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Martinmas Time

[ Roud 2173 ; G/D 1:161 ; Ballad Index DTmartin ; trad.]

Anne Briggs sang Martinmas Time in 1966 on the Topic theme album of traditional erotic songs, The Bird in the Bush. As all of her tracks from this album it was reissued on her two compilations Classic Anne Briggs and A Collection. It was also included in the folk anthology And We’ll All Have Tea. A.L. Lloyd noted on the original album:

The folk have always loved songs of seduction, but, fair’s fair, they’ve delighted too in recitals about girls who nimbly extricate themselves from a ticklish position where their heart isn’t in it. So the girl on the Broomfield Hill, and Lovely Joan, and the Maid on the Shore, who all escaped from unwelcome embraces by the exercise of their wit, are admired folk heroines. To their gay company belongs the young woman in this song, seldom heard now, though Gavin Greig, who printed a text (fuller than this one), in his Folk-Song of the North-East, reported it as “popular beyond most of its class” earlier in this century.

Andy Irvine sang Bonny Woodhall in 1976 on his and Paul Brady’s eponymous album Andy Irvine Paul Brady. Frank Harte noted:

There are many songs of this type; if the soldier is not trying to get into the girls bedroom without her parents knowledge, she is trying to get a suit of men’s clothing to follow him to war, or else she has espied him on parade and tells her parents she will wed no other but he. In this song, the soldiers extract a solemn promise that the maid will come to their quarters and she, being true to her word, does so. By adopting a masterly disguise (cutting her hair and wearing trousers) she succeeds in cheating them of their implied lustful desires while keeping her part of the bargain. She leaves a sign to show that she has been there and gallops home a maiden.

The Gaugers sang Martinmas Time on their 1990 cassette The Fighting Scot.

Malinky recorded Martinmas Time in December 1998 as a demo. It was included in 2019 on the bonus CD of their 20^th anniversary album Handsel. They noted:

A song from our very first demo that didn’t quite make it on to the first album Last Leaves. Spot the influences!

Emily Smith sang It Fell About the Martinmas in 2005 on her CD A Different Life. She noted:

The lyrics to this song come from Ord’s Bothy Songs and Ballads. It’s about a girl who fools a troop of Scottish soldiers by dressing up as one herself. She beats them at their own game and triuphantly escapes capture.

Maddy Prior sang Martinmas Time in 2008 on her CD Seven for Old England. She noted:

Gavin Greig was famous for the massive collection he made with Rev. J.B. Duncan of songs from North East Scotland. He says of Martinmas Time that it was was popular beyond most of its class. Bert Lloyd honed the song and adapted a tune from several versions and gave it to Anne Briggs, where I first heard it. But it was later sung by Andy Irvine and Paul Brady and I think our performance owes more to them.

Sinsheen (Barbara Dymock and Christine Kydd) sang Martinmas Time on their 2009 CD Lift. They noted:

A version of this song was first published in Greig-Duncan in 1911: cunning maid outwits troop of soldiers.

WWI came to an end by an armistice arranged to occur at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month of 1918. The date and time, represented a compliment to St Martin, patron saint of soldiers, and thus a tribute to the fighting men of both sides. The feast day of St Martin, the Martinmas, had been for centuries a major landmark in the European calendar, a date on which leases expired, rents came due; and represented, in Northern Europe, a seasonal turning point after which cold weather and snow might be normally expected.

James Yorkston sang Martinmas Time in 2009 on his CD and DVD Folk Songs.

Pilgrims’ Way sang Martinmas Time in 2011 on their CD Wayside Courtesies. They noted:

Described by Gavin Greig as “popular beyond most of its class” in the early part of the 20^th century, we first heard this song from the wonderful singing of Anne Briggs. Here the heroine easily outwits a whole garrison of stupid men in the first of our cross-dressing ballads. Tom [Kitching] says he relates well to the character of the “solemn oaf”.

Bryony Griffith learned Martinmas Time from the singing of Anne Briggs and recorded a slightly shortened version in 2011 with her husband Will Hampson for their duo CD Lady Diamond. This video shows them at Shepley Spring Festival 2011:

The choir Freshly Ground sang Martinmas Time in 2013 on their WildGoose CD The Good Red Earth. Issy Emeney noted:

Martinmas falls on 11 November and is a Church Festival for St. Martin, a Roman Soldier of the fourth century who, legend has it, cut his cloak in half to share with a needy beggar one freezing winter’s day. That night, Jesus appeared to him wearing the piece of cloak he’d given away, and Martin converted to Christianity and eventually became a monk. If nothing else, it’s handy to bear in mind that “if ducks do slide at Martinmas, at Christmas they will swim”.

Lyrics

Anne Briggs sings Martinmas Time

It fell upon Martinmas time
When snow lay on the borders,
There came a troop of soldiers here
To take up their winter quarters.

Chorus (repeated after each verse):
With me right fol-de-li-dle ly-die li-dle ly-dee-o
With me right fol-de-li-dle ly-dee la-ry.

They rode up and they rode down
And they rode over the border.
There they met a fair pretty girl
And she was a farmer’s daughter.

They made her swear a solemn oath
With a salt tear in her eye, oh,
That she would call at their quarter gates
When no-one did her spy, oh.

So she goes to the barber shop,
To the barber shop went soon, oh.
She’s made him cut her fine yellow hair
As short as any dragoon, oh.

Then she goes to the tailor shop
And dresses in soldier’s clothes, oh.
A pair of pistols down by her side
And a nice little boy was she, oh.

When she came to the quarter gates,
It’s loud, loud she did call, oh,
“There comes a troop of soldiers here
And we must have lodgings all, oh!”

The quartermaster he comes out,
He gives her half a crown, oh:
“Go and find lodgings for yourself,
For here there is no room, oh.”

But she drew nearer to the gates
And louder she did call, oh:
“Room, room, you gentlemen,
We must have lodgings all, oh!”

The quartermaster he comes out,
He gives her eighteen pence, oh:
“Go and find lodgings in the town
For tonight there comes a wench, oh.”

She’s pulled the garters from her legs,
The ribbons from her hair, oh.
She’s tied them ’round the quarter gates
As a token she’d been there, oh.

She drew a whistle from her side,
And blew it loud and shrill, oh:
“You’re all very free with your eighteen pence,
But you’re not for a girl at all, oh.”

And when they knew that it was her
They tried to overtake her.
She’s clapped her spurs to her horse’s side
And she’s galloped home a maiden.

Bryony Griffith sings Martinmas Time

As it fell upon Martinmas time
When snow lay on the borders,
There came a troop of soldiers here
To take up their winter quarters.

Now they’ve marched up and they’ve marched down
And they’ve marched over the border.
And there they spied a fair pretty maid
And she was a farmer’s daughter.

They made her swear a solemn vow
With a salt tear in her eye, oh,
That she would come to the quarter gates
No-one would her spy, oh.

Chorus (after every other verse):
To me right fol-de-li-dle ly-die li-dle ly-dee-o
With me right fol-de-li-dle ly-dee la-ry.

So she’s gone to the barber shop,
To the barber shop went soon, oh.
And off they’ve cut her long yellow hair
As short as any dragoon, oh.

And she’s gone to the tailor shop
And dressed in soldier’s clothes, oh.
With a brace of pistols down by her side
A nice little boy was she, oh.

So she’s gone to the quarter gates,
And loudly did she cry, oh,
“There comes a troop of soldiers here
And they must have lodgings all, oh!”

So the quartermaster he came out,
And he’s thrown her eighteen pence, oh:
“Go find your lodgings in the town,
For tonight there comes a wench, oh.”

So she’s pulled the garters from her legs
And the ribbon from her hair, oh,
And she’s tied them ’round the quarter gates
As a token she was there, oh.

And when they saw that it was her
They tried to overtake her.
But she’s clapped her spurs in her horse’s side
And galloped home a maiden.