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Here's Adieu to All Judges and Juries
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Adieu to All Judges and Juries
Here's Adieu to All Judges and Juries
[
Roud 300
; Master title: Here's Adieu to All Judges and Juries
; Ballad Index FaE034
; MusTrad MT222
; Bodleian
Roud 300
; GlosTrad
Roud 300
; Mudcat 20365
; trad.]
Ted Culver sang the transportation ballad Judges and Juries in 1966 on the Critic Group's Argo anthology of London songs, Sweet Thames Flow Softly.
Martin Carthy sang Here's Adieu to All Judges and Juries on his 1971 album Landfall. He commented in its sleeve notes:
The Bold Poachers and Here's Adieu to All Judges and Juries come from roughly the same time in history, being early 19th century transportation songs from Norfolk and Sussex respectively. They convey, along with O'er the Hills (which hails from the late 17th century), something within the simple factual almost journalistic framework of the writing, more than simple resentment at being forced to leave home, proving for me the truth of the maxim, that it's not what a song says, necessarily, but what it does that counts. Thousands of songs have very little apparent, but layers and layers underneath.
Derek and Dorothy Elliott sang Adieu to All Judges and Juries in 1972 on their eponymous Trailer album, Derek & Dorothy Elliott. This track was also included in 2006 on the anthology of tracks from Trailer albums, Never the Same.
Shirley Collins recorded Adieu to All Judges and Juries in 1976 for her album Amaranth.
David Littlefield sang Here's Adieu to All Judges and Juries in 2004 on the anthology 25th Annual Sea Music Festival at Mystic Seaport.
Laura Smyth sang Here's Adieu to All Judges and Juries on her and Ted Kemp's 2017 CD The Poacher's Fate. They noted:
A beautiful and heartfelt song about the loss of a loved one through transportation. During the 18th century, transportation was seen as a solution for a whole range of crimes including petty theft. Although sentences may have been for a fixed term, transportees often never returned. Learned from the singing of Dorothy Elliot on her and Derek's first album, with an additional verse..
Lyrics
Martin Carthy sings Here's Adieu to All Judges and Juries |
Shirley Collins sings Adieu to All Judges and Juries |
---|---|
Here's adieu to all judges and juries! |
Here's adieu to all judges and juries, |
Oh, hard is the place of confinement |
Oh, hard is the place of confinement |
Oh, if I had the wings of an eagle |
If I had the wings of an eagle |
Oh, my love she is dark and she's proper, | |
Oh if e'er I return from the ocean, |
And if e'er I return from the ocean, |
Here's adieu to all judges and juries! |
So adieu to all judges and juries! |
Laura Smyth sang Here's Adieu to All Judges and Juries | |
Here's adieu to all judges and juries, O Polly, I'm going for to leave you How hard is a place of confinement If I had the wings of an eagle And if ever I return from the ocean, |
Acknowledgements
Transcribed from the singing of Martin Carthy by Garry Gillard.