NAME: Letters of Love, The: see Early, Early in the Spring [Laws M1] (File: LM01)
===
NAME: Letty Lee: see Young Kitty Lee (Letty Lee) (File: Pea605)
===
NAME: Levee Camp Holler
DESCRIPTION: "We git up in de mornin' so dog-gone soon, Cain'[t] see nothin' but de stars and moon. Um...." An enumeration of typical travails in a hard day behind a team of mules.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: poverty work hardtimes
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 569, "Levee Camp Holler" (1 text (composite, from Lomax), 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 49-52, "Levee Camp 'Holler'" (1 text, obviously composite, 1 tune)
Roud #15580
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Roustabout Holler"
cf. "Steel Laying Holler"
File: BMRF569
===
NAME: Levee Moan (I'm Goin' Where Nobody Knows My Name)
DESCRIPTION: "I'm goin' whe' nobody knows mah name, Lawd, Lawd, Lawd, Lawd, I'm goin whe' nobody knows mah name." (x2) "I'm goin' whe' dey don't shovel no snow...." "I'm goin' whe' de chilly wind don't blow...." "Oh, baby, whe' you been so long...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: nonballad work
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, pp. 225-227, "Levee Moan" (2 texts, 1 tune)
NOTES: This looks to me like a cross of "Goin' Down This Road Feelin' Bad" with "Chilly Winds" -- but I can't prove it. - RBW
File: San225
===
NAME: Lexington Murder, The: see The Wexford (Oxford, Knoxville, Noel) Girl [Laws P35] (File: LP35)
===
NAME: Li'l Liza Jane
DESCRIPTION: "I've got a gal who loves me so, L'il Liza Jane, Way down south in Baltimore... Oh, Eliza, L'il Liza Jane." The singer loves Liza at first sight, and so "Now I've got me a mother-in-law," plus a house and children in Baltimore, and a home which he loves
AUTHOR: Countess Ada de Lachau
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: love courting marriage children
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 436, "Eliza Jane (I)" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 37, "L'il Liza Jane" (1 text)
Roud #825
RECORDINGS:
Al Bernard, "Li'l Liza Jane" (Vocalion 15638, 1927)
Harry C. Browne, "Li'l Liza Jane" (Columbia A2622, 1918)
Al Campbell & Henry Burr, "Liza Jane" (Columbia A2621, 1918)
Carter Bros. & Son, "Liza Jane" (OKeh 45202, 1928)
Taylor Flanagan & his Trio, "Li'l Liza Jane' (Brunswick 573, 1931; rec. 1930)
Earl Fuller's Famous Jazz Band, "Li'l Liza Jane" (Victor 18394, 1917)
Louise Massey & the Westerners, "Lil Liza Jane" (Vocalion 05361, 1939)
Ollie Shepard & his Kentucky Boys, "Li'l Liza Jane" (Decca 7651, 1939)
Win Stracke, "Little Liza" (Mercury 5777, 1952)
NOTES: Hard to believe that this isn't a variant of one of the other Liza Jane songs. But there is no evidence that it is. - RBW
It's a composed song, published in 1906, from the show "Come Out of the Kitchen." - PJS
Which probably holds some sort of record for obscurity. I can't even determine if "Countess" is part of de Lachau's name (which I suspect of being a pseudonym), or if she really was a slumming member of some obscure branch of the nobility.My library contains no references to her, and an internet search turned up nothing of use except copies of the sheet music to this song. - RBW
File: FSWB037
===
NAME: Liam O Raofaille (Willy Reilly; The Virgin Widow)
DESCRIPTION: Irish Gaelic: The singer and her Liam (Willie) are married on the island where they live, but as he rows the priest back to the mainland after the ceremony, the boat sinks and both are drowned. She is left a widow on her wedding night
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (recording, Sean 'Ac Donnca)
KEYWORDS: grief love virginity wedding death drowning ship foreignlanguage lament husband wife clergy
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Sean 'Ac Donnca, "Liam O Raofaille" (on TradIre01)
File: RcLiamOR
===
NAME: Liar's Song, The: see Little Brown Dog (File: VWL101)
===
NAME: Liberty for the Sailors
DESCRIPTION: "The Bellman's called it round the town, And far and near the news has flown; Each wife seeks out her last new gown, There's liberty for the sailors." The revels are told as "every lass will get her lad And every bairn will see its dad."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: sailor home food drink party
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 188-189, "Liberty for the Sailors" (1 text, 1 tune); some additional words given on p. 198
DT, LIBSAILR*
Roud #3179
File: StoR188
===
NAME: Liberty Tree (I), The
DESCRIPTION: "Columbus, a man of great genius, Came from the European shore [to America where] Great God himself has created A place for the Liberty Tree." Great Britain jealously tried to clamp down on the Americas, but they remain a beacon of liberty
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: political nonballad America exploration
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 47-50, "The Liberty Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The phrase "The Liberty Tree" is probably inspired by a publication of Thomas Paine's, itself found as a song, though I don't know if it's traditional.
The piece in Thomas doesn't strike me as a real result of the folk process; it looks like one of those pieces certain teachers wrote to teach their students. - RBW
File: ThBa047
===
NAME: Lichtbob's Lassie, The: see Katie Cruel (The Leeboy's Lassie; I Know Where I'm Going) (File: SBoA050)
===
NAME: Lie Low: see The Major and the Weaver [Laws Q10] (File: LQ10)
===
NAME: Life Boat, The
DESCRIPTION: "The life boat is comin', by the eye of faith I see, As she sweeps through the water to rescue you and me." The singer rejoices that the life boat will take him/her (and his/her companions) away from worldly sorrows and into heaven
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 629, "The Life Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3405
File: R629
===
NAME: Life in a Prairie Shack
DESCRIPTION: The singer points out the difficulties of "life in a prairie shack." The tenderfoot can't handle the cold and rain, is thrown from his horse, and hits his toe with an axe. His conclusion: "This bloomin' country's a fraud, And I want to go home to my ma." 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960
KEYWORDS: home hardtimes injury mother
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Fife-Cowboy/West 36, "Life in a Prairie Shack" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 33, "Life in a Prairie Shack" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, PRAIRSHK*
Roud #4472
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "A Life on the Ocean Wave" (tune)
File: FCW036
===
NAME: Life in California
DESCRIPTION: Singer leaves his family in Maine to seek California gold; he loses his money at cards and catches the "fever-n-ager." He asks for food, drink, lodging. Cho: "I'm a used-up man, a perfect used-up man/And if ever I get home again, I'll stay there if I can"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1853 (California Songster)
KEYWORDS: disease homesickness loneliness poverty home emigration separation travel mining cards death family
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1848 - gold found in Sutter's Mill, California. 
1849 - multitudes of easterners emigrate west, hoping to "make their pile"
FOUND_IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Logan English, "Life in California" (on LEnglish02)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Used-Up Man" (tune)
NOTES: Fever and ague: Malaria. - RBW
File: RcLiICal
===
NAME: Life Is a Toil: see The Housewife's Lament (File: FSC097)
===
NAME: Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad: see Life's Railway to Heaven (Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad) (File: DTlifera)
===
NAME: Life of Georgie, The: see Geordie [Child 209] (File: C209)
===
NAME: Life on the Ocean Wave, A
DESCRIPTION: "A life on the ocean wave, a home on the rolling deep, Where the scattered waters roll And the winds their revels keep." The sailor thrills to the sea life, so much that he welcomes even the storms
AUTHOR: Words: Epes Sargent/Music: Henry Russell
EARLIEST_DATE: 1838 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: ship sailor nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 87-89, "A Life on the Ocean Wave" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2033
File: SWMS087
===
NAME: Life Presents a Dismal Picture
DESCRIPTION: The physical and psychological woes of a family detailed. (The problems are usually sexual in nature, and the family may be very extended.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy family humorous nonballad scatological
FOUND_IN: Australia Canada Britain(England) US(MA,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cray, pp. 114-116, "Life Presents a Dismal Picture" (2 texts, tune indicated)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 527-530, "Life Presents a Dismal Picture" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #10130
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
A Letter from Home
My Family Life
NOTES: Sung to the melodies of "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" or "Scarlet Ribbons." - EC
File: EM114
===
NAME: Life's Railway to Heaven (Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad)
DESCRIPTION: "Life is like a mountain railroad With an engineer that's brave; We must make the run successful." The listeners are warned, in railroad terms, of the difficulties in life, and promised that if they do well, they will be praised by God the superintendent
AUTHOR: Words: M. E. Abbey/Music: Charlie Tillmann
EARLIEST_DATE: 1893 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: religious railroading nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 611-618, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (1 text plus a text of "The Faithful Engineer", 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 15-16, "(Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad)" (1 text, plus fragments of assorted parodies)
Silber-FSWB, p. 364, "Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad" (1 text)
DT, LIFERAIL
Roud #13933
RECORDINGS:
Allen & Hart, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (CYL: Edison [BA] 3441, n.d., prob. mid-1920s)
Allen Quartet, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (OKeh 45196, 1928; rec. 1927)
Curly Bradshaw [King of the Harmonica], "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Acme J-102, n.d.)
Calhoun Sacred Quartet, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Victor 20543, 1927; Montgomery Ward M-4350, 1933)
Criterion Male Quartet, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Brunswick 2931, 1925; Supertone S-2120, c. 1930)
Sid Harkreader, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Broadway 8129, c. 1930)
Harper & Turner, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Supertone 9658, 1930)
Charles Harrison, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Victor 19825, 1922)
Bradley Kincaid, "Life is Like a Mountain Railroad" (Bluebird B-8501, 1940; rec. 1934)
Fred Kirby, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Melotone [Canada] 45037, 1935)
Smilin' Ed McConnell "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Victor 23823, 1933; Bluebird B-8194, 1939)
Montgomery Quartet, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Decca 146, 1934)
Pace Jubilee Singers, "Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad" (Victor 23350, 1932; rec. 1929)
Pickard Family, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Oriole 1934, 1930)
George Reneau, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Vocalion 14811, 1924; Vocalion 5030, c. 1926)
Homer Rodeheaver, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Vocalion 14339, 1922) (Columbia 165-D [as Rodeheaver and Asher], 1924)
John Seagle & Leonard Stokes, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Victor 22060, 1929)
Oscar Seagle [baritone], "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Columbia A3420, 1921)
Smith's Sacred Singers, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Columbia 15159-D, 1927; Vocalion 02921, 1935)
Southern Railroad Quartet, "Life's Railway to Heaven' (Victor V-40002, 1929; Montgomery Ward M-8129, 1939; rec. 1928)
Mr. & Mrs. J. Douglas Swagerly, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (OKeh 40086, 1924)
Ernest Thompson, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Columbia 158-D, 1924) (Diva 6003/Harmony 5096-H, 1930 [both as Jed Tompkins])
Frank Welling & John McGhee "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Champion 15971 [as Hutchens Bros.], 1930; Champion 45125, c. 1935)
Hermes Zimmerman, "Life's Railway to Heaven" (Vocalion 1018, 1926)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ballad of the Braswell Boys" (tune)
cf. "Miner's Lifeguard" (tune)
cf. "Weaver's Life" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Ballad of the Braswell Boys (File: MN1048)
Miner's Lifeguard (File: BSoF730)
Weaver's Life (File: CSW090)
NOTES: The original [sheet music] publication also includes an alternate set of lyrics composed by Jack Penn, under the title "The Gospel Highway"; they seem not to have entered tradition. - PJS
The origin of this piece is looking more and more complicated the more I look at it. In previous editions of the Index, I noted a connection to "The Road to Heaven," which dates from probably 1854. Paul Stamler thought the notion of a railroad to heaven could occur independently. It almost doesn't matter; "The Road to Heaven" is among the earliest "spiritual railroad" songs, but Cohen in _Long Steel Rail_, pp. 597-603, notes many examples of the genre. There were certainly lots of forerunners to choose from, although only a handful went into tradition.
The interesting feature of this song is its relationship to "The Faithful Engineer," by Will S. Hays, published in 1886. This begins, "Life is like a crooked railroad, And the engineer is brave, Who can make a trip successful From the cradle to the grave."
The connection to this piece can hardly be denied, though the rest of the Hays poem is not quite so closely related.
So how did Abbey and Tillman get away with copyrighting this as an entirely new piece? I have no answer; neither has Cohen, though he speculates about intermediate versions. This seems likely enough, given how rapidly the song spread. Perhaps Abbey did not rewrite Hays, but rewrote some anonymous copy or rewrite of Hays. - RBW
File: DTlifera
===
NAME: Lifeboat, The
DESCRIPTION: "We're floating down the streams of time, We have not long to stay, The stormy clouds of darkness Is turned to brightest day. Oh let us all take courage... The lifeboat soon is coming To gather his jewels home." The joys of life with Jesus are outlined
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Chappell-FSRA 99, "The Lifeboat" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST ChFRA099 (Partial)
Roud #6629
NOTES: Roud lumps several "lifeboat" songs under this number, but one is a secular ballad, "The Little Clare Mary (Dailey's Lifeboat)." - RBW
File: ChFRA099
===
NAME: Lift Him Up That's All
DESCRIPTION: Jesus meets a woman at Jacob's well; she wonders at his being a Jew, but when she sees it is Jesus she runs to town: "Come and see a man who told me all that I have done." He asks her for  water; she tries to hide her sins, speaking of "race pride."
AUTHOR: Washington Phillips
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Washington Phillips)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Jesus meets a woman at Jacob's well; she wonders at his being a Jew, but when she sees it is Jesus she runs into town saying, "Come and see a man who told me all that I have done." He asks her for some water, and she tries to hide her sins, speaking of "race pride." Ch.: "Lift him up, that's all/Lift him up in his word/If you tell the name of Jesus everywhere...He will draw men unto him."
KEYWORDS: Bible religious Jesus Jew
FOUND_IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Washington Phillips, "Lift Him Up That's All" (Columbia 14277-D, 1927; on Babylon)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Maid and the Palmer" [Child 21] (subject)
cf. "Jesus Met the Woman at the Well" (subject)
cf. "See the Woman at the Well" (subject)
NOTES: For the story of Jesus and the Woman of Samaria, see John 4:5-26 - RBW
File: RcLHUTA
===
NAME: Light on Cape May, The
DESCRIPTION: As the ship sails on a pleasant sea, the lookout spots a light. The crew is given the good news that it is the Cape May light.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: sea
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Doerflinger, p. 130, "The Light on Cape May" (1 text, 1 tune, the latter identified as "The Bigerlow" and taken from Sandburg)
DT, CAPEMAY*
Roud #9438
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bigler's Crew" [Laws D8] (tune, lyrics) and references there
NOTES: Doerflinger describes this as a "salt-water variant of... 'The Timber Schooner Bigler.'" - RBW
File: Doe130
===
NAME: Lightning Express, The: see Please, Mister Conductor (The Lightning Express) (File: R720)
===
NAME: Lights of London Town, The: see A Picture from Life's Other Side (File: R603)
===
NAME: 'Ligion So Sweet: see Religion So Sweet (File: LxA582)
===
NAME: Like an Owl in the Desert
DESCRIPTION: "Like an owl in the desert I weep, mourn and cry; If love should overtake me I surely would die." "I can love like a lawyer... I can love an old sweetheart Till a new one comes along." "I can love him and kiss him... And turn my back on him ...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love betrayal
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 304, "Like an Owl in the Desert" (1 text)
Roud #16860
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Farewell He" (subject) and references there
File: Br3304
===
NAME: Likes Likker Better Than Me (Brown-Eyed Boy)
DESCRIPTION: "Oh I'm in love with a brown-eyed boy And he's in love with me But he's in love with a whiskey jug...." Singer laments that her young man "likes likker better than me." She says she thinks of marrying him, but life's hard as a whiskey-drinker's wife.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (recording, Woodie Brothers)
KEYWORDS: love courting drink
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 75, "Likes Likker Better Than Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BRWNEYED*
RECORDINGS:
New Lost City Ramblers, "Likes Likker Better Than Me" (on NLCR01) (NLCR12)
Woodie Brothers, "Likes Likker Better Than Me" (Victor 23579, 1931; on LostProv1)
NOTES: Pity we don't have the keywords "alcoholism" and "co-dependency." -PJS
File: CSW075
===
NAME: Likes Liquor Better than Me: see Likes Likker Better Than Me (Brown-Eyed Boy) (File: CSW075)
===
NAME: Lila Lee: see Lily Lee (File: R098)
===
NAME: Lilli Burlero: see Lilliburlero (File: FR286)
===
NAME: Lillian Brown
DESCRIPTION: "While the sun in his sinking beauty Was shining brightly in the West, A fair fortune maiden was thinking How soon she would meet her death." Lillian Brown, a Virginian boarding near West Durham Mill, takes poison and dies.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: suicide
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1914 - Reported date of Lillian Brown's suicide
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 299, "Lillian Brown" (1 text)
ST BrII299 (Full)
Roud #6638
NOTES: This piece, only three stanzas long, gives no motivation for Ms. Brown's suicide, and the editors of Brown were not able to elucidate. - RBW
File: BrII299
===
NAME: Lilliburlero
DESCRIPTION: Two Irish Catholics congratulate one another on victory over the Protestants, and make nasty remarks about what they intend to do to them. The song was written by a Protestant Englishman, in a burlesque of Irish dialect
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1688 (broadside, Bodleian (Wood 417(168)-Wood 417(172)))
KEYWORDS: hate Ireland humorous nonballad political dancing
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1685-1688 - Reign of James II (James VII of Scotland), the last Catholic king of Britain
1688 - Glorious Revolution overthrows James II in favour of his Protestant daughter Mary II and her husband and first cousin William III of Orange
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) Ireland
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Percy/Wheatley II, pp. 359-362, "Lilli Burlero" (1 text)
OLochlainn 36, "Lillibulero" (1 text, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 286, "Lilliburlero" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell/Wooldridge II, pp. 58-60, "Lilliburlero" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 303, "Lilli Burlero" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 90-91, "Lilliburlero" (1 text)
DT, LILIBURL
ADDITIONAL:
H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 441-443, 513, "Lillibulero"
Roud #3038
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, (Wood 417(168), A New Song [The first part of "Lill-li-burlero bullen a-la"] ("Ho brother Teague dost hear de decree") , unknown, [the date is illegible; see part 2];Wood 417(172), The second part of "Lill-li-burlero bullen a-la" ("There was an old prophesie found in a bogg") , unknown, "Printed in the Year 1688"); also Firth b.20(145), "A New Song" ("Ho brother Teague dost hear de decree"), unknown, see notes; Firth b.21(103), Harding B 5(33), A new song. Being a second part to the same tune of "Lillibullero" ("A treaty's on foot, look about English boys") (see notes for broadsides with a tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Overtures from Richmond" (tune)
cf. "There Was an Old Woman Tossed up in a Basket" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
My Thing Is My Own (BBI ZN1181, DT THINGOWN)
Overtures from Richmond (File: SCW46)
There Was an Old Woman Tossed up in a Basket (File: OO2544)
You that love mirth, give ear to my song/Teague and Sawney (BBI ZN3133)
The Martial drum no sooner did beat/The Couragious Soldiers of the West (BBI ZN1757)
I have been long in Custody here/The Chancellors Resolution (BBI ZN1282)
Come all ye Protestant Lads in the Land/The Protestants Delight, Or An Health to His Highness (BBI ZN515)
I'll sing ye a Song, if you'll pay me but for't/The Brandy-Bottle Plot (BBI ZN1357)
We came into brave Reading by Night/The Reading Skirmish (BBI ZN2745)
Protestant Boys, both valliant and stout/ Undaunted London-Derry (BBI ZN2262)
Protestant Boys, good tydings I bring/Dublin's Deliverance..Surrender of Drogheda (BBI ZN2263)
Protestant Boys now stand your Guard/The discovery of the New Plot (BBI ZN2264)
You that a fair maids heart would obtain/Faint Heart never won fair Lady: Or, Good Advice to Batchelors (BBI ZN3109)
Pray now attend and listen a while/The False-hearted Glover (BBI ZN2235)
The Protestant subjects of England rejoice/ ..Kingdom's Joy for the Proclaiming King William (BBI ZN2266)
I am a Lad that's come to the Town/West-Country Tom Tormented (BBI ZN1201)
Sound up the Trumpet, beat up the Drum/The Protestant Courage..of Valiant Sea-men (BBI ZN2391)
The coffee-house Trade is the best in the town/The City Cheat discovered (BBI ZN498)
Boys let us sing the Glory and Fame/Couragious Betty of Chick-Lane (BBI ZN427)
NOTES: The tune was used, under its own name, for an English country dance. A fragment of it is also played on the BBC World Service, 20 seconds before every hour. -PJS
Chappell/Wooldridge report of this piece, "The words have been variously ascribed to Lord Wharton and Lord Dorset, but probably neither was the author. The tune is a harpsichord lesson by Purcell, printed... in... Musick's Handmaid, two years before Tyrconnel's appointment as Lord Deputy." They quote Percy, "[The piece] was written, or at least re-published, on the Earl of Tyrconnel's going a second time to Ireland, in 1688. 'Lilliburlero' and 'Bullen-a-lah' are said to have been words of distinction used among the Irish Papists in their massacre of Protestants, in 1641."
The appointment of Tyrconnel is explicitly mentioned in the song:
Ho brother Teague, dost hear de decree...
Dat we shall have a new deputie...
Ho, by my Soul, it is a Talbot.
Talbot is Richard Talbot (1630-1691), Earl of Tyrconnel since 1685, appointed Lord Deputy of Ireland in 1687. He proceeded to "reform" the Irish army by removing its Protestant officers and increasing its size. Catholics were appointed to other positions as well. The Protestants, naturally, panicked; "Lilliburlero" is one sign of this.
It is said that this song "whistled James II from his throne." (For background on this, see the notes to "The Vicar of Bray.")  RBW
Broadside Bodleian Wood 417(168) has the tune.
Broadside Bodleian Firth b.20(145) has another tune and the annotation "Made upon ye Irish upon Tyrconnells goeing Deputy thither 25 Oct. 1688." 
Sparling: "Generally attributed to Lord Wharton, but this has never been conclusively proved.... A copy printed in London, 1689, is in the British Museum." - BS
File: FR286
===
NAME: Lillie Shaw
DESCRIPTION: The singer describes the crowd gathered to see his execution "for the murder of Lillie Shaw, Who I so cruelly murdered And her body shamefully (?) burned." He recalls the crime, sees his parents in the crowd, and hopes for forgiveness
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (Henry)
KEYWORDS: murder execution punishment gallows-confession
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 308, "Lillie Shaw" (1 text)
Roud #4627
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Pretty Fair Widow (Lillie Shaw)" (subject)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Lillie Shull
NOTES: Although there are two songs on this subject, and this one at least spread enough to be collected three times, no one seems to have found details on the fates of Lillie Shaw and Jim Wilcox/E. B. Preston.
Frank Proffit, who supplied the Warner ballad, claimed the murder took place in the 1880s in Mountain City, Tennessee. - RBW
File: BrII208
===
NAME: Lillie Shull: see Lillie Shaw (File: BrII208)
===
NAME: Lily Fair Damsel, A: see Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token) [Laws N42] (File: LN42)
===
NAME: Lily Lee
DESCRIPTION: (Nathan Gray) sets out across the sea to gain the money to marry (Lily/Lilla) Lee. One night he dreams that Lily is dead. He returns home in fear, to find that she has indeed died
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (LoC recording, David Rice)
KEYWORDS: separation love death travel
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 98, "Lily Lee" (1 text plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 513-514, "Lily Lee" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 98B)
ST R098 (Full)
Roud #3268
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lord Lovel" [Child 75]
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Lila Lee
File: R098
===
NAME: Lily Munroe: see Jack Monroe (Jackie Frazer; The Wars of Germany) [Laws N7] (File: LN07)
===
NAME: Lily of Arkansas, The: see The Lowlands of Holland (File: R083)
===
NAME: Lily of the Lake
DESCRIPTION: Singer describes the beauties of Lake Champlain, then the beauty of fair Mary, who glides on its waters. He sits down by her, proposes to her; she accepts with a blinding smile -- "She is the lovely Mary, the Lily of the Lake."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (recording, Pete Seeger)
KEYWORDS: courting love beauty 
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Lily of the Lake" (on PeteSeeger29)
NOTES: This was only collected from tradition once, but it was from Yankee John Galusha, and that's good enough for me. - PJS
File: RcLotL
===
NAME: Lily of the West, The [Laws P29]
DESCRIPTION: The singer courts (Mary/Flora), only to see her courting another man. He stabs the other man to death. He is taken and sentenced, all the while saying that he loves the Lily of the West despite her betrayal
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1839
KEYWORDS: murder jealousy betrayal trial
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North,South,West) Ireland US(Ap,MW,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (15 citations)
Laws P29, "The Lily of the West"
Belden, pp. 132-133, "The Lily of the West" (1 text plus reference to 1 more)
Randolph 145, "The Lily of the West" (3 texts plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
Eddy 49, "The Lily of the West" (2 texts, 1 tune)
BrownII 267, "The Lily of the West" (1 text, with little of the plot remaining)
Chappell-FSRA 113, "The Lily of the West" (1 fragment)
SharpAp 148, "The Lily of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 54, "Lily of the West" (2 texts, 1 tune)
SHenry H578, pp. 416-417, "Flora, The Lily of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 133-136, "The Lily of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 93, "The Lily of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 473-474, "The Lily of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 42, "Lily of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 225, "Lily Of The West" (1 text)
DT 507, FLORAWST*
Roud #957
RECORDINGS:
W. Guy Bruce, "The Lily of the West" (on FolkVisions1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 19(104), "The Lily of the West," W. Birmingham (Dublin), c.1867; also 2806 b.9(276), 2806 c.15(122), 2806 b.11(137), Harding B 19(15), "The Lily of the West"
LOCSinging, as107800, "The Lily of the West," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also as107780, sb20280a, as107790, "The Lily of the West" 
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(87a), "Flora The Lily of the West," Poet's Box? (Dundee), c. 1880-1900
SAME_TUNE:
Caroline Of Edinburgh Town (per broadsides Bodleian LOCSinging as107800, LOCSinging as107780, LOCSinging sb20280a)
NOTES: OLochlainn 93 ends happily: "I then did stand my trial, and boldly I did plead, A flaw was in my indictment found and that soon had me freed."
Broadside LOCSinging as107800: J. Andrews dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: LP29
===
NAME: Lily White Robe: see Little White Robe (File: RcLWRobe)
===
NAME: Lily-White Flower: see Wallflowers (File: HHH048d)
===
NAME: Limber Jim
DESCRIPTION: A long collocation  of (often) floating verses, with recurrent themes of gambling, women, comparisons between black and white, "rebels," all in no apparent order, with a variable refrain including the words "Limber Jim" and the chorus response "Shiloh!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924
KEYWORDS: gambling nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 593, "Limber Jim" (1 text)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 120-121, "(Shiloh)" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Went to the River (I)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Buckeye Jim"
File: BMRF593B
===
NAME: Limbo
DESCRIPTION: "Many thousands I've spent on Rachel and Ruth... Bridget and Pegs." A rich uncle gets the singer out of limbo prison; he'd "put you once more on your legs" if he'd settle down. He shows the girls his money. They try to get it from him; he turns them away.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3214))
KEYWORDS: prison rake family money
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 124-125, "Once I Was Young" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logan, pp. 304-307, "The Spendthrift clapt into Limbo" (1 text)
ST CrMa124 (Partial)
Roud #969
RECORDINGS:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3214), "The Rakes Complaint in Limbo," J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Wild Rover No More" (theme)
cf. "The Wild Boy" [Laws B20] (theme)
NOTES: Steve Gardham has this answer to my question as to whether there is/was a "Limbo Prison" (quoted with permission):
"No there was never a Limbo prison. The term applied to prisons evolved from the religious use of the word i.e. the medieval term for purgatory from Limbus Patrum. The leap isn't far from purgatory to prison if you think about it.
According to Partridge [_The Routledge Dictionary of Historical Slang_] the use of the word for a place of confinement dates from c1590. Partridge also gives other uses of the word:
a pawnshop c1690 to 1820,
female pudend 19thC,
bread- military late 19th century.
Roxburgh Ballads. Vol 8 p. 811 and Logan's _Pedlar's Pack_ p. 304 have plenty to say on Limbo songs." - BS
File: CrMa124
===
NAME: Lime Juice Tub, The: see The Limejuice Tub (File: MA140)
===
NAME: Limejuice and Vinegar: see According to the Act (File: FaE042)
===
NAME: Limejuice Ship, The: see According to the Act (File: FaE042)
===
NAME: Limejuice Tub, The
DESCRIPTION: A sarcastic song about the ignorance of new chums just arrived in Australia. Recognized primarily by the chorus, "With a rowdem rowdem a rub a dub dub, We'll send you back (or "drive them back") to the limejuice tub."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: emigration humorous Australia
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Meredith/Anderson, p. 140, "Rub-a-dub-a-dub" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 124-125, "The Limejuice Tub" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, p. 108, "The Limejuice Tub (The Whalers' Rhyme)" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "The Lime Juice Tub" (on Lloyd4, Lloyd10)
NOTES: "Limejuice tubs" were British immigrant ships, so named after the lime juice used to prevent scurvy. (Ironically, the lime juice was usually lemon juice, but called "lime." A little propaganda to make it sound less sour, perhaps.) - RBW
File: MA140
===
NAME: Limerick is Beautiful (Colleen Bawn)
DESCRIPTION: The city of "Limerick is beautiful ... The girl I love ... lives in Garryowen, And is called the Colleen Bawn." If I were "Emperor of Russia ... Or Julius Caesar, or the Lord Lieutenant" I'd give up everything to have her be my bride.
AUTHOR: Dion Boucicault (1820-1890) ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1860 (in play "The Colleen Bawn")
KEYWORDS: love lyric nonballad beauty Ireland courting rejection lover
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont) Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
O'Conor, p. 12, "Limerick is Beautiful" (1 text)
OLochlainn 72, "Limerick is Beautiful" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3002
RECORDINGS:
 O. J. Abbott, "The Colleen Bawn (Limerick Is Beautiful)" (on Abbott1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(100), "Limerick is Beautiful", P Brereton (Dublin), c.1867; 2806 b.11(40), "Limerick is Beautiful"; also Harding B 26(101), "Colleen Bawn" ("Limerick is beautiful as every body knows")
LOCSinging, sb20290b, "Limerick is Beautiful!", H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864 
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wreck of the Varty" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Limerick is Beautiful (Rebel Version ) (DT, LIMBEAUT)
NOTES: Given how often most of the characters the singer envies were assassinated, I might be tempted to give up the job too. - RBW
Fowke notes that the song was included in Boucicault's play, and that he is therefore sometimes credited with authorship. A more literary version was penned by the Irish poet Michael Scanlan. - PJS
The song is from Dion Boucicault's play "The Colleen Bawn" which opened September 10, 1860 at the Adelphi Theatre, London [sources: Templeman Library University of Kent site "Richard Fawkes Dion Boucicault Collection" (gives attribution for "composer" as "Levey, R. M., Mr"; "The Adelphi Theatre 1806-1900" at Eastern Michigan University site for English Language and Literature).]
Broadside LOCSinging sb20290b includes the statement "Sung by Dan Bryant in the great Irish drama, the Colleen Bawn, at Wallack's Theatre, New-York."
"Garryowen (Garrai Eoin, 'the garden of Eoin') on the edge of the old city of Limerick Eoin is the older Irish form of the name John" (source: _Odds and Ends_ from May 26, 2001 online edition issue Limerick Leader site)
Broadside LOCSinging sb20290b: H. De Marsan dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: OCon012
===
NAME: Limerick Rake, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer brags of being a rake; his fancy is young women.  Rich men die "among nettles and stones"; he wants to be like wise Solomon with 1000 wives who will cry at his wake. when he goes to the tavern, he's welcomed "where Bacchus is sportin' with Venus."
AUTHOR: words: Unknown; music: attributed to Robert Thompson
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (OLochlainn); c.1867 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 b.9(71))
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer brags of being a rake; raised properly by his father and well educated, his main fancy is young women, whom he lists in great number -- he's in love with one from Arda. The money he spends on the girls causes his parents much chagrin. He says he's not inclined for riches; Rich men die "among nettles and stones" but he wants to be like wise Solomon with 1000 wives who, with their children, will cry at his wake. He will buy a cow that will never run dry, for riches won't last past the grave; when he goes to the tavern, he's welcomed "where Bacchus is sportin' with Venus." Macaronic refrain: "Agus fagaim id siud mar ata se"
KEYWORDS: courting sex bragging beauty money death Ireland foreignlanguage animal father rake humorous
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
OLochlainn 42, "The Limerick Rake" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LIMERAKE*
Roud #3018
RECORDINGS:
Margaret Barry & Michael Gorman, "The Limerick Rake" (on Barry-Gorman1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.9(71), "The Limrick Rake," P. Brereton (Dublin), c.1867; also Harding B 26(354), "The Limerick Rake"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Vive la Compagnie" (on Bacchus & Venus line, otherwise unrelated)
SAME_TUNE:
I'm Champion at Keeping 'Em Rolling (MacColl-Shuttle, p. 7)
NOTES: I believe the tune was used by Ewan MacColl for his song, "Champion at Keepin' 'em Rollin'"; Barry states that it was written by her grandfather, Robert Thompson, a famous piper. The Gaelic refrain translates as, "Leave it as it is," or, "Leave well enough alone." - PJS
The tune in fact has been much-used; recently, Ian Robb turned it into "Champion at Driving 'Em Crazy." The Digital Tradition, in fact, lists seven songs with this tune, though only one other, "The Pensioner's Complaint," has any any sort of traditional status. And it's listed as having two tunes, so it's not clear whether that affects Thompson's claim to authorship. We do note that he was unlikely to have been of "composing age" at the time the first broadsides were published. - RBW
File: DTlimera
===
NAME: Limerick Shanty, The
DESCRIPTION: Shanty or forebitter. Verses are in the form of limericks, and any limerick will do. Chorus: "Oh, the elephants walked around, and the band begins to play. And all the girls in Bombay town, were dressed in the rig of the day."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Sternvall's _Sang under Segel_)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Shanty or forebitter. Verses are in the form of limericks, and any limerick will do. Chorus: "Oh, the elephants walked around, and the band begins to play. And all the girls in Bombay town, were dressed in the rig of the day." The verses printed were fairly mild but one could easily see this turning into something like "The Good Ship Venus."
KEYWORDS: shanty humorous foc's'le wordplay
FOUND_IN: Sweden Britain
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 511-513, "The Limerick Shanty" (1 text plus fragments, 1 tune)
NOTES: Hugill found this in _Sang under Segel,_ though he figures it was British in origin and was picked up by Swedish sailors, a practice which apparently was not unusual, given the number of English worded shanties sung on Scandinavian ships. One significant difference in practice however, is the use of many popular Victorian English "sea-songs." While these were sung ashore by British seamen, they rarely used at sea (and never as shanties), but the same songs were often sung at the capstan by Scandinavian and German sailors. - SL
File: Hugi511
===
NAME: Lincoln and Liberty
DESCRIPTION: From Lincoln's 1860 presidential campaign, to the tune of Rosin the Beau: "Hurrah for the choice of the nation! Our chieftain so brave and so true, We'll go for the great reformation, For Lincoln and Liberty too."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1860
KEYWORDS: political derivative
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1809 - Birth of Abraham Lincoln in Kentucky (hence the references to "the son of Kentucky")
1858 - Lincoln runs for Senator from Illinois against Stephen A. Douglas. Douglas won the election, but a series of debates between the two brought Lincoln to national attention
1860 - The Republicans, looking for a candidate who does not carry much baggage, nominate Lincoln for President. In a four-way race, Lincoln receives 40% of the popular votes and enough electoral votes to be elected President. The result is the Civil War
1864 - Lincoln re-elected President
1865 - Lincoln assassinated
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Sandburg, p. 167, "Lincoln and Liberty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, p. 75, "Lincoln and Liberty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 50, "Lincoln and Liberty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 40-41, "Lincoln and Libery" (1 text, filed under "Old Rosin, the Beau"; tune referenced)
Darling-NAS, pp. 345-346, "Lincoln and Liberty, Too" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 292, "Lincoln and Liberty" (1 text)
DT, LINCLBRT*
Roud #6602
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Lincoln and Liberty" (on PeteSeeger28)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rosin the Beau" (tune) and references there
cf. "Lincoln Hoss and Stephen A." (subject)
cf. "Adams and Liberty" (concept)
cf. "Jefferson and Liberty" (concept)
NOTES: I have seen several authors (F.A. Simkins, Jesse Hutchinson) listed as writing these words. I think the matter must be considered uncertain.
To explain the complicated situation behind it requires a lot of history. Assuming you want the background, bear with me if it's quite a few words before I even mention the name "Lincoln." For references cited, see the Bibliography at the end.
Most histories of the Civil War, quite properly, begin some time around the end of the Mexican War, because this is when the sectional conflicts over slavery started to really tear the country apart. But it wasn't sectional rivalry that elected Lincoln; it was party division. And that division was due largely to the fact that the parties of the mid-nineteenth century were still very fragile things.
It all really started with the War of 1812. This was, in some very real ways, almost a civil war as well as a foreign war. New England, with its economy built upon the sea, hated the war with Britain, even though it was the part of the country that suffered most of the insults inflicted by the British Navy.
The internal struggle in 1812 fell largely along party lines. The two factions which had existed since the passing of the Constitution were the Federalists, with a relatively strong concept of the power of the government, and the Jeffersonians ("Republicans," but not the same party as the current Repubican party) with a much more limited notion of government. And New England, which so opposed the war, was almost entirely Federalist in politics.
But the country was governed by the Republicans, based in the South and with little reliance upon trade at sea. They were the ones who declared the war-- and nearly destroyed the young nation in the process, since they utterly bungled both finances and military strategy. By the end, so bitter was the conflict that Federalist New England was holding an event called the "Hartford Convention" which at least considered withdrawing from the Union (see Hickey, pp. 270-281, with the results of the Convention itself occupying pp. 277-278).
But then the war ended. The Americans didn't win -- the two sides essentially called it all off on the basis of the status quo. The wreck of the government finances proved that the Federalists had in fact been mostly right. But Americans *felt* they had won -- and the Federalists were the party of the Hartford Convention, which in the wake of "victory" looked like near-treason. Plus the Jeffersonians had found themselves unable to manage the country on their strictly hands-off basis, and came to adopt more and more Federalist-type measures (Schlesinger, p. 19).
Between having little to distinguish it from the Republicans and having the stain of lack of loyalty, the Federalist party died (Hickey, p. 308) -- died so fast that, five years after the war, James Monroe was re-elected with 231 out of 232 electoral votes, and I've heard that it would have been 232 out of 232 except that a New Hampshire elector disliked Monroe (Schlesinger, p. 19) and felt that no President except George Washington should be elected unanimously (for the electoral vote breakdown, see e.g. the Hammond Atlas, p. U-58). There was a feeble attempt to form a "Tertium Quid," or third party, in the original Jefferson mold, but it failed completely (Schlesinger, pp. 20-21).
For a dozen years, there were no real political parties as such; everyone was a Republican of one stripe or another. Then Andrew Jackson was elected in 1828 (he had nearly won in 1824; he led the popular vote but did not have a majority of the electoral votes, and the House made John Quincy Adams president), and *he* roused opposition (see Holt, p. 17, etc.; Schlesinger, pp. 3-7, describes the near-panic in Washington as Jackson prepared to assume the presidency). Indeed, the opposition party which formed in the years after that came to be called Whigs because the British Whigs were generally the anti-Monarchy party, and American Whigs opposed "King Andrew."
The Democratic (Jacksonian) party was never as united as it is sometimes portrayed; there were always factions such as "barnburners," "hunkers," and "locofocos" within it (see, e.g., Schlesinger, p. 398), and it was always possible that they would split off. What held the party together was that the government, inefficient in most other ways, was very good at patronage (see the sweeping indictment of the "spoils system" in Nevins1847, pp. 173-181, which demonstrates how government offices were handed out based on favors, not competence). What kept the nation together was the fact that these were not truly widespread movements, if New York barnburners, say, tried to separate from the United States, they could not take a block of states with them. The most they could do was hijack the party.
A hijack of "the Democracy" might have happened had the opposition been weaker -- or stronger. But the Whigs never really managed to produce a coherent ideology either. They had some common opinions -- support for internal improvements, e.g. -- but on most other issues they had contradictions. For example, although theoretically the anti-war party (Jackson had been elected in part based on his wars against various Indian tribes, including the Creeks and Cherokees, and the Mexican War was started by Democrats), the only two Presidents the Whigs elected (William Henry Harrison and Zachary Taylor) were both generals.
Meanwhile, the south's pro-slavery attitude was hardening. As late as 1830, there were still significant numbers of southerners who opposed slavery, or at least wanted to see it restricted. But then came Nat Turner's rising. The rising failed quickly, with the participants almost all killed (Vandiver, p. 5) -- but the brought home to southerners the truth that there *could* be a slave rebellion. Ever after, the great fear of southerners was another Santo Domingo.
There was also John C. Calhoun. Originally a strong nationalist with a desire for internal improvements, in the 1820s he started spending more time in his home of South Carolina, and he started beating the drums of sectionalism (Schlesinger, pp. 52-54). Later, for purely personal reasons, he came to resent the northern Democrats who had thwarted his presidential hopes and supported Martin Van Buren (Schlesinger, pp. 54-55, shows just how vicious Calhoun became in this vendetta). And he was so strong an intellect, and so widely respected, that his opinions swayed even those who did not agree with him.
He had also changed how leaders were selected: "With General Jackson, I put the Congressional caucus system under foot, but I did not expect to see this monstrous system of national conventions take its place" (Nevins1847, p. 194). National political conventions, and their platforms, have obviously survived, but at this time the rules were still fluid and the results highly unpredictable (Holt, p. 293) -- except for the certainty of pandering. There was a sense that "party dictation meant slavery" (Holt, p. 32), so the strongest leaders did little to bind the parties to themselves or themselves to the parties.
By the 1840s, the Whigs were discovering that they just didn't have any answers on the question of slavery. And that oh-so-Democratic war, the Mexican War, made the problem worse, because suddenly the United States gained a lot of southern land -- Texas, California, plus lands in between containing most of what is now Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, and more -- that had to be opened to slavery or kept as free soil (Mexico, unlike the U.S., banned slavery categorically, though its peonage system looked very like slavery to some observers).
Theoretically, the problem shouldn't have arisen. President Polk, who started the Mexican war, had campaigned on the platform of annexing Texas *and* a large part of what is now western Canada ("Fifty four forty or fight!"). But, not wanting to fight two wars at once, he had compromised on the Oregon/Canada business, meaning that he brought in less clearly-free (that is, north of the 36 30' Missouri Compromise line) territory than expected -- but the Mexican War took over more southern territory. So Polk had supplied less free territory, and more slave territory, than anticipated. This led to charges of bad faith on the part of northwesterners (Nevins1847, p. 7).
The worst of it was that it potentially upset the balance of power in the Senate. California and New Mexico were thought to be mostly desert, which would always have small populations -- but they would have lots and lots of Senators (eight to ten, under the territorial arrangement envisioned at the time; Nevins1847, p. 21).
William Lowndes Yancey, who thirteen years later would be more responsible than anyone else for splitting the Union, made matters worse: His "Alabama Resolutions" called for repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 to open all the territories to slavery (Nevins1847, p. 12). Already he was threatening secession if he didn't get what he wanted.
It's interesting to note that, at this time, few called the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional; it had passed by a margin of three to one, with no questions about its legality (Nevins1847, pp. 26-27). It had generally been agreed that Congress could legislate slavery in the Territories -- until that started to threaten the Peculiar Institution.
Ironically, it was a Democrat, David Wilmot, who introduced the Wilmot Proviso, intended to bar slavery from the territories captured in the War (Holt, p. 251); in this regard, it modelled itself on the great Northwest Ordinance of 1787 (Nevins1847, p. 9) -- something that, in theory, should have made it appeal to conservative Democrats. But it was anti-slavery Whigs who became devoted to it.
This proved an elaborate form of party suicide. The Whigs won the election of 1848 with Zachary Taylor as their candidate, but the process of electing him caused much damage to the party, which broke into "cotton Whigs" and "Conscience Whigs" (the latter basically pro-Wilmot Proviso and anti-slavery; Nevins1847, pp. 201-202). In 1850, the Whigs lost ground in congress. And then they had to pick a presidential candidate for 1852. It took them 53 ballots to nominate someone, and the division was almost entirely sectional (McPherson, p. 116). They finally set aside sitting president Millard Fillmore (who had alienated the Free Soil forces by enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law) to endorse Winfield Scott (Nevins1852, pp. 28-30). He was, in a way, a compromise, but after the nomination, many southern Whigs abandoned the party (McPherson, p. 118).
The Democrats by this time were uniting behind Franklin Pierce. (The Democratic convention of 1852 would how chaotic the convention system could be: The convention was deadlocked after many ballots, with Cass and Buchanan the clear favorites. The Buchanan forces then tried a strange strategy of putting up what they thought were straw men, to be quickly defeated. The idea apparently was to convince Cass delegates that there was no other alternative -- only Buchanan could draw wide support. Instead, on ballot #49, the convention precipitated around Franklin Pierce; Nevins1857, pp. 18-20. Since Pierce was a handsome fool, it shows the problems of the time. Of course, the current system, in which the convention does nothing except use up a lot of fossil fuels ratifying what is already decided, is no better.)
Nevins1852, p. 32, notes great glee on the Democratic side: "the main reason for Democratic exuberance was that the party had patched up its slavery quarrels, while the Whigs had not." And, indeed, though Scott picked up a respectable vote total, the election was a blowout. Holt, p. 758, gives a table analyzing the election of that year; so bad was the rout that, in Alabama and Mississippi, the Whig percent of the vote dropped by more than half. It was "the most stunning defeat in the party's history" (Holt, p. 754). They won only 44% of the popular vote, and only 42 out of 296 electoral votes, against the vacuous Pierce. Their representation in congress fell dramatically, too -- the Democrats gained two-thirds of the seats in the House, and nearly two-thirds of the Senate (McPherson, p. 119).
No wonder that Alexander Stephens declared, "The Whig party is dead" (McPherson, p. 118). By 1854, even the corpse was collapsing; battered not only by slavery, but by an anti-Catholic and anti-immigrant backlash prompted in part by the Irish famines, and even by the temperance movement (McPherson, p. 135), splinters broke off in all directions. Holt, p. 838 says that the "congressional, state, and local elections between August 1854 and December 1855 were the most labyrinthine [and] chaotic... in all of American political history." They would be followed, two elections later, by the most labyrinthine presidential eletion.
By 1856, the prediction of Stephens was proved correct: the Whigs were dead (they held a convention of sorts in that year -- but instead of nominating a candidate, they simply endorsed Know-Nothing candidate Fillmore; RandallDonald, p. 104. It was their last act). With their party evaporated, former Whigs had to decide which way to go. Those who accepted slavery almost all turned Democratic. But northern Whigs founded a new party. It might have been called "Free Soil" (there was a "Free Soil" splinter party in 1852), or the "Liberty" party, or even "Wilmotite" party -- but the name they ended up with was "Republican."
The anti-immigrant Know-Nothings (who by now were calling themselves the "American" party) also started to fracture in 1856. Northern Know-Nothings nominated Nathaniel P. Banks (the Speaker of the divided House, and a future thoroughly inept Civil War general) even as the southerners nominated Millard Fillmore, and Banks then withdrew in favor of the Republican candidate John C. Fremont (who had gotten the job mostly because he carried no political baggage). In 1856, this split in the Know-Nothings helped the Democrats -- but in the longer term, it cemented the Republicans as the "other" party (McPherson, pp. 153-155).
The Republicans stood for a number of things -- e.g. most of them, as former Whigs, believed in a strong program of internal improvements. But they stood for one thing unequivocally: An absolute prohibition on slavery in the territories (Nevins1857, pp. 410-411; he claims this as the moderate position of Lincoln, as opposed to the more radical Seward, who considered the party's dominant idea to be "the equality of men before human tribunals and laws." Lincoln and the moderate Republicans wanted to fence in slavery so that it could not grow; the more radical wing of the part was for more or less immediate abolition).
Even the moderate position -- no slavery in the Territories -- was unacceptible in the South. It threatened slavery twice. It threatened it politically because, if all those territories became free states, they would eventually become numerous and populous enough to amend slavery out of the Constitution.
But the real threat, as some realized at the time, was economic. The southern economy was built around "King Cotton" -- and cotton ruined the soil. (This apart from the fact that mass cotton production meant the Southerners were falling into the economic trap of putting all their eggs in one raw material. The South, even as the planters built their mansions, was growing poorer in both absolute and relative terms. The planters were forever in debt, and there was no capital for the non-planters to build decent farms or anything else. Really, by 1860, the South was a colony of the British and New England textile mills; cf. Catton-Coming, p. 84; also McPherson, p. 95, which notes that there were more cotton spindles in Lowell, Massachussetts alone than in *all eleven future Confederate states combined*.)
Even had the South wanted to change -- and some did; the well-respected _DeBow's Review_, e.g., was always calling fore more industry (McPherson, p. 96) -- the economy was ill-structured for change. All the capital was absorbed in land and slaves (McPherson, p. 97; Vandiver, p. 4 says that slaves alone "represented no less than a third of the section's wealth"). But, somehow, the South failed to realize that they were turning their fate over to their perceived enemies. Cotton consumption was growing so fast that the South took to the golden treadmill (the same treadmill that today keeps Saudi Arabia what it is).
William H. Seward was not simply being an anti-slavery man when he wrote that southern territory consisted of  "exhausted soil, old and decaying towns, wretchedly-neglected roads, and, in every respect, an absence of enterprise and improvement" (Foner, p. 41). The poverty of slave territory was clear to all who saw it.
Seward apparently thought this entirely a moral effect -- slavery causing the decay. Not really; it was the cotton itself. A sufficiently smart owner could mitigate this -- Edmund Ruffin, who would later fire the first shot at Fort Sumter, had shown that marl (consisting largely of old seashells, and rich in calcium and magnesium) could replenish soil fertility. It didn't matter. Most plantation owners were too foolish to engage in scientific farming (these are, after all, people who thought slaveholding a *desirable* state -- RandallDonald, p. 107, quotes Albert Gallatin Brown: "That slavery is a blessing to the masters is shown by simply contrasting a Southern gentleman with a Northern abolitionist. One is courageous, high-bred, and manly. The other is cowardly, low-flung, and sneaking." Nevins1859, p. 126, cites R. M. T. Hunter, "the very keystone of this arch [the Union] consists of the black marble cap of African slavery; knock that out, and the mighty fabric, with all that it upholds, topples and tumbles to its fall."). Since slavery ruined the land it was on, they saw the only way slavery could survive was if new land was opened to the slaveholders.
Catton argues that there was another reason why the South clung to slavery: It meant they could avoid the issue of what to do with the former slaves (Catton-Coming, pp. 85-86). Certainly it was a problem we're still struggling with; at the time, even liberals like Lincoln thought the best solution was sending the slaves to found colonies outside the U.S. Many states, north and south, refused to let free Blacks live there. It was a time when racism was so ingrained that no one questioned it.  Foner, indeed, argues that many Republicans were not against slavery in the territories because they upposed slavery but because the Whites in the north wanted to make sure plantation culture didn't take over the land -- these Republicans wanted it for themselves, not for the plantation-owners (Foner, p. 61).
The decline of slavery had, in fact, already taken place in many slave states. Delaware in 1860 had a population roughly 20% Black -- but 19,723 of those Blacks were free and only 1798 slaves; the number of slaves had significantly *declined* in the last decade (RandallDonald, pp. 4-5), and by 1860 there were only 111 households left with five or more slaves (RandallDonald, p. 68). Maryland's Blacks were almost half free (Nevins1859, p. 488). Virginia still had plenty of slaves, but relatively few real plantations; to a significant extent, slavery persisted there to breed slaves for the cotton states (McPherson, p. 102).
But the truly ridiculous situation was Kansas. The state had fought a low-grade civil war for half a dozen years over the issue of slavery, and had (with some conniving from Missouri and Federal authories) tried to join the Union as a slave state -- but the 1860 census showed exactly *two* slaves resident in the region (RandallDonald, p. 99).
It didn't help that, in the decade of the 1850s, there had been all sorts of irritants between the regions -- California, Kansas/Nebraska, the doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, John Brown, the filibusterers (southerners who took semi-private invading forces into places like Nicaragua or Cuba hoping to capture more territory for slavery), physical violence in the Senate (Senator Charles Sumner had made a speech attacking South Carolina's Andrew Butler. Butler's nephew Preston Brooks answered by entering the Senate and beating Sumner unconscious with his cane. Sumner needed four years to recover, but his state refused to replace him; Brooks was easily re-elected; Current/Williams/Freidel, p. 398).
None of these actually affected the electoral situation in the slightest, so I won't detail them. What mattered was that every one of them led to more distrust between South and North.
Plus people no longer trusted the Supreme Court. As early as the 1840s, during the debate over the Texas territories, there was an attempt (the "Clayton Compromise") to turn the whole issue over to the courts. This failed; too many people thought the courts unreliable. And then, right after the Election of 1856, came the infamous Dred Scott decision, in which the courts upheld the Southern position in almost every particular -- no compromise, and no limits on the right to slavery. The North was outraged. The reservoir of national goodwill built up since the end of the War of 1812 was completely used up.
You will sometimes hear people claim that secession was not about slavery; it was about States Rights. This is entirely false, as the above information clearly shows. But this does not mean States Rights was trivial. On the contrary, the belief in States Rights was what allowed the South to secede: They felt they were *entitled* to secede -- that each state was sovereign and had the right to leave the Union. The Constitution was, one might say, a treaty which might be revoked at any time, not a binding contract (cf. Nevins1859, pp. 329-331). The distinction is subtle but real: The South did not secede *in defence of* States Rights but *because they believe in* States Rights.)
It should be noted that this principle was never properly tested. The Constitution does not mention secession. The principle could have been taken to the Supreme Court -- e.g. President Buchanan could have sought an opinion on the matter when South Carolina pulled out. With a southern-dominated court led by Roger B. Taney of Dred Scott infamy, it is hard to guess how they might have ruled. But no one did so. The whole thing reminds me a lot of the Book of Judges: "In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did what was right in his own eyes" (21:25 and parallels).
This was the more so because the period had seen the passage of the last men who remembered the founding of the United States. Andrew Jackson died in 1845. John C. Calhoun followed in 1850, and Henry Clay and Daniel Webster in 1852. The leaders who had held the nation together for thirty years were all gone. So it was more or less accepted: If a Republican became President, the South would leave the Union.
In the place of the great leaders of the second generation there arose -- Stephen A. Douglas.
Catton- Coming, p. 6, sums up the man brilliantly: "Senator Douglas was a man about whom no one could be indifferent. He was either a remorseless scheming politician or a hero defending eternal truth, the appraisal depending partly on the observer's point of view and partly on what Douglas himself was up to at the moment. As a scheming politician he had opened the door for the great tempest in Kansas and now he was standing in the wind's path, defying the storm and those who had made it; a man who could miscalculate drastically  but who would not under pressure run away from what he had done. Very few men either hated or admired him just a little. A passionate man himself, he evoked passion in others, in his friends and in his enemies."
Except for the Dred Scott decision, there was very little that happened in the 1850s that he had not influenced. First chosen for the Senate in 1847, he made a reputation for himself three years later. It was Henry Clay the Whig who put together the Compromise of 1850, but Clay was too old to put in the effort to push it through, and it was Douglas the Democrat who had gotten it passed (McPherson, p. 75; RandallDonald, p. 97). Yet, just a few years later,  for reasons which eem completely inadequate, he in effect, ruined the Compromise -- and even the 1820 Missouri Compromite -- with his actions regarding Kansas (RandallDonald, pp. 94-95).
By 1858, he was the most important figure in the country, not excepting President Buchanan, but he was widely regarded as being in trouble in his run for re-election to the Senate (Nolan, p. 133). His attitudes had turned the administration against him to the extent that they tried to run another Democrat to make it a three-way contest (Nevins1857, p. 351), which would naturally have led to a Republican landslide. To this end, they were brutal to Douglas supporters in the state (Nevins1857, p. 372). In the view of Nevins, it made the 1858 Senate contest much more than an ordinary Senate race. Potentially it would decide the direction of the Democratic party -- and with it the nation.
Douglas managed to halt Buchanan insurgency (though naturally the administration never gave him any support), but found himself being trailed around the state by his Republican opponent Abraham Lincoln (Nolan, pp. 135-137). To stop the "stalking," he agree to a series of seven debates, organized by congressional districts.
Not all the debate were memorable or even particularly honest; Nevins1857, pp. 385-386, for instance, talks of the Charleston debate as almost a case of political trickery, and says that its "shadowboxing was unworthy of such men." But the Galesburg debate asked a question still worth asking today. Douglas, declaring Republicanism to be a sectional doctrine, declared that "no political creed is sound which cannot be proclaimed freely in every State of this Union." To which Lincoln wondered if the true test of the doctrine was whether people would not let it be proclaimed everywhere (Nevin1857, p. 387). This was the ultimate difference between the two: Lincoln had a much stronger belief in a higher law. Douglas held as his highest principle popular sovereignty: True democracy (as long as you were male and white and an American citizen and, probably, protestant); Nevins1857, p. 390.
The key was the second debate, at Freeport in northern Illinois. The Dred Scott decision, annulling the Missouri Compromise, allowed Lincoln to put Douglas on the spot: Was there *any* way the people of a territory could exclude slavery in the wake of the Supreme Court's action? Douglas, never one to dodge an issue, formally stated an opinion he had informally held for years (Nevins1857, p. 381). Now known as the Freeport Doctrine, his position was that the Federal government *could not* impose slavery on people, because they would simply not enforce it (Catton-Coming, p. 7;  Current/Williams/Freidel, pp 402-403).
Historians -- most of them, of course, anti-slavery -- generally think that Lincoln won his "debates" with Douglas (McPherson, p. 187). Certainly it was the Republican party that distributed tens of thousands of copies (Nevins1859, p. 394).
But the debates and the Freeport Doctrine won "The Little Giant" re-election to the Senate -- just barely. RandallDonald, p. 120, implies that this was partly a result of out-of-date and perhaps gerrymandered district boundaries; Democratic parts of Illinois carried more legislative seats than they were due. (Recall that, at this time, Senators were elected by the state legislatures.) Nevins1857, pp. 396-398, says that Republican legislative candidates won125,275 votes; Douglas Democrats 121,090, with the Buchanan Democrats picking up a pitiful 5,071 votes. The map in Nevins1857, p. 397, shows county-by-county totals, with Lincoln taking every county north of roughly Peoria, Douglas winning all but three in the south (roughly below Effingham), and the east-central counties supporting Linoln while the west-central went mostly to Douglas. (It's an amazing map. Apart from those three Lincoln counties in the south, each candidate had one solid mass; there was no checkerboard border such as we usually see in sectional elections). McPherson, pp. 187-188, has Democrats winning 51 of 54 southern Illinois districts and Republicans winning 42 of 48 in the northern part of the state. It added up to a legislature that gave Douglas 54 votes for the Senate seat and Lincoln 46).
It was, however, a rather pyrrhic victory: Douglas had won Illinois -- but it was otherwise a devastating election for the Democrats.While Republicans had not won control of congress (resulting in a second many-month battle over who would be Speaker), they had become the largest party: 109 Republicans, 101 Democrats (only 32 of them from the north, down from 56 in 1856; McPherson, p. 188), 26 Know-Nothings, and one stubbornly self-declared Whig (Catton-Coming, p. 13).
What's more, the cracks in the Democratic party were showing. While it was still officially a unity, it was divided into two factions: The Douglas faction and the Administration faction which followed Buchanan (and his several southern advisors). And the South hated Douglas. Intent on States Rights when that meant slavery, Southerners would not accept States Rights when that meant free soil.
Administration supporters were known as "Lecompton men," after the Lecompton Constitution fraudulently foisted on Kansas. Nevins1857, p. 402, notes that "It was significant that nearly all Northern Congressmen who had supported the bill at the Directory's [i.e. the Administration's] behest had run pell-mell for cover as soon as they faced the voters.... Wherever Lecompton was a direct issue, the popular vote was decisive. In Buchanan's own State, for example, ten Lecompton Representative went down; two beaten for renomination, eight for election." Pandering to the South meant defeat in the north -- but failing to give in to the south meant the threat of secession.
Even churches were splitting over the issue; Vandiver, p. 10, notes the formation of the Methodist Church, South and the Southern Presbyterian Church in this period.
Ironically, the pro-Douglas, anti-Lecompton Democrats were not worried; Nevins1857, p. 403, notes "exultant as the Republicans were [after the 1858 elections], the popular sovereignty Democrats were happier still." They thought that their success would bring the rest of the Democratic party in line behind them. In fact, all they had won was gridlock: "A feeble president, the captive of a self-willed faction of his party, now repudiated by the North; a divided Congress which faced a certain deadlock on any important legislation; a Supreme Court discredited in half the nation [by the Dred Scott decision] -- such would be the government of the next two years" [Nevins1857, p. 404]. With the nation completely leaderless, is it any wonder that southern fire-eaters were maturing plans for secession?
Indeed, in some ways, the rebellion started even before the Civil War. Many Northerners had long resisted enforcing the Fugitive Slave Law (which, when you think about it, was largely an expression of the Freeport Doctrine. But no one -- not even Douglas -- seems to have looked at it that way).
The South was coming up with its own answer: In the good old days when everyone had wanted slavery to die out, North and South had agreed to pass a ban on further importation of African slaves; all future slaves would be the children of existing slaves. Now, with slavery regarded as a positive good rather than an evil to be tolerated, plantation owners wanted to re-start the importation of slaves. And there were plenty of vile sailors willing to do their bidding. Some slipped through the (obviously quite loose) blockade intended to prevent this. Some were caught by the American navy. But when brought to trial in the South, juries refused to convict them even when the slavers were clearly guilty of atrocities (Nevins1857, pp. 433-437). (There was also agitation to make the trade legal; it's hard to say which was more disgusting. But, of course, both inflamed anti-slavery sentiment in the North.)
President Buchanan also promoted an attempt to annex Cuba -- something Spain would never voluntarily allow; it was just another irritant to northern anti-slavery forces (since Cuba was already slave territory and would strengthen pro-slavery forces (Nevins1857, pp. 448-450).
And then came 1860, and its presidential election. Douglas was the great issue. He was too powerful to ignore and too hated to be generally acceptable. It showed in the run-up to the 1860 presidential conventions: Douglas was the only true candidate on the Democratic side (Catton-Coming, p. 6; Nevins1859, p. 209, notes that various anti-Douglas politicians supported vice president Breckinridge, or secretary Guthrie, or Senator Hunter, or even Andrew Johnson. Several of these men, ironically, would stay with the Union).
Even had they stayed united, the Democrats had other problems, as the election of 1856 had shown. It had looked like a blowout in the electoral college -- President Buchanan had earned 174 of 296 electoral votes, or 59%. But a glance at the actual results (see e.g. p. U-59 of the Hammond Atlas) shows a different picture: There had been three candidates: Buchanan, the Democrat; Fremont, the Republican; and Fillmore, the Know-Nothing (the Know-Nothings were technically called the American party. Which actually translated as the anti-immigrant and anti-Catholic party). Buchanan had won only 45% of the popular vote (only 41% in the north, according to McPherson, p. 162), with Fremont taking 33% and Fillmore 22%. It was southern electoral votes which had put Buchanan in office, and Southerners, as it proved, would make sure Buchanan knew he owed them.
And the Republican party in 1856 was brand-new and had little national organization; only a few states had a significant apparatus. It had clearly grown stronger in the years since 1856, when a battle over the house speakership had forced its congressional delegation to cooperate (McPherson, p. 144).
Plus the election was followed by the Panic of 1857, which shattered the economy; the after-effects were still being felt in 1860. It was hardly Buchanan's fault --  Current/Williams/Freidel, p. 399, blame it mostly on a decline in demand for American products after the end of the Crimean War -- but of course Presidents and their party are always blamed for the state of the economy.
There was every expectation Republicans would improve their showing in 1860 (which incidentally pretty well ruined the idea of a split Democratic ticket: If no candidate won the electoral vote, resulting in the election going to the House of Representatives, the House would very likely elect the Republican. Indeed, Douglas himself declared that he would not allow such an outcome: "before it shall go into the House, I will throw it to Lincoln" -- CattonRoads, p. 232; Nevins1859, p. 285).
Then, too, there was the distribution of votes in 1856. Fremont has won New York, all of New England, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Iowa. Only five free states -- California, Illinois, Indiana, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania (which was Buchanan's home state) -- had gone for Buchanan. Already it was a sectional contest: Buchanan versus the Republican candidate Fremont in the north and against the Know-Nothing Fillmore in the south (McPherson, p. 157). The Democrats won only by taking all of the South and a little in the North. If they lost ground in either section, they were doomed.
And the electoral balance continued to tilt northward. Two states (Oregon and Minnesota) had joined the Union since 1856; the latter was almost certain to go Republican, and they had at least a chance for the former. In 1860, if the Republicans could hold the states they had won in 1856, win the two new states, and take Pennsylvania plus any one of the other Democratic states, they would have at least 152 out of 303 electoral votes and would elect a President. The Democrats, to win, had to somehow to come up with a candidate who would run strong in the Northeast or Midwest. Problem was, there were no Democrats, except Douglas, who seemed likely to run strong there (Catton-Coming, p. 9).
It's a situation really quite reminiscent of the early twenty-first century: Two parties dominated by extremists. The Democrats still had a chance -- a very good chance -- if they could keep their party united and their voters in line.
But who could they nominate? The incumbent, James Buchanan, had been nominated in 1856 mostly because he had been an ambassador and so was not burdened with baggage about Kansas (Current/Williams/Freidel, p. 398). But by 1860 he was obviously no longer free of that taint -- and was so worn and worthless that not even the Democrats seriously considered re-nominating him.
The leading man in the party was Senator Douglas, the man who had beaten Abraham Lincoln in that 1858 Illinois Senate Race. But -- Douglas had (rather gratuitiously) created the infamous Kansas/Nebraska conflict. And, to win that 1858 election, he had supported the doctrine of "Popular Sovereignty" (in simplest terms, that the local [white male] residents always decide about Slavery), and added the "Freeport Doctrine" (not a law, simply an opinion: That locals would always end up making the decision about slavery, because only locals were in a position to enforce the law. If they didn't like a law, it would be ignored).
The centrist who would be easiest to elect nationally was almost impossible for the reactionary Democrats to stomach.
Douglas faced other handicaps. He had, in 1856, stepped aside to open the door for Buchanan's candidacy, at significant financial cost to himself (Nevins1847, p. 175), but gratitude is rare in politics. The Buchanan administration hated him, and they dominated controlled several state delegations that might otherwise have gone for Douglas at least in part (Nevins1859, p. 211). The convention was held in Charleston -- a decision made four years earlier, when Democrats had seemed likely to dominate for years; this was before Dred Scott and John Brown. But Charleston was probably the most reactionary, anti-Douglas city in the country (Catton-Roads, p. 201)
The Democrats were supposed to nominate their candidate first; they were to meet in Charleston at the end of April 1860. But "[m]ost southern Democrats went to Charleston with one overriding goal: to destroy Douglas" (McPherson, p. 213). The southerners, according to Catton-Coming, p. 11, were clear: "There was going to be a showdown; once an for all the South would find out whether Northern Democrats would stand squarely with the South on true Constitutional principles [i.e. making people accept slavery whether they wanted it or not]. Both platform and candidate would have to be explicit; 'there must be no Douglas dodges -- no double constructions -- no janus-faced lyring resolutions -- no double-tongued and doubly damned trifling with the people.'" It was an attitude which hardly encouraged compromise.
The Southerners at least made this brutally clear, offering this plarform language: "Resolved... First, that Congress has no power to abolish slavery in the Territories. Second, that the Territorial Legislature has no power to abolish slavery in any Territory, nor to prohibit the introduction of slaves therein, nor any power to exclude slavery therefrom, nor any right to destroy or impair the right of property in slaves by any legislation whatever" (Catton-Coming, p. 30; Nevins1859, p. 214, comments that, by the day before the platform was due, "everyone agreed that the platform committee must bring forward either a subterfuge or a bombshell")
Their choice was the bombshell. The platform committee had been stacked with anti-Douglas delegates, determined to produce a platform he couldn't accept (Nevins1859, p. 213; Catton-Roads, p. 203), and a majority of the committee adopted the southern position, with a vocal minority producing a more moderate document (Nevins1859, pp. 214-215). When the southern version of the platform was brought up, the Northern Democrats in effect said, "We've been suffering because of you for years, and now you want *this*?" (Catton-Coming, p. 32). The result was pandemonium, halted only be adjourning the day's session (Catton-Coming, p. 33; Nevins1859, p. 217).
When the delegates finally came back together, they rejected the proposed slavery-or-else language 165 to 138 (Catton-Coming, p. 34). This was no surprise; there were more northern than southern delegates. But the southerners were ready -- or had backed themselves into a corner. The delegations from the cotton states walked out (Catton-Coming, p. 34). Formally, the southern states were still part of the U.S. But they had, for practical purposes, already seceeded. According to Catton-Roads, p. 204, they were not committed to seccession; their goal was simply to get rid of Douglas. If he were gone, they were willing to come back on more moderate terms. But the Douglas supporters, thinking only a few delegates would withdraw, refused to give in at this time.
The seceeders totalled only about fifty delegates (Catton-Coming, 36). The convention tried to continue. But, it was ruled, any resolution must get a majority (for some sorts of motions, a two-thirds majority) of all delegates, including those who had walked out (Catton-Coming, p. 36). It wasn't going to happen. There were 303 total delegates, of whom 253 (give or take a few) were still in the convention. 202 were needed to nominate a candidate -- 80% of those still present. Six candidates were nominated: Douglas; former treasury secretary James Guthrie; Senator R.M.T. Hunter; Daniel S. Dickinson; Andrew Johnson; and Joseph Lane (Nevins1859, p. 222). Douglas on the first ballot earned 145.5. His best total was 152.5, and that only briefly. Thus he barely reached even 50% of total delegates, and never came close to two-thirds. But no other candidate was even close to him; on the first ballot, Hunter had 42, Guthrie 36 and a half, and the others less. Nor could anti-Douglas forces come together; the leading alternative, Guthrie, peaked at 64 and a half. After nearly sixty ballots, the convention gave up (Catton-Coming, pp. 37, 39). There would be no nomination at this time. It was decided to reconvene six weeks later (Catton-Coming, p. 39).
The Republicans, whose convention followed, were thrilled. Nevins1859 reports that the convention chairman's gavel was "made of oak from Commodore Perry's flagship at the Battle of Lake Erie" (for background on which, see the notes to "James Bird" [Laws A5]). The chairman, noting this, declared, "All the auguries are that we shall meet the enemy and they shall be ours." It seemed pretty clear a Republican could win the Presidency -- as long as they convention produced a candidate who didn't alienate any segment of the North. That same arithmetic that said they needed to add only Pennsylvania plus one other state to their tally in order to win the presidency also meant that they could not spare many northern states -- e.g. the loss of New York would effectively doom them (Catton-Roads, p. 219). So they had to pick a candidate who wouldn't alienate any of their potential supporters.
(How sectional were the Republicans? Apart from what Nevins1859, p. 251, calls a "flagrantly bogus" Texas delegation, only five slave states -- Delaware, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, and Virginia -- were even represented at their convention; Catton-Coming, p. 51. Note that four of the five would stay in the Union, and the fifth, Virginia, would have West Virginia secede when the rest of the state went South. There were no representatives of the cotton-growing areas at all. And the only one of those five states they had any hope of winning was Missouri, and that only because of Saint Louis.)
So the Republicans gathered, in effect, to seek a dark horse who didn't have any record for people to run against. And they were meeting in Chicago, Illinois. William H. Seward was their leading man, but he had spoken of the "Irrepressible Conflict," and he was just a little too prominent. The largest block in the Republican convention supported him. The rest, almost to a man, were "anyone but Seward" types. On the first ballot, Seward had 173.5 votes (out of 233 needed to nominate), favorite son Lincoln 102, and there were rather more than a hundred scattered votes.
The Lincoln team had worked hard. They were everyone's second choice. On the second ballot, it was Seward 184.5, Lincoln 181. The third ballot saw Lincoln at 231.5, and several delegates then changed their votes and Lincoln was over the top. (Catton-Coming, p. 63).
Then it was the Democratic turn to try again. And fail again. They met in Baltimore in mid-June -- and found themselves in a fight over credentials; there were now multiple delegations (pro- and anti-Douglas) from some of the states (Catton-Coming, pp. 69-74). Douglas himself had stated in writing that he woul withdraw from the race if it would help (Nevis1859, p. 270). His followers never even revealed the letters, because they saw no signs that the Southern delegates would compromise.
Once again there was a walkout. The rump, naturally, nominated Douglas -- but of course many Democrats did not consider him "their" candidate. Indeed, right there in Baltimore, supported by a meeting in Richmond, the seceders nominated Buchanan's vice president John C. Breckinridge, and he was nominated on the first ballot among those in this small meeting (Catton-Coming, p. 77 -- a rather amazing outcome for this conservative bunch, since Breckinridge was not yet forty). The Democratic party was split, just as the Whigs had two elections earlier. It would be oversimplified to say that Douglas was the northern Democrat and Breckinridge the Southern (as the election proved, Douglas earned votes everywhere) -- but still, there were two Democratic candidates, and that was the general feeling (though Breckinrige, unlike most of his followers, was not committed to secession if he lost -- he was, after all, the vice president!). And, with the situation so messy, a fourth candidate, John Bell, was thrown into the game.
Bell was a last-minute draft, called in in response to the Democratic debacle. But so severe was the train wreck that he was technically was the first candidate nominated. On May 9, after the Democratic failure in Charleston but before the Republicans met in Chicago, a group of (mostly) doddering elders (McPherson, p. 221, reports that "few... were under sixty years of age) representing 24 states  met in Baltimore with the express purpose of preserving the Union.
Their leading light was Kentuckian John J. Crittenden, who would later offer the "Crittenden Compromise" (and who had sons who were generals on both sides in the war). But he took himself out of the running on the grounds that he was too old. That left Bell and Texas's Sam Houston as the only significant contenders. Bell earned some two-thirds of the votes (Nevins-1859, pp. 161-162).
Calling themselves the "Constitutional Union" party, they nominated Edward Everett as Bell's running mate, passed a platform standing for Union, the Constitution, enforcement of laws (plus, presumably, motherhood and apple pie), refusing even to mention the word "Slavery" (Catton-Coming, pp. 47-48) -- though Bell himself was a slaveholder (McPherson, p. 221).
Bell had had a distinguished career -- Speaker of the House in 1834, Secretary of War under Harrison, many years in the Senate. An independent thinker, he had opposed the pro-Slavery extremists on many occasions, so he could be called a genuine moderate (Nevins1859, pp. 272-273). He would even have praise for Lincoln, saying that the congressman from Illinois had impressed him (Nevins1859, p. 275)
Distinguished or not, balanced or not, Bell's nomination was a forlorn attempt to find middle ground where there was none. And even though it happened before the Democrats finally split, it was largely in response to the Democratic disaster. (So most of the sources, anyway, though they also represented an attempt by the several dying parties to revive; RandallDonald, p. 131, considers them to be the last gasp of the Know-Nothings. Catton-Roads, p. 230, agrees in part, calling the party "Conservative in tone, largely old-line Whig and displaced Know-Nothing in composition, staffed principally by respectable, elderly citizens whose only formula for solving the sectional problem was to stop talking about it." McPherson, p. 221, considers it to be a remnant of the Whigs. Nevins1859, like Catton, thinks it included both Whigs and Know-Nothings; p. 161.)
In practice, not even the Constitutional Unionists could avoid the slavery issue; apparently a number of their supports in the south promised a slave code for the territories. That cost them whatever support they might have had in the North. They ended up winning only 3% of the vote in northern states (McPherson, p. 222).
The election which followed was hardly a legitimate example of taking the issues to the voters. Of the four candidates, only Douglas really went out and campaigned (Catton-Coming, p. 100). Bell was less a candidate than a platform which people could accept or reject; his supporters' primary campaign technique was to ring bells (Catton-Roads, p. 231).
Lincoln was the quietest of all, staying at home and explicitly refusing to make campaign statements on the grouns that his opinions were well-known (Nevins1859, pp. 277-278. Doesn't that sort of campaign sound heavenly today?). The Republican organizantion did produce a campaign newsletter, _The Railsplitter_, but it did little except print falsehoods about Douglas (Catton-Coming, p. 92). What little the voters knew (apart from those who read the many speeches Lincoln had given earlier, and which were the basis for his statement that his views were known) came from parades (staged by Republican "Wide Awakes" and Douglasite "Minutemen"; Catton-Roads, p. 231) and word of mouth and songs such as this one and the much more negative "Lincoln Hoss and Stephen A."
The Bell campaign was the weakest in this department; as Nevins1859, p. 281, comments, "The conservative businessmen and planters who ought to have toiled amain for Bell were just the most prone to indifference and apathy. They would vote, but they would not take off their coats and go to work." Plus, of course, such well-known and venerable men as Bell and Everett had long "paper trails," and opponents could almost always dig up something to make them appear "unsound" on some issue or another.
Breckinridge to a large extent relied upon the Democratic machinery governened by the White House; president Buchanan hated Douglas, and so gave all possible aid to Breckinridge (Nevins1859, p. 284).
Indeed, the administration contributed greatly to the debacle which followed. President Buchanan's hate of Douglas, combined with a pro-southern attitude and a fatal weakness (he is regarded by many historians as the worst president in American history. And, yes, liberal folkies, that includes George W. Bush in the calculations) meant that he did absolutely nothing to try to control the nation's divisions or to try to bring together the anti-Lincoln forces (Nevins1859, pp. 289-290).
We should perhaps not blame Buchanan too much; Nevins1847, pp. 186-187, notes that "For twenty-five years after Jackson left the White House, no man of high abilities entered it. What was more, the country knew that no man of high abilities occupied it." The parties did not want great men; they were bound to alienate one or another faction. Polk, who served from 1845 to 1849, was at least forceful, but Zachary Taylor (1849-1850) was too inexperienced and died too soon; Millard Fillmore (1850-1853) was a non-entity, Franklin Pierce (1853-1857) quite literally a pretty face, and Buchanan (1857-1861) got the job as the only Democrat who didn't have a track record on Kansas!
Nevins1847, pp. 188, sums up the situation this way: "With a clumsily managed, hopelessly divided Congress and a series of weak chief magistrates, the country watched the national crisis grow to a point where evenstrong leadership could not control it. In 1860 all three parties selected strong men. Douglas, Breckinridge, and Lincoln were alike leaders of intellectual power and stalwart character. At last the country was certain of a President of statesmanlike parts -- but it was too late."
There were side issues: excessive corruption in the Buchanan administration, Pacific railroads, the need for a Homested Act, tariffs (Nevins1859, p. 301, 304-305). The Republicans, stung by Democratic charges that they were in favor of Black equality,  used these issues in some areas. (To show the tenor of the times -- there was a ballot initiative in New York at this time to give Blacks the vote. New York voted 54% for Lincoln -- but only 37% of the citizens of the state supported the ballot proposal; McPherson, p. 225.) But in the South in particular, the issue was slavery. And, indeed, the Republicans had made it clear that it would be; at the Chicago convention, when someone had nominated David Wilmot (of the Wilmot Proviso, banning slavery in the territories) to be temporary  chairman, the proposal was greeted by "a tempest of applause" (Nevins1859, p. 251).
Not even the presence of an official (but extremely minor) Abolitionist candidate, Gerrit Smith, could cover up the fact that Republicans were the party of controlling slavery (just as Breckinridge was the candidate of appeasing the South). Nor did the false rumors of slave revolts change anything (Nevins1847, p. 307) -- after all, no one in the South intended to vote for Lincoln anyway!
All four candidates, ironically, seem to have thought that they were the only one who could save the Union. Breckinridge wanted to save it by giving in to the South. Bell wanted to save it by pretending there was no problem. And the Republicans believed in standing firm -- in effect, telling the South that they had cried wolf too many times.
That was indeed the South's problem; they *had* cried seccession every election since 1848 (Catton-Coming, pp. 96-97), and the Republicans thought it was just noise. But, in fact, every previous cry for seccession had won some sort of compromise. Now, compromises there were none. The forces opposed to the Republicans couldn't even compromise on a candidate; Catton-Roads, p. 231 and Nevins1859, pp. 283-285 report that there were a few abortive attempts to combine the Bell, Breckinridge, and Douglas tickets, but the Douglas camp insisted (almost certainly correctly) that only he could win anything in the North, so nothing came of that. And, as noted above, Douglas was unequivocally opposed to having the election settled in the House.
Douglas -- alone among the candidates -- actually wanted to address the issues. (No wonder he didn't win. In addition, he found it very difficult to raise funds, crimping his campaign activities; Nevins1859, p. 292.) He knew the Southerners were serious; he just felt they were dead wrong -- and told them so to their faces: The election of Lincoln was not grounds for secession, and if they did seceed, he declared, "it is the duty of the President of the United States and all others in authority under him to enforce the laws of the United States.... In other words, I think the President of the United States... should treat all attempts to break up the Union by resistance to its laws as Old Hickory treated the Nullifiers in 1832" (Nevins1859, p. 294).
Elections at this time were conducted over an extended period; Pennsylvania and Indiana voted before the rest of the North. When Pennsylvania went Republican, a number of papers in other states changed their attitudes, turning from Douglas to Lincoln or, in a few cases, Breckinridge (Nevins1859, p. 311). Douglas declared, "Mr. Lincoln is the next President. We must try to save the Union. I will go south" (Nevins1859, p. 295).
Douglas was dead right. There had been four-way elections before, in 1824, 1832, and 1836 (in 1836, in fact, five different candidates won states. 1832 and 1836 were cases of parties in effect nominating local candidates, but 1824 had four national candidates). But none was like this: Those had been about the person the public wanted as a leader. This was about the very nature of the United States, with each candidate standing for something very different. The bottom line of the 1860 election was straightforward:
* Lincoln: 40% of the popular vote, 180 electoral votes (Lincoln won California, Oregon, Minnesota, Iowa, plus all states north of the Ohio River except New Jersey, where he won four of seven electoral votes)
* Douglas: 29%, 12 electoral votes (9 from Missouri, 3 from New Jersey)
* Breckinridge, 18%, 72 electoral votes (Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas)
* Bell, 13%, 39 electoral votes (Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, which at that time still included West Virginia)
The actual results weren't nearly as simple as the above would imply. Lincoln wasn't even a serious candidate in the southern states (Nevins1859, p. 312; Foote, p. 34, says that he earned no votes at all in five states; RandallDonald, p. 133, says he had no votes in ten of them. The footnote on that page shows that there is some uncertainty about the vote totals;  McPherson, p. 223, says simply that the Republicans were not on the ballot in ten states. In the handful of slave states where Lincoln was on the ballot, they earned only 4% of the vote,with most of those from Saint Louis). Breckinridge had hardly more support in the northwest (e.g.he combined to only about 4500 votes in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Iowa combined; Nevins1859, p. 313), though in total about a quarter of his votes came from free states (Catton-Coming, p. 113).
A look at the map in McPherson, p. 236, reveals an even more complicated situation. It shows the winners of the popular vote county-by-county. Only eight states had the same winner in every county: Connecticut, Maine (probably), Massachussetts New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont went for Lincoln, and Delaware and South Carolina went for Breckinridge (the latter meaning nothing, since onservative South Carolina didn't even conduct a popular vote in this period). The other states were split -- basically between Lincoln and Douglas in northern states, and between Bell and Breckinrige in the south, but several states divided three ways: In California and Oregon, various counties went for Lincoln, Douglas, and Breckinridge (the Breckinridge vote in the western states was just large enough to deny Douglas a win there); in Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Virginia we see different parts supporting Bell, Breckinridge, and Douglas.
Missouri takes the prize. The state as a whole went for Douglas, but in terms of territory it was almost a perfect three-way split between Bell, Breckinridge, and Douglas, with Lincoln actually winning Saint Louis and one other county. (Missouri had earlier been the first Slave state to elect a Repubican representative; Nevins1859, p. 300. He would be very lonely.)
Looking at sectional totals, Lincoln won 54% of the votie in the North, while in the South (not counting the border states of Kentucky, Missouri, Tennessee, and Virginia), Breckinridge won 45% of the vote and Bell 39% (MacPherson, p. 232) -- an interesting statistic, because it means that even in the South, the majority was still in favor of the Union. But the pro-Union group was a small majority, fragile and easily swayed. And in the deep South, Breckinridge had absolute majorities in most cases, though not in Georgia and Lousiana (Catton-Roads, p. 245).
Sliced one more way: Lincoln won more than 60% of the vote, and all but about two dozen counties, north of the 41st parallel (McPherson, p. 232) -- in other words, all points from a line passing south of Chicago, north of Pittsburg and Philadelphia, and just northof New York City. From that line to the Ohio River was won by Douglas (including, ironically, even Lincon's home county -- CattonComing, p. 110). Bell won from the Ohio River to roughly a line from Memphis, Tennessee to Norfolk, Virginia. And Breckinridge won south of the Memphis-Norfolk line. The United States had had elections divided by sectional interests before, and would have them again (just look at the 2004 electoral map) -- but never such a tiger-stripe based almost solely on north-south geography. It was, indeed, almost a tiger-scratch, ripping the nation apart.
To put that level of complication in another sort of a perspective: this was an election that could have had at least three different winners based on voting method. Lincoln won a plurality of the vote. He also won the Roman voting system vote (a.k.a. the Electoral College: Voting goes by tribes/states, with the winner of voting *within* the tribe earning all the tribe's votes). But if the current notion of Instant Runoff Voting had been in place, Douglas would probably have won. And if the other primary ranked voting method (assigned points, which is the voting method used by the Mathematical Association of America) had been used, my guess is that Bell would have won.
Some Democrats had hoped that, somehow, the three non-Lincoln candidates could combine to win an electoral majority, and a compromise could be worked out in the House. As it turned out, if Lincoln won a plurality in a state, he almost always won a majority; of the states he won, there were only three (California, Oregon, and New Jersey) where he did not win more votes than Bell, Breckinridge, and Douglas combined. (MacPherson, p. 232) The states he won outright had a total of 169 electoral votes, or 17 more than a majority. Nevins1859, p. 312, notes, "Had Douglas been nominated at Charleston, Lincoln might well -- in view of the different trend which the campaign would have taken -- have lost." But Charleston had not nominated Douglas.
Two things were clear. One was that the country opposed the Southern doctrine that Slavery could be imposed on territories even if they didn't want it. Two-thirds of the population had voted either for Lincoln, who expressly opposed Slavery in the territories, or Douglas, who would allow its implicit limitation (Nevins1859, p. 316)
The other point was even clearer: Lincoln, despite the split in the vote, had won the election. And, as a special extra prize, secession and civil war.
The song is mostly accurate in its details about Lincoln's life -- e.g. the lines "They'll find what by felling and mauling, Our railmaker statesman can do" is reminiscent of Lincoln's own words: "I am not ashamed to confess that twenty five years ago I was a hired laborer, mauling rails, at work on a flat-boat..." (McPherson, p. 28). Though this omits the fact that Lincoln, since then, had worked almost exclusively as a lawyer.
The song calls Lincoln "The pride of the Suckers so lucky." "Suckers" were inhabitants of Illinois. He was hardly their "pride," though, considering that he had won only one term in congress, and lost the 1858 Senate race. In 1860, Illinois hardly looked like the "Land of Lincoln." On the evidence, it was the "Land of Douglas." Until that November.
>>*BIBLIOGRAPHY*<<
In writing this summary, apart from looking up odd facts in Boatner's _Civil War Dictionary_, I have cited the following:
Catton-Coming: Bruce Catton, _The Coming Fury_, being volume I of _The Centennial History of the Civil War_(Pocket, 1961, 1967)
Catton-Roads: William & Bruce Catton, _Two Roads to Sumter: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, and the March to Civil War_ (Phoenix, 1963, 1988)
Current/Williams/Freidel, Richard N. Current, T. Harry Williams, Frank Freidel, _American History: A Survey_, second edition, Knopf, 1966
Foner: Eric Foner, _Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party before the Civil War_ (Oxford, 1970)
Foote: Shelby Foote, _The Civil War: A Narrative_ (Volume I: Fort Sumter to Perryville) (Random House, 1958)
Hammond Atlas: (no author listed), _The Atlas of United States History_ (Hammond; I'm using the edition copyrighted 1977 though I imagine there have been others)
Hickey: Donald R. Hickey, _The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict_ (University of Illinois Press, 1989, 1995)
Holt: Michael F. Holt, _The Rise and Fall of the American Whig Party: Jacksonian Politics and the Onset of the Civil War_ (Oxford, 1999; I could probably have written this entire article based on this 1248 page tome, but it's so thick,I can't find references even just a few days after I read them!) 
McPherson: James M. McPherson, _The Battle Cry of Freedom_ (The Oxford History of the United States: The Civil War Era; Oxford, 1988)
Nevins1847:  Allan Nevins, _The Ordeal of the Union: Fruits of Manifest Destiny 1847-1852_ [volume I of _The Ordeal of the Union_] (Scribners, 1947)
Nevins1857: Allan Nevins, _The Emergence of Lincoln:Douglas, Buchanan, and Party Chaos 1857-1859_ [volume III of _The Ordeal of the Union_] (Scribners, 1950)
Nevins1859:  Allan Nevins, _The Emergence of Lincoln: Prologue to Civil War 1859-1861_ [volume IV of _The Ordeal of the Union_] (Scribners, 1950)
Nolan: Jeannette Covert Nolan, _The Little Giant: Stephen A. Douglas_ (Messner, 1964)
RandallDonald: J. G. Randall (second edition revised by David Donald), _The Civil War and Reconstruction_, second edition (Heath, 1961)
Schlesinger: Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., _The Age of Jackson_, Little Brown, 1945
Vandiver: Frank E. Vandiver, _Their Tattered Flags: The Epic of the Confederacy_ (Harper's, 1970) - RBW
File: San167
===
NAME: Lincoln Hoss and Stephen A.
DESCRIPTION: "There's an old plow 'hoss' whose name is 'Dug,' Doo-dah, doo-dah, He's short and thick, a regular plug... We're bound to work all night... I'll bet my money on the 'Lincoln Hoss,' Who bets on Stephen A.?" Douglas's political problems are parodied
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: political parody nonballad animal
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1847 - Stephen A. Douglas (1813-1861) of Illinois elected Senator
1854 - In response to the Kansas slavery question, Douglas proposes "popular sovereignty"
1858 - Abraham Lincoln runs for Senator from Illinois against Douglas. Douglas wins the election, but is forced to declare moderate positions that cause extremists on both sides of the slavery question to oppose him.
1860 - A four-way race pits Lincoln (Republican) against Douglas, the southern Democrat Breckinridge, and the "Constitutional Unionist" John Bell. In a bitter campaign over slavery, Douglas is lampooned by both sides. Lincoln earns 40% of the vote and is elected President; Douglas earns 29%
1861 - Douglas dies after strenuous attempts to save the Union and, failing that, to support Lincoln's positions
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 42-43, "'Lincoln Hoss' and Stephen A." (1 text, tune referenced)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Camptown Races" (tune)
cf. "Lincoln and Liberty" (subject)
NOTES: In addition to having been a moderate on slavery issues, Stephen A. Douglas was a short, stout man. Hence this vicious satire on a man who, though he was not a strong opponent of slavery, was in every other way an honest and generous politician. - RBW
Oh, I don't know about that. James McPherson's _Battle Cry of Freedom_ offers evidence that Douglas took pro-slavery positions to win the support of southern politicians for his attempts to obtain railroad concessions. His record, at least as detailed in that book, is considerably less than honorable. - PJS
Paul is right; McPherson, pp. 121-122, reports that Douglas was "a large investor in Chicago real estate" who "had enhanced the value of his property by securing a federal land grant for a railroad from that city to Mobile. Perhaps hopingto repeat the scenario from Chicago to San Francisco, Douglas and  [William A.] Richardson in 1853 reported bills to organize Nebraska territory." But even McPherson admits his view is controversial.
Allan Nevins, _Ordeal of the Union: A House Dividing 1852-1857_ [volume II of _The Ordeal of the Union_], pp. 9, admits that he was a favorite of "an industrious bevy of lobbyists and privilege-hunters" and that he "had made a good deal of money in real estate [and] was something of a Western land speculator himself."
Great care must be taken not to see the men of 1860 in the light of today. If Douglas were alive today, we would consider him utterly vile -- it should be remembered that Douglas did not wish to destroy slavery. But it was an attitude of the time. Similarly, that was the era of the spoils system. Few people could make a career of politics, and elected officials weren't paid very well; naturally they tried to take advantage. Today, he would be in trouble with the Ethics Committee. But the rules were very different then -- and at least Douglas lived at a time when incumbents could be voted out of office!
The real complaint against Douglas is that he destroyed the Compromise of 1850. Yes, he did, and he did it over Kansas. But the Compromise was doomed anyway. If it hadn't been for Kansas, it would have been Dred Scott, or the Wilmot Proviso (which hadn't been settled, merely buried) or the Mormons, or Cuba, or something; the Whig party, we must remember, was *already* dying over the Slavery issue in 1852, before the first drop of blood was shed in Kansas. And Douglas notably opposed the fraudulent Lecompton constitution for Kansas.
The majority of historians I've consulted consider Douglas as basically honest, though he certainly resorted to a lot of politicians' tricks. And when it came down to the breach during the election of 1860, Douglas -- and only Douglas -- went all-out, campaigning to save the Union. In the process, he did such harm to his health that he died soon afterward.
According to William and Bruce Catton, _Two Roads to Sumter_, p. 233, after it became clear that the parties were split in 1860, and that diaster loomed, it was Douglas, and Douglas alone, who gave his all to try to prevent the war: "The final months of his life were a blaze of glory for the Little Giant, and the greatness that had always hovered above his dogged trail descended fully upon him at the last. Of all the varied courses pursued by America's leaders in the loud, uneasy campaign of 1860, his alone was that of the statesman. Not only grasping but squarely confronting the probably course of events that would follow a Republican victory, Douglas made the Union his sole platform.
"His purpose was simply to remind the electorate, and especially the Democrats, that defeat at the polls in a fair election was no valid cause for destroying the government.... Douglas even carried his message to the deep South, where it took real courage to glorify the Union and repudiate secession at this late date. Abuse, rotten eggs, and detailed threats of physical force attended his swing through the cotton states...."
Nevins, _The Emergence of Lincoln: Prologue to Civil War 1859-1861_ [volume IV of _The Ordeal of the Union_], p. 293, says that Douglas even feared a sort of sourthern coup d'etat if southern Democratic candidate and vice president Breckinridge won the border states, and that he campaigned heavily there to prevent it. The coup was probably just a daydream, but Douglas accomplished his ends, more or less: He took Missourri, John Bell won Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee, and Breckinridge's margin in Maryland was too small to allow any such games.
Elections at this time were conducted over an extended period; Pennsylvania and Indiana voted before the rest of the North. When Pennsylvania went Republican, Douglas declared, "Mr. Lincoln is the next President. We must try to save the Union. I will go south" (Nevins1859, p. 295).
Another measure of Douglas's character is that Alexander Stephens, the future Confederate Vice President who was also perhaps the most realistic man in the South, and one who knew Douglas, openly declared that he admired the man (Nevins, p. 296).
Really, Douglas is one of the hardest characters in American history to grasp. The disagreement with Paul rather shows the point: Could Douglas be great without being good? He made things happen, but sometimes it almost seemed as if he was stirring things up just to see if he could enjoy the chaos. On the whole, he reminds me more of Theodore Roosevelt than almost any other American politician. (Which, I am sure, will draw more protests. But, of course, opinions of TR were also very mixed.)
For more background on the Lincoln/Douglas situation, see the notes to "Lincoln and Liberty."  - RBW
File: SRW042
===
NAME: Lincolnshire Poacher, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer served as apprentice for seven years, then took to poaching, "For tis my delight of a shining night in a season of the year." The poachers go out hunting, but are spotted by a gamekeeper; they subdue him and continue to make merry
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1838 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: poaching work apprentice fight
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(All))
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Kennedy 258, "The Northamptonshire Poacher" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logan, pp. 290-291, "The Poacher" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 203, "Lincolnshire Poacher" (1 text)
DT, LINCPOCH*
ST K259 (Full)
Roud #299
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Chandler's Wife" (tune)
cf. "The Nottinghamshire Poacher" (theme)
NOTES: Kennedy remarks, "Although Lincolnshire, Somerset and Leicestershire occur as the location for this most 'fam-e-rous' of poaching songs, more than half the versions from genuine sources favour Northamptonshire." This appears, from Kennedy's bibliography, to be true, but the oldest versions, and those usually sung, are associated with Lincolnshire, so that is the title I adopted. - RBW
File: K259
===
NAME: Lindy Lowe
DESCRIPTION: "Come smilin' Lindy Lowe, de pootiest gal I know, On de finest boat dat ever float, in de Ohio, de Mississippi or de Ohio." Verses have no story at all and only the second line ever changes, "Come smilin' Lindy Lowe, by de Gulf ob Mexico.." etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1945 (Harlow)
KEYWORDS: worksong shanty
FOUND_IN: Barbados
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Harlow, pp. 201-202, "Lindy Lowe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9170
NOTES: [Harlow's] notes give this as a Barbadian hand over hand shanty. - SL
File: Harl201
===
NAME: Linen Song, The: see Driving Away at the Smoothing Iron (File: ShH82)
===
NAME: Lingle Lingle Lang Tang (Our Cat's Dead)
DESCRIPTION: "Lingle, lingle, lang tang, Our cat's dead! What did she die with? With a sore head! All you that kent her, When she was alive, Come to her burial, Atween four and five."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (Montgomerie)
KEYWORDS: animal death burial
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 41, "(Lingle, lingle, lang tang)" (1 short text)
Roud #13025
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Oor Cat's Deid"
NOTES: Roud lumps this with the Sam Henry piece "A Child's Lullaby" (indexed as "Oor Cat's Deid"). There is similarity in both form and subject matter -- but the lyrics are enough different that I decided to split them. - RBW
File: MSNR041
===
NAME: Linktem Blue (Reeling Song)
DESCRIPTION: "All along, all along, All along, all along, All along, all along, Linktem blue." "Linktem blue is a very fine song, All along, all along, All along, all along, All along, all along, Linktem blue." Reportedly used to count knots while weaving yarn
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(NE,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Flanders/Brown, p. 34, "Reeling Song" (1 text)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 19, (no title) (1 text)
ST FlBr034 (Full)
RECORDINGS:
Margaret MacArthur, "Linktem Blue" (on MMacArthur01)
File: FlBr034
===
NAME: Linstead Market
DESCRIPTION: "He promised to meet me at Linstead Market, take me out to a show." The girl waits long, but there is no sign of Joe. At last a letter arrives, saying that he "just got married today." He promises to meet her the next day, though, and take her to the show
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: courting marriage infidelity
FOUND_IN: Trinidad
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 335, "Linstead Market" (1 text)
File: FSWB335
===
NAME: Lint Pullin', The
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls his early days as a lint puller. He is kind to the girls he works with, and makes sure they do well. One day, Mary Jane chooses to work with him; they prove the best. They go home together, and now will work together at marriage
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: work courting home marriage
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H487, pp. 43-44, "The Lint Pullin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9299
File: HHH487
===
NAME: Linten Lowrin: see Rhynie (File: RcRhynie)
===
NAME: Linton Lowrie
DESCRIPTION: "I tint my heart ae morn in May When birdies sang on ilka tree... O, Linton Lowrie, Linton Lowrie, Aye sae fond ye trowed to be, I never wist sae bright a morn Sae dark a night would bring tae me." After wishing him back, she sets out to find him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H640, p. 291, "Linton Lowrie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6888
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Barnyards o' Delgaty" (tune)
NOTES: Not to be confused with "Linten Lowrin," filed in the index with "Rhynie." - RBW
File: HHH640
===
NAME: Lion and the Unicorn, The
DESCRIPTION: "The lion and the unicorn, Fighting for the crown, The lion beat the unicorn All around the town." Details of the battle, and of the beasts' reception, may follow
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1871 (Through the Looking Glass)
KEYWORDS: animal battle royalty
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #123, p. 103, "(The Lion and the Unicorn)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 39, "(The lion and the unicorn" (1 text)
NOTES: I've never heard this sung, but Carroll and other sources list it as a song, not a poem, so here it files.
The song definitely predates Lewis Carroll, appearing in several nursery rhyme anthologies, but I have been unable to determine exactly which, so I have to use Carroll as the earliest date.
Various theories revolve around this piece. Typical is the claim that it refers to the conflict between Scotland (whose arms featured a unicorn) and England (marked by lions). But both the Baring-Goulds and Martin Gardner in _The Annotated Alice_ note that there was a traditional mythological rivalry between lion and unicorn over who would be the King of Beasts. Given that the lion is a carnivore and the unicorn presumably an herbivore (and how does it get its mouth to the ground with that thing on its head?), I suppose it's logical that the lion wins. - RBW
File: BGMG123
===
NAME: Lion's Den, The: see The Lady of Carlisle [Laws O25] (File: LO25)
===
NAME: Lips That Touch Liquor Shall Never Touch Mine
DESCRIPTION: When the young man comes to the girl's door, she confesses that she had once hastened to answer his call. But now he shows the signs of liquor; she warns him that "Lips that touch liquor shall never touch mine." If he sobers up, she will reconsider
AUTHOR: George W. Young
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (unknown newspaper)
KEYWORDS: drink courting rejection
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 341, "Lips That Touch Liquor Shall Never Touch Mine" (1 text)
BrownIII 30, "The Lips That Touch Liquor Must Never Touch Mine" (2 texts, with the second perhaps a revised version of the Young original)
Roud #7812
File: R341
===
NAME: Lipto
DESCRIPTION: "Lipto, lipto, jine de ring, Lipto, lipto, dance an' sing; Dance an' sing an' laugh an' play, Fur dis is now a holiday. Turn aroun' an' roun' and roun'...." "Er holdin' uv dis golden crown, An' I choose my (gal/man) fur ter dance me down."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: playparty nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 132, "Lipto" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Jingo Ring (Merry-Ma-Tanzie, Around the Ring)" (lyrics)
NOTES: I have to suspect that "lipto" is a corruption of "tiptoe," but whether the confusion is the informant's or the collector's I can't tell.
I also suspect that this whole thing is a corruption of something, perhaps "Jingo Ring," but it's been very thoroughly corrupted. - RBW
File: ScaNF132
===
NAME: Lisnagade
DESCRIPTION: The Ulster Protestants march to commemorate the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne and meet an ambush at a fort at Lisnagade. There is shooting. The Catholic flag was inscribed "Hail Mary" but "my Lady Mary fell asleep, and so they ran away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1816 (_The Patriotic Songster_, according to Zimmermann; Zimmermann believes it dates from "early 1790's")
KEYWORDS: 
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 12, 1791 - "A group of 'Defenders', a secret Roman Catholic agrarian society, took up position in Fort Lisnagade to attack a group of 'Peep O' Day Boys' who were celebrating King William's [1691] victory at Boyne." (source: "Lisnagade" at the Musica site)
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann 93, "Lisnagade" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Roud #13403
NOTES: "Lisnagade" refers to the white flag: 
We had not march'd a mile or so when the white flag we espied,
With a branch of podereens on which they much relied,
And this inscription underneath -- Hail Mary! unto thee --
Deliver us from these Orange dogs, and then we will be free.
Zimmermann p. 43 fn. 42: "Previously to the green, the 'seditious' colour was the Jacobite white. This colour remained the symbol of the Catholic Defenders." - BS
File: Zimm093
===
NAME: Listen to the Mockingbird
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls his beloved Hallie, who is "Sleeping in the valley, And the mockingbird is singing where she lies." Now the song of the mockingbird makes him "Feel like one forsaken... Since my Hallie is no longer with me now."
AUTHOR: "Alice Hawthorne" (Septimus Winner) and Richard Milburn
EARLIEST_DATE: 1854
KEYWORDS: death burial separation bird
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 110-114, "Listen to the Mocking Bird" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 61-61, "Listen to the Mocking Bird" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 249, "Listen To The Mockingbird" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 333, "Listen to the Mocking Bird"
DT, MCKNBIRD
ST RJ19110 (Full)
Roud #8079
RECORDINGS:
Theron Hale & Daughters, "Listen To The Mocking Bird" (Victor V-40019, 1929)
Fiddlin' Red Herron, "Listen To The Mockingbird" (King 629, 1947)
Bela Lam and His Green County Singers, "Listen tothe Mocking Bird" (OKeh, unissued, 1927)
W. MacBeth & Tom Collins, "Listen to the Mockingbird" (Vocalion 5282, c. 1929)
Morgan & Stanley, "Listen to the Mockingbird" (Columbia 1833, 1904) (Victor Monarch 4080, 1904)
Gordon Tanner, Smokey Joe Miller & the Jr. Skillet Lickers, "Listen to the Mocking Bird" (on DownYonder)

NOTES: Although now often used as an opportunity for fiddle players or other performers to produce strange sounds from their instruments, this piece was originally done "straight." After a few years of obscurity, the composer sold the copyright for a mere $5, only to see the song sell over a million copies.
Alice Hawthorne was a leading pseudonym of Septimus Winner; he also listed her as the author of "Whispering Hope." (The name was a tribute to his mother.) For some reason, Winner published such trivia as "Oh Where Oh Where Is My Little Dog Gone" under his own name.
The first edition of this piece gave a melodic credit to Richard Milbourne; this was dropped on later printings. It seems likely, however, that Milbourne did supply the tune; he was a young Negro errand-boy and beggar known as "Whistling Dick." Early in his career, Winner was willing to give credit to others; as he became more successful, he apparently wanted the praise for himself.
The song is reported to have been dedicated to Harriet Lane, the niece of president James Buchanan who was the White House hostess during that bachelor's presidency. (Buchanan was not yet President when the song was written, but Lane had already done duty as his social helper, so this is possible.) - RBW
File: RJ19110
===
NAME: Little 'Dobe Casa, The: see The Little Old Sod Shanty on my Claim (File: R197)
===
NAME: Little Adobe Casa: see The Little Old Sod Shanty on my Claim (File: R197)
===
NAME: Little Ah Sid
DESCRIPTION: "Little Ah Sid was a Chinese kid, A neat little cuss, I declare...." One day, as Ah Sid is out playing, he spots a bee and, taking it for a butterfly, knocks it down and puts it in his pocket. It stings him; he remarks "Um bullifly velly dam hot!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: foreigner bug injury
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, pp. 276-277, "Little Ah Sid" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink], "Little Ah-Sid" (Conqueror 7887, 1931)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Chinee Bumboatman" (style)
File: San276
===
NAME: Little Alice Summers
DESCRIPTION: "Come all you young parents, I'll sing to you a song Concerning Alice Summers Who was lost so long." Little Alice, not yet two, disappears in the cold. For long hours she is missing, and her family almost despairs. But her tracks are found
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Arkansas Charlie)
KEYWORDS: family children rescue
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 727, "Little Alice Summers" (1 text)
Roud #7391
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Charlie [pseud. for Charlie Craver], "Little Alice Summers" (Vocalion 5367, c. 1929)
File: R727
===
NAME: Little Annie Rooney
DESCRIPTION: "A winning way, a pleasant smile, Dressed so neat but quite in style... Has little Annie Rooney... She's my sweetheart, I'm her beau; Soon we'll marry, never to part, Little Annie Rooney is my sweetheart." The singer looks forward to life with Annie
AUTHOR: Michael Nolan
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1885 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.28(8a/b) View 3 of 8)
KEYWORDS: love marriage home
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 774, "Little Annie Rooney" (1 text)
Geller-Famous, pp. 45-47, "Little Annie Rooney" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 333-334, "Little Annie Rooney"
Roud #4822
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.28(8a/b) View 3 of 8, "Little Annie Rooney", R. March and Co. (London), 1877-1884; also Harding B 11(2154), Harding B 18(577), "Little Annie Rooney"
NOTES: Michael Nolan was an obscure music hall performer; Annie Rooney is reported to have been his niece, and to have been three years old when this song was written.
According to James J. Geller, this song was a huge commercial success, but brought no compensation to Nolan, who swore off writing songs as a result. - RBW
Broadside Bodleian Harding B 18(577) attributes music to George Le Brun. The 1889 sheet music was published in Boston by White-Smith; the American Memory LOC notes list George Le Brunn as the arranger [cover only, call number Music #572 no. 20 at Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, Duke University]. - BS
File: R774
===
NAME: Little Auplaine, The: see The Banks of the Little Eau Pleine [Laws C2] (File: LC02)
===
NAME: Little Ball of Yarn: see Ball of Yarn (File: EM089)
===
NAME: Little Beggar Boy, The
DESCRIPTION: The beggar boy's mother is gone and his father is a drunkard who beats him. He misses his mother and wishes to be buried by her. Last verse: "My coffin shall be black/Six white angels at the back/Two to watch, two to pray/Two to carry my soul away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 (collected from Emily Baker)
KEYWORDS: poverty abuse death funeral begging nonballad father mother floatingverses playparty
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
MacSeegTrav 122, "The Little Beggar Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BEGGRBOY*
Roud #6355
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Go and Dig My Grave" (floating verses) 
cf. "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (I)" (floating verses) 
cf. "The Drunkard's Lone Child" (lyrics)
NOTES: This should not be confused with "The Little Beggarman," an entirely separate song. The last verse is a floater, tacked on from elsewhere; MacColl & Seeger note that it's a children's game, found in Edinburgh. I've heard recordings of it from Americans as well. I use the keyword "playparty" for the final verse because we lack a keyword "game." - PJS
File: McCST122
===
NAME: Little Beggarman, The (Johnny Dhu)
DESCRIPTION: "I am a little beggarman, a-begging I have been, For three score years and more in this little isle of Green...." (Johnny Dhu) briefly narrates his life, including nights in barns and a "flaxy-haired girl's" attempt to court him. He sets out on his way
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: rambling begging gypsy courting
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Kennedy 345, "The Little Beggarman" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H751, pp. 50-51, "The Oul' Rigadoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-More 26, "The Beggarman's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BEGGARDH*
Roud #900
RECORDINGS:
Paddy Doran et al, "The Little Beggarman" (on FSB3)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Red Haired Boy" (tune)
cf. "Me Old Ragadoo" (tune, lyrics)
File: K345
===
NAME: Little Benton
DESCRIPTION: "To little Benton I did fee, In Rhynie feein' fair," but it proves an unhappy agreement; he and Benton soon quarrel. The farmer tries to drive off the singer, who is determined to stay and earn every farthing. The singer warns others of Benton
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: farming money hardtimes
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 238-239, "Little Benton" (1 text)
Roud #5580 and 5906
NOTES: Ord observes that "Benton" is Aberdeenshire dialect for "bantom," implying that it is a description of, rather than a name for, the unpleasant farmer. - RBW
File: Ord238
===
NAME: Little Bessie
DESCRIPTION: The little girl tells her mother that she is ill (with what sounds like heart disease). She reports that a voice called her, saying, "Come, be my child." The girl bids her mother not to grieve, then dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Recording, Buell Kazee)
KEYWORDS: death children mother religious
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 172-173, "Little Bessie" (1 text, the same as that in Abrahams/Foss; 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 122-123, "Little Bessie" (1 text, the same as that in McNeil-SFB2; 1 tune)
ST MN2172 (Partial)
Roud #4778
RECORDINGS:
Leroy Anderson, "Little Bessie" (Champion 45059, 1935)
Blue Sky Boys, "Little Bessie" (Bluebird B-8017, 1939)
Dixon Brothers, "Little Bessie" (Montgomery Ward M-7171, 1937)
Kelly Harrell, "I Heard Somebody Call My Name" (Victor 23747, 1929; on KHarrell02)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Little Bessie" (on Holcomb1, HolcombCD1)
Buell Kazee, "Little Bessie" (Brunswick 215, 1928)
Holland Puckett, "Little Bessie" (Gennett 6720, 1928/Supertone 9324, 1929)
Kid Smith [Walter Smith] & Family, "Little Bessie" (Victor 23576, 1931)
NOTES: McNeil reports that a song called "Little Bessie," credited to "someone named Keutchman," was published in 1870. No copies of this piece are known, however, so it cannot be determined if the two are the same.
Given how often this was recorded by old-time bands, and how rare it is in tradition, I have to suspect that Viola Cole (Foss's informant) learned it, at least indirectly, from a recording. - RBW
File: MN2172
===
NAME: Little Betty Pringle She Had a Pig: see There Was an Old Woman and She Had a Little Pig (File: E068)
===
NAME: Little Betty Winkle She Had a Pig
DESCRIPTION: 
AUTHOR: 
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: 
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
There Was an Old Woman and She Had a Little Pig
File: E068
===
NAME: Little Bird
DESCRIPTION: "Where are you going, little bird, little bird, Where are you going, little bird? I am going to the woods, sweet child, sweet child." What is in the woods? A tree. In the tree is a nest, in the nest, eggs, in the eggs, baby birds to sing "Praise the Lord"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: questions bird nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fuson, p. 89, "Little Bird" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 359-400, "The Tree in the Wood/Pretty Bird" (1 text)
ST Fus089 (Partial)
Roud #4281
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rattling Bog" (theme)
NOTES: Lumped by Scarborough with the Endless Circle/Tree in the Wood/Rattling Bog family. But the versions of this do not complete the circle, and add the religious motif. This may well have started from a fragment of the English song, but they're separate, sez I. - RBW
File: Fus089
===
NAME: Little Birdie
DESCRIPTION: "Little birdie, little birdie, Come and sing me your song. I've a short time for to be here And a long time to be gone." Often consists of floating verses, but concerns adultery: "Pretty woman... you made me love you, Now your husband has come."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: adultery bird love courting husband floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Randolph 676, "The Dark Hollow"" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune, with the "A" text perhaps somewhat mixed with "Dark Hollow")
Randolph/Cohen, pp. The Dark Hollow, "" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 676A)
BrownIII 255, "Kitty Kline" (2 text plus 4 fragments and 1 excerpt)
Silber-FSWB, p. 397, "Little Birdie" (1 text)
DT, LILBIRDY
Roud #5742
RECORDINGS:
Willie Chapman, "Little Birdie" [instrumental] (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
Coon Creek Girls, "Little Birdie" (Vocalion 04413, 1938)
Al Craver [pseud. for Vernon Dalhart], "Little Birdie" (Columbia 15044-D, 1925)
John Hammond, "Little Birdie" (Challenge 168 or 332 [one of these as "William Price"/Silvertone 5697, 1927; on BefBlues3)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Little Birdie" (on Holcomb-Ward1, HolcombCD1)
Robert Howell [pseud. for Holland Puckett], "Little Birdie" (Herwin 75563, 1927)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "Little Birdie" (Montgomery Ward M-7127)
Wade Mainer & Zeke Morris, "Little Birdie" (Bluebird B-6840)
Wade Mainer, "Little Birdie" (King 1093, 1952)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Little Birdie" (on NLCR16)
Land Norris, "Little Birdie" (OKeh 45006, 1925)
Frank Proffitt, "Little Birdie" (on FProffitt01)
Sauceman Brothers, "Little Birdie" (Rich-R-Tone 457, n.d.)
Stanley Brothers, "Little Birdie" (Rich-R-Tone 1056, rec. 1952) (on FOTM)
Pete Steele, "Little Birdie" (on PSteele01)
Pete Seeger, "Little Birdie" (on PeteSeeger47)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "East Virginia (Dark Hollow)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Easy Rider" (theme)
cf. "Kitty Kline"
NOTES: No, not the producer of "Spirituals to Swing," nor his blues-singing son! - PJS
(I think the above is a reference to the recording by John Hammond. But it's all Urdu to me. - RBW)
Yes, it is such a reference. - PJS
Lyle Lofgren informs me that Charles Wolfe did some research on Hammond, learning that he cut only six sides. Wolfe was unable to trace his origins but suspects he came from northern Kentucky.
Very many of the versions in Brown contain references to "Kitty Kline (Clyde, etc.)," and the editors on that basis filed it under that title. But the versions are clearly what we know as "Little Birdie," sometimes mixed with references to Kitty Kline, and so I file them here. - RBW
File: R676
===
NAME: Little Birdie in the Tree
DESCRIPTION: "Little birdie in the tree, Singing a song to me, Singing about the roses, Singing about the tree; Little birdie in the tree, Singing a song for me."
AUTHOR: Philip Paul Bliss?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: bird nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 146, "Little Birdie in the Tree" (1 text)
Roud #5259
File: Br3146
===
NAME: Little Bit
DESCRIPTION: "Leddle bit-a Niggeh an' a great big toe, Meenie miny mo. Leddle bit-a Niggeh wid a great big fis', Jes' de size fo' his mammy to kiss. Leddle bit-a Niggeh wid big black eyes, Bright as de sun up in de skies...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: love children nonballad lullaby
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 153, (no title) (1 short text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Eenie Meenie Minie Mo (Counting Rhyme)" (lyrics)
File: ScNF153A
===
NAME: Little Bitty Baby: see Children Go Where I Send Thee (File: LoF254)
===
NAME: Little Black Bull, The: see The Old Gray Mare (The Old Gray Horse; The Little Black Bull) (File: R271)
===
NAME: Little Black Mustache, The: see The Black Mustache (File: CW180A)
===
NAME: Little Black Train Is A-Comin'
DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "Little black train is a-comin', Get all your business right... For the train may be here tonight." King Hezekiah is offered as an example. A young man lives a sinful life;  when death comes, he is surprised and vainly begs for mercy
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: death Bible train
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 625-628, "Little Black Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 541, "The Little Black Train" (1 text)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 914-915, "Little Black Train Is A-Comin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, p. 41, "(Little Black Train)" (partial text)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 260-261, "The Little Black Train" (1 text)
ST BAF914 (Partial)
Roud #11594
RECORDINGS:
Emry Arthur, "The Little Black Train Is Coming" (Vocalion 5229, c. 1928)
Dock Boggs, "Little Black Train" (on Boggs2, BoggsCD1)
Carter Family, "The Little Black Train" (OKeh 03112, 1935; on CGospel1)
Rev. J. M. Gates, "Death's Black Train is Coming" (Columbia 14145-D,1926)
Harmon E. Helmick, "The Little Black Train" (Champion 16744, 1934)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "This Old World Ain't Going to Stand Much Longer" (subject)
NOTES: The story of Hezekiah's bout with sickness, God's threat, Hezekiah's repentance, and Isaiah's promise of fifteen additional years of life is told in 2 Kings 20:1-11 (repeated almost verbatim inIsaiah 38) and briefly summarized in 2 Chronicles 32:24-26.
The version in Brown accidentally replaces "Hezekiah" with "Ezekiel," but the former name is clearly correct. It tacks on the story of the Wise Fool, Luke 12:16-20. - RBW
File: BAF914
===
NAME: Little Blossom
DESCRIPTION: Lonely little (Blossom/Phoebe), left alone by her mother, sets out to find her father. She finds him in the saloon; when she interrupts him, he grabs a chair and attacks her with it. He comes to his senses, but the child is already dead
AUTHOR: (based on a poem by Martha J. Bidwell)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: father drink murder children
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 311, "Little Blossom" (2 texts plus an excerpt, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 260-263, "Little Blossom" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 311A)
DT, LTLBLSSM*
Roud #7788
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink], "Little Blossom" (Conqueror 7886, 1931)
NOTES: Randolph notes, "Little girls in starched white dresses used to sing [this song] in front of the courthouse at election time." Almost makes modern political ads sound tolerable, doesn't it? - RBW
File: R311
===
NAME: Little Bo-peep
DESCRIPTION: Shepherdess Bo-peep can't find her sheep. When she finds them they are without their tails. One day she finds the tails hung on a tree to dry. She "tried what she could, as a shepherdess should, To tack again each to its lambkin"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1806 (Monthly Literary Recreations, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: humorous talltale sheep shepherd injury dream
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 66, "Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #112, p. 93, "(Little Bo-peep has lost her sheep)"
cf. DT, MERRYLND
Roud #6487
NOTES: The Baring-Goulds note occurrences of the name "Bo-peep" before the 1810 edition of Gammer Gurton's Garland, which is the first date they mention. But no one seems to be able to trace the song earlier than this.
I'm amazed no one has tried to find a political interpretation. Were the piece earlier, one would be tempted to the English Civil War and Restoration. Or maybe the Stuart monarchy and the Jacobite rebellions. Given the early nineteenth century date, one thinks of the French Revolution, the guillotine, and perhaps Bonaparte's restoration of monarchy.
Or not. I don't really believe it. But it sounds so "folk-plausible." Even the name is right.... - RBW
File: OO2066
===
NAME: Little Boxes
DESCRIPTION: "Little boxes on the hillside... And they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same." How people go to school and go into business and get put into "little boxes (houses) all the same" (except for minor differences in color)
AUTHOR: Malvina Reynolds
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962
KEYWORDS: political nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Scott-BoA, pp. 378-380, "Little Boxes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 189, "Little Boxes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 314, "Little Boxes" (1 text)
DT, LITBOX1* (LITBOX2*) (LITBOX3*)
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Little Boxes" (on PeteSeeger35, PeteSeeger36)
NOTES: The irony of this song, at least to me, is that while most Americans DO think the same thoughts and live the same lives and buy houses from the same contractors and watch the same sports on the same TV sets and otherwise follow the crowd and pollute the same environment with the same junk that they extract from the same oil wells, they at least have a choice about it. A medieval peasant was a medieval peasant no matter how hard he tried to be a freethinker, and even the nobility didn't have many choices....
This is of course not a traditional song by origin, and it probably hasn't goine into traition either; it's here because it's cited in many books, but none of them are field collections.
Although Reynolds is responsible for both words and music of the piece, but she seems to have been inspired (perhaps unconsciously) by the song "Pittsburg, Pennsylvania" ("There's a pawn shop on the corner In Pittsburg Pennsylvania"), made popular by a 1952 recording by Guy Mitchell. - RBW
File: SBoA378
===
NAME: Little Boy Billee (Le Petite Navire, The Little Corvette)
DESCRIPTION: English & French versions. Three Bristol men steal a ship and go to sea. Starving, Jack & Jimmy plot to eat Billee, but he asks to say his catechism first. Before he finishes, he sights the British fleet. Jack and Jimmy are hanged, Billee made an admiral
AUTHOR: Unknown, English version possibly translated by William Thackeray
EARLIEST_DATE: 1946 (Davenson, French version)
KEYWORDS: crime execution punishment theft rescue death ship cannibalism foreignlanguage murder
FOUND_IN: France
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Kennedy 114, "Le Petit Navire [The Little Corvette]" (French version -- 1 text + translation, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 429-430, "Three Sailors of Bristol City" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Bob Roberts, "Little Boy Billee" (on LastDays)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ship in Distress" (plot) and references there
NOTES: The song was apparently widespread among French sailors. The English version, possibly translated by Thackeray, seems almost a burlesque. And the similarities to "The Ship in Distress" are so acute that I suspect the songs are related. - PJS
To me, the question is more of the relations between Kennedy's various texts in multiple languages. If two songs have the same plot, and there is a version in another language with the same plot, how do you tell which song it belongs with? - RBW
File: K114
===
NAME: Little Brass Wagon: see Old Brass Wagon (File: San159)
===
NAME: Little Brown Bulls, The [Laws C16]
DESCRIPTION: Bold McCluskey believes his steer can out-pull anything on the river, and backs his belief by betting that they can out-pull Gordon's little brown bulls. Despite McClusky's confidence, the bulls are victorious
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1923 (Rickaby)
KEYWORDS: contest animal gambling lumbering
FOUND_IN: US(MW,NE) Canada(Mar,Ont)
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
Laws C16, "The Little Brown Bulls"
Rickaby 13, "The Little Brown Bulls" (1 text plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 107, "The Little Brown Bulls" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 775-777, "The Little Brown Bulls" (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 54, "The Little Brown Bulls" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 849-851, "The Little Brown Bulls" (1 text, 1 tune)
Beck 37, "The Little Brown Bulls" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke-Lumbering #47, "The Little Brown Bulls" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 168-171, "The Little Brown Bulls" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 178-179, "The Little Brown Bulls" (1 text)
DT 603, BRWNBULL*
Roud #2224
RECORDINGS:
Charles Bowlen, "The Little Brown Bulls" (AFS, 1941; on LC55)
Warde Ford, "The Little Brown Bulls" (AFS 4213 B, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Carl Lathrop, "The Little Brown Bulls" (AFS, 1938; on LC56)
NOTES: According to Fred Bainter, who sang Rickaby's "A" text, "the ballad was composed in Mart Douglas's camp in northwestern Wisconsin in 1872 or 1873. It was in this camp and at this date... that the contest between the big spotted steers and the little brown bulls was held" (quotation from Botkin, not Bainter; Laws quotes this information from Rickaby, but without comment on its truth or falsehoodl Fowke notes that Beck had a different story).
Rickaby's second version lacks the Derry Down refrain, but the informant apparently knew it with the Derry Down tune. Fowke describes her tune as a "Villikens" variant. - RBW
Beck notes that some lumberjacks have suggested this song comes from Maine, but it is not included in R. P. Gray's collection _Songs and Ballads of the Maine Lumberjacks_. - PJS
File: LC16
===
NAME: Little Brown Church in the Vale, The (The Church in the Wildwood)
DESCRIPTION: "There's a church in the valley by the wildwood, No lovelier spot in the dale; No place is so dear to my childhood...." "Come to the church in the wildwood, Oh, come to the church in the dale." The singer recalls the joys of church as both child and adult
AUTHOR: William S. Pitts
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (source: Johnson)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), pp, 172-173, "The Little Brown Church in the Vale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4970
NOTES: According to Johnson, this is largely about an actual church built in the 1860s in the town of Bradford, Iowa (near present-day Nashua). Bradford was bypassed by the railroads, and withered away, but as of his writing, the church still stood. - RBW
File: BdLBCitV
===
NAME: Little Brown Dog
DESCRIPTION: "When I was a little boy As fat as I could go, They set me there upon the fence...." The boy fights and defeats a giant, induces his hen to hatch out a hare, acquires a dog with legs ten feet long, and otherwise does the impossible
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1891 (JAFL 4)
KEYWORDS: talltale animal chickens dog horse sheep humorous nonsense fight
FOUND_IN: Britain(Shetlands) US(MA,NE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
Randolph 357, "When I Was a Little Boy" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
FSCatskills 145, "The Lofty Giant" (1 text)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 101, "When I Was a Little Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hudson 129, p. 275, "To London I Did Go" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 24-29, "A Tale of Jests" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Leach-Labrador 111, "The Lying Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 87, "The Liar's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 103-106, "The Little Bull Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 79, "The Little Bull" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 394, "Little Brown Dog" (1 text)
DT, (AUTUMNTO)
Roud #1706
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Derby Ram"
cf. "The Swapping Boy"
cf. "The Seven Wonders"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Big Jeest
Once I Had
The Lie Song
NOTES: I've listed this song under a title by which it's well known; as it was extremely popular in the 1960s folk revival. -PJS
Versions of this song may take almost any form, as long as there is enough exaggeration. The piece is recognized by its short lines and stanzas. Here are samples: "When I was a little boy, To London I did go, Upon that banished (?) steeple, My gallantry to show." "I bought me a little hen, I did not take much care; I set her on an oyster shell, And she hatched me out a bear."
Hudson calls this a rhymed version of the story of Jack the Giant Killer. Some versions were doubtless influenced by that, but the song doesn't require killing a giant. - RBW
File: VWL101
===
NAME: Little Brown Hands
DESCRIPTION: "They drive the cows home from the pasture Down through the long shady lane." "They know where the apples are reddest." These hard-working children shall one day be great. Many other secrets "are held in the little brown hand."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: nonballad work
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 327, "Little Brown Hands" (1 text)
Roud #15890
File: Br3327
===
NAME: Little Brown Jug, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer praises drink and the little brown jug it comes in: "Ha, ha, ha, you and me, 'Little brown jug' don't I love thee." Drink has turned his friends into enemies, left him poor and sick, and ruined his prospects -- but still he wants another drop
AUTHOR: Eastburn (Joseph Eastburn Winner)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1869
KEYWORDS: drink poverty nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(MW,SE,So) Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 115-118, "Little Brown Jug" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden, p. 261, "Little Brown Jug" (1 text plus an excerpt from another)
Randolph 408, "The Little Brown Jug" (1 text, 1 tune, plus a fragment which may or may not go here)
BrownIII 33, "Little Brown Jug" (1 text plus 6 excerpts)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 176-177, "Little Brown Jug" (1 text, 1 tune, probably composite, since it includes all the original verses plus some floaters)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 52-53, "The Little Brown Jug" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert, pp. 64-65, "Little Brown Jug" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 269, "Little Brown Jug" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 236, "Little Brown Jug" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 334-335, "Little Brown Jug"
DT, BROWNJUG*
ST RJ19115 (Full)
Roud #725
RECORDINGS:
[Gene] Austin & [George] Reneau, "Little Brown Jug" (CYL: Edison [BA] 4973, prob. 1924)
The Blue Ridge Duo [possibly a pseudonym for George Reneau?] "Little Brown Jug" (Edison 51422, 1924)
Uncle Tom Collins, "Little Brown Jug" (OKeh 45132, 1927)
Vernon Dalhart, "Little Brown Jug" (Perfect 12421, 1928)
Chubby Parker, "Little Brown Jug" (Gennett 6120/Silvertone 5013/Silvertone 25013, 1927; Supertone 9191, 1928) (Conqueror 7893, 1931)
Riley Puckett (w. Clayton McMichen), "Little Brown Jug" (Columbia 15232-D, 1928; rec. 1927)
George Reneau, "Little Brown Jug" (Vocalion 14812, 1924)
Ernest Thompson, "Little Brown Jug" (Columbia 147-D, 1924)
Welby Toomey, "Little Brown Jug" (Gennett 6025/Champion 15198, 1927; rec. 1926)
Henry Whitter, "Little Brown Jug" (OKeh 40063, 1924)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Woodpecker's Hole" (tune)
cf. "The Whiskey Seller" (tune)
cf. "The Poor Little Girls of Ontario" (tune)
NOTES: Joseph Winner (the brother of Septimus Winner, a.k.a. "Alice Hawthorne") published some twenty pieces in his career under the title Eastburn, but only this one had any commercial success. The title may have come from another song of the same name, but that piece (by George Cooper and W. F. Wellman, Jr.; copyright 1868) fell into instant obscurity. - RBW
File: RJ19115
===
NAME: Little Bull Song, The: see Little Brown Dog (File: VWL101)
===
NAME: Little Cabin Boy, The
DESCRIPTION: A fair lady falls in love with Billy, a cabin boy. She tries to convince his captain to release him, but the captain will not. She bids him farewell, goes into a garden, and dies for love. Billy's ship is lost in a storm with all hands
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1876
KEYWORDS: sea courting love death separation wreck
FOUND_IN: US(MA) Britain(Scotland,England(South)) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
FSCatskills 56, "The Little Cabin Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Smith/Hatt, p. 83, "The Cabin Boy" (1 text)
ST FSC056 (Partial)
Roud #1168
File: FSC056
===
NAME: Little Carpenter (I), The
DESCRIPTION: Singer is courted successively by an old man, a blacksmith (who gives her a handkerchief and a finger ring) and a handsome young man (from Scarlet town!); she rejects all, preferring the little carpenter who, "hews with his broadaxe all day and sits by me
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (field recording, Blind James Howard)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection magic lover worker
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, LITCARP
ST DTLitCar (Full)
RECORDINGS:
Blind James Howard, "The Little Carpenter" (LC AAFS 1376 B2, 1933)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Little Carpenter" (on NLCR06, NLCRCD2)
NOTES: I've included the keyword, "magic" because the appearance of the handkerchief and finger ring hint at now-lost magical elements. Curiously, the field recording cited under, "Earliest Date" is the only time the song has been found, although its diction and images make it sound European. - PJS
Lyle Lofgren, who did a detailed examination of this song for a historical column, agrees. He notes several indications that the song is old: The change from third to first person, the "props" such as finger rings, the pentatonic melody (centering on the fifth rather than the tonic), and the general tone. One scholar speculated that it is a religious song in disguise.
The other very faint possibiility is that it's about the historical Cherokee chief Attakullakulla, known as "Little Carpenter," who lived at the time of the French and Indian Wars and ended up surrendering some land in the region of South Carolina after a nasty campaign in which both sides suffered significan casualties. I can, by twisting very hard, make some of the references here make sense in his context. But I think it highly unlikely, unless we find another version which makes the matter clearer. - RBW
File: DTLitCar
===
NAME: Little Carpenter (II), The: see The Daemon Lover (The House Carpenter) [Child 243] (File: C243)
===
NAME: Little Chickens in the Garden, The: see Treat My Daughter Kindly (The Little Farm) (File: R668)
===
NAME: Little Chimney Sweep, The
DESCRIPTION: A chimney sweep steals the child while his mother spins. After three years, the child is not found. The sweep returns and is hired by the woman; when his boy appears, she recognizes him. Women are warned to keep their children close at hand
AUTHOR: Unknown, possibly a Mr. Upton
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 (collected from William Hughes) -- but a broadside in the Madden collection, possibly called "The Lost Child Found", long predates it
KEYWORDS: reunion abduction crime mother worker children
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MacSeegTrav 124, "The Little Chimney Sweep" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1549
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Little Lost Child" (plot)
NOTES: The resemblance of this song to "The Little Lost Child" (composed 1894) is sufficient that I strongly suspect the author of the latter was familiar with "The Little Chimney Sweep", also known as "The Lost Child Found." According to MacColl & Seeger, it was quite popular among 19th-century broadside printers. - PJS
File: McCST124
===
NAME: Little Clare Mary, The (Daily's Lifeboat)
DESCRIPTION: "When the tempest was raging And the seas running high The little Clara May came scudding down by." The ship strikes a rock. The captain says Dailey will come in his lifeboat, but he never does. The sailors are finally rescued by the Mary Louise
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck disaster rescue cowardice
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownII 289, "The Song of Dailey's Life-Boat" (1 text)
Chappell-FSRA 32, "The Little Clare Mary" (1 text)
Roud #6629
NOTES: The notes in Brown describe their failure to find historical evidence for the events described here (which may explain the confusion in the name of the song: Brown's text calls it the Clara May, Chappell the Clare Mary). Nor is there evidence of cowardice in the (real) Dailey family.
Roud lumps several "lifeboat" songs under this number, but the other is a religious song. - RBW
File: BrII289
===
NAME: Little Cobbler, The
DESCRIPTION: The butcher goes to London; his wife takes the cobbler to her bed. When a policeman shows up, she invites him into bed while the cobbler hides beneath. The butcher then arrives with the cobbler still hidden. The butcher finds and punishes the cobbler
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (JFSS)
KEYWORDS: seduction trick bawdy humorous hiding
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 224-226, "The Little Cobbler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 197, "The Cunning Cobbler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #174
RECORDINGS:
George Spicer, "The Cunning Cobbler" (on FSB2, FSB2CD)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Boatsman and the Chest" [Laws Q8] (plot) and references there
NOTES: The Copper version of this piece appears, from the initial verse, to be very closely related to "The Major and the Weaver" [Laws Q10] . The Kennedy version, however, is distinct. I suspect the Copper version is a cross-fertilization.
Vaughn Williams observed that the piece must be modern (because of the policeman), and remarks "It is a modern example of the kind of fun we find in Chaucer's 'Clerk of Oxenforde.'"
This and similar songs are sometimes traced back to a story in Boccaccio (seventh day, second story: Gianella, Peronella, and her husband). But the story is really one of the basic themes of folktale, and doubtless predates Boccaccio as well as these songs. - RBW
File: CoSB224
===
NAME: Little Cock Sparrow, The
DESCRIPTION: "A little cock sparrow sat on a green tree" A "naughty boy" with bow and arrow says he will shoot the sparrow to make a stew and pie. The sparrow says otherwise and flies away.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1846 (Halliwell, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: escape hunting bird youth food
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 111, "A little cock sparrow sat on a green tree" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #182, p. 130, "(A little cock sparrow sat on a green tree)"
Roud #3368
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(1117), "The Little Cock Sparrow," W. Oxlade (Portsea), n.d.
NOTES: Bird fanciers will note that this is the English sparrow, known in America as a "House Sparrow" but actually a weaverfinch, rather than a true sparrow; it's generally not possible to tell the genders of true sparrows without detailed examination. English sparrows are also generally more given to chattering, and spend more time in trees; true sparrows are groundfeeders. Not that a nursery rhyme writer is likely to worry about such details. - RBW
File: OO2111
===
NAME: Little Cora: see Darling Corey (File: LxU087)
===
NAME: Little Cory: see Darling Corey (File: LxU087)
===
NAME: Little Darling (II): see Nobody's Darling on Earth (File: R723)
===
NAME: Little David, Play on Your Harp
DESCRIPTION: Recognized by the chorus, "Little David, play on your harp, Hallelu, hallelu." The rest can describe David's exploits, or almost anything else vaguely related to Biblical subjects
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (recording, Fisk University Male Quartet)
KEYWORDS: nonballad Bible
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
BrownIII 609, "Little David, Play on Your Harp" (1 text)
Chappell-FSRA 81, "Little David, Play on Your Harp" (1 text, 1 tune, possibly mixed with "On My Journey Now")
Courlander-NFM, pp. 46-49, (no title) (1 text, which appears composite); pp. 236-237, "King David"
Silber-FSWB, p. 361, "Little David" (1 text)
Roud #11831
RECORDINGS:
Rich Amerson & Earthy Anne Coleman, "King David" (on NFMAla4, DownHome)
Big Bethel Choir #1, "Little David Play Your Harp" (Columbia 14157-D, 1926)
Commonwealth Quartet, "Little David" (Domino 0173, 1927)
Fisk University Jubilee Quartet, "Little David, Play On Yo' Harp" (Victor 16448, 1909)
Fisk University Male Quartette (sic.), "Little David Play On Your Harp" (Columbia A2803, 1919)
Hampton Institute Quartette, "Little David, Play On Your Harp" (Musicraft 231, prob. 1939)
Joe Ramer Family, "Little David Play On Your Harp" (Broadway 8106, c. 1930)
Joe Reed Family, "Little David Play On Your Harp" (c. 1925; on CrowTold02)
Noble Sissle & Lt. Jim Europe's Singing Serenaders, "Little David Play On Your Harp" (Pathe 22084, 1919)
Southland Jubilee Singers, "Little David Play On Your Harp" (OKeh 4271/Phonola 4271, 1921)
Wood Bros. Quartet, "Little David Play On Your Harp" (Rainbow 1094, 1923)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "All My Trials" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Spaeth lists a 1921 hit, "Little David, Play on Your Harp" as arranged by "Burleigh." I would assume that that is this song, and that it therefore is older than that date by some years. - RBW
The Courlander-NFM references certainly is composite, but the verses were compiled by the informant, Rich Amerson, not by Courlander. See his recording on NFMAla3 and DownHome. - PJS
File: CNFM046
===
NAME: Little Devils: see The Farmer's Curst Wife [Child 278] (File: C278)
===
NAME: Little Doogie: see Get Along, Little Dogies (File: R178)
===
NAME: Little Drowned Girl, The: see The Twa Sisters [Child 10] (File: C010)
===
NAME: Little Dun Dee
DESCRIPTION: "My uncle died and left me forty quid." The singer bets it all on Little Dun Dee in a match race. As the race progresses Little Dunny falls behind and the price rises. The pony falls behind the bay but just wins at the end and carts the money away.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(1793))
KEYWORDS: money racing horse
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #176
RECORDINGS:
Mary Anne Haynes, "Little Dun Dee" (on Voice11)
BROADSIDES:
Broadside Bodleian, Harding B 11(1793), "Little Dun Mare ("On the twenty-fourth of August last"), J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838 ; also Harding B 11(1794), Firth c.12(446), Harding B 11(2734), Harding B 25(1118)[some words illegible], Harding B 11(900), Harding B 11(1793), "[The] Little Dun Mare"; Johnson Ballads 895, "Dun Mare"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Skewball" [Laws Q22] (plot)
cf. "Molly and Tenbrooks" [Laws H27] (plot)
NOTES: The Bodleian broadsides go into more detail on the betting, the strategy, and the final weighing; the uncle does not die but is an active participant. The race takes place at Newmarket on July 14 or August 24. - BS
File: RcLiDuDe
===
NAME: Little Eau Pleine, The: see The Banks of the Little Eau Pleine [Laws C2] (File: LC02)
===
NAME: Little Family, The [Laws H7]
DESCRIPTION: Sisters Mary and Martha are deeply grieved when their brother Lazarus falls sick and dies. Jesus is informed that his friend Lazarus is sick, and hurries to Bethany. Finding the sisters weeping, he too weeps and raises Lazarus from the dead
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (Belden, from a manuscript probably from 1865; Hudson's ms. was dated 1862)
KEYWORDS: family Jesus religious Jesus Bible
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (15 citations)
Laws H7, "The Little Family"
Belden, pp. 447-449, "The Little Family" (2 texts plus a mention of 1 more)
Randolph 614, "The Little Family" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Eddy 133, "The Little Family" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 151, "The Little Family" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 134, "The Little Family" (2 texts)
BrownIII 610, "The Little Family" (1 text plus 1 excerpt and mention of 1 more; also assorted stanzas in the notes)
Hudson 86, pp. 212-214, "The Little Family" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 195-196, "The Little Family" (1 text)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 218-222, "The Little Family" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 734-736, "The Little Family" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 132-133, "Lazarus" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 231-232, "[The Little Family]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, p. 183, "The Little Family" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 647, LAZRUS
Roud #656
RECORDINGS:
Ollie Gilbert, "The Little Family" (on LomaxCD1704)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Mary and Martha
Martha and Mary
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus
NOTES: This song closely parallels the account in John 11:1-44, with two exceptions. First, when Jesus heard Lazarus was sick, he did NOT hasten to Bethany, but sat around for two days (apparently to give the dead body a little extra time to rot!). Second, Jesus did not weep for Lazarus; he wept because of the hardness of heart of the Jews who did not think Lazarus would be raised. - RBW
File: LH07
===
NAME: Little Farm, The: see Treat My Daughter Kindly (The Little Farm) (File: R668)
===
NAME: Little Fight in Mexico
DESCRIPTION: "They had a little fight in Mexico, It wasn't for the boys but the gals, you may know, Sing fa la la, sing fa la la, sing fa la la la day." Boys and girls "came to the place where the blood was shed," where (girls/boys) turned back but the dance continues
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: playparty courting dancing fight
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Randolph 549, "Little Fight in Mexico" (2 texts, 1 tune, although the texts do not really look related)
BrownIII 79, "Little Fight in Mexico" (1 fragment)
Hudson 141, pp. 288-289, "Had a Big Fight in Mexico" (1 text)
Fife-Cowboy/West 9, "Johnny Cake" (4 texts, 1 tune, but the "B" text, entitled "Had a Little Fight in Mexico," is clearly this piece)
Roud #736
NOTES: Based on the content of this song, I would guess that it is not related to the Mexican War (Hudson states otherwise, but this is based only on the date; he knew people who claimed to have heard it c. 1860). - RBW
There is a town called Mexico in Missouri, although it's in the northern part of the state, not in the Ozarks. - PJS
File: R549
===
NAME: Little Fighting Chance, The [Laws J19]
DESCRIPTION: The "Little Fighting Chance" encounters a French warship. The battle is long, and the British take twenty casualties, but in the end they defeat the French vessel and take it home as a prize
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Mackenzie)
KEYWORDS: ship battle navy
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws J19, "The Little Fighting Chance"
Mackenzie 82, "The Little Fighting Chance" (1 text)
DT 551, LILCHANC
Roud #980
File: LJ19
===
NAME: Little Fish, The: see Yea Ho, Little Fish (File: MA119)
===
NAME: Little Fisherman: see Cod Fish Song (File: EM005)
===
NAME: Little Gal at Our House: see Possum Up a Gum Stump (File: R280)
===
NAME: Little Geste of Robin Hood and his Meiny, A: see A Gest of Robyn Hode" [Child 117] (File: C117)
===
NAME: Little Girl (I): see In the Pines (File: LoF290)
===
NAME: Little Girl (II): see The Old Cow Died (Little Girl) (File: FSWB396A)
===
NAME: Little Girl and the Dreadful Snake, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer hears screams of his daughter, who's been attacked by "an awful, dreadful snake." He runs through the woods to rescue her, but arrives too late; she is dead
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (recording, Stanley Brothers)
KEYWORDS: death animal children father
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys, "The Little Girl and the Dreadful Snake" (Decca 28878, 1953)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Little Girl and the Dreadful Snake" (on NLCREP2, NLCRCD2) (NLCR16)
The Stanley Brothers, "The Little Girl And The Dreadful Snake" (Rich-R-Tone 1055, 1952)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Springfield Mountain" [Laws G16] (plot)
File: RcLGATDS
===
NAME: Little Girl and the Robin, The
DESCRIPTION: "There came to my window one morning in spring A sweet little robin that started to sing" "As soon as he had finished his... song A cruel young man with a gun came along. He killed... my sweet bird... No more will he sing at the break of the day"
AUTHOR: George J. Webb ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1889 (New First Music Reader)
KEYWORDS: bird death hunting music
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 880, "The Sweet Little Birdie" (2 fragments, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 538-539, "The Sweet Little Birdie" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 880A)
Roud #7545
NOTES: If this were a traditional song, I'm sure folklorists would be all over it looking for a hidden meaning. Even though it seems to be composed, I suspect there is an additional meaning -- but I can't see what it is. - RBW
File: R880
===
NAME: Little Glass of Wine: see Oxford City [Laws P30] (File: LP30)
===
NAME: Little Golden Ring, The
DESCRIPTION: A sailor bids his mother, "a lone, weeping widow," farewell. He promises to return. She gives him a ring, saying, "Wear it for your mother's sake." He does well at sea, but then his mother's letters stop. He comes home to learn that she is dead
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Doerflinger)
KEYWORDS: sailor mother separation death ring return
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Doerflinger, pp. 170-172, "The Little Golden Ring" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9418
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(104b), "It Is But a Little Golden Ring," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890
File: Doe170
===
NAME: Little Gypsy Girl, The: see The Gypsy Maid (The Gypsy's Wedding Day) [Laws O4] (File: LO04)
===
NAME: Little Harry Huston: see Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter [Child 155] (File: C155)
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NAME: Little Hero, The: see The Stowaway (File: GrMa051)
===
NAME: Little Indian Maid, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer grew up in American Indian culture: her father hunted and her mother worked in the wigwam. She helped her mother, but could not read, sew, or pray until the white man "taught poor Indians Jesus's name." She asks the Saviour to bless whites
AUTHOR: unknown, but I bet it wasn't an Indian [note from PJS]
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1957 (recording, Lotys Murrin)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of growing up in American Indian culture, while her hunter father roamed, "wild nature's child," and her mother stayed in the wigwam, wove baskets and sewed his moccasins. She helped her mother, but could not read, sew, or pray until the white man came and "taught poor Indians Jesus' name." Now she asks the Saviour to bless the white man
KEYWORDS: religious family Indians(Am.)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #4807
RECORDINGS:
Lotys Murrin, "The Little Indian Maid" (on Ontario1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "When I Go Up to Shinum Place" (theme)
cf. "Indian Hymn" (theme)
NOTES: The song practically reeks of missionary origin, but Edith Fowke was unable to find a printed source. She notes that it was popular among lumberjacks. - PJS
Indeed, the several other songs of this type are generally produced by whites (hence their use of English, often pidgin English). Contrary to propaganda, the chief thing the locals caught from missionaries was not Christianity but epidemic diseases. - RBW
File: RcLitInM
===
NAME: Little Jack Horner
DESCRIPTION: "Little Jack Horner Sat in a corner Eating of Christmas pie. He put in his thumb And pulled out a plum, And said, What a good boy am I."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1767 (Newbery)
KEYWORDS: food
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #50, p. 61, "(Little Jack Horner)"
cf. DT, MERRYLND
NOTES: This is probably only a nursery *rhyme*, and not a nursery *song*, and so properly does not belong in the Index. But Tony and Irene Saletan recorded it as part of their version of "Hail to Britannia" (which includes many nursery rhymes), so it does have a musical tradition of sorts. I also seem to recall a second tune for the second part of the verse. I include it, very tentatively, on that basis.
If one believes that all nursery rhymes have political contexts, this obviously has to do with political or ecclesiastical corruption. The quasi-official version of the story, according to the Baring-Goulds, is that the real Jack Horner was Thomas Horner of Glastonbury, who at the time of the dissolution of the monasteries managed to sneak several deeds to Henry VIII (allegedly in a piecrust), and managed to extract one for himself. - RBW
File: BGMG050
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NAME: Little Jimmy Murphy: see Jimmy Murphy (File: Beld291)
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NAME: Little Joe the Wrangler [Laws B5]
DESCRIPTION: "Little Joe" runs away from home because of a parental remarriage. He is taken in by cowboys and learns how to herd cattle. When a storm starts blowing, he stops a stampede but is killed in the process
AUTHOR: N. Howard Thorp (1898)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908 (Thorp's "Songs of the Cowboys")
KEYWORDS: cowboy death
FOUND_IN: US(NW,Ro,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Laws B5, "Little Joe the Wrangler"
Randolph 203, "Little Joe the Wrangler" (1 text)
Thorp/Fife I, pp. 28-37 (9-11), "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (4 texts -- one of them being "Sister Nell" and another a parody about "Joe... That hung that bunch of cactus on the wall," 1 tune)
Larkin, pp. 123-126, "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 79, "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 166-167, "Little Joe the Wrangler" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 265, "Little Joe The Wrangler" (1 text)
Saffel-CowboyP, pp. 207-208, "Little Joe, The Wrangler" (1 text)
DT 373, LITTLEJO*
Roud #1930
RECORDINGS:
Jules Allen, "Little Joe the Wrangler" (Victor 21470, 1928; Montgomery Ward M-4344, 1933; Montgomery Ward M-4780, 1935)
Leon Chappelear, "Little Joe the Wrangler" Champion 45068, c. 1935; Montgomery Ward M-4950, 1936)
Edward L. Crain, "Little Joe the Wrangler" (Crown 3239/Conqueror 8010, 1932; Homestead 22991, c. 1932)
Harry Jackson, "Little Joe the Wrangler" (on HJackson1)
Goebel Reeves, "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (Melotone M-12214, 1931; Panachord 25313, 1932; on MakeMe)
Arnold Keith Storm, "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (on AKStorm01)
Marc "The Cowboy Crooner" Williams, "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (Brunswick 269, 1928)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (tune) and references there
cf. "Little Joe the Wrangler's Sister Nell" (subject, tune)
NOTES: Larkin notes that, in a cattle ride, the horse wrangler (responsible for controlling the horses and bringing them to the riders as needed) stood low in the social hierarchy but often played a vital role when the herd was nervous or the riders busy. - RBW
File: LB05
===
NAME: Little Joe the Wrangler's Sister Nell
DESCRIPTION: The girl rides up to the cowboy's fire. She is looking for her brother Joe. The cowboys, reluctant to tell her that her brother is dead, listen to her sad story of a cruel stepmother. At last, seeing the brands on the cattle, she realizes the truth
AUTHOR: unknown (sometimes credited to N. Howard Thorp, author of "Little Joe the Wrangler")
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: abuse orphan death stepmother cowboy derivative
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 204, "Little Joe the Wrangler's Sister Nell" (1 text)
Thorp/Fife I, pp. 28-37 (9-11), "Little Joe, the Wrangler" (4 texts, 1 tune -- the "B" text being "Sister Nell")
Ohrlin-HBT 69, "Little Joe the Wrangler's Sister Nell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4049
RECORDINGS:
 Harry Jackson, "Little Joe the Wrangler's Sister Nell" (on HJackson1, CowFolkCD1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Joe the Wrangler" [Laws B5] (tune) and references there
NOTES: This song is item dB36 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: R204
===
NAME: Little John a Begging [Child 142]
DESCRIPTION: Little John (goes/is assigned by Robin to go) a-begging. He meets up with beggars feigning disabilities who do not want his company and they fall to blows. Little John overcomes them and is much enriched by their stores which he takes to Sherwood.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1663
KEYWORDS: Robinhood begging fight disability
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Child 142, "Little John a Begging" (2 texts)
Bronson 142, comments only
Leach, pp. 406-408, "Little John a Begging" (1 text)
BBI, RZN2, "All you that delight to spend some time"
Roud #3988
NOTES: For background on the Robin Hood legend, see the notes on "A Gest of Robyn Hode" [Child 117]. - RBW
File: C142
===
NAME: Little John Henry
DESCRIPTION: "It was early one mornin' And it looked like rain, Way roun' that curve, Lord, I spied a gravel train. O my little John Henry, Godamighty knows." "Now where'd you get your learnin'? Please tell it to me. On the Gulf and Colorado And the Santa Fe."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933
KEYWORDS: train
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 300, "Little John Henry" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 198-199, "My Li'l John Henry" (1 text, 1 tune, a fragment placed her based primarily on the chorus)
Roud #6715
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Joseph Mica (Mikel) (The Wreck of the Six-Wheel Driver) (Been on the Choly So Long)" [Laws I16]
NOTES: Probably a "John Henry-ized" version of "Casey Jones" -- but it may be that this is another case of the Lomaxes turning a song into something else. - RBW
File: LoF300
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NAME: Little Johnny Green: see Grandma's Advice (File: R101)
===
NAME: Little Log Cabin by the Sea
DESCRIPTION: Yet another song derived from "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane", but in this one the singer reminisces about the precious Bible his/her mother left behind in the log cabin by the sea
AUTHOR: Lyrics: Probably A. P. Carter; tune: Will S. Hays.
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Carter Family)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible mother family
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #15142
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "Little Log Cabin by the Sea" (Victor 21074, 1927)
DeBusk-Weaver Family, "Little Log Cabin by the Sea" (on DeBusk-Weaver1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (tune, structure) and references there
NOTES: This shouldn't be confused with "Little Old Log Cabin by the Stream" or any of the other "Log Cabin" songs; it's indexed primarily to differentiate it from them. - PJS
File: RcLLCBTS
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NAME: Little Lost Child, The
DESCRIPTION: "A passing policeman found a little child... Says to her kindly, you must not cry; I'll find your mother by and by." At the station he realizes she is his daughter Jennie, with whose mother he had quarreled. When the mother arrives, they are reconciled
AUTHOR: Words: Edward B. Marks / Music: Joseph W. Stern
EARLIEST_DATE: 1894 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: father mother reunion children
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 728, "The Lost Child" (1 text)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 148-150, "The Little Lost Child" (1 text, 1 tune)
Geller-Famous, pp. 132-137, "The Little Lost Child" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4651
RECORDINGS:
Earl Shirkey & Roy Harper, "The Little Lost Child" (Columbia 15642-D, 1931; rec. 1929)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Little Chimney Sweep" (plot)
File: R728
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NAME: Little Low Plain, The: see The Banks of the Little Eau Pleine [Laws C2] (File: LC02)
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NAME: Little Lowland Maid, The: see The Lovely Lowland Maid (File: Pea620)
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NAME: Little Maggie
DESCRIPTION: Singer laments Maggie's drinking and straying ("Over yonder stands little Maggie... She's a drinking away her troubles and a-courting some other man"). He praises her beauty extravagantly, saying she was made to be his, but plans to leave town.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Grayson & Whitter)
KEYWORDS: jealousy courting love rejection parting drink travel
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 48, "Little Maggie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, p. 277, "Little Maggie" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 193, "Little Maggie" (1 text)
DT, LILMAGGI*
Roud #5723
RECORDINGS:
Frank Bode, "Little Maggie" (on FBode1)
[G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "Little Maggie With a Dram Glass In Her Hand" (Victor V-40135, 1929; Bluebird B-7072, 1937)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers [or Wade Mainer], "Little Maggie" (Bluebird B-7201, 1937)
Wade Mainer, Zeke Morris & Steve Ledford, "Little Maggie" (Bluebird B-7201/Montgomery Ward M-7309, 1937; on GoingDown)
Ivor Melton & band, "Little Maggie"
New Lost City Ramblers, "Little Maggie" (on NLCR16)
Frank Proffitt, "Little Maggie (on USWarnerColl01)
The Stanley Brothers, "Little Maggie" (Rich-R-Tone 423, rec. c. late 1947)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Darling Corey" (words)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Little Maggie With a Dram Glass In Her Hand
NOTES: Although this shares several verses with "Darling Corey", it leaves out the latter song's central theme of moonshining; that, a different tune, and several divergent verses lead me to call this a different song. - PJS
Roud, of course, lumps them. I agree with Paul.
The notes to USWarnerColl01 note that this is widely recorded but rarely collected in the field; they speculate that its popularity derives from one or another old time country recording. This seems likely, with the first Grayson and Whitter version being the obvious candidate. - RBW
File: CSW048
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NAME: Little Marget: see Fair Margaret and Sweet William [Child 74] (File: C074)
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NAME: Little Marian Parker: see Marian Parker [Laws F33] (File: LF33)
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NAME: Little Marion Parker: see Marian Parker (III) (File: LdF57)
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NAME: Little Mary Phagan: see Mary Phagan [Laws F20] (File: LF20)
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NAME: Little Mary, the Sailor's Bride: see Willie and Mary (Mary and Willie; Little Mary; The Sailor's Bride) [Laws N28] (File: LN28)
===
NAME: Little Massie Grove: see Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [Child 81] (File: C081)
===
NAME: Little Mathy Groves: see Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [Child 81] (File: C081)
===
NAME: Little Maud
DESCRIPTION: As the singer sleeps on some lumber, a policeman awakes and arrests him. He says he has lost his pocketbook and money, his crops are damaged, and he doesn't have a cent to his name. Chorus: "Little Maud, little Maud/She's the dearest darling of all"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (recording, Bela Lam & his Greene County Singers)
KEYWORDS: captivity poverty love prison farming police hardtimes
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Bela Lam & his Greene County Singers, "Little Maud" (OKeh 45177, 1928, rec. 1927; on GoingDown)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Willy, Poor Boy" (floating verses, some similarity in the tune)
NOTES: To say that this song is disjointed would be an understatement. The verses sound like floaters, but aren't. - PJS
File: RcLitMau
===
NAME: Little Maumee, The: see The Little Mohee [Laws H8] (File: LH08)
===
NAME: Little Miss Muffet
DESCRIPTION: "Little Miss Muffet Sat on a tuffet Eating her curds and whey. Along came a spider And sat down beside her And frightened Miss Muffet away."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1797 (cf. Baring-Gould-MotherGoose)
KEYWORDS: food bug
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #141, p. 114, "(Little Miss Muffet)"
NOTES: This is probably only a nursery *rhyme*, and not a nursery *song*, and so properly does not belong in the Index. But Tony and Irene Saletan recorded it as part of their version of "Hail to Britannia" (which includes many nursery rhymes), so it does have a musical tradition of sorts. I include it, very tentatively, on that basis.
The Baring-Goulds state, incidentally, that this is the most frequently illustrated of all nursery rhymes, even though (according to them) the word"tuffet" is otherwise unattested. - RBW
File: BGMG141
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NAME: Little Mohea, The: see The Little Mohee [Laws H8] (File: LH08)
===
NAME: Little Mohee, The [Laws H8]
DESCRIPTION: A (foreign soldier) is greeted by a pretty Mohee. She offers to take him into her tribe if he will stay with her. He will not stay; he has a sweetheart at home. Returning home, he find his girl has left him, and wishes himself back with the Mohee
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1847 (Journal of William Histed of the Cortes)
KEYWORDS: Indians(Am.) love abandonment infidelity
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,Ro,SE,So,SW) Ireland Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (30 citations)
Laws H8, "The Little Mohea"
Belden, pp. 143-145, "Little Mohea" (1 text plus references to 6 more)
Randolph 63, "The Pretty Mohee" (2 texts plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 484-486, "The Pretty Mohee" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 63A)
BrownII 110, "Little Mohea" (1 text plus mention of 11 more)
Hudson 47, pp. 162-164, "Little Mohea" (2 texts plus mention of 3 more)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 336-345, "The Indian Lass" (6 texts plus a fragment/excerpt, with local titles "Pretty Mauhee," "The Pretty Mohea," "Pretty Mohea," "The Lass of Mohee," "Mawhee," "The Pretty Mahee," (no title); 1 tune on pp. 448-449)
Brewster 29, "The Pretty Mohee" (3 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 3 more, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 725-726, "The Little Mohee" (1 text)
Wyman-Brockway I,  p. 52, "The Little Mohee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, p. 84, "The Little Mohea" (1 text)
Fife-Cowboy/West 47, "Little Mohea" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 163-165, "The Little Mohee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 824-825, "The Little Mohee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 128-129, "The Little Mohee" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H836, pp. 372-373, "The Lass of Mohee" (1 text with many variant readings, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 91, pp. 197-198, "The Pretty Mohea" (1 text)
JHCox 116, "The Pretty Mohea" (3 texts)
JHCoxIIB, #12A-C, pp. 147-150, "The Pretty Mohea," "The Little Maumee" (1 text plus 2 fragments, 2 tunes)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 148-150, "The Lass of Mowee" ( text)
Colcord, pp. 199-200, "The Lass of Mohea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 53, "The Young Spanish Lass" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 103, "Little Mohee" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 58, "The Lass of Mohee" (1 text)
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 82-83, "The Lass of Mohee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 195-197, "The Little Mohee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 227-229, "The Little Mohee" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 148, "Little Mohee" (1 text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 482, "The Pretty Mohea" (source notes only)
DT 648, LILMOHEE*
Roud #275
RECORDINGS:
Hall Brothers, "Little Mo-Hee" (Bluebird B-6843/Montgomery Ward 7237, 1937)
Buell Kazee, "The Little Mohee" (Brunswick 156, 1927; Brunswick 436, 1930) (on Kazee01 [fragment])
Bradley Kincaid, "The Little Mohee" (Gennett 6856/Supertone 9402, 1929)
Flora Noles, "Little Mohee" (OKeh 45037, 1926)
Pie Plant Pete [pseud. for Claude Moye], "Little Mo-Hee", Perfect 5-10-14/Melotone 5-10-14, 1935; rec. 1934)
Riley Puckett, "Little Maumee" (Columbia 15277-D, 1928)
Roe Bros. & Morrell, "My Little Mohi" (Columbia 15199-D, 1927)
Ernest Stoneman and His Dixie Mountaineers, "The Pretty Mohea" (Edison, unissued, 1928)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "On Top of Old Smokey" (tune)
cf. "The Indian Lass" (theme, some verses)
cf. "I'm a Stranger in this Country (The Darger Lad)" (theme, verses)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Cocoanut Grove
NOTES: Kittredge describes this as a "chastened" (i.e. de-bawdy-ized) American reworking of a British broadside, "The Indian Lass." It is agreed, though, that the American version is much superior to the British. [It may be agreed that this is superior to "The Indian Lass," but not by me. - PJS]
Barry, however, considers the American version original; it then became a sea song, with the girl transformed from a "Mohee" to a resident of Maui, and the British version descends from that. Belden concurs at least to the extent of calling it a sea song and saying "that the 'Indian lass' is a denizen not of America but of the South Seas."
Huntington splits the difference; he thinks the sea version is the original, and the source of the Native American version (he doesn't mention "The Indian Lass"). He offers no evidence for this view, except for the early dates of the whaling versions.
Just looking at the sundry texts, my (slight) inclination is to think "The Little Mohee" the original; "The Indian Lass" looks like this song with a little bit of "The Lake of Ponchartrain" mixed in and the Indian girl released from tribal affiliation.
Scarborough has a discussion of the matter, in which she supports Kittredge in calling it a British import. But she seems to consider the two still one song -- although her versions consistently mention the Mohee/Mauhee/Mawhee, she titles the song "The Indian Lass."
Whatever its origin, the song has become extremely popular in America (Laws lists in excess of two dozen versions, from more than a dozen states). Sundry tunes are used; many are close to "On Top of Old Smokey." - RBW
File: LH08
===
NAME: Little More Cider Too, A
DESCRIPTION: The singer loves drink and Miss (Snowflake/Dinah). He wishes they were apples rubbing against each other in the tree, and for more drink. Chorus: "A little more cider, cider, cider, a little more cider too, A little more cider for Miss Dinah...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: drink courting floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 46, "A Little More Cider Too" (2 text plus 2 excerpts and mention of 3 more)
Roud #7866
File: Br3046
===
NAME: Little More Faith in Jesus, A
DESCRIPTION: "Mothers, don't you think it best, A little more faith in Jesus? Carry the witness in your breast, A little more faith in Jesus. All I want, all I need, All I want is a little more faith in Jesus." Similarly with fathers, children, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', p. 211, "A Little More Faith in Jesus" (1 text)
Roud #12067
File: ThBa211
===
NAME: Little Moscrow: see Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [Child 81] (File: C081)
===
NAME: Little Moses
DESCRIPTION: The story of Moses in brief: Set adrift in a small boat in Egypt, he is found and raised by the daughter of Pharaoh. When grown, he leads his people across the Red Sea to safety while Pharaoh's host is destroyed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: Bible religious Jew royalty abandonment river rescue hiding Jew
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Belden, p. 449, "Moses in the Bulrushes" (1 text)
Randolph 662, "Little Moses" (1 text)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 74, "Little Moses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 128-129, "Little Moses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 361, "Little Moses" (1 text)
DT, LITMOSES
Roud #3546
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "Little Moses" (Victor 23641/Victor V-40110, 1929; Bluebird B-5924, 1935; Montgomery Ward M-5010, 1936; on AAFM2)
A. P. Carter Family, "Little Moses" (Acme 992, n.d. but post-WWII)
Harmon E. Helmick, "Little Moses" (Champion 16705, 1934; Decca 5498, 1938)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Finding of Moses" (subject)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
By the Side of a River
NOTES: The story of Moses being abandoned by his parents (who had to hide him to prevent him from being killed) is told in Exodus 2:1-10; the crossing of the Red Sea is covered in Exodus chapter 14. - RBW
File: R662
===
NAME: Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [Child 81]
DESCRIPTION: (Lady Barnard), left alone at home by her lord, convinces (Little Musgrave) to sleep with her. Her husband returns unlooked-for, and finds Musgrave in bed with his wife. Lord Barnard slays Musgrave in a duel, and then his wife
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1611 (Beaumont & Fletcher)
KEYWORDS: adultery death
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland,England) Ireland US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So,SW) Canada(Mar,Newf) Jamaica
REFERENCES: (48 citations)
Child 81, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (15 texts)
Bronson 81, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (74 versions+1 in addenda)
Dixon III, pp. 21-29, "Lord Burnett and Little Munsgrove" (1 text)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 150-194, "" (11 texts plus a collation, a fragment, and a text not from Maine, several of these being variants on versions learned from the same source; 8 tunes from Maine plus one from elsewhere; also extensive notes on version classification) {Ab=Bronson's #70, B=#59, Db=#21, E [Yankee Doodle]=#73, Gb=#60, H [The Little Red Lark] = #71, I=#66; the non-Maine tune is #13}
Percy/Wheatley III, pp. 68-74, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (1 text)
Belden, pp. 57-60, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #13}
Randolph 20, "Little Mathy Groves" (1 short text plus 2 fragments, 2 tunes) {A=Bronson's #58, C=#12}
Eddy 15, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #40}
Gardner/Chickering 7, "Lord Valley" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #28}
Flanders-Ancient2, pp. 195-237, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (10 texts, 7 tunes) {A=Bronson's #46, F=#65, J=#68}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 86-91, "Lord Arnold" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #46}
Davis-Ballads 23, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (6 texts, 1 tune entitled "Lord Daniel's Wife"; 1 more version mentioned in Appendix A) {Bronson's #72}
Davis-More 24, pp. 170-181, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownII 26, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (3 texts plus 2 excerpts)
Chappell-FSRA 12, "Little Matthew Groves" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 143-149, colectively "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard," with individual texts "Little Mose Grove,"  "Lord Donald's Wife" (2 texts plus 2 excerpts; 1 tune on p. 400) {Bronson's #36}
Ritchie-Southern, pp. 30-32, "The Lyttle Musgrave" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 23 "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (10 texts plus 7 fragments, 17 tunes){Bronson's #16, #18, #22, #9, #17, #11, #19, #20, #37, #27, #14, #29, #42, #43, #48, #38, #10}
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 18, "Matthy Groves (Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard)" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version) {Bronson's #17}
Creighton/Senior, pp. 43-49, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #2, #23}
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 11-13, "Lord Arnold" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 5, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (1 fragment, called "Little Matha Grove" by the singer, 1 tune) {Bronson's #47}
Peacock, pp. 613-616, "Lord Donald" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 11, "Matthy Groves" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Mackenzie 8, "Little Matha Grove" (5 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
Manny/Wilson 54, "Little Moscrow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 265-273, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (3 texts)
Leach-Labrador 5, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBB 50, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 186, "Little Musgrave and the Lady Barnard" (1 text+2 fragments)
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 22, "Little Matthew Grove (or, Lord Daniel's Wife)"; p. 62, "Lord Orland's Wife (or, Little Matthew Grew)" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {p. 22=Bronson's #51; p. 62=#6?}
Fuson, pp. 52-55, "Little Musgrove and Lady Barnard" (1 text)
Warner 78, "Mathy Grove" (1 text, 1 tune)
PBB 36, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB1, pp.119-122, "Little Massie Grove' (1 text, 1 tune)
Niles 34, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 164, "Little Matthy Groves" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #13}
Gummere, pp. 337-340, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (1 text, printed in the notes to "Lord Randal")
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 123-127, "[Lyttle Musgrave]" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #15}
Hodgart, p. 60, "Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard" (1 text)
TBB 17, "Little Musgrave" (1 text)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 105-108, "Matha Grove" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #2}
LPound-ABS, 15, pp. 37-39, "Little Matty Groves" (1 text)
JHCox 15, "Little Musgrave and Lary Barnard" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 47-50, "Lord Darnell" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 226, "Matty Groves" (1 text)
BBI, ZN286, "As it befell on a high Holyday"
DT 81, MATTIEGR* MATTIEG2*
Roud #52
RECORDINGS:
Dillard Chandler, "Mathie Groves" (on OldLove)
Jean Ritchie, "Little Musgrave" (on JRitchie02)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Wood 401(91), "The Little Mousgrove, and the Lady Barnet," F. Coles (London), 1658-1664; also Douce Ballads 1(115b), Firth b.19(13)[many words illegible], "[The] Little Musgrove, and the Lady Barnet"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bonny Birdy" [Child 82] (plot)
cf. "Run Mountain" (words)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Matty Groves
Matty Grove
Little Mattie Groves
Little Mathey Groves
Mathie Groves
Lord Barnard
Lord Arnold's Wife
Lord Daniel's Wife
Little Mathigrew
Lord Donald
NOTES: A fragment of this ballad is found in John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont's 1611 play "The Knight of the Burning Pestle," Act V, scene ii:
And some they whistled, and some they sung,
"Hey, down, down!"
And some did loudly say,
Ever as the Lord Barnet's horn blew,
"Away, Musgrave, away!"
There is a somewhat interesting twist in several of the versions. Usually the song says that the wife loves Musgrave/Mattie more than her Lord and all his kin -- but in both of Scarborough's texts and in Creighton and Barry/Eckstorm/Smythe p. 164 and a version from Sharp (Bronson's #42) and another from Karpeles (Bronson's #56) she loves his finger, and in Creighton/Senior #1 his tongue. Maybe it just strengthens the comparison -- but they're interesting body parts to care for; maybe there was more going on in that bedroom than we thought. - RBW
File: C081
===
NAME: Little Musgrove and Lady Barnard: see Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [Child 81] (File: C081)
===
NAME: Little Nell of Narragansett Bay
DESCRIPTION: "Full well do I remember My boyhood's happy hours... The bright and sparkling water O'er which we used to sail." The singer and Nell were never afraid at sea. But one day her body is found by the shore. Ten years later, he still weeps for the girl
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Spaeth)
KEYWORDS: ship death drowning separation mourning
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 30-31, "Bright-Eyed Little Nell of Narragansett Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster 88, "Little Nell of Narragansett Bay" (1 text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 480, "Little Nell of Narragansett Bay" (source notes only)
ST Brew88 (Partial)
Roud #3274
NOTES: There is another "Little Nell" ballad in the National Library of Scotland collection; this too revolves around a dead girl. It is suggested tht the name was inspired by the Little Nell of Dickens's _The Old Curiosity Shop_. The same suggestion might apply here. Or might not, of course. - RBW
File: Brew88
===
NAME: Little Old Dudeen
DESCRIPTION: If not for Walter Raleigh "I wouldn't be smoking my old dudeen." The singer smokes to keep peace when his wife grumbles. At his wake there'll be poteen but "into me gob, so help me bob, you'll find me old dudeen"
AUTHOR: Words: Ed Harrigan/Music: John Braham
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951 (Peacock); reportedly written 1875
KEYWORDS: nonballad funeral
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1554-1618 - Life of Sir Walter Raleigh, credited in the song with bringing tobacco to Europe (in fact it was first introduced to Europe by Columbus, and cultivated in Iberia; the first American tobacco plantation was founded by John Rolfe)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 377-378, "My Old Dudeen" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Pea337 (Partial)
Roud #9787
NOTES: Library of Congress American Memory 19th century song sheets collection as "Little Old Dudeen": Words Ed Harrigan, Music John Braham, pub Boston 1875.
Harrigan and Hart famous vaudeville team per The Big Bands Database Plus site entry for David Braham.
See The Black Dudeen by Robert Service for one [use of the] phrase "tucked in me gub, me old dudeen." - BS
File: Pea337
===
NAME: Little Old Log Cabin by the Stream (Rosalie)
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the happy time when he and the old folks partied with the fiddle and banjo. Now death has taken his (Rose/Rosalie) "From the little old log cabin by the stream." She was killed by "swamp fever"; and others are likely to be taken also
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Fiddlin' John Carson)
KEYWORDS: death love fiddle
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So, SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 710, "Rosalie" (1 text)
DT, LOGCABIN*
Roud #7376
RECORDINGS:
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Little Old Log Cabin by the Stream" (OKeh 45198, 1928; rec. 1927)
NOTES: I'm not sure what to make of this piece; Randolph's version sounds like a southern minstrel piece, yet the Digital Tradition version, from Illinois, is neither southern nor minstrel-ish.
Making the matter more confusing is the fact that Randolph's informant, Rose Wilder Lane, is of course the daughter of Laura Ingalls Wilder, and might thus have had the song from the Ingalls (i.e. Wisconsin) tradition. - RBW
Yes, but it could have entered that tradition from the minstrel shows. They toured everywhere in the USA (and in Britain as well). - PJS
And there is a possibility that one or the other version, probably Lane's, could be from the Fiddlin' John Carson version. - (PJS,RBW)
File: R710
===
NAME: Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer, a former slave, is getting old and can't work; his master and mistress and fellow slaves are gone; only his old dog remains. His home is falling apart. He recalls the dances they used to have. He hopes the angels will watch over him.
AUTHOR: Will S. Hays
EARLIEST_DATE: 1871 (sheet music)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer, a former slave, is getting old and feeble; he can't work any more, his master and mistress are gone, and so are the other former slaves; no one else remains except his old dog. In former days the other "darkies" would gather around his door, and he'd play the banjo while they danced. His house is falling down, the footpath is overgrown and the fences fall down. Chorus: "The chimney's falling down, and the roof is caving in/I ain't got long round here to remain/The angels watches over me when I lay down to sleep/In the little old log cabin in the lane"
KEYWORDS: age loneliness home abandonment death farming dancing music slavery nonballad animal dog friend slave Black(s)
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #2473
RECORDINGS:
Bentley Ball, "De Little Old Log Cabin in de Lane" (Columbia A3087, 1920)
Binkley Bros. Dixie Clodhoppers, "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (Victor V-40129, 1929)
Kenneth Borton [pseud. for Marian Underwood], "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (Challenge 331, 1927)
Frank [or Kenneth] Calvert [pseud. for somebody, probably Vernon Dalhart or Carson Robison], "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (Grey Gull/Radiex 4135, 1927)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (OKeh 4890, 1923)
Carroll Clark, "De Little Old Log Cabin in de Lane" (Columbia A-696, 1909)
Girls of the Golden West, "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (Victor 23857, 1933; Bluebird B-5737, 1934)
Bradley Kincaid, "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (Supertone 9505, 1929)
Silas Leachman, "Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (Victor 1893, 1903)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner [Mac and Bob], "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (Brunswick 350, 1929; Supertone S-2036, 1930; Aurora [Canada] 22004, 1931)
Uncle Dave Macon, "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (Vocalion 14864, 1924)
Clayton McMichen "Log Cabin in the Lane" (Crown 3447 [as Bob Nichols], 1933; Varsity 5026, n.d. but prob. c. 1939)
Metropolitan Quartet, "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (Edison 80484, n.d.)
David Miller, "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (Gennett 3082/Silvertone 4019, 1925)
Fiddlin' Powers & Family "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (Victor 19448, 1924) (Edison, unissued, 1925)
Riley Puckett, "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (Columbia 107-D, 1924) (Columbia 15171-D, 1927)
Frank C. Stanley, "A Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (Imperial 44823, c. 1906)
Ernest V. Stoneman "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (Victor 20235, 1926) (Montgomery Ward M-8305 [as Stoneman's Dixie Mountaineers], 1939); Ernest V. Stoneman Trio, "Little Log Cabin in the Lane" (OKeh, unissued, 1927)
John White, "The Little Old Log Cabin" (Paramount 3190, 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Little Old Sod Shanty on My Claim" (tune)
cf. "Little Joe the Wrangler's Sister Nell" (subject, tune)
cf. "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (tune)
cf. "Beans, Bacon, and Gravy" (tune)
cf. "The Freehold on the Plain" (tune)
cf. "Little Old Mud Cabin on the Hill" (tune)
cf. "Double-Breasted Mansion on the Square" (tune)
cf. "cf. "Sara Jane" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
The Little Old Sod Shanty on My Claim (File: R197)
Little Joe the Wrangler [Laws B5] (File: LB05)
The Little Old Mud Cabin on the Hill (File: HHH642)
Little Joe the Wrangler's Sister Nell (File: R204)
The Freehold on the Plain (File: FaE174)
Beans, Bacon, and Gravy (File: Arn170)
Sara Jane (File: RcSarJan)
The Double-Breasted Mansion on the Square (File: FCW025H)
The Little Red Caboose Behind the Train (I) (File: BRaF455)
The Little Red Caboose Behind the Train (II) (File: Br3235)
The Little Red Caboose Behind the Train (III) (File: RcTLRCBT)
The Little Red Caboose Behind the Train (IV) (File: LSRai261)
The Little Red Caboose Behind the Train (V) (The Hobo Tramp) (File: LSRai382)
Callahan Brothers, "Little Poplar Log House on the Hill" (Conqueror 8384, 1934)
NOTES: This pop song is the basis from which all of the cross-referenced songs were built. From a modern perspective it's sentimentally stereotyped balderdash, but it was a huge hit when published -- and, judging by the number of versions on 78s, it remained wildly popular half a century later. (Presumably among white people.) It's indexed here primarily because of the genuine folk songs it inspired. - PJS
According to Bill Malone (_Don't Get above Your Raisin'_, p. 54), the 1923 Fiddlin' John Carson recording is "one side of the first documented recording of a southern rural musician." - RBW
File: RcLOLCIL
===
NAME: Little Old Mud Cabin on the Hill, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls how his father sold the livestock to send him across the sea, "For in Paddy's land but poverty you'll find." The singer misses home, mother, the local music; he wishes he were still there
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: homesickness emigration poverty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H642, pp. 207-208, "The Little Old Mud Cabin on the Hill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9271
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Joe the Wrangler" [Laws B5] (tune) and references there
cf. "Scarborough Settler's Lament" (theme) and references there
File: HHH207
===
NAME: Little Old Sod Shanty in the West: see The Little Old Sod Shanty on my Claim (File: R197)
===
NAME: Little Old Sod Shanty on My Claim, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer admits, "I'm looking rather seedy while holding down my claim." His little sod shanty is made of poor materials and is infested by mice. He recalls the easier life out east, and wishes a girl would join him
AUTHOR: Lindsey Baker?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1888?
KEYWORDS: hardtimes settler bachelor
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 20, 1862 - President Lincoln signs the Homestead Act
FOUND_IN: US(MW,Ro,So) Canada(West)
REFERENCES: (12 citations)
Randolph 197, "The Little Old Sod Shanty on the Claim" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 90-91, "The Little Old Sod Shanty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 89-91, "The Little Old Sod Shanty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thorp/Fife VII, pp.  87-96 (20), "Little Adobe Casa" (6 texts, 2 tunes)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 142-143, "The Little Old Sod Shanty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 205, "The Little Old Sod Shanty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 25, "The Little Old Sod Shanty" (7 texts, 2 tunes, though some of these -- especially the "G" and "H" texts -- appear distinct)
Arnett, pp. 94-95, "Little Old Sod Shanty" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 74, p. 165, "The Little Old Sod Shanty on the Claim" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 332-333, "Little Old Sod Shanty" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 121, "The Little Old Sod Shanty On My Claim" (1 text)
DT, SODSHANT*
Roud #4368
RECORDINGS:
Jules Verne Allen, "Little Old Sod Shanty" (Victor 23757, 1933; on MakeMe)
Craver & Tanner [pseud. for Vernon Dalhart & probably Carson Robison], "The Little Old Sod Shanty" (Vocalion 5342, 1929)
Jenkins Family, "That Little Old Sod Shanty" (OKeh 45563, 1932; rec. 1930)
Lone Star Ranger, "The Little Old Sod Shanty" (Regal 8881, 1929)
Chubby Parker, "My Little Old Sod Shanty on the Claim" (Gennett 6319/Silvertone 25103, 1927)
Jack Weston, "Little Old Sod Shanty" (Van Dyke 84293, 1929)
John White, "The Little Old Sod Shanty" (Domino 4440/Cameo 9321 [as "My Little Old Sod Shanty"], 1929)
Marc Williams, "Little Old Sod Shanty" (Brunswick 564, 1931; rec. 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (tune) and references there
cf. "Starving to Death on a Government Claim (The Lane County Bachelor)" (theme)
cf. "My Little German Home Across the Sea" (tune & meter)
cf. "I Will Tell You My Troubles" (tune & meter)
cf. "The Double-Breasted Mansion on the Square" (tune & meter)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Little Vine-Clad Cottage
The Little 'Dobe Casa
Little Old Sod Shanty in the West
NOTES: This piece is probably based on Will S. Hays's "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane," with which it shares a melody.
The song clearly dates back to the latter part of the nineteenth century, the period of Homestead Claims. The Homestead Act of 1862 had opened large areas of the western U.S. to settlement, allowing settlers to lay claim to 160 acre sections in return for nominal payments. However, the settlers were required to live on their claims for five years before they could "prove up" and gain title to the property. Many settlers, like the one here, wound up living in impossible conditions because it was the only way to stake the claim.
Fife in Thorp/Fife treats "Little Adobe Casa," and some related parodies, as separate from "Little Old Sod Shanty." (Interestingly, the Fifes lump the songs in "Cowboy and Western Songs"). To me these look to be simply localizations of the same song, and there are intermediate versions, so I do not separate them.
Several people seem to have claimed the authorship (e.g. Pound lists a report that one Emery Miller claims to have made it up while living on a claim in the 1880s). The claim by Baker seems to be the strongest, but proof is probably impossible. - RBW
File: R197
===
NAME: Little Page Boy, The: see Child Waters [Child 63] (File: C063)
===
NAME: Little Piece of Whang, The
DESCRIPTION: When the Lord sewed up Adam and Eve, He measured wrong, leaving Adam with a little piece of whang, and Eve with a gap. Ever since then, men have sought to lend women a bit of the whang to fill the gap.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 496-498, "The Little Piece of Whang" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8384
NOTES: Legman provides citations to a number of folktale antecedents to the modern bawdy song in Randolph-Legman I. - EC
The earliest of said folktales is apparently found in de Verville's "Le Moyen de Parvenir" (1610). However, one can find something rather similar as far back as Plato. The reference in the song is, of course, to Gen. 2:21-22. - RBW
File: RL496
===
NAME: Little Pig, The: see There Was an Old Woman and She Had a Little Pig (File: E068)
===
NAME: Little Pink
DESCRIPTION: "My pretty little Pink, I once did think, That you and I would marry." The singer complains that the girl has taken too long to make up her mind. In some versions he is a soldier who sets out to see the sights and fight in the Mexican War
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: courting love separation soldier floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Sandburg, p. 166, "My Pretty Little Pink" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 793, "Careless Love" (3 texts, 1 tune, but the "B" text belongs here if it belongs anywhere)
BrownIII 287, "Darling Little Pink" (1 text); also 78, "Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees" (7 texts plus 1 excerpt and mention of 1 more, but almost all mixed --  all except "H" have the "Coffee grows" stanza, but "A" also has verses from "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss"; "and "C" through "H" are mostly "Little Pink"; "B" is mixed with "Raccoon" or some such)
Hudson 85, p. 212, "Going to the Mexican War" (1 fragment, with the "Knapsack on my Shoulder" text and also the "Coffee Grows" stanza; there isn't much "Little Pink" in it, but it clearly goes with the Brown texts cited above)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #808, p. 301, "(My little pink)" (a fragment that appears related but may be a by-blow)
ST San166 (Full)
Roud #735
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "We're Marching Down to Old Quebec" (floating verses)
File: San166
===
NAME: Little Plowing Boy, The: see The Jolly Plowboy (Little Plowing Boy; The Simple Plowboy) [Laws M24] (File: LM24)
===
NAME: Little Poppa Rich
DESCRIPTION: Children's game: "Little poppa-rich you draw your long lannet/Sit by the fire and spin/The hen's in the window a-combing her hair/The cat in the corner a-frying his fish... Cocka-pen dungle a-blowing his horn/The wind was high and it blowed him away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 or 1966 (collected from Caroline Hughes)
KEYWORDS: nonballad nonsense paradox playparty animal chickens
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MacSeegTrav 123, "Little Poppa Rich" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #16639
NOTES: I call this a playparty for want of a keyword "game." - PJS
File: McCST123
===
NAME: Little Red Caboose behind the Train (I), The
DESCRIPTION: In this maudlin ballad, a young conductor is taking his bride to the city for their honeymoon. The train collides with the express, and the bride is killed. Now the old white-haired conductor "rides all alone In that little red caboose behind the train."
AUTHOR: Words: Bob Miller (tune by Will S. Hays)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Vernon Dalhart)
KEYWORDS: train marriage wreck death
FOUND_IN: US(MA) Canada
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 261-263, "The Little Red Caboose behind the Train" (2 texts; tune referenced. The "A" text is this piece;"B" is "Little Red Caboose (IV)")
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 455, "The Little Red Caboose behind the Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4762
RECORDINGS:
Barney Burnett & Bob Miller's Hinky Dinkers, "Little Red Caboose" (Brunswick 446/Supertone S-2074, 1930)
Vernon Dalhart, "Little Red Caboose" (Velvet Tone 1893-V/Diva 2893-G/Harmony 893-H [as Mack Allen], 1929)
Bob Ferguson [pseud. for Bob Miller] & his Scalawaggers "Little Red Caboose" (Columbia 15616-D, 1930)
Bob Miller, "Little Red Caboose" (Grey Gull 4286/Van Dyke 74286, 1930 [as Miller & Burnett]) (Victor 23693, 1932; Montgomery Ward M-4337, 1933)
Red River Dave (McEnery), "Little Red Caboose" (Musicraft 285, 1944)
Rocky Mountaineers, "Little Red Caboose" (Columbia [UK] FB-1249, 1935)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (tune) and references there
cf. "Little Red Caboose Behind the Train (II),  (III), (IV), (V)" (tune, structure)
NOTES: This is one of several songs by this name, all set to the tune of "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane"; you should check out the others as well, as they're sometimes hard to untangle. It should also not be confused with the dance tune "Little Red Caboose," as recorded by Henry "Ragtime Texas" Thomas.
It looks like Vernon Dalhart rushed his recording into print before the author's. - PJS 
Roud for some reason lumps at least the first two "Little Red Caboose" songs, though they are clearly different in purpose (Caboose I is a song about a young woman's death, Caboose II is about railroad life). - RBW
File: BRaF455
===
NAME: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train (II), The
DESCRIPTION: "Now I am a jolly railroad man and braking is my trade." He tells of the enjoyable life throwing switches and making up trains, and mentions the "jolly crew" resting in the little red caboose. He wishes luck and the attention of angels for the crew
AUTHOR: unknown (tune by Will S. Hays)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Pickard Family)
KEYWORDS: work train nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 583-590, "The Little Red Caboose Behind the Train" (3 texts, 1 tune; only the "A" text is this piece; "B" and "C," both short, are probably "Caboose" (III); also a sheet music cover from a song that is none of these)
BrownIII 235, "The Little Red Caboose behind the Train" (1 text)
Roud #4762
RECORDINGS:
Pickard Family, "Little Red Caboose" (Banner 6371/Cameo 9278/Conqueror 7349/Domino 4328/Jewel 5590/Lincoln 3305/Oriole 1562/Regal 8776/Apex[Canada] 8916/Crown[Canada] 81057/Melotone[Canada] 81037/Sterling[Canada] 281057, all 1929; Paramount 3231/Broadway 8179 [as Pleasant Family]/Conqueror 7736, 1931)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (tune) and references there
cf. "Little Red Caboose Behind the Train (I),  (III), (IV), (V)" (tune, structure)
NOTES: This is one of several songs by this name, all set to the tune of "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane"; you should check out the others as well, as they're sometimes hard to untangle. It should also not be confused with the dance tune "Little Red Caboose," as recorded by Henry "Ragtime Texas" Thomas. - PJS
Roud for some reason lumps at least the first two "Little Red Caboose" songs, though they are clearly different in purpose (Caboose I is a song about a young woman's death, Caboose II is about railroad life). - RBW
File: Br3235
===
NAME: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train (III), The
DESCRIPTION: Singer, a railroader, says he's getting old and feeble, and the only friend he has is the caboose (or his watch). He reminisces about working as a brakeman on the L&N and Southern railroads, and ironically wishes his young successors well
AUTHOR: unknown (tune by Will S. Hays)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Marian Underwood & Sam Harris)
KEYWORDS: age disability loneliness train railroading technology work nonballad worker
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 583-590, "The Little Red Caboose Behind the Train" (3 texts, 1 tune; the short"B" and "C" texts are probably this piece; "A" is "Caboose" (II); also a sheet music cover from a song that is none of these)
RECORDINGS:
Marian Underwood & Sam Harris, "The Little Red Caboose Behind the Train" (Gennett 6155/Champion 15297 [as Clinch Valley Boys]/Challenge 334 [as Borton & Thompson]/Herwin 75549, all 1927)
Paul Warmack & his Gully Jumpers, "The Little Red Caboose Behind the Train" (Victor V-40067, 1929; on RRinFS)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (tune) and references there
cf. "Little Red Caboose Behind the Train (I),  (II), (III), (V)" (tune, structure)
NOTES: This is one of several songs by this name, all set to the tune of "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane"; you should check out the others as well, as they're sometimes hard to untangle. It should also not be confused with the dance tune "Little Red Caboose," as recorded by Henry "Ragtime Texas" Thomas.
Paul Warmack copyrighted the lyrics in 1930, but since he copyrighted the well-known music as well, and the Underwood-Harris recording precedes his, his claim is doubtful at best. - PJS
It's worth noting that, of the "Red Caboose" songs, this is the one most directly inspired by "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane"; not only does it share the tune, but also the plot of an old man looking back. It simply changes an old slave to an old raildoadman. - RBW
File: RcTLRCBT
===
NAME: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train (IV), The
DESCRIPTION: "Bill Jackson was a brakeman on number 51." Engineer Dad Mendenhall loses his brakes on Crooked Hill. The crew scrambles to set the brakes by hand in icy weather. Bill is thrown from the train and dies; his body is brought home in the caboose
AUTHOR: probably John Lair (tune by Will S. Hays)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (100 WLS Barn Dance Favorites)
KEYWORDS: train wreck death
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 261-263, "The Little Red Caboose behind the Train (I)" (2 texts; tune referenced. The "B" text is this piece;"A" is "Little Red Caboose (I)")
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (tune) and references there
cf. "Little Red Caboose Behind the Train (I),  (II), (III), (V)" (tune, structure)
File: LSRai261
===
NAME: Little Red Caboose Behind the Train (V), The (The Hobo Tramp)
DESCRIPTION: "I will sing you a little song, won't entertain you long, 'Bout the hoboes that promenade the streets." The hobos travel about, suffering in the cold, wishing they could be in the caboose.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1892 (Delaney's _Collection of Songs_)
KEYWORDS: train hobo nonballad travel
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 382-384, "The Little Red Caboose behind the Train (II)" (2 texts; tune referenced)
RECORDINGS:
(Tom) Darby & (Jimmie) Tarlton, "The Hobo Tramp" (Columbia 15293-D, 1928)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (tune) and references there
cf. "Little Red Caboose Behind the Train (I),  (II), (III), (IV)" (tune, structure)
NOTES: According to Cohen, the Darby & Tarlton recording is the only version of this song not from a songster, and there are only a few print versions. There is no evidence that it ever went into tradition. On the other hand, the melody implies that it is one of the vast constellation of "red caboose" songs, so perhaps Cohen is right to include it in his book. - RBW
File: LSRai382
===
NAME: Little Red Fox, The
DESCRIPTION: "The little red fox is a raider sly" taking ducks, cocks, and geese for "a family young and growing." He is a "family man," a "hero bold" and a "gallant knight." He is finally "taken 'mongst the rocks, For the love of two bright eyes dying" 
AUTHOR: Francis Arthur Fahy (1854-1935) (source: OLochlainn-More)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: theft death humorous animal family
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 69, "The Little Red Fox" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: OLochlainn-More: "Adapted from the old ballad of the Maidirin Rua which was a macaronic song -- mixed Gaelic and English." - BS 
Francis Arthur Fahy is probably most famous as the author of "The Ould Plaid Shawl." - RBW
File: OLcM069
===
NAME: Little Red Train, The
DESCRIPTION: A quatrain ballad, this describes the sexual activities and practices of the train crew and passengers. Recognized by the internal chorus, "(She/It) blew, (She/it) blew" and the final line "How (she/it) blew."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (recordings, Vernon Dalhart)
KEYWORDS: bawdy train humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So,SW)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Cray, pp. 224-226, "The Little Red Train" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 254-256, "The Runaway Train" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 379, "The Wind It Blew Up the Railroad Track" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
DT, SHEBLEW*
Roud #9859
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "The Runaway Train" (Brunswick 2911, 1925) (Victor 19684, 1925) (Oriole 454 [as Dick Morse], 1925) (Edison 51584, 1925) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5028, n.d.) (Perfect 12207 [as Guy Massey], 1925)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" (tune)
cf. "Snapoo" (tune)
cf. "When Johnny Comes Marching Home Again" (tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Runaway Train
The Sixty-Nine Comes Down the Track
NOTES: The history of this song is a bit vague, as it has both clean and dirty forms. Sandburg prints a single stanza of a clean text (saying of it "This is for cold weather, around the stove in the switch shanty"). But the bawdy version seems to be much more widespread.
Which is original? The evidence available to me does not make it clear. The possibility that Sandburg's text is bowdlerized cannot be denied. - RBW
The Sandburg version may indeed be bowdlerized, but Vernon Dalhart also put out a clean version of "The Runaway Train" in 1925, two years before. Actually, he put it out several times that year, on different labels. Sandburg's verse isn't on his recording(s), though. - PJS
File: EM224
===
NAME: Little Rosewood Casket
DESCRIPTION: The singer, dying for love, asks her sister to bring her love's letters, kept in the rosewood casket. Having heard them read, she prepares to die and asks that the letters, (ring), and other tokens be buried with her
AUTHOR: Louis P. Goullaud & Charles A. White
EARLIEST_DATE: 1870 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: death love infidelity ring farewell
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So) Australia
REFERENCES: (13 citations)
Belden, p. 220, "Little Rosewood Casket" (1 text)
Randolph 763, "The Little Rosewood Casket" (2 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 507-509, "The Little Rosewood Casket" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 763A)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 123-126, "Little Rosewood Casket" (2 texts)
BrownII 273, "Little Rosewood Casket" (3 texts plus mention of 21 others )
JHCoxIIB, #28A-B, pp. 185-197, "A Little Rosewood Casket" (1 text plus an excerpt, 2 tunes)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 261-262, "The Little Rosewood Casket" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-WeepMore, p. 35, "The Little Rosewood Casket" (1 text, 1 tune) 
Darling-NAS, pp. 276-277, "Little Rosewood Casket" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 182, "Rosewood Casket"; p. 269, "Little Rosewood Casket" (2 texts)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 482, "The Rosewood Casket" (source notes only)
DT, RSEWOOD*
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 206, "(The Rosewood Casket)" (1 text)
Roud #426
RECORDINGS:
Wilma Lee & Stoney Cooper, "The Little Rosewood Casket" (Rich-R-Tone 415, n.d. but post-WWII)
Vernon Dalhart & Co., "The Little Rosewood Casket" (Edison 51607, 1925) (Broadway 8056-D, c. 1930) (OKeh 40488 [as Tobe Little], 1925)  (Herwin 75506, mid-to-late 1920s)
Cal Davenport & his Gang, "Little Rosewood Casket" (Vocalion 5371, 1929)
Arthur Fields, "Little Rosewood Casket" (Radiex 02272, 1926)
Betty Garland, "Little Rosewood Casket" (on BGarland01)
Sid Harkreader, "There's A Little Rosewood Casket" (Broadway 8056, c. 1930)
Bradley Kincaid, "The Little Rosewood Casket" (Gennett 6989/Supertone 9403, 1929); (Bluebird B-5895, 1935)
George Reneau, "Little Rosewood Casket" (Vocalion 14997, 1925)
Arnold Keith Storm, "Little Rosewood Casket" (on AKStorm01)
Ernest Thompson, "The Little Rosebud Casket" (Columbia 216-D, 1924)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Last Token"
NOTES: Titled by the authors, "A Package of Old Love Letters," this title seems extinct in tradition. - RBW
There are two listings under RECORDINGS for Broadway 8056; one is credited to Vernon Dalhart & Co., the other to Sid Harkreader. At this date, I do not know which is correct. - PJS
[I think it's the Harkreader, but presumably the Dalhart is an error for some other Broadway disc, so I'm leaving the reference for now until someone can sort it out. - RBW]
File: R763
===
NAME: Little Sadie: see Bad Lee Brown (Little Sadie) [Laws I8] (File: LI08)
===
NAME: Little Sally Racket: see Haul 'Er Away (Little Sally Racket) (File: FSWB086A)
===
NAME: Little Sally Walker
DESCRIPTION: "Little Sally Walker, sitting in (a saucer), Cryin' (for the old man to come for the dollar), (Ride, Sally, Ride). (Fly) to the east, (fly) to the west, (Fly) to the one that you love best."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1898 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: playparty courting
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So) Ireland Britain(England(All),Scotland(Aber),Wales)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
SHenry H48g, p. 11, "Old Sally Walker" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hudson 143, pp. 209-291, "Little Sally Walker" (1 text)
Courlander-NFM, p. 157, "(Little Sally Walker)" (1 text); p. 278, "Little Sally Walker" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 392, "Little Sally Walker" (1 text)
DT, LTLSALLY; also SALWALKER (a collection of several songs with this title, some of which belong here)
Roud #4509
RECORDINGS:
Mattie Gardner, Ida Mae Towns & Jessie Lee Pratcher, "Little Sally Walker" (on LomaxCD1703)
Vera Hall, "Little Sally Walker" (AFS 1323 B1, 1937)
Children of Lilly's Chapel School, "Little Sally Walker" (on NFMAla1)
Pete Seeger, "Little Sally Walker" (on PeteSeeger21)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "What's Poor Mary Weepin' For (Poor Jenny Sits A-Weeping)" (lyrics)
NOTES: In England, if the collections in Gomme are to be believed, this is about equally known as "Poor Mary Sits A-Weeping" and "Little Sally Walker/Waters." The latter name seems to dominate in the U. S., and so has been used on the basis of plurality.
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #644, p. 256, begins "Sally, Sally Waters, sprinkle in the pan" and ends "Choose for the prettiest that you like best." This certainly sounds related, but on its face it doesn't appear the same song. - RBW
File: CNFM157
===
NAME: Little Sally Waters: see Little Sally Walker (File: CNFM157)
===
NAME: Little Saro Jane: see Liza Jane (File: San132)
===
NAME: Little Scotch Girl, The: see The Keach i the Creel [Child 281] (File: C281)
===
NAME: Little Scotch-ee: see Young Hunting [Child 68] (File: C068)
===
NAME: Little Seaside Village, The
DESCRIPTION: "To a little seaside village came a youth one summer day." He wooed a girl, but then left a letter, "Goodbye, I'm going home." A year later he decides he loves her; her father shows him her grave; her message to him was "Goodbye, I'm going home."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941
KEYWORDS: death betrayal love courting separation abandonment
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 801, "The Little Seaside Village" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 520-522, "The Little Seaside Village" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 801)
Roud #7422
File: R801
===
NAME: Little Shepherd, The: see Balm in Gilead (File: FSWB360A)
===
NAME: Little Shingle Mill, The: see Harry Bale (Dale, Bail, Bell) [Laws C13] (File: LC13)
===
NAME: Little Shoe Black, The
DESCRIPTION: "I'm Daniel O'Connor, an orphan I am, My father and mother both lately did die, But, 'I clean your boots, Shall I shine your boots!' It's all day long I cry. Just give me one try and I'm sure you'll come back, Please to encourage this little shoe black."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1982
KEYWORDS: orphan work clothes hardtimes
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 36-37, "The Little Shoe Black" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MCB036
===
NAME: Little Soldier's Boy, The: see The Soldier's Poor Little Boy [Laws Q28] (File: LQ28)
===
NAME: Little Son Hugh: see Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter [Child 155] (File: C155)
===
NAME: Little Sparrow: see Fair and Tender Ladies (File: R073)
===
NAME: Little Streak o' Lean, A
DESCRIPTION: "A little streak o' lean, an' a little streak o' fat, Ole Massa grumble ef you eat much o' dat!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: food slave
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 207-208, "Work-Song" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
File: ScNF207B
===
NAME: Little Streams of Whisky: see The Dying Hobo [Laws H3] (File: LH03)
===
NAME: Little Swiler, The
DESCRIPTION: "He was such a very little chap, Blue eyes and sunny smile"; when the boy's father becomes ill, the youth sneaks off (with a knife but no gaff) to take a seal. A band of sealers finds him, feeds him, takes him home, for he "was really only ten"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1978 (Ryan/Small)
KEYWORDS: youth work disease father children
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 116, "The Little Swiler" (1 text)
File: RySm116
===
NAME: Little Thatched Cabin, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the "little thatched cabin Where first shone the light of my life's early morn." He describes learning from and working for his parents. Now he is old, "and kind fortune smiles on me," but he would trade the fortune to be a boy again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: home age
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H91, p. 156, "The Little Thatched Cabin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8121
RECORDINGS:
Big John Maguire, "The Neatly Thatched Cabin" (on Voice20)
NOTES: Sam Henry thought, based on a reference to vines, that this song originated in America. I'm not sure that constitutes proof, but I seem to recall seeing a very similar poem -- somewhere. So he is likely right. - RBW
File: HHH091
===
NAME: Little Vine-Clad Cottage, The: see The Little Old Sod Shanty on my Claim (File: R197)
===
NAME: Little White Cat, The (An Caitin Ban)
DESCRIPTION: The little white cat finds her kitten "dead in the hay of a manger." The sad mother brings the dead body home. The pretty kitten had never broken anything and had no enemies except mice. 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection; Gaelic text in Costello 1923)
KEYWORDS: death animal
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H510, p. 17, "The Little White Cat" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 228-229, "The Little White Cat (1 text, a translation from the Irish said to be by "Mrs. Costello of Tuam")
Roud #13342
File: HHH510
===
NAME: Little White Robe
DESCRIPTION: Come on fathers and let's go home, I'm a-going where my troubles will be over, will be over, will be over I'm a-going where... There's a little white robe a-waiting for me, I'm a-going where..." Repeat for mothers, brothers, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 607, "Lily White Robe" (1 text)
Roud #5740 and 7137
RECORDINGS:
Frank Proffitt, "Little White Robe" (on FProffitt01)
File: RcLWRobe
===
NAME: Little White Rose, The
DESCRIPTION: "He gave me a rose, a pretty white rose, And asked me to wear it for him. She recalls their happy days together. Later, he is found dead, having thrown himself into the stream with a rose in his mouth.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: drowning suicide courting flowers
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 276, "The Little White Rose" (1 text plus mention of 2 fragments)
Roud #6628
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Willie Down by the Pond (Sinful to Flirt)" [Laws G19] (plot)
File: BrII276
===
NAME: Little Willie (I)
DESCRIPTION: "Little Willie went to heaven On a bright an' starry night, When I last viewed him in his coffin In his little Sunday suit." The singer describes the possessions the boy left behind. His sister hopes to meet him soon. Jesus will care for him.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (Pound)
KEYWORDS: death family corpse religious
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 613, "Little Willie" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LTWILLIE*
Roud #7443
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Blue-Haired Boy (Little Willie II, Blue-Haired Jimmy)"
File: R613
===
NAME: Little Willie (II): see Blue-Haired Boy (Little Willie II, Blue-Haired Jimmy) (File: RcBlHaJi)
===
NAME: Little Willie and Mary: see Willie and Mary (Mary and Willie; Little Mary; The Sailor's Bride) [Laws N28] (File: LN28)
===
NAME: Little Yorkshire Boy, The: see The Crafty Farmer [Child 283; Laws L1] (File: C283)
===
NAME: Liverpool Dock
DESCRIPTION: The singer bids farewell to his mother as his ship sails away from Liverpool Dock. He hopes to return to his home, but there will be no one to meet him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: mother separation emigration parting
FOUND_IN: US(So) Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 95, "Liverpool Dock" (1 text, 1 tune -- a fragmentary text that might fit with any number of emigration ballads)
McBride 69, "Welcome Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST R095 (Full)
Roud #3266
File: R095
===
NAME: Liverpool Girls: see The Liverpool Judies (Row, Bullies, Row; Roll, Julia, Roll) (File: Doe106)
===
NAME: Liverpool Judies, The (Row, Bullies, Row; Roll, Julia, Roll)
DESCRIPTION: The young sailor sets out from England to America. But a wild, drunken life lands him at the boarding-master's. Back at sea, he suffers cruelly at the hands of the mate (whom he curses to hell). (At last he arrives back in port)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924
KEYWORDS: sailor abuse drink return shanty
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Doerflinger, p. 106, "Roll, Julia, Roll (Row, Bullies, Row)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bone, pp. 118-120, "The Liverpool Girls" (1 text, 1 tune, slightly cleaned up)
Colcord, pp. 176-177, "Row, Bullies, Row" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 198-199, "The Liverpool Girls" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 401-403, "The Liverpool Judies" (3 texts, 3 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 304-306]
Lomax-FSNA 30, "Row, Bullies, Row" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 66, "The Liverpool Pilot" (1 text, 1 tune, a perhaps slightly adapted version but with too many similarities to split)
Creighton-NovaScotia 126, "Liverpool Girls" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LIVJUDY LIVJUDY2
Roud #928
RECORDINGS:
Anita Best, "The Liverpool Pilot" (on NFABest01)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Towrope Girls
NOTES: [Regarding their "Liverpool Pilot" version, Lehr/Best report] the singer "describes this as a heave-up shanty." The chorus is "And it's row, row, row bullies row For the Liverpool Pilot she have us in tow." - BS
File: Doe106
===
NAME: Liverpool Landlady, The: see Johnny the Sailor (Green Beds) [Laws K36] (File: LK36)
===
NAME: Liverpool Packet, The: see The Dreadnought [Laws D13] (File: LD13)
===
NAME: Liverpool Pilot, The: see The Liverpool Judies (Row, Bullies, Row; Roll, Julia, Roll) (File: Doe106)
===
NAME: Liverpool Song, The
DESCRIPTION: "'Twas in the' cold month of December... I shipped in the clipper ship 'Defender....'" The singer complains of sailing along with a lot of foreigners who "didn't know a word of English But answered to the name o' 'Month's advance.'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Bone); he reports learning it in 1900
KEYWORDS: foreigner sailor ship hardtimes
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Bone, pp. 140-144, "The Liverpool Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST BonCB140 (Partial)
Roud #653
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf.  "Paddy, Get Back" (form, lyrics)
NOTES: Roud lumps this with "Paddy, Get Back," which clearly inspired it, but Bone notes that a sailor used each shantey "for its own special purpose on deck and it was rarely heard within the fo'cas'le, for entertainment...."
"[T]he elder hands maintained that the rousing of a chanty 'when ther worn't no call' could not but offend some presiding deity. But there were fo'cas'le ditty that could be sung in lieu and they had, in words and tune, a close resemblance to the chanty proper."
On that basis, I split them, though this hardly seems to exist in its own right.
There was an American clipper named _Defender_, launched in Boston in 1855 and wrecked in the South Pacific in 1859; I doubt it is the same ship. - RBW
File: BonCB140
===
NAME: Living on the Hallelujah Side
DESCRIPTION: Singer, once a sinner perishing with cold, is rescued by Jesus, and  would not leave "this precious place." Chorus: "Glory be to Jesus, let the hallelujahs roll/Help me to ring the Saviour's praises far and wide... And I'm a-living on the hallelujah side"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (recording, Ernest V. Stoneman)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer, once a sinner perishing with cold, is rescued by Jesus, and now would not leave "this precious place" for all earth's gold and millions. Chorus: "Glory be to Jesus, let the hallelujahs roll/Help me to ring the Saviour's praises far and wide/For I've opened up towards heaven all the windows in my soul/And I'm a-living on the hallelujah side"
KEYWORDS: rescue religious Jesus
FOUND_IN: US(SE) Bahamas
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #12646
RECORDINGS:
Ernest V. Stoneman, "Hallelujah Side" (on Stonemans01) (Victor 20224, 1926); Ernest Stoneman and Eddie Stoneman, "Hallelujah Side" (ARC, unissued, 1934)
Frank Welling & John McGhee, "The Hallelujah Side" (Vocalion 5241, 1928) (Champion 16585, 1933)
NOTES: In addition to the hillbilly performers listed above, the song has been recorded by Bahamian songster Joseph Spence. I suspect it was printed in a popular hymnal at some point. - PJS
File: RcLotHS
===
NAME: Liza Ann
DESCRIPTION: The singer offers herself to earn money to pay the fine for her man, serving on the chain gang.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy prisoner whore
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph-Legman I, p. 320-321, "Liza Ann" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: RL320
===
NAME: Liza Anne: see Sweet Heaven (II) (File: RcSwHeav)
===
NAME: Liza Gray: see The Lady of the Lake (The Banks of Clyde II) [Laws N41] (File: LN41)
===
NAME: Liza in the Summer Time: see Liza Jane (File: San132)
===
NAME: Liza Jane
DESCRIPTION: "Goin' up on the mountain To plant a patch of cane, Make a jug of 'lasses To sweeten Liza Jane. O po' Liza, po' gal, O po' Liza Jane, O po' Liza, po' gal, She died on the train." About moonshine, courting Liza Jane, (and dodging work if possible)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection); +1893 (JAFL6)
KEYWORDS: courting drink nonballad work floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (10 citations)
Randolph 435, "Liza Jane" (3 texts, 1 tune)
BrownIII 437, "Eliza Jane (II)" (1 text, which looks more like this than anything else though it lacks the chorus)
SharpAp 244, "Liza Jane" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Sandburg, pp. 132-133, "Liza Jane"; "Mountain Top"  (2 texts, 1 tune; the "B" text, "Mountain Top," appears mixed with "Moonshiner" or something similar); 308-309, "Liza in the Summer Time (She Died on the Train)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thomas-Makin', p. 127, (no title) (1 fragment in which the girl is "Susan Jane")
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 7-8, "I Went Up on the Mountain Top" (1 text, 1 tune); also p. 192, "Hawkie Is a Schemin' Bird" (1 text, with the "Hawkie" first stanza, a chorus from "Lynchburg Town," and verses such as "Went up on a mountain To give my horn a blow" and "Climbed up on a mountain... To sweeten Liza Jane")
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 284-286, "Liza Jane" (2 texts, 1 tune. The main text is composite)
Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 591 [no title] (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 30, "Goodbye 'Liza Jane" (1 text)
DT, LIZAJANE
Roud #825
RECORDINGS:
Rufus Crisp, "Ball and Chain" (on Crisp01)
Homer & Jethro, "Poor Little Liza, Poor Gal" (King 773, 1949)
Bradley Kincaid, "Liza Up in the Simmon Tree" (Gennett 6761/Supertone 9362, 1929; on CrowTold01)
John & Emery McClung "Liza Jane" (Brunswick 135, 1927)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Liza Jane" (on NLCR06, NLCR11)
Riley Puckett, "Liza Jane" (Columbia 15014-D, c. 1925; Silvertone 3261 [as Tom Watson], 1926)
Pete Seeger, "Oh! Liza, Poor Gal" (on PeteSeeger06, PeteSeegerCD01); "Liza Jane" (on PeteSeeger33, PeteSeegerCD03)
Uncle "Am" Stuart [vocal by Gene Austin], "Old Liza Jane" (Vocalion 14846, 1924; Vocalion 5039, 1926)
Tenneva Ramblers, "Miss 'Liza, Poor Gal" (Victor 21141, 1927)
Henry Whitter, "Liza Jane" (OKeh 45003, 1925)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Molly and Tenbrooks" [Laws H27] (lyrics)
cf. "Run Mollie Run" (lyrics)
cf. "Push Boat" (lyrics)
cf. "Cindy" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Don't Get Trouble in Your Mind" (floating verses)
cf. "Turn, Julie-Ann, Turn" (floating lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Goodbye Liza Jane
Saro Jane
Little Saro Jane
NOTES: The "Saro Jane" referred to under "Alternate Titles" should not be confused with "Rock About My Saro Jane," which is a different song.
This song is almost certainly of minstrel origin, and shares many floating verses with other, similar minstrel-show songs.
The Rufus Crisp recording, "Ball and Chain", is in fact one of those conglomerated songs incorporating floating verses from a dozen sources; RBW suggests putting it here because more of its verses seem to come from here than anywhere else. - PJS
File: San132
===
NAME: Liza Jane (II): see Po' Liza Jane (File: Br3456)
===
NAME: Liza Lee: see Yankee John, Stormalong (Liza Lee) (File: Hugi080)
===
NAME: Lizie Lindsay [Child 226]
DESCRIPTION: A young man comes to court Lizie Lindsay, asking her to come to the Highlands with him. Neither she nor her relatives are interested. He then reveals that he is a rich lord (the Lord of the Isles?); she changes her mind
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1796 (Scots Musical Museum)
KEYWORDS: courting
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap,MA,NE,So)
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Child 226, "Lizie Lindsay" (8 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
Bronson 226, "Lizie Lindsay" (9 versions+1 in addenda)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 297-299, "Lizzie Lindsay" (1 text with variants, 1 tune) {Bronson's #6}
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 269-271, "Lizie Lindsay" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCoxIIA, #11, pp. 46-47, "Leezie Lindsay" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #2}
Brewster 20, "Lizie Lindsay" (1 text)
Ford-Vagabond, p. 314, "Leezie Lindsay" (1 short text)
Randolph 29, "New Yealand" (1 fragment)
DT 226, LIZLIND*
Roud #94
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Dugall Quin" [Child 294]
cf. "The Blaeberry Courtship" [Laws N19]
File: C226
===
NAME: Lizie May: see Lizie Wan [Child 51] (File: C051)
===
NAME: Lizie Wan [Child 51]
DESCRIPTION: (Geordy) finds his sister (Lizie Wan) crying. When he asks why, he is told that she is pregnant by him. He kills her to hide his crime. He is revealed by the blood on his sword, and is forced away from home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1776 (Herd)
KEYWORDS: incest murder pregnancy questions exile brother
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland,England) US(Ap,NE,SE)
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
Child 51, "Lizie Wan" (2 texts)
Bronson 51, "Lizie Wan" (7 versions plus the #10 text of "Edward," which is actually "Lizie Wan")
SharpAp 14 "Lizzie Wan" (1 text, 1 tune){Bronson's #2}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 143-145, "Fair Lucy" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5b}
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 332-338, "Lizie Wan" (2 texts, 2 tunes, which differ though both informants cited the same source) {A1=Bronson's #5b, A2=#4}
Leach, pp. 167-169, "Lizie Wan" (2 texts)
Friedman, p. 159, "Lizie Wan" (1 text)
PBB 38, "Lizie Wan" (1 text)
Niles 21, "Lizie Wan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 65, "Lucy Wan" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
DT 51, LIZIWAN1*
Roud #234
RECORDINGS:
Jeanie Robertson, "My Son David" (on LomaxCD1700)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sheath and Knife" (plot)
cf. "The Bonnie Hind" [Child 50] (theme)
cf. "Edward" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Lizie May
NOTES: John Jacob Niles claims that, in his experience, the only people willing to sing this song were men. He points out that Sharp's informant was a man; so was the singer who gave the song to Flanders. As usual, though, one must wonder about Niles's sources. In any case, Bronson lists four versions from women. - RBW
Niles may claim that the only informants willing to sing the song are men, but Vaughan Williams/Lloyd's version was collected from a Mrs. Dann of Cottenham, Cambs. Lloyd notes, however, that this was the only version of the ballad found in oral tradition in England, and that no new Scottish version has been reported since 1827. -PJS
On the scientific evidence that brothers and sisters raised apart are particularly likely to fall in love, and some further speculation as to why, see the notes to "Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie [Child 14]." - RBW
File: C051
===
NAME: Lizzie Borden Songs
DESCRIPTION: Sundry comments on the Fall River murders, e.g. "Lizzie Borden took an axe, and gave her mother forty whacks"; "There's no evidence of guilt, Lizzie Borden, That should make your spirit wilt." The poems/songs are not all derived from a single source
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: murder father mother
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: August 1892 - the Fall River Murders
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Burt, p. 14-15, (no title) (5 assorted fragments/excerpts)
DT, (FALLRIVR)
NOTES: Burt observes that there seem to be no truly traditional songs about this famous event. That being the case (and it appears she's right), I've lumped all Lizzie Borden items here as a placekeeper.
Lizzie Andrew Borden (1860-1927)  was a spinster living with her wealthy father and stepmother when they were murdered in 1892. Borden was tried for the murders, but found innocent, and lived as a recluse in Fall River for another 35 years. - RBW
File: DTfallri
===
NAME: Lizzie Brown
DESCRIPTION: The singer, who has moved to Bee's Hotel to sleep with Lizzie Brown, extols the lady's lack of virtues.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy sex
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 393-394, "Lizzie Brown" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: RL393
===
NAME: Lizzie Lindsay: see Lizie Lindsay [Child 226] (File: C226)
===
NAME: Lo Que Digo: see Venadito (File: San294)
===
NAME: Load of Kail Plants, The
DESCRIPTION: The young man comes to Ballymoney to sell his kail plants. He does his business with various buyers, then sets out to seek a wife. He finds a girl, offers her tea, kisses her, asks her name, and presumably asks if she wishes to marry
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting farming commerce home
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H25b, pp. 261-262, "The Load of Kail Plants" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6919
File: HHH025b
===
NAME: Loading Pulp at Georgetown
DESCRIPTION: "I'll tell you how we load the pulp." The loading crew is named we are told how "they like to dine at Mrs Clay." "It is a very dangerous job." Pulp is poor at low price in 1953 and 1954 but "but the wages isn't bad"
AUTHOR: Joe Trainor
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (Dibblee/Dibblee)
KEYWORDS: lumbering nonballad
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 100-101, "Loading Pulp at Georgetown" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12452
File: Dib100
===
NAME: Loakie's Boat: see Lukey's Boat (File: FJ046)
===
NAME: Lobster, The: see The Sea Crab (File: EM001)
===
NAME: Loch Erin's Shore (II): see William and Eliza (Lough Erin's Shore) (File: HHH597)
===
NAME: Loch Erne's Shore: see William and Eliza (Lough Erin's Shore) (File: HHH597)
===
NAME: Loch Lomond
DESCRIPTION: Singer laments parting from his/her love by Loch Lomond, noting "the broken heart it kens nae second spring." Chorus: "You'll take the high road and I'll take the low road And I'll be in Scotland before ye But me and my true love will never meet again..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1841 ("Vocal Melodies of Scotland")
KEYWORDS: loneliness love parting separation Scotland lyric
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland) US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 145-148, "The Bonnie Banks o' Loch Lomond" (2 texts, 1 tune; the first is the common version and the second a variant without chorus which may have inspired the popular piece)
Silber-FSWB, p. 257, "Loch Lomond" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 336-337, "Loch Lomond"
DT, LOCHLMND LOCHMOM (LOCHLOM2)
Roud #9598
RECORDINGS:
George Alexander, "Loch Lomond" (Columbia 3294, 1906)
Henry Burr, "Loch Lomond" (Victor 16062, 1908)
Unidentified baritone, "Star of Eve/Loch Lomand [medley]" (Climax [Columbia] X-88, c. 1901)
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(17a), "Bonnie Banks of Lochlomond," unknown (probably Poet's Box ) (Dundee), n.d.
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Red Is the Rose" (tune)
cf. "The Babcock Bedtime Story" (tune, some lyrics)
cf. "Flora's Lament for her Charlie" (verses)
SAME_TUNE:
Flora's Lament for her Charlie (broadside NLScotland, RB.m.168(178), "Flora's Lament for her Charlie," Robert MacIntosh (Glasgow), after 1849; probably the same broadside as Murray, Mu23-y3:013)
NOTES: The song (or at least the chorus) seems to have entered oral tradition in the US, probably through the recording by Benny Goodman's band. (Benny Goodman & his Orchestra, vocal by Maxine Sullivan, "Loch Lomond" (Victor 25717, 1937)). - PJS
Legends about this song are numerous. One has it that it was heard and/or composed by Lady John Scott in the 1840s. Another (supported by the Clancy family) is that it is derived from the Irish "Red Is the Rose," with which it shares a tune. ("Red Is the Rose" sounds more recent and more composed, though, at least to my ears.)
Legend has it that the "low road" is the road of death, and that the song was made by a Scottish prisoner following the 1745 Jacobite rebellion: The condemned soldier tells his comrade that (following his execution), he will take the low road back to Scotland and arrive first.
One real connection with the Jacobite rebellion is a broadside, NLScotland RB.m.168(178), "Flora's Lament for her Charlie," printed by Robert McIntosh, beginning "It's yon bonny banks and yon bonny braise, Where the sun shines bright and bonny, Where I and my true love went out for to gaze On the bonny, bonny banks of Benlomond." The next verse is standard "Loch Lomond." But it looks like a patch-up job, and no tune is listed.
More explicit, and perhaps more traditional, is Ford's second text, said to have been found by Lady Jane Scott in Edinborough; it has a terminal verse, "The thistle shall bloom, an' the King hae his ain"  and an explicit complaint in the second verse that "My Ranald... the morrow he marches to Edinburgh toun, To fecht for the King an Prince Charlie!"
Both these items, however, look like patch jobs as well. The connection with the '45 remains uncertain.
Fuld offers a list of possible antecedants of the tune; all show noticeable differences. I think the matter must be regarded as unsettled.
Loch Lomond, one of the largest Scottish lakes, is a short way north of Dumbarton, and not far north and west of Glasgow; its outlet flows into the Clyde in Dumbarton. - RBW
File: FSWB257B
===
NAME: Loch na Garr (Lachin Y Gair)
DESCRIPTION: The singer is in England, a land of "a million luxuries," but longs for Caledonia. He remebers his childhood, his plaid and "traditional story ... on cheiftains long perished" As "one who has rambled o'er countries afar" he prefers "dark Lough Na Garr"
AUTHOR: George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) (source: broadside, NLScotland L.C.178.A.2(318))
EARLIEST_DATE: 1807 (Byron, _Hours of Idleness_, according to Connie Beck's Lord Byron site)
KEYWORDS: homesickness emigration England Scotland
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Tunney-SongsThunder, p. 180, "Dark Lough Na Garr" (1 text)
Roud #2436
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.178.A.2(318), "Loch na Garr," Harkness (Preston), c.1870
Bodleian, 2806 c.14(55)[some words illegible], "Loch Na Garr" ("Away, ye gay landscapes! ye gardens of roses"), J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Harding B 11(2241), 2806 c.14(54), "Loch-na-Garr"; Harding B 26(118), "Dark Loch Na Gar"; Harding B 40(2) View 3 of 4,"Dark-Lock-na-Garr"; Harding B 19(88), "Dark Lock-na-Garr"
NOTES: Most of the broadsides and Tunney-SongsThunder are incomplete. For a complete version see NLScotland L.C.178.A.2(318). The commentary for that broadside notes that "Lochnagar [is] the mountain that gives this poem its title...." [about 40 miles west of Aberdeen]. - BS
File: TST180
===
NAME: Loch o' the Auds, The
DESCRIPTION: "At nicht i' my fun, when late I was  rovin'" in May, the singer sees a beautiful Portnay girl talking with a rover. Then her long-time swain shows up, and is shocked to find her showing affection for another man. The singer warns against trusting women
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: courting betrayal rambling
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 446-447, "The Loch o' the Auds" (1 text)
Roud #5619
File: Ord446
===
NAME: Lochaber Shore
DESCRIPTION: The singer calls all people to hear his song about "sweet Lochaber Shore." He lists the local residents, and describes the weather during the past two years, cold winters, and a summer storm which carried of several sailors. He hopes for better times
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: home disaster ship
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H134, pp. 168-169, "Lochaber Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13482
File: HHH134
===
NAME: Lochmaben Harper, The [Child 192]
DESCRIPTION: A (blind) harper sets out to work in England. He rides his mare, which has just given birth to a foal. In England, he contrives to tie his horse to King Henry's. Next morning, mare and horse are gone; King Henry pays the harper for his work and his mare
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1791
KEYWORDS: robbery royalty music harp
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Child 192, "The Lochmaben Harper" (5 texts)
Bronson 192, "The Lochmaben Harper" (3 versions)
Dixon IV, pp. 37-41, "The Jolly Harper" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 519-522, "The Lochmaben Harper" (1 text)
OBB 144, "The Lochmaben Harper" (1 text)
DT 192, LOCHHARP
Roud #85
File: C192
===
NAME: Locked in the Walls of Prison
DESCRIPTION: "Locked in the walls of prison, Down in a narrow cell, Locked in the walls... No one to go my bail. If I was worth ten thousand, I'd bury it in my trunk, Or else I'd surely gamble Besides I might get drunk... Take me back... To wear the ball and chain
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929
KEYWORDS: prison chaingang drink crime
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 144, "Locked in the Walls of Prison" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5484
NOTES: Although nearly every word of this song occurs elsewhere (e.g. the final verse, "One foot upon the platform, T'other on the train," can be found in "The House of the Rising Sun"), this is the only version I know of that combines them in this way. - RBW
File: R144
===
NAME: Locks and Bolts [Laws M13]
DESCRIPTION: The singer misses his love. Her parents, learning she loved a poor man, locked her away (in her uncle's house). The young man breaks the locks and rescues her (possibly fighting a battle along the way). The two are married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1876 (Christie, _Traditional Ballad Airs I_)
KEYWORDS: love poverty separation rescue marriage
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE,So) Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (17 citations)
Laws M13, "Locks and Bolts"
Belden, pp. 168-169, "Locks and Bolts" (1 text, a fragment)
Randolph 110, "I Dreamed of My True Lover" (2 texts, 1 tune)
McNeil-SFB1, p. 74, "Rainbow Willow"; pp. 75-76, "I Dreamt Last Night of My True Love" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownII 84, "Locks and Bolts" (1 text)
Chappell-FSRA 74, "Sylvania Lester" (1 text)
Brewster 65, "Locks and Bolts" (1 text from tradition plus a text from the Pepys Ballads)
SharpAp 80, "Locks and Bolts" (5 texts, 5 tunes)
Sandburg, p. 149, "I Dreamed Last Night of My True Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 162, "Locks and Bolts" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 31, "Locks and Bolts" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version)
MacSeegTrav 79, "Locks and Bolts" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Chase, pp. 132-133, "Locks and Bolts" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 438-441, "The Lass o' Bennochie" (3 texts, very diverse; the second is mixed with this song)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 111-112, "Rainbow Willow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 145, "Locks And Bolts" (1 text)
DT 328, LOCKBOLT*
Roud #406
RECORDINGS:
George Maynard, "Locks and Bolts" (on Maynard1)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Locks and Bolts" (on NLCR16)
Almeda Riddle, "Locks and Bolts" (Vanguard VRS-9158, n.d.); "Rainbow 'Mid Life's Willows" (on LomaxCD1707)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Iron Door" [Laws M15] (theme)
cf. "The Gallant Shoemaker" (theme)
cf. "All Over Those Hills" (theme)
cf. "The Lass o' Bennochie" (theme, lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Lass o' Bennachie
At the Back o' Bennachie
NOTES: "Rainbow 'Mid Life's Willows" is a truncated version of the song, ending with the singer's lamenting his separation from his true love; his breaking down the door is omitted. It does contain the key line, "Locks and chains [bolts] doth hinder," which places it as a version of this song.
The versions of "Locks and Bolts" found in MacSeegTrav, "The Lass o' Bennachie" and "At the Back o' Bennachie" should not be confused with the song indexed as "Where Gadie Rins", although the latter is also called "The Back o' Bennachie" and was collected from the same singer as MacColl/Seeger's "B" text. The songs are different. - PJS
Belden notes a song from Martin Parker called "The Lover's Joy and Grief" with the burden "but locks and bolts doe hinder." It is not clear what is its relation with the present song. - RBW
File: LM13
===
NAME: Lofty Cavavaille, The
DESCRIPTION: The French barque Cavavaille under Captain Ormsby strikes Blackwater sand-bank on December 18. Though freed once from the sand, they are cast up on Blackwater beach, "to pieces split," and 27 are lost. The rich cargo from exotic lands is summarized.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck sailor
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Dec 18, 1768 - Cavavile wrecked on Blackwater Bank; Captain Ormsby and 27 crew lost (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, p. 71)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 120-121, "The Lofty Cavavaille" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7347
File: Ran120
===
NAME: Lofty Giant, The: see Little Brown Dog (File: VWL101)
===
NAME: Logan County Jail (Dallas County Jail) [Laws E17]
DESCRIPTION: The singer has been a criminal (robber and pickpocket) from his youth. Eventually he lands in prison, facing an extended sentence.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: crime prison youth
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Laws E17, "Logan County Jail (Dallas County Jail)" (sample text in NAB, pp. 76-77)
Randolph 135, "The Dallas County Jail" (4 texts plus an excerpt, 3 tunes)
Combs/Wilgus 59, pp. 185-186, "Bob Sims" (1 text)
Ohrlin-HBT 57, "Sporting Cowboy" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 42, "Logan County Court House" (3 texts plus mention of 1 more)
Darling-NAS, pp. 285-286, "The Prisoner's Dream" (1 text); also pp. 286-287, "Jack o' Diamonds" (1 text, mostly the "Jack of Diamonds" variant of "Rye Whiskey," but with material from this song)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 130, "At the Jail" (2 texts, 1 tune; the result looks to me to be a mix between this and "Danville Girl," though it's one of those vague cases....)
DT 739, DALLJAIL* LGANJAIL RAMSJAIL*
Roud #691
RECORDINGS:
Allen Brothers "Prisoner's Dream" (Victor V-40210, 1930) (Vocalion 02874, 1934) (one of these is on RoughWays1, but it's not clear which)
Carl & Harty, "The Prisoner's Dream" (Melotone 7-01-53, 1937)
Gooby Jenkins, "The Prisoner's Dream" (OKeh 45082, 1927; rec. 1926)
Glenn Ohrlin, "The Sporting Cowboy" (on Ohrlin01)
Shelton Brothers, "The Prisoner's Dream" (Decca 5381, 1937)
Hobart Smith, "Hawkins County Jail" (on LomaxCD1700, LomaxCD1705)
Weaver and Wiggins (pseudonyms for Wilmer Watts & Frank Wilson), "The Sporting Cowboy" (Broadway 8112, c. 1931; on WhenIWas1 [as Watts & Wilson])
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Moonshiner's Dream" (theme, lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Moundsville Prisoner
NOTES: Most of the Laws ballads have clearly defined boundaries and distinct plots. This one is rather an exception. By its nature, it has attracted a lot of extra verses, and (perhaps as a result) also sometimes has pieces fall off. Laws himself discusses this point in NAB, pp. 77-79. - RBW
File: LE17
===
NAME: Logan's Lament
DESCRIPTION: The singer describes the happy lives of various creatures, then turns to his own unhappy lot. His wife, children, and people have been destroyed by the white man. He vows to "dig up my hatchet and bend my oak bow...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1844 (fragment in Sanders' Fourth Reader)
KEYWORDS: animal Indians(Am.) murder revenge
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Eddy 112, "The Blackbird, or Logan's Lament" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Burt, pp. 128-129, "Logan's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST E112 (Full)
Roud #5340
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Steals of the White Man" (theme)
cf. "Jilson Setters's Indian Song" (theme)
cf. "An Old Indian (The Indian Song)"
NOTES: Eddy reports that this song is based on a speech by one Logan, the son of a white man and a Cayuga woman. His family was slain by Europeans, and he vowed revenge, igniting what is known as Lord Dunmore's War (for which see "The Battle of Point Pleasant"). When the Shawnee chief Cornstalk made peace with Dunmore (the Royal governor of Virginia) in 1775, Logan refused to give up his vengeance, and offered this speech (delivered under the Logan Elm in Pickaway County, Ohio) to back his position.
Despite its origin, the first few stanzas of this song bear an interesting similarity to Jesus's words in Matt. 8:20, Luke 9:58. - RBW
Logan, a chief of the Mingo tribe, was raised a Christian, and the beginning of his oration under the elm is a clear paraphrase of the cited passages from the Bible. A biography of Logan, and the full text of his speech, may be found in Walter G. Shotwell's _Driftwood_ (1927, reprinted 1966 by the Books for Libraries Press, Freeport, NY). - PJS
File: E112
===
NAME: Logger's Alphabet, The
DESCRIPTION: A song by which lumbermen remember the alphabet and tell of their "merry" lives: "A is for axes as all of you know / And B is for boys who can use them also.... So merry, so merry, so merry are we / No mortals on earth are as happy as we"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Gardner/Chickering)
KEYWORDS: logger nonballad lumbering wordplay
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW,NE) Canada(Mar,Ont)
REFERENCES: (16 citations)
Doerflinger, pp. 207-208, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune, plus a sort of personalized appendix, "The Shantyboy's Song," on p. 209)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 112-113, "Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text)
Linscott, pp. 235-237, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
FSCatskills 3, "The Woodsman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rickaby 6, "The Shanty-Man's Alphabet" (1 text plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 102, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text plus an excerpt and mention of 5 more)
Fowke-Lumbering #1 , "The Shantyboy's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 168-170, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 98, "Alphabet Song (Lumberman's)" (1 text; the "A" and "B" texts in this entry are "The Sailor's Alphabet")
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 87-90, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 82, "The Lumberman's Alphabet (The Axe-Handle Song)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 564-565, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Beck 5, "Alphabet Song" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Scott-BoA, pp. 173-175, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 335-336, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (1 text)
DT, LUMBALPH*
Roud #159
RECORDINGS:
Sam Campbell, "The Shantyboys' Alphabet" (on Lumber01)
Sam Eskin, "Lumberman's Alphabet" (on GrowOn3)
Wilmot MacDonald, "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (on Miramichi1)
Gus Schaffer, "Lumberjack's Alphabet" (on AFS, 1938; on LC56)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Sailor's Alphabet" (subject)
cf. "The Bawdy Alphabet" (subject)
cf. "A Is for Apple Pie" (subject)
cf. "Alphabet Song (I)" (subject)
cf. "The Average Boy" (subject)
cf. "Alphabet Songs" (subject)
cf. "Building a Slide" (tune, lyrics)
cf. "The Fisherman's Alphabet" (subject and structure)
cf. "Air Force Alphabet" (subject)
cf. "The Army Song" (subject)
NOTES: Linscott claims that there are unprintable versions of this song, but it's not clear (since she doesn't print them) whether they are really lumber-camp versions or just forms of the various bawdy alphabets.
She also says that the song has been attributed to Larry Gorman -- but what hasn't been?
Although all collections of this song appear to be from the twentieth century, chances are that it dates from the 1860s or earlier; by the 1870s, the crosscut saw was replacing the axe as the standard method for felling trees -- but most versions of this have multiple references to axes and few if any to saws. - RBW
File: Doe207
===
NAME: Loggers' Plight, The
DESCRIPTION: Landon Ladd Ladd comes to Newfoundland, forms a logger union, and calls a loggers' strike; some are thrown in jail. Premier Smallwood insists Ladd leave and that a new union be formed with Maxwell Lane to lead the way and come to terms with A.N.D.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: strike lumbering labor-movement Canada
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1959 -  the [US-controlled] IWA (International Woodworkers of America [which split in 1987 into US and Canadian unions]) strikes the AND [Anglo-Newfoundland Development] company at Badger.
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 755-756, "The Loggers' Plight" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9801
NOTES: The "on-ramp for K-12 school Web pages in Newfoundland and Labrador" site includes the background about the logging industry at Point Leamington and the strike. 
"Throughout its history Point Leamington has been linked directly to the forest industry, and... many of the town's residents were -- and still are -- involved with logging camps and sawmill operations. Many men in the town and the surrounding communities worked at logging camps operated by... locals. The wood from these logging operations supplied the raw material needed to make newsprint by the AND Co. Paper Mill at Grand Falls.... Also, many of the locals operated sawmills within the Point Leamington area and employed many of the town's men.
"Over the years many men from Point Leamington were employed in the lumber woods and the seasonal trek to the logging camps in the fall and winter became a way of life.
"However, the wages and the living conditions in the early camps were far from adequate, and despite several attempts to improve those conditions, when the International Woodworkers of America (I.W.A.) arrived in the province in the late 1950's working conditions were still far from ideal.
"Although Landon Ladd's attempt at organizing the Nfld loggers into his union failed following the bitter strike of 1959, the Commission of Enquiry on the Logging Industry that followed in 1961 addressed the conditions of the camps, and this eventually led to improved conditions for loggers. Within a few years most of the recommendations of the Commission had been implemented, and many loggers attribute the improved working and living conditions in the logging camps (either directly or indirectly) to the I.W.A. strike of 1959."
Point Leamington, Grand Falls, and towns often mentioned in Newfoundland logging songs, like Badger -- originally Badger Brook -- and Bishops Falls are about 270 miles northwest of St John's on TC-1, not far from Bonavista Bay on the northeast coast. 
The St. Mark's School site, in its biography of Newfoundland Premier Joseph Smallwood, states "On March 1959, a tragedy at the small town of Badger where striking loggers clashed with police officers. One member of the Newfoundland constabulary was clubbed and later died. Joey, who had opposed the strike and decertified the union a few days before, made him into a martyr. Joseph from then on consorted with corporate tycoons and devoted himself to large industrial endeavours like the Churchill Falls power project." St. Marks school is in King's Cove, Newfoundland, and serves grades K-12 for the northern section of the Bonavista Peninsula. 
The IWA.CA site presents a view of the strike not in accord with the ballad. "In 1958, the Eastern Canadian Regional Council [of the IWA] organized loggers in Newfoundland and confronted the hostile government of Joey Smallwood who passed legislation decertifying and outlawing the IWA. In March 1959, battalions of RCMP marched on strikers in Badger, beating workers unconscious as women and children screamed. During the confrontation an officer was killed and a logger charged, later to be acquitted." 
Peacock discusses the main characters of the ballad. "Landon Ladd is the local union representative sent in by the International Woodworkers of America to organize the loggers. Maxwell Lane is the head of the local union set up by Premier Smallwood to rid Newfoundland of alleged 'union gangsterism' emanating from the United States."
Peacock collected "The Loggers' Plight" at Rocky Harbour in July 1959.  Rocky Harbour is on the northwest coast of Newfoundland. - BS
File: Pea755
===
NAME: Logie O Buchan
DESCRIPTION: The singer complains that "they have taken away Jemy the delight of the yard." She has been offered the hand of wealthy Sandy, but prefers to wait for her beloved Jemy. Before he left, he gave her half of his only sixpence
AUTHOR: George Halket?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1803 (Scots Musical Museum)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation poverty brokentoken
FOUND_IN: Britain US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 197-198, "O Logie o Buchan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hudson 55, pp. 171-172, "Logie o' Buchan" (1 short and much-damaged text)
DT, LOGIBUCH*
Roud #1994
File: SWMS197
===
NAME: Lolly-Too-Dum
DESCRIPTION: Daughter comes to mother, asking to be married. Mother, after pointing out she's young, asks who she will marry. Daughter says, "Handsome Dan" -- or any of forty more if he's not available. (The daughter marries, and mother looks for a husband herself)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: marriage loneliness courting mother
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Belden, p. 266, "Mother and Daughter" (1 text)
Randolph 370, "Rolly Trudum" (2 texts plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 299-300, "Rolly Trudum" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 370A)
Hudson 134, pp.280-281 , "Rolly Trudam" (1 text)
Lomax-FSUSA 12, "Lolly-Too-Dum" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 138-139, "Lolly Too Dum" (2 texts, 1 tune, but the first is "Whistle, Daughter, Whistle")
Silber-FSWB, p. 344, "Lolly-Too-Dum" (1 text)
DT, LLYTOODM*
Roud #441
RECORDINGS:
Horton Barker, "Rolly Trudum" (on Barker01)
May Kennedy McCord, "Rolly Trudum" (AFS; on LC12)
Pete Seeger, "Lolly Too Dum" (on PeteSeeger32)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Must And Will Get Married (The Fit)" (theme)
NOTES: This song is named for its chorus, "Lolly-too-dum, lolly-too-dum-day." Thematically, it is identical to "I Must And Will Get Married (The Fit)," but the stanza form is different enough that I have separated them. (Roud, of course, lumps them.) - RBW
File: LxU012
===
NAME: London Bridge Is Broken Down: see London Bridge Is Falling Down (File: R578)
===
NAME: London Bridge Is Falling Down
DESCRIPTION: Upon learning that "London Bridge is (falling/broken) down," the singers must decide what to do, e.g. "Shall we build it up again?" "Mud and clay will wash away" "Iron and stone will stand alone"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1744 (Tom Thumb's Pretty Song Book)
KEYWORDS: playparty technology
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US(Ap,MW,NE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (10 citations)
Randolph 578, "London Bridge is Falling Down" (1 text)
Flanders/Brown, p. 45, "London Bridge" (1 text)
Linscott, pp. 34-36, "London Bridge" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 8, "London Bridge" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H48h, pp. 11-12, "Broken Bridges" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, p. 189, (no title; part of a section called "Granny London Tells About Old Times") (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 81, "London Bridge" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Opie-Oxford2 306, "London Bridge is broken down" (4 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #641, pp. 254-255, "(London Bridge)"
Fuld-WFM, p. 337+, "London Bridge"
ST R578 (Full)
Roud #502
RECORDINGS:
Pratt children and friends, "London Bridge" (on Ritchie03)
Pete Seeger, "London Bridge" (on PeteSeeger33, PeteSeegerCD03)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rock-A-By Ladies" (tune & meter)
SAME_TUNE:
Greenberg Shop is Moving South (Greenway-AFP, p. 126 note)
NOTES: The notes in Baring-Gould mention the theory that this pertains to the breaking of London Bridge by Olaf of Norway in the reign of Ethelred II Unraed ("the Unready," c. 978-1016). Of course, any song about that would have had to be in Old English.... - RBW
File: R578
===
NAME: London City (I): see The Butcher Boy [Laws P24] (File: LP24)
===
NAME: London City (II): see The Lady of Carlisle [Laws O25] (File: LO25)
===
NAME: Londonderry Air: see references under Danny Boy (The Londonderry Air) (File: FSWB323)
===
NAME: Londonderry Love Song
DESCRIPTION: The singer goes out wandering and sees boys and girls at play. He might be with them had his girl proved true. But her father told her she must cross the seas, and with much lamenting, she consented. She sails away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation emigration father
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1862 - Wreck of the Zared, of Londonderry
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H518, p. 301, "Londonderry Love Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6898
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dreadnought" [Laws D13] (The Sam Henry text of that song describes the Zared)
NOTES: A strange song: The father sends the girl away, but does not go with her or (apparently) offer her any means of support. One wonders if this isn't a worn-down version of something like "The Suffolk Miracle," where the father sends the daughter away because he doesn't like her lover.
If that were true, it would even explain the mention of the _Zared_ -- the girl was coming home to her love, but drowned on the way. Very much "The Suffolk Miracle," with the genders reversed. - RBW
File: HHH518
===
NAME: Londonderry on the Banks of the Foyle: see Sweet Londonderry (on the Banks of the Foyle) (File: HHH813)
===
NAME: Lone Fish-Ball, The: see One Fish-Ball (One Meat Ball, The Lone Fish-Ball) (File: SRW074)
===
NAME: Lone Green Valley, The: see The Jealous Lover (II) AND The Jealous Lover (I) (File: E104)
===
NAME: Lone Pilgrim, The: see The White Pilgrim (File: R619)
===
NAME: Lone Prairie, The: see Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie [Laws B2] (File: LB02)
===
NAME: Lone Rock Mine Song: see Buddy Won't You Roll Down the Line (File: ADR98)
===
NAME: Lone Rock Song: see Buddy Won't You Roll Down the Line (File: ADR98)
===
NAME: Lone Star Trail (II), The: see The Chisholm Trail (I) (File: R179)
===
NAME: Lone Star Trail, The: see I'm Bound to Follow the Longhorn Cows (File: LoF186)
===
NAME: Lone the Plow-Boy: see Cupid the Plowboy [Laws O7] (File: LO07)
===
NAME: Lone Valley: see Pretty Saro (File: R744)
===
NAME: Lonely Louisa: see Saint Helena (Boney on the Isle of St. Helena) (File: E096)
===
NAME: Lonely Tombs: see Voice from the Tombs (Lonely Tombs) (File: Wa087)
===
NAME: Lonely Waterloo [Laws N31]
DESCRIPTION: The singer sees a girl grieving for her love. She describes Willie, and the singer tells her Willie has died at Waterloo. The girl suffers terribly from grief; (in some texts he reveals himself as Willie and prepares to marry her)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: Napoleon separation grief
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Bord)) US(MW) Canada(Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Laws N31, "Waterloo II"
Gardner/Chickering 88, "Bloody Waterloo" (1 text)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 88, "Lonely Waterloo" (2 texts)
Peacock, pp. 1007-1008, "Lonely Waterloo" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Leach-Labrador 127, "Lonely Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 67, "Lonely Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 390, BLDYWLOO*
Roud #622
RECORDINGS:
Ken Peacock, "Lonely Waterloo" (on NFKPeacock)
Willie Scott, "Bloody Waterloo" (on Voice08)
NOTES: The ballad is recorded on one of the CD's issued around the time of the bicentenial of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. See:
Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "Lonely Waterloo" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte," Hummingbird Records HBCD0027 (2001))
Harte notes that his version came back to Ireland via a singer who had seen the text in Peacock. - BS
This has recently been set to a new (and highly effective) tune by Daithi Sproule of Altan. This seems to be a song everyone wants to revive. - RBW
File: LN31
===
NAME: Lonesome (Stormy) Scenes of Winter, The [Laws H12]
DESCRIPTION: The singer insists that a girl tell him whether she will marry him or not. She will not; she has another lover. He berates her love of wealth and threatens to go away as a soldier/sailor. (In some texts she changes her mind, but the man has a new girl.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection separation
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (10 citations)
Laws H12, "The Lonesome (Stormy) Scenes of Winter"
Belden, pp. 195-196, "The Lonesome Scenes of Winter" (1 text)
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 94, "The Gonesome [sic] Scenes of Winter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 156-157, "The Stormy Scenes of Winter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 57, "The Lonesome (Stormy) Scenes of Winter" (1 text, 1 tune)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 127-129, "Lonesome Scenes of Winter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 209-212,"Stormy Winds of Winter" (4 texts, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 50, "The Stormy Winds of Winter" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Peacock, pp. 445-446, "Flora" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, 650 CHILSCEN* CHILSCN2*
Roud #443
RECORDINGS:
Lewis McDaniel & Walter Smith: "I Went to See My Sweetheart" (Victor 23505, 1930; on ConstSor1)
Southern Melody Boys, "Lonesome Scenes of Winter" (Montgomery Ward 7227, 1937)
NOTES: The editors of _Sam Henry's Songs of the People_ place H637 (p. 385, "Lovely Nancy") here -- but I frankly don't see the kinship. Belden, in discussing the matter, says that a song he knows as "Proud Nancy" (I assume the same piece) has "a like theme but little verbal resemblance." - RBW
File: LH12
===
NAME: Lonesome Dove (I - The Minister's Lamentation)
DESCRIPTION: "As I set in that lonesome grove, Set o'er my head a little dove, For its lost mate began to coo...." The singer recalls his lost wife and daughter, killed by consumption. But he thanks God who has taken them away, and hopes to see them in heaven
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1855 (Social Harp)
KEYWORDS: death religious bird family disease children wife
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Randolph 607, "The Lonesome Dove" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden, p. 486, "The Dove" (1 text)
BrownIII 305, "The Lonesome Dove" (1 text)
SharpAp 147, "The Lonesome Grove" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Roud #3637
RECORDINGS:
Almeda Riddle, "Lonesome Dove" (on LomaxCD1707)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Come All You Friends and Neighbors" (theme)
cf. "The Vulture (of the Alps)"
NOTES: The Social Harp version of this song (1855) is credited to William C. Davis. This is certainly possible -- it is hardly a true folk song -- but since Davis might be an arranger, I do not list an author. - RBW
File: R607
===
NAME: Lonesome Dove (II)
DESCRIPTION: Singer laments a lost love: "You've broken all your promises, Just marry whom you please." "The blackest crow that ever flew It surely will turn white." "Oh don't you see yon little dove?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Sharp)
KEYWORDS: love betrayal abandonment separation floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
BrownIII 262, "The Slighted Girl" (1 text)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 85, "Do You See That There Bird On Yonder Tree?" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
DT, (LONEDOVE) (TUTRLDOV) (TURTDOV2) TURTDOV3
NOTES: It's hard to decide if this is really a song or a collection of floating verses. The Brown text is interesting; it begins with a verse "You need not flirt nor flounce around. There's more pretty boys than one." Then it goes through the lost love routine, and concludes "Darling, darling, do hush up! I hate to hear you cry. As other friends are having to part, And why not you and I, my love, and why not you and I?" - RBW
Creighton-Maritime is a one verse fragment, "Do you see that bird there on yonder tree." It belongs, as Creighton notes, to some song which, she speculates, may be "George Collins" ("Lady Alice," Child 85) but I'd rather just put it here. - BS
File: Br3262
===
NAME: Lonesome Grove, The: see Lonesome Dove (I - The Minister's Lamentation) (File: R607)
===
NAME: Lonesome Prairie, The: see Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie [Laws B2] (File: LB02)
===
NAME: Lonesome Road
DESCRIPTION: "Look down (x2) that lonesome road, Hang down your head and sigh. The best of friends must part some day, And why not you and I? (x2)." "I wish to God that I had died... Before I had seen your smilin' face." Singer may be in prison, having ignored mother
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: courting betrayal lie floatingverses lyric prison loneliness lover
FOUND_IN: US(MW,SE)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
BrownIII 292, "Lonesome Road" (2 texts); also 306, "By By, My Honey" (1 text, mostly "Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot" though with several floating verses, including one from this song)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 73, "The Lonesome Road" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 322-323, "Lonesome Road" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 308, "Hattie Belle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, p. 273, "Look Down" (1 tune, partial text, placed here on the basis of the first line)
Roud #824
RECORDINGS:
Luther B. Clark [or Blue Ridge Highballers], "Wish to the Lord I Had Never Been Born" (Columbia 15096-D, 1926) [note: tentative identification; I have not heard the recording]
Delmore Brothers "Look Up, Look Down That Lonesome Road" (Bluebird B-7383, 1938)
J. Paul Miles, "County Jail" (on AFS, pre-1940)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Long Lonesome Road" (on NLCR06)
Kilby Reeves, "County Jail" (on Persis1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "More Pretty Girls than One" (tune)
cf. "Lonesome Stream"
NOTES: Not to be confused with the (non-traditional) blues by Will Nash, "Goin' Down that Long Long Lonesome Road." - RBW
File: San322
===
NAME: Lonesome Stream
DESCRIPTION: "When you look way 'cross dat lonesome stream (x2), Way to Zion, Lawd, Lawd." "When you look way down that lonesome road." "I got a mother dead and gone." "She lef' me here to weep an' moan." "Dark cloud risin' i de east'."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad death mother
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 602-604, "Dat Lonesome Stream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15547
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lonesome Road"
NOTES: The Lomaxes attribute this to Mississippi prisoners. I have not noted it elsewhere, though it obviously has links to "Lonesome Road." I suspect the Lomaxes may have engaged in editorial work. - RBW
File: LxA602
===
NAME: Lonesome Valley
DESCRIPTION: "You've got to walk that lonesome valley, you've got to walk it by yourself; There's no one here can go there with you [or: walk it for you]; You've got to go there by yourself." Various floating verses about the difficult path to heaven
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (recording, Jenkins Family)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Randolph 622, "Some Folks Say John Was a Baptist" (1 fragmentary text, 1 tune -- a floating verse which, based on the tune, probably belongs here)
Warner 162, "Lonesome Valley" (1 text, 1 tune, sung and notated in three parts)
Sandburg, p. 486, "You Got To Cross It Foh Yohself" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 100, "Lonesome Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 762, "Lonesome Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 354, "Lonesome Valley" (1 text)
DT, LONEVALY
Roud #7098
RECORDINGS:
Carolina Ramblers String Band, "That Lonesome Valley" (Perfect 12818/Melotone 12428, 1932)
Carter Family, "Lonesome Valley" (Victor 23541, 1931; Bluebird B-6117/Montgomery Ward M-4735, 1935) (OKeh 03112, 1935; on CGospel1)
Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs, "Don't This Road Look Rough and Rocky" (Columbia 21334, 1954)
Elzie Floyd & Leo Boswell, "Lonesome Valley" (Columbia 15167-D, 1927)
Jenkins Family, "That Lonesome Valley" (OKeh 40377, 1925)
Heavenly Gospel Singers, "Walk This Lonesome Valley" (Bluebird B-6984, 1937)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "Walk That Lonesome Valley" (Bluebird B-6596/Montgomery Ward M-7007, 1936)
Curt Mann, "Lonesome Valley" (on USWarnerColl01)
[Lester] McFarland & [Robert] Gardner, "The Lonesome Valley" (Vocalion 5127, 1927)
Blind Willie McTell, "I Got to Cross the River of Jordan" (LoC, 1940, two versions; one version is on Babylon)
David Miller, "That Lonesome Valley" (Gennett 6175, 1927)
Monroe Brothers, "You've Got to Walk That Lonesome Valley" (Bluebird B-6477, 1936)
Pete Seeger, "You've Got to Walk That Lonesome Valley" (on BroonzySeeger1);  "Lonesome Valley" (on PeteSeeger47)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hard Trials" (floating verses)
SAME_TUNE:
Dixie Reelers, "Lonesome Valley - Part 2" (Bluebird B-6713, 1936)
File: Wa162
===
NAME: Long and Wishing Eye, The: see Branded Lambs [Laws O9] (File: LO09)
===
NAME: Long Cookstown: see Nancy Whiskey (File: K279)
===
NAME: Long Eddy Waltz
DESCRIPTION: The singer climbs a tree, apparently to spy on lovers. His voyeurism is rewarded when a young couple appear under the tree. The man begs the girl to sleep with him. Before she can answer, the spy lets out a whoop, and the lovers take flight
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1982
KEYWORDS: courting humorous request hiding
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
FSCatskills 132, "Long Eddy Waltz" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LONGEDDY*
File: FSC132
===
NAME: Long Gone: see Long John (Long Gone) (File: LoF287)
===
NAME: Long John (Long Gone)
DESCRIPTION: "It's-a Long John, He's long gone, Like a turkey through the corn, With his long clothes on, He's gone, gone." Long John escapes from prison, and uses sundry tricks to avoid capture. He intends to keep moving
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1920 (print reproduced by Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: prison freedom escape floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 287, "Long John" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 75-79, "Long Gone" (1 extended text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 102-103, "(Lost John)" (1 text); p. 261, "Long John" (1 tune, partial text)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 268, "Long Gone" (1 text, a reproduction of a printed version from 1920)
Handy/Silverman-Blues, pp. 200-202, "Long Gone" (1 text, 1 tune, heavily adapted)
Silber-FSWB, p. 68, "Long John" (1 text)
ST LoF287 (Full)
Roud #11520
RECORDINGS:
Allen Brothers, "Long Gone from Bowling Green" (Vocalion 02817, 1934)
Richard Brooks & Riley Puckett, "Long Gone" (Brunswick 273, 1928)
Burnett & Rutherford, "Lost John" (Columbia 15122-D, 1927; rec. 1926; on BurnRuth01)
Ted Daffan's Texans, "Long John" (Columbia 20358, c. 1947; Columbia 37823, 1947; rec.1942)
Cousin Emmy [Cynthia May Carver], "Lost John" (Decca 24216, 1947)
Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston & Sonny Terry, "Lost John" (on Struggle2)
Sam Hinton, "Long John" (ABC-Eagle ABC-230, 1950)
J. H. Howell's Carolina Hillbillies, "Lost John" (Bluebird B-7162, 1937)
Charlie Jackson, "Long Gone Lost John" (Paramount 12602, 1928; Broadway 5076 [as Charlie Carter], c. 1930)
Ray Logan, "Lost John Blues" (Paramount 12310, 1925)
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "Lost John Dean" (Brunswick 227/Vocalion 5246, 1928; on Times1 [as Bascom Lamar Lundsford])
Mose "Clear Rock" Platt, "Long John" (AFS 2644 A2, 1939)
Prison farm work group "Lost John" (on NPCWork, DownHome)
Oliver Sims, "Lost John" (Columbia 15103-D, 1926)
Southern Moonlight Entertainers [possibly pseud. for the Stripling Bros.] "Lost John" (Vocalion 5372/Vocalion 5460, c. 1930; rec. 1929)
Stripling Bros. "Lost John" (Vocalion 5441, c. 1930; rec. 1929)
Vernon Sutphin & J. C. Sutphin, "Lost John" (on Stonemans01)
Sonny Terry, "Lost John" [instrumental with whooping] (AFS, 1938; on LCTreas); "Lost John" (on Terry01, DownHome)
Texas state farm prisoners, "Lost John" (on NPCWork)
Merle Travis, "Lost John Boogie" (Capitol 1737, c. 1951)
Henry Whitter, "Lost John" (OKeh 40391, 1925)
Unknown artists, "Long Gone" (AFS CYL-7-2, 1933)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Rattler"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Lost John
Long Gone from Kentucky
NOTES: The Lomaxes believe this to be based on the story (coming from W. C. Handy's book "Blues"; see page 215 in Handy/Silverman) of one Long John Green, who was known for his ability to move.
When the prison where Green was staying acquired a pack of bloodhounds, they allegedly decided to conduct a test by giving him a head start and then sending the hounds after him. But Green was too fast (he also managed to trick the hounds by catching one in a trap), and escaped them.
I have my doubts, though -- neither the Courlander text nor the Burnett & Rutherford recording shows the prison plot details found in the Lomax texts. I can't help but wonder if this might not be another Lomax retouch job, influenced perhaps by Handy's blues piece. - RBW
 It's hard to tell pending full scrutiny of the field recordings, but it looks like the Lomaxes didn't mess with them as much as has been suggested. Some of the field recordings, at any rate, are as muddled as the Lomaxes' published versions. - PJS
File: LoF287
===
NAME: Long Journey Home: see Two Dollar Bill (Long Journey Home) (File: CSW177)
===
NAME: Long Lankin: see Lamkin [Child 93] (File: C093)
===
NAME: Long Peggin' Awl, The
DESCRIPTION: A girl is berated by her mother for running away with a shoemaker. The girl retorts that the older woman did the same thing: "You followed old dad for his long peggin' awl"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925
KEYWORDS: bawdy mother elopement
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond)) US(MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 280-281, "The Long Peggin' Awl" (1 partial text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 181, "The Long Peggin' Awl" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LNGPGAWL*
Roud #2126
RECORDINGS:
Harry Cox "The Long Peggin' Awl" (on FSB2, FSB2CD)
A. L. Lloyd, "The Pegging Awl" (on BirdBush1, BirdBush2)
NOTES: Talk about lumping: Kennedy includes the Carolina Tar Heels' "Peg and Awl" as quoted by Lomax. I know both songs. No way. The phrase is common to them only because those two tools were found together in the kit of a shoemaker. - PJS
File: RL280
===
NAME: Long Sought Home: see Jerusalem, My Happy Home (Long Sought Home) (File: NrecJMHH)
===
NAME: Long Summer Days
DESCRIPTION: Chantey/worksong: "The day is so long and the wages so small..." "Captain you gae launch this boat today..." "Take it now easy boys, cause the crawfish they're come now" Refrain: "Long summer day"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (recording, Frederick McQueen & group)
KEYWORDS: fishing ship work nonballad shanty worksong animal sailor
FOUND_IN: Bahamas
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Frederick McQueen & group, "Long Summer Day" (on MuBahamas2)
NOTES: This may derive from the same roots as Randolph's "Rocky Road to Jordan (Long Summer Day)." But the uses of the song are different enough that I am (very tentatively) allowing them to stay separate; Randolph's is a singing game. - RBW
File: RcLoSuDa
===
NAME: Long Tail Blue
DESCRIPTION: The singer has "come to town to see you all... And sing a song not very long About my long tail blue." He is proud of having two coats, a jacket for everyday and the blue for Sunday. He advises others to acquire a similar coat and keep it well
AUTHOR: George Washington Dixon?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1855 (Christy's Negro Songster); Dixon is said to have performed the piece in 1827
KEYWORDS: clothes courting
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 416, "My Long Tail Blue" (1 text)
Roud #1287
File: Br3416
===
NAME: Long the Days of Sorrow (All Around those Pretty Little Pinks)
DESCRIPTION: "We're marching round two pretty little pinks (x3), Long the days of sorrow." "Choose two in as we go round." "We've come in to marry you." "Tomorrow is the wedding night." "God Almighty bless them good old souls." "You rascal you, you told me a lie."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: playparty lie courting marriage
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 589, "Long the Days of Sorrow" (1 text)
Roud #7675
File: R589
===
NAME: Long Time Ago (II)
DESCRIPTION: "Once there was a little kitty, White as the snow, She went out to hunt a mousie, Long time ago." The cat's appearance is described: Her black eyes spied the mouse, her paws caught it, her teeth bit it -- but the mouse escaped
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Lomax)
KEYWORDS: animal hunting
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 306-307, "Long Time Ago" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4577
File: LxA306
===
NAME: Long Time Ago (II), A: see A Hundred Years Ago (I) (File: San485)
===
NAME: Long Time Ago, A
DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Characteristic line: "[To me] way, hey, hey, yah... A long time ago." Texts vary; many have to do with the troubles of seagoing life; one complains about serving an a boat so old it "must have been the ark that Noah built..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906
KEYWORDS: shanty sailor ship
FOUND_IN: US(MA) Bahamas
REFERENCES: (12 citations)
Doerflinger, pp. 37-43, "A Long Time Ago" (6 texts, 4 tunes)
Colcord, pp. 65-68, "A Long Time Ago" (1 text plus several fragments, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 60-62, "A Long Time Ago" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp.97-105, 156, 215, "A Long Time Ago," "Up, Up, My Boys, Up a Hill" (11 texts, 4 tunes. Version "C" is "In Frisco Bay", version "F" is
"A-Rovin'", version "G" is "A Hundred Years Ago." Other versions borrow heavily from "Roll the Cotton Down," Blow the Man Down" and "Blackball Line") [AbEd, pp. 88-94]
Sharp-EFC, XLIV, p. 49, "A Long Time Ago" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 141-142, "A Long Time Ago" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Shay-SeaSongs, p. 48, "A Long Time Ago" (1 text, 1 tune); p. 47, "Around Cape Horn" (1 short text to the same tune)
Lomax-FSNA 28, "A Long Time Ago" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 306-207, "Long Time Ago" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 312-313, "A Hundred Years" (1 text, with the phrase "A hundred years ago" replacing "A long time ago")
DT, (NOAHARK)
ST Doe037 (Full)
Roud #318
RECORDINGS:
Richard Maitland, "A Long Time Ago" (AFS, 1939; on LC27)
David Pryor et al: "Long Time Ago" (AAFS 505 B, 1935; on LomaxCD1822-2)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "In Frisco Bay (A Long Time Ago; Noah's Ark Shanty)" (lyrics)
cf. "Roll the Cotton Down" (tune, floating lyrics)
cf. "De Hoffnung" (tune)
cf. "Roll and Go" (refrain)
SAME_TUNE:
De Hoffnung (File: Hugi104)
NOTES: In 1833 one T. Rice sang a minstrel song by this name in "The Ethiopian Opera," with the sheet music published by John Cole of Baltimore; that may well have been the ancestor of this shanty. - PJS
File: Doe037
===
NAME: Long Time Traveling: see When I Can Read My Titles Clear (Long Time Traveling) (File: DTlongti)
===
NAME: Long White Robe
DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "Can't you hand down that long white robe (x4)." Verses: "Old Satan thought he had me fast, Can't you hand... But I broke his chain and I come at last, Can't you...." "If I ever reach that mountain top... I pray to my Lord I may never stop."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious clothes nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 518, "Long White Robe" (1 text, with a "Cotton-Eyed Joe" verse)
Roud #11813
File: Br3518
===
NAME: Long-Line Skinner
DESCRIPTION: "I'm a long-line skinner And my home's out west. Lookin' for the woman... that'll love me best." The doctor says whiskey will kill him "but he don't say when." When it gets cold, he will go home; "I ain't skinning mules in the wintertime"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: work home drink
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 128, "Long-Line Skinner" (1 text)
File: FSWB128A
===
NAME: Long, Long Ago!
DESCRIPTION: "Tell me the tales that to me were so dear, Long long ago, long ago; Sing me the songs I delighted to hear... Now you are come my grief is removed...." The singer welcomes back (his?) long-lost love; he doubted her fidelity, but he rejoices to see her
AUTHOR: Thomas Haynes Bayly
EARLIEST_DATE: 1844
KEYWORDS: love separation reunion
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 119-120, "Long, Long Ago!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 278-279, "Long, Long Ago" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 256, "Long, Long Ago" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 338, "Long, Long Ago!"
ST RJ19119 (Full)
Roud #4921
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y4:019, "Long, Long Ago," unknown, 19C
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(145), "Long, Long, Ago," unknown, c.1870
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Gone Long Ago" (tune)
NOTES: Bayly made his name as a composer of sentimental tunes, but this is surely his best-known. The exact date of composition is unknown; the earliest dated printing is from 1844, but copies are known to have been in circulation when Bayly died in 1839. The best guess is that it originally appeared c. 1836.
The author's original title was "The Long Ago." - RBW
File: RJ19119
===
NAME: Longest Name Song: see Too Much of a Name (File: GrMa170)
===
NAME: Longest Train, The: see In the Pines (File: LoF290)
===
NAME: Longford Murder, The: see James MacDonald [Laws P38] (File: LP38)
===
NAME: Longing for the Spring
DESCRIPTION: "The hills are very bare and cold and lonely; I wonder what the future months will bring. The strike is on...." The singer expresses anger at the scabs and the police, wishes he could shoot them, and longs for easier weather
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: labor-movement hardtimes scab
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, p. 188, "(Longing for the Spring)" (1 text)
File: Burt188
===
NAME: Longshoreman's Strike (The Poor Man's Family)
DESCRIPTION: "I am a simple lab'ring man / And I work along the shores / For to keep the hungry wolves away / From the poor longshoreman's door." The singer demands fair pay for his work. He complains that foreigners get the jobs while local people starve
AUTHOR: Words: Edward Harrigan / Music: David Braham
EARLIEST_DATE: 1875
KEYWORDS: strike foreigner poverty
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1875 - Longshoreman's strike that inspired this song. Most of the strikers were Irish immigrants
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
FSCatskills 377, "The Poor Man's Family" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 28, "Longshoreman's Strike" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, p. 236, "Longshoreman's Strike" (1 text)
ST FSC101 (Partial)
Roud #7461
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Last Winter Was a Hard One" (theme)
File: FSC101
===
NAME: 'Longside of the Santa Fe Trail: see The Santa Fe Trail (File: Ohr085)
===
NAME: Longstone Lighthouse, The: see Grace Darling (The Longstone Lighthouse) (File: Ran086)
===
NAME: Looby Lou
DESCRIPTION: "Here we go Looby Lou, Here we go Looby Lou, Here we go Looby Lou, Lou, Lou, All on a Saturday night." "I put my right hand in, I put my right hand out, I give my right hand shakey-shake-shake And I turn myself about."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Flanders/Brown)
KEYWORDS: dancing playparty
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US(Ap,NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 192-193, "Looby Low" (1 text)
Linscott, pp. 23-26, "I Put My Little Hand In" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 554, "Loupy Lou" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, p. 157, "(Loop de Loo)" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #637, p. 252, "(Now we dance looby, looby, looby)"
Silber-FSWB, p. 387, "Her We Go Looby Loo" (1 text)
ST R554 (Partial)
Roud #5032
RECORDINGS:
 Children of Lilly's Chapel School, "Loop de Loo (Loobie Loo)" (on NFMAla6, RingGames1)
Pete Seeger, "Here We Go Looby-Loo" (on PeteSeeger21)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Here We Go Looby Lou
Ugly Mug
Lubin
NOTES: This would seem to be the ancestor of the infamous Hokey-Pokey, perhaps urban America's only surviving singing game. But I don't know if the song was rewritten along the way.
Linscott reports the "Looby Loo" title as "a corruption of lupin,' the word for 'leaping,' for the game takes the form of animal antics."
Courlander, if I understand him correctly, explains it as a bathing game. Wonder how they recorded the motions in that case. - RBW
File: R554
===
NAME: Looby Low: see Looby Lou (File: R554)
===
NAME: Look at the Sun
DESCRIPTION: "Look at the sun, See how he run -- God Almighty'll catch you With your work undone."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 229, (no title) (1 fragment)
File: ScNF229B
===
NAME: Look Before You Leap: see The Bald-Headed End of the Broom (File: FaE190)
===
NAME: Look Down: see Lonesome Road (File: San322)
===
NAME: Look How They Done My Lord
DESCRIPTION: Describes crucifixion of Jesus; he is whipped up to Calvary, where he "never [says] a mumbling word"; a thorny crown is placed on his brow and squashed down, and the blood comes streaming down. Refrain: "Good Lord I can't hold out no longer"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1953 (recording, Vera Hall Ward & Dock Reed)
KEYWORDS: execution dying Easter Bible religious prisoner Jesus
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #10983
RECORDINGS:
Vera Hall Ward & Dock Reed, "Look How They Done My Lord" (on ReedWard01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "He Never Said a Mumbling Word" (verses)
NOTES: Several verses of this song are shared with "He Never Said a Mumbling Word". But the "One day when I was lost" refrain is absent, and the overall feeling is quite different, so I split them. Incidentally, I use the keyword, "Easter" although the song technically describes only the events of Good Friday, letting the single keyword sit in for all of the events. - PJS
File: RcLHTDML
===
NAME: Look Out Below
DESCRIPTION: A young man goes to Australia to escape poverty at home. He goes to work in the mines, and in time grows rich. He returns home and marries, but finds that he misses Australia. Back he goes, to resume the miner's life
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964
KEYWORDS: mining emigration poverty Australia
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 92-93, "Look Out Below" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, p. 42, "Look Out Below!" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE092
===
NAME: Look Where the Train Done Gone
DESCRIPTION: Floating-verse blues about trains and lost love: "Look where de train done gone (x3), Oh babe, Gone never to return." "I certainly been a friend to you." "If I'd a-listened to what Mama said." "Tomorrow's my trial day." "If I'd a-died when I was young."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: floatingverses love separation train
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 245-246, "Look Where de Train Done Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: ScaNF245
===
NAME: Looked Down the Railroad Far As I Could See
DESCRIPTION: "Well, ah looked down de railroad fuh as I could see, Looked down dat railroad fuh as I could see, Saw mah gal a-wavin' back at me (x2)."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: railroading separation
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 241, (no title) (1 short text)
NOTES: This feels like a blues, but note that the one verse quoted by Scarborough has four lines, not three. - RBW
File: ScNF241
===
NAME: Lookin' for the Bully of the Town: see The Bully of the Town [Laws I14] (File: LI14)
===
NAME: Looking for Poppies
DESCRIPTION: An old man meets a girl and asks where she is going. She says she is looking for poppies; he says it's the wrong place. She would hear the nightingale; the time is wrong. At last her young man shows up; the old man warns against such bird songs
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1913 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: love lie questions courting warning
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, pp. 252-253, "Looking for Poppies" (1 text)
Roud #7759
File: Beld252
===
NAME: Lookit Yonder: see The Old Gray Goose (I - Lookit Yonder) (File: FSC147)
===
NAME: Loop de Loo: see Looby Lou (File: R554)
===
NAME: Loose Every Sail to the Breeze: see Homeward Bound (II -- Loose Every Sail to the Breeze) (File: SWMS052)
===
NAME: Lora Williams
DESCRIPTION: ""Come all you fair and pretty damsels And listen while I now relate... And learn of Lora Williams fate." Lora sets out with a bucket for the spring, but, knowing she must swear against her lover, drowns herself instead
AUTHOR: "'Widder' Kizzie Talcott's Dan"?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: love suicide drowning
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 140-143, "Lora Williams" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Fair and Tender Ladies" (tune)
NOTES: According to Thomas's informant (called by the absurd name in the author field), Lora Williams was a 16-year-old asked to swear out a warrant against her lover. She chose suicide instead. Folklore adds that her voice can still be heard at the rock where she drowned,  begging her mother not to weep.
At no point is the nature of the lover's crime specified.
This is item dG35 in Laws's Appendix II.  - RBW
File: ThBa140
===
NAME: Lord Arnold: see Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [Child 81] (File: C081)
===
NAME: Lord Ateman: see Young Beichan [Child 53] (File: C053)
===
NAME: Lord Bakeman: see Young Beichan [Child 53] (File: C053)
===
NAME: Lord Barnard: see Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [Child 81] (File: C081)
===
NAME: Lord Barnie: see Young Hunting [Child 68] (File: C068)
===
NAME: Lord Bateman: see Young Beichan [Child 53] (File: C053)
===
NAME: Lord Bateman's Castle: see Young Beichan [Child 53] (File: C053)
===
NAME: Lord Bayham: see Young Beichan [Child 53] (File: C053)
===
NAME: Lord Beichan: see Young Beichan [Child 53] (File: C053)
===
NAME: Lord Burnett and Little Munsgrove: see Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [Child 81] (File: C081)
===
NAME: Lord Cornwallis
DESCRIPTION: "In the year of '81, In Yorktown we capitulated ... We fought them four to one as long as we could stand." The captives are confined "like thieves in a dungeon" and hope for the war to end "to see ourselves at liberty"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1845 (Shield's _Songs and Ballads in use in the Province of Ulster...1845_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: captivity battle soldier
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Mar 15, 1781 - Cornwallis wins a pyrrhic victory at Guilford Courthouse (North Carolina) and decides to continue the campaign in Virginia rather than the Carolinas. He will command roughly 7500 men in Virginia
Aug 1, 1781- Cornwallis establishes his base at Yorktown, Virginia
Sep 5-13 - Naval battle of the Virginia Capes (also called the Naval Battle of Yorktown); the French fleet of de Grasse defeats and drives away the British fleet of Thomas Graves
Sep 28 - George Washington and Rochambeau begin the siege of Yorktown with about 15,00 men
Oct 19 - Cornwallis's surrender
Feb 27, 1783 - The British parliament authorizes peace negotiations
Feb 4, 1783 - Britain officially declares an end to hostilities with the colonies
Apr 15 - The Congress of the American Confederation ratifies the peace treaty with Britain
Sep 3 - The Treaty of Paris officially ends the Revolutionary War
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 7, "Lord Cornwallis" (1 text)
NOTES: Moylan: "This song deals with the aftermath of the battle of Yorktown on the 18th of October 1781, when the American rebel army of George Washington defeated the British under General Cornwallis, putting an end to the American War of Independence." - BS
This song, typically, is wrong on several counts: The British at Yorktown were outnumbered by only about two to one, and a large fraction of their enemies were raw troops. The British could certainly have held on -- had they had supplies. But de Grasse's naval victory (which was not very decisive, but it did drive off the English) sealed off the British army, which eventually had to give in.
Contrary to a lot of sources, this did not automatically mean an end to the war; Cornwallis's army represented only about a third of the British troops in North America, and Britain could have sent more. The next spring, indeed, Admiral Rodney took care of de Grasse, giving the British control of the seas again. But Parliament had had enough of paying for a war that seemed to promise nothing good, so they swallowed their pride and granted colonial independence. - RBW
File: Moyl007
===
NAME: Lord Cornwallis's Surrender
DESCRIPTION: "Come all you brave Americans, The truth to you I'll tell, 'Tis of a sad misfortune To Britain late befell." Cornwallis and his British troops, cut off by Washington on land and de Grasse by sea, are forced to surrender
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 19C (broadside, LOCSinging as108040)
KEYWORDS: war battle rebellion derivative
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Oct 19, 1781 - Cornwallis surrenders his forces at Yorktown to General Washington
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Scott-BoA, pp. 88-90, "Lord Cornwallis's Surrender" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LRDCRNWL*
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, as108040, "Lord Cornwallis's Surrender," unknown, 19C 
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The British Grenadiers" (tune) and references there
NOTES: The Revolutionary War in the north did not go well for Britain. Although their only severe defeat was at Saratoga, they were unable to capture and subdue the countryside.
The British command therefore decided to concentrate on the south in 1780. In that year, Charles Cornwallis (the second-in-command in America and the most aggressive of the British generals) was to invade the Carolinas and Virginia.
The results were typical of the Revolutionary War: Cornwallis won most of his engagements against the Colonials, but never managed to pin them down and suffered occasional losses at the hands of a rebellious countryside.
Then came disaster. Cornwallis was facing Washington at Yorktown with only a fraction of the British colonial army. Suddenly a French fleet led by Admiral de Grasse, which had been expected to attack New York, instead appeared outside Yorktown. De Grasse could not hope to hold off the British fleet forever, but he held on long enough. Cornwallis, surrounded and cut off from supplies, had to surrender.
It was the effective end of the Revolutionary War. The peace would not be signed until 1783, but the British no longer had the troops to fight the rebels, and were unwilling to send more.
Among the other revolutionary figures mentioned in this song are:
Burgoyne -- John Burgoyne, who surrendered at Saratoga (see "The Fate of John Burgoyne").
Hessians -- German mercenaries employed by the British. They were generally despised.
Greene -- Nathaniel Greene, who commanded a detached force in the Carolinas against Cornwallis. He was the best officer the Americans had at harassing the enemy. - RBW
File: SBoA088
===
NAME: Lord Daniel: see Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [Child 81] (File: C081)
===
NAME: Lord Darnell: see Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [Child 81] (File: C081)
===
NAME: Lord Delamere [Child 207]
DESCRIPTION: The king wants a new tax. Delamere asks for charge of all the poor of the land, to hang them; better they hang than starve. A lord says he deserves death, but Devonshire, fighting for Delamere, kills the lord and finds he is wearing the king's armor
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1827 (Lyle)
KEYWORDS: royalty nobility trick money death accusation
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Child 207, "Lord Delamere" (4 texts)
Roud #88
NOTES: This sort of gesture of defiance (compare Swift's "A Modest Proposal") is much more common in story than truth; there is no reason to believe that the events here ever took place. Child gives what background there can be.
The one interesting point I observe is that the lords involved were mostly active at the time of the Glorious Revolution (1688) -- and, what's more, Lord Delamore (1652-1694) and William Cavendish, Earl of Devonshire (1641-1707; Duke of Devonshire from 1694) both gave open support to William of Orange. Delamere, in fact, went on to be one of the Lords of the Treasury.
Perhaps this originated as some sort of Williamite broadside? Or, perhaps, an attempt to save Devonshire from protests? (He is said to have been poor about paying tradesmen.) - RBW
File: C207
===
NAME: Lord Derwentwater [Child 208]
DESCRIPTION: The king sends (Derwentwater) a summons to London. His wife bids him make his will before going. As he goes along his way, ill portents greet him. Arriving in London, he is condemned to death. (He gives gifts to the poor and is executed)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1812 (Bell)
KEYWORDS: rebellion nobility execution lastwill
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1715 - the 1715 Jacobite rebellion
Sept. 1715 - Warrant issued for Derwentwater's arrest. He responds by openly going into revolt
Nov. 14, 1715 - Derwentwater and his comrades forced to surrender
Feb 24, 1716 - Execution of Derwentwater at the age of (probably) 26
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland) US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Child 208, "Lord Derwentwater" (10 texts)
Bronson 208, "Lord Derwentwater" (5 versions)
Leach, pp. 553-554, "Lord Derwentwater" (1 text)
Roud #89
RECORDINGS:
Mrs. G. A. Griffin, "The King's Love-Letter" (AFS, 1937; on LC58) {Bronson's #4a}
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sir Patrick Spens" [Child #58]
cf. "The Mother's Malison, or Clyde's Water" [Child 216]
cf. "Derwentwater's Farewell" (subject)
cf. "Derwentwater" (subject)
NOTES: Although based on a historical incident, this ballad is a rather curious amalgam of material from other pieces; the opening is straight from "Sir Patrick Spens" [Child #58],
while the incident of the nosebleed portending doom is found in "The Mother's Malison, or Clyde's Water" [Child 216]. The making of the will is harder to trace, but the idea is commonplace.
There is an obvious urge to confuse this with "Derwentwater's Farewell," by Robert Surtees, but Child explicitly and correctly denies this link.
Derwentwater seems by all accounts to have been popular, and other poems were written of his death. In this case, it would appear that an unknown poet (Surtees?) took pieces of older ballads to produce a song for the occasion.
The night of Derwentwater's execution witnessed a particularly bright aurora, and the aurora is sometimes called "Derwentwater's Lights" as a result. But this usage, like the ballad itself, seems to have faded out with time. - RBW
File: C208
===
NAME: Lord Dillard and Lady Flora: see Lady Maisry [Child 65] (File: C065)
===
NAME: Lord Franklin: see Lady Franklin's Lament (The Sailor's Dream) [Laws K9] (File: LK09)
===
NAME: Lord Gregory: see The Lass of Roch Royal [Child 76] (File: C076)
===
NAME: Lord Henry and Lady Margaret: see Young Hunting [Child 68] (File: C068)
===
NAME: Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet [Child 66]
DESCRIPTION: Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet are (brothers/uncle and nephew).  Lady Maisry loves and is pregnant by Chiel Wyet but Ingram woos her family and she is made to wed him.  On the wedding night Chiel Wyet and Lord Ingram kill each other; Maisry goes mad.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1802/3 (ms)
KEYWORDS: family pregnancy marriage murder fight madness
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Child 66, "Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet" (5 texts)
Bronson 66, "Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet" (2 versions, both regarded by Bronson as dubious; neither has a text)
Leach, pp. 213-222, "Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet" (1 text, with a Danish text for comparison)
OBB 51, "Lord Ingram and Childe Vyet" (1 text)
DBuchan 30, "Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet" (1 text)
TBB 66, "Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet" (1 text)
DT 66, INGRWYLT*
Roud #46
NOTES: Bronson quotes two tunes for this piece, but admits they "may have no genuine right to this association. The sole connecting link, in the absence of words [neither tune has a text], is the title of the first tune, 'Lord Ingram.' But the tune suits ill with the metre of any known text...." - RBW
File: C066
===
NAME: Lord Kenneth and Fair Ellinour: see Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear) [Laws O36] (File: LO36)
===
NAME: Lord Levett: see Lord Lovel [Child 75] (File: C075)
===
NAME: Lord Livingston [Child 262]
DESCRIPTION: Livingston and Seaton both desire the favors of a lady. The lady weds Livingston for her own reasons. Seaton demands a duel. The lady offers to fight him, but Livingston claims it is his right. He is killed. The lady dies of sorrow after seven years
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1878
KEYWORDS: courting love fight death grief mourning marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Child 262, "Lord Livingston" (1 text)
Roud #3909
File: C262
===
NAME: Lord Lovel [Child 75]
DESCRIPTION: (Lord Lovel) is setting out on a voyage. (Lady Nancy) begs him not to go, but he is determined. Soon after he reaches his destination, he misses Nancy and turns for home. He finds that she has died for love of him. He proceeds to do the same
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1770 (Percy)
KEYWORDS: separation love death travel
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber,Hebr),England(All)) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,Ro,SE,So) Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES: (39 citations)
Child 75, "Lord Lovel" (11 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Bronson 75, "Lord Lovel" (71 versions+3 in addenda)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 139-148, "Lord Lovel" (3 texts plus 1 fragment, 2 tunes); p. 482 (additional notes) {Bronson's #36, #48}
Belden, pp. 52-54, "Lord Lovel"  (1 text plus reference to 5 more; also texts of two Civil War parodies, the first of which, Ga, is "The New Ballad of Lord Lovell")
Randolph 17, "Lord Lovel" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #38}
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 34-37, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 17A) {Bronson's #38}
Eddy 13, "Lord Lovel" (5 texts plus an excerpt, 4 tunes; the "E" text has its first line from "The New Ballad of Lord Lovell (Mansfield Lovell)" but is still this song) {Bronson's #30, #46, #59, #68}
Gardner/Chickering 6, "Lord Lovel" (1 text plus mention of 2 more, 1 tune) {Bronson's #63}
Flanders/Brown, pp. 215-216, "Lord Lovell" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #22}
Flanders-Ancient2, pp. 148-173, "Lord Lovell" (12 texts plus a fragment, 5 tunes) {L=Bronson's #22}
Linscott, pp. 233-235, "Lord Lovell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Davis-Ballads 20, "Lord Lovel" (12 texts plus 3 fragments, of which "M" may not be this song; 4 tunes; 21 more versions mentioned in Appendix A) {Bronson's #18, #9, #45, #5}
Davis-More 20, pp. 146-151, "Lord Lovel" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
BrownII 21, "Lord Lovel" (2 texts plus 2 excerpts and mention of 3 more)
Chappell-FSRA 11, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #62}
Hudson 12, pp. 90-91, "Lord Lovel" (1 text)
Ritchie-Southern, pp. 16-17, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 99-102, "Lord Lovell" (2 texts plus a fragment; 2 tunes on pp. 389-390) {Bronson's #8, #25}
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 55-56, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14}
Brewster 12, "Lord Lovel" (7 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #58, #41}
SharpAp 21 "Lord Lovel" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 5 tunes){Bronson's #33, #34, #6, #47, #7}
Sharp-100E 26, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #11}
Creighton/Senior, pp. 41-43, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #40, #39}
Leach, pp. 250-252, "Lord Lovel" (2 texts)
Friedman, p. 97, "Lord Lovel" (2 texts, but the "B" text is "Abe Lincoln Stood at the White House Gate")
OBB 155, "Lord Lovell" (1 text)
FSCatskills 33, "In Search of Silver and Gold" (1 text, 1 tune -- a facsimile of an "improved" version by George K. Hamilton which provides a happy ending for the piece)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 93-95, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Niles 30, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 70, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #12}
Lomax-FSNA 209, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 2, pp. 4-6, "Lord Lovel"; pp. 6-7, "Lord Lover" (2 texts)
JHCox 12, "Lord Lovel" (3 text plus mention of two more)
JHCoxIIA, #8A-C, pp. 32-37, "Lord Lovell," "Lord Lovell" (3 texts, 1 tune, but the "C" text is "The New Ballad of Lord Lovell (Mansfield Lovell)") {Bronson's #61}
MacSeegTrav 9, "Lord Lovel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 38, "Lord Levett" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 44-46, "Lord Lovell" (1 text, plus texts of "Abe Lincoln Stood at the White House Gate" and "The New Ballad of Lord Lovell")
Silber-FSWB, p. 178, "Lord Lovel" (1 text)
DT 75, LORDLOVL
Roud #48
RECORDINGS:
Winifred Bundy, "Lord Lovel" (AFS, 1941; on LC55)
Nora Cleary, "Lord Levett" (on IRClare01)
Ethel Findlater, "Lord Lovel[l]" (on FSB4, FSBBAL1)
Tom Lenihan, "Lord Levett" (on IRTLenihan01)
Lucindia Perkins, "Lord Lovell" (on JThomas01)
Frank Proffitt, "Lord Lovel" (on FProffitt01)
Jean Ritchie, "Lord Lovel" (on JRitchie01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lily Lee" (plot)
cf. "Bright Phoebe" (plot)
cf. "Mother, Mother, Make My Bed" (floating verses)
cf. "Abe Lincoln Stood at the White House Gate" (lyrics, form)
cf. "The New Ballad of Lord Lovell (Mansfield Lovell)" (lyrics, form)
SAME_TUNE:
Sam Cowell (BarryEckstormSmyth p. 147; cf. the notes to "Billy Barlow (II)")
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Lord Lovinder
NOTES: Although Child treated this as an entirely serious ballad, Bronson calls it "too too insipid," and believes it survives only because of its tune.
Comic versions are common. Sandy Paton states that Child refused to print a comic text that came to his attention. Cazden et al state that "At least nine of the versions compiled by Bronson may be identified as comic [and we note that many others might be but are fragmentary]"; they find a comic version in America as early as 1836. Numerous other parodies, comic versions, and rewrites are also listed. - RBW
File: C075
===
NAME: Lord Lovell: see Lord Lovel [Child 75] (File: C075)
===
NAME: Lord Lover: see Lord Lovel [Child 75] (File: C075)
===
NAME: Lord Maxwell's Last Goodnight [Child 195]
DESCRIPTION: Lord Maxwell, having had his revenge on the Johnstones and soon to be executed for it, bids farewell to the places and people he has known
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1778 (Percy papers)
KEYWORDS: death execution revenge feud
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1608 - Murder of James Johnstone by Lord Maxwell
1613 - Execution of Maxwell for his crimes
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Child 195, "Lord Maxwell's Last Goodnight" (2 texts)
Bronson 195, "Lord Maxwell's Last Goodnight" (4 versions)
Leach, pp. 533-535, "Lord Maxwell's Last Goodnight" (1 text)
OBB 151, "Lord Maxwell's Last Goodnight" (1 text)
Roud #4015
NOTES: The events which led up to the execution of Maxwell are typical of the sort of feuding in which Scottish nobles were constantly engaged, and are detailed by Child. Even for a last goodnight, this song is amazingly frugal of details; the texts in Child say nothing of what Maxwell did, nor even what his fate will be. I was tempted to give it the keyword "nonballad." - RBW
File: C195
===
NAME: Lord o' Aboyne, The: see The Earl of Aboyne [Child 235] (File: C235)
===
NAME: Lord of Lorn and the False Steward, The [Child 271]
DESCRIPTION: The Lord of Lorn, having done well in school, is sent to France to study. His steward abuses him, takes his possessions, and sets him to begging. Eventually the truth is revealed; the Lord regains his property and the Steward is executed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1580 (stationer's register)
KEYWORDS: nobility trick abuse begging help punishment execution
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Child 271, "The Lord of Lorn and the False Steward" (2 texts)
Bronson 271, comments only
OBB 76, "The Lord of Lorn" (1 text)
BBI, ZN1523, "It was a worthy Lord of Lorn"
Roud #113
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Greensleeves" (tune)
NOTES: The broadside printing lists the tune as "Greensleeves." Since the ballad has not been found in tradition, this remains unverified. In any case, given the apparent wild popularity of "Greensleeves" at the time this was published, it is quite possible the printer tried to take advantage of a tune not normal to the ballad ("Lorn" can be sung to "Greensleeves," but only with effort; it is not a good fit).
The first verifiable text is from the Percy folio, though Bronson thinks that comes from a lost broadside.
Child makes a great deal of the romances analogous to this ballad, but does not seem to have noted the significance of the characters; the title might perhaps be older than the story. Robert the Bruce of Scotland left children by two wives: His daughter Marjory, born of Isabella of Mar, was the mother of Robert (II), the Steward (Stewart), the ancestor of the Stuarts (died 1390).
By his second wife Elizabeth de Burgh, Robert had several children, including his heir David II and a couple of daughters. If Robert II's claim to the kingship was set aside, the children of these daughters were David's heirs. And one of those daughters was Matilda, whose daughter Joanna married John, Lord of Lorn (died 1388); they left no children.
There was most definitely rivalry between the branches of the Scottish royal family at this time. A partisan of the Lords of Lorn might well have called Robert II (or his son Robert III) a "false Steward"; what's more, John of Lorn was succeeded as Lord of Lorn by John Steward of Innermeath. - RBW
File: C271
===
NAME: Lord of Scotland, The: see Young Hunting [Child 68] (File: C068)
===
NAME: Lord Orland/Daniel's Wife: see Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [Child 81] (File: C081)
===
NAME: Lord Randal [Child 12]
DESCRIPTION: (Lord Randall) comes home; his mother questions him about his day. He answers each question accurately but incompletely, concluding with a request to rest. At last he reveals that his sweetheart has poisoned him.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1787
KEYWORDS: murder lover farewell lastwill food poison
FOUND_IN: Britain(England,Scotland(All)) US(All) Ireland Canada(Mar,Que)
REFERENCES: (44 citations)
Child 12, "Lord Randal" (21 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #31, #33}
Bronson 12, "Lord Randal" (103 versions plus 9 in addenda)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 46-72, "Lord Randall" (12 texts plus 3 fragments and 2 quotations from non-Maine sources, 6 tunes plus 1 unrelated item; the "N" text is a rewrite which ends with Randall's accidental death) {Bronson's #42, #37, #16, #72, #23, [], #11; Bronson's #70 is a tune for text "J," which is printed without a melody}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 37-39, "Jimmie Rendal"; pp. 200-201, "Lord Randall" (2 texts)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 197-198, "Mother, Make My Bed Soon" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #30}
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 175-207, "Lord Randall" (13 texts plus 6 fragments, 12 tunes) {H=Bronson's #30}
Linscott, pp. 191-193, "Dirante, My Son or Lord Randall" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #12}
Davis-Ballads 6, "Lord Randal" (15 texts [two of them in an appendix] plus a fragment; 4 tunes entitled "John Willow, My Son," "Johnny Rillus," Johnny Rilla," "Lord Randal"; 2 more versions mentioned in Appendix A) {Bronson's #64, #28, (F version not reproduced), #58}
Belden, pp. 24-28, "Lord Randall" (5 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #41}
Randolph 5, "Johnny Randolph" (4 texts, 3 tunes) {A=Bronson's #21, B=#26, D=#96}
Eddy 5, "Lord Randal" (4 texts, 3 tunes)  {Bronson's #73, #95, #94}
Gardner/Chickering 3, "The Cup of Cold Poison" (1 text)
Davis-More 7, pp. 51-60, "Lord Randal" (5 texts plus an excerpt, 3 tunes)
BrownII 6, "Lord Randall" (3 texts)
Chappell-FSRA 4, "Lorendo" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #8}
Hudson 4, pp. 69-70, "Lord Randall" (2 texts)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 178-180, "Lord Randall" (1 text, with local title "Randal, My Son")
Brewster 7, "Lord Randall" (1 text)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 9-11, "Lord Randal" (2 texts plus 1 fragment, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #48, #86}
Leach, pp. 81-85, "Lord Randal" (4 texts)
OBB 66, "Lord Randal" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 178, "Lord Randall" (3 texts)
Warner 107, "Lord Randall"; 108, "Jimmy Ransome" (2 texts, 1 tune)
SharpAp 7 "Lord Randal" (13 texts, 13 tunes) {Bronson's #13, #14, #17, #74, #3, #56, #47, #53, #54, #49, #63, #68, #62}
Sharp-100E 18, "Lord Rendal" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #90}
Niles 9, "Lord Randall" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Gummere, pp. 168+336-337, "Lord Randal" (1 text)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 7, "John Randolph (Lord Randal)" (1 text, 1 tune -- an expanded composite version) {Bronson's #53}
Ritchie-Southern, pp. 50-51, "Lord Randal" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-BoA, pp. 23-24, "Lord Ronald" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 34, "Lord Randal" (1 text)
JHCox 4, "Lord Randall" (6 texts plus mention of 6 more)
JHCoxIIA, #3, pp. 14-15, "The Jealous Lover" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #38}
Ord, pp. 458-459, "Lord Randal" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 1, p. 3, "Johnny Randall"; p. 4, "Jimmy Randolph" (2 texts)
MacSeegTrav 4, "Lord Randall" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Opie-Oxford2 44, "Where have you been today, Billy, my son" (3 texts) 
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #287, pp. 167-168, "(Where have you been today, Billy, my son)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 199, "The Wee Croodin Doo" (1 text)
TBB 11, "Lord Randal" (1 text)
SHenry H814, p. 415, "Lord Ronald" (1 text, 1 tune, incorrectly labelled "Child 92")
Darling-NAS, pp. 43-44, "Lord Randall"; "Johnny Randall" (2 texts)
Silber-FSWB, p. 346, "Lord Randall" (1 text)
DT 12, LORDRAN1* LORDRNLD* EELHENRY* EELHENR2
Roud #10
RECORDINGS:
Grace Carr, "Henry, My Son" (on Saskatch01)
Sara Cleveland, "My Bonny Bon Boy" (on SCleveland01)
Mary Delaney, "Buried in Kilkenny" (on Voice17)
Em & Doreen Elliott, "Henry, My Son" (on Elliotts01)
Pete Elliott, "Henry, My Son" (on Elliotts01)
Ewan MacColl, "Lord Randal" (on ESFB1, ESFB2)
John MacDonald, "Lord Ronald" (on Voice03)
Lawrence Older,  "Johnny Randall" (on LOlder01)
Paddy Reilly, "Buried in Kilkenny" (on IRTravellers01)
Jean Ritchie, "Lord Randall" (on JRitchie02)
Jeannie Robertson, Elizabeth Cronin, Thomas Moran, Colm McDonough, Eirlys & Eddis Thomas [composite] "Lord Randal" (on FSB4, FSBBAL1) {cf. Bronson's #43.2 in addenda}
Pete Seeger, "Lord Randall" (on PeteSeeger25)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Billy Boy"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Jimmy Randolph
Jimmy Randal
Bonnie Wee Croodlin Doo
Tiranti, My Love
Henry, My Son
Willie Ransom
NOTES: A few versions, such as that recorded by Lawrence Older, make Randall's wife, rather than his sweetheart, his murderer. Wonder if she found out about that other girl he was fooling around with. - RBW
And in Grace Carr's version, it's his father who poisons him. It's worth noting that the title "Henry, My Son" almost inevitably denotes a parody version. - PJS
I've seen several sources (notably Davis) mention that John Randolph of Virginia knew the song which sometimes bears his name. The text Randolph cited appears, however, to have been "Wheel of Fortune" or something similar.
Barry et al claim "It is reasonably safe to assert that, of all the English ballads, 'Lord Randall' holds in the United States the leading position, as regards the extent of purely traditional currency. 'Barbara Allen' and 'Lord Thomas' are, no doubt, known to more folk-singers, yet it cannot be said that their popularity is due solely to tradition, since both have been many times reprinted in pocket songsters. On the other hand, we know of no American broadside or songster text of 'Lord Randall.'" - RBW
File: C012
===
NAME: Lord Rendal: see Lord Randal [Child 12] (File: C012)
===
NAME: Lord Robert: see Earl Brand [Child 7] (File: C007)
===
NAME: Lord Ronald: see Lord Randal [Child 12] (File: C012)
===
NAME: Lord Saltoun and Auchanachie [Child 239]
DESCRIPTION: Jeanie Gordon loves (Auch)anachie, but her father would have her wed Lord Saltoun, who is old but wealthy. The wedding is carried out despite her wishes. She faints and dies. Auchanachie arrives the next day, learns of her death, and dies himself.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1824 (Maidment)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Jeanie Gordon loves (Auch)anachie, but her father would have her wed Lord Saltoun, who is old but wealthy. The wedding is carried out despite her wishes. The servants cut her out of her gown so that Saltoun may bed her. She faints and dies. Auchanachie arrives the next day, learns of her death, and dies himself.
KEYWORDS: wedding separation age love death
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Child 239, "Lord Saltoun and Auchanachie" (2 texts)
Bronson 239, "Lord Saltoun and Auchanachie" (1 version)
Leach, pp. 239-597, "Lord Saltoun and Auchanachie" (1 text)
DT 239, ANGORDON*
Roud #102
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Johnny Doyle [Laws M2]" (plot)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Annachie
Annachie Gordon
NOTES: Possibly related to the Swedish ballad "Stolt Ingrid [Proud Ingrid]"? - PJS
File: C239
===
NAME: Lord Thomas and Fair Annet [Child 73]
DESCRIPTION: (Lord Thomas) asks his mother to help him decide between (Fair Annet) and the "Brown Girl." The mother prefers the wealthy Brown Girl. Thomas consents, inviting Annet to the wedding, where the jealous brown girl stabs her; (Thomas kills her and himself)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1677 (broadside, Bodleian Douce Ballads 1(120b))
KEYWORDS: marriage poverty death courting jealousy murder suicide wedding
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber),England(All)) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,Ro,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (52 citations)
Child 73, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (10 texts)
Bronson 73, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (147 versions+4 in addenda, though 2 versions are relegated to an appendix for no evident reason; many of the other texts are also fragmentary and might belong elsewhere)
Leather, pp. 200-202, "Lord Thomas and Fair Elinor" (1 slightly compoosite text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #39}
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 128-134, "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor" (2 texts plus 1 fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's #110}
Percy/Wheatley III, pp. 82-85, "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor"; pp. 234-238, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (2 texts)
Belden, pp. 37-48, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (3 full texts, fragments of 4 others, 1 tune, and listing of 5 unprinted versions) {Bronson's #109}
Randolph 15, "The Brown Girl" (8 texts plus 2 fragments, 5 tunes) {A=Bronson's #51, F=#147, G=#4, H=#124, J=#26}
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 31-34, "The Brown Girl" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 15H) {Bronson's #124}
Eddy 11, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (2 texts plus 2 fragments, 1 tune) {Bronson's #140}
Flanders/Brown, pp. 209-213, "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #97}
Flanders-Ancient2, pp. 89-121, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (10 texts plus two fragments, 8 tunes) {A=Bronson's #97, F=#98}
Gardner/Chickering 4, "Lord Thomas" (1 text plus an excerpt, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #54, #100}
Davis-Ballads 18, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (17 texts plus a fragment, 7 tunes entitled "Lord Thomas and Fair Elenor," "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor," "Fair Ellen," "Lord Thomas and the Brown Girl," "The Brown Girl, or Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender," "Lord Thomas and Fair Elinor," "Fair Ellender, or Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor"; 17 more versions mentioned in Appendix A) {Bronson's #31, #81, #120, #36, #37, #60, #144}  
Davis-More 18, pp. 123-137, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (6 texts plus some excerpts, 5 tunes)
BrownII 19, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (4 texts plus 6 excerpts and mention of 4 more)
Chappell-FSRA 9, "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellen" (1 text)
Hudson 10, pp. 78-87, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (5 texts)
Fuson, pp. 49-51, "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellendar" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 105-114, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet," with individual titles "The Brown Girl," "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellen,"  "Lord Thomas,"Lord Thomas," "Fair Ellender," "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellendar" (5 texts plus a fragment; the "A" text has lost the ending; 4 tunes on pp. 391-393) {Bronson's #74, #14, #73, #57}
Brewster 10, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (6 text plus 2 fragments)
SharpAp 19 "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor" (8 texts plus 20 fragments, 31 tunes){Sharp's A=Bronson's #103, Aa=#38, B=#,122 Bb=#35, C=#104, Cc=#32, D=#102, Dd=#6, E=#5, Ee=#71, F=#43, G=#101, H=#60, I=#96, J=#117, K=#119, L=#15, M=#145, N=#134, O=#133, P=#3, Q=#42, R=#127, S=#130, T=#46, U=#47, V=#72, W=#88, X=#89, Y=#92, Z=#91}
Sharp-100E 28, "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #99}
Creighton/Senior, pp. 40-41, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #136}
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 9-10, "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 4, "Lord Thomas and Fair Elinor" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #34}
Greenleaf/Mansfield 8, "Lord Thomas" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 617-619, "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Mackenzie 6, "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor" (1 text); "Lord Thomas" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #128}
Leach, pp. 239-246, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (3 texts plus a translated Danish text)
OBB 54, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 84, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (1 text)
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 14, "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellendor (or, The Brown Bride)" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #132}
Warner 140, "Lord Thomas" (1 text+1 fragment, 2 tunes)
PBB 39, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 137-139, "Three Lovers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Niles 28, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (4 texts, 3 tunes)
Gummere, pp. 231-235+353, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (1 text)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 15, "Lord Thomas and Fair Elinore" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version) {Bronson's #145}
Sandburg, pp. 156-157, "The Brown Girl or Fair Eleanor" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #85}
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 62-63, "Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #76}
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 17-20, "[Fair Ellender]" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #126; note that the tune is slightly different, and the text noticeably different, from the Ritchie-Southern version}
Ritchie-Southern, pp. 60-61, "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender" (1 text, 1 tune)  {note that the tune is slightly different, and the text noticeably different, from the Ritchie-SingFam version}
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 57, "Lord Thomas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 122, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 12, pp. 27-31, "Lord Thomas" (1 text)
JHCox 10, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (9 texts plus mention of 2 more)
TBB 15, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (1 text)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 61-65, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" (1 text)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 46-47, "Three Lovers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 222, "Fair Ellender" (1 text)
BBI, ZN173, "Amongst the Forresters of old"; ZN1719, "Lord Thomas he was a bold Forrester"
DT 73, BROWNGRL BRWNGRL2*
Roud #4
RECORDINGS:
Horton Barker, "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellendar" (AAFS 33) {Bronson's #21, but as "The Brown Girl"}; "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender" (on Barker01)
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "Lord Thomas and Fair Annie" (on SCMacCollSeeger01)
Jessie Murray, "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellen (Lord Thomas and Fair Annet)" (on FSB4, FSBBAL1)
Jean Ritchie, "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender" (on JRitchie01) {cf. Bronson's #126}
Ritchie Family, "Lord Thomas and Fair Ellender" (on Ritchie03) {cf. Bronson's #126}
Mike Seeger, "Lord Thomas" (on MSeeger01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Douce Ballads 1(120b), "A Tragical Story of lord Thomas and Fair Ellinor" ("Lord Thomas he was a bold forrester"), F. Coles, T. Vere, J. Wright and J. Clarke (London), 1677; also Douce Ballads 3(58b), "A Tragical Ballad on the Unfortunate Love of Ld Thomas and Fair Eleanor"; Harding B 3(93), Douce Ballads 4(36), Harding B 3(94), Harding B 3(91), Harding B 3(92), Johnson Ballads 385, Johnson Ballads 386, Harding B 11(2208), "A Tragical Ballad of the Unfortunate Love's of Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor"; Harding B 11(2209), 2806 c.16(298), Harding B 37(38), "Lord Thomas and fair Eleanor"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Thomas o Yonderdale" [Child 253] (plot)
cf. "The Hunting of the Cheviot" [Child 162] (tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Lord Thomas and Fair Ellen
Thomas and Ellen
NOTES: According to Bertrand Bronson, this is second only to Barbara Allen in popularity among the Child ballads. He notes that the Scottish tunes, though they are few, seem related to "Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight," also among the most popular of the ballads.
Grieg/Keith see this as much the same ballad as Child #74, and Bronson sees similarities in the tunes, but concludes that the melodies, like the texts, justify separating them. - RBW
[Lloyd dates this to no later than the] late 17th century (broadside in reign of Charles II). 
[Silber & Silber mis-identify] this as Child 295, which is actually "Brown Girl (I)." - PJS
The broadside Lloyd mentions appears to be mentioned also by Belden; he believes that it is the ancestor of all American versions, plus most recent British versions. But he believes the original was Scottish, and preceded the broadside. - RBW
A number of the Bodleian broadsides have as subtitle "with the downfall of the brown girl." - BS
File: C073
===
NAME: Lord Thomas and Fair Eleanor: see Lord Thomas and Fair Annet [Child 73] (File: C073)
===
NAME: Lord Thomas and Fair Elinor: see Lord Thomas and Fair Annet [Child 73] (File: C073)
===
NAME: Lord Thomas and Fair Ellen: see Lord Thomas and Fair Annet [Child 73] (File: C073)
===
NAME: Lord Thomas and Fair Ellendar: see Lord Thomas and Fair Annet [Child 73] (File: C073)
===
NAME: Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret [Child 260]
DESCRIPTION: Thomas, goes hunting and is pursued by (Margaret), whom he cast aside. He orders that she be chased far from him. She takes refuge with and marries (someone). Later, Thomas arrives at her door as a beggar. She poisons him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1825
KEYWORDS: abandonment hunting punishment poison poverty begging
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Child 260, "Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret" (2 texts)
Bronson 260, "Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret" (1 version)
Leach, pp. 631-632, "Lord Thomas and Lady Margaret" (1 text)
Roud #109
File: C260
===
NAME: Lord Thomas of Winesberry: see Willie o Winsbury [Child 100] (File: C100)
===
NAME: Lord Thomas Stuart [Child 259]
DESCRIPTION: Thomas Stuart gives his lady wide lands as a gift. She desires to see them. They ride out, but Thomas is stricken with pain. He bids her ride on; he himself returns home and dies. She dreams a dreadful dream, returns home, and realizes he is dead
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: love home courting disease death dream
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Child 259, "Lord Thomas Stuart" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 629-630, "Lord Thomas Stuart" (1 text)
Roud #4024
File: C259
===
NAME: Lord Valley: see Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [Child 81] (File: C081)
===
NAME: Lord Wathe'ford
DESCRIPTION: Lord Wathe'ford is dead. "The tyrant" choked wells and evicted farmers. He'll not be with common sinners in Hell but will share a private grate with his father. In Hell he meets Queen Bess, and his bailiff, and the Devil himself who is happy to see him.
AUTHOR: Michael A. Moran? (source: OLochlainn-More)
EARLIEST_DATE: c.1906 (ballad sheet, according to OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: death humorous political Devil Ireland Hell nobility landlord
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 60A, "Lord Wathe'ford" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6529
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Shan Van Voght" (tune and repeated lines)
NOTES: This is a rather odd piece. Landlords in Ireland of course frequently evicted tenants, and they had a general policy of not improving properties; they wanted the Irish Catholic farmers too poor to represent a threat. But not in Waterford. One of the earliest areas of English settlement, it earned a great deal of Royal favor, was relatively prosperous, and was generally one of the most loyal areas of the country. Perhaps this is a reference to some of Lord Waterford's territories outside his home county? - RBW
File: OLcM060A
===
NAME: Lord Wetram: see Young Beichan [Child 53] (File: C053)
===
NAME: Lord William and Lady Margaret: see Earl Brand [Child 7] (File: C007)
===
NAME: Lord William, or, Lord Lundy [Child 254]
DESCRIPTION: (Lord William) and the bailiff's daughter fall in love (while studying abroad). Her father calls her home to marry a nobleman. She sends a message by bird to Willie. Willie arrives at the wedding, forcing the groom aside and marrying the girl himself
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1845 (Dixon)
KEYWORDS: love marriage nobility wedding violence father
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Child 254, "Lord William, or, Lord Lundy" (3 texts)
Bronson 254, "Lord William, or, Lord Lundy" (1 version)
Dixon IX, pp. 57-59, "Lord William" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 621-623, "Lord William, or, Lord Lundy" (1 text)
Roud #106
File: C254
===
NAME: Lord William's Death: see Earl Brand [Child 7] (File: C007)
===
NAME: Lord Willoughby
DESCRIPTION: "The fifteenth day of July... A famous fight in Flanders was foughten in the field... But the bravest man in battel Was brave Lord Willoughby." In a fierce contest with the Spanish, Willoughby's bravery encourages the English to victory
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1765 (Percy); tune known from 1603 (Robinson's "Schoole of Musick")
KEYWORDS: battle nobility soldier
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1587 - Peregrine Bertie, Lord Willoughby of Eresby, takes command of the English forces in the Netherlands
1601 - Death of Willoughby
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Percy/Wheatley II, pp. 238-241, "Brave Lord Willoughbey" (1 text)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, p. 152, "Lord Willoughby, or Lord Willoughby's March, or Lord Willoughby's Welcome Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
BBI, ZN895, "The fifteenth day of July"
ST Perc2238 (Full)
SAME_TUNE:
Give ear you lusty Gallants/A famous Sea-fight. Hollander..Spaniard..September 1639. (BBI ZN969)
Now comfortable Tydings is come unto England/Joyfull News for England [Peace.. April 6, 1654] (BBI ZN3422)
NOTES: This is probably just another broadside that "made it big" without entering oral tradition, but the number of references seemed sufficient for me to include it in the Index. (Note the regular use of the tune in broadsides).
Lord Willoughby was a famous swordsman, and performed well in the Netherlands, but this report of his exploits against the Spanish is certainly blown out of proportion.
There was a later Willoughby who was governor of Barbados in the 1660s, but he died at sea in a hurricane during a war with the French. - RBW
File: Perc2238
===
NAME: Lord, I Never Will Come Back Here No Mo'
DESCRIPTION: "Some o' dese days about twelve o'clock, Dis old worl's a gwi' reel and rock. Lawd, I neber will come back here no more. No mo' my Lawd (x2), I neber come back here no mo'." "Way down about Arkansas, De niggers ain't a-arguin' a thing but wa'."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922
KEYWORDS: religious war nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 349, "Lord, I Never Will Come Back Here No Mo'" (1 text)
Roud #11738
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh, Mary, Don't You Weep" (floating lyrics)
File: Br3349
===
NAME: Lord, Remember Me
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, Deat' he is a little man, And he goes from do' to do', He killed some souls and he wounded some...." "Do, Lord, remember me (x2), I cry to the Lord as the year roll around...." "I want to die like-a Jesus die, And he die with a free good will...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison, "Slave Songs of the United States")
KEYWORDS: death religious Jesus nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 915-916, "Lord, Remember Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11849
RECORDINGS:
Jimmie Strothers & Joe Lee, "Do, Lord, Remember Me" (AFS 746 B2, 1936; on LC10)
NOTES: This should not be confused with "Do Lord, Remember Me," a separate song. - PJS
File: BAF915
===
NAME: Lords of Creation, The
DESCRIPTION: "Ye lords of creation, me you are called, You think to rule the whole... Now did not Adam, the very first man, The very first woman obey?" Though men are stronger, women control them with smiles and tears, and always shall
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1907 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: feminist nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Belden, pp. 432-433, "The Lords of Creation" (1 text)
BrownIII 308, "The Lords of Creation" (1 text)
Roud #7837
NOTES: I've tagged this with the keyword "feminist," but I'm not sure it applies; the women do not earn control based on their skills but their wheedling.
The whole argument is Biblical (or at least part of the Protestant apocrypha, and included in an appendix to the Catholic bible): See the argument of Zerubbabel that "women are strongest" in 1 Esdras 3:12, 4:13-32.
The notes in Brown call it an "amusing  quip." Which perhaps shows more mostly how humor depends on circumstances -- I find it degrading and disgusting. - RBW
File: Beld432
===
NAME: Lorena
DESCRIPTION: "The years creep slowly by, Lorena; The snow is on the grass again." The singer recalls his early years with Lorena, and remembers how much he loved her. He tells her that he still loves her as truly
AUTHOR: Words: H.D.L. Webster/Music: J.P. Webster
EARLIEST_DATE: 1857
KEYWORDS: love age
FOUND_IN: US(MA,So)
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Belden, p. 222, "Lorena" (1 text)
Randolph 757, "Lorena and Paul Vane" (2 texts, 2 tunes, of which the first is "Lorena' and the second "Lorena's Answer")
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 122-125, "Lorena" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 58-59, "Lorena" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, pp. 90-91, "Lorena" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hill-CivWar, p. 228, "Lorena" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 255, "Lorena" (1 text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 481, "Lorena" (source notes only)
DT, LORENNA*
ST R757 (Full)
Roud #4246
RECORDINGS:
Blue Ridge Mountain Singers, "Lorena" (Columbia 15550-D, 1930)
Smyth County Ramblers, "Way Down in Alabama" (Victor 40144, 1928; on LostProv1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lorena's Answer (Paul Vane)"
NOTES: The most popular sentimental song of the Civil War. Ironically, in the original Henry deLafayette Webster poem, the girl was Bertha. But when Joseph Philbrick Webster (no relation to H. Webster) set the poem to music, he needed a three-syllable name, and so "Lorena" was born. The name is said to be a combination of "Bertha" and Edgar Allan Poe's "lost Lenore"; the name was not in use until the Websters produced their song.- RBW
File: R757
===
NAME: Lorena Bold Crew, The: see The Bold Princess Royal [Laws K29] (File: LK29)
===
NAME: Lorena's Answer (Paul Vane)
DESCRIPTION: Lorena answers Paul that, though the years have passed and the winter come, "There's no snow upon the heart." She expects to meet him in heaven.
AUTHOR: Words: H.D.L. Webster/Music: J.P. Webster
EARLIEST_DATE: 1863
KEYWORDS: love age
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 757, "Lorena and Paul Vane" (2 texts, 2 tunes, of which the first is "Lorena" and the second "Lorena's Answer")
Roud #4246
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lorena"
NOTES: The song "Lorena's Answer" was an attempt by Webster and Webster to cash in on the success of their earlier hit "Lorena." It didn't do nearly as well. The reason is probably obvious. If "Lorena" is saccharine, "Lorena's Answer" is sugar-coated extra-strength saccharine. It's more than I can take. - RBW
File: R757A
===
NAME: Lorendo: see Lord Randal [Child 12] (File: C012)
===
NAME: Loss of Seven Clergymen
DESCRIPTION: Concerning the death of seven priests, who are "drowned all in Nazen Lake."  The seven relax by going fishing. A storm blows up. Although certain of the boat's crew survive, the priests -- three French and four Irish -- die
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: clergy death ship drowning storm
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H742, pp. 104-105, "Loss of Seven Clergymen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3570
File: HHH742
===
NAME: Loss of the "Ellen Munn," The
DESCRIPTION: On Christmas Day the Ellen Munn is on its way to Goose Bay for repairs when it sinks in the weak ice. The children are carried to dry ground. A salvage operation follows and the song ends with a warning about weak ice and sailing on Christmas Day.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940
KEYWORDS: ship wreck disaster rescue
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Doyle2, p. 6, "The Loss of the 'Ellen Munn'"  (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 10, "The Loss of the 'Ellen Munn'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 83-84, "The Loss of the Ellen Munn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4372
NOTES: King's Cove is in Bonavista Bay on the east coast of Newfoundland. I found a Newman's Cove instead of Newman's Sound as mentioned in the song in the same area. Goose Bay is in Labrador.  - SH
File: Doy06
===
NAME: Loss of the Albion, The [Laws D2]
DESCRIPTION: The Albion [sailing from New York to Liverpool] is caught in a storm which washes captain and many hands overboard. The ship is finally wrecked upon the [Irish] rocks; only one man survives
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.17(236))
KEYWORDS: ship sea wreck death storm
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 22, 1822? - Wreck of the Albion
FOUND_IN: US(MA,NE,SE) Ireland
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws D2, "The Loss of the Albion"
Ranson, p. 101, "The Loss of the Albion" (1 text)
Chappell-FSRA 30, "Loss of the Albion" (1 short text)
DT 609, ALBION LOSSALBN
Roud #2228
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.17(235), "The Loss of the Albion," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also 2806 c.17(236); c. 2806 c.17(237), R. Peach (Birmingham), 1855-1875
LOCSinging, as108080, "Loss of the Ship Albion", L. Deming (Boston), 19C
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cedar Grove" [Laws D18]
NOTES: The date of this event is somewhat uncertain. Eckstorm, cited by Laws, gives the date as April 22, 1822. Craig Brown, ed., _The Illustrated History of Canada_, states that a ship Albion was wrecked November 1819. (It also shows a poster advertising, in English and Welsh, for migrants to go to America. The name of the _Albion_ has been crossed out and another name listed. Not the most encouraging advertising).
Plus Bennett Schwartz sent in this report, "April 1, 1822: '... wrecked about a mile west of the Old Head of Kinsale ... struck ... rocks under 60 foot cliffs'; at least one survivor (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v2, p. 119; more details at v1, p. 116)."
In addition, Terence Grocott's _Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Eras_ has a report from February 6, 1810, from the Shaw, which describes a ship _Albion_, sailing from New Brunswick, which had encountered a storm and lost her masts some stores; 10 of 13 crew apparently starved or died of dehydration.
There was also an _Albion_ wrecked in 1797, though without loss of life.
Not a very well-omened ship name! - RBW
File: LD02
===
NAME: Loss of the Amphitrite, The [Laws K4]
DESCRIPTION: The Amphitrite leaves port, bound for Australia. Two days out she runs aground and sinks, killing all the passengers and most of the crew. The singer and two others survive by clinging to a spar (though one of them dies later)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Cox; there are older, undated broadsides)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1833 - The Amphitrite, carrying female convicts to Australia, runs aground near Boulogne; only three sailors are saved
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws K4, "The Loss of the Amphitrite"
JHCox 87, "The Anford-Wright" (1 text)
DT 740, AMPHITRI
Roud #301
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 1947, "Loss of the Amphitrite," W & T Fordice (New astle), c. 1840; also Firth c.12(78), H. Such (London), 1863-1885; Firth c.13(277), J. Forth (Pocklington),  no date; Johnson Ballads 1947, "Loss of the Amphitrite"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rounding the Horn" (subject)
NOTES: For an account of the accident see broadside NLScotland, F.3.a.13(126), "Horrible Shipwreck !," Menzies (Lawnmarket), 1833 ("Taken from this day's Observer. Boulogne-sur-Mer, 1st Sep. 1833"). - BS
Cox also gives a contemporary description of the storm in which the _Amphitrite_ sank.
According to Hudson and Nicholls, _Tragedy on the High Seas_, much of the fault belongs to the captain. Undermanned, and overcrowded with 136 people aboard, she ran into a severe storm, and the captain ran her aground but would not let anyone take to the boats; she had convicts aboard and he didn't want them getting loose. The ship eventually broke up, and only three survived. - RBW
File: LK04
===
NAME: Loss of the Antelope, The
DESCRIPTION: The Antelope sails from Chicago; on the second day out a gale arises. The cook, in the fore-rigging, freezes to death; the ship springs a leak and is wrecked. The captain tries to save his brother, but drowns; all but the singer are lost
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (recording, C. H. J. Snider)
KEYWORDS: death drowning ship shore work disaster storm wreck brother cook sailor worker
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: c. 1870: Antelope wrecked on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, probably near Point Betsey
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #3840
RECORDINGS:
C. H. J. Snider, "The Loss of the 'Antelope'" (on GreatLakes1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jam on Gerry's Rock" [Laws C1] (tune)
File: RcLoOTAn
===
NAME: Loss of the Atlantic (I), The
DESCRIPTION: "The loss of the Atlantic upon the ocean wave Where fully seven hundred souls met with a watery grave." Bound for New York, the captain "changed his course for Halifax which proved our overthrow.... she ran upon a rock"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: death drowning wreck storm
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Mar 31/Apr 1, 1873 - wreck of the Atlantic
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 931-932, "The Loss of the Atlantic" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3822
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Loss of the Atlantic" (II)
cf. "The Loss of the Atlantic" (III)
cf. "The Loss of the Atlantic" (IV)
NOTES: "The Atlantic was a famous four-masted iron vessel of the White Star fleet wrecked off the coast of Nova Scotia on March 31 and April 1 of 1873....[T]he records show a loss of 535" (Peacock). The Northern Shipwrecks database says the passengers were immigrants and 981 people were on board. - BS
Lincoln P. Paine's _Ships of the World_  notes that the _Atlantic_ was still quite new at the time of her disaster (completed 1871). She was originally intended to sail to Chile, but the new White Star Line abandoned the idea quickly, and she never sailed that route. The fatal voyage was only her nineteenth.
The _Atlantic_, according to John Malcolm Brinnin, _The Sway of the Grand Saloon: A Social History of the North Atlantic_ (1986), p. 249, sailed from Liverpool to New York (via Queenstown) on March 20, 1873. He reports 942 people aboard (as we shall see, this figure is subject to question) and enough coal to last 15 days. She also reportedly had a 'disorderly and infamous" crew and many officers who were not attentive to their tasks (Brinnin, p. 250). After 11 days of storms, her coal was almost used up, and she was an estimated 400 miles from New York. The distance to Halifax was less than half that.
According to Paine, Captain John A. Williams's decision to make for Halifax conformed to company regulations: The ship had burned too much coal to continue her run. But her navigation was imperfect. Instead of reaching Halifax, she hit the coast some 20 miles from that port.
The ship went aground around 3:00 a.m. on Marr's Island (Meagher's Head, on Point Prospect) east of Halifax. Apparently her boilers blew up, causing her to sink unusually quickly. About 250 people were saved -- all male and all but one an adult. The losses are somewhat uncertain; Paine lists as the extremes 454 lost out of 981 aboard to 560 of 931 aboard; Brinnin's figure is that 481 died.
Captain Williams -- who had been asleep at the time of the wreck; he had given orders to be awakened, but the orders were not obeyed (Brinnin, p. 251) -- was found guilty of negligence, but his license was suspended for only two years based on his gallant conduct during the rescue operations (Brinnin, p. 253).
Incidentally, the _Atlantic_ of 1873 should not be confused with another _Atlantic_, the Collins Line steamer launched in 1849. This ship had a major mechanical breakdown in 1851, and was for a time thought to have vanished, but made it home under sail after much delay (see John Malcolm Brinnin, _The Sway of the Grand Saloon: A Social History of the North Atlantic_, 1986, pp. 182-184. The second _Atlantic_ was not exactly a replacement for the first, but the decommissioning of the earlier ship after the American Civil War made the name "available" for the new liner. - RBW
For two different 1873 broadsides on the same subject see: 
Bodleian, Harding B 13(234), "Verses on the Wreck of the Atlantic" ("Oh, pray give attention and listen to me "), unknown, 1873 [text refers to the wreck as having occurred after "the steamer Atlantic ... left Liverpool upon the 20th ult"]. 
Bodleian, Firth c.26(289), "Lines on the loss of the 'Atlantic'" ("Oh! listen you wives and mothers"), unknown, 1873 [text refers to a "List of the passengers, from the Manchester Courier, April 4th, 1873"] - BS
Note that Roud lumps all the _Atlantic_ songs, but their form shows that they are distinct. - RBW
File: Pea931
===
NAME: Loss of the Atlantic (II), The
DESCRIPTION: "Of the gallant ship Atlantic Wrecked on Nova Scotia's shore." "The captain... heeded not that rocky coast That he was drawing near"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Mackenzie)
KEYWORDS: death drowning wreck storm
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Mar 31/Apr 1, 1873 - wreck of the Atlantic
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Peacock, pp. 933-935, "The Loss of the Atlantic" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 88, "The Wreck of the Atlantic" (1 text)
Roud #3822
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Loss of the Atlantic" (I)
cf. "The Loss of the Atlantic" (III)
cf. "The Loss of the Atlantic" (IV)
NOTES: For extensive historical notes on the _Atlantic_ wreck, see the notes to "The Loss of the Atlantic" (I). - RBW
File: Pea933
===
NAME: Loss of the Atlantic (III), The
DESCRIPTION: Atlantic sails from Liverpool for Halifax with a crew of 60 and 900 passengers. It strikes a rock at night. The captain is faulted: "he cared not for our safety as you may plainly see He went to bed and left the ship to prove our destiny." All are lost
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1946 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck sailor
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Mar 31/Apr 1, 1873 - wreck of the Atlantic
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 88-89, "The Loss of the Atlantic" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3822
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Loss of the Atlantic" (I)
cf. "The Loss of the Atlantic" (II)
cf. "The Loss of the Atlantic" (IV)
NOTES: For extensive historical notes on the _Atlantic_ wreck, see the notes to "The Loss of the Atlantic" (I). Observe that there were in fact hundreds of survivors of the wreck. - RBW
File: Ran088
===
NAME: Loss of the Atlantic (IV), The
DESCRIPTION: Atlantic stops at Queenstown "to bring Erin's sons and daughters to wild Amerikay." One night "and they all in bed, When our gallant ship she struck a rock at a place called The Major's Head ... seven hundred souls were buried in the main"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck sailor
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Mar 31/Apr 1, 1873 - wreck of the Atlantic
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 89-90, "The Loss of the Atlantic" (1 text)
Roud #3822
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Loss of the Atlantic" (I)
cf. "The Loss of the Atlantic" (II)
cf. "The Loss of the Atlantic" (III)
NOTES: For extensive historical notes on the _Atlantic_ wreck, see the notes to "The Loss of the Atlantic" (I). Observe that this version exaggerates the losses. - RBW
File: Ran089
===
NAME: Loss of the Barbara and Ronnie, The
DESCRIPTION: "In the spring of fifty-one" Walter Bond commands the "Barbara Ann Ronney from Petites in Newfoundland." Sailing home near Christmas they are caught and sank with a crew of five sharemen when "on the eighteenth of December the winter hurricane blew"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: death drowning ship sea storm wreck moniker
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 937-938, "The Loss of the Barbara Ann Ronney" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9813
NOTES: The _Barbara and Ronnie_ was missing and presumed sunk in Glace Bay in the Gulf of St Lawrence December 18, 1951 (Northern Shipwrecks Database). - BS
File: Pea937
===
NAME: Loss of the Barbara Ann Ronney, The: see The Loss of the Barbara and Ronnie (File: Pea937)
===
NAME: Loss of the Bruce, The
DESCRIPTION: "The Bruce was bound for Louisburg, the night being dark and drear ... Captain Drake stood on the bridge ... the Bruce with mail and passengers she ran upon a reef." All except "young Pike" are saved.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck rescue
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 939-940, "The Loss of the Bruce" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9937
NOTES: The _Bruce_ was stranded on Port Nova Reef off Cape Breton Point and crushed in the ice on March 24, 1911 going from Port aux Basques, Newfoundland to Louisbourg Nova Scotia,  A steamship ferry, it had 123 passengers (Northern Shipwrecks Database). - BS
File: Pea939
===
NAME: Loss of the Cedar Grove, The: see The Cedar Grove [Laws D18] (File: LD18)
===
NAME: Loss of the City of Quebec, The
DESCRIPTION: "On the first day of April eighteen hundred and seventy two The City of Quebec leaved London with a choice of British crew." Seventeen are drowned in Newfoundland waters.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, p. 941, "The Loss of the City of Quebec" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #9936
NOTES: The City of Quebec was lost at Isle Aux Morts, May 8, 1871 en route from London (Northern Shipwrecks Database). Isle Aux Morts is about 12 miles east of Port Aux Basques at the southwest corner of Newfoundland. - BS
Ships named "City of (somewhere)," e.g. _City of Glasgow_, _City of Philadelphia_, were characteristic of the Inman Line, which came into being in 1850; according to John Malcolm Brinnin, _The Sway of the Grand Saloon: A Social History of the North Atlantic_ (1986; I use the 2000 Barnes & Noble edition), p. 208, "by 1857 he was carrying one third of all individuals traveling across the ocean." I have not been able to determine whether _City of Quebec_ was an Inman ship, but it seems likely -- and, frankly, looking at the stories in Brinnin and in Lincoln P. Paine's _Ships of the World_, they had a *terrible* safety record. - RBW
File: Pea941
===
NAME: Loss of the Danny Goodwin, The
DESCRIPTION: Captain LaFosse takes the schooner Danny Goodwin out from New Harbour. On December 6 the crew of six fisherman is lost in a storm.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: death drowning storm wreck
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Peacock, pp. 942-943, "The Loss of the Danny Goodwin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 26, "The Wreck of the Danny Goodwin" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The _Danny Goodwin_ was lost December 6, 1926 at Rose Blanche Bank ("The Mystery of the M.V. Danny Goodwin" at the Rose Blanche Lighthouse site). Rose Blanche is about 27 miles east of Port aux Basques -- and about a mile west of Harbour Le Cou -- at the southwest corner of Newfoundland. - BS
File: Pea942
===
NAME: Loss of the Druid, The
DESCRIPTION: The Druid is "a schooner of fame" -- for the wrong reasons; "Jimmy Jackson, her owner, a miser was he, Too greedy to fit out his vessel for sea." A storm blows up, the mainmast is lost, the pumps don't work, and "the water she made was dreadful to see"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: ship storm wreck humorous
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1878 - Loss of the Druid while en route from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia to the West Indies
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Doerflinger, p. 195, "The Loss of the Druid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4082
NOTES: This song is item dD37 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Doe195
===
NAME: Loss of the Eliza, The (The Herons)
DESCRIPTION: The crew of the Eliza are cheerfully approaching home (?) when a sudden storm blows up. Driven before the storm, the ship is blown to pieces. The people ashore, including the sister of two of the sailors, await word, but the ship is never found
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952
KEYWORDS: sea ship disaster storm death
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 47-50, "The Loss of the Eliza (The Herons)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 944-947, "The Loss of the Eliza" (1 text, 2 tunes)
ST FJ047 (Partial)
Roud #4424
RECORDINGS:
Ken Peacock, "The Loss of the Eliza" (on NFKPeacock)
NOTES: Fowke writes, "No information is available about the loss of the _Eliza_, but the story is very similar to that of the _Southern Cross_ which was lost in April, 1914, with one hundred and seventy men aboard." (It might be noted, however, that the ballad claims the _Eliza_ sank in October.) - RBW
"It is... one of the very few native ballads carrying supernatural portents (the herons) in the manner of the older traditional ballads... the spectres... the herons... Death's Angel" (Peacock).
Many [ships named _Eliza_] lost but no record both in October and off Cape Race/St Mary's Bay; the route would seem to have started at St John's [near Fort Amherst].  The best bet may be March 18, 1862, crushed in the ice off Bay Bulls -- on the route just south of St John's -- en route to St Mary's Riverhead, owned by Welsh & Co at St Mary's Riverhead with a captain possible named Welsh [who, in the ballad, sees the failing ship] (Northern Shipwrecks Database) - BS
File: FJ047
===
NAME: Loss of the Jewel, The
DESCRIPTION: The Jewel sails from Tilt Cove on October 28 and runs into "a heavy gale." The crew is rescued by the Albatross bound to Philadelphia from Greenland.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: rescue sea ship storm wreck
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 948-949, "The Loss of the Jewel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9935
NOTES: _Jewel_ (possibly _Jewell)_ wrecked October 28, 1891 at Gull Island in Conception Bay, between Tilt Cove and St John's (Northern Shipwrecks Database). Peacock notes "there are two Tilt Coves in Newfoundland, both in the north in Notre Dame Bay." - BS
File: Pea948
===
NAME: Loss of the John Harvey, The
DESCRIPTION: The John Harvey sails from Gloucester for St Pierre in a hurricane and runs aground. Captain Kerley believes they will die. John Keeping ties a line around his waist and swims to shore; six of the crew are rescued. Keeping and one other died.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: rescue death sea ship storm wreck
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 950-951, "The Loss of the John Harvey" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9934 and 3843
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Wreck of the John Harvey
The John Harvey
NOTES: [The] shipwreck [took place] January 10, 1912 in Gabarus Harbour, out of Boston bound for St Pierre & Miquelon; [the] Captain [was] George Kearley (Northern Shipwrecks Database) - BS
File: Pea950
===
NAME: Loss of the Jubal Cain, The
DESCRIPTION: "Twas of the schooner Jubal Cain Of which no doubt you've heard.... lost on Nova Scotia's shore, She had eight men on board." The cargo vessel leaves Halifax January 10 and after 16 days the owner gets a wire that the ship and all hands are lost at sea.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: death sea ship wreck sailor
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Jan 12, 1907 - The Tubal Cain leaves Halifax for Grand Bank; it is lost in a storm, possibly on January 15
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 952-953, "The Loss of the Jubal Cain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9930
NOTES: The Northern Shipwrecks Database notes that there is a monument to the loss at Grand Bank. There was, and may be again. A sign at Fraser Park explaining the loss was put up in 1987 but has since blown down according to Robert Parsons' "NF Shipwrecks on the WEB" site in 2003 - BS
Although the ship is properly the _Tubal Cain_ (a name derived from Genesis 4:22; Tubal-cain, a worker in brass and iron), the only known collection calls it the _Jubal Cain_ (possibly by confusion with Tubal-cain's half-brother Jubal mentioned in Genesis 4:21), and I've followed that. - RBW
File: Pea952
===
NAME: Loss of the Life-Boat Crew at Fethard
DESCRIPTION: The life-boat goes out on a stormy night to try to rescue a Norwegian crew. "Early on next morning the sorrowful news went round." Wives and children find "husbands and fathers lying dead" on the Fethard shore.
AUTHOR: John Butler, Tipperary
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor rescue
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Feb 20-21, 1914 - The Mexico wreck
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, p. 104, "Loss of the Life-Boat Crew at Fethard" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Mexico" (subject) and references there
NOTES: February 20, 1914: "Nine members of the Fethard lifeboat were drowned when going to the assistance of the Norwegian steamer _Mexico_.... Eight of the Mexico's crew were saved by the five lifeboat survivors. All but one of the stranded survivors were saved with great difficulty the next day." (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, pp. 52-53) - BS
We note that at least four poems were written about this disaster (see the cross-references); one suspects a campaign to raise money for someone's family. - RBW
File: Ran104
===
NAME: Loss of the Maggie, The
DESCRIPTION: "Ye fishermen who know so well The dangers of the deep, Come listen to a dreadful tale And join your hearts to weep." The Maggie sails from Bonavista Bay and spies a steamer bearing down on her. The ship is wrecked 13 die as others watch
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1902 (Murphy, Songs and Ballads of Newfoundland, Ancient and Modern)
KEYWORDS: death ship crash wreck
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Nov 7, 1896 - The Maggie sinks after collision with the Tiber in St John's Harbour (source: Northern Shipwrecks DataBase) 
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 41, "The Loss of the Maggie" (1 text)
ST RySm041 (Partial)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wreck of the Maggie" (subject)
NOTES: Although this piece is pretty definitely not traditional, the _Maggie_ disaster did produce a genuine folk song, "The  Wreck of the Maggie." - RBW
File: RySm041
===
NAME: Loss of the Philosophy
DESCRIPTION: Philosophy has a bad trip from St John to Havana. They make repairs at Havana. Nevertheless, they are cast away nearing home. Only five of seven make shore and two more die of cold. The survivors are rescued and return to Pope's Harbour.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: death sea ship wreck sailor rescue
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-NovaScotia 128, "Loss of the Philosophy" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS128 (Partial)
Roud #1829
NOTES: This song is item dD49 in Laws's Appendix II.
Creighton-NovaScotia: The singer says "This is a true story. Pope's Harbour is in Halifax County." Dates in the ballad -- which are not confirmed by Northern Shipwrecks Database -- have Philosophy leave St John for Havana on November 4 and the wreck takes place January 7. - BS
File: CrNS128
===
NAME: Loss of the Ramillies, The [Laws K1]
DESCRIPTION: A heavy storm dooms the Ramillies. The boatswain orders the crew to the lifeboats. Hundreds drown in the wreck; only three or four survive
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Mackenzie)
KEYWORDS: ship storm wreck death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Feb 15, 1760 - Wreck of the Ramillies off the coast of Devonshire. Only 26 men survive
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond)) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws K1, "The Loss of the Ramillies"
Doerflinger, pp. 144-145, "The Ship Rambolee (The Loss of the 'Ramillies')" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 954-955, "The Loss of the Rammelly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 85, "The Old Ramillies" (1 text)
DT 554, RAMILLIE
Roud #523
RECORDINGS:
Jumbo Brightwell, "The Loss of 'The Ramilly'" (on Voice12)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fatal Ramilies" (subject)
NOTES: Ramillies was the site of one of Marlborough's great victories (1706), and several ships were named after it, from this ship to an early twentieth century dreadnought.
This _Ramillies_ had a peculiar history; it actually predates the battle bearing its name! In 1664, the _Royal Katherine_ was built, an 84-gun ship. It was "rebuilt" in 1702 (a subterfuge used by the Royal Navy at the time: They built a new ship with some of the old timber). The rebuilt ship was renamed after the battle of Ramillies. (She would be rebuilt again in 1749.)
Half a century after the rebuilding and renaming, having been part of the fleet which failed to save Mallorca, _Ramillies_ was wrecked off Bolt Head on her way to Plymouth. There are thought to have been 725 men aboard at the time, of whom only 26 survived. - RBW
File: LK01
===
NAME: Loss of the Regalis, The: see The Loss of the Regulus (File: Pea956)
===
NAME: Loss of the Regulus, The
DESCRIPTION: "While I'll explain ... How the Regalus she got lost in Petty Harbour bay." Regulus leaves Belle Isle [sic] and is disabled in a heavy breeze near Cape Race. The tug John Green attempts the rescue but the tow line parts. Captain Taylor and his crew drown.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: drowning ship sea storm wreck
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Peacock, pp. 956-957, "The Loss of the Regalis" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 74, "Wreck of the Regulus" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6471
NOTES: [The] _Regulus,_ en route to Sydney Nova Scotia from Wabana [Bell Island, not Belle Isle], [was] wrecked October 23, 1910, when the tow parted from the John Green (Northern Shipwrecks Database). - BS
File: Pea956
===
NAME: Loss of the Riseover, The
DESCRIPTION: "The Riseover left Northern Bay, with lumber she did sail" for St John's. They are forced to leave the ship by raft in a heavy storm. Nearing shore, the raft breaks in half and John Pomeroy and Sparks are lost.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Nov 19, 1911 - Riseover wrecked on Muddy Shag Rock, per Newfoundland's Grand Banks Site
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Peacock, pp. 958-959, "The Loss of the Riseover" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 94, "The Wreck of the Riseover" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4408
NOTES: A detailed account of the Riseover wreck is included in _Tales from the Kittiwake Coast_ by Robert E. Tulk, pp. 90-91 [available as a pdf file from the Canadian National Adult Database site.] - BS
File: Pea958
===
NAME: Loss of the Royal Charter, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of a shipwreck near Ireland. 400 passengers sail from Melbourne and are approaching home (and have already dropped off some passengers) when a storm hits. The singer describes the storm, the wreck, and the deaths
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: ship storm wreck disaster death
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H623, pp. 109-110, "The Loss of the Royal Charter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9040
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian,  Firth c.12(95), "Loss of the Royal Charter," unknown, no date
NOTES: Curiously, this song is a first-person account of a passenger on the _Charter_, and yet it says that "all on board would meet a watery grave." - RBW
File: HHH623
===
NAME: Loss of the S. S. Algerine
DESCRIPTION: "Attention all ye sailor boys And hark to what I say And hear about the Algerine Was lost in Hudson Bay." The old sealing boat, loaded with Americans but with a Newfoundland crew, is destroyed by ice. The Neptune rescues the remaining crew
AUTHOR: Johnny Burke?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1912 (Burke's Ballads)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck rescue
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 92, "Loss of the S.S. Algerine" (1 text)
File: RySm092
===
NAME: Loss of the Sailor's Home, The
DESCRIPTION: Sailor's Home leaves Fortune Bay and picks up a load of coal in Sydney on Christmas Day. She sinks in a storm; three of the crew make land on the French island of Miquelon, find help, and recover.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: rescue drowning sea ship storm wreck
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Dec 31, 1890 - the Sailor's Home wrecked near St Pierre & Miquelon carrying coal from Sydney Nova Scotia to Fortune, Newfoundland (Northern Shipwrecks Database)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 960-962, "The Loss of the Sailor's Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Pea960
===
NAME: Loss of the Savinto, The
DESCRIPTION:  Two days out a storm drives Savinto against a rock. "The ship breaks up And all the crew... Look for a watery grave." Gormley gets to shore and brings help. The rescue ordeal is described in great detail. Eleven of twenty one are saved.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (Dibblee/Dibblee)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor rescue
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Nov 6 or 7, 1906 - Barque Sovinto from Dalhousie, NS stranded at Priest Pond, PEI (Northern Shipwrecks Database)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 52-55, "The Loss of the Savinto" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12467
File: Dib052
===
NAME: Loss of the Shamrock, The
DESCRIPTION: James Murray's mother asks him to delay sailing but he won't wait. He sails on Friday, September 18. The ship is seen on Saturday, then lost. Thomas Ridgeley might have saved two of those lost but he did not and is scorned for it.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: 
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sep 19, 1846 - the Shamrock is lost in a gale off Cape St Mary's (Northern Shipwrecks Database)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 963-964, "The Loss of the Shamrock" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9816
File: Pea963
===
NAME: Loss of the Snorre, The
DESCRIPTION: September 18 a storm in Bonavista Bay wrecks Harold F, Olive Branch, Planet, and Reliance. The Norwegian sloop Snorre bursts her chains and is swept away with two boys on board. Four men from Bonavista are named as saving four of the crew.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1976 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: death sea ship storm wreck
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sep 8-9, 1907 - more than 58 ships are lost including Olive Branch, Planet, and Snorre (Northern Shipwrecks Database)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 98, "The Loss of the Snorre" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Lehr/Best: "Two young Norwegian boys were drowned, and the four others on board were rescued through the bravery of J Louis Little, Robert Brown, James C Little, William Ford and Eli Paul, all men of Bonavista; they afterwards received recognition from the Carnegie Hero Commission." - BS
File: LeBe098
===
NAME: Loss of the Titanic, The (Titanic #13)
DESCRIPTION: "The beauty of the White Star Line, the Titanic, sailed the seas." Off Cape Race "she struck what's called a growler." "Captain Smith and his brave crew, they never left the deck But saved the helpless passengers and went down with the wreck."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 965-966, "The Loss of the Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9940
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: To give Captain Smith of the _Titanic_ credit for saving the ship strikes me as a little much, since it appears that much of what went wrong was his fault. But the bravery of the crew cannot be denied. While the loss of life was very large, it was largest among the crew: According to Lincoln P. Paine's _Ships of the World_, 60% of the first class passengers survived. 42% of second class passengers survived, and 25% of steerage passengers -- but only 24% of the crew, even though many crew members were put aboard the ships boats simply to keep them afloat and steer them.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: Pea955
===
NAME: Lost Babe, The
DESCRIPTION: A child wanders away from its mother (or is sent to take its father his dinner) and is lost. Men of the community (or Egypt and foreign lands) search; the child is dead, and buzzards are picking out its eyes. The mother cries, "Lord, have mercy"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: grief corpse death bird children mother
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SharpAp 129, "The Lost Babe" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #3636
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Children in the Wood (The Babes in the Woods)" (plot)
cf. "Three Lost Babes of Americay" (plot)
cf. "Penitent" (tune of Sharp's B version)
cf. "The Vulture (of the Alps)" (theme)
cf. "All the Pretty Little Horses" (theme of young one at the mercy of birds)
File: ShAp2129
===
NAME: Lost Babes of Halifax: see Meagher's Children [Laws G25] (File: LG25)
===
NAME: Lost Birdies, The
DESCRIPTION: Various birds (crow, robin) lay "but ae egg, she brought out ae bird, The bird it came out an' it flew awa', and she gaed a' day." The mothers look for their offspring and beg them come home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: bird separation lullaby
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H40c, p. 20, "The Lost Birdies/The Hobe and the Robin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13344
File: HHH040c
===
NAME: Lost Child, The: see The Little Lost Child (File: R728)
===
NAME: Lost Girl, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a girl who confesses to being lost and far from home. She has left her family to escape from the boys. She warns maidens against men
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: rambling lament floatingverses warning
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 60, "The Lost Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST R060 (Partial)
Roud #272
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Poor Stranger (Two Strangers in the Mountains Alone)" (theme)
NOTES: This is about half floating verses ("I'll build me a castle on youn mound so high," "Come all ye young maidens, take warning from me, Don't place your affections on a green willow tree"), and the final line of several stanzas ("Oh she says I'm a poor lost girl and a long ways from home"). Randolph lists many songs with similar elements, most of which I ended up filing under "The Poor Stranger (Two Strangers in the Mountains Alone)". But the whole seems to be unique. - RBW
File: R060
===
NAME: Lost Jimmie Whalen [Laws C8]
DESCRIPTION: A passerby hears a girl wailing for her lost Jimmie Whalen. He comes from the grave, and she begs him to stay. He cannot; death keeps them apart.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Rickaby)
KEYWORDS: death ghost lover
FOUND_IN: US(MW,NE) Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont)
REFERENCES: (15 citations)
Laws C8, "Lost Jimmie Whalen"
Rickaby 4, "The Lost Jimmie Whalen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 726-727, "Lost Jimmie Whalen" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 445-446, "The Lost Jimmie Whalen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Beck 48, "Jimmie Whalen's Girl" (1 text)
Fowke-Lumbering #32, "Lost Jimmy Whelan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 26, "Lost Jimmy Whelan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 186-187, "Lost Jimmie Whalen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 114-115, "Lost Jimmy Whalan" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Peacock, pp. 385-389, "Jimmy Whelan" (2 texts, 4 tunes)
Lehr/Best 61, "Jimmy Whelan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 35-37,249, "The Lost Jimmy Whalen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 81, "The Lost Jimmie Whalen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 27-28, "Lost Jimmy Walen" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 602, JIMWHEL* JIMWHEL2*
Roud #2220
RECORDINGS:
Mrs John Coughlin, "The Lost Jimmy Whalen" (on MREIves01)
Mrs Mary Dumphy, "The Lost Jimmie Whalen" (on NFMLeach)
Ken Peacock, "Jimmy Whalen" (on NFKPeacock)
Art Thieme, "Lost Jimmy Whalen" (on Thieme05)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "James Whalen" [Laws C7] (subject)
File: LC08
===
NAME: Lost Jimmy Walen: see Lost Jimmie Whalen [Laws C8]; also James Whalen [Laws C7] (File: LC08)
===
NAME: Lost Jimmy Whalen, The: see Lost Jimmie Whalen [Laws C8]; also James Whalen [Laws C7] (File: LC08)
===
NAME: Lost John: see Long John (Long Gone) (File: LoF287)
===
NAME: Lost Johnny
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, I wonder where my lost Johnny's gone (x3), Oh, he's gone to that new railroad, (x2)" "Go make me a pallet on your floor, Believe I will eat morphine and die." "I'll go if I have to ride the rail To the road where my Johnny is."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: railroading floatingverses suicide drugs
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fuson, pp. 151, "Lost Johnny" (1 text)
ST Fus151 (Partial)
Roud #16412
NOTES: Obviously a composite of floating elements. But it has so many floating elements that it can't really be associated with a particular song! - RBW
File: Fus151
===
NAME: Lost Johnny Doyle, The: see Johnny Doyle [Laws M2] (File: LM02)
===
NAME: Lost Lady Found, The [Laws Q31]
DESCRIPTION: A young lady is carried off by gypsies. Her uncle, who is her guardian, is convicted of murdering her. Her lover follows her to Dublin and tells her of her uncle's plight. They return to England, and the uncle's life is saved
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1833 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads 5)
KEYWORDS: shanghaiing Gypsy trial reprieve abduction
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar) Britain(England(South,West)) US(MA,NE)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws Q31, "The Lost Lady Found"
FSCatskills 63, "The Lost Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 347, "The Lost Lady Found" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 24, "The Lost Lady Found" (1 text)
DT 539, LOSTLADY
Roud #901
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 5, "The Lost Lady Found," T. Batchelar (London) , 1828-1832; also 2806 c.17(241), Harding B 15(177b), 2806 c.16(128), Harding B 11(3803), Firth b.26(375), Firth b.34(114), Firth c.18(167), Harding B 11(2222), Harding B 11(266), "[The] Lost Lady Found"; Harding B 11(1445), "The Gypsies" or "The Lost Lady Found"
NOTES: In reply to the charge of abduction in this piece, Kennedy writes, "While it is quite likely that some ladies of quality... did run off with the gipsies, it is not proven that abductions of 'giorgio' women ever occurred. As to the charge that gipsies are child stealers, they usually have too many children of their own to bother about increasing their problems." - RBW
File: LQ31
===
NAME: Lost Miners, The
DESCRIPTION: "Six miners went into the mountains To hunt for precious gold; It was the middle of winter, The weather was dreadful cold. Six miners went into the mountains, They had nor food nor shack -- Six miners went into the mountains But only one came back."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: mining murder death food cannibalism gold
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1873-1874 - The disappearance of the Packer party
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, p. 231, "The Lost Miners" (1 fragment)
NOTES: Burt believes this item to be about Alferd Packer (she spells it "Alfred," but my sources indicate that "Alferd" is correct). In 1873, Packer and five others went out. In the bitter winter that followed, all save Packer died, and it was later learned that Packer had eaten their bodies. He was generally thought to have murdered them as well, and died in prison in 1907. - RBW
File: Burt231
===
NAME: Lost on the Lady Elgin
DESCRIPTION: "Up from the poor man's cottage, forth from the mansion's door ... Cometh a voice of mourning, a sad and solemn wail, Lost on the Lady Elgin... Numbered in that three hundred Who failed to reach the shore." The many mourners are briefly mentioned
AUTHOR: Henry Clay Work?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1861 (copyright by H. M. Higgins)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck disaster death orphan family
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1860 - The Lady Elgin, an excursion boat on Lake Michigan, collides with a steamer and sinks
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Randolph 692, "Lost on the Lady Elgin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 453-455, "Lost on the Lady Elgin" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 692)
LPound-ABS, 60, pp. 134-135, "The Lady Elgin" (1 text)
BrownII 214, "Lost on the Lady Elgin" (1 text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 480, "Lady Elgin" (source notes only)
DT, LDYELGN*
Roud #3688
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Titanic (IV - 'Lost on the Great Titanic')" (tune)
NOTES: Cohen, Pound, and McNeil credit this to Henry Clay Work, though the disaster came before his songwriting career took off. Other sources do not seem aware of this attribution. I have not seen the sheet music.
According to Hudson and Nicholls, _Tragedy on the High Seas_, the _Lady Elgin_ and the _Augusta_ collided on September 8, 1860, killing 287 of 385 passengers on the former. - RBW
File: R692
===
NAME: Lost River Desert: see The Red River Valley (File: R730)
===
NAME: Lost Soul, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer says sinners at judgment will hear their fate and say, "I'm paying now the penalty/That the unredeemed must ever pay... For alas I'm doomed." The sinner will say that if he could go back, he'd fight for his Saviour's cause, but he can't
AUTHOR: L. V. Jones
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 ("Glad News")
KEYWORDS: sin death religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Watson family, "The Lost Soul" (on Watson01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Wicked Polly" [Laws H6] (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Lost Soul's Lament
NOTES: D. K. Wilgus, in his comments on Watson01, notes (speaking of this song and "When I Die"): "The Watson family apparently sang these songs directly from a song book, but I have been unable to locate them in any source available to me, despite the conviction that I have met them before." He may have been remembering "Glad News." - PJS
File: RcTLoSou
===
NAME: Lost Youth, The: see Death is a Melancholy Call [Laws H5] (File: LH05)
===
NAME: Lothian Hairst, The
DESCRIPTION: "On August twelfth from Aberdeen We sailed upon the Prince... Our harvest to commence." The crew works in Lothian for William Mathieson and his foreman Logan. They find no chance for sport under Logan, and happily depart when the harvest is done
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: farming work hardtimes
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ord, p. 264, "The Lothian Hairst" (1 text)
DT, LOTHARST*
Roud #2165
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, RB.m.143(122), "The Lothian Hairst," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890
File: Ord264
===
NAME: Lots of Fish in Bonavist' Harbour (Feller from Fortune)
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, there's lots of fish in Bonavist' Harbour, lots of fish right in around here. Boys and girls are fishing together...." The folk of the town are described: Uncle George, who tore out his britches; Sally, who has a baby without a father; etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: nonballad dancing fishing sex childbirth bastard father lover
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 122-124, "Lots of Fish in Bonavist' Harbour" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 37, "Feller From Fortune" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 53-54, "Feller From Fortune" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, p. 23, "Feller from Fortune" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 53, "Feller from Fortune" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FJ122 (Partial)
Roud #4427
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Bonavist Harbour" (on NFOBlondahl04,NFOBlondahl05)
Ken Peacock, "Lots of Fish in Bonavist' Harbour" (on NFKPeacock)
File: FJ122
===
NAME: Loudon Hill, or, Drumclog [Child 205]
DESCRIPTION: Claverse prepares for battle at Loudon Hill. His cornet would avoid battle; the enemy are too worthy to attack. Claverse calls him a coward and leads the attack himself, but his forces are defeated and chased from the field
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1803 (Scott)
KEYWORDS: battle nobility cowardice
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 1, 1679 - Battle of Drumclog. Covenanters defeat the army of Claverhouse, Viscount Dundee
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Child 205, "Loudon Hill, or, Drumclog" (1 text)
DT, LOUDNHIL*
Roud #4018
NOTES: The "Claverse" of Child's text is, of course, Claverhouse (James Graham of Claverhouse, First Viscount Dundee, c. 1649-1689, known as "Bonnie Dundee" and killed at Killiecrankie; see the entry on "Killy Kranky" for details of that battle).
Drumclog was not, in terms of size, much of a battle (historians have been known to call it "the 'battle' of Drumclog," because the forces were so small). After the restoration, Charles II had appointed James Sharp as Archbishop of Saint Andrews. Bishops were anathema to Presbyterians anyway, and Sharp was unusually obnoxious in his persecutions. He was ambushed and killed on May 3, 1679.
It wasn't really a rebellion, but Claverhouse treated it as if it were, and rode against the "rebels." They were only a few hundred ill-armed men, but Claverhouse had only a handful of troops, who eventually fled.
The success of the Covenanters at Drumclog did not last long; indeed, it helped induce their next defeat. The victory caused many more men to flow to the cause, but they were utterly disorganized. This rabble was defeated at Bothwell Bridge in the same year (see Child 206, "Bothwell Bridge")
There were actually two battles known as Loudon (Loudun) Hill. The first was fought in 1307 between the forces of Edward II and Robert the Bruce. This song, of course, refers to the second. - RBW
File: C205
===
NAME: Lough Erin's Shore: see William and Eliza (Lough Erin's Shore) (File: HHH597)
===
NAME: Lough Erne Shore
DESCRIPTION: Singer meets "a wonderful dame" on Lough Erne shore. As she is leaving he asks to go home with her. She says she will not "yield to men's pleasure." He says "I'll make you a lady of honor, if with me this night you'll come home" 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (IRTunneyFamily01)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection rake
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, pp. 115-116, "Lough Erne Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3476
RECORDINGS:
Paddy Tunney, "Lough Erne's Shore" (on IRTunneyFamily01); "Lough Erne Shore" (on IRPTunney02)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Lough Erin Shore
Loch Erin's Shore
NOTES: As in "Sheila Nee Iyer" and "The Colleen Rue," there is no resolution for the Tunney-StoneFiddle version. Is there a broadside that ends the story one way or the other?
Lough Erne is in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. - BS
File: TSF115
===
NAME: Loughrey's Bull
DESCRIPTION: Cruel John Loughrey's bull attacks him for evicting tenants. He promises he will never evict anyone again. The bull kills him anyway, saying "if I was a landlord I'd treat the tenants fair." Nobody mourns the loss. Tenants should feed that bull well.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1988 (McBride)
KEYWORDS: murder funeral farming humorous talltale animal landlord
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
McBride 50, "Loughrey's Bull" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: McBride: "This song recalls the death of a local landlord." - BS
There is an interesting symbolism, however -- though in reverse: Usually it is the bull (John Bull) which is harming Ireland. But there is a certain sense to this if one takes it in the context of the Land League and the Tenant Rights Movement -- an attempt to get the English law (often represented by a bull) to give tenants fair treatment. Could this have been a tale of John Bull's government actually enforcing its laws against a landlord? - RBW
File: McB1050
===
NAME: Louie Sands and Jim McGee
DESCRIPTION: Shanty: "Who feeds us beans? Who feeds us tea?/Louie Sands and Jim McGee/Who thinks that meat's a luxury?/Louie... We make the big trees fall ker-splash... Offers more examples of Sands & McGee's penury, usually with beans as the motif.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Beck)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Shanty (from lumberjacks, not sailors): "Who feeds us beans? Who feeds us tea?/Louie Sands and Jim McGee/Who thinks that meat's a luxury?/Louie Sands and Jim McGee/We make the big trees fall ker-splash/And hit the ground an awful smash/And for the logs who gets the cash?/Louie Sands and Jim McGee". Other verses offer more examples of Sands & McGee's penury, usually with beans as the motif.
KEYWORDS: shanty lumbering work logger greed food nonballad worksong
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Beck 19, "Louie Sands and Jim McGee" (1 text)
Roud #6521
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Beulah Land" (tune)
NOTES: One of the few worksongs I've seen from European-Americans who weren't sailors. - PJS
File: Be019
===
NAME: Louis Collins
DESCRIPTION: Ms. Collins weeps to see son Louis leave home; he is shot to death in a gunfight. All the young women put on red clothing in mourning; he is buried in the new graveyard. Chorus: "Angels laid him away/Laid him six feet under the clay/Angels laid him away"
AUTHOR: probably Mississippi John Hurt
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (recorded, Mississippi John Hurt)
KEYWORDS: grief fight violence parting crime murder clothes burial death mourning mother
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Mississippi John Hurt, "Louis Collins" (OKeh 8724, 1929; rec. 1928; on MJHurt01, MJHurt02) (on MJHurt03)
File: RcLouCol
===
NAME: Louisiana Earthquake, The
DESCRIPTION: On a Sunday night, God sets the earth shaking. Singer stands expecting "louder clouds of thunder." In the morning "the elements were darkened"; six month pass, but the earth continues to shake; Christians fear, while "sinnersÕ hearts were aching"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (recording, Stella Walsh Gilbert)
KEYWORDS: disaster religious gods 
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Dec 16, 1811: Series of earthquakes begins, centered on New Madrid, Missouri
Feb 7, 1812: Worst shock of earthquake series
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Stella Walsh Gilbert, "The Louisiana Earthquake" (on Ashley02)
NOTES: The song's reference to the area as "Louisiana" suggests that it was composed shortly after the events; while the region was part of the giant Louisiana Purchase, it became known as Missouri Territory within a year or two after the earthquake. At the time of the quakes, New Madrid was the second largest settlement in the area, after St. Louis.
The earthquakes of 1811-1813 affected an area of a million square miles, and included the most severe shocks ever recorded in North America; the worst were felt as far away as Washington, DC, New Orleans, and northern Canada. The course of the Mississippi River was affected (and with it the boundaries of several states); islands and lakes vanished and new ones were formed; the river was observed to flow backward for a time. Remarkably, there were very few fatalities. After two years the shocks diminished, but small aftershocks were common in the area for nine years or more. The New Madrid Fault is still active, and shakes the region every few years; New Madrid residents sell T-shirts reading, "It's Our Fault." - PJS
File: RcLouEar
===
NAME: Louisiana Girls: see Buffalo Gals (File: R535)
===
NAME: Louisiana Lowlands
DESCRIPTION: Pompey Snow has "a good stiff glass of rum. So they buried him in the lowlands ...." "The fire bells are ringing boys, ... The steamer she is left behind ... so they ...." "This little boy had an augu-er that bored two holes at once ... so they ...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Creighton-Nova Scotia), from a copy c.1883 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: nonballad parody humorous derivative floatingverses
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-NovaScotia 129, "Louisiana Lowlands" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS129 (Full)
Roud #1830
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Golden Vanity" [Child 286] (chorus and verse beginning "Some were playing cards and some were playing dice" base for parody)
cf. "A Boy He Had an Auger" (another parody of "The Golden Vanity" verse beginning "Some were playing cards and some were playing dice")
cf. "The Fire-Bells are Ringing!" (see notes)
cf. "In the Louisiana Lowlands" (see notes)
NOTES: Creighton-NovaScotia may be all floating verses and fragments. 
Its first verse, chorus and tunes are derived from the anonymous 1859 minstrel song "In the Louisiana Lowlands" which has nothing but form and, vaguely, melody to relate it to the "Golden Vanity"(see Public Domain Music site Music from 1800-1860). [It also reminds me a bit of songs like "Uncle Ned" and "Pompey Squash." - RBW]
[The third verse,] "Some were playing cards .." is either from "The Golden Vanity" or some other parody. The [second] verse beginning "The fire-bells are ringing, boys, there is a fire in town" ... is suggested by "The Fire-Bells are Ringing!" (1877) by Henry Clay Work (Source: Public Domain Music site Henry Clay Work (1832-1884))
The "original" "Louisiana Lowlands" air may be found at: LOCSheet, sm1881 03225, "Then Sing Louisiana Lowlands," unknown (New Orleans), 1881 (tune)
If "The Fire-Bells are Ringing!" or "In the Louisiana Lowlands" are ever reported in tradition they should be treated as separate songs from this one. - BS
File: CrNS129
===
NAME: Louisville Burglar, The: see The Boston Burglar [LawsL16] (File: LL16)
===
NAME: Loupy Lou: see Looby Lou (File: R554)
===
NAME: Lousy Miner, The
DESCRIPTION: "It's four long years since I reached this land In search of gold among the rocks and sand, And yet I'm poor, when the truth is told... I'm a lousy miner In search of shining gold." Tells how the miner lives hard while his girlfriend forgets him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1855 (Put's Original California Songster)
KEYWORDS: mining work separation gold
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Sandburg, p. 107, "(The Lousy Miner)" (1 text found under "Sweet Betsy from Pike")
Lomax-FSNA 175, "The Lousy Miner" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 863-864, "Lousy Miner" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LOUSMINR
Roud #4755
File: San107
===
NAME: Lovana
DESCRIPTION: "I once knew a cot, It was humble as could be" around which birds sang and where Lovana lived. The singer describes her beauty as she bathes in the stream. He wishes he were a fish by her boat, or the wind in her hair, or otherwise near her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: love courting bird rejection
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, pp. 223-224, "Lovana" (1 text, from a very poor transcription)
Roud #4649
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Luluanna
File: Beld223
===
NAME: Love: see Waly Waly (The Water is Wide) (File: K149)
===
NAME: Love at First Sight
DESCRIPTION: "I went to Ed Haley's, the day it was bright, I met with a woman I loved at first sight." The singer and his love discuss their histories; they agree to marry and live a happy life; she is very good at housework
AUTHOR: James W. Day ("Jilson Setters")
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 183-184, "Love at First Sight (1 text)
NOTES: According to Thomas, Setters wrote this to help one Tom Willie in his courting: Willie pretended it was his composition rather than by Setters. It seems likely enough; it's not exactly great art. (And, if I were Mrs. Willie, I'd be less than complimented... but then, I'm a modern male, not an early-twentieth-century female). - RBW
File: ThBa183
===
NAME: Love Gregory: see The Lass of Roch Royal [Child 76] (File: C076)
===
NAME: Love Has Brought Me to Despair [Laws P25]
DESCRIPTION: The singer hears a girl telling of the grief her false love has left her. She seeks a flower in the meadow to ease her mind; none meet her needs. She makes a bed of flowers, asks for a marble stone on her grave and a turtle dove at her breast, and dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: death separation flowers grief
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW) Britain(England(North,South))
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws P25, "Love Has Brought Me to Despair"
Brewster 58, "Love Has Brought Me to Despair" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Combs/Wilgus 116, p. 176, "The Auxville Love" (1 text)
JHCox 144, "Love Has Brought Me To Despair" (1 text)
DT 824, LOVDISPR*
Roud #60
RECORDINGS:
Berzilla Wallin, "Love Has Brought Me To Despair" (on OldLove)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Butcher Boy" [Laws P24]
cf. "Tavern in the Town"
NOTES: This song has close ties with "Tavern in the Town," often sharing stanzas and, of course, a similarity of plot. Roud, in fact, lumps them (which seems a bit excessive to me). This may help explain why Laws failed to note either the Combs or the Cox version. - RBW
File: LP25
===
NAME: Love in a Tub (The Merchant Outwitted) [Laws N25]
DESCRIPTION: A vintner needs the consent of his sweetheart's rich father to obtain a dowry. The girl hides in one of her father's wine casks, and the vintner offers to buy its contents. The merchant agrees -- only to have his daughter revealed. He blesses the marriage
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1765 (chapbook by James Magee)
KEYWORDS: marriage courting trick hiding wine
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws N25, "Love in a Tub (The Merchant Outwitted)"
Belden, pp. 233-234, "Love in the Tub" (1 text)
DT 454, LOVETUB
Roud #556
NOTES: In 1664, Sir George Etherege produced a play called "The Comical Revenge, or Love in a Tub." The plot is unrelated, and Etherege never produced anything else of even this minimal degree of note. - RBW
File: LN25
===
NAME: Love is Lovely: see Waly Waly (The Water is Wide) AND Carrickfergus (File: K149)
===
NAME: Love is Pleasin' (II): see Waly Waly (The Water is Wide); also Fair and Tender Ladies AND Love is Teasing (File: K149)
===
NAME: Love is Pleasing (I)
DESCRIPTION: 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: 
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Love is Teasing
File: Rits024
===
NAME: Love is Teasing
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, love is teasing and love is pleasing, And love is a pleasure when first it's new, But as it grows older, it grows the colder...." Lyric piece about  the dangers of love: The singer gave up family and home, (and now has a baby without a father)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1953 (recording, Jean Ritchie)
KEYWORDS: love abandonment baby nonballad home floatingverses
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 24, "Oh, Love Is Teasin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 70, "Love is Pleasin'" (1 text, 1 tune, of four verses, two of which might go here, one belongs with "Fair and Tender Ladies," and the fourth could be from several sources; it could be a "Waly Waly" variant)
Roud #1049
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Waly Waly (The Water is Wide)" and references there
NOTES: This probably originated as a "Waly Waly" variant, and it can be very hard to tell whether a fragment belongs with one or the other (note the Lomax "Love is Pleasin'" text, which suffers from the additional handicap of being in a Lomax publication; I gave up and listed it both places). I finally decided that there are enough songs which don't say "Waly waly" or "The water is wide" to split then.
It does leave an interesting genealogical question, though: You could produce "Waly Waly" by combining this with "Jamie Douglas," or you could start with "Waly Waly" and have this split off while a few verses floated into the longer ballad. Or it could just all float.
Moral of the story: Be sure to check entries under both songs. - RBW
File: Rits024
===
NAME: Love Laughs at Locksmiths: see The Iron Door [Laws M15] (File: LM15)
===
NAME: Love Let Me In (Forty Long Miles; It Rains, It Hails)
DESCRIPTION: The singer arrives after a long journey, and appeals to the girl: "It rains, it blows, it hails, it snows ... love let me in." At first she turns him away because she is home alone. She changes her mind, takes him to bed and he marries her the next day.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (Purslow)
KEYWORDS: love marriage sex nightvisit
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Leach-Labrador 48, "Love, Let Me In" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, FORTYLNG*
Roud #608
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rise Up Quickly and Let Me In (The Ghostly Lover)" (plot)
cf. "Let Me In This Ae Nicht" (plot)
File: LLab048
===
NAME: Love Me or No
DESCRIPTION: "[I] will sing you a song, the best in my heart, For you know very well I have a sweetheart... But if he won't love me, kind sir, won't you?" If one lad proves false, she'll happily turn to another; "I don't care a straw whether you love me or no."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: courting farewell abandonment
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, p. 493, "Love Me or No" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Farewell He" (subject) and references there
File: Beld493
===
NAME: Love O'God Razor: see The Love-of-God Shave (Lather and Shave) [Laws Q15] (File: LQ15)
===
NAME: Love Somebody, Yes I Do
DESCRIPTION: "Love somebody, yes I do (x3), Love somebody, but I won't tell who. Love somebody, yes I do (x3), And I hope somebody loves me too." "...Love somebody, yes I do, 'Tween sixteen and twenty-two."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (recording, Sid Harkreader)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Sandburg, pp. 140-141, "Love Somebody, Yes I Do" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Chase, p. 206, "I Love Somebody, Yes I Do" (1 tune, presumably this piece)
Silber-FSWB, p. 141, "Love Somebody, Yes I Do" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Barefoot Boys ,"I Love Somebody" (OKeh 45217, 1928)
Crook Brothers String Band, "Love Somebody" (Victor V-40099, 1929)
Sid Harkreader, "Love Somebody" (Vocalion 14887, 1924)
Land Norris, "I Love Somebody" (OKeh 45033, c. 1926; rec. 1925; on CrowTold02)

CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Soldier's Joy" (tune)
File: San140
===
NAME: Love Token, The: see A Seaman and His Love (The Welcome Sailor) [Laws N29] (File: LN29)
===
NAME: Love Will Find Out the Way
DESCRIPTION: "Over the mountains and under the waves, Over the fountains and under the graves... Love will find the way." A catalog of the paths love follows, and a praise of its overwhelming power
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1794 (Percy)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England,Scotland)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 205-207, "Love Will Find Out the Way" (1 text)
Percy/Wheatley III, pp. 232-234, "Love Will Find Out the Way" (1 text)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 189-190, "Love Will Find Out the Way" (1 tune, partial text)
Roud #13167
File: FVS205
===
NAME: Love-of-God Shave, The (Lather and Shave) [Laws Q15]
DESCRIPTION: Paddy asks the barber for a shave on credit. The barber is prepared; he has a razor just for such people. The injured Paddy flees the shop. Some time later, he hears a jackass bray near the shop and assumes someone else asked for a love-of-God shave
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1858
KEYWORDS: humorous animal trick
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE,So) Britain(England(South)) Ireland Australia
REFERENCES: (10 citations)
Laws Q15, "The Love-of-God Shave (Lather and Shave)"
Belden, pp. 249-251, "The Monkey Turned Barber" (3 texts, but only B2 is the piece; A and B1 are "The Monkey Turned Barber")
Warner 178, "Lather and Shave" (1 text, 1 tune)
FSCatskills 120, "Lather and Shave" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 136, "Love O'God Razor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 211-212, "The Love-of-God Shave" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 227, "The Irish Barber" (1 text, 1 tune)
Beck 83, "Lather and Shave" (1 text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 483, "The Trust Shave" (source notes only)
DT 526, LOVEGOD
Roud #571
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.26(197), "Lather Em, Shave Em," John Ross (Newcastle), 1847-1852; also Harding B 11(1927), "Lather 'Em, Shave 'Em"; Harding B 11(2085), Harding B 11(2632), "Lather-Em, Shave-Em"; Firth c.26(49), Harding B 11(1867), Harding B 11(1868), Harding B 11(2633), "[A] Love of God Shave" ; Firth b.27(285), "The Love o' Good Shave"
LOCSinging, sb20272b, "Lather and Shave," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also as202090, "Lather and Shave"
Murray, Mu23-y1:067, "Lather 'Em, Shave 'Em," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(082), "A Love of God Shave," unknown, c.1870
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Firth b.27(285) is hard to read but has the tune as something like "Flare Up Neddy."
Broadside LOCSinging sb20272b: H. De Marsan dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: LQ15
===
NAME: Love's Adieu
DESCRIPTION: "The e'e o' the dawn, Eliza, Blinks over the dark, green sea... Yet still my dowie heart lingers To catch one sweet throb mair." The singer says they have been blessed, but he must go (for no explained reason); he promises to remember and return
AUTHOR: Joseph Grant
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord); Grant died 1835
KEYWORDS: love courting separation
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 43-44, "Love's Adieu" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3788
File: Ord043
===
NAME: Love's Parting: see The Faithful Rambler (Jamie and Mary, Love's Parting) (File: HHH825)
===
NAME: Love's Young Dream
DESCRIPTION: "Oh! the days are gone ... When my dream of life, from morn till night, Was love" First love "'twas light, that ne'er can shine again On life's dull stream!"
AUTHOR: Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3385))
KEYWORDS: love lyric nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 110, "Love's Young Dream" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3385), "Love's Young Dream", J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844 
NOTES: Not one of Moore's more successful pieces; Granger's Index to Poetry lists only two anthologies containing it, and there seem to be few traditional collections. - RBW
File: OCon110
===
NAME: Loved by a Man
DESCRIPTION: There was a rich young girl courted by an Irish lad who "has left her and gone far away" Her beauty has faded; "see what it comes to [to] be loved by a man." If he returns "she'll crown him with joy." She is "bound in love-chains and can never be free"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1976 (Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection separation beauty floatingverses nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 37, "Loved by a Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5232
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Green Grows the Laurel (Green Grow the Lilacs)" (floating lyrics)

NOTES: This song has floating lines rather floating verses such as "Her cheeks they were once like the bud of a rose, But now they're as pale as the lily that grows." - BS
File: RcLoBaMa
===
NAME: Lovely Annie
DESCRIPTION: Annie promisedsto be true but while the singer is in "the North Highlands to work by the day" she marries someone else. He would have preferred transportation. His "mind turns to madness since Annie's away" His master threatens to send him to Bedlam.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1979 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation betrayal madness
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, pp. 163-164, "Lovely Annie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5331
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "False Mallie" (theme: a man driven "mad" by a woman's infidelity) 
cf. "The Green Bushes, The [Laws P2]," particularly the "Nut Bushes" version (theme: a man driven "mad" by a woman's infidelity)
File: TSF164
===
NAME: Lovely Annie (I): see William and Nancy (I) (Lisbon; Men's Clothing I'll Put On I) [Laws N8] (File: LN08)
===
NAME: Lovely Annie (II): see Polly Oliver (Pretty Polly) [Laws N14] (File: LN14)
===
NAME: Lovely Annie (III): see The Last Letter (File: GrMa101)
===
NAME: Lovely Armoy
DESCRIPTION: The singer is preparing to leave Armoy. He recalls all the pleasures and beauties of home. He describes his sad farewell from the girl he loves. Now in Belfast, he can write no more, as he must board the ship
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: emigration separation parting
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H9, p. 186, "Lovely Armoy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13541
File: HHH009
===
NAME: Lovely Banks of Boyne, The [Laws P22]
DESCRIPTION: The singer is courted by Jimmie, who wins his way into her heart and her bed but then abandons her. She hears that he is married to a rich lady in London. She must remain in Dublin, far from her love and her home by the Boyne
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1886 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.26(316))
KEYWORDS: seduction separation betrayal
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws P22, "The Lovely Banks of the Boyne"
Mackenzie 160, "The Lovely Banks of Boyne" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 504, LOVLBOYN
Roud #995
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.26(316), "Poor Flora on the Banks of Boyne," H. Such (London), 1863-1885
NOTES: The following broadsides could not be read and verified: Bodleian, Harding B 11(3079), "Poor Flora on the Banks of the Boyne," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; Bodleian, Harding B 11(3078), "Poor Flora on the Banks of the Boyne," J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844 - BS
File: LP22
===
NAME: Lovely Banks of Mourne, The
DESCRIPTION: A farmer's son sees a girl bathing by the banks of the Mourne. He hides behind a bush to watch. At last she sees him and flees. He pursues, and offers her his hand and produce. She consents to marry. The singer will not reveal her name
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting clothes marriage
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H595, p.468 , "The Lovely Banks of Mourne" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9454
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Baffled Knight" [Child 112] (subject)
NOTES: Sort of a "Clear Away the Morning Dew" with the ending reversed. It's not nearly as much fun, though, which doubtless explains its limited currency. - RBW
File: HHH595
===
NAME: Lovely Banna Strand
DESCRIPTION: A German ship is bringing 20,000 rifles for the Irish rebels, but the car which was to meet the Germans crashes. The rifles are not delivered, and Sir Roger Casement, who planned the affair, is hanged
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 (Galvin)
KEYWORDS: Ireland rebellion execution injury wreck
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1916 - The Casement affair (also the Easter Rising)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 45, "Lonely Banna Strand" (1 text, 1 tune)
PGalvin, pp. 57-58, "Lovely Banna Strand" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5234
NOTES: During the bloody stalemate of 1915-1917, both sides in the First World War sought ways out of the dilemma. Britain tried "peripheral strategies" (her reward being the Gallipoli campaign); Germany dabbled with submarine warfare.
The Casement Affair was another of these sideshows. Ireland wanted freedom (they had been granted Home Rule in 1914, but the war and the disturbances halted its implementation; that plus the absence of many loyalists in the trenches caused a slow but steady increase among forces devoted to rebellion); the Germans wanted to distract the British. It was an ideal match.
Roger Casement (1864-1916) was a Protestant who was knighted for his investigations into European cruelty in Africa. Despite this, he became an Irish patriot in the decade before World War One. One might almost think this disturbed his reason.
In 1914, Casement went to Germany and negotiated a "treaty." Among its other provisions, it offered to form Irish prisoners of war into an "Irish Brigade" to fight for Germany. (It turned out to be more of an Irish Platoon; a total of 55 soldiers chose to join it. See Robert Kee, _The Bold Fenian Men_, being volume II of _The Green Flag_, pp. 246-250.) In exchange, Germany would recognize Ireland. It would also, "[i]n the event of a German naval victory affording a means of reaching the coast of Ireland," send forces to Ireland.
Of course, the British navy was much larger than the German, and the Germans never won their victory. They only made one attempt -- at Jutland -- and while more British than German ships went down there, it was a clear British strategic victory. The German navy acted like a whipped cur for the rest of the war, and the sailors actually revolted rather than go to sea in 1918.
In 1916, Casement was still in Germany, being ignored by all parties. Indeed, he had spent time in a sanatorium (Kee, p. 264), and plans were made to retire him to America. Then came the news of the Easter Rising. Germany decided to give this some very elementary support -- a tramp steamer carrying 20,000 rifles captured from the Russians (and probably not in very good condition), with minimal ammunition and a handful of machine guns.
Casement was horrified at this pinch-penny scheme; it was too little too late. No troops were to be sent, only the weapons. His protests achieved one thing: He was sent along with the arms. On April 9, 1916, the weapons set sail on the _Aud_ (also known, to the Germans at least, as the _Libau_; Kee, p. 266), a ship so cheap that she did not have a radio; she was disguised as a Norwegian freighter. Casement was to come on a submarine.
The Irish never made contact with the _Aud_; the ship showed up in Tralee Bay, but no one was expecting her until later. She waited a day for someone to meet her, was ignored, and left. Eventually the British (who knew many details of the plot) found the ship. Ordered to head for Queenstown, the _Aud's_ captain blew her up before she arrived in harbor (April 22).
Casement had set out by submarine on April 12. Somehow the sub (U19) and the _Aud_ failed to make contact. So the boat's captain put Casement ashore at Banna Strand. He was captured on Good Friday and recognized; on April 22 -- the same day the _Aud_ was blown up -- he was sent to London. He was hanged for treason on August 3, 1916.
The Casement affair incidentally put another nail in the coffin of the Easter Rebellion. The rebels desperately needed weapons, and Casement failed to deliver. What's more, the rebels were only a minority even within the Irish Volunteer movement -- and the official and public leader of the Volunteers, Eoin MacNeill, didn't like the idea. He was left out of the initial planning, told only at the last minute, and convinced to go along with the help of forged documents. (MacNeill was something of a figurehead; Michael Foy and Brian Barton, _The Easter Rising_, p. 5, note that he was a university professor with the moderate leanings one would expect of such a man; Bulmer Hobson -- himself too moderate for the fire-eaters -- found him as someone who looked respectable. MacNeill never did really control the Volunteers -- but a lot of the moderate Volunteers thought he did, which would lead to much confusion in 1916.)
When the Casement affair came out, MacNeill went all out to stop the Rebellion. It didn't stop the Dublin rebels -- but it kept the rest of the country quiet. Rather than helping rebellion, Casement's cloak-and-dagger-and-puffery operation hurt it (Kee, p. 262).
His death, however, proved very valuable to the rebel cause. After a series of quick executions following the Easter Rising, the British govenment halted the shootings and simply imprisoned the surviving rebels. But Casement was treated as a separate case. He was tried and convicted, and the British parliament saw no reason to halt his execution, which took place on August 3. The British also released his diary; this seemed to show that he was homosexual (though charges were made that the references were interpolations). In any case, his death seemed to confirm that the British still were abusing the Irish. (See Kee, _Ourselves Alone_, being volume III of _The Green Flag_, pp. 12-14). - RBW
File: PGa057
===
NAME: Lovely Caroline: see Caroline of Edinborough Town [Laws P27] (File: LP27)
===
NAME: Lovely Georgie: see Geordie [Child 209] (File: C209)
===
NAME: Lovely Glenshesk (I)
DESCRIPTION: The singer has been "forced to my pen To write down the praises of the top of the glen." He tells of the birds and the hills of his home in Glenshesk, which he must leave tomorrow. His family has been there for generations; he grieves to depart
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: home rambling
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H544, pp. 165-166, "Lovely Glenshesk (I)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13476
NOTES: The singer claims his family has been present in Glenshesk since the Battle of Orra. All I've been able to learn about this battle is that it took place in the sixteenth century. - RBW
File: HHH544
===
NAME: Lovely Glenshesk (II)
DESCRIPTION: "This evening I take my departure from the lovely town where I was bred"; he is bidding farewell to friends and relatives. Having come of age, he must go to "a far foreign land." He describes the temptations faced by humanity, and hopes to avoid them
AUTHOR: John McCormick (?)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection; tune collected 1905?)
KEYWORDS: emigration farewell
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H28a, pp. 194-195, "Lovely Glenshesk (IIa)"; H547, pp. 195-196, "In Praise of the Glen" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 175-176, "Lovely Glenshesk" (1 text)
Roud #5281
NOTES: The Biblical allusion, "The Israelites they were in bondage and they murmured at their going away," actually refers to a multitude of troubles during the Exodus; whenever the Israelites faced problems, or just decided they were tired of something, they "murmured" and talked about going back to Egypt.
A handful of examples: Exodus 14:10ff. (the people are afraid when pursued by Pharaoh); Exodus 16:2ff. (the people demand meat); Exodus 17:2ff. (the people want water); Numbers 11:4ff. (more demands for meat).
The story of the serpent tempting Eve is found in Genesis 3. - RBW
File: HHH028a
===
NAME: Lovely Irish Maid, The
DESCRIPTION: Two lovers talk on Blackwater-side. He says "when I'm in Americay I'll be true to my Irish maid." She says "in Americay some pretty girls you will see." She says many who have crossed the Atlantic are drowned so "stay on shore." We assume he leaves.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: courting parting dialog lover  emigration
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 551-552, "The Lovely Irish Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6319
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Down By Blackwaterside" (plot, lyrics)
NOTES: Kennedy lumps this with "Down By Blackwaterside," and I have to admit that there are strong points of contact, both lyric and in plot. This song, however, appears to take a slightly different direction, so I have, with much hesitation, split them. - RBW
File: Pea551
===
NAME: Lovely Jamie
DESCRIPTION: Brothers Jamie and Darby sell their peat and drink away the proceeds. They enlist in the army and are sent to the Crimea. At Sevastopol, Jamie loses his legs. The rest of the song wonders how the family will survive with him crippled
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: war soldier drink injury disability
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1853-1856 - Crimean War (Britain and France actively at war with Russia 1854-1855)
Nov 5, 1854 - Battle of Inkerman clears the way for the siege of Sevastopol (the city fell in the fall of 1855)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H618, pp. 85-86, "Lovely Jamie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9045
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Patrick Sheehan" [Laws J11] (plot)
cf. "Mrs. McGrath" (plot)
File: HHH618
===
NAME: Lovely Jimmy: see Lovely Willie [Laws M35] (File: LM35)
===
NAME: Lovely Joan
DESCRIPTION: Young man, out riding, comes upon Joan. He offers her a ring/purse of gold in return for a roll in the hay; she says the ring is more use to her than 20 maidenheads. She takes the ring, then hops on his horse and rides off to her true love's gate.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909
KEYWORDS: virtue seduction bargaining trick virginity
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Sharp-100E 57, "Sweet Lovely Joan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 64, "Lovely Joan" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SWTJOAN SWTLJOAN* SWTJOAN4*
Roud #592
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Maid and the Horse" (plot)
cf. "The Broomfield Hill" (Child 43) and references there
NOTES: Damn fool. -PJS
In Sharp's bowdlerized version, the young man asks Joan to marry him and says that the purse of gold is worth more than twenty husbands! - (PJS)
File: ShH57
===
NAME: Lovely Katie of Liskehaun
DESCRIPTION: The singer loves "lovely Katie of Liskehaun" from afar; she is "far superior in wealth." If Paris had seen her he would have chosen her over Helen. He leaves at summer end but he'll be back to "make application to my sweet young Katie"
AUTHOR: C.T. Ahern (per broadside Bodleian 2806 c.8(271))
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (OLochlainn); c.1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 26(383))
KEYWORDS: love beauty money travel
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn 99, "Lovely Katie of Liskehaun" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3048
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(383), "Lovely Katey of Liskehan," P. Brereton (Dublin), c.1867; also 2806 c.8(271), "Lovely Katty of Liscahah"; Harding B 26(384), "Lovely Keaty of Liskehan"
LOCSinging, as108160, "Lovely Katey of Liskehan," P. Brereton (Dublin), 19C
NOTES: In the nitpicky footnotes department, Paris (son of Priam) didn't exactly "pick" Helen of Troy. At the Judgment of Paris, he was to choose the fairest goddess among Athena, Aphrodite, and Hera. All offered him bribes, and Aphrodite's bribe was the hand of the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen of Sparta. Paris left Oenone, the wife he had actually chosen, went off to gather in Helen, and -- well, you know the rest. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging as108160 appears to be the same as Bodleian Harding B 26(383) printed by P. Brereton (Dublin). - BS
File: OLoc099
===
NAME: Lovely Katie-o
DESCRIPTION: Katie agrees to marry the singer but marries Mike Whelan instead
AUTHOR: Mark Walker
EARLIEST_DATE: 1976 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity marriage
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 69, "Lovely Katie-o" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: LeBe069
===
NAME: Lovely Lowland Maid, The
DESCRIPTION: Mary Ann sends her sailor away "because he looked so poor." She invites him in when he shows her "a purse of gold" Now he rejects her. She and another suitor kill the sailor for his gold. There is a witness. Both are condemned to die.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: greed infidelity warning betrayal murder poverty money trial punishment sailor
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 620-621, "The Lovely Lowland Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Pea620 (Partial)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Cruel Lowland Maid
The Little Lowland Maid
NOTES: The Lesley Nelson-Burns site Folk Music of England Scotland Ireland, Wales & America collection includes a text named The Little Lowland Maid with a note that "This appeared on a broadside entitled The Cruel Lowland Maid that was printed by Ryle." - BS
File: Pea620
===
NAME: Lovely Mary Ann: see Blooming Mary Ann (File: Peac505)
===
NAME: Lovely Mary Donnelly
DESCRIPTION: "O lovely Mary Donnelly, my joy, my only best, If fifty girls were round you, I'd love you still the best." He describes her face and hair. He falls in love with her at a dance. She has many sweethearts. He is poor and has no hope of winning her.
AUTHOR: William Allingham (1824-1889) (source: OLochlainn-More)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1888 (Sparling); 1887? (_Irish Songs and Poems_?, suggested by OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: love beauty dancing nonballad hair poverty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
OLochlainn-More 53, "Lovely Mary Donnelly" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 247-248, 495, "Lovely Mary Donnelly"
NOTES: William Allingham is known primarily for one piece, "The Fairies" ("Up the eairy mountain, Down the rushy glen"). Nonetheless he was a fairly major poet in his day; Patrick C. Power, _A Literary History of Ireland_, p. 159, writes "William Allingham was coeval also with the 'lost generation' [apparently the famine era] but he survived until 1888. He dispersed his talents imitating English poets such as Tennyson and his poetry is tinged with... pre-Raphaelitism.... Nevertheless, he wrote some ballads in the country style and poems inspired by his native Ballyshannon in County Donegal.... It appears that Allingham allowed himself to feel apart from the traditions of his native country...." - RBW
File: OLcM053
===
NAME: Lovely Molly (I): see Farewell Ballymoney (Loving Hannah; Lovely Molly) (File: R749)
===
NAME: Lovely Molly (II): see Yowe Lamb, The (Ca' the Yowes; Lovely Molly) (File: K124)
===
NAME: Lovely Molly (III): see Farewell, Charming Nancy [Laws K14] (File: LK14)
===
NAME: Lovely Nancy (I) [Laws N33]
DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a girl and asks her what she is doing so far from home. She says she is seeking her love, gone these three years. He takes out his half of their broken ring and agrees to marry her and stay at home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (Creighton/Senior)
KEYWORDS: separation brokentoken marriage
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws N33, "Lovely Nancy I"
Creighton/Senior, pp. 187-188, "Lovely Nancy" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 746, LOVNANC2*
Roud #1449
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] and references there
File: LN33
===
NAME: Lovely Nancy (II): see Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy (File: E153D)
===
NAME: Lovely Nancy (III): see Cupid's Garden (Covent Garden I; Lovely Nancy III) (File: SWMS090)
===
NAME: Lovely Nancy (IV)
DESCRIPTION: In this confused song, the singer courts a girl, who accuses him of not loving her. He claims he courted her only in jest. As he leaves her, she "hopes you and I will be judged on one day." If he survives his voyage, he hopes to return and ease her pain
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting abandonment separation floatingverses
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H637, p. 385, "Lovely Nancy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #443
NOTES: This partakes of so many songs it's almost impossible to list them. The first verse is "When first into this country"; the last is "The Diamonds of Derry" or something similar. In between, we see lines or themes from "The Blacksmith," "The Wagoner's Lad," and any number of other betrayed love songs. There are also a few catch phrases from other "Lovely Nancy" songs. But I can't see that the result qualifies as a version of any of these myriad sources.
The notes in Sam Henry posit a link to Laws H12, "The Lonesome (Stormy) Scenes of Winter," with which Roud lumps the song. Belden also alludes to the link, but says (correctly, in my view) that they are simply pieces on a similar theme. - RBW
File: HHH637
===
NAME: Lovely Nancy (V): see William and Nancy (I) (Lisbon; Men's Clothing I'll Put On I) [Laws N8] (File: LN08)
===
NAME: Lovely Nancy (VI)
DESCRIPTION: The singer courts Nancy. She and her mother reject me. Nancy marries "a boasty captain." He meet her walking in the fields; she bows her head and turns away. She knows she would have been happier with him. Young girls don't "throw your first love away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: courting love marriage rejection warning mother
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, p. 477, "Lovely Nancy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9792
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Banks of Sweet Primroses" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Floating lines shared with The Banks of Sweet Primroses: Come all young girls I pray take warning, Don't ever throw your first love away, For there's many a dark and cloudy morning Brings forth a pleasant sunshiny day." - BS
File: Pea477
===
NAME: Lovely Nancy (VII): see Farewell, Charming Nancy [Laws K14] (File: LK14)
===
NAME: Lovely Nancy from England (I): see Pretty Nancy of London (Jolly Sailors Bold) (File: R078)
===
NAME: Lovely Nancy from England (II): see Pretty Nancy of London (Jolly Sailors Bold) (File: LP05)
===
NAME: Lovely Newfoundlander, The
DESCRIPTION: "You may sing of maids of many lands," but none beats the Newfoundlander. Her form is perfect, she is sweet, lovely, can row a boat, catch a fish, garden, "her brain is sharp as needles," she knows when and when not to talk, can sing and dance, etc.
AUTHOR: Chris Cobb
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: beauty dancing flowers lyric nonballad
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 370-371, "The Lovely Newfoundlander" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9788
File: Pea370
===
NAME: Lovely Ohio, The
DESCRIPTION: The listeners are urged to emigrate to Ohio. The delights of the country are described: fish in the river, good cropland, sugar cane, no Indians. Both men and women are encouraged to come
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960
KEYWORDS: emigration home nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 39, "The Lovely Ohio" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 563, "We'll Hunt the Buffalo!" (1 text, 1 tune, with the chorus of "Shoot the Buffalo" and lyrics from "The Lovely Ohio")
BrownIII 77, "Shoot the Buffalo" (1 text, called "Ohio" by the informant and clearly this piece rather than "Shoot the Buffalo," though the two do mix)
DT, OHIOBNKS*
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Banks of the Pleasant Ohio
File: LoF039
===
NAME: Lovely Polly: see I've Travelled This Country (Last Friday Evening) (File: Beld194)
===
NAME: Lovely Sally (You Broken-Hearted Heroes)
DESCRIPTION: Jamie, a militiaman, is being sent overseas. Sally comes with him to Belfast, and cries at their parting. She left her parents for him; how can she go back? Jamie's father promises to care for her. The song concludes with a wish for all militiamen
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: soldier separation father mother home abandonment war
FOUND_IN: Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
SHenry H549, pp. 81-82, "You Broken-Hearted Heroes" ; H 724, pp. 82-83, "Lovely Sally" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 111, "The Spanish Shore" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Moylan 178, "The Spanish Volunteer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9046 and 2784
NOTES: Sam Henry's two texts of this song are very similar though not identical; the same simply cannot be said of the two tunes. The first, said by Sean O'Boyle to be "The Winding Banks of Erne," is in G major and 6/8 time -- and takes shoehorning to fit the text. The second, though listed as being in G, looks to be in E minor, and is in 4/4. It fits the song much better, as well. The third tune, Creighton's, is in 4/4, but not identical to the Henry tune, though much of that may be the way Angelo Dornan ornamented it. It's clearly in G, though.
The two Irish versions do not say where the battle took place. In Angelo Dornan's Canadian fragment, though, the battle is located on the Spanish shore. Could this be a localized version? If so, then Ben Schwartz (based solely on Creighton; we had not at the time noticed that this was the same song as the Irish version) suggests this localization:
"My guess is that this refers to Irish participation on the Cristino side of the First Carlist [or Seven Years] War (for example, with the British Auxiliary Legion 1835-1837 (7th Irish Light Infantry, 9th Irish, 10th Munster Light Infantry, 2nd Lancers Queen's Own Irish) as at San Sebastian 5 May 1836 (source} Stephen Thomas's site re Military History and Wargaming)"
The above suggestion makes sense, though the possibility also exists that it's from Wellington's Peninsular campaign, or the various conflicts over Gibraltar and Minorca. We probably won't know for certain unless a more explicit text shows up. - RBW, BS
Moylan makes this a reference to the Peninsular War (1808-1814). It might refer to Irish participation on the Cristino [supporting Queen Christina] side in the First Carlist War (for example, with the British Auxiliary Legion 1835-1837 (7th Irish Light Infantry, 9th Irish, 10th Munster Light Infantry, 2nd Lancers Queen's Own Irish) as at San Sebastian 5 May 1836 (source} Stephen Thomas's site re Military History and Wargaming) 
The ballad is recorded on one of the CD's issued around the time of the bicentenial of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. See:
Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "Armagh Volunteer" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte," Hummingbird Records HBCD0027 (2001)). 
Harte's final verse is substantially the same as the Creighton-SNewBrunswick 111 fragment.
Harte, like Moylan, has this refer to the Peninsular War. "It is significant that the 'volunteer' in the song says that 'He was for ced to take the bounty and then to sail awa.'" - BS
File: HHH549
===
NAME: Lovely Susan: see The British Man-of-War (File: FSC013)
===
NAME: Lovely Willie [Laws M35]
DESCRIPTION: A girl with many rich suitors is in love with Willie. The speaks of running away with him. Her father overhears and stabs Willie to death. At Willie's burial the girl openly rejects her father, vowing to spend the rest of her life in exile or die for love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: murder courting father elopement
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW,NE,So) Ireland Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (12 citations)
Laws M35, "Lovely Willie"
Randolph 113, "Lovely William" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 30, "Lovely Willie's Sweetheart" (1 text)
SHenry H587, p. 433, "Sweet William" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 138, "Lovely Willie" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 55, "Lovely Willie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 456-457, "Green Grow the Laurels" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 66, "The Father in Ambush" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 19, "Lovely Jimmy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 107, "Lovely Jimmy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 71, "Green Grow the Rushes" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 436, LOVLYWLL LOVJAMIE
Roud #1913
RECORDINGS:
Paddy Tunney, "Lovely Willie" (on IRPTunney02)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Edwin (Edmund, Edward) in the Lowlands Low" [Laws M34] (plot)
cf. "The Green Brier Shore (II)" (lyrics)
cf. "The Lover's Curse (Kellswater)" (themes)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Lovely Jamie
Willy
NOTES: The last verse of Peacock starts "Oh green grow the laurels and the tops of them small But love is a phantom will conquer us all," which is the form that resembles the beginning of the last verse of "Nancy from London"; that ends the similarity. - BS
This fragment also ends the Manny/Wilson version (and gives it its title); evidently that was a Canadian adaption.
There is at least one documented instance of this happening in Ireland: In 1798, just before the Rebellion, Lord Kingston was on trial for the murder of his daughter's seducer. - RBW
File: LM35
===
NAME: Lovely Willie's Sweetheart: see Lovely Willie [Laws M35] (File: LM35)
===
NAME: Lover and His Lass, A: see It Was a Lover and His Lass (File: FSWB155B)
===
NAME: Lover's Curse, The (Kellswater)
DESCRIPTION: The girl tells how she will curse any woman who courts Willie. Her father gives her two choices: Send Willie away or see him die. When she scorns the choices, he imprisons her. Willie promises he will not leave Ireland without her. The father relents
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1907 (JIFSS)
KEYWORDS: love separation father hardheartedness poverty courting marriage violence travel death sailor
FOUND_IN: Ireland Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
SHenry H695, pp. 442-443, "Kellswater" (1 text, 1 tune); also at least portions of H112, p. 288, "A Sweetheart's Appeal to Her Lover/Oh, It's down Where the Water Runs Muddy" (1 text, 1 tune, compiled from three different versions. I rather doubt the three versions were the same song, but at least part of it appears to go here)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 70, "On Board the Gallee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 45, "Jimmy and I Will Get Married" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, KELLWATR KELLSWTR
Roud #916
RECORDINGS:
Jimmy Heffernan, "In Bristol There Lived a Fair Maiden" (on Ontario1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Edwin (Edmund, Edward) in the Lowlands Low" [Laws M34] (theme)
cf. "Lovely Willie" [Laws M35] (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Bonnie Kellswater
NOTES: The first few versions I met of this all seemed to start with the line, "Here's a health unto bonnie Kellswater," which seems to be the Irish form of the song. By far the larger fraction of the collections, however, seem to be from Canada, mostly from Fowke. Paul Stamler gives this description of the songs of this type:
A lady of [Bristol/London] is courted by sailor Jimmy, but her father opposes the match. She promises her father that, should she marry, it would be to an equal; he tells her that he's pleased, for he's found her a good match. She confesses that she loves Jimmy, and writes him a letter. They sneak up the stairs, but her father confronts them, holding a "fusee." He tells the daughter to choose between Jimmy's leaving or being shot; she tells him she'd rather see him sail than have innocent blood shed. The father relents and allows the marriage. - RBW/PJS
Edith Fowke notes that she was unable to find this ballad in any British or North American collection; neither was I. Plenty of father-opposes-match, of course, but none with precisely this story, never mind this ending. Fowke notes, "The reference to a 'loaded fusee' suggests a 17th-century origin, for according to the Oxford Dictionary, the term 'fusee' was used for a light musket or firelock between 1661 and 1680." Jim Heffernan, of Peterborough, Ont., learned the ballad from Jim Doherty, an older man who learned it from his mother. Her parents came from Ireland in the 1830s; therefore Fowke suspects an Irish origin for the song. - PJS
The Sam Henry version of this is very confused in viewpoint, with parts spoken by an outside observer and (seemingly) both the girl and the boy. One suspects some imported material. The plot seems undamaged by this. - RBW
File: HHH442
===
NAME: Lover's Ghost (I), The: see The Suffolk Miracle [Child 272] (File: C272)
===
NAME: Lover's Ghost (II), The: see The Grey Cock, or, Saw You My Father [Child 248] (File: C248)
===
NAME: Lover's Lament (II), The: see Charming Beauty Bright [Laws M3] (File: LM03)
===
NAME: Lover's Lament (III), The: see Farewell Ballymoney (Loving Hannah; Lovely Molly) (File: R749)
===
NAME: Lover's Lament for her Sailor, The: see I Never Will Marry [Laws K17] (File: LK17)
===
NAME: Lover's Lament, The: see My Dearest Dear (File: SKE40)
===
NAME: Lover's Resolution
DESCRIPTION: Singer's lover slights her "because I have not riches to disguise his poverty" If she were queen of England she'd resign the crown for him. She would travel with him "from seaport town to town," but he has left.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: poverty love rejection floatingverses nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.13(299), "The Lover's Resolution ("Love it is a killing thing, I've heard the people say"), T. Wilson (Whitehaven), n.d.
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Irish Girl" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Bonny Tavern Green" (lyrics)
NOTES: The description is from broadside Bodleian Firth c.13(299)
Floating verses: from "The Irish Girl": "Oh, love it is a killing thing, I hear the people say." The queen of England line ("Was I queen of England, as queen Anne was before") is shared with "Bonny Tavern Green." There are lines that seem like floaters but are not lines I know. For example, "O was my love a red rose growing on yon Castle wall, And I myself a drop of dew all on the leaves would fall." - BS
File: BrdLoRes
===
NAME: Lover's Return (I), The: see The Last Farewell (The Lover's Return) (File: R761)
===
NAME: Lover's Return (II), The: see The Banks of Claudy [Laws N40] (File: LN40)
===
NAME: Lover's Return (III), The
DESCRIPTION: Mostly floating verses: "If I had listened to mother, I would not a-been here today." "Let him go, let him go, God bless him, He's mine where ever he may be." "I have a ship out on the ocean." At the end, "My own sweet Robert" arrives from over the sea
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: love separation return reunion floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fuson, p. 111, "The Lover's Return" (1 text)
Roud #16411
NOTES: There may be a line or two in this song not paralleled elsewhere. There may not, too. But the combination is unique: The first verse and the "Let him go" chorus imply a betrayal song, the second verse is the floating "I have a ship on the ocean... but before my true love would suffer"; the last verse is closest to unique as it involves the man's return. - RBW
File: Fus111
===
NAME: Lover's Trial, The
DESCRIPTION: A listener hears a man and woman talking about marriage. She rejects him because she loves another who is "far away on the foaming ocean." He leaves and the listener reveals himself as her long lost lover.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: courting reunion separation dialog flowers
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 553-554, "The Lover's Trial" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Pea553 (Partial)
Roud #9794
NOTES: Peacock discusses the "fertility symbolism of the garden" and [observes] that "each flower of the garden has its own meaning." - BS
 For a catalog of some of the sundry flower symbols, see the notes to "The Broken-Hearted Gardener." - RBW
File: Pea553
===
NAME: Lovers Parted
DESCRIPTION: To the tune of "The Ship That Never Returned": Two lovers quarrel as he prepares to seek his fortune. Both regret the quarrel, but they are never reunited. Listeners are warned against quarreling
AUTHOR: Music by Henry Clay Work
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love separation farewell warning travel
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 215, "The Ship That Never Returned" (1 text, filed as "a" under the parodies, plus mention of 1 more)
Roud #6552
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ship that Never Returned" [Laws D27] (tune, lyrics) and references there
File: BrII215A
===
NAME: Lovers' Farewell (I)
DESCRIPTION: The girl laments that her love came and bade her farewell, then went to war in the Low Country. He fought, and none knew where he fell. Now "he may sleep in an open grave, But I will wake on my pallet of grief...."
AUTHOR: unknown ("collected" by John Jacob Niles)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961
KEYWORDS: parting death separation grief war
FOUND_IN: US(SE?)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Niles 17A, "Lover's Farewell" (1 text, 1 tune, dubiously labelled as Child 26)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Three Ravens [Child 26]" (lyrics)
cf. "The Highland Widow's Lament" (plot)
NOTES: Niles lists this piece as a form of "The Three Ravens," on the basis of a few lyric similarities ("evensong"; "No man knows that he lies there / But his horse and his hound and his lady Mary"; "Oh, he may sleep in an open grave / Where raven fly and flutter"). The plot, however, is completely different, and reminds me more of "The Highland Widow's Lament," which tells of a soldier dying in the Low Country (on behalf of Bonnie Prince Charlie). The piece is quite beautiful, but one can only suspect John Jacob Niles's hand in it. - RBW
File: Niles71A
===
NAME: Lovers' Quarrel (I), The: see The Courting Case (File: R361)
===
NAME: Lovers' Quarrel (II), The: see The Keys of Canterbury (File: R354)
===
NAME: Lovers' Tasks, The: see The Elfin Knight [Child 2] (File: C002)
===
NAME: Lovewell's Fight
DESCRIPTION: Captain Lovewell and his men set out to attack the Indians. They find and kill one, only to find their baggage plundered and the Indians planning an ambush. Lovewell is killed, and many others, but at last the Europeans reach their destination
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1725 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: battle Indians(Am.)
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 9, 1725 - Battle between Captain Lovewell and the Indians at Pigwacket (near Fryeburg, Maine)
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Leach, pp. 714-716, "Lovewell's Fight" (1 text)
Roud #4026
NOTES: Lest the Indians be blamed for this battle, it should be noted that Lovewell and his men were scalphunters -- receiving one hundred pounds for each trophy they brought in. This song is item dA27 in Laws's Appendix II - RBW
File: L714
===
NAME: Lovin' Babe: see Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor (File: Handy190)
===
NAME: Lovin' Nancy (II): see If I Were a Fisher (File: HHH709)
===
NAME: Loving Girl, The
DESCRIPTION: "Adieu, my lovin' girl, adieu, It wounds my heart to part with you, The time has come for me to go, Therefore your mind I wish to know." He recalls that "you loved me first," but she has lost interest; he wishes her well and sadly departs
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love separation parting infidelity
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 732, "The Loving Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LOVNGIRL*
Roud #7393
File: R732
===
NAME: Loving Hannah: see Farewell Ballymoney (Loving Hannah; Lovely Molly) (File: R749)
===
NAME: Loving Henry: see Young Hunting [Child 68] (File: C068)
===
NAME: Loving Nancy (I): see The Wagoner's Lad (File: R740)
===
NAME: Loving Nancy (II): see Nancy (II) (The Rambling Beauty) [Laws P12] (File: LP12)
===
NAME: Loving Reilly: see William Riley's Courtship [Laws M9] (File: LM09)
===
NAME: Low Back Car, The
DESCRIPTION: "When first I saw sweet Peggy... A low-backed car she drove." "The man at the turnpike bar" was too stunned by her appearance to collect the toll. Men are knocked down by her glance. The singer imagines driving in the low-backed car to be married.
AUTHOR: Samuel Lover (1797-1868)
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1853 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 26(397))
KEYWORDS: beauty nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, pp. 87-88, "The Low Back Car" (1 text)
Roud #6954
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(397), "The Low-Backed Car", J. Moore (Belfast) , 1846-1852; also Johnson Ballads 1101, "The Low Back'd Car"; Harding B 11(2253), Harding B 20(148), "The Low Back Car"; Harding B 11(2254), Firth b.26(233), 2806 b.11(253), "The Low-Back Car"
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(122b), "The Low-Backed Car," Poet's Box (Glasgow?), 1878
NOTES: Note that there is no connection, save the title, between this and the song we have indexed as "The Low-Backed Car." - RBW
File: OCon087
===
NAME: Low Down in the Broom
DESCRIPTION: "My daddy is a canker'd carle, He'll ne'er twine wi' his gear," the girl admits as she wishes to be with her lad. She details all the ways her family reigns her in. But she meets her love beneath the broom, and at last they escape and live happily
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1804 (Scots Musical Museum)
KEYWORDS: love courting family elopement
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 234-236, "Low Down in the Broom" (1 text)
Ord, p. 161, "Low Down in the Broom" (1 text)
Roud #1644
NOTES: Said to be the tune Burns used for "My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose."
Ford's version of this is distinctly longer than the versions in Ord and the Scots Musical Museum; it starts with several stanzas about how Jenny and "Pate" meet, whereas the SMM text simply outlines how difficult the girl's parents are. It is not clear which form is older; Ford had it from a chapbook. - RBW
File: FVS234
===
NAME: Low Down the Chariot and Let Me Ride: see Let Me Ride (File: Wa170)
===
NAME: Low-Backed Car, The
DESCRIPTION: "It's onward we travel through life's weary journey Our thoughts oft returns to the bright days of yore, To the scenes of our childhood" in and around St John's. Some day good times will return and we will go back to "be happy by the old low-backed car"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: homesickness emigration hardtimes lament lyric
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 120, "The Low-Backed Car" (1 text)
Roud #17751
NOTES: Greenleaf/Mansfield notes that "This is a song about a boy who grew up in St John's but was forced to leave Newfoundland when economic conditions prevented him from getting a living there ... The low-backed car marked a street in St John's" - BS
Note that there is no connection, save the title, between this and the song we have indexed as "The Low Back Car." - RBW
File: GrMa120
===
NAME: Lowell Factory Girl, The: see No More Shall I Work in the Factory (File: Grnw122)
===
NAME: Lower the Boat Down
DESCRIPTION: Halyard shanty. "There's only one thing grieves me. Ch: Oh, lower the boat down! It's my poor wife and baby, Ch: Oh, lower the boat down."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Colcord)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong separation
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Colcord, p. 63, "Lower the Boat Down" (1 single-verse fragment)
Hugill, p. 158-159, "Lower the Boat Down" (1 fragment, quoted from Colcord)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Roll the Cotton Down" (similar tune)
File: Colc063
===
NAME: Lowlands (My Lowlands Away)
DESCRIPTION: Sometimes a ballad: The singer is at sea when his love comes to him in a dream. She is dressed in white, and he realizes that his love is dead. Other times a lyric, in which the sailor talks about his travels, his ship, low pay, and/or a bad captain
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1870
KEYWORDS: shanty sailor sea love death dream ghost
FOUND_IN: US(MA) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (14 citations)
Doerflinger, pp. 80-82, "Lowlands" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Bone, pp. 124-126, "Lowlands" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Colcord, p. 100-101, "Lowlands" (2 texts, 2 tunes; the first is the dead lover version, the second the "Dollar and a half" version)
Harlow pp. 127-128 "Lowlands" (1 text, 1 tune, a "Dollar and a half" version")
Hugill, pp. 65-70 "Lowlands Away," "Lowlands or My Dollar An' A Half A Day" (4 texts, 2 tunes -- three dead lover versions, one Dollar and a half" version) [AbEd, pp. 61-64]
Sharp-EFC, XVIII, p. 21, "Lowlands Away" (1 text, 1 tune, a"Dollar and a half" version)
Mackenzie 109, "A Dollar and a Half a Day" (1 text)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 43-44, "Lowlands" (1 text, 1 tune); pp. 46-47, "Lowlands, II" (1 text); p. 47, "Lowlands, III" (1 fragment)
PBB 100, "Lowlands Away" (1 text)
Lomax-FSUSA 43, "Lowlands" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H469, p. 144, "My Lowlands, Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 89, "Lowlands" (1 text)
DT, LOWLNDS LOWLND2 LOWLND3
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). "Johnny Boker" is in Part 1, 7/14/1917. "Lowlands" is in Part 1, 7/14/1917.
Roud #681
RECORDINGS:
Anita Best and Pamela Morgan, "Lowlands Low" (on NFABestPMorgan01)
Anne Briggs, "Lowlands" (on Briggs1, Briggs3)
NOTES: This tune pattern ("Lowlands, lowlands away, my John...," with final line either "My lowlands away" or "My dollar and a half a day") has been used for at least three separate plots (which have perhaps cross-fertilized a bit): A dead sailor, a dead sailor's girl, and a more lyric piece about the bad conditions sailors face, the latter often having the "dollar and a half" refrain.
Shay, who apparently regards the dead sailor version as original, thinks this lyric item a much-decayed version of "The Lowlands of Holland." This is certainly possible, especially thematically, but there is a lot of evolution along the way....
Bone comments on this subject, "'Lowlands' is a very old song. There are many versions, but it seems to me that the lament in the air establishes it as an adaption of some old ballad....
"I have heard it sung on many occasions -- as a capstan shanty -- and always there were the three standard lines, repeated, as verses, 'I dreamt a dream the other night.' ... 'I dreamt I saw my own true love.' ... 'And then I knew my love was dead.' With these the chantyman felt that he had held to tradition and then warranted in his own right to hawk his own wares.'"
Hugill adds that it was Ònever too popular, as it was too difficult to sing properlyÓ -- which strikes me as true; it feels more like a ballad than a shanty. Most shanties have a very regular rhythm; this has very little.
Hugill thinks the "'dead lover' theme definitely originated in Scotland or the North of England" (which again feels right, not that that's proof). But he also thinks the tune as "a negro touch about it." That part I'm not so sure about. He adds that it is "the only chanty in which Sailor John allowed 'sob-stuff,'" which he again takes as evidence that it was not originally a shanty or even a sea-song. - RBW
File: PBB100
===
NAME: Lowlands Low (I), The: see The Golden Vanity [Child 286] (File: C286)
===
NAME: Lowlands Low (II), The: see Edwin (Edmund, Edward) in the Lowlands Low [Laws M34] (File: LM34)
===
NAME: Lowlands Low (III)
DESCRIPTION: Halyard shanty. "Our packet is the Island Lass, Low-lands, low-lands, low-lands, low! There's a nigger howlin' at the main top mast, Low-lands, low-lands, low-lands, low!" Verses mostly complaints and rhymes about sailing.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Sharp-EFC)
KEYWORDS: shanty work
FOUND_IN: West Indies
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Hugill, pp. 70-71, "Lowlands Low" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEb, pp. 64-65]
Sharp-EFC, XXIX, p. 34, "Lowlands Low" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8286
NOTES: Hugill says this is from ships the West Indian trade (sugar and rum), many of which had "chequerboard" crews, i.e. one watch white and one watch coloured. - SL
File: Hugi070
===
NAME: Lowlands of Holland, The
DESCRIPTION: A young couple are parted (when the young man is taken away to sea). While in service, he is drowned. The girl vows she will not dress in fine clothes nor seek another man until the day she dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1760
KEYWORDS: recruiting death parting pressgang separation ship marines
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South,Lond),Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap,NE,So) Canada(Newf) Ireland Australia
REFERENCES: (18 citations)
Bronson (92), 22 versions
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 55-57, "The Lowlands of Holland" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #9}
SharpAp 26, "The Lowlands of Holland" (1 fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's #12}
Sharp-100E 23, "The Low, Low Lands of Holland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 83, "The Lily of Arkansas" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 72-74, "The Lily of Arkansas" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 83A)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 45-46, "The Lawlands o' Holland" (1 text)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 113-114, "The Lowlands of Holland" (1 text)
Meredith/Anderson, p. 179, "The Lowlands of Holland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logan, pp. 22-25, "The Lowlands of Holland" (2 texts)
OBB 160, "The Lowlands o' Holland" (1 text)
Combs/Wilgus 132, p. 150, "The Soldier Bride's Lament" (1 text)
SHenry H180, pp. 149-150, "Holland Is a Fine Place" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 328-332, "The Lowlands of Holland (Scottish Version)"; "The Lowlands of Holland (English Version)"; "The Rocks of Gibraltar" (3 texts)
MacSeegTrav 12, "Lowlands of Holland" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-More 7A, "The Lowlands of Holland" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT (92), LOWHOLLD* LOWHOLL2* LOWHOLL3* LOWHOLL4 LOWHOLL5 LOWHOLL6 LOWHOLL7* LOWHOLL8
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 213, "(The Lily of Arkansas)" (1 fragment)
ST R083 (Full)
Roud #484
RECORDINGS:
Anita Best and Pamela Morgan, "The Lowlands of Holland" (on NFABestPMorgan01)
Paddy Tunney, "The Lowlands of Holland" (on IRPTunney01) (on Voice02)
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(68b), "The Rocks of Bonnie Gibraltar ," Poet's Box (Dundee), c.1890; also RB.m.143(121) "The Lowlands of Holland," Poet's Box (Dundee), c.1890
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Bonny Bee Hom" [Child 92] (given as an appendix to that ballad)
cf. "All Things Are Quite Silent" (theme)
cf. "The British Man-of-War" (tune)
cf. "Our Ship She Is Lying in Harbour" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Lily of Arkansas
NOTES: "The Lowlands of Holland" is frequently connected to "Bonny Bee Hom" (Child 92), a link dating back to Child (who printed four stanzas of Herd's text). The matter has been much studied, without clear conclusion. It might be noted, however, that "Bonny Bee Hom" involves a magic device (the stone that tells the lover whether his sweetheart is true), a theme not found in "The Lowlands of Holland."
It will also be obvious that "The Lowlands of Holland" has been enduringly popular, whereas "Bonny Bee Hom" has had very little currency in tradition. - RBW
File: R083
===
NAME: Loyal Song Against Home Rule, A
DESCRIPTION: "I'm an Irishman born in loyal Belfast." Ireland "would be ruined for ever if Home Rule was passed." Gladstone "has got no idea of the blood it would spill ... don't let old Gladstone get you in a snare ... It's time long ago he was upon the shelf" 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1893 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad political
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann 100, "A New Loyal Song Against Home Rule" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Home Rule for Ireland" (subject)
NOTES: William Ewart Gladstone became British prime minister in 1868 and supported Home Rule for Ireland. He introduced his first Home Rule Bill, which was defeated, in 1885. His second Home Rule Bill was defeated in 1893. (source: "Home Rule" on the Irelandseye site) - BS
For the sources cited in what follows, see the Bibliography at the end of this note.
Gradually during the nineteenth century, the restrictions on Catholics in Ireland were lifted. But the memory remained -- and most of the land was still in Protestant hands.
Gladstone devoted much of his energy as Prime Minister to improving conditions in Ireland, disestablishing the Church (see, e.g., "The Downfall of Heresy") and granting increased tenant rights (see especially "The Bold Tenant Farmer," though the need for land reform inspired many songs).
Gladstone apparently thought initially that ordinary reforms would be enough to satisfy Ireland (see "Home Rule for Ireland"; also Kee, p. 58: Gladstone seems at first to have imagined that he could solve the problem of Ireland forever by two measures: first, By disestablishing the Irish Protestant Church and, second, legislating to compensate a tenant financially on conviction).
The success of the Land League and the rise of Charles Stewart Parnell eventually forced him to see otherwise (for Parnell, see e.g. "The Blackbird of Avondale (The Arrest of Parnell)"; also "We Won't Let Our Leader Run DownÓ).
For most of the nineteenth century, the Irish had given their support primarily to the Liberals, who were more sympathetic to their cause. But Parnell, who by 1882 was the dominant force in Irish politics, wasn't willing to settle for that. In 1885, he urged his supporters to vote Conservative just to try to shake things up.
The result as an election in which the Liberals held 335 seats in parliament, the Conservatives 249 -- and Parnell controlled 86 seats and the balance of power (Kee, p. 89).
Prime Minister Gladstone tried to improve the situation with his proposal for Home Rule (partial internal autonomy  for Ireland). Gladstone's 1886 Home Rule proposal was limited -- the British would still control foreign and trade policy, for instance. But internal affairs would largely be in Irish hands.
Unfortunately, his own party was not united on the issue. A handful of members openly went over to the Conservatives; a larger block, headed by Joseph Chamberlain, remained devoted to other liberal reforms, but simply would not support Home Rule (see Kee, pp. 89-90; Massie, pp. 235-238).
The government fell, and Home Rule was shelved for seven years.
The second attempt was no more successful. According to Kee, p. 124, the 1893 Home Rule bill "occupied more parliamentary time than any other bill in the history of the century." You have to wonder why the Ulster Unionists -- who, as we shall see, went into conniptions -- were so worried; some wit quipped that Gladstone had no more power to pass Home Rule (through the Lords) than he did to install waterworks on the moon. The Lords not only rejected it, they rejected it 419-41 (Kee, p. 125).
That was about the end for Gladstone. It wasn't good for the Liberals, either; for fifteen years Parliament was split into four groups: Conservatives, classic Liberals, residual Parnellites (now led by John Redmond insofar as they had a leader; in the election of 1892, nearly 90% of the Irish MPs claimed to be anti-Parnellite, but that faded over time), and Liberal Unionists (Chamberlainites). For the most part, it was gridlock, though the Chamberlainites occasionally managed to extract liberal reforms from the Conservatives. But there was no possibility of serious legislation for Ireland.
Still, Home Rule naturally concerned the Irish Protestants, who would inevitably find Catholics in charge of a Home Rule Ireland. In most of Ireland, they were too few to really resist. But in Ulster, or at least in parts of it, they were the majority. And they didn't want the Catholics doing unto them as they had done unto the Catholics. (They knew what it was like: Unlike the Anglicans in the rest of Ireland, the Ulstermen *had* been subjected to religious persecution -- see Kee, pp. 96-97.) 
So the Presbyterians strenuously opposed Home Rule. The old Orange Society, which had been banned in 1836, was revived in 1845 in Enniskillen (Kee, p. 100), and a Protestant Defence Association came into being in 1867-1868 (Kee, p. 101-102) in response to the Land League and the British government's relatively mild reaction (Kee, p. 103). By 1884, Kee reports that 20,000 Orangemen were demonstrating on the anniversary of the Boyne. 
If Zimmermann's 1893 date is reliable, the probable inspiration for this song (apart from Gladstone's 1893 attempt at a Home Rule bill)  was the great Ulster Unionist Convention of 1892 (Kee, p. 122); some 12,000 were said to have attended; resolutions stated that Ulster was an integral part of the United Kingdom, rejected an Irish parliament, and declared against Home Rule. One speaker declared that Ulster would defend itself if threatened with rule from Dublin.
Finally, in 1904, came the foundation of the Ulster Unionist Council. (Which was, ironically, to help divide the Unioninist movement; as Townshend notes, p. 32, Unionists in southern Ireland were a small enough minority that their only hope was to retain Union. The Ulster Unionists had a fallback position: Partition. The two groups thus ended up pursuing different ends.)
Even before the founding of the UUC, the Unionists had had a spokesman in Edward Carson (1854-1935). He was denouncing Home Rule in the government by the 1890s, and helped along the split in the Liberal Party that made Home Rule impossible. Eventually he managed to take Ulster out of Ireland. The irony in this is that he wasn't an Ulsterman -- and on issues other than Union, he was even relatively liberal (Kee, p. 169-170). But he openly declared that would support anarchy rather than Home Rule (O'Connor, p. 45).
By 1911, Ulstermen were rallying and marching -- with compliant Justices of the Peace being more than willing to grant them permits to drill (Kee, p. 171; Townshend, p. 35). Nearly 450,000 would sign a "Solemn League and Covenant" to oppose Home Rule, some with their own blood (Kee, p. 180). 20,000 signed on the first day alone (O'Conor, p. 46). They were pledged to "Stand by one another in using all means which may be found necessary to defeat the present conspiracy to set up a Home Rule Parliament and in the even of such a Parliament being forced upon us, we further solemnly pledge ourseves to refuse to recognize its authority" (O'Connor, pp. 45-46).
Starting in 1913, the Ulster Unionist Council formed a provisional government (O'Connor, p. 46) and started raising a private army which woul eventually reach 100,000 men (Kee, p. 182; O'Connor, p. 46, credits them with 50,000 men withing three months of their foundation), though at first few had weapons (Townshend, p. 33); they practiced with wooden mock-ups. They would raise a million-pound insurance fund (Townshend, p. 42).
Members of the British government called it treason (O'Connor, p. 46). That didn't even slow them down.
Home Rule finally came back in 1910, long after Gladstone was dead. The Liberal government of H. H. Asquith, which needed the Irish votes controlled by Redmond (Dangerfield, pp. 52-53), passed Home Rule -- only to have the Lords block it again.
Asquith finally hit upon the radical solution of limiting the veto power of the House of Lords -- in effect setting up a system where the Lords could block a measure for two years, but have to give in if the Commons kept passing it. Asquith won a narrow parliamentary victory on this point (for an intensely detailed description of how all this came about, see Massie, pp. 640-662 -- the chapter entited "The Budget and the House of Lords"; for something shorter, see the notes to "My Father's a Hedger and Ditcher (Nobody Coming to Marry Me)").
With the Lords rendered relatively powerless, a preliminary Home Rule bill eventually passed in 1913 (see Cronin, pp. 177-179). But English opinion had not really been tested on the matter (Kee, p. 176, notes that "Only some 94 of the 272 successful Liberal candidates... had actually mentioned Home Rule at all in their election addresses" -- and that the Prime Minister was one of the many cabinet officials who did not mention the subject).
Worse, the army was not prepared to enforce the law; a number of officers resigned rather than prepare to suppress Ulster loyalists -- the so-called "Curragh Mutiny" (see Kee, p. 192). In trying to calm the mutiny, the British government made it effectively impossible to control Ulster loyalists. Indeed, future Conservative prime minister Andrew Bonar Law stood with Carson at a rally against Home Rule in Belfast (O'Connor, p. 45)
Then came World War I, which caused the law to be suspended (the Home Rule bill had been unravelling over the Ulster problem anyway). Kee reports that Prime Minister Asquith, after consultation with the main parties, "agreed... that Home Rule should become law and be placed on the statute book, but simultaneously with a Suspensory Act which would prevent it coming into force until a new Amending Bill could be introduced" (which, in practice, meant "until after the War").
Still, the bill formally passed and gained the KingÕs assent in 1914. There was celebration in the streets of Ireland (Kee, p. 222)
And then came the Easter Rising of 1916 -- something that real Home Rule might have prevented (Townshend, p. 30, believes that the passage of full home rule, including Ulster, would have turned many Irish nationalists, including rebellion leader Paidraig Pearse and perhaps Sinn Fein founder Arthur Griffith, away from rebellion. O'Connor, p. 41, makes the same argument, noting that Pearse gave a speech, in Irish, applauding Home Rule when it came. I have to add, though, that Pearse in the same speech rejected the notion of even nominal obedience to the crown.)
But the rebellion meant that Home Rule never did really come into effect -- in part because of British brutality in the aftermath of the Easter Rising, and partly because Ulster simply wouldn't accept it. Plus, of course, many of the more moderate Irish had joined the British army, and had died in droves in Flanders. The more militant nationalists had refused to serve. Thus, after the war, nationalist feeling was much stronger, and pro-British Irishmen fewer. Plus John Redmond, the man who had fought -- and compromised -- to win Home Rule had died in 1918, leaving Sinn Fein as the strongest political element.
When the pressure on Britain became intolerable, they gave Ireland the Free State and Partition rather than Home Rule in its initial form. In some ways, the Free State *was* Home Rule -- but it felt different, and opened the door for Eamon de Valera to make separation (and partition) complete.
We should note incidentally that the Orangemen did not really represent any particular segment of society; theirs was the minority no matter how you sliced the demographics. In the parliamentary election after Gladstone's Home Rule attempt, they lost even in Ulster (Kee, p. 106, reports that they won 16 seats, to 17 for their opponents). In Ulster as a whole, the population is said to have been 52% Protestant, 49% Catholic -- but a large share of those Protestants were Anglican, whereas the Orangemen were Presbyterian. Thus Catholics were the plurality in the nine counties of Ulster (three of which, to be sure, would end up in Ireland rather than Northern Ireland). And the Ulstermen didn't represent the majority of Ireland's Protestants, either; although Anglicans were everywhere else a small minority, there were enough of them that they outnumbered the Ulster Presbyterians.
For more on how all this played out, see especially the notes to "The Irish Free State." - RBW
>>BIBLIOGRAPHY<<:
In writing this summary, in addition to standard references such as the _Oxford Companions_ to British and Irish history, I have consulted the following works, cited by author's name above:
Cronin: Mike Cronin, _A History of Ireland_ (Palgrave, 2001(
Dangerfield: George Dangerfield, _The Damnable Question: One Hundred and Twenty Years of Anglo-Irish Conflict_ (Atlantic Little Brown, 1976)
Kee: Robert Kee, _The Bold Fenian Men_, being Volume II of _The Green Flag_  (Penguin, 1972)
Massie: Robert K. Massie, _Dreadnought_ (Random House, 1991)
O'Connor:  Ulick O'Connor, _Michael Collins & the Troubles: The Struggle for Irish Freedon 1912-1922_ (1975, 1996; first American edition published as _The Troubles_; I used the 1996 Norton edition)
Townshend: Charles Townshend, _Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion_ (Ivan R. Dee, 2006) - RBW
File: Zimm100
===
NAME: Lubin's Rural Cot
DESCRIPTION: "Returning homeward o'er the plain Upon a market day, A sudden storm of wind and rain O'ertook me on the way." The singer shelters in Lubin's rural cot, where he entertains her delightfully. He offers marriage; she happily accepts
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: home courting marriage storm
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 178-180, "Lubin's Rural Cot" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6263
NOTES: Why do I suspect there is more going on here than meets the eye? - RBW
File: FVS178
===
NAME: Lucindy, Won't You Marry Me
DESCRIPTION: "Lucindy, won't you marry me, Won't you marry me in the mornin'? If you'll marry me your mother'll Cook a shine-eyed-hen."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: food courting marriage
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 6, "Lucindy, Won't You Marry Me" (1 fragment)
Roud #7854
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Richard (Irchard) of Taunton Dean" (theme)
File: Br3006
===
NAME: Luck Went With the Sealers Since Brave Colloway Led the Strike, The: see notes under The Sealer's Strike of 1902 (The Sealers Gained the Strike) (File: RySm064)
===
NAME: Lucky Elopement, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer drinks. He courts a girl whose mother calls him a drunkard. He elopes with the daughter to London where they are found and sent to Carrick Jail. At his trial for theft the daughter attests to his virtues, he is acquitted and they marry.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (OLochlainn); c.1867 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 b.9(96))
KEYWORDS: elopement marriage trial drink mother
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn 43, "The Lucky Elopement" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2559
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.9(96), "Luckey Elopement," P. Brereton (Dublin), c.1867
LOCSinging, as108270, "Luckey Elopement," P. Brereton (Dublin), 19C
NOTES: Broadside LOCSinging as108270 appears to be the same as Bodleian 2806 b.9(96) printed by P. Brereton (Dublin). - BS
File: OLoc043
===
NAME: Lucky Escape, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer, born a plowman, meets a "Carsindo" who convinces him to go to sea. After a dreadful time aboard ship, he goes home and is told that his family has met disaster. When he declares that he will roam no more, he is told that all is well at home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: ship sailor farming separation home reunion reprieve
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Arnett, pp. 20-22, "The Lucky Escape" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1446
File: Arn020
===
NAME: Lucy and Colin: see Colin and Lucy (File: GC478b)
===
NAME: Lucy Locket: see Hunt the Squirrel (File: BAF806)
===
NAME: Lucy Long (I)
DESCRIPTION: "If I had a scolding wife, As sure as you are born, I'd take her down to New Orleans And trade her off for corn."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: apparently  1854, when a "Lucy Long" tune was cited in Put's Golden Songster
KEYWORDS: wife shrewishness
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 279, "If I Had a Scolding Wife" (1 fragmentary text, 1 tune)
BrownII 200, "If I Had a Scolding Wife" (1 fragment)
BrownIII 415, "Lynchburg Town" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 2 excerpts, and mention of 2 more, all with the "Lynchburg Town" chorus, but "A" and "B" have verses from "Raccoon" and "Possum Up a Gum Stump and "D" and "E" are partly "If I Had a Scolding Wife" ("Lucy Long (I)"); only "C" seems to be truly "Lynchburg Town")
Roud #7413
NOTES: Randolph and Brown both report this as a fragment of "Lucy Long," and I file it as such. It is interesting to note that both have the *same* single-stanza fragment; it seems likely enough that that one verse circulates on its own -- perhaps as the only traditional part of the song. - RBW
File: R279
===
NAME: Lucy Long (II)
DESCRIPTION: "One night when the moon was beaming, I strayed with my Lucy Long." The singer describes the beauties of their evening walk. He asks her to marry; she blushes, hesitates, and consents.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Randolph); a "Lucy Long" tune was cited in 1854 in Put's Golden Songster
KEYWORDS: love courting marriage
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 780, "Lucy Long" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7413
File: R780
===
NAME: Lucy Long (III)
DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Characteristic line: ""Why don't you try for to ring Miss Lucy Long?" Verses involve meeting Miss Lucy, making various attempts at seduction, and being rejected. A frequent first line is "Was you ever on the Brumalow/Brumielaw?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1796-1853 (Broadsides); 1926 (Terry)
KEYWORDS: shanty sailor seduction rejection
FOUND_IN: West Indies Britain
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Hugill, p. 396, "Miss Lucy Long" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 301]
Sharp-EFC, XXII, p. 25, "Lucy Long" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8285
NOTES: There are several versions of this in the Bodleian Broadside collection, though they lack the shanty's chorus lines. [These should perhaps be filed under Lucy Long (II).- RBW] Hugill says that Miss Lucy Long is a girl that often appears in Negro songs. - SL
File: Hugi396
===
NAME: Ludlow Massacre, The
DESCRIPTION: Faced with a strike, the mine owners drive the workers from their (company-owned) homes. The National Guard moves in and kills thirteen children by fires and guns. Since President and Governor cannot not stop the guard, fighting continues
AUTHOR: Woody Guthrie
EARLIEST_DATE: 1945 (recording, Woody Guthrie)
KEYWORDS: mining strike violence death labor-movement
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sept 1913 - Beginning of the strike by coal workers against John D. Rockefeller's Colorado Iron and Fuel Co.
April 1914 - A state militia company (actually composed of company thugs) attacks the Ludlow colony of strikers using machine guns and coal oil. 21 people die, including two women and thirteen children; three strikers are taken and murdered. Eventually federal troops are called in
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Scott-BoA, pp. 279-281, "The Ludlow Massacre" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 152-154, "Ludlow Massacre" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 134, "The Ludlow Massacre" (1 text)
DT, LUDLWMAS*
RECORDINGS:
Woody Guthrie, "Ludlow Massacre" (Asch 360, 1945; on on AmHist2, Struggle2)
File: SBoA279
===
NAME: Luir A Chodla (Put the Old Man to Sleep)
DESCRIPTION: Gaelic: Luir a chodla, cuir a chodla, cuir a chodla, an sean-cluine, luira chodle, nigh a chosa agus bog deoch do'r tsean duine. English: Put to sleep (x2) put to sleep the old man. Put him to sleep, wash his feet, and draw a drink for the old man
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960
KEYWORDS: age nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-FSNA 191, "Put the Old Man to Sleep" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Lomax claims this is a Gaelic version of "Rocking the Cradle (and the Child Not His Own)." The evidence is thin. - RBW
File: LoF191
===
NAME: Luke and Mullen
DESCRIPTION: Sam Mullen goes looking for Luke; Luke says he doesn't want trouble, but Mullen picks a fight until Luke shoots him. Cho: "Wake up, Sam Mullen, put on your shoes/Get ready to catch ol' Luke before he leave this town/For Luke done laid Mullen body down"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1954 (recording, Horace Sprott)
KEYWORDS: fight violence murder death
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Horace Sprott, "Luke and Mullen" (on MuSouth02)
NOTES: That the song continues in tradition is doubtful, but Horace Sprott said he learned it from a fellow packinghouse worker, so it was part of oral tradition at one time. - PJS
File: RcLukMul
===
NAME: Lukey's Boat
DESCRIPTION: A song describing Lukey and his boat. The boat is "painted green... the finest boat you've ever seen," etc. Lukey observes that his wife is dead, but "I don't care; I'll get another in the fall of the year."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: ship humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 126, "Lukey's Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 46-47, "Lukey's Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, p. 71, "Lukey's Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, p. 40, "Lukey's Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 44-45, "Lukey's Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 127, "Loakie's Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FJ046 (Partial)
Roud #1828
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Lukey's Boat" (on NFOBlondahl05)
NOTES: [According to Blondahl, Doyle attributes this to] Mr Roberts, and others, Mrs Ira Yates, Mr Andrew Young, Twillingate, 1929. - BS
Creighton's informants say that the subject of the song lived in Lunenburg. - RBW
File: FJ046
===
NAME: Lula Gal: see The Jawbone Song AND Crawdad, etc. (File: R259)
===
NAME: Lula Viers [Laws F10]
DESCRIPTION: John Coyer weighs his fiancee Lula Viers down with metal and throws her into the river. The body is not discovered for several months. Coyer is arrested, but is handed over to the army before going on trial
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: murder river
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Oct 1917 - Murder of Lula Viers by John Coyer. Viers was pregnant by Coyer, and he apparently preferred murder to marriage
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws F10, "Lula Viers" (sample text in NAB, pp. 62-64)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 144-146, "Lula Vires" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 79-81, "Lula Viers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 203-204, "Lula Viers" (1 text)
DT 804, LULAVIER
Roud #1933
NOTES: Laws was able to verify the basic facts of this ballad from the records of Floyd County, Kentucky (learning in the process that she was pregnant); see his notes in NAB, p.  65. - RBW
File: LF10
===
NAME: Lula Vires: see Lula Viers [Laws F10] (File: LF10)
===
NAME: Lulie: see Shout Lula (File: RcShLulu)
===
NAME: Lullaby: see Hush, Little Baby (File: SBoA164)
===
NAME: Lullaby for a Sailor's Child
DESCRIPTION: "Roar, roar, thunder of the sea, Wild waves breaking on the sandy bar, And my true love is sailing, sailing far For his rosy little boy and Shena." The singer bids the child sleep, and wishes a blessing on her sailor far away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: lullaby sailor separation nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H517, p. 7, "Lullaby for a Sailor's Child" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: HHH517
===
NAME: Lully, Lullay, Lully, Lullay: see The Corpus Christi Carol (File: L691)
===
NAME: Lulu (I): see My Lulu (File: San378)
===
NAME: Lulu (II)
DESCRIPTION: Composite of verses about Lulu and mountain life, e.g. "Lulu, get your hair cut Just like mine." "I went a fishin' an' fished for shad, First I caught was my old dad." "I'll give you a nickel, An' I'll give you a dime To see little Lulu Cut her shine"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (JAFL 22)
KEYWORDS: courting fishing nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 183, "Lulu" (1 text, clearly composed of parts of different songs as some stanzas are twice the length of others)
Roud #4202
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Shad" (floating verse)
NOTES: This might be connected in some way with "My Lulu." But the Brown and Sandburg versions have only the woman's name in common, so I've separated them. - RBW
File: Br3183
===
NAME: Lulu Walls
DESCRIPTION: The singer describes "that aggravating beauty, Lulu Walls." She has stolen his heart and left him in "sad misery." He plans to offer to wed, but knows she will turn him down. If she were his, he would surround her with walls so no one else would see her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Walter Morris)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 383, "Lulu Walls" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LULUWALL*
Roud #3338
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "Lulu Walls" (Victor V-40126, 1929; Montgomery Ward M-4437, 1934) (Romeo 06-05-53, 1936)
A'nt Idy Harper & the Coon Creek Girls, "Lulu Wall" (Conqueror 9065 [as Coon Creek Girls]/Vocalion 04203, 1938)
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "Lulu Wall" (Brunswick 229/Vocalion 5252, 1928)
Walter Morris, "Lulu Walsh" (Columbia 15115-D, 1927)
Marvin Williams, "Lula Wall" (OKeh 45467, 1930)
NOTES: Recorded by the Carter Family, and credited to A. P. Carter -- but given that the song was in circulation in the Ozarks in 1928, it seems a fair bet that the song predates the Carters. Though it is quite likely that the Carters rewrote it. - RBW
The Ozark folks may well have learned the song from the Morris recording. - PJS
File: R383
===
NAME: Luluanna: see Lovana (File: Beld223)
===
NAME: Lumber Camp Song, The
DESCRIPTION: A song describing life in the lumber camp. The shanty boys are men of all places and occupations. Most of the song is devoted to details of meals, smoking in the evening, and sleep. Details of the song vary widely
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1896 (Delaney's Song Book #13)
KEYWORDS: logger separation lumbering moniker
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW,NE) Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont)
REFERENCES: (12 citations)
Doerflinger, pp. 210-211, "The Lumber Camp Song" (1 text)
Rickaby 14, "Jim Porter's Shanty Song" (2 texts plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 104, "The Shanty Boys" (1 text)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 141-143, "The Shanty Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 72-73, "The Lumber Camp Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 159, "The Lumber Camp Song" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 750-751, "Hurling Down the Pine" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke-Lumbering #5, "The Lumbercamp Song" (4 short texts, tune referenced); #7, "Hurry Up, Harry" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 38-39, "Shanty Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
FSCatskills 2, "Cutting Down the Pines" (1 text, 1 tune)
Beck 11, "The Shanty Boys in the Pine" (2 texts, 1 tune)
DT, CUTPINES*
ST Doe210 (Full)
Roud #667
RECORDINGS:
Emery DeNoyer, "Shantyman's Life" (AFS, 1941; on LC55)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Jim, the Carter Lad" (lyrics)
cf. "The Herring Gibbers" (theme, tune)
cf. "Turner's Camp on the Chippewa" [Laws C23] (theme)
cf. "Falling of the Pine" (theme)
cf. "Johnny Carroll's Camp" (theme)
cf. "Dans Les Chantiers (The Winter Camp)" (theme)
cf. "The Winter of '73 (McCullam Camp)" (theme)
cf. "Burns's Log Camp" (theme)
cf. "Bunkhouse Ballad" (theme)
cf. "Winter Desires" (theme)
cf. "Hall's Lumber Crew" (theme)
cf. "Peaslee's Lumber Crew" (structure)
cf. "Dempsey's Lumber-Camp Song" (theme)
cf. "Trimble's Crew" (theme, tune)
cf. "Poupore's Shanty Crew" (theme, tune)
cf. "The Oxen Song" (theme)
cf. "The Boys at Ninety-Five" (theme)
NOTES: Fowke states that this is derived from "Jim the Carter Lad." That they have shared verses is undeniable. I'm not quite as sure that this is a direct descendant.
Fowke lists her unique text "Hurry Up, Harry" as a separate song, and Roud surprisingly consents (#4363) -- but it has the same form and many of the same lyrics as this piece; the only substantial difference is the addition of the chorus "So it's hurry up, Harry, and Tom or Dick or Joe....  (and even that shows up in the verses of some versions such as Gardner/Chickering and Cazden et al). I'd still call it the same song, at least until someone finds a version other than LaRena Clark's. - RBW
Peacock: "For a marine variant with the same tune see... The Herring Gibbers, [which could be] the original version. However, considering the fact that the lumbering version has been traced back at least a hundred years I am inclined to give it priority" - BS
Much of logging camp routine was determined by the climate and seasons. It was easier to cut trees when the sap was not running, so the camps were active during the winter; this also let them run the logs downstream in the spring when the water levels were higher. This had the final benefit that it let some of the loggers farm during the summer. But it did mean that life in camp was rather limited in its possibilities. - RBW
File: Doe210
===
NAME: Lumbering Boy: see Harry Dunn (The Hanging Limb) [Laws C14] (File: LC14)
===
NAME: Lumberjack, The
DESCRIPTION: Recitation; the speaker praises the character of lumberjacks, despite their rough-hewn ways.
AUTHOR: Probably Marion Ellsworth
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: lumbering work nonballad recitation logger
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Beck 98, "The Lumberjack" (1 text)
Roud #8879
NOTES: This, like the other pieces probably written by Ellsworth, does not seem to have entered oral tradition. - PJS
File: Be098
===
NAME: Lumberjack's Revival: see Silver Jack [Laws C24] (File: LC24)
===
NAME: Lumberman in Town, The
DESCRIPTION: "When the lumberman comes down, Ev'ry pocket bears a crown, And he wanders, some pretty girl to find." He stays at a fine inn till his money is gone, whereupon he regretfully returns to the woods. (When he is old, he marries a young girl who mocks him)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939
KEYWORDS: logger work drink marriage age
FOUND_IN: US(NE) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Lomax-FSUSA 51, "The Lumberman in Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke-Lumbering #44, "When the Shantyboy Comes Down" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 28, "When the Shantyboy Comes Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LxU051 (Partial)
Roud #4374
File: LxU051
===
NAME: Lumberman's Alphabet, The: see The Logger's Alphabet (File: Doe207)
===
NAME: Lumberman's Life, The: see The Shantyman's Life (I) (File: Doe211)
===
NAME: Lupe: see Charlotte the Harlot (III) (File: EM169B)
===
NAME: Lurgan Town (I)
DESCRIPTION: The singer steps up to a girl and tries to court her. She says she is pledged to Jamie. He says Jamie died in China, and shows the (broken) ring he gave her. She laments, and curses her parents who exiled him. He reveals that he is Jamie; they get married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation reunion brokentoken exile soldier
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H563, p. 316, "Lurgan Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6871
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. esp. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] and references there
File: HHH563
===
NAME: Lurgan Town (II)
DESCRIPTION: Catholic Inspector Hancock has changed Lurgan. You'd be jailed two days for singing an Orange song. He keeps the Fenian meetings safe. The police come to our dance and dance the girls to Garryowen. He breaks up an Orange demonstration on July 12.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: discrimination Ireland political police dancing
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 54, "Lurgan Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6870
NOTES: OLochlainn-More: "The ballad was occasioned by the unpopular appointment of a Catholic Inspector of Police in Lurgan, Co. Armagh."
July 12 celebrates the Battle of the Boyne, 1690. When Hancock breaks up the demonstration, says the song, "We turned, shook hands, all we could do Was say 'Boys remember the Boyne water!'" - BS
File: OLcM054
===
NAME: Lurgy Stream, The (The Lurgan/Leargaidh Stream)
DESCRIPTION: The singer arrives in the country and sees a beautiful woman by the (Lurgy) stream. He asks her to marry him and come across the seas. She turns him down. He promises to be true, and tries again. She rejects him again. He mopes and leaves home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H65a, pp. 293-294, "Alt[i]mover Stream" (1 text, 1 tune); H229a+b, p. 360-361, "The Lurgan Stream" (2 texts, 1 tune. The two texts are probably different redactions of the same original)
McBride 52, "The Lurgy Stream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6881 and 6889
RECORDINGS:
Mary Ann Connelly, "Lurgan Stream" (on Voice15)
NOTES: McBride: "This is another Donegal song, popular in many parts of Ireland, especially the northern parts. Versions of this song were made famous in the earlier half of this century through recordings made in America by people like John McGettigan. Old 78 rpm records were sent home to the kinfolk by emigrants." - BS
File: HHH229
===
NAME: Lusitania, The
DESCRIPTION: Lusitania sails from New York for Ireland. "Three thousand souls she had on board ... Until those cruel German dogs, for her they lay unseen, And shattered her to fragments with their cursed submarine" Vanderbilt gives his life-belt to a mother.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck sailor war
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 7, 1915: "At lunchtime ... a torpedo from U-20 struck the _Lusitania_. A further explosion rent the ship and she sank in two hours with the loss of 1200 lives" (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, pp. 117-118)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ranson, p. 76, "The Lusitania" (1 text)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 2, "The Lusitania" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7349
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "The Lusitania" (on IRTLenihan01)
NOTES: The _Lusitania's_ tragic story tells a great deal about the peculiar circumstances of the early twentieth century. The British, though long known for their merchant fleet, were losing the edge in passenger service, especially high-speed passenger service; the German lines NDL and HAPAG were taking over the market (see Ramsey, pp. 5-8. For references, see the bibliography at the end of this note). Britain had only three companies competing in this market, Inman, White Star, and Cunard. Inman had sold out in the late nineteenth century, and J. P. Morgan by the early twentieth century owned the remnants of Inman and was controlling the White Star Line (Brinnin, p. 325; Ramsey, p. 12); Brinnin, p. 328, and Barczewski, p. 260, note that he was sniffing after Cunard as well, hoping to create a dominating transatlantic cartel.
To top it all off, the German lines were in alliance with their government (Ramsey, p. 10) and had a working arrangement with Morgan (Brinnin, pp. 325-327).
Cunard had long built its reputation on an amazing safety record (no passengers lost, *ever*; see Brinnin, pp. 272, 275, etc.), but now, seeing its position drastically affected, had little choice but to get into the alliance game itself. Dangling the threat of a Morgan takeover, they negotiated with the British government (Brinnin, pp. 328-331), and came away with a big subsidy in return for rights to requisition Cunard ships in event of war. The first ships to come under this arrangement were the _Caronia_ and _Carmania_ -- but the real prize, for Cunard, was an agreement to build two fast liners that could be requisitioned and converted to auxiliary cruisers. These were the _Lusitania_ and her sister the _Mauretania_.
When she was launched in 1907, the 30,396 ton _Lusitania_ was the largest ship afloat, capable of over 26 knots for brief spells (Ramsey, p. 24). She soon won the Blue Riband for fastest transatlantic crossing, making the trip in less than five days and averaging almost 24 knots for the entire trip (Ramsey, pp. 27-28). She thus became the first-ever "four day ship" (Brinnin, p. 342). The only ship to compete with her in speed was her sister _Mauretania_, which proved to be ever so slightly faster and in fact held the Blue Riband for an incredible 22 years (Brinnin, p. 344). _Mauretania_ also managed the incredible feat of completing all her crossings over a long period in a time that varied by only about ten minutes (Brinnin, p. 345).
(We should note that a misconception found in many histories is false. The _Lusitania_ and _Mauretania_ were *not* the fastest ships in the world -- contrary even to an assertion made by _Lusitania's_ crew to her passengers in 1915; see Simpson, p. 112. The sisters were the fastest *liners*, but by 1915, there were all sorts of ships capable of catching her. Taking the data in _Jane's Fighting Ships of World War I_, the 1912 battlecruiser _Tiger_ could reach 28 knots, the 1913 light cruisers of the _Aurora_ class averaged about 28, and the 1911 "K" class destroyers hit 31 knots. Even the battleships of the _Queen Elizabeth_ class could reach 24-25 knots. And ships with an even higher turn of speed were produced during the war. Germany had no _Queen Elizabeths_, but they had battlecruisers and destroyers that could catch _Lusitania_ and _Mauretania_. It's just that their submarines couldn't.)
Apart from being fast, the sisters was also allowed passengers luxuries never before seen (and not to be matched until White Star produced the _Olympic_ and _Titanic_ four years later). She used electricity for many functions previously done by hand or hydraulically, and her cabins were half again as large as previous liners (Brinnin, p. 342). As designed, the _Lusitania_ had four boiler rooms and capacity for 552 first class passengers, 460 second class, 1186 third class, and 827 crew (Ramsey, p. 25). 
There were a few glitches in the original design. As originally built, _Lusitania_ vibrated so badly at high speed that she had to be taken in for a major refit. (Ballard, p. 22.) The repairs succeeded, for the most part, but they perhaps indicated some structural problems.
Despite her design problems, _Lusitania_ was in many ways a stronger ship than her slightly later contemporary, the _Titanic_; _Titanic_ had only 16 watertight cells, _Lusitania_ 34 (Ballard, p. 23). Unlike _Titanic_, she was pretty close to iceberg-proof. But, of course, she never ran into an iceberg. The surprise was that she proved so vulnerable to man-made attack.
It's also worth noting that she wasn't really suited to be a warship, despite the gun mountings built into her original design; to achieve her high speed, she was very long and lean. This meant that she (and _Mauretania_ as well) was not particularly stable; in heavy weather, the bow could pitch wildly into the air, then bury itself in the seas; she was a very "wet" ship (Barczewski, p. 261). This would have made her a poor gun platform; battleships in particular tend to be very broad of beam, to help keep the guns on target. Indeed, the Admiralty soon after the start of the War refitted the _Carmania_ as an auxiliary cruiser, and she succeeded in sinking a German refitted liner, the _Cap Trafalgar_ -- but the experiment showed how ineffective the _Carmania_ was as a warship (Brinnin, pp. 407-409, tells of the battle, which resulted in severe damage to the _Carmania_ as well; both ships needed dozen of hits to sink their opponents. Brinnin, p. 410, calls it a "Gilbert and Sullivan gunfight.").
This should probably have been obvious all along. Most converted liners -- "auxiliary cruisers" -- were armed with guns in the four inch to six inch range, with no more than a dozen fitted, and obviously none of them centerline mounted. This meant that the liners would have offensive power somewhere between a destroyer and a weak light cruiser (and without a destroyer's antisubmarine weapons). But the liner needed at least as many men as a light cruiser, was slower than some cruisers and all destroyers, and burned more coal. Armed merchant cruisers weren't useful offensive weapons. The Admiralty largely abandoned the idea of arming the luxury liners; they just weren't effective enough for the task.
That didn't mean the Admiralty wouldn't use the liners, though. Britain had a lot of soldiers to move, and a lot of freight to haul, and liners were excellent for the first function and could be refitted to do the latter also. _Lusitania_ would be one of the ships so modified.
It's at this point that things get a little murky. That _Lusitania_ underwent a refit is certain. But many claims have been made about what was done during the refit. Simpson, pp. 27-28, claims that she actually was given guns at this time during a dockyard stay beginning August 8 (pretty amazing, given that the war had started only four days earlier).
But even Simpson allows that she never sailed as an auxiliary cruiser (p. 37), and seems to admit that she never went out armed. Light, who dived to the ship in the 1960s, thought he saw guns (O'Sullivan, p. 36) -- but he worked in very bad conditions, in which mistakes were quite possible; even O'Sullivan admits that "to date nothing has been found to substantiate his claims."
Ramsey, pp. 186-192, documents how the story that she was armed arose, but also shows why it is false. Even if you doubt the British records, Ballard's exploration (much more thorough than Light's) would have shown guns on her decks, and evidence of secondary explosions from her shells, and it showed neither.
So what was the Admiralty doing to _Lusitania_ during the refit? Primarily converting her to carry more cargo. They opened out some passenger space for storage and other purposes (Ramsey, p. 36), incidentally affecting her stability somewhat and worsening that pesky vibration (Ramsey, p. 39; Simpson, p. 45). It also caused significant inconvenience for the passengers. But the navy left her in merchant service.
This was actually against Cunard's wishes. With the war on, transatlantic traffic fell dramatically. _Lusitania_ didn't have enough passengers to make a profit, but the admiralty wouldn't let her change her schedule; they wanted her bringing supplies. The government's only promises were to continue the subsidy to the ships, to pay for cargo space, and to insure the ship (Simpson, p. 38). The admiralty would determine her course and sailing time.
It was a recipe for big losses. The only answer Cunard could find was to close down one of her four boiler rooms (to save coal; Ballard, pp. 30-31, and also to reduce the number of stokers needed; Simpson, p. 85). The shut-down of the boilers allowed her to roughly break even despite the reduced passenger load, but it also reduced her speed significantly -- and all that time spent fiddling around also reduced her efficiency and caused some of her equipment to deteriorate (Ramsey. p. 51).
The war also cost her most of her more experienced crew; the sailors ended up in the navy and some of the stewards and such were in the army. Their replacements were inexperienced (Simpson, p. 102, says that she managed to find only 41 able seamen for the last trip, though she was supposed to have at least 77), and such crew as could be found had a significant tendency to desert upon reaching New York (Ballard, p. 59). Some spoke poor English, and few knew their way around the ship.
It was not a good combination should there be an emergency. And as for lowering the boats -- well, unlike the _Titanic_ three years earlier, they had boat drills, but a passenger reported that they involved only two boats, and even those were not actually lowered (Ballard, p. 63); obviously the crew and passengers would not be ready in the event of disaster. (Simpson, p. 102, is of the opinion that the crew simply lied about her disaster preparedness.) Topping it all off, her schedule was reduced to one round trip per month, making it harder for the crew to become accustomed to their tasks (Ballard, p. 208).
During the war, the ship continued to run primarily passengers, but she did carry some war-related cargo on her final voyages. (The British naturally concealed some of this until after the war, contributing to Simpson's air of paranoia.) O'Sullivan, p. 117, notes that under American law "no vessel could legally sail with any explosives likely to endanger the health or lives of passengers or the safety of the vessel."
The question, of course, is whether her cargo did in fact violate the American rules. It appears, contrary to O'Sullivan, that she did not. Just what she was carrying on her last trip is slightly uncertain; some of it was munitions -- some four million rifle cartridges and 5000 3-inch shells (Ramsey, p. 56) -- but Ballard, p. 27, notes that these were considered legitimate items to transport on a passenger liner even in wartime, since they were not explosive (cf. O'Sullivan, p. 1330, and Brinnin, p. 422, observes that the shell casings were not loaded with explosives (they were "filled," i.e. the shrapnel had been loaded -- but shrapnel is not itself explosive; O'Sullivan, pp. 131-132. The actual charges would be filled in England).
Simpson observes that the British were playing a bit fast and loose with cargo manifests at the time. In effect, they submitted one well in advance with her "standard" cargo, then another with last-minute changes. Not too surprisingly, most of the last-minute changes involved perishable items like food -- given Britain's need for foodstuffs, the local buyers would naturally take whatever they could lay their hands on and find space for in the cargo holds (which had to be loaded very carefully, since the ship wasn't really designed for cargo-hauling and didn't have elevators or passages designed for freight). But it would presumably have been easy to slip in some contraband with the last-minute items.
A suspicious mind could have a field day with this. Simpson makes a great deal about 3863 large boxes of cheese (p. 105). But there were some genuinely mysterious items -- notably something listed on her cargo manifest as 205 barrels of oysters, which would certainly go bad before they could be distributed (Ramsey, p. 57). The obvious assumption was that they were actually military materials. The flip side is, even if those oysters were actually explosives (say), 205 barrels of explosives weren't going to change the outcome of the war.
The German government issued warnings in 1915 threatening unrestricted submarine attacks on "civilian" shipping sailing too close to the British Isles; one such message was published in a newspaper just as the Lusitania started her final run (Ramsey, p. 53; Ballard, p. 31, prints a copy of the ad). Supposedly some of the passengers also received warnings, but these had an air of the crank about them (Ballard, p. 32). Few changed their plans. Simpson, p. 114, claims there was a melancholy air about the passengers as they went aboard, but cites no source for this claim.
After all, the _Lusitania_, even with her speed reduced, was faster than any German submarine (her new cruising speed was about 18 knots, and she could still hit 21 in a pinch -- twice the speed of a submerged submarine, and at least five knots faster than a submarine on the surface), so no attempt was made to give her an escort (Paine, p. 311). Indeed, had she been given a naval escort, it would have made her a legitimate target in any reckoning.
On May 1, 1915 _Lusitania_ sailed from New York with nearly two thousand people on board. This was by no means a full load; she had only 291 passengers in first class (53% of capacity); there were 601 second class passengers (31% over capacity). Steerage was almost empty, with only 31% of berths filled: 373 out of 1186 possible (Ballard, p. 37).
On May 6, _Lusitania_ entered Germany's declared "war zone." The claims that she made no attempts to avoid her fate are, however, false; Ballard, p. 72, notes that she extinguished her lights at night -- and she swung out her boats, just in case. And she did receive some warnings of submarines. It's just that they didn't describe how severe the danger was (fully 23 ships in the area had been sunk since _Lusitania_ left New York, including several sunk by _Lusitania's_ nemesis U-20; O'Sullivan, pp. 85-88, though this report is marred, e.g., by calling H. M. S. _Juno_ a "battle cruiser"; _Juno_ was a light cruiser from the 1890s, meaning that, rather than being one of the fanciest and newest ships in the fleet, she was a piece a junk the British would have been better off without. It's like calling a Yugo a Mercedes).
Other ships were warned in detail and redirected; _Lusitania_ was not (O'Sullivan, p. 87). Of course, _Lusitania_ was not expected to be anywhere near the Old Head of Kinsale at that time. Except -- she was.
In the absence of detailed knowledge of conditions in the area, Captain Turner chose to sail past Ireland at 18 knots; _Lusitania_ was big enough that he needed the right tide or a pilot to enter Liverpool, and he didn't want to have to sit around outside the bar, where he would be an even better U-boat target (Ballard, p. 78). So he ignored standing orders said to proceed at full speed near harbors, to sail away from headlands, and to zigzag in the war zone (Ballard, p. 79), later claiming to misunderstand the rules.
There has been much argument over whether the sinking was justified. Some, like Simpson, seem to think it entirely justified. Others think it a pure atrocity. The truth is surely somewhere in between: The ship *was* carrying military materials, and the Germans probably knew that -- though the submarine commander didn't; he didn't even know it was the _Lusitania_ at the time he fired -- but the ship was neither armed nor armored, and it could have been given proper notice and sunk after the boats were off. (Sez I. But back to our story....)
Early in the afternoon of May 7, off the Kinsale coast not far from Queenstown (Cobh), _Lusitania_ encountered the U-20 under KapitanLeutenant (Lt. Commander) Walter Schwieger.
Schwieger had already had several run-ins with British merchant ships, and was low on torpedoes; he fired only one (some sources, including Marshall, p. 166, says there were two; it appears this was based on the first British investigation, for which see O'Sullivan, p. 122; this claimed two torpedo hits, one forward and one aft. This was inspired by the fact witnesses agreed there were two explosions; cf. Ramsey, p. 269. The claim of two torpedoes was initially affirmed but later retracted by the captain -- Ramsey, p. 274. The British investigation, of course, had no access to the German records showing only one torpedo; it must have seemed logical to assume two explosions meant two hits. It was nonetheless wrong).
In a major stroke of luck, that one torpedo hit _Lusitania_ squarely, and exploded properly (many German torpedoes at this time were duds), and caused a secondary explosion. The ship instantly started listing, and sank within 20 minutes (Paine, p. 311), relieving Schwieger of the need to decide whether to fire another torpedo (Ballard, p. 90). Indeed, he found the sight "too horrible to watch" (Brinnin, p. 420).
The speed with which the ship sank turned what could have been a relatively minor incident into a disaster. The crew began evacuating at once -- but it took time to round up the passengers and lower the boats. This was all the more problematic because the ship was listing so heavily; within minutes, it was difficult to walk or even stay balanced. It was also hard to lower the boats and keep passengers in them (Simpson, p. 22, claims that a list of five degrees -- which could be caused by only one compartment flooding -- would makes half her boats inoperable). The result was chaotic; many boats could not be lowered, and others collided or were damaged as they were lowered.
Many passengers never even made it to the deck; the ship's electrical system failed only minutes after the explosion (Ballard, p. 99), so many below decks would have had no lights to guide them upward.
There were 764 survivors (Paine, p. 311; Ramsey, p. 94 says they consisted of 474 passengers and 290 crew). There were about 1200 casualties, though the number is slightly uncertain (Brinnin, p. 417, says it took months even to come up with a number). According to Keegan, p. 265; also Paine, p. 311, a total of 1201 lives were lost. On the other hand Marshall, p, 166, Barczewski, p. 289, Brinnin, p. 417, and O'Sullivan, p. 27 say that 1198 people were killed, which is also the figure we find if we subtract 764 from the 1962 people Ramsey claims were on board (p. 94). Simpson, p. 1, prefers the figure 1201, explaining on p. 9 that the figure of 1198 excludes three stowaways (!) not on the official passenger list. Ballard, p. 13, says that 1195 died.
Most sources seem to agree that 128 of the victims were Americans (Ballard, p. 13, says there were 123 Americans; O'Sullivan, p. 89 gives the number as 140 but on p. 107 says there were 127 Americans), producing a diplomatic crisis though it did not at the time lead to war. Germany was forced for a time to back off from unrestricted submarine warfare.
The Vanderbilt of the song is Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt, who died on the _Lusitania_ (though he wasn't one of the more famous Vanderbilts; his wealth was primarily inherited; Ballard, p. 32). According to Ramsey, p. 85, he did indeed give his lifebelt to a female passenger, Alice Middleton. (Though, in the salt water off Ireland, the real threat was not drowning but hypothermia or being washed away from land.) Ballard, p. 116, reports that he made no effort to save himself (he could not swim); his body was never found.
Indeed, Brinnin, p. 425, says some 900 bodies were not recovered; either they were swept out to sea or they went down to the hip.
Brinnin's comment (p. 421) may help explain the notoriety of what happened: "Dresden, Hiroshima, Biafra, My Lai [to which we might now add Bosnia, 9/11, Iraq, Darfur....] -- after [these and] all the other names and instances of the murderous course of the middle years of the twentiety century, it is all but impossible to recapture, even to understand, the sense of outrage, 'the universal shout of execration,' generated by the sinking of the _Lusitania_."
There was of course an inquiry held after the sinking, but it being wartime, very little was done to punish Cunard or the captain and crew for sloppiness; instead, the blame was placed squarely on the Germans. _Lusitania_ became just another atrocity story, used to inflame American opinion against Germany, causing the Germans to temporarily abandon unrestricted submarine warfare.
O'Sullivan's chapter on this stage of the affair is entitled "The Sham Tribunals." They were certainly a sham in that it was certain the Germans would be blamed for sinking the ship -- though it can hardly be denied that they did so! O'Sullivan accuses the Admiralty of suppressing evidence (pp. 118-121), offering several particulars but not documenting any of them. 
It also came out that Turner had not ordered the passengers to learn how to put on their life belts (and the belts had to be fitted properly to work; apparently some passengers died by wearing them wrong), nor he had ordered them to wear them, or even keep them close at hand, in the danger zone (Ballard, p. 132). And, of course, he had not ordered adequate boat drills (Ballard, p. 135).
I can't help but think, reading Captain Turner's responses at the inquiries, that he sounds like a senile old man. Admittedly he had just lost his ship, which might account for his befuddled state -- but he had acted just as befuddled *before* the sinking. Presumably Turner could no more believe that the Germans would attack without warning than could the passengers. He was, more or less, exonerated.
This may have been unfortunate, since Captain Turner was given another ship -- which also ended up being torpedoed and sunk (Ballard, p. 137). Turner again survived, but apparently that finally caused authorities to put him on the beach.
O'Sullivan also accuses the admiralty of making Turner the scapegoat; p. 115. But one can only be a scapegoat if one is not guilty of anything -- and Turner, at the very least, was guilty of not taking adequate precautions. Turner may not have had specific instructions for how to proceed, but he should certainly have known that he was making himself a big fat target in a region where submarine attacks were quite possible.
Unlike the other great disaster of the period, _Lusitania's_ transatlantic rival the _Titanic_, the _Lusitania_ went down in relatively shallow waters, and the wreck was visited as early as the 1930s. But it wasn't until the late twentieth century that Ballard really investigated the wreck.
The question of why she sank has long been a topic of controversy. Many have speculated that it was in fact an explosion of war materials she had secretly taken aboard (Ballard, p. 14). Ballard's exploration argues against this; he notes on p. 151 that there was only one hole in her hull. It is his belief, based on the opening in the hull and the distribution of coal around her grave, that the second explosion was caused by coal dust: Since the ship was nearing her destination, her bunkers were relatively empty, except for dust. The torpedo sent the dust up into the air, and then sparked it, and the explosion of all the coal was what brought the ship down (Ballard, p. 195).
O'Sullivan, pp. 134-136, holds out for an explosion caused by powdered aluminum (which can attract oxygen from water, causing the leftover hydrogen to burn). There was aluminum in the cargo -- a lot of it -- though it, unlike the coal, was carefully packagaed. And aluminum, even if powdered (as O'Sullivan says it was, though he as usual does not cite a source) is certainly a legitimate cargo.
Under either his theory or Ballard's, it is an "industrial accident" (O'Sullivan, p. 137).
The other possibility is that her boilers blew up -- not an unusual occurence in ships of this period. But there wasn't much time for that to happen.
Apart from causing a diplomatic incident, there was one other effect of the sinking: The Admiralty gave in to the economics of the situation. For the remainder of the war, there was no British passenger service on the Atlantic (Brinnin, p. 426).
An interesting side note is that the _Titanic_, three years before, inspired almost too many songs to count. The _Lusitania_ seems to have inspired just this one, and it not particularly well-known. Why? It can't be just the war, since the _Lusitania_ got plenty of coverage. Maybe it's that the disaster couldn't so easily be blamed on "the hand of God." Though, in fact, the fault in both cases was largely "the hand of complacency."
Another curiosity is the way the _Lusitania_ story still grips people. The _Titanic_ fascinates people, but there is little real controversy about the history (yes, Hollywood distorted the story, but that's Hollywood). But the _Lusitania_ continues to inspire polemics -- both Simpson's and O'Sullivan's books both strike me as screeds intended to place as much blame as is possible on the British authorities. (O'Sullivan's in fact seems almost to be the work of two authors -- half the time he's going straight after the admiralty; the other half, he calms down and tries to be objective. Was there a hidden ghost writer who only did half the book?) The reason defeats me -- whatever their faults, those men are long dead, and their policies dead with them.
And the need for polemic produced books that are clearly bad. Simpson's book is littered with small errors of fact -- e.g. he can't even spell "blue riband," consistently calling it "blue ribbon" (O'Sullivan, p. 17, says that Simpson was criticized even by John Light, whose research originally inspired what was to have been a collaboration). But O'Sullivan is in no position to talk, his unfootnoted work has its own set of substantial errors, some of which distort the whole history of World War I.
The observation I would make is that, whoever was "to blame," many hundreds of complete innocents perished needlessly. In this regard, the song knows what the true issue was, and the polemicists do not. - RBW
>>BIBLIOGRAPHY<<
Ballard: Dr. Robert D. Ballard with Spencer Dunmore, _Exploring the Lusitania_ (Warner, 1995).
Barczewski: Stephanie Barczewski, _Titanic: A Night Remembered_ (Hambledon Continuum, 2004).
Brinnin: John Malcolm Brinnin, _The Sway of the Grand Saloon: A Social History of the North Atlantic_ (1986; I use the 2000 Barnes & Noble edition).
Keegan: John Keegan, _The First World War_ (Knopf, 1999).
Marshall: S. L. A. Marshall,  _World War I_ (American Heritage, 1964).
Paine: Lincoln P. Paine, _Ships of the World_ (Houghton Mifflin, 1997).
O'Sullivan, _The Lusitania_ (1998; I use the 2000 Sheridan House edition)
Ramsay: David Ramsay, _The Lusitania: Saga and Myth_ (Norton, 2001).
Simpson: Colin Simpson, _The Lusitania_ (Little Brown, 1972). - RBW
File: Ran076
===
NAME: Lydia Pinkham
DESCRIPTION: A bawdy and scatological testimonial in multiple stanzas for the restorative powers of Mrs. Pinkham's patent medicine for women.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: bawdy scatological sex drugs
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph-Legman I, p. 485-489, "Lydia Pinkham" (5 texts, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 210, "Lydia Pinkham" (1 text, 1 tune, expurgated)
DT, LYDIAPNK
Roud #8368
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Will Sing of My Redeemer" (tune)
NOTES: This is sung to the Protestant hymn tune "I Will Sing of My Redeemer," Legman notes in his extensive annotations in Randolph-Legman I. - EC
File: RL485
===
NAME: Lydia Sherman
DESCRIPTION: "Lydia Sherman is plagued with rats, Lydia has no faith in cats, So Lydia buys some arsenic, And then her husband he gets sick, And then her husband, he does die...." Her children follow, and eventually Lydia ends up in prison.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: murder poison humorous children mother father husband wife
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 1864 - Death of Edward Struck, first husband of Lydia Sherman (she eventually had three)
August 1864 - Deaths of George and Ann Eliza, Lydia's children
May 16, 1878 - Lydia Sherman dies in prison in Wethersfield, Connecticut
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, p. 5, "Lydia Sherman" (1 text)
NOTES: I would love to see a contemporary newspaper account of this trial.
Burt doesn't claim this as a traditional song; it was in a notebook of her mother's, probably from a contemporary publication.
It should perhaps be noted that fatal overdoses of arsenic are not always the result of deliberate poisoning. John Emsley, _Nature's Building Blocks_, article on arsenic (pp. 40-46) notes various common uses of arsenic, including pigments and even a commercial remedy, "Dr. Fowler's Solution." Also, it is possible to build up arsenic tolerance, so if Lydia were tolerant, she might have accidentally poisoned her family while surviving herself. - RBW
File: Burt005
===
NAME: Lying Song, The: see Little Brown Dog (File: VWL101)
===
NAME: Lyke-Wake Dirge, The
DESCRIPTION: A warning to those not yet dead. Those who gave to the poor shall receive as they have given; those who have not will pay the penalty. "This ae nicht, this ae nicht, ilka nicht and alle -- Fire and sleet and candlelicht, and Christ receive thy soule"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: death funeral lament religious Hell
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
OBB 33, "A Lyke-Wake Dirge" (1 text)
DT, LYKEDIRG
Roud #8194
File: OBB033
===
NAME: Lynchburg Town
DESCRIPTION: Usually a comic song about a farmer's troubles with wife, horse, merchants, prices, machinery, and anything else that comes along. Chorus: "I'm going down to town, I'm going down to town, I'm going down to Lynchburg town, toting my tobaccer down."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: farming humorous wife
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
BrownIII 415, "Lynchburg Town" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 2 excerpts, and mention of 2 more, all with the "Lynchburg Town" chorus, but "A" and "B" have verses from "Raccoon" and "Possum Up a Gum Stump and "D" and "E" are partly "If I Had a Scolding Wife" ("Lucy Long (I)"); only "C" seems to be truly "Lynchburg Town"); also 480, "Hard Times" (1 text, massively composite: Chorus from "Lynchburg Town" and verses from "Old Bee Makes the Honey Comb" and the "White Folks Go to College" version of "Hard to Be a Nigger")
Warner 181, "Lynchburg Town" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 145, "Goin' Down to Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 192, "Hawkie Is a Schemin' Bird" (1 text, with the "Hawkie" first stanza, a chorus from "Lynchburg Town," and verses such as "Went up on a mountain To give my horn a blow" and "Climbed up on a mountain... To sweeten Liza Jane")
Lomax-FSNA 260, "Lynchburg Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LYNCHBRG*
Roud #3444
RECORDINGS:
Blue Ridge Highballers, "Going Down to Lynchburg Town" (Columbia 15096-D, 1926)
The Highlanders [Lonnie Austin, Roy Harvey, Charlie Poole, Odell Smith, Lucy Terry], "Lynchburg Town" [instrmental] (Paramount 3171, 1929) [May also have been issued under Poole's name with the same record number]
Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, "Lynchburg Town" (Brunswick, unissued, 1928)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Lebeck Town
File: Wa181
===
NAME: Lyttle Musgrave: see Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [Child 81] (File: C081)
===
NAME: M. and I. Goo-goo Eyes, The
DESCRIPTION: Recitation about logging life, with musical chorus, "Just because that jack makes goo-goo eyes, They piled them logs clear up into the skies." The singer discusses what happens when the train comes to collect the logs
AUTHOR: Ed Springstad
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Rickaby)
KEYWORDS: logger work train recitation
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Rickaby 25, "The M. and I. Goo-goo Eyes" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Even Rickaby, who prints this piece, says of it, "Here lies the Song of the White Pine woods, sans originality, sans meaning, sans everything." Which about sums it up. Rickaby's final comment is, "This is Arkansaw Springstad's own work, composed at the time when _Just because She made those Goo-goo Eyes_ was popular. He could sing only the chorus for me, and could not recall quite all of the final stanza. Perhaps it is just as well."
"Just Because She Made dem Goo-goo Eyes," by John Queen and Hughie Cannon, came out in 1900,  if I read Spaeth correctly. - RBW
File: Rick101
===
NAME: M'Dermott's Farewell
DESCRIPTION: A young man on the Limeric city quay is bound for America. "For want of wages and employment, home and country I must flee." He thinks of his parents and sweetheart left behind. He hopes "fortune [will] smile upon me" so he can return.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: poverty emigration farewell America Ireland nonballad family
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 79, "M'Dermott's Farewell" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: OLcM079
===
NAME: M'Ginty's Meal and Ale: see M'Ginty's Meal-an-Ale (File: DBuch72)
===
NAME: M'Ginty's Meal-an-Ale
DESCRIPTION: A pig escapes and wreaks havoc. Chorus: "They war howlin' in the kitchen like a caravan o' tinkies, An' some wis playin' ping-pong... Up the howe or doon the howe there never wis sic jinkies As M'Ginty's meal-an-ale far the pig gaed there tae see."
AUTHOR: George Bruce Thomson
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910
KEYWORDS: animal humorous game
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
DBuchan 72, "M'Ginty's Meal-an-Ale" (1 text)
DT, MEALNALE*
Roud #2518
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Roxburgh Castle" (tune)
cf. "Sheelicks" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
M'Ginty's Meal and Ale
File: DBuch72
===
NAME: M'Pherson's Farewell: see MacPherson's Lament (File: K348)
===
NAME: Ma Grun War 'n Gelynen: see The Holly Bears a Berry (File: K091)
===
NAME: Ma Petite Marguerite (My Little Marguerite)
DESCRIPTION: French. The singer say, Little Marguerite, I am leaving to sail on the waves around the world but I will love you until I die. She says she will cry a thousand tears waiting for his return; all is useless; she would prefer them both lost at the same time.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage courting separation dialog love
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, p. 558, "Ma Petite Marguerite" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Pea558
===
NAME: Mac and Shanahan
DESCRIPTION: Miko Mac and Shanahan are tracked to Newtown by bloodhounds and taken by Black and Tans. They refused to give their comrades' names. They are executed by shooting "in the Ennis Road." The pride of West Clare, they are buried in Doonbeg.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1974 (Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
KEYWORDS: rebellion execution manhunt burial patriotic IRA
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1920-1921 - The Black and Tan War
Dec 22, 1920 - Commandant Willie Shanahan of the West Clare Brigade of Republican Police and Captain Michael McNamara of Doonbeg Company IRA are executed by the Black and Tans (source: Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan).
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 25, "Mac and Shanahan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5221
RECORDINGS:
Nora Cleary, "Mac and Shanahan" (on IRClare01)
Tom Lenihan, "Mac and Shanahan" (on IRTLenihan01)
NOTES: "The Black and Tans" (for which see "The Bold Black and Tan") were a special English constabulary recruited to quell Irish violence. They failed, and in fact contributed to the brutality.
It will tell you something of the violence of the period that none of the six histories I checked (including three devoted specifically to this period, one of which is largely a catalog of atrocities) mentions any of these events. - RBW
File: RcMacASh
===
NAME: Mac's and the O's, The
DESCRIPTION: "When Ireland was founded by the Mac's and the O's, I never could learn..." but the singer lists all the various great family names of Ireland. Some specific names are mentioned, but most are simply references to clans
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: nonballad wordplay Ireland
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H484, p. 176, "The Mac's and the O's" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 79, "The Mac's and the O's" (1 text)
Roud #4812
NOTES: Even when a specific character is named in this song, it is often a legendary figure such as Finn MacCool. A handful, however, are historical, such as Hugh O'Neill of Tyrone, whose name is naturally connected with O'Donnell (for these two, see the notes to "O'Donell Abou").
The final stanza refers to women, and most of these, interestingly, are women of song, e.g. Eileen Aroon and Kathleen Mavourneen. - RBW
File: HHH484
===
NAME: MacAfee's Confession: see McAfee's Confession [Laws F13] (File: LF13)
===
NAME: MacDonald's Camp
DESCRIPTION: "One evening last fall when we felt well inclined, We hired with D. A. MacDonald to work at the pine." MacDonald pushes so hard that "He brought bread seven miles and he got it there hot." The loggers are described, and Caldwell called "no use at all."
AUTHOR: reportedly Jack Caldwell
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: work logger lumbering moniker
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke-Lumbering #17, "MacDonald's Camp" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4469
File: FowL17
===
NAME: MacDonald's Return to Glencoe (The Pride of Glencoe) [Laws N39]
DESCRIPTION: The singer tries to woo a woman of Glencoe, but she says she is loyal to MacDonald, gone to war these ten years. He suggests that MacDonald may have forgotten her; she says she will remain single even so. He then reveals himself as MacDonald
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1835 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads 1641)
KEYWORDS: courting disguise separation reunion
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland Australia
REFERENCES: (21 citations)
Laws N39, "MacDonald's Return to Glencoe (The Pride of Glencoe)"
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 247-248, "Donald and Glencoe" (1 text)
Ord, pp. 65-66, "Donald's Return to Glencoe" (1 text, tune referenced)
Randolph 126, "MacDonald's Return to Glencoe" (1 fragment)
FSCatskills 25, "Glencoe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 87, "The Pride of Glencoe" (1 text plus mention of 2 more)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 86, "Glencoe" (1 text)
Smith/Hatt, pp. 67-69, "The Pride of Glencoe" (1 text)
Peacock, p. 579, "The Pride of Glencoe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 60, "The Pride of Glencoe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 35, "The Pride of Glencoe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 129, "Glencoe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 56, "The Pride of Glencoe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 70-72, "Glencoe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 68, "The Pride of Glencoe" (1 text)
O'Conor, p. 136, "McDonald's Return to Glenco" (1 text)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 52-53, "Donald of Glencoe" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H655, p. 319, "The Pride of Glencoe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 113-115, "The Banks of Glenco" (2 texts, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 28, "The Lass o' Glencoe" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 464, PRIGLENC*
Roud #515
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 1641, "Donald's Return to Glencoe," G. Walker (Durham), 1797-1834; also 2806 c.14(133)[many illegible words], Firth c.17(300)[some illegible words], Harding B 11(932), Firth c.14(158), Firth c.14(160), Harding B 19(109), 2806 c.18(89), Harding B 16(324a), Firth b.26(11)[a few illegible words], Firth b.25(226), Firth b.27(454), Harding B 16(323b), 2806 c.15(174), "Donald's Return to Glencoe"; Firth b.27(462), "Donand's Return to Glencoe" ["Donald" in the text]
LOCSinging, as202320, "Mc'Donald's Return to Glenco," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also sb30347b, "Mc'Donald's Return to Glenco"
Murray, Mu23-y4:036, "Donald's Return to Glencoe," unknown, 19C
NLScotland, L.C.178.A.2(206), "Donald's Return to Glencoe," unknown, c. 1840; also L.C.Fol.70(73a), "Donald's Return to Glencoe," James Lindsay (Glasgow), c. 1875
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] and references there
cf. "The Silk Merchant's Daughter (I) [Laws N10]" (tune)
cf. "The Lass o Glencoe" (lyrics)
SAME_TUNE:
The Silk Merchant's Daughter [Laws N10] (File: LN10)
NOTES: Broadside LOCSinging as202320: H. De Marsans dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: LN39
===
NAME: Machine-Guns They Rattle
DESCRIPTION: "Machine-guns they rattle, Jack Johnsons they roar, I don't want to fight With these Fritz any more. Take me over the sea, Where the Germans they can't get at me, Oh, my, I don't want to die, I want to go home"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: war cowardice homesickness
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 143-144, "Machine-Guns They Rattle" (2 texts, 1 tune)
NOTES: Although this piece is probably a parody, Meredith and Anderson report a shearer's parody of it. - RBW
File: MA143
===
NAME: Machiner's Song, The: see The Threshing Machine (I) (File: K231)
===
NAME: Mack McDonald: see Casey Jones (I) [Laws G1] (File: LG01)
===
NAME: MacPherson's Farewell: see MacPherson's Lament (File: K348)
===
NAME: MacPherson's Lament
DESCRIPTION: MacPherson tells how a woman betrayed him to the Laird o' Grant. He challenges all to a duel in defense of his honor. He breaks his fiddle, "the only friend I hae," rather than see it in bad hands. A rider is coming to reprieve him, so he is hanged early
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1803 (_Scots Musical Museum_ #114)
KEYWORDS: execution betrayal reprieve fiddle outlaw
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Nov 16, 1700 - Execution of James MacPherson
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Kennedy 348, "MacPherson's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 443, "M'Pherson's Farewell" (1 text)
MacSeegTrav 88, "Macpherson's Farewell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 163-169, "Mary Hamilton" (2 texts plus a fragment, with the "C" fragment containing parts of "MacPherson's Lament"; 3 tunes; the tune for the "MacPherson" portion is not given)
Silber-FSWB, p. 205, "MacPherson's Farewell" (1 text)
DT, MACPHER* MACPHER2* MCPHERST
ST K348 (Full)
Roud #2160
RECORDINGS:
Jimmy MacBeath, "MacPherson's Lament" (on Lomax43, LomaxCD1743)
Davie Stewart, "MacPherson's Rant" (on Voice08)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "MacPherson's Rant" (subject)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
MacPherson
NOTES: Legends about MacPherson's death are many. The basic one has it that he played this tune before his death and offered the fiddle to anyone who could play it back for him. None could, so he broke the fiddle rather than leave it in incompetent hands. The (ruins of) the instrument are now said to be in the MacPherson clan museum in Inverness-shire.
That MacPherson was a freebooter seems almost certain -- but only spite could have hung him for his deeds; most of Scotland was the same way!
The earliest reported version of this piece seems to have been Burns's, but (given the variations), it seems certain that several traditional forms are older. - RBW
File: K348
===
NAME: MacPherson's Rant
DESCRIPTION: "I've spent my time in rioting, Debauch'd my health and strength... But now, alas! at length, I'm brought to punishment direct." MacPherson laments that he is to be hanged, blames the Laird of Grant and Peter Brown, and tells people to live well
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: punishment execution betrayal outlaw
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Nov 16, 1700 - Execution of James MacPherson
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ord, pp. 444-445, "M'Pherson's Farewell" (1 text)
BBI, ZN1339, "I spent my time in rioting, debauch'd my health and stength" (?)
Roud #2160
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "MacPherson's Lament" (subject)
NOTES: Often treated (e.g. by Roud) as a variant of the now-better-known "MacPherson's Lament," the two have so little in common that it seems certain that the two are separate. There is, at the very least, a great deal of editing (by Burns?) separating the two.
This piece, which can be told from the other by the first line in the description, is much poorer poetry; nonetheless, it is generally held to be older. I doubt it's traditional by origin; it reads like a moralizing broadside. - RBW
File: Ord444
===
NAME: MacTavish is Dead: see McTavish is Dead (File: PHCFS122)
===
NAME: Mad Maudlin: see Tom a Bedlam (Bedlam Boys) (File: Log172)
===
NAME: Mad Trapper of Rat River, The
DESCRIPTION: The Mounties learn that a trapper has gone mad; he shoots one and flees. During the manhunt, he kills another Mountie, then a third, but is surrounded and shot dead. Credit is given to the Mounties: "They always get their man"
AUTHOR: Probably Wilf Carter
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1934 (recording, Wilf Carter)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Two Indians report to the Mounties that a trapper has gone mad; the Mounties visit him, but he shoots one and flees. A manhunt ensues; in the process, he kills another Mountie, backtracks and escapes. Eventually he kills a third, but is surrounded and shot dead. Credit is given to the Mounties: "They always get their man"
KEYWORDS: madness fight violence crime murder death police
FOUND_IN: Canada(West)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Wilf Carter, "The Capture of Albert Johnson" (Bluebird [Canada] B-4966, c. 1934)
Stanley G. Triggs, "The Mad Trapper of Rat River" (on Triggs1)
NOTES: Trapper Albert Johnson was hunted and killed by Mounties (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) in the 1930s.
Triggs reports this ballad as widespread in western Canada "from the Rockies to the coast." - PJS
File: RcTMTORR
===
NAME: Madam, I Have Come A-Courting: see The Quaker's Courtship (File: R362)
===
NAME: Madam, Madam, You Came Courting
DESCRIPTION: When the girl comes courting the boy agrees to "entertain you If you will not call me names." She spurns his wealth: "All I want is a fancy man." He says she can look to the trees to keep her warm "when nights are cold and frosty"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection humorous
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 121, "Madam, Madam, You Came Courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #542
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Wheel of Fortune" (Dublin City, Spanish Lady) (theme)
NOTES: Creighton-Maritime: "Although a different song, this is very like 'The Quaker's Courtship'"; Creighton's song is "Wheel of Fortune" with roles reversed. Nevertheless, though I find no lines shared with that group of songs it is close enough that it may belong there. - BS
Roud, indeed, lumps them -- but logic says that this is rewritten, and hence should be split. - RBW
File: CrMa121
===
NAME: Madam, Will You Walk: see The Keys of Canterbury (File: R354)
===
NAME: Mademoiselle from Armentieres
DESCRIPTION: The mademoiselle "hasn't been kissed [or other appropriate verb] for forty years." The soldiers complain about her or cajole her to do their laundry; they complain about their superiors (and their relations with the lady?) and grouse about army life
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1919
KEYWORDS: bawdy soldier humorous nonballad
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1914-1918 - First World War, during which this ballad clearly arose
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 513-515, "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 440-442, "Hinky Dinky, Parlee-Voo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-BoA, pp. 331-333, "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 38, "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 557-560, "Hinky Dinky Parley-Voo?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, pp. 152-153, "Hinky Dinky Parlay-Voo!" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHJohnson, pp. 110-111, "Hinky Dinky" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 277, "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 344-345, "Madamoiselle from Armentieres"
Roud #4703
RECORDINGS:
Benny Bell, "Hinky Dinkey Polly Voo" (Cocktail Party Songs 101, n.d.)
[Billy] Murray and [Ed] Smalle, "Hinky Dinky Parlay Voo" (Victor 19388, 1924)
Sweet Violet Boys, "Hinky Dinky Parley Voo, Part 1/Part 2" (Vocalion 03281, 1936; this number was also used for Part 1 only, with the reverse side another song)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (approximate tune)
cf. "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye" (approximate tune)
cf. "Johnny, Fill Up the Bowl" (approximate tune)
cf. "Snapoo" (approximate tune; theme)
cf. "The Little Red Train" (tune)
NOTES: Both plot and tune of this song show a relationship with "Snapoo" (indeed, they sometimes mix, and Roud lumps them); it is reasonable to ask which came first and which influenced the other. As both appear at about the same time, however, it is effectively impossible to settle the matter.
Fuld has extensive notes about the origin of this song, with some interesting folkloric twists; the legends, while possible, are not convincing. - RBW
File: RL513
===
NAME: Mag's Song: see The Orphan Girl (The Orphan Child) (File: R725)
===
NAME: Magdalene's Lament, The
DESCRIPTION: "As I cam in by Tanzie's wood... Four-and-twenty o' Geordie's men Kiss'd me against my will." The girl recalls flirting happily in a tavern, "But now I'm in the correction-house And whipped to my turn." She hopes to be released and marry
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
KEYWORDS: seduction sex prison abuse whore
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kinloch-BBook III, pp. 12-13, "The Magdalene's Lament" (1 text)
Roud #8153
NOTES: Traditional? I don't know. Kinloch of course does not list sources.
The term "Magdalene" for a reformed prostitute is of course a reference to the Biblical Mary Magdalene ("maudlin"). But while Mary of Magdala was a follower of Jesus, from whom he "cast seven demons" (Mark 16:9), there is no reason to think she had formerly been a prostitute; Luke 7:37-50 describes a reformed prostitute wiping Jesus's feet with her hair, but never calls her Mary. John 12:1-8 has Mary wipe his feet -- but this is Mary of Bethany, not Mary of Magdala!
Not that this matters; while Kinloch calls the song "The Magdalene's Lament," the word "magdalene" is not used in the song. - RBW.
File: KinBB03
===
NAME: Magelhan
DESCRIPTION: German shanty. Original was a capstan (gangspill) shanty. The Magelhan/Magellan is the name of the ship. The verses (or at least the translation) are mostly good natured complaints about work and the captain.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Baltzer's _Knurrhahn_ (reprint))
KEYWORDS: shanty foreignlanguage ship
FOUND_IN: Germany
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 191-192, "Magelhan" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rolling Home" (adaptation of text)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Magellan
NOTES: Hugill included this with the versions of "Rolling Home" stating that this was the original shanty from which the German version of "Rolling Home" was derived. - SL
File: Hugi191
===
NAME: Maggie C, The
DESCRIPTION: Maggie C is "built by George E Saville a man of high degree." Nevertheless, she is unstable. Everyone laughs at the effort to get to the dock. The owner says "It's that blooming Saville's fault" but Saville claims "No better boat's afloat"
AUTHOR: Victor La Pierre, Annandale, P.E.I.
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (Dibblee/Dibblee)
KEYWORDS: ship humorous
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 47-48, "The Maggie C" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12471
File: Dib047
===
NAME: Maggie Goddon: see Peggy Gordon (File: Gil127)
===
NAME: Maggie Gordon: see Peggy Gordon (File: Gil127)
===
NAME: Maggie Howie
DESCRIPTION: Michael Lee tells of courting Maggie Howie of Napanee; she wore his ring, but refused to marry him; her parents disapprove. He kills her with an axe, flees to the woods, is captured and jailed. He states his guilt and his readiness to be tried and hanged
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1957 (recording, Mrs. Tom Sullivan)
KEYWORDS: courting love marriage rejection violence crime execution murder punishment death family lover prisoner
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: c. 1887: Maggie Howie murdered by Michael Lee
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #3838
RECORDINGS:
Mrs. Tom Sullivan, "Maggie Howie" (on Ontario1)
NOTES: Despite the last verse of the song, Michael Lee was not hanged, but instead found to be criminally insane, and confined in a special wing of Kingston Penitentiary until his death. Maggie Howie's ghost is said to haunt the offices of the local newspaper, which stands on the spot where the murder occurred. - PJS
File: RcMagHow
===
NAME: Maggie Hunter, The
DESCRIPTION: The Maggie Hunter leaves Oswego bound for Toronto, but runs into a gale. Various crew members do their best, but the ship is lost, with only bits recovered. Six months later, the cook's body  is found. Listeners are told to remember whenever a storm blows
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (recording, C. H. J. Snider)
KEYWORDS: corpse death drowning ship disaster storm wreck moniker cook sailor
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Oct. 13, 1876 -- telegram to ship's owner announces the coming ashore of the Maggie Hunter's cabin work
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #3841
RECORDINGS:
C. H. J. Snider, "The 'Maggie Hunter'" (on GreatLakes1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Persian's Crew" (subject, tune)
NOTES: Snider said he learned the song in July of 1947. Fowke reports that it was widespread in the Prince Edward County area (where the cook's body came ashore) in the 1880s, but has not been reported elsewhere. - PJS
File: RcTMagHu
===
NAME: Maggie Lauder
DESCRIPTION: Maggie meets a piper, Rab the Ranter, and encourages him to strike up a tune while she dances. He does, and she praises his work; he says, "It's worth my while to play indeed When I hae sic a dancer." She encourages him to ask for her if he comes again
AUTHOR: Francis Sempill? (c. 1616-1682)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1794 (Ritson); reportedly written 1642
KEYWORDS: music dancing
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #5625
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y4:002, "Maggie Lauder," J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844
NLScotland, S.302.b.2(094), "Maggie Lauder," Simms and McIntyre (Belfast), probably 1825; also APS.3.84.2, "Maggy Lawder," Charles Pigott (London), after 1825 (with many distortions in the lyrics)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Northumberland Bagpipes" (theme)
SAME_TUNE:
Cornwallis Burgoyned (broadside of 1781; see Spaeth, _A History of Popular Music in America_, p. 25)
The Joyful Widower (Scots Musical Museum, #98)
NOTES: One can only suspect that more than piping and dancing lies behind this song. This, indeed, may explain its rarity in the older collections; it sounds like a hidden story of something extremely indelicate. (The National Library of Scotland site, in fact, claims that Maggie ended up pregnant. The NLScotland broadsides do not show this, however.) 
Habbie Simpson, to whom Rab the Ranter is compared, was a historical person, living in Kilbarchan (near Paisley) in the late sixteenth century; it may be significant that the father of Francis Sempill, Robert Sempill (c. 1595-c. 1665; not to be confused with another Scots poet named Robert Sempill, 1530?-1595), composed Simpson's elegy, _The Life and Death of the Piper of Kilbarchan, or the Epitaph  of Habbie Simpson_ (c. 1640).
There is a broadside text (not a song) about Simpson at NLScotland L.C.1270(019), "Habbie Simpson and his Wife,"  unknown, c. 1845.
I don't know if Maggie and Rab are historical. - RBW
File: NSMagLau
===
NAME: Maggie Mac: see The Cumberland [Laws A26] (File: LA26)
===
NAME: Maggie May
DESCRIPTION: The sailor returns home and soon falls in with Maggie May. She takes him to her room, gets him drunk, and walks off with his money (and clothes). Maggie is arrested and transported to Australia
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1906 (recording, John W. Myers)
KEYWORDS: whore robbery sailor transportation
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(West)) Australia
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Hugill, pp. 404-408, "Maggie May" (4 texts, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 307-311]
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 30-31, "Maggie May" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 6-7, "Maggie May" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MAGGIMAY*
Roud #1757
RECORDINGS:
Bob Roberts, "Maggie May" (on LastDays)
J. W. Myers, "Goodbye Maggie May" (Oxford 11582, c. 1906)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Gold Watch" [Laws K41] (plot) and references there
File: FaE030
===
NAME: Maggie of Coleraine
DESCRIPTION: The singer praises Coleraine; it is the home of beautiful Maggie. He recalls meeting her by the Bann, and the various places he courted her. He hopes he will soon be able to meet her again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H657, p. 242, "Maggie of Coleraine" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9480
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Teddy O'Neill" (tune)
File: HHH657
===
NAME: Maggie Was a Lady: see Frankie and Albert [Laws I3] (File: LI03)
===
NAME: Maggie, The: see The Wreck of the Maggie (File: LLab080)
===
NAME: Maggie's Secret
DESCRIPTION: "Oh! many a time I am sad at heart." Boys come to court Maggie "but I tell them they needn't come wooing to me." Her secret is that she loves a sailor: "my heart is over the sea." His mother guesses her secret and approves.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1886 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 15(180a))
KEYWORDS: courting love separation mother sailor
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, pp. 143-144, "Maggie's Secret" (1 text)
Roud #12886
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 15(180a), "Maggie's Secret", H. Such (London), 1863-1885; also Harding B 11(1663), Firth b.26(257), "Maggie's Secret"
File: OCon143B
===
NAME: Magherafelt Hiring Fair: see Tam Buie (Tam Bo, Magherafelt Hiring Fair) (File: HHH748)
===
NAME: Magilligan
DESCRIPTION: The singer praises Mary and their beautiful home country of Magilligan. He recalls carving their names in a bench, and drinking together. They watch a ship sail away, but again agree never to leave Magilligan
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love home emigration
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H52a, pp. 244-245, "Magilligan" (1 text, 1 tune, the latter derived from O'Neill on the basis of Henry's statement that the tune is "The Wearing of the Green")
Roud #2965
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wearing of the Green (I)" (tune) and references there
File: HHH052a
===
NAME: Magpie's Nest, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer praises his love, saying if he was a king he would make her queen and set her down in the "magpie's nest" -- a cottage alongside the River Shannon. He says he's never seen anyone more lovely than "the little Irish fairy in the magpie's nest."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (recorded from Aunt Jane Kelly)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer praises his love, saying if he was a king he would make her queen and set her down in the "magpie's nest" -- a cottage alongside the River Shannon. He says he's never seen anyone more lovely than "the little Irish fairy in the magpie's nest." Chorus: "Shiddly-idle-daddle-diddle-dadle-diddle-didle-dum/I would l'ave you down to rest in the magpie's nest"
KEYWORDS: love beauty dancetune lyric nonballad lover
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 182, "The Magpie's Nest" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2127
RECORDINGS:
Aunt Jane Kelly "The Magpie's Nest" (on FSB1, FSB2CD)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cuckoo's Nest (I)" (tune)
cf. "The Cuckoo's Nest (II)" (tune)
cf. "Around the Hills of Clare" (tune)
cf. "Heather Down the Moor (Among the Heather; Down the Moor)" (lyrics)
NOTES: This shares the tune and structure with both versions of "The Cuckoo's Nest," the latter of which sometimes incorporate "dowdling" (mouth music) as here. However, "The Cuckoo's Nest" is almost inevitably bawdy or erotic, while "The Magpie's Nest" is invariably clean, so I split them. For completeness, though, better check them out. - PJS
File: K182
===
NAME: Maguire's Brae
DESCRIPTION: "Have you ever stood on the Carn street.. And viewed those hills with their limpid rills..." The singer has traveled widely, but never seen a place so fair. "Though here today in the U. S.A. I toil on a foreign strand," he wishes he were still at home
AUTHOR: Words: James O'Kane
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: emigration homesickness
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H747, pp. 214-215, "Maguire's Brae" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Scarborough Settler's Lament" (theme) and references there
File: HHH747
===
NAME: Maid and the Horse, The
DESCRIPTION: A maid walking in the cold meets three men riding. She tells one that she craves the thing that "sits between your two legs" to make her warm. He gets off his horse. She gets on his horse and rides off. He goes after her until she threatens to shoot him.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 28(83))
KEYWORDS: sex escape trick bawdy horse rake
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 214-215, "The Maid and the Horse" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Roud #1624
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(83), "The Crafty Maid" ("Come listen awhile and I will sing you a song"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Johnson Ballads 323, Harding B 25(441), "The Crafty Maid's Policy"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lovely Joan" (plot)
cf. "The Broomfield Hill" [Child 43] and references there
NOTES: There is another broadside at Bodleian as "The Crafty Maid" [Come all you lads and lasses ..."] in which a farmer's daughter is hiding a rabbit between her legs to keep it warm and a lord "buys that between her legs"; unsatisfied with the rabbit he takes her to a justice who resolves the dispute in favor of the farmer's daughter.
There is yet another broadside at Bodleian as "The Frolicsome Maiden or The Gentleman Outwitted" which combines both Crafty Maid stories: it is a cold morning; she does offer to go with him in exchange for what is between his legs; he is unsatisfied by the outcome and takes her to a justice who rules in her favor.
Roud seems to consider these all as #1624.
Cf. "Handsome Shone the Dairymaid" [Crawfurd 115] (theme) in E. B. Lyle _Andrew Crawfurd's Collection of Ballads and Songs_ (The Scottish Text Society, Edinburgh, 1996) which is similar to "Lovely Joan." - BS 
File: Pea214
===
NAME: Maid and the Magpie, The
DESCRIPTION: The sailor goes to sea, leaving his girl and the magpie. The girl spends time with the parson, and tells the bird she prefers him. The lonely sailor hurries home; the bird reveals the truth. Neither sailor nor parson want the girl thereafter
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: bird infidelity sailor clergy humorous
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond)) Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 44-45, "The Maid and the Magpie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1532
RECORDINGS:
Cyril Poacher, "The Maid and the Magpie" (on Voice06)
NOTES: I have not found a broadside but evidence that there is one is that there is a broadside parody: Bodleian, Harding B 11(2273), "The Maid and the Dustman. A popular parody on the 'Maid & magpie'" ("Once there was a maid who was thought very shy"), unknown, n.d. The parody description: The maid's lover is a tailor; she said they'd marry when he "signed the pledge again." She "hook'd it with the dustman" when her pa goes to church. The girl talks all day to the dustman [instead of the magpie]. When the tailor is asleep the girl goes to the dustman but they are interrupted by her mother. The tailor gets drunk and returns home to find the girl gone. He complains to her parents [instead of the magpie] who tell him about the dustman. The take her to court and she puts the blame on the dustman, who disappears; the bird reveals the truth. Neither tailor nor dustman want the girl thereafter "and she's got no one to cuddle, so she sleeps by herself." - BS
File: MA044
===
NAME: Maid and the Palmer, The [Child 21]
DESCRIPTION: A woman comes to a well, where she meets a man who asks of her a drink. She says she can offer him none because her leman/husband is away. The man tells her that she has no leman, and goes on to tell of her sins
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: Jesus religious adultery
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Child 21, "The Maid and the Palmer" (2 texts)
Bronson's (21 in addenda), "The Maid and the Palmer" (2 versions in addenda)
Leach, pp. 106-107, "The Maid and the Palmer" (1 text)
OBB 99, "The Maid and the Palmer" (1 text)
PBB 3, "The Maid and the Palmer" (1 text)
TBB 37, "The Maid and the Palmer" (1 text)
 Niles 15, "The Maid and the Palmer" (1 text, which Niles identifies with Child 21, but the fragment is so short that it could equally be part of Child 20)
DT 21, MAIDPALM MAIDPAL2*
ST C021 (Full)
Roud #2335
RECORDINGS:
John Reilly, "The Well Below the Valley" (on Voice03)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Jesus Met the Woman at the Well" (subject)
cf. "See the Woman at the Well" (subject)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Samaritan Woman
The Well Below the Valley
Jesus Met the Woman at the Well (?)
Seven Years
NOTES: For the story of Jesus and the Woman of Samaria, see John 4:5-26 - RBW
File: C021
===
NAME: Maid Freed from the Gallows, The [Child 95]
DESCRIPTION: A (woman) is about to be hanged. If she could pay her fee, she would be freed. One by one, father, brother, (and other family members) come to see her hanged, refusing to ransom her. Then her sweetheart arrives to rescue her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1770 (Percy collection, according to Child)
KEYWORDS: execution love rescue
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland,England(North,South,West)) US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So,SW) Bahamas Jamaica
REFERENCES: (43 citations)
Child 95, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (11 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
Bronson 95, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (68 versions+2 in addenda, but the last four main entries are "Gallows" [Laws L11], and some of the fragments may be also)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 206-213, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (4 texts plus assorted folktale versions)
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 15-41, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (8 texts plus a fragment, 8 tunes, but of the texts, only "A," "B1," and "B2" are 'The Maid Freed" [Child 95]; the remaining six are "Gallows" [Laws L11]
Belden, pp. 66-67, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #54}
Randolph 24, "Hold Your Hands, Old Man" (5 texts plus a fragment, 4 tunes) {A=Bronson's #41, D=#61, E=#12, F=#50}
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 45-47, "Hold Your Hands, Old Man" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 24E) {Bronson's #12}
Eddy 18, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #28}
Gardner/Chickering 50, "The Golden Ball" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #22}
Davis-Ballads 95, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (24 texts plus a fragment, 5 tunes plus a variant entitles "Maid Freed from the Gallows," "The Hangerman's Tree, or Freed from the Gallos," "The Maid Saved," "Hangsman"; 9 more versions mentioned in Appendix A) {Bronson's #9, #26, #42, #46, #40}
Davis-More 29, pp. 221-228, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (3 texts plus a fragment, 2 tunes;  the two longest texts, AA and DD, both contain floating material, in the case of "D" probably from "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum)" [Laws H2])
BrownII 30, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (4 texts, 5 excerpts, 1 fragment, plus mention of two more, as well as one mixed text, M, probably a combination of this with "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum)" [Laws H2])
Chappell-FSRA 15, "Maid Freed from the Gallows" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #34}
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 35-42, (no general title; one version is listed as "Hangman, Slack on the Line")  (3 texts plus 3 excerpts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #10}
Hudson 17, pp. 111-114, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (4 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 1 more; the "D" text is mixed with floating verses from prison songs)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 284, (no title) (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 196-200, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (2 texts plus an excerpt, with local titles "The Hangman's Son" and "Hangman, Hold Your Rope"; 2 tunes on pp. 408-409) {Bronson's #37, #38}
Brewster 17, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 295-300, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (4 texts)
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 44, "The Hangman's Song" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #35}
Fuson, pp. 113-114, "The Hangman's Song" (1 text, with an introductory verse related to "In the Pines," ending "I have done no hanging crime")
Friedman, p. 131, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (4 texts)
Warner 105, "Hang Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 86-87, "Jimmy Loud"; pp. 88-90, "Hangman" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
SharpAp 28, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (11 texts, most of which appear to be fragments though it's often hard to tell with this song, 11 tunes){Bronson's #30, #33, #9, #42, #6, #25, #58, #31, #39, #32, #15}
Sharp-100E 17, "The Briery Bush" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #49}
Niles 39, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 14, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #30}
Sandburg, p. 72, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #23}; p. 385, "Hangman" (1 short text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #64}
Scott-BoA, pp. 14-15, "The Sycamore Tree"; pp. 207-208, "Hangman, Slack on the Line" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 282-383, "Prickle-holly Bush" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 139-141, "[Hangman, Slack Up Your Rope]" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {second tune is Bronson's #36, with differences}
Ritchie-Southern, p. 27, "The Hangman Song" (1 text, 1 tune) {approximately Bronson's #36, but Bronson's transcription, from  recording, is noticeably different}
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 822-824, "The Hangman's Tree" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #23}
TBB 5, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows (The Hangman's Tree)" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 13, pp. 31-33, "The Hangman's Song" (1 text)
JHCox 18, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (7 texts)
JHCoxIIA, #9, pp. 38-39, "Slack Your Rope" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #27}
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 41-42 "Hangman, Hangman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rorrer, p. 74, "The Highwayman" (1 text, with a significant mixture of unrelated material from songs such as "The Roving Gambler"); p. 80, "Hangman, Hangman, Slack the Rope" (1 text, a fairly normal American variant)
Darling-NAS, pp. 69-71, "The Hangman"; "Gallows Pole" (2 texts, the first "modernized" by Darling)
Silber-FSWB, p. 211, "The Gallows Pole" (1 text)
DT 95, HANGMN1* HANGMAN2*
Roud #144
RECORDINGS:
James "Iron Head" Baker, "Young Maid Saved from the Gallows" (AFS 204 A2, 1934)
Bentley Ball, "Gallows Tree" (Columbia A3084, 1920)
Roy Harvey, Jess Johnston & the West Virginia Ramblers, "John Hardy Blues" (Champion 16281, 1931; on StuffDreams1) [see NOTES]
Fred Hewett, "The Prickle Holly-Bush" (on Voice03)
Harry Jackson, "The Hangman's Song" (on HJackson1) (in this version the true love pays the hangman to ensure that the hanging will take place)
Lead Belly, "The Gallis Pole" (Musicraft 227, rec. 1939)
A. L. Lloyd, "The Prickly Bush" (on ESFB1, ESFB2)
Walter Lucas & the people of Sixpenny Handley, Dorset, "The Prickle Holly Bush"  (on Lomax41, LomaxCD1741) {Bronson's #20}
[Asa] Martin & [Bob] Roberts, "Hang Down Your Head and Cry" (Conqueror 8207, 1933) [see NOTES]
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "The Highwayman" (a heavily modified version; Columbia 15160-D, 1926; on CPoole03); "Hangman, Hangman, Slack the Rope" (a more normal version; Columbia 15385-D, 1929; rec. 1928)
Almeda Riddle, "Hangman Tree" (on LomaxCD1705)
Jean Ritchie, "Hangman" (on JRitchie01) {Bronson's #36?}
Julia Scaddon, "The Prickelly Bush [The Pricketty Bush]" (on FSB4, FSBBAL1)
Sarah Anne Tuck, "The Pricketty Bush (The Maid Freed from the Gallows)" (on FSBBAL1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Gallows" [Laws L11] (plot)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Golden Ball
The Prickilie Bush
The Gallows Pole
Granny and the Golden Ball
NOTES: This very popular ballad is identical in plot with "Gallows" [Laws L11], and lumping editors will lump them; individual collections should be checked carefully.
Scarborough notes that southern Blacks turned this song into drama -- in a rather depressing way: The magical ball could be used to turn a Black girl into a pretty White. - RBW
The Martin & Roberts recording is a weird mishmosh: one verse that sounds like it's from the "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home" family, one from this song, and one more or less from "Roving Gambler." I put it here because that middle verse is most explicitly from here, whereas the others are vaguer.
The Roy Harvey, recording, meanwhile, is equally weird; the tune is from "John Hardy," all right, but the lyrics are "Maid Freed from the Gallows." Don't ask me what's going on. - PJS
File: C095
===
NAME: Maid from the Carn Brae, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the other girls described in songs -- the girl in the Galway shawl, the girl from the County, Down, etc. -- but "she was queen alone, The maid from the Carn Brae." No amount of searching will reveal another such girl
AUTHOR: James O'Kane
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: beauty music
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H704, p. 241, "The Maid from the Carn Brae" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9478
NOTES: Curiously, the singer in this song makes no attempt to court the girl; he just describes her as irresistable. - RBW
File: HHH704
===
NAME: Maid from the County Tyrone, The
DESCRIPTION: Far from the city live Michael Murphy and his beautiful daughter. The singer praises her beauty at great length, and desires to wed her though she is only a farmer's daughter. If she agrees to marry, he will cease rambling and live in the country with her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting beauty home
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H528, p. 246, "The Maid from the County Tyrone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13335
File: HHH528
===
NAME: Maid from Tidehead, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer hears a young lumberjack tell how "I long once again for the Maid from Tidehead." He describes their parting and decides to return to Restigouche: "No more will I roam from the Maid of Tidehead"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: love separation logger reunion
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Manny/Wilson 31, "The Maid from Tidehead" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MaWi031 (Partial)
Roud #9187
NOTES: The Restigouche River is in the central Miramichi area of New Brunswick. Tide Head is on that river near Chaleur Bay. - BS.
File: MaWi031
===
NAME: Maid Gaed to the Mill, The
DESCRIPTION: "The maid's gaed to the mill by night, sae wanton... That she should hae her corn ground, mill and multure free." The miller's man obliges her. When she has a child "Her mother baid her cast it oot." "Her faither baid her keep it in," and she does.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (SCMacCollSeeger01)
KEYWORDS: sex childbirth bastard mother father miller money
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, MAIDMILL*
Roud #2575
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "The Maid Gaed to the Mill" (on SCMacCollSeeger01)
File: RcTMGTTM
===
NAME: Maid I Am In Love, A: see The Maid in Sorrow (Short Jacket) [Laws N12] (File: LN12)
===
NAME: Maid I Left Behind, The: see The Girl I Left Behind [Laws P1A/B] (File: LP01)
===
NAME: Maid in Bedlam, A
DESCRIPTION: The singer hears a woman in Bedlam lamenting. She went mad when friends sent her lover  away. In some versions, she reproaches him with this but continues to love him. In others, he returns and rescues her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1787 (Scots Musical Museum)
KEYWORDS: madness betrayal love rescue
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US(MW)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Sharp-100E 41, "Bedlam" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logan, pp. 187-188, "Bedlam City, or The Maiden's Lamentation" (1 text, part of the longer entry "Tom a Bedlam")
Gardner/Chickering 65, "A Maid in Bedlam" (1 text, very possibly from print)
BBI, ZN670, "Come maidens all and pity me"; ZN3182, "Young maidens all, pray pity me, and think of my extremity"
ST ShH41 (Partial)
Roud #605
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "Through Moorfields" (on ENMacCollSeeger02)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(602), "The Fair Maid in Bedlam" ("It was down in Moorfields, as I walked one day"), J. Marshall (Newcastle), 1810-1831; also Harding B 22(65), "The Distracted Maiden"; Firth c.18(138), Firth c.12(229), "Nancy's Complaint in Bedlam"; Firth b.26(457), Harding B 11(1116), "The Fair Maid in Bedlam" 
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Tom a Bedlam (Bedlam Boys)" (theme)
cf. "Gramachree" (tune)
cf. "William (Willie) Riley (Riley's Trial)" [Laws M10] (theme of a maid in Bedlam)
NOTES: Bethlehem Hospital ("Bedlam") was the first hospital in London for patients with mental illnesses. It was for men, I believe; Magdalene Hospital ("Maudlin"), established somewhat later, was for women. - PJS
Roud has at least three numbers meeting the general description for "A Maid In Bedlam" (Roud #605). The #605 broadsides are listed above. Their description is: The singer, wlking in Moorfields, hears an inmate girl complain that her parents had her apprentice lover sent to sea which "has distracted my brain." The sailor returns and bribes the porter and rescues her. They marry and he gives the "unworthy parents" a tongue-lashing.
Roud #575 is represented by the following broadsides. Their description is: The singer hears "a Maid in Bedlam" rattling her chains and complaining that her lover's parents had him sent to sea. She prays that if she die she might claim "a guardian angel's charge, around my Love to fly" She tells what she would do were she a flower garland, nightingale, or eagle, to be with her lover.
Bodleian, Harding B 14(34), "The Maid in Bedlam" ("One morning, very early, one morning in the spring"), Fowler (Salisbury), 1770-1800; also Firth c.18(139), "The Maid of Bedlam"
Roud #968 is represented by the following broadsides. Their description is: The singer hears an inmate maiden complain that Billy is her love and they are separated by her parents. She thinks of flying to his side and seeing him die on the battlefield. She sees him coming "in the cloud With guardian angels standing round him"
Bodleian, Harding B 28(92), "Bedlam City" ("Down by the side of Bedlam city"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Firth c.18(140)[some lines illegible], 2806 c.18(197)[only the first verse and chorus are legible], Harding B 28(273), Harding B 25(155), 2806 c.17(26), Firth c.19(186), "Bedlam City"
The following broadside, only slightly modified from the Roud #968 broadsides above, has been, according to its printer, "altered from the vulgar ballad."
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads fol. 26, "Bedlam City" ("Down by Bedlam I walk'd one ev'ning"), J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838
There are at least three similar broadsides not yet assigned a Roud number.
In one "Amelia's Complaint": Amelia's is in chains because her father sent her sailor away where, she thinks, he was slain. Her mind wanders as she cannot make ouut what approaches. She prays to die.
Bodleian, Harding B 25(43), "Amelia's Complaint, in Bedlam for the Loss of her Sailor" ("Young women with attention listen to what I mention"), G. Pigott (London) , n.d.
In another "Amelia's Complaint": Amelia's lover is imprest to fight in the war She prays that the war will end. If he is slain she'll be undone forever. She'll be true."
Bodleian, Harding B 25(41), "Amelia's Complaint for the Loss of Young Edward" ("Young lovers all awhile attend")[some words illegible], J. Jennings (London), 1790-1840
In "Pity a Maiden": "They" have imprest Billy and sent him over the sea. If he returns she will be free of Bedlam and her chains. She thinks of being with Billy and sends him a letter by a friend saying that she hopes they will meet again.
Bodleian, 2806 c.18(246), "Pity a Maiden" ("Pity an innocent maiden in Bedlam I lay confin'd"), J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819 
Opie-Oxford2: "In 1675 the Old Bethlem Hospital was moved to Moorfields" - BS
File: ShH41
===
NAME: Maid in Sorrow, The (Short Jacket) [Laws N12]
DESCRIPTION: A girl dresses as a sailor and goes to sea to seek her true love. The captain finds her attractive and wishes she were a girl. She puts him off, pointing out that there are handsome girls ashore. Only as she is leaving the ship does she reveal her sex
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: cross-dressing ship sea
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW,NE) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Laws N12, "The Maid in Sorrow (Short Jacket)"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 46, "Short Jacket" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 327-328, "Blue Jacket and White Trousers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 78, "A Maid I Am In Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 1, "Cabin Boy"; 48, "Cabin Boy" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 164, "The Maid in Sorrow" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 444, SHORTJKT* SHORTJK2*
Roud #231
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "Short Jacket and White Trousers" (on Lloyd2, Lloyd3)
Mrs. Stan Marshall, "Maid I Am in Love" (on MRHCreighton)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
A Maid That's Deep in Love
File: LN12
===
NAME: Maid of Aghadowey, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls his time by the Banks of the Ban, where he met a beautiful girl. Her parents are "dead against me," but he begs her to be true to him, and says that he would give her all his riches if he had any
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation father mother
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H673, p. 429, "The Maid of Aghadowey" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7958
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Banks of the Bann (I)" [Laws O2] (plot)
NOTES: This song is similar in plot to Laws O2, "The Banks of the Bann," and also takes place by the Bann. Some have tentatively equated the songs. But songs of parents opposing lovers are common, and songs set by the Bann are common; there is no reason there shouldn't be two such. There is no lyrical similarity that I can see. Different songs, in my book. - RBW
File: HHH673
===
NAME: Maid of Altaveedan, The
DESCRIPTION: "I met her on the brow of Altaveedon Hill, The lambs were calling after her to stay there." He describes the hills and her, saying "There's a head of gold far lovelier than yon hill." Her beauty has enraptured the singer; he will wander no more
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H603, p. 239, "The Maid of Altaveedan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9474
File: HHH603
===
NAME: Maid of Altibrine, The: see The Holly Bough/The Maid of Altibrine (File: HHH111)
===
NAME: Maid of Amsterdam, The: see A-Rovin' (File: EM064)
===
NAME: Maid of Australia, The: see Oxeborough Banks (Maids of Australia) (File: FaE044)
===
NAME: Maid of Ballyhaunis, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer courts Mary, saying that her beauty has ensnared him. He begs her to love him, but notes that his father has told him they may not marry. He asks her to come away with him "to the land of ships," where they will be happy
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1831 (Hardiman _Irish Minstrelsy,_ according to OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: love courting father
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
SHenry H483, p. 427, "The Maid of Ballyhaunis" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-More 45, "Mary of Ballyhaunis" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 157, "Maid of Ballyhaunis" (1 text)
Roud #7960
NOTES: This strikes me as far too intricate to be a genuine traditional song; the evidence strongly implies that it originated in a broadside. - RBW
File: HHH483
===
NAME: Maid of Ballymore, The
DESCRIPTION: Markie Bawn loves the heiress "maid of Ballymore." If he wants to marry, she says, he must have her parents' consent. He puts on his shoes, has her mother's consent, and they marry. "A happier couple were never saw before"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1978 (recording, Mary Ann Carolan)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage mother
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #2991
RECORDINGS:
Mary Ann Carolan, "The Maid of Ballymore" (on Voice06)
NOTES: Ballymore is in County Kerry. - BS
File: RcMaiBal
===
NAME: Maid of Bonnie Strathyre, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer wants nothing better "than to herd the fine cattle on bonnie Strathyre" with "Mary, the pride of Strathyre." He dances with Mary, and Flora with Colin. Others can go to the lowlands, or soldier far away, but he'll stay home with Mary
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1988 (McBride)
KEYWORDS: love farming dancing Scotland nonballad animal
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
McBride 53, "The Maid of Bonnie Strathyre" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: McBride: "The song originates in the beautiful vale of Strathyre in Perthshire.... It would seem to be a very localised ballad and it must have been imported by migratory workers who traversed between Insihowen and Scotland." - BS
File: McB053
===
NAME: Maid of Bunclody, and the Lad She Loves So Dear, The: see The Streams of Bunclody (File: BroaTSoB)
===
NAME: Maid of Burndennet, The
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, fair (are the) vales of (my) own native soil," particularly Burndennet, where a beautiful girl lives. The singer praises her beauty and describes their courting. Though their rivals sneer, their love will emerge victorious
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H96a+b, pp. 230-231, "The Maid of Burndennett" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #7982
NOTES: Curiously, although Sam Henry lists only one source for this song, he preserved two texts -- each of four verses, but only two and a half verses in common, with a different order, and with substantial differences even in the common material. The differences are just what one would expect from oral tradition -- but with only one listed source, and no other versions known, one must suspect editorial tampering. - RBW
File: HHH096
===
NAME: Maid of Carrowclare, The: see Killyclare (Carrowclare; The Maid of Carrowclare) (File: HHH298)
===
NAME: Maid of Castle Craigh, The
DESCRIPTION: When the singer left Ireland to fight in the wars he had loved his "Maid of Castle Craigh" but thought she did not love him. Somehow, in the three years passed, he learned "that I had won thy gentle heart." The war is over and he has returned to her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)d
KEYWORDS: love war separation return Ireland
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
OLochlainn-More 72, "The Maid of Castlecraig" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 146, "The Maid of Castle Craigh" (1 text)
File: OLcM072
===
NAME: Maid of Craigienorn, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer praises the Maid of Craigienorn, whom he sees as he rambles. He begs her to come away. She refuses; she has another love and will not leave her parents. He says her love has abandoned her. The ending is confused
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection abandonment beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H500, pp. 359-360, "The Maid of Craigienorn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6880
NOTES: The first several stanzas of this are your standard guy-sees-girl/guy-hits-on-girl/girl-says-leave-me-alone ballad. Then we get a John Riley-like scene in which he says her love has abandoned her. (And how, given that the singer has never seen her before, does he know?) Then there seems to be a section from the woman's viewpoint, and another in which she is revealed as a Protestant, and another in which the singer complains about England's laws and wishes the couple happiness.
There seems little doubt that the ending of this song is confused. I would guess at least three other songs have contributed. But it's hard to identify them from the small fragments extant. - RBW
File: HHH359
===
NAME: Maid of Croaghmore, The
DESCRIPTION: The well-born young man falls in love with the maid of Croaghmore. He describes her beauty, says he would make her queen if he were king, and promises to serve for her hand as Jacob served Laban. Her parents say she is too young
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection father mother beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H522, pp. 355-356, "The Maid of Croaghmore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6878
NOTES: One wonders what was wrong with this wealthy young man, that the girl's parents refused to wed her to him (the song says she was nineteen, so hardly too young!).
The story of Jacob serving Laban for fourteen years to win the hands of Rachel and Leah is told in Genesis 29:15-30.
The song refers in the third verse to the Duke of Cumberland. Sam Henry explained that this was the same Duke of Cumberland (Williams Augustus, 1721-1765) who destroyed the Jacobite cause at Culloden. I can see no basis for this assertion. - RBW
File: HHH522
===
NAME: Maid of Culmore, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer praises the harbour and women of Culmore. He recalls the girl he loved, who cried bu "sailed down Lough Foyle and away from Culmore." He wishes a storm would bring her back. He will follow her and seek her in America
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation ship emigration
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H687, p. 302, "The Maids of Culmore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2493
File: HHH687
===
NAME: Maid of Don, The: see The Haughs o Newe (File: Ord193)
===
NAME: Maid of Dunmore, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a maid whose sweetheart is fighting the French with Nelson. He asks her to leave Dunmore and live with him in Ireland. She refuses. He "picked up my alls and left for Ireland, And left that fair maid in Dunmore"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: love sailor war separation courting rejection Ireland
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Manny/Wilson 83, "The Maid of Dunmore" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MaWi083 (Partial)
Roud #9177
NOTES: This hits so many familiar themes that it sounds like it ought to be a version of something else (compare, e.g., "The Plains of Waterloo (I)" [Laws N32] and "The Banks of Clyde (I)") -- but I can't locate a true parallel. - RBW.
File: MaWi083
===
NAME: Maid of Dunysheil
DESCRIPTION: The singer praises Dunyshiel, "the place where my true love does dwell." He recalls meeting her at Rasharkin Fair. He must leave for Nova Scotia, but as long as he is away, "my heart shall be with the Maid of Dunyshiel."
AUTHOR: Paddy McGuckian
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting emigration separation
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H530, p. 298, "The Maid of Dunyshiel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6894
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Erin's Flowery Vale (The Irish Girl's Lament)" [Laws O29] (plot) and references there
File: HHH530
===
NAME: Maid of Erin's Isle, The
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, the sun does set down in the west when his daily journey's o'er.... With ruby wine I'll fill my glass... And I'll drink a health to my sweetheart, she's the maid of Erin's isle." He praises Mary's beauty, and vows to love her as long as he lives
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love beauty nonballad wine
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H57b, p. 228, "The Maid of Erin's Isle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7978
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y4:002, "The Maid of Erin's Isle," J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844
File: HHH057b
===
NAME: Maid of Fainey, The
DESCRIPTION: "There was a maid of Fainey, of youth and beauty bright, Who had scores of sweethearts to court her day and night...." She loves her father's servant. They break a ring, then he flees. Her father threatens him. The end is confused
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: brokentoken courting love father separation
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 167-168, "The Maid of Fainey" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MAIDFAIN
Roud #3353
File: MA167
===
NAME: Maid of Faughan Vale, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a beautiful girl near Faughan Vale. He asks her about the road, and then admits to being besotted with her. She tells him she is engaged to another, and they will soon sail for America. He laments his fate
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: beauty courting rejection emigration
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H167, p. 369, "The Maid of Faughan Vale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6885
File: HHH167
===
NAME: Maid of Lismore, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer meets Kathy from Lismore, going to sell turkeys at Dungarvan. She pays for drinks. He claims to be rich. They sleep until the market closed. The price for turkeys falls. Now he claims poverty. She is ruined and would have him "hung or transported"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1886 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(2283))
KEYWORDS: seduction lie drink commerce poverty bird food
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #9284
RECORDINGS:
Martin Reidy, "Lismore Turkeys" (on IRClare01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2283), "The Maid of Lismore" ("One day as I chanced to go roving"), H. Such (London), 1863-1885; also 2806 b.9(111), 2806 c.8(187), 2806 c.8(257)[some words illegible], 2806 c.15(12)[some words illegible], 2806 b.11(135), "The Maid of Lismore"
NOTES: The places mentioned -- Lismore, Dungarvin and Cappoquin (where they stopped) -- are in County Waterford. It's about three miles from Lismore to Cappoquin, and about 11 miles farther to Dungarvan. - BS
File: RcMaLism
===
NAME: Maid of Monterey, The: see Mustang Gray (The Maid of Monterey) (File: FT09)
===
NAME: Maid of Mourne Shore, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer ask is he will ever again see the region of Mourne. He goes to his sweetheart, and begs her to love him lest he go over the sea. She says she loves a sailor and will remain true to him. The singer sadly prepares to emigrate
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love rejection sailor emigration
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H34b (+tune in H27a), pp. 371-372, "The Maid of Mourne Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MOURNESH*
Roud #2946
RECORDINGS:
Martin Reidy, "Maid of Moorlough Shore" (on IRClare01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Foggy Dew" (II) (version on IRClare01) (tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Banks of Moorlough Shore
The Moorlough Shore
The Mourne Shore
File: HHH034b
===
NAME: Maid of Mullaghmore, The: see The Shamrock Shore (The Maid of Mullaghmore) (File: HHH20a)
===
NAME: Maid of Newfoundland, The
DESCRIPTION: The beauties of the maid are compared with the flowers, jewels, women of other lands, etc. The singer tells us that he met her in Labrador and will go far away if he cannot have her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: love beauty exile
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 118, "The Maid of Newfoundland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 372-374, "The Maid of Newfoundland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, p. 21, "The Maid of Newfoundland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 71, "The Maid of Newfoundland" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MAIDNEWF
Roud #4412
RECORDINGS:
Anita Best and Pamela Morgan, "The Maid on the Shore" (on NFABestPMorgan01)
NOTES: The song has a formulaic introduction by the singer who evokes the Muses to help sing praises to his beloved. - SH
File: Doy21
===
NAME: Maid of Prairie Du Chien, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer bids farewell, noting "There's nothing doth my footsteps detain But the beautiful maid of Prairie du Chien." He offers marriage; she rejects him. He hopes she will turn to him "when lovers get scarce." He wishes he were a soldier far away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1903 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: love rejection
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, p. 201, "The Maid of Prairie Du Chien" (1 text)
Roud #7947
NOTES: Belden notes, correctly, that Prairie du Chien is in southwestern Wisconsin, where the Wisconsin River joins the Upper Mississippi. But he fails to note that it was the site of Fort Crawford, founded in 1816, which at the time was the northwesternmost point of functional United States control of the Midwest (to be superseded in 1819 by the founding of Camp New Hope, which eventually was moved to the site of Fort Snelling at the confluence of the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers).
If Belden's informant was correct about when he learned it, the song must have dated back to at least 1850 or so. In that case, it seems quite likely that the singer was intended to be a soldier at Fort Crawford; the girl may have been a local Indian, though by 1850 there were a fair number of Europeans in the area. - RBW
File: Beld201
===
NAME: Maid of Rygate, The: see The Highwayman Outwitted [Laws L2] (File: LL02)
===
NAME: Maid of Seventeen, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer steps up to a beautiful girl and says that she entices him. She answers that she is only seventeen, and knows nothing of courting. He offers her a lesson in the subject. She says he should not visit her; she will return in a week
AUTHOR: Hugh McWilliams (source: Moulden-McWilliams)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1831 (according to Moulden-McWilliams)
KEYWORDS: love courting youth beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H144, p. 270, "The Maid of Seventeen" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: John Moulden, Songs of Hugh McWilliams, Schoolmaster, 1831 (Portrush,1993), p. 11, "The Maid of Seventeen"
Roud #2958
File: HHH144
===
NAME: Maid of Sweet Gartheen, The: see  (File: HHH594)
===
NAME: Maid of Sweet Gartine, The: see  (File: HHH594)
===
NAME: Maid of Sweet Gorteen, The: see The Maid of Sweet Gurteen (File: HHH594)
===
NAME: Maid of Sweet Gurteen, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells the praises of the beautiful Maid of Gorteen. His father opposes the match; she is only a serving girl. The father locks her up; when the singer still professes his love, he has the girl sent away. The ending is confused
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1863 (broadside, Harding B 11(2292))
KEYWORDS: love separation father beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
SHenry H594, p. 430, "The Maid of Sweet Gorteen" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 22, "The Maid of Sweet Gurteen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 375-376, "The Maid of Sweet Gartheen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 85, "The Maid of Sweet Gartine" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 31, "The Maid of Sweet Gorteen" (1 text)
ST HHH594 (Partial)
Roud #3025
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2292), "Maid of Sweet Gortein," H. Such (London), 1849-1862; also 2806 b.11(146), "Maid of Sweet Gortein"; 2806 b.11(271), Harding B 11(2721), "The Maid of Sweet Gorteen"; 2806 c.8(263), Harding B 11(2290), Harding B 11(2291), 2806 c.15(200)[many illegible words], 2806 b.9(277), 2806 b.9(234), Harding B 19(39), "The Maid of Sweet Gurteen"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Suffolk Miracle" [Child 272] (theme)
NOTES: Child would have liked this; the plot is "The Suffolk Miracle" ("The Holland Handkerchief"), minus that ghost he so despised. It's not clear how this song is supposed to end; the Sam Henry texts gives hints that the lovers would reunite, but they never do.
Peacock's version has a clear stopping point ("So now my song is ended"), but again, no resolution; it leaves the singer wandering, seemingly between England and Ireland, still coming back to where he found her. Similarly Manny/Wilson, save that he is in Florida. - RBW
File: HHH594
===
NAME: Maid of Tardree, The
DESCRIPTION: In this confused song, the singer falls in love with a  girl, who also says she loves him. But then he falls in love with another girl. But his "first expectations were blighted." He prepares to emigrate
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love emigration
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H733, p. 342, "The Maid of Tardree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6872
NOTES: There is no doubt in my mind that this song is damaged somehow. But I can't guess how. - RBW
File: HHH733
===
NAME: Maid of the East, The: see There Was a Lady in the East (File: Pea726)
===
NAME: Maid of the Mountain Brow: see The Foot of the Mountain Brow (The Maid of the Mountain Brow) [Laws P7] (File: LP07)
===
NAME: Maid of the Sweet Brown Knowe, The: see The Foot of the Mountain Brow (The Maid of the Mountain Brow) [Laws P7] (File: LP07)
===
NAME: Maid of Tottenham, The: see Haselbury Girl, The (The Maid of Tottenham, The Aylesbury Girl) (File: K176)
===
NAME: Maid on the Shore, The (The Fair Maid by the Sea Shore; The Sea Captain) [Laws K27]
DESCRIPTION: The captain sees a pretty girl on the shore, and vigorously entreats her to come aboard. At last she does, but then sings captain and sailors to sleep. She robs captain and sailors, then rows back to shore -- using the captain's sword for an oar!
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1859 (Journal from the Ocean Rover)
KEYWORDS: courting seduction trick escape robbery magic shore feminist
FOUND_IN: US(MA,NE,NW,So,SW) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (16 citations)
Laws K27, "The Maid on the Shore (The Fair Maid by the Sea Shore; The Sea Captain)"
Bronson (43), "The Broomfield Hill" -- the appendix includes 6 versions (#25-#30) which are this song
Belden, pp. 107-109, "The Maid on the Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 731-732, "The Fair Maid by the Sea Shore" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 403, "The Sea Captain" (1 text)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 28, "The Maiden who Dwelt by the Shore" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #29}
Peacock, pp. 296-297, "The Maid on the Shore O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 28, "The Sea Captain" (3 texts, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #27, #30}
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 158-159, "The Maid on the Shore (The Sea Captain)" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #29, perhaps slightly modified}
Creighton-Maritime, p. 41, "The Sea Captain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 49, "The Sea Captain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 19, "The Sea Captain" (2 texts, 1 tune)
FSCatskills 75, "The Maid on the Shore" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 136-137, "The Maid on the Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 73, "The Maid on the Shore" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #29}
DT 322 (43?), MAIDSHOR* MAIDSHR2*
Roud #181
RECORDINGS:
Frankie Armstrong, "The Maid on the Shore" (on BirdBush2, Armstrong1)
Omar Blondahl, "The Maid on the Shore" (on NFOBlondahl04)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Broomfield Hill" [Child 43] (plot) and references there
cf. "Drimindown" (tune)
File: LK27
===
NAME: Maid Peeped Out at the Window, The: see The Friar in the Well [Child 276] (File: C276)
===
NAME: Maid Who Sold Her Barley, The: see Mowing the Barley (Cold and Raw) (File: ShH60)
===
NAME: Maid with the Bonny Brown Hair, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer sees a beautiful maiden, "brighter than Venus." He courts her; at last they set a wedding day. But she breaks off the engagement; she has "another more kinder." He laments; he or she or both set out for another country
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (JIFSS)
KEYWORDS: love rejection emigration beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H43, p. 394, "The Maid with the Bonny Brown Hair"; H575, pp. 394-395, "The Maid with the Bonny Brown Hair" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
OLochlainn 6, "The Maid With the Bonny Brown Hair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3032
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lough Erin's Shore (I)" (tune)
cf. "The Bonnie Wee Lass of the Glen" (tune)
cf. "Erin's Green Shore" [Laws Q27] (tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Lass with the Bonny Brown Hair
File: HHH024
===
NAME: Maiden in the Garden, The: see Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token) [Laws N42] (File: LN42)
===
NAME: Maiden of Drumdurno, The
DESCRIPTION: "Busy baking for her bridal, Durno's maiden lilts wi' glee." A stranger taunts her for baking too slowly. She wagers she can finish baking before he can build a road. He, the devil in disguise, wins the wager. She flees and turns to stone to escape him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: cook food wager marriage trick Devil
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 434-435, "The Maiden of Drumdurno" (1 text)
NOTES: According to Ord, this is a poetic version of a legend regarding the "maiden stone of Bennachie." The tall stone, said to bear the marks of a fleeing girl, is reported to have been created when the condemned girl cried for help. Rather than obtaining rescue from the tempter, she was turned to stone.
The legend may have arisen naturally. The song, I think, is a purely modern composition. - RBW
File: Ord434
===
NAME: Maiden Sat a-Weeping, A: see As Sylvie Was Walking (File: VWL014)
===
NAME: Maiden Who Dwelt by the Shore, The: see The Maid on the Shore (The Fair Maid by the Sea Shore; The Sea Captain) [Laws K27] (File: LK27)
===
NAME: Maiden's Grave, The
DESCRIPTION: "What is that crucifix gleaming so whitely, Here in the desert standing so brave? Let us go softly, let us go lightly, To read its inscription, 'The Maiden's Grave.'" No one, save the cross that marks the grave, knows who she was or how she died
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (Deseret News)
KEYWORDS: death burial nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, pp. 135-136, "(The Maiden's Grave)" (1 text)
NOTES: Reportedly based on an incident of 1904, when the Central Pacific railroad was realigning its tracks. This involved moving one grave of a woman whose history was not know. - RBW
File: Burt135
===
NAME: Maiden's Lament (I), The
DESCRIPTION: The girl laments that her parents have denied her poor lover's proposal of marriage. She bids farewell to parents, friends and foes. "Come all you fair maids like me a-dying, It's now I'm taking my last farewell." She believes her death is near.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Karpeles-Newfoundland)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation dying father mother death poverty
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 82, "The Maiden's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2305
File: KaNew082
===
NAME: Maiden's Lament (II), The: see I Never Will Marry [Laws K17] (File: LK17)
===
NAME: Maiden's Lament (III): see Garners Gay (Rue; The Sprig of Thyme) and related songs (File: FSWB163)
===
NAME: Maiden's Lamentation, The: see A Maid in Bedlam (File: ShH41)
===
NAME: Maiden's Prayer, The: see The Butcher Boy [Laws P24] (File: LP24)
===
NAME: Maidens of Sixty-Three (The Old Maid)
DESCRIPTION: "When I was a girl of eighteen years old... I was taught to expect wit, wisdom, gold, and nothing less would do for me." She rejected a youth as too poor, a duke as too old, etc. By  her forties, the suitors were fewer; at (63), she begs for anyone
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1911 (Grieg)
KEYWORDS: courting oldmaid rejection
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H679, pp. 255-256, "Maidens of Sixty-Three" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, OLDMD53*
Roud #5643
NOTES: Sort of a combination of "My Thing Is My Own" with "The Old Maid's Song." - RBW
File: HHH679
===
NAME: Maidin Luan Chincise
DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. The speaker laments that while Leinster and Ulster rose in rebellion, Munster did not.
AUTHOR: Micheal Og O Longain (1766-1837) (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1978 (Toibin's _Duanaire Deiseach_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage rebellion
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1798 - Irish rebellion against British rule 
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 102, "Maidin Luan Chincise" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The description is, verbatim, Moylan's.
Moylan states that his text is not O Longain's original, but a version from tradition. - BS
This is one of those "technically correct" laments: There were lots of hot spots in Ulster in 1798. In Munster, outside of Dublin, there wasn't much -- except in Wexford. Wexford is right on the borther with Munster, but there were few spontaneous uprisings in Munster. But Munster was a backwater. Had the Ulster rebels held together until the French came, or the Wexford rebels raised more of Leinster and moved on Dublin, they might have succeeded. Had Munster risen but all else stayed the same, the effect would simply have been to increase the bloodshed: The British would have pacified the northeast, then concentrated all their forces in the south. - RBW
File: Moyl102
===
NAME: Maids of Australia: see Oxeborough Banks (Maids of Australia) (File: FaE044)
===
NAME: Maids of Culmore, The: see The Maid of Culmore (File: HHH687)
===
NAME: Maids of Downhill, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls wandering by Magilligan strand to Downhill. He describes the shore, the old castle, the fields, the girls. He complains that the famous poets never mentioned Downhill. He would rather be here than anywhere else in the world
AUTHOR: Frances Heaney ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H809, p. 162, "The Maids of Downhill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13462
File: HHH809
===
NAME: Maids of Simcoe (Ontario)
DESCRIPTION: The singer urges the girls to remember the loggers while waiting at home with the farmers. He remarks sarcastically on the dangers farmers face. The boys head for (Quebec) to party, then for home. (In some texts a girl at an inn falls in love with him)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Rickaby)
KEYWORDS: logger separation
FOUND_IN: US(MA,NE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Doerflinger, pp. 241-242, "The Maids of Simcoe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rickaby 16, "Ye Maidens of Ontario" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 76-77, "Ye Maidens of Ontario" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Doe241 (Partial)
Roud #3289
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Union Boy" (tune, floating verses)
NOTES: There are two places in Ontario called "Simcoe." Arthur Lant, of New York (who sang the version found in Doerflinger), thought it referred to Simcoe *county* (on the southeastern corner of Georgian Bay, and extending down to Lake Simcoe). The town of Simcoe, which is farther from the logging regions, is in Norfolk County in southern Ontario, a short distance from Lake Erie and almost due north of Erie, Pennsylvania.
Fowke reports that this song "is descended from an old English broadside, 'Ye Gentlemen of England, or The Stormy Winds Do Blow.'" - RBW
File: Doe241
===
NAME: Maids When You're Young Never Wed an Old Man
DESCRIPTION: Examples of why young women should not marry old men. A girl married at sixteen, and has lived an unsatisfactory life. Details are given of the old man's various performance problems. The girl notes that she eventually found solace with a young man
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1791 (Herd)
KEYWORDS: age marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North,South,Lond),Scotland(Aber)) Ireland US(Ro) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Kennedy 207, "Never Wed a' Auld Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 60, "An Old Man He Courted Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 156, "Maids When You're Young, Never Wed An Old Man" (1 text)
Gilbert, p. 72, "Don't Wed an Old Man" (1 text)
DT, NOWEDOLD*
Roud #210
RECORDINGS:
Sam Larner, "Maids When You're Young Never Wed an Old Man" (on SLarner02)
Jeannie Robertson, "Maids When You're Young [Never Wed a Auld Man]" (on FSB2, FSB2CD); "An Old Man Came a Courting Me" (on Voice01) 
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "An Old Man Came Over the Moor, (Old Gum Boots and Leggings)"
cf. "I Wouldn't Marry an Old Man"
cf. "I Wouldn't Have an Old Man"
cf. "No Balls at All"
cf. "My Husband's Got No Courage In Him"
cf. "A Bird in a Gilded Cage"
cf. "The Whirly Whorl"
cf. "The Old Bachelor (I)"
cf. "The Burnt-Out Old Fellow [An Seanduine Doighte]"
cf. "Le Mari de Quatre-Vingt-Dix Ans (The Ninety Year Old Husband)"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Scant of Love, Want of Love
NOTES: In their notes to Sam Larner's recording, MacColl & Seeger cite a version from the appendix to the 1791 edition of Herd's "Scottish Songs," which they call a "remarkably close parallel to Mr. Larner's." Without seeing it, I'm hesitant to assign "EARLIEST DATE," but that has the ring of certainty about it rather than careless lumping. - PJS
I'm assured by others that they're the same, and have adjusted the Earliest Date accordingly (the more so as every other version is rather recent). But I'm leaving the comment here because, well, I still haven't seen it. - RBW
File: K207
===
NAME: Mail Boat Leinster, The
DESCRIPTION: On October 10, 1918, "the Dublin Mail Boat Leinster was sunk in the Irish Sea" by a German submarine. "The passengers, their life-belts on, unto the boats repair, While cries for help do rend the skies in sad and wild despair."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1946 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck sailor war
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Oct 10, 1918: World War I. Leinster with 680 passengers sunk "by torpedoes fired by a German submarine U 123 .... Of the total of 757 aboard 501 were lost" (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, p. 32)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, p. 35, "The Mail Boat, Leinster" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7344
NOTES: Ranson: Tune is "Poulshone Fishermen" on p. 102. - BS
File: Ran035
===
NAME: Mail Day: see Every Mail Day (File: Wa173)
===
NAME: Mail Day Blues: see Every Mail Day (File: Wa173)
===
NAME: Maine-ite in Pennsylvania, The
DESCRIPTION: "I landed safe in Williamsport in a lumberman's rendezvous, 'Twas there I hired with Jacob Brown as one of winter's crew." The singer serves six months in the wild country, talking of the waters and the great variety of animals
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Rickaby)
KEYWORDS: logger work river animal humorous
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Rickaby 19, "The Maine-ite in Pennsylvania" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Rick089 (Full)
Roud #7739
NOTES: This is a very strange little song: After one verse about hiring out, which could come from another lumbering song, the singer describes the territory in which he worked. But this description is so exaggerated as to be funny -- "the wild ferocious rabbit"? And Caribou are an arctic mammal. - RBW
File: Rick089
===
NAME: Mains O' Fogieloan, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer hires on in May at Turra as the lowest labourer at a Fogieloan farm. The foreman and second, kitchen maid and other labourers are named. Times in town are described with drink, fiddlers, and street dealers. He'll be back next May at a hiring day.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1974 (recording, John MacDonald)
KEYWORDS: farming drink fiddle moniker nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #5148
RECORDINGS:
John MacDonald, "The Mains O' Fogieloan" (on Voice05)
NOTES: Turra [Turriff, according to the notes] and Fogieloan [Aberchirder] are in Aberdeenshire. - BS
File: RcMaoFog
===
NAME: Mainsail Haul
DESCRIPTION: The sailor, broke, goes to a boarding-master and signs up to serve on the "Oxford." He comes aboard to find "sailors... from every nation"; "There wasn't one man that could understand another." At last he jumps ship or is paid off (with the entire crew!)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: sailor poverty humorous foreigner
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Doerflinger, pp. 117-122, "Mainsail Haul" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
ST Doe117 (Partial)
Roud #653
NOTES: According to Doerflinger, the Black Ball Line ran the _Oxford_ on the transatlantic packet run from her launching in 1836 until 1850. - RBW
File: Doe117
===
NAME: Mairin Ni Ghiobhalain
DESCRIPTION: Tradesmen, with their tools, come to fix "a new foundation In Maureen from Gippursland" to stop her leak: a blacksmith, saddler, baker, tailor, ploughman and timberman. Each fails. Finally, a big tinkerman, with a soldering iron, fixes her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (_The Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society_, according to Jim Carroll's notes to IRTravellers012)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: radesmen, with their tools, came to fix "a new foundation In Maureen from Gippursland" to stop her leak: a blacksmith with hammer and anvil, a saddler with needle and thread, a baker with flour and soda, a tailor with cloth and scissors, a ploughman with horse and plough, and a timberman with an axe. Each work "until his sides was sick and sore, And after all his labour she leaked In the place where she leaked before." Finally, a big tinkerman, with a soldering iron, "rosined her, he soldered her ... but after all his labour she never leaked In the place where she leaked before"
KEYWORDS: sex bawdy tinker
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #7269
RECORDINGS:
Bill Bryan, "Marie from Gippursland" (on IRTravellers01)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Auld Mairin's Gibberlin
Mairins Gibberlin
NOTES: Jim Carroll's notes to IRTravellers01 includes the complete text of a "version entitled 'The Jolly Weaver', described as an old Ulster weaving song ... to be found in _The Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society_ of 1906...."; the tradesmen in that text are a weaver with his shuttles and jacks, a sailor with his compass, a mason with his hammer, trowel and plumb-line, and a ploughman "with two ploughshares in his hand." In addition he refers to "a fragment entitled 'Mairins Gibberlan,' described as 'decidedly objectionable', included in _The Greig Duncan Folk Song Collection_ [vol 7]."
There are many examples in traditional song of tradesmen's use of tools of their trade as code for sexual activity. See, for example, "Donnelly," "Anything (II)," "Bill Wiseman," "The Bonny Black Hare," "Coachman's Whip," "Cruising Round Yarmouth," "The German Clockwinder," "The Jolly Tinker (III)," "The Long Peggin' Awl," "Miller Tae My Trade" and "The Thrashing Machine (I)." - BS
File: RcMaNiGh
===
NAME: Major and the Weaver, The [Laws Q10]
DESCRIPTION: The weaver comes home suddenly, forcing the major (who is visiting his wife) to hide under the bed. The weaver goes out wearing the major's breeches, containing money and a watch. He claims the same right to the breeches as the major has to his wife
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Henry)
KEYWORDS: seduction trick bawdy humorous hiding
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws Q10, "The Major and the Weaver"
Flanders/Brown, pp. 91, "Lie Low" (1 fragment, 1 tune, a single stanza which can only tentatively be identified with this song)
DT 522, WEAVWIFE
Roud #1005
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Boatsman and the Chest" [Laws Q8] (plot) and references there
NOTES: The Copper text of "The Little Cobbler" appears to have cross-fertilized with this piece; the two are similar in plot, and the Copper version shares some words as well. But the extreme versions are distinct.
This and similar songs are sometimes traced back to a story in Boccaccio (seventh day, second story: Gianella, Peronella, and her husband). But the story is really one of the basic themes of folktale, and doubtless predates Boccaccio as well as these songs. - RBW
File: LQ10
===
NAME: Major Andre's Capture [Laws A2]
DESCRIPTION: The young gentleman, John Paulding, escapes from a British prison and helps capture Major Andre. American general Benedict Arnold escapes and leaves Andre to be executed. "And every one wished Andre clear, and Arnold in his stead."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1817 (New American Songster)
KEYWORDS: betrayal execution war prison
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Oct 2, 1780 - Execution of Major Andre
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws A2, "Major Andre's Capture"
Eddy 114, "Major Andrews' Execution" (1 text)
Scott-BoA, pp. 84-86, "The Ballad of Major Andre" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, ANDREXEC
Roud #798
NOTES: Benedict Arnold (1741-1801) was one of the best American officers of the Revolutionary War; he was the key figure, e.g., in the first great battle of the war, at Saratoga (Richard M. Ketchum, _Saratoga_, p. 404, reports that he "managed to be everywhere when needed" and lists him first among those responsible for the victory).
What he didn't have was political clout. His victories were never properly recognized in Congress, and there were questions about his financial dealings (see Bruce Lancaster, _The American Revolution_, p. 243; E. James Ferguson, _The American Revolution: A General History 1763-1890_, pp. 217-218). After being passed over for promotion too many times, he turned to the British. (There may have been more to it than that; Don Cook, _The Long Fuse: How England Lost the American colonies 1760-1785_, p. 328, writes of how he was making profit off the black market as early as 1778, and in 1779 he married as his second wife Peggy Shippen, who was half his age and came from a family with Tory sympathies.) Within weeks of his wedding, he was making covert contacts with the British -- though he wanted a high price (10,000 pounds!) for his betrayal. This initial proposal was rejected.
In 1780, Arnold was appointed to command at West Point, which was important to controlling the Hudson Valley. (Washington wanted to give Arnold charge of his left wing an important field command, but Arnold, who had been wounded twice in the knee, claimed this was too strenuous. This is likely enough. He had already suffered a knee wound in the invasion of Canada, and he suffered another wound to it at Saratoga; his horse went down at the same time, and his leg was broken; see Ketchum, p. 403; Lancaster, p. 221). He was never really the same physically.) I've read that he asked for command of West Point under British orders, but Cook implies that he had not yet gone over to the British. Not quite, though he was thinking about it. It wouldn't be long.
John Andre (1751-1780) was the adjutant of the British commander Henry Clinton, and as such acted as British intelligence chief. He also served as the liaison with Arnold. On September 20, 1780, the British ship _Vulture_ dropped Andre off for another meeting with Arnold. They talked until four in the morning (Cook, p. 329). Caught in the fire of American guns, the _Vulture_ slipped a short distance downstream, leaving Andre behind.
Andre had no choice but to return to the British lines on land. A British sympathizer outfitted him with civilian clothes, and Arnold gave him a pass. But Washington was in the vicinity, and security was high. A force guided by John Paulding (1758-1818) found Andre, seemingly by accident, and captured him with the plans  to West Point in his pocket.
Captured September 23, Andre was tried on September 29 and hung on October 2. Unfortunately, the papers did not reveal Arnold as a traitor. Lt. Colonel John Jameson, into whose command Andre fell, sent a message to Arnold describing Andre's capture (Cook, p. 330). Arnold managed to flee and make it to the _Vulture_. West Point was saved, though.
Andre, once he realized his predicament, made no secret of his situation; he seems to have hoped for leniency. The British commander General Clinton tried to have his execution postponed. But the American rebels wanted blood, and were not very courteous anyway (note, e.g., their refusal to parole the British soldiers after Saratoga), and so Andre went to the gallows as a spy; he was denied a firing squad (Cook, p. 331).
The ballad's praise of Andre and dislike of Arnold are historically accurate. Even the men who condemned and hanged Andre respected him; one called him his brother; Lancaster reports (p. 248) that "Unnumbered Americans" felt deeply about his execution. George III gave his mother and sisters pensions, and made his brother a baronet. Arnold, by contrast, was hated in America and despised in Britain.
By contrast, it was Arnold's incompetence which had caused the whole thing to fail: He talked too long, and he refused to make sure Andre made it home. Had it not been for his failures, the capture of West Point would have gone off as planned. Arnold was well rewarded for his treachery, troops refused to serve under him, and in the end he lost most of his ill-gotten gains in bad business deals.
This was, incidentally, one of the last major events of the American Revolution in the north. The British navy at this time was at a rather low ebb; you would never know that it was the fleet that, 25 years later, would win Trafalgar. Despite their theoretical naval superiority, the British were in effect fighting two wars, one from New York and one from Charleston. And, by this time, most of the effort was going into Charleston. Had Arnold's treachery succeeded, the war in the north might have heated up again -- but Arnold failed.
Spaeth (_A History of Popular Music in America_, p. 24) refers to a song called "Sergeant Champe" which has this precise plot, and which was published in 1780 to the tune of "Barbara Allen," but I have never encountered his title in tradition. - RBW
File: LA02
===
NAME: Major Andrews's Execution: see Major Andre's Capture [Laws A2] (File: LA02)
===
NAME: Major, The
DESCRIPTION: Dublin 1798: "The Major" supported Orange "hangman hacks," "told informers what to swear," tried to prevent his Jemmy's execution and finally converted to Methodism. All "who have their catechism well" agree "whene'er he dies [he] will go to hell"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1810 (Cox's _Irish Magazine_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: violence death nonballad political police
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 165, "The Major" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Henry Downs" (character of Major Sirr) and references there
cf. "Jemmy O'Brien's Minuet" (characters)
NOTES: Moylan: "The Major of the title was Town-Major Sirr, chief of the Dublin police, captor of Lord Edward Fitzgerald and Thomas Russell... The Jemmy referred to ... was Sirr's creature, Jemmy O'Brien.... In 1800 he [O'Brien] killed a man near Steevens' Lane in a fit of temper, was convicted of the crime and was sentenced to hang. Sirr tried [unsuccessfully] to 'fix' the trial.... In later life Major Sirr turned to religion and became a Methodist."
For more about Major Sirr see "Henry Downs," "Edward" (III) (Edward Fitzgerald)," "The Man from God-Knows-Where" and the notes to "Who Killed Cock Robin?" (II). For more about Jemmy O'Brien see "Hevey's Mare," "Jemmy O'Brien" and "Jemmy O'Brien's Minuet." - BS
The _Oxford Companion to Irish History_ gives Sirr's dates as 1764-1841. He came from a firmly loyalist family; his father Joseph would for a time be Dublin's Town Major (roughly equivalent to police chief). Henry joined the army at about 14, ending his service in 1791. He went into business in Dublin in that year, but was appointed Town Major in 1796. He held that office until it was abolished in 1808, and retained the title even after that; he continued to serve as a magitrate until 1826. He reportedly became very interested in Irish antiquties late in his life. - RBW
File: Moyl165
===
NAME: Make Me a Cowboy Again: see Cowboy Again for a Day (File: FCW116)
===
NAME: Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor
DESCRIPTION: Possibly about life in the south (Atlanta?) and the singer's desire to return or a meeting between the singer's lover and girl. Chorus: "Make me a pallet on your floor (x2),  Make it soft, make it low, so my good gal won't know Make me..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1923 (version copyrighted by W. C. Handy)
KEYWORDS: nonballad separation loneliness home return floatingverses sex infidelity
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
BrownIII 291, "Cornbread When I'm Hungry" (2 fragments; the "A" text combines "Moonshiner" with "Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor"; "B" mixes "Moonshiner" with what appears to be a minstrel song)
Handy/Silverman-Blues, pp. 190-192, "Atlanta Blues (Make Me One Pallet on Your Floor)" (1 text, 1 tune, loosely based on this song)
Darling-NAS, pp. 292-294, "Lovin' Babe" (1 text, composite of floating verses including this one)
DT, PALLTFLR*
RECORDINGS:
Mississippi John Hurt, "Ain't No Tellin'" (OKeh 8759, 1930; rec. 1928; on MJHurt01, MJHurt02); "Pallet on the Floor" (on FOTM)
Merline Johnson (the Yas Yas Girl) "Pallet on the Floor" (Bluebird B-7166, 1937)
Grandpa Jones, "Fix Me a Pallet" (King 1069, 1952)
Virginia Liston, "Make Me a Pallet" (OKeh 8247, 1925)
Stripling Brothers, "Pallet on the Floor" (Decca 5367, 1937; rec. 1936)
Ethel Waters, "Make Me a Pallet on the Floor" (Columbia 14125-D, 1926)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Chilly Winds" (floating lyrics)
File: Handy190
===
NAME: Make We Merry Both More and Less
DESCRIPTION: "Make we mery bothe more and lasse, For now is the time ofd Christimas." All who come to the feast are enjoined to bring some entertainment: A song, a sport, etc. "If he say he can nought do... But to the stokkes then let him go."
AUTHOR: unknown (contemporary tune by Martin Shaw)
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1504 (Hill MS., Balliol Coll. Oxf. 354)
KEYWORDS: carol Christmas food party nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
OBC 172, "Make We Merry" (1 text, 1 tune)
Stevick-100MEL 98, "(Make We Myrie Bothe More and Lasse)" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Brown/Robbins, _Index of Middle English Verse_, #1866
NOTES: Very possibly not traditional, but widely quoted -- and many of the pieces in the Hill manuscript *are* traditional, so I included it. - RBW
File: OBC172
===
NAME: Making My Will (Father Abdey's Will)
DESCRIPTION: The singer, who is dying, leaves his entire estate to his wife. The estate is detailed in exquisitely rhymed, exquisitely monotonous detail
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1945 (Flanders/Olney)
KEYWORDS: dying bequest lastwill
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 14-16, "Making My Will (Father Abdey's Will)" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MAKEWILL*
Roud #4676
File: FO014
===
NAME: Malahide Fishermen, The
DESCRIPTION: On a calm November 18 "four brave seamen ... took their nets and line." Neptune, Boreas, and Death conspire to "rise an awful squall" and they "were lost here in Fingal" The four are named.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1943 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck fishing
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ranson, pp. 14-15, "The Malahide Fishermen" (1 text)
OLochlainn-More 56A, "The Malahide Fishermen" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Malahide is in the Fingal administrative area on the County Dublin coast, north of Dublin city. - BS
File: Ran014
===
NAME: Malbrouck
DESCRIPTION: French language: "Malbrouck s'en va-t-en dguere-re/Marlborough he's gone to war." Marlborough is slow in returning home; he is dead and in his tomb. Details of his funeral are given
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1896 (Trebucq)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage nobility death burial funeral
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1650-1727 -  Life of John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough
1701-1714 - War of the Spanish Succession, pitting France and Spain against Britain, Austria, and many smaller nations. Marlborough made a reputation by winning the battles of Blenheim (1704), Ramillies (1706), and Oudenarde (1708) (he fought a draw at Malplaquet in 1709)
FOUND_IN: France
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Kennedy 108, "Malbrouck" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 202-205, "Molly Brooks" (1 tune plus dance figures)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 231-233, "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow -- (Malbrouk -- We Won't Go Home till Morning! -- The Bear Went over the Mountain)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "We Won't Go Home Until Morning" (tune) and references there
NOTES: For the history of this tune, see the entry on "We Won't Go Home Until Morning."
It should be noted that this song has nothing to do with the historical Marlborough.
Chase describes "Molly Brooks" as an American "wearing-down" of Marlborough. Hence the classification of his dance piece here rather than under one of the other Malbrouck tunes. - RBW
File: K108
===
NAME: Mallard, The
DESCRIPTION: "I have et, and what have I et, I have et the toe of a mallard." And so forth, through foot, heel, leg, etc., culminating in the entire bird. "And," we are assured, "good-a meat was the mallard."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1889
KEYWORDS: bird food cumulative nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South)) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Kennedy 299, "The Mallard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 16-17, "The Mallard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1517
RECORDINGS:
Henry Mitchelmore, "Most Beautiful Leg of the Mallard" (on Voice07)
Bunny Palmer et al, "The Mallard" (on Lomax41, LomaxCD1741)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Red Herring" (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Mullard
File: K299
===
NAME: Mally Leigh
DESCRIPTION: An extravagant description of Mally's beauty and its effect on men. Men turn aside to see her; a countess "pines" for her; nobles "each one thocht his Kate or Moll a drab to Mally Leigh." Even royalty is not immune (but she is true to the man she loves)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: beauty courting
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 176-178, "Mally Leigh" (1 text)
Roud #6130
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Mally Lee
NOTES: Generally held to commemorate one Mally Sleigh, who is said to have married Lord Lyon Brodie in 1725. I know of no supporting evidence except widespread belief; Ford cites a manuscript of the song "subsequent to 1760." If Sleigh (or Brodie) had any subsequent influence on history, I do not know of it. - RBW
File: FVS176B
===
NAME: Malone
DESCRIPTION: Pat claims Mick Malone borrowed half-a-crown and "never brough it back." He won't lend him more because Malone "well knows how to borrow But he don't know how to pay." If Pat catches Malone he'll "stop his dirty tricks ... I'll give him cause to moan"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1985 (IRTravellers01)
KEYWORDS: accusation nonballad money thief
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #16689
RECORDINGS:
Mikeen McCarthy, "Malone" (on IRTravellers01)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Half Crown
NOTES: The repeated lines here are "A half-a-crown is a half-a-crown, Of course it's two and six." - BS
Every time I read this, I'm reminded of the Blind Blake song "Jones." The feel of the lyrics is much alike, but the item stolen is different (money versus girlfriend), and of course they're very different in style. I guess it just shows how certain emotions exist across cultures. - RBW
File: RcMalone
===
NAME: Mama Don't 'Low
DESCRIPTION: "Mama don't 'low no banjo playin 'round here... Well, I don't care what mama don't 'low, Gonna play my banjo anyhow...." Mama forbids all sorts of things, from jazz playing to motorcycle riding, but the singer is not discouraged
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (recording, Charlie Jackson)
KEYWORDS: music mother nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
BrownIII 452, "Mama Don't Allow No Low Down Hanging Around" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 21, "Mama Don't 'Low" (1 text)
DT, MAMADONT
Roud #11793
RECORDINGS:
Allen Bros., "No Low Down Hanging 'Round" (Bluebird B-5448, 1934)
Smilie Burnett, "Mama Don't Like Music" (Perfect 13011, 1934)
Bill Boyd & his Cowboy Ramblers, "Mama Don't Like No Music" (Bluebird B-5855, 1935)
Charlie Jackson, "Mama Don't Allow It" (Paramount 12296, 1925)
Riley Puckett, "Mama Don't Allow No Low Down Hanging Around" (Columbia 15261-D, 1928)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Johnny and Jane" (lyrics)
NOTES: The Brown text is very distinct from the common, bluegrass/jazz-type arrangements of this piece; the first verse and chorus are"
Well, I get up in the morning,
See no rain;
Looked in the pantry,
See the same old thing.
Mama don't allow no low down hanging around.
Chorus:
Mama don't allow it,
Sister don't care.
Papa don't 'low it,
Won't have it here.
Mama don't low no low down hanging around.
But the ending is familiar: "Well, I don't care What your mama don't 'low, Gonna have fun anyhow." Clearly the same song, with the popular texts presumably a modern adaption. - RBW
File: FSWB021
===
NAME: Mama Don't Allow No Low Down Hanging Around: see Mama Don't 'Low (File: FSWB021)
===
NAME: Mama Sent Me to the Spring: see Jumbo (Mama Sent Me to the Spring) (File: BrII142)
===
NAME: Mama Told Me: see Old Man Came Over the Moor, An (Old Gum Boots and Leggings) (File: R066)
===
NAME: Mama, Have You Heard the News: see Joseph Mica (Mikel) (The Wreck of the Six-Wheel Driver) (Been on the Choly So Long) [Laws I16] (File: LI16)
===
NAME: Maman Donne Moin un Pitit Mari: see Mamman Donne Moi  un Pitit Mari (Mama Gave Me a Little Husband) (File: ScNF123B)
===
NAME: Mamma, Mamma, Have You Heard?: see Hush, Little Baby (File: SBoA164)
===
NAME: Mamma's Goin' to Buy Him a Little Lap Dog (Come Up Horsie)
DESCRIPTION: Lullaby: "Mama's goin' to buy him a little lap dog/Put him in his lap when she goes off...Go to sleep and don't you cry/Mamma's goin' to buy you some apple pie" Cho: "Come up horsie, hey hey (2x)"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (recording, Vera Hall Ward)
KEYWORDS: food lullaby nonballad animal dog horse
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Vera Hall Ward, "Mamma's Goin' to Buy Him a Little Lap Dog" (on NFMAla1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hush, Little Baby" (theme, lyrics)
File: RcMGtBHL
===
NAME: Mamman Donne Moi  un Pitit Mari (Mama Gave Me a Little Husband)
DESCRIPTION: Creole French. "Maman donne moin un pitit mari. Bon Dieu, quel un homme comme li pitit! Mo mette le couche dans mo lite, Bon Dieu, comme li si t'on pitit!" Mama gave me a little husband. My god, he's tiny! ... The cat mistakes him for a mouse."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: husband wife foreignlanguage animal
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 21-22, "Maman Donne Moin un Pitit Mari" (1 fragment, 1 tune);  p. 123, "Mamman Donne Moi  un Pitit Mari" (1 short text with loose English translation)
NOTES: Scarborough, in transcribing her first text, notes that Creole French "is no more like correct French than Negro dialect is like ordinary English. The songs are difficult to capture...." I suspect she is trying to say, "I've no idea what this means." If she, who had contact with the informants, did not, I'm not even going to try until we get a better text.
Although Scarborough's second fragment does not make it clear, one suspects that the girl's complaint is not with her husband's height but with, um, certain other dimensions. - RBW
File: ScNF123B
===
NAME: Mammy in the Kitchen
DESCRIPTION: "Mammy in the kitchen cookin' pink beans; Daddie on the ocean dodgin' submarines."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: food work war technology
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 497, "Mammy in the Kitchen" (1 text)
Roud #11764
NOTES: Since this was collected in 1919, it clearly refers to World War I and the German submarine blockade of Great Britain. It is said to have been sung by soldiers in France. It's unfortunate that we don't have more of it. - RBW
File: Br3497
===
NAME: Mammy Loves: see All the Pretty Little Horses (File: LxU002)
===
NAME: Mammy's Little Boy
DESCRIPTION: "Who all de time a-hidin' In de cotton an' de corn? Mammy's little boy, Mammy's little boy, Who all de time a-blowin' Ol' Massa's dinner horn?" The little boy runs, steals away to the kitchen, fusses; Mammy keeps careful watch 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: lullaby food baby
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 158-159, "Mammy's Little Boy" (1 text)
ST ScaNF158 (Partial)
File: ScaNF158
===
NAME: Man Ain't Nothin' But a Stupid Fool
DESCRIPTION: "Yes, a man ain't nothin' but a stupid fool To think he got a woman all by himself... Well, I say, as soon as his back is turned, You know she cuttin' out with somebody else... Yes, man ain't nothing but a crazy fool To give one woman all his pay"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963
KEYWORDS: love infidelity
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 130-131, (no title) (1 text)
File: CNFM130
===
NAME: Man Behind the Plough, The
DESCRIPTION: A defense of "the man that walks behind the plough." He is glad for his sons to be in school, learning to read and write and sporting round at night, but his strength is failing and he needs them to raise food on the farm.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Ives-NewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: farming nonballad age children
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 62-65, "The Man Behind the Plough" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1947
File: IvNB062
===
NAME: Man from Conner's Crew, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer, a novice "river hog" in the pinewoods, chances the "Hulling Machine" rapids rather than portage his canoe. Caught, he prepares to die, gamely shouting "Halloo" to Conner's crew as he passes them. One of them rescues him.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: lumbering work rescue dying logger worker recitation
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Beck 29, "The Man from Conner's Crew" (1 text)
Roud #4063
NOTES: Beck leaves it up in the air whether this was a recitation or a song to which his informant had forgotten a tune. However, it reads more like a recitation, so I've assigned it that keyword. - PJS
This song is item dC42 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Be029
===
NAME: Man from God-Knows-Where, The
DESCRIPTION: A mysterious stranger joined the men around the fire at Andy Lemon's Inn and rode on into the snow. "Two winters more, then the Trouble Year": the French are defeated. Some time after that the singer sees the stranger hanged at Downpatrick gaol
AUTHOR: Florence M. Wilson (-1946) (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST_DATE: 2000 (Moylan)
KEYWORDS: rebellion execution Ireland patriotic recitation
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May-June 1798 - Irish rebellion against British rule
August-September 1798 - A French force under General Jean-Joseph-Amable Humbert lands in Ireland and is defeated.
1803 - Emmet attempts a new rebellion. The revolt is quickly crushed.
Sep 20, 1803 - Robert Emmet is hanged
Oct 21, 1803 - Thomas Russell is hanged
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 161, "The Man from God-Knows-Where" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
cf. "Henry Downs" (character of Major Sirr) and references there
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh! Breathe Not His Name" (subject: concealed allusions to Robert Emmet)
cf. "She is Far From the Land" (subject: concealed allusions to Robert Emmet)
cf. "When He Who Adores Thee"  (subject: concealed allusions to Robert Emmet)
NOTES: Moylan: "The poem was written in 1918 as a recitation."
Moylan: "Upon hearing of Emmet's arrest, Thomas Russell hurried to Dublin to attempt a rescue." He was taken there by Town Major Sirr. "Russell had been the United Irish organizer in Co. Down. After his conviction for treason he was hanged in Downpatrick on the 21st of October 1803." I am too dense to connect Moylan's dots and make Russell's execution the subject of Wilson's poem. Others, seeing more clearly, make the connection. [Personally, I can connect too many dots -- e.g. an alternate possibility is that Emmet is hanged in 1803, the French are defeated two years later at Trafalgar, and then someone else is hanged the time after that. - RBW] See, for example, "Man from God-knows-where," June 23, 2005, at the Newry Journal site. Also, from the Down County Museum site article on "Thomas Russell" states that Russell was the gaol's most famous prisoner known now to many County Down people as "the man from God knows where" from Wilson's ballad "which generations of school children learnt!"; the museum site has information about Russell's career and documents related to the trial. 
Town Major Sirr is a frequent villain in Dublin incidents after "the Troubles"; see, for example, "Henry Downs," "Edward (III) (Edward Fitzgerald), "The Major" and the notes to "Who Killed Cock Robin?" (II). - BS
File: Moyl161
===
NAME: Man Going Round: see There's A Man Going Round Taking Names (File: San447)
===
NAME: Man in Love, A: see When a Man's in Love [Laws O20] (File: LO20)
===
NAME: Man in the Moon, The: see Martin Said To His Man (File: WB022)
===
NAME: Man is Free by Nature
DESCRIPTION: "Why vainly do we waste our time, Repeating our oppression? ... See Gallia's bright example; The glorious scene before our eyes, Let's every tyrant trample.... future ages prove this truth, That man is free by nature"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1796 (_Paddy's Resource_ (Philadelphia), according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: France nonballad patriotic freedom
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 14, 1789 - The Bastille is taken, marking the beginning of the French Revolution
1791-1792 - Thomas Paine publishes _The Rights of Man_
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 12, "Man is Free by Nature" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Glorious Exertion of Man" (subject of the French Revolution)
NOTES: Moylan: "This song may have been written by Thomas Russell." - BS
It does sound like something Russell (1767-1803) might have written, since he was a radical -- reportedly a friend of Wolfe Tone --  hung in the aftermath of Robert Emmet's rebellion. If so, though, he obviously lived to see the promise of the French Revoution drowned in blood. Indeed, it's hard to see how the song could have been published as late as 1796, assuming the author was rational; the Terror had run from 1793-1794, which should have shown how dangerous uncontrolled "populist" movements could be. - RBW
File: Moyl012
===
NAME: Man Killed by Falling From a Horse: see Come All You Young of Wary Age (File: R705)
===
NAME: Man of Burnham Town, The: see The Man of Burningham Town (File: VWL068)
===
NAME: Man of Burningham Town, The
DESCRIPTION: A man of (Burningham) goes to sea; his wife spends her time carousing. He returns to see her out on the town; he sneaks home and sends the maid to announce his arrival. She proclaims her delight, but he beats her with a rope. She promises to reform.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Sharp MS)
KEYWORDS: infidelity marriage warning return abuse humorous sailor
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South,Lond)) Canda(Mar)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 68-69, "The Man of Burningham Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 195, "The Birmingham Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 123, "There Lived an Old Man in Dover" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #665
RECORDINGS:
Harry Cox, "The Birmingham Man" (on HCox01)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Man of Burnham Town
In Burnham Town
The Man of Dover
File: VWL068
===
NAME: Man of Constant Sorrow
DESCRIPTION: "I am a man of constant sorrow, I have been troubled all my days, I'll bid farewell to old Kentucky, The place where I was born and raised." Singer describes his hard, rambling life, and bids farewell to his lover, country, and friends.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1913 (Richard Burnett's songbook)
KEYWORDS: loneliness farewell rambling train lament lyric hobo
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
SharpAp 167, "In Old Virginny" (4 texts, 4 tunes, with the "C" text being this song; "A" and "B" are "East Virginia (Dark Hollow)" and D is a collection of floaters)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 113, "Man of Constant Sorrow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, p. 260, "Man of Constant Sorrow" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 57, "Man of Constant Sorrow" (1 text)
DT, CONSTSOR* CONSTSR3*
Roud #499
RECORDINGS:
Emry Arthur, "Man of Constant Sorrow" (Paramount 3289, 1931; on ConstSor1); "I Am A Man of Constant Sorrow" (Vocalion 5208, c. 1927)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Man of Constant Sorrow" (on Holcomb-Ward1)
Frank Proffitt, "Man of Constant Sorrow" (on FProffitt01)
The Stanley Brothers, "I'm A Man of Constant Sorrow" (Columbia 20816, 1951)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Girl of Constant Sorrow" (structure, tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Girl of Constant Sorrow (File: FSWB128B)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
I Am a Man of Constant Sorrow
Farewell Song
NOTES: The words of this song have the curious characteristic of sounding like floating verses, even though they are not. - PJS
Although Emry Arthur claims to have composed this piece, a significantly different version was found in the Blue Ridge Mountains in 1957. One suspects that, when Arthur claimed authorship, he meant (as many other old-time singers meant) that he put it in shape for collection.
In later years, Richard Burnett was asked about the song. He himself could not remember, at that time, if he had composed it, or copied it, or -- perhaps most likely -- adapted it from something traditional. - RBW
File: CSW113
===
NAME: Man of Dover, The: see The Man of Burningham Town (File: VWL068)
===
NAME: Man of the Earth
DESCRIPTION: "By profession and birth I'm a man of the earth; I burrow in it like a mole." The singer tells of the life of a miner -- often poor, often overworked, often blamed for problems not of his making. He recalls the price paid in blood for "socialised coal"
AUTHOR: Words: Jock Graham / Music: Phyl Lobl (?)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1975
KEYWORDS: mining work nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 204-205, "Man of the Earth" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE204
===
NAME: Man on the Flying Trapeze, The: see The Flying Trapeze (File: RJ19069)
===
NAME: Man That Lives, The
DESCRIPTION: "The man that lives must learn to die, Christ will no longer stay...." Listeners are reminded that their bodies will be food for worms; their lives are grass. They are in danger of hell, and one who ends there, "no physic shall him cure."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (Leather)
KEYWORDS: death Hell religious nonballad carol
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(West))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Leather, pp. 195-196, "The Man That Lives" (1 text, 2 tunes)
ST Leath195 (Partial)
Roud #2110
File: Leath195
===
NAME: Man that Waters the Workers' Beer, The
DESCRIPTION: "I am the man, the very fat man, that waters the worker's beer." The man waters the beer to make more profit (he admits to having "a car, a yacht, and an aeroplane") and to keep the workers in subjection. To this end he even uses poison
AUTHOR: Words: Paddy Ryan / Music: Traditional
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937
KEYWORDS: drink poison worker humorous
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 29, "The Man That Waters the Workers' Beer" (1 text)
DT, WATRBEER*
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Son of a Gambolier" (tune & meter) and references there
NOTES: I was hesitant about including this song, but it is narrative, more or less, and it does seem to have entered tradition. - PJS
File: FSWB029
===
NAME: Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer rejoices in the happiness he experienced since he "broke the bank at Monte Carlo." The girls follow him, and he leads a carefree life. He sets out to marry "a madamoiselle [who] with twenty tongues swears she will be true."
AUTHOR: Fred Gilbert
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927
KEYWORDS: gambling money
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 136-137, "The Man That Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Geller-Famous, pp. 124-126, "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert, pp. 237-239, "The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo" (1 text)
DT, BROKEBNK*
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(90b), "The Man That Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo," unknown, c. 1890
NOTES: This is one of those pieces that is carried entirely by its tune. The words are banal (so much so that a large number of singers instantly rejected it), but it was quite popular in its day (now, thankfully, over).
Gilbert reports that, in 1891, Monte Carlo hired a man to toss money about in the streets of London, describing himself as the man who broke the bank. Fred Gilbert, observing this spectacle, wrote his song.
According to Geller, the man who tossed the money was Arthur DeCourcy Bower, who died poor, but Geller mentions his hiring by Monte Carlo officials as a mere possibility.
NLScotland claims that the song was instead inspired by the success of Joseph Hobson Jagger (died 1892), who reportedly won a million pounds in Monte Carlo in 1875. - RBW
File: SRW136
===
NAME: Man Who Wouldn't Hoe His Corn, The: see The Young Man Who Wouldn't Hoe Corn [Laws H13] (File: LH13)
===
NAME: Man Who Wrote Home Sweet Home Never Was a Married Man, The: see The Brisk Young Bachelor (File: ShH69)
===
NAME: Man You Don't Meet Every Day, The (A): see Jock Stewart (The Man You Don't Meet Every Day) (File: R476)
===
NAME: Man-of-War Piece, The
DESCRIPTION: "I have kept my true love company For better than three year; He promised that he'd marry me" but he's left on a man-of-war. If he's slain "in heaven I hope his soul will shine through all eternity"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: grief love war parting ship sailor
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 45, "The Man-of-War Piece" (1 text)
Roud #7578
File: GrMa045
===
NAME: Man's a Man for A' That, A
DESCRIPTION: "Is there for honest poverty That hangs his head and a' that... For a' that and a' that, Our toils obscure and a' that, The rank is but the guinea stamp, The man's the gowd for a' that." Praising equality, with a final prediction that all will be brothers
AUTHOR: Robert Burns
EARLIEST_DATE: 1800 (Currie)
KEYWORDS: political nonballad freedom 
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 297, "A Man's A Man For A' That" (1 text)
DT, MANSAMAN*
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "For A' That and A' That (I)" (stanza form, lyrics)
SAME_TUNE:
A Tidy Suit for A' That (Broadside Bodleian Firth B.26(289))
George the Fourth is Coming Down (by John Mayne; see Christoper Sinclair-Stevenson, _Blood Royal: The Illustrious House of Hanover_, Doubleday, 1980, p. 180)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
For A' That And A' That
Is There for Honest Poverty
NOTES: Reported to be based on "The Bard's Song" in "The Jolly Beggars," and written in 1795, making it one of the last of Burns's "big" pieces. On the other hand, Ord has a song ("For A' That and A' That," p. 196) which looks like a model and which he calls an "old bothy song." And there is still another song "For a' that an' a' that" credited to Burns in the _Scots Musical Museum_ (#290). Clearly the history of the song is complicated. - RBW
File: FSWB297A
===
NAME: Mananitas
DESCRIPTION: Spanish: Title means "Early morning." The singer wishes for sun, moon, and stars to help him court, or separate from Marianita. Chorus: "Ya viene a maeciendo Ya la lus del dia nos vio, Ys dispierta amiga mia, Mira que ya amanecio."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: courting separation Mexico foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: Mexico
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, pp. 292-293, "Mananitas" (1 text plus free translation, 1 tune)
NOTES: The accentuation of the chorus is left as an exercise for the Spanish-speaking reader. - RBW
File: San292
===
NAME: Manassa Junction: see The Battle of Bull Run [Laws A9] (File: LA09)
===
NAME: Manchester Angel (II), The: see The Irish Girl (File: HHH711)
===
NAME: Manchester Angel, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a girl in Manchester and promises to marry her. She sleeps with him; his regiment prepares to march. She begs to go with him; he refuses. She offers to buy his discharge; he refuses. She vows to enter a nunnery until he returns.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding Harding B 28(14))
KEYWORDS: courting sex army parting dialog soldier
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South,North))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 66-67, "The Manchester Angel" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MNCHESTR*
Roud #2741
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "The Manchester Angel" (on ENMacCollSeeger02)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(14), "In Coming Down to Manchester," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 11(2306), Harding B 25(1206), "The Manchester Girl"; Harding B 28(249), Harding B 25(1801), Firth c.14(196), Harding B 11(2388), Harding B 11(3575), Harding B 15(301a), Harding B 15(301b), Harding B 16(254a), "Soldier's Farewell to Manchester"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Girl Volunteer (The Cruel War Is Raging)" [Laws O33]
cf. "Jack Monroe (Jackie Frazer; The Wars of Germany)" [Laws N7]
cf. "William and Nancy (I) (Lisbon; Men's Clothing I'll Put On I)" [Laws N8]
cf. "The Banks of the Nile (Men's Clothing I'll Put On II)" [Laws N9]
cf. "High Germany"
cf. "The Jacket So Blue (The Bonnet o' Blue)" (theme)
cf. "Oh! No, No" (lyrics)
NOTES: [According to A.L. Lloyd,] "The Angel Inn is said to have stood in the Market Place adjoining Market Sted Lane, Manchester."
Given the large number of ballads with this plot, I was tempted to lump this with one of the others. However, it has enough unique elements, in my judgment, to warrant a separate listing. -PJS
Although most of the elements of this song are duplicated elsewhere, the combination is unique. So is the (frequently Dorian) tune. So I agree with Paul: This piece is unique. There is another song with this title in Sam Henry, but it is distinct (and fragmentary). - RBW
File: VWL066
===
NAME: Manchester Canal, The: see The Calabar (File: HHH502)
===
NAME: Manchester Martyrs (I), The
DESCRIPTION: Colonel Kelly and another man come to Manchester "to free old Ireland from her tyrant's chain." They are jailed. Allen, Larkin and O'Brien stage a rescue. They are taken, found guilty, and hanged.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: execution prisoner rescue political England
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sep 11, 1867 - Kelly and Deasy are arrested and rescued a week later by 30 Fenians
Nov 24, 1867 -  Three of the ambushers are hanged (source: _The Manchester Martyrs_ on the Gorton Local History Group site)
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 76, "The Manchester Martyrs" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3029
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Allen, Larkin and O'Brien" (subject: The Manchester Martyrs)
cf. "The Smashing of the Van(I)" (subject: The Manchester Martyrs)
cf. "God Save Ireland" (subject: The Manchester Martyrs)
NOTES: OLochlainn-More: "The Manchester Martyrs were Allen, Larkin and O'Brien, all three hanged in revenge for the accidental shooting of Constable Brett in the attempted rescue of Kelly and Deasy, two Fenian Leaders in 1867." - BS
We should probably note that Kelly and Deasy, while in British custody, were not really in danger of execution. Thomas J. Kelly, who had been proclaimed chief executive of the Fenian's Irish Republic, and one Captain Timothy Deasy were simply being transported from court to prison, but they were "rescued" anyway on September 18.
In the course of the  "rescue," a police sergeant, Charles Brett, was killed. William Allen, Michael Larkin, and Michael O'Brien were convicted of the murder and executed on November 23. The three men came to be known as the "Manchester Martyrs." A later rescue attempt also failed, but managed to kill a dozen bystanders.
Nonetheless, both sides blamed the other, increasing Anglo-Irish tensions. The incident also increased rebel recruiting, despite the fact that the Irish had committed the initial crime and the fact that the British followed the law throughout.
For additional background, see the notes to "The Smashing of the Van (I)."  - RBW
File: OLcM076
===
NAME: Manchester Martyrs (II), The: see The Smashing of the Van (File: PGa050)
===
NAME: Mandalay
DESCRIPTION: "By the old Moulmein Pagoda, lookin' eastward to the sea, There's a Burma girl a-settin', and I know she thinks of me." The soldier, in London, seeing the dirt and the squalor, thinks with longing of the green land and the girl on the road to Mandalay
AUTHOR: Rudyard Kipling
EARLIEST_DATE: 1890 ("The Scots Observer")
KEYWORDS: love separation soldier
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fuld-WFM, p. 415, "On the Road to Mandalay"
NOTES: I had to think long and hard about whether to put this song in the Index. It is, of course, composed. It has not been found in oral tradition. But it has been extremely popular, and has been set to music at least twice (once by Oley Speaks, in 1907, and again by Peter Bellamy, to an adaption of "Ten Thousand Miles Away"; the latter version will probably be more familiar to folk fans).
I finally decided to include the piece because it is so familiar, and used in so many contexts, and is one of the "folkiest" of the works of Kipling, who was probably closer to the average lower-class Englishman than any other poet.
It originally appeared in the Scots Observer in 1890, and was published as one of the _Barrack-Room Ballads_  (1892).
I am going to opine, also, that this reveals the nuances in Kipling's beliefs, which few realize. Kipling was an imperialist; he believed in the White Man's Burden. But he did NOT think white men were superior to other "races"; in this song, the white man falls in love -- but does the girl? Or does she simply do what she must to survive? (Compare Gunga Din -- "a better man than I am.") In this sensitivity, Kipling was far ahead of the imperialists of his time (though hardly modern).
The geography here is rather confused, as in various stanzas it appears to be looking from Mandalay, Rangoon, Moulmein, and the road to Mandalay (from Rangoon).
Mandalay was one of the key cities of British Burma (modern Myanmar), on the Irrawaddy (now the Ayeyarwady) where the Myitnge flows into the river. The main road from Rangoon also passes through the town. It was (and is), therefore, the main city of inner Burma. The "old flotilla" sailed the Irrawaddy from Rangoon to Mandalay.
The chorus seems to be set in or near Rangoon, where the "sun comes up like thunder" from across the bay (though the far side of the bay is not China but part of Burma -- Moulmein, in fact. From Moulmein, the apparent setting of the song, the sun *sets* over the bay). - RBW
File: Fuld415
===
NAME: Mandi Went to Poov the Grais: see Mandi Went to Poove the Grys (File: K349)
===
NAME: Mandi Went to Poove the Grys
DESCRIPTION: Travellers' cant. Singer goes to put horses out to graze; a policeman is after the family. The farmer tries to impound the horses; the aunt chases them around the haystacks and steals some hay. Finally the policeman tells them to move on
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (recorded from Frank Copper)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Travellers' cant. Singer goes to put horses out to graze; a policeman is after the family (the daughter remarks, "It's just as Father said; we can't get away"). The farmer tries to impound the horses; the aunt (or the singer) chases them around the haystacks (or srikes the policeman) and steals some hay. Finally the policeman tells them to move on
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage horse family police Gypsy migrant
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Kennedy 349, "Mandi Went to Poove the Grys" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 129, "Mandi Went to Poov the Grais" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #852
RECORDINGS:
Peter Ingram, "Mandi Went to Poove the Girl" (on Voice11)
NOTES: This song was apparently widespread among English Travellers. "Mandi" = I; "poov(e) the grys (grais)" = put the horses to grass. It was common practice for Travellers to camp in an unauthorized place, then let their horses into a farmer's field after dark with the intention of retrieving them before dawn. Often as not, they were caught and the horses impounded. - PJS
File: K349
===
NAME: Manila Bay
DESCRIPTION: "You have heard about he battle over in Manila Bay, How the Yankees met the Spaniards, fought them on the first of May. Our commander's name was Dewey...." Dewey is praised and Spanish boasting ridiculed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: Spain battle war navy
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1895 - Cubans rebel against Spain
Feb 15, 1898 - Explosion of the battleship "Maine" in Havana harbor
May 1, 1898 - Battle of Manila Bay. Dewey's fleet destroys the entire Spanish fleet in the Philippines
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 238, "Manila Bay" (1 text)
Roud #6623
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Sweetheart Went Down with the Maine" (theme) and references there
NOTES: This has more than the usual amount of American bluster. It is certainly true that Dewey won a decisive victory and did it at the cost of only eight minor injuries to his men (the Spaniards suffered nearly 400 casualties and lost their entire fleet). However, the Spanish knew the American fleet was much superior -- hence their desperate but unsuccessful efforts to prevent war. - RBW
File: BrII238
===
NAME: Manley Pankey
DESCRIPTION: "Here I stand in the jail house door, Here I'll stand no more. Goodbye to my mother And friends forevermore. My mother she did warn me, She warned me when I 'as young, 'I'll raise you up for the gallows; My son, you will be hung.'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1947 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: mother warning murder gallows-confession
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 292, "Manley Pankey" (1 text)
ST BrII292 (Full)
Roud #6636
NOTES: According to the notes in Brown, Pankey was a laborer and musician who murdered his employer, a farmer named Curry. As usual, the song is described as sung by the condemned man before his execution. However, the editors can provide no precise dates or real details, and the song is a scrap with no circumstantial details at all. - RBW
File: BrII292
===
NAME: Manning, The Pirate: see Bold Manan the Pirate [Laws D15] (File: LD15)
===
NAME: Mantle of Green, The: see The Mantle So Green [Laws N38] (File: LN38)
===
NAME: Mantle So Green, The [Laws N38]
DESCRIPTION: The well-dressed girl refuses the singer's offer of marriage; she is pledged to Willie O'Reilly, whose name is embroidered on her fine mantle. He tells her O'Reilly died at Waterloo; seeing how she grieves, he reveals that he is O'Reilly in disguise
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1859 (Journal from the Ocean Rover); before 1853 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 26(417))
KEYWORDS: love disguise separation grief
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,MA,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(Scotland) Ireland Australia
REFERENCES: (20 citations)
Laws N38, "The Mantle So Green"
Belden, pp. 151-152, "The Mantle of Green" (1 text)
Randolph 94, "The Mantle So Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
FSCatskills 24, "Famed Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 56, "Fain Waterloo" (1 text plus mention of 1 more, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, pp. 93-94, "Her Mantle So Green" (1 text, 1 tune, expanded by Ritchie from a traditional fragment)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 87, "The Mantle of Green" (2 texts)
Peacock, pp. 555-557, "The Mantle So Green" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Leach-Labrador 130, "Mantle of Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 30, "Mantle So Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 29, "The Mantle So Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 91, "Round Her Mantle So Green (Willie O'Reilly; Famed Waterloo)" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 7, "The Mantle so Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 188, "The Mantle So Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 33, 214-215, "As I Was A-Walking" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
SHenry H76, pp. 314-315, "The Mantle So Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 38, "Mantle So Green" (1 text)
Ord, pp. 155-156, "The Mantle So Green" (1 text)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 122-123, "The Mantle So Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 463, MANTLGRN
Roud #714
RECORDINGS:
Margaret Barry, "Her Mantle So Green" (on IRMBarry-Fairs, and not the same as the next item)
Margaret Barry & Michael Gorman, "Her Mantle So Green" (on Barry-Gorman1); "Her Mantle So Green" (on IRMBarry-Fairs)
Marie Hare, "Round Her Mantle So Green" (on Miramichi1) (on MRMHare01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(417), "The Mantle So Green," J. Moore (Belfast), 1846-1852; also Firth c.14(212), 2806 c.15(246), "The Mantle So Green"
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(85a), "The Mantle So Green," unknown, c.1890
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] and references there
cf. "The Plains of Waterloo (I)" [Laws N32] (theme and some lines)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
William O'Roley
NOTES: Ord, in his remarks on this song, notes that green was considered an unlucky color for clothing. I'm not sure what significance that might have. - RBW
See the notes to "The Plains of Waterloo (I)" [Laws N32] for Mackenzie's discussion of Laws N36 as source for "The Mantle So Green" [Laws N38] and "The Plains of Waterloo (I)" [Laws N32].
The ballad is recorded on one of the CD's issued around the time of the bicentenial of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. See:
Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "The Mantle of Green" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte," Hummingbird Records HBCD0027 (2001)) - BS
File: LN38
===
NAME: Many Say I Am Too Noisy
DESCRIPTION: "Many say I am too noisy, But I know the reason why, If they only felt the glory They would shout as loud as I." "Hallelujah, bound for glory... I have crossed the River Jordan, Now I'm safe in Beulah Land." "...In his ranks I still remain."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 602, "Many Say I Am Too Noisy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7549
File: R602
===
NAME: Many Thousand Go: see Many Thousand Gone (Auction Block) (File: FJ030)
===
NAME: Many Thousand Gone (Auction Block)
DESCRIPTION: The freed slave rejoices to be done with abuse: "No more auction block for me... Nor more pint of salt for me... No more peck of corn for me... No more driver's lash for me..." (etc.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867
KEYWORDS: slavery freedom
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar) US(SE)
REFERENCES: (10 citations)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 30-31, "Auction Block" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 279, "Auction Block" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-BoA, pp. 238-239, "Many Thousand Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, p. 71, "Many Thousand Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, p. 577, "Many T'ousand Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 238, "Many Thousands Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 83, "Many Thousand Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 101-102, "Many Thousand Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 353-354, "Many Thousand Go (No More Auction Block)" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 296, "Many Thousand Gone" (1 text)
ST FJ030 (Partial)
Roud #3348
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "No More Auction Block" (on PeteSeeger31)
File: FJ030
===
NAME: Maple Leaf Forever, The
DESCRIPTION: "In days of yore, from Britain's shore, Wolfe, the dauntless hero came.... The Maple Leaf, our emblem dead, The Maple Leaf forever, God save our Queen, and heaven bless The Maple Leaf forever." In praise of the heroes and people of Canada
AUTHOR: Alexander Muir
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867
KEYWORDS: Canada patriotic nonballad
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sept 13, 1759 - Battle of Quebec. Forces under Wolfe capture Quebec and firmly establish British rule in Canada, although Wolfe is killed
1812 - Battle of Queenston. British forces under Brock repel an American invasion, although Brock is killed
1867 - Canadian Confederation formed
FOUND_IN: Canada
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 111-113, "The Maple Leaf Forever" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MAPLFREV
NOTES: The story goes that Alexander Muir (1839-1906) was out walking in the fall of 1867 when a maple leaf floated down and stuck to his sleeve. It proved hard to brush off, and the phrase "the maple leaf forever" sprang to mind. Eventually he turned it into a song celebrating the new dominion of Canada.
Muir's song was a bit optimistic; the proud dominion he envisioned ("from Cape Race to Nootka Sound") did not exist at the time he wrote, and would not until 1949, when Newfoundland (which includes Cape Race) entered the Confederation. Nor did Nootka Sound enter the dominion until 1871, when British Columbia joined Canada.
The song has proved popular in British Canada, but its complete neglect of Quebec has kept it from any official status.
For background on the Battle of Quebec, see the notes to "Brave Wolfe" [Laws A1]. For Queenston, see "Brave General Brock" [Laws A22] and "The Battle of Queenston Heights." The issue of Canadian confederation led to quite a few songs, especially in Newfoundland; "The 'Antis' of Plate Cove" is typical. - RBW
File: FMB111
===
NAME: Maple on the Hill
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the maple on the hill "Where I sat with my Geneva long ago." Now, as he is dying, he bids her, "Don't forget me, little darling, when they lay me down to die"; he must "leave you and that maple on the hill."
AUTHOR: Gussie L. Davis
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Recording, Vernon Dalhart); said to have been written 1880)
KEYWORDS: death separation
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, MAPLHILL
Roud #4333
RECORDINGS:
Callahan Brothers, "Maple on the Hill" (Melotone 6-06-57, 1936)
Vernon Dalhart, "We Sat Beneath the Maple on the Hill" (Vocalion 5044, 1926)
(Tom) Darby & (Jimmie) Tarlton, "Maple on the Hill" (Columbia 15591-D, 1930)
Farmer Sisters, "Maple on the Hill" (Vocalion 03104, 1935)
Uncle Dave Macon, "Maple on the Hill" (Vocalion 5158, 1927)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "Maple on the Hill"  (Bluebird B-6065/Montgomery Ward M-4710, 1935; Montgomery Ward M-4969, 1936; RCA Victor 20-3241, 1948)
Holland Puckett, "The Maple On The Hill" (Gennett 6532/Supertone 9186, 1928)
Posey Rorrer & The North Carolina Ramblers, "As We Sat Beneath The Maple On The Hill" (Edison 20005/Ed 52414/CYL: Edison 5615 [as by Posey Rorer's North Carolina Ramblers], 1929; rec. 1928)
Frank Welling & John McGhee, "The Maple On The Hill" (Perfect 5-12-59, 1935; Conqueror 8638, 1936)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Don't Forget Me, Little Darling (I)" (floating lyrics)
SAME_TUNE:
Crowder Brothers, "New Maple on the Hill" (Conqueror 8782, 1937) (Oriole 07-02-63, 1937) 
Dixie Reelers, "Answer to Maple on the Hill - Part 2"
Dixon Brothers, "Answer to Maple on the Hill - Part 1" (Bluebird B-6462, 1936)
Dixon Brothers, "Maple on the Hill - Part 3" (Bluebird B-6630, 1936)
Dixon Brothers, "Maple on the Hill - Part 4" (Montgomery Ward M-7170, 1937)
Wade Mainer, "Maple on the Hill - Part 2" (Bluebird B-6293, 1936)
Wade Mainer & Zeke Morris, "Maple on the Hill, Part 2" (Bluebird B-6293, 1936)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers "Maple on the Hill - Part 3" (Bluebird B-6293, 1936)
Prairie Ramblers, "Maple on the Hill - Part 2" (Perfect 6-09-60, 1936)
Prairie Ramblers, "Maple on the Hill No. 4" (Melotone 7-09-51, 1937)
Don Weston, "Maple on the Hill Is Gone" (Decca 5421, 1937)
NOTES: The Dixon Brothers had an "Answer to Maple on the Hill" and at least two additional "parts" to the song. Mainer's Mountaineers also had a "Part 3." What did the guy do, come back as a ghost?
This song has rarely if ever been collected in tradition, but its popularity with old-time singers (see the recording list and the "Same Tune" knock-offs) eventually made me decide to include it here. - RBW
[Ten] recordings by old-time singers between 1927 and 1936 -- yes, it absolutely belongs in. I call that "being collected from tradition," albeit in a roundabout way. - PJS
File: DTmaplhi
===
NAME: Maple Sweet
DESCRIPTION: "When you see the vapor pillar lick the forest and the sky, You may know the days of sugar making then are drawing nigh." "Oh, bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble, bubble goes the pan." A mention of the sights and sounds of the syrupping season
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Linscott)
KEYWORDS: food nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Linscott, pp. 238-239, "Maple Sweet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3737
File: Lins238
===
NAME: March of Intellect, The
DESCRIPTION: "Let schoolmasters bother their brain In their dry and their musty vocation; But what can the rest of us gain By meddling with such botheration?" Examples of people that work very well without esoteric knowledge: must the tailor know Conic Sections?
AUTHOR: Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) ? (attribution by O Lochlainn in OLochlainn-More)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1802 (printed by Hicks, according to OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: commerce humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 52, "The March of Intellect" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: O Lochlainn's attribution to Oliver Goldsmith is difficult to assess. I'm fairly sure that the song he refers to is Tony Lumpkin's song from Act I of _She Stoops to Conquer_, beginning
Let schoolmasters puzzle their brain
With grammar, and nonsense, and learning;
Good liquor, I stoutly maintain,
Gives _genus_ a better discerning....
But the song simply calls for drink and roast fowl -- no conic sections mentioned. Did the song go into oral tradition and get modified? If so, why are there no other mentions? Or was it written somewhere along the way, perhaps by the printer Hicks?
If Oliver Goldsmith did write this, it may have been a sarcastic comment on his own experience; Barnhart and Halsey's _The New Century Handbook of English Literature_ (revised edition, 1967) comments of him that his career was "a record of almost unbroken failure in everything that he tried to reach by study or effort: he tried law, medicine, the church, and teaching, and failed in all of them; the only thing he succeeded in was literature, which he did not study and for which he had no technical preparation."
The _Handbook_ adds that "Facts meant little to him." - RBW
File: OLcM052
===
NAME: March of the Men of Garvagh
DESCRIPTION: "We're marching, marching thro' Garvagh town, We're ready to fight for queen and crown, If any man won't we'll knock him down." The singer sees the marchers come by, led by "fighting Phil," and her (?) heart beats loud
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1913 (JIFSS)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H17b, p. 180, "March of the Men of Garvagh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13540
NOTES: The Henry text appears to be composite; the first verse is a marching song (perhaps of Ulstermen opposed to Home Rule late in the reign of Victoria?), while the second and third appear to be the song of a girl in love with one of the marchers.
Garvagh, in county (London)derry, almost due south of Coleraine, was the site of some sectarian violence on July 16, 1813 (sometimes referred to as the "Battle of Garvagh," though it sounds more like a riot) -- but 1813 is during the reign of George III, so there is no reason to mention the queen. - RBW
File: HHH017b
===
NAME: Marche des Animaux, Le (The Animal Market) 
DESCRIPTION: French. "One day I go to the market to buy a cock. My cock goes coquelicou, cou, cou." Cumulative for: "My chipmunk, my horse, my cow, my pig, my ewe, my goose, my hen." Chorus: "Jamais je n'en serais jaloux"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage cumulative humorous nonballad animal
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, p. 18, "Le Marche des Animaux" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Had a Little Rooster" (theme and structure)
NOTES: Re "Mon suisse" as "My chipmunk": or does "suisse" in this case really mean Swiss which goes "souisse-souisse-souisse"? or a play on swine=suide? - BS
File: Pea018
===
NAME: Marching Down to New Orleans: see Marching Down to Old Quebec (File: R519)
===
NAME: Marching Down to Old Quebec
DESCRIPTION: "We're marching down to (old Quebec/New Orleans), Where the drum is loudly beating, The 'Merican boys have won the day And the (British) are retreating." The soldier describes marching, and his plans to go home/to New Orleans/to visit a girl
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1903 (Newell)
KEYWORDS: playparty soldier war battle floatingverses courting rejection Canada
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1775-1776: American attack on Canada. The chief battle of the campaign was fought outside Quebec on December 31, 1775
Jan 8, 1815 - Battle of New Orleans. Although a peace had already been signed, word had not yet reached Louisiana, which Pakenham sought to invade. Andrew Jackson's backwoodsmen easily repulse Pakenham
FOUND_IN: US(NE,MW,So) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 519, "We're Marching Down to Old Quebec" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 57-59, "Marching Down to Old Quebec" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST R519 (Full)
Roud #735
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Pink" (floating verses)
NOTES: The history behind this song is somewhat confusing. Although America in its early years coveted Canada, and sent troops northward during the War of 1812, Americans never successfully attacked Quebec (for their unsuccessful Canadian campaigns, see, e.g., "The Battle of Queenston Heights").
If the song refers to an actual event, it probably dates to the invasion of Canada by Montgomery and Benedict Arnold in 1775. Montgomery captured Montreal, and rendezvoused with Arnold to attack Quebec, but the assault of December 31, 1775 was repulsed. Montgomery was killed and hundreds of Americans killed, wounded, and captured.
As it turned out, both British and Americans sang about the invasion of Canada, with Americans lauding the capture of Montreal (which they obviously did not manage to retain) and the British celebrating the defense of Quebec.
This confusion may explain why the song was transferred to New Orleans, which was American property and where Jackson did repel a British army (for which see "The Battle of New Orleans" [Laws A7]).
The Randolph version of this piece has more than a little connection with "Little Pink," and may even be the same song -- but at this point it's hard to tell; I've heard a "Little Pink" variant which goes in a completely different direction.
Roud tosses the whole family in with "Coffee Grows." - RBW
File: R519
===
NAME: Marching On
DESCRIPTION: "Old Abe's in the White House, taking a snooze, Gen'ral Grant is a-busting his gut with his booze... but let's keep marching on." Complaints about life in the Union army: Lincoln freed the Blacks but not the soldiers, the rebels keep coming back, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar soldier
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sept 23, 1862 - Abraham Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, which on Jan 1, 1863 will free all slaves in Confederate-controlled areas
Sept 19-20, 1863 - Battle of Chickamauga (calld "Chickamaugie" in the song). Braxton Bragg's reinforced Confederate army routs most of William S. Rosecrans' Federal force, which is saved only by a desperate stand by George H. Thomas. Although the most decisive victory the Confederates ever won, it is the last Rebel victory of the war, and will be avenged a few months later at the Battle of Chattanooga
Feb 1, 1865 - Thirteenth Amendment, which finally prohibits slavery, proposed by congress (It was declared ratified on Dec 18)
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Warner 130, "Marching On" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MARCHON*
Roud #7475
RECORDINGS:
Frank Proffitt, "Old Abe" (on Proffitt03)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "John Brown's Body" (tune & meter) and references there
cf. "The Battle Hymn of the Republic" (tune & meter)
cf. "Pass Around the Bottle" (lyrics)
NOTES: This song implies that Grant, who was unquestionable a heavy drinker in his younger days, continued his alcoholic ways during the Civil War. Most observers agree, however, that he *did not* drink during the war. Grant was by no means a brilliant general, but at least he was stubborn enough to keep fighting until he won the war. - RBW
File: Wa130
===
NAME: Marching Round the Gum Stump (Marching Round the Fodder Stack)
DESCRIPTION: "Marching round the gum stump, The gum stump, the gum stump, Marching round the gum stump, Rolly roly oh!" "If you want a sweetheart, A sweetheart, a sweetheart, If you want a sweetheart, Choose one and play."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: playparty
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 591, "Marching Round the Gum Stump" (1 text)
Roud #7676
NOTES: I have this vague feeling that this is based on, or at least incorporates fragments of, a wren song. But I can hardly prove it.... - RBW
File: R591
===
NAME: Marching Round the Levee: see Go In and Out the Window (File: R538)
===
NAME: Marching Song of the First Arkansas
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, we're the bully soldiers of the 'First of Arkansas,' We're fighting for the Union, we are fighting for the law, We can hit a Rebel further than a white man ever saw..." The soldiers tell how they will show their prowess by defeating the Rebels
AUTHOR: Words: Capt. Lindley Miller?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle Black(s) slavery freedom soldier derivative
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Jan 1, 1863 - Effectiveness date of the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed all slaves in the portions of the U.S. not then in Federal hands
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-CivWar, p. 38, "Marching Song of the First Arkansas (Negro) Regiment" (1 text, tune referenced)
DT, MARARKAN*
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Marching Song of the First Arkansas" (on PeteSeeger28)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "John Brown's Body" (tune & meter) and references there
NOTES: The Union first began enlisting Black troops (informally) in 1862. By the end of that year, four regiments were raised, only to have Lincoln shut them down. After the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation, however, Lincoln allowed the formation of (segregated) "colored" regiments.
In the end, over a hundred and fifty such regiments were raised. Their performance was mixed -- but this was probably the fault of the (white) officers rather than the Black troops. A large fraction of the officers in the "Colored" regiments were soldiers who had given up on promotion in the white army, and shifted to the "Colored" troops to get ahead.
The "Colored" troops had other reasons for bad morale; their pay was much lower than their white counterparts, and their equipment less good. And soldiers from both sides looked down on them.
A large fraction of the "Colored" regiments were raised from free Northern blacks, but some were taken from freed slaves. If anything, the soldiers of these regiments fought better than their free kindred. - RBW
File: SCW38
===
NAME: Marching Song of the First Arkansas (Negro) Regiment: see Marching Song of the First Arkansas (File: SCW38)
===
NAME: Marching Through Georgia
DESCRIPTION: Sundry boasts, mostly too optimistic, about Sherman's march to the sea: "How the darkeys shouted when they heard the joyful sound.... Yes, and there were Union men who wept with joyful tears... While we were marching through Georgia."
AUTHOR: Henry Clay Work
EARLIEST_DATE: 1865 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar patriotic
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Nov 15, 1864 - William T. Sherman splits his army (which had conquered Atlanta on September 1) into two parts. One, under Thomas, is to defend Atlanta, while Sherman takes nearly 60,000 men on the "March to the Sea"
Dec 10, 1864 - Sherman's forces reach Savannah
Dec 21, 1864 - Sherman captures Savannah
FOUND_IN: US Australia
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Meredith/Anderson, p. 34, "The Battle Cry of Freedom" (1 text, 1 tune, composed of equal parts of this song and "The Battle Cry of Freedom")
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 126-129, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 78-79, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hill-CivWar, pp. 207-208, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 278, "Marching Through Georgia" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 349, "Marching Through Georgia"
DT, MRCHGRGA*
ST MA034A (Full)
Roud #9596
RECORDINGS:
[Byron G.] Harlan & [Roba] Stanley, "Marching Through Georgia" (CYL: Edison 8606, 1904) (Columbia 1776, 1904) (Victor 4217, 1905)
J. W. Myers, "Marching Through Georgia" (Victor 4289, 1905)
Pete Seeger & Bill McAdoo, "Marching Through Georgia" (on PeteSeeger28)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Golden Gullies of the Palmer" (tune & meter)
cf. "The Workingmen's Army" (tune & meter)
cf. "Coxey Army" (tune)
cf. "Marching to Cuba" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Marching to Cuba (File: BrII237)
The Workingmen's Army (Greenway-AFP, pp. 59-60)
Coxey Army (Greenway-AFP, pp. 62-63)
NOTES: Although Work can hardly be blamed for his cheerful view of the March to the Sea, it was in fact little better than terrorism. Sherman's expressed goal was to "make Georgia howl," and he certainly succeeded; a region some fifty miles across was devastated. (Sherman was, in fact, reviving the chevauchee, the method by which the armies of the Middle Ages destroyed their enemies' agricultural base).
Even if there had been Union men in the region before, there were none left afterward.
"Marching Through Georgia" has been called "the most hated song in the south."
The one other person who hated the song was none other than Sherman himself; he reportedly said, "If I had thought when I made that march that it would have inspired anyone to compose the piece, I would have marched AROUND the state."
Sherman became the most hated man in the south for the rest of his life. It's ironic to note that, when Joseph E. Johnston surrendered the last real southern army to Sherman, Sherman gave such generous terms (to Johnston and anyone else willing to take them) that the North instantly repudiated them. There were loud calls for his removal -- as being too soft! - RBW
File: MA034A
===
NAME: Marching to Cuba
DESCRIPTION: "We're going down to Cuba, boys, to battle for the right, We're going to show the Spaniards that we Yankee boys can fight... While we are marching to Cuba." The victories at Manila Bay and Santiago are briefly mentioned
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: Spain battle war navy soldier derivative
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1895 - Cubans rebel against Spain
Feb 15, 1898 - Explosion of the battleship "Maine" in Havana harbor
May 1, 1898 - Battle of Manila Bay. Dewey's fleet destroys the entire Spanish fleet in the Philippines
May 19, 1898 - The Spanish fleet enters Santiago Bay
July 2, 1898 - The Spanish fleet at Santiago, acting under orders from Madrid, sails out into the teeth of the American fleet and is destroyed
July 10, 1898 - U. S. troops attack Santiago
July 17, 1898 - U. S. troops capture Santiago
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 237, "Marching to Cuba" (1 text)
Roud #6622
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Marching Through Georgia" (tune) and references there
cf. "My Sweetheart Went Down with the Maine" (theme) and references there
NOTES: The editors of Brown were able to identify this with a piece "Marching to Cuba" credited to Josie M. Galloway, with words by J. H. Dohrmann. Since, however, it is instantly obvious that the tune is "Marching through Georgia," the authorship claims must be treated as slightly dubious.
The military figures mentioned in this song include:
Dewey - George Dewey (1837-1917), commander of the U. S. Navy's Asiatic Squadron from early 1898, he won the Battle of Manila Bay at slight cost: The Spanish lost their entire fleet, the Americans didn't have a single sailor killed
Sampson - William Thomas Sampson (1840-1902), who led the Board of Inquiry into the _Maine_ explosion. He was appointed to command the North Atlantic squadron during the War, and hence was responsible for the blockade of Santiago harbor. His direct involvement in the Battle of Santiago was limited as he was not in the immediate presence  of the enemy when the Spanish sortied
Hobson - Richmond Pearson Hobson (1870-1937) helped close Santiago harbor by sinking the collier _Merrimac_ as a blockship.
Schley - Winfield Scott Schley (1839-1909) commanded the Flying Squadron of the fleet blockading Santiago. When the Spaniards attempted to break out, Schley was the senior officer present -- a fact which later led to severe arguments with Sampson over who deserved credit for the victory. - RBW
File: BrII237
===
NAME: Marching to Pretoria
DESCRIPTION: Shanty version sung to the Pretoria tune, though with changed verses, which Hugill says he had to camouflage to print. Cho: "We are marchin' to Pretoria, oh gloria, Victoria. We are marchin' to Pretoria, Victoria rules the waves!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1954 (recording, Joseph Marais and Miranda)
KEYWORDS: shanty army travel Africa food
FOUND_IN: South Africa Britain
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Hugill, p.425, "Pretoria" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. ???, "Marching to Pretoria" (1 text)
DT, MARPRET
NOTES: I was surprised not to find this in the index already, considering how common I thought was. From what I could find it dates or at least refers to the Boer or Zulu war. - SL
It is not in the Index because it's not really found in tradition. As best I can tell, it was fixed up by Joseph Marais and Miranda, based on a South African original, and the adaption has been sung very widely at camps -- typically on hiking expeditions. But only starting in the 1960s.
This is the first time I've met the sea version, which may be an alternate adaption.
It would be very interesting to find the earliest version of this, to know the setting (including which Boer War it dates from).
The opening conflict of the (first) Boer War came on December 20, 1880, at Bronkhorstspruit, when "264 officers of the 94th Regiment (Connaught Rangers), marching from Lydenburg to Pretoria, were halted on the march by a Boer commando and ordered to turn back. The lieutenant-coloonel in command was given two minutes to reply to the demand. He refused to surrender and was killed by the Boers' opening shots." Most of the other British soldiers were killed as well. (See Byron Farwell, _Queen Victoria's Little Wars_, pp. 244-245). A year later, the Pretoria Convention would end the war.
In the second (1899-1902) Boer War, Pretoria would again be key -- and the site of a lot of marching. On October 30, 1899, after their victory at Lombard's Kop, the Boers marched a number of British prisoners through Pretoria (see Eversley Belfield, _The Boer War_, pp. 20-22).
On March 13, 1900, Frederick Singh Roberts captured Bloemfontein, then prepared to march on the Boer capital of Pretoria. He set out on May 3 and arrived June 5 (Belfield, pp. 95-100). This did not end the war -- there would be two more years of guerrilla fighting, in which world opinion turned against England and the international situation became ever more complicated. But it was nearly the end of the direct military phase (and it earned Roberts an earldom and the command of the British army), and at the time it was thought it would end the conflict; the soldiers must have thought they were making the last big push.
Thus, a march to Pretoria could have been bad news for Britain or for the Boers, depending on the war and the situation. Or it could be about something else. - RBW
File: Hugi425
===
NAME: Marden Forfeit Song: see Green Grow the Leaves (File: Leath206)
===
NAME: Margaret Gray
DESCRIPTION: Margaret Gray and her baby bid farewell to Robert Gray as he goes to work in the field. They agree to meet at a neighbor's house. She becomes lost in the woods. Her baby dies. Long after, she finally finds her way home.
AUTHOR: Julia C. R. Dorr
EARLIEST_DATE: 1872 (Lippincott's)
KEYWORDS: baby separation death love
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 19-26, "Margaret Gray" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FlBr019 (Partial)
Roud #5440
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Margery Gray -- A Legend of Vermont (author's title)
NOTES: Flanders and Brown claim this piece was well-known in Vermont, and indeed they seem to list two informants. But it doesn't appear to have turned up in any other collection.
Julia Caroline Ripley Dorr (1825-1913) was successful enough as a writer to earn a place in the _Dictionary of American Biography_, but I checked eight anthologies without finding a single word she had written. _Granger's Index to Poetry_, which cites some 300 anthologies, lists a few of her poems -- but not one of those 300 volumes includes this piece. Given how wordy this poem is, it's perhaps not surprising. - RBW
File: FlBr019
===
NAME: Margot Evans (Let the Bullgine Run)
DESCRIPTION: "Oh the smartest clipper you can find, Oh hey, oh ho, are you 'most done? Is the (Margot Evans) of the (Blue Cross) line, So clear the track, let the bullgine run!" The singer describes the fast passage of the ship, and hopes Liza Lee will marry him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1921 (Terry)
KEYWORDS: sailor work ship courting nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 29, "The Bullgine Run" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, p. 99, "Clear the Track" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 18-19, "Clear the Track, Let the Bulgine Run" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 344-347, "Clear the Track, let the Bulgine Run" (2 texts, 2 tune) [AbEd, pp. 258-259]
Sharp-EFC, VI, p. 7, "Clear the Track" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, p. 317, "Clear the Track and Let the Bullgine Rune" (1 text)
DT, MARGOEVN*
Roud #810
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Eliza Lee
NOTES: Hugill, following Sharp, claims this is sung to the tune similar to "Shule Agrah" (Lomax says they're the same), though it's not any variant I've ever heard.
Colcord thinks that explains the strange combination of bullgine engine (railroad engine) and low-backed car: Someone from the _Margot Evans_ (the ship in her version, though Hugill has a _Wild Cat_ or similar) heard Irish sailors singers sing it, and adapted it.
The _Margot Evans_, according to Colcord, was a packet running apparently from Mobile to New York.
Personally, I think the whole song needs a lot more historical study. - RBW
File: LoF029
===
NAME: Margot, La
DESCRIPTION: French shanty. Chorus: "Oh hisse! et ho! Tire larigot, Hourra pour la Margot!" "With a heave an'a ho! Blow the flute boys, O! Hurrah for La Margot!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Hayet, _Chansons de bord_)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: French shanty. Chorus: "Oh hisse! et ho! Tire larigot, Hourra pour la Margot!" "With a heave an'a ho! Blow the flute boys, O! Hurrah for La Margot!" Translation is vague, verses seem to refer to Margot as both a ship and a woman and has thinly disguised bawdy lyrics, and several of the repeating words in both the verses and chorus can have different meanings
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty bawdy
FOUND_IN: France
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 398-400, "La Margot" (2 texts-English & French, 1 tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Le Bihor
File: Hugi398
===
NAME: Mari de Quatre-Vingt-Dix Ans, Le (The Ninety Year Old Husband)
DESCRIPTION: French. The singer's father marries her to a ninety year old man. When she complains, her father said that her husband is rich. She would rather have a man that satisfies her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage age marriage dialog father husband
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 298-299, "Le Mari de Quatre-Vingt-Dix Ans" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Maids When You're Young Never Wed an Old Man" and references there
File: Pea298
===
NAME: Maria
DESCRIPTION: "I wonder where Maria's gone (x3). Ear-lye in the morning." "Guess she's gone and I can't go (x3), Ear-lye in the morning." "Yonder she comes and howdy-do (x3), Ear-lye in the morning."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection); *1907 (JAFL20)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 66-67, "[Maria]" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 258, "Maria's Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3625
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Drunken Sailor (Early in the Morning)" 
NOTES: The similarity to "The Drunken Sailor" will be obvious even from the lyrics -- but since the theme of the song is different, the chorus is absent, and the tune somewhat modified, I decided to classify these as separate songs. Presumably at some point someone put new lyrics to the "Drunken Sailor" melody. - RBW
The 1917 version collected by Sharp -- in Hindman, KY, where many of the Ritchies attended the settlement school --  has a rather different melody; perhaps the words and earlier melody came first, then someone switched tunes to "Drunken Sailor." - PJS
File: JRSF066
===
NAME: Maria and Caroline: see The Folkestone Murder (File: K320)
===
NAME: Maria Barberi
DESCRIPTION: "'Tis not for me to speak aloud On lofty themes. I tell As one among the lowly crowd How young Maria fell." "Swift as a flash a glittering blade Across his throat she drew. 'By you,' she shrieked, 'I've been betrayed." She apparently avoids conviction
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: murder revenge betrayal
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 1895 - Maria Barberi kills Domenico Cataldo, apparently because he would not marry her
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, p. 55, "(Maria Barberi)" (1 text, probably a fragment)
File: Burt055
===
NAME: Maria Bewell
DESCRIPTION: Fifteen year old Maria's stepfather comes to her bed one night and asks to sleep with her. She begs him not to; he persists. Finally his desire is too strong; he lies in wait for her and kills her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Eddy)
KEYWORDS: incest murder  rejection father
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1832 - Murder of Maria Buell by Ira West Gardner. Gardner was later hung, though details of the sentencing were lost in a fire
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Eddy 120, "Maria Bewell" (1 text)
ST E120 (Full)
Roud #4116
NOTES: This song is item dF44 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: E120
===
NAME: Maria Marten
DESCRIPTION: Maria tells her mother she is going to meet William at the red barn. They are to be married next day in Islip. Maria is never seen alive again. After eleven months her mother dreams the body will be found buried in the red barn. The body is found there.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1972 (recording, Freda Palmer)
KEYWORDS: courting murder dream mother corpse
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Aug 11, 1828 - William Corder is executed for the May 1827 murder of Maria Marten (source: NLScotland commentary to broadside L.C.Fol.70(71b))
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #215
RECORDINGS:
Freda Palmer, "Maria Marten" (on Voice03)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Murder of Maria Marten" (subject) and references there
File: RcMariaM
===
NAME: Maria's Gone: see Maria (File: JRSF066)
===
NAME: Marian Parker (I) [Laws F33]
DESCRIPTION: Pretty schoolgirl Marian Parker and her family are preparing for Christmas when the girl is kidnapped from school. "Young Hickman" is arrested and tried after the body is found
AUTHOR: Bill Barrett?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (recording, Al Craver [Vernon Dalhart]; also copyrighted in that year, but the Dalhart recording was probably made in 1927; collected by Brown as early as 1930)
KEYWORDS: murder corpse trial abduction
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Dec 14, 1927 - Kidnapping and murder of twelve (eleven?)-year-old Marian Parker
Dec 17, 1927 - Discovery by her father of the girl's mutilated body
Oct 19, 1928 - Execution of William Edward Hickman for the murder
FOUND_IN: US(MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws F33, "Marian Parker"
BrownII 254, "Marian Parker" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 68-70, "Little Marian Parker" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burt, pp. 65-66, "(Marion Parker)" (1 text, tune referenced)
DT 731, MARPARK1
Roud #781
RECORDINGS:
Al Craver [pseud. for Vernon Dalhart] & Charlie Wells [pseud. for Carson Robison], "Little Marian Parker" (Columbia 15218-D. c. 1928)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Marian Parker (II)" (subject)
cf. "Marian Parker (III)" (subject)
cf. "Edward Hickman (Marian Parker IV)" (subject)
NOTES: Laws lists a total of four Marian Parker ballads (the others are dF56, dF57, and dE49, "Edward Hickman"). This one, popularized by Vernon Dalhart, begins "Away out in California lived a family bright and gay. They were planning for their Christmas not very far away...."
The 1928 printing, credited to Bill Barrett (though I wonder if Carson Robison may not have been involved), titles the song "Little Marian Parker." - RBW
File: LF33
===
NAME: Marian Parker (II)
DESCRIPTION: Marian Parker, "a sweet little darling," is "lured away from school" so that the kidnapper (unnamed) can demand a ransom. Her father finds her mangled body. The ballad concludes with moralizing stanzas
AUTHOR: John McGhee?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: abduction murder death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Dec 14, 1927 - Kidnapping and murder of twelve (eleven?)-year-old Marian Parker
Dec 17, 1927 - Discovery by her father of the girl's mutilated body
Oct 19, 1928 - Execution of William Edward Hickman for the murder
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 255, "The Murder of Marian Parker" (1 text)
Roud #4126
RECORDINGS:
John McGhee, "The Marion Parker Murder" (Champion 15427=probably Gennett 6362)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Marian Parker (I)" [Laws F33] (subject)
cf. "Marian Parker (III)" (subject)
cf. "Edward Hickman (Marian Parker IV)" (subject)
NOTES: This is item dF56 in Laws's Appendix II. Laws lists a total of four Marian Parker ballads (the others are F33, dF57, and dE49, "Edward Hickman"). This one, with no details and an extremely sticky tone, begins "In a home out in Los Angeles Lived a sweet little darling so fair. 'Twas a pleasure her loved ones to be, But her loved ones her joy no more they'll share." - RBW
File: LdF56
===
NAME: Marian Parker (III)
DESCRIPTION: Marian and her sister set out for school. Edward Hickman tells her her father had an accident, and kidnaps her. He demands a $1500 ransom. Her father brings the money, but finds her dead body. The song blames Hickman but does not tell his fate
AUTHOR: Andrew Jenkins
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (recording, Andrew Jenkins)
KEYWORDS: murder execution trial abduction mother
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Dec 14, 1927 - Kidnapping and murder of twelve (eleven?)-year-old Marian Parker
Dec 17, 1927 - Discovery by her father of the girl's mutilated body
Oct 19, 1928 - Execution of William Edward Hickman for the murder
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 256, "Little Marion Parker" (1 text)
Roud #4127
RECORDINGS:
Blind Andy [pseud. for Andrew Jenkins], "Little Marian Parker" (OKeh 45197, 1928) [The flip side is also a Marian Parker ballad, "Edward Hickman"]
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Marian Parker (I)" [Laws F33] (subject)
cf. "Marian Parker (II)" (subject)
cf. "Edward Hickman (Marian Parker IV)" (subject)
NOTES: This is item dF57 in Laws's Appendix II. Laws lists a total of four Marian Parker ballads (the others are F33, dF56, and dE49, "Edward Hickman"). This, one of two by Andrew Jenkins and appearing in the Brown collection, has the opening stanza, "Now little Marion (sic) Parker, She left her home one day, She started to the schoolhouse, Her heart was light and gay." - RBW
File: LdF57
===
NAME: Marie Madelaine (Son Petit Jupon -- The Little Dress of Gray)
DESCRIPTION: French: The singer is her father's only daughter, and he sent her to sea in her little dress of gray. A sailor courts her and asks to kiss her. She is afraid of what her papa would do. He points out that her father is far away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: Quebec love courting sea father foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scott-BoA, pp. 294-296, "Son Petit Jupon" (2 texts (1 English, 1 French), 1 tune)
File: SBoA294
===
NAME: Marigold, The: see The Royal Oak (File: VWL091)
===
NAME: Marina Girl: see (references and notes under) Way Down the Old Plank Road (File: ADR94)
===
NAME: Mariposa
DESCRIPTION: The steamer Mariposa, loaded with general cargo and sheep, runs on shore at Grassy Point, Labrador. "A portion of her cargo is gone up and down the shore, Honestly and hardly earned by the people of Labrador"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Leach-Labrador)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck sea humorous theft
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sep 27, 1895 - Mariposa, sailing from Montreal to Liverpool sinks in the Strait of Belle Isle at L'Anse Au Clair (source: Northern Shipwrecks DataBase)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Leach-Labrador 79, "Mariposa" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LLab079 (Partial)
Roud #9980
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Mayflower" (theme)
cf. "The Teapots at the Fire" (theme)
cf. "The Middlesex Flora" (theme)
cf. "The Irrawaddy" (theme)
NOTES: Leach-Labrador: "The general attitude toward wrecks was summed up for me by one man, who said, 'If the good Lord sees fit to wrack a vessel, we hope it'll be hereabouts; we can use anything on board.'" - BS
File: LLab079
===
NAME: Maritime Memories of Wexford
DESCRIPTION: "Tis often I dream of the old Wexford fleet," "golden memories" of the end of the nineteenth century. "Ah! those were the days of the sailing ship, days of a rare old sport, When the Devereux flag was carried on the ships that sailed from our port"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1945 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: sea ship commerce lyric nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, p. 10, "Maritime Memories of Wexford" (1 text)
File: Ran010
===
NAME: Mark Murphy
DESCRIPTION: Mark Murphy from Avondale "could fight and farm and swing his arm and drive this world along, But the only thing he left undone was to try and hold his tongue." He bragged once too often about his boxing and was shown up by a boxer he said he could beat
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (Dibblee/Dibblee)
KEYWORDS: bragging fight humorous
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 103-104, "Mark Murphy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12454
NOTES: Avondale is inland at central eastern Queens, Prince Edward Island. - BS
File: Dib103
===
NAME: Marriage of Sir Gawain, The [Child 31]
DESCRIPTION: Arthur must fight a huge knight or come back later and say what women most desire. An ugly woman will give the answer if Arthur marries her to one of his knights. Gawain agrees, leaves it up to her to be beautiful by day or night, and lifts the spell
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1794 (Percy)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage shape-changing royalty magic
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Child 31, "The Marriage of Sir Gawain" (1 text)
Percy/Wheatley III, pp. 13-24, "The Marriage of Sir Gawaine"; pp. 323-330, "The Ancient Fragment of the Marriage of Sir Gawain" (2 texts, the second being the damaged stanzas in the Percy folio and the first being Percy's reconstructed version)
Leach, pp. 118-123, "The Marriage of Sir Gawain" (1 text)
OBB 19, "The Marriage of Sir Gawain [A Fragment]" (1 text)
Niles 18, "The Marriage of Sir Gawain" (1 text, 1 tune, clearly a form of this ballad but of doubtful authenticity)
DT 31, GAWAIN1
Roud #3966
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Half-Hitch" [Laws N23] (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Sir Gaunie and the Witch
NOTES: This story is also found in the fifteenth century romance "The Wedding of Sir Gawen and Dame Ragnell," viewed by Sir Frederic Madden to be the source of the ballad.
The theme of the "loathly woman" is, of course, common, but certain scholars have tried to link every ballad on this theme (e.g. "The Half-Hitch") to this ballad. The links are usually very dubious. We should note that, apart from the dubious piece in Niles, the only extant version of this ballad is the copy in the Percy folio.
On the other hand, the connection between this ballad and "Dame Ragnall" are hard to deny. If this is not a recomposition of that romance, it certainly derives from the same immediate source.
The romance is found in only one manuscript, Bodleian MS Rawlinson C 86, which has lost a leaf containing probably about 70 lines after line 628.
The manuscript is generally regarded as dating from about 1500. The poem itself is probably 50-150 years older -- though the very confused writing makes things harder. I observe that, in the first 60 lines, there the name "Arthur" is spelled "Arthoure," "Arture," "Arthoure" again, "Arthure, and "Arthour."
Several other ballads also derive loosely or from Middle English romance, or from the legends that underly it, examples being:
* "Hind Horn" [Child 17], from "King Horn" (3 MSS., including Cambridge Gg.4.27.2, which also contains "Floris and Blancheflour")
* "King Orfeo" [Child 19], from "Sir Orfeo" (3 MSS., including the Auchinlek MS, which also contains "Floris and Blancheflour")
* "Blancheflour and Jellyflorice" [Child 300], from "Floris and Blancheflour" (4 MSS, including Cambridge Gg.4.27.2, which also contains "King Horn," and the Auchinlek MS, which also contains "Sir Orfeo") - RBW
File: C031
===
NAME: Married and Single Life
DESCRIPTION: Singer warns young people of the perils of marriage, tells them to wait until age 21, and be sure of their sweethearts. "When a man's married he ain't his own man... But when a man's single he can live at his ease..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Cecil Sharp collection)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer warns young people (mostly men) of the perils of marriage, tells them to wait until age 21, and be sure of their sweethearts, who can be deceitful. "When a man's married he ain't his own man...For selling his freedom to buy him a wife...But when a man's single he can live at his ease...he can rove through the country and live at his will/Kiss Polly, kiss Betsy, and he is the same still." He offers healths to the single and married alike
KEYWORDS: age marriage warning drink nonballad bachelor husband
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SharpAp 73, "Married and Single Life" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MARRSING
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Bachelor's Hall (I)" (subject)
cf. "Single Life, A (Single Is My Glory)" (subject)
cf. "Single Girl, Married Girl" (subject)
cf. "I Wish I Were a Single Girl Again" (subject)
cf. "I Wish I Were Single Again (I - Male)" (subject)
cf. "When I Was Single (II)" (subject)
cf. "Sporting Bachelors" (subject)
NOTES: This has parallel content to a lot of other "stay single" songs, but it's separate nonetheless. - PJS
File: ShrAp73
===
NAME: Married Man (II), The: see I Wish I Were Single Again (I - Male) (File: R365)
===
NAME: Married Man, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer looks back fondly on seven years of marriage: His wife cares for him (even when he drinks too much), and never questions or scolds. He advises girls to keep this in mind" So, girls, mind you this when you marry."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: marriage drink husband wife warning
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H701, p. 501, "The Married Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST HHH701 (Full)
Roud #9465
File: HHH701
===
NAME: Married to a Mermaid
DESCRIPTION: Farmer loves a knight's daughter, the knight has him pressed. At sea the farmer falls overboard. As his comrades look for him he pops up and tells them how he found and then married a mermaid. The sailors wish him well. Choruses of "Rule Britannia."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1870 (Broadside, Bodleian library)
KEYWORDS: sailor mermaid/man pressgang farming marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Harlow, pp. 174-176, "Married to a Mermaid" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rule Britannia" (tune and chorus)
cf. "The Merman (Pretty Fair Maid with a Tail)" [Laws K24] (theme of marrying a mermaid)
cf. "Down in the Diving Bell (The Mermaid (II))" (theme of marrying a mermaid)
NOTES: This was obviously based on "Rule Britannia," keeping the tune and popular chorus and replacing all the other text. According to contemplator.com it was credited in the "Scottish Student's Handbook" to "A.J.C." and also appeared in Toser's "Sailor's Songs of Chanties." It seems to have been made popular by [music hall performer] Arthur Lloyd (1839-1904) but I could find no indication that he was responsible for the words. One of the Bodleian broadsides state that it was sung to the tune of "The Revelers." - SL
File: Harl174
===
NAME: Married Woman's Lament, A: see I Wish I Were Single Again (II - Female) (File: E070)
===
NAME: Marrowbones [Laws Q2]
DESCRIPTION: An old wife goes to the doctor for a potion to blind her husband. The doctor suggests (eggs and) marrowbones. He says  he wishes to die and asks her to push him off a cliff. As she runs to do so, he steps aside. She drowns; he says he cannot see to help
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1874 (quoted in Mark Twain, _Life on the Mississippi_)
KEYWORDS: suicide trick drugs death
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Britain(England(Lond,South),Scotland) Canada(Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (29 citations)
Laws Q2, "The Old Wife of Slapsadam (The Wily Auld Carle; The Old Woman in Dover; etc.)"
Belden, pp. 237-239, "Johnny Sands" (2 texts, but only the second, with no letter, is this piece)
Randolph 754, "Johnny Sands" (2 texts, 2 tunes, but the "A" text goes with "Johnny Sands" [Laws Q3] while the "B" text belongs with this piece)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 239-240, "A Cruel Wife" (1 text)
Eddy 30, "An Old Woman's Story" (1 text)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 13-14, "The Drowning Lady (The Witch Song)" (1 fragment, 1 tune, which might be either "Marrowbones" or "Johnnie Sands")
Linscott, pp. 255-258, "The Old Woman in Dover" (1 text, 1 tune)
FSCatskills 141, "The Old Woman from Boston" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 55, "The Rich Old Lady" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Peacock, pp. 261-264, "Eggs and Marrow-Bones" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Leach-Labrador 113, "A Cruel Wife" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 39, "The Rich Old Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 122, "Marrow Bones" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 73, "Marrow Bones" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 109-110,243, "Cheese and Marrowbones" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 182, "The Old Woman's Blind Husband" (2 texts)
Chappell-FSRA 44, "The Old Woman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster 60, "An Old Woman's Story" (1 text)
Doerflinger, p. 281, "The Wife of Kelso (The Wily Auld Carle)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 51, "The Rich Old Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 274, "The Rich Old Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 130-131, "The Rich Old Lady" (1 text, 1 tune -- with a second verse created by Chase)
SHenry H174, p. 507, "The Auld Man and the Churnstaff" (1 text, 1 tune)
McBride 70, "The Wee Woman in Our Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 208, "The Old Woman of Blighter Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 157, "An Old Woman's Story" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 144-145, "There Was an Old Lady" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 173, "Eggs And Marrowbones" (1 text)
DT 344, MARBONES* MARBONE2* MARBONE3* MARBONE4 MARBON5 MARBON6*
Roud #183
RECORDINGS:
Horton Barker, "There Was an Old Lady" (on Barker01)
Harry Cox, "Marrowbones" (on HCox01)
Betty Garland, "Love My Darlin' O" (on BGarland01)
Jimmy Knights, "Marrowbones" (on Voice06)
A. L. Lloyd, "Tigery Orum" (on Lloyd1)
Lawrence Older,  "Woman from Yorkshire" (on LOlder01)
Ken Peacock, "Woman from Dover" (on NFKPeacock)
Wesley Smith, "Cheese and Marrowbones" (on MREIves01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Johnny Sands" [Laws Q3]
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Eggs and Marrowbones
Old Woman from Wexford
Dover
NOTES: At one time witches were killed by drowning, and Flanders and Olney connect their fragmentary text (which mentions only the drowning and the husband pushing the wife in) with this phenomenon.
Mark Twain quotes a fragment of this piece in _Life on the Mississippi_.
The Catskills version has a peculiar ending in which the lady swims to the other shore and survives. Much as we would like this to be a feminist touch, it seems more likely that it was a lapse of memory.
Sam Henry had a text in which the man eventually rescued her. Perhaps there was an onlooker around somewhere?
A number of editors confuse "Johnny Sands" [Laws Q3] and "Marrowbones" [Laws Q2]. They obviously have thematic similarity, and probably have exchanged parts. But the "gimmick" is different in each case; there seems no doubt that they are now separate songs. - RBW
File: LQ02
===
NAME: Marseillaise, La
DESCRIPTION: French language: "Allons, enfants de la Patrie! Le jour gloire est arrive!" The listeners are urged to fight for France and freedom, and drive foreigners off French soil
AUTHOR: Rouget de Lisle
EARLIEST_DATE: 1792 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: patriotic France nonballad
FOUND_IN: France
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 302, "La Marseillaise" (1 French text plus English version)
Fuld-WFM, p. 354, "La Marseillaise"
DT, LAMARSEI
Roud #11238
SAME_TUNE:
The Texan Marseillaise (by James Haines; [H. M. Wharton], War Songs and Poems of the Southern Confederacy, pp. 191-192)
The Swineish Multitutde (1798 rebel song; cf. Thomas Pakenham, The Year of Liberty, p. 173)
NOTES: Summarizing the notes in Fuld:
There are all sorts of ironies associated with this song. To begin with, it wasn't associated with Marseilles; it was published as "Chant de Guerre pour l'Armee du Rhin" (more or less at the far end of France). Even more ironically, the author (Rouget de Lisle, 1760-1836) is reported to have been a royalist, and even to have been imprisoned for his support for the crown.
The song was written in 1792, when France still had a king though it was doing its best to ignore him. France wound up at war with Austria and Prussia. It appears that the association with Marseilles came about because volunteers from Marseilles heard it sung, and then joined in storming the Tuileries (August 10, 1792). - RBW
File: FSWB302
===
NAME: Martha Dexter
DESCRIPTION: Young Martha Dexter and her niece set out to visit the niece's mother. When they come to the river, the water is high and Martha's excitable horse throws her. She drowns. When her body is found at last, the family mourns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: death river drowning horse mourning
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Aug 1, 1824 - Death of Martha Decker near what is now Wilawanna, Pennsylvania
FOUND_IN: US(MA,So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, pp. 417-418, "Martha Dexter" (1 text)
Roud #4134
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ballad of the Drover (Death of Harry Dale)" (theme)
cf. "The Mother's Malison, or Clyde's Water" [Child 216] (theme)
NOTES: This is item dG34 in Laws's Appendix II.
My first reaction, upon reading the first half-dozen stanzas in Belden, was that this is basically a variant of a "Marian Parker" ballad. It has that same cloying feel. But, of course, the song is based on an earlier event, and it takes a different direction at the end. The similarity is presumably due simply to the way semi-professional balladeers treat children. - RBW
File: Beld417
===
NAME: Martha, the Flower of Sweet Strabane: see The Flower of Sweet Strabane (File: HHH224a)
===
NAME: Martin Said To His Man
DESCRIPTION: The singer says s/he saw various animals performing various activities, some of which are impossible or unlikely (E.g. "Saw a crow flying low"; "Saw a mule teachin' school"). In some versions, the narrator(s) are drunk, competing to tell the tallest tale.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1609 (Deuteromelia; registered as a ballad 1588)
KEYWORDS: contest drink lullaby nonballad nonsense paradox talltale animal bug
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So) Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Kinloch-BBook XIV, pp. 50-54, "The Man in the Moon" (1 text)
Randolph 445, "Johnny Fool" (2 texts)
BrownIII 114, "Kitty Alone" (1 text)
Hudson 128, p. 274, "Old, Blind, Drunk John" (1 text)
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 22, "The Bed-time Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 136, "Hurrah, Lie!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, p. 140, "Martin Said to His Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, HURRALIE* WHOSFOOL*
Roud #473
RECORDINGS:
Martha Hall, "Kitty Alone" (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Gossip Joan (Neighbor Jones)" (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Who's the Fool Now?
Old Blind Drunk John
Fooba-Wooba John
NOTES: Referred to in Dryden's 1668 play "Sir Martin Mar-all, or the Feign'd Innocence"  (act IV). It seems to have been very popular in the century prior to that.
The American versions can generally be told by their narrative pattern, "(I) saw a () (doing something)," e.g. "Saw a crow flying low," "Saw a mule teaching school," "Saw a louse chase a mouse," "Saw a flea wade the sea."
The versions under the title "Kitty Alone" are sometimes a mix of this and "Frog Went A-Courting"; the first such text seems to have been in Gammer Gurton's Garland (1784), which has clearly a "Frog" plot but the form (and some of the exaggerations) of this piece.
I'm sure there are some who have argued that the ancient English "Martin Said To His Man" is not the same as the modern American texts. But there is continuity of verses, believe it or not, and the theme never changes. And there is no way to draw a dividing line. - RBW
File: WB022
===
NAME: Martin, Tim, and Dan
DESCRIPTION: "Come all ye hustling chanty boys, a lesson take from me; Work steady in the lumber woods and don't go on a spree." The singer advises saving to buy a farm; he recalls learning to work as a logger. Chorus: "Martin, Tim, and Dan, Barney, Pat, and Sam...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Gardner/Chickering)
KEYWORDS: logger lumbering farming work moniker
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Gardner/Chickering 116, "Martin, Tim, and Dan" (1 short text)
ST GC116 (Partial)
Roud #3698
NOTES: This may be related to some other lumbering song, but with only two verses and an easily-modified chorus, it will be very difficult to identify. - RBW
File: GC116
===
NAME: Martinmas Time
DESCRIPTION: Troop of soldiers forces farmer's daughter to promise she will come to their quarters that night. She arrives in disguise, but the quartermaster sends her away. She leaves her garters and ribbons tied to the gates to prove she'd been there.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1911 (Greig)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Troop of soldiers forces farmer's daughter to promise she will come to their quarters that night; she has her hair cut off and dresses in men's clothes. She goes to the soldiers' quarters, asking for lodgings for another troop of soldiers, but the quartermaster sends her away, saying there is no more room. She persists; he gives her money, for "tonight there comes a wench." She leaves her garters and ribbons tied to the gates to prove she'd been there, then blows a whistle, saying "you're not for a girl at all," and goes home in triumph
KEYWORDS: sex rape trick soldier cross-dressing disguise
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North),Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ord, pp. 308-309, "It Fell About the Martinmas Time" (1 text)
DT, MARTINMA*
Roud #2173
RECORDINGS:
Anne Briggs, "Martinmas Time" (on BirdBush1, BirdBush2, Briggs3)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Broomfield Hill" (Child 43) and references there
File: DTmartin
===
NAME: Martyr John: see The Twa Brothers [Child 49] (File: C049)
===
NAME: Mary Acklin (The Squire's Young Daughter) [Laws M16]
DESCRIPTION: The father of a girl secretly sees her giving a ring to her sweetheart. He confines the girl and arrests the singer for robbery. The girl pleads for her lover and, rather than being transported, he is freed. The two marry and settle down
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Mackenzie)
KEYWORDS: ring robbery prison reprieve marriage love
FOUND_IN: US(NE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws M16, "Mary Acklin (The Squire's Young Daughter)"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 93, "The Squire's Young Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H30b, pp. 437-438, "Young Mary of Accland (a)"; H721, p. 438, "Young Mary of Accland (b)" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 40, "Mary Riley" (1 text)
DT 581, MARYRILY
Roud #540
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "William (Willie) Riley (Riley's Trial)" [Laws M10] (plot)
cf. "Lady Elspat" [Child 247] (plot)
cf. "The Footboy" (plot)
File: LM16
===
NAME: Mary Alling: see Bonny Barbara Allan [Child 84] (File: C084)
===
NAME: Mary Ambree
DESCRIPTION: Mary disguises herself to join her lover's regiment. When he is slain, she becomes an officer. She leads her men bravely, but is at last captured when her supply officer betrays her. Threatened with death by the enemy, she reveals her sex and is spared
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1765 (Percy; alluded to by Ben Johnson, 1609)
KEYWORDS: war cross-dressing disguise battle reprieve
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Percy/Wheatley II, pp. 232-237, "Mary Ambree" (2 text, one from the Folio manuscript and one touched up by Percy for the _Reliques_)
OBB 165, "Mary Ambree" (1 text)
BBI, ZN468, "Captains courageous"; ZN2826, "When captains courageous, whom death could not daunt"
ST OBB165 (Partial)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Female Warrior (Pretty Polly)" [Laws N4] (plot)
cf. "The Blind Beggar's Daughter of Bednall Green" [Laws N27] (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
The Blind Beggar's Daughter of Bednall Green [Laws N27] (File: LN27)
NOTES: "The Female Warrior" and "Mary Ambree" have many points of similarity; I was tempted to classify them as the same ballad. Since, however, the former involves the navy and the latter the army, I have kept them separate. - RBW
File: OBB165
===
NAME: Mary and Sandy: see Mary o' the Dee (Mary's Dream) [Laws K20] (File: LK20)
===
NAME: Mary and Sweet Caroline: see The Folkestone Murder (File: K320)
===
NAME: Mary and the Soldier: see The Gallant Soldier (Mary/Peggy and the Soldier) (File: HHH473)
===
NAME: Mary and Willie: see Willie and Mary (Mary and Willie; Little Mary; The Sailor's Bride) [Laws N28] (File: LN28)
===
NAME: Mary Ann: see The Iron Door [Laws M15] (File: LM15)
===
NAME: Mary Anne
DESCRIPTION: "Oh fare thee well, my own true love, Oh fare thee well my dear, For the ship is waiting and the wind blows free, And I am bound away to the sea, Mary Ann." The singer compares his pain at parting to that of a mourning dove or a lobster in a pot
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1860 (broadside, LOCSinging as110580)
KEYWORDS: sailor separation love sea floatingverses
FOUND_IN: Canada(Que) US(Ap,MA,SE) Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
BrownIII 300, "My Martha Ann" (1 text)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 142-143, "Mary Ann" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 48, "Mary Ann" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 75, "Mary Ann" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 147, "Mary Ann" (1 text)
DT MARYAN* 
Roud #4438
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 1111, "My Mary Ann," A. Ryle and Co. (London), 1845-1859; also Firth c.12(366), Firth c.12(368), "My Mary Ann"
LOCSinging, as110580, "Our Mary Ann," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also sb30400b, "Our Mary Ann"; as109170, "My Mary Ann"; Harding B 15(288b), "My Mary Anne"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot" (floating lyrics) and references there
cf. "Fare You Well, My Own True Love (The Storms Are on the Ocean, The False True Lover, The True Lover's Farewell, Red Rosy Bush, Turtle Dove)" (lyrics)
cf. "The Lass of Roch Royal" [Child 76] (lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Ten Thousand Miles
NOTES: Cazden et al report that the distinct subtext of "pretty little foot" group "...was written by stageman Barney Williams to a variant of the traditional tune, ascribed to M. Tyle. It was published as sheet music in Baltimore during 1856...." 
Don Duncan reports of this version, "The melody is clearly related to the version re-popularized by Ian & Sylvia; Revels lists it in their songbook as having been collected by Marius Barbeau from a Canadian who had learned it from an Irish sailor "around 1850."  I&S's "lobster/bluefish" verse is from the Williams version, which apparently was a bit of a spoof; the fourth verse is downright funky:
The pride of all the produce rare,
That in our garden grow'd
 Was punkins, but none could compare
In angel form to my Mary Ann,
In angel form to my Mary Ann.
The Library of Congress has at least three song sheets (that is, I found three, one published in Baltimore and two in New York) in their American Memory 19th century song sheets collection... These have almost identical lyrics to the original, but rather than
repeating the final line of each verse (as the original did) they use the first verse as a chorus.  "Our Mary Ann," by de Marsan in New York... identifies it as a minstrel song."
It is likely that some badly worn down versions of this song are filed with "Fare You Well, My Own True Love (The Storms Are on the Ocean, The False True Lover, The True Lover's Farewell, Red Rosy Bush, Turtle Dove)"; the latter song is a catch-all for songs of this type that don't mention Mary Anne or have the Roch Royal plot. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging as110580: J. Andrews dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: FJ142
===
NAME: Mary Anne McGuinan
DESCRIPTION: Mary Anne McGuigan: if your "pritties" are good you must spray them again with bluestone. John James leads the dance with her and buys her a blouse of silk. Who will help her fix her house and thresh her oats? She is "swiggin'" her porter.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1979 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS:  farming dancing drink humorous nonballad clothes home
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 68, "Mary Anne McGuinan" (1 text)
Roud #17843
NOTES: Each verse is independent of the others and of the chorus. Bluestone is sprayed as a potato fungicide. - BS
"Bluestone" in this case is not lapis lazuli, which is sometimes called by that name, but rather copper (II) sulfate, or chalcanthite, a copper mineral (CuSO4.5H2O), also known as blue vitriol. According to John Emsley, _Nature's Building Blocks_, p. 124, "Copper in the form of Bordeaux mixture(a blue gelatinous suspension of copper sulfate and lime in water) was one of the first agrochemical pesticides, developed to control downy mildew on vines." - RBW
File: TSF068
===
NAME: Mary Arnold the Female Monster
DESCRIPTION: Mary Arnold, for reasons unknown, decides to blind her baby by covering its eyes with beetles held in walnut shells. Her deed is discovered, and she is sentenced to transportation
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1888 (Ashton)
KEYWORDS: mother children injury disability transportation
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
PBB 101, "Mary Arnold the Female Monster" (1 text)
ST PBB101 (Partial)
File: PBB101
===
NAME: Mary Bowed: see While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks AND I Know Moonlight (or something similar) (File: OBC033)
===
NAME: Mary Doyle: see The Wreck of the Lady Shearbrooke (File: HHH570)
===
NAME: Mary from Dungloe
DESCRIPTION: The singer is leaving Donegal and Mary from Dungloe for America. "It was your cruel father" that drove him from her but he plans to return. "I wished I was in sweet Dungloe and seated on the grass And by my side a bottle of wine and on my knee a lass"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1913 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: courting separation America Ireland floatingverses father
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
OLochlainn 75, "Mary from Dungloe" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MARYDNGL*
Roud #3001
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Bowling Green" (floating verse)
cf. "Shady Grove" (floating verse)
NOTES: The Digital Tradition lists this to the tune of "The Star of the County Down." The version I've heard (admittedly from The Irish Rovers) isn't quite that, but it may be a variant. - RBW
File: OLoc075
===
NAME: Mary Had a Baby
DESCRIPTION: "Mary had a baby, oh Lord... People keep a-coming and the train done gone." "What did she name him?" "She named him Jesus." "Where was he born?" "Born in a stable." "Where did they lay him?" "Laid him in a manger"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1953 (R. C. Seeger, American Folk Songs for Christmas)
KEYWORDS: Christmas childbirth Jesus religious
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 375, "Mary Had A Baby" (1 text)
DT, MARYBABY
Roud #11619
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Mary Had a Baby" (on PeteSeeger37, PeteSeeger42)
File: FSWB375B
===
NAME: Mary Had a Little Lamb
DESCRIPTION: "Mary had a little lamb whose fleece was white as snow." Surely you know the rest....
AUTHOR: Words: Sarah Josepha Hale
EARLIEST_DATE: 1830 ("Poems For Our Children")
KEYWORDS: animal children
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Randolph 360, "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (1 text, 1 tune, with some unusual words in the first verse)
Opie-Oxford2 341, "Mary had a little lamb" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #174, p. 127-128, "(Mary had a little lamb)"
Fuld-WFM, pp. 354-355, "Mary Had a Little Lamb"
cf. Greenway-AFP, pp. 51-52, "Mary's Little Lot" (1 text)
DT, (MARYLAM2* -- if you're broad-minded about what constitutes a version)
Roud #7622
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Mary Had a William Goat" (tune & meter)
cf. "Goodnight Ladies" (partial tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Mary's Little Lot (Greenway-AFP, pp. 51-52)
Mary Had a William Goat (File: San336)
NOTES: Reported to be based on a true story. Which seems likely enough; who would make up something so trite?
The Baring-Goulds report a variant by "modern teenager[s]": The response to "Mary had a little lamb" is "And was the doctor ever surprised!" - RBW
File: R360
===
NAME: Mary Had a William Goat
DESCRIPTION: "Mary had a William goat, William goat, William goat, Mary had a William goat, Its stomach lined with zinc." "One day it ate an oyster can... And a clothesline full of shirts." "The shirts can do no harm inside... But the oyster can."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: parody animal food derivative
FOUND_IN: US Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Sandburg, pp. 336-337, "Mary Had a William Goat" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Peacock, p. 19, "Mary Had a William Goat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4567
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (tune & meter)
File: San336
===
NAME: Mary Hamilton [Child 173]
DESCRIPTION: Mary Hamilton, servant to the queen, is pregnant (by the queen's husband). She tries to hide her guilt by casting the boy out to sea, but is seen and convicted. She is condemned to die
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1790
KEYWORDS: pregnancy murder abandonment punishment execution
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1542 - Accession of Mary Stewart
1548 - Mary Stewart sent to France (later married to King Francis II)
1561 - Mary Stewart returns to Scotland
1567 - Death of Lord Darnley. Mary Stewart deposed
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber,Bord)) US(Ap,NE,SE,So,SW) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (25 citations)
Child 173, "Mary Hamilton" (27 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's#5}
Bronson 173,  "Mary Hamilton" (12 versions+1 in addenda)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 258-264, "Mary Hamilton" (2 texts plus some variants and a verse of "Peter Amberley" they claim floated in from this song, 1 tune plus some cited extracts) {Bronson's #7; the first short excerpt is from Bronson's #6}
Randolph 26, "The Four Maries" (1 fragment)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 79-80, "The Four Marys" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #7}
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 163-169, "Mary Hamilton" (2 texts plus a fragment, with the fragment containing parts of "MacPherson's Lament"; 3 tunes) {B=Bronson's #7}
Davis-Ballads 36, "Mary Hamilton" (2 fragments from the same informant, 1 tune) {Bronson's #6}
Davis-More 32, pp. 245-252, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text plus 2 fragments, 1 tune) {Bronson's #8}
Leach, pp. 481-483, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 184, "Mary Hamilton"; p. 219,  "Mary Hamilton's Last Goodnight" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #6}
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 22-23, "Mary Hamilton" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 3, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBB 83, "The Queen's Marie" (1 text)
PBB 61, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text)
Niles 51, "Mary Hamilton" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Gummere, pp. 159-161+334-335, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text)
Combs/Wilgus 32, pp. 124-126, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text)
Hodgart, p. 138, "Marie Hamilton" (1 text)
DBuchan 33, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text)
Ord, p. 457, "The Queen's Maries" (1 text)
TBB 23, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 117-119, "Mary Hamilton" (1 text)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 49-52, "Mary Hamilton" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #6}
Silber-FSWB, p. 211, "The Four Maries" (1 text)
DT 173, MARYHAM1* MARYHAM2 MARYHAM3* MARYHAM4*
Roud #79
RECORDINGS:
Jeannie Robertson, "Mary Hamilton (The Four Marys)" (on FSB5 [as "The Four Maries"], FSBBAL2)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Purple Dress
NOTES: Mary Stewart (the French used the spelling "Stuart") became Queen of Scotland when she was eight days old (1542).
Scotland being the chaotic place that it was, she was only a child when she was sent abroad to marry into and be brought up at the court of France (1548). To keep her good company, four well-bred Scots girls were sent with her to keep her company (it should be noted, though, that none of them was named Hamilton). Her husband Francis II died in 1560, however, and Mary Stewart went home.
There she married her cousin, Henry, Lord Darnley. It does not seem to have been an overly happy match, so Darnley might well have engaged in extracurricular activities. In any case, Darnley was murdered in 1567. Soon after, Mary was (forcibly?) married by the Earl of Bothwell; in that same year she was deposed in favor of her son.
Nowhere in her troubled reign do we find reference to a serving girl's pregnancy; one theory has it that the story arose with the troubles of a Mary Hamilton at the Russian court. Another theory, first advanced by Scott, connects it with members of Mary Stuart's court *other than* the four Maries and Lord Darnley.
It also occurs to me that there is the case of the son of George III, who in due time would become George IV. According to Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, _Blood Royal: The Illustrious House of Hanover_ (Doubleday, 1980), p. 118, Prince George at one time "had fallen in love with Mary Hamilton, one of his sisters' governesses." Whether this is relevant depends of course on the earliest date of the song. There are a number of mentions in the early nineteenth century. If we can push it before about 1780, then of course this Mary Hamilton is out of the question. Of course George IV's Mary Hamilton didn't kill her baby, but her affair with the Prince of Wales might have influenced the character in this song.
For extensive discussion of the matter (which is, however, rather more theoretical than practical) see Davis-More, pp. 246-248. - RBW
File: C173
===
NAME: Mary Hamilton's Last Goodnight: see Mary Hamilton [Child 173] (File: C173)
===
NAME: Mary Hebrew: see The Wife of Usher's Well [Child 79] (File: C079)
===
NAME: Mary in the Silvery Tide: see The Silvery Tide [Laws O37] (File: LO37)
===
NAME: Mary L. Mackay, The
DESCRIPTION: About a voyage by the Mackay from Portland to Yarmouth. Driven by a gale, and handled by uninhibited officers, she ran 220 miles in 18 hours. The singer challenges others to best the mark, but admits the voyage was made on the power of Portland rum
AUTHOR: Words: Frederick W. Wallace
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Canadian Fisherman)
KEYWORDS: ship racing sailor drink storm
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 74, "The Mary L. Mackay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 132, "The Mary L MacKay" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MARYMKAY*
Roud #1831
NOTES: This song is item dD50 in Laws's Appendix II.
According to Creighton, Wallace wrote this poem to describe an experience he had aboard the _Effie Morrissey_ in 1913. She believes her informant, Edmund Henneberry, supplied the tune.  - RBW
File: LoF074
===
NAME: Mary Le More
DESCRIPTION: "As I strayed o'er the common on Cork's rugged border" the singer meets Mary Le More, distracted. She tells that her brother and friend Connor have been murdered by soldiers and she has no one to avenge them. When troops appear she screams and runs away.
AUTHOR: George Nugent Reynolds (1770-1802) (see Notes)
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.34(174))
KEYWORDS: grief madness rebellion death brother friend soldier
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
O'Conor, pp. 11-12, "Mary Le More" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 366-367, "Mary Le More" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.34(174), "Mary-le-More" ("As I stray'd o'er the common on Cork's rugged border"), J. Ferraby (Hull), 1803-1838; also Harding B 11(2350), "Mary-le-More"; 2806 c.15(321), "Mary Le More"; Harding B 11(495), "Mary le Moor"; Harding B 25(1223), "Mary-le More"
NLScotland, RB.m.169(007), "Mary Le More," Robert McIntosh (Glasgow), after 1848
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Firth b.27(277), "Mary La More" is almost entirely illegible.
_The Ballad Poetry of Ireland_ by Charles Gavan Duffy (Dublin, 1845), pp. 119-120, "Mary Le More" makes the attribution to Reynolds. [A claim backed by Hoagland. - RBW]
See another similar broadside Bodleian Harding B 22(166), "Mary Le More" ("Oh! S---s of B---n, your merciless doings") in which Mary's father, Dermot, is killed. - BS
File: OCon011
===
NAME: Mary Machree
DESCRIPTION: "The flower of the valley was Mary Machree," whose beauty is described at length. Her soldier love goes away for many years, leaving her pining on the shore. At last, in the winter, he returns to her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1842 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.25(44))
KEYWORDS: love soldier separation reunion
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H485, p. 308, "Mary Machree" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 154, "Mary Machree" (1 text)
Roud #3231
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.25(44), "Mary Machree," Birt (London), 1833-1841; also Harding B 15(187a), Firth c.26(239), "Mary Machree"
LOCSinging, sb30316a, "Mary Machree," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
SAME_TUNE:
Come Home to Me, Love (per broadside LOCSinging sb30316a)
NOTES: Broadside LOCSinging sb30316a: H. De Marsan dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: HHH485
===
NAME: Mary Mack (I)
DESCRIPTION: "Oh Mary Mack, Mack, Mack, All dressed in black, black, black...." The singer speaks of love, and engages in a series of unprofitable transactions. Much of the song consists of floating verses, e.g. "I went to the river... And I couldn't get across."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (recording, children of Lilly's Chapel School)
KEYWORDS: playparty nonballad courting commerce
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 158-159, "(Mary Mack)" (1 text); p. 279, "Mary Mack" (1 tune, partial text)
Roud #11498
RECORDINGS:
Hunter children "Miss Mary Mack" (on JohnsIsland1)
Children of Lilly's Chapel School, "Mary Mack" (on NFMAla6, RingGames1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Swapping Boy" (plot)
cf. "Turkey in the Straw" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Went to the River (I)" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Not to be confused with the music hall song of the same title, which involves what sounds to be a shotgun wedding. - RBW
File: CNFM158B
===
NAME: Mary Mahoney
DESCRIPTION: Mary Mahoney is a servant maid in Indiantown. She rejects Archie, a "brisk young mutineer." The landlady resolves to help him and sends him to Newcastle to get jewelry. Mary rejects him again when the "gold" rings prove fake.
AUTHOR: probably Larry Gorman
EARLIEST_DATE: 1947 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection humorous ring
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Manny/Wilson 32, "Mary Mahoney" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MaWi032 (Partial)
Roud #9186
NOTES: Indiantown, now Quarryville, is near the junction of the Renous River and Main Southwest Miramichi River. Newcastle is about twenty miles away, down river, near Miramichi Bay.
Manny/Wilson: "'And THAT'S by Larry Gorman,' he [the singer, Thomas Coughlan] said.... One of Larry's devastating satires, this song is aimed at the 'silly young gaw gaw,' Archie Woodworth, and his unsuccessful love affair.... Sandy Ives ... says several people have doubted Larry's authorship of the song, saying 'It just doesn't sound like him' but we both think it is authentic Gorman." - BS
File: MaWi032
===
NAME: Mary McVeagh
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls being young and handsome and having all the girls follow him. He loved only Mary McVeagh. Now he is old and fat and tired, but has grown rich. He returns to find Mary -- and finds a girl who looks just like her. Her grandmother was Mary
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation return family mother children age
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H773, p. 229, "Mary McVeagh" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Obviously a piece of fiction -- how many old men would actually admit to being nicknamed "Tubby" and confess that they are completely unattractive to women except for their money? - RBW
File: HHH229
===
NAME: Mary Nail: see Mary Neal [Laws M17] (File: LM17)
===
NAME: Mary Neal [Laws M17]
DESCRIPTION: The singer is on trial for kidnapping Mary Neal. She pleads for him and he is released. She steals some of her father's wealth; they marry and set off overseas. After a near-disaster on the ship, they reject her father's offer of land if they return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3843)); "from an Athlone ballad slip of about 1840," according to Sparling)
KEYWORDS: trial emigration love abduction
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England(South)) Ireland
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Laws M17, "Mary Neal"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 92, "Mary Neal" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 216-217, "Mary Neal" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 80, "Mary Nail" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H55, pp. 479-480, "Charming Mary O'Neill" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 38, "Charming Mary Neill" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 582, MARYNEAL
ADDITIONAL: H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 321-323, 511, "Charming Mary Neal"
Roud #142
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3843), "Mary Neal and John M'Cann," J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also 2806 b.11(66), "Mary Neil" ("I am a bold undaunted youth my name is John M'Cann"); 2806 b.11(259), Harding B 15(41b), "Charming Mary Neal"
Murray, Mu23-y1:044, "Mary Neal," James Lindsay Junr (Glasgow), 19C
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(063), "Mary Neil," James Lindsay Jr. (Glasgow), c.1875
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "William (Willie) Riley (Riley's Trial) [Laws M10]" (tune)
NOTES: A correspondent of Sam Henry's claimed that this was a true story, with the girl being kidnapped to prevent a fight between two rival suitors. Yet another case where we can't prove it false but can hardly credit it, either. - RBW
File: LM17
===
NAME: Mary o' the Dee (Mary's Dream) [Laws K20]
DESCRIPTION: Mary falls asleep thinking of Sandy. His ghost appears to her, bidding her to stop weeping; his body lies at the bottom of the sea and he is at rest. He warns her that they will soon meet. The cock crows and the ghost vanishes
AUTHOR: John Lowe
EARLIEST_DATE: 1798 (The Vocal Magazine)
KEYWORDS: dream ghost separation death drowning
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE) Britain(Scotland(?)) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Laws K20, "Mary o' the Dee (Mary's Dream)"
Eddy 83, "Mary o' the Dee (Mary's Dream)" (1 text)
SHenry H54, pp. 144-145, "Mary's Dream" (1 text, 1 tune -- the latter added by Sam Henry)
JHCox 147, "Mary o' the Dee" (1 text)
Chappell-FSRA 40, "Mary and Sandy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 246-248, "Mary's Dream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 65, "Mary's Vision" (1 text, 1 tune)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 481, "Mary's Dream" (source notes only)
DT 562, MARYDREM
ST LK20 (Full)
Roud #713
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(191b), "Mary's Dream" ("The moon had clim'd the highest hill"), T. Birt (London), 1833-1841; also Firth b.27(534), 2806 c.17(266), Firth b.27(240), Firth b.27(407), Harding B 11(2368), Harding B 11(2369), Harding B 25(1230), Firth b.25(18), Harding B 11(1875), 2806 c.14(49), 2806 c.14(166), Harding B 15(189a), "Mary's Dream"
LOCSinging, as108650, "Mary's Dream," L. & J. L. Appley (New York), 19C
Murray, Mu23-y1:056, "Mary's Dream," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(075), "Mary's Dream," James Lindsay (Glasgow), c.1875
NOTES: Although traditionally considered a Scots song (there is a version in Scots dialect, possibly by Allan Cunningham), and often found is Scottish song collections, its grip on Scottish tradition is weak -- I wouldn't be surprised if most are ultimately derived from the _Scots Musical Museum_. There are a number of printed versions, but traditional collections are mostly from North America. The author, John Lowe, emigrated to the American colonies shortly before the Revolutionary War, and the song was written in what later became the U.S. - RBW
The commentary for NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(075) for "Mary's Dream": "The lyrics for this ballad were written in 1772 by John Lowe. Lowe was tutor to the McGhie family, and wrote the song for Mary, one of the daughters. She had been engaged to a surgeon named Alexander (Sandy) Miller who was lost at sea." - BS
File: LK20
===
NAME: Mary o' the Wild Moor: see Mary of the Wild Moor [Laws P21] (File: LP21)
===
NAME: Mary of Ballyhaunis: see The Maid of Ballyhaunis (File: HHH483)
===
NAME: Mary of the Wild Moor [Laws P21]
DESCRIPTION: Abandoned Mary comes with her child to her father's door on a bitter winter night. Her father fails to hear or ignores her cries, leaving her all night on the doorstep. In the morning he finds her body. He dies of grief and the child of neglect
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads fol. 27)
KEYWORDS: death father children family hardheartedness grief
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) Britain(England) Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont)
REFERENCES: (20 citations)
Laws P21, "Mary of the Wild Moor"
Belden, pp. 207-208, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text plus references to 5 more)
Randolph 72, "The Wild Moor" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 107-108, "The Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 72A)
Eddy 88, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 78, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 335-336, "The Wind That Blew O'er the Wild Moor" (1 text, with local title "Poor Mary"; tune on p. 448)
Brewster 45, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 733-734, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text)
Leach-Labrador 62, "Mary Across the Wild Moor" (1 text)
Mackenzie 61, "The Village Pride" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 132-134, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 466, "When Mary Came Wandering Home" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 548-549, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 35, pp. 81-82, "Mary o' the Wild Moor" (1 text)
JHCox 148, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text plus mention of 3 more)
JHCoxIIA, #27, p. 103, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
DSB2, p. 28, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (1 text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 481, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (source notes only)
DT 503, WILDMOOR* WLDMOOR1*
ST LP21 (Full)
Roud #155
RECORDINGS:
Blue Sky Boys, "Mary of the Wild Moore" (Montgomery Ward 8667, c. 1941)
Letys Murrin, "Mary of the Wild Moor" (on Ontario1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads fol. 27[many illegible words], "Mary of the Moor," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Johnson Ballads 1802 View 2 of 2, Harding B 11(3), Harding B 11(2364), Harding B 11(2365), Harding B 11(1501), Firth c.12(443), Harding B 11(4232), Harding B 11(4233), Firth b.25(147), Harding B 15(188b), "Mary of the Moor"; Firth b.27(69), Harding B 26(600), "Poor Mary of the Wild Moor"; Firth b.34(229), Firth c.26(275)[some illegible lines], 2806 c.16(261), 2806 c.14(78), 2806 c.14(13)[some illegible words], "Mary of the Wild Moor[!]"; Harding B 11(2789), Harding B 17(243b), Harding B 25(1538)[some illegible lines], 2806 c.18(252) [some illegible/missing words], "Poor Mary of the Moor"
LOCSheet, sm1882 10438, "Mary of the Wild Moor," Oliver Ditson & Co. (Boston), 1882 (tune)
LOCSinging, sb30333b, "Mary of the Wild Moor," H. De Marsans (New York), 1861-1864; also as108620, as108630, "Mary of the Wild Moor"
Murray, Mu23-y4:018, "Poor Mary of the Wild Moor," unknown, 19C
NLScotland, L.C.178.A.2(072), "Poor Mary of the Wild Moor", unknown, c.1860
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fatal Snowstorm" [Laws P20] (theme)
SAME_TUNE:
Robin's Petition (per broadside Bodleian Harding B 25(1538))
NOTES: Quoted by Laura Ingalls Wilder in chapter 14 of _By the Shores of Silver Lake_. She does not repeat the sad ending, of course. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb30333b: H. De Marsans dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: LP21
===
NAME: Mary on the Banks of the Lee
DESCRIPTION: Before the singer leaves Mary to go on the ocean he warns her her not to stay out late on the moors. He writes her a letter but recieves no reply. He returns and brings roses to place on her grave.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (IRPTunney01)
KEYWORDS: love warning separation death flowers
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, BNKSLEE*
Roud #6857
RECORDINGS:
Paddy Tunney, "Mary on the Banks of the Lee" (on IRPTunney01)
Sheila Stewart, "The Banks of the Lee" (on SCStewartsBlair01)
NOTES: The description is from the text of "Lovely Banks of Lea" on "Oak - Country Songs and Music," Musical Traditions Record MTCD327-8 (2003) sung by Peta Webb, apparently following the text from Mary Connors. It is longer than Paddy Tunney's. - BS
File: DTbnksle
===
NAME: Mary on the Silvery Tide: see The Silvery Tide [Laws O37] (File: LO37)
===
NAME: Mary Phagan [Laws F20]
DESCRIPTION: Mary Phagan works in a pencil factory. While there she is beaten to death by Leo Frank. An innocent bystander (who happens to be black) is arrested, but then Frank's guilt is established and he is sentenced to death
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918
KEYWORDS: murder accusation factory abduction
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Aug 5, 1913 - Rape and murder of thirteen-year-old Mary Phagan at the National Pencil factory in Atlanta
Aug 26, 1913 - Leo Frank found guilty of the murder and sentenced to death (although apparently many believed him innocent)
June 22, 1915 - Georgia Governor Stanton commutes Frank's sentence to life imprisonment
Aug 16/17, 1915 - A lynch mob captures Frank and kills him
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Laws F20, "Mary Phagan"
Eddy 110, "Leo Frank and Mary Phagan" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 144, "Little Mary Phagan" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 71-75, "Little Mary Fagan"; "Little Mary Phagan" (2 texts)
BrownII 253, "Little Mary Phagan" (4 texts plus 1 excerpt and mention of 1 more; Laws lists only three of these as this song, but this appears to be an error)
Burt, pp. 61-64, "(Mary Phagan)" (1 text plus 2 long excerpts, 1 tune; one of these versions blames Conley rather than Frank, and is probably a rewrite); also an isolated couplet on p. 123
DT 774, MARYFAG
Roud #696
RECORDINGS:
Rosa Lee Carson, "Little Mary Phagan" (OKeh 40446, 1925)
Vernon Dalhart, "Little Mary Phagan" (Columbia 15031-D [as Al Craver], 1925) (Romeo 332, 1927; rec. 1925)
Charlie Oaks, "Little Mary Phagan" (Vocalion 15099, 1925; Vocalion 5069, c. 1927)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Death of Roy Rickey" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
The Death of Roy Rickey (File: ThBa163)
NOTES: The dates here are as given by Laws. McNeil reports April 27, 1913 as the date of Mary Phagan's death. A New York Times story (August 18, 1915) quoted by Brown gives a date of April 26, which -- given that the murder took place overnight -- corresponds to McNeil's date.
Most of the other dates are also doubtful. For example, Laws lists the date of the commutation of Frank's sentence as June 22, but I made a note (from what source, sadly, I do not recall) that it took place in August. And there is confusion over the date of Frank's murder as well.
The facts in this case are apparently also open to doubt. At the time of the murder only two men were in the factory -- manager Leo Max Frank and (Black) janitor Jim Conley. Conley was found with blood on his shirt, but claims he only helped Frank dispose of the body; he accused Frank of other crimes as well. Frank, who was Jewish (and came from New York; Phagan of course was a southern girl), was tried and convicted.
Conley received a one year sentence as an accomplice. Frank had his throat cut while in prison, and later was lynched. 
The suggestion of "blood libel" was raised -- that the killing had been a ritual murder. In 1982, however, a witness came forward with evidence that Conley had committed the murder. Frank's name was formally cleared in 1986.
It is worth noting that, in this period, Georgia experienced several dozen lynchings per year. In 1915, all but one of those lynched were Black. The one exception was Frank. Whether innocent or guilty, there is no real question that the reason Frank died is that he was a Jewish Yankee living in Marietta, Georgia.
The story was later made into a movie, "They Won't Forget," in which Lana Turner made her debut as Mary. - RBW, PJS
Few of the sourcesI've seen credit this to an author, but Bill C. Malone (_Don't Get Above Your Raisin'_, p. 220) credits it to Fiddlin' John Carson, whose daughter Rosa Lee is credited with the first recording of it. His footnote lists several sources for the murder (there were apparently at least two books written about it: Harry Golden, _A Little Girl Is Dead_, and Leonard Dinnerstein, _The Leo Frank Case_), but it's not clear how authorship was established. - RBW
File: LF20
===
NAME: Mary Riley: see Mary Acklin (The Squire's Young Daughter) [Laws M16] (File: LM16)
===
NAME: Mary Smith, the Maid of Mountain Plain
DESCRIPTION: "Ye maids of Columbia... I beg your attention and now pity me"; he has been wounded by love. He spells out Mary Smith's name to describe her beauty and virtues. He wishes he were Adam and she Eve. He will wander forever if he can't gain her love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love rejection wordplay
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H636, p. 235, "Mary Smith, the Maid of Mountain Plain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9469
File: HHH636
===
NAME: Mary Vickery and Connelly Donnelly
DESCRIPTION: Mary runs way from home. Her father thinks her dead. When a woman's body is found it is thought to be Mary. Conley is arrested for the murder. A jealous woman swears she saw him do it. He is sentenced to life. Mary returns and clears Conley.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: murder prison trial jealousy lie return pardon hiding
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 819-820, "Mary Vickery and Connelly Donnelly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9806
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Return of Mary Vickery
NOTES: "Conley Dabney, sentenced to life imprisonment in 1926 for the supposed murder of Mary Vickery at Williamsburg, Ky., was freed when she returned home on Mar 19, 1927, to clear his name" -- from _Country Music Sources_ by Guthrie T Meade Jr, p. 93 - BS 
File: Pea819
===
NAME: Mary With Her Young Son
DESCRIPTION: "Then Mary took her young son, And set him on her knee, Saying, 'My dear son, tell me, Tell me how this world shall be.'" Jesus responds by foretelling his death and resurrection
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Terry)
KEYWORDS: Jesus religious
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Bronson 54, "The Cherry Tree Carol" (Item #31 to this song, in the appendix, is this piece under the title "Mary's Question")
OBC 66, "The Cherry Tree Carol" (1 text (separated into smaller parts, the last being "Mary With Her Young Son"), 4 tunes)
Roud #453
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cherry Tree Carol" [Child 54]
NOTES: The earliest extant version of these stanzas is in Sandys's version of "The Cherry Tree Carol," allowing the possibility that they are an original part of that ballad. But it is certainly not necessary to that ballad -- which is, of course, very episodic.
Of the thirty versions of "The Cherry Tree Carol" in Bronson (not all of which have complete texts), only two have this item in its full form, but many more have a brief section in which Joseph asks the unborn baby about the future. This could well have attracted a separate song on the same theme.
Thus it is equally possible that "Mary With Her Young Son" is a broken-off fragment *or* that it is a separate song grafted in. A. L. Lloyd, in his notes to the recording by The Valley Folk, is noncommittal, and Bronson's treatment is equally noncommittal.
There is, of course, no scriptural basis for any of this; although the adult Jesus repeatedly spoke of his future fate, only the Gospel of Luke mentions any foretellings before his ministry, and even that passage (Luke 2:49, "Didn't you realize that I must be in my Father's house?") is dated to the twelfth year of Jesus's life. - RBW
File: C054A
===
NAME: Mary Wore Three Links of Chain
DESCRIPTION: Floating religious verses with the chorus, "All my sins been taken away, taken away." Sample verses: "Mary wore three links of chain (x3), Ev'ry link bearing Jesus's name." "I don't know but I've been told (x3) Streets of heaven are paved with gold."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible nonballad sin floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 543, "Mary Wore Three Links of Chain" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
Sandburg, pp. 474-475, "Mary Wore Three Links of Chain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5027
RECORDINGS:
George Herod, "Sister Mary Wore Three Lengths (Links) of Chain" (on MuSouth07)
Bradley Kincaid, "Mary Wore Three Links of Chain" (Supertone 9666, 1930)
Dock Reed, "I'm Going Home on the Morning Train" (on NFMAla5)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh, Mary Don't You Weep" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Hand Me Down My Walkin' Cane" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
cf. "All Night Long" (floating verses)
NOTES: This is probably a religious adaption of "Hand Me Down My Walkin' Cane."  Since, however, it seems to circulate widely on its own, it gets its own listing.
I sure hope I remember that I split them.... - RBW
File: San474
===
NAME: Mary, She Did Dream a Dream
DESCRIPTION: "Mary, she did dream a dream, As she was floating down the stream. When she woke, she gave a sigh, The grey cat kicked out the black cat's eye."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: animal dream fight
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 190, (no title) (1 fragment)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Gray Cat on the Tennessee Farm" (lyrics)
File: ScaNF190
===
NAME: Mary, The: see Captain Conrod (File: SmHa014)
===
NAME: Mary, the Pride of Killowen
DESCRIPTION: The singer describes the fine summer night when he emigrated from Coleraine and Mary. He recalls courting her, and says he will never forget the place or the girl  He blesses the spot they met.
AUTHOR: Andrew Orr
EARLIEST_DATE: 1847 (Derry Standard)
KEYWORDS: love separation emigration
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H26b, p. 250, "Mary, the Pride of Killowen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13340
NOTES: In this particular instance, the song's author Andrew Orr did emigrate (to Australia). Whether the rest of the song is historical is not clear; it's interesting that he wrote at least one other song (Ann o' Drumcroon) with the same plot but a different heroine. - RBW
File: HHH026b
===
NAME: Mary, the Pride of the Shamrock Shore 
DESCRIPTION: Henry returns and finds Mary with a squire. The squire is her true love now since her previous sweetheart "is no more." Henry kills the squire in a duel. Mary kills Henry and recognizes him by a private token. She is sentenced to life in jail.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(699))
KEYWORDS: courting murder prison fight return lover
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 630-631, "The Pride of the Shamrock Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Pea630 (Partial)
Roud #9797
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(699), "Mary, the Pride of the Shamrock Shore," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also 2806 c.9(26), Harding B 11(2377), "Mary, the Pride of the Shamrock Shore"
File: Pea630
===
NAME: Mary's Ass
DESCRIPTION: The singer mentions Mary, "a beautiful lass, And the song I will sing is about Mary's ass." She rode the beast, a gift from her uncle, regularly. At last it falls, knocking Mary off, and dies. It  is buried, and the bad smell from the Ass Hole described
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous animal
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 158-159, "Mary's Ass" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3351
File: MA158
===
NAME: Mary's Question: see Mary With Her Young Son (File: C054A)
===
NAME: Mary's Vision: see Mary o' the Dee (Mary's Dream) [Laws K20] (File: LK20)
===
NAME: Maryborough Miner, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer describes all the places where he has been digging. At Fitzroy River the boss calls him a loafer, so he burns his office and left. He tells further tall tales, ending "I'm a Maryborough miner, and I'm one of the good old time."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: mining work rambling
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 78-79, "The Maryborough Miner" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Murrumbidgee Shearer" (tune, theme)
NOTES: Fahey's version was collected by A.L. Lloyd, and he suspects Lloyd may have retouched it. - RBW
File: FaE078
===
NAME: Maryland! My Maryland
DESCRIPTION: "The despot's heel is on thy shore, Maryland, my Maryland." The state's heroic history is recalled; the singer wants and expects her to join the Confederacy: "Huzza! She spurns the northern scum! She breathes! She burns! She'll come!"
AUTHOR: Words: James Ryder Randall
EARLIEST_DATE: 1861
KEYWORDS: Civilwar patriotic nonballad derivative
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April, 1861 - Clashes between Massachusetts troops and the residents of Baltimore
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 130-133, "Maryland! My Maryland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 60-61, "Maryland, My Maryland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hill-CivWar, pp. 195-197, "My Maryland" (1 text)
Krythe 9, pp. 142-149, "Maryland, My Maryland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 355-357, "Maryland, My Maryland -- (O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum!; Lauriger Horatius)"
ST RJ19130 (Full)
RECORDINGS:
Harry Macdonough, "Maryland, My Maryland" (CYL: Edison 2033, c. 1897)
Tandy Mackenzie, "Maryland, My Maryland" (Columbia 80320, n.d.)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "O Tannenbaum (Oh Christmas Tree)" (tune) and references there
cf. "General Lee's Wooing" (tune, subject)
NOTES: James Ryder Randall was a native of Baltimore. At the time of the Civil War he was teaching English at Poydras College in Louisiana. He wrote this poem on April 26, 1861, after hearing of the Baltimore riot; the piece was published in a New Orleans paper on May 5. Randall hoped it would help encourage Maryland to secede.
Randall's expectations were disappointed; Maryland never joined the Confederacy. The Union could not possibly allow it; the loss of Maryland would place Washington inside Confederate territory. The federal government moved quickly to prevent the state's succession. One side effect of this was the riots in Baltimore that inspired "Maryland! My Maryland."
Chances are, however, that Maryland would not have seceded. Baltimore favored the rebellion, but the rest of the state seems to have been Unionist. A fair number of Maryland citizens went south -- Lee's army contained a Maryland battalion -- but more served in the Northern armies.
The reference to the "patriotic gore / that flecked the streets of Baltimore" is, of course, to the Baltimore riots. "Carroll" is Charles Carroll, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. I believe "Howard's warlike thrust" refers to Major John Eager Howard, who led the handful of troops who cut their way out of a British trap at the Battle of Camden (1780).
It should be noted that the sung version of this song does not quite match the written version. In Randall's poem, the internal refrain was not "Maryland, my Maryland"; he used this only in the final line. The internal phrase was simply "Maryland." This was expanded to fit the tune. For a time the poem was sung to the tune "Manormandie," but this was not a success. The "O Tannenbaum" tune is said to have been fitted by a Baltimore girl, Jennie Cary.
Even though Randall's authorship was widely known, a few other names also circulated. Wharton's _War Songs and Poems of the Southern Confederacy_, for instance, credits it to Lamar Fontaine. - RBW
File: RJ19130
===
NAME: Massa Had a Yaller Gal: see Don't Get Weary Children (Massa Had a Yellow Gal) (File: BAF904)
===
NAME: Massa Had a Yellow Gal: see Don't Get Weary Children (Massa Had a Yellow Gal) (File: BAF904)
===
NAME: Massacre of ta Phairshon, Ta
DESCRIPTION: "Phairshon (MacPherson) swore a feud Against the Clan MacTavish And marched into their land...." His small force quickly disperses to chase cattle. He encounters his rival; they exchange insults, and Phairshon is killed
AUTHOR: Aytoun and Martin?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford); reputedly composed 1844
KEYWORDS: feud death humorous
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 287-290, "Ta Massacre of ta Phairshon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13100
NOTES: Said to be based on an extended party joke, and with about that level of quality. - RBW
File: FVS287
===
NAME: Master Had a Bran' New Coat: see Jinny Go Round and Around (File: R272)
===
NAME: Master McGrath
DESCRIPTION: The great Irish greyhound wins the Waterloo Cup, beating Rose, "the pride of all England." (The two dogs discuss their respective countries. The owners bet large sums. The Irish celebrate the fact that their dog was better than an English dog.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: racing dog gambling
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1868, 1869, 1871 - Years in which Master McGrath, a hound belonging to Lord Lurgan, won the Waterloo Cup
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
SHenry H161c, pp. 32-33, "A Ballad of Master M'Gra[th]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 215, "A ballad of Master McGrath" (1 text)
OLochlainn 33, "Master McGrath" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MASMCGR*
Richard Hayward, Ireland Calling (Glasgow,n.d.), p. 16, "The Ballad of Master McGrath" (text, music and reference to Decca F-2604 recorded Oct 4, 1931)
Roud #3041
NOTES: The date and master id (GB-3359) for Hayward's record is provided by Bill Dean-Myatt, MPhil. compiler of the Scottish National Discography. - BS
File: Hodg215
===
NAME: Master of the Sheepfold, The
DESCRIPTION: Cho.: "The Master guards the sheepfold bin/Comes and calls, is my sheep brung in?/And he's calling...for them all to be gathering in." The Master calls the sheep; the shepherd says some are lost, but the rest will come. The Master goes out and gathers
AUTHOR: Sarah Pratt McLean Greene
EARLIEST_DATE: 1986 (recording, Art Thieme)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Cho.: "The Master guards the sheepfold bin/Comes and calls, is my sheep brung in?/And he's calling, calling...for them all to be gathering in" The Master calls the sheep; the shepherd answers that some are wan, weathered, lost or good-for-nothing, but the rest will come. The Master goes out on the wind and rain path, lets down the bars to the sheepfold, and gently calls the sheep to come in; they do
KEYWORDS: religious sheep
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, SHEEPFOL
RECORDINGS:
Art Thieme, "The Master of the Sheepfold" (on Thieme04) (on Thieme06)
NOTES: Please pardon a personal remark: this song is unlike any other I've heard in the emotional effect it creates from a spare lyric; the only comparison, I think, is with Blind Willie Johnson. - PJS
Although Art Thieme comments that the song, "means different things to different folks," there is little doubt that it comes from the New Testament images of Jesus and the sheep, e.g. John 10:7-16, especiallay v. 14: "I am the good shepherd; I know my own and my own know me." Compare also the parable of the lost sheep (Matt. 18:12f., etc.). - RBW
File: DTsheepf
===
NAME: Master Watch, The: see The Master-Watch (File: Doy77)
===
NAME: Master-Watch, The
DESCRIPTION: While men are preparing for the seal hunt, an old man reminisces in a long nostalgic monologue about the days when he used to go sealing. He dies at the end of his recital.
AUTHOR: Dan Carrol
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: recitation age hunting
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Doyle2, p. 77, "The Master-Watch" (1 text)
Blondahl, pp. 81-82, "The Master-Watch" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ryan/Small, p. 118, "The Master Watch" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Doy77 (Partial)
Roud #4423
NOTES: The author, Dan Carrol (1865-1941), was a wood carver and poet from St. John's. He seems to have published poems mostly in local newspapers and they have a collection of these at the Memorial University of Newfoundland library. - SH
File: Doy77
===
NAME: Masters in This Hall
DESCRIPTION: "Masters in this hall, hear ye news today." The singer announces the good news "brought from oversea" of the birth of Jesus. The shepherds go to visit the child.
AUTHOR: Words: William Morris
EARLIEST_DATE: 1860 ("Antient (sic) Christmas Carols"); the tune is said to be French and to predate the lyrics
KEYWORDS: Christmas religious
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
OBC 137, "Masters in this Hall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 375, "Masters In This Hall" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Master in This Hall" (on PeteSeeger42)
File: FSWB375C
===
NAME: Matha Grove: see Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [Child 81] (File: C081)
===
NAME: Matin Je Me Leve, Un (One Morning I Get Up)
DESCRIPTION: French. A young soldier is being sent away for six years; he comes to his beloved's chateau to tell her. She despairs; he says other young men of the village will entertain her in his absence. She says they will never take his place in her heart
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1956 (recording, Mrs. Louis Amirault & Mrs. Sephora Amirault)
KEYWORDS: courting love farewell parting separation foreignlanguage lover soldier war
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Mrs. Louis Amirault and Mrs. Sephora Amirault, "Un Matin Je Me Leve" (on NovaScotia1)
File: RcUMJMLe
===
NAME: Matt Hyland
DESCRIPTION: A lord's daughter loves Matt. "But when her parents came to know, They swore they'd drive him from this island." The girl bids Matt flee before he is transported. Eventually her father relents, and she bids him come home to marry her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.18(344))
KEYWORDS: nobility love separation exile transportation servant
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, MATTHYL
Roud #2880
RECORDINGS:
Liz Jefferies, "Matt Highland" (on Voice06)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.18(344), "Young Mat Hyland," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also 2806 b.9(235), 2806 c.15(139), "Mat Hyland"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Young M'Tyre" (plot)
cf. "Erin's Lovely Home" [Laws M6] (plot)
cf. "Henry Connors" [Laws M5] (plot)
cf. "Richie Story" [Child 232] (plot)
cf. "The Kitchie-Boy" [Child 252] (plot)
NOTES: This song has been claimed by Irish and Scottish sources, and I've also heard it sung by English singers. Interestingly, all the versions are very close, suggesting there is some single, recent source. This theory is supported by the ornate language, so atypical of traditional song. But no one seems to know what the source is.
There are several broadsides, at least one dated c. 1825 (though such datings are notoriously unreliable), entitled "Mat Hyland" or "Young Mat Hyland." None match the traditional text commonly sung; they are without exception wordier and poorer poetry. Still, they provide a strong indication that the song originated as a broadside -- though these prints (e.g. in the Bodleian collection) are probably not the original source, as no tune seems to be indicated!
In addition, a manuscript volume called "Songs and Ballads in use in the Province of Ulster...1845" is said by Hugh Shields to contain a version of the song, but I do not know if the dating of the volume is considered reliable. Still, there seems no doubt that the song was in existence by the early nineteenth century. - RBW
File: DTmatthy
===
NAME: Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (I)
DESCRIPTION: A child's prayer, asking the apostles for a blessing: "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John / Bless the bed that I lie on / Four bright angels at my bed / Two at the bottom and two at the head / Two to hear me as I pray / And two to bear my soul away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1891 (Baring-Gould); original probably from 1656 (Ady, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,NE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Flanders/Olney, p. 33, "White Paternoster (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) (1 short text)
Chase, p. 209, "The Bedtime Prayer" (1 text)
Opie-Oxford2 346, "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John" (4 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #548, p. 221, "(Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John)"
ST FO033 (Full)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Go And Dig My Grave" (lyrics)
cf. "The Little Beggar Boy" (floating verses)
NOTES: The first two lines of this piece can be dated to Thomas Ady in 1656 -- but could easily have been used in another context. Similar pieces are common (e.g. Montgomerie-ScottishNR 95 runs "Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Hold the horse till I leap on; Hold it succar, hold it sure, Till I win o'er the misty moor").
O'm not really convinced, e.g., the Chase and Flanders/Olney texts are the same -- but how do you separate two pieces with the same words and no tune? - RBW
File: FO033
===
NAME: Matty Broon's Soo (Tam Gibb and the Soo)
DESCRIPTION: Song with recitation. Tam's wife says they could afford a pig. He goes to buy Matty's sow. Old lovers, they fall to joking; he leaves lightheaded. The sow does not want to follow; when he trips over a stone, it escapes him; he says he likes fish anyway
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1907 (Grieg)
KEYWORDS: animal commerce humorous escape
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H671, p. 22, "Matty Broon's Soo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5879
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(51), "Tam Gibb and His Sow," unknown, c. 1880-1900
File: HHH671
===
NAME: Matty Groves: see Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard [Child 81] (File: C081)
===
NAME: Maud Wreck: see The Wreck at Maud (Al Bowen) (File: LSRa272H)
===
NAME: Maurice Crotty
DESCRIPTION: Green hand Crotty understands nothing about sealing. When the Dan reach the seals Crotty boxes with a big one until he is rescued. Crotty is thankful the seal's breath smelled of whisky, else he might have been beaten to death
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Burke & Oliver)
KEYWORDS: fight rescue hunting ship humorous animal
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Peacock, pp. 73-74, "Maurice Crotty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 74, "Maurice Crotty" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Ryan/Small, pp. 86-87, "Maurice Crotty"; p. 88, "The Spring of the Wadhams" (2 texts, 1 tune)
ST Pea073 (Partial)
Roud #6649
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Grandfather Bryan" (tune)
NOTES: According to Ryan/Small, "1852 is generally known and spoken of as the 'Spring of the Wadhams.'" Seals were found very plentiful in the vicinity of the Wadhams, (islands located in Notre Dame Bay S.E. of Fogo Island), and the majority of vessels were caught in a fearful gale of NNE wind which caused great destruction to the fleet." - RBW
File: Pea073
===
NAME: Maurice Hogan's Song
DESCRIPTION: The singer, now sixty-four, compares the happy "dark depression days" of his youth to the go-go girl, T.V., mini-skirt-changed times he sees now. "O how I long for those bright days"
AUTHOR: Maurice Hogan
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: age lament nonballad
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 75, "Maurice Hogan's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Good Old Days of Adam and Eve" (theme) and references there
NOTES: As best I can tell, all the many songs in which old guys complain about young women's casual clothing (and there are many; see the cross-references) come from guys who aren't having the slightest luck with said young women.... - RBW
File: LeBe075
===
NAME: Maurice Kelly
DESCRIPTION: "Maurice Kelly one night when about three parts loaded" is beaten by a ghost. "Twas Kelly's wife dressed up in white to keep him from drinking... he got such a fright he won't stir after night But right after supper goes ... straight off to bed."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: fight drink humorous wife ghost
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 78, "Maurice Kelly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 122, "Kelly and the Ghost" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MAUKELLY*
Roud #16894
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Kate and Her Horns" [Laws N22] (gimmck)
File: GrMa078
===
NAME: Mautman, The
DESCRIPTION: The mautman arrives to demand his pay, "or maut ye'll ne'er get mair." He says it is very good maut, but she complains of the"unruly crew" that "pierc'd my dochter's barrel." (The answer is that kissing is no sin, else so many would not do it.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
KEYWORDS: food seduction sex money
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kinloch-BBook XXIX, pp. 86-88, "The Mautman" (1 text)
Roud #5508
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Kissing's No Sin (I)" (lyrics)
NOTES: The Kinloch text of this song seems to be composite; the first part is an argument about seducing an auld wife's daughter, in very irregular meter. It then breaks into a much more regular section stating that "some say kissing's a sin, but I think it's nane ava, For kissing has been in the world When there was but only twa."
Ewan MacColl has a fragment, "Kissing's No Sin," with only that second part, followed by a part about how lawyers and others go kissing. The latter also appears in "The Hog-Tub." The nature of the dependence is not clear to me given the small number of texts I've seen.  - RBW
File: KinBB29
===
NAME: Maw Bonny Gyetside Lass: see The Gyetside Lass (File: StoR182)
===
NAME: Maw Canny Hinny
DESCRIPTION: "Where hes te been, maw canny hinny? An where hes te been, maw bonny bairn?" The singer tells of all the places she(?) has looked for him, and the people she has talked to. He describes what he has been doing
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: questions reunion
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 156-157, "Maw Cann Hinny" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR156 (Partial)
Roud #3168
NOTES: This is a difficult song to describe; it spends to much time talking about people and places that it becomes almost a moniker song. The Stokoe version, at least, has a curious change in mid-song: After seven verses with the same chorus, the last two use two different choruses. - RBW
File: StoR156
===
NAME: Maxwell's Doom: see Ewing Brooks (Maxwell's Doom) [Laws E12] (File: LE12)
===
NAME: May Colven: see Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight [Child 4] (File: C004)
===
NAME: May Day Carol
DESCRIPTION: The singer has been wandering and will return with a branch of may. It is to celebrate the Lord's handiwork (in bringing forth the plants in spring). The singer wishes the listeners well: "God bless you all both great and small And send you a joyful May."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (Ritchie)
KEYWORDS: religious ritual carol
FOUND_IN: US(Ap) Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 238-239, "[May Day Carol]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 52, "The May Day Carol"; p. 86, "Cambridgeshire May Song" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
DT, MAYCAROL MAYCAR2
Roud #305
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Moon Shines Bright (The Bellman's Song)" (lyrics)
NOTES: The two May carols in Ritchie-Southern are so different that I almost split them. This is a distinct problem with May songs; Round lumps a great variety (many of them clearly distinct) under his #305. I've split a lot of them, but in the case of the Ritchie songs, I lump them because they have many of the same words plus tunes which, while not identical, look as if they might have come from the same original. - RBW
File: JRSF238
===
NAME: May Day Song: see Padstow May Day Song (File: K086)
===
NAME: May I Go With You, Johnny?: see The Girl Volunteer (The Cruel War Is Raging) [Laws O33] (File: LO33)
===
NAME: May Irwin's Frog Song (The Foolish Frog, Way Down Yonder)
DESCRIPTION: "Way down yonder in Pasquotank, Where the bullfrogs jump from bank to bank, They jump so high they break their shank, The old grey goose went 'yankety-yank.'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1913 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: animal humorous talltale
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 189, "Way Down Yonder in Pasquotank" (1 fragment); also 435, "The Dummy Line" (2 short texts; the "B" version is a mixed text that seems to be mostly this with a "Some Folks Say a Nigger Won't Steal" verse)
Roud #15891
NOTES: This is a confusing situation. I have met this chorus only once in tradition, in the form quoted above from Brown. But folkies will know it from Pete Seeger's "Foolish Frog." That is apparently a tall tale concocted by Charles Seeger based on a vaudeville item called "May Irwin's Frog Song." Hence the title I use. Beyond that I cannot trace the piece.
May Irwin was a notable popular singer who was at the height of her powers in the 1890s; In Sigmund Spaeth's _A History of Popular Music in _America__ she is credited with the song, "Mamie, Come Kiss Your Honey Boy" (pp. 265-266), and with popularizing George M. Cohan's  "Hot Tamale Alley"(pp. 282, 339) as well as such songs as "I Couldn't Stand to See My Baby Loose" (p. 347) and  "Mister Johnson, Turn Me Loose" (p. 285). Her biggest success of all was apparently "May Irwin's Bully Song," written by Charles E. Trevathan; it is indexed as "The Bully of the Town [Laws I14]," though most folk versions are far removed from the May Irwin original  - RBW
File: Br3189
===
NAME: May Morning Dew
DESCRIPTION: Winter is pleasant but summer is coming with memories of old times when "we tripped through the heather" The old house has fallen, garden overgrown, and all the neighbors "like the red rose they are faded from the May Morning Dew"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1979 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: flowers nonballad family home
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, pp. 30-31, "May Morning Dew" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MAYMRNDW
Roud #5405
RECORDINGS:
Kitty Hayes, "May Morning Dew" (on IRClare01)
File: DTmaymor
===
NAME: May Pole Song, The: see All Around the Maypole (File: BSoF706)
===
NAME: Mayn Yingele (My Little Son)
DESCRIPTION: Yiddish: The father comes home to his little boy, whom he sees "only while he sleeps." The mother tells him that he is a fine boy but he misses his father. But father can only be there while the child sleeps; he must work all day
AUTHOR: Morris Rosenfeld
EARLIEST_DATE: 1887
KEYWORDS: work family separation foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scott-BoA, pp. 290-291, "Mayn Yingele (My Little Son)" (2 texts (1 English, 1 Yiddish), 1 tune)
File: SBoA290
===
NAME: Mayogall Asses, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer describes a "cavalcade of donkeys" taken to Mayogall. The animals, in all sorts of conditions, are set to carry a load of cabbages to market. The driver convinces the animals to come, where he sells cabbages and animals both
AUTHOR: Words: James O'Kane
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: animal commerce
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H130, pp. 26-27, "The Mayogall Asses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13350
NOTES: When I read this, I get the feeling something has been lost -- it seems completely pointless.
The story of Saul and his father's missing donkeys is told in 1 Samuel 9:3-10:16. - RBW
File: HHH130
===
NAME: Mazlim's Mill
DESCRIPTION: "Now I am a bullock driver and I work for Mazlim's Mill, And pulling timber from Vine Creek I've nearly had my fill." The singer complains about the rain and advises listeners that it's better to "turn your bullock out" than work at the mill
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: work hardtimes
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, p. 108, "Mazlim's Mill" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA108
===
NAME: McAfee's Confession [Laws F13]
DESCRIPTION: McAfee, the singer, is raised by an uncle after being orphaned. As a youth he runs away and turns wild. Married to a good woman, he has an affair with Hettie Stout and murders his wife by giving her poison instead of medicine. He is condemned to die
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1903 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: murder orphan adultery execution
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Mar 28, 1825 - Hanging of John McAfee
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (12 citations)
Laws F13, "McAfee's Confession"
Belden, pp. 317-321, "McAfee's Confession" (2 texts plus references to 4 more, 1 tune)
Randolph 133, "McFee's Confession" (2 texts plus a long excerpt, 1 tune)
Eddy 129, "McAfee's Confession" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 138, "McAfee's Confession" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 68, pp. 153-154, "Young McFee" (1 text)
JHCox 37, "McAfee's Confession" (2 texts plus references to 5 more, 1 tune)
JHCoxIIB, #6A-B, pp. 133-136, "McAfee's Confession" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
SharpAp 79, "Macafee's Congession, or Harry Gray" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Burt, pp. 22-24, "McAfee's Confession" (1 text)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 136, "MacAfee's Confession" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 630, MCAFEECN*
Roud #449
NOTES: Laws lists this as a native American ballad, but there is British influence; Pound notes that her text concludes with a wish by McFee that he had "ten thousand pounds" to bring her back to life. This may be a moralizing addition, but clearly from a British source. - RBW
File: LF13
===
NAME: McCaffery (McCassery)
DESCRIPTION: A young man enlists in the 42nd Regiment; mistreated by his captain and confined to barracks for a trivial offense, he decides to kill the captain. He accidentally shoots his colonel instead, and is tried (at Liverpool Assizes) and hanged.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 or 1966 (collected from Caroline Hughes)
KEYWORDS: army violence crime execution murder punishment revenge death soldier
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland,England) Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
MacSeegTrav 86, "McCaffery" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MCASSERY
Roud #1148
RECORDINGS:
May Bradley, "Calvery" (on Voice08)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Croppy Boy (I)" [Laws J14] (tune for Voice08)
NOTES: Hall, notes to Voice08, re "Calvery": "The story in the ballad is true in all its essentials. Patrick McCafferty was born in Mullingar, Co. West Meath, and in October 1860 enlisted at the age of seventeen in the 32nd Regiment.... McCafferty was tried at Liverpool Assizes and was hanged in Liverpool in front of Kirkdale gaol on January 11th, 1862. [ref. Roy Palmer, ed., _The Rambling Soldier_ (Alan Sutton, 1985).]" Yates, Musical Traditions site _Voice of the People suite_ "Notes - Volume 8" - 1.3.03 has a more detailed account. - BS
When I met this song, I was surprised to find a soldier from the 42nd Regiment (the famous Black Watch) being tried in Liverpool; their base is in Perth. The likeliest explanation is that several sources confused the obscure 32nd regiment (which was, improbably enough, the Cornwall Regiment) with the famous 42nd, for which see songs such as "Wha Saw the Forty-Second." - RBW, (PJS)
File: McCST086
===
NAME: McCarthy's Song
DESCRIPTION: McCarthy stops in Pope's Harbour for a bottle at Brian's tavern. He treats all hands and he sleeps it off on the floor. Next morning the landlord wants his money. He staggers to Mrs. Haws who nursed his wounds at no charge. He swears not to return again.
AUTHOR: Michael McCarthy, school teacher at Taylor's Harbour, N.S. (Source: Creighton-NovaScotia)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: drink ordeal landlord
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-NovaScotia 133, "McCarthy's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS133 (Partial)
Roud #1832
NOTES: This song is item dH52 in Laws's Appendix II. - BS
File: CrNS133
===
NAME: McCassery: see McCaffery (McCassery) (File: McCST086)
===
NAME: McClenahan's Jean
DESCRIPTION: The singer praises the beauty of McClenahan's Jean. When her father learns that they are courting, he vows "that in merriage we ne'er should be buckled thegither." He wants her to wed a rich old man. The singer casts scorn on her potential husband
AUTHOR: David Herbison? (Tune supplied by Sam Henry)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting father beauty lover
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H81, pp. 430-431, "McClenahan's Jean" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7959
File: HHH081
===
NAME: McClure, The
DESCRIPTION: McClure sails for Naples with cargo of fish. They are boarded by sailors from a submarine who sink McClure with bombs. The crew are allowed to leave and are rescued by an Italian destroyer who take the Captain and crew of six to Cadiz
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: war sea ship ordeal
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 22/24, 1917 - McClure, out of St John's, captured and bombed by a German submarine off Cape Carbonara, Sardinia (Lehr/Best, Northern Shipwrecks Database)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 76, "The McClure" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: LeBe076
===
NAME: McCracken's Ghost
DESCRIPTION: The singer encounters McCracken's ghost at midnight. He recounts the deaths of Irish heroes of the rebellion. He advises: take by force the Reform the English would not yield. You will free "the Green Isle and receive the world's thanks"
AUTHOR: James Hope and James Orr (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST_DATE: c.1893 (Young's _Ulster in '98_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: rebellion England Ireland patriotic ghost
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1798 - Irish rebellion against British rule
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 112, "McCracken's Ghost" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Henry Joy McCracken (I)" (character of Henry Joy McCracken) and references there
NOTES: It sounds as if this may have been written with reference to Gladstone's unsuccessful proposals for Home Rule. For background, see the notes to "Home Rule for Ireland"; for Henry Joy McCracken, see the notes to "Henry Joy McCracken (I)." - RBW
File: Moyl112
===
NAME: McDonald's (Is Your Kind of Place)
DESCRIPTION: "McDonalds is your kind of place, Hamburgers in your face, (French fries) up your nose, (Catsup) between your toes. The last time I was there, They stole my underwear, McDonalds (is the place for me/is your kind of place)."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1984
KEYWORDS: nonballad parody humorous
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 38, "McDonald's" (1 text, tune referenced)
NOTES: I make the assumption that, if I learned a kids's song from a source other than my parents or school, it qualifies as a folk song. This seems to fit that bill.
The Pankakes claim that the tune of this is "Down by the Riverside." Not in the version I know! There is similarity, but they are definitely not the same. But I may not be typical. - RBW
File: PFCF038b
===
NAME: McDonald's Farm: see Old MacDonald Had a Farm (File: R457)
===
NAME: McFee's Confession: see McAfee's Confession [Laws F13] (File: LF13)
===
NAME: McGinty's Model Lodge
DESCRIPTION: The singer is "a kind of overseer in a famous hotel" in Glasgow: "a 'Model' lodging house where working men do stay.... All the fighting men in Glasgow's in MacGinty's model Lodge." He describes the fights over imagined offenses.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1988 (McBride)
KEYWORDS: fight humorous nonballad worker
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
McBride 54, "McGinty's Model Lodge" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: McB1054
===
NAME: McGinty's Wedding: see Sheelicks (File: McCST109)
===
NAME: McKenna's Dream, The
DESCRIPTION: McKenna dreams of Ireland's heroes: Brian Boru, Sarsfield, St Ruth, Billy Byrne from Ballymanus, Reilly "on the hill of Screen," Father Murphy, the pikemen, Napoleon. "I looked around, but could not see One foeman on the plain... So ends McKenna's dream"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1850's (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: rebellion war Ireland dream patriotic
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Zimmermann 65, "The McKenna's Dream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 133, "McKenna's Dream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Healy-OISBv2, pp. 48-50, "M'Kenna's Dream" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 279-281, "MacKenna's Dream"  (1 text)
H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 89-92, 513, "MacKenna's Dream"
Roud #2377
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.25(357), "The Irishman's Vision," E.M.A. Hodges (London), 1855-1861; also Firth b.25(357), "The Irishman's Vision"; 2806 b.10(133), "MacKenna's Dream"; Harding B 19(92), Harding B 26(434), 2806 c.8(115), "M'Kenna's Dream[!]"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Captain Rock" (tune, per Zimmermann, Hoagland))
NOTES: Zimmermann: "Donal O'Sullivan ... tells me that towards the end of the last century, at Buncrana, a street-singer would often be brought before the R.M. who asked: 'What is the charge in this case?' The answer would usually be: 'Singing McKenna's Dream, Sir.'"
At the Battle of Clontarf, 1014, Brian Boru defeated a combined force of Vikings and rebels from Leinster, but died in the battle. [For Brian, see "Remember the Glories of Brian the Brave." - RBW]
At the Battle of Aughrim, 1691, the Irish Catholic forces [are finally defeated] and the commander of their French allies, St Ruth dies [see "After Aughrim's Great Disaster" - RBW].
Sarsfield is the Irish commander in 1691 who is on the field at Aughrim and Limerick (cf. "The Jackets Green")
United commander Billy Byrne is hanged in 1799 (cf. "Billy Byrne of Ballymanus")
The Wexford rebels under Father John Murphy defeat the North Cork militia in 1798. Father Murphy is caught and executed later in 1798 (cf. "Father Murphy (I).")
The pikemen fought for the rebels in the 1798 rebellion (cf. "General Monroe").
Reilly "on the hill of Screen" [i.e., Tara]. I don't know the reference, but "Rebels posted on Tara Hill, County Meath, were routed on May 26." (Zimmermann, p. 155) - BS
Although one would expect, from the contents of this song, that McKenna was a well-known Irish patriot, I have not been able to find any suitable candidate to be the dreamer. - RBW
The ballad is recorded on one of the CD's issued around the time of the bicentenial of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. See:
Franke Harte, "McKenna's Dream" (on "The Croppy's Complaint," Craft Recordings CRCD03 (1998); Terry Moylan notes) - BS
File: Zimm065
===
NAME: McKinley Brook
DESCRIPTION: The singer describes the poor conditions in the McKinley Brook logging camp: The buildings leak ("for comfort, as you plainly see"); there is a risk of flood ("for they deserve it well, it's true") and the gambling and bawdy singing rarely stops
AUTHOR: George Calhoun (around 1869?)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: logger work hardtimes flood
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Doerflinger, pp. 220-221, "McKinley Brook" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9426
File: Doe220
===
NAME: McLellan's Son
DESCRIPTION: On April 18 Daniel McLennan is shot accidentally by Tim who claims he was playing carelessly with a gun he did not know was loaded.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1883 (Smith/Hatt)
KEYWORDS: murder death friend youth
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Peacock, pp. 831-832, "Young Daniel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Smith/Hatt, pp. 72-73, "Mind How You Trifle With a Gun" (1 text)
Mackenzie 151, "McLellan's Son" (1 text)
Roud #1969
NOTES: Peacock quotes Mackenzie in _Ballads and Songs of Nova Scotia_ re "McLellan's Son," his name for the song, that it was "made in commemoration of an accidental shooting ...[circa 1875] in Pugwash [Nova Scotia]" - BS
This is item dG43 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Pea831
===
NAME: McNab's Island
DESCRIPTION: Sergeant John McCafferty marches you "forty hours a day ... in the regular army." "I went down to McNab's Island" to fight Indians but "we got bald-headed And never lost a hair." "I got blisters... bunions...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: army humorous nonballad soldier
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-NovaScotia 134, "McNab's Island" (1 short text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS134 (Partial)
Roud #1833
NOTES: Creighton-NovaScotia: "McNab's Island includes part of the fortification of Halifax Harbour" - BS
File: CrNS134
===
NAME: McTavish is Dead
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, McTavish is dead and his brother doesn't know it, His brother is dead and McTavish doesn't know it. They're both of them dead and they're lying in bed And neither one knows that the other is dead."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1988
KEYWORDS: death
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 122, "McTavish Is Dead" (1 text, tune referenced)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Irish Washerwoman" (tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
MacTavish is Dead
NOTES: Said to have been used as mouth music for dancing. Presumably it is one of the several attempts to provide a lyric for "The Irish Washerwoman" -- in this case, probably just to help remember the tune. - RBW
File: PHCFS122
===
NAME: Me and My Baby and My Baby's Friend
DESCRIPTION: Floating verse song (even the chorus changes): "Me 'n' my baby 'n' my baby's friend Can pick mo' cotton dan a cotton gin." "I got a baby and a honey too." "Boat's up de ribber and she won't come down." Etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: floatingverses love work
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 236, (no title) (1 text, which appears more a collection of blues stanzas than an actual song, but verses from songs such as "Boat's Up the River" and "I Got a Gal in de White Folks' Yard")
File: ScaNF236
===
NAME: Me Father Is a Lawyer in England: see My God, How the Money Rolls In; also My Father's a Hedger and Ditcher and The Cobbler (File: EM107)
===
NAME: Me Father's a Lawyer in England: see My God, How the Money Rolls In (File: EM107)
===
NAME: Me Johnny Mitchell Man
DESCRIPTION: A miner's song in "Slavic" dialect, telling how the immigrant has been working in the mines, in bad conditions, for many years. When "Me Johnny Mitchell man" calls a strike, the singer will welcome it
AUTHOR: Con Carbon
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938
KEYWORDS: emigration mining strike labor-movement
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1899 - John Mitchell becomes President of the United Mine Workers of America. He devoted much of his energy to soothing tensions between Slavs and longer-settled workers so that the UMW could effectively strike against the mine owners
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 865-867, "Me Johnny Mitchell Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4757
File: BAF865
===
NAME: Me Old Ragadoo
DESCRIPTION: Michael Chaser was born "with me hands in the pockets of me old ragadoo." At forty he meets Suzy Lagan but claims he won't shame her by taking her to the altar in his old ragadoo. She is fine with that and bids him adieu. He marries someone else.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: poverty courting clothes humorous
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 77, "Me Old Ragadoo" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Anita Best, "Me Old Ragadoo" (on NFABest01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Little Beggarman" (tune, words)
NOTES: Lehr/Best: "A 'ragadoo' is a general name for a tattered garment, presumably with pockets."
This is close enough to "The Little Beggarman" that I could not argue too long if they were considered the same song. Clearly, one is derived from the other. The difference is that this song, in Lehr/Best, actually has a story (having nothing to do with begging). Nevertheless, I would bet that this is the derivative. - BS
File: LeBe077
===
NAME: Me One Man: see One Man Shall Mow My Meadow (File: ShH100)
===
NAME: Meagher's Children [Laws G25]
DESCRIPTION: Two girls, four and six years old, lose their way in the woods and die. It takes a hundred men a week to find their bodies.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: children death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Apr 11, 1842 - "Two little girls from Preston Road into the woods did stray"
FOUND_IN: US(NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Laws G25, "Meagher's Children"
Creighton-NovaScotia 135, "Meagher's Children" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 204-205, "Meagher's Children" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 75-77,248-249, "Lost Babes of Halifax" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 30, "The Lost Babes of Halifax (Meagher's Children)" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 347, MEAGCHLD
Roud #1834
NOTES: Manny/Wilson: The initials of the author are disputed. Creighton refers to a copy with initials B.G.V. and Manny/Wilson refers to a copy with initials D.G.B. "An article in the Dartmouth Free Press, by Dr J P Martin, April 12, 1962, says decidedly that the author is Daniel G Blois, of The Gore, Hants County, Nova Scotia." - BS
File: LG25
===
NAME: Measles in the Spring, The: see The Sow Took the Measles (File: LoF015)
===
NAME: Meditations of an Old Bachelor (The Good Old-Fashioned Girl)
DESCRIPTION: "The girls today are different from those I used to know, They never seem contented unless they're on the go." He complains about makeup, short hair, etc.; "Womenly characteristics we loved and prized are few." He wants a "good old-fashioned girl."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: hair clothes courting bachelor
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 57, "Meditations of an Old Bachelor" (1 text)
Roud #7843
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Good Old Days of Adam and Eve" (theme) and references there
cf. "The Braw Servant Lasses" (subject)
NOTES: All I can say to the singer is, "You couldn't get a woman back when they *were* modest; why should they want you now when you're old and a grump?"
Despite this sort of whine, it's worth noting that the population of the planet has doubled repeatedly since this grouse was written (1920s?). Evidently most men can adapt to modern women. - RBW
File: Br3057
===
NAME: Meeks Family Murder (I), The [Laws F28]
DESCRIPTION: The Meeks Family (husband, wife, and three children) are lured from home by the Taylors. The parents and two children are killed, but wounded Nellie escapes to report the crime (the song details Nellie's story, and ends before the villains are captured)
AUTHOR: Arthur Wallace
EARLIEST_DATE: 1913
KEYWORDS: murder family escape
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 11, 1894 - Gus Meeks, his wife, and two children are killed by William and George Taylor (who are suspected of cattle stealing). William Taylor was hanged; George escaped and was not recaptured
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws F28, "The Meeks Family Murder I"
Belden, pp. 404-412, "The Meeks Family Murder" (11 texts, 2 tunes, grouped into types A-E; the "A" group of 3 texts and 1 tune is this song; Belden however believes that A1 and A3 are mixtures of F28 and "The Meeks Family Murder (IV)," which is Belden's "B" group. "C" is "The Meeks Family Murder (V)", "D" is too brief to categorize, and "E" is not traditional)
Randolph 152, "The Meeks Murder" (4 texts, 1 tune; with the "B" and "C" texts being this song; the A text is Laws F30, and D is Laws F29)
Burt, pp. 232-234, "(The Meeks Massacre)" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 719, MEEKMUR1*
Roud #2266
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder II" [Laws F29]
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder III" [Laws F30]
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder IV"
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder (V -- Nellie's Lament)"
NOTES: Belden has detailed notes on the history of this piece; it appears that the Taylors were unsavory sorts, perhaps guilty of cattle stealing, and their employee and tenant Gus Meeks -- given a pardon by the governor -- was going to provide evidence of their financial wrongdoing
The Taylors, knowing they were in trouble, offered Meeks a better job, and convinced him to go along with them, then tried to kill the whole family with axes and burn their bodies. The hay used in the fire, however, was wet, and so Nellie Meeks, once she awoke, was able to escape alive and report the crime.
Both brothers were sentenced to be hanged, but George escaped and no reliable evidence of his later career is available. Folklore, however, attended both George Taylor and Nellie Meeks for many years (e.g. Nellie is said to have borne a "dint" from the blow of the axe to her head for the rest of her life).
To tell this piece from the other Meeks ballads, consider this first stanza:
About a mile from Brownington
At the foot of Jenkins's hill,
Took place this awful murder
By the Taylors, George and Bill.
(Other versions of the song use stanzas of eight lines of this sort.)
This song seems to have mixed heavily with "The Meeks Family Murder IV."
- RBW
File: LF28
===
NAME: Meeks Family Murder (II), The [Laws F29]
DESCRIPTION: The Meeks Family (husband, wife, and three children) are lured from home by the Taylors. The parents and two children are killed, but wounded Nellie escapes to report the crime. The Taylors are captured and sentenced to die
AUTHOR: credited to Marion Anderson (1894)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: murder children escape execution
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 11, 1894 - Gus Meeks, his wife, and two children are killed by William and George Taylor (who are suspected of cattle stealing). William Taylor was hanged; George escaped and was not recaptured
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws F29, "The Meeks Family Murder II"
Randolph 152, "The Meeks Murder" (4 texts, 1 tune, but Laws considers only the "D" text to be this song; "A" is F30 and "B" and "C" go with F28)
Burt, p. 235, "(The Meeks massacre)" (1 excerpt)
DT 797, MEEKMUR2
Roud #2267
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder I" [Laws F28]
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder III" [Laws F30]
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder IV"
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder (V -- Nellie's Lament)"
NOTES: For more historical details on this piece, see the notes to "The Meeks Family Murder" (I).
To tell this piece from the other Meeks ballads, consider this first stanza:
'Twas in the lovely springtime,
In the merry month of May,
When Meeks, his wife, and children
Were induced to go away. - RBW
File: LF29
===
NAME: Meeks Family Murder (III), The [Laws F30]
DESCRIPTION: Nellie Meeks recounts her fate. Her family (father, mother, and three children) are lured from home by the Taylors. The parents and two children are killed, but wounded Nellie escapes to report the crime and tell of being an orphan
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: murder family children orphan
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 11, 1894 - Gus Meeks, his wife, and two children are killed by William and George Taylor (who are suspected of cattle stealing). William Taylor was hanged; George escaped and was not recaptured
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws F30, "The Meeks Family Murder III"
Randolph 152, "The Meeks Murder" (4 texts, 1 tune, but Laws considers only the "A" text -- which has the only tune -- to be part of F30; "B" and "C" are F28 and "D" is F29)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 151-153, "The Meeks Murder" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 152A)
Burt, pp. 235-236, "(Nellie's Lament)" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 796, MEEKMUR3
Roud #2268
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder I" [Laws F28]
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder II" [Laws F29]
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder IV"
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder (V -- Nellie's Lament)"
NOTES: For more historical details on this piece, see the notes to "The Meeks Family Murder" (I).
Rumor has it that Nellie (elsewhere called Sadie) Meeks herself sang this variant in the 1890s. One person who claimed to be a family relative denied this, saying that Nellie stayed with her grandmother until she married, gave birth, and died at the age of eighteen.
To tell this piece from the other Meeks ballads, consider this first verse:
We lived upon the Taylor's farm
Not many miles from town;
One night while we were all asleep
The Taylor boys came down.
 - RBW
File: LF30
===
NAME: Meeks Family Murder (IV), The
DESCRIPTION: George Meeks is in prison, but is offered a pardon to testify against the Taylors. The Taylors offer him a job and money to come with him, but then kill him and his family. Nellie escapes and laments being an orphan
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1912 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: murder family children orphan
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 11, 1894 - Gus Meeks, his wife, and two children are killed by William and George Taylor (who are suspected of cattle stealing). William Taylor was hanged; George escaped and was not recaptured
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, pp. 404-412, "The Meeks Family Murder" (11 texts, 2 tunes, grouped into types A-E; the "B" group of 5 texts and 1 tune is this song, though Laws lists only three texts -- B1, B3, and either B2 or B4, probably the latter -- as this piece; in addition, some of Belden's "A" texts, which belong to "The Meeks Family Murder (I)", appear to have mixed with this piece. Belden's "D" is too brief to categorize, and "E" is not traditional)
Roud #2269
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder I" [Laws F28]
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder II" [Laws F29]
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder III" [Laws F30]
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder (V -- Nellie's Lament)"
NOTES: For more historical details on this piece, see the notes to "The Meeks Family Murder" (I).
This is item dF49 in Laws's Appendix II.
To tell this ballad from the other Meeks Murder songs, consider this first stanza:
In Milan, Sullivan County,
There lived a family poor,
A father and a mother,
Three children around the door. - RBW
File: Beld408A
===
NAME: Meeks Family Murder (V -- Nellie's Lament), The
DESCRIPTION: The singer laments, "Once I had a mamma, likewise a papa too." She recalls a beautiful, sunny day; the next thing she can remember is a pain in her head and the bodies of her family. Having told her tale, she regrets her fate
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1913 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: murder family children orphan
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 11, 1894 - Gus Meeks, his wife, and two children are killed by William and George Taylor (who are suspected of cattle stealing). William Taylor was hanged; George escaped and was not recaptured
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, pp. 404-412, "The Meeks Family Murder" (11 texts, 2 tunes, grouped into types A-E; the "C" text is this song, while "A" is "The Meeks Family Murder (I)" and "B" is "The Meeks Family Murder (IV). Belden's "D" is too brief to categorize, and "E" is not traditional)
Roud #2270
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder I" [Laws F28]
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder II" [Laws F29]
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder III" [Laws F30]
cf. "The Meeks Family Murder (IV)"
NOTES: For more historical details on this piece, see the notes to "The Meeks Family Murder" (I).
This is item dF50 in Laws's Appendix II.
To tell this ballad from the other Meeks Murder songs, consider the first line above and the chorus:
Sad, sad to be an orphan here,
No more to see my little sisters dear,
They are in heaven, the voices they are still,
The fatal blows were given upon the Jenkins Hill. - RBW
File: Beld407B
===
NAME: Meet Me at the Fair: see Meet Me in Saint Louis (File: R514)
===
NAME: Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis
DESCRIPTION: Louis returns from work to find Flossie not at home. Her note says that life is too slow, and tells him to "Meet me in St. Louis, Louis, Meet me at the fair; Don't tell me the lights are shining Any place but there." A despondent Louis prepares to move
AUTHOR: Words: Andrew B. Sterling / Music: Kerry Mills
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: love travel separation abandonment
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1904 - St. Louis Louisiana Purchase Exposition (World's Fair), for which Kerry Mills wrote this song
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 514, "Meet Me at the Fair" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 255, "Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis" (1 text)
Geller-Famous, pp. 241-244, "Meet Me in St. Louis, Louis" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7597
RECORDINGS:
Billy Murray, "Meet Me In St. Louis, Louis" (Victor 2850, 1904)
NOTES: Although the song pronounces the name of the town "St. Louie", no St. Louis resident ever uses that pronunciation, and we look upon it with disdain. - PJS
According to Geller, Sterling and a couple of friends visited a bar run by a man named Louis (Louie), and they called his product Louie as well. When Sterling came in, one of the others said, "Another Louie, Louie," and that inspired the idea. - RBW
File: R514
===
NAME: Meet Me in the Bottoms
DESCRIPTION: "Meet me in the bottoms with my boots and shoes, Whoo Lordy mamma, Great God A'mighty...." The singer "got to leave this town now." He notes that he sees both the woman he loves and the woman he hates every day
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (recording, Davie Lee)
KEYWORDS: love separation clothes
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 97-98, (no title) (1 text); p. 274, "Meet Me in the Bottoms" (1 tune, partial text)
RECORDINGS:
Davie Lee, "Meet Me in the Bottoms" (on NFMAla6)
NOTES: Despite the fact that Davie Lee's version appears in the series of recordings, "Negro Folk Music of Alabama," he was recorded in Mississippi. - PJS
File: CNFM097
===
NAME: Meet Me in the Moonlight: see The Prisoner's Song (File: FSC100)
===
NAME: Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight
DESCRIPTION: The singer calls on his sweetheart to "Meet me tonight in the moonlight." He bids her come alone and hear his sad story. He is being sent to sea, and they must part. He expresses his hope to return in metaphors of a fine ship, angels' wings, etc.
AUTHOR: Joseph A. Wade
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924
KEYWORDS: separation love
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Randolph 746, "Meet Me Tonight" (3 texts plus a gragment, 1 tune, although the "C" text is probably "The Prisoner's Song (I)")
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 489-491, "Meet Me Tonight" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 746A)
BrownIII 350, "The Prisoner's Song" (7 texts plus 1 fragment, 2 excerpts, and mention of 1 more; "A"-"C," plus probably the "D" excerpt, are "The Prisoner's Song (I)"; "E" and "G," plus perhaps the "H" fragment, are "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight"; "J" and "K" are "Sweet Lulur")
Sandburg, pp. 216-217, "Moonlight" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Belden, p. 494, "Beautiful Light o'er the Sea" (1 text, possibly mixed with something else)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 346-351, "New Jail/Prisoner's Song/Here's Adieu to all Judges and Juries" (1, not collected by Scarborough, of "Judges and Juries," plus 6 texts from her collections: "New Jail," "I'm Going To My New Jail Tomorrow," "New Jail," "Meet Me in the Moonlight," "The Great Ship," "Prisoner's Song"; 3 tunes on pp.449-450; the "A" fragment is probably "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight"; "B" and "D" are "New Jail" types; "C" is too short to classify; "E" is a mix of floating verse, "If I had a great ship on the ocean," "Let her go, let her go and God bless her," "Sometimes I'll live in the white house, sometimes I live in town..."; "F" may well have some Dalhart influence)
Roud #767
RECORDINGS:
Burnett & Rutherford, "Meet Me in the Moonlight" (Supertone 9443, 1929)
Carter Family, "Meet Me by Moonlight Alone" (Victor 23731, 1928) (Perfect 7-01-54/7-05-55, both 1937)
Bradley Kincaid, "I Wish I Had Someone to Love Me" (Vocalion 02686, 1934)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Prisoner's Song (I)"
cf. "I'm Dying for Someone to Love Me" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
I Wish I Had Someone to Love Me
NOTES: This song later became merged with a version of "Botany Bay/Here's Adieu to All Judges and Juries" to produce "The Prisoner's Song." See notes on that piece also, as they often cannot be distinguished. It doesn't help that that song was built out of traditional materials by Vernon Dalhart (or someone), and the Carter Family patched up a version also.
Belden's "Beautiful Light o'er the Sea" is a curiosity; it doesn't really look like this song -- but two of its three verses go with this song, and the whole theme is very similar. Since I haven't met the "other half" that gave it its title (indeed, it sounds more like a hymn than anything else), it seemed proper to file it here so people will realize that the "half and half" song exists.
Richard Dress informs us that Joseph Augustine Wade (1796?-1845) wrote the lyrics 'Meet me by moonlight alone, And then I will tell you a tale Must be told by the moonlight alone" around 1826. It seems to have been the only thing he ever did of significance; my sources don't even agree on whether his middle name was "Augustus" or "Augustine."
This latter piece can be found as broadside NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(83b) "Meet Me by Moonlight Alone," Poet's Box (Dundee), n.d. - RBW
File: R746
===
NAME: Meeting at the Building
DESCRIPTION: "Meeting at the building Soon be over (with) (x3), Meeting at the building soon be over (with), All over this world." "Preaching at the building...." Continue with shouting, praying, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 354, "Meeting At The Building" (1 text)
Roud #11694
SAME_TUNE:
Elizabeth Cotten, "Praying Time Will Soon Be Over" (on Cotten03) 
File: FSWB354
===
NAME: Meeting of Tara, The
DESCRIPTION: Thousands attend to support O'Connell and Repeal. The counties are represented. Dan appears: 3 cheers for Victoria, 9000 for Repeal. Wellington and Peel would face more men at Tara than at Waterloo. "Come rouse my brave Repealers be obedient to the law"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1900 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 19(102))
KEYWORDS: Ireland political
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Aug 15, 1843 - Repeal meeting at Tara (source: Zimmermann)
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Zimmermann 50B, "The Meeting of Tara" (1 fragment)
Healy-OISBv2, pp. 79-81, "The Meeting of Tara" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 19(102), "Meeting of Tara" ("On the 15th day of August in the year of 43"), J.F. Nugent & Co. (Dublin), 1850-1899; also 2806 b.9(269), 2806 c.15(118), "The Meeting of Tara"; 2806 c.15(277), "The Tara Monster Meeting"
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(065) , "The Tara Monster Meeting," James Lindsay (Glasgow), c.1843 [? see Notes] 
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Glorious Repeal Meeting Held at Tara Hill" and references there
cf. "Daniel O'Connell (I)"  (subject: Daniel O'Connell) and references there
NOTES: The description is from broadside Bodleian Harding B 19(102). A line from the broadside hints that it may date from after October 8 when the Clontarff meeting was abandoned: "Such a grand sight was never seen nor will till times no more."
The commentary for broadside NLScotland L.C.Fol.178.A.2(065) states "The meeting at Tara, Co. Meath in the summer of 1843, is now estimated to have been attended by 750,000 people." It is interesting that that version, seemingly a duplicate of Bodleian 2806 c.15(277), is shortened to omit all reference to O'Connell: not only the final five verses but also the lines in the first verse ("On the Royal Hill of Tara, Irish thousands did prevail, In Union's hands to join their hands with Dan, for the Repeal" becomes "On the Royal Hill of Tara, Where thousands did prevail, In union's bonds to join their hands, To sign for the repeal.")
Be skeptical about NLS dating. L.C.Fol.178.A.2(065) has two entries which, when put together, seem the same as Bodleian 2806 c.15(277). "The Irish Girl" half has the printer's information; "The Tara Monster Meeting" half, of course, has no printer information. NLS dates "The Irish Girl" "Probable period of publication: 1860-1890" and "The Tara Monster Meeting" "Probable date published: 1843" - BS
Be skeptical about NLS numbers estimates, too -- 750,000 people was a tenth of the population of Ireland! Robert Kee (p. 208 of _The Most Distressful Country_, which is volume I of _The Green Flag_) mentions this estimate, but notes that it was from _The Nation_ -- which was pro-Irish. O'Connell's estimate was an even more absurd million and a half. A more realistic estimate is a quarter of a million (from Cecil Woodham-Smith, _The Great Hunger_, p. 11).
Nonetheless it is clear that O'Connell faced more people than Wellington at Waterloo. Wellington (who had been Prime Minister from 1828, and in fact granted Catholic emancipation) at Waterloo had faced only about 72,000 men under Napoleon.
"Repeal" was of course O'Connell's basic political platform; he wanted repeal of the Union between Ireland and Great Britain. 
Sadly, the Monster Meetings accomplished little. As Kee writes on p. 209, "The real question was whether the giant had a giant's strength. The closer O'Connell got to his goal the nearer came the moment whenthe question of how exactly he hoped to get Repeal if the government continued to stand firm had to be answered. This critical moment was in fact just seven weeks away."
O'Connell published a platform of reforms he sought, then scheduled another Monster Meeting for Clontarf, where Brian Boru had won his great victory.
The day before the meeting was to take place (October 5), the government decided it didn't trust O'Connell's protestations of loyalty. They banned the meeting. O'Connell could sure have held it anyway. But he stood firm to his principle of loyalty, cancelled the meeting -- and saw his movement all but collapse. He had blinked, and from being distrusted by the British, he now saw himself distrusted by the extreme radicals also.
Shortly after this, the government had O'Connell arrested. He was convicted in a farce trial and was sentences to a fairly brief spell of minimum-security detention. But, by the time he was free to move about again, the potato blight had arrived. Repeal was a fine principle, but what Ireland needed was food; the Liberator perforce spent his last years trying to prod a stubbornly non-interventionist government to provide aid.
The "Iron Duke" is of course the Duke of Wellington, victor at Waterloo, and a former Prime Minister; although his official government role was relatively slight by this time, he had an important role as an advisor to Sir Robert Peel's government and was overjoyed at the ending of the Monster Meetings. Sir Robert Peel himself (1788-1850) was Prime Minister for most of this period; some of his legislation, ironically, was pro-Irish, but he was anti-Whig and anti-O'Connell (and later would earn deserved infamy for his lack of response to the potato famine). Basically he believe in small government -- in all the bad senses. - RBW
File: Zimm050B
===
NAME: Meeting of the Waters, The
DESCRIPTION: "There is not in the wide world a valley so sweet As the vale in whose bosom the bright waters meet" The magic of the spot "'twas that friends, the beloved of my bosom, were near" 
AUTHOR: Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1835 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(2174))
KEYWORDS: lyric nonballad friend river
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
O'Conor, p. 54, "The Meeting of the Waters" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Charles Sullivan, ed., Ireland in Poetry, p. 15, "The Meeting of the Waters" (1 text)
ST OCon054B (Partial)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2174), "Meeting of the Waters", G Walker (Durham), 1797-1834; also Harding B 11(584), Johnson Ballads fol. 18 View 2 of 2, Harding B 45(23) View 3 of 3, Harding B 11(4323), Harding B 11(4189), Harding B 15(195a), Harding B 17(193a), "[The] Meeting of the Waters"
SAME_TUNE:
The Head of Old Dennis (broadside Bodleian Harding B 17(193a))
NOTES: This is among the most popular of Moore's poems; _Granger's Index to Poetry_ cites four anthologies -- and none of them the usual suspects. - RBW
File: OCon054B
===
NAME: Melancholy Accident, A -- The Death of M. Hodge
DESCRIPTION: "Far distant friends will drop a tear When of this accident they hear." A group of girls visits Betsy Green's school. With bad weather coming, parents gather six girls -- but the horses fall on a slope; Mira is killed instantly; Eliza succumbs weeks later
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Gardner/Chickering)
KEYWORDS: death horse injury disaster wreck
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Gardner/Chickering 126, "A Melancholy Accident -- The Death of M. Hodge" (1 text)
ST GC126 (Partial)
Roud #3701
NOTES: This looks very historical, but it's not really specific enough (or clear enough; it's poor poetry) to allow much hope of dating it. - RBW
File: GC126
===
NAME: Memory of the Dead, The
DESCRIPTION: "Who fears to speak of Ninety-Eight? Who blushes at the name?" The listeners are urged to recall the soldiers of the Irish rebellion, and to cherish their values
AUTHOR: Words: Joseph Kells Ingram (1823-1907)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1843 (Zimmermann: "According to _The Nation_, 12 April, 1843, 'The Memory of the Dead' was first sung in a 'Symposium' held on St. Patrick's Day")
KEYWORDS: Ireland rebellion memorial
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1798 - the 1798 Rebellion
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
O'Conor, pp. 48-49, "The Memory of the Dead" (1 text)
Zimmermann 51, "The Memory of the Dead" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 136, "The Memory of the Dead" (1 text, 1 tune)
PGalvin, pp. 39-40, "The Memory of the Dead" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MEMRYDED*
ADDITIONAL: Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol I, pp. 276-277, "The Memory of the Dead"
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 505-506, "The Memory of the Dead (1798)" (1 text)
H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 63-64, 501, "The Memory of the Dead"
Charles Sullivan, ed., Ireland in Poetry, p. 90, "The Memory of the Dead" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Orange Yeomanry of '98" (lyrics)
SAME_TUNE:
Easter Week (The Song of 1916) (Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 263-264)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Who Fears to Speak of Ninety-Eight?
NOTES: According to Robert Kee in _The Most Distressful Country_  (being Volume I of _The Green Flag_), p. 203, this poem served to rehabilitate Ireland's memory of the 1798 rebellion, which at the time it was published "had been under a polite historical cloud for nearly half a century."
In an irony pointed out by the semi-parody "The Orange Yeomanry of '98," it was initially published anonymously. - RBW
File: PGa039
===
NAME: Memphis Flu
DESCRIPTION: In 1929 people in Memphis are dying from influenza. Doctors say they will control the flu soon, but God shows his power by making them sick too. Influenza, "puts a pain in every bone/a few days you are gone/to a place in the ground called the grave." 
AUTHOR: Words: Elder David Curry/Music: Benjamin Hanby
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (recording, Elder Curry & congregation)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: In 1929 people in Memphis are dying from influenza. Doctors say they will have the flu under control in a few days, but God shows his power by sending the doctors and nurses to sickbeds too. Influenza, "puts a pain in every bone/a few days you are gone/to a place in the ground called the grave." Ch.: "It was God's mighty hand/He is judging this old land...Yes, He killed the rich and poor/And he's going to kill more/If you don't turn away from your shame"
KEYWORDS: disease death religious doctor gods
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1918 - Influenza pandemic kills tens of millions worldwide.
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Elder Curry & Congregation, "Memphis Flu" (OKeh 8857, 1931; rec. 1930; on Babylon)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Darling Nelly Gray" (tune)
NOTES: The 1918 pandemic was the most devastating in [recent] history; smaller outbreaks occurred in later years. Curry may be conflating one of these with the 1918 disease, the symptoms of which were closer to his description than those of "normal" flu. - PJS
File: RcMemFlu
===
NAME: Men Awaiting Trial for the Murders in Phoenix Park, The
DESCRIPTION: The men will be tried for murder on the evidence of the double-dyed informer Carey. He duped them and "pointed out the victims, the men that were to be stabbed"; "let us hope further fair play won't be denied." Carey should be given justice
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: betrayal murder trial nonballad
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: The Phoenix Park murders (source: primarily Zimmermann, pp. 62, 63, 281-286.)
May 6, 1882 - Chief Secretary Lord Frederick Cavendish and the Under Secretary Thomas Henry Burke are murdered by a group calling themselves "The Invincible Society."
January 1883 - twenty seven men are arrested.
James Carey, one of the leaders in the murders, turns Queen's evidence.
Six men are condemned to death, four are executed (Joseph Brady is hanged May 14, 1883; Daniel Curley is hanged on May 18, 1883), others are "sentenced to penal servitude," and Carey is freed and goes to South Africa.
July 29, 1883 - Patrick O'Donnell kills Carey on board the "Melrose Castle" sailing from Cape Town to Durban.
Dec 1883 - Patrick O'Donnell is convicted of the murder of James Carey and executed in London (per Leach-Labrador)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann, p. 63, "A New Song on the Men Awaiting Trial for the Murders in Phoenix Park" (1 fragment)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(427), "A New Song on The Men Awaiting Trial for the Murders in the Phoenix Park ("In the dark dismal dungeons and the cold prison cell ," unknown, n.d.
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Phoenix Park Tragedy" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders) and references there
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 62: "The Phoenix Park murders and their judicial sequels struck the popular imagination and were a gold-mine for ballad-writers: some thirty songs were issued on this subject, which was the last great cause to be so extensively commented upon in broadside ballads."
Zimmermann p. 63 is a fragment; broadside Bodleian Harding B 26(427) is the basis for the description. - BS
File: BrdMATMP
===
NAME: Men of County Clare, The
DESCRIPTION: Toast "The men of County Clare!" Brian Boru's call to defeat of the Danes, and de Valera's call "to strike for native land" were answered by "the mighty men of Clare". Toast "'Our land a nation free again From Cork to Antrim's shore!'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1987 (Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
KEYWORDS: battle Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 48, "The Men of County Clare" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5237
NOTES: At the Battle of Clontarf, 1014, Brian Boru defeated a combined force of Vikings and rebels from Leinster, but died in the battle.
The song mentions Eamon de Valera. The Anglo-Irish Treaty of December 6, 1921 established the Irish Free State. The Civil War that followed was between the pro-treaty and anti-treaty factions. De Valera led the ant-treaty faction. (source: _Irish Civil War_ at the Wikipedia site).- BS
For more on Brian Boru, see the notes to "Remember the Glories of Brian the Brave." For de Valera, the Free State, and the Civil War, see e.g. the notes to "The Irish Free State" and "General Michael Collins"; also "The Boys from County Cork." - RBW
File: RcMoCoCl
===
NAME: Men of the West, The
DESCRIPTION: "Forget not the boys of the heather Who rallied their bravest and best When Ireland was broken in Wexford And looked for revenge to the West." The brief success and final failure of the western rising are recounted.
AUTHOR: William Rooney
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (IRClancyMakem03)
KEYWORDS: rebellion Ireland death derivative
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1798 - Irish rebellion
Aug 22, 1798 - 1100 French troops under General Humbert land at Killala Bay in County Mayo. He would surrender on Sept. 8, and by May 23 the Mayo rising had been suppressed with some brutality
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
PGalvin, pp. 30-31, "The Men of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 114, "The Men of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MENWEST*
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "The Men of the West" (on IRClancyMakem03)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rosin the Beau" (tune) and references there
cf. "Eoghan Coir" (tune according to Moylan, which tune we generally index as "Rosin the Beau")
cf. "Rouse, Hibernians" (subject)
cf. "The West's Asleep" (subject)
cf. "The Frenchmen" (subject)
NOTES: The 1798 rising had already been crushed (see the notes on ""The Shan Van Vogt" and "Boulavogue") when French general Humbert landed, largely on his own initiative, in County Mayo (August 1798). A few local peasants rose, and the local British forces were defeated at the "Races of Castlebar."
Castlebar was one of the most ignominous defeats in history: The Loyalists were on the defensive, in prepared trenches; their forces are thought to have been larger, and they had the overwhelming edge in artillery. But their Irish militiamen fled, and the handful of steadier forces could not hold in those circumstances.
Humbert, however, had only three ships, all frigates -- not enough men to do anything of significance. There was supposed to be another French force, under Hardy -- but it was delayed while its commander tried to get the money needed to pay  the troops out of the French government. 
Nor was the country particularly receptive when Humbert landed. Connaught had not rebelled at the height of the 1798 rising; a few French troops could not inspire a real rebellion. Worse still, the recruits he did get were Catholics, with few weapons, poor training, and no contact with the United Irish movement.
Humbert hardly helped his cause by an explosive temper. Nor did he help his cause by having no money; he issued drafts on the "Republic of Connaught," but in a country that had no banks, few even understood the cheques they were given in lieu of payment for what was requisitioned.
It's probably no surprise that Humbert soon had to surrender. He chased around the west of Ireland, and tried to open a way to Dublin, but eventually was trapped between forces led by Cornwallis and Lake; with no reliable troops except his French veterans, he had no choice but to yield to superior force on September 8, 1798. That was the effective end of Humbert's career; indeed, most references I checked don't even list his death date.
(If it matters, Robert Kee's _The Most Distressful Country_, being Volume I of _The Green Flag_, gives a brief account of his later career on page 140: He fell out with Napoleon and went to the United States, participating in the Battle of New Orleans. He participated in Mexico's 1815 rebellion against Spain, then went back to the U.S. where he died in 1823.)
There would be two more French naval expeditions in 1798; for the second, a single ship carrying Napper Tandy, see the notes to "The Wearing of the Green." The third and largest expedition, with Wolfe Tone aboard, is described under "The Shan Van Vogt." -  RBW
"Eoghan Coir" [the listed tune for this piece in some Irish sources] is a poem by Riocard Bairead (1740-1819) (source: "Riocard Bairead" in the _Ar gCeantar and Beyond_ project at the Inver National School site). - BS
File: PGa030
===
NAME: Men's Clothes I Will Put On (I): see William and Nancy I (Lisbon; Men's Clothing I'll Put On I) [Laws N8] (File: LN08)
===
NAME: Men's Clothes I Will Put On (II): see The Banks of the Nile (Men's Clothing I'll Put On II) [Laws N9] (File: LN09)
===
NAME: Men's Clothes I Will Put On (III): see Jack Monroe (Jackie Frazer; The Wars of Germany) [Laws N7] (File: LN07)
===
NAME: Merchant and the Beggar Wench, The: see The Beggar Wench (File: K338)
===
NAME: Merchant's Daughter (I), The: see The Bramble Briar (The Merchant's Daughter; In Bruton Town) [Laws M32] (File: LM32)
===
NAME: Merchant's Daughter (II), The: see The Slighted Suitor (File: HHH159)
===
NAME: Merchant's Daughter Turned Sailor, The: see The Silk Merchant's Daughter [Laws N10] (File: LN10)
===
NAME: Merchant's Only Son, The [Laws M21]
DESCRIPTION: A young man's parents send him to America to keep him from marrying a poor girl. He reaches land despite his ship's wreck. He meets a rich girl who offers marriage, but he remains true to the girl at home. The rich girl gives him money to return to her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Gardner/Chickering)
KEYWORDS: transportation exile courting poverty ship wreck escape return
FOUND_IN: US(MW) Ireland
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws M21, "The Merchant's Only Son"
Ranson, pp. 48-49, "The North Star" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 74, "The Merchant's Only Son" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 764, MERCHSON
Roud #1019
RECORDINGS:
Martin Howley, "The North Star" (on IRClare01)
NOTES: Ranson: Tune is "Thomas Murphy" on p. 98.
Ranson's version makes the lost ship the _North Star_, an historical wreck on the Welsh coast (see "The North Star") - BS
File: LM21
===
NAME: Merchant's Son and the Beggar Wench, The: see The Beggar Wench (File: K338)
===
NAME: Merchants of Fogo, The
DESCRIPTION: "Come all ye toil-warn fishermen ... lend an ear; Beware of those cursed merchants, in their dealings they're not fair; For fish they'll give half value." All local merchants are thieves except the Hodge brothers; "they've showed justice to each man"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: greed accusation commerce nonballad
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 149, "The Merchants of Fogo" (1 text)
Roud #17749
NOTES: Fogo, on Fogo Island, is up the East Coast about 170 miles north of Saint John's. Greenleaf/Mansfield states "This song with its coarse slander and gossip was made up in praise of the Hodge Brothers [by] ... a man ... hoping to curry favor." Mr Hodge, however, was not impressed. - BS
File: GrMa149
===
NAME: Merchants of the Bay
DESCRIPTION: The merchants of the village of St Peter's Bay are named and characterized: good and bad. "Oh those were spirit stirring times, some twenty years ago" Times have changed for the worse; some remaining moderns are named.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (Dibblee/Dibblee)
KEYWORDS: commerce nonballad
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 23-24, "Merchants of the Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12478
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Twenty Years Ago (Forty Years Ago)" (tune)
NOTES:  St Peter's is on the north coast of Kings, Prince Edward Island - BS
File: Dib023
===
NAME: Merchants, The
DESCRIPTION: "It's all about the cruel rogues of merchants No pity or love do they show." They live a life of ease and luxury and sell poor goods and show no charity. But death found rich and poor on Florizel and Titanic and will find the merchants too.
AUTHOR: Paddy Dover
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: hardheartedness poverty commerce nonballad
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 78, "The Merchants" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Florizel and Titanic, of course, are famous Newfoundland wrecks with songs of their own. - BS
It's a sad irony to note that, on the Titanic at least, losses were heavier among the third class passengers (who were down below) than the rich in first class. - RBW
File: LeBe078
===
NAME: Mercy, O Thou Son of David: see references under This Old World (File: DarN259B)
===
NAME: Mermaid, The [Child 289]
DESCRIPTION: A group of sailors see a mermaid (meaning that they can expect a shipwreck). Various crew members lament the families they are leaving behind. The ship sinks.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1765?
KEYWORDS: mermaid/man ship sea wreck
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(All),Scotland(Aber)) US(Ap,MA,NE,NW,Ro,SE,So,SW) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (36 citations)
Child 289, "The Mermaid" (6 texts)
Bronson 289, "The Mermaid" (42 versions)
SharpAp 42, "The Mermaid" (3 texts plus 1fragment, 4 tunes) {Bronson's #17, #41, #24, #14}
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 363-368, "The Mermaid" (3 texts plus a fragment and a version from the Forget-me-not Songster, 1 tune) {Bronson's #25}
Flanders-Ancient4, pp. 271-280, "The Mermaid" (4 texts plus a fragment, 3 tunes) {E=Bronson's #39}
Belden, pp. 101-102, "The Mermaid" (1 text)
Randolph 39, "The Wrecked Ship" (3 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #42, #40}
Davis-Ballads 48, "The Mermaid" (8 texts plus 4 fragments, the last of which may not be this song; 2 tunes entitled "The Stormy Winds," "The Mermaid"; 1 more version mentioned in Appendix A) {Bronson's #22, #12}
Davis-More 44, pp. 344-349, "The Mermaid" (3 texts, 1 tune)
BrownII 48, "The Mermaid" (2 texts)
Chappell-FSRA 23, "The Mermaid" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #9}
Hudson 26, p. 127, "The Mermaid" (1 short text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 189-190, "TheMermaid" (1 text)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 26, "The Mermaid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 106-107, "The Mermaid" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #31}
Blondahl, p. 90, "Black Friday" (1 text, 1 tune)
Smith/Hatt, p. 38, "Then Turn Out You Jolly Tars" (1 fragment)
Mackenzie 16, "The Royal George" (1 text)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 34-35, (no title) (1 fragment)
Leach, pp. 673-674, "The Mermaid" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 404, "The Mermaid" (2 texts, 1 tune)
FSCatskills 71, "The Mermaid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Niles 62, "The Mermaid" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 70-71, "The Mermaid" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #36}
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 98-99, "Waves on the Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 562-563, "The Mermaid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 147-149, "The Mermaid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 560, "The Mermaid" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Shay-SeaSongs, p. 124, (no title) (1 fragment, almost certainly of this song)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 71-73, "The Mermaid" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 11, pp. 26-27, "Three Sailor Boys" (1 text)
JHCox 33, "The Mermaid" (1 text)
Ord, pp. 333-334, "The Mermaid" (1 text plus a fragment)
Silber-FSWB, p. 93, "The Mermaid" (1 text)
BBI, ZN2143, "On a Friday morning we set sail"
DT 289, MERMDFRI* MERMAID3* WAVESSEA* MERMAID5*
ST C289 (Full)
Roud #124
RECORDINGS:
Emma Dusenberry, "The Mermaid" (AFS, 1936; on LC58) {Bronson's #40}
William Howell, "The Mermaid" (on FSBBAL2)
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "The Mermaid Song" (on BLLunsford01) {cf. Bronson's #32}
New Lost City Ramblers, "Raging Sea" (on NLCR02)
Ernest Stoneman & His Blue Ridge Corn Shuckers, "The Raging Sea, How It Roars" (Victor Vi 21648, 1928) {Bronson's #20}
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.17(273), "The Mermaid" ("One Friday morning we set sail"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 11(3641), Harding B 11(3642), 2806 c.17(272), Harding B 11(2228), Harding B 11(2519), Firth c.12(413), 2806 c.17(271), 2806 c.17(275), Harding B 11(2404), Harding B 11(2603), Harding B 11(2403), "The Mermaid"; 2806 c.13(248), Firth c.12(414), Harding B 11(3146), "The Mermaid" or "The Gallant Ship"
LOCSinging, sb20297a, "The Mermaid," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878 
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Sinking Ship
Oh, the Lamp Burns Dimly Down Below
The Stormy Winds Do Blo
NOTES: Legend has it that a ship that sees a mermaid will be destroyed. (Some versions say that all aboard are to be drowned as well, but they could hardly drown at the time; else how would anyone know what destroyed the ship?) Ord also notes that it was considered unlucky for ships to sail on a Friday -- and most versions do seem to involve sailing on that day.
One of the verses of this, "three times around went our gallant ship," seems to have circulated independently as a nursery rhyme; see, e.g., Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #862, p. 322. - RBW
Creighton-Maritime moves the locale to New York City: "board bill on Fifth Avenue," "sweetheart in Madison's Square," and the wreck [took place] as "we neared Jersey flats, Sandy Hook was on our lea." - BS
File: C289
===
NAME: Merman, The (Pretty Fair Maid with a Tail) [Laws K24]
DESCRIPTION: The crew is waiting for a breeze to carry them south when a merman appears with a shout. The ship's anchor has stopped his front door! The merman reveals that he is a sailor who was washed overboard. Having married a mermaid, he grew a tail
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1900 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.26(152))
KEYWORDS: ship mermaid/man
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws K24, "The Merman (Pretty Fair Maid with a Tail)"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 64, "The Pretty Fair Maid with a Tail" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 131-133, "The Merman" (1 text)
Ranson, pp. 30-31, "The Merman" (1 text)
DT 564, MERMAN
Roud #1898
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.26(152), "The Merman", T. Pearson (Manchester), 1850-1899
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Down in the Diving Bell (The Mermaid (II))" (plot)
cf. "Change Islands Song" (plot)
cf. "Married to a Mermaid" (theme of marrying a mermaid)
File: LK24
===
NAME: Merner Song, The
DESCRIPTION: In November Billy Merner came to Darlingtown and moved in with the Sargents. At Christmas he got drunk, "raked poor Bessie," and left. No one whose "Head is good and sound ... let Will Merner come back to Darlingtown."
AUTHOR: Wilmot MacDonald
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Ives-NewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: home drink hunting
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 83-87, "The Merner Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1950
File: IvNB083
===
NAME: Merrily We Roll Along: see Goodnight Ladies (File: FSWB258A)
===
NAME: Merrimac (I), The
DESCRIPTION: "The Merrimac she went out; The Yankees wa'n't a-thinking. The fust thing the Yankees knew, the Cumberland was a-sinking... Holler, boys, oh, holler! ... You ought to seen her go down." The Merrimac sinks the Congress also
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: battle Civilwar navy war ship
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: March 8, 1862 - U.S. frigates Congress and Cumberland sunk by the CSS Virginia (formerly USS Merrimac). The Minnesota runs aground; had not the Monitor arrived the next day, the Merrimac would have sunk that ship also
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 226, "The Merrimac" (1 text, probably fragmentary)
Roud #6569
File: BrII226
===
NAME: Merrimac (II), The: see The Cumberland [Laws A26] (File: LA26)
===
NAME: Merry Bagpipes, The: see The Northumbrian Bagpipes (File: StoR032)
===
NAME: Merry Golden Lee, The: see The Golden Vanity [Child 286] (File: C286)
===
NAME: Merry Golden Tree, The: see The Golden Vanity [Child 286] (File: C286)
===
NAME: Merry Green Fields of the Lowland, The: see Old MacDonald Had a Farm (File: R457)
===
NAME: Merry Haymakers, The
DESCRIPTION: In (May), the creatures cavort in the fine weather. Assorted men and women join together to cut the hay and frolic. Several are introduced as they arrive. In addition to cutting the fields, they may find other ways of making hay....
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1857 (Bell); c.1720 (broadside, Bodleian Douce Ballads 2(154))
KEYWORDS: farming work love courting
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(England(Lond,South))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
SHenry H697, pp. 278-279, "Tumbling through the Hay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 255, "The Merry Haymakers" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MONTH MAY
Roud #153
RECORDINGS:
Bob & Ron Copper, "The Merry Haymakers" (on FSB3)
Sam Larner, "The Pleasant Month of May" (on Voice05)
Levi Smith, "The Haymakers" (on Voice11)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Douce Ballads 2(154), "The Merry Hay-makers" or "Pleasant Pastime, Between the Young- Men and Maids, in the Pleasant Meadows" ("In our country, in our country"), S. Bates (London), [c.1720]; also Mus. 1 c.118(6e)[title and many words illegible], "The Merry Hay-makers"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Month of May
NOTES: For another version see Robert Bell, editor, [The Project Gutenberg EBook (1996) of] Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England (1857), "The Haymaker's Song" ("In the merry month of June") - BS 
File: HHH697
===
NAME: Merry Shanty Boys, The
DESCRIPTION: "We are a band of shanty boys, as merry as can be, No matter where we go, my boys, We're always gay and free." The men go out in the morning to cut the trees, sharpen their axes and relax in the evening, bring the logs to market, and celebrate
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Rickaby), from a nineteenth-century broadside
KEYWORDS: logger work food nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Rickaby 31, "The Merry Shanty Boys" (1 text)
NOTES: Rickaby prints this, but it appears to be entirely from print. And, despite his comment about its quality, it strikes me as something no shantyman would actually sing. - RBW
File: Rick122
===
NAME: Messenger Song, The
DESCRIPTION: The horse, a descendent of Messenger, reports on its frisky behavior with its handlers. They respond by beating the animal. It breaks down the door and flees; it boasts of its new freedom and its abilities
AUTHOR: John Calhoun?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: horse abuse escape freedom
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Doerflinger, p. 266, "The Messenger Song" (1 text)
Manny/Wilson 33, "The Messenger Song (John Calhoun's Colt)" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Doe266a (Partial)
Roud #4166
NOTES: Messenger was a famous horse of the nineteenth century; Manny and Wilson note that he "was foaled in 1780, imported to the United States in 1788, and died in 1808, leaving a large progeny."
This song is item dH49 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Doe266a
===
NAME: Met Mister Rabbit
DESCRIPTION: "Met Mister Rabbit one night, All dressed in his plug hat, He turned his nose up in the air, Said, 'I'se gwine to Julia's ball, So good night, possums all."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: animal dancing
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 176, (no title) (1 short text)
File: ScaNF176
===
NAME: Metamorphoses, Les (Metamorphoses)
DESCRIPTION: French. The male magician is trying to seduce the female. She will be game in a pond and he will hunt her.... She will die and go to heaven and he will be St Peter to open the door. She says, Since you are inevitable, you may as well have me as another.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage rape seduction shape-changing magic
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf,West)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 788-789, "Je me mettrai gibier dans un etang" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Twa Magicians" [Child 44] (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Si tu reviens Dimanche
NOTES: Child, in his notes to The Twa Magicians [Child 44] gives an extensive description of this ballad [in] the French form. He cites 14 sources, often with names that translate along the lines of "Transformations," "The Mistress Won," and "The Pursuit of Love." Incidentally, he notes that the "French ballad generally begins with a young man's announcing that he has won a mistress, and he intends to pay her a visit on Sunday...." 
In that connection, the Brandon [Manitoba] University site for the journal Ecclectica inludes two verses of the ballad, collected in Manitoba, under the title "Si tu reviens dimanche" (If you return Sunday), "The Songs of Their Fathers" by Lynn Whidden, _Ecclectica_, August 2003
Peacock's version is not as complete as Child's summary. The male verses end "par amitie" (by friendship) while the female verses end "Tout ce que t'auras de moi aucun agrement" (what you have of me is without my agreement). She will be game in a pond and he will hunt her. She will be a rose and he will be a fireman to warm her. She will be the moon and he will be a cloud to cover her.  She will become sick and he will be a doctor to cure her. She will die and go to heaven and he will be St Peter to open the door.
 Peacock ends here but, according to Child, "she says, Since you are inevitable, you may as well have me as another; or more complaisantly, Je me donnerai a toi, puisque tu m'aimes tant." - BS
File: Pea788
===
NAME: Methodist Pie
DESCRIPTION: The singer attends a camp meeting and reports on the goings-on. (S)he enjoys food and music greatly. (S)he maintains, "Oh, little children, I believe (x3); I'm a Methodist till I die...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1912 (Perrow)
KEYWORDS: music religious
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 291, "Methodist Pie" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 248-250, "Methodist Pie" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 291A)
DT, METHPIE
Roud #7823
RECORDINGS:
Ashley's Melody Men, "Methodist Pie" (Victor 23661, 1932)
Bob Atcher, "Methodist Pie" (Columbia 20482, 1948; rec. 1947)
Gene Autry, "Methodist Pie" (Oriole 8103, c. 1932)
Bradley Kincaid, "Methodist Pie" (Gennett 6417/Champion 15631 [as Dan Hughey]/Supertone 9210/Silvertone 8220, 1928) (Brunswick 420/Supertone S-2018, 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hard Trials" (floating verses)
File: R291
===
NAME: Mexico, The
DESCRIPTION: Mexico is wrecked on Keeragh rocks when the captain "lost his bearings." Fourteen Fethard men set out to rescue the crew "but their boat was smashed upon the rocks": Nine are drowned; the remaining five get the crew to an island and 12 are rescued.
AUTHOR: John Codd
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor rescue
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Feb 20-21, 1914 - The Mexico wreck
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 28-30, "The Mexico" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fethard Life-Boat Crew (I)" (subject)
cf. "The Fethard Life-Boat Crew (II)" (subject)
cf. "The Fethard Life-Boat Crew (III)" (subject)
cf. "Loss of the Life-Boat Crew at Fethard" (subject)
NOTES: February 20, 1914: "Nine members of the Fethard lifeboat were drowned when going to the assistance of the Norwegian steamer _Mexico_.... Eight of the Mexico's crew were saved by the five lifeboat survivors. All but one of the stranded survivors were saved with great difficulty the next day." (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, pp. 52-53) - BS
We note that at least four poems were written about this disaster (see the cross-references); one suspects a campaign to raise money for someone's family. - RBW
File: Ran028
===
NAME: Mhaighdean Mara, An (The Mermaid)
DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. Blond Mary Chinidh, whose mother is a mermaid, swims Lake Erne forever. She loves blond sailor Patrick.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1979 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage love nonballad mermaid
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 58, "An Mhaighdean Mara" (1 text)
NOTES: The description follows the translation for "An Mhaighdean Mara" at _Clannad_ on Celtic Lyrics Corner site. - BS
File: TSF058
===
NAME: Michael Boylan
DESCRIPTION: Boylan, a United man, is taken prisoner to Drogheda June 3. Dan Kelly swears falsely that Boylan had 10,000 at his command "to assist the French invaders as soon as they would land ... and the jury cried out, Boylan you must die by martial laws"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1798 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: rebellion betrayal execution prison Ireland
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 22, 1798 - Michael Boylan is hanged at the Tholsel, Drogheda. (source: Moylan)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Zimmermann 15, "Michael Boylan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 66, "In Collon I Was Taken" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: "Michael Boylan" has the form of a gallows-confession except that the condemned man is a hero rather than a criminal. We have the usual farewell to an "aged father" and mother and the final request that "good Christians pray for me."
Moylan's account of the event has Kelly, the informer, enraged by Boylan's defection: Boylan was supposed to lead the pikemen to fight on Tara May 23, 1798 but, on that night, he refused to leave his house. - BS
Drogheda, we note, is in County Louth, near the border with Meath, north of Dublin and at the southern edge of Ulster. Collon is about a dozen miles north and west of there, again in County Louth.
Unless Boylan was taken far away from the city where he was tried, the charges against him do sound exaggerated; there weren't that many active rebels in that area. The nearest rebel activity was in County Meath, and that pretty feeble. - RBW
File: Zimm015
===
NAME: Michael Davitt
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, the Lords and and the Commons, Bill Gladstone and Bright" passed Coercion "and arrests and evictions are going on still." Davitt, Dillon, Parnell, "Kettle and Brennan, and two hundred more" are arrested. "[T]he land it is ours and we mean to be free"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1881 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: prison farming Ireland political
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann 80, "A New Song on Michael Davitt" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
cf. "The Blackbird of Avondale" or "The Arrest of Parnell" (subject)
cf. "The Land League's Advice to the Tenant Farmers of Ireland" (subject)
cf. "Erin's Lament for her Davitt Asthore" (subject of Michael Davitt)
NOTES: Bodleian, Harding B 40(17), "A New Song on Michael Davitt ("Then up with the flag, raised by Davitt, our head"), J.F. Nugent and Co.? (Dublin?), 1850-1899 is apparently this ballad but I could not download the image to verify that. It has the tune as "Garryowen." 
"A Coercion Act, I should explain, is defined to be a statute which is not a part of the general law, but applies only to some specified portion of the kingdom. And within the limits to which it applies it arms the police with powers unknown to the ordinary law, and sometimes foreign to the spirit of that law." (source: _The Lighter Side of My Official Life_ by Sir Robert Anderson, 1910 on the Casebook site re Jack the Ripper).
In 1881 Gladstone established "the Irish Coercion Act that let the Viceroy detain people for as 'long as was thought necessary.'" (source: "William Ewart Gladstone" in Wikipedia)
Zimmermann: "A.J Kettle and Thomas Brennan were Land Leagers arrested in 1881.... John Dillon was arrested in May 1881, but was released later on grounds of ill-health." 
Zimmermann p.281: "Michael Davitt, who had been sentenced in 1870 to fifteen years' penal servitude for his share in the Fenian movement and released in 1877, was re-arrested in February 1881. Released in 1882, he was again prosecuted for seditious speeches and imprisoned for four months in 1883 ...." - BS
Considering that Gladstone worked for most of his career trying to improve conditions in Ireland, and passed much relief legislation, and on one occasion lost a confidence vote over a proposal for Home Rule, this is a pretty unfair accusation. It was the Tories who opposed rights for Ireland. Yes, Gladstone at times was forced to clamp the lid down, but it was hardly something he desired. Unfortunately, he inherited an Ireland which was in turmoil over tenants' rights (see, e.g., "The Bold Tenant Farmer"). He also had to contend with the Phoenix Park Murders (see the notes to "The Phoenix Park Tragedy"). The situation was bad enough that any government would have been forced into a crackdown.
John Bright (1811-1889) is a more confusing case: He was a pacifist, but an imperialist, and supported more freedom for Ireland and India, but opposed Home Rule in 1886.
Michael Davitt (1846-1906), having seen his family evicted from their land at five and then lost his arm in an industrial accident at the age of 12 (see Robert Kee, _The Bold Fenian Men_, being volume II of _The Green Flag_, p. 74), started out as a radical, and though he moderated over the years, he was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment in 1870. Released after half that time, he allied with Charles Stewart Parnell to form the Land League, though they would later fall out violently. He was imprisoned again from 1881-1882, this time apparently for more conservative views. (Altogether he is a very confusing figure, at least to me.) In 1886, he suppored home rule (Kee, p. 119).
His popularity is a bit ironic, given that he was anti-clerical and inclined toward socialist solutions.
For more on Davitt, see the notes to "The Bold Tenant Farmer" and "Erin's Lament for her Davitt Asthore."
John Dillon (1851-1927) came from a wealthy background but spent most of his life campaigning for land reform; he was four times imprisoned despite spending most of the years 1880-1918 in parliament.
For Parnell (1846-1891), see the various songs in the cross-references.
The other imprisoned Land Leaguers, Kettle and Brennan, were not noteworthy enough to show up in hte histories I checked. - RBW
File: Zimm080
===
NAME: Michael Dwyer (I)
DESCRIPTION: "At length brave Michael Dwyer and his undaunted men Were scented o'er the mountains and tracked into the glen." Dwyer and three men are trapped by the British in a house afire. One, wounded, tries to delay the police, but only Dwyer escapes
AUTHOR: Timothy Daniel Sullivan (1827-1914)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: Ireland rebellion police escape death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: February 15, 1799 - Michael Dwyer escapes from the Glengarry Regiment (source: Moylan)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
O'Conor, pp. 44-45, "Michael Dwyer" (1 text)
Moylan 142, "Michael Dwyer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 30, "Michael O'Dwyer" (1 text, 1 tune)
PGalvin, pp. 95-96, "Michael Dwyer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5219
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "Michael O'Dwyer" (on IRTLenihan01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Michael Dwyer (II)" (subject)
cf. "Captain Dwyer" (subject)
cf. "Michael Dwyer's Lament" (subject)
cf. "The Mountain Men" (subject)
cf. "Twenty Men from Dublin Town" (subject)
NOTES: Moylan: "Michael Dwyer was a Wicklow man, a member of the United Irishmen, who fought during the 1798 rebellion, and who waged a guerilla war in the Wicklow mountains for several years afterwards."
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan: "Michael Dwyer (1771-1826) is a genuinely romantic figure in Irish history. An outlaw 'on his keeping' in the Wicklow hills after the rebellion of 1798 he is remembered by the folk is the same light as Robin Hood or Jessie James are in other traditions." - BS
Sullivan is the author of a number of Irish patriotic poems, of which "God Save Ireland" is probably the best-known. Dwyer also attracted the attention of that militant writer, Peadar Kearney, who produced the Irish national anthem "The Soldier's Song," as well as such pieces as "Whack Fol the Diddle (God Bless England)."
As a historical figure, Dwyer was less important; of the five histories I checked, only Robert Kee's _The Green Flag_ mentions him, and only to note that he was a Catholic (unlike many leaders of the 1798 rebellion), and that after the United Irish collapse, he fought on in the Wicklow Mountains until about the time of Robert Emmet's rebellion.
According to the _Oxford Companion to Irish History_, his dates were 1771-1826; he surrendered to the British in 1803 and was transported to Australia. He became High Constable of Sydney in 1815. He does not seem to have been notable in that post (none of my histories of Australia mention him) -- but I find it somewhat ironic to imagine the former outlaw commanding the forces responsible for tracking down outlaws and bushrangers. - RBW
File: PGa095
===
NAME: Michael Dwyer (II)
DESCRIPTION: "Have you heard of Michael Dwyer and his mountain men?' Dwyer fought when "our flag went down And the nation's hope was banished." Ireland won't have Liberty again "till we strike like Michael Dwyer and his mountain men"
AUTHOR: Peadar Kearney (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST_DATE: 2000 (Moylan)
KEYWORDS: rebellion nonballad patriotic Ireland
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1798 - Irish rebellion against British rule 
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 143, "Michael Dwyer" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Michael Dwyer (I)" (subject of Michael Dwyer) and references there
NOTES: Moylan: "Michael Dwyer was a Wicklow man, a member of the United Irishmen, who fought during the 1798 rebellion, and who waged a guerilla war in the Wicklow mountains for several years afterwards." - BS
Peadar Kearny was the author of, among other things, the Irish national anthem "The Soldier's Song," as well as such pieces as "Whack Fol the Diddle (God Bless England)"; for more on him, see the notes to the latter song. It is perhaps no surprise to find him writing in praise of a covert warrior. Dwyer also attracted the attention of T. D. Sullivan, author of "God Save Ireland," who wrote "Michael Dwyer (I)."
As a historical figure, Dwyer was less important; of the five histories I checked, only Robert Kee's _The Green Flag_ mentions him, and only to note that he was a Catholic (unlike many leaders of the 1798 rebellion), and that after the United Irish collapse, he fought on in the Wicklow Mountains until about the time of Robert Emmet's rebellion.
According to the _Oxford Companion to Irish History_, his dates were 1771-1826; he surrendered to the British in 1803 and was transported to Australia. He became High Constable of Sydney in 1815. He does not seem to have been notable in that post (none of my histories of Australia mention him) -- but I find it somewhat ironic to imagine the former outlaw commanding the forces responsible for tracking down outlaws and bushrangers. - RBW
File: Moyl143
===
NAME: Michael Dwyer's Lament
DESCRIPTION: "To Wicklow's Glens he'd started, from Father Murphy parted." Michael Dwyer continues the fight from the mountains. Some 1798 battles and United Men are listed: "Their Cause it could have gained, then, a Liberty for all!"
AUTHOR: Mick Fowler (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST_DATE: 2000 (Moylan)
KEYWORDS: rebellion Ireland nonballad patriotic
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1798 - Irish rebellion against British rule 
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 145, "Michael Dwyer's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Michael Dwyer (I)" (subject of Michael Dwyer) and references there
NOTES: Moylan: "This song ... was written in 1998 by Dublin singer Mick Fowler."
Moylan: "Michael Dwyer was a Wicklow man, a member of the United Irishmen, who fought during the 1798 rebellion, and who waged a guerilla war in the Wicklow mountains for several years afterwards." - BS
For background on Dwyer -- and his eventual surrender to the British authorities -- see the notes to "Michael Dwyer (I)" or "Michael Dwyer (II)." - RBW
File: Moyl145
===
NAME: Michael Finnegan
DESCRIPTION: Of the exploits of Michael Finnegan, constantly urged to "begin again" after a variety of escapades such as the wind blowing his whiskers back into his chin, or growing fat and then growing thin
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1971
KEYWORDS: nonballad nonsense humorous
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 242, "Michael Finnigan" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 201, "Michael Finnigan" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MIKFINEG
Roud #10541
NOTES: It perhaps says something about the American education system that this song was forced upon me in grade school, but the schools would never have even contemplated a serious ballad with something resembling actual content.... - RBW
File: FSWB242B
===
NAME: Michael FinnIgan: see Michael Finnegan (File: FSWB242B)
===
NAME: Michael O'Brien
DESCRIPTION: "Come all you girls ... A man like me with property free -- how can you pass him by?" He lists his assets. But "the girls won't keep my company, they say my breath is bad ... So I'll take a stroll for the good of my soul and see my neighbor's wife"
AUTHOR: Larry Gorman
EARLIEST_DATE: 1957 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: courting bragging humorous nonballad bachelor
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 52-53, 249, "Michael O'Brien" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13990
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Bachelor's Hall (III)"
NOTES: Ives-DullCare: "It's worth pointing out that this song exhibits three Gorman hallmarks. First, it is about a man looking for a wife. Second, like 'Bachelor's Hall,' it develops its theme through a list of possessions. And third, it is said to have been made up on someone who had asked Gorman to song someone else." - BS
File: IvDC052
===
NAME: Michael O'Dwyer: see Michael Dwyer (I) (File: PGa095)
===