Plains of Waterloo (IV), The

DESCRIPTION: A very confused song. The singer goes to fight the French at Waterloo. He thinks of the mountains of Britain, and his parting from his girl. He receives a letter. Now the girl recalls her lover's departure and curses the man who killed him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: soldier death Napoleon
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Henry/Huntingdon/Herrmann-SamHenrysSongsOfThePeople H608, pp. 87-88, "The Plains of Waterloo (IV)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan-TheAgeOfRevolution-1776-1815 192, "The Plains of Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1106
NOTES [69 words]: Sam Henry's text almost has to be a conflate song, combining two (or more) Waterloo ballads. Possibly they came together because both involved letters between lovers. But with only five stanzas of the combined piece, I haven't been able to identify the parts.
The best candidate seems to be Ford's song of the same name; they have similar opening lines, and Roud lumps the pieces. But the plots are different. - RBW
File: HHH608

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