Broadside ballad entitled 'Jackie Tar'

Commentary

Verse 1: 'When Jack had pulled the oar, and the boat was gone, / Aud the lassie on the shore with her head hanging down, / The tears stood in her eyes and her bosom heaving sighs, / Farewell, my dear, she dries, with your trousers on.' The sheet was published in January 1855, by the Glasgow Poet's Box, and sold for a penny.

This is an interesting broadside, not only because of the ballad it contains. At the top is an introduction to 'Jackie Tar' in the flamboyant style of Matthew Leitch, Poet's Box manager, after which he invites readers to visit and see his wares.
The Poet?s Box in Glasgow operated from 1849 to 1911. Matthew Leitch was the proprietor at 6 St. Andrew Lane?s, a narrow street on the south side of Gallowgate, from 1850 to 1858. His son William Munsie Leitch worked at the same address from 1859 to 1865 and at varous addresses in London Street until 1911. Many of the broadsides published by the Glasgow Poet?s Box were dated and some carried advertisements, not just for printed items but also for shoe blacking and ?soap for lovers?! Like the other ?boxes? in Dundee and Edinburgh, the Glasgow one sold love songs, sea shanties, parodies and dialogues. 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 in 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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