Georgie (Child 209)

The Scots versions of Geordie or Gight’s Lady tell a much fuller tale than those collected in England and across the Atlantic. In the former, several stanzas are expended on the bearing of tidings regarding Geordie’s impending fate to his lover, by one of those bonny little boys who do this kind of job so stoutly, surmounting the usual obstacle course of long grass, foaming rivers and high walls. More significantly, the Scots Geordie gets off, after a whip-round amongst the assembled nobles by his resourceful girlfriend succeeds in raising his ransom.

No such luck in England. Our outlaw hero invariably winds up on the gallows (albeit in an unusually expensive noose) despite the pleas of his lover, and the story is pretty constant apart from the usual variations in geography. The proceedings generally kick off on London Bridge (although Henry Burstow set the song on Banstead Downs, twenty miles from his native Horsham), but the location for the trial varies, as does the selling point for the stolen game. The emotive verse in which the children are offered in exchange for the judge’s mercy isn’t always present – Harry Cox sang it and Sharp collected it – but I decided it was one I wanted to include in my composite version. I wasn't so bothered about stressing the nobility of the lovers, though, so I end my song with Cox's last verse rather than the usual one about "royal blood".

Lovers of traditional singing will not need me to tell them about Joseph Taylor of Brigg, Lincs., who was recorded by Percy Grainger in the 1900s. Given his expertise with a wax cylinder, it’s a mystery why Grainger collected only the tune of Georgie from Mr. Taylor, but the minute I hummed through it I decided it was the one I wanted to use. Like several other Geordie melodies, it’s very similar to the well-known Searching For Lambs, but the presence of a delicious sharpened seventh in an otherwise Aoelian piece, and the free timing, were powerful selling points.