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Four-Loom Weaver
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Four-Loom Weaver
Four-Loom Weaver / The Poor Cotton Weaver / Jone o’ Grinfield
[
Roud 937
; Ballad Index DTfourlo
; DT FOURLOOM
; Mudcat 61924
; trad.]
Karl Dallas: Roy Palmer: One Hundred Songs of Toil A Touch on the Times Peggy Seeger, Ewan MacColl: The Singing Island
A four loom weaver is power loom weaver using four Lancashire Looms in a Lancashire weaving shed. The song refers to the years of the Lancashire Cotton Famine, when the weaver was totally dependent on his income from the millowner—unlike the handloom weaver who would probably have a vegetable patch and a few chickens. The Cotton Famine was caused by the cotton trade being interrupted by the American Civil War. The Lancashire man—three generations in the mill—could not comprehend how the cotton stopped, and still had the quaint belief that the great man (Prime minister perhaps) only needed to tell the shipowners to bring in some more cotton.
Ewan MacColl sang three verses of the Four-Loom Weaver in the Lancashire dialect in a 1951 recording by Alan Lomax that was included in 1955 on the anthology The Columbia World Library of Folk and Primitive Music: England. MacColl noted in Peggy Seeger’s and his 1960 book The Singing Island that his version is “from the singing of Becket Whitehead of Delph, Oldham, Lancashire, in 1947”.
Ewan MacColl also sang Four Loom Weaver on the first ever Topic LP, an untitled album from 1954 with the release number TRL1, and on his 1957 Topic album of industrial folk ballad, Shuttle and Cage. The latter track was also included in 1964 on his Topic album Steam Whistle Ballads and in 1993 on his Topic CD The Real MacColl.
Brian Peters commented in 2022 in a private e-mail, referring to his research for his chapter in The Routledge Companion to English Folk Performance:
I am as certain as I can be that the song as the folk revival knows it is MacColl’s rewrite of the broadside ballad sometimes known as The Poor Cotton Weaver, which is one of the Jone o’ Grinfilt ballads circulating in Lancashire in the early 19th century. I suspect that Becket Whitehead—allegedly MacColl’s source—never sang it at all, although as an expert on dialect poetry he might have shown MacColl a text.
A.L. Lloyd sang The Poor Cotton Wayver in 1963 on the album of industrial ballads, The Iron Muse. He noted:
At the time of the Napoleonic wars, a popular song was John o’ Grinfilt’s Ramble, composed by a weaver, Joseph Lees, and a spinner, barber and tooth-drawer, Joseph Coupe, both of the Oldham district. The song of John the cotton-weaver and his wife Margit was subsequently parodied many times over, but the present version, sometimes called John o’Grinfilt Junior, excels the original and is one of the finest of industrial folk songs, It sings of the bitter crisis times following Waterloo, when prices were high, wages low, unemployment severe. Versions of the text are on broadsides published by Shelmerdine of Manchester. The tune is in Kidson’s Garland of English Folk Song (1926). A version to a different tune, called The Four Loom Weaver, is in Ewan MacColl’s Shuttle and Cage (1954).
Jume Tabor sang Four Loom Weaver in a recording made by Alan White in Walthamstow July 1972. It was included in 2005 on her Topic anthology Always and in 2019 as a bonus track of the CD reissue of her Topic album Airs and Graces. Maddy Prior and June Tabor sang Four Loom Weaver a cappella in 1976 on their duo album Silly Sisters. They also sang it in a BBC Radio 1 John Peel Sessions recorded on 23 September and first broadcast on 20 October 1975.
The Oldham Tinkers sang The Four Loom Weaver in 1974 on their Topic album Best o’ t’ Bunch. This track was also included in 2014 on the GFTU/Topic anthology Voice and Vision. They noted:
The song, originally called The Poor Cotton Wayver, was published on a broadsheet during the depression years that followed the close of the Napoleonic Wars. It’s one of the striking documents of the Industrial Revolution. In a shortened and re-made form, it was popularised by Ewan MacColl some twenty-five years ago, in the earliest days of the folk song revival, and that is the form in which it is sung here.
Louis Killen sang The Four Loom Weaver in 1980 on his album Gallant Lads Are We. He noted:
Becket Whitehead’s version of an older, lengthier song, The Poor Cotton Weaver, with the song pared down to fit later and perhaps harder times.
Swan Arcade sang Four Loom Weaver in 1990 on their CD Full Circle.
Roy Bailey sang Four-Loom Weaver on the 1992 Fellside anthology of English traditional songs, Voices. Paul Adams noted:
Roy is usually associated with songs of political and social comment. It is fitting, therefore, that he should sing one of the classic industrial ballads here. It was collected by Ewan MacColl from one Becket Whitehead of Delph, near Oldham, Lancashire. It dates from around the time of the Battle of Waterloo when handloom weavers’ wages fell considerably. Roy is a highly distinctive and compelling performer who sings with great conviction.
Ian Page sang The Poor Loom Weaver in 1999 on the Gift of Music album Folk Music of England.
Nasreen Shah sang I’m a Poor Dress-Maker (Four-Loom Weaver) in 2001 on Ashley Hutchings’ collection of dark traditional songs re-set in the present day, the Topic album Street Cries.
Ian King sang Four-Loom Weaver on his 2010 Fledg’ling album Panic Grass & Fever Few; this was also included in 2009 on the fRoots anthology Looking for a New England, in 2010 on the anthology Folk Against Fascism, and in 2021 on the anthology The Electric Muse Revisited.
Mackinnon MacColl MacPherson sang Four Loom Weaver on their 2010 EP January.
Tan Yows learned Four Loom Weaver from the Silly Sisters and recorded it in 2012 for their CD Undipped.
Stick in the Wheel sang Four-Loom Weaver on their 2014 EP Bones.
Edward II sang Jone o’ Grinfield on their 2016 album Manchester’s Improving Daily.
Laura Smyth sang Jone O’ Grinfield on Coe, Peters & Smyth’s Backshift album The Road to Peterloo. They noted:
Created by Joseph Lees or Glodwick, the humorous character of Jone o’ Grinfield (John of Greenfield) made his first appearance around 1805 in a ballad describing his enlistment as a soldier to fight in Napoleonic Wars. It was so popular in Lancashire that numerous sequels appeared in which John continued his exploits in a variety of topical settings reflecting the concerns of the day. In this episode, set during the depression after the Napoleonic Wars, John complains about living conditions and the lack of work and food. Laura sings it to the original tune, The Chapter of Kings.
Abel Selaocoe sang Four Loom Weaver in a 2021 video about the Iron Bridge in Shropshire. This is part of a video series Songs of England which explores traditional songs and their connections to historic places. It was commissioned by English Heritage and the Nest Collective.
Janice Burns and Jon Doran sang Four Loom Weaver on their 2022 CD No More the Green Hills. They noted:
The first folk revival in the early 20th Century excluded stories of the urban working classes in favour of romanticised ideas of pastoral life. For this reason, we were drawn to this broadside ballad from the Lancashire cotton famine in 19th Century popularised by Ewan MacColl’s 1957 record Shuttle and Cage.
This video shows them in a concert at University of Leeds on 7 October 2022:
Johnny Campbell sang Four-Loom Weaver on his 2024 album True North.
A related ballad is A.L. Lloyd’s and Steeleye Span’s The Weaver and the Factory Maid.
Lyrics
Ewan MacColl sings Four-Loom Weaver
I’m a four-loom weaver, as mony a one knoaws,
Aw’ve nowt t’ate, an’ aw’ve wore out me clothes,
Me clogs are boath broken un’ stockin’s aw’ve none,
Tha’d hardly give me tuppence for a’ aw’ve gettin’ on.
Owd Billy o’ t’ Bent, he kept tellin’ me lang,
We might ha’ better times, if ha’d nobbut howd me tongue.
Well, aw’ve howden my tung, till aw’ve near lost me breath
An’ I feel in me heart that I’ll soon clem to death.
I’m a four-loom weaver, as mony a one knows,
Aw’ve nowt t ’ate, an’ aw’ve wore out me clothes,
Owd Billy’s awreet, he ne’er wur clemmed,
An he ne’er picked o’ver in his life.
A.L. Lloyd sings The Poor Cotton Wayver
Aw’m a poor cotton wayver as many a one knows.
Aw’ve nowt t’eat in the house, an’ aw’ve wore out me clo’es.
Me clogs are both brokken an’ stockins aw’ve none.
Yo’d hardly gie tuppence for all aw’ve got on.
Yo’d think it were hard to be sent in the world
To clem an’ do best ’at yo can.
Our parish church parson kept tellin us long
We’d see better times if we’d but howd our tongue.
Aw’ve howden me tongue till aw’ve near lost me breath,
An’ aw think in me heart he means to starve us to death.
Aw know he lives weel wi’ backbitin the Devil,
But he never picked o’er in his life.
We held on six weeks thinkin each day were t’ last.
We tarried an’ shifted till now we’re quite fast.
We lived upon nettles while nettles was good,
An’ Wayterloo porritch were t’ best of us food.
Aw’m tellin ye true, aw can find folk enoo
That are livin no better nor me.
Now, owd Bill o’ Dans sent bailiffs one day
For t’ shop score he’s owed that aw couldn’t pay.
But he’s just too late, for owd Billy o’ Bent
Had sent round his cart an’ ta’en goods for rent.
They left nowt but a stool that’re seats for two
An’ on it sat Margit an’ me.
My piece were cheont off, an’ aw took it him back.
I hardly durst speak, m aster lookit so black.
He said: “You were o’erpaid last time you come.”
Aw said: “If aw were, ’twere wi’ weavin baht loom.”
An’ in t’mind that aw’m in, aw’d ne’er pick o’er again,
For aw’ve woven meself to t’fur end.
So aw come out the warehouse an’ left him chew that.
When aw thought things o’er, aw were so vexed till aw swat,
For to think aw mun work to keep him an’ his set
All the days o’ me life, an’ then die in their debt.
But aw’ll give ower this trade and work wi’ a spade
Or go an’ break stones on the road.
Our Margit declares if hoo’d clothes to put on
Hoo’d go up to Lunnon to see the great man,
An’ if things didn’t alter when there hoo had been,
Hoo says hoo’d begin an’ fight, blood up to th’een.
Hoo’s nowt agin t’king, but hoo likes a fair thing,
An’ hoo says hoo can tell when hoo’s hurt!
Maddy Prior and June Tabor sing Four Loom Weaver
I’m a four-loom weaver as many a one knows;
I’ve nowt to eat and I’ve worn out my clothes.
My clogs are both broken and stockings I’ve none;
You’d scarce give me tuppence for owt I’ve gotten on.
Old Billy O’t Bent he kept telling me long
We might have better times if I’d nobbut hold my tongue.
I’ve holden my tongue till I’ve near lost my breath
And I feel in my own heart I’ll soon clem to death.
I’m a four-loom weaver as many a one knows;
I’ve nowt to eat and I’ve worn out my clothes.
Old Billy’s awreet, he never were clemmed
And he never picked o’er in his life.
We held on for six weeks, thought each day were the last;
We’ve tarried and shifted till now we’re quite fast.
We lived upon nettles while nettles were good
And Waterloo porridge was the best of our food.
I’m a four-loom weaver as many a one knows;
I’ve nowt to eat and I’ve worn out my clothes.
My clogs are both broken, no looms to weave on,
And I’ve woven myself to far end.
Louis Killen sings The Four Loom Weaver
I’m a four loom weaver, as many a man knows.
I’ve nowt to eat and I’ve worn out m’ clothes.
M’ clogs are all broken, and stockings I’ve none.
Thee’d hardly gi’s tuppence for all I’ve gotten on.
Old Billy O’ Bent, he were telling us long
We mayn’t had better times if I’d nobbut held m’ tongue.
Well, I held m’ tongue til I near lost m’ breath,
And I feel in m’ heart that I’ll soon clem to death.
I’m a four loom weaver, as many a man knows.
I’ve nowt to eat and I’ve worn out m’ clothes.
Old Billy were right, but he ne’er were clemmed,
He ne’er picked o’er in his life.
We held out for six weeks, thought each day were the last.
We tarried and shifted til we were quite fast.
We lived upon nettles while nettles were good.
And Waterloo Porridge were best to us (as) food.
Our Margaret declares, if hoo’d clothes to put on,
Hoo’d go up t’ London and see the great man.
And if things didn’ alter when there hoo’d been
Hoo’ swears hoo’d fight til there blood upto th’ e’en.
I’m a four loom weaver as many a man knows.
I’ve nowt to eat and I’ve worn out m’ clothes.
Stockings I’ve none, nor looms to weave on,
I’ve woven m’sen to far end.