Annie posted lyrics that are almost identical at the beginning to those found in Peter Kennedy's Folksongs of Britain & Ireland, #333. Singer: Vincent Vashti, Sixpenny Handley, Wiltshire. Kennedy's recording of Vashti was on the Caedmon/Topic LP, Folk Songs of Britain, Vol. VII. As far as I can tell, the recording has not been reissued. Note that the Kennedy book has one additional verse, and significant differences in other verses toward the end.
Annie's version makes a little more sense to me.
-Joe-
SWEET FANNY ADAMS
Now, mothers dear, who love your little children,
Pray listen awhile unto me:
I once had a daughter like an angel,
But now from all trouble she is free.
CHORUS:
Shall I never see thee more, my dearest Fanny?
My child that I so fondly did love
Was slain and cut to pieces by a villain,
But now she's in Heaven above.
On Saturday the twenty-first of August,
My poor Fanny and her sister went to play
With another little girl, Minnie Warren,
Little thinking of danger on her way.
But soon they met with young Frederick Baker,
Who's a clerk in solitary we hear,
His parents well-to-do and much respected
At Alton in the county of Hampshire.
Three halfpence the monster gave the children,
To go sweetmeats for to buy;
My poor Fanny's hand he dragged bewildered
To the hollow as she bitterly did cry.
When the children came home without my Fanny,
The neighbors searched the fields all around;
In the hop-yard the head with the eyes out,
And the left ear cut off upon the ground.
Both arms and one leg cut from the body,
Such a cruel deed too strong that man of earth
Was to hide such a crime so bewildered,
My child cut to pieces dead in dearth.
She oftentimes would wander with her sister
In the fields gathering wild flowers gay;
I love her the more when I miss her
My sorrow I shall never drive away.
Supposing he so cruelly violate her,
My child, scarcely eight years of age
Was slain and cut to pieces by a villain,
But now he's lying in the silent grave.
Is this the tune you know, Annie?Click to play
Here is the Traditional Ballad Index entry for this song:
Sweet Fanny Adams
DESCRIPTION: Fanny Adams, her sister, and another girl go to play, but meet a clerk named Frederick Baker. He sends the younger children off with money for sweets, then murders Fanny. The singer grieves for her daughter, but notes that her murderer is now dead as well
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867? (broadside announcing execution of Baker)
LONG DESCRIPTION: The singer's eight-year-old daughter Fanny Adams and her sister go to play with another girl, but they meet a young clerk named Frederick Baker. He offers the younger children money for sweets; when they have gone, he drags Fanny to the hollow. She is missed, and the searchers find her body, murdered and horribly dismembered. The mother grieves for her daughter, but notes that her murderer is now dead as well
KEYWORDS: grief rape violence abduction crime execution murder punishment death mourning children mother
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
August 27, 1867 -- Murder of Fanny Adams by Frederick Baker. Baker was hanged later in the year.
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Kennedy 333, "Sweet Fanny Adams" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2152
RECORDINGS:
Vashti Vincent, "Sweet Fanny Adams" (on FSB7)
Notes: The murder took place at Alton, in Hampshire. Cruel to relate, the expression "Sweet Fanny Adams" became part of British vernacular; in the Royal Navy it was used to refer to any dubious meat dish.
In more recent popular usage, it means "nothing"; if one doesn't get paid for a job, for example, one says one got "Sweet Fanny Adams" or "Sweet F. A." In this context, of course, it is a euphemism for "sweet fuck-all.' - PJS
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