Lyr Add: I Am a Brisk and Sprightly Lad

Subject: Lyr Add: I Am a Brisk and Sprightly Lad
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 07 Jan 20 - 04:22 AM

“Act 2d
Sung by Mrs. Jordan in the Spoil'd Child

I am a brifk and fprightly Lad
but juft come home from Sea Sir,
Of all the Lives I ever led,
A Sailor’s Life for me, Sir,

Yeo, yeo yeo yeo yeo yeo yeo yeo.
Whilft the Boatfwain pipes all hands with
yeo yeo yeo yeo yeo Sir.

2.
What Girl but loves the merry Tar,
        We o'er the Ocean roam, Sir;
In ev'ry Clime we find a Port,
        In ev'ry Port a Home Sir.
                Yeo yeo &c.

3.
But when our Country's Foes are nigh,
        Each haftens to his Gun Sir;
We make the boafting French men fly,
        A bang the haughty Don sir.
                Yeo yeo &c.

4.
Our Foes fubdued, once more on Shore,
        We fpend our Cafh with Glee Sir,
And when all's gone, we drown our Care,
        And out again to Sea, Sir,
                Yeo, yeo &c.
[Musick 1798, p.3] (Sheet music collection. No title.)

Note: Earliest music found so far. No title given. Earliest theatrical mention is 1790:

"...A few days after the appearance of this piece, was performed, for Mrs. Jordan’s benefit, the Spoil’D Child, a farce, which was gratuitoufly prefented to her. Its name is all that we, need record.”
[History of the Theatre, March-April, The Historical Magazine or Classical Library, 1790, p.100]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am a Brisk and Sprightly Lad
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 07 Jan 20 - 04:24 AM

Traditional Ballad Index:

I Am a Brisk Young Sprightly Lad

DESCRIPTION: "I am a brisk and sprightly lad, But just come home from sea, sire... A sailor's life for me, sir." "Yeo, yeo, yeo, Whilst the bosun pipes all hands With a yeo, yeo, yeo!" The sailor loves foreign ports, and promises to fight for the nation when attacked
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1948 (Shay)
KEYWORDS: sailor battle money
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Shay-SeaSongs, p. 138, "I Am a Brisk and Sprightly Lad" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Mother Bunch" (theme: daughter, wanting to marry, reminds mother of her own indiscretions)
cf. "Between the Meadow and the Moss" (theme:} daughter, wanting sex, reminds mother of her own indiscretions)
NOTES [57 words]: This is another of those sea-poems Shay seems to have dug up somewhere; I have not found it elsewhere.
The boast about each man "hasten[ing] to his guns" would surely have sounded very strange to the sailors who fought in the Napoleonic wars -- it is estimated that half of the men in Nelson's fleet were impressed, and more were quota men. - RBW.
Last updated in version 2.6
File: ShaSS138

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Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am a Brisk and Sprightly Lad
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 07 Jan 20 - 04:30 AM

The Traditional Tune Archive: I Am a Brisk Young Sprightly Lad

“Source: William Litten's music manuscript collection (1800-1802)
Notes: Litten was a ship's fiddler with the East India Fleett
Transcription: AK/Fiddler's Companion”

Conchy Note: This is an instrumental

The Spoil'd Child - Prince Hoare (1755-1834)

A 1799 copy gives the tune as Melton Oysters; others give Milton... or Miltown....

1788 print: Molly Milton, the Pretty Oyster Woman

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am a Brisk and Sprightly Lad
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 07 Jan 20 - 04:38 AM

“S O N G.
MELTON OYSTERS.

Sung by Mrs. Jordan with the higheft applaufe, in
        the Theatres of Dublin and York.

THERE was a clever, likely lafs,
        Just come to town from Glo'fter;
And fhe did get her livelihood
        By crying Melton Oyfters.

She bore her bafket on her head,
        In the genteeleft pofture;
And ev'ry 'day and ev'ry night,
        She cry'd her Melton Oyfters.

It happen'd on a certain day,
        As going through the Cloifters,
She met a Lord fo fine and gay,
        Who'd buy her Milton [sic] Oysters.

He faid "young damfel go with me
        "Indeed I'm no impofter,"
But fhe kept bawling in his ears,
        Come, buy my Melton Oyfters.

At length refolved with him to go,
        Whatever it might cost her,
And be no more obliged to cry,
        Come buy my Melton Oyfters.

And now fhe is a lady gay,
        For Billingfgate has loft her;
She goes to Mafquerades and Play,
        No more cries Melton Oyfters!”
[Edwin's Pills to Purge Melancholy, 1789, pp.38-39]

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am a Brisk and Sprightly Lad
From: Jim Dixon
Date: 25 Jan 20 - 12:44 AM

Phil: Have you notified the editors of the Ballad Index at Fresno State that you have found a source of "I Am a Brisk and Sprightly Lad" older than their oldest known source? I know they appreciate getting this kind of information and will update their database accordingly. I have notified them of several sources I have found for various songs, and they always thank me.

If I don't hear from you in a few days, I'll notify them myself, and direct them to this thread.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am a Brisk and Sprightly Lad
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 09 Mar 20 - 08:15 PM

Jim: Sorry to be so long in getting back. Please do let the folks in Fresno know if you haven't already.

There may be more to the general theme methinks, Balzac's Madame Cibot “...formerly a handsome oyster-woman...” &c.

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am a Brisk and Sprightly Lad
From: Steve Gardham
Date: 10 Mar 20 - 10:38 AM

Probably written in 1789 then. It appears in The Roving Wheelwright's Garland printed at Alnwick in 1791 and was subsequently printed by Marshall of Newcastle, David Bass of Newcastle, c1800-1811, and of course by John Pitts of London. I have copies of the last 2.

The 'yeo, yeo, yeo' chorus of course is typical of the Dibdins but it could just as easily be by an imitator. One of my copies states 'sung by Miss Tryer'

Subject: RE: Lyr Add: I Am a Brisk and Sprightly Lad
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 05 Sep 20 - 01:45 PM

Lyr Req: The Oyster Girl