Black Velvet Band | Performance
Added 2019-02-25 03:20:25 +0000 UTCThanks to Daniel Hester for inspiring me to record this song, which I learned from Irish banjoist Luke Kelly. You can see Hester's performance here: https://youtu.be/513ZdWa2g8Y and Kelly's here: https://youtu.be/CBRQM0vErH8
gDGBD (relative) fCFAC (actual) AKA "Standard" or "Cripple Creek" tuning.
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In a neat little town they call Belfast apprentice to trade I was bound
Many hours of quiet sweet happiness have I spent in that neat little town,
A sad misfortune came over me that caused me to stray from the land
Far away from my friends and relations betrayed by the Black Velvet Band.
I took a stroll down Broadway not meaning long for to stay
Til I spied a handsome young lady a'traipsing along the highway,
Her eyes they shined like diamonds I thought her the queen of the land
And her hair it hung over her shoulder tied up in a black velvet band.
I took up with this maiden a gentleman passing us by
I knew she meant the doing of him by the look in her roguish black eye,
Her eyes they shined like diamonds I thought her the queen of the land
And her hair it hung over her shoulder tied up in a black velvet band.
She took the gold watch from his pocket and slipped it right into my hand
The very next thing that I knew was I'd landed in Van Diemen's Land, *
Her eyes they shined like diamonds I thought her the queen of the land
And her hair it hung over her shoulder tied up in a black velvet band.
They took me to the court house next morning I had to appear
The judge he said to me young man you case it is proven clear
We'll give you seven years penal servitude to be spent far away from the land,
Far away from your friends and relations betrayed by the Black Velvet Band.
Her eyes they shined like diamonds I thought her the queen of the land
And her hair it hung over her shoulder tied up in a black velvet band.
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* Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name for the island of Tasmania prior to the 1850s. Many British and Irish prisoners were transported there.
