NAME: Michael Power
DESCRIPTION: "On my road to Dungarvan" Michael Power finds a pistol, holds up a postboy and a dragoon, kills four yeomen on the road, twelve more in Carrick and Carey the hangman. He goes to Fulham barracks where he is convicted and sentenced to be hanged.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1976 (recording, Straighty Flanagan)
KEYWORDS: rebellion execution trial humorous outlaw
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #8141
RECORDINGS:
Straighty Flanagan, "Michael Power" (on Voice08)
NOTES: Hall, notes to Voice08, describes "Michael Power" as "a humorous unlikely tale of fiction, ... set in the counties of Waterford and Wexford in those dangerous times of 1798." - BS
File: RcMicPow
===
NAME: Michael, Row the Boat Ashore
DESCRIPTION: "Michael, row the boat ashore, (h)allelujah" (x2). Remaining verses tend to be about the difficulty of crossing (Jordan) to heaven: "Jordan's river is chilly and cold, (h)allelujah; Chills the body but not the soul...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Allen, Ware, Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad travel river ship work worksong floatingverses shanty
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 75, "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 97, "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" (1 text)
DT, MICHAELR
Roud #11975
RECORDINGS:
Jane Hunter & Moving Star Hall singers, "Row, Michael, Row" (on BeenStorm1)
Pete Seeger, "Michael, Row the Boat Ashore" (on PeteSeeger12) (on PeteSeeger15)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I'm Crossing Jordan River" (floating lyrics)
cf. "All My Trials" (lyrics)
cf. "Is Your Lamps Gone Out?" (lyrics)
NOTES: Seeger dates this Georgia sea islands worksong from the mid-19th century. - PJS
File: DTmichae
===
NAME: Michie Preval
DESCRIPTION: Creole French: "Michie Preval li donne youn bai..." Preval hosts a ball, charging three dollars for admission. The festivities reach the stable, where the horses are "astonished." The prison warden likes it so much that he is tempted to stage his own ball
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage party animal clothes
FOUND_IN: West Indies
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 213-214, "Michie Preval" (1 text plus translation, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 166-167, (no title) (1 text plus literal translation, 1 tune)
NOTES: Lomax and Courlander accent the name of the title character differently, but the plot is the same in both versions of the song. - RBW
File: CNFM166
===
NAME: Michigan-I-O: see Canaday-I-O/Michigan-I-O/Colley's Run I-O [Laws C17] (File: LC17)
===
NAME: Michigania
DESCRIPTION: "Come all ye Yankee farmers who would like to change your lot." The singer lists the problems with life in various parts of the country (from cold Vermont to "the land of Blue Laws" to tax-heavy Massachusetts) and urges listeners to come to "Michigania"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 555-556, "Michigania" (1 text)
Roud #4745
File: BNEF555
===
NAME: Mick Magee
DESCRIPTION: Magee is a dealer in tobacco and tea who does not bother with licenses. Accidentally taking his wares to a police station, he is pursued by the force. He lends his bag to a beggar and lets himself be trapped. Since he has nothing illegal, he is released
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: commerce trick police escape
FOUND_IN: Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H740, pp. 56-57, "Mick Magee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 74, "Mick McGee" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST HHH740 (Partial)
Roud #2764
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Mick McGee
File: HHH740
===
NAME: Mick McGee: see Mick Magee (File: HHH056)
===
NAME: Mick McGuire: see Let Mr. McGuire Sit Down (File: RcLMMSD)
===
NAME: Mick Riley
DESCRIPTION: "'Twas in the summer season in the year of seventy-six" the singer fished one summer on Ocean Lark, whose owner is a cobbler in winter. The song claims this cobbler is a cheat and robber and will be so until "he'll find himself in Hell's eternal flames"
AUTHOR: Larry Gorman
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: greed thief fishing ship humorous
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-DullCare, p. 87, "Mick Riley" (1 text)
Roud #14003
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Gull Decoy" (characters)
NOTES: Ives-DullCare: "This song was about the Gull Decoy's son Mick, who, during the off-season, worked as a cobbler." See the notes to "The Gull Decoy" for another example of Gorman's reputed vindictiveness. - BS
File: IvDC087
===
NAME: Mickey's Warning: see Blue Bleezin' Blind Drunk (Mickey's Warning) (File: RcBlBlBl)
===
NAME: Middlesex Flora, The
DESCRIPTION: Bound from London in a storm, "the proud waves did beat her to staves, her name was The Middlesex Flora, and they did sweep our men to the deep." Strangers on the coast pick up the rich cargo. Captain James Bell and the lost crew of thirteen are named.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1946 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor shore
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1825: "Middlesex Flora of London was wrecked at Dundrum... en route from Barcelona to Belfast.... Twenty four were drowned." (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v2, p. 25; Irish Wrecks Online site)
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 72-74, "The Middlesex Flora" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3810
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.12(119), "The Middlesex Flora," H. Such (London), 1863-1885
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Mariposa" (theme)
cf. "The Teapots at the Fire" (theme)
cf. "The Old Mayflower" (theme)
cf. "The Irrawaddy" (theme)
File: Ran072
===
NAME: Midnight
DESCRIPTION: "Under this sod lies a great bucking horse. There never lived a cowboy he couldn't toss. His name was Midnight, his coat black as coal, If there's a hoss heaven, please, God, rest his soul."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963
KEYWORDS: horse death recitation
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1924 - First appearance of the bucking horse "Midnight" at the Calgary Stampede
1933 - Midnight is retired
1936 - Death of Midnight. This poem was reportedly inscribed on his monument
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 80, "Midnight" (1 text)
File: Ohr080
===
NAME: Midnight Dew, The: see Nine Hundred Miles (File: LxU073)
===
NAME: Midnight Special, The
DESCRIPTION: "Let the Midnight Special shine its light on me; Let the Midnight Special shine its ever-loving light on me." The prisoner describes how he was arrested, the difficult conditions in prison, and a visit from his girlfriend
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (recording, Dave Cutrell)
KEYWORDS: prison hardtimes warning crime police train
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (10 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 478-484, "The Midnight Special" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 292, "The Midnight Special" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 26-27, "The Midnight Special"; 217, "Midnight Special" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 91, "The Midnight Special" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 71-75, "The Midnight Special" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 908-909, "The Midnight Special" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 142-143, "Midnight Special" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 55, "Midnight Special" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 71, "Midnight Special" (1 text)
DT, MDNTSPCL
Roud #6364
RECORDINGS:
Jesse Bradley, "Midnight Special" (AFS 218 A1, 1934)
Dillard Chandler, "Gastony Song" (on Chandler01)
Dave Cutrell (known as "Pistol Pete") with McGinty's Oklahoma Cowboy Band, "Pistol Pete's Midnight Special" (OKeh 45057, 1926); McGinty's Oklahoma Cowboy Band (now led by Otto Gray), "The Midnight Special" (Vocalion 5337; c. 1929)
Folkmasters, "The Midnight Special" (on Fmst01)
Frank Jordan & Group, "Midnight Special" (AFS 619 A1, 1936)
Leadbelly & the Golden Gate Quartet, "The Midnight Special" (Victor 27266, 1941; rec. 1940)
Pete Seeger, "The Midnight Special" (on PeteSeeger18) (on PeteSeeger26) (on PeteSeeger43)
Pete Seeger & Big Bill Broonzy, "The Midnight Special" (on BroonzySeeger1) (on BroonzySeeger2)
[Wilmer] Watts & [Frank] Wilson, "Walk Right In Belmont" (Paramount 3019, 1927; on TimesAint04)
Ernest Williams, "Midnight Special" (AFS CYL-11-5, 1933)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Jumpin' Judy"
cf. "Mississippi Jail House Groan" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: I seem to recall a legend that, should the light of the Midnight Special shine on a convict, he would soon be freed. I can'r remember where I heard this, though.
Carl Sandburg, on the other hand, believes that the song refers to suicide: That the convict would rather be dead under the wheels of the train than spend another twenty years in prison.
Cohen quotes Mack McCormick to the effect that several versions show localization to an unsuccessful 1923 jailbreak, but offers evidence that the song, or at least pieces of it, are much older. The version he prints, "Pistol Pete's Midnight Special" by Dave Cutrell, has several verses not heard in the common Leadbelly version. - RBW
File: R292
===
NAME: Midnight Train and the 'Fo' Day Train, The: see The Midnight Train (File: San325)
===
NAME: Midnight Train, The
DESCRIPTION: "The midnight train and the fo' day train run all night long (x2) They run till the break of day." "'Twas the same train carried yo' mother 'way, run all night long (x2) It run until the break of day."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: train mother
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Sandburg, p. 325, "The Midnight Train" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 240-241, "The Midnight Train and the 'Fo' Day Train" (1 short text, 1 tune)
ST San325 (Full)
File: San325
===
NAME: Mighty Bright Light
DESCRIPTION: First verse/chorus: "(It was) a mighty bright light that was shining down." "Oh, tell me who was that light that was shining down?" "King Jesus was the light that was shining down." "My mother saw the light that was shining down...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951 (recorded by Texas state farm prisoners)
KEYWORDS: worksong chaingang religious
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, p. 101, "(Mighty Bright Light)" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Texas state farm prisoners, "Mighty Bright Light" (on NPCWork)
NOTES: A work song, with the gang joining in on the word "down," perhaps striking the hammer at that point. - RBW
File: CNFM101
===
NAME: Mighty Day (Wasn't That a Mighty Storm)
DESCRIPTION: The story of the Galveston tidal wave. Despite evacuation efforts, many die on land and at sea. Chorus something like, "Wasn't that a mighty day/storm, when the storm winds struck/swept the town."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: storm disaster death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sep 8, 1900 - Galveston hurricane and flood. Some 6000 die
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 728, "Wasn't That a Mighty Storm!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 53, "Mighty Day" (1 text)
DT, MIGHTDAY
Roud #12206
RECORDINGS:
"Sin-Killer" Griffin & congregation, "Wasn't That a Mighty Storm" (AFS 185 B2, 1934; on LC10)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Wasn't That a Mighty Time (Galveston Flood)" (subject, floating lyrics)
NOTES: This song shares many of its lyrics, and even some musical elements, with "Wasn't That a Mighty Time (Galveston Flood)." It is quite likely that the two have common roots. The "feel" of the resulting songs is so different, however, that I list them as separate pieces.
The "popular" version, as recorded by the Chad Mitchell trio, reportedly was touched up somewhat by Bob Gibson. - RBW
In the LC version... the chorus is: "Wasn't that a mighty storm/Wasn't that a mighty storm, great water/Wasn't that a mighty storm/That blew the people away." - PJS
File: BSoF728
===
NAME: Mighty Maulin', A: see Fod (File: LoF213)
===
NAME: Mighty Mississippi
DESCRIPTION: "Way out in the Mississippi valley, Just along the plain so grand, Rose the flooded Mississippi River, Destroying the works of man." The Mississippi River flood of 1927 is described, and the plight of those flooded out detailed
AUTHOR: Words: Kelly Harrell
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Ernest Stoneman)
KEYWORDS: flood river disaster
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 87, "Mighty Mississippi" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MGHTYMSS*
RECORDINGS:
New Lost City Ramblers, "Mighty Mississippi" (on NLCR02)
Mike Seeger, "The Story of the Mighty Mississippi" (on MSeeger01)
Ernest Stoneman, "The Story of the Mighty Mississippi" (Victor 20671, 1927)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Great American Flood Disaster" (subject)
NOTES: Kelly Harrell wrote this poem but never attempted to record it (shows how different attitudes toward composed songs were back then); it was Ernest Stoneman who took the piece, found a traditional tune for it, and recorded the result. - RBW
And the recording was out within a few months of the disaster -- probably by September, 1927. - PJS
According to Kip Lornell, _Virginia's Blues, Country & Gospel Records 1902-1943_, the recording session was even more timely: It was made May 21, 1927. Stoneman also cut "Jim Hoover's Mississippi Flood Song" in that session, but Victor declined to issue it. - RBW
File: CSW087
===
NAME: Mike
DESCRIPTION: "Section men a-workin' there all side by side." One of them, Mike, boasts of his work on the railroad. He works and fights hard. One day he works in the jimson, picks up a crosstie, is attacked by a snake, and flees
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: work railroading animal
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 1869 - Transcontinental railroad complete
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-ABFS, p. 23, "Mike" (1 text)
Roud #15523
NOTES: The chorus of this piece runs, "Damned be the President, My name's Mike, I got a hand in it, I drive the spike." I assume this refers to the famous "driving of the golden spike" (May 10, 1869 in Promontory, Utah), completing the first transcontinental railroad. This is only a guess, though. - RBW
File: LxA023
===
NAME: Milatraisse Courri Dans Bal
DESCRIPTION: Creole French. "Militraisse courri dans bal, Cocodrie po'te fanal, Trouloulou! C'est pas zaffaire a tou (x2), Trouloulou!" The mixed-blood woman goes to the dance; a full-blood black "holds the lantern"; the musician is asked what difference it makes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1886 (Cable in Century Magazine)
KEYWORDS: Black(s) dancing foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 122-123, "Milatraisse Courri Dans Bal" (1 short text plus loose English translation, 1 tune)
File: ScaNF1222
===
NAME: Milking Pails (China Doll)
DESCRIPTION: The child begs, "Mama, buy me a china doll." The mother asks where the money will come from. The child proposes selling Papa's bed. Mama asks where Papa will sleep. The child keeps proposing ideas, each more impractical. Finally Mama ends the discussion
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1894 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: commerce children family mother playparty
FOUND_IN: US(So) Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Randolph 356, "Buy Me a China Doll" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 291-293, "Buy Me a China Doll" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 356)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 192, "(Buy me a milking pail)" (1 text)
DT, MILKPAIL
ST R356 (Full)
Roud #3515
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Chiney Doll
NOTES: Randolph's informant claims to have learned this in Oklahoma. I know of only two verified American collections, though: Randolph's, and a version ("Chiney Doll") by Almeda Riddle. Thus American texts, and the "China Doll" wish, may be confined to the Ozarks.
On the other hand, Newell's text, "Milking-Pails" (from England) is so close in form (if not in the object of desire) that the song must be considered ancient, and Gomme has more than a dozen British texts. The British version is a singing game, though the American texts seem to have lost this trait. - RBW
File: R356
===
NAME: Milking Song, The
DESCRIPTION: "Pbroo, pbroo! my bonnie cow! ... Ye ken the hand that's kind to you; Sae let the drappie go, hawkie." The calf is sleeping in the pen, but will come soon. The milk makes visitors glad.
AUTHOR: Robert Jamieson
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: animal food nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 244, "The Milking Song" (1 text)
Roud #3939
NOTES: Ord believes that Jamieson produced this as an imitation, or perhaps an improvement, of an actual milking song. It seems likely enough. I know of no purely traditional collection.
And, no, I have no idea how one pronounces "pbroo"!
Similar milking rhymes are of course common. Baroing-Gould-MotherGoose 490, p. 213, runs
Cushy cow, bonny, let down thy milk,
And I will give thee a gown of silk;
A gown of silk and a silver tee,
If thou will let down thy milk to me.
There is a similar text in Montgomerie-ScottishNR -- #29, "(Bonnie lady, Let down your milk)." - RBW
File: Ord244
===
NAME: Milking-Pails: see Milking Pails (China Doll) (File: R356)
===
NAME: Milkmaid, The (Milking Maid, The): see Rolling in the Dew (The Milkmaid) (File: R079)
===
NAME: Milkman's Lament, The: see Rocking the Cradle (and the Child Not His Own) (File: R393)
===
NAME: Mill and the Kiln, The: see Tak It, Man, Tak It (I) (File: FVS015)
===
NAME: Mill o Tifty's Annie: see Andrew Lammie [Child 233] (File: C233)
===
NAME: Mill o' Lour, The
DESCRIPTION: "We a' agreed at Martinmas On Mill o' Lour to dwell, They said it was a very fine place, But it turned out not so well." The singer describes how hard it is to work the mill, and the people and teams involved.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: work home horse miller
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 330-331, "The Mill o' Lour" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, p. 255, "The Mill o' Lour" (1 text)
Roud #5573
File: FVS330
===
NAME: Mill of Boyndie: see Mullnabeeny (Mill of Boyndie) (File: Ord249)
===
NAME: Mill-Boy of the Slashes, The: see Henry Clay Songs (File: SRW039)
===
NAME: Mill, Mill O, The
DESCRIPTION: "Beneath a green shade I found a fair maid, Was sleeping sound and still." The singer has his way with her, then departs to fight in Flanders. Ten years later, he returns to find that she has a child and knows not the father. He marries her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1803 (_Scots Musical Museum_ #242)
KEYWORDS: sex rape mother children reunion marriage soldier
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 165, "The Mill, Mill, O" (1 text)
Roud #8486
File: Ord165
===
NAME: Mill, The
DESCRIPTION: "Clip, clap goes the mill by the swift running brook, clip, clap, By day and by night is the miller at work, clip clap! He grindeth the corn to make bread for the year, And with plenty of this we have nothing to fear; Clip clap...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Linscott)
KEYWORDS: miller work river nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Linscott, pp. 240-241, "The Mill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3750
NOTES: Linscott says of this, "This song in transition has lost its music-box characteristics, which are so apparent in the German form." A curious statement, since she never tells us what the German form is. - RBW
File: Lins240
===
NAME: Miller (I), The: see Miller Tae My Trade (File: K218)
===
NAME: Miller and His Sons, The: see The Miller's Will (The Miller's Three Sons) [Laws Q21] (File: LQ21)
===
NAME: Miller Boy, The (Jolly is the Miller I)
DESCRIPTION: Playparty: "Happy is the miller boy who lives by the mill, The mill turns around with its own free will, Hand on the hopper and the other on the sack, Lady keeps a-going, gents turn back." Other verses about courting, milling, weather
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1719? (Pills to Purge Melancholy) (American version 1916/Wolford)
KEYWORDS: playparty nonballad miller
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Randolph 518, "The Miller Boy" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownIII 75, "The Miller Boy" (3 one-stanza fragments)
Hudson 153, pp. 300-301, "The Jolly Miller" (1 text)
DT, OVRHILL5*
Roud #733
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Jolly is the Miller" (on PeteSeeger22) (on PeteSeeger33, PeteSeegerCD03)
NOTES: Wolford traces this piece back to _Pills to Purge Melancholy_, and Randolph reports that Gomme has English versions. But they don't look like the same item to me. - RBW
File: R518
===
NAME: Miller of Dee, The
DESCRIPTION: The jolly miller "worked and sang from morn till night, no lark more blythe than he." He is happy because "the bread I eat my hands have earned... in debt to none I be." Listeners are urged to follow his example
AUTHOR: probably Isaac Bickerstaffe (see NOTES)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1762 ("Love in a Village"; cf. Chappell)
KEYWORDS: work drink nonballad miller worker
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Kennedy (229), "The Jolly Miller" (1 text, located in the notes)
cf. Chappell/Wooldridge II, p. 124, "The Budgeon It Is a Delicate Trade" (1 tune, partial text)
DT, MILLDEE* MILLDEE2*
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 347-348, "(Song)" (1 short text)
Roud #503
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.25(278), "Miller of the Dee," W.S. Fortey (London), 1858-1885; also Harding B 15(200a), "Miller of the River Dee"; Harding B 15(199b), "The Miller of the Dee"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jolly Miller" (subject)
SAME_TUNE:
The Budgeon It Is a Delicate Trade (Chappell/Wooldridge II, p. 124)
The Jolly Grinder (File: DTjollgr)
NOTES: Kennedy makes rather a hash of his notes on this song, observing that it is quite close to "The Jolly Miller," which may derive from the same sources. True enouth. But "The Jolly Miller" is not "The Miller of Dee," and though Kennedy identifies the tune of the latter (correctly) with "The Budgeon It Is a Delicate Trade," "The Miller of Dee" and "The Budgeon" do *not* use the same tune as "The Jolly Miller," at least as transcribed by Kennedy.
"The Budgeon," which Chappell finds in "The Quaker's Opera" in 1728, is in the natural minor; Kennedy's "The Jolly Miller" is in Ionian (major).
Kennedy makes things worse by saying "The Budgeon" is the same tune as "All Around My Hat" -- which again is in Ionian, not natural minor. - RBW
The Bodleian attributes authorship to Isaac Bickerstaffe, though none of the broadsides have that attribution on its face. Opie-Oxford2 352: "This song, a general favourite in Scotland, and of Sir Walter Scott in particular, became well known after it was sung by John Beard in Bickerstaffe's _Love in a Village_. The music of this successful opera, performed at Covent Garden in 1762 ...."
Verse 1 of broadside Bodleian Firth b.25(278) is almost the same as verse 1 of Opie-Oxford2 352, "There was a jolly miller once" (earliest date in Opie-Oxford2 is 1762). - BS
I looked up several editions (Hoagland; RIchard Aldington, _The Viking Book of Poetry of the English-Speaking World_) of the "Love in a Village" text, and it's clearly this song -- but there appears to be only one verse. So Bickerstaffe (1735?-1812?) isn't the whole story; the additional text must have come from another source.
Bickerstaffe, incidentally, is almost as confusing as the piece he wrote, because he was a real person, but shared a name (almost) with Isaac Bickerstaff, who was not. Bickerstaff was a pseudonym adopted by Jonathan Swift in a controversy with John Partridge. Bickerstaff made a claim Partridge was dead, and even wrote an elegy  (1708), provoking an indignant exchange of pamphlets with the very-much-alive Partridge. This was amusing enough that Richard Steele used the Bickerstaff name for a writer of _The Tatler_ Starting 1709). Then Bickerstaffe (with an e) was born a few decades later.- RBW
File: K229A
===
NAME: Miller of Derbyshire, The: see The Miller's Will (The Miller's Three Sons) [Laws Q21] (File: LQ21)
===
NAME: Miller Tae My Trade
DESCRIPTION: The singer reports, "I am a miller tae my trade... And mony a bag of meal I've made, And mony a lassie I hae laid." He describes one night on which a girl came to his mill and sought his services. (They end up being married)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906
KEYWORDS: miller work seduction bawdy marriage sex work
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Kennedy 218, "The Buchan Miller" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 31, "The Miller" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MILLTRAD
Roud #888
RECORDINGS:
John McDonald, "The Buchan Miller" (on FSB3)
Davie Stewart, "I Am a Miller To My Trade" (on Voice05)
File: K218
===
NAME: Miller's Advice to His Three Sons, on Taking of Toll, The: see The Miller's Will (The Miller's Three Sons) [Laws Q21] (File: LQ21)
===
NAME: Miller's Apprentice, The: see The Wexford (Oxford, Knoxville, Noel) Girl [Laws P35] (File: LP35)
===
NAME: Miller's Daughter, The (The Fleeing Servant)
DESCRIPTION: The youth and the miller's daughter find themselves on the hill; she starts to seduce him. He flees to the miller, saying, ""O, I have served you seven long years and never sought a fee, And I will serve you seven more if you'll keep your lass from me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
KEYWORDS: seduction humorous miller sex rejection
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Kinloch-BBook V, pp. 23-24, (no title) (1 text)
PBB 84, "The Miller's Daughter" (1 text)
ST KinBB06 (Full)
Roud #7151
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Waukin' o' the Kilne, The
NOTES: Kinloch has no title for this piece, and of course doesn't list a source -- but I have to think it's traditional, simply because it doesn't make much sense as it stands. If he wants nothing to do with the girl, why does he go walking with her? It seems likely that a stanza is missing -- either one explaining how she trapped him alone, or one along the lines of "The Warranty Deed," explaining why she is desirable only when clothed.
The Penguin version of this apparently comes from A. L. Lloyd, and isn't much more detailed -- but looks to have been tidied up just a little.
This is one of the handful of humorous treatments of male fidelity -- a theme going back to the tale of Joseph and Potiphar's wife (Genesis 39:1-20), and the source of such tragic ballads as "Child Owlet" and "The Sheffield Apprentice." - RBW
File: KinBB06
===
NAME: Miller's Daughters, The: see The Twa Sisters [Child 10] (File: C010)
===
NAME: Miller's Last Will, The: see The Miller's Will (The Miller's Three Sons) [Laws Q21] (File: LQ21)
===
NAME: Miller's Three Sons, The: see The Miller's Will (The Miller's Three Sons) [Laws Q21] (File: LQ21)
===
NAME: Miller's Wife o' Blaydon, The
DESCRIPTION: "The miller's wife o' Blaydon (x2), Sair she bang'd her ain gudeman For kissing o' the maiden." "Yet aye the miller sings and swears... For one kiss o' that bonny mouth He'd freely give up twenty."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: miller abuse adultery
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 152-153, "The Miller's Wife o Blaydon" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR152 (Full)
Roud #3167
File: StoR152
===
NAME: Miller's Will, The (The Miller's Three Sons) [Laws Q21]
DESCRIPTION: The dying miller, to decide which of his three sons will inherit, asks each boy how much he would charge. The first son would take an honest toll; the second, half; the last, all and swear to the sack. The miller joyfully gives the mill to the last son
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1764 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 5(7))
KEYWORDS: death father children robbery crime bequest lastwill
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar) Britain(England(All),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (24 citations)
Laws Q21, "The Miller's Will (The Miller's Three Sons)"
Belden, pp. 244-246, "The Miller and his Three Sons" (3 texts)
Randolph 359, "There Was an Old Miller" (4 texts plus an excerpt, 3 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 126-129, "There Was an Old Miller" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 91D)
Eddy 61, "The Dishonest Miller" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 98, "The Dying Miller" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 177, "The Miller and His Three Sons" (2 text plus 5 excerpts and mention of 3 more)
Chappell-FSRA 106, "The Miller" (1 fragment)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 240-242, "The Miller's Advice to His Three Sons, on Taking of Toll" (2 texts, both called "The Old Miller"; 2 tunes on p. 419)
JHCoxIIB, #18A-B, pp. 163-165, "The Miller and His Sons," "The Miller" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp.234-236 , "The Miller of Derbyshire" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 94, "The Miller" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 161, "The Miller's Will" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 56, "The Miller's Will" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 232, "The Miller's Last Will" (1 text, 1 tune)
Stokoe/Reay, pp.  58-59, "The Miller and His Sons" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 80-81, "The Miller's Will" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 144-145, "The Miller's Will" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 546-547, "The Miller's Three Sons" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 155, "The Dishonest Miller" (3 texts plus mention of six more, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 149-151, "The Miller's Will" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 120, "The Miller" (1 text)
BBI, ZN2524, "There was a miller who had three sons"
DT 348, MILLWILL MILLWIL2 MILLWIL3*
Roud #138
RECORDINGS:
Horton Barker, "The Miller's Will" (on Barker01)
Jumbo Brightwell, "The Derby Miller" (on Voice14)
Carson Brothers & Sprinkle, "The Old Miller's Will" (OKeh 45398, 1929; on TimesAint01)
Margaret MacArthur, "New Hampshire Miller" (on MMacArthur01)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Miller's Will" (on NLCR04)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 5(7), "The Miller's Advice to His Three Sons, in Taking of Toll," W. and C. Dicey (London) , 1736-1763; also Douce Ballads 4(44), "The Miller's Advice to His Three Sons, in Taking of Toll"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Old Miller Rake
File: LQ21
===
NAME: Millman and Tuplin Song, The
DESCRIPTION: June 18 at Margate, Mary "went to meet her young lover, who a few nights before Said he'd make all things right when they'd meet on that shore." He shoots her and "sunk her body deep down" in the river. He is convicted in 1898.
AUTHOR: Dan Riley
EARLIEST_DATE: 1957 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: courting murder trial lover
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 28, 1887 - Murder of Mary Tuplin by William Millman
1888 - Execution of Millman
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 46-47, 249-250, "The Millman and Tuplin Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 50, "Young Millman (The Tuplin Song)" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST IvDC046 (Partial)
Roud #9179
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Prince Edward Island Murder" (subject)
cf. "The Murder of Mary Tuplin" (subject)
cf. "The Millman Song" (subject)
NOTES: Roud has at least five different numbers for this event:
Roud #1837: Creighton-NovaScotia 140, "Prince Edward Island Murder" [Laws dF59]
Roud #4129: Doerflinger, pp. 285-286, "The Millman Song" (also Ives-DullCare, pp. 180-181, "The Millman Murder Trial") [LawsdF60]
Roud #9179: Ives-DullCare, pp. 46-47, "The Millman and Tuplin Song" (also Manny/Wilson 50, "Young Millman")
Roud #9552: Shea, pp. 174-179, "The Millman Tragedy"
Roud #12463: Dibblee/Dibblee pp. 72-73, "The Murder of Mary Tuplin"
The Ives-DullCare text has the trial in 1898 instead of 1888. That's understandable since the rhyme still holds. [We note that the version in Manny & Wilson has the date right. - RBW] - BS
File: IvDC046
===
NAME: Millman Murder Trial, The: see The Millman Song (File: Doe285)
===
NAME: Millman Song, The
DESCRIPTION: Mary "Cuplon" is pregnant by Millman. The father, rather than admit the deed or marry the girl, murders her and throws her in the river. Her body is found, and Millman is sentenced to death. The singer reminds parents to watch their children
AUTHOR: Attributed to John Calhoun
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: murder pregnancy river trial execution
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 28, 1887 - Murder of Mary Tuplin by William Millman
1888 - Execution of Millman
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Doerflinger, pp. 285-286, "The Millman Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 180-181,250, "The Millman Murder Trial" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Doe285 (Partial)
Roud #4129
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Prince Edward Island Murder" (subject)
cf. "The Murder of Mary Tuplin" (subject)
cf. "The Millman and Tuplin Song" (subject)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Millman Murder Trial
NOTES: This song is item dF60 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
Roud has at least five different numbers for this event:
Roud #1837: Creighton-NovaScotia 140, "Prince Edward Island Murder" [Laws dF59]
Roud #4129: Doerflinger, pp. 285-286, "The Millman Song"(also Ives-DullCare, pp. 180-181, "The Millman Murder Trial") [LawsdF60]
Roud #9179: Ives-DullCare, pp. 46-47, "The Millman and Tuplin Song" (also Manny/Wilson 50, "Young Millman")
Roud #9552: Shea, pp. 174-179, "The Millman Tragedy"
Roud #12463: Dibblee/Dibblee pp. 72-73, "The Murder of Mary Tuplin" - BS
File: Doe285
===
NAME: Milwaukee Blues: see Joseph Mica (Mikel) (The Wreck of the Six-Wheel Driver) (Been on the Choly So Long) [Laws I16] (File: LI16)
===
NAME: Milwaukee Fire, The [Laws G15]
DESCRIPTION: The "oft-condemned" Newhall House catches fire; passers-by watch in horror as the residents die in the flames. In particular, a servant girl leaps to her death, and a mother watches her son trapped in the fire
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922
KEYWORDS: fire disaster death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Jan 1883 - Fire at the Newhall House. At least 63 people die
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws G15, "The Milwaukee Fire"
LPound-ABS, 62, pp. 138-140, "The Milwaukee Fire" (1 text)
DT 682, MILWAUKF
Roud #3255
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "Milwaukee Fire" (AFS 4198 B1, 4198 B2, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Robert Walker, "The Milwaukee Fire" (AFS, 1941; on LC55)
NOTES: John W. Kelley (who also produced such pieces as "The Bowery Grenadiers") wrote a piece called "The Milwaukee Fire" in 1884, and some sources equate this song with that item. The fire, however, was the subject of a great deal of press coverage, and doubtless produced several pierces. None of the folk sources I have consulted equate the traditional song with the Kelley piece, and so I am holding off until I see better evidence. - RBW
File: LG15
===
NAME: Min Mand Han Var en Sjomand (My Man He Was a Seaman)
DESCRIPTION: Swedish shanty. Cautionary song, children ask "where is father? He's resting in the grave." Warns girls not to wed a sailor or they'll end up a widow with children. Source doesn't give a chorus, verses may have been repeated as refrains.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Eivind Jartved)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty sailor wife death
FOUND_IN: Sweden
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 529-530, "Min Mand Han Var en Sjomand" (2 texts-Swedish & English, 1 tune)
NOTES: Hugill got this from Sternvall's _Sang under Segel_ (1935) with a note that it was taken from "Eivind Jartved" in 1904. - SL
File: Hugi529
===
NAME: Mind How You Trifle With a Gun: see McLellan's Son (File: Pea831)
===
NAME: Mind Your Eye: see Quare Bungo Rye (File: Log416)
===
NAME: Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of the Burning of the School
DESCRIPTION: "Mine eyes have seen the glory of the burning of the school, We have tortured every teacher, we have broken every rule." The students describe (with many variations) how they overthrew the scholastic regime
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1975
KEYWORDS: rebellion derivative
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 100, "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory of the Burning of the School" (1 text with many variants, tune referenced)
DT, BURNSCHL
ST PHCFS100 (Full)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "John Brown's Body" (tune)
cf. "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Horror of the Ending of the Term"
NOTES: I wonder if this isn't the most popular folk song in America today. - RBW
File: PHCFS100
===
NAME: Miner, The
DESCRIPTION: The miner goes to work "With his calico cap and his old flannel shirt, his pants with the strap round the knee, His boots watertight and his candle alight His crib and his billy of tea." He works to support his family, and hopes to have money for tobacco
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964
KEYWORDS: mining work family poverty
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 74-75, "The Miner" (1 text, 1 tune -- collected as a fragment inserted into another piece)
Manifold-PASB, p. 43, "The Miner" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Manifold comments, "This is one of the few songs from the later period of gold-mining, after the alluvial gold was finished." In other words, it is a true mining song, not a prospecting song. Such things are not rare in America, of course, but they do seem to be unusual in Australia. - RBW
File: FaE074
===
NAME: Miner's Doom, The [Laws Q36]
DESCRIPTION: Although a miner's life may be happy, the risks are great. This miner is riding back to the surface when the elevator rope breaks. His death causes his wife to die of grief, leaving their three children orphans
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Vernon Dalhart)
KEYWORDS: mining death orphan
FOUND_IN: US(MA) Britain(Wales)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Laws Q36, "The Miner's Doom"
DT 544, MINRDOOM*
Roud #1015
RECORDINGS:
 Vernon Dalhart, "The Miner's Doom" (Brunswick 139, 1927; Supertone S-2014, 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Orphan Girl" (the subtext "The Coal Miner's Child" has a plot very like this)
NOTES: Laws lists this as an old Welsh song, and Korson claims to have picked it up from a Welshman in 1925. But I wonder. There seem to be only two known traditional versions: Korson's, which he claims to have heard in 1925 but who did not record it until 1946, and Lloyd's. Thus, apart from Korson's unverifiable claim of a 1925 date, there is no evidence of this song being in circulation prior to Vernon Dalhart's recording. One has to suspect that Dalhart at least contributed to its (bare) survival. - RBW
File: LQ36
===
NAME: Miner's Lifeguard
DESCRIPTION: A union song with religious overtones. The miner is advised to "Keep your hand upon the dollar and  your eyes upon the scales."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940
KEYWORDS: nonballad mining religious labor-movement
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 730, "Miner's Lifeguard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 15-16, "(Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad)" (1 text, plus fragments of assorted parodies, of which this is the first)
Silber-FSWB, p. 138, "Miner's Lifeguard" (1 text)
DT, MNRLFGRD*
Roud #3510
RECORDINGS:
Mary Travers , "Miner's Lifeguard" (on PeteSeeger01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Life's Railway to Heaven (Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad)" (tune) and references there
NOTES: A parody of "Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad." - RBW
File: BSoF730
===
NAME: Miners' Fate, The [Laws G10]
DESCRIPTION: A cave-in five hundred feet below the ground traps the Pittston miners. There can be no rescue; not even the bodies can be brought out. The families grieve
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: mining disaster death family
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 28, 1896 - The Pittstown cave-in
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Laws G10, "The Miners' Fate"
DT 786, MINRFATE
Roud #3261
File: LG10
===
NAME: Minister's Dochter o' Newarke, The: see The Cruel Mother [Child 20] (File: C020)
===
NAME: Minnie Quay (Winnie Gray) [Laws G20]
DESCRIPTION: Slandered by a young man, sixteen-year-old (Minnie) finds that her parents have turned against her and wish her dead. She drowns herself in Lake Huron
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: suicide family lie drowning
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws G20, "Minnie Quay (Winnie Gray)"
Beck 77, "Minnie Quay" (1 text)
DT 835, MINIQUAY
Roud #8850
NOTES: [Beck notes that] Minnie Quay's tombstone can be found in the village of Forester, on the shore of Lake Huron. [The author of the song is] possibly William J. Smith, of Port Huron, Michigan. - PJS
File: LG20
===
NAME: Minstrel Boy, The
DESCRIPTION: "The minstrel boy to the war is gone, In the ranks of death you'll find him. His father's sword he has girded on And his wild hard slung behind him." The minstrel falls in battle, destroying his harp so that "no chains shall sully thee."
AUTHOR: Words: Thomas Moore
EARLIEST_DATE: 1813 ("A Selection of Irish Melodies")
KEYWORDS: soldier harp music death
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 279, "The Minstrel Boy" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 369, "The Minstrel-Boy"
DT, MINSTBOY
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), p. 375, "The Minstrel Boy" (1 text)
Roud #13867
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "The Minstrel Boy" (on IRClancyMakem03)
Vernon Stiles, "The Minstrel Boy" (Columbia A-2435, 1917)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(1037), "The Minstrel Boy", T. Birt (London), 1828-1829; also 2806 b.9(243), 2806 c.15(207), Harding B 11(1471), Harding B 16(49c), Firth b.26(434)[some words illegible], Firth b.25(385), Harding B 11(2293), 2806 c.16(197), Firth b.27(457/458) View 1 of 4, Johnson Ballads fol. 26, Harding B 40(2) View 3 of 4[some words cut out], Harding B 19(48), Firth b.26(87)[some words illegible], "The Minstrel Boy"
LOCSheet, sm1879 02687, "The Minstrel Boy", Edw Schuberth (New York), 1879; also sm1882 21694, sm1882 22258, sm1884 25744, sm1885 05300, "The Minstrel Boy" (tune)
LOCSinging, sb30345a, "The Minstrel Boy", H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fisherman's Son to the Ice Has Gone" (form)
NOTES: Usually sung, in these days, as an anti-war song, but originally composed as an Irish freedom piece. The music is said to be "The Moreen," though that song is obscure.
This is another of Moore's "big works"; Granger's Index to Poetry cites it from 13 different anthologies. Ironically, I'm not sure it has ever been found strictly in tradition. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb30345a: 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: FSWB279A
===
NAME: Mione
DESCRIPTION: French cumulative song, in which the singer describes each of the items given by Mione: "If I had the beautiful shoes/stockings/hat/etc. which Mione gave to me...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1919 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage nonballad clothes
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, pp. 517-518, "Mione" (1 text, badly defective and conjecturally restored)
File: Beld517B
===
NAME: Mirabeau
DESCRIPTION: "You may talk of equine heroes from Ajax to Grand-van-Ur.... But there's one more worthy of song... [is] Johnson's Mirabeau." The horse is far behind at the three quarters mark, but comes on to win
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: racing horse
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 117-118, "Mirabeau" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA117
===
NAME: Miracle Flower, The
DESCRIPTION: A man murders and buries a girl. A flower grows from her grave and blooms the year round. If anybody plucks the blossom, it blooms again right away. The killer comes to see it. The flower it turns to blood in his hands and reveals his guilt
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (Creighton/Senior)
KEYWORDS: murder flowers supernatural
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 188-189, "The Miracle Flower" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #3345
NOTES: [Creighton notes], "Although I have told many singers this story, I have yet to find one who knows the song." [The fragmentary text reads] "And wondered how so fair a flower could bloom and flourish there." - BN
File: CrSe188
===
NAME: Miraculous Harvest, The: see The Carnal and the Crane [Child 55] (File: C055)
===
NAME: Miramichi Fire, The [Laws G24]
DESCRIPTION: A great fire covers an area 42 by 100 miles. In less than a day it burns forest, houses, and towns, killing or wounding vast numbers. There is little for the survivors to do but bury the dead
AUTHOR: John Jardine = Thomas M. Jordan (?)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1947 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: fire death disaster
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Oct 1825 - A great series of forest fires sweeps New Brunswick. Popular legend had it that the damage was done by a single fire
FOUND_IN: US(NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws G24, "The Miramichi Fire"
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 201-202, "The Miramichi Fire" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 62-64,250-251, "The Miramichi Fire" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 34, "The Miramichi Fire" (1 text, 3 tunes)
DT 324, MIRAMICH
Roud #2721
RECORDINGS:
Edmund Doucette, "The Miramichi Fire" (on MREIves01)
NOTES: By the early nineteenth century, with the fur trade moving into the Canadian west, the eastern provinces were turning increasingly to logging as a source of income, sending most of their wood products to England.
This had significant effects on the ecology. As the old forests were cut down, second growth invaded, which was naturally more flammable -- and if the fire grew big enough in one of the clear patches, it could spread to the old growth as well. The result was a constant fire danger.
Although none of the fires was as large as the one described in this song, at least one (the "Great Fire") is said to have burned 400 square miles. Adding a zero to that might perhaps have helped inspire this song. - RBW
Ives-DullCare: "Shortly after [the fire], John Jardine of Black River wrote a ballad about it which he almost certainly had printed and sold. Either he or, what is more likely, later singers put tunes to it.... At the moment ... no tune has a better right than the present one to be called, if not the 'original,' at least the most widespread." - BS
Laws cites the _Bulletin of the Folk-Song Society of the Northeast_ (#11) in attributing this song to Thomas M. Jordan. Obviously Jordan and Jardine are oral variants on each other. Jardine is the more likely; Manny and Wilson have a photograph of John Jardine (obviously in later life). - RBW
File: LG24
===
NAME: Miss Aledo: see Powderhorn (File: FCW070)
===
NAME: Miss Cochrane
DESCRIPTION: "It was on an Easter Monday which happened of late, Young Marg'ret got ready and set on her way." Her boat blows out to sea and she is drowned. Her body is never found. Her father says he warned her against sailing on Logh Foyle
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: death drowning ship father
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H42a, p. 148, "Miss Cochrane" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9452
SAME_TUNE:
Eirigh Suas a Stoirin (Kennedy, #34)
File: HHH042a
===
NAME: Miss Dinah
DESCRIPTION: "I wish I was an apple, Miss Dinah was another. And O! what a happy pair we'd make On the tree together." "Oh, I love Miss Dinah so." One day a wind blows them together, then into the water. "Miss Dinah she was raked ashore, But I was never founded"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: love courting river drowning rescue
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 127-128, "Miss Dinah" (1 text)
File: ScaNF127
===
NAME: Miss Forbes's Farewell to Banff
DESCRIPTION: "Farewell ye fields an' meadows green, The blest retreat of peace and love." The singer tells of the beauties of home, and admits, "I'm loath to leave the scene again." The singer bids farewell, hoping all the while to return
AUTHOR: John Hamilton (died 1814) ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: home love emigration
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 358, "Miss Forbes' Farewell to Banff" (1 text)
Roud #5607
File: Ord358
===
NAME: Miss Gordon of Gight
DESCRIPTION: "O, whare are ye gaun, bonnie Miss Gordon... Ye're gauin wi' Johnny Byron To squander the lands o' Gight awa." "Your Johnny's a man frae England just come, The Scots dinna like his extraction ava... he'll spend a' your rent." 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: warning home money marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 390, "Miss Gordon of Gight" (1 text)
Roud #3891
NOTES: According to Ord, Catherine Gordon of Gight married John Gordon on May 12, 1785. The poet Lord Byron was their son -- but the fears of this song did come true: The Byrons did sell her family estate of Gight. - RBW
File: Ord390
===
NAME: Miss Green
DESCRIPTION: Miss Green courted Sean O'Farrell. He left "for the love of old Ireland" and was greeted in New York by a band; he toasted the Yankees. Tomorrow she will follow him and they will marry. She hopes to return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1987 (Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage emigration America Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 47, "Miss Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5236
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Green Mossy Banks of the Lea" [Laws O15] (tune, according Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
File: RcMisGre
===
NAME: Miss Julie Ann Glover: see Julia Grover (Miss Julie Ann Glover) (File: Lins224)
===
NAME: Miss Liza
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, Miss Liza, oh, mah darlin'! -- hoo ah hoo! Gwine away to leave you... Gwin away tomorrow... Ain't you mighty sorry?" "Oh, miss Liza... Comin' back to you... Won't you be my honey?" "Don't you know I lub you?... Don't you want to marry?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: courting love
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 227, (no title) (1 text)
File: ScaNF227
===
NAME: Miss Lucy Loo
DESCRIPTION: Shanty. "Bend yer backs take in the slack, roll me over, Lucy. To me way, hay, hay, ho, hu! Bend yer backs take in the slack, roll me over, Lucy. We're rollin down to Trinidad to see Miss Lucy Loo" No story line, verses one line each repeated w/choruses.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong
FOUND_IN: West Indies
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Hugill, p. 397, "Miss Lucy Loo" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 302]
DT, LUCYLOO
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sing a Song, Blow-Along O!" (chorus lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Rollin' Down to Trinidad
File: Hugi397
===
NAME: Miss Mary Belle: see Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token) [Laws N42] (File: LN42)
===
NAME: Miss Mary Jane (Riding in the Buggy, Who Moan for Me)
DESCRIPTION: "Ridin' in the buggy, Miss Mary Jane... Long way from home. Who moan for me...." "Sally got a house in Baltimore... And it's three stories high. "Sally got a house in Baltimore, filled with chicken pie."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: courting home nonballad nonsense
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 117, "Miss Mary Jane" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 259, "Miss Mary Jane" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LoF259 (Partial)
Roud #11595
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Letter from Down the Road" (lyrics)
NOTES: I know it looks like "Old Joe Clark." But it's not. - RBW
File: LoF259
===
NAME: Miss Mary Mack: see Mary Mack (I) (File: CNFM158B)
===
NAME: Miss, Will You Have a Farmer's Son: see Soldier Boy for Me (A Railroader for Me) (File: R493)
===
NAME: Misses Limerick, Kerry and Clare
DESCRIPTION: Three girls civilly compare their county's heroes. "The Limerick people, they were never beaten." Kerry and Clare both claim O'Connell, "that great Lib'rator." Limerick also claims O'Connell: "we have his staue as well as ye" and Parnell besides.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1974 (Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 24, "Misses Limerick, Kerry and Clare" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #5223
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "Misses Limerick, Kerry and Clare" (on IRTLenihan01)
NOTES: For Daniel O'Connell, see Daniel O'Connell (I) and the myriad songs cross-referenced there; for Charles Stewart Parnell, see notably "We Won't Let Our Leader Run Down." - RBW
File: RcMLiKCl
===
NAME: Missie Mouse: see Frog Went A-Courting (File: R108)
===
NAME: Mission Song
DESCRIPTION: The workers at the Mission "get the milk skimmed and de relations de cream." The poor get only rags while the Manager is off spending the proceeds in places like Carboneer or Boston.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Leach-Labrador)
KEYWORDS: greed hardtimes poverty worker
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Leach-Labrador 91, "Mission Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LLab091 (Partial)
Roud #9973
NOTES: Leach-Labrador: "The Mission referred to is the Grenfell Mission at Red Bay.... This is a local gripe song that not at all expresses the feelings of the people in general toward the Mission. I was told that this song was composed ... by a man .. dismissed from his job at the Mission because of misconduct." - BS
File: LLab091
===
NAME: Missionary's Farewell, The
DESCRIPTION: "Yes, my native land I love thee, All thy scenes I love them well... Can I leave thee, can I leave thee, Far in heathen lands to dwell?" The singer rehearses all that (he) would be leaving, but concludes that preaching the gospel is worth it
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious separation home
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 641, "The Missionary's Farewell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7565
NOTES: Variously, and probably falsely, attributed to William Walker and the Reverend S. F. Smith. - RBW
File: R641
===
NAME: Mississippi Bo Weavil Blues: see The Boll Weevil [Laws I17] (File: LI17)
===
NAME: Mississippi Jail House Groan
DESCRIPTION: Singer, in jail, sleeps "with my back turned to the wall." His woman brings coffee and tea -- everything but the jailhouse key. His parents say he has too many women; he looks at his mother, hangs his head, cries; if his woman kills him he's ready to die
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (recording, Rube Lacy)
KEYWORDS: captivity prison floatingverses father lover mother prisoner
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Rube [Reubin] Lacy, "Mississippi Jail House Groan" (Paramount 12629, 1928; on BefBlues1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
 cf. "The Midnight Special" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Again, the narrative in this song just sneaks under the wire as a ballad, but it does. - PJS
File: RcMJHG
===
NAME: Mississippi Sounding Call: see Sounding Calls (File: BMRF572)
===
NAME: Missus in de Big House: see Missus in the Big House (File: CNFM117)
===
NAME: Missus in the Big House
DESCRIPTION: "Missus in the big house, Mammy in the yard. Missus holdin' her white hands, Mammy workin' hard." "Old Marse ridin' all the time, Niggers workin' round. Marse sleepin' day time, Niggers diggin' in the ground."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963
KEYWORDS: work slave discrimination
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Courlander-NFM, p. 117, (no title) (1 text)
Greenway-AFP, p. 96, "Missus in de Big House" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 246-247, "De Black Gal" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss"
NOTES: Metrically, this reminds me very much of "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss." Hard to tell if they are the same without a tune and with only two verses.
The Lomax text does not share the two verses of the Courlander and Greenway versions, but the form and content (contrasting white luxury with Black work and poverty) seem to place the songs together. The Lomax text may be composite anyway; they give no information about its origin. - RBW
File: CNFM117
===
NAME: Mister Boll Weevil: see The Boll Weevil [Laws I17] (File: LI17)
===
NAME: Mister Booger: see Johnny Booker (Mister Booger) (File: R268)
===
NAME: Mister Carter
DESCRIPTION: "Mister Cyarter, Mister Cyarter, Won't you be (i.e. buy?) my dawg? He won't bite a sheep But 'e will bite a hog."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: dog nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 110, "Mister Carter" (1 text)
File: Br3110
===
NAME: Mister Costler
DESCRIPTION: Lorn Costler has the mail contract for outports. When he and his engineer, Billy Warren, work, "the day must be fine, the sea must be calm." He "gives out the mail at a terrible rate" in order to leave quickly even with no danger from ice or wind.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: cowardice commerce storm
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 80, "Mr Costler" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The mail route for Costler's ship, The Packet, is along the south coast about 70 miles east of Port-aux-Basques. - BS
File: LeBe080
===
NAME: Mister Finagan: see Molly McGlocklin (File: RcMolMcG)
===
NAME: Mister Frog Went A-Courting: see Frog Went A-Courting (File: R108)
===
NAME: Mister Garfield
DESCRIPTION: Song-story about the assassination of President Garfield. Garfield, shot, tells doctor he's badly wounded. He gives dying advice, and hopes to go to heaven. Sheriff arrests Charles Guiteau for the murder; he says "I'll hang on the 6th day of June."
AUTHOR: Unknown, but much of the text may have been written by Anderson Williams
EARLIEST_DATE: 1949 (recording, Bascom Lamar Lunsford)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Song-story describing the assassination of President James Garfield. Garfield's been shot; tells doctor he's badly wounded. Preacher asks where he'd like to spend eternity; Garfield says "Heaven." His wife asks if he should die, should she remarry? He tells her, "Don't you never let a chance go by." Sheriff arrests Charles Guiteau for the murder; he says "I'll hang on the 6th day of June." Mrs. Garfield brings her husband roses
KEYWORDS: grief marriage questions violence crime execution murder punishment death dying wife doctor
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 2, 1881 - James A. Garfield is shot by Charles Guiteau, who thought Garfield owed him a patronage job. Garfield had been president for less than four months
Sept 19, 1881 - Death of Garfield
June 30, 1882 - Hanging of Charles Guiteau
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "Mr. Garfield" (on BLLunsford02)
J. C. "Jake" Staggers, "Garfield" (on FolkVisions2)
Art Thieme, "Mister Garfield" (on Thieme04)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Charles Guiteau" [Laws E11] (subject)
NOTES: Lunsford is usually thought to have written this, but Art Rosenbaum believes it originated in the Black community. - PJS
File: RcMrGarf
===
NAME: Mister MacKinley: see Mister McKinley (White House Blues) (File: LoF143)
===
NAME: Mister McKinley (White House Blues)
DESCRIPTION: "McKinley hollered, McKinley squalled; The doc says, 'McKinley, I can't find the ball.'" Describing McKinley's assassination by Zolgotz, his poor medical treatment, and his funeral. MacKinley is usually said to be "bound to die."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (recording, Charlie Poole)
KEYWORDS: death murder doctor funeral political humorous
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sept 6, 1901 - President William McKinley is shaking hands at an exhibition when he is shot by anarchist Leon Czolgosz, who felt McKinley was receiving too much attention.
MacKinley's wounds should not have been serious, but his inept doctor decided to operate immediately rather than wait for a specialist
Sept 14, 1901 - Death of MacKinley (due more to operative trauma than to his wounds). Theodore Roosevelt becomes President
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 413-425, "Cannonball Blues/Whitehouse Blues" (2 texts, 2 tunes, the first being "Mister McKinley (White House Blues)" and the second the "Cannonball Blues," plus a version of a song called "Mr. McKinley" from _The Week-End Book_, which is so different that I would regard it as a separate though perhaps related song, probably not traditional)
Lomax-FSNA 143, "Mister MacKinley" (sic) (1 text, 1 tune)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 56 "White House Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 228 "White House Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rorrer, p. 73, "White House Blues" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 287, "White House Blues" (1 text)
DT, WHITHOU*
Roud #787
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "Buffalo, Buffalo (Death of McKinley)" (AFS 4198 B3, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys, "Whitehouse Blues" (Decca 29141, 1954)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "White House Blues" (Columbia 15099D, 1926; on AAFM1, CPoole01, CPoole05)
Riley Puckett, "McKinley" (Columbia 15448-D, 1929)
Swing Billies, "From Buffalo to Washington" (Bluebird B-7121, 1937)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Battleship of Maine" (tune)
cf. "The Cannonball" (words)
cf. "White House Blues (II)" (structure, tune, words)
NOTES: I know of three derivative versions of this song: one collected in Kentucky in the 1930s, talking about Herbert Hoover (in this collection as "White House Blues (II)"),  a second recorded by country-and-western singer Tom T. Hall in the 1970s, talking about Richard Nixon. Both share the title "White House Blues." The third is ""Governor Al Smith." - (PJS)
McKinley had been unpopular among farmers, most of whom had supported Democrat William Jennings Bryan, and his passing was not much mourned among country people -- thus the jaunty, humorous tone of this song. - PJS
The reference to McKinley's children earning a pension upon their father's death is completely unhistorical; McKinley married Ida Saxton (1847-1907) in 1871, but his two daughters, Katie and Ida, both died in infancy, and Mrs. McKinley was an epileptic and an invalid by the time her husband was elected President. - RBW
File: LoF143
===
NAME: Mister Rabbit
DESCRIPTION: "'Mister Rabbit, Mister Rabbit, your tail's mighty white.' 'Yes, bless God, been gettin' out of sight...." Mister rabbit similarly explains its coat, ears, and other physical features
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: animal questions dialog nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 173-174, "Mister Rabbit" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 6, "Mister Rabbit" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 240-242, "Cotton Field Song" (1 text, 1 tune, composite; the final portion goes here and the rest is largely floating verses or unidentifiable; some may go with "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss")
BrownIII 167, "Old Molly Hare (Mr. Rabbit)" (2 texts plus 4 fragments, 1 excerpt, and mention of 2 more; the "C," "D," and "E" fragments, plus probably "B," are "Old Molly Hare," "I" is "Mister Rabbit"; "A" and "G" mix the two)
ST LxU006 (Partial)
Roud #10058
RECORDINGS:
Horton Barker, "Hop, Old Rabbit, Hop" [with a couple of verses from "Poor Old Man"] (on Barker01)
Pete Seeger, "Mister Rabbit" (on PeteSeeger08, PeteSeegerCD02)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rattlesnake" (theme)
NOTES: Roud links together several rabbit songs under one number: "Mister Rabbit," "Ole Mister Rabbit (I'll Get You Rabbit)," even "Rabbit Hash." All are about rabbits raiding gardens (something they certainly do) and the attempts to punish them for it (rarely successful, even with modern technology). But the forms are quite distinct, so I split them. - RBW
File: LxU006
===
NAME: Mister Squirrel
DESCRIPTION: "One day Mr. Squirrel went up a tree to bed. A great big hickory nut fell upon his head. 'Although I am fond of nuts,' Mr. Squirrel then did say, 'I'd very much rather that they wouldn't come this way.'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: animal food humorous
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 171, "Mr. Squirrel" (1 short text)
File: Br3171
===
NAME: Mister Stormalong: see Stormalong (File: Doe082)
===
NAME: Mister, Please Give Me a Penny
DESCRIPTION: "Mister, please give me a penny, For I ain't got any Pa, Mister, please give me a penny, I want to buy some bread for Ma."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: orphan money begging
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 729, "Mister, Please Give Me a Penny" (1 short text)
Roud #7392
File: R729
===
NAME: Mistletoe Bough, The
DESCRIPTION: In the castle, beneath the mistletoe bough, the lord's daughter prepares to wed young Lovell. The girl, tired of dancing, decides to hide and have Lovell find her. He never does. Years later, her body is found "in a living tomb," trapped in a chest
AUTHOR: Thomas Haynes Bayly?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1855 (National Temperance Songster)
KEYWORDS: love marriage game hiding death Christmas
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW,So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Randolph 802, "The Mistletoe Bough" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 466-468, "The Mistletoe Bough" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 802)
PBB 102, "The Workhouse Boy" (1 text, obviously a)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 481, "The Mistletoe Bough" (source notes only)
DT, MISTLETO*
Roud #2336
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2462), "The Mistletoe Bough," J. Harness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Harding B 15(204b), "Mistletoe Bough," H. Disley (London), 1860-1883 (partly illegible); Harding B 11(2464), "Mistetoe Bough," H. Such (London), 1863-1885
SAME_TUNE:
The Vorkhouse Boy (PBB 102, "The Workhouse Boy"; cf. broadside Bodleian Firth c. 16(311), unknown, no date; a  parody in "Dutch" dialect of this song, with very similar lyrics except that the girl is transformed to a boy in a poorhouse per)
Billy Jenkins, or The two houses of parliament (parody per broadside Harding B 11(2462), which also contains the original)
NOTES: Peter Underwood's _Gazeteer of British, Scottish & Irish Ghosts_, pp. 22-23, reports this of Bramshill House near Basingstoke in Hampshire: "An ancient chest in the panelled gallery is said to have been the 'death bed' of a young bride who died on the eve of her wedding." Her ghost is reported to have walked.
Probably unrelated, but a garbled version might perhaps have inspired this song. - RBW
File: R802
===
NAME: Misty Mountain, The: see Beinn a' Cheathaich (File: K002)
===
NAME: Mitchel's Address: see John Mitchel (File: PGa045)
===
NAME: Mither, I Maun Hae a Man
DESCRIPTION: "Noo mither, I maun tell ye, I'm gaun to be a wife; For I'm sure it's nae pleasure To live a single life." The girl complains of the burdens her mother puts on her, and offers Biblical arguments for marriage, and concludes, "I mean to tak' a man."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: oldmaid mother children marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 148-149, "Mither, I Maun Hae a Man" (1 text)
Roud #5554
NOTES: The girl here does not really quote the Bible, except for paraphrasing "be fruitful and multiply" (Genesis 9:1, etc.), but her argument is taken largely from 1 Corinthians 7, particularly 7:28, which states that it is no sin for a girl to marry.
The part about the girl being obedient has multiple sources in scripture, including the first part of 1 Corinthians 11 (the key verse here, 11:10, is actually close to making nonsense in Greek, but of course this is clarified -- usually to the detriment of the women -- in most translations). - RBW
File: Ord148
===
NAME: Mo Chraoibhin Aoibhinn Aluinn Og (My Pleasant Beautiful Young Little Branch)
DESCRIPTION: The harper says his true love is "bound and bleeding 'neath the oppressor." Her riches and beauty gone, she is deserted by many "crouching now like cravens" "Arouse to vengeance, men of brav'ry"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1845 (_The Spirit of the Nation,_ according to OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: harp nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 85, "Mo Chreeveen Eeven Aulin Og" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: OLcM085
===
NAME: Mo Dhachaidh (My Ain Home)
DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. Our house by the ferry is surrounded with flowers and birds, protected by the hill from snow. My wife is "the star o' my hame ... the bairnies are singin'" We don't need riches.
AUTHOR: Malcolm MacFarlane
EARLIEST_DATE: c.1908 (Moffat)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage lyric nonballad home wife
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
ADDITIONAL:
Alfred Moffat, The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Highlands, pp. 48-49 in the soft-cover edition printed c.1960, pp. 92-93 in the hard-cover edition printed c.1908
RECORDINGS:
Malcolm Angus McLeod, "Mo Dhachaidh" (on NovaScotia1)
NOTES: The description is based on Moffat's translation by Alexander Stewart. - BS
File: RcMDMAH
===
NAME: Mo Nighean donn a Cornaig
DESCRIPTION: Singer's fiancee, coming to church, is murdered by ruffians. The wine saved for their wedding is instead drunk at her funeral. The singer wishes he could find those who killed his beloved; he has a sword, and will test the strength of his arm with it.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Kennedy-Fraser)
KEYWORDS: grief love sex wedding violence abduction crime murder revenge beauty death funeral mourning foreignlanguage lament lover wine
FOUND_IN: Scotland(Hebr)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Kennedy 19, "Mo Nighean Donn a Cornaig [My Dark-Haired Maid from Cornaig]" (1 text in Scottish Gaelic + translation, 1 tune)
Kennedy-Fraser II, pp. 140-145, "A Tiree Tragedy (Mo Nighean donn a Cornaig)" (1 text in Scottish Gaelic + translation, 1 tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
My Bonny Cornaig Lassie
NOTES: Flora McNeil, from whom the song was collected, notes that while she had only heard the song in Barra, it may have come from the island of Tiree, where there is a place called Cornaig. - PJS, paraphrasing Kennedy
Kennedy-Fraser, however, has a very different story: Words (not quite the same!) collected in Eigg, with a tune from Eriskay. The source of the tune was one Annie MacNeill.
According to Kennedy-Fraser, the girl's brothers had wanted to kill he lover, but got her instead; "the lover spent the rest of his years making passionate songs to her who had given her life for his own." - RBW
File: K019
===
NAME: Mo-te A-pe Promene Sur La Rue Commune
DESCRIPTION: Creole French. "Mo-te a-pe promene sur la Rue Commune, Quand Mo-te a-pe boire un bon berre la bierre. Voila m'o culotte craquet et fais moin assi par terre." A man has a drink of beer and meets and forces the singer to the ground
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage drink
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 124, "Mo-te A-pe Promene Sur La Rue Commune" (1 short text, 1 tune)
File: ScNF124
===
NAME: Moanin'
DESCRIPTION: Leader (preacher): "De trumpet sounds in my soul" (congregation echoes). "I ain't got long to stay here."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 579-580, "Moanin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15563
File: LxA579
===
NAME: Moanish Lady: see Mourner, You Shall Be Free (Moanish Lady) (File: San011)
===
NAME: Mobile Bay
DESCRIPTION: Shanty. "From Liverpool Town we sailed away - CH: John come tell us as we haul away. Outward bound at the break of day - CH. Aye, aye, haul aye - CH." Several verses refer to Mobile Bay and to women. Probably started as a Negro cotton stowing song.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938
KEYWORDS: shanty work
FOUND_IN: Britain US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Colcord, p. 118, "Mobile Bay" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 86-87, "Mobile Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 287-288, "John, Come Tell Us As We Haul Away" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 210-211]
Roud #4696
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Stow'n' Sugar in de Hull Below" (some verses)
NOTES: Hugill explains that this was one of a very few shanties that would use two singers for the solo lines, alternating verses. - SL
File: Hugi287
===
NAME: Mochyn Du  (The Black Pig)
DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Explains that the black pig is dying, and that now they'll have to do without bacon. Chorus laments the passing of the pig, "Oh, our hearts are very sore...." Based on a Welsh folk song.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong foreignlanguage animal food
FOUND_IN: Wales
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 238-239, "Mochyn Du" (2 text-English & Welsh, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hob-y-derri-dando" (English verses often interchanged with this)
cf. "Cosher Bailey's Engine" (tune)
NOTES: See also notes to "Hob-Y-Derri-Dando." English words often sung to the same tune go "Dave Davy comes from Nevin, an' he's got a little engine, An' he cannot do without it, 'Cos he thinks so much about it. Ch. Wass you effer see (x3) such a funny thing before?" - SL
File: Hugi238
===
NAME: Mockingbird Song: see Hush, Little Baby (File: SBoA164)
===
NAME: Mode o' Wooing, The
DESCRIPTION: "Young men when that they do arrive Between a score and twenty-five... [are inclined] To gang away a-wooing, a woo woo wooing." The singer tells of asking advice on how to court, but the old men's advice is bad. He has better luck asking an old woman
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: youth courting questions
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Stokoe/Reay, pp.  106-107, "The Mode o' Wooing" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR106 (Partial)
Roud #3151
File: StoR106
===
NAME: Modesty Answer, The: see Seventeen Come Sunday [Laws O17] (File: LO17)
===
NAME: Mole in the Ground: see I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground (File: BAF900)
===
NAME: Mole-Catcher, The
DESCRIPTION: The old molecatcher learns that his wife is carrying on with a young farmer. He catches them in the act, and demands ten pounds of the farmer for "tilling my ground." The farmer says that's a fair price, "For that won't amount t'above tuppence a time."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905
KEYWORDS: adultery sex trick commerce humorous bawdy
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond,South,West))
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Kennedy 206, "The Mole-Catcher" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 268-269, "The Molecatcher" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 38, "The Molecatcher" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MOLECATCH*
Roud #1052
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "The Molecatcher" (on Lloyd1)
File: K206
===
NAME: Moll Boy's Courtship: see Pretty Polly (I) (Moll Boy's Courtship) [Laws O14] (File: LO14)
===
NAME: Mollie and Willie
DESCRIPTION: When Mollie (?) refuses to marry Willie (?), he sets off to be a soldier. She dresses in soldier's clothes and follows him. He tells his fellow "soldier" of his love for Mollie. She starts to cry, and her identity is revealed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1945 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love soldier cross-dressing trick reunion
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 98, "Mollie and Willie" (1 text)
ST BrII098 (Full)
Roud #6571
NOTES: The editors of Brown speculate that this is a defective version of "Polly Oliver." I really don't see it. It looks more like "The Banks of the Nile." But the differences in the (disordered) Brown text are large enough that I treat this as a separate ballad until I find something more similar. - RBW
File: BrII098
===
NAME: Mollie Bond: see Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear) [Laws O36] (File: LO36)
===
NAME: Mollie Vaughn: see Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear) [Laws O36] (File: LO36)
===
NAME: Molly Agnew
DESCRIPTION: The singer is vexed that the Irish are "forced from their nation." He meets Molly Agnew, a poor servant girl. Her rich father had been slain in 1799, and his family driven "to beg, starve or die." She agrees to marry the singer and go to old Scotia.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1854 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 b.11(175))
KEYWORDS: marriage rebellion death servant hardtimes Ireland Scotland father
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 30, "Molly Agnew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2750
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.11(175), "Molly Agnew"[partly illegible] ("On the nineteenth of July, in the year twenty-nine"), The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1854; also Harding B 17(196b), "Molly Angew"[sic but only in the title][partly illegible]
SAME_TUNE:
The Girl I Love Best (tune, per broadside Bodleian Harding B 17(196b))
NOTES: The Bodleian broadsides 2806 b.11(175) and Harding B 17(196b) are more complete than Creighton-SNewBrunswick and are the source for the description. - BS
I have to suspect that this is based some other emigration song which lacks the political motif. It reminds me a bit of "The Poor Stranger (Two Strangers in the Mountains Alone)." - RBW
File: CrSNB030
===
NAME: Molly and Tenbrooks [Laws H27]
DESCRIPTION: In the race between (Molly) and (Ten Broeck), Molly at first takes the lead. Ten Broeck tells his jockey to let him run free, and proceeds to overtake the mare.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: racing horse
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 4, 1878 - race between Ten Broeck and Miss Mollie McCarthy (won by Ten Broeck)
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws H27, "Ten Broeck and Mollie"
Thomas-Makin', pp. 126-127, (no title) (1 short text, probably of this song although it does little except describe Ten Broeck)
DT 652, MOLLTEN (MOLLTEN2)
Roud #2190
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "The Hole in the Wall / Timbrooks and Molly" (AFS 4210 A1, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys, "Molly and Tenbrooks" (Columbia 20612, 1949)
Sonny Osborne, "Molly and Tenbrooks" (Kentucky 605, n.d.)
The Stanley Brothers, "Molly And Tenbrooks" (Rich-R-Tone 418, 1948)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Timbrook" (subject)
cf. "Old Timbrook Blue" (subject)
cf. "Liza Jane" (lyrics)
cf. "Run Mollie Run" (lyrics)
cf. "Skewball" [Laws Q22] (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Run, Molly, Run
NOTES: The "short description" above mirrors the plot as given by Laws. In my experience, however, almost all versions of this song credit Molly, not Ten Broek, as the winner. Of course, many of these texts may have been influenced by the popularized Bill Monroe version, "Molly and Tenbrooks."
Every version of this piece that Laws was aware of came from two articles by Wilgus (both in _Kentucky Folklore Record_, Vol II, #3 and Vol. II, #4). Wilgus reports that "A match race in Kentucky was arranged at $5,000 a side for a three-heat race, all heats to be four miles each. If either horse was distanced in a heat, the other horse was to be declared automatically the winner."
"The July 4, 1878 match race in which the Kentucky thoroughbred Ten Broeck defeated the mare Miss Mollie McCarthy went into the record books as the last four-mile heat race in American turf history."
As it turned out, Mollie led for much of the first race, then staggered and was distanced, ending the contest. Both sides started trading charges: That Ten Broeck had been poisoned, that the state of the track affected the outcome, etc.
Wilgus sees a relationship with "Skewball" [Laws Q22], and the possibility of a relationship cannot be denied. Laws, however, does not note the connection. As Laws makes the observation that the ballad shows "extreme verbal variation," he may have thought that similarities to "Skewball" either coincidence or later grafts. - RBW
File: LH27
===
NAME: Molly and the Baby
DESCRIPTION: "There's a patient little woman here below, And a little kid that ought to have a show, Now I'll give the whiskey up and I'll take a coffee cup With Molly and the baby don't you know." The singer vows to give up drinking for the sake of his family
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Aurora Advertiser)
KEYWORDS: drink family promise
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 338, "Molly and the Baby" (1 text)
Roud #7810
File: R338
===
NAME: Molly Ban: see Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear) [Laws O36] (File: LO36)
===
NAME: Molly Baun Lavery: see Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear) [Laws O36] (File: LO36)
===
NAME: Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear) [Laws O36]
DESCRIPTION: Jimmy goes out hunting and shoots his true love (Molly, mistaking her for a swan). He is afraid of the law, but is told that the law will forgive him. At his trial Molly's ghost appears and explains the situation; the young man is freed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1806 (Jamieson)
KEYWORDS: hunting death trial reprieve help ghost
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Britain(England) Ireland Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (26 citations)
Laws O36, "Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear)"
Randolph 54, "Molly Vaughn" (3 texts plus 2 fragments and 1 excerpt, 1 tune)
Eddy 77, "Mollie Vaughn (Polly Band)" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 14, "Molly Baun" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 274-276, "Polly Van" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 26, "Shooting of His Dear" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 111, "As Jimmie Went A-Hunting" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 76, "Molly Bawn" (1 text plus a fragment)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, p. 117, "Molly Vaughn" (1 text, properly titled "The Death of Molly Bender,"  with very peculiar orthography; it looks like it came from a semi-literate manuscript but is said to be from a field recording)
Chappell-FSRA 57, "Polly Bond" (1 fragment)
SharpAp 50, "Shooting of His Dear" (6 texts, 6 tunes)
Hudson 32, pp. 145-146, "Shooting of His Dear" (2 texts)
Leach, pp. 700-701, "Molly Bawn" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 26, "Molly Bawn" (1 text)
PBB 92, "Young Molly Ban" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 96-97, "Molly Van" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Anderson, p. 196, "Molly Baun Lavery" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 206, "Young Molly Ban" (1 text)
SHenry H114, p. 143, "Molly Bawn Lowry" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 29, "Young Molly Ban" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 330, "Polly Vaughan" (2 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 102, "Mollie Vaughn" (3 texts, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 33, pp. 78-79, "Mollie Bond" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 133-134, "Molly Bawn"; "Molly Bander" (2 texts)
DT 308, POLLYVON POLLVON1 POLLVON2
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), p. 304, "Young Molly Bawn" (1 short text)
Roud #166
RECORDINGS:
Louis Boutilier, "As Jimmie Went A-Hunting" (on MRHCreighton)
Anne Briggs, "Polly Vaughan" (on Briggs1, Briggs3)
Packie Manus Byrne, "Molly Bawn" (on Voice06)
Sara Cleveland, "Molly Bawn" (on SCleveland01)
Seamus Ennis, "Molly Bawn" (on Lomax42, LomaxCD1742)
A. L. Lloyd, "Polly Vaughan"  (on Lomax41, LomaxCD1741)
Pete Seeger, "Shoo Fly" (on PeteSeeger33, PeteSeegerCD03)
Phoebe Smith, "Molly Vaughan" (on Voice03)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 19(11), "Young Molly Bawn," J.F. Nugent & Co. (Dublin), 1850-1899; also 2806 b.11(131), "Young Molly Bawn"
LOCSinging, as111140, "Polly Von Luther and Jamie Randall," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859 
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Molly Ban
Peggy Baun
Lord Kenneth and Fair Ellinour
NOTES: Darling compares this to the story of Cephalus and Procris. The standard version is supplied by Ovid in the Metamorphoses (VII.685 and following; it starts on page 174 of the Penguin edition translated by Mary M. Innes). First he tested her love in disguise, and she passed the test. But then she heard a rumor of his unfaithfulness, and set out to watch him. He heard her in hiding, without seeing her, and threw his javelin on the assumption that she was a wild beast. It killed her.
Incidentally, Michael Grant and John Hazel, _Gods and Mortals in Classical Mythology: A Dictionary_, article on Cephalus, thinks Ovid's version of the story may conflate legends of two different heroes named Cephalus. In any case, I don't see a particularly strong parallel to the ballad; yes, the hunter kills his lover, but the motivations are very different. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging as111140: 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: LO36
===
NAME: Molly Bawn Lowry: see Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear) [Laws O36] (File: LO36)
===
NAME: Molly Bonder: see Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear) [Laws O36] (File: LO36)
===
NAME: Molly Brannigan: see Polly Brannigan (File: E153E)
===
NAME: Molly Brooks (I)
DESCRIPTION: "Molly Brooks has gone to the isle (x3), And I hope she'll never return (x3), Molly Brooks has gone to the isle, And I hope she'll never return."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: playparty nonballad travel
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 529, "Molly Brooks" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, p. 274, "Moll Brooks" (1 text, 1 tune -- a fragment which is placed here by the manuscript title; Roud [#2075] files it with "I Lost My Love and I Dinna Ken Hoo," though it has really only one line in common)
Roud #7642
NOTES: This probably springs from the same roots as Molly Brooks (II), a dance to the tune of "Malbrouk." Since, however, Randolph's version has lost the tune (which in this case is diagnostic), I have classified them separately. - RBW
File: R529
===
NAME: Molly Brooks (II): see Malbrouck (File: K108)
===
NAME: Molly Malone
DESCRIPTION: Singer tells of meeting sweet Molly Malone in Dublin, where she sold shellfish from a barrow; her parents were also fishmongers. She dies of a fever; now her ghost wheels the barrow. Chorus: "Singing 'Cockles and mussels, alive, alive-o"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1947 (Hoagland; Fireside Book of Folk Songs)
KEYWORDS: death food worker ghost disease commerce
FOUND_IN: US Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 124, "Molly Malone" (1 text)
DT, MOLLYMAL*
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), p. 256, "Cockles and Mussels" (1 text)
Roud #16392
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Molly Malone" (on PeteSeeger32)
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(82a), "Cockles and Mussels. Aliv, O" (sic.), Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Walnut Girl" (subject)
NOTES: We don't have "peddler" as a keyword -- pity. Meanwhile, I believe this started out as a Tin Pan Alley song? For better or for worse, it seems to have entered tradition -- at least, at every Irish gig I've played, some drunk asks for it. - PJS
Although the Poet's Box broadside is the earliest version I've found, it can hardly be the original; incredibly badly printed (Apart from the title, it can't decide if Miss Malone is Molly or "Melly," and the chorus runs "Alive, alive, O! alive, alive O! Crying Cockles and! alive, alive, O!"), and no tune is indicated. It has to be derivative. - RBW
File: FSWB124B
===
NAME: Molly McGlocklin
DESCRIPTION: The marries Molly McGlocklin. She prefers Finnigan who "his gizzard he broke." Molly mourns; the singer hits her and fights the Finnigans. After the burial she attacks him; he throws her in the grave. HeÕs single now and will dance but won't marry again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(2962))
KEYWORDS: marriage fight death funeral burial humorous family
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 42, "Mister Finagan" (1 text)
Roud #5746
RECORDINGS:
Jack Swain, "Finnigan's Wake II" (on NFMLeach)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2962), "Pat Finnigan," J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Harding B 26(37), "Barnaby Finegan"; 2806 b.11(184), "Barnaby Finnegan"
NOTES: Leach (NFMLeach notes) says "Finnigan's Wake" "is a local title; it is more generally known as Molly McGlocklin" - BS
File: RcMolMcG
===
NAME: Molly Put the Kettle On (Polly Put the Kettle On)
DESCRIPTION: "(Molly/Polly/Kitty) put the kettle on, Sally blow the dinner horn... We'll all take tea." Often a fiddle tune with the usual sorts of verses for a fiddle tune
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1841 (Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: nonballad floatingverses food dancetune
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 420, "Polly put the kettle on" (2 texts)
Darling-NAS, p. 256, "Molly Put the Kettle On" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #237, p. 153, "(Polly put the kettle on)"
Roud #7899
RECORDINGS:
Leake County Revelers, "Molly Put the Kettle On" (Columbia 15380-D, 1929; rec. 1928)
Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers, "Molly Put The Kettle On" (Columbia 15746-D, 1932; on GoingDown)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Pakenham" (form)

SAME_TUNE:
Jennie's Bawbee (so Herd, according to Opie-Oxford2)
NOTES: Opie-Oxford2 re 420: "Around 1810 the song was clearly the rage in London."
The following broadside refers to the original song and quotes it as a chorus.
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4332), "Polly Put the Kettle On" ("I am a merry, happy chap"), C. Sheard (London), 1840-1866 - BS
File: DarNS256
===
NAME: Molly Van: see Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear) [Laws O36] (File: LO36)
===
NAME: Molly Was a Good Gal: see Row, Molly, Row (Molly Was a Good Gal) (File: BMRF590A)
===
NAME: Molly, Asthore: see Gramachree (File: HHH204)
===
NAME: Molly, I'm the Man: see The Banks of Claudy [Laws N40] (File: LN40)
===
NAME: Molly, Lovely Molly
DESCRIPTION: Molly hears a voice at her window; it is her old love returned. She bids him leave; he has courted other women. He replies that it was his master's orders which took him away. His ship leaves tomorrow; will she come with him? She agrees to do so
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation reunion
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H557, pp. 478-479, "Molly, Lovely Molly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9456
NOTES: Some versions of The Cruel Ship's Carpenter [Laws P36] share a title and/or metrical form with this ballad. The plots are so completely different, however, that I would not even have noted the similarity had not there been a note in the Henry collection pointing out the (lack of) common material. - RBW
File: HHH557
===
NAME: Mon Bon Ami Va Venir Ce Soir (My Good Friend Will Come This Evening)
DESCRIPTION: French. The singer's good friend comes to see his, undresses and sleeps in his bed.  Near midnight she says Hello. The singer says thanks for the hello, but had hoped for more. To lead quail to corn, you have to know how to serve it.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage sex lover
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 300-301, "Mon Bon Ami Va Venir Ce Soir" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: "Quail" -- that is "caille" -- here likely has the same connotation, that is "young woman," in French slang as it does in US slang. See, for example "Suburban slang greets visitors to France" by John Lichfield, June 6, 2001, "In ...verlan -- the ... language of ... French, suburban youth -- there are more than 50 ways of referring to women.  They include "...caille..." from the New Zealand Herald site. - BS
File: Pea300
===
NAME: Mon Cher Voisin (My Dear Neighbor)
DESCRIPTION: French. My neighbor sent me to find a worn out old horse. Let's drink, sharpen our knives and skin it. He soothes the horse: no more demands will be made, no more pulling a master and his luggage.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage execution horse
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 129, "Mon Cher Voisin" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Pawkie Paiterson's Auld Grey Yaud" (theme)
cf. "Poor Old Horse (III)" (theme)
NOTES: The description is based on Alan Mills's translation in Creighton-Maritime. - BS
File: CrMa129
===
NAME: Mona (You Shall Be Free): see Mourner, You Shall Be Free (Moanish Lady) (File: San011)
===
NAME: Moncton Tragedy, The: see John Sullivan (The Moncton Tragedy) (File: Dib057)
===
NAME: Monday Morning: see Next Monday Morning (File: ShH38)
===
NAME: Monday was my Courting Day, A: see My Wife Died on Saturday Night (File: RcMWDOSN)
===
NAME: Mone, Member, Mone
DESCRIPTION: "Tell-a me who had a rod, Mone, member, mone! Hit was Moses, child of God, Mone, member, mone!" A call-and-answer sermon describing the crossing of the Red Sea, listing the order of those who will go to heaven, and calling for repentance
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 578-579, "Mone, Member, Mone" (1 text)
Roud #15562
NOTES: One suspects that this was sort of a preacher's "zipper" text -- any story could be zipped in to replace the Exodus account. But I've never seen this in any other form, so I can't say with certainty. - RBW
File: LxA578
===
NAME: Money
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, money is the meat in the coconut, O money is the milk in the jug; When you've got lots of money You feel very funny, You're as happy as a bug in a rug."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: money food
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, p. 112, "Money" (1 short text (perhaps just the chorus), 1 tune)
File: San112
===
NAME: Money, Money, Oh Sweet Money
DESCRIPTION: "Long time ago I had a beau, He came a-courting me, Because he thought that I had wealth...." The girl tests him by informing him she has no money. He drops her at once. She warns others, "Let them find you're minus of gold And you'll be minus of beaux."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love courting money abandonment
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 484, "Money, Money, Oh Sweet Money" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7637
File: R484
===
NAME: Moneygran Pig Hunt, The
DESCRIPTION: "There was racing and chasing in old Moneygran," as pigs bid humans catch them and say they are "Home Rulers and Fenians and Orange pigs too."  The "warhawks" pursue, but "the pigs are the winners in old Moneygran."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: Words: 1924 (Northern Constitution); as a song, 1937 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: political racing animal
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H731, pp. 22-23, "The Moneygran Pig Hunt" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13345
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bonnets o' Bonny Dundee" (tune)
cf. "The Bold Tenant Farmer" (subject)
cf. The Barrymore Tithe Victory" (theme)
cf. "The Sow's Triumph Over the Peelers" (theme)
NOTES: Said to be based on an incident from 1876, when law officials were sent to the Mercers estate to collect back rent. The tenants loosed their pigs, and the police tried to catch them.
The song is said to be associated with the Land Leagues, a group arising out of the complex interactions between Britain and Ireland. The election of 1868 brought Gladstone to power, but also gave Charles Stewart Parnell a decisive voice in parliament. In 1870, Gladstone passed a Land Act, but the House of Lords rejected it.
The Irish reaction was the Land Leagues, tenant organizations intended to curb excessive rents. They were basically non-violent, but they did resist pressure from landlords in all sorts of creative ways.
The Land Leagues finally faded in 1881 when Gladstone managed to get a true rent reform bill passed (though at the cost of a Coercion Act used to suppress the worst radicals). For further details, see the notes on "The Bold Tenant Farmer."
The reference to the pigs being "Home Rulers and Fenians and Orange" is an observation on the personal politics of those who wanted relief from rents: They ranged from radical Irishmen (Fenians) to conservatives, often Protestant, who wanted Home Rule, to the Ulster Protestants who wanted to be part of Britain but still needed rent reform. - RBW
File: HHH731
===
NAME: Monk McClamont's "Farewell to Articlave"
DESCRIPTION: In (18)40, the singer prepares to sail for America on the Provincial. The ship being becalmed, he has time to see, and mourn, the land he is leaving behind. He praises the captain and crew of the ship
AUTHOR: Monk McClamont
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: ship emigration farewell
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H65b, p. 166-187, "Monk McClamont's 'Farewell to Articlave'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13542
File: HHH065b
===
NAME: Monk of Great Renown, The
DESCRIPTION: A monk has sex with one or more women until his fellows abruptly put a halt to his misadventures.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy sex death burial
FOUND_IN: Canada Britain(England) US(MW,SW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cray, pp. 37-42, "The Monk of Great Renown" (3 texts, 1 tune); a piece to a different tune but with the same sort of plot occurs on p. 265 under "Ditties"
Roud #10137
RECORDINGS:
Anonymous singer, "The Monk of Priory Hall" (on Unexp1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Horse Shit"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Squire of Great Renown
File: EM037
===
NAME: Monkey and the Baboon, The
DESCRIPTION: "The monkey and the baboon playing seven-up The monkey won the money And was scared to pick it up." "The monkey and the baboon Running a race. The monkey fell down And skint his face." "The monkey... climbed a tree... threw a cocoanut..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: animal cards humorous floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 180, "The Monkey and the Baboon" (1 text)
NOTES: The stanza about X and Y playing seven-up of course occurs with many protagonists (white man and black, David and Goliath, Adam and Eve); one wonders a little if its use here is not some sort of allegory. - RBW
File: ScaNF180
===
NAME: Monkey Married the Baboon's Sister: see The Monkey's Wedding (File: San113)
===
NAME: Monkey Motions
DESCRIPTION: "I act monkey motions, too-re-loo, I act monkey motions, so I do; I act 'em well an' dat's a fact -- I act just like de monkeys act." "I act gen'man motions...." "I act lady motions...." Similarly for children's motions, preachers' motions, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: playparty nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 133, "Monkey Motions" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "What's the Lady's Motion? (Skip O'er the Mountain)" (form)
File: ScaNF133
===
NAME: Monkey Sitting on the End of a Rail
DESCRIPTION: "Monkey settin' on de end uf a rail, Pickin' his teeth wid de end uf his tail, Mulberry leaves un' calico sleeves, All school teachers is so hard to please." Rest floats: The redbird shaking 'simmons down, the singer is tired of sleeping alone
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: animal floatingverses bird food
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 193, (no title) (1 text, with varying stanza forms)
File: ScNF193B
===
NAME: Monkey Turned Barber, The [Laws Q14]
DESCRIPTION: Pat enters the barber's and asks for a shave. A monkey in clothes winks and sets to work. Pat screams with pain; the monkey disappears. The barber enters. Pat accuses his "father" of having cut him. Finally the truth comes out
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: animal abuse humorous
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws Q14, "The Monkey Turned Barber"
Belden, pp. 249-251, "The Monkey Turned Barber" (3 texts, but B2 is "The Love-of-God Shave")
Beck 82, "Irishman's Lumber Song" (1 text)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 239-240, "Wild Irishman" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 525, MONKBARB MANKBAR2
Roud #918
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Wild Irishman
NOTES: There is a broadside, NLScotland, F.3.a.13(5), "The Monkey Barber," unknown (Edinburgh), 1825, which tells this story in prose, with rather more substantial detail. It's not clear whether it is the source of this song, or a retelling; I suspect the latter.
File: LQ14
===
NAME: Monkey's Wedding, The
DESCRIPTION: "The monkey married the baboon's sister, Gave her a ring and then he kissed her, He kissed so hard he raised a blister, She set up a yell." Verses, often nonsensical, about the proceedings at the wedding
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: animal wedding nonsense humorous
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW,NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
BrownIII 181, "The Monkey Married the Baboon's Sister" (1 short text plus 2 excerpts)
Gardner/Chickering 197, "The Monkey's Wedding" (1 text)
Linscott, pp. 241-243, "The Monkey's Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 113, "The Monkey's Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 180, (no title) (1 text)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 68-69, [no title] (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert, p. 114, [no title] (1 text)
ST San113 (Partial)
Roud #3123
NOTES: Linscott lists this as being sung to "The Drunken Sailor," and it will fit that tune -- but her tune is not quite the usual "Drunken Sailor." - RBW
File: San113
===
NAME: Montague, The
DESCRIPTION: "The Montague packet left Wexford at ten, With a fine stock of cattle and a fine crew of men, Hee Ho, Heave away, ho." Montague gets stuck in the sand and the cargo is lost: two cows, six sheep, a goat, and a sow.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1943 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: sea ship wreck animal
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, p. 27, "The Montague" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7355
NOTES: Possibly Montagu, a Liverpool steamship [which] "struck the bar at Wexford" April 25, 1878 (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, p. 51). - BS
File: Ran027
===
NAME: Montcalm and Wolfe, (Ballad of): see Brave Wolfe [Laws A1] (File: LA01)
===
NAME: Month of May, The: see The Merry Haymakers (File: HHH697)
===
NAME: Months of the Year, The
DESCRIPTION: "January is the first month, the sun goes very low... We shall see an alteration, before the year comes round." The song catalogs the months, describing how farmers spend the time
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (Sharp)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 256, "The Months of the Year" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1954
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Calendar Rhymes"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Seasons
File: K256
===
NAME: Monymusk Lads, The
DESCRIPTION: "As I cam' in by Monymusk And doun by Alford's dale," the singer goes "to see my Maggie dear." He visits at night, but the auld wife detects him and sounds an alarm. The auld man forces him out; he vows to return when the old man snores
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: nightvisit courting age escape
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ord, pp. 68-69, "Rural Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MONYMUSK*
Roud #5568
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "The Monymusk Lads" (on SCMacCollSeeger01)
File: Ord068
===
NAME: Moody to the Rescue
DESCRIPTION: "Word came down to Derby town in the spring of '59: McGowan's men had smashed the pen & left for the Hill's Bar Mine." Col. Moody finds the miners do not wish to fight on Sunday. Moody says "Things look all right, so where's the fight?" and heads home.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1969 (Fowke/MacMillan)
KEYWORDS: mining gold Canada political humorous
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1859 - Ned McGowan's War
FOUND_IN: Canada(West)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke/MacMillan 5, "Moody to the Rescue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #17698
SAME_TUNE:
The Keach i' the Creel (File: C281)
NOTES: In 1856 gold was discovered near on Fraser River (Vancouver Island), and subsequently the area was host to a massive influx of gold-seekers not only from Canada but America, Europe, and even Australia.
In 1859 two American miners were accused of assault by a man named Dixon. The local magistrate at Fort Yale, named of Whannell, put Dixon in jail for safe keeping and issued a warrant for the two Americans. When they were caught they were put into the jail at Hill's Bar, under the jurisdiction of another magistrate, Perrier. Perrier decided he was going to handle the case and sent a constable to Fort Yale to retrieve Dixon. Whannell refused to release Dixon and instead jailed Perrier's constable. When Perrier heard about this, he deputized Ned McGowan and sent him after Dixon and the constable.
McGowan arrived at Hill's Bar with a dozen armed men and arrested Whannell, charging him with contempt of Perrier's court. The exaggerated account of the proceedings that reached the capital indicated that American miners at Hill's Bar had broken into the jail and were attempting to overthrow the British authority. Colonel R.C. Moody and a force of Royal Engineers and marines were sent out. They arrived, arrested McGowan, and charged him with assault on Whannell. The presiding judge, Begbie, fined McGowan five pounds and lectured all parties (and Whannell and Perrier in particular) on the impartiality of British law. American miners were to receive the same treatment under British law as British citizens, and at the same time the American miners had to understand that on British soil they were to abide by local laws.
This incident became known as 'Ned McGowan's War.'
From Fowke/MacMillan - Collected from Patrick Graber of Vancouver in 1970. Graber says he got the words from 92-year-old Henry Hawkins, who said he had heard it fifty years earlier. Hawkins could only recite the words, not the tune and Graber set the words to 'The Keach i' the Creel' (Child 281). Another source, Billy Wardell of New Westminster, said he had heard "old Harry Wiltshire" sing the song in 1927, and claimed the opening line should be "word came down to Sappertown." - SL
File: FowM005
===
NAME: Moon Shines Bright, The (The Bellman's Song)
DESCRIPTION: "The moon shines bright And the stars give a light." Listeners are told to awake that they may hear the life of Jesus and of the passion: "We ne'er shall do for Jesus Christ as he hath done for us." Listeners are reminded that life is short
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 28(200))
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus death resurrection warning
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond,West))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Leather, pp. 193-194, "The Moon Shines Bright" (1 text plus an excerpt, 2 tunes)
OBC 46, 47, 48, "The Bellman's Song" (1 text, 3 tunes)
DT, BELLMAN*
Roud #702
RECORDINGS:
Jasper Smith, "The Moon Shine Bright" (on Voice11)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(200), "The Moon Shone Bright," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Douce adds. 137(66), Douce adds. 137(8), Johnson Ballads 1392C, Johnson Ballads 1485, "The Moon Shines Bright"; Harding B 7(31), "St. John's Day"; Johnson Ballads 2456, "Carol 2" ("The moon shines bright"); Harding B 25(379), "Christmas carol. III. ("The moon shone bright, & the[sic] gave light")
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "May Day Carol" (lyrics)
cf. "Christ Made a Trance (God Made a Trance)" (lyrics)
cf. "Awake Awake (Awake Sweet England)" (lyrics)
cf. "Here We Come A-Wassailing"
cf. "Somerset Wassail"
NOTES: This song in its current form seems to have originated in broadsides. It has some material in common with May carols, but whether the lyrics originated there (so A. L. Lloyd) or moved from this piece to the May songs is not clear.
The initial lines, "The moon shines bright The stars give a light" are found in Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, volume II, from around 1744, but this is yet another separate piece:
The moon shines Bright
The Stars give a light
And you may kiss
A pretty girl
At ten a clock at Night.
The Baring-Goulds connect the above item with "Now I Am a Big Boy"; this appears possible but not certain.
A second stanza also occurs in nursery tradition: "God bless the master of this house, The Mistress bless also..." (see Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #423, p. 196).
Ravenscroft also printed a "Bellman's Song"; it is not the same thing. - RBW
File: DTbellma
===
NAME: Moonlight: see Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight (File: R746)
===
NAME: Moonlight and Skies
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, come hear my story of heartaches and sighs, I'm a prisoner who's lonely for my moonlight and skies." The singer leaves his girl (daughter?) and sets out on a robbery. His partner is killed and he is taken. He wishes he were free and with the girl
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (recording, Jimmie Rodgers)
KEYWORDS: love separation robbery death prison
FOUND_IN: US Canada(West)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 21, "Moonlight and Skies" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13922
RECORDINGS:
Gene Autry, "Moonlight and Skies" (Conqueror 8002, 1932)
Hank & Slim "Moonlight and Skies" (Vocalion 02852, 1934)
Jimmie Rodgers, "Moonlight and Skies" (Victor 23574, 1931/Regal Zonophone [Australia] MR 2200, 1931; rec. 1930)
Stanley G. Triggs, "Moonlight and Skies" (on Triggs1)
SAME_TUNE:
Jimmie Davis, "Moonlight and Skies - No. 2" (Decca 5104, 1935) 
NOTES: This was item #170 in the first edition of Randolph, but was deleted in the second edition. It is item dE36 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
Triggs found a logger's version of this song while working in a lumber camp at Salmo, BC; evidently it had already entered oral tradition. - PJS
File: Ohr021
===
NAME: Moonlight Attack on Curtin's House
DESCRIPTION: "Moonlighting heroes of late made a raid Down in Castlefarm in John Curtin's place" and shot Curtin and his son. "May those boys that's in jail be home before long." "Not forgetting Thady Sullivan," an assailant shot and killed in the raid. 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1885 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: murder prison Ireland political
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Nov 13, 1885 - John O'Connell Curtin killed by "Moonlighters" at his farm in Molahiffe, County Kerry (source: Zimmermann)
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann 88, "Moonlight Attack on Curtin's House" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The ballad recalls "His grandfather ... brought to the gallows in the year '98 Four dozen of croppies ... For which he was highly rewarded." Zimmermann notes "The Land War [roughly 1879-1885] took a particularly violent form in County Kerry where a secret agrarian organization revived the methods of the Whiteboys and Ribbonmen. John O'Connell Curtin was killed by some of these "Moonlighters."... Curtin was described by _The Nation_ as a staunch nationalist.... The verses were sung at fairs and other gatherings, and much applauded." - BS
File: Zimm088
===
NAME: Moonshine
DESCRIPTION: "Come all you booze fighters, if you want to hear, 'Bout the kind of liquor that they sell around here...." The great power of the product is described: "One drop'll make a rabbit lick a hound dog." The large number of 'shiners and revenuers is mentioned
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: drink talltale
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Warner 131, "Moonshine" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 42, "Moonshine" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 230, "Kentucky Bootlegger" (1 text)
ST Wa131 (Partial)
Roud #3126
RECORDINGS:
Fruit Jar Guzzlers, "Kentucky Bootlegger" (Paramount 3113, 1928)
Buell Kazee, "Moonshiner Song" (on Kazee01)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Kentucky Moonshiner" (on NLCR08)
Red Fox Chasers, "Virginia Bootlegger" (Champion 15790 [as Virginia Possum Tamers]/Supertone 9492, 1929)
File: Wa131
===
NAME: Moonshine Can, The
DESCRIPTION: Informers report Pat's whiskey still to the Mounties. He is called to court. His still is dumped in the bay. At a neighbor's house a health is drunk to all but the informers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1956 (NFOBlondahl01)
KEYWORDS: drink police
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Peacock, pp. 75-76, "The Moonshine Can" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 39, "Moonshine Can" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9949
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "The Moonshine Can" (on NFOBlondahl01,NFOBlondahl05)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Blockader's Trail" (subject)
cf. "Ewie Wi' the Crookit Horn" (subject)
File: Pea075
===
NAME: Moonshine Informer, The
DESCRIPTION: John Snow "informed on those people for making moonshine" around Bonavista Bay and is driven from town by the women of Southern Bay.
AUTHOR: Moses Harris
EARLIEST_DATE: 1976 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: crime punishment revenge drink
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 79, "The Moonshine Informer" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Southern Bay is near Bonavista Bay on the east coast of Newfoundland. - BS
File: LeBe079
===
NAME: Moonshine Steer, The
DESCRIPTION: Two cowboys come across a still whose owner, thinking they are sheriffs, has fled. They get well and truly drunk, and see a steer with two heads, 12 legs, and 14 tails. At last they manage to give it a drink, and it disappears -- flying, according to them
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935
KEYWORDS: drink cowboy talltale
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 73, "The Moonshine Steer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11202
File: FCW073
===
NAME: Moonshiner
DESCRIPTION: "I've been a moonshiner for sev'nteen long years, I've spent all my money for whiskey and beer, I'll go to some holler, I'll put up my still...." "I'll eat when I'm hungry and drink when I'm dry; If moonshine don't kill me I'll live till I die...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap) Ireland
REFERENCES: (6 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 minstel song)
Sandburg, pp. 142-143, "Kentucky Moonshiner" (1 text, 1 tune)
Combs/Wilgus 187, p. 189, "Moonshiner" (1 text)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 38, "God Bless the Moonshiners" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 134, "Moonshiner" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 229, "Moonshiner" (1 text)
ST San142 (Full)
Roud #4301
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "The Moonshiner" (on IRClancyMakem01)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Moonshiner" (on Holcomb-Ward1, HolcombCD1)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Moonshiner" (on NLCR08)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Country Blues" (words)
cf. "The Wagoner's Lad" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Wild Rover No More" (floating lyrics)
File: San142
===
NAME: Moonshiner's Dream
DESCRIPTION: "Las night as I lay sleeping I dreamed one pleasant dream...." "Making blockade whiskey And selling at retail; But I woke up sad, broken-hearted In the Fulton County Jail." He laments the conditions, dreams of better, and warns others
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (recording, Riley Puckett)
KEYWORDS: prison drink dream
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 355, "Moonshiner's Dream" (1 text)
Roud #11729
RECORDINGS:
Riley Puckett, "The Moonshiner's Dream" (Columbia 15324-D, 1928)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Logan County Jail (Dallas County Jail)" [Laws E17] (theme, lyrics)
NOTES: This shows clear signs of borrowing from "Logan County Jail" or a relative. But the dream motif seems important enough for me to list it separately. - RBW
File: Br3355
===
NAME: Moorlough Maggie
DESCRIPTION: Singer owns sheep, cattle, and ships at sea. He offers each to Moorlough Maggie if she will go with him. She rejects each offer: "Tae gie consent, love, I darna gie Tae herd your sheep high in yon heathery hills"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (recording, Stanley Robertson)
KEYWORDS: love rejection nonballad
FOUND_IN:  Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #12939
RECORDINGS:
Stanley Robertson, "Moorlough Maggie" (on Voice15)
NOTES: I have to suspect this is a fragment of something like "Lizie Lindsay." - RBW
File: RcMooMag
===
NAME: Moorlough Mary
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls meeting Mary in Strabane, and being stricken. He describes how lovely it is to see her. He wishes he had education so he could wed and entertain her. Having no hope of wedding her, he departs Moorlough's banks forever
AUTHOR: James Devine ?
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1886 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 b.11(223))
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection nonballad shepherd
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
SHenry H173, pp. 250-251, "Moorlough Mary" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 85, "Moorlug Mary" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 59-61, "Moorlough Mary" (1 text)
Roud #2742
RECORDINGS:
Brigid Tunney, "Murlough Mary" (on IRTunneyFamily01)
Paddy Tunney, "Moorlough Mary" (on IRPTunney02)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.11(223), "Moorlough Mary" ("The first time I saw young Moorlough Mary"),  H. Such (London), 1863-1885; also 2806 c.14(18)[some words illegible], "Moorlough Mary"; Firth b.27(232), "Moorlouch Mary"[text uses "Moorlough Mary"]
NOTES: Credited to James Devine by Sam Henry. Devine's one other song known to me ("The Pride of Glenelly") is a dreadul literary contraption; there is little real evidence that it went into tradition. This song is better-known, and not nearly as pretentious; it makes me wonder if Devine really wrote it. - RBW
Tunney-SongsThunder: "It seems that Mary Gormley or Moorlough Mary was no great beauty at all." Peter Boyle's notes to IRPTunney02: "Local tradition has it that, though they were never married, he [Devine] remained in love with her until they both were very old." - BS
File: HHH173
===
NAME: Moorlough Shore, The: see The Maid of Mourne Shore (File: HHH034b)
===
NAME: Moorlug Mary: see Moorlough Mary (File: HHH173)
===
NAME: Moorsoldaten, Die (Peat-Bog Soldiers)
DESCRIPTION: German: The prisoners, trapped in a concentration camp, carry their spades to work in the moors and bogs. There is no escape; they can only keep working. But the winter (of despair) will eventually end, and they can reclaim their corrupted homeland
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939
KEYWORDS: war prisoner hardtimes abuse political foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Scott-BoA, pp. 354-355, "Die Moorsoldaten (Peat-Bog Soldiers)" (2 texts (1 English, 1 German), 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 307, "Peat Bog Soldiers" (1 text)
NOTES: This is properly a German folksong, but the English translation has become so popular in revival circles that it probably belongs here. - RBW
File: SBoA354
===
NAME: Moose Song, The
DESCRIPTION: Izzie Walters sees a moose. The boys kill it. An informer sees them divide the meat. The magistrate says "Five dollars ... or fourteen days in jail." Next time I'll "pay the squealer b'y to keep his big mouth closed."
AUTHOR: George Croucher?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: hunting animal police punishment
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 77-78, "The Moose Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9950
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Terry Toole's Cabbage" (plot)
File: Pea077
===
NAME: Moosehead Lake
DESCRIPTION: "In eighteen hundred and ninety-two, Bant Breau and George Elliot they started a crew." Life in the camp, and the various characters there, are described. The singer talks about the combative men and the long hours
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Creighton-Nova Scotia)
KEYWORDS: logger work
FOUND_IN: US(NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 58, "Moosehead Lake" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 122, "In the Month of October" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1825
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Blue Mountain Lake (The Belle of Long Lake)" [Laws C20] (floating lyrics)
NOTES: This song as found in Lomax shares several verses with "Blue Mountain Lake" (with which Roud lumps it) as well as the "Derry Down" tune, and may well have sprung from the same roots. The overall feeling is just different enough, however, that I have very tentatively decided to keep them separate.
Laws offers another explanation: "Lomax seems to have added some stanzas from [Blue Mountain Lake] to... 'Moosehead Lake.'" - RBW
Creighton-NovaScotia begins "In the month of October eighteen-eight-two, Billy Williams from Bangor he scared up a crew, And forty brave fellows of us he did take, And he landed us over across head Moose Lake" - BS
File: LoF058
===
NAME: More Pretty Girls Than One
DESCRIPTION: Singer is a rambler who likes women; his mother told him to settle down, but he won't. He cries, thinking of pretty girls, and hopes he'll never die; he leaves us this lonesome song: "Every town I ramble around/There's more pretty girls than one."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (JAFL)
KEYWORDS: loneliness rambling nonballad lyric floatingverses love separation travel farewell courting parting family
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Randolph 734, "Goodbye, Little Bonnie Blue Eyes" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 284, "Bonnie Blue Eyes" (2 text plus 1 fragment and 1 excerpt);  also 301, "High-Topped Shoes" (2 texts, both mixed; "A" is mostly "Pretty Little Foot" with verses from "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" while "B" is a hash of "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down," ""More Pretty Girls Than One," "In the Pines," and others)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 192, "More Pretty Girls Than One" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 142, "Goodbye, Little Bonnie, Goodbye" (1 text)
Roud #11505
RECORDINGS:
Burnett & Rutherford, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One" (Challenge 423, 1929; prob. rec. 1928)
Carolina Tar Heels, "Goodbye My Bonnie, Goodbye" (Victor 21193, 1928, rec. 1927)
The Carter Family, "Bonnie Blue Eyes" (Decca 5304, 1936)
Cranford & Thompson, "Goodbye Little Bonnie" (Supertone 2594, c. 1932)
Woody Guthrie, "More Pretty Gals" (Folk Tunes 150, n.d., prob. mid-1940s)
Ken Marvin, "More Pretty Girls" (Mercury 6366, 1951)
Prairie Ramblers, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One" ((Perfect 6-10-58/Melotone 6-10-58/Conqueror 8713, 1936)
Riley Puckett, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One - Parts 1 & 2" (Decca 5439, 1937)
Ridgel's Fountain Citians, "Little Bonnie" (Vocalion 5389, 1930)
Arthur Smith Trio, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One" (Montgomery Ward M-4822, 1935; Bluebird B-6322, 1936)
Gordon Tanner, Smokey Joe Miller & Uncle John Patterson, "Goodbye, Little Bonnie, Blue Eyes" (on DownYonder)
Fields Ward and the Grayson County Railsplitters, "Good Bye Little Bonnie" (Gennett, unissued, 1929)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) [Laws H2]" (words, tune)
cf. "The Lass of Roch Royal" [Child 76] and its various offshoots (tune)
cf. "Lonesome Road" (words)
cf. "The Wagoner's Lad" (theme)
SAME_TUNE:
Dixon Brothers, "Bonnie Blue Eyes - Part 2" (Bluebird B-6691, 1936)
Arthur Smith Trio, "There's More Pretty Girls Than One - Part 2" (Bluebird B-6889/Montgomery Ward M-7155, 1937)
Arthur Smith Trio, "Answer to More Pretty Girls Than One" (Bluebird B-7437, 1938)
Howard Dixon & Frank Gerald (The Rambling Duet), "More Pretty Girls Than One - Part 3" (Bluebird B-7484, 1938)
NOTES: This song and "Danville Girl" [one of the various forms of Laws H2 - RBW] are siblings. - PJS
And the whole family is rather a mess. "More Pretty Girls Than One" is reasonably well-known. The Silber text "Goodby, Little Bonnie, Goodbye" has been found with this tune. Since both are largely floating verses, we decided to lump them.
Randolph's text also has a similar tune, and it shares the basic form of the Silber text, as well as some lyrics:
""Goodbye, little bonnie blue eyes (x2), I'll see you again, But God knows when, Goodbye, little...." "I'm going on the railroad train... 'Cause I love you, God knows I do." "I'm goin' on the ocean blue...." "Lay your hand in mine...."
Brown's two substantial texts ("A" and "B") are similar: Most of the same verses, but no chorus. Note the absence of the "more pretty girls" verse, which originally caused us to classify separately.
After some discussion, Paul Stamler and I decided to lump the lot, even though it's against our general policy, simply because none of the variations are really well-attested enough to be regarded as independent songs. But it should be noted that almost anything can be grafted onto this stalk. - RBW
File: CSW192
===
NAME: Moree Spider, The: see The Spider from the Gwydir (File: MA204)
===
NAME: Moreton Bay (I)
DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a prisoner. The prisoner, an Irish transportee, describes the various prisons he has been in, ending with Moreton Bay, which had no equal for harshness. He rejoices at the death of the sadistic commander, Captain Logan
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1879 (quoted the "Jerilderie Letter" of Ned Kelly)
KEYWORDS: abuse prison transportation injury Australia
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1824-1842 - Period during which Moreton Bay served as a prison colony
1830 - Murder of Captain Patrick Logan by an aborigine
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 38-39, "Moreton Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 16-18, "Moreton Bay" (1 text, 2 tunes)
DT, MORETONB*
Roud #2537
NOTES: During Logan's tenure as commander of Moreton Bay, the death rate among the prisoners exceeded ten percent per year; there was a time when it exceeded 3% per month. No wonder prisoners celebrated his death!
Moreton Bay is located in what is now southern Queensland. The penal colony there was founded in 1824 (though relocated slightly in 1825), and deliberately placed far away from the settled areas of Australia. Moreton Bay was intended for "doubly convicted felons," and it was thought that its remoteness would make it more secure.
Governor Brisbane, who gave his name to the local river and to the town which later arose on the site, wrote that "Port Macquarie [is] for first grave offenses [in Australia], Moreton Bay for runaways from the former, and Norfolk Island as the *ne plus ultra."*
This policy of "security through distance" didn't work; squatters were settling near Moreton Bay by 1840. In 1842, the government gave in and opened the area to settlement.
The list of settlements the prisoner has inhabited seems unlikely. For one thing, Norfolk Island should have been his last stop -- unless he had been on Norfolk Island in its first incarnation. But the island was closed in 1814 and not reopened until 1825. And convicts sent there were not allowed to leave for at least ten years!
In addition, Norfolk Island (in both its incarnations) was as bad as Moreton Bay (the death rate was prodigious; some men received over a thousand lashes a year, and the most common reason for murders was that men would do anything to be sent to Sydney for trial).
Of the other sites mentioned:
Toongabbie is one of the farming areas near Sydney, and was the easiest, not the worst, of the settlements.
Castle Hill probably refers to Newcastle (which was so called because it was near a Castle Hill); founded in 1821, it was another place destined for incorrigibles, but was close enough to Sydney that it didn't last long.
The reference to Moreton Bay as part of New South Wales is correct; although it is now in Queensland, all the settled regions of Australia, save Van Diemen's Land, were initially called "New South Wales," and Queensland did not become a separate territory until 1859.
The reference to men dying of starvation in Moreton Bay also has its truth; the British were incredibly inept about organizing colonies, and prison colonies were the worst; they didn't even allow plows to till the soil. A crop failure in 1828/1829 caused Logan to cut the minimal rations in half. He also kept prisoners in irons whatever their punishment status; this can only have lowered their productivity
A "triangle" was actually a tetrahedron, three sticks lashed together from which a man was hung to be flogged.
Logan (1792-1830) was assigned to Moreton Bay in 1826, and since he was judge, jury, and tribune, no word came out for some time; Governor Darling (who succeeded Brisbane in 1825) wanted it that way. But eventually a prisoner was brought to Sydney for trial, and though he was hanged, a manuscript he left behind revealed some of the truth.
Logan was assigned to other duties, outside Australia, in 1830. But he stayed on for a time to show his successor the ways of the colony.
During this period, Logan did some private exploration. On one such trip, he became separated from his party. His body was eventually found, partly buried; the physical evidence seemed to indicate that an aborigine had killed him. (Relations with the local natives had turned bad almost instantly, and they killed any intruders they could.) But there isn't much doubt that most of his prisoners would have murdered him given the slightest opportunity.
As with most such historical figures, there have been attempts to whitewash him. The attempts strike me as ludicrous. - RBW
File: FaE038
===
NAME: Moreton Bay (II): see The Boston Burglar [LawsL16] (File: LL16)
===
NAME: Mormon Cowboy, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer, a Mormon cowboy, is invited to a grand ball. He meets all the girls and enjoys the music. After dancing a few sets, he steps out for rest; later, a fight starts, with gunplay, but is quickly quashed. The cowboy rides off, vowing nevermore to roam
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Carl T. Sprague)
KEYWORDS: fight dancing music party cowboy
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #11523
RECORDINGS:
Carl T. Sprague, "The Mormon Cowboy" (Victor V-40246, 1929; on AuthCowboys, WhenIWas1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The High-Toned Dance" (plot)
File: RcTMorCw
===
NAME: Mormond Braes
DESCRIPTION: A (lass/lad) laments a lost sweetheart, (who promised to marry but proved fickle). At last (she) says she will find another sweetheart elsewhere. "So fare ye weel, ye Mormond braes, Where after I've been cheerie... Sin I hae lost my dearie."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: love abandonment rambling
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 171-173, "Mormond Braes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 62-63, "Mormond Braes" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MORMBRAE*
Roud #2171
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "Mormond Braes" (on SCMacCollSeeger01)
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(124b), "Fareweel tae Blairgowrie," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890
File: FVS171
===
NAME: Mormons, The
DESCRIPTION: "Some folks talk about the Mormons, and I think it is very sad...." Most people try to make the Mormons look bad for having many wives, but the singer thinks "they have lots of fun, Do the Mormons!" He described the loose Mormon customs
AUTHOR: Herbert W. Taylor?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: marriage wife sin humorous
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 500, "The Mormons" (1 text)
Roud #7638
NOTES: Ordinary Christians viewed Mormons as scandalous because they had multiple wives, and this song portrays a very flirtatious Mormon girl. In fact Mormons, except for being polygynous, were sexually strict; public nudity was unacceptable. And in fact the church had abandoned multiple marriage by the time this song was collected. Today the Mormons' primary difference from Protestant Christianity is their acceptance of several books by Joseph Smith as scripture. There are other theological differences, to be sure (including some over how salvation is achieved) which are of great importance to scholars -- but they generally don't interest ordinary people much, and are not widely published. - RBW
File: R500
===
NAME: Morning Dew, The
DESCRIPTION: "The pink, the lily, and the blooming rose Grow in the garden where my true love goes. The little birds they do rejoice When they think they hear my love Jimmy's voice. O James Machree, I do love you well; I love you better than tongue can tell...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929
KEYWORDS: love courting nonballad
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 86, "The Morning Dew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 148-149, "The Morning Dew" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FJ148 (Full)
Roud #2307
File: FJ148
===
NAME: Morning Fair: see The Butcher Boy [Laws P24] (File: LP24)
===
NAME: Morning of the Fray, The
DESCRIPTION: Frank Gardner leads his gang against a coach at the Eugowra Rocks. The outlaws scatter the escort and take the rich prize. Chorus: "You can sing of Johnny Gilbert, Dan Morgan, and Ben Hall, But the bold and reckless Gardiner he's the boy to beat them all"
AUTHOR: Music supplied by A.L. Lloyd
EARLIEST_DATE: 1984
KEYWORDS: outlaw robbery battle money
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1830 - Birth of Francis Christie in New South Wales. He later took the name Frank Gardiner, and was known as "the Darkie" for his part-Aborigine ancestry
FOUND_IN: Australia?
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 84-85, "The Morning of the Fray" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "The Hold-Up at Eugowra Rocks" (on Lloyd4, Lloyd10)
NOTES: Although the song implies Gardiner was separate from Gilbert, Morgan, and Ben Hall, in fact Gilbert and Hall were associated with Gardiner's gang. Ben Hall was shot in 1865; Johnny Gilbert met his fate in 1866. Gardiner was eventually taken and imprisoned, but was released and sent into exile after serving ten years of a 32 year sentence. - RBW
File: FaE084
===
NAME: Morrisey and the Russian Bear: see Morrissey and the Russian Sailor [Laws H18] (File: LH18)
===
NAME: Morrisite Massacre, The
DESCRIPTION: "We'll see Morris, Banks, and others, Joseph, Hyrum with the Martyrs, On Mount Zion in great glory With the savior and his army." "Slain by Burton, cruel Mormon," the song tells of the coming joys for the believers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: religious murder
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 13, 1862 - The Morrisite Massacre
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, pp. 121-122, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: The Morrisites are, as best I can tell, an extinct sect, largely because of the actions described in this song. Joseph Morris in 1860 had received a series of revelations; he gathered followers among the Mormons and founded his own community. Being a rather poor organizer, and expecting the second coming at any moment, he was unable to control dissension among his followers.
Eventually some disgruntled followers called on the Utah authorities, who -- being left largely free of federal control due to the Civil War -- moved in quickly to settle the dissident faction. Salt Lake County sheriff Robert T. Burton gave the Morrisites 30 minutes to surrender, then moved in. Burton moved in, killed a few people including Morris and his assistant Banks, and took the rest prisoner.
Burton would be placed on trial in 1879, but was acquitted.
Joseph and Hyrum are, of course, the brothers Joseph and Hyrum Smith, who were slaim by a mob near Nauvoo, Illinois, one of the key events in Mormon history. - RBW
File: Burt121
===
NAME: Morrissey and the Benicia Boy
DESCRIPTION: The Benicia Boy -- Heenan -- challenges Morrissey saying "no man from Ireland before him could stand." They agree to fight for $5200 in North America. Morrissey wins in the eleventh round and takes the championship belt.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: fight gambling sports
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Oct 20, 1858 - American Heavyweight Championship fight between John Morrissey and John C Heenan at Long Point, Canada. Heenan broke his hand during the fight. This is Morrissey's last fight
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
O'Conor, p. 44, "Morrissey and the Benicia Boy" (1 text)
OLochlainn-More, pp. 252-253, "Morrissey and the Benicia Boy" (1 text, tune referenced: OLochlainn 26)
Roud #9781
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Heenan and Sayers" [Laws H20] (subject)
cf. "Morrissey and the Black" (subject)
cf. "Morrissey and the Russian Sailor" (subject)
cf. "Donnelly and Cooper" (tune)
NOTES: Source: Re historical references--"Troy Boxing -Round Two" by Don Rittner on The Mesh site.  I have not been able to find which Long Point in Canada was the site of the fight. - BS
John Morrissey was born in Ireland in 1831 but was raised in New York and apparently went to California at the time of the Gold Rush. In 1852 he gained fame as a boxer by defeating George Thomson. The climax of Morrissey's career came in 1858 (so _DAB_ and other sources; I've seen a date of 1860 cited), when he defeated champion John C. Heenan and promptly retired. In the years that followed his gambling resort in Saratoga Springs proved very successful, and Morrissey was twice elected to congress. He died in 1878.
In addition to his boxing prowess, he is said to have been a "hatchet man" for the New York Tammany Hall machine. - RBW
America Singing at the Library of Congress American Memory site does not have this ballad but has another about Morrissey and Heenan:
LOCSinging, sb10143a, "The Great Prize Fight Between Morrissey and Heenan, the Benicia Boy, at Long Point, Canada, Oct 20, 1858 for $5000," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
Bodleian Library site Ballads Catalogue does not have this ballad among its "prizefighting" broadsides. However, among the broadsides at that site, there are many celebrating Heenan. For example:
Bodleian, 2806 c.15(229), "Heenan's Challenge to Mace," unbknown, n.d.; also Harding B 19(62), "Heenan's Challenge to Mace"
Bodleian, Firth b.25(587/588), "Heenan and King," J.F. Nugent & Co. (Dublin), 1850-1899 [could not be downloaded]
Bodleian, Harding B 13(12), "Sayers' and Heenan's Struggle for the Championship and GBP400," J.O. Bebbington (Manchester), 1858-1861
Bodleian, Harding B 13(7), "The Bold Irish Yankee Benicia Boy," J.O. Bebbington (Manchester), 1858-1861 [tune: "Irish Molly"]
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 2161a, "Coburn's Challange to Heenan," P. Brereton (Dublin), c.1867; also 2806 c.8(234), "Coburn's Challenge to Heenan"
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 2705, "The Boxing Match Between Sayers and Heenan," unknown, n.d.
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 1448B, "Maugh Bonamalath" or "Charles Heenan, the Champion of the World," W. Pratt (Birmingham), c.1850
Bodleian, Firth c.19(12), "The Fight with Heenan and the Black," H. Disley (London), 1860-1883
Bodleian, Harding B 26(247), "Heenan's Arrival in England," unknown, n.d.
There is a different broadside there for this fight:
Bodleian, Harding B 40(15), "The glorious victory of John Morrissy, of Templemore, Ireland, over the Yankee Buffalo boy, on Long Island, North America," J.F. Nugent and Co.? (Dublin?), 1850-1899 [could not be downloaded]
Morrissey has many fewer but at least two have been collected (see cross-references above)
Broadside LOCSinging sb10143a: 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: OCon033
===
NAME: Morrissey and the Black [Laws H19]
DESCRIPTION: Morrissey agrees to fight "Ned the black of Mulberry town" for a stake of ten thousand pounds. By the fourteenth round Morrissey is unconscious or nearly, but he is revived and knocks out his opponent in the twenty-fifth round
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Mackenzie)
KEYWORDS: fight
FOUND_IN: US(NE) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Laws H19, "Morrissey and the Black"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 175, "John Morrissey and the Black" (1 text)
Mackenzie 136, "Morrissey and the Black" (1 text)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 186-187,251, "Morrissey and the Black" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 30-32, "Morrissey and the Black" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 706, MORRBLK
Roud #1884
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Morrissey and the Russian Sailor" [Laws H18] (subject)
cf. "Donnelly and Cooper" (subject)
cf. "Heenan and Sayers" [Laws H20] (subject)
cf. "Morrissey and the Benicia Boy" (subject)
cf. "The Napan Heroes" (theme)
NOTES: John Morrissey was born in Ireland in 1831 but was raised in New York and apparently went to California at the time of the Gold Rush. In 1852 he gained fame as a boxer by defeating George Thomson. The climax of Morrissey's career came in 1858 (so _DAB_ and other sources; I've seen a date of 1860 cited), when he defeated champion John C. Heenan and promptly retired. In the years that followed his gambling resort in Saratoga Springs proved very successful, and Morrissey was twice elected to congress. He died in 1878.
In addition to his boxing prowess, he is said to have been a "hatchet man" for the New York Tammany Hall machine. - RBW
Greenleaf/Mansfield says Morrissey was also a Congressman and State Senator for New York.
Ives-DullCare: .".. there is no record of a fight between Morrissey and anyone with a name remotely resembling 'Ned the blackman' from Melbourne or anywhere else." - BS
There had been, however, a tendency to recruit Black boxers in the early nineteenth century (see Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, _Blood Royal: The Illustrious House of Hanover_, pp. 142-143). This was apparently due to the success of one Molineaux, called "The Moor." This may well have been remembered. - RBW
File: LH19
===
NAME: Morrissey and the Russian Sailor [Laws H18]
DESCRIPTION: A Russian sailor in Tierra del Fuego challenges Morrissey to a duel. Morrissey takes on the challenge to uphold the honor of Ireland. The fight, for a large stake, takes 38 rounds, and each knocks the other down, before Morrissey is victorious
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: fight patriotic
FOUND_IN: US(MW,NE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland Australia
REFERENCES: (10 citations)
Laws H18, "Morrissey and the Russian Sailor"
Rickaby 48, "Morrisey and the Russian Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 216-217, "Morrissey and the Russian Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 398-399, "Morrissey and the Russian Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 325, "Morrissey and the Russian Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 135, "Morrissey and the Russian" (1 text)
O'Conor, p. 30, "Morrisey and the Russian" (1 text)
OLochlainn-More, pp. 255-256, "Morrissey and the Russian Sailor" (1 text, tune referenced: see OLochlainn 26)
Leach-Labrador 38, "Morrisey and the Russian Bear" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 694, MORRRUSS MORRRUS2*
Roud #2150
RECORDINGS:
Joe Heaney, "Morrissey and the Russian Sailor" (on Pubs1, Voice08)
Johnny McDonagh, "Morrissey and the Russian Sailor" (on Lomax42, LomaxCD1742)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Morrissey and the Black" [Laws H19] (subject)
cf. "Donnelly and Cooper" (subject, tune)
cf. "Heenan and Sayers" [Laws H20] (subject, tune)
cf. "Morrissey and the Benicia Boy" (subject)
NOTES: John Morrissey was born in Ireland in 1831 but was raised in New York and apparently went to California at the time of the Gold Rush. In 1852 he gained fame as a boxer by defeating George Thomson. The climax of Morrissey's career came in 1858 (so _DAB_ and other sources; I've seen a date of 1860 cited), when he defeated champion John C. Heenan and promptly retired. In the years that followed his gambling resort in Saratoga Springs proved very successful, and Morrissey was twice elected to congress. He died in 1878.
In addition to his boxing prowess, he is said to have been a "hatchet man" for the New York Tammany Hall machine.
There is no record of Morrissey ever fighting a Russian sailor -- and certainly not in Tierra del Fuego! On the other hand, he did fight some very long matches; in 1853 it took Morrissey 37 rounds to defeat James Sullivan.
(That win, incidentally, made Morrissey arguably the American champion; Sullivan in 1849 had beaten Tom Hyer in 1849 in what the February 2006 issue of _American History_ magazine says was "considered to be the [first[ American championships prizefight") - RBW
O'Conor's last verse refers to other fights. Specifically, "Our hero conquered Thompson, the Yankee Clipper, too, The Benicia Boy, and Sheppard he nobly did subdue."
We have a ballad for "Morrissey and the Benicia Boy", at least.
"Thompson" was George Thompson, California champion, who lost a controversial fight to Morrissey in 1852.
The "Yankee Clipper" refers to Morrissey's controversial victory over Yankee Sullivan to become "Champion of America". See "The Fight at Boston Corners" and "The Great Prize Fight Which Took Place at Boston Corners, Oct 12, 1853" broadsides at the Library of Congress American Memory site.
There is also a broadside "Rough and Tumble, or the Amos Street Fight between Poole & Morrissey" at the Library of Congress American Memory site.
Sources: Biography of John Morrissey on the International Boxing Hall of Fame site; Biography of John Morrissey on the HarpWeek Explore History site; "Yankee Sullivan (James Ambrose)(alias Frank Murray)" at Cyber Boxing Zone site. - BS
File: LH18
===
NAME: Moses Donohoe
DESCRIPTION: "The news from Rome ... our Pope he was in danger." April 29, 1869 Irish volunteers leave Dublin on the Avatuskey. They are rammed in a gale on May 10 and sink, deserted by the crew. Moses Donohue of Killincooley is among those drowned.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck soldier war
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 123-124, "Moses Donohoe" (1 text)
NOTES: Did some ship, possibly named _Avatuskey_ -- or some more Polish name -- sail on April 29, 1869 to sink following a collision on May 10, 1869?
Ransom says "I have not been able to check up the correctness of the name 'Avatuskey,' nor have I been able to verify the statement that Irish volunteers went to the defence of the Papal States in 1869." Rome was all that was left of the Papal States in 1869 and it fell to Italy in "The Battle of Porta Pia" on September 20, 1870. Newspapers in Galway and London for the dates may reveal the facts. - BS
We might note that the Papal States were annexed rather than directly conquered by Italy; Porta Pia was more demonstration than battle. Of course, if the Papacy had had an Irish regiment at hand, who knows what it might have tried? - RBW
File: Ran123
===
NAME: Moses in the Bulrushes: see Little Moses (File: R662)
===
NAME: Moses of the Mail
DESCRIPTION: "It was a dark and stormy night, The snow was falling fast, I stood on Thorpbridge Junction Where the reckless Moses passed." Although there is no description of a wreck, the song ends with the dying words of Moses
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1954 (MacColl-Shuttle)
KEYWORDS: train death storm
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(West))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MacColl-Shuttle, pp. 8-9, "Moses of the Mail" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Although the text in MacColl-Shuttle is described as composite, it doesn't make much sense: It is never made clear if there was a serious accident, or if engineer Moses retired after a minor injury, or if the whole thing is just a talltale. The song is said to refer to an actual engineer, Henry "Moses" Poyser, who worked in the 1880s. - RBW
File: MacCS08
===
NAME: Moses Paul
DESCRIPTION: "My kindred Indians, pray attend and hear... This day I warn you of that cursed sin That poor despised Indians wallow in."  The preacher warns Indians against drink, which led Moses Paul to murder; he bids them turn to Christ
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: drink murder Indians(Am.) religious
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1772 - Execution of Moses Paul, an Indian, for the murder of Moses Cook. 
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, pp. 152-153, "(Moses Paul)" (1 excerpted text)
NOTES: Supposed to be based on the words of one Reverend Samson Occom, himself an Indian, who gave the funeral sermon for Moses Paul. Occom correctly noted the poverty in which the Indians lived, and noted the effects of drink -- but rather ruined the effect, I would say, by blaming these faults on Sin. - RBW
File: Burt152
===
NAME: Moses Ritoora-li-ay
DESCRIPTION: A policeman sees a man peddling in the street and hauls him in. A trial ensues in which the court tries to find out if Moses Ri-too-ral-i-ay is Irish. He turns out to be a Jew related to the judge. Moses is released, and the unhappy policeman fired
AUTHOR: Brian O'Higgins?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (recording, Margaret Barry)
KEYWORDS: police Jew humorous trial punishment
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, MOSESRIT*
Roud #5197
RECORDINGS:
Margaret Barry, "Moses Ritoora-li-ay" (on IRMBarry-Fairs)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Vilikens and his Dinah (William and Dinah) [Laws M31A/B]" (tune & meter) and references there
cf. "The Sergeant's Lamentation" (theme)
NOTES: In the period around the Easter Rising, it was a crime in Ireland to preach rebellion. Apparently many revolutionaries got around this by preaching in Irish (though this raised the possibility that the listeners couldn't understand them!). The police, who were often English and almost always anglophone, were told to learn Irish to try to figure out what was going on.
This didn't work out all that well. (Gee, where have we heard that story before? The Habsburg Empire? Iraq?) The amused Irish created songs like this to celebrate the problem.
Robert Kee, on p. 48 of _Ourselves Alone_ (being volume III of _The Green Flag_) cites a Sinn Fein speech from 1918 claiming that "there were by then five hundred people in Ireland imprisoned under the Defence of the Realm Regulations on chrages ranging from singing a song written seventy years before to presenting their names in Irish when accosted by a policeman." Unfortunately, he does not cite a precise source. - RBW 
File: DTmosesr
===
NAME: Moss o Burreldale, The
DESCRIPTION: Description of a rowdy gathering of Travellers at the market of Burreldale. A piper's bag bursts, and he's launched into the air; another man plans to fight but his Annie knocks him over, etc. (Some versions describe the participants and their trades)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (collected from Jimmy McBeath)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Description of a rowdy gathering of Travellers at the market of Burreldale. A piper's bag bursts, and he's launched into the air; another man plans to fight but his Annie knocks him over then challenges him to fight some more; a showoff horseman is thrown (I think). Another man challenges a Catholic to fight. Eventually all leave, but vow they will always remember the fracas. (Some versions describe the participants and their trades)
KEYWORDS: bragging fight commerce drink music party moniker worker Gypsy migrant
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Kennedy 351, "The Moss o' Burreldale" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 127, "The Moss o' Burreldale" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #1876
File: K351
===
NAME: Mossback, The: see The Farmer and the Shanty Boy (File: Wa033)
===
NAME: Mossie and His Mare
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, Mossie was a cunning man, A little mare did buy; For winking and for jinking There was few could come her nigh." After telling how Mossie captures her, various folks are warned against bad behavior; they will be punished "as Mossie catch'd his mare."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: horse humorous warning Jacobites
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 39-42, "Mossie and His Mare" (1 text, 1 tune)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #234, p. 152, "(Moss was a little man, and a little mare did buy)"
Roud #6104
NOTES: The keyword "Jacobite" may be strange for this song, but Ford's text, after warning "gilpy lasses," "crafty ale wives," "lousy tailors," and "pettyfoggers," turns its attention to "A' ye Whigs about the land, Wha deny our lawfu' King." - RBW
File: FVS39
===
NAME: Most Done Ling'rin' Here: see notes under Run, Nigger, Run (File: R264)
===
NAME: Most Done Suffering: see Rough, Rocky Road (Most Done Suffering) (File: Br3632)
===
NAME: Most Done Traveling: see Rough, Rocky Road (Most Done Suffering) (File: Br3632)
===
NAME: Most Unconstant of Young Men, The: see Two Lovers Discoursing [Laws O22] (File: LO22)
===
NAME: Moth and the Flame, The
DESCRIPTION: Two old sweethearts meet. He says he still loves her; she says she is to be married to another. He tells the fable of the Moth and the Flame to reveal her lover is already married. At the wedding, the fiance kills his wife. The girl turns to her old love
AUTHOR: Words: George Taggart/Music: Max S. Witt
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love separation murder wedding adultery
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 818, "The Moth and the Flame" (1 text)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 156-158, "The Moth and the Flame" (1 text, 1 tune)
Geller-Famous, pp. 155-160, "The Moth and the Flame" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7433
NOTES: Should be an opera. - PJS
It comes close. It's based loosely on an 1898 play by Clyde Fitch with the same title. Taggart wrote the words after seeing the play, then sought someone to write the music. - RBW
File: R818
===
NAME: Mother Carey's
DESCRIPTION: Capstan shanty. "The brave west wind it filled our top-s'ls and bore us out-ward bound... for Frisco Town.... Sheet it home- that big main top-s'l, sheet it home- boys, good and true, For we're bound to Mother Carey's, where she feeds her chicks at sea."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Capstan shanty. "The brave west wind it filled our top-s'ls and bore us out-ward bound, out-ward bound across the Western, out-ward bound for Frisco Town. Chorus: Sheet it home- that big main top-s'l, sheet it home- boys, good and true, For we're bound to Mother Carey's, where she feeds her chicks at sea."
KEYWORDS: shanty ship travel return
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, p. 192, "Mother Carey's" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Hugill: "'Mother Carey's chickens' was a sailor name for stormy petrels, seabirds found flying close to the crests of the great seas of the high latitudes." - SL
The Simpson/Roud _Dictionary of English Folklore_ mentions that the name "Mother Carey's chickens" also refers to snowflakes. The name "Mother Carey" is not otherwise attested. They speculate that Mother Carey is the Old Woman of the Storms -- the hag who brings foul weather. They reject a possible link to "Mater Cara," "Dear Mother," on the grounds that the latter title is unattested (in any case, would nineteenth century English sailors be addressing Mary for help?).
If we're trying Latin, I might be more tempted by "Mater Carina," which can mean "Mother of hulls/keels." I don't believe it, though. - RBW
File: Hugi192
===
NAME: Mother Dear, Goodbye
DESCRIPTION: "I'll not be long with you, mother, I soon must say goodbye, But, mother, we shall meet again, In God's bright home on high." The singer rejoices that she(?) will join sister in heaven, and taste the joys there; she promises to pray for mother
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: death mother children
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 177, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: Thomas reports this to have been composed by Anna Messer on her deathbed, and that it was still being sung in 1936, 63 years after Messer's reported death. It's insipid enough to come from a dying girl -- but much too cutesy, I think. - RBW
File: ThBa177
===
NAME: Mother Jones (I): see The Death of Mother Jones (File: Grnw154)
===
NAME: Mother, He's Going Away
DESCRIPTION: Mother: Don't cry for that liar Barney; remember "how he served poor Kate Kearney." Nelly: He's going away; I dreamed of his ghost. Mother: All the better; remember you protested when he courted Jinny M'Cray last week. Nelly: He's going away ...
AUTHOR: Samuel Lover (1797-1868)
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1885 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.28(5a/b) view 2 of 8)
KEYWORDS: dialog love separation mother rake ghost
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 71, "Mother, He's Going Away" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.28(5a/b) view 2 of 8, "Mother, He's Going Away", Richard March & Co (London), 1877-1884 
File: OCon071
===
NAME: Mother, Is the Battle Over?
DESCRIPTION: The boy asks, "Mother, is the battle over? Ten thousand have been slain, they say. Is my father coming? Tell me, Have the rebels gained the day?" The boy sees his mother crying, and assumes his father is dead. At last mother admits the truth
AUTHOR: Henry Werner
EARLIEST_DATE: 1863
KEYWORDS: father battle death
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 243, "Mother, Is the Battle Over?" (1 text)
JHCox 75, "Mother, Is the Battle Over?" (1 text)
DT, BTTLOVER*
Roud #5462
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Does Your Mother Know You're Out" (floating lyrics)
File: R243
===
NAME: Mother, May I Go to Swim
DESCRIPTION: "Mother, may I go out to swim? Yes, my darling daughter. Hang your clothes on a hickory limb But don't go near the water."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: floatingverses clothes nonballad river
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
BrownIII 325, "Mother, May I Go to Swim" (1 text)
Randolph 873, "The Alphabet Song" (6 texts, 6 tunes, the "A" text has this verse)
Opie-Oxford2 360, "Mother may I go and bathe?" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #879, p. 327, "(Mother, may I go out to swim?)"
DT, (DRLDAUGH -- probably a composed song borrowing this stanza)
Roud #3303
RECORDINGS:
May Kennedy McCord, "The Singing Alphabet" (AFS; on LC12 -- the recording cited by Randolph)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Alphabet Songs" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: This is primarily a floating verse, but apparently exists also independently (as in Brown), so here it files. Most of the entries listed are songs borrowing the verse.
The Baring-Goulds quote Ditchfield to the effect that this goes back to the sixth century writer Hierocles. The joke may be the same, but I strongly doubt literary dependence. - RBW

File: Br3325
===
NAME: Mother, Mother, Make My Bed
DESCRIPTION: A young woman, dying, sends for her true love. He hastens home, but finds her already dead. He kisses her, and dies the next day. They are buried side by side, and a rose and briar twine over their grave.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (Vaughan Williams/Lloyd)
KEYWORDS: love death dying magic lover burial
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South)) US(SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Bronson 65, "Lady Maisry" (13 versions, of which #4, #5, #7, #8, #10, and perhaps #9 and #11 are this piece)
MacSeegTrav 22, "Mother, Mother, Make My Bed" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 71, "Mother, Mother, Make My Bed" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 137-139, "Laidy Maisry" (1 text, which despite the title appears closer to this than to "Lady Maisry," though it lacks the "Mother, Mother, Make My Bed" verse)
ST VWL071 (Partial)
Roud #45
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lady Maisry" [Child 65] (floating verses)
cf. "Lord Lovel" [Child 75] (floating verses)
cf. "Bonny Barbara Allen" [Child 84] (floating verses)
NOTES: This ballad shares verses with the cross-referenced titles; it's essentially a composite of floating verses and plot elements. -PJS
The problems with this song are myriad, though enough versions exist that it must be treated as a separate piece (at least; *I* say so; Roud lumps it with "Lady Maisry"). It shares material with many ballads (MacColl & Seeger see contacts with no fewer than ten Child ballads in their version, though some of these are stretched or verses found floating in several Child ballads -- e.g. the contact with "Little Musgrave" is the stanza "The first two miles the little boy walked, and the next two miles he run," which is an element which can float easily).
The real difficulty is, every version seems fragmentary. We don't know why the young woman is dying. If the ultimate source were "Lady Maisry," she is to be executed; if "Lord Lovel," she is dying for love. But neither explanation gains any support from the extant texts, implying that the cause of death was never stated. Paul Stamler suggests the possibility of plague. I doubt we'll ever know.
It is worth noting that Bronson has thirteen tunes listed under "Lady Maisry," and that eight of them (#4-11) belong to his "C" group, and that *all* of the texts of "Mother, Mother" are in the C group, and *every* song in the C group is either "Mother Mother" or a fragment which could be either song. Thus "Mother Mother" in fact appears to have its own distinct tune group. - RBW
File: VWL071
===
NAME: Mother's Admonition, The: see As I Roved Out (I) (Tarry Trousers II) (File: LoF014)
===
NAME: Mother's Malison, The, or Clyde's Water [Child 216]
DESCRIPTION: Willie wishes to visit his lover. His mother bids him stay, and curses him to drown in Clyde if he goes. Willie, trusting in his horse, goes anyway, but his lover's mother bids him away. Returning, he drowns in Clyde; his lover drowns as she seeks him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1800
KEYWORDS: river death love drowning curse horse
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Child 216, "The Mother's Malison, or, Clyde's Water" (3 texts)
Bronson 216, "The Mother's Malison, or, Clyde's Water" (14 versions+2 in addenda)
Leach, pp. 572-575, "The Mother's Malison, or, Clyde's Water" (1 text)
OBB 90, "Clyde Water" (1 text)
DT 216, CLYDWATR*
Roud #91
RECORDINGS:
Stanley Robertson, "The Clattering of the Clyde Waters" (on Voice03)
John Strachan, "Clyde's Water (The Mother's Malison)" (on FSBBAL2) {Bronsons #12.2}
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Annan Water"
cf. "Lord Derwentwater" [Child 208] (lyrics)
cf. "Ballad of the Drover (Death of Harry Dale)" (theme)
cf. "Martha Dexter" (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Drowned Lovers
File: C216
===
NAME: Motherless Child: see Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child (File: LxU107)
===
NAME: Motherless Children
DESCRIPTION: "Nobody treat you like mother will when mother is dead." (Various surrogate parents are suggested, but the children "have no place to go." "Motherless children have a hard time when mother is gone.")
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Recording, Blind Willie Johnson)
KEYWORDS: orphan mother nonballad family
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 761, "Motherless Children Sees a Hard Time" (1 text, 1 tune -- a lyric piece, but with enough common lyrics to apparently belong here)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 143-144, "(Motherless Children)" (1 text); pp. 269-270, "Motherless Children" (1 tune, partial text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 58, "Motherless Children" (1 text)
DT, MOTHRLSS*
Roud #16113
RECORDINGS:
The Blind Pilgrim, "Motherless Children" (Anchor 380, n.d.)
Carter Family, "Motherless Children" (Bluebird B-5924, 1935; Montgomery Ward M-5010, 1936)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Motherless Children" (on Holcomb2, HolcombCD1)
Joe, John & Janey Hunter & Mable Hillery, "Motherless Child" (on JohnsIsland1)
Blind Willie Johnson, "Mother's Children Have a Hard Time" (Columbia 14343-D, 1928; Vocalion 03021, 1935; rec. 1927; on BWJ02)
File: BSoF761
===
NAME: Motherless Children Sees a Hard Time: see Motherless Children (File: BSoF761)
===
NAME: Mountain Meadows Massacre, The [Laws B19]
DESCRIPTION: A wagon train is attacked by (Mormons disguised as) Indians. They surrender, but are slaughtered the moment they lay down their weapons. The assault is blamed on Brigham Young
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: fight death Indians(Am.)
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sept 11, 1857 - The assault at Mountain Meadows. All members of the caravan except 17 small children are said to have been killed. John D. Lee, reported to have led the assault, was executed Mar 23, 1877
FOUND_IN: US(NW,Ro,SW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws B19, "The Mountain Meadows Massacre"
Burt, pp. 117-120, "Mountain Meadows Massacre" (1 composite text, 1 tune, plus a loose stanza about the punishment of Lee)
DT 386, MTMDOW
Roud #3240
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lee's Ferry" (character of John D. Lee)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Ballad of John D. Lee
NOTES: Almost from the moment Joseph Smith announced his first revelation, the Mormon Church suffered persecution. After all, they added new sacred scriptures (something no significant sect had tried for roughly 1500 years), and they produced a doctrine of salvation completely unlike anything in orthodox scripture.
And this was even before polygamy became an issue! Gradually, their colonies headed west; they had built a city in Nauvoo, Illinois when leader Smith was lynched. This was psychologically very significant; as Wallace Stegner writes (p. 17  of _The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail_, University of Nebraska Press, 1964, 1981), it "made zealots out of men and women who might otherwise have been only die-hards."
Smith had also established a dangerous precedent of authoritarianism; although Stegner, p. 24, cites Fawn Brodie to the effect that the problems the Mormons had in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois all arose from different causes, he goes on on pp. 25-27 to tell how Smith harassed and persecuted some of his own follower who disagreed with him. It was one of these internal quarrels that resulted in Smith's imprisonment and thus led to his lynching.
Smith was succeeded by Brigham Young (for whom see "Brigham Young"), and his solution was to head farther west, away from the rest of America, to the Great Salt Lake area, which would become the land of Deseret. The reasoning was that no one would want to follow them there; not only was it a remote and inhospitable land, it was at that time Mexican rather than United States territory.
It wasn't far enough. The Mexican War gave the United States control of that land. And whereas Mexican control had been lax (indeed, non-existent), the United States wanted to use the land. They sent the explorer John Williams Gunnison to survey the area. In the process, he met and observed the Mormons in Deseret. And he published a book: _The Mormons, or Latter-Day Saints, In the Valley of The Great Salt Lake: A History of Their Rise and Progress, Peculiar Doctrines, Present Condition, and Prospects, Derived from Personal Observation, During a Residence Among Them_.
The book came out in 1852 (see Sally Denton, _American Massacre: The Tragedy at Mountain Meadows, September 11, 1857_, Secker & Warburg, 2003, p. 65). Denton believes that Gunnison was relatively sympathetic to the Mormons: If left alone, he expected their church to decay due to its internal contradictions. (Obviously he hadn't met many fundamentalists.)
But Gunnison's book changed the whole debate. The Federal governor had made Brigham Young governor of Utah Territory (Denton, p. 66), but it didn't know much about the Mormons. Gunnison's publication made it clear: Mormons were polygamous. It didn't sit well with the regular population.
Gradually the Mormons and the government started heating up their own cold war. In 1853, the Federal Government sent Gunnison on another surveying expedition in Utah. He thought the Mormons would let him work as before. They didn't. They (or someone) shot him down, along with most of his party, at the Sevier River on October 26, 1853 (Denton, p. 87).
This by itself did not cause war between the Mormons and the United States. But as gory details emerged (some of them perhaps exaggerated), the federal government decided it had to act. By 1857, federal authority had almost ceased to exist in Utah, and the president Buchanan ordered the army to suppress Brigham Young's government (Denton, p. 108). Unfortunately, the army would prove singularly ill-equipped for this task.
As this was going on, discipline among the Mormons was becoming more vigorous, in part because of bad harvests and the unrest they brought; to backslide was to risk death (Denton, pp. 104-107). And in 1857, Brigham Young declared that he would decide which Federal laws were enforced in his domain (Denton, p. 108). As the government became more insistent, Young would make what amounted to a declaration of independence (Denton, p. 113).
To be fair, his authoritarianism "was strongly approved by the Mormons when they found President Pierce [who served 1853-1857] appointing political hacks of bad personal character, prejudiced and quarrelsome, to executive and judicial offices in the Territory" (see Allan Nevins, in _The Emergence of Lincoln, Volume I: Douglas, Buchanan, and Party Chaos 1857-1859_, Scribner's, 1950, p. 317). But Young's declaration was still an obvious attempt to block enforcement of Federal law in Deseret (Nevins, p. 318).
Many think that Young's declaration was just a negotiating ploy. But Young was too smart to run a pure bluff. Young sent out orders to leaders in other communities to count up their arms and prepare to fight (Denton, p. 116); all able-bodied men were drafted into a militia. Many, including John D. Lee, would take this very seriously indeed, calling the instructions "sacred commands" (Denton, p. 117). The stage was set for the Mormon War (or, as it is also known, the Utah War).
Denton's account of what follows is somewhat confusing, because she describes the Mountain Meadows Massacre before she really explains the Mormon War. But the Mormon War is crucial: At the time of the Massacre, the Mormons were threatened with assault from the east, and any "Gentiles" among them might be spies, and any supplies they gave them would not be available during the coming fight. Indeed, even as the Massacre was starting, Brigham Young was negotiating with a federal officer, knowing full well that the U. S. Army was coming -- and that it had a very big supply problem (Denton, pp. 164-165). On September 15, Young declared a scorched earth policy against the Federals. By the end of the month, Mormon guerillas were attacking army outposts (Denton, p. 168)
It was just too bad that one of the wagon routes to California ran right through the heart of Mormon territory.
One of the wagon trains taking the so-called "Southern Trail" through Mormon territory was the Fancher party, bound from Arkansas to California. The Fancher brothers, Alexander and John, had moved to California as early as 1850 and started a ranch (Denton, pp. 95-96). They made several trips to ferry cattle to California. Alexander's 1857 expedition was expected to be their last.
We don't have exact details on the Fancher party, but it included a number of families, and property estimated to be worth over $2500, plus cash on the order of $100,000 (Denton, p. 100). There were at least 30, and perhaps more than 40, wagons in the train. 
There were several overland routes to California, all difficult due to the dry and deserted nature of the lands west of the Mississippi. The Fancher party from Arkansas could have taken the "California Trail," but instead chose to head up the Arkansas River, then north to meet the Platte at Fort Kearney, following the North Platte to Fort Laramie, then through South Pass to Salt Lake City and down through the Great Basin. The latter part of the route was all Mormon territory -- which meant, on the one hand, that there was water and forage available, but on the other hand, that there were a lot of chances for conflict. (See the map in Denton, pp. 12-13).
The Fancher party hoped to simply pass through Mormon territory, purchasing supplies along the way -- but quickly found that the Mormons closed their doors (Denton, p. 119). We don't know precisely what happened in this period (and, according to Denton, p. 121, most of the reports we do have are somewhat propagandistic). It appears they were forced to resort to eating the cattle they had hoped to use to make their fortunes in California (Denton, p. 123). They circled their wagons at night to guard against attack, even as some Mormons, frightened of the Church's strict regimentation, tried to join them.
Nonetheless, the party almost made it through. Mountain Meadows is in southern Utah; the area is now a national forest, near the town of Enterprise, just east of the Nevada border and almost due north of Saint George, which is on the Arizona border.
They picked a bad place to camp. Mountain Meadows is just what the name implies, a relatively open field surrounded by high rocks on all sides; there are only two exits, and the rocks provided excellent cover for an attack on a train in the meadow (Denton, p. 129). There is water, but the Fancher train inexplicably camped at some distance from it.
On September 7, 1857, the Fancher Train was attacked by people who apparently were dressed as Indians. Twenty or so members of the expedition were killed or injured in the first assault. The Fancher party then circled their wagons (Denton, p. 128), but they had no water supply, little food, limited ammunition, and no way to escape. When they tried to send out young girls to get water, the attackers shot them (Denton, p. 130). They tried to send out messengers seeking help; the only result of that was that several ended up dead and one returned to the camp wounded (and, according to Denton, pp. 130, 132,  with news that the attackers were Mormons, though it's not clear how she could possibly this). Those who were left prepared to die; even if one of the messengers made it through, it would be a week or more before rescue arrived.
John D. Lee then came into the camp under a flag of truce. Denton, p. 134, says that he claimed the train needed to appease the Indians, and could survive by surrendering their weapons and cattle. (This even though the local Indians, the Paiutes, were relatively peaceful and ill-armed. The Mormons would later blame them even so. The Indians admit to having taken some of the artifacts, but deny participation in the actual assault) After much discussion, seeing no alternative, the survivors gave in (Denton, pp. 135-136).
The Mormon leaders, including Lee, broke them up into smaller parties -- and slaughtered them. It was pure and simple murder; the only survivors were children under the age of eight, most of whom saw their parents and older siblings killed before their eyes. Who gave the order for the murders is not clear -- it may well have been Lee -- but the Mormon soldiers instantly obeyed (Denton, p. 137-143, which gives brutal details of the treatment of the prisoners).
Who was this man who was responsible for what Denton, p. 241, calls "the largest civilian atrocity to occur on American soil" prior to 1995 and the Oklahoma City bombing? (A disputed claim, but it probably does qualify as the largest white-on-white civilian atrocity in that time.) John D. Lee (1812-1877) was one of Brigham Young's earliest lieutenants, who gave his allegiance to the prophet at the time when Young's power was still uncertain. Lee as in effect Young's adopted son, for a time signing himself "J. D. L. Young." Despite some minor quarrels (e.g. over a woman both wanted as a wife) he would surely obey the prophet almost without question -- a significant point in assessing the conflicting blame for the Massacre.)
When word of the Massacre came out, the government had to figure out how to respond. There were two basic questions: Who was responsible for the initial attack (Indians or Mormons)? And who was responsible for the Massacre (John D. Lee or someone higher in the church)?
There isn't much evidence. Federal officers took testimony from the surviving children, but all were very young, and many were traumatized; it is very likely that their testimony would today be considered tainted. The Mormon participants reportedly swore vows of secrecy.
Opinions have shifted over the years.  The very first investigator was appointed by Brigham Young himself, who had promised the incoming governor that he would look into the Massacre (Denton, p. 182) -- but Young chose as his investigator George A. Smith, was one of those who had helped whip up the people behind the Massacre (Denton, p. 186). Smith's report is so far off the mark that it dates the massacre to September 21-25 rather than September 7-11, and it places almost the entire blame on the Indians (Denton, pp. 186-187).
A non-Mormon investigator, Jacob Forney, set out to investigate further. He recovered 17 children and much property in Mormon hands, and his 1859 report placed the blame squarely in the hands of the Mormons (Denton, pp. 192-194). And, indeed, forensic examination from that day to this show that firearms caused most if not all the deaths, confirming that the Indians were not responsible for the slaughter.
As for what historians have written, the earliest description of the massacre in my library is from J. Franklin Jameson, _Dictionary of United States History 1492-1895_, Puritan Press, 1894 (yes, it was copyrighted a year before the last year it allegedly covered!), p. 433, reports that the emigrants "were brutally murdered at Mountain Meadow, Utah, by a band of Indians, who were incited thereto by Lee, a Mormon fanatic." Note the complete absence of mention of anyone other than Lee!
Nevins, p. 322, reports that "In September, a party of one hundred and thirty-seven California-bound emigrants passing through southern Utah had been all but wiped out by a Mormon-Indian attack in the Mountain Meadows massacre." He as in a footnote, "Neither Young nor the Mormon church approved this murderous attack on the Missouri emigrant train."
Stegner, p. 277, comments, "The massacre of the Fancher party at Mountain Meadows in 1857 may have been, though it probably was not, planned with the knowledge of Brigham Young."
Juanita Brooks, probably the most careful historian of the event, admits that we simply can't be certain about what happened; there just isn't enough information.
Yet Denton seems to possess no doubts whatsoever that Mormons did it -- and with the full knowledge of Brigham Young (presenting her arguments on pp. 153-159). This even though she confesses that the local leaders argued long and hard about what to tell him (Denton, pp. 147-148). And the planning seems to have been imperfect; while many of the attackers disguised themselves as Indians, there was no scheme to hide the bodies, except to leave them to the crows and wolves (Denton, pp. 149-150).
(I wonder a bit about Denton's motives. The dust jacket says she is "of Mormon descent" -- but she is not a practicing Mormon. She seems to have a strong prejudice against the church.)
Part of Denton's case seems pretty airtight: The massacre was the action of the Mormons, not the local Indians. Modern examination of the bodies -- though it was quickly halted by Mormon authorities -- seems sufficient to establish this.
The case against Young, though, rests on a very slender basis: The testimony of John D. Lee, published after his death and possibly fiddled with by its editor. There is also a "John D. Lee scroll," which if authentic would seem to confirm his guilt (Denton, pp. 242-243), but all that can be proved about it is that it seems to be the right age.
It is of course possible -- even likely -- that there is additional information in Mormon records, which are not accessible to the public; this would explain why the Mormons seem always to try to quash investigations into the matter. These may even include the journals of John D. Lee, which he reported giving to the church for safekeeping, and which they did not return when asked.
The only conclusion I can make is that it would be very hard to convict Young based on Denton's evidence; at best, he might be labelled an accomplice after the fact. And I would hate to be the prosecuting attorney on that one (even if you ignore the likelihood that Young's followers would have lynched any lawyer who brought the case).
In any case, President Buchanan had offered a near-blanket amnesty for all events of the Mormon War if the Mormons would just back down (Denton, p. 179). Which, for the most part, they did. Buchanan then took away the rights of the military investigators to seek information, stalling any investigation (Denton, p. 202). National dislike of polygamy, and other details, meant that Utah was kept a territory for decades after it had met the normal criteria for statehood, but once the Mormons eliminated polygamy and obtained guarantees of religious autonomy, statehood followed.
Which does not mean that the participants of the massacre were entirely safe. The Mormon church, after all, had every reason to want to clear its name. And once the trasncontinental railroad was completed, it was much easier for journalists and others to head west and see what they could learn. For many years, Brigham Young remained close to John D. Lee (Denton, pp. 209-211), but eventually started to distance himself from Lee and the other leaders of the massacre.
Eventually Lee was pushed out of Utah altogether, spending some time with John Wesley Powell as the latter explored the Colorado River. He went on to found and operate Lee's Ferry (yes, the Lee's Ferry of the song of that name; Denton, p. 218). He was forced to sell his property in Utah  (Denton, p. 215), and was excommunicated by the Mormon Church (Denton, p. 214).
When, in 1874, the federal government took over direct control of justice in Utah (Denton, p. 219), it was the beginning of the end for Lee. He was arrested in that year. Initially, he stated that the Church, and Brigham Young, had no role in the massacre (Denton, pp. 219, 221).
What happened next is fascinating. Even though Lee had been excommunicated, the Mormon Church provided two lawyers for his 1875 trial. Lee himself had three (Denton, p. 221).
Denton thinks these two groups were at cross-purposes. The church lawyers had as their chief purpose to protect the church. Lee's lawyers wanted to keep him alive -- which would be very hard to do unless they could implicate the church. (After all, Lee had already given a partial confession.)
The 1875 trial was defective in many ways. No testimony was taken from Indians. Many Mormons were subpoenaed; fewer than half appeared. One of those who avoided testifying was Brigham Young (Denton, p. 225). There was conflicting testimony about who did what. Eventually the trial went to the jury, which -- being part Mormon, part Gentile -- deadlocked (Denton, p. 226); the Mormon jurors apparently wanted Lee acquitted, the Gentiles wanted him convicted.
If Denton is right (p. 228), the next step was simply despicable. A new U. S. attorney reached a deal with Brigham Young: Young would supply all needed witnesses to convict Lee -- as long as the attorney didn't do anything which would implicate the greater church. Since even Denton admits there are no records of this deal, we can hardly be sure of it. We can be sure that Lee's church-appointed lawyers withdrew from the case, and that the U. S. attorney would earn a reprimand over the matter (Denton, p. 232).
In 1876, Lee's second trial began -- this time with an all-Mormon jury. It was a much briefer trial: Seven prosecution witnesses, all Mormons, all of whom testified voluntarily. The defence called no witnesses at all (Denton, p. 229). Not surprisingly, Lee was found guilty of first degree murder, with the jury needing only three and a half hours to convict. The judge sentenced him to execution (p. 230); Lee chose a firing squad as a method of execution.
Denton notes the interesting point that, at this time, the Mormons practiced beheading as a means of "blood atonement" -- a sort of release from sin. She thinks that Lee, by rejecting the option of beheading, was stating that he did not think his actions needed atonement.
(I must admit to extreme disquiet about the whole affair. There can be no doubt that Lee was a mass murderer, and that he defiled the names "Christian," "American," and "human being." So Lee deserved everything the law could do to him, and more. Still, the Mormon practice of "blood atonement" -- ritual beheading -- surely made it easier to induce the attackers to massacre their victims; a church that's run like a Mafia shouldn't be surprised that its people turn into barbarians! Certainly Lee's trial should not have been conducted in Utah, there should have been no Mormons on the jury, and the parties involved should have taken real testimony. If there is a Hell, I can only hope Lee and the prosecuting attorney are confined together....)
Lee would write various statements about his actions as the appeals process worked itself out.  Eventually, he delivered a large manuscript to his lawyer W. W. Bishop; in it, Lee would aim the blame directly at Brigham Young (Denton, p. 237). Lee was executed March 23, 1877 at the site of the Mountain Meadows Massacre.
In an interesting coincidence, Lee predicted before his end that Brigham Young would die within six months of his own execution. On August 23, 1877, Young took sick with an illness that killed him six days later (Denton, p. 238).
Fred W. Allsopp, _Folklore of Romantic Arkansas_, Volume II (1931), pp. 323-324, does not offer a text of this song, but reports the Arkansas belief that the Massacre was "the sequel to the killing in Arkansas of the Mormon Elder, Parley P. Pratt." Pratt had become involved with an already-married women, Elenore McLean. After a long and complicated pursuit across the country, McLean's husband succeeded in killing Pratt near Van Buren, Arkansas. It was extrajudicial -- but it was also popular; the locals had already hauled Pratt before the law on trumped-up charges (Denton, pp. 110-111). The basic reason for the hullabaloo was polygamy, but Denton, p. 112, says that the Mormons viewed it as religious persecution. Hence their particular anger with the Arkansans of the Fancher party.
(Denton does not say so, but this is, I think, an argument against the guilt of Brigham Young. He was too smart a politician to let things like that influence him.)
This song appears to be generally accurate in its details: The Fancher train of "thirty wagons" was attacked by "Lee's Mormon bullets" and by people "In Indian garb and colors." ÒWhile Lee... his word to them did give That if their arms they would give up He'd surely let them live." "When once they had given up their arms... They rushed on them." "Their property was divided Among this bloody crew." The one interesting element is found in what is the final stanza of Burt's and Fife's texts: "By order of their president This awful deed was done... His name was Brigham Young." This, of course, is the point still in dispute -- but this verse has been sung by Mormons themselves!
Sundry references appear in the literature to a song, "The Ballad of John D. Lee." Denton, for instance, has a scrap of it on pp. 209-210. But almost all of her words are found in either the Burt or the Fife text of "The Mountain Meadows Massacre." Until something clearer comes along, I am assuming these are the same song. - RBW
File: LB19
===
NAME: Mountain Men, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer is one of Dwyer's mountain men. The Yeos can't trap us, he says. "The people all bless us, for many a cabin's left safe and secure" We are few but we control the mountains and, while we have strength, "we'll keep the old cause living still"
AUTHOR: William Rooney (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1887 (Madden's _Literary Remains of the United Irishmen of 1798_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS:  rebellion Ireland nonballad patriotic 
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1798 - Irish rebellion against British rule 
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 146, "The Mountain Men" (1 text)
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
"Yeos" = yeomen, the British militia. Contrary to this song, they did catch up with Dwyer -- or, at least, put him under so much pressure that he gave in and allowed himself to be transported. For more details, see "Michael Dwyer (I)" or Michael Dwyer (II)." - RBW
File: Moyl146
===
NAME: Mountain Stream, The: see Where the Moorcocks Grow (The Mountain Stream; With My Dog and Gun) (File: K136)
===
NAME: Mountain Streams Where the Moorcocks Crow, The
DESCRIPTION: 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: 
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Where the Moorcocks Grow (The Mountain Stream; With My Dog and Gun)
File: K136
===
NAME: Mountaineer's Courtship: see Buffalo Boy (File: LoF162)
===
NAME: Mountains of Mourne, The
DESCRIPTION: The Irishman in London writes home to Mary to tell her of the city. He describes how the local women dress (or, rather, don't dress). He watches the King of England. He wishes he were home with Mary "where the Mountains of Mourse sweep down to the see"
AUTHOR: Percy French (died 1920)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (recording, Peter Dawson)
KEYWORDS: love home separation homesickness clothes royalty
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1903 - Visit of King Edward VII to "Erin's Green Shore" (mentioned in the song)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, MTMOURNE*
RECORDINGS:
Peter Dawson, "The Mountains O' Mourne"(HMV [UK] B-3772, 1931; HMV [UK] B-9114, 1940)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Green Hills of Antrim" (tune, lyrics)
cf. "Canny Newcastle" (plot)
SAME_TUNE:
The Green Hills of Antrim (File: HHH606)
NOTES: The tune is said to be "Carrighdhoun," but it is now much better known under French's title.
Edward VII's visit to Ireland in 1903 had little real effect; five of six histories I checked had no mention of the event (and some other reference apparently had the wrong date, since earlier versions of this Index gave the date as 1905).
But his trip did show an interesting change in Irish attitudes: quite a few radical nationalists were very upset about the visit, but the ordinary people seem to have loved it; Robert Kee (_The Bold Fenian Men_, being volume II of _The Green Flag_, p. 154) calls it an "outstanding success," and cites newspaper accounts of how he was greeted. Compare the song's mention of the singer "cheer[ing] with the rest."
Too bad the Easter Rebellion, and the British over-reaction, did such a find job of messing that up. - RBW
File: DTmtmour
===
NAME: Mountains of Pomeroy, The
DESCRIPTION: A maid meets "her gallant Reynardine, on the mountains of Pomeroy." He is an outlaw "but keeps the flag of freedom safe." She is afraid for him. Her kinsmen would kill him. She leaves "her cruel kin and home" to go to him but drowns in a storm
AUTHOR: George Sigerson (1838-1925) (source: Celtic Lyrics site)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1991 (Tunney-SongsThunder)
KEYWORDS: love drowning storm Ireland patriotic outlaw derivative
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 146-147, "The Mountains of Pomeroy" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Reynardine" [Laws P15] (subject)
NOTES: This version is almost exactly George Sigerson's as quoted at "The Mountains Of Pomeroy" at The Celtic Lyrics site, copyright The Celtic Lyrics Collection 2000-2004. Steve Roud's _Folk Song Index_ reference for "Renaldine" makes it appear that this version is also in Flanders, Ballard, Brown and Barry _The New Green Mountain Songster_.
Pomeroy is in County Tyrone, Ireland. - BS
The description of Reynardine immediately made me think of the resistance fighter Michael Dwyer, who after the collapse of the 1798 rebellion organized a resistance movement in Wicklow, then was transported to Australia after giving up to the British. (For more background, see "Michael Dwyer (I)").  would explain why the girl has to cross the ocean to see him. The problem is that Wicklow is in the southeast of Ireland, Ppmeroy is in Ulster, about ten miles northwest of Dungannon or twice that from Armagh.
On the other hand, Pomeroy is not mountainous. (Fermoy, mentioned in some other versions of "Reynardine," is in south Ireland, on the Blackwater a few dozen miles north of Cork, an is in a much more hilly region.) So I think we have to conclude that this song is not intended to be "real" -- but it may have been meant to remind listeners of both Reynardine and Dwyer. - RBW
File: TST146
===
NAME: Mountsandel
DESCRIPTION: The singer praises the "soft sylvan splendour" of Mountsandel. Wandering the land reminds him of childhood. He says that friendships grow in the central town of Coleraine
AUTHOR: George Graham
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H817, p. 169, "Mountsandel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13483
File: HHH817
===
NAME: Mourner, You Shall Be Free (Moanish Lady)
DESCRIPTION: A complex family, with no clear dividing line, known by the key chorus line "You shall be free When the good lord sets you free" (or "calls you home"). Verses can be serious or silly ("Oh! there was a moanish lady Lived in a moanish land...")
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (recording, Uncle Dave Macon)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious nonsense parody humorous floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Sandburg, p. 11, "Moanish Lady!" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 110-112, "Mona (You Shall Be Free)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 254-258, "When de Good Lord Sets You Free" (1 text, 1 tune -- an immense composite containing elements of "Moanish Lady," "Talking Blues," and probably other materials, to the tune of "Mourner, You Shall Be Free")
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 163-164, "Old Marse John" (1 text, 1 tune, with this chorus and sundry floating verses: Ole Marse John and the mule he is riding till it dies; the singer standing on the corner doing no harm; the singer in the henhouse hearing the chicken sneeze); p. 172, "Po' Mournah" (1 fragment); p. 176, "Great Big Nigger Sittin' on a Log" (1 text, with this chorus and floating verses: Jakey hunting coons, the Big Nigger shooting at a hog; an humorous description of an ususual girl); p. 194, "Fragment from Pore Mournah" (1 text); p. 197, "There Was an Old Nigger, His Name Was Dr. Peck" (1 text, which uses this chorus); pp. 224-225, (no title), with this chorus and the "My old mistus promised me" and "Some folks say a nigger won't steal" lyrics; p. 235, with a variant on "Ain't no use me working so hard"
Roud #11685
RECORDINGS:
The Blue Chips, "Oh! Monah!" (ARC 6-09-55, 1936)
Bill Boyd & his Cowboy Ramblers, "You Shall Be Free, Monah" (Bluebird B-6694, 1936)
Carolina Tar Heels, "When the Good Lord Sets You Free" (Victor 20931, 1927)
Four Dusty Travelers, "Po' Mourner" (Columbia 14477-D, 1929; on VocalQ2)
Lions Quartet, "Moanin' Lady" (Columbia 1167-D, 1927)
Uncle Dave Macon, "Shout Mourner, You Shall Be Free" (Vocalion 5007, 1926)
Bill & Belle Reed, "You Shall Be Free" (Columbia 15336-D, 1928)
Frank Stokes & Dan Sane, "You Shall" (Paramount 12518, 1927; on Cornshuckers2)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Raise a Ruckus" (floating lyrics)
cf. ""Uncle Eph" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Talking Blues" (sometimes sung to a tune similar to this)
cf. "Some Folks Say that a Preacher Won't Steal" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Deacon's Calf" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: This is a complicated group, and the problem is not lessened by the way editors have handled it. The first three text I indexed, for instance, were all messed with by editors. Sandburg, e.g., derived his "Moanish Lady" from the spiritual "Mourner, You Shall Be Free," but printed only one verse because "the music is too superbly serious to have cheap lines."
It appears, however, to be the same as Spaeth's song about a no-count who hangs around rail yards and sponges off his girl, giving us a whole family of knock-offs.
Fred W. Allsop, in _Folklore of Romantic Arkansas_, Volume II, p. 161, says Moanish Lady "has been heard often in negro barber shops." Whatever that tells us. - RBW
"Moanish Lady" is derived from "Mourner, You Shall Be Free," and so is "You Shall," but the latter is quite a different song, with a different melody, having in common only the derivation.... [The hymn] seems to have spawned quite a few [parodies], mostly in African-American tradition, but even Bob Dylan created one. - PJS
For the moment, I'm still lumping the family. It's just too messy. - RBW
File: San011
===
NAME: Mourner's Comfort, The: see Boundless Mercy (Drooping Souls, No Longer Grieve) (File: Br3528)
===
NAME: Mourning Souls
DESCRIPTION: "Ah, poor souls, why cast you down, And why art thou so sad?" The sinner confesses being bound down by his body and his sins; his soul confesses "its ruined state," it prays to Jesus, and is set free
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, p. 466, "Mourning Souls" (1 text)
Roud #7955
File: Beld466
===
NAME: Mouse's Courting Song, The: see Frog Went A-Courting (File: R108)
===
NAME: Move, Members, Move
DESCRIPTION: "Move members move Daniel (x4)! Move till I get (there/home), Daniel (x4) Got on my little John shoes, Got on my little John shoes Daniel (x3), Shoes gonna rocka me home Daniel... Who want to buy this land Daniel...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (recording, Rosie Hibler & family)
KEYWORDS: playparty
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 230-233, "Move, Members, Move" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10958
RECORDINGS:
 Rosie Hibler & family, "Move Members Move" (on NFMAla2, NFMAfAm)
NOTES: The form of this song, and the references to Daniel, would seem to imply a religious theme. But there are no religious references, and none of the phrases are reminiscent of the Biblical stories of Daniel. - RBW
Despite the fact that Rosie Hibler's version appears in the series of recordings "Negro Folk Music of Alabama," she and her family were recorded in Mississippi. Just thought I'd mention it. - PJS
File: CNFM230
===
NAME: Moving On (The Bug-Out Ballad)
DESCRIPTION: "Hear the patter of running feet / It's the old First Cav in full retreat. / They're moving on; they'll soon be gone." The singer describes the unpleasant conditions in which he is fighting, and the many enemies approaching. He intends to head out
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: Korean War
KEYWORDS: soldier war battle escape
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1950-1953 - Korean War
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cray, pp. 412-414, "Moving On" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BUGOUT*
Roud #10360
NOTES: This parody was inspired by Hank Snow's immensely popular recording "Moving On." - EC
File: EM412
===
NAME: Moving Picture Cowboy: see Cowboy Again for a Day (File: FCW116)
===
NAME: Moving-On Song
DESCRIPTION: "Born in the middle of the afternoon In a horse-drawn wagon on the old A5." Wherever travelers stop, they are ordered away -- they lower the price of property, they have no work. "You'd better get born in someplace else, so move along, get along, SHIFT!"
AUTHOR: Ewan MacColl
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1961 (radio ballad, "The Traveling People")
KEYWORDS: Gypsy travel childbirth rejection money
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, MOVEON
Roud #6852
RECORDINGS:
Sheila Stewart, "The Moving-On ong" (on SCStewartsBlair01)
NOTES: Although this is obviously a modern composed song, I was surprised to find what amount to two "field collections" -- by Sheila Stewart and Johnny Connors. Does that make it traditional? It would seem to imply at the very least that it touched a nerve. I am, very hesitantly, indexing it. - RBW
File: RcMovOn
===
NAME: Mower, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a young woman; she has a small meadow needing mowing, it has never been mowed before. He mows all afternoon, but the grass remains standing; she tells him to sharpen his scythe, for the work's not finished
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (recording, Warde Ford)
KEYWORDS: sex virginity farming harvest work
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, THEMOWER
Roud #833
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "The Mowing of the Hay" (AFS 4200 B2, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
A.L. Lloyd, "The Mower" (on Lloyd 1) (on BirdBush1, BirdBush2)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Next Market Day" (plot) and references there
cf. "One Man Shall Mow My Meadow" (imagery)
cf. "The Wanton Seed"
cf. "Mowing the Hay" (subject)
NOTES: Lloyd remarks that the song "often appeared on 19th century broadsides," but as he gives no further dates I've refrained from citing that as earliest date. - PJS
The more so since this image is quite a common one. - RBW
File: DTthemow
===
NAME: Mowing Machine, The
DESCRIPTION: The cowboy "used to go dashing," "But that was before they invented wire fences And started the cowboys to shoveling hay." He looks back to the good old days, curses the man who invented barbed wire, and requests a "mowing machine" for his tombstone
AUTHOR: Words: "Haywire Mac" McClintock
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1934 (recording, Charlie Marshall)
KEYWORDS: cowboy work technology
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 3, "The Mowing Machine" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Streets of Laredo" [Laws B1] (tune & meter) and references there
File: Ohr003
===
NAME: Mowing the Barley (Cold and Raw)
DESCRIPTION: A lawyer asks a pretty woman where she's going: "To my father a-mowing the barley." He propositions her; she scorns him, (telling him to keep his money for his wife at home). (He presses his case; she yields and marries "into a station above her")
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1697 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 39(152)); 1699 ("Pills to Purge Melancholy"; a bawdy version)
KEYWORDS: courting seduction marriage rejection lawyer
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South)) Ireland
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Sharp-100E 60, "Mowing the Barley" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 61, "The Maid That Sold Her Barley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, "Stingo, or The Oil Of Barley, or Cold And Raw" (1 tune)
BBI, ZN499, "Cold and Raw the North did blow"; cf. ZN2294, "Riding down a narrow lane, two or three hours after"
DT, MOWBRLY SOLDBRLY*
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 281-282, "The Maid That Sold Her Barley" (1 text)
Roud #922
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "Cold and Raw" (on Lloyd1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 39(152), "The Northern Ditty" or "The Scotch-man Out-witted by the Country Damsel", P. Brooksby (London), 1683-1696; also Harding B 39(201)[almost entirely illegible], Douce Ballads 2(168a), Douce Ballads 3(70a), Vet. A3 b.43(13), Harding B 1(86), "The Northern Ditty" or "The Scotch-man Out-witted by the Country Damsel"; Harding B 1(87), Harding B 11(2300), Harding B 11(2301), 2806 c.15(108)[almost entirely illegible], Harding B 26(413), Harding B 11(3867), 2806 b.11(138), Harding B 19(28), "[The] Maid That Sold Her Barley"
NLScotland, APS.4.84.18, "The Northern Ditty" or "The Scotchman Outwitted by a Country Damsel," unknown, 19C 
SAME_TUNE:
The Lusty Fryer of Flanders/Not long ago from hence I went (BBI ZN1898)
The Poor Contented Cuckold/Was e'er man so unfortunate (BBI ZN2731)
Roger's Renown..Fourth and Last Merry Ditty of Cold and Raw/Roger did a letter send (BBI ZN2302)
The Downright Wooing Of Honest John & Betty/Well met my pritty Betty (BBI ZN2778)
A General Summons ..Hen-Peck'd Frigate/Here is a summons for all honest men (BBI ZN1133)
The London Jilts Lamentation/Here is wonderful Strange News (BBI ZN1136)
The Miserable Mountebank/In a market town of late (BBI ZN1403)
The Wealthy Farmers Choice/Near a pleasant shady grove, in prime of summer weather (BBI ZN1863)
Up in the Morning Early (_Scots Musical Museum_ #140, probably a partial rewrite of this piece)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Cold and Raw
Lawyer Lee
The Maid Who Sold Her Barley
NOTES: Although this song is most famous as "Cold and Raw" (see the numerous broadsides using this tune), there are versions which do not use this phrase, so I chose the title "Mowing the Barley." In addition, the "Cold and raw" refrain apparently exists as ain independent nursery refrain; see Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #414, p. 194, "(Cold and raw the north wind doth blow)"
There is a broadside, NLScotland APS.4.84.18, "The Northern Ditty; or The Scotchman Outwitted by a Country Lass," which begins with the words of this song, but the rest sounds like a "Baffled Knight" plot. The photograph of the sheet is largely illegible. - RBW
Sequels or answers arose early. Some of the "Northern Ditty" broadsides listed above have "a second part" (for example, Douce Ballads 3(70a) and Harding B 1(87)). 
See Bodleian, Don. b.13(12), "A third merry ditty of Cold and raw," J. Deacon (London), 1671-1704; Bodleian, Douce Ballads 2(187a), "Rogers Renown" or "The fourth and last merry ditty of Cold and raw," J. Blare (London), 1683-1706
Bodleian attributes its "The Northern Ditty" broadsides' authorship to Thomas D'Urfey. I don't find that attribution on the face of any of those broadsides. For information about Thomas D'Urfey see _The Contemplator's Short Biography of Thomas D'Urfey (1653-1723)_ at the Contemplations from the Marianas Trench contemplator.com site. - BS
File: ShH60
===
NAME: Mowing the Hay
DESCRIPTION: Singer goes to Dublin to hire to mow hay. He is hired by a farmer for one thousand a year. He apparently meets a girl and gets consent of "daddy and mammy." They marry and "Whilst the money it will hold out, We'll make the old-tap-room shake"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1985 (IRTravellers01)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage farming drink
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #16878
RECORDINGS:
Andy Cash, "Mowing the Hay" (on IRTravellers01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Mower" (subject)
File: RcMowtHa
===
NAME: Mr. Boll Weevil: see The Boll Weevil [Laws I17] (File: LI17)
===
NAME: Mr. Mouse Went A-Courting: see Frog Went A-Courting AND Kemo Kimo (File: R108)
===
NAME: Mr. Woodburn's Courtship: see Captain Wedderburn's Courtship [Child 46] (File: C046)
===
NAME: Mrs Mulligan, the Pride of the Coombe
DESCRIPTION: "I am a scrap of a widow" from the Coombe in Dublin. She has had a room and stall, selling fruit, sweets and second-hand clothes, for 35 years. "And where would you see a nate widow like me, Mrs Mulligan, the Pride of the Coombe?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: commerce humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn, p. 230, "Mrs Mulligan, the Pride of the Coombe" (1 text)
Roud #16250
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Biddy Mulligan
Biddy Mulligan the Pride of the Coombe
File: OLoc230A
===
NAME: Mrs. Bond
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, what (shall we have/have you got) for dinner, (Mrs.) Bond? There's beef in the larder and ducks in the pond." Mrs. Bond offers good meat to her customers, and sends the ostler to kill the ducks. They flee him. She at last goes out herself
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 (Baring-Gould-MotherGoose)
KEYWORDS: food bird commerce
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #822, pp. 306-307, "(Oh, what have you got for dinner, Mrs. Bond)"
Roud #4580
NOTES: Much of this revolves around the duck cry "Dilly, dilly, come and be killed." The Baring-Goulds note that there are actually traditions of such animal calls, though this is the only one I've ever heard quoted in any other context. - RBW
File: BGMG822
===
NAME: Mrs. Greig of Sandlaw
DESCRIPTION: "Twas at a certain firm toon... A braw goodwife ca'd Mrs. Greig Her servant girlies kept in order." After Greig foils many attempts to sneak in a man, the girls create a straw man, which Grieg "slays" with a cudgel. They hope she has learned her lesson
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: sex nightvisit trick disguise hiding
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 247-248, "Mrs. Greig of S--" (1 text)
Roud #5161
File: Ord247
===
NAME: Mrs. McGrath
DESCRIPTION: A sergeant urges Mrs. McGrath to make her boy a soldier. He sails away in fine style. For seven years she waits for him, hoping for word. At last he returns with both legs gone. (She curses the wars.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: war injury separation soldier
FOUND_IN: Ireland Australia US
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Meredith/Anderson, p. 126, "Mrs. McGrath"; pp. 197-198, "My Son Ted" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Scott-BoA, pp. 121-123, "Mrs. McGrath" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 211, "Mrs McGrath" (1 text)
SHenry H131, pp. 84-85, "My Son Ted" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 71, "Mrs McGrath" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 179, "Mrs. McGrath" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 275, "Mrs. McGrath" (1 text)
DT, MRSMCGRT*
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 285-287, "Mrs. McGrath" (1 text)
Roud #678
RECORDINGS:
Seamus Ennis, "Mrs. McGrath" (on Lomax42, LomaxCD1742)
Pete Seeger, "Mrs. McGrath" (on BroonzySeeger2) (on PeteSeeger15) (on PeteSeeger44)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Kerry Recruit" [Laws J8] (theme)
cf. "Felix the Soldier" (theme)
cf. "Lovely Jamie" (plot)
cf. "The Wars of America" (plot)
NOTES: OLochlainn: "Known to every true-born citizen of Dublin. In the years 1913-1916 it was the most popular marching song of the Irish Volunteers."
Moylan: "This song of the Peninsular War dates, according to one source, to 1815. The earliest account of it in Ireland seems to be 1876 when Sam Henry's informant learned it in Belfast." 
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, "My Son Tim" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte," Hummingbird Records HBCD0027 (2001)) - BS
File: MA126
===
NAME: Mrs. Mullowney Was Three Weeks in Bed Since She Ate the Fipper Stew
DESCRIPTION: "Mrs. James Mullowney gave A party Tuesday night... They say the table fairly groaned...." Mrs. Mullowney "couldn't eat no more... She swooned off on the floor." After recovering, "just mention fippper stew" if you want to be attacked
AUTHOR: presumably Johnny Burke
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Burke's Ballads)
KEYWORDS: food party doctor humorous
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 125, "Mrs. Mullowney Was Three Weeks in Bed Since She Ate the Fipper Stew" (1 text)
NOTES: Yes, that's "fipper." Presumably for "flipper," since the dish is made of seal.
According to Bob Bartlett (who should know; see his biography under "Captain Bob Bartlett"), "The flesh [of the seal] is by no means disagreeable, though it has a general flavor of fish, which constitutes the seal's chief food" (see p. 54 of _The Last Voyage of the Karluk_, as told to Ralph T. Hale; published 1916; now available with a new introduction by Edward E. Leslie as _The Karluk's Last Voyage_). - RBW
File: RySm125
===
NAME: Mucking o' Geordie's Byre, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer describes the filthy habits of Geordie and his family, and the strange and immense task of cleaning out Geordie's byre. The family's ineptitude and the poorly trained animals result in improbable accidents
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1797 (_Scots Musical Museum_, #96)
KEYWORDS: home work animal dancetune
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North),Scotland(Aber)) Australia
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Kennedy 257, "The Muckin' o' Geordie's Byre" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, p. 82, "Muckin' of Geordie's Byre" (1 tune)
DT, MUCKBYRE
ST DTMoGB (Full)
Roud #2137
NOTES: This humorous piece has an incredibly complex history, as various poets (including Robert Burns) have taken their hacks at it. The result is so thoroughly mingled that it probably is not possible even to describe the original. - RBW
File: DTMoGB
===
NAME: Muckle Meal-Pock, The
DESCRIPTION: "I am a sturdy beggar loon, weel kent the country through." The rambler describes his life and all work. At last he trades in his pack for "a cuddy an' a cart;" he admits a carrier is "a gentleman compared to the owner o' a pock."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (Ford); before 1850 (NLScotland, L.C.1270(006))
KEYWORDS: begging work travel
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 239-241, "The Muckle Meal-Pock" (1 text)
Roud #13087
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.1270(006), "The Muckle Meal Pock," James Kay (Glasgow), c. 1845; also L.C.Fol.70(34a) [same as the preceding, but with the accompanying text of "Irish Molly, O" cut away]
File: FVS239
===
NAME: Muddley Barracks
DESCRIPTION: The singer accepts the King's shilling to enlist in Muddley Minor regiment. At Muddley Barracks "they cut my hair so close to my head I could hardly wink my eye." Between marching drills, discipline, and meager food he wishes he were back behind the plow.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1975 (recording, Jumbo Brightwell)
KEYWORDS: soldier recruiting food ordeal hardtimes hair
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #1735
RECORDINGS:
Jumbo Brightwell, "Muddley Barracks" (on Voice20)
File: RcMuddBa
===
NAME: Mudion River
DESCRIPTION: The singer calls on the muses to pay attention as he asks their aid in praising the Mudion River. He admits the virtues of other Irish rivers, but none can compare with the Mudion. Had he money to spare, he would spent it living by the Mudion
AUTHOR: "Master (Mc?)Mullan"
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: river home nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H108b, pp. 169-170, "Mudion River" (1 text, tune referenced)
Roud #13484
File: HHH108b
===
NAME: Muff Lawler, the Squealer [Laws E25]
DESCRIPTION: Muff Lawler, a member of the Molly Maguires, is accused (of murder). Rather than face the consequences, he offers to turn informant if he can be protected from the remaining Mollies. The deal is struck when the lawyers offer to send him to another county
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: mining reprieve punishment
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1876 - Conviction of Michael "Muff" Lawler on a charge of murder
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Laws E25, "Muff Lawler, the Squealer"
DT 710, MUFFLAWL
Roud #2254
NOTES: The Molly Maguires were an underground group that engaged in terrorist acts against Pennsylvania mine bosses. In their defense, it should be noted that the mine bosses' treatment of their employees also verged on terrorism; the Mollies were just seeking decent conditions. - RBW
File: LE25
===
NAME: Muileann Dubh, Am (The Black Mill)
DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. The black mill is moving around and we expect to go dancing. There are many things you wouldn't expect at the black mill
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage dancing nonballad
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 179, "Black Mill, The" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The translation, as far as it goes, is from the Celtic Lyrics Corner site. Two verses are untranslated: "An cual thu gun robh snaoisean" (apparently something to do with "your faggot was without snuff") and "Tha gobhair is crodh-laoigh ann" (maybe "the goat and calf are there"). If you can translate this please update the entry.
Is the mill here symbolic, in a mythic sense? For a popular starting point for research on the mill as a non-sexual symbol see _Hamlet's Mill_ by Giorgio de Santillana and Hertha von Dechend. - BS
File: CrMa179
===
NAME: Muir Hen, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer bends his bow to fire at the muir hen, but cannot fire. She complains that the young men "do want the pouder." The young man later arrives with "pouder," and twenty weeks later her back grows sore. He still fears a misfire
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
KEYWORDS: courting pregnancy bawdy hunting
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kinloch-BBook XVII, pp. 65-66, "The Muir Hen" (1 text)
Roud #6859
NOTES: If this song is traditional (as usual with Kinloch, it's not clear), having another version would help greatly. Toward the end, it appears strongly that the girl is pregnant -- but the final stanza seems to contradict this, and even contradict the singer's personal prowess of which he previously boasted:
But I thought my gun would me misgie,
  Whan I had her on my shouther,
Tho' my flint was soft and fired not,
  'Twas an for want o' pouder. - RBW
File: KinBB18
===
NAME: Muir of Culloden, The
DESCRIPTION: "I'll sing of my country, its deep glens and fountains... I'll sing of its battles renowned in story." "On the sixteenth of April, I'll ever remember." The Jacobite leaders disagree and attack half-heartedly; "Cauld lies the lads on the Muir of Culloden."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: Jacobites battle death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Apr 16, 1746 - Battle of Culloden Muir ends the 1745 Jacobite rebellion
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 293, "The Muir of Culloden" (1 text)
Roud #3777
NOTES: Most songs of the end of 1745 Jacobite Rebellion (at least the ones in English) seem to talk about Bonnie Prince Charlie. This is a genuine exception; it is almost entirely about the tragic Battle of Culloden, which not only destroyed the Jacobite army but, ultimately, the Highland culture.
Going into the Battle of Culloden, the Jacobites under Bonnie Prince Charlie had had, on paper, complete military success, winning the battles of Prestonpans, Falkirk, and Clifton. But they had done this by picking their battles very carefully. They had had one chance -- the March on London -- to win the Rebellion, and Charlie's officers (though not Charlie himself) had chickened out. That gave the government time to bring home more troops, and gradually they were forced back into Scotland. Then into the Highlands. Then to Culloden.
And after them came William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (1721-1765), the third son of George II (and the second son to survive infancy). Cumberland's record in wars in Europe shows that he was no general, but he inflicted ferocious discipline and understood butchery very well; massacres don't require brainpower.
And his army had the Highlanders outnumbered two to one, with their backs almost to the sea. At Culloden, there was little room left to maneuver.
The battle plan was ill-executed. In essence, it was supposed to be a surprise Highland charge. But the ground was bad, Lord George Murray (Charlie's chief military advisor) had his doubts, and what should have been a night attack came in, without much weight, when the Hannoverians were awake, well-fed (the Jacobites were thirsty and famished), and able to bring their artillery to bear. The result was a slaughter -- caused not by the hesitation of some of the troops, as in the song, but by the tactical problems in implementing the plan.
"Lochiel" is Donald Cameron, Lochiel of Cameron (1695-1748, the "Young Lochiel," even though he was middle-aged, because his father was in exile as a Jacobite), the first great chief to come to Charlie's support.
Drummond is William MacGregor of Drummond (Bahaldy), another early supporter of Charlie.
Lewis Gordon was responsible for raising most of the troops from the Aberdeenshire area.
The argument these three presented was, in a sense, sound: The Highlanders would have been depressed and would have deserted had the Jacobite army retreated. You wonder, though, if they weren't motivated partly by the fear of British retribution. Lochiel, e.g., died in exile in France, and the British would later execute his brother. - RBW
File: Ord293
===
NAME: Muirsheen Durkin: see Good bye Mursheen Durkin (File: OLcM036)
===
NAME: Mulb'ry Bush: see Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (File: Lins038)
===
NAME: Mulberry Disaster
DESCRIPTION: A storm-tossed ship is blown near Mulberry. The crew abandon ship. One of the boats overturns, drowning five of its seven passengers. The rest of the piece is devoted to mourning for the lost sailors
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Flanders/Olney)
KEYWORDS: death sea storm wreck
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Dec 12, 1800 - date of the Mulberry Disaster (according to the song)
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 114-117, "Mulberry Disaster" (1 text, 1 tune); cf. also the fragment about Calais Pond on page 119
ST FO114 (Partial)
Roud #4678
NOTES: For a song so long, and so specific as to place and date, this is surprisingly unspecific about the actual people involved -- a moniker song without the monikers! This makes it hard to determine actual historical details. - RBW
File: FO114
===
NAME: Mule Skinner Blues
DESCRIPTION: "Good morning, Captain, Good morning, shine... Do you need another mule skinner out on your new road line?" About the hard life on the road work gang, waiting for water, and dealing with a mule
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (recording, Jimmie Rodgers)
KEYWORDS: work loneliness animal floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 152, "Mule Skinner Blues" (1 text, 1 tune, with one stanza of "T for Texas" thrown in for fun)
Silber-FSWB, p. 129, "Mule Skinner Blues" (1 text)
Roud #3437
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff, "Mule Skinner Blues" (OKeh 05638, 1940)
Maddox Bros. & Rose, "New Muleskinner Blues" (4-Star 1240/4-Star 1288, n.d. but post-WWII)
Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys, "Mule Skinner Blues" (Bluebird B-8568, 1940; RCA Victor 20-3163, 1948)
Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys, "New Muleskinner Blues" (Decca 46222, 1950)
Sonny Osborne, "Mule Skinner Blues" (Kentucky 605, n.d.)
Jimmie Rodgers, "Mule Skinner Blues (Blue Yodel #8)" (Victor 23503, 1930; Bluebird B-6275, 1936; RCA Victor 20-6205 [as Jimmie Rodgers w. the Rainbow Ranch Boys], 1955)
Pete Seeger w. Jerry Silverman & Sonny Terry, "Muleskinner Blues" (on HootenannyTonight)
NOTES: A "skinner" is a teamster.
To the best of my knowledge, every known version of this goes back to Jimmie Rodgers ("Blue Yodel #8"). I doubt the song can truly be considered traditional. - RBW
To add to the fun, the Lomaxes tacked part of another Rodgers piece, "T for Texas," onto the end of this one. Given that neither song has much of a plot, it can be hard to separate the resulting hybrids. - PJS, RBW
File: LoF152
===
NAME: Mule Skinner Blues (II): see T for Texas (File: LoF152A)
===
NAME: Mule Skinner's Song
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, I drove three mules for George McVane, And I drove them three miles on a chain. Nigh one Jude and the middle one Jane, And the one on the stick she didn't have no name."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: animal harvest work
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, p. 400, "Mule Skinner's Song" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
File: San400
===
NAME: Mule, The (Never Take the Hindshoe from a Mule)
DESCRIPTION: "A story come down from old Mathuslam... You'll make a great mistake... If you bother around the hind parts of a mule. So never tickle a mule when he's reposing; If you disturb his peaceful slumbers, you're a fool...."  Thus the practical advice continues
AUTHOR: Sam Devere
EARLIEST_DATE: 1882
KEYWORDS: animal humorous parody
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
FSCatskills 108, "The Mule" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MULESONG*
Roud #4601
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Never Take the Horseshoe from the Door" (of which this is a parody)
NOTES: Written as a parody of the popular song "Never Take the Horseshoe from the Door" (by Edward Harrigan and Dave Braham). As the original was written in 1880, it didn't take long for the parodists to start. - RBW
File: FSC108
===
NAME: Mullaghdoo
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls how "Hugh Fulton, once my comrade dear, Pursuing fortune, left his home"; Hugh is now in Nova Scotia. The singer is lonely at home now that Hugh is far away. When he left, Hugh asked that they play Auld Lang Syne for Mullaghdoo
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1923 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: emigration separation
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H2, pp. 215-216, "" (1 text, 2 tunes -- Sam Henry's different transcriptions of the same original)
DT, MULLGDOO*
NOTES: An unusual emigration song, told by one of those left behind. - RBW
File: HHH002
===
NAME: Mullinabrone
DESCRIPTION: The singer sees two lovers saying goodbye. He is going to America; she fears he will forget her. At last she can stand it no longer; she buys passage to America. At first she cannot find him, but meets him eventually; they are married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation emigration reunion
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H242, p. 483-484, "Mullinabrone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2494
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "You Lovers All" (plot)
cf. "My Father's Servant Boy" [Laws M11] (plot)
cf. "Erin's Flowery Vale (The Irish Girl's Lament)" [Laws O29] (lyrics)
NOTES: The lyrics of this song often overlap those of "Erin's Flowery Vale," and the first part of the plot is also the same. But this is somewhat less, um, flowery, and it also has a proper ending, which "Erin's Flowery Vale" (as defined by Laws) does not. There probably is kinship, but perhaps the most likely explanation is that both split off from the same roots; they aren't really the same song any longer. - RBW
File: HHH242
===
NAME: Mullnabeeny (Mill of Boyndie)
DESCRIPTION: "When I was young and in my prime, Guid-fegs, like me there wisna mony." The singer recalls his success at a young age: A good fee, fine clothes, and the attention of the ladies. He wishes he were back in the days when his old hat was new
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: farming age clothes
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 249, "Mill of Boyndie (Mullnabeeny)" (1 text)
Roud #5576
NOTES: Ord explains that the name "Mullnabeeny" is local dialect for "Milne of Boyndie" -- yet calls his version "Mill of Boyndie." - RBW
File: Ord249
===
NAME: Mulroy Bay
DESCRIPTION: The singer thinks about the hills of home, where he spent his happy childhood. "I'll soon be coming back to the place, To the sweetheart that I met so many years ago" at Mulroy Bay.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1986 (McBride)
KEYWORDS: love home return reunion nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
McBride 55, "Mulroy Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Mulroy Bay is in Donegal. - BS
File: McB1055
===
NAME: Munro's Confession: see The Murder of Sarah Vail [Laws F9] (File: LF09)
===
NAME: Munro's Tragedy: see Donald Munroe [Laws J12] (File: LJ12)
===
NAME: Murder of Alan Beyne, The
DESCRIPTION: A young man is to be hanged for the murder of Alan Beyne. He repeatedly protests his innocence, but judge and jury condemned him. Just before the sentence is carried out, a rider rides up, and proves to be Beyne. The singer is saved
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935
KEYWORDS: execution punishment reprieve mother murder
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So) Australia
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 243-245, "The Murder of Alan Beyne" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, ALANBANE*
Roud #2974
RECORDINGS:
Almeda Riddle, "Alan Bain" (on LomaxCD1707)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Alan Bane
Alan Bain
NOTES: Said to be based on an actual event of the 1860s. - RBW
According to the notes in Lomax, W. K. McNeil says this originated in Australia. McNeil tends to be right a lot. - PJS
File: MA243
===
NAME: Murder of Alfreda Pike, The
DESCRIPTION: Out walking, Alfreda Pike, sixteen, is overtaken and her throat is cut. If the murderer is found he'll be lynched. Alfreda is buried at Harbour Grace.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: murder burial
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Jan 5, 1870 - murder of Alfreda Pike in Harbour Grace by Constable Furey
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 821-822, "The Murder of Alfreda Pike" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9810
NOTES: Constable Furey, who had been involved in the murder investigation, made a death-bed confession, more than 50 years later. Evidence of the confession was lost until revealed in a book by Jack Fitzgerald published in 1997. Source is an excerpt from _The Hangman is Never Late_ by Jack Fitzgerald on the Creative Book Publishing site. Creative Book Publishing is in St. John's, Newfoundland - BS
File: Pea821
===
NAME: Murder of Ann O'Brien, The: see James MacDonald [Laws P38] (File: LP38)
===
NAME: Murder of Charles Stacey, The
DESCRIPTION: Charles Stacey goes out on a Sunday morning and meets three drunks -- one of whom had lost his girlfriend to Stacey. The three ruffians wait till Stacey and the girl return from church, then shoot him. Stacey shoots back at one, then dies and is buried
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: murder courting revenge burial
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 173, "The Murder of Charles Stacey" (1 text)
Roud #4119
NOTES: This song is item dF47 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: R173
===
NAME: Murder of Dennis Somers, The: see Murder of Young Somers (File: GrMa153)
===
NAME: Murder of F. C. Benwell, The [Laws E26]
DESCRIPTION: J. R. Birchell is condemned to die for murdering F. C. Benwell. He had tried to pretend innocence in the trial; the attempt failed. His wife bids him farewell, and he is hanged
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918
KEYWORDS: murder execution
FOUND_IN: US(MW,Ro) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws E26, "The Murder of F. C. Benwell"
LPound-ABS, 65, pp. 148-149, "The Death of Bendall" (1 text, joined with "Charles Guiteau")
Burt, p. 228-229, "(J. R. Birchell)" (1 text)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 135-136, "The Murder of F. C. Benwell" (1 text)
DT 732, MURBENW*
Roud #2255
RECORDINGS:
Lamont Tilden, "The Murder of F. C. Benwell" (on Ontario1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Charles Guiteau" [Laws E11] (tune & meter) and references there
NOTES: According to Spaeth, "J. R. Birchell killed F. C. Benwell in the swamps near Blenheim, Ontario, and then wrote the account of his own execution...." As, however, no date is offered, and the same story is told about every "Charles Guiteau" variant, the reader is advised to take this with a grain of salt. - RBW
File: LE26
===
NAME: Murder of Grace Brown, The: see Grace Brown and Chester Gillette [Laws F7] (File: LF07)
===
NAME: Murder of James A. Garfield, The: see Charles Guiteau [Laws E11] (File: LE11)
===
NAME: Murder of John Codman, The
DESCRIPTION: "What sad and awful scenes are these Presented to your View." The crimes of Mark and Phillis, slaves who murdered their master, "appear as black as hell." The two are condemned for "poys'ning" their master, and are condemned to die
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: slave murder poison punishment execution
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sep 18, 1755 - Execution of the slaves Mark and Phillis for their role in the poisoning of their owner John Codman of Charlestown, Massachusetts. A third slave, Phoebe, was acquitted
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, pp. 154-155, (no title) (1 excerpted text)
File: Burt154
===
NAME: Murder of John Dugar, The
DESCRIPTION: John Dugar and Charles Robisher quarrel. Dugar murders Captain Charles. Dugar reaches Liverpool and tries to take ship, but is overtaken by a detective. He is tried and condemned.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Flanders/Olney)
KEYWORDS: murder escape trial punishment execution fight
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 172-173, "The Murder of John Dugar" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FO172 (Partial)
Roud #4681
NOTES: Helen Flanders's informant, W. B. Morton, believed that this murder took place in Digby, Nova Scotia, although his text (which is complete on the face of it but badly confused) seems to point to County Clare in Ireland - RBW
File: FO172
===
NAME: Murder of John Love, The
DESCRIPTION: Broadside. "Again the murderer's ruthless hand Has stained with blood our happy land!" "Three brothers bent on crimes and blood... Have murdered Love, their nearest friend." "The gallows now must end our days, And we must walk in unknown ways."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: murder punishment execution friend brother gallows-confession
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 17, 1825 - Hanging of brothers Isaac, Israel, and Nelson Thayer for the murder of John Love, to whom they owed money
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, p. 77, (no title) (2 excerpts)
File: Burt077
===
NAME: Murder of Laura Foster, The [Laws F36]
DESCRIPTION: Laura Foster's fiance and his new sweetheart kill her and bury her. Her parents find the body, and it is agreed that she has been murdered. In the Brown texts, at least, the fate of the murderer is not mentioned
AUTHOR: Thomas Land?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1947 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: murder corpse family
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1866 - Murder of Laura Foster by Thomas C. Dula (and his new sweetheart Ann Melton). Dula apparently killed Foster because he had contracted a venereal disease from her
May 1, 1868 - Dula is hanged for the murder.
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Laws F36, "The Murder of Laura Foster"
BrownII 302, "The Murder of Laura Foster" (1 text plus mention of 3 more)
Roud #1935
RECORDINGS:
Sheila Clark, "The Ballad of Laura Foster" (on LegendTomDula)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Tom Dooley" [Laws F36A] (plot)
cf. "Tom Dula's Lament" (subject)
NOTES: Laws does not name an author for this ballad, but the attribution to Thomas Land (a Confederate veteran) seems to have been well known to Brown's informants, and the poetry has the stilted feel of a composition which, at the time of collection, was still close to its composed origins.
For background to this song, see the notes to "Tom Dooley." - RBW
John Craig, the source for [Sheila] Clark's version, learned it from his great-grandmother, Zora Church Lee. He describes the ballad as having been "taken from a popular local account" written by Land. So it sounds like Land wrote the story in prose, which was then made into poetry by an unknown author. Clark's song retains the stilted feel Bob mentions. - PJS
File: LF36
===
NAME: Murder of Maria Marten, The
DESCRIPTION: William Corder has Maria Marten meet him at the red barn before they go to Ipswich to be married. He murders her and buries the body in the red barn. Her body is discovered by following her mother's dream. Corder is tried and sentenced to be hanged.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1862 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 14(239))
KEYWORDS: courting murder dream gallows-confessions mother
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: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, MARMARTN*
Roud #215
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 14(239), "Murder of Maria Marten, by William Corder" ("Come all you thoughtless young men a warning take by me"), E.M.A. Hodges (London), 1855-1861; also Firth c.17(110), Firth b.25(379), "Murder of Maria Marten by W. Corder"; Firth c.17(111), "Murder of Maria Martin by W. Corder" 
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(71b), "The Murder of Maria Marten by W. Corder," unknown, c.1845
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Maria Marten" (subject)
NOTES: Description based on broadside Bodleian, Harding B 14(239). Roud assigne the same number to "Maria Marten"; the texts are clearly different and told from a different point of view. This is a gallows confession.
There is a sequel broadside -- Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 2416, "A copy of verses, on the execution of Wm. Corder, for the murder of Maria Marten, in the Red Barn, Polstead," unknown, no date -- in which he is executed August 11. The commentary to Broadside NLScotland L.C.Fol.70(71b) states that a "broadsheet published in London by James Catnach about this crime sold over one million copies."
Hall, notes to Voice03 for "Maria Marten": "The story captured the popular imagination through its additional representation in the melodrama, _Murder In The Red Barn_, played by countless amateur and touring companies."
Yates, Musical Traditions site _Voice of the People suite_ "Notes - Volume 3" - 19.8.02: "[Marten's] three illegitimate children - to different fathers - and her possible criminal activities with Corder became overshadowed by the myth that grew up around her death. Indeed, research now suggests that her mother's 'supernatural dreams' were motivated not so much by psychic phenomena as by her own criminal knowledge and probable association with Corder." 
A note for _The Haunting of William Corder_ on the Alistair Ferguson site: "The true-life murder of Maria Marten, upon which John Latimer's famous [Victorian] melodrama 'Maria Marten; or The Murder in the Red Barn" is based, has been adapted several times over the years. This is my version of the story."
There are references at IMDB [Internet Movie DataBase site] to movies from 1902 (_Maria Marten: or, The Murder at the Red Barn_), and 1935 (_Maria Marten, or The Murder in the Red Barn_). - BS
The Digital Tradition lists this has been collected from one Joseph Taylor (initially in 1908), who sang a three-verse fragment to the tune of "The Star of the County Down"/"Dives and Lazarus." - RBW
File: BdTMoMM
===
NAME: Murder of Marian Parker, The: see Marian Parker (II) (File: LdF56)
===
NAME: Murder of Mary Tuplin, The
DESCRIPTION: June 1887. Mary leaves home "her lover for to see Down by the river Margaret." Her jealous lover shoots her "through her brain," ties a rope with a stone around her waist "and dashed her in the tide." Her body being found, Willy Millman is hanged.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (Dibblee/Dibblee)
KEYWORDS: execution murder trial
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Jun 28, 1887 - Murder of Mary Tuplin by William Millman
1888 - Execution of Millman
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 71-72, "The Murder of Mary Tuplin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12463
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Prince Edward Island Murder" (subject)
cf. "The Millman Song" (subject)
cf. "The Millman and Tuplin Song" (subject)
NOTES: Roud has at least five different numbers for this event:
Roud #1837: Creighton-NovaScotia 140, "Prince Edward Island Murder" [Laws dF59]
Roud #4129: Doerflinger, pp. 285-286, "The Millman Song" (also Ives-DullCare, pp. 180-181, "The Millman Murder Trial") [LawsdF60]
Roud #9179: Ives-DullCare, pp. 46-47, "The Millman and Tuplin Song" (also Manny/Wilson 50, "Young Millman")
Roud #9552: Shea, pp. 174-179, "The Millman Tragedy"
Roud #12463: Dibblee/Dibblee pp. 72-73, "The Murder of Mary Tuplin" - BS
File: Dib071
===
NAME: Murder of McBriars, The
DESCRIPTION: McBriars, "master of an Orange Lodge," stops for whisky at a tavern and proclaims his Orange loyalty too loudly. He is killed "by Papish schemes" and "three villains" "He was an old and feeble man not able to resist" Thousands attend the funeral.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c.1860 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: murder funeral drink political
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann 99, "The Murder of McBriars" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Zimmermann: "McBriars is said to have been killed in the early 1860's." - BS
File: Zimm099
===
NAME: Murder of Miss Wyatt, The: see Henry Green (The Murdered Wife) [Laws F14] (File: LF14)
===
NAME: Murder of Pearl Bryan, The (Pearl Bryan V)
DESCRIPTION: The Setters take on the Peal Bryan story: "A horrible crime was committed Soon was brought to light; For parents to look on their headless girl, What a sad and terrible sight." Jackson's insanity plea fails; he is to be executed; Walling's trial awaits
AUTHOR: adapted by James W. Day ("Jilson Setters")
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: murder trial execution punishment
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Feb 1, 1896 - Discovery of the headless body of Pearl Bryan, killed along with her unborn child by Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling, near Fort Thomas, Kentucky
Mar 20, 1897 - Execution of Jackson and Walling
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 131-135, "The Murder of Pearl Bryan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burt, p. 32, (no title) (1 excerpt)
ST ThBa131 (Partial)
Roud #500
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jealous Lover (I), The (Florella, Floella) (Pearl Bryan II) (Nell Cropsey II) [Laws F1A, B, C]" [Laws F1], particularly the "B" subgroup of Pearl Bryan ballads
cf. "Pearl Bryan I" [Laws F2]
cf. "Pearl Bryan III" [Laws F3]
cf. "Pearl Bryan (IV)"
NOTES: Thomas's version is rather a curiosity, since she learned it from Jilson Setters decades after the murder but he never updated the song. There is no evidence that it ever circulated in tradition.
Roud lumps this with Laws F1(B). But while it's just possible that that song inspired Jilson Setters, this is not a version of the Laws ballad. But my guess is that the song was inspired by the piece which Burt excerpts, since both songs end with a stanza about Pearl and her head being reunited in heaven.  - RBW
File: ThBa131
===
NAME: Murder of Sarah Vail, The [Laws F9]
DESCRIPTION: John Monroe, a married man with two children, seduces Sarah Vail, who bears him a child. He takes woman and child on a trip, murders them, and hides their bodies. When his crime is discovered, he is hanged
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Creighton-SNewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: murder pregnancy children corpse
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Oct 31, 1868 - Murder of Sarah Vail and her child
Feb 1870 - Hanging of John Monroe
FOUND_IN: US(NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws F9, "The Murder of Sarah Vail"
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 89, "Munro's Confession" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 760, SARAVAIL
Roud #2258
File: LF09
===
NAME: Murder of Susan Newham, The
DESCRIPTION: "Come friends and relations, I b id you adieu, The grace is now open to welcome me through." The singer admits, "I killed Susan Newham as you have heard tell," bids his friends not to mourn, and looks forward to seeing her in heaven
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1921 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: murder execution reunion gallows-confession
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, p. 178, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: According to Burt, J. B. Crane was a schoolteacher in Hangtown, California, who became enamored of his student Susan Newham. She rejected him, and he murdered her in 1854. Crane reportedly surrendered to the police, but was captured by vigilantes and hung. - RBW 
File: Burt178
===
NAME: Murder of the Double-Dyed Informer James Carey, The
DESCRIPTION: "Kilmainham's blood is avenged" by the murder of James Carey on board the Melrose. "So traitors all beware I say, And innocent blood don't take away, For vengeful hands shall you repay"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: betrayal murder revenge Africa
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: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann, p. 63, "A New Song on the Murder of the Double-Dyed Informer James Carey" (references only)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(452), "A New Song on The Murder of the Double-Dyed Informer James Carey ("In a far off land, 'neath an African sun "), unknown, n.d.
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Phoenix Park Tragedy" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders) and references there
NOTES: Per notes to broadside Bodleian Harding B 26(452): "Carey, James, 1845-1883 "
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 notes that, in the chorus of this broadside, the executed men have become "those martyrs brave." 
Broadside Bodleian Harding B 26(452) is the basis for the description.
Double-dyed: "Dyed twice; thoroughly or intensely colored; hence; firmly fixed in opinions or habits; as, a double-dyed villain." (Source: Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) at the Online Dictionary site) - BS
File: BrdMDDIJ
===
NAME: Murder of the Gibbons Children, The: see The Ashland Tragedy (III) [Laws F27] (File: LF27)
===
NAME: Murder of the King of Scots, The: see Earl Bothwell [Child 174] (File: C174)
===
NAME: Murder of Thomas Walsh, The
DESCRIPTION: "It's a sad and cruel tragedy I am going to relate, Happened near Willow City in North Dakota state." Harmless old Thomas Walsh is found dead. Sheriff Billy Pitts arrests William Ross, who is convicted and bids a sad farewell
AUTHOR: Thomas Cave?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: murder trial execution punishment
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 5, 1903 - Discovery of the murdered body of farmer Thomas Walsh
Mar 6, 1903 - William Ross executed (in Ohio) for the murder of Ross
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, pp. 82-83, (no title) (1 text)
File: Burt082
===
NAME: Murder of Young Somers
DESCRIPTION: "When the news it did come in, Sebastopol was taken, (there was rejoicing in the city, and drinking, and young Somers was murdered.)" Somers is knifed to death by accident; "(the man who stabbed Somers ... was after another man)"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: fight war death drink
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sep 9, 1855 - Fall of Sevastopol following an 11 month siege
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 153, "Murder of Young Somers" (1 fragment)
Peacock, pp. 823-824, "The Murder of Dennis Somers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #17750
NOTES: Peacock believes the murder took place in St John's. - BS
File: GrMa153
===
NAME: Murder Song
DESCRIPTION: A rich lady asks poor Willie to marry. She gives him 15000 pounds for their passage to a country where he can be a gentleman. He throws her in the deep. A wave reveals the corpse. Good Friday her ghost testifies against him and he is sentenced to die
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Creighton-SNewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: execution trial murder river gallows-confessions ghost
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 90, "Murder Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrSNB090 (Partial)
Roud #2769
NOTES: Well, almost a gallows-confession. The last verse is truncated but has his parents standing by for the execution on April 29, but -- while the ballad starts with a hope that the listeners will pray for him -- he doesn't get to repeat that request at the end.
Creighton-SNewBrunswick: "The place name may be Lipper or Lifford; it was difficult to make out." I repeat that here because it may help connect this tale with some other ballad or some specific murder. - BS
My obvious conjecture would be "Liffey." But that doesn't really help -- though obviously a lot of Irish emigrated to America, so it could connect with the emigration theme. Nor does the April 29 date, though of course that could have been garbled. - RBW
File: CrSNB090
===
NAME: Murdered Boy, The: see The Twa Brothers [Child 49] (File: C049)
===
NAME: Murdered Brother, The: see Edward [Child 13] (File: C013)
===
NAME: Murdered by a Brother [Laws F12]
DESCRIPTION: A brother takes his sister sailing. He denounces her adulterous liaison and announces that he will be avenged. He has already drowned her lover; now he drowns her and sails back alone
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: murder adultery sea
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Laws F12, "Murdered by a Brother"
DT 758, MURDBRO
Roud #1932
File: LF12
===
NAME: Murdered Girl, The: see The Wexford Girl [Laws P35] AND The Banks of the Ohio [Laws F5] AND  The Jealous Lover [Laws F1] (File: LP35)
===
NAME: Murdered Pedlar, The
DESCRIPTION: "Vouchsafe thine aid, ye wondrous nine... A tragic scene transpired of late, The truth of which I will relate." "A Jewish pedlar was shot down, Ah, by a wretch called Warren Wood." "Hiram Williams was the peddlar's name." Wood is sentenced to hang
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: murder execution punishment Jew
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Aug 19, 1853 - Warren Wood robs and attempts to murder Hiram Williams (Williams survived long enough to identify a photograph of Wood)
Jun 20, 1864- Wood is hanged for murder
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, pp. 79-80, "(The Murdered Pedlar)" (1 text)
File: Burt079
===
NAME: Murdered Wife or the Case of Henry G. Green, The
DESCRIPTION: "Come young and old attention give and lend a listening ear" as the singer tells of "a gay and sprightly youth who lived in Berlin Town." Henry Green becomes enamored of beautiful singer Mary Ann Wyatt, marries her, then murders her, and confesses
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Bulletin of theFolk Song Society of the Northeast)
KEYWORDS: murder marriage execution poison
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1845 - Murder of Mary Ann Wyatt Green (February) and execution of Henry Green (September)
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, pp. 8-11, "The Murdered Wife or the Case of Henry G. Green" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Henry Green (The Murdered Wife)" [Laws F14] (subject, plot)
NOTES: This rather rare broadside on the Mary Wyatt/Henry Green story can be distinguished from the more common ballad "Henry Green (The Murdered Wife)" by the lines quoted in the description and by its length.
According to Burt, Mary Ann Wyatt was a performer in a troupe which staged temperance dramas. Her appearance so excited Henry Green that he joined the troupe to court her. They were married in February 1845.
The marriage was so sudden that Green felt compelled to publicize it with a sleighing party for his friends, at which a former love told him that she had once wished to marry him. Wyatt felt sick the next day, and Green went to get some medicine. He shoved more and more down her throat, and she died by poison. 
Burt claims that there are seven different songs written about this story, but cites only this, parts of the Laws ballad, and a single stanza of a third (which might, however, be part of the Laws piece). - RBW
File: Burt008
===
NAME: Murphy in the Cupboard
DESCRIPTION: The singer loves Molly McClare. He finds her kitchen door open and hides in a cupboard. She returns kissing Murphy. When Murphy also has to hide in the cupboard he reveals he is Molly's husband. The singer locks Murphy in and leaves with the key.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1980 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: love humorous hiding husband wife
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 81, "Murphy in the Cupboard" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Boatsman and the Chest" [Laws Q8] (plot) and references there
File: LeBe081
===
NAME: Murty Hynes
DESCRIPTION: Poor Bermingham is evicted from his farm for failure to pay rent. Murty Hines takes the farm but is persuaded by the Land League to give it up. The people celebrate. "Give three cheers for the Land League and nine for Murty Hines"
AUTHOR: T.D. Sullivan (1827-1914) (source: OLochlainn-More)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: poverty Ireland political
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 14, "Murty Hynes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9757
NOTES: Formed in 1879, the Irish tenant farmers' Land League fought evictions and spearheaded land reforms through Parliament. - PJS
For other songs and more information on the League, see "The Moneygran Pig Hunt" and "The Bold Tenant Farmer."
Sullivan is the author of a number of Irish patriotic poems, of which "God Save Ireland" is probably the best-known. - RBW
File: OLcM014
===
NAME: Mush a Doody: see The Jug of Punch (File: K278)
===
NAME: Music Alone Shall Live
DESCRIPTION: German: "Himmel und Erde mussen verghen, Aber die musici (x3) Bleiben bestehn." English: "All things shall perish from under the sky, Music alone shall live (x3), Never to die."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: nonballad music
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 412, "Music Alone Shall Live" (1 text)
DT, MUSICALN*
NOTES: The English translation given here, be it noted, is not really equivalent to the German, which might better be rendered along the lines of "Heaven and earth must pass away, But music (x3) still shall remain." - RBW
File: FSWB412A
===
NAME: Muskrat: see Rattlesnake (File: LoF083)
===
NAME: Musselburgh Field [Child 172]
DESCRIPTION: "Two goodly hosts" meet on Musselburgh Field. The Scots enter the battle confident, but are defeated heavily. The English narrator describes the contingents defeated
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1750 (Percy folio)
KEYWORDS: battle nobility
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sep 10, 1547 - Battle of Pinkie (Pinkie Cleuch, Musselburgh). English armies defeat the Scots
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Child 172 "Musselburgh Field" (1 text)
Roud #4003
NOTES: The song claims that the battle of Pinkie was fought in "the fourth yeere of King Edwards raigne" -- but in fact 1547 was the first year of the reign of Edward VI (reigned 1547-1553). Other such errors occur in the song (e.g. the battle is dated to the twelfth of December, not the tenth of September); apparently the piece (which surely originated as a broadside) went through several stages of imperfect tradition.
Pinkie was the final major ballad of the Anglo-Scottish border wars; by the time the Scots were fully recovered, Elizabeth was Queen of England and the Scottish monarchs were her heirs; James VI, in particular, was very careful not to offend Elizabeth.
Pinkie was the final battle of a long campaign between the English and Scots over the fate of the infant Queen Mary, who came to the throne at the age of eight days (1542) and instantly found herself a pawn in the contest between England and France.
In 1543, the English under Henry VIII pressured the Scots into negotiations, and the result was a draft treaty to wed Mary to Prince Edward (the future Edward VI). The Scottish parliament, however, rejected the treaty. There followed the so-called "Rough Wooing"; Henry sent in his armies in 1544 (burning Edinburgh) and 1545, but the latter was heavily defeated at Ancrum Moor.
A quiet period followed, with continued skirmishing but no big battles. That changed after Henry VIII died in 1547. Now, with Edward VI King of England, the desire to take over Scotland was even stronger.
The battle of Pinkie itself resulted when the English Lord Protector, the Duke of Somerset, let an English army in the direction of Edinborough. The Earl of Arran gathered a Scots army -- but, as was often the case, the Scottish army was not really a unified force, but a collection of individual armies; the English won an easy victory.
Pinkie scared the Scots, but did not convince them to marry their Queen to Edward; instead, they shipped her off to France the next year. - RBW
File: C172
===
NAME: Musselman
DESCRIPTION: "When the summer winds blow And the buttercups grow... Where the wild curlew flies, Jimmy's favorite lies, An honest and trustworthy horse." Describes the beloved horse Musselman, how it raced and how people greeted it, and its grave
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1975
KEYWORDS: horse racing burial
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 222-223, "Musselman" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE222
===
NAME: Must I Go Bound
DESCRIPTION: The singer laments, "Must I go bound and you go free." (S)he hears someone sing "that marriage was a pleasant thing," but "My marriage day soon turned to woe." The singer's spouse has scorned/abused the singer; the singer hopes for revenge
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: marriage abuse betrayal
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H218a/b, p. 386, "Must I Go Bound" (2 texts, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Butcher Boy" [Laws P24] and references there
cf. "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (lyrics, theme)
cf. "Died for Love (I)" (theme)
cf. "Yon Green Valley" (lyrics)
cf. "Love Has Brought Me To Despair" [Laws P25] (lyrics)
NOTES: This, like "My Blue-Eyed Boy,"  is so close to "The Butcher Boy" that I almost listed them as one song. But where "The Butcher Boy" is relatively coherent, this is little more than a lament composed of floating verses (e.g. from "Waly Waly") and the complaint "I heard (a shepherd//fair maid) sing That marriage was a pleasant thing, [but] My (marriage/wedding) day soon turned to woe." So I've listed them separately -- but there may well be intermediate versions.
For further discussion, see the notes to "The Butcher Boy." - RBW
File: HHH218
===
NAME: Must I Go to Old Virginia?: see East Virginia (Dark Hollow) (File: JRSF134)
===
NAME: Mustang Gray (The Maid of Monterey)
DESCRIPTION: "There was a brave old Texan, his name was Mustang Gray." When the Mexicans invaded Texas, he was taken prisoner. "He wore the yoke of bondage through the streets of Monteray. A senorita loved him...." and turned him loose
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908
KEYWORDS: love battle prisoner rescue
FOUND_IN: US(MA,So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Thorp/Fife IX, pp. 104-111 (23-24), "Mustang Gray" (4 texts, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 49, "Mustang Gray" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 395-396, "Mustang Gray" (1 text, 1 tune)
Saffel-CowboyP, pp. 190-191, "Mustang Gray" (1 text)
DT, MUSTGRAY*
Roud #4035
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Turkish Lady" [Laws O26] (plot)
cf. "Young Beichan" [Child 53] (plot)
SAME_TUNE:
The Dying Soldier Boy ("Upon Manassa's bloody plain a soldier boy lay dying" -- words by A. B. Cunningham) (War Songs and Poems of the Southern Confederacy, pp. 347-348)
NOTES: Thorp/Fife notes that this song takes two forms: "In Hewitt's original aria interest is focused on the senorita and her heroic deed. The texts most current in Western American oral tradition... bring the American soldier-cowboy into central focus...."
The piece seems to have drawn its title from the 1847 novel _The Volunteer, or The Maid of Monterrey_, by Ned Bluntine.
The song has been variously credited to John Hill Hewitt, Tom Grey, and James Lytle. Thorp/Fife considers Hewitt (a well-known composer) to be the most likely candidate.
As "Mustang Gray," this song is item dB28 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: FT09
===
NAME: Mustering Day: see The Mustering Song (File: FaE158)
===
NAME: Mustering Song, The
DESCRIPTION: The station owner gathers the crew for mustering day. The workers head out to gather the herd when the old man is thrown into a tree and dies. The next day, the singer sees the man's ghost in his usual place, smoking his usual clay (pipe)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1979
KEYWORDS: ghost death horse boss Australia
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 158-159, "The Mustering Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 80-81, "Mustering Day" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Drunken Sailor (Early in the Morning)" (tune & meter)
File: FaE158
===
NAME: Mutlah, The
DESCRIPTION: Fragment: "Our good ship she heeled over and sank upon her side, And left her chains and anchors all in the Eddy-tide Outside the sunken Cooneys, where the Mutlah went aground, All with her general cargo, she for Halifax was bound"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1947 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck sailor
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Apr 16, 1877 - "The ... Mutlah ... went ashore at Glynn Point, Poulshone mear Courtown Captain Faraquar, one passenger and ten of fourteen crew were drowned.... the survivors described the captain as drunk...." (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, p. 45)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, p. 127, "The Mutlah" (1 text)
File: Ran127
===
NAME: My Auld Breeks, air the Corn Clips: see Robin Tamson's Smiddy [Laws O12] (File: LO12)
===
NAME: My Bark Canoe
DESCRIPTION: An Ojibway (Chippewa) song. The singer reports, "Through the night I keep awake, Upon the river I keep awake."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909
KEYWORDS: Indians(Am.) nonballad river
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke/Johnston, p. 34, "My Bark Canoe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4539
File: FJ034
===
NAME: My Beautiful Muff
DESCRIPTION: A young lady goes out in her muff, which is "my own, and I'll wear it, So don't you come near it, You'll spoil it, you'll tear it, My beautiful muff." A young man greets her and plies her with wine. She sleeps. Her muff is ruined. Young ladies are warned
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1956
KEYWORDS: bawdy clothes seduction wine
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 247-248, "My Beautiful Muff" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1402
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(51), "My Beautiful Muff" (unknown, n.d.)
File: MA247
===
NAME: My Beauty of Limerick
DESCRIPTION: Patrick is across the sea but thinks of his "beauty of Limerick" waiting at home. He promises "to go back to old Ireland when money I'd save." He sleeps with her ribbon under his pillow.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: love separation Ireland nonballad money return
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 38, "My Beauty of Limerick" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9752
File: OLcM038
===
NAME: My Blue-Eyed Boy
DESCRIPTION: Floating verses on the subject of lost love, usually borrowed from "The Butcher Boy" and/or a "Pretty Little Foot" variant. The wide and deep grave carved with a turtle dove may also be present. Identified by the line "Bring me back my blue-eyed boy"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: love beauty separation death suicide
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So) Ireland
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Bronson 76, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (23 versions, of which #11 appears to belong here)
Belden, pp. 478-480, "The Blue-Eyed Boy" (4 texts, though "D" is a fragment, probably of "Tavern in the Town" or "The Butcher Boy" or some such)
Randolph 759, "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (3 short texts, 1 tune)
BrownIII 257, "The Blue-Eyed Boy" (2 text, though the second is rather distantly related)
Brewster 85, "The Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 102, pp. 212-213, "My Blue-Eyed Boy" (1 text)
SHenry H482, pp. 391-392, "Bring Me Back the Boy I Love"; H692, p. 392, "Never Change the Old Love for the New" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
DT, BLUEYEBY
Roud #60
RECORDINGS:
Brier Hopper Brothers, "Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy" (Champion 16692, 1933)
Carter Family, "Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy to Me" (Victor V-40190, 1930; Montgomery Ward M-4741, c. 1935; Bluebird B-6271, 1936)
Gid Tanner & Riley Puckett, "Bring Back My Blue-Eyed Boy"  (Columbia 15577-D, 1930; rec. 1929)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Butcher Boy" [Laws P24] and references there
cf. "Must I Go Bound" (lyrics, theme)
cf. "Died for Love (I)"
cf. "Love Has Brought Me to Despair" [Laws P25] (lyrics)
NOTES: This is so close to "The Butcher Boy" that I almost listed them as one song. But where "The Butcher Boy" is relatively coherent, this is little more than a lament composed of floating verses and the complaint "Bring me back my blue-eyed boy." So I've listed them separately -- but there *are* intermediate versions. Sandburg, for instance, has once (p. 324, "Go Bring Me Back My Blue-Eyed Boy," with the suicide theme intact, so I list it with "The Butcher Boy" -- but it has this chorus). -- RBW
File: R759
===
NAME: My Bonnie Irish Boy: see The Bonny Young Irish Boy [Laws P26] (File: LP26)
===
NAME: My Bonnie Laddie's Lang, Lang o' Growing: see A-Growing (He's Young But He's Daily A-Growing) [Laws O35] (File: LO35)
===
NAME: My Bonnie Laddie's Young (But He's Growing Yet): see A-Growing (He's Young But He's Daily A-Growing) [Laws O35] (File: LO35)
===
NAME: My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean
DESCRIPTION: The singer laments that his bonnie is across the waves, and implores that someone "bring back my bonnie to me." He asks the winds specifically to carry her. (He dreams she is dead.) (He rejoices that the winds have blown his bonnie to him.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1881 (Hills's "Student Songs")
KEYWORDS: love separation sea reunion
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 143, "My Bonnie Lies Over The Ocean" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 381, "My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean"
DT, MYBONNIE*
RECORDINGS:
Haydn Quartet, "Bring Back My Bonnie to Me" (Victor A-123, 1900)
Leake County Revelers, "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" (Columbia 15227-D, 1928)
Ella Logan, "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" (Brunswick 8196, 1938)
Mobile Strugglers, "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" (on AmSkBa)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My God, How the Money Rolls In" (tune)
cf. "The Cowboy's Dream" (tune)
cf. "Tom Twist" (tune)
cf. "The Prisoner's Song (I)" (tune)
cf. "Shine Your Buttons With Brasso" (tune)
cf. "Shaving Cream" (tune)
cf. "Bring Back My Johnny to Me"
SAME_TUNE:
Tom Twist (File: FlBr171)
My Children Are Seven in Number (Greenway-AFP, p. 166; on PeteSeeger13, AmHist1)
Bring Back My Neighbors to Me (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 119)
Yuck! Cats (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 67)
Come Up, Dear Dinner, Come Up (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 121)
My Body Has Tuberculosis (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 131)
Zekey Looked into the Gas Tank (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 133)
Nora Bayes, "My Barney Lies Over the Ocean" (Columbia A-2678, 1918); Louis Winsch, "My Barney Lies Over the Ocean" (Pathe 22061, 1919)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
My Bonnie
Bring Back My Bonnie to Me
NOTES: Fuld notes an 1882 printing of this song allegedly written by H. J. Fulmer (Charles E. Pratt). This text, however, disagrees with the 1881 printing, and Fuld suspects that Pratt is responsible only for the adaption.
The song obviously has spawned a number of parodies and borrowings. It itself, however, seems relatively constant, and the parodies are all recent. It thus seems likely that the song is fairly recent, and that most known versions derive from the 1881 printing.
It has been theorized that this is a derivative of the song we index as "Bring Back My Johnny to Me."  The tunes aren't the same, but there are similarities, and a few lyrics also cross, as well as the theme. But there is no evidence of an intermediate form; it seems nearly certain that there was a deliberate rewrite somewhere along the line. - RBW
File: DTmybonn
===
NAME: My Bonnie Light Horseman: see The Bonnie Light Horseman (File: HHH122a)
===
NAME: My Bonnie Love is Young: see A-Growing (He's Young But He's Daily A-Growing) [Laws O35] (File: LO35)
===
NAME: My Bonnie Sailor Boy: see The Bonny Sailor Boy [Laws M22] (File: LM22)
===
NAME: My Bonnie Wee Hen
DESCRIPTION: The singer had a fine hen; it laid two eggs a day. But it went out to seek food and was killed. The owner will punish the killers; "I wasna half so sorry the night my husband died." She invites others to the funeral
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: chickens death burial
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H94, p.17 , "My Bonnie Wee Hen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9054
File: HHH094
===
NAME: My Bonny Black Bess (I) [Laws L8]
DESCRIPTION: Dick Turpin gives a detailed account of Black Bess's speed and beauty and the good use to which he put them. He once robbed a horseman and sped to town, arriving so quickly that he appeared to have an alibi when the horseman at last arrived in town
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915
KEYWORDS: robbery horse outlaw
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1735 - Dick Turpin comes to the attention of the authorities as a robber
April 1739 - Hanging of Dick Turpin (by then retired from highway robbery; he was captured after getting drunk and shooting the landlor'd cockerel)
FOUND_IN: US(Ro,So)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Laws L8, "My Bonny Black Bess I"
Randolph 167, "Bonnie Black Bess" (3 texts, 1 tune, but Laws assigns only Randolph's "C" text to this piece; the others belong with Laws L9)
Fife-Cowboy/West 7, "Bonny Black Bess" (2 texts, 1 tune; the "B" text is this piece while the "A" text is Laws L9)
LPound-ABS, 69, pp. 155-157, "My Bonny Black Bess" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 369, "My Bonny Black Bess" (1 text)
DT 569, BLCKBES3
Roud #1904
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y1:027, "Poor Black Bess," James Lindsay Jr. (Glasgow), 19C
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Bonnie Black Bess (II)" [Laws L9]
cf. "Dick Turpin and the Lawyer [Laws L10]" (subject)
NOTES: This is much the more literary of the Turpin/Black Bess songs; based on the evidence in Laws, I am not convinced it is actually a traditional song. The following stanza will demonstrate this point and serve to distinguish the piece from Laws L9:
Let the lover his mistress's beauty rehearse,
And laud her attractions in languishing verse;
Be it mine in rude strain but with truth to express
The love that I bear to my bonny Black Bess.
Peter Underwood reports that the hoofbeats of the ghost of Black Bess (presumably with Turpin aboard) have been heard at the "Woodfield" estate in Bedfordshire, where Turpin was said to have had a safe house.
Which just shows the power of folklore, since Black Bess apparently never existed (for this and the rest of Turpin's history, see the notes on "My Bonny Black Bess (II) (Poor Black Bess; Dick Turpin's Ride)" [Laws L9]).
The Murray broadside lists this as to the tune of "Poor Dog Tray." I would assume that's supposed to be "Old Dog Tray." Though the tune I know isn't even vaguely similar. - RBW
File: LL08
===
NAME: My Bonny Black Bess (II) (Poor Black Bess; Dick Turpin's Ride) [Laws L9]
DESCRIPTION: Dick Turpin bids farewell to the horse that served his so well, making his exploits possible and finally carrying him from London to York in a single day. Now the hounds are on his trail and he cannot escape; he shoots Bess and waits to die himself
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Mackenzie)
KEYWORDS: robbery horse punishment outlaw
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1735 - Dick Turpin comes to the attention of the authorities as a robber
April 1739 - Hanging of Dick Turpin (by then retired from highway robbery; he was captured after getting drunk and shooting the landlor'd cockerel)
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW,SE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Laws L9, "My Bonny Black Bess"
Randolph 167, "Bonnie Black Bess" (3 texts, 1 tune, with the "A" fragment and "B" text belonging here; the "C" text is Laws L8)
BrownII 122, "My Bonnie Black Bess" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 130, "My Bonny Black Bess" (1 text text plus 1 fragment and an excerpt, 2 tunes)
Mackenzie 126, "Dick Turpin's Ride" (1 text)
Fife-Cowboy/West 7, "Bonny Black Bess" (2 texts, 1 tune; the "A" text is this piece while the "B" text is Laws L8)
Ohrlin-HBT 12, "Bonny Black Bess" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 422, BLCKBESS* BLCKBES2 BONNBESS*
Roud #620
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "My bonny black Bess" (AFS 4212 A1, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Lawrence Older,  "Bonnie Black Bess" (on LOlder01)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, sb30428b, "Poor Black Bess," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878 
Murray, Mu23-y1:027, "Poor Black Bess," James Lindsay Jun (Glasgow), 19C 
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Bonny Black Bess (I)" [Laws L8]
cf. "Dick Turpin and the Lawyer [Laws L10]" (subject)
SAME_TUNE:
Poor Dog Tray (per broadsides LOCSinging sb30428b, Murray Mu23-y1:027)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Bonnie Black Bess
NOTES: This is much the more popular of the Black Bess songs; to distinguish it from Laws L8, consider the following stanza:
When blindness did guide me, I left my abode;
When friends proved ungrateful, I took to the road.
For to plunder the wealthy and relieve my distress,
I bought you to aid me, my bonny Black Bess.
Although Dick Turpin was real, most of the exploits attributed to him are false. There was, almost certainly, no Black Bess, and the twelve hour race to York was not undertaken by Turpin. Logan reports that the feat was performed by one "Nevison or Nicks, who plundered a traveler at four o'clock in the morning on the slope at Gadshill, and was in the bowling-green at York... at a quarter before eight in the evening."
David Brandon, in _Stand and Deliver: A History of Highway Robbery_, also mentions "a highwayman named Harris" making the trip to Yorkshire.
Patrick Pringle, in _Stand and Deliver: Highwaymen from Robin Hood to Dick Turpin_, has more details on this, devoting a whole chapter to "Who Rode to York?" He notes that it was perfectly possible to cover the London-to-York distance (about 190 miles) in a day -- if one could change to fresh horses along the route. The improbable element of "Turpin's Ride" is the idea of doing it on *one* horse.
Did such a journey happen? There are reports that it did. Daniel Defoe writes of a robber named Nicks (Nix?) who accomplished the feat in 1676. There is a 1668 report of a robber named "Swift Nicks," though it isn't known if it is the same guy.
The other fellow, Nevison, is historical, though there is a lot of uncertainty about him. His name was probably William, but this is not certain. He did most of his work in Yorkshire, and was executed in 1684 or 1685.
The link between Nevison and Nicks is tenuous. According to Brandon, p. 82, Nevison earned the nickname Nicks because he had ridden to York as fast as Old Nick. Right.
So how did this semi-legendary feat come to be associated with Turpin? As far as popular culture is concerned, there is no question but that the responsibility must be pinned on William Harrison Ainsworth (1805-1882), who made it a major element of his first major novel, _Rookwood_ (1834).
Ainsworth's long account is mostly out of his own head, but it's thought that the seeds of the legend came to him from his family. Could they have gotten it from one of these songs? Or did these songs get it from Ainsworth? It is unlikely, now, that we will ever be able to answer that question. Some of the details of the song, however, do appear in _Rookwood_ -- e.g. Ainsworth claimed that Bess leapt the Hornsey tollgate, perhaps inspiring the line "no toll bars could hold you." He also gave us a Turpin/Bess death scene -- though Turpin merely lingered as the horse died; he didn't shoot her.
The one part of the story that's true is that Turpin, late in his career, transferred from the London area to Yorkshire, though it was not at the end of his career. What follows is mostly condensed from Pringle with some material from Brandon.
Turpin was born probably in 1705 (others say 1706), in Essex, the son of an innkeeper. Apprenticed to a butcher, he married and went into business around 1726. But several sheep turned up missing near his establishment in Waltham Abbey. Apparently forced out of the Guild of Butchers, he took to a life of open crime.
For a time, he was associated with a brutal group of poachers and robbers known as "Gregory's Gang"; large rewards were put on their heads in 1735, but Turpin escaped when the others were taken. He turned to highway robbery. He worked with various companions, the most noteworthy being Tom King (died 1737 -- possibly killed by Turpin himself as they struggled with people who were attempting to apprehend them).
Turpin by that year had a price of 200 pounds on his head. But he disappeared.
In fact he had moved to Yorkshire, and was calling himself John Palmer. He lived a relatively honest life -- but in October 1738, in a fit of mindless brutality, he shot his landlord's gamecock (hence, apparently, the ballad claim that he was taken for "shooting of a dunghill cock").
The charges need not have been fatal, but in a comedy of errors, a sample of his handwriting came to the attention of his old schoolteacher, who supposedly recognized it. Turpin was eventually convicted of horse-stealing and sentenced to hang.
The date of Turpin's hanging is uncertain; generally dated to April 7, 1739 (so, e.g., Pringle and Brandon), but the day may have been April 6 or April 10.
There is little evidence in the historical record of the sort of nobility of character found in many of the songs about him.
Peter Underwood reports that the hoofbeats of the ghost of Black Bess (presumably with Turpin aboard) have been heard at the "Woodfield" estate in Bedfordshire, where Turpin was said to have had a safe house.
The reign of Queen Anne (1702-1712) was considered the heyday of the English highwayman -- probably because the amount of travel was increasing, so there were more targets, but there was no effective national constabulary. Turpin of course came after that time; he was arguably a victim of the reforms that the previous banditry had inspired. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb30428b: 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: LL09
===
NAME: My Bonny Blooming Highland Jane: see Highland Jane (File: HHH477)
===
NAME: My Bonny Bon Boy: see Lord Randal [Child 12] (File: C012)
===
NAME: My Bonny Boy: see The Bonny Boy (I) (File: FSC037)
===
NAME: My Bonny Breeden
DESCRIPTION: "She was born 'mong the wild flowers that bloom in our valley, and like those same flowers she grew lovely and fair." The singer praises the beauty and grace of the girl, and prays that the powers may guard her
AUTHOR: Words: Andrew Doey
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love beauty nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H512, p. 225, "My Bonny Breeden" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7973
File: HHH512
===
NAME: My Bonny Brown Jane
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls courting a girl with a "false flattering tongue." He courts Jane, but another earns her love. He enlists in the army "to fight for my queen in a far country." Lonely at night, he prays "for her welfare; what can I do more?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love rejection soldier floatingverses
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H613, p. 396, "My Bonny Brown Jane" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "William and Nancy (II) (Courting Too Slow) [Laws P5]" (lyrics)
cf. "The False Bride (The Week Before Easter; I Once Loved a Lass)" (theme)
NOTES: This has many lyric similarities to "William and Nancy," and also a bit of "The False Bride." But the ending about enlisting as a soldier makes the song distinct. - RBW
File: HHH613
===
NAME: My Bonny Laboring Boy: see The Bonny Laboring Boy [Laws M14] (File: LM14)
===
NAME: My Bonny Lad
DESCRIPTION: "Ha' you seen owt of my bonny lad?... He's gone along wi' a stick in his hand/He's gone to row the keel-o" "Yes, I ha' seen your bonny lad; 'twas on the sea I spied him/His grave was green, but not wi' grass/And you'll never lay beside him"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951 (recording, Isla Cameron)
KEYWORDS: navy separation death sailor
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #204
RECORDINGS:
Anne Briggs, "My Bonny Lad" (on Briggs2, Briggs3)
Isla Cameron, "My Bonny Lad" (on Lomax41, LomaxCD1741)
NOTES: This sounds like a fragment, but in fact the story is complete, although squeezed down to bare essentials. - PJS
File: RcMBL
===
NAME: My Bonny Light Horseman: see The Bonnie Light Horseman (File: HHH122a)
===
NAME: My Boy Billy: see Billy Boy (File: R104)
===
NAME: My Boy Willie: see Billy Boy (File: R104)
===
NAME: My Cabin in the Hills
DESCRIPTION: "Oh! please just one peep At my cabin in the hills Where the pine trees sway And the hound dogs bay To the notes of the whippoorwill." The singer wants to see Ma knitting Pa's socks and Pa tending his gun, and recalls the sounds of home
AUTHOR: Robert Louis Stevens?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad clothes hunting animal bird
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 173, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: This is the sort of thing that you feel you ought to know from somewhere else. But that's just because it's based on so many "home" themes; I can't find its like elsewhere. - RBW
File: ThBa173
===
NAME: My Charming Coleraine Lass
DESCRIPTION: The singer sees a beautiful girl by the banks of the Bann. He asks her to come away with him. The sit by the river and talk. They set a wedding day and are married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting river beauty marriage
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H616, p. 464-463, "My Charming Coleraine Lass" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9460
File: HHH616
===
NAME: My Charming Kate O'Neill
DESCRIPTION: "The first place that I saw my love, 'twas on a summer's day, She was going to her father's as I passed Red Bay." The singer, a young sea captain, praises her beauty but must go away, for "there's another young man, she intends his bride to be."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love rejection marriage sailor travel
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H767, pp. 370-371, "My Charming Kate O'Neill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6886
NOTES: The notes to Henry/Huntington/Herrmann list no other versions of this song, and I can't recall any myself. But there are many lines reminiscent of "The Lowlands of Holland," and the meter is also similar. Sam Henry reports that this is about an actual girl "who captivated the hearts of young Glensmen eighty years ago" (i.e. c. 1855-1860). One wonder if the composer didn't take some inspiration from "The Lowland of Holland." - RBW
File: HHH767
===
NAME: My Crime Blues
DESCRIPTION: Singer is on trial for murder, soon to be sentenced, but pleads his innocence. He calls for his lover to come for his trial, so that when he is condemned she can wipe his tears away. The jury finds him guilty; the judge sentences him to the electric chair
AUTHOR: Almost certainly Ed Bell
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (recording, Ed Bell)
KEYWORDS: grief loneliness accusation crime execution murder law punishment trial death lover judge
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Barefoot Bill [Ed Bell] "My Crime Blues" (Columbia 14510-D, 1930; [1929]; on RoughWays1)
File: RcMyCrBl
===
NAME: My Dame's Crane
DESCRIPTION: "My dame had a lame tame crane. My dame had a crane that was lame. Pary, Mistress Jane, man my dame's lame tame crane Fly and re-turn again?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 (Baring-Gould-MotherGoose)
KEYWORDS: animal nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #755, p. 284, "(My dame hath a lame tame crane)"
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 233, "My Dame's Crane" (1 text)
DT, LAMECRN* LAMETAME*
Roud #13622
NOTES: Reported to have originated in England in the seventeenth century. - RBW
File: DTlamecr
===
NAME: My Dark-Haired Maid from Cornaig: see Mo Nighean donn a Cornaig (File: K019)
===
NAME: My Darling Blue-Eyed Mary: see Seventeen Come Sunday [Laws O17] (File: LO17)
===
NAME: My Darling Ploughman Boy: see The Bonny Sailor Boy [Laws M22] (File: LM22)
===
NAME: My Dear Irish Boy
DESCRIPTION: "My Connor, his cheeks are as ruddy as morning...." The girl describes her love. But "The wars are all over, and lonely I've waited, I fear that some envious plot has been laid." Though hope is almost lost, she wanders to look for her "dear Irish boy"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1863 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(157))
KEYWORDS: love separation soldier rambling
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H142, p. 294, "My [The] Dear Irish Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 57, "The Dear Irish Boy" (1 text)
Roud #1555
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(157), "Dear Irish Boy," H. Such (London), 1849-1862; also Harding B 11(1219), Harding B 11(819), Harding B 11(2269), Firth c.26(168), 2806 b.11(185), Harding B 26(121), "[The] Dear Irish Boy"
LOCSinging, as101620, "The Dear Irish Boy," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Dear Irish Maid
NOTES: Broadside LOCSinging as101620: 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: HHH142
===
NAME: My Dear Old Comrade Soldiers
DESCRIPTION: "My dear old comrade soldier of this our native shore, I'm glad to have the honor of greeting you once more." The singer recalls the difficult careers of soldiers, hopes for pensions, and prays that God inspire current leaders
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar soldier reunion nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 89-91, "My Dear Old Comrade Soldiers" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Civil War soldiers held reunions through the 1920s and even into the 1930s; this (not very good) piece presumably came out of one of those gatherings. - RBW
File: ThBa089
===
NAME: My Dear, I'm Bound for Canaday: see My Dear, I'm Bound for Canady (File: GrMa154)
===
NAME: My Dear, I'm Bound for Canady
DESCRIPTION: "My dear I'm bound for Canady; Love Sally we must part." Sally asks Willie to stay; "you'll find employment here" but he leaves St John's; he will marry her within three years. But the song ends "every honest decent young man Don't leave his girl behind"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: love parting unemployment hardtimes Canada father mother betrayal
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 154, "My Dear, I'm Bound for Canady" (1 text)
Leach-Labrador 85, "Bound for Canada" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 82, "My Dear, I'm Bound for Canaday" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Roud #4411
NOTES: To understand this song, it is important to recall that Newfoundland did not become part of Canada until after World War II. - RBW
File: GrMa154
===
NAME: My Dearest Dear
DESCRIPTION: "My dearest dear, the times draws near When I and you must part, And no one knows the inner grief Of my poor aching heart." The (girl) wishes that they could stay together; (s)he promises to love (him) till (s)he dies, and begs that he write to her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: love separation lyric nonballad parting
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (13 citations)
Bronson 76, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (23 versions, of which #18, #20, and #22 perhaps go here)
Belden, pp. 484-486, "Banishment" (1 text)
Randolph 18, "Oh Who Will Shoe My Foot?" (8 texts, 5 tunes; the "B," "D," "F," and "H" versions are of this sort) {F=Bronson's #18}; 760, "I Love You Well" (4 texts plus an excerpt, 1 tune) 
Davis-Ballads 21, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (of the various texts in the appendices, at least "G"  seems to belong here) {Bronson's #20}
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 314-317, "The Time Has Come, My Dearest Dear" (2 texts; 1 tune on p. 440)
Brewster 90, "The True Lover's Farewell" (1 text, which despite the title appears closer to this song than that)
SharpAp 77, "My Dearest Dear" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 40, "My Dearest Dear" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, p. 112, "When You and I Must Part" (1 text)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 52-53, "Time Draws Near" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 108, "Winter's Night" (1 text, 1 tune, beginning with lyrics from this song but with final verses more characteristic of "The Storms Are on the Ocean")
Sandburg, pp. 126-127, "The Lover's Lament" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
DT, (REDREDR2)
Roud #3601
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)"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
A-Roving on a Winter's Night
NOTES: This is basically a lyric piece assembled from all sorts of floating materials. The first two lines are characteristic; what follows can come from almost anywhere. Doc Watson sings a version which combines parts of this song (notably the verse "A-roving on a winter's night") with portions of "My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose"  (see DT REDREDR2). - RBW
File: SKE40
===
NAME: My Emmet's No More
DESCRIPTION: "Despair in her wild eye, a daughter of Erin" played the harp and "sang Erin's woes and her Emmet no more." She accuses "tyrants and traitors" and the "proud titled villains" who cowered before him before they murdered him.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (O'Conor) ; beginning 19C (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: rebellion execution patriotic Ireland separation love
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sep 20, 1803 - Robert Emmet (1778-1803) is hanged
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
O'Conor, p. 143, "My Emmet's No More" (1 text)
Zimmermann 25, "My Emmet's No More" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 156, "My Emmet's No More" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(204b), "My Emmet's No More", unknown, n.d.; also 2806 b.10(16), "My Emmet's No More"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Bold Robert Emmet" (subject) and references there
NOTES: For the sad background of this typically Irish story, see the notes to "Bold Robert Emmet." - RBW
File: OCon143A
===
NAME: My Fairey and My Forey: see Have You Any Bread and Wine (English Soldiers, Roman Soldiers) (File: Lins040)
===
NAME: My Faith Looks Up to Thee
DESCRIPTION: "My faith looks up to thee, Thou lamb of Calvary." "Oh let me from this day Be wholly thine." The singer asks for strength and guidance, and asks, "O bear me safe above."
AUTHOR: Words: Ray Palmer (1808-1887) / Music: Lowell Mason (1792-18720
EARLIEST_DATE: 1947 (Methodist hymnal)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), pp, 100-102, "My Faith Looks Up To Thee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #14038
File: CJns0100
===
NAME: My Faither Was Hung for Sheep-Stealing: see The Cobbler (File: R102)
===
NAME: My Far Down Cailin Ban
DESCRIPTION: Sean meets a lass who invites him "'longside the Cailin Ban" in her cart. She invites him in to meet her father and have tea. Her father falls asleep. He slips his arm around her waist. He has travelled over Erin's Isle and has never seen such a beauty
AUTHOR: Shaun O'Nolan (1871-1945) (source: Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1975 (Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
KEYWORDS: courting Ireland father beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 36, "My Far Down Cailin Ban" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5231
NOTES: Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan: The author was "described in his publicity as 'Shaun O'Nolan, The Wicklow Piper.' The protagonist is a piper named Sean going from Donegal to Tandagree. Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan: "Irish geography does not seem to have been a strong point with him, for when he wrote that couple in the ass and cart jog along from Donegal to Tandragee in County Armagh he can hardly have been aware that the distance involved is over ninety miles!" - BS
File: RcMFDCBa
===
NAME: My Father Gave Me
DESCRIPTION: "My father gave me when he was able A bowl, a bottle, a dish and a ladle, A bowl sir my father gave me" up to "... Twelve bowls, twelve bottles, twelve dishes, twelve ladles, eleven bowls ...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: cumulative nonballad gift
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, p. 20, "My Father Gave Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1505
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Counting Song
A Bowl, a Bottle, a Dish and a Ladle
File: Pea020
===
NAME: My Father Gave Me a Lump of Gold (Seven Long Years)
DESCRIPTION: "My father dear, so far from here, has given me good advice, He told me to quit my rambling ways And settle down for life." The rest of the family gives equally good advice. Father gives a lump of gold, but it cannot save the son from hell. Etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1903 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: family father mother rambling loneliness poverty separation bequest lastwill
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Belden, pp. 259-260, "Prentice's Drinking Song" (1 text)
Randolph 834, "My Father Gave Me a Lump of Gold" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 102, "Seven Long Years" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3605
File: R834
===
NAME: My Father Gave Me an Acre of Ground: see The Elfin Knight [Child 2] (File: C002)
===
NAME: My Father Had an Acre of Land
DESCRIPTION: "My father had an acre of land, Hey ho, sing ivy, My father had an acre of land, With a bunch of green holly and ivy." He farmed it in impossible ways: "plowed it with a team of rats," "rolled it with a rolling pin," "thrashed it with a hazel twig"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1842
KEYWORDS: farming nonsense paradox
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(All))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Kennedy 300, "My Father Had an Acre of Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 51-78, "The Elfin Knight' (12 texts plus 3 fragments, not all from New England; 8 tunes; mostly of Child #2, but the "N" text, which has no tune, appears to be this song)
Opie-Oxford2 158, "My father left me three acres of land" (1 text)
Roud #12
RECORDINGS:
Bob & Ron Copper, "My Father Had an Acre of Land" (on FSB4)
Charlie Potter, "Sing Ivy" (on Voice14)
Tony Wales, "Sing Ivy" (on TWales1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Elfin Knight" [Child 2] (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Team of Rats
Sing Ivy
Sing Ovy, Sing Ivy
NOTES: This song is sometimes listed as a variant of "The Elfin Knight" [Child 2], and in fact they share many ideas and some lyrics. However, the crucial element of "The Elfin Knight" is the dialog, whereas this is a song of impossible deeds. The should be kept separate. - RBW
File: K300
===
NAME: My Father Left Me Three Acres of Land: see My Father Had an Acre of Land (File: K300)
===
NAME: My Father Was a Gambler: see Hang Me, Oh Hang Me (Been All Around This World) (File: R146)
===
NAME: My Father Was Born in Killlarney: see Don't Run Down the Irish (My Father Was Born in Killlarney) (File: MCB224)
===
NAME: My Father's a Hedger and Ditcher (Nobody Coming to Marry Me)
DESCRIPTION: "My father's a hedger and ditcher, my mother does nothing but spin, They say I'm a pretty young girl But the money comes slowly in." The girl laments, with variations on a theme, that "there's nobody coming to marry me, Nobody coming to woo."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1806 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 10(39))
KEYWORDS: love courting oldmaid
FOUND_IN: US(MW,SE) Britain(Scotland) Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, p. 189, "Naebody Comin' to Marry Me" (1 text)
BrownII 185, "Nobody Coming to Marry Me" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 181, "Me Father Is a Lawyer in England" (2 short texts, 2 tunes, both very mixed; "A" has the first verse of "Me Father Is a Lawyer in England,"; the second is "Me father is a hedger and ditcher, and the third and the chorus are from "The Cobbler"; the "B" text is also clearly mixed though the elements are less clear)
Roud #846
RECORDINGS:
Mary Ann Carolan, "My Father's a Hedger and Ditcher" (on Voice20)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 10(39), "Nobody Coming to Marry Me" ("Last night the dogs did bark"), Laurie and Whittle (London), 1806; also Harding B 25(1371)[many illegible words], "Nobody Coming to Marry Me"
NOTES: At first glance, the "Hedger and Ditcher" stanza (which is the first in Brown though not in  Ford) seems unrelated to the rest, but it seems likely to be a reference to the girl's inadequate dowry. There is every likelihood that this is a stage song; most of the (rather unhelpful) references in Brown are to printed and popular versions.
Roud lists many more versions, but many are of what I would consider separate songs (e.g. "My Father's a Lawyer in England," which often goes with "My God How the Money Rolls In").
It's just possible that there is a political link in here somewhere. In the years around 1910, the Liberal government of H. H. Asquith was trying to pass a variety of reforms, and had them vetoed by the House of Lords. The Liberals eventually tried to pass a law restricting the veto power of the Lords. Which, naturally, the Lords vetoed.
Asquith tried various tricks. He called a general election on the issue, and won it -- barely. He tried to persuade the King (originally Edward VII, then George V after Edward's death) to appoint, or at least threaten to appoint, enough liberal peers to override the overwhelming conservative majority (probably at least 75%; some put it at 90%) in the Lords.
The Lords opposed to the reform measure were known as the "Ditchers," because they would die in the last ditch. Those willing to go along with the change were, for whatever reason, known as "Hedgers."
In the end, the reform law was passed by the Lords, very grudgingly. The large majority of the Lords did not attend (nothing unusual about that -- a quorum in the Lords was three peers, though the body had over 500 members). Over 100 Ditchers voted against. Fewer than 100 peers voluntarily voted for. 37 lords led by Lord Curzon, who opposed the bill, finally voted in favor -- better to lose the veto than dilute the Lords. The final vote was 131 to 114.
It had taken two years, and it brought down Unionist (conservative) leader Arthur Balfour, who had been strangely quiet the whole time -- a critic of the period might well have said he "does nothing but spin."
I don't really think the two are connected, but it *is* an interesting parallel. For more on the whole incident, see "Home Rule for Ireland" and "A Loyal Song Against Home Rule"; also Robert K. Massie, _Dreadnought_, pp. 640-662 -- the chapter entited "The Budget and the House of Lords." - RBW
The broadside Bodleian Harding B 10(39) notes: "(Intended as a Companion to the second appearance of Miss Bailey's Ghost, Just Published) Sung by Mrs Jordan, with Unbounded Applause at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane." That "No rest in the grave: or The second appearance of Miss Bailey's ghost" is a parody of "Nobody Coming to Marry Me" : "Nobody coming to bury me," etc. [the latter found in Bodleian Harding B 17(219a) - RBW] - BS
File: BrII185
===
NAME: My Father's Gone to View That Land
DESCRIPTION: "My father's gone to view that land, To view that land, to view that land, My father's gone to view that land, To sing that cheering song." "It takes a saint to view that land." "My (mother/brother/sister/children/neighbor)'s gone to view that land."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fuson, p. 209, "Our Father's Gone to View That Land" (1 text)
ST Fus209 (Partial)
Roud #13937
File: Fus209
===
NAME: My Father's Gray Mare: see The Gray Mare [Laws P8] (File: LP08)
===
NAME: My Father's Old Sou'wester
DESCRIPTION: "My father's old sou'wester He wore in days gone by ... Those happy days of old." "When I was but a lad" my father wore his old hat wherever he went.  When he died he said "Go take that old sou'wester hat And wear it for my sake"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: death lastwill fishing sea hunting work nonballad father clothes
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Doyle3, pp. 42-43, "My Father's Old Sou'wester" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 118, "Old Southwester" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 57, "My Father's Old Sou' Wester" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SOUWESTR*
Roud #4422
File: Doyl3042
===
NAME: My Father's Servant Boy [Laws M11]
DESCRIPTION: The girl's father plans to have her marry a gentleman. She chooses instead to flee with her sweetheart. They find a captain who will bring them to America, and are supported by an Irishman till the boy can find a job. Despite poverty, the girl is happy
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: marriage emigration poverty
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws M11, "My Father's Servant Boy"
SHenry H198, pp. 481-482, "My Father's Servant Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 78, "My Father's Servant Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 39, "My Father's Servant Boy" (1 text)
DT 578, SERVNTBY
Roud #1910
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 238, "The Servant Boy" ("You lovers all both great and small attend unto my theme"), J. Catnach (London) , 1813-1838; also Firth c.18(207), Harding B 11(2595), Harding B 11(3453), Harding B 25(1752), Harding B 11(1471), "The Servant Boy"; Harding B 11(2998), "Answer to the Philadelphia Lass"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "You Lovers All" (plot, lyrics)
cf. "Mullinabrone" (plot)
NOTES: The broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(2998), "Answer to the Philadelphia Lass," W. and T. Fordyce (Newcastle), c.1840 is on the same sheet as "Philadelphia Lass" ("It was on a summer's morning, all in the month of May"), another title for "Mary in Search of Her Lover"; that packaging makes it seem, to me, unlikely that our ballad was ever known elsewhere as "Answer to ...." On the other hand "Philadelphia Lass" may have been in tradition by that title 
[see: Bodleian, Harding B 11(4257), "Mary in Search of her Lover," W. and T. Fordyce (Newcastle) , 1832-1842; also Firth c.13(233), "Mary in Search of her Lover"; Harding B 11(2997), Harding B 11(2998), "[The] Philadelphia Lass" ] - BS
File: LM11
===
NAME: My Flora and I: see Sheepcrook and Black Dog (File: HHH030a)
===
NAME: My Flora and Me: see Sheepcrook and Black Dog (File: HHH030a)
===
NAME: My Foot Is in the Stirrup
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells Molly he is going to find a new girlfriend (in rather more coarse language), promising he will do his "plowing in some cleaner, greener land."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy parting
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph-Legman I, p. 275, "My Foot Is in the Stirrup" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh Lily, Dear Lily"
cf. "Old Paint"
cf. "Sweet Willie"
cf. "The False Lover Won Back" [Child 218]
File: RL275
===
NAME: My Friends and Relations
DESCRIPTION: "My friends and relations they live in the nations,They know not where their cowboy has gone." The poor cowboy "might have lived long in this world... If my cruel friends could have left me alone." But now he wanders the world
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Coolidge, "Texas Cowboys")
KEYWORDS: cowboy rambling exile separation family
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 2, "My Friends and Relations" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #16240?
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Streets of Laredo" [Laws B1] (tune & meter, floating lyrics) and references there
File: Ohr002
===
NAME: My Gallant Brigantine: see The Gallant Brigantine [Laws D25] (File: LD25)
===
NAME: My Generous Lover
DESCRIPTION: False Jimmy deceives an innocent young woman into yielding to him; she says, "My generous lover, you're welcome to me", but the generosity is all hers. She leaves her home; he leaves the country, telling her not to allow any other to love her; she regrets
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1960 (recording, A. L. Lloyd)
KEYWORDS: hardheartedness seduction sex abandonment lover
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 225-227, "The First Time I Saw My Love" (1 text)
ST RcMGL (Full)
Roud #1996
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "My Generous Lover" (on Lloyd1)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Pretty Peggy
NOTES: The alternate title "Pretty Peggy" should not be confused with "Pretty Peggy-O", a version of "Bonnie Lass of Fyvie". The young woman's name does not appear in this song. - PJS
Huntington's version of this (Roud #1996, for which he currently lists only this song) has a rather simplified plot, in which the man's faithlessness is not clear and the sexual element is very muted (I didn't see it until Paul's description brought it out). I tie the two versions together based on the key line "My generous lover, you're welcome to me."
Huntington says he has not seen any other versions in print, and I must admit that I haven't seen any either. Huntington is reminded of "Logie o Buchan," and I get the same feeling. But they are definitely separate songs.
A point of interpretation: I believe the key line "you're welcome to me" does not mean "let's do something dirty" but "you will always be welcome home to me, whatever my family thinks of you." - RBW
I don't agree; the context makes the offer explicitly sexual. Not something dirty; she's offering her heart and body in sexual love, and he proves unworthy of the offer. - PJS
File: RcMGL
===
NAME: My Gentle Colleen Bawn
DESCRIPTION: The singer courts Colleen Bawn for 16 months. He is rich and "her friends all kindly welcomed me" He loses his money and is told "They'd forced my own colleen to wed An old man for his gold" He asks why "in our own dear land ... They wed for money"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: poverty courting marriage money
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 24, "My Gentle Colleen Bawn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4391
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.7(21), "Tipperary Mans Courtship ," P. Brereton (Dublin), c.1867 ; also 2806 b.9(7), "For 16 Months I Courted Her"
LOCSinging, as113780, "Tipperary Mans Courtship," unknown, 19C; also as104070, "For 16 Months I Courted Her" 
NOTES: Broadsides LOCSinging as113780 and Bodleian 2806 c.7(21) are duplicates, [as are] LOCSinging as104070 and Bodleian 2806 b.9(7). - BS
File: OLcM024
===
NAME: My Geordie O, My Geordie O: see Geordie [Child 209] (File: C209)
===
NAME: My Girl from Donegal
DESCRIPTION: The singer is setting out for America. He tells those around him of his parting from beautiful Aileen Oge, with whom none can compare. He wishes he could stay, but no money is to be had. When he becomes rich, he will marry Aileen
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1923 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: emigration love separation beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H4, pp. 190-191, "My Girl from Donegal" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13547
File: HHH004
===
NAME: My Girl's from USC
DESCRIPTION: Various stanzas about how the singer's girl, whose college or fraternity is usually identified, satisfies the singer. Example: "My girl's from USC, She fights for chastity, Fights ev'ryone but me, I love her so."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960
KEYWORDS: courting sex bawdy
FOUND_IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cray, pp. 357-359, "My Girl's from USC" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #10402
File: EM357
===
NAME: My God, How the Money Rolls In
DESCRIPTION: A quatrain ballad, "My God" describes the various illegal or dubious occupations of family members, e.g. "My sister she works in a (cathouse/laundry), My father makes synthetic gin, My mother she takes in washing, My God, how the money rolls in"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous family
FOUND_IN: Australia Canada Britain(England,Scotland) Ireland US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,Ro,SE,So,SW) New Zealand
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Cray, pp. 107-109 (related songs to p. 114), "My God, How the Money Rolls In" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 381, "My Sister She Works in a Laundry" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 68, "Me Father's a Lawyer in England" (1 text, 1 tune -- seemingly a composite text with a different chorus and some floating verses, e.g. from "The Cobbler")
Gardner/Chickering 181, "Me Father Is a Lawyer in England" (2 short texts, 2 tunes, both very mixed; "A" has the first verse of "Me Father Is a Lawyer in England,"; the second is "Me father is a hedger and ditcher, and the third and the chorus are from "The Cobbler"; the "B" text is also clearly mixed though the elements are less clear)
Silber-FSWB, p. 31, "My God, How the Money Rolls In" (1 text)
DT, MYGODHOW MYGOD* (MONTSARG*)
Roud #10143
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" (tune) and references there
cf. "Please, Don't Burn Our Shithouse Down"
cf. "The Cobbler"
cf. "Roll In My Sweet Baby's Arms" (words)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Poor Tailor's High Relations
NOTES: This is one of the most commonly found of bawdy songs, virtually ubiquitous in the English-speaking world. - EC
On the off chance you didn't know, the tune is "My Bonnie." And I've even heard clean versions.
It's possible that "Me Father's a Lawyer in England" is a separate song, or at least a separate subtext -- but the versions I've seen are mixed enough that splitting them based on a single key line seemed rather extreme. - RBW
File: EM107
===
NAME: My Good Old Man
DESCRIPTION: Wife asks husband where he is going. He says, grumpily,"Out" (or the like). She asks about supper. He: Eggs. She: How many? He: A bushel. She: They'll kill you. He: Then I'll haunt you. She: You can't haunt a haunt
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1921 (Sharp)
KEYWORDS: dialog wife husband shrewishness hardtimes ghost
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Randolph 426, "The Best Old Feller in the World" (2 texts plus a fragment, 3 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 325-327, "The Best Old Feller in the World" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 426A)
BrownII 191, "The Good Old Man" (2 texts)
SharpAp 230, "The Good Old Man" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 12-14, "[My Good Old Man]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 88 "Le Vieux Soulard Et Sa Femme (The Old Drunkard and His Wife)" (1 text, in French with English translation, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 344, "Where Are You Going, My Good Old Man" (1 text)
Kennedy 64, "Yr Hen wr Mwyn [The Gentle Old Man]" (1 text in Welsh + translation, 1 tune)
DT, GDOLDMAN
Roud #240
RECORDINGS:
Cleoma Breaux & Joseph Falcon, "Le Vieux Soulard et sa Femme" [in Cajun French] (Columbia 14301D, 1928; on AAFM3)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Tam Buie (Tam Bo, Magherafelt Hiring Fair)" (form)
NOTES: The plot of this song varies widely, as does the final line ("My good old man," "The meanest man in the world," "The best old fellow in the world," "Best Old Soul in the World"). But the format is constant: First the wife asks a long, involved question, e.g. 
Where are you going, my good old man?
Where are you going, my honey, lovey dove?
Where are you going, my good old man?
Best old man in the world.
Then the man replies (spoken, not sung) in the shortest set of monosyllables possible.
The final element, about the ghost, disappears in many versions.
Kennedy's Welsh text doesn't look that much like the English versions to me, at least in terms of plot; it may be an analog rather than a version of the same song. But it's filed here rather than include it in a separate entry, which it does not deserve in an English-language index. - RBW
File: R426
===
NAME: My Good-Looking Man
DESCRIPTION: The singer warns other girls against good-looking men. When young, she saw a good-looking man and set about to marry him. Now she sees him with another woman. When he claims to have been in church, she beats him until he flees
AUTHOR: John Morgan ?
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(1368))
KEYWORDS: courting marriage infidelity abuse
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW) Canada(Newf,Ont) Ireland
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
FSCatskills 42, "My Good-Looking Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 182, "My Good-Lookin' Man" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 302-303, "My Good-Looking Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 30, "Good Looking Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 83, "My Good Looking Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 7, "My Good-Looking Man" (1 text)
DT, GOODLOOK*
Roud #3340
RECORDINGS:
Nonie Lynch, "My Good Looking Man" (on IRClare01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1368), "The Good Looking Man," J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844
SAME_TUNE:
Nice Young Girl (per broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(1368))
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(1368) has the author as J. Morgan. - BS
File: FSC42
===
NAME: My Grandfather Died: see The Swapping Boy (File: E093)
===
NAME: My Grandfather's Clock: see Grandfather's Clock (File: RJ19076)
===
NAME: My Grandfather's Cock
DESCRIPTION: An ode to Grandfather's amazing sexual equipment.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963
KEYWORDS: death bawdy
FOUND_IN: US(SW) Britain Australia
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cray, pp. 270-271, "My Grandfather's Cock" (2 fragments)
DT, GRANDCCK*
File: EM270
===
NAME: My Grandma's Advice: see Grandma's Advice (File: R101)
===
NAME: My Grandmother: see Grandma's Advice (File: R101)
===
NAME: My Grandmother Lived on  Yonder Green: see Grandma's Advice (File: R101)
===
NAME: My Grandmother Lived on Yonder Little Green: see Grandma's Advice (File: R101)
===
NAME: My Grandmother's Advice: see Grandma's Advice (File: R101)
===
NAME: My Grandmother's Chair: see Grandmother's Chair (File: R467)
===
NAME: My Gray Haired Irish Mother
DESCRIPTION: Barney thinks of his childhood in Ireland and how blessed him when he left. He imagines her sorrow: "Your old Irish mother is waiting for you And when friends and companions will turn and desert you There's a place Barney darling at the old home for you"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (for USBallinsloeFair, according to site irishtune.info, Irish Traditional Music Tune Index: Alan Ng's Tunography, ref. Ng #2617)
KEYWORDS: homesickness separation Ireland nonballad mother home
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
John McGettigan and his Irish Minstrels, "My Gray Haired Irish Mother" (on USBallinsloeFair)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "There's No One Like Mother to Me"
NOTES: "There's No One Like Mother to Me" and "My Gray Haired Irish Mother" are clearly related but clearly distinct. The question is: which is the original and which the derivative? 
The tunes are closely related though the rests in "There's No One Like Mother To Me" are filled with text in "My Gray Haired Irish Mother."
The theme of both songs is: an expatriot remembers his childhood in a "cottage far over the sea" and recalls especially the mother that blessed him with tears on her cheeks.
"There's No One Like Mother to Me" has two verses and a chorus. "My Gray Haired Irish Mother" has five verses and no chorus.
Here is the first verse of "There's No One Like Mother to Me"
Sadly I'm thinking tonight
Thinking of days long gone by
Memories of childhood so bright
Come back like a dream with a sigh
I'm thinking of friends and of home
In that cottage far over the sea
Oh no matter where-ever I roam
There is no one like mother to me.
and the first two verses of "My Gray Haired Irish Mother"
How sadly I'm thinking tonight of my sire-land
Thinking of scenes and of days long gone by.
Memories of childhood so bright and so airy
Come rushing back to me with many's a sigh
I'm thinking of one whom I left far behind me
In that little thatched cottage far over the sea
Oh the one only cried Barney every noon and morning
Darling won't you come back to me.
The pattern is repeated in the remaining verse of "There's No One Like Mother to Me" and the third and fourth verses of "My Gray Haired Irish Mother."
We have sheet music dated 1885 for "There's No One Like Mother to Me" (LOCSheet sm1885 25967, by Gussie L Davis). The version recorded in 1936 by The Carter Family is almost identical to that original (source: _Country Music Sources_ by Guthrie T Meade Jr, p. 324; the Bluegrass Lyrics site)
The John McGettigan recording of "My Gray Haired Irish Mother" in 1929 demonstrates that the songs co-existed. - BS 
File: RcMGHIM
===
NAME: My Handsome Sailor Boy
DESCRIPTION: "As I roved out one evening down Water street I took my way." Mary Jane hopes to meet MacDonald, her true love, but is told he's gone to Halifax "for money." Her mother and father tell her to forget MacDonald but she will go to Halifax to be his bride.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: courting separation sea father lover mother
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 566-567, "My Handsome Sailor Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Pea566 (Partial)
Roud #9795
NOTES: Peacock says "Despite the fact that Mary Jane roves down Water Street in St John's (or Halifax) and MacDonald lives in Halifax, this song does not seem to me to be of Canadian origin. It is probably a British song with Canadian referents." Water Street is hardly a street name found only in Halifax or St John's - BS
File: Pea566
===
NAME: My Happy Little Home in Arkansas
DESCRIPTION: "'Tis a pretty little cottage where the grass is ever green... Come and see me, neighbors, come today... 'Tis the finest country found, I will show you all around In my happy little home in Arkansas." Praises of the farming conditions in Arkansas
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Stockard, History of Lawrence, Jackson, Independence, and Stone Counties, Arkansas)
KEYWORDS: home farming
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 868, "My Happy Little Home in Arkansas" (1 text)
Roud #7537
File: R868
===
NAME: My Harding County Home
DESCRIPTION: "Not so many years ago I left old Buffalo, The place that I have always loved the best.... I'm yearning today For my Harding County home out in the west. The singer recalls the beauties of home; "As I wander down Broadway," he hears a coyote call him home
AUTHOR: Tex Fletcher
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (recording, Tex Fletcher)
KEYWORDS: home travel
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 67, "My Harding County Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Tex Fletcher, "My Harding County Home" (Flint 1782, 1948)
NOTES: "Buffalo" here refers not to the city in New York State but to the county seat of Harding County, South Dakota.
Although this began life as a commercial recording, it does have some oral tradition behind it; the author's son tells me of a "kitchen table" recording he has of his father singing it. - RBW
File: Ohr067
===
NAME: My Heart's Tonight in Texas [Laws B23]
DESCRIPTION: A rancher's daughter and her lover must part; the girl's father is sending her to England in hopes that she will marry a nobleman. Eventually an earl proposes to her, but she will marry none but her Texas Jack
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: separation love
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Laws B23, "My Heart's Tonight in Texas (By the Silvery Rio Grande; Texas Jack)"
DT 841, HRTEXAS*
Roud #635
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
By the Silvery Rio Grande
Texas Jack
NOTES: A piece called "Down by the Silvery Rio Grande" was published in 1913 as by Dave Weisberg, R. F. Roden, and Charles Speidel. I have not seen it. - RBW
File: LB23
===
NAME: My Home Is on the Mountain
DESCRIPTION: The singer expresses a hope and a prayer to be reunited with mother: "I want to see my mother, O can't you call her here? / It wouldn't seem so hard to die to have my mother near...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1982
KEYWORDS: religious reunion death
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
FSCatskills 78, "My Home Is on the Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC078 (Partial)
NOTES: Cazden et al know of no other collections of this lyric, although the melody is similar to the familiar hymn tunes "Imandra" and "Milton."
They file the piece among "religious songs," but it feels a bit like a Civil War "dying soldier boy" song. - RBW
File: FSC078
===
NAME: My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains
DESCRIPTION: "I'm going back to North Carolina (x3), I never expect to see you any more." Repeat with "I'm going to leave here Monday morning," "How can I ever keep from crying," "I'm going across the Blue Ridge Mountains."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (JAFL)
KEYWORDS: love home separation farewell nonballad parting
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Warner 124, "I'm Goin' Back to North Carolina" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 42, "My Home's Across The Smokey Mountains" (1 text)
BrownIII 278, "My Home's Across the Smoky Mountains" (1 text plus a fragment)
DT, HOMSMOK
ST Wa124 (Full)
Roud #7686
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley, Garley Foster, Dock Walsh & Doc Watson, "My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains" (on Ashley03, WatsonAshley01)
Frank Bode, "My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains" (on FBode1)
Carolina Tar Heels, "My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains" (Victor V-40100, 1929)
Carter Family, "My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains" (Decca 5532, 1938/Decca X2184, n.d.)
Delmore Brothers, "My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains" (Bluebird B-8247, 1939)
Kelly Harrell, "I'm Going Back to North Carolina" (OKeh 40505, 1925; on KHarrell01)
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "My Home's Across the Smoky Mountains" (AAFS 3155 B2) 
Poplin Family, "My Home Is Not In South Carolina" (on Poplin01)
Pete Seeger, "My Home's Across the Smoky Mountains" (on PeteSeeger25)
Arthur Smith, "Across the Blue Ridge Mountains" (Bluebird B-7221, 1937)
Jack Wallin, "My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains" (on Wallins1)
File: Wa124
===
NAME: My Home's Across the Smokey Mountains: see My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains (File: Wa124)
===
NAME: My Home's Across the Smoky Mountains: see My Home's Across the Blue Ridge Mountains (File: Wa124)
===
NAME: My Home's in Montana
DESCRIPTION: "My home's in Montana, I wear a bandana, My spurs are of silver, my pony is gray. While riding the ranges my luck never changes, With my foot in the stirrup I gallop for aye." The cowboy sketches the life of a horseman following cattle in the wilderness
AUTHOR: Words: Christine Turner Curtis (?)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 ("Singing Days" series)
KEYWORDS: work cowboy nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Ohrlin-HBT 1, "My Home's in Montana" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 247, "My Home's in Montana" (1 text, 1 tune)
Larkin, pp. 30-31, "The Cowboy's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune, with four verses that are clearly "Streets of Laredo" but an opening that is "My Home's in Montana")
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Streets of Laredo" [Laws B1] (tune & meter, floating lyrics) and references there
cf. "The Unfortunate Rake" (tune, floating lyrics)
NOTES: This was apparently composed (based on elements of "The Streets of Laredo") as a cowboy song suitable for young people. There are reports of versions from Montana, possibly unprintable. See the notes in Ohrlin for the background.
Larkin's text may be a "missing link": It's largely "Streets of Laredo," but it starts with the "home in Montana" half-verse. - RBW
File: Ohr001
===
NAME: My Horses Ain't Hungry: see The Wagoner's Lad (File: R740)
===
NAME: My Husband's a Mason
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells how her (husband/father/boyfriend) works all day at his trade and then comes home and plies his trade upon her, e.g. "My husband's a mason... All day he lays bricks... At night he comes home and lays me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1949
KEYWORDS: work sex bawdy incest
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW,SW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cray, pp. 55-61, "My Husband's a Mason" (6 texts, 2 tunes)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Used to Work in Chicago" (theme)
NOTES: In some of Cray's versions the final sexual act ("lays me/screws me/drives me/etc.") is replaced by the euphemism "drinks tea." One wonders what peculiar impulse drove anyone to sing such an explicit song and then use such a silly euphemism.
Although Cray's versions are all modern, he traces the device back to the 1707 edition of _Pills to Purge Melancholy_. - RBW
Why would anyone sing the euphemistic version, Bob asks? Because in the right company, it's even funnier when the listeners make the connection themselves. - PJS
File: EM055
===
NAME: My Husband's Got No Courage in Him
DESCRIPTION: (Two women meet); one laments, "(My) husband's got no courage in him." She describes all she has done to encourage his "courage," but all attempts have failed. (Even now she still has her maidenhead.) (She hopes he dies so she can find another)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1701 (broadside NLScotland, Ry.III.a.10(053))
KEYWORDS: wife husband sex disability
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Kennedy 213, "Rue the Day" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 171, "The Husband With No Courage In Him" (1 text)
BBI, ZN2114, "Of late it was my chance to walke"
DT, NOCOURAG* NOUCOURG2
Roud #870
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, Ry.III.a.10(053), "My Husband Has No Courage In Him," unknown, 1701
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Maids, When You're Young"
cf. "What Can a Young Lassie"
cf. "The Jolly Barber Lad" (theme)
cf. "The Old Man from Over the Sea"
File: K213
===
NAME: My Irish Jaunting Car (The Irish Boy)
DESCRIPTION: "I'm Larry McHugh, a boy so true, I belong to the Emerald Isle." He tells how the girls "Think it a trate to take a seat and be drove in my jaunting car." He offers rides to all, and guidance on the best places to buy
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: technology travel nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H592, p. 41, "My Irish Jaunting Car" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5497
File: HHH592
===
NAME: My Irish Molly-O
DESCRIPTION: The singer, (a Scotsman,) is in love with Molly. Her parents oppose the match (because he is not Catholic). Unable to win his love, he is ready to die (and makes preparations for burial). (Common versions often lose the plot, and simply speak of courting)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1842 (Joyce, The Native Music of Ireland)
KEYWORDS: love separation death courting
FOUND_IN: US(MA) Ireland Australia Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Ord, p. 131, "Irish Molly, O" (1 text)
FSCatskills 62, "My Irish Molly-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 177-178, "Irish Molly-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 52, "Irish Molly O" (1 text)
DT, IRSHMOLL*
ADDITIONAL: Charles Gavan Duffy, editor, The Ballad Poetry of Ireland (1845), pp. 214-215, "Irish Molly"
H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 186-187, 512, "Irish Molly"
Roud #2168
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1787), "Irish Molly, O!" ("As I walk'd out one morning all in the month of May"), J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also Harding B 11(2121), Firth b.28(35) View 2 of 2[some words illegible], Johnson Ballads fol. 114, Harding B 11(4209), Harding B 17(140b), Johnson Ballads 2582, Firth c.26(181), Harding B 20(257), Firth c.26(137), 2806 c.15(243), Firth c.14(204), 2806 b.11(252), "Irish Molly, O[!]"; Johnson Ballads 340, "Irish Molly!"
LOCSinging, as106290, "Irish Molly, O," Harris (Philadelphia), 19C
NLScotland, L.C.1270(006), "Irish Molly, O," James Kay (Glasgow), c. 1845; also L.C.178.A.2(256), "Irish Molly O," unknown, c. 1860
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Often Think of Writing Home" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
The Lass of Swansea Town (Swansea Barracks) (per broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(2071) )
I Often Think of Writing Home (File: RcIOTOWH)
File: FSC062
===
NAME: My Irish Polly: see The Irish Girl (File: HHH711)
===
NAME: My Johnny
DESCRIPTION: Basically a lament for Johnny, who apparently died and was buried at sea. "We're homeward bound today ... We'll drink and play (etc) but always think of Johnny" Chorus: "In the middle of the sea, my boy is floating free, so far away from me, my love."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1921 (Richard Runciman Terry, _The Shanty Book_)
KEYWORDS: foc's'le shanty lament farewell
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 539-540, "My Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Rather slow and sentimental for a shanty, but Terry's source said it was used at the capstan. - SL
File: Hugi539
===
NAME: My Johnny Was a Shoemaker
DESCRIPTION: "My Johnny was a shoemaker But now he's gone to sea." He will be a captain "Of a bold and galliant crew And then across the sea he'll roam All for to marry me ... And when I am a captain's wife I'll sing the whole day long"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1865 (broadside, LOCSinging as202550)
KEYWORDS: courting separation sailor nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
OLochlainn-More 44, "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, JOHNSHOE
Roud #1388
RECORDINGS:
Bodleian, Harding B 18(366), "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also Harding B 18(670), "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker"
LOCSinging, as202550, "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also sb20295b, "My Johnny Was a Shoemaker"
NOTES: Broadsides LOCSinging as202550 and Bodleian Harding B 18(366) are duplicates. 
Broadsides LOCSinging sb20295b and Bodleian Harding B 18(670) are duplicates.
The description is from broadside LOCSinging as202550.
Broadside LOCSinging as202550 and Bodleian Harding B 18(366): 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: OLcM044
===
NAME: My Jolly Shantyboy
DESCRIPTION: The singer overhears a girl praising her shantyboy and lamenting that her parents dislike him. She is advised to marry a drygoods clerk rather than "throw herself away." But "If I had my will I'd love him still, my jolly shantyboy."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1957 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: love logger mother father separation
FOUND_IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke-Lumbering #55, "My Jollu Shantyboy" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #4383
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bonny Laboring Boy" [Laws M14] (tune, theme)
NOTES: Fowke considers this a reworking of "The Bonny Laboring Boy" [Laws M14], and this is nearly certain; it's absolutely certain that it's derived from a song of that type. I thought about lumping them, as I did with "The Railroad Boy." But this song is so defective (only two stanzas) that we cannot tell its final outcome; I think it has to remain separate until we find a version with an ending. - RBW
File: FowL55
===
NAME: My Laddie Sits Ower Late Up
DESCRIPTION: "My laddie sits ower late up, My  hinny sits ower late up.... Betwixt the pint pot and the cup." The singer calls Johnny home to his bairn, lamenting the money he wastes: "When I cry out, 'Laddie, cum hame,' He calls oot again for mair beer."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: home drink wife husband
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Stokoe/Reay, p. 192, "My Laddie Sits Ower Late Up" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR192 (Full)
Roud #3181
File: StoR192
===
NAME: My Lagan Love
DESCRIPTION: "Where Lagan stream sings lullaby, There blows a lily fair." The singer admits the girl "has my heart in thrall. No life I own, nor liberty, For love is lord of all." The singer recalls the girl's life in the bogs and her sweet songs
AUTHOR: Joseph Campbell
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (recording, John McCormack)
KEYWORDS: love beauty courting nonballad bug music
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, LAGANLUV*
Roud #1418
RECORDINGS:
Margaret Barry, "My Lagan Love" (on IRMBarry-Fairs)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wake of William Orr" (tune)
NOTES: According to the notes on IRMBarry-Fairs, this art song entered the traditional repertoire (to the extent it did) as a result of a pop recording by John McCormack in 1910. - RBW
File: DTlaganl
===
NAME: My Last Farewell to Stirling
DESCRIPTION: The convict bitterly prepares to leave Stirling for Van Dieman's Land. He laments the pheasants he will not disturb, the rabbits he cannot hunt. He bids farewell to his (Jeannie), and hopes she will find another love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: love separation transportation hunting poaching
FOUND_IN: Australia Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Manifold-PASB, p. 23, "My Last Farewell to Stirling" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, FAREWLST
Roud #5160
File: PASB023
===
NAME: My Last Gold Dollar
DESCRIPTION: "My last (gold/ole) dollar is gone (x2), My whiskey bill is due an' my board bill too...." "Oh darling, I'm crazy about you... and another girl too..." "Oh darling, won't you go my bail?..." "Oh darling, six months ain't too long...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (American Mountain Songs)
KEYWORDS: poverty hardtimes prison courting drink
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Randolph 671, "My Last Gold Dollar" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 381-382, "My Last Gold Dollar" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 671A)
Lomax-FSNA 149, "My Last Ole Dollar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 130-131, "My Last Old Dollar" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, OLDOLLAR*
Roud #4310
RECORDINGS:
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "The Last Gold Dollar" (on BLLunsford01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground" (floating lyrics)
cf. "New River Train" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: We might note that the line "last gold dollar" had a slightly different meaning in the nineteenth century. During the Civil War, the Union government issued both gold-backed and unbacked ("greenback") dollars. The greenbacks were, not surprisingly, treated with less respect and discounted. A man who spend his last gold dollar might still have money -- but only the less valuable greenbacks.
Of course, since the song is often sung "My last OLD dollar," that may be just a bit of excessive historical analysis. - RBW
File: R671
===
NAME: My Last Ol' Dollar: see My Last Gold Dollar (File: R671)
===
NAME: My Last Old Dollar: see My Last Gold Dollar (File: R671)
===
NAME: My Last Ole Dollar: see My Last Gold Dollar (File: R671)
===
NAME: My Li'l John Henry: see Little John Henry (File: LoF300)
===
NAME: My Little Dear, So Fare You Well: see Farewell, Sweetheart (The Parting Lovers, The Slighted Sweetheart) (File: R756)
===
NAME: My Little Four-Leaf Shamrock from Glenore, The: see The Shamrock from Glenore (File: HHH034)
===
NAME: My Little German Home Across the Sea
DESCRIPTION: "How I love to think about the days so full of joy and glee, But they never will come back again to me." The singer recalls home and family in Germany, but now mother and father are dead and he cannot return home. He wishes he could
AUTHOR: George S. Knight ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (Pound); reportedly copyrighted 1877
KEYWORDS: home Germany family mother father separation emigration
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 870, "My Little German Home Across the Sea" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 536-538, "My Little German Home Across the Sea" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 870A)
Rorrer, p. 91, "I Left My German Home" (1 text)
Roud #7429
RECORDINGS:
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "I Left My German Home" (No known Columbia release; recorded 1930)
Ernest V. Stoneman, "My Little German Home Across the Sea" (Edison 51909, 1927)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (tune) and references there
NOTES: This piece is probably based on Will S. Hays's "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane;" it uses the same melody for the verse, although the chorus is missing. "Log Cabin" of course gave us an assortment of other parodies, including "The Little Old Sod Shanty on my Claim." - RBW
File: R870
===
NAME: My Little One's Waiting for Me
DESCRIPTION: "In the dell where the brook's gently flowing, On the bench by the old willow tree... My little one's waiting for me." The singer describes how he happily goes home from work (or wherever) to home and the "little one"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love home nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 850, "My Little One's Waiting for Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7450
File: R850
===
NAME: My Little Organ Grinder: see The Organ Grinder (File: EM341)
===
NAME: My Little Yaller Coon
DESCRIPTION: "My little yaller coon Done got back here so soon, Dat I ain't yet got De big fat coon For de 'tater an' de pone, To eat in de light of de moon."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: food animal
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 179, (no title) (1fragment)
NOTES: Scarborough considers this a song about eating raccoons. Given the coon's diet, I rather doubt it was ever considered a delicacy; I wonder if there isn't something else going on here. - RBW
File: ScaNF179
===
NAME: My Lone Rock by the Sea
DESCRIPTION: "Oh tell me not the woods are fair Now spring is on the way." The singer admits the beauty of the land, "But ask me, woo me not to leave My lone rock by the sea." He describes the beauties of life by the shore
AUTHOR: Charlie C. Converse
EARLIEST_DATE: 1857 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: home sea nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 842, "My Lone Rock by the Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7447
NOTES: According to Spaeth, this tune later supplied part of the melody for "Aloha Oe." And Randolph's source noted its connection to "these fool 'Hawaiian' songs." - RBW
File: R842
===
NAME: My Long Journey Home: see Two Dollar Bill (Long Journey Home) (File: CSW177)
===
NAME: My Lord 'Size
DESCRIPTION: "The jailor for trial had brought up a thief" as lawyers look for work and gawkers look for sensation -- when the notice the body of Lord 'Size. Witnesses are sought and questioned. The jury is trying to reach a verdict when the body comes to life 
AUTHOR: Words: John Shield
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: humorous trial judge lawyer
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 142-144, "My Lord 'Size" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3164
NOTES: According to Stokoe, this "is commemorative of an unlucky accident that actually occurred to one of Her Majesty's Judges of Assize, Baron Graham, about the year 1810." Though, in 1810, the King was George III and it wouldn't have been Her Majesty's Judge....
The whole thing reminds me very much of the Barrister's Dream in _The Hunting of the Snark_, though such courtroom jokes are common in English literature (see, e.g., _The Pickwick Papers_). - RBW
File: StoR142
===
NAME: My Lord Knows the Way
DESCRIPTION: "My Lord knows the way through the wilderness -- all I have to do is follow (x2). Strength for today is mine all the way, and all I need for tomorrow; My Lord knows...."
AUTHOR: Sidney E. Cox
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
FSCatskills 81, "My Lord Knows the Way" (2 texts, tune under #80; sung as a medley with #80, "Heavenly Sunlight (Heavenly Sunshine)")
ST FSC081 (Full)
File: FSC081
===
NAME: My Lord, What a Morning: see When the Stars Begin to Fall (File: LoF237)
===
NAME: My Lord, What a Mourning: see When the Stars Begin to Fall (File: LoF237)
===
NAME: My Love is a Rider: see The Bucking Broncho (The Broncho Buster) [Laws B15] (File: LB15)
===
NAME: My Love Is Like a Dewdrop: see Farewell He (File: FSC41)
===
NAME: My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose
DESCRIPTION: "My love is like a red, red rose that's newly sprung in June, My love is like a melody that's sweetly sprung in June." The singer promises to love "Till all the seas gang dry" and return to his love though his voyage takes him "ten thousand mile"
AUTHOR: Robert Burns
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: love nonballad separation return beauty
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 140, "My Love Is Like A Red, Red Rose" (1 text)
DT, REDREDRO*
Roud #12946
RECORDINGS:
Mrs. McGrath, "My Love Is Like a Red, Red Rose" (on Lomax43, LomaxCD1743)
NOTES: The irony of this song, of course, is that Burns himself was about as constant as -- well, we won't go into that....
I don't know if this song ever did much in tradition, but it's certainly one of the more often-printed of Burns's poems (printed, e.g., as item CXC in Palgrave's _Golden Treasury_). - RBW
File: FSWB140C
===
NAME: My Love Is on the Ocean: see Farewell He (File: FSC41)
===
NAME: My Love is so Pretty
DESCRIPTION: The singer waxes lyrical in his love's praise -- telling how she turns everyone's heads with her straight, slender figure, "mouth always twittering," and "cheeks like cauliflower." He joyfully prepares for his wedding.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1945 (Flanders/Olney)
KEYWORDS: courting love marriage nonballad youth
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 7-9, "My Love is so Pretty" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FO007 (Partial)
Roud #4677
File: FO007
===
NAME: My Love John: see The False Young Man (The Rose in the Garden, As I Walked Out) (File: FJ166)
===
NAME: My Love Lays Cold Beneath My Feet
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls telling tales by the fire. She says she would comfort her love if he appeared. But "My love's laying so cold beneath my feet." She says that he promised to marry her and no other, "but don't my love lay so cold beneath my feet"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: early 1960s (collected from Caroline Hughes)
KEYWORDS: love death burial separation
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MacSeegTrav 61, "My Love Lays Cold Beneath My Feet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2513
NOTES: When Paul Stamler indexed this book, he despaired of this piece as a conglomerate. MacColl and Seeger couldn't classify it with anything, either.
Caroline Hughes seems to have been one of those unusual people who could gather together lines from all sorts of songs and produce a relatively coherent result. I strongly suspect this is the result of such a process; of the six opportunities for rhyme in the song, only three actually do rhyme, and always with the same word (e.g. "feet" is rhymed with "feet"), and stanza one has an aabc rhyme while stanza 3 is abab. (There are no rhymes in stanza two).
Most such songs have a dominant element, and we would classify them there. This song simply does not. It is, as best I can tell, absolutely unique. So I think we have to classify it separately, a de facto composition of Caroline Hughes. - RBW
File: McCST061
===
NAME: My Love She's but a Lassie Yet
DESCRIPTION: "My love, she's but a lassie yet (x2), We'll let her stand a year or twa, She'll no be half sae saucy yet!" Singer tells of a hard courtship, calls for more drink, and concludes, "The minister kisst the fiddler's wife, He couldna preach for thinkin' o't."
AUTHOR: Words: Robert Burns
EARLIEST_DATE: 1803 (_Scots Musical Museum_ #225)
KEYWORDS: courting love youth
FOUND_IN: Scotland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, p. 226, "My Love is but a Lassie Yet" (1 tune)
DT, LUVELASS*
ST MCB226 (Full)
Roud #8979
NOTES: The verse, "We're all dry wi' the drinkin' o't... The minister kisst the fiddler's wife, He couldna preach for thinkin' o't" precedes Burns; it appeared (in a more English version) in the _Pretty Songs of Tommy Thumb_ in 1744 (see Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #23, p. 37). Whether there is more to the piece than that I do not know. - RBW
File: MCB226
===
NAME: My Lovely Irish Rose
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls leaving Mary, his "lovely Irish Rose," and sailing to America. "The strangers' land is fair to see, the strangers too are kind," but he'd rather be home. Nothing compares with Mary and "those many happy days spent with my Irish Rose"
AUTHOR: Fred Kearney (source: McBride)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1988 (McBride)
KEYWORDS: love emigration farewell home separation America Ireland
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
McBride 51, "My Lovely Irish Rose" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: McBride: "This song is common all over Ireland thanks mainly to recordings of it done on 78 rpm records in the 1930' and 40's." - BS
File: McB1051
===
NAME: My Lovely Nancy: see Queen Among the Heather (File: K141)
===
NAME: My Lovely Sailor Boy: see The Sailor and His Bride [Laws K10] (File: LK10)
===
NAME: My Lovin' Father (When the World's On Fire)
DESCRIPTION: "My lovin' father, When the world's on fire, Don't you want God's bosom For to be your pillow? Hide me, oh thou, in the rock of ages, Rock of ages, cleft for me." (Similarly with mother and perhaps other relatives)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (recording, Carter Family)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 637, "My Lovin' Father" (1 short text, 1 tune)
ST R637 (Full)
Roud #4225; also probably 5119
RECORDINGS:
The Carter Family, "When the World's On Fire"  (Victor V-40293, 1930/Montgomery Ward M-4229, 1933)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "This Land Is Your Land" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Charlie Monroe's Boys "(New) When the World's On Fire" (Montgomery Ward M-7574, 1938) 
NOTES: The version of this recorded by the Carter Family, or one of its relatives, is probably the tune-source for Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land." - RBW
File: R637
===
NAME: My Lowlands Away: see Lowlands (My Lowlands Away) (File: PBB100)
===
NAME: My Lula Lou
DESCRIPTION: "On the banks of the noble Cumberland I spent many happy hours Wandering there with my Lula Lou, Kentucky's sweetest flower." "She buckled on my sabre there." "The fatal shot has done its work"; now he waits for her to join him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: soldier separation love
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fuson, pp. 124-125, "My Lula Lou" (1 text)
ST Fus124 (Partial)
Roud #16367
NOTES: The ending of this song, at least as found in Fuson, is confused: The boy is shot, "and fainted and fell, and fell as dead," but "to-day his heart faints for your voice." - RBW
File: Fus124
===
NAME: My Lulu
DESCRIPTION: "My Lulu hugged and kissed me, She wrung my hand and cried, She said I was the sweetest thing That ever lived or died." The singer praises Lulu and threatens any who court her. (He will follow her anywhere, but she deserts him)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation abandonment floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Sandburg, p. 378, "My Lulu" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 178, "Lulu" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 182-184, "Lulu" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST San378 (Full)
Roud #3435
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Pig at Home in the Pen" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: I suppose this could be a clean version of one of the "Bang Away, Lulu" songs, but the scansion appears slightly different. - RBW
File: San378
===
NAME: My Ma Was Born in Texas
DESCRIPTION: "My ma was born in Texas, my pa in Tennessee," and the singer was born as they moved to California. He left home to become a cowboy. He married a girl; she proved to have seven children. He caught her with another man and shot him; he is sentenced to life
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity murder prison punishment
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 33, "My Ma Was Born in Texas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4808
NOTES: This was collected by Edith Fowke in Lakefield, Ontario. Don't ask me how it got there. - RBW
File: FCW33
===
NAME: My Mammy Don't Love Me
DESCRIPTION: "My mammy don't love me, She won't by me no shoes, Won't give me no corn-licker, Won't tell me no news." The man asks what he has done: "killed nobody, I've done no hanging crime." She(?) says that a man who mistreats her will treat others the same
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1921 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: hardtimes drink crime punishment execution
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 314, "My Mammy Don't Love Me" (1 text)
NOTES: The text in Brown is so short as to be almost meaningless; is it the story of a wild woman separated from her husband? Of a wild boy? It may well include floating material which adds to the confusion. - RBW
File: Br3314
===
NAME: My Mammy Stoled a Cow
DESCRIPTION: "Steal up, young ladies, My mammy stoled a cow. Steal up, my darlin' chile, My mammy stoled a cow." "Stoled that cow im Baltimo', My mammy stoled a cow." "Steal all around, don't slight no one, My mammy stoled a cow."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: dancetune theft animal
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 116, "My Mammy Stoled a Cow" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Scarborough claims that the reported theft in this song is "used merely as an excuse to bring in the directions of stealing up in the dance." - RBW
File: ScaNF116
===
NAME: My Mammy Told Me (Don't Marry No Girl You Know)
DESCRIPTION: "My mammy told me long years ago, 'Son, don't you marry no girl you know. Spend all your money, sell all your clothes, Then what'll become of you the Lord only knows."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: marriage warning
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 316, "My Mammy Told Me" (3 short texts)
File: Br3316
===
NAME: My Man John: see The Keys of Canterbury (File: R354)
===
NAME: My Martha Ann: see Mary Ann (File: FJ142)
===
NAME: My Mary Ann: see Henry and Mary Ann (Henry the Sailor Boy) (File: HHH037)
===
NAME: My Maryland: see Maryland! My Maryland (File: RJ19130)
===
NAME: My Minnie Ment My Auld Breeks: see Robin Tamson's Smiddy [Laws O12] (File: LO12)
===
NAME: My Mither She Feed Me: see The Bed-Making (File: Ord199)
===
NAME: My Mother Bid Me: see Old Man Came Over the Moor, An (Old Gum Boots and Leggings) (File: R066)
===
NAME: My Mother Said (Gypsies in the Wood)
DESCRIPTION: "My mother said that I never should Play with the gypsies in the wood. The wood was dark; the grass was green; In came Sally with a tamborine." "I went to the sea -- no ship to get across... Sally tell my mother I shall never come back."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1923 (de la Mare, _Come Hither_)
KEYWORDS: playparty Gypsy mother separation floatingverses
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #603, p. 240, "(My mother said that I never should)"
Roud #13187
NOTES: The second verse of this, of course, floats in part; I have no idea whether it was originally integral to this song, which is thought to be quite old though apparently not published before de la Mare. - RBW
File: BGMG603
===
NAME: My Mother Said that I Must Go
DESCRIPTION: "My mother said that I must go To fetch my father's dinner, o. Chappit tatties, beef and steak, Two red herrings, and a bawbee bake."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (Montgomerie)
KEYWORDS: mother father food nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 145, "(My mother said that I must go)" (1 text)
File: MSNR145
===
NAME: My Mother Was a Lady
DESCRIPTION: Two (drummers) come to a hotel for dinner, and harass the waitress. Eventually she bursts out, "My mother was a lady... I came to this great city To find a brother dear...." One drummer knows her brother, and offers to marry her
AUTHOR: Edward B. Marks
EARLIEST_DATE: 1896 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: family servant brother separation marriage
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
LPound-ABS, 107, pp. 218-220, "The Two Drummers" (1 text)
DT, MTHLADY
Roud #2982
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink], "If Brother Jack Were Here" (Supertone 9628, 1930)
Ted Chestnut, "My Mother Was A Lady" (Champion 15524/Supertone 9180[as Alvin Bunch], 1928)
Walter Dalton, "If Brother Jack Were Here" (Perfect 12468, 1928)
Morgan Denmon, "The Two Drummers" (OKeh 45306, 1929; rec. 1927)
Warde Ford, "My mother was a lady (Brother Jack)" (AFS 4201 A1, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Jimmie Rodgers, "If Brother Jack Were Here" (Victor 21433, 1928) [also apparently issued as "Mother Was a Lady", same record number]
Arnold Keith Storm, "Two Drummers" (on AKStorm01)
Frankie Wallace [pseud. for Frankie Marvin], "If Brother Jack Were Here" (Domino 0261, c. 1928)
NOTES: "Drummer" = "salesman." - PJS
File: LPnd217
===
NAME: My Mother-In-Law
DESCRIPTION: Dialect song. The singer grumbles "My life is all troubles... I'd rather be sent off to jail or to Congress Dan live all my life mit my mother-in-law." He complains of her ugliness. He claims she beats him. He says he married his wife, not her family
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: family abuse humorous
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 395, "My Mother-In-Law" (1 text)
Roud #4650
File: R395
===
NAME: My Mother's Last Goodbye
DESCRIPTION: Charlie "left my dear old homestead and went away to sea" after his parents tell him "let no false pride make you forget the loving ones at home," When he returns his parents have died. "My gold it had no joy for me for all its joys was fled"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1980 (recording, James McDermott)
KEYWORDS: rambling return separation death gold father mother
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
McBride 20, "Darling Son" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9705
RECORDINGS:
James McDermott, "My Mother's Last Goodbye" (on Voice12)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "There's No One Like Mother to Me" (subject)
File: RcMMoLaG
===
NAME: My Name is Ben Hall
DESCRIPTION: "My name is Ben Hall, from Murrurundi I came; The cause of my turn-out you all know the same... I was forced to the bush my sorrows to drown." Hall recalls his skill as a robber, and toasts his imprisoned companions
AUTHOR: Tune fitted by J. S. Manifold
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964
KEYWORDS: abuse outlaw police Australia
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Manifold-PASB, p. 47, "My Name is Ben Hall" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ben Hall" (subject)
cf. "The Ballad of Ben Hall" (subject)
cf. "The Death of Ben Hall"  (subject)
cf. "Streets of Forbes" (subject)
NOTES: Based on something found in Paterson's _Old Bush Songs_, but significantly modified by Manifold. The result probably does not qualify as original. For background, see the several other Ben Hall songs. - RBW
File: PASB047
===
NAME: My Name is Death: see Death and the Lady (File: ShH22)
===
NAME: My Name is Donald Blue: see Whiskey Is My Name (Donald Blue) (File: HHH835)
===
NAME: My Name is Edward Gallovan
DESCRIPTION: Edward Gallovan from Wexford courts Mary Riley. He tells her they will sail to America with 20 pounds she has saved. He kills her intending to use her money to escape. The body is found. He is convicted and executed.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Creighton-SNewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: courting execution murder trial gallows-confessions
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 92, "My Name is Edward Gallovan" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrSNB092 (Partial)
NOTES: Creighton-SNewBrunswick calls this "The Wexford Girl" though the singer's title is "My Name is Edward Gallovan." Creighton then goes on to make this an instance of "The Wexford Girl." Except that Wexford, probably Ireland, is mentioned and that a man murders a woman I see no connection. - BS
Nor I; there are several things here which remind me of other songs (the obvious example being the first line, which may have come from "The Flying Cloud"; the only other reference to the murderer calls him "James"). But "The Wexford Girl" is not one of those songs. Roud nonetheless lumps them. - RBW
File: CrSNB092
===
NAME: My Name is Edward Kelly
DESCRIPTION: The early adventures of Ned Kelly, told in the first person. He turned to robbing when his sister was harassed by police. He has escaped all attempts to catch him. He hopes to die in battle like Donahue rather than be treated like a government slave
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965
KEYWORDS: outlaw Australia escape abuse
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1855 - Birth of Ned Kelly
1880 - Execution of Kelly. His last words are reported to have been "Such is life."
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 112-114, "My Name is Edward Kelly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 64-65, "My Name is Edward Kelly" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Kelly Gang" (subject)
cf. "Ye Sons of Australia" (subject)
cf. "Kelly Song (Farewell Dan and Edward Kelly)" (subject)
cf. "Kelly Was Their Captain" (subject)
cf. "Ballad of the Kelly Gang" (subject)
cf. "Stringybark Creek" (subject)
cf. "The Kelly Gang Were Strong" (subject)
NOTES: This song dates itself to Kelly's twenty-fourth year. Despite his hope to die in battle, he was captured and executed the next year. - RBW
File: FaE112
===
NAME: My Name Is John Johanna: see The State of Arkansas (The Arkansas Traveler II) [Laws H1] (File: LH01)
===
NAME: My Name is Laban Childers
DESCRIPTION: A song of a volunteer who served in the First World War. He describes how troops were assembled and trained, with many local young men leaving their homes and work. His friend Martin Borders is killed. He says he will not forget
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: war soldier work separation death
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 99-100, (no title) (1 text)
File: ThBa099
===
NAME: My Name is Morgan (But It Ain't J. P.): see Bill Morgan and His Gal (File: RcBMAHG)
===
NAME: My Name's Been Written Down
DESCRIPTION: "How'd you know your name been written down? (x2) On the wall, oh, it's been written down. (x2) Oh, the angel told me, been written down. (x2) Well, the Lord told me, been written down. (x2) Ain't you glad your name been written down. (x2)" Etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 67-68, (no title) (1 text); pp. 244-245, "My Name's Been Written Down" (1 tune, partial text)
File: CNFM067B
===
NAME: My Old Brown Coat and Me: see The Old Brown Coat (File: R791)
===
NAME: My Old Hammah: see Take This Hammer (File: FR383)
===
NAME: My Old Horse Died
DESCRIPTION: Singer tells of disasters: horse dies, mule goes lame, storm blows house away, earthquake swallows wreckage, land is repossessed. He dies, but wife & kids are comforted, because he was insured with Banker's Life [Insurance Co.]
AUTHOR: Words: advertisement; tune "Chicken Reel" (trad.), set by Dock Boggs
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963 (recording, Dock Boggs)
KEYWORDS: death disaster storm humorous family horse animal
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dock Boggs, "My Old Horse Died" (on Boggs1, BoggsCD1)
Roud #11580
NOTES: Does this belong [in the index]? It's certainly narrative, and it has entered the repertoire of old-time revival performers. Toss-up, but I say yes, if only for the novelty of the thing. And most traditional performers were far les picky about including non-traditional material in their performances than their revival heirs. - PJS
File: RcMOHD
===
NAME: My Old Kentucky Home
DESCRIPTION: "The sun shines bright on my old Kentucky home; 'Tis summer, the darkies are gay...." The song lists the troubles of the poor tired slave (soon to die? far from home?), "Weep no more, my lady... We will sing one song for the old Kentucky home far away..."
AUTHOR: Stephen C. Foster
EARLIEST_DATE: 1853
KEYWORDS: home slave exile age
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 134-138, "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hill-CivWar, pp. 217-218, "My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 246, "My Old Kentucky Home" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 384-385, "My Old Kentucky Home"
DT, KENTYHOM
ST RJ19134 (Full)
Roud #9564
RECORDINGS:
George Alexander, "My Old Kentucky Home" (Oxford 3354, n.d.)
Climax Quartet, "My Old Kentucky Home" (Columbia 512, 1900)
Ford Hanford, "My Old Kentucky Home and Old Black Joe [medley] (Victor 18767, 1921)
Harry Macdonough, "My Old Kentucky Home" (Victor 636, 1900)
Standard Quartette, "My Old Kentucky Home" (CYL: Columbia 2248, rec. 1894)
NOTES: Spaeth (_A History of Popular Music in America_, p. 114) reports that the text of this song was derived from a poem called "Poor Uncle Tom, Good Night." - RBW
File: RJ19134
===
NAME: My Old Kentucky Home, Good Night: see My Old Kentucky Home (File: RJ19134)
===
NAME: My Old Pinto Pal
DESCRIPTION: The singer declares "I'm headin' once more for the prairie;" he longs for and recalls the joys of cowboy life. But his pinto pal is old; he decides to set the tired horse free, for it is "dearer to me than a gal," and "not once have I known you to fail"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: horse cowboy freedom
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 89, "My Old Pinto Pal" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Ohr089
===
NAME: My Old Sow's Nose: see The Sow Took the Measles (File: LoF015)
===
NAME: My Ole Mistus Promised Me
DESCRIPTION: "My ole mistus promised me When she died she'd set me free." "Good mornin', John. Howdy." "She lived so long her head got bald...." Rest involves her mistreatment: "My old mistus killed a duck, Didn't give me nuffin' but de bone to suck." Etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: slave hardtimes work freedom death age floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 417, "My Ole Mistus Promised Me" (1 text)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 223-224, "My Ole Mistis" (1 short text, with a "Johnny get de hoecake" chorus, 1 tune); there are sundry related texts with the "My ole mistus/marster" stanza on the nect several pages
Roud #11723
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Raise a Ruckus" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Old Marse John" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Way Down Below" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: The initial stanzas, about the promise of freedom at the owner's death, is common and supplies the heart of several songs. But all seem to be distinguished by their choruses. It is possible that this is one of the elements that went into the Lomax conglomeration "Old Marse John" -- but it's such a kitchen sink that proof is impossible. - RBW
File: Br3417
===
NAME: My Pappy He Will Scold Me: see Chickens They Are Crowing (File: R541)
===
NAME: My Pappy's Whiskers: see Father's Whiskers (File: FSWB241A)
===
NAME: My Parents Raised Me Tenderly: see The Girl I Left Behind [Laws P1A/B] (File: LP01)
===
NAME: My Parents Reared Me Tenderly (I -- The Soldier Boy)
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells how his parents brought him up and sent him to school. He works for a time, but -- influenced by drink -- enlists in the army. He learns the drill, but also finds he will have to serve at least twenty years. He hopes eventually to return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: soldier drink family money loneliness separation army war
FOUND_IN: Ireland Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H466, pp. 79-80, "My Parents Reared Me Tenderly" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 1018-1019, "The Soldier Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8003
NOTES: The first two lines, "My parents reared me tenderly I being their only son But little did they ever think I'd follow the fife and drum", are in common with "The Bold Deserter" and the first line with "The Girl I Left Behind (I)" [Laws P1A/B]. There is no other connection with those ballads. - BS
The reference to serving the Queen found in Peacock (not in the Henry version) forces us to the reign of either Anne (reigned 1702-1714) or Victoria (1837-1901); there was no standing army in the time of Elizabeth.
Enlistment was still for life early in Victoria's reign, but the references to the wars inclines me to think that -- if the reference to serving the Queen is original -- the reign of Anne is meant, since Victoria's reign was relatively peaceful (at least in Europe) while Anne's reign corresponded almost exactly with the War of the Spanish Succession, with British troops in Flanders (mostly under Marlborough) the whole time. - RBW
File: HHH466
===
NAME: My Parents Reared Me Tenderly (II): see The Girl I Left Behind [Laws P1A/B] (File: LP01)
===
NAME: My Pony
DESCRIPTION: "One morning bright and early, so early, so early, My shining boots my pride, Out near Miss Anna's cottage... where she could see me ride." Hoping to impress Anna, the singer spurs his pony, which throws him in the dirt. Anna laughs at him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: courting horse humorous animal
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 464, "My Pony" (1 text)
Roud #7606
File: R464
===
NAME: My Pretty Little Pink: see Little Pink (File: San166)
===
NAME: My Pretty Maid (I): see Seventeen Come Sunday [Laws O17] (File: LO17)
===
NAME: My Pretty Maid (II): see Rolling in the Dew (The Milkmaid) (File: R079)
===
NAME: My Pretty Quadroon
DESCRIPTION: Singer, a slave, mourns for his lost Cora, "my pretty quadroon." His master had been kind, but coveted Cora, and when the slave grieves, the master sells the singer down the river. He contemplates suicide until he hears the trumpets of the Union army
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (recording, "Beverly Hill Billies")
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer, a slave, mourns for his lost Cora, "my pretty quadroon". His master used to be kind, so much so that the singer "had not...a wish to be free" The master covets Cora, and when the slave tears his hair in grief, the master turns hard, and sells the singer down the river. He contemplates suicide, but hears the trumpets of the Union army and regains hope.
KEYWORDS: hardheartedness sex separation slavery lover Civilwar jealousy
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Beck 79, "My Pretty Quadroon" (1 text)
Roud #4965
RECORDINGS:
Beverly Hill Billies, "My Pretty Quadroon" (Brunswick 441, 1930)
Bud & Joe Billings (Frank Luther & Carson Robison), "My Pretty Quadroon" (Victor V-40282, 1930)
Dixieland Swingsters, "My Pretty Quadroon" (Bluebird B-8109, 1939)
The Happy Chappies, "My Pretty Quadroon" (Columbia 2252-D, 1930)
Jim & Ken, "My Pretty Quadroon" (Champion 16812, 1934; Champion 45074, c. 1935)
Light Crust Doughboys, "My Pretty Quadroon" (Vocalion 02992, 1935)
Carson Robison Trio, "My Pretty Quadroon" (Banner 773/Challenge 785/Conqueror 7593/Jewel 6024/Romeo 1388, 1930) (Broadway 8280, n.d.; Crown 3140, 1931)
Texas Jim Lewis, "My Pretty Quadroon" (Decca 5990, 1941)
Vagabonds, "My Pretty Quadroon" (Victor 23849/Bluevird B-5072/Montgomery Ward M-4307, 1933)
NOTES: In the tortured stratification of racism, a "quadroon" was someone whose ancestry was one-fourth Negro -- hence, someone with fairly light skin, and therefore of high status in the African-American community. This song was enormously popular in minstrel shows and vaudeville, well into the twentieth century. But I can't for the life of me remember the author. - PJS
The description here seems to be that of the original poem, or perhaps a Civil War adaption. As it circulates in oral tradition, however, the details can be lost and it may become a lament simply for a girl lost (perhaps by death). - RBW
File: Be079
===
NAME: My Ramblin' Boy
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the "ramblin' boy" with whom he traveled, who stuck with him in all conditions. On a cold night in a hobo jungle, the ramblin' boy dies. The singer speculates that he will still be rambling in the afterlife
AUTHOR: Tom Paxton
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963
KEYWORDS: rambling death friend
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 61, "My Ramblin' Boy" (1 text)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Ramblin' Boy
NOTES: Like several other Tom Paxton songs, this has not really entered oral tradition, but it certainly has a strong place in the repertoire of professional folksingers, who ramble more than most. I *have* seen it listed as traditional -- and by people who really should have known better. - RBW
This shouldn't be confused with versions of "Wild and Wicked Youth" that are called "Ramblin' Boy". - PJS
File: FSWB061
===
NAME: My Rattlin' Oul' Grey Mare
DESCRIPTION: "I am a jolly carter and a jolly good soul am I. I whistle and sing from morn till noon, all troubles I defy." The singer described how "my rattlin' mare and I" work together. He does not overburden the horse, and she does her work well
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: horse work nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H664, p. 41, "My Rattlin' Oul' Grey Mare" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1400
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Country Carrier
File: HHH664
===
NAME: My Rolling Eye: see Seventeen Come Sunday [Laws O17] (File: LO17)
===
NAME: My Sailor Boy (A Sailor Boy in Blue)
DESCRIPTION: "My boy he is a sailor, A sailor boy in blue, I know he has my heart, And I hope he will prove true.... And soon he will return again To his own dear Mary Jane." She describes the gifts her has promised to bring her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: sailor separation gift love
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H759, p. 288, "My Sailor Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 49, "My Bonny Boy in Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5238
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "The Bonny Boy in Blue" (on IRTLenihan01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be?" (theme)
NOTES: Sort of a cross between "Sailor on the Deep Blue Sea" and "Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be?" - RBW
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 49: "It is possible, even likely, that he [Tom Lenihan] learned it from the American recording of Nan Fitzpatrick which she made when she joined forces with the very popular Frank Quinn. Fn 144: Frank Quinn and Nan Fitzpatrick with violin, banjo and piano accompaniment 'My Bonny Boy in Blue' on Columbia Records, 33477-F. Matrix (w) 113025. 'Connamara Dan' is on the reverse side." - BS
File: HHH759
===
NAME: My Scolding Wife: see The Scolding Wife (I) (File: R397)
===
NAME: My Seventy-Six Geared Wheel
DESCRIPTION: "O how I long for solid roads In the merry month of June ... How jolly I will feel A-spinning down to Rustico On my seventy-six geared wheel." The singer lists his favorite stops on the way to Mary's "big front door" at Rustico.
AUTHOR: Mary Fleming? Ambrose Cosgrove?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: courting technology
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 25-26, "My Seventy-Six Geared Wheel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 151-152,251, "My Seventy-Six Geared Wheel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12477
RECORDINGS:
John O'Connor, "My Seventy-Six Geared Wheel" (on MREIves01)
NOTES: Dibblee/Dibblee: Maybe "seventy-six geared wheel" refers to a geared bicycle built in 1876.
The Rusticos are on the north coast of Queens, Prince Edward Island.
Dibblee/Dibblee claims the author is Mary Fleming, the Mary of the song. Ives-DullCare claims the author is Ambrose Cosgrove.
Ives-DullCare speculates that "seventy-six" "is probably a then-current way of referring to a bike's power (a derivation involving gear-ratio and wheel size, perhaps), Mr Cosgrove is saying that he's riding the last word in bikes.... [The] distance [was] some forty miles, and not all of it first-class highway." - BS
File: Din025
===
NAME: My Sins Are All Taken Away (I): see Free at Last (File: FSWB368A)
===
NAME: My Sins Are All Taken Away (II): see All My Sins Been Taken Away (File: Ch085)
===
NAME: My Sister She Works in a Laundry: see My God, How the Money Rolls In (File: EM107)
===
NAME: My Son Ted (I): see Mrs. McGrath (File: MA126)
===
NAME: My Son Ted (II): see The Wars of America (File: LoF017)
===
NAME: My Stetson Hat
DESCRIPTION: The singer praises his hat: "Stained with alkali, sand, and mud, Smeared with grease and crimson blood, Battered and bent from constant use, Still you have stood the darned abuse." "You've been a good pal... You dirty old gray Stetson hat."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Hoofs and Horns)
KEYWORDS: clothes cowboy nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 83, "My Stetson Hat" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Soldier's Joy" (tune)
File: Ohr083
===
NAME: My Sweet Farm Girl
DESCRIPTION: "My sweet farm girl, she's my joy and pride (x2)." Double-entendre song; singer describes his girlfriend and her abilities to do chores around the farm while the singer "keeps her garden free from bugs and weeds."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (recording, Carolina Tar Heels)
KEYWORDS: sex farming work bawdy nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley & Gwen Foster, "My Sweet Farm Girl" (Vocalion 02780/Conqueror 7942, 1934)
Carolina Tar Heels, "Farm Girl Blues" (Victor 23516, 1931)
New Lost City Ramblers, "My Sweet Farm Girl" (on NLCREP3, NLCRCD1)
NOTES: Individually, the verses of this song can be regarded as "clean" -- enough so that I didn't notice the bawdiness on casual hearing. But the overall effect of the song (which may conclude, "She loves her daddy Because I'm long and hard") is very salacious. - RBW
File: RvMSFG
===
NAME: My Sweetheart Went Down with the Maine
DESCRIPTION: "Once I had a sweetheart, noble, brave, and true... Out on the high seas he sailed... Anchored at Havana... Down went the Maine.... Rouse ye, my countrymen, rouse... Strike down the cowardly fiends Who slaughtered the crew of the Maine."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: disaster ship death love separation
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1895 - Cubans rebel against Spain
Feb 15, 1898 - Explosion of the battleship "Maine" in Havana harbor
April 25, 1898 - Congress declares war on Spain
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 689, "My Sweetheart Went Down with the Maine" (1 text)
BrownII 236, "The Battleship Maine" (2 texts)
DT, SWTMAINE
Roud #6621
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "On the Shores of Havana" (theme)
cf. "The Spanish War" (theme)
cf. "Manila Bay" (theme)
cf. "Battleship of Maine" (theme)
cf. "Marching to Cuba" (theme)
NOTES: When the Cubans rose in revolt against inept Spanish rule, the U.S. government -- spurred on by William Randolph Hearst's newspapers -- decided it should be involved. The U.S.S. _Maine_ was dispatched to pressure to the Spanish. (The _Maine_, it should be noted, was not a battleship; originally designed as an armored cruiser, it lacked the coal capacity for that role and wound up as an unsatisfactory battleship/cruiser hybrid.)
When the _Maine_ blew up with a large loss of life, Hearst and his minions pounced quickly. Never mind that the Spanish had nothing to gain from destroying the ship. Never mind that the most likely cause of the disaster was an internal explosion. Spain had to be punished!
The Spanish did all they could to avoid war; after brief delays to save face, they gave in to every American demand. The Americans would have none of it. On April 11, President McKinley asked for a declaration of war; on April 25, he received it. Americans set out to "free" Cuba and the Philippines. (The Philippines, in particular, were so thoroughly "freed" that they soon rose in revolt and did not achieve independence until 1947.) "Remember the Maine," went the battle cry.
The U.S. army was pitifully bad; the vast majority of its losses in the war were caused by disease and supply problems -- but so dreadful were the Spanish forces that by the end of the summer both the Philippines and Cuba were under U.S. control. In December the Spanish were forced to accept the humiliating Treaty of Paris, and the war ended. The U.S. was now an imperialist power -- and all because of songs like this one and Hearst's headlines. - RBW
File: R689
===
NAME: My Sweetheart's a Mule in the Mines
DESCRIPTION: "My sweetheart's a mule in the mines, I drive her without any lines, On the (bumpers/dasher) I sit and tobacco I spit All over my sweetheart's behind."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927
KEYWORDS: animal mining work humorous
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 65, "My Sweetheart's a Mule" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 864-865, "My Sweetheart's the Mule in the Mines" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 127, "My Sweetheart's the Mule in the Mines" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 27, "My Sweetheart's The Mule In The Mines" (1 text)
DT, MYSWEETM*
Roud #4756
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "My Sweetheart in the Mines" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07b)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Sweetheart's the Man in the Moon" (tune)
File: LoF065
===
NAME: My Sweetheart's Dying Words
DESCRIPTION: The dying girl says, "Dear Charlie dear, don't grieve for me... For when I'm dead and leave this world, I'll pray for you and the other girl." Recalling his love, she dies. "Twas then I realized she'd been true." He says he will never marry the other girl
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love betrayal death
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 169, "My Sweetheart's Dying Words" (1 text)
Roud #6581
NOTES: Really smart, Charlie: Betray one, then betray the other because the first one is dead. You sound like a corporate CEO testifying to congress about where the missing ten billion dollars went.... - RBW
File: BrII169
===
NAME: My Tra-La-La-Lee
DESCRIPTION: In this formula song, the singer successively feels the girl's heel, calf, knee, thigh, etc., has sex, and is told in the last line "Boy, I'm a whore, and you've got the C-L-A-P."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy whore sex disease
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 126-127, "My Tra-La-La-Lee" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The melody in its last phrase owes much to "Home on the Range." - EC
File: RL126
===
NAME: My True Love's Gone A-Sailing
DESCRIPTION: "My true love's gone a-sailing right o'er yon western main"; she promises to remain a maid till he returns, even though his absence leaves her uneasy. An old man comes courting her, but she stays true. She wishes she could see her love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation sailor money age
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H160 p. 292, "My True Love's Gone A-Sailing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3820
NOTES: This looks very much like a Riley ballad to me, but the confused ending makes it impossible to be certain. - RBW
File: HHH160
===
NAME: My Warfare Will Soon Be Ended
DESCRIPTION: "My warfare will soon be ended, My trouble is almost done, My warfare is almost ended, And then I am going home." "God bless the holy people, The Presyterian two (?) Those shouting Methodists (?) And the praying Baptists too."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1920 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 294, "William Shackleford's Farewell Song As Sung by Shackleford" (1 text)
ST BrII294 (Full)
NOTES: Brown's informant described this as the last words of William S. Shackleford (for whom see the notes on the song with the same title). But it is clearly a generic hymn. Shackleford, a lay preacher, may have sung it at the gallows, but he probably did not originate it; both verses are attested in other religious songs. - RBW
File: BrII294
===
NAME: My Welcome: see Rye Whiskey; also The Rebel Soldier (File: R405)
===
NAME: My Wheelie Goes Round
DESCRIPTION: "My wheelie goes round (x2), And my wheelie casts the band, It's not that my wheelie has the wit, It's my uncanny hand."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (Montgomerie)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 173, "(My wheelie goes round)" (1 short text)
Roud #5882
NOTES: It probably goes without saying that this refers to a spinning wheel, not a bicycle or motorcycle or the like -- but I'm saying it just in case. - RBW
File: MSNR173
===
NAME: My Wife Died on Saturday Night
DESCRIPTION: "My wife died on Saturday night, Sunday she was buried, Monday was my courting day, and Tuesday I got married." "Round and round, up and down, everywhere I wander, Round and round, up and down, looking for my honey." That's all, folks.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage wedding death burial floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Eddy 153 (last of several "fragments of Irish songs" - 1 fragment, which could be this or "The Old Gray Goose (I) (Lookit Yonder)")
SharpAp 202, "A Monday was my Courting Day" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3619
RECORDINGS:
Dr. Humphrey Bate & his Possum Hunters, "My Wife Died on Saturday Night" (Brunswick 271, 1928)
New Lost City Ramblers, "My Wife Died on Saturday Night" (on NLCR07, NLCRCD2)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Gray Goose (I) (Lookit Yonder)" (floating verse)
cf. "Way Down the Old Plank Road" (floating verse)
NOTES: A fragmentary song, really just floating verses and a dance tune. But it's indexed because, compact though it may be, that first verse tells a coherent story. - PJS
This verse, to be sure, is shared with "The Old Gray Goose (I) (Lookit Yonder)." But the rest goes in different directions.
To add to the confusion, there is a nursery rhyme (Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #131, p. 106):
I married a wife on Sunday,
She began to scold on Monday,
Bad was she on Tuesday,
Middling was she on Wednesday,
Worse she was on Thursday,
Dead was she on Friday,
Glad was I on Saturday night,
To bury my wife on Sunday.
The Baring-Goulds also compare the well-known poem of "Solomon Grundy." - RBW
File: RcMWDOSN
===
NAME: My Wife Went Away and Left Me
DESCRIPTION: Abandoned by his wife, the singer appeals to her to come back. She replies that she will come back "When the grocery man puts sand in the sugar, The milkman makes milk out of chalk, Boys stay home with their mothers...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Kelly Harrell)
KEYWORDS: love abandonment humorous husband wife
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Rorrer, p. 78, "My Wife Went Away and Left Me" (1 text)
Roud #3686
RECORDINGS:
Kelly Harrell, "My Wife Went Away and Left Me" (Victor 21520, 1927; on KHarrell02)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "My Wife Went Away and Left Me"  (Columbia 15584-D, 1930; rec. 1928; on CPoole03)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Things Impossible" (lyrics)
NOTES: Rorrer reports that this song bears similarities to a song by Charles D. Vann called "Then My Darling I'll Come Back to Thee." It is not clear whether they are the same song, though, or whether that song merely influenced this.
There are several sourthern versions of this song, and there is an English song with common lyrics, "Things Impossible." These two are surely derived from the same original, but the setting is different; the English song is an appeal to marry, the American a plea to a woman to reunite with her ex-love. Possibly Vann rewrote the English text and created the popular American version. I separate them; Roud lumps them. - RBW
File: RcMWWALM
===
NAME: My Worry Sure Carryin' Me Down
DESCRIPTION: Opening recitation describes the singer's hard life in prison. The song begins with the lament, "Lord, my worry sure carryin' me down... Sometimes I feel like, baby, committin' suicide." The singer is failing, "goin' down slow, somethin; wrong with me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963
KEYWORDS: prison hardtimes loneliness disease suicide nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 133-135, (no title) (1 text, 1 tune)
File: CNFM133
===
NAME: My Yallow Gal
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, my daddy was a fool about a yallow gal." "God knows I'm a fool about a yallow gal." The singer describes the various things (walking, talking, having sex), but the consistent result is "I didn' get nothin' from my yallow gal"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Lomax)
KEYWORDS: love courting sex
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 245-246, "My Yallow Gal" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11657
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Yaller Gal" (theme)
File: LxA245
===
NAME: My Young Love Said to Me: see She Moved Through the Fair (Our Wedding Day) (File: K165)
===
NAME: My Youthful Days
DESCRIPTION: "My youthful days I freely wasted In drinking brandy and such pastime, And other joys which I have tasted Have made me sail to a foreign clime"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Creighton-SNewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: drink travel exile
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 105, "My Youthful Days" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #2780
NOTES: The current description is all of the Creighton-SNewBrunswick fragment. - BS
File: CrSNB105
===
NAME: Na Leannain Bhriotacha (The Stuttering Lovers)
DESCRIPTION: Birds fly into a poor man's corn. His daughter follows. A fisherman's son follows her. They kiss. The poor old man finds them: "If that's the way ye're minding the corn I'll mind it myself in the morn"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (sheet music "arranged by Herbert Hughes," according to Bruce Olsen)
KEYWORDS: courting humorous bird father farming
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 12, "The Stuttering Lovers" (1 text, 1 tune); 12A, "Na Leannain Bhriotacha" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9669
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "The Stuttering Lovers" (on IRClancyMakem02)
NOTES: OLochlainn-More: Translated as "Na Leannain Bhriotacha" to Gaelic by Father Tomas O Ceallaigh.
The fourth line of each verse mimics stuttering (for example, "I'll mind it myself in the m-m-m-m-m-morn"). The effect is preserved in the Gaelic (for example, "Rachad na bhfiel me f-f-f-f-fein")
IRClancyMakem02 cover notes: "'The Stuttering Lovers' ... was collected and arranged by Herbert Hughes."
John Moulden pointed me to the late Bruce Olsen's Roots of Folk website which has been moving and I can no longer find. Fortunately John quoted a good part of the reference. He pins down the IRClancyMakem02 reference for Hughes to 1906 sheet music. Olsen then refers, for a source, to "English MS Harleian 6057, c 1632." No stuttering in this version, but the same repetition pattern. The birds fly into the corn. "The little boy ...spiede his dame In the middle of all the green and kisses her. "'It's enough to tempt a woman,' quote she, 'That never knew man before." The old man finds them making love, chases the boy away, and he'll keep the birds to himself tomorrow. - BS
File: OLcM012
===
NAME: Nabob, The
DESCRIPTION: "When silent time, wi' lightly feet, Had trod on thirty years, I sought again my native land Wi' mony hopes and fears." The singer finds a new generation in the land; all is changed. He misses the old, asking the forgiveness of his old friends' children
AUTHOR: Susanna Blamire (1747-1794) ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: age return home
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 361-362, "The Nabob" (1 text)
Roud #4592
File: Ord361
===
NAME: Nach Mbonin Shin Do
DESCRIPTION: There is no money this year "but we'll drink all we earn, and we'll pay what we owe." "The gentry who fed upon pheasants and wine" will be reduced to eating what we eat. If the markets improve "every stout farmer will draw the long bow"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1891 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: hardtimes Ireland nonballad patriotic food money
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 49, "Nach Mbonin Shin Do" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9765
File: OLcM049
===
NAME: Nachul-Born Easman: see Casey Jones (I) [Laws G1] (File: LG01)
===
NAME: Nae Bonnie Laddie tae Tak' Me Away (I)
DESCRIPTION: "My name it is (Jean) and my age is (fifteen)... Yet there's nae bonnie laddie tae tak me awa." The girl describes her clothes and her good dowry, but confesses to having no luck in seeking a man
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1903 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: loneliness courting
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
SHenry H230, p. 255, "Nae Bonnie Laddie tae Tak' Me Away'" (1 composite text, 1 tune)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 315-317, "Nae Bonnie Laddie Will Tak Me Awa'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 102, "(Queen Mary, Queen Mary, my age is sixteen)" (1 short text, which despite the first line appears more likely to be this piece)
Roud #895
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Queen Mary (Auld Maid's Lament)" (lyrics, theme)
NOTES: Ford has anecdotal evidence that this was written by Thomas Scott of Falkirk. If this be true, the song has surely wandered far, becoming little more than a singing game in some of the more corrupt versions.
For the vexed relationship between this song and "Queen Mary (Auld Maid's Lament)," with which it shares much, see the notes to that song. - RBW
File: HHH230A
===
NAME: Nae Bonnie Laddie tae Tak' Me Away (II): see Queen Mary (Auld Maid's Lament) (File: HHH230)
===
NAME: Nae Bonnie Laddie Will Tak Me Awa': see Nae Bonnie Laddie tae Tak' Me Away; also Queen Mary (Auld Maid's Lament) (File: HHH230A)
===
NAME: Naebody Comin' to Marry Me: see My Father's a Hedger and Ditcher (Nobody Coming to Marry Me) (File: BrII185)
===
NAME: Nails
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, this world is like a bag of nails and some are very queer ones...." The singer describes the world in terms of nails: "The doctor nails you with a bill"; "the undertaker wishes you as dead as any doornail...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1838 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 28(204))
KEYWORDS: work
FOUND_IN: Australia Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
OLochlainn-More 96, "The Bag of Nails" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 182-183, "Nails" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(204), "The Bag of Nails," W. Wright (Birmingham), 1831-1837; also Firth b.26(28) View 2 of 2, "The Bag of Nails"
File: FaE182
===
NAME: Nairn River Banks
DESCRIPTION: The singer wanders by Nairn River banks, where he sees a pretty girl herding her flock and lamenting her soldier. A boy brings her a letter from him, saying he is fighting the French in Spain with Wellington, but hopes to come back to her soon
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: love separation soldier Spain
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1809 - Wellington takes command in the Peninsula (to 1814)
1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 314-315, "Nairn River Banks" (1 text)
Roud #3780
NOTES: Ord calls this a "real Bothy Song," though he admits that it is found in broadsides. But the texts generally seem to be in very exact, even flowery, English, with not a hint of dialect; I have to think it is in origin a broadside, and the traditional versions close to the original. - RBW
File: Ord314
===
NAME: Nancy: see under The British Grenadiers (File: Log109)
===
NAME: Nancy (I) [Laws P11]
DESCRIPTION: The singer offers Nancy his love while confessing his lack of wealth. She is not interested. By the time she changes her mind he has found another love. Nancy warns others against her mistake
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Karpeles-Newfoundland)
KEYWORDS: poverty courting rejection
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws P11, "Nancy I"
Creighton/Senior, pp. 189-190, "Nancy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 60, "Proud Nancy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 77, "Jenny Dear" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 733, DRNANCY*
Roud #1002
RECORDINGS:
Marie Hare, "Jenny Dear" (on MRMHare01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rejected Lover" [Laws P10] and references there
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Dearest Nancy
File: LP11
===
NAME: Nancy (II) (The Rambling Beauty) [Laws P12]
DESCRIPTION: Nancy rejects the singer's offer of marriage. He expresses the wish that her marriage be troubled. His wish comes true; her husband ignores her. Years later, having grown rich, he rubs it in by giving the now-poor girl money. She regrets her error
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: marriage curse poverty rejection
FOUND_IN: US(MW,SE,So) Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Laws P12, "Nancy (II) (The Rambling Beauty)"
Belden, pp. 191-193, "The Rambling Beauty" (3 texts)
SharpAp 163, "Loving Nancy" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 34, "False Nancy" (1 text, perhaps mixed with "The Banks of Sweet Primroses")
Ord, pp. 176-177, "The Rambling Beauty" (1 text)
DT 496, LVNGNANC
ST LP12 (Full)
Roud #563
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rejected Lover" [Laws P10] and references there
NOTES: This is rather a difficult item, because the family is so fractured. Laws lists neither the Ord nor the Gardner/Chickering text with his piece, and indeed the various texts have few words in common. But the plot is the same, and Laws allows both the Ord and Gardner/Chickering titles. So here they are. - RBW
File: LP12
===
NAME: Nancy B, The
DESCRIPTION: Recitation; the speaker, tired of lumber camps, signs on as cook of the lumber ship "Nancy B." They anchor in the bay. After only one lighter load, however, a storm comes up. The storm last 16 days; it's cold and hard to cook, but no one complains.
AUTHOR: Probably Marion Ellsworth
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: work cook sailor ship recitation storm
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Beck 102, "The 'Nancy B'" (1 text)
Roud #8883
NOTES: This, like the other pieces probably written by Ellsworth, does not seem to have entered oral tradition. - PJS
File: Be102
===
NAME: Nancy Dawson
DESCRIPTION: "There lived a lass in yonder glen, Wham auld and young did brawly ken." Nancy Dawson's parents would wed her to "the laird o Mucklegear," ancient Bauldy Lawson. She loves a young man; the wedding is set, but she flees with her love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: lover courting age beauty elopement abandonment
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 71-75, "Nancy Dawson" (1 text)
Roud #6717
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "John of Hazelgreen [Child 293]" (plot)
NOTES: There is a (feeble) poem by Herbert P. Horne called "Nancy Dawson"; they are unrelated.  It may be that this piece inspired that, however; at least, the name "Nancy Dawson" was well enough known that one of the ships involved in the Franklin search was named _Nancy Dawson_. And it can't be named after the Horne poem; Horne wasn't born until 1864.
Linscott says that "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" and "Gathering Nuts in May" use the tune "Nancy Dawson." That does not appear to be this song; though no tune seems to have been recorded, the stanza forms don't match. - RBW
File: FVS071
===
NAME: Nancy from London (I): see Pretty Nancy of London (Jolly Sailors Bold) (File: R078)
===
NAME: Nancy from London (II): see William and Nancy (II) (Courting Too Slow) [Laws P5] (File: LP05)
===
NAME: Nancy Lee
DESCRIPTION: "Of all the wives as e'er you know. Yeo ho! Lads, ho! ... There's one like Nancy Lee, I know..." Chorus: " The sailor's wife the sailor's star shall be, Yeo ho! We go across the sea." Composed song in which a sailor sings the praises of his wife.
AUTHOR: Frederic Edward Weatherly (1848-1929)/Tune: Stephen Adams (a.k.a. Michael Maybrick)
EARLIEST_DATE: 188? (composed); 1948 (Shay)
KEYWORDS: wife husband separation sailor nonballad love
FOUND_IN: Britain US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Harlow, pp. 159-161, "Nancy Lee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 170-171, "Nancy Lee" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST ShaSS170 (Partial)
Roud #5014
NOTES: Adams and Weatherly were a very successful British songwriting team during the 1880s & 90s. Stephen Adams's real name was Michael Maybrick, and he was brother to James Maybrick, one of the favorite contenders for having been Jack the Ripper. - SL
For Weatherly, the reputed author of "Danny Boy," see the notes to that song. - RBW
File: ShaSS170
===
NAME: Nancy of Yarmouth (Jemmy and Nancy; The Barbadoes Lady) [Laws M38]
DESCRIPTION: Nancy's father does not want her to marry Jimmy. He is persuaded to allow them to marry AFTER Jimmy completes a voyage. On his way he breaks a lady's heart and is murdered by a man hired by Nancy's father. His ghost reveals the truth, and Nancy dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1818 (Garret, _Merrie Book of Garlands, vol. ii_)
KEYWORDS: murder courting ghost sailor
FOUND_IN: US(SE) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Laws M38, "Nancy of Yarmouth (Jemmy and Nancy; The Barbadoes Lady) [Laws M38]"
BrownII 61, "Nancy of Yarmouth" (1 text)
SharpAp 63, "Pretty Nancy of Yarmouth" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 682-686, "Jimmy and Nancy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 41, "Jimmie and Nancy" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 437, JIMNANCY
Roud #187
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Chowan River" (plot)
File: LM38
===
NAME: Nancy Till
DESCRIPTION: "Down in the cane brake close by the mill" lives pretty Nancy Till. The singer goes to serenade her, asking her to come along; "I'll row the boat while the boat rows me." When they part, he bids her to be ready the next time he arrives in the boat
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love courting ship river
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 409, "Nancy Till" (1 text plus a fragment and mention of 1 more)
Roud #2836
RECORDINGS:
Eleazar Tillet, "Come Love Come" (on USWarnerColl01) [a true mess; the first verse is "Nancy Till", the chorus is "Come, Love, Come, the Boat Lies Low," and it uses part of "De Boatman Dance" as a bridge.)
File: Br409
===
NAME: Nancy Whisky
DESCRIPTION: The weaver sets out to sample the pleasures of drink and a roving life. After extensive drinking, he finds himself broke and despised. He vows to return to weaving, and warns others of the evil of drink
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1907
KEYWORDS: drink poverty weaving warning
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond,South),Scotland(Aber)) Ireland
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Kennedy 279, "Nancy Whisky" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H745, pp. 47-48, "Long Cookstown/Nancy Whiskey" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 372-373, "The Calton Weaver" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 234, "The Calton Weaver" (1 text)
DT, CALTONWV
Roud #883
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, RB.m.143(125), "Nancy Whisky," Poet's Box (Dundee), c.1880-1900
SAME_TUNE:
It's Very Strange (per broadside NLScotland, RB.m.143(125))
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Calton Weaver
The Dublin Weaver
NOTES: One title for this song is "The Calton Weaver"; Calton was a village, swallowed up by Glasgow in the early 20th century. - PJS
File: K279
===
NAME: Nancy, the Pride of the West
DESCRIPTION: "We have dark lovely looks on the shores where the Spanish From their gay ships came gallantly forth...." The singer praises Nancy's beauty, her sighs, her laugh, her everything, and says that she holds a thousand in thrall
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (OConor); we have a parody before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.18(188))
KEYWORDS: beauty nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H495, pp. 227-228, "Nancy, the Pride of the West" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 150, "Nancy, the Pride of the West" (1 text)
Roud #7977
NOTES: It gives me a certain amount of pleasure to note that this odious piece probably isn't traditional in origin or, very likely, survival. The evidence of its composed nature comes from several references:
The "shores where the Spanish... came forth": Presumably a reference to the ships of the Spanish Armada, many of which were wrecked in Ireland, generally off the northwest coast (the number is given by David Howarth, _The Voyage of the Armada_, p. 210, as 26). Few of these Spaniards survived long. (There were later instances of Spanish in Ireland, notably at the battle of Kinsale in 1601 -- but Kinsale was in the south, and this is a song about "the pride of the West.")
"The statue the Greek fell in love with": Clearly a reference to Pygmalion and Galatea (Ovid, Metamorphoses, X.254 and following.) - RBW
Bodleian Library site Ballads Catalogue has no copies of "Nancy, the Pride of the West" but has a parody: Bodleian, Firth c.18(188), "Nancy, the Pride of the East," J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819; also Harding B 11(1206), Harding B 15(212b), 2806 c.8(177), Harding B 11(3796), 2806 c.18(217), "Nancy, the Pride of the East."
This Nancy has "eyes ... like rubies so fine" and leaves the East "For Jemmy is the boy I adore ... He is the pride of the North Country" - BS
File: HHH495
===
NAME: Nancy's Courtship: see Two Lovers Discoursing [Laws O22] (File: LO22)
===
NAME: Nantucket Lullaby
DESCRIPTION: "Hush, the waves are rolling in, White with foam, white with foam, Father toils amid the din, While baby sleeps at home." "Hush, the ship rides in the gale... Father seeks the roving whale...." "... Mother now the watch will keep..."
AUTHOR: Words: unknown / Music: Lucy Allison
EARLIEST_DATE: 1943
KEYWORDS: lullaby sailor mother father whaler
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Botkin-NEFolklr, p. 571, "Nantucket Lullaby" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: BNEF571
===
NAME: Nantucket P'int: see Nantucket Point (File: Harl191)
===
NAME: Nantucket Point
DESCRIPTION: "Uncle Josiah and old Uncle Sam, they built them a sloop in the shape of a clam." The sloop is finished and launched but they find that they can't sail her. After much trouble they get the boat moored and swear they won't build any more.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1945 (Harlow)
KEYWORDS: ship humorous
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Harlow, pp. 191-192, "Nantucket P'int" (1 text)
NOTES: The idea of a ship in the shape of a clam isn't as ridiculous as it sounds. It has been done -- admittedly with mixed success. In the 1870s, the Russian admiral Andrei Aleksandrovic Popov designed the "Popovkas" (or "Popoffkas") -- battleships (eventually named the _Novgorod_ and _Admiral Popov_) with circular hulls for maximum stability as gun platforms. Lincoln P. Paine's _Ships of the World_, p. 424, says they worked well enough, but Richard Humble, _Battleships and Battlecruisers_, p. 41, reports they could only be steered into a current: "They spun like tops when coming downstream and their decks were flooded by the slightest seaway."
A later vessel, elliptical rather than actually circular, proved better. Fritdjov Nansen's _Fram_, built in the early 1890s, was designed for polar exploration; Nansen and Sverdrup used her to make what amounted to a Northeast Passage (see, e.g., Pierre Berton, _The Arctic Grail_, pp. 489-498, especially p. 495), and Amundsen later took her to the Antarctic. But the honest truth was, she wasn't much good for ordinary sailing; her round sides and rounded bottom were designed to keep her from being crushed by ice, and made her very slow and almost useless for other tasks. - RBW
File: Harl191
===
NAME: Nantucket Skipper, The: see The Alarmed Skipper (The Nantucket Skipper) (File: ShaSS198)
===
NAME: Naomi Wise [Laws F31]
DESCRIPTION: (John Lewis) takes Naomi for a ride and throws her in the river. When her body is found, he is arrested but not convicted. He confesses to the murder only on his deathbed
AUTHOR: Carson J. Robison
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (recording, Vernon Dalhart)
KEYWORDS: murder river gallows-confession
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1808 - Drowning of Naomi Wise in North Carolina
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws F31, "Naomi Wise"
Eddy 94, "Poor Omie (Leoma Wise)" (1 text, 1 tune) (apparently; Laws does not list Eddy's text with either Naomi Wise ballad, but the pattern fits this one)
BrownII 300, "Poor Naomi (Omie Wise)" (5 texts plus 1 excerpt and mention of 2 more; it appears that Laws places text "F"  here, but "G" is also this song, with "A," "D," and "H" being "Poor Omie (John Lewis) (Little Omie Wise)" [Laws F4])
DT 730, NAOMIWIS
Roud #981
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart & Co., "Naomi Wise" (Edison 51669, 1925) (Columbia 15053-D [as Al Craver], 1926; rec. 1925) (Silvertone 27351926)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Poor Omie (John Lewis) (Little Omie Wise)" [Laws F4] (plot)
File: LF31
===
NAME: Napan Heroes, The
DESCRIPTION: Twenty-five shantymen watch a fight between Robert Sweezey and Frank Russell. After an hour "a poke in the stomach" makes Russell give in. Sweezy "conquered the champion from old Point Carr. He's the true Napan hero."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: fight sports logger derivative
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 61-62, "The Napan Heroes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 36, "The Napan Heroes" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST IvNB061 (Partial)
Roud #1946
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Morrissey and the Black" (theme)
cf. "Twickenham Ferry" (tune)
cf. "Squid Jiggin' Ground" (tune)
NOTES: Ives-NewBrunswick: This is a parody of "Morrissey and the Black." "According to Louise Manny, the fight took place in 1889 and the casus belli was the love of a woman who later married neither combatant." - BS
Manny and Wilson in fact states that the fight took place "about 1889," and describe the tune as "Twickenham Ferry"/"The Squid Jiggin' Ground." - RBW
File: IvNB061
===
NAME: Napoleon: see Saint Helena (Boney on the Isle of St. Helena) (File: E096)
===
NAME: Napoleon Bonaparte: see Saint Helena (Boney on the Isle of St. Helena) (File: E096)
===
NAME: Napoleon Bonaparte (II): see Napoleon's Farewell to Paris (File: GC089)
===
NAME: Napoleon Bonaparte (III)
DESCRIPTION: "The deeds of famed Napoleon I mean for to relate ... led astray ... Grouchy led the French astray And the great battle of Waterloo was bought with English gold." Having been betrayed by Grouchy Napoleon is banished to St Helena and Louisa laments.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1957 (Ives-NewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: war exile betrayal Napoleon
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 42-45, "Napoleon Bonaparte" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1943
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wheels of the World" (for the charge that Grouchy betrayed Napoleon)
cf. "The Removal of Napoleon's Ashes" (for the charge that Grouchy betrayed Napoleon)
NOTES: Ives-NewBrunswick: Other pieces "have the Little Corporal as their hero, [this one] is different in having a true villain, the Marquis de Grouchy, the marshall who failed to keep Blucher from joining up with Wellington at Waterloo." - BS
One suspects broadside origin for this piece, from someone who needed a scapegoat for Napoleon. While the behavior of Emmanuel Grouchy (1766-1847) helped lose Waterloo, he certainly didn't betray Napoleon! His competence can be questioned, but not his loyalty.
Primarily a cavalry officer, Grouchy served well in small roles in Napoleon's first career. Quick to return to Bonaparte's service during the Hundred Days, he was rewarded with a Marshal's baton (the last of Napoleon's Marshals) -- and given command of a third of the army in the Waterloo campaign.
This was a mistake; Grouchy had little infantry experience, and no experience with forces so large (two corps and change). His appointment was one of several organizational mistakes that cost Napoleon dearly at Waterloo.
Napoleon's plan for the Waterloo campaign was brilliant: Two armies, Wellington's (British and Dutch) and Blucher's (Prussian), were concentrating against him. Individually, they were smaller than Napoleon's cobbled-up force,  but together, they were far larger. Napoleon divided his army into three parts, under Ney, Grouchy, and his own direct command. He interposed them between Wellington and Blucher, and proposed to defeat them in detail.
There were actually three battles involved: Ligny and Quatre Bras on June 16, and Waterloo on June 18. At Quatre Bras, Ney was supposed to attack Wellington's rearguard, while Grouchy and Napoleon attacked Blucher at Ligny.
Grouchy's performance at Ligny was competent enough; the Prussians were forced to retreat. But Ney completely muffed the attack at Quatre Bras, first failing to attack when the odds were with him, then going in after the small local force was reinforced. This got him in enough trouble that he took control of d'Erlon's corps, which Napoleon had called upon to polish off the victory at Ligny, and hauled it back to Quatre Bras. Where it didn't fight.
This was disastrous. Napoleon turned his own and Ney's forced to attack Wellington at Waterloo, leaving Grouchy to watch Blucher -- but Blucher had merely been pushed back a few miles. He halted the retreat, marched around Grouchy, and managed to bring up enough of his army to turn the tide at Waterloo.
Grouchy's performance was certainly poor; he lost contact with Blucher, and then just sat rather than trying to find a battle to fight. He did, nonetheless, obey his orders, if woodenly. While his behavior cost Napoleon his last chance to survive at Waterloo, the fundamental fault is Napoleon's for setting up very bad command arrangements -- and, tactically, the fault is almost entirely Ney's (who, indeed, gets the blame in "The Grand Conversation on Napoleon"): He messed up at Quatre Bras, he made it impossible to win at Ligny, and he was in tactical charge at Waterloo but delayed so long that Blucher had time to come up. - 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 and Donal Lunny, "Napoleon Bonaparte" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte," Hummingbird Records HBCD0027 (2001))
Harte: "This particular song was written almost fifteen years after the death of Napoleon [1821]." - BS
File: IvNB042
===
NAME: Napoleon Bonaparte (IV): see The Removal of Napoleon's Ashes (File: Moyl206)
===
NAME: Napoleon Is the Boy for Kicking Up a Row
DESCRIPTION: Hard times now but "money was plenty as paving stones In the days of General Bonaparte." He far exceeded past great warriors. He returned from Elba but was murdered on St Helena. "But his nephew's on the throne of France"; maybe he will make England pay.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1865 (broadside Bodleian, Firth c.16(85))
KEYWORDS: war murder commerce death Napoleon France royalty revenge
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 199, "Napoleon Is the Boy for Kicking Up a Row" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.16(85), "Napoleon is the Boy for Kicking up a Row" ("Arrah, murther, but times is hard"), The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1865
NOTES: Napoleon's "nephew's on the throne of France": Napoleon III[1808-1873; president 1848-1852; emperor 1852-1870] was the son of Napoleon's stepdaughter and, nominally, his brother Louis Bonaparte. (source: "Napoleon III of France" at the Wikipedia site).
This ballad claims Napoleon "was sent off to a barren isle, Where he was murdered and ill-treated." Apparently the thought that Napoleon was poisoned is older than the speculation of the past fifty years that he was poisoned intentionally (possibly). (see, for example "Arsenic poisoning and Napoleon's death" by Hendrik Ball at the Victorian Web site).
Moylan p. 151: "Times were good during the Napoleonic era as the war effort generated massive demand for goods and services in Ireland. An economic slump ensued after Napoleon's defeat as the war machine was wound down and armies were demobilized." This is like the lines from "The Grand Conversation on Napoleon": "Napoleon he was a friend to heroes, both young and old, He caus'd the money for to fly wherever he did go." Here also is the main theme of "The Grand Conversation Under the Rose": "Come stir up the wars, and our trade will be flourishing." - BS
It's worth remembering that Napoleon poisoned *himself* -- he tried to commit suicide on April 13, 1814, as the allies closed in on Paris (see Alan Schom, _One Hundred Days_, pp. 2-3). Obviously, he failed -- but he was physically never the same. And he died of what may have been stomach cancer -- the sort of thing that, at the time, could easily have been blamed on poison.
Napoleon did have elevated levels of arsenic in his body when he died (though this was not established until recently, based on neutron activation analysis of his hair). This need not have been the result of poison, however, it turns out his wallpaper contained heavy doses of arsenic in the pigment (see John Emsley, _Nature's Building Blocks_, p. 46).
Saint Helena certainly qualifies as barren; according to the 2001 _Statesman's Yearbook_, it didn't even become a British colony until 1834, more than a decade after Napoleon's death. Even now,the population is less than 10,000, and the lone town, Jamestown, has only about 3000.
The alleged good times during the war with Napoleon are more weak memory than anything else; the British government nearly spent itself into the ground, the economy was weak (see "Ye Tyrants of England," e.g., where the people are promised an improved economy once Napoleon is gone), and if times were so good in Ireland, why was there a rebellion in 1798? The one thing Napoleon did was siphon off Irish youths of military age.
Napoleon III certainly wanted to enhance French power at British expense, but he didn't have much nerve. In the Crimean War, he allied with England against Russia. In the American Civil War, he is said to have wanted to support the Confederacy, but was unwilling to do so without British support -- and the British were too cautious (and their millworkers too anti-slavery). Ultimately, Napoleon III ended up dying in England, having done much to strenghen the British Empire despite himself. - RBW
File: Moyl199
===
NAME: Napoleon Song: see Saint Helena (Boney on the Isle of St. Helena) (File: E096)
===
NAME: Napoleon the Brave
DESCRIPTION: "Napoleon is no more, the French did him adore." His victories are listed: "The Austrians he beat." "The Poles he made to flee, and he conquered Italy." "The Hollanders he slew, he Caesar did outdo" ... "There were 14 Kings at war with Napoleon the Brave"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1856 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.12(225))
KEYWORDS: war death Napoleon
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann, p. 106, "Napoleon the Brave" (1 fragment)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.12(225), "Napoleon the Brave," J. Cadman (Manchester), 1850-1855
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 106 is a fragment; broadside Bodleian Firth c.12(225) is the basis for the description. - BS
File: BrdNapBr
===
NAME: Napoleon the Exile: see Saint Helena (Boney on the Isle of St. Helena) (File: E096)
===
NAME: Napoleon's Dream
DESCRIPTION: Singer dreams of sailing past Napoleon's grave. He lands and meets Napoleon. Napoleon recalls his victories. His banner was "the standard of freedom all over the world." He says that "Liberty soon o'er the world shall be seen." The singer wakes.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1854 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 16(77b))
KEYWORDS: freedom dream Napoleon
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 207, "Napoleon's Dream" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 16(77b), "Dream of Napoleon" ("One night, sad and languid, I went to my bed"), Swindells (Manchester), 1796-1853; also Harding B 16(78a), "A Dream of Napolean"[misspelling in text as well as title]; Johnson Ballads 1146[last line illegible], Firth c.16(97), Harding B 26(153), "[A|The] Dream of Napoleon[!!!]"; Harding B 19(86), "Napoleon"
NOTES: Napoleon says "The nations around you shall look with surprise, When freedom to you my descendant supplies.": Napoleon III[1808-1873; president 1848-1852; emperor 1852-1870] was the son of Napoleon's stepdaughter and, nominally, his brother Louis Bonaparte. (source: "Napoleon III of France" at the Wikipedia site). - BS
Napoleon III, like the first Napoleon, was rather contradictory in this regard. He has been called the "Bourgeois Emperor." He did end up a full-blown Imperial head of state (though under constitutional and parliamentary restrictions). But he also liberalized a lot of laws. If he had been smarter about picking his wars, his government might well have survived. But he fought the Crimean War, wasted a lot of energy installing the Habsburg princeling Maximilian in Mexico -- and then picked a war with Prussia. Or, as it would come to be called, Imperial Germany.
Naturally, he lost that, and was pushed from his throne. But the broadsides show that this song was written when he was still new and appeared a vast improvement over the reactionary Bourbon dynasty.
That seemed almost to be the story of the Bonaparte family. Napoleon himself started as a lawgiver, and ended up power-mad. His son the Duke of Reichstadt (1811-1832) was regarded as incredibly promising, but died young. And Napoleon III came in as a liberal reformer and ended up as another Emperor. - RBW
File: Moyl207
===
NAME: Napoleon's Farewell to Paris
DESCRIPTION: "Farewell ye splendid citadel, metropolis called Paris...."  "My name is Napoleon Bonaparte, the conqueror of nations... But now I am transported to Saint Helena's isle." Bonaparte recalls his greatness and laments his fall
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1842 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(2602)); c.1818 (broadside, NLScotland L.C.Fol.70(139))
KEYWORDS: exile lament Napoleon
FOUND_IN: US(MW) Canada(Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Moylan 186, "I Am Napoleon Bonaparte" (1 text, 1 tune); 187, "Napoleon Bonaparte's Farewell to Paris" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 89, "Bony's Lament" (1 text)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 82, "Napoleon's Farewell to Paris" (1 fragment)
Creighton-NovaScotia 72, "Napoleon's Farewell to Paris" (1 fragmentary text plus some variants, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 1009-1011, "Napoleon's Farewell to Paris" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, NAPOLBON
Roud #1626
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2602), "Napoleon's Farewell to Paris," T. Birt (London), 1833-1841; also Harding B 20(267), Harding B 15(214b), Johnson Ballads fol. 59, Harding B 16(165c), Firth c.16(87), Harding B 11(2600), Harding B 11(2601), Firth c.26(124), "Napoleon's Farewell to Paris"; Harding B 11(2599), "Napoleon's Farewell"
Murray, Mu23-y1:043, "Napoleon Bonaparte," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C; also Mu23-y1:107, "Napoleon Bonaparte"
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(139), "Napoleon's Farewell to Paris," unknown, c.1818
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Saint Helena (Boney on the Isle of St. Helena)" (subject)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Napoleon Bonaparte
NOTES: The rather ornate language of this song (references to "citadels" and "bright Phoebus," etc.) seems to have caused it to be rather liable to corruption; Gardner and Chickering's text, for instance, has the first line read "Come all ye splendid city dells"! Creighton comments on the difficulty her informant had in learning the song, and prints part of a broadside text to show why he had such difficulty. - 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 and Donal Lunny, "Napoleon's Farewell to Paris" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte," Hummingbird Records HBCD0027 (2001)) - BS
File: GC089
===
NAME: Napoleon's Lamentation
DESCRIPTION: Napoleon says "I was born to wear a stately crown." He recounts his victories until, after Moscow, "my men were lost through cold and frost." Defeats follow. He bids fare well to his "royal spouse, and offspring great" 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: war France Napoleon royalty hardtimes wife children
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 194, "Napoleon's Lamentation" (1 text, 1 tune)
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, "Napoleon's Lamentation" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte," Hummingbird Records HBCD0027 (2001)) - BS
This sounds to me rather like "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" [Laws J5], recast to put it in the mouth of Napoleon the Father rather than Napoleon the Son. Of course, I can't tell in which direction the mixture went -- or, indeed, if there might not be a third song that influenced both. - RBW
File: Moyl194
===
NAME: Napper
DESCRIPTION: "Napper come to my house, I thought he come to see me, When I come to find him out He 'suade my wife to leave me." And similar verses about (Napper's) eccentricities: "Napper went a-huntin', He thought he'd catch a coon... He treed a mushy-room."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: humorous hunting betrayal wife
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 123, "Taffy Was a Welshman" (3 short texts)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 102-103, "Rise, Ole Napper" (2 fragments, the first of which might be "Old Tyler" or something else; the second appards to be this but is too short for certainty and is mixed with the chorus of "Oh! Susanna"; 1 tune)
Roud #7849
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Tyler"
cf. "Taffy Was a Welshman (I)" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: The notes in Brown say that these three fragments are "clearly derived from the familiar Mother Goose rhyme about the thieving Welshman [i.e. 'Taffy Was a Welshman']."
This is a very long stretch; the two have a few similar lines, but *not* the key phrases about Taffy. As they stand, I'd certainly call them separate songs, and possibly not even related.
Brown's "A" text may not be the same as "B" and "C," but it's too short to really deal with separately. The same can be said of Scarborough's miscellaneous one-sentence fragments.- RBW
File: Br3123
===
NAME: Nat Goodwin [Laws F15]
DESCRIPTION: A young mother, sick abed, is denied a last look at her dead baby. Her husband turns her out of the house. He falls in love with another woman and kills his wife. He is executed when his new flame testifies against him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Gardner/Chickering)
KEYWORDS: murder abandonment baby execution husband wife
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sept 3, 1897 - Shooting of Mrs. (Walter) Goodwin
May 1898 - Hanging of Walter Goodwin
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws F15, "Nat Goodwin"
Gardner/Chickering 143, "Nat Goodwin" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 770, GOODWIN
Roud #3670
NOTES: Although this song seems to be known only from the text found in Michigan by Gardner and Chickering, the tragedy took place in Wellsboro, Pennsylvania. Gardner and Chickering report that after the hanging of Walter Goodwin, "Gertrude Taylor, the girl in the case, did the shooting." They do not report Taylor's eventual fate. - RBW
File: LF15
===
NAME: Nathan Hale
DESCRIPTION: "The breezes went steadily through the tall pines, A-saying o hush...." as Nathan Hale attempts to return to his command. But the British capture him, try him, insult his cause, and hang him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: rebellion war prisoner execution
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sept 22, 1776 - Execution of Nathan Hale by the British as a spy. 
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scott-BoA, pp. 67-68, "Nathan Hale" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: SBoA067
===
NAME: Nation Once Again, A
DESCRIPTION: "When boyhood's fire was in my blood, I read of ancient freemen... And then I prayed I yet might see... Ireland, long a province, be A nation once again." The youth describes the glories of freedom, and hopes it can be regained
AUTHOR: Thomas Davis (1814-1845)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962
KEYWORDS: Ireland rebellion freedom
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
PGalvin, pp. 42-43, "A Nation Once Again" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Charles Sullivan, ed., Ireland in Poetry, p. 199, "A Nation Once Again (1 text)
DT, NTNAGN
NOTES: Thomas Davis was an Irish poet and patriot. A member of Daniel O'Connell's National Repeal Association from 1841, he started the _Nation_ newspaper in 1842 and was a leader of the "Young Ireland" movement that sought a more modern approach to independence.
Davis died of scarlet fever in 1845, and it never really became clear whether he supported violent revolution or agreed with O'Connell in espousing peaceful reform.
What is truly hard to imagine is the National Ireland that Davis imagined. As is so often the with Irish leaders, Davis was Protestant. (See Robert Kee, _The Most Distressful Country_, being Volume I of _The Green Flag_, pp. 195-197).
The irony and the problem of the song is that Ireland was *never* a nation; before the English came, it had been a land of many petty chiefs who never united. The closest it came was the period from 1782-1800, when it had a truly independent parliament under the British crown. It proceeded to shoot itself in the foot, with a government so bad that it induced the 1798 rebellion and in turn caused Britain to create a parliamentary union. So the Protestant concept of the Nation of Ireland was one that oppressed Catholics, and the Catholic concept didn't exist.
And, in fact, Ireland never did manage to become the nation Davis wanted it to be, since the Catholic and Protestant parts separated, and each would display strong prejudice toward the members of the other denomination.
The first stanza refers to "Three Hundred men and Three men." The Three Hundred might refer to the Spartans who held Thermopylae against the Persians -- though they're hardly the best example of a free nation, given that the Spartan soldiers were part of an elite class that held down the majority of helots at least as strictly as the British oppressed the Irish.
But three hundred had another significance: It was the number of representatives in the old Irish parliament -- the one which had voted the Union, but which Davis (and O'Connell) proposed to recreate.
The "three men" I'm not sure about; too many possibilities.
For all that I'm carping about the historical accuracy, it cannot be denied that this song, with its stirring tune and brilliant tag line, is a very effective argument for nationalism. - RBW
File: PGa042
===
NAME: National Song Used for Hauling (Russian Shanty)
DESCRIPTION: Russian hauling shanty. Translation: "Let us pull away together, boys, all together it goes - it goes, Pull away, away, together."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1888 (L.A. Smith, _Music of the Waters_)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty worksong ship
FOUND_IN: Russia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, p. 573, "National Song Used for Hauling" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Hugi573
===
NAME: Native Mate: see Give Me a Hut (File: MA137)
===
NAME: Native Swords
DESCRIPTION: "We've bent too long to braggart wrong, While force our prayers derided; We've fought too long, ourselves among..." The singer briefly recounts the story of Irish rebellion, concluding, "But now, thank God, our native sod Has native swords to guard it."
AUTHOR: Thomas Davis (1814-1845)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962
KEYWORDS: Ireland rebellion
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
PGalvin, pp. 41-42, "Native Swords" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Thomas Davis (1814-1845) was an Irish poet and patriot. A member of Daniel O'Connell's National Repeal Association from 1841, he started the _Nation_ newspaper in 1842 and was a leader of the "Young Ireland" movement that sought a more modern approach to independence.
He is probably most famous for writing "A Nation Once Again."
Davis died of scarlet fever in 1845, and it never really became clear whether he supported violent revolution or agreed with O'Connell in espousing peaceful reform. - RBW
File: PGa041
===
NAME: Natural Born Reacher
DESCRIPTION: "De white man say de times is hahd, Nigger never worries, 'case he trust in de Lawd. No matter how hahd de times may be, Chicken never roost too high foh me." He recalls "Freeze," who died in a fight and now cuts no ice. He is a "nachel-bawn reacher."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: hardtimes theft death
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 232-233, "I'm a Nachel-Bawn Reacher" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST ScNF232B (Partial)
File: ScNF232B
===
NAME: Navvy Boots: see The Courting Coat (File: RcWMPBO)
===
NAME: Navvy Boots On: see The Courting Coat (File: RcWMPBO)
===
NAME: Navvy Boy, The
DESCRIPTION: The navvy boy goes roaming, finding work and shelter with a ganger. The ganger's only daughter wishes marry and travel with him. The girl's mother questions this; the daughter says that her father was a navvy.The old man dies and leaves them 500 pounds
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rambling mother father marriage money
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H760, pp. 471-472, "The Navvy Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, NAVVYBOY*
Roud #360
NOTES: It has been suggested that this is a reworking of "The Little Beggarman." There are common elements, but that's quite a stretch. Roud lumps it with "The Roving Irishman," which also has points of similarity but appears a separate song to me. - RBW
File: HHH760
===
NAME: Navvy on the Line
DESCRIPTION: "I'm a nipper, I'm a ripper, I'm a navvy on the line... All the ladies love the navvies, And the navvies love the fun, There'll be plenty little babies When the railway's done." Independent verses generally about the sexual exploits/desires of the navvies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: railroading courting sex bawdy
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, p. 217, "Navvy on the Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA217
===
NAME: Naw, I Don't Want to be Rich: see You Wonder Why I'm a Hobo (File: BRaF461)
===
NAME: Near to the Isle of Portland
DESCRIPTION: A ship "outward bound to the Indies" sinks in a storm. "We were near to the Island of Portland Where our gallant ship went down; There were never a better commander Sailed out of Plymouth town."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: death sea ship disaster storm sailor wreck
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 59, "Near to the Isle of Portland" (1 text)
Roud #17748
NOTES: Portland Bill Lighthouse was built on the Isle of Portland in 1716. Portland is south of Weymouth and about 85 miles by sea east of Plymouth in the English Channel - BS
File: GrMa59
===
NAME: Nearer My God To Thee
DESCRIPTION: "Nearer, my God, to thee, nearer to thee, E'en though it be a cross that raiseth me, Still all my song shall be Nearer my God to thee." Whatever tribulations come, the singer hopes they will cause him/her to come closer to God
AUTHOR: Words: Sarah Fuller Flower Adams (1805-1848)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1841 (Hymns and Anthems)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 353, "Nearer My God To Thee" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 387-388, "Nearer, My God, To Thee"
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), pp. 92-93, "Nearer, My God To Thee" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Climax Quartet, "Nearer, My God, to Thee"  (Climax [Columbia] 518, 1900; Harvard 518 [as unidentified Vocal Quartet], 1903-1906)
Elliott Shaw, "Nearer My God to Thee" (Resona 75016, 1919)
Spencer, Young & Wheeler, "Nearer, My God, to Thee" (Edison 80074, n.d.)
Unidentified baritone, "Nearer, My God, to Thee" (Oxford 397, c. 1909)
SAME_TUNE:
Nero, My Dog, Has Fleas (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 107)
NOTES: The words of this song date from 1841 (or earlier), and proved popular enough that it soon acquired three different tunes.
The standard tune in America is by Lowell Mason, published in 1859; this often bears the name "Bethany." The tune most often used in the Church of England is "Horbury," said by Johnson to be by John Dykes. British Methodists tend to use the tune "Propior Deo" by Sir Arthur Sullivan. If that weren't confusing enough, I have encountered at least one other attempt by a modern composer to abuse the text.
I do not believe any of the results qualify as true folk songs, but the piece is widespread enough that I chose to include it here.
This seems to be the Official Song of People Dying Under Unfortunate Circumstances in the Absence of Corroborating Witnesses. The story that it was played as the _Titanic_ went down is simply false (a story spread by one Mrs. A. A. Dick; see Wyn Craig Wade, _The Titanic: End of a Dream_ revised edition, Penguin, 1986, pp. 61-62 -- the disproof being that the passengers who claimed they heard the song were British and American both; see Walter Lord, _The Night Lives On_, Avon, 1986, p. 110). Johnson reports that William McKinley's doctor claimed these were the dying president's last words. Interesting how none of these claims are ever capable of verification- RBW
File: FSWB353C
===
NAME: Neat Irish Girl, The: see Polly on the Shore (The Valiant Sailor) (File: Wa057)
===
NAME: Neat Little Window, The: see The Bonny Wee Window [Laws O18] (File: LO18)
===
NAME: Neath the Gloamin' Star at E'en: see The Gloamin' Star at E'en (File: Ord066)
===
NAME: Ned Kelly's Farewell to Greta: see Farewell to Greta (File: FaE114)
===
NAME: Needle's Eye, The
DESCRIPTION: "The needle's eye that doth supply The thread that runs so true, Oh many a beau have I let go Because I wanted you." The remaining verses describe how the singer(s) have courted and passed others by; the needle may have "caught" the (girl)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1903 (Newell)
KEYWORDS: playparty courting
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Randolph 545, "The Needle's Eye" (2 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
BrownIII 74, "The Needle's Eye" (1 fragment)
Hudson 144, pp. 291-293, "Needle's Eye" (2 fragments)
Linscott, pp. 43-44, "The Needle's Eye" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST R545 (Full)
Roud #4506
RECORDINGS:
Margaret MacArthur, "The Needle's Eye" [fragment] (on MMacArthur01)
File: R545
===
NAME: Needlecases
DESCRIPTION: Singer, a peddler, is poor and hungry, and offers to sell the listener needlecases. He was once well-off, but is now homeless and friendless; once a farmer, now in rags. Since the listener won't buy, he's off, but asks listener to buy some if he returns.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1923 (Williams)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer, a peddler, is poor and hungry, and offers to sell the listener needlecases. He was once well-off, but is now homeless and friendless; once a farmer, he's now in rags. Since the listener won't buy, he's off, but asks listener to buy some if he returns. Chorus: "Needlecases, will you buy one?/You will buy one, I'm sure/Won't you buy a case o' needles/From Jack that's so poor?"
KEYWORDS: poverty request clothes commerce hardtimes
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South, North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 233, "Needlecases" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1300
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Case of Needles
NOTES: We haven't keywords for "peddler" or "street-cry," so "commerce" will have to do. - PJS
File: K233
===
NAME: Neerie Norrie: see Four and Twenty Tailors (File: KinBB13)
===
NAME: Negro Cotton Picker
DESCRIPTION: Composite fragment of cotton-picking items: "Way down in de bottom, when de cotton's all rotten, Can't pick a hundred a day. Aught for aught, and figger for figger, All for de white man an' none for de nigger."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1923 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: work hardtimes discrimination
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 211, "Negro Cotton Picker" (1 fragment)
File: Br3211
===
NAME: Negro Reel
DESCRIPTION: "Laws-a-massey, what have you done? You've married the old man instead of his son! His legs are all crooked and wrong put on, They're all laughing at your old man. Now you're married you must obey... Kiss him twice and hug him too."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: marriage nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, pp. 134-135, "Negro Reel" (1 short text, 1 tune)
NOTES: This is probably an odd version of "Sally Walker," but as it might be derived from "Oats and Beans" instead, I give it its own category. - RBW
File: San134
===
NAME: Negro Yodel Song
DESCRIPTION: "I love my wife and baby, Each morning so soon. I love my wife and baby." In the Brown text, every other word, starting with "love," is yodelled.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 453, "Negro Yodel Song" (1 short text)
Roud #11794
File: Br3453
===
NAME: Neighbor Jones: see Gossip Joan (Neighbor Jones) (File: Br3144)
===
NAME: Nell Cropsey (I)
DESCRIPTION: One night Nell's former lover Jim (Wilcox) calls on her. She disappears for three months, then her mother sees her body on the river. Her lover winds up in prison
AUTHOR: credited to Bessie Wescott Midgett
EARLIEST_DATE: 1912 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: murder
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1901 - Murder of Ella Maude "Nellie" Cropsey, presumably by her former lover Jim Wilcox
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
BrownII 307 "Nellie Cropsey" (2 texts)
Chappell-FSRA 61, "Nell Cropsey, I" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 82-84, "Nellie Cropsey" (1 text)
ST MN2082 (Partial)
Roud #4117
CROSS_REFERENCES:
"cf. The Jealous Lover (Florella, Floella) (Pearl Bryan II) (Nell Cropsey II)" [Laws F1]
cf. "Nell Cropsey (III -- Swift Flowing River)"
NOTES: This song is item dF45 in Laws's Appendix II, but should certainly have been listed higher; he did not know the Brown version.
There are extensive historical notes in Brown, which concur with the song in saying that she was very pretty but list her age as 19, not 16 as in the text of the song.
Chappell has four songs associated by title with Nellie Cropsey, but only two (I and IV) mention her name: This one and the Nell Cropsey subfamily of "The Jealous Lover."
To tell this from the Jealous Lover version, consider this first verse:
On the twentieth of November,
A day we all remember well,
When a handsome girl was murdered,
Of her story I will tell. - RBW
File: MN2082
===
NAME: Nell Cropsey (II): see Jealous Lover, The (Florella, Floella) (Pearl Bryan II) (Nell Cropsey II) [Laws F1A, B, C] (File: LF01)
===
NAME: Nell Cropsey (III -- Swift Flowing River)
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, swift flowing river, A secret you hold, Way down in the depths Of the water so cold." The singer begs the river to tell its secret. A "fair girl" is missing, "stolen away in the night." "The secret, Oh River, You surely must know."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Elizabeth City _Daily Advance_); reportedly collected 1902
KEYWORDS: murder river
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1901 - Murder of Ella Maude "Nellie" Cropsey, presumably by her former lover Jim Wilcox
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Chappell-FSRA 62, "Nell Cropsey, II" (1 text)
ST ChFRA062 (Partial)
Roud #4117
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Nell Cropsey (I)" (subject of some versions) and references there
NOTES: Although Chappell lists this as a Nell Cropsey song, and the details (such few as the song contains) fit that case, Cropsey is not mentioned in the text; it might be about another murder.
Roud lumps this with all the other Nell Cropsey songs, but it is clearly distinct. The real question is, Is it traditional? The only collection is Chappell's, from a printed source, allegedly based on a poem (song?) taken down around the time of the murder. - RBW
File: ChFRA062
===
NAME: Nell Cropsey (IV): see The Wexford (Oxford, Knoxville, Noel) Girl [Laws P35] (File: LP35)
===
NAME: Nell Flaherty's Drake
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, my name it is Neil, quite candid I tell, And I lived in Clonmell, which I'll never deny, I had a large drake..." which she describes in loving terms. One day a thief steals (and kills) the drake. The rest of the song is an extended curse of the thief
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1851 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(2612))
KEYWORDS: animal bird curse thief theft
FOUND_IN: Ireland Australia
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 128-129, "Nell Flaherty's Drake" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H228b, pp. 18-19, "Nell Flaherty's Drake" (1 text, 2 tunes)
O'Conor, pp. 14-15, "Nell Flaherty's Drake" (1 text)
DT, NELLFLAH*
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), p. 289, "Nell Flaherty's Drake" (1 text)
Roud #3005
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "Nell Flaherty's Drake" (on IRClancyMakem03)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2612), "Nell Flaherty's Drake", M. Stephenson (Gateshead), 1838-1850; also 2806 b.11(218), 2806 c.16(21), Harding B 15(216b), 2806 b.11(279), 2806 c.8(306), Johnson Ballads 1220, Johnson Ballads 2696, Harding B 11(2610), Harding B 11(2613), Harding B 11(2614), Harding B 11(2615), 2806 c.16(3a), Harding B 11(2611), "Nell Flaherty's Drake"; 2806 b.9(236), Harding B 26(461), 2806 b.11(132) [lines only partly legible], "Nell Flagherty's Drake"
LOCSinging, as109390, "Nell Flaugherty's Drake", J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also sb30356b, "Nell Flaugherty's Drake"
Murray, Mu23-y1:062, "Nell Flaherty's Drake," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C; also Mu23-y4:054, "Nell Flaherty's Drake," unknown (Cork), 19C
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(142a), "Nell Flaherty's Drake," unknown, c. 1845
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wee Duck (The Duck from Drummuck)" (plot, subject?)
cf. "Betsy Brennan's Blue Hen" (plot, lines)
NOTES: Tommy Makem describes this as a song about Robert Emmet (executed 1803). I can't prove it wrong -- but if so, it's the most indirect song I know. Certainly later singers (such as those in Australia) seem to have lost consciousness of any anti-British sentiment. For background on Emmet, see "Bold Robert Emmet" and the songs cited there. - RBW
I have not found "Nell Flaherty's Drake" collected in Newfoundland but Johnny Burke's "Betsy Brennan's Blue Hen" is so close that he must have known "Nell Flaherty's Drake."  There is no entry for "Nell Flaherty's Drake" in _Newfoundland Songs and Ballads in Print 1842-1974 A Title and First-Line Index_ by Paul Mercer.
Commentary to broadside NLScotland L.C.Fol.70(142a): "'Nell Flaherty's Drake' is an anonymous Irish ballad from the nineteenth century. The drake of the title is believed to be a coded reference to Robert Emmet (1778-1803), who helped to plan and led an uprising against British rule in Dublin in 1803. The uprising went wrong after an explosion at an arms depot, and Emmet was captured and hanged for his part in the uprising and the assassination of the Lord Chief Justice. Irish Home Rule was a volatile subject in Britain in the nineteenth as well as the twentieth century, hence the coding in this song."
This song has the same relationship to "The Bonny Brown Hen" [this adds a villain and curses] that "Betsy Brennan's Blue Hen" has to "Blue Hen" on MacEdward Leach and Songs of Atlantic Canada site, copyright owner Memorial University of Newfoundland Folklore and Language Archive.
Broadside LOCSinging as113120: 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: MCB128
===
NAME: Nell of Narragansett Bay: see Little Nell of Narragansett Bay (File: Brew88)
===
NAME: Nellie
DESCRIPTION: The singer complains about Nellie's choice of the lily over the rose. Mountain verses: blueberries grow, a castle light-house on top, at its foot the ocean where green-flagged gunships sail to Newry where his "unkind" sweetheart is.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1954 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection floatingverses nonballad wordplay
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 79, "Nellie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #688
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Streams of Lovely Nancy" (lyrics)
NOTES: This song shares one verse with "The Streams of Lovely Nancy" [with which Roud lumps it - RBW], which it corrupts:
At the top of this mountain a castle does stand,
It is decked round with ivy and back to the strand,
It is decked round with ivy and marble stone white,
It's a pilot for sailors on a dark stormy night.
Otherwise it shares a confused story line with that ballad but the confusions are not shared: I don't think this is a version of "Streams."
In the language of flowers the white lily stands for virginity and the red rose stands for love.
Newry is about 35 miles southwest of Belfast. - BS
File: CrMa079
===
NAME: Nellie Dare: see The Two Letters (Charlie Brooks; Nellie Dare) (File: R735)
===
NAME: Nellie Douglas
DESCRIPTION: "It's O and alas, and O wae's me," cries Nellie as she prepares to depart friends and employment. Young Abram bids her cease; she has his heart. She says she cannot wed him; he is above her station. He marries her anyway, and makes her a lady
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: love courting nobility marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 123, "Nellie Douglas" (1 text)
Roud #5547
File: Ord123
===
NAME: Nelly Bly
DESCRIPTION: "Nelly Bly! Nelly Bly! Bring de broom along, We'll sweep de kitchen clean, my dear, and hab a little song." The singer tells how Nelly makes him happy -- she has the voice of a turtle dove, her step is music, and they have corn and pumpkins in the barn
AUTHOR: Stephen C. Foster
EARLIEST_DATE: 1850 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
BrownIII 407, "Nelly Bly" (1 fragment)
Arnett, pp. 64-65, "Nelly Bly!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 144, "Nelly Bly" (1 text)
DT, NELLYBLY*
Roud #13956
File: Arn064
===
NAME: Nelly Ray: see The Female Highwayman [Laws N21] (File: LN21)
===
NAME: Nelly the Milkmaid
DESCRIPTION: Nelly, coming home from the wake (a country dance, not a funeral), is seduced, her ravisher, sometimes named Roger, assuring her he was merely "shooting at the cat." In some versions she gives birth to a son whom she names Shoot the Cat.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1957 (recording, O. J. Abbott)
KEYWORDS: bawdy sex seduction childbirth
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont) Britain(England) US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 169-172, "Nelly the Milkmaid" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 62, "Nellie Coming Home From the Wake" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1606
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "Nellie Coming Home from the Wake" (on Abbott1)
File: RL169
===
NAME: Nelson's Glorious Victory at Trafalgar: see Nelson's Victory at Trafalgar (Brave Nelson) [Laws J17] (File: LJ17)
===
NAME: Nelson's Victory at Trafalgar (Brave Nelson) [Laws J17]
DESCRIPTION: Nelson leads his English fleet to battle with the French and Spanish navies off Cadiz. "He broke their line of battle, and struck the fatal blow," but in the melee is shot. He dies knowing he has won and that Napoleon's threat to Britain is ended
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1869 (Logan)
KEYWORDS: war Napoleon injury death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1758-1805 - Life of Horatio Nelson, victor at Aboukir (the Nile), Copenhagen, and Trafalgar
Oct 21, 1805 - Battle of Trafalgar
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar) Britain
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws J17, "Nelson's Victory at Trafalgar (Brave Nelson)"
Logan, pp. 67-69, "Nelson's Glorious Victory at Trafalgar" (1 text)
Mackenzie 77, "Nelson's Victory at Trafalgar" (1 text)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 94, "Brave Nelson" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 549, NLSNTRAF
ST LJ17 (Full)
Roud #522
NOTES: Napoleon dearly wanted to capture Britain -- and he was right to feel that way; Britain was his worst enemy and the one that finally defeated him. But he could not invade England unless the Royal Navy could be swept aside. Trafalgar was his attempt to do so, and it failed miserably. The Franco-Spanish navy, under Villaneuve, was slightly larger (33 ships to Nelson's 27), but poorly led and badly trained. Nelson not only had a better fleet, but new ideas. After a game of cat and mouse that had led the fleets all the way to the Americas, the two fleets finally met off Cape Trafalgar in 1805. Nelson's method of "breaking the line" worked, and he heavily defeated the French. In the midst of the battle, however, he was shot by a French sharpshooter and mortally wounded.
Even so, the French threat to Britain was permanently lifted.
Miscellaneous references in the broadside include:
"The hero of the Nile": Nelson's first great exploit against Napoleon occurred before the turn of the century, when he effectively destroyed the fleet that had carried Napoleon's expedition to Egypt. The conflict was known as "The Battle of the Nile" (August 1, 1798).
"Collingwood" was Vice Admiral Cuthbert Collingwood (1758-1810), Nelson's second in command and Chief Assistant Hero of the battle.  - RBW
A distinguishing characteristic of this ballad is that each verse ends "brave Nelson." 
I haven't found this ballad among the broadsides in the Bodleian catalog though there are broadsides on the subject. See, for example, the chapbook printed by J. Pitts (London) with fifteen "admired songs, on the glorious victory off Trafalgar," Bodleian Curzon b.24(98) [not all of it legible]. - BS
File: LJ17
===
NAME: Neptune, Ruler of the Sea
DESCRIPTION: "The Neptune, ruler of the sea, she rides in court today, Filled up with white-coats to the hatch and her colors flying gay.... While bats did rattle on their heads, the murder then began. " Captain Kane's ship returns home with 30,000 harp seals.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Leach-Labrador)
KEYWORDS: hunting sea ship
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Leach-Labrador 81, "Neptune, Ruler of the Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ryan/Small, p. 119, "'Neptune,' Ruler of the Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LLab081 (Partial)
Roud #9979
File: LLab081
===
NAME: Neumerella Shore, The: see The Eumerella Shore (File: MA155)
===
NAME: Neuve Chappelle
DESCRIPTION: "For when we landed in Belgium, the girls all danced for joy, Says one unto the other, 'Here comes an Irish boy.'" The singer reports that the Irish won Neuve Chappelle. The Kaiser and Von Kluck lament that the Irish have arrived
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: war soldier battle derivative
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: March 10, 1915 - Start of the Battle of Neuve Chapelle.
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H526, p. 182, "Neuve Chappelle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8004
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "True-Born Irish Man (With My Swag All on My Shoulder; The True-Born Native Man)"
NOTES: Gale Huntington considered this to be an actual version of "The True-Born Irish Man." Given that the Henry text has only two verses, that strikes me as extreme. But it is clearly derived from that song.
The song describes Neuve Chapelle as a British victory. It was certainly a British battle -- the British 7th and 8th Divisions, plus two Indian divisions. They attacked and smashed the equivalent of less than a German brigade, but then were stopped and the front stabilized. The battle had some effect on British morale (showing that the newly-arriving Territorial troops were solid), but British casualties were much higher than German; it was in no sense a victory for either side.
Von Kluck is General Alexander von Kluck, commander of the German First Army (the right flank element of the German force in France); his, more than anyone else's, had been the task of outflanking the French in 1914, and in this, he had failed.
Kluck continued in command until 1915 (when he was wounded and permanently invalided), but he played no real part in Neuve Chappelle (the real commander on the front by this time was simply defensive doctrine) and would not have been discussing it with the Kaiser. The Western Front was under what amounted to the direct command of the German commander-in-chief, Falkenheyn, who approved all plans and would have been responsible for any talks with Wilhelm II. - RBW
File: HHH526
===
NAME: Never Be as Fast as I Have Been: see The Sporting Bachelors (File: LxU014)
===
NAME: Never Change the Old Love for the New: see My Blue-Eyed Boy (File: R759)
===
NAME: Never Let Your Honey Have Her Way
DESCRIPTION: "John Henry's dead, And de las' words he said, 'Never let your honey Have her way." "'Way back, 'Way back, Way back in Alabama, 'Way back." "If you  let her have her way, She'll lead you off astray." "De chickens in my sack, Bloodhounds on my track."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: death dog crime escape
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 221, "John Henry's Dead" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rabbit in the Log (Feast Here Tonight)"
NOTES: I've heard this song (or something like it) sung as "Pay Day," in a version quite close to "Rabbit in the Log (Feast Here Tonight)." But I can't swear that that wasn't a modified version, so I'm filing it separately from both "John Henry" and "Rabbit in the Log." - RBW
File: ScNF221
===
NAME: Never Mind Your Knapsack: see We Have the Navy (File: R212)
===
NAME: Never Said a Mumbalin' Word: see Never Said a Mumbling Word (File: LxU102)
===
NAME: Never Said a Mumbling Word
DESCRIPTION: "Oh they whupped him up the hill, up the hill... and he never said a mumbalin' word..... They crowned him with a thorny crown.... They nailed him to the cross.... They pierced him in the side.... Then he hung down his head and he died."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926
KEYWORDS: Bible Jesus religious death
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
BrownIII 578, "He Never Said a Mumbling Word" (1 text)
Lomax-FSUSA 102, "Never Said a Mumblin' Word" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 587-588, "Never Said a Mumbalin' Word" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 759, "He Never Said a Mumbalin' Word" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, p. 60, (no title) (1 text)
Roud #10068
RECORDINGS:
Vera Hall Ward & Dock Reed, "Look How They Done My Lord" (on NFMAla5)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "When My Lord Went to Pray" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Look How They Done My Lord" (verses)
NOTES: According to the Synoptic gospels (Mark 15:5, etc.), Jesus said very little to Pilate (according to Mark 15:2, two words, SU LEGEIS, loosely, "You said [it].") John, however, records an extended conversation. - RBW
File: LxU102
===
NAME: Never Take the Horseshoe from the Door
DESCRIPTION: Singer, an Irishman, admonishes listeners to always keep a horseshoe over the door, and lists misfortunes that befell him when he failed to do so, including his wife's "bringing in a horde of her relations."
AUTHOR: Words: Edward Harrigan/Music: Dave Braham
EARLIEST_DATE: 1880 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: humorous family magic 
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Beck 85, "Never Take the Horseshoe from the Door" (1 text)
Roud #8839
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Mule (Never Take the Hindshoe from a Mule)," which is a parody of this song
NOTES: The version in Beck is fragmentary; I suspect the original is a good deal longer. - PJS
File: Be085
===
NAME: Never Wed a' Auld Man: see Maids When You're Young Never Wed an Old Man (File: K207)
===
NAME: New Ballad of Lord Lovell, The (Mansfield Lovell)
DESCRIPTION: "Lord Lovell he sat in St. Charles Hotel... A-cutting as big a rebel swell... As you'd ever wish to see." His thirty thousand soldiers dwindle away to a bare handful, and "gallant old Ben sailed in with his men And captured their great citee..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar parody humorous soldier
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Belden, pp. 52-54, "Lord Lovel"  (3 texts, of which the Ga text is this piece)
JHCoxIIA, #8A-C, pp. 32-37, "Lord Lovell," "Lord Lovell" (3 texts, 1 tune, but the "C" fragment is this piece)
Darling-NAS, p. 48, "The New Ballad of Lord Lovell" (1 text)

Roud #7942; also 48
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lord Lovel [Child 75]" and references there
NOTES: Although the song provides few precise details, it clearly refers to the Federal capture of New Orleans in 1862. The Confederate commander was Mansfield Lovell (1822-1884). According to Shelby Foote, The Civil War: A Narrative (Volume I: Fort Sumter to Perryville) (Random House, 1958), pp. 360, Lovell was a "Maryland-born West Pointer who had resigned as New York Deputy Street Commissioner to join the Confederacy in September. Impressed with the Chapultepec-brevetted artilleryman's record as an administrator, [Jefferson] Davis made him a major general and sent him to... New Orleans."
By the time New Orleans was attacked, the regular garrison of New Orleans had been stripped to reinforce Albert Sydney Johnston; most of them would fight at Shiloh. Lovell's remaining forces consisted primarily of 3000 militiamen, most with no weapons other than shotguns (Foote, p. 361); they had little mobility or ability to fight in the field. The real defenses of New Orleans consisted of river forts and a few small ships. The Confederate attempts to build better, ironclad, ships faltered under their limited industrial capacity; the ships just weren't ready in time. The Federals failed to destroy the river forts with mortars, but Admiral Farragut was able to run his ships past them and deal with the small Confederate fleet (Foote, pp. 364-369), and that left New Orleans undefended under his guns. Rather than risk the destruction of the city, Lovell retreated with such mobile forces as he had. The garrisons of the river forts then collapsed (Foote, p. 370), and Federal troops were able to come up-river and occupy New Orleans even though the city didn't exactly surrender.
After New Orleans, Lovell briefly held corps command in the west, and demonstrated real skill as a commander. But he was relieved soon after due to political pressure.
"Gallant old Ben" is Benjamin F. Butler, the most-hated man in the Confederacy and possibly the worst general ever to serve under the American flag. Butler occupied New Orleans (and subjected it to something close to a reign of terror), but the military skill was all Farragut's. - RBW
File: DarNS047
===
NAME: New Broom Sweeps Clean, A: see As I Walked Out (I) (A New Broom Sweeps Clean) (File: HHH109)
===
NAME: New Bully, The: see references under The Bully of the Town [Laws I14] (File: LI14)
===
NAME: New Bunch of Loughero, The
DESCRIPTION:  Singer meets a lady by the Danube saying "I have lost my Bunch of Loughero" She recalls Napoleon's victories and defeat at Waterloo. Her son says he will raise an army to rescue him. She says "I'll live like chaste Penelope, Still hoping for my Loughero"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c.1830 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: 
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1815 - Defeat at the Battle of Waterloo forces Napoleon into exile
1821 - Death of Napoleon
FOUND_IN: Napoleon love dialog family political
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann 32A, "The New Bunch of Loughero" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bonny Bunch of Roses, O" (theme)
cf. "Saint Helena (Boney on the Isle of St. Helena)" (theme: Marie Louise's grief for Napoleon)
cf. "The Royal Eagle" (theme: Marie Louise's grief for Napoleon)
cf. "The Removal of Napoleon's Ashes" (theme: Marie Louise's grief for Napoleon)
NOTES: Marie Louise of Austria (1791-1847) is Napoleon's second wife and mother of Napoleon II. She returned to Vienna in 1814 when Napoleon is defeated. (source: "Marie Louise of Austria" at Answres.com site)
Zimmermann: Loughero is from Irish luachair = rushes. 
Note the difference between "The Bunch of Loughero" (Napoleon) and "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" (Britain) - BS
This song shares with "Saint Helena (Boney on the Isle of St. Helena)" and "The Royal Eagle" the theme of Marie Louisa's grief for her husband. This is romantic, but false; she refused to go into exile with him to Elba, let alone St. Helena.
In fact, even before Napoleon went to Elba, she is reported to have taken General Adam Adelbert Neipperg as a lover. When he came back during the Hundred Days, she not only refused to join him, she wouldn't even allow him to see his son. By the time Napoleon died, Louisa had borne two children to other fathers. - RBW
File: Zimm032A
===
NAME: New Buryin' Ground, The: see Way Over in the New Buryin' Groun' (File: San473)
===
NAME: New Chum Chinaman, The
DESCRIPTION: Irishman Pat McCann, newly arrived in Australia and unable to find work, sees the Chinese working (even if at horrible jobs). He decides to turn himself into "Ah Pat," Chinese immigrant. He describes the steps he will use to take on the part
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: foreigner emigration unemployment disguise China
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 102-104, "The New Chum Chinaman" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE102
===
NAME: New Electric Light, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer's wife is desperate for electric lights. She wanders the streets seeking them. One night the singer finds a strange man in the house; it proves to be her cousin, who installs lights. She reportedly amuses herself with the light while he's gone
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: technology humorous husband wife
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 489, "The New Electric Light" (1 text)
Roud #7585
File: R489
===
NAME: New England Cocky, The: see The Inglewood Cocky (File: PASB109)
===
NAME: New Granuwale, The: see Granuwale (File: Zimm029)
===
NAME: New Ireland Song
DESCRIPTION: The clergy order "not to sell whisky upon a Sunday." Mike Leyden and Tim Long go from place to place in New Ireland looking for rum but only find tea. It being very cold, the boys finally give up and go to bed.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Creighton-SNewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 116, "New Ireland Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrSNB116 (Partial)
Roud #2784
NOTES: Creighton-SNewBrunswick: "New Ireland is a farming community near Elgin" [in south central New Brunswick less than 20 miles north of the Bay of Fundy]. - BS
This seems to be a local composition based on some other local song. The text is reminiscent of "Sweet Betsy from Pike," but the tune is more like "Darby O'Leary" (which is known in New Brunswick). Of course, the latter is rather like "Sweet Betsy" put in minor. - RBW
File: CrSNB116
===
NAME: New Limit Line, The
DESCRIPTION: "Now we left our own homes, for the woods we were bent...." The singer describes hiring out to the New Limit Line. They reach the line with great difficulty, but work hard and are happy at the camp. Many of the other workers there are listed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: lumbering work travel
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke-Lumbering # 12, "The New Limit Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FowL12 (Partial)
Roud #4369
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fox River Line (The Rock Island Line)" [Laws C28] (tune)
File: FowL12
===
NAME: New Market Wreck, The
DESCRIPTION: "The Southern Railway had a wreck at ten o'clock one morn, Near Hodge's and New Market ground...." A conductor misreads his orders, and two trains collide. The singer hopes the other conductor is in heaven, and adds other details
AUTHOR: Robert Hugh Brooks
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: train wreck death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sep 24, 1904 -- the New Market Wreck. The conductor of the #15 train admitted to misreading his orders and causing the wreck; reports say that at least 56 people died
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 227-231, "The New Market Wreck" (1 text plus an early sheet music print, 1 tune)
Roud #4904
RECORDINGS:
George Reneau, "The New Market Wreck" (Vocalion 14930, 1924)
NOTES: According to Cohen, there is a second song about this event, "The Southern Railroad Wreck," by Charles O. Oaks. It seems to be rarely encountered; neither that nor this appears to be traditional. - RBW
File: LSRa228
===
NAME: New Mown Hay, The: see TheTossing of the Hay (File: HHH635)
===
NAME: New Organ, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer complains about the new organ and choir being installed in the church. She's served the church for 35 years with money and time, "but now their old new-fangled ways Are coming all about And I right in my latter days Am fairly crowded out"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: music clergy rejection
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 863, "The New Organ" (1 text)
Roud #7534
NOTES: I don't know how many old fogies (or old Baptists) were complaining about the installation of organs in the 1920s, but I know there are plenty of new fogies in the churches complaining that there isn't enough music and that these new ministers never play the familiar stuff. New era, same grumblers.... - RBW
File: R863
===
NAME: New Orleans Jail, The: see The Cryderville Jail (File: LxU090)
===
NAME: New Prisoner's Song
DESCRIPTION: Singer has seven more to serve, for knocking a man down and taking his watch. He remembers his home and family. Chorus: "Sitting alone, sad all alone/Sitting in my cell all alone/A-thinking of those good times gone by me/A-knowing that I once had a home"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Dock Boggs)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer, in prison for seven years, has seven more to serve, for knocking a man down in the alley and taking his watch. He remembers his home and family, and wonders if they think of him. Chorus: "Sitting alone, sad all alone/Sitting in my cell all alone/A-thinking of those good times gone by me/A-knowing that I once had a home"
KEYWORDS: captivity homesickness crime prison robbery family prisoner
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Creighton-NovaScotia 141, "Prisoner's Song" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 121, "The Prisoner's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11730
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "New Prisoner's Song" (Brunswick 133A/Vocalion 5114 [5144?], 1927); (on Boggs1, BoggsCD1)
Slim Smith, "Sad and Alone" (Vocalion 05082, c. 1927)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Prisoner's Song (I)"
NOTES: Although the plots are virtually identical, this is quite distinct from the "Prisoner's Song." That has the chorus "If I had the wings of an eagle," which this does not, although I strongly suspect it was composed in flagrant imitation. [Borrowing a few items from "Botany Bay" along the way. - RBW] Mike Seeger, incidentally, notes that there is at least one other recording of this song from the 1920s, presumably Slim Smith's. - PJS
Roud, of course, lumps this with the "other" Prisoner's Song. - RBW
Mackenzie has the "Lonely and sad, sad and lonely" chorus but also has as the final verse "I wish I had the wings of an eagle...." - BS
File: RcNPS
===
NAME: New River Shore, The (The Green Brier Shore; The Red River Shore) [Laws M26]
DESCRIPTION: The singer is forced to leave his sweetheart (possibly due to manipulation by her parents). She begs that he return. When he does, he is ambushed by a band of men hired by her father. He wins the battle and goes on to claim the girl
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: separation love fight
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,NE,SE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Laws M26, "The New River Shore (The Green Brier Shore; The Red River Shore)"
Mackenzie 48, "The New River Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 85, "New River Shore" (1 text)
SharpAp 142, "The Green Brier Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 206, "The Red River Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, p. 412, "Red River Shore" (1 text)
Fife-Cowboy/West 57, "Red River Shore" (2 texts, 1 tune)
DT 329, GRNBRIER*
Roud #549
RECORDINGS:
Bud Billings' Trio w. Carson Robison, "On the Red River Shore" (Montgomery Ward M-4101, 1933)
Patt Patterson & Lois Dexter, "On the Red River Shore" (Perfect 12650, 1930; Conqueror 7711, 1931; on MakeMe)
Art Thieme, "The Red River Shore" (on Thieme04)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Earl Brand" [Child 7]
cf. "Erlinton" [Child 8]
cf. "The Green Brier Shore (II)" (lyrics)
NOTES: The title implies a relationship to "The Girl on the Greenbriar Shore," but the plot is noticeably different. One rather suspects that the latter piece is a fragment rebuilt almost from scratch (and then, perhaps, further modified by the Carter Family). - RBW
File: LM26
===
NAME: New River Train
DESCRIPTION: "(Honey Babe/Darling), you can't love one (x2), You can't love one and still have any fun, Honey Babe, you can't..." Similarly, "You can't love two and still be true..." "You can't love three and still have me..." Etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (recording, Henry Whitter)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad infidelity floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 466-471, "New River Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 103, "Darling, You Can't Love but One" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 124-125, "Honey Babe" (1 text, without the chorus,  filed under Child #76 along with a "Pretty Little Foot" fragment and a version of "I Truly Undertand That You Love Some Other Man")
Abrahams/Foss, p. 73, "Darlin' You Can't Have One" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 158-159, "Darlin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 74, "New River Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 143, "New River Train" (1 text)
Roud #4568
RECORDINGS:
Cauley Family, "New River Train" (Perfect 13032, 1934)
Crazy Hillbillies Band, "Leaving on the New River Train" (OKeh 45579, 1934)
Vernon Dalhart, "New River Train" (Columbia 15032-D, c. 1925)  (Herwin 75506, mid-to-late 1920s)
Sid Harkreader, "New River Train" (Vocalion 15035, 1925)
Kelly Harrell, "New River Train" (Victor 19596, 1925; on KHarrell01) (Victor 20171, 1926; on KHarrell01)
Monroe Brothers, "New River Train" (Bluebird B-6645, 1936)
Old Brother Charlie & the Corn Crib Trio, "New River Train" (Mercury 6206, 1949)
Ridge Rangers, "The New River Train" (AFS 1693 A2, 1939; on LC61)
Pete Seeger, "New River Train" (on PeteSeeger24), (on PeteSeeger33, PeteSeegerCD03)
Ernest V. Stoneman Family, "New River Train" (on Stonemans01); Ernest V. Stoneman, Willie Stoneman, and the Sweet Brothers, "New River Train" (Gennett 6619 [as by Justin Winfield] /Supertone 9400 [as by Uncle Ben Hawkins], 1929)
Wade Ward, "New River Train" [instrumental] (on Holcomb-Ward1)
Henry Whitter, "The New River Train" (OKeh 40143, 1924)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Mole in the Ground" (tune, floating lyrics)
cf. "My Last Gold Dollar" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Crawdad"
cf. "Going Around the World (Banjo Pickin' Girl, Baby Mine)"
NOTES: "Honey Babe" and "New River Train" are two versions of the same set of verses, the difference being that the latter has a chorus about the "New River Train" ("Riding on that new river train (x2), Same old train that brought me here Is soon gonna carry me away"). 
It's not clear which is the original form, but I'm guessing the former. - RBW
Well, [you] may be wrong here; the "New River Train" version dates back to at least 1924 (Whitter's recording). And Fields Ward says he learned it c. 1895. - PJS
In any case, "New River Train" is now the more familiar version (see the recording list), so I eventually adopted that title.
Cohen has notes about the origin of the name "New River Train"; there apparently was no line with that name, but several railroads had track in the New River area and would presumably have been given that name informally. What's more, the earliest recordings he cites (Whitter's and Harrell's) are by residents of that part of Virginia. Vernon Dalhart's recording was similar to and likely based on Harrell's, and that no doubt helped put the song in popular consciousness.
Cohen does report, however, that few versions other than Ernest Stoneman's have much real railroad content. That is the main reason why I thought (and still sort of think) the versions without the New River Train chorus likely to be original. - RBW
File: AF073
===
NAME: New Road, The
DESCRIPTION: "For fifty years I've known a woodland Of patriarchal trees, Their roots grown deep in good land, Boughs swaying in the breeze." The singer recalls how farmers came and made the land their own. But now their fields and homes are being separate by roads.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: home farming technology
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 261-262, (no title) (1 text)
File: ThBa262
===
NAME: New Song (I), A: see Well Met, Pretty Maid (The Sweet Nightingale) (File: K089)
===
NAME: New War Song by Sir Peter Parker, A: see Sir Peter Parker (File: SBoa064)
===
NAME: New Yealand: see Lizie Lindsay [Child 226] (File: C226)
===
NAME: New Year's Sermon, The
DESCRIPTION: "Hello, Mr. Jones! We wish you a happy new year -- to you and your wife and your sons... And if our wishes find you good, 'Tis better than the year before the flood." Listeners are warned of times to come, including battles -- and then muskets are let off
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: nonballad recitation wassail
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, p. 514, "The New Year's 'Sermon'" (1 text)
Roud #7830
NOTES: A sort of a Missouri wassail, in which the performers went from house to house begging for entertainment -- but perhaps with a bit of a threat element, since they all had firearms.... - RBW
File: Beld514
===
NAME: New York Girls: see Can't You Dance the Polka (New York Girls) (File: Doe058)
===
NAME: New York to Queenstown
DESCRIPTION:  Ship leaves New York Sunday, December 2 and runs into a heavy sea. "The companion and the wheel-house were swept right clean away." At Queenstown the captain reports to "an aged father ... 'Your son fell from our main royal yard, a victim to the sea.'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: death sea ship storm sailor father
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 20-21, "New York to Queenstown" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Bold Larkin (Bull Yorkens)" (theme)
File: Ran020
===
NAME: New York Trader, The: see Captain Glen/The New York Trader (The Guilty Sea Captain A/B) [Laws K22] (File: LK22)
===
NAME: New-Chum's First Trip, The
DESCRIPTION: A young drover relates the events of his first drive, which has turned out to be harder work than he expected.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1957
KEYWORDS: work travel
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hodgart, p. 232, "The New-Chum's First Trip" (1 text)
Roud #8241
File: Hodg232
===
NAME: New-Mown Hay, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer walks out "one May morning" and spies "a pretty sweet maid All on the new-mown hay." She convinces him not to ravish her at once; "You'll spoil my maiden gown." She eludes him; he advises men not to worry about spoiling gowns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908 (Sharp)
KEYWORDS: seduction trick clothes
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South,West)) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Bronson 112, "The Baffled Knight" (40 versions) -- but #26-33 (his Appendix A) are "The New-Mown Hay," which we tentatively separate, and #34-#39 (his Appendix B) are "Katie Morey" [Laws N24] which is certainly separate
Kennedy 184, "The New-Mown Hay" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MORNDEW3*
Roud #11
RECORDINGS:
William Rew ,"The New-Mown Hay" (on FSB2CD)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Baffled Knight" [Child 112]
NOTES: As far as the plot goes, this is exactly identical to "The Baffled Knight" [Child 112], and some (e.g. Bronson, Roud) have grouped them together. Kennedy, however, argues that they are separate, and the verse form implies he is right. To me, this looks like a cross between "The Baffled Knight" and "Rolling in the Dew (The Milkmaid)." - RBW
Separate from "The Baffled Knight"? Naah. Never mind "verse form" -- look at Kennedy's verse 3. I call that a smoking gun. - PJS
File: K184
===
NAME: New-Slain Knight, The [Child 263]
DESCRIPTION: A man sees a girl sleeping under a hedge. He tells her of a dead man in her father's garden. His description makes her think it is her love. She wonders who will care for her. The man offers to do so. She refuses him till he reveals himself as her lover.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1878
KEYWORDS: trick disguise love death
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Child 263, "The New-Slain Knight" (1 text)
Roud #3887
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lass of Roch Royal" [Child 76] (floating lyrics) and references there
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] (plot) and references there
cf. "The Three Ravens" [Child 26]
File: C263
===
NAME: Newburgh Jail, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer is arrested while in a bar. Held without trial for some time, he moves back and forth among prisons. At last he makes his escape (despite the shooting of the guards). He intends to keep moving and not be taken again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960
KEYWORDS: prison escape trial
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
FSCatskills 166, "The Newburgh Jail" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC166 (Partial)
Roud #4606
NOTES: This song is item dE53 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: FSC166
===
NAME: Newcastle Is My Native Place
DESCRIPTION: "Newcassel is my native place, Where my mother sighed for me... Where in early youth I sported... But, alas! those days are gone and past." The singer tells of growing up, taking his first job, getting married -- and regrets the woe of the latter
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: youth home work courting marriage lament drink
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 190-191, "Newcastle Is My Native Place" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR190 (Partial)
Roud #3180
NOTES: This is a rather strange mix: Almost every line of it recalls happy days -- but the singer is grousing anyway. - RBW
File: StoR190
===
NAME: Newfoundland: see Bound Down to Newfoundland [Laws D22] (File: LD22)
===
NAME: Newfoundland and Sebastopol
DESCRIPTION: "Success to France and England! Hurray my boys hurray! Sebastopol is taken And we've nobly gained the day" on September 8, 1855. The battles are recounted. "Here's to the memory of our soldiers ... of that dreadful battle Of September, fifty-five"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: army battle war England France Russia memorial
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sep 9, 1855 - Fall of Sevastopol following an 11 month siege
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 152, "Newfoundland and Sebastopol" (1 text)
Roud #17747
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sebastopol (Old England's Gained the Day; Capture and Destruction of Sebastopol; Cheer, Boys, Cheer)" (subject, theme)
NOTES: Greenleaf/Mansfield['s version] has no mention of "Newfoundland" in the text. - BS
File: GrMa152
===
NAME: Newfoundland Disaster (I), The
DESCRIPTION: Captain Randall, commander of the Bill, abandons his voyage and rescues twenty-five survivors of the Newfoundland from the ice. Seventy-seven are lost.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: rescue drowning sea ship wreck
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: March 1914 - Wreck of the Newfoundland (Northern Shipwrecks Database)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Peacock, pp. 967-968, "The Newfoundland Disaster" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ryan/Small, pp. 94-95, "The Newfoundland Disaster (I)" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Pea967 (Partial)
Roud #9932
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. Pat Maher, "The Story of the Sealing Vessel, The Newfoundland" (on NFMLeach)
cf. "The Newfoundland Disaster (II)" (subject)
cf. "In Memorial of 77 Brave Newfoundland Sealers" (subject)
NOTES: Maher, on NFMLeach, does not sing the ballad but tells the story and tells a ghost story relating to that wreck. - BS
File: Pea967
===
NAME: Newfoundland Disaster (II), The
DESCRIPTION: "Come all ye sons of Newfoundland And shed a tear or two While I relate the hardships great Befell this steamship's crew." The Newfoundland is trapped by a gale, and "nearly 80" men are killed. Listeners are asked to mourn the heroes
AUTHOR: apparently George Humbey
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Harbour Grace Standard)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship disaster storm death
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 96, "The Newfoundland Disaster (2)" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Newfoundland Disaster (I)" (subject)
cf. Pat Maher, "The Story of the Sealing Vessel, The Newfoundland" (on NFMLeach)
cf. "In Memorial of 77 Brave Newfoundland Sealers" (subject)
File: RySm096
===
NAME: Newfoundland Hero, A: see Captain William Jackman, A Newfoundland Hero (File: GrMa145)
===
NAME: Newfoundland Sailor, The: see Oh, No, Not I (File: DTmarryn)
===
NAME: Newfoundland Sealing Song
DESCRIPTION: The Greenland and Travan arrive at Harbour Grace "Chock up to every hatch" with fur seals pelts. On March 10 Greenland heads north again for hooded seals and "when the day was done Twice seven thousand pelts was flagged." "So now we're home for Easter"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: hunting sea ship shore sailor
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 198-199, "Newfoundland Sealing Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2719
NOTES: Harbour Grace on Conception Bay and Green's Pond on the Northern Peninsula are Newfoundland outports. - BS
File: CrMa198
===
NAME: Newlyn Town: see The Wild and Wicked Youth [Laws L12] (File: LL12)
===
NAME: Newmill
DESCRIPTION: "It was to Newmill, ayont the hills, Last term I did fee." The master is a miser who feeds and rewards his workers badly: "I chased the barley roun' the plate, And a' I got was three." The master tries to cheat him for his work; he departs happily
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: farming hardtimes food money trick
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 257-258, "Newmill" (1 text)
Roud #5588
File: Ord257
===
NAME: Newry Highwayman, The: see The Wild and Wicked Youth [Laws L12] (File: LL12)
===
NAME: Newry Prentice Boy, The: see The Bonny Sailor Boy [Laws M22] (File: LM22)
===
NAME: Next Market Day, The
DESCRIPTION: Woman going to the market meets a man. He gives her three guineas to pay for the yarn, that he might play her a new tune.She goes home with the tune in her head. She will seek him "by land or by sea/Till he larns me that tune called the next market day"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Young woman going to the market at Comber, with three hanks of yarn to sell for her mother, meets a young man (apparently a musician), and dallies. He gives her three guineas to pay her mother for the yarn, that he might play her a new tune. They sit together; they gaze lovingly into each other's eyes, and she goes home with the tune in her head. She vows to seek him "by land or by sea/Till he larns me that tune called the next market day"
KEYWORDS: courting love sex commerce music
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 158 "The Next Market Day" (1 text)
Roud #6547
RECORDINGS:
Seamus O'Doherty, "The Next Market Day" (Columbia 33289-F, n.d.)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Stonecutter Boy" (plot)
cf. "The Haselbury Girl (The Maid of Tottenham, The Aylesbury Girl)" (plot)
cf. "The Mower" (plot)
cf. "The Wanton Seed"
File: FSWB158B
===
NAME: Next Monday Morning
DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a young girl who says she will be married next Sunday (or other day). He asks her age; she is (12/16/other). He tells her she's too young to marry. She replies that she will be married that day and describes the festivities. End of story.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1850
KEYWORDS: marriage wedding age
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South,Lond),Scotland) Ireland Canada(Mar,Newf) US(Ap,MW,NE,SE)
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Sharp-100E 38, "The Sign of the Bonny Blue Bell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 137, "Next Monday Morning' (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 173, "I'm Going to Get Married Next Sunday" (1 text)
SharpAp 143, "I'm Going to get Married next Sunday" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 165-166, "[I'm Going to Be Married on Monday]" (1 text plus 1 fragment, 2 tunes)
Peacock, p. 559, "Monday Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 464, "On Saturday night shall be my care" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #161, p. 119, "(On Saturday night shall be my care)"
DT, NEXTMOND* NEXTMON2*
Roud #579
RECORDINGS:
W. Guy Bruce, "As I Walked Out One Morning In Spring" (on FolkVisions1)
Harry Cox, "Next Monday Morning" (on HCox01)
Mrs. Edward Gallagher, "I'm Going to Get Married" (on NovaScotia1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1654), "I Shall Be Married on Monday Morning" ("As I was walking one morning in spring"), Williamson (Newcastle), c.1845
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
I'm Going to be Married on Sunday
NOTES: The Brown text lacks the objection to the girl's youth. Perhaps a deliberate American adaption, where the availability of land meant that teenagers, especially in mountain areas, did marry quite young? - RBW
Perhaps, but the version in Sharp has the objection. - PJS
File: ShH38
===
NAME: Next Song on the Programme, The
DESCRIPTION: "The next song on the programme will be a dance Sang by a female gentleman Sitting on a corner of a round table, Picking carrots out of a sultana pie. Nancy Carter, she's the Tartar And I'm a tomato"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (recording, Albert Smith)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad nonsense paradox food
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Albert Smith, "The Next Song on the Programme" (on Voice14)
NOTES: The current description is almost all of the Voice14 text. - BS
File: RcNSOTP
===
NAME: Niagara Falls
DESCRIPTION: "Don't you hear the water rolling?/Ho, ho, ho.../That we're riding off in trouble/Ho, ho, ho...)" Later verses take the form, "Don't you go and tell our father (mother, sister)/.../That we're riding off in trouble..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: lumbering work disaster worksong
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SharpAp 166, "Niagara Falls" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3640
NOTES: Sharp notes, "The words of the song refer to men on a logging raft, which has got out of control and is drifting toward Niagara Falls." - PJS
File: ShAp2166
===
NAME: Nice Little Jenny from Ballinasloe
DESCRIPTION: The singer meets and falls in love with Jenny. He declares his love. She says she is "never inclined to disdain or to tease" but she already has a lover and he has a large dog and gun. The singer bows out. "For ever I'll mourn for beauteous Jane Curran"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1835 (From a Waterford chap-book, according to Sparling)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection beauty dog lover
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
OLochlainn-More 92, "Nice Little Jenny from Ballinasloe" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 326-328, 513, "Nice Little Jane from Ballinasloe"
Roud #5305
NOTES: Ballinasloe is in County Galway, Ireland. - BS
File: OLcM092
===
NAME: Nice Piece of Irish Pig's Head, A
DESCRIPTION: Irish pig's head is a better meal than Christmas goose, spring lamb, beef, mutton, turkey, or ham. It has been used to pay the rent. Frenchmen eat frog, Englishmen eat beef but give Pat pig's head cabbage and spuds, even as a spread for a wedding.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (recording, "Maurice")
KEYWORDS: food nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #12932
RECORDINGS:
Maurice, "A Nice Piece of Irish Pig's Head" (on Voice07)
NOTES: This probably consists of making the best of necessity. Even before the potato blights of the 1840s, so many Catholics were on such small farms that they could raise nothing but potatoes. Anything else, including meat discarded by the landlord, would be a treat. Yes, the boar's head was sometimes called a delicacy (see "The Boar's Head Carol"), but that seems to be mostly because the rest of the boar came with it.... - RBW
File: RcNPOIPH
===
NAME: Nickety Nackety: see The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin [Child 277] (File: C277)
===
NAME: Nicky Tams
DESCRIPTION: Singer works as a plowman, always wearing his nicky tams. He courts "bonnie Annie," who admires his nicky tams. A wasp flies up his pants in church; he won't go again without them. He thinks about other jobs, but he'll never forget wearing his nicky tams
AUTHOR: G. S. Morris
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930s (composed)
KEYWORDS: courting clothes farming work humorous bug worker
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland, England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MacSeegTrav 107, "Nicky Tams" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1875
RECORDINGS:
Jimmy McBeath, "Nicky Tams" (on Voice05)
Jimmy Scott, "Nickie Dams" (on Borders1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Berryfields of Blair" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
The Berryfields of Blaie (File: K339)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
A Pair of Nicky Tams
NOTES: According to MacColl & Seeger, "Nicky tams," aka "yorks," "yaks," or "wull-tams," were leather thongs worn buckled just below the knee, to prevent the trouser legs from dragging in the mud. They were essential parts of a ploughman's attire. - PJS
File: McCST107
===
NAME: Nid de Fauvettes, Le (The Warbler's Nest)
DESCRIPTION: French. I hold this nest of baby warblers. They cannot escape. Their father and mother try to rescue them and I return them. Teach them to fly here and, next year, to sleep in the oak and they will compose songs of youth.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage lyric nonballad bird
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 791-792, "Le Nid de Fauvettes" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Pea791
===
NAME: Nigger in the Woodpile: see Old Dan Tucker (File: R521)
===
NAME: Nigger Tune, The: see Push Along, Keep Moving (File: JHCox180)
===
NAME: Night Before Larry Was Stretched, The
DESCRIPTION: "The night before Larry was stretched (hanged), the boys all paid him a visit." They come to commiserate with Larry, the most gallant, sporting -- and rebellious -- of the lot. He dies gallantly, "grow[s] white" at the name of King William, and is buried
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1813 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads 377); the tune seems to have been in use by 1803 (implied by its use in Jemmy O'Brien's Minuet, published in _Paddy's Resource or the Harp of Erin_)
KEYWORDS: rebellion execution Ireland funeral
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1688-1702 - Reign of William III of Britain, whose victory at the Boyne (1690) solidified British rule over Ireland
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
PBB 95, "The Night Before Larry Was Stretched" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 208, "The Night before Larry was Stretched" (1 text)
OLochlainn-More 52A, "The Night Before Larry Was Stretched" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LARRYSTR*
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 289-292, "The Night Before Larry Was Stretched" (1 text)
H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 475-477, 514, "The Night Before Larry Was Stretched"
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 377, "The Night Before Larry Was Stretch'd"[last 5 lines missing], J. Evans (London), 1780-1812; also Harding B 28(199), "Night Before Larry Was Stretch'd"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Skipper's Wedding" (tune)
cf. "Jemmy O'Brien's Minuet" (partial tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Cats' Eyes (broadside NLScotland, L.C.1269(170b), "Cats' Eyes," Poet's Box (Glasgow?), 1858
Crafty Codger, or The Placehunter Out (Healy-OISBv2, pp. 111-113)
To G. K. Chesterton (Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), p. 692)
NOTES: Sparling, p. 514: "Hitherto the 'Night' has, through carelessness or ignorance, been printed incomplete, even by Graves, but the present version is unmutilated. It has been obtained by the careful collation of very many old chap-books and ballad-sheets." OLochlainn-More 52A is essentially the same as Sparling.
[Regarding the authorship:] _Handy Andy_ is a novel Samuel Lover published in 1842. Discussing authorship of street ballads, a character says, on page 468, "'The Night Before Larry Was Stretched' was done by a bishop they say." (The edition is in the _Irish Literature_ series published by PF Collier and Son, under _The Selected Writings of Samuel Lover,_ Vol 6, _Handy Andy_ part 2).
Sparling, p. 514: "Dublin street song, wrongly attributed to Dean Burrows; the only thing at all certain as to its origin is that he did not write it [supported by a reference to A.P. Graves].... The real writer was probably William Maher, best known as 'Hurlfoot Bill,' a worthy of the type he so well describes." - BS
File: PBB095
===
NAME: Night Express, The
DESCRIPTION: "One day I met a little girl beyond the railroad bridge" and asks her about her life and what she is doing there. Her father is an engineer on the train. He asks if she worries about her father. The girl says that God will protect him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1893 (Locomotive Engineer's Monthly Journal)
KEYWORDS: father children train virtue questions railroading family mother gods
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 567-570, "The Night Express" (2 texts, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
[Wilmer] Watts & [Frank?] Wilson, "The Night Express" (Paramount 3007/Broadway 8113 [as by Watts & Wiggins], 1927)
Wilmer Watts & the Lonely Eagles, "Bonnie Bess" (Paramount 3277, 1931; on TimesAint05)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Bonnie Bess
NOTES: No relation to either version of "My Bonny Black Bess." That one's about a horse. - PJS
File: RcTNiExp
===
NAME: Night Guard, The
DESCRIPTION: As cowboys relax around the fire, the night guard sings to the cattle and thinks of his sweetheart. At dawn, one of the steers attacks the guard's horse, which throws him; he is killed by the steer. The girl grieves and seems to grow old prematurely
AUTHOR: Unknown, possibly Jack Webb
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (recording, Jack Webb)
KEYWORDS: grief love death work animal lover cowboy worker
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #11522
RECORDINGS:
Jack Webb, "The Night Guard" (Victor V-40285, 1930; on AuthCowboys, MakeMe, WhenIWas2)
File: RcTNiGua
===
NAME: Night Herding Song
DESCRIPTION: The tired cowboy advises the herd, "O slow up, dogies, quit your roving around, You've wandered and trampled all over the ground." He tells how, whatever method he uses, he can never keep the cattle still. He again urges the cattle to relax
AUTHOR: Harry Stephens
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (Lomax)
KEYWORDS: cowboy work animal request
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Larkin, pp. 26-29, "Night Herding Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 193, "Night Herding Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 82, "Night-Herding Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Saffel-CowboyP, p. 214, "Night-Herding Song" (1 text) 
DT, NITEHERD*
Roud #4444
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Little Dogies" (on PeteSeeger09, PeteSeegerCD02)
Marc Williams, "Night Herding Song" (Brunswick 497, c. 1931; on MakeMe)
File: LoF193
===
NAME: Night I Stole Old Sammy Morgan's Gin, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer steals a jug of gin from Sammy (Sandy) Morgan, drinks it all, and hallucinates -- seven bears, an owl taking tickets, an ape in britches -- before passing out. When he awakes, "someone had stole my head/And left an elephant's there instead"
AUTHOR: C. E. (Hank) Snow
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1936 (composed)
KEYWORDS: theft drink animal humorous
FOUND_IN: Can(West)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, MORGNGIN
RECORDINGS:
Hank Snow, "The Night I Stole Old Sammy Morgan's Gin" (RCA Victor 21-0356, 1950; rec. c. 1947)
Stanley G. Triggs, "Sandy Morgan's Gin" (on Triggs1)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Sandy Morgan's Gin
NOTES: The Canadian country singer Hank Snow apparently wrote this before he first recorded in 1936, but didn't record it until 1947; before 1961, however, it had entered oral tradition, as Triggs notes "I learned this song in a logging camp in the Kootenays but know nothing of its origin." - PJS
File: DTMrggin
===
NAME: Night of the Ragman's Ball, The
DESCRIPTION: The ragmen and women have a ball with fights, music, food and drink, and more fights. Many are named. "Black eyes they were in great demand, not to mention split heads at all, So anyone wants to commit suicide let them come to the Ragman's Ball"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1913 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: fight dancing drink food music party humorous moniker
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn 62, "The Night of the Ragman's Ball" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3006
File: OLoc062
===
NAME: Night Visiting Song
DESCRIPTION: Young man comes visiting his love's window, bidding her admit him. She does, and a good time is had by all until daybreak, when they part at the crowing of the cock
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: sex nightvisit chickens
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, NITEVIST
RECORDINGS:
Norman Kennedy, "Night Visiting Song" (on BirdBush2)
Louis Killen, "The Cock" (on BirdBush2)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Grey Cock" (motif)
NOTES: Lloyd notes that night-visiting and bundling were common customs in country villages until the rise of Puritanism, and that bundling was still remembered in the Orkneys. The mention of the cock's crowing provides a link to "The Grey Cock." - PJS
File: DTnitevi
===
NAME: Nightengale, The: see Green Grows the Laurel (Green Grow the Lilacs) (File: R061)
===
NAME: Nightingale (II), The: see One Morning in May (To Hear the Nightingale Sing) [Laws P14] (File: LP14)
===
NAME: Nightingale (III), The: see Well Met, Pretty Maid (The Sweet Nightingale) (File: K089)
===
NAME: Nightingale, The [Laws M37]
DESCRIPTION: A rich girl's parents force her poorer lover to sea aboard the Nightingale. When the ship sinks in a gale, the boy's ghost appears to the girl and accuses her parents of leaving his body to rot in the Bay of Biscay
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1847
KEYWORDS: ship love poverty death ghost wreck
FOUND_IN: US(MA) Canada(Mar) Britain(Scotland,England(North)) Ireland Australia
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws M37, "The Nightingale"
Doerflinger, pp. 304-305, "The Nightingale" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H75a, p. 145, "The Nightingale (I)" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 589, NGALEWRK
Roud #1093
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y4:029, "The Nightingale," John Ross (Newcastle), 19C
File: LM37
===
NAME: Nightingales Sing, The: see One Morning in May (To Hear the Nightingale Sing) [Laws P14] (File: LP14)
===
NAME: Nimrod's Song, The
DESCRIPTION: "Come all ye friends of Newfoundland Who have a mind to roam O'er the wild and stormy ocean...." The crew sails from Newfoundland to the ice. They have great trouble and sorrow. The crew are listed. The singer hopes Captain Barbour will find a better ship
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Murphy, Songs Sung by Old Time Sealers of Many Years Ago)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship hardtimes moniker
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, pp. 74-75, "The Nimrod's Song" (1 text)
NOTES: Not related to "The Wreck of the Nimrod," which obviously is about a shipwreck....
Despite this song, the _Nimrod_ was by no means a failure as a sealer; Chafe reports that she set a record in 1871 with 28,087 seals. It's a good name for such a ship; Nimrod was "a mighty hunter before the Lord" (Genesis 10:9).
She also had a distinguished later career: Built in Scotland in 1865, _Nimrod_ eventually was fitted out for Ernest Shackleton's 1907 Antarctic expedition. She returned to England in 1909, and Shackleton sold her a year later to finance future expeditions, including the ill-fated _Endurance_ expedition of 1914. - RBW
File: RySm074
===
NAME: Nine Hundred Miles
DESCRIPTION: "I'm a walking down the track, I've got tears in my eyes, Trying to read a letter from my home. If that train runs me right I'll be home tomorrow night." The singer will pawn anything or do whatever is needed to get home (to his sweetheart)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (JAFL)
KEYWORDS: train love separation home
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 503-517, "Reuben's Train/Train 45/900 Miles" (2 texts plus exceprts equivalent to about three more, 2 tunes; the first text is close to "Reuben's Train," the second to "Nine Hundred Miles," but the article is mostly devoted to showing how the two songs mix)
BrownIII 285, "The Midnight Dew" (1 text, with an unusual introductory verse but most of the rest goes here)
Lomax-FSUSA 73, "900 Miles" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 464, "900 Miles" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 53, "Nine Hundred Miles" (1 text)
DT, MILES900
Roud #4959
RECORDINGS:
Fiddlin' John Carson "I'm 900 Miles from my Home" (OKeh 40196, 1924)
George & Bobby Childers, "Five Hundred Miles" (on FolkVisions2)
Woody Guthrie & Cisco Houston, "Nine Hundred Miles" (on AschRec2)
Riley Puckett, "Nine Hundred Miles from Home" (Columbia 15563-D, 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rain and Snow" (opening lines of tune)
cf. "Reuben's Train"
NOTES: Some versions of "Reuben's Train," such as the Grayson/Whitter "Train 45" recording, are so mixed with this song that it's literally impossible to tell whether they are versions of this song or that; those interested should consult the references to both songs. - RBW
"Five Hundred Miles," composed by Hedy West and popular in the 1960s folk revival, is essentially a rewrite of this song with a different tune, but several overlapping verses. - PJS
File: LxU073
===
NAME: Nine Miles from Gundagai (The Dog Sat in the Tuckerbox)
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of his time as a bullock driver. His worst experience happened nine miles from Gundagai, in a cold storm, with the team bogged, the fire out, (the crew fighting). As a final insult, the dog sat (or "shat") in the tuckerbox
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1956
KEYWORDS: Australia hardtimes dog
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 95-96, "Nine Miles from Gundagai" (1 text with no title given)
Fahey-Eureka, p. 184, "Nine Miles from Gundagai" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GUNDAGRD*
Roud #10221 AND 9121
RECORDINGS:
John Greenway, "The Dog Sat in the Tuckerbox (Nine Miles from Gundagai)" (on JGreenway01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Bill the Bullocky" (lyrics)
NOTES: Gundagai was a town of no particular account in itself. Its position at the midpoint of the Sydney-Melbourne road has, however, made it the setting for many folk songs.
A statue in Gundagai commemorates a dog sitting forlornly on a tuckerbox (food box), guarding it for his master.
John Greenway, however, points out the falseness of this picture. He notes that bullock drivers and swagmen "kept dogs only to have something to kick."
He also notes, delicately, "That's what this song is about: a bullock driver who had the ultimate in bad luck -- not only did his wagon axle break and the team get bogged in the mud and his matches get soaked in the rain, but his dog capped the climax by s...itting (there is an aspirate missing) IN -- not ON -- the tucker box!" - RBW
File: MA095
===
NAME: Nine Pound Hammer: see Take This Hammer (File: FR383)
===
NAME: Nine Times a Night
DESCRIPTION: A handsome sailor named "Nine Times a Night" arrives in London after a voyage and is seen by a"handsome rich widow." She entices him to marry her. He "trimmed her sails" five times; she wonders why he can't manage the nine times of his name
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1982 (the broadsides are almost certainly Victorian if not earlier)
KEYWORDS: sex bawdy marriage sailor humorous
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, NINETIME*
Roud #18411
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(555), "9 times a night," unknown, n.d; also Harding B 17(219a), "9 times a night," unknown, n.d.
NOTES: Field collections of this seem to be relatively few; I might have suspected A. L. Lloyd of writing it had it not been for the broadsides. It's interesting to note that these generally don't admit of a printer -- perhaps to avoid prosecution?
WARNING: Clinincal biology ahead. Sort of graphic, and also one of the areas of science some religions find offensive.
There are sound reasons of evolutionary biology why males cannot do it "nine times a night." It has to do with something called "sperm competition" -- or, rather, the human lack of same. You can read about this in such places as Richard Dawkins's book _The Ancestor's Tale_, pp. 203-211, and (with a more gruesome side quest into infanticide among monkeys) in Matt Ridley's _The Red Queen_, pp. 213-226.
Dawkins, p. 210, has an interesting little graph, of the ratio of body mass to testes mass in primates -- in effect, of how much sperm each species produces. The interesting thing about this ratio is that the species above average all engage in extremely high levels of sexual activity. Ridley's numbers: "a female gorilla will mate about ten times for every baby that is born [while] a female chimp will mate five hundred to a thousand times" (p. 217)
This correlates closely with behavior. Male gorillas, which have small testes and low sperm production, keep harems of (if they're lucky) six or so females. These harems are stable; the female will have no other mate while part of one. So the male doesn't have to have much sperm; if the female get pregnant, he knows he's the father.
It's very different in chimpanzees. Male chimps have been observed to murder the offspring of a female who has not mated with them. The only way for the female to prevent this is to mate with as many male chimps as possible, so that all the males might be the father of her child. So the males inevitably have evolved to produce as much sperm as possible in order to try to out-reproduce everyone else. Fatherhood, for chimps, is partly a matter of luck -- but partly a matter of being able to really take advantage of opportunity when it's offered.
This has been shown in many other species. Gibbons are monogamous and have small testes. Monkeys have all sorts of sexual patterns, with sperm production correlating with the number of partners.
Humans -- well, on the graph they are on the low end of the scale. Not as low as gorillas, but definitely among the species that don't engage in sperm competition. That doesn't necessarily mean that we are meant to be monogamous, but it *does* imply fixed pair bonds -- if not monogamy, then at least something like (polygamous) marriage: Any male "expects" to have near-exclusive access to a female at the time she conceives. So there is no advantage to a male in doing it "nine times a night"; if the first one or two don't do it, the woman probably is at the wrong time of her cycle to conceive.
The conclusion is somewhat ironic: If women want men able to do it "nine times a night," they have to share their favors around a lot more. And, in that case, they wouldn't *need* someone capable of "nine times a night"; they just need the ability to attract lots of men.
And, yes, I know full well I'm spoiling the song.... - RBW
File: RcNinNig
===
NAME: Nine-Thirteen Men, The
DESCRIPTION: "A famous oldtime racing crew... rowed the old 'Blue Peter' in the time of nine-thirteen." They set a record in the Regatta Day race on Quidi Vidi Lake. The singer wishes "those men of nine-thirteen," who are listed, will "ferry souls where Jordan rolls"
AUTHOR: "L.E.F. English, O.B.E."
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (Blondahl)
KEYWORDS: racing sports moniker
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Blondahl, pp. 116-117, "The Nine-Thirteen Men" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Blondahl: "The 'BLUE PETER' made her record 'voyage' across Quidi Vidi Lake (pond), St John's, during the summer Regatta of 1901; her time of 9 minutes 13 4/5 seconds has never been surpassed, or even equalled." - BS
File: Blon116
===
NAME: Ninety-Eight
DESCRIPTION: "Ho! cease our mourning." The victories and defeats of 1798 are recalled. "Let the strife renew ... No longer dally, wake up and rally... What if defeated? Death comes -- then greet it -- Why all must meet it, aye, soon or late."
AUTHOR: "Ned of the Hill" (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1898 (according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: battle rebellion death nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 74, "Ninety-Eight" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Cappa Hill" (tune)
cf. "Anach Cuain" (tune)
NOTES: The "Ned of the Hill" is of course not Edmond O'Ryan, the hero of the song of that name, who died a century before 1798.
The timing of this call for rebellion is strange; by 1898, Irish nationalism had gone relatively quiet, and Gladstone had made his first attempts to pass Home Rule (though they had failed and cost the Liberals control of the British parliament). But, of course, there were always die-hards. - RBW
File: Moyl074
===
NAME: Ninety-Nine Blue Bottles: see Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer (File: R456)
===
NAME: Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer
DESCRIPTION: Need I really tell you? "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, Ninety-nine bottles of beer, Take one down and pass it around, Ninety-eight bottles of beer...." And so on, ad nauseum, drunkenness, or exhaustion
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 456, "Ninety-Nine Blue Bottles" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 190, "Ninety-Nine Blue Bottles" (1 text)
DT, BOT99*
Roud #7603
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Eight Little Cylinders" (counting)
cf. "Ten Little Injuns" (counting)
NOTES: Randolph's and Brown's texts, obviously, refers to "blue bottles" rather than "bottles of beer"; might this be an attempt to clean up the song for a temperate audience?
I will admit amazement that neither Randolph nor Brown seems to know this in its common form -- but then, they probably were born in the days before school buses took students on field trips. - RBW
File: R456
===
NAME: Ninety-Nine Years (I)
DESCRIPTION: Singer, while gambling, thinks about how the woman he loves ran away with another man. He kills him (or her), is arrested and imprisoned. He has served forty years, but "still has ninety-nine." When the train rolls by with the woman he loves, he cries
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (recordings, Jess Hillard, Ledford & Nicholson, Martin & Roberts)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer sits down to gamble, thinking about how the woman he loves has run away with another man. He does something (kills her? kills her lover?), is arrested, tried and sentenced to prison. He has served forty years, but "still has ninety-nine." When the train rolls by with the woman he loves, he hangs his head and cries
KEYWORDS: grief jealousy infidelity love violence crime murder prison punishment trial lover prisoner
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Callahan Brothers, "Ninety-Nine's My Name" (Perfect 7-04-63, 1937)
Jess Hillard, "Ninety-Nine Years" (Champion 16398, 1932)
Steve Ledford & Donald Nicholson w. Carolina Ramblers String Band, "Ninety-Nine Years" (Perfect 12787, 1932)
[Asa] Martin & [Bob] Roberts, "Ninety-Nine Years" (Banner 32426/Melotone M-12436/Perfect 12799/Conqueror 7967, 1932)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner [Mac and Bob] "Ninety-Nine Years, Parts1 & 2" (Brunswick 588, 1932)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) [Laws H2]" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Elton Britt, "The Answer to 99 Years" (Conqueror 8288, 1934)
NOTES: There is another song with the same title; that one can be identified by its opening lines, "The courtroom was crowded/The judge waited there" and by the line "Ninety-nine years, boys, is almost for life." - PJS
File: Rc99Year
===
NAME: No Balls at All
DESCRIPTION: A young maiden weds a man with no balls at all.  Her mother advises her to seek comfort from a young man.  She does, and a "bouncing young baby was born in the fall to the wife of the man who had no balls at all."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918
KEYWORDS: baby bawdy humorous husband wife
FOUND_IN: Australia Britain(England) US(MW,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Cray, pp. 158-162, "No Balls at All" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman II, pp. 677-678, "No Balls at All" (1 text)
DT, NOBALLS*
Roud #10136
RECORDINGS:
Anonymous singers, "No Balls at All" [two versions, by different singers] (on Unexp1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "An Old Man Came Over the Moor (Old Gum Boots and Leggings)"
cf. "I Wouldn't Have an Old Man"
cf. "Maids, When You're Young"
cf. "My Husband's Got No Courage in Him"
cf. "What Can a Young Lassie"
cf. ""The Strawberry Roan" (tune, some versions)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
No Hips at All (marginally cleaned-up version)
NOTES: This is one of a large group of traditional songs and ballads dealing with May-December marriages. - EC
File: EM158
===
NAME: No Bread for the Poor: see The Orphan Girl (The Orphan Child) (File: R725)
===
NAME: No Depression in Heaven
DESCRIPTION: Singer describes the Great Depression in apocalyptic terms, predicting the end of the world. He says he is going to heaven where there's no Depression.
AUTHOR: J. D. Vaughan, according to Bill C. Malone, _Don't Get above Your Raisin'_
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (recording, Carter Family); reportedly written 1932
KEYWORDS: poverty hardtimes religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 116, "No Depression in Heaven" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 227, "No Depression in Heaven" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "No Depression in Heaven" (Decca 5242, 1936; Montgomery Ward 8006 [as "No Depression"], 1939)
Charlie Monroe & his Kentucky Pardners, "There's No Depression in Heaven" (RCA Victor 20-2055, 1946)
New Lost City Ramblers, "No Depression in Heaven" (on NLCR09, NLCRCD1)
SAME_TUNE:
No Disappointment in Heaven (on Boggs2, BoggsCD1)
NOTES: The Great Depression is generally considered to have extended from the stock market crash of 1929 to the beginning of World War II in 1939. However, it is worth noting that conditions for farmers had already been depressed for several years before this. [Due in part to the revival of European agriculture after World War I. In Minnesota, the political side effects are still felt to some extent today, in the relative strength of third party politics.]
This is a reworking of the hymn "No Disappointment in Heaven". - PJS
File: ADR116
===
NAME: No Hidin'-Place: see No Hiding Place AND Sinner Man (File: FSWB370C)
===
NAME: No Hiding Place
DESCRIPTION: "There's no hiding place down there (x2), I ran to the rock to hide my face, The rock cried out, 'no hiding place.'" "The rock cried out, 'I'm burning too... I want to go to heaven the same as you." "Sinner man he stumbled and fell...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad Hell
FOUND_IN: US(SE) Bahamas
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 616, "No Hidin'-Place" (2 texts, but the "B" text appears to be "Sinner Man")
Silber-FSWB, p. 370, "No Hiding Place" (1 text)
Roud #3408
RECORDINGS:
Marian Anderson, "Dere's No Hidin' Place Down Dere" [medley with "Every Time I Feel the Spirit"] (Victor 2032, 1940)
Carter Family, "There's No Hiding Place Down Here" (Montgomery Ward M-4547, 1935)
Hampton Institute Quartette, "There's No Hiding Place Down Here" (Victor 27472, 1941)
Lulu Belle & Scotty, "There's No Hiding Place Down Here" (Conqueror 9695, 1941)
David Pryor et al, "Time" (AAFS 505 A1, 1935; on LomaxCD1822-2)
NOTES: I am slightly hesitant about including the recording of "Time" under this title. However, it has the recurrent verse, "I went to the rock...The rock cried out 'No hiding place,'" which is close enough for me. - PJS
File: FSWB370C
===
NAME: No Irish Need Apply
DESCRIPTION: "I'm a decent boy just landed From the town of Ballyfad; I want a situation, yes, And want it very bad." He applies for various jobs, but is told time and again, "No Irish need apply." (At last he attacks one of the bosses and gains a job)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1953
KEYWORDS: emigration discrimination Ireland nonballad work fight
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 41-42, "No Irish Need Apply" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 364-366, "No Irish Need Apply" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 292, "No Irish Need Apply" (1 text)
DT, NOIRISH*
Roud #1137
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "No Irish Need Apply" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07a, AmHist1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "An Irish Laborer" (subject)
cf. "The Honest Irish Lad" (subject)
cf. "What Irish Boys Can Do" (subject)
File: DTnoris
===
NAME: No Letter in the Mail
DESCRIPTION: Singer hasn't received an answer to his love-letter. He has written that he was wrong and to blame, and that he loves her truly. He walks down the road, saying if he doesn't get a letter in the mail, he'll "bid this world goodbye"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (recording, Happy-Go-Lucky Boys)
KEYWORDS: loneliness love abandonment suicide lover
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #11577
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff, "No Letter in the Mail" (Conqueror 9810, 1941/OKeh 06585, 1942)
Happy-Go-Lucky Boys, "No Letter in the Mail Today" (Bluebird B-8467, 1940)
Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys, "No Letter in the Mail" (Bluebird B-8611, 1941)
Martin Young & Corbett Grigsby, "No Letter in the Mail" (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Letter that Never Came" (theme)
File: RcNLITM
===
NAME: No More Auction Block: see Many Thousand Gone (Auction Block) (File: FJ030)
===
NAME: No More Booze (Fireman Save My Child)
DESCRIPTION: "There was a little man... He went to the Saloon on a Sunday afternoon And you ought to heard the bartender holler, No more booze... No more booze on Sunday... Got to get your can filled on Monday. She's the only girl I love.... O fireman, save my child."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: drink nonsense
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Sandburg, pp. 208-209, "No More Booze (Fireman Save My Child)" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, NOBOOZE*
RECORDINGS:
Radio Mac [pseud. for Harry McClintock], "Fireman Save My Child" (Victor V-40234, 1930)
File: San208
===
NAME: No More Cane on this Brazos: see Ain't No More Cane on this Brazos (File: LxA058)
===
NAME: No More Shall I Work in the Factory
DESCRIPTION: "When I set out for Lowell, some factory for to find, I left my native country And all my friends behind." The worker lives a life driven by the factory bell. She plans to leave the factory and go home. She will soon be married and live a freer life
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (JAF Vol. 28)
KEYWORDS: work worker hardtimes home weaving factory technology
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 122-124, "The Lowell Factory Girl" (1 text); pp. 125-126, "No More Shall I Work in the Factory" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 331-332, "The Factory Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 128, "The Factory Girl" (1 text)
DT, NOMOFACT
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "A Laundry Song" (lyrics)
NOTES: The oldest version of this song seems to be the "Lowell Factory Girl" text quoted in the description; this broadside is very full. Greenway believes this version originated before 1840; the wages mentioned fit 1830, and the Panic of 1837 killed off many of the small New England farms, meaning that the factory girl would have no home to which to return.
The localized "Lowell Factory Girl" gradually spread and generalized, producing the more universal text "No More Shall I Work in the Factory." As the latter consists almost entirely of verses found in the former, however, they can surely be considered one song.
This should not be confused with the J. A. Phillips song "The Factory Girl" (c. 1895), which begins, "She wasn't the least bit pretty, And only the least bit gay." - RBW
File: Grnw122
===
NAME: No More, My Lord
DESCRIPTION: "No more, my Lord (x2), Lord, I'll never turn back no more." "I found in him a resting place And he has made me glad." "Jesus is the man I am looking for, Can you tell me where he's gone?" "Go down, go down in the floweryard And... you may find him...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad Jesus
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
BrownIII 567, "Gwine Down to Jordan" (1 short text); 617, "No More! No More!" (1 short text)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 15, (no title; the first line is "I'm gwine down to Jordan -- Hallelu!") (1 fragment, which could be anything; I'm filing it here in desperation based on the similarity to Brown's title)
Scott-BoA, pp. 312-313, "No More, My Lord" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15975
RECORDINGS:
Jimpson, "No More, My Lord" (LoC, 1947; on Babylon)
Sister Marie Knight, "I'll Never Turn Back No More" (Candy 4002, n.d. but post-World War II)
NOTES: According to the editors of Brown, this may have inspired W. C. Handy's "I'll Never Turn Back No More." - RBW
File: SBoA312
===
NAME: No More! No More!: see No More, My Lord (File: SBoA312)
===
NAME: No Room at the Inn (I)
DESCRIPTION: "When Caesar Augustus had raised a taxation, He assessed all the people that dwelt in the nation." Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem, but cannot find a place at the inn. They eventually find a stable, where Jesus is born
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1833 (Sandys)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible Jesus Christmas childbirth
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
OBC 114, "No Room at the Inn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 374, "No Room at the Inn" (1 text)
NOTES: I find it hard to believe that this is actually a traditional song; the wording is too ornate and contorted.
The details in this song are either fictional or derived from Luke 2; the birth narrative in Matthew plays no part. Of course, we should also note that the account in Luke 2 is incorrect; there is no record of this particular census, and even if there had been such a census (possible, given the available documentation, but unlikely), the Romans would not allow such a mess in a frontier province threatened with Parthian invasion. - RBW
File: FSWB374A
===
NAME: No Room at the Inn (II)
DESCRIPTION: Song/story -- Mary and Joseph find no room at the inn; the staff treats them haughtily. They return to the stable holding their mule; the animals treat them better than humans had, making room for Mary to give birth, breathing on Jesus to keep him warm
AUTHOR: Song segment unknown; story by Vera Ward Hall
EARLIEST_DATE: 1945 (interview with Vera Ward Hall)
KEYWORDS: hardheartedness poverty travel childbirth Bible religious animal family Jesus
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #13974
RECORDINGS:
Vera Ward Hall, "No Room at the Inn" (on LomaxCD1706)
NOTES: It probably need not be pointed out that the account of Jesus's birth in Luke (the source for all the incidents mentioned) does not say that the staff of the inn in Bethlehem mistreated Mary and Joseph; it merely says there was no room there.
The behavior of the animals in the stable is equally fictitious; the Lukan account not only doesn't mention animals, it doesn't even explicitly mention a stable! We call it a stable simply because it contained a "manger" (though the Greek word, phatne, feed-trough, sometimes extends to mean a stable). - RBW
File: RcNRATI2
===
NAME: No Room for a Tramp: see Willy, Poor Boy (File: CSW112)
===
NAME: No Sign of a Marriage [Laws P3]
DESCRIPTION: The girl says she has been waiting long enough for marriage. Her sweetheart, who thinks marriage too "confining," suggests she find someone else. She does, and invites him to her wedding. He tries to talk her out of the marriage, but it is too late
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: courting wedding infidelity rejection
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So) Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Laws P3, "No Sign of a Marriage"
Ord, pp. 83-84, "The Tardy Wooer" (1 text)
Randolph 111, "Polly and Willie" (2 fragments, 1 tune)
Warner 149, "Indeed Pretty Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 203, "No Sign of a Marriage" (2 texts)
Peacock, pp. 542-544, "A Lad and a Lass" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 725, NOSIGN
Roud #582
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Pretty Polly
NOTES: This is another of the pieces that Laws assigns to Britain on little evidence (there is a mention of a promise of "five hundred pounds"). The only versions known to Laws or the editors of the Brown collection are the two North Carolina texts in Brown.
It may be, however, that this was an error in the printed edition of Laws, because there *is* a British equivalent in "The Tardy Wooer." I initially split these following Laws -- but in fact they even share lyrics, and so are now lumped. - RBW
File: LP03
===
NAME: No Sir! (No Sir!): see No, John, No (File: R385)
===
NAME: No to be Married Ava
DESCRIPTION: "Our Girzie was noo thirty-six, Though some rather more did her ca', And ane quite sae auld to get married Has little or nae chance ava." The old maid finds herself teased, and desperately offers to wed any man, whatever his faults, rather than stay unwed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: oldmaid courting husband
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 308-310, "No to be Married Ava" (1 text)
Roud #7161
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Maid's Song (I)" and references there
File: FVS308
===
NAME: No Use to Rattle the Blind
DESCRIPTION: This song is part of a cante-fable in which the wife warns her lover that the husband is at home by singing a song.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy nightvisit husband wife infidelity
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 342-345, "No Use to Rattle the Blind" (3 texts, 1 tune)
NOTES: This plot first appears in 1353 in Boccaccio's _Decameron_, Day VII, Tale I. It is Type 1419H in the Aarne-Thompson inex "Types of the Folktale" (Helsinki, 1961). - EC, RBW
Legman gives extensive notes to the folktale and cante-fable in Randolph-Legman I. - EC
File: RL342
===
NAME: No-e in the Ark: see Who Built the Ark? (File: RcWBTA)
===
NAME: No, John, No
DESCRIPTION: The man asks the girl if she will marry. She informs him that her father has told her to answer all men's questions "No." After several exchanges, he asks something like "Do you refuse to marry me? Do you want me to leave?" She, of course, answers "No."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Sharp)
KEYWORDS: courting questions rejection
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,So) Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
Randolph 385, "No Sir! No Sir!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Eddy 48, "No, Sir" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 138, "No Sir" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 14, "No, Sir" (2 texts plus mention of 2 more)
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 98, "'No, Sir, No!'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, p. 81, "No, Sir; No" (1 text)
Sharp-100E 68, "O No, John!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 161, "Uh-Uh, No" (1 text, 1 tune, probably with more than a little of "Wheel of Fortune" mixed in)
Silber-FSWB, p. 345, "No John" (1 text)
BBI, ZN2244, "Pretty Betty, now come to me" (?)
DT, ONOJOHN*
Roud #146
RECORDINGS:
Ron & Bob Copper, "No, John, No" (on FSB1)
Sam Larner, "No Sir, No Sir" (on SLarner02)
Pete Seeger, "No Sir No" (on PeteSeeger14)
Stoneman Family, "The Spanish Merchant's Daughter" (Victor V-40206, 1928; on AAFM3)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Keys of Canterbury"
cf. "Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady)"
cf. "The Nonsense of Men" (theme)
File: R385
===
NAME: No, My Boy, Not I: see Oh, No, Not I (File: DTmarryn)
===
NAME: No, Never, No
DESCRIPTION: "They sat by the fireside, his fair daughters three, They talked of their father who sailed on the sea." Each list the gift she will give if he never again goes to sea. But he dies in a storm. Each verse ends with the phrase, "No, never, no."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (Heart Songs)
KEYWORDS: death drowning gift father children sailor separation
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 556-557, "No, Never, No" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: BNEF556
===
NAME: No, No, Never: see Wild Rover No More (File: MA069)
===
NAME: Noah Built the Ark
DESCRIPTION: "Noah built his ark and he built it on the ground, the Lord sent a flood and turned it around. The door flew open and the beasts walked in." The story of the Flood, with chorus, "And I cannot stay away, my Lord, And I cannot stay away."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: Bible ship flood religious
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', p. 212, "Noah Built the Ark" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Uncle Noah" (subject) and references there
NOTES: For background on the Noah story, see the notes to "Old Uncle Noah."
This may be related to one of the other Noah songs, but it's short enough that it's hard to tell.. - RBW
File: ThBa212
===
NAME: Noah, Noah: see Old Uncle Noah (File: E075)
===
NAME: Noah's Ark (I)
DESCRIPTION: Floating spiritual verses, most of which refer to inequities between the rich and the poor and the inevitability of death. Refrain refers to Noah and the ark but most of the verses don't mention it at all
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1920
KEYWORDS: death nonballad playparty religious
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 36, "Noah's Ark" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3639
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Let the Dove Come In" (lyrics)
cf. "All My Trials" (lyrics)
cf. "De Fust Banjo (The Banjo Song; The Possum and the Banjo; Old Noah)" (theme)
File: WB2036
===
NAME: Noah's Ark (II): see Old Uncle Noah (File: E075)
===
NAME: Noble Duke of York, The
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, the Noble Duke of York, He had (ten) thousand men, He marched them up to the top of the hill And he marched them down again. And when they were up, they were up, And when they were down they were down...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1894 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: army nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
BrownIII 99, "The Duke of York" (1 text)
Opie-Oxford2 549, "Oh, the brave old Duke of York" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #201, p. 138, "(Oh, the brave old Duke of York)"
Silber-FSWB, p. 390, "The Noble Duke of York" (1 text)
ST FSWB390B (Full)
Roud #742
NOTES: Since the Dukedom of York is usually bestowed upon the Prince of Wales's oldest brother, or other fairly senior prince, there have been a lot of them in history, and many of them important. This makes it hard to guess which Duke of York (if any) might be the subject of this little satire. I've seen suggestions over the years, but not one was convincing enough for me to remember it until I had to write this entry.
The standard suggestion seems to be that it was Frederick Augustus (1763-1827), second son of George III, who was made a soldier in spite of a clear lack of ability in this department. The Baring-Goulds even specify the hill as Mount Cassel in Belgium. But even they admit the rhyme does not resemble actual events.
In any case, I can imagine candidates going back all the way to Richard, Duke of York from 1415.
(The Shakespeare characterization of that York, it should be noted, is all wrong. He *was* rightful King of England, but he never sought the throne until Margaret of Anjou forced him to do so. Hence a sufficiently anti-Lancastrian partisan could have mocked him for his hesitation.)
Gomme describes this as the music for a game, "Find the Ring."
There is a nursery rhyme, "The King of France went up the hill" (Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #209, p. 144) which looks as if it might be a parody of this. - RBW
File: FSWB390B
===
NAME: Noble Duke, The [Laws N15]
DESCRIPTION: A girl's lover has been pressed to sea. She carefully disguises herself as a duke -- with such success that the ship's crew is afraid of her. She accuses her lover of robbery. He denies it. She reveals herself, and there is a happy reunion
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: pressgang cross-dressing ship trick reunion disguise
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE) Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws N15, "The Noble Duke"
SHenry H584, p. 331, "The True Lovers' Departure" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 803, NOBLDUKE*
Roud #238
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Simple Ploughboy
The Pretty Ploughboy
File: LN15
===
NAME: Noble Fisherman, The, or, Robin Hood's Preferment [Child 148]
DESCRIPTION: Robin goes to sea as a fisherman. He is scoffed at as a lubber, but when the fishing vessel is approached by a French ship of war his prowess with the bow permits the fishermen to take it and its cargo of gold.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1631 (Stationer's Register)
KEYWORDS: Robinhood ship battle
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Child 148, "The Noble Fisherman, or, Robin Hood's Preferment" (1 text)
Bronson 148, comments only
OBB 124, "The Noble Fisherman or Robin Hood's Preferment" (1 text)
BBI, RZN15, "In summer time when leaves grow green"
Roud #3958
NOTES: For background on the Robin Hood legend, see the notes on "A Gest of Robyn Hode" [Child 117]. - RBW
File: C148
===
NAME: Noble Fleet of Sealers, A
DESCRIPTION: "There's a noble band of sealers being fitted for the ice, They'll take a chance again this year though fat's gone down in price...." The ships set out to take the seal. When they get back to St. John's, the sailors hope for good luck and good food
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship travel
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 162-164, "A Noble Fleet of Sealers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, pp. 10-11, "A Noble Fleet of Sealers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 74-75, "A Noble Fleet of Sealers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ryan/Small, pp. 114-115, "A Noble Fleet of Sealers" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FMB162 (Partial)
Roud #4530
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ferryland Sealer"
cf. "The Old Polina" (tune)
NOTES: This song bears many resemblances, in the first verse and the melodic pattern, to "The Ferryland Sealer" -- which also derives from eastern Canada. But this piece has a different chorus, and the latter verses are different, so I tentatively distinguish them. - RBW
File: FMB162
===
NAME: Noble Man, The: see A Gentleman of Exeter (The Perjured Maid) [Laws P32] (File: LP32)
===
NAME: Noble Ribbon Boys, The
DESCRIPTION: "It was on the first of May, my boys, in the year of thirty-one," 63 Ribbonmen went to the commons to fight Billies. On June 5 300 marched unchallenged to the commons. A health is drunk to those in jail and the "Manual and Platoon ... secrecy" is cited.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1831 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: violence Ireland political
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann 39, "The Noble Ribbon Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 19: "In some parts of Ulster, Protestant and Catholic tenants were mingled and contended for the land; the peasantry was thus divided into two camps, each having its oath-bound association. This led to a sort of religious war. At the end of the eighteenth century the Catholic "Defenders" were opposed to the Protestant "Peep o'Day Boys" or "Orangemen." The "Defenders were succeeded by the "Ribbonmen," (song [Zimmermann] 39). In parts of counties Tyrone and Monaghan, according to Carleton [p. 19 fn. 14: W. Carleton's _Autobiography_, p. 83], the whole Catholic population was affiliated to Ribbonism, and it would have been dangerous to avoid being involved in the system." Zimmermann 34, "Owen Rooney's Lamentation": "My prosecutor swore so stout I was the man he saw, That encouraged all the Ribbonmen that came from Lisbellaw." 
Zimmermann: "The 'Billies' were the Orangemen, whose hero was William of Orange." - BS
For another song of the Defenders and Peep o' Day Boys, see "Bold McDermott Roe." For other songs of the Ulster conflicts of this period, see "The Battle That Was Fought in the North," "Owen Rooney's Lamentation, "The Lamentation of James O'Sullivan," and possibly "March of the Men of Garvagh." - RBW
File: Zimm039
===
NAME: Noble Skewball, The: see Skewball [Laws Q22] (File: LQ22)
===
NAME: Nobleman and Thrasher, The: see Jolly Thresher, The (Poor Man, Poor Man) (File: R127)
===
NAME: Nobleman, A
DESCRIPTION: "A nobleman lived in a mansion, And he courted his own serving maid." He bursts into her bedroom and tries to seduce her. She refuses his advances; she fears pregnancy. He promises to care for her ub that case. She refuses again; he marries her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1985 (recording, Cathie Stewart)
KEYWORDS: courting nobility rejection clothes marriage servant
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #6326
RECORDINGS:
Cathie Stewart, "A Nobleman" (on SCStewartsBlair01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Broom of Cowdenknows" [Child 217] (plot) and references there
NOTES: Somewhat reminiscent of the story of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Edward, who couldn't see a pretty girl without trying to get into bed with her, tried to seduce the blonde widow of Sir John Grey, but she allegedly said that she was not good enough to be his wife, but too good to be his mistress. So he married her -- to the great detriment of England, sine the marriage arguably added two more phases to the Wars of the Roses (by irritating the Earl of Warwick, which caused the unrest of 1470-1471, and because Edward, when he died in 1483, left only a teenage son with impossibly grasping relatives as his heir, leading to the usurpation or Richard III).
Of course, no one really knows if Elizabeth Woodville said that, and even if she did, it's probably too early to have inspired this song, since Edward and Elizabeth married in 1464. - RBW
File: RcANoble
===
NAME: Nobleman's Daughter, The: see Caroline and Her Young Sailor Bold (Young Sailor Bold II) [Laws N17] (File: LN17)
===
NAME: Nobleman's Wedding, The (The Faultless Bride; The Love Token) [Laws P31]
DESCRIPTION: A man disguises himself to attend the wedding of the girl he loved before he went away. He sings a song that reminds her of her unfaithfulness and promises to return her love token. She swoons and returns to her mother's home. She dies before morning
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1855 (Petrie)
KEYWORDS: disguise wedding infidelity death grief hardheartedness jealousy love marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) US(MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (13 citations)
Laws P31, "The Nobleman's Wedding (The Faultless Bride; The Love Token)"
Belden, pp. 165-166, "The Faultless Bride" (1 text)
SharpAp 105, "The Awful Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H60a, pp. 400-401, "An Old Lover's Wedding"; H60b, p. 401, "The Laird's Wedding" (2 texts, 2 tune, the second mixed with "All Around My Hat")
Ord, pp. 132-133, "The Unconstant Lover" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 164, "The Nobleman's Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
McBride 1, "Another Man's Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 158-159, "Green Willow" (1 text, probably this piece though not so listed by Laws)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 75, "The Nobleman's Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 691-697, "Nobleman's Wedding" (4 texts, 3 tunes)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 30, "The Nobleman's Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 142-143, "To Wear a Green Willow" (1 text)
DT 509, NOBELWED
ST LP31 (Partial)
Roud #567
RECORDINGS:
Eddie Butcher, "Another Man's Wedding" (on Voice06)
Sara Cleveland, "To Wear a Green Willow" (on SCleveland01)
Maude Thacker, "The Famous Wedding" (on FolkVisions1 -- a very confused version)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Green Willow Tree
NOTES: According to Hazlitt's _Dictionary of Faiths & Folklore_, to wear the willow meant that one had been forsaken by a lover.
Norman Ault's _Elizabethan Lyrics_ claims that the first mention of wearing green willow comes in a poem by John Heywood: "All a green willow, willow, willow, All a green willow is my garland." The manuscript, BM Add. 15233, is dated c. 1545. We also find the notion in Shakespeare's "Othello," IV.iii, and in Salisbury's "Buen Matina" (1597).
Roud lumps this with "All Around My Hat." That's *really* a stretch. - RBW
The "Awful Wedding" subgroup ("I'll tell you of an awful wedding"), despite the similarity in titles, is *not* "The Fatal Wedding." - PJS, RBW
File: LP31
===
NAME: Nobody Cares for Me: see I Wish I Was a Little Bird (Nobody Cares for Me) (File: San338)
===
NAME: Nobody Coming to Marry Me: see My Father's a Hedger and Ditcher (Nobody Coming to Marry Me) (File: BrII185)
===
NAME: Nobody Knows
DESCRIPTION: The singer complains of being misunderstood: "Nobody knows how heavy my load, Nobody knows how thorny my road, Nobody knows cares if I'm troubled in the way, How dark the night, how dark the day." Only Jesus, who understands, will help
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Warner 171, "Nobody Knows" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa171 (Partial)
Roud #7488
RECORDINGS:
Sue Thomas, "Nobody Knows" (on USWarnerColl01)
NOTES: As Warner notes, this is NOT "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen." - RBW
File: Wa171
===
NAME: Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen
DESCRIPTION: "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen, Nobody knows but Jesus." "Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down, Oh, yes, Lord, Sometimes I'm almost to the ground...." The rest of the song describes the singer's life, usually in spiritual terms
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1865 (diary of William Francis Allen; printed 1867)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
BrownIII 615, "Nobody Knows" (1 short text)
Arnett, p. 110, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, p. 97, "Nobody Knows" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 358, "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen" (1 text)
Fuld, pp. 391-391+, "Nobody Knows de Trouble I've Seen"
DT, NBDYKNWS
Roud #5438
RECORDINGS:
A. W. Adams, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" (OKeh 8361, 1926)
Marian Anderson, "Nobody Knows de Trouble I've Seen" (Victor 19560, 1925; rec. 1924)
Louis Armstrong, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" (Decca 2085, 1938)
Mildred Bailey w. Alec Wilder, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" (Columbia 35348, 1939)
Cotton Pickers Quartet, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" (Conqueror 8360, 1934; rec. 1931)
Elkins Sacred Singers, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" (Cameo 830, 1925)
Excelsior Quartet, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I See" (OKeh 4636, 1922)
Fisk University Jubilee Singers, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I See" (Rainbow 724, c. 1922)
Caroline & May Floyd, "Nobody Knows de Trouble I See" (Champion 15103, 1926)
Jimmie Gordon's Vip Vop Band ("Nobody Knows the Trouble I See", Decca 7764, 1940; rec. 1939)
Musical Artists Quartet, "Nobody Knows de Trouble I've Seen" (Columbia 1953-D, 1929; rec. 1928)
Paramount Singers, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I See" (Trilon 234, n.d. but probably c. 1939)
Paul Robeson, "Nobody Knows de Trouble I've Seen" (Victor 20068, 1926)
Southernaires Male Quartet, "Nobody Knows de Trouble I've Seen" (Decca 2859, 1939)
Edna Thomas, "Nobody Knows de Trouble I Sees" (Columbia 1863-D, 1929; rec. 1928)
Tuskegee Institute Singers, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I See" (Victor 18237, 1917; rec. 1915)
File: Arn110
===
NAME: Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out
DESCRIPTION: Singer recalls once living high, but is now broke; friends no longer come around. " If I ever get my hands on a dollar again/Gonna hold onto it till that eagle grins." " If I ever get back on my feet again/Everybody wants to be my long lost friend"
AUTHOR: probably Ida Cox - B. Feldman
EARLIEST_DATE: Jan. 1929 (recordings, Aunt Jemima Novelty Four & Pinetop Smith)
KEYWORDS: poverty drink hardtimes friend
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, DOWNOUT
Roud #18521
RECORDINGS:
Aunt Jemima Novelty Four, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (Brunswick 7056, 1929)
Louis Jordan & his Tympani Five, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (Decca 29018, 1954)
Julia Lee & her Boyfriends, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (Capitol 1009, 1950; rec. 1947)
Bessie Smith, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (Columbia 14451-D, 1929; Columbia 37577, 1947)
Pinetop Smith, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (Vocalion 1256, 1929)
NOTES: There seems to be some uncertainty about the authorship of this piece; the Digital Tradition lists it as by "Jimmy Cox." Given that it came out in early 1929, it might almost have been an anthem for the Great Depressions -- except that hardly anyone could buy records then.
I was surprised at the lack of traditional collections. Maybe it's the unusual melody -- my traditionally-tuned voice finds it hard to follow the intervals despite hearing the songs many times. - RBW
File: RcNKYWYD
===
NAME: Nobody's Business
DESCRIPTION: Singer confesses to all sorts of infractions -- rambling, drinking, gambling -- but says it's "nobody's business if I do." He says he might even kill somebody; his girlfriend "runs a weenie stand..." and drives a Cadillac, but it's all nobody's business
AUTHOR: Porter Grainger, Clarence Williams, Graham Prince, Everett Robbins?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1911 (JAFL)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer confesses to all sorts of infractions -- rambling, drinking, gambling -- but says it's "nobody's business if I do." He says he might even kill somebody; morphine, cocaine and women will drive him out of his mind; his money goes to buy his girlfriend fancy clothes; "she runs a weenie stand/way down in no man's land" and drives a Cadillac, but it's all nobody's business
KEYWORDS: sex murder clothes gambling rambling drink nonballad whore
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Emry Arthur, "Nobody's Business" (Vocalion 5230, 1927)
Jerry Behrens, "Nobody's Business" (OKeh 45564, 1932)
Warren Caplinger's Cumberland Mountain Entertainers, "Nobody's Business" (Brunswick 294, 1929; Brunswick [Canada] 224, 1928)
Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Jordan & his Tympany Five, "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do" (Decca 27200, c. 1950)
Alberta Hunter, "T'ain't Nobody's Biz-ness" (Paramount 12018, 1923) 
Mississippi John Hurt, "Nobody's Dirty Business" (OKeh 8560, 1928; on MJHurt01, MJHurt02)
Earl Johnson & his Dixie Entertainers, "Ain't Nobody's Business" (OKeh 45092, 1927, on Rough2)
[Billy] Jones & [Ernest] Hare, "Nobody's Business" (CYL: Edison [BA] 5115, n.d.)
Lulu Belle & Scotty, "It Ain't Nobody's Bizness" (OKeh 04962, 1939)
Sara Martin w. Fats Waller "'Tain't Nobody's Bus'ness If I Do" (OKeh 8043, 1923; rec. 1922)
Charles Nabell, "Nobody's Business" (OKeh 40389, 1925)
Riley Puckett, "Nobody's Business" (Bluebird B-6103, 1935; Bluebird B-8621, 1941)
Roy Sexton & his Arizona Hoedowners, "Nobody's Business" (Old Timer 8013, n.d.)
Bessie Smith, "Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do" (Columbia A3898, 1923)
Leo Soileau & his Aces, "Nobody's Business" (Decca 5101, 1935)
Walker's Corbin Ramblers, "Nobody's Business" (Vocalion 01648, 1934)
Lena Wilson, "Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do" (Victor 19085, 1923)
Jimmy Witherspoon, "Ain't Nobody's Business, Pts. 1 & 2" (Supreme 1506/Swing Time 263, 1947)
NOTES: This shouldn't be confused with Will E. Skidmore & Marshall Walker's 1919 "It's Nobody's Business But My Own," which concerned the extracurricular activities of a deacon. Skidmore and Walker copyrighted that song (and Bert Williams recorded it on Columbia A2750 the same year), but the JAF reference precedes that copyright, so it's likely they arranged and adapted a traditional piece. And, while I have not seen the sheet music to the copyrighted version, I strongly suspect it doesn't contain all the verses listed above. - PJS
File: RcNobBu1
===
NAME: Nobody's Darling: see Nobody's Darling on Earth (File: R723)
===
NAME: Nobody's Darling on Earth
DESCRIPTION: "I'm out in this bleak world alone, Walking about in the streets... Begging for something to eat." The orphan lost mother at a very young age. Now "I'm nobody's darling on earth; Heaven have mercy on me, For I'm nobody's darling, Nobody cares for me."
AUTHOR: Will S. Hays
EARLIEST_DATE: 1870 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: orphan poverty hardtimes begging
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Randolph 723, "I'm Nobody's Darling on Earth" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 471-472, "I'm Nobody's Darling on Earth" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 723A)
Fife-Cowboy/West 56, "Red River Valley" (3 texts, 1 tune, the "B" text belonging here)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 21-23, "Nobody's Darling" (1 text, 1 tune, plus the sequel "They Say I Am Nobody's Darling")
Roud #4338
RECORDINGS:
Cumberland Ridge Runners, "Nobody's Darling" (Conqueror 8162, 1933)
Grayson & Whitter, "Nobody's Darling" (Gennett 6304/Champion 15395 [as by Greysen Thomas & Will Lotty ], 1928)
Kelly Harrell, "Nobody's Darling on Earth" (Victor 20657, 1927; on KHarrell02)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "Nobody's Darling on Earth" (Bluebird B-6460, 1936)
Wade Mainer & Zeke Morris, "Nobody's Darling on Earth" (Bluebird B-6423 [as "Nobody's Darling but Mine"]/Montgomery Ward 5028, 1936)
North Carolina Ridge Runners, "Nobody's Darling" (Columbia 15650-D, 1931; rec. 1928; on LostProv1)
SAME_TUNE:
Gene Autry, "Answer to Nobody's Darling" (Melotone 6-08-51, 1936) (Conqueror 8685, 1936)
Gene Autry, "That's Why I'm Nobody's Darling" (Conqueror 8808, 1937)
Patsy Montana & the Prairie Ramblers, "Woman's Answer to Nobody's Darling" (Perfect 6-08-52/Conqueror 8655 [as Salty Holmes w. the Prairie Ramblers], 1936)
Tex Ritter, "Answer to Nobody's Darling But Mine" (Champion 45197, 1935)
NOTES: Note that the Autry and Montana recordings [in the "Same Tune" field] have successive catalog numbers, and both were "answer" songs to the main entry. The record company was clearly milking this song for all it was worth -- and getting fresh copyrights, to boot. - PJS
The Fifes consider their "Little Darling" text ("Come sit by my side, little darling, Come lay your cool hand on my brow, And promise me that you will never Be nobody's darling but Mine") to be a Red River Valley variant. As, however, the chorus does not fit the "Red River Valley" tune, and the rest of the words go with this piece, I classify it here.
Spaeth (in _Weep Some More_, pp. 40-41) has another piece, "Driven from Home," which has the same theme and some of the same words, but no chorus; I can't tell if it's the same or not, or if it's traditional. - RBW
I suspect, without having heard the recordings, that "Nobody's Darling But Mine" is a Same Tune variant. - PJS
File: R723
===
NAME: Noel Girl, The: see The Wexford (Oxford, Knoxville, Noel) Girl [Laws P35] (File: LP35)
===
NAME: Nonsense of Men, The
DESCRIPTION: "I hate to be teased by the nonsense of men," so the girl accepts her mother's advice to always say "No" to men. But young piper Donnelly wins her heart; after many requests, "I mistook and said Yes!" She lives happily and advises others to say "Yes."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection marriage
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H472, pp. 258-259, "The Nonsense of Men" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1459
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "No, John, No" (theme)
File: HHH472
===
NAME: Nonsense Saw
DESCRIPTION: Nonsense rhymes showing how to pronounce "Arkansas": "I love a girl from Arkansaw, Who can saw more wood than her Maw can saw." "I sing a saw Of maid I saw In Arkansaw." "Her maw can saw, Her paw can saw, And she can saw In Arkansaw."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Allsopp)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonsense wordplay nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), pp. 195-196, "Nonsense Saw" (2 texts)
ST FORA195 (Partial)
NOTES: Allsopp reports that there were problems in the 1840s with the pronunciation of "Arkansas." Hence this poem (or complex of poems). It's not clear that they were ever sung, but Allsopp reports that they were genuinely popular. - RBW 
File: FORA195
===
NAME: Noomanally  Shore, The: see The Eumerella Shore (File: MA155)
===
NAME: Nor Will I Sin
DESCRIPTION: "Nor will I sin by drinking gin And cider, too, will never do Nor brewer's beer my heart shall cheer Nor sparkling ale my face to pale. To quench my thirst I'll... bring Clean water from the well or spring... I pledge... hate To all that can intoxicate"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1903 (Pinesville Democrat)
KEYWORDS: drink promise
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 336, "Nor Will I Sin" (1 fragment)
Roud #7808
File: R336
===
NAME: Nora Daly
DESCRIPTION: Singer meets Nora Daly driving a donkey-cart on the way to the fair near Miltown Malbay. They part for fear of her father. "After years abroad sojourning" he returns to County Clare and they marry happily.
AUTHOR: Tomas O hAodha (Tom Hayes)(1866-1935) of Miltown Malbay (source: notes to IRClare01)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1974 (recording, Micho Russell)
KEYWORDS: love marriage return reunion separation father
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #8002
RECORDINGS:
Micho Russell, "Nora Daly" (on Voice01)
File: RcNoraDa
===
NAME: Nora Darling: see Barney McCoy (File: R776)
===
NAME: Nora McShane: see Norah McShane (File: HHH157)
===
NAME: Nora O'Neal
DESCRIPTION: "I'm lonely tonight, love without you... I love you dear Norah O'Neal." The singer's love he can never conceal. The nightingale's song reminds him of her. He says he will see her tomorrow; they will kiss. "I'll never be lonely again"
AUTHOR: Will S. Hays
EARLIEST_DATE: 1869 (broadside, NLScotland L.C.1269(158a)); reportedly composed 1866
KEYWORDS: courting love nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 141, "Nora O'Neal" (1 text)
Roud #4976
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.26(298)[some words illegible], "Norah O'Neal" ("Oh! I'm lonely to night, love, without you"), T. Pearson (Manchester), 1850-1899; also Harding B 11(3772), "Norah O'Neill"
LOCSinging, as109760, "Nora O'Neal," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
NLScotland L.C.1269(158a), "Norah O'Neil," Poet's Box (address illegible), 1869
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Shamus O'Brien" (sequel to this song)
NOTES: Source: Re author -- "The Music of William Shakespeare Hays 1837-1907" on PD Music site. - BS
William Shakespeare Hays was of course an American (born and died in Kentucky), as songs such as "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" attest, so this song is obviously "stage Irish" -- and yet, it seems to appear almost entirely in Irish collections. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging as109760: 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: OCon141
===
NAME: Norah: see Who Built the Ark? (File: RcWBTA)
===
NAME: Norah Darling: see Barney McCoy (File: R776)
===
NAME: Norah Darling, Don't Believe Them
DESCRIPTION: The singer must leave Norah "but I leave my heart with thee." He tells her not to forget him or to believe another suitor's "flattering wiles," "tale of love" or "treacherous whispers."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: courting love separation nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 149, "Norah Darling, Don't Believe Them" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.8(258), "Norah Darling, Don't Believe Them", unknown, n.d. 
File: OCon149
===
NAME: Norah Magee
DESCRIPTION: "Oh Norah, dear Norah, I can't live without you... Come back to old Ireland, the land of our childhood...." The singer laments the absence of Norah, gone over the sea, and hopes she will return someday to Ireland.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation Ireland emigration
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H778, p. 387, "Norah Magee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4718
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland L.C.Fol.70(86b), "Norah Magee," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890
NOTES: Sam Henry observed that this song was "in great vogue" around 1870, but I know of no other field collections. I do find myself strongly reminded of "Barney McCoy" -- but the similarity is at a level far removed from the details of the songs.
Poverty, of course, forced many Irish to migrate to America, and not just in the nineteenth century. It's not usual for the girl to go without the boy, but it's not unknown, either. And men need the chance to sing lost love songs, too. - RBW
File: HHH778
===
NAME: Norah McShane
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls leaving (Ballymoney), and admits to being "as wretched can be" in the new land. He misses buttermilk, the old mud house, peat fires, and of course Norah McShane. Even with no money, it was a better life than this
AUTHOR: Eliza Cook (?)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1841 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1841 380630); supposedly written 1838
KEYWORDS: emigration homesickness separation
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H157, p. 207, "Norah McShane" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, pp. 50-51, "Nora McShane" (1 text)
Roud #9059
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2717), "Norah Mc.Sheen" or "I Am Leaving Ballimoney," J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also 2806 c.15(9/10)[some illegible words], "Norah MacShane"; Harding B 11(3881), 2806 b.11(10), Firth c.26(16), Harding B 11(56), Harding B 11(1814), "Norah M'Shane"
LOCSheet, sm1841 380630, "Norah McShane," C. E. Horn (New York), 1841; also sm1850 650070, sm1850 471280, "Norah McShane" (tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Scarborough Settler's Lament" (theme) and references there
cf. "Lake Chemo" (parody)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Nora McShane
NOTES: The LOCSheet broadsides note "poetry by [Miss] Eliza Cook" and music attributed either to W. J. Wetmore or Charles Horn Junr. - BS
File: HHH157
===
NAME: Nordfeld and the Raleigh, The
DESCRIPTION: The "Nordfeld" and the "Raleigh" are two ships wrecked close together in the Strait of Belle Isle. The singer tells of the scavenging of both ships and remarks that had he or his listeners been there, they would have partaken in the spoils.
AUTHOR: George Williams
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: wreck ship
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Aug 1922 - Wreck of the Raleigh
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 142, "The Nordfeld and the Raleigh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, p. 47, "The Nordfeld and the Raleigh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 64, "The Norfeld and the Raleigh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6346
NOTES: The HMS _Raleigh_ was a new light cruiser on a tour of the United States and Canada when the captain was persuaded to go off course through the Strait of Belle Isle for some good fishing. It wrecked near the Point Amour lighthouse in Labrador. For these and other details, consult David J. Molloy, _The First Landfall: Historic Lighthouses of Newfoundland and Labrador_ (St. John's: Breakwater, 1994), pp. 94-96. Currant Island, the author's home, is on the Newfoundland side just south of the Strait and not particularly close to the events in the ballad. - SH
File: Doy47
===
NAME: Norfeld and the Raleigh, The: see The Nordfeld and the Raleigh (File: Doy47)
===
NAME: Norfolk Girls, The
DESCRIPTION: "Our topsails reef'd and filled away, All snug aloft we know... Here's a health to all the Norfolk girls, And Portsmouth maidens too." The singer talks of the labors and dangers of a life at sea, always recalling the Norfolk girls and Portsmouth maidens
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Shay)
KEYWORDS: sailor work battle
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 172-177, "The Norfolk Girls" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST ShaSS172 (Partial)
File: ShaSS172
===
NAME: North Carolina Hills, The
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, the North Carolina Hills, How majestic and how grand, With their summits bathed in glory Like our Prince Immanuel's land." The singer repeatedly praises their beauty and their peoples; he must depart, but hopes to return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 402, "The North Carolina Hills" (1 text)
Roud #11757
File: Br3402
===
NAME: North Country Maid, A
DESCRIPTION: "A north country maid to London had strayed Although with her nature it did not agree." She laments the home she has left behind, its trees, its fields, its people. She hopes soon to be able to return home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: A maid from northern England (Westmoreland), who has strayed to London, wishes she were home; she sings the praises of the north country and its ways; she vows that she'll not marry until she returns, preferring to wed a north country man. She hopes to return in less than a year. Chorus: "The oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree/They flourish at home in my own country"
KEYWORDS: homesickness rambling
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 14-15, "O the Oak, and the Ash, and the Bonny Ivy Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 62, "The Oak And The Ash" (1 text)
DT, NCNTRYMD* NCNTRYM2*
Roud #1367
NOTES: This looks like the source for the "oak and the ash" lines that appear in the choruses of many versions of "Rosemary Lane," "Ambletown," "Bell-Bottom Trousers," and other members of that most tangled of song families, typically with no relevance to those songs' plots. If I had my guess, I'd say the recombinant chorus was grafted onto those songs' common ancestor at some point early in its evolution. - PJS
For the complex relationship between this song, "Ambletown," and "Rosemary Lane" [Laws K43], see the notes to the latter song. - PJS, RBW
This song does not seem to have any "plot relationship" to the other two traditional songs; the common element is simply the chorus ("Oh the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree They flourish at home in my own country"). The language of this piece, however, hints at literary origin; indeed, it looks like a typical pastoral. - RBW
File: LK43B
===
NAME: North Highlands, The
DESCRIPTION: "Down in  yon meadow, I chanced for to spy A bonnie young lassie that pleased my eye.... Bonnie lassie, come to the North Hielands wi' me." He offers lands and wealth; she says her parents would object. He turns to go; she consents to go with him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: love courting money father mother separation
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 87, "Bonnie Lassie, Come to the North Hielands" (1 text)
Roud #5565
File: Ord087
===
NAME: North Star (II), The: see The Merchant's Only Son [Laws M21] (File: LM21)
===
NAME: North Star, The
DESCRIPTION: North Star sails from Ireland for America. On December 8, "close to the wild Welsh shore the North Star struck, that very night, upon that fatal rock ... Out of near five hundred passengers, but twenty-one were saved"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1900 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 b.9(261))
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck sailor
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 94-95, "The North Star" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Bodleian, 2806 b.9(261), "The North Star", J.F. Nugent & Co. (Dublin), 1850-1899; also Firth b.27(109/110) View 1 of 2, "The North Star"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Vivandeer" (tune)
NOTES: Ranson: Tune is "The Vivandeer" on p. 112. - BS
File: Ran094
===
NAME: Northamptonshire Poacher, The: see The Lincolnshire Poacher (File: K259)
===
NAME: Northern Bonnie Blue Flag, The
DESCRIPTION: Northern answer to "The Bonnie Blue Flag": "We're fighting for our Union, We're fighting for our trust.... Hurrah, hurrah, For equal rights, hurrah! Hurrah! for the good old flag That bears the stripes and stars."
AUTHOR: (various)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar parody patriotic nonballad derivative
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Belden, p. 382, "The Flag with the Thirty-Four Stars" (1 text)
Scott-BoA, pp. 218-219, "The Northern Bonnie Blue Flag" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7760
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bonnie Blue Flag" (tune & meter) and references there
NOTES: This is actually a complex of songs rather than a single piece; various poets evidently made answers to "The Bonnie Blue Flag." I've lumped them because they all had, at best, only the weakest holds on tradition.
The version in Scott, which gives this entry its title, is listed as by Isaac Ball, and is a very short piece praising the freedom fighters of the North. I doubt that it is traditional at all.
Belden's "Flag with the Thirty-Four Stars" technically came from oral tradition, but the informant probably learned it from print; there are just too many names to remember them all. Among them:
"McClellan of Bold Antietam Fame": George B. McClellan (1826-1885), who took over the Army of the Potomac after First Bull Run and led it to defeat in the Seven Days' Battle and marginal victory (despite overwhelming superiority) after Antietam. The approving mention of McClellan (and Burnside) probably dates the song to late 1862; the list by 1863 would have been very different.
"Hooker, Sigel, Kenly too": Joe Hooker (1814-1879), was in late 1862 the Army of the Potomac's most aggressive corps commander. He would go on to failure in high command.
Franz Sigel (1824-1902) commanded German troops all over the place, and almost always disastrously. The troops never gave up on him; hence perhaps the approving mention.
Kenly: The Union had a general John Reese Kenly (1822-1891), who commanded troops in the Shenandoah Valley but who managed to not be involved in most of the big battles. His name is hard to explain. I suspect he might have been confused with Phil Kearny (1814-1862), who though only a division commander was widely regarded as the best officer in the Army of the Potomac -- but he was killed before Antietam.
"Foote, Dupont, Rosecrans": Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote (1706-1863) had led the fleets that attacked Forts Henry and Donelson in early 1862, giving the Union its first major successes in the war. Wounded at Fort Donelson, he never really recovered. It is interesting to note that U. S. Grant, the land commander at Donelson, is not mentioned -- another hint that the song is from 1862, when Halleck shelved him.
Dupont: Samuel F. DuPont (1803-1865), another naval officer, commander of the fleet that took Port Royal (November 1861). In 1863 he failed to capture Charleston (the War Department gave him impossible orders), so his start too was clouded
Rosecrans: William S. Rosecrans (1819-1898). An officer of promise as a subordinate, he had successfully defended Corinth (October 1862). After that, he was given charge of the Army of the Cumberland, where he proved less successful, fighting a bloody draw at Stones River (December 1862) and losing Chickamauga (September 1863)
"Halleck, Burnside, Butler too": Henry W. Halleck (1815-1872) was theatre commander in the west, and after Grant's successes at Henry and Donelson had led the slow advance to Corinth. He was then brought to Washington as General-in-Chief. On paper, his results looked good; in reality, he was far too cautious and never managed to get the Union war machine in gear. He was much more effective as (de facto) chief of staff under Grant. But in late 1862, he still looked like a winner
Burnside: Ambrose Burnside (1824-1881) had led the successful attacks on the Carolina coast in 1862. He then joined the Army of the Potomac, and failed at Antietam, but was given command of the whole army and led it to defeat at Fredericksburg and the Mud March (late 1862/early 1863) -- still more evidence of a late 1862 date. Burnside's real problem seems to have been a complete inability to react to changing circumstances
Butler: Benjamin F. Butler (1818-1893), a political general who was perhaps the worst soldier ever to wear a Major General's stars. In 1862, however, he had "captured" New Orleans (the entire work had in fact been done by Farragut's fleet), and so was an official hero. He was also earning a reputation among the occupied as "Beast" Butler.
"old South Mountain side": The Battle of South Mountain (Sept. 14, 1862) was the first real engagement of the Antietam campaign. McClellan, possessed of Lee's "lost order," knew that Lee's army was scattered behind the South Mountain range, with only a few troops to guard the passes. McClellan, who could have destroyed Lee's army by attacking boldly, instead brought minimal force to bear, forced the passes only because Lee had such weak forces there -- and then sat for two days when he could have defeated Lee piecemeal.
South Mountain did not drive Lee from the north; rather, it gave him time to concentrate his forces at Antietam. Where McClellan again failed to destroy him. - RBW
File: SBoA218
===
NAME: Northumberland Bagpipes, The
DESCRIPTION: "A shepherd sat him under a thorn, He pulled out his pipes and began for to play, It was on a midsummer's day in the morn." A girl comes by, hears him piping, and declares, "Iy thou wilt pipe, lad, I'll dance to thee."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1701 (broadside NLScotland, Ry.III.a.10(060))
KEYWORDS: music dancing
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Stokoe/Reay, pp.  32-34, "The Northumberland Bagpipes" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR032 (Full)
Roud #3055
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, Ry.III.a.10(060), "The Merry Bagpipes," unknown, 1701
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Maggie Lauder" (theme)
SAME_TUNE:
March Boyes (per broadside NLScotland, Ry.III.a.10(060))
File: StoR032
===
NAME: Northumberland Betrayed by Douglas [Child 176]
DESCRIPTION: Northumberland flees to Scotland and is taken into custody. Despite his protestations of virtue, he is passed from hand to hand, ending in the custody of Douglas. Percy sets sail, believing he will be freed, but ends up under the control of Lord Hunsden
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1765 (Percy)
KEYWORDS: nobility rebellion escape trick ring wife betrayal prison
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Child 176, "Northumberland Betrayed by Douglas" (1 text)
Percy/Wheatley I, pp. 279-294, "Northumberland Betrayed by Douglas"  (2 texts, one being that in the Reliques and the other being the manuscript copy)
Flanders-Ancient3, p. 171, "Northumberland Betrayed by Douglas" (1 fragment, similar to the Child text but so short that it might, from its text, be something else -- e.g. some texts of "Mary Hamilton" have rather similar lyrics; the singer apparently knew more of the song  but would not repeat it)
OBB 129, "Northumberland Betrayed by Douglas" (1 text)
Roud #4006
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rising in the North" [Child 175] (subject)
cf. "The Earl of Westmoreland" [Child 177] (subject)
NOTES: For the background to Northumberland's flight to Scotland, see "The Rising in the North" [Child 175]. Having arrived in Scotland, Northumberland became a valuable pawn -- and in a nation with a child king and no real government, he wound up being passed back and forth until he came into Douglas's hands.
The Countess of Northumberland, in exile in Flanders, raised money to ransom him. But the English matched the ransom, and Northumberland was turned over to Lord Hunsdon in late 1571 and executed in 1572.
For the complete details of these proceedings, see the notes in Child.
Those desiring to see how Percy converted the manuscript text into the published text, see Nick Groom, _The Making of Percy's Reliques_, pp. 127 ffff. -- though Groom is far too sympathetic to Percy's hack-work. - RBW
File: C176
===
NAME: Norway Bum, The
DESCRIPTION: "I'm a bum and addicted to rum." His father drove the singer from home because "I loved a fair lass far beneath my own class." They married; his wife and child died in a fire in Norway. "To drown sorrow I plunged into rum... And now I am only a bum"
AUTHOR: Joe Scott?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: grief love marriage death mourning drink wife children
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 119-121, 251, "The Norway Bum" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13992
NOTES: Ives-DullCare: "No one was killed in the fire that destroyed much of Norway, Maine, in 1894, and there is no evidence to show that the song is based on a real person or incident, but, since Scott was not given to fiction, we can be reasonably sure that he thought his source ... was factual." - BS
File: IvDC119
===
NAME: Norwegian Collier, The
DESCRIPTION: Fragment:  "In the early hours of morning in the foggy atmosphere Our ship was swiftly ploughing through the foam, When a big Norwegian collier, sailing from Quebec, Ran straight into our liner, bound for home,..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: sea ship wreck sailor
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, p. 127, "The Norwegian Collier" (1 text)
File: Ran127
===
NAME: Nose On My Old Man, The
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, it's the nose that grows on my old man And it's wonderful to see -- It will live for years in my garden of misery. For it's the one red nose that the boozer knows.... Amid the drink and curse there can be no worse Than the nose on my old man!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 232-233, "The Nose on My Old Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE232
===
NAME: Nose, Nose, Jolly Red Nose
DESCRIPTION: 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: 
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Of All the Birds
File: ChWI141
===
NAME: Nose, Nose, Nose, Nose
DESCRIPTION: 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: 
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Of All the Birds
File: ChWI141
===
NAME: Not Know How to Court: see Aunt Sal's Song (The Man Who Didn't Know How to Court) (File: LoF101)
===
NAME: Not So Young As I Used to Be: see If I Were As Young As I Used to Be (Uncle Joe) (File: R434)
===
NAME: Not the Swan on the Lake
DESCRIPTION: "Not the swan on the lake or the foam on the shore Can compare with the charms of the maid I adore." The singer praises the girl and her beauty, comparing her to Venus (the planet!), and says he "feast[s]... on the smiles of my love."
AUTHOR: words translated by Ewan MacLachlan
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Sam Henry collection; earlier text in Whitelaw 1844)
KEYWORDS: love beauty nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H707, p. 227, "Not the Swan on the Lake" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1525
File: HHH707
===
NAME: Not-Brown Maid, The: see The Nut-Brown Maid (File: OBB069)
===
NAME: Nothing To Do With Me
DESCRIPTION: The singer will not denigrate others or interfere in business that has nothing to do with him. The rest of the song is gossip about his neighbors. A policeman, he hints, takes bribes. A girl married to an old man has a baby, he hints, not her husband's.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966 (recording, Martin Gorman)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad police infidelity accusation
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #5315
RECORDINGS:
Martin Gorman, "It's Nowt To Do With Me" (on Voice14)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2958), "Nothing To Do With Me!" ("Kind friends for what I'm going to say on you I will not frown"), unknown, n.d.; also Firth c.26(252), "Nothing To Do With Me"
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Firth c.26(252) says "Sung by Harry Barber and George Gordon." - BS
File: RcNTDWM
===
NAME: Nothing's Too Good for the Irish
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls his grandmother's last words. She describes, with the full force of prejudice, the roles reserved for each people (e.g. "Negroes to whitewash, Jews for cash"), then turns to her own people, concluding, "Nothing's too good for the Irish"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: death foreigner humorous
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Warner 29, "Nothing's Too Good for the Irish" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa029 (Partial)
Roud #7468
NOTES: Presumably the same as the 1894 song by J. J. Goodwin and Rosenfeld.
The chorus, in John Galusha's version at least, may be the most concentrated dose of racism I've ever seen:It stereotypes *everyone*.  - RBW
File: Wa029
===
NAME: Nottalin Town: see Nottamun Town (File: WB2006)
===
NAME: Nottamun Town (Nottingham Fair)
DESCRIPTION: The narrator goes to Nottamun Town, meets odd and mad people, and sees impossible and paradoxical sights: "In Nottamun town, not a soul would look up, not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down to show me the way to fair Nottamun town."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1865 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 18(687)
KEYWORDS: madness nonsense paradox
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 6, "Fair Nottiman Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 446, "Nottingham Fair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 302-305, "Nottingham Fair" (3 texts, 1 tune)
SharpAp 191, "Nottamun Town" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 69, "Nottamun Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 105-106, "[Nottamun Town]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 5, "Nottamun Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 8-9, "Nottamun Town" (1 text, 1 tune, called "Nottamun town" in the header though "Nottalin Town" in the notes and Index)
DT, NOTTMUN*
Roud #1044
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 18(687), "The Old Gray Mare" ("As I was a going to Nottingham fair"), H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also Harding B 18(214), "The Gray Mare"
LOCSinging, sb30373a, "The Old Gray Mare" ("As I was a going to Nottingham fair"), H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also sb20153a, "The Gray Mare" 
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Black Phyllis" (lyrics)
cf. "Paddy Backwards" (theme, lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Nottalin Town
NOTES: There were several episodes of mass insanity in Europe, probably caused by ingestion of ergot, a mold found on rye with hallucinogenic properties. - PJS
(I have also heard this song explained as the effects of the delirium caused by the plague. Compare also the song "Black Phyllis," which uses some of the same words and which appears to be about syphilis. Jean Ritchie thinks it's from a mummer's play and not intended to be understood. - RBW)
This song merges almost continuously with "Paddy Backwards," and there are probably fragments which might go with either song. - RBW
Broadsides LOCSinging sb30373a and Bodleian Harding B 18(687) are duplicates.
Broadsides LOCSinging sb20153a and Bodleian Harding B 18(214) are duplicates.
Broadsides Bodleian Harding B 18(687) and LOCSinging sb30373a: 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: WB2006
===
NAME: Nottingham Fair: see Nottamun Town (File: WB2006)
===
NAME: Nottinghamshire Poacher, The 
DESCRIPTION: The poacher goes out with his dogs to hunt. (One of his dogs is wounded, but) he catches a deer and takes it to a butcher to skin. When he attempts to sell the meat, he is arrested and tried, but finally set free. He vows to continue poaching
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(311b))
KEYWORDS: dog poaching trial accusation revenge animal judge
FOUND_IN: US(MW) Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Eddy 53, "Thornymuir Fields" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 259, "The Old Fat Buck" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 96, "Thornaby Woods" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST E053 (Full)
Roud #222
RECORDINGS:
Anne Briggs, "Thorneymoor Woods" (on Briggs2, Briggs3)
Jasper Smith, "Thornymoor Park" (on Voice18)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(311b), "Thorney Moor Wood" ("In Thorney moor woods in Nottinghamshire"), J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 11(3803), Firth c.19(58), "Thorney Moor Wood"; Harding B 25(1898), "Thorney-moor Woods"; Harding B 11(2692), Firth b.34(206), "The Lads of Thorney Moor Wood"; Johnson Ballads 887, Harding B 28(237), Firth c.19(57), "The Lads of Thorney Moor Woods" 
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lincolnshire Poacher" (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Thorny Woods
Thornymoor Woods
NOTES: [MacColl and Seeger report that] "Thorneyhaugh-Moor Woods is in the Hundred of Newark, Nottinghamshire, and was once part of Sherwood Forest." - PJS
File: E053
===
NAME: Nova Scotia Sealing Song
DESCRIPTION: In 1894 Director goes sealing, "bound for Yokahama." Before rounding Cape Horn they stop for seals at Staten Island where "for eighteen days we were hove to." They make Cape Flattery in sixty days. Now they are in Victoria waiting to finish the voyage.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: hunting sea ship shore ordeal sailor
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 200, "Nova Scotia Sealing Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2720
NOTES: Staten Island is Isla de los Estados, east of the Argentinian part of Tierra del Fuego. Cape Flattery is on the northwest coast of Washington state across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Vancouver Island; Victoria is on Vancouver Island. - BS
File: CrMa200
===
NAME: Nova Scotia Song: see Farewell to Nova Scotia (File: FJ044)
===
NAME: November Keady Fair
DESCRIPTION: The singer takes his nanny goat to the November fair at Keady. He sells her for half-a-crown. "She was nineteen times at Jim's auld buck." Now that she's gone he'll miss her wagging tail, her nipping kale in the garden, and their rows at the fireside.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1988 (McBride)
KEYWORDS: nonballad animal separation
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
McBride 56, "November Keady Fair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5311
NOTES: Keady is in County Armagh. - BS
The Irish had a rule that a young man could not marry until he had land -- a fairly effective means of population control, since it resulted in a lot of late marriage. It's one reason there are so many songs about lonely young Irishmen out looking for girls. Makes you wonder if this guy didn't come up with a substitute....
The rows at the fireside are also not unreasonable. By the mid-nineteenth century, especially in Connaught, the land had been subdivided into so many small holdings that those who were relatively fortunate enough to own an animal would perforce keep it with them in their hovel (often little more than a sod shack). Pigs were more often kept than goats, from what I've read, but obviously goats were possible too. Though, in that context, it would be unlikely that the house would have kale; all land would go to potatoes. - RBW
File: McB1056
===
NAME: Now Go and Leave Me If You Wish: see Dear Companion (The Broken Heart; Go and Leave Me If You Wish To, Fond Affection) (File: R755)
===
NAME: Now I Am a Big Boy
DESCRIPTION: "When I was a little boy My mother kept me in, But now I am a big boy, Fit to serve the king." "I can fire a musket, I can smoke a pipe, I can kiss a big girl At ten o'clock at night."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1842 (Halliwell, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: youth mother family
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 358, "Now I Am a Big Boy" (2 texts, both fragmentary, and the "A" text appears to be "Shady Grove")
Opie-Oxford2 73, "When I was a little boy" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose, p. 27, note 5, "(When I was a little boy)"
Roud #7623
File: R358
===
NAME: Now I Am a Big Boy (II): see Shady Grove (File: SKE57)
===
NAME: Now Our Meeting Is Over
DESCRIPTION: "Fathers, now our meeting is over; Fathers, we must part. And if I never see you any more, I'll love you in my heart. And we'll land on shore, Yes, we'll land on shore, We will land on shore, And be saved forevermore." Repeat with mothers, brothers, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Lomax)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad family
FOUND_IN: US(MA,SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Warner 84, "Fathers, Now Our Meeting Is Over" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, p. 571, "Now Our Meeting's Over" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MEETOVER
Roud #5716
RECORDINGS:
Dillard Chandler, "Meeting Is Over" (on Chandler01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "There Is No Place in the Height of Heaven" (floating lyrics)
File: Wa084
===
NAME: Now the War Is Over (Mussolini's Dead)
DESCRIPTION: The text: "Now the war is over, Mussolini's dead, He wants to go to heaven with a crown upon his head, The Lord says no, he's got to stay below, All dressed up and no where to go."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (on Lomax collection)
KEYWORDS: death war humorous political religious gods
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1945 - Death of Mussolini
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, WAROVR
ST DTwarovr (Full)
Roud #12945
RECORDINGS:
Scottish children, "Now the War is Over" (on Lomax43, LomaxCD1743)
NOTES: Well, it's a narrative, and it was collected from folk tradition, so what more do you want? Pity we don't have a keyword for rope-jumping songs. - PJS
Mussolini was deposed as Duce of Italy in 1943 (following the Allied invasion, in a staged coup which induced him to resign), but was "liberated" by German commandos led by Otto Skorzeny. He then set up a puppet republic in the north of Italy -- but the key word is "puppet"; he was purely and simply a German tool. (And there is reason to think he didn't like it much.)
In April, 1945, as the German resistance crumbled, the former il Duce was caught by Italian partisans, "tried," and executed. It's rather unfair that this song picks on him, rather than Hitler, who died just weeks later; Mussolini brooked no opposition, but he didn't build any concentration camps, either.
The explanation may lie in the composition of the British army: There were probably more Scots, proportionally, in Italy than on any other front. The North African army was disproportionately  composed of Commonwealth forces, while the "British" force in Normandy eventually consisted of one Canadian and one British army. The British army in Italy had probably the highest proportion of home-grown units, including Scots.
Murray Shoolbraid notes that this is an update of a World War I rhyme in which the Kaiser is the intended victim:
When the war is over and the Kaiser's deid
He's no gaun tae Heaven wi' the eagle on 'is heid,
For the Lord says No! He'll have tae go below,
For he's all dressed up and nowhere tae go.
That version probably didn't endure as well, for the simple reason that the Kaiser survived World War I; he didn't die until 1941. - RBW
File: DTwarovr
===
NAME: Now the Winter Is Past: see Queen of the May (File: SWMS190)
===
NAME: Now, My Bonny, Bonny Boy: see The Bonny Boy (I) (File: FSC037)
===
NAME: Number Ninety-Nine: see Jinny Go Round and Around (File: R272)
===
NAME: Number Twelve Train
DESCRIPTION: "Number Twelve train took my baby, I could not keep from cryin'. (x2)" The singer's woman left him; he grieves so much he thinks he is dying. He vows that his next girl "will have to do what poppa say."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: love abandonment loneliness
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 81, "Number Twelve Train" (1 text)
File: FSWB081A
===
NAME: Nurse Pinched the Baby, The
DESCRIPTION: When the nurse pinches the baby, "Mother [goes] down to the beer saloon to pray." When she catches "the rage from Doctor Dye-O," the same thing happens
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Eddy)
KEYWORDS: drink baby
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Eddy 137, "The Nurse Pinched the Baby" (1 short text, 1 tune)
ST E137 (Full)
Roud #5337
File: E137
===
NAME: Nut-Brown Maid, The
DESCRIPTION: The man claims that women, given the chance, are never true. The woman cites the case of the Nut-brown Maid. They play through the story. The woman will follow her man, even to the greenwood, and will fight for him, etc. The ballad ends by praising women
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1707 ("The Muses Mercury"); earlier found in Arnold's "Chronicle" of c. 1521 and in Richard Hill's manuscript (Balliol Coll. Oxf. 354) before 1537
KEYWORDS: infidelity love dialog outlaw
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Percy/Wheatley II, pp. 31-47, "The Not-Browne Maid" (1 text)
OBB 69, "The Nut-Brown Maid" (1 text)
ST OBB069 (Partial)
NOTES: Given its elaborate stanzaic structure, regular alternation of speakers, and elaborately formal language, it seems clear that this should be accounted a literary rather than a folk production. I know of no version in oral tradition.
A parody of this song, "The New Nutbrowne Maid," occurs as early as 1520. Obviously this makes the original even older. The earliest date depends on the age of Arnold's _Chronicle_, which is undated. The latest date I have seen is the 1521 date cited above. Garnett and Gosse's _English Literature: An Illustrated Record_, which prints a facsimile, dates the _Chronicle_ to 1502/3.
Garnett is also quite effusive about the merits of the piece, but adds that "One famous ballad stands out prominently from the rest as being, so far as is known, the invention of the anonymous writer. It is _The Nut Brown Maid_...." The only anonymous ballad? Uh-huh.
Percy's version, from what I can tell, appears to come from the _Chronicle_ text, only with several of Percy's pet archaizing tricks (he did at least improve the punctuation to something resembling sense). - RBW
File: OBB069
===
NAME: Nutting Girl, The
DESCRIPTION: A young girl goes out to gather nuts. A farmer stops plowing and begins to sing. The girl hears his sweet voice, and "what nuts she had got, poor girl, she threw them all away." They lie together, then go their ways. The song warns girls against dallying
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1895; tune 1792 (Bunting)
KEYWORDS: courting seduction music harvest farming sex pregnancy
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Kennedy 186, "The Nutting Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 214-215, "The Nutting Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, NUTGIRL*
Roud #509
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "A Nutting We Will Go" [incomplete] (AFS 4200 A2, 1938; in AMMEM/Cowell)
NOTES: The recording lists "Our Goodman" as an alternate title for Ford's recording, but "Our Goodman" it ain't. - PJS
File: K186
===
NAME: Nutting Maid, The: see The Nutting Girl (File: K186)
===
NAME: O A Iu, Nach Till Thu Dhomnaill (O A Iu, Will You Not Return?)
DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. The singer meets Donald while traversing the moors. They flirt, "he threatened to tear my chemise to shreds.... That was not what you promised me ... a ceremony of marriage."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage courting promise accusation worksong
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 178-179, "Gaelic Milling Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The description is based on the translation of Creighton/MacLeod 69 in _Gaelic Songs in Nova Scotia_ which is the same Gaelic text as Creighton-Maritime. Creighton/MacLeod: "There is a more complete version of this song in Craig's 'Orain Luaidh,' p. 66."
Creighton explains "this is a work song, used for milling, or shrinking, cloth." - BS
File: CrMS178
===
NAME: O Adam
DESCRIPTION: Dialog, in which Eve convinces Adam to eat the tree of knowledge. God orders them out of the garden. They lament, and hope to work their way back to Heaven
AUTHOR: W. W. Phelps
EARLIEST_DATE: 1845 (Times and Seasons)
KEYWORDS: religious dialog punishment
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, pp. 455-456, "O Adam" (1 text)
Roud #7834
NOTES: The story of the expulsion from the Garden of Eden occupies Genesis 3.
Belden (who calls this a "mystery play") notes that the ending of this song is "curiously unbiblical," and links it with Mormon doctrine. That it is Mormon there is no doubt, and it is true that there is no evidence in Genesis that humans can ever return to the Garden (in ordinary Christian theology this is a form of the Pelagian heresy). But I've seen equally non-biblical statements in hymns used by most Protestant denominations. - RBW
File: Beld455
===
NAME: O Blessed Lord
DESCRIPTION: "O blessed Lord, in the way thou hast gone, Lead him straight to that land above. Give him cheer everywhere to the sad and the low. Fill my way every day with love...." The singer prays for love, help, hope, and guidance
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Chappell-FSRA 98, "O Blessed Lord" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #16940
NOTES: I suspect this of being an "occasional" item (though I vacillate between thinking it's for a baptism and for a funeral). But I can't prove it. - RBW
File: ChFRA098
===
NAME: O Bud
DESCRIPTION: "I don't like no farmer's rule, says, 'Get up in the morning With the dog-goned mule.' Oh Bud, Bud, Bud, Bud, O Bud." "I'm going up the maple, Coming down the pine, Looking for a woman Got a rambling mind."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: work
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Warner 175, "O Bud" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa175 (Partial)
Roud #7491
File: Wa175
===
NAME: O Canada!
DESCRIPTION: "O Canada! Terres de nos aieux...." "O Canada! Our home and native land." Both French and English versions praise the beauties and freedoms enjoyed by Canada, the "true North."
AUTHOR: French Words: A. B. Routhier / Music: Calixa Lavalee / English Words: Dr. R. Stanley Weir
EARLIEST_DATE: 1880 (English words composed 1908)
KEYWORDS: Canada patriotic nonballad foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: Canada
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 114-116, "O Canada!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 340, "O Canada!" (1 text)
File: FMB114
===
NAME: O David
DESCRIPTION: "O David, yes, yes, My little David, yes, yes, And he killed Goliath...." "My little David... Was a shepherd's boy...." "He killed Goliath... And he shouted for joy...." "O David... Play on, David...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: Bible religious
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 204-207, "David, David, Yes, Yes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 130, "O David" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6683
NOTES: The story of David and Goliath (actually *two* stories, carefully blended together, in one of which David is Saul's aide/court musician and in another he is a shepherd visiting the battle) is found in 1 Samuel 17. - RBW
File: LoF250
===
NAME: O Du Glade Sjoman (O Ye Merry Seamen)
DESCRIPTION: Swedish shanty. Verses are of contented sailors sailing out with fond farewells to their sweethearts, and of the faith they have in their ship to bring them home again. Each stanza is repeated as a chorus.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Sternvall, _Sang under Segel_)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty sailor farewell
FOUND_IN: Sweden
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 493-495, "O Du Glade Sjoman" (2 texts-Swedish & English, 1 tune)
File: Hugi493
===
NAME: O Freedom
DESCRIPTION: Recognized by its praise of freedom and the lines "And before I'd be a slave, I'd be buried in my grave, And go home to my Lord and be free." Most versions simply praise freedom; one speaks of the slave's dead mother
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931
KEYWORDS: religious freedom slave slavery mother death nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Scott-BoA, pp. 239-240, "Oh, Freedom!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, p. 33, "Oh Freedom" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 108, "O Freedom" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, p. 354, "O Freedom" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 295, "Oh Freedom" (1 text)
DT, OHFREEDM
Roud #10073
RECORDINGS:
John Handcock, "No More Mourning (Oh Freedom)" (AFS 3238 A1, 3238 A2, 1937)
Montgomery Gospel Trio, "I'm So Glad" [medley of that song -- 'I'm so glad I'm fighting for my rights' --  and "O Freedom"] (on WeShall1, DownHome)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Free Slave"
File: LxU108
===
NAME: O Gin That I Were Mairrit
DESCRIPTION: "I'm now a lass of thirty-three, As clever a hizzie as ye'll see, And feint a ane a'er courtit me...." "(O gin that I were mairrit, mairrit, mairrit... I raley would do weel, O." The old maid lists her property and describes her skills
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: age loneliness marriage dowry clothes nonballad oldmaid
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 39-40, "O Gin That I Were Mairrit" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3786
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Wonder When I Shall Be Married" (theme, lyrics)
cf. "The Old Maid's Song (I)" and references there
NOTES: This, to me, feels so close to "I Wonder When I Shall Be Married" that I thought seriously about lumping them. But while the feeling is exactly the same, there aren't many words in common, and the ones that are are the sort you almost have to use in songs like this. - RBW
File: Ord040
===
NAME: O God, Our Help in Ages Past
DESCRIPTION: "O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast And our eternal home!" The singer hopes for help and protection from God, who has existed since before the world came to be
AUTHOR: Words: Isaac Watts (1674-1748) / Music: Credited to William Croft (1678-1727)
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), p. 35, "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #17837
File: BdOGOHIA
===
NAME: O I Believe in Jesus: see I Belong to that Band (File: Br3583)
===
NAME: O I Hae Seen the Roses Blaw
DESCRIPTION: "O, I hae seen the roses blaw, The heather bloom, the broom and a'... Yet Mary's sweeter on the green...." The singer praises the girl, wishes he could win her, says he would love anywhere she is, and declares he will wander till she loves him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: love rejection
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 16-17, "Oh! I Ha'e Seen the Roses Blaw" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR016 (Partial)
Roud #2617
File: StoR016
===
NAME: O I Shall Have Wings
DESCRIPTION: "O I shall have wings, beautiful wings, I shall have wings some day, Bright wings of love from God above, Carry my soul away." "O hallelujah to the lamb, I shall have wings someday, Jesus made me what I am...." The singer looks forward to heaven
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Chappell-FSRA 93, "The Good Old Way" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #16938
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Good Old Way (I)" (lyrics)
NOTES: It is perhaps worth noting that nowhere in the Bible are angels promised wings; indeed, the word "wing" occurs only five times in the New Testament (it's more common in the Old Testament, but usually is used either of birds' wings or in a metaphorical sense). - RBW
File: ChFRA093
===
NAME: O Johnnie, My Man: see Farewell to Whisky (Johnny My Man) (File: K272)
===
NAME: O Johnny Come to Hilo: see Johnny Walk Along to Hilo (File: Doe072a)
===
NAME: O Johnny Dear, Why Did You Go?: see Springfield Mountain [Laws G16] (File: LG16)
===
NAME: O Kings
DESCRIPTION: "O Kings, you've heard the sequel Of what we now describe; It isn't just and equal To tax this wealthy tribe."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: money nonballad royalty
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fuson, p. 195, "O Kings" (1 fragment, fourth of seven "Quatrains on the War")
ST Fus196D (Full)
File: Fus196D
===
NAME: O Lillie, O Lillie: see Rye Whiskey; also The Rebel Soldier (File: R405)
===
NAME: O Little Town of Bethlehem
DESCRIPTION: The quiet little town of Bethlehem is described, with the note that "the everlasting light" shines in its streets. The song describes the reactions of those who know of the event, and prays for the help of the holy child
AUTHOR: Words: Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1874 ("The Church Porch")
KEYWORDS: Christmas religious nonballad Jesus
FOUND_IN: US Britain
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
OBC 138, "O Little Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 378, "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 402, "O Little Town of Bethlehem!"
DT, LTTLTOWN*
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), p. 132-133, "O Little Town of Bethlehem" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: This poem is sung to different tunes in Britain and America.The American tune is by Lewis H. Redner (1830-1908), but in Britain it is usually sung to "The Ploughboy's Dream" ("Forest Green"). There is a third tune by Walford Davies, rarely sung in Britain and hardly at all in America.
Philiips Brooks was most noted as a preacher; he had several volumes of sermons published. Of his poems, only four are mentioned in _Granger's Index to Poetry_, and this is the only one to be widely reprinted. - RBW
File: FSWB378B
===
NAME: O Logie O Buchan: see Logie o Buchan (File: SWMS197)
===
NAME: O Lord, Won't You Come by Here?: see Come by Here (File: Br3621)
===
NAME: O Lulu: see O, Lula! (File: LxU077)
===
NAME: O Madam, I Have a Fine Little Horse: see The Courting Case (File: R361)
===
NAME: O Mary, Come Down!
DESCRIPTION: Shanty, though just barely, really more of a call-out. "Oh Mary, come down with your bunch of roses, come down when I call, oh Mary. Oh Mary come down!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong
FOUND_IN: West Indies
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Hugill, p. 368, "O Mary, Come Down!" (1 short text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 277]
Harlow p. 29, "A Sing Out" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #9165
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Blood Red Roses" (lyrics)
NOTES: The text of this looks very like a fragment of "Come Down You Roses/Blood Red Roses." But the tune looks different, and there is no chorus, and the purpose is different. Susan Lawlor split them, and I am very tentatively going along. - RBW
File: Hugi368
===
NAME: O My Honey, Take Me Back
DESCRIPTION: "O my honey, take me back, O my dahlin', I'll be true. I am moanin' all day long; O my honey, I love you." "I have loved you in joy and pain, In de sunshine and de rain, O my honey, heah me do, O my dahlin', I love you."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: love abandonment
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, p. 239, "O My Honey, Take Me Back" (1 short text, 1 tune)
File: San239
===
NAME: O Naaman: see Go Wash in the Beautiful Stream (File: Br3575)
===
NAME: O No, John: see No, John, No (File: R385)
===
NAME: O Sally, My Dear: see Hares on the Mountain (File: ShH63)
===
NAME: O Shepherd, O Shepherd
DESCRIPTION: Shepherd's wife offers a breakfast of bacon and beans if he will come home; he refuses, he must tend his sheep. She offers a dinner of pudding and beef, then a supper of bread and cheese. Finally she offers clean sheets and a pretty lass. He accepts.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906
KEYWORDS: marriage sex food dialog humorous wife shepherd
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland,England(South))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 74-75, "O Shepherd, O Shepherd" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SHEPWILD SHEPWIFE (cf. the notes to BONSTJON)
Roud #1055
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Greensleeves" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Bonnie Saint John (DT, BONSTJON)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Shepherd, O Shepherd
NOTES: This seems to exist in two forms, "O Shepherd O Shepherd" and "The Shepherd's Wife." The two have identical plots, but the latter -- at least as recorded by Gordeanna McCulloch, based on the version in Herd -- *feels* much bawdier, as well as more fun. (Anne Gilchrist thinks it may be derived from a singing game, and it does have rather that feel.)
The distinction is so strong that I thought of calling them separate songs, but I can't imagine a clear dividing line.
The tune of the "O Shepherd O Shepherd" versions is described as a "modal version of Greensleeves." This is a bit strong; the tune has been altered in more ways than the simple removal of accidentals. - RBW
File: VWL074
===
NAME: O Tannenbaum (Oh Christmas Tree)
DESCRIPTION: German Christmas song, known in English as "Oh Christmas Tree." In praise of the evergreen's ability to keep its needles all year long: "O tannenbaum, o tannenbaum, Wie treu sind deine blatter...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1799 (tune, "Melodien zum Mildheimischen Liederbuche"; lyrics published 1820)
KEYWORDS: Christmas nonballad foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: Germany
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 374, "Oh Tannenbaum (Oh Christmas Tree)" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 355-357, "Maryland, My Maryland -- (O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum!; Lauriger Horatius)"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Maryland! My Maryland" (tune)
cf. "Chamber Lye" (tune)
cf. "The Kinkaiders" (tune)
cf. "General Lee's Wooing" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Maryland! My Maryland (File: RJ19130)
Chamber Lye (File: RL659)
The Kinkaiders (File: San278)
General Lee's Wooing (File: SBoA233)
Lutefisk, O Lutefisk (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 20)
O Tom the Toad (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 50)
P.S. 52 (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 102)
National Embalming School (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 125)
New Mexico, We Love You (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 251)
NOTES: Ian Bradley, in _The Penguin Book of Carols_, attributes the "O Tannenbaum" words to Ernst Anschutz in 1824, but Fuld offers the 1820 date, and I'm more inclined to trust him. - RBW
File: FSWB374B
===
NAME: O the Bonny Fisher Lad
DESCRIPTION: "O, the bonny fisher lad That brings the fishes frae the sea; O, the bonny fisher lad, The fisher lad gat haud o' me." The youth lives in Bamboroughshire; the singer met him while gathering cockles. She vows she will have the fisher lad
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: love courting
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Stokoe/Reay, p. 103, "O the Bonny Fisher Lad" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR103 (Full)
Roud #3150
File: StoR103
===
NAME: O the Oak, and the Ash, and the Bonny Ivy Tree: see A North Country Maid; also Ambletown, Rosemary Lane [Laws K43] (File: LK43B)
===
NAME: O Waly Waly: see Waly Waly (The Water is Wide) (File: K149)
===
NAME: O What a Parish (The Parish of Dunkeld)
DESCRIPTION: "O what a parish, a terrible parish, O what a parish is that o' Dunkeld, They hangit their minister...." After rebelling against the organized church, the people turn the site into a meeting place; the singer wishes that all parishes saw such fellowship
AUTHOR: Adam Crawford ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: clergy humorous execution friend party
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 217-218, "O What a Parish" (1 text)
DT, PARDUNK*
Roud #13081
NOTES: Ford suspects that this song was originally written not of Dunkeld but of Kinkell, where he claims events similar to this actually took place. He offers no dates, however. - RBW
File: FVS217
===
NAME: O Where O Where Has My Little Dog Gone
DESCRIPTION: "Oh where Oh where is my little dog gone, Oh where Oh where can he be?..." The singer describes the dog, then his tastes... lager beer, the dog, and of course sausage --  but "Dey makes um mit dog und dey makes em mit horse, I guess dey makes em mit he."
AUTHOR: Septimus Winner
EARLIEST_DATE: 1864
KEYWORDS: dog death food humorous
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 57-60, "Der Deitcher's Dog" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, p. 29 (fragments filed under "The Orphan Boys")
Opie-Oxford2 139, "Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone?" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #873, p. 326, "(Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone?)"
Fuld-WFM, p. 406, "Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone (Zu Lauterbach)"
DT, LITTLDOG*
ST RJ19057 (Full)
RECORDINGS:
Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, "Where Has My Little Dog Gone" (Brunswick 187/Vocalion 5183 [as the Hill Billies], 1927)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Dunderbeck" (theme)
SAME_TUNE:
The Jackarse Eat It on the Way (Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 296-297)
NOTES: Septimus Winner for some reason put his own name on this piece and used the pseudonym Alice Hawthorne for his other hits ("Listen to the Mocking Bird" and "Whispering Hope"). Using the tune of the German song "Lauterbach," ("Zu Lauterbach"; "Zu Lauterbach Hab' Ich Mein Strumpf Verloren"; first published 1847), he created this ode (?) to an unfortunate dog.
"Deitcher" is, I believe, dialect for "German" ("Deutscher"). - RBW
File: RJ19057
===
NAME: O Where Will Ye Be?
DESCRIPTION: "O where will ye be when the first trumpet sounds? O where will ye be when it sounds so loud? When it sounds so loud as to wake up the dead?" The singer will be "among the holy," "among the angels," wearing "a royal diadem," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Chappell-FSRA 83, "O Where Will Ye Be?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12344
RECORDINGS:
The Carter Family, "Where Shall I Be?" (Victor Vi-23523, recorded 1930)
NOTES: The imagery here seems to be a bit of a conflation. The "first trumpet" phrase is suggested by Revelation 8:7, but that trumpet brings hail and fire mixed with blood. The trumpet as a symbol of resurrection is more reminiscent of 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
This seems to break up into at least two subfamilies. The Chappell text is a confident boast of salvation. The Carter Family version is much less certain; the singer is worried ("Where shall I be?") and warns of the world's sins.- RBW
File: ChFRA083
===
NAME: O Who Will Play the Silver Whistle?: see The Silver Whistle (File: K009)
===
NAME: O-o-oh, Sistren an' Bred'ren
DESCRIPTION: "O-o-oh, sistren an' bredren, Don't you think it is a sin For to go to peel potatoes An' to cas' away de skin? De skin feeds de pigs, An de pigs feeds you, O-o-oh, sistren an' bredren, Is not dat true?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: food animal
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 189, "O-o-oh, Sistren an' Bred'ren" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: About as close as traditional music gets to an ecology song, when you think about it. - RBW
File: ScaNF189
===
NAME: O, Derry, Derry, Dearie Me
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls Derry in the springtime. He remembers the sights, swimming in the Moyle, wandering among the bogs. Even in London, he smells the peat and the sea; he wishes he were home
AUTHOR: James Warnock
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: homesickness
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H536, p. 209, "Oh, Derry, Derry, Dearie Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Scarborough Settler's Lament" (theme) and references there
File: HHH536
===
NAME: O, Jeanie Dear
DESCRIPTION: "O, Jeanie dear, the flow'rs, the flow'rs are springing... the lark is winging... And to my ravished ear his wondrous singing Is all of love... and you."  The singer details how nature rejoices in Jeanie -- and he rejoices even more
AUTHOR: Words: Andrew Doey
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love bird nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H545, pp. 225-226, "O, Jeanie Dear" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7974
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Danny Boy (The Londonderry Air)" (tune)
File: HHH545
===
NAME: O, Lula!
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, Lula, oh Lord, gal, I want to see you so bad. Gonna see my long-haired baby (x2), Well, I'm goin' 'cross the country To see my long-haired gal." The singer tells how Mr. Treadmill had Mr. Goff pay the boys off; now he is home and happy with his girl
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935
KEYWORDS: train love
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Lomax-FSUSA 77, "O, Lula!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 447, "O Lulu" (1 text)
File: LxU077
===
NAME: O! Alle! O!
DESCRIPTION: Wheat-cutting song: "Watch me whet my cradle, O! Alle! O!" "I'll make it beat de beater, O! Alle! O!" "Watch me throw my cradle... I'se been all over Georgia... The storm clouds arising..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (White)
KEYWORDS: work nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Darling-NAS, pp. 325-326, "O! Alle! O!" (1 text)
File: DarNS325
===
NAME: O! Let My People Go: see Go Down, Moses (File: LxU109)
===
NAME: O! Molly Dear Go Ask Your Mother: see The Drowsy Sleeper [Laws M4] (File: LM04)
===
NAME: O! They Marched Through the Town (The Captain with His Whiskers)
DESCRIPTION: The girl looks out her window as the soldiers march by. Her eye seizes upon the captain, though she conceals this from her parents. Later they meet at the ball. Though the soldiers later depart, the girl hopes that they will soon return with her captain
AUTHOR: Words: Thomas Haynes Bayly / Music: Sidney Nelson ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Randolph; referred to in song in 1863)
KEYWORDS: courting love soldier
FOUND_IN: US(NE) Ireland
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Warner 69, "The Captain with His Whiskers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 228, "The Captain with His Whiskers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 214-215, "The Captain with His Whiskers" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 228)
SHenry H660, p. 273, "The Captain with His Whiskers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, p. 38, "The Captain with His Whiskers" (1 tune)
DT, CAPTWHSK*
Roud #2735
RECORDINGS:
Aaron Campbell's Mountaineers, "The Captain with his Whiskers" (Chamption 45038, 91935)
NOTES: Although the original version of this song makes no mention of facial hair, it is the revised version ("The Captain with His Whiskers") that seems to have captured the popular fancy. - RBW
File: Wa069
===
NAME: O'Brien O'Lin: see Brian O'Lynn (Tom Boleyn) (File: R471)
===
NAME: O'Donnell Aboo (The Clanconnell War Song)
DESCRIPTION: "Proudly the note of the trumpet is sounding, Loudly the war-cries arise on the gale... On for old Erin -- O'Donnell Aboo!" Tirconnell, and all Ireland, are urged to join O'Donnell in his fight against the English
AUTHOR: Words: Michael Joseph McCann (1824-1883)
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1843 ("The Nation")
KEYWORDS: Ireland patriotic battle rebellion
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1594 - outbreak of war between the Irish of Ulster and the invading English. (England had already conquered most of Ireland and was attempting to enforce Protestantism. At this time Ulster is still independent, and is fighting to remain so.) The next few years see heavy guerilla war, with both sides devastating the others' property. On the whole the Irish have the best of it, as Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, fights the English when he can and carefully buys time (with parleys and even requests for a pardon) when he cannot
1598 - Tyrone and "Red Hugh" O'Donnell, by a pincer movement, defeat the English at Yellow Ford (this is the first major success of Irish arms). Tyrone is able to call on the rest of Ireland to rebel; he is very nearly the de facto King
1599 - Essex leads an army to Ireland. Outmaneuvered by Tyrone (who uses as "scorched earth" policy to starve out the English), he wastes his army on garrisons which Tyrone besieges and defeats piecemeal. Essex, miserably defeated, goes home to England (without permission), bursts in on Elizabeth -- and winds up completely out of favor (so much so that he eventually raises a failed rebellion).
1600- Essex is replaced by Mountjoy, who sets out to isolate the Irish by building strong positions around Ulster. Tyrone's position worsens as Mountjoy's blockade pinches the people who form his power base.
1601 - Battle of Kinsale. Some 4000 Spanish troops had landed in September but let themselves be besieged at Kinsale. Tyrone, O'Donnell, and the Spanish are defeated by the English. O'Donnell (whose over-aggressiveness provoked the action) flees to Spain and abdicates his title to his brother Rory (Ruaidri).
1602 - Rory O'Donnell surrenders in December
1603 - Tyrone makes peace with England (March 30). The English have already destroyed the O'Neills; Tyrone retains only his English title. The English now rule most of Ireland. Rory O'Donnell also becomes an English lord, Earl of Tirconnell.
1607 - Tyrone, Rory O'Donnell and other Irish leaders go into exile (Tyrone had been summoned to London and feared to come). The English seize their lands in Ulster and begin colonization. Later known as the "Flight of the Earls," this was popularly regarded as the end of Irish hopes, though in fact the 1603 capitulation broke the Irish resistance
1608 - O'Doherty's Rebellion. Sir Arthur Chichester, who was responsible for the government of Ulster, had proposed a limited colonization. O'Doherty's revolt was a pinprick, but it convinced London to take over Ulster and suppress the natives.
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
O'Conor, p. 98, "O'Donnell Abu" (1 text)
PGalvin, pp. 12-13, "O'Donnell Aboo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 319, "O'Donnell Aboo" (1 text)
Healy-OISBv2, pp. 34-35, "O'Donnell Abu!!" (1 text; tune on p. 20)
DT, ODNLABU
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 507-508, "O'Donnell Aboo" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "O Donnell Aboo" (on IRClancyMakem03)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2769), "O'Donnell Abu," H. Such (London), 1863-1885; also 2806 b.10(216), "O'Donnell Abu"
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(75a), "O'Donnell Aboo!," unknown, c.1875
SAME_TUNE:
New Words to the Tune of "O'Donnel Abu" ("Workers of Ireland, why crouch ye like ravens") (Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 717-718)
NOTES: Zimmermann, p. 112 fn. 100, "According to _The Nation_, 28th January, 1843, "O'Donnell Abu" was meant to be sung to the tune 'Roderick Vick Alpine Dhu' (the 'Boat Song' in Walter Scott's _Lady of the Lake_); it became famous with another tune composed by Joseph Haliday." - BS
First published c. 1843 as "The Clanconnell War Song." The NLScotland site accepts the attribution of the tune to Haliday; few other sources cite a composer.
"Red Hugh" O'Donnell's hatred of England was based on a personal experience; as a teenager, the English had gotten him drunk and taken him prisoner. He escaped a few years later (1591), but the unfair imprisonment affected his opinions for the rest of his life (see Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry, _A History of Ireland_, pp. 127-128).
The "O'Neill" of the song is Hugh, third Baron of Dungannon and second Earl of Tyrone, one of the greatest Anglo-Irish barons of the time (1551-1616). He became O'Neill in 1593 when his brother Turlough resigned him the position. Prior to that, he had held the barony of Dungannon from 1569 and the Tyrone earldom from 1587 (see Mike Cronin, _A History of Ireland_, p. 56).
Hugh O'Neill cooperated with the English more than this song might imply. He was more comfortable with English than Irish ways, having lived in Kent when his father was murdered by his half-brother Shane O'Neill, who succeeded to most of the O'Neill lands before the English suppressed him (see Terry Golway, _For the Cause of Liberty_, p. 17; Fry/Fry, pp. 117, 125). Many historians think he was initially loyal, but the threat to his position (Tudor bureaucracy looked likely to overcome the ancient clan loyalties) eventually pushed him toward rebellion. If the rebellion could be said to have a commander (a debatable point), he was it.
The English grip on Ireland still wasn't strong in the aftermath of the rebellion, which is why Tyrone was permitted to keep his earldom after 1603. But in 1607 he was summoned to London (Cronin, p. 64). Too many Irish chiefs had been summoned to London and never returned. Instead of answering the summons, he fled.
The irony is, until the rebellion, Ulster was almost entirely free of English influence. The Flight of the Earls opened Ulster to settlement -- and of course many immigrants came, mostly from Scotland. So this campaign eventually produced the Troubles that still divide Ireland. Don't ask me why an Irish nationalist would write about this most destructive of Irish failures.
It does reveal something about the typical pattern of Anglo-Irish relations, though: The British solved one problem (a bunch of rebellious noblemen) and created another (the Ulster plantation). - RBW
File: PGa012
===
NAME: O'Donnell Abu: see O'Donnell Aboo (File: PGa012)
===
NAME: O'Donnell the Avenger
DESCRIPTION: Phoenix Park defendants are convicted by informer Carey's testimony. O'Donnell kills Carey on the ship Melrose Castle bound for Africa. O'Donnell is tried for the murder, convicted and executed. "As a martyr for his native land quite bravely he did die"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: betrayal murder trial execution Africa Ireland patriotic
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Chronology of 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)
O'Conor, pp. 27-28, "O'Donnell, the Avenger" (1 text)
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." - BS
File: OCon027
===
NAME: O'Donovan Rossa's Farewell to Dublin: see Rossa's Farewell to Erin (File: OLoc034)
===
NAME: O'Dooley's First Five O'Clock Tea
DESCRIPTION: "O'Dooley got rich on an aqueduct job And he made a considerable pile." O'Dooley celebrates with a series of parties. Someone spikes the tea at one such event, and mayhem (or at least silliness) follows. O'Dooley vows revenge
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1988 (Prairie Home Companion Folk Song Book)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous party
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 29-31, "O'Dooley's First Five O'Clock Tea" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DOOLYTEA*
Roud #12778
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Irish Jubilee" (theme)
NOTES: Traditional? I'm not sure. This sort of drunken-Irishman song was amazingly common, and of course the Pankakes give no source information. - RBW
File: DTdoole
===
NAME: O'er the Hills and Far Away (I)
DESCRIPTION: (Jocky) the piper "learned to play when he was young," but "the a' tunes that he could play Was o'er the hills and far away." Rejected by Jenny, he laments his fate, declares "I'll never trust a woman more," and intends to spend his life playing the pipes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1706 (Pills to Purge Melancholy)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection music dancing
FOUND_IN: Britain US Australia
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Arnett, p. 17, "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logan, pp. 330-334, "O'er the Hills and Far Away" (1 text)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, p. 248, "(O'er the Hills and Far Away)" (1 fragment)
Opie-Oxford2 507, "Tom, he was a piper's son" (4 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #127, p. 105, "(Tom, he was a piper's son)" (a long text starting with this fragment but with a completely different set of verses about animals and people Tom -- or someone -- sees while rambling)
DT, OVRHILL4*
ST Arn017 (Full)
Roud #8460
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Over the Hills So Far Away" (lyrics)
SAME_TUNE:
The Hubble Bubble (Logan, pp. 196-198)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Jockey's Lamentation
NOTES: It has been conjectured that this is descended from one or another version of "The Elfin Knight," with which it shares a few scattered lyrics and perhaps a plaintive feeling. But it is more likely that it was inspired by, rather than descended from, the older ballad, as this appears to have been originally a broadside.
Pieces with this name are common; John Gay had one in the Beggar's Opera. This version is characterized by the lines quoted in the description, which seem to show up even in the degenerate forms such as "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son" (which appears to be nothing more than a dance tune; compare the Baring-Gould text). - RBW
File: Arn017
===
NAME: O'er the Moor amang the Heather: see Heather Down the Moor (Among the Heather; Down the Moor) (File: HHH177)
===
NAME: O'Halloran Road, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer thinks half a century back to "a cold Saint Patrick's Day, With my father and my mother then And children we just numbered ten." He thought they were lost until "I heard my father say, 'Here's the O'Halloran Road! This is the way [home]'"
AUTHOR: Dan Riley
EARLIEST_DATE: 1996 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: home lyric family father travel
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 237-239, 252, "The O'Halloran Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13993
NOTES: Ives-DullCare: "Gavin's Cross ['And when we came to Gavin's Cross Us children thought that we were lost'] ... is present day Bloomfield Corner ... where the O'Halloran Road branches off from the Western Road." 
Bloomfield Corner is near the north coast of Prince County, Prince Edward Island. - BS
File: IvDC237
===
NAME: O'Houlihan
DESCRIPTION: "One day while walking down the street, I met O'Houlihan." O'Houlihan offers to place a bet on the races for the singer; the horse wins, but O'Houlihan never produces the cash. O'Houlihan finds other ways to bilk the singer. The singer promises revenge
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1987
KEYWORDS: gambling trick clothes revenge
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 189-191, "O'Houlihan" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MCB189
===
NAME: O'Reilly from the County Leithrim: see O'Reilly from the County Leitrim (File: HHH580)
===
NAME: O'Reilly from the County Leitrim
DESCRIPTION: The singer sees a pretty girl and asks her to marry; she says she prefers to live single. He calls her beautiful, and wishes he had her somewhere else. She turns him down again; he is foolish to ask. He says his heart will break, and leaves
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (Joyce); c.1835 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads 340)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
SHenry H580, pp. 357-358, "Farewell, Darling" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 94, "O'Reilly from the County Leithrim" or "The Phoenix of Erin's Green Isle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 128, "Young Riley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4720
RECORDINGS:
Mary Delaney, "Phoenix Island" (on IRTravellers01)
Martin Reidy, "O'Reilly from the County Kerry" (on IRClare01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 340, "Young Riley ("As I was walking through the county of Cavan"), Frederick Edwards (London), c.1835; also  2806 b.9(31), "O'Reilly from the Co Cavan" or "The Phoenix of Erius Green Isle," P. Brereton (Dublin), c.1867; Harding B 26(486), "O'Reilly from the Co. Kerry" or "The Phoenix of Erin's Green Isle"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Peggy Gordon" (lyrics in common with the "Youth and Folly" texts)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
O'Reilly from the County Kerry
When First I Came to County Limerick
NOTES: "O'Reilly from the County Leitrim" shares many lines with "John (George) Riley (II) [Laws N37]." The difference between the ballads is that in this one the man is not the Reilly she has been waiting for for five years so she won't go with him to Pennsylvania.
Maybe this is what Laws N37 points to for "John (George) Riley II": "According to Cox, this is a modified form of the "Young Riley" ballad found on broadsides by Catnach, Such, no. 83, and Fortey, no. 341 (Harvard VI, 186)."
The lyrics of the first four verses of Pete Seeger's "John Riley" on PeteSeeger02 [John (George) Riley (II) [Laws N37]] and Martin Reidy's "O'Reilly from the County Kerry" on IRClare01 are very close. As noted above, the ballad endings are completely different; in the middle, Seeger's Pennsylvania is "Phoenix Island" here.
Mary Delaney's "Phoenix Island" on IRTravellers01 ends with the rejected suitor wishing to witness the girl's funeral and the girl answering that that will not happen. - BS
File: HHH580
===
NAME: O'Reilly the Fisherman: see Riley's Farewell (Riley to America; John Riley) [Laws M8] (File: LM08)
===
NAME: O'Reilly's Daughter
DESCRIPTION: The narrator "shags" landlord or bartender O'Reilly's daughter, then assaults father, mother or both.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy sex family mother father homosexuality
FOUND_IN: Australia Britain(England) Ireland US(Ro,So,SW) New Zealand
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Cray, pp. 101-105, "O'Reilly's Daughter" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 137-140, "One-Eyed Reilly" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 838, "(One-Eyed Riley)" (1 text, 1 tune -- a fragment of a raftsman's song, so short that it might be this or something else. The lyrics are different, but the feeling is similar)
Silber-FSWB, p. 172, "Reilly's Daughter" (1 text)
DT, REILLY1*
Roud #1161
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Went Down to New Orleans"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Reilly's Daughter
NOTES: Annotator Legman (pp. 138-139) includes the text of "The Rover," which he dates to 1790, as the forerunner of the modern bawdy ballad. The "C" text in Randolph-Legman I is only coincidentally "One-Eyed Reilly." - EC
This exists in an extremely bowdlerized version, which was made popular by the Clancy Bros. in the 1960s. The [Silber] entry is that song. - PJS
File: EM101
===
NAME: O'Ryan (Orion, The Poacher)
DESCRIPTION: "O'Ryan was a man of might when Ireland was a nation." A poacher, he gives a meal to St. Patrick and is promised a place in heaven in return. Told there is good hunting there, he accepts. Now the other constellations fear his shillelagh
AUTHOR: Charles G. Halpine (per O'Conor)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: hunting food humorous
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H823, pp. 58-59, "O'Ryan" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, pp. 23-24, "The Poacher" (1 text)
Roud #13364
NOTES: Needless to say, the mythology in this song is distorted  (as is the astronomy, for that matter; Venus, Mars, and Orion follow separate courses. Even so, the author must have known some astronomy, as he mentions "a lion, two bears, a bull, and cancer" among the constellations -- i.e . Leo, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Taurus, and Cancer the crab).
The story of Orion varies according to different sources, but it is generally agreed that the goddess Eos, not Aphrodite, went after him, and in the end it was Artemis who killed him.
The timing is also wrong, even if you allow that "Ireland was [once] a nation" (it wasn't). Saint Patrick was active in the fifth century of the Christian Era, and we have references to Orion as far back as Homer (Iliad xviii.488 mentions his place in the constellations, and Odysseus encounters his spirit in Odyssey xi.572). - RBW
File: HHH823
===
NAME: O'Shaughnessy: see Brakeman on the Train (File: LLab099)
===
NAME: Oak and the Ash, The: see A North Country Maid; also Ambletown, Rosemary Lane [Laws K43] (File: LK43B)
===
NAME: Oats and Beans
DESCRIPTION: Playparty ."Oats, (peas/and), beans, and barley grow... Do you or I or anyone know... How oats and beans and barley grow." The farmer plants the seed and waits for harvest; young couples marry and must obey each other.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1898 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: playparty marriage farming
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(All), Scotland)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Linscott, pp. 46-47, "On the Green Carpet" (1 text, 1 tune, which seems to mix "Green Carpet" and "Oats and Beans)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 84, "(Oats and beans and barley grows)" (1 text)
DT, OATSBEAN (OATSPEAS*)
Roud #1380
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Oats, Peas, Beans
Oats and Beans and Barley Grow
NOTES: Gomme has a table (Volume II, p. 11) showing the distribution of the various crops: Oats, beans, barley, wheat, groats, hops. The second Digital Tradition version comes close to the status of parody. - RBW
File: DToatsbe
===
NAME: Oats and Beans and Barely Grow: see Oats and Beans (File: DToatsbe)
===
NAME: Oats, Peas, Beans: see Oats and Beans (File: DToatsbe)
===
NAME: Ocean Burial, The
DESCRIPTION: The dying sailor speaks of his loved ones and pleads with his shipmates not to be buried at sea. They do it anyway
AUTHOR: Words: Rev. Edwin H. Chapin
EARLIEST_DATE: 1839 (Southern Literary Messenger; set to music 1850)
KEYWORDS: burial death dying sailor
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Doerflinger, pp. 162-163, "The Ocean Burial" (1 text, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 437, "The Ocean Burial" (1 text)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 139-143, "The Ocean Burial" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 55, "The Ocean Burial" (1 text)
BrownII 261, "The Ocean Burial" (1 text)
Linscott, pp. 245-248, "The Ocean Burial" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 151-152, "Bury Me Not in the Deep Deep Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
cf. Fuld, pp. 396-398, "Oh, Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie"
ST FR437 (Full)
Roud #3738
RECORDINGS:
Eugene Jemison, "The Ocean Burial" (on Jem01)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1850 470190, "The Ocean Burial," Oliver Ditson (Boston), 1850 (tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" [Laws B2] (rework of this piece)
NOTES: The 1850 sheet music of this piece credits the entire thing to George N. Allen. Since the poem was published under Edwin H. Chapin's name (as "The Ocean Buried!"), this must mean that Allen set the music. Allen's tune, however, is NOT what we know as "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie." Nor is it the related tune Gordon Bok calls the "Texas Song" (see the index entry on "Going to Leave Old Texas (Old Texas, Texas Song, The Cowman's Lament)."
To add to the confusion, Belden lists the author as William H. Sanders, based apparently on Fulton and Trueblood's _Choice Readings_.
The singer Ossian Dodge is reported to have been performing the piece as early as 1845. I have been unable to determine the tune he used.
On the whole, I think we must list the author of the music to this piece as "unknown."
Laws does not include this piece as one of his ballads, but gives a text (from oral tradition!) in NAB, pp. 80-81. - RBW
And just to add to the confusion, see the sheet music for "The Sailor Boy's Grave" in the Lester Levy collection, where the boy asks *not* to be buried on land, but rather "let me sleep 'neath the silent waves/The sea-nymphs watching over me." That is credited to "J. Martin, Esq. (of Clifton)," and carries a date of 1841; it seems to be an "answer song" to "The Ocean Burial," although the latter had apparently not yet been set to music. The tune is not the same as "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie," and is in fact rather dull. - PJS
References for "The Sailor Boy's Grave":
LOCSheet, sm1841 381040, "The Sailor Boy's Grave," F. D. Benteen (Boston), 1841; also sm1841 381050, sm1845 401960, "The Sailor Boy's Grave" (tune)
LOCSinging, as112080, "The Sailor Boy's Grave," Thos. G. Doyle (Baltimore), 19C - BS
File: FR437
===
NAME: Ocean is Wide, The
DESCRIPTION: "The ocean is wide an' you cain't step over it, I love you true, an' you cain't help it." "Sure as the grass grows round the stump, You're my darlin' sugar lump." "The ocean is wide, an' you cain't jump it, If your folks don't like it, they can lump it."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926
KEYWORDS: love playparty nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 580, "The Ocean Is Wide" (1 text)
Roud #7669
File: R580
===
NAME: Ocean Queen
DESCRIPTION: Ocean Queen is lost in rough weather in winter on George's Banks. The crew are all drowned. The captain's wife is left alone; "there's fathers, sons, and brothers that drowned in the deep."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: drowning death mourning sea ship storm wreck wife family sailor disaster
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Nov 27, 1851 - The Ocean Queen, out of Gloucester, sinks at George's Bank (Northern Shipwrecks Database)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-NovaScotia 136, "Ocean Queen" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS136 (Partial)
Roud #1835
File: CrNS136
===
NAME: Och, Och, Eire, O!
DESCRIPTION: The Irish exile misses home and his "native bay." He recalls the races and games at Christmas. The new home is "lonely and drear"; there is no call of the corncrake. He wishes he had a boat to row back home
AUTHOR: English translation by Eleanor Hull
EARLIEST_DATE: 1895 (for the Gaelic version; Gaelic Journal)
KEYWORDS: homesickness emigration
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H819, pp. 219-220, "Och, Och, Eire, O!" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Scarborough Settler's Lament" (theme) and references there
File: HHH819
===
NAME: Ode to Newfoundland
DESCRIPTION: Known by the last verse, "As loved our fathers, so we love, Where once they stood we stand, Their prayer we raise to heav'n above, God guard thee, Newfoundland"
AUTHOR: Words: Sir Cavendish Boyle/Music: C. Hubert H. Parry
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Doyle3, p. 7, "Ode to Newfoundland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, Front-Cover, "The Ode to Newfoundland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7304
NOTES: "The National Anthem of Newfoundland, written by Sir Cavendish Boyle ... while he was Britain's Governor of Newfoundland between 1901 and 1904 .... First public performance... 1902" [per GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador site] - BS
It should be recalled that, at that time, Newfoundland was not a part of the Dominion of Canada. - RBW
File: Doyl3007
===
NAME: Of All the Birds
DESCRIPTION: "Of all the birds that ever I see, the owle is the fairest in her degree, For all the day she sits in a tree... Te-whit, te-whow, to whom drinks thou... Nose, nose, nose, nose, And who gave thee thy jolly red nose? Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves."
AUTHOR: Thomas Ravenscroft?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1609 (Deuteromelia)
KEYWORDS: bird drink nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 141-142, "Of All the Birds" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 50, "Of all the gay birds that e'er I did see" (1 text) 
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #248, p. 155, "(Of all the gay birds that e'er I did see"); #138, p. 114, ("Nose, nose, jolly red nose")
DT, ALLBIRDS
Roud #496
NOTES: This piece is a curiosity. Published by Ravenscroft, I've never seen a collection from tradition (Roud lists a couple which I cannot verify). But, in John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont's 1611 play "The Knight of the Burning Pestle," Act I, scene v, lines 45-46, we find Old Merrythought singing,
Nose, nose, jolly red nose,
And who gave thee this jolly red nose?
And in lines 51-52, Merrythought follows this up with
Nutmegs and ginger, cinnamon and cloves;
And they gave me this jolly red nose.
Merrythought's songs, where they can be identified at all, are mostly traditional pieces -- and we note that his words are not identical to Ravenscroft's. Nor is the Baring-Gould text identical. This raises at least the possibility that the song is traditional. So I've include it here.
The real question is the relationship between the stanzas. Ravenscroft includes "Of all the birds" and "Nose, nose, (jolly red) nose" in one item. The Baring-Goulds split them, but based on books more recent than Ravenscroft's. If they are songs at all, are they two joined by Ravenscroft or one split by tradition? - RBW
File: ChWI141
===
NAME: Of All The Gay Birds That E'er I Did See: see Of All the Birds (File: ChWI141)
===
NAME: Off to Epsom Races: see Epsom Races (File: K318)
===
NAME: Off to Sea Once More (I): see Dixie Brown [Laws D7] (File: LD07)
===
NAME: Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie
DESCRIPTION: Singer says that one old woman in the town is lying about her, and wishes the old woman would die. "Been all around this whole round world/I just got back today.... Oh, babe, it ain't no lie (x3), (Know) this life I'm living is very (hard/high)."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (recording, Elizabeth Cotten)
KEYWORDS: lie nonballad floatingverses hardtimes
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 121, "Oh Babe, It Ain't No Lie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 184, "Oh, Babe, It Ain't No Lie" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Elizabeth Cotten, "Oh Babe It Ain't No Lie" (on Cotten01)
NOTES: Elizabeth Cotten learned this song from country blues singers around Chapel Hill, NC. - PJS
I would note that the versions I've heard of this piece are very diverse; most seem to consist of floating lyrics (or at least themes) held together by the chorus "Oh babe, it ain't no lie." - RBW
File: CSW121
===
NAME: Oh But I'm Weary
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, but I'm weary, weary waitin'... Oh, mither, gie me a man Will tak this weariness away." The mother suggests a plowman, mason, miller, etc.; the daughter rejects each (e.g. a plowman's wife works too hard); she wants a man who lives "by the pen."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: mother children marriage work
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 150, "Oh, But I'm Weary" (1 text)
Roud #5555
NOTES: One rather suspects this was written by some weedy young poet trying to convince a girl he was a better catch than a more handsome fellow with a lower-class job.
Wish I'd thought of that trick way back when.... - RBW
File: Ord150
===
NAME: Oh California
DESCRIPTION: "I come from Salem City with my washbowl on my knee. I'm going to California The gold dust for to see." A parody of "Oh! Susanna," telling of the sea voyage to San Francisco. The singer of course expects to get rich
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Shay)
KEYWORDS: gold derivative humorous ship travel
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1849 - California gold rush
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 114-117, "I Come from Salem City" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, OHCALIF*
Roud #8824
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh! Susanna" (tune)
File: ShaSS114
===
NAME: Oh Charlie, O Charlie: see Charlie, O Charlie (Pitgair) (File: Ord216)
===
NAME: Oh Death (I): see Death and the Lady (File: ShH22)
===
NAME: Oh Death (II): see Conversation with Death (Oh Death) (File: R663)
===
NAME: Oh Death (III)
DESCRIPTION: Known mostly by the chorus, "(Oh death/Lord), Spare me over till another year." Despite the worries about dying, the singer praises the afterlife; God or Jesus or someone will has "made for me a home in heaven," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: death religious nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 201-203, (no title) (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, OHDEATH*
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Conversation with Death (Oh Death)" (lyrics)
NOTES: Although this shares lyrics with "Conversation with Death (Oh Death)," the feeling is very different. - RBW
File: ThBa201
===
NAME: Oh dem Golden Slippers: see Golden Slippers (File: RJ19144)
===
NAME: Oh Judy, Oh Judy
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, Judy [Judas], oh Judy, hit's time that I go, I know you will 'tray me though I love you so." Jesus tells Judas to buy food for the poor, but Judas sells Jesus. Jesus condemns Judas for his betrayal
AUTHOR: unknown ("collected" by John Jacob Niles)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961
KEYWORDS: Jesus betrayal death money
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Niles 16C, "Oh Judy, Oh Judy" (1 text, which Niles considers part of Child 23, but this is clearly not the case)
File: Niles16C
===
NAME: Oh Lily, Dear Lily
DESCRIPTION: "My foot is in the stirrup, My bridle's in my hand, I'll go court another And marry if I can. Oh Lily, oh Lily, my Lily fare you well. I'm sorry to leave you, For I love you so well." "So fare you well, (Molly), I'll bid you adieu, I'm ruined forever..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1920
KEYWORDS: love separation floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 731, "Oh Lily, Dear Lily" (2 short texts, 1 tune)
BrownII 139, "Sweet Lily" (1 text)
Roud #7583
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. ""The Wagoner's Lad" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Farewell, Sweet Mary" (floating lyrics)
cf. "My Foot Is in the Stirrup"
NOTES: I don't think there is a single line in Randolph's texts that is not paralleled elsewhere. But he treats this as a separate song, and he collected it, so I follow his lead. Similarly the longer version in Brown; the editors give notes about all the various parallels. The possibility must be admitted, however, that this is a worn-down form of something else -- or even that Randolph's two versions, and Brown's one, are separate pieces. - RBW
File: R731
===
NAME: Oh Lord, What a Morning: see When the Stars Begin to Fall (File: LoF237)
===
NAME: Oh Molly, I Can't Say That You're Honest
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, Molly, I can't say that you're honest, You've stolen my heart from my breast." "I know that you father is stingy... 'Tis mighty small change that you'll bring me Exceptin' the change of your name." He throws a rock at her window to say he was there
AUTHOR: Samuel Lover (1797-1868)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: love courting father mother humorous
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H82, p. 262, "An Irish Serenade" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 14, "Oh Molly, I Can't Say You're Honest" (1 text)
Roud #6918
File: HHH082
===
NAME: Oh Mother, Take the Wheel Away
DESCRIPTION: "Oh (mother/father), take the (wheel/cow) away And put it out of sight, For I am heavy-hearted And I cannot (spin/milk) tonight." The rest of the song apparently concerns the lover the singer has lost
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love separation work
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 814, "Oh Mother, Take the Wheel Away" (2 fragments)
Roud #7430
NOTES: This is probably a fragment/remnant of something else -- but Randolph's texts are so fragmentary that we cannot tell what. - RBW
File: R814
===
NAME: Oh My Darling Clementine: see Clementine (File: RJ19148)
===
NAME: Oh My Little Darling
DESCRIPTION: "Oh my little darling, don't you weep and cry/Some sweet day a-coming, marry you and I" "Oh my little darling, don't you weep and moan/Some sweet day a-coming, take my baby home" "Up and down the railroad, 'cross the county line..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (recorded from Thaddeus C. Willingham)
KEYWORDS: grief loneliness courting love marriage reunion separation dancetune nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Thaddeus C. Willingham, "Oh My Little Darling" (on AFS 3115 B1, 1939)
Mike Seeger, "Oh My LIttle Darling" (on MSeeger01)
NOTES: Nonballad, but it's attained sufficient popularity among old-time musicians, beginning with Mike Seeger, to warrant its inclusion. - PJS
File: RcOMLD
===
NAME: Oh Then: see I Wish I Were Single Again (I - Male) (File: R365)
===
NAME: Oh Who Will Shoe My Foot?: see Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot (plus related references, e.g. The Lass of Roch Royal [Child 76]) (File: C076A)
===
NAME: Oh Write Me Down, Ye Powers Above: see Come Write Me Down (The Wedding Song) (File: K126)
===
NAME: Oh Ye Young, Ye Gay, Ye Proud
DESCRIPTION: "Oh ye young, ye gay, ye proud, You must die and wear a shroud, Death will rob you of your bloom, He will drag you to the tomb, Then you'll cry I want to be Happy in eternity."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious death
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 639, "Oh Ye Young, Ye Gay, Ye Proud" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #7564
File: R639
===
NAME: Oh You Caint Go to Heaven: see Ain't Gonna Grieve My Lord No More (File: R300)
===
NAME: Oh You Who Are Able....
DESCRIPTION: "Oh you who are able go out to the stable And throw down your horses some corn If you don't do it the sergeant will know it And report you to General Van Dorn."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924
KEYWORDS: Civilwar horse
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Jan 1862 - Earl Van Dorn appointed to command the Confederate armies in Missouri and Arkansas
Mar 7-8, 1862 - Battle of Pea Ridge/Elkhorn Tavern. Despite superior numbers, Van Dorn cannot dislodge the Federals
Oct 3-4, 1862 - Battle of Corinth. Van Dorn abandons the field after failing to break the Federal line. Although cleared of charges of mismanagement, he is transferred to the cavalry
May 8, 1863 - Murder of Van Dorn, allegedly for seducing the wife of a local resident
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 250, "Oh You Who Are Able..." (1 fragment)
Roud #7716
NOTES: I can't escape the feeling that this song is somehow connected to Van Dorn's reputation as a flashy ladies' man without a great deal of depth or ability (Shelby Foote, _The Civil War: A Narrative; Volume I, Fort Sumter to Perryville_, p. 725, quotes an unnamed senator as saying, "He is the source of all our woes, and idasaster, it is prophesied, will attend us as long as he is connected with this army. Th atmosphere is dense with horrid narratives of his negligence, whoring, and drunkenness, for the truth of which I cannot couch; but it is so fastened in the public belief that an acquittal by a court-marshal of angel would not relieve him of the charge." Indeed, Van Dorn would later be murdered by an irate husband who accused him of an affair with his wife. And he lost both of his major battles as an infantry commander, at Pea Ridge and Corinth) . But I can't prove it based on the fragment I've seen.
There is a fragment in Fred W. Allsopp, _Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II_ (1931), p. 227, "It was at the battle of Elkhorn, Van Dorn he lost his hat, And for about a half a mile He laid the bushes flat." I can't identify it with anything else; the mention of the Battle of Elkhorn Tavern might connect it with "The Battle of Elkhorn Tavern, or The Pea Ridge Battle [Laws A12]," or perhaps with one of the General Price songs -- but if I had to guess, I'd guess it goes here; the feeling is right. - RBW
File: R250
===
NAME: Oh, Absalom, My Son: see David's Lamentation (File: FSWB412B)
===
NAME: Oh, Baby, 'Low Me One More Chance
DESCRIPTION: "A burly coon you know Who took his clothes an' go, Come back las' night. But his wife said, 'Honey, I'se done wid coon, I'se gwine to pass for white.'" He promises to reform, to be satisfied with little, even to do the cooking. She does not relent
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: abandonment home rejection
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 275-276, (no title) (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home?" (theme)
NOTES: Sort of a "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home?" with the gender roles reversed and the proper ending to the piece. - RBW
File: ScNF275B
===
NAME: Oh, Be Ready When the Train Comes In
DESCRIPTION: "We are soldiers in this blessed war, For Jesus we are marching on, With a shout and song." "We are sweeping on to claim the blessed promise... Oh, be ready when the train comes in." Harlots, idolaters, loafers, jokers will not be allowed aboard
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 258, "Oh, Be Ready When the Train Comes In" (1 text)
NOTES: Very little of this is actually Biblical (smoking, e.g., is not mentioned in the Bible, and the Bible isn't entirely unhumorous -- the book of Jonah, e.g., contains many farcical elements). The one fairly clear allusion is to the "land of Beulah" -- a reference to Isaiah 62:4, where the King James version leaves the word beulah -- "married" -- untranslated. - RBW
File: ScaNF258
===
NAME: Oh, Bedad Then, Says I: see I Don't Mind If I Do (File: MA263)
===
NAME: Oh, Brother Will You Meet Me?: see probably The Other Bright Shore (File: R611)
===
NAME: Oh, Captain, Captain, Tell Me True: see The Sailor Boy (I) [Laws K12] (File: LK12)
===
NAME: Oh, Dat Watermilion: see Watermelon on the Vine (File: Br3454)
===
NAME: Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be?
DESCRIPTION: "Oh dear, what can the matter be? (x3), Johnny's so long at the fair." Johnny had promised to bring the singer various gifts, such as "blue ribbons... to tie up my bonny brown hair," but he is long in coming
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1792
KEYWORDS: love separation nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain US(SE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
BrownIII 122, "Oh, Dear, What Can the Matter Be?" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 85, "Oh Dear What Can the Matter Be?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 280, "Johnny shall have a new bonnet" (3 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #158, p. 118, "(Johnny shall have a new bonnet)"
Silber-FSWB, p. 150, "Oh, Dear! What Can the Matter Be"" (1 text)
Fuld-FFM, pp. 398-399, "Oh! Dear, What Can the Matter Be?"
DT, ODEARWHA* ODEARWH2
Roud #1279
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.25(103/104), "Dear! What Can the Matter Be," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 11(2743), Harding B 11(2743), "Oh! Dear What Can the Matter Be"
LOCSinging, sb10024a, "Bunch of Blue Ribbons," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Sailor Boy (A Sailor Boy in Blue)" (theme)
cf. "Faithless Boney (The Croppies' Complaint)" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Seven Old Ladies (File: EM119)
Faithless Boney (The Croppies' Complaint) (File: Moyl038)
NOTES: Fuld reports this song appearing, almost as if by magic, in sundry editions and manuscripts between 1770 and 1792. None list authors, and few can be dated exactly. The origin of this song, clearly more popular for its tune than its banal lyrics, must therefore remain a mystery. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb10024a: 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: FSWB150B
===
NAME: Oh, Freedom!: see O Freedom (File: LxU108)
===
NAME: Oh, Give Me a Hut: see Give Me a Hut (File: MA137)
===
NAME: Oh, Ho, Baby, Take a One On Me!: see Take a Whiff on Me; also perhaps Take a Drink on Me (File: RL130)
===
NAME: Oh, Honey, Where You Been So Long?
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, honey, where you been so long? Oh, honey, where you been so long? 'I been round the bend and I come back again, Oh, honey, where you been so long?" "Oh, honey, where you been so long? (x2) And it's when I return with a ten dollar bill, it's Honey..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1923 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: nonballad return money
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 317, "Oh, Honey, Where You Been So Long?" (1 short text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground" (lyrics)
NOTES: Every word of Brown's text of this is found in "I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground," and my first inclination was to include it as a worn-down version of that song. But the notes in Brown say there is a longer version in Gordon, so here it sits. Tentatively. - RBW
File: Br3317
===
NAME: Oh, How He Lied
DESCRIPTION: An "old villain" sits by a girl and smokes his cigar. She plays her guitar. "He told her he loved her but oh how he lied." They agree to marry, "but she up and died." She goes to heaven, he to hell ("sizzle, he fried"), listeners are warned against lies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (recording, Joe Foss & his Hungry Sand Lappers)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage music death lie Hell humorous
FOUND_IN: US Australia
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 130-131, "Don't Tell a Lie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 257, "She Sat on Her Hammock" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 31, "Oh, How He Lied" (1 text)
DT, HELIED*
Roud #13621
RECORDINGS:
Joe Foss & his Hungry Sand Lappers, "Oh How She Lied" (Columbia 15268-D, 1928)
Pete Seeger, "Oh How He Lied" (on PeteSeeger31)
NOTES: Meredith/Covell/Brown notes that the tune for this is a waltz by Joseph Granz Karl Lanner. - RBW
File: FSWB031B
===
NAME: Oh, How They Frisk It: see Under the Greenwood Tree (File: ChWIII053)
===
NAME: Oh, I Used to Drink Beer
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, I used to drink beer, But I throwed it all away (x3), Oh I used to drink beer, But I throwed it all away, And now I'm free at last." "Oh, I used to chew tobacco." "Oh, I used to love sin." "Oh, I gave hell a shake When I came out de wilderness."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious drink nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 618, "Oh, I Used To Drink Beer" (1 text)
Roud #11920
NOTES: The real keyword for this song should probably be "obnoxious-unconvincing-moralizer." I don't drink or smoke -- but this is the sort of song that almost makes me wish I did. - RBW
File: Br3618
===
NAME: Oh, I Wish I Were Single Again: see I Wish I Were a Single Girl Again (File: Wa126)
===
NAME: Oh, I'll Never Go With Riley Any More
DESCRIPTION: Singer's friend Riley, just paid, invites him on a spree; they wind up in a fight. Riley punches a policeman; the singer ends up jail. Riley gets killed: "Oh, he thought the wire was dead/But it was full of life instead." Singer won't go with Riley again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (recording, Pat Ford)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer's friend Riley, just paid, invites him on a spree; they wind up in a fight. Riley punches a policeman but the singer, badly bruised, gets put in jail. Riley, meanwhile, gets killed: "Oh, he thought the wire was dead/But it was full of life instead." Singer says he'll never go out with Riley any more
KEYWORDS: fight prison death technology drink injury friend police
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #15473
RECORDINGS:
Pat Ford, "Oh, I'll never go [out] with Riley anymore" (AFS 4211 A3, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
NOTES: The [AMMEM] index includes the word "out" in the title, but the page devoted to the item itself does not. - PJS
File: RcOINGOW
===
NAME: Oh, Johnny, Johnny
DESCRIPTION: A conversation between two former lovers, comprised mostly of floating lyrics. The singer tells Johnny that she loves him; he was the first boy she ever loved. He tells her that she betrayed him, and he now has a new sweetheart. He regrets her infidelity
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection floatingverses
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H16, pp. 392-393, "Oh Johnny, Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Waly Waly (The Water is Wide)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Fair and Tender Ladies" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Tavern in the Town" (floating lyrics"
NOTES: If one had deliberately set out to create an amalgam of every lost love cliche in folk song, one could hardly do better than this. Without even trying, I observe elements of "Waly, Waly," "Love is Teasing," the "Tavern in the Town" cluster, and "Fair and Tender Ladies," as well as parallels to everything from "Peggy Gordon"  to "Barbara Allen."
I suppose one of these songs is the "original," and all the others simply offered verses to be incorporated into the whole, but at this point there is no telling the original source. - RBW
File: HHH016
===
NAME: Oh, Lawd, How Long: see Oh, Lord, How Long (File: R615)
===
NAME: Oh, Lord, How Long
DESCRIPTION: "Before this time another year, I may be (dead and) gone, Down in some lonesome graveyard, Oh Lord, how long!" "Just as the tree falls, just so it lies; Just as the sinner lives, just so he dies." "My mother broke the ice and gone...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (recording, Odette & Ethel)
KEYWORDS: religious death family nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 615, "Oh Lord, How Long!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 586-587, "Oh, Lawd, How Long?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, p. 169, "Oh Lord, How Long?" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST R615 (Full)
Roud #7546
RECORDINGS:
Sister L. Brown & congregation "Before This Time, Another Year" (on MuSouth09)
The Chosen Gospel Singers, "Before This Time Another Year" (Specialty 848, n.d.)
Cleveland Simmons and Mr. Taylor, "I May Be Gone" (AAFS 422 A2, 1935; on LomaxCD1822-2)
Odette & Ethel, "Befo' This Time Another Year" (Columbia 14169-D, 1926)
NOTES: This is really a chorus with extra lyrics. Bessie Jones sang a version with irregular lines (interspersed with the phrase "how long"?), which broke into the chorus at random intervals. The Lomax text proceeds in double lines, but of different lengths. Some of the versions are regular. But the song is recognized by the chorus "Before this time another year, I may be gone...." - RBW
File: R615
===
NAME: Oh, Lord, I'se Steppin' HIgher
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, Lord, I'se steppin' higher; Doan' let de ladder break. Saint Peter, open up de do' An' gib mah han' a shake!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1923 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 619, "Oh, Lord, I'se Steppin' Higher" (1 text)
Roud #11922
File: Br3619
===
NAME: Oh, Lord, Send Us a Blessing
DESCRIPTION: "Oh Lord, send us a blessing, And oh Lord, send us a blessing, And oh Lord, send us a blessing, And send it down today."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 649, "Oh, Lord, Send Us a Blessing" (1 fragment)
Roud #7570
File: R649
===
NAME: Oh, Love is Teasin': see Love is Teasing (File: Rits024)
===
NAME: Oh, Lovely, Come This Way
DESCRIPTION: "I had an old shoe, it had no heel (x3), I looked like a preacher with a mouthful of meal." "Oh, lovely, come this way (x3), Never let the wheels of the church roll away."  Other verses often extravagant and floating, e.g. "Whip old Satan round the stump"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: nonballad playparty floatingverses devil clothes
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 98, "Oh, Lovely, Come This Way" (1 text)
Roud #8372
NOTES: About half of the verses in Brown are paralleled in the Woodie Brothers recording "Chased Old Satan Through the Door," but as that piece has a different chorus, form, and apparent purpose, I classify them separately. - RBW
File: Br3098
===
NAME: Oh, Mary, Don't You Weep
DESCRIPTION: "If I could I surely would Stand on the rock where Moses stood, Pharaoh's army got drowned, Oh Mary don't you weep." Verses describing the Exodus and how God cares for humanity, with the "Pharaoh's army..." chorus
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (recording, Fisk University Male Quartette)
KEYWORDS: Bible religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
BrownIII 545, "Pharaoh's Army" (4 texts, mostly short)
Sandburg, pp. 476-477, "Pharaoh's Army Got Drowned" (1 short text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 78, "Oh, Mary Don't You Weep" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 354, "Oh, Mary, Don't You Weep" (1 text)
DT, OHMARY
Roud #11823
RECORDINGS:
Biddleville Quintette, "Pharoah's Army Got Drowned" (QRS 7073, 1929)
Birmingham Jubilee Singers, "Pharoah's Army Got Drowned" (Columbia 14203-D, 1927)
Leo Boswell & Merritt Smith, "Oh Mary Don't You Weep" (Supertone 2825, n.d.)
Fisk University Male Quartette, "O Mary, Don't You Weep, Don't You Mourn" (Columbia A1895, 1915)
Georgia Yellow Hammers, "Mary Don't You Weep" (Victor 20928, 1927)
Morris Family, "Oh Mary Don't You Weep" (Vocalion 5465, 1940)
Richmond Starlight Quartette, "Mary, Don't You Weep" (OKeh, unissued, 1929)
Pete Seeger, "Oh, Mary Don't You Weep" (on PeteSeeger15, 2 versions) (on PeteSeeger17); "Mary Don't You Weep" (on PeteSeeger24);  "O Mary Don't You Weep" (on PeteSeeger26)
Southern Four, "Good News, Chariot's Comin'! and O Mary, Doan You Weep" (Edison 50885, 1921)
Ex-Governor Alf Taylor & his Old Limber Quartet, "Pharoah's Army Got Drownded" (Victor 19451, 1924)
Virginia Female Jubilee Singers, "O Mary, Don't You Weep, Don't You Mourn" (OKeh 4430, 1921)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Mary Wore Three Links of Chain" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Can'cha Line 'Em" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Keep Your Hand on the Plow" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Don't You Hear My Hammer Ringing" (lyrics)
cf. "Heaven and Hell" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Lord, I Never Will Come Back Here No Mo'" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Although loosely based on the stories of the Exodus, there is a lot that is non-Biblical here (e.g. there is no reference in the New Testament to Mary ever wearing a chain. The closest reference I can think of is Luke 2:25, where Simeon tells Mary, "A sword will pierce your own soul too").
The reference to the "rock where Moses stood" is, I believe, to Ex. 17:5, where Moses stood on the rock and struck it to bring forth water.
Moses, according to modern interpretations, did not "smite" the Red Sea (or "Sea of Reeds"), but in Ex. 14:15 he may have stretched the staff over the sea (in Ex. 14:21, 26-27 he simply "stretched his hand over the sea"; it's worth noting that most scholars think there are two mixed accounts here, one where a wind blew the water aside and one where the waters miraculously parted).
God gave the sign of the [rain]bow in Gen. 9:13f. - RBW
In every version I've heard of this song, the word in the chorus is "drownded," not "drowned." - PJS
Same here. On the other hand, I've only heard Pop Folk sorts of versions. Of Brown's four versions, two (including the most substantial) have "drowned," two have "drowneded." - RBW
File: San476
===
NAME: Oh, Mister Revel (Did You Ever See the Devil?)
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, Mr. Revel! Did you ever see the devil With wooden spade and shovel A-digging up the gravel With his long toe-nail?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: devil work nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 141, "Oh, Mr. Revel" (2 short texts)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 284, (no title) (2 fragments)
Roud #16319
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Did You Ever, Ever, Ever" (theme)
File: Br3141
===
NAME: Oh, My God, Them 'Taters: see Whoa Back, Buck (File: LxU067)
===
NAME: Oh, No, Not I
DESCRIPTION: A "Newfoundland sailor" and a noble lady meet. He asks her to marry; she say, "Oh, no, not I"; his birth is too low. When she bears a child nine months later, she writes to ask him to come back; he tells her, "Oh, no, not I," and bids her go begging
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1813 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 25(1375))
KEYWORDS: pregnancy separation rejection marriage nobility
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf,Que)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Fowke-Lumbering #56, "No, My Boy, Not I" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 304-305, "Oh No, Not I" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 112, "Hello, My Boy, Not I" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MARRYNO
Roud #1403
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(1375), "No, My Love, Not I," J. Evans (London), 1780-1812; also Firth c.18(293), Firth b.34(208), Firth b.34(97), Harding B 11(2715), Harding B 17(220b), "No, My Love, Not I"; Firth c.13(169), Harding B 25(1340), "The Newfoundland Sailor"; Firth c.18(292), Harding B 25(1422), 2806 c.18(223), Harding B 20(119), Harding B 11(1635), "O No My Love, Not I"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Yellow Handkerchief (Flash Company)"" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Courting Coat" (floating lyrics)
cf. "You Say You Are of Noble Race" (theme)
cf. "The Roving Shantyboy" (plot)
cf. "Barley Raking (Barley Rigs A-Raking)" (plot)
NOTES: Recorded by Margaret Christl and Ian Robb, who in turn inspired Stan Rogers to record it (nearly the only traditional song he ever recorded). Kenneth Peacock found it in Newfoundland, and other versions are few (by my standards; Roud has many in his list, but many appear to be different songs with common lyrics). Fowke calls it a "neat localizing of a popular British ballad that appeared on many nineteenth-century broadsides as 'O No, My Love, Not I.'" - RBW
File: DTmarryn
===
NAME: Oh, Once I Had a Fortune
DESCRIPTION: The singer describes how drink has cost him money and sweetheart: "Oh, once I had a fortune, All locked up in a trunk. I lost it all in a gambling hall One night when I got drunk. I'll never get drunk any more...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1847 (Journal of William Histed of the Cortes)
KEYWORDS: drink poverty
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 316, "Oh, Once I Had a Fortune" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 203-205, "I Had a Handsome Fortune" (1 text)
BrownIII 36, "I'll Never Get Drunk Any More" (4 texts, all mixed, but  the "D" text is mostly this piece, and "C" probably originated with this also)
Roud #7792 and 1993
RECORDINGS:
Ernest V. Stoneman and the Dixie Mountaineers, "Once I Had a Fortune" (Edison 51935, 1927) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5357, 1927); Ernest V. Stoneman and His Blue Ridge Cornshuckers, "One I Had a Fortune" (Victor, unissued, 1928)
File: R316
===
NAME: Oh, Pretty Polly: see When He Comes, He'll Come in Green (File: Br3070)
===
NAME: Oh, See My Father Layin' There: see I Have No Loving Mother Now (Oh, See My Father Layin' There) (File: Br3622)
===
NAME: Oh, Susanna (II)
DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Swedish version has a sailor leaving his true love and (for a change) actually returning after she has pined for a while. Another (English) fragment has two verses referring to "the Sovereign of the seas." Both use the familiar Foster tune.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
KEYWORDS: fo'c'sle sailor shanty return derivative
FOUND_IN: US Sweden
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 116-117, "Oh, Susanna," "Susannavisan (The Susanna Song)" (3 texts-Swedish & English, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh! Susanna" (tune)
NOTES: Hugill got the Swedish version from _Sang under Segel_ (Sternvall, 1935), which has notes claiming that this text and melody can be traced to the 1750s. If that's true it would put a rather different light on both the Stephen Foster and the gold rush connection. - SL
I have to admit that I don't buy this. I donÕt know what Sternvall's evidence is, but Foster exuded tunes the way a politician exudes falsehoods about what is mathematically possible. If he'd been better at writing lyrics, he'd have had probably twice as many hits. So I strongly doubt he would have had to steal a tune.
Could the dating somehow be related to _The Sovereign of the Seas_? There were sundry ships of that name, including an American clipper built in 1852 -- but the most famous ship of that name was Phineas Pett's great battleship of 1637. It was not a very successful ship -- it was too big for the shipbuilding techniques of the time, and as a result was very slow -- but it was so big that it established a reputation based on sheer size and gunpower. - RBW
File: Hugi116
===
NAME: Oh, the Brave Old Duke of York: see The Noble Duke of York (File: FSWB390B)
===
NAME: Oh, the Heavens Shut the Gates On Me
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, the heavens shut the gates on me, Oh, the due time, shut the gates on me, Sometimes I weep, sometimes I mourn, Sometimes I do nary one. Oh, the heavens shut the gates on me, Oh, the due time, shut the gates on me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 620, "Oh, the Heavens Shut the Gates On Me" (1 text)
Roud #11923
File: Br3620
===
NAME: Oh, They Put John on the Island
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, they put John on the island When the Bridegroom comes, They put John on the island when he comes." "They put him there to starve him." "But you can't starve a Christian." "They fed him on milk and honey." "Oh, look down Jordan river."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious food floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 546, "Oh, They Put John on the Island" (1 text)
Roud #11824
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Don't You Weep After Me" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: This song contains an odd mix of elements -- the final verses in Brown seem to be imports, and insignificant. But the early verses seem a conflation.
According to Revelation 1:9, John was "on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus." Note that there is no sign he was exiled there; indeed, the general sense is that he voluntarily fled there (probably during the persecution of Domitian, reigned 81-96 C.E.).
Nowhere, however, do we read of John being miraculously fed, let alone with milk and honey (in 10:9-11, he is fed a scroll that tastes like honey, but that's hardly the same thing!). The closest parallel I can think of is in the gospels: In Matthew 4:11, after the temptation by the Devil, "angels came and tended [Jesus]." No mention of milk and honey, though. - RBW
File: Br3546
===
NAME: Oh, What a Beautiful City: see Twelve Gates to the City (File: PSAFB081)
===
NAME: Oh, When I Git My New House Done: see Sail Away, Ladies (File: CSW203)
===
NAME: Oh, Where Is My Sweetheart?
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, where is my sweetheart? Can anyone tell? (x3) Can anyone, anyone tell?" "He is flirting with another, I know very well." "He told me he loved me, he told me a lie." "I've found me another I love just as well." "...I love him, I wish he was mine."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love courting betrayal
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 303, "Oh, Where Is My Sweetheart?" (2 text plus an excerpt)
Roud #11319
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Farewell He" (subject) and references there
File: Br3303
===
NAME: Oh, Ye've Been False, or, The Curse
DESCRIPTION: "As I cam' in by yon bonnie waterside... There I spied my ain dear love, And I left my heart wi' him." Finding him false, the singer curses the church where he will marry, hopes his wife buries five sons, and wishes mortal wounds to she who "sinnert" them
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: betrayal curse rejection
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 173-174, "Oh, Ye've Been False; or The Curse" (1 text)
Roud #5584
File: Ord173
===
NAME: Oh! Blame Not the Bard
DESCRIPTION: Don't blame the bard for his songs of love rather than glory. Don't blame him if he "should try to forget what he never can heal." "But though glory be gone, and though hope fade away, Thy name, loved Erin! shall live in his songs"
AUTHOR: Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1846 (_Irish Melodies_ by Thomas Moore, according to Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad minstrel
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Zimmermann, p. 77, "Oh! Blame Not the Bard" (1 fragment)
ADDITIONAL: Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol I, pp. 180-181, "O, Blame Not The Bard"
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 375-376, "Oh Blame not the Bard"  (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.9(281), "Oh! Blame not the Bard" ("Oh, blame not the bard, if he fly to the bowers"), unknown, n.d.
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 77 is a fragment; broadside Bodleian 2806 b.9(281) is the basis for the description. 
Zimmermann [uses] this song to illustrate his point that "the mission of the bard is to weep for his country." - BS
File: BrdOBNtB
===
NAME: Oh! Breathe Not His Name
DESCRIPTION: Someone who must not be named has been buried "in the shade Where cold and un-honoured has relics are laid! ... And the tear that we shed, though in secret it rolls, Shall long keep his memory green in our souls"
AUTHOR: Thomas Moore (1779-1852)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1846 (_Irish Melodies_ by Thomas Moore, according to Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: grief memorial nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 159, "Oh! Breathe Not His Name" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 18(20), "Oh! Breathe Not His Name" ("Oh! breathe not his name, let it sleep in the shade ," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
LOCSheet, sm1879 06663, "Oh, Breathe Not His Name ," Edw. Schuberth (New York), 1879 (tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
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)
cf. "The Man from God-Knows-Where"  (subject: concealed allusions to Robert Emmet)
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 77 Fn. 11 speculates that this is "perhaps inspired by Lord Edward Fitzgerald's death." Moylan 159 in _The Age of Revolution_: "This, the third of Moore's songs on [Robert] Emmet, seems to echo Emmet's dying request from the world for 'the charity of its silence'. [Lord Edward Fitzgerald [1763-1798], head of the military committee of the United Irishmen died June 4, 1798, in Newgate, Dublin after being wounded and arrested by Major Henry Charles Sirr on May 19; Wexford Rebellion begins May 26, 1798 (source: The Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco) site entry for [Lord] Edward Fitzgerald)] [Robert Emmet (1780-1803) "Irish nationalist rebel leader. He led an abortive rebellion against British rule in 1803 and was captured and executed." (source: "Robert Emmet" at the Wikipedia site)]
Broadside Bodleian Harding B 18(20): 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
The song is so short (two stanzas, neither of which describes the dead man beyond noting that he's dead) that we cannot be dogmatic about the man being memorialized. On the one hand, Emmet asked that no epitaph be written for him (see the notes to "Bold Robert Emmet"), but if he were meant, I'd think the song would be a little more specific. Still, if it is certain that Moore's other poems were about Emmet, then he seems the best candidate. And we should note that Moore knew Emmet; according to Robert Kee, who quotes this song on p. 168 of _The Most Distressful Country_ (being volumeI of _The Green Flag_), Moore was "Emmet's old friend and fellow student at Trinity." Kee regards Moore as having "set the tone" for Emmet's legend. - RBW
File: BrdOBNHN
===
NAME: Oh! Gin I Were Where Gaudie Rins: see Where the Gadie Rins (I), (II), etc. (File: Ord347)
===
NAME: Oh! I Ha'e Seen the Roses Blaw: see O I Hae Seen the Roses Blaw (File: StoR016)
===
NAME: Oh! No, No
DESCRIPTION: "Come here, dearest Peggy, you're my whole heart's delight... So fain I wad bide, love, but away I must go." He says he would guard her if they were together. She goes into frenzies of grief; he stops her, saying he will not leave
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation trick
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 136-137, "Oh! No, No" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #832
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Busk, Busk, Bonnie Lassie" (lyrics)
cf. "The Manchester Angel" (lyrics)
NOTES: This guy is enough of a jerk to make John Riley look good.
Roud lumps this item with "Busk, Busk, Bonnie Lassie," and there are lyrics in common. But this has no chorus, and does have a happy ending -- if you believe that it's a happy ending when a man taunts a girl needlessly and then declares it a joke. There is kinship, but it doesn't look like the same song to me. - RBW
File: Ord136
===
NAME: Oh! Steer My Bark to Erin's Isle
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, I have roamed o'er many lands ... In Erin's isle I'd pass my time." If the singer's home were England or Scotland, he'd love that home; "pleasant days in both I've past," But he'll "steer my bark to Erin's isle, For Erin is my home."
AUTHOR: Words: Thomas Haynes Bayly
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1869 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.25(537))
KEYWORDS: home travel Ireland lyric nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 155, "Oh! Steer My Bark to Erin's Isle" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.25(537), "Oh, Steer my Barque to Erin's Isle", J. Moore (Belfast), 1852-1868; also 2806 c.15(318), 2806 c.15(257), "Oh, Steer my Bark to Erin's isle"
NOTES: Bodleian makes the author N.T.H Bayly; O'Conor has F.H. Bayly. - BS
The latter, of course, an easy misreading of "T. H. Bayly." Spaeth's _A History of Popular Music in America_ also credits the lyrics to Bayly (p. 85), adding that the tune is German, arranged by Ignaz Moscheles.
Incidentally, there seem to be conflicting dates for Bayly; Spaeth says he lived 1797-1829. - RBW
File: OCon155
===
NAME: Oh! Susanna
DESCRIPTION: Nonsense song about a man going to see his beloved Susanna. The singer tells his love, "Oh Susanna, Oh! don't you cry for me, I've come from Alabama, wid my banjo on my knee." The song describes the impossible means he took to reach her
AUTHOR: Stephen C. Foster
EARLIEST_DATE: 1848
KEYWORDS: love travel dream humorous
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 152-155, "Oh! Susanna" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 408, "Oh, Susanna!" (2 texts plus 2 excerpts and mention of 4 more; the "E" text has a chorus from elsewhere)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 103, (no title) (1 fragment, with a verse probably from "Napper" but the chorus of this song)
Silber-FSWB, p. 244, "Oh, Susanna" (1 text)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 46, "Oh, Susanna" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 404-405, "Oh! Susanna"
DT, OSUSANNA*
ST RJ19152 (Full)
Roud #11745
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "Oh Susanna" (Romeo 539, 1928)
Vernon Dalhart w. Carson Robison & Adelyne Hood, "Oh! Susanna" (Victor 21169, 1928)
Light Crust Doughboys, "Oh! Susanna" (Vocalion 03345, 1936)
Chubby Parker, "Oh, Susanna"  (Silvertone 25013, 1927; Supertone 9191, 1928)
Riley Puckett "O! Susanna" (Columbia 15014-D, c. 1925; rec. 1924; Silvertone 3261 [as Tom Watson], 1926)
Rice Brothers Band, "Oh Susannah" (Decca 5804, 1940)
Pete Seeger, "Oh, Susanna" (on PeteSeeger18)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Prospecting Dream" (tune)
cf. "Oh California" (tune)
cf. "Oh, Susanna (II)" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Oh California (File: ShaSS114)
Oh, Susanna (II) (File: Hugi116)
NOTES: This song is one of the best examples of Foster's bad luck as a businessman. The first (unauthorized) printing never mentioned Foster's name, though it associates the song with the Christy Minstrels. Foster then gave the piece away; the next printing had his name on it, but if he received any money at all, it was a flat up-front fee.
The early popularity of this song seems to be indicated by the existence of a Gold Rush version, a fragment of which is quoted by Laura Ingalls Wilder in _Little House in the Big Woods_ (chapter 13):
Oh, Susi-an-na, don't you cry for me,
I'm going to Cal-i-for-ni-a,
The gold dust for to see. - RBW
File: RJ19152
===
NAME: Oh! When a Man Get the Blues: see When a Woman Blue (File: San236)
===
NAME: Ohio
DESCRIPTION: The singer remembers the dead at Stones River. He recalls finding a dying youth. The soldier sends greetings to his family, then dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Eddy)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar dying
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Dec 31, 1862-Jan 2, 1863 - Battle of Stones River/Murfreesboro
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Eddy 127, "Ohio" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST E127 (Full)
Roud #5343
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Battle of Stone River" (subject)
NOTES: It is hard to say who won the Battle of Stones' River/Murfreesboro. The battle pitted William S. Rosecrans's Army of the Cumberland against Braxton Bragg's Confederate army. Rosecrans had been advancing into Tennessee, and Bragg set out to stop him.
In the first phase of the battle, on Dec. 31, Bragg drove back but did not destroy Rosecrans's right. Jan. 1, 1863 was quiet, but Bragg tried again on Jan. 2. Again he failed to decisively defeat the Federals.
After spending the day of Jan. 3 on the field,  Bragg's army retreated. The federal army had been so badly mauled that it would be half a year before it moved again -- but Rosecrans held the field and his gains. - RBW
File: E127
===
NAME: Ohio River, She's So Deep and Wide
DESCRIPTION: "Ohio River, she's so deep and wide, Lord, I can't see my poor gal from the other side." "I'm going to river, take my seat and sit down, If the blues overtake me, I'll jump into the river and drown." "I've got the blues... I ain't got the heart to cry"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: separation floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MWheeler, p. 81-83, "Ohio Rivuh, She's So Deep an' Wide" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10028
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Abilene" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Kansas City Blues" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: This is one of those songs composed entirely of floating lyrics. But since there doesn't seem to be a dominant "ingredient," it gets listed separately. - RBW
File: MWhee081
===
NAME: Oil of the Barley, The: see (references to tune under) Mowing the Barley (Cold and Raw) (File: ShH60)
===
NAME: Ol' A'k's A-Movin', The: see The Old Ark's A-Moverin' (File: LoF248)
===
NAME: Ol' Arboe: see Old Arboe (Ardboe) (File: HHH505)
===
NAME: Ol' Gen'ral Bragg's a-Mowin' Down de Yankees
DESCRIPTION: The master (?) tells the slaves that Bragg is defeating the Yankees, and warns them to behave. But then the southern troops appear to be running. Master runs off to the swamps, "while Dinah, Pomp, an' Pete dey look As if dey mighty pleas'."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar slave battle freedom
FOUND_IN: US(MW,SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownII 233, "Ol' Gen'ral Bragg's a-Mowin' Down de Yankees" (1 text)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 104-105, "Old Massa He Come Dancin' Out" (1 text)
Roud #6619
NOTES: It is difficult to correlate this song with any particular Civil War battle. Braxton Bragg (1817-1876) commanded at four major conflicts: Perryville (Oct. 8, 1862), Murfreesboro/Stones River (Dec. 31, 1862-Jan. 2, 1863), Chickamauga (Sept. 19-20, 1862), and Chattanooga (Nov. 23-25, 1863).
None of these battles fit the song. Perryville ended with Bragg retreating, but it was a voluntary retreat -- and it was in Kentucky anyway, where the slaves were not freed by the Emancipation Proclamation.
Stones River also ended with Bragg retreating, but again, his forces retreated in good order; there was no running.
Chickamauga was an overwhelming Confederate victory; only the Yankees fled.
The best fit, then, is Chattanooga, where Bragg at first held the Federals easily -- he held an overwhelmingly strong position on the ridges above the town) but then saw his troops fall apart. (He was relieved afterward.0 -- But the area through which the Confederates fled had been in Union hands previously, and was not good planting country; there were few slaves in the area.
According to Greenway, the mother of collector Merton Knowles learned the song after the Civil War. - RBW
File: BrII233
===
NAME: Ol' John Brown: see Joseph Mica (Mikel) (The Wreck of the Six-Wheel Driver) (Been on the Choly So Long) [Laws I16] (File: LI16)
===
NAME: Ol' Mars'r Had a Pretty Yaller Gal: see Don't Get Weary Children (Massa Had a Yellow Gal) (File: BAF904)
===
NAME: Ol' Mickey Brannigan's Pup: see Brannigan's Pup (File: FSC122)
===
NAME: Ol' Rattler: see Old Rattler (File: CNFM104)
===
NAME: Ol' Virginny Never Tire: see Old Virginny Never Tire (File: ScaNF109)
===
NAME: Olban (Alban) or The White Captive [Laws H15]
DESCRIPTION: A young woman (Amanda) has been taken captive by Indians. She is about to be subjected to torture or death when one of the tribe (the chief, young Albion?) rescues her and brings her home, (asking no reward but his food)
AUTHOR: Rev. Thomas C. Upham
EARLIEST_DATE: 1818 (The "Columbia Sentinel" of Boston)
KEYWORDS: Indians(Am.) rescue
FOUND_IN: US(NE,SE,So,Ro)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws H15, "Olban (Alban) or The White Captive"
Randolph 674, "Her White Bosom Bare" (2 texts)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 160-163, "Young Alban and Amandy" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 761, WHTCAPTV
Roud #657
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "Lamanda" (AFS 4203 B1, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fair Captive" (theme)
NOTES: Several scholars have sought for the events which lie behind this ballad. One even connected it with a story by James Fennimore Cooper! Given that all the accounts disagree, and that the Cooper story ("Wish-Ton-Wish") was not published until 1832, each must probably be taken with a grain of salt. - RBW
In Ford's version, Olban (called "Alvin") asks for food for his people rather than himself. - PJS
File: LH15
===
NAME: Old Abe Is Sick
DESCRIPTION: "Old Abe is sick (x2), Old Abe is sick in bed. He's a lying dog, a dying dog, With meanness in his head." "He wants our cotton... He shall have it, he will have it, Some tar and feathers too." "Down with Old Abe... And all his Yankee crew"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: political Civilwar
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 388, "Old Abe is Sick" (1 text)
Roud #11754
File: Br3388
===
NAME: Old Abe Lincoln Came Out of the Wilderness
DESCRIPTION: "Old Abe Lincoln came out of the wilderness, Out of the wilderness, Out of the wilderness, Old Abe Lincoln came out of the wilderness, Down in Illinois."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: political parody nonballad derivative
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1809 - Birth of Abraham Lincoln in Kentucky . He later moved to Illinois
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 is re-elected President
1865 - Lincoln assassinated
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Sandburg, p. 168, "Old Abe Lincoln Came Out of the Wilderness" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, p. 17, "Old Abe Lincoln Came Out of the Wilderness" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 287, "Old Abe Lincoln Came Out of the Wilderness" (1 text)
Thomas-Makin', p. 53, (no title) (1 short text, probably a fragment of a modified version of this song)
Roud #11629
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Gray Mare (I) (The Old Gray Horse; The Little Black Bull)" (tune)
cf. "I Wait Upon the Lord" (tune, structure)
File: San168
===
NAME: Old Abe's Elected
DESCRIPTION: "Old Abe's elected so they say Along with Darkey Hamlin, The Yankees think they'll gain the day By nigger votes and gamblin'." (To the tune of Yankee Doodle)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar political parody
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1861-1865 - Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin are President and Vice President
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 245, "Old Abe's Elected" (1 text)
Roud #7712
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Honest Abe" (subject)
NOTES: Abraham Lincoln hardly needs introduction. Hannibal Hamlin was Lincoln's vice president; a former Democrat, he joined the Republicans over the issue of slavery. He was replaced as vice president, in Lincoln's second term, by Andrew Johnson.
This piece clearly shows the level of political rhetoric that was being fired about during the election of 1860; Hamlin was anti-slavery, but not radically so; certainly neither he nor Lincoln had, at that time, any plan to enfranchise the southern slaves. And, at this time, a referendum in New York to grant Blacks the franchise failed miserably. For background on the amazingly complex election of 1860, see the notes to "Lincoln and Liberty." - RBW
File: R245
===
NAME: Old Adam
DESCRIPTION: "I'm very sorry for old Adam, Just as sorry as can be, For he never had no mammy For to hold him on her knee." "And I've always had the feeling He'd a-let that apple be If he'd only had a mammy For to hold him on her knee."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: Bible mother
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, p. 339, "Old Adam" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4566
File: San339
===
NAME: Old and Only in the Way
DESCRIPTION: "When you walk along the street, how often do you meet Some poor old man who's getting old and gray?" Poor old men find that their children do not care for him, and rich old men have heirs waiting impatiently. The singer complains about the young
AUTHOR: P. J. Downey and L. T. Billings
EARLIEST_DATE: 1880 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: youth age money work
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Rorrer, p. 83, "Old and Only in the Way" (1 text)
DT, OLD&GRAY
Roud #6440
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink], "Old and Only in the Way" (Supertone 9639, 1930)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Old and Only in the Way" (OKeh 40181, 1924) (OKeh 45273, 928; rec. 1927) (Bluebird B-5959, 1935)
Byron G. Harlan, "Always In the Way" (CYL: Edison 8501, 1903)
Kentucky Girls, "Old and Only in the Way" (Columbia 15364-D, 1929; rec. 1928)
Oliver Moore [pseud. for Ted Chestnut], "Old and Only in the Way" (Challenge 422, 1928)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Old and Only in the Way" (Columbia 15672-D, 1931; rec. 1928; on CPoole03)
File: DToldgra
===
NAME: Old Arboe (Ardboe)
DESCRIPTION: The singer asks the powers to help him praise Ar(d)boe. He praises the land, the waters, the wildlife, the winds. He talks of the holy days they celebrate. The singer has traveled the world, but has seen no better place
AUTHOR: James Cairnes ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: home
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H505, p. 157, "Old Ardboe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 82-84, "Ol' Arboe" (1 text)
Roud #2984
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Cross of Ardboe" (subject)
NOTES: Sam Henry has notes on the various feast days mentioned in the song. These seem more accurate than the geography of the Biblical references to "the shores of Cana and Galilee"; neither name was proper in the author's time, and Galilee had no true seacoast (the "sea of Galilee" is a lake). Cana is not on any shore at all; it was half way between the Mediterranean and the Sea of Galilee. - RBW
For the cross reference [to The Old Cross of Ardboe"] see Bell/O Conchubhair, _Traditional Songs of the North of Ireland_, pp. 38-39, "The Old Cross of Ardboe" attributed to "the 'Poet' Canavan." The songs are close in theme and approach, but share no lines. Here is a description of "The Old Cross of Ardboe": The singer bids farewell to the places in Tyrone "where I spent my childhood days" He wonders if he will ever return. "May the star of Freedom smile ... And the shamrocks verdant grow Green around those graves near Lough Neagh's waves, And the Old Cross Ardboe." - BS
File: HHH505
===
NAME: Old Ark's A-Moverin', The
DESCRIPTION: "O the old ark's a-moverin... an' I thank God." Sundry verses on the flood, salvation, and those who are too proud, e.g. "How many days did the water fall? Forty days and nights and all." "See that sister dressed so fine? She ain't got Jesus on her mind"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1911 (recording, Fisk University Jubilee Quartet)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad flood
FOUND_IN: US(Ap) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 213-214, (no title) (1 text, with this chorus though many of the verses are about Jesus; it may be conflate, but in the present state of Thomas's text it's hard to tell)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 7, (no title) (1 fragment, the "Paul and Silas bound in jail" lyric but with an internal chorus that might be this -- or might not); p. 28, "The Ol' A'k's A-Movin'" (1 short text, with a slightly different form but too similar to classify separately)
Lomax-FSNA 248, "The Old Ark's A-Moverin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 77, "The Old Ark" (1 text, 1 tune, with first verse and chorus from "The Old Ark's A-Moverin'" and additional verses from "Song of the Fishes (Blow Ye Winds Westerly)")
Silber-FSWB, p. 360, "The Old Ark's A-Moverin'" (1 text)
Roud #11948
RECORDINGS:
Alphabetical Four, "The Old Ark's a-Moverin'" (Decca 7546, 1938; on AlphabFour01)
Atlanta Harmony Singers, "The Old Ark's a Moverin'" (Champion 15616, 1928)
Fisk University Jubilee Quartet, "The Ole Ark" (Victor 16840, 1911)
Seven Foot Dilly and his Dill Pickles, "The Old Ark's a Moving" (Vocalion 5458, 1930; on Babylon)
Virginia Female [Jubilee] Singers, "The Old Ark's a-Moverin'" (OKeh 4482, 1922; rec. 1921)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Who Built the Ark?" (floating lyrics)
SAME_TUNE:
Pete Seeger, "We'll All Be A-Doubling" (on PeteSeeger48)
NOTES: For the statement that the rain fell for forty days during Noah's flood, see Gen. 7:12 (the total duration of the flood is given in 7:17, 8:6? as 40 days and in 7:24, 8:3 as 150 days; the different numbers are believed to have come from different sources). The landing on Mount Ararat/Uratu is mentioned in 8:4. - RBW
File: LoF248
===
NAME: Old Arkansas: see The State of Arkansas (The Arkansas Traveler II) [Laws H1] (File: LH01)
===
NAME: Old Arm Chair, The: see Grandmother's Chair (File: R467)
===
NAME: Old Aunt Dinah
DESCRIPTION: "Old Aunt Dinah, ho pee, ho pee, Old Aunt Dinah, ho pee ho! Gwine away to leave yer..." "Old Aunt Dinah -- sick in bed, Eegisty -- ogisty! Send for the doctor... said, 'Git up Dinah... You ain't sick... All you need... is a hickory stick."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1921 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: separation doctor disease
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 487, "Old Aunt Dinah" (1 fragment)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 187-188, "Ole Aunt Dinah" (1 fragment, plus a second which inserts Aunt Dinah into an "Old Dan Tucker" stanza)
Roud #11803
NOTES: There is no particular reason to associate the Brown and Scarborough fragments, since they describe different events and have different nonsense refrains. But both are about Aunt Dinah, both are fragments, both have nonsense refrains, and both seem unique; reason enough to file them together, I think. - RBW
File: Br3487
===
NAME: Old Aunt Kate
DESCRIPTION: "Ole Aunt Kate she bake de cake, She bake hit 'hine de garden gate; She sift de meal, she gimme de dust, She bake de bread, she gimme de crust, She eat de meat, she gimme de skin, An' dat's de way she tuck me in."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: food humorous
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 99, "Ole Aunt Kate" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11617
NOTES: Scarborough reports that this is an "elaboration" from "Juba." Be hard to prove either way. - RBW
File: ScaNF099
===
NAME: Old Aunt Katy
DESCRIPTION: "Old Aunt Katy was a good old soul, Patched my breeches right full of holes." "Up the ridge and down the ridge And run old Katy home." "Old Aunt Katy was a good old soul, Crossed the bridge and paid her toll." "Old Aunt Katy dressed mighty fine...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: clothes nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 323, "Old Aunt Katy" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
Roud #15889
NOTES: The notes in Brown suggest that this is a play-party. It feels more like a fiddle tune to me. But with no tune and no gaming instructions, we can't say. - RBW
File: Br3323
===
NAME: Old Bachelor (I), The
DESCRIPTION: Singer, an old bachelor ignorant of women, marries a 16-year-old, primarily to keep him warm at night. She wants more from him, which baffles him until her mother tells him the facts of life. He obliges; a fine son results, to his surprise and delight
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Grieg)
KEYWORDS: age marriage sex bawdy humorous mother bachelor
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland,England(North))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "The Old Bachelor" (on BirdBush1, BirdBush2)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Maids When You're Young Never Wed an Old Man" (theme) and references there
File: RcTOB
===
NAME: Old Bachelor (II), The: see Stern Old Bachelor (File: R481)
===
NAME: Old Bachelor (III), The: see A Bachelor's Lament (File: JHCox160)
===
NAME: Old Bachelor (IV), The: see The Brisk Young Bachelor (File: ShH69)
===
NAME: Old Bangum: see Sir Lionel [Child 18] (File: C018)
===
NAME: Old Bangum and the Boar: see Sir Lionel [Child 18] (File: C018)
===
NAME: Old Barbed Wire, The (I Know Where They Are)
DESCRIPTION: "If you want to find the privates, I know where they are (x3) -- They're up to their knees in mud (or: "Hanging on the old barbed wire"). I saw them...." Meanwhile, the captains, colonels, and generals enjoy themselves and stay away from the fighting
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: soldier war
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Sandburg, pp. 442-443, "Where They Were" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. "If You Want to Know Where the Privates Are" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BARBWIRE
Roud #9618
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
If You Want to See the Captain
NOTES: Internal evidence clearly dates this to the First World War, with its trenches and barbed wire and mud that threatened to swallow the Allied armies whole. What's more, until WWI, officers -- including brigade and sometimes even divisional officers -- were expected to lead their men from the front. Only in the twentieth century did officers become so valuable that they were allowed to "lead" from the rear. - RBW
File: San442
===
NAME: Old Bark Hut, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer, whose name varies, relates, "I once was well to do, but now I am stumped up, And I'm forced to go on rations in an old bark hut." There follows a list of the ways the singer makes do or tolerates the poor conditions
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964
KEYWORDS: poverty hardtimes
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 105-106, "The Old Bark Hut" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 126-127, "The Old Bark Hut" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 87-89, "The Old Bark Hut" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 133-134, 290-291, "The Old Bark Hut" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
NOTES: This is sort of the Australian version of "The Old Chisholm Trail," with nearly infinite verses. Henry Lawson reports riding on a train from Bourke to Sydney with a band of shearers, who sang the song the whole time without repeating a verse. - RBW
File: MA105
===
NAME: Old Bee Makes de Honeycomb: see Old Bee Makes the Honey Comb (File: Br3479)
===
NAME: Old Bee Makes the Honey Comb
DESCRIPTION: "Old bee (makes the honey comb/sucks the blossom), Young bee makes the honey. (Poor man/Colored folks) plant the cotton and corn, (Rich man/White folks) make the money."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: floatingverses work bug
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
BrownIII 479, "Old Bee Makes the Honey Comb" (1 fragment); 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")
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 165, "Old Bee Make de Honeycomb" (1 text, with this stanza but many more associated primarily with "Raccoon")
cf. Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #194, p. 136, ("God made the bees")
Roud #5029
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Haul Away, Boys, Haul Away" (lyrics)
NOTES: Reportedly found also in _Uncle Remus_, this is one of those floating verses that seems to exist in many songs. Since Brown has it as a standalone, it files here, with many cross-references.
The nursery rhyme version, which I suspect is close to the original, runs:
God made the bees
And the bees make honey.
The miller's man does all the work
But the miller makes the money.- RBW
File: Br3479
===
NAME: Old Beggar Man, The: see Hind Horn [Child 17] (File: C017)
===
NAME: Old Bell Cow
DESCRIPTION: Humorous description of a cow that's difficult to milk: "Went down to the cornfield to pick a mess of beans, Along come the bell cow a-pecking at the greens." "Some of these days when I learn how, I'm gonna milk that old bell cow."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Dixie Crackers)
KEYWORDS: farming work humorous animal
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 110-111, "Old Bell Cow" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Dixie Crackers, "The Old Bell Cow" (Paramount 3151, 1929; on CrowTold01)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Old Bell Cow" (on NLCR10) (NLCR16)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Bell Cow
NOTES: It has long been a custom to tie a bell around a cow's neck so she can be found easily. - PJS
File: CSW110
===
NAME: Old Betsy Lina: see Lead Her Up and Down (Rosa Becky Diner, Old Betsy Lina) (File: R552)
===
NAME: Old Betty Larkin (Betsy Larkin, You Stole My Pard, Steal Partners, Stole My Partner)
DESCRIPTION: "Hop around, skip around, old Betty Larkin (x3), and also my dear darlin.'" "Steal, steal, old Betty Larkin...." ""You take mine, and I'll take another...." "Needles in a haystack, old Betty Larkin."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: courting abandonment playparty dancing nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 15, "Old Betty Larkin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 586, "You Stole My Pard" (1 fragment)
Roud #7404; also 7673
NOTES: Randolph's is only a two-stanza fragment: "You stole my pard to my dislike (x3), And also my dear darlin'." "I'll have her back or fight all night (x3), And also my dear darlin'." It may be a separate piece (Roud separates them). But that key line about the "dear darlin'" seems to me to link his text with the Ritchie Family "Betty Larkin" texts. - RBW
File: R586
===
NAME: Old Bill: see Tell Old Bill (File: San018)
===
NAME: Old Billy Dugger
DESCRIPTION: "Old Billy Dugger he looks mighty cross; He shot at a man and killed Jack's hoss."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: soldier death horse
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 283, "Old Billy Dugger" (1 text)
Roud #6642
NOTES: Reported to be based on a Civil War incident -- but it's a soldier's joke I've seen elsewhere. - RBW
File: BrII283
===
NAME: Old Binnie
DESCRIPTION: Old Binnie is urged to come see the Irishman work with his penis
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955
KEYWORDS: bawdy
FOUND_IN: US(Ro,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cray, p. 264, "Ditties," of which the first is "Old Binnie"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Irish Washerwoman" (tune)
File: EM264
===
NAME: Old Black Alice
DESCRIPTION: "Old Black Alice are my name, Wellshot are my station. It's no disgrace, the old black face, it's the colour of my nation." The singer tells how she can dance, points out that God made her as well as whites, and notes the several men who like her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964
KEYWORDS: Australia discrimination
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 92-93, "Old Black Alice" (1 composite text, 1 tune)
File: PASB092
===
NAME: Old Black Booger, The: see Old Man Came Over the Moor, An (Old Gum Boots and Leggings) (File: R066)
===
NAME: Old Black Duck, The: see The Fox (File: R103)
===
NAME: Old Black Hen, The
DESCRIPTION: "Master had an old black hen, Black as any bear, Laid and set in an acorn shell, Eighteen inches square."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: bird
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 159, "The Old Black Hen" (1 text)
File: Br3159
===
NAME: Old Black Joe
DESCRIPTION: "Gone are the days when my heart was young and gay, Gone are my friends from the cotton fields away, Gone from the earth to a better land I know, I hear their gentle voices calling 'Old Black Joe.'" The singer, having outlived so much, says "I'm coming"
AUTHOR: Stephen C. Foster
EARLIEST_DATE: 1860
KEYWORDS: age nonballad death
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 156-159, "Old Black Joe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Saunders/Root-Foster 2, pp. 99-102+428, "Old Black Joe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuld-WFM, p. 407, "Old Black Joe"
DT, OLDBLACK*
ST RJ19156 (Full)
Roud #9601
RECORDINGS:
Criterion Quartet, "Old Black Joe" (CYL: Edison [BA] 3092, n.d.)
Edison Quartette, "Old Black Joe" (Edison 8823, 1904)
Fisk University Jubilee Quartet, "Old Black Joe" (Victor 35097, 1909)
Ford Hanford, "My Old Kentucky Home and Old Black Joe [medley]" (Victor 18767, 1921)
Riley Puckett, "Old Black Joe" (Columbia 15005-D, 1924)
SAME_TUNE:
Come Up, Dear Dinner, Come Up (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 121)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Poor Old Joe
NOTES: By the time Foster wrote this piece, his parents were dead, his marriage was troubled, and he was in bad financial shape. It has been theorized that this put him in a nostalgic mood. As always, he set it on the plantation -- but for once not in dialect. - RBW
File: RJ19156
===
NAME: Old Blacksmith's Shop, The
DESCRIPTION: "Some people ramble to lands far away... But the place I love best and am longing to see... And there I forever could stop... In the old village blacksmith's shop." The singer recalls visiting and playing with the blacksmith, but now the man is long dead
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: work worker loneliness age
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H541, p. 207, "The Old Blacksmith's Shop" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: HHH154
===
NAME: Old Blind Drunk John: see Martin Said To His Man (File: WB022)
===
NAME: Old Blind Horse, The
DESCRIPTION: Old man's will leaves everything to Uncle Bill and an old blind horse. When the horse finally dies "we took his skin for to make some shoes" and give the rest to the crows who "crawed" as they flew by "old horse you had to die"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: death horse bird
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 130-131, "The Old Blind Horse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2703
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Poor Old Horse (III)" (theme)
NOTES: Creighton-Maritime first verse "If you'll join the chorus whilst I sing This very night I'll make this old shanty ring" would seem to put it in a logging camp. The chorus, "And its come, come along with me For the moon is fast a climbing, Young girls, young girls, can't you see? For the dew on the grass is shining" is reminiscent of "Raise a Ruckus." - BS
File: CrMa130
===
NAME: Old Blue
DESCRIPTION: "I had a dog and his name was Blue...." The singer tells how Blue aided him in 'possum hunting, then goes on to describe Blue's death and burial.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1913
KEYWORDS: dog death burial hunting
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Randolph 295, "Old Blue" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
BrownIII 220, "Old Blue" (1 text)
Hudson 74, pp. 201-202, "Old Blue" (1 text)
Lomax-FSUSA 7, "Old Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 157, "Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 738, "Old Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 396, "Old Blue" (1 text)
DT, OLDBLUE
Roud #4313
RECORDINGS:
Jim Jackson, "Old Dog Blue" (Victor 21387B, 1928; on AAFM2) (Vocalion 1146, 1928)
Pete Seeger, "Old Blue" (on PeteSeeger09, PeteSeegerCD02)
Art Thieme, "The Split Dog" [combines song and tall-tale] (on Thieme01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Deep Blue Sea (II)" (floating lyrics)
File: R295
===
NAME: Old Blue Was a Gray Horse: see Skewball [Laws Q22] (File: LQ22)
===
NAME: Old Bo's'n, The: see The Boatsman and the Chest [Laws Q8] (File: LQ08)
===
NAME: Old Bob Ridley (Hobo Diddle De Ho)
DESCRIPTION: "When I was young we crossed the mountains, Crossed so many I quit a-countin', Hobo diddle de ho, An' a hobo diddle de ho." "We seen the buffalo a-comin', Seen so damn' many I couldn't count 'em...." "(Ho/oh), (old) Bob (Ridley/Bridely)"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1853 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1853 550030)
KEYWORDS: travel humorous talltale
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US(SE,So) Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 499, "Hobo Diddle De Ho" (1 text)
BrownIII 194, "Old Bob Ridley" (4 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 1 more)
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 162, "(Old Rob Ridley)" (1 short text)
Roud #753
RECORDINGS:
Mary Anne Carolan, "Young Bob Ridley" (on Voice07)
Henry Griffin, "Holler Jimmy Riley Ho" (on HandMeDown1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(358), "Bob Ridley, oh!," J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also Firth b.27(30), "Old Bob Ridley O!," unknown, n.d.
LOCSheet, sm1853 550030, "Old Bob Ridley," J. E. Boswell (Baltimore), 1853 (tune)
LOCSinging, as110090, "Old Bob Ridley, O," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also cw104110, as110080, "Old Bob Ridley"; sb30400a, "Old Bob Ridley O" 
NOTES: This was a popular minstrel piece that crossed the Atlantic. - PJS
According to the notes in Brown, it became a corn-shucking song in the U. S. The North Carolina versions are certainly very diverse. The British version had talltale elements, with Bob Riddley doing the impossibly in humorous ways. - RBW
Hall, notes to Voice07, re "Young Bob Ridley": "American minstrels first visited Britain and Ireland in the mid-1830s and subsequently local professional and amateur minstrel troupes remained popular until the Great War, contributing tunes and ditties to the traditional repertory."
Broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(358) includes the verse
At boxing I am sure to gain on,
A tousand times I've lick'd Jack Heenan;
And for winding up the belt affairs,
Next I'm going to belt Tom Sayers.
Dis Bob Ridley, oh!
Since John C. Heenan fought Tom Sayers in 1860 the dating of the broadside is certainly incorrect.
Broadside printer John Pitts died April 15, 1844. While the old ballad stock continued to circulate the house name did not continue. (source: Leslie Shepard, _John Pitts: Ballad Printer of Seven Dials, London 1765-1844_ (Private Libraries Association, c.1969), pp. 75,84).
Broadside LOCSinging as110090: 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: R499
===
NAME: Old Bog Hole, The: see The Ould Bog Hole (File: FVS290)
===
NAME: Old Brass Wagon
DESCRIPTION: Playparty: "Circle to the left, Old Brass Wagon, You're the one, my darling." "Swing oh swing, Old Brass Wagon...." "Promenade home...." "Shottische up and down...." "Break and swing...." "We'll all run away with the old brass wagon...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1911 (JAFL 24)
KEYWORDS: playparty travel
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 527, "The Old Brass Wagon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 159, "Old Brass Wagon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 388, "Little Brass Wagon" (1 text)
ST San159 (Full)
Roud #5034
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ten Little Indians (John Brown Had a Little Indian)" (tune)
File: San159
===
NAME: Old Brig, The
DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Verses relate various problems with the ship, an inept and/or drunk bosun, captain and/or cook, bad food. The usual sailor complaints, some of them probably justified. Hugill had four different language texts for this, all basically the same song.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Opsang fra Seilskibstiden)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Verses relate various problems with the ship, an inept and/or drunk bosun, captain and/or cook, bad food. The usual sailor complaints, some of them probably justified. Hugill had four different language texts for this, all basically the same song. Different versions listed were "Svineper" (a.k.a. The Dirty Old Pig, The Old Brig)-Norwegian, "Den Gamla Briggen"-Swedish, "Die Gut Alte Brigg"-German.
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty ship cook
FOUND_IN: Norway Sweden Germany
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 232-234, "Svineper" (2 texts-English & Swedish, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Waiting for the Day" (same theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Dirty Old Pig
The Old Brig
Den Gamla Briggen
Die Gute Alte Brigg
The Good Old Brig
NOTES: A note in Knurrhahn says this is an "old Scandinavian sailor song, of about 1800; known to many old-time seamen in other languages."
To second PJS's comment [in the notes to "How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?"], if we can't have "bitching" as a keyword, how about "complaining," or even "whining"? - SL
File: Hugi232
===
NAME: Old Brown Coat, The
DESCRIPTION: "...Come listen while I sing about The old brown coat and me." Having worked long on his father's farm, the singer at last gets his own property. The girl he loves favored another, but he proved guilty of theft. She turns to the singer; they live happily
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: love courting clothes marriage family home work
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 791, "The Old Brown Coat" (1 text)
JHCoxIIB, #26, pp. 190-192, "My Old Brown Coat and Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST R791 (Partial)
Roud #3114
RECORDINGS:
Lawrence Older,  "My Old Brown Coat and Me" (on LOlder01)
File: R791
===
NAME: Old Brown Sat in "The Rose and Crown"
DESCRIPTION: Brown in the pub is talking about the war and drawing the lines on the table with beer. "Five minutes" is called. Not enough time, complains Brown. "'For another half pint and we'd been in Berlin. Do you want us to lose the war?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (recording, Albert Smith)
KEYWORDS: war drink humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Albert Smith, "Old Brown Sat in 'The Rose and Crown'" (on Voice14)
File: RcOBSIRC
===
NAME: Old Bullock Dray, The
DESCRIPTION: The bullock driver is preparing for a good life in the bush. He seeks a wife, and prepares to head out to find land. He urges others along: "So it's roll up your blankets, and let's make a push; I'll take you upcountry and show you the bush...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960
KEYWORDS: Australia travel settler
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Meredith/Anderson, p. 127,  "The Old Bullock Dray" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 66-67, "The Old Bullock Dray" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 140-141, "The Old Bullock Dray" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
John Greenway, "The Old Bullock Dray" (on JGreenway01)
NOTES: Settlers in Australia had two major problems: Lack of women (since most convicts were men) and lack of land (since the good properties had been snatched up by early settlers and the wealthy). In 1861, Sir John Robertson (the "Jackie Robertson" of some versions of the song) promoted the New South Wales Free Selection Act, which made at least some land available to newcomers. Although it didn't really solve the problem, it promoted the era of good feeling apparently described in this song.
The "depot" mentioned in some texts is the compound at Parramatta where female immigrants were kept. Referred to as the "Female Factory," it allowed settlers to come in and seek wives. - RBW
File: MA127
===
NAME: Old Bumpy: see Old Roger is Dead (Old Bumpy, Old Grimes, Pompey) (File: R569)
===
NAME: Old Carathee
DESCRIPTION: Sean McNamara from County Down looks for a wife in Carathee. First, Red Danny shows him his selection. He picks Julia, a hawker. The first month they are happy. The second they argue. The third she beats him. You can find such a wife in Carathee.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1967 (recording, John Reilly)
KEYWORDS: marriage violence humorous wife
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #3377
RECORDINGS:
John Reilly, "Old Carathee" (on Voice15)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Devilish Mary" [Laws Q4] (theme)
NOTES: Hall, notes to Voice15: "'Old Carathee' tells of an Irish traveller, who chooses for a wife at a fair, thinking she would make him a good hawker." 
Musical Traditions site _Voice of the People suite_ "Reviews - Volume 15" by Fred McCormick - 27.2.99: "John Reilly's 'Old Carathee,' is about a bachelor who obtains a wife at a horse fair and ends up with a less than blissful match. Matrimonial bargains of this kind were common in Ireland at one time and survive into the present with the famous matchmaking fair at Lisdoonvarna in County Clare." - BS
File: RcOlCara
===
NAME: Old Chimney Sweeper, The: see I'm a Poor Old Chimney Sweeper (File: Wa189)
===
NAME: Old Chisholm Trail, The: see The Chisholm Trail (I) (File: R179)
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NAME: Old Chizzum Trail, The: see The Chisholm Trail (I) (File: R179)
===
NAME: Old Church Yard, The
DESCRIPTION: "Oh come, come with me to the old church yard, I well know the path through the soft green sward, Our friends slumber there we were wont to regard." The singer recalls the dead, gone from their troubles, and points out that they will rise again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (McDowell)
KEYWORDS: religious death
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 620, "The Old Church Yard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3386
NOTES: Randolph was told that this was a Millerite (early Adventist) hymn. If this was typical of their music, that might go almost as far to explain the failure of the Millerites as the fact that Miller's predictions of the end of the world were consistently wrong. - RBW
File: R620
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NAME: Old Circus Song: see Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)
===