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> Martin Carthy > Songs > Geordie / Georgie

Geordie / Georgie

[ Roud 90 ; Child 209 ; G/D 2:249 ; Ballad Index C209 ; VWML CJS2/9/423 , HAM/3/18/16 ; Bodleian Roud 90 ; trad.]

A.L. Lloyd sang Georgie in 1956 on his and Ewan MacColl's Riverside anthology The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Volume II. In was reissued in 2011 on Lloyd's Fellside CD Bramble Briars and Beams of the Sun. Kenneth F. Goldstein commented in the original album's booklet:

The propriety of the inclusion of Georgie in this recorded series of Child ballads is largely dependent upon the acceptance or rejection of various claims of prior existence of several different ballad strains. The ballads in question are a traditional Scottish ballad, the earliest known version dating from the end of the 18^th century, and two English broadsides, both of which date from the 17^th century. Child (and most later scholars) believed that the Scottish ballad must have existed prior to the broadsides and that the broadside scriveners borrowed from the Scottish ballad. As evidence, Child indicated that the broadsides are merely “goodnights”, while the Scottish texts are full narratives, with a beginning, middle and end. Ebsworth, however, was of the opinion that the broadsides were the earlier form, and that the Scottish ballad was an adaption from these.

Most texts collected since Child (including the version sung here by A.L. Lloyd) are obviously derived from 19^th century broadside printings of the early English broadsides in question. Indeed, aside from some few texts from Scotland, all of the many recently reported texts are at least partly derived from the English broadsides.

The text of this version sung by A.L. Lloyd came from Mrs Overd of Longport, Somerset, collected by Cecil Sharp in 1904 [VWML CJS2/9/423] , and the melody from Charles Neville of East Coker, Somerset, collected in 1908 [VWML CJS2/10/1840] . Neville's version was printed by Lloyd and Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1959 in their The Penguin Book of English Folk Songs. A.L. Lloyd recorded it in 1960 for his EP England & Her Folk Songs. Like all tracks from this EP it was reissued in 2003 on his CD England & Her Traditional Songs. Lloyd wrote in the album's sleeve notes:

As with many of our best ballads, this one is familiar both in England and in Scotland. In the latter, the main character usually appears as a nobleman sometimes identified as George Gordon, a sixteenth century Earl of Huntly, whereas in England he is usually a common outlaw thought by some to be George Stoole, a Northumbrian robber executed in 1610. In fact, there are not good grounds for presuming that this is a historical ballad at all; it may well be simply a romantic fiction that was already delighting singers and audiences well before the day of the robber Stoole or the dissident Earl of Huntly. Perhaps the story really belongs to the period when the Middle Ages were drawing to a close and the greenwoods were full of outlaws, some high-born, but mostly otherwise, all of them on the run from oppressive feudal authority. This version was collected by Cecil Sharp in the village of East Coker, Somerset.

Shirley Collins recorded Geordie for the first time in 1959 for her Collector EP The Foggy Dew. A live recording from the 1964 Scarborough Folk Festival was included on her 4 CD anthology of 2000, Within Sound. She recorded it for a third time in 1970 for her album Love, Death & the Lady. Peter Kennedy commented in the Collector EP's sleeve notes:

Those who have tried to unravel the historical background of such ballads as The Queen's Four Maries will appreciate how the ballad-makers through the years have changed the names and places to fit the various popular figures who end in the criminal courts and below the gallows tree.

Here is another such ballad which, according to one broadside, refers to Lady Grey pleading for George of Oxford. As indicated by many English folk-songs, poachers would be transported to Van Diemen's Land, but for his crime Geordie is condemned to death:

Now Geordie robbed no store-houses
He never murdered any
He only shot a King's white deer
All for to feed his family.

Harry Cox sang this song as Georgie. A recording by Mervyn Plunkett from September 1958 can be found on the anthology The Child Ballads 2 (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 5), and on the Harry Cox anthology released in 2000 on the Topic label, The Bonny Labouring Boy.

Both Ewan MacColl and Isla Cameron sang their versions of Geordie in 1960 on their Topic album Still I Love Him. Ewan MacColl sang Georgie six year later on his Topic album The Manchester Angel.

Gaither Carlton sang Georgie in May 1965 to Ralph Rinzler and Daniel Seeger. This recording was released in 1977 on the Watson Family's Topic album The Watson Family Tradition.

Geordie was also recorded by Julie Felix in 1966 for her album Changes. It was the album's only track where she was accompanied by Martin Carthy and Dave Swarbrick and it was included in 2002 on the Topic anthology The Acoustic Folkbox.

Sandy Denny recorded Geordie in 1967 as a home demo that was released in 1989 on the cassette The Attic Tracks Vol. 3 and in 2004 on her Fledg'ling anthology A Boxful of Treasures.

Peter Bellamy learned Georgie from the singing of Harry Cox and sang it unaccompanied in 1968 on his first album, Mainly Norfolk. He commented in the album's notes:

Georgie is of course Geordie with almost everyone except Harry Cox. The story of the condemned poacher is one of the most common in folk song, and Harry's tune to my mind one of the most beautiful.

Trees sang Geordie in 1970 on their CBS album On the Shore.

Martin Carthy sang Geordie in 1974 in a John Peel BBC Radio session. This recording was included in 2000 on The Carthy Chronicles. He then recorded Geordie for his 1976 album Crown of Horn; this version was also included in 1993 on Rigs of the Time. A live version recorded in June 1977 was released on 6. Folkfestival auf der Lenzburg. Martin Carthy commented in his album's sleeve notes:

It is often said that the English version of Geordie is a later copy of the Scottish song about George Gordon, Earl of Huntly, who was imprisoned and threatened with death in 1554 for “failing to execute a commission against a Highland robber”. The motive was obviously political and in the end a fine was exacted and he was freed. A later song called The Life and Death of George of Oxford, while being superficially a copy of the Scots one, at least in part, also seems to me to be an attempt to tart up and bring up to date something else. The “something else” being the English version of an idea with, maybe, two distinct strains. It is a gritty, passionate little song with the sting of rage in its tail, and one is tempted to suggest that English versions which have survived—some are still current—could be that “something else” possibly used as the model for George of Oxford. Learned from John Pearse many years ago, I really determined to sing it on hearing a recording of Mrs Louisa Hooper made by Dr Maud Karpeles in about 1941 and deposited in the BBC Sound Archives.

Levi Smith sang Georgie in a recording by Mike Yates near Epsom, Surrey from May 1974. It was released a year later on the Topic album Songs of the Open Road and was included in 1998 on the Topic anthology My Father's the King of the Gypsies (The Voice of the People Volume 11) and in 2009 on the Topic anniversary anthology Three Score and Ten. Another recording of Georgie sung by Levi's brother Jasper Smith was included on 2003 on the Musical Traditions anthology Here's Luck to a Man.

Alec Bloomfield of Newark, Nottinghamshire sang this song as Young George Oxbury in 1975 to Keith Summers. It was included in 2007 on the Musical Traditions anthology of Keith Summers' recordings, A Story to Tell.

Roy Bailey took Spare Me the Life of Georgie from Roy Palmer's 1972 book Songs of the Midlands and sang it in 1976 on his album New Bell Wake.

June Tabor, accompanied by Martin Carthy on guitar, sang Geordie in 1976 on her and Maddy Prior's album Silly Sisters, a slightly Anglicised arrangement of the set supplied by Robert Burns for the Scots Musical Museum. This track was also included in 2005 on Tabor's Topic anthology Always.

Colin Thompson sang this song as Banstead Downs in 1980 on his Fellside album Three Knights.

Jo Freya sang Geordie in 1992 on her Saydisc album Traditional Songs of England. The liner notes commented:

This well-known ballad exists in many versions in England and Scotland with the current song taken down by Cecil Sharp in 1908 from the singing of Charles Neville of East Coker in Somerset [VWML CJS2/10/1840] . The ‘hero’ of the song has different alleged origins in the Scottish and English versions. The nobleman (George Gordon, Earl of Huntley) is replaced in England by one George Stoole of Northumberland who was executed in 1610. It was customary for the judge to look over his left shoulder when passing the death sentence (the left—Latin sinister—being associated with evil) which explains the reference in verse six.

Martin Carthy sang Levi Smith's version of Georgie on his 1998 album Signs of Life. He also sang it live at Ruskin Mill in December 2004. and live in studio in July 2006 for the DVD Guitar Maestros. He commented in the first record's sleeve notes:

Hamish Henderson, poet, songwriter, collector, doyen of the School of Scottish Studies, champion of humanity in general and imagination in particular, wrote in the '60s that the folk revival depended for its continued existence on its capacity to throw up fresh thinkers. At the risk of having an immediate degree conferred on me from the university of the bleedin' obvious, I'll say that doesn't apply simply to folkies. A pretty good illustration of the way the craft of songwriting has broadened as ordinary people write about extra-ordinary events is the Bee Gees' song New York Mine Disaster, 1941 which, whether or not it refers to an actual event, is a great piece of collective imagination. Similar forces are at work among the many gypsy singers and musicians recorded by Mike Yates in the past twenty or thirty years. Georgie is a song that I have known for forty years, but I was taken completely unawares when I heard it sung by Levi Smith in the '70s, and it's the basis of what I sing hear. The experience was similar to hearing the Yarmouth fisherman Sam Larner in the 1950's, which confronted everything I had thought made a musical sense, and changed it.

In this video, Martin Carthy played Georgie live in his back garden in 2007 or earlier:

Chris Coe sang Geordie in 2001 on her CD A Wiser Fool.

Martin Simpson sang Georgie in 2003 on his Topic CD Righteousness & Humidity. He noted:

The subject matter of these songs shows some common themes, crime, punishment, religion, love and loss.

Georgie combines all the elements in one song, and a very old song it is. The character, who is portrayed here as a somewhat loosemouthed member of the very upper class, is based on George Gordon, the 4^th Earl of Huntly, who was imprisoned in 1554 for failing to be tough enough in his treatment of a Highland robber. He was actually later released, his lands restored, and was fined only! This version comes from a 1936 field recording of Sam Russell of Marion, Virginia. It is a pentatonic melody with no 3^rd, 1-2-4-5-♭7 and a wonderful set of words. Russell called it As I Walked Over London's Bridge; it can be found on Virginia Traditions—Ballads from British Traditions (Global Village Music CD1002).

Chris Foster sang Georgie in 2004 on his Tradition Bearers CD Jewels. He commented in his liner notes:

I first heard this beautiful version of Georgie sung by Pete Timmins, a very good singer and guitarist who used to sing in the folk clubs around Bradford in the 1970's. He hold me he had found it in Songs of the Midlands, edited by Roy Palmer, so I got the book and learnt the song. It was collected from a Mary Haynes of Hartlebury, between Worcester and Kidderminster, in 1908.

The Maerlock sang Geordie in 2008 on their Fellside CD Sofa.

Brian Peters sang Georgie, to the tune collected from Joseph Taylor of Brigg, Lincolnshire, by Percy Grainger on his 2008 album of Child ballads, Songs of Trial and Triumph.

Jon Boden sang the Silly Sisters version of Geordie as the 27 April 2011 entry of his project A Folk Song a Day.

Jim Causes sang Georgie in 2011 on his album of songs from Devon, Dumnonia.

James Findlay sang Geordie in 2012 on his Fellside CD Another Day, Another Story. He commented:

I first came across this song from the album Crown of Horn by Martin Carthy, which is close to that found by Cecil Sharp in Somerset, sung by Charles Neville of East Coker in 1908. It strongly resembles the tune of Searching for Lambs, also from Somerset. This song is well documented throughout Britain and has managed to live on for centuries despite such a loose narrative. It almost certainly pre-dates the 17^th century.

Andy Turner sang Georgie as the 22 January 2016 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week. His blog gives details of the several sources he assembled his version from.

Nicola Kearey sang Georgie on Stick in the Wheel's 2017 anthology of English folk field recordings, From Here. She returned to it together wigh Chris Joynes in 2019 on Stick in the Wheel's mixtape Against the Loathsome Beyond.

The Askew Sisters sang Georgie on their 2019 CD Enclosure. They noted:

We’ve heard many versions of this well-known ballad over the years and felt moved to make our own when creating this album. Outwardly, it’s the story of Georgie’s condemnation to die after stealing six of the Kings deer, but the last line reveals a much deeper story about class and the consequences of overstepping your place. The image of the woman crying out on London Bridge in the mist of an early morning is so poignant, and upon putting together this version we also found ourselves thinking about what it would be like to stand up and protest as the sole woman in a courtroom full of men. Our version is based on the one sung by Charles Neville of East Coker in Somerset which Cecil Sharp collected on 3 September 1908 [VWML CJS2/10/1840, RoudFS/S145975] , but we’ve added in the refrain that Mrs. R. Gale sung to Henry and Robert Hammond in Powerstock, Dorset in May 1906 [VWML HAM/3/18/16] .

Nick Hart sang Georgie in 2019 on his CD Nick Hart Sings Nine English Folk Songs. He noted:

This has been in my repertoire for a few years now and was the first song I ever learnt from a book, specifically Folk Songs Collected in Cambridgeshire, compiled by Mary Humphreys. Cambridgeshire is my home county and this version comprises a tune collected in Fowlmere, a mile away from my father’s native village of Thriplow and words from a Mr. Pamplin of Fen Ditton [VWML RVW2/1/228] , where my Aunty Noni lives. I’ve removed two of the verses because I didn’t like them.

This video shows Dominie Hooper and Nick Hart singing Georgie on Dartmoor in August 2017:

Green Ribbons sang My Geordie, Oh, My Geordie, Oh in 2019 on their eponymous CD Green Ribbons. Alasdair Roberts noted:

The text for this song appears in Ord’s Bothy Songs and Ballads, a collection of songs from the agricultural North East of Scotland first published in 1930. Ord’s notes tell us that the hero of the ballad was George, fourth Earl of Huntly, who was afterwards slain at the battle of Corrichrie on 28 October 1562. We set the words to a tune often associated with other songs such as Wae’s Me for Prince Charlie and The Bonnie Hoose o’ Airlie.

Lyrics

Martin Carthy sings Georgie

Once I had such a good little boy
A pretty boy quick as any
He would run five miles in one half an hour
A letter to pardon my Georgie

For what has Georgie done on Shooter's Hill
Was it stealing or murder of any
Oh he stole sixteen of the lord judge's deer
And we sold them down under the valley

Oh saddle em up cries my lily-white breast
Oh saddle me up cries my pony
With bright guns in his hand and a sword at his side
Would you spare me the life of my Georgie

And Georgie's fathered six babes loved
There's a seventh one into my body
But it's with it part with all I have got
If you'll spare me the life of my Georgie

And George shall be hanged in the frames of gold
For the frames of gold you won't find many
But it's with it part with all I have got
If you'll spare me the life of my Georgie

For what has Georgie done on Shooter's Hill
Was it stealing or murder of any
Oh he stole sixteen of the lord judge's deer
And we sold them down under the valley

Wish you was stalled all in the grove
All in the grove standing ready
With bright guns in your hand and a sword at your side
I'd fight you for the life of my Georgie

Once I had such a good little boy
A pretty boy quick as any
He would run five miles in one half an hour
A letter to pardon my Georgie

Acknowledgements and Links

Martin Carthy's version transcribed by Garry Gillard.

See also the Mudcat Café threads How many versions of Geordie and Lyr Req: Peter Bellamy's Georgie.