> Anne Briggs > Songs > Rosemary Lane
> Martin Carthy > Songs > He Called for a Candle
> Cyril Tawney > Songs > Bell Bottom Trousers

Rosemary Lane / He Called for a Candle / Bell Bottom Trousers / Home Boys Home

[ Roud 269 ; Master title: Rosemary Lane ; Laws K43 ; G/D 7:1429 ; TYG 10 ; Ballad Index LK43 , LK43a ; VWML HAM/2/7/13 , SBG/1/1/310 ; GlosTrad Roud 269 ; DT HOMEBOYS ; Mudcat 14518 ; trad.]

Anne Briggs sang Rosemary Lane in 1964 on her Topic Records EP The Hazards of Love. This recording was reissued on her Fellside and Topic compilation CDs, Classic Anne Briggs and A Collection. A.L. Lloyd noted:

Though nowadays it seems amiable enough, earlier in this century the text of this widespread and popular song was considered unfit for printing. Many collectors found it but preferred to fit its tune to other words. Thus, the Rev. Baring-Gould wrote a fakelore text for it, called The Blue Flame (the soul after death appearing as a blue flame) and Cecil Sharp adapted the words of another ballad, The Councillor’s Daughter, to the Rosemary Lane melody. The text Anne Briggs sings is the one obtained by Sharp from Mrs Overd, of Langport, Somerset, but never published by him. To another tune, and to rather coarser words, Rosemary Lane has remained the most popular of all folk songs among seaman (indeed it’s one of the very few traditional songs to have survived in merchant ships). A few years ago, a sadly weakened version had a brief vogue as a pop song, Bell Bottom Trousers.

Bruce Laurenson of Lerwick, Shetland sang Rosemary Lane on the anthology Sailormen and Servingmaids (The Folk Songs of Britain Volume 6; Caedmon 1961; Topic 1970).

Martin Carthy sang this song unaccompanied as He Called for a Candle on his 1972 album Shearwater. He noted:

Bruce Laurenson, the Shetland singer, first sang He Called for a Candle to Patrick Shuldham-Shaw, and it was subsequently released on the epic Caedmon series, now re-released by Topic, at last. More usually known as Rosemary Lane, it’s still sung in various forms, and when I was part of Steeleye Span, one of our roadies, Dennis Jordan, knew a version which he learned in the orphanage when he was a child, ending up with the immortal couplet

She picked the piss-pot and banged him on the head
Take that you dirty bugger for doing me in bed.

Bert Jansch recorded Rosemary Lane in 1971 as the title track of his Transatlantic album Rosemary Lane.

Jumbo Brightwell sang The Oak and the Ash at home in Leiston, Suffolk, to Keith Summers in spring 1975. This recording was included in 1978 on the Topic anthology of traditional songs and music from Suffolk collected by Summers, Sing, Say and Play, and in 1998 on the Topic anthology My Ship Shall Sail the Ocean (The Voice of the People Volume 2).

Chainmaker Lucy Woodall sang Rosemary Lane in a ca. 1976 recording made by Mike Yates at Warley, Worcestershire. It was issued in 2006 on the Veteran CD It Was on a Market Day 2. Mike Yates noted:

This well-known song goes under a number of titles, such as Once I was a Servant, Bell-Bottom Trousers and The Oak and the Ash, although it only seems to have been printed by a handful of broadside printers. These include Pitts and Jennings (both of London), Baird (of Cork) and Jackson (of Birmingham). According to Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, the “Oak and the Ash” verses come from a 17th century broadside, The Northern Lasses Lamentation, that can be dated to sometime between 1672 and 1695. MacColl & Seeger add that “In the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries the London thoroughfare known as Rosemary Lane (now called Royal Mint Street) consisted mostly of cheap lodging-houses and shady second-hand shops.” (Travellers’ Songs From England and Scotland. London, 1977. p. 166). Mrs Woodall (1894-1979) heard the song being sung in Staffordshire chainmaking ‘shops’ when she was a young girl.

Bob Roberts sang this song as Bell Bottom Trousers on his 1978 Topic LP Songs From the Sailing Barges. A.L. Lloyd resumes:

Along with Foggy Dew, the nineteenth century sailor ballad nowadays called Bell Bottom Trousers is among the most durable of all our folk songs. It’s a blunt sexist declaration; but Little Boy Billee is far from straight-forward and there is more to it than meets the ear.

Tickawinda sang Rosemary Lane as the title track of their 1979 album Rosemary Lane.

Cyril Tawney included Bell Bottom Trousers in bis book Grey Funnel Lines and sang it on his 1989 Neptune cassette Roud the Buoy.

Simon Frampton et all sang Home Boys Home at the Hardy Hall, Dorchester. The concert’s recording was released in 1990 on Nick Dow’s album An Evening of Traditional Songs From Dorset.

Sharron Kraus and electronic musician David Muddyman recorded Rosemary Lane in 2002-3. This was finally released in 2023 on their download album, Birdloom.

James Yorkston sang Rosemary Lane in 2003 on his promotional EP Someplace Simple.

Mike Bosworth sang Rosemary Lane in 2004 on his CD of songs from the Reverend Sabine Baring-Gould Collection, By Chance It Was.

Dave Bordeway & Dave Young sang He Called for a Candle in 2005 on their WildGoose CD Beer and Black Pudding. They noted:

Another song from the singing of Martin Carthy. The tune has slightly changed as the arrangement developed. A lovely song in which there is love, hope, and enough money to plan for the future!

Charlotte Greig sang Rosemary Lane on her 2005 album Quite Silent.

Jane and Amanda Threlfall sang Rosemary Lane on their 2008 CD Sweet Nightingale. They noted:

This is the original version collected by Rev. Sabine Baring-Gould from an unrecorded source, the evidently familiar tune having been noted down from “an old moor man” by a W. Crossing. It’s published in Folk Songs of the West Country (David & Charles, 1974). Sharp and Hammond collected other variants and the words also appeared in broadside form.

Rosemary Lane, now Royal Mint Street, in London, was famous in the 18th century for its boarding houses and street markets.

Baring-Gould considered some of the words offensive and published a substitute version with his own words, called The Blue Flame, which doesn’t seem to have made much impression in the charts. Notwithstanding, we believe this original version to be a perfect marriage of tune and sentiment.

Mary Humphreys and Anahata sang Rosemary Lane in 2009 on their WildGoose CD Cold Fen. Mary Humphreys noted:

The final song is another from Fen Ditton’s Llewellyn Mallion. Ralph Vaughan Williams collected it on 22 August 1906. Again it was the tune only which he wrote down. I have used a broadside for the words and have constructed a chorus to give audiences a chance for some vocal participation.

Lynne Heraud and Pat Turner sang Rosemary Lane in 2010 on their WildGoose CD Tickled Pink. They noted:

This version is from the Hammond & Gardiner manuscripts and was collected from William Bartlett in Wimborne Union, Dorset [VWML HAM/2/7/13] .

Josie Duncan sang He Called for a Candle on her and Pablo Lafuente’s 2018 album The Morning Tempest. They noted:

We heard this song from the fantastic singing of Mick West. It it, a sailor wins over a young girl and leaves her pregnant. The girl justifies her situation to her mother, confident her love will return. Whether or not the sailor did return is up to the listener. The English version of this song known as Rosemary Lane was considered unsuitable for printing in the early 20th century because the narrative sees a man invite a woman to bed and pregnancy outside of wedlock.

Jim Causley sang Rosemary Lane on his 2021 CD Devonia. He noted:

Traditional, Baring-Gould Collection. Collected from Roger Luxton of Halwell [VWML SBG/1/1/310] . Rosemary Lane is a hamlet near Clayhidon in the Blackdown Hills.

The Haar sang Home Boys Home on their 2022 album Where Old Ghosts Meet. They noted:

Home Boys Home was a staple of Liverpool ships’ crews returning home, the chorus partly derives from a 17th century northern English song, The Northern Lasses Lamentation. The poignancy of [the] sailor’s wish to be back home, the warning from the girl of the danger of being beguiled, set against the subversion of the sailor’s unrepentant glee in the memory… take my warning.

Lyrics

Anne Briggs sings Rosemary Lane

I lived in service in Rosemary Lane,
I kept the good will of my master and dame.
Till a sailor came there one night for to lay,
And that was the beginning of my misery.

He called for a candle to light him to bed,
And likewise a silk handkerchief to tie up his head.
To tie up his head as he used for to do,
Says he, “Pretty Polly, Won’t you come to bed too?”

This girl, being young and foolish, she thought it no harm
To jump into bed to keep herself warm.
But what was done next I’ll never declare,
But I wish that short night had been seven long year.

It was early next morning the sailor arose
And into her lap he threw handfuls of gold,
Saying, “This I will give, and more I will do
If you’ll be my Polly wherever I go.

“And when your baby is born, you put it to nurse,
And sit like a lady with gold in your purse.
With gold in your purse and milk in your breast.”
Saying, “That’s what you’ve got by your sailor in the west.

“And if it’s a boy, he shall fight for his king,
And if it’s a girl, she shall wear the gold ring.
She shall wear the gold ring and her top knot shall blow.”
Saying, “That’s what you’ve got by your sailor true blue.”

Martin Carthy sings He Called for a Candle

He called for a candle to light his way to bed,
And likewise a handkerchief to tie around his head,
To tie around his head like the sailors often do
And he says, “Me pretty fair maid, will you go too?”

And Maggie was a young girl, she thought it was no harm,
She laid her down beside him for to keep his bosom warm.
In the middle of the night when the sailor he grew bold
He throwed into her apron five hundred pounds in gold.

And it was early the next morning when Maggie’s mother rose,
Saying, “Daughter, dearest daughter, you have thrown yourself away,
You have thrown yourself away and you’ve birthed a baby,
And you’ll pass for a young girl in a foreign country.”

“Oh mother, dearest mother, oh, I’ve done nothing wrong
For I’ve gold in me pocket and silver in me purse.
And when me baby’s born we will pay the nurse a fee,
And I’ll pass for a young girl in a foreign country.”

“And if it bes a girl child, she’ll stay at home with me,
And if it bes a boy he will plough the dark blue sea.
He’ll plough the dark blue sea like his daddy done before
And he’ll skip about the deck like a young sailor boy.”

“And it is God bless the ocean that my love sails upon
And likewise the bonny ship that carries him along.
I’ll write me love a letter and I’ll seal it with a ring
And I never will be happy till me love returns again.”

Jumbo Brightwell sings The Oak and the Ash

Now, Jack he fell drowsy; he hung his poor head.
He asked for a candle for to light him to bed.
A maiden she carried it like maidens ought to do,
Then Jack he did propose that she should get in bed, too.

Chorus (after each verse):
So it’s home, dearest home, your/and home it shall be,
Though it’s far, far away from your own counterie,
Where the oak and the ash and the bonny willow tree,
They’re all a-growing green in the North Americee.

Now, she considered it proper and thought it no harm,
If she got into bed for to keep his back warm.
She huddled him; she cuddled him; she bid him draw near.
She only wished that night had been seven long year.

It was early next morning so bright and so bold
Into her lap he put handfuls of gold,
Saying, “Take it, my pretty one, for the harm that I’ve done.
For I think that I have left you with a daughter or a son.

“Now, if it prove a female you shall dance it on your knee.
And if it prove a male he shall sail the raging sea.
With his low-ankle shoes and his jacket so blue,
He will have to walk the quarter deck like daddy used to do.”

Lucy Woodall sings Rosemary Lane

I once was in service down Rosemary Lane.
I had a kind mistress and master the same.
One day, a young sailor came to our house to tea
And this was the commencement of my misery.

When supper was over he hung down his head
Then he asked for a candle to light him to bed.
I gave him a candle as a maiden should do
But he vowed and declared that I should go too.

Early next morning when the young sailor rose,
He threw in my apron two handful of gold.
“Oh take it, oh take it, for the wrong I have done,
I have left you a daughter or else a fine son.

“f it be a daughter, she shall wait upon me,
But if it’s a sonny, he shall cross the deep sea.
He shall wear a blue jacket and his cap lined with gold,
He shall cross the blue ocean like his young father bold.”

Now all you young lasses take a warning from me.
Never trust a young sailor whoe’er he may be.
They kiss you, they court you, they swear they’ll be true,
But the very next moment, they’ll bid you adieu.

Like the flower in the garden when its beauty’s all gone,
So you see what I’ve come to through loving that one.
No father, no mother, no friend in the world.
So me and my baby to the workhouse must go.

Cyril Tawney sings Bell Bottom Trousers

I was serving maid down in Drury Lane,
My master he was good to me, my mistress was the same.
When along came a sailor ashore on liberty,
And oh, to my woe, he took liberties with me.

Chorus (repeated after each verse):
Singing bell-bottom trousers, coat of Navy blue,
Let him climb the rigging like his dayy used to do.

It was at a ball I met him, he asked me for a dance.
I knew he was a sailor by the way he wore his pants.
When the ball was over he asked to see me home,
Then asked if he could stay the night as he was all alone.

He asked me for a candle to light his way to bed.
He asked me for a handkerchief to tie around his head.
Me a foolish maiden, not thinking it no harm,
I jumped into the bed with him to keep the sailor warm.

He really was no Sampson but that night he went to town.
He laid me on the bed there till my blue eyes turned to brown.
Early next morning the sailor he awoke,
And the crafty bastard handed me a crabby ten bob note.

Saying, “Take this my darling for the damage I have done,
For if it be a daughter or if it be a son.
If it be a daughter, jounce her on your knee,
But if it be a son, send the bastard off to sea.”

Now come all you young maidens and listen to my plea,
Don’t ever let a matelot get an inch above your knee.
I trusted one once and he put out to sea,
And left me with a daughter to jounce upon my knee.

The Haar sing Home Boys Home

There once was an apprentice lived in Strawberry Lane,
Loved by her master and her mistress the same,
Until a young sailor lad came sailing o’er the sea
And that was the begining of her misery.

Chorus (after each verse):
And it’s home boys home, home I’d like to be,
Home for a while in my own country,
Where the oak and the ash and the bonny rowan tree
Are all growing greener in my own country.

Well the maid being [foolish?] since she thought it was no harm
To go into bed for to keep her back warm;
He hugged her and he kissed her and he called her his dear,
Said, “I wish my love this night it was as long as a year.”

It was early the next morning as the sailor he arose
An into her apron he put handfuls of gold.
“Oh take this my dear for the mischief I’ve done
For last night I may have left you with a daughter or a son.

“And if you have a girl child then [dandle?] her on your knee,
And if you have a male child look for him after me
And when he’s a man you can dress him up in blue
And he’ll go skipping up the rigging like his father used to.”

So come all you lasses and a warning take by me
And never let a sailor lad an inch above your knee.
For once I met a sailor lad and he beguiled me
And he left me with two twins to dandle upon my knee.

Acknowledgements

Martin Carthy’s version was transcribed by Garry Gillard.