The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #104692   Message #2146803
Posted By: The Doctor
11-Sep-07 - 06:24 PM
Thread Name: Origins: Widecombe Fair / Widdecombe Fair
Subject: RE: Origins: Widecombe Fair
Someone recently gave me a copy of The Folk Song Fake Book, containing that well-known Scottish song 'Tam Pierce', the one that starts 'Tam Pierce, Tam Pierce, lend me your gray mare.' The same book also has the Irish song 'Byker Hill', and the English song 'David of the White Rock', and that's just what I've found so far. Seems collecting isn't what it was in Baring-Gould's day, or even Martin Graebe's. A more reliable book in my possession says 'Widdicombe Fair' was collected from W.F.Collier in Woodtown in 1888.