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Broadside ballad entitled 'There's A Corner For You At My Fireside Still' |
CommentaryThis ballad begins: 'One day while walking down the street, an old pal I did meet, / I scarcely would have known him, for he looked so ill and weak, / And as he grasped me by the hand, these words to me he said - / Dear Jim, I don't know what to do, for all I love are dead.' A note below the title states that this ballad was 'Written by D. Milligan, sung T. Ball, of Dundee', and that 'Copies of this can be had at the Pox Box, Overgat, Dundee'. Employing the familiar metaphor of life being a hazardous sea journey with many perils, this sombre - yet warm-hearted - ballad tells of how the more fortunate people should help those fellow travellers who end up stranded on the rocks. The chorus strongly reinforces this Christian message of being a good Samaritan to those in trouble, and giving them a place by the fireside. Although not dated, the ballad vaguely hints at some episode that recently led to loss of life around Scotland's shores - hence the sentiment of the song's message. 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(66a)
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