The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #1213 Message #739798
Posted By: Dave the Gnome
30-Jun-02 - 12:24 PM
Thread Name: Lyr Req: Lish Young Buy a Broom
Subject: RE: Lish Young Buy a Broom
She did indeed enjoy a good time, Peg, but was paid for it - not in the way most people think though.
Ladies who did enjoy a good time were often used to recruit impresionable yong men into the forces. This particular one seems to have been a gypsy, I am led to believe, by the 'Buy a Broom' tag given her. They plied the young men with drink and favours and when they asked them to join the army or navy the young men were only too happy to oblige! Payment was by way of the purse given them by the recruiting authority - what they did not spend on enticements they kept.
In the version I sing the last two verses are
That morning we reached Kendal, the weather it was fine
We'd velvet caps with tassels on and buckles thay did shine
We each had a ribbon hanging down our backs
and she'd nineteen golden sovereigns left
My darling in her sack.
(One of the sovereigns had been spent at the pub - as opposed to the fiver written above)
Last verse
The reason that we parted I now will let you hear
She wanted me to go to France for me to be her dear
But me not being willing to cross the raging sea
Here's a health unto my buy-a-broom wherever she may be
So - there is one she lost and one up for the lads:-)
Make sure you don't let some wag in the audience lead you astray in the chorus though -
I was right, she was tight...
Has a number of meanings. Not all of them suitable for sensitive souls!
Cheers
Dave the Gnone