Bob Cranky's Adieu (On going with the Volunteer Association from Gateshead to Newcastle, on permanent Duty) is a Geordie folk song written in the 19th century by John "Jack" Shield, in a style deriving from music hall.
The Blue Stone o' the Brig (a dialect word for Bridge) is now only a nominal boundary. It was originally a stone to mark the southern boundary of the town and county of Newcastle. Beyond it was Gateshead, which was include in the âÂÂcounty and liberty of Durham". It was at this point where the "marching guinea" was paid. <br /> The birthday of King George III fell on Saturday, 4 June, and on 6 and 7 June 1808 it was celebrated in grand style on Tyneside. It was estimated that more than 5,000 men took part, some from regular regiments and many more came from the local militia, some from villages many miles away. <br /> The troops marched through the streets, paraded on The Town Moor, and the following day marched to Throckley Fell.<br /> The Gateshead Volunteers were one of the groups of local militia. They were being placed on three weeks "permanent duty" to guard the town "against an attack from Napoleon and the Frenchâ and had marched into Newcastle on Sunday 5 June. <br /> The song, based on a single incident was very popular at the time. But as history moves on, the incident becomes trivial, and the song becomes one of the many forgotten ones.
The lyrics are as follows:-
BOB CRANKY'S ADIEU
Air unknown<br /> On going with the Volunteer Association from Gateshead to Newcastle, on permanent Duty
NOTE â <br /> In the early 19th century, as today, there were cheap books and magazines.<br /> Many of these âÂÂchapbooks" were on poor quality paper to a poor standard and with poor quality print. The works were copied with no thoughts of copyright, and the work required very little proof-reading, and what was done was not required to a high standard. Consequently, the dialect words of songs varied between editions.<br /> As this was a very popular song, it appeared in numerous editions. The many versions published show considerable, some very minor, variations, mainly in the spelling of the words, and sometimes variations within the same edition. Some of the most common are listed below :-
Generally<br /> an, and<br /> aw'l and aw'll<br /> baccy and backy<br /> becrike and belike<br /> binny and hinny<br /> Blue Styen of the Brig to blue stane o' the brig â various changes between these two including use of capital letters<br /> breer and breet<br /> come'ly and comely<br /> een and e'en<br /> every and ivery<br /> farewheel and fare-weel<br /> folks's, foulk's and foulks's<br /> forc'd and fourc'd<br /> gane and gyen<br /> gill and jill<br/ > ginny and guinea<br /> goon and gown<br /> ha'e and hev<br /> hoose and house<br /> Is'bel Mackey and Isbel Macky<br /> langsome and lonesome<br /> lood and loud<br /> ma, maw and my<br /> marchin', marchin' and marching<br /> meesl and mysel'<br /> mine and thy<br /> ods and odds<br /> oot and out<br /> sairgent's, sairjeant's and sairjent's<br /> sall and shall<br /> sougerin' soujerin', sowgerin' and sowjerin' (with and without apostrophe or "g" at the end)<br /> swagg'rin' and swagg'ring<br /> take and tyek<br /> thee and thy<br /> think'st and thinks't<br /> thoo and thou<br /> varra, verra and very<br /> wad and will<br /> warse and waurse<br /> whuslin' and wusslin'<br /> yammerin' and yammering
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