diff --git a/libs/pbd/pbd/xml++.h b/libs/pbd/pbd/xml++.h
index d17f77bd3c..31059db418 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/pbd/xml++.h
+++ b/libs/pbd/pbd/xml++.h
@@ -130,6 +130,8 @@ public:
 	const std::string& set_content(const std::string&);
 	XMLNode*      add_content(const std::string& s = std::string());
 
+	const std::string& child_content() const;
+
 	const XMLNodeList& children(const std::string& str = std::string()) const;
 	XMLNode* child(const char*) const;
 	XMLNode* add_child(const char *);
diff --git a/libs/pbd/xml++.cc b/libs/pbd/xml++.cc
index ece30bef1d..f222d32b3e 100644
--- a/libs/pbd/xml++.cc
+++ b/libs/pbd/xml++.cc
@@ -381,6 +381,26 @@ XMLNode::set_content(const string& c)
 	return _content;
 }
 
+/* Return the content of the first content child
+ *
+ * `<node>Foo</node>`.
+ * the `node` is not a content node, but has a child-node `text`.
+ *
+ * This method effectively is identical to
+ * return this->child("text")->content()
+ */
+const string&
+XMLNode::child_content() const
+{
+	static const string empty = "";
+	for (XMLNodeList::const_iterator n = children ().begin (); n != children ().end (); ++n) {
+		if ((*n)->is_content ()) {
+			return (*n)->content ();
+		}
+	}
+	return empty;
+}
+
 XMLNode*
 XMLNode::child (const char* name) const
 {