Frankie's Trade is an interesting poem on various fronts &, like many of Bellamy's Kipling settings, seems well ensconced in the Three Corners of the English Colonial Folk Canon with fine versions coming from Australia (Margaret Walters) & America (Innumerable) too. For me, Jon Boden's take on OAK ASK THORN is now definitive of the piece as a whole (easily superceding the original) and whilst we had a crack at it as part of our Kipling:Bellamy show at the Fylde last year it hasn't survived in our general repertoire*. Why? God knows because learning it didn't come easy (not for me) & I used to love singing it, and found a perfect illustrated counterpart for the piece in my precious copy of the 1955 Dandy Book** in the form of Young Frankie Drake. Indeed, I actually sang Young Frankie Drake in an open coaster to scan that awkward line in the third stanza which always requires an extra foot or so to make it singable (I see your version is no exception!). I've even heard it introduced at singarounds as 'a traditional shanty about Francis Drake'; when disavowed of this somewhat silly notion the culprit said he'd never heard of Peter Bellamy, and had no idea Kipling wrote Idiomatic Folk Songs, which was fair enough really, allowing that in any largely oral musical context songs remain unsigned leading to all sorts of wonky folk-theorising.

Anyway, worth noting that Frankie's Trade was one of the cornerstones of Bellamy's Kipling thesis and (according to him) the tune derives from Blood Red Roses. It's a salty contrivance in the best jingoistic style that I could have sworn I once heard in a maritime medley sung by The Cliff Adams Singers. Is that likely? Or is there another setting I wonder? For sure there are lots of fine Kipling settings that pre-dates the invention of 'Folk' - look on YouTube for Peter Dawson's Smuggler's Song for a real taste of Olde England. Now if only such a recording of Frankie's Trade existed...

Jack Blandiver (The Mudcatter still known as Suibhne O'Piobaireachd until Joe Offer gets round to honouring my request for a name change).

* Kipling:Bellamy-wise in recent gigs we've been featuring Heffle Cuckoo Fair in our new folk-unfriendly weirdlore arrangement (see HERE) & Harp Song of the Dane Women continues to evolve whilst in sessions we regularly do things like Astologer's Song, Sir Richard, The Land, Way Through the Woods and Smugglers' Song. Sadly, I note that sadly Midsummer came & went without our usual rendering of A Tree Song...

** One year out!