Blaydon races
AKA | |
First Published | 1862 |
Lyrics | George Ridley | Music | Trad: Trip to Brighton | Roud | RN3511 |
Music Hall Performers | George Ridley |
Folk performances | Source Singers Reeve, Roger 1944 Canada : Nova Scotia Broadhead, Bernard 1970 England : Yorkshire Modern performances Spinners Houghton Weavers and many more |
I went to Blaydon Races 'Twas on the ninth of June Eighteen Hundred and Sixty Two On a summer's afternoon I took the bus from Balmbras And she was heavy laden Away we went along Collingwood Street That's on the Road to Blaydon Oh me lads, you should've seen us gannin', Passing the folks along the road, And all of them were starin', All the lads and lasses there. They all had smilin' faces, Gannin' along the Scotswood Road, To see the Blaydon Races. We flew past Armstrong's factory And up by the Robin Adair But gannin' ower the Railway Bridge The bus wheel flew off there The lasses lost their crinolenes And veils that hide their faces I got two black eyes and a broken nose In gannin' to Blaydon Races Now when we got the wheel back on Away we went again But them that had their noses broke They went back o'er hyem Some went to the dispensary And some to Doctor Gibbs's And some to the infirmary To mend their broken ribs's We flew across the Tyne Bridge And came to Blaydon Toon The barman he was calling then They called him Jackie Broon I saw him talking to some chaps And them he was persuadin' To gan and see Geordie Ridley's show At the Mechanics' Hall in Blaydon Now when we got to Paradise There were bonny games begun There were four and twenty on the bus And how we danced and sung They called on me to sing a song So I sang 'em 'Paddy Fagan' I danced a jig and I swung me twig The day I went to Blaydon The rain it poured down all the day And made the ground quite muddy Coffee Johnny had a white hat on Shouted 'Wee stole the cuddy?' There were spice stalls and monkey shows And old wives selling ciders And the chap on the ha'penny roundabout Saying 'Any more lads for riders?'
A staple of north-east England’s traditional songs, written and performed by George Ridley on the Music Hall stage
Sources:
- Entries in the Roud Indexes at the Vaughn Williams Memorial Library: https://archives.vwml.org/search/all:single[folksong-broadside-books]/0_50/all/score_desc/extended-roudNo_tr%3A3511
- Kilgarrif Sing Us
- Lyrics: monologues.co.uk
The Houghton Weavers sing it: