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Broadside ballad entitled 'Call me back again' |
CommentaryThis ballad begins: 'You say good-bye the parting words were spoken / I have you now, perhaps 'tis better so. / I give you back each tender little token.' The text preceding it reads: 'This Popular Song can always be had at the Poet's Box, / 90 and 102 Overgate Dundee.' Many of the songs published by the Poet's Box in Dundee and held in the National Library of Scotland's collection, are on the topic of love sundered by distance, especially with lovers travelling overseas. This may have been a popular subject in Dundee, as its harbours and shipping were a thriving part of the community. Dundee was also a transportation and emigration port. 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(98a)
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