“The Red Mantle”
Description
Singer asks her husband for a red mantle to wear to the fair. He buys it; but when she arrives at the fair she discovers fashions have changed, and "green mantles carried the day." She tears the red mantle to shreds and goes home in tears
Supplemental text
Red Mantle, The
Partial text(s)
*** A ***
From Helen Creighton, Folksongs from Southern New Brunswick,
#107, p. 213. Collected from Angelo Dornan, Elgin, N. B.
"Oh husband, dear husband my wardrobe is bare
And it's scarcely three weeks to the big county fair."
Chorus
With my down derry down,
With my down derry day.
"Oh husband, dear husband grant me my desire,
Get me a red mantle to wear to the fair."
(stanzas 1, 3 of 7)
Long description
Singer tells her husband her desire: a red mantle to wear to the county fair. He replies that money is scarce, but he will do what he can. He buys it for her; she sets out for the fair, but when she arrives she discovers fashions have changed, and "green mantles carried the day." She tears the red mantle to shreds and goes home in tears.
Notes
Political allegory? Fashion statement? - PJS
It's too bad we don't have more versions, to give us a clue where the song came from. Angelo Dornan, I suspect, would have called it a statement on the fickleness of fashion and women's wants; his text seems to have no political statement as such. But if, as is sometimes true, green is the color of mourning, and red of course the color of war and British soldiers' uniforms, this could indeed be a report of a change from, say, pro-war to anti-war sentiment. - RBW
Recordings
- Angelo Dornan, "The Red Mantle" (on NovaScotia1)
References
- Creighton-SNewBrunswick 107, "The Red Mantle" (1 text, 1 tune)
- ST RcTReMan (Partial)
- Roud #2777
- BI, RcTReMan