Isles 