Billy Taylor

AKA William Taylor
Willie Taylor
First published 1796
Lyrics Trad Music Trad Roud RN158

Music Hall performers JW Sharpe 1840s
Sam Cowell 1850s
Folk performances Too many to mention! 

 As sung by JW Sharpe

 Billy Taylor was a gay young feller,
 Very full of mirth, and very full of glee;
 And his mind he did diskiver
 Unto a damsel fair and free.
  
 Tiddy, iddy, iddy, ol, tol, tido.
  
 Four-and-twenty stout young fellers
 (Clad they vere in blue array)
 Came and press'd young Billy Taylor,
 And forthvith sent him to sea.
  
 Soon his true love follow'd arter,
 Under the name of Richard Carr:
 And her lily-white hands she daubed all over,
 With the nasty pitch and tar.
  
 Vhen they came to the first engagement,
 Bold she fought among the rest;
 Until a cannon-ball did cut her jacket open,
 And diskivered her lily-white breast.
  
 Vhen the captain comed for to hear on't,
 Says he, " Vhat vind has blown you here ?"
 Says she, " I come for to seek for my true-love,
 Whom you press' d, and I love so dear."
  
 " If you come for to seek for your true love,
 Tell unto me his name, I pray!"
 " His name, kind sir, is Billy Taylor,
 Whom you press' d, and sent to sea."
  
 "If his name is Billy Taylor,
 He is both cruel and severe ;
 For, rise up early in the morning,
 And you'll see him with a lady fair."
  
 With that, she rose up in the morning
 Early, by the break of day;
 And she met her Billy Taylor,
 Valking vith a lady gay.
  
 Forthvith she called for sword and pistol,
 Vhich did come at her command;
 And she shot her Billy Taylor,
 Vith his fair one in his hand.
  
 Vhen the captain comed for to hear on't, 
 He werry much applauded her for vhat she had done ;
 And quickly he made her the first lieutenant
 Of the gallant " Thunder Bomb."

An extremely popular song in the folk tradition, existing in multiple forms, with over 460 entries in the Vaughn Williams Memorial library. A useful sampling of the song’s history in the folk world is given at Mainly Norfolk

It seems that this song was written long before Music Hall existed, probably in the 1730s or 1740s, as a serious ballad. Sheet music credited to John Bannister was published in c1796-1801, but the song is likely t be older. Comic singers of the Taverns and early Music Halls of the 1830s and 40s made it amusing to their audience by singing it in a comedic way. At the time this seem to involve exchanging v’s and w’s, a process also followed in Villikins an’ His Dinah and Lord Lovell – other old songs sung in the ‘Mockney’ of the day for comic effect.

JW Sharpe (1820-56) was a huge figure in early Music Hall, starting as a singer in the back rooms of taverns and pleasure gardens like the Vauxhall Gardens. He became the resident singer at Evans’s Song and Supper Rooms where his often topical comic songs were received with great enthusiasm. He supplemented his income by selling copies of his songs, and published them as JW Sharpe’s Vauxhall Comic Song-book, which included over 200 songs. Harold Scott suggests that his reputation for being risqué probably originated from his stage patter, and the way he presented the songs, rather than the words themselves which are extremely “respectable” when compared with the bawdy songs circulating at the time.

More on Sam Cowell and Lord Lovell here.

Steve Roud summarises the song’s history in The New Penguin Book of Folk Songs (2004):

A late 18th century serious song that was quickly picked up and performed as a burlesque, which remained a staple of the comic song repertoire well into the third quarter of the 19th century. Traditional singers then learnt the burlesque words and started to sing them “straight”, and in their performances it became a serious song again.

Sources:

A serious version by Brian Peters, collected by Cecil Sharp in the Appalachias, perhaps after the song had lost any trace of the comedy it temporarily took on: