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Broadside ballad entitled 'The Chickens In The Garden' |
CommentaryVerse 1: 'I once did know a farmer, a good old jolly soul, / Who used to work upon the farm around his contry home / He had an only daughter and to win her I did try, / And when I asked him for her hand those words he did re' Below the title we are told that 'Thsi popular song can alwase be had at Poet's Box 182 Ovegate Dundee'. This light-hearted broadside contains a running dialogue between a farmer and the young man who wishes to marry his daughter. Although this country song is a humorous ballad, it is interesting to note that there are also two spoken parts included in the lyrics. Many cheery, rural broadside ballads such as this one are held in the National Library of Scotland's collection. It is not clear what the connection between the different Poet?s Boxes were. They almost certainly sold each other?s sheets. It is known that John Sanderson in Edinburgh often wrote to the Leitches in Glasgow for songs and that later his brother Charles obtained copies of songs from the Dundee Poet?s Box. There was also a Poet?s Box in Belfast from 1846 to 1856 at the address of the printer James Moore, and one at Paisley in the early 1850s, owned by William Anderson. Early ballads were dramatic or humorous narrative songs derived from folk culture that predated printing. Originally perpetuated by word of mouth, many ballads survive because they were recorded on broadsides. Musical notation was rarely printed, as tunes were usually established favourites. The term 'ballad' eventually applied more broadly to any kind of topical or popular verse.
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Probable period of publication:
1880-1900 shelfmark: L.C.Fol.70(62a)
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