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Traditional English Folk Songs

A Collection Of Traditional British Folk Songs Full English - A Collection Of Traditional British Folk Songs features the amazing talents of Mat Williams who did most of the vocals and also played most of the traditional instruments involved in the recordings, such as Guitar, Violin, Viola, Mandolin, Banjo, Banman, Upright Bass, Piano and many more. Mat invited some fellow folk musicians to share him for this album and add more traditional instruments, such as the Irish Whistle, Uilleann Pipes and Bodhran. Enjoy the music and read along as you listen!



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The Lincolnshire Poacher


Sound Sample:
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When I was bound apprentice
In famous Lincolnshire,
Full well I served my master
For nigh on seven years.
Till I took up to poaching
As you should quickly hear,
Oh, ’tis my delight on a shiny night
In the season of the year.
Oh, ’tis my delight on a shiny night
In the season of the year.

As me and my companions
Was setting out a snare,
Twas then we spied the gamekeeper,
For him we didn’t care.
For we can wrestle and fight, my boys,
And jump from anywhere,
Oh, ’tis my delight on a shiny night
In the season of the year.
Oh, ’tis my delight on a shiny night
In the season of the year.

As me and my companions
Was setting four or five,
And taking them all up again
We caught a hare alive.
We caught a hare alive, my boys,
And through the woods did steer,
Oh, ’tis my delight on a shiny night
In the season of the year.
Oh, ’tis my delight on a shiny night
In the season of the year.







Words & Music: Traditional,
arranged & performed by Mat Williams












We threw him over my shoulder, boys,
And then we trudged home,
We took him to a neighbour’s house
And sold him for a crown.
We sold him for a crown, me boys
And I divvn’t tell you where,
Oh, ’tis my delight on a shiny night
In the season of the year.
Oh, ’tis my delight on a shiny night
In the season of the year.

Success to every gentleman
That lives in Lincolnshire.
Success to every poacher
That wants to sell a hare.
Bad luck to every gamekeeper
That will not sell his deer,
Oh, ’tis my delight on a shiny night
In the season of the year.
Oh, ’tis my delight on a shiny night
In the season of the year.

Oh, ’tis my delight on a shiny night
In the season of the year.
Oh, ’tis my delight on a shiny night
In the season of the year.
Oh, ’tis my delight on a shiny night
In the season of the year.



Origin and meaning of The Lincolnshire Poacher

This is an old song, first published in 1775 but much older than this in the oral tradition. The words are remarkably consistent throughout their geographical wanderings - Cecil Sharp collected it in Shropshire - but I think songs with a specific place-name tend to stay constant, as if the repetition of the name anchors them and gives them validity.

The tune is used as the regimental quick march for the Royal Lancashire Regiment and the Royal Anglian Regiment, who are known as “The Poachers” - what else? It’s a fine tune for the purpose, with a rousing beat which is much needed. Soldiers doing a ceremonial quick march are a sight to behold - they look like a very long centipede. The fingers (and toes) of the people watching must be crossed extra hard that no-one mis-times a step: the pile-up would be considerable.

Everyone would know the words to the first line:

“When I was bound apprentice in famous Lincolnshire.”

No false modesty for this regiment.

The words are fairly conventional for any folk song about lads up to no good. Whether it’s poaching or piracy they are mostly self-congratulatory, as they are here.

The story is told in simple four-line verses with the last line of the first verse repeated throughout as a sort of in-house chorus. Every line of every verse rhymes - more or less - and the repeated line is given an extra kick by the interval rhyme “Oh, ’tis my delight on a shiny night” which boosts the rhythm of the tune.

There are one or two oddities in the words. “Oh ‘tis my delight on a shiny night” implies lots of moonlight which, in my limited experience of poaching, would surely be bad news? Game-keepers carry guns - wouldn’t a dark night be better? Maybe sense has been sacrificed to sound. The vowel-sound in “shiny” is the same as in “my”, “delight” and “night” giving four extra punches to the line. Maybe whoever first made it up just liked the sound of the word.

Another oddity: the hare is referred to as “he” and a very valuable “he” if we can believe the price he fetched. A crown was a great deal of money - five whole shillings - which could have been a week’s wages. But in all the old tales, the hare was regarded as a magical creature, particularly connected to Easter and the moon - and is always referred to as “she”. Possibly this is because the most frequent sightings would be of the female hare visiting her leverets in the open fields to feed them. Maybe this gendering does not apply now: with modern farming methods little manual labour is needed, less workmen are employed and the old every-day intimacy with the countryside has gone and with it the old knowledge, the old sayings and the old usages.

One last oddity leaps out at anyone interested in regional dialect. “I divven’t tell you where.” “Divven’t” is pure Geordie and sits uneasily here as it means “do not” rather than “dare not” which makes better sense of the line.

These are all small niggles and detract not a jot from the fun of the song. Just enjoy.

Commentary written by Gillian Goodman,
© ClassicRocks, Mat Williams 2012

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