{"id":9875,"date":"2021-03-27T16:43:40","date_gmt":"2021-03-27T16:43:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/?page_id=9875"},"modified":"2022-05-04T14:27:04","modified_gmt":"2022-05-04T14:27:04","slug":"maid-and-the-magpie-the","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/folksongandmusichall.com\/index.php\/maid-and-the-magpie-the\/","title":{"rendered":"Maid and the magpie, The"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
AKA<\/strong><\/td><\/td><\/tr>
First Published<\/td>1879<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Writer\/composer<\/td>WH Phillips<\/td>Roud<\/strong><\/td>RN1532<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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Music Hall Performers<\/strong><\/td>GH MacDermott, Harry Yorke<\/td><\/tr>
Folk performances<\/strong><\/td>Collected from the singing of:<\/strong>
Oliver, Alfred; England : Hampshire 1907
Hambridge, Charles; England : Berkshire; c1915
Ling, Alderman; England : Suffolk 1953
Poacher, Cyril England : Suffolk; c1964
Lee, Jack `Hoopiron’; Australia : New South Wales ; no date
Modern performances<\/strong>
Jim Eldon
Gemma Khawaja<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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From Broadside in Frank Kidson collection VWML<\/a>\n\nNow once there was a maid kept an old magpie,\nAnd a parson who prayed lived very close by;\nWhen this maid met the parson they both stopped to talk\nAnd often on the quiet go for a cosy walk;\nBut her lover was a sailor, who sailed across the main,\nAnd he promised she would be his wife when he returned again,\nStill she let the parson see her home from church,\nAnd kiss her never thinking of the magpie on the perch.\n\nThe maid and the magpie would talk all the day.\nThe maid would believe all the magpie would say,\nShe said I love the parson, but don't you tell the tar.\"\nWhen the old magpie only said, \"Quar, quar!\"<\/em>\n\nNow while this sailor was away so the story goes,\nThis maid flirts with the parson but of course nobody knows,\nUntil she tells the magpie when talking one day,\nShe'd rather have the parson now the sailor is away,\nBut she said don't tell this secret or I'll give you the birch,\nEvery night at nine I meet the parson by the church,\nThe magpie only quar-quar'd as he had done before,\nBut he meant to tell a sailor boy when he returned on shore\n\nWhile stationed at Gibraltar the sailor so it seems,\nWhen sleeping in his cosy bunk he had some funny dreams;\nHe dreamt the girl he left behind on dear old England's shore,\nWould whilst he was away flirt with half a dozen more\nSo he made his passage homeward, as quickly as could be,\nLanded safely at her house but no maiden could he see;\nHe then talked to the magpie who was dancing on the perch,\nAnd the magpie told him all about the parson at the church.\n\nNow when the sailor met the maiden he passed her with disdain,\nSo she sued for breach of promise, tried five hundred to obtain;\nBut he brought the magpie into court, which told the truthful tale,\nSo to get what she required the maiden did fail.\nShe then went for the parson but in vain for him did search,\nFor he knew which way the wind blew so he hooked it from the church;\nThe lawyers couldn't find him, so the case went on the shelf,\nAnd this tricky little maiden had to dwell by herself.\n\nThe maid and the magpie ne'er talk all this day,\nFor the jolly little sailor took the knowing bird away;\nAnd now, with all his shipmates, this rare good-hearted tar,\nWhile the magpie tells the truthful tale, he sings - \"Quar! Quar!\"\n <\/pre>\n\n\n\n
A song written for the Halls which seems to have passed into the oral tradition, collected from several traditional singers in southern England, and once collected in Australia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The maid and the magpie<\/em> was written by WH Phillips and was first sung by Harry Yorke in late 1878:<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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 Nov. 24, 1878;  <\/strong>The Era <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
It became better known as part of GH MacDermott<\/a>‘s repertoire, and was the subject of a dispute in the letters page of The Era<\/em> – looking back it can feel like a bit of a storm in a teacup. But this was a time when ownership of a popular song could be very financially rewarding and disputes of this type were very common.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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May 25, 1879;  <\/strong>The Era <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n
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June 1, 1879;  <\/strong>The Era <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
The publication of the song follows a fairly typical pattern for that period – printing sheet music was still relatively expensive and only tended to occur only when there was a serious prospect of it appealing to a wider market. If a song entered the repertoire of one of the major stars (like GH MacDermott) it was almost bound to get published – lesser-known writers and performers like Phillips and Yorke had to prove the value of their song…<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Harry Yorke (1852-1923) was a popular comic who began performing in the mid-1870s in the Halls of North West England. He was described as “the coming Leybourne” (see George Leybourne<\/a>) although according to the Oldham Express<\/em> he “met with a warmer welcome and more enthusiastic applause than the great lion <\/em>comique ever received in Oldham”<\/em>. In his later career, between the late 1880s and 1910, he managed theatres in Blackburn and Preston.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WH Phillips <\/a>(b\/d unknown) seems to have been a writer and performer particularly active in the late 1870s and 1880s. He is credited with writing this song  The cows won’t milk and the bulls won’t roar<\/a><\/em> and around 10 others between 1879 and 1882.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Gemma Khawaja<\/a> sings it:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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