Handed Down

Jenny Shaw
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Music History
  • Biweekly

Handed Down celebrates traditional songs and the people who sing them. The show is presented by Jenny Shaw, an amateur musician and professional writer. Each episode is full of music, tales and curiosities as we delve into the history a single song, often with the help of a fellow folk musician, to uncover the strange stories and colourful characters that lie beneath.  These are the songs that have been handed down from our ancestors. This podcast and the people involved in it help keep them alive so that we can hand them down in turn to future generations.

  1. 3d ago

    The Cuckoo's Nest - Utter Filth!

    The Cuckoo’s Nest is a very naughty song, and it’s not alone. Suggestive songs are popular in the folk tradition, but can they be entirely distinguished from out and out filth? Well! That’s a very interesting question as it turns out and I’m inclined to propose a spectrum of sung naughtiness. In this episode we’re musing on the innocence (or not) of rural communities and taking a good look at a very cheeky London songbook. Along the way we bump into Robert Burns and later immerse ourselves in the oldest known erotic song. You'll hear historic versions of The Cuckoo's Nest, and a bonus song that is proper rude. This episode was inspired by the sad death of Barry Dransfield who sang The Cuckoo’s Nest to perfection. Content note: There isn’t really any explicit content in this episode, thanks to the many creative euphemisms in the songs. Nonetheless you might not want to listen to it with young children around, due to their tendency to ask awkward questions and/or repeat things at school – you have been warned! Thanks to Stones Barn and the Barnstoners community who helped me get started, and Greg Pritchard for fixing my woeful vocal technique! Music Theme Tune – Man of Green (Jenny Shaw) The Cuckoo’s Nest song tune – Treble Recorder The Cuckoo’s Nest tune – country dance tune, possibly from Rutherford (but probably not Playford) – Irish Whistle Bonnie Brier Bush verse 1 Scottish version of Cuckoo’s Nest as sung by Jeannie Robertson The Cuckoo’s Nest song (1850) version verse1 The Cuckoo’s Nest song from Fanny Hill’s Bang-Up Reciter verse1 The Cuckoo’s Nest song (1780) from “The Entertaining Companion”  The Cuckoo’s Nest tune Woburn Fife Manuscript c. 1807-40 – Irish Whistle Love Song for Shu-Sin – Harp and vocals The Cuckoo’s Nest full version Bonus: The Thatched Tenement – Guitar and vocals   References Jeannie Robertson sings Cuckoo’s Nest: https://archive.culturalequity.org/field-work/scotland-1951-1958/jeannie-robertson-i-1153/cuckoos-nest  Love song for Shu-Sin: https://www.worldhistory.org/article/750/the-worlds-oldest-love-poem/  Fanny Hill’s Bang-Up Reciter: https://www.horntip.com/html/books_&_MSS/1830s/1836--1965_fanny_hills_bang-up_reciter_friskey_songster_(PB)/1836--1965_fanny_hills_bang-up_reciter_friskey_songster.pdf  Gammon, V (1982) Song, Sex, and Society in England, 1600-1850. Folk Music Journal 4(3) pp108-145. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4522105  Thanks as always to Mainly Norfolk, the Traditional Ballad Index and the contributors to Mudcat.

  2. Oct 9

    Lovely Joan - A Plucky Girl

    A wealthy young man thinks he's found some easy pickings, but he doesn't reckon with Joan who is not just lovely, but feisty and athletic. She's more than a match for him, and the winner takes all. He's not happy about this but takes it well... just kidding, he rages and cries in the middle of a field. Joan is one example of women in folk song who do the unexpected. They turn the tables on the predatory man and give him his just desserts. This is another song that owes a lot to the medieval Pastourelle, but as you'll hear the style of argument is still live and kicking. Music performed by Jenny Shaw: - Tune of Lovely Joan as collected from William "Dubber" Hurr from Southwold, Suffolk in 1910 by Ralph Vaughan Williams and George Butterworth. - Verse from the version collected by Vaughan Williams from Christopher Jay of Acle, Norfolk, in 1908. - Verse from Sweet Lovely Joan, a bowdlerised version published by Cecil Sharp. - L'autrier Jost' Una Sebissa (Marcabru, 1129-1150) - Handsome Joan the Dairymaid, sung to a spontaneous tune   References and links Lovely Joan collected from Christopher Jay for Acle, Norfolk by Ralph Vaughan Williams https://www.eatmt.org.uk/lovely-joan-roud-592-acle-april-1908/  Handsome Joan the Dairy Maid in Newcastle University’s archives: https://cdm21051.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p21051coll54/id/111/rec/290  Lovely Joan on Mainly Norfolk: https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/lovelyjoan.html  Lovely Joan on the Traditional Ballad Index: https://balladindex.org/Ballads/ShH57.html  The Merchant’s Son of York and the Begger Wench of Hull: https://yorkshirefolksong.net/song.cfm?songID=65

  3. Jan 11

    As I Roved Out - Heartbreak, Famine and Class Struggle

    It's not often that I'm stumped by a folk song, but this is one tricky little character. It is also beautiful, graceful and weirdly catchy... and extremely elusive.  Nonetheless, there's quite a bit to say about land, class and medieval shepherdesses, though surprisingly little about parted lovers. Given the setting and context, romantic heartbreak suddenly doesn't feel like the end of the world. Somehow we end up in Scotland, though only tentatively, and discover a mystery. But then we get to hear the song itself which, as ever, is balm to the soul. Music A clip of Bridget Tunney singing As I Roved Out. See and hear the full version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOlZhqrVrQU My Lagan Love (traditional, Donegal) The Frost is All Over (traditional, Donegal) L'autrier Jost' Una Sebissa (Marcabru, 1129-1150) The Airy Bachelor (Traditional, Donegal) All music performed by Jenny Shaw unless otherwise stated. References https://balladindex.org/Ballads/K150.html David Hammond (1979) Review of “The Irish Song Tradition” by Sean O’Boyle. The Canadian Journal of Irish Stories, 5 (1) pp124-127 Land hunger, unemployment and poverty in pre-Famine Roscommon, Galway & Mayo | Divergent Paths https://faculty.washington.edu/petersen/lba/marcabru.htm  Text of Robene and Makyne:  https://ia600308.us.archive.org/29/items/robeneandmakynea00henruoft/robeneandmakynea00henruoft.pdf

  4. 04/15/2025

    George Collins - Don't Go Kissing Watery Tarts

    George Collins is a handsome young man with his whole life ahead of him, so why does he die within a few short verses and leave a trail of devastation in his wake?  Today’s episode takes us back to supernatural legends from medieval Northern Europe, in which brave young men are easily seduced. We also travel across the Atlantic to meet a dying hobo who wandered into this song sometime in the late 19th Century. In the end, these legends are a legacy of the things we didn’t properly understand. Nonetheless, if you do meet a beautiful maiden by the riverside it’s best just to back away, jump on your horse and ride home as fast as you can. Music Verses from two different versions of George Collins as recorded in the Folk Song Society Journey 1909: https://archive.org/details/sim_folk-song-society-journal_1909_3_13/page/300/mode/2up  Traditional Breton Tune Faroese Folk Tune  –  Grímur á Miðjanesi Incidental music – Rosebud in June The historic American recording, and many others, can be found here: https://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/collins.htm  Final song: This is the version sung by Shirley Collins on The Sweet Primroses, 1967. I’ve slowed it down and recorded it with a guitar accompaniment which is somewhat inspired by Dolly Collins’ beautiful organ arrangement.   References Bluegrass Messengers - George Collins- Barbara M. Cra'ster 1910 https://archive.org/details/englishscottishp22chilrich/page/278/mode/2up?view=theater  https://www.mustrad.org.uk/articles/collins.htm  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwerz_an_Aotrou_Nann  https://balladspot.blogspot.com/2016/03/sir-olof-and-elves.html  https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=xlIJAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA161&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q&f=false  https://archive.org/details/sim_folk-song-society-journal_1909_3_13/page/300/mode/2up  https://archive.org/details/folksongsofsouth00coxj/page/110/mode/2up

  5. 02/02/2025

    Apple Tree Wassail with Lunatraktors

    What a time we had, talking about the bones and the spirit of the Wassail. The Lunatraktors, Carli and Clair, get right to the heart of things with their "Broken Folk" which provides an anchor, a refuge and solace, a shamanic art and a collective experience. They are experts at asking questions of our tradition, and passionate about telling the stories that have been hidden or lost. The Wassail is about apples and cider and community and collectivism and so much more, and Lunatraktors' embodied approach to folk turns this an intense experience. We explore both the light and the dark of recent history and ask: what will be left when the apocalypse comes? Folk. The answer is folk, and it can be deeply healing. But in the end you have to laugh. Their music can be dark and tragic but it is also playful and fun and, after we'd unpicked the state of everything, we were all gurning. Content warning: This episode includes a discussion about suicide Music Now The Time Rigs of the Time Unquiet Apple Tree Wassail Songs are all from Lunatraktors, and if you want more please visit their website: https://www.lunatraktors.space/ or find all the points of connection on linktr.ee/lunatraktors

  6. 12/26/2024

    Wren Day

    After all the festivities of Christmas Day are over, what could be better than to run around the village and hunt a tiny little bird with all your neighbours. This special St Stephen's Day episode explores the strange custom of wren hunting in the British Isles. Hang on to your hats, it's going to be a weird one. Music Hunt the Wren, a Manx song Medieval French tune (known to me as 'Dancing Bears' but YMMV) The Cutty Wren, to the tune of Green Bushes (thanks A. L. Lloyd!) References Many thanks go to two websites: Mainly Norfolk and the Ballad Index, for such detailed information about this song. Other references include: Mona Melodies: https://www.manxmusic.com/media/History%20photos/MONA%20MELODIES%202020%20full%20transcription.pdf Charles Barrow (1820) Mona Melodies https://www.manxmusic.com/media/History%20photos/MONA%20MELODIES%202020%20full%20transcription.pdf  A W Moore (1891) The Folklore of the Isle of Man George Waldron (1744) The History and Description of the Isle of Man Vallancy, Charles (1770) Collectanea de rebus hibernicis. T. Ewing, Dublin https://archive.org/details/collectaneadere09vallgoog/page/n1/mode/2up  https://mainlynorfolk.info/ian.campbell/songs/thecuttywren.html  John Aubrey’s Remaines of Gentilisme and Judaisme https://archive.org/details/remainesgentili01aubrgoog Muller, S. (1996). The Irish Wren Tales and Ritual. To Pay or Not to Pay the Debt of Nature. Béaloideas, 64/65, 131–169. https://doi.org/10.2307/20522463

  7. 12/12/2024

    The Pretty Girl - A Moo-ving Love Song

    This little Irish love song has quite a back story. To trace its origins, we have to travel back in time to a very subversive harp festival, dig into the Irish harper tradition and follow the fortunes of some proper characters. There’s a tiff between an Irish and an English poet, a moody watcher on a hillside, and what does Judy Garland have to do with it all?  Find out in our brand new episode! Music The Airy Bachelor, tune collected in Donegal by Herbert Hughes  The Coolin, traditional Irish tune The Pretty Girl tune as arranged by Edward Bunting in A General Collection of the Ancient Music of Ireland, 1796  Dinogad’s Smock, 12th Century Welsh tune Eleanor Plunkett, Turlough O’Carolan Judy Garland sings The Pretty Girl in “Little Nellie Kelly” (1940): Judy Garland: A Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow Percy Grainger’s version of The Pretty Girl: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPpQ4h26lBM Beethoven, "Sweet Linnet": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Zpz94lzCoE  Song: The Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow / Lament for Owen Roe O’Neill (according to Clannad)   Sources and references A general collection of the ancient Irish music: containing a variety of admired airs never before published, and also the compositions of Conolan and Carolan. Edward Bunting (1796) https://archive.org/details/generalcollectio00bunt/page/n11/mode/2up The Song of O'Ruark, Prince of Breffni https://www.musicanet.org/robokopp/eire/thevalle.htm Thank you to the contributors to the Mudcat Café whose discussions 25 years ago gave me most of the research I needed for this podcast: mudcat.org: Info: Pretty Maid (Girl) Milking a Cow Thank you to Stones Barn in Cumbria and the Barnstoners who set me on this course and kept me going.

  8. 12/22/2023

    The Cherry Tree Carol - Biblical Fanfic

    When a Christmas carol is also a folk ballad you know it's not going to be the usual angels/shepherds/kings extravaganza. This one doesn't disappoint, with a lovely garden, a jealous Joseph and a fruit-related miracle. But, as ever, all is not as it seems. Continuing the theme of weird Christianity from last month's episode, we get to explore medieval mystery plays and alternative gospels, and in 5th Century Syria we discover a scholarly and forthright Mary who doesn't need an angel to fight her battles for her. Have a wonderful Christmas! Music Verse from Jean Richie’s recording of The Cherry Tree Carol, Kentucky  The Cherry Tree Carol, collected by Maud Karpeles and Patrick Shuldham-Shaw from John Partridge of Cinderford, Gloucestershire (Verse 1)  Verse from a Jean Richie version, Kentucky, recorded by Joan Baez  Instrumental: Version arranged by D Gilbert and W Sandys (19th Century)  Benedicamus Domino (Plainsong, anon)  The Cherry Tree Carol, version sung by Shirley Collins, 1959  Orthodox Chant and Ney (flute) from FreeSounds  References Royston, Pamela L (1982) "The Cherry-Tree Carol": Its sources and analogues https://scholarworks.iu.edu/dspace/bitstream/handle/2022/1762/15(1)%201-16.pdf?sequence=1  https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/daily/biblical-topics/post-biblical-period/the-origins-of-the-cherry-tree-carol/  https://d.lib.rochester.edu/teams/text/sugano-n-town-plays-banns-proclamation  https://www.academia.edu/29076122/The_Origins_of_The_Cherry_Tree_Carol_How_a_Christmas_carol_links_the_modern_Middle_East_and_medieval_England  https://dokumen.pub/mary-and-joseph-and-other-dialogue-poems-on-mary-9781593338398-2011007425-1593338392.html  https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/thecherrytreecarol.html  https://www.hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com/Hymns_and_Carols/Notes_On_Carols/cherry_tree_carol-notes.htm  https://balladindex.org/Ballads/C054.html

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About

Handed Down celebrates traditional songs and the people who sing them. The show is presented by Jenny Shaw, an amateur musician and professional writer. Each episode is full of music, tales and curiosities as we delve into the history a single song, often with the help of a fellow folk musician, to uncover the strange stories and colourful characters that lie beneath.  These are the songs that have been handed down from our ancestors. This podcast and the people involved in it help keep them alive so that we can hand them down in turn to future generations.

Information

  • Creator
    Jenny Shaw
  • Years Active
    2021 - 2026
  • Episodes
    46
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Handed Down
  • Show Website
    Handed Down

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