Cock-Fight, The

DESCRIPTION: Description of a cock-fight, wherein the grey defeats the charcoal-black, to the delight of the singer.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1891 (Kidson-TraditionalTunes)
KEYWORDS: fight bird gambling sports chickens
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
VaughanWilliams/Lloyd-PenguinBookOfEnglishFolkSongs, p. 27, "The Cock-Fight (The Bonny Grey)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kidson-TraditionalTunes, pp. 135-137, "The Holbeck Moor Cock-Fight" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Pallmer-ECS, "#122, "Wa'ney Cockfeightin' Sang" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Jon Raven, _The Urban and Industrial Songs of the Black Country and Birmingham_, Broadside, 1977, p.. 200-201, "The Lee Bridge Cocking" (1 text, 1 tune, which may be a different song but which shares some elements)
Roud #211
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.19(37) view 1, "The Bonnie Gray," unknown, n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wednesbury Cocking" (theme)
cf. "The Follom Brown-Red" (theme)
cf. "The Kildallan Brown Red" (theme)
NOTES [41 words]: Accrding to Roy Palmer, The Folklore of Warwickshire, Rowman and Littlefield, 1976, p. 117, cock-fighting became illegal in Britain in 1849, so there is a presumption (although obviously not a certainty) that this song is older than that. - RBW
Last updated in version 3.7
File: VWL027

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