Tune
Tune – traditional (before 1770) [11]
"The Keel Row" is a traditional Tyneside folk song evoking the life and work of the keelmen of Newcastle upon Tyne. A closely related song was first published in a Scottish collection of the 1770s, but may be considerably older, and it is unclear whether the tune is Scottish or English in origin.
The opening lines of the song set it in Sandgate, that part of the quayside overlooking the River Tyne to the east of the city centre where the keelmen lived and which is still overlooked by the Keelmen's Hospital.
Versions of the song appear in both England and Scotland, with Scottish versions referring to the Canongate rather than Sandgate. The earliest printing was in the 1770s in Edinburgh in A Collection of Favourite Scots Tunes, edited by Charles Maclean, though the tune was also found in several late eighteenth-century English manuscript collections. [1] Frank Kidson surmised that like many other songs collected by Maclean it may originally have been a Jacobite air from the time of the 1745 rebellion. [1] Some versions of the song make reference to a "blue bonnet ... with a snowy rose upon it", a clear attempt to evoke Jacobite symbolism, whether dating from 1745 or not.
Kidson stated that he had found the tune of "The Keel Row" associated with a dance called "The Yorkshire Lad" as early as 1748. [2] The tune under its present title, together with a long and elaborate set of variations, also appeared in the John Smith manuscript, now lost, which was dated 1752. In about 1886–87, John Stokoe copied this and 19 other tunes; [3] he commented "there are many of the old Northumbrian pipe tunes in it" and claimed "so far as I know or have searched, this is the earliest copy of our Tyneside melody extant." Another early appearance of "The Keel Row" is in the William Vickers manuscript, dated 1770, also from Tyneside.
In the 19th century variants of the song appeared in Joseph Ritson's Northumberland Garland and Cuthbert Sharp's Bishoprick Garland . By this time the tune was well associated with the River Tyne but was also adopted further south on the River Wear. [4] A few years before the 1850s the keelmen had met yearly to celebrate the founding of the Keelmen's Hospital, perambulating the town to the accompaniment of bands playing "The Keel Row". [5]
As I came thro' Sandgate,
Thro' Sandgate, thro' Sandgate,
As I came thro' Sandgate,
I heard a lassie sing:
"O, weel may the keel row,
The keel row, the keel row,
O weel may the keel row
That my laddie's in."
"He wears a blue bonnet,
Blue bonnet, blue bonnet,
He wears a blue bonnet
A dimple in his chin.
And weel may the keel row,
The keel row, the keel row,
And weel may the keel row
That my laddie's in."
The traditional set of words, above, were later augmented by other versions. One, the "New Keel Row", was printed by Stokoe along with the original lyrics, having first been composed by Thomas Thompson and printed in 1827. [6] [7] Its first two stanzas are now often sung with the traditional ones:
Other lyrics, printed in 1838, were said to then be the "favourite" song of the keelmen themselves and "the most popular melody on the Tyne": [10]
"Weel may the keel row, the keel row, the keel row,
Weel may the keel row,
And better may she speed;
Weel may the keel row, the keel row, the keel row,
Weel may the keel row,
That gets the bairns their breed." [10]
Due to its quick beat, the tune of "The Keel Row" is used as the trot march of the Life Guards of the Household Cavalry as well as of the Royal Horse Artillery. The writer Rudyard Kipling mentioned the tune in one of his accounts of army life in India under the British Raj: "The man who has never heard the 'Keel Row' rising high and shrill above the sound of the regiment...has something yet to hear and understand". The tune is also used by the Royal Gurkha Rifles, and was used by The Light Infantry as its double past, and is used (as part of a medley with "The Road to the Isles") by The Rifles.
Tune – traditional (before 1770) [11]
Pete Seeger used the melody in his 1973 song, Well May the World Go. [12]
The tune is used as a march to accompany the progress of the Queen of Hearts in Jonathon Millers film adaptation of Alice in Wonderland (1966)
Here Northumbria is defined as Northumberland, the northernmost county of England, and County Durham. According to 'World Music: The Rough Guide', "nowhere is the English living tradition more in evidence than the border lands of Northumbria, the one part of England to rival the counties of the west of Ireland for a rich unbroken tradition. The region is particularly noted for its tradition of border ballads, the Northumbrian smallpipes and also a strong fiddle tradition in the region that was already well established in the 1690s. Northumbrian music is characterised by considerable influence from other regions, particularly southern Scotland and other parts of the north of England, as well as Irish immigrants.
"Highland Laddie", also known as "Hielan' Laddie", is the name of a Scottish popular folk tune "If Thou'lt Play Me Fair Play", but as with many old melodies various sets of words can be sung to it, of which Robert Burns's poem "Highland Laddie" is probably the best known. "If Thou'lt Play Me Fair Play" has been reworked several times since Burns set down his words, Donkey Riding being one variant.
"The Raggle Taggle Gypsy" (Roud 1, Child 200), is a traditional folk song that originated as a Scottish border ballad, and has been popular throughout Britain, Ireland and North America. It concerns a rich lady who runs off to join the gypsies (or one gypsy). Common alternative names are "Gypsy Davy", "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies O", "The Gypsy Laddie(s)", "Black Jack David" (or "Davy") and "Seven Yellow Gypsies".
The Scots song "Ae fond kiss and then we sever" by the Scottish poet Robert Burns is more commonly known as "Ae fond kiss". It is Burns's most recorded love song.
The Keelmen of Tyne and Wear were a group of men who worked on the keels, large boats that carried the coal from the banks of both rivers to the waiting collier ships. Because of the shallowness of both rivers, it was difficult for ships of any significant draught to move up river and load with coal from the place where the coal reached the riverside. Thus the need for shallow-draught keels to transport the coal to the waiting ships. The keelmen formed a close-knit and colourful community on both rivers until their eventual demise late in the nineteenth century.
"Blow the Wind Southerly" is a traditional English folk song from Northumbria. It tells of a woman desperately hoping for a southerly wind to blow her lover back home over the sea to her. It is Roud number 2619.
"Cushie Butterfield" is a famous Geordie folk song written in the 19th century by Geordie Ridley, in the style of the music hall popular in the day. It is regarded by many as the second unofficial anthem of Tyneside after Blaydon Races.
"Swalwell Hopping" is a Geordie folk song written in the 19th century by John Selkirk, in a style deriving from music hall.
The Pitman's Courtship is a famous Geordie folk song written in the 19th century by William Mitford, in a style deriving from music hall. This piece takes a humorous look at the courtship of a Pitman and his lass where the discussion forms the proposal of marriage and the couple's plans for a life together. This song was generally considered to be one of the region's finest 'traditional' songs, one of only a handful of Tyneside songs to be appreciated outside the region in its day.
Hydrophobie is a Geordie folk song written in the 19th century by Robert Emery, in a style deriving from music hall.
Henry Robson was a Tyneside concert hall poet, songwriter and performer in the late 18th and early 19th century. His best known works were perhaps the narrative poem "The Collier's Pay Week", and a poem "The Northern Minstrel's Budget", describing the repertoire of a travelling fiddler and piper.
Marshall's Collection of Songs, Comic, Satirical is a chapbook style songbook, giving the lyrics of local, now historical songs, with a few bits of other information. It was published by John Marshall in 1827.
John Stokoe was a 19th-century Tyneside author and historian. He co-operated with the author John Collingwood Bruce in compiling the hugely important “Northumbrian Minstrelsy” published in 1882.
Northumbrian Minstrelsy is a book of 18th and 19th century North East of England folk songs and pipe music, intended to be a lasting historical record. The book was edited by John Stokoe and the Rev John Collingwood Bruce LL.D., F.S.A., and published by and on behalf of the Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne in 1882. It was reprinted in 1965 by Folklore Associates, Hatboro, Pennsyslvania, with a foreword by A. L. Lloyd.
Many Geordie songwriters used aliases, for whatever reason. This article lists many of these aliases, giving in some cases, where known, the real name, and in others, some of the songs or poems attributed to them.
The Newcastle Songster, by John Marshall is a volume of six chapbooks, giving the lyrics of local, now historical songs, but virtually no other information. It was published by John Marshall in stages between 1812 and 1826.
Ritson's Northumberland Garland or Newcastle Nightingale, Edited and published by Joseph Ritson, is a revised edition of a book on Northumberland music, published in 1809.
