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The Miller's Wife O' Blaydon
Last updated: 22.01.22
The Miller's Wife is another faded photocopy that came from Brian Kelly. Its tune is just great for playing on the concertina and is somewhat reminiscent of a peal of bells. The lyrics are quite short and are in what I presume to be, a Northumbrian dialect. For this "Southerner" the song is almost unintelligible. For example, how many of you surfers out there can make sense of
    "What though she bang iss neet and day
    Aal get another laid in
    For gin ye gan through every toon
    Y'ell never bang a wor maiden".
The two brief verses and chorus are of the miller's wife scolding her husband for kissing a maiden.
Since writing the above in the late 1990s, I have now (April 2012) found whilst studying Geordie music from the Northumbrian Minstrelsy that the song's fuller title is The Miller's Wife O' Blaydon and that it was a pipe tune written in the 18th century.
The Miller's Wife is also included by John Stokoe in his Songs and Ballads of Northern England (1893). It has been recorded by Benny Graham on the CD given below.
     Performer CD Title Supplier
       
cd15.gif Various Artists Canny Wylam - Around Blaydon and Prudhoe CD(s) & MP3 Album(s) flag15us.gif flag15uk.gif flag15de.gif flag15fr.gif