“Ramsey Town, Ramsey Town. Shinin' by the sea. Here's a health to my true love, Where-so-e'er she be!”
So goes the rousing chorus of a Manx favourite, sung with gusto Island-wide!
“Ramsey Town” was first published in Manx National Songs in 1896. The book was the result of a folk song collecting project conducted by William Henry Gill, his brother Deemster John Frederick Gill, and childhood friend, Dr John Clague. Their mission was “to collect and preserve from the oblivion”, and over several years they gathered over 250 song melodies from the Manx country folk.
WH Gill secured a publishing deal with Boosey & Co. in London – the last in their series of national folk song books. In the same style, Gill attempted to popularise the Manx songs by adding English titles and lyrics, and gentile piano accompaniments. The book was an instant success, soon becoming a staple of Manx singers and members of Manx societies around the world.
But the arrival of the song book was also met with disdain.
One reviewer wrote; “we have never previously met with a more painful instance of the art of the ‘improver’... they have utterly and ignominiously failed to attend to the elementary rules which should be observed by collectors...”
Dr Clague and the Gill brothers had not been alone in their endeavours, as Arthur William Moore and his team of aides had also been collecting remnants of a fast-declining song tradition. A “neck-to-neck race” ensued as both books went to print in 1896 – a commercial book versus Moore’s antiquarian collection of Gaelic lyrics and translations; Manx Ballads and Music. Aware of the impending controversy of its rival, Moore’s preface explained that “a prettified Englished presentation” had been avoided in his book!
But the Manx general public loved Manx National Songs, and after a few months of its release, a premiere concert was staged in the Grand Theatre, Douglas.
The advert read: Manx Songs! Manx Dances! Manx Choruses! Manx Scenes in National Costume by the Manx National Choir. Harry Wood’s Grand Orchestra.
It was “was an unqualified success... hundreds had to be refused admission”! In fact, they had to repeat the concert a week later!
Top of the bill was “Ramsey Town”, performed by a 40 strong chorus “all dressed in costumes representing Manx life and character in the old time” - one of the finest songs in the book, according to the Isle of Man Times.
“Ramsey Town” started life as “Twas Once I loved a Lass” - a song which WH Gill collected in Jurby from John Kissack – a meeting which inspired him to sketch the shoemaker’s cottage. New lyrics were penned by Mr E. Crabb and along with The Sheep Under the Snow, The King of the Sea, The Manx Wedding and The Harvest of the Sea, “Ramsey Town” became a national favourite, and, nearly 130 years later, is still performed by children, choirs, brass bands and orchestras!
Newsletter
