Setting up a Chronological Sequence
The Black Velvet Band I - Origins

As an example of how we might approach the production of a Chronological Sequence, let's just look at our old favourite "The Black Velvet Band".

We have already established that "The Black Velvet Band" began life as a Broadside Ballad between 1837 and 1845. A transcription of the Swindells version is here:

A - Broadside printed by Swindells

However, as I've already suggested, it doesn't appear to have survived into the oral tradition in that form - unless the following, rather cryptic, entry in Steve Roud's index provides more information (Peta Webb of the RVWML has confirmed that this appears, in fact, to be a word-for-word copy of the broadside version though it may well have been collected from a singer, provenance unknown.).

BLACK VELVET BAND, THE; ; ; To go in a smack down to Barking; Index to MS collection; Alfred Williams MS No.Mi.535 (Bathe/Clissold Index); ; ; ; ; Williams, Alfred; Reference only; 930727; 2146; ; ; ; ; ; =Pkt.30

The main elements of the story in the broadside versions can be summarised as follows.
The singer recalls sailing in his youth while an apprentice in Barking. One day, wandering alone on Ratcliffe Highway, he met a pretty young girl, hair as described, whose beauty so impressed him that he changed his lifestyle to become a petty criminal. He describes various hair fashions and concludes (presumably with hindsight) that all are preferable to a black velvet band. He then warns other young men against taking up with these "gay ladies" though admitting that he's still attracted to his own nemesis. The narrative continues with a description of how she took up with a navy sailor. No longer desiring his company, she slipped an item of stolen property into his pocket and then informed against him. He was taken in charge, put in prison and finally sentenced to transportation.

19th Century broadside versions are widespread, mainly from London printers such as J. Paul, T. Birt, H. Such , Disley, W. S. Fortey, Ryle, and Edwards but also, well before the end of the century, from other cities including Manchester (Swindells), Birmingham (Pratt), Glasgow and Dublin. This wide spread indicates that the song was popular and this is emphasised by the fact that copies of broadsides appear as far afield as Canada and Australia. Inspection of the broadside versions reveals that they are uniformly similar except for what might be expected from the typographical license common to broadside printers.

Note. Since verses in traditional versions of the song are often half the length of those in the broadside version, I have used the letters a and b to denote the first and second halves of verses in the broadside where relevant. Thus, lines 1 and 2 of verse 6 is described as verse 6a and lines 3 and 4 of verse 2 are called 2b. Half-verses not described in the broadside versions are denoted Xx.

---

Setting up a Chronological Sequence
The Black Velvet Band II – Overview of Developments and “Transitional” Versions

Comparison of the broadside versions of the song with a large sample of the collected traditional versions indicates that there are two very prominent developments in the traditional versions of the song.

The story is shortened into a fast flowing series of actions (meeting, theft, arrest and judgement) from what is originally a sequence of separate actions joined by descriptive narrative. The supernumary character of the “bold man of war’s man” is removed, along with a most of the, essentially redundant, descriptive elements. An act of theft from a “gentleman” is introduced, so that meeting and theft are simultaneous and arrest and judgement follows swiftly after. A moral is sometimes appended (which might be loosely based on Verse 5a of the broadside, though such verses are commonplace).

A chorus is developed from the second half of verse two.

The combination of the two developments leaves a song of the same length or slightly shorter as the verses, without the chorus, become half the length of those in the broadside version.

I have, as yet found only one version which does not have the chorus. This was collected by Peter Kennedy from Bill Cameron in 1956.

B - Kennedy, Peter "Folksongs of Britain and Ireland" (1975) page 695 (no. 313)

Bill was a member of St Mary’s Lifeboat crew in Scilly and learned the song from Tommy Crocker, a fireman on board the “Lioness” (probably the Lyonesse), a mail ship which ran from Penzance to Scilly, before World War I.

This version is essentially verses 1 and 2 of the broadside, followed by verse 6a/7b and finally Xx/8b (the final verse beginning with an invented half verse). Line 1 of verse 1 has been amended to localise the song in Belfast and the reference to Ratcliffe Highway has been removed from line 2 of verse 2. Verses 3, 4 and 5 – largely descriptive, but with some action – have been omitted. There are a number of other minor amendments, either to remove the criminal argot or to make more sense of the action, and the end of verse 8 is heavily modified. The supernumary character remains, though he has changed his role a little and, as in the broadside, there is no theft incident. The version makes rather less sense overall than the original.

There are several mondegreens, in particular line 3 of verse 1 where “At length future prospects were blighted, as soon you may all understand,” becomes “Till my future prospects belated, Which gave me to understand,” and line 1 of verse 6 where “For she towed in a bold man-of-war's man ...” becomes “O one evening a flash-man a watchman ...”. Notably, the girl’s eyes – described in the original as “black as a raven” are now described as having “shone like diamonds”.

While the song has already undergone quite a lot of modification, both intentionally and accidentally, the direct relationship with the broadside version remains undeniable.