Bob Cranky's Adieu (On going with the Volunteer Association from Gateshead to Newcastle, on permanent Duty) is a

Geordie Geordie ( ), sometimes known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English, is an English dialect and accent spoken in the Tyneside area of North East England. It developed as a variety of the old Northumbrian dialect and became espe ...

folk song Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

written in the 19th century by John "Jack" Shield, in a style deriving from

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

Lyrics

The Blue Stone o' the Brig (a dialect word for Bridge) is now only a nominal boundary. It was originally a stone to mark the southern boundary of the town and county of

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

. Beyond it was

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

, which was include in the ”county and liberty of Durham". It was at this point where the "marching guinea" was paid.
The birthday of King George III fell on Saturday, 4 June, and on 6 and 7 June 1808 it was celebrated in grand style on Tyneside. It was estimated that more than 5,000 men took part, some from regular regiments and many more came from the local militia, some from villages many miles away.
The troops marched through the streets, paraded on The Town Moor, and the following day marched to

Throckley Throckley is a village in the City of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle upon Tyne district, in the county of Tyne and Wear, England, approximately west of Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle city centre. Hadrian's Wall passed through the village, its c ...

Fell.
The Gateshead Volunteers were one of the groups of local militia. They were being placed on three weeks "permanent duty" to guard the town "against an attack from

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

and the French“ and had marched into

on Sunday 5 June.
The song, based on a single incident was very popular at the time. But as history moves on, the incident becomes trivial, and the song becomes one of the many forgotten ones. The lyrics are as follows:- BOB CRANKY'S ADIEU Air unknown
On going with the Volunteer Association from Gateshead to Newcastle, on permanent Duty Fareweel, fareweel, ma comely pet!
Aw's forc'd three weeks to leave thee;
Aw's doon for parm'ent duty set,
O dinna let it grieve thee!
Ma hinny! wipe them een sae breet,
That mine wi' love did dazzle;
When thy heart's sad, can mine be leet?
Come, ho'way get a jill o' beer,
Thy heart to cheer:
An' when thou sees me mairch away,
Whiles in, whiles out
O' step, nae doot,
"Bob Cranky's gane," thou'lt sobbing say,
"A sowgering to Newcassel!!" Come, dinna dinna whinge and whipe,
Like yammering Isbel Macky;
Cheer up, ma hinny! leet thy pipe,
And take a blast o' backy!
It's but for yen and twenty days,
The foulks's een aw'l dazzle, --
Prood, swagg'ring i' my fine reed claes:
Ods heft! my pit claes—dist thou hear?
Are waurse o' wear;
Mind cloot them weel, when aw's away;
An' a posie gown
Aw'll buy thee soon,
An' thou's drink thy tea—aye, twice a-day,
When aw come frae Newcassel. Becrike! aw's up tiv every rig,
Sae dinna doot, ma hinny!
But at the blue stane o' the brig
Aw'll ha'e ma mairchin Ginny.
A ginny! wuks! sae strange a seet,
Ma een wi' joy wad dazzle;
But aw'll hed spent that varra neet --
For money, hinny! owre neet to keep,
Wad brick ma sleep:
Sae, smash! aw think'st a wiser way,
Wi' flesh an' beer
Mysel' to cheer,
The lang three weeks that aw've to stay,
A sowgering at Newcassel!. But whisht! the sairjeant's tongue aw hear,
"Fa' in! fa' in!" he's yelpin!
The fifes are whuslin' loud an' clear
An' sair the drums they're skelpin.
Fareweel, ma comely! aw mun gang,
The Gen'ral's een to dazzle!
But, hinny! if the time seems lang,
An' thou freets about me neet an' day;
Then come away,
Seek out the yell-house where aw stay,
An' we'll kiss and cuddle;
An' mony a fuddle
Sall drive the langsome hours away,
When sowgering at Newcassel!.

Comments on variations to the above version

NOTE –
In the early 19th century, as today, there were cheap books and magazines.
Many of these “

chapbook A chapbook is a type of small printed booklet that was a popular medium for street literature throughout early modern Europe. Chapbooks were usually produced cheaply, illustrated with crude woodcuts and printed on a single sheet folded into 8, 1 ...

s" were on poor quality paper to a poor standard and with poor quality print. The works were copied with no thoughts of copyright, and the work required very little proof-reading, and what was done was not required to a high standard. Consequently, the dialect words of songs varied between editions.
As this was a very popular song, it appeared in numerous editions. The many versions published show considerable, some very minor, variations, mainly in the spelling of the words, and sometimes variations within the same edition. Some of the most common are listed below :- Generally
an, and
aw'l and aw'll
baccy and backy
becrike and belike
binny and hinny
Blue Styen of the Brig to blue stane o' the brig – various changes between these two including use of capital letters
breer and breet
come'ly and comely
een and e'en
every and ivery
farewheel and fare-weel
folks's, foulk's and foulks's
forc'd and fourc'd
gane and gyen

gill A gill () is a respiration organ, respiratory organ that many aquatic ecosystem, aquatic organisms use to extract dissolved oxygen from water and to excrete carbon dioxide. The gills of some species, such as hermit crabs, have adapted to allow r ...

and jill
ginny and

guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

goon and gown
ha'e and hev
hoose and house
Is'bel Mackey and Isbel Macky
langsome and lonesome
lood and loud
ma, maw and my
marchin', marchin' and marching
meesl and mysel'
mine and thy
ods and odds
oot and out
sairgent's, sairjeant's and sairjent's
sall and shall
sougerin' soujerin', sowgerin' and sowjerin' (with and without apostrophe or "g" at the end)
swagg'rin' and swagg'ring
take and tyek
thee and thy
think'st and thinks't
thoo and thou
varra, verra and very
wad and will
warse and waurse
whuslin' and wusslin'
yammerin' and yammering

Recordings

To follow

References

External links

*{{usurped,
Farne Folk Archive North East – Chapbook from 1812
}
Rhymes of Northern Bards – Bell 1812A collection of songs 1819The Monthly Chronicle of North Country lore and legends with engravings – 1889
English folk songs Songs about parting Songs about the military Songs related to Newcastle upon Tyne 1850s songs Northumbrian folklore

Lyrics

Comments on variations to the above version

Recordings

See also

References

External links