The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #74512   Message #1300441
Posted By: GUEST,MCP
19-Oct-04 - 04:38 AM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Death of Nelson
Subject: RE: Lyr Req: Death of Nelson
The Bellamy recording of The Death of Nelson seems to be (if I understand his notes correctly) from versions by George Dunn and Harry Cox. His song does start with "On the 21st of October..." and the verses do end with "On board the man of war", but not the 3 lines you give.

I'll post Bellamy's version later and the Harry Cox version (if that hasn't already been done; I haven't looked yet, but I might have already posted that). It's essentially the Harry Cox version that I sing, referred to by breezy above, although I've replaced his "Rule Britannia..." chorus with a new one made up from bits of his verses. This version is the one also known as Nelson's Monument.

I'm assuming that George Dunn's contribution was a version of On Board A Man O' War, but haven't checked that. It may be on the George Dunn recording, but alas I don't have that, but someone else may be able to check that for you. If I have time later I'll have a look at versions of that to see if I can locate the chorus above, though from the reading above it may be a completely new construction.

If you're looking for Nelson/Trafalgar songs, as Malcolm Douglas points out in the other thread, there are quite a lot of Nelson-related songs in the Bodleian broadsides. I have about 50 of them, covering 30 odd songs. They cover Copenhagen, The Nile, Trafalgar, Nelson's death, a few on ships, Nelson in general and a few oddments.

Mick