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Description: | In this song a tired husband offers to drown himself as a means of escaping his cruel wife. Unfortunately the wife encourages her husband and offers to tie his hands and push him in the water. At the last moment he steps aside and it is his wife who is drowned. A similar version of this song was printed in the Greg-Duncan Folk song collection (Scottish) vol.2, no.319.This song forms part of a songbook that was compiled by Cumberland gamekeeper William Pearson around the year 1906. The whereabouts of the original songbook are not known, but a letter accompanying the copy of the book held by Beamish Museum reveals more about the author. Born about 1850, William Pearson was gamekeeper, from 1900 until his retirement, at the remote Moorhouse at Tynehead, above Garrigill in Cumberland. The songbook was passed on to William Pearson's son, James, who was shepherd and gamekeeper for the Hildyard family from 1918 when he moved from Garrigill to Weardale. Like his father James entertained the local population with his fiddle and like his father and brother Tom, had a high reputation as a tinsmith.It is likely, due to Pearson's geographical isolation, that many of the songs were collected from aural circulation and variations between printed versions and those found in the songbook (e.g. 'Our Nan amazer') would certainly suggest this. Some material however, such as songs by Richard Watson, have clearly been copied from other songbooks. It is quite possible that Pearson was able to buy some song sheets at rural events such as agricultural fairs, and then copy them verbatim into his book ('The golden glove' is identical to the version found in 'The songsters jewel'). A fascinating collection. ; Songs collected by Tynehead gamekeeper William Pearson | Publisher: | Tynehead, Garrigill, Cumberland | Rights holder: | rights holder : Beamish Museum | Subjects: | marriage & suicide marriage and courtship Love | Temporal: | start=1901;end=1940; | Source: | Folk Archive Resource North East | Identifier: | farne:B0803201 | Go to resource |
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