The Fourteenth of May

On the fourteenth of May at the dawn of the day
With my gun of my shoulder to the woods I did stray
In search of some game if the weather proved fair
To see could I get a shot at the Bonny Black Hare

So begins the allegorical tale of a hunter - or more correctly, a poacher - who is not hunting a hare, a small creature that many mistake for a rabbit, but rather for a piece of feminine anatomy.

This bawdy tale came to my attention in 1971 when it was recorded by Fairport Convention for their sixth album, "Angel Delight", a rather mixed offering which suffered on the one hand by the loss of Richard Thompson but gained by the others trying their hardest. 

Around the same time, their cousin group, Steeleye Span, released a rather more sombre song which also mentions the 14th of May:

When I was on horseback, wasn't I pretty
When I was on horseback, wasn't I gay
Wasn't I pretty when I entered Cork City
To meet with my downfall on the fourteenth of May

This song, set to a chilling arrangement, was not about some flighty young girl, as the above words might hint, but rather about a young British soldier serving in Ireland.

In 1971, I was beginning to think that traditional folk was my kind of music, and I found it both strange and pleasing that two songs encountered within a few months should reference the same calendar date. As it happens, I can't recall any other song referencing any date at all, so this remains a coincidence. 

Today is, of course, the 14th of May, so the Fairport mailing list is full of wishes that our powder stays dry and that our ramrods never go limp.