Nottamun Town

"Nottamun Town" (Roud # 1044) is an English folk song which possibly dates from the late medieval period. It is popular in the Appalachian Mountains of the United States.

Lyrics
Most version of the song run along these lines:

In Nottamun Town, not a soul to be seen

Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down

Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down

To show me the way to fair Nottamun Town

I bought me a horse twas called a grey mare

Grey mane and grey tail and green stripe on her back

Grey mane and grey tail and green stripe on her back

Weren't a hair upon her that was not coal black

She stood so still threw me to the dirt

She tore at my hide, she bruised my shirt

From saddle to stirrup I mounted again

And on my ten toes I rode over the plain

When I got there no one did I see

They all stood around me just looking at me

I called for a cup to drive gladness away

And stifle the dust for it rained the whole day

And the King and the Queen and the company more

Came a riding behind and a walking before

Come a stark naked drummer beating a drum

With his hands in his bosom came marching along

Sat down on a hard hot cold frozen stone

Ten thousand stood round me but I was alone

Took my hat in my hand to keep my head warm

Ten thousand was drowned that never was born

In America
The song was discovered in a handful of locations spread through the Appalachian mountains, and their remoteness from each other suggest that the song was brought to America from England. It has been recorded by Jean Ritchie.

Bob Dylan borrowed the melody to "Nottamun town" for his 1963 song "Masters of War" from the album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.

Iain Matthews used the melody for his song "So Many Eyes" from the 1996 album God Looked Down. However, there was previously a reference in "Second Spring" (1969) on the track "Southern Comfort" written by Sylvia Tyson.

Origins and versions
The song is fairly popular in the English Midlands, particularly in Nottinghamshire, Leicestershire, Southern Yorkshire and Northamptonshire, which lends credence to the theory that the Nottamun in the song is a corruption of Nottingham.

Theories abound as to the meaning of the song, but two are generally accepted as probable:

1. That it derives from the Feast of Fools or Mummers’ Plays and their absurd topsy-turvy worlds.

2. That it refers to the English Civil War. In this war, Charles I of England raised his first army around Nottingham and it may be a corruption of that city’s name that gives the song its title. A popular theme at the time with diarists and pamphleteers was ‘The World Turned Upside Down’ and there are many famous woodcuts dating from this period with illustrations of cats chasing dogs, men wearing boots on their hands and the like.

Well-known versions have been recorded by Fairport Convention and Bert Jansch. The British folk artist Steve Tilston has recorded a version with contemporary lyrics on his 2011 album 'The Reckoning'. The English folk trio Lady Maisery recorded a version of this song, 'Nottamun Fair', which appears on their 2011 album Weave and Spin.

External Reference
Old Songs Steve Tilston version