> Steeleye Span > Songs > All Around My Hat

Steeleye Span: All Around My Hat

	All Around My Hat / Black Jack Davy Steeleye Span Chrysalis CHS 2078 (single, UK, November 1975) Chrysalis 6155 055 (single, p/s, Germany, 1975) Chrysalis 6155 055 (single, p/s, Netherlands, 1975)
	Chrysalis 6155 055 (single, p/s, Belgium, 1975) Chrysalis/Festival K6079 (single, Australia, 1975)

[Trad. arr. Hart / Prior / Knight / Johnson / Kemp]

Maddy Prior, vocals;
Peter Knight, fiddle, mandolin, backing vocals;
Tim Hart, guitar, backing vocals;
Bob Johnson, guitar, backing vocals;
Rick Kemp, bass;
Nigel Pegrum, drums.

Besides Gaudete, All Around My Hat is Steeleye Span's only hit single (originally with the B-side Black Jack Davy), which reached No. 3 in the British charts in December 1975. This contagious song became so popular that it was the subject of a lampoon in folk circles (“I'm going to drown my cat”, etc.). It was originally an English song, which years ago was `stolen' by the IRA and turned into an Irish rebel song. Apart from the chorus, the verses were in fact taken from the song Farewell He.

Apart from the single release, this song appeared in a longer version (single 4:06, LP version 3:01) on the same-titled LP, All Around My Hat, and later on several single reissues and on lots of compilations.

At least seven live recordings of All Around My Hat with several Steeleye Span line-ups are or were available:

1. at the Cambridge Folk Festival in 1981 on the CD The Best of the Cambridge Folk Festival
2. from the Royal Opera Theatre in Adelaide, Australia in 1982 on the Australia-only LP On Tour and on the CD Gone to Australia,
3. from the Beck Theatre on 16 September 1989 on the video A 20th Anniversary Celebration,
4. from Steeleye's 1991 tour on the CD Tonight's the Night... Live,
5. from St. David's Hall, Cardiff on December 6, 1994 on the video 25 Live: The Classic Twenty Fifth Anniversary Tour Concert,
6. from 1994 on the CD Steeleye Span in Concert,
7. from The Forum, London on 2 September 1995 on the CD The Journey.

In 1996, Status Quo recorded this song together with Maddy Prior for a single and for their album Don't Stop - The 30th Anniversary Album. This track with added mumblings by Peter Sellers from the final moments of the Commoners Crown album can be found on the Steeleye Span / Maddy Prior sampler A Rare Collection 1972-1996.

Lyrics

Chorus:

All around my hat I will wear the green willow
All around my hat for a twelve-month and a day
And if anyone should ask me the reason why I'm wearing it
It's all for my true love who's far far away

Fare thee well cold winter and fare thee well cold frost
Nothing have I gained but my own true love I've lost
I'll sing and I'll be merry when occasion I do see
He's a false deluding young man, let him go farewell he

The other night he brought me a fine diamond ring
But he thought to have deprived me of a far better thing
But I being careful like lovers ought to be
He's a false deluding young man, let him go farewell he

Chorus

Here's a quarter pound of reasons, and a half a pound of sense
A small sprig of time and as much of prudence
You mix them all together and you will plainly see
He's a false deluding young man, let him go farewell he

Chorus