ALL ROUND MY HAT (I WEAR THE GREEN WILLOW)
Created on 16/12/2008Latest update on 20/10/2023
Artist: Sabine Baring-Gould
Author: John Hansell/John Valentine
Year: 1838
In his songbook A Garland Of Country Song. A big 'hit' in those days as sung by W.H. Williams. London (Cockney) street song. The English forefather of Round Her Neck She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, later Tie A Yellow Ribbon (US) and The Black Velvet Band (IRE). When lovers were separated (by war, jail or deportation), the left behind one was supposed to greef and hope, wearing a distinctive hatdress. Leaves of the weeping willow were an obvious choice.
Covers:
- 1943:
Mrs. R.W. Duncan [in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia for the L.o.C.]
- 1943:
Dennis Smith [5 days later]
- 1951:
Johnny McDonagh [same melody in The Death Of Brugh; Cathal Brugha was a leader of the Irish revolt of 1916; he was shot by the British in '22; Irish Alan Lomax recording]
- 1953:
Neil O'Brien [also in Nova Scotia for Smithsonian Folkways as All Around My Hat]
- 1954:
Stanley Holloway [idem]
- 1956:
- 1957:
- 1963:
Peg Clancy Power [as Tri-Coloured Ribbon; lyrics: Peadar Kearney]
- 1966:
Anne Byrne [as Tri Coloured Ribbon]
- 1966:
Wolfe Tones [idem; Irish nationalistic reflex]
- 1968:
Peadar Kearney [as Tri-coloured Ribbon; Irish republican variation, focusing on the repercussions of the Easter 1916 uprising; Peter Bellamy recording]
- 1969:
Peter Bellamy [as All Around My Hat; the version known by Flemish folk trio De Snaar, they translated it as Al Rondom Mijnen Hoed the year before Steeleye Span hit]
- 1975:
Steeleye Span [idem; international folk hit, top 5 UK, that's bigger than any other trad. song]
- 1986:
José [idem]
- 1996:
Status Quo [idem; with Maddy Prior (Steeleye Span) on harmony vocals; hit UK]
Same tune as in The Budgeon Is A Fine Trade (1850s). (Round Her Neck) She Wears/Wore A Yellow Ribbon (Andrews Sisters a.o.) is another song with oldest versions around 1917/18 (George A. Norton & American Quartet).
