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Broadside ballad entitled 'The Grass Will Grow Again' |
CommentaryThis ballad begins: 'Let your motto ne'er be strow, / For singhing always gives me pain, / Clouds and steams will rise to-morrow, / And the grass will grow again.' It was written and sung by Harry Linn and could be purchased from the Poet's Box, 182 Overgate, Dundee. Unfortunately, little is known about the composer and performer Harry Linn. He appears to have been a popular entertainer in the Music Halls of the late nineteenth century, performing his own compositions to large audiences. The broadside-buying public would have likely been familiar with his name, and its inclusion on this sheet probably guaranteed healthy sales. Another of his compositions, which he wrote in the 1870s, was entitled 'A Country Life'. It begins: 'I love to roam through the bright, green fields'. 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(142)
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