The song was written down from the singing of Charlotte Few
who in 1875, prior to her marriage to James Graves Dann, had
been a family servant to the Bull family of Bernards, Cottenham.
Ella Bull, one of the five Bull daughters, although blind from birth,
became a prolific folk song collector in her 30s, writing down
songs as remembered from family servants and friends and
sending them to Lucy Broadwood from 1904 onwards with the
intention of publishing them in the Folk Song Journal. Unfortunately
the songs never got published during her lifetime. This
song is very typical of the songs that Charlotte Dann sang, being
mainly in 5/4 time and having a repeated last line. Like most of
her songs, she said that she learnt it from her mother who was a
native of the Fenland village of Over.
~ Mary Humphreys
credits
from A Baker's Dozen,
released June 6, 2012
Mary Humphreys: vocals
Anahata: 1 row melodeon in C
Because I couldn't decide what my favourite track was. It's a beautiful album and every track could be my favourite. However, I am a soppy git so I chose stowaway. Thank you Jon and keep up the good work. amediamonkey