Folk Song Legacy

Picture credit: English Folk Song & Dance Society

It's thanks to Sharp and Marson
That folk songs still remain.
Through Somerset and Dorset
On bicycle and train
With notebooks and a passion
They went from town to town
To villages and hamlets
The lyrics written down
Love refrains and shanties
From countryside and sea
Recording simple history
Retained in memory
In rural pubs and cottages
They listened and they wrote
Each word a precious jewel
Important every note
The peasant and the farmer
The captain beached ashore
The gardener and the old maid
From all they grew their store
Of tales from generations
Passed down from mouth to mouth
Remembered simple verses
They gleaned from North to South
Like Hammonds travelling elsewhere
This dedicated pair
Ensured a wondrous legacy
Was left for all to share.

Cecil Sharp (left) & Edwin Clay - Credit