“Tom a Bedlam (Bedlam Boys)”

Description

The singer is determined to find her Tom. She describes (his or her) visions. Chorus: "Still I sing bonny boys, bonny mad boys, Bedlam boys are bonny. For they all go bare, and they live by the air...."

Supplemental text

Tom a Bedlam (Bedlam Boys)
  Complete text(s)

          *** A ***

Mad Maudlin

As printed by W. H. Logan, The Pedlar's Pack of Ballads and Songs,
pp. 181-182. Based on the copy in Pills to Purge Melancholy.

To find my Tom of Bedlam ten thousand years I'll travel,
Mad Maudlin goes with dirty toes to save her shoes from gravel.
  Yet will I sing bonny boys, bonny mad boys, Bedlam boys are bonny;
  The still go bare, and live by the air, and want no drink nor money.

I now repent that ever poor Tom was so disdain'd,
My wits are lost since him I crost, which makes me go thus chain'd:
  Yet will I sing, &c.

My staff hath murdered Gyants, my bag a long knife carries,
To cut mince-pyes from children's thighs, with which I feast the Fairies:
  Yet will I sing, &c.

My horn is made of thunder, I stole it out of heaven,
The rainbow there is this I wear, for which I thence was driven.
  Yet will I sing, &c.

I went to Pluto's kitchen, to buy some food one morning,
And there I got souls piping hot, with which the spits were turning:
  Yet will I sing, &c.

Then took I up a Cauldron, where boyl'd ten thousand 'tornies,
'Twas full of flame, yet I drank the same, and wished them happy journeys.
  Yet will I sing, &c.

A spirit hot as lightning did on my travels guide me,
The sun did shake and the pale moon quake, as soon as e'er they spied me:
  Yet will I sing, &c.

And now that I have gotten a lease than doomsday longer,
To live on earth with some in mirth, ten whales shall feed my hunger:
  Yet will I sing, &c.

No Gipsie, Slut, or Doxy shall win my mad Tom from me,
We'll weep all night, and with stars fight, the fray will well become me:
  Yet will I sing, &c.

And when that I have beaten the man i' the' moon to powder,
His dog I'll take, and him I'll make bark as no daemon louder:
  Yet will I sing, &c.

A health to Tom of Bedlam, go fill the seas in barrel,
I'll drink it all, well brew'd with gall, and maudling-drunk I'll quarrel:
  Yet will I sing, &c.

Notes

The Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem (Bedlam), in London, was the first hospital for insane men in England. Magdalene Hospital (Maudlin), mentioned in some versions of the song, was the first hospital for insane women. - PJS

"Bedlam songs" seem to have been a phenomenon in the eighteenth century and after. To make matters worse, they all seem to mix and match. Many of Percy's texts, e.g., resemble Logan's, which resemble Chappell's. It's very hard to tell them apart.

Under the circumstances, I've listed the most traditional-seeming of the bunch ("Tom a Bedlam") here, and hope cross-references in the "References" field will suffice for the others.

Aldington's _The Viking Book of Poetry of the English-Speaking World_ we find a Tom o' Bedlams Song starting

From the hag and hungry goblin

That into rages would rend ye,

And the spirit that stands

By the naked man

In the book of moons defend ye....

It's not this piece (the chorus is different), but there is undeniable dependence. Aldington attributes the piece to Giles Earle (dates unknown but early seventeenth century). Granger's Index to Poetry, however, lists the author of this as unknown -- and it has plenty of supporting evidence, since it cites 18 different references. Nor does Granger's list any other works by this alleged Earle. - RBW

Cross references

• cf. "A Maid in Bedlam" (theme)

References

1. Logan, pp. 172-189, "Tom a Bedlam" (there are eight texts in this section; the one labelled "Mad Maudlin" on pp. 181-182 is this one)
2. Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 175-178, "Tom a Bedlam" (7 fragmentary texts, at least one of which is this one; 1 tune; the next piece, "Gray's Inn Masque, or Mad Tom, or New Mad Tom of Bedlam," (for which see also BBI, ZN910, "Forth from my sad and darksome cell") appears to be an unrelated literary song, found also in Percy, pp. 344-347, "Old Tom of Bedlam," the first of six "Mad Songs")
3. DT, BEDLMBOY*
4. ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #310, "Tom O'Bedlam" (1 text)
5. ST Log172 (Full)
6. BI, Log172