The Blaydon Races’
Lads and lasses , song tradition, and the evolution of an anthem
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 10222126 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Rod Hermeston (0000-0001-8176-9484, University of Leeds, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2011 |
| Volume | 20 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 269-282 |
| Publication date | 2011-11-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Language and Literature International Journal of Stylistics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0963-9470 • E-ISSN: 1461-7293 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publishing (PUBLISHER • US) |
| DOI | 10.1177/0963947011398281 |
| OpenAlex | W2314359774 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 23 |
In this article I examine the evolution of the Tyneside song, ‘The Blaydon Races’, into a local anthem, with a focus on the contribution of the plurals lads and lasses to this status. I consider the obstacles to the dialect song becoming an anthem, in particular its origins in non-respectable 19th-century music hall. Existing scholarship on 19th-century dialect song or poetry often sees such material as enhancing solidarity at the levels of class or region (Beal, 2000; Wales, 2002, 2006). Influenced by the work of Coupland (2006) and Eckert (2005), however, I posit a more fluid conception of identity within popular entertainment spaces, which may operate alongside, contribute to, or undermine categories such as class or region. I use an electronic corpus of 19th-century Tyneside song to investigate the collocation of lads in particular with Tyneside, and its role in fostering local patriotism. I also consider the pragmatic function of lads as a term of address or apostrophe to sporting heroes in song. I then examine the terms of address lads and lasses within the already intimate context of shared music hall song choruses, recalling, nevertheless, the controversies surrounding the institution. This function of lads in the chorus of ‘The Blaydon Races’, and the cultural ‘resonance’ of references to ‘lads an’ lasses’ are seen potentially to enhance solidarity from the outset. However, increasingly with locally patriotic functions, they can enhance group bonding within evolving contexts of shared singing – within the later music hall, among troops in both World Wars, and among Newcastle United football supporters
Anthem · Art · Context (archaeology · Egalitarianism · Entertainment · Highbrow · Literature · Lyrics · Media studies · Political science · Politics · Scholarship · Singing · Sociology · Solidarity · Historical and Literary Studies · History · Language, Metaphor, and Cognition · Law · Visual Culture and Art Theory
Visions of the People
A National Joke
Language and Identity
Sport, music‐hall culture and popular song in nineteenth‐century England
The Dialogic Emergence of Culture
Acts of Identity
Why was there no Marxism in Great Britain
Imagined communities
Politeness
The making of the Tyneside concert hall
Conspiracies of Meaning
The Pitmen of the Northern Coalfield
Imagined Communities. Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism
Poetics and Performances as Critical Perspectives on Language and Social Life
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0.07 |
| Citation span | 2012 - 2012 (1) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |