> Eliza Carthy > Songs > If You Will Not Have Me, You May Let Me Go

If You Will Not Have Me, You May Let Me Go

[ Roud - ;The Session 7431 ; Tune Archive If_You_Will_Not_Have_Me_You_May_Let_Me_Go ; Mudcat 140863 , 154859 ; trad.]

Eliza Carthy and The Kings of Calicutt (Andi Wells, Barnaby Stradling, Saul Rose and Maclaine Colston) played a set of If You Will Not Have Me, You May Let Me Go, The Pullet and The Storyteller in 1997 on their eponymous Topic album Eliza Carthy and The Kings of Calicutt. The three hornists J. Simon Van Der Welt, Jak Duff and Toby Shippey guest on the third tune, The Storyteller.

Tryckster played If You Will Not Have Me, You May Let Me Go in 1999 on their Fellside album When the Stone Is Exposed.

Bellowhead played If You Will Not Have Me, You May Let Me Go on 26 September 2007 at Shepherds Bush Empire, London. This recording was included in 2009 on their Westpark DVD Live at Shepherds Bush Empire. Another performance from their November 2015 tour was released in 2016 on their Navigator CD The Farewell Tour.

Anahata played If You Will Not Have Me You May Let Me Go on his and Mary Humphreys’ 2012 CD A Baker’s Dozen. He noted:

This is the version published in derived from Hardcore English (ISBN 078 0 85418 201 5), compiled by the late Barry Callaghan and published in 2007 by EFDSS. Earlier sources are The Plain Brown Tune Book and The Northern Lass.

Brian Peters played a set of Love and Whisky, Our Cat Has Kitted and If You Will Not Have Me You May Let Me Go on his 2015 CD Squeezebox, Voicebox, Voicebox. He noted:

Love and Whisky, The Good Thing and Waddington Tune are from various manuscripts associated with the Winder family of Wyresdale, Lancashire, whose repertoire can be found in Andy Hornby’s excellent tune book. […] I  played the classic 3:2 hornpipe If You Will Not Have Me with the Rising Sun Band for many years before it got trendy, but only as the band’s guitar thrasher—it’s much harder on melodeon. As in the band, I precede it with Our Cat Has Kitted from the Joseph Kershaw MS (Oldham), which is also my source for Jack Come Kiss Me.

Will Allen and Becca Pamely played a set of If You Will Not Have Me, You May Let Me Go and Savage Hornpipe in 2026 on their Scribe album Great & Small. They noted:

A famous Northumbrian 3/2 hornpipe from 1770 and a tune from the manuscripts of John Clare of Helpston, Northamptonshire in 1864.

Owl Light Trio played a set of If You Will Not Have Me, You May Let Me Go, Winder’s Hornpipe and Derby Hunt on their 2014 album Sound Into Light.