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Title
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Pressed off to war
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Singer
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King, Thomas
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Notes
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Note 1
Williams, Alfred: WGS: A very old version of the “Pretty ploughing boyâ€. Obtained of the late Thomas King, Castle Eaton. He was ninety eight years of age when he sang me the song.
Note 2
This is from a section of the Bathe Clissold Index [WSRO: 2598/36 Williams, A: MS collection Bathe Clissold Index Section 6 No longer extant] which states that it is:
A list of songs known to have been noted by Williams – vide his own List of songs copied’ [from his notebooks] – the manuscripts of which are no longer extant. [The original owners of Williams manuscripts destroyed a number of song texts thinking they were on no use.].
Note 3
The following transcription is from a fair copy of the song held in WSHC 2598/72 “Manuscripts of ‘A Cotswold Ploughing Match’ and other folk songs included in ‘Folk Songs of the Upper Thames’.
An examination of the manuscript for ‘Broken down gentleman’ collected from Charles Hambidge, [WSRO: 2598/36 Packet 1 – Indexes, lecture notes, Berkshire: Williams, A: MS collection No Bk 2] has the following text at the foot of the page. There is no indication of the singer or location. However, a comparison of the words strongly suggests that it is the only fragment of the song collected from Thomas King the full text of which is given above from the printed source. The comparison from Verse 1 Line 3 onwards is exact.
Verse 1
And this was his song as he ploughed along –
“If I should fall in love, and her parents not approve,
They shall send me to the wars to be slain.â€
Verse 2
As soon as the parents came to know
That he courted their daughter, and darling also,
The press-gang it was sent for and pressed him away,
And he’s gone to the wars to be slain.
Verse 3
And when in the wars he had served seven years
‘Twas then he returned to find his dearest dear;
He asked her father for her, and thus he replied –
“She broke her heart in love, and for her love she died.â€
Transcribed and edited by Chris Wildridge, 2014.
