История о музыкальных изысканиях рассказанная на английском языке для увеселения почтеннейшей публики

As you may undoubtedly know by now, I am always aspiring to learn something new. And, because I know so little, I get to learn something new every day. Sometimes twice a day if I forget to check Facebook in the afternoon.

So, remember there was this thing about listening to music and figuring out shit? Yeah, about that. Another one of my childhood favorites is a band called Dire Straits. It was organized by Mark Knopfler when his puny English teacher salary wasn’t enough and he learned to play guitar to perform in clubs and make ends meet. Since he and his crew were in dire straits that’s what they called the band. Yep, pun intended.

Next thing I know — the “What It Is” comes on and I am on a guided tour around town. A number of places are mentioned, I look them up and I figure out it’s Edinburgh, Scotland. Yeah, knowledge is internet. And then the last verse throws me another curve ball.

There’s a chink of light, there’s a burning wick

There’s a lantern in the tower

Wee Willie Winkie with a candlestick

Still writing songs in the wee wee hours

On Charlotte Street I take

A walking stick for my hotel

The ghost of Dirty Dick

Is still in search of Little Nell

It has “hotel” — the first contemporary word in the whole song. Then it mentions “Wee Willie Winkie”, which seems to be a nursery rhyme from the 19th century. And then — boom — it drops the Dirty Dick and Little Nell. Who the bloody hell are these characters? How the hell did they get into a song about a Scottish town? Why does it bother me so much?

One thing I knew — I didn’t know. And that’s what was bothering me.

So I started digging. The first pass yielded a reference to a Nathaniel Bentley, who owned a hardware shop and a warehouse in London and is considered an inspiration to one of the Charles Dickens characters (Miss Havisham) after he refused to wash following the death of his fiancée (named Nell) on their wedding day. There’s also a bar named after him in London.

Sounds logical — I tried telling myself — but then it dawned on me. The song is about Edinburg, Scotland, there’s no way in hell Mark Knopfler would mix those two together. There’s got to be something else.

Another note pointed to “The Old Curiosity Shop” by the same Charles Dickens, and its main character Nell, and the Richard “Dick” Swiveller who is one of the main male characters from the same story. The story itself is basically a quest of finding said Nell that several different characters take on for different reasons. But — blimey! The shop from the Dicken’s story was located in London! Why would the singer put London characters randomly into a very poetic and beautiful song about Edinburg? I kept looking.

After checking a few more false leads (although not as extensively pushed as the previous two) I found Little Nell in a British Christmas song called “Up On The House Top”, a song by The Beloved called “Hello”, and a couple more references. There seemed to be no mention of Dirty Dick together with Little Nell in any work of literature.

The third time’s a charm, they said. I went into another rabbit hole and — whaddya know! — magic happened!

A discussion on this very topic originated all the way back in 2001. They’ve started with the same referencing of Charles Dickens novels. The topic died down for a year until someone in 2002 posted an irrelevant comment — and the topic bloody exploded. The origins of Dirty Dick and Little Nell came out in a pretty dirty light. As with most “folk” songs and shanties, there are multiple variations of the same song. Most of them start with:

“The moonlight shone upon the village green and upon little Nell”

Another version I found has “poor blind Nell” but there’s nothing about actually searching for Nell, although the events in this song are pretty close to those of “little Nell”.

The best part was the answer dated 2017. Quote:

“I see here versions similar to the one I recall from the 1950s in England Uk. It goes..”

Mark Knopfler was born in 1949, in Scotland, and raised in England. I would absolutely believe he may have heard this version more than once or even variations of this song — I am sure bars there weren’t just jazz and rock-n-roll in the 50s and 60s.

So, what became of the Dirty Dick and Little Nell? Well, let’s just say previous centuries were just as uncivilized as we are now…

Then Nell ran off across the green

But the bastard he pursued her

The white of an egg ran down her leg

The filthy swine had screwed her

P.S. There’s also a Dirty Dick’s pub in Edinburg, Scotland. It’s around the corner from Charlotte Street, referenced in the same verse of the song. I wonder who was it named after?