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Description: | Song about a man who was fond of drink and consequently neglected his family. To teach the man a lesson, a neighbour disguises himself as the devil and frightens him late one night as he returns from drinking. The resulting scare has the desired result and the drunkard is reformed. Songs with a moral message such as this would have been especially popular in rural areas where chapel/church attendance was high. The song was written by famous Teesdale poet Richard Watson.This song forms part of a songbook that was compiled by Cumberland gamekeeper William Pearson around the year 1906. The whereabouts of the original songbook are not known, but a letter accompanying the copy of the book held by Beamish Museum reveals more about the author. Born about 1850, William Pearson was gamekeeper, from 1900 until his retirement, at the remote Moorhouse at Tynehead, above Garrigill in Cumberland. The songbook was passed on to William Pearson's son, James, who was shepherd and gamekeeper for the Hildyard family from 1918 when he moved from Garrigill to Weardale. Like his father James entertained the local population with his fiddle and like his father and brother Tom, had a high reputation as a tinsmith.It is likely, due to Pearson's geographical isolation, that many of the songs were collected from aural circulation and variations between printed versions and those found in the songbook (e.g. 'Our Nan amazer') would certainly suggest this. Some material however, such as songs by Richard Watson, have clearly been copied from other songbooks. It is quite possible that Pearson was able to buy some song sheets at rural events such as agricultural fairs, and then copy them verbatim into his book ('The golden glove' is identical to the version found in 'The songsters jewel'). A fascinating collection. ; Songs collected by Tynehead gamekeeper William Pearson | Publisher: | Tynehead, Garrigill, Cumberland | Rights holder: | rights holder : Beamish Museum | Subjects: | jokes jokes & drinking & sobriety humour and trickery & drinking | Temporal: | start=1901;end=1940; | Source: | Folk Archive Resource North East | Identifier: | farne:B0801901 | Go to resource |
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