Song about an old beast and its demise. The song is printed in other collections such as Stokoe and Reay, but is not that common. This tune forms part of Robert Topliff's 'A Selection of the most popular Melodies of the Tyne and the Wear', at present a very little known collection, but many of the items it contains are very well known indeed as it was one of the principal sources used by the editors of the Northumbrian Minstrelsy who, regrettably, did not acknowledge this in their publication. Although the songs in this collection are largely fairly common and have been printed in other collections, often at greater length, it is the timing of their publication which is of significance, as many are first printings. Little is known about Topliff apart from what can be gleaned from the collection itself and the brief comments in Frank Rutherford's 'The Collecting and Publishing of Northumbrian Folk-Song' (Archaelogia Aeliana, 4th series, vol. xlii, Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne, printed as a separate leaflet in 1964). Rutherford writes 'Topliff was himself a singer, a blind man who gave entertainments of popular melodies in the principal towns of Northumberland and Durham in the 1840s.' There is no indication in the book of a date of publication, but we know that John Bell had it to hand when compiling his song manuscript as Topliff's tune for Dol Li A features there as 'Another Set from Topliff'. That Topliff was blind perhaps has some bearing on the tune settings - they would have been taken down and played back to him from his own singing or playing, and thus represent what he had learnt himself by ear rather than from any written source. The same can be said of the lyrics which appear at the end of the book, which include a unique and traditional sounding verse to The Keel Row. Much of the book consists of concert piano arrangements of limited interest to traditional players and singers today, but we can take it that the basic tunes on which these arrangements are based are authentic traditional versions. Though much of the rest of the book is already familiar, a few good tunes were not plundered for the Northumbrian Minstrelsy, and it is a pleasant task now to give due credit to Topliff's part in preserving those that were. |
