Welcome to the ‘Spoils of the Hunt’ Blog
6th November 2024: For this Song Hunt, I was joined by my fellow Cambridge folkie, Clare Dyer Smith, for a deep dive into folksongs about press gangs, forced conscription, and women’s resistance.
It being November, a traditional time to offer remembrance, I wanted to reflect on ways in which ordinary people endure and make sense of the extraordinary circumstances of war. And because women often seem to be positioned as conduits for communal grief in the folk tradition, through some deeply affecting songs of grief and loss, Clare and I ended up looking at the practice of impressment through the lens of women’s experiences, as they’re narrated in folksongs. … Lots of folksongs!
Video
Songs mentioned in the session:
- The Lowlands of Holland (Roud 484) – listen to Sandy Denny’s version
- All Things Are Quite Silent (2532) – listen to Kerry Andrew’s choral version (sung by the choirs of Pembroke College, Cambridge, cond. Anna Lapwood)
- The Press Gang (662) – listen to Seán Dagher’s version
- The Weary Cutters (8772) – listen to Rachel Unthank and the Winterset’s version (rubbish quality recording, but it’s got me in it, and I’m nostalgic!)
- Sweet Lovely Nancy (165) – listen to Maddy Prior and Tim Hart’s version
- The Brisk Young Lively Lad (2930) – listen to Andy Turner’s version (with a brilliant blog)
- Here’s the Tender Coming (3174) – listen to The Unthanks version
- Lovely on the Water (1539) – listen to Steeleye Span’s version
- The Young and Single Sailor (264) – here’s my version!
Resources we consulted and further reading:
- The Warrior Women Project: https://s.wayne.edu/warriorwomen/scholarship/
- Roy Palmer, The Valiant Sailor… : https://mainlynorfolk.info/folk/books/thevaliantsailor.html
- John R. Hutchinson, The Press Gang Afloat and Ashore: https://www.gutenberg.org/files/6766/6766-h/6766-h.htm
- ‘The women who went to sea – dressed as men’, Royal Museums, Greenwich: https://rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/women-who-went-sea-dressed-men
If you enjoyed this Imaginary Song Hunt, please drop some pennies into the tip jar… And feel free to use the ‘comments’ box below to share feedback or fun facts!