> Folk Music > Songs > The Yorkshire-Man in London

The Yorkshire-Man in London / I’m Yorkshire Though in London / Most Politely

[ Roud 1640 ; Master title: The Yorkshire-Man in London ; G/D 2:298 ; Ballad Index GrD2298 ; GlosTrad Roud 1640 ; Wiltshire Roud 1640 ; trad]

Emily B. Lyle: Andrew Crawfurd’s Collection of Ballads and Songs Frank Purslow: The Wanton Seed

Walter Pardon sang I’m Yorkshire Though in London to Mike Yates on 24 June 1978. This recording was included in 2000 on his posthumous Musical Traditions anthology Put a Bit of Powder on It, Father. Rod Stradling noted:

The notion behind the song has been popular for quite some time, and numerous songs describing a seemingly innocent countryman abroad in a big city have come and gone over the centuries. Roud has 74 instances of this one, mostly from broadsides, but we only know of its having been collected eight times—four times in Scotland, once in the USA, and from three other singers in England. Sharp got a version from ‘Sister Emma’ in Clewer, Berkshire, Hammond got a fragment from J Randall in Broadway, Dorset, and Henry Burstow ‘collected himself’ in his book Reminiscences of Horsham (1911). The first full text was in A  Garland of New Songs printed by J Marshall in the Old Flesh Market, Newcastle on Tyne, c. 1810. Almost all the broadsides (and Burstow) called the song Most Politely. Walter’s is the only known sound recording from the tradition.

Mike Yates thinks that Walter could only remember the tune plus a few of the words and that he got the bulk of the words from Frank Purslow’s book The Wanton Seed. The music hall singer Tom Foy—‘The Yorkshire Lad’—recorded a four-part (two 78 rpm records) The Yorkshire Man in London in 1912. Foy died, aged only 28 years, in 1917.

Roy Clinging and Neil Brookes sang Sights of London in 2005 on their WildGoose album Another Round. They noted:

Sights of London is in the Hammond Gardiner manuscripts, as I’ze Yorkshire, Though in Lunnon with a tune collected in Dorset in 1907 and words from The Merry Minstrel printed by Swindells of Manchester around 1830. We have, however, reworked both the words and tune to create the version given here.

Lyrics

Walter Pardon sings I’m Yorkshire Though in London

When first in London I arrived,
On a visit, on a visit.
When first in London I arrived,
Midst heavy rain and thunder.
I spied a bonny lass in green,
The nicest lass I e’er had seen.
I’d oft heard tell of beauty’s queen,
Dash me, thinks I, I’ve found her.

Chorus (after each verse):
Fol the raddie, fol the raddie,
Right fol the riddle-ol,
Fol the riddle-i-do.

She blushed and smiled, and smiled and blushed,
Else ’twas fancy, else ’twas fancy.
She blushed and smiled, and smiled and blushed,
And I looked very simple.
Her cheeks were like the new-blown rose,
Neglected on the hedge that grows.
Her eyes were black as any sloes,
And near her mouth a dimple.

She stood stock still and so did I,
Gazing on her, gazing on her.
She stood stock still and so did I,
Thinks I, I’ve made a blunder.
And then her lips turned deadly pale.
I says, “My love what do you ail?”
And then she told a dismal tale,
That she was scared of thunder.

“Madam,” says I, and made a bow,
Scraping to her, scraping to her.
“Madam,” says I, and made a bow,
“I quite forgot the weather.
If your permission you will give
I’ll see you home, where-e’er you live.”
And then she took me by the sleeve
And off we went together.

Bonny wild goose chase had we,
In and out so, in and out so.
A bonny wild goose chase had we,
The London stones so galled me.
And then we came up to a door
Where twenty lasses, aye and more,
Came out to have a better glore
At Bumpkin, as they called me.

“Walk in, kind sir,” she said to me,
Quite politely, quite politely.
“Walk in, kind sir,” she said to me,
Folks said, “Poor lad he’s undone.”
“Walk in,” said she. “Not so,” said I,
“For I’ve other fish to fry.
I’ve seen you home, so now goodbye.
I’m Yorkshire though in London.”

My pockets then I rummaged o’er,
Cautious ever, cautious ever.
My pockets then I rummaged o’er,
And found a diamond ring there.
I had this precaution took
And sewed in each a small fish-hook,
And when she groped for pocket book
The barb it stripped her finger.

Three weeks I’ve been in London Town,
Living idle, living idle.
Three weeks I’ve been in London Town,
’Tis time to pack for work, sir.
I’ve sold the ring, I’ve got the brass,
I have not played the silly ass.
’Tis time to toast the London lass
When I get back to Yorkshire.