All Around My Hat (song)

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This article is about the song. For the album of the same name, see All Around My Hat (album)

The song "All Around my Hat" (Roud 567, Laws P31) is of nineteenth century English origin. In an early version, dating from the 1820s, a Cockney costermonger vowed to be true to his fiancee, who had been sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia for theft and to mourn his loss by wearing green willow sprigs in his hatband for "a twelve-month and a day," in a traditional symbol of mourning.

In Ireland, Peadar Kearney adapted the song to make it relate to an Republican lass whose lover has died in the Easter Rising, and who swears to wear the Irish tricolour in her hat in remembrance.

The versions by Steeleye Span and other artists are discussed below.

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All Around My Hat (song)

"All Around My Hat (song)"

1 Synopsis
2 Commentary
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Synopsis

A young man is forced to leave his lover, usually to go to sea. On his return he finds her on the point of being married to another man. In some versions he goes into mourning, with the green willow as a symbol of his unhappiness (willow is considered to be a weeping tree). In other versions he reminds her of her broken promise, and she dies mysteriously. In some versions he simply contemplates his lover left behind, without actually returning to find her being married. In other versions, the young man is a street hawker who is mourning his separation from his lover who has been transported to Australia for stealing.

[edit] Commentary

The song has typical archetypal elements of the separated lovers, the interrupted wedding, and the inconsolable rejected lover. In the "Yellow Ribbon" variants, the adornment is a reminder of lost love, similar to Ireland's The Black Velvet Band.

Sailors are notoriously unfaithful, so this is an interesting twist, with the man being true, and the woman being inconstant.

[edit] Historical Background

The song is found in England and Canada, seafaring nations, but also in Scotland. In Ireland it has been adapted to a modern conflict - the Irish Republican movement.

[edit] Broadsides

The Bodleian library has a version Words. This version has some cockney words.

[edit] Textual Variants

Sabine Baring-Gould printed a version in "A Garland of Country Song" in 1895. This version is very close to the best known version, by Steeleye Span. The well-known soldier's song She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (as used in the John Ford film of the same name), has the words "Far away! Far away! She wore it for her soldier who was far, far away."^[1] This is probably a more recent variant of the nineteenth century song.

cf. "The Green Willow" ("All around my hat" lyrics)

[edit] Songs that refer to All Around My Hat (song)

Jasper Carrot sang a parody "It's my bloody ribbon and it's my bloody hat" at the Cambridge folk Festival in 1976.

[edit] Motifs

Motifs of the song include separated lovers, a broken token, and death for love, common themes in tragic love songs.

[edit] Television and Movie References

The song She Wore a Yellow Ribbon appears in John Ford's film of the same name. In the 'Watching TV' episode of British television sitcom Men Behaving Badly, Gary and Dorothy repeatedly end up singing the Steeleye Span version of the song while trying to remember the theme tune to Starsky and Hutch. Paul Whitehouse also sings the first lines of the song in an episode of The Fast Show, changing a key word in each line with "arse".

[edit] Recordings

Album/Single	Performer	Year	Variant	Notes
The Voice of the People volume 6	Eddie Butcher	1955	Another Man's Wedding	Eddie Butcher sings it as "Another Man Wedding" (recorded 1955) on "Voice of the People" volume 6.
Now Is the Time for Fishing	Sam Larner	1959-1960	Green Broom	In this version, a Cockney costermonger vowed to be true to his fiancee, who had been sentenced to seven years transportation to Australia for theft and to mourn his loss by wearing green willow sprigs in his hatband for "a twelve-month and a day," in a traditional symbol of mourning.
"Maritime Folk Songs" (anthology by Helen Creighton)	Neil O'Brien	1962	All Around My Hat	American version.
"Mainly Norfolk"	Peter Bellamy	1968	All Around My Hat	.
	Peadar Kearney		Tri-coloured Ribbon	^[2]. This is an adapted version of the song, where a Republican lass has a lover who has died in the Easter Rising, and who swears to wear the Irish tricolour in her hat in remembrance.
From The Beggar's Mantle	Barbara Dickson	1972	The Orange and the Blue	This is a Scottish version. A couple vow loyalty to each other before the man goes to sea. He returns just as his "inconstant lover" is about to be married to someone else. He points out her treachery, and she dies mysteriously before the night of the honeymoon. He goes into mourning, wearing the willow for twelve months, followed by a coat of orange and blue.
All Around My Hat	Steeleye Span	1975	All Around My Hat/Farewell He	This electric folk group took it to number 5 on the charts, with the original version interpolated with lyrics from another early 19th Century song - "Farewell He" - which turned the song into a conversation, with the original words of constancy alternating with a sermon to young girls on the inconstancy of young men. The song has the distinction of being the only Steeleye song covered by a later mainstream band.
	Status Quo	1996	All Around My Hat/Farewell He	Status Quo invited Maddy Prior (of Steeleye Span) to sing harmony on it.