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I started to sing Here's the Tender Coming on joining the Tyneside Maritime Chorus in early 2011 and very much enjoying the bass part.
This song can be found in Roy Palmer's The Valiant Sailor. In the sleeve notes for the same-named recording where it was sung by Frankie Armstrong, Roy Palmer wrote:
This poignant song comes from the Northeast. Newcastle and Sunderland were second only to London in providing men for the navy during the French wars. Resistance was sometimes violent, with women playing a prominent part. The Lawe [referred to in the 4th verse] is a high vantage point, whence the hated tender could be seen lying out beyond the harbour bar. The pressing tenders were like floating prisons, where "recruits" were assembled before being distributed to the various ships.
The Northumbrian Minstrelsy also includes the melody and 1st verse of this song, more is to be found in John Stokoe's Songs and Ballads of Northern England (1893).
This song may be found in the Tyneside Maritime Chorus songbook
YouTube Videos:
Here's The Tender Coming (2:07), performed by Willard's Leap.
The Unthanks - Here's The Tender Coming Live Later Jools Holland Oct 2009 (3:30), performed by The Unthanks.
"Here's the Tender Coming" has been recorded by:
Frankie Armstrong on "Lovely on the Water" CD(s) & MP3 Album(s)
Various Artists on "The Folks of Shields - Around South Tyneside" MP3 Album(s)
Bob Fox on "Dark to the Sky"