Once, when I was recording songs from the Gypsy singer Jasper Smith, Jasper mentioned that he knew a song called 'Barnet Fair'. What he sang seemed to be a mixture of Music Hall verses and is clearly not the same as the Steeleye Span song, but, as I have never printed this before, I thought that this might be the right place.

Barnet Fair - Jasper Smith. Epsom, Surrey.

Now it's once when I was me mother's baby
Oh bread and marmalade I used to eat
And I was always fond of my refreshments
So I had to take it as a treat

One day me mother gave to me a sixpence
She said that I could go to Barnet Fair
And she said, 'Don't spend it all on (?)
You just patronize the best show that is there

So the first thing advertised were a lady in a tent
All tattooed, I paid and in I went
She had France and Germany across her shoulders
And Russia round her waist, all the way to Spain
But when I did not see the British Empire
I thought of what I hadn't seen again

Oh one night I met me dear Louise
As she spewed underneath a shady tree
She said, 'My Jack he give me something
Something that your love could never fade
Something I can go to bed and dream of'
So I gave her me slice of bread and marmalade