{"id":16038,"date":"2022-05-05T09:35:35","date_gmt":"2022-05-05T09:35:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=16038"},"modified":"2022-07-03T20:36:52","modified_gmt":"2022-07-03T20:36:52","slug":"when-i-took-our-nance-to-church","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/when-i-took-our-nance-to-church\/","title":{"rendered":"When I took our Nance to church"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td>When I took my Nance to church<\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1878<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>WH Phillips<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN5271<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>Fred Coyne<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Bennett, Sam; England : Warwickshire; 1929-35
Tyrrell, Mr.; England; 1942
Turner, Jim; England : Gloucestershire 1962
Russell, Dave; England : Gloucestershire; 1979 <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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[From Beadle's half-dime singer's library; no. 11]\n\nWhen I Took Our Nance to Church!<\/strong>\nPublished by E. H. Harding, 229 Bowery, N.Y. Music and words, 10 cents.\n\nI'm a jolly squire well known down here, and I hail from Devonshire,\nAnd a happy life with Nance my wife, I live from year to year; \nAnd as we sit by the fireside and children round us play,\nIt makes me think of days gone by, and about our wedding day.\n\nThe bulls did dance, the cows did prance, the pigs all grunted in the sty,\nThe dogs did bark, the pretty little lark sung merrily in the sky; \nThe cocks did crow to let folks know, the hens all cackl'd on the perch,\nAnd the ducks and drake such a row did make. when I took our Nance to church.<\/em>\n\nNance was a farmer's daughter, we met, 'twas on the green\nShe was dancing round the May-pole and call'd the Village Queen; \nShe consented I might see her home, as I took her pretty arm, \nAnd made love to her all the way until I reach'd the farm. \n\nI remember one fine moonlight night as we stood by the old farm gate,\nI kiss'd our Nance's rosy cheek and said, \"I'll know my fate;\" \nI met the farmer going home and told him what I meant,\nHe said, \" Well, squire, with all my heart, to your marriage I'll consent.\" \n\nThe pretty birds did gayly sing, 'twas on a summer's day,\nAnd the wedding-bells did merrily ring as to church we both did stray,\nThe lads and lasses round the church they quickly did advance, \nAnd wished long life and happiness to me and to our Nance.  \n\n<\/pre>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
A song written by Manchester-born songwriter WH Phillips<\/a>, a hit for Fred Coyne in the late 1870s. It has been collected from several English traditional singers in the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a popular song for amateur singers in the late 19th century and there are multiple reports in newspapers and memoirs of it being sung at smoking concerts and the like. It does not appear to have been widely pirated in cheap street literature on this side of the Atlantic and I can’t find any instances of it in any British broadsheets, though it was published in America in Beadle’s Half-Dime Singers Library<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
A modern performance by the wonderful  Gwilym Davies, originator of the excellent Glostrad site<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n
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