Subject: RE: Plains Of Waterloo
From:
Malcolm Douglas
Date: 09 Nov 01 - 03:52 PM
To amplify a bit on Dan Milner's post earlier on, that particular Plains of Waterloo turns up in a number of places, amongst which: Frank Kidson's Traditional Tunes (1891) has a set obtained "from a country singer in Dumphriesshire", with tune. Only four verses are given. Kidson commented:
"The above version of the ballad is said to be the composition of a Sergeant Grant of the 92nd regiment, who wrote it directly after the battle... it is the copy most frequently met with on broadsides, ...is reprinted in Logan's Pedlar's Pack of Ballads, and a similar version is given by Christie..." [Traditional Ballad Airs, 1876 and 1881]. He adds that the air he prints is quite dissimilar from Christie's.
Ord, Bothy Songs & Ballads (1930) prints a 12-verse text (no tune) with an alternative final verse, about which he remarks "Half a century ago a version of this ballad was sung in the Feeing Markets of the North-east of Scotland." Since the book was published posthumously, that would likely be in the 1870s.
The Grieg-Duncan Folk Song Collection (vol. I, 1981) has 8 texts and 7 tunes; these were collected in the early years of the 20th century, at least one having been learned by the singer "about 60 years ago from an old soldier". Mr. Garioch's set was noted in 1907, so that would take us back to the the mid 19th. century.
The song has also been credited (cf. notes, Greig-Duncan) to "John Robertson, a bugler in the 92nd Highlanders" and "two soldiers of the Highland Brigade". I wonder if anyone has researched these attributions? None of these examples, incidentally, has a refrain.
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sj
