Cushie Butterfield

DESCRIPTION: "Aa's a brokem hairted keelman and as's ower heed in luv, Wiv a young lass in Gyetsid and Aa caall hor me duv... She's a big lass an' a bonnie lass an' she likes hor beor, An' they caall hor Cushie Butterfield...." He asks her to marry; she laughs him off
AUTHOR: Words: Geordie Ridley (source: Davidson, etc.) / Music: "Polly Perkins of Paddington Green" by Harry Clifton
EARLIEST DATE: 1863 (source: Folk Song and Music Hall site)
KEYWORDS: love courting derivative
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Peter Davison, _Songs of The British Music Hall_, Oak, 1971, pp. 30-33, "Cushie Butterfield" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3504
RECORDINGS:
Steve Gardham, "Cushie Butterfield" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #342, recorded 11/02/2022)
Beverly Wilson, "Cushie Butterfield" (Fragment: Piotr-Archive #74, recorded 08/18/2021)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Polly Perkins of Paddington Green" (tune)
cf. "The Keep Row" (subject: Sandgate and Keelmen, as well as the line "Weel may the keel row that ma laddie's in")
NOTES [54 words]: Set to the tune of "Polly Perkins of Paddington Green," and reportedly a sort of answer to it, though this is much more of a dialect song. It is also more like a standard folk song than a typical music hall song in that the melody of the verse is related to the chorus. This surely made it more popular with the folk. - RBW
Last updated in version 6.8
File: DPio074

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