>
A.L. Lloyd >
Songs >
Cold and Raw
>
June Tabor >
Songs >
Cold and Raw
>
Nic Jones >
Songs >
Cold and Raw
Cold and Raw / The Maid That Sold Her Barley
[
Roud 3007
; Ballad Index ShH60
; Bodleian
Roud 3007
; trad.]
A.L. Lloyd sang Cold and Raw in 1966 on his album The Best of A.L. Lloyd, accompanied by Alf Edwards on concertina. Lloyd wrote in the album's sleeve notes:
An old song and a widespread favourite. Thomas d'Urfey included a version of it in the drollery collection: Pills to Purge Melancholy, first published in 1699. Some think he wrote it himself, but that seems doubtful. It has survived in many variants and with several tunes in England, Scotland and Ireland, and turns up in the repertory of semi-nomadic non-Romany travelling folk improperly called “tinkers”, in the relatively modern form heard here.
The High Level Ranters sang Cold and Raw on their 1973 Trailer album A Mile to Ride.
June Tabor sang Cold and Raw in 1977 on her album Ashes and Diamonds, accompanied by Jon Gillaspie on synthesiser and recorder and Nic Jones on fiddle. This track was also included in 1993 on her CD Anthology, A live recording from Bath Festival on 21 May 1990 is on her box set Always, She commented in the liner notes:
It’s from an early collection of songs collected by a chap called D’Urfey from Wit and Mirth: or, Pills to Purge Melancholy and the tune is in Playford called Stingo. I liked this song because it’s the usual pretty girl and the libidinous suitor but it’s a lovely antidote to all the songs in which the rich person does get his wicked way and the poor girl probably doesn’t get the money either.
Having recorded it originally on Ashes and Diamonds I came back to it because it was such a jaunty song. This was the version that Andy Cutting and Mark Emerson came up with. It all worked so well that I think they’ve lifted the song even more than in the original version.
Jolly Jack sang Cold and Raw on their 1988 Fellside album A Long Time Travelling.
Danny Spooner sang Cold and Raw on his 2013 CD Gorgeous, Game Girls. He noted:
Some people believe that money can buy whatever they desire. Here the astute young woman dampens her suitor's ardour with a few home truths. This neat piece of moral rhetoric appears to have originally been published in a huge collection of songs collected by Thomas d'Urfey between 1698-1720 and called Pills to Purge Melancholy. I learned it from an old lighter-man friend George Phillips.
Lyrics
A.L. Lloyd sings Cold and Raw | June Tabor sings Cold and Raw |
---|---|
Cold and raw the wind do blow, |
Cold and raw the North did blow, |
I asked this girl where was she going |
Quickly he saluted me, |
Half a sovereign could buy delight |
“In this purse, sweet girl,” says he, |
“If I should stay all night with you |
“If twenty pounds could buy the globe |
I said that she would be me queen |
He told me he had married been |