From the Carolina Piedmont To the Yorkshire Moors

Nina Simone recorded this one in 1961. Her version is as jazzy and as gritty as you might expect.

This version is by Norma Waterson, an artist who is not nearly as well-known in this country, although she could be considered the First Lady of English folk music.

Contemporary audiences might not understand the song in either form, but these two women – one born in the North Carolina piedmont; and one on the Yorkshire moors – would have been well acquainted with the local ragman, who traversed poor neighborhoods collecting junk to sell for pennies.

This is Norma Waterson with “Rags and Old Iron”.