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Waterloo

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Alternative title: Plains of Waterloo, The

Place Collected: Adlestrop
Date collected: 1909 (18 Aug)
Collector: Sharp, Cecil
Roud Number: 13272

This is a fragment of a longer ballad called “The Plains of Waterloo”. There are several songs of that title that appeared after the battle. This particular song seems to be rarely collected in oral tradition but in “Old English Popular Music” by Kidson (1893) there is a complete version sent to Kidson by a man in Horbury (West Yorkshire) who leant it from his grandfather who in turn learnt it from Waterloo veterans. The tune is normally associated with the song “The Irish Girl”.

Notes by Gwilym Davies