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The Morning Star

Idbury Hill

Job Jenkins

Barrel of Pork, The

Keyte, Higford

I Went to Market

Wassail Song (Randwick)

Hunt, William Edmund

Wassail Song (Maisemore)

William Arthur Newman

Shepherds are the Best of Men

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Performer: Hedges, William
Place Collected: Chipping Campden
Date collected: 1909 (28 Aug)
Collector: Sharp, Cecil
Roud Number: 284

Versions in this form are found only in southern England since about 1880, but it is an adaptation of an earlier sailor ballad printed on broadsides ‘When the stormy winds do blow’. Interestingly we have the same sailor-shepherd pairing in the old saying ‘Red sky at night, sailor’s/shepherd’s delight, etc.).

 

Notes by Steve Gardham

Media & Downloads

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)

Modern recording performed by: Jon Doran

Song/tune as collected (abc file)
Version to sing (abc file)