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Job Jenkins

Barrel of Pork, The

Keyte, Higford

I Went to Market

Wassail Song (Randwick)

Hunt, William Edmund

Wassail Song (Maisemore)

William Arthur Newman

Outlandish Knight, The

Early early in the Spring

Barbary Allen

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Performer: Smith, Wiggy
Place Collected: Cheltenham
Date collected: 9th October 1994
Collector: Davies, Gwilym
Roud Number: 54
Other Numbers: Child 84

This tale of love scorned and mental cruelty has proved to be hugely popular all over the English-speaking world. Samuel Pepys mentioned it in his diaries in 1666 and versions of are still being recorded by current folksong collectors. It appears to be the most frequently collected of all Child ballads.

Notes by Gwilym Davies and Jon Lighter

Media & Downloads

Hear the song/tune as collected (mp3 stream):

See the song/tune as collected (PDF file)
Hear the song/tune (midi file)
Version to sing (PDF file)
Hear a version to sing (midi file)
Song/tune as collected (abc file)
Version to sing (abc file)