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Broadside ballad entitled 'John and Tibbie's Dispute' |
CommentaryVerse 1: 'John Davidson and Tibbie, his wife, / Sat toastin' their taes ae nicht, / When somethin startit in the fluir, / And blinkit by their sicht.' This sheet was published by the Poet's Box of Dundee, priced one penny. This comic song takes the form of an argument between a man and a wife over whether it is a mouse or a rat that has just scampered past them. The argument grows increasingly fierce and animated until Tibbie hits Johnnie over the head with her soup spoon and chases him off to bed, throwing his bowl after him. In the morning it turns out that the object they both glimpsed was a child's ball. Marriage was a popular theme in ballads, sometimes being portrayed comically, as in this poem, sometimes romantically, and sometimes as a social and moral contract where both parties had clearly-defined roles. 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(115b)
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