Pills to Purge Melancholy

It made them laugh in the C18th and they still make me laugh today. Beautifully performed and sung. So rare these days for "popular" songs to have such clear diction.

An easy transaction . Recommended

Great CD-I love the City Waites saw them live in 1975

This wonderful recording offers us an insight into a form of English Traditional music that was popular through the publication of broadside ballads. The songs and tunes are taken from a collection by Thomas Dufey called Pills to Purge Meloncholy. This was in fact a collection of such songs put together originally by Henry Playford at the end of the 17th Century and added to by Durfey in 1720.The collection contained popular songs that had been released on penny broadside sheets during the 17th Century.This recording takes a sample of some of these songs to illustrate the sort of sound that was popular.It is a really interesting recording that is often rude, crude and sensationalist. The songs cover historical events and the desire for historical characters to come back for various reasons. They also cover stories of lust, love sex and sensationalism. They were the newspapers of their day.The sound and performance is excellent and the whole project has much to offer. The recording dates from 1990 and it is very entertaining to anyone who likes music of the 17th and 18th Centuries. Also it is worth mentioning another more recent recording that is also recommendable. This is called Penny Merriments Street songs of the 17th Century.This is a very interesting recording and the sound and performance are excellent.

Bawdy tavern songs were never meant to be sung by operatic voices in concert halls; they were meant to be belted out blind drunk with someone keeping time banging a tankard on a table. Farting high above its ass.