"Severnside" / "Severn No More" is one of the songs "collected" by Ruth Tongue. The Oxford Dictionary of Folklore describes her as a 'problematic figure'. Adding - "The problem is that Tongue was a performer, and that many years had passed since she had learnt these songs and tales; the uniform style and recurrent themes and phrases make it virtually certain that they had been reshaped, perhaps only half-consciously, to suit her personality. Some look like patchworks, built up round mere scraps of traditional beliefs or sayings. She should be regarded as a creative singer and storyteller reworking fragments of tradition, not as a reliable collector."

At the time that Barry Morton of the Rotherham Taverners used to sing it in the 1960's, however, it was regarded as a traditional song.

Georgina