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Here’s the Tender Coming

[ Roud 3174 ; Ballad Index StoR177 ; trad.]

Dave Burland sang the press-gang song Here’s the Tender Coming in 1971 on his first Trailer album, A Dalesman’s Litany. He noted:

Here’s the Tender Coming is a song from the same area [as The Black Cook: around Newcastle], two verses being found in Lloyd’s Folk Song in England and two in Terry’s Salt Sea Ballads.

Frankie Armstrong sang Here’s the Tender Coming in 1973 on the Topic anthology of songs and ballads of Nelson’s Navy, The Valiant Sailor which accompanied Roy Palmer’s book of the same name, The Valiant Sailor. This track was also included on the French compilation album Chants de Marins IV: Ballads, Complaintes et Shanties des Matelots Anglais. Roy Palmer noted on the original album:

This poignant song comes from the North-East. Newcastle and Sunderland were second only to London in providing men for the navy during the French wars. Resistance was sometimes violent, with women playing a prominent part. The Lawe is a high vantage point, whence the hated tender could be seen lying out beyond the harbour bar. The pressing tenders were like floating prisons, where “recruits” were assembled before being distributed to the various ships.

Sources for the Roy Palmer version are: “J. Stokoe and S. Reay, Songs and Ballads of Northern England, n.d. [1893], p. 177. Slightly adapted. Verse 2 added from Terry, Salt Sea Ballads, and verse 3 from J. Masefield, A Sailor’s Garland, 1906, p. 216.”

Canny Fettle sang Here’s the Tender in 1975 on their Traditional Sound Recordings album Varry Canny.

The High Level Ranters sang Captain Bover and Here’s the Tender Coming in 1976 on their Topic album Ranting Lads. They noted:

A press gang song which appears in both the Northumbrian Minstrelsy (1882) [first verse only] and Terry’s Salt Sea Ballads (1931).

Jez Lowe & The Bad Pennies recorded Here’s the Tender Coming in September 1991 for the Fellside anthology of English traditional songs, Voices.

Sandra and Nancy Kerr and James Fagan sang Here’s the Tender Coming in 1999 on their CD Scalene. They noted:

In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the impressment of young men into the army or navy meant hardship for them and the families they were forced to leave. A combination of poignant text and a lilting, rather jaunty tune, this piece from the Northumbrian Minstrelsy mentions many places along the north-east coast, including Druridge Bay, which can be seen from Sandra’s House.

Corrina Hewat and Kathryn Tickell sang Here’s the Tender Coming and Captain Bover in 2006 on the latter’s CD Strange But True. Two year later Kathryn Tickell sang it on her and her brother Peter Tickell’s CD What We Do. Corrina Hewat noted:

Press Gangs were greatly feared on Tyneside, as they used cruelly harsh and oppressive measures to recruit seamen, inevitably meeting with resistance and resulting in riots and bloodshed. Even the keelmen of Sandgate, Newcastle, highly skilled and sought-after boatmen who handled the movement of coal from the riverside to ships on the River Tyne, were not safe and lived in constant fear of the ‘Regulation Officer’ Captain Bover and his Press Gang who operated on the Newcastle quayside. Captain Bover died in 1792 and was commander of the Press Gang on the Tyne for many years. Evidence suggests that he did his best to carry out a harsh job as leniently as he could, but this was probably of little comfort to those affected.

Graham and Sam Pirt sang Here’s the Tender Coming and Captain Bover in 2008 on their Fellside CD Dance ti’ Thee Daddy.

The Unthanks sang Here’s the Tender Coming in 2009 as the title track of their CD Here’s the Tender Coming. Rachel Unthank noted:

A song we have sung for years. I remember singing it with Sandra Kerr at the Folkworks summer school and also listening to our Dad sing it with The Keelers.

This video shows them at the Great British Folk Festival 2015:

Debbie Chalmers sang Here’s the Tender Coming in 2018 on Stepling’s album Leap. They noted:

From the Northumbrian Minstrelsy (1882), the ‘tenders’ were small boats used to take people between ship and shore to press men into service in the Navy. In 1823, Robert Otway described the emotional aftermath: “Wife, children, and friends [left] behind and bewildered in the darkness, the miserable wreck of what but a few moments before was a rational fellow creature; now the wretched partner of all former joys.” Steps based on competition hornpipe steps collected in North East England.

Johnny Campbell sang Here’s the Tender Coming on his 2024 album True North.

Lyrics

Here’s the Tender Coming in Northumbrian Minstrelsy

Here’s the tender coming, pressing all the men;
Oh! dear hinny, what shall we do then?
Here’s the tender coming, off at Shields Bar,
Here’s the tender coming, full of men o’ war.

Here’s the Tender Coming in Songs and Ballads of Northern England

Here’s the tender coming, pressing all the men;
Oh! dear hinny, what shall we do then?
Here’s the tender coming, off at Shields Bar,
Here’s the tender coming, full of men-o’-war.

Hey, bonny lassie, let’s gan ti the Lawe,
And see the tender lying, off at Shields Bar,
Wiv her colours flying and her anchor at her bow.
They tyuek maw bonny laddie, best iv all the crew.

Dave Burland sings Here’s the Tender Coming

Here’s the tender coming, pressing all the men;
Oh! dear hinny, what shall we do then?
Here’s the tender coming, off at Shields Bar,
Here’s the tender coming, full of men of war.

And here’s the tender coming, pressing of my dear;
Oh! dear hinny, take you way from here.
They will ship you foreign, that is what it means;
Here’s the tender coming, full of red marines.

And here’s the tender coming, pressing all the men;
Oh! dear hinny, what shall we do then?
Here’s the tender coming, off at Shields Bar,
Here’s the tender coming, full of men of war.

So hide thee, canny Geordie, hide thyself away;
Hide thee till the frigate makes for Druridge Bay.
Here’s the tender coming, off at Shields Bar,
Here’s the tender coming, full of men of war.

And if they take you, Geordie, who’s to win our bread?
Me and little Jackie better off be dead.
Here’s the tender coming, off at Shields Bar,
Here’s the tender coming, full of men of war.

And here’s the tender coming, pressing of my dear;
Oh! dear hinny, take you way from here.
They will ship you foreign, that is what it means;
Here’s the tender coming, full of red marines.

Frankie Armstrong sings Here’s the Tender Coming

Here’s the tender coming, pressing all the men;
Oh dear hinny, what shall we do then?
Here’s the tender coming, off at Shields Bar,
Here’s the tender coming, full of men-o’-war.

Hide thee, canny Geordie, hide thyself away;
Hide thee till the tender makes for Druridge Bay.
If they take thee, Geordie, who’s to win our bread?
Me and little Jackie better off be dead.

Here’s the tender coming, stealing off my dear;
Oh dear hinny, they’ll ship you out of here.
They will ship you foreign, that is what it means;
Here’s the tender coming, full of red marines.

Hey, bonny lassie, let’s go to the Lawe,
See the tender lying, off at Shields Bar,
With her colours flying, anchor at her bow.
They took my bonny laddie, best of all the crew.

(repeat first verse)

Sandra Kerr, Nancy Kerr and James Fagan sing Here’s the Tender Coming

Here’s the tender coming, pressing all the men;
Oh dear hinny, what shall we dae then?
Here’s the tender coming, off at Shields Bar,
Here’s the tender coming, full of men-o’-war.

Hey, bonny lassie, let’s gan tae the Lawe,
Tae see the tender lying, off at Shields Bar,
With her colours flying, anchor at the bow.
They took me bonny laddie, best of all the crew.

Here’s the tender coming, pressing off my dear;
Oh dear hinny, they’ll ship ye oot of here.
They will ship ye foreign, that is what it means;
Here’s the tender coming, full of red marines.

If they take ye hinny, what we’ll find wor bread?
Me and both the bairnies might as well be deid.
Here’s the tender coming, off at Shields Bar,
Here’s the tender coming, full of men-o’-war.

Hide, canny laddie, hide theesel’ away;
Hide till the frigate makes for Druridge Bay.
Here’s the tender coming, off at Shields Bar,
Here’s the tender coming, full of men-o’-war.