Friday, November 20, 2009

The Jolly Sailor and the Lady of Greenwich

Fran and Geoff Doel's Folklore of Kent (Tempus, 2003) mentions a number of eighteenth-century broadside ballads related to South East London, including The Jolly Sailor and the Lady of Greenwich which includes the verse:

A Lady Born of birth and fame
To Greenwich Town for pleasure came
Where she a sailor did behold
Both tall and trim, of courage bold.

Others include 'Greenwich Moorings', 'The Greenwich Pensioner's Garland', 'The Greenwich Lovers' Garland', 'Jack of Greenwich' and 'Fair Betsy of Deptford'. Some of these seem to have been included in volume called The Kentish Garland, but I haven't been able to trace the lyrics of these South London songs. Anybody got them?

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