This blog is where I share the spoils from each Imaginary Song Hunt. Feel free to use the ‘comments’ box to share feedback or fun facts! If you enjoyed the session, please drop some pennies into the tip jar…
17th July 2024:
In the second of my July ‘new album specials’, we hunted down the song known as Maid Freed from the Gallows, or The Prickly Bush, which tells the story of a young woman abandoned to the gallows by her family, and ultimately saved by her lover. We looked at some old transcriptions, from England and the Appalachians, as well as mid-20th-century American source recordings, and delved into the weird cante-fable (part-sung story) ‘The Golden Ball’, which seems to be an origin of the song, complete with bogles under the bed, giants being chopped in half, and an impatient Yorkshire hangman!