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Rosy May

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Alternative title: Poor Rosa May

Performer: Bartlett, Joseph
Place Collected: Down Ampney
Date collected: Between 1913 and 1916
Collector: Williams, Alfred
Roud Number: 12890

This song, with its non-PC language, clearly belongs to the blackface minstrel tradition and was no doubt brought over to England by minstrel groups.  It was printed many times from the early 19th century onwards as (Poor) Rosa May.  No tune survives, perhaps mercifully.

 

Notes by Gwilym Davies 2016