The Weaver and the Factory Maid - Steeleye Span (Live, 1989)

This Steeleye Span song combines Robert Cinnamond's fragment of Roud 3085 (   • The Weaver  ) with the text of a version of Roud 17771 collected and recorded by A.L. Lloyd. The song was released on the 1973 album "Parcel of Rogues". This performance was part of their 20th anniversary concert in 1989 at the Beck Theatre in London.

Maddy Prior: vocals
Bob Johnson: vocals, electric guitar
Peter Knight: vocals, violin
Tim Harries: bass, keyboards, vocals
Liam Genockey: drums, percussion


"The earliest weavers' songs are from the time when handloom weavers went from village to village, setting up in farmhouse and cottage kitchens. Amorous chances were plenty. The invention of the powerloom and the establishment of textile factories brought a great change in the handloom weavers' lives. This song, lyrical and wry, curiously illuminates this moment in history when the handworkers were finding themselves obliged to follow the girls into the factories and weave by steam, and when country song was changing to town song"
- A. L. Lloyd

"There was a great bitterness felt between the hand-loom weavers and those who worked on the steam looms introduced during the industrial revolution. This feeling polarised in the Luddites (named after their mythical leader Ned Ludd) who were unemployed hand-loom weavers bent on destroying the steam looms which had put them out of work."
- Original album sleeve notes from Parcel of Rogues



Oh, when I was a tailor, I carried my bodkin and shears
When I was a weaver, I carried my roods and my gear
My temples also, my small clothes and reed in my hand
And wherever I go, here's the jolly bold weaver again

I'm a hand weaver to my trade
I fell in love with a factory maid
And if I could but her favour win
I'd stand beside her and weave by steam

My father to me scornful said
"How could you fancy a factory maid?"
When you could have girls fine and gay
Dressed like unto the Queen of May

As for your fine girls I don't care
If I could but enjoy my dear
I'd stand in the factory all the day
And she and I'd keep our shuttles in play

I went to my love's bedroom door
Where often times I had been before
But I could not speak nor yet get in
The pleasant bed that my love lies in

How can you say it's a pleasant bed
When nowt lies there but a factory maid?
And a factory lass although she be
Blest is the man that enjoys she

O pleasant thoughts come to me mind
As I turn down the sheets so fine
And I seen her two breasts standing so
Like two white hills all covered with snow

The loom goes click and the loom goes clack
The shuttle flies forward and then flies back
The weaver's so bent that he's like to crack
Such a wearisome trade is the weaver

The yarn is made into cloth at last
The ends of the weft they are made quite fast
The weaver's labors are now all past
Such a wearisome trade is the weaver

Where are the girls, I will tell you plain
The girls have gone to weave by steam
And if you'd find them you must rise at dawn
And trudge to the mill in the early morn

Oh, when I was a tailor, I carried my bodkin and shears
When I was a weaver, I carried my roods and my gear
My temples also, my small clothes and reed in my hand
And wherever I go, here's the jolly bold weaver again