Broadside ballad entitled 'The Dark Girl Dressed in Blue'

Commentary

This ballad begins: 'When first in Glasgow I arrived, the truth I will unfold, / I had a pocketbook with me, well filled with notes and gold'. A woodcut of a Black woman carrying a basket and wearing European dress illustrates the top of the sheet. She is in a tropical setting as there is a palm tree behind her.

This may be an attempt to match the 'dark girl' of the title to an appropriate image, but the story is set in Glasgow, not the Pacific.The ballad is about a man who meets a pretty, but untrustworthy, girl. After handing over a forged note given to him by the girl, he is arrested and charged. This story is very similar to the traditional song 'The Black Velvet Band'.        

This woodcut can be found on other broadsides held in the National Library of Scotland's collection. It was quite common for woodcut blocks to be used across a wide range of sheets as they were expensive to create and so had to be used to maximum benefit. The outlay for the block, however, was off-set against the increase in perceived value of the sheet. Not only was it more decorative, but those people who were illiterate and enjoying the sheet read to them, could also derive benefit in the sheet. This image with its exotic palm trees and unusual character would probably have been an attractive purchase.

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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