> Nic Jones > Songs > The Noble Lord Hawkins
Sir Arthur and Charming Molly / The Noble Lord Hawkins
[
Roud 195
; Master title: Sir Arthur and Charming Molly
; Laws O14
; G/D 2:226
; Ballad Index LO14
; trad.]
Hedy West sang Polly on her 1965 Topic album Old Time and Hard Times. She and A.L. Lloyd commented in the sleeve notes:
“I’ve been told there were three rambling musicians who regularly came through Gilmer County. One was Lum Ledbetter who sang and played on ‘Ledbetter’s canes’, an instrument made by strapping two bamboo-like cane-flutes together. Another was Gus Wilson who played guitar and sang. The third was Jim Sparks who sang unaccompanied in a good tenor voice. He was my great-grand-mother’s younger brother. Like his parents he was a rambler, and considered irresponsible because he could never stay put. He followed his father in being a saddle- and boot-maker with a handlebar moustache. As recorded here, Polly is the fragment Grandma remembers of a song Jim Sparks sang.”
It is a British song, now rare in England. It was known in Dorset as Noble Lord Hawkins and in Northumberland as Sir Arthur and Charming Molly. During the eighteenth century it seems to have been a favourite broadside and chapbook piece under the title of Moll Boy’s Courtship. Scotland had its version too.
Nic Jones recorded The Noble Lord Hawkins in 1970 for his first album Ballads and Songs. He commented in the album's sleeve notes:
Noble Lord Hawkins may have been the result of another bout of name-adaption. He appears to have existed at one time as Sir Arthur in Sir Arthur and Charming Mollee, the story being more or less the same. Noble Lord Hawkins was collected by H.E.D. Hammond from Mr R. Barrett of Piddleton and it was printed in the Folk Song Journals where I found it.
Danny Spooner sang Noble Lord Hawkins on his 1986 album I Got This One From…. This track was also included in 2007 on his compilation Years of Spooner. He noted:
Arthur Phillips was a lighterman on the Thames when I was doing my apprenticeship. He was a very funny man with a wealth of songs and stories. He had been raised in the country and had a beautiful country accent; when he sang the Noble Lord Hawkins, the twinkle in his eye and the vibrancy of his performance always reminded me of Robert Newton's film performance as Long John Silver.
Kathryn Roberts and Sean Lakeman sang Sir Arthur in 2003 on their album 2..
Lyrics
Nic Jones sings The Noble Lord Hawkins | Danny Spooner sings The Noble Lord Hawkins |
---|---|
As noble Lord Hawkins a-hunting did ride, |
Oh the noble Lord Hawkins one morning did ride, |
“Oh Polly, oh Polly, my butler shall be |
“Oh Polly, oh Polly, your fortune shall be |
“Oh noble Lord Hawkins, don't talk so bold, |
“Oh noble Lord Hawkins now don’t be so bold, |
“Then Polly, oh Polly, lend me your penknife |
“The Polly, oh Polly, lend me your penknife |
“Oh noble Lord Hawkins don't you say so, |
“Oh noble Lord Hawkins now don’t you say so. |
And these seven long years they were over and past, |
When seven long years they were over and passed, |
And so now she's a nobleman's lady so high, |
And now she’s a nobleman’s lady so high, |
Acknowledgements
Song lyrics copied from Rid Smith's Traditional Music Library with adaptions to the actual singing of Nic Jones by Garry Gillard.