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Broadside ballad entitled 'Dear Old pal' |
CommentaryThis ballad begins: 'I like to meet with dear old pals, / Wherever I may be, / I like a song, a pipe and glass, / And jovial company.' The text preceding it reads: 'NEW YEAR'S SONG 1899 / Written expressly for the Poet's Box / [title] / Copies of this New and Popular Song can always be had at the Poet's Box, 10 Hunter Street, Dundee.' There is a lot of extraneous text carried on this sheet, which is quite unusual for the Dundee Poet's Box. Most of this text is advertising, price details, vendor's address and other songs that are available. Unfortunately, the woodcut shadow does not belong to this sheet, but has been transferred from the sheet which was lying on top of it. 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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Date of publication:
1899 shelfmark: L.C.Fol.70(109a)
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