"The Black Velvet Band" (Roud number 2146) is a traditional folk song collected from singers in Ireland, Australia, England, Canada and the United States describing how a young man is tricked and then sentenced to transportation to Australia, a common punishment in the British Empire during the 19th century. Versions were also published on broadsides.[1]

The Dubliners released a popular version of the song in 1967 based on a version sung by the traditional English singer Harry Cox.

Synopsis

Old map of Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania)

The narrator is bound apprentice in a town (which varies in different versions). He becomes romantically involved with a young woman. She steals a watch and places it in his pocket or in his hand. The apprentice does not try to stop this from happening, which is speculated to be out of his love for the girl.[2] However the man does wish bad luck towards the woman, as seen in the line "Bad luck to the black velvet band".[3] The apprentice appears in court the next day, and is sentenced to seven years penal servitude in Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania); as at this point in time Australia was being used as a prison colony.[4] In the broadside versions the young woman's motivation is more obvious - she has met a sailor and wants to get rid of her lover.

In the broadsides the action takes place in Ratcliffe Highway, a street in the East End of London, but in collected versions various locations are mentioned - London; Belfast; Tralee; a town in Bedfordshire; and Dunmanway, County Cork.

Versions

The Roud Index has 98 entries for this song, comprising broadside ballads, versions collected from traditional singers, and field recordings.[5]

It was published as a broadside ballad by Swindells of Manchester some time between 1796 and 1853, and by H. Such of London sometime between 1863 and 1885.[6]

Versions of the song have been collected from Dorset, Co. Durham, Hampshire, London, Norfolk, Suffolk, Sussex, Isles of Scilly, and Worcestershire in England, from Belfast, County Antrim, and County Cork in Ireland, from Western Australia, Queensland, and New South Wales in Australia and from Ontario, Canada, and Maine, USA. The earliest collected version listed was collected by George Gardiner from Alfred Goodyear of Axford, Hampshire, England in July 1907.[7] Both Alfred Goodyear's version and one collected by Clive Carey from Mrs Terry of Chithurst, Sussex, in 1911 (and set in Belfast)[8] contain the "Her eyes they shone like diamonds" chorus also collected from Harry Cox.

While working for the BBC, Peter Kennedy recorded a version in Belfast in 1952. In 1959, a version was found in Australia. An earlier version by the publisher Swindells in Manchester is very wordy, and has no chorus. It places the events in Barking, Essex. Some of the earliest versions mention the Old Bailey and London Town. The publication date of that version is probably between 1837 and 1853.

An American song called "The Girl In The Blue Velvet Band", credited to Cliff Carlisle and Mel Forre, was recorded by Bill Monroe, Doc Watson and Mac Wiseman among others. It has a similar plot and may be loosely based on "Black Velvet Band".

Following the Ireland rugby team's Grand Slam win in 2009, winger Tommy Bowe sang his own version of 'Black Velvet Band' to a triumphant crowd on the team's homecoming on Dawson Street, Dublin.

The song was used at least twice in the BBC's television series, Peaky Blinders. It can be heard in Seasons 1 and 6. [9]

The Dubliners

"Black Velvet Band"
Single by The Dubliners
from the album A Drop of the Hard Stuff
B-side"Maloney Wants a Drink"
Released30 August 1967
GenreFolk, Irish, pop
Length3:45
    LabelMajor Minor
    Songwriter(s)Traditional
    Producer(s)Tommy Scott
    The Dubliners singles chronology
    "Seven Drunken Nights"
    (1967)    		 "Black Velvet Band"
    (1967)    		 "All For Me Grog"
    (1967)

    The Dubliners version, possibly the best known, is slightly adapted from a version recorded by Ewan MacColl from the Norfolk singer Harry Cox in 1955, and recorded by MacColl and Peggy Seeger on their 1964 LP Chorus from the Gallows.[10]

    Chart (1967) Peak
    position
    Ireland (IRMA)[11] 4
    UK Singles (OCC)[12] 15

    Recordings

    References

    1. ↑ "Black Velvet Band – Lyrical Analysis – Irish Studies". irishstudies.sunygeneseoenglish.org. Retrieved 2022-09-25.
    2. ↑ "Black Velvet Band Irish folk song about betrayal". Irish Music Daily. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
    3. ↑ "Irish Song Lyrics - Black Velvet Band". www.irishsongs.com. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
    4. ↑ "Transportation records (Ireland to Australia) held by the National Archives of Ireland (as filmed by the AJCP)". Trove. Retrieved 2022-10-09.
    5. ↑ "Vaughan Williams Memorial Library - Roud Folksong and Broadside indexes". Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2016-12-18.
    6. ↑ "Ballads Online". Ballads.bodleian.ox.ac.uk.
    7. ↑ "The Black Velvet Band (George Gardiner Manuscript Collection GG/1/13/803)". Vwml.org. Retrieved 5 November 2021.
    8. ↑ "In a Town Called Belfast (Clive Carey Manuscript Collection CC/1/20)". Vwml.org.
    9. ↑ Collington, Faefyx. "Peaky Blinders Soundtrack Guide: Every Song In Season 6". Retrieved 15 March 2023.
    10. ↑ Notes to Harry Cox, The Bonny Labouring Boy, TSCD512D and Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seegar, Chorus from the Gallows Topic Records – 12T16
    11. ↑ "Chart Track: Week 00, 1967". Irish Singles Chart.
    12. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
    13. ↑ British Hit Singles & Albums (Edition 18) (2005), Guinness World Records Ltd
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