Shirley Collins MBE (born Shirley Elizabeth Collins on 5 July 1935 in Hasti… Read Full Bio ↴Shirley Collins MBE (born Shirley Elizabeth Collins on 5 July 1935 in Hastings, Sussex) is an award-winning British folksinger who was a significant contributor to the English Folk Revival of the 1960s and 1970s. She often performed and recorded with her sister Dolly Collins, whose accompaniment on piano and portative organ created unique settings for her sister's plain, austere singing style. Collins's seminal recording is considered by many to be 'Anthems in Eden', released in 1969. With her second husband Ashley Hutchings she created the all-acoustic Etchingham Steam Band. She was awarded an MBE for services to music in 2006.
Collins and her sister, Dolly, grew up in the Hastings area of East Sussex in a family which kept alive a great love of traditional song. Songs learnt from their grandfather and from their mother's sister, Grace Winborn, were to be important in the sisters' repertoire throughout their career.
On leaving school, at the age of 17, Shirley Collins enrolled at a teachers' training college in Tooting, south London. However, in London she also involved herself in the early folk revival and in 1954, at a party hosted by Ewan McColl, she met Alan Lomax, the famous American folk collector, who had moved to Britain to avoid the McCarthy witch-hunt which was then raging in America. Lomax and Collins began a romantic relationship which led to their undertaking a folk song collecting trip in the Southern states which lasted from July to November 1959 and resulted in many hours of recordings, featuring performers such as Almeda Riddle, Hobart Smith, and Bessie Jones and culminated in the discovery of Mississippi Fred McDowell. Recordings from this trip were issued by Atlantic Records under the title "Sounds of the South" and also featured in the Coen brothers’ film Oh Brother, Where Art Thou. The experience of her life with Lomax and the making of the recordings in religious communities, social gatherings, prisons and chain gangs was described in Collins's book America Over the Water (published 2004).
Back in Britain, Shirley Collins proceeded with her own singing career, and in a series of influential albums, she helped to introduce many innovations into the English folk revival. In 1964, she recorded the landmark jazz-folk fusion of Folk Roots, New Routes, with guitarist Davy Graham. 1967 saw the essentially southern English song collection, The Sweet Primeroses, on which she was accompanied for the first time by Dolly Collins's portative organ.
In 1969 there was another collaboration, this time with The Young Tradition (featuring Peter Bellamy, Heather Wood and Royston Wood) and Dolly Collins, The Holly Bears a Crown.
Shirley Collins's seminal recording is considered by many to be Anthems in Eden, released in 1969. It featured a suite of songs centred on the changes in rural England brought about by the First World War. Dolly Collins created arrangements featuring David Munrow and various other players from his Early Music Consort. The highly unusual combination of ancient instruments included rebecs, sackbuts, viols and crumhorns and hinted that the guitar was not the only appropriate accompaniment for the folk song. Several critics have suggested that it is impossible to imagine that electric accompaniment for traditional song, as successfully purveyed by Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, could have developed quite as it did without the pioneering 'Anthems In Eden'.
All these recordings strove to marry a deep love and understanding of the English folk music heritage with a more contemporary attitude to musical settings. Anthems In Eden was followed by Love, Death & The Lady, and No Roses, recorded in 1971 with the Albion Country Band, and a total of 27 musicians.
Shirley Collins married Ashley Hutchings in 1971. He left Steeleye Span and the couple created the all acoustic Etchingham Steam Band with Terry Potter, Ian Holder and Vic Gammon. The Etchingham's repertoire was drawn from the traditional music of Sussex. With The Albion Dance Band, performing traditional material on a mixture of modern (electric) and mediaeval instruments, Shirley Collins recorded The Prospect Before Us.
1978's For As Many As Will was the last studio album recorded by Shirley and Dolly Collins. Shirley Collins soon retired from public performance, although she continues to lecture and to appear on radio as an authority on traditional music.
In 2004, Collins was awarded a Gold Badge by the English Folk Dance and Song Society and became patron of the South East Folk Arts Network in 2006. Also in 2006, Shirley appeared on Black Ships Ate The Sky, finishing the album with a sung version of the poem 'Idumæa'.
Collins was awarded the MBE for services to music in the Queen's New Year's Honours List, announced 30 December 2006. On 14 April 2007, she was awarded an Honorary Degree by the Open University, for a "Notable contribution to education and culture", while in 2008 she was given the "Good Tradition" award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
In 2008 Collins was elected as president of the English Folk Dance and Song Society.
Collins and her sister, Dolly, grew up in the Hastings area of East Sussex in a family which kept alive a great love of traditional song. Songs learnt from their grandfather and from their mother's sister, Grace Winborn, were to be important in the sisters' repertoire throughout their career.
On leaving school, at the age of 17, Shirley Collins enrolled at a teachers' training college in Tooting, south London. However, in London she also involved herself in the early folk revival and in 1954, at a party hosted by Ewan McColl, she met Alan Lomax, the famous American folk collector, who had moved to Britain to avoid the McCarthy witch-hunt which was then raging in America. Lomax and Collins began a romantic relationship which led to their undertaking a folk song collecting trip in the Southern states which lasted from July to November 1959 and resulted in many hours of recordings, featuring performers such as Almeda Riddle, Hobart Smith, and Bessie Jones and culminated in the discovery of Mississippi Fred McDowell. Recordings from this trip were issued by Atlantic Records under the title "Sounds of the South" and also featured in the Coen brothers’ film Oh Brother, Where Art Thou. The experience of her life with Lomax and the making of the recordings in religious communities, social gatherings, prisons and chain gangs was described in Collins's book America Over the Water (published 2004).
Back in Britain, Shirley Collins proceeded with her own singing career, and in a series of influential albums, she helped to introduce many innovations into the English folk revival. In 1964, she recorded the landmark jazz-folk fusion of Folk Roots, New Routes, with guitarist Davy Graham. 1967 saw the essentially southern English song collection, The Sweet Primeroses, on which she was accompanied for the first time by Dolly Collins's portative organ.
In 1969 there was another collaboration, this time with The Young Tradition (featuring Peter Bellamy, Heather Wood and Royston Wood) and Dolly Collins, The Holly Bears a Crown.
Shirley Collins's seminal recording is considered by many to be Anthems in Eden, released in 1969. It featured a suite of songs centred on the changes in rural England brought about by the First World War. Dolly Collins created arrangements featuring David Munrow and various other players from his Early Music Consort. The highly unusual combination of ancient instruments included rebecs, sackbuts, viols and crumhorns and hinted that the guitar was not the only appropriate accompaniment for the folk song. Several critics have suggested that it is impossible to imagine that electric accompaniment for traditional song, as successfully purveyed by Fairport Convention and Steeleye Span, could have developed quite as it did without the pioneering 'Anthems In Eden'.
All these recordings strove to marry a deep love and understanding of the English folk music heritage with a more contemporary attitude to musical settings. Anthems In Eden was followed by Love, Death & The Lady, and No Roses, recorded in 1971 with the Albion Country Band, and a total of 27 musicians.
Shirley Collins married Ashley Hutchings in 1971. He left Steeleye Span and the couple created the all acoustic Etchingham Steam Band with Terry Potter, Ian Holder and Vic Gammon. The Etchingham's repertoire was drawn from the traditional music of Sussex. With The Albion Dance Band, performing traditional material on a mixture of modern (electric) and mediaeval instruments, Shirley Collins recorded The Prospect Before Us.
1978's For As Many As Will was the last studio album recorded by Shirley and Dolly Collins. Shirley Collins soon retired from public performance, although she continues to lecture and to appear on radio as an authority on traditional music.
In 2004, Collins was awarded a Gold Badge by the English Folk Dance and Song Society and became patron of the South East Folk Arts Network in 2006. Also in 2006, Shirley appeared on Black Ships Ate The Sky, finishing the album with a sung version of the poem 'Idumæa'.
Collins was awarded the MBE for services to music in the Queen's New Year's Honours List, announced 30 December 2006. On 14 April 2007, she was awarded an Honorary Degree by the Open University, for a "Notable contribution to education and culture", while in 2008 she was given the "Good Tradition" award at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
In 2008 Collins was elected as president of the English Folk Dance and Song Society.
Poor Murdered Woman
Shirley Collins Lyrics
We have lyrics for 'Poor Murdered Woman' by these artists:
Martin Carthy & Dave Swarbrick It was Yanky the Squire as I've heard them tell He…
Shirley Collins & The Albion Country Band It was Hankey the Squire as I′ve heard men say Who…
We have lyrics for these tracks by Shirley Collins:
Archangel Hill A county mazed by winding lanes Fields ever freshened by the…
Barbara Allen It was round and about last Martinmas tide When the green…
Bonnie Boy I once loved a boy, a bonny, bonny boy And I…
False True Love Come in come in you old true love And chat for…
Fare Thee Well My Dearest Dear Fare thee well my dearest dear, fare thee well, adieu…
Hares On The Mountain Oh Sally my dear, it’s you I’d be kissing Oh Sally…
High and Away High-o, high and away, tell me the tricks a tornado…
How Far is it to Bethlehem? Is it far to Bethlehem? Not very far Shall we find…
Lost In A Wood My dears, don’t you know how a long time ago…
My Bonny Bonny Boy As I roved out one May morning, all in the…
Oakham Poachers It was on last February Against our laws contrary Three brot…
Space Girl My mama told me I should never venture into space. But…
Streets of Derry And after morning there comes an evening, And after evening …
The Babes in the Woods My dears, don’t you know how a long time ago…
The Bonny Irish Boy As I roved out one May morning, all in the…
The Captain With The Whiskers They marched through the streets with their banners so gay…
The False True Love Come in come in you old true love And chat for…
The Golden Glove A wealthy young squire near Yarmouth did dwell He courted…
The irish Girl As I rode out one morning down by the riverside, I…
The Oakham Poachers It was on last February Against our laws contrary Three brot…
The Streets Of Derry And after morning there comes an evening, And after evening…
Turpin Hero On Hounslow Heath as I rode o'er I spied a lawyer…
The lyrics are frequently found in the comments by searching or by filtering for lyric videos
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@philiphany5381
It was Yankee the squire
As I've heard the men say
Who rode out a 'huntin' on one Saturday
They hunted all day but nothing they found
But a poor murdered woman
Laid on the cold ground
About eight o'clock boys the dogs
They throwed off
On Leatherhead Common
And that was the spot
They tried all the bushes but nothing they found
But a poor murdered woman
Laid on the cold ground
They mounted their horses
And they rode off the ground
They rode to the village
And alarmed it all around
It is late in the evening I'm sorry to say
She cannot be removed until the next day
The next Sunday morning about eight o'clock
Some hundreds of people
To the spot they did flock
For to see the poor creature
Your hearts would have bled
Some cold-hearted violence
Came into their heads
She was took off the common
And down to some inn
And the man that has kept it
His name is John Simms
The coroner was sent for, the jury they pined
And soon they concluded and settled their mind
Her coffin was brought, in it she was laid
And took to the churchyard
This cold winter day
No father, no mother, no long friend untold
Came to see the poor creature
Laid under the cold
So now I'll conclude and I'll finish my song
And those that have damage
Shall find themselves wrong
The last day of Judgement
The trumpet shall sound
And their souls not in heaven
I'm afraid won't be found
@brigittethierens928
toujours la même émotion quand j'écoute Shirley Collins.... Nostalgie....
@anglenaughty1288
Such a maidens voice from times gone by . The queen of traditional British folk .. . It will always be our Shirley Collins.xxxxxxxxx
@Riatzi
Shirley Collins is such a legend. A once in a lifetime voice.
@mickigoe
One of the best albums of the revival ... and the best track on it. Kudos to the uploader ... the sound quality is stunning.
@haraldmiller4894
Gorgeous music and a gorgeous voice.
@sfedroid
Best track off one of the greatest lesser known albums of its time and genre. For the time this came out it was really revolutionary. I love Shirley's vocal and the whole feel of the song, and the funeral bells playing out of time are just perfect.
@reddwing4368
It's still somehow
So far Ahead of it s time
Especially with todays folk rock type English/Irish
Styles
Tons of great bands and songs but still no one has done better than this record
Period
@MrBrumex
masterpiece, this one. Thank you for posting.
@PoisonIvyGirl3
Just bloody stunning
@lucyquinnell3204
We're trying to save 'some inn' - mentioned in the song. The Royal Oak, Leatherhead Common, where the woman's body was taken in 1834, was unlawfully demolished without a planning application in winter 2017, and we're pressing to get it re-built. John Simms (also mentioned in the song) was indeed the landlord, and he also ran a brickyard nearby. His granddaughter Elizabeth was a servant in my house when she was 13. Hankey lived at Fetcham Park. Rich social history!