The song "All Around my Hat" is of nineteenth-century English origin. In an early version, dating from the 1820s, a Cockneycostermonger vowed to be true to his fiancée, who had been sentenced to seven years' transportation to Australia for theft and to mourn his loss of her by wearing green willow sprigs in his hatband for "a twelve-month and a day", the willow being a traditional symbol of mourning. The song was made famous by Steeleye Span in 1975. A more is available on a release sung by John Langstaff.
Synopsis
A young man is forced to leave his lover, usually to go to sea. On his return he finds her on the point of being married to another man. In some versions he goes into mourning, with the green willow as a symbol of his unhappiness. In other versions he reminds her of her broken promise, and she dies mysteriously. In some versions he simply contemplates his lover left behind, without actually returning to find her being married. In other versions, the young man is a street hawker who is mourning his separation from his lover who has been transported to Australia for stealing.
Commentary
The song has typical archetypal elements of the separated lovers, the interrupted wedding, and the inconsolable rejected lover. In the "Yellow Ribbon" variants, the adornment is a reminder of lost love, similar to Ireland's "The Black Velvet Band".
Historical background
The song is found in England, Scotland and Canada, all seafaring nations. In Ireland it has been adapted to the Irish Republican movement.
A traditional version in common use in the 1950s and 1960s was: My love she was fair and my love she was kind too
And many were the happy hours, between my love and me
I never could refuse her, whatever she'd a mind to
And now she's far away, far o'er the stormy sea. All 'round my hat I will wear a green willow
All 'round my hat for a twelve month and a day
If anybody asks me the reason why I wear it
It's all because my true love is far, far away. Will my love be true and will my love be faithful?
Or will she find another swain to court her where she's gone?
The men will all run after her, so pretty and so graceful
And leave me here lamenting, lamenting all alone. All 'round my hat I will wear a green willow
All 'round my hat for a twelve month and a day
If anybody asks me the reason why I wear it
It's all because my true love is far, far away.'' A variation of this had the following verse stanza: My love she was fair, and my love she was kind
And cruel the judge and jury that sentenced her away
For thieving was a thing that she never was inclined to
They sent my love across the sea ten thousand miles away. A version popularized by Steeleye Span used the traditional chorus and these verse stanzas : Fare thee well cold winter and fare thee well cold frost
Nothing have I gained but my own true love I've lost
I'll sing and I'll be merry when occasion I do see
He's a false deluding young man, let him go, farewell he. The other night he brought me a fine diamond ring
But he thought to have deprived me of a far better thing
He's a false deluding young man, let him go, farewell he Here's a half a pound of reason, and a quarter pound of sense
A small sprig of thyme and as much of prudence
You mix them all together and you will plainly see
He's a false deluding young man, let him go, farewell he.
Textual variants
printed a version in "A Garland of Country Song" in 1895. This version is very close to the best-known version, by Steeleye Span. This is probably a more recent variant of the nineteenth-century song.
cf. "The Green Willow"
Songs that refer to All Around My Hat (song)
sang a parody, "It's my bloody ribbon and it's my bloody hat", at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 1976. The parody song was later covered by The Bad Shepherds and played regularly in their live concerts.
Motifs
Motifs of the song include separated lovers, a broken token, and death for love, common themes in tragic love songs.
Television and movie references
In the 'Watching TV' episode of British television sitcomMen Behaving Badly, Gary and Dorothy repeatedly end up singing the Steeleye Span version of the song while trying to remember the theme tune to Starsky and Hutch. Paul Whitehouse also sings the first lines of the song in an episode of The Fast Show, changing a key word in each line with "arse".
