High Germany

Hello, and welcome back to Folk Infusion!

Today's song is High Germany, an English folk song about a pair of lovers forced to part by the War of Spanish Succession. I've chosen the Luke Kelly version for this song. While the song is English and Kelly an Irishman, I can't resist Luke Kelly in just about any context.

of course, I am a stickler for accuracy and love a bit of variety,  so I'll include the Englishman Martin Carthy's version as well.

In fact, since I've recorded my own arrangement, I'll include that one, too!

The words and chords of the song are as follows. 

Capo on the 2nd Fret 

  Em             G             Am         Em
“Oh Polly love, oh Polly, the rout has now begun,
    G               C     G       D             Em
And we must go a-marching to the beating of the drum.
   G                  C       G           D           Em
Go dress yourself all in your best and come along with me;
       Em              G    Em     Am       Em
I'll take you to the cruel war in High Germany.”

   Em             G             Am         Em
“Oh Willy love, oh Willy, come list what I do say,
   G          C      G        D           Em
My feet they are so tender, I cannot march away.
  G                      C      G              D    Em
And besides, my dearest Willy, I am with child by thee,
       Em             G   Em     Am       Em
Not fitted for the cruel war in High Germany.”
[ Tab from: http://www.guitaretab.com/t/traditional-irish/257970.html ]
  Em                 G          Am                      Em
“I'll buy for you a horse, my love, and on it you shall ride
  G          C      G        D                Em
And all my delight shall be a-riding by your side.
 G                      C      G             D     Em
We'll stop at every alehouse and drink when we are dry,
     Em           G           Em     Am       Em
We'll be true to one another, get married by and by.”

 Em                 G              Am                 Em
Oh, cursed be them cruel wars that ever they should rise
 G               C        G           D         Em
And out of Merry England press many a man likewise.
 G                         C       G             D     Em
They pressed my true love from me, likewise my brothers three,
    Em               G       Em     Am       Em
And sent them to the cruel wars in High Germany.

 Em                       G           Am            Em
No, my friends I do not value nor my foes I do not fear,
 G               C        G       D        Em
Now my love has left me I wander far and near.
G                       C          G       D     Em
And when my baby it is born and a-smiling on my knee
Em                    G    Em      Am   Em
I'll think on lovely Willy in High Germany.

   Em             G             Am         Em
“Oh Polly love, oh Polly, the rout has now begun,
    G               C     G       D             Em
And we must go a-marching to the beating of the drum.
   G                  C       G           D           Em
Go dress yourself all in your best and come along with me;
       Em              G    Em     Am       Em
I'll take you to the cruel war in High Germany.”

The "High Germany" in the song is a bit of an archaic term, which some readers may not recognize. It refers to the mountainous southern part of Germany, descended from the Latin "Germania Superior". In old  German, it was called Hochdeutschland (a name later considered for the name of Austria, when the country became a republic in 1918). The region gives its names to the High German dialects. 

The song, as I mentioned earlier, is set during the War of Spanish Succession, which was fought between blocs of European powers from 1701-1714 over the right to succeed Charles II to the Spanish throne. The frail, mad, and obscenely inbred monarch died at the age of 38, with the autopsy reporting that his body "did not contain a single drop of blood; his heart was the size of a peppercorn; his lungs corroded; his intestines rotten and gangrenous; he had a single testicle, black as coal, and his head was full of water.".

The face of aristocratic incest

With Charles II's  death, the sprawling but militarily declining Spanish empire was set  to unite with the French under the heir apparent, Phillip V, threatening the balance of power in Europe. The rival claimant to the throne was Archduke Charles of Austria. The Two Crowns alliance of France, the pro-Phillip Spanish, and the Electorate of Bavaria fought the Grand Alliance of the Holy Roman Empire, the pro-Charles Spanish, Great Britain, Portugal, the Dutch Republic, and the Duchy of Savoy. The fighting mainly occurred in Europe, but also included Queen Anne's War in North America between the British and allied tribes and the French and allied tribes.

Though the war initially went against the Two Crowns, disagreeable peace terms lead the French to continue fighting, and the forces loyal to Phillip turned the tide against the Grand Alliance forces. Meanwhile, the death of the Austrian Emperor Joseph causing Archduke Charles to become Emperor Charles, threatening the create a union of the Holy Roman Empire and Spain in place of the union of France and Spain if he won. The war ended with the treaty of Utretcht and Rastatt, which recognized Phillip V as the King of Spain, but removed him from succession to the throne of France and so forbid a personal union of the kingdoms.

As a result of concessions in the treaties, the Austrians gained significant grounds in Italy and the Netherlands from the Spanish, and the British were granted Gibraltar and slave-trading rights in Spain's American colonies for three decades. Britain also gained French territory in the Americas, and French hegemony over continental Europe was broken.

The Battle of Blenheim, Bavaria 1704, was a decisive victory for the Grand Alliance

Philip would go on to press the territorial claims of Spain. Shortly after the end of the war, he announced he would claim the French throne to succeed Louis XIV if the infant Louis XV were to die. This, along with his attempts to seize Italian territories, would start the War of the Quadruple Alliance in 1717, a mere three years after the end of the War of Spanish Succession.

As is often the case, this greater political context is not important to the narrative of the song- it is but a backdrop and a setting for the real story, the personal one of two lovers torn apart by the war. The narrator cares not for the machinations of the powerful, save only to curse their wars that press her loved ones from her. The powerful may be forces that shape her world, but they are not the center of it- not even worth mentioning in her song. There's a certain poetry in this. While the kings and lords of Europe battled over lands and crowns, it is not the rights of Phillip V or the glory of Charles of Austria that we sing about. It is William, and Polly.