> Tim Hart & Maddy Prior > Songs > Lish Young Buy-a-Broom
Lish Young Buy-a-Broom
[ Roud 1865 ; Bodleian Roud 1865 ; Mudcat 1213 ; trad.]
Lish Young Buy-a-Broom was collected and collated by Geoff Wood. Tim Hart and Maddy Prior on chorus recorded it (with an interesting banjo accompaniment by Tim Hart) in 1968 for their first duo album, Folk Songs of Old England Vol. 1. The record's sleeve notes commented:
This Cumberland sung is an amalgamation of three versions collected by Geoff Woods of Leeds between 1945-1967. It is believed to have been written by William Graham, “the Cumberland poacher”. The word “lish” is Cumberland dialect for active or brisk, and “buy-a-broom” is a tinker.
Len Irving of Wreay in Cumberland sang The Lish Young Buy-a-Broom at either the Crown and Thistle, Rockcliffe, or the Plough Inn, Wreay, on 16 September 1953. This recording was published in 1982 on the Reynard Records album Pass the Jug Round, which was reissued as a Veteran CD in 2001.
Clannad sang Lish Young Buy-a-Broom in 1982 on their sixth album, Fuaim. This recording was also included on the French anthology Planète Celtique.
Will Noble and John Cocking sang Lish Young Buy-a-Broom live at the Three Horseshoes, Dutton Hill, Essex, on 21 April 2004. This recording was published in the same year on their Veteran CD Yon Green Banks. They and John Howson commented in the album's notes:
A song with its origins in the Lake District. There is a recording made in 1953 of 64 year old Len Irving of Wreay in Cumberland on Pass the Jug Round. He maintained that it was written by a poacher called William Graham who achieved fame for killing a local gamekeeper and was transported, but whether he did actually write the song has not been proved. It was also collected by Geoff Woods of Leeds from some singers in the Keswick area and that version was made popular by folk singers Tim Hart and Maddy Prior and more recently by the Irish group Clannad.
Will first heard it sung years ago, by an old singer in the Lake District called Esme Smith, and then later heard the Pass the Jug Round recordings which rekindled his interest in the song.
Andy Turner sang Lish Young Buy-a-Broom with an extra verse as the 3 March 2014 entry of his project A Folk Song a Week. Although he referred to Tim Hart and Maddy Prior's recording in his blog he learned the song from words noted down “on an early visit to the Vaughan Williams Memorial Library”.
Lyrics
Tim Hart & Maddy Prior sing Lish Young Buy-a-Broom | Will Noble and John Cocking sing Lish Young Buy-a-Broom |
---|---|
As I was a-travelling in the North Country, |
As I was a wandering the North Country, |
Chorus (after each verse): |
Chorus (after each verse): |
She kindly then invited me to go along the way, |
I kindly asked her to go along with me, |
Straightway for Kendal we steered, her and I, |
As we steered for Kendal the weather it being dry. |
We arrived in Kendal dressed out so fine, | |
I tret her with brandy, I tret her with beer. | |
The night's coming on, good lodgings we did find, |
With night coming on, good lodgings we did find, |
Well early the next morning we arose to go away, |
So early the next morning before the break of day, |
Now the reason that we parted, I now will let you hear, |
And the reason why we parted, I mean to let you hear. |