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Nottamun Town / Nottamun Fair

[ Roud 1044 ; Ballad Index WB2006 ; Nottamun at Old Songs ; Bodleian Roud 1044 ; trad.]

Jean Ritchie of Viper in Perry County, Kentucky, sang Nottamun Town in 1954 on her Elektra album Kentucky Mountain Songs and in 1965 on her Warner album A Time for Singing. She noted on the first album:

Uncle Jason Ritchie, one of the “big singers” at play-parties and other social gatherings, passed on to us this song with its strange combination of nonsense words and ethereal tune. We never knew where it came from nor what it meant, but in England I found the same kind of magic, upside-down, inside-out song being sung as part of the ancient, ritualistic Mummers’ Plays. I am convinced that Nottamun Town had such an origin.

Shirley Collins borrowed Nottamun Town from Jean Ritchie when the latter was collecting in England. She recorded it with Davey Graham in 1964 for their album Folk Roots, New Routes. Ashley Hutchings commented in his songbook A Little Music:

[Nottamun Town is more than a nonsense song,] probably an old magic song using the device of riddles. The “back-handed awk’ard talk” resembles the language of mummers plays. As an old Kentuckian told Jean Ritchie: “If ’twas understood, then the good luck and the magic be lost.” But who can resist a riddle? So, at the risk of losing good luck and magic, perhaps I could start the ball rolling by suggesting that the part which begins “Sat down on a hard, cold frozen stone” might refer to a cemetery?

Some explicitly sexual references are said to have been self-censored out of the song by the folk.

Bert Jansch sang Nottamun Town in 1966 on his Transatlantic album Jack Orion.

Later, Bob Dylan took the tune for his angry Masters of War and in 1969 Fairport Convention with lead singer Sandy Denny recorded Nottamun Town for their album What We Did on Our Holidays. Their guitar-and-drums duet is reminiscent of the things Davey was doing on Better Git It in Your Soul several years before. There is an interesting instrumental portion in the song, featuring acoustic guitar (Richard Thompson), bongos (Martin Lamble) and violin (Simon Nicol). Fairport Convention’s version was also included in 1975 on the anthology The Electric Muse and in 2004 on Sandy Denny’s 5 CD Fledg’ling anthology A Boxful of Treasures.

A BBC radio performance by Fairport Convention was recorded on 28 May 1968 in Studio 1, 201 Piccadilly, for the Top Gear / John Peel radio show and broadcast on 2 June 1968 with a repeat on 30 June 1968. It was produced by Bernie Andrews. The track can be found on the semi-bootleg From Past Archives It was finally released officially in 2002 on the Island CD re-release of Heyday and on the Fairport unConventioNal 4 CD set.

Chris Timson and Anne Gregson sang Nottamun Town on their 1996 WildGoose album Peaceful Harbour. They noted:

This nonsense song has a surrealistic feel and air of menace that goes way beyond the simple meaning of the words. The tune does nothing to dispel this and was used to great effect by Bob Dylan in his song Masters of War.

Roger McGuinn and Jean Ritchie sang Nottamun Town in 2001 on Roger McGuinn’s CD Treasures From the Folk Den.

Lady Maisery sang Nottamun Fair with Rowan Rheingans playing the bansitar (a cross between a banjo and a musical instrument, as Hannah James noted) in 2011 on their CD Weave & Spin. They commented in their liner notes:

The ultimate surrealist ballad! The topsy-turvy world it depicts is very much like the traditional “world turned upside down” motif found in English culture and Nottamun may be a corruption of Nottingham (much less exotic!). Hazel [Askew] took the words from various sources to make our version and it also features the equally surreal Bansitar, which was made by Rowan’s dad Helmut.

This YouTube video shows Lady Maisery singing Nottamun Fair at the Beverley Folk Acoustic Roots Festival in June 2012:

Marisa Jack & Davy sang Nottamun Town on their 2019 EP Bring Us In, with lyrics very similar to Jean Ritchie’s. This video shows them at Leigh Sea Folk Festival 2016:

Lyrics

Jean Ritchie sings Nottamun Town

In fair Nottamun Town not a soul would look up
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down
To show me the way to fair Nottamun Town.

I rode a grey horse, a mule roany mare
Grey mane and grey tail, a green stripe down her back
Grey mane and grey tail, a green stripe down her back
There wa’nt a hair on her be-what was coal black.

She stood so still, she threw me to the dirt.
She tore my hide and bruised my shirt
From saddle to stirrup I mounted again
And on my ten toes I rode over the plain.

Met the King and the Queen, and a company more
A-Riding behind and a-marching before
Come a stark naked drummer a-beating the drum
With his heels in his bosom come a-marching along.

They laughed and they smiled, not a soul did look gay
They talked all the while, not a word did they say
I bought me a quart to drive gladness away
And to stifle the dust, for it rained the whole day.

Sat down on a hard, hot cold frozen stone,
Ten thousand stood ’round me, yet it’s alone
Took my hat in my hands for to keep my head warm,
Ten thousand got drownded that never was born.

Fairport Convention sing Nottamun Town

In Nottamun Town not a soul would look up,
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down,
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down,
To show me the way to fair Nottamun Town.

Met the King and the Queen, and a company more
Come a-walking behind and a-riding before
Come a stark naked drummer a-beating the drum
With his hands on his bosom, come marching along.

Sat down on a hard, hot cold frozen stone,
Ten thousand stood ’round me, yet I was alone
Took my hat in my hands for to keep my head warm,
Ten thousand got drownded that never was born.

(repeat first verse)

Lady Maisery sing Nottamun Fair

As I went down to Nottamun Fair
I rode a grey horse they call a grey mare.
White mane, white tail, green stripe down her back,
There’s not a hair on her that isn’t coal-black.

She stood so still, she threw me to the dirt,
She tore at my skin, she bruised my shirt.
From saddle to stirrup I mounted again
And on my ten toes I rode over the plain.

Met the King and the Queen and a company more
A-riding behind, a-walking before.
The bells did ring and the people did stare
To see a coach and six horses drawn by a grey mare.

But when I got there not a soul could I see
But ten thousand people sat laughing at me.
Sat laughing and chaffing and making their game
To see my feet off and my shoes going lame.

One moonshiny morning, at night when was dark,
It rained and it hailed as I went through the park.
Took my hat in my hand for to keep my head warm,
Ten thousand got drownded that never was born.