The Pitman's Revenge (against Bonaparte) is a traditional

Geordie Geordie () is a nickname for a person from the Tyneside area of North East England, and the dialect used by its inhabitants, also known in linguistics as Tyneside English or Newcastle English. There are different definitions of what constitut ...

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 c ...

, written circa 1804, by George Cameron in the Geordie dialect. The song is about the threat of invasion posed by

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

History

Around this period,

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

had gathered his armies and was threatening Britain. All over the country volunteer regiments (a sort of Home Guard) were being recruited. George Cameron served as a Sergeant in one such regiment formed to defend

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. He wrote this, his first (and it appears his only) song "The Pitman's Revenge against Bonaparte" during this period, c1804. He first performed the song at a meeting of his regiment, and despite being met with much approval this appears to have been the only song he wrote. According to the 1872 edition of "Allan's Illustrated Edition of Tyneside songs", Cameron's daughter reported that the writer first performed the song at a meeting of his regiment at the Three Indian Kings on Newcastle's Quayside, and that the song was later borrowed by a friend, who, unbeknown to the writer, arranged for it to be published.

Variations to the lyrics

In the early 19th century there were many cheap books and magazines. These books were on poor quality paper with poor quality print. The works were copied with no thought of copyright, very little proof-reading, and what was done was often not to a high standard. Consequently, the dialect words varied between editions. As this was a very popular song, it appeared in numerous editions. The many versions published show variations, mainly in the spelling of the words, and sometimes there were variations within the same edition. In 1891 a report from Cameron's grandson showed that on the first printing by Bell, a whole line had been missed and in various other printings the author's name had either been omitted or erroneously given as John Shield. These errors were corrected in 1891, with the missing line being restored after 70 years.https://archive.org/stream/allansillustrat00firgoog/allansillustrat00firgoog_djvu.txt Some specific differences between the original and copies are noted below.

Specific differences

*Verse 1 Line 8 – originally this line was omitted in the printing *Verse 1 Line 9 – originally started with "For" *Verse 4 Line 8 – varies between wad nae heed and waddent heed *Verse 6 Line 7 – varies from "Aw'd tyek me pick, and hew them doon" or "aw'd hew"

Lyrics

The Pitman's Revenge (Against Bonaparte)

Verse 1

References

External links

Allan’s Illustrated Edition of Tyneside songs 1891The Pitman's Revenge – from A collection of songs, comic, satirical and descriptive, chiefly in the Newcastle Dialect, Marshal, 1827The Tyne Songster, a choice selection of Songs in the Newcastle Dialect. Fordyce 1840
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitman's Revenge, The English folk songs Songs related to Newcastle upon Tyne 1800s songs Northumbrian folklore