Song of the Week – The Black Velvet Band
This week’s song is a traditional piece from Ireland. I have hesitated to record it because it is one of those songs that has many different versions. The main story concerns a man who, along with a lady he may (or may not) have just met, is sentenced to be shipped to the colony of Australia. This was a common practice in England and Ireland in the 19th Century. The earliest recorded versions of this song date to between 1837 and 1853.
This song is fairly popular in Meridies. I find myself doing it several times during any event I attend there. I imagine one of the reasons is that it is a song that people know and so they feel comfortable selecting it. Which brings me to my topic for tonight; Why do you keep picking the same old songs? I understand that some people have a favorite song and that I am quite possibly the only person who can or will perform that song for them. (Raven Banner, Your Grace?) However, I think most people are simply daunted by the long list of songs I carry around. (170+ songs and what a great shtick it is to flip it out for someone’s perusal.) Because of my nature and choice of persona, I prefer to look for songs I haven’t heard. And to be honest it gets a little dismaying at times when I have spent 25+ years collecting the best songs that I can find that seem to go well with the SCA experience only to have someone say, “Oh, I’ve heard Loch Lomond before, do that one.”
So, all I can say is I almost never bite, and very seldom growl. Please feel free to look through my list and pick something you haven’t heard before that catches your eye. In all likelihood it will be something that enhances your experience and hopefully, if you can get past my singing =), helps create the mood of “we could be back in that time”. Worried about picking something embarrassing? Well, if you’ve seen my list you know it is broken down into categories. Just stay away from the bawdy songs and you are probably safe on that score. Of course, if you really do want to hear Loch Lomond please feel free to request it. It’s on the list because it is actually a very pretty traditional song, full of lovely and loving imagery and, being a Scottish ballad, death, of course. =)
The Black Velvet Band by Glen E Hammer is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Not a Bard 