BLAKSMI2   THE BLACKSMITH (2)   No source is named for this one, which differs little from the Penguin set. I expect that whoever originally posted it learned it from a record; probably Steeleye Span, or from one of the numerous recordings made by people who have used their collation, which was put together from (unspecified) versions published in the Journal of the Folk Song Society. Certainly, they used the Penguin tune, which is in the DT file A BLACKSMITH COURTED ME, which is the Penguin set. A cross-reference is all that is needed. Roud 816.

There is a mistake in BLAKMI2; verse 2 line 3 has been garbled: Will burn and scorch I fear the shining sun his beauty is faintly ridiculous; fortunately, it is easy to guess the correct word-order. Let's hope that nobody learns it from the file and believes it to be an authentic variant; it isn't. Unless, of course, I'm a Dutchman.

SIRHUGH3   LITTLE SIR WILLIAM   No source is acknowledged for this text, though it is assigned the correct Child group number (155). It is his example T, and appeared in his Additions and Corrections, E&SPB vol.5 pp.240-1. It first appeared in M.H. Mason's Nursery Rhymes and Country Songs, and was re-printed in Lucy Broadwood's English County Songs (1893) with tune and the information that it was collected in Lincolnshire. Midi made from the notation given in this last book.

The DT text is not as originally noted; in verses 2, 3 and 5, school wife has been substituted for the original Jew's wife. The alteration appears to have been made by Benjamin Britten, when he made an "art music" arrangement of the song for voice and piano; he could hardly have used the original term, but the DT really should have a note indicating the modification. Roud 73.

MAIDBATH   A MAIDEN DID BATHING GO   Text from Thomas D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy. If quoted directly from the book (which I doubt), it wasn't the edition of 1719-20, in which the text is rather different (and longer), and has a different title, The Surpriz'd Nymph. Midi made from the notation in that book. The song appeared earlier on broadsides, as The Swimming Lady: or, A Wanton Discovery. According to Claude M. Simpson (The British Broadside Ballad and Its Music), it was previously set to a different tune, I'll Never Love Thee More. Roud 2035.

COVCARL2   LULLAY MY LIKING   Text from The Oxford Book of Carols. So easily found in any good public library that I can't imagine why it was added to the DT without the tune, which was written by Gustav Holst. Oh well; midi made from the book. The chorus is given first.

LSTYSMTH   LUSTY YOUNG SMITH   Allegedly from Pills To Purge Melancholy, but modernised and given a different refrain; perhaps by Ed McCurdy, perhaps via Ren Faires or the like. Hard to tell. It's also possible that not all editions of Pills in which it appeared had exactly the same text, I suppose. Bruce Olson attributes it to Richard Leveridge. Midi made from notation given in Pills (edition of 1719-20).

BALAENA   THE BALAENA   This file actually contains two sets, neither with a traditional source named. Roud 285.

The first is The Balaena, evidently a British version and perhaps taken from a Bert Lloyd record or some such. There are not many published sets; here I've made a midi from notation in The Scottish Folksinger (Norman Buchan and Peter Hall, 1973); this came from Bruce Laurenson of Lerwick. His text was pretty similar to the unattributed one we have here, all things considered.

The second is The Old Polina, a Newfoundland version. Evidently the one that appeared in The Penguin Book of Canadian Folk Songs (Edith Fowke, 1974) which was noted by Gerald Doyle from Captain Peter Carter and Harry R. Burton of Greenspond, Bonavista Bay in 1955. Midi made from notation in that book.