Lyr Req: The Monmouth Rebel

Subject: Lyr Req: The Monmouth Rebel
From: GUEST,Kathryn
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 12:59 PM

Would anybody be able to help me, I'm looking for the lyrics and tune to: The Monmouth Rebel. I'm doing some historical work into The Bloody Assizes and want to look at contemporary ballads of the day.

Thanks you very much.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Monmouth Rebel
From: Peace
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 01:18 PM

1) Who does it?
2) About when was it written?
3) Do you have ANY of the lyrics?

Subject: Bloody Assizes
From: Joe Offer
Date: 27 Feb 08 - 02:08 PM

I couldn't find any song with the specific title "The Monmouth Rebel," so it would be helpful if you could tell us all you know about the song. Titles can be deceptive, and we may be able to find it under a different title if we know a few distinctive phrases from the song.

I did find this in the Encyclopedia Britannica:

Bloody Assizes: (1685), in English history, the trials conducted in the west of England by the chief justice, George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys of Wem, and four other judges after the abortive rebellion (June 1685) of the Duke of Monmouth, illegitimate son of King Charles II, against his Roman Catholic uncle King James II. About 320 persons were hanged and more than 800 transported to Barbados; hundreds more were fined, flogged, or imprisoned. Although modern research has acquitted Jeffreys, in certain cases, of any technical irregularity, the trials were conducted with a ferocity that has made his name notorious.

You'll find a number of broadsides about Monmouth at the Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads Collection.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Monmouth Rebel
From: Joe Offer
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 01:57 AM

refresh

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Monmouth Rebel
From: GUEST,PMB
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 03:12 AM

If you know someone who has access to A historian at Warwick has published a book, "'England's Darling' or 'Senseless Loon': Hero and Villain, the Ballading Battle for the Image of Monmouth", which should be relevant. Her contact details are in the link, if she's still there.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Monmouth Rebel
From: GUEST,KATHRYN
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 05:28 PM

I've found a reference to it from John Paddy Brown's folk songs of Old Hampshire and its described: The Monmouth Rebel gives the story of a fictional supporter of the Monmouth Rebellion, who gets pardoned for his part in the doomed rising (against King James 2cd). However, the pardoned rebel's fiancé is less fortunate, being condemned by Judge Jeffries (of the Bloody Assizes notoriety) when she is found guilty of hiding known rebels who were being treated as outlaws. She is sent for execution, leaving the live, free rebel alone and dejected in the World.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Monmouth Rebel
From: Peace
Date: 28 Feb 08 - 07:09 PM

Brian Hooper does a song entitled "The Monmouth Rebel". You can try to reach him at

hooperman (at) tesco (dot) net

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Monmouth Rebel
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 29 Feb 08 - 02:05 AM

It's Brian Hooper's song that appears in John Paddy Browne's book. Not a 'contemporary ballad of the day' but a modern song written in 1979. The lyrics are at Brian's website: http://www.brianhooper.uwclub.net/.

If you want genuine songs of the period, try Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads. Use the 'browse' index; type in 'Monmouth' for starters. They are quite long, of course, but all name the tunes they were originally set to. If any appeal to you, ask us if the music survives.

When asking about a song that you've heard is in a particular book, please tell us what that book is right from the start. It saves time.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Monmouth Rebel
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 02 Mar 08 - 12:08 PM

The lyrics to THE MONMOUTH REBEL can be found at Brian Hooper's web site. However, the page is cleverly designed so that you can't copy and paste the lyrics as text, not by any method I know, anyway.

Subject: RE: Lyr Req: The Monmouth Rebel
From: Malcolm Douglas
Date: 03 Mar 08 - 04:07 AM

The lyric is placed in the page as an image file, that's why. In fact it is duplicated in the 'alt' text in the underlying code and could be copy-and-pasted from that by someone unwilling to type it out for themselves; but of course it would be inappropriate to reproduce it here without the owner's permission. Besides, as a modern song it wouldn't be of any use to the original enquirer.