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Description: | Song about a old pitman who is not past his best and has fallen on hard times. The song describes the hardships felt by a period of depression in the pits. 'Not only does the miner have no money to follow his favourite sports but he is also unable to support the traditional sword dancers who go around at Christmas. The dancers, miners themselves, suffer as a result of small collections and their props begin to deteriorate. So Corvan bids goodbye to the sword dancers 'Farewell, ye merry lads, ye've oft danced in the cowld'.' (Keith Gregson 'Corvan; a Victorian entertainer and his songs', 1983).This song forms part of Corvan's song book, no.4. Edward Corvan, or as he was famously known, Ned 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, bringing his characters to life with costume and other techniques. Ned then went on to join the Olympic where 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.This book is the first in a series of 4 Corvan songbooks. The books were published in the mid nineteenth century by W. Stewart, who states his address as 'Head of the Side'. Stewart, however, was not a printer and a number of the songbooks published by him were printed by W.R. Walker of the Royal Arcade. There is no record of Stewart in trade directories after 1838, but clearly he was in business at the same as W.R. Walker, who was printing between 1857 and 1866, and so it must be assumed that the Corvan books were printed during this period.The books are a testament to the range of Corvan's material and a quick glance at the song titles printed on the cover of these songbooks reveals how Corvan was able to captivate his audience with the subject matter of his songs. Realising the popularity of local reference in song, Corvan's material ranged from songs of local interest, such as 'The Toon Improvement Bill', testaments to local sporting heroes as found in 'Swaggering at the races', comic songs about local characters such as Billy Purvis, and commentary on events of national and international importance such as the Royal family and foreign affairs. - A fascinating collection, these cheaply printed chapbooks would have been affordable to most of the local population and, given Corvan's success as a performer, would have been extremely popular throughout the region. ; Nineteenth century songbook by Music Hall artist Edward Corvan | Publisher: | W. Stewart Side ; Newcastle upon Tyne | Rights holder: | rights holder : Newcastle University | Subjects: | miners & sword dancing & unemployment & Christmas & rapper dancing Health And Welfare festivities & poverty | Temporal: | start=1841;end=1860; | Source: | Folk Archive Resource North East | Identifier: | farne:N3002302 | Go to resource |
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