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Title
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Woman of Leigh
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Singer
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Unknown
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Notes
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Note 1
John Paddy Brown - 'Anonymous singer in Devizes, Wiltshire, 1962. ...The tune of this song is well known in various word sets, the two most notable being from the traditional sung by Harry Cox of Norfolk, 'Cruising round Yarmouth' and the variant used by the Irish song writer Percy French for his song, 'The emigrant's letter', sometimes called 'Cutting the corn in Creeslough'.
Leigh is often used as an abbreviation for Eastleigh in Hampshire, and as the man who sung it for me associated it with Eastleigh, there is really no reason to believe that it comes from anywhere else. 'I once courted a girl from Eastleigh,' the singer told me, 'but she let me down, and now this here's my favourite song for it's a warning to every young lad what's courtin' to keep well aside when he's in Leigh'.'
Note 2
Reproduced with permission given by the English Folk Dance and Song Society
Transcribed and edited by Chris Wildridge, 2008.
