IanC posted this in another thread, and I think it appears to belong with "Donnybrook Fair." Same with Widdecombe Fair, right? It gets a little confusing. The Traditional Ballad Index divides "Widdicombe Fair" into two entries - one that names all the people so-and-so met at the fair, and the other "Tom Pearce" version with the dead horse. Ian's "Stow Fair" has both elements.
-Joe Offer-

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Thread #39820   Message #571663
Posted By: IanC
14-Oct-01 - 05:22 AM
Thread Name: Supernatural Ballads....??
Subject: Lyr Add: STOW FAIR (sung by Bob Arnold)

Here's one for you, Jean. Not so ghostly, but it's got an Uncle Tom Goblin

STOW FAIR
(from the singing of Bob Arnold)

Tom Pearce, Tom Pearce, lend me your old mare,
Hoo - Ho - Ho - Hi - Ho!
Tom Pearce, Tom Pearce, lend me your old mare,
Hoo - Ho - Ho - Hi - Ho!
Tom Pearce, Tom Pearce, lend me your old mare ...

With:
Bill Brewer, Jack Stewart, Terry Hopkins, Mick Joseph, Harry Hillop,

Tom Bowling, Dick Chapman, Len Paxwain

And your Uncle Tom Goblin and all
With your Uncle Tom Goblin and all

Tom Pearce's old mare has gone to Stow Fair,
Hoo - Ho - Ho - Hi - Ho!
Tom Pearce's old mare has gone to Stow Fair,
Hoo - Ho - Ho - Hi - Ho!
Tom Pearce's old mare she ha' gone to Stow Fair ...

Tom Pearce's old mare her be tumble-down dead,
Hoo - Ho - Ho - Hi - Ho!
Tom Pearce's old mare her be tumble-down dead,
Hoo - Ho - Ho - Hi - Ho!
Tom Pearce's old mare her be tumble-down dead ...

Tom Pearce's old mare, her'll have to be buried,
Hoo - Ho - Ho - Hi - Ho!
Tom Pearce's old mare, her'll have to be buried,
Hoo - Ho - Ho - Hi - Ho!
Tom Pearce's old mare, her'll have to be buried ...

Bob learned this Cotswolds variant of "Widdecombe Fair" from his friend Harry Albino, also a well-known

Oxfordshire folk singer. It is recorded on "Mornin' All", Bob Arnold, ARGO ZFB83 (Decca Record

Corporation, 1972). Bob was better known, before his death, for playing the gamekeeper Tom

Forrest in the radio programme "The Archers". The tune is somewhat different from the Widdecombe fair

tune, though there is something in common. Stow Fair was originally a hiring fair and still survives as a horse fair. Widdecombe Fair was revived in the 1970s by (among others) Bob Cann.

Cheers!
Ian

Tom Pearce (Widdicombe Fair I)

DESCRIPTION: The singer asks Tom Pearce to lend his old mare to go to the fair. Tom wants the horse back soon, but it is slow in returning, for it has taken sick and died. (Now the horse's ghost can be seen haunting the moors at night)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1889
KEYWORDS: horse ghost travel
FOUND IN: Britain(England) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Kennedy 308, "Tom Pearce" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBB 171, "Widdicombe Fair" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 398, "Tam Pierce" (1 text)
DT, WIDDECOM* TAMPRCE*
RECORDINGS:
George Maynard, "Lansdown Fair" (on FSB10)
Bill Westaway, "Widdicombe Fair" (on FSB10)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Widdicombe Fair (II)" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Bedford Fair
John Jones's Old Mare
Stow Fair
File: K308

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