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Whistling Dancer

from Role Call by Jan and Paul Ramsey

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about

The source for this song was a newspaper article in an 1851 edition of the London Morning Chronicle. The journalist told the story of an orphan cockney youth’s life on the streets. He went by the name of “Whistling Billy”. Billy had no idea of his age, but the journalist thought him to be about 15. To earn a living he danced and played a tin whistle at the same time. The journalist clearly thought Billy was something of a fantasist. The boy claimed he regularly made £2 per week (this would have the equivalent purchasing power of ca £310/$365 in 2022). He bore no evidence of earning much at all, the journalist wrote that “I should have imagined, at first glance, that he was pining with want. His shoes were worn through, his jacket grimey, with a washed-out linen blouse … whilst his trousers were of coarse canvas, and as black on the thighs as the centre of a drum-head. Clearly in poor health he wheezed when speaking, and smoked a pipe continuously with contents that smelled of anything but tobacco”.


The song tells something of his story and imagines what his future holds. The meaning of the cockney slang used in the song is as follows: Parlance to dance; prigging/prig to steal; and mop-ups and nobbings, bits and pieces.

lyrics

Me father was a barber, a bully through and through
To parlance was me destiny, as me mother truly knew
I ran away to dance and sing for sixpence at a ball
Imprisoned for me prigging, I learned the whistle squall

Me shoes are worn from shuffling
Me chest is all but done
I dance and prig to live me life
But money I have none

I’d dance and whistle for you, there's no one quite like me
A jig, a shuffle, back snatch, straight fives a hornpipe free
Sang the girl I left behind me and double stepping to
A twisting and a turning and a rattling I would do

I played please don’t tease me, my pretty little dear
Gambled all me earnings spent the rest on beer
The doss house turned me out and a roving I began
I travelled with me whistle, from Hull to Birmingham

I knew me time was up, when me stage was just a cart
Small mop up and a nobbing, I lost me own true heart
No pudden for me breakfast no mutton for me tea
Broken boozed and helpless, I joined the Queen’s navy

No more the whistle or the dance nor the hope that I once had
A line to fish a deck to clean and the rigging to unclad
I dream of selling whistles for a shilling at a time
Of making money from me feet and free from bloody slime

credits

from Role Call, released January 11, 2023
Ramsey

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about

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Jan and Paul Ramsey Grimsby, UK

Jan and Paul first began singing together when they were students. Jan plays guitar and sings lead vocals, and Paul plays single reed harmonica and vocals. They are renowned for their close harmonies. Over the years they have performed extensively in the UK and overseas. They have held various residencies in UK folk clubs and are currently residents at Grimsby Folk Club. ... more

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