tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999226515644223110.post5047320306393652400..comments2023-09-27T15:53:47.194+01:00Comments on A Liverpool Folk Song a Week: 10: McCafferyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999226515644223110.post-17654648557618333092011-06-13T18:20:17.646+01:002011-06-13T18:20:17.646+01:00That's plausible. "Fifteen days and four...That's plausible. "Fifteen days and fourteen nights" would be a more natural expression, but then it wouldn't rhyme so well. <br /><br />Bullied or not, this McCaffery was clearly a nut job.Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14985486779791109509noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999226515644223110.post-12993817531708424752011-06-13T12:30:22.524+01:002011-06-13T12:30:22.524+01:00(More seriously on the 'inflation' point, ...(More seriously on the 'inflation' point, I have wondered whether it's a distortion of the earlier singing of "fourteen NIGHTS and fifteen days", which sits a bit neater with the actual sentence, but that's just a guess, I've obviously not come across any version like that.)robotforadayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05302954722308521390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999226515644223110.post-61279494928513681502011-06-13T12:22:22.836+01:002011-06-13T12:22:22.836+01:00Not a clue, I reckon it's inflation. Seeing as...Not a clue, I reckon it's inflation. Seeing as in real life he seemed to shoot them just after being sentenced for fourteen days, I reckon that subsequent repetitions of the song just ramped up the sentence he served, and did so working on two units at once. That way each singer made things sound just a little bit worse. (I'm heard some versions where they say "14 weeks and 13 days", which is obviously 2 days softer than the version I sing). If current trends continue, by the 200th anniversary of his death in 2062 he will serve 152 days, perhaps to be sung as "18 weeks and 26 days".<br /><br />I have to say, shooting the officers after a long and ever increasing period of CB makes McCaffery a more sympathetic character than the idea that he shot them just after sentencing. But contemporary reports do make out that the officers were bullies, like the Preston Mercury: "We are assured on good authority that (and as impartial journalists we must state the truth, however painful it may be) both Colonel Crofton and Adjutant Hanham have been guilty of great tyranny in the government of the men, to such an extent indeed that the soldiers express sympathy with the murderer. Many instances in proof of this have been related to us."<br /><br />So the core of the story, McCaffery was bullied, decided to shoot the bully, and was hung for it, seems true enough.robotforadayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05302954722308521390noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4999226515644223110.post-49580675281218189542011-06-13T11:31:04.156+01:002011-06-13T11:31:04.156+01:00Why is it the song says he was confined for 14 wee...Why is it the song says he was confined for 14 weeks and 15 days?Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14985486779791109509noreply@blogger.com