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Description: | Song about unemployment, by Music Hall artist Ned Corvan. Keith Gregson in his book 'Corvan; a Victorian entertainer and his songs', comments that this song reflected the general malaise of the period in which Corvan was composing, as Corvan reflects 'It's the Yankee war aw guess that's causin sic distress'. Both David Harker and Gregson point out that Corvan felt it to be his responsibility to act as the voice of working class opinion on many issues. This seems especially so in times of distress and this is one of a number of Corvan songs commenting on the difficulties which arose in the 1860s concerning price rises, unemployment and the subsequent poverty.Corvan was born in Liverpool and moved to Newcastle at the age of four. Following the death of his father at an early age, Corvan was raised by his widowed mother who struggled to feed the family of four on her meagre earnings. After a brief career as a sail-maker Corvan joined Billy Purvis's Victoria Theatre. Here he tried his hand at a number of things, but found most success in the performance of local and comic songs. Ned then went on to join the Olympic were he enjoyed great success with songs such as 'Astrilly'. With this popularity he travelled the North singing his Tyneside songs, eventually settling in South Shields where he operated Corvan's Music Hall. After a number of years he gave up the establishment and returned to local singing. Corvan died on the 31st August 1865 at the age of 35.The songs forms part of a collection held by Newcastle City Library. The collection comprises much of the original material collected by Thomas Allan for the publication of 'Allan's Tyneside songs'. From original Ned Corvan manuscripts to photographs of Joe Wilson, and correspondence from local figures such as Joseph Cowen, the collection provides a genuinely fascinating glimpse of some of the region's best known composers. The material dates from 1860 to 1890, spanning the dates of the various publications of the book in 1862, 1863, 1864, 1872, 1873 and 1891. ; Song manuscripts, correspondence and broadsides collected for the publication of Allan's Tyneside Songs. | Rights holder: | rights holder : Newcastle City Library | Subjects: | unemployment & money protest | Temporal: | start=1841;end=1860; | Source: | Folk Archive Resource North East | Identifier: | farne:L0112401 | Go to resource |
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