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Broadside ballad entitled 'They Were There' |
CommentaryThis ballad begins: 'I'm a very absent-minded man, / I'll have you understand, / I might be looking for a thing, / And have it in my hand'. Below the title we are told that 'This popular song can always be had at the Poet's Box, OVERGATE, DUNDEE'. This amusing ballad lists a number of funny episodes that result from a man?s forgetfulness and absent-mindedness. In addition to losing such objects as his spectacles and dress suite, however, it seems that the husband in this ballad is so absent-minded that he can even forget about his wife's whereabouts! Many light-hearted 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(67a)
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