tune page
The Beautiful Damsel
Found in Beautiful_Damsel_3.abc
from the John Chambers abc collection
The abc for this tune contains background information but no music.
X:1 T:The Beautiful Damsel T:The Undaunted Female T:Box on her Head S:Mrs Wilson, Northamptonshire B:Lucy Broadwood and J.A. Fuller Maitland, English County Songs, 1893. N:Roud 289, Laws L3. L:1/8 Q:1/4=100 M:2/4 K:F C|F2 F3/2 F/|(FA) c3/2 A/|G2 F3/2 E/|F3 w:'Tis of a fair dam-*sel in Lon-don did dwell, c|d3/2 d/ f3/2 d/|d2 c3/2 c/|B3/2B/A3/2G/|A3 w:A-wait-ing in her beau-ty, which none there could ex-cel. d|d3/2 d/ f3/2 d/|d c z c|B3/2 B/ A3/2 G/|A3 w:Her mas-ter and her mis-tress she serv-�¨d sev-en year, A|(G3/2A/) B3/2 c/|d2 c3/2 A/|G3/2 F/ F3/2 F/|F3|] w:And what_ fol-lows af-ter you soon shall quick-ly hear. The song seems to have begun its life in the 18th century, as <i>The Staffordshire Maid</i>. By the 19th century the action had moved south and shortened a bit; the set above is very close to broadside texts, which appeared as <i>The Undaunted Female</i>. It persisted in tradition at least as recently as the 1970s, generally known as <i>Box on her Head</i>; Gwilym Davies recorded a set from Mrs. Dodds of Steep, Hampshire, in 1973, which was published in <i>English Dance and Song</i>, vol.38 no.1, 1976. The song has been found mainly in England; less often in Scotland and just occasionally in the USA and Canada. Various broadside editions can be seen at <a href=http://www.bodley.ox.ac.uk/ballads/ballads.htm>Bodleian Library Broadside Ballads</a>, listed as: <a href=http://bodley24.bodley.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/acwwweng/regsrch.pl?wert=staffordshire+maid+[title]&recnums=9648:23201:45891&index=1&db=ballads>The Staffordshire maid</a> <a href=http://bodley24.bodley.ox.ac.uk/cgi-bin/acwwweng/regsrch.pl?wert=undaunted+female+[title]&recnums=2894:3486:5513:5515:5517:7014:12760:19209:19226:19242:22240:23170:25985:30369:30372:30374:30377:30383:30386:35801:39331:41710:50342&index=1&db=ballads>The undaunted female</a> Database entry is <a href=/songs/displaysong.php?songid=170>here</a>. Edited By Malcolm Douglas - 21/01/2003 04:04:35 </em><hr></blockquote>Preview: User name: (must be completed)Enter password: or check to post as guest: Link makerPlease read our notes on posting html.Contact us