> Ewan MacColl > Songs > Four-Loom Weaver
> Silly Sisters > Songs > Four-Loom Weaver

Four-Loom Weaver / The Poor Cotton Weaver

[ Roud 937 ; Ballad Index DTfourlo ; Bodleian Roud 937 ; DT FOURLOOM ; Mudcat 61924 ; trad.]

Karl Dallas: One Hundred Songs of Toil Peggy Seeger, Ewan MacColl: The Singing Island

This is a ballad about the economic crisis of 1819-20 where many handloom weavers lost their work due to the rise of steam driven weaving machines.

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 this song as The Poor Cotton Wayver in 1963 on the album of industrial ballads, The Iron Muse.

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. Their album’s liner notes commented:

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.

Maddy Prior and June Tabor sang Four-Loom Weaver a cappella in 1976 on their album Silly Sisters. Tan Yows learned it from this album and recorded it in 2012 for their CD Undipped.

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 commented in the album’s liner notes:

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 King sang Four-Loom Weaver on his 2010 Fledg’ling album Panic Grass & Fever Few; this was also included in the same year on the anthology Folk Against Fascism.

Mackinnon MacColl MacPherson sang Four Loom Weaver on their 2010 EP January.

Stick in the Wheel sang Four-Loom Weaver on their 2014 EP Bones.

Edward II sang this song, using the title Jone o’ Grinfield, on their 2016 album Manchester’s Improving Daily.

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.

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 me 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 me tongue till I’ve near lost my breath
And I feel in me 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 me 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 ours food.

I’m a four-loom weaver as many a one knows;
I’ve nowt to eat and I’ve worn out me clothes.
Me clogs are both broken, no looms to weave on,
And I’ve woven meself 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.