Broadside ballad entitled 'All Right Charley'

Commentary

Verse 1: 'I love a young girl, her name's Mary Ann, she livesa few miles out of town; / She's nicer than jam, sweet on her I am, and often I give a call down, / Just to play kissey kiss, with this dear littie miss, that is if there's no one about, / We spoon when we think there is no one to see us, but somebody's certain to shout.' A note below the title states that this ballad was 'Sung by Charles Oswald, with immense success', and that 'This popular song can be had at the Poet's Box, Overgate, Dundee'.

This light-hearted ballad tells of a young man's frustration at the behaviour of his sweetheart's little brother, who runs to inform his parents whenever the two lovers start to become slightly amorous. It appears that, upon realising that there is significant financial profit to be had from chaperoning, the entrepreneurial little brother begins to blackmail his sister's sweetheart. The ballad's verses are sung by the young suitor, while the intrusive chorus is sung by the little brother. The inclusion of the singer's name on the broadside perhaps indicates the gradual evolution towards a vaudeville culture.
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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