All Around My Hat (song) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The song "All Around my Hat" (Roud

Roud Folk Song Index

The Roud Folk Song Index is a database of 300,000 references to over 21,600 songs that have been collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world...

567, Laws

George Malcolm Laws

George Malcolm Laws Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is a scholar of traditional UK and US folk song.His name is normally rendered as "G Malcolm Laws jnr". He is best known for "American Balladry from British Broadsides", published in 1957 by the American Folklore Society. He graduated from the...

P31) is of nineteenth century English origin. In an early version, dating from the 1820s, a Cockney

Cockney

The term Cockney has both geographical and linguistic associations. Geographically and culturally, it often refers to working class Londoners, particularly those in the East End...

costermonger

Costermonger

Costermonger, or simply Coster, is a street seller of fruit and vegetables, in London and other British towns. They were ubiquitous in mid-Victorian England, and some are still found in markets. As usual with street-sellers, they would use a loud sing-song cry or chant to attract attention...

vowed to be true to his fiancee, who had been sentenced to seven years' transportation to Australia for theft

Penal transportation

Transportation or penal transportation is the deporting of convicted criminals to a penal colony. Examples include transportation by France to Devil's Island and by the UK to its colonies in the Americas, from the 1610s through the American Revolution in the 1770s, and then to Australia between...

and to mourn his loss by wearing green willow sprigs in his hatband for "a twelve-month and a day," in a traditional symbol of mourning.

In Ireland

Ireland

Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...

, Peadar Kearney

Peadar Kearney

Peadar Kearney was an Irish republican and composer of numerous rebel songs. In 1907 he wrote the lyrics to "The Soldier's Song" , now the Irish national anthem.-Background:...

adapted the song to make it relate to a Republican lass whose lover has died in the Easter Rising

Easter Rising

The Easter Rising was an insurrection staged in Ireland during Easter Week, 1916. The Rising was mounted by Irish republicans with the aims of ending British rule in Ireland and establishing the Irish Republic at a time when the British Empire was heavily engaged in the First World War...

, and who swears to wear the Irish tricolor in her hat in remembrance.

The versions by Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....

and other artists are discussed below.

Synopsis

A young man is forced to leave his lover, usually to go to sea. On his return he finds her on the point of being married to another man. In some versions he goes into mourning, with the green willow as a symbol of his unhappiness (willow is considered to be a weeping tree). In other versions he reminds her of her broken promise, and she dies mysteriously. In some versions he simply contemplates his lover left behind, without actually returning to find her being married. In other versions, the young man is a street hawker who is mourning his separation from his lover who has been transported

Transported

Transported is a 1913 Australian silent movie directed by W. J. Lincoln. It stars George Bryant, Godfrey Cass and Roy Redgrave. The movie was 28 minutes long....

to Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

for stealing.

Commentary

The song has typical archetypal elements of the separated lovers, the interrupted wedding,
and the inconsolable rejected lover. In the "Yellow Ribbon" variants, the adornment
is a reminder of lost love, similar to Ireland's The Black Velvet Band

The Black Velvet Band

"The Black Velvet Band" is a traditional English and Irish folk song describing transportation to Australia, a common punishment in 19th century Britain and Ireland. The song tells the story of a tradesman who meets a young woman who has stolen an item and passed it on to him...

.

Sailors are notoriously unfaithful, so this is an interesting twist, with the man being
true, and the woman being inconstant.

Historical background

The song is found in England and Canada, seafaring nations, but also in Scotland. In Ireland
it has been adapted to a modern conflict - the Irish Republican movement.

Textual variants

Sabine Baring-Gould

The Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould was an English hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist and eclectic scholar. His bibliography consists of more than 1240 publications, though this list continues to grow. His family home, Lew Trenchard Manor near Okehampton, Devon, has been preserved as he had it...

printed a version in "A Garland of Country Song" in 1895.
This version is very close to the best known version, by Steeleye Span. The well-known soldier's song She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon is a 1949 Western film directed by John Ford and starring John Wayne. The film was the second of Ford's trilogy of films focusing on the US Cavalry ; the other two films were Fort Apache and Rio Grande...

(as used in the John Ford film of the same name), has the words "Far away! Far away! She wore it for her soldier who was far, far away." This is probably a more recent variant of the nineteenth century song.

cf. "The Green Willow" ("All around my hat" lyrics)

Songs that refer to All Around My Hat (song)

Jasper Carrot sang a parody "It's my bloody ribbon and it's my bloody hat" at the Cambridge folk Festival in 1976.

Motifs

Motifs of the song include separated lovers, a broken token, and death for love, common themes in tragic love songs.

Television and movie references

The song She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

She Wore a Yellow Ribbon

appears in John Ford's film of the same name. In the 'Watching TV' episode of British television sitcom Men Behaving Badly

Men Behaving Badly

Men Behaving Badly is a British comedy that was created and written by Simon Nye. It follows the lives of Gary Strang and his flatmates, Dermot Povey and Tony Smart It was first broadcast on ITV in 1992...

, Gary and Dorothy repeatedly end up singing the Steeleye Span

Steeleye Span

version of the song while trying to remember the theme tune to Starsky and Hutch

Starsky and Hutch

Starsky and Hutch is a 1970s American cop thriller television series that consisted of a 90-minute pilot movie and 92 episodes of 60 minutes each; created by William Blinn, produced by Spelling-Goldberg Productions, and broadcast between April 30, 1975 and May 15, 1979 on the ABC...

. Paul Whitehouse

Paul Whitehouse

Paul Whitehouse is a Welsh actor, writer and comedian. He became known for his work with Harry Enfield and as one of the stars of the popular BBC sketch show, The Fast Show. In a 2005 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, he was in the top 50 comedy acts voted for by comedians and comedy insiders...

also sings the first lines of the song in an episode of The Fast Show
The Fast Show
The Fast Show, known as Brilliant in the US, was a BBC comedy sketch show programme that ran for three series from 1994 to 1997 with a special Last Fast Show Ever in 2000. The show's central performers were Paul Whitehouse, Charlie Higson, Simon Day, Mark Williams, John Thomson, Arabella Weir and...

, changing a key word in each line with "arse".

Recordings

Album/Single	Performer	Year	Variant	Notes
The Voice of the People The Voice of the People The Voice of the People is an anthology of folk songs sung by Traditional singers and musicians of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland.There are 511 recordings on 20 CDs, compiled by Dr Reg Hall, a historian at Sussex University... volume 6	Eddie Butcher	1955	Another Man's Wedding	Eddie Butcher sings it as "Another Man Wedding" (recorded 1955) on "Voice of the People" volume 6.
Now Is the Time for Fishing	Sam Larner	1959–1960	Green Broom	In this version, a Cockney costermonger vowed to be true to his fiancee, who had been sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia for theft and to mourn his loss by wearing green willow sprigs in his hatband for "a twelve-month and a day," in a traditional symbol of mourning.
"Maritime Folk Songs" (anthology by Helen Creighton)	Neil O'Brien	1962	All Around My Hat	American version.
"Mainly Norfolk"	Peter Bellamy Peter Bellamy Peter Franklyn Bellamy was an English folk singer. He was a founding member of The Young Tradition but also had a long solo career, recording numerous albums and touring folk clubs and concert halls...	1968	All Around My Hat
	Peadar Kearney Peadar Kearney Peadar Kearney was an Irish republican and composer of numerous rebel songs. In 1907 he wrote the lyrics to "The Soldier's Song" , now the Irish national anthem.-Background:...		Tri-coloured Ribbon	This is an adapted version of the song, where a Republican lass has a lover who has died in the Easter Rising, and who swears to wear the Irish tricolour in her hat in remembrance.
From the Beggar's Mantle From The Beggar's Mantle From the Beggar's Mantle ... Fringed with Gold is an album by Barbara Dickson."The Morning Lies Heavy on Me" by Allan Taylor is a soldier's farewell to his family. Dickson had met the folk singer Daisy Chapman in 1968, and had learned "The Orange and the Blue" directly from her. It is a longer...	Barbara Dickson Barbara Dickson Barbara Ruth Dickson, OBE is a Scottish singer whose hits include "I Know Him So Well" and "January February"...	1972	The Orange and the Blue	This is a Scottish version. A couple vow loyalty to each other before the man goes to sea. He returns just as his "inconstant lover" is about to be married to someone else. He points out her treachery, and she dies mysteriously before the night of the honeymoon. He goes into mourning, wearing the willow for twelve months, followed by a coat of orange and blue.
All Around My Hat	Steeleye Span Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat"....	1975	All Around My Hat/Farewell He	This electric folk Electric folk Electric folk is the name given to the form of folk rock pioneered in England from the late 1960s, and most significant in the 1970s, which then was taken up and developed in the surrounding Celtic cultures of Brittany, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and the Isle of Man, to produce Celtic rock and its... group took it to number 5 on the charts, with the original version interpolated with lyrics from another early 19th Century song - "Farewell He" - which turned the song into a conversation, with the original words of constancy alternating with a sermon to young girls on the inconstancy of young men. The song has the distinction of being the only Steeleye song covered by a later mainstream band.
All Around My Hat	José Hoebee José Hoebee José Hoebee is a Dutch pop female singer. She is part of Luv' . In late 1981, she went solo and was successful in her homeland and in the Flanders region of Belgium between 1982 and 1985...	1986	All Around My Hat	José Hoebee José Hoebee José Hoebee is a Dutch pop female singer. She is part of Luv' . In late 1981, she went solo and was successful in her homeland and in the Flanders region of Belgium between 1982 and 1985... (of Dutch girl group Girl group A girl group is a popular music act featuring several young female singers who generally harmonise together.Girl groups emerged in the late 1950s as groups of young singers teamed up with behind-the-scenes songwriters and music producers to create hit singles, often featuring glossy production... Luv' Luv' Luv is a Dutch pop girl group that scored a string of hit records in Continental Europe as well as South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Mexico in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In 1979, Luv' was "Holland's best export act" and thus received the "Conamus Export Prize"... ) recorded a cover version of the song inspired by Steeleye Span Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat".... 's rendering.
Don't Stop Don't Stop (Status Quo album) Don't Stop is the twenty-second studio album by English rock band Status Quo. The album of cover versions includes guest appearances from Tessa Niles on tracks 6 and 14, The Beach Boys on track 1, Brian May of Queen fame on track 7 and Maddy Prior of Steeleye Span fame on track 15.Fun, Fun, Fun,...	Status Quo	1996	All Around My Hat	Status Quo invited Maddy Prior Maddy Prior Maddy Prior is an English folk singer, best known as the lead vocalist of Steeleye Span.-Early life:... (of Steeleye Span Steeleye Span Steeleye Span are an English folk-rock band, formed in 1969 and remaining active today. Along with Fairport Convention they are amongst the best known acts of the British folk revival, and were among the most commercially successful, thanks to their hit singles "Gaudete" and "All Around My Hat".... ) to sing harmony on it.
"Three Quarter Ale"	Three Quarter Ale Three Quarter Ale Three Quarter Ale is an American band from Atlanta, Georgia, that is known for its performances at local Renaissance fairs . It is composed of "character" members Ariana Pellayle , Rosemary Quench , and Wicked Pete Speakeasy...	2003	All Around My Hat/Farewell He	Three Quarter Ale Three Quarter Ale Three Quarter Ale is an American band from Atlanta, Georgia, that is known for its performances at local Renaissance fairs . It is composed of "character" members Ariana Pellayle , Rosemary Quench , and Wicked Pete Speakeasy... invited Lindsay Smith to sing the final verse on it.

Other songs with the same tune

"The Death of Brush"
"The Jolly Miller"
"The Death of Brugh"

External links

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