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Broadside ballad entitled 'Bonnie Nelly Brown' |
CommentaryThis ballad begins: 'O bonnie Nelly Brown, / I will sing a sang to thee, / Though oceans wide between us row, / Ye'll aye be dear to me.' The text preceding it reads: 'This Popular Song can always be had at the Poet's Box, / Overgate Dundee.' These texts were sold to audiences which were firmly rooted in the oral tradition and had not enjoyed the diversion of television and radio. As a result, these sheets filled a much-needed gap in cheap and ephemeral entertainment. The subject matter, however, still had to be compelling and recognisable. This story of love sundered by a sailor's lifestyle may have had popular appeal in Dundee with its busy harbours and long-distance trade. 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(111b)
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