{"id":13211,"date":"2021-10-25T15:41:24","date_gmt":"2021-10-25T15:41:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=13211"},"modified":"2023-07-15T15:19:25","modified_gmt":"2023-07-15T15:19:25","slug":"give-my-love-to-nancy","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/give-my-love-to-nancy\/","title":{"rendered":"Give my love to Nancy"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This song reflects racist, misogynist and colonial ideas that were commonplace at the time but are no longer acceptable today.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

AKA<\/strong><\/td>The Zulu Wars
The Blessed Zulu Wars
The Dying Sailor<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1882<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>John Read<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN5362<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>John Read, Beatrice Bermond<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Scott, Harry; England : Bedfordshire : 1950-69
Best, Julie; Canada : Newfoundland; 1969
Hutchings, E.W; Canada : Newfoundland; 1972
Pardon, Walter; England : Norfolk : 1978
Bridger, Charlie; England : Kent : 1983
Spence, Bert; England : Yorkshire : 1960s\/1970s?
Shirer, Annie; Scotland; no date
Lynch, Phil; Australia; no date
Dicks, Harry; Australia; no date<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From Mackney's 50 Popular Songs for Banjo<\/strong> (pub Sheard, no date)\n\nHow I like to tell the story\nThough I've told it oft before,\nThe way we fought for death or glory \nAt the blessed Zulu war.\nSide by side we fought like demons\nKept the enemy at bay.\nUntil Jack received a bullet wound,\nWhich made the fellow say:\n\nGive my love to Nancy, \nThe girl that I adore.\nTell her that she will never \nSee her sailor any more;\nSay I fell in battle \nWhilst fighting with those blacks,\nEv'ry inch a sailor \nBeneath the Union Jack<\/em>\n\nAt first I thought that he was jesting,\nknowing he liked a bit of fun,\nUntil I saw that he was resting \nOn the barrel of his gun\nI knew that he was badly wounded\nOr he never would give way;\nAnd shaking hands, he said \u201cOld comrade,\nThe best of friends must part some day.\u201d\n\nTake this ring from off my finger\nAnd this locket from my neck,\nI've but little time to linger,\nSo I hope you'll not forget.\nAnd should you ever reach old England,\nWhich you may perhaps some day,\nGive these relics to my mother,\nAnd my orders please obey\n\nI said \u201cI'll not forget to tell her\nWhat you say, you may be sure;\u201d\nIt grieved me much severely to see the fellow \nLie there weltering in his gore.\nThe look he gave me when we parted,\nI remember to this day,\nAnd when for camp that day we started,\nI fancied I could hear him say:<\/pre>\n\n\n\n
In 1879 the Liberal leader Gladstone, speaking in an Edinburgh Music Hall, powerfully condemned the military adventures of the Conservative government. He argued they were indulging in a series of theatrical expedients, calculated to excite alarm and stir pride and passion… <\/em>that they were setting up false phantoms of glory<\/em> to justify a sense of British superiority and encourage a spirit of domination. Sadly when the Liberals were later elected into government they proved equally likely to indulge in Imperial military adventures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of the military “theatrical expedients”<\/em> that Gladstone was condemning was the Anglo Zulu war of 1879. It was a war in which the Zulu nation was brutally suppressed in order to ensure access to the diamond mines of South Africa. I say this to set the context to what otherwise might be seen simply as a nice romantic song about the bravery and nobility of a sailor.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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A number of songs in the Halls created their own “false phantoms of glory<\/em>” – painting a patriotic, rosy-tinted view of the actions of a conscript army fighting far away. Written and performed by John Read, Give my love to Nancy<\/em>, follows a well established pattern in such songs in which the dying soldier\/sailor bravely expires for Queen and country whilst only thinking nobly of his loved ones. It may seem slightly incongruous that the song features sailors fighting Zulus, but this does reflect what actually happened. Despite their eventual victory, the British Army suffered a number of defeats and at times had to call on sailors to fight on land.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
I have been unable to access the sheet music for Wish my luck to Nancy <\/em>which was published by Charles Sheard. I have taken the lyrics from a banjo tutor published by Sheard at around the same time. John Read is described singing the song in this contemporary report:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 July 16, 1881; report of performance at Collins’s;  <\/strong>The Era <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The song proved very popular and contemporary reports suggest that it was also in the repertoire of music hall star Beatrice Bermond. It retained its popularity throughout the 19th century and there are regular reports of it being sung at amateur entertainments particularly those organised by the Primrose League, an organisation which attempted to build a mass conservative working class organisation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The song was collected from traditional singers in the UK Canada and Australia, often under the title  The Zulu Wars<\/em>. You can hear Walter Pardon sing it here<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sources:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n