Young Banker
Young Banker
Young Banker is a classic tale of a spurned lover (see The Wedding Song by the Copper family for another) who prepares to take rejection on the chin and set off on their own, only for the object of his affections to change her mind. Having been scorned by the girl, the boy then rejects her. A ‘banker’ in this sense is not a member of a financial institution but a ‘banksman’ overseeing the loading and unloading of a boat.
The version of Young Banker most commonly sung these days is an amalgamation of two pieces collected by Frank Kidson. One from The Isle of Axholme, near Doncaster and the other from Knaresborough, and put together and popularised by The Watersons, a well-known singing family from Hull in East Yorkshire.
Percy Grainger’s version was collected from Frank Kidson himself.
Young Banker is in The Full English Folk Chorus Songs Pack. One type of song that has remained popular across English speaking traditions is the chorus song. These are often led by one singer (in a pub, for example) with the community joining in with the repeated chorus, refrain or burden. This can be simple unison or improvised harmonies of varying levels of complexity. You can hear (and join in with) chorus songs in many folk clubs, singarounds, concerts and festivals.
The The Full English Folk Chorus Songs Pack is available from the PDF tab at the top of this panel, and contains some well-known chorus songs to provide some starting points for social singing from The Full English digital archive. Due to their popularity many of these songs are geographically widespread and may appear in many versions with all kinds of variation in words and melody. An Audio recording of this song is available for free download from the Audio tab at the top of the panel. It has been recorded by Ben Moss and Laurel Swift (www.benandlaurel.com).
The Full English Folk Chorus Songs Pack includes:
- The Barley Mow (Harry Albino Collection)
- The Sweet Nightingale (Sabine Baring Gould Collection)
- Fathom The Bowl (Clive Carey Collection)
- Pleasant and Delightful (Collinson Collection)
- The Farmer’s Boy (Lucy Broadwood Collection)
- Abroad for Pleasure (Lucy Broadwood Collection)
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Audio:
