Spottee

DESCRIPTION: "Come all you good people and listen to me, And a comical jest I will tell unto ye, Concerning one Spottee that lived on the law key...." The wild man frightens women and children and horses; many hope to see him move, but sailors will not take him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay-SongsAndBalladsOfNorthernEngland)
KEYWORDS: madness
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Stokoe/Reay-SongsAndBalladsOfNorthernEngland, pp. 72-73, "Spottee" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: [Cuthbert Sharp], _The Bishopric Garland, A Collection of Legends, Songs, Ballads, &c Belonging to the County of Durham_, 1834 (references are to the 1969 reprint), p. 50, "Spottee" (1 text; 1 tune on p. 85)
ST StoR072 (Partial)
Roud #3142
NOTES [32 words]: Stokoe quotes Sir Cuthbert Sharp to the effect that song tells of an actual madman "who lives in a cave between Whitburn and Sunderland, which still retains the name of 'Spottee's Hole.'" - RBW
Last updated in version 3.1
File: StoR072

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