Calico Printer's Clerk, The

DESCRIPTION: In Manchester, the singer met Dorothy Drew at a ball in 1863. They danced and while "doing Varsoviana [he said] "I love you." While she visited "a near relation" he read that she had married -- "danced away with" -- "Jones, a calico printer's clerk"
AUTHOR: Harry Clifton (source: Greig/Duncan8); FolkSongAndMusicHall says Charles Coote had a part in the music
EARLIEST DATE: 1865 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.27(412))
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity love marriage dancing
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Greig/Duncan8 1900, "The Calico Printer's Clerk" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Harding-FolkSongsOfLancashire, pp. 18-19, "The Calico Printer's Clerk" (1 text, 1 modern tune)
MeetMeInTheLaneSongster, "The Cotton Broker's Clerk" (1 text, obviously adapted to America -- it is set in Lowell!)
We-Parted-By-the-River-Side-Songster, p. 32, "Dorothey Drew, or The Calico Printer's Clerk" (1 text)
Clowns-Shoo-Fly-Songster, pp. 6-7, "She Was Very Fond of Dancing, or, The Calico Printer's Clerk" (1 text)
FolkSongAndMusicHall, "Calico Printer's Clerk, The"
Roud #13210
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.27(412), "Calico Printer's Clerk" ("In Manchester, that city"), The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1865; also Harding B 16(180a), "The Calico Printer's Clerk"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rock the Cradle, John" (tune, per Greig/Duncan8)
cf. "The Irish Volunteer" (tune, per We-Parted-By-the-River-Side-Songster)
NOTES [50 words]: Greig/Duncan8 is only the chorus; broadside Bodleian Firth b.27(412) is the basis for the description. - BS
For background on Harry Clifton (1824-1872), see the notes to "The Good Ship Kangaroo." The tune in Harding-FolkSongsOfLancashire is not Clifton's; it was set by Nic Jones and Dave Moran. - RBW
Last updated in version 7.1
File: GrD81900

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