Broadside ballad entitled 'There's A Corner For You At My Fireside Still'

Commentary

This 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.
The Dundee Poets? Box was in operation from about 1880 to 1945, though it is possible that some material was printed as early as the 1850s. Most of the time it had premises at various addresses in Overgate. In 1885 the proprietor J.G. Scott (at 182 Overgate) had published a catalogue of 2,000 titles consisting of included humorous recitations, dialogues, temperance songs, medleys, parodies, love songs, Jacobite songs. Another proprietor in the 1880s was William Shepherd, but little is known about him. Poets? Box was particularly busy on market days and feeing days when country folk were in town in large numbers. Macartney specialised in local songs and bothy ballads. Many Irish songs were published by the Poets? Box ? many Irishmen worked seasonally harvesting potatoes and also in the jute mills. In 1906 John Lowden Macartney took over as proprietor of the Poet?s Box, initially working from 181 Overgate and later from no.203 and 207.

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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