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Broadside ballad entitled 'The Bonnets o' Blue' |
CommentaryThis ballad begins: 'Noo I'll sing ye a sang in praise o' that land, / Where the snaw melts on the mountains so grand'. This song was published by the Poet's Box of Dundee. This ballad sings the praises of the Royal Highland Regiment, better known as the Black Watch, who wore small round blue bonnets. It concerns an incident during the Crimean War, 1854-6, when Queen Victoria sent her 'lads wi' the Bonnets o' Blue' 'up the Alma's grim heights for tae conquror or die'. Such spelling errors are common in broadsides, where accuracy was often compromised in the rush to get the material to press. 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(22a)
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