Category: Music in the books

“Satisfied Benton wouldn’t cause any further trouble, Captain Ironside turned to Faustus, who was merrily humming a rendition of Hark the Thundering Cannons Roar to himself.”

This tune was newly composed by Christopher Fishburn in circa 1683, perhaps specifically for the original version of this song, An Excellent New Song, On the late Victories over the Turks. The overly long title became later known by several closely related titles, most of them derived directly from the ballad’s first line: ‘The Cannons Roar’, ‘Hark the thundering Cannons roar’ and ‘Hark I hear the Cannons roar’. Other names existed – ‘The reward of loyalty’, ‘Wealth breeds care’ and ‘Vienna’, for example – but none of were very common. The notation for the tune appeared in several different sources during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, and surviving versions vary only slightly in their melodic details.

“After checking his two pistols and tucking them in his belt, the defiant boatswain sneaked off towards the town gate, and, ignoring the cacophony of drums and bugles, merrily sang a rendition of the popular song Captain Kidd with slightly modified lyrics to himself.”

The Ballad of Captain Kidd also known more simply as Captain Kidd is an old English folk song about the infamous privateer turned pirate Captain William Kidd, who was hanged at Execution Dock in London for piracy on May 23, 1701. The song is listed in the Roud Folk Song Index (index number 1900), which is a database of around 250,000 references to nearly 25,000 songs collected from oral tradition in the English language from all over the world, compiled by Steve Roud, who is an expert on folklore and superstition.

The song was printed in Britain in 1701 within a month of Kidd’s death, finding its way to the colonies almost immediately, and narrates the rise and fall of the legendary pirate.…

It didn’t take long for things to settle down once again, and soon most were dancing to an upbeat, out-of-tune rendition of The Twa Corbies.

The song in the story should really be called The Three Ravens as The Twa Corbies was a later Scottish version. The Three Ravens is an English folk ballad, printed in the song book Melismata compiled by Thomas Ravenscroft and published in 1611, but it is perhaps older than that.

The original version is about three ravenous ravens who have come across the body of a slain knight. They are prevented from feasting on the corpse by the knight’s two loyal hounds who are guarding their dead master. The knight’s hawk also circles above the body to drive off any carrion birds. The pregnant doe is a metaphor for his lover, who is carrying his child. She kisses his wounds and takes him away to be buried.…

In the middle of the throng he saw a red-nosed Brownrigg perched on a stool singing surprisingly melodically what was no doubt a Jacobite song at the top of his voice.

After the death of Queen Anne in 1714 the British crown passed on to George, the Elector of Hanover. In his entourage George I brought with him a number of German courtiers, including his mistress Melusine von der Schulenburg, whom he later made the Duchess of Kendal (known as the Goose) and his half-sister Sophia von Kielmansegg (commonly referred to as the Sow). George I’s wife Sophia Dorothea of Celle remained in Hanover, imprisoned at Ahlden House after her affair with Philip Christoph von Königsmarck – the blade in the song. Another historic personality in the song is John Erskine, Earl of Mar (Bobbing John) who recruited in the Scottish Highlands for the Jacobite cause. The nickname Geordie Whelps is a reference to the House of Welf, the original line of the House of Hanover.…

“The soldiers briefly exchanged some words and then they too started singing vociferously.”