Broom Green Broom
BROOM, GREEN BROOM. English, Air (6/8 time). England, Northumberland. G Major. Standard tuning (fiddle). One part. A song popular at various times for several centuries, most recently in the 'folk revival' era. Irish, English and sometimes Scots versions are extent. Malcolm Douglas believes the earliest appearance of the song to be in Thomas D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy (1698-1720). The Northumbrian version given by Bruce & Stokoe begins:
There was an auld man, he liv'd in the west,
His trade was the cutting of broom, green broom;
He had a lazy lad, whose name it was Jack,
Who'd lie in his bed till noon, till noon,
Who'd lie in his bed till noon.
Variants have also been collected in North America in Newfoundland and New England.
Printed source: Bruce & Stokoe (Northumbrian Minstrelsy), 1882; p. 98.
X:1 T:Broom, Green Broom M:6/8 L:1/8 S:Bruce & Stokoe - Northumbrian Minstelsy Z:AK/Fiddler's Companion K:G D|GGG BAB|GBc d2B|ccc AGA|D2A A2D|GGG BAB|GBd d2g| fed Ad^c|(d3 d2)d|gfg dcB|ecA GFD|GGG BAB|GBd g2e|ded cBA|(G3G2)||
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