Steeleye Span - The Weaver and the Factory Maid

 #Steeleye Span #Maddy Prior #Tim Hart #Martin Carthy #folk #folk rock #British folk #British folk rock #traditional folk #electric folk #British roots rock

 

A broadside of unknown origin with the title ‘The Weaver in Love’ is in the Cecil Sharp Manuscript Collection, and John Holloway and Joan Black's 1975 book ‘Later English Broadside Ballads’ has ‘The Weaver and his Sweetheart’ from the Madden Collection. In both versions the weaver still fell in love with a servant maid, while in the following versions from A.L. Lloyd on she was changed to a factory maid. A.L. Lloyd claimed that he collected The Weaver and the Factory Maid from William Oliver of Widnes, Lancashire, in September 1951; he sang it on the 1963 Topic theme LP ‘The Iron Muse: A Panorama of Industrial Folk Music.’ Lloyd commented in the notes:
“The earliest weavers' songs are from the time when hand-loom weavers went from village to village, setting up in farmhouse and cottage kitchens. Amorous chances were plenty. The invention of the power-loom and the establishment of textile factories brought a great change in the handloom weavers' lives. This song, lyrical and wry, curiously illuminates this moment in history when the hand-workers were finding themselves obliged to follow the girls into the factories and weave by steam, and when country song was changing to town song.”
In 1973, Steeleye Span recorded a version of ‘The Weaver and the Factory Maid ‘with lyrics nearly identical to A.L. Lloyd's, but they added Robert Cinnamond's fragment in front and end, and two more verses from a children's rhyme. This was released on their LP ‘Parcel of Rogues’ whose sleeve notes commented:
“There was a great bitterness felt between the hand-loom weavers and those who worked on the steam looms introduced during the industrial revolution. This feeling polarized in the Luddites (named after their mythical leader Ned Ludd) who were unemployed hand-loom weavers bent on destroying the steam looms which had put them out of work.
From: https://mainlynorfolk.info/lloyd/songs/theweaverandthefactorymaid.html

 

Steeleye Span are a British folk rock band formed in 1969 in England by Fairport Convention bass player Ashley Hutchings and established London folk club duo Tim Hart and Maddy Prior. The band were part of the 1970s British folk revival. Steeleye Span have seen many personnel changes; Maddy Prior being the only remaining original member of the band. Their musical repertoire consists of mostly traditional songs with one or two instrumental tracks of jigs and/or reels added; the traditional songs often include some of the Child Ballads. In their later albums there has been an increased tendency to include music written by the band members, but they have never moved completely away from traditional music, which draws upon pan-British traditions.  From: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steeleye_Span