Posted by Tim on August 08, 1997 at 15:48:03:
In Reply to: Shanties in S&A posted by Tim Johns on August 06, 1997 at 16:42:29:
Much of the discussion sparked by my posting has centred around the
'naughtiness' of the lyrics of folksongs and shanties, and how far they
would have been sung in bowdlerised versions by Ransome and his child
characters.
Quite small changes can, of course, have a considerable
effect: 'The raggle-taggle gypsies' (epigraph to Chapter 2 of S&A)
appears to be about an Alternative Lifestyle: however the song also
exists as'The Raggle-taggle gypsy' - in which form it is clearly about
an illicit love-affair.
The generally-agreed text of 'Amsterdam/A-roving'goes something like
this (largely based on a version from Mudcat);
In Amsterdam there lived a Maid
Mark well what I do say!
In Amsterdam there lived a maid
And she was mistress of her trade,
I'll go no more a-roving with you fair maid.
A-roving, a-roving, since roving's been my ru-aye-in,
I'll go no more a roving with you fair maid.One night I crept from my abode
To meet this fair maid down the road.I met this fair mad after dark,
And took her to her favourite park.I took this fair maid for a walk
And we had such a loving talk.I put my arm about her waist,
Says she, 'Young man, you're in great haste!'I put my hand upon her knee,
Says she 'Young man, you're rather free!'I put my hand upon her thigh,
Says she, 'Young man, you're rather high!'She swore that she's be true to me,
But spent my pay-day fast and free.
In three weeks I was badly bent
Then off to sea I sadly went.In a bloodboat (?) round Cape Horn,
My boots and clothes were all in pawn.Bound up Cape Stiff through ice and snow
And up the coast to Cally-o.And then back to the Liverpool Docks
Saltpeter stowed in our boots and socks.Now when I got home from sea
A soldier had her on his knee.
What most people remember about this song, I
suspect, are the 'tactile' verses 5-7, and when
we sang it, unofficially, at school as 'In Leicester
Town', futher items of the Maid's anatomy were named -
eg 'I put my hand upon her toe/She said 'Young man,
you're rather slow'' and 'I put my hand upon her breast,/
She said 'Young man, now that's the best.'' With those
verses removed, however, and a certain vagueness allowed
as the exact nature of the Maid's 'trade', the song can be
taken as little more than a warning to prospective members
of the Royal Navy such as John and Roger of the perils of life
ashore.
Tim...