NAME: Ten Thousand Miles Away (On the Banks of Lonely River)
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls his aged mother "on the banks of a lonely river, Ten thousand miles away." He wishes he (were a little bird so he could be) with her. He receives a letter from his sister saying his mother has died
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1882 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1882 16161)
KEYWORDS: death mother loneliness separation
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 697, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
BrownII 170, "The Homesick Boy" (2 texts)
Roud #3514
RECORDINGS:
Fred Redden, "The Banks of Claudy" (on NovaScotia1)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1882 16161, "Ten Thousand Miles Away on the Banks of a Lonely River,"  Balmer & Weber (Saint Louis), 1882 (tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "To the West A While to Stay" (plot)
NOTES: Several of Randolph's informants credited this to a Missouri musician named Hubbard. Given the general feebleness of the song, it is quite likely that it comes from such an obscure source. The presence of the North Carolina texts, however, argues that it is not local to the Ozarks. - RBW
Broadside LOCSheet sm1882 16161: "composed by I.M. Williams" whatever that means. Is it a coincidence that the publisher is so close to the Ozarks?
[NovaScotia1] begins "In youth I craved adventure To Australia I did stray, I left my home and mother For a fortune far away, She bade me not to leave her Or to return some day To the banks of far off Claudy Ten thousand miles away." This verse is missing from LOCSheet sm1882 16161, which begins with the letter verse, followed by the dream verse.- BS
File: R697
===
NAME: Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) [Laws H2]
DESCRIPTION: The reckless hobo cannot stay still; the sound of a train keeps calling him. (He may become involved with various girls, but even they cannot hold him.)
AUTHOR: (credited to Jimmie Rodgers by John Greenway)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (recording, George Reneau)
KEYWORDS: railroading train travel rambling floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,So,SE)
REFERENCES: (14 citations)
Laws H2, "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) "
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 355-366, "Waiting for a Train/Wild and Reckless Hobo" (2 texts plus a print from Richard Burnett's songbook and a peculiar "Wabash Cannonball" mix, 2 tune)
Randolph 836, "A Wild and Reckless Hobo" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 456-457, "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home" (1 text, 1 tune, which from its form appears to go here although the plot is somewhat different; the singer misses the true love who abandoned him)
Davis-More 29, pp. 221-228, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (3 texts plus a fragment, 2 tunes;  the two longest texts, AA and DD, both contain floating material, in the case of "D" probably from this piece)
BrownII 30, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (4 texts, 5 excerpts, 1 fragment, plus mention of two more; the final text, M, probably combined with this piece)
BrownIII 359, "The Wild and Reckless Hobo" (1 text); 361, "Waiting for a Train" (1 short text)
Hudson 111, pp. 250-251, "The Railroad Bum" (1 text)
Fuson, pp. 128-129, "Ten Thousand Miles From Home" (1 text)
Lomax-AFSB, pp. 28-30, "Ten Thousand Miles from Home" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 42, "Sam's 'Waiting for a Train'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 54, "Danville Girl" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 130, "At the Jail" (2 texts, 1 tune; the result looks to me to be a mix between this and "Logan County Jail," though it's one of those vague cases....)
DT 781, DANVGIRL (DANVILL2)
Roud #699
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "Danville Girl" (Brunswick 132B, 1927); (on Boggs2, BoggsCD1)
Burnett & Rutherford, "Ramblin' Reckless Hobo" (Columbia 15240-D, 1928; rec. 1927; on BurnRuth01)
Vernon Dalhart, "Wild and Reckless Hobo" (Brunswick 2942, 1925)
Morgan Denmon, "Wild and Reckless Hobo" (Velvet Tone 2366-V, 1930); "The Wild and Reckless Hobo" (OKeh 45327, 1929)
Dixon Brothers, "The Girl I Left in Danville" (Montgomery Ward M-7337, c. 1937/Bluebird B-7674, 1938)
Bill Baker w. Bob Miller's Hinky-Dinkers, "Wild and Reckless Hobo" (Brunswick 445/Supertone S-2059, 1930)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Danville Girl" (on NLCR06)
Pine Mountain Ramblers [or Virginia Mountain Boomers], "Ramblin' Reckless Hobo" (Champion 15610, 1928; Supertone 9305, 1929)
Charlie Powers, "The Wild and Reckless Hobo" (CYL: Edison 5131, n.d.)
George Reneau, "Wild and Reckless Hoboes" (Vocalion 14999, 1925)
Pete Seeger, "Danville Girl" (on PeteSeeger02, PeteSeegerCD01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bigler's Crew" [Laws D8] (meter)
cf. "More Pretty Girls Than One" (words, tune)
cf. "Waiting For a Train (II)" (subject, some lyrics)
cf. "Ninety-Nine Years (I)" (tune)
NOTES: I question the attribution of this to Rodgers, as it seems to take quite a few forms. It seems more likely that he used floating verses in composing his song, "Waiting for a Train." - PJS
You'll note that I didn't say I believed Rodgers wrote it. Best guess is that he created a recension which became fairly popular. - RBW
Paul Stamler suggests that "The Danville Girl" subtext deserves separate listing, noting that "It has certain verses that set it apart, including the'You bet your life she's out of sight/She wore those Danville curls' and 'She wore her hair on the back of her head/Like high-toned people do.' It's also got floating verses, including some from "Gambling Man...." The difficulty, for me at least, is that none of these are characteristic of the song; I've seen versions without either verse. Thus, while the extremes are different, there is no good way to draw a line. We could simply call all texts which mention Danville "The Danville Girl" -- but there are otherwise identical versions which omit that key name. Plus, the Brown "Wild and Reckless Hobo" text is certainly a "Danville Girl" version, but Laws lists it here. - RBW, PJS
From Alan Lomax's notes to PeteSeeger02, "There are stanzas in this one from so many different hobo songs, sung in so many different ways, that one might call this the master hobo song. Actually I had some hand in mixing the verses together in _American Ballads and Folk Songs_ (Macmillan, 1934), from which this version comes." Can we say, "smoking gun"? - PJS
I wonder if that might explain the Danville Girl mixup, too.... - RBW
Naw. That was already going on when Dock Boggs recorded the song in 1927. - PJS
When I finally read Cohen's notes on this, I thought seriously about sweeping out all the previous notes, since it includes a complex analysis of sources. But I finally decided that Cohen, while authoritative, is not definitive. His opinion is that there were originally three separate songs, which he entitles "Wild and Reckless Hobo," "Waiting for a Train," an "Danville Girl." But he admits so much mixture that drawing sharp lines is impossible. Lumping is generally against our policy, but when splitting forces notes to every version, I'll do lumping. - RBW
File: LH02
===
NAME: Ten Thousand Miles from Home: see Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) [Laws H2] (File: LH02)
===
NAME: Tenaouich' Tenaga, Ouich'ka
DESCRIPTION: Canadian French: A trapper is met by an Indian, who tells him that the comrade from whom he had earlier parted has died. The Indians have (buried/brought) the body. The recurrent word "Ouich'ka" seems to be an attempt to imitate Indian dialect
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1865 (Gagnon)
KEYWORDS: death Indians(Am.) burial Quebec foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 32-33, "Tenaouich' Tenaga, Ouich'ka" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FMB032
===
NAME: Tenderfoot, The: see The Horse Wrangler (The Tenderfoot) [Laws B27] (File: LB27)
===
NAME: Tennessee Killer, The
DESCRIPTION: "Oh I've killed men in Georgia And men in Alabam', But kill a man in Arkansas And God your soul will damn!" The singer admits to widespread murders, but was taken in Little Rock. Now he will hang. He warns others against guns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: murder punishment execution warning
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 175, "The Tennessee Killer" (1 text)
Roud #4101
NOTES: This song is item dE41 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: R175
===
NAME: Tennis Balls, The: see King Henry Fifth's Conquest of France [Child 164] (File: C164)
===
NAME: Tent Poles are Rotten, The
DESCRIPTION: "The tent poles are rotten, and the campfires dead And the possums they ramble in the trees overhead. I'm out on the wallaby, I'm humping my drum..." The singer describes the pleasures and virtues of a wanderer's life
AUTHOR: Words: Henry Lawson (various tunes used)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1984
KEYWORDS: rambling Australia
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 188-189, "The Tent Poles are Rotten" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE188
===
NAME: Tenting on the Old Camp Ground: see Tenting Tonight (File: RJ19206)
===
NAME: Tenting Tonight
DESCRIPTION: "We're tenting tonight on the old camp ground... Many are the hearts that are weary tonight, wishing for the war to cease... Tenting tonight (x2) Tenting on the old campground" The singer describes how the soldiers are lonely -- and often dying
AUTHOR: Walter Kittredge
EARLIEST_DATE: 1864
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle death home music
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 206-209, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 50-51, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hill-CivWar, pp. 222-223, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (1 text)
Arnett, pp. 86-87, "Tenting Tonight" (1 text, 1 tune)
Krythe 10, pp. 150-157, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 348-349, "Tenting Tonight" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 289, "Tenting On The Old Camp Ground" (1 text)
DT, TENTTNT* (TENTTNT2*)
ST RJ19206 (Full)
Roud #14045
RECORDINGS:
Apollo Quartet, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (Berliner 4264, 1898)
Colonial Quartet, "Tenting Tonight" (Phono-Cut 5097, c. 1913)
Columbia Stellar Quartet, "Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground" (Columbia A1808, 1915)
Haydn Quartet, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (Victor 119, 1900)
Knickerbocker Quartet, "We're Tenting Tonight" (CYL: Edison [BA] 1881, n.d.)
Mount Vernon Quartet, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (Columbia 15245-D, 1928)
Peerless Quartet, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (Zon-O-Phone 892, c. 1908) (Emerson 7160, 1917) (Pathe 40032 [as "Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground"], 1916)
Pete Seeger, "Tenting Tonight" (on PeteSeeger28)
Frank C. Stanley, "Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground" (CYL: Edison 8151, 1902)
Sterling Trio, "Tenting Tonight" (Little Wonder 266, 1915)
Unidentified vocal quartet "Tenting To-night on the Old Camp Ground" (Harvard 514, 1903-1906; prob. rec. 1900; Oxford 11964, c. 1906)
SAME_TUNE:
Emmett Brand, "Singing on the Old Church Ground" (on MuSouth06) 
NOTES: Civil war historian Bruce Catton says that, during the war, this piece was second in popularity only to "When This Cruel War Is Over" among the sad songs. After the war, when the defeatist tone of "Cruel War" made it seem less patriotic, "Tenting Tonight" came to be first in the veterans' hearts.
Walter Kittredge (born 1834) composed this song in 1863 while under the threat of the draft. As it turned out, he was rejected for ill health. Publishers at first rejected the song as not martial enough -- but then it was picked up by the Hutchinson Family, and the rest is history. - RBW
File: RJ19206
===
NAME: Terence McSwiney: see Shall My Soul Pass Through Ireland (File: PGa067)
===
NAME: Terence's Farewell to Kathleen
DESCRIPTION: "So, my Kathleen, you're going to leave me All alone by myself in this place." She is leaving Terence for England. He warns her against the deceitful men. He can't stop her going and when she returns "spaking such beautiful English" he "won't know" her
AUTHOR: Helen Selina Blackwood, Lady Dufferin, Countess Gifford (1807-1867) 
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1860 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3764))
KEYWORDS: courting separation England nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 89, "Terence's Farewell to Kathleen" (1 text)
Roud #3826
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3764), "Terence's Farewell", A. Ryle and Co. (London), 1845-1859; also Firth b.26(248), Harding B 26(638), Firth c.26(121), 2806 c.15(333), Harding B 11(3766), Harding B 11(3767), Firth c.13(267), Firth b.27(99), "Terence's Farewell"
LOCSinging, as113450, "Terence's Farewell to Kathleen", H. De Marsan (New York), 1859-1860; also sb40522b, "Terence's Farewell to Kathleen" 
NOTES: Broadside LOCSinging as113450: 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: OCon089
===
NAME: Terra Nova Seal Fishing
DESCRIPTION: "Ye talk o' this, and talk o' that... But list taw me -- I ken ye weel Wad like tae hear aboot the seal." The singer describes the difficulties of sailing north to the ice, the difficulties of killing adult seal; he ends by describing the types of pelts
AUTHOR: Robert Brown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Harbour Grace Standard)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship nonballad recitation
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, pp. 27-28, "Terra Nova Seal Fishing" (1 text)
File: RySm027
===
NAME: Terra Nova, The
DESCRIPTION: "One Monday morning March the tenth, it opened fine and clear." "Slob ice" was to be seen, but Captain Kean still takes the Terra Nova sealing. Blocked by a pan, three men die before they escape. The song describes the three dead men
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1967 (collected from  Norman Payne by Halpert & Fiander)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship death
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 98, "The Terra Nova" (1 text)
File: RySm098
===
NAME: Terrier Dog, The
DESCRIPTION: The terrier pup has a distinguished career of extreme viciousness -- until it encounters an oversized cat. The pup's owner, seeing his dog killed, demands satisfaction of the cat's owner. She shoots him; though cured, he "never... raise[d] another pup."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1870
KEYWORDS: animal dog fight death
FOUND_IN: US(MA,SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
FSCatskills 123, "The Terrier Dog" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC123 (Partial)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Terrier Pup
File: FSC123
===
NAME: Terrier Pup, The: see The Terrier Dog (File: FSC123)
===
NAME: Terry Toole's Cabbage
DESCRIPTION: "Torbay boys and did ye hear..." a goat got into Terry O'Toole's cabbage. Terry stabbed it to death and the boys dressed it "on the sly." They chipped in for the $3.50 fine.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: animal food punishment
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, p. 100, "Terry Toole's Cabbage" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9958
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Moose Song" (plot)
NOTES: Torbay is about seven miles north of St John's - BS
File: Pea100
===
NAME: Texas
DESCRIPTION: "We'll travel on together Till you and I must part, So fare you well, my honey, my love, I love you to my heart." The singer says he will die when they are parted; and rejoices when she returns; "We'll travel on together... We'll settle down in Texas."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Hudson)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation reunion playparty home
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hudson 156, pp.301-302 , "Texas" (1 text)
Roud #4510
File: Hud156
===
NAME: Texas Cowboy (I), The
DESCRIPTION: "Come all you Texas cowboys and warning take by me, Don't go out to Montana for wealth or liberty." The cowboy has worked in all sorts of places, but Montana is colder, you can only work (and so get paid) for six months a year, the food is bad, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1888 (The Glendive Independent)
KEYWORDS: cowboy work hardtimes warning
FOUND_IN: US(MW,Ro,So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Larkin, pp. 65-67, "The Texas Cowboy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thorp/Fife VIII, pp. 97-103 (21-22), "The Texas Cowboy" (4 texts, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 31, "The Texas Cowboy" (3 texts, 1 tune)
DT, TXASCWBY*
Roud #4632
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink], "I'm a Texas Cowboy" (Conqueror 7883, 1931)
File: TF08
===
NAME: Texas Cowboy (II), The: see The Wagoner's Lad (File: R740)
===
NAME: Texas Cowboy (III), The
DESCRIPTION: "With a sort of careless swagger, with a movement half a stagger... Is the way the Texas cowboy seems in town." Most of the rest of the song describes how the cowboy responds to various situations
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1884 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: cowboy
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 35, "Cowboy Boasters" (5 texts, 2 tunes; this is the "D" text)
Roud #11216
File: FCS035D
===
NAME: Texas Cowboy, The: see Texas Rangers, The [Laws A8] (File: LA08)
===
NAME: Texas Idol, A
DESCRIPTION: "I'm a buzzard from the Brazos on a tear, hear me toot!" The people call him "a pirate from the pampas." He lovingly describes how he abuses and flouts the law in various small towns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1884 (Kansas Cowboy)
KEYWORDS: cowboy outlaw police
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 35, "Cowboy Boasters" (5 texts, 2 tunes; this is the "B" text)
Roud #11215
File: FCW025B
===
NAME: Texas Jack
DESCRIPTION: The singer will "try to tell you the reason why we are bound to roam." The singer was part of a caravan that was attacked by Indians. Only he and two other children were saved by Texas Jack. Brought up among cowboys, he knows no other life
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905
KEYWORDS: death battle Indians(Am.) rescue family
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fife-Cowboy/West 44, "Texas Jack" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TEXASJCK*
Roud #11211
File: FCW044
===
NAME: Texas Jack (II): see My Heart's Tonight in Texas [Laws B23] (File: LB23)
===
NAME: Texas Rangers, The [Laws A8]
DESCRIPTION: The singer has left family and girlfriend to join a troop that finds itself fighting Indians. Many of the whites are killed; the singer describes the fight and what he left behind.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1874
KEYWORDS: battle Indians(Am.) warning army Civilwar fight violence war mother sister soldier
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 21, 1861 - First battle of Bull Run/Manasses fought between the Union army of McDowell and the Confederates under Johnston and Beauregard. (There was a second Bull Run battle a year later, but "Come All Ye Southern Soldiers" probably refers to this one, since it's the soldier's first battle)
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,NW,Ro,SE,So) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (23 citations)
Laws A8, "The Texas Rangers" (sample text in NAB, pp. 37-38)
Belden, pp. 336-339, "Texas Rangers" (3 texts plus plus mention of 5 more, 1 tune)
Randolph 177, "The Texas Rangers" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 2 tunes)
Eddy 130, "Come, All Ye Roving Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 95, "The Texas Rangers" (1 text plus mention of 2 more)
FSCatskills 20, "The Texas Rangers" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Leach-Labrador 105, "Western Ranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
McNeil-SFB1, pp.44-46, "Texas Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 234, "The Texas Ranger" (2 texts plus mention of 2 more; the "B" text is a Civil War adaption)
Hudson 96, pp. 227-228, "The Texas Cowboy" (1 text)
Fuson, pp. 191-192, "The Roving Ranger" (1 text)
Brewster 73, "The Texas Ranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 179, "Come all ye Southern Soldiers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thomas-Makin', p. 45, (no title) (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 169, "The Texas Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 134-135, "Texas Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 53, "The Texas Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 73, pp. 163-164, "The Texas Rangers" (1 text)
JHCox 63, "War Song" ( text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 161-162, "The Texas Rangers" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 274, "Texas Rangers" (1 text)
Saffel-CowboyP, pp. 180-181, "Texas Rangers" (1 text)
DT 363, TEXRANG*
Roud #480
RECORDINGS:
Cartwright Brothers, "Texas Ranger" (Victor V-40198, 1930; Montgomery Ward M-4460, 1934; rec. 1929; on AuthCowboys, WhenIWas1)
Paul Joines, "Roving Ranger" (on Persis1)
Sloan Matthews, "The Texas Rangers" (AFS, 1940s; on LC28)
Harry "Mac" McClintock, "The Texas Rangers" (Victor 21487, 1928)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "The Texas Rangers" (Vocalion 5177/Brunswick 168 [as Robert Gardner], 1927)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Texas Rangers" (on NLCR02)
Ernest Stoneman, "The Texas Ranger" (OKeh 45054, 1926); Ernest Stoneman [and Eddie Stoneman], "Texas Ranger" (Vocalion 026320)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Come All Ye Southern Soldiers" (words, structure, plot)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Texas Soldier
NOTES: Laws lists this as a native American ballad, and in its current form, it certainly is. Belden and others, however, note many similarities to British ballads; it is likely an extensive reworking of some earlier piece. - RBW
Digital Tradition notes, "Probably a rewrite of a Civil War song." Bingo; it's almost word-for-word identical to "Come All Ye Southern Soldiers," with only names, places and enemies changed. - PJS
This particular case is rather a conundrum. Paul Stamler supplies this description of "Come All Ye Southern Soldiers," known primarily from collections by Sharp in the North Carolina mountains: "Singer joins the 'jolly band' to fight for the South; their captain warns that before they reach Manassas they'll have to fight. Singer hears the Yankees coming and fears for his life; the battle is bloody and several of his comrades are lost. Singer invokes mothers, sisters, and sweethearts, and warns prospective soldiers that 'I'll tell you by experience you'd better stay at home.'"
That this is recensionally different from "Texas Rangers" is clear; I would normally agree with Paul in splitting the two. Laws, however, explicitly lumps them, and of course Roud does the same. Given how rare "Southern Soldiers" is, I decided to do the same. - RBW
File: LA08
===
NAME: Texas Song: see Going to Leave Old Texas (Old Texas, Texas Song, The Cowman's Lament) (File: FCW066E)
===
NAME: Texian Boys, The: see Come All You Virginia Girls (Arkansas Boys; Texian Boys; Cousin Emmy's Blues; etc.) (File: R342)
===
NAME: Thank You, Ma'am, Says Dan
DESCRIPTION: Courting song in which Dan says "Thank you, ma'am," whatever the girl's mother says. She invites him in; he thanks her. She allows him to marry her daughter. She will stay with her daughter; he will have to support the whole family. He thanks her
AUTHOR: Gerald  and Joseph M. Crofts?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting mother humorous
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H184=689, pp. 469-470, "'Thank You, Ma'am,' Says Dan" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 92, "I Thank You, Ma'am," Says Dan (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3044
NOTES: It would appear that copyright on this song was claimed by the Crofts. Given the various collections containing the song, however, I wonder if they really originated it. - RBW
File: HHH184
===
NAME: That Bloody War : see Battleship of Maine (File: CSW100)
===
NAME: That Crazy War
DESCRIPTION: Singer, drafted into World War I, humorously describes awful experiences, saying everyone (including him) was just trying to avoid getting shot "in that war, that crazy war." In one version, he says that if there's another war he'll be hard to find.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Jimmy Yates & His Boll Weevils)
KEYWORDS: army war France humorous soldier
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1914 - World War I begins in Europe
1917 - U.S. enters World War I
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 102, "That Crazy War" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 275, "That Crazy War" (1 text)
BrownII 239, "That Bloody War" (4 texts, of which "C" and "D," both short, probably belong here; "A" and "B" are "Battleship of Maine")
DT, CRAZYWAR*
Roud #779
RECORDINGS:
Lulu Belle & Scotty, "That Crazy War" (OKeh 06103, 1941)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Crazy War" (on NLCREP2)
Jimmy Yates & His Boll Weevils, "Bloody War" (Victor V-40065, 1929)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Battleship of Maine" (lyrics)
NOTES: This song seems to have been adapted to fit almost every war in existence. It is fitting, though, that it apparently comes from World War I -- the stupidest, most wasteful conflict of them all.
Some of the versions in Brown hint that this ended up mixing with "Battleship of Maine," and Roud apparently lumps them. - RBW
File: CSW102
===
NAME: That Dear Old Land
DESCRIPTION: "I'll sing tonight of a fairyland in the lap of the ocean set.... I'll sing tonight of Ireland's ancient days ... the dear old land, that sweet old land where the beautiful rivers flow." An exile remembers his home and its history.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: homesickness exile Ireland lament nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 70, "That Dear Old Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6368
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Scarborough Settler's Lament" (theme) and references there
File: GrMa070
===
NAME: That Is Even So
DESCRIPTION: "When first I heard the people tell Of finding gold in veins... [I] started o'er the plains." On the way west, the food runs short and the train has to winter at Salt Lake. The Mormons treat them badly. The singer advises leaving the "land of gold"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1858 (Put's Golden Songster)
KEYWORDS: gold mining hardtimes travel
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 17, "That Is Even So" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11206
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fools of Forty-Nine" (plot)
File: FCW017
===
NAME: That Last Fierce Charge: see The Last Fierce Charge [Laws A17] (File: LA17)
===
NAME: That Last Fierce Fight: see The Last Fierce Charge [Laws A17] (File: LA17)
===
NAME: That Lonesome Train Took My Baby Away
DESCRIPTION: "Woke up this morning, found somethin' wrong, My lovin' babe had caught that train and gone...." The singer asks the depot agent to shut the depot down so she cannot leave. But the girl is lost, and the train "will take you baby and run right over you."
AUTHOR: Words: Probably Charlie McCoy, influenced by the lyrics of "Cow Cow's Blues"/Tune: "Cow Cow's Blues" by Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (recording, Charlie McCoy)
KEYWORDS: train separation abandonment floatingverses
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 431-434, "That Lonesome Train Took My Baby Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LONETRN
RECORDINGS:
Charlie McCoy, "That Lonesome Train Took My Baby Away" (OKeh 8863, 1931?; rec. 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cannonball" (floating verses)
File: LSRai431
===
NAME: That Old Time Religion
DESCRIPTION: "Give me that (or: It's the/that) old time religion (x3), And it's good enough for me." Verses describe those for whom it was good enough: "It was good for Paul and Silas" "It was good for the Hebrew children," "It was good for my dear parents," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1872 ("Jubilee Songs as sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers")
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
BrownIII 640, "That Old-Time Religion" (1 text)
Chappell-FSRA 91, "The Old Time Religion" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Randolph 628, "The Old Time Religion" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 438-440, "The Old-Time Religion" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 628)
Silber-FSWB, p. 362, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (1 text)
Roud #6423
RECORDINGS:
The Blue Chips, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (ARC 6-07-60, 1936)
Brother Son Bonds, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (Decca 7024, 1934)
Emmett Brand, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (on MuSouth06)
Morris Brown Quartet, "That Old Time Religion" (Bluebird B-8428/Montgomery Ward M-8765, 1940)
Columbia [Male] Quartet, "The Old-Time Religion" (Columbia A-827, 1910; rec. 1909)
Cotton Belt Quartet, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (Vocalion 1022, 1926)
Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (Brunswick 7100, 1929)
Dixie Jubilee Singers, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (Banner 7237/Domino 4220/Challenge 937 [as Jewel Male Quartet], 1928)
Wally Fowler, "Old Time Religion" (Capitol 2182, 1952)
Golden Eagle Gospel Singers, "Gimme That Old Time Religion" (Decca 7314, 1937)
Hampton Institute Quartet, "Ole Time Religion" (Musicraft 233, 1939)
Haydn Quartette, "The Old Time Religion" (Victor 4656, 1906)
Heavenly Gospel Singers, "Old Time Religion" (Bluebird B-8077, 1939; Montgomery Ward M-7871, n.d.)
Jubliee Quartet, "Old Time Religion" (Banner 1550/Regal 9848, 1925; Ajax 31582, n.d.)
Mellowmen, "That Old Time Religion" (Decca 28081, 1952)
Old Southern Sacred Singers, "The Old Time Religion" (Brunswick 161, 1927)
Old-Time Jubilee Singers, "That Old Time Religion" (Perfect 113/Ajax [Can.] 17041, 1924)
Original Valentine Quartet, "Give That Old Time Religion" (OKeh 8135, 1924)
Pace Jubilee Singers, "Old-Time Religion" (Victor 22097, 1929; Bluebird B-5811, 1935; rec. 1928)
Paramount Jubilee Singers, "That Old Time Religion"  (Paramount 12073, rec. 1923)
Homer Rodeheaver, "Old Time Religion" (Columbia A-3856, 1923)
Ernest Thompson, "The Old Time Religion" (Columbia 15007-D, 1924)
Tuskegee Institute Quartet, "Old Time Religion" (Victor 18075, 1916; rec. 1915)
Tuskegee Quartet, "The Old Time Religion" (Victor 20519, 1927)
Congregation of Wesley Methodist Church, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (on JohnsIsland1)
SAME_TUNE:
Old Time Religion [parody] (DT, OLTIMREL, OLTIMR2, OLTIMR3; on PeteSeeger47)
NOTES: This piece was copyrighted in 1891 by Charlie D. Tillman -- but given that the text sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers was printed in 1880, the claim is obviously bogus.
This seems, for all intents and purposes, to have become a parody of itself of late. All three Digital Tradition versions, for instance, are modern versions praising various improbable deities (I suspect that most of the verses are filk). It's not really surprising, given the excellent tune and the asinine lyrics of the original. - RBW
File: R628
===
NAME: That Pretty Little Gal: see The Girl I Left Behind Me (lyric) (File: R546)
===
NAME: That Rogue Reilly
DESCRIPTION: "There's a boy that follows me every day, although he declares that I use him vilely." He is like "the very shadow at my feet." Her mother sends her away to make hay but Reilly is there. Her aunt recommends a nunnery but she would rather be bothered.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1863 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3382))
KEYWORDS: courting farming
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 57, "That Rogue Reilly" (1 text)
Roud #6980
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3382), "That Raking, Ranting, Reilly", H. Such (London), 1849-1862; also Harding B 11(3231), "The Ranting Reilly"; Harding B 20(144), "Raking, Ranting Reilly"; also Harding B 11(3306), "The Rogue Reilly "
File: OCon057
===
NAME: That the Stones of the Street May Turn Up the Pig's Feet
DESCRIPTION: "That the stones of the street may turn up the pig's feet If ever I cease to the love. That the tay may come down to three ha'pence a pound If ever I cease to the love"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1979 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad parody food
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 9, "That the Stones of the Street May Turn Up the Pig's Feet" (1 fragment)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "If Ever I Cease to Love" (subject and some text)
NOTES: The current description is all of the Tunney-StoneFiddle fragment.
The fragment is a parody of the "if ever I prove false" theme floating among songs such as "When First Into this Country" and "I Live Not Where I Love."  It could be derived from "If Ever I Cease to Love" but the only line shared is "If ever I cease to [the] love." - BS
File: RcSSTUPF
===
NAME: That's All Right
DESCRIPTION: Floating verses: "Mind my mother how you're walking along/Your feet might slip and your soul be lost"; "Hush little baby don't you cry." "Jacob ladder so long and tall." Cho: "That's all right (x2) Since my soul got a seat up in the kingdom...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: mid-1960s (recording, Laura Rivers)
KEYWORDS: warning floatingverses nonballad religious mother
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Laura Rivers, "That's All Right" (on BeenStorm1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Down on Me" (floating verses)
File: RcThAlRi
===
NAME: That's Where My Money Goes
DESCRIPTION: "That's where my money goes, To buy my baby clothes, I'd do 'most any old thing To keep that woman in style. She's worth her weight in gold, My coal-black Venus, Say, boys, that's where my money goes."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: money clothes
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 464, "That's Where My Money Goes" (1 short text)
Roud #11797
File: Br3464
===
NAME: Thatchers of Glenrea, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer works in Argyle, then does a quick thatching job in Glrenrea. When it is all done, he at last is able to return to his wife in Ireland, though he has been cheated (?) of some of the money he hoped he would earn. He will not return to Glenrea
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: work home separation return reunion money
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H186, pp. 46-47, "The Thatchers of Glenrea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13358
File: HHH186
===
NAME: Then Turn Out You Jolly Tars: see The Mermaid [Child 289] (File: C289)
===
NAME: Then We'll Have a New Convention
DESCRIPTION: "Katy, Katy, don't you want to marry? Your mother says you shall not marry... Until we kill the turkey hen." "Then we'll have a new convention And we'll kill the turkey hen... And we'll have the rights of man."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: marriage political bird
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 370, "Then We'll Have a New Convention" (1 text); also 371, "Colonel Harry, He Was Scared" (1 fragment, probably the same as the above or a parody, though it may be mixed)
Roud #11747
NOTES: The notes in Brown connect this with the Civil War: The "convention" refers to the state conventions called to bring states out of the Union, and the song reportedly was used to recruit soldiers. Which makes sense, though it hardly explains the song. The "turkey hen" presumably refers to the Union, or to Lincoln, but this is hardly a common usage.
The "Colonel Harry" of the second Brown text is unidentifiable in context. And the two songs between them have only eight distinct lines, making it very hard to tell what's going on. But the second looks like it might be a later answer to the first: Brown 370 is a triumphant call for a convention (and hence secession); #371, which mentions a convention of "the volunteers and the drafted men" must have arisen in 1862 or later, as opposition to Confederate policies increased. - RBW
File: Br3370
===
NAME: There Ain't No Bugs on Me: see Ain't No Bugs on Me (File: CSW226)
===
NAME: There Ain't No Flies on Jesus
DESCRIPTION: "There's flies on me, There's flies on you, But there ain't no flies on Jesus."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad bug
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 201, (no title) (1 fragment)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ain't No Bugs on Me" (concept)
NOTES: There is an obvious temptation to link this to "Ain't No Bugs on Me." But, apart from the religious reference, the form seems to imply that they are separate. - RBW
File: ScNF201A
===
NAME: There Cam a Laddie Frae the North
DESCRIPTION: "There cam a laddie frae the north... And he's fa'en in love wi' a bonnie lass That lived in Dundee." He offers to take her north to his home in Strathspey. She refuses; he goes home -- then comes again, asks again, and she consents
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: love courting marriage travel home
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 103-105, "There Cam' a Laddie Frae the North" (1 text)
Roud #3951
File: Ord103
===
NAME: There Comes a Fellow with a Derby Hat
DESCRIPTION: Lost love song: "There comes a fellow with a derby hat, They say he's jealous, but what of that? If he is jealous, I am gay; I can get a sweetheart any day." The rest floats -- the blind bird, a request that the sweetheart return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love bird clothes betrayal floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 265, "There Comes a Fellow with a Derby Hat" (1 text)
Roud #15742
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Farewell He" (subject) and references there
File: Br3265
===
NAME: There Is a Fountain
DESCRIPTION: "There is a fountain of Christ's blood, Wide open stretch'd for to drown our sins, Where Jesus stands with open arms Of mercy to invite us in."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Leather)
KEYWORDS: Jesus religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(West))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Leather, pp. 197-198, "There Is a Fountain" (4 single-stanza texts, all effectively identical; 4 tunes)
ST Leath197 (Partial)
Roud #663
File: Leath197
===
NAME: There Is a Happy Land
DESCRIPTION: "There is a happy land, far far away, Where saints in glory stand, Bright bright as day, Oh how they sweetly sing, Worthy is our savior king, Loud let his praises ring." The listener is told of the pleasures of heaven and urged not to hesitate
AUTHOR: Words: Andrew Young?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1847 (Southern Harmony)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fuson, pp. 210, "The Happy Land" (1 text)
DT, HPPYLAND*
Roud #13784
RECORDINGS:
Rufus Crisp, "Brighter Day" (on Crisp01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Know a Boarding-House" (tune, form)
SAME_TUNE:
Old Soldiers Never Die (I) (File: FSWB277A)
NOTES: In the Sacred Harp (where it is given with the tune-name "Happy Land"), this melody is said to be derived from Hindu religious music. I know of no supporting evidence.
Roud lumps this with another song with the title "Happy Land," but they do not appear the same to me. - RBW
"Original Sacred Harp" gives a composition date of 1838, but with no citation; pending more research, I'm going with the earliest known printed version. Much parodied, this hymn seems to have been enduringly popular in the south. And elsewhere, as witness, "Cook House," popular among soldiers of the Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. We've listed that, more or less, as "Old Soldiers Never Die (I)" - PJS
File: DTtiahl
===
NAME: There Is a Happy Land (II): see I Know a Boarding-House (File: R479)
===
NAME: There Is an Alehouse in Yonder Town: see Tavern in the Town (File: ShH94)
===
NAME: There Is No Place in the Height of Heaven
DESCRIPTION: "There is no place in the height of Heaven, There is no place like home, home, home, sweet home, There is no place like home. Kind friends, I bid you all farewell. I leave you in God's care. And if I never see you any more, I will see you there."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious home separation nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 548, "There Is No Place in the Height of Heaven" (2 short texts)
Roud #11825
NOTES: This steals lines from all over the place ("Home Sweet Home," "Now Our Meeting Is Over," and probably at least one unidentifiable spiritual). But it seems to be a free composition on these themes rather than a version of any of those songs. - RBW
File: Br3548
===
NAME: There Is Somebody Waiting for Me
DESCRIPTION: "Oh the moon shines bright and the stars they give light And the evening invites (you/me) to (stay/stray)." The singer describes (her)self as a bird in a cage, but happily announces "There is somebody waiting... There is somebody waiting for me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 741, "There Is Somebody Waiting for Me" (2 texts)
Roud #7394
NOTES: The first line of this, of course, is from the "Bellman's Song." Don't ask me where the rest of the song went. - RBW
I don't know where it went, but someone is waiting for it. - PJS
File: R741
===
NAME: There Lived an Old Man in Dover: see The Man of Burningham Town (File: VWL068)
===
NAME: There Once Was a Farmer: see Teasing Songs (File: EM256)
===
NAME: There She Blows: see The Wounded Whale (File: SWMS023)
===
NAME: There She Stands, a Lovely Creature: see Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady) AND The Drowsy Sleeper [Laws M4] (File: E098)
===
NAME: There Was a Crooked Man
DESCRIPTION: "There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile, He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile, He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse, And they all lived together in a little crooked house."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Less Familiar Nursery Rhymes)
KEYWORDS: home animal
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #224, p. 148, "(There was a crooked man)"
Roud #4826
NOTES: The Baring-Goulds suggest that the crooked man of this song was the Covenanter Alexander Leslie, and the crooked sixpence Charles I (who was willing to use the Covenanters if it would preserve his throne but had no real use for them). This is another of those "possible but hardly demonstrable" cases. - RBW
File: BGMG224
===
NAME: There Was a Girl Her Name Was Young: see The Cruel Mother [Child 20] (File: C020)
===
NAME: There Was a Lady in Merry Scotland: see The Wife of Usher's Well [Child 79] (File: C079)
===
NAME: There Was a Lady in the East
DESCRIPTION: A lady with many suitors loves Jimmy, her father's clerk. Her father would disown her but she says she wants Jimmy more than treasure. Her father shoots her. Her mother faints and Jimmy commits suicide.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.18(76))
KEYWORDS: grief courting love murder suicide father mother money
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Peacock, pp. 726-728, "There Was a Lady in the East" (1 text, 3 tunes)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 68, "There Was a Lady in the East" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 84, "The Maid of the East" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Pea726 (Partial)
Roud #2298
RECORDINGS:
Marie Hare, "The Maid of the East" (on MRMHare01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.18(76), "The Cruel Father and Constant Lover," J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Cruel Father and Constant Lover
NOTES: Peacock claims this is Laws M19, "The Young Sailor Bold (I) (The Rich Merchant's Daughter)." ["Although the story is the same ... the texts and tunes are completely different."] I think that makes this a different ballad. And the stories are not so close either. [I agree; there is no hint of accident or mistake here, and it's a different set of suicides. Roud also splits them. - RBW] - BS
File: Pea726
===
NAME: There Was a Little Man
DESCRIPTION: "There was a little man, And he had a little gun, And the ball was made of lead." The little man goes out to hunt ducks. He hits the duck in the head and brings her home to his wife to cook. (He goes out to shoot the drake, but it escapes)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1744 (Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book)
KEYWORDS: bird hunting food
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #25, p. 38, "(There was a little Man)"
Roud #1289
File: BGMG025
===
NAME: There Was a Little Woman: see The Old Woman Who Went to Market (The Old Woman and the Pedlar) (File: Lins258)
===
NAME: There Was a Man and He Was Mad
DESCRIPTION: The madman spends his life jumping into things -- pudding bag, bottle of wine, bottle of beer, notched stick, etc. Finding each one unsatisfactory, he moves on to the next. Finally he winds up in a situation he cannot handle, and quits/dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Eddy)
KEYWORDS: humorous talltale
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Eddy 99, "There Was a Man and He was Mad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 321, "There was a man, he went mad" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #178, p. 128, "(There was a man, he went mad)"
ST E099 (Full)
Roud #5336
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "There Was a Man and He Was Mad" (on PeteSeeger03, PeteSeegerCD03)
File: E099
===
NAME: There Was a Man Lived in the Moon: see  (File: OO2007)
===
NAME: There Was A Man, He Went Mad: see There Was a Man and He Was Mad (File: E099)
===
NAME: There Was a Pig Went Out to Dig
DESCRIPTION: "There was a pig went out to dig, Chris-e-mas day, Chris-e-mas day, There was a pig went out to dig, On Chris-e-mas day in the morning." Similarly, "There was a sparrow went out to harrow," "There was a cow went out to plow," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (Ritchie-Southern)
KEYWORDS: animal work Christmas nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 28, "There Was A Pig Went Out to Dig" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1369
File: RitS028
===
NAME: There Was a Piper Had a Cow
DESCRIPTION: The piper has no food for his cow but plays her a tune for consolation. The cow is either happy enough to give the piper a penny to play "corn rigs are bonny," or tells the piper to play for money and use that to feed her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1805 (Songs for the Nursery, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: poverty food music animal humorous
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 416, "There was a piper had a cow" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #156, p. 117, "(There was a piper had a cow)"
Roud #13046
File: OO2416
===
NAME: There Was a Rich Englishman: see Jolly Thresher, The (Poor Man, Poor Man) (File: R127)
===
NAME: There Was a Rich Man Who Lived in Jerusalem: see Hi Ho Jerum (File: FSWB025)
===
NAME: There Was a Sea Captain: see The Sea Captain and the Squire [Laws Q12] (File: LQ12)
===
NAME: There Was a Watermelon
DESCRIPTION: "There was a watermelon, A-growing in the garden, And in the garden wall there was a hole. A skinny little nigger Said if he's a little bigger, He'd climb over the garden wall. He's sneak up like a rabbit, And then he'd grab it...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: food thief
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 465, "There Was a Watermelon" (1 text)
Roud #11798
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Watermelon on the Vine" (theme)
File: Br3465
===
NAME: There Was a Wealthy Farmer: see The Plains of Baltimore (File: Wa005)
===
NAME: There Was a Young Lady: see A Rich Irish Lady (The Fair Damsel from London; Sally and Billy; The Sailor from Dover; Pretty Sally; etc.) [Laws P9] (File: LP09)
===
NAME: There Was an Old Farmer: see The Twa Sisters [Child 10] (File: C010)
===
NAME: There Was an Old Frog: see Kemo Kimo (File: R282)
===
NAME: There Was an Old Lady (I)
DESCRIPTION: Floating bawdy or scatological verses to the tune of Turkey in the Straw. The chorus urges, "Come on you bastards, come on you whores, Pull up your dresses, pull down your drawers...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1953
KEYWORDS: bawdy scatological sex nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ro,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cray, pp. 253-255, "There Was an Old Lady" (1 composite text, 1 tune); see also under "Ditties," pp. 264-268, which contain other verses that fit "Turkey in the Straw"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Turkey in the Straw" (tune & meter) and references there
File: EM253
===
NAME: There Was an Old Lady (II): see Marrowbones [Laws Q2] (File: LQ02)
===
NAME: There Was an Old Miller: see The Miller's Will (The Miller's Three Sons) [Laws Q21] (File: LQ21)
===
NAME: There Was an Old Miser
DESCRIPTION: The old miser's daughter is courted by a sailor. When the miser finds out, he pays a captain to impress the boy. The girl fails to save the boy, but his ship is wrecked and he escapes to shore almost alone. He finds the girl; they are married.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1854 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.16(16))
KEYWORDS: courting sailor father pressgang wreck escape marriage
FOUND_IN: US(MA) Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
FSCatskills 48, "There Was an Old Miser" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC048 (Partial)
Roud #3913
RECORDINGS:
Chris Willett, "The Old Miser" (on Voice04)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.16(16), "Old Miser" ("It's of an old miser in London did dwell"), Swindells (Manchester), 1796-1853; also Johnson Ballads 572, "The Old Miser"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Disguised Sailor (The Sailor's Misfortune and Happy Marriage; The Old Miser)" [Laws N6]
NOTES: Although this song shows many similarities to Laws N6 (plus a slight similarity to "William and Harriet," Laws M7), Cazden et al consider the ending sufficiently different that they regard it as a separate ballad. Since the policy of this index is to split rather than lump, here it stands.
Roud, interestingly, lumps it with Laws N10, "The Silk Merchant's Daughter." - RBW
Chris Willett's version on Voice04 and Bodleian broadsides 2806 c.16(16) and Johnson Ballads 572 include the verses in the [Supplemental Tradition text, from Cazden et al] but omit the ending: no shipwreck or happy ending. - BS
File: FSC048
===
NAME: There Was an Old Nigger, His Name Was Dr. Peck
DESCRIPTION: "There was an old nigger, his name was Dr. Peck, He fell in de well an' broke his neck. De cause ob de fall was all his own, 'Case he order look atter de sick An' let de well alone!" With the "mourner, you shall be free" chorus and floating verses
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: doctor death humorous floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 197, "There Was an Old Nigger, His Name Was Dr. Peck" (1 text)
File: ScaNF197
===
NAME: There Was an Old Soldier: see The Old Tobacco Box (File: FSC143)
===
NAME: There Was an Old Woman and She Had a Little Pig
DESCRIPTION: "There was an old woman and she had a little pig, It didn't cost much 'cause it wasn't very big." Despite good care, the pig never grows up. One day it dies. The owner(s) soon follow. The song ends; "if you want any more, you can sing it yourself"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1784 (Gammar Gurton's Garland, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: animal death
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE) Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (12 citations)
BrownIII 130, "The Old Woman and Her Pig" (2 texts plus mention of 1 more)
Eddy 68, "Old Sam Fanny" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 195, "Uncle Sam Simmie" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 235, "The Old Woman and the Little Pigee" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 77, "The Old Woman and the Little Pig" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 308-310, "Tale of a Little Pig" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 207-210, "There Was an Old Woman and She Had a Little Pig" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 21, "The Old Woman and the Pig" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 42, "Little Betty Pringle she had a pig" (1 text)
BaringGould-MotherGoose #37, p. 53, "(Little Betty Winkle she had a pig)"
JHCox 175, "Old Sam Fanny" (2 texts)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 574-575, "The Little Pig" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST E068 (Partial)
Roud #746
File: E068
===
NAME: There Was an Old Woman Lived Under a Hill
DESCRIPTION: "There was an old woman lived under a hill, And if she isn't gone, she lives there still." Various endings seem to have been grafted on.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1744 (Tom Thumb's Pretty Song Book)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #4, p. 28, "(There Was an Old Woman)"
Roud #1613
File: BGMG004
===
NAME: There Was an Old Woman Tossed up in a Basket
DESCRIPTION: "There was an old woman tossed up in a blanket" with a broom, many times higher than the moon. The singer asks what she's doing. She says she is brushing the cobwebs, or clouds, out of the sky. The singer asks to go with her, or says well done.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1784 (Gammar Gurton's Garland, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: nonballad talltale
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 544, "There was an old woman tossed up in a basket" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #35, p. 50, "(There was an old woman tossed in a blanket)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 175, "(There was a wee wifie rowed up in a basket)" (1 text)
Roud #1297
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lilliburlero" (tune) (per Opie-Oxford2)
NOTES: Opie-Oxford2: "Rimbault says this song is supposed to allude to James II.... In spite of the rhyming, the original wording was probably 'tossed up in a blanket Ninety-nine [instead of seventeen or nineteen] times as high as the moon', as in the William and Mary ballad, The Jacobite tossed up in a blanket." - BS
The Baring-Goulds report an even more extravagant story, connecting this to Henry V (reigned 1413-1422) and his invasion of France. But they add "The only trouble with this story is that there doesn't seem to be a word of truth in it." I couldn't have put it better myself. - RBW
File: OO2544
===
NAME: There Were Three Jovial Welshmen: see Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)
===
NAME: There Were Three Ravens: see The Three Ravens [Child 26] (File: C026)
===
NAME: There Were Two Birds Sat on a Stone
DESCRIPTION: ""There were two birds sat on a stone, Fa la la lal de, One flew away and then there was one, Fa la la... The other flew after, and then there was none... And so the poor stone was left all alone." The (birds/crows) then fly back
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1767 (Newbery)
KEYWORDS: bird
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #49, pp. 59-60, "(There were two birds sat on a Stone)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 19, "(There were two crows sat on a stone)" (1 text)
DT, CRAWSTAN
Roud #8906
NOTES: Sounds like "The Twa Corbies" told from the standpoint of their original perch. But there are just enough mentions of it that I thought it had better go in the Index.
Charles Kingsley quoted two stanzas of this in _The Water Babies_. (1863):
Two little birds they sat on a stone,
One swam away, and then there was one,
With a fal-lal-la-lady.
The other swam after, and then there was none,
And so the poor stone was left all alone,
With a fal-lal-la-lady.
The quotation is in chapter seven. - RBW
File: BGMG049
===
NAME: There Were Two Crows Sat on a Stone: see There Were Two Birds Sat on a Stone (File: BGMG049)
===
NAME: There'll Be a Hot Time (In the Old Town Tonight)
DESCRIPTION: A quatrain ballad, this is essentially an ever-changing collection of floating bawdy verses.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1896 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: bawdy nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 532-534, "There'll Be a Hot Time" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 203-204, "A Hot Time in the Old Town" (1 text, 1 tune -- from the sheet music)
Geller-Famous, pp. 138-143, "A Hot Time in the Old Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 278-279, "A Hot Time in the Old Town"
ST RL532 (Partial)
Roud #4324
RECORDINGS:
Edward M. Favor, "Hot Time in the Old Town" (Berliner 0791-L, 1899)
Bill Mooney & his Cactus Twisters, "Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" (Imperial 1096, n.d. but post-World War II)
Dan W. Quinn, "A Hot Time in the Old Town" (Berliner 527-Z, 1897)
Bessie Smith & her Blue Boys, "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town" (Columbia 3173-D/Parlophone R-2477 [UK], 1938)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" (Columbia 15695-D, 1931; rec. 1929)
SAME_TUNE:
West Wallsend Football Song (Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 253)
NOTES: Fuld points out that the earliest (1896) sheet music refers not to "the old town" but to "Old Town" (in Louisiana). This version is by Joe Hayden (words) and Theodore A. Metz (music), and involves a dance and/or camp meeting. This camp meeting version, according to Spaeth, came to be "indelibly associated with the Spanish[-American] War."
This may be true, but clearly the folk have taken things into their hands from there. - RBW
Indeed; [Dan W.] Quinn's recording, only a year after the sheet music, already calls it "The Old Town." - PJS
The cover sheet to the 1896 sheet music at LOCSheet Music B-570 [cover only] has the title as "A hot time in the old town"; the commentary notes the chorus as "There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight, ma baby" - BS
File: RL532
===
NAME: There'll Be Joy, Joy, Joy: see In My Father's House (File: San483)
===
NAME: There'll Be No Distinction There
DESCRIPTION: "There'll be no sorrow on that heavenly shore, There'll be no woes at the cabin door...." Singer describes heaven as a place without sorrow, poverty, class distinctions, racism, adultery, nagging women, or booze.
AUTHOR: Blind Alfred Reed
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (recording, Blind Alfred Reed)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
BrownIII 563, "Dar'll Be No Distinction Dar" (1 text)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 232-233, "There'll Be No Distinction There" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DISTNCTN
Roud #11883
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "There'll Be No Distinction There" (OKeh 05982/Conqueror 9572, c. 1940)
New Lost City Ramblers, "There'll Be No Distinction There" (on NCLR09)
Blind Alfred Reed, "There'll Be No Distinction There" (Victor 23550, 1931)
File: CSW232
===
NAME: There's a Dear Spot in Ireland
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the "dear spot" where his aged mother lived with his brothers and sisters. Poverty has brought him over the sea. Now mother is dead. He hopes his brothers and sisters can join him; they will make a poor but honest home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: homesickness emigration mother death separation orphan home
FOUND_IN: Ireland US(MW,SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H821, p. 220, "There's a Dear Spot in Ireland" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 134, "I Left Ireland and Mother Because We Were Poor" (1 short text)
Roud #4962
File: HHH821
===
NAME: There's a Herring in the Pan: see I Wish That You Were Dead, Goodman (File: HHH531)
===
NAME: There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea
DESCRIPTION: "There's a hole in the bottom of the sea, There's a hole (x2), There's a hole in the bottom of the sea." "There's a rock in the bottom of the sea... There's a rock in that hole in the bottom of the sea." "There's a frog in the bottom of the sea."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1923 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: nonballad cumulative
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 135, "There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea" (1 text)
Roud #15766
File: Br3135
===
NAME: There's a Hole in the Bucket
DESCRIPTION: Circular song, "There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza." "Then fix it..." "With what?" "Straw." "The straw is too long."  Etc., until "...too dry." "Then wet it." "With what?" "Water." "With what shall I fetch it?" "The bucket." "There's a hole..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (recording, Pete Seeger)
KEYWORDS: questions tasks dialog humorous husband wife
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, HOLEBCKT*
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Hole in the Bucket" (on PeteSeeger31) (on PeteSeeger47)
File: DTholebc
===
NAME: There's a Little Box of Pine on the 7:29
DESCRIPTION: "'Dear warden,' wrote a mother, 'how much longer must I wait'" until her boy is sent home. The warden is forced to answer, "There's a little box of pine on the 7:29 Bringing back a lost sheep from the fold." The mother and community mourn the dead sinner
AUTHOR: Jos. Ettlinger, George Brown (Billy Hill), and De Dette Lee (De Dette Lee Hill)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (copyright; recording by Tommy Reynolds an Wilie Robinson)
KEYWORDS: death train mother funeral prison
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 338-340, "There's a Little Box of Pine on the 7:29" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Asa Martin/Martin and Roberts, "There's A Little Box of Pine On The 7:29" (Conqueror 8062, 1933)
Tommy (Reynolds) and Willie (Robinson), "There's A Little Box of Pine On The 7:29" (Champion 16432/Champion 4518/Montgomery Ward 4958/Superior 2935 [as by Reynolds and Robinson], 1931)
File: LSRai338
===
NAME: There's a Little Hand Writing on the Wall
DESCRIPTION: "There's a little hand writing on the wall, There's a little hand writing on the wall, All I say and all I do, that hand writing on the wall."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 519, "There's a Little Hand Writing on the Wall" (1 fragment)
Roud #11814
NOTES: The "hand writing on the wall" is obviously an allusion to Daniel 5. But, as 5:24-28 reveal, it was not writing the actions of King Belshazzar (who, incidentally, was never King of Babylon; he was the son of the last King, Nabonidas, if he is historical at all). Rather, the hand wrote a message of condemnation.
The bit about "all I say and all I do" may be an allusion to John 8:6, 8, where Jesus writes upon the ground. A few late manuscripts say that he wrote "the sins of every one of them," though most omit (and the earliest manuscripts all omit John 7:53-8:11).
If it is not an allusion to John 8, it may be a reminiscence to John 4:29, where Jesus told the Samaritan woman "all that I ever did." - RBW
File: Be3519
===
NAME: There's a Little Wheel a-Turning
DESCRIPTION: "There's a little wheel a-turning in my heart, In my hear, yes, Lord, in my heart... O, for you, yes, Lord, for you." Remaining lines are variations on this theme
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 641, "There's a Little Wheel a-Turning" (1 short text)
Roud #11936
File: Br3641
===
NAME: There's a Long, Long Trail
DESCRIPTION: The singer misses (his sweetheart), noting that "Nights are getting very lonely, days are very long." He remembers her in dreams. Chorus: "There's a long, long trail a-winding To the land of my dreams Where the nightingales are singing...."
AUTHOR: Words: Stoddard King / Music: Zo Elliot
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: separation loneliness nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 573-574, "There's a Long, Long Trail"
DT, LNGTRAIL
RECORDINGS:
[?] Campbell & [Henry] Burr, "There's a Long, Long Trail" (Little Wonder 563, c. 1916)
John McCormack "There's a Long, Long Trail" (Victor 64694, 1917)
SAME_TUNE:
There's a Long, Long Worm A-Crawling (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 162)
NOTES: Not a proper folk song, but its popularity in World War I argues for its inclusion here. - RBW
File: DTlngtra
===
NAME: There's A Man Going Round Taking Names
DESCRIPTION: "There's a man going round taking names (x2), And he took my mother's name, And he left my heart in pain, There's a man going round taking names." Similarly with father, sister, brother, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1921 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: family death
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Sandburg, p. 447, "Man Goin' Roun'" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Randolph 606, "The Angel of Death" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, p. 591, "Man Goin' Round" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 56, "There's A Man Goin' 'Round Takin' Names" (1 text)
Roud #7548
RECORDINGS:
Carolina Tar Heels, "There's A Man Goin' Round Takin' Names" (Victor V-40053, 1929, rec. 1928)
G. B. Grayson & Henry Whitter, "There's a Man Going 'Round Taking Names" (Victor, unissued, 1928)
Joshua White, "There's a Man Going Around Taking Names" (Melotone 12861, 1933/Conqueror 8271, 1934)
File: San447
===
NAME: There's a Tavern in the Town: see Tavern in the Town (File: ShH94)
===
NAME: There's Bound to be a Row
DESCRIPTION: Singer has "an awful wife." "If I do everything that's right, she'll find a fault somehow." He sleeps on the sofa when she takes in a lodger. She takes his money, gives him a meager allowance, "and if I spend it all at once, there's bound to be a row"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3778))
KEYWORDS: shrewishness marriage humorous wife
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #1616
RECORDINGS:
Jimmy McBeath, "Bound to be a Row" (on Voice01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3778), "There's Bound to be a Row," J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Harding B 11(3777), "Theres Bound to be a Row"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Devilish Mary" [Laws Q4] (theme)
cf. "The Wearing of the Britches" (theme)
File: RcTBTBAR
===
NAME: There's Many a Man Killed on the Railroad: see perhaps The Fate of Talmadge Osborne (File: RcTFOTO)
===
NAME: There's No One Like Mother to Me
DESCRIPTION: The singer thinks of his childhood home "in that cottage far over the sea" He recalls that his mother had asked him to wait but then blessed him with a kiss. "I'll go back to that home o'er the sea For there's no one like mother to me"
AUTHOR: Gussie L Davis (1885)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1885 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1885 25967)
KEYWORDS: homesickness separation nonballad mother home
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #17330
RECORDINGS:
The Carter Family, "There's No One Like Mother to Me" (Decca ???, 1935)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1885 25967, "There's No One Like Mother to Me ," J. C. Groene & Co. (Cincinnati), 1885 (tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Gray Haired Irish Mother"
cf. "My Mother's Last Goodbye" (subject)
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: BrLsm188
===
NAME: There's Whiskey in the Jar: see Whisky in the Jar (The Irish Robber A) [Laws L13A]/The Irish Robber B (McCollister) [Laws L13B] (File: LL13)
===
NAME: These Temperance Folks
DESCRIPTION: "These temp'rance folks do crowd us awfully, crowd us awfully, crowd us awfully. These temp'rance folks.... they think I do not care." The singer complains about the threat to his liberty, concedes that drink has made him poor, and asks to be left alone
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: drink political
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 323, "These Temperance Folks" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 130, "Forward, Boys, Hurrah!" (1 text)
Roud #7797
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jolly Grinder" (theme)
File: R323
===
NAME: They All Love Jack
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, for 'is heart is like the sea, Ever hopen (sic), brave, an' free, And his girl must lonely be, Till 'is ship comes back. But if love's the best of all, What can a man befall? For every girl at all, They all love Jack!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1943
KEYWORDS: sailor love separation
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Doerflinger, p. 166, "They All Love Jack" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9444
File: Doe166b
===
NAME: They Locked Me Up in Bonavist' Jail: see The County Jail (File: GC147)
===
NAME: They Put Me up to Kill Him
DESCRIPTION: "They put me up to kill him, my pore old white-haired dad, I done it with a horseshoe rasp, The only thing I had." The singer describes the murder, then voices his regrets at his foolishness
AUTHOR: Lloyd Robinson?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: murder father family
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 3, 1935 - Lloyd Robinson murders his father, Robert Robinson. The younger Robinson was sentenced to life imprisonment, and allegedly wrote this song in prison
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 174, "They Put Me up to Kill Him" (1 text)
Roud #5489
File: R174
===
NAME: They Say I Am Nobody's Darling: see Nobody's Darling on Earth (File: R723)
===
NAME: They Were Standing by the Window: see The Broken Engagement (I -- She Was Standing By Her Window) (File: R771)
===
NAME: They Were Very Very Good to Me: see I Wish They'd Do It Now (File: Gil111)
===
NAME: They're Moving Father's Grave
DESCRIPTION: "They're moving Father's grave to build a sewer." Father's remains are being moved "to irrigate some posh bloke's residence"; the singer hopes  his ghost will haunt the pipes, "for they had the bleeding nerve/To muck about a British workman's grave"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: death burial worker ghost humorous
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 267, "They're Moving Father's Grave" (1 text)
DT, SEWERMOV SEWERMO2
Roud #10391
NOTES: Pity we don't have the keyword "class-struggle". - PJS
File: FSWB267
===
NAME: Thief of the World, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer loves "the thief of the world ... My heart was gone, my head was gone, my peace of mind likewise ... I'll have her up in court, I'll charge her with the felony." Her sentence: "Around my neck she'll have to hang until her dying day"
AUTHOR: Francis Arthur Fahy (1854-1935) (source: OLochlainn-More)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: love humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 63, "The Thief of the World" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Francis Arthur Fahy is probably most famous as the author of "The Ould Plaid Shawl." - RBW
File: OLcM063
===
NAME: Thimble Buried His Wife at Night
DESCRIPTION: Thimble's scolding wife dies; preparations are made for her burial. Thimble regrets that her diamond ring must stay on her finger. When an attempt is made to remove it, the dead woman walks to protect it. Thimble refuses any dealings with her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: death husband wife burial corpse ring
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 205, "Thimble Buried His Wife at Night" (1 fragment)
Roud #6494
File: BrII205
===
NAME: Things About Comin' My Way
DESCRIPTION: "Ain't got no money, can't buy no grub... Now after all my hard trav'ling, Things about comin' my way." The singer complains about all the effects of poverty: Mother's cupboard is bare, the rent is due, sister can't get a doctor
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: poverty hardtimes food disease
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 76, "Things About Comin' My Way" (1 text)
DT, COMMYWAY*
NOTES: Without the other text it's hard to be sure, but I think this is a separate song from "I've Got the Left Hind Foot of a Rabbit, Things Are Coming My Way." - PJS
File: FSWB076A
===
NAME: Things I Used to Do
DESCRIPTION: "Things I used to do I don't do no mo' (x3), There's been a great change since I been born." "Chickens I used to steal I don't steal no mo' (x3), There's been a great change..." "Whisky I used to drink, I don't drink no mo' (x3), There's been...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad virtue
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, p. 482, "Things I Used To Do" (1 text, 1 tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Great Change Since I Been Born
File: San482
===
NAME: Things Impossible
DESCRIPTION: "As I was walking in a grove All by myself as I supposed," the singer meets a pretty girl who asks "To tell her when I would marry." He sets conditions: "When saffron grows on every tree," "When Michaelmas falls in February," etc., then he will marry
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1869 (Logan)
KEYWORDS: love courting humorous rejection
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US(MW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Gardner/Chickering 158, "Things Impossible" (1 text)
Logan, pp. 360-362, "Improbability" (1 text)
ST GC158 (Partial)
Roud #3686
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Wife Went Away and Left Me" (lyrics)
NOTES: This song has lyrics in common with the one indexed as "My Wife Went Away and Left Me"; both involve lists of impossible conditions. But this is a song in which the girl seeks the young man's hand; that is a song in which the man begs her to return after she abandons him. The conditions set are similar, the plots are not.
In addition, although there is a report of this song from Michigan, it seems to exist mostly in Britain, whereas "My Wife Went Away and Left Me" seems to be mostly from the southern United States. On this basis, I split them; Roud of course lumps them.
Rorrer's notes on "My Wife Went Away and Left Me" mention a song by Charles D. Vann called "Then My Darling I'll Come Back to Thee." I have not seen it, but it strikes me as possible that Vann took the English piece and rewrote it, resulting in the American version. - RBW
File: GC158
===
NAME: Thinnest Man, The
DESCRIPTION: "The (thinnest/skinniest) man I ever saw Lived over in (Hoboken), And if I told you how thin he was, You'd think that I was joking." Various tall tales about the thin man's exploits, and the dangers he faces (e.g. falling through his pants and choking)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1881 (Tom Warfield's "Helen's Babies" Songster)
KEYWORDS: humorous talltale
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 175, "The Skinniest Man I Ever Knew" (2 text, tune referenced)
Roud #15357
NOTES: The Pankakes list at least one of their versions as being to the tune of "Take Me Back to Tulsa," but as they date this song to 1941, this can hardly be the original melody. - RBW
File: PHCFS175
===
NAME: Thirteen Yule Days: see The Twelve Days of Christmas (File: FO213)
===
NAME: Thirteenth Lock, The
DESCRIPTION: A canal boat sails for the unlucky thirteenth lock. Women on shore cry. The man at the mast refuses to steer and is kicked overboard as a mutineer. A monster appears. Those on shore, including one who had lent the captain half his gold, wait in vain.
AUTHOR: Arthur Griffith (1872-1922)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: canal humorous mutiny drowning parting disaster ship talltale monster sailor
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 1, "The Thirteenth Lock" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: OLcM001
===
NAME: Thirty Days in Jail
DESCRIPTION: "Good mornin', Blues; Blues, how do you do? (x2) I just come here to have a few words with you." "Thirty days in jail... back turned to the wall... Mr. Jailkeeper, put another man in my stall." "I don't mind being in jail, but I got to stay here so long."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: prison nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Warner 174, "Thirty Days in Jail" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa174 (Partial)
Roud #7492
File: Wa174
===
NAME: Thirty White Horses
DESCRIPTION: "Thirty white horses Upon a red hill, Now they tramp, Now they champ, Now they stand still."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (_The Hobbit_)
KEYWORDS: riddle animal
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #704, p. 275, "(Thirty white horses)"
NOTES: Chances are, if you've met this riddle, it's from Tolkien's_The Hobbit_ (p. 85 in my edition, in the chapter "Riddles in the Dark"; he uses a slightly different form). But it is much older (even Gollum calls it a "chestnut"). This is not coincidence; Tolkien uses familiar riddles to imply the common ancestry of Gollum and Bilbo.
The answer is "the teeth" or "the teeth and gums." - RBW
File: BGMG704
===
NAME: Thirty Years Ago (The Stinger)
DESCRIPTION: "In a recent Independent I read a sketch that told of affairs and folks in Ashland way back in days of old When the Stinger ran each Sunday...." The singer looks back on his good old days as he worked for the newspaper
AUTHOR: Rush Pennypacker?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: nonballad age
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 194-196, "Thirty Years Ago" (1 text)
NOTES: Frankly, if this is the way the guy edited the newspaper, it's no wonder he's out of the job. - RBW
File: ThBa194
===
NAME: Thirty-Two Special on a Forty-Four Frame, A: see Railroad Bill [Laws I13] (File: LI13)
===
NAME: This Day (The Battle of Bull Run)
DESCRIPTION: "This day will be remembered by America's noble sons! / If it hadn't been for Irishmen, what would our Union done? / It was hand to hand we fought 'em, all in the blazing sun, / Stripped to the pants we did advance in the battle of Bull Run."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 21, 1861 - First Battle of Bull Run
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Warner 25, "This Day (or, The Battle of Bull Run)" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BULLRUN
Roud #7465
NOTES: We can only assume this song refers to the First Battle of Bull Run; presumably, had the second (fought Aug. 29-30, 1862) been meant, the song would say so.
It's hard to imagine what the Unionists were boasting of in this song. The First Battle of Bull Run was a fairly closely-fought fight, but ended with the complete rout of the Union forces. Federal commander Irvin McDowell, whose army was composed mostly of ninety-day volunteers (!), was pressured by Washington to do something before the enlistments ran out. He had no choice but to push his raw army forward. The Confederate troops were equally raw, but were on the defensive, and held off the Federals. The Union army then went completely to pieces -- but the Confederates, their forces just as badly off as the Federals, could not pursue. - RBW
File: Wa025
===
NAME: This House is Haunted: see Calliope (This House is Haunted) (File: San349)
===
NAME: This Is Halloween
DESCRIPTION: "This is Halloween, And the morn's Hallowday; If you want a true love, It's time you were away. Tally on the window-board Tally on the green, Tally on the window-board, The morn's Halloween."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (Montgomerie)
KEYWORDS: nonballad courting
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 130, "(This is Hallowe'en)" (1 text)
Roud #5911
File: MSNR130
===
NAME: This Is No My Plaid
DESCRIPTION: "This is no my plaid... Bonnie though the colours be." "The ground o' mine was mixed with blue, I gat it frae the lad I lo'e." The lad who wore the plaid "is now upon a distant shore," and "his name I daurna tell," but she hopes he will return and wed her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: love clothes Jacobites separation exile
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 260-262, "This Is No My Plaid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6720
NOTES: Neither Ford nor Whitelaw connects this with Bonnie Prince Charlie, but there seems no doubt that he is the subject; hence the "Jacobite" keyword. - RBW
File: FVS260
===
NAME: This Is the Nicht My Johnnie Set
DESCRIPTION: "This is the nicht my Johnnie set, And promised to be here; Oh, what can stay his longing step? He's fickle grown, I fear." She describes how carefully she has prepared for his coming. At last he arrives and they prepare for a snug evening.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: love separation nightvisit
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 84-86, "This Is the Night My Johnnie Set" (1 text)
Ord, pp. 146-147, "This Is the Nicht My Johnnie Set" (1 text)
Roud #5553
File: FVS084
===
NAME: This Is the Night My Johnnie Set: see This Is the Nicht My Johnnie Set (File: FVS084)
===
NAME: This Is the Way We Wash Our Clothes
DESCRIPTION: "This is the way we wash our clothes, Wash our clothes, wash our clothes, This is the way we wash our clothes, (all on a summer's day)." Similarly, "Here we come with our dollies dear," "This is the way we comb their hair," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: playparty nonballad clothes
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 96, "The Dolly-Play Song" (1 text)
SharpAp 264, "Early Sunday Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3645
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" (lyrics)
cf. "The Old Soap-Gourd" (form)
NOTES: This looks much like "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush," and the two share lyrics, but the intent seems different, so I tentatively split them, pending discovery of more versions and tunes. - RBW
File: Br3096
===
NAME: This Lady She Wears a Dark Green Shawl
DESCRIPTION: "This lady she wears a dark green shawl, A dark green shawl, a dark green shawl, This lady she wears... I love her to my heart." "Now choose for your lover, honey, my love...." "Now dance with your lover, honey, my love...." "Farwell to your lover...." 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: playparty clothes courting
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 142-143, "This Lady Dhe Wears a Dark Green Shawl" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST ScaNF142 (Partial)
File: ScaNF142
===
NAME: This Land is Your Land
DESCRIPTION: Singer, a wanderer, describes beauty of American (or other) land, sometimes with verses lamenting poverty. "As I went walking that ribbon of highway/I saw above me that endless skyway/I saw below me that golden valley/This land was made for you and me"
AUTHOR: Woody Guthrie
EARLIEST_DATE: February 1940 (composed)
KEYWORDS: patriotic nonballad rambling beauty America
FOUND_IN: US(All)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 30 "This Land is Your Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, THISLAND*
Roud #16378
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "This Land is Your Land" (on PeteSeeger41)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Lovin' Father (When the World's On Fire)" (tune)
cf. "Little Darling, Pal of Mine" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Is This Land Your Land? (Silber-FSWB, p. 315)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
God Blessed America (Guthrie's original title)
Esta Es Mi Tierra
NOTES: I include this composed song (originally an "answer song" to Irving Berlin's jingoistic "God Bless America") because it has entered into oral and aural tradition within my lifetime; it's taught in schools and camps, often as a traditional song, and is in oral currency among most of America's children.
More important, there have been dozens or hundreds of variants collected in the last forty years, in many nations and languages. These include an American Indian version: "This land is your land/But it once was my land..." Heck, my eight-year-old student wrote a couple of verses. - PJS
To me, there is no doubt that this is now a folk song. It is interesting to note, however, that unlike most folk songs, the establishment has largely managed to circulate "cleaned up" versions, so it no longer attacks the faults of the American political system....
The tune is a slight modification of "When the World's On Fire," perhaps learned from the Carter Family's recording (Victor V-40293). - RBW
No perhaps about it: Guthrie was a devoted admirer of the Carter Family. There's also a strong resemblance to another Carter Family song, "Little Darling, Pal of Mine" (Victor 21638, 1928), which we have not indexed. - PJS
File: PSAFB030
===
NAME: This Little Light of Mine
DESCRIPTION: "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine (x3), Ev'ry day (x4), Gonna let my little light shine." The singer thanks God for gifts given every day, warns that there is no hiding from sin, and urges all to let their lights shine.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1956 (recording, Montgomery Improvement Association high school trio)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 352, "This Little Light of Mine" (1 text)
DT, LITEMINE
RECORDINGS:
W. Emmons & Mt. Olive Soul Stirrers, "This Little Light of Mine" (Fortune 1318, n.d.)
Pete Seeger, "This Little Light of Mine" (on PeteSeeger27)
NOTES: I've heard another song by this name floating around in Sunday School classes. Mercifully, I have forgotten it, but it clearly wasn't a traditional song. - RBW
File: FSWB352C
===
NAME: This May Be Your Last Time
DESCRIPTION: "This may be your last time (x3), May be your last time, I don't know." The singer travels about, observes various people and their misdeeds, and warns against the dangers of sin.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Jaybird Coleman)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 70-71, "(This May Be Your Last Time)" (1 text); pp. 229-230, "This May Be Your Last Time" (1 tune, partial text)
Roud #10965
RECORDINGS:
Rich Amerson, "This May Be Your Last Time" (on NFMAla4)
Jaybird Coleman, "May Be My Last Time, I Don't Know" (Gennett, unissued; rec. 1927)
File: CNFM070B
===
NAME: This Night We Part Forever
DESCRIPTION: "This night we part forever; Thou are nothing more to me. From thee each tie I'll sever That binds my heart to thee." She will not admit to sorrow, says she does not want his love, tells him to court another, says he blighted her hopes, and blesses him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love separation nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 159, "This Night We Part Forever" (1 text)
Roud #3630
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I'll Be All Smiles Tonight" (theme)
NOTES: Sort of an "I'll Be All Smiles Tonight" with less smiling and more griping. - RBW
File: BrII159
===
NAME: This Old Hammer: see Take This Hammer (File: FR383)
===
NAME: This Old Man
DESCRIPTION: "This old man, he played one, He played knick-knack on my thumb, With a knick-knack, paddy wack, Give the dog a bone, This old man went rolling home." Similarly, "This old man, he played two, he played knick-knack on my shoe," and on upward
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1953 (recording, Pete Seeger)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: US Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 390, "This Old Man" (1 text)
Peacock, p. 21, "Old Tommy Kendal" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, THOLDMAN*
Roud #3550
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "This Old Man" (on PeteSeegeer3, PeteSeegerCD03)
File: FSWB390C
===
NAME: This Old World
DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "This old world is full of sorrow, Full of sickness, weak and sore, If you love your neighbor truly, Love will come to you the more." Floating verses from other hymns: "We're all children of one father." "I will arise and go to Jesus." etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Darling-NAS, p. 259, "This Old World" (1 text)
ST DarN259B (Full)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (I)" (tunes)
SAME_TUNE:
Mercy O Thou Son of David (Sacred Harp, pp. 52, 56, 458)
NOTES: The background to this song is confusing. The Golden Ring lists it as a set of words for "Mercy O Thou Son of David" (listed as by John Newton). But the Sacred Harp lists three tunes for those lyrics (which it also credits to John Newton): "Charlestown," "Villulia," and "Friendship."
To make matters worse, while all of those tunes fit "This Old World," none appear (at least in my copy of the Sacred Harp) seem to exactly match it.
If this song is anything, it's a placeholder for a variety of texts. There is almost a continuous gradation from this to songs of the "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" group. - RBW
File: DarN259B
===
NAME: This Old World Ain't Going to Stand Much Longer
DESCRIPTION: "Because this ole world ain't goin' to stand much longer... Gettin' us ready for the judgment day." The singer praises his mother for teaching him to pray, warns of judgment, and points up the example of King Hezekiah
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible death
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MWheeler, p. 73-75, "This Ole Worl' Ain't Goin' to Stan' Much Longer" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Black Train Is A-Comin'" (subject)
NOTES: The story of Hezekiah's bout with sickness, God's threat, Hezekiah's repentance, and Isaiah's promise of fifteen additional years of life is told in 2 Kings 20:1-11 and briefly summarized in 2 Chronicles 32:24-26.
This story of Hezekiah is told in much the same words in "Little Black Train"; the two are certainly dependent in some way. But it may be just a case of spirituals mixing themes. The two songs appear to be independent except for that one bit of material. - RBW
File: MWhee073
===
NAME: This Ole Worl' Ain't Goin' to Stan' Much Longer: see This Old World Ain't Going to Stand Much Longer (File: MWhee073)
===
NAME: This Train
DESCRIPTION: "This train is bound for glory... If you ride it, you must be holy." "This train don't pull no gamblers..." (And so forth, through various sinners the train doesn't pull.) "This train don't pull no extras... Don't pull nothin' but the Heavenly Special."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (recording, Florida Normal Industrial Institute Quartet)
KEYWORDS: train religious
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 629-632, "This Train/Same Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 255, "This Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 593-594, "This Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 56, "This Train" (1 text)
DT, THSTRAIN*
Roud #6702
RECORDINGS:
Biddleville Quintette, "This Train is Bound for Blory" (Paramount 12448, 1927)
Big Bill Broonzy, "This Train" (on Broonzy01)
Florida Normal Industrial Institute Quartet, "Dis Train" (OKeh 40010, 1924; rec. 1922)
Garland Jubilee Singers [pseud. for Bryant's Jubilee Quartet] "This Train" (Banner 32267/Oriole 8098/Romeo 5098, all 1931/Perfect 190, 1932; on RoughWays2)
Lulu Belle & Scotty, "This Train" (OKeh 04910, 1939)
S. E. Mullis Blue Diamond Quartet, "Dis Train" (Champion 16424, 1932)
Southern Plantation Singers, "This Train is Bound for Glory" (Vocalion 1250, 1929; rec. 1928)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, "This Train" (Decca 2558, 1939) (Down Beat 104 [as Sister Katty Marie], n.d.)
NOTES: Cohen observes that there are two basic forms of this song, the "This Train" version in the description and a type he calls "Same Train": "Same train carry my mother, same train (x2). Same train carry my mother, Same train be back tomorrow, same train."
There isn't much different in age, but Cohen argues that "Same Train" is older because it is much less interesting. I would say he is almost certainly right.
Cohen also notes the Lomax Special nature of this song. The version in _American Ballads and Folk Songs_, which probably is the source of most pop folk versions, claims to be based on a field recording by Walter McDonald, but in fact does not agree with that recording, and the later Lomax version in _Folk Songs of North America_ says it's based on  _American Ballads and Folk Songs_, but it again is rewritten. - RBW
File: LoF255
===
NAME: This Train Is Bound for Glory: see This Train (File: LoF255)
===
NAME: This Very Unhappy Man
DESCRIPTION: Bachelor decides to marry; he goes to a girl's house in his Sunday best and proposes. Her parents appear, he panics and runs, the dog chases him, he falls over a hornet's nest, and laments, "I can't begin to tell you the half of this very unhappy man."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963 (recording, Margaret MacArthur)
KEYWORDS: courting humorous father mother
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Margaret MacArthur, "This Very Unhappy Man" (on MMacArthur01)
NOTES: Not to be confused with, "The Very Unfortunate Man." - PJS
File: RcTVUM
===
NAME: This World Is Not My Home
DESCRIPTION: "This world is not my home; I'm just a passing through." "Oh Lord, you know, I have no friend like you. If Heaven's not my home, then, Lord, what will I do? Angels beckon me to Heaven's open door, And I can't feel at home in this world any more."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (recording, Stove Pipe No. 1)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Warner 135, "The World Is Not My Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 354, "I Can't Feel At Home In This World Any More" (1 text)
DT, CANTHOME*
Roud #7481
RECORDINGS:
Alphabetical Four, "I Can't Feel At Home In This World Anymore" (Decca 7840, 1941; on AlphabFour01)
Carter Family, "Can't Feel at Home" (Victor 23569, 1931/Bluebird B-6257, 1936)
Pete Cassell, "I Can't Feel At Home in this World" (Decca 6077, 1942; rec. 1941)
Kentucky Thorobreds, "This World Is Not My Home" (Paramount 3014, 1927)
Collins Bros. "I Can't Feel At Home In This World" (Decca 5635, 1939; rec. 1938)
Golden Echo Quartet, "This World Is Not My Home" (Columbia 14572-D, 1931; rec. 1927)
Jessie May Hill, "This World Is Not My Home" (OKeh 8546, 1927)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "This World Is Not My Home"  (Bluebird B-6088/Montgomery Ward M-4714, 1935)
Monroe Brothers, "This World Is Not My Home" (Bluebird B-6309/Montgomery Ward M-4745, 1936)
Prairie Ramblers, "This World Is Not My Home" (Banner 33449/Melotone 13416/Conqueror 8503, 1935)
Claude Sharpe & Old Hickory Singers, "This World Is Not My Home" (Columbia 20450, 1948; rec. 1946)
Southern Sons Quartette, "I Can't Feel At Home Any More" (Trumpet 143, n.d.)
Stove Pipe No. 1, "Lord Don't You Know I Have No Friend Like You" (Columbia 210-D, 1924)
Hank Thompson, "Can't Feel At Home In The World Anymore" (Capitol 1163, 1950)
Frank Welling & John McGhee, "This World Is Not My Home" (Champion 16585, 1933; rec. 1932)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Ain't Got No Home" (structure, lyrics, tune)
NOTES: This is really a group or cluster of songs with verses that float effortlessly between them. - PJS
File: Wa135
===
NAME: Thomas and Ellen: see Lord Thomas and Fair Annet [Child 73] (File: C073)
===
NAME: Thomas and Nancy [Laws K15]
DESCRIPTION: Thomas's ship is ready for sea, forcing him to leave Nancy. She calls to him to remember his sweetheart and family. His ship is wrecked almost at once. Nancy finds Thomas's body, kisses its lips, and dies of grief
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3473))
KEYWORDS: separation wreck death 
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws K15, "Thomas and Nancy"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 54, "Thomas and Nancy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 729-732, "Thomas and Nancy" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Lehr/Best 107, "Thomas and Nancy" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 812, TOMNANCY
Roud #3232
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3473), "Thomas and Nancy," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 11(4123), Firth b.27(273), Firth b.25(109), 2806 c.16(120), Firth b.26(156), Harding B 16(287c), Firth c.13(298), Johnson Ballads 2915, "Thomas and Nancy"
Murray, Mu23-y1:119, "Thomas and Nancy," unknown, 19C
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wreck of the Lady Shearbrooke" (theme)
cf. "The Lady of the Lake (The Banks of Clyde II)" [Laws N41] (theme)
SAME_TUNE:
Gallant Hussar (per broadsides Bodleian Firth b.27(273), Bodleian 2806 c.16(120))
NOTES: Although the Bodleian broadsides list the tune as "Gallant Hussar," this doesn't really match "The Gallant Hussar (A Damsel Possessed of Great Beauty)" metrically; you can make it fit, but it's work. I suspect a different "Gallant Hussar" song is meant. - RBW
File: LK15
===
NAME: Thomas Cromwell [Child 171]
DESCRIPTION: (Someone) makes a request of (the King), who offers anything short of his crown. The petitioner asks the head of Thomas Cromwell. The king orders two earls to fetch Cromwell and have him executed.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1750 (Percy folio)
KEYWORDS: trial execution royalty nobility
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 10, 1540 - Arrest of Thomas, Lord Cromwell at the order of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk.
July 28, 1540 - Execution of Cromwell by Henry VIII. (His fifth wife Katherine Howard, the Duke of Norfolk's niece,  is said to have put him up to it)
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Child 171, "Thomas Cromwell" (1 text)
Roud #4002
NOTES: This ballad exists only as a fragment in the Percy folio. There is a ballad in Percy's _Reliques_ called "On Thomas Lord Cromwell," but it is not the same piece.
Cromwell (c. 1487-1540) was one of Henry VIII's chief ministers; he held power for many years as a result of his willingness to serve his master's needs. As such, he was one of the main forces behind the Anglican Revolution (though Cromwell probably didn't have strong feelings on the issue either way).
Born in obscurity, he entered Wolsey's service in 1514, and grew steadily in important and influence thereafter, being elected to parliament in 1523, then entering Henry's service in 1530. Among his productions was the 1534 Act of Supremacy (making the King of England head of the English church).
Made Earl of Essex  in 1540, he arranged Henry's marriage with Anne of Cleves (wife #4); when this marriage proved an instant disaster, Henry sent him to the tower. Catherine Howard (wife #5) and her family probably helped secure his execution.
Ironically, Cromwell's great-great-nephew Oliver Cromwell would later pull down a King (though Charles I, of course, was not a descendent of Henry VIII). - RBW
File: C171
===
NAME: Thomas J Hodder, The
DESCRIPTION: Thomas J Hodder leaves Sydney. Captain Lake runs aground taking a short cut in Placentia Bay on March 8, 1952. People from Placentia Bay come out to offload Hodder. Evette also runs aground. Both are tugged free and Hodder is repaired at Burin.
AUTHOR: Lil Fitzgerald and Rose Pickett
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: sea ship ordeal
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 108, "The Thomas J Hodder" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Placentia Bay is on the south coast of Newfoundland. The song notes that Hodder is "a splendid boat, about one hundred ton" that ran from Placentia Bay to Boston. - BS
File: LeBe108
===
NAME: Thomas Murphy
DESCRIPTION: Thomas Murphy ships on The Dolphin from Liverpool to Africa. On the way home the ship springs a leak, and the crew escape in long boats. "But when our boat she struck the shore she was burst in by a wave." Of fourteen, twelve, including Murphy, are lost.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1946 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck sailor Africa
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 98-99, "Thomas Murphy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7356
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Georgina" (tune)
File: Ran098
===
NAME: Thomas o Yonderdale [Child 253]
DESCRIPTION: Thomas gets Lady Maisry pregnant and, hearing her lamenting, promises to marry her. He goes to sea and courts another woman, but a dream causes him to summon Maisry to be wed. Both prospective brides show up; he sends the other girl away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: love courting pregnancy separation dream reunion marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Child 253, "Thomas o Yonderdale" (1 text)
Bronson 253, "Thomas o Yonderdale" (2 versions)
Roud #3890
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Young Beichan" [Child 53]
cf. "Fair Annie" [Child 62]
cf. "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" [Child 73]
NOTES: Child comments, "This looks like a recent piece, fabricated, with a certain amount of cheap mortar, from recollections of 'Fair Annie,' No 62, 'Lord Thomas and Fair Annet,' No 73, and 'Young Beichan,' No 53." I'd say that pretty well sums it up. - RBW
File: C253
===
NAME: Thomas Rymer [Child 37]
DESCRIPTION: Thomas the Rhymer of Ercildoune meets the Queen of Elfland. She takes him away from earth for seven years, putting him through various rituals which no doubt instill his prophetic powers.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1800
KEYWORDS: magic prophecy abduction
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland) US(SE)
REFERENCES: (14 citations)
Child 37, "Thomas Rymer" (3 texts)
Bronson 37, "Thomas Rymer" (2 versions)
BrownII 10, "Thomas Rhymer" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 131-135, "Thomas Rhymer" (2 texts)
OBB 1, "Thomas the Rhymer" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 39, "Thomas Rymer" (1 text)
PBB 22, "Thomas Rhymer" (1 text)
Gummere, pp. 290-292+361-362, "Thomas Rymer" (1 text)
Hodgart, p. 127, "Thomas Rymer" (1 text)
DBuchan 6, "Thomas Rymer" (1 text)
TBB 35, "Thomas Rymer" (1 text)
Ord, pp. 422-425, "Sir John Gordon" (1 text, a truly curious version which retains the plot and lyrics of this song so closely that it cannot be called anything else, but with a different and inexplicable name for the hero)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 76-78, "Thomas Rymer and the Queen of Elfland" (1 text)
DT 37, TOMRHYM* TOMRHYM2 TRUTOMAS
Roud #219
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
True Thomas
NOTES: Very many of Thomas of Ercildoune's (True Thomas's) predictions are in circulation, though only a few are precisely dated or can be tied to specific events.
Perhaps the most famous prophecy dates from 1286, the year Alexander III of Scotland died. The day before Alexander's death, he had forecast that "before the next day at noon, such a tempest shall blow as Scotland has not felt for many years." When the next day proved clear, Thomas was taunted, but his forecast proved true -- Scotland would not again see peace until after the battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
Real and verifiable facts about Thomas are far fewer, but he does appear to have been a real person. "Thomas of Ercildoune" is a witness to a charter of c. 1265 (about the Haigs of Bemerside, also the subject of one of his couplets), and another Thomas, the son of "Thomas the Rhymer of Ercildoune," was an adult transacting in property in 1294.
Thomas's prophecies, however, were not "collected" until 1603; it would be difficult to prove the authenticity of most of these. - RBW
File: C037
===
NAME: Thomas Rymer and the Queen of Elfland: see Thomas Rymer [Child 37] (File: C037)
===
NAME: Thomas the Rhymer: see Thomas Rymer [Child 37] (File: C037)
===
NAME: Thorn Rose: see Sleeping Beauty (Thorn Rose, Briar Rose) (File: HHH599)
===
NAME: Thornaby Woods: see The Nottinghamshire Poacher (File: E053)
===
NAME: Thorneymoor Woods: see The Nottinghamshire Poacher (File: E053)
===
NAME: Thorny Woods: see The Nottinghamshire Poacher (File: E053)
===
NAME: Thornymuir Fields: see The Nottinghamshire Poacher (File: E053)
===
NAME: Thorwaldsen, The
DESCRIPTION: "Twas a noble craft and a gallant crew That leaved the port that day, The sea was calm and the sky was blue As she sped on her course that day," leaving behind women and babies depending on the crew. The ship is wrecked by a winter storm on its way home.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1920 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: death drowning commerce sea ship storm wreck family sailor
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Feb 18, 1873 - Schooner _Thorwaldsen_, en route from Newfoundland to Gloucester reported missing (according to the orthern Shipwrecks Database 2002)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 143, "The Thorwaldsen" (1 text)
Roud #17755
File: GrMa143
===
NAME: Those Gambler's Blues: see Saint James Infirmary (File: San228)
===
NAME: Those Poor Convicts
DESCRIPTION: Consider the sentencing and departure of Irish convicts bound for "Vandiamonds Land": O'Reilly from Cavan, three Duffys and Bryan Seery in Mullingar. "Unto their prosecutors they never done a wrong." "Think upon those traitors that's swore our lives away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1846 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: transportation Ireland lament
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann 53, "The Sorrowful Lamentation of Those Poor Convicts" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Van Dieman's Land (I)" (tune)
NOTES: Incongruously -- considering that these are supposedly innocent men -- this ballad shares lines with "The Edinburgh Convicts" and "Botany Bay" versions of "The Boston Burglar" [Laws L16]): "A warning take by me,I'd have you quit night walking,And shun bad company." - BS
File: Zimm053
===
NAME: Those Wedding Bells Shall Not Ring Out!
DESCRIPTION: A couple is about to be married. When the sexton asks if there are any objections, a man cries out, "Those bells shall not ring out"; the bride is his wife! He stabs her, then himself, saying "She's mine till death shall set her free."
AUTHOR: Monroe H. Rosenfeld?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1896 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: marriage wedding betrayal murder suicide
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 822, "Those Wedding Bells Shall Not Ring Out!" (1 text)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 231-233, "Those Wedding Bells Shall Not Ring Out!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7435
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, RB.m.143(124), "Those Wedding Bells shall not Ring Out," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1880-1900
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fatal Wedding" (subject)
NOTES: Randolph lists an 1896 London copyright in the name of Charles W. Heid. It seems more likely, however, that the claim by Monroe H. Rosenfeld is correct. Joan Morris writes of him, "Though he was a notorious womanizer and lost most of his money to bookmakers, Rosenfeld never wrote a song without a moral."
For a selection of Rosenfeld's more noteworthy pieces, which eventually start to seem rather like potboilers, see Spaeth, _Read 'Em and Weep_, pp. 181-187.
The original sheet music claims that this is an unamplified portrayal of something that actually happened in "a western city." The exaggerated tone of the song, and the failure to provide details, leave the matter open to question. Spaeth (_A History of Popular Music in America_, p. 232) calls it a "flagrant imitation" of "The Fatal Wedding." - RBW
File: R822
===
NAME: Thou Hast Learned to Love Another
DESCRIPTION: "Thou hast learned to love another, Thou hast broken every vow." The singer recalls how she and her false love "met in scenes of pleasure," notes how he now dotes upon another, wishes they had never met, and bids "Farewell, farewell forever"
AUTHOR: Charles Slade
EARLIEST_DATE: 1842 (Journal of the Courier)
KEYWORDS: love betrayal
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 249-250, "Thou Hast Learned to Love Another" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden, p. 211, "Thou Hast Learned to Love Another" (1 text)
Randolph 755, "The Broken Heart" (9 texts, 2 tunes, of which the "F" text is this piece)
Roud #2065
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ella Lea" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Parting Words" (floating lyrics)
File: Beld211A
===
NAME: Thought I Fell in Ten Foot of Water
DESCRIPTION: Hammering song. "Thought I fell in, Uh! ten foot o' water, Uh! (x3), Over my head, Uh! over my head. Uh!" "Jay bird sat on, Uh! a hickory limb, Uh! (x3), Over my head, Uh! over my head. Uh!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: worksong bird
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 217-218, "Work-Song" (1 short text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Scarborough says the first part of this tune is "I've Been Working on the Railroad." Not quite, though it's close. - RBW
File: ScaNF217
===
NAME: Thoughts on the Newfoundland Sailing Voyage
DESCRIPTION: "Heigho, my lads, for the tenth of March, And a gallant ship and crew." The singer declares that the crew will happily go to sea, brave the conditions, fill the holds, and return to Harbor Grace
AUTHOR: George T. Sheppard
EARLIEST_DATE: 1978 (Ryan/Small); reportedly written 1926
KEYWORDS: hunting ship
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 117, "Thoughts on the Newfoundland Sailing Voyage" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The lyrics of this appear to be based on "A Capital Ship" or one of its relatives; the verse form is the same and there are reminiscences in the lyrics (including an excessive fondness for "heigh-ho"). But there is no chorus; the author may not have meant it to be sung. - RBW
File: RySm117
===
NAME: Thousands or More
DESCRIPTION:  Singer says time passes more cheerfully since they've found a new way (drink) to drive sorrows away. He has no credit, but you will find him at home with his bottle and friend. Neither rich nor poor, he's "as happy as those that's got thousands or more"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951 (recorded from Jim Copper)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 284, "Thousands or More" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1220
NOTES: Kennedy suggests this may be a version of "Drive the Cold Winter Away". I don't hear it myself.... It's worth noting that... all versions of this song have come from one or another members of the Copper family of Rottingdean. - PJS
File: K284
===
NAME: Thra
DESCRIPTION: "Henry Thra he did invite The boys to go on Halloweve night" and get drunk and make a racket on the roads until morning. "When Thra raised up that dreadful noise He took brave Hughie by surprise." Hughie chases the boys on his horse.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (Dibblee/Dibblee)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous horse
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dibblee/Dibblee, p. 16, "Thra" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12482
File: Din016
===
NAME: Thrashing Machine (I), The
DESCRIPTION: Farmer show his servant Nell the works of his thrashing machine. He straps her into the harness, she takes the handle and turns on the steam. Nine months later, when her apron won't pin, she says she'll have him transported for his thrashing machine
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1855 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.25(339))
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Farmer show his servant Nell the works of his thrashing machine; she tells him to come into the barn where they won't be seen. He straps her into the harness, she takes the handle and turns on the steam, and they begin working the thrashing machine. Nine months later, when her apron won't pin and her drawers won't go on, she says she'll have him transported for his thrashing machine
KEYWORDS: sex punishment transportation pregnancy farming technology bawdy servant
FOUND_IN: Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 92-94, "The Thrashing Machine" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1491
RECORDINGS:
Anne [Annie] O'Neill, "The Thrashing Machine" (on FSB2, FSB2CD)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.25(339), "Thrashing Machine," E.M.A. Hodges (London), 1846-1854; also Harding B 15(330a), Firth b.27(87), Harding B 11(3808), Firth b.34(290), "Thrashing Machine"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Threshing Machine (I)" (subject, sort of)
NOTES: This doesn't seem to be a parody of "The Threshing Machine" -- the tune and meter are different, and there's no overlap in the words. You should probably check that one out anyway, though. - PJS
File: RcThraM
===
NAME: Thrashing Machine (II), The: see The Threshing Machine (I) (File: K231)
===
NAME: Three Black Crows: see The Three Ravens [Child 26] (File: C026)
===
NAME: Three Blind Mice
DESCRIPTION: "Three blind mice (x2), See how they run (x2); They all ran after the farmer's wife. She cut off their tails with a carving knife. Did you ever see such a sight in your life As three blind mice?"
AUTHOR: Thomas Ravenscroft?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1609 (Ravenscroft's Deuteromelia)
KEYWORDS: animal disability
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US(NE)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Linscott, pp. 283-284, "Three Blind Mice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 348, "Three blind mice, see how they run!" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #253, p. 156, "(Three blind mice, see how they run!)"
Silber-FSWB, p. 413, "Three Blind Mice" (1 text)
Fuld, p. 576, "Three Blind Mice"
DT, (THREEBLN*)
ST FSWB413A (Full)
Roud #3753
SAME_TUNE:
The (Blind/Decrepit/Myopic) Rodents (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 208)
NOTES: Fuld reports this as "the earliest printed secular song which is still extremely well known" (but compare "Greensleeves"). Fuld also prints a plate of the 1609 music -- in a somewhat pre-modern notation, and with words noticeably different from those sung today.
Neither Fuld nor any other source I have seen offers an explanation for why this bit of silliness survives when so many better pieces died out. The Baring-Goulds note that there have been attempts to link it to political events -- e.g. the Farmer's Wife is Mary I Tudor, and the mice are Protestant leaders who opposed her. None of these explanations is very convincing. - RBW
File: FSWB413A
===
NAME: Three Boocher Lads: see The Three Butchers [Laws L4] (File: LL04)
===
NAME: Three Brave Blacksmiths
DESCRIPTION: Three brave blacksmiths from County Clare refuse to work for a grabber, are thrown in jail, refuse bail, and are treated as heroes when their term is up. "Blacksmiths, whitesmiths, tradesmen everywhere, Fathers, labourers, see your model there"
AUTHOR: T.D. Sullivan (1827-1914) (source: OLochlainn-More)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1888 (_Prison Poems or Lays of Tullamore,_ according to OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: prison work Ireland patriotic political
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1888 - Maguire, Maloney and Heaney are jailed in Miltown Malbay for supporting the boycott of a local landlord (source: notes to IRClare01).
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 71, "Three Brave Blacksmiths" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9768
RECORDINGS:
1888 - Maguire, Maloney and Heaney are jailed in Miltown Malbay for supporting the boycott of a local landlord (source: notes to IRClare01).
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sing a Song of Sixpence" (tune, according to OLochlainn-More)
NOTES: OLochlainn-More: "Another of Sullivan's Land League songs." - BS
Sullivan is the author of a number of Irish patriotic poems, of which "God Save Ireland" is probably the best-known. - RBW
File: OLcM071
===
NAME: Three Brothers from Spain (Knights of Spain, We Are Three Jews)
DESCRIPTION: "We are three (brothers/dukes/knights/jews) come from Spain, Come to court your daughter Jane." "My daughter Jane is yet too young...." "It is for gold she must be sold." The (knight) turns away. The mother calls him back; he chooses the fairest
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1903 (Newell)
KEYWORDS: courting beauty playparty
FOUND_IN: US(MW,NE) Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #633, pp. 250-251, "(We're three Brethren out of Spain)"
(DT, THREDUKE mixes this with "Three Dukes")
Roud #8251
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Three Dukes" (plot)
NOTES: This has some points of similarity with "Three Dukes," and it appears some scholars have lumped them. But even Roud, who is generally a lumper, splits them, and I do so without hesitation. - RBW
File: BGMG633
===
NAME: Three Brothers, The
DESCRIPTION: "A ship rides on the cruel wave" in sight of the Tuskar light at Carnsore. Three brothers leave shore and "steer for the vessel's side ... Then sink in the yawning wave."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor rescue
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, p. 115, "The Three Brothers" (1 text)
NOTES: Tuskar Lighthouse and Carnsore Point are on the Wexford coast. - BS
File: Ran115
===
NAME: Three Butchers, The (Dixon and Johnson) [Laws L4]
DESCRIPTION: Three butchers are riding when they hear a woman calling out. They find her naked and bound. They free her; she blows a whistle which summons robbers. Two butchers yield, but Johnson fights and is close to winning when the woman stabs him from behind
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1678
KEYWORDS: outlaw trick death fight
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England(South),Scotland) Ireland
REFERENCES: (21 citations)
Laws L4, "The Three Butchers"
Randolph 97, "Dixon and Johnson" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 74-75, "Dixon and Johnson" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 97)
FSCatskills 111, "The Three Jolly Butchers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 335, "Three Jolly Sportsmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 254-255, "Young Butcher Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 86, "Jackison and Dickison" (1 text)
SharpAp 60, "The Three Butchers" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
SHenry H185, pp. 128-129, "The Three Huntsmen/Wilson, Gilmore, and Johnson" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 24, "The Three Butchers" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 80, "The Three Butchers" (2 texts)
Chappell-FSRA 46, "Good Woman" (1 fragment)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 120-122, "The Three Jovial Huntsmen" (2 texts, 2 tunes, with the first being a peculiar variant in which the huntsmen all resist and Johnson kills the deceitful woman)
Creighton-NovaScotia 97, "The Three Gallant Huntsmen" (1 text, 1 tune; this resembles the Creighton/Senior version in which the huntsmen win the battle)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 37, "Johnson" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Peacock, pp. 817-818, "Jolly Butchermen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 33, "The Three Butchers" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Leach-Labrador 59, "Three Boocher Lads" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 223, "Johnson" (1 text)
BBI, ZN782, "Did you never hear of worthy butchers three"; ZN1365, "I'll tell you a story of lovely butchers three"
DT 325, BUTCHER2 BUTCHER3*
Roud #17
RECORDINGS:
Bob Scarce, "Three Jolly Sportsmen" (on FSB8)
Pete Seeger, "The Three Butchers" (on PeteSeeger16)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(206), "The Three Butchers," W. Wright (Birmingham), 1820-1827; also 2806 c.16(200), Harding B 11(4230), Firth c.17(1), Harding B 11(876), Firth c.17(2), Harding B 25(1901), Harding B 15(330b), Harding B 16(288a), "[The] Three Butchers"; Harding B 11(1767), Firth c.17(3), "Ips, Gips, and Johnson" or "The Three Butchers[!]"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Jinkson Johnson
The Three Riders
The Jolly Butchermen
File: LL04
===
NAME: Three C Railroad
DESCRIPTION: Hammer song. "Oh, baby, Uh! what you gwine to do? Uh! Three C railroad, Uh! done run through! Uh!" "My and my partner, him and me!" "Oh, baby, what you gwine to do? Seaboard Air-line (or other train) done run through."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: railroading work
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 216-217, "Work-Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: There are hints of this in some of Lead Belly's songs. But that may just be the common stuff of all railroad work songs. - RBW
File: ScNF216C
===
NAME: Three Children Sliding On The Ice: see Three Little Girls A-Skating Went (File: R588)
===
NAME: Three Crows, The: see The Three Ravens [Child 26] (File: C026)
===
NAME: Three Drunken Maidens: see Drunken Maidens (File: Log240)
===
NAME: Three Dukes
DESCRIPTION: "Here comes (three dukes) a-ridin', a-ridin', a-ridin', Here comes a duke a-ridin' The raz-ma-taz-a-ma-tee." The duke comes to be married; the girls ask him to choose one of them. He calls them ugly; they say they're as good as he is. He chooses one.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1898 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: playparty courting nobility
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Randolph 551, "Raz-Ma-Taz-A-Ma-Tee" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 406-407, "Raz-Ma-Taz-A-Ma-Tee" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 551A)
BrownIII 68, "Here Comes Three Lawyers" (1 text)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 51, "Two Dukes A-Roving" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 13-15, "Here Come Three Dukes A-Riding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 260-262, "Here Comes a Duke A-Riding" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
DT, THREDUK1 THREDUK2
Roud #730
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hog Drovers" (plot, lyrics)
cf. "Three Brothers from Spain (Knights of Spain, We Are Three Jews)" (plot, lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Here Come Three Kings A-Riding
File: R551
===
NAME: Three English Rovers: see Campbell the Rover (File: K269)
===
NAME: Three Flowers of Chivalry, The
DESCRIPTION: The soldiers in the Crimea are depressed, when three Irishmen spring up, recall their homes and sweethearts, and rally the troops. In battle the next day, the British are victorious, but the three heroes die
AUTHOR: Andrew Orr
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Sam Henry collection, from a book said to have been published c. 1865)
KEYWORDS: soldier death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1853-1856 - Crimean War (Britain and France actively at war with Russia 1854-1855)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H99, pp. 89-90, "The Three Flowers of Chivalry" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8146
File: HHH099
===
NAME: Three Flowers, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer met a girl with three flowers. He asked where she found them. She named each for where she found it: Michael Dwyer from the Wicklow hills, Wolfe Tone on Antrim Hill, and Robert Emmet in Dublin. She will keep them "Though all the world should fall"
AUTHOR: Norman G. Reddin (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST_DATE: 2000 (Moylan)
KEYWORDS: flowers patriotic Ireland
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 162, "The Three Flowers" (1 text, 1 tune)
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." [For more on his story, see the notes to "Michael Dwyer (I)." - RBW]
Wolfe Tone: see the notes to "The Shan Van Voght."
Robert Emmet: see the notes to "Bold Robert Emmet." - BS
There is a certain asymmetry here; Tone and Emmet were killed, but Dwyer surrendered and was transported, even becoming a civic official in Australia. It would seem more logical to list someone such as Henry Joy McCracken as the third flower. But then, I'm not Irish. - RBW
File: Moyl162
===
NAME: Three Gallant Huntsmen: see The Three Butchers [Laws L4] (File: LL04)
===
NAME: Three Girls Drowned [Laws G23]
DESCRIPTION: Three young ladies, all Sunday School teachers, and a man named John Ash are on their way to church when they try to ford Gravel Run. The three girls are swept away and drowned, although Ash manages to survive
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Vernon Dalhart)
KEYWORDS: river death drowning
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1849 - drowning of the three girls
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW,SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws G23, "Three Girls Drowned"
Gardner/Chickering 123, "Three Girls Drowned" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 210, "The Three Drowned Sisters" (1 text plus quotations from Gardner and Chickering)
Roud #3257
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "Three Drowned Sisters" (Brunswick 100, 1927)  (Columbia 15126-D [as Al Craver], 1927)
File: LG23
===
NAME: Three Grains of Corn
DESCRIPTION: "Give me three grains of corn, mother, only three grains of corn, 'Twill keep this little life I have Till the coming of the morn." The dying singer asks what Ireland has done to deserve death by famine and neglect, and notes that others are starving too
AUTHOR: Words: Amelia Blandford Edwards?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1848 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1848 431920)
KEYWORDS: death Ireland starvation poverty
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1848 - First of several Irish potato blights. Although the blights did not mean that there was no food in Ireland, prices shot up to the point that many could not afford it. Many died in the famines, and others fled to America
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Sandburg, p. 41, "Give Me Three Grains of Corn, Mother" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hudson 56, pp. 172-173, "Three Grains of Corn" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 360-363, "Give Me Three Grains of Corn, Mother" (2 texts; 1 tune on p. 454)
DT, THREEGRN* GRANCORN
Roud #4492
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1848 431920, "Give Me Three Grains of Corn, Mother", Oliver Ditson (Boston), 1848 (tune)
NOTES: Scarborough speculates, "Perhaps the American pioneer's affection for [this] song is the remembrance of the famine among the early settlers in New England, when starvation was held off as long as possible by the rationing of food, the giving of three frains of corn as each person's daily supply."
New England did face famine several times in its early existence. But this sounds strangely symbolic.
The authorship of this is slightly uncertain, due probably more to transcription errors than anything else. Hazel Felleman's _The Best Loved Poems of the American People_ attributes the words to Amelia Blandford Edwards. But broadside LOCSheet sm1848 431920 lists "words by Mrs A.M. Edmond, Music by O.R. Gross." - (RBW, BS)
File: San041
===
NAME: Three Huntsmen, The: see The Three Butchers [Laws L4] (File: LL04)
===
NAME: Three Jews, The: see Once There Were Three Fishermen (File: FSWB240A)
===
NAME: Three Jolly Bums: see The Great American Bum (Three Jolly Bums) (File: FaE192)
===
NAME: Three Jolly Butchers, The: see The Three Butchers [Laws L4] (File: LL04)
===
NAME: Three Jolly Coachmen: see Landlord, Fill the Flowing Bowl (File: FSWB229A)
===
NAME: Three Jolly Fishermen: see Once There Were Three Fishermen (File: FSWB240A)
===
NAME: Three Jolly Frenchmen: see Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)
===
NAME: Three Jolly Huntsmen
DESCRIPTION: Three jolly (Frenchmen/Welshmen/other) go hunting. Periodically they see things (barn, frog, moon) which they cannot identify. In each case they propound their theories and move on. Finally they see an owl. One says it is the "evil one"; they flee
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1613 (broadside, "Choice of Inventions, Or Seuerall sort of the figure of three"; earliest complete form 1219?)
KEYWORDS: humorous hunting nonsense
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South),Wales) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (21 citations)
Belden, pp. 246-248, "Three Jolly Welshmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 77, "We Hunted and Hollered" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 306-307, "Three Jolly Huntsmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Eddy 87, "Three Jolly Frenchmen" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 55-57, "Three Jolly Welshmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, pp. 183-184, "Three Jolly Welchmen" (1 text)
FSCatskills 152, "The Three Huntsmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 190, "Three Jolly Welshmen" (5 text, but only "A" and "B" go here; the rest are "The Bold Ranger")
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 57-58, "So We Hunted and We Hollered," "Old Circus Song" (2 texts, the second from a newspaper)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 125-126, "We Hunted and We Hallooed" (1 text)
Linscott, pp. 290-292, "Three Jovial Huntsmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 2, "Cape Ann" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 306, "Three Men Went A-Hunting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 93, "Three Men Went A-Hunting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 168, "Three Men Went A-Hunting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 529-530, "Cape Ann" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 165, "The Three Farmers" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Opie-Oxford2 524, "There were three jovial Welshmen" (5 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #348, pp. 183-184, "(There were three jovial Welshmen)"
Silber-FSWB, p. 243, "Cape Ann" (1 text)
DT 315, THREWLSH* JOLLWLCH
Roud #283
RECORDINGS:
Jack Elliott, "We Went Along a Bit Further" (on Elliotts01)
George Endicott, "Three Scamping Rogues" (on FieldTrip1)
Byrd Moore & his Hot Shots, "Three Men Went A-Hunting" (Columbia 15496-D, 1929)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Three Men Went a-Hunting" (on NLCR03)
Hywel Wood, "Three Men Went a-Hunting" (on FSB10)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bold Ranger" (theme, some lyrics)
cf. "The Wild Cat Back on the Pipe Line" (theme, form)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
We Hunted and We Halloed
Look Ye There, Now
Three Jolly Hunters
The Three Huntsmen
Twas of Three Jolly Welshmen
Three Jovial Welshmen
NOTES: What appears to be a stanza of this piece is quoted in the Shakespeare/Fletcher play "The Two Noble Kinsmen" (c. 1611). In III.v.67-71, immediately after singing a snatch of "The George Aloe and the Sweepstake," the mad jailer's daughter sings,
There was three fools, fell out about an howlet,
The one sed it was an owl, the other he sed nay,
The third he sed it was a hawk,
and her bels were cut away.
A stanza in William Davenant's 1668 play "The Rivals" seems to be on the same theme, though it uses a different metrical pattern:
There were three Fools at Mid-summer run mad
About an Howlet, a quarrel they had.
The one said 't was an Owle, the other he said nay,
The third said it was a Haek but the Bells were cutt away. - RBW
The "Cape Ann" versions of the song should not be confused with Gordon Bok's recent composition of the same name. - PJS
File: R077
===
NAME: Three Jolly Sportsmen: see The Three Butchers [Laws L4] (File: LL04)
===
NAME: Three Jolly Welshmen: see Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)
===
NAME: Three Jovial Huntsmen: see Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)
===
NAME: Three Jovial Huntsmen, The: see The Three Butchers (Dixon and Johnson) [Laws L4] (File: LL04)
===
NAME: Three Leaves of Shamrock
DESCRIPTION: The singer, about to leave Ireland, meets a poor girl who bids him take a message to her brother Ned: "Three leaves of shamrock... 'Take these to my brother, for I have no other. And these are the shamrock from his dear old mother's grave.'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: death mourning burial mother brother sister emigration separation Ireland
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 135, "Three Leaves of Shamrock" (1 text plus mention of 4 more)
ST BrII135 (Full)
Roud #3769
RECORDINGS:
The North Carolina Ramblers and Roy Harvey, "Three Leaves of Shamrock" (Paramount, unissued, 1927)
File: BrII135
===
NAME: Three Little Babes, The: see The Wife of Usher's Well [Child 79] (File: C079)
===
NAME: Three Little Babies: see The Cruel Mother [Child 20] (File: C020)
===
NAME: Three Little Girls A-Skating Went
DESCRIPTION: "Three little girls a-skating went, a-skating went, a-skating went, Three little girls a-skating went All on a summer day." "The ice was thin, they all fell in, they all fell in, they all fell in... Or else they've run away."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1651 (The Loves of Hero and Leander, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: playparty humorous drowning
FOUND_IN: US(MW,NE,So) Britain
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Linscott, pp. 288-289, "Three Children Sliding on the Ice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 588, "Three Little Girls A-Skating Went" (1 text)
Opie-Oxford2 99, "Three children sliding on the ice" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #32, p. 46, "(Three children sliding on the ice)"
ST R588 (Full)
Roud #3744
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lamentations of a Bad Market" (and notes there)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Six Little Girls A-Sliding Went
The Ice Was Thin
NOTES: Although most American editors seem unaware of the connection, this goes back at least to the eighteenth century in Britain, and was common in garlands in that period. It has been ascribed to John Gay and to the editor of _Mother Goose's Melody_ (Oliver Goldsmith?). However, its appearance in Tommy Thumb's storybook pretty well precludes Goldsmith's authorship, and I know of no reason to believe in Gay's.
The original air is said to have been "Chevy Chase," but this does not appear to have been the tune used in the U. S. - RBW
Opie-Oxford2, p. 19: "In The Lamentations of a Bad Market ... it is the twelfth, eighteenth, and nineteenth stanzas which are known to the world; thet tell of 'Three children sliding on the ice' [Opie-Oxford2 99, "Three children sliding on the ice"]." - BS
File: R588
===
NAME: Three Little Kittens
DESCRIPTION: Mother cat says the kittens can't have pie because they have lost their mittens. When they find the mittens they put them on to eat pie and soil them. They wash the mittens and hang them out to dry. They smell a rat close by.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1853 (New Nursery Songs, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: food animal humorous clothes
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 289, "Three little kittens they lost their mittens" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #815, pp. 303-304, "(Three little kittens they lost their mittens)"
Roud #16150
NOTES: Opie-Oxford2: "The tune is a variant of "The Seven Joys of Mary." - BS
The Baring-Goulds note that these lines are sometimes attributed to Eliza Follen, author of _New Nursery Songs for All Good Children_, but her notes call the piece traditional. - RBW
File: OO2289
===
NAME: Three Lost Babes of Americay, The
DESCRIPTION: "Come uncle, come tell me that wonderful tale ..." Three children are lost. Their father, mother and neighbors search in vain. They ask an Indian chief for help. The father, Indian chief and "two youths of [the] tribe" find the children
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: help rescue America children father mother Indians(Am.)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Peacock, pp. 30-32, "The Three Lost Babes of Americay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 50, "Babes in the Wood" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9944
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Children in the Wood  (The Babes in the Woods)" [Laws Q34] (theme)
cf. "The Lost Babe" (theme)
NOTES: The similarity to "Babes in the Woods" will be evident; it appears that some scholars lump some of them. - RBW
File: Peac030
===
NAME: Three Lovers: see Lord Thomas and Fair Annet [Child 73] (File: C073)
===
NAME: Three Maidens to Milking Did Go
DESCRIPTION: "The maidens to milking did go (x2), And the wind it did blow high and the wind it did blow low And it tossed the milking pails to and fro." The singer asks a friend to help him hunt "birds." The singer wishes luck to blackbird and thrush
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1856 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3968)); tune listed from 1828)
KEYWORDS: bird hunting courting seduction
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(All),Wales)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Kennedy 191, "Three Maidens to Milking Did Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 280-281, "Three Maidens" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 50, "The Bird in the Bush" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 160, "Two Maids Went A-Milking One Day" (1 text)
Roud #290
RECORDINGS:
Frankie Armstrong, "The Bird in the Bush" (on BirdBush1, BirdBush2)
Fred Hewett, "Three Maidens To Milking Did Go" (on Voice10)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3968), "Three Maids A Milking Would Go", W. Jackson and Son (Birmingham), 1842-1855; also Harding B 11(3815), "Three Maids A-milking Would Go"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Spotted Cow" (theme)
cf. "Kitty of Coleraine" (theme)
cf. "Blackberry Grove" (theme)
cf. "Three Maidens to Milking Did Go" (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Blackbird in the Bush
The Bird in the Lily-Bush
NOTES: Most printed versions of this are "clean," but clearly there is much going on beneath the surface.... - RBW
Indeed, there is. In fact, this is one of the few descriptions of group sex in traditional music -- unless, of course, you count "The Ball at Kerriemuir," and I'd be more inclined to describe that with the word "mob." - PJS
File: K191
===
NAME: Three McFarlands, The [Laws C18]
DESCRIPTION: A gang of teamsters "that knew not who was boss" sign up to work under the three McFarlands. The bosses drive them hard and treat them badly; the men look forward to leaving the camp and seeing the girls
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Rickaby)
KEYWORDS: work abuse boss
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws C18, "The Three MacFarlands"
Rickaby 15, "The Three McFarlands" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 826, MCFARL3*
Roud #2225
File: LC18
===
NAME: Three Men Drowned (The Grand River)
DESCRIPTION: Four men go boating on the Grand River. In rough water, they are flung from the boat; Benjamin Moore and two others drown. A boy brings word to Benjamin's parents. The singer talks about God's planning (and placing rocks in the river)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Rickaby)
KEYWORDS: river ship death drowning
FOUND_IN: US(MW) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Rickaby 34-I, (first of three "Fragments of Shanty Songs") (1 text)
Fowke-Lumbering #38, "The Grand River" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Rick129 (Partial)
Roud #3680
NOTES: This is item dC35 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Rick129
===
NAME: Three Men Went A-Hunting: see Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)
===
NAME: Three O'Donnells, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer dreams of a meeting in Innishowen "when we heard of liberty," of a barge with 24 Irish boys saying "Gainne's sons are free." A health to the O'Donnells. Father William fought at Waterloo; "He once was a bold lieutenant But he's now our clergyman"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1979 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: dream nonballad political clergy
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 145, "The Three O'Donnells" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Battle of Carrickshock" (subject: The Tithe War) and references there
NOTES: Tunney-StoneFiddle: "In fact it is an anti-tithe song from Innishowen. The hero whose praises it sings was none other than Father William O'Donnell, the Waterloo Priest, as he is still affectionately referred to in his native Innishowen." Tunney gives the biography of William O'Donnell (1779-1856), including his 1839 arrest for being in arrears of tithe on his property.
I cannot explain the references to "that meeting boys That was held at Innishowen" or "the loaded barge Going floating down the main With four and twenty Irish boys To guide her on the stream." - BS
For background on the Tithe War (the successful attempt by the Catholic Irish to stop paying a tithe to support the Protestant Church of England), see especially the notes to "The Battle of Carrickshock." - RBW
File: TSF145
===
NAME: Three Old Jews, The: see Once There Were Three Fishermen (File: FSWB240A)
===
NAME: Three Old Whores (From Winnipeg/Baltimore): see Four Old Whores (File: EM006)
===
NAME: Three Perished in the Snow [Laws G32]
DESCRIPTION: A woman and her three young children are struggling through a snowstorm. The children ask their mother to make them warm, but she cannot help. The next morning the three are found clasped in each others' arms, dead
AUTHOR: Eddie Fox
EARLIEST_DATE: 1878 (as "She Perished in the Snow")
KEYWORDS: family children death mother
FOUND_IN: US(MA,SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws G32, "Three Perished in the Snow"
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 101-102, "Three Perished in the Snow" (1 text, 1 tune)
FSCatskills 69, "She Perished in the Snow" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 715, PRSHSNOW*
Roud #1931
RECORDINGS:
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Perished in the Snow" (Brunswick 561, c. 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hush-oh-bye Baby" (plot)
File: LG32
===
NAME: Three Pigs
DESCRIPTION: "There was an old sow, she lived in a sty, And three little piggies had she." The grown pig said "Oink," the little ones "Wee! Wee!" The little pigs resolve to try to say "Oink" like grown-up pigs -- but can't do it, sicken, and die
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: animal youth humorous death
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 307-308, "Three Pigs" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4575
File: LxA307
===
NAME: Three Quarters of the Year: see The False Young Man (The Rose in the Garden, As I Walked Out) (File: FJ166)
===
NAME: Three Ravens, The [Child 26]
DESCRIPTION: (Three) ravens decide that a new-slain knight would make a nice lunch. He is guarded by hawk, hounds, and leman, who either guard the body from the birds or abandon it to its fate
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1611 (Ravenscroft)
KEYWORDS: death bird food
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland,England) US(MW,NE,SE,So,SW) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (40 citations)
Child 26, "The Three Ravens" (2 texts)
Bronson 26, The Three Ravens" (21 versions)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 435-437, "The Three Ravens" (notes plus a partial reprint of Ravenscroft)
Belden, pp. 31-33, "The Three Ravens" (2 texts, plus 2 tunes not derived from Missouri)
Randolph 9, "The Three Crows" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #18}
Davis-Ballads 10, "The Three Ravens" (17 texts, some very short; the "Q" fragment may be another song; the additional songs in the appendix are "Johnny Fill Up the Bowl"; 4 tunes entitled "The Three Ravens," "[The] Three Crows"; 10 more versions mentioned in Appendix A) {I=Bronson's #16 J=K=#17, P is not printed by Bronson}
Davis-More 13, pp. 84-88, "The Three Ravens" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownII 9, "The Three Ravens" (1 very short text)
Chappell-FSRA 5, "Three Black Crows" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #4}
Hudson 6, pp. 72-73, "The Three Ravens" (1 fragment)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 193-195, "The Three Ravens/The Twa Corbies" (1 short text, entitled "Three Old Crows" and typical of that type, plus the text from Ravenscroft for comparison)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 149, (no title) (1 fragment, mentioning three crows on a tree with an ending about a sick old horse; the whole might well be a dead horse song with a few "Three Ravens" lines, but without more text we cannot tell)
Brewster 8, "The Three Ravens" (1 text plus a fragment)
Creighton/Senior, p. 21, "The Three Ravens" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #11}
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 1, "The Three Crows" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown, p. 129, "Three Black Crows" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 243-256, "The Twa Corbies" (10 texts, many of them quite short, 3 tunes; the last two items, "I" and "J," appear to be somewhat rewritten)
Linscott, p. 289, "Three Crows" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 111-113, "The Three Ravens/The Twa Corbies" (2 texts)
Leach-Labrador 1, "The Three Ravens" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBB 67, "The Twa Corbies"; 68, "The Three Ravens" (2 texts)
Friedman, p. 23, "The Three Ravens (The Twa Corbies)" (3 texts)
PBB 28, "The Three Ravens" (1 text)
Doerflinger, p. 21, "Blow the Man Down (IV)" (this text combines the words of "The Three Crows" with the tune and metre of "Blow the Man Down")
Hugill, p. 212, "The Three Ravens" (1 text sung to the tune of "Blow the Man Down," taken from Doerflinger)
Niles 17, "The Three Ravens" (3 texts, 3 tunes, although the first piece, "Lovers' Farewell," is at best distantly related to this ballad)
Gummere, pp. 167+336, "The Three Ravens" (1 text)
SharpAp 11 "The Three Ravens" (1 short text plus 2 fragments, 3 tunes){Bronson's #16, #15, #14}
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 5, "The Two Crows (The Three Ravens)" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #15}
Chase, pp. 114-115, "The Two Ravens" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 37, "The Three Ravens"; p. 38, "The Twa Corbies" (2 texts)
JHCox 31, "The Three Ravens" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #10}
JHCoxIIA, #5, pp. 19-20, "The Crow Song" (1 short text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
TBB 36, "The Three Ravens" (1 text)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 75-76, "There Were Three Ravens" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 73-74, "The Three Ravens"; p. 74, "The Twa Corbies" (2 texts)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 173-176, "The Three Ravens"; "The Twa Corbies"; "The Three Crows" (3 texts, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #1, #8; the third tune was not known to Bronson}
Darling-NAS, pp. 26-28, "The Three Ravens (or, 'Rauens')"; "The Twa Corbies"; "The Three Crows" (3 texts)
Silber-FSWB, p. 405, "Billy Magee Magaw"; p. 215, "The Three Ravens" (2 texts)
DT 26, THRERAVN* THRERAV2* THRERAV3* THRERAV4 THRERAV5* THRERAV6 
Roud #5
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Blow the Man Down" (lyrics)
cf. "Lover's Farewell (I)" (lyrics)
cf. "The Crow Song (I)" (lyrics, theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Billie Magee Magaw
Willie McGee McGaw
Two Old Crows
Three Black Crows
NOTES: The degree of degeneration suffered by the American versions of this song is phenomenal (They are often quite silly, and if they retain the theme of the birds eating carrion, it is usually an animal, such as a horse). Brewster's longer version is, in fact, a trick upon listeners: "You may think there is another verse -- but there isn't."
If it weren't for the intermediate versions, we could hardly recognize them as one piece. But that's oral tradition -- though Belden says the song was part of the minstrel tradition in the 1860s, and Flanders-Ancient notes the inclusion of a "rewritten form in books like _Cleveland's Compendium_ of 1859." In many of these versions it is a horse, not a man, which supplies the birds' meal.
The by-blow "The Twa Corbies" is one of the handful of traditional songs in Palgrave's _Golden Treasury_ (item CXXXVI). Not sure what that says about either Palgrave or the song. Properly, "The Twa Corbies" should probably be split off, since it is recensionally different from "The Three Ravens." But this is impossible in practice, because the degenerate forms often could come from either, or indeed recombine the two. - RBW
File: C026
===
NAME: Three Rogues, The: see In Good Old Colony Times (File: R112)
===
NAME: Three Sailor Boys: see The Mermaid [Child 289] (File: C289)
===
NAME: Three Sailors of Bristol City: see Little Boy Billee (Le Petite Navire, The Little Corvette) (File: K114)
===
NAME: Three Scamping Rogues: see In Good Old Colony Times (File: R112)
===
NAME: Three Scotch Robbers, The: see Henry Martyn [Child 250] AND Sir Andrew Barton [Child 167] (File: C250)
===
NAME: Three Ships Came Sailing In: see I Saw Three Ships (File: OBB104)
===
NAME: Three Sons, The: see In Good Old Colony Times (File: R112)
===
NAME: Three Weeks Before Easter: see The False Bride (The Week Before Easter; I Once Loved a Lass) (File: K152)
===
NAME: Three Wise Old Women
DESCRIPTION: Three wise old women go walking in winter. One carries a ladder; another, a basket; "the wisest one, she carried a fan to keep off the sun." (At least) one climbs the ladder and is blown to sea. (They use the basket to bail, the fan as a sail)
AUTHOR: Mrs. E. T. Corbett, according to Felleman _The Best Loved Poems of the American People_
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: humorous animal talltale
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 130, "Three Wise Old Women" (1 text)
ST R130 (Partial)
Roud #3271
NOTES: Although hardly known in tradition, Randolph's text differs enough from the presumed original in Felleman that I have to think there was folk processing along the way. E.g., in the original, they climb the tree for fear of a bear; it seems as if the informant would remember that. - RBW
File: R130
===
NAME: Three Young Ladies: see Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie [Child 14] (File: C014)
===
NAME: Thresherman (and the Squire), The: see Jolly Thresher, The (Poor Man, Poor Man) (File: R127)
===
NAME: Threshing Machine (I), The
DESCRIPTION: "It's all very well to have a machine To thresh your wheat and your barley clean, To thresh it and win(now) it, all fit for sale, Then go off to market so brisk and well." Singer tells of the wonders of the new threshing machine and the people who tend it
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (Gardiner manuscript)
KEYWORDS: farming technology work moniker nonballad worker
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Kennedy 231, "The Machiner's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, THRSHSNG*
Roud #874
RECORDINGS:
Jim Copper, "The Thrashing Machine" (on Lomax41, LomaxCD1741)
NOTES: While this is a non-ballad, I've included it -- mostly so that we may reference it when we get to "The Thrashing Machine", a bawdy song. - PJS
In any case, some of the stanzas have plots. - RBW
File: K231
===
NAME: Threshing Machine (II), The: see The Thrashing Machine (I) (File: RcThraM)
===
NAME: Through All the World Below
DESCRIPTION: "Through all the world below God is seen all around, Search hills and valleys through, There he's found. The growing of the corn, the lily and the thorn...." The song describes God's part in the entire universe, and how the creation praises the deity
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1825 (Columbian Harmony)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-FSNA 34, "Captain Kidd-II" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6667
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Wayfaring Stranger" (tune) and references there
File: LoF034
===
NAME: Through the City Where He Rode
DESCRIPTION: "Through the city where he rode Was spotless white. He will lead me where No tears don't never fall. Oh yes, he is leading me, For I feel his hands on mine." "I shall know him by the prints Of the nails in his hands." All verses are variants on the first
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 642, "Through the City Where He Rode" (1 text)
Roud #11937
NOTES: It was Thomas (John 20:24-29) who demanded to see the marks of the nails on Jesus's hands.
The rest of the song doesn't make much sense. If the description of the city and the rider is a reference to Jesus's entry into Jerusalem, well, nowhere is there any mention of white in any of the gospel narratives. That leaves only references in the Apocalypse -- e.g. the white horse of Rev. 6:2 or the white robes of Rev. (3:4), 4:4, 6:11, 7:9, 13. Perhaps the likeliest reference is to Rev. 19:11, 14, where the King of Kings rides a white horse. No white *city*, though. - RBW
File: Br3642
===
NAME: Thyme, It Is a Precious Thing
DESCRIPTION: The singer laments her precious thyme, which she had and lost. A sailor gave her a rose "that never would decay" to remind her of "the night he stole my bonny thyme away." She warns others against the same mistake
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: loneliness sailor seduction virginity
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, THYMEPRE*
Roud #3
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "In My Garden Grew Plenty of Thyme"
cf. "The Gowans are Gay"
cf. "Garners Gay (Rue; The Sprig of Thyme)"
NOTES: In flower symbolism, thyme stood for virginity. For a catalog of some of the sundry flower symbols, see the notes to "The Broken-Hearted Gardener."
Thyme songs are almost impossible to tell apart, because of course the plot (someone seduces the girl) and the burden (let no man steal your thym) are always identical. For the same reasons, verses float freely between them. So fragmentary versions are almost impossible to classify.
The Digital Tradition has a version, "Rue and Thyme," which seems to have almost all the common elements. Whether it is the ancestor of the various thyme songs, or a gathering together of separate pieces, is not clear to me.
The chorus, "Thyme, it is a precious thing; Thyme brings all things to your mind. Thyme with all its labours Along with all its joys, And it's thyme brings all things to an end," is quite characteristic in its lyric strength. The plot is less diagnostic. - RBW
File: DTthymep
===
NAME: Tibo (Thibault) [Laws C6]
DESCRIPTION: Tibo is one of a crew trying to clear a logjam. The logs he is on give way; Tibo is washed away and his comrade cannot keep hold of him. He leaves a widow and young children; the lumbermen make contributions for their support
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: logger death drowning
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Laws C6, "Tibo (Thibault)"
DT 808, TEBO
Roud #2221
File: LC06
===
NAME: Tickle Cove Pond
DESCRIPTION: A man hauling wood with his mare "Kitty" takes a short cut across a frozen pond. The horse hesitates to cross the weak ice. The man ignores the horse and they fall in. The man shouts for help and neighbors come to haul the mare out with a chanty song.
AUTHOR: Mark Walker ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: horse work rescue
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Blondahl, pp. 16-17, "Tickle Cove Pond" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, pp. 18-19, "Tickle Cove Pond" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, pp. 75-76, "Tickle Cove Pond" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TCKLCOVE*
Roud #7313
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Tickle Cove Pond" (on NFOBlondahl01,NFOBlondahl05)
NOTES: A "tickle" is a narrow inlet of water. Tickle Cove is on the north-east coast of Newfoundland. Also, the song has a chanty included in it that is contextualized for the narrative of the song. For a colorful explanation of Newfoundland usage, see Harold Horwood, "Newfoundland" (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1969) 83-84. - SH
The author is named by GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador site.
If you are interested in the Newfoundland song tradition in general and the history of this song in particular be sure to read _Taking Apart "Tickle Cove Pond"_ in Canadian Journal for Traditional Music, vol. 29, 2002 by Philip Hiscock, pp. 32-68, also available in PDF format at //cjtm.icaap.org/content/29/05-Hiscock.pdf. Hiscock does not just discuss the origins of the song. From his abstract: "Nowadays, the song has certain meanings for listeners. This paper suggests they reflect contemporary beliefs and 'imaginings' about Newfoundland's past."
"The tune is derived from the Irish tune 'Tatter [i.e., Father] Jack Walsh,' which also goes by several other names in Ireland." Hiscock, p. 40.
The words of some of the songs Hiscock attributes to Mark Waller may be found at the Bonavista Bay Songs section of the Newfoundland's Grand Banks sites - BS
File: Doy18
===
NAME: Tickle My Toe
DESCRIPTION: In successive verses of this bawdy cumulative song, the singer lays his finger or touches his lady friend on the toe, knee, thigh, "funny thing," etc. With each he asks what it is and she gives a nonsensical reply.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy cumulative
FOUND_IN: US(So) Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 545-551, "Tickle My Toe" (5 texts, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Pat MacNamara, "I Left My Hand" (on IRClare01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Gently Johnny My Jingalo"
cf. "A-Roving" (plot, such as it is)
cf. "Baltimore (Up She Goes)" (theme)
cf. "Yo Ho, Yo Ho" (plot)
NOTES: Legman offers substantial notes on the history of this song in Randolph-Legman I. - EC
It can, obviously, be difficult to tell this from "A-Roving" and, especially, "Yo Ho." The reader is strongly advised to check that song as well as this. - RBW
File: RL545
===
NAME: Tiddliewink Old Man
DESCRIPTION: "Tiddliwink, old man, get a woman if you can. If you can't get a woman, get an old tin can. If it wasn't for your name and it wasn't for your shame, I'd let you have a go in a minute, young man"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1974 (recording, Jasper Smith)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad nonsense
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Jasper Smith, "Tiddliewink Old Man" (on Voice14)
NOTES: The current description is all of the Voice14 text. - BS
File: RcTidOMa
===
NAME: Tiddy High O!
DESCRIPTION: "An' now we are bound for ol' Bristol Town, Tiddy high O! high hay! Good-bye to them black gals, the yellars an' the browns, Tiddy high O! hay, high hay!" Verses give references to rum and sugar trading/loading.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Sharp-EFC)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong clothes food drink
FOUND_IN: West Indies Britain
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Hugill, p. 453, "Tiddy High O!" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 339]
Sharp-EFC, XLI, p. 46, "Tiddy I O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8288
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Haul 'Er Away (Little Sally Racket)" (character of Sally Rackett)
File: Hugi453
===
NAME: Tiddy I O: see Tiddy High O! (File: Hugi453)
===
NAME: Tiddy, the Tailor: see The Trooper and the Tailor (File: FSC139)
===
NAME: Tideo: see Jingle at the Window (Tideo) (File: R525)
===
NAME: Tie Pile Song (Duke See the Tie Pile)
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, (Duke) see the tie pile and Duke git mad, Oh, Duke see the money pile and Duke git glad, Oh Daddy, git one." "Oh, tain't no use in foolin' around, Oh, all of them ties got to go to town, Oh Daddy, git one."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: work nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MWheeler, pp. 23-24, "Duke See the Tie Pile" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10000
NOTES: Wheeler explains that the call, "Oh Daddy, git one" was the call used by rousters to tell the next person in line to pick up his tie. For this reason, I have conjectured that this is not a composition by "Duke" Sims (Wheeler's informant), but a tie-carrying call. I have named it accordingly.
Wheeler's version is more or less a standard blues form, using only four tones of the scale, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are "true" ballad versions in existence. - RBW
File: MWhee023
===
NAME: Tie-Hackin's Too Tiresome: see Rye Whisky (File: R405)
===
NAME: Tie-Shuffling Chant: see Can'cha Line 'Em (File: LxU078)
===
NAME: Tie-Tamping Chant
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, tamp 'em up solid, So dey won't come down... Oh, you can do it." Any suitable verse may be used. Last line of chorus is repeated until the task is finished.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: work worksong nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 17-19, "Tie-Tamping Chant" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15522
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Pay Me My Money Down" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: The Lomaxes quote all sorts of verses for this song. One suspects that not all actually came from their informant. - RBW
File: LxA017
===
NAME: Tiger and the Lion, The: see Bold Dighton [Laws A21] (File: LA21)
===
NAME: Tigery Orum: see Marrowbones [Laws Q2] (File: LQ02)
===
NAME: Till Cock Gets Higher
DESCRIPTION: A cante-fable, this tale with interpolated song tells of the encounter of a country boy with a prostitute, and their bargaining for price.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy whore bargaining
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph-Legman II, p. 603, "Till Cock Gets Higher" (1 text)
File: RL603
===
NAME: Tim Finnegan's Wake: see Finnegan's Wake [Laws Q17] (File: LQ17)
===
NAME: Timber (I)
DESCRIPTION: "We are trying to carry this timber to the building, Hallelujah, I don't know." "We will make doors and windows in that building, Hallelujah, I don't know." "We will build it to the glory of the Lord, Hallelujah, I don't know."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, p. 386, "Timber" (1 short text, 1 tune)
File: San386
===
NAME: Timber (Jerry the Mule)
DESCRIPTION: The singer encourages his mule, "Hollerin', Tmber, Lord, this timber's gotta roll." He complains about his miserable boss. Jerry the mule can't pull more, so the boss beats him. Jerry kills the boss. The singer wonders why he didn't kill the boss himself
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: work animal death boss
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 130, "Timber/Jerry the Mule" (1 text)
DT, JERRYMUL
File: FSWB130B
===
NAME: Timbrook
DESCRIPTION: "Timbrook has done gone and thrown the rider (x2), If you'd been there when the horses come around, You'd a swore to your maker they never touched ground." "Oh mister, oh mister, I'm risking my life To win money for you and your wife...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: racing horse gambling
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 4, 1878 - race between Ten Broeck and Miss Mollie McCarthy (won by Ten Broeck)
FOUND_IN: US(S0)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 881, "Timbrook" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 391-392, "Timbrook" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 881)
Roud #2190
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Molly and Tenbrooks" [Laws H27] (subject)
cf. "Old Timbrook Blue" (subject)
NOTES: Although Randoph's informant, almost certainly correctly, believe this to refer to the race that also spawned "Molly and Tenbrooks," the songs appear to be distinct (though Roud lumps them, and Cohen's notes to Randolph also seem to equate them). - RBW
File: R881
===
NAME: Time: see No Hiding Place (File: FSWB370C)
===
NAME: Time Draws Near: see My Dearest Dear (File: SKE40)
===
NAME: Time Enough Yet
DESCRIPTION: The young man begs the girl to marry; she replied that there is "time enough yet." After hearing enough of this he says he will never return. She soon asks him to come back. He replies there is "time enough yet." Girls are warned not to delay marraige
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Belden, pp. 197-198, "Time Enough Yet" (1 text plus an excerpt from 1 more)
Randolph 369, "Time Enough Yet" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #4264
File: R369
===
NAME: Time for Us to Leave Her: see Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her (File: Doe089)
===
NAME: Time Has Come, My Dearest Dear, The: see My Dearest Dear (File: SKE40)
===
NAME: Time to be Made a Wife: see The Old Maid's Song (II) (File: FJ162)
===
NAME: Time to Leave Her: see Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her (File: Doe089)
===
NAME: Times Gettin' Hard
DESCRIPTION: "Times gettin' hard, boys, Money's gettin' scarce. If times don't get much better, boys, I'm bound to leave this place." "Take my true love by the hand, lead her through the town...." The singer prepares to depart for (California?) where times are better
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg; recording by Jaybird Coleman)
KEYWORDS: hardtimes poverty exile
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Sandburg, p. 242, "Times Gettin Hard, Boys" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 117, "Times Are Getting Hard" (1 text)
Roud #15620
RECORDINGS:
Jaybird Coleman, "Times Gettin' Hard -- Work's Been Gettin' Scarce" (Gennett, unissued; rec. 1927)
Pete Seeger, "Time's A-getting Hard" (on PeteSeeger06, PeteSeegerCD01) (on PeteSeeger26)
File: San242
===
NAME: Times Gettin' Hard, Boys: see Times Gettin Hard (File: San242)
===
NAME: Tinker Behind the Door, The: see The Beverly Maid and the Tinker (The Tinker Behind the Door) (File: Pea318)
===
NAME: Tinker, The
DESCRIPTION: The lady of the manor sends for the jolly tinker, who services her, her staff (including the butler) and then rides off, "little drops of semen pitter-patting at his feet."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: adultery bawdy Gypsy lover sex tinker
FOUND_IN: Australia Britain(England,Scotland) US(MA,MW,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Cray, pp. 29-36, "The Tinker" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 113-117, "The Jolly Tinker" (3 texts, 1 tune)
DT, JOLITINK JOLLTNK3
Roud #863
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jolly Beggar" [Child 279]
cf. "Clout the Cauldron"
cf. "The Jolly Tinker (I)"
cf. "The Jolly Tinker (III)"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Highland Tinker
The Jolly Tinker
NOTES: Randolph-Legman provides a detailed history of this ballad. - EC
This song can be told from "The Jolly Tinker" by its description of the tinker's, um, improbable physical attributes. - RBW
File: EM029
===
NAME: Tinker's Wedding, The: see The Tinkler's Waddin (The Tinker's Wedding) (File: RcTTWttw)
===
NAME: Tinkler's Waddin, The (The Tinker's Wedding)
DESCRIPTION: Amid drink and celebration, bridegroom Norman Scott is wed for the fourth time (no mention of divorce or widowerhood), to fortune-teller Meg McNeil; a cheerful brawl ensues
AUTHOR: William Watt
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford); reportedly published 1835
KEYWORDS: marriage wedding fight drink party humorous tinker Gypsy
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 1-4, "The Tinkler's Waddin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5408
RECORDINGS:
Willie Kemp and Curly MacKay, "The Tinklers' Wedding" (on Voice13)
Jimmy Scott, "The Tinker's Weddin'" (on Borders1)
John Strachan, "The Tinkler's Waddin" (on Lomax43, LomaxCD1743)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.27(397/398), "The Tinkler's Wedding" ("In June when broom in bloom was seen"), unknown, n.d.
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(141b), "The Tinker's Wedding," unknown, c. 1840-1860; also L.C.Fol.70(141)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rothesay-O" (tune)
NOTES: The work "tinker" in Britain is applied both to workers in tin (i.e., menders of pots and kettles) and "travellers," or Gypsies. In many songs, including this, it's ambiguous which is meant -- but since many or most of the travelling tinkers *were* Gypsies, it barely matters. - PJS
According to Kennedy, William Watt was born in 1792, and also wrote "Kate Dalrymple," as well as a version of "The Peddlar." The tune used is reportedly identical to "Rothesay-O," though it is not entirely clear which came first. - RBW
File: RcTTWttw
===
NAME: Tinna Clinnama Clinchama Clingo: see The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin [Child 277] (File: C277)
===
NAME: Tinnaberna Fishermen (I), The
DESCRIPTION: Tinnaberna fishermen out at nightfall November 14, 1815 are overtaken by a squall blowing them northwest. They can see "Poulder fading fastly from our view," the lighthouse at Tuskar, and the warning "bonfire on the hill" but cannot return to shore.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck fishing
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Nov 1815 - Six of seven fishing boats were lost with their crews when they were blown across the channel to the Welsh coast (source: Ranson)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 42-43, "The Tinnaberna Fishermen" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Ran042
===
NAME: Tinnaberna Fishermen (II), The
DESCRIPTION: "On the dark rocks of Wales our poor neighbors were lost ... Those tender-hearted Welshmen, we for them will ever pray That God may grant them pardon against their dying day"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1946 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck fishing
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Nov 1815 - Six of seven fishing boats were lost with their crews when they were blown across the channel to the Welsh coast (source: Ranson)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 43-44, "The Tinnaberna Fishermen" (1 text)
File: Ran043
===
NAME: Tippecanoe
DESCRIPTION: "A bumper around now, my hearties, I'll sing you a song that is new; I'll please to the buttons all parties And sing of Old Tippecanoe." The singer details the history of Tippecanoe, and declares, "Bid Martin Van Buren adieu."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1840 (Tippecanoe Song-Book)
KEYWORDS: political nonballad derivative
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Dec 2, 1840 - William Henry Harrison defeats Martin Van Buren
Mar 4, 1841 - Harrison (the first Whig to be elected President) is inaugurated. He gives a rambling inaugural address in a rainstorm and catches cold
April 4, 1841 - Harrison dies of pneumonia, making him the first president to fail to complete his term. After some hesitation, Vice President John Tyler is allowed to succeed as President
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 397, "Tippecanoe" (1 text)
Roud #6950
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rosin the Beau" (tune) and references there
cf. "Old Tippecanoe" (subject)
cf. "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" (subject)
cf. "Harrison Campaign Song" (subject)
NOTES: For details on the (thoroughly dirty) 1840 Presidential campaign, and the purely false picture it drew of William Henry Harrison, see the notes to "Old Tippecanoe." - RBW
File: Be3397
===
NAME: Tipperary
DESCRIPTION: "Way out in old South Dakota... Once roamed the greatest of outlaws... His name was old Tipperary, Tipperary of rodeo fame, The greatest of all the bronc riders Will never forget that great name." The horse's methods of throwing riders are recounted
AUTHOR: Tex Fletcher
EARLIEST_DATE: 1954 ("Hoofs and Horns")
KEYWORDS: horse cowboy
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 68, "Tipperary" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: According to Ohrlin, Tipperary was a great rodeo horse of the period following the First World War. Only one rider is recorded as having stayed on his back, and even that feat has been questioned. - RBW
File: Ohr068
===
NAME: Tipperary Christening, The
DESCRIPTION: Dennis is christened in Tipperary. Everyone is there. "After dancing, they went in to lunching ... They had all kinds of tea ... and everything that would please." After dinner there was speaking, match making... "they wished the next would be twins"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: childbirth dancing food party moniker twins
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 15, "The Tipperary Christening" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3840), "The Tipperary Christening", unknown, n.d. 
File: OCon015
===
NAME: Tipperary Far Away
DESCRIPTION: A rebel, Sean Treacy, is dying by moonlight on Talbot Street in Dublin. He asks a passing comrade to take a lock of his hair and take it to his mother in his "native home In Tipperary far away." His comrades bury him.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (IRClancyMakem03)
KEYWORDS: battle rebellion death Ireland IRA hair
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "Tipperary Far Away" (on IRClancyMakem03)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sean Treacy" (subject: the death of Treacy)
cf. "The Station of Knocklong" (for other activities of Treacy)
NOTES: According to _Phoenix Publishing Short History of the 3rd Tipperary Brigade_ on the eircom site, this song refers to Sean Treacy, shot October 14, 1920 in Talbot Street, Dublin. Treacy's body was returned to Tipperary for burial at Kilfeacle. Treacy was a member of the Third Tipperary Brigade. - BS
Perhaps the most popular of at least two and possibly three Sean Treacy songs. Robert Kee, in _Ourselves Alone_, being volume III of _The Green Flag_, p. 116, quotes another, "Our lovely Sean is dead and gone, Shot down in Talbot Street." This is said to have been adapted from an "ancient Irish lament." He does not cite a source for this statement.
For more on Treacy's short, tumultuous career, see the notes to "Sean Treacy." - RBW
File: RcTipFaA
===
NAME: Tipperary Recruiting Song, The
DESCRIPTION: "'Tis now we'd want to be wary, boys, The recruiters are out in Tipperary, boys...." The Irish youths are advised to avoid the British sergeants and the free drinks they offer. They are reminded of all the harm John Bull has done in the past
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 (Galvin)
KEYWORDS: Ireland recruiting drink soldier
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
PGalvin, p. 88, "Tipperary Recruiting Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 299-300, "Tipperary Recruiting Song" (1 text)
NOTES: It is not immediately evident what time period this song refers to. The British desperation for soldiers might seem to imply World War I -- but in 1916 Britain instituted the draft (in England; it took a little longer in Ireland); the recruiting sergeant was a thing of the past. So an earlier period is indicated. - RBW
File: PGa088
===
NAME: Tipperty's Jean
DESCRIPTION: "In a wee thacket hoosie, far doon i' the glen, There lived a young lassie, the plague o' the men." Tipperty Jean's beauty has ensnared many, but she rejects them all -- even the Laird as too old. She has enough money to live, and so marries Puir Johnnie
AUTHOR: Peter Buchan ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord); Buchan died 1881
KEYWORDS: love courting money rejection marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 283-284, "Tipperty's Jean" (1 text)
Roud #5602
File: Ord283
===
NAME: Tiranti, My Love: see Lord Randal [Child 12] (File: C012)
===
NAME: Tiree Tragedy, A: see Mo Nighean donn a Cornaig (File: K019)
===
NAME: 'Tis Not Always the Bullet that Kills
DESCRIPTION: "Please, dear Uncle, now tell me why you're sighing." The boy wonders why, if he survived the war, he is always sad. The boy's mother says that she loved the uncle, but married her sweetheart's brother when she thought the uncle dead. Both regret this
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1920 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love soldier betrayal war family
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 715, "'Tis Not Always the Bullet that Kills" (1 text)
Roud #7431
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Two Little Girls in Blue" (plot)
File: R715
===
NAME: Tis Now, Young Man, Give Me Attention
DESCRIPTION: The singer complains of his sad life. He courts and marries a girl. After seven years, he finds her untrue, but cannot gain a divorce because he can't prove her infidelity. He wishes to sail away, but hates to live his little girl (?). He dies at sea
AUTHOR: Napoleon Stetson?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: marriage betrayal sailor death ring
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 312, "'Tis Now, Young Man, Give Me Attention" (1 text)
Roud #6648
File: BrII312
===
NAME: Tis the Gift To Be Simple: see Simple Gifts (File: DarN259A)
===
NAME: Titanic (I), The ("It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down") [Laws D24] (Titanic #1)
DESCRIPTION: (Though the builders called her unsinkable), "On Monday morning... the great Titanic began to reel and rock." Rich and poor will not mix, so the poor on the lower decks drown first. The band plays "Nearer My God to Thee" and sixteen hundred people die
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (recording, Ernest V. Stoneman)
KEYWORDS: sea wreck family disaster death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
Laws D24, "The Titanic I"
Randolph 693, "The Great Titanic" ("B" fragment only; Randolph's "A" text is "The Titanic (IV)" ("Lost on the Great Titanic") (Titanic #4))
BrownII 287, "The Titanic" (5 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 2 more. The Laws data for this book is badly confused, but it appears the "C" and "D" texts are this song, and apparently the "E" fragment also; "A" and "B" are broadsides Laws does not classify (The first clearly based on "The Golden Vanity"; the second seems to be an adaption of this song to "There Will Be a Hot Time"), and "H" is "God Moves on the Water")
Friedman, p. 323, "The Titanic" (1 text+2 fragments)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 60 "When That Great Ship Went Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 723, "The Ship Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, p. 77, "(The Titanic)" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 280-281, "The Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 184-185, "The Coast of Peru" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 55, "The Titanic" (1 text)
DT 616, TITANIC5*
Roud #774
RECORDINGS:
Pink Anderson, "The Titanic" (on PinkAnd1)
George Reneau, "The Sinking of the Titanic" (Vocalion 5077, 1926)
Ernest V. Stoneman, "The Titanic" (OKeh 40288, 1925; rec. 1924);  "Sinking of the Titanic" (Edison 51823, 1926) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5200, 1926); "Sinking of the Titanic" (on Stonemans02)
William & Versey Smith, "When That Great Ship Went Down" (Paramount 12505B, 1927; on AAFM1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: Despite this song (and other folklore), the band on the _Titanic_ did NOT play "Nearer My God to Thee" as the ship sank. Instead, they played light music to prevent panic.
The reference to rich and poor not mixing is accurate enough, though hardly unique to the _Titanic_. As with most liners of the time, the _Titanic_ carried three classes of passengers: First class, second class, and steerage, for the poorest people (mostly emigrants, and mostly jammed in their cabins as tight as sardines)
Steerage passengers, of course, were stuck far down in the ship. Dr. Robert D. Ballard's _The Discovery of the Titanic_ has a side view of the ship's plans on page 168, showing that many of the steerage passengers were four floors below the main deck, near the waterline, whereas the first class passengers were mostly above the main deck, with easy access to the lifeboats.
It showed in the casualties. According to Lincoln P. Paine's _Ships of the World_, 60% of the first class passengers survived (Ballard, p. 149, reports that every child in first class, save one, survived, and she died only because she wouldn't leave her mother, who wouldn't leave her husband). 42% of second class passengers survived, but only 25% of steerage (comparable to the 24% of the crew who survived).
Some versions of this, including Friedman's, have a reference to Paul's promise tht "not a man should drown"; this is a reference to Acts 27:34, when Paul is on his way to Rome and the ship in which he is being held prisoner is driven by a storm. Friedman wonders if there might not be an earlier song which gave rise to a _Titanic_ text. It seems likely enougn, and the verse about Paul is a likely survival, since it is almost irrelevant in its current place in the text.
To tell this from the other _Titanic_ songs, consider the chorus:
It was sad when that great ship went down,
It was sad when that great ship went down.
There were husbands and wives,
Little children lost their lives,
It was sad when that great ship went down.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: LD24
===
NAME: Titanic (II), The ("The Titanic, Out on that Ocean") (Titanic #2)
DESCRIPTION: "The rich folks 'cided to take a trip On the finest ship was ever built. The cap'n persuaded these people to think This Titanic too safe to sink. Cho: Out on that ocean, The great wide ocean, The Titanic, out on that ocean, sinking down!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck family disaster death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, pp. 254-255, "De Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4172
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: Despite this song (and other folklore), the band on the _Titanic_ did NOT play "Nearer My God to Thee" as the ship sank. Instead, they played light music to prevent panic.
This song is item dI26 in Laws's Appendix II.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: San254
===
NAME: Titanic (III), The ("God Moves on the Water") (Titanic #3)
DESCRIPTION: The story of the Titanic. The women have to watch their husbands drown. Captain Smith awakens to gunshots. Millionaire Jacob Nash cannot pay his fare (to survive). Chorus: "God moves on the water (x3) And the people had to run and pray.
AUTHOR: Blind Willie Johnson?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Blind Willie Johnson)
KEYWORDS: death ship wreck disaster religious
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 76-77, "(God Moves on the Water)" (1 text)
BrownII 287, "The Titanic" (5 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 2 more. The Laws data for this book is badly confused, but the "H" text is this song; "C" and "D" are "The Titanic (I)," and apparently the "E" fragment also; "A" and "B" are broadsides Laws does not classify (The first clearly based on "The Golden Vanity"; the second seems to be an adaption of this song to "There Will Be a Hot Time"))
DT, TITANIC4*
Roud #4173
RECORDINGS:
Blind Willie Johnson, "God Moves on the Water" (Columbia 14520-D, 1930; rec. 1929; on BWJ02, CGospel1)
Bessie Jones et al, "The Titanic" (on LomaxCD1700)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: This song is item dI27 in Laws's Appendix II. It should probably be given a proper entry, though; it seems to be the most popular of the _Titanic_ songs except for "The Titanic (I) ('It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down')" [Laws D24].
The statement 'God moves on the water" is probably an allusion to Genesis 1:2, where "the spirit of God moved on the face of the water" ("ocean" or "abyss" might be a better translation here, but of course what matters is what the King James Bible says).
Lyle Lofgren makes the interesting observation that the oldest known version, Blind Willie Johnson's, does not actually use the phrase "God moves on the water." He lets the guitar play the phrase "on the water." Lyle speculates that that there may have been an older gospel song which would have let listeners know the missing phrase. This seems not impossible (perhaps "Wade in the Water" -- there are some similarities in the tunes I have heard). But the other possibility he suggests is that the song was already well known in 1929, so Johnson didn't need to sing the words. And, indeed, the Lomaxes report collecting it in 1933.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: CNFM076
===
NAME: Titanic (IV), The ("Lost on the Great Titanic") (Titanic #4)
DESCRIPTION: The Titanic is only a few hours' sailing from shore when it strikes an iceberg and sinks. Both rich and poor are lost with the ship. Husbands gallantly stand aside to let their wives be saved. The band plays "Nearer my God to Thee" as she goes down
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck family disaster death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 693, "The Great Titanic" ("A" text only; Randolph's "B" text is "The Titanic I")
McNeil-SFB2, p. 104, "The Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TITANIC2*
Roud #3526
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "The Great Titanic" (Champion 15121, 1926) (Radiex 4131 [as Jeff Calhoun], 1927)  [I'm not certain this is the right placement for this song, but I'll bet ya. - PJS]
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
cf. "Lost on the Lady Elgin" (tune)
NOTES: This song is dD40 in Laws's Appendix I.
Despite this song (and other folklore), the band on the _Titanic_ did NOT play "Nearer My God to Thee" as the ship sank. Instead, they played light music to prevent panic.
To tell this from the other _Titanic_ songs, consider these stanzas:
The great _Titanic_ went sailing
Ninety-eight miles from shore,
It suddenly struck an iceberg
And sank forevermore.
Lost, lost on the great Titanic,
Sinking to rise no more,
A number of sixteen hundred
Had failed to reach the shore.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: R693A
===
NAME: Titanic (IX), The (Sinking of the Titanic): see Sinking of the Titanic (Titanic #9) (File: RcTitaIX)
===
NAME: Titanic (V), The (Many Hearts Surrendered to the Shipwreck) (Titanic #5)
DESCRIPTION: "The Titanic left Southhampton With all its sports and gang, When they struck the iceberg, I know their mind was changed." The story of the wreck is briefly told, with a mention of John Jacob Astor, who is credited with trying to save the women
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Gardner/Chickering)
KEYWORDS: sea wreck family disaster death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Gardner/Chickering 120, "The Titanic" (1 text)
ST GC120 (Partial)
Roud #3525
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: Perhaps best recognized by the chorus:
Many hearts surrendered to the shipwreck;
On the sea many hearts surrendered,
Crying "Nearer My God to Thee."
This even though, as we've said in the notes to all the other _Titanic_ songs, the band did not play "Nearer My God to Thee"; it played light music to prevent panic.
John Jacob Astor (1864-1912) did indeed die on the _Titanic_, though I don't know of any evidence that he was the prime mover in saving women and children. In fact, the only report I know of about his behavior while aboard was that, when the lifeboats were being loaded with women and children, he tried to make his way aboard the lifeboat holding his (trophy) wife. He had to be ordered back by the crew.
This is item dD41 in Laws's Appendix II. Roud lumps this with The _Titanic_ (VI), but I don't see any common elements except the boat.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: GC120
===
NAME: Titanic (VI), The ("Cold and Icy Sea") (Titanic #6)
DESCRIPTION: The Titanic sets out from Liverpool and sinks in the cold waters off Newfoundland. The ballad notes how both rich and poor, upper and lower classes, were lost in the disaster
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: ship wreck disaster death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
McNeil-SFB2, p. 103, "The Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TITANIC1*
Roud #3525
RECORDINGS:
Almeda Riddle, "The Titanic" (on LomaxCD1707)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: Despite this song (and other folklore), the band on the _Titanic_ did NOT play "Nearer My God to Thee" as the ship sank. Instead, they played light music to prevent panic.
Roud lumps this with The _Titanic_ (V), but I don't see any common elements except the boat.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: MN2103
===
NAME: Titanic (VII), The ("As the Moon Rose in Glory/Gone to Rest/The Watchman") (Titanic #7)
DESCRIPTION: "As the moon rose in glory... She told her sad, sad story / Sixteen hundred had gone to rest." A watchman dreams of the Titanic's fate, but cannot get anyone to save the ship or even their families. The widows and orphans are left mourning
AUTHOR: Seth Newton Mize
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (recording, Darby & Tarlton)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck family disaster death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
McNeil-SFB2, p. 105, "The Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TITANIC3*
Roud #4779
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "The Titanic" (Acme 1000-B, mid-1950s)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Titanic" (on NLCR14, NLCRCD2)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: Despite this song (and other folklore), the band on the _Titanic_ did NOT play "Nearer My God to Thee" as the ship sank. Instead, they played light music to prevent panic.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: MN2105
===
NAME: Titanic (VIII), The ("Fare Thee Well, Titanic, Fare Thee Well") (Titanic #8)
DESCRIPTION: "It was midnight on the sea, The band was playing 'Nearer, My God, to Thee"; Fare thee well, Titanic, fare thee well." The Titanic hits an iceberg; women and children survive; men die. Jack Johnson survives because he is refused passage
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1949
KEYWORDS: death ship wreck disaster religious Black(s)
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 77-78, (no title) (1 text)
Roud #11693
RECORDINGS:
Art Thieme, "Faretheewell Titanic" (on Thieme01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: Despite this song (and other folklore), the band on the _Titanic_ did NOT play "Nearer My God to Thee" as the ship sank. Instead, they played light music to prevent panic.
This particular version, known and sung by Lead Belly, is based on the story of Black boxer Jack Johnson, who was refused passage on the _Titanic_ due to his color.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: CNFM077
===
NAME: Titanic (X), The ("Down With the Old Canoe") (Titanic #10)
DESCRIPTION: The Titanic sets sail, but sinks. The singers then draw morals, including that the hand of Man is no match for God Chorus: "Sailing out to winter pain, the Titanic was her name... Many passengers and her crew went down with that old canoe"
AUTHOR: Dorsey Dixon
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (recording, Dixon Brothers)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: The Titanic sets sail amid gaiety and laughter, but sinks. The singers then draw morals, including that the hand of Man is no match for God, and that one should obey the commands of Jesus. Chorus: "Sailing out to winter pain, the Titanic was her name/When she had sailed 500 miles from shore/Many passengers and her crew went down with that old canoe/They all went down to never ride no more"
KEYWORDS: pride death ship party disaster wreck religious Jesus
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
ST RcTDWtOC (Full)
RECORDINGS:
Dixon Brothers, "Down With the Old Canoe" (Bluebird B-7449, 1938; on Dixons01, Dixons04)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: This can be distinguished from the other Titanic songs by the presence of the phrase, "Down with the old canoe," and by the proportion of narrative (1 verse) to moralizing (3 verses). - PJS
Lyle Lofgren thinks this is a rewrite of the Coger Brothers song "The Titanic Was Her Name." There is some similarity in the chorus, but the rewriting is substantial; I'd be inclined to regard that as just an instance of a floating verse. But there seems no doubt that Dorsey Dixon wrote the song, because it is dated 25 years after the _Titanic_ sank, i.e. around 1937. Which is right about the time the Dixon Brothers recorded the song.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: RcTDWtOC
===
NAME: Titanic (XI), The ("The Titanic Nobly Bore Along") (Titanic #11)
DESCRIPTION: Titanic stops at Queenstown for Irish girls and boys. An iceberg floats by but "Titanic proudly bore along unmindful of her foe." Wireless operators send an SOS but help is too late. The Carpathia saves those in lifeboats and took them to New York.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1947 (Ranson)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Titanic, the pride of Belfast, leaves Southampton with millionaires and poor. She stops at Queenstown for Irish girls and boys. At night an iceberg floats by but "Titanic proudly bore along unmindful of her foe." When struck, Captain Smith has wireless operators send an SOS but help arrivesd too late. "Women and children" first saved seven hundred. The Carpathia saves those in lifeboats and takes them to New York.
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck rescue
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
McBride 67, "The Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ranson, p. 128, "The Titanic" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: McBride: "In the Irish Tradition there are at least eight distinct ballads on the subject.... [This] version is the one most favoured by Irish traditional singers." - BS
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: Ran128
===
NAME: Titanic (XII), The (You Landsmen All, on You I Call) (Titanic #12)
DESCRIPTION: "The Titanic called at Queenstown ... And eight hundred emigrants From Ireland sailed away." After four days "our ship struck an iceberg." The crew tries to save the women and children. Millionaires died but we mourn for our Irish lads that drowned.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1976 (IRClare01)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #18475
RECORDINGS:
Jamesie McCarthy, "The Titanic" (on IRClare01)
NOTES: The Irish grief over the passengers on the _Titanic_ is easily understood. As with most liners of the time, the _Titanic_ carried three classes of passengers: First class, second class, and steerage. And steerage was mostly emigrants, and many of the emigrants Irish.
Steerage passengers, of course, were stuck far down in the ship. Dr. Robert D. Ballard's _The Discovery of the Titanic_ has a side view of the ship's plans on page 168, showing that many of the steerage passengers were four floors below the main deck, near the waterline, whereas the first class passengers were mostly above the main deck, with easy access to the lifeboats.
The steerage passengers, by contrast, were actually barricaded into their below-decks area -- a quarantine measure to prevent the spread of disease (see Wyn Craig Wade, _The Titanic: End of a Dream_, p. 22). But it meant that the third class passengers had to break down, or at least have the knowledge and nerve to talk their way past, the barriers to get off the ship!
It showed in the casualties. According to Lincoln P. Paine's _Ships of the World_, 60% of the first class passengers survived (Ballard, p. 149, reports that every child in first class, save one, survived, and she died only because she wouldn't leave her mother, who wouldn't leave her husband). 42% of second class passengers survived, but only 25% of steerage (comparable to the 24% of the crew who survived). 
Walter Lord's famous book _A Night to Remember_ (1955) gives a passenger list. Pages 207-209 catalogs the third class passengers who embarked at Queenstown (Cobh). There were 114 of them, mostly with typical Irish names. Only 40 (35%) survived.
Other sources differ slightly,  Stephanie Barczewski's _Titanic: A Night Remembered_ (Hambledon Continuum, 2004), p. 9,  says that 123 passengers boared at Queenstown, of whom 113 paid the six pound ten shilling third class fare. Obviously the presence or absence of one passenger doesn't change the casualty rate much.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: RcTita12
===
NAME: Titanic (XV), The ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15)
DESCRIPTION: "On the tenth day of April 1912 her whistles they did sound, Her power of motion was released, her twin screws turned around." The ship gives little attention to the dangers of the sea. The ship sinks 400 miles from cape race
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 2004 (Leach collection web site)
KEYWORDS: sea ship wreck technology
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #774
RECORDINGS:
Mrs. John Powers, "The Titanic" (MacEdward Leach Collection, Songs of Atlantic Canada, Accession # 78-054 NFLD 1 Tape 2 Track 5)
NOTES: Roud, following the Leach web site, includes this with "The Titanic (I)" ("It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down") [Laws D24] (Titanic #1). Clearly, though, it is a separate song; it lacks the chorus of Laws D24, has no lyrics in common that I can see, and includes a lot of details I haven't seen elsewhere, most though not all of them accurate.
Because this is one of the less inaccurate _Titanic_ ballads, I'm going to use it as my basis for historical notes on the wreck.
I hesitated long before deciding to include a note on the _Titanic_ disaster; after all, there are many much fuller accounts elsewhere, which are the basis for this note (for the sources used in what follows, see the annotated bibliography at the end of this essay). I've included this relatively short history to document some of the features mentioned in the _Titanic_ songs.
In what follows, I have included references to the various _Titanic_ songs, in curly brackets for lack of a better notation. For example, the _Titanic_ was, according to "The Loss of the Titanic (Titanic #13)," "The beauty of the White Star Line." The goal in building the _Titanic_ was indeed to make a very ornate ship, so where I say White Star "would make their name on comfort," this is followed by the citation {#13}, meaning that this accords with "The Loss of the Titanic." Where the songs are wrong (as, e.g., in the claim that the band played "Nearer, My God to Thee"), the citation will be {contra #1, #2...}.
The story of the _Titanic_, in a way, begins in 1870, when the _Oceanic_ created the transatlantic passenger liner (Wade, p. 13) and made the White Star Line's reputation for luxury crossings (Brinnin, p. 241). You could argue for an even earlier date -- e.g. Brinnin, p. 4, begins his account with the _James Madison_ of 1818, which was the first packet to keep a regular schedule. But the _Madison_ was a sailing ship, and not very comfortable. Samuel Cunard had replaced the sailing ships with steamers in the following decades, but though Cunard ships were very safe in an era when wrecks were common on other lines (Brinnin, p. 245 notes that they never lost a passenger in the entire nineteenth century!), they weren't particularly enjoyable to be aboard, The idea was simply to get across the Atlantic.
The _Oceanic_ converted the trip "across the pond" from a burden to something to be enjoyed. Brinnin, p. 242, calls her "the eponymous instance of the modern ocean liner." Very long and narrow, she did not confine her passengers to the stern areas as so many earlier ships had done. Staterooms were made larger. There was steam heat. She was far from perfect; many changes had to be made after her first voyage (Brinnin, p. 243). But she had changed the whole nature of transatlantic travel.
It didn't take long for competition to become intense. Three British lines -- White Star, Inman (which was rapidly failing and would soon be taken over by American interests), and the more-established Cunard -- were joined by several German competitors and a few small fry from other countries. By the end of the nineteenth century, it was becoming almost impossible to make passenger traffic pay due to the cuthroat competition (Ramsay, p. 11). The various companies all formed alliances. The Germans had some government support. Cunard eventually turned to the government as well, offering to produce fast liners that the Royal Navy could take over as auxiliary cruisers as needed. Thus were born the _Lusitania_ and her sister the _Mauretania_ (Brinnin, p. 328fff., Ramsay, pp. 15-17; Paine, p. 330).
White Star's answer was different. Rather than turn their independence over to the British government (a deal with the devil that would in fact eventually pose great difficulties for Cunard during World War I), they were in effect taken over by J. P. Morgan (Wade, pp. 14-15), which already owned Inman and some smaller American lines and had a deal with the Germans (Brinnin, p. 325).
For all his deep pockets and his cartel-like control over several shipping firms, even Morgan had to field a competitive steamer line. The _Lusitania_ was a fine, fast ship (capable, in ideal conditions, of sustained speeds of 26 knots), but her design was radical in many ways -- long, narrow (which made the idea of using her as a warship rather silly; she would have been a lousy gun platform), and driven by the newfangled turbines.
White Star, a more conservative company, preferred not to be so daring in designing their answer. They didn't even rely on turbine-driven engine (Wade, pp. 270-271) {contra #15}. (Ironic, given that the Ismays, managers of White Star, had taken a ride on the world's first turbine-powered ship, _Turbinia_, on the day of her unveiling at Victoria's Diamond Jubilee; _Turbinia_ at the time was the world's fastest ship, by a large margin; Brinnin, pp. 307-308.)
Rather than compete on crossing time {contra #2, #15}, White Star's ships would make their name on comfort {#13; cf. #16, which describes her one voyage as a "pleasure trip"}. White Star's new liners -- to become the _Olympic_, _Titanic_, and _Britannic_ -- would be about three or four knots slower than Cunard's. That speed difference allowed a huge savings in engine weight; to get that three knot advantage, _Lusitania_ needed 68,000 horsepower engines (Ramsay, p. 21) despite a gross tonnage of only 32,000 tons; _Titanic_, at 46,300 tons, had according to the advertisement reprinted in Ballard, p. 169, engines developing a mere 50,000 horsepower (a figure also quoted by Paine, p. 520; Ballard, p. 220, lists her as 46,000 horsepower; Barczewski, p. 3, as 55,000. Lord-Night, p. 174, says she was registered as 50,000 hp, but could reach 55,000. It is probable that the exact figure was never known; _Titanic_ never once went up to full speed). Unlike the _Lusitania_ and _Mauretania_, which had four propellers, she had only three screws {contra #15, which lists her as having two}.
The weight saved on the engines would all go into more ship -- and more comforts for the passengers. _Olympic_ and _Titanic_ were, for instance, the first liners to include swimming pools (Barczewski, p. 7); they also had Turkish baths (Brinnin, p. 362). So large were the designs that builders Harland and Wolff of Belfast {#15} had to build new slips to hold the ships -- replacing three of their old slips with just two, one for _Olympic_ and one for _Titanic_ (Wade, p. 16). Over 3000 workers were involved in the construction of each ship (Barczewski, p. 214, who notes that the Belfast shipyard employed mostly Protestants, making _Olympic_ and _Titanic_ toys in the battle over Home Rule and the contest over relations between Ulster and the rest of Ireland. Little wonder that it was called "The Pride of Belfast" {#11}).
The cost of the two ships was on the order of a million and a half pounds each (see that advertisement in Ballard, p. 169). And that's 1908 pounds (I somewhere saw an estimate that it would take a half a billion 1990s dollars to build a replica.). _Titanic_ was 882 feet long, her beam was 92 feet, and 60.5 feet from the waterline to the boat deck  (she was eight decks tall), with the funnels rising another 115 feet (cf. Paine, p. 520, and the deck plans in Wade, pp. 174-183). Lord-Night, p. 174, puts this in down-to-earth terms: "11 stories high and four city blocks long." Ballard, p. 219, reveals that _Olympic_ and _Titanic_ each were roughly two years on the slips before launching, and needed another year after that to complete.
Perhaps never in history has a class of ships been so ill-fated. _Olympic_ was the lucky one; she stayed afloat until she was taken out of service in 1935 (though she had to be heavily rebuilt after the _Titanic_ wreck, so that she became much harder to sink; Wade, p. 328). But in her two dozen years of service she had had *four* collisions with other ships: with the tug _O. L. Hallenbeck_ and with the H.M.S. _Hawke_ in 1911 (Lord-Lives, pp. 29-31), with the _Fort St. George_ in 1924 (Paine, p. 376), and with the _Nantucket Lightship_ in 1934 (Paine, p. 349). When Cunard and White Star merged in 1934, Cunard promptly got rid of _Olympic_ (Paine, p. 376; Wade, p. 329).
The _Britannic_ never sailed as a liner; she was not finished at the start of World War I, and was converted to a hospital ship. In that capacity, she hit a mine in 1916 and sank in less than an hour (Paine, p. 81) -- another example of the inadequate internal subdivisions of the design.
As for the _Titanic_ -- well, we're getting to that.
The _Olympic_ was finished first, starting her maiden voyage to New York on May 31, 1911 (Wade, p. 17). The ship seemed to work well, but the designers learned a few things (mostly cosmetic) which caused the _Titanic_ to be slightly modified, primarily to add more passenger accommodations (Wade, pp. 18-19); in the process, her displacement increased by about a thousand tons. _Titanic_ could still be considered _Olympic's_ sister, but she was heavier -- the largest ship in the world at the time {#15} -- and somewhat more luxurious.
The _Titanic_ would set out on her maiden voyage on April 10, 1912 {#9, #15}. At noon, she left Southampton {#5, #9, #11, #15, contra #6, which says she sailed from Liverpool}, reached Cherbourg that evening, left France just a couple of hours later, arrived at Queenstown {#11, #12} around noon the next day, and set out for New York {#6} around 2:00 p.m. on April 11 (Lord-Night, p. 175).
It was not an auspicious start, really; there had been coal strike (Wade, p. 23; Barczewski, p. 263, notes that the strike ended April 6, but of course coal was only just starting to go back "into the pipeline"; it hadn't reached Southampton yet), causing White Star to requisition coal from other vessels, cancel their voyages, and transfer the passengers to _Titanic_.
Borrowing coal and shifting passengers was not unreasonable. Sailing the largest ship in the world with a raw crew was more of a problem. _Titanic_ would be going on her maiden voyage with a crew that did not know the ship; at this time, crews were mostly hired on a by-the-voyage basis (Barczewski, p. 264; cf. Wade, p. 24) -- and, on a vessel her size, they wouldn't be able to learn their way around in a day or two! Even second officer Lightoller, a veteran seaman with much experience on White Star ships, said it took him two weeks to learn his way around (Barczewski, p. 5). Many of the crew didn't have that much time, and though a lot of them had done at least one voyage on the _Olympic_ (Barczewski, p. 266), most didn't have his background to help them learn their way.
Even if you ignore their unfamiliarity with the ship, it turns out that only 83 of the crew were actual sailors, used to dealing with a ship at sea (Wade, p. 210). The rest were stewards and other specialists -- important for the passengers, but they couldn't really run the ship.
Nor had _Titanic_ completed anything like proper sea trials -- for instance, she had never once worked up to full speed, and done very little emergency maneuvering (Wade, p. 184). In a great irony, it is reported that, it was only as she arrived in the vicinity of the ice that she worked her way up to the fastest speed she had ever attained (Wade, p. 28). Apparently she never tested her turning radius at full speed (Lord-Lives, p. 56), and she only did one "emergency stop"; it took her three and a quarter minutes, and 3000 feet, to halt from a speed of 18 knots (Lord-Lives, p. 33) -- a speed she would exceed on her voyage across the Atlantic.
And there had never been a true boat drill conducted. There had been one partial demonstration, inadequate in every regard (Wade, p. 211). Normally drills were conducted on Sunday, but on _Titanic's_ maiden voyage, Captain Smith cancelled it to hold a religious service (Barczewski, p. 10). The passengers didn't know what to do should they need to get to the boats; worse, few of the crew knew how to lower them! (Lord-Lives, pp. 88). So, when the crisis came, the same few crewmen had to do all the work, meaning that the boats could not all be lowered at once (Lord-Lives, pp. 95-96; cf. {#9}, which says they lowered the lifeboats "one by one." It was actually one by one on each side, but close enough).
The handful of officers doing the lowering had to work so hard that, even on that cold night, they ended up sweating heavily; Officer Lightoller would take off his coat before the last boats were lowered, leaving him in dripping-wet pajamas (Lord-Night, p. 79).
Finally, the captain was not someone you'd be likely to pick to deal with an emergency situation. E. J. Smith had much experience, starting as a boy on a sailing passenger ship and quickly working his way up to mate and then captain (Barczewski, p. 162). Not satisfied with that, he transferred to the passenger liners and working his way up to command those as well. He had commanded over a dozen different liners (Lord-Lives, p. 28) when he was promoted to the pinnacle of the White Star line, the _Olympic_ (Barczewski, p. 163). He was so well-liked that White Star made it a policy for him to command new vessels (Barczewski, p. 165). On paper, he was the perfect captain for _Titanic_ {#15}; his time on _Olympic_ meant that he was one of the handful who had some real idea how her new sister ship worked.
But Smith's resume sounded better than it was. He was a good manager and diplomat -- but he had never had to deal with real problems. In an interview, he once declared, "When anyone asks how I can best describe my experience in nearly forty years at sea, I merely say, uneventful. Of course there have been winter gales, and storms and fogs and the like, but in all my experience I have never been in any accident of any sort worth speaking about" (quoted in Barczewski, p. 185; Lord-Lives, p. 29; Wade, p. 38).
And he didn't have a mind set suited to surprises. In 1906, aboard the _Adriatic_ -- a ship no one ever claimed was unsinkable -- he said, "I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder" (Lord-Lives, p. 18; Tibballs, p 227, gives a _Boston Post_ story with the quote). Maybe he knew better, and was trying to encourage passengers -- but such statements surely encourage complacency.
Even  before the _Titanic_ set sail, it was known that there were icebergs in the North Atlantic -- though {contra #11} she had not seen any herself. A warm year had caused many to break loose from the polar cap; another liner, the _Niagara_, in fact collided with one at about the time _Titanic_ set out (Wade, p. 31).
No one in authority aboard _Titanic_ seemed worried. Though several ships had been damaged by icebergs in recent years, all had survived (Wade, p. 32). And _Titanic_ was much stronger than most of those ships. She was divided into 16 sections, designed to be watertight, with a central control on the bridge that could, in theory, instantly isolate the sections. She was designed to stay afloat if any two of the sections flooded, or if the front four (which were of course narrower) were breached (Ballard, p. 22).
This was not really such good protection as was claimed. Lord-Lives, pp. 20-22, discusses how early liners (notably the _Great Eastern_ of 1858) had been designed to be unsinkable. _Great Eastern_ had a true double hull (_Titanic_ had a double bottom but not a full double hull; Barczewski, p. 4), a true set of partitions (15 bulkheads from front to back, as on _Titanic_, but with subdivisions within each cell, as on a battleship, so she was a true honeycomb), and her divisions reached all the way up to the upper deck. Water in one section simply could not work its way into another. But this had proved very inconvenient -- a steward or passenger in one section had to go all the way to the upper deck to move to another. Gradually, the partitions dividing port and starboard sides went out of ship designs, the bulkheads were lowered so that the upper decks were not partitioned, and doors were built into the bulkheads on the lower levels.
The diagram in Ballard (p. 22) purports to shows the bulkheads on _Titanic_. The six toward the stern reach two or three decks above the waterline -- an adequate distance, though higher would have been better. But those amidships and at the bow -- the ones most likely to suffer damage! -- are much lower; most reach only one deck above the waterline, and #6 and #7 are barely higher than the water (Lord-Lives, p. 22, says they rose only 10 feet above the waterline, though his description doesn't seem to match the diagram in Ballard). If the ship went down by the nose -- as _Titanic_ did -- the water could overtop the barriers, flooding at least eight to ten compartments. And the ship of course could not (and did not) survive *that*.
 Finally, the _Titanic's_ watertight doors were theoretically controlled from the bridge, and also had floats so they could automatically close if they detected water. In fact, some had to be closed manually, so making the ship watertight was *not* an instantaneous process.
Lord-Lives, p. 23, comments acidly that _Titanic_ was treated as unsinkable {#1, #2} not because she was properly built but because she looked too big to sink. "The appearance of safety was mistaken for safety itself."
One personal observation, based on looking at very many photos of the _Titanic_ in the process of writing this article: It really doesn't appear to have been all it was cracked up to be. It was opulent, yes, in a heavy-handed Edwardian sort of way. But it didn't really appear all that well-built. There is a look to good construction, and it doesn't have it. _Titanic_ had neither the hand-crafted strength of pre-nineteenth century construction, nor the technological veneer of the second half of the twentieth century.
(My opinion about the construction of these ships seems to be borne out by the stories of the leading liners of the time. Very many of the new ships had design problems. The _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_ of 1897 had "lubberly propensities," according to Brinnin, p. 317, which caused her to be nicknamed "Rolling Billy." Cunard's flagship of the period, _Lusitania_, had had to be refitted due to excessive vibrations; see "The Lusitania." _Titanic's_ record as the largest ship in the world would not last long; 14 months later, Germany's Hamburg-Amerika line would bring out the _Imperator_; Barczewski, p. 65. She was roughly 6000 tons heavier than _Titanic_, but top-heavy enough that she needed her funnels shortened and some of her fixtures replaced, plus they had to add 2000 tons of extra ballast; she also lost her figurehead due to her extreme rolling on just her third voyage; Brinnin, p. 388. After the war, Cunard took her over as _Berengaria_, but overhauled her again in 1921, and she suffered a series of fires in the late Thirties; Paine, p. 60. Luxurious the monster liners were, but they were perhaps too big for the designers of a pre-computer age.)
Interestingly, _Titanic_ was nowhere near full on her maiden voyage. (Tibballs, p. xi, thinks this is because of the coal strike, which caused many people to postpone plans since they weren't sure the ship would sail, but most sources seem to think the real reason was that people didn't want to risk taking a new ship which han't had a shakedown voyage.)
According to Wade, pp. 25-26, _Titanic_ left Southampton on April 10, 1912 with only 46% of first class berth occupied, 40% of second class, and 70% of steerage space booked. (That's 337 first class passengers, 271 second class, and 712 in third class; cf. the table in Barczewski, p. 51, which gives capacity, number carried, and number lost. Considering that _Titanic_ was taking passengers from several liners, the totals are amazingly low.) She stopped at Queenstown the next day to take on a few more.
One song {#12} refers to 800 emigrants sailing from Ireland. This presumably refers to the total third class passengers; in all, only about 125 passengers boarded at Queenstown (now Cobh, or the Cove of Cork), of which number 113 (Barczewski, p. 9, 281) or 114 (Lord-Night, pp. 207-209) were third class, and hence presumably emigrants. (It will tell you something about the size of _Titanic_ that she could not even dock at Queenstown's pier; she had to anchor offshore and have passengers and cargo ferried aboard; Barczewski, p. 281).
The _Titanic_ did have a near-disaster at the very beginning of her life; as the _Olympic_ had sucked the _Hawke_ into a collision, _Titanic_ produced so much pull that she snapped the ropes of the _New York_. But, in this case, a collision was averted -- just barely (Lord-Lives, p. 26; Barczewski, p. 4; Tibballs, pp, 31-38).
For the first four days of the voyage, everything of course went well; the ship maintained a good speed, sailed smoothly, and everyone apparently had a fine time. Then came the "Night to Remember."
Complete details of what happened on the night of April 14-15 probably cannot be known. Captain Smith went down with his ship, as did his chief officer (second in command) Henry Wilde, who was almost invisible in the saga. So did first officer William M. Murdoch, who was the officer in command on the bridge when the ship hit the iceberg and who also had charge of lowering the boats on one side (like Smith, he an officer brought over from the _Olympic_; Barczewski, p. 189. Sort of makes you wonder who was running the _Olympic_ after they took all her officers). Almost all of the engineering crew, who kept several boilers running to maintain electricity for the lights and pumps (Ballard, p. 25), were lost as well.
Many witnesses pay well-deserved testimony to the bravery of the crew in the emergency which followed (of the four officers senior enough to stand watches, Smith, Wilde, Murdoch, and second officer Charles H. Lightoller, only Lightoller survived, and he did not go off in a boat; he was washed away from the wreck as she went down and was able to make his way to an overturned "collapsible" lifeboat); as {#13} says, the crew stayed with the ship and sent the passengers off. Their problem lay not in courage but in intelligence.
Instead of information from her senior officers about what went wrong, what we have is the testimony of several more junior officers (including second officer Lightoller, who however was in his cabin at the time of the collision, and fourth officer Joseph G. Boxhall, responsible for plotting of icebergs as the warnings came in and for fixing the ship's position when she hit the iceberg). We also have accounts from the junior wireless operator, of some of the lookouts, and of course numerous passengers, none of whom, however, had any part in the ship's decision-making. Plus we have the information derived from Ballard's exploration of the sunken hull (which was not very helpful, however, since the part of the starboard bow which was damaged seems to be almost entirely buried in the mud; Ballard, p. 196).
One thing is certain: the _Titanic_ did not go to its fate unwarned. One crucial safety feature she did have was a wireless, and two wireless operators, allowing one to be on duty at all times. (This wasn't just for safety; many of the first class passengers were sending messages all over the place. Barczewski, p. 11, notes that this was how the Marconi company earned its money; they didn't get paid for talk between ships.) Just on April 14, many ice warnings had come through -- one at 9:00 a.m. from the _Caronia_, one at 11:40 from the _Noordam_, two almost simultaneously around 1:45 from _Amerika_ and from White Star's own _Baltic_, one from the _Californian_ at 7:30, and one at 9:40 from _Mesaba_ -- this one for the very region in which the _Titanic_ was already sailing (Ballard, pp. 13-20; Lord-Lives, pp. 48-49). And, finally, one more from the _Californian_, which was almost next door and had been stopped by ice.
How many of these warnings were actually read by the senior officers is not clear. Ballard claims that some never reached the senior officers. It is worth remembering that wireless operators were not a proper part of the ship's crew. The shipping lines hired them from the Marconi company or one of its competitors. (This was common; many of the "staff" on the _Titanic_ were in fact employees of other companies. The restaurant staff, for example, worked for organizations such as Gatti which had bought concessions on the _Titanic_ -- Lord-Night, p. 68.)
When one of _Titanic's_ radiomen received an ice warning, he could do little except hand it to an officer, who might pay attention or might just slip it in his pocket. To add to the problems, the apparatus had broken down on April 14; senior operator Jack Phillips had repaired it, but was far behind on commercial traffic and had at times brushed off messages from other ships in order to get it out (Wade, pp. 143-144, 254) -- the more so since that final and most important ice warning, from the _Californian_, had not been sent as a priority message (Wade, p. 255). Plus, as Lord-Lives, pp. 51-52, points out, the radiomen were not navigators; they really had no idea which messages were most important. And
So we don't know how much the crew knew about conditions. What is clear is that Captain Smith did not adjust her course significantly in response to the warnings, and the ship did not slow down.
Based on the reports from the _Californian_ on the day of April 14, and from the _Carpathia_ the following day, it appears that there was an almost-solid ice barrier across the _Titanic's_ path. There would have been almost no way through without encountering ice (cf. Lord-Lives, p. 130; Lord-Night, p. 147, and the diagrams in Ballard, pp. 198-200). Under the circumstances, her decision to proceed full speed ahead was very dangerous.
If there is a fault, it's Captain Smith's for treating the ice messages utterly cavalierly. (According to Barczewski, p. 190, junior officers did not even have authority to reduce the ship's speed, though she cites no authority for this statement.) They needed to be studied; it was only when the messages were combined that they showed a wide band of ice all across the ship's path (Lord-Lives, p. 53). The officers did worry about the cooling of the air and sea -- but, apparently, their chief concern was that it might freeze the fresh water supply! (Ballard, p. 19).
Captain Smith, in fact, was asleep at the time of the collision {#3}; he was content to let junior officers take him through the ice zone, though he did tell them to call him in the event of doubtful conditions (Ballard, p. 19). He was, after all, a fairly old man by the standards of the time -- 59, and planning to retire after _Titanic_ made her maiden voyage (Lord-Lives, p. 32; Lord-Night, p. 27, says that he might not even have made this trip, except that he made a habit of captaining ships on their maiden voyages. It says something about how much the company respected him -- and about how fortunate he had been in avoiding accidents.).
Conditions for spotting icebergs were horrible. It was, of course, dark, and there was no moon (Lord-Lives, p. 47) {#16}. And observers agree that the sea was very calm, with hardly any waves at all -- and one of the best ways to spot an iceberg was to see the waves lapping at it. To top it all off, the lookouts in the crow's nest did not have any binoculars (Wade, pp. 169-170). The British inquiry would conclude that binoculars are no help in spotting icebergs (Lord-Lives, pp. 59-60) -- which is sort of true, but only sort of. Yes, as any birdwatcher can tell you, it's almost always easier to spot things with bare eyes. But shifting between eyes and binoculars keeps you alert, and using the binoculars sometimes causes you to see things you wouldn't otherwise see.
(Lord-Lives, p. 129, makes the interesting note that, when the _Carpathia_ was steaming toward the _Titanic_, she dodged half a dozen bergs -- and all of them were spotted from the bridge, not the crow's nest. Apparently, on that dark and calm night, the lookouts aloft were at a severe handicap. It's not clear whether this is due to their angle or, perhaps, just the conditions -- on a ship making 20+ knots, or even 17 as the _Carpathia_ was doing, looking straight ahead into the wind of the ship's passage would have been very painful on that cold night.)
Very little is known about the actual iceberg. No other ship saw it, and _Titanic_ saw it for only minutes. But the statement {#13} that it was a growler (small berg) seems to have been false, since it was big enough for chunks of ice to fall onto _Titanic's_ boat deck, more than sixty feet above the water. According to Ballard, p. 21, most witnesses stated that the berg reached only to about boat deck level. That's still pretty big.
The testimony of Frederick Fleet, who had been on lookout that night, was perhaps not as helpful as it might have been; when called before an investigating committee, he was nervous, his Cockney talk almost unintelligible, and at one point he actually said, "I ain't got no judgment" in response to a question about distances. (He would eventually commit suicide in 1965, though probably not over the _Titanic_; Tibballs, p. 516.) But he did say that he spotted the iceberg around 11:40 on the night of April 14 (Wade, pp. 166-167) {#5; contra #6, which gives the date as April 17, and Lomax's #3, which says April 13; #15 has the right date, but gives the time as an hour before the dawn}.
Fleet called the bridge the moment he spotted the berg off the starboard bow. There was little time to react. According to the helmsman, First Officer Murdoch ordered the engines stopped and the ship turned to port. It was too late; moments later (Lord-Lives, p. 59, says 37 seconds later), the iceberg hit the _Titanic_ on the starboard side (Wade, pp. 171-172; Ballard, pp. 20-21). A post-mortem found that Murdoch's actions, while they seemed the natural thing to do, in fact were very unwise -- better a head-on collision, which would have destroyed the first few compartments but left the rest intact, than a glancing blow which opened many (Wade, pp. 182-183).
But many ships have hit icebergs and survived. Why did _Titanic_ go down?
It is widely stated that the iceberg opened her front five (or even six) compartments. This has not, to my knowledge, ever been proved; all took on water, but it's not clear that anyone saw the leaks in all the compartments. What is certain is that it opened the fourth and fifth compartment, and at least two compartments before that. As the water rose, it went over those low bulkheads, and finally overcame the ship's buoyancy (Lord-Lives, p. 64).
In a way, it was lucky the ship lasted as long as it did. The fifth compartment contained some of the boilers, which were of course running when water started coming in. Stokers had to work like mad in the rising waters to shut down the boilers and keep them from exploding (Lord-Night, pp. 19-21; Barczewski, p. 18).
Ballard's findings do much to confirm the theory that the ship sank because the bulkheads between the allegedly-watertight sections were overtopped. The most notable finding was that _Titanic_ snapped in two on her way down (see diagrams in Ballard, pp. 204-205). The stern, obviously, still had enough buoyancy to float when the bow wanted to sink, and the strain was too much for the ship's structure. The conclusion at the time, based on what testimony was available from belowdecks and the rate the ship filled, was that the iceberg had opened a gash about 250 feet long and less than an inch high on average (Lord-Lives, p. 64).
A modern guess is that the gash itself was not so big as was thought at the time, but that the impact caused the cold steel (which would be brittle) to pop rivets and start to weep water. It wasn't a hole; it was a slow leak -- but a very large slow leak, or rather,a  very large number of them (Ballard, pp. 196-197). It is also possible that the collision damaged the watertight bulkheads, so that compartments which were still watertight with respect to the ocean were not tight relative to the interior of the ship and could take in water from the compartments next to them; there was evidence of this in boiler room four (Lord-Lives, p. 65).
She picked a bad place to get hit, too. {#6} says she was off Newfoundland, {#4} claims the ship was only 90 (so McNeil's version) or 98 miles from shore (Randolph's version), but the 500 mile estimate in {#10, #16} is much closer; _Titanic's_ broadcast distress call stated her position as 41 degrees 46 minutes north, 50 degrees 14 minutes west (Ballard, p. 22). This was apparently a dead reckoning fix, based probably on assuming a higher speed than the ship actually managed (or, perhaps, ignoring the local current), and Ballard, p. 199, moves her some 13.5 miles east southeast. But the error in the estimate hardly matters; in round numbers, she was 400 miles from the closest land at Cape Race {#13; #15 accurately puts her 400 miles from Cape Race but gives the wrong distance to Boston}, 450 miles from St. John's (the nearest significant port), 800 miles from Halifax (the closest port truly suitable for large ships), and 1200 from her destination in New York. She was actually off the continental shelf, even though the shelf (the Grand Banks) extends unusually far out to sea in this area.
It would be some time before it was determined that the ship was in danger. The impact felt slight. Frederick Fleet initially thought the ship had merely had a "narrow shave" (Wade, p. 173). (Hence, perhaps, the report in some versions of {#1} that the ship "began to reel and rock" at 1:00 on Monday, which would have been April 15. The impact was on Sunday, April 14, but evacuation began the next day. The April 15 date is also found in {#2}.) There was no single source which reported the damage {contra #2, which credits "Bill" with reporting the problem}; an officer went on an inspection tour, which revealed some flooding, and the carpenter Jim Hutchinson then reported significant water below (Barczewski, p. 16, though there is some uncertainty here, since Tibballs, p. 496, lists Hutchinson as a joiner, amd Tibballs, p. 51, says that the carpenter, unnamed, who was sent to sound the ship never reported). By this time, the instruments showed a significant list. This appears to have been what convinced Captain Smith that the ship was in trouble.
The disaster might have been worse had not Thomas Andrews (1873-1912), the managing director of the shipyard that built _Titanic_, been aboard (he wanted to inspect her performance; Barczewski, p. 147). At about this time, Captain Smith called on him to inspect the damage and estimate the situation. Andrews -- who seems to have been both a good people person and a highly competent engineer -- quickly realized the ship was doomed (Barczewski, p. 148; Lord-Night, pp. 22-23, 26).
Smith, to his credit, accepted the estimate and started evacuation procedures, himself going to give instructions to the wireless crews (Lord-Night, p. 27). Andrews helped with the evacuation as best he could, then reportedly went to the first class smoking room; he reportedly was not wearing a lifebelt, and apparently had no intention of trying to save himself; his body was never found (Barczewski, p. 149).
But it is clear that there had been absolutely no planning for an evacuation. According to Wade, p. 144, the first wireless distress call went out 35 minutes after the collision -- just a few minutes too late; the wireless operator on the _Californian_ had gone to bed. No one thought to send up rockets until a quartermaster at the stern of the ship noticed lifeboats leaving (he had not been told the ship was in danger) and called the bridge. That aroused someone enough to order him to bring up the rockets (Lord-Night,p. 47). But, obviously, it took him some time to get them and bring them to the bridge of the great ship.
(We might incidentally note that the wireless distress call is said to have been the first "SOS" call at sea {#9, #11}; at first, the operators send "CQD" messages, which were the original distress code. But "SOS" had been sent recently adopted as the emergency call -- it's much easier to transmit in Morse -- and eventually the operators decided to send that; Lord-Night, p. 52. The distress call went out not long after midnight {contra #9, which says it was "about the break of day," probably confusing the beginning of the day with daybreak})
Adding to the controversy is the fact that survival rates for the different groups on board were very different. Because women and children were given priority {#3, #9, #11}, they of course had a higher survival rate than men -- but the first class men did almost as well as the third class women and children. Some initial news reports apparently claimed that no one in third class survived (Tibballs, p. 237).
Much of this was due to the layout of the ship. The passengers in first class were around the level of the boat deck, and were the first to reach the boats. As a result, 94% of first class women and children were saved (there is a table of casualty rates in Wade, p. 67, and a graph in Lord-Lives, p. 82. Ballard, p. 149, says that only one first-class child went down with the ship, and that because she would not leave her mother, who in turn would not leave her husband; cf. Lord-Lives, p. 83. Lord-Night, p. 105, notes that only four first class women died, and three of them decided to stay with their husbands). 31% of first class men were saved. In all, 60% of first class passengers survived. Of second class passengers, 44% lived. In steerage, the figure was only 25% -- 47% of the women and 14% of the men. The survival rate for the crew was comparable -- 24% (212 out of 890 crew members, according to Lord-Lives; note that {#15} says with fair accuracy there were 900 crew).
It should be remembered that the third class passengers were physically blocked off from the upper decks due to quarantine regulations, and in any case were many decks below the boats. (Hence the statement in {#1} that they "left the poor below.") And they had previously been strictly told to stay in their areas. Based on testimony from the survivors, they were not blocked from going to the boat deck (with some exceptions -- and of course there could have been major exceptions which simply weren't reported; see Wade, pp. 276-277, Lord-Lives, pp. 84-88). But the crew -- which of course had to tell them what to do and guide them to the boats -- were mostly concentrated on the upper decks. By the time the third class passengers knew of the disaster and could reach the boat decks, the boats were mostly away (one witness told of a great flood of third class passengers swarming the boat deck at the very end).
(Incidentally, although the rule was "women and children first," or where Second Officer Lightoller was in charge, "women and children only," because of the way passengers made their way to the boats -- or, rather, didn't -- the *number* of men to survive actually was larger than the number of women: 338 adult men, compared to 316 adult women, according to Lord-Lives, p. 82. The reason a higher percentage of women survived was because there were a lot more men than women aboard -- 1667 men, 425 women.)
(The male survivors even included J. Bruce Ismay, the man in charge of running White Star; he had crowded into a boat at the last minute. Widely blamed for causing the disaster -- after all, he had allowed the ship to go to sea without enough lifeboats or a trained crew -- he lived another 25 years, mostly as a recluse; Lord-Lives, pp. 180-181.)
(Reading the histories, I don't think Ismay should be blamed for the disaster as such -- he didn't run the ship; Captain Smith did. Ismay did bear significant blame for the lack of boats, though, which at the very least demonstrates that he hadn't properly researched the ship's capabilities -- and, on a more individual note, when the ship's musicians were subjected to a pay cut and harsher working conditions, he pretty well blew them off; Barczewski, p. 129. So my verdict is: Criminal, not guilty; Jerk, guilty.)
One final observation on casualties: All numbers are slightly imprecise, because the lists of those aboard are slightly imperfect. In round numbers, 1500 were lost {#9}. Lord-Night, p. 176, notes that the American inquiry put the figure at 1517, the British Board of Trade came up with 1503, and the British Enquiry 1490. Lord-Night inclines toward the middle figure. The figure of 1600 in {#1, #4, #5, #7, #16} is certainly too high, though not by much. One suspects the songs citing this figure were composed very soon after the wreck, before the enquiries had sorted things out. The other possibility is that it refers to the number of people actually on the ship when the last boats pulled away, estimated by Lord-Lives (p. 2) to be 1600. But a few of these survived, being hauled out of the water by the boats.
For the most part, the evacuation was orderly. Women and children were put in the boats, and men generally accepted it. Still, it appears that a few shots were fired. (The shots did not {contra #3} wake Captain Smith, who of course was awake to order the evacuation.) The officers had pistols, and fifth officer Lowe at one point fired a few rounds to prevent a rush on the boat (Lord-Night, p. 75; Lord-Lives, p. 99). This ended the rush, and no one was hurt in the incident. First officer Murdoch may also have used his pistol (Lord-Lives, p. 100; cf. Lord-Night, p. 76), but again, he fired in the air. So at most one passenger was killed by an officer to prevent chaos, and even this is relatively ill-documented (Lord-Lives, pp. 101-102).
The real tragedy of the _Titanic_, of course, is that everyone could have been saved had there been enough lifeboats. British Board of Trade regulations said merely that any ship over 15,000 tons had to have at least sixteen lifeboats. _Titanic_ in fact had twenty (counting the four collapsible lifeboats that were not on davits and so were much harder to lower; two in fact were on a roof near one of the funnels and almost inaccessible; Lord-Lives, p. 97) -- but she was 46,000 tons, or three times the size envisioned when the regulation was written. More lifeboats would have added some weight, of course, but there was little need for more hoists; her davits were designed to carry multiple boats. Had she been fitted with a suitable number of lifecraft, and had crew competent to lower them, there was time to get everyone off. But there were boats for only 1178 people (Lord-Lives, p. 72). It was fortunate, in a way, that the ship was only half full; had she carried her full complement of 3547, there would have been boat space for only a third of them.
Making the matter worse, the lifeboats that did go out weren't full. This was not callousness or over-excitement; the lifeboat officers were not certain that fully-loaded boats could survive the drop after being lowered the long distance from the _Titanic's_ decks (Wade, pp. 132-133), or that the crew were competent to lower full boats. Plus, with the ship going down, they were trying to get every boat down before she was swamped -- meaning they didn't wait to bring in as many people as possible.
So most of the boats that were sent off in the first hour or so were lowered half-empty -- and apparently no one ever considered using one or another boat as an elevator to send down more passengers. Toward the end, with most of the passengers at the stern, there was no one around near the bow when the last boats at that end were lowered (Lord-Lives, pp. 94-95). As a result, about 400 seats in the boats that could have been filled instead were left empty.
That was not the end of the mishandling. Though the _Titanic_ did not have enough boats, she did have enough lifebelts to keep everyone afloat -- if they were rescued quickly enough from the chill waters. In fact, a few people who did not make it off the sinking ship were rescued by the boats, though many of the boats rowed away from the wreck as fast as they were able (Wade, pp. 233-235). Indeed, many bodies would eventually be discovered, still afloat in their lifebelts {#4}, carried northward by the current; most seem to have died of the cold (Wade, pp. 273-274).
When the song calls it a "cold and icy sea" {#6}, it was only the truth; the waters were at 28 degrees F, and Second Officer Lightoller, who spent time in the water before reaching an overturned lifeboat (one of a number of men who survived by swimming to Collapsible A or Collapsible B, the lifeboats that the officers were still trying to get down when the ship sank), said that it felt like being stabbed with "a thousand knives" when he went into the sea (Barczewski, p. 29; Lord-Night, p. 114). In several cases, it took only a few minutes to kill; Barczewski, on the same page, relates the testimony of several people who pulled passengers into the lifeboats only to find them already dead, or to watch them die even after they were pulled from the water.
A recovery ship called the _MacKay-Bennett_ brought in over 306 bodies (Barczewski, p. 41), mostly unhurt except for sea and cold, and many more were seen by other ships (Wade, p. 274); 22 more bodies were brought in by other vessels (Barczewski, p. 42). Many went unidentified; Barczewski, p. 45, notes the case of a baby whose identity was not firmly established until DNA testing was used in 2002.
What was needed was another ship to arrive quickly. And there was another ship in the vicinity, the freighter _Californian_. The _Californian_ had been one of the ships sending ice warnings, and in fact she had halted for the night in the face of the ice barrier. According to Ballard's calculations, she was not more than 21 miles from where _Titanic_ went down, and probably closer due to drift (Ballard, pp. 200-201). She had only one wireless operator, who went off duty before the _Titanic_ started sending distress signals, but she certainly saw _Titanic's_ emergency rockets -- and ignored them until too late (Paine, p. 87). She didn't even have the excuse that she had to protect her passengers; while she had some passenger space, she was carrying only cargo (Lord-Lives, p. 134). Her inaction was at the instigation of her captain, whose only response to the rockets was to tell his officers to try to contact the other ship by searchlight.
It's not clear why there was no response -- but the likely explanation is that the officers of the _Titanic_ had other things on their minds than sending lamp signals. _Titanic's_ wireless operators could stay at their posts; they had no other duties, but the ship's officers were busy evacuating. Captain Smith did order the boats to head for the _Californian_ (Barczewski, p. 168), but she was too far away for the disorganized rowers to reach in any reasonable time. (Apparently none of the _Titanic's_ boats were powered.)
Had _Californian_ responded when the rockets went up, her speed of 13.5 knots would have allowed her to reach _Titanic_ at least half an hour before the ship went down, allowing for much more complete rescue efforts. Condemnation of _Californian's_ skipper Stanley Lord has not quite been universal, but it is widespread; there can be little doubt that Lord's behavior caused hundreds of avoidable deaths. (This is covered in detail in almost every book on the _Titanic_; see e.g. Barczewski, p. 35 and after; Lord-Lives, p. 135 and following)
Not every ship and captain was so inert. Captain Arthur Roston of the _Carpathia_ heard the distress call, and at once turned ship {#9, #11}. His was by far the most decisive and effective action of the night. Unfortunately, his ship was roughly 60 miles from the _Titanic_, and the _Carpathia_, though only nine years old, had a normal top speed of just 14 knots (Paine, p. 96). Captain Roston and crew gave it everything they had, and supposedly got her going at 17 knots (Lord-Night, p. 141). It still took her some three and a half hours to reach the site of the _Titanic_, meaning that the larger liner had gone down about an hour before. _Carpathia_ rescued such survivors as she could find, taking in the last boat at 8:30 (or about six hours after _Titanic_ sank); by then of course the only survivors were those who had been in the boats. Indeed, some even of those pulled from the water by the boats had died; the cold and the shock (and, in a few cases, the effort of keeping a half-flooded boat afloat) proved too much.
After picking up every survivor, Captain Roston turned his ship about. She was supposed to be heading east for Britain, but he knew he had to get the survivors to land quickly. The only question was whether to head for New York (the passengers' intended destination) or Halifax (the nearest major port). After some consideration, he headed for New York {#11} (Lord-Night, pp. 160-161).
Lord-Night, pp. 189-209, gives the official passenger list, with those lost and saved, though he notes in Lord-Lives (pp. 36-38) that there were some errors in the list. Tibballs, pp. 483-506, gives a list which includes the crew, though some are miscategorized. Most other sources content themselves with naming a handful of the "celebrity" passengers -- e.g. the very wealthy Isidor and Ida Strauss (just two of several millionaires {#6}), and American President Taft's advisor Archie Butt. (Several others big names booked passage but did not actually sail. J. P. Morgan, who ultimately owned the ship, was too ill to sail. Alfred W. Vanderbilt changed his mind so late that there wasn't even time to get his luggage off the ship; Ballard, p. 14.)
Mentioned in the Cowboy Loye version of {#16} are Isador and Ida Strauss, an "elderly philanthropist" and his wife (Lord-Lives, p. 35) who owned the Macy's department store (Ballard, p. 14). They reached the deck early on, but Isador Strauss,being a man, was denied a place in the lifeboats. His wife could have left, but she declared that she would share his fate, went back aboard the ship, and of course died in the wreck (Wade, p. 61).
But if Ida Strauss gets the award for Most Romantic Gesture, no passenger was given more publicity than John Jacob Astor (1864-1912) {#5; probably the "Jacob Nash" of Lomax's #3}. He was probably the richest man aboard, though he had inherited rather than earned most of the money. He kept 18 automobiles, and had raised a regiment for the Spanish-American War, allowing him to take the title of Colonel (Barczewski, p. 58), even though he had no military training (and probably less aptitude, except for the mercilessness that came from his financial background).
As the boats went off, Astor asked if he could go aboard with his (much younger trophy) wife, who was pregnant. (No, they didn't have the phrase "trophy wife" in 1912, but they had the idea, and Astor was largely cast out of society; Barczewski, p. 58. Barczewski adds that the girl was visibly pregnant even though they had been married only four months. It is perhaps revealing that Madeleine Force Astor would remarry in 1918 even though it meant giving up about seven million dollars in money from a prenuptual agreement.) Second officer Lightoller, who (as noted above) survived but only by swimming to a boat, flatly refused Astor's request to join her in the boat (Barczewski, p. 25).
Astor allowed her to go in the boat without him, but said that he would meet her in the morning (Barczewski, p. 60); either he expected the ship to survive (unlikely by then) or he expected to find another boat. Quite a few legends arose about Astor immediately after the wreck, generally very positive {#5 says "all the women he tried to save"}, but none from an actual beneficiary of his kindness; all were reports of people who claimed they saw something he did (Barczewski, p. 63); we cannot in any instance prove that Astor was actually the man involve.
Astor's body was one of those found by the _MacKay-Bennett_; it was in very bad shape, but he could be identified by the monograms on his clothing (Barczewski, p. 40). Lord-Lives, p. 172, observes that the Astor family did not even file any claims for damages over his death -- something that obviously would not have happened in today's litigious society.
There were, to be sure, lawsuits filed -- a lot of them, totalling about $16 million. This led to interesting problems in dealing with British and American law (after all, it was a British ship owned by an American conglomerate.) In the end, White Star paid out $664,000 (Lord-Lives, pp. 172-177).
The fate of Captain Smith, mentioned in folklore, is in fact uncertain, except that he certainly did not survive. Wade, p. 58, and Barczewski, pp. 169-171 list several reports, from suicide to rescuing other passengers at the expense of his life. (Barczewski suggests that most of the more heroic stories stemmed from some deep British urge to make him look good, and reports on p. 172 that those responsible for building his memorial were mostly passengers who had enjoyed sailing with him on other vessels.) The likeliest scenario, of course, is that Smith went into the water with so many other passengers, and -- like them -- died of exposure. It was probably an easier death than that suffered by the engineers and stokers in the lower parts of the ship, who stayed down there to keep the electricity going; they would have asphyxiated or drowned or both.
Smith somehow became a hero -- legend had it that one of his last orders was, "Be British!" In other words "Keep a stiff upper lip (even though you're about to die an agonizing death)"; it became a legendary command and inspired various poems and non-folk songs.
There is some irony in noting that the memorial to Smith cites his "great heart," "brave life," and "heroic death" (the last of which, as noted, cannot be proved) -- but does not include the name of the _Titanic_ (Barczewski, p. 180).
First officer Murdoch, the officer on watch when the ship hit the berg, also had various ends ascribed to him, including suicide (Barczewski, p. 193). Apparently Hollywood threw in some even worse charges (Barczewski, p. 199). But the best evidence is that he simply ended up  in the water like everyone else, and the citizens of his home town eventually won an apology, including some cash, from the studio (Barczewski, p. 198, 202).
Surviving officers such as Lightoller, however, found their careers blighted. Wade seems to think that Lightoller was evasive before the investigating committees, but Lord considers him a decisive and capable officer, noting that he served in the Royal Navy in World War I and, as an old man, took his private boat to assist in the evacuation of Dunkirk. But he was never given a ship to command (Lord-Lives, pp. 192-193). The junior officers did no better, even though they surely could not be blamed for the outcome.
The survivor who earned the most publicity (other than Ismay) was probably "Unsinkable" Molly Brown: Margaret Tobin Brown, 1867-1932. Born poor, her husband, a mining supervisor, discovered gold in the Little Johnny Mine (Barczewski, p. 85). Molly, suddenly rich, then became active in a variety of social causes -- and became a world traveller after she and her husband drifted apart. She was in Europe when her grandson became ill, so she hurried back to the United States on the _Titanic_ (Barczewski, p. 86). When the ship hit the iceberg, she gathered some of her things (fortunately not all; no spartan, she abandoned 25 gowns, 14 hats, and 13 pairs of shoes purchased in Paris; Barczewski, p. 87).
Hustled into a lifeboat, she distributed some of the seven pairs of socks she was wearing to those who had come aboard less well-supplied (Barczewski, p. 89), and also tried to convince the quartermaster in charge of the boat to rescue those left behind. If the account in Barczewski, pp. 88-89, is even vaguely correct, his was one of the most despicable stories on that night; he refused to go back, and refused even to hand over the tiller, instead leaving it to the middle-aged Brown and one other woman to row.
Aboard the _Carpathia_, Brown tried to send out messages on behalf of poorer passengers who could not pay for wireless messages (Barczewski, p. 90). She also tried to comfort some of the grieving survivors (her skill in several languages helped), and set up a subscription to make up for their losses. It all added up to a legend -- which was confirmed in 1925, when she survived a hotel fire and helped others escape the building (Barczewski, p. 92). But Barczewski notes that the popular accounts which made her legendary were largely fictionalized.
Brown was active in relief causes in World War I, but after that fell into quarrels with her children and grandchildren, and her money dried up after her husband died in 1922 (Barczewski, p. 91)
There was one small consolation out of the _Titanic_ wreck: The British and Americans toughened regulations for liners. They had to have enough lifeboats, the crew had to know how to deal with them, they had to have full-time wireless officers, etc (Wade, pp. 302-303). These would not prevent future disasters, as the _Lusitania_ would demonstrate just over three years later, but they made them less inherently deadly -- the loss of life on the _Lusitania_ was mostly because she sank in twenty minutes. Had she stayed afloat for more than two hours, as the _Titanic_ did, nearly everyone aboard would have survived.
Wade, p. 318, notes the additional irony that this disaster did not strike one much-oppressed community: There were apparently no Blacks aboard the ship as she sank. Of course, this eliminates the whole plot of "Shine and the Titanic" {contra #14}.
That's just as well for Shine, given the report in the song that Captain Smith's daughter offered him her body if he would rescue her. Smith had only one child, a daughter, Helen Melville Smith -- and she was still just a girl, born in 1902 (Barczewski, p. 163); imagine what would have happened had he so much as touched a child that age! In any case, her name isn't in the passenger list in Lord-Night, and she was alive to dedicate a memorial to Smith in 1914 (Barczewski, p. 179).
Racism also tinged the stories about the people who tried to rush the boats; they were usually labelled Asian or Italian or otherwise less than Anglo-Saxon. There is absolutely no evidence for this, and much reason to think it false (Barczewski, pp. 55-56).
The story of boxer Jack Johnson is more complicated; it appears that Leadbelly's song on the topic ({#8}: "Jack Johnson want to get on board, Captain said, "I ain't haulin' no coal") conflates two incidents. Lyle Lofgren tells me that Johnson was in Chicago at the time _Titanic_ sank, but according to Barczewski, p. 64, Johnson was refused passage on a liner due to his skin color on another occasion.
According to Lord-Lives, p. 8, no books on the _Titanic_ were published between 1913 to 1955. In the publishing business, _A Night to Remember_ started a _Titanic_ boom. But the songs on the subject hardly stopped -- indeed, some time around 1970, they taught us a comic parody of {#1} ("Oh, they built another ship Called the S.S. 92... And they christened it with beer, and it sank right off the pier, Wasn't it sad when that great ship went down") in elementary school.
Ironically for the parody, the _Titanic_ was never formally christened (Lord-Lives, p. 11).
In the late twentieth century, of course, the movie "Titanic" was released. I have not seen it, but the reports I've read (e.g. in Barczewski) say that it contains many historical inaccuracies. Perhaps it will be starting a new round of _Titanic_ folklore.
Which brings us to one of the most vexed of all questions about the _Titanic_: What the band played on that last night.
There are a lot of misconceptions about the performance that night. For starters, the musicians were not a band as properly so understood -- they did not have a brass section. Their instruments were strings and piano.
In fact, the eight performers weren't even a group in the usual sense. They rarely if ever played together as an eight-piece ensemble (Lord-Lives, pp. 96-97). The musicians consisted of a string quartet with piano (the primary group, led by newly-engaged violinist Wallace Hartley, which played the main evening concerts and Sunday religious services), and a violin/'cello/piano trio which played mostly at receptions and in the cafes (Barczewski, pp. 130-131). They can't have been very loud (especially away from a piano), and in an emergency situation, with the ship listing and sheet music not usable, they would have to rely on things everyone knew -- and even for that, they might not have parts properly assigned.
I can't help but note the irony that two of them had been lured away from the _Carpathia_ to serve on the _Titanic_ (Lord-Night, p. 44).
We don't even know how long they played (Lord-Lives, pp. 107-108). Going down with the ship was not really part of their job. Although musicians on German ships actually doubled as ship's stewards (Brinnin, p. 312; this had the ironic effect that German ships, unlike English, *did* play "Nearer My God to Thee" on Sundays), English ships employed specialist musicians who were not formally employees of White Star. (In fact, White Star's passenger list shows them as second class passengers.) Shortly before the _Titanic_ voyage, White Star had started contracting with an agent to supply musicians. The hiring agents booked most of the same musicians the liner companies had always employed -- but inflicted a large pay cut on them and used the difference to make their profits (Lord-Lives, pp. 114-116). White Star refused even to pay death benefits to the musicians (Lord-Lives, p. 117). However long they played, it was above and beyond the call of duty. In the end, all eight of them went down with the ship (Ballard, p. 24 -- a page which also shows a poster for the band).
Whether the musicians made attempts to save themselves cannot be known; some passengers stated that they quit playing about half an hour before the ship sank (Barczewski, p. 132) -- perhaps when the last boats left? But it is touching to quote the remark of Steward Edward Brown, who, when asked when they ceased playing, said "I do not remember hearing them stop" (Lord-Lives, p. 108). Hence, perhaps, the statement that the music "played as they went down" {#9}.
In a minor folkloric touch, Hartley's body was recovered; the face was almost beyond recognition, but he still was wearing his uniform, and his violin case was on his back, allowing identification (Barczewski , p. 139); he was buried in his home town of Colne (which he had left 17 years before) in a rosewood casket (Lord-Lives, p. 118).
Interestingly, though most reports say the musicians played either hymns or ragtime on that last night, neither was the Hartley quintet's specialty; their primary clientele was the first class passengers (worth, according to Barczewski, over $500 million in 1912 dollars!), who apparently preferred classical music -- on the night the boat went down, the evening concert included Wagner, Dvorak, and Puccini, according to Lord-Lives, pp. 43-44. Apparently some of the listeners felt the band not quite up to the task (Lord-Lives, p. 43) -- but imagine five musicians trying to play Wagner!
When the ship hit the iceberg, Captain Smith apparently roused them to play during the evacuation (Barczewski, p. 132). At first, they seem to have played in the first class lounge; later, they moved toward the boats (though the piano players would have been unable to play on the boat deck itself, and without the piano the group would have been quiet indeed. Perhaps -- personal speculation only -- one of the piano players took over conducting, to try to keep the group together without the piano playing rhythm?).
As for what they played, most reports agree that the band played ragtime tunes (or at least "Alexander's Ragtime Band," which had been a big hit the year before but which critics have indignantly charged isn't ragtime), mixed with other light pieces (Lord-Lives, p. 109).
According to Wade, pp. 61-62, it was a Mrs. Vera Dick who started one of the most enduring false stories. She was the one who reported that the band played "Nearer, My God, to Thee" as the ship went down {#1, #2, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #16}. Obviously, if she had been near enough to hear the band, she would have been sucked down with it; Lord-Lives, p. 109, says she was at least a quarter of a mile away. Of course, one newspaper account claimed that the sound of the hymn continued *after* the ship sank! (Barczewski, p. 137).
Lord also observes that "Nearer, My God, To Thee" has different tunes in Britain and America -- yet passengers from both sides of the ocean claim to have heard it played. Odds are that someone, probably Mrs. Dick, started the story ,and it sounded so appropriate that people thought they remembered it. Or maybe it was a transferred memory from the memorial services; "Nearer, My God, To Thee" *was* played at some of the funerals (Barczewski, p. 44), including Hartley's (Barczewski, p. 139).
The single most reliable account is that from junior wireless operator Harold Bride: "The water was then coming into our cabin. From aft came the tunes of the band. It was a ragtime tune. I don't know what. Then there was 'Autumn.' Phillips [the senior wireless operator] ran aft, and that was the last I ever saw of him alive" (Tibballs, p. 97; cf. Wade, p. 63).
This statement has frequently been taken to refer to the lively hymn "Autumn." "Autumn" was considered extremely appropriate, since it contains the line "Hold me up in mighty waters." But Lord-Lives, p. 110, offers very strong evidence against this suggestion; it is unlikely the band knew it or that passengers would recognize it. Lord-Lives, p. 112, suggests that Bride's reference was in fact to Archibald Joyce's "Songe d'Autumne," popular in 1912. We cannot possibly know; the evidence is too thin. But at least this piece is a reasonable suggestion, unlike "Nearer, My God, to Thee."
(I will add a minor speculation of my own here. Tibballs, p. 320, prints a report that a single violinist played "Nearer..." "[a]fter all his fellow musicians had been washed away." Speaking only for myself, if I were in a situation where I knew death was coming soon, I'd haul out one or another instrument and start playing -- it would be the best distraction and farewell I can think of. Could it be that one of the passengers played "Nearer..."?)
That report Tibballs cites (from the _Western Daily Mercury_) was an extensive one, printed two weeks after the accident, and it seems to have contained nearly every inaccuracy contained in the _Titanic_ songs: That Murdoch shot himself (pp. 320, 326, p. 333 in the Tibballs reprint); "explosions" (pp. 320, 325, 326, 328, 335; an exploding boiler is mentioned in Bessie Jones's version of {#3}, but in fact the _Titanic_ crew shut down the boilers early to prevent an explosion, and Ballard saw no evidence of any such thing; if there were explosions, they were simply of compressed air and probablly occured far below the surface); an attempt to cross the ocean in "record time" (p. 324; cf. {#7}), when the _Titanic_ had no chance whatsoever to cross faster than the _Mauretania's_ record; sundry claims to have been on "the last boat" (p. 324); a claim that her "plates were ripped open from a dozen feet in from the bow to the second funnel" (p. 327) or "from the forecastle to the bridge (p. 335), which of course would have sunk her much faster; two "Italians" trying to rush the boats, one "Dago" (yes, that was the word used, which will tell you the quality of this particular report) had to be shot (pp. 329, 338); and of course several stories of the "last musician" (pp. 320, 326).
Even if no one played "Nearer, My God, to Thee," there was at least one hymn directly associated with the sinking, though: Philip Paul Bliss's "Pull for the Shore." This was sung aboard one of the lifeboats as they rowed away from the scene of the wreck (Wade, p. 236). There was bitter logic in the words:
Pull for the shore, sailor, pull for the shore!
Heed not the rolling waves, but bend to the oar;
Safe in the life boat, sailor, cling to self no more!
Leave the poor old stranded wreck, and pull for the shore.
Harland & Wolff, which built the _Titanic_, continued to prosper into the Twenties, but the partition of Ireland and the decline of the shipping fleet cost it much business. From a peak in the tens of thousands of employees, it now has only a few hundred (one of the biggest factors in the decline of the Belfast economy), and is now Norwegian-owned; the land on which _Titanic_ was built was sold off in 2003 (Barczewski, p. 245).
Southampton, the _Titanic's_ home port, suffered more immediate losses; the larger part of the ship's crew came from there, meaning that hundreds of families lost a loved one. The _Daily Graphic_ printed a report headed "Stricken Southampton" (Tibballs, pp. 239-240). Barczewski, p. 248, notes that there was one school in the town where no fewer than 125 students had lost a close relative. On p. 264, she notes that the population in 1912 was around 120,000, meaning that more than one Southampton resident in 200 was aboard the _Titanic_ (p. 266 says that 699 of 898 crewmembers lived in the Southampton are), and more than one in 250 died aboard the ship.
There were a number of goofy ideas proposed over the years to, well, raise the _Titanic_ {#7}. Most are pre-Ballard -- the first was proposed in 1914 (Lord-Lives, p. 194) --  so they didn't realize the ship was in two pieces, and most were unworkable even with an intact ship; it seems unlikely that anything will ever come of this (though Arthur C. Clarke produced some ideas that might actually work). It is sad to report that scavengers *have* recovered some scrap metal -- and, reportedly, are turning it into wrist watches. Sadly, the Gods have not seen to strike these grave-robbers with the sort of punishment they deserve.
>>BIBLIOGRAPHY<<
Ballard: Dr. Robert D. Ballard, _The Discovery of the Titanic_ (Warner, 1987). The standard work on the story of the _Titanic_ herself after the last survivors left her, with many photos both of the ship as she sailed and of her as was found on the bottom. But most of the material is modern and does not come into the _Titanic_ songs.
Barczewski: Stephanie Barczewski, _Titanic: A Night Remembered_ (Hambledon Continuum, 2004). One of the few books I've seen that is properly footnoted, though the author seems to have a fascination with people stories (it's perhaps revelatory that she dedicates the book to her dogs). And large sections seem to be taken almost verbatim from Lord-Lives. On the other hand, it's very useful as a counterweight to the "Titanic" movie.
Brinnin: John Malcolm Brinnin, _The Sway of the Grand Saloon: A Social History of the North Atlantic_ (1986; I use the 2000 Barnes & Noble edition). A history of transatlantic liners, regrettably lacking footnotes, but useful for background.
Lord-Night: Walter Lord, _A Night to Remember_ (1955; I use the 1997 Bantam edition). The classic book, pre-Ballard; it is unfortunately not footnoted though widely regarded as reliable.
Lord-Lives: Walter Lord, _The Night Lives On_ (1987; I use the Avon paperback edition). Like Lord-Night, it is not footnoted. Whereas _A Night to Remember_ is about the sinking itself, _The Night Lives On_ gives much more detail about events before and after -- and, in some cases, corrects Lord's earlier book, based in part on research he himself helped inspire.
Paine: Lincoln P. Paine, _Ships of the World_ (Houghton Mifflin, 1997). A general reference, used mostly to find data on the other ships (_Olympic_, _Carpathia_, etc.) involved in the _Titanic_ story.
Ramsay: David Ramsay, _The Lusitania: Saga and Myth_ (Norton, 2001). Used primarily for the information it gives on competition in the transatlantic trade in the early twentieth century.
Tibballs: Geoff Tibballs, editor, _The Mammoth Book of the Titanic_ (Carroll & Graf, 2002). A selection of statements by survivors and witnesses, plus press accounts. Unfortunately, it has no index, and a minimal table of contents, so it contains a lot of useful information I couldn't cite because I couldn't find it when I was writing the relevant portions of this essay.
Wade: Wyn Craig Wade, _The Titanic: End of a Dream_ (revised edition, Penguin, 1986). This calls itself a _Titanic_ book. It's more a book about William Alden Smith and an American post-mortem on the ship's sinking. Wade seems to think Smith was a great man. He really sounds more like a demagogue populist to me, though the legislation he introduced certainly made liners safer. Wade also views the sinking of the _Titanic_ as ending some sort of Great Romantic Era. Most would consider World War I more important in that regard.
I should probably also mention Arthur C. Clarke's fictional _The Ghost from the Grand Banks_ (1990), the last solo novel from the last of the great titans of Science Fiction, and the one who always gave the most attention to the science. It's not one of Clarke's great works, and the background comes almost entirely from Ballard and Lord (which made it rather pointless to cite it), but it is gives some genuine life to some of Ballard's more clinical descriptions of the dead hulk -- and also gives some actually useful ideas about how to raise the ship. - RBW
File: RcTita15
===
NAME: Titles of Songs (Song of Songs, Song of All Songs, Song of Song Titles)
DESCRIPTION: Lyrics composed of titles or pieces of other songs, e.g. "Mickey O'Flannigan he had a Bull Pup, Down Where the Pansies Grow, Don't You Leave Your Mother, Tom, For Mary Kelly's Beau."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1863 (Foster's sheet music)
KEYWORDS: lyric nonballad parody
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Randolph 515, "Titles of Songs" (4 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 380-381, "Titles of Songs" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 515A)
BrownIII 234, "Working on the Railroad" (1 text plus two unrelated fragments, the "B" and "C" fragments probably belong with "Roll on the Ground (Big Ball's in Town)"; the "A" text is a jumble starting with "Working on the Railroad" but followed up by what is probably a "Song of All Songs" fragment)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 45-46, "The Song of All Songs" (1 text)
Saunders/Root-Foster 2, pp. 339-342+450, "The Song of All Songs" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7598, 7599
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Songs of Old Ireland" (theme)
NOTES: There are actually several pieces which go under this title (Randolph's A, B, and C form one group, his D another; Stephen Foster with Tony Pastor produced the piece printed by Spaeth in 1863, though Saunders and Root note that the lyrics are not by Pastor or Foster, and suggest John F. Poole as the writer).
All these songs have a common mechanism, however, and since it is often hard to tell one from another, I am lumping them here.
This has, of course, no relation to the Song of Songs (Song of Solomon, Canticles) in the Bible. For one thing, the Biblical book is erotic (arguably obscene), while this is clean. - RBW
File: R515
===
NAME: Tittery Nan [Laws H16]
DESCRIPTION: Joe Dimsey steals old Josiah's mare; the old man repays the younger back by recovering his horse and pummeling him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Linscott)
KEYWORDS: robbery fight thief injury
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws H16, "Tittery Nan"
Linscott, pp. 292-293, "Tittery Nan" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 712, TITERNAN
Roud #2194
NOTES: Laws says, correctly, that "this little piece with its gay refrain is hardly more than a nonsense song," though Linscott is of the opinion that it's based on fact. What fact she does not know. - RBW
File: LH16
===
NAME: Titus Andronicus's Complaint: see references under Fortune My Foe (Aim Not Too High) (File: ChWI076)
===
NAME: To Anacreon in Heaven
DESCRIPTION: "To Anacreon in heav'n where he sat in full glee, A few sons of harmony sent in a petition." They ask the poet to be their patron, describe how they intend to drink and enjoy themselves, and wander off into sundry classical allusions
AUTHOR: Words: Ralph Tomlinson / Music: John Stafford Smith (?)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1778 (The Vocal Magazine)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad gods
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 8-11, "To Anacreon in Heaven" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 528-533, "The Star Spangled Banner"
DT, ANCREON, ANACRON2
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Star-Spangled Banner" (tune) and references there
NOTES: Anacreon (c. 563-476 B.C.E.) was a Greek poet for whom the anacreonitic metre (^^-^-^--) was named. Only fragments of his poetry survive; what scraps remain are in praise of wine, love, and pleasure.
John Stafford Smith is most frequently listed as the author of this tune, and his name appears on the first dated sheet music (1799; the earliest printing, probably c. 1782, has no author listed). However, Samuel Arnold, who conducted the Anacreonitic Society's orchestra, has also been named.
This song was written for the Anacreonitic Society, devoted (like Anacreon's writings) to wine and pleasure. The society broke up in 1786.
For commentary on the various obscure allusions in this piece, the reader is referred to Spaeth's _Read 'Em and Weep_. Those who wish to see a list of all the (generally dreadful) lyrics set to the tune around the beginning of the nineteenth century, see Spaeth's _History of Popular Music in America_, p. 40. - RBW
Anyone who complains that our national anthem is bad poetry (and some do) should look at the lyrics to this song, its ancestor. They are immeasurably worse. The Library of Congress conducted a study of the song's origins in the early part of this century; among other issues, they considered (and rejected) a suggestion that the tune was composed by the Irish harper Turlough O'Carolan. - PJS
File: SRW008
===
NAME: To Be a Good Companion: see I'll Drink One (To Be a Good Companion, The Sussex Toast) (File: K285)
===
NAME: To Cheer the Heart: see Farewell He (File: FSC41)
===
NAME: To Hear the Nightingales Sing: see One Morning in May (To Hear the Nightingale Sing) [Laws P14] (File: LP14)
===
NAME: To Huntsville: see The Boston Burglar [LawsL16] (File: LL16)
===
NAME: To London I Did Go: see Little Brown Dog (File: VWL101)
===
NAME: To Morrow: see I Want to Go to Morrow (File: DTmorrow)
===
NAME: To Pad the Road wi' Me?: see Paddle the Road with Me (File: Wa032)
===
NAME: To Reap and Mow the Hay
DESCRIPTION: The singer is in Scotland, driven from Ireland by the landlord and bad times. He is invited to stay a week "putting in the hay" with a 1914 veteran. He marries the farmer's niece. They'll go to Ireland now but return yearly to Scotland to make the hay.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (recording, Paddy and Jimmy Halpin)
KEYWORDS: marriage war travel return farming hardtimes Ireland Scotland family
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #12937
RECORDINGS:
Paddy and Jimmy Halpin, "To Reap and Mow the Hay" (on Voice20)
File: RcTRAMTH
===
NAME: To Roll Her In My Plaidie
DESCRIPTION: "There lives a lass by yonder burn... And aft she gies her sheep a turn That feed amang the bracken." "Could I believe she'd woo wi' me... I'd afttimes slip out owre yon lea And roll her in my plaidie." The poor lovestruck lad tells how he would woo her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: love courting
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 420, "To Roll Her In My Plaidie" (1 text)
Roud #3948
File: Ord420
===
NAME: To the Beggin' I Will Go: see A-Begging I Will Go (File: K217)
===
NAME: To the Memory of the Late Captain Kennedy
DESCRIPTION: "Slowly today we wend our way To a grave in Belvedere Behind the corpse of a hero bold." The singer tells of Kennedy's voyages, and describes his heroism when the Viking caught fire.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (King, The Viking's Last Cruise)
KEYWORDS: ship fire rescue
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 105, "To the Memory of the Late Captain Kennedy" (1 text)
File: RySm105
===
NAME: To the Pines, to the Pines: see In the Pines (File: LoF290)
===
NAME: To the Spanish Main -- Slav Ho: see Saltpetre Shanty (Slav Ho) (File: Colc097)
===
NAME: To the Weaver's Gin Ye Go
DESCRIPTION: "My heart was ance as blythe and free As simmer days were lang," but a weaver "has gart me change my sang." Sent to the weaver, he "conveyed me through the glen." As for what happened after, "I fear the kintra soon Will ken as weel's mysel'."
AUTHOR: Words: Robert Burns
EARLIEST_DATE: 1788 (according to Kinsley, _Burns_)
KEYWORDS: weaving seduction sex pregnancy warning
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
MacColl-Shuttle, p. 23, "To the Weavers Gin Ye Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GINYOUGO*
File: MacCS23
===
NAME: To the West A While to Stay
DESCRIPTION: "As I sit here sad and lonely, Thinkin' of my dear old home, Of my home an' dear old mother, How much further must I roam?" The singer recalls the sad parting when he told mother he was leaving. Now he learns that mother died while he was far away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: death separation mother
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 191, "To the West Awhile to Stay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 189-190, "To the West Awhile to Stay" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 191)
Roud #4050
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ten Thousand Miles Away (On the Banks of Lonely River)" (plot)
NOTES: This song is item dB37 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: R191
===
NAME: To Wear a Green Willow: see The Nobleman's Wedding (The Faultless Bride; The Love Token) [Laws P31] (File: LP31)
===
NAME: To Your Tents O Erins
DESCRIPTION: "In Union, blessed Union, will Freedom be found." Union's first year is ending. Union "fills the traitors with fear." "'Men to your Tents', now through Erin be sung ... Till Erin, loved Erin, from tyranny's freed."
AUTHOR: Theobald Wolfe Tone (1763-1798) (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1804 (_Paddy's Resource_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: freedom Ireland nonballad patriotic political
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Oct 1791 - Society of United Irishmen founded in Belfast 
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 36, "To Your Tents O Erins" (1 text)
NOTES: Union, here, cannot be the Union of Ireland with Britain (which occurs in 1801, after Tone's death); it must be the formation of the United Irishmen, co-founded by Tone in 1791. The text begins by enthusiastically supporting "Union." It ends by repeating references to I Kings 12:16 in which deceased Solomon's kingdom is permanently split into the kingdoms of Israel and Judah; this, following Rehoboam's rejection of Israel's call for relief ("So when all Israel saw that the king hearkened not unto them, the people answered the king [Rehoboam], saying, What portion have we in David? neither have we inheritance in the son of Jesse [Rehoboam again]: to your tents, O Israel: now see to thine own house, David [Rehoboam once again, and/or Judah [actually the Davidic dynasty, as represented by Rehoboam, David's grandson and Jesse's great-grandson - RBW]]. So Israel departed unto their tents.") - BS
Like so much in Irish history, I personally would regard the "to your tents" phrase as words of ill omen, not good. Effectively the same phrase occurs in 2 Samuel 20:1 (slightly obscured in the King James rendering, it seems to me) as part of the rebellion of Sheba son of Bichri, which was quickly crushed. The rebellion of Israel against the Davidic dynasty was not crushed, but neither was Israel very successful; it took half a century before a dynasty was established which lasted for more than a year beyond the death of its founder, and the nation as a whole lasted only about 200 years.
The phrase "every man to his tent" occurs on a number of other occasions as well -- after battles in which the Israelites are defeated: The routed warriors flee to their own tents after the battle is lost. - RBW
File: Moyl036
===
NAME: Toad's Courtship, The: see Frog Went A-Courting (File: R108)
===
NAME: Tobacco: see Tobacco's But an Indian Weed (File: Log262)
===
NAME: Tobacco Song, The
DESCRIPTION: "Ye fellows smokes tobacco, come pity my case, I'm here on this island without a damn taste." Desperate people without a draw or chaw are smoking tea and worse, or chewing wax. When the wind changes and the ice goes they'll get tobacco at St Peter's.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: ordeal nonballad drugs
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 109, "The Tobacco Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Anita Best, "Tobacco" (on NFABest01)
File: LeBe109
===
NAME: Tobacco Union (Talking with the Social Union)
DESCRIPTION: "Come young and old and hear me tell / How strong tobacco smokers smell, / Who love to smoke the pipe so well. / For tobacco they will smell, To burn and smoke in union." A condemnation of tobacco, of those who spend money to buy it, and of its effects
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: drugs accusation
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Randolph 508, "Tobacco Union" (1 text, 1 tune) (compare also the "B" fragment of 408, "The Little Brown Jug"))
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 378-380, "Tobacco Union" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 508)
Warner 91, "Talking with the Social Union" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TOBBACUN*
Roud #5721
NOTES: Apparently an adaption of the hymn "Heavenly Union." - RBW
File: R508
===
NAME: Tobacco's But an Indian Weed
DESCRIPTION: Tobacco is offered as a parable for life: "Grows green at morn, cut down at eve." "The pipe... Is broke with a touch -- man's life is such." "The smoke... shows us man's life must have an end." The moral: "Think on this when you smoke tobacco."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1699  (Pills to Purge Melancholy); also in Trinity College (Dublin) MS. G.2.21 
KEYWORDS: nonballad drugs
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Beck 93, "A Peculiar Sermon for Shanty Boys" (1 text)
Logan, pp. 262-263, "Tobacco" (1 text)
Chappell/Wooldridge II, pp. 78-79, "Tobacco's But an Indian Weed" (1 text, 1 tune)
BBI, ZN2658, "Tobacco is but an Indian weed"
ADDITIONAL: Norman Ault, _Elizabethan Lyrics From the Original Texts_, pp. 56-57, "A Religious Use of Taking Tobacco" (1 text)
DT, INDNWEED*
ST Log262 (Full)
Roud #1457
NOTES: This also appears as a portion of a poem, "Smoking Spiritualized." The remaining portion is said to be "very inferior."  "Smoking Spiritualized" was published under the name of Rev. Ralph (or "Ebenezer") Erskine in a book of _Gospel Sonnets_. Although some have thought that the Erskine version is older than that in _Pills_, the fact that Erskine was born in 1685 argues that the song is older than his work.
Ault offers an even earlier claim, crediting the piece to "Wisdome" and dating the poem "before 1568" (I'm not sure if that is based on the Trinity College manuscript or the dates for Wisdome or just pure fancy; my suspicion is the last). - RBW
Beck credits this to "some moralizing shanty boy of 1892." Surprise! - PJS
File: Log262
===
NAME: Tobasco
DESCRIPTION: The singer notes, "You can talk about your cities... But the little place of Tobasco is good enough for me." Tobasco has no fancy buildings, ornate churches, or sidewalks, and is not right for everyone -- but it suits the singer just fine
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1982
KEYWORDS: nonballad home
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
FSCatkills 158, "Tobasco" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC158 (Partial)
File: FSC158
===
NAME: Tobias Murphy and Tom Hann
DESCRIPTION: Two captains, Murphy and Hann, are on St Mary's banks in a September gale. Hann's boat runs aground rounding Cape St Mary's and all hands are lost. Murphy's boat heads for North Harbour but two men are swept overboard.
AUTHOR: Peter Leonard
EARLIEST_DATE: 1983 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: death sea ship storm wreck
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 110, "Tobias Murphy and Tom Hann" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Lehr/Best: "According to Aunt Carrie Brennan, this sea tragedy occurred in 1878" - BS
File: LeBe110
===
NAME: Tochineal
DESCRIPTION: "Come a' my young lads, ye'll mak haste and be ready... An' we ane and a'... Maun leave Tochineal, nae mair to come back." "Awa to the West we maun a' gang thegither." Many are forced to depart; the singer laments that the new home will not be Tochineal
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: home emigration
FOUND_IN: B ritain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 353, "Tochineal" (1 text)
Roud #4591
NOTES: Nowhere does this song explain the reason for this mass emigration, but one has to suspect it is the result of the Highland Clearances.
Given the title and the metrical form, I suspect this of having been sung to "Teddy O'Neill," though neither Ord nor Grieg had a tune. - RBW
File: Ord353
===
NAME: Tocowa: see The State of Arkansas (The Arkansas Traveler II) [Laws H1] (File: LH01)
===
NAME: Toddlin' But and Toddlin' Ben (The Wee Little Totum)
DESCRIPTION: "Some say to live single it is the best plan, But I was ne'er happy till I got a man, When I got a man I soon got a wean...." "It gangs toddlin' but, and gangs toddlin' ben." The singer describes the toddler's cheerful rambles, and rejoices in her life
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: marriage love baby wife
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 137, "The Wee Totum" (1 text)
Roud #5551
File: Ord137
===
NAME: Tolliver Song, The: see The Rowan County Crew (Trouble, or Tragedy) [Laws E20] (File: LE20)
===
NAME: Tolliver-Martin Feud Song, A: see The Rowan County Crew (Trouble, or Tragedy) [Laws E20] (File: LE20)
===
NAME: Tom a Bedlam (Bedlam Boys)
DESCRIPTION: The singer is determined to find her Tom. She describes (his or her) visions. Chorus: "Still I sing bonny boys, bonny mad boys, Bedlam boys are bonny. For they all go bare, and they live by the air...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1720 (Pills to Purge Melancholy)
KEYWORDS: madness love separation
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Logan, pp. 172-189, "Tom a Bedlam" (there are eight texts in this section; the one labelled "Mad Maudlin" on pp. 181-182 is this one)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 175-178, "Tom a Bedlam" (7 fragmentary texts, at least one of which is this one; 1 tune; the next piece, "Gray's Inn Masque, or Mad Tom, or New Mad Tom of Bedlam," (for which see also BBI, ZN910, "Forth from my sad and darksome cell") appears to be an unrelated literary song, found also in Percy, pp. 344-347, "Old Tom of Bedlam," the first of six "Mad Songs")
DT, BEDLMBOY*
ST Log172 (Full)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "A Maid in Bedlam" (theme)
NOTES: The Hospital of St. Mary of Bethlehem (Bedlam), in London, was the first hospital for insane men in England. Magdalene Hospital (Maudlin), mentioned in some versions of the song, was the first hospital for insane women. - PJS
"Bedlam songs" seem to have been a phenomenon in the eighteenth century and after. To make matters worse, they all seem to mix and match. Many of Percy's texts, e.g., resemble Logan's, which resemble Chappell's. It's very hard to tell them apart.
Under the circumstances, I've listed the most traditional-seeming of the bunch ("Tom a Bedlam") here, and hope cross-references in the "References" field will suffice for the others.
Aldington's _The Viking Book of Poetry of the English-Speaking World_  we find a Tom o' Bedlams Song starting
From the hag and  hungry goblin
That into rages would rend ye,
And the spirit that stands
By the naked man
In the book of moons defend ye....
It's not this piece (the chorus is different), but there is undeniable dependence. Aldington attributes the piece to Giles Earle (dates unknown but early seventeenth century). Granger's Index to Poetry, however, lists the author of this as unknown -- and it has plenty of supporting evidence, since it cites 18 different references. Nor does Granger's list any other works by this alleged Earle. - RBW
File: Log172
===
NAME: Tom Bird's Dog
DESCRIPTION: The singer goes bird hunting. Tom Bird's dog pursues. The singer escapes. "I don't know how many birds you got" but wishes someone had killed the dog.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: escape hunting humorous dog
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 101-102, "Tom Bird's Dog" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9959
File: Pea101
===
NAME: Tom Bo-lin: see Brian O'Lynn (Tom Boleyn) (File: R471)
===
NAME: Tom Boleyn: see Brian O'Lynn (Tom Boleyn) (File: R471)
===
NAME: Tom Bowline: see Tom Bowling (File: DTtombow)
===
NAME: Tom Bowling
DESCRIPTION: "Here a sheer hulk lies poor Tom (Bowling/Bowline), the darling of our crew." Tom, faithful, kind, virtuous, and beautiful, has now "gone aloft." His family and friends are mentioned. They hope he finds "pleasant weather" in heaven
AUTHOR: Charles Dibdin (1745-1815)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Shay)
KEYWORDS: death sailor religious
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 96-97, "Tom Bowline" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TOMBOWLI
Roud #1984
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Frank Fidd"
NOTES: As a folk song, this hasn't been very popular (I indexed it mostly for the parallels to "Frank Fidd," which see). But, like many Dibdin pieces, it was widely published in broadsides, and has also shown up in a number of modern anthologies; there are six citations in _Granger's Index to Poetry_. - RBW
File: DTtombow
===
NAME: Tom Brown: see The King Takes the Queen (File: FSWB232)
===
NAME: Tom Brown's Two Little Indian Boys: see Ten Little Injuns (File: OO2376)
===
NAME: Tom Cat
DESCRIPTION: "Funniest thing that ever I seen Was a tom cat stitchin' on a sewin' machine! O-ho, my baby, take a-one on me!" "Sewed so easy and he sewed so slow, Took ninety-nine stitches on the tom-cat's toe, O-ho, my baby...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: animal technology
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 91, "Tom Cat" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST ScaNF091 (Full)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Take a Whiff on Me" (lyrics, form)
NOTES: Presumably from the same roots as "Take a Whiff On Me" or something like it. With only two verses, I can't really tell if it's a separate song or not -- but we're splitters, so we file it as if it is. - RBW
File: ScaNF091
===
NAME: Tom Cat Blues
DESCRIPTION: Singer praises old "Ring Tail Tom" for his sexual prowess: "I got an old tom cat; When he steps out All the pussy cats in the neighborhood, They begin to shout, 'Here comes Ring Tail Tom, He's boss around the town...." Etc.
AUTHOR: Probably Cliff Carlisle
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (recording, Cliff Carlisle)
KEYWORDS: sex bawdy humorous nonballad animal
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 213, "Tom Cat Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 160, "Tom Cat Blues" (1 text)
DT, TOMCATBL*
RECORDINGS:
Cliff Carlisle, "Ringtail Tom" (Vocalion 02656, 1934); "Tom Cat Blues" (Vocalion 5492, 1940; on TimesAint04)
Jimmie Davis, "Tom Cat and Pussy Blues" (Bluebird B-6272, 1936)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Tom Cat Blues" (on NLCR01)
NOTES: I can't tell without hearing them whether the two Cliff Carlisle recordings are the same performance, but they're clearly the same song. - PJS
File: CSW213
===
NAME: Tom Cornealy
DESCRIPTION: Tom ships on board the Lighter Home, bound to Labrador. "At last we reached that awful land Where the snow and ice was beating" and head north to Ungava "Up in the Arctic Ocean ... the salmon was so thick" but all we found were starving "huskies"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: fishing ordeal sea ship Eskimo
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 188, "Tom Cornealy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2716
File: CrMa188
===
NAME: Tom Corrigan
DESCRIPTION: Corrigan is racing on the horse "Waiter." He is just overtaking the leader when he is thrown and killed.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: death racing horse
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 138-139, "Tom Corrigan" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Donald Campbell" (theme)
cf. "The Death of Alec Robertson" (theme)
cf. "Alec Robertson (I)" (theme)
cf. "Alec Robertson (II)" (theme)
NOTES: "Banjo" Paterson wrote a piece, "Tommy Corrigan (Killed, Steeplechasing at Flemington)" -- but the two are not the same. - RBW
File: MA138
===
NAME: Tom Dixon
DESCRIPTION: "Tom Dixon runs a cathouse way down on Harlow street," a frequent destination for loggers. "The girls are not so pretty, but I guess they're not so slow." The singer talks of his trips back and forth between lumber camp and Dixon's establishment
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: logger whore bawdy
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Doerflinger, p. 251, "Tom Dixon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9423
File: Doe251
===
NAME: Tom Dooley  [Laws F36A]
DESCRIPTION: Tom Dula/Dooley has killed Laura Foster. He has few regrets except that he didn't get away with it. He curses Sheriff Grayson, who has captured him.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1921 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: murder execution
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1866 (probably January 25) - 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, which she had reportedly caught from Grayson.
May 1, 1868 - Dula is hanged for the murder.
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
Laws F36A, "Tom Dooley"
Friedman, p. 228, "Tom Dooley" (1 text)
Warner 118, "Tom Dooley" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 303, "Tom Dula" (3 texts, all very short; in addition, the "B" text of Brown's #304, "Tom Dula's Lament," is a single stanza found in the Proffitt version of "Tom Dooley")
Lomax-FSUSA 82, "Tom Dooley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 139, "Tom Dula" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 137, "Tom Dooley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 207-208, "Tom Dooley" (1 text)
Arnett, p. 188, "Tom Dooley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 225, "Tom Dooley" (1 text)
DT, TOMDOOLY*
Roud #4192
RECORDINGS:
Sheila Clark, "The Ballad of Tom Dula" (on LegendTomDula)
[G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "Tom Dooley" (Victor 40235, 1930; rec. 1929; on GraysonWhitter01)
Glenn Neaves & band, "Tom Dooley" (on GraysonCarroll1)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Tom Dooley" (on NLCR02) (NLCR12)
Frank Profitt, "Tom Dooley" [excerpt] (on USWarnerColl01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Murder of Laura Foster" [Laws F36] (subject)
cf. "Tom Dula's Lament" (subject, lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Tom Dooly
NOTES: G. B. Grayson, who (along with Henry Whitter) made the earliest known recorded version of the song, was descended from the sheriff who captured Dula. - PJS
I know of no absolute confirmation of the story that Foster, Dula, and company suffered from a venereal disease, but the notes in Brown to "The Murder of Laura Foster" mention that Melton in later life is said to have admitted a part in the killing -- and that she later went blind.
According to court records, Dula was charged with the murder and Melton with being an accessory before the fact.
The trial was moved to a different venue, and after some maneuvering, Dula and Melton were tried separately. The trial was badly conducted, and Dula was granted a new trial by the state supreme court. The verdict did not change.
Dula, on his last day, wrote a statement to the effect that he was solely responsible for the murder. Belief at the time, and Melton's later testimony, both seem to contradict this.
Reading the accounts of Dula's behavior after the Civil War (where he fought with courage on the Confederate side) makes one wonder about some sort of post-traumatic disorder.
At least one witness said that Melton would have hung with Dula had she not been so beautiful.
In 2001/2, an attempt was made in North Carolina to convince the governor to grant Dula a posthumous pardon. This seems rather far-fetched. Dula may not have been guilty of murder, but he *did* abandon Foster (possibly after getting her pregnant, though of course that could have been the man who gave her the venereal disease), and was at the very least an accessory after the fact to murder by Melton. - RBW
File: LF36A
===
NAME: Tom Dula: see Tom Dooley  [Laws F36A] (File: LF36A)
===
NAME: Tom Dula's Lament
DESCRIPTION: "I pick my banjo now, I pick it on my knee, This time tomorrow night, It'll be no more use to me." Dula says that Laura (Foster) loved his banjo playing, and says he never knew how true her love was. He bids Ann (Melton) to kiss him goodbye
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: death execution music love
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 304, "Tom Dula's Lament" (2 texts, but the second is a single-stanza fragment, not found in the "A" text, and is included in the "Tom Dooley" text sung by Frank Profitt)
ST BrII304 (Full)
Roud #6645
RECORDINGS:
 Sheila Clark, "Tom Dula's Own Ballad" (on LegendTomDula)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Murder of Laura Foster" [Laws F36] (subject)
cf. "Tom Dooley" [Laws F36A] (plot, lyrics)
NOTES: This song may possibly be a rewritten version of "Tom Dooley" (or vice versa); they share lyrics, and can be sung to the same tune. But this one is in the first person, "Tom Dooley" mostly in third person. Plus this one shows Dula lamenting his errors. They look separate to me, as they did to the editors of Brown. - RBW
File: BrII304
===
NAME: Tom Halyard
DESCRIPTION: Tom Halyard, mortally wounded, asks his ship's captain if he has done his duty. Assured that he has, he asks the captain to send his love a lock of his hair. He dies with Kate's name on his lips
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950
KEYWORDS: battle death farewell hair
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 42-43, "Tom Halyard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4773
File: MN1042
===
NAME: Tom O'Neill [Laws Q25]
DESCRIPTION: A rich girl tries to convince Tom O'Neill to leave the priesthood and marry her. When he refuses, she claims that Tom got her pregnant. He is sentenced to transportation. He is reprieved when another man admits he fathered the child for money
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1853 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 26(189))
KEYWORDS: money clergy pregnancy trick trial punishment transportation lie sex
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws Q25, "Tom O'Neill"
Creighton-NovaScotia 87, "Tom O'Neil" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, pp. 8-9, "Father Tom O'Neil" (1 text)
McBride 29, "Father Tom O'Neill" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 534, TOMONEIL
Roud #1013
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(189), "Father Tom O'Neale," J. Moore (Belfast), 1846-1852; also 2806 b.11(240), "Father Tom O'Neale"; Harding B 26(574), "The Rev'd Father Tom O'Neil"
File: LQ25
===
NAME: Tom Pearce (Widdicombe Fair I)
DESCRIPTION: The singer asks Tom Pearce to lend his old mare to go to the fair. Tom wants the horse back soon, but it is slow in returning, for it has taken sick and died. (Now the horse's ghost can be seen haunting the moors at night)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1889
KEYWORDS: horse ghost travel
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Kennedy 308, "Tom Pearce" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBB 171, "Widdicombe Fair" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 398, "Tam Pierce" (1 text)
DT, WIDDECOM* TAMPRCE*
Roud #137
RECORDINGS:
Tom Brown, "Widdlecombe Fair" (on Voice07)
George Maynard, "Lansdown Fair" (on FSB10)
Bill Westaway, "Widdicombe Fair" (on FSB10, FieldTrip1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Widdicombe Fair (II)" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Bedford Fair
John Jones's Old Mare
Stow Fair
File: K308
===
NAME: Tom Potts [Child 109]
DESCRIPTION: A high-born lady loves Tom Potts, a serving man. She refuses Lord Phoenix's offer of marriage but her father overrides her. She sends word to Tom, who, aided by his master, challenges Phoenix. After several forms of contest he wins her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1657 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: nobility servant courting contest father
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Child 109, "Tom Potts" (3 texts)
BBI, ZN3263, "All you lords of Scotland fair"
Roud #66
File: C109
===
NAME: Tom Redman: see Bold Ranger, The (File: R076)
===
NAME: Tom Sherman's Barroom: see The Streets of Laredo [Laws B1] (File: LB01)
===
NAME: Tom Twist
DESCRIPTION: "Tom Twist was a wonderful fellow; No boy was so nimble and strong." Shipwrecked among cannibals, he escapes; he rides a condor to China and is made a mandarin; he at last returns home, then somersaults out the window and far away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Flanders and Brown)
KEYWORDS: travel ship cannibalism talltale
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 173-176, "Tom Twist" (1 text, tune referenced)
DT, TOMTWIST*
Roud #5448
File: FlBr173
===
NAME: Tom, He Was a Piper's Son: see O'er the Hills and Far Away (I) (File: Arn017)
===
NAME: Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son: see O'er the Hills and Far Away (I) (File: Arn017)
===
NAME: Tom's Gone to Hilo: see Tommy's Gone to Hilo (File: Doe030)
===
NAME: Tom's Gone to Ilo: see Tommy's Gone to Hilo (File: Doe030)
===
NAME: Tomah Stream
DESCRIPTION: The singer warns against drinking and hiring out to Tomah Stream. Instead of the easy work and good food he was promised, he finds mud roads, thin shelters, and poor and inadequate rations. He ends by exchanging insults with the boss Natty [Lamb].
AUTHOR: attributed to Larry Gorman
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: logger work drink hardtimes boss
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Doerflinger, pp. 216-217, "Tomah Stream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4074
NOTES: Tomah stream is in eastern Maine, not far from the Canadian border.
This song is item dC53 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW- RBW
File: Doe216
===
NAME: Tomahawking Fred (Tambaroora Ted)
DESCRIPTION: The singer is "just about to cut for the Lachlan To turn a hundred out...." He shears for the money, not for pleasure: "Give me sufficient cash and you'll see me make a splash, for I'm (Tambaroora Ted), the ladies' man." He boasts of his shearing skills
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1974
KEYWORDS: sheep work Australia bragging
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 138-139, "Tambaroora Ted" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE138
===
NAME: Tommy: see Somebody's Tall and Handsome (File: R380)
===
NAME: Tommy Jones: see Row Boat (Ride About) (File: R678)
===
NAME: Tommy Murphy was a Soldier Boy
DESCRIPTION: Tommy Murphy leaves Katy to join a marching regiment. He loses a leg. It is replaced by a hickory limb. He can't help marching when he hears the band. Katy sees him "after six months or more of adventures in war" but he marches away when the band plays
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (for USBallinsloeFair, according to site irishtune.info, Irish Traditional Music Tune Index: Alan Ng's Tunography, ref. Ng #2614)
KEYWORDS: war injury humorous soldier separation
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Dinny (Jimmy) Doyle and Larry Griffin, "Tommy Murphy was a Soldier Boy" (on USBallinsloeFair)
File: RcTMWaSB
===
NAME: Tommy o'Lin, and His Wife, and Wife's Mother: see Brian O'Lynn (Tom Boleyn) (File: R471)
===
NAME: Tommy Robin: see Who Killed Cock Robin? (File: SKE74)
===
NAME: Tommy Song, The: see Old Roger is Dead (Old Bumpy, Old Grimes, Pompey) (File: R569)
===
NAME: Tommy's Gone Away: see Tommy's Gone to Hilo (File: Doe030)
===
NAME: Tommy's Gone to Hilo
DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Characteristic line: "Away, (H)ilo... Tommy's gone to (H)ilo!" The girl complains that her Tommy has left her and gone to Liverpool, Baltimore, Bombay, or wherever it is that she least wants him to be. She may offer/threaten to follow
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Robinson)
KEYWORDS: shanty separation sailor
FOUND_IN: US(MA,NE) Ireland
REFERENCES: (12 citations)
Doerflinger, p. 30, "Tommy's Gone to Hilo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bone, pp. 61-62, "Tom's Gone to Hilo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, p. 71-72, "Tom's Gone to Hilo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, p. 73-74, 260, "Tommy's Gone to Hilo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 261-264, "Shiloh Brown," "Tom's Gone to Hilo," "Tommy's Gone Away" (5 texts, 3 tunes - 1st text is only a fragment that might appear to be a variant of "Shallo Brown" due to the first chorus of "Shiloh, Shiloh Brown," but all the rest of it is "Tommy's Gone to Hilo") [AbEd, pp. 191-194]
Sharp-EFC, LX, p. 64, "Tommy's Gone Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 150-151, "Tommy's Gone to Hilo" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 36, "Tommy's Gone to Hilo" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H53d, p. 96, "Tom's Gone to Ilo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 92, "Tommy's Gone to Hilo" (1 text)
DT, TOMMYHLO*
Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). A fragment of "My Tom's Gone to Hilo!" is in Part 3, 7/28/1917.
Roud #481
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hieland Laddie" (floating lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Johnny's Gone to Hilo (Ilo)
NOTES: Most versions of the song use the name "Hilo" (Hugill says all; this was before the Henry collection was published), but the town, according to Doerflinger, Shay, etc., is not the village in Hawaii but the port of Ilo in southern Peru, a major source of nitrates.
This is likely enough; in the mid-nineteenth century, scientists such as Liebig (1803-1873) and Lawes (1814-1900) were demonstrating the need for nitrogenated fertilizers, but it would be some time before cheap artificial nitrate sources were developed. And von Humboldt (1769-1859) pointed out that certain Peruvian islands had whole cliffs of guano, making them a tremendous source of organic nitrogen.
It is reported that, in the 1850s and 1860s, guano was mined from Peru at an average rate of four hundred thousand tons per year, with about a quarter of that going to the United States and the rest to various ports served by British ships.
According to Shay, even ships not carrying guano (e.g. whalers) were likely to stop at Ilo; there were periods when Chilean ports were closed to foreigners, leaving Ilo as the major watering-port for ships rounding Cape Horn. - RBW
File: Doe030
===
NAME: Tommy's on the Tops'l Yard: see Sally Brown (File: Doe074)
===
NAME: Tone de Bell Easy: see Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dyin' Bed (Tone the Bell Easy) (File: LxA605)
===
NAME: Tony Went Walking
DESCRIPTION: Tony goes walking on a summer day and finds an apple tree. He climbs, to pick some apples, but the branch breaks and "down came Tony, apples and all"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (recording, Stanley G. Triggs)
KEYWORDS: food injury
FOUND_IN: Can(West)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Stanley G. Triggs, "Tony Went Walking" (on Triggs1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rock-A-Bye Baby" (lyrics)
NOTES: Talk about a minimal plot. But a plot it is. - PJS
File: RcTonWWa
===
NAME: Too Late: see The Last Farewell (The Lover's Return) (File: R761)
===
NAME: Too Much of a Name
DESCRIPTION: "Some people are anxious for honor and fame And they strive all their lifetime in getting a name. But too much of a name is a possible thing" As a practical joke my parents named me Jonathan Joseph Jeremiah ... Jehosaphat." So long a name causes problems
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: wedding humorous nonballad talltale clergy
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 170, "Longest Name Song" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 201, "Too Much of a Name" (1 text)
DT, TOONAME
Roud #7041 and 4824
NOTES: Greenleaf/Mansfield states that this is "a variant of a once popular music-hall song 'Jonathan, Joseph, Jeremiah.'" - BS
File: GrMa170
===
NAME: Too Rally
DESCRIPTION: This quatrain ballad of naval origins describes the special privileges accorded to officers of increasingly high rank.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: scatological sailor humorous
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cray, pp. 400-403, "Too Rally" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10300
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Botany Bay (I)" (tune)
NOTES: This was collected by Pete Seeger in the Pacific theater during the Second World War. - EC
File: EM400
===
NAME: Too Young: see Pretty Little Miss [Laws P18] (File: LP18)
===
NAME: Too Young to Marry
DESCRIPTION: Dance tune with slight lyrics: "I'm my mammy's youngest child (youngest son, darling child), I am my mother's (baby), I'm my mammy's youngest child, I am too young to marry."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: youth marriage nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 107, "Too Young to Marry" (3 texts)
Roud #16864
NOTES: I have to suspect that this is the mnemonic lyric to some well-known fiddle tune. But there is no way to tell *which* tune. - RBW
File: Br3107
===
NAME: Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, That's an Irish Lullaby
DESCRIPTION: The singer remembers a quiet, peaceful home and the lullaby his mother sang: "Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, Too-ra-loo-ra-li, Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, hush now don't you cry. Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral... That's an Irish lullaby."
AUTHOR: J. R. Shannon
EARLIEST_DATE: 1913 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: nonballad lullaby
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fuld-WFM, p. 585, "Too-ra-loo-ra-loo-ral, That's an Irish Lullaby"
DT, LULLBY
SAME_TUNE:
Study Oft on Sunday (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 98)
NOTES: This, obviously, is not a folk song -- and it's not a lullaby! (It contains one, but there is a song around it.) But people think it's a folk song, so here it is.... - RBW
File: DTlullby
===
NAME: Too-Ril-Te-Too (The Robin and the Cat)
DESCRIPTION: "Oh! Too-ril-te-too was a bonny cock robin, He tied up his tail with a piece of blue bobbin, His tail was no bigger than the tail of a flea, Too-ril-te-too Thought it pretty as a tail could be." The bird flies to a rail to show off and is eaten by a cat
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Linscott)
KEYWORDS: bird food death animal
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Linscott, pp. 293-294, "Too-Ril-Te-Too" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Lins293 (Full)
Roud #3745
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rory O'More" (tune)
File: Lins293
===
NAME: Took My Gal a-Walkin'
DESCRIPTION: "I took my gal a-walking', it was on one Saturday night... I asked her if she's marry me... She said she wouldn't marry me If the rest of the world was dead." The lonely singer vows he will "milk the cows and chickens" on the farm if he can't find a girl
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (recording, Charlie Poole)
KEYWORDS: courting farming love nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Rorrer, p.81, "Took My Gal a Walkin'" (1 text)
Roud #11550
RECORDINGS:
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Took My Gal a Walkin'" (Columbia 15672-D, 1931, rec. 1928; on CPoole01, CPoole05)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Going Across the Sea" (floating lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
I Ain't Got Nobody
NOTES: Rorrer observes that there is no known source for this recording; Charlie Poole may well have created the piece. It has, however, proved to be popular with Old-Time performers, and for this reason I include it here.
The key verse, about the girl not marrying "if the rest of the world were dead" *is* traditional; a variant is found in the southeastern banjo tune "Italy." - RBW
File: RcTMGAW
===
NAME: Toolie Low
DESCRIPTION: "Toolie low, toolie low, toolie low, I am Mammy's little black baby chile. Toodie noodie, mammy's baby, Toodie noodie, mammy's child. Toodie, noodie, toodie."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: love children nonballad lullaby
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 153, (no title) (1 short text)
File: ScNF153B
===
NAME: Top Hand
DESCRIPTION: "While you're all so frisky I'll sing a little song... It's all about the Top Hand when he's busted flat." The Top Hand/top screw boasts of his prowess as a cowhandler, but it's all boasting and lies. The cowboys try to expose him, and label him a Jackass
AUTHOR: (Credited by Thorp to Frank Rooney, c. 1877)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1899
KEYWORDS: cowboy bragging lie trick
FOUND_IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thorp/Fife V, pp.  61-65 (17-18), "Top Hand" (2 texts)
Roud #8050
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Top Screw
Waddie Cowboy
File: TF05
===
NAME: Top Loader
DESCRIPTION: Recitation; Bill Kirk is top loader. One day he's knocked off the load by a "cannon." His comrades rush to save him, but he's wedged into a crack. They pull the log out, and by a miracle he's not hurt, but he curses because his new pipe is cracked.
AUTHOR: Probably Marion Ellsworth
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Beck)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Recitation; Bill Kirk is top loader at Pollock's camp; one day he's knocked off the load by a "cannon" (a log that pivots sideways on top of the load). His comrades, thinking him crushed, rush to save him, but he's wedged into a crack. They pull the log out, and by a miracle he's not hurt, but he curses because his new pipe is cracked.
KEYWORDS: lumbering work logger recitation rescue
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Beck 100, "Top Loader" (1 text)
Roud #8880
NOTES: Top loaders were always in danger, trying to get the maximum number of logs on the load.
This, like the other pieces probably written by Ellsworth, does not seem to have entered oral tradition. - PJS
File: Be100
===
NAME: Top of Mount Zion
DESCRIPTION: "On the top of Mount Zion is a city" -- the city of salvation. The singer briefly describes it and makes plans to go there.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966 (recorded from Buna Vista Hicks)
KEYWORDS: Bible religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #7133
RECORDINGS:
Buna Hicks, "Top of Mt. Zion" (on USWarnerColl01)
NOTES: In secular usage, the name "Zion" and "Mount Zion" referred to the more eastern of the hills on which Jerusalem rested -- the name first occurs in the Bible in 2 Samuel 5:7, where David attacks the "stronghold of Zion," the key to the city of the Jebusites, which became the City of David -- i.e. the citadel of the Davidic capital. The term is generally used in the Psalms to include the broader area around the Temple -- i.e. the City on Mount Zion is the whole city of Jerusalem.
The name is not common in the New Testament, and six of the eight New Testament usages to be Old Testament citations -- most notably, Romans 11:16 (citing Isaiah) says that the deliverer comes from Zion. But the two uses of the name not derived from the Hebrew Bible are noteworthy: Hebrews 11:22 refers to coming to "Mount Zion and the city of the living God, while Revelation 14:1 says that the lamb stood on Mount Zion. Thus Mount Zion is an accepted, though not a common, name for the heavenly city. - RBW
File: RcToMZi
===
NAME: Topsail Shivers in the Wind, The
DESCRIPTION: "The topsail shivers in the wind, Our ship she casts to sea, But yet my soul, my heart, my mind, Are, Mary, moored with thee." The singer touches on the difficulties of the voyage and thinks constantly of his return home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1776 (Journal from the Ann)
KEYWORDS: sailor home love
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 59-60, "The Topsail Shivers in the Wind" (1 text plus part of another, 1 tune)
Roud #2017
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Sailor's Adieu
File: SWMS059
===
NAME: Toronto Volunteers, The
DESCRIPTION: "In the year of Eighty-five Sure the tidings did arrive.... From the snowy plains afar Where those roving Indians are...." "Oh those volunteers did go And face the storms and snow... And when the drums did beat How the rebels did retreat"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1957
KEYWORDS: battle Canada soldier
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 12, 1885 - Battle of Batoche. Defeat of the Metis under Louis Riel
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 130-131, "The Toronto Volunteers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4515
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Riel's Song" and references there (subject)
NOTES: For the history of Louis Riel and the Metis Uprising, see "Riel's Song." Edith Fowke's informant claims to have had this piece from soldiers who had actually campaigned in Saskatchewan. - RBW
File: FMB130
===
NAME: Tossed and Driven (The Poor Pilgrim)
DESCRIPTION: "I am a poor pilgrim of sorrow, I am left in this wide world to roam... I've started to make Heaven my home." "Sometimes I'm so tossed and driven. Sometimes I know not where to roam." The singer has left his family; after death he hopes to see them again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious death travel
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 610, "Tossed and Driven" (2 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
BrownIII 643, "Tossed and Driven" (1 text, a seemingly-simplified form with the same chorus but the verses consist of advice from relatives: "(Father/Mother/Sister/Brother) told me when he was dying... Dear daughter, live for Jesus; This world is not my home")
Roud #5425
RECORDINGS:
I. D. Beck & congregation, "Poor Pilgrim of Sorrow" (on LomaxCD1704)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Am a Pilgrim"
NOTES: This song instantly made me think of "Man of Constant Sorrow," and also of "Wayfaring Stranger," but I cannot tell if there is any connection. And "pilgrim" songs all sound alike somehow. - RBW
George Pullen Jackson sees a resemblance between this song and the one we've indexed as "Green Mossy Banks of the Lea". Maybe. - PJS
File: R610
===
NAME: Tossing of the Hay
DESCRIPTION: The singer goes out on a summer morning and sees a beautiful girl tossing her hay alone. She reports that her brother has left her alone. He kisses her; she screams; he promises that if she marries him, there will be time to mow the hay
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Karpeles-Newfoundland)
KEYWORDS: love courting marriage work
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H635, pp. 455-456, "The Tossing o' the Hay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 80, "The New Mown Hay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2940
RECORDINGS:
Eddie Butcher, "Tossing the Hay" (on Voice05)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Raking of the Hay
NOTES: Why do I get the feeling that this happened somewhere along the Banks of the Bann?
According to Purslow, this occurs as a broadside called "Joy After Sorrow," but the text of that title I've seen does not appear to be the same piece. - RBW
File: HHH635
===
NAME: Tottenham Toad, The: see Fox and Hare (They've All Got a Mate But Me) (File: FlBr121)
===
NAME: Touch Not the Cup
DESCRIPTION: "Touch not the cup, it is death to the soul... Many I know that have quaffed from that bowl... Little they thought that a demon was there, Blindly they drank and were caught in the snare...." A sermon, without illustrations, on the evils of drink
AUTHOR: Words: J.H. Aikman (?) / Music: T.H. Bayley?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1885 (Franklin Square Song Collection 3)
KEYWORDS: drink virtue
FOUND_IN: US(NE,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 330, "Touch Not the Cup" (1 text)
Warner 76, "Touch Not the Cup" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST R330 (Partial)
Roud #6951
NOTES: Yes, this piece is as obnoxiously moralizing as it sounds... and I say that as a teetotaler. - RBW
File: R330
===
NAME: Toura for Sour Buttermilk
DESCRIPTION: "Toura for sour buttermilk Belleek for the brandy The Commons was the divil's hole But Mulleek was the dandy"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1979 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad drink
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 52, "Toura for Sour Buttermilk" (1 fragment)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fermoy Lasses" (tune, according to Tunney-StoneFiddle)
NOTES: The current description is all of the Tunney-StoneFiddle fragment. 
Mulleek, Belleek and Toura are in County Fermanagh. Commons may be in Belleek. 
The words of the Tunney-StoneFiddle fragment remind me of "Coffee Grows" and "Weavily Wheat" though its reel tune is not at all similar. - BS
File: TSF052
===
NAME: Tout Pitit Negresse
DESCRIPTION: Creole French: "Tout pitit Negresse en bas bayou, A-pe laver chimise ye' mama! A, alla, mamselle, les blanchiseuses! (x2)" A very small black woman washes shirts on the bayou; a boy washes underclothes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: worker
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 212-213, "Tout Pitit Negresse" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: ScaNF212
===
NAME: Town o' Arbroath, The
DESCRIPTION: "Although far awa frae my ain native heather, And thousands o' miles across the blue sea," the singer still dreams of his home in Arbroath. He recalls the lessons his parents taught him. Now rich, he intends to return to his home.
AUTHOR: Words: Charles Myles ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: home emigration return
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 345, "The Town o' Arbroath" (1 text)
Roud #3946
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(6b), "Toon of Arbroath," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1880-1900
File: Ord345A
===
NAME: Town of Antrim, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer bids farewell to Ireland; he will wander "far from Paddy's green countrie."He recalls the beauties of County Antrim, his birthplace. He promises to remember all these things in his new home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1921 (JIFSS)
KEYWORDS: emigration home
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H632, p. 203, "Paddy's Green Countrie" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 20A, "The Town of Antrim" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2746
File: HHH632
===
NAME: Town of Oranmore, The (If You Ever Go Over to Ireland)
DESCRIPTION: Singer, possibly American, warns against women of Ireland; one of them has made a fool of him. He picks her up; she asks him to take her to dinner at Cleary's; he wraps her in his cloak; she scratches his nose, tears his clothes, and, apparently, robs him
AUTHOR: Shaun O'Nolan
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (sung by Margaret Barry on Voice04)
KEYWORDS: request warning travel theft humorous
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #5277
RECORDINGS:
Margaret Barry, "If You Ever Go Over to Ireland" (on Voice04)
Margaret Barry w. Michael Gorman, "If You Ever Go Over to Ireland (The Town of Oranmore)" (on Pubs1)
NOTES: The plot is somewhat confused. Oranmore is located at the extreme east of Galway Bay, and it was a popular place for Travellers to part their caravans, especially around the time of the Galway race meeting. The song originated in the Irish music-halls. - PJS
Hall, notes to Voice04: "in the McNulty Family's original it is his bank roll she swipes." - BS
File: RcToOran
===
NAME: TP and the Morgan
DESCRIPTION: Work song for tie-tamping: "TP throwed the water, Water in Morgan's eye...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940
KEYWORDS: worksong railroading
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 448, "TP and the Morgan" (1 text)
File: BRaF448
===
NAME: Track Lining Song: see Can'cha Line 'Em (File: LxU078)
===
NAME: Track to Knob Lake, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer signs a contract to spike three months on the Knob Lake track. Food is awful. After a month 18 men quit. Each day the first to finish has lots of food but none is left for the last. He still hopes to come back the next year.
AUTHOR: Albert Roche
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: railroading worker food
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 797-798, "The Track to Knob Lake" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9811
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
cf. "Twin Lakes" (lyrics)
NOTES: First verse -- only -- is stolen from "Twin Lakes." Peacock says "the track to Knob Lake [is] a railroad pushed through the wilderness of central Quebec to rich deposits of iron ore." The track was laid in the 1950s. "In ballads of this type it is customary to complain about working and living conditions, and the composer does his best....  However, with planes flying the workers in and out I suspect that most Newfoundlanders never had it so good." - BS
File: Pea797
===
NAME: Trader, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of the wreck of the Trader, bound from Galway to London. A dream warns the Captain of disaster. A storm blows up; the rudder is wrecked; the ship goes aground; seven of the crew are drowned. The singer hopes they will be remembered
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection; reportedly found in an 1827 broadside)
KEYWORDS: ship death storm wreck disaster dream
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H11, pp. 110-111, "The Trader" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2952
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ye Banks and Braes of Bonnie Doon" (tune)
File: HHH011
===
NAME: Trading-Out Blues
DESCRIPTION: "In the middle of the night if you hear a scream And there's a flame burnin'... the road... It's just a bunch of cowboys Tradin' out at the next rodeo." The song describes the wild driving cowboys do as they travel from rodeo to rodeo
AUTHOR: Johnny Baker
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: cowboy travel technology
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 97, "Trading-Out Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: According to Ohrlin, professional rodeo cowboys would often rearrange their riding schedules so that they could appear at two events simultaneously. This was known as "trading out." Not all rodeos permit trading out, but some do in order to increase the number of top-flight cowboys entered. But, of course, it leaves the riders having to really make time between events. Hence this song.
File: Ohr097
===
NAME: Tragedia de Heraclio Bernal
DESCRIPTION: Spanish: "Ano de noventa y quatro en la ciudad de Mazatlan...." Bernal is a robber who steals from the rich, gives to the poor, kills the police (and uses their skin for boots). But he is killed by treachery in Mazatlan in 1894.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage outlaw robbery death police funeral
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 368-371, "Tragedia de Heraclio Bernal" (1 text plus prose translation, 1 tune)
File: LxA368
===
NAME: Tragic Romance
DESCRIPTION: Singer recalls a girl he loved long ago; he left her her in the arms of another man. Many years later he meets the girl's brother. He learns she died awaiting his return, never knowing why he left. (The brother was the man who was in her arms.)
AUTHOR: Louis M. "Grandpa" Jones
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940s (recording, Morris Bros.)
KEYWORDS: infidelity love rambling abandonment death family
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 41, "Tragic Romance" (1 text with variants, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Morris Brothers, "Tragic Romance" (RCA Victor 20-1905, 1946)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Poor Omie (John Lewis) (Little Omie Wise)" [Laws F4] (tune)
cf. "After the Ball" (plot)
cf. "Fatal Rose of Red" (theme)
NOTES: When this song first came to my attention, I refused to accept the attribution to "Grandpa" Jones, since the plot is straight from "After the Ball" and the tune is "Omie Wise." Jones, however, confesses, "I had been singing the old 1890s song, After the Ball, and I borrowed the story from that and the tune from the old folk song Naomi Wise and began to work it out."  - RBW
File: CSW041
===
NAME: Tragical Death of an Apple Pie, The: see A Is for Apple Pie (File: R874)
===
NAME: Trail to Mexico, The [Laws B13]
DESCRIPTION: The singer is hired by A.J. Stinson to drive a herd to Mexico. While away, his sweetheart has left him for a richer man. Though she asks him to remain at home and safe, he sets out for the trail again and swears to spend the rest of his life on the trail
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (Lomax)
KEYWORDS: cowboy rejection poverty
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Laws B13, "The Trail to Mexico"
Larkin, pp. 61-63, "Trail to Mexico" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 285-286, "The Trail to Mexico" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 66, "The Trail to Mexico" (5 texts, 1 tune, of which only the "A" and "B" texts go here; "C" and "D" are "Early, Early in the Spring" and "E" is "Going to Leave Old Texas")
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 858-859, "Trail to Mexico" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 62, "Trail to Mexico" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Saffel-CowboyP, pp. 197-199, "The Trail to Mexico" (1 text)
DT 380, TRAILMEX
Roud #152
RECORDINGS:
Len Nash & his Country Boys, "The Trail to Mexico" (Brunswick 354, 1929; Supertone S-2069, 1930)
Harry "Mac" McClintock, "The Trail to Mexico" (Victor V-40016, 1929; Montgomery Ward M-4469 [as Harry "Mac" McClintock and his Haywire Orchestra], 1934)
Pete Seeger, "Trail to Mexico" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07a)
Carl T. Sprague, "Following the Cow Trail" (Victor 20067, 1925; Montgomery Ward M-4468, 1934; on AuthCowboys)
Texas Rangers, "The Trail to Mexico" (Decca 5183, 1936)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Early, Early in the Spring" [Laws M1] (plot)
cf. "Buffalo Skinners" [Laws B10a] (a few overlapping lyrics)
NOTES: Cox and Fife both consider this to be derived from "Early, Early in the Spring" [Laws M1], and even Laws concedes kinship. Roud in fact lumps the songs. However, as Laws also notes, "the cowboy ballad... shows considerable reworking." - RBW
It's also worth noting that this song, "Boggy Creek," and "Buffalo Skinners" share enough lyrics, plot elements, etc. to make life interesting and confusing. - PJS
File: LB13
===
NAME: Train 45: see Reuben's Train; also Nine Hundred Miles (File: Wa133)
===
NAME: Train Is A-Coming, The
DESCRIPTION: "The train is a-coming, oh, yes! Train is a-coming, oh, yes! Train is a-coming, train is a-coming, Train is a-coming, oh, yes!" "Better get your ticket...." "King Jesus is conductor...." "I'm on my way to heaven...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: train religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 253-254, "The Train Is A-Coming" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11618
File: ScaNF253
===
NAME: Train on the Island (June Apple/June Appal)
DESCRIPTION: Floating verses, "Train on the island, thought I heard it blow, Go tell my true love, I'm sick and I can't go."  "Train on the island, listen to it squeal, Go and tell my true love how happy I do feel." Verses mostly about courting and separation
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, J. P. Nestor)
KEYWORDS: courting separation floatingverses separation abandonment nonballad music
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 97, "Train on the Island" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TRAINIS
RECORDINGS:
Charlie Higgins et al, "June Apple" [instrumental] (on LomaxCD1702)
J. P. Nestor, "Train on the Island" (Victor 21070A, 1927; on AAFM3, TimesAint01)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Train on the Island" (on NLCR13)
Crockett Ward & his Boys "Train on the Island" (OKeh, unissued, 1927); Fields Ward, Glen Smith & Wade Ward, "Train on the Island" (on HalfCen1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Going Across the Sea" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: As a rule of thumb, this seems to be called "Train on the Island" when it is sung but "June Appal" when played as a fiddle tune. There are exceptions, of course. - RBW
File: ADR97
===
NAME: Train Run So Fast
DESCRIPTION: "Train, train, train, train run so fast, Couldn't see nothing but de trees go past." "Don't tell mama where I'm gone, Cause I'm on my way back home." ""Mister, Misters, I don't want to fight, I got de heart disease, don't feel just right."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: train disease floatingverses home nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 466, "Train ... Run So Fast" (1 short text, probably a mixture of several songs)
Roud #11786
NOTES: This has a good deal in common with Darby and Tarlton's recording "Captain Won't You Let Me Go Home" ("Show Me the Way to Go Home," emphatically not the same as the other Brown fragment, "Show Me the Way to Go Home, Babe"); there is clearly dependence one way or the other. But the recording uses a different stanza form and is all about war service; I tentatively treat them as separate songs. - RBW
File: Br3466
===
NAME: Train That Carried My Girl from Town, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer asks about the train that's just left; "if I knew the number I'd flag her down." He wishes it would wreck and kill the crew; "some low rounder stole my jelly roll." He asks if there's a woman a man can trust.
AUTHOR: possibly Frank Hutchison
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (recording, Frank Hutchison)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer asks about the train that's just left; "if I knew the number I'd flag her down." He wishes it would wreck and kill the crew; "some low rounder stole my jelly roll." He asks if there's a woman a man can trust. Chorus: "Hate that train that carried my girl from town/Hey, hey, hey"
KEYWORDS: grief jealousy loneliness infidelity sex train travel abandonment railroading floatingverses lover hate
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 426-430, "The Train That Carried My Girl from Town" (1 text plus a text of Maynard Britton's "I Wish That Train Would Wreck"; 1 tune)
Roud #7027
RECORDINGS:
Frank Hutchison, "The Train That Carried the Girl from Town" (OKeh 45064, 1926) (OKeh 45111 [45114?], 1927); "Train That Carried My Girl from Town" (OKeh 45114, 1927)
Doc Watson, "The Train That Carried My Girl From Town" (on Watson01)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Hate the Train the Carried My Girl from Town
NOTES: A white blues; it's possible Hutchison composed this, but he also may have learned it from black musicians. Certainly his performance, with knife-slide guitar, sounds very African-American. - PJS
Cohen speculates that Hutchison had it from an acquaintance, Bill Hunt. It's not clear to me why Cohen lists Hunt rather than Hutchison; in any case, the song resembles other blues in that it has many floating lines. - RBW
File: RcTTCMGF
===
NAME: Train That Never Returned, The
DESCRIPTION: A train sets out, but "Did she ever return? No, she never returned, Though the train was due at one. For hours and hours the watchman stood waiting For the train that never returned." The song describes some of those who waited for it
AUTHOR: Music by Henry Clay Work
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (recording, Fiddlin' John Carson)
KEYWORDS: train railroading separation death derivative
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 694, "The Train that Never Returned" (1 text)
BrownII 215, "The Ship That Never Returned" (1 text, filed as "c" under the parodies)
Spaeth-WeepMore, p. 139, "The Train that Never Returned" (1 text, tune referenced)
Roud #775
RECORDINGS:
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Did He Ever Return" (OKeh 45176, 1928)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ship that Never Returned" [Laws D27] (tune & meter) and references there
cf. "The Wreck of Old 97" (tune & meter)
cf. "The Rarden Wreck of 1893" (tune & metre, theme)
cf. "The Flying Colonel" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Whitey Johns, "The Train That Never Arrived" (Romeo 1205, 1930)
NOTES:  I am assigning the Whitey Johns recording to this title, without having heard it, but I'm calling it a SAME TUNE to be on the safe(r) side. - PJS
File: R694
===
NAME: Train Whistle Blues
DESCRIPTION: "When a woman gets the blues, she hands her little head and cries... When a man gets the blues, he grabs a train and rides." The singer wishes the train would take him home. His whole world is blue; he can't find a job
AUTHOR: Jimmie Rodgers (but based on much traditional material)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Jimmie Rodgers)
KEYWORDS: train home travel
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 452-455, "Train Whistle Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Jimmie Rodgers, "Train Whisle Blues" (Victor 22379, 1930; rec. 1929)
File: LSRai452
===
NAME: Tramp (I), The
DESCRIPTION: The hobo has been wandering till his shoes are worn to pieces. He asks a woman for work; she replies, "Tramp, tramp, tramp, keep on a-tramping, There is nothing here for you." Everywhere he tries, he is threatened with prison if he returns
AUTHOR: Joe Hill
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: work hardtimes poverty prison hobo unemployment IWW
FOUND_IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Sandburg, p. 185, "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, Keep On a-Tramping" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 281-282, "The Tramp" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 52, ""The Tramp (1 text)
DT, THETRMP*
RECORDINGS:
Frank Crumit, "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, Keep On A'Tramping" (Victor V-40214, 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" (tune) and reference there
NOTES: For the life of Joe Hill, see "Joe Hill." - RBW
File: San185
===
NAME: Tramp (II), The
DESCRIPTION: "I'm a broken-down man without money or friends... I wisht I had never been born." The tramp reports that people constantly tell him to get a job, but none will offer a job. He recalls another tramp thrown off a train and killed on the track
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, McGee Brothers); a version was printed c. 1880 in _De Marsan's Singer's Journal_
KEYWORDS: hobo death hardtimes unemployment
FOUND_IN: US(So) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 347-350, "Because He Was Only a Tramp" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph 843, "The Tramp" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 48, "Broken-Down Sport" (1 text)
Roud #4305
RECORDINGS:
Jack Edwards, "The Tramp" (Supertone 9711, 1930)
McGee Brothers, "The Tramp" (Vocalion 5171, 1927)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Remember the Poor Tramp Has to Live" (plot)
NOTES: Cohen theorizes that this started as two song, one about a tramp who can't find work, the other about a tramp thrown from a train and killed. As evidence he prints a version which lacks the dying tramp stanzas. This seems not unlikely, but until we find a version of the song with the tramp thrown from the train *without* the other part, there isn't much point in splitting. - RBW
File: R843
===
NAME: Tramp (III), The: see Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight? (File: R841)
===
NAME: Tramp Song, The: see Remember the Poor Tramp Has to Live (File: RcRtPTHL)
===
NAME: Tramp the Bushes of Australia: see True-Born Irish Man (With My Swag All on My Shoulder; The True-Born Native Man) (File: MA062)
===
NAME: Tramp, Tramp, Tramp, Keep On a-Tramping: see The Tramp (I) (File: San185)
===
NAME: Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!
DESCRIPTION: The prisoner cries as he recalls mother and home. He recalls the battle where he was taken. But then he recalls that the troops are coming, and cheers his fellows: "Tramp, tramp, tramp, the boys are marching, Cheer up comrades they will come...."
AUTHOR: George F. Root
EARLIEST_DATE: 1864
KEYWORDS: Civilwar prisoner freedom
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 214-217, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! or The Prisoner's Hope" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 86-87, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 347-348, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 66, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 588+, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!"
DT, TRMPTRMP*
ST RJ19214 (Full)
RECORDINGS:
S. H. Dudley, "Tramp Tramp Tramp" (Berliner 0157-Y, rec. 1898)
Frank J. Gaskin, "Tramp Tramp Tramp" (Berliner 0157-Z, rec. 1896)[
Arthur] Harlan & [Frank] Stanley, "Tramp, Tramp, Tramp" (Victor 5021, 1907) (CYL: Edison 9439, 1907) (CYL: Edison [BA] Special E [as Harlan & Stanley w. chorus], n.d.)
Frank C. Stanley, "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" (CYL: Edison 5002, c. 1898)
Unknown baritone "Tramp Tramp Tramp" (Berliner 0157, rec. before 1895)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Tramp (I)" (tune)
cf. "An Anti-Fenian Song" (tune)
cf. "The Bounty Jumper's Lament" (tune)
cf. "God Save Ireland" (tune)
cf. "The Salutation" (tune)
File: RJ19214
===
NAME: Tramp's Story, The
DESCRIPTION: The tramp asks to sit and rest. Tramps have to live, "though folks don't think we should."  He used to be a blacksmith. Then a stranger led his love Nellie astray. She died soon after he abandoned her. The tramp intends to find and punish the stranger
AUTHOR: Edward Harrigan?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930
KEYWORDS: hobo love abandonment betrayal death revenge
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 844, "The Tramp's Story" (1 text)
BrownIII 358, "Tale of a Tramp" (1 text)
Roud #7448
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Can I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight?" (plot)
cf. "The Lehigh Valley" (plot)
cf. "Remember the Poor Tramp Has to Live" (plot)
cf. "The Deserted Husband" (theme)
NOTES: This is a difficult conundrum: It is unquestionably related to "The Lehigh Valley," with which it shares a plot and occasional words. The question is, which is original?
The natural inclination, of course, is to think that "Lehigh Valley," which is more firmly traditional and, in its crude way more vigorous, is the source. And yet, "The Tramp's Story" is *so* much more feeble that it's hard to imagine "Lehigh Valley" being expurgated so far.
It is worth noting that Brown's version contains a reference to the Lehigh Valley.
Plus, this song adds the moralizing conclusion about the girl's death. It's really a bit thick -- as any half-decent songwriter would surely recognize. So I'm just not sure.
The original by Edward Hannigan is said to be from the 1882 play "Squatter Sovereignty."
Milburn prints no fewer than six songs on this theme. Obviously the plot proved popular. - RBW
File: R844
===
NAME: Tramps and Hawkers
DESCRIPTION: "Come a' ye tramps and hawker lads and gaitherers o' blaw... I'll tell tae ye a rovin' tale, an' places I hae been, Far up intae the snowy north or sooth by Gretna Green." The singer describes his travels, sights he has seen, worries he hasn't had
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (Greig-Duncan, according to Yates)
KEYWORDS: rambling
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Kennedy 358, "Tramps and Hawkers" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, HAWKRS*
Roud #1874
RECORDINGS:
Jimmy MacBeath, "Come All Ye Tramps And Hawkers" (on Lomax43, LomaxCD1743, Voice20)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Davy Faa (Remember the Barley Straw)" (tune)
cf. "Paddy West" (tune)
NOTES: This song is best known not for its banal lyrics but for its widely-recognized and used tune (also known as "Paddy West"). - RBW
Yates, Musical Traditions site _Voice of the People suite_ "Notes - Volume 20" - 15.1.04: "It was first collected from both James Angus and James Morrison in 1909 and appears in the Greig-Duncan Collection Vol 3 p.271." - BS
File: K358
===
NAME: Tranent Muir
DESCRIPTION: "The Chevalier, being void of fear, did march up Birslie brae, man," and prepares for battle against John Cope. The battle results in a complete win for the Jacobites. Many soldiers taking part in the battle are listed.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1797 (Scots Musical Museum #102)
KEYWORDS: Jacobites battle moniker humorous
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sept 21, 1745 - Battle of Prestonpans. Bonnie Prince Charlie's Highland army routs the first real Hannoverian force it encounters
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, TRANMUIR
SAME_TUNE:
Praelium Gillicrankianum (Scots Musical Museum, appendix to #102; a Latin piece along the same lines but apparently about Killiecrankie)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Battle of Prestonpans
NOTES: This has been recorded by Archie Fisher (on "The Fate o' Charlie," under the title "The Battle of Prestonpans"), so it's perhaps worth indexing.
Despite the quality of the source, I rather doubt it's traditional; I know no field recordings, and the only printed version is that in the _Scots Musical Museum_. Which is extremely long (15 8-line stanzas), and quite dull unless you're a Jacobite trying to recall all the officers at Prestonpans. Whoever chopped the song down to the length recorded by Fisher did everyone a favor.
On the other hand, the _Scots Musical Museum_ tune isn't the same as Fisher's, so maybe there has been some oral tradition in there somewhere.
Tranent, like Prestonpans, was a village near the battle site. I am unable to reconcile the information in Stuart Reid's _1745: A Military History of the Last Jacobite Rising_, pp. 29-34, with the map on p. 103 of Clennell Wilkinson's _Bonnie Prince Charlie_ except on the assumption that Wilkinson's map is printed with north and south reversed, but it appears Tranent was south of the battlefield -- actually closer to the field as the crow flies than is Prestonpans on the coast, but separated from the battle site by a large marsh which somewhat restricted maneuver. The Jacobite forces passed through Tranent, in effect using it as a path to Cope's rear; the marshes would have prevented Cope from taking them in flank even had he been alert enough to do so. Thus the name "Tranent" is in some ways more suitable than "Prestonpans."
For more details on Prestonpans, see the notes to "Johnnie Cope." - RBW
File: DTtranmu
===
NAME: Traveling Coon: see Traveling Man (Traveling Coon) (File: RcTMTC)
===
NAME: Traveling Man (Traveling Coon)
DESCRIPTION: Protagonist, a trickster, makes his living stealing chickens/money; he's arrested, shot, sent home for burial, but escapes his coffin, etc. Cho: "He was a travelin' man, certainly was a travelin' man/Travelin'est coon that ever come through the land..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1919 (Brown)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: The protagonist is a trickster who makes his living stealing chickens and money; he's arrested, shot, and sent home for burial, but escapes from his coffin; he sails on the Titanic, but when it sinks he's found shooting dice in Liverpool. Carrying water ten miles from a spring, he stumbles, but runs home for another bucket and catches the water before it hits the ground. Chorus: "He was a travelin' man, certainly was a travelin' man/Travelin'est coon that ever come through the land...."
KEYWORDS: rambling travel crime theft punishment resurrection burial death gambling ship wreck England humorous talltale thief
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 428, "The Traveling Coon" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
Roud #11771
RECORDINGS:
Smilie Burnett, "He Was a Travelling Man" (Perfect 13011/Melotone 13046, 1934)
Virgil Childers, "Traveling Man" (Bluebird B-7487, 1938)
Sid Harkreader, "Travelling Coon" (Paramount 3101, 1928)
Tony Hollins, "Traveling Man Blues" (OKeh 06523, 1941)
Prince Albert Hunt's Texas Ramblers, "Travelling Man" (OKeh 45446, 1930; rec. 1928)
Jim Jackson, "Traveling Man" (Victor V-38617, 1930; rec. 1928)
Coley Jones, "Traveling Man" (Columbia 14288-D, 1928; rec. 1927)
Luke Jordan, "Traveling Coon" (Victor 20957, 1927)
Charlie & Bud Newman, "The Old Travelling Man" (OKeh 45431, 1930)
Phineas [or 'Finious'] "Flat Foot" Rockmore, "Traveling Man" (AFS 3988 B1, 1940; on LomaxCD1821-2)
Dock Walsh, "Travelling Man" (Columbia 15105-D, 1926)
Washboard Sam, "Traveling Man" (Bluebird B-8761, 1941)
Henry Whitter, "Travelling Man" (OKeh 40237, 1924)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Didn't He Ramble" (lyrics)
NOTES: This was the theme song of the East Coast medicine show singer Pink Anderson. - PJS
The oldest version, in the Brown collection, bears an interesting relation to "Didn't He Ramble"; in this text, the chorus runs, "Well, he travelled and was known for miles around, And he didn't get enough, he didn't get enough Till the police shot him down." - RBW
File: RcTMTC
===
NAME: Traveling Shoes
DESCRIPTION: Death comes to the door of the sinner, the gambler, the Christian, etc., asking if they are "ready to go." The sinner says, "I'm not ready to go; I ain't (got/put on) my travelin' shoes." The Christian, by contrast, is ready and eager to go
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (recording, Selah Jubilee Quartet)
KEYWORDS: religious death
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, p. 70, "(Got No Travellin' Shoes)" (1 text); p. 233, "Traveling Shoes" (1 tune, partial text)
Roud #10968
RECORDINGS:
Selah Jubilee Quartet, "Traveling Shoes" (Decca 7628, 1939)
Vera Hall Ward, "Travelling Shoes" (on NFMAla5)
File: CNFM070A
===
NAME: Travelling Candyman, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer Pat O'Flanagan sails to Glasgow, can't find work, so becomes a "candyman" -- a rag dealer. A woman accuses him of stealing her frock from the line; he denies it, and she hits him. Chorus: "For I take in old iron/I take in old bones and rags..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1954 (recorded from Jennie Davison)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer, Pat O'Flanagan, sails from Belfast to Glasgow, can't find work, so as a last resort becomes a "candyman" -- a rag dealer. A woman accuses him of stealing her frock from the line; he denies it, and she hits him. Chorus: "For I take in old iron/I take in old bones and rags...My name is Pat O'Flanagan/I'm a travelling candyman"
KEYWORDS: poverty accusation violence rambling travel theft clothes commerce work worker Gypsy migrant
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 359, "The Travelling Candyman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2163
RECORDINGS:
"Rich" Johnny Connors, "Rambling Candyman" (on IRTravellers01)
NOTES: Not to be confused with the American blues song "Candy Man." While ragpicking was usually considered to be a last resort among Travellers, in fact several seem to have made considerable fortunes at the trade. - PJS
The version on IRTravellers01, "made and sung by 'Rich' Johnny Connors," describes an event that happened to the singer. Instead of the frock episode, his episode is about an old man who tried to sell him a sack weighted with "bricks you could plainly see" with which he could not fool "any rambling candy man." - BS
File: K359
===
NAME: Travelling Down the Castlereagh: see The Castlereagh River (File: MA045)
===
NAME: Treadmill, The
DESCRIPTION: "The stars are rolling in the sky, The earth rolls on below, And we can feel the rattling wheel Revolving as we go." The singer urges others to take their turns at the treadmill, and praises the pleasures of life among the mill workers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1892 (Trifet's Budget of Music)
KEYWORDS: work technology
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 497, "The Treadmill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7587
File: R497
===
NAME: Treat My Daughter Kindly (The Little Farm)
DESCRIPTION: The singer meets and falls in love with a girl. Her father asks him to "Treat my daughter kindly, never do her harm. When I die I'll leave you my little house and farm." The two are happily married and live a contented life
AUTHOR:  James Bland
EARLIEST_DATE: 1878 (sheet music for "The Farmer's Daughter, or The Little Chickens in the Garden" published)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage father
FOUND_IN: US(MW,NE,SE,So) Britain(England) Ireland
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Gardner/Chickering 119, "I Once Did Know a Farmer" (1 text plus an excerpt)
Randolph 668, "The Little Chickens in the Garden" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
BrownII 175, "The Farmer's Daughter" (1 text)
Warner 77, "Treat My Daughter Kindly (or, The Little Farm)" (1 text)
McBride 68, "Treat My Daughter Kindly" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST R668 (Partial)
Roud #2552
RECORDINGS:
Riley Puckett, "Farmer's Daughter" (Columbia 15686-D, 1931; rec. 1928)
Arthur Smith Trio, "The Farmer's Daughter" (Bluebird B-7893, 1938)
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(62a), "The Chickens in the Garden," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890
File: R668
===
NAME: Tree in Paradise: see All My Trials (and others) (File: FSWB359B)
===
NAME: Tree in the Wood (I), The: see The Rattling Bog (File: ShH98)
===
NAME: Tree in the Wood (II), The: see Little Bird (File: Fus089)
===
NAME: Tree of Liberty, The
DESCRIPTION: "Sons of Hibernia, attend to my song, Of a tree call'd th' Orange." Barbarians and Frenchmen are joined against the tree. "Hundreds they've burn'd of each sex, young and old". Exit Sheares and other traitors. "Derry down, down, traitors bow down"
AUTHOR: "by J.B. Esqu, of Lodge No. 471" (Source: Zimmermann)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1798 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: rebellion execution Ireland patriotic
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann 95, "The Tree of Liberty" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Brothers John and Henry Sheares" (subject of the Sheares Brothers)
cf. "Croppies Lie Down (I/II)" (tune)
NOTES: Zimmermann: "John and Henry Sheares, who were United Irishmen -- and Protestants --, were hanged in Dublin in July 1798." - BS
Very many leaders of the 1798 -- including Wolfe Tone -- were in fact Protestant; they had the education and the income to be in position to form such conspiracies. And Ireland was not yet so polarized over religion as it later became; as Robert Kee points out (see _The Most Distressful Country_, being Volume I of _The Green Flag_, p. 99):
"This whole system of torture [and repression of the rebellion] was being carried out on the Irish population largely by Irish soldiers, a great proportion of them Catholics of the poorest class in the milition, who were ready enough to do their duty against their fellow-countrymen as unworthy rebels. Of all the troops available for the government in Ireland before and during the coming rebellion, over four-fifths were Irish."
The Sheares brothers were lawyers (Kee, p. 54), who succeeded to high places in the United Irish leadership after the arrests of the initial leadership council in March 1798. They themselves were in custody on May 21 (Kee, pp. 100-101). Thus they played no real part in the rebellion, but they were hung as what we might call accessories before the fact.
In any case, they don't seem to have been very well equipped for their role; Thomas Pakenham, _The Year of Liberty_, p. 59, says they were "hardly the stuff to lead a revolutionary army," and they were far too trusting, bringing an informant into their confidence based simply on his taste in literature (p. 78). Maybe it was because John Sheares, at least, was given to bombast himself; Pakenham (p. 96) prints a proclamation he was found to have written at the time of his arrest, and it's way over the top. - RBW
File: Zimm095
===
NAME: Tree Toad, The
DESCRIPTION: "A tree toad loved a she toad... She was a three-toed tree toad, A two-toed tree toad he." The male toad courts the female because she lives in a beautiful tree. But "He couldn't please her whim... The she toad vetoed him."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1987
KEYWORDS: animal wordplay love recitation
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, p. 169, "The Tree Toad" (1 text)
File: MCB169
===
NAME: Tree, The: see The Rattling Bog (File: ShH98)
===
NAME: Trees So High, The: see A-Growing (He's Young But He's Daily A-Growing) [Laws O35] (File: LO35)
===
NAME: Trees They Do Be High, The: see A-Growing (He's Young But He's Daily A-Growing) [Laws O35] (File: LO35)
===
NAME: Trees They Do Grow High, The: see A-Growing (He's Young But He's Daily A-Growing) [Laws O35] (File: LO35)
===
NAME: Trees They Grow So High, The: see A-Growing (He's Young But He's Daily A-Growing) [Laws O35] (File: LO35)
===
NAME: Trenton Town: see The Farmer and the Shanty Boy (File: Wa033)
===
NAME: Trifling Woman
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, Lord, I been working like a dog all day, Just to make another dollar for you to throw away." The husband (?) complains of his wife's profligacy; she won't cook or work, but wants fine clothes to look good in. He wishes she would leave or he would die
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: clothes husband wife poverty work
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Warner 136, "Trifling Woman" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa136 (Partial)
Roud #4626
File: Wa136
===
NAME: Trimble's Crew
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, it's of a pair of jobbers who had a jolly time All in some old log shanty where the jobbers settle down." A disjointed song describing the work in Trimble's camp and how hard the life is: "A man who'd work for Trimble might better be in jail."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: logger lumbering work hardtimes
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke-Lumbering #8, "Trimble's Crew" (1 text, tune referenced)
ST FowL08 (Partial)
Roud #4467
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lumber Camp Song" (theme, tune)
File: FowL08
===
NAME: Trinity Bay Tragedy
DESCRIPTION: The small boats out sealing in Trinity Bay on February 27, 1892, are caught in wind and sleet. Some make shore at Heart's Delight the next morning but most freeze to death.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Leach-Labrador)
KEYWORDS: death fishing sea storm
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Feb 28, 1892 - the Trinity Bay tragedy
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Leach-Labrador 71, "Trinity Bay Tragedy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ryan/Small, pp. 37-38, "Trinity Bay Tragedy" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LLab071 (Partial)
Roud #9983
NOTES: Leach-Labrador reprints a detailed account from D. W. Prowse _History of Newfoundland_ (London, 1896), p. 520.
Heart's Delight is on the northwest corner of the Avalon Peninsula, which is separated from the main body of Newfoundland by Trinity Bay - BS
The extent of this disaster is somewhat unclear. The Northern Shipwrecks Database says 250 men perished. Prowse's account, as cited by Leach, lists a much smaller total: 215 men out sealing, most of whom survived; 24 froze or otherwise died of exposure. - RBW
File: LLab071
===
NAME: Trinity Cake
DESCRIPTION: "As I leaned o'er the rail of the Eagle The letter boy brought unto me A little gilt edged invitation Saying the girls want you over to tea" for "a slice of the Trinity Cake." Everyone tries the inedible cake and "all of them swore they were poisoned"
AUTHOR: Johnny Burke
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: party food humorous moniker nonballad talltale
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Doyle3, p. 62, "Trinity Cake" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7314
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Trinity Cake" (on NFOBlondahl05)
NOTES: According to GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador site the author died in 1930. - BS
File: Doyl3062
===
NAME: Trip on the Erie, A (Haul in Your Bowline)
DESCRIPTION: "You can talk about your picnics and trips on the lake, / But a trip on the Erie you bet takes the cake!" A summary of life on the Erie canal, ending with comments about the cook: "A dumpling, a pet, / And we use her for a headlight at night on the deck!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937
KEYWORDS: cook canal
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1825 - Erie Canal opens (construction began in 1817)
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
FSCatskills 94, "Haul in Your Bowline" (1 text+fragments, 1 tune)
Warner 35, "A Trip on the Erie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 455-457, "Ballad of the Erie Canal" (1 text, composite and probably containing stanzas from other Erie Canal songs); pp. 459-463, "The Erie Canal Ballad" (8 texts, some fragmentary, most of which belong here though at least one is "The E-ri-e"); pp. 465-466, "A Trip on the Erie" (1 text)
DT, TRIPERIE*
Roud #6555
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The E-ri-e" (theme) and references there
cf. "The Erie Canal"
NOTES: The Erie Canal, as originally constructed, was a small, shallow channel which could only take barges. These vessels -- if such they could be called -- were normally hauled along by mules.
The Lomaxes, in _American Ballad and Folk Songs_, thoroughly mingled many texts of the Erie Canal songs (in fairness, some of this may have been the work of their informants -- but in any case the Lomaxes did not help the problem). One should check all the Erie Canal songs for related stanzas. - RBW
File: Wa035
===
NAME: Trip Over the Mountain, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer comes to his girlfriend's door at midnight. He asks if she will come with him over the mountain. (After some hesitation,) she consents; they sneak off while her parents are still asleep. She never regrets her decision
AUTHOR: Hugh McWilliams (source: Moulden-McWilliams)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1831 (according to Moulden-McWilliams)
KEYWORDS: courting elopement
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
SHenry H161a+b, pp. 459-460, "I'm from over the Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 27-28, "The Trip We Took Over the Mountain" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: John Moulden, Songs of Hugh McWilliams, Schoolmaster, 1831 (Portrush,1993), p. 9, "The Trip o'er the Mountain"
Roud #9632
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2794), "The Truelover's Trip O'er the Mountain" ("One night as the moon illumined the sky"), H. Such (London),1863-1885; also Firth c.18(281), 2806 c.15(129), Harding B 19(92), 2806 b.9(262), "The Truelover's Trip O'er the Mountain"; Firth c.14(377), Harding B 17(319a), "Trip O'er the Mountain"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Come With Me Over the Mountain
NOTES: The Bodleian broadsides do not agree on some interesting details. She says, in considering elopement, that "it might be attended with danger": her friends or parents would frown. Then, what happened after the trip over the mountain to "the alter of Hymen"?
So now in contentment we spend the long day,
Tho' the anger of marriage was soon blown away,
We oftimes chat when we've little to say,
On the trip we took over the mountain. [Harding B 11(2794), Firth c.18(281), 2806 c.15(129), Harding B 19(92), 2806 b.9(262)]
or
The danger of marriage was soon blown to an end,
And often times talk when with a friend. [Firth c.14(377)]
or
And the pleasure of it is not soon stole away; [Harding B 17(319a)]
but
The anger of parents it soon wore away [Tunney-SongsThunder]
Moulden-McWilliams' original has "the anger of marriage...." and, quoting a local source, speculates "that McWilliams' wife married without parental blessing...." - BS
File: HHH161
===
NAME: Trip to the Grand Banks, A
DESCRIPTION: When spring comes, "The Penobscot boys are anxious their money for to earn." They set out for the Grand Banks and send out their dories. They persist through summer, despite bad conditions; at last they get to head for home
AUTHOR: Amos Hanson ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932
KEYWORDS: ship fishing work
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Doerflinger, pp. 179-180, "A Trip to the Grand Banks" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9430
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Off to the Grand Banks" (on NFOBlondahl04)
NOTES: Blondahl04 has no liner notes confirming that this song was collected in Newfoundland. Barring another report for Newfoundland I do not assume it has been found there. There is no entry for "A Trip to the Grand Banks" in _Newfoundland Songs and Ballads in Print 1842-1974 A Title and First-Line Index_ by Paul Mercer. - BS
File: Doe179
===
NAME: Triplett Tragedy, The
DESCRIPTION: On Christmas the Triplett brothers are drinking Marshall Triplett's wife tries to stop a fight, but Lum Triplett stabs him to death. Lum meets Marshall's son Gran and confesses. Gran beats him; he dies. Gran is  sentenced to 18 months on the chain gang.
AUTHOR: Lyrics: Ed Miller/tune: traditional
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 (recorded by Sophronie Miller)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: On Christmas the Triplett brothers are drinking together when a fight breaks out. Marshall Triplett's wife tries to stop them, but Lum Triplett stabs him to death. Lum goes away, intending to surrender, but he meets Marshall's son Gran, a deputy, and confesses the murder. Gran beats him severely and takes him to jail, where his injuries become inflamed and he dies. The brothers are buried together; Gran is arrested and sentenced to 18 months on the chain gang. Listeners are warned about the perils of drink
KEYWORDS: fight violence abuse crime murder law prison punishment revenge death drink brother family
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Dec. 25, 1909: Marshall Triplett of Elk, NC is stabbed to death by his brother, Columbus (Lum) Triplett during a fight over whiskey. Lum attempts to surrender to Marshall's son Granville, a deputy; despite Lum's pleas for mercy and refusal to fight back, Granville beats and kicks him and takes him to the jail at Boone, where he dies, either as a result of his injuries or possibly from a heart attack.
Mar. 20, 1910: After Sophronie Triplett, Lum's widow, testifies that her husband was subject to heart trouble, which might have caused his death rather than the beating, Granville Triplett is sentenced to 18 months on the chain gang; he seems to have served only 3 months of his sentence.
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Sophronie Miller, "The Triplett Tragedy" (on Watson01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
 cf. "Claude Allen" (tune)
NOTES: The singer, Sophronie Miller, was the widow of Columbus Triplett; this is the only ballad of which I'm aware that was verifiably collected from one of the principals in the story it relates. - PJS
I don't know if this is the Ed(ward B.) Miller who is also credited with "The Rich Man and Lazarus," but time and place make it possible. - RBW
File: RcTripTra
===
NAME: Tripping Over the Lea [Laws P19]
DESCRIPTION: The singer sees a pretty girl on a (May) morning. (Even though she is very young,) he seduces her, then tells her he has no interest in marriage. She is left alone to await the birth of her baby.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1839 (Scots Musical Museum)
KEYWORDS: seduction pregnancy abandonment age
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Laws P19, "Tripping Over the Lea"
SHenry H794, pp. 385-386, "Under the Shade of a Bonny Green Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-More 10, "The Bonny Green Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
McBride 12, "The Bonnie Green Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 69, "The Bonnie Green Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 501, AEMAYMRN
Roud #2512
RECORDINGS:
Louis Killen, "One May Morning" (on BirdBush2)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Willie Archer (The Banks of the Bann)" (plot)
File: LP19
===
NAME: Trois Mois d'Campagne (Three Months in the Country)
DESCRIPTION: French. Three months in the country, I'll never do more. My wife is drunk and I have more to drink. Chorus: "P'tits pois, p'tits pois fayot, c'est la musique, sique, sique, c'est la musique tchqu'emploi" meaning "Peas, bean peas, the music of work"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage drink food humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, p. 799, "Trois Mois d'Campagne" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Pea799
===
NAME: Trois Navires de Ble (Three Wheat Ships)
DESCRIPTION: French. Three wheat ships are blown to land. The youngest daughter of the king asks a sailor the price of wheat. She asks him to give up sailing and play here with her. She says she hears her children crying. He says she has no children yet.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1972 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage courting bargaining sea ship shore storm sailor food
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 111, "Trois Navires de Ble" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: LeBe111
===
NAME: Trooper and Maid [Child 299]
DESCRIPTION: A trooper comes to a girl's door and convinces her to sleep with him. In the morning he is called to the colors; she follows and begs him to return or let her come with him. He will not let her come and will not promise to return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
KEYWORDS: courting soldier abandonment
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(West),Scotland(Aber,Bord,High)) Ireland Canada US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (16 citations)
Child 299, "Trooper and Maid" (4 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
Bronson 299, "Trooper and Maid" (27 versions)
SharpAp 45, "The Trooper and the Maid" (3 short texts, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #11, #12, #10}
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 371-373, "The Trooper and the Maid" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14}
Randolph 41, "A Soldier Rode From the East to the West" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #8}
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 209-212, "A Soldier Rode" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Davis-Ballads 51, "Trooper and Maid" (2 texts, 1 tune entitled "The Trooper and Maid") {Bronson's #16}
Davis-More 46, pp. 356-360, "Trooper and Maid" (1 fragment, probably this but short enough that it might be something else)
BrownII 49, "Trooper and Maid" (1 text)
Brewster 27, "Trooper and Maid" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #9}
Leach, pp. 684-686, "The Trooper and Maid" (1 text)
Kennedy 121, "As I Roved Out" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 365-366, "The Trumpet Sounds at Burreldales; or, The Trooper and the Maid" (1 short text)
Niles 65, "Trooper and Maid" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Silber-FSWB, p. 161, "The Trooper And The Maid" (1 text)
DT 299, TROOPRMD (TROOPRM2*) LGHTDRAG
Roud #162
RECORDINGS:
Harry List, "The Light Drag'on" (on FSB2, FSB2CD)
Dillard Chandler, "The Soldier Traveling from the North" (on OldLove)
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "The Trooper and the Maid" (on SCMacCollSeeger01) {the text is Bronson's #18, but the tune is different}
Jimmy McBeath, "The Trooper and the Maid" (on FSB5 [as "The Trooper Lad"], FSBBAL2) {Bronson's #17}
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Love My Love (I) (As I Cam' Owre Yon High High Hill)" (lyrics)
cf. "Ung Sjoman Forlustar Sig, En (A Young Seaman Enjoys Himself)" (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Trooper and the Maid
The Bugle Britches
The Bugle Boy
The Soldier and His Lady
The Soldier Travelling From the North
NOTES: Randolph's are the first bawdy versions of the venerable ballad to see the light of print. - EC
Many versions of this have mixed with the "Seventeen Come Sunday" [Laws O17], the result may be known as "As I Roved Out" (so, e.g., the version in Kennedy), and you should probably check the references under both songs. It is often difficult to decide where to file such a piece (indeed, I managed to file the Kennedy text under both songs!). - RBW
Verse 3 of Child 299.B and verse 9 of Child 299.D is close to Opie-Oxford2 180, "Wine and cakes for gentlemen" (earliest date in Opie-Oxford2 is 1898)
Child 299.D: "Bread and cheese for gentlemen, An corn and hay for horses, Pipes and tobacco for auld wives, And bonnie lads for lasses." [For this see also Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #173, p. 127, ("Cheese and bread for gentlemen") -- though they describe it as "a fragment of a harvest song." - RBW]
Opie-Oxford2 180: "Wine and cakes for gentlemen, Hay and corn for horses, A cup of ale for good old wives, And kisses for young lasses." - BS
File: C299
===
NAME: Trooper and the Tailor, The
DESCRIPTION: The trooper is away on duty, so his wife goes to bed with the tailor. When their business is done, they go to sleep. When the trooper shows up, the tailor hides in a cabinet. The chilly trooper wants to burn the cabinet, and finds the hidden tailor.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1889
KEYWORDS: infidelity husband wife soldier humorous hiding
FOUND_IN: US(MA) Britain(England(South,Lond)) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
FSCatskills 139, "The Trooper and the Tailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 270-271, "The Trooper" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 200, "The Game-Cock" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 243-248, "The Bold Trooper" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Leach-Labrador 116, "Tiddy, the Tailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
PBB 86, "The Bold Trooper" (1 text)
DT, TRPRTAIL*
Roud #311
RECORDINGS:
Nora Cleary, "The Bold Trooper" (on Voice06)
Harry Cox, "The Groggy Old Tailor" (on HCox01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.17(414), "Tailor and Trooper," unknown, n.d.
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Boatsman and the Chest" [Laws Q8] (plot) and references there
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Cropped Tailor
NOTES: This and similar songs are sometimes traced back to a story in Boccaccio (seventh day, second story: Gianella, Peronella, and her husband). But the story is really one of the basic themes of folktale, and doubtless predates Boccaccio as well as these songs. - RBW
File: FSC139
===
NAME: Trooper and the Turk, The: see John Thomson and the Turk [Child 266] (File: C266)
===
NAME: Trooper Cut Down in His Prime, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer sees a trooper "wrapped up in flannel yet colder than clay." He dies as "the bugles were playin'," and details of the burial are given. His gravestone warns, "Flash-girls of the city have quite ruined me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1979
KEYWORDS: death disease whore burial funeral soldier
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Darling-NAS, p. 6, "The Trooper Cut Down In His Prime" (1 text)
Roud #2
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Streets of Laredo" [Laws B1] (tune & meter, plot) and references there
cf. "The Unfortunate Rake" (tune & meter, plot)
cf. "The Bad Girl's Lament (St. James' Hospital; The Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime)" [Laws Q26] (tune & meter, plot)
cf. "The Sailor Cut Down in His Prime" (tune & meter, plot)
NOTES: One of the large group of ballads ("The Bard of Armagh," "Saint James Hospital," "The Streets of Laredo") ultimately derived from "The Unfortunate Rake." All use the same or similar tunes and meter, and all involve a person dying as a result of a wild life, but the nature of the tragedy varies according to local circumstances. - RBW
File: DarNS006
===
NAME: Trooper Watering His Nag, The
DESCRIPTION: Euphemistically, a man and a woman describe their sexual organs as a horse (pony) and a fountain. The horse drinks at the fountain, "An' I reckon you know what I mean."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1707 (Pills to Purge Melancholy)
KEYWORDS: bawdy sex
FOUND_IN: Canada Britain(England) US(MA,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 44-52, "The Trooper Watering His Nag" (9 texts, 2 tunes)
Gilbert, p. 71, "You Know Very Well What I Mean" (1 partial text)
DT, TROOPNAG* TRPHORSE*
Roud #1613
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Shoemaker's Kiss" (chorus lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
I Reckon You Know What I Mean
File: RL044
===
NAME: Trooper, The: see The Trooper and the Tailor (File: FSC139)
===
NAME: Trouble for the Range Cook (The Chuck Wagon's Stuck)
DESCRIPTION: "Come wrangle your broncos and saddle them quick, For the chuck wagon's boggin' down there by the crick." The riders make every effort to free the wagon, for "There's nothing to eat when the chuck wagon's mired."
AUTHOR: Earl Alonzo Brinistool
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914
KEYWORDS: cowboy food disaster cook
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ohrlin-HBT 98, "The Chuck Wagon's Stuck" (1 text, 1 tune)
Saffel-CowboyP, p. 114, "Trouble For The Range Cook" (1 text)
File: Ohr098
===
NAME: Trouble in Mind
DESCRIPTION: "Troubled in mind, I'm blue, but I won't be blue always; The sun's gonna shine in my back do' some day." "I'm gonna lay my head on some lonesome railroad line...." "I love all you pretty women, I love you all the same...."
AUTHOR: Richard Jones
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: courting hardtimes floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-FSNA 313, "Troubled in Mind" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Bertha "Chippie" Hill, "Trouble in Mind" (OKeh 8312, 1926/Conqueror 8937, 1937; Vocalion 04379, 1938) (Circle J-1003, n.d.) (Vocalion 1248, 1929)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Trouble in Mind" (on Holcomb-Ward1, HolcombCD1)
Karl Jones, "Trouble in Mind" (Mercury 2002, 1945)
R. M. Jones: "Trouble in Mind" (Bluebird B-6569, 1936; Bluebird B-6963, 1937)
Lone Star Cowboys, "Trouble in Mind" (Decca 5340, 1937)
Jane Lucas [pseud. for Victoria Spivey] "Trouble in Mind" (Vocalion 03346, 1936)
Lucky Millinder & his Orch.; Rosetta Tharpe, vocalist, "Trouble in Mind" (Decca 48053, rec. 1941)
Jesse Rodgers, "Troubled in Mind and Blue" (Bluebird B-6924, 1937)
Georgia White, "Trouble in Mind" (Decca 7192, 1936), "Trouble in Mind Swing" (Decca 7521, 1938)
Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys, "Trouble in Mind" (Vocalion 03343, 1936; Columbia 20109, n.d.; Conqueror 9041, 1938; Columbia 37306, 1947)
SAME_TUNE:
Jack & Lesllie, "Trouble in Mind #3" (Decca 5561, 1938)
Shelton Brothers, "New Trouble in Mind" (Decca 5339, 1937)
Georgia White, "New Trouble in Mind" (Decca 7332, 1937)
File: LoF313
===
NAME: Troubled in Mind: see Trouble in Mind (File: LoF313)
===
NAME: Troubled In My Mind
DESCRIPTION: "I'm troubled (x3) in my mind; If (trouble doesn't kill me, I'll live a long long time.") Remainder is mostly floating verses: "My cheeks were as red as the red blooming rose." "I'll build me a cabin on the mountain so high." "I'm sad and I'm lonely."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: nonballad loneliness floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 102, "I'm Troubled" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 98-99, "I'm Troubled In Mind"
BrownIII 290, "Troubled in Mind" (2 texts); also 250, "The Wagoner's Lad" (3 texts plus 3 fragments; the texts "A"-"C" are "The Wagoner's Lad," and "D" has an associated verse, but "E" and "F" are fragments of a love song, perhaps "Farewell, Charming Nancy" or "Omie Wise," both of which have similar lyrics; "D" also shares this single verse, and "E" adds a "Troubled in Mind" chorus); also 443, "I Had a Banjo Made of Gold," a fragment of this song or something related)
Roud #12091
RECORDINGS:
Blue Sky Boys, "I'm Troubled, I'm Troubled" (Bluebird B-6538, 1936)
Rufus Crisp, "Trouble on my Mind"  (on Crisp01)
Doc Watson & Arnold Watson, "I'm Troubled, I'm Troubled" (on Watson01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I'm Sad and I'm Lonely" (floating verses)
cf. "Going Across the Sea" (floating verses)
cf. "I Wish That Girl Was Mine" (theme, floating lyrics)
NOTES: Other than the tune, and perhaps the first verse, the Lomax text seems to be composed entirely of floating verses from songs such as "The Wagoner's Lad (On Top of Old Smokey)" and "The Cuckoo." But it has so many floating lyrics that it can hardly be associated with any particular song. (Plus Paul Stamler tells me it's quite similar to Rufus Crisp's version.) And the Brown texts, of impeccable ancestry, is also composed mostly of floating material. - RBW
File: LoF102
===
NAME: Troubled Soldier, The: see The Rebel Soldier (File: R246)
===
NAME: Troubles, The
DESCRIPTION: Orange and Green fight. "Corney" ended the terror; Humbert ended peace. "Orange for Croppies went grousing." "Paddies completely divided" let John Bull adopt Union: "I'll take from them Commons and Peers" leaving "shackles and chains to the slave"
AUTHOR: James Hope (?-1847) (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1887 (Madden's _Literary Remains of the United Irishmen of 1798_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: rebellion Ireland nonballad political
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May-June 1798 - Irish rebellion against British rule
June 1798-March 1801 - Cornwallis is Viceroy of Ireland after the uprising (source: "Charles Cornwallis" at the site of the Grand [Masonic] Lodge of British Columbia and Yukon)
August-September 1798 - A French force under General Jean-Joseph-Amable Humbert lands in Ireland and is defeated.
January 1801 - Act of Union of Ireland and Great Britain
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 148, "The Troubles" (1 text)
NOTES: "This piece ... was written by Jemmy Hope, one of the Northern United Irish leaders. Hope survived the rising and died in 1847."
The ballad makes a hero of Cornwallis as viceroy and commander-in-chief sent to Ireland to keep the peace after the 1798 uprising. Then it blames the Orangemen for the revival of terror after Humbert's defeat. After discussing Union it retells Aesop's fable in which a fox [England] steals the prize [Ireland] for which a lion and bear [Orange and Green] fight. It ends with a sarcastic tribute to "our gracious good monarch ... And also our free Constitution, And shackles and chains to the slave." - BS
Lord Lieutenant Camden, who was in charge in Ireland when the 1798 rebellion started -- and he had no idea what to do. The British came up with a typically bad compromise: They put the dreadful General Lake in charge of the army, but appointed Cornwallis to be Lord Lieutenant.
Despite his failure in America, Cornwallis had done good service in the fifteen years prior to his appointment; he had spent six years in India, and had demonstrated (and would demonstrate again in Ireland) that he had none of the self-importance of the typical British politician (see Thomas Pakenham, _The Year of Liberty_, pp. 263-264).
Cornwallis was clearly more humane than most of the alternatives. Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry, in _A History of Ireland_, p. 206, write that "He overrode Lake: troops were certainly not to be let loose on the countryside and there would be no punishment without trial."
He also issued written pardons (called "Cornys") to rank and file rebels who surrendered quickly (see Robert Kee, _The Most Distressful Country_, being Volume I of _The Green Flag_, p. 123)
When Humbert invaded, Cornwallis organized the pursuit that captured him (Fry/Fry, p. 207; Kee, p. 140).
Cornwallis and his secretary Lord Castlereigh also helped arrange the Act of Union, but this was based on Orders From On High; for himself, Terry Golway (_For the Cause of Liberty_, p. 90; also Kee, p. 159) quotes his statement, "I despise and hate myself for every hour engaging in such work." But he and (especially) Castlereigh bought enough peers to eventually pass Union (Fry/Fry, p. 211).
The religious conflicts in Ulster to which this song refers actually began even before 1798; see such songs about the Defenders, the Peep o' Day Boys, and the Orangemen as "The Noble Ribbon Boys," "Bold McDermott Roe," "The Boys of Wexford," and "Lisnagade."
Most of the sources I checked do not mention James Hope, but he is all over the pages of Jim Smyth's _The Men of No Property_. He is said (p. 30) to have had only 15 weeks of formal schooling. In 1796, he travelled from Belfast to Dublin to spread the United Irish messaage (p. 152), and also visited Armagh, Monaghan, Cavan, and Leitrim (p.158) to bring the Defenders into the United framework. After the arrests of 1796-1797 he became one of the few remaining United Irish leaders coordinating the activities of the various local chapters (p. 160); perhaps his travels made him harder to catch. It appears that Smyth regards him as a radical inclined toward socialism (p. 165).
The _Oxford Companion to Irish History_ lists Hope's birth date as 1764, and says hewrote his memoris in 1843; they were published in 1846. It does not know his death date; it appears that Moylan's date is a conjecture from the fact that Hope was still alive when the memoirs were published, but made little further impression. - RBW
File: Moyl148
===
NAME: True and Trembling Brakeman, The: see The Dying Mine Brakeman (The True and Trembling Brakeman) [Laws G11] (File: LG11)
===
NAME: True Love: see Oxford City [Laws P30] (File: LP30)
===
NAME: True Love from the Eastern Shore
DESCRIPTION: Singer tells sweetheart who spurned him/her that s/he "would not serve you as you served me." Singer plans to mourn and weep, and tells sweetheart to grieve over his/her tombstone. (Singer vows to "court the girl, the old lady ain't in")
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection death mourning burial lover
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SharpAp 187, "True Love from the Eastern Shore" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #3610
NOTES: Sharp's "A" version doesn't define the sex of the singer or sweetheart. The "B" version is a fragment, which doesn't really overlap the "A" version; Sharp may have been using this as a catchall. - PJS
File: ShAp2187
===
NAME: True Lover of Mine, A: see The Elfin Knight [Child 2] (File: C002)
===
NAME: True Lover's Farewell (II): see My Dearest Dear (File: SKE40)
===
NAME: True Lover's Farewell, The: see Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot (plus related references, e.g. The Lass of Roch Royal [Child 76]) (File: C076A)
===
NAME: True Lovers' Departure, The: see The Noble Duke [Laws N15] (File: LN15)
===
NAME: True Lovers' Discoursion, The: see The Two Lovers' Discussion (U) (File: HHH164)
===
NAME: True Lovers' Discussion (I), The
DESCRIPTION: The boy asks the girl why she has changed her mind about him. She explains. He offers counter-arguments, elaborately reasoned. They quarrel. He prepares to leave her. She grows sad and begs him to stay. 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (O'Conor); before 1900 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 19(102))
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection accusation
FOUND_IN: Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
SHenry H164, pp. 362-364, "The True Lovers' Discussion" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 39B, "The True Lovers' Discoursion" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 96, "The True Lovers' Discussion" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, pp. 77-79, "The True Lover's Discussion" (1 text)
ST HHH164 (Partial)
Roud #2948
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 19(102), "The True Lover's Discussion," J.F. Nugent & Co. (Dublin), 1850-1899; also 2806 b.9(228)[some words illegible], 2806 c.15(65), 2806 c.15(43)[many illegible words], "[The] True Lover's Discussion"
NOTES: The notes to Sam Henry credit it to a "schoolteacher M'Kittrick," at a date before 1860, and it certainly seems likely enough that it is composed. But I cannot prove the authorship.
The notes to Henry/Huntington/Herrmann list several other versions of this song, so I suppose it must have had some oral currency. But I can't believe it really had much popularity (despite Sam Henry's claims that he had many requests). It is dense, talkative, repetitive, foolish, and *long* (18 8-line stanzas in the Henry text, 20 8-line stanzas in Creighton and in Manny/Wilson). It is also much too fond of elaborate words to be a good folk song.
I wonder if Henry wasn't confusing this with "Two Lovers Discoursing" [Laws O22] (a confusion Creighton also suffered; see Ben Schwartz's note); they share a title, and a theme, but the forms are utterly different. - RBW
Creighton-SNewBrunswick: "There must be some relation between 39A and B. The former seems to have originated with the folk and the latter to have been a literary composition taken over by the folk. They are placed together because of subject matter and also because singers give variants of the same title." If so they have grown so far apart that there is no hint in the words that they are related. For 39A see "Two Lovers Discoursing" [Laws O22]. - BS
File: HHH164
===
NAME: True Lovers' Discussion (II), The: see Two Lovers Discoursing [Laws O22] (File: LO22)
===
NAME: True Paddy's Song, The: see The Kerry Recruit [Laws J8] (File: LJ08)
===
NAME: True Sweetheart, The: see Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token) [Laws N42] (File: LN42)
===
NAME: True Tale of Robin Hood, A [Child 154]
DESCRIPTION: The Earl of Huntington, incomparable archer, consumes his wealth and is outlawed due to indebtedness to an abbot. Renamed Robin Hood, he is cruel to clergy and kind to the poor. Several adventures and his death by bloodletting are recounted.
AUTHOR: Martin Parker (1632)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1632 (Stationer's Register)
KEYWORDS: Robinhood poverty outlaw clergy death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1198 - ninth year of Richard I, which the cover of the broadsheet reports as Robin's death date
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Child 154, "A True Tale of Robin Hood" (1 text)
Roud #3996
NOTES: For background on the Robin Hood legend, see the notes on "A Gest of Robyn Hode" [Child 117]. - RBW
File: C154
===
NAME: True Thomas: see Thomas Rymer [Child 37] (File: C037)
===
NAME: True to the Gray: see The Southern Girl's Reply (True to the Gray) (File: Wa156)
===
NAME: True-Born Irish Man (With My Swag All on My Shoulder; The True-Born Native Man)
DESCRIPTION: The singer arrives in (Australia/Philadelphia) from Ireland and sets out to ramble. The girls rejoice at his presence. (A tavern-keeper's daughter) is scolded by her mother for wanting to follow him. She is determined to do so anyway
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3353))
KEYWORDS: rambling emigration mother courting
FOUND_IN: Australia US(MA) England(Lond,South) Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 62, 122, "Dennis O'Reilly"; p. 138, "Tramp the Bushes of Australia" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
FSCatskills 126, "The Roving Irishman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 76-77, "Denis O'Reilly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 353, "The Roving Journeyman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 36-37, "With My Swag All on My Shoulder (Denis O'Riley)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Smith/Hatt, pp. 86-88, "The Rambling Irishman" (1 text)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 15, "The Roving Journeyman" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DENNOREI* ROVJOURN*
Roud #360
RECORDINGS:
Paddy Doran, "The Roving Journeyman" (on FSB3)
Tom Willett, "The Roaming Journeyman" (on Voice20)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3353), "Roving Journeyman," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 11(1229), Harding B 11(1479), Johnson Ballads 2807, Harding B 11(3354), Harding B 11(3355), 2806 b.11(33), Firth c.18(249), Harding B 11(3352), Harding B 11(804), 2806 d.31(40), Harding B 11(1228), 2806 b.11(203), Firth c.26(218), Harding B 25(1671), "[The] Roving Journeyman"
LOCSinging, sb40459b, "The Roving Journeyman," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Roving Gambler (The Gambling Man)" [Laws H4] (plot)
cf. "The Union Boy" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Neuve Chappelle" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Neuve Chappelle (File: HHH526)
NOTES: The popular version of this piece, "With My Swag All on My Shoulder," is by A.B. "Banjo" Paterson, but the song appears to be older. Perhaps more characteristic than any particular plot is the second half of the first verse, which often becomes a chorus:
With my (swag/bundle) on my shoulder,
My (stick/billy) in my hand,
I'll travel round (the country/Australia/etc.)
(Like/I'm) a (true-born Irishman/true-born native man/roving journeyman). - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb40459b: 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: MA062
===
NAME: Trumpet Sounds at Burreldales, The: see Trooper and Maid [Child 299] (File: C299)
===
NAME: Trusty Lariat, The (The Cowboy Fireman)
DESCRIPTION: An ex-cowboy, now a railway fireman, sees a child on the track. He throws his lariat around a pole, ties the end to the smokestack. The train is jerked off the track, crushing him. "He killed two hundred passengers/But, thank God, he saved that child"
AUTHOR: Attributed to Harry "Mac" McClintock
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (recording, Harry "Mac" McClintock)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: A former cowboy is working as a railway fireman because the pay is better. He sees a child on the track ahead. With great presence of mind he throws his trusty lariat around a pole, then fastens the other end to the smokestack. The train is jerked off the track and crashes, crushing the fireman. He is deeply mourned: "He killed two hundred passengers/But, thank God, he saved that child"
KEYWORDS: train rescue death railroading work crash disaster wreck humorous talltale children cowboy
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, COWFIRE
RECORDINGS:
Radio Mac [pseud. for Harry McClintock], "The Trusty Lariat" (Victor V-40234, 1930)
NOTES: Unless I miss my guess, McClintock was parodying the 1874 song "Saved From Death" by George William Hersee and J. W. Bischoff. - PJS
File: DTcowfir
===
NAME: Truth From Above, The: see The Truth Sent From Above (File: Leath196)
===
NAME: Truth Sent From Above, The
DESCRIPTION: "This is the truth sent from above, The truth of God, the God of love." The singer tells how God created man, then woman, and set them in Paradise. But they ate from the tree (of knowledge), and now all suffer their punishment
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (Leather)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible punishment food carol
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(West))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Leather, p. 196, "The Truth Sent From Above" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBC 68, "The Truth From Above" (1 text, 1 tune with two arrangements)
DT, TRUABOVE*
Roud #2109
NOTES: The story of the Fall is, of course, found in Genesis chapter 3. The version of creation in which man preceded woman (as opposed to both being created at the same time) is in Genesis 2:4-23. - RBW
File: Leath196
===
NAME: Truth Twice Told, The
DESCRIPTION: "Come all young men and maidens... I will tell you what you are doing, now at this present time." The young folk are treating their parents with disrespect; they are condemned for failing to work
AUTHOR: James W. Day ("Jilson Setters")
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: courting warning nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 187-188, "The Truth Twice Told" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Putting On the Style" (theme)
NOTES: Setters claimed that this excrescence "has set many a giddy one to studyin' and they mended their ways." Wishful thinking, I suspect. The result looks like a bad knock-off on "Putting on the Style." - RBW
File: ThBa187
===
NAME: Truxton's Victory
DESCRIPTION: "Come all you Yankee sailors With swords and pikes advance"; the "Brave Yankee Boys" are urged to battle against France. Truxton with the Constellation defeat l'Insurgente and haul her into St.Kitts. The singer toasts Truxton
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1975 (Lawrence), reportedly written March 1799
KEYWORDS: ship battle
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Feb 9, 1799 - Battle between the Constellation and L'Insurgente
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
ADDITIONAL: Vera Brodsky Lawrence, Music for Patriots, Politicians, and Presidents - Harmonies and Discords of the First Hundred Years, "Truxton's Victory" (a copy of the original broadside)
NOTES: Obviously not a traditional song, but The Boarding Party recording may have made it well-known enough to deserve documentation. Thanks to Dolores Nichols for digging up the source.
The setting is during the Quasi-War with France. France, still lurching back and forth politically in the aftermath of the revolution, with Napoleon gradually gaining power, had little respect for neutral rights, especially when the neutrals were trading with Britain. This naturally incensed the Americans. In November 1796, France suspended diplomatic relations. Soon after, they rejected the credentials of new ambassador Charles C. Pinckney. In May 1797, president John Adams appoints a commission (Pinckney, John Marshall, and Elbridge Gerry) to try to smooth things out. At the end of the month, the U. S. government reports 300 ships taken by the French.
On October 18, the American commissioners suffer the humiliation of the "XYZ affair" -- three nameless Frenchmen who demand a "loan" (read: tribute) from the Americans plus a large bribe to French foreign minister Tallyrand. This was not as unreasonable as some would present it -- the Americans were paying bribes to the Barbary States at this time.
But the United States was also, for the first time, building a genuine (if small) navy. Pinckney allegedly told the French, "Millions for defence, but not one cent for tribute."
On May 28, 1798, Congress authorized the Navy to go after French vessels engaged in commerce-raiding. On July 7, Congress formally abrogated the treaty of alliance that went back to the Revolution. As Samuel W. Bryant puts it in _The Sea and the States, A Maritime History of the United States_, p. 124, "The two republics were now thoroughly enmeshed in an undeclated war in the best monarchist manner."
The American navy was small, but the quality was very high. Designed Joshua Humphries, knowing that only a handful of ships would be available, created a new class of super-frigates -- rather comparable to the battle cruisers of a century later: Fast enough to outrun any line-of-battle ship, heavy enough to destroy any ordinary frigate. (It tells you a good bit about naval thinking that the American frigates were considered excellent, but the battle crusier was quickly discarded. The reason for the failure of the latter was more bad tactics than anything else.)
In the end, six ships were built -- _United States_, _Constitution_, _Constellation_, _President_, _Congress_, and _Chesapeake_ -- of which only the first three were ready for war. The _Constellation_ (called the "Yankee Race Horse") was the first to see action. She met the French _L'Insurgente_, reportedly the fastest sailing frigate in the world (see Fletcher Pratt, _A Compact History of the United States Navy_, p. 61), but in terms of broadside just an ordinary frigate with a weight of broadside only about three-fourths that of the _Constellation_, in the Carribean.
The French ship was badly under-manned, and her captain Barreault was not aware he was at war with the United States. She was flying an American flag, but an exchange of signals showed she was not an American ship. The _Constellation_ closed in for the kill, much as described in this song; between the American ship's higher quality and her fuller crew, there wasn't much doubt about the outcome (though no one in Europe yet realized how strong the new American frigates were; this would not become clear until 1812 and the _Constitution_/_Guerriere_ battle). Pratt, p. 61, reports that Truxton had only three casualties, compared to seventy on the French ship.
The result was a sensation. There had been sea battles in the Revolutionary War, but the American ships were almost all privateers or purchased in Europe. This was the first battle ever fought by an American "regular navy" ship.
It was also the highlight of the _Constellation's_ career. She would fight one more battle in the Quasi-War: On February 1, 1800, she would meet the _Vengeance_, a much heavier ship than the _L'Insurgente_ though slower than the _Constellation_. _Constellation_ could be considered the tactical victor, killing about 50 and wounding over 100 men on the French ship, which barely stayed afloat and had lost two of three masts (Pratt, p. 62). But the _Constellation_ lost 25 killed and 14 wounded (a strange ratio, that), and lost her mainmast; _Vengeance_ escaped, making the battle a strategic draw. Captain Thomas Truxton would be awarded a gold medal anyway. (Bryant, p. 130).
Peace with France was concluded two days later. It would be a while before the ships at sea knew it, of course, but the _Constellation's_ part was finished.She would serve for a while in the contest with the Barbary pirates, without any major engagements, and spent almost the entire War of 1812 blockaded in her home port of Norfolk (see Walter R. Borneman, _1812: The War That Forged a Nation_, p. 175; John K. Mahon, _The War of 1812_, p. 122). Thus Truxton was the only commander to lead her in a real battle.
In 1854, the _Constellation_ was broken up. Much of the surviving wood was used to make a new _Constellation_, and this is often listed as the same ship. This was a fairly common trick for the U. S. Navy in the nineteenth century: Congress didn't like new defence spending, but would pay to maintain old ships, so the Navy would request money for repairs, then build a new ship with the money plus some timber from the old. But the new _Constellation_ was 12 feet longer than the old, and her hold was half again as deep (19.3 feet for the new, 13.5 feet for the old); it was clearly a new ship. (Sez I. This apparently caused quite a literature to spring up; the bibliography in Lincoln P. Paine, _Ships of the World_, p. 120, lists five writings on this subject).
Thomas Truxton himself (1755-1822) was probably the most important American naval figure between John Paul Jones and Stephen Decatur; according to Pratt p. 58, he was "the real prize drawn by the nascent navy... its fifth-ranking captain...." He had served on various privateers in the Revolutionary War (he was a lieutenant in the _Congress_ in 1776, commanded the _Independence_ in 1777, then took charge of the _St. James_ from 1781). He became a regular navy captain from 1794, and acted as commodore during the Quasi-War. According to Pratt, Òeven before putting to sea, [he[ drew up a long series of letters to his officers and petty officers laying down the duties of each in the most minute manner, which letter would be the foundation of definitive navy regulations."
He was also a first disciplinarian. Pratt describes, e.g., how when a water cask sprung a leak, he put his entire crew on reduced water rations until discipline met his standards (p. 58). His strict methods also caused at least two of his officers to resign (Pratt, p. 59).
He himself ended up resigning early in the nineteenth century in a dispute over authority: Instructed to lead the assault against the Barbary Pirates, he was not promoted to (rear) admiral (the navy did not officially establish ranks above Captain until the Civil War), and so would be simply senior captain commanding the squadron, and still responsible for his own ship. This apparently caused him to quit in a fit of pique (Pratt, p. 65).
There is at least one fairly recent biography, Eugene S. Ferguson, _Truxton of the Constellation, The Life of Commodore Thomas Truxton, U. S. Navy, 1755-1822_. - RBW
File: BrdTruxt
===
NAME: Tsimshian Song of Welcome to a Chief, A
DESCRIPTION: "Ee-ya-ho-ho ee-ya-heh-eh (x2), Ee-eh-yah-ha-ha-ha hee-yah-heh (x2), Ee-yah-ah-ah-ee-ya-heh! Soo-wa-deh-es Gi-da-ra-nit-zeh! (x2)...." "Now we hail or great chieftain! We hail, we hail our noble chief, We welcome him... From the people of Gidaranitzeh!"
AUTHOR: unknown (English translation by Alan Mills)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: Indians(Am.) nonballad foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: Canada(West)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 6-7, "A Tsimshian Song of Welcome to a Chief" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Collected in the 1920s by Marious Barbeau, this song is reported to have been used when a chief came in to join a potlatch ceremony. - RBW
File: FMB006
===
NAME: Tucky Ho Crew, The: see Come All You Virginia Girls (Arkansas Boys; Texian Boys; Cousin Emmy's Blues; etc.) (File: R342)
===
NAME: Tugal McTagger
DESCRIPTION: "Would you'll know me, my name is Tugal McTagger, She'll brought hersel' down frae the braes o' Lochaber." The Gaelic-speaking girl tries to adapt to Lowland life and business. Unable to handle the life, she ends up bankrupt (and returns to her old home?)
AUTHOR: Dougal Graham ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (Ford); alleged author Graham died 1779
KEYWORDS: commerce work poverty trial humorous
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 252-254, "Tugal M'Tagger" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13092
File: FVS252
===
NAME: Tumba-Bloody-Rumba
DESCRIPTION: The mustering boss tries the new man at everything. Despite claims of many adventures and skills, he proves incompetent at every job (except drinking and smoking). The crew is glad to see him paid off and heading back to wherever he came from
AUTHOR: Words: John Wolfe? (tune set by Warren Fahey)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1984
KEYWORDS: talltale work
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 176-177, "Tumba-Bloody-Rumba" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TMBARMBA*
File: FaE176
===
NAME: Tumbling through the Hay: see The Merry Haymakers (File: HHH697)
===
NAME: Tune The Old Cow Died On, The
DESCRIPTION: "The old cow might have been living yet, A-chewin' her cud with glee, If Farmer John hadn't sung of this song...." Farmer John sings, the cows gather in surprise. The old cow tries to join in, and it kills her
AUTHOR: Joseph E. Winner?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: death animal farming music humorous
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 411, "The Tune the Old Cow Died On" (1 text plus 2 fragments, 1 tune -- although the "C" fragment does not appear related to the first two)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 352-354, "The Tune the Old Cow Died On" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 411A)
Roud #4352
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "The Tune the old cow died on" (AFS 4212 A2, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
NOTES: Carl Sandburg wrote in 1936, "A man having nothing to feed his cow sang to her of the fresh green grass to come; this is the tune the old cow died on." One suspects that this phrase was part of popular idiom, and someone created a song to explain it.
Cohen reports an 1880 copyright of a song with this title, credited to George Russell Jackson and Eastburn (Joseph E. Winner), but adds that the song "must date from the 1850s or 1860s." He does not, however, give evidence for this claim. - RBW
File: R411
===
NAME: Tuplin Song, The: see The Millman and Tuplin Song (File: IvDC046)
===
NAME: Turfman from Ardee, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a turfman on the road. The turfman says his ass is tired; he'd like to sell his load. The singer says cart and ass look old and abused; the turfman says he has abused the ass, but it has never been without shoes, nor his axle without grease
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1945 (learned by Margaret Barry)
KEYWORDS: age disability sex accusation travel bawdy humorous animal worker political
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 23, "The Turfman from Ardee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5187
RECORDINGS:
Margaret Barry & Michael Gorman, "The Turfman from Ardee" (on Barry-Gorman1)
David Harper, "The Turfman from Ardee" (on TradIre02)
NOTES: "Sex"? "Bawdy"? Well, certainly double-entendre on Margaret Barry's part. She notes that she learned it from an 80-year-old man named Tynan in 1945; he, in turn, had learned it from the McNulty Family of Donegal, who put it on a 78. As we have no date earlier than 1945, though, I'm putting that down as earliest -- but I'd love to find that 78. - PJS
File: RcTurArd
===
NAME: Turkey Buzzard
DESCRIPTION: "Shoot that turkey buzzard Come flopping down the hollow (x2)." "Shoot old Davy Dugger dead; He eat my meat and stole my bread." "Shoot old Davy Dugger, Take his wife and hug her." "Oh, that girl with the blue dress on, She stole my heart..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: bird death hunting nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 105, "Turkey Buzzard" (1 text plus 2 fragments which may or may not be related)
Roud #7653
RECORDINGS:
Chancey Bros., "Shoot That Turkey Buzzard" (on FolkVisions2)
File: Br3105
===
NAME: Turkey Factor in Foreign Parts, The: see The Factor's Garland [Laws Q37] (File: LQ37)
===
NAME: Turkey in the Straw
DESCRIPTION: "As I was going down the road With a tired team and a heavy load... Turkey in the straw, Haw haw haw, Turkey in the hay, Hey hey hey... Whistle up a tune called turkey in the straw." Lyrics usually involve the strange things encountered by a teamster
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1896 (recordings, Billy Golden)
KEYWORDS: travel animal bird nonballad dancetune
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (10 citations)
Randolph 274, "Turkey in the Straw" (2 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 234-237, "Turkey in the Straw" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 274A)
BrownIII 94, "Turkey in the Straw" (1 fragment); also 511, "The Preacher Song" (1 text, a complex mix of verses from "Turkey in the Stray" and "Some Folks Say that a Preacher Won't Steal" with the "Uncle Eph" chorus)
Sandburg, pp. 94-97, "Turkey in the Straw" (2 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune; the "B" and "C" texts appear to be rewritten or mixed)
Lomax-FSNA 49, "Turkey in the Straw" (1 text, 1 tune, plus a "Zip Coon" text)
Linscott, pp. 83-85, "Haymaker's Jig" (1 tune with dance instructions)
Silber-FSWB, p. 37, "Turkey in the Straw" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 23, "I Went to Cincinnati"; p. 54, "Oh, I Had a Little Chicken" (2 texts, tune referenced)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 591-592, "Turkey in the Straw (Zip Coon)"
DT, TURKSTRW (TURKST2)
Roud #4247
RECORDINGS:
Blue Ridge Duo, "Turkey in the Straw" (Edison 51502, 1925)
Dock Boggs, "Turkey in the Straw" [instrumental version] (on Boggs3, BoggsCD1)
Boone County Entertainers [Red Fox Chasers], "Turkey in the Straw" (Champion 15522/Supertone 9163, 1928)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Turkey in the Straw" (OKeh 40230, 1924); "Turkey in the Hay" (OKeh 45167, 1927)
Arthur Collins, "Turkey in the Straw" (Zonophone 637, c. 1907)  (CYL: Edison 4011, n.d.)
Billy Golden, "Turkey in de Straw" (Berliner 0541V, rec. 1899) (Berliner 0726X, rec. 1896) (Berliner 0726Z, rec. 1896) (Standard 1101, n.d.) (CYL: Lambert 5079, n.d.) (CYL: Albany Indestructible 941, n.d.) (Columbia  1101, 1902; A-1291, 1913) (Victor [Monarch] 65, 1902; Victor 4515, 1905; Victor 17256, 1913; Imperial Berliner [Can] 587, n. d.)
[Billy] Golden & [?] Hughes "Turkey in the Straw" (CYL: Edison [BA] 1769, n.d.)
Hobbs Brothers, "Turkey in the Straw" (Jewel 5458, 1928)
Kessinger Brothers, "Turkey in the Straw" (Brunswick 235, 1928)
Silas Leachman, "Turkey in de Straw" (Victor A-804, c. 1901)
Neil Morris & Charlie Everidge, "Turkey in the Straw" [dance calls] (on LomaxCD1701)
George Reneau, "Turkey in the Straw" (Vocalion 14812, 1924)
Doc Roberts, "Turkey in the Straw" (Conqueror 7741, 1931; Perfect 12929/Melotone 12746, 1933)
Eck Robertson, "Turkey in the Straw" (Victor 19149, 1923)
Stove Pipe No. 1 [pseud. for Sam Jones], "Turkey in the Straw" (Columbia 201-D, 1924)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Turkey in the Straw" (Columbia 15084-D, 1926)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Tobacco Box (There Was an Old Soldier)" (tune, floating lyrics)
cf. "Old Zip Coon" (tune, floating lyrics)
cf. "The Catfish (Banjo Sam)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Bunkhouse Orchestra" (tune)
cf. "Charleston Gals (Clear the Kitchen)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Mary Mack (I)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "There Was an Old Lady" (tune)
cf. "The Delhi Jail" (tune)
cf. "Whoa! Ha! Buck and Jerry Boy" (portions of tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Old Zip Coon (File: RJ19258)
Old Farmer Brown (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 145)
There Was a Little Rooster (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 196)
Do Your Ears Hang Low (Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 210-211)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Turkey in the Hay" (OKeh 45167, 1927)
Carson Robison, "1942 Turkey in the Straw" (Bluebird B-11460, 1942)
NOTES: Generally regarded as a rewriting of "Old Zip Coon." Sometimes regarded as the forerunner of "The Old Tobacco Box (There Was an Old Soldier)" (with which it often shares a tune), but the latter also has its own independent tune and form. - RBW
File: R274
===
NAME: Turkish Factor, The: see The Factor's Garland [Laws Q37] (File: LQ37)
===
NAME: Turkish Lady (II): see Young Beichan [Child 53] (File: C053)
===
NAME: Turkish Lady, The [Laws O26]
DESCRIPTION: A British ship is captured by the Turks and its crew enslaved. The singer suffers until his owner offers to free him if he will accept Islam and marry her. He refuses to abandon Christianity. She eventually decides to turn Christian and marry him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1782 (broadside, "Four Excellent New Songs")
KEYWORDS: love courting religious sailor foreigner
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar) Britain(England(South),Scotland)
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Laws O26, "The Turkish Lady"
Logan, pp. 11-18, "The Turkish Lady" (1 text)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 141-143, "The Turkish Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 35, "The Turkish Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 123-124, "Turkish Rover" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 13, "Turkish Rover" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 17, "The Turkish Lady" (2 texts)
BBI, ZN797, "Down in a cypress grove as I was lying" (?)
DT (53), TURKLADY*
ST LO26 (Full)
Roud #8124
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(322b)[tear: words missing], "The Turkish Lady," T. Birt (London), 1828-1829; also Harding B 11(3907), Firth c.13(303), Harding B 11(1973), Harding B 25(1958), "The Turkish Lady"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Young Beichan" [Child 53]
cf. "The Araby Maid" (subject)
cf. "Mustang Gray (The Maid of Monterey)" (plot)
cf. "The Belfast Sailor" (theme)
NOTES: This song is sometimes treated as a variant of "Young Beichan" [Child 53]. The setting, obviously, is similar -- but the difference in the ending marks them as separate ballads. "Young Beichan" stresses the lover's return; "The Turkish Lady," the change in the woman's faith (which, incidentally, was a dangerous thing to do: Islam tolerates Christianity, but many Islamic cultures do not tolerate turning from Islam to Christianity. Though the direct comment on an Islamic woman marrying a pagan, in the Quran, Surah 60:11, merely requires the recovery of her dowry). - RBW
File: LO26
===
NAME: Turkish Men-o'-War: see The Royal Oak (File: VWL091)
===
NAME: Turkish Rover: see The Turkish Lady [Laws O26] (File: LO26)
===
NAME: Turmut [Turmont] Hoer's Song, The: see The Turnip-Hoer (File: K261)
===
NAME: Turmut-hoeing: see The Turnip-Hoer (File: K261)
===
NAME: Turn that Cinnamon
DESCRIPTION: "Oh turn that cinnamon round and round, Turn that cinnamon round and round, Oh turn that cinnamon round!" "She's my sugar-lump, I'll never give her up, She's my sugar-lump, I'll never give her up, Oh turn that cinnamon round!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1903
KEYWORDS: love food playparty
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 583, "Turn that Cinnamon" (1 short text)
Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 810, "Sugar Lump" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7667
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Turn, Cinnamon, Turn
NOTES: Randolph's and Botkin's songs don't have any lyrics that match precisely -- but what are the odds of two songs mentioning both sugar lumps and turning cinnamon? I quote Randolph's text as more complete; Botkin's runs "All up and down, my honey, All up and down we go. The lady's a-rockin' her sugar lump (x3), O, turn, Cinnamon, turn."
Botkin claims a British origin for this piece, but cites no sources. - RBW
File: R583
===
NAME: Turn, Cinnamon, Turn: see Turn that Cinnamon (File: R583)
===
NAME: Turn, Julie-Ann, Turn
DESCRIPTION: Playparty: "Circle around, my Julie-Ann/Circle around I say...I ain't got long to stay."  "I'll go on the mountaintop... If I can't get the girl I want/Let that old girl go." Chorus: "Turn, Julie-Ann, turn/Turn Old Jubilee."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (recording, Jean Ritchie)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Playparty: "Circle around, my Julie-Ann/Circle around I say...I ain't got long to stay." "My truelove spied me down the road/She hung her head and cried/Said, yanner come a booger-man/O where can I hide." "I'll go on the mountaintop, give my horn a blow/If I can't get the girl I want/Let that old girl go." Chorus: "Turn, Julie-Ann, turn/Turn Old Jubilee."
KEYWORDS: courting love dancing playparty nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #5747
RECORDINGS:
Jean Ritchie, "Turn, Julie-Ann, Turn" (on Ritchie03)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
 cf. "Liza Jane" (floating verses)
cf. "Cindy" (floating verses)
NOTES: I rather suspect this is the same as one or another of the floating verse singing games out there; I thought seriously about lumping it with "Julie Ann Johnson." But we're splitters, and in any case it's not obvious just *which* of those songs to lump it with. - RBW
File: RcTJAT
===
NAME: Turner's Camp on the Chippewa [Laws C23]
DESCRIPTION: A tale of the lumberman's life and troubles in the woods of Michigan. Most of the events are described in very general terms
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (recording, Bill McBride)
KEYWORDS: logger lumbering
FOUND_IN: US(MW) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws C23, "Turner's Camp on the Chippewa"
Beck 12, "Turner's Camp on the Chippewa" (1 text)
Fowke-Lumbering #10, "Turner's Camp" (2 texts, 1 tune)
DT 840, TURNRCMP
Roud #1926
RECORDINGS:
Bill McBride, "Turner's Camp on the Chippewa" (AFS, 1938; on LC56)
Leo Spencer, "Turner's Camp" (on Lumber01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lumber Camp Song" (theme) and references there
File: LC23
===
NAME: Turnip Greens
DESCRIPTION: Singer dreams he meets Gabriel. Asked what he'll eat; he says, "Turnip greens."  Asked why Ozark people are rough, yet clean; "Turnip greens." Gabriel says God's kingdom on earth is coming. Chorus: "...Cornbread and buttermilk/And good old turnip greens!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (recording, H. K. Hutchison)
KEYWORDS: food humorous
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
[Randolph 287, "Turnip Greens" -- deleted in the second printing]
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 243-245, "Turnip Greens" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 287)
Hudson 75, pp. 202-203, "Turnip Greens" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 9, "Turnip Greens" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4491
RECORDINGS:
Shorty Goodwin, "Turnip Greens" (Columbia 15411-D, 1929)
H. K. Hutchison, "Good Old Turnip Greens" (Gennett 6464/Champion 15525, 1928)
W. A. Lindsay & Alvin Connor, "Good Old Turnip Greens" (Okeh 45346, 1929; rec. 1928)
Neil Morris, "Turnip Greens" (on LomaxCD1707)
Pie Plant Pete [pseud. for Claude Moye], "Turnip Greens" (Champion 45063, 1935)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Greens" (theme)
NOTES: The description of this song is based on the Neil Morris recording. The Pankake text is much shorter, and is about Atmore residents rather than residents of the Ozarks. Similarly, Hudson's text is about the residents of Mississippi.
I have not heard all the 78 recordings listed above, so they too may be local or parodized versions. - RBW
File: RcTG
===
NAME: Turnip Patch, The
DESCRIPTION: "I went down to the turnip patch... To see if my old hen had hatched." "There set a possum on the rail, Reached up and grabbed him by the tail." "Got him on the ground and he tried to fight... Reached up my right foot and kicked out the light."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: animal chickens fight
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 454, "The Turnip Patch" (1 text)
Roud #7602
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Who Broke the Lock (on the Henhouse Door)?" (lyrics)
cf. "Sixteen Chickens and a Tambourine" (lyrics)
File: R454
===
NAME: Turnip-Hoer, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer hires on a farm; the farmer says he's first class. He hires elsewhere, and says if he had a son he'd be better off going to jail. He says that while some delight in harvesting and mowing, "of all the jobs that be on a farm/Give I the turnip-hoing."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1893 (Broadwood)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer hires on a farm; the farmer says he's first class. He hires on another farm, and says if he had a son he'd be better off going to jail. He says that while some delight in harvesting and mowing, "of all the jobs that be on a farm/Give I the turnip-hoing." Chorus: "For the flies...got on the turnips/It's all me eye and no use to try/To keep 'em off them turnips"
KEYWORDS: farming work worker boss
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 261, "The Turnip-Hoer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1376
RECORDINGS:
Fred Perrier et al, "The Turmut [Turmont] Hoer's Song" (on Lomax41, LomaxCD41)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Flies Are On the Tummits" (them of a turnip farmer's life)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Turmut-hoeing
NOTES: Kennedy states, "[T]he song has attached itself to Wiltshire and was adopted as the regimental march of the Wiltshire Regiment... now amalgamated [in 1959] with the Berkshire Regiment [to form] the Duke of Edinburgh's Royal Regiment."
According to Ian S. Hallows, _Regiments and Corps of the British Army_, however, the quick march of the Duke of Edinburgh's Regiment is The Farmer's Boy and the slow is Auld Robin Gray. And while some regiments dropped their historical tunes on amalgamation, so the Wiltshire regiment could have used this piece, it was normal to keep both tunes.
Roud lumps this with "The Flies Are On the Tummits," with which it shares some lyrics, but Ben Schwartz and I both consider the general plots distinict enough to split them. "The Turnip-Hoer" is about the singer's employment history; "The Flies Are On the Tummits" about the hard life of a farmer.
Widespread growing of turnips, incidentally, was a relatively recent practice (turnips, after all, are bitter and rather unpleasant to eat); they are grown because they replenish the soil, and can be farmed on a field that would otherwise have to lie fallow (see Derek Beales, _From Catlereight to Gladstone: 1815-1885_, p. 36). - RBW
File: K261
===
NAME: Turpin Hero: see Dick Turpin and the Lawyer [Laws L10] (File: LL10)
===
NAME: Turpin's Valour: see Dick Turpin and the Lawyer [Laws L10] (File: LL10)
===
NAME: Turtle Dove: see 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) (File: Wa097)
===
NAME: TVA, The
DESCRIPTION: "My name is William Edwards, I live down Cove Creek Way, I'm working on the project They call the TVA." The government is upgrading the valley. The singer writes to Sal to say, "The government has saved us; just name our wedding day."
AUTHOR: Buddy Preston
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: work marriage hardtimes technology
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 232-234, (no title) (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 172, "The TVA" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 732, "T.V.A. Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4910
NOTES: The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), founded in 1933, is one of the most enduring of all the New Deal programs. Founded to create jobs and at the same provide electrical power to a primitive part of the country, it is still in existence today, generating power and managing the river. - RBW
Botkin quotes his source, Jean Thomas's _Ballad Makin' in the Mountains of Kentucky_, as saying the song was written by a Preston, and "first sung at the American Folk Festival with a kinsman of the composer giving the explanation of its origin." She also says it had indeed become traditional in Kentucky, at least. - NR
Reading Thomas's account, I'm not convinced of this; it's properly a folk revival song, if a very early one. But the number of citations perhaps justifies its presence here.
File: Arn172
===
NAME: Twa and Twa
DESCRIPTION: Dance tune lyrics; "Twa and twa made the bed/Twa and twa lay together/When the bed begun to heat/The one got up abune the other." That's all.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 (collected from Jeannie Thompson)
KEYWORDS: sex dancing
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
MacSeegTrav 124, "Twa and Twa" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TWANTWA*
Roud #5407
NOTES: Runner-up to "Papa Loved Mama" for title of World's Shortest Ballad. - PJS
File: McCST124
===
NAME: Twa Brothers, The [Child 49]
DESCRIPTION: Two brothers agree to wrestle on their way to school. In the process, one is wounded by the other's knife. The unwounded brother (often) tries to save the wounded one, but it is too late; all that is left is to arrange for his burial and make excuses
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1825 (Motherwell)
KEYWORDS: contest death fight stepmother brother murder magic
FOUND_IN: Britain(England,Scotland), US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,NW,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (31 citations)
Child 49, "The Twa Brothers" (8 texts)
Bronson 49, "The Twa Brothers" (41 versions plus 4 in addenda)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 99-106, "The Two Brothers" (1 text plus many excerpts including a complete Kentucky version, 1 tune) {Bronson's #21}
Belden, pp. 33-34, "The Two Brothers" (1 text)
Randolph 10, "The Two Brothers" (3 texts plus a fragment, 4 tunes) {Bronson's #13, #40, #3, #2}
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 24-25, "The Two Brothers" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 10A) {Bronson's #13}
Eddy 9, "The Twa Brothers" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #28, #30}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 96-99, "Edward Ballad [listed as "Child 13" but obviously this piece though Bronson considers it a "too literary" mix of the two ballads with a peculiar tune]; pp. 230-232, "Martyr John" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #41, #38}
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 316-331, "The Twa Brothers" (4 texts, 5 tunes; the last two tunes are variants taken from the same informant) {A=Bronson's #41, B=38}
Linscott, pp. 278-280, "The Rolling of the Stones or The Twa Brothers" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #14}
Davis-Ballads 11, "The Twa Brothers" (11 texts, 6 tunes) {#23, #31, #5, #33, #10, #24}
Davis-More 15, pp. 92-101, "The Twa Brothers" (5 texts, 5 tunes)
BrownII 13, "The Two Brothers" (1 text)
Chappell-FSRA 6, "The Two Brothers" (1 text)
Hudson 7, pp. 73-74, "The Two Brothers" (2 texts)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 166-167, "The Twa Brothers" (1 text, locally titled "The Two Brothers")
Brewster 9, "The Two Brothers" (2 texts)
JHCoxIIA, #6, p. 21, "The Two Brothers" (1 fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's #8}
Creighton/Senior, p. 25-26, "The Twa Brothers" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #39}
Peacock, pp. 827-830, "The Two Brothers" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Leach, pp. 163-167, "The Twa Brothers" (2 texts)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 136-138, "Two Brothers" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBB 63, "The Twa Brothers" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 169, "The Twa Brothers" (2 texts)
Niles 20, "The Twa Brothers" (1 text, 1 tune -- a fragmentary text that opens like "The Twa Brothers," but has an ending that might be anything)
Gummere, pp. 174-175+343, "The Twa Brothers" (1 text)
SharpAp 12 "The Two Brothers" (12 texts, often short, plus a fragment ("E") that may be this; 13 tunes){Bronson's #17, #10, #31, #24, #18, #19, #11, #9, #1, #15, #27, #25, #32}
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 11, "The Two Brothers" (1 text, 1 tune -- an expanded composite version) {Bronson's #11}
LPound-ABS, 18, pp. 45-46, "Two Little Boys" (1 text)
JHCox 7, "The Twa Brothers" (2 texts)
DT 49, TWOBROS TWOBROS2* TWOBROS3* TWOBROS4*  ROLLSTON*
Roud #38
RECORDINGS:
Nellie McGregor, "The Two Brothers" (on FSBBAL1)
Hobart Smith, "The Little Schoolboy" (on LomaxCD1702)
Belle Stewart, "The Two Brothers" (on Voice03) {Bronson's #13.2 in addenda}
Lucy Stewart, "The Twa Brothers [The Two Brothers]" (on FSB4, FSBBAL1) (on LStewart1) {Bronson's #11.1 in addenda}
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter" [Child 155] (lyrics)
cf. "The Unquiet Grave" [Child 78] (lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Rolling of the Stones
The Murdered Boy
Two Little Boys Going to School
The Cruel Brother
NOTES: In Friedman's A version, the brother is killed, not wrestling for fun, but in a fit of passion. - PJS
Indeed, this motif (which is not unusual; many of Davis's texts have it, for instance) gives rise to the possibility that what we have here is two songs mixed. Call them "The Twa Brothers" and "The Rolling of the Stones." In the former, the one brother kills the other as a result of accident or perhaps a (step?)mother's malice."
"The Rolling of the Stones," though it involves a death and is usually listed as a version of this song, has a very different feel. It is definitely a song of passion and jealousy, and ends with Susie, the girl of the piece, dancing to try to bring the dead man back to life.
The two have certainly mixed verses, making them hard to tell apart, but I'm not at all convinced that they are the same song. A curiosity is that the "Rolling of the Stones" texts seem to be mostly American, even though American texts rarely involve magic. But it should be noted that the endings of the texts in Child are very diverse; it may be that he simply hadn't found one of the "magic" endings.
Linscott has one of her usual folklorish explanations: "The event from which the ballad gets its theme happened near Edinburgh in 1589, when one of the Somervilles was killed by the accidental discharge of his bother's pistol." This connection ignores the fact that brothers are more than a little apt to quarrel over inheritances....
E. K. Chambers (_English Literature at the Close of the Middle Ages_, p. 72) quotes a passage from a thirteenth(?) century fragment of a song which has not been connected with this piece, but which I find rather interesting:
Atte wrestling my lemman I ches,
And atte ston-kasting I him for-les.
i.e.
At wrestling my love I chose,
And at stone-casting I him lost. - RBW
File: C049
===
NAME: Twa Bumbees, The
DESCRIPTION: "There were twa bumbees met on a twig, Fim-fam, fiddle-faddle, fum, fizz!" The two insects set out to find a home, frightening Jenny Wren in the process. After the babies are born, they quarrel; the male warns other bees about a "wayward, wanton wife."
AUTHOR: Charles Spence
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford); Spence died in 1869
KEYWORDS: bug courting home humorous
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 231-233, "The Twa Bumbees" (1 text)
Roud #13086
NOTES: This appears to have been founded on "The Twa Corbies" (or, rather, one of its silly offspring), but without a tune, it's hard to prove.
Needless to say, this isn't how bees reproduce. - RBW
File: FVS231
===
NAME: Twa Corbies, The: see The Three Ravens [Child 26] (File: C026)
===
NAME: Twa Knights, The [Child 268]
DESCRIPTION: A squire bets a knight that, if the knight leaves home for a time, he can seduce the knight's wife. He traps the wife into offering to come to his bed, but she sends her neice instead. When the truth is revealed, the niece weds the squire
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: A squire bets a knight that, if the knight leaves home for a time, he can seduce the knight's wife. He traps the wife into offering to come to his bed, but she sends her neice instead. He cuts off the ring and finger to prove his victory. The knight's wife demonstrates that she still has her finger. The niece is offered the right to either kill the squire or marry him for his abuse. After much hesitation, the niece weds the squire
KEYWORDS: gambling trick abuse injury infidelity family marriage wager
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Child 268, "The Twa Knights" (1 text)
Roud #303
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Boy and the Mantle" [Child 29] (theme)
cf. "The Fiddler's Bitch" (plot)
cf. "Redesdale and Wise William" [Child 246] (plot)
NOTES: The notion of wagering over a woman's fidelity is common in folklore; in the Child canon, cf. e.g. "The Boy and the Mantle" [Child 29]. - RBW
File: C268
===
NAME: Twa Magicians, The [Child 44]
DESCRIPTION: A (blacksmith) sees a girl who pleases him, and sets out to sleep with her. She tries to foil him with magic transformations, but he proves as sorcerous as she, and gains her maidenhead
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
KEYWORDS: magic seduction rape shape-changing
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Child 44, "The Twa Magicians" (1 text)
Bronson 44, "The Twa Magicians" (1 version plus 11 versions of "Hares on the Mountain")
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 442-445, "The Two Magicians" (notes plus a copy of Buchan's text and a stanza of "Hares on the Mountain")
Leach, pp. 152-154, "The Twa Magicians" (1 text)
PBB 25, "The Twa Magicians" (1 text)
Sharp-100E 20, "The Two Magicians" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
DBuchan 47, "The Twa Magicians" (1 text)
DT 44, MAGICN2* 
Roud #1350
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "Two Magicians" (on Lloyd3, BirdBush1, BirdBush2) [tune by Lloyd]
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hares on the Mountain" (theme)
cf. "Les Metamorphoses (Metamorphoses)" (theme)
NOTES: Sharp bowdlerizes "gain my maidenhead" to "change my maiden name" (!) -PJS
Bronson believes that the ballad "Hares on the Mountain" is a very-much-worn-down version of this piece. This is, at best, currently beyond proof; personally, I don't believe it.
The idea of gaining a lover who is changing shape has ancient roots. We find it in Ovid's "Metamorphoses," where Peleus (the father of Achilles) finds Thetis in a cave and attempts to couple with her. To defeat him, she turns into a bird, a tree, and a tigress. The latter scares him off, but eventually he catches her while asleep (XI.225ff.). - RBW
File: C044
===
NAME: Twa Sisters, The [Child 10]
DESCRIPTION: A knight woos two (three) sisters, choosing the younger. The older drowns the younger. Her body is recovered and made into an instrument by a passing miller/musician. As the knight prepares to wed the older sister, the instrument sings out the truth.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1656 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: courting murder music minstrel sister drowning
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland,England(All)) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (43 citations)
Child 10, "The Twa Sisters" (25 texts, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #79, #12, #14}
Bronson 10, "The Twa Sisters" (97 versions plus 6 in addenda)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 8-9, "Binnorie; or, The Cruel Sister" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #7}
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 40-46, "The Two Sisters" (5 texts plus 2 fragments, one from the same informant as one of the texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #68}
Belden, pp. 16-24, "The Twa Sisters" (6 texts, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #38, #46, #30}
Randolph 4, "The Miller's Daughters" (8 texts, 5 tunes) {A=Bronson's #66, C=#32, E=#70, F=#94, G=#51}
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 18-21, "The Miller's Daughters" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 4C) {Bronson's #32}
Ritchie-Southern, p. 57, "Bow Your Bend to Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Eddy 4, "The Twa Sisters" (1 short text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #78}
Gardner/Chickering 2, "The Two Sisters" (2 texts, 2 tunes, but the "B" text is "Peter and I Went Down the Lane") {A=Bronson's #22}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 209-210, "The Two Sisters" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 150-170, "The Twa Sisters" (5 English texts plus a fragment; also two variants of a Polish text plus tune and translation; 4 tunes for the English versions) {A=Bronson's #96, B=#54}
Davis-Ballads 5, "The Twa Sisters" (9 texts plus 2 fragments, 6 tunes entitled "The Old Lord of the North Country, or The Three Sisters," "The Old Woman of the North Countrie," "The Two Sisters, or Sister Kate, or The Miller annd the Mayor's Daughter," "The Two Sisters"; 2 more versions mentioned in Appendix A) {Bronson's #25, #71, #40, #55, #27, #39}
Davis-More 6, pp. 35-50, "The Twa Sisters" (10 texts, 7 tunes)
BrownII 4, "The Two Sisters" (3 texts plus 2 fragments)
Chappell-FSRA 3, "The Two Sisters" (1 short text)
Hudson 3, p. 68, "The Two Sisters" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 164-165, "The Twa Sisters" (1 text, locally titled "The Two Sisters")
Brewster 6, "The Two Sisters" (4 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune) {Bronson's #44}
Greenleaf/Mansfield 3, "The Twa Sisters" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 179-180, "The Bonny Busk of London" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 74-78, "The Twa Sisters" (3 texts)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 150-156, "The Two Sisters"; "The Two Sisters (Wind and Rain) (2 texts, 2 tunes)
OBB 23, "Binnorie" (1 text)
Warner 98, "The Two Sisters That Loved One Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Niles 7, "The Twa Sisters" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Gummere, pp. 171-173+343, "The Twa Sisters" (1 text)
SharpAp 5 "The Two Sisters" (14 texts, 14 tunes) {Bronson's #91, #55, #27, #39, #74, #73, #50, #34, #45, #63, #59, #47, #65, #41}
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 6, "The Two Sisters" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite text) {Bronson's #45}
Lomax-FSNA 90, "The Two Sisters" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #67}
Hodgart, p. 32, "The Twa Sisters" (1 text)
DBuchan 3, "The Twa Sisters" (1 text, 1 tune in appendix) {Bronson's #79}
JHCox 3, "The Twa Sisters" (3 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #43}
JHCoxIIA, #2A-B, pp. 10-13, "There Was an Old Farmer," "All Bow Down" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #69}
Ord, pp. 430-432, "The Bonnie Mill-Dams o' Binnorie"; pp. 459-460, "Hey the Rose and the Lindsay, O" (2 texts, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 3, "The Twa Sisters" (1 text plus two variant verses, 1 tune)
TBB 9, "The Twa Sisters" (1 text)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 54-56, "The Twa Sisters" (1 text)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 20-24, "The Two Sisters"; "The Two Sisters (The Wind and Rain)" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
LPound-ABS, 4, pp. 11-12, "The Two Sisters"; pp. 12-13, "The Old Man in the North Countree" (2 texts)
Darling-NAS, pp. 56-59, "The Two Sisters"; "Rollin' a-Rollin'"; "Wind and Rain" (3 texts)
Silber-FSWB, p. 224, "The Two Sisters" (1 text)
DT 10, BINNORI* TWOSIS* TWOSIS5* WINDRAIN* SWANSWIM* TWOSIS8 TWOSIS9 TWOSI10 TWOSS11
Roud #8
RECORDINGS:
Horton Barker, "The Two Sisters" (AAFS 33); "Bow and Balance" (on Barker01) {Bronson's #67}
Anita Best and Pamela Morgan, "The Two Sisters" (on NFABestPMorgan01)
Loman D. Cansler, "The Two Sisters" (on Cansler1)
Lula Curry, "The Squire's Daughter" (on JThomas01)
Bradley Kincaid, "The Two Sisters" (Supertone 9212, 1928)
Jean Ritchie, "The Two Sisters" (AFS; on LC57); "There Lived an Old Lord" (on JRitchie02)
Kilby Snow, "Wind and Rain" (on KSnow1)
Lucy Stewart, "The Swan Swims So Bonnie O" (on LStewart1)
John Strachan, "The Twa Sisters" (on FSB4)
John Strachan, Dorothy Fourbister, Ethel Findlater [composite] "The Twa Sisters" (on FSBBAL1) {cf. Bronson's #16.2 in addenda}
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "An Sgeir-Mhara (The Sea-Tangle, The Jealous Woman)" (plot)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Bows of London
The Cruel Sister
Rolling a-Rolling
The Wind and Rain
The Swan Swims Bonnie
The Old Lord by the Northern Sea
Bowie, Bowerie
The Little Drownded Girl
Lay the Bent to the Bonny Broom
Old Man from the North Countree
The Youngest Daughter
NOTES: The refrains sung with this ballad vary tremendously, but virtually all versions have a refrain of some sort. - PJS
And generally a lyrically attractive one ("the swan swims bonnie," etc.), as has been pointed out by several scholars. I wonder if there isn't something about this ballad that encourages variation; Jean Ritchie reports that, even though they presumably learned the song from the same source, her family had twelve distinct versions. - RBW
The Kilby Snow recording is an unusual one; it contains every element of, "The Twa Sisters" except the sisters; the murderer in this case is the girl's lover. Snow reconstructed the song from early childhood memories of his grandfather (a Cherokee) singing it, though, so it may have diverged at that point. - PJS
Compare the first verse lines of Child 10.H to Opie-Oxford2 479, "There were three sisters in a hall" (earliest date in Opie-Oxford2 is c.1630)
Child 10.H: "There were three sisters lived in a hall, ... And there came a lord to court them all...."
Opie-Oxford2 479 is a riddle beginning "There were three sisters in a hall, There came a knight amongst them all ...." - BS
This item is also found as Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #702, p. 275, but this appears to be simply a greeting rhyme unrelated to the various rather murderous ballads (notably Child 10 and 11) using these lines. - RBW
File: C010
===
NAME: Twangman, The
DESCRIPTION: A twang hawker and rag-picker Mickey Baggs courted a girl who "kep' a Traycle Billy depot." Baggs won her heart taking her to play "Billy-in-the-bowl." So "with his twang kni-ef [twangman] tuk the li-ef Of the poor ould gather'em-up!"
AUTHOR: probably Michael J. Moran (Zozimus)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: courting murder humorous
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
OLochlainn, pp. 231-232, "The Twangman" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TWANGMAN
NOTES: In response to queries in earlier editions of the Index, Tom O'Leary informs me that "twang" is toffee.  He adds that a"'Traycle depot'  [was]  a sweet shop, which in this case, was near to, or on one side of the Carlisle Bridge, Dublin."
The song says that the twangman only sells his wares "when the mileetia wasn't wantin'"; this is no particular constraint on his schedule, as miltitia in this period was a very part-time organization except when there was a rebellion in process. - RBW, (BS).
File: OLoc231B
===
NAME: Twanky Dillo: see Twankydillo (The Blacksmith's Song) (File: K286)
===
NAME: Twankydillo (The Blacksmith's Song)
DESCRIPTION: Singer toasts the blacksmith, the pretty girl "who kindles a fire all in her own breast," and the Queen. Chorus: "Which makes his bright hammer to rise and to fall/There's the Old Cole and the Young Cole and the Old Cole of all/Twankydillo..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1893 (Broadwood)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer raises a health to the blacksmith who works at his anvil while the boy blows the bellows; if a gentleman calls with a horse to be shod, the smith can be persuaded to work by giving him drink. Singer also toasts the pretty girl "who kindles a fire all in her own breast," and to "our sovereign the Queen" and all the Royal Family. Chorus: "Which makes his bright hammer to rise and to fall/There's the Old Cole and the Young Cole and the Old Cole of all/Twankydillo, twankydillo...And the roaring pair of blow-pipes, made from the green willow"
KEYWORDS: love work drink nonballad worker royalty
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Kennedy 286, "Twankydillo" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TWNKDLLO*
Roud #2409
NOTES: Hammond, in 1906, reported a Dorset song, "The Life of a Shepherd," with the "Twankydillo" chorus. - PJS
File: K286
===
NAME: Twas a Love of Adventure: see Diego's Bold Shore (File: SWMS030)
===
NAME: Twas Down in Cupid's Garden: see Cupid's Garden (I) (Covent Garden I; Lovely Nancy III) (File: SWMS090)
===
NAME: 'Twas Early in the Spring: see Early, Early in the Spring [Laws M1] (File: LM01)
===
NAME: 'Twas Getting Late Up in September
DESCRIPTION: In Labrador, "'Twas getting late up in September"; the singer meets a girl come to fill her buckets at the fountain.  He proposes, she accepts, "a priest came up on the steamer," they marry and "live in a nice little cottage, Down by the side of the sea"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: courting love marriage wedding
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Peacock, pp. 601-602, "'Twas Getting Late Up in September" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, p. 78, "'Twas Getting Late Up in September" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 104, "'Twas Getting Late Up In September" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Doyl3078 (Partial)
Roud #7288
File: Doyl3078
===
NAME: Twas in the Town of Parsboro
DESCRIPTION: Drunk in Parsboro ,"the gallant slugger Dunkerson ... challenged Baxter [McLellan] there to fight in Bill Mahoney's barn." Baxter beats him "inside of fifteen seconds." Dunkerson staggers home and cannot get a drink, "badly licked by a sober... man"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: fight drink
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-NovaScotia 148, "'Twas in the Town of Parsboro" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS148 (Partial)
Roud #1843
NOTES: This song is item dH44 in Laws's Appendix II.
Creighton-NovaScotia: Parsboro is a town in Nova Scotia. 
The song refers to "when the Scott Act was in force." The Scott Act, or Canada Temperance Act was passed in 1878 (source: The _Prohibition_ entry for The Canadian Encyclopedia site).- BS
File: CrNS148
===
NAME: 'Twas Nine Years Ago: see The Kerry Recruit [Laws J8] (File: LJ08)
===
NAME: 'Twas on de Bluff: see On the Bluff (Alligator Song) (File: ScaNF072)
===
NAME: 'Twas on the Napanee
DESCRIPTION: A young man leaves his parents' home to become a raftsman; he is drowned while rafting saw logs. His parents and friends mourn
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: lumbering death mourning work logger
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Beck 54, "'Twas on the Napanee" (1 text)
Roud #4057
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jam on Gerry's Rock" [Laws C1] (plot)
cf. "The Death of Harry Bradford" [Laws C12] (plot, tune)
NOTES: In the mid-nineteenth century, a young man named Anthony Barrett was killed on the Napanee river.
Beck states that this song seems to have been composed in Canada around 1860; it was collected from a Mrs. Barrett, of Mt. Pleasant, Michigan -- possibly a relative of the deceased? - PJS
As "'Twas on the Napene," this song is item dC36 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Be054
===
NAME: 'Twas on the Napene: see 'Twas on the Napanee (File: Be054)
===
NAME: Twelfth of July, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer tells how Montreal Irish lick the "yellowbacks." On July 12, Fawcett fires a revolver. Hackett fires back, but is mortally wounded. Listeners are reminded that King Billy  "tore down Catholic churches..." but they can't do it in Montreal
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1957 (recording, Tom Brandon)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer tells how the Irish Catholics of Montreal licked the "yellowbacks." On July 12 an Orangemen's parade clashes with Unionists; one Fawcett fires a revolver, swearing to "kill every papist dog." Hackett fires back, but is mortally wounded. Listeners are exhorted to remember that King Billy and his supporters "tore down Catholic churches from Lewis to Donegal," but they can't get away with it in Montreal
KEYWORDS: hate battle fight violence death murder Ireland 
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 12, 1877: Clash between Irish Catholics and Protestants in Montreal
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Tom Brandon, "The Twelfth of July" (on Ontario1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Belfast Riot" (Canadian political situation)
NOTES: Despite the song, there was no Orangemen's parade on July 12 (the day when Irish Protestants celebrate William III's victory in the battle of the Boyne); according to newspaper accounts, plans for a parade had been dropped due to rising tensions. However, brawling broke out in a mixed crowd of Orangemen and Unionists in Victoria Square; in the fight, Francis Hackett was fatally shot. - PJS
The British had guaranteed Catholic rights in Quebec when they took over the territory in 1760, but the Catholics took many years to believe this. In the aftermath of William Lyon Mackenzie's 1837 rebellion, Governor General John Lambton, Earl of Durham, proposed constitutional changes (e.g. merging Upper and Lower Canada, i.e. Ontario and Quebec) which were viewed as attacking the Canadiens' identity. These and other changes fueled Catholic fears, and the tensions lasted for years. Indeed, the disagreements still persist, though the religious element seems to have largely dropped out.
In addition to the disturbance of 1877 apparently cited here, Graeme Wynn reports that "Limbs were bruised and heads broken when Protestant Orangemen celebrated the victory of William of Orange over Irish Catholic forces at the Battle of the Boyne on July 12, 1690, clashed with 'Green' Catholics in and around the Irish districts of several cities [in Canada] in the 1830s and 1840s." (From Craig Brown, editor, _The Illustrated History of Canada_, p. 267).-  RBW
File: Rc12July
===
NAME: Twelve Apostles, The: see Green Grow the Rushes-O (The Twelve Apostles, Come and I Will Sing You) (File: ShH97)
===
NAME: Twelve Blessings of Mary, The: see The Seven Joys of Mary (File: FO211)
===
NAME: Twelve Days of Christmas, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer's true love gives gifts throughout Christmastide, with the quantity of gifts increasing each day
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1780 (Mirth without Mischief)
KEYWORDS: Christmas cumulative
FOUND_IN: Britain(England,Scotland,Wales) US(Ap,NE,SE,So) Canada(West)
REFERENCES: (14 citations)
Belden, pp. 512-513, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (1 text)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 213-216, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 86-87, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 52-54, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp-100E 96, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 52, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (3 texts, though two are summarized)
Brewster 94, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (2 texts, apparently summarized)
Lomax-FSNA 124, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingFam, p. 172, "Twelve Days of Christmas" (1 text)
Opie-Oxford2 100, "The first day of Christmas" (3 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #424, pp. 196-199, "(The First Day of Christmas)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 123, "Thirteen Yule Days" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 384, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (1 text)
DT, XMAS12DY*
Roud #68
RECORDINGS:
John Thomas, "The Twelve Days of Christmas" [sung in Welsh] (on Saskatch01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ten Days of Finals" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
The Ten Days of Finals (File: EM373)
NOTES: An legend (passed to me by a friend, with no authorities cited) claims that this was a covert Catholic catechism, composed to sneak by the Protestant authorities.
The Baring-Goulds offer some minor supporting evidence, in that a partridge (for the first day) is "known as a bird that deserts its young" -- hence the idea of people who have deserted their faith.
Possible, I suppose -- but clearly most people who have sung the song know nothing of such things, and many of their heavily-folk-processed versions would not be suitable for such purposes (assuming the original was).
Ian Bradley in the _Penguin Book of Carols_, on the other hand, claims it's a drinking forfeit: You have to remember all the gifts offered by previous givers and add one of your own. The problem with this theory, of course, is that the gifts are stereotyped.
They may be even more sterotyped than we realize, in fact. The Baring-Goulds argue that the "five gold rings" of the fifth verse are in fact the rings on the neck of a pheasant (though those rings aren't golden on any pheasant I've seen), meaning that the first seven gifts are all birds. They also argue for a French origin for the piece.
A handful of versions of this -- that of the Montgomeries, and Gomme's "B," and Chambers -- is clearly recensionally different: The verses begin, "The king sent his lady on the (first, second, third...) Yule day." The final line is, "Who learns my carol, and carries it away." This may include *thirteen* Yule days. I thought seriously about calling this a separate song -- but the general form appears related, and so are many of the gifts. Besides, most people would probably seek the song here. But it should be clear that it's a deliberate rewrite. - RBW
File: FO213
===
NAME: Twelve Gates to the City
DESCRIPTION: Spiritual: "Oh, what a beautiful city/There's twelve gates to the city, halleluiah"; "Three gates in the east, three gates in the west/Three gates in the north, three gates in the south."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Norfolk Jubilee Quartet)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 81, "Twelve Gates to the City" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 349, "Twelve Gates to the City" (1 text)
DT, TWLVGATE
RECORDINGS:
Marian Anderson, "Oh! What a Beautiful City" (Victor 10-1040, 1943)
Blind Gary [Davis], "Twelve Gates to the City" (ARC 7-04-55, 1937; rec. 1935)
Blind Boy Fuller w. Sonny Terry, "Twelve Gates to the City" (Vocalion 05465, 1940)
Galilee Singers, "What a Beautiful City" (Decca 7765, 1940)
Norfolk Jubilee Quartet, "Oh What a Beautiful City" (Paramount 12929, 1930; rec. 1929)
Pete Seeger & Sonny Terry, "Twelve Gates to the City" (on SeegerTerry)
Pete Seeger, "Beautiful City" (on PeteSeeger18)); "Twelve Gates to the City" (on PeteSeeger42); "Oh, What a Beautiful City [Twelve Gates to the City]" (on PeteSeeger47)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Oh, What a Beautiful City
NOTES: I know there are earlier recordings of this piece (it was a showpiece for Rev. Gary Davis), and probably earlier printed citations too, but I haven't found them yet. - PJS
The image of the heavenly city may possibly be derived from Chapter 21 of the Apocalypse, but the twelve gates of the city, three on each side, are unquestionably taken from Ezekiel 48:30-34. - RBW
File: PSAFB081
===
NAME: Twelve Good Joys, The: see The Seven Joys of Mary (File: FO211)
===
NAME: Twelve Joys, The: see The Seven Joys of Mary (File: FO211)
===
NAME: Twelvemonth More Has Rolled Around, A
DESCRIPTION: "A twelvemonth more has rolled around Since we attended on this ground, Ten thousand scenes have marked the year Since we last met to worship here."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (Ritchie)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ritchie-SingFam, p. 83, "[A Twelvemonth More Has Rolled Around]" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: JRSF083
===
NAME: Twenty Men from Dublin Town
DESCRIPTION: Twenty men from Dublin join Michael Dwyer to fight the redcoats and avenge the death of Wolfe Tone.
AUTHOR: Arthur Griffith (1871-1922) (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST_DATE: 2000 (Moylan)
KEYWORDS: rebellion Ireland nonballad patriotic
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1798 - Irish rebellion against British rule 
Nov 10, 1798 - Wolfe Tone (1763-1798) condemned to execution; he cuts his own throat to avoid hanging as a criminal (his request to face a firing squad had been denied)
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 147, "Twenty Men from Dublin Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Michael Dwyer (I)" (subject of Michael Dwyer) and references there
cf. "The Shan Van Voght" (subject of Wolfe Tone)
NOTES: For the history of Michael Dwyer, who held out as a rebel for about five years before surrendering to the British, see the notes to Michael Dwyer (I)" or Michael Dwyer (II)." Wolfe Tone's part in the 1798 rebellion is covered in "The Shan Van Voght."
Arthur Griffith was the founder of Sinn Fein, the party that eventually led Ireland to (approximate) independence; after the foundation of the Irish Free State, he became the first head of state, dying in that office in no small part because of the pressures of trying to head a state suffering a civil war. - RBW
File: Moyl147
===
NAME: Twenty Years Ago (Forty Years Ago)
DESCRIPTION: "I wandered to the village, Tom, and sat beneath the tree... That sheltered you and me... But none were left to greet me, Tom... Who played with us upon the green Just (twenty/forty) years ago." The singer tells how the people have changed with the years
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1879 (McGuffey's Fifth Reader)
KEYWORDS: age home courting
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
BrownIII 335, "Twenty (Forty, Sixty) Years Ago" (4 texts)
Randolph 869, "Forty Years Ago" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 481-484, "Forty Years Ago" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 869A)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 196-197,256, "Twenty Years Ago" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST R869 (Partial)
Roud #765
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Good Old Days of Adam and Eve" (theme) and references there
cf. "Merchants of the Bay" (tune)
NOTES: Randolph lists many possible authors for this piece: Dill Armor Smith and Frances Huston are credited with the words, and William Willing with the tune. No solid evidence seems to be forthcoming, though Hazel Felleman's _The Best Loved Poems of the American People_ also credits the song to Smith. Cohen notes that several people stepped forward to claim the song (on behalf of others) and explain the internal references.
The texts in Brown are clearly the same song, despite the difference in time period covered, and also the changes described in that time. Randoph's and Felleman's texts make little mention of technology; they're mostly about aging. The other texts are different. Several mention the first cooking stove, and how women wore (woolen/homespun) dresses and boys wore pants of tow.
Brown's "D" text concludes, "Oxen answered well for teams, but now they're rather slow. But people didn't live so fast some sixty years ago." I'd love to know the author's reaction, had he lived to see it, to a modern freeway.... - RBW
File: R869
===
NAME: Twenty-Fourth of May, The
DESCRIPTION: "O, the twenty-fourth of May Is the Queen's birthday. If you don't give us a holiday, We'll all run away."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1970 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: royalty nonballad
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 24, 1819 - birth of the future Queen Victoria
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Manny/Wilson, p.35, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: The songs in Manny/Wilson were collected in two spurts: The Lord Beaverbrook collection was made around 1947, and Manny started gathering material about ten years later. It would be interesting to know how many of her informants went to school during Victoria's reign -- I wonder if Manny didn't recall the piece herself. - RBW
File: MaWip35
===
NAME: Twenty-One
DESCRIPTION: "At twenty-one I first began to court a neighbour's child...." "At twenty-two no man could view what beauty she possessed...." "At twenty-three she slighted me...." The singer laments the girl's falsity, hopes she will change, (and sets out to ramble)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection betrayal rambling beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H33+H611, pp. 397-398, "Twenty-One" (1 text with many variant readings, 1 tune)
DT, AT21
Roud #4714
File: HHH033
===
NAME: Twenty-One Years [Laws E16]
DESCRIPTION: A convict is sentenced to twenty-one years in prison. He begs his sweetheart, for whom he endured a dirty jail, to ask the governor for clemency. As nothing seems to come of this, he warns young men not to trust women
AUTHOR: Bob Miller?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner)
KEYWORDS: prison rejection
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So) Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Laws E16, "Twenty-One Years"
Randolph 168, "Twenty-One Years" (4 texts plus an excerpt, 1 tune, with the last three texts being diverse sequels to the first text and excerpt)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 156-158, "Twenty-One Years" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 168A)
BrownIII 352, "Twenty-One Years" (1 text)
MacSeegTrav 100, "Twenty-One Years" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
JHJohnson, pp. 41-43, "Twenty-One Years" (1 text)
DT 354, (YRS21*)
Roud #2248
RECORDINGS:
Edward L. Crain, "Twenty-One Years" (Crown 3238, 1932)
Lonesome Pine Fiddlers, "Twenty-One Years" (RCA Victor 20-5011, 1952)
Frank Luther, "Twenty-One Years" (Polk 9087, n.d.)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Twenty-One Years" (Brunswick 483, 1930)
Bob Miller, "Twenty-One Years" (Supertone S-2764, c. 1931)
[Bob] Miller & [Barney] Burnett, "Twenty One Years" (Champion 15985, 1930) (OKeh 45442/OKeh 45541, 1930) (Montgomery Ward M-4964, 1936)
Red River Dave, "Twenty-One Years" (Musicraft 287, 1944)
Riley Puckett, "Twenty-One Years" (Columbia 15719-D, 1932; rec. 1931)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Twenty-One Years" (on NLCR13)
Renfro Valley Boys [Karl Davis & Harty Taylor], "Twenty One Years" (Paramount 3311/Broadway 8318, rec. 1932)
Dick Robertson, "Twenty-One Years" (Victor 23616, 1932)
Carson Robison's Trio, "Twenty-One Years" (Banner 32305/Oriole 8100, 1931
Kate Smith, "Twenty-One Years" (Columbia 2605-D, 1932)
Uncle Bud & his Plow Boys, "Twenty-One Years" (Clarion 5418-C, 1931)
Marc Williams, "Twenty-One Years" (Decca 5010, 1934)
SAME_TUNE:
Gene Autry & Jimmy Long, "Answer to 21 Years" ((Vocalion 5497/Conqueror 8092, 1933) (Regal Zonophone [Australia] G22174, n.d.)
Jimmy Long, "The Answer to 21 Years" (Champion 45023, 1935)
Ernest Hare, "New Twenty-One Years" (Columbia 2602-D, 1932)
Frank Luther Trio  "New Twenty-One Years" (Vocalion 5491, c. 1932; Melotone 12602/Banner 32679 [both as Buddy Spencer's Trio]/Perfect 12884 [as Buddy Spencer]/Conqueror 8100, 1933; rec. 1932) Bob Miller - change references to: (Columbia 15739-D [as Bob Ferguson], 1932) (Electradisk 1907 [as Palmer Trio], 1933) (Victor 23693, 1932; Bluebird B-5013[as Bill Palmer Trio]/Montgomery Ward M-4233, 1933)
Lester McFarland, "Twenty-One Years, No. 2" (Brunswick 596, 1932)
Bob Miller, "New Twenty-One Years" (Columbia 15739-D, 1932) (Electradisk 1907, c. 1932) (Montgomery Ward M-4233, 1933)
Dan Parker, "New 21 Years" (Crown 3266, 1932) [I strongly suspect this is a pseudonym, but since I don'e know whether it's Frank Luther or Bob Miller I give it its own listing for now]
Dick Robertson, "New Twenty-One Years" (Victor 23647, 1932/Montgomery Ward M-4821, 1935)
NOTES: The copyright and collection information on this song reveal something or other. The notes in Randolph's second edition list it as copyright 1931 by Bob Miller. But Randolph's informant, Lillian Short, thought she learned it in 1931, and not from Miller. Henry's version is from 1932; Brown's dates from around 1936. Plus the three sequels, which Laws considers distinct, were collected 1935, 1934, and 1941.
Johnson's book, printed in 1935, shows no knowledge of an author; neither does Laws, nor Brown, though Norm Cohen accepts the attribution to Miller.
Draw your own conclusions. - RBW
Well, the McFarland-Gardner record was made in June 1930 and probably issued later that year, so Ms. Short could well have learned it from there. In the discographical notes to that record, though, the author credit is given to Miller. The Robison recording also dates from that year. - PJS
File: LE16
===
NAME: Twenty-Third, The
DESCRIPTION: "The Twenty-third was drawn in line and ready for the strife, Each man for his country would freely give his life...." A toast to the soldiers who fought bravely "On the thirty-first of May in the Shenandoah lowlands, lowlands low...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: battle Civilwar
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Warner 36, "The Twenty-Third" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa036 (Partial)
Roud #7454
NOTES: The fragment given by the Warners (collected from Yankee John Galusha) is historically troublesome; I suspect it is damaged. There were no Civil War battles fought on May 31 in the Shenandoah valley!
The logical guess would be that the reference is to Jackson's Shenandoah campaign of 1862. Fighting was almost constant in May and June of that year -- but on May 31 Jackson was extracting his troops from between converging Federal columns.
The song does not really identify the regiment, but here we can make a better guess. Even though John Galusha was from New York, it is not the 23rd New York (which, unlike the formation in the song, did not have a colonel named Neal).
I suspect it is the 23rd Pennsylvania, which was commanded from February 1862 by Colonel Thomas Hewson Neill. This regiment, however, was in the Peninsular Campaign, not the Shenandoah campaign (it was in Couch's first division of Keyes's Fourth Corps).
If that is the case, we have a "fit" for the battle: It was the battle of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines, May 31-June 1, 1862. At that time, according to _Battles and Leaders of the Civil War_, volume II, p. 218, it was in Abercrombie's second brigage of Couch's division. What's more, it played a major role in the battle -- Abercrombie's brigade suffered 624 casualties, which is probably in excess of 15% of its available strength, and the second-highest brigade total in the Union army.
Thus we must suspect the "Shenandoah" reference to be in error -- though even it can be explained.
Later in the war, the 23 Pennsylvania was in the Sixth Corps (part of the first brigade, third division from Fredericksburg to Gettysburg; at the Wilderness, it was part of 4/1/VI), and the Sixth Corps was sent to the Shenandoah in 1864. We know, however, that that is not the battle mentioned; by that time Neill was commanding a brigade in a different division of the corps.
Still, it might explain the confusion: Originally the song was an ode to the 23 Pennsylvania, with references to its various exploits, and a chorus referring to the Shenandoah campaign was transferred to the section about Fair Oaks/Seven Pines.
Who Boggs was I cannot guess; there was no general by that name, but odds are that he was a company officer anyway.
It's interesting to observe that John Galusha knew another song ("The Irish Sixty-Ninth") about a Pennsylvania regiment that fought at Fair Oaks. Did he at some point know someone with a large collection of Pennsylvania songs? - RBW
File: Wa036
===
NAME: Twila Was a City Maiden
DESCRIPTION: The singer, a country boy, describes meeting and falling in love with a beautiful city girl. He begs her to marry him, and for a while they exchange love letters. But eventually she grows tired of him and marries another man
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation betrayal marriage
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 821, "Twila Was a City Maiden" (1 text)
Roud #7436
File: R821
===
NAME: Twilight A-Stealing
DESCRIPTION: "Twilight a-stealing over the sea, Shadows are falling, dark on the lea, Borne on the night wind, voices of yore Come from the far-off shore." The singer tells of the home beyond the twilight where memories and good things wait
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (recording, Stoneman Family)
KEYWORDS: religious home
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 30-31, "[Twilight A-Stealing]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 49, "Twilight A-Stealing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5745
RECORDINGS:
Ritchie Family, "Twilight A-Stealing" (on Ritchie03)
The Stoneman Family, "Twilight Is Stealing over the Sea" (Victor, unissued, 1928)
File: JRSF030
===
NAME: Twin Ballots, The
DESCRIPTION: Two ballots are cast together on election day. One is by the local brewer, the other by a "Sunday school man." The Sunday school man spends all day denouncing saloons, but votes for rum. The song waxes sarcastic about this hypocrisy
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: drink political clergy
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Randolph 310, "The Twin Ballots" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 259-206, "The Twin Ballots" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 310)
DT, TWNBLLT*
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 211, "The Twin Ballots" (1 text)
ST R310 (Partial)
Roud #7787
File: R310
===
NAME: Twin Lakes
DESCRIPTION: "As I was sitting in my own cozy corner, Thinking all on a few dollars to make, My wife says ... They're making good wages up on the Twin Lakes." He finds the contractors "keep you right down with their foot on your neck ... keep clear ... of Twin Lakes"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: lumbering hardtimes logger work money
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 161, "Twin Lakes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 761-762, "Twin Lakes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, pp. 79-80, "Twin Lakes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 51, "Twin Lakes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #17693
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Twin Lakes" (on NFOBlondahl02, NFOBlondahl03)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Jerry Ryan" (theme)
cf. "The Track to Knob Lake" (lyrics)
NOTES: The AND [Anglo-Newfoundland Development] company was involved in logging across Newfoundland.
Greenleaf/Mansfield says "most of the lumbering is let out to individuals who do it under contract, and 'subbing' means to take a sub-contract.  Twin Lakes is in the interior of the island [Newfoundland]." - BS
File: Doyl3079
===
NAME: Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star
DESCRIPTION: "Twinkle, twinkle little star." The singer wonders what the star is. It shows its light while the sun is down. It "lights the traveller in the dark" so he can see which way to go.
AUTHOR: Jane Taylor (1783-1824)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1806 (Rhymes for the Nursery, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: lyric nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 489, "Twinkle, twinkle, little star" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #168, pp. 125-126, "(Twinkle, twinkle, little star)"
Fuld-WFM, pp. 593-594, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star -- (ABCDEFG; Baa, Baa, Black Sheep; Schnitzelbank)"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Baa Baa Black Sheep" (tune)
NOTES: According to Fuld, the tune of this first appeared in 1761 as "Ah! Vous Dirai-Je, Maman."  The tune had sundry English lyrics before being united with the Taylor words apparently in 1838.
The popularity of the piece shows in the various parodies, notably Carroll's "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Bat." - RBW
File: OO2489
===
NAME: Twins, The
DESCRIPTION: 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: 
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
The One Thing or the Other
File: K209
===
NAME: Twist About, Turn About, Jump Jim Crow: see Jump Jim Crow (File: Gilb018)
===
NAME: Twistification: see Weevily Wheat (File: R520)
===
NAME: Twisting on the Train
DESCRIPTION: "Oh my name it is O'Shaughnessy, The truth I will tell unto ye, I worked upon the section As I was a tarrier man." One day he is told that he must go "twistin' [braking] on the train." The singer has a dreadful time trying to handle brakes and train
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: railroading train work
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 510, "Twisting on the Train" (1 text)
Roud #7594
RECORDINGS:
Nobel B. Brown, "Oh, I'm a Jolly Irishman Winding on the Train" (AFS 8473 A2, 1946; on LC61)
NOTES: I assume this is the same person as the "Noble B. Brown" featured on other LC recordings. Again, I have no idea which spelling is correct. - PJS
File: R510
===
NAME: Two Born Brothers: see The Twa Brothers [Child 49] (File: C049)
===
NAME: Two Budding Lumberjacks, The
DESCRIPTION: Two lumberjacks work for the Underhills "upon a floating bog Upon Dungarvon's Flats." Whistling Rufus criticizes them for leaving a log behind. Instead of going back for the log their father takes a fence rail from someone else "and call it square"
AUTHOR: Ben, Frank and Albert Peters, 1895 (Manny/Wilson)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: lumbering
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Manny/Wilson 43, "The Two Budding Lumberjacks" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MaWi043 (Partial)
Roud #9185
NOTES: Manny/Wilson: The song is about an experience Ben [age 12] and Frank [age 14] Peters, and their father Leon taking sub-contracts from Millet Underhill "who ran lumber camps for the Snowball Lumber Company of Chatham." The ballad says they came from Prince Edward's Isle. - BS
Albert Peters, the informant, was the younger brother of the two boys involved in the exploit. Reading the plot, you would probably think this a humorous song. It isn't, somehow. - RBW
File: MaWi043
===
NAME: Two Cormacks Who Died Innocent in Front of Nenagh Gaol, The
DESCRIPTION: The condemned stand on the trap and proclaim their innocence. "The day of their execution, as they stood on the drop, The thunder came so dreadful that it did the people shock." At their death "the thunder still continued, with both lightning and rain"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1858 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: execution murder trial storm lament Ireland political
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 11, 1858 - William and Daniel Cormack, or McCormack, are hanged for murder. (source: Zimmermann)
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann 64, "The Lamentation of the Two Cormacks Who Died Innocent in Front of Nenagh Gaol" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: For another broadside on the same subject see Bodleian, Harding B 19(10), "Lamentation of The Two M'Cormacks Who Were Innocently Hanged at Nenagh Gaol" ("Come all yon Roman Catholics, I hope you will attend"), unknown, n.d.; also 2806 b.9(272), 2806 c.15(231), "Lamentation of The Two M'Cormacks Who Were Innocently Hanged at Nenagh Gaol" [the texts for this ballad are the same]
This broadside adds some details: the brother's names are William and Daniel, the murdered man's name is Ellis, and the judge's name is Keogh. It says nothing about the storm at the hanging.
Zimmermann: "A land agent detested by the people was shot near Templemore, County Tipperary, on 22nd October, 1857. Two brothers ... were charged with the murder upon very suspect evidence.... According to the _Tipperary Examiner_, 'the [execution] day was beautifully fine....' In the following weeks the excitement increased, and on 30th August, from twelve to fifteen thousand men assembled in a protest meeting on the place of the execution."
Zimmermann also refers to "a broadside ballad entitled 'The Memory of the two McCormacks Who Was Hanged at Nenagh Gaol', printed and sold in County Tipperary in 1908." - BS 
File: Zimm064
===
NAME: Two Crows, The: see The Three Ravens [Child 26] (File: C026)
===
NAME: Two Dollar Bill (Long Journey Home)
DESCRIPTION: Singer has lost "lost all my money but a two dollar bill"; he's homesick, lonesome and blue. He sees the smoke of a train, and says he's on his long journey home.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (recording, Monroe Brothers)
KEYWORDS: poverty homesickness loneliness train travel lyric nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 177, "My Long Journey Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Jim Eanes, "Long Journey Home" (Blue Ridge 201, n.d.)
Monroe Brothers, "My Long Journey Home" (Bluebird B-6422, 1936)
New Lost City Ramblers, "My Long Journey Home" (on NLCR03, NLCRCD1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Worried Man Blues" (tune)
NOTES: This should not be confused with the song composed by Rosa Lee and Doc Watson, "Your Long Journey." - PJS
File: CSW177
===
NAME: Two Drummers, The: see My Mother Was a Lady (File: LPnd217)
===
NAME: Two Dukes: see Six Dukes Went A-Fishing (File: FO078)
===
NAME: Two Dukes A-Roving: see Three Dukes (File: R551)
===
NAME: Two Gypsy Girls, The
DESCRIPTION: Dandling song. Two pretty Gypsy girls, Hat and Kate, go hawking with bundles on their backs and babies at their breasts. The boys sing, "He's a gay old singer/Here comes the galloping major"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 or 1966 (collected from Caroline Hughes)
KEYWORDS: hunting humorous nonballad Gypsy
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MacSeegTrav 125, "The Two Gypsy Girls" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: This seems to be derived from a music-hall song, "The Galloping Major." - PJS
File: McCST125
===
NAME: Two Hundred Years A-Brewing
DESCRIPTION: A song for "thirsty tourists" about "our famous stout" made "down by the Liffeyside," "our grand brewery at the top of James's Street" and "Our barges neat nigh Watling Street ... full of double X," a favourite at the Brien Boru after a funeral.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (recording, Margaret Barry and Michael Gorman)
KEYWORDS: commerce drink Ireland nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #12930
RECORDINGS:
Margaret Barry and Michael Gorman, "Two Hundred Years A-Brewing" (on Voice13)
NOTES: See "The Wreck of the Vartry" for more about Double X, the Guiness brewery and barges on the Liffey. - BS
File: Rc200YB
===
NAME: Two Irishmen, Two Irishmen: see Teasing Songs (File: EM256)
===
NAME: Two Jinkers
DESCRIPTION: The two jinkers of the title are Jimmie Walsh and Steven. Bad luck to have on board,  they were only hired here because men are hard to find. Their ship runs aground and Jimmie and Steven are responsible. The perturbed singer plans to quit his job. 
AUTHOR: Patrick Kevin Devine ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940
KEYWORDS: ship wreck hardtimes work
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Doyle2, p. 11, "Two Jinkers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, p. 82, "Two Jinkers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 34-35, "Two Jinkers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7315
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Jimmy Walsh and Stephen
NOTES: People who are bad luck on ships are referred to as "Jonahs." [After Jonah, in the Bible, whose presence aboard a ship brought on a storm. - RBW] Smaller vessels were usually run on a family basis or by a very close group, which led to intolerance of strangers. For more about Jonahs, consult Horace Beck, _Folklore and the Sea_ (Mystic, Conn.: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1985) 303-304. - SH
The author is named by GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador site. - BS
File: Doy11
===
NAME: Two Lanterns, The: see The Child of the Railroad Engineer (The Two Lanterns) (File: R685)
===
NAME: Two Letters, The (Charlie Brooks; Nellie Dare)
DESCRIPTION: Charlie writes that he wishes to break off the engagement, saying it would never work, and asks for his ring back. (Nellie) returns ring, photos, etc. She asks him to tell his new girl that he once gave another his ring. She claims she burned his letters
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (recording, Vernon Dalhart)
KEYWORDS: betrayal love request
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 735, "Charlie Brooks" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 486-489, "Charley Brooke" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 735A)
Roud #3534
RECORDINGS:
Leo Boswell and Elzie Floyd, "Nellie Dare" (Columbia 15150-D, 1927)
Vernon Dalhart, "Nellie Dare and Charlie Brooks" (Brunswick 143) (Victor 20058, 1926)
Bradley Kincaid, "Charlie Brooks" (Superior 2788, 1932)
Holland Puckett, "Charles A. Brooks" (Gennett 6163/Herwin 75556 [as by Robert Howell], 1927)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Ella Dare
File: R735
===
NAME: Two Little Blackbirds
DESCRIPTION: "Two little blackbird in the ring, One named Peter, one named Paul. Fly away, Peter, fly away, Paul, Come the sea (?), come the fall." "Under the carpet (?) we must go, Like a jaybird (?) in the air." "Then, Sally, will you marry?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1947 (recorded from Elda Blackwood); Warner compares it to a 1765 nursery rhyme
KEYWORDS: bird marriage floatingverses nonballad
FOUND_IN: West Indies
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #16401
RECORDINGS:
Elda Blackwood, "Two Little Blackbirds" (on USWarnerColl01)
NOTES: The Warners identify this with the mother goose rhynme, "There were two Blackirds Sta upon a Hill, The one nam'd Jack, The other nam'd Gill, Fly away Jack, Fly away Gill, Come again Jack, Come again Jill," now more commonly known as "Two little dicky birds." The similarity in lyrics is obvious, but the shift from Jack and Gill to Peter and Paul is peculiar, and most of Elda Blackwood's version is distinct anyway.
Unfortunately, the Warner recording of Blackwood is so noisy as to verge on incomprehensible (note the number of question marks in my transcription). I think we must treat the matter as unsettled. - RBW
File: Rc2LiBla
===
NAME: Two Little Children: see Orphan's Lament (Two Little Children, Left Jim and I Alone) (File: BrII150)
===
NAME: Two Little Fleas
DESCRIPTION: "Two little fleas sat on a rock. One to the other said: I've had no place to hang my hat Since my poor dog's been dead. I've searched this whole world over; No longer shall I roam. The first dog that shall show himself Shall be my home, sweet home."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1923 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: dog humorous food bug
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 192, "Two Little Fleas" (1 text)
Roud #15771
File: Br3192
===
NAME: Two Little Girls in Blue
DESCRIPTION: A young man finds his uncle gazing at a photograph in tears. When asked why, the uncle explains the photo is of the boy's mother's sister, who married the uncle. The uncle and his wife have parted, and now he regrets it
AUTHOR: Charles Graham
EARLIEST_DATE: 1893 (original publication)
KEYWORDS: family separation
FOUND_IN: US(MA) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
FSCatskills 106, "Two Little Girls in Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 816, "Two Little Girls in Blue" (1 text)
Leach-Labrador 61, "Two Little Girls in Blue" (1 text)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 181-181, "Two Little Girls in Blue" (1 fragmentary text, 1 tune)
ST FSC106 (Partial)
Roud #2793
RECORDINGS:
Leo Boswell, "Two Little Girls in Blue" (Columbia 15290-D, 1928)
W. C. Childers, "Two Little Girls in Blue" (Champion 16098, 1930)
Murray Keller, "Two Little Girls in Blue" (Brunswick 188, 1927)
Bradley Kincaid, "Two Little Girls in Blue" (Decca I.4456, n.d.)
Bela Lam and His Green County Singers, "Two Little Girls in Blue" (OKeh, unissued, 1927)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "'Tis Not Always the Bullet that Kills" (plot)
SAME_TUNE:
Two Little Girls In Blue (Parody) (Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 125-126)
File: FSC106
===
NAME: Two Little Kittens
DESCRIPTION: "Two little kittens one stormy night Began to quarrel and then to fight. One had a mouse, the other had none...." The two start to fight; the woman sweeps them out into the snow. When finally allowed back in, they decide warmth is better than fighting
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Flanders/Brown)
KEYWORDS: animal storm fight
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 184-185, "Two Little Kittens" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FlBr184 (Partial)
Roud #5450
File: FlBr184
===
NAME: Two Little Niggers Black as Tar
DESCRIPTION: "Two little niggers black as tar, Tryin' to git to heaven on a 'lectric car, De street car broke, down dey fell; 'Stead a going to heaven they went to hell."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: death Hell
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 467, "Two Little Niggers Black as Tar" (2 very short texts)
Roud #11788
File: Br4367
===
NAME: Two Lovers Discoursing [Laws O22]
DESCRIPTION: Mary accuses her lover of breaking his promise to marry her; he denies this and asks who has spread the rumor that he is courting Nancy. But he still will not wed, until Mary points out that even birds are truer than he is. He gives in; they are married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1954 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage promise infidelity
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws O22, "Two Lovers Discoursing"
Doerflinger, pp. 316-317, "Two Lovers Discoursing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 50, "Nancy's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 31, "The Most Unconstant of Young Men" (1 text, 1 tune); 39A, "The True Lovers' Discussion" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 481, TWOLOVRS
Roud #991
NOTES: Creighton-SNewBrunswick: "There must be some relation between 39A and B. The former seems to have originated with the folk and the latter to have been a literary composition taken over by the folk. They are placed together because of subject matter and also because singers give variants of the same title." If so they have grown so far apart that there is no hint in the words that they are related. For 39B see "The True Lovers' Discussion." - BS
It's interesting to note that both of the Creighton-SNewBrunswick versions of this song are from the same informant, but differ in both text and tune. Though it's perhaps not as exceptional as Creighton thinks; consider how many different versions *you* probably know of "The Gypsy Laddie." - RBW
File: LO22
===
NAME: Two Magicians, The: see The Twa Magicians [Child 44] (File: C044)
===
NAME: Two Old Crows: see The Three Ravens [Child 26] (File: C026)
===
NAME: Two Professional Hums, The: see The Great American Bum (Three Jolly Bums) (File: FaE192)
===
NAME: Two Ravens, The: see The Three Ravens [Child 26] (File: C026)
===
NAME: Two Rigs of Rye [Laws O11]
DESCRIPTION: (The girl tells her lover that her family opposes her marriage.) Uncertain of her dowry, he has doubts about the marriage. When she breaks into tears, he assures her he did not mean it. The two settle down to a long and happy marriage
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: courting dowry marriage
FOUND_IN: US(MW) Britain(England,Scotland)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws O11, "Two Rigs of Rye"
Ord, pp. 31-32, "The Rigs of Rye" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 58, "Two Rigs of Rye" (1 short text, 1 tune)
DT 475, RIGSORYE*
ST LO11 (Full)
Roud #985
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, RB.m.143(122), "Twas in the Month of Sweet July," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Rigs of Rye
File: LO11
===
NAME: Two Ruby Red Lips: see The Wayward Boy" (File: EM086)
===
NAME: Two Sisters That Loved One Man, The: see The Twa Sisters [Child 10] (File: C010)
===
NAME: Two Sisters, The: see The Twa Sisters [Child 10] (File: C010)
===
NAME: Two Sweethearts
DESCRIPTION: "A bunch of young fellows one night at a club Were telling of sweethearts they had." They tease one boy about not having a love; he says he loves two women: His mother and his sweetheart
AUTHOR: Words: E. P. Moran / Music: J. Fred Holf ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1897 (copyright claim)
KEYWORDS: mother love
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 864, "Two Sweethearts" (1 text)
Roud #4231
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "Two Sweethearts" (Bluebird B-6106/Montgomery Ward M-4433, 1935; Regal Zonophone [Australia] G23169, n.d.)
File: R864
===
NAME: Two Travellers, The
DESCRIPTION: Two travellers compare notes. One has been everywhere, done everything and seen the wonders of the world. The other asks what of Ireland the first has seen: "the man that ne'er saw Mullinahone Shouldn't say he had travelled at all"
AUTHOR: C.J. Boland
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: travel Ireland humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More, pp. 259-261, "The Two Travellers" (1 text)
SAME_TUNE:
cf. "Hannigan's Aunt" (tune)
File: OLcM259
===
NAME: Two White Horses (I)
DESCRIPTION: "Two white horses, Two white horses, side by side (x3), Nobody can ride but the sanctified." "Daniel was a man in the lion's den The good Lord proved to be Daniel's friend." "Zek'l was a man and he rassled with sin Heb'n gate opened... he rolled... in"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 646, "Two White Horses Side by Side" (1 fragment)
Sandburg, pp. 472-473, "Two White Horses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11939
NOTES: The story of Daniel in the lion's den is found in 6:6-24. There is no explicit reference to Ezekiel wrestling with sin (let alone rolling right into heaven) -- but certainly Ezekiel spent more time than any other prophet wrestling with wild, crazed visions. - RBW
File: San472
===
NAME: Two White Horses (II): see See That My Grave Is Kept Clean (File: ADR92)
===
NAME: Two White Horses In a Line: see See That My Grave Is Kept Clean (File: ADR92)
===
NAME: Two White Horses Side by Side: see Two White Horses (I) (File: San472)
===
NAME: Tyburn Hill
DESCRIPTION: "A beggar man laid himself down to sleep, Rumsty-o, Rumsty-o. A beggar man laid himself down to sleep, On the banks of the Mersey so wide and steep." Two thieves come by and rob the beggar. The singer sees them in the dock, then on Tyburn gallows
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Linscott)
KEYWORDS: thief begging punishment execution
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Linscott, pp. 295-296, "Tyburn Hill" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Lins295 (Partial)
Roud #3746
NOTES: Linscott points out that executions at Tyburn (Tye Burn) stopped in 1783 (after which time they took place at Newgate), implying that that dates this song. This doesn't really follow; "Tyburn" had by then become a byword of sorts.
In fact the song seems somewhat confused; why would robbers who worked near the Mersey be hanged at Tyburn? Also, the form looks rather like a singing game. It's most unfortunate that we can't find more versions of this piece. - RBW
File: Lins295
===
NAME: Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail [Laws B17]
DESCRIPTION: Two cowboys, having spent a wild time in town, are returning to camp when they meet the Devil. The Devil tries to collect their souls; the cowboys have the better of the fight, leaving the Devil tied up, branded, and with its tail in knots
AUTHOR: Gail Gardner?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917
KEYWORDS: Devil cowboy fight humorous
FOUND_IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Laws B17, "Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail"
Larkin, pp. 75-78, "Rusty Jiggs and Sandy Sam" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 74, "Tying Knots in the Devil's Tail" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 203, "Tyin' a Knot in the Devil's Tail" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 406-409, "Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail" (1 text)
Ohrlin-HBT 27, "The Sierry Petes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 174-176, "Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 112, "Tyin' A Knot In The Devil's Tail" (1 text)
DT 384, DVLTAIL*
Roud #3238
RECORDINGS:
Cisco Houston, "Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail" (Disc 5069, 1940s)
Harry Jackson, "Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail" (on HJackson1)
Powder River Jack & Kitty Lee, "Tying A Knot In The Devil's Tail" (Victor 23527, 1930; Montgomery Ward M-4462, 1934; on AuthCowboys, BackSaddle, WhenIWas1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "De Hoffnung" (theme)
SAME_TUNE:
East Texas Red (by Woody Guthrie) (on Thieme03)
File: LB17
===
NAME: Tying Knots in the Devil's Tail: see Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail [Laws B17] (File: LB17)
===
NAME: Tylus and Talus
DESCRIPTION: "Tylus and talus and rippity-ting, All the girls gather and all the boys sing, Choose you the nearest one, Choose you the dearest one, All join together to make a big ring." Verses begin "Tylus and talus" and encourage the couples
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: playparty courting
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 542, "Tylus and Talus" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7655
File: R542
===
NAME: Tyne Exile's Lament, The
DESCRIPTION: "I sat by the side of a broad rolling river That sparkles along on its way to the sea; By my thoughts fly again o'er the wide-heaving main... I wish I were again on the banks of the Tyne." The singer recalls Tynside and hopes to be buried there
AUTHOR: Words: Anonymous (John Stokoe)/Music: Samuel Reay
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: homesickness river exile burial
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Stokoe/Reay, pp.  78-79, "The Tyne Exile's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3143
NOTES: The notes in Stokoe/Reay say that an anonymous author wrote this and wanted his name to remain secret. It seems rather likely that Stokoe himself was responsible for this banal piece of local patriotism. - RBW
File: StoR978
===
NAME: Uh-Uh, No: see No, John, No (File: R385)
===
NAME: Ulan Girls: see The Girls of Ulan (File: MA213)
===
NAME: Umeralla  Shore, The: see The Eumerella Shore (File: MA155)
===
NAME: Un Canadien Errant
DESCRIPTION: Canadian French: A Canadien rebel has been forced from his home. Stopping by a stream, he bids it -- should it flow through his homeland -- to greet his friends. He promises not to forget his homeland
AUTHOR: M. A. Gerin-Lajoie
EARLIEST_DATE: 1842
KEYWORDS: exile rebellion Canada foreignlanguage
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1837 - Revolt in Canada. The failure of the uprising forces many rebels into exile
FOUND_IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 26-27, "Un Canadien Errant" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 82-84, "Un Canadien Errant" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 4, "Un Canadien Errant" (1 English and 1 French version, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 339, "Un Canadien Errant (An Exiled Canadien)" (1 text)
DT, CANADERR
RECORDINGS:
 Pete Seeger, "Un Canadien Errant" (on PeteSeeger29)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "An Anti-Rebel Song" (subject)
cf. "Farewell to Mackenzie" (subject)
NOTES: For further details about the Canadian revolt, caused by the oppression of an oligarchic government, see the songs mentioned in the cross-references. - RBW
File: FJ026
===
NAME: Un, Deux, Trois
DESCRIPTION: Creole French: "Un, deux, trois, Caroline qui fais comme sa, ma chere?" The singer asks Caroline what is the matter. She reports that mama says yes but papa says no. She is determined to have the young man anyway.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: courting love family father mother foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 120, "Un Deux Trois" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 218-219, "Un, Deux, Trois" (1 text plus translation, 1 tune)
File: LxA218
===
NAME: Una Bhan (Fair Una)
DESCRIPTION: Irish Gaelic: Una's father locks her up rather than let her marry the singer. Ill, she sends for him; he finds the gates shut. If he doesn't hear from her before he has crossed the river, he won't return. A servant reaches him too late. Una dies of grief
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (recording, Maire Aine Ni Dhonnchadha)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Irish Gaelic: Una's father imprisons her in her room rather than allow her to marry the singer. Ill, she sends for him, but he finds the gates shut against him. Angry, he turns away, crying that if he doesn't hear from her by the time he has crossed the river, he'll never return. He hesitates midstream; a servant is sent after him, but he has crossed the river before the servant arrives. Una dies of grief; still bitter, he comes to visit her grave for the last time, asking her spirit to visit him (and telling her it's awful for her to be lying there with the rotting corpses). Nothing happens, and he turns away into the darkness
KEYWORDS: captivity disease grief hardheartedness courting love rejection corpse death mourning foreignlanguage lament father lover
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Maire Aine Ni Dhonnchadha, "Una Bhan" (on TradIre01)
NOTES: Maire Aine Ni Dhonnchadha learned the song from an old woman in Rosaveel, the only person from whom it's apparently been collected. - PJS
File: RcUnaBha
===
NAME: Uncle Bill Teller
DESCRIPTION: "Uncle Bill Teller died las' fall, Young maiden, where ye bound to? We jigged t'ree days an' niver got one, Across de Western Ocean." "Bill K is de divil fer fat, Hang to 'er, b'ys, hang to 'er." "Billy K. got a fine old bark."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (England, Vikings of the Ice)
KEYWORDS: hunting derivative
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 106, "Uncle Bill Teller" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Across the Western Ocean" (form, lyrics)
NOTES: Evidently a sealing parody of "Across the Western Ocean." - RBW
File: RySma106B
===
NAME: Uncle Bud
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, Uncle Bud goin' down the road, Haulin' women by the wagon load, Uncle Bud (x3), Bud, Doggone it, Uncle Bud." About Uncle Bud's odd exploits, sexual anatomy, and extravagant farming methods, as well as poverty and perhaps the hope for  salvation
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers)
KEYWORDS: humorous drink death sex bawdy
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MWheeler, pp. 95-97, "Uncle Bud" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10035
RECORDINGS:
Anonymous singer, "Uncle Bud" (on Unexp1)
Grant & Wilson, "Uncle Joe" (QRS, 1929) (Decca, 1938)
Booker T. Sapps, "Uncle Bud" (AFS 370 A1, 370 A2, 1935)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Uncle Bud" (Columbia 15134-D, 1927; rec. 1926) (Columbia 15221-D, 1928; rec. 1927)
NOTES: Most versions of this song are bawdy, to a greater or lesser extent. A Texas variant, recorded by the anonymous singer on Unexp1, recounts stories about Uncle Bud Russell, who was in charge of transporting prisoners to the state prison at Huntsville -- but the song clearly existed in tradition before then, and was adapted to local use. - PJS
File: MWhee095
===
NAME: Uncle Dan Song, The
DESCRIPTION: "A sly young maid" warns Uncle Dan of a predatory widow who "set her cap" for him. He thanks the maid for the warning; if she marries she should treat her man well but "if he should die and you want another man, Just clear the road for Uncle Dan"
AUTHOR: Dan Riley
EARLIEST_DATE: 1957 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: courting warning humorous
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 48-49, 256, "The Uncle Dan Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13998
RECORDINGS:
Mary Cousins, "The Uncle Dan Song" (on MREIves01)
File: IvDC048
===
NAME: Uncle Eph
DESCRIPTION: About Uncle Eef/Eph/Ephraem's exploits, usually in hunting raccoons. May include recitations. Chorus: "Uncle Eph's got the coon and gone on And left us looking up a tree."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (recording, Dunham Jazz Singers)
KEYWORDS: animal hunting nonballad floatingverses humorous talltale
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
BrownIII 433, "Broder Eton Got de Coon" (1 text); also 511, "The Preacher Song" (1 text, a complex mix of verses from "Turkey in the Stray" and "Some Folks Say that a Preacher Won't Steal" with the "Uncle Eph" chorus)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 101-102, "Brother Ephrum Got de Coon and Gone On" (1 text, 1 tune, with even more floating material than usual, e.g. from "Don't Get Weary Children (Massa Had a Yellow Gal)")
DT, (BRORPHUS -- on the face of it, a combination of this with a song about Moses)
Roud #11775
RECORDINGS:
Anglin Twins, "Uncle Eph's Got the Coon" (Vocalion 03904, 1937)
Dunham Jazz Singers, "Ephraim Got the Coon" (Columbia 14609-D, 1931)
Grandpa Jones, "Uncle Eph's Got The Coon" (King 867, 1950)
Art Thieme, "Uncle Eph/The Great Raccoon Hunt" [combines song and tall-tale] (on Thieme03)
Wade Ward, "Brother Ephram" (Okeh, unissued, 1925); "Uncle Eef" [instrumental] (on Holcomb-Ward1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Uncle Reuben" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Mourner, You Shall Be Free (Moanish Lady)" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Presumably the same as Bob Allen's 1878 song "Old Uncle Eph," but I haven't seen the latter to prove it.
It is interesting to note that at least two versions of this song -- Brown's #511 and the Hedy West text recorded in the Digital Tradition -- combine this with the chorus, "Where you going, Moses? None of your business.Come here, Moses. I ain't gonna do it." - RBW
File: RcUncEph
===
NAME: Uncle Joe: see Hop High Ladies (Uncle Joe) (File: R252)
===
NAME: Uncle Joe (I): see If I Were As Young As I Used to Be (Uncle Joe) (File: R434)
===
NAME: Uncle Joe and Aunty Mabel
DESCRIPTION: Joe and Mabel are restored to sexual vigor by a glass of Ovaltine. (Alternately, Fleischmann's Yeast or other improbable concoction)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Anecdota Americana)
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous derivative
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Cray, pp. 374-376, "Uncle Joe and Aunty Mabel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 37, "Fleischmann's Yeast" (1 text, tune referenced)
DT, OVALTPM*
Roud #10325
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing" (tune)
File: EM374
===
NAME: Uncle Joe Cut Off His Toe (Rock the Cradle Joe)
DESCRIPTION: "Uncle Joe cut off his toe And hung it up to dry; And all the girls began to laugh And Joe began to cry." "Rock the cradle, rock the cradle, Rock the cradle, Joe...." Remaining verses, if any, appear to float; those quoted are characteristic
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: nonballad injury floatingverses playparty
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 97, "Uncle Joe Cut Off His Toe" (3 texts plus mention of 2 more, but "B" is probably "Shady Grove"; "A" is an incredible mix with verses typical of "Raccoon," "If I Had a Scolding Wife," a "Liza Jane" song, a mule song, and "Shady Grove")
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 153-154, "Cradle Song" (1 text)
Roud #741
File: Br3097
===
NAME: Uncle John -- The Sealer, 1951
DESCRIPTION: "Among the sealers who came home... was... Uncle John, As mad as he could be." John complains of the new law which allows sealing to begin before March 13, forcing them to take seals too young. He will not rest till the old law is restored
AUTHOR: Solomon Samson?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963 (A Glimpse of Newfoundland in Poetry and Pictures)
KEYWORDS: hunting political
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 154, "Uncle John -- The Sealer, 1951" (1 text)
File: RySm154
===
NAME: Uncle Ned
DESCRIPTION: Uncle Ned was so old when he died that he had no wool (hair) on his head, no teeth, and was blind. Even so, both his fellow-slaves and his owners grieved at his death
AUTHOR: Stephen C. Foster
EARLIEST_DATE: 1848 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: death mourning slave
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Randolph 261, "Uncle Ned" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 223-225, "Uncle Ned" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 261)
BrownIII 420, "Uncle Ned" (2 texts plus an exaggerated parody, "There was an ancient colored individual, and his cognomen was Uncle Edward")
Thomas-Makin', pp. 236-237, ("Uncle Ned") (1 fragment plus a Great Depression parod noting that "All the Democrats are working on the State Highway Job And the Republicans are all on Relief")
ST R261 (Full)
Roud #4871
RECORDINGS:
Elda Blackwood, "Uncle Ned" [fragment] (on USWarnerColl01)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Old Uncle Ned" (OKeh 40263, 1925; rec. 1924)
Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, "Old Uncle Ned" (Brunswick 300, 1929; rec. 1928)
Uncle Dave Macon, "Uncle Ned" (Vocalion 5011, 1926)
Harry "Haywire Mac" McClintock, "Darkie Uncle Ned" (on McClintock02)
Chubby Parker, "Uncle Ned" (Silvertone 25103, 1927; Supertone 9192, 1928)
Leake County Revelers, "Uncle Ned" (Columbia 15470-D, 1929)
Oscar Seagle, "Uncle Ned" (Columbia A-3582, 1922)
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y4:0048, "Uncle Ned," unknown, 19C
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Johnny Walk Along to Hilo" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Way Down on the Old Peedee" (plot)
SAME_TUNE:
Uncle Ned's Ghost (broadside Murray, Mu23-y1:011, "Uncle Ned's Ghost," J. Bristow (Glasgow), no date; a sequel to this song describing Ned's afterlife)
Dere Was a Little Man, and His Name was Stevy Dug (Campaign song for Abraham Lincoln, 1870, quoted in Bruce Catton, _The Coming Fury_, p. 93)
NOTES: Randolph, following White, says this song is common in African-American tradition, but collections from tradition (Black or White) seem few. (And it's hard to see why African-Americans would make it their own.) Randolph has a genuine collection; there is also a fragment in Laura Ingalls Wilder's _Little House in the Big Woods_ (chapter 5). But both these versions, we might note, have Ozark connections.
This is one of the first pieces Foster had published; he *gave* it to W. C. Peter, who proceeded to sell thousands of copies without giving Foster royalties. - RBW
File: R261
===
NAME: Uncle Reuben
DESCRIPTION: "Uncle Reuben caught a coon, done gone, Chick-a-chick, done gone... and left me here behind."  Assorted verses about animals, hunting, love: "Rabbit running through the grass, Foxes close behind, Trees and weeds and cockleburrs Is all the foxes find"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: animal hunting nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 38, "Uncle Reuben" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Possum Up a Gum Stump" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Uncle Eph" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: This seems to be almost purely floating verses (e.g. "Possum up a 'simmon tree..."), but the collection as a whole does not seem to go with any other song, and so it gets its own listing.
Paul Stamler has suggested that this is a version of "Uncle Eph." They probably have some common ancestry. But this is less of a talltale, and the form is different, so I tentatively split them -- at least until I find out where the Silber version came from. (A perpetual problem with Silber.) - RBW
Silber's version almost certainly came from folk-revival singer Tom Glazer, who recorded it in the early 1950s on his album "Olden Balads." The "Chick-a-chick" is the most important clue. My guess is that Glazer conflated "Uncle Eph" and some floaters. - PJS
File: FSWB038
===
NAME: Uncle Sam Simmie: see There Was an Old Woman and She Had a Little Pig (File: E068)
===
NAME: Uncle Sam's Farm
DESCRIPTION: "Of all the mighty nations in the east or in the west, Oh this glorious Yankee nation is the greatest and the best... Here's a general invitation to the people of the world." The singer promises them farms, lists the U.S. boundaries, praises its freedom
AUTHOR: The Hutchinson family (credited to Jesse Hutchinson Jr.)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1850 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: political nonballad America technology work
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 20, 1862 - President Lincoln signs the Homestead Act
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 399, "Uncle Sam's Farm" (1 text)
DT, USFARM
Roud #4556
NOTES: The statement, "Uncle Sam's rich enough to give us all a farm" appears to refer to the Homestead Act, allowing anyone to acquire western land for a nominal fee. Obviously it dates from before 1923, when the U. S. effectively closed its doors to immigrants. - RBW
File: Br3399
===
NAME: Uncle Tahiah: see Aged Indian, The (Uncle Tohido) (File: LPnd124)
===
NAME: Unconstant Lover (I), The: see The Nobleman's Wedding (The Faultless Bride; The Love Token) [Laws P31] (File: LP31)
===
NAME: Unconstant Lover (II), The: see On Top of Old Smokey (File: BSoF740)
===
NAME: Undaunted Female, The (The Box Upon Her Head; The Staffordshire Maid; The Maid and the Robber) [Laws L3]
DESCRIPTION: A servant girl sets out for home to help her father. She meets a robber and kills him. She meets another stranger who returns with her to the body. They find a whistle which summons more robbers. Girl and stranger dispose of them and agree to marry
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.17(446))
KEYWORDS: outlaw marriage
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar) Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws L3, "The Undaunted Female"
Mackenzie 130, "The Box Upon Her Head" (1 text)
BBI, ZN514, "Come all ye young gallants and listen a while" (?)
DT 419, MAIDROBR
Roud #289
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.17(446), "The Undaunted Female" ("It's of a fair damsel in London did dwell"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 11(3939), Firth c.17(22), Firth c.17(23), Johnson Ballads 610, Firth b.25(41/42), Johnson Ballads 3154, Firth c.26(47), Harding B 11(3940), Harding B 11(3934), Harding B 11(3935), Harding B 11(3941), Harding B 11(3937), Harding B 11(3936), Harding B 16(292c), 2806 d.31(40), 2806 c.17(448), 2806 c.17(447), Harding B 20(229), Harding B 25(1962), "The Undaunted Female"
Murray, Mu23-y1:052, "The Undaunted Female," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C
File: LL03
===
NAME: Under the Garden Wall
DESCRIPTION: The singer spies a man and a maid under or over the garden wall. The two have sex, leaving the spy sexually aroused and unfulfilled.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy sex hiding
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 535-537, "Under the Garden Wall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8382
File: RL535
===
NAME: Under the Greenwood Tree
DESCRIPTION: "In summertime, when flow'rs do spring, And birds sit on the tree, Let Lords and Knights say what they will, There's none so merry as we. There's Will and Moll, with Harry and Doll, and Tom and bonny Bettee... Under the greenwood tree
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1686 (The Dancing Master)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Chappell/Wooldridge II, pp. 53-54, "Oh, How They Frisk It, or, Leather Apron, or Under the Greenwood Tree" (1 tune; partial text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Dame Durden" (form)
cf. "Widdicombe Fair (II)" (form)
SAME_TUNE:
cf. Bronson's notes to "Robin Hood and the Monk" [Child 119]
NOTES: This may not be traditional, but it appears to be the earliest example of this form of "lusty lads and lasses are merry" sort of song, so I put it in here for cross-reference purposes. - RBW
File: ChWIII053
===
NAME: Under the Juniper Tree: see The Juniper Tree (File: R540)
===
NAME: Under the Leaves: see The Seven Virgins (The Leaves of Life) (File: OBB111)
===
NAME: Under the Pale Moonlight: see Out In the Moonlight (I Will Love Thee Always) (File: R803)
===
NAME: Under the Shade of a Bonny Green Tree: see Tripping Over the Lea [Laws P19] (File: LP19)
===
NAME: Under the Willow She's Sleeping  (The Willow Tree)
DESCRIPTION: "Under the willow she's laid with care (Sang a lone mother while weeping,) Under the willow with golden hair, My little one's quietly sleeping. Fair, fair and golden hair...." The mother laments that the girl sings and plays no more
AUTHOR: Stephen C. Foster
EARLIEST_DATE: 1860 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: death love burial mother children
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Belden, p. 484, "Under the Willow" (1 text)
Randolph 711, "The Willow Tree" (1 text, a fragment which Randolph calls "pretty close" to the Foster song, although it has only a few phrases found in the original Foster text)
Saunders/Root-Foster 2, pp. 89-92+427, "Under the Willow She's Sleeping" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7377
File: R711
===
NAME: Under the Willow Tree: see Bury Me Beneath the Willow (File: R747)
===
NAME: Underneath Her Apron: see Gathering Rushes in the Month of May (Underneath Her Apron) (File: DTundrap)
===
NAME: Undutiful Daughter, The: see Gosport Beach (The Undutiful Daughter) (File: SWMS127)
===
NAME: Unemployment Insurance
DESCRIPTION: "I'm sitting here waiting for the mail" with my unemployment insurance cheque. "I go into the office to fill out my claim, Praying to Jesus the jobs will be few." The cheque arrives. "Dear Lord.... If you find work for someone I sure hope it's not me!"
AUTHOR: Alton MacLean
EARLIEST_DATE: 1982 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: unemployment political humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 219-221, 256, "Unemployment Insurance" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13999
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Catch of the Season" (theme)
NOTES: Ives-DullCare: "Ten weeks of summer work could be sufficient for a person to file. Then -- after the obligatory but painful six-week waiting period -- the cheques would start coming, and they could very well carry a person through the whole winter and even up to the next summer season, but, of course, the claimant was obligated to be 'actively seeking work' all that time. The song suggests that perhaps not everyone operates fully within the spirit of this program." - BS
File: IvDC219
===
NAME: Unfinished Letter, The: see The Last Letter (File: GrMa101)
===
NAME: Unfortunate Man (II), The: see The Warranty Deed (The Wealthy Old Maid) [Laws H24] (File: LH24)
===
NAME: Unfortunate Man, The
DESCRIPTION: The "unfortunate man" has all sorts of troubles. His sweetheart jilts him. He runs off with another man's wife, but is quickly captured. His friends cheat him. Now he can only hope a girl will "think more of my heart than she did of my face."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: courting separation adultery punishment trick loneliness
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 440, "The Unfortunate Man" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 319-320, "The Unfortunate Man" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 440A)
DT, UNFORTU2*
Roud #6367
NOTES: Not to be confused with the pop folk song "The Warranty Deed" (sometimes known as "The Unfortunate Man" or "The Very Unfortunate Man") about the poor lawyer and the disassembleable woman. - RBW, PJS
File: R440
===
NAME: Unfortunate Miss Bailey
DESCRIPTION: Captain Smith seduces Miss Bailey, who hangs herself. One night her ghost returns and upbraids him, saying she's been ill-used, and the parson won't bury her. The captain gives her money to bribe the sexton, whereupon she vanishes, content.
AUTHOR: George Colman
EARLIEST_DATE: 1840 (broadside by Such of London)
KEYWORDS: seduction suicide humorous nightvisit ghost soldier
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond)) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Friedman, p. 54, "Unfortunate Miss Bailey" (1 text)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 183-185, "Unfortunate Miss Bailey" (1 text, 1 tune)
PBB 88, "Unfortunate Miss Bailey" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 182, "Unfortunate Miss Bailey" (1 text)
DT, BAILYGHO
Roud #4549
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Hunters of Kentucky" [Laws A25] (tune)
NOTES: This song is variously credited to George Colman the elder (1732-1794) and George Colman the younger (1762-1836). As it appears in the latter's play "Love Laughs at Locksmiths," the younger seems a stronger candidate. - RBW
File: FR054
===
NAME: Unfortunate Rake (II), The: see The Streets of Laredo [Laws B1] (File: LB01)
===
NAME: Unfortunate Rake, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a young man/woman wrapped in flannel. The young person says that he/she is dying, originally of syphilis but in some versions of wounds or unspecified disease. The young person requests an elaborate military funeral.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1790
KEYWORDS: disease death dying funeral lament whore
FOUND_IN: Britain (England(All)) Ireland US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 108, "The Young Girl Cut Down In Her Prime" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 131, "St. James's Hospital, or The Sailor Cut Down in his Prime" (2 texts, 2 tunes, but the "B" text really belongs with "Streets of Laredo")
Silber-FSWB, p. 217, "Young Man Cut Down In His Prime (St. James Hospital)" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, p. 5, "The Unfortunate Rake" (1 text)
Roud #2
RECORDINGS:
Harry Cox, "The Young Sailor Cut Down in His Prime" (on FieldTrip1)
Texas Gladden, "One Morning in May" (AFS, 1941; on LCTreas)
A. L. Lloyd, "St. James's Hospital" (on Lloyd2, Lloyd3)
Pete Seeger, "St. James Hospital" (on PeteSeeger16)
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y4:039, "The Unfortunate Lad," unknown, 19C
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Streets of Laredo" [Laws B1] (tune & meter, plot) and references there
cf. "The Bad Girl's Lament (St. James' Hospital; The Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime) [Laws Q26] (tune & meter, plot)
cf. "The Sailor Cut Down in His Prime" (tune & meter, plot)
cf. "My Home's in Montana" (tune, floating lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Unfortunate Lad
The Whores of the City
NOTES: Syphilis first appeared in Europe in epidemic form, with devastating effects, in the early 1500s. It was often treated with compounds of mercury, mentioned in some versions of the song.
Clearly this is the ancestral ballad to "The Bad Girl's Lament", "St. James Infirmary", "The Whore's Lament", "Streets of Laredo", "The Dying Marine", etc. -PJS
Silber & Silber subtitle their text "St. James Hospital," since the name is mentioned in the text. This title, however, seems to be associated primarily with the "Bad Girl's Lament."
At least a few versions refer to dosing syphillis with "arsenic and salts of white mercury." Mercury as a cure is older, as Paul notes, and arsenic was also used in various medicines during the nineteenth century and earlier. But arsenic as a true remedy for syphillis came into use in 1909, when Paul Ehrlich found arsphenamine to be effective; it remained in use until the coming of penicillin (see John Emsley, _Nature's Building Blocks_, p. 42).
The use of the "corrosive sublimate" of mercury (i.e. HgCl2) as a treatment for syphillis goes back to the late fifteenth century, though even then it was known that the cure was nearly as bad as the disease (see John Emsley, _Nature's Building Blocks_, pp. 255-256). Henry VIII and Robert Burns are among those found to have had high levels of mercury in their bodies at the time of their death, possibly due to treatments for venereal disease (Emsley, p. 257). -  RBW
File: VWL108
===
NAME: Unfortunate Shepherdess, The: see The Young Shepherd (I) (File: CrMa108)
===
NAME: Unfortunate Swain, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer goes to a meadow to pick a rose and asks why he must "love a girl that will break my heart." He will love only her. "He that loves an unkind maid, I am sure he strives against the stream" When she dies he will still think about her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1975 (recording, Jasper Smith)
KEYWORDS: love separation death ship flowers grief floatingverses nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #60
RECORDINGS:
Jasper Smith, "Down In The Meadow" (on Voice11)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 22(312), "The Unfortunate Swain" ("Down in a meadow fair and gay"), unknown, n.d.
NOTES: The description is from broadside Bodleian Harding B 22(312).
Roud puts this with "Love Has Brought Me to Despair" [Laws P25]. I agree that it shares floating verses with the family of songs Roud lumps together under that number. If I had only the Jasper Smith version on Voice11 I would have done the same. The broadside Bodleian Harding B 22(312), has (almost) the same first verse and shares the remaining two verses of Smith's version including one that I haven't seen among the floaters:
A ship there is that sails the sea.
She's loaded deep as deep can be,
But not so deep as the love I'm in.
I care not whether I sink or swim.
The broadside makes it clear that the man of the couple is the singer. It ends 
When my love is dead and at her rest
I'll think of her whom I love best.
To wrap her up in linen strong
I'll think of her when dead and gone.
Smith's version seems so likely to have come directly from this or a closely related broadside that I think I am justified in making the broadside and its derivative a separate song. - BS
File: RcUSDitM
===
NAME: Ung Sjoman Forlustar Sig, En (A Young Seaman Enjoys Himself)
DESCRIPTION: Swedish shanty. Sailor meets a maid in a meadow, suggests that they make a bed of roses. By morning the roses have faded, and with them the girl's beauty. She begs him to marry her anyway, he refuses saying his ship is ready to sail.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1840 (Gavle)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty sailor courting betrayal abandonment beauty
FOUND_IN: Sweden
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 530-532, "En Ung Sjoman Forlustar Sig" (2 texts-Swedish & English, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Trooper and Maid" [Child 299] (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Sjomans Visa Fram Bohuslan (Finnish or Swedish version)
Ein Junger Sesmann Schlenderte (German version)
NOTES: Hugill took this from Sternvall's "Sang under Segel", and added a note that the oldest known written version is from Gavle, 1840. He mentions several versions of this found in various Scandinavian countries. - SL
File: Hugi530
===
NAME: Unhappy Jeremiah (The Brats of Jeremiah)
DESCRIPTION: The singer, Jeremiah, takes a wife. But soon she turns her attention from her husband to a lodger. She bears two children, but "they did not look... one bit like Jeremiah." At last she runs off with the lodger, "and left the brats for Jeremiah"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1858
KEYWORDS: family children husband wife infidelity
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
FSCatskills 134, "The Brats of Jeremiah" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC134 (Partial)
Roud #4610
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rocking the Cradle (and the Child Not His Own)" (plot)
cf. "Hush-a-Bye, Baby" (plot)
File: FSC134
===
NAME: Unicorn
DESCRIPTION: The orphaned singer is "going home to the old country" as a sailor on Unicorn. It is hard work and hard bread for twelve days to Liverpool. At Glasgow "girls were very kind ... I bid farewell To the darned old Unicorn"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: rambling sea ship sailor floatingverses
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-NovaScotia 149, "Unicorn" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS149 (Partial)
Roud #1844
NOTES: This song is item dD46 in Laws's Appendix II. - BS
Although this seems to be an independent song, I've given it the keyword "floatingverses" because so many of the lines are commonplace. - RBW
File: CrNS149
===
NAME: Union Boy, The
DESCRIPTION: "When first I arrived in Quirindi, those girls they jumped with joy, Saying one unto another, 'Here comes a Union boy.'" A girl falls in love with him. Her father says that he was once a scab. She says he has joined the union and is reformed. 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1956
KEYWORDS: labor-movement courting
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 256-257, "The Union Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, p. 117, "The Union Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Maids of Simcoe (Ontario)" (tune, floating lyrics)
cf. "True-Born Irish Man (With My Swag All on My Shoulder; The True-Born Native Man)" (floating lyrics)
File: MA256
===
NAME: Union from St John's, The
DESCRIPTION: On December 18 a heavy storm drives the Union ashore. A rescue team boards the next morning and finds "three frozen seamen lashed to the pumps while six in her cabin lay cold."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Peacock); 19C (broadside, LOCSinging as114210)
KEYWORDS: death sea ship storm wreck
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf) US(NE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Peacock, pp. 978-980, "The Union from St John's" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Lehr/Best 112, "The Wreck of the Union" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #4371
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, as114210, "Union of St. Johns," L. Deming (New York), 19C
NOTES: Broadside LOCSinging as114210, as well as one cited by Lehr/Best as being printed in _Minstrelsy of Maine_ by Eckstorm and Smyth, have the site as Mt Desert Rock. There is a Mount Desert Rock in Maine which has been the site of a number of wrecks; there have also been a number of [ships named] _Union_ with St John's registry wrecked; I cannot find any _Union_ wrecked at Mount Desert Rock, or wrecked around February 9 (the date in the broadside), or November 18 or January 14 (the date in Lehr/Best versions A and B, respectively).
Eckstrom and Smythe _Minstrelsy of Maine_: "nobody knew it, but only knew someone else who used to know it. [One of the three] leaders in popularity among the shipwreck songs of the Maine coast ... About 1904, Mr Walter M Hady ... learned that the Union was a brig, wrecked off the Maine coast at least as early as 1837 .... [One broadside] may yet show that the wreck of the Union dates back into the eighteen-twenties." ( pp. 270, 276, 280). Unfortunately the broadside at America Singing is undated (printed by L Deming, No 62 Hanover Street, Boston). It would be nice to be able to date it early enough to rule out the Dec 21, 1884 wreck of the schooner Union, registered at St John, NB, at Mt Desert Island en route from New York to St John. (source: Northern Shipwrecks Database). - BS
File: Pea978
===
NAME: Union Girl, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer oversees a shearer talking with a girl. He is trying to con her into sleeping with him, pointing out that he can get rich as a scab during a strike. [Remainder omitted because Meredith & Anderson refused to print it]
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: scab money seduction
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 201-202, "The Union Girl" (1 text)
File: MA201A
===
NAME: Union Volunteer, The: see The Bold Privateer [Laws O32] (File: LO32)
===
NAME: Union, The
DESCRIPTION: "How did they pass the Union?" Perjury and fraud. Pitt and Castlereagh used pitchcap, bayonet, gibbet and rack. "How thrive we by the Union?" Ruined trade, wealth decayed and slavery. "And shall it last?" "All Ireland thunders, No!" We'll conquer again 
AUTHOR: Sliabh Cuilinn (said to be John O'Hagan, according to Sparling, _Irish Minstrelsy_, pp. 505,508)(source: Moylan)
EARLIEST_DATE: 2000 (Moylan)
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad political
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1801 - Act of Union of Ireland and Great Britain
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 151, "The Union" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Moylan: "This piece was published in _The Nation_ [; it was composed "around the 1840s or 50s"].... The Act of Union of Ireland and Great Britain was passed in the Irish Parliament on the 1st of August 1800.... Its passage was assured by the exercise of an extraordinary amount of bribery and corruption, even for that time and place."
"Pitch capping": filling a cap with boiling pitch and putting it on a peasant's head. (source: "The Search for Weapons" in _1798 Rebellion_ at Rathregan National School site). [This is, in fact, the milder form of pitch capping: Robert Kee, in _The Most Distressful Country_, being volume I of _The Green Flag_, p. 98, describes the more extreme form, in which the pitch was allowed to harden slightly, then set fire. This naturally increased the torture greatly, and generally caused permanent scarring of the scalp and loss of hair. It was not generally fatal, but even George W. Bush would call it torture. - RBW]
Sparling, _Irish Minstrelsy_ p. 505: re John O'Hagan (1822-1890) "The splendid ringing songs and heartful poems which appeared in the _Nation_ over the nom de plume of 'Sliabh Cuilinn' have often roused inquiry as to their author, but although attributed with great probability to Judge O'Hagan, have never been publicly acknowledged by him."
The 1801 "Act of Union" was supported by Pitt and Robert Stewart (Lord Castlereagh). Pitt was Prime Minister and Castlereach was his Itish chief secretary. The Act formed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland" and abolished the Dublin Parliament. (sources: _Act of Union_ on the Spartacus Educational site site) - BS
We should note that the song is inaccurate in its charges -- though the true story is hardly better. The British did use torture (pitch-capping, half-hanging) in suppressing the 1798 rebellion (though the Irish too committed their share of atrocities, notably at Scullabogue). But no torture involved in passing the Act of Union -- because there was no need for popular support. They simply had to bribe enough members of the Irish parliament to pull it off. The bribes were huge -- viceroy Cornwallis would confess, "I despise and hate myself for every hour engaging in such work" (Kee, p. 159; Terry Golway, _For the Cause of Liberty_, p. 90; for the general chicanery involved, see those sources or Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry, _A History of Ireland_, pp. 209-212 and after). But Cornwallis and (especially) Castlereigh bought enough peers to eventually pass Union.
It is ironic to note that, around 1770, the American colonies had desperately wanted Union (that is, a place in Parliament), and had been denied it; the Irish despised Union, and had it forced upon them. British colonial policy was an amazing thing.... - RBW
File: Moyl151
===
NAME: Unite and Be Free
DESCRIPTION: "The right hand of friendship to you I'll extend" no matter what Trade or Religion if you love Union. Reject the kings and "dupes of a priest" who say "divide and conquer": "Hibernians were made to unite and be free"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1796 (_Paddy's Resource_(Belfast), according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad political freedom
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 23, "Unite and Be Free" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: From the date, this presumably was a reference to the United Irishmen who were largely responsible for the 1798 rebellion. - RBW
File: Moyl023
===
NAME: Unknown Pine Log Rider, The
DESCRIPTION:  Joe Muldoon is trapped by a log drive but a stranger rides a pine log to rescue him from "the rushing roaring timber pack." He "hurtled Muldoon upon the land ... Then disappeared and left no name"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (Ives-NewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: rescue river recitation logger
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 177-178, "The Unknown Pine Log Rider" (1 text)
Roud #1966
File: IvNB177
===
NAME: Unquiet Grave, The [Child 78]
DESCRIPTION: After a young man dies/is killed, his lover mourns by his grave for a year and a day and beyond. This prevents the dead man from resting. He comes to his sweetheart begging for release
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1832 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.17(460))
KEYWORDS: ghost mourning freedom
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,NE,SE) Britain(England(All),Scotland) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (24 citations)
Child 78, "The Unquiet Grave" (7 texts)
Bronson 78, "The Unquiet Grave" (43 versions+9, mostly tunes only, in addenda)
Leather, pp. 202-203, "Cold Blows the Wind; or, The Unquiet Grave" (1 text, 1 tune, from different informants) {Bronson's #12}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 232-233, "Cold Blows the Wind" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders-Ancient2, pp. 184-186, ""The Unquiet Grave (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's }
Davis-More 22, pp. 157-160, "The Unquiet Grave" (1 text)
BrownII 24, "The Unquiet Grave" (1 text)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 58, "The Unquiet Grave" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 10, "The Unquiet Grave" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #36, #31}
Peacock, pp. 410-412, "The Unquiet Grave" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 10, "The Unquiet Grave" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 111, "The Auld Song From Cow Head" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 262-263, "The Unquiet Grave" (1 text)
OBB 34, "The Unquiet Grave" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 32, "The Unquiet Grave" (1 text, 1 tune)
PBB 31, "The Unquiet Grave" (1 text)
Sharp-100E 24, "The Unquiet Grave (or Cold Blows the Wind)" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #35}
Hodgart, p. 146, "The Unquiet Grave" (1 text)
TBB 30, "The Unquiet Grave" (1 text)
Niles 32, "The Unquiet Grave" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 40-41, "The Unquiet Grave" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #36}
Silber-FSWB, p. 218, "The Unquiet Grave" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 31-32, "The Unquiet Grave" (1 text)
DT 78, UNQUIGR1* UNQUIGR2*
Roud #51
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "The Auld Ballad from Cow Head" (on NFOBlondahl04) [fragment]
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Unquiet Grave" (on NLCR16)
Jean Ritchie, "The Unquiet Grave" (on JRitchie02)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.17(460), "The Weeping Lover," W. Wright (Birmingham), 1820-1831; also 2806 c.17(461), "The Weeping Lover"; Firth c.18(123), Harding B 11(634), "Cold Blows the Wind"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Twa Brothers" [Child 49] (lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Wind Blew Up, the Wind Blew Down
The Resurrected Sweetheart
The Green Grave
The Restless Dead
The Restless Grave
Charles Graeme
Cold Falling Drops of Dew
Cold Blows the Winter's Winds
NOTES: Bronson speculates that a version of this inspired the carol "There blows  a colde wynd todaye, todaye" (c. 1500; in MS Bodl. 7683=Ashmole 1379; Brown/Robbins Index #3525; for texts see Stevick-MEL 93; Luria & Hoffman, _Middle English Lyrics_ #166, though the two offer noticeably different texts of the same unique original). I must say that I find this a stretch; the similarities are slight indeed.
The notion that excessive mourning (usually meaning mourning for more than a year and a day) results in the ghost being unable to rest is at least hinted at in several other songs, the most noteworthy being "The Wife of Usher's Well" [Child 79]. - RBW
File: C078
===
NAME: Unwilling Bride, The: see The Holly Twig [Laws Q6]; also The Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin [Child 277] (File: LQ06)
===
NAME: Up
DESCRIPTION: It's Spring. The birds united in song are Up. Plants, flowers, weeds are Up. Trees, brambles, crops, frogs, cocks all are Up. "The progress of this rising rage, No human power can stop. Then Tyrants, cease your war to wage, For Nature will be -- Up"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1797 (_Northern Star_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: flowers animal bird nonballad political
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 77, "Up" (1 text)
NOTES: Moylan: "The word 'Up' was a password of the United Irishmen." - BS
Unfortunately for the United Irish, in 1798 not only were the plants, flowers, trees, weeds, frogs and whatnot not up, but neither were most of the Irish. Large numbers had been disarmed (and they were going to be armed only with pikes anyway). Their leadership was imprisoned. The French came too late and in numbers too small. The rebelion fizzled almost completely; see, e.g., the notes to "The Shan Van Voght," "Boulavogue," "The Boys of Wexford," "General Monroe," and "Edward (III) (Edward Fitzgerald)." - RBW
File: Moyl077
===
NAME: Up and Down the Railroad Track
DESCRIPTION: "Up and down the railroad track And halfway swing around... Do-si-do my darling Miss with the white slippers on." "The higher up the cherry tree...." "Wish I had a needle and thread...." And miscellaneous other floating verses
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914
KEYWORDS: dancing floatingverses love horse
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 100, "Up and Down the Railroad Track" (1 text)
Roud #11091
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Jubilee" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: This text was originally printed in the _Journal of American Folklore_, Vol. 27 [1914]. There is no tune. It will be obvious that it consists mostly of floating verses (from "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss," "Jubilee," and the like), and it is probably an offshoot of one of these -- but there simply isn't enough information to classify it clearly. - RBW
File: FCW100
===
NAME: Up at Piccadilly Oh!: see The Bristol Coachman (File: OO2409)
===
NAME: Up in London Fair: see In London so Fair (File: HHH203)
===
NAME: Up Roanoke and Down the River
DESCRIPTION: Corn-husking song. "Up Roanoke and down the river, Oho, we are 'most done." "Two canoes, and nary paddle. "There is where we run the devils." Jack de Gillam shoots the devils with "blue ball and a pound of powder," and kills them
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: Devil work
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 205, "Up Roanoke and Down the River" (1 text)
NOTES: The first part of this actually sounds like some sort of rafting song, about running a rapids (perhaps a section called "the devil"?). This seems to have suggested the theme of killing the devils. But that's pure speculation on my part. - RBW
File: Br3205
===
NAME: Up She Goes: see Baltimore (Up She Goes) (File: Hugi418)
===
NAME: Up She Rises: see Drunken Sailor, The (Early in the Morning) (File: Doe048)
===
NAME: Up the Raw
DESCRIPTION: "Up the Raw, down the Raw, Up the Raw, lass, ev'ry day; For shape and colour, ma bonny hinny, Thou bangs thy mother, ma canny bairn." The mother (?) complains lovingly of the mischief her child gets into. (I think that's what it means)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: nonballad children
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 122-123, "Up the Raw" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR122 (Full)
Roud #3155
File: StoR122
===
NAME: Up the Streets and Down the Streets
DESCRIPTION: "Up the streets and down the streets And in a narrow planting, Isn't (name) a nice young lassie? Isn't (name) as nice as she? They shall be married And they shall agree.... It's love... and don't say 'nay.' Next Monday morning is her wedding day."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Flanders/Brown)
KEYWORDS: love playparty nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Flanders/Brown, p. 189, "Up the Streets and Down the Streets" (1 text)
Roud #5453
NOTES: _Gammer Gurton's Garland_ (1784) has a piece beginning "Up street and down street," but continues "Each window's made of glass; If you go to Tom Tickler's house, you'll find a pretty lass. Hug her and kiss her and take her on your knee...." Related? Hard to say. RBW
File: FlBr189
===
NAME: Up to the Rigs
DESCRIPTION: Singer goes to Cheapside in London, where he picks up a girl. He takes her to dinner; she invites him to bed. When she falls asleep, he steals a snuff box, gold watch, diamond ring, and money, then locks her in. He tells men to remember his example
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1907 (Sharp, Gardiner mss)
KEYWORDS: courting seduction sex crime theft food trick
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South)), Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 192, "Up to the Rigs" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #868
RECORDINGS:
Harry Cox, "Up to the Rigs of London Town" (on HCox01)
Charlie Wills, "Up to the Rigs [of London Town]" (on FSB2, FSB2CD, Voice07)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Rigs of London Town
NOTES: Tables turned. - PJS
File: K192
===
NAME: Uphead and Scatter, Boys
DESCRIPTION: "Uphead and scatter, boys, to learn how to row, You treat me so dirty it's a mis'ry in my soul." "When I had money, I had friends all around, But now I've no money, no friend can be found."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: work poverty hardtimes loneliness
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MWheeler, pp. 83-84, "Uphead an' Scatter, Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10029
File: MWhee083
===
NAME: Upidee, Upidah
DESCRIPTION: German shanty. Chorus: "Upidee, Upidah! Schnalls is goot for de cholera! Upidee, Upidah"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Baltzer, _Knurrhahn_)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: German shanty. Chorus: "Upidee, Upidah! Schnalls is goot for de cholera! Upidee, Upidah" Hugill gives two versions of the verses. The first begins "In the Flying P Line, I served my time" but the rest, according to Hugill is too coarse to include. In the second version the song told by the ship's cook, describing how he rises early to work, keeps the pots clean, and cooks various dishes.
KEYWORDS: shanty foreignlanguage cook sailor
FOUND_IN: Germany
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 485-488, "Upidee, Upidah" (3 texts-English & German, 2 tunes)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Julia" (similar tune)
File: Hugi485
===
NAME: Upside Down
DESCRIPTION: The singer and companions used to live a roving life, "but to my sad grief I married a wife...." His wife abuses him for drinking. His sister advises him to "hit her a smack across her back and turn her upside down." The remedy works
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: husband wife abuse fight
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H694, pp. 503-504, "Upside Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9467
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" [Child 277] (theme) and references there
File: HHH694
===
NAME: Utah Carl: see Utah Carroll [Laws B4] (File: LB04)
===
NAME: Utah Carol: see Utah Carroll [Laws B4] (File: LB04)
===
NAME: Utah Carroll [Laws B4]
DESCRIPTION: A cowboy sadly remembers the death of his partner, Utah Carroll. When the herd stampedes, Utah manages to rescue the boss's daughter (who stood in the stampede's path), but himself dies in the process
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (Lomax, Cowboy Songs)
KEYWORDS: cowboy death rescue friend
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
Laws B4, "Utah Carroll"
Randolph 206, "Utah Carl" (1 text)
Hudson 94, pp. 224-226, "Utah Carroll" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 154-156, "Utah Carroll" (1 text, 1 tune)
Larkin, pp. 119-122, "Utah Carroll" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 80, "Utah Carl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 63, "Utah Carol" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 128-130, "Utah Carroll" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 113, "Utah Carroll" (1 text)
Saffel-CowboyP, pp. 215-216, "Utah Carroll" (1 text) 
DT 372, UTAHCARL*
Roud #1929
RECORDINGS:
Charles Baker, "Utah Carroll" (Champion 45052, c. 1935)
Cartwright Bros., "Utah Carroll" (Columbia 15410-D, 1929; on WhenIWas1)
Harry Jackson, "Utah Carroll" (on HJackson1)
Harry "Mac" McClintock, "Utah Carl" (on McClintock01, CowFolkCD1) (on McClintock02)
Charles Nabell, "Utah Carl" (Okeh 7009, c. 1925)
Carl T. Sprague, "Utah Carroll" (Victor 21194, 1927; on AuthCowboys)
Arnold Keith Storm, "Utah Carl" (on AKStorm01)
Frank Wheeler & Monroe Lamb, "Utah Carl's Last Ride" (Victor V-40169, 1929; Montgomery Ward M-4470, 1934)
Marc Williams, "Utah Carroll" (Brunswick 304, 1929; rec. 1928)
NOTES: Logsdon, in his notes to CowFolkCD1, states definitively that [N. Howard] Thorp composed this piece, sending it to Kenneth S. Clark to be included in one of his cowboy song folios. - PJS
Against this we must set the observation that Thorp did not include the piece in _Songs of the Cowboys_ even in the 1922 edition after Lomax had already published it. - RBW
File: LB04
===
NAME: Vacant Chair, The
DESCRIPTION: "We shall meet but we shall miss him, There will be one vacant chair, We shall linger to caress him While we breathe our evening prayer." The family remembers its beloved Willie, who now lies dead in a narrow grave, killed for his country
AUTHOR: Words: Henry Washburn/Music: George F. Root
EARLIEST_DATE: 1861
KEYWORDS: Civilwar death burial mourning family
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Randolph 251, "The Vacant Chair" (1 text)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 30-31, "The Vacant Chair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 269 "The Vacant Chair" (1 text)
DT, VCNTCHAR*
Roud #7714
RECORDINGS:
Columbia Stellar Quartet, "The Vacant Chair" (Columbia A1808, 1915)
Frank Coombs, "The Vacant Chair" (Columbia A913, 1910)
Byron G. Harlan, "The Vacant Chair" (CYL: Edison 8535, 1903)
Charles Harrison, "The Vacant Chair" (Resona 75074, 1920)
Frank & James McCravy, "The Vacant Chair" (Brunswick 4455, 1929; Supertone 2024-S, 1930; rec. 1928)
McKee Trio, "Vacant Chair" (Victor 18230, 1917)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Vacant Chair" (on NLCREP4)
Elizabeth Spencer, "The Vacant Chair" (Edison 1713, n.d.)
NOTES: Ironically, this song for a dead soldier was written in early 1861, when few battles had been fought. At this time, a few tens of thousands were mourning their lost soldier boys; four years later, those who had lost a loved one or friends would number in the millions (total losses in the Civil War exceeded 600,000, with the bulk of the losses coming in 1862-1864). - RBW
File: R251
===
NAME: Valiant London Apprentice, The [Laws Q38]
DESCRIPTION: The youth, sent to Turkey, praises Queen Elizabeth above all kings. When challenged, the youth breaks the Turkish prince's neck. Thrown to the lions, he kills the beasts. The Turkish emperor admits English superiority; his daughter marries the youth
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1595
KEYWORDS: royalty fight animal contest marriage apprentice
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1558-1603 - Reign of Elizabeth I of England
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws Q38, "The Valiant London Apprentice"
Creighton/Senior, pp. 124-126, "The Wealthy London Prentice"(1 text, 1 tune)
BBI, ZN2080, "Of a worthy London Prentice"
DT 749, LONDPREN*
Roud #1016
File: LQ38
===
NAME: Valiant Sailor, The: see Polly on the Shore (The Valiant Sailor) (File: Wa057)
===
NAME: Valiant Seaman's Happy Return to His Love, After a Long Seven Years' Absence, The: see A Seaman and His Love (The Welcome Sailor) [Laws N29] (File: LN29)
===
NAME: Valiant Soldier, The: see The Bold Soldier [Laws M27] (File: LM27)
===
NAME: Valley Below, The (She Lives in the Valley Below)
DESCRIPTION: "The broom bloomed so fresh and fair... As I wandered to breathe the fresh air, By chance a rich treasure I found." The singer praises the beauty and voice of the girl he sees. He will offer her his home and wealth if she will come with him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H47, pp. 236-237, "The Valley Below" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9446
NOTES: Henry offers evidence (based on birds mentioned in the song) that this piece must have originated in England, and a British printing is known. But the plot and style are very Irish.
Kennedy lumps this with "Well Met, Pretty Maid (The Sweet Nightingale)." He's nuts. - RBW
File: HHH047
===
NAME: Valley of Kilbride, The
DESCRIPTION: On a French battlefield, a soldier from Newfoundland thinks back to "boyhood days in the valley of Kilbride." A dying soldier asks him to comfort his parents, sister, and the girl he used to walk with "in Bowring Park."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1976 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: war dying France soldier death family farewell
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 113, "The Valley of Kilbride" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Lehr/Best speculates that "this song was possibly written by Johnny Burke." If [this] is right, the ballad refers to World War I. Burke died in 1930.
Bowring Park in Saint John's was opened in 1911 (Source: Tide's Point Magazine site for the "Newfoundland and Labrador Magazine for Workers"). GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador site includes the following note for "The Valley of Kilbride," but does not claim the battle is the inspiration for the Ballad: "Between 7:30 and 8:00 a.m., on July 1, 1916, the First Newfoundland Regiment, part of the 29th British Division, was virtually annihilated at Beaumont Hamel as they advanced into point-blank enemy fire. Of the 801 who went into battle, only 68 were able to answer the roll call the next day." 
Kilbride is a suburb south of St John's. I don't know about a Valley of Kilbride. - BS
File: LeBe113
===
NAME: Valley of Knockanure (I), The
DESCRIPTION: Coming from Mass, three IRA flying column boys are caught "on a bridge near Gortaglanna ... In the Valley of Knockanure" in May 1921. The three are named. They are beaten and shot.
AUTHOR: Tim Leary (source: OLochlainn-More)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: battle rebellion execution patriotic IRA
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 12, 1921 - A troop of Black and Tans capture and shoot Lyons, Walsh and Dalton in Gortaglanna, Knockanure, County Kerry. (source: the Moyvane site)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 42, "The Valley of Knockanure" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #17752
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Valley of Knockanure (II)" (subject)
NOTES: The "Black and Tans" were British reinforcements to regular British soldiers sent to Ireland in 1920. The "Auxiliary Cadets" were veteran British army officers sent to help the Black and Tans. (source: _Michael Collins: A Man Against an Empire_ copyright by and available on the History Net site). For more information see RBW note for "The Bold Black and Tan" - BS
The IRA's "flying columns" were not quite what is usually meant by this term. They were guerrilla groups, usually of only a few dozen men, who did most of their damage in small raids on supply lines. Nonetheless, they were very effective -- the main strength of the rebellion, in fact. As a result, they were subject to severe punishment when caught.
This particular atrocity was fairly typical of the Black and Tan war -- minor enough that it is not mentioned in any of the history books I checked. Sadly, there are many similar incidents recorded. This one is remembered because it caught the fancy of poets.
The existence of two songs called "The Valley of Knockanure," both referring to the same event, has caused some confusion. (Not least in earlier versions of this index). 
O Lochlainn lists the author of this as Tim Leary of Listowel, while Tunney lists the author of "Knockanure (II)" as Brian McMahon of Kerry. But the Digital Tradition lists "Knockanure (II)" as by "Tim Leahy" (presumably an error for Leary) Tunney's claim of (II) for McMahon is supported also by Soodlum's Irish Ballad Book.  - RBW
File: OLcM042
===
NAME: Valley of Knockanure (II), The
DESCRIPTION: "You may sing and speak of Easter week and the heroes of ninety-eight" but nothing was said about Knockanure. Dalton, Walshe, and Lyons are killed by the Black and Tans. Dalton's mother wishes she could kiss him before burying him.
AUTHOR: Bryan McMahon (source: Tunney-SongsThunder)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (Tunney-SongsThunder)
KEYWORDS: battle rebellion execution patriotic IRA
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 12, 1921 - A troop of Black and Tans capture and shoot Lyons, Walsh and Dalton in Gortaglanna, Knockanure, County Kerry. (source: the Moyvane site)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 46-48, "The Valley of Knockanure" (1 text)
DT, KNOCKNUR*
Roud #9761
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Valley of Knockanure (I)" (subject) and references there

NOTES: The first line is a reference to songs: "Who fears to speak of Ninety-Eight?" from John Kells Ingram's "The Memory of the Dead," and the 1916 song "Who fears to speak of Easter Week?" - BS
For background on this song, and the confusions about authorship, see the notes to "The Valley of Knockanure (I)." - RBW
File: TST046
===
NAME: Valleys of Screen, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells the listeners of the beautiful girl he has seen. He gives directions for finding her, and describes her beauty. He recalls speaking to her, and her refusal to give her name. He compares her to classical beauties
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H752, p. 245, "The Valleys of Screen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9481
File: HHH752
===
NAME: Van Dieman's Land (I) [Laws L18]
DESCRIPTION: Three poachers are taken and sent to Van Dieman's Land. Sold to planters, they are used to drive plows and live miserable lives until (Susan Summers), a fellow prisoner now married to a planter, treats them somewhat better
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1830 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 25(1979))
KEYWORDS: transportation abuse help poaching
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond,South),Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland Australia
REFERENCES: (15 citations)
Laws L18, "Van Dieman's Land"
Colcord, p. 172, "Van Dieman's Land" (1 text)
Hugill, p. 4112, "Van Dieman's Land" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 314]
Leach, pp. 708-709, "Van Dieman's Land" (1 text)
Creighton-NovaScotia 63, "Van Diemen's Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 122, "Van Dieman's Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 262, "Van Dieman's Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 21, "Van Diemen's Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 20-21, "Van Dieman's Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p.224, "Van Diemen's Land" (1 text)
Ord, pp. 384-285, "The Poachers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 14-15, "Van Dieman's Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 93, "Van Dieman's Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 334, "Van Dieman's Land" (1 text)
DT 426, VANDIEMN*
Roud #519
RECORDINGS:
Jimmy MacBeath, "Van Diemen's Land" (on FSB7)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(1979), "Van Dieman's Land," T. Birt (London), 1828-1829; also Firth b.34(147), Firth c.17(40), Firth c.17(41), Firth c.19(60), Harding B 11(1808), Harding B 11(1850), Harding B 11(2815), Harding B 11(3964), Harding B 17(325b), Harding B 20(177), Johnson Ballads 6, Firth b.34(119), "Van Dieman's Land"
Murray, Mu23-y4:034, "Van Dieman's Land," unknown, 19C
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Van Dieman's Land (II - Young Henry's Downfall)" (plot)
cf. "Rounding the Horn" (tune)
cf. "Those Poor Convicts" (tune)
NOTES: The "other" "Van Dieman's Land" has a plot so similar that I was not sure but that they should be classified as one. The tunes and texts are, however, distinct.
A typical stanza for this text would run
Poor Tommy Brown from Nenagh Town, Jack Murphy and poor Joe
We were three daring poachers as the gentry well do know.
One night we were trepanned by the keepers hid in sand,
Who for fourteen years transported us unto Van Dieman's Land.
Van Diemen's Land was named after Anthony Van Diemen of the Dutch East India Company; Van Diemen chartered the expedition which discovered the island. Said expedition was led by Abel Tasman, who found the island in 1642 (as well as sighting New Zealand and some lesser islands).
The reputation of Van Diemen's Land was so bad that the residents in the nineteenth century demanded a name change. It therefore was renamed Tasmania after its discoverer.
The irony is that Van Diemen's Land was not really overburdened with "hard cases"; some were sent to the island, but most wound up on Norfolk Island or in settlements like Moreton Bay. But the settlers of Van Diemen's Land were perhaps the most destructive of all the colonists; the Tasmanian aborigines were systematically eradicated, as opposed to simply being brushed aside in most of Australia.
The reference to convicts driving the plows is an exaggeration -- of the wrong sort. At many of the British colonies, the convicts were indeed used instead of draft animals (few of which were available). But they didn't normally use plows; they had to hoe their own furrows! - RBW 
File: LL18
===
NAME: Van Dieman's Land (II -- Young Henry's Downfall)
DESCRIPTION: (Six) poachers are taken and sent to Van Dieman's Land. Destined to work for a planter, the singer is frightened to see the conditions of the workers, but is instead picked out to be a bookkeeper. He meets another prisoner, Rosanna; they fall in love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.19(62))
KEYWORDS: transportation poaching love
FOUND_IN: Australia Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 16-17, "Henry's Downfall" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, VANDIEM2
Roud #221
RECORDINGS:
Walter Pardon, "Van Dieman's Land" (on Voice04)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.19(62), "Young Henry the Poacher," J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also Harding B 11(4369), Harding B 11(4370), Harding B 11(4371), Harding B 11(4372), "Young Henry the Poacher"; Firth c.19(61), "Henry's Downfall"; Harding B 17(349a), "Young Henry's Downfall"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Van Dieman's Land (I)"  [Laws L18] (plot)
cf. "The Girls of the Shamrock Shore" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Yates, Musical Traditions site _Voice of the People suite_ "Notes - Volume 4" - 19.8.02: "Roy Palmer has traced this song (which has been found only in England [sic]) to two real poaching affrays that occurred in Warwickshire in 1829." - BS
The "other" "Van Dieman's Land" has a plot so similar that I was not sure but that they should be classified as one. The tunes and texts are, however, distinct.
A typical stanza of this version is:
I and five more went out one night
To Squire Dunhill's park
To see if we could get some game
But the night it proved too dark.
And to our sad misfortune
They've hemmed us in with speed
They sent us off to Warwick Gaol
Which caused our hearts to bleed.
Chorus:
Young men all now beware
Lest you are drawn into a snare.
For notes on the history of Van Diemen's Land, see the entry on "Van Diemen's Land (I)." - RBW
File: FaE16
===
NAME: Vance Song, The [Laws F17]
DESCRIPTION: [Abner] Vance is charged falsely with murder. Recalling his beautiful home, he castigates those who have caused his unjust condemnation. He bids his family farewell
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: murder execution farewell
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Laws F17, "The Vance Song"
JHCox 41, "The Vance Song" (3 texts)
Hudson 107, pp. 246-247, "The Vance Song" (1 text)
Combs/Wilgus 67, pp. 163-164, "The Vance Song" (1 text)
Burt, pp. 222-223, "The Vance Song" (1 text plus an excerpt Burt thinks might be of another Vance song)
DT 738, VANCESNG
Roud #2216
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Vance's Song
NOTES: This is one of the few "confession" songs that Laws believes was actually written by the narrator. Abner Vance was hanged for murder after shooting Lewis Horton (for seducing Vance's daughter). Laws does not offer a precise date; it was probably in the second quarter of the nineteenth century. Some further details, including those surrounding the trial and murder, are found in Cox, but again, no date. Burt offers a date c. 1910.
We might note, however, the inscription on Cox's "A" text. This appears to be the original broadsheet slip of the song, and is dated 1897.  I do not think this (quite) proves the date of the song, but it gives us a rough date for either the song or the murder. - RBW
File: LF17
===
NAME: Varsouvienna: see references under Put Your Little Foot (Varsouvienna) (File: Ohr045)
===
NAME: Varsouvienne: see references under Put Your Little Foot (Varsouvienna) (File: Ohr045)
===
NAME: Varsoviana: see references under Put Your Little Foot (Varsouvienna) (File: Ohr045)
===
NAME: Venadito
DESCRIPTION: Spanish: "Young Dear." First line: "Lo que digo de hoy en dia Lo que digo sostengo." The singer promises that "What I say today I will always say." (He) will wait for (her) in the kiosk at eleven o'clock, and "you will know I love you."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: love courting nonballad Mexico foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: Mexico
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, pp. 294-295, "Lo Que Digo" (1 text plus translation, 1 tune)
File: San294
===
NAME: Veni Emmanuel (O Come, O Come, Emmanuel)
DESCRIPTION: Latin: "Veni veni Emmanuel, Captivum solve Israel...." English: "O come, o come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel." The advent of Emmanuel the savior, descendant of David, is requested, and people are told to celebrate his coming
AUTHOR: J. M. Neale (1818-1866)
EARLIEST_DATE: English words by J. M. Neale, 1851; Latin words and tune 15th century or earlier
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus nonballad rescue
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), p. 13, "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Although I know of no field collections which include this song, it seems to me that it is now widely enough sung that it belongs in the Ballad Index.
Certainly it is *old* enough. Johnson claims the words come from the seventh century. This is probably too early (my guess is that that's based on theories about the history of Latin hymnwriting). But the whole is found in the French National Library manuscript (Bibliotheque Nationale) fonds latin MS 10581.
Manuscripts of this era are very difficult to date; book hands hardly changed from the twelfth to fifteenth centuries. The _New Oxford Book of Carols_ proposes a thirteenth century date. We can at least say that it is from the fifteenth century or earlier, with the text very likely older.
The standard translation is by J. M. Neale, who also gave us the much weaker "Good King Wenceslas." The _New Oxford Book of Carols_ gives an alternate translation (termed a revision) by T. A. Lacey. It appears, at first glance, a more accurate translation -- but distinctly worse as poetry (e.g. the last line of the first Latin stanza is "privatus Dei Filio," loosely, "deprived of the Son of God." Neale butchers this as "until the Son of God appear," but at least gets an easy-to-sing line. Lacey produced "far from the face of God's dear son").
"Emmanuel" ("God With Us") refers back to Isaiah 7:14, where Isaiah prophecies that the threat to Judah from Israel and Damascus shall ease before the new-born child Immanuel (as it is properly transliterated from the Hebrew) reaches the age of having moral sense.
This prophecy is picked up in Matthew 1:23, which uses the Greek spelling "Emmanuel" (which worked its way into Latin and hence into the song). There is rather a curiosity here, in that Matthew normally translates the Hebrew himself, but in this particular version cites the previous Septuagint translation, which has in fact a mistranslation (Septuagint and Matthew read "a virgin shall bear a son," but the Hebrew reads "a young woman shall bear a son"). Clearly this ties in somehow with the Matthean doctrine of the Virgin Birth (which is found in full form only in Matthew; while Luke calls Mary a virgin at the time of her betrothal, he doesn't say that Joseph didn't touch her after that).
Several verses of the song refer to Emmanuel as a descendent of David. This does not come from Isaiah; again, it's Matthew who provides the link, giving a genealogy of Jesus going back to David (Matt. 1:2-16, though Matthew's genealogy omits several names known from the Book of Kings, plus it is at least six or seven generations too short to bring us from the Exile to the time of Jesus).
All of this is somewhat reinforced by Luke. Luke never mentions Emmanuel, but he does have a genealogy linking Jesus to David (Luke 3:23-38), though it differs from Matthew's in irreconcilable ways. (Not that it matters. It was a thousand years from David to Jesus. By the time Jesus was born, everyone in Judea was descended from David, though not necessarily in the male line). Luke also provides much of the imagery of celebration at the arrival of the Messiah (see chapter 2). - RBW
File: CJ013
===
NAME: Verdant Braes of Skreen, The: see The False Young Man (The Rose in the Garden, As I Walked Out) (File: FJ166)
===
NAME: Vermont Sugar-Maker's Song
DESCRIPTION: "When you see the vapor pillars lick the forest and the sky, You may know the days of sugar-making then are drawing nigh." A brief description of sugar-making; "Sweetest joys indeed we sugar-makers know." Use of sugar is strongly advised
AUTHOR: Perrin B. Fiske ? (born 1837)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Flanders/Brown)
KEYWORDS: food work nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Flanders/Brown, p. 33, "Vermont Sugar-Maker's Song" (1 text)
ST FlBr033 (Partial)
Roud #5444
File: FlBr033
===
NAME: Versos de Montalgo
DESCRIPTION: Spanish. First line: "En el mil nueve cientos y diez -- Y los cuento sin edal...." Montalgo is killed from ambush in 1910 ten years after he killed Encarnacion. A month later, his body is found. His family mourns. Last verse says the other verses are lies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: Mexico murder death trick foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: Mexico
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, pp. 302-303, "Versos de Montalgo" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Sandburg prints this report from Frank J. Dobie: "In the year 1900, Encarnacion Garcia waylaid and killed another Mexican in Cameron County. Montalgo, a Mexican deputy sheriff, rode up on Encarnacion as the latter was burying his victim. Encarnacion resisted arrest, or at least Montalgo always so claimed, and Montalgo killed him. Ten years later to a day, Encarnacion's gente got their revenge by killed Montalgo." - RBW
File: San302
===
NAME: Very Unfortunate Man, The: see The Warranty Deed (The Wealthy Old Maid) [Laws H24] (File: LH24)
===
NAME: Vesta and Mattie's Blues
DESCRIPTION: "I've got a belly full o' whiskey an' a head full o' gin, The doctors say t'will kill me but they don't say when." Chorus: ""I'm a long line skinner an' my home's out west, Lookin' for a man to buy me a hobble dress." Verses float between blues
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Arrangement copyright by W. C. Handy)
KEYWORDS: floatingverses drink love separation clothes
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Handy/Silverman-Blues, p. 60, "Vesta and Mattie's Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Easy Rider" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: This looks to me like another one of those blues collections of floating verses (in addition to the first, from "Cocaine Blues" or the like, the second is from "Easy Rider": "Pretty papa, pretty papa, look what you've done: You made your mama love you, now your woman's come"). The notes in Handy, however, imply that it is an actual folk song, so here it is. - RBW
File: Handy060
===
NAME: Veteran's Song, The
DESCRIPTION: The Union veteran lists all the fights he's fought, and all the wounds he's received, and notes that he consistently gave better than he got. He says "[I] will not sheathe my sword Until from Florida to Maine the Stars and Stripes shall proudly float"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar soldier injury
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 21, 1861 - First Battle of Bull Run
May 31-June 1, 1862 - Battle of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines
Sept. 17, 1862 - Battle of Antietam
Dec. 13, 1862 - Battle of Fredericksburg
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 392, "The Veteran's Song" (1 text)
Roud #11754
NOTES: This is unquestionably a composed song, and not about an actual individual. You don't take "a grapeshot in my knee" and walk again thereafter!
There are other signs of confusion in the song -- e.g. there is a reference, between the mention of Fair Oaks and that of the Peninsula, to service in "Fighting Joe's Brigade" and crossing the Rapidan at Culpeper with Averell. But "Fighting Joe" Hooker never commanded a brigade in combat in the Peninsular campaign; he was already in charge of a division. And while William Woods Averell did lead a rearguard action in the Peninsula, it was during the retreat to the James. The reference to Culpeper is probably an errant reference to the Chancellorsville campaign.
The reference to General Bragg also seems out of place in the story of an Eastern soldier. - RBW
File: Br3392
===
NAME: Vi Styrte Utover Atlanten (We Set Out Over the Atlantic)
DESCRIPTION: Swedish shanty. No story line, just sailing comments and complaints. i.e. "Callao was our port, so we go... Like a louse on a tarry fist." Chorus: "Hala hem! Hala hem! Hala hem a belagg! (Haul them home, haul them home, haul them home and belay)"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1903 (Sternvall, _Sang under Segel_ )
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty sailor
FOUND_IN: Sweden
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, p. 552, "Vi Styrte Utover Atlanten" (2 texts-Swedish & English, 1 tune)
NOTES: Note in Sternvall that this was sung aboard the _Richelieu_ of Stromstad in 1903. - SL
File: Hugi552
===
NAME: Vicar of Bray, The
DESCRIPTION: "In good King Charles's golden days... A zealous high churchman was I, and so I got preferment." In the reigns that follow, the Vicar changes his opinions to suit the monarch, "That whatsoever king shall reign, I'll be the Vicar of Bray."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1813 (broadside Bodleian, Douce Ballads 4(49))
KEYWORDS: clergy political royalty
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1660-1685 - Reign of Charles II (an Anglican, but devoted to "High Church" and probably baptised Catholic on his deathbed)
1685-1688 - Reign of James II (brother of Charles II; Catholic)
1688 - Glorious Revolution. William III of Orange overthrows James II in his own behalf and on behalf of his wife, James's daughter Mary II. William is Dutch, and favors a more Reformed faith.
1688-1702 - Reign of William III (first cousin of Mary and nephew of James. Mary died in 1694)
1702-1714 - Reign of Anne (second daughter of James II; Protestant but conservative)
1714-1727 - Reign of George I (a cousin of Charles II and James II, and far down in the line of succession -- but the closest relative of the Stuarts to be safely Protestant)
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US(SE)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Chappell/Wooldridge II, pp. 122-123, "The Country Garden, or, The Vicar of Bray" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 314, "The Vicar of Bray" (1 text)
cf. Fuld-WFM, p. 187, "Country Gardens"
BBI, ZN1416, "In Charles the second's Golden Reign"
DT, VICARBRY*
Roud #4998
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Douce Ballads 4(49), "The Time Server, or, Vicar of Bray," T. Evans (London), 1790-1813
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "When the Rebels Come A-Marchin'" (theme)
NOTES: For the references cited in these notes, see the bibliography at the end.
Although this song is mostly a commentary on political trimming, it also reveals the strange and complex religious situation in late seventeenth century England. The ferment had been rising since the death of Elizabeth, really: James VI and I (reigned over England 1603-1625, having previously been king of Scotland) was inclined toward absolute monarchy, and his son Charles I (reigned 1625-1649) was even more so. This also naturally inclined them toward a heirarchical,ritualistic church. Neither was popular, so they could do little to prevent the rise of the hard-line puritan denominations.
And then, of course, came the rebellion against Charles I, with Scotland turning to the Covenanting version of Presbyterian and England increasingly Puritan. When Oliver Cromwell died and the Commonwealth crumbled, Britain restored the monarchy, but it didn't at once solve the issue of the national faith. And, of course, for many years, the monarch had one much to set this: Henry VIII had instituted the Anglican church, Edward VI (or, rather, his ministers) had tried to codify it, then Mary I had inclined back toward Catholicism, leaving it for Elizabeth I to try to find a middle road.
It doesn't seem to have been a particularly big deal to Charles II on his restoration. Clark, p. 18, writes, "The king himself was the son and heir of one who was regarded as a martyr for the church of England, but he never showed muchfeeling for that church. He was without serious personal religion, and his theological opinions, so far as he had any, were those of the deism which was by this time common among unprejudiced men of position. He was therefore inclined to be tolerant of differences of belief, and he was disposed to be particularly indulgent to the Roman catholics, that bodyamong his subjects who were the most generally feared and ill-treated." Hence, perhaps, the description of the era as a "golden time."
But there seemed to be something about Catholicism that struck a note in the heart of all the Stuarts. Prall, p.44, records that "Charles II had developed a feeling of sympathy for the Roman Catholic Church and for French ways during his years of exile. How deeply his religious views went is certainly problematic, but there was an era about the court at Versailles [where Charles II spent much time after his father's execution and his own exile], Catholic and monarchical, that deeply impressed the young man in exile."
Certainly he liked control -- in the latter years of his reign, funded by a subsidy from France as well as revenues voted him for life by his subjects, he dispensed with parliament (Trevelyan, p. 22). Hence, presumably, the line in the song, "Kings are by God appointed" (something his father and grandfather believed even more profoundly; James I had actually written a book _Trew Law of Free Monarchies_, which in fact set forth his belief in the Divine Right of Kings; Davies, p. 30. Charles I didn't write any books, but he did say that he "owe[d] the account of [his] actions to God alone, and that a king "cannot be tried by any superior jurisdiction"; Davies, p. 32. Compare also the quotes from his trial in Wedgwood-Coffin, pp. 121-134. Somehow, that didn't stop parliament from executing him). Charles II is said to have joined the Catholic church on his deathbed (Kenyon, p. 224; Prall, p. 89).
And Charles had no heir; he had sundry illegitimate children, the most important of whom became Duke of Monmouth, but even when England had had illegitimate Kings (William the Conqueror, Henry VII), great effort was made to pretend they were legitimate. Nor was Monmouth to prove a particularly good leader; shortly after his father's death in 1685, he tried to raise a rebellion (Chandler, p. 3, and most of the rest of his book; Trevelyan, pp. 26-27; Clark, pp. 113-115, etc.), and was quickly quashed at the battle of Sedgrmoor; he was executed, and his followers suffered very badly (Kenyon, pp. 228-229), as songs of the time tell:
Oh Lord, where is my husband now --
Where once he stood beside me?
His body lies at Sedgemoor
In grave of oak and ivy;
Come tell me you who beat the drum,
Why am I so mistreated? (Chandler, p. 92)
But that left only one other possible successor to Charles II: His brother James (II and VII). James, contrary to the song, did not "usurp" the throne -- but he was Catholic. Proudly and openly Catholic. Maybe it was the family attitude; maybe it was the exile. But he openly professed the Roman faith (Prall, p. 46). At this time, Catholics were barred from almost every office in England by the Test Act and the penal laws. And here was one on the throne! (It is perhaps possible that a parliament might have barred James from the throne, but as noted, Charles II managed to avoid summoning parliament in the latter years of his reign).
What's more, James gained firm control in the aftermath of Monmouth's rebellion, and although he failed to induce parliament to repeal the penal laws against Catholics (Trevelyan, pp. 33-34; Kenyon, p. 229, says that he never even raised the issue), he *did* induce them to vote him subsidies for life (parliament would learn from this, and never again give a monarch life subsidies; Trevelyan, p. 26). Free of financial needs, James prorogued the parliament after it met for just a week and a half (this even though it was the most pro-Monarch parliament in decades; Prall, p. 92, says that its composition would have "made any Tudor or earlier Stuart king weep with envy").
Free of outside restrictions, James began to show clear favor to Catholics -- and to turn the machinery of government over to them ("Every effort was made to recruit Catholics and suitable Dissenters as magistrates and sheriffs"--Kenyon, p. 238). And he was intent on creating a standing army -- something that was anathema to both the radical Whigs (because they didn't trust him) and the otherwise reliable Tories (because they remembered Cromwell and the Commonwealth and what it had done to the Church of England; Trevelyan, pp. 29-30). Trevelyan, p. 34, writes, "James, in short, in his desire to restore Romanism in England, found it necessary to become an absolute monarch like the other Princes of Europe."
The reference to the Vicar "read[ing] the Declaration" in the reign of James is perhaps somewhat confusing, because the natural thought would be that he is referring to the Declaration of Right, issued by William and Mary when they came to the throne. But James had made his own Declaration -- the Declaration of Indulgence (1687). This was, in effect, a unilateral repeal of the Test Act and anti-Catholic legislation (Prall, p. 126). This, on its face, was a liberal move -- James not only  lifted the restrictions on Catholics but on Protestant Dissenters (Kendall, p. 236). But it was clear that he meant to use it to appoint more Catholics to high positions. And -- the key point, this -- he  had done it without consent of parliament. The Test Act might be needless; it was certainly (by modern standards) odius, but it was the law. What James had done was patently unconstitutional.
Fortunately for the peace of the country, James's two daughters, Mary (born 1662) and Anne (born 1665), were safely Protestant, and Mary, his heir, was safely married to the equally Protestant William of Orange. Unfortunately, his wife Anne Hyde had died in 1671. And his second wife, Mary of Modena (1658-1718), was Catholic (Clark, p. 77). Parliament had opposed this marriage in 1674, but Charles II had allowed it to go forward (Kenyon, p. 209). It had looked for a time as if it wouldn't matter; Mary became pregnant five times, and none of the children lived (Kenyon, p. 239, attributes this to a venereal disease -- James's, not Mary's). And she had been barren for several years by  the time James came to the throne. But then, in late 1687, it was announced that she was pregnant (Prall, p. 173). And the child proved to be a boy -- the future Old Pretender, "James III," of Jacobite fame. He proved to be not a very forceful character, but everyone knew he would be raised Catholic, and he was now heir to the throne (Trevelyan, p. 49). The fragile religious balance in England was suddenly no balance at all.
And across the channel was William of Orange, stadtholder of the Netherlands, the husband of James's daughter Mary. Being both James's nephew (being the son of James's older sister Mary) and his son-in-law, he had long expected to succeed James (Prall, pp. 173-175). And, indeed, he desperately *needed* to succeed James, because his tiny country was trying to hold off the France of Louis XIV, and he could hardly hope to hold out much longer on his own. (This was a big reason Louis XIV had paid off first Charles II and then James II: To keep England from joining the Dutch war on the side of a fellow Protestant nation.)
On June 30, 1688, a group of English barons, frightened of James and his policies, issued an appeal to William of Orange to do something about the King (Trevelyan, p. 50; Clark, p. 127; Kenyon, p. 243, described William as actively inducing them to make their appeal; this may be his interpretation of a comment by William that he would not intervene in English affairs unless invited. For this situation, see Clark, p. 127f., Prall, p. 174fff).
Whatever William's original intentions, once the invitation came, he pounced. His timing was excellent; the French navy was unavailable and could not stop him (Clark, p. 129), and the French army headed off on a wild goose chase into Germany (Clark, p. 130; Trevelyan, p. 56). William managed to get to sea by November. And he succeeded in a great gamble: He chose to sail past the English fleet (which, to be sure, was in a state of near-mutiny after James had installed Catholic chaplains; Clark, p. 132). Helpful weather allowed him to sail past them and land in the southwest of England; the conditions worked so well that people called it a "Protestant Wind" (Kenyon, p. 249); note the reference in the song to the "new wind."
James of course was still "in possession" in England, but it was not to last. The people were whistling "Lillibullero" (Trevelyan, p. 58), which was to "whistle James from his throne," and the lords started bailing out not long after (Trevelyan, p. 61). Hence the Vicar set aside the "doctrine of non-resistance" and "passive obedience," which basically meant, when ordered by a monarch to do something immoral, to refuse to do it but remain loyal (Clark, p. 33; the doctrine is stated most explicitly in 1 Peter 2:13-17, but is in accordance with passages such as Matthew 5:39). With the whole country turning against him, James's government fell apart.
The outcome was settled when James went into a panic. Everyone expected a parliament to be called -- but James, rather than letting it meet and hoping to dominate it, burned the writs of summons and fled to France (Prall, pp. 237-238). Perhaps, with his absolutist trend of mind, he thought that the government would be paralyzed -- it was, after all, the King's government, and without him parliament could not meet. In theory (cf. Trevelyan, p. 67). In practice -- well, England wasn't Iraq; they managed to use a legal fiction to cover up what had happened. By fleeing, James II was held, after some discussion, to have abdicated (Kenyon, pp. 254-257; Prall, p. 261; Trevelyan, p. 77). Parliament was regarded as having been properly summoned. And that parliament declared the infant James (who of course had gone off with his father; Kenyon, p. 255) illegitimate, or at least inelligible for the crown (Kenyon, pp. 259-260) because of his presumed Catholicism (Trevelyan, pp. 77-78).
Another compromise made the William of Orange and James's daughter Mary joint monarchs -- William III and Mary II -- with William being given control but it being understood that whichever lived longer would be sole monarch after the death of the other, and their children if any would succeed them, with Mary's sister Anne being next in line. (Since William was a dozen years older than Mary, and sickly, it was expected that she would outlast him, so it wasn't expected that the joing monarch would matter. As it turned out, Mary died in 1694, and William in 1702, and they had no children -- a problem suffered by several other Stuarts as well). 
A series of additional compromises -- the "Glorious Revolution" -- assured greater religious freedom and a more constitutional government, with an independent judiciary and stronger parliamentary controls (Trevelyan, p. 88, etc.), enshrined in the "Declaration of Right" (Trevelyan, p. 79). Not everyone was reconciled to the Revolution -- most of Ireland would follow James II to the banks of the Boyne, and Scotland would later break out in the Jacobite rebellions -- but the matter was pretty well settled in England, and what England said, went. Hence the Vicar's prompt conversion.
(Incidentally, it was probably a very good thing that James was displaced. Had William and Anne not been monarchs at the start of the eighteenth century, the France of Louis XIV would very likely had won the War of the Spanish Succession, resulting in France dominating all of Europe -- possibly for centuries to come.)
William himself, and his closest Dutch advisors, were "Calvinists in belief, congregationalists in religious obserrvance -- the English dissenters were in a very real sense their coreligionists" (Kenyon, p. 236). But the Netherlands by this time was fundamentally tolerant; William did not impose any real religious restrictions. The Vicar needed only return to the Protestant fold.
But then Mary died, followed by William, and Anne took the throne. William and Mary had in effect governed from the center of the newly-forming Whig/Tory spectrum -- the deposition of James II was entirely a Whig idea, but James's behavior had forced most Tories to join the anti-James crowd (Trevelyan, pp. 76-77); only the Jacobite extremists still held out for the full Tory position.
Anne wanted no part of this; she had the Stuart conservatism in a fairly pure form, and insisted on a Tory government. Most agree that she was a firm believer in High Church Anglicanism, and even Kenyon, who thinks she wasn't, admits that everyone *thought* she was (Kenyon, p. 299). And, politically, even Kenyon admits that her "reign opened with a bang, with the dismissal of every Whig in sight and their replacement with firm Tories" (Kenyon, p. 300). And even Kenyon (p. 299) admits she had no use at all for the habit of "occasional conformity" -- the fairly common practice of a Dissenter going to an Anglican church a few times a year  to meet the requirements of the Test Act, allowing them to serve in government. Anne in 1711 pushed through a bill stopping this practice (Clark, p. 222), which the vicar naturally approved of, as long as it was on the statute books.
It didn't last long. Anne herself died in 1714. Which revived the succession problem. When the Glorious Revolution took place, the succession had been defined only as far as Anne, to succeed William and Mary; Anne had just given birth at that time to the future Duke of Gloucester, and it seemed likely that the succession could pass through him.
But the Stuarts truly were jinxed. It is possible that this is due to the genes of King Charles VI of France. The mad king was the father of Queen Katherine of Valois, wife of Henry V. Her son by Henry V, who became King Henry VI, was feeble-minded and had at most one son. By her second husband/paramour Owen Tudor, Katherine was the grandmother of King Henry VII -- and while Henry VII was healthy, his heir Henry VIII's wives repeatedly miscarried, and of his three children to reach the age of one year, none would have offspring of their own. Charles I was the great(x6)-grandson of Charles VI -- via Katherine of Valois, Owen Tudor, Henry VII, Margaret Tudor, James V of Scotland, Mary Queen of Scots, and James VI and I -- and had nine legitimate children, six of whom died without legitimate issue. Of the remaining three, James II, like Henry VIII before, caused his wives to miscarry repeatedly, and Mary the mother of William of Orange had only one child. William and Mary, both grandchildren of Charles I were childless. James the Old Pretender had two sons, but neither produced a legitimate heir. And Anne -- well, Anne went through many pregnancies, almost all of which produced babies who died young. The child of 1689 lived to become the Duke of Gloucester -- but then died in 1700.
That produced a crisis, which William of Orange sort of resolved by passing the Act of Settlement in 1701 (Prall, pp. 287-288). This made it official: A Catholic could not ascend to the throne of England (later broadened to all of Britain by the passage of the Act of Union in 1707), nor could the monarch marry a Catholic. This was the "Protestant Succession."
Anne had repeatedly talked, at the end of her life, of passing the throne to the Old Pretender, who was after all her closest living relative (her half-brother). Thackeray wrote, "Had the Queen lasted a month longer; had the English Tories been as bold and resolute as they were clever and crafty; had the Prince whom the nation loved and pitied been equal to his fortune, George Louis had never talked German in St. James's Chapel Royal" (quoted in Sinclair-Stevenson, p. 11). But Anne died too soon, and the law was not altered. The hunt was on for a Protestant heir.
In fact, the Protestant heir was already known -- except that he was far down the line of succession. Several people could have supplanted him -- but they would have had to give up their Catholic faith.
It really helps to see a genealogy here; I used the one in Oman, p. 458. Under strict blood succession, setting aside  the heirs of Anne (after setting aside the Old Pretender) would have been the descendants of Henrieta, the daughter of Charles I who had married Philip, Duke of Orleans. These were, apart from the Old Pretender, the only legitimate descendents of Charles I. But they were all Catholic. That left the offspring of Elizabeth, the daughter of James I. (She and Charles I were the only children of James I to live to have children.)
Elizabeth -- the "Winter Queen" -- had had a  truly sad history: Born in 1596 (Oman, p. 1), her early portraits show a very pretty red-haired girl, who apparently was also quite clever (Oman, p. 36). Not too surprisingly, half a dozen princes were mentioned as possible marriage prospects (for the list, see p. 469 in Oman's index). Somehow, though, James decided to favor the suit of Frederick V, who, when he came of age in 1614, would be the Elector Palatine of the Holy Roman Empire (Oman, pp. 52-53). James's wife Anne of Denmark wasn't so happy (Oman, p. 62), but the young pair (Frederick was the older by just a few days; Oman, p. 54) were formally betrothed at the end of 1612. (Some think that Shakespeare's "The Tempest," or at least the Masque in IV.I.106 and following, was modified to suit her wedding; we know, according to _The Riverside Shakespeare_, p. 1606, that it was performed as part of the elaborate marriage festivities.)
The rest of her life was not so happy. Frederick soon decided to accept the vacant throne of Bohemia (Oman, p. 170), against the advice of most of those around him (Wedgwood-Thirty, pp. 97-99; the Bohemians, after all, had just ousted the previous King even as he was being elected Holy Roman Emperor; Wedgwood-Thirty, pp. 90-97).
That decision put him squarely at the center of the Thirty Years' War; Bohemia, which was trying assure its Protestantism, was the front line. Elizabeth came to be called "The Winter Queen," because it was foretold that her husband, "The Winter King," would vanish with the snows (Oman, p. 202). He did. In 1620, his forces lost the Battle of the White Mountain (Oman, pp. 223-224, etc.; Wedgwood-Thirty, pp. 122-125, describes the Bohemian forces, who were few, ill-paid because of the poverty of the crown, and ill-led, being destroyed in almost no time despite what should have been a strong position).
Frederick, and the Bohemian Protestants, were driven out as the Habsburg Emperor re-imposed Catholicism. (Elizabeth is surely the only Stuart to get in trouble for not being Catholic enough!) Elizabeth spent the rest of her life in exile of one sort or another: She and her husband, living in (by royal standards) poverty, tried to improve their position until Frederick died in 1632. Her son finally regained his status as Elector in 1648, but by then the Stuart dynasty in England was on the ropes. She finally returned to England in 1661 after the Stuart restoration -- and promptly died (Oman, p. 455). It was quite a drama -- but it shouldn't have mattered much in England, except for the failure of the Stuart line.
Even if you ignore the sad history of her life, Elizabeth had a typical Tudor/Stuart story: She had thirteen children (ncluding the famous Prince Rupert). But nine died without any children at all, and Rupert had no legitimate children. That left three: Charles Louis, the Elector Palatinate, whose offspring were Catholic; Edward, whose offspring were Catholic, and Sophia, who married the Elector of Hanover.
If it's any consolation to the memory of Elizabeth, it appears that *every* remaining crowned head of Europe is her descendant; the monarchs of Britain, Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden are all descended from Sophia of Hanover (as were the pre-World War II monarchs of Greece, Yugoslavia, and Romania among others), and the royal house of Belgium, along with the extinct dynasties of Bulgaria and Italy and others, descend from Liselotte daughter of the Elector Palatinate (Oman, p. 457).
By 1710, it was of course clear that none of the people ahead of her would turn Protestant, so Sophia became Anne's heir apparent. So she did not quite live to succeed, dying in 1714 at the age of 84 (perhaps, some have argued romantically, as a result of news from England which seemed to imply that Anne would disinherit her; Sinclair-Stevenson, pp. 13-15).
And so, in default of anyone else, George Lewis, Elector of Hannover, became King George I of England. He was not in any way exceptional -- Sinclair-Stevenson, p. 24, quotes an unnamed source as saying, "To imagine George I possessed any exalted views regarding either the supremacy of the Protestant religion or the economic and progressive development is to credit a mollusc with the aspirations of an eagle." As it turned out, none of his descendants to the present day has been exceptional, either (except George III, who was exceptional for stupidity); the only one whom I can imagone making even a decent ruler in his own right is George V. But England had had its handsome Plantaganets and its triumphant Lancastrians and its romantic Stuarts, maybe it had had enough of exceptional monarchs. George was much laughed at -- for his lack of English, his two ugly mistresses, his clan of German friends (Sinclair-Stevenson, p. 26). But even though he faced two Jacobite rebellions (1715 and 1719), there was never any serious danger of his overthrow. Even the Vicar had little to say about George's theology -- except that he would follow it.
The reference to George arriving in Pudding Time has perhaps as many as three meanings. It refers to a the beginning of a meal, as George was the beginning of a new dynasty. It also implies a good meal, in which case the Vicar might be using it to try to compliment the new king. And -- well, George I, by the time he succeeded to the English throne, was rather pudgy, and his expansive cheekbones made him appear pudgier. He had the look of a man fond of his pudding.
There does not seem to have been an actual Vicar of Bray, but this sort of shifting-of-allegiance is by no means unknown in British history. The ultimate example of this is probably the brothers Thomas Stanley (c. 1435-1504), later Earl of Derby, and his brother Sir William Stanley (c. 1440-1495). Thomas Stanley succeeded his father as Lord Stanley in 1459 (a title bringing with it control of the Isle of Man); this was in the reign of Henry VI, though the Wars of the Roses were already underway. Longford, p. 48, says that Henry VI admitted him to the Order of the Garter (though Kendall, p. 381, attributes this to Richard), then Edward IV made him Steward of the Household. Stanley retained power under Richard III, even though he had married Margaret Beaufort (the mother of the future Henry VII) around 1482. He brought an army to Bosworth (where Richard III died), carefully did not fight in the battle, but when Richard died, reportedly put the crown on Henry VII's head.
In fact it appears the situation was even more complicated than Longford admits. Kendall, p. 404, notes that the Stanleys "thrived by daring to make politics their trade, by sloughing off the encumbrances of loyalty an honor, by developing an ambiguity of attitude which enabled them to join the winning side."
Kendall implies that, early on, the brothers Stanley deliberately played both sides (see pp. 404-406): In 1459, William joined the Yorkists (and was attainted by a Lancastrian parliament), while Thomas, claiming to be Lancastrian, kept his troops idle at Blore Heath. Thomas did fight for the Lancastrians at Northampton, but when Edward IV became King, Thomas was made Chief Justice of Cheshire and Flint.
When in the late 1460s the Earl of Warwick made the first of two attempts to bring back Henry VI, Thomas made sympathetic noises but did nothing and was taken back into favor. In the second attempt, he joined Warwick -- but did nothing at the battles of Barnet and Tewkesbury. Since William had joined the Yorkists, Thomas was allowed to rejoin the government. It was after this that he became Steward. During the reign of Richard III, even though his wife lost her estates after Buckingham's rebellion, Thomas Stanley became treasurer.
Then came the invasion of Henry VII, which eventually overthrew Richard. Stanley was, by now, the third-greatest landholder in England, after the Howard Duke of Norfolk and the Percy Earl of Northumberland. When Henry VII landed, Stanley asked to be allowed to leave Richard. Richard consented, though he made Stanley turn over his son Lord Strange as a hostage. (But, we note for the Richard III haters out there, once it was clear that Stanley would not support Richard at Bosworth, Richard let Strange live.)
Even after the death of Richard, the Stanleys kept their feet in both camps. Thomas became Earl of Derby (a title that is still in his family) -- though Kendall, p. 457, says that Margaret Beaufort eventually refused to share his bed any longer. But William, the man who had ordered the counter-charge that killed Richard III and won England for Henry, did not even receive a peerage. He allegedly conspired with the pretender Perkin Warbeck, and the Stanley luck finally ran out; Henry VII had him executed.
It should be noted that Kendall's was the most vigorous defence of Richard III in the twentieth century; to preserve Richard, he must inherently blacken the Stanleys. But others tell the same story. Gillingham seems to try to be balanced, in that it does not condemn Richard out of hand (but he betrays his bias in failing to note that Henry VII faced as many rebellions in his first two years as Richard did in his, and had a little support from peers; the only difference is that Richard was killed at Bosworth, whereas Henry won his battle at Stoke -- fortunately, since there would have been at least one more round of civil wars had he lost). But Gillingham's account of the Bosworth campaign (pp. 233-242) cannot conceal the extensive treachery of the Stanleys, though it tries to hide it under the cloak of necessity.
Seward-Roses, pp. 303-304, in the space of two pages manages to refer to "Lord Stanley's well-deserved reputation for trimming," and his "treacherous behavior in 1470-1471," also mentioning that "Thomas Stanley had survived the Wars of the Roses... by his shrewdness in identifying and backing the more powerful side" and noting that Henry and the Stanleys "were men of utmost cynicism," as well as that "the Stanleys were never men of their word."
No matter what source you consult, both brothers had careers with even more changes of coat than the Vicar of Bray (who just went along with whoever was in charge). Can you imagine what George W. Bush would have made of these people?
For additional details on Richard III's story, see the notes to "The Children in the Wood (The Babes in the Woods) [Laws Q34]" and "The Rose of England" [Child 166].  - RBW
The form of broadside Bodleian Firth c.8(33), "Beef and Butt Beer, Against Mum and Pumpernickle" or "A Bumper to Old England, Huzza," B. C. (London), 1743, shows it either to be a forrunner or derivative of "The Vicar of Bray." Here is the first verse:
In good King G---'s golden days,
Whoe'er advis'd the King, Sir,
To give H---r the Bays,
Deserv'd a hempen String, Sir.
For this is true, I will maintain,
Give H----r away, Sir,
Or whatsoever K---g shall reign,
Will ne'er have a happy Day, Sir. - BS
The king in the item above must be one or another King George (no other English king has had the initial "G," unless you count Richard of Gloucester). And since the king mentioned clearly is no longer on the throne, and the song was published in the 1740s, it must be George I.
This strongly implies that "H---r" is Hanover, the German principality that England had inherited with George I.
My guess is that the reference is to the Battle of Dettingen (1743) during the War of the Austrian Succession (1740-1748). Britain had joined the war on the Austrian side, partly because France was on the other side, partly because Hanover was part of the Holy Roman Empire (of which the Habsburg Emperor of Austria was usually Emperor, though an exception had had to be made at this time; Maria Theresa of Austria was a woman and therefore ineligible), and partly because Britain wanted to maintain the balance of power.
The War of the Austian Succession was very expensive for Britain, and unpopular, causing several governments to fall rather spectacularly. Dettingen was of particular note because it was very bloody, and a strategic defeat for the British, who had to retreat -- and because George II personally led troops (the last time a British monarch was directly involved in battle).
George I was, of course, the last King mentioned in the "standard" Vicar of Bray. It thus seems likely that the Bodleian broadside is a follow-on to the Vicar -- which in turn implies that the Vicar was in existence by the reign of George II if not earlier.
Just how traditional "The Vicar of Bray" is is an open question. That it's well-known, however, cannot be denied.
Improbable as it sounds, a bark named _The Vicar of Bray_ was built in 1841. After a complicated career, it ended up in a decrepit state in Port Stanley in the Falklands. It still exists as part of a pier there, and is believed to be the only surviving ship to have made the voyage to San Francisco during the 1849 gold rush. (See Payne, pp. 546-547).
The song also gave its name to a biological theory. Ridley, p. 31 etc., describes how biologists for long thought that sex existed in order to promote the diffusion of good genes, helping along evolution. This came to be called the "Vicar of Bray" theory. Alternatives go by such names as the "Tangled Bank" and the "Red Queen" (after the Red Queen's Race in _Through the Looking Glass_).
Unlike its namesake, though, the "Vicar" theory proved inadequately adaptable. Sharing of genes is indeed helpful when a species must seek to optimize behavior; it is the best way to create superior mixes of genes. But in the ordinary course of things asexual reproduction (cloning or fissioning) is a faster way to reproduce. Indeed, we see a mix of such strategies in many creatures (strawberries, for instance, send out runners to populate their local area, while spreading seeds to the wind).
There is still some debate about why sex persists (it's perfectly possible to swap genes without sex; bacteria often do it, and viruses manage it by invading a cell at the same time). It will be interesting to see the name applied to the consensus theory if and when a consensus forms. - RBW
>>*BIBLIOGRAPHY*<<
Chandler: David Chandler: _Sedgemoor 1685: From Monmouth's Invasion to the Blody Assizes_ (Spellmount, 1985, 1999)
Clark: G.N. Clark, M.A., _TheLater Stuarts, 1660-1714_ (Oxford, 1934, 1944)
Davies: Godfrey Davies, _The Early Stuarts: 1603-1660_ (Oxford, 1937)
Gillingham: John Gillingham, _The Wars of the Roses_ (Louisiana State University, 1984)
Kendall: Paul Murray Kendall, _Richard the Third_ (Norton, 1955, 1956)
Kenyon: J. P. Kenyon, _Stuart England_ (The Pelican History of England 6) (Pelican, 1978)
Longford: Lord Longford, _A History of the House of Lords_ (Sutton, 1988, 1999)
Oman: Carola Oman, _The Winter Queen: Elizabeth of Bohemia_ (1938; I used the 2000 Phoenix edition)
Payne: Lincoln P. Payne, _Ships of the World: An Historical Encylopedia_ (Houghton Mifflin, 1997)
Prall: Stuart Prall, _The Bloodless Revolution: England, 1688_ (Doubleday Anchor, 1972)
Ridley: Matt Ridley, _The Red Queen_ (Penguin, 1993)
Seward-Roses: Desmond Seward, _The Wars of the Roses_ (Penguin, 1995)
Sinclair-Stevenson: Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, _Blood Royal: The Illustrious House of Hanover_ (Doubleday, 1980)
Trevelyan: G. M. Trevelyan, _The English Revolution 1688-1689_ (Oxford, 1938)
Wedgwood-Coffin: C. V. Wedgwood, _A Coffin for King Charles: The Trial and Execution of Charles I_ (1964; I used the 1966 Time-Life edition with introduction by A. L. Rowse)
Wedgwood-Thirty: C. V. Wedgwood, _The Thirty Years War_ (1938; I used the 1961 Doubleday-Anchor printing)
File: ChWII122
===
NAME: Vicksburg Round the Bend: see Captain Jim Rees and the Katie (File: MWhee010)
===
NAME: Vicksburg Soldier, The: see The Battle of Vicksburg (File: R225)
===
NAME: Victorious March
DESCRIPTION: General Grant sets out to capture Vicksburg. He wins assorted small battles and besieges the city; it surrenders on July 4.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (Belden), based on a diary entry from 1864
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Nov 1862 - Union general Ulysses S. Grant begins his Vicksburg campaign. His first four attempts to reach the city fail
Apr 16, 1863 - Porter's gunboats run past Vicksburg, opening the way for Grant's final successful campaign
May 12-17, 1863 - Grant fights a series of minor battles which bring him to the defences of Vicksburg
May 22, 1863 - Grant's attempt to take Vicksburg by storm is a bloody failure. The Union army settles down to a siege
July 4, 1863 - Lt. General Pemberton surrenders Vicksburg
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, pp. 369-371, "Victorious March" (1 text)
Roud #7765
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Battle of Vicksburg" (subject)
cf. "Late Battle in the West" (subject)
NOTES: Historical allusions in this piece include:
"In the early part of May": Grant actually brought his forces across the Mississippi below Vicksburg on April 30, 1863
"Grand Gulf": On May 1, two Confederate brigades arrived from Grand Gulf to dispute Grant's crossing. The actual battle was fought at Port Gibson, and resulted in a rebel defeat. The survivors then abandoned Grand Gulf to Grant.
"Raymond": After crossing the river, Grant had intended to head downstream and capture the auxiliary fortress of Port Hudson, but instead decided that Vicksburg was his primary objective. He moved inland, defeating a small force at Raymond, Mississippi on May 12
"Jackson" and "the seniors of rebellion": There were two rebel forces in central Mississippi: Pemberton's Vicksburg garrison, and an additional force under Joseph E. Johnston near Jackson. Johnston was the senior officer in the west, and in theoretical charge of Pemberton -- but he couldn't get Pemberton to obey him, and his own force was small (no more than 12, 000 men, and probably less than 10,000). Grant, with at least a 4:1 advantage, beat the force at Jackson on May 14, freeing him to deal with Pemberton without worrying about his back.
"Champion Hill": Properly Champion's Hill. Johnston had vainly tried to get Pemberton to pitch into Grant's army while Johnston was still fighting. Pemberton sat -- then finally came on on May 15, changed his mind, and awaited Grant on the hill. Grant attacked on May 16, and after a bloody battle pushed Pemberton back toward Vicksburg
"Black River": On May 17, Pemberton tried a rearguard action at the river crossing. Grant forced a crossing without much trouble, and Pemberton was trapped. Grant besieged the city starting May 19, although his initial assault was defeated
"Genral Pem": Lt. Gen. John C. Pemberton (1814-1881), the commander of the Vickburg garrison. His handling of the campaign was so inept that some confederates accused him of treason (he was born in the North).
"General Logan": John A. Logan (1826-1886). Commander of a division in the Union army
"Their works he undermined": Union engineers twice (June 25, July 1) exploded mines under the confederate works. Neither explosion produced a breakthrough, though they may have influenced Pemberton's decision to surrender.
"All hope of Johnston's aid": After the battle of Jackson, Johnston tried to assemble a relieving force, but the only troops available were green as grass. In addition, Grant was given some 30,000 additional troops, with which to hold off Johnston. Johnston declared on June 15 that Vicksburg could not be saved. - RBW
File: Beld369
===
NAME: Victory: see On Board of The Victory (File: Peac484)
===
NAME: Victory Shall Be Mine
DESCRIPTION: "Victory, victory shall be mine (x2); Just hold your peace and the Lord will fight your battles, Victory, victory shall be mine." "Victory, victory shall be mine in the morning..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Warner 176, "Wictory Shall Be Mine" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa176 (Partial)
Roud #16403
NOTES: Yes, the Warners' informant (name uncertain) pronounced it "wictory" -- a peculiar error for an American, as it is considered characteristic of Cockney speech (and even in that dialect, some insist that its frequency is exaggerated).
The tune has another, even more surprising, peculiarity: It uses quarter tones. And not just any quarter tone; it has a quarter tone in place of the fifth (i.e. Ab# instead of G in the key of C). - RBW
File: Wa176
===
NAME: Victory Won at Richmond, The
DESCRIPTION: "The southern boys may longer lie On the first and fourth of sweet July, Our General Beauregard resound For his southern boys at Richmond." In a bloody battle, the southerners save Richmond while the Yankees run
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: battle Civilwar
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
JHCox 66, "The Victory Won at Richmond" (1 text)
DT, VRCHMND
ST JHCox066 (Full)
Roud #3629
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Heights of Alma (I)" [Laws J10] (meter, lyrics)
NOTES: This song is item dA37 in Laws's Appendix II. Laws lists two texts in Cox, but this is a typographical error.
This song is truly a curiosity. The form and lyrics are straight from "The Heights of Alma" (with this clearly being a rewrite) -- yet "The Heights of Alma" was about an event of the Crimean War; what was it doing being parodied in the American South in the 1860s? I suppose there could be an earlier song which inspired both (Alma was hardly the sort of battle to produce a brilliant broadside), but I hadn't found it.
The history here is also confused. The only general named on either side is Beauregard. But Beauregard never commanded at Richmond. He could be treated as the Confederate commander at First Bull Run/Manasses (though the actual field commander was Joseph E. Johnston), but that was a long way from Richmond. Beauregard did command the defenses of Petersburg (south of Richmond) in 1864, and fought the Yankees in the Bermuda Hundred campaign -- but this was as a subordinate of Lee's.
It seems likely that this line is an interpolation, as it does not fit the stanza form. But that just leaves things more murky. So do the initial dates: The first and fourth of July. No significant battles happened on those days -- except the Battle of Gettysburg and the surrender of Vicksburg, neither of which a Confederate would celebrate.
The description of the battle also fails to match any actual battle. The casualty ratios are reminiscent of two fights (Fredericksburg and Cold Harbor), but again, these were Lee's battles, and neither was fought near Richmond. In any case, the Confederates fought all of the above battles on the strict defensive; nowhere did they capture a height.
If one were to list one battle as a "Victory at Richmond," it would probably be the Seven Days' Battles, but this was Lee's fight, with an army recently Johnston's; Confederate losses *exceeded* Union casualties, and at no point did the Confederates take a ridge (they in fact signally failed to take one in the Battle of Malvern Hill).
I think the only possible conclusion is that this is a localized version of "The Heights of Alma," not based on an actual battle but rather on a few names the writer had heard. It may even be  conflation of northern and southern versions (that would explain a lot of the confusions). It's too bad, in a way; the version of "Heights of Alma" I know is incredibly energetic, and could use a solid American version.
As a footnote, there was a "Battle of Richmond" in Civil War annals. But it was a small conflict fought near Richmond, Kentucky in August 1862. Beauregard was not involved, of course. - RBW
File: JHCox066
===
NAME: Vilikens and his Dinah (William and Dinah) [Laws M31A/B]
DESCRIPTION: Dinah is in love with (William/Vilikens); her father insists that she will marry someone else. Dinah steals away, writes a note to her love, and drinks poison. Her love finds her body and in turn kills himself. They are buried in the same grave
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: M31A: before 1821 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.17(469)).
M31B: before 1853 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 26(662))
KEYWORDS: courting death poverty
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,So,SE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (18 citations)
Laws M31A, "William and Dinah A"/M31B "Vilikens and His Dinah (William and Dinah B)"
Belden, pp. 147-148, "Wilkins and Dinah" (1 text)
Randolph 80, "Vilikens and Dinah" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Eddy 50, "Vilikens and his Dinah" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 162, "Young Diana" (2 texts plus mention of 1 more, 1 tune; the "A" text is "William and Dinah"; "B" is "Vilikens")
JHCox 105, "Vilikins and His Dinah" (1 text)
Fuson, p. 90, "Billy and Diana" (1 short text)
BrownII 204, "Wilkins and His Dinah" (1 text plus 1 excerpt and mention of 3 more)
Hudson 33, pp. 146-147, "Villikins and His Dinah" (1 text)
Flanders/Brown, p. 49, "Dinah's Lovers" (1 text, in which William becomes "Sambo"!)
Linscott, pp. 301-303, "Willikins and His Dinah" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 17, "Diana and Sweet William" (1 text, 1 tune); 18, "Villikens and his Dinah" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 767-769, "Villkins and his Dinah" (2 texts)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 53-54, "Vilikins and His Dinah" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 118-119, "William and Dinah" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 266, "Villikins And His Dinah" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 603-604, "Vilikens and His Dinah -- (Sweet Betsey from Pike)"
DT 435, VILDINAH*
Roud #271
RECORDINGS:
Logan English, "William and Dinah" (on LEnglish01)
BROADSIDES:
Laws M31A:
Bodleian, 2806 c.17(469), "William and Diana," G. Thompson (Liverpool), 1789-1820; also Harding B 15(379a), Harding B 11(3592), Harding B 11(1311), Johnson Ballads 1842, "William and Dinah"
Laws M31B:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(662), "Villikins and His Dinah," J. Moore (Belfast) , 1846-1852; also Firth c.18(231), Firth b.27(61), "Vilikens and His Dinah"; Firth b.27(159), Harding B 11(3981), Firth c.18(232), "Vilikins and His Dinah"; Harding B 11(3982), "Vilikins and His Dinah!"
LOCSheet, sm1854 551640, "Vilikens and His Dinah," Horace Waters (New York), 1854 (tune) 
LOCSinging, as114360, "Villikins and Dinah," unknown, 19C
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sweet Betsy from Pike [Laws B9]" (tune & meter)
cf. "The Grand Hotel" (tune & meter)
cf. "Squarin' Up Time" (tune & meter)
cf. "Blinded by Shit" (tune & meter)
cf. "Dinky Die" (tune)
cf. "Pokegama Bear" (tune)
cf. "The H'Emmer Jane" (tune)
cf. "Johnston's Hotel" (tune)
cf. "Moses Ritoora-li-ay" (tune)
cf. "Duncan Campbell (Erin-Go-Bragh)" [Laws Q20] (tune)
cf. "Four Horses" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Sweet Betsy from Pike [Laws B9] (File: LB09)
The Grand Hotel (File: FJ180)
Squarin' Up Time (File: FJ182)
Blinded by Shit (File: EM125)
Dinky Die (File: EM403)
Pokegama Bear (File: RcPokegB)
Johnston's Hotel (File: RcJohHot)
Four Horses (File: Rc4Horse)
We Sing of the Polar Bear (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 43)
The Abolition Show (words by Stephen Foster; Saunders/Root-Foster 2, pp. 12-13+418)
They Died as They Lived (per broadside Bodleian Firth b.27(61))
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Diana
Jimmy and Diana
NOTES: As Laws's numbers show, this ballad has two versions. The first, "William and Dinah," is a straightforward tragic piece. At some point this was rewritten as a comic piece, "Vilikens and His Dinah." The two retain enough similarity that they can still be treated as one song.
In the department of Truly Useless Knowledge, we might note that the cat Dinah of Caroll's _Through the Looking Glass_ derived its name from this song. The two cats kept by the Liddell family were Vilikens and Dinah. - RBW
File: LM31
===
NAME: Village Pride (I), The: see The Paisley Officer (India's Burning Sands) [Laws N2] (File: LN02)
===
NAME: Village Pride (II), The: see Mary of the Wild Moor [Laws P21] (File: LP21)
===
NAME: Villkins and his Dinah: see Vilikens and His Dinah [LawsM31A/B] (File: LM31)
===
NAME: Vince Leahy
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of the drowning of Leahy. The young man is well liked for his hard work at Young's Point. The morning of his death, his mother begs him to stay home. But he goes to work, slips into a "stop log place," and is found much later
AUTHOR: Dave McMahon
EARLIEST_DATE: 1957 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: death drowning lumbering river family
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1927 - Death of Vince Leahy of Peterborough
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke-Lumbering #43, "Vince Leahy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3683
File: FowL43
===
NAME: Vingt-cinq de Juillet, Le (The Twenty-fifth of July)
DESCRIPTION: French. July 25 the ship sets sail for France. Surviving a storm, the ship arrives safely at Rochelle. The girls go on board with their men. When the owner is told that his ship has arrived safe and sound with a load of cargo and silver he thanks God.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1971 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage sex commerce sea ship storm
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 114, "Le Vingt-cinq de Juillet" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Anita Best and Pamela Morgan, "Le Vingt-cinq de Juillet" (on NFABestPMorgan01)
File: LeBe114
===
NAME: Virgin Mary Had a Little Baby
DESCRIPTION: "The Virgin Mary had a little baby, O, glory hallelujah. O, pretty little baby, Glory be to the newborn King." "What you gonna name that pretty little baby?" "Some call him one thing, think I'll call him Jesus"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1953 (R. C. Seeger, American Folk Songs for Christmas)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus Christmas
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 384, "Virgin Mary Had One Son" (1 text)
Roud #12207
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Glory to the New Born King" (on PeteSeeger37, PeteSeeger42)
File: FSWB384A
===
NAME: Virgin Mary Had One Son: see Virgin Mary Had a Little Baby (File: FSWB384A)
===
NAME: Virgin Mary's Bank, The
DESCRIPTION: A ship sees Virgin Mary praying on the bank. The captain leads the crew in jeering and a storm wrecks the ship "on Ichidony's rock." The crew are drowned. Local fishermen call "that hillock green 'the Virgin Mary's bank.'"
AUTHOR: J. J. Callanan
EARLIEST_DATE: 1855 (Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol II)
KEYWORDS: death ship storm wreck religious supernatural
FOUND_IN: Ireland Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Lehr/Best 115, "The Virgin on the Strand" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 77, "The Virgin Mary's Bank" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol II, pp. 177-178, "The Virgin Mary's Bank"
File: LeBe115
===
NAME: Virgin on the Strand, The: see The Virgin Mary's Bank (File: LeBe115)
===
NAME: Virgin Sturgeon, The: see Caviar Comes from the Virgin Sturgeon (File: EM240)
===
NAME: Virginia Lover, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer courts (Martha), who returns his affection. Her mother/brother opposes the marriage because he is unpropertied, and offers her land/gowns if she'll reject him. She weeps; he tells her "if you hadn't been so faithful, I wouldn't have been so true"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Cecil Sharp collection)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer courts fair Martha (Polly) (of Blackwaters, dark waters), who returns his affection, but her mother (brother) opposes their marriage because he is unpropertied, and offers her land (or gowns) if she'll reject him. She weeps; he asks if he's given her any occasion to be angry, and tells her "if you hadn't been so faithful, I wouldn't have been so true"
KEYWORDS: grief poverty courting marriage brother lover mother clothes
FOUND_IN: US(Ap, SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SharpAp 124, "The Virginia Lover" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Roud #420
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wagoner's Lad" (plot)
NOTES: The plot of this song powerfully resembles others, notably "The Wagoner's Lad," but it seems to be distinct. - PJS
File: ShAp2124
===
NAME: Virginia Strike of '23, The
DESCRIPTION: "In the dear old town of Princeton... Fire hundred railroad employees were as happy as could be... But they believed in Satan and quit their jobs that fall." The singer was one of those fooled into striking. Now he wishes he had his job back.
AUTHOR: Roy Harvey
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Roy Harvey and Earl Shirkey)
KEYWORDS: train strike hardtimes request
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1923 - about two thirds of the employees of the Virginia Railroad go on strike. The union brings in replacements; the company suffers several accidents in coming years but never rehires the strikers
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 591-595, "The Virginia Strike of '23" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Roy Harper [pseud. for Roy Harvey] and Earl Shirkey, "The Virginia Strike of '23" (Columbia 15535-D, 1930; rec. 1929)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "When the Work's All Done This Fall" [Laws B3] (tune)
NOTES: According to Cohen, Roy Harvey was an engineer on the Virgina Railroad, and was one of those who struck in 1923. He and many of his fellow workers came to believe that they had been deceived by their union. He reportedly wrote this song to try to get his job back. Reportedly there was some sympathy for him in the company, but not enough. And then, of course, came the Depression. - RBW
File: LSRai591
===
NAME: Virginia's Alders: see Friends and Neighbors (Virginia's Alders) (File: FSC035)
===
NAME: Virginia's Bloody Soil
DESCRIPTION: The singer calls on his audience to listen as he tells of the troubles of the Civil War, and describes how Unionists sprang to the colors after Fort Sumter. The rest of the song describes the battle of the Wilderness, and the death of the captain there
AUTHOR: James McCoy?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 5-7, 1864 - Battle of the Wilderness
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Warner 24, "Virginia's Bloody Soil" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 80-81, "Virginia's Bloody Soil" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 52, "Virginia's Bloody Soil" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa024 (Partial)
Roud #2802
NOTES: The informant, "Yankee" John Galusha, said that this was a song local to his area, written by James McCoy about Captain Dennis Barnes, killed at the Battle of the Wilderness.
This seems likely enough. Although two battles were fought in the Rappahannock Wilderness (The Wilderness in 1864 and the earlier Battle of Chancellorsville on May 1-4, 1863), the song seems better suited to the 1864 battle, as it mentions the fires which consumed the Wilderness and also denies that the Federals retreated (after Chancellorsville the Union forces retreated; after the Wilderness, although it had suffered almost as bad a pounding as at Chancellorsville, Grant and Meade forced the federal army on to Spotsylvania).
This song is item dA35 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Wa024
===
NAME: Virginny: see Australia (Virginny) (File: FaE012)
===
NAME: Visit to Morans, The
DESCRIPTION: "In the month of January, ninety-two... We harnessed up our team" and visited John Moran in DeGros Marsh. On the way home the snow forces them off the road. They replace a broken harness with rope and make it to Martin's for beer, then go home next day.
AUTHOR: Lawrence Doyle and Patrick William Farrell
EARLIEST_DATE: 1969 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: ordeal storm travel
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 204-207, 256, "The Visit to Morans" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #14000
NOTES: DeGros Marsh is on the east coast of Kings County, Prince Edward Island. - BS
File: IvDC204
===
NAME: Vivandeer, The
DESCRIPTION: Vivandeer was built "to sail the ocean round ... But they left her on Blackwater Bank, a dire and total wreck." Tinnaberna men launch their boats, step aboard, and, with help of a tug, "brought the gallant Vivandeer safe into Wexford Quay"
AUTHOR: Miley Roche, Kilmuckridge
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: sea ship wreck sailor help
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 112-113, "The Vivandeer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7354
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The North Star" (tune)
NOTES: 1885: "The new sailing ship Vivandiere struck the Blackwater Bank.... She was abandoned by her crew. A local group from Tinnabearna put out and boarded her. They succeeded in bringing her into Wexford with the aid of a tug." (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, p. 71) - BS
File: Ran112
===
NAME: Vive la Canadienne!
DESCRIPTION: French: The singer rejoices in his Canadien girl. He celebrates her blue eyes. He describes their meeting, mentioning how quickly their hearts are beating. "So go the hours a-flying Until our wedding day."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1880 (E. Gagnon, "Chansons Populaires de Canada")
KEYWORDS: love courting marriage foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 146-147, "Vive la Canadienne! (Of My Canadian Girl I Sing)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 45, "Vive La Canadienne!" (1 English and 1 French text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Vive La Canadienne" (on PeteSeeger29)
File: FJ146
===
NAME: Vive la Compagnie
DESCRIPTION: "Let Bacchus to Venus libations pour forth, Vive la compagnie. And let us make use of our time while it lasts, Vive la compagnie. Vive la, vive la, vive l'amour...." Bachelors toast their lasses, husbands their wives, all toast their friends
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1818
KEYWORDS: drink friend nonballad
FOUND_IN: US Britain(England) Germany
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 218-221, "Vive la Compagnie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 288, "Vive la Compagnie" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 235, "Vive La Compagnie (Vive l'Amour)" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 606-607, "Vive la Compaigne"
DT, VIVLAMOR
ST RJ19218 (Full)
SAME_TUNE:
Vive le Captain John (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 161)
NOTES: Fuld points out that this song has been printed in England, America, and Germany, but no early French printings are known. It may, in fact, be an English song; at least, the tune is close to "The Lincolnshire Poacher." - RBW
File: RJ19218
===
NAME: Vive les matelots!
DESCRIPTION: French (Voyageurs): "Nous etions trois garcons, tous jolis capitaines (x2), Y'en a un a Paris, et a'autre a La Rochelle. Vive les matelots dessus la mer jolie...." Song concerns three captains. One comes to court a girl. He cares not if he is rejected
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937
KEYWORDS: courting sailor nonballad foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: Canada
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 21-24, "Vive les matelots!" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FMB021
===
NAME: Voice from the Tombs (Lonely Tombs)
DESCRIPTION: The singer passes a tomb and hears a voice, "I once lived as you live, walked and talked as you talk, Then from earth I was soon torn away." Other voices chip in about the joys of heaven and the brevity of life. At last his mother's voice says she is safe
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (recording, Wade Mainer)
KEYWORDS: death ghost religious grief loneliness mother
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Warner 87, "Voice from the Tombs" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa087 (Partial)
Roud #3399
RECORDINGS:
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "Lonely Tombs" (King 661, 1947)
Wade Mainer, "Lonely Tombs" (Bluebird B-7424, 1938)
Preston & Hobart Smith, "Lonely Tombs" (on LomaxCD1704)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hark from the Tombs (Plenary)" (theme)
NOTES: I find, in looking through our keywords, that we have Hell as a place name but not Heaven. Given our subject matter, that's probably appropriate. - PJS
File: Wa087
===
NAME: Volunteer Organist, The
DESCRIPTION: The preacher announces that the organist is ill. No one volunteers to play except a drunken-looking man. He tells his story in music, amazing them all. The preacher doesn't try to preach; he just has the congregation pray as the man leaves
AUTHOR: Words: William B. Gray ("Glenroy") / Music: Henry Lamb
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: music clergy
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 826, "The Volunteer Organist" (1 text)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 191-192, "[The Volunteer Organist]" (1 excerpt)
Roud #5378
RECORDINGS:
John McGhee, "The Volunteer Organist" (Champion 15483, 1928)
NOTES: Spaeth (_A History of Popular Music in America_, p. 271) calls this "the sport of 1893," and goes on to detail how it spawned a play of the same title -- as well as a short-lived rush to produce imitations. - RBW
File: R826
===
NAME: Volunteers, The
DESCRIPTION: Mabel asks her mother about the passing troops and their leader. Mother answers that the men are the Volunteers and Grattan their leader. "They rose to guard from foreign foes, as well from British guile" Witness "the baffled hosts of Gaul"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1855 (Hayes)
KEYWORDS: pride army England France Ireland dialog patriotic
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
O'Conor, pp. 117-118, "The Volunteers" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859 (reprint of 1855 London edition)), Vol I, pp. 235-236, "The Volunteers"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Song of the Volunteers" (subject) and references there
NOTES: The Belfast Volunteers were formed in 1778 because of the threat of war between France and Britain. Similar groups formed, became politicized, and supported "those in favour of legislative independence from the British parliament and the removal of impediments to Irish commerce." Henry Grattan and Harry Flood supported this program in the Irish House of Commons. (Source} Moylan)
O'Conor shows the author as "M.O.B." I posted an inquiry for speculation as to who "M.O.B." might be. John Moulden -- researcher at the "Centre for the Study of Human Settlement and Historical Change" at National University of Ireland, Galway, whose subject is "the printed ballad in Ireland" -- gave me two leads. First, he pointed out that Hayes (see ADDITIONAL, above) -- possibly O'Conor's source -- has the author as "M.O'B" and that another good resource might be David James O'Donoghue, _The Poets of Ireland: a Biographical Dictionary_ (O'Donoghue, 1892-3). One possibility in O'Donoghue is O'Brien, M.E., a "very frequent contributor of verse to _Sentimental and Masonic Magazine_ of 1794-5.... He may have been the 'O'B' of _Sentimental and Masonic Magazine_ 1794." (p. 180). - BS
For more on Grattan, see e.g. "Ireland's Glory." For the Volunteers, see among others "The Green Cockade," "The Shamrock Cockade," and "The Song of the Volunteers."
The reference to the "baffled hosts of Gaul" makes me think this might refer to a period somewhat after Grattan's great success (which Ben's research on the author indirectly supports). This sounds as if it might come from around the period of the French failure at Bantry Bay -- when Grattan's parliament was functioning but before the 1798 rebellion. - RBW
File: OCon117
===
NAME: Volunteers' March, The
DESCRIPTION: "Was she not a fool, When she took off our wool, To leave us so much of the Leather, the leather? It ne'er entered her pate, That a sheepskin well beat, Would draw a whole nation Together, together."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1780s (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: nonballad patriotic clothes
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann 2, "The Volunteers' March" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
NOTES: The current description is all of the Zimmermann fragment.
Zimmermann p. 117: "'The Volunteers' March' ... represents the first group of really nationalist Irish songs written in English, though most of the words are lost."
Moylan notes the tune Zimmermann uses for this entry and thinks it unlikely. "In fact the verse would fit a slide or jig tune, but not one in 2/4 time. In fact the verse would fit perfectly to the tune 'Larry Grogan' to which song [Zimmermann] 40 below is set, and was in all probability made with that tune in mind." (Moylan 2, "Favourite March of the Old Irish Volunteers") Consider this comment when using the tunes assigned by both Moylan and Zimmermann. - BS
Though it rarely is mentioned in song, one of the worst ways Britain oppressed Ireland was by controlling her trade. One instance of this was that they restricted Irish clothing from entering England. On several occasions England seemed to encourage one or another industry (e.g. linen) only to chop it down.
Robert Kee, in _The Most Distressful Country_ (Volume I of _The Green Flag_) writes on page 21, "The later English parliament took advantage of this constitutional subservience to see that local economic interests in the Kingdom of Ireland should present no threat to those in the Kingdom of England. Irish trading and manufacturing opportunities were severely restricted to protect England's own trades and manufactures. For instance, in 1699 the export of woolen goods from Ireland... was totally forbidden to everywhere but England where English import duties were themselves prohibitive." (Compare Michael Cronin, _A History of Ireland_, pp. 86-87: "The 1699 legislation destroyed the Irish woolen industry at a stroke.")
Similarly, P. Berresford Ellis, _A history of the Irish Working Class_, p. 48, reports, "In 1666 Parliament forbade irish cattle being imported into England thus bringing about the ruin of the cattle industry."
I don't know if this song reflects that, but it might. - RBW
File: Zimm002
===
NAME: Voodoo Man, The
DESCRIPTION: Of a woman courted by a man; when she rejects his advanced because "he had no situation," he "hoodoes" her elaborately. Now she is sick and hopes someone can stop the voodoo man even though all are afraid of him. She wonders if *she* is dead
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: courting poverty rejection magic disease
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 429, "The Voodoo Man" (1 text)
Roud #11773
File: Br3429
===
NAME: Vowels, The
DESCRIPTION: "B-a, ba; b-e, be; B-i, bick-a-bi; B-o, bick-a-bi-bo; B-u, bu, bick-a-bi-bo-bu." Similarly through the alphabet: "C-a, ca; C-e, ce, C-i, cick-a-ci." (The text does not specify whether "cick" is pronounced "sick" or "kick.")
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: wordplay nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 139, "The Vowels" (1 text)
Randolph 873, "The Alphabet Song" (6 texts, 6 tunes, but the "E" and "F" texts are "The Vowels")
Roud #3303
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Alphabet Songs"
File: Br3139
===
NAME: Voyage, Le
DESCRIPTION: "Ah! c'est un mariage Que d'epouser le yoyage. Je plains qui s'y engage Sans y etre invite." The life of a voyageur is like a marriage. Safety, comfort and contentment must be given up "dans le course du voyage."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1944
KEYWORDS: nonballad foreignlanguage marriage travel
FOUND_IN: Canada(Queb)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 582, "Le Voyage (The Voyage)" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: BMRF582
===
NAME: Voyez Ce Mulet La
DESCRIPTION: Bamboula in Creole French: "Voyez ce mulet la, Miche Bainjo, Comme il est insolent! Chapeau sur cote, Miche Bainjo, La canne a la maine, Miche Bainjo...." The singer describes the strutting about of "Mister Banjo."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage music dancetune nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 119-120, "Voyez Ce Mulet La" (1 short text plus loose English translation, 1 tune)
File: ScaNF119
===
NAME: Vulture (of the Alps), The
DESCRIPTION: A family of shepherds is out with their sheep when a vulture swoops down and carries off their youngest child. Though the baby cries and reaches out to its father, there is nothing the others can do
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: set to music c. 1842 and sung by the Hutchinson Family
KEYWORDS: bird family disaster death
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 108-113, "The Vulture"; "The Vulture of the Alps  (2 texts, 1 tune)
ST MN2108 (Partial)
Roud #4777
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lonesome Dove (I - The Minister's Lamentation)" (theme)
cf. "The Lost Babe" (theme)
NOTES: On its face, this has nothing to do with "The Lonesome Dove," in which a child is carried off by consumption. But that song describes the disease as a vulture. I wonder if this might not be a badly messed up form of the same idea. - RBW
File: MN2108
===
NAME: W. P. and A.
DESCRIPTION: "Where did you get that pretty dress all so bright and gay? I got it from my loving man on the W. P. and A." The singer tells of how the WPA allowed him to re-establish credit and earn good money for little work -- but also how he is resented by friends
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: work unemployment hardtimes
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 6, 1935 -- Creation of the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), which had been authorized April 8. The program lasted until Dec. 4, 1942
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Warner 138, "W. P. and A." (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa138 (Partial)
Roud #7476
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The W.P.A. Gathering" (subject)
NOTES: The Works Progress Administration was responsible for a number of important building projects during the Depression. One of the key pieces of the New Deal, it helped many unemployed people survive the period. In the North Carolina backwoods, the wages it paid were considered very good, and the work relatively slight. But not everyone could sign on with the W.P.A. Hence this song -- and the resentment it describes. - RBW
File: Wa138
===
NAME: W.P.A. Gathering, The
DESCRIPTION: "Uncle Sam was very kind, He gave the people aid; The W.P.A. is working hard, Good roads will soon be made." This effort makes possible the Lost Hope Hollow Singing Gathering.
AUTHOR: James W. Day ("Jilson Setters")?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: music travel nonballad
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 6, 1935 -- Creation of the Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.), which had been authorized April 8. The program lasted until Dec. 4, 1942
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', p. 244, (no title) (1 text)
Roud #13961
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The W. P. and A." (subject)
NOTES: This is even more suspicious than most of the songs in Thomas, since it actually mentions her by her ridiculous title of "The Traipsin' Woman." 
The piece is likely by Jilson Setters, but Thomas's notes make it impossible to be absolutely certain. - RBW
File: ThBa244
===
NAME: Wabash Cannonball, The
DESCRIPTION: In praise of the amazing Wabash Cannonball, a train which can apparently accomplish anything. The song mentions various places the train visits and the impression it makes on the townsfolk. It may close with a eulogy for "Daddy Claxton"
AUTHOR: Original ("TheGreat Rock Island Route") credited to J. A. Roff; rewritten as "Wabash Cannon Ball," perhaps by William Kindt, who copyrighted it; Cohen suspects the rewrite preceded Kindt's 1904 publication, and common tune is not the same as either Roff's or Kindt's
EARLIEST_DATE: 1882 (sheet music, as "The Great Rock Island Route"; first use of the "Wabash Cannonball" title is Kindt, in 1904)
KEYWORDS: train railroading travel
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 373-381, "The Wabash Cannonball" (2 texts, one of them Kindt's, plus a text and sheet music cover of Roff's "The Great Rock Island Route," 1 tune)
Randolph 840, "The Wabash Cannonball" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 385-386, "The Wabash Cannonball" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 840)
Lomax-FSNA 220, "The Wabash Cannon Ball" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 462, "The Wabash Cannonball" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 85, "Wabash Cannonball" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 100 "The Wabash Cannonball" (1 text)
DT, WABASHCB*
Roud #4228
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff & his Crazy Tennesseeans, "Wabash Cannonball" ((Vocalion/OKeh 04466/Conqueror 9121/Conqueror 9128, 1938; rec. 1936) [despite the band title, Dynamite Hatcher sang lead on this recording]
Roy Acuff & his Smoky Mountain Boys, "Wabash Cannonball" (Columbia 37008/Columbia 37598/Columbia 20034, 1947) [Note: Some pressings of these issues used the Vocalion/OKeh master listed above]
Bill Carlisle, "Wabash Cannon Ball" (Decca 5713 [as Bill Carlisle's Kentucky Boys]/Melotone [probably Can.] 45326, 1939)
The Carter Family, "Wabash Cannonball" (Victor 23731, 1932; Montgomery Ward M-7444, 1938; Bluebird B-8350, 1940; rec. 1929)
Clark & Edans, "Wabash Cannonball" (Gennett, unissued, 1928)
Hugh Cross, "Wabash Cannonball" (Columbia 15439-D, 1929)
Delmore Brothers, "The Cannon Ball" (Bluebird B-7991, 1939; rec. 1938)
Roy Hall & his Blue Ridge Entertainers, "Wabash Cannonball" (Vocalion 04717/Conqueror 9230, 1938)
Bill Mooney & his Cactus Twisters, "Wabash Cannonball" (Imperial 1150, n.d.)
Morris Brothers, "Wabash Cannonball - No. 2" (Bluebird B-8252, 1939)
Pete Seeger, "Wabash Cannonball" (on PeteSeeger17)
Art Thieme, "Wabash Cannonball" (on Thieme04)
Doc Watson, "Wabash Cannonball" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchieWatsonCD1)
Mac Wiseman, "Wabash Cannonball" (Dot 1262, 1950s)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Gatesville Cannonball" (tune)
cf. "We Work for Hay and Company" (tune)
cf. "The Boys at Ninety-Five" (tune)
cf. "The Gospel Cannonball" (lyrics)
SAME_TUNE:
"Hail! Ye Brave Industrial Workers" (Greenway-AFP, p. 178)
"We Work for Hay and Company" (File: FowL26)
The Grand Coulee Dam (by Woody Guthrie) (Greenway-AFP, pp. 292-293; DT, GRNCOULE)
Delmore Brothers, "New Wabash Cannon Ball Blues" (Bluebird B-8404, 1940)
Delmore Brothers, "Gospel Cannon Ball" (Decca 5970, 1941)
Charles Stowe, "Carolina Cannonball" (on OBanks1)
File: R840
===
NAME: Wade in the Water
DESCRIPTION: "Wade in the water, Wade in the water, children, Wade in the water, God's gonna trouble the water." The singer warns of the coming signs of the end. The victory of Heaven over Hell is considered assured. The singer looks forward to future freedom
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (recording, Sunset Four Jubilee Singers)
KEYWORDS: religious freedom nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 242, "Wade in the Water" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 63, "Wade in the Water" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 356, "Wade in the Water" (1 text)
DT, WADEWATR*
Roud #5439
RECORDINGS:
Birmingham Jubilee Quartet, "Wade in the Water" (Vocalion 1563, 1930)
Empire Jubilee Quartet, "Wade in de Water" (Victor 23340, 1932; rec. 1929)
Famous Blue Jay Singers of Birmingham, "Children Wade in de Water" (Paramount 13128, 1932; Broadway 1246, n.d.; Champion 50026, 1935; on VocalQ2)
Lincoln Four Quartette, "Wade in the Water" (Paramount 12621, 1928)
Sunset Four Jubilee Singers, "Wade in the Water" (Paramount 12273, 1925)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Bear the News, Mary" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Walk In Jerusalem Just Like John" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Hand Me Down My Walking Cane" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Heaven and Hell" (floating lyrics)
cf. "If You Get There Before I Do" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Is Your Lamps Gone Out" (floating lyrics)
File: LoF242
===
NAME: Wadham's Song
DESCRIPTION: Coast sailing pilot's guide "from Bonavista Cape to the Stinking Isles ... till Pilley's Point covers Syme's Stage." Directions on how to reach Notre Dame Bay from Bonavista
AUTHOR: R.N. Wadham
EARLIEST_DATE: 1756 (cf. Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: sea ship nonballad recitation sailor
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 119, "Wadham's Song" (1 text)
Ryan/Small, p. 13, "Wadhams Song" (1 text)
ST GrMa119 (Partial)
Roud #5449
NOTES: According to GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador site, "although called a song it was always recited and there is no tune available"; Greenleaf/Mansfield heard it recited.
On the other hand, the Renaissance Dance site claims "Pilot verses were sailing directions sung to popular tunes ... Hugill [apparently not in _Shanties from the Seven Seas_] quotes [Wadham's Song] to the tune of 'I'll Tell me Ma', which is still well known." - BS
File: GrMa119
===
NAME: Waggin' o' Our Dog's Tail, The
DESCRIPTION: "We hae a dog that wags his tail -- He's a bit o' a wag himsel', O! A' day he wanders thro' the toun -- At nicht as news to tell, O!" The dog tours the town, sees many silly people, and concludes that, if people had tails, they'd be almost as good as dogs
AUTHOR: Norman McLeod ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: dog humorous
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 214-217, "The Waggin' o' Our Dog's Tail" (1 text)
Roud #6292
File: FVS214
===
NAME: Waggoner, The
DESCRIPTION: "September last, on the seventh day, I geared my team to start away, To the South Yadkin...." The singer describes his route, talks of the cold and difficulties of the trip, and happily recounts his arrival
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: travel
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, pp. 300-301, "The Waggoner" (1 text)
Roud #3584
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Heights of Alma (I) [Laws J10]" (meter, lyrics)
NOTES: Belden believes this piece tells of travel across the Appalachians, which, given the geography, makes sense. The initial line and the meter seem to imply acquaintance with "The Heights of Alma" (though in this case the song is rather worn down). That is a rather late date for such a piece. This may be further evidence of the "proto-Alma" song.
Roud for some reason lumps this with the Lomax "Ox-Driving Song." The only thing I can see in common is that they both involve travel. - RBW
File: Beld300
===
NAME: Wagoner's Lad, The
DESCRIPTION: Young woman is courted by wagoner's lad. Her parents don't like him because he is poor; he tells her he is self-supporting and not ashamed. He tells her he is leaving; she asks him to linger with him, but he refuses. She laments women's hard fortune
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908 (collected by Olive Dame Campbell; in SharpAp); +1907 (JAFL20)
KEYWORDS: courting love farewell parting dialog worker lyric rejection warning floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (17 citations)
Leach, pp.738-740, "The Wagoner's Lad" (2 texts, with the "A" text belonging here and the "B" text a composite of "Wagoner's Lad" and "Old Smokey" verses)
Randolph 740, "Texas Cowboy" (1 text, with much floating material but the plot seems to be here)
BrownIII 250, "The Wagoner's Lad" (3 texts plus 3 fragments; the texts "A"-"C" are "The Wagoner's Lad," and "D" has an associated verse, but "E" and "F" are fragments of a love song, perhaps "Farewell, Charming Nancy" or "Omie Wise," both of which have similar lyrics; "D" also shares this single verse, and "E" adds a "Troubled in Mind" chorus)
Chappell-FSRA 42, "Lamkins" (1 text, apparently a fragment of Child #93 (containing only a threat of cannibalism) plus three "My Horses Ain't Hungry" stanzas)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 272-282, "The Waggoner's Lad" (9 texts, 6 tunes on pp. 428-431, but the entry combines many songs; A (no title), B ("My Fortune's Been Bad"), and E ("My Horses Ain't Hungry") are extended versions of "The Wagoner's Lad"; C ("The Last Farewell") is a short text probably of "The Wagoner's Lad"; D ("Old Smokie") combined one "Smokey" verse with three "Wagoner's Lad" verses; "F" ("Old Smoky") is a very long "Old Smokey" text which seems to have gained parts of other songs; G ("A False Lying True Love") is "Old Smokey" minus the first verse; H ("I'll Build My Cabin on a Mountain So High" is "Old Smokey" with a first verse from a drunkard song and a final floating verse supplying the title; I (no title) is a fragment probably of "Old Smokey")
SharpAp 117, "The Wagoner's Lad" (6 texts, 6 tunes)
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 62, "Loving Nancy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 284-285, "Rabble Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune -- a strange version, probably composite, in which the wanderer is a "rabble soldier")
Lomax-FSNA 112, "The Wagoner's Lad"; (1 text, 1 tune)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 30 "The Wagoner's Lad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 6, "The Wagoner's Lad" (1 text, 1 tune); 83, "Old Paint" (3 texts, 1 tune, of which the "C" text appears actually to be a version of this piece or perhaps "Rye Whisky")
Chase, pp. 181-182, "The Wagoner's Lad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 38-39, "Wagonner's Lad" (1 text)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 21, "My Horses Ain't Hungry" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 171 "The Wagoner's Lad"; p. 174 "My Horses Ain't Hungry"; p. 186 "Hard Is The Fortune Of All Womankind" (3 texts)
Saffel-CowboyP, pp. 211-213, "Jack o' Diamonds" (1 text; this particular Lomax offering contains elements of "Jack o Diamonds/Rye Whisky," "The Wagoner's Lad," The Rebel Soldier," and others)
DT, WAGONLAD* MOONSHI2*
ST R740 (Full)
Roud #414
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "Loving Nancy" (on Boggs3, BoggsCD1)
Vernon Dalhart, "My Horse's Ain't Hungry" [sic] (Edison 52077, 1927)
Kelly Harrell, "My Horses Ain't Hungry" (Victor 20103, 1926; on KHarrell01)
Buell Kazee, "The Wagoner's Lad" (Brunswick 213B, 1928; Brunswick 437, 1930; on AAFM1) (on Kazee01)
Mr. & Mrs. John Sams, "Wagoner's Lad" (on MMOKCD)
Pete Seeger, "Fare You Well, Polly" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07a);The Wagoner's Lad" (on PeteSeeger17)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cuckoo" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Goodbye, Old Paint" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Rye Whiskey" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Gambler (I)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Oh Lily, Dear Lily" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Lady's Case" (floating lyrics)
cf. "I Am a Young Maiden (If I Were a Blackbird)" (lyrics)
cf. "The Rebel Soldier" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Rue and the Thyme (The Rose and the Thyme)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Farewell, Sweet Mary"
cf. "Goodbye, Little Bonnie, Goodbye" (theme)
cf. "Moonshiner" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Virginia Lover" (plot)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
An Inconstant Lover
I'm a Rambler, I'm a Gambler
The Rambling Gambler
NOTES: This song, which barely qualifies as a ballad even in its full forms, has produced many non-ballad offspring, of which "On Top of Old Smokey" is the best known. Randolph apparently thinks his "Texas Cowboy" piece to be related but separate, but (based on his text) I would have to say they are the same.
It is very hard to tell certain versions of this from "Rye Whiskey"; the two have exchanged many verses. But the "core" versions seem to be distinct.
An even greater problem is posed by the relationship between this song and "On Top of Old Smoky." The two are occasionally listed as one song (e.g. by Leach); indeed, this was done in early versions of the Index. This was done under the influence of the Lomaxes, who classify the songs together.
Further study, however, seems to show that all versions which have common material are derived from the Lomaxes. The plots of the two songs are different, their tunes are distinct, and true cross-fertilization seems very rare. It would appear that the identification of the two is purely the result of the sort of editorial work the Lomaxes so often committed.
Due to this inconsistency, it is suggested that the reader check all versions of both songs, as well as both sets of cross-references, to find all related materials.
Another closely related song is "Farewell, Sweet Mary," as much as three-quarters of which may derive from this song. It has taken a slightly different direction, however, and is at least a distinct subfamily of this piece. Since it doesn't have anything about horses or wagoners, I list it separately. - RBW
File: R740
===
NAME: Wagoners, The: see Jacket So Blue, The (The Bonnet o' Blue) (File: FSC43)
===
NAME: Wagonner's Lad: see The Wagoner's Lad (File: R740)
===
NAME: Waillie, Waillie!: see Waly Waly (The Water is Wide) (File: K149)
===
NAME: Wait for the Wagon
DESCRIPTION: The singer invites Phyllis "to yon blue mountain free." He describes his cabin and the fine lands around it. Another suitor offers wealth, but he offers youth and health. He bids her to "Wait for the wagon (x3) And we'll all take a ride."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1851 (copyright registry; the relevant sheet music is dated 1850)
KEYWORDS: courting home money farming pioneer playparty
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 222-225, "Wait for the Wagon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 563, "Wait for the Wagon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 285-286, "Wait for the Wagon" ( text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 175, "Wait For The Wagon" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 609-610, "Wait for the Wagon"
DT, WAITWAGN* (WAITWAG2* -- Confederate Parody)
ST RJ19222 (Full)
Roud #2080
RECORDINGS:
Wenatchee Mountaineers, "Wait for the Wagon" (Melotone [Canada] 93041, 1934)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Brass-Mounted Army" (tune)
cf. "We're Coming, Arkansas (We're Coming, Idaho)" (tune)
cf. "The Southern Wagon (Union)" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Wait For the Dragon (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 229)
NOTES: Many authorities credit this piece to R. Bishop Buckley (1810-1867). Certainly there are editions which record that it was sung by Buckley's Minstrels starting in 1843. The earliest printing, however, (from 1850) gives the music as by "Wisenthal"; the words are by "a lady." The next printing, in 1851, gives the name of "G. P. Knauff" (at least, that is what it appears to say; several scholars consider Knauff the arranger). A few editions give only the letters "GAS."
It's worth noting that it was already popular enough in 1853 to be copied into the journal of the _Smyrna_.
Personally, I think we simply cannot list an author. Which is probably just as well; the sundry parodies (both sides in the Civil War, for instance, produced knock-offs) would likely have produced lawsuits otherwise. - RBW
File: RJ19222
===
NAME: Wait for the Wagon (II): see The Southern Wagon (Confederate) (File: Br3374)
===
NAME: Wait on the Lord
DESCRIPTION: "I wonder where Spencer gone, That used to preach up town. The church is all in mourning...." "I'm waitin' on de Lord...." "Some say John de Baptist Is nothing but a Jew." "A Baptist, Baptist is my name, And a Baptist I will die"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad floatingverses death
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 344, "Wait on de Lord" (1 text)
Roud #11740
NOTES: This is one of those all-floating-verse assemblies that can't really be identified with anything because it has so many different parts. - RBW
File: Br3344
===
NAME: Wait Till the Ship Comes Home
DESCRIPTION: "Jack went away to sea one day and left his Polly behind." An old man comes courting Polly. She refuses, saying "Wait till the ship comes home." At last word arrives that the ship is home and Jack safe. The old man dies and leaves Polly his money
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation courting age lastwill money death
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H481, pp. 484-485, "Wait till the Ship Comes Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9055
NOTES: Sort of an Irish version of the story of Penelope.... - RBW
File: HHH481
===
NAME: Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie
DESCRIPTION: A girl mourns her rained-out Sunday picnic. Her sweetheart comforts her: "Wait till the sun shines, Nellie, and the clouds go drifting by...." She had hoped to "show off her brand new gown"; suddenly the sun comes out; she says he has won her heart
AUTHOR: Words: Andrew B. Sterling / Music: Harry von Tilzer
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (copyright; others list a 1902 copyright)
KEYWORDS: courting clothes
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 215-216, "Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Geller-Famous, pp. 187-190, "Wait 'Till the Sun Shines, Nelly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 254, "Wait Till The Sun Shines, Nellie" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 610, "Wait 'till the Sun Shines, Nellie"
DT, SUNELLIE
RECORDINGS:
Charleston Entertainers, "Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie" (Supertone 9718, 1930)
Byron G. Harlan, "Wait 'Till the Sun Shines, Nellie" (Columbia 3321, 1906) (CYL: Edison 9130, 1905)
Riley Puckett, "Wait Till The Sun Shines Nellie" (Columbia 15073-D, 1926; rec. 1925.)
NOTES: And you thought the chorus was stupid! Aren't you sorry you ever looked up the plot? - RBW
File: SRW215
===
NAME: Waiting for a Train (I): see Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) [Laws H2] (File: LH02)
===
NAME: Waiting For a Train (II)
DESCRIPTION: Singer waits to hop a train. A brakeman tells him that if he has money "I'll see that you don't walk," then puts him off the train in Texas. "My pocketbook is empty/And my heart is filled with pain/I'm a thousand miles away from home/Waiting for a train"
AUTHOR: Jimmie Rodgers
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Jimmie Rodgers)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer, a hobo, is out in the rain waiting for a train to hop. A brakeman tells him that if he has money "I'll see that you don't walk." He has no money; the brakeman slams the boxcar door, then puts him off the train in Texas. "My pocketbook is empty/And my heart is filled with pain/I'm a thousand miles away from home/Waiting for a train"
KEYWORDS: loneliness poverty rejection rambling train travel hobo
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Gene Autry, "Waiting for a Train" (Diva 6031, c. 1930)
Riley Puckett, "Waiting for a Train" (Columbia 15408-D, 1929)
Bud Reed, "Waiting for a Train" (on Reeds1)
Hoke Rice, "Waiting for a Train" (Champion 15767/QRS 9012, 1929)
Jimmie Rodgers, "Waiting for a Train" (Victor V-40014, 1929)
Ed (Jake) West, "Waiting for a Train" (Broadway 8109, c. 1931)
Harry Wilson, "Waiting for the Train" (Perfect 12556, 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum)" (subject, a few lyrics)
SAME_TUNE:
Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me (recorded by Mississippi John Hurt)
NOTES: This composed song seems to be moving into oral tradition, both Anglo- and Afro-American (blues singer Furry Lewis used to perform it); Mississippi John Hurt used its melody for "Let the Mermaids Flirt With Me." - PJS
File: RcWFAT2
===
NAME: Waiting for the Day (The Worst Old Ship)
DESCRIPTION: Singer describes life on "the worst old brig that ever did weigh." Built in "Roman time," it's held together with twine and undermanned. They spring a leak and bail their way  to dock. Chorus: "Waiting for the day (x3) that we get our pay"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950s (recorded from Bob Roberts)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer describes life on "the worst old brig that ever did weigh." Built in "Roman time," it's held together with twine and seriously undermanned. They spring a leak off Orford Ness and bail their way along the coast and up the Humber to dock. Chorus: "Waiting for the day, waiting for the day/Waiting for the day that we get our pay"
KEYWORDS: sea ship work sailor worker
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #1855
RECORDINGS:
Bob Roberts, "Waiting for the Day (The Worst Old Ship)"  (on LastDays)
NOTES: Again, pity we don't have a keyword "bitching." - PJS
File: RcWftD
===
NAME: Waiting for the Rain: see Another Fall of Rain (Waiting for the Rain) (File: MA154)
===
NAME: Wake Nicodemus
DESCRIPTION: "Nicodemus, the slave, was of African birth And was bought for a bagful of gold." When he dies at a great age, he asks to be awakened when freedom came. He forecasts the end of slavery and the battles it causes. Freedom proves his words true
AUTHOR: Henry Clay Work
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: slave slavery freedom
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 291, "Wake Nicodemnus" (1 text)
DT, NICDEMUS
Roud #4988
File: FSWB291
===
NAME: Wake of William Orr, The
DESCRIPTION: "Here our murdered brother lies." He called for his countrymen to unite. The singer recalls 600 years of warfare, "Crumbled by a foreign weight; And by worse, domestic hate" "Monstrous and unhappy sight! Brothers' blood will not unite" A new day begins
AUTHOR: William Drennan (1754-1820) (source: Moylan; Hoagland)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1855 (Edward Hayes, _The Ballads of Ireland_ (Boston, 1859), Vol I)
KEYWORDS: death funeral Ireland nonballad political
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Oct 14, 1797 - William Orr executed after being charged with administering the United Irish oath to two soldiers of the Fifeshire Fencibles. (source: Moylan)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Moylan 48, "The Wake of William Orr" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol I, pp. 237-239, "Wake of William Orr"
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 359-361, "The Wake of William Orr" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Lagan Love" (tune)
NOTES: Hayes describes the trial, reprieve and execution. The reprieve followed statements by jurors that "whisky had been introduced into the jury room, and the verdict agreed to under the joint influence of drunkenness and intimidation." The crown witness, supposedly the person to whom the oath had been administered, then admitted that the evidence he had given was "false or distorted in essential particulars." After Orr was reprieved and awaiting commutation he was executed. "A storm of indignation followed this arbitrary and merciless decision." - BS
To give the other side, _The Oxford Companion to Irish History_ in its entry on Orr says that "The evidence against him was less flimsy than sympathizers claimed." In another irony, he was a Protestant (see Thomas Pakenham, _The Year of Liberty_, p. 354). But even Pakenham, who is almost entirely an apologist for the English, admits that Orr became a martyr (pp. 219-220).
William Drennan also wrote the poem we index as "Erin" (also known as "Eire"). - RBW
File: Moyl048
===
NAME: Wake Up: see The Drowsy Sleeper [Laws M4] (File: LM04)
===
NAME: Wake Up, Jacob
DESCRIPTION: "Wake up, Jacob, day's a-breakin', Peas in the pot and hoe-cake's caking'. Bacon's in the pan and coffee's in the pot, Come on round and get it while it's hot. (Spoken:) Wake, snakes, and bite a biscuit!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910
KEYWORDS: cowboy food nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 184, "Wake Up, Jacob" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, p. 375, "Cowboys' Gettin'-Up Holler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 109, "Wake Up, Jacob/Cowboy's Gettin' Up Holler" (1 text)
Roud #6694
RECORDINGS:
Harry Jackson, "Morning Grub Holler" (on HJackson1, CowFolkCD1)
Pete Seeger, "Wake Up, Jacob" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07a)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Shanty Boy's Reveille" (theme)
File: LoF184
===
NAME: Wake Up, Jonah (Jonah III)
DESCRIPTION: "Wake up, Jonah, you are the man! Reelin' and a-rockin' o' the ship so long!" "Captain of the ship got trouble in mind...."  The sailors throw Jonah into the sea; he is swallowed by a whale and proceeds to Ninevah
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (recording, Rich Amerson & Earthy Anne Coleman)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Captain of a rolling ship has troubles, searches for the cause, finds Jonah asleep and says, "Wake up Jonah, you are the man". They pitch him overboard; a whale swallows him, then pukes him onto dry land again. A gourd vine grows over his head; an inchworm comes and cuts it down, forming a cross over his head
KEYWORDS: religious Bible ship accusation travel religious animal whale sailor 
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 57-58, "(Wake Up, Jonah") (1 text); pp. 223-224, "Wake Up, Jonah" (1 tune, partial text)
Roud #10960
RECORDINGS:
 Rich Amerson & Earthy Anne Coleman, "Jonah" (on NFMAla2)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hide Away (Jonah and the Whale)" (subject) and references there
NOTES: This song summarizes the Book of Jonah, emphasizing the events of the first chapter: Jonah flees from God aboard ship; the ship is caught in a storm; the sailors cast lots to see who is to blame; the lot falls on Jonah, who is sleeping through the storm. - RBW
This song omits much of the Bible story and adds its own bits. Note that it says "whale"; the Hebrew Bible unambiguously says "fish." - PJS, RBW
File: CNFM223
===
NAME: Wake, O Wake, You Drowsy Sleeper: see The Drowsy Sleeper [Laws M4] (File: LM04)
===
NAME: Wakes in the Morning
DESCRIPTION: "Mommy wakes in the morning, Mommy wakes in the pukkah, Hee-ho, coffee cannot please her." Similarly, "Johnny wakes in the morning," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (recorded from Edith Perrin)
KEYWORDS: nonballad mother food
FOUND_IN: West Indies
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #16396
RECORDINGS:
Edith Perrin, "Wakes in the Morning" [excerpt?] (on USWarnerColl01)
File: RcWitMo
===
NAME: Wakken: see The Song of Joaquin (Wakken) (File: GC135)
===
NAME: Wal I Swan (Giddyap Napoleon, Ebenezer Frye)
DESCRIPTION: Singer's adventures as he wanters and meets various crooks. He takes a prize at a fair, gets drunk, gives away his bull. A sharper asks him for "two tens for a five." Etc. Chorus: "Wal I swan, must be getting on/Giddyap Napoleon, it looks like rain..."
AUTHOR: Benj. Hapgood Burt
EARLIEST_DATE: 1907 (sheet music)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer meets two bunco men on a train, sends them packing. He goes to a county fair, takes a prize, gets drunk and gives away his old bull. At a tent show, a sharper asks him for "two tens for a five"; the singer arrests him. His horse runs off at the sound of a train. He has suspicions that his son, off in Philadelphia, is "up to some kind of hell." Chorus: "Wal I swan, must be getting on/Giddyap Napoleon, it looks like rain..."
KEYWORDS: crime theft farming drink humorous animal police
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, WALISWAN
Roud #4647
RECORDINGS:
John Bennett, "Wal I Swan" (Madison 1928, 1928)
Al Bernard, "Wal I Swan" (Vocalion 15262, 1926) (Harmony 154-H, 1926)
Byron G. Harlan, "Wal, I Swan!" (Victor 17263, 1913; rec. 1912)
Riley Puckett, "Wal I Swan" (Columbia 15078-D, 1926)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Giddap Napoleon" (Columbia 15695-D, 1931; rec. 1929)
NOTES: Spaeth (Read 'Em and Weep, p. 234) does not print this song, but does mention that it is "in constant demand both as a solo and as a rural quartet number. The interpretation is traditionally in a high-pitched, nasal voice, with a facial expression indicating toothlessness." - RBW
File: RcWelIS
===
NAME: Walk Along John
DESCRIPTION: Weasel invades the henhouse, rats invade the dairy, Black Sam invades the kitchen, etc. Chorus: "Walk along, John, piper's son, Now ain't you mighty glad your day's work's done. Walk along, John, git towards home, Ain't you mighty glad...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: animal work nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 296, "Walk Along John" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7824
File: R296
===
NAME: Walk Along Rosey: see Walkalong, My Rosie (File: Hug363)
===
NAME: Walk in Jerusalem Just Like John
DESCRIPTION: "I want to be ready (x3) To walk in Jerusalem just like John." "John said the city was just foursquare... And he declared we'd meet him there." "When Peter was preaching at Pentecost, He was endowed with the Holy Ghost"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (recording, Excelsior Quartet)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 11, (no title) (1 fragment)
Silber-FSWB, p. 356, "Walk In Jerusalem, Just Like John" (1 text)
DT, WALKJERU
Roud #12109
RECORDINGS:
Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys, "Walking In Jerusalem Just Like John" (Decca 28608, 1953)
Excelsior Quartet, "Walk In Jerusalem Just Like John" (OKeh 4619, 1922)
Homer Rodeheaver, "Walk In Jerusalem Just Like John" (Rainbow 1092, 1923)
Sunset Four Jubilee Quartette, "Walk In Jerusalem Just Like John" (Paramount 12292, 1925)
West Virginia Collegiate Institute Glee Club, "Walk in Jerusalem Just Like John" (Brunswick 3498, 1927; Supertone S-2126 [as Harmony Glee Club], 1930)
NOTES: The Biblical references here are a bit confused. The New Jerusalem is said to be descending in Rev. 21:2, and is said to be foursquare in Rev. 21:16 -- but there is no promise to meet John there. The coming of the Spirit at Pentecost is told in Acts 2 -- but the Spirit came FIRST, upon a large group, and only then did Peter preach about it. - RBW
File: FSWB356A
===
NAME: Walk in the Parlor: see Walkin' in the Parlor (File: Wa177)
===
NAME: Walk Me Along, Johnny: see Carry Him To the Burying Ground (General Taylor, Walk Him Along Johnny) (File: Hugi078)
===
NAME: Walkalong, Miss Susiana Brown
DESCRIPTION: Halyard shanty. No story line to any of the available verses. The characteristic last chorus line is "Walkalong Miss (Susiana/Juliana) Brown."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Colcord)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong
FOUND_IN: US(SE) West Indies
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Colcord, p. 59, "Juley" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 391-392, "Walkalong, Miss Susiana Brown" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 299-300]
DT, JULEY*
Roud #4694
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Miss Juliana Brown
NOTES: The swing of the tune would indicate this is of West Indies/Negro origin. It probably began life as a Negro worksong used for stowing cotton, and was picked up by ship's crews to become part of the shanty repertoire. - SL
File: Hugi391
===
NAME: Walkalong, My Rosie
DESCRIPTION: Halyard shanty. "Oh, Rosie, she'm the gal for me. Away you Rosie, Walkalong! She hangs around the big levee. Walkalong my Rosie!" Rhyming verses, no story line.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong nonballad
FOUND_IN: West Indies Britain
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, p. 363, "Walkalong, My Rosie" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 273-274]
Roud #9130
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Walk Along Rosey
File: Hug363
===
NAME: Walker Hill and Byker Shore: see Byker Hill (File: DTbykerh)
===
NAME: Walker Shore and Byker Hill: see Byker Hill (File: DTbykerh)
===
NAME: Walkie in the Parlor: see Walkin' in the Parlor (File: Wa177)
===
NAME: Walkin' in the Parlor
DESCRIPTION: "I never went to free school nor any other college, But... I will tell you how the world was made in the twinkling of a crack. Walk in, walk in, walk in I say, go in the parlor and hear the banjo ring." Sundry observations about the creation and the Bible
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible humorous
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
Warner 177, "Walking in the Parlor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 288, "History of the World" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 246-248, "History of the World" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 288)
BrownIII 341, "Walk in the Parlor" (4 texts plus 1 excerpt and 1 fragment; the "E" text seems more a floating verse collection with this chorus, and "C" lacks the chorus and is at best marginally related)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 181-182, "Story of Creation" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 203-205, "The Darky Sunday School" (1 text, t tune)
Hugill, p. 344, "De History ob de World" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 351-354, "Darky Sunday School" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 178, "Creation Song" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 186-189, "Young Folks, Old Folks (or The Silly Sunday School)" (1 text, tune referenced)
DT, SUNSCHOL
Roud #766
RECORDINGS:
Charlie Oaks, "Adam and Eve or 'Darkie's Sunday School'" (Vocalion 5113, c. 1927; rec. 1925)
Obed Pickard, "Walking in the Parlor" (Columbia 15246-D, 1928; rec. 1927)
Kilby Reeves, "Walkin in the Parlor" (on Persis1)
Art Thieme, "Walkie in the Parlor" (on Thieme02) (on Thieme06)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bible Story"
cf. "Windy Bill (I)" (theme)
cf. "Old Jesse" (lyrics)
cf. "Root, Hog, or Die (V)" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Sunday School Song
Walkie in the Parlor
NOTES: Not to be confused with a fiddle tune of the same name. - PJS
The chorus of this song varies quite a bit; the Lomax version is "Young folks, old folks, everybody come, Join our darky Sunday School, and make yourself to hum. There's a place to check your chewing gum and razors at the door, And hear such bible stories as you never heard before." The Pankakes have something similar, but less racist. (Their version is also incredibly full -- 21 verses! If they didn't conflate it, someone else did.)
It is quite likely that these versions originated as separate songs, and I thought about splitting them. But the only distinguishing feature is the choruses. Under the circumstances, it seemed better to place all listings in the same place.
I initially excluded Randolph's "History of the World," partly by accident, as just too distinct from the versions I had seen. It's now clear that it's the same song.
Those who wish to know more are referred to Cox's extensive notes on songs of this type. - RBW
Among the sundry references in this song:
"Jonah... took a steerage passage in a transatlantic whale": The Bible says "fish," and the fish never left the Mediterranean, and Jonah wasn't planning on entering the Atlantic either.
"Esau... sold [his farm] to his brother for a sandwich and a beer": In Gen. 25:29-34, Esau came back hungry from hunting, and sold his birthright (probably pasturage, not a farm) to his younger fraternal twin Jacob for "bread and lentil stew."
"Noah was a mariner... with half a dozen wives and a big menagerie": Although many of the patriarchs had multiple wives, Noah himself seems to have had only one (cf. Gen. 7:7).
"Elijah was a prophet who attended county fairs, He advertised his business with a pair of dancing bears": hardly worth refuting, but it is worth noting that Elijah was a solitary prophet at a time when most prophets came in groups ("the sons of the prophets"). He spent much of his time trying to be left alone, not advertising his services (cf., e.g., 1 Kings 19:3-4, 2 Kings 1:9fff.)
"Ahab had a wife, and her name was Jezebel... She's gone to the dogs... Ahab said he'd never heard of such an awful thing": Jezebel was indeed Ahab's wife, and was eaten by dogs (2 Kings 9:30-37) -- but Ahab had been dead for a dozen years by the time she was killed.
"Salome was a chorus girl who had a winning way": This is textually complicated. All accounts say that a girl captivated Herod Antipas by dancing for him, and that he executed John the Baptist as a result. Matt. 14:6 says that the girl was "the daughter of Herodias"; the best manuscripts of Mark 6:22 call her his [Herod's] daughter Herodias. But nowhere is she called "Salome"; we learn this name from Josephus.
"Now Joey was unhappy in the bowels of the soil": Refers to the selling of Joseph into Egypt (Genesis 37). Joseph, however, was not a farmer but a herdsman, and there is no evidence he was unhappy; he spent his time dreaming about ruling over his brothers.
"Samson was a husky guy from the P.T. Barnum show": While Samson probably belonged in a circus (it's hard to imagine someone so thoroughly inept; had he not been a strong man, he would have been a joke), the Bible tells his story "straight" (Judges 13-16).
"Meshach, Shadrach, and Abednego": The Hebrews in the Fiery Furnace (Daniel 3).
"Methuselah was crabby 'cause he couldn't save a joke": Methuselah lived longer than any other figure in the Bible (the Hebrew of Gen. 5:25-27 lists him as living to the age of 969), but gives no indication of his character or the length of his whiskers.
"Pharaoh kept the Israelites to make his cigarettes": This is almost accurate, in that the Israelites did, in effect, go on strike in Exodus. However, tobacco was not known in Egypt at the time (it grows only in the New World); the Israelites "struck" for the right to worship in their own way, plus better living conditions.
"David was a fighter, a plucky little cuss": 1 Samuel 17.
"Daniel was a naughty man, he wouldn't mind the King" -- Formally, Daniel defied the king, but it was actually the King's counselors who came up with the law Daniel defied (Daniel 6). - RBW
File: Wa177
===
NAME: Walking Boss
DESCRIPTION: "Walking boss (x2), I don't belong to you. I belong (x2) to that steel driving crew." "Work one day, just one day, just one day, Then go lay in the shanty two." Etc. Verses loosely descriptive of life on a railroad crew.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (collected by Newman Ivey White)
KEYWORDS: railroading work nonballad worksong boss
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 96, "Walking Boss" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7693
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley, "Walking Boss" (on Ashley03, WatsonAshley01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Take This Hammer" (lyrics)
NOTES: A "walking boss" was a foreman who gave orders to workers' immediate supervisors, rather than to the workers themselves.
Source: Clarence "Tom" Ashley recalled this song being sung by railroad workers, probably in the 1920s. - PJS
File: CSW096
===
NAME: Walking Down Canal Street
DESCRIPTION: This formula song chronicles the difficulties the narrator encounters in attempting to (find and) have sex with a whore.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy sex whore
FOUND_IN: US(MW,Ro,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cray, pp. 213-214, "Walking Down Canal Street" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 560-563, "Walking Down Canal Street" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rosemary Lane" ("Bell-bottomed Trousers" tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
This Mornin'
File: EM214
===
NAME: Walking John
DESCRIPTION: "Walking John was a big rope horse" who "was willing and stout and strong," but "he sure enjoyed his joke." Every morning he tried to throw his first rider -- but then settled down to be a hard worker
AUTHOR: Henry Herbert Knibbs
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Knibbs, Songs of the Last Frontier)
KEYWORDS: animal cowboy
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Larkin, pp. 79-82, "Walking John" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 24, "Walking John" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5766
NOTES: Larkin notes, "The poems of Henry Herbert Knibbs have been plagiarized and adapted so often that he is entitled to be named the poet laureate of hte cowboys." She adds that this sog is "the biography of a real horse."
It would appear that the song was in oral tradition before Knibbs published it; since Larkin published her book in 1931 and it had passed through at least two stages of tradition by the time she collected it. - RBW
File: Ohr024
===
NAME: Walking on the Green Grass
DESCRIPTION: "Walking on the green grass, Walking side by side, Walking with a pretty girl, She shall be my bride." Boys and girls pair off and dance; the "king" chooses a "queen"; they go around the ring
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1903
KEYWORDS: playparty courting dancing nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 807-809, "Walking on the Green Grass" (1 text plus a possibly related fragment, 1 tune)
ST BAF807 (Full)
Roud #1381
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Green Grass" (lyrics)
NOTES: Roud lumps this with "Green Grass," apparently on the basis that they're both playparties about green grass. They look distinct to me. - RBW
File: BAF807
===
NAME: Walky-Talky Jenny
DESCRIPTION: Minstrel recitation with chorus: "O, walky-talky Jenny an' a hubble for your trouble...." Incidents include a fight with a racist, an argument with a woman he has rescued from a fire, and an incident with his baby and a dog
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: recitation nonballad Black(s)
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, pp. 48-49, "Walky-Talky Jenny" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: San048
===
NAME: Wallabug
DESCRIPTION: Sundry silliness: "Bought an old cow from Farmer Jones, She weren't nothing but skin and bones. Fattened her up as fine as silk; She jumped the fence and skimmed her milk. Wallabug, wallabug, you can't fool me...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: nonsense animal nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Warner 164, "Wallabug" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WALLABUG*
ST Wa164 (Full)
Roud #7483
File: Wa164
===
NAME: Wallaby Brigade, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer boasts of the life of the swagman. He gives advice for finding (or not finding) work, and surviving the travelling life. "When the shearing's at an end we'll go fishing in the bend, Then hurrah for the Wallaby Brigade." 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: work sheep Australia rambling
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 186-187, "The Wallaby Brigade" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE186
===
NAME: Wallaby Track, The
DESCRIPTION: "Roll up your bundle and make a neat swag, Collar onto your billycan and the old tuckerbag. It's no disgrace to be seen with your swag on your back, While searching for work on the wallaby track."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: Australia work rambling
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, p. 186, "The Wallaby Track" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Not to be confused with "The Springtime It Brings on the Shearing (On the Wallaby Track)" - RBW
File: MA186
===
NAME: Wallflowers
DESCRIPTION: Playparty. "Wallflowers, wallflowers, growing up so high, All of you young ladies Are meant to die." One girl is excepted, because of her great skill at (something).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1898 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: playparty death nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(England(All),Scotland(All)) US(Ap,NE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
SHenry H48d, p. 11, "Water, Water, Wallflowers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 54-56, "Water, Water, Wild Flower" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, p. 174, "Lily-White Flower" (1 text)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 72, "(Water, water, wall-flower, growing up so high)" (1 short text)
ST HHH048d (Full)
Roud #6307
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Row Boat (Ride About)" (form, floating lyrics)
File: HHH048d
===
NAME: Walnut Girl, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a pretty walnut vendor. He tells her he's sick of single life, and "O won't we be happy until wedlock breaks us here?" Chorus: "Ten-a-penny walnuts, my Nellie she were by/Fresh from Common Garden, please to come and try...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1974 (collected from Nelson Ridley)
KEYWORDS: courting love marriage beauty commerce work food worker
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MacSeegTrav 35, "The Walnut Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2520
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Molly Malone" (subject)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Little Walnut Gel
NOTES: According to MacColl & Seeger, "When John Lydgate (1370?-1450?) wrote 'The London Lykpeny,' he started a fashion for poems and songs about London's street-vendors and their cries which was to last for more than four hundred years...lavender, oysters, water-cresses, pretty flowers, codlings, cockles and mussels, and even cat-meat." Haven't heard that last one.- PJS
Of course, many of these songs are on rather less pleasant topics. Consider "The Oyster Girl" or "Queer Bungo Rye."
I think the claim a little strong anyway; while Lydgate was a prolific author, just try to find anything he wrote! He's usually lumped with the "other poets" of the Chaucerian era. His may well be just another example of an author taking advantage of a popular street form. - RBW
File: McCST035
===
NAME: Walsingham
DESCRIPTION: Coming from "the holy land Of Blessed Walsingham," the singer asks (a jolly palmer) about the singer's love. The (palmer) asks questions and is told that she has left him, but his love endures
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1765 (Percy folio; tune dates at least to 1596)
KEYWORDS: love separation travel
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Percy/Wheatley II, pp. 101-105, "As Ye Came From the Holy Land" (2 text, one from the Percy folio and the other the touched-up version in the _Reliques_)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 69-71, "Walsingham" (1 tune, partial text)
ADDITIONAL:  Norman Ault, _Elizabethan Lyrics From the Original Texts_, pp. 282-284, "As You Came From the Holy Land" (1 text)
BBI, ZN284, "As I went to Walsingham"
ST Perc2101 (Partial)
NOTES: Ault tentatively credits this to Raleigh, and dates the manuscript containing it (Bodley MS. Rawl. Poet. 85) "before 1600." Of course, Ault also claims that this is "How Should I Your True Love Know." Which it isn't, though it has similar lines; I wouldn't be surprised if this inspired that.
The tune too is different (at least from the version of "How Should I" that I've heard), though again there are some similarities, probably caused more by the metrical form than anything else.
Several references mention the great popularity of this song, and it is quoted in John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont's 1611 play "The Knight of the Burning Pestle," Act II, scene vii:
As you came from Walsingham,
From that holy land,
There met you not with my true love
By the way as you came?
There seem to be two openings to the piece, the one above (found also in the Percy folio) and that quoted by Chappell:
As I went to Walsingham,
To the shrine with speed,
Met I with a jolly palmer,
In a pilgrim's weed.
Something similar is quoted in the Pepys collection. I have not seen a full text of the latter, and it is possible that they are distinct, but I cannot prove it. The piece does not seem to survive in oral tradition, but there are enough references to it that I thought it proper to include it here. It also seems to have given rise to yet another song,
King Richard's gone to Walsingham,
To the Holy Land,
To kill the Turk and Saracen, the the truth do withstand....
The notes to Chappell and Percy (on "Gentle Herdman, Tell to Me") note that Walsingham was a pilgrimage site at least from the time of Henry III, but was closed down in 1538 when Henry VIII dissolved the monasteries.
This piece has been very popular in poetry anthologies; _Granger's Index to Poetry_ lists some two dozen printings, noting that some attribute the piece to Sir Walter Raleigh. This, from what I can tell, is highly unlikely. - RBW
File: Perc2101
===
NAME: Walter Lesly [Child 296]
DESCRIPTION: Walter Lesly invites the girl to drink. He then makes off with her; he intends to marry her (for her money). But he falls asleep before she does, and she escapes. She outruns his men and makes her way home.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
KEYWORDS: courting abduction escape money
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Child 296, "Walter Lesly" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 680-682, "Walter Lesly" (1 text)
Roud #3925
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Eppie Morrie" [Child 223] (plot)
NOTES: There was a Walter Leslie who married the heiress of the Earldom of Ross in the reign of David II of Scotland; he was involved in many political quarrels in the reign of the next king, Robert II, and died in 1382. Another Walter Lesley was a crusader in this period. There is no reason to connect either with the villain of this piece except similarity of names (and, of course, the fact that there was a lot of this sort of thing in the anarchic Scotland of Robert II). - RBW
File: C296
===
NAME: Walter Mullin
DESCRIPTION: Walter Mullin "changed his home in Whitneyville For a Canadian soldier's grave ... in the European War" The singer recalls the youth they shared. "Now you are wanted at the Front, But you will not take your stand. O why can't you be like my comrade"
AUTHOR: Wallace Travis (Manny/Wilson)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS:  request army war death memorial patriotic
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Manny/Wilson 44, "Walter Mullin" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MaWi044 (Partial)
Roud #9184
NOTES: Whitneyville, now Whitney, is near the junction of the Little Southwest and Northwest Miramichi Rivers, about 10 miles west of Newcastle, New Brunswick.
Manny/Wilson: "The song was made up by Wallace Travis of the Nor'West Miramichi, in memory of a friend killed in the First World War."
Since the song is a plea for others to enlist to fight in a war my guess is that this was written during the second World War. - BS
On the other hand, there is no hint of a second War -- or even of the end of the first. I incline to think it comes from the early part of the first War.
This is apparently based on "The Graves of a Household" by one Mrs. Henmans, found in the "Royal Readers" used in the nineteenth century in New Brunswick schools. More evidence for an early date, I'd say; I don't know about you, but I can't remember *anything* from my grade school readers.... - RBW
File: MaWi044
===
NAME: Waltz the Hall
DESCRIPTION: "First couple out, couple on the right, Charge them pards an' waltz 'em out of sight." "When you're through remember my call, Charge 'em again an' waltz the hall." "Skip to my Lou, boys, skip to my Lou... When you're through remember my call...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: playparty nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 517, "Waltz the Hall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7649 and 7927
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Skip to My Lou" (lyrics)
NOTES: Randolph notes that this is derived from "Skip to my Lou," but since it has new lyrics and its own dance elements, it deserves separate listing. - RBW
File: R517
===
NAME: Waltzing Matilda
DESCRIPTION: A swagman (rover) camps by a pool. He sees a sheep come down to drink, and grabs it. He is spotted by (three troopers/the landowner), who call on him to justify his actions. Rather than face up to his crime, the swagman drowns himself in the pool
AUTHOR: words widely attributed to "Banjo" Paterson
EARLIEST_DATE: 1903
KEYWORDS: sheep suicide robbery ghost rambling
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 73-74, 95, "Waltzing Matilda" (2 texts, 1 tune, the latter being a fragment of a bawdy version)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 234-235, "The Blackboy's Waltzing Matilda" (1 text, 1 tune -- a pidgin English semi-parody)
PBB 119, "Waltzing Matilda' (1 text)
SHenry H566, pp. 122-123, "Waltzing Matilda" (1 text, 1 tune -- but collected from Australian children rather than Ulster natives)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 160-163, "Waltzing Matilda" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Silber-FSWB, p. 339, "Waltzing Matilda" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 619-620, "Waltzing Matilda"
DT, WALTZMAT*
Roud #9536
RECORDINGS:
John Greenway, "Waltzing Matilda" (on JGreenway01)
A. L. Lloyd, "Waltzing Matilda" (on Lloyd4, Lloyd10)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bold Fusilier" (form)
NOTES: Virtually every aspect of this song -- its historical basis, its words, its tune(s) - has been the subject of disputation, athough there is now consensus among scholars on the following basic facts:
1. While visiting Dagworth station (a pastoral holding in outback Queensland) in 1895, the poet A.B. (Banjo) Paterson heard a tune hummed and played on the autoharp by Miss Christina McPherson, sister of station manager Robert McPherson.
2. Miss McPherson indicated she had heard the tune some time previously at a race meeting in Warrnambool in Victoria, played by a local band. She understood the tune was called "The Bonnie Wood of Craigielea." (A ballad of this name by Robert Tannahill of Scotland was set to music by Robert Barr in the early 1800s and, according to Magoffin, a march arrangement by Gordon Parker was performed at the Warnambool races on 24 April 1894.) At Dagworth Miss McPherson rendered the tune from memory.
3. While at Dagworth Paterson wrote words to fit Miss McPherson's tune. The words he wrote were those of the poem/song "Waltzing Matilda."
4. Paterson's setting of McPherson's tune was quickly picked up and sung around the district, including at the Winton races on 24 and 25 May 1895.
5. At these races Christina McPherson wrote out and gave to family friends the Barlams the song's words and music. (This manuscript only came to light in 1971. Its authenticity has since been verified by, for example, by the National Library of Australia, which included it in its recent major exhibition of treasures from the world's libraries.)
6. Following the Winton race meeting the song travelled further afield, entering oral tradition. In the process the song's words (and possibly also its tune) evolved through the "folk process." The major change was that Paterson's wimpish "drowning himself by the Coolibah tree" in the last verse gave way to the more defiant "'You'll never catch me alive!' said he."
7. The song first appeared on sheet music in 1903, published in Sydney by James Inglis & Co. While the lyrics were attributed to Paterson they were in fact the "folk processed' words (possibly with additional textual changes introduced by the publisher); the music was cited as being "arranged' by Marie Cowan. Cowan was the spouse of Mr. W. Cowan, James Inglis & Co.'s Manager. (Cowan's version has similarities with, but is distinct from, the tune in the McPherson manuscript. The extent to which the Cowan version reflects the tune as it evolved through oral transmission, and the extent to which it incorporates changes introduced by Mrs. Cowan, is not known. While Mr. Cowan later claimed the sheet music tune was entirely his wife's composition, its similarities with that in the 1895 McPherson manuscript suggests "arrangement' was indeed the more appropriate term.) The sheet music version became the standard rendering of the song.
8. Paterson gave his approval to the 1903 sheet music text and music. Fourteen years later he included his original text as a poem in his book _Saltbush Bill J.P. and Other Verses_.
9. An entirely different tune, set to Paterson's original 1895 lyric, was obtained in the early 1950s by John Manifold from John O'Neill, who later indicated he had heard his father singing it around 1912. This is known as the Queensland, or sometimes the "Buderim," version.
There have been suggestions the song predates 1895, and so was, at best, modified by Paterson. Certainly, it is possible that Paterson, either consciously or unconsciously, drew upon an earlier song in writing his text. Claims however that the song itself predates Paterson rely upon second-hand accounts of persons who claim to remember hearing it prior to 1895. No documentary evidence to support this proposition has come to light, and these days the claim is given little credence.
In 1941 the suggestion was raised via the Sydney Bulletin that the tune and word structure of Waltzing Matilda is based upon a song "The Bold Fusilier' which, on account of its reference to the Duke of Marlborough, was assumed to date from the early 1700s. Several correspondents attested to the song's existence. One claimed to have heard it as a child in England, another to have heard it in Australia from his grandfather. The tune was said to be recognisable as that used for Waltzing Matilda, and while only one verse and a chorus of the text were remembered in either case, a strong structural resemblence to that song was apparent. Unfortunately, extensive efforts by scholars to trace the song have thus far been fruitless, and no full text, musical notation or other documentary evidence of its existence prior to 1895 has come to light.
The "Bold Fusilier' vs "Craigilea' debate impacts hardly at all on Paterson's claim to authorship. Should further research establish the existence of the Bold Fusilier prior to 1895, then obviously it is a possibility that Paterson knew of it and drew upon its word structure in writing Waltzing Matilda. A number of Australian bush songs are parodies, and so such a circumstance would be unremarkable. Regarding the Bold Fusilier tune we can say little, for at present the only version of it we have dates from the 1940s, some four decades after the publication of the Cowan tune for Waltzing Matilda. In that time all manner of opportunity existed for failures or tricks of memory to occur.
For these various reasons, the consensus in Australia is clear: Paterson wrote the words in 1895 to a tune played from memory by Christina McPherson, and subsequently both text and tune evolved in oral transmission. Further changes may have been introduced consciously at the time the song was published as sheet music in 1903. - MK
The above was written in response to my original rather caustic comments about the authorship of "Waltzing Matilda." I must admit that I still have misgivings.
First, I think it likely that "The Bold Fusilier" is an authentic folk song, and most unlikely that it was composed after "Waltzing Matilda." Nor do I regard it as believable that this form would have been evolved independently by Paterson. Of course, it, or something like it, could have been the "Craiglie" tune Paterson heard. This does not affect Paterson's authorship of "Waltzing Matilda" in any way, of course. But I think dependence a practical certainty.
It strikes me as curious that Paterson wrote this piece for music, but his other poetry is just that: Poetry, and rarely in a style suitable for folk song.
John Meredith met informants who claimed *their* sources (fathers) knew the song before Paterson's composition. None of these claims can be verified, and all are secondhand -- but of course written records of Australian folk songs before 1895 are quite rare.
There are scholars, such as John Greenway, who clearly did not believe in Paterson's authorship. Even John Meredith had his doubts. Most of these stated their opinions before the McPherson manuscript was discovered. But the manuscript, while it strengthened the arguments on the pro-Paterson side, did not weaken those on the anti- side.
Thus, despite Keith McKenry's well-researched statements above, I still consider the matter open.
Another possibility, which I have not seen mentioned, is that Paterson included some fragments of an existing song into a largely new composition based on a local event. This would explain the informants who thought they knew the song before 1895 -- but there is no evidence whatsoever for it. - RBW
File: PBB119
===
NAME: Waly Waly (The Water is Wide)
DESCRIPTION: The singer laments the effects of unrequited love and an untrue lover. Typical symbols include the rotten-hearted oak that looks solid but breaks and the beautiful flower protected by thorns. In some versions the lover is untrue; sometimes (s)he is dead
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1765 (Percy)
KEYWORDS: love rejection lyric nonballad lament lover death
FOUND_IN: Britain(England,Scotland) Ireland US(Ap,NE,SE) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (18 citations)
Bronson (204), 8 versions (including "Jamie Douglas")
Percy/Wheatley III, pp. 145-148, "Waly Waly, Love Be Bonny" (1 text)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 469-474, "Jamie Douglas" (notes and scattered stanzas; the only full text is in fact this piece)
Kennedy 149, "Deep in Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logan, pp. 336-337, "Picking Lilies" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 475-476, "Love is Lovely" (1 text, 1 tune, strongly composite, starting with a verse perhaps from "Peggy Gordon," then the chorus of "Waly Waly (The Water Is Wide)," two more which might be anything, and a conclusion from "Carrickfergus")
Leach, pp. 546-551, "Jamie Douglas" (3 texts, with only the third text belonging with this piece)
Friedman, p. 101, "Jamie Douglas" (2 texts, with only the second text belonging with this piece)
Sharp-100E 39, "O Waly Waly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 16-17, "Waillie, Waillie!" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #8}
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 218-219, "Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 143, "O Waly, Waly" (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 70, "Love is Pleasin'" (1 text, 1 tune, of four verses, two of which go here, one belongs with "Fair and Tender Ladies," and the fourth could be from several sources; the whole could be a "Love is Teasing" variant)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 323-324, "O Waly, Waly" (1 text)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 77, "The Water Is Wide" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H683, p. 393, "The Apron of Flowers" (1 text, 1 tune --  apparently a collection of floating verses including one that goes here)
Silber-FSWB, p. 145, "Waillie"; p. 163, "The Water Is Wide" (2 texts)
DT (204), WALYWALY WALYWAL2* WALYWAL3* CCKLSHLL* WATRWIDE*
Roud #87
RECORDINGS:
Liam Clancy, "The Water is Wide" (on IRLClancy01)
Mobile Strugglers, "Trouble, Trouble's Followed Me All My Days" (on AmSkBa, classified there for want of a better place; it's really a collection of floaters, and could as easily go with "I Wish, I Wish/Love Is Teasing." It shares the verse "If I had wings like Noah's dove" with "Dink's Song," but not its distinctive chorus. - PJS)
Pete Seeger, "The Water is Wide" (on PeteSeeger18) (on PeteSeeger34) (on PeteSeeger47)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Jamie Douglas" [Child 204] (lyrics)
cf. "Love Is Teasing"
cf. "Careless Love"
cf. "Died for Love"
cf. "The Butcher Boy" [Laws P24] (floating lyrics)
cf. "Dink's Song" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Oh, Johnny, Johnny" (floating lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
A Ship Came Sailing
When Cockle Shells Turn Silver Bells
NOTES: Some scholars consider this a degraded form of "Jamie Douglas" [Child 204], with which it shares several lyrics. It can hardly be denied that they are related. Since, however, "Waly Waly" has worn away to a purely lyric piece (and some even believe it to be the older of the two songs, which has provided a few chance lyrics to "Jamie Douglas"), it is my firm opinion that the two should be kept separate.
Paul Stamler considers at least some of the versions of "I Wish, I Wish/Love is Teasing" to belong here. To me, they look more like versions of "The Butcher Boy." Still, it shows you how lyric this piece has become.
Under the title "Forsaken," this is one of the handful of traditional songs in Palgrave's _Golden Treasury_ (item CXXXIII)- RBW
File: K149
===
NAME: Waly Waly, Love Be Bonny: see Waly Waly (The Water is Wide) (File: K149)
===
NAME: Wanderer, The: see A Distant Land to Roam (File: FORA201)
===
NAME: Wanderer's Warning, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer quarrels with his father and prepares to leave home. His mother begs him not to; her heart will be broken. He leaves anyway. Now he is in a boxcar while his mother longs for the boy who will never return. He cautions others not to imitate him
AUTHOR: Carson Robison - Frank Luther
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Frank Luther)
KEYWORDS: grief homesickness loneliness warning farewell home parting rambling train travel father mother hobo
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Ken Houchins, "Wanderer's Warning" (Champion 16553, 1933)
Frank Luther, "The Wanderer's Warning" (Banner 6464/Jewel 5667/Conqueror 7396, 1929)
File: RcWanWar
===
NAME: Wanderin'
DESCRIPTION: "My daddy is an engineer, My brother drives a hack, My sister takes in washin' An' the baby balls the jack, An' it looks like I'm never gonna cease my wanderin'." Tales of work and poverty, held together by the refrain "never gonna cease my wanderin'."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: work hardtimes rambling nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Sandburg, pp. 188-189, "Wanderin'" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Scott-BoA, pp. 335-336, "Wandering" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 218, "Wand'rin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, p. 281, "Wandering" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 59, "Wandering" (1 text)
BrownIII 507, "I Got de Hezotation Stockings and de Hezotation Shoes" (1 short text, with a verse and chorus from "Hesitation Blues" and a verse from "Wanderin'")
DT, WANDERIN*
Roud #4399
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "Wanderin'" (Columbia 1585-D, 1928)
NOTES: The total irrelevance of plot to this song is shown by the fact that Scott's version (which is mostly about the traveler's rambles, except for the line "If the Republicans don't get you, the Democrats must") shares only three lines, apart from the refrain, with the DT version. - RBW
File: San188
===
NAME: Wandering Boy, The
DESCRIPTION: "Out in this cold world and far away from home, Somebody's boy is wandering alone...." The mother begs, "Bring me back my wandering boy, He's all that's left to give me joy." She tells how his place still waits for him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (unissued recording, Kentucky Thorobreds) earliest publication 1928 (recording, Emry Arthur)
KEYWORDS: rambling mother children separation
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 845, "The Wandering Boy" (1 text)
Fuson, p. 149, "The Wandering Boy" (1 short text)
ST R845 (Partial)
Roud #4227
RECORDINGS:
Emry Arthur, "Bring Back to Me My Wandering Boy" (Vocalion 5244, 1928)
Blue Sky Boys, "Brink Back My Wandering Boy" (Bluebird B-8128, 1939)
W. C. Childers, "Bring Back My Wandering Boy" (Champion 16052, 1930)
Kentucky Thorobreds, "Bring Back My Wandering Boy" (Paramount, unissued, rec. 1927)
NOTES: This should not be confused with "Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight," which is a different song. - PJS
File: R845
===
NAME: Wandering Cowboy (I), The [Laws B7]
DESCRIPTION: A cowboy sadly tells the tale of why he left home: He had killed a childhood friend in a quarrel over a girl: "So that's the reason why  I am compelled to roam. A sinner of the darkest strain, Far far away from home"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928
KEYWORDS: death fight cowboy rambling love friend murder burial
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So,SW) Canada
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Laws B7, "The Wandering Cowboy"
Randolph 190, "The Wandering Cowboy" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownII 265, "A Jolly Group of Cowboys" (1 text)
Larkin, pp. 144-146, "Wandering Cowboy" (1 text, 1 tune)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 157-159, "The Wandering Cowboy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 89, "Cowboy's Home Sweet Home" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 66, "Franklin Slaughter Ranch" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 798, WANDCOWB
Roud #633
RECORDINGS:
Edward L. Crain, "Cowboy's Home Sweet Home" (Columbia 15710-D, 1932; rec. 1931) (Melotone [Can.] 93027/Conqueror 8010, 1932) (Crown 3250, 1932)
Jimmie Davis, "Cowboy's Home Sweet Home" (Victor 23718, 1932; Montgomery Ward M-7359, 1937; on WhenIWas2)
Arthur Miles, "The Lonely Cowboy (Parts 1 & 2)" (Victor V-40156, 1929; on MakeMe, When I Was1)
Frank Wheeler & Monroe Lamb, "A Group of Jolly Cowboys" (Victor C-40169, 1929)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fugitive's Lament" (plot)
NOTES: The Arthur Miles recording contains one of the few examples of "throat singing" (overtone singing) I've heard in American tradition. The song should not be confused with "The Wandering Cowboy (II)," which is unrelated. - PJS
File: LB07
===
NAME: Wandering Cowboy (II), The
DESCRIPTION: Cowboy describes ranches he's worked at. He signs on with a ranch, works summer and fall, then drifts to Arizona for a winter job. It's too lonely and boring, so he moves on again. One night in Wyoming, he dreams of his home rancho and decides to return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (recording, Patt Patterson & Lois Dexter)
KEYWORDS: loneliness home rambling travel work cowboy worker
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Patt Patterson & Lois Dexter, "The Wandering Cowboy" (Banner 32091, 1931)
Patt Patterson & his Champion Rep Riders, "The Wandering Cowboy" (on WhenIWas1)
NOTES: Pretty thin plot, yes. But a plot nonetheless, and I've indexed it chiefly to distinguish the song from "The Wandering Cowboy (I)", which has a real narrative. - PJS
File: RcTWCII
===
NAME: Wandering Cowboy (III), The
DESCRIPTION: Singer has no home, no one to love him. He's wandering down the trail, coming to the end of his life, and thinking the only home he will ever find is "on some other shore"
AUTHOR: B. Cartwright
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (recording, Cartwright Bros.)
KEYWORDS: loneliness love death nonballad cowboy
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Cartwright Brothers, "The Wandering Cowboy" (Victor V-40247, 1930)
NOTES: Darn near no plot at all, even thinner than "Wandering Cowboy (II)," and depressing besides. I index it solely to distinguish it from the other "Wandering Cowboy" songs. - PJS
File: RcTWaC3
===
NAME: Wandering Girl, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer's lover has deserted her and their baby. She'll go home but knows she'll be turned away by her mother. "She'll tell me to wander as I've wandered before." She warns girls not to trust young men.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1829 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.18(104))
KEYWORDS: sex desertion floatingverses baby mother youth
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #1691
RECORDINGS:
Freda Palmer, "The Wandering Girl" (on Voice10)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.18(104), "The Wandering Girl" ("Once I loved a young man as dear as my life"), T. Batchelar (London), 1817-1828; also Harding B 11(4028), Harding B 25(1998), Harding B 11(4027), "[The] Wandering Girl"; Harding B 25(1996), Harding B 11(244), Harding B 11(245), "The Wandering Girl" or "The Bud of Rose"
NOTES: The Bodleian broadsides have the girl turned away by her father as well as her mother. 
Floating lines may include "Once I loved a young man as dear as my life He oftentimes told me he'd make me his wife," "Once I was as fair as the bud of a Rose And now I'm as pale as the Lilly [sic] that grows" and "They'll kiss you and court you and swear they'll be true And the very next moment they'll bid you adieu." - BS
File: RcTWaGir
===
NAME: Wandering Nellie: see Corunna's Lone Shore (Wandering Nellie) (File: FVS081)
===
NAME: Wandering Shepherd Laddie, The
DESCRIPTION: Bring my crook and bring my plaid." The singer would go to her "wandering shepherd laddie." She'll go through mountain storms to "his black-face yowes on the heather hills" and rest with him "when the moon comes over the top o' the hill"
AUTHOR: John MacDonald (source: Yates, Musical Traditions site _Voice of the People suite_ "Notes - Volume 20" - 15.1.04)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1974 (recording, John MacDonald)
KEYWORDS: nonballad lover sheep shepherd
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #5150
RECORDINGS:
John MacDonald, "The Wandering Shepherd Laddie" (on Voice20)
File: RcWaShLa
===
NAME: Wandering True Loves, Too: see The Cuckoo (File: R049)
===
NAME: Wanton Seed, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a pretty maid who wants "the chiefest grain"; she accepts his services, asking him to sow her meadow with "the wanton seed." After forty weeks she returns with a slender waist (presumably having borne a child), wanting more of the wanton seed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: sex pregnancy farming magic
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, WNTNSEED*
Roud #1018
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "The Wanton Seed" (on BirdBush1, BirdBush2)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Seeds of Love" (theme)
cf. "The Next Market Day" (plot) and references there
cf. "The Mower"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Chiefest Grain
NOTES: Again, I've refrained from calling this "bawdy," preferring "erotic." And I've keyworded it as "magic" because of the clear connection the song makes between the fertility of grain and sexuality, a common folk strain of sympathetic magic. - PJS
In at least some versions of his index, Round lumps this (accidentally, I'm sure) with "The Building of Solomon's Temple" [Laws Q39]. - RBW
File: DTwntnse
===
NAME: War Bird's Burlesque, A
DESCRIPTION: "A portly Roman Senator was sipping his Rock and Rye When a classic Vestal Virgin caught his educated eye." But while the "Senator" is away, a junior young officer slips into her bed. Finally the "Senator" forgives her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: adultery seduction humorous
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, pp. 438-439, "A War Bird's Burlesque" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Sea Captain and the Squire" [Laws Q12] (plot)
File: San438
===
NAME: War Correspondent, The
DESCRIPTION: "You've all heard of 'Banjo' Paterson and of course I needn't say That he's the best and the greatest correspondent of the day...." The singer, alleged to be Paterson, boasts of all the people he knows and of his great journalistic skills
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: bragging humorous
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 274-275, "The War Correspondent" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Meredith and Anderson's informant, "Duke" Tritton, was of the opinion that Banjo Paterson wrote this piece as a parody of his exploits (Paterson was a war correspondent during the Boer War). Given Paterson's observed behavior, however, this seems unlikely. - RBW
File: MA274
===
NAME: War in Missouri in '61, The
DESCRIPTION: The title tells the subject. "Claybourn Jacks" tries to pull Missouri out of the Union, and Harney does little to stop him. Price and Blair and the Lion (Lyon) stop him. But the Lion is killed by McCulloch. The author asks forgiveness for his rough verse
AUTHOR: B. F. Lock?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Aug 10, 1861 - Battle of Wilson's Creek
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, pp. 366-367, "The War in Missouri in '61" (1 text)
Roud #3698
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jolly Union Boys" and references there (concerning Battle of Wilson's Creek)
NOTES: To explain everything about this song (if it is a song and not just a poem) would take a small book; in any case, the narrative itself and Belden's notes cover most of the ground. (Some additional background is found in the songs in the cross-references). I'll just give sketch information about the characters named.
"Claybourn Jacks": Claiborne Fox Jackson (1806-1862), Governor of Missouri from 1860; tried and failed to pull the state out of the Union.
"Tom Price": Thomas Lawson Price (1809-1870), railroad builder and war democrat, who opposed secession
"Harney": William A. Harney (1800-1889), commander of the Deparment of the West (centered at St. Louis) when the war began. A friend of slaveholders, he did little to control Missouri secessionists, was suspected of sympathy with the rebellion, and was superseded May 29, 1861.
"Frost": Daniel M. Frost (c. 1823-1900), West Point graduate and Missouri businessman. Appointed by the Confederates to take the St. Louis arsenal, he was captured by Lyon instead, later being exchanged and becoming a Confederate general.
"Lyon" or "the Lion": Nathaniel Lyon (1818-1861), initially a regular army captain serving in St. Louis. Alarmed by Jackson's actions and Harney's inaction, he and Frank Blair conspired to keep Missouri in the Union. On May 10. he captured Frost and his hundreds of supporters at Camp Jackson (the only Union casualties were Lyon and Franz Sigel, and they were lighly wounded by their own horses). He died at Wilson's Creek.
"Frank Blair": Francis Preston Blair, Jr. (1821-1875), Missouri congressman and later union general. While Nathaniel Lyon ran the military operations in Missouri, Blair handled the politics, pulling the strings to get rid of Harney and put Lyon in charge
"Sigel": Franz Sigel (1824-1902), Union officer (later general). He would prove dreadfully incompetent, but at the time, he was one of the few trained officers available. (Though the training had come in Germany). Union commander at Carthage (July 5), he was forced to retreat. At Wilson's Creek, his failed flanking movement cost the Union forces any chance of victory.
Parson: Belden conjectures this is Lewis Baldwin Parsons (1818-1907), who was from Missouri but who became a Union officer.
"Price": Sterling Price (1809-1867), Confederate commander of Missouri troops. Leader of half the troops at Wilson's Creek.
"McCullough" or "Old Ben": Ben McCulloch (1811-1862), commander of Arkansas troops at Wilson's Creek and theoretical commander (though in effect he and Price led two independent armies). He would be killed in 1862 at Pea Ridge. - RBW
File: Beld366
===
NAME: War Song: see Bull Run (War Song) (File: JHCox068)
===
NAME: War Song (I): see The Rebel's Escape [Laws A19] (File: LA19)
===
NAME: War Song (II): see Texas Rangers, The [Laws A8] (File: LA08)
===
NAME: War Song of the Revolution
DESCRIPTION: "Come ye Americans and tremble Here before your might God." The singer describes women and children slain and husbands and families destroyed by war. Storms and fires destroy cities. Listeners are warned to turn to God
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: battle death storm disaster warning religious
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, p. 295, "War Song of the Revolution" (1 text)
Roud #7953
NOTES: Belden knew nothing of this save that the informant thought it concerned the Revolutionary War. Belden notes that, if it does date back that far, it's probably Tory. He's likely right -- but I wonder if it isn't two songs merged together, with the second being some sort of hymn based on the Apocalypse. - RBW
File: Beld295
===
NAME: Warfare is A-Raging, The: see The Girl Volunteer (The Cruel War Is Raging) [Laws O33] (File: LO33)
===
NAME: Warfare is Raging, The: see The Girl Volunteer (The Cruel War Is Raging) [Laws O33] (File: LO33)
===
NAME: Wark o' the Weavers, The: see The Work of the Weavers (File: FSWB127)
===
NAME: Warlike Seamen (The Irish Captain)
DESCRIPTION: Singer's ship sails for the coast of Ireland. They encounter a French ship. They report that they're from Liverpool and they will show the Frenchmen what they're made of. They badly damage the French ship,which surrenders; they drink the captain's health
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950s (recorded from Bob & Ron Copper)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer, a sailor on an English ship with an Irish captain, sails for the coast of Ireland. They encounter a French ship, which hails them and demands to know their name and port. They reply that they're from Liverpool (their ship is the, "London", "Lion" or "Marigold") and they will show the Frenchmen what they're made of. They fire the cannons, and the French ship, badly damaged, surrenders; they land in Plymouth and drink the captain's health
KEYWORDS: pride battle fight navy violence ship drink France sailor
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, WARLIKES
Roud #690
RECORDINGS:
Bob & Ron Copper, "Warlike Seamen (The Irish Captain)" (on LastDays)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The French Privateer" (plot, lyrics)
cf. "The Dolphin" (plot, lyrics)
NOTES: While the second half of this song is identical to that of "The French Privateer," their openings are different, so I've split them. - PJS
Roud lumps them, naturally, and throws in "The Dolphin" (and perhaps others) for good measure. - RBW
File: DTwarlik
===
NAME: Warning to Girls, A
DESCRIPTION: "I once loves a young man So dear to my life, He told me so often He would make me my wife." "He fulfilled his promise, He made me his wife... I have ruined my whole life." In floating verses, she laments her sick baby and drunken husband and warns others
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: love betrayal drink floatingverses baby disease
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
JHCoxIIB, #14, pp. 153-154, "A Warning to Girls" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #413
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "On Top of Old Smokey" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Green Grows the Laurel (Green Grow the Lilacs)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "I'm Sad and I'm Lonely" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: This song, or at least the version collected by Cox, is almost all floating verses (the only significant exception is the second stanza in which the man marries the singer). But that verse changes the tone of the whole piece (what would otherwise be a lost love song becomes a bad marriage song), causing me to file it separately.
Roud, curiously, files it with "The Cuckoo." If I had to file it with one well-known song, it would be "On Top of Old Smokey." - RBW
File: CoxII14
===
NAME: Warranty Deed, The (The Wealthy Old Maid) [Laws H24]
DESCRIPTION: A lawyer, underemployed and impoverished, at last decides to marry a wealthy old maid. The bride prepares for their wedding night by taking off wig, false teeth, false eye, and other decorations. The husband, who failed to get a "warranty deed,"  flees
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: oldmaid marriage humorous disguise
FOUND_IN: US(NE,So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws H24, "The Warranty Deed"
Randolph 465, "The Warranty Deed" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 333-335, "The Warranty Deed" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 465)
DT 651, (UNFORTUN)
Roud #2188
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Maid and the Burglar" [Laws H23]
cf. "Only Nineteen Years Old" (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Unfortunate Man
The Very Unfortunate Man
NOTES: Gilbert has a piece (pp. 194-195), "It Takes A Girl to Fool You Every Time," which has this exact plot but entirely different lyrics, reportedly by Ned Oliver. I strongly doubt the latter went into oral tradition (it's not as good a song, anyway), but it may have been inspired by this piece.
Arnold Keith Storm also sings a piece, "Patched Up Old Devil," on this theme. It appears to be from family tradition; I have not encountered it elsewhere. As with Gilbert's piece, the plot is the same but the song quite distinct.
The pop folk version of this, "The Very Unfortunate Man," was reportedly assembled (I use the word advisedly) by Jimmy Driftwood. - RBW
File: LH24
===
NAME: Warrego Lament, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer asks if the listener has ever been in Queensland. In Warrego, in Queensland, is his love. "She was black -- but what of that?... She was just the sort for a bushman." He enjoyed her company, but then found she had given him a social disease
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: disease whore bawdy
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 190-191, 223, "The Warrego Lament" (2 texts, 1 tune)
File: MA190
===
NAME: Wars o' Germanie, The
DESCRIPTION: "O, wae be to the orders that marched my love awa', And wae be to the cruel cause that gars my tears down fa'." The singer recalls her soldier's departure for the wars overseas. Her family chides her, but she says they do not understand
AUTHOR: William Motherwell ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: love separation soldier war
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 359, "The Wars o' Germanie" (1 text)
Roud #5608
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "High Germany" (lyrics, theme)
NOTES: Ord credits this to William Motherwell, and it's perfectly reasonable to assume Motherwell padded out a fragment of an existing song (probably "High Germany"). I do think there was that traditional fragment, though. - RBW
File: Ord359
===
NAME: Wars of America, The
DESCRIPTION: "I have two sons and a son-in-law, Fightin' in the wars of America. But I don't know if I'll see them more Or whether they'll visit old Ireland's shore." The singer seeks the boys; at last one comes home -- but crippled from the wars
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939
KEYWORDS: mother children separation war soldier injury disability
FOUND_IN: US(NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 17, "The Wars of America" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 75, "My Son Ted" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #678
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye" (plot)
cf. "By the Hush" (plot)
cf. "Mrs. McGrath" (plot)
NOTES: Roud links this to "Mrs. McGrath." The plot similarity is obvious, but the songs themselves appear distinct to me. In Lomax's version, the conflict appears to have been the French and Indian Wars, and the soldier is named Terry. Perhaps the name "Ted" in Creighton's version was influenced by "Mrs. McGrath?" - RBW
File: LoF017
===
NAME: Wars of Germany (I), The: see Jack Monroe (Jackie Frazer; The Wars of Germany) [Laws N7] (File: LN07)
===
NAME: Wars of Germany (II), The: see High Germany (File: ShH56)
===
NAME: Was You Ever See?
DESCRIPTION: "There was John and Jane and Betsy/Eating buns and drinking whisky/Dancing jigs upon the fiddle/Up the sides and down the middle"; singer's sister Bella is never without her umbrella; brother Joe went to Chester College for to get a bit of knowledge; etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1954 (recorded from Manfrie Wood)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: "There was John and Jane and Betsy/Eating buns and drinking whisky/Dancing jigs upon the fiddle/Up the sides and down the middle"; singer's sister Bella is never without her umbrella; his brother Joe went to Chester College for to get a bit of knowledge; etc. Chorus: "Was you ever see?/Was you ever see?/ Was you ever see such a jolly time before?"
KEYWORDS: nonsense moniker nonballad music
FOUND_IN: Britain(Wales)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 309, "Was You Ever See" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2144
RECORDINGS:
Manfrie Wood, "Was You Ever See?" (on FSB10)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Cosher Bailey's Engine" (tune, structure) and references there
NOTES: Because this is identical in form to "Cosher Bailey," I was tempted to lump them -- but Cosher isn't in it, so I split them. - PJS
Kennedy regards "Cosher Bailey" as an offshoot of this song. But Kennedy thinks everything is a version of everything else; he offers no evidence. - RBW
File: K309
===
NAME: Washing Day
DESCRIPTION: "The sky with clouds was overcast, The rain began to fall, My wife she whipped the children And raised a pretty squall... Oh, the deil a bit o' comfort's here upon a washing day." The singer describes how his good wife turns evil on washing day
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1849 (Logan)
KEYWORDS: work wife husband punishment
FOUND_IN: Britain(England,Scotland) US(NE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Linscott, pp. 296-299, "Washing Day" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, p. 153, "The Washing-Day" (1 text)
Logan, pp. 381-382, "The Washing Day" (1 text)
ST Lins296 (Partial)
Roud #3747
NOTES: The similarities between the handful of truly-traditional texts of this song (Ord and Linscott) is such that I have to suspect broadside influence -- and, indeed, most of the texts listed by Roud are broadside or songster versions. - RBW
File: Lins296
===
NAME: Washington
DESCRIPTION: "We have a bold commander, Who fears no sword or gun, A second Alexander, Whose name is Washington."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: soldier nonballad
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1732-1799 - Life of George Washington
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fuson, p. 196, "Washington" (1 fragment, fifth of seven "Quatrains on the War")
ST Fus196A (Full)
NOTES: Doubtless a fragment of one of the many broadsides about Washington, but with such a short text, I can't identify a source.
Honesty forces us to point out that this song is over-fulsome; Alexander the Great never lost a major battle, and Washington lost more than he won. But, of course, Washington won the battles that ended up counting most. - RBW
File: Fus196A
===
NAME: Washtub Blues, The
DESCRIPTION: "I washed dat woman's clo'es And I hung 'em on de line, My back most a-breakin', I's a-hurtin' all de time." The singer brings the clothes to their owner, who races "and she flung 'em on de flo'." The singer laments her pain and labor
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: work
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 247, "The Washtub Blues" (1 text)
File: Br3247
===
NAME: Wasn't That a Mighty Storm: see Mighty Day (Wasn't That a Mighty Storm) (File: BSoF728)
===
NAME: Wassail Song (I): see Somerset Wassail (File: ShH92)
===
NAME: Wassail Song (II): see Here We Come A-Wassailing (File: JRDF166)
===
NAME: Wassail Song (III)
DESCRIPTION: "Jolly come to our jolly wassail." Wishes for a merry Christmas and a happy New Year. Have "pockets of money and a cellar of beer" A ship in full sail is in the ocean gale. Get apples for cider. "I know you'll reward us for singing wassail" 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (recording, Wassailers on Voice16)
KEYWORDS: request drink nonballad wassail ship storm Christmas
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #209
RECORDINGS:
Wassailers, "Wassail Song" (on Voice16)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Somerset Wassail" (subject, one verse) and references there
File: RcWasSo3
===
NAME: Waste Not, Want Not: see You Never Miss the Water till the Well Runs Dry (File: SRW125)
===
NAME: Watch that Lady
DESCRIPTION: "I been all around my last time, last time, last time, I been all around my last time. Young lady hold the key. Just watch that young lady how she hold that key (x2). Young lady, hold the key."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (recording, children of Lilly's Chapel School)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE) West Indies
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, p. 158, "(Watch That Lady)" (1 text); pp. 278-279, "Just Watch That Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11006
RECORDINGS:
Children of Lilly's Chapel School, "Watch That Lady" (on NFMAla6)
File: CNFM158
===
NAME: Watchet Sailor, The: see The Sailor and the Tailor [Laws P4] (File: LP04)
===
NAME: Water Boy (I -- Water on the Wheel)
DESCRIPTION: "Water boy, water boy! (x2) Water on the wheel, How does the sun shine that I feel, Little water time, hey, little water boy (x2), Water on the wheel, How does the sun shine that I feel, Little water boy."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (recording, Annie Grace Horn Dodson)
KEYWORDS: worksong nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 86-87, "(Water Boy)" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Annie Grace Horn Dodson, "Water on the Wheel" (on NFMAla6)
File: CNFM086
===
NAME: Water Boy (II): see Take This Hammer (File: FR383)
===
NAME: Water Creases: see Watercresses (File: Peac320)
===
NAME: Water is Wide, The: see Waly Waly (The Water is Wide) (File: K149)
===
NAME: Water o' Gamery, The: see Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie [Child 215] (File: C215)
===
NAME: Water o' Wearie's Well, The: see Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight [Child 4] (File: C004)
===
NAME: Water of Tyne, The
DESCRIPTION: "I cannot get to my love, if I would dee, The waters of Tyne stand between him and me, And here I must stand with a tear in my e'e, Both sighing and sickly my true love to see." She begs for a boatman to carry her across the river
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1812 (Bell)
KEYWORDS: love separation river
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Stokoe/Reay, pp.  30-31, "The Waters of Tyne" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WATRTYNE*
Roud #1364
File: StoR030
===
NAME: Water Witch, The
DESCRIPTION: Water Witch is wrecked on a Horrid Gulch reef near Pouch Cove. Pouch Cove fishermen save some. The Humane Society of Liverpool sent "Gold medals to those fishermen who never knew no fear, The Governor's lady pinned them on"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1980 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: rescue death sea ship storm wreck
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 116, "The Water Witch" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7316
NOTES: Harbour Main is at almost the southernmost point of Conception Bay. Pouch [pronounced "Pooch"] Cove is near Cape St Francis which is turned on the way from St John's to Conception Bay. - BS
The sources checked (Lehr/Best, Northern Shipwrecks Database) disagree on details of this tragedy, dating it November 25 or 29, 1873 or 1875. The casualty count also differs: nine of 20 or 11 of 24. - BS, (RBW)
This ship, incidentally, should not be confused with the American survey ship _Water Witch_, built in 1853, which served as a blockade ship during the American Civil War, but was captured by the Confederates in 1864 and later burned. - RBW
File: LeBe116
===
NAME: Water, Water, Wallflowers: see Wallflowers (File: HHH048d)
===
NAME: Water, Water, Wild Flower: see Wallflowers (File: HHH048d)
===
NAME: Waterbound (I)
DESCRIPTION: Singer can't go home because of flooding. His girl's father is mad, but the singer doesn't care "as long as I get his daughter": "If he don't give her up, we're gonna run away." He and his friends state that they're going home "before the water rises."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (unissued recording, Grayson County Railsplitters)
KEYWORDS: courting elopement flood father
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Darling-NAS, pp. 252-253, "Waterbound" (1 text)
DT, WATRBOND
RECORDINGS:
Grayson County Railsplitters, "Way Down in North Carolina" (unissued, 1929; on TimesAint05)
Art Thieme, "Waterbound" (on Thieme06)
Wade Ward & Bogtrotters, "Waterbound" (on Holcomb-Ward1)
NOTES: Yes, there's a narrative buried in there -- two of them, really. - PJS
I suspect it may have been stronger, once upon a time, but gotten rather submerged after years of the tune being used primarily as a fiddle/banjo instrumental. As Paul notes, there are two plots -- one about the rising flood and one about courting. - RBW
The Grayson Co. Railsplitters' recording is essentially identical to the canonical version sung in the folk revival, mostly learned from the Wade Ward/Bogtrotters recording. It should be noted that Fields Ward, Wade's brother, was a member of the Railsplitters, along with Sampson Ward, Eck Dunford and Ernest "Pop" Stoneman -- an old-time music all-star show if ever there was one. - PJS
File: DTwatrbo
===
NAME: Waterbound II: see Alabama Bound (Waterbound II) (File: BMRF598)
===
NAME: Watercresses
DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a damsel who has "a bunch of watercresses." She agrees to marry but "has some bills to pay" first, so he gives her money. Next day he get a letter that she's already someone's wife. "Sure you must have been greener than watercresses"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1886 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(4046))
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer, a dairy farmer, goes to town, meets a pretty girl, asks the way to Camberwell and falls in love. He proposes, citing his farm and herds; she accepts, but tells him she will need money for wedding expenses. He gives her a sovereign; they kiss and part. She sends him a letter telling him that next time he proposes, he should be certain his intended is a maiden or a widow, not a wife, and promises to repay the sovereign, someday. Refr.: "She promised she would marry me upon the first of May/And she left me with a bunch of water cresses"
KEYWORDS: courting promise money love marriage rejection beauty humorous lover wife
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar,Newf) US(So) Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Peacock, pp. 320-321, "Watercresses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 66, "Water Creases" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 106-108, "Watercresses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 63, "The Dairy Farmer (Water Cresses)" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Peac320 (Partial)
Roud #1653
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "The Bunch of Water Cresses" (on Abbott1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4046), "Water Cresses!," H. Such (London), 1863-1885
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Watercrest
The Watercress Girl
NOTES: In [O. J. Abbott's version of] the song, the young man says he is from Belvishire. There is no such shire in England. On the other hand, Camberwell is a borough of London. - PJS
The Southwest Missouri State University site Max Hunter Folk Song Collection includes "Watercrest" ["T'was on the first of April When I arrived in town ..."], a version collected in Arkansas. In this one Mrs. Tray writes "But to think that I would marry you Upon the first of May You must think that I'm as green as watercrest's." 
I don't consider this to be the same as the following ballad at Bodleian Library site Ballads Catalogue:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4047), "The Water-Cress Girl" ("While strolling out one evening by a running stream"), unknown, n.d.; also Harding B 11(1233), "The Water-Cress Girl"
In this one the singer finds Martha gathering water-cresses, they "often strolled together," marry and live happily ever after. - BS
File: Peac320
===
NAME: Waterford Boys, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer pays 5 shillings for a room and dry bread and cheese; he fight rats all night. Tavern-keeper would refund 5s for a cure for rats. "Just invite them to supper" and "charge them five shillings and never the rat will again cross your floor."
AUTHOR: Harry Clifton ?
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1879 (broadside, LOCSinging as203820)
KEYWORDS: bargaining emigration Ireland humorous
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 72, "The Waterford Boys" (1 text)
O'Conor, pp. 115-116, "The Waterford Boys" (1 text)
Roud #3107
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, as203820, "Waterford Boys," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
SAME_TUNE:
The Flaming O'Flannigans (per broadside LOCSinging as203820)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Wrestling With Rats
NOTES: According to GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador site the tune is "The Humours of Whiskey" and the dates for the author are 1832-1872.
The "Waterford Boys" title is sensible considering the first lines
Well boys, for diversion, we're all met together:
I'll tell you how from Waterford hither I came
and the last line of the chorus: "Who can compare with the Waterford boys." 
Broadside LOCSinging as203820: 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: GrMa072
===
NAME: Waterford Girl, The: see The Wexford (Oxford, Knoxville, Noel) Girl [Laws P35] (File: LP35)
===
NAME: Waterford Strike, The
DESCRIPTION:  Waterford staff strikes for pension rights. Union "Meter Maids" cross the line. Police are scabs and a crowd is treated to an ice hockey shutout of the Police by "Fire Boys." Nevertheless, the "cops keep order, and they're taking home the pay."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1979 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: strike labor-movement worker
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1977 - Four month strike at Waterford Hospital, St John's (Lehr/Best)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 117, "The Waterford Strike" (1 text)
File: LeBe117
===
NAME: Waterloo (I): see The Plains of Waterloo (VI) (File: HHH015)
===
NAME: Waterloo (I) [Laws J2]
DESCRIPTION: The singer is pressed and forced to leave his sweetheart. The new Redcoat serves in Belfast, then is sent to Waterloo, where he loses an arm and a leg. Now he is at least free of the army and due a pension of thirty pounds
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: war Napoleon
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws J2, "Waterloo I"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 81, "Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 1020-1023, "Waterloo" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
DT 815, WATLOOX
Roud #1921
File: LJ02
===
NAME: Waterloo (II)
DESCRIPTION: 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: 
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
The Plains of Waterloo (I) [Laws N32]
File: LN32
===
NAME: Watermellon Hangin' on the Vine: see Watermelon on the Vine (File: Br3454)
===
NAME: Watermelon on the Vine
DESCRIPTION: "You may talk about your apples, your peaches, and your pears... But... The watermelon am de fruit for me." "But gimme, oh, gimme me... That watermelon hanging on the vine." The singer begs for, or makes other plans to acquire, the watermelon
AUTHOR: unknown (credited to Johnny Marvin on the Whitter recording)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1920 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: food theft floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 454, "Oh, Dat Watermilion" (2 fragments, possibly other songs mixed with this, but too short to bother classifying separately); 468, "Watermelon Hanging on the Vine" (1 text)
ST Br3454 (Partial)
Roud #11795
RECORDINGS:
Bela Lam and His Green County Singers, "Watermelon Smiling on the Vine" (OKeh, unissued, 1929)
The Monroe Brothers, "Watermellon Hangin' on the Vine" (Bluebird 6829)
Ernest Stoneman, "Watermelon Hanging on the Vine" (Edison 51864, 1926) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5191, 1926)
Uncle Dave Macon, "Watermelon Smilin' on the Vine" (Vocalion 15063, 1923)
Henry Whitter, "Watermelon Hanging on the Vine" (OKeh 40296, 1925; rec. 1924)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "There Was a Watermelon" (theme)
NOTES: Bob Black, who played with the Blue Grass Boys for a couple of years, describes this as Bill Monroe's "theme song" (_Come Hither to Go Younder_, p. 40), but obviously it preceded him. - RBW
File: Br3454
===
NAME: Watkin's Ale
DESCRIPTION: A girl laments "I am afraid to die a maid." A man overhears and offers her "Watkin's Ale." She accepts. After much witty repartee, they part. Nine months later, her child is born. The moral: "It is no jesting with sharp-edged tools."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: mentioned twice in 1592 (Mundy, Chettle)
KEYWORDS: seduction pregnancy sex bawdy bastard
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, p. 265, "Watkin's Ale" (1 tune)
BBI, ZN3278A, "As Watkin walked by the way" (also "There was a maid this other day")
DT, WATKALE*
NOTES: This probably is not a traditional tune; the words are too fiendishly clever and the music too complex to have arisen in oral tradition. The song is rather frequently mentioned, however, particularly for such a bawdy piece. Chances are it was popular enough to include here. And I happen to think it too clever to omit. - RBW
File: ChWI265
===
NAME: Watty Grimes
DESCRIPTION: Watty Grimes blames Billy McKeever for blackmailing him into leaving his family to join a raid to aid Antrim. They "spent that whole night with a bottle and glass." Watty is deserted in the field, flees, is taken, jailed in Coleraine, tried and executed.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1845 (Shield's _Songs and Ballads in use in the Province of Ulster...1845_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: rebellion execution manhunt prison trial drink gallows-confessions family
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Jun 7, 1798 - "A party of insurgents led by William M'Keiver assembled at Crew Hill, near Maghera, Co. Derry, in order to assist the United Irishmen of Antrim" (source: Moylan)
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 81, "Watty Grimes" (2 texts)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(666), "Watty Grimes" ("In the year '98, as you may understand"), The Poet's Box (Belfast), 1846-1852
File: Moyl081
===
NAME: Watty's Wooing
DESCRIPTION: "Watty Wylie was a grieve and served at Whinnyknowe, And he had gien his promise to marry Bessie Lowe," but repeatedly puts off the wedding, pleading poverty. At last she gives up on him and marries another. She is happy, but Watty is mocked
AUTHOR: William "Ryming Willie" Penman ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord); Penman died 1877
KEYWORDS: love courting betrayal rejection poverty
FOUND_IN: Britain±(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 282-283, "Watty's Wooing" (1 text)
Roud #5601
File: Ord282
===
NAME: Waukin' o' the Kilne, The: see The Miller's Daughter (The Fleeing Servant) (File: KinBB06)
===
NAME: Wave Over Wave
DESCRIPTION: The singer is a sailor who loves the sea. His wife doesn't understand why he leaves home ten months a year, with children to raise, while he "must sail the salt sea"
AUTHOR: Jim Payne
EARLIEST_DATE: 1983 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: sea children wife sailor
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 118, "Wave Over Wave" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: LeBe118
===
NAME: Waves on the Sea: see The Mermaid [Child 289] (File: C289)
===
NAME: Waxies' Dargle, The
DESCRIPTION: "Says my aul' one to your aul' one, Will ye come to the Waxies' Dargle?" The hearer  hasn't a farthing to take a trip. Neither can they go to the Galway races. They agree, "When food is scarce, And you see the hearse, You'll know you died of hunger."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1982 (Soodlum's Irish Ballad Book)
KEYWORDS: food travel hardtimes poverty
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, WAXDARGL*
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Girl I Left Behind Me" (II - lyric) (tune)
cf. "Brighton Camp" (tune)
NOTES: Waxies were candlemakers; the Waxies' Dargle was an annual meeting of candlemakers held in Bray in County Wicklow. The versions I've seen don't make it clear why times are so hard in this song; it doesn't sound like a famine song. I suspect its survival has much to do with being fitted to the much-loved tune "Brighton Camp." - RBW
File: DTWaxDar
===
NAME: Way Bye and Bye
DESCRIPTION: "Way bye and bye (x2), We goin' a have a good time, Way bye and bye." "Way in Beulah land (x2), we goin' a have a good time, way bye and bye." "Meet my mother over there...." "One morning soon...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 253-254, "Way Bye and Bye" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: CNFM253
===
NAME: Way Down Below
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, a good beef steak and' a mutton chop, Way down below! Make dat nigger's lip go flip flap flop. Way down below (x2), Ole Aunt Kitty am honin' for de sea, Way down below." Verses float (e.g. "My old master promised me"); lines 2 and 4-6 are the chorus
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: slave freedom floatingverses food
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 492, "Way Down Below" (1 text)
Roud #11870
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Ole Mistus Promised Me" (floating lyrics) and references there
NOTES: This looks like it might have been built on the broken fragments of a sea shanty, but the verses have clearly come from tradition ashore. - RBW
File: Br492
===
NAME: Way Down by the Green Bushes: see Green Bushes [Laws P2] (File: LP02)
===
NAME: Way Down in Columbus, Georgia: see Columbus Stockade Blues (File: Wa137)
===
NAME: Way Down in Cuba
DESCRIPTION: Fragment of a shanty: "I've got a sister nine feet tall, 'Way down in Cuba, Sleeps in the kitchen with her feet in the hall, 'Way down in Cuba." "I've got a girl friend, name is Jane, 
'Way down in Cuba, You can guess where she gives me a pain...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Shay)
KEYWORDS: shanty talltale
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Shay-SeaSongs, p. 95, "'Way Down in Cuba" (1short  text)
Roud #8820
NOTES: I suspect this may be a broken-off fragment of a better-known shanty (Shay says it's from the Mississippi River), but with only two verses and no tune, it's hard to tell. - RBW
File: ShSea095
===
NAME: Way Down in Old Virginia
DESCRIPTION: "'Way down in old Virginia Where I was bred and born, On the sunny side of that country I used to hoe the corn." The singer recalls those happy times: "And I couldn't stay away." He recalls his old mistress and master, who were "good and kind"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: slave home work food
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 225-226, "'Way Down in Ole Virginia" (1 text)
ST ScaNF225 (Partial)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" (theme)
NOTES: I find it highly unlikely that this is of actual Black composition; I suspect that the woman who sent it to Scarborough was unclear or inaccurate about its source. - RBW
File: ScaNF225
===
NAME: Way Down in Rackensack (Old Coon Dog)
DESCRIPTION: "Somebody stole my old coon dog, I wish they'd bring him back, He drove the big 'uns over the fence An' the little ones through the crack. It's gettin' out the way o' the fiddler O (x3), Way down in Rackensack."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (recording, Fiddlin' Doc Roberts)
KEYWORDS: animal dog theft
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 350, "Way Down in Rackensack" (1 text)
Roud #7627
RECORDINGS:
Bradley Kincaid, "Old Coon Dog" (Brunswick 485, c. 1930)
George "Shortbuckle" Roark, "My Old Coon Dog"(Columbia 15383-D, 1929; rec. 1928; a melange that also includes bits of, among other songs, "Whoa, Mule," "Possum Up a Gum Stump," and "Shoo Fly")
Fiddlin' Doc Roberts, "My Old Coon Dog" (Gennett 6558, 1928)
File: R350
===
NAME: Way Down in Rockingham: see Jinny Go Round and Around (File: R272)
===
NAME: Way Down in Tennessee
DESCRIPTION: "Farewell you girls of this cold countree," "I can no longer stay with you. " "I left my wife and a baby." Chorus: "Away over the ocean." "Tennessee is a-rolling." Lines are repeated three times, followed by "I'm bound/way-down for Tennessee"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Smith/Hatt)
KEYWORDS: nonballad shanty
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Smith/Hatt, p. 23, "Way Down in Tennessee" (1 text)
Roud #9415
NOTES: Smith/Hatt: Smith's comment is "A favourite with Liverpool [Nova Scotia] sailormen." - BS
File: SmHa023
===
NAME: 'Way Down Near Alpena
DESCRIPTION: Describes rowdy crew of lumberjacks near Alpena, Michigan, and their barroom brawls. Chorus: "Hurray, hurrah! For the fruit you can bet/Let's take of a drink, boys, for our credit's good yet."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: logger drink fight
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Beck 39, "'Way Back Near Alpena" (1 text)
Roud #6503
File: Be039
===
NAME: Way Down on the Old Peedee
DESCRIPTION: "Away down south, on the old Peedee, Away down in the cotton and the corn, There lived old Joe, and he lived so long That nobody knows when he was born." The song describes how the old, old slave was buried
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: slave death burial age
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 421, "Way Down on the Old Peedee" (1 text plus a possibly-related fragment)
Roud #11770
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Uncle Ned" (plot)
NOTES: This song is so like "Uncle Ned" in its ideas, and even its style, that I can't help but think it designed to take advantage of that early Foster work. But I haven't located a source. - RBW
File: Br3421
===
NAME: Way Down the Ohio
DESCRIPTION: Fragment: "Way down the Ohio my little boat I steered/In hopes that some pretty girl on the banks will appear/I'll hug her and kiss her till my mind is at ease/And I'll turn my back on her and court who I please"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: courting sex infidelity travel lover
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SharpAp 198, "Way Down the Ohio" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #3616
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Green Brier Shore (II)" (lyrics)
NOTES: This is very like the chorus of "Green Brier Shore (II)," itself a composite, but it lacks that song's theme of parental disapproval. And in this one, the young man's a cad. - PJS
File: ShAp2198
===
NAME: Way Down the Old Plank Road
DESCRIPTION: Floating verses, some mentioning jail, stitched together with the usual Uncle Dave Macon logic. Chorus: "Won't get drunk no mo' (x3), Way down the old plank road."
AUTHOR: Uncle Dave Macon
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (recording, Uncle Dave Macon)
KEYWORDS: prison drink humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 94, "Way Down The Old Plank Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 202, "Way Down the Old Plank Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 252, "Marina Girls" (1 short text, 1 tune)
DT, OLPLNKRD
Roud #18527
RECORDINGS:
Uncle Dave Macon, "Way Down the Old Plank Road" (Vocalion 5097, 1926; on AAFM3, RoughWays1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
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)" (words)
cf. "The Old Gray Goose (I) (Lookit Yonder)" (words)
cf. "My Wife Died on Saturday Night" (floating verse)
NOTES: I put SharpAp 252 ("Marina Girls") here only because because half of it is a floating verse that's also in this song ("Sixteen pounds of meat a week/Whisky for to sell/How can a pretty girl stay at home/The soldiers fare so well" -- note that Uncle Dave reversed the sexes!) Although it was collected in 1918, I'm not assigning it as "Earliest Date" because it's not really "Way Down the Old Plank Road," but I note the fact of the floater. - PJS
Roud makes "Marina Girls" a separate song (his item #3661), but the only known text appears to be Sharp's short fragment from Laura V. Donald; until and unless more distinct text shows up, it's hard to know how to file the thing anyway. - RBW
File: ADR94
===
NAME: Way Down upon the Swanee River: see Old Folks at Home (File: RJ19163)
===
NAME: Way Down Yonder in Pasquotank: see May Irwin's Frog Song (The Foolish Frog, Way Down Yonder) (File: Br3189)
===
NAME: Way Down Yonder on Cedar Street: see Roll, Jordan, Roll (II) (File: R303)
===
NAME: Way Downtown: see Late Last Night When Willie Came Home (Way Downtown) (File: CSW166)
===
NAME: Way Out in Idaho (I)
DESCRIPTION: A railroad man, enticed by "Kilpatrick's man, Catcher," goes to Idaho to work on the Oregon Short Line. Disillusioned by hard work and bad food, he winds up "happy, down in the harvest camps" and plans to marry a girl and bring her "back to Idaho."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (recording, Blaine Stubblefield)
KEYWORDS: railroading work marriage train travel
FOUND_IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 560-566, "Way Out in Idaho" (1 text plus a text of "The Arkansaw Navvy"="The State of Arkansas (The Arkansas Traveler II)" [Laws H1], 1 tune)
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 440, "Way Out in Idaho" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, OUTIDAHO*
Roud #16409
RECORDINGS:
Blaine Stubblefield, "Way Out in Idaho" (AFS 1634 B1, 1938; on LC61)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Son of a Gambolier (I)" and references there (tune)
cf. "The Buffalo Skinners" (lyrics, plot)
cf. "The State of Arkansas (The Arkansas Traveler II)" [Laws H1] (lyrics)
NOTES: The Digital Tradition notes that the tune for its version is a "slight variant on Son of a Gambolier." - RBW
File: BRaF440
===
NAME: Way Out in Idaho (II): see We're Coming, Arkansas (We're Coming, Idaho) (File: R343)
===
NAME: Way Out in Idyho: see We're Coming, Arkansas (We're Coming, Idaho) (File: R343)
===
NAME: Way Out There
DESCRIPTION: Singer, a hobo, jumps off a freight train, makes camp, falls asleep, dreaming "the desert sand was a milk and honey land." He awakens to the sound of a returning train; he catches it on the fly. Refrain: "It gets lonesome way out there" or similar
AUTHOR: Bob Nolan
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (recording, Sons of the Pioneers)
KEYWORDS: homesickness loneliness rambling train travel dream hobo
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Bill Boyd & his Cowboy Ramblers "'Way Out There" (Bluebird [US, Canada] B-6670, 1936; Montgomery Ward M-7193, 1937)
Callahan Brothers, "Away Out There" (Melotone 7-05-59, 1937)
Hall Brothers, "'Way Out There" (Bluebird B-6843, 1937)
Riley Puckett, "'Way Out There" (Bluebird B-8354, 1940)
Sons of the Pioneers, "Way Out There" (Decca 5013, 1934)
File: RcWOT
===
NAME: Way Out West in Kansas
DESCRIPTION: Complaints about life "Way out west in Kansas": "The sun's so hot the eggs will hatch... It'll pop the corn in a popcorn patch." The people are prone to fighting and often physically peculiar; the lack of amusements makes for a boring life
AUTHOR: Carson Robison
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (recording, Billy Murray & Ed. Smalle)
KEYWORDS: home family
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 32, "In Kansas" (2 texts, 1 tune, the "B" text being this piece while the "A" text is "In Kansas")
Roud #4455
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart & Co. "Way Out West in Kansas" (Edison 51459, 1925)
Art Gilliam (The Whispering Pianist), "Way Out West in Kansas" (Columbia 238-D, 1924)
Billy Murray & Ed. Smalle "Way Out West in Kansas" (Victor 19442, 1924)
Anna Underhill, "Away Out West in Kansas" (on FineTimes)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "In Kansas" (theme)
NOTES: There's a Gene Autry recording, "'Way Out West in Texas" (Conqueror 8193, 1933; Conqueror 9513, 1940) which is probably the same song, but as I haven't heard it I'm putting it here as a note instead of adding it to the official recordings list. - PJS
File: FCW032B
===
NAME: Way Over in the Blooming Garden
DESCRIPTION: Playparty/courting game. "Sweet peas and roses, Strawberries on the vine Way over in the blooming garden Where sweet lilies grow." "Choose you a partner and choose him to your side." "Hug him neatly and kiss him so sweetly."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: courting playparty nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 293-294, "Way Over in the Blooming Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15583
File: LxA294
===
NAME: Way Over in the Heavens
DESCRIPTION: "I wish't I had-a heard when ye called me (x3) To sit on the seat by Jesus. Way over in the heavens...." "Sister, my soul's happy...." "I have a mother in the heavens...." "Won't you be glad when he calls you...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1943
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad Jesus
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-FSNA 127, "Way Over in the Heavens" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6681
File: LoF127
===
NAME: Way Over in the New Buryin' Groun'
DESCRIPTION: "The hammer keeps ringin' on somebody's coffin (x2), Way over in the new buryin' groun'." "Somebody's dying way over yonder (x2), Way over in the new buryin' groun'." "Hearse keeps a-rollin' -- somebody's dyin'...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: death burial
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 614, "The New Buryin' Ground" (3 texts, with common verses though "A" never mentions the burying ground)
Sandburg, p. 473, "Way Over in the New Buryin' Groun'" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #11052
SAME_TUNE:
Woody Guthrie, "Union Burying Ground" (on Struggle2)
File: San473
===
NAME: Way Over in the Promised Land: see Where Is Old Elijah? (The Hebrew Children, The Promised Land) (File: San092)
===
NAME: Way Sing Sally: see Sally Brown (File: Doe074)
===
NAME: Way Stormalong John: see Stormalong (File: Doe082)
===
NAME: Way to Spell Chicken, De: see C-H-I-C-K-E-N (File: RcCHICKE)
===
NAME: Way to Wallington, The
DESCRIPTION: "O canny man, o! Shew me the way to Wallington: I've got a mare to ride, and she's a trick o' galloping." Sandy tells of his determination to reach the town; he is told he is on the road. He sets off "like the wind"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: horse travel
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 148-149, "Shew Me the Way to Wallington" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR148 (Partial)
Roud #3165
NOTES: This is said to be a pipe tune, with words defective. It looks as if it might be political -- but too little is left, at least in the texts I've seen, to make even an intelligent guess as to what. - RBW
File: StoR148
===
NAME: Way Up in Sofield: see The Sheffield Apprentice [Laws O39] (File: LO39)
===
NAME: Way Up on Clinch Mountain: see Rye Whiskey AND Sweet Lulur (File: R405)
===
NAME: Way, Me, Susiana!: see Susiana (File: Doe083)
===
NAME: Wayerton Driver, The
DESCRIPTION: "I'm a heart-broken driver, From Wayerton I came, I courted a sweetheart, Mary Dolan by name." Paul buys her a ring but she turns him down. He gets drunk and visits her again. She prefers Melvin Grant. Pretty fair maids, warns Paul, are "slyer than mice"
AUTHOR: probably Paul Kingston
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: courting ring rejection drink
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Manny/Wilson 45, "The Wayerton Driver" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MaWi045 (Partial)
Roud #9183
NOTES: Wayerton is far up the Northwest Miramichi River in New Brunswick. - BS
The note on the tune says that this derives from "The Girl I Left Behind Me," and there is in fact a strong resemblance in the shape of the melody. But the first verse, at least, is clearly based on "Jack Haggerty (The Flat River Girl)" [Laws C25]. - RBW
File: MaWi045
===
NAME: Wayfaring Pilgrim: see Wayfaring Stranger (File: FSC077)
===
NAME: Wayfaring Stranger
DESCRIPTION: The singer confesses, "I'm just a poor, wayfaring stranger / A-travelling through this world of woe." The singer plans to cross the Jordan (into heaven), there to meet with family and loved ones and live forever free from trouble and burden
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1816 (Kentucky Harmony, as "Judgement")
KEYWORDS: religious death
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,SE)
REFERENCES: (10 citations)
FSCatskills 77, "Poor and Foreign Stranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 93, "A Poor Wayfaring Pilgrim" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, p. 208, "I'm Just A-Going Over Jordon" (1 text, clearly this though it lacks the "Wayfaring Stranger" lines)
Lomax-FSUSA 97, "Wayfaring Stranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 880-881, "Wayfaring Stranger" (1 text, 1 tune, plus verses from several parodies)
Arnett, p. 32, "Wayfaring Stranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 162-165, "Wayfaring Stranger" (1 text, 3 tunes)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 124-125, "Wayfaring Stranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 15, "Wayfaring Stranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 352, "Wayfaring Stranger" (1 text)
ST FSC077 (Partial)
Roud #3339
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley, "Wayfaring Pilgrim" (on WatsonAshley01)
Horton Barker, "Wayfaring Stranger" (on Barker01)
Linzy Hicks, "A Poor Wayfaring Pilgrim" (on USWarnerColl01)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Wayfaring Stranger" (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
Almeda Riddle, "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" (on LomaxCD1701, LomaxCD1704)
Pete Seeger, "The Wayfaring Stranger" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07b)
Vaughn's Texas Quartet, "The Wayfaring Pilgrim" (Victor V-40231, 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Dear Companion (The Broken Heart; Go and Leave Me If You Wish To, Fond Affection)" (tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Judgement
Wayfaring Pilgrim
File: FSC077
===
NAME: Wayward Boy, The
DESCRIPTION: The Wayward Boy has sex with a girl, who gives him "pimples thick" upon his penis in exchange for the "two little mutts up her guts."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy rake rambling seduction sex pregnancy disease
FOUND_IN: US(SW,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cray, pp. 86-89, "The Wayward Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, p. 146, "Two Ruby Red Lips" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10408
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fire Ship" (plot) and references there
cf. "The Girl I Left Behind Me (lyric)" (tune & meter) and references there
NOTES: Legman styles the one-stanza fragment in Randolph-Legman I by an alternate title. - EC
Not to be confused with the Charlie Poole song of the same title (Rorrer, p. 87), which does not appear to be a traditional song. - RBW
File: EM086
===
NAME: We Are Anchored By the Roadside, Jim
DESCRIPTION: Singer (a "sacker" in the lumber camps) tells Jim that times were formerly good for drinkers, but that good booze is now hard to find. He says that despite this, cold water (i.e., temperance) is not for either or them, so they will "drink the old jug dry"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (recording, Pat Ford)
KEYWORDS: drink worker logger
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, ROADJIM
Roud #5750
RECORDINGS:
Pat Ford, "We're anchored by the roadside, Jim" (AFS 4210 B2, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
File: RcWAABTR
===
NAME: We Are Coming , Father Abraam, 300,000 More: see We Are Coming, Father Abraham (File: SCW44)
===
NAME: We Are Coming, Father Abr'am: see We Are Coming, Father Abraham (File: SCW44)
===
NAME: We Are Coming, Father Abraham
DESCRIPTION: "We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more... We leave our plows and workshops Our wives and children dear...." The song describes how those left behind are doing the young men's work so they may put down the rebels
AUTHOR: Words: James Sloan Gibbons
EARLIEST_DATE: 1862 (New York Evening Post)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar soldier
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 44-45, "We Are Coming, Father Abr'am" (1 text, 1 tune)
Saunders/Root-Foster 2, pp. 217-220+436, "We Are Coming , Father Abraam, 300,000 More" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hill-CivWar, pp. 213-214, "We Are Coming, Father Abraham" (1 text)
ST SCW44 (Full)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, rpbaasm 1180 ["words from the New York Evening Post ; music composed and arranged by S.J. Adams"], "We Are Coming Father Abraham 3000,000 More," Henry Tolman & Co. (Boston), c.1862; also rpbaasm 1184 ["set to music by P.S. Gilmore"], "We Are Coming Father Abraam Three Hundred Thousand More"; rpbaasm 1185 ["words by William Cullen Bryant music by G. R. Poulton"], "300,000 more!" (tune)
LOCSinging, sb40573b, "We Are Coming, Father Abraham," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also cw10594a, "Three Hundred Thousand More"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hold On, Abraham"
NOTES: This was originally published as a poem, "Three Hundred Thousand More," in the July 16, 1862 edition of the _New York Evening Post_. 
It was so popular that at least eight musical arrangements were published, including those by L.O. Emerson (this last may have been the most popular; at least, it's the one Silber quotes), Stephen C. Foster (the Foster sheet music doesn't even mention the name of Gibbons!), and P. S. Gilmore. (For the full list, see the notes to Saunders & Root).
I don't know if this can be considered a traditional song, under the circumstances, but it certainly shows up in a lot of anthologies! - RBW
The attribution to William Cullen Bryan is also on LOCSheet Music #577 [cover only] "We Are Coming Father Abra'am 300.000 More," Oliver Ditson & Co. (Boston), 1862: "Poem by Wm Cullen Bryant Music by L.O. Emerson." Broadside LOCSheet rpbaasm 1180 commentary: "From poem first published in the New York Evening Post, July 16, 1862: We are coming, Father Abraham / James Sloan Gibbons. Cf. BAL, v. 1, p. 346. The words sometimes erroneously attributed to Wm. Cullen Bryant, or J. [!] Cullen Bryant."
Broadside LOCSinging sb40573b: 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: SCW44
===
NAME: We Are Four Bums: see The Great American Bum (Three Jolly Bums) (File: FaE192)
===
NAME: We Are Jolly Fellows that Follow the Plough: see All Jolly Fellows That Handles the Plough (File: K241)
===
NAME: We Are Marching On
DESCRIPTION: "We are marching on (x2), To the land of light, To the land of love, We are marching on." "Where the angels wait At the golden gate, To conduct us there To a mansion fair...." "We are marching on, Happy pilgrim band... To the heavenly land."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 647, "We Are Marching On" (1 text)
Roud #11940
File: Br3647
===
NAME: We Are the Peckham Boys
DESCRIPTION: The Peckham boys "know our manners," spend our money, are well respected, "winners of the boys." "When you hear a copper shout, 'Put that dirty Woodbine [cigarette brand] out.'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1993 (recording, Ray Driscoll)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Ray Driscoll, "We Are the Peckham Boys" (on Voice14)
File: RcWATPB
===
NAME: We Be Three Poor Mariners
DESCRIPTION: "We be three poor mariners, newly come from the seas, We spend our lives in jeopardy, while others live at east. Shall we do dance the Round, around, around (x2)...." The singer praises merchantmen "that do our states maintain."
AUTHOR: Thomas Ravenscroft?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1609 (Deuteromelia)
KEYWORDS: ship sailor commerce nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 134-135, "We Be Three Poor Mariners" (1 partial text, 1 tune)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 120-121, "We Be Three Poor Mariners" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Noah Greenberg, ed., An Anthology of English Medieval and Renaissance Vocal Music, pp. 202-204 (1 text, 1 tune with harmonization)
NOTES: The text of this is pretty definitely not traditional (it looks like Ravenscroft hacked it up as a merchant sailor's equivalent of "We Be Soldiers Three"), but the tune, which Chappell describes as a dance tune "Brangill/Branle of Poictu," may be. - RBW
File: ShaSS120
===
NAME: We Dear Labouring Men: see We Poor Labouring Men (File: McCST103)
===
NAME: We Fought Like the Divil: see Larry O'Gaff (File: E148)
===
NAME: We Go to College
DESCRIPTION: The ladies of this quatrain ballad -- who go to college to major in bed -- recount their various sexual adventures with students, faculty, administration, and staff. 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Anecdota Americana)
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous sex nonballad
FOUND_IN: Australia Britain(England) US(MA,MW,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cray, pp. 295-301, "We Go to College" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 229-230, "We Go to College" (1 text, 1 tune
Roud #10286
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
We Are the Pi Phi's
We Are from Campus Hall
We Are Whoredean
We Are from Rodeen (sic)
File: EM295
===
NAME: We Had to Walk from the Train to the Camp
DESCRIPTION: "We had to walk from the train to the camp. My shoes got dusty. The white dust came up and settled on my shoes. I looked down at them and began to cry. Never before had my shoes been dusty. It was the first time I cried."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: clothes exile war
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Jan 14, 1942 - President Roosevelt issues his Alien Registration proclamation, calling for the registration of foreigners. From there, it was only a short step to the detention of aliens. Roosevelt authorized sending Japanese immigrants to concentration camps on February 20
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, p. 155, (no title) (1 short text)
NOTES: Burt reports this to be a verse by a nisei boy upon being sent to one of the American detention camps for the Japanese. It's not very good, and it surely was not perpetuated -- but, in context, it surely qualifies as a  Folk piece!  - RBW
File: Burt155
===
NAME: We Have Fathers Gone to Heaven
DESCRIPTION: "We have fathers gone to heaven, O do tell me if you know, Will those fathers know their children, When to heaven they do go?" Similarly with mothers, brothers, sisters, children ("Will those children know their parents")
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1967
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad family
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Combs/Wilgus 318, pp. 191-192, "We Have Fathers Gone to Heaven" (1 text)
Roud #4213
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Departed Loved Ones" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Bright Morning Stars" (theme, floating lyrics)
NOTES: This may be an expanded repetition of a single verse in "Departed Loved Ones," or that piece may be an elaboration of this. Dependence seems nearly certain -- but since this is just a set of repeated stanzas, and that one has distinct verses, they must be listed separately. - RBW
File: CW191A
===
NAME: We Have Loved Ones Over Yonder: see probably The Other Bright Shore (File: R611)
===
NAME: We Have Met and We Have Parted: see The Broken Engagement (II -- We Have Met and We Have Parted) (File: Beld212)
===
NAME: We Have the Navy
DESCRIPTION: A parody of the Federal "On to Richmond"; both begin "Well, we have the navy an' we have the men...." The song catalogs the various Southern generals and troops who fought McClellan in the Peninsula
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1866 (manuscript known to Randolph)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle patriotic parody
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Mar 17, 1862 - General George McClellan moves the first troops of the Army of the Potomac to Fort Monroe, inaugurating the "Peninsular Campaign" (the attempt to capture Richmond by proceeding up the "Peninsula" between the York and James Rivers)
May 31-June 1, 1862 - Battle of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines. Confederates under Joseph E. Johnston attack McClellan's army. The battle is roughly a draw (McClellan continued his advance), but Johnston is wounded and Robert E. Lee appointed in his place
June 25-July 1, 1862 - Seven Days' Battle - In a series of battles, Lee induced McClellan to abandon the attack on Richmond
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 212, "We Have the Navy" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 382, "Never MindYour Knapsack" (1 short text)
Scott-BoA, pp. 231-232, "On to Richmond!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7702
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "On to Richmond! (I)"
NOTES: Although details about the battle are lacking in this song, the generals mentioned clearly indicate that it refers to the Peninsular Campaign (and the fact that it quotes "On to Richmond" demonstrates that it is a parody).
The generals listed include:
Lee - Robert E. Lee, the Confederate commander. Although his tactical performance was imperfect (the Confederates took nearly 25% casualties in the Seven Days' Battle; the Federals less than 15%), his strategy was brilliant
Jackson - Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, who had just fought a brilliant campaign in the Shenandoah Valley but performed poorly when recalled to Richmond
Longstreet - James Longstreet, Lee's second in command and leader of one of his largest divisions. His performance was not inspired, but he went on to serve as one of Lee's best corps commanders
McGruder - John Bankhead Magruder, commander of the Department of the Peninsula His division had done a fine job of slowing McClellan's advance up the Peninsula (mostly through playacting), but his performance in combat was poor; he was soon sent off to Texas.
"Butler was the Cry" - Refers to the brutal Union general Benjamin F. Butler, who commanded occupied New Orleans and came to be called "Beast Butler"
McClellan - George B. McClellan, the Federal commander, who did a fine job of training and inspiring his troops but was too cautious to lead them effectively. - RBW
File: R212
===
NAME: We Hunted and Hollered: see Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)
===
NAME: We Hunted and We Halloed: see Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)
===
NAME: We Left the Port of Sydney
DESCRIPTION: The crew leaves Sydney for Argentia with a load of coal and extra men on board. A storm comes up and sinks the ship and the passengers below deck are trapped and drowned. They had gone to Lunenburg to save money since the fishery was bad.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 119, "We Left the Port of Sydney" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: No names are mentioned here. Lunenburg, like Sydney, is in Nova Scotia.  Argentia is on the west side of the Avalon Peninsula (about 60 air miles from St John's) - BS
File: LeBe119
===
NAME: We Live on the Banks of the Ohio
DESCRIPTION: "We live on the banks of the O-hi-o, O-hi-o, O-hi-o, Where the mighty waters rapidly flow And the steamboat sweeps along." "Ole Massa to his darkies is good... He gives us our clothers...." Slaves, being so well-treated (!), are encouraged not to "droop"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: slave work river
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 224, "We Live on the Banks of the Ohio" (1 text)
NOTES: While the editors of Brown are probably right in considering this a "plantation melody" -- i.e. minstrel propaganda to keep the slaves in line -- it's worth noting that slaves in the border region *were* generally better treated.
This wasn't because slave owners there were more enlightened. The explanation is simple: With freedom within easy reach, slaves were more likely to bolt if harshly treated. Few slaves ever escaped from the deep south -- but by the time of the Civil War, it was nearly dead in more northerly states *simply because slaves couldn't be kept*. - RBW
File: Br3224
===
NAME: We Met, 'Twas in a Crowd
DESCRIPTION: "We met, 'twas in a crowd, and I thought he would shun me." The singer meets an old lover; they say little, but both are clearly moved. She, the rich girl, could not marry him because of her mother's opposition; both are now wed to others
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation reunion mother husband wife
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H638, p. 431, "We Met, 'Twas In a Crowd" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7959
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lady Mary (The Sad Song)"
NOTES: This reminds me very much of "Lady Mary (The Sad Song)," though the form and the details are very different. There is also something of the feeling of Dickens here; see the ending of _Great Expectations_.
This is reported by Sam Henry to be quite popular, and is mentioned in John Masefield's "The Bird of Dawning." I will admit to some surprise; the song is distinctly flowery. - RBW
File: HHH638
===
NAME: We Part My Love to Meet Nae Mair
DESCRIPTION: "We part, my love, to meet nae mair, 'Tis cruel fate's decree; And a' the waes o' bleak despair This widowed heart maun dree." The singer recalls his lost love. He hopes to be reunited with her in death
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord); Ord claims a date of 1817
KEYWORDS: death separation
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 364, "We Part, My Love, To Meet Nae Mair" (1 text)
Roud #4595
File: Ord364
===
NAME: We Poor Labouring Men
DESCRIPTION: "O, some do say the farmer's best, but I do need say no, If it weren't for we poor labouring men what would the farmers do?...There's never a trade in old England like we poor labouring men." The singer toasts laborers; good times will come again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 or 1966 (collected from Caroline Hughes)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: "O, some do say the farmer(baker, butcher)'s best, but I do need say no, If it weren't for we poor labouring men what would the farmers do? They would beat up all their old odd stuff until some new come in. There's never a trade in old England like we poor labouring men." After several of these verses, the singer offers a toast to labourers, saying that when the hard times pass, good times will come again
KEYWORDS: pride farming work hardtimes nonballad worker
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
MacSeegTrav 103, "We Dear Labouring Men" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WELABOUR
Roud #1394
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "We Poor Labouring Men" (on ENMacCollSeeger02)
NOTES: MacColl/Seeger [write,] "During the years between 1790 and 1816, the English peasant was turned into a wage-labourer. The transformation was not a peaceful one; the intensification of the enclosure system, repressive poor-law legislation, extension of more rigorous application of the game-laws coupled with an unprecendented rise in the cost of living, all combined to produce a new and intense class-consciousness among the labouring poor." - PJS
In fact the process took a good deal longer than this, and it was the pressure of unemployed workers which forced the British government to open the vent by sending convicts to Australia. The Industrial Revolution began to produce unemployment in the early eighteenth century, and the unrest was not entirely eased until the dawn of the twentieth. - RBW
File: McCST103
===
NAME: We Shall Not Be Moved
DESCRIPTION: "The Union is behind us, We shall not be moved... Just like a tree That's standing by the water, We shall not be moved." Similarly "We're fighting for our freedom, We shall not be moved"; "We're fighting for our children"; "We'll build a mighty Union."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (recording, Pete Seeger)
KEYWORDS: labor-movement nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Scott-BoA, pp. 344-345, "We Shall Not Be Moved" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 38, "We Shall Not Be Moved" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 135, "We Shall Not Be Moved" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "We Shall Not Be Moved" (on PeteSeeger01) (on PeteSeeger47)
Union Boys, "We Shall Not Be Moved" (on "Songs for Victory", Asch 346, 1944)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Shall Not Be Moved"
SAME_TUNE:
We Shall Not Be Moved -- union parodies (Greenway-AFP, p. 17)
NOTES: [Although not printed at that time, the union version of this song goes back at least to] 1941, [since] Woody Guthrie, in _Bound for Glory_, refers to singing it with Cisco Houston on Dec. 7, 1941, to break up a possible lynching of Japanese-Americans after the attack that day on Pearl Harbor.
The song was adapted from a traditional hymn, "I Shall Not Be Moved," by labor organizers working with southern tenant farmers in the 1930s. It was also adapted into an anthem of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. - PJS
Given the extreme variations in traditional versions of the hymn (one of Brown's informants actually sang the chorus as "I Shall Not Be Blue!"), we originally listed the source and its adaptions here. The civil rights version, in particular, is close to the hymn. Best to check both. - RBW
File: SBoA344
===
NAME: We Shall Overcome
DESCRIPTION: "We shall overcome (x3), Some day, Oh deep in my heart, (I know that) I do believe, We shall overcome some day." Verses about the troubles of life, and how (with help from God/brothers/etc.) they can be overcome/survived. Many modern verses known
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908 (sung in miner's union meeting in Alabama, as reported in the United Mine Workers' journal)
KEYWORDS: religious discrimination nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Scott-BoA, pp. 352-353, "We Shall Overcome" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 216, "We Shall Overcome" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 296, "We Shall Overcome" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 623-627+, "We Shall Overcome"
DT, OVERCOM*
RECORDINGS:
Mississippi Bracy [pseud. for Ishmon Bracey?] "I'll Overcome Some Day" (Okeh 8904, 1931; rec. 1930)
Pete Seeger, "We Shall Overcome" (on PeteSeeger05) (on PeteSeeger38) (on PeteSeeger48)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I'll Be All Right" (tune, structure, lyrics)
NOTES: The "common version" of this song was created by Zilphia Horton, Frank Hamilton, Guy Carawan, and Pete Seeger. In this form it became an anthem of the civil rights movement. Traces of the old spiritual survive, however, and it is of course very easy to make up new verses to fit a particular situation.
Fuld gives a detailed analysis of the musical and textual sources of the piece. Reading them, though, one cannot help but think that he has completely missed the actual sources of the black spiritual. - RBW
Isn't one of the sources "I'll Be All Right," a traditional spiritual? - PJS
It at least has associated texts, but is not mentioned as a source by Fuld, and is mentioned only tangentially in a footnote. Hence my comment. - RBW
The recent discovery that "We Will Overcome," the earlier form of the song (Pete Seeger changed "will" to "shall" because it was better for singing) was being sung as early as 1908, and in the context of a labor struggle no less, casts some ambiguity on the question of which song was the ancestor and which the descendant. See the entry for "I'll Be All Right." - PJS
File: SBoA352
===
NAME: We Shall Rise, Hallelujah
DESCRIPTION: "We shall sing until we die! We will preach and testify! In that Holy Ghost religion we shall rise, Oh hallelujah! Oh we'll sing until we die, We will preach... Till my Savior's precious face again I see... On the resurrection morning we shall meet him"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 634, "We Shall Rise, Hallelujah" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4309
RECORDINGS:
Byron Parker & his Mountaineers, "We Shall Rise" (Bluebird B-8551, 1940)
File: R634
===
NAME: We Shall Walk Through the Valley
DESCRIPTION: "We shall walk through the valley of the shadow of death, We shall walk though the valley in peace, And if Jesus himself shall be our leader, We shall walk through the valley in peace." "We will meet our Father over there...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 359, "We Shall Walk Through The Valley" (1 text)
Roud #11691
File: FSWB359A
===
NAME: We Shepherds Are the Best of Men
DESCRIPTION: "We shepherds are the best of men that e'er trod English ground." We spend freely at the ale-house. We pen our sheep safely in spite of hale, rain and snow; then "unto a jovial company good liquor for to taste"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1793 (according to Broadwood)
KEYWORDS: drink storm England nonballad sheep shepherd
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South,West))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #284
RECORDINGS:
Fred Jordan, "We Shepherds Are the Best of Men" (on Voice20)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ye Gentlemen of England (I)" [Laws K2] (stucture and theme:virtue and courage of an occupational group)
NOTES: Yates, Musical Traditions site _Voice of the People suite_ "Notes - Volume 20" - 15.1.04: "Fred learnt this from the song-collector Fred Hamer, who had it from Lucy Broadwood's _English County Songs_ [1893]." Broadwood said it was taken in 1793 in Gloucestershire (source: "The Shepherds' Song" in _Song Database_ at the Folkinfo site).
File: RcWSATBM
===
NAME: We Three Kings (Kings of Orient)
DESCRIPTION: "We three kings of orient are, Bearing gifts we travel afar." The three "kings" come from different lands to visit the Christ Child; they offer their gifts and explain that they have been guided by a star
AUTHOR: John Henry Hopkins, Jr.
EARLIEST_DATE: 1865 (sheet music); probably composed 1857, and there is a published edition with a dedication claiming a date of 1863
KEYWORDS: Jesus Bible Christmas carol religious
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
OBC 195, "Kings of Orient" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 627-628, "We Three Kings"
DT, WE3KING*
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Golden Carol (The Three Kings)" (subject)
SAME_TUNE:
We Three Kings (The Rubber Cigar) (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 115; DT, WE3KING2)
NOTES: The basis for this song is Matthew 2:1-12. The story has been expanded and modified heavily, however. We note the following:
1. There is no reason to believe that there were three visitors. All we know is that they gave three gifts. Their names are completely unknown. They may not even have been from the east (the orient); it was the *star* which was in the east.
2. The visitors were not kings and were not wise men. They were "magi" -- Babylonian mystics and perhaps astrologers. Jews would generally consider magi to be evil sorcerers (the Greek word "magos," apart from the uses in Matt. 2:1, 7, 16, is used only in Acts 13:6, 8 of Simon Magus, a magician who claimed to be "the great power of God"). - RBW
File: OBC195
===
NAME: We Will Always Have Our Sealers
DESCRIPTION: "We will always have our sealers While there's a ship to sail, While sturdy crews have fish and brewis, While there is rain and hail." The poet admits that there are many changes, but affirms that there will always be a need for the seal hunt
AUTHOR: Otto Kelland
EARLIEST_DATE: 1945 (Kelland, Anchor Watch: Newfoundland Stories in Verse)
KEYWORDS: hunting technology
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 155, "We Will Always Have Our Sealers" (1 text)
NOTES: This reportedly was written as Kelland watched the sealing fleet set out in 1945. An old sealer commented that the few ships sailing would be the last (apparently meaning that they would not be replaced when they broke down). Kelland wrote this piece as a counter-argument.
Obviously the truth was somewhere in between. Seal-hunting continued, and continues, but between the over-harvesting that has destroyed the herds, and the general changes in the economy, and environmental protests, it seems likely that the seals of Canada will soon be safe -- such of them as remain. - RBW
File: RySm155
===
NAME: We Will Go To The Wood, Says Robin To Bobbin: see Hunt the Wren (File: K078)
===
NAME: We Will Not Go to White Bay with Casey Any More
DESCRIPTION: "Tom Casey being commander Of the Saint Patrick by name," 28 men sign up to go sealing. They quickly become "jammed in White Bay Until the last of May." After many hard times, the sealers manage to return home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Murphy, Songs Sung by Old Time Sealers of Many Years Ago)
KEYWORDS: hunting wreck disaster hardtimes ship
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 16, "We Will Not Go To White Bay With Casey Any More" (1 text)
ST RySm016 (Partial)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Davy Lowston" (plot)
NOTES: Although this sounds as if it should refer to an actual event, no one seems to know the time or date. It's not clear that it's traditional, either, though Ryan and Small don't list an author, and claim there is a different version known. - RBW
File: RySm016
===
NAME: We Will Walk Through the Streets of the City
DESCRIPTION: A "Come Though Fount of Every Blessing" text, with distinctive chorus: "We will walk through the city, Where our friends have gone before, We will sit on the banks of the river Where we meet to part no more."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 562, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" (1 short text)
Roud #11885
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" (text)
File: Br3562
===
NAME: We Wish You a Merry Christmas
DESCRIPTION: "We wish you a merry Christmas (x3) And a happy New Year." "We want some figgy pudding (x3) And a cup of good cheer." "We won't go until we get some (x3), So bring it out here!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: Christmas food nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 376, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" (1 text)
DT, MERYXMAS
Roud #230
File: FSWB376C
===
NAME: We Won't Go Home Until Morning
DESCRIPTION: "We're all met here together (x3) To eat and drink good cheer." "(For) we won't go home until morning (x3) Till daylight does appear." "We'll sing, we'll dance and be merry (x3) And kiss the lasses dear." "The girls they love us dearly (x3)..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1842 (arrangement published by William Clifton) (tune dates to 1783 or earlier)
KEYWORDS: drink friend nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Randolph 528, "We'll All Go Down to Rowser's" (3 texts plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 226-228, "We Won't Go Home Until Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 119, pp. 237-238, "We'll All Go Down to Rowser's" (1 text, with "Rowser's" and "Pig in the Parlor" verses)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 231-233, "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow -- (Malbrouk -- We Won't Go Home till Morning! -- The Bear Went over the Mountain)"
ST RJ19226 (Full)
Roud #4251
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Malbrouck" (tune)
cf. "The Bear Went over the Mountain" (tune)
cf. "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" (tune)
cf. "Christ Was Born in Bethlehem" (tune)"
cf. "Old Tippecanoe" (tune)
cf. "Pig in the Parlor" (floating lyrics, form)
cf. "Chickens They Are Crowing" (floating lyrics in a few texts)
SAME_TUNE:
The Bear Went Over the Mountain (File: DTbearmt)
Malbrouck (File: K108)
For He's a Jolly Good Fellow (File: FSWB250)
Christ Was Born in Bethlehem (File: MA189)
Old Tippecanoe (File: Wa073)
The Reformed Drinker (Logan, pp. 231-232)
NOTES: The earliest dated example of this tune ("Malbrouk") comes from 1783, though there are hints that it was in circulation in France for some decades before this (it is reliably reported to have been sung to one of Marie Antoinette's children in 1781, and see the tune cited for BBI, ZN1337, "I sing not the battle (so famed) of Lepanto"). Its origin is unknown, though fanciful stories (e.g. of Spanish or even Arabic origin) are common. (Spaeth compares it with a Chanson of 1563, "Le Convoi de Duc de Guise.")
After 1783 the tune became popular in France, and was used by Beethoven in 1813, but no evidence of English versions is found until the 1840s. The American sheet music of "We Won't Go Home..." dates to 1842; the English is undated but probably dates between 1841 and 1846.
By 1854, the song was popular enough that crowds were using it to heckle Senator Douglas when he spoke in favor of the Kansas/Nebraska Act in Chicago. (Douglas said he would silence the mob if it took all night, and the crowd answered with this song.)
"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" appears to have been first printed in 1870; "The Bear Went over the Mountain" is not attested until 1920, but is probably older.
All four of Randolph's versions mention "Rowser" or "Rowser's" in the first verse, but the only tune given is this one, three of the four are about drink (the fourth, Randolph's "D" text, could possibly be a separate piece), and the "A" text has the "We won't go home until morning" stanza.
Pound describes her text (also a "Rowser's" version) as a "game song," but offers no further details.
Linscott, in her notes to "A Bear Went Over the Mountain," claims the tune "is said to have been sung by Crusaders under Godefrey de Bouillon in the latter part of the eleventh century." Uh-huh. - RBW
File: RJ19226
===
NAME: We Won't Let Our Leader Run Down
DESCRIPTION: The Irish Parliamentary Party and Gladstone want to condemn Parnell. "Give Parnell the thing he requires, Home Rule and Prosperity ... then he will retire." "He has fought for prosperity unto the last, That is what the people say in Ireland"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1891 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad political
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann 89, "We Won't Let Our Leader Run Down" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(671), "We Won't Hear our Leader Run Down," unknown, n.d.
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bold Tenant Farmer" (subject of Charles Stewart Parnell) and references there
NOTES: "In December 1889, Parnell became involved in a divorce that was to end his political influence and the trauma of this divorce probably hastened his early death.... Parnell managed to split the party that represented many of the people of Ireland at Westminster - the Irish Parliamentary Party. Some sided with Parnell while others did not." He married the divorced woman in June 1891 and died in October. (source: "Charles Stuart Parnell" at History Learning Site) - BS
[We should note that almost all sources spell Parnell's name "Charles Stewart Parnell."]
In fact the situation was even more complicated than the above can describe. Parnell (1845-1891), who had helped found the Land League and won major rights for Irish tenants (see "The Bold Tenant Farmer"), had for long led the Irish parliamentary faction -- which he had finally welded into a cohesive enough block that it generally held the controlling hand in the House of Commons.
Since he was in alliance with Gladstone, who wanted Home Rule for Ireland, a Home Rule bill were introduced in 1886. But the political opposition in the Lords, and the overwhelming revulsion caused by the Phoenix Park murders (for which see, e.g., "The Phoenix Park Tragedy"), caused it to go down.
And then there was Parnell's Great Indiscretion. In 1880, before his power had even reached its peak, he had begun an affair with Katherine O'Shea, the wife of Captain William O'Shea, a Home Rule M.P. (See Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry, _A History of Ireland_, p. 259). Their first child was born in 1882; although she died, they had two more children in 1883 and 1884.
Some men might have gotten away with this (Bill Clinton, anyone?). It was harder for Parnell. According to Ulick O'Connor, _Michael Collins & The Troubles_, p.16, Parnell "was a landlord and an aristocrat who challenged the aristocracy and defied the landowners. He was not witty or eloquent as traditional Irish leaders had been. He was cold and often disdainful." In other words, his power was based on his opinions, not his personality. He didn't charm anyone -- except "Kitty" O'Shea.
Exactly how Parnell and Captain O'Shea felt about each other is not entirely clear (see Robert Kee, _The Bold Fenian Men_, being Volume II of _The Green Flag_, pp. 85-86, 112-113; also Fry/Fry, p. 259). But by 1886 O'Shea resigned from Parliament, and in 1889, he divorced his wife. Parnell married her in 1891 (Fry/Fry, p. 260). If Parnell had resigned, his platform might have survived. But he didn't, and it didn't; he was voted out of office in 1890 (Martin Wallace, _A Short History of Ireland_, p. 140).
It will tell you what the politics of the time were like that a preacher in the run-up to the election of 1892 said, "Parnellism is simply love of adultery and all those who profess Parnellism profess to love and admire adultery" (Kee, p. 117).
Parnell tried to rebuild his support by a series of lectures and speeches, but collapsed and died not long after (Kee, p. 115, who writes, "He died at Brighton with his wife by his side on 10 October, and his body was brought into Kingston harbour on... 11 October, and buried in Glasnevin cemetary. The chances of Home Rule for the next twenty years were buried with him."
Despite his final failure, Parnell became part of Ireland's folklore. O'Connor, p. 18, writes, "[His] coffin was drawn in sielnce through Dublen past stricken crowds who stood in the streets in numbers that have never been equalled since.... To an extent it is true that the Irish never got over Parnell's death....Ó - RBW
File: Zimm089
===
NAME: We Work for Hay and Company
DESCRIPTION: "We work for Hay and Company, we do the best we can, I'll tell you what our jobs are, each and every man." The singer proceeds to do so, ending with himself: "I start at five in the morning, and it's six before I'm through...."
AUTHOR: Ron Sisson ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: logger work lumbering
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke-Lumbering #26, "We Work for Hay and Company" (1 text, tune referenced)
Roud #4466
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Holly, Crab, and I" (subject)
cf. "The Wabash Cannonball" (tune) and references there
File: FowL26
===
NAME: We'd Better Bide a Wee
DESCRIPTION: "The poor aul' folks at hame, ye min', are frail an' ailin' sair, An weel I ken they'd miss me, lad, if I came hame nae mair... I canna lea' the aul' folk, lad, we'd better bide a wee." The girl gives reasons why she must stay with her parents for now
AUTHOR: Credited to Claribel in Heart Songs
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (Heart Songs)
KEYWORDS: family mother father loneliness age
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H598, pp. 61-62, "Better Bide a Wee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13365
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(26b), "I Canna Leave the Auld Folk," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Castleroe Mill" (theme)
cf. "Betsy of Dramoor" (theme)
NOTES: According to the notes at the NLScotland site, this was quoted by Louisa May Alcott's 1886 novel _Jo's Boys_. - RBW
File: HHH598
===
NAME: We'll All Go A-Hunting Today
DESCRIPTION: "What a fine hunting day and as balmy as may And the hounds of the village will come... We'll all go a-hunting today." A lame farmer, a judge, a doctor, a parson conducting a marriage -- all leave their work to go hunting
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (collected by Kennedy)
KEYWORDS: hunting work clergy marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 263, "We'll All Go A-Hunting Today" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1172
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Hunting Priest (Parson Hogg; Sing Tally Ho!)" (theme)
NOTES: The thene of gentlemen who prefer hunting to church is an ancient complaint in Britain; "The Mourning of the Hare" is the tale of a creature which is pursued by huntsmen who do not wait for mass; it is thought to date to the fifteenth century. - RBW
File: K263
===
NAME: We'll All Go Down to Rowser's: see We Won't Go Home Until Morning (File: RJ19226)
===
NAME: We'll All Go to Boston: see Going to Boston (File: SKE67)
===
NAME: We'll Crown Them with Roses
DESCRIPTION: "We'll take up our stand for the youth of our land And weave them a garland to wear, Though no leaves of the vine in our wreath we'll entwine For we'll crown them with roses so fair." The singers will bring up their children to stay away from alcohol
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: drink flowers children
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 334, "We'll Crown Them with Roses" (1 text)
Roud #7806
File: R334
===
NAME: We'll Fight for Uncle Abe
DESCRIPTION: "Way down in old Virginny, I suppose you all do know, They have tried to bust the Union, But they find it is no go... We're going down to Washington To fight for Uncle Abe." The song describes the various attacks being made on the rebel cause
AUTHOR: Words: C.E. Pratt / Music: Frederick Buckley
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle patriotic
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 34-35, "We'll Fight for Uncle Abe" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The historical references in this song are rather confused. The second stanza refers to Grant and his Vicksburg campaign, which was in full swing in 1863. It also refers to his move to the East to command the armies against Richmond; this took place in 1864.
Finally, it mentions Grant being opposed by "General Johnson." There was no important Confederate general named Johnson. The commander at Vicksburg was Pemberton. General J.E. Johnston (with a t) did command a force in central Mississippi, and Grant had fought general A.S. Johnston at Shiloh.
The third verse refers to events BEFORE Grant made a name for himself, when George McClellan commanded the Army of the Potomac in the Peninsular Campaign. As it happened, McClellan was beaten back in the Peninsula. He fought the Confederates to a bruising draw at Antietam, but hardly "ma[de] the Rebels fly."
The third verse refers to the possibility of England and France recognizing the Confederacy. This might have happened in early 1862; both had use for southern cotton. But Antietam allowed Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, which made the war into a crusade against slavery (to a limited extent). England could not recognize a country devoted to the preservation of slavery, and France could not go it alone.
In summary, there is no time of the war which fits all the references in the song. - RBW
File: SCW34
===
NAME: We'll Get There All the Same
DESCRIPTION: The singer promises that the temperance crusaders will "get there [to Prohibition] just the same." As examples of those who overcame equal adversity, the singer cites the oppressed Hebrews, Noah, and the American revolutionaries
AUTHOR: H. S. Taylor and J. B. Hebert?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942 (Randolph); reportedly composed 1887
KEYWORDS: drink political
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 321, "We'll Get There All the Same" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 271-273, "We'll Get There All the Same" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 321)
Roud #7795
File: R321
===
NAME: We'll Go To Sea No More: see Dixie Brown [Laws D7] (File: LD07)
===
NAME: We'll Have a Little Dance Tonight, Boys: see Buffalo Gals (File: R535)
===
NAME: We'll Have Another Drink before the Boat Shoves Off
DESCRIPTION: "We'll have another drink before the boat shoves off (2x), And we'll go to Mother Rackett's and we'll pawn our monkey jackets, And we'll have another...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: sailor drink parting
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Doerflinger, p. 167, "We'll Have Another Drink before the Boat Shoves Off" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9443
NOTES: According to Doerflinger's informant, Mother Rackett kept a waterfront saloon in Hong Kong around 1875. - RBW
File: Doe167
===
NAME: We'll Pay Paddy Doyle For His Boots: see Paddy Doyle (I) (File: Doe010)
===
NAME: We'll Rant and We'll Roar
DESCRIPTION: Sailor Bob Pittman describes his skills as a sailor, then settles down to describing his wedding plans. Having settled on a suitable wife (after much soul-searching), he makes arrangements for wedded life and bids farewell to all the other girls
AUTHOR: W. H. Le Messurier
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1880
KEYWORDS: courting marriage sea
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 132, "The Ryans and the Pittmans" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 42-43, "We'll Rant and We'll Roar (The Ryans and the Pittmans)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 12, "The Ryans and the Pittmans" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 10, "We'll Rant and We'll Roar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, p. 53, "The Ryans and the Pittmans" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, p. 51, "The Ryans and the Pittmans" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, RANTROAR*
Roud #687
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "We'll Rant and We'll Roar" (on NFOBlondahl05)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Spanish Ladies"  (plot, tune, lyrics) and references there
NOTES: A Canadian rewrite of "Farewell and Adieu to you Spanish Ladies." The author's title is "The Ryans and the Pittmans," but tradition has paid little attention to that, though scholars often respect it. - RBW
Bruce Fisher's Songs of Newfoundland site points out that the song, in each version, tours a local circuit of ports and outports. - BS
File: FJ042
===
NAME: We'll Ranzo Way: see Huckleberry Hunting (File: Doe032)
===
NAME: We'll Roll the Golden Chariot Along: see We'll Roll the Old Chariot Along (File: Doe049)
===
NAME: We'll Roll the Old Chariot Along
DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "And we'll roll the (old/golden/omit) chariot along (x3), and we'll all hang on behind." Sometimes sung as a shanty, with the sailors describing what they would want on shore; alternately, "If the devil's in the way, we will roll it over him..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: shanty religious Devil
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
BrownIII 650, "We'll Roll the Old Chariot Along" (1 text)
Doerflinger, pp. 49-50, "We'll Roll the Golden Chariot Along" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 117, "Roll the Old Chariot Along" (1 text)
Sandburg, pp. 196-197, "Roll the Chariot" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 151, "Roll the Old Chariot" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 122-123]
Thomas-Makin', pp. 215-216, (no title) (1 text)
DT, ROLLCHAR*
Roud #3632
RECORDINGS:
Paul Robeson, "Roll the Chariot Along" (HMV [UK] B-4421, 1933)
SAME_TUNE:
Roll the Union On (various authors cited) (Greenway-AFP, p. 223; DT, ROLUNION)
NOTES: This song has seen very diverse use; sailors used it as a "stamp and go" shanty; Sandburg had it from Salvation Army singers, and in another form it was quoted by Laura Ingalls Wilder in chapter 11 of _The Long Winter_. I wonder what she would have done if someone told her that sailors often sang, "Oh, a night with a woman wouldn't do me any harm...." - RBW
Not to mention the next verse, "Oh, a trip to the doctor wouldn't do me any harm...." - PJS
Some versions refer to "Nelson's Blood"; since Nelson's body was preserved in a vat of liquor after Trafalgar, alcoholic beverages came to be called "Nelson's Blood."
The Union adaption quoted by Greenway was a deliberate adaption (said to have been made up "in 1937 by a Negro woman in Little Rock"), but this song has so little plot that the versions cannot properly be separated. - RBW
Sorry, but this isn't the same tune as any version of , "Roll the Union On " I've ever heard, although they may be related. "Roll the Union On, " is, I think, derived from another, separate hymn. - PJS
It doesn't fit the tune I know for "Roll the Old Chariot" either, but it's the tune cited by Greenway. - RBW
I think Greenway may be wrong; see the notes to "Roll the Union On". - PJS
File: Doe049
===
NAME: We'll Sail Away to Heaven (Like a Feather in the Wind)
DESCRIPTION: "We'll sail away to heaven Like a feather in de wind (x3), We'll sail away... We'll sail away to heaven by me by." "O, (sisters/brothers/fathers/mothers), don't be weary, weary, Lord, weary, Oh, (sisters), don't be waey, We'll sail away to heaven...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 651, "We'll Sail Away to Heaven" (1 text)
Roud #11942
File: Br3651
===
NAME: We're A' John Tamson's Bairns
DESCRIPTION: "John Tamson was a merry auld carle, And reign'd proud king o' the Dee... We're all John Tamson's bairns... There ne'er will be peace till the world again Has learned to sing wi' micht and main."  The singer describes how he and the company celebrate
AUTHOR: Joseph Roy ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: drink friend
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 199-200, "We're A' John Tamson's Bairns" (1 text)
Roud #6321
NOTES: There is a broadside, NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(11a), "John Tamson's Cart," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890, in which John Tamson nods off as he rides home from the fair. Usually his horse finds its way home on its own, but this time it too drops off. John's wife finds the horse and takes it home, leaving John to desperately try to figure out what happened.
I don't know that it's intended to be the same John Tamson, but there is something of the same feeling about the two. - RBW
File: FVS199
===
NAME: We're All A-Singing
DESCRIPTION: "O we're all a-singing, a-sing-sing-singing, Oh we're all singing so happy and gay. We open wide our lips with a soft fa-fa, And merrily we skip o'er the tra la la la." Other verses mention weaving, sewing, sawing, dodging....
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1943 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: nonballad music playparty
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 95, "We're All A-Singing" (1 text)
Roud #7887
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dodger" (lyrics, form)
File: Br3095
===
NAME: We're All Away to Sea: see Yellow Meal (Heave Away; Yellow Gals; Tapscott; Bound to Go) (File: Doe062)
===
NAME: We're All Bound to Go: see Yellow Meal (Heave Away; Yellow Gals; Tapscott; Bound to Go) (File: Doe062)
===
NAME: We're All Dodging: see The Dodger (File: R462)
===
NAME: We're All Nodding
DESCRIPTION: "We all are nodding, nid-nid-nodding, And falling off to sleep." "can't keep awake, we did our best, Heavy-like and weary, We have to get our rest." "It sure is late, we can't delay, We'll get our hats and bonnets and we'll all go away."
AUTHOR: Words: Jean Neal?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (McConathy's School Song Book)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 883, "We're All Nodding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 392-393, "We're All Nodding" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 883)
Roud #3122
NOTES: Cohen thinks this is the source for "The Dodger," and certainly the form is very similar; this song instantly reminded me of that. But that does not really mean that they are source and offspring. - RBW
File: R883
===
NAME: We're All Surrounded
DESCRIPTION: "Martha wept and Mary cried. We're all surrounded. That good old man he up and died. We're all surrounded."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1945 (Harlow)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Harlow, p. 6, "We're All Surrounded" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9164
NOTES: Harlow gives this as an example of a Negro cotton stowing song that was adapted as a shanty. - SL
The reference to "Martha wept and Mary cried" is presumably a reference to the sisters of Lazarus who mourned over their brother in John 11. I don't have a good explanation for the "We're all surrounded" chorus (unless it's a mistake);  it occurs to me that it might, just possibly, be a reference to Hebrews 12:1, where we are told that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (who might well include Martha and Mary). The problem, is, the King James version uses the verb "compassed about" rather than "surrounded" (the Greek means something like "having an encirclement"). There is, in fact, no instance of the English verb "to surround," in any form, in the King James Bible. - RBW
File: Harl006
===
NAME: We're Coming, Arkansas (We're Coming, Idaho)
DESCRIPTION: The singer mentions reports of a fine fountain in Arkansas/Idaho. The family heads out toward this wonderful place of health and wealth: "We're coming, Arkansas/Idaho, We're coming, ---, Our four horse team will soon be seen, Way out in ---"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1864
KEYWORDS: emigration
FOUND_IN: US(MW,Ro,So)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Randolph 343, "Eureka!" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 279-280, "Eureka!" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 343A)
Warner 195, "Away, Idaho (We're Coming, Idaho)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Larkin, pp. 86-90, "Way Out in Idyho" (1 short text with some unusual lyrics, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 113, "Way Out in Idaho" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 156, "We're Coming, Arkansas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 47, "Way Out in Idaho" (1 text)
ST R343 (Partial)
Roud #4760
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Wait For the Wagon" (tune)
NOTES: The "Idaho" version was published in 1864 with Frank French listed as its author. Warner speculates that French rewrote an old Arkansas song to deal with the Idaho gold rush, though Cohen thinks French version original.
The only useful thing I can add is that Arkansas versions seem to prevail in Texas and Arkansas and vicinity, while Idaho is mentioned in the versions collected elsewhere. and the latter versions seem to be at least as common, though they come from areas where collection efforts have been spotty. The implication is that the Idaho variant was probably more widely known. Though that doesn't prove much. - RBW
File: R343
===
NAME: We're Coming, Sister Mary
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls a cold night in winter when he was with (his young wife) Mary when a voice came through the window, "We are coming, sister Mary." (The performance is repeated for two nights), and the singer finds Mary dead
AUTHOR: original music: Henry Clay Work (Words by Work and/or Edwin Pearce Christy)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1853 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: death dream supernatural
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
FSCatskills 84, "We're Coming, Sister Mary" (1 text plus the lyrics found in the sheet music, 1 tune)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 483, "We Are Coming, Sister Mary" (source notes only)
ST FSC084 (Partial)
Roud #4861
File: FSC084
===
NAME: We're Gonna Move When the Spirit Says Move
DESCRIPTION: "We're gonna move when the Spirit says move (x2), Cause when the Spirit says move, Then you move with the Spirit; We're gonna move." Similarly, "We're gonna singe when the Spirit says sing." "We're gonna talk" "We're gonna march"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: political religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 305, "We're Gonna Move When The Spirit Says Move" (1 text)
Roud #12302
NOTES: Listed in the Folksinger's Wordbook as a Civil Rights song, though I've met it as a sort of religious playparty. - RBW
File: FSWB305
===
NAME: We're Homeward Bound: see Get Up, Jack! John, Sit Down! (File: Wa071)
===
NAME: We're Marchin' 'Round the Levee: see Go In and Out the Window (File: R538)
===
NAME: We're Marching Down to Old Quebec: see Marching Down to Old Quebec (File: R519)
===
NAME: We're Marching On to War
DESCRIPTION: "We're marching on to war, we are, we are, we are, We do not care what people say, nor what they think we are, We're going to work for Jesus who did salvation bring, We're hallelujah children and we're going to see our king!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 632, "We're Marching On to War" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7560
File: R632
===
NAME: We're Off to the Wars (Arkansas War Song)
DESCRIPTION: "Come along, boys, we'll off to the wars... Yo ho, yo ho, in Dixie!" The singer promises to fight for "the 'Federate states," intends to talk about the girls, and lists his leaders who will "bring Montgomery and Lane to taw."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Allsopp)
KEYWORDS: soldier Civilwar
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), pp. 224-225
ST FORA224 (Partial)
NOTES: The references in this piece are, at best, confusing. The Confederate officers are clear: McCulloch is Ben McCulloch (1811-1862), who assembled the Arkansas troops which fought at the battle of Wilson's Creek (August 10, 1861); he would later be killed at Pea Ridge. One of the Confederate batteries at that battle was commanded by an officer named Woodruff.
But who are "Montgomery and Lane"? There were two Union generals named Montgomery; neither could have fought McCulloch. Neither was there a suitable Union officer named Lane, though James Henry Lane (1814-1866) was a fiery Kansas politician.
My guess is that there are two errors here. One is an error of hearing: "Lane" is actually "Lyon," i.e. Nathaniel Lyon, the Union captain hastily promoted Brigadier General who ran the Union forces in Missouri. He cleared northern Missouri of Confederate forces, then turned south. Finding himself trapped by superior forces, he tried a spoiling attack at Wilson's Creek and was killed.
"Montgomery" is even trickier. My shot in the dark is that this is a confusion of the two Blair brothers. Montgomery Blair, the older brother, became Lincoln's Postmaster General. Francis P. Blair, based in Missouri, was sort of Lyon's co-conspirator in saving Missouri for the Union: He raised the money and troops which Lyon used. Since Montgomery was the better-known Blair (among other things, he had argued Dred Scott's side in the famous slavery case), the southern poet might have thought it was Montgomery Blair, not Frank, who was operating in Missouri.
In any case, this song sounds very much like something one of McCulloch's volunteers might have sung before Wilson's Creek. Were it of later date, we would presumably hear more of Earl Van Down, McCulloch's superior, and of Union commander Samuel R. Curtis, who won the Battle of Pea Ridge at which McCulloch was killed. - RBW
File: FORA224
===
NAME: We've Aye Been Provided For: see And Sae Will We Yet (File: FVS256)
===
NAME: We've Come to Judgment
DESCRIPTION: "We've come to judgment, O yes my Lord, In that great giving up morning; We've come to judgment...." "O where you going, sinner, with your head bowed down?" The sinner is warned of Hell and told to get with it or face judgment
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad sin
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Chappell-FSRA 88, "We've Come to Judgment" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #16935
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "In that Great Gettin' Up Morning" (lyrics)
File: ChFRA088
===
NAME: We've Done Our Hitch in Hell
DESCRIPTION: "I'm sitting here a-thinking Of the things I left behind." The singer complains of digging trenches, cooking, fighting rattlesnakes, and the rest of army life, and claims a front seat in heaven for the Third Wyoming
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: army soldier hardtimes
FOUND_IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 552-554, "We've Done Our Hitch in Hell" (1 text)
Roud #15545
NOTES: The irony of this song is that it appears the Third Wyoming never went into combat! Observe: There is reference to the digging of trenches. But only two American wars involved digging trenches: The Civil War and World War I. At the time of the Civil War, Wyoming wasn't a state (it joined the Union in 1890), and in World War I there were no rattlesnakes.
In addition, there is no reference to combat. One hates to think what the soldier would have had to say if someone had actually bothered to shoot at him. - RBW
File: LxA552
===
NAME: We've Got Franklin Delano Roosevelt Back Again: see Franklin D. Roosevelt's Back Again (File: CSW230)
===
NAME: Wealthy Farmer, The: see Father Grumble [Laws Q1] (File: LQ01)
===
NAME: Wealthy London Apprentice, The: see The Valiant London Apprentice [Laws Q38] (File: LQ38)
===
NAME: Wealthy Merchant, The: see The Boatsman and the Chest [Laws Q8] (File: LQ08)
===
NAME: Wearing of the Blue, The: see Canada-I-O (The Wearing of the Blue; Caledonia) (File: HHH162)
===
NAME: Wearing of the Britches, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer marries a girl for money, not love; they struggle over who will "wear the britches." She spends all he makes, even though he beats her black and blue.  Eventually she dies; "now at last her tongue lies still/And she must wear the wooden britches."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 28(157))
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer marries a girl for money, not love, and they struggle over who will "wear the britches." Although she's small, and he can beat her in a fight, she swears she'll wear them; he's a tailor but she spends all he makes, even though he beats her black and blue. When he goes drinking she comes after him, "cursing like a dragon"; she's thrown the teapot at him, putting him on crutches. Eventually she dies; "now at last her tongue lies still/And she must wear the wooden britches." He warns young men to marry for love and work for riches
KEYWORDS: marriage warning fight abuse death burial husband wife shrewishness
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 215, "The Wearing of the Britches" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1588
RECORDINGS:
Joe Tunney, "The Tailor by Trade" (on FSB3)
Paddy Tunney, "The Wearing of the Breeches" (on IRPTunney01); "The Wearing of the Britches" (on Voice15)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(157), "The Breeches" ("Come all ye young men wherever you be"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 25(275), "The Breeches"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Struggle for the Breeches" [Broadside NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(45a), "Struggle for the Breeches," unknown, c. 1890; Murray, Mu23-y4:026, Struggle for the Breeches," unknown, 19C] (subject)
cf. "Devilish Mary" [Laws Q4] (subject)
cf. "There's Bound to be a Row" (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Tailor By His Trade
NOTES: This is so close to "Devilish Mary" I was tempted to lump them. But this song's events are different; in this one she dies, in "Devilish Mary" he leaves her. So I split them, but they're close cousins. - PJS
The temptation to lump is indeed strong. Curiously, Kennedy never mentions "Devilish Mary," and Laws never mentions this. I guess that makes them separate. - RBW
File: K215
===
NAME: Wearing of the Green (I), The
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of the dreadful fate of Ireland, the "most distressful country," where "they are hanging men and women for the wearing of the green." The singer bids defiance, and notes that the grass on the martyrs' graves grows green.
AUTHOR: some versions by Dion Boucicault (per O'Conor)
EARLIEST_DATE: c.1800 (Zimmermann but see the notes re: Zimmermann and Sparling to accomodate the Boucicault claim); 1865 (copyrights)
KEYWORDS: Ireland freedom death execution hardtimes
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
O'Conor, p. 69, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text)
PGalvin, pp. 84-85, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text)
Zimmermann 21B, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 33, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text, 1 tune); 35, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 17, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 fragment)
Silber-FSWB, p. 323, "Wearing Of The Green" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 628-630, "The Wearin' o' the Green"
DT, WEARGREN*
ADDITIONAL: Charles Sullivan, ed., Ireland in Poetry, p. 111, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text)
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 300-301, "The Wearin' of the Green"  (1 text plus a portion of the Boucicault version)
H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 515-516, "The Wearing of the Green"
Roud #3278
RECORDINGS:
John McCormack, "Wearin' o' the "Green" (HMV [UK] DA-322, n.d.)
J. W. Myers, "Wearing of the Green" (Columbia 194, 1901) (Victor 4274, 1905)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 18(476), "The Wearing of the Green" ("O Paddy dear, and did you hear the news that's going round?"), H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878; also 2806 c.16(209), 2806 b.10(215), 2806 c.15(254), "Wearing of the Green" ("O Kitty dear ...")
LOCSinging, as115040, "The Wearing of the Green" ("Oh, Paddy dear, then did you hear"), unknown, 19C; also as114610, "The Wearing of the Green"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rising of the Moon" (tune)
cf. "Benny Havens" (tune)
cf. "Flunky Jim (Gopher Tails)" (tune)
cf. "John McBride's Brigade" (tune)
cf. "Green Upon the Cape"
SAME_TUNE:
The Rising of the Moon (File: PGa035)
Benny Havens (File: R232)
The Drought (File: MCB158)
Magilligan (File: HHH052a)
A Knot of Blue and Gray (File: RcAKOBAG)
John McBride's Brigade (File: Zimm092)
The Man Behind (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 86)
Nearly Sae Will We Yet (per broadside Bodleian 2806 c.15(254))
NOTES: Probably originally associated with the 1798 rebellion, although topical versions have emerged on occasion in Irish history. An 1802 printing of "The Green Upon My Cape" is clearly related but not really the same song.
The "Napper Tandy" of some versions is an Irish patriot, James Napper Tandy (c. 1737-1803), one of the few Dublin members of the United Irishmen to escape capture. Tandy is one of those irritatingly complex figures so common in Irish history (as well as a patriot, he has been called a drunk, and after campaigning for reforms in 1784, he fled to the United States in 1793, then to France in 1797, which is how he ended up involved with the whole invasion fiasco).
Tandy apparently wasn't easy to get along with; he and Wolfe Tone had major disagreements while in France, which doubtless hurt their chances to accomplish anything. Still, he eventually managed to convince the French to give him a single ship, the _Anacreon_, and a force of about 275 soldiers; he was given arms and ammunition for many more -- he had, after all, declared that, if the French would just take him to Ireland, his presence would cause 30,000 men to rally to him.
On September 16, 1798, he landed with a company of Frenchmen in Donegal. He apparently expected to coordinate with General Humbert, but that invasion had ended a week earlier (see "The Men of the West"), and the expected rising in Mayo had fizzled.
Upon confirming the news, Tandy got drunk with some local friends in Rutland, and was carried back to the _Anacreon_ unconcious. The ship went home, and the last French invasion of Ireland was over.
Tandy was arrested (one might well say "hijacked") in neutral Hamburg late in 1798, sentenced to death, but turned over to France in 1802, where he died soon after.
A final French expedition, with Wolfe Tone aboard, was also a failure, never even making it to shore; see the notes on "The Shan Van Vogt."
The charge that the English were "hanging men and women for the wearing of the green" is the sort of half-truth that often is heard during wars. Wearing green was not a crime and wouldn't result in execution by itself -- but green was a recognized revolutionary token; wearing it would certainly get the government's attention. Which could lead to trouble.
And, of course, ordinary soldiers, especially militia, were likely to be that much harder on possible enemies. It seems likely enough that a few people died for wearing green -- but not due to official policy. And anyone who wore green in those times was definitely asking for trouble.  - RBW
The note to the Bodleian broadside cited is "Sung by T.H. Glenny, at Niblo's Theatre in the Great Sensation Play of 'Arrah-na-Pogue'"
Dion Boucicault (1820-1890) was an Irish playwright. He wrote and acted in the 1865 hit Arrah-na-Pogue. "This, and his admirable creation of Con in his play The Shaugraun (first produced at Drury Lane in 1875), won him the reputation of being the best stage Irishman of his time". Source: "Dion Boucicalt" quoted from Encyclopedia Britannica Eleventh Edition Volume IV on the Theatre History site.
Sparling: [The Wearing of the Green (I)] "was a hash-up by Boucicault of an old variant [Zimmermann 21B], using most of the old words ... [in which] the land of refuge it is written from is France, and not America."
Zimmermann: "Boucicault is said to have written this version at the suggestion of his mother, who remembered some lines of the older version. (Townshend Walsh _The Career of Dion Boucicault_, p. 144)"
Hoagland: Boucicault's main change was to add a verse about the possibility of emigration to "a country that lies beyond the sea, Where rich and poor stand equal in the light of freedom's day."
There are other songs with the same title, including O'Conor p. 40 ("Farewell, for I must leave thee, my own, my native shore...") and O'Conor p. 130 by H.G. Curran ("One blessing on my native isle! One curse upon her foes..."). [The latter being indexed as "The Wearing of the Green (II)." - RBW]
The "old variant" includes specifically anti-Union sentiment dropped by Boucicault: "I care not for the Thistle [Scotland], and I care not for the Rose [England]."
Moylan 33 is the Zimmermann 21B "old variant"; Moylan 35 is Boucicault's "hash-up." 
More from Moylan about Napper Tandy: "Napper Tandy was the secretary of the first Dublin Society of United Irishmen. He made his way to Hamburg after the failure of the rising but was arrested there at the instigation of the British representative, Imprisoned for two years, he was released in 1801 on condition that he left Ireland. He went into exile in France where he died, at Bordeaux, in 1803."
Broadside LOCSinging as114610: "The following is the celebrated song which created such intense excitement throughout Great Britain, and for the incorporation of which in his piece, Mr. Bourcicault' play of 'Arrah na Pogue,' had to be withdrawn."
Tunney-StoneFiddle fragment has the singer start with the Napper Tandy/hanging men and women verse, followed by
So shoulder high your hurleys boys and grasp your rifles tight
The mangy bulldog let him bark; he's got no teeth to bite
When English law can paint the moon and put the Hun to flight
Then we'll shed our rebel coats and put the hurleys out of sight
"'I learned that verse in America', he told me." - BS
Which sounds very much as if it comes from the First World War period, probably before the Easter Rebellion. - RBW
Broadside Harding B 18(476): 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: PGa084
===
NAME: Wearing of the Green (II), The
DESCRIPTION: "One blessing on my native isle! One curse upon her foes!" In exile the singer thinks of Mary left behind and his parents buried in Ireland. The foe "might have let the poor man live." "But watch the hour that yet will come, For the Wearing of the Green"
AUTHOR: Henry Grattan Curran (1800-1876)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1888 (Sparling)
KEYWORDS: exile separation Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
O'Conor, p. 130, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: _Irish Minstrelsy_ by H. Halliday Sparling (London, 1888), pp. 13-14, 497, "The Wearing of the Green"
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.10(108), "The Wearing of the Green" ("One blessing on my native isle!"), unknown, n.d. 
NOTES: For information about the author see The Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco) site entry for Henry Grattan Curran. - BS
File: OCon130
===
NAME: Wearing of the Green (IV), The
DESCRIPTION: "Farewell, for I must leave thee, my own, my native shore." The singer's father is buried in Ireland. His mother weeps but would weep more if he were a traitor, like some others. Exiles love to sing 'The wearing of the green" and think about return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1855 (Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol I)
KEYWORDS: exile farewell Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Moylan 34, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text)
O'Conor, p. 40, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol I, p. 277, "The Wearing of the Green"
File: Moyl034
===
NAME: Weary Farmers, The
DESCRIPTION: "There's some that sing o' (Comar) Fair... But the best sang that e'er was sung... It was about the term... When we will a' win free." With their contracts expired, the farm hands set out to enjoy themselves and hope to improve conditions next year
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: farming work drink
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 202-204, "The Weary Farmers" (1 text)
Ord, pp. 211-212, "The Weary Farmers" (1 text)
Roud #2181
File: FVS202
===
NAME: Weasel and the Rat, The: see Fox and Hare (They've All Got a Mate But Me) (File: FlBr121)
===
NAME: Weave Room Blues
DESCRIPTION: "Working in a weave-room, fighting for my life, Trying to make a living for my kiddies and my wife, Some are needing clothing... some are needing shoes, But I'm getting nothing but the weave room blues." Singer describes horrid conditions in textile mills
AUTHOR: Dorsey Dixon
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (recording, Dixon Brothers)
KEYWORDS: factory technology weaving work worker poverty hardtimes
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 88-89, "Weave Room Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 128-129, "Weave Room Blues" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 125, "Weave Room Blues" (1 text)
DT, WEAVBLUE*
Roud #15150
RECORDINGS:
Dixon Brothers, "Weave Room Blues" (Bluebird B-6441/Montgomery Ward M-7024, 1936)
Fisher Hendley, "Weave Room Blues" (Vocalion 04780, 1939)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Weave Room Blues" (on NLCR03)
Pete Seeger, "Weave Room Blues" (on PeteSeeger13); "Working in the Weave Room" (on PeteSeeger23)
NOTES: [According to Cohen/Seeger/Wood], many of the mill workers in North Carolina were mountain people who had come out of the hills seeking work in the 1920s. - PJS
File: CSW088
===
NAME: Weaver (I), The
DESCRIPTION: A weaver roves out and meets a pretty maid carrying a loom under her apron. Upon learning the manÕs trade, she asks him to weave upon her loom. The remaining verses feature sexual exploits euphemized as various weaving techniques and patterns. 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: weaving seduction bawdy
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fowke/MacMillan 61, "The Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, THE WEAVR*
Roud #2311
NOTES: According to Fowke, the song would date from the pre-industrial era when handloom weavers traveled from town to town weaving yarn that housewives had spun.
Fowke says the ballad was collected by O.J. Abbott from learned from a Dan Leahy in Marchurst, Ontario in 1890. A ten-stanza version appears in the 19th century Jones-Conklin manuscript of an American sailor. - SL
File: FowM061
===
NAME: Weaver (II), The: see The Foggy Dew (The Bugaboo) [Laws O3] (File: LO03)
===
NAME: Weaver (III), The: see One Morning in May (To Hear the Nightingale Sing) [Laws P14] (File: LP14)
===
NAME: Weaver and the Factory Maid, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer, a hand-weaver, loves a woman who works in a factory. He visits her in her bedroom despite his family's scorn. All the girls have gone to weave with steam; "If you would see them you must rise at dawn/And trudge to the mill in the early morn"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1965 (recording, A. L. Lloyd)
KEYWORDS: love sex factory weaving family worker technology nightvisit
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, WVFACTGL WEAVFACT (both transcribed from the recording by Steeleye Span; the former is the better transcription)
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "The Weaver and the Factory Maid" (on Lloyd3, IronMuse1)
File: DTwvfact
===
NAME: Weaver and the Tailor, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer overhears a couple talking; "it was concerning love." The young man, a weaver, is trying to talk the girl out of her affection for a tailor. He describes all the tailor's faults. She gives in and consents to marry him. (They live happily.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1869 (Logan)
KEYWORDS: love courting dialog marriage apprentice
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Logan, pp. 407-409, "The Weaver and the Tailor" (1 text)
SHenry H199, p. 39, "The Tailor Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Log407 (Full)
Roud #13355
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rocks of Bawn" (tune)
cf. "The River Roe" (tune)
cf. "Paddle the Road with Me" (tune)
NOTES: Sam Henry discovered this piece with three different tunes in three different districts. It is not clear if it ever enjoyed popularity outside Ireland; Logan's text, while English, is a broadside. - RBW
File: Log407
===
NAME: Weaver is Handsome, The: see Disguised Sailor (The Sailor's Misfortune and Happy Marriage; The Old Miser) [Laws N6] (File: LN06)
===
NAME: Weaver's Daughter, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer is smitten by a weaver's daughter. He proposes. She demurs; her late mother taught her to wed for love not gold, and that her aged, blind father's heart would break. She vows that she and her father will not be separated until he lies in the grave
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.17(455))
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer meets, and is smitten by, a poor weaver's daughter. He proposes, saying he will make her a rich lady. She demurs, saying her late mother taught her to wed for love, not for gold, and that her aged, blind father's heart would be broken. She vows that she and her father will not be separated until he lies in the grave
KEYWORDS: courting love rejection weaving family father mother money
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond,South)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
Roud #1277
RECORDINGS:
George Maynard, "The Weaver's Daughter" (on Maynard1, Voice05)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.17(455), "The Weaver's Daughter" ("Across the fields one sweet May morn"), J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 11(2017), "The Weaver's Daughter"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Squire and the Gipsy" (theme)
NOTES: This sounds like the first half of the story. - PJS
I agree, though there are several possible further courses for the narrative (she changes her mind, the father dies, the father dies but the suitor has changed his mind, the suitor murders the father, etc.). But there are songs where the story ends here, such as "The Squire and the Gipsy." - RBW
File: RcWeaDau
===
NAME: Weaver's Life
DESCRIPTION: Description of hard life in a weaving mill. Follows the pattern of "Life's Railway to Heaven": "Weaver's life is like an engine/Coming 'round a mountain steep." Singer describes showing newcomers "breakouts" to discourage them from working in the mill.
AUTHOR: Probably Dorsey Dixon
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (recording, Dixon Brothers)
KEYWORDS: factory weaving work technology
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 90-91, "Weaver's Life" (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 second)
Silber-FSWB, p. 125, "Weaver's Life" (1 text)
DT, WEAVLIFE*
RECORDINGS:
Almanac Singers, "The Weaver's Song" (recorded 1941, unissued at the time; on AlmanacCD1)
Dixon Brothers, "Weaver's Life" (Montgomery Ward M-7170, 1937/Bluebird B-7802, 1938)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Life's Railway to Heaven (Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad)" (tune) and references there
File: CSW090
===
NAME: Weaver's Song, The: see Weaver's Life (File: CSW090)
===
NAME: Webster of Brechin's Mare, The
DESCRIPTION: When the webster's (weaver's) old mare declares she can work no more; when the man threatens her, she faints. He skins the horse. Awakening in the night, it comes to the door; a lad kills it fears he has done murder, then discovers it is a horse
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1815 (chapbook used by Logan)
KEYWORDS: horse clothes death humorous murder
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Logan, pp. 402-405, "The Webster of Brechin's Mare" (1 text)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 154-156, "The Webster of Brechin's Mare" (1 text)
ST FVS154 (Partial)
Roud #13121
File: FVS154
===
NAME: Wedding at Ballyporeen
DESCRIPTION: The singer asks the muses' help to describe the wedding. The guests are listed. After the ceremony, the great feast is devoured. The bride is nervous; her mother tells her to be happy; she'd marry again if she could. A happy if exaggerated occasion
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(329b))
KEYWORDS: wedding humorous party mother food
FOUND_IN: Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
SHenry H93, pp. 72-73, "The Wedding at Ballyporeen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 140, "The Wedding of Ballyporeen" (1 text)
O'Conor, pp. 63-64, "The Wedding of Ballyporeen" (1 text)
Roud #3277
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(329b), "Wedding of Ballyporeen," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 28(183), Harding B 11(3505), Harding B 11(3506), 2806 b.11(38), Harding B 16(302b), Harding B 11(3964), Harding B 28(183), Harding B 25(2020), "Wedding of Ballyporeen"; Harding B 11(4075), "The Wedding of Ballpoyreen [sic]"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Blythesome Bridal" (theme)
SAME_TUNE:
Ballinamona Ora (per broadside Bodleian 2806 b.11(38))
File: HHH093
===
NAME: Wedding at Kouchibouguac, The
DESCRIPTION: The bride is "the primrose of Kishimaguac." The beef was from an ox that had died of old age and the rest of the food, was no better but, like everything else, was what "is common for supper in Kishimaguac" The usual wine, the usual songs, i.e., ho hum.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: wedding music party wine food humorous
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Manny/Wilson 46, "The Wedding at Kouchibouguac" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MaWi046 (Partial)
Roud #9182
NOTES: Manny/Wilson: "This is ... said to have been made up by two disgruntled souls ... who had not been invited to the wedding." - BS
Given their behavior, I can see why.
If you're wondering about the two different town names, "Kouchibouguac" is the name in the atlas, "Kishimaguac" the local pronunciation. - RBW
File: MaWi046
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NAME: Wedding of Lochan McGraw, The: see references under Bluey Brink (File: FaE148)
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NAME: Wedding of the Frog and Mouse, The: see Frog Went A-Courting (File: R108)
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NAME: Wedding Song, The: see Come Write Me Down (The Wedding Song) (File: K126)
===
NAME: Wedding, The
DESCRIPTION: "Hurrah for the wedding." Give an "Hurray" each for the bride and groom and notable attendees as well. Drinking, dancing, eating and fun. Bride and groom "stole off At the dawning of day ... nobody missed them Till P.M. at one." A grand time was had.
AUTHOR: Brian Doherty (cousin of the bride)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (Dibblee/Dibblee)
KEYWORDS: wedding dancing drink food music party humorous moniker
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 10-11, "The Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12485
File: Dib010
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NAME: Wedhen War An Vre, An (The Tree on the Hill): see The Rattling Bog (File: ShH98)
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NAME: Wedlock: see When Adam Was Created (Wedlock) (File: SKE55)
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NAME: Wednesbury Cocking, The
DESCRIPTION: Stories of cockfighting at Wednesbury. The competition is fierce, and many are the addicts of the sport and of gambling on it. The song relates many incidents, concluding when "Jack Baker he whacked his own father, and thus ended Wednesbury Cocking"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1957 (Graves, English and Scottish Ballads)
KEYWORDS: fight bird gambling sports chickens moniker
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
PBB 85, "The Wednesbury Cocking" (1 text)
Hodgart, p. 191, "The Wednesbury Cocking" (1 text)
ST PBB085 (Partial)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.19(37) view 1, "Wednesbury Cooking" (sic.), unknown, n.d.; also 2806 c.17(458), "Wednesbury Cocking"; 2806 c.17(459); Douce 3(109)=Harding B 39(43)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cock-Fight" (theme)
NOTES: The curious comment, "I'll pay thee as Paul paid the Ephesians," is hard to understand in context. Ephesus was one of Paul's favorite cities. The reference may be to Acts 19:23-41, where Paul's preaching in Ephesus caused certain locals to turn away from the cult of Artemis (a major source of income in the city). The result was a riot.
The PBB version of this is metrically strange; it does not appear possible to sing all the verses to the same tune.- RBW
File: PBB085
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NAME: Wee Article, The
DESCRIPTION: "I 'm a jolly servant lass, my name is Mary Ann, I'm going to sing about a thing that calls itself a man; He wanted me his wife to be, he's only four foot four...." She reviles the short suitor, and details why she wants no part of such a man
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection humorous
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H833, p. 257, "The Wee Article" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2739
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Wee Daft Article
File: HHH833
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NAME: Wee Bridelie, The
DESCRIPTION: "There was a little wee bridelie, In Pitcarles toun... There was few folk bidden to it, And as few fowk did come." The smallness of the feast is described: No meat but a sheep without a tongue, etc. When the bride goes to bed, the groom refuses to follow
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
KEYWORDS: wedding humorous betrayal
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kinloch-BBook XXVIII, pp. 84-85, (no title) (1 text)
Roud #5508
NOTES: This strikes me as a sort of answer to songs such as "The Blythesome Bridal" and "The Ball of Kerrimuir." It's not clear whether that makes it traditional. - RBW
File: KinBB28
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NAME: Wee Cooper of Fife, The: see The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin [Child 277] (File: C277)
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NAME: Wee Croodin Doo, The: see Lord Randal [Child 12] (File: C012)
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NAME: Wee Cup of Tay, The
DESCRIPTION: "As Jack from the market came the other day, His wife she sat drinking her wee cup of tay." Jack complains "I must work hard, not a shirt to my back" while she has finery and her tea. She attacks "what money you spend in whisky and beer." They argue.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: shrewishness drink humorous husband wife accusation
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 167-169, 256, "The Wee Cup of Tay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13985
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(026), "John and his Wife on using Tea," James Lindsay (Glasgow), c. 1855; also L.C.Fol.178.A.2(054) (same publication data as the preceding, though the title is reset)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Tay" (theme)
File: IvDC167
===
NAME: Wee Cutty Pipe, The (The Derry Pipe)
DESCRIPTION: Sam asks Bill if he has tobacco, then gives a long justification based on the use of tobacco by Adam, Pharaoh, Jonah, Noah, Belshazzar, and Jason and the Argonauts. Bill concedes the point, and will continue to bring in tobacco in truckloads
AUTHOR: James O'Kane
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: drugs Bible
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H465, pp. 49-50, "The Wee Cutty Pipe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13363
NOTES: The alleged Biblical references in this song are, of course, pure nonsense. Tobacco was not known in the Old World until introduced from the New; it is not mentioned in the Bible. - RBW
File: HHH465
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NAME: Wee Drappie O't, A
DESCRIPTION: "O, life is a journey we a' hae to gang, And care is the burden we carry alang, But though grief be our portion... We are happy a' thegither owre a wee drappie o't." The singer notes tragedies of life -- and how they are relieved by fellowship and drink
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: drink friend nonballad hardtimes
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 181-183, "A Wee Drappie O't" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 370-371, "A Wee Drappie O't" (1 text)
Roud #5610
NOTES: Several versions of this song have a line something like, "Job in his lamentation says man was made to mourn." This may be a reference to Job 14:22, the only time the King James Bible quotes Job as using the verb "to mourn" in anything like this sense. The overall feeling, however, is more like 14:1 or even the speech of Eliphaz in 5:7. I suspect this is allusion rather than citation. - RBW
File: FVS181
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NAME: Wee Duck, The (The Duck from Drummuck)
DESCRIPTION: "I once had a duck when I lived in Drummuck, I was quite in luck when I lived in that land." The duck, said to be related to (Nell) Flaherty's drake, is said to be very productive -- but now has been stolen. The singer will keep better guard hereafter
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: animal bird curse thief theft
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H228a, pp. 19-20, "The Duck from Drummuck" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5075
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Nell Flaherty's Drake" (plot, subject?)
NOTES: If "Nell Flaherty's Drake" is about Robert Emmet, then this song presumably is about some later freedom fighter. The song mentions "the year forty-nine," so presumably 1849 (i.e. the aftermath of the 1848 revolt) -- but the leaders of that revolt, such as John Mitchel (for whom see "John Mitchel"), William Smith O'Brien (for whom see "The Shan Van Voght (1848") and Thomas Meagher (for whom see "The Escape of Meagher") , were transported rather than imprisoned. - RBW
File: HHH228a
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NAME: Wee House in the Wood
DESCRIPTION: "There it stood, the Wee-House-in-the-Wood," which inspires visions of folklore: English music, King Arthur, much that is gone, all revealed by a "phantom minstrel."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: home music nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 266-267, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: There are many pieces in Thomas that I don't really trust -- but there is none I more suspect of being Thomas's own work than this (and "The Singin' Gatherin'," which bears the same traits). It's anonymous, it's about Thomas's own home base, and it rather sounds like her style. - RBW
File: ThBa266
===