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"All Around my Hat", also known as "Farewell He" and "Green Willow" is an English song that
dates back to the 19th century.
In an early version, dating from the 1820s, a Cockney costermonger (a street vendor selling fruit and vegetables from a handcart) 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 is found in England, Scotland and Canada, all seafaring nations. In Ireland it has been adapted to the Irish Republican movement. Sabine Baring-Gould printed a version in A Garland of Country Song in 1895. It was recorded by Sam Larner on Now is the Time for Fishing (as "Green Broom") (1959), Peter Bellamy on Mainly Norfolk (1968) and (accompanying himself on melodeon) on Fair England's Shore (1969), Steeleye Span on All Around my Hat (1975) and others. |