Henry's Songbook

Her eyes they shone like diamonds
I thought her the queen of the land
And her hair it hung over her shoulder
Tied up with a black velvet band

In a neat little town they call Belfast apprentice to trade I was bound
And many an hour of sweet happiness have I spent in that neat little town
A sad misfortune came over me which caused me to stray from the land
Far away from my friends and relations betrayed by the black velvet band

I took a stroll down Broadway meaning not long for to stay
When whom should I meet but this pretty fair maid come a-traipsing along the highway
She was both fair and handsome, her neck it was just like a swan
And her hair it hung over her shoulder tied up with a black velvet band

I took a stroll with this pretty fair maid, and a gentleman passing us by
I knew she meant the doing of him by the look in her roguish black eye
A gold watch she took from his pocket and placed it right into my hand
And the very first thing that I said was, Bad cess to the black velvet band

Before the judge and the jury next morning I had to appear
The judge he says to me, Young man, your case it is proven clear
We'll give you seven years penal servitude to be spent far away from the land
Far away from your friends and relations, betrayed by the black velvet band

So come all ye jolly young fellows, a warning take by me
When you're out on the town me lads, beware of the pretty colleens
They'll feed you with strong drink me lads, till you are unable to stand
And the very first thing that you know is, you've landed in Van Diemen's Land

As sung by The Dubliners

[1970:] A traditional song, from the singing of Harry Cox, agricultural labourer from Catfield, Norfolk. (Notes 'The World of Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger')

[1972:] [This is] one of the most lilting and attractive transportation ballads yet collected. Keighley Goodchild [...] mention it as having been very popular in the 1880s and it's easy to see why. (Edwards, Overlander 6)

[1979:] One of many transportation songs. Australia quickly found a new population with the English courts' vicious sentences which ripped families and communities apart in all parts of the empire, usually for crimes as trivial as poaching or the theft of a bread. Tasmanian whalers are known to have had a version of this song, The Hat With the Velvet Band, which served them as a working, drinking and fighting song. (Loesberg II, 65)

[1982:] Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania) was first colonised by the British in 1803. In 1807 the first convicts, transported from Britain, arrived, and thousands more were to follow - fifteen thousand in four years alone - until 1853 when the transportation system was abolished. Many of the prisoners were from the English shires, convicted of such rural offences as poaching and sheep stealing, and the effect on them of being dumped on an island where the aborigines were hostile and the planters treated their workers like cattle can be imagined. (Pollard, Folksong 36)

 [1991:] Als Entdecker Tasmaniens gilt der 40.000 Jahre später als die Aborigines eingetroffene holländische Seefahrer Abel Tasman, der die Insel 1642 erreichte. England nutzte von 1788-1868 die Insel, um dort Sträflinge unterzubringen. Insgesamt sollen 180.000 'convicts' nach Australien und Tasmanien verschleppt worden sein, von denen sehr viele im Land blieben. (Theo Dorant, taz, 31. August)

[1994:] Tommy Makem said in a recollection of Luke [Kelly]: 'I'd just like to remember Luke throwing back his head and letting a song roar out, any of his songs. He just let them fly. These were songs that maybe had fallen into disuse before The Dubliners found them, but after The Dubliners recorded them they became so commonplace that people disregarded them - songs like The Black Velvet Band.' (Geraghty, Luke Kelly 96)

[1998:] 'Mr Haughey was at that party [thrown by John Magnier, proprietor of Coolmore stud], as well as Andrew Lloyd Webber [...] and the Irish international rugby team. There was a competition to see who could drink the most Black Velvet [Guinness and champagne].' As some guests drank themselves into oblivion, the popular group The Dubliners sang 'Black Velvet Band'. (Cal McCrystal & David Connett, Observer, 3 May)

[1998:] Anthony van Diemen (note the spelling) was the Governor-General of the Dutch East Indies when the Dutch navigator Abel Tasman discovered Tasmania in 1642. He named it Van Diemen's Land after the Governor-General, but it was known unofficially as Tasmania from at least 1823, and officially from 1856. (Alan of Australia, www.mudcat.org, 27 Jul)

http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=19899 Oldest version?
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=18490
http://ukdb.web.aol.com/hutchinson/encyclopedia/72/M0012972.htm Van Diemen's Land
http://www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=51692 Black Velvet Band - Again