Blacksmith

“Blacksmith” (Roud 816) is a traditional English folk song, also known as “A Blacksmith Courted Me”. The song was noted down by Ralph Vaughan Williams in 1909 from a Mrs Powell. On that occasion it was sung to the tune “Monk’s Gate”, better known as the tune of “To be a pilgrim”, the hymn by John Bunyan. The same tune is sometimes used for the song “Our Captain Cried”. It has been recorded many times. There are versions by The Critics Group, Shirley Collins, Steeleye Span on the albums Hark! The Village Wait and Please to See the King, Planxty on their first album Planxty, Barbara Dickson on the album Do Right Woman, Phil Cooper on the album “Pretty Susan”, Scatter the Mud on the album “In the Mood”, Loreena McKennitt on Elemental, Martin Simpson and Kathy & Carol and Eddi Reader on Mirmama. Linda Ronstadt gives an a cappella rendition on the 1990 compilation album Rubáiyát. Barry Dransfield recorded an unusual instrumental version of the tune. Jah Wobble recorded a version of the song on his 1996 album “English Roots Music”. By Wikipedia More information: www.informatik.uni-hamburg.de

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