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Broadside ballad entitled 'Tammy Draw in Yer Chair' |
CommentaryThis ballad begins: 'Noo, yae simmer's nicht I gaed oot for a / walk, / An' wis daunnerin' alang by a stream, / When a bonnie bit lassie I happened tae / meet, / She wis spreadin' oot claes on the green.' Sung by J.G. Roy with great success, this song could be purchased from 192 Overgate, Dundee, for one penny. The verses of this comic song are interposed with spoken passages, which offer insightful comments on the events unfolding in the song. If performed well, as it clearly was by J.G. Roy, this style of composition would have been particularly popular with audiences. The comic 'patter' created an immediate intimacy and rapport between the performer and those listening. The National Library of Scotland's broadside collection includes several other songs written in this style, including 'The Dooley Fitba' Club' and 'The Storm on the Paisley Canal'. 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: RB.m.143(056)
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