I recently transcribed a few traditional versions of "Nottamun Town" (Roud 1044) and the related song "Paddy Backwards" (Roud 1687).
"Paddy Backwards" was given a different Roud number from "Nottamun Town" but at least in the texts from recent oral tradition known to me they appear to be variants of the same song, having many verses in common. Paddy Backwards was collected under that title mainly in Canada while Nottamun / Nottingham Town was collected in the USA. American Broadsides and Songsters titled it "The Grey Mare". The lone fragment recorded in Dorset, England from Gypsy singer "Queen" Caroline Hughes mentions Paddy in the chorus and has lines in common with Charles Ingenthron's "Nottingham Fair" from Missouri.
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Nottamun Town - Sung by Jean Ritchie of Viper, Kentucky, USA. Recorded by Alan Lomax on May 5, 1949 at Alan Lomax's apartment, 3rd Street, New York City, New York, USA.
Notes by Kevin W.:
The Ritchie family version of this nonsense song of English origin was first collected by Cecil Sharp at the Hindman Settlement School in Knott County, Kentucky on September 20, 1917 from the singing of Jean's sister Una Ritchie who was a student there and their cousin Sabrina Ritchie.
Nottamun is a phonetic corruption of Nottingham, as can be seen in broadside prints and other traditional texts collected in America.
Jean learned the song from 'Uncle' Jason Ritchie, who was actually one of Balis Ritchie's first cousins. Originally one of her verses was incomplete:
...
I bought me a quart to drive gladness away
And to stifle the dust, for it rained the whole day.
In later years Jean completed this verse by adding following lines:
They laughed and they smiled, not a soul did look gay
They talked all the while, not a word did they say
She also made other minor changes to the words such as changing "I rode a grey horse that was called a grey mare" to "I rode a grey horse, a mule roany mare". She copyrighted the song with these changes in 1964 as a reaction to Bob Dylan using her family tune for his song "Masters of War" without giving her credit on his album "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" in 1963.
On the 1954 LP "Kentucky Mountain Songs" Elektra EKL-25 Jean sings the original version. And on the 1965 LP "A Time for Singing" Warner Bros. Records WS 1592 she sings the new version. The recording made by Alan Lomax in 1949 is the earliest sound recording of Jean Ritchie's Nottamun Town known to me.
Song transciption (of the 1949 recording):
In Nottamun Town not a soul would look up
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down
To show me the way to Nottamun Town.
I rode a grey horse that was called a grey mare
Grey mane and grey tail, a green stripe down her back
Grey mane and grey tail, green stripe down her back
There wa'nt a hair on her be-what was coal black.
She stood so still, she threw me to the dirt.
She bruised my hide and bruised my shirt
From stirrup to saddle I mounted again
And on my ten toes I rode over the plain.
Met the King and the Queen, and a company more
A-marching behind and a-marching before
Come a stark naked drummer a-beating the drum
With his hands in his bosom come marching along.
When I got to fair Nottamun Town
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down
To show me the way to Nottamun Town.
...
I bought me a quart to drive gladness away
And to stifle the dust, for it rained the whole day.
Sat down on a hard, hot cold frozen stone,
Ten thousand stood around me, yet I was alone
Ten thousand got drownded that never was born,
Took my hat in my hands for to keep my head warm.
The recording can be listened to here:
https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/jean-ritchie-1949-and-1950/jean-ri
I also uploaded it to Youtube for easier access:
https://youtu.be/7chaUUDf1ec
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Fair Nottalin Town - Sung by Beckham Ritchie of Carrie, Kentucky, USA. Recorded by George Foss and Roger D. Abrahams in August 1962. Printed in "Foss & Abrahams: Kentucky Folklore Record 14:4 (1968) pp.88-91".
Note by Kevin W.:
I wish I could tell you how Beckham Ritchie and Jean Ritchie are related. I discovered the recording on a tape of Kentucky Folk Songs George Foss sent to Dr Kenneth S. Goldstein, a folklorist at the University of Pennsylvania. Sadly I have no more information on the singer, "Kentucky Folklore Record, Volume 14, No. 4" is available at Amazon but with the current situation I don't want to order a book from the US to Europe.
Song transciption:
As I went down to Fair Nottalin Town
They all were so mad, not a soul would look down
They all were so mad, not a soul would look down
To show me the way to Fair Nottalin Town
I sat down on a red hot cold frozen stone
Ten thousand was round me but yet I was alone
Ten thousand was round me noone could I see
Ten thousand was round me a-gazing at me
I rode the old grey horse they called a grey mare
With a white mane and tail and a green list down her back
There wa'nt a hair on her be-what was coal black
I met a king and a queen and a company more
Riding behind and walking before
A stark naked drummer came beating his drum
With his heels in his bosom came marching along
I bought me a quart to drive sadness away
To stiffle the dust but it rained the whole day
My hat in my hand to keep my head warm
Ten thousand was drownded that never was born
The recording can be listened to here:
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/kgreels_unk/397/
It starts at the 3 minute mark.
I also uploaded it to Youtube for easier access:
https://youtu.be/nGOTtXvhMao
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Adam Ham Town - Sung by Ollie Gilbert of Mountain View, Arkansas, USA. Recorded by Max Hunter on August 8, 1969. Cat. #0824 (MFH #17).
Song transcription:
I'm on my way for Adam Ham town
Foot or horse back or on a gray mare
With a blaze down her face and streak down her back
Wasn't a hair on her but what was coal black
She bucked and she pitched and she throwed me in the ditch
Dirtied my clothes and tore my skin
From the stirrups to the saddle I mounted her again
With my ten toes I rode her on the plain
Met the thief and the company too
Riding before and leading behind
A stark naked drummer a-beating his drum
With his heels in his pockets, before them he run
I asked him the place that I didn't know where
Made him so mad that he scarcely looked down
It made him so mad that he scarcely looked down
But he told me the way for Adam Ham town
When I got there not a soul could I see
Streets was crowed, laughing at me
Laughing and funing and making their game
My shoes were wore out and my feet was lame
Set myself down on a hot brimstone
Ten thousand gathered around me, I found myself alone
It rained and it hailed and it came a great storm
Killed ten thousand that never was born
So loaded up my wagon, fishing I'll go
Yes, I will, yes, I will, rudder or no
My wagon turned over my fish got spilled
Kill the old gray mare, yes I will
The recording can be listened to here:
https://maxhunter.missouristate.edu/songinformation.aspx?ID=824
I also uploaded it to Youtube for easier access:
https://youtu.be/swThQm99CII
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Nottingham Fair - Sung by Charles William Ingenthron at Walnut Shade, Taney, Missouri, USA. Recorded by Vance Randolph in 1941. From the LP "Anglo-American Songs and Ballads" (1947) The Library Of Congress - AAFS L20.
The song comes to the United States from eighteenth-century England.
Song transcription:
As I was a-riding[*] to Nottingham Fair,
A-riding on horseback all on a gray mare,
With a white tail and mane and a streak down her back
But darn' a hair on her but what was coal black.
My mare she stood still, threw me off in the ditch,
My skin she did dab and my shirt she did bruise;
With my foot in my stirrup I mounted again
And on my ten toes rode over the plain.
I met a king and a queen and a company more,
All riding on horseback, all walking before,
With a stark naked drummer a-beating the drum,
With his heels in his pockets before them did run.
I pulled my head off, the majest' to greet,
I asked him the road though I knew not the place,
But with gladness he could scarcely look down
To tell me the road to fair Nottingham Town.
When I came into town not a soul could I see,
Though the streets were all lined a-gazing at me;
I set myself down on a hot frozen stone,
Ten thousand around me, and me all alone.
I called for a glass to drive gladness away,
I stifled with dust though it rained all the day,
It rained and it hailed and I stood in the storm
With my hat in my hand to keep my head warm.
* Mr Ingenthron, the singer, made the error in the first line
of singing "a-riding" which should be "a-walking" to correspond
with other opposites throughout the song.
The recording can be listened to here:
https://youtu.be/iDD_cqCBByY
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Nottingham Fair (Parody) - Sung by a nameless gentleman in Stone County, Missouri, June 30, 1940. He stated it was a parody, "made up by local boys who had heard him sing the song properly". Collected by Vance Randolph and printed in "Unprintable Ozark Folksongs and Folklore" (1992).
Note by Kevin W.:
I'd wager a guess that it was Mr Charles Ingenthron who shared this parody with Vance Randolph. I hope it won't offend anyone, for the sake of completeness I felt I should share the text here.
As I was a-walkin' to Nottingham Fair,
I seen a fair damsel all on a gray mare,
With her a** painted blue and a bull on her back,
A bundle of fodder was stuck in her crack.
And there was the king and a company more,
A-riding on horseback all walkin' before,
A stark-naked drummer a-beating the drum,
With his heels in his a**-hole before them did run.
The mare throwed the damsel right off in the ditch,
So I out with old doogey an' mounted the b*tch,
She drawed back her foot an' kicked me in the shin,
Before I got on I was off her ag'in.
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Nottingham Town - Sung by Phydella Hogan of Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA. Recorded by Jim Bob Wheeler for Mary Celestia Parler on June 12, 1960. Ozark Folksong Collection (Univ. of Arkansas) reel 376 item 4.
Song transcription:
As I went down to fair Nottingham Town,
A-riding on horseback on my daddy's gray mare
With a white tail and mane and list on her back
And not a hair on him but what was coal black.
A stark naked drummer a-beating his drum
With his heels in his pockets before them did run;
It made him so mad that he scarcely looked down,
But I asked him the way to fair Nottingham Town.
When I got there not a soul could I see,
The streets were all crowded though looking at me
I sat down upon a hot frozen stone
Ten thousand around me and me all alone.
The recording can be listened to here:
https://digitalcollections.uark.edu/digital/collection/OzarkFolkSong/id/1907/rec
I also uploaded it to Youtube for easier access:
https://youtu.be/0RPGa5zz28M
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That Awkward Old Song - Sung by Lum Wilson "Bill" Jackson at Arvin FSA Camp, Bakersfield, California, USA. Additional verses by Myra and Frank Pipkin. Recorded by Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin on August 12, 1941. Charles L. Todd and Robert Sonkin Migrant Workers Collection (AFC 1985/001).
Song transcription:
I went to the barn my steers to feed
-Did ever you hear that awkward old song?
I went to the barn my steers to feed
I fed 'em my saddle, hung up the feed
We'll all sing as awkward as ever we can.
I rode into town, walked all of the way
-Did ever you hear that awkward old song?
I rode into town, walked all of the way
I was stifled on dust for it rained all that day
We'll all sing as awkward as ever we can.
Met the king and the queen, their company was mine
-Did ever you hear that awkward old song?
I met the king and the queen, their company was mine
A-riding on horseback, a-leadin' behind
We'll all sing as awkward as ever we can.
It rained and it hailed, it blew a great storm
-Did ever you hear that awkward old song?
It rained and it hailed, it blew a great storm
Kept my hat on my arm to keep my head warm
We'll all sing as awkward as ever we can.
I rode the gray mare with a crease down her back
-Did ever you hear that awkward old song?
I rode the gray mare with a crease down her back
Not a hair on her that wasn't coal black
We'll all sing as awkward as ever we can.
I rode into town, not a soul did I see
-Did ever you near that awkward old song?
I rode into town, not a soul did I see
Ten thousand people was gazing at me
We'll all sing as awkward as ever we can.
The recording can be listened to here:
https://www.loc.gov/item/toddbib000245/
I also uploaded it to Youtube for easier access:
https://youtu.be/_yNliprycR0
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Paddy Backwards - Sung by Leo O' Brien of Labrador City, Newfoundland, Canada. Recorded by Prof Kenneth S. Goldstein on November 30, 1983.
Note by Kevin W.:
It's interesting to me that Leo O' Brien prefaced the song with the same story that Senator H. H. Smith used before singing it in Knott County, Kentucky, about 1910. Apparently there was a widespread tradition of introducing the song with such a story.
Song transcription:
The title of this song is "Paddy Backwards", that means there's not a word of truth in it. There's a little story that goes with the song, before I sing it.
Many years ago there was a man, he committed a crime against the law, but it wasn't a very serious crime. But nevertheless he was sent to the court. The magistrate said to him just before the court closed, "Can you sing, sir?". "No", he said, "sir, I never sang a verse of a song in my life." The magistrate said, "Can you compose poetry?". "No", he said, "sir, I never composed a word of poetry in my life."
Then the magistrate said, "You go home now, and you compose four or five verses of poetry with not a word of truth in it, and put a tune to it, and come back tomorrow and sing it, and if it's proven that there's no truth in it you'll be set free."
So the man went home, took his pen and paper and this is what he composed.
As I was a-riding up George's town square
All on a horseback a bonny brown mare
A white tail, a green mane, a hump on her back
And not a hair on her but that wasn't jet black
My horse standing still threw me off in the dirt
He smeared up my body and bruised my white shirt
My two feet in the stirrups were standing so gay
And on my nine toes I went marching away
Now as I sat down on a hot frozen stone
Ten thousand around me and I all alone
I saw three pretty fair maids a-making their hay
In the middle of the winter one fine summer's day
Oh it's home to old England I'll carry my bride
A ship on dry land with a fair wind and tide
And when I get home in the place I was born
I'll buy her a silver cup made of cow-horn
The recording can be listened to here:
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/kgreels_can/137/
It starts at the 35:40 minute mark.
I also uploaded it to Youtube for easier access:
https://youtu.be/9gzfHaHv2sg
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Paddy Backwards - Sung by Alexander N. March of Port au Port, Newfoundland, Canada. Recorded by MacEdward Leach in 1950.
Song transcription:
As I was a-driving down Market town fair
A-riding on horseback a bonny grey mare
Short tail and a white mane and a hump on her back
And not a hair on her but that wasn't jet black
My horse standing still threw me off in the dirt
He dirtied my body and bruised all my shirt
And into my saddle my stirrups so gay
And on my ten toes I went jogging away
It rained and it blowed and I stood in the storm
My hat in my hand to keep my head warm
I took a glass of strong grape juice to drive gladness away
To stiffen the dirt for it rained the whole day
As I was a-driving up fair James's park
In the middle of noon one night it was dark
I met a man he was all dressed in green
Black pants and white waistcoat twas plain to be seen
Oh, it's home to old England I'll carry my bride
With a ship on dry land and a fair wind and a tide
And when I gets back in the place I was born
I'll buy a new silver cup made of cow-horn
As I was a driving down up market one day
I saw three pretty fair maids a-making of hay
I saw three pretty fair maids a-making of hay
In the middle of winter one fine summer's day
A one-legged drummer was beating his drum
With his heels in his pockets up to me he did run
He turned his back to me stared me in the face
And asked me the way as if I did know the place
The recording can be listened to here:
https://mmap.mun.ca/folk-songs-of-atlantic-canada/performances/336
I also uploaded it to Youtube for easier access:
https://youtu.be/I852qXP1F_M
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All You Paddies Lay Down - Sung by "Queen" Caroline Hughes, a Gypsy woman of Bere Regis, Dorset, England. Recorded by Ewan MacColl, Peggy Seeger and Charles Parker c.1962.
Song transcription:
Oh, as I went to market, I vow and declare,
As I went to market, 'twas all on a cow;
The cow was so lazy she chucked on me arm,
She dirtied my shoes and she dirtied my clothes,
And sing ay, ay; sing ay to myself,
Oh 'tis ay, oh you paddies, lay down.
I looked all up to my magistrate well,
I asked him the place if he knowed it quite well.
When he got there, nothing could he see,
But thousand potatoes growing on a pear tree
And sing down, down; sing down, down;
Sing down, all you paddies, lay down.
Recorded again by Peter Kennedy for the BBC in 1968:
Oh, as I went to market, 'twas on an old cow,
As I went to market, I vow and declare;
Now she tossed me off and she dirtied my shoes,
She dirtied my clothes and she dirtied my boots,
And sing down, down; down, down;
Sing down, all you paddies, lay down.
Oh when I got there, but nothing could I see,
Only thousand potatoes growing on a pear tree
And sing down, day; sing down, day;
Sing down, all my paddies, lay down.
I answered now up to my magistrate well,
He asked me the place if he knowed it quite well.
He said when I got there, but nothing could he see,
But thousand potatoes growing on a pear tree
And sing down, down; sing down, down;
Sing down, all you paddies, lay down.
The MacColl, Seeger, Parker recording from 1962 can be listened to here:
https://youtu.be/omFIn6fRdDM
The Peter Kennedy recording from 1968 can be listened to here:
https://youtu.be/mPlKw6Wv8-s
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Black Phyllis - Here's an intriguing ballad fragment from the book "Folk-Songs of the South", Harvard University Press. Cambridge, 1925, p.215, by John Harrington Cox. Professor Cox noted the song from Mrs Florence Crane of Morgantown, West Virginia, USA in July 1916. Mrs Crane learned the song from her mother, who learned it about forty years before from a very old washerwoman.
And then came Black Phyllis, his charger astride,
And took away Annie, his unwilling bride.
It rained, it hailed, and I sat and cried,
And wished that my Annie that day had then died.
And then came her true-love from over the moor,
And left them a-cursing his cross on the door.
It rained, it hailed, I waited no more;
I knew that my Annie he soon would restore.
He fell on Black Phyllis with wild lion's roar;
They fought and they struggled for hour after hour.
It rained, it hailed, though wounded and sore,
He left Phyllis a-dead on the moor.
Then swift as a bird to his true-love he fled,
Found the cabin in ashes, the ground all a-red.
It rained, it hailed, though swift he had fled,
He found he was too late; his Annie was dead.
Calling the song related to "Nottamun Town" would be a stretch, but I was reminded of it by the third line of each verse.
It certainly could be sung to Jean Ritchie's Nottamun Town tune. No tune for "Black Phyllis" was noted and this appears to be the only time the ballad was found.
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Nottamon Fair - Heard sung by Josiah Combs, when a boy in Knott County, Kentucky, about 1910, by his cousin Senator H. H. Smith. Combs, in a letter to Vance Randolph dated September 1959, recollects fifty years later "what Sen. Smith said about the song: That a man had been sentenced to the gallows--but that if he could compose a song, all of which was contradictory he would be freed; and he made this song," entitled "Fair Nottamon (Nottingham) Town." In 1:2, stone horse, a stallion; in 2:2, shire, or share (as in ploughshare), the pelvic or pubic bone.
Collected by Vance Randolph and printed in "Unprintable Ozark Folksongs and Folklore" (1992).
Note by Kevin W.:
This very full text came from Knott County, Kentucky and agrees with the Ritchie family version in many points. For that reason I felt it was worth sharing here.
As I went down to Nottamon fair
I rode a (stone) horse they called the gray mare;
She had a green list down her back
(She had a white mane and tail),
And there wasn't a hair but what was coal black.
She stood still, (but) she threw me in the mud,
She daubed my hiee (eye) and bruised my shire,
From saddle to stirrup I mounted her again,
And on my ten toes rode over the plain.
I met the king and the queen and a company more,
A-riding behind and walking before,
And a stark-naked drummer a-beating his drum,
With his heels in his a** (pockets) a-marching along.
I asked them the way to fair Nottamon town,
They were so mad not a soul look-ed down--
They were so mad not a soul look-ed down
To tell me the way to fair Nottamon town.
When I got there, no one could I see,
They all stood around a-looking at me;
I called for a quart to drive gladness away,
To stifle the dust--it had rained the whole day.
I sat on a cold (hot) frozen stone,
Ten thousand standing 'round me, yet I was alone;
Ten thousand got drowned before they were born,
I took my hat in my hand for to keep my head warm.
Then I'll take my black horse and a-fishing I'll go,
A-fishing I'll go, whether or no;
My fish they turned over, my wagon did spill--
I'll sell my gray mare?--I'll be damned if I will!
The first girl I have, it shall be a boy,
Returned to the house of my first joy;
The first house I live in, it shall be a hog-pen,
And what-in-the-hell will become of me then?
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And that's all from me for now. I hope someone finds it interesting or useful.
-Kevin W.
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