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The Unfortunate Rake: St. James Hospital

Various Artists
The Unfortunate Rake: St. James Hospital

The story is basically this: a soldier is dying, evidently of venereal disease he contracted from a young woman, and he requests a funeral. Hear how this story has been spun over centuries into a whole collection of similarly themed songs, the earliest possibly dating to 1790. In this recording we are essentially witnessing the evolution of the Anglo-Saxon ballad tradition.

Track Listing

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101
A. L. Lloyd and Alf Edwards
02:59
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102
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger
04:30
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103
Harry Cox
01:57
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104
Willie Mathieson
02:17
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105
Wade Hemsworth
02:49
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106
Hally Wood
02:36
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107
Viola Penn
02:24
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108
D. K. Wilgus
01:08
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109
Bruce Buckley
02:39
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110
Harry Jackson
04:59
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201
Alan Lomax
03:33
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202
Dave Van Ronk
02:44
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203
Guthrie T. "Gus" Meade
01:12
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204
Rosalie Sorrels
01:49
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205
Kenneth S. Goldstein
01:51
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206
Jan Brunvand and Ellen Stekert
01:28
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207
John Greenway
03:44
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208
Bill Friedland, Mark Newman, and Morris Howarth
02:23
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209
Pete Seeger
02:07
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210
Roger Abrahams
03:25