NAME: Peter's Banks
DESCRIPTION: William Strickland and Goddard take the Lily out on Peter's Banks on May 21. They are lost in wind and fog for six days without food or water and Goddard dies. A fishing skiff from Ramea rescues Strickland.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: rescue death fishing sea ship
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 24, 1897 - Albert Goddard is lost on the Lily (source: Newfoundland Schoonermen -- Victims of their Trade per Robert C Parsons NF Shipwrecks on the WEB site)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 969-970, "Peter's Banks" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Peacock notes, "Peter's Banks is a fishing area off the south coast of Newfoundland near the French island of St Pierre. Ramea is an island port also off the south coast." - BS
File: Pea969
===
NAME: Peterhead
DESCRIPTION: "A busy town was Peterhead ... In the days of long ago": lasses worked at looms, whaling ships sailed to Greenland, "fishermen went out to sea," "drifters were unknown." "Peterhead will flourish still As in the days of long ago"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: commerce fishing weaving nonballad whaler
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 515, "Peterhead" (1 text)
Roud #5999
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Peterhead (515) is at coordinate (h4-5,v1) on that map [on the coast, roughly 28 miles NNE of Aberdeen] - BS
Peterhead was for a time famous as the place where the Old Pretender landed in 1715. As the song indicates, it was a leading whaling port. But first the arctic whales were hunted to near-extinction, and then the fish populations crashed. Peterhead was never to recover its prosperity (although I gather North Sea oil has helped somewhat). - RBW
File: GrD3515
===
NAME: Petie Cam' ower the Glen: see Patie's Wadding (Petie's Wedding) (File: HHH200)
===
NAME: Petit Couturier, La (The Little Dressmaker)
DESCRIPTION: French. A dressmaker goes to an inn; there are two lovely women there. He makes love with the smaller one; the larger offers the dressmaker 100 sovereigns to sleep with her. He declines, for honor's sake. She throws him out of the inn.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1855 (BNP MSS)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: French. A dressmaker goes to an inn; there are two lovely women there. He makes love with the smaller one; the larger, however, is searching for a husband, and offers the dressmaker 100 sovereigns to sleep with her. He declines, for the sake of his own honor and the smaller woman's. The larger woman throws him out of the inn. On the street, his knees begin to tremble; he says that if he were back at peace, he'd never refuse a damsel, but they have tricked him too much 
KEYWORDS: jealousy courting sex rejection request foreignlanguage lover worker
FOUND_IN: France Canada
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 113, "Le Petit Couturier [The Little Dressmaker]" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: K113
===
NAME: Petit Moine, Le (The Little Monk)
DESCRIPTION: French. The little monk finds a dairy-maid crying because she has trouble milking her cows. She offers a kiss if he does the job. The cow kicks over the pail, then kicks the monk into a ditch. The monk vows he'll never again help anyone milk a cow
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (recording, Allan Kelly)
KEYWORDS: farming foreignlanguage humorous animal clergy
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Allan Kelly, "Le Petit Moine (The Little Monk)" (on Miramichi1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Deacon's Calf" (plot)
File: RcLPetMo
===
NAME: Petit Rocher
DESCRIPTION: Canadian French: The trapper, wandering in the forest, fears for his family's safety. He returns home, and arranges for his family's flight from marauding Indians. He remains and is mortally wounded. He prays for comfort in death
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1865 (Gagnon)
KEYWORDS: Quebec family death separation Indians(Am.) foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 34-35, "Petit Rocher" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Grace Lee Nute, _The Voyageur_, Appleton, 1931 (reprinted 1987 Minnesota Historical Society), pp. 148-149, "Petit Rocher" (1 text plus English translation, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Haunted Wood" (plot)
NOTES: This is said to be "the first Canadian song about a Canadian incident."
The song is supposedly based on the legend of the trapper Cadieux. In 1709 he went trapping along the Ottawa River. Returning to his camp and his family, he saw a band of Indians threatening the camp. He put his family in the canoe and stayed behind to slow
the attackers.
When his body was found, it lay in a grave he had dug with his own hands, and with his story written on birchbark with his own blood.
We must regretfully report that little if any verifiable evidence exists for this story. - RBW
File: FMB034
===
NAME: Petite Navire, La: see Little Boy Billee (Le Petite Navire, The Little Corvette) (File: K114)
===
NAME: Petticoat Lane (I): see The Elfin Knight [Child 2] (File: C002)
===
NAME: Petticoat Lane (II)
DESCRIPTION: A man from the country comes to town. His friend shows him the sights of Petticoat Lane. He is beaten at every turn and his pockets picked clean. The police charge him with killing a policeman. His policeman brother Darby gets him off. He goes home 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1855 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(2996))
KEYWORDS: travel violence murder theft reprieve brother police crime brother
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, pp. 18-19, "Petticoat Lane" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2996), "Petticoat Lane" ("To London I came from the sweet county Down"), E.M.A. Hodges (London), 1846-1854; also 2806 b.11(167), Firth b.25(393), "Petticoat Lane"
File: OCon018
===
NAME: Petty Harbour Bait Skiff
DESCRIPTION: A bait skiff sails from Petty Harbour to Conception Bay in the spring and encounters a storm on their return in the summer. A rescue party is dispatched, but only a young fisherman named Menshon is saved.
AUTHOR: John Grace
EARLIEST_DATE: 1852
KEYWORDS: wreck ship disaster rescue
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Fowke/MacMillan 13, "The Petty Harbour Bait Skiff" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, pp. 48-49, "Petty Harbour Bait Skiff" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, pp. 46-47, "Petty Harbour Bait Skiff" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 87, "The Petty Harbour Bait Skiff" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 99-101, "The Petty Harbour Bait Skiff" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BAITSKIF*
Roud #4410
NOTES: Doyle mentions that he received the song from someone who was still alive when the book was compiled and remembered the events fully. However, the recording, "Another Time: Songs of Newfoundland," notes that John Grace wrote the song in 1852, which was almost ninety years before Doyle published it. - SH
File: Doy48
===
NAME: Pewter Tailor, The
DESCRIPTION: The tailor, apparently needing money, enlists with Hugh Fraser. The captain warned him that he could not be a soldier if he is not sober. Someone tells the tailor's mother and his sister buys off the tailor.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: army recruiting money humorous mother sister
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan1 76, "The Pewter Tailor" (1 text)
Roud #5795
NOTES: I am too dense for this humor. The chorus is "O for lead and tin, Pewter, tin and siller; O for twenty pun, To buy the pewter tailor." First, I assume "pun" stands for "pundis" or "pounds" (source: "Glossary" at Wedderburn pages site). Pewter is a silvery alloy of tin, copper and lead. Pewter was used in counterfeit British coins in 18th century (source: "Counterfeit British Coppers" at The Coins of Colonial and Early America site). Is any of this relevant?
GreigDuncan1: "There may possibly be a connection with the Hugh Fraser who was captain in the 78th (Highland) Regiment c. 1780" - BS
My speculation about the tailor being "pewter" has to do with the use of pewter as fake silver -- used for dinnerware, or (as noted) for counterfeit coin. The pewter tailor is an imitation soldier.
There is also the point that pewter eventually poisoned its users as the lead leached out. But the composer of the song would probably be less aware of that than of the use of pewter by those who couldn't afford silver. - RBW
File: GrD1076
===
NAME: Pharaoh's Army: see Sinful Army (File: MHAp199)
===
NAME: Phelimy Phil: see Ballinderry (File: HHH080)
===
NAME: Phil the Fluther's Ball
DESCRIPTION: "Have you heard of Phil the Fluther, of the town of Ballymuch? The times were going hard with him, in fact the man was broke." So he holds a party, passing the hat, promising that the more he takes in, the better the music will be
AUTHOR: Percy French
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1920 (French died in that year)
KEYWORDS: music hardtimes humorous
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
DT, PHILFLUT
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 32, #4 (1987), pp, 22-23, "Phil the Fluther's Ball" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: In addition to a transcription of this song, there was an interesting article about Percy French, who was an Irish-born engineer and entertainer, in _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 32, #4 (1987), pp, 18-20, It quotes extensively from James N. Healy, _Percy French and His Songs_, 1966, a book which I have not seen.
Apparently this song was based on the story of a real person. - RBW
File: DTphilfl
===
NAME: Philadelphia Lawyer, The
DESCRIPTION: "Way out in Reno, Nevada," the Philadelphia lawyer courts a "Hollywood maid." He tries to convince her to come back to Philadelphia with him. But her husband Bill, discovering them, kills the lawyer
AUTHOR: Words: Woody Guthrie (tune: The Jealous Lover)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (composed)
KEYWORDS: murder lawyer courting derivative cowboy infidelity
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 283-284, "The Philadelphia Lawyer" (1 text)
DT, PHILALAW*
Roud #500
RECORDINGS:
Woody Guthrie & Cisco Houston, "Philadelphia Lawyer" (on OrigVis, CowFolkCD1)
Maddox Bros. & Rose, "Philadelphia Lawyer" (on Four Star 1289, 1949)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Reno Blues
NOTES: In one of the strangest lumps I've seen, Roud classifies this with the "Florella" family [Laws F1]. That, of course, provided some inspiration, but the actual text is pure Woody Guthrie. - RBW
File: Grnw283
===
NAME: Philosophical Cowboy, The: see Root, Hog, or Die! (III -- The Bull-Whacker) (File: LoF171)
===
NAME: Phoebe: see Bright Phoebe (File: FSC070)
===
NAME: Phoenix of Erin's Green Isle, The: see O'Reilly from the County Leitrim (File: HHH580)
===
NAME: Phoenix Park Tragedy, The 
DESCRIPTION: Burke and Cavendish are murdered in Dublin's Phoenix Park. The Lord Mayor and Irish MPs -- Davitt, Parnell, Dillon, Sexton -- condemn the assassins. "[L]et us hope and pray to the Lord each night and day, That no Irishman for this crime will be blamed"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: murder Ireland political
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Chronology of the Phoenix Park murders (source: primarily Zimmermann, pp. 62, 63, 281-286.)
May 6, 1882 - Chief Secretary Lord Frederick Cavendish and the Under Secretary Thomas Henry Burke are murdered by a group calling themselves "The Invincible Society."
January 1883 - twenty seven men are arrested.
James Carey, one of the leaders in the murders, turns Queen's evidence.
Six men are condemned to death, four are executed (Joseph Brady is hanged May 14, 1883; Daniel Curley is hanged on May 18, 1883), others are "sentenced to penal servitude," and Carey is freed and goes to South Africa.
July 29, 1883 - Patrick O'Donnell kills Carey on board the "Melrose Castle" sailing from Cape Town to Durban.
Dec 1883 - Patrick O'Donnell is convicted of the murder of James Carey and executed in London (per Leach-Labrador)
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: ()

BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(362), "Lines on the Phoenix Park Tragedy" ("Pay attention young and old to these lines"), unknown, n.d.
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Condemned Men for the Phoenix Park Murders" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders)
cf. "The Execution of Michael Fagan" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders)
cf. "Joe Brady and Dan Curley" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders)
cf. "The Men Awaiting Trial for the Murders in Phoenix Park" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders)
cf. "The Murder of the Double-Dyed Informer James Carey" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders)
cf. "O'Donnell and Carey" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders)
cf. "O'Donnell the Avenger" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders)
cf. "Pat O'Donnell" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders)
cf. "Skin the Goat's Curse on Carey" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders)
cf. "Dan Curley" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders)
cf. "The Bold Tenant Farmer" (subject: Charles Stewart Parnell) and references there
cf. "Carey's Disguise" (possible subject of James Carey)
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 62: "The Phoenix Park murders and their judicial sequels struck the popular imagination and were a gold-mine for ballad-writers: some thirty songs were issued on this subject, which was the last great cause to be so extensively commented upon in broadside ballads." - BS
The Phoenix Park murders were, in the end, very costly for Ireland; at the very least, they destroyed her influence in the English parliament, and arguably cost them Home Rule and eventually resulted in the Civil War.
Though it doesn't seem to have bothered the more vigorous Irish nationalists, we should note  that the Phoenix Park murders were incredibly brutal; Robert Kee (_The Bold Fenian Men_, being Volume II of _The Green Flag_, p. 87) says that Cavendish and the Catholic Irishman Burke were "hacked to death by twelve-inch long surgical knives."
Sadly, the murders forced British Prime Minister Gladstone's hands at a time when he was trying to improve Ireland's condition. It was not just the English who were upset; Charles Stewart Parnell -- who dominated Irish politics and held the balance of power in the English parliament. offered to resign his leadership of the Irish party (see Terry Golway, _For the Cause of Liberty_, p. 175).
Parnell, for the moment, stayed on. But Gladstone still had to be seen to do something -- that something being coercion. (Any scruples he may have had were probably lessened by the fact that Cavendish was Gladstone's nephew by marriage.) And when Gladstone finally managed to propose a limited Home Rule bill in 1886, it failed and Gladstone's government fell (Golway, p. 180).
We might add that Parnell himself was largely responsible for the sequel: His party fell apart not over Phoenix Park but his own adulterous affair (see Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry, _A History of Ireland_, 259-260). Gladstone tried again for Home Rule in 1893; it was rejected in the Lords, and Gladstone sort of faded away. So did Home Rule.
And while Zimmermann is clearly right that this terrorist act caught the attention of the broadside press, it's worth noting that very little of this outpouring of venom seems to have made it into oral tradition. [One song that has been found in Newfoundland and the Canadian Maritimes as well as Ireland is "Pat O'Donnell" which tells only of the assassination of Brady at the very end of the story. - BS]
It did have its effects, though. According to Charles Townshend, _Easter 1916: The Irish Rebellion_, p. 6, the murder was carried out by "[t]he nearest thing to a home-grown terrorist group to appear in Ireland [prior to the twentieth century]... the shadowy Irish National Invincibles.... This ephemeral group carrie out only one operation. All the same, that single operations... had a tremendous psychological impact. Together with the Manchester Martyrs, the Invincibles' drama became an enduring spur to later generations."
Tim Pat Coogan, _Eamon de Valera: The Man Who Was Ireland_, 1993 (I use the 2001 Dorset Press edition), pp. 12-13, gives another take, showing how the horrid events influenced a future Irish leader: "In the year de Valera was born, the desperation... led to some of the most horrific murders in Irish history. There were some sixty agrarian or politics-related killings in the first eight months of the year alone. Amongst these were the knifing to death on 6 May 1882, the day he arrived in Ireland, of the Chief Secretary for Ireland, Lord Frederick Cavendish, and of his Under Secretary, T. H. Burke... Some would argue that reaction in Britain to the deaths aborted progress to Home Rule for Ireland and so paved the way for revolution, partition and today's Provision IRA. Certainly, Parnell was so shattered by the assassinations that for a while he seriously contemplated resignation. Then, in August, there occurred the Maamtrasna murders in Co. Mayo: The Joyce family were slaughtered in a clay-floored hovel shared by humans and animals." Four people were killed, and two boys were mutilated and left for dead. "The neighbours, out of superstition and ignorance, left the boys in agony without doing anything to help them. One child died, and subsequently three men -- one of them innocent -- were hanged for the crime...."
Maamtrasna and the related events became the talk of Ireland, obviously adding to the tensions there.
For more on Parnell, see "We Won't Let Our Leader Run Down." - RBW
File: BrdPhoeP
===
NAME: Phyllis and her Mother
DESCRIPTION: Phyllis hides in the woods. Her mother finds her asleep. The daughter drowsily says, "Damon, dear, how long you take." The mother, enraged, tells Phyllis she must go to a convent; Phyllis demurs: "And if love is wrong, said she/Tell me how I came to be." 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (recording [in German], Paul Reimers)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Waiting for her shepherd lover, Phyllis hides in the woods. Her mother looks for her and, finding her asleep, kisses her supposedly-innocent daughter. The daughter drowsily says, "Damon, dear, how long you take." The mother, enraged, tells Phyllis she must go to a convent; Phyllis demurs: "And if love is wrong, said she/Tell me how I came to be." 
KEYWORDS: courting sex foreignlanguage mother
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Paul Reimers, "Phyllis und die Mutter" (Victor 45062, 1915)
NOTES: The song is probably best-known, in an English translation, from the repertoire of revival singer Richard Dyer-Bennet. However, the 78 by Paul Reimers is evidence that the song circulated in German during the 20th century. Reimers seems to have been an American (or at least a resident), recording for Victor in New Jersey, and most of his recordings are of English-language popular music. Dyer-Bennet notes an anonymous publication of the song in Germany in 1799, but without further data I'm reluctant to list that as earliest date. - PJS
It seems pretty clear to me that it's an art song rather than of true folk origin (at least in the Dyer-Bennet form), but I'm in the same quandry as Paul: I can't do much to trace the history. - RBW
File: RcPhudM
===
NAME: Phyllis and Young William: see William and Phillis (File: CrSNB033)
===
NAME: Picayune Butler, Is She Coming to Town
DESCRIPTION: Minstrel song, with chorus "Picayune Butler, Picayune Butler, Is she coming to town?" In traditional forms, the lyrics float, e.g. the terrapin and the toad, "My ole missus promised me When she died she'd set me free."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: floatingverses slave animal travel
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 164-165, (no title) (1 text)
File: ScaNF164
===
NAME: Pick a Bale a Cotton: see Pick a Bale of Cotton (File: LxU068)
===
NAME: Pick a Bale of Cotton
DESCRIPTION: "You got to jump down, turn around, Pick a bale of cotton...." A list of various people who can, alone or in combination, pick a bale of cotton a day. (In the more serious versions, the singer disclaims any ability to do such a thing.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (recording, James "Iron Head" Baker & group) 
KEYWORDS: work nonballad farming bragging
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Scott-BoA, pp. 393-304, "Pick a Bale o' Cotton" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 68, "Pick a Bale of Cotton" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 231-233, "Pick a Bale o' Cotton" (1 text, 1 tune)
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 99-101, "Pick a Bale a Cotton" (2 texts, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 54, "Pick A Bale Of Cotton" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 123, "Pick A Bale Of Cotton" (1 text)
DT, PICKBALE*
Roud #10061
RECORDINGS:
James "Iron Head" Baker & group, "Pick a Bale o' Cotton" (AFS 195 A1, 1933; on LC53)
James "Iron Head" Baker, "Pick a Bale o' Coton" (AFS 721 B3, 1936) (AFS 3523 A3, 3523 B3, c. 1940)
Folkmasters, "Pick a Bale of Cotton" (on Fmst01)
Mose "Clear Rock" Platt, "Pick a Bale o' Cotton" (AFS 2643 A2, 1939)
Pete Seeger & Sonny Terry, "Pick a Bale of Cotton" (on SeegerTerry)
Pete Seeger, "Pick a Bale o' Cotton" (on PeteSeeger43)
NOTES: Picking a bale of cotton in a single day is, for one picker, an almost superhuman task. - PJS
File: LxU068
===
NAME: Pickaxe Too Heavy
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, dis pickaxe am too heavy, Dis pickaxe am too heavy, Dis pickaxe am too heavy To heavy for my strength."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: work
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 216, (no title) (1 fragment)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Take This Hammer" (theme)
NOTES: This is obviously reminiscent of "Nine Pound Hammer/Take This Hammer" and the like. But the song applies to a different occupation, so -- for lack of additional words -- I split them. - RBW
File: ScNF216A
===
NAME: Picket Line Blues, The
DESCRIPTION: "Com all my friends if you want to know And I'll tell you about the C.I.O.... I'll tell you about the Ashland Strike." The workers picket, and some are arrested; the singer says he will not be discouraged, even though "I've got them picket line blues"
AUTHOR: Bunyan Day
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: strike labor-movement police trial lawyer
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 238-239, "The Picket Line Blues" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ashland Strike" (subject)
NOTES: 1937 is listed by Thomas as the date of the strike mentioned in this song. This is supported by internal evidence: The song mentions the Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act), which legally protected collective bargaining; it was passed in 1935 and declared constitutional by the Supreme Court in 1937.
John L. Lewis (the "John L." of the song) originally served as president of the United Mine Workers, then came into the AFL as chief of the Committee for Industrial Organizations. This group proved too radical for the AFL, and so was expelled in 1937, whereupon Lewis remade it as the Congress of Industrial Organizations. - RBW
File: ThBa128
===
NAME: Picket-Guard, The: see All Quiet Along the Potomac (File: RJ19002)
===
NAME: Pickin' Out Cotton
DESCRIPTION: "Hello, my little girl, which away, which away... Mammy sent me pickin' out cotton." The girl and the singer converse about the state of the cotton and where she is going; the girl (?) concludes by asking for a chew of tobacco
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: work drugs farming
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 212, "Pickin' Out Cotton" (1 text plus an excerpt)
File: Br3212
===
NAME: Picking Lilies: see Waly Waly (The Water is Wide) (File: K149)
===
NAME: Pickle My Bones in Alcohol
DESCRIPTION: A dying request, with the verse, "When I die don't bury me at all... Just pickle my bones in alcohol" (or, sometimes, corn pone). The rest of the song varies widely, usually with other requests for the burial; it may also have blues floating verses
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: drink burial floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE) West Indies
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 38, "Pickle My Bones in Alcohol" (1 relatively full text, 3 fragments plus mention of 2 more)
Roud #727
RECORDINGS:
Edith Perrin, "When I Die" [fragment] (on USWarnerColl01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hard Times in the Mill (I)" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: This piece is one of those Big Problems, because the key verse ("When I die don't bury me at all") floats, and also has a variable ending. We do the best we can with it.
Edith Perrin's West Indian version is so distinct that I thought about calling it a separate song:
Mama, when I die
Don't you bury me at all
Just cure my bone and body in alcohol.
Two bottles of beer,
One at my head and one at my feet,
Then to show the world
That my bones can cure,
My bones can cure.
I suspect that this may have mixed in part of another song -- just possibly, in fact, a religious song, since the Bible tells, e.g., of the curative power of Elisha's bones (2 Kings 13:21). But we really need more text to prove it.
File: Br3038
===
NAME: Picnic at Gros Haut, The: see The Picnic at Groshaut (File: Dib014)
===
NAME: Picnic at Groshaut, The
DESCRIPTION: The ladies prepare the picnic "upon the teagrounds at Gros Haut" but it rains until noon. "If it wasn't a success, 'twas a frolic nonetheless" The picnic is rescheduled for the next day with cider-drinking, dancing, and "scuffles" meanwhile.
AUTHOR: Lawrence Doyle
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: fight dancing drink music party
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 14-15, "The Picnic at Gros Haut" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 178-179,253, "The Picnic at Groshaut" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12483
RECORDINGS:
Arthur Cahill, "The Picnic at Groshaut" (on MREIves01)
NOTES: Groshaut is in the northeast corner of Kings, Prince Edward Island - BS
File: Dib014
===
NAME: Picnic, A
DESCRIPTION: "What's any better than a picnic? The victuals all on the ground, Flies in the buttermilk, bugs in the butter, And the skeeters humming around. Goin' down, children, Goin' down, I say, Goin' down, children, to have a holiday."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1923 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: food nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 191, "A Picnic" (1 text)
Roud #15772
File: Br3191
===
NAME: Picture from Life's Other Side, A
DESCRIPTION: "In the world's mighty gallery of pictures Hang scenes that are faded from life...." The song describes the pictures from life's other side: A gambler staking his mother's ring, a thief killing his brother for gold, a starving woman leaping off a bridge
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1896 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: poverty hardtimes robbery suicide gambling death
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Randolph 603, "A Picture from Life's Other Side" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 422-424, "A Picture from Life's Other Side" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 603)
Silber-FSWB, p. 265, "A Picture From Life's Other Side" (1 text)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 153-154, "The Lights of London Town" (1 text, 1 tune, quite distinct from the common version)
DT, PICTLIFE*
Roud #3527
RECORDINGS:
Benny Borg (The Singing Soldier), "Pictures from Life's Other Side" (Columbia 15183-D, 1927)
The Blue Sky Boys, "Picture From Life's Other Side" (Bluebird 8646/Montgomery Ward M-8845, 1941; rec. 1940)
The Clinch Valley Boys, "Picture From Life's Other Side" (Champion 15316/Silvertone 5091/Challenge 393 [as Borton & Lang], 1927)
Vernon Dalhart, "Pictures from Life's Other Side" (OKeh 40696, 1926)
Hank & Slim, "Three Pictures of Life's Other Side"  (Vocalion 02808,/Vocalion 02840, 1934)
Harkins & Moran [pseud. for Sid Harkreader & Grady Moore], "A Picture from Life's Other Side" (Broadway 8055, c. 1930)
Jenkins Family [or Jenkins Sacred Singers], "Pictures from Life's Other Side" (OKeh 45134, 1927)
Matt Judson, "Pictures from Life's Other Side" (Clarion 5141-C, 1930)
Kelly Family, "A Picture from Life's Other Side" (Decca 5054, 1934)
Bradley Kincaid, "A Picture from Life's Other Side" (Vocalion 5476, 1930; Conqueror 7983, 1932; Vocalion 4647, 1939)
Luke the Drifter [pseud., Hank Williams], "Pictures from Life's Other Side" (MGM 11120, 1951)
Frank Luther's Trio, "A Picture of Life's Other Side" (Decca 5039, 1934)
Old Southern Sacred Singers, "Picture from Life's Other Side" (Brunswick 115, 1926; recut 1932)
Sam Patterson Trio, "Pictures from Life's Other Side" (Edison 52085, 1927)
Goebel Reeves, "Pictures from Life's Other Side" (MacGregor 875, n.d.)
Smith's Sacred Singers, "Pictures from Life's Other Side"  (Columbia 15090-D, 1926/Vocalion 02949, 1935) (Bluebird B-5606, 1934; Montgomery Ward M-4804, 1935)
Smoky Mountain Sacred Singers "'Tis a Picture From Life's Other Side" (Vocalion 5119, c. 1927/Domino 0186, 1927 [as Smoky Mountain Twins ,"A Picture From Life's Other Side"])
"'Tis a Picture From Life's Other Side" (Vocalion 5119, 1927; rec. 1926) (Domino 0186 [as Smoky Mountain Twins,"A Picture From Life's Other Side"], 1927/Challenge 667/Banner 6041 [both as Lonesome Pine Twins, "A Picture from Life's Other Side"], 1927; Banner 0586 [as :Smoky Mountain Twins, "Picture from Life's Other Side"], 1930)
Frank Welling, "Picture[s] from Life's Other Side" (Champion 15924 [as Clarence Young]/Supertone 9612 [as Frank Hill], 1930)
NOTES: The 1896 sheet music credits this to "Vaughn" (B. Vaughan?) -- but we all know what that is worth. Charles E. Baer is another suggested author.
The Australian piece, "The Lights of London Town," shares almost none of the words of the American texts, and lacks the image of the picture. But the details and feel of the song are so close that I really think they spring from the same roots. Meredith et al suspect their version of coming from the music hall. This strikes me as possible -- it may be a music hall rewrite of the American song, or vice versa. - RBW
File: R603
===
NAME: Picture No Artist Can Paint, A
DESCRIPTION: "A quaint New England homestead Where a gray-haired couple dwell, Their heads are bowed with sorrow For the one they loved so well." Their daughter ran away from home after an argument. Her brother left to seek her. Neither has yet returned
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (recording, Leake County Revelers)
KEYWORDS: family separation children brother sister
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 831, "A Picture No Artist Can Paint" (1 text)
Roud #7441
RECORDINGS:
Leake County Revelers, "A Picture No Artist Can Paint" (Columbia 15691-D, 1931; rec. 1930)
File: R831
===
NAME: Picture that Is Turned Toward the Wall, The
DESCRIPTION: "Far beyond the glamour of the city and its strife There's a quiet little homestead by the sea." But a family daughter ran away, and "There's a name that's never spoken, and a mother's heart is broken... And a picture that is turned toward the wall."
AUTHOR: Charles Graham
EARLIEST_DATE: 1891 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: separation abandonment children
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 160-161, "The Picture That Is Turned Toward the Wall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Geller-Famous, pp. 59-63, "The Picture That Is Turned Toward the Wall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert, pp. 276-277, "The Picture That Is Turned Toward the Wall" (1 text)
DT, PICWALL*
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "The Picture That Is Turned Toward the Wall" (Columbia 15030-D, 1925) (Edison 51607 [as Vernon Dalhart & Co.], 1925)
NOTES: Written by Graham after seeing the play "Blue Jeans," in which a father turns his runaway daughter's picture toward the wall. (Why not take it down? Don't ask me.)
The song sold extremely well, but as so often happens, Graham saw little of the proceeds, and died a pauper in 1899.
He also produced a sequel, "Her Father Has Turned the Dear Picture Again." Which had all the success it deserved.
To set a new record for Completely Useless Information Included in the Ballad Index, some students of Sherlock Holmes claim that the woman whose picture is turned toward the wall is none other than Irene Adler, the heroine of "A Scandal in Bohemia." The latter story was published in 1891, with an internal date of 1888 though Sherlockians have demonstrated that this date is not possible. For what little I can glean of this theory, see William S. Baring-Gould, _The Annotated Sherlock Holmes_, Volume I, note 28 to "A Scandal in Bohemia" (p. 354 in the Wings Books edition). - RBW
File: SRW160
===
NAME: Pie in the Sky: see The Preacher and the Slave (File: San221)
===
NAME: Pig at Home in the Pen
DESCRIPTION: Floaters: "When she saw me coming, she hung her head and cried/Yonder comes the meanest boy that ever lived or died." "Next time said darling, pick a bed with me...." Cho: "Got that pig at home in the pen, corn to feed him on/All I want..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (recording, Arthur Smith Trio)
KEYWORDS: love sex rejection farming floatingverses nonballad animal
FOUND_IN: US(SE,Ap)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Spud Gravely w. Glen Smith, "Pig in a Pen" (on Persis1)
Arthur Smith Trio, "Pig at Home in the Pen" (on Bluebird B-7043, 1937)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Shady Grove" (lyrics)
File: RcPAHITP
===
NAME: Pig Got Up and Slowly Walked Away, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer, drunk, walks down the street "in tipsy pride" and falls down in the gutter A pig lies down beside him. A high-toned lady remarks that "you can tell a man who boozes By the company he chooses," and "the pig got up and slowly walked away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (copyrighted by Benjamin Hapgood Burt)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous animal
FOUND_IN: US Britain(England) Australia
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Shellans, pp. 58-59, "Friendship with a Hog" (1 text, 1 tune; the first two verses from this song but the last three might be informant John Daniel Vass's expansions of the piece)
DT, PIGINEBR PIGINEB2 PIGENEB3
Roud #7322
RECORDINGS:
Frank Crumit, "The Pig Got Up and Slowly Walked Away" (Decca 313, 1934)
Rudy Vallee, "The Pig Got Up and Slowly Walked Away" (Victor 25092, 1935)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Juged by the Company One Keeps
The Company One Keeps
Pig and the Inebriate
Pig Got Up and Walked Away
Friendship with a Hog
NOTES: Judging by the results of a cursory Google study, this bit is passing into oral tradition fairly quickly. - PJS
There are quite a few questions about it. Paul credited it to Benjamin Hapgood Burt, with a 1933 copyright -- yet Hazel Felleman's _Best Loved Poems of the American People_, published 1936, lists no author. There are four citations, including Felleman's, in _Granger's Index to Poetry_ (where it is titled "Judged by the Company One Keeps"), none of which mentions Burt; one attributes it to Aimor R. Dickson. My guess is that Burt rewrote an older piece. But it certainly seems to be traditional. - RBW
File: RcPGUSWA
===
NAME: Pig in the Parlor
DESCRIPTION: "My ma and pa was Irish (x3), And I am Irish too," "Your right hand to your partner/neighbor... And we'll all promenade." "We got a new pig in the parlor... and he is Irish too." "We kept the cat in the cream-jug... And it was Irish too." Etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1911 (JAFL 24)
KEYWORDS: playparty nonballad animal family
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 522, "Pig in the Parlor" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 80, "Pig in the Parlor" (1 short text plus 1 excerpt and 1 fragment)
DT, PIGPARLR*
Roud #4251
RECORDINGS:
Chubby Parker, "And That Was Irish Too" (Conqueror 7896, 1931)
Pete Seeger, "Pig in the Parlor" (on PeteSeeger22) (on PeteSeeger33, PeteSeegerCD03)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "We Won't Go Home Until Morning" (floating lyrics, form)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
We Have a Pig in the Parlor
File: R522
===
NAME: Piggy on the Railway: see Paddy on the Railway (File: MSNR151)
===
NAME: Pinery Boy: see The Sailor Boy (I) [Laws K12] (File: LK12)
===
NAME: Pining Daily and Daily
DESCRIPTION: "I am pining day and daily this twelve months and above, I am pining day and daily, and all about my love My beauty it is fading... And I wish I was with my true love...." The singer's love has been unfaithful, but her words encourage him to return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation emigration
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H149, p. 456, "Pining Daily and Daily" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Blacksmith" (plot)
NOTES: Kennedy, seemingly followed by Brunnings, connects this with "She Moved Through the Fair (Our Wedding Day)." This, in my opinion, is an impossible degree of stretch. The lyrics have some similarity to "The Blacksmith"; I also find myself reminded of "I'll Weave My Love a Garland." - RBW
File: HHH149
===
NAME: Pint Pot and Billy
DESCRIPTION: The singer apparently struck it rich in Australia and returned to join the high society in Britain. But he hates it: "Now I am stranded on my own native shore, I'll go back to Australia to the goldfields again." No one understands him; he wants to go home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: Australia home gold
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 116-117, "Pint Pot and Billy" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE116
===
NAME: Pioneer Preacher, The
DESCRIPTION: "As we were on the ice and snow, It rained, it hailed, and the wind did blow... We were so cold we almost died." "But thank the Lord, relief was found...." The singer will preach in Tennessee/Cumberland, where "Religion's scarce"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Hudson)
KEYWORDS: clergy storm pioneer settler Indians(Am.)
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Hudson 82, p. 82, "The Pioneer Preacher" (1 short text)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 168-169, "The Evangelist's Song" (1 text)
Roud #4493
File: Hud082
===
NAME: Pioneers, The
DESCRIPTION: The pioneers, the engineers, the cannoneers are very hardy, and very sexual.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous talltale sex scatological animal
FOUND_IN: US(MW,SW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Cray, pp. 228-231, "The Pioneers" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 510-512, "The Pioneers" (6 texts, 1 tune)
DT, PIONEERS*
Roud #10119
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Son of a Gambolier" (tune & meter) and references there
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Engineers
The M.P.s
The Infantry
The A.P.s
The Mountaineers
File: EM228
===
NAME: Piper MacNeil
DESCRIPTION: Piper MacNeil loves whisky. One night he staggers home falling-down drunk. His mother opens the door, sees his dirty clothes and curses whisky. He says she should not be angry because "as long as I live I aye will be, That I'll take a drap whisky-o"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1967 (recording, Willie Scott)
KEYWORDS: drink mother
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Bord))
REFERENCES: ()

Roud #5125
RECORDINGS:
Willie Scott, "Piper O'Neill" (on Voice13) [the title seems to be an errror for "Piper MacNeil" in the text]
File: RcPipMON
===
NAME: Piper o' Dumbarton, The
DESCRIPTION: "Saw ye Rory Murphy, Rory Murphy, Rory Murphy, Saw ye Rory Murphy, Comin' through Dumbarton?" Rory, "a piper guid," plays for his living and travels Scotland, but at last falls "doun a brae" while drunk
AUTHOR: David Webster ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1899 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: music death drink
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 138-141, "The Piper o' Dumbarton" (1 text)
Roud #13116
File: FVS138
===
NAME: Piper O'Neill: see Piper MacNeil (File: RcPipMON)
===
NAME: Piper of Crossbarry, The
DESCRIPTION: Piper Flor Begley volunteers to fight but his captain prefers that "Today you'll stride between our lines and martial music play." Tom Barry's fighters defeat 2000 British. "The Piper of Crossbarry, boys, had piped old Ireland free"
AUTHOR: Bryan Mac Mahon
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: rebellion battle Ireland patriotic IRA music
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Mar 19, 1921 - Nationalist victory at Crossbarry
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 58A, "The Piper of Crossbarry" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Boys of Kilmichael" (subject: The exploits of Tom Barry)
NOTES: [On March 19, 1921], 104 men of the Third West Cork Flying Column of the IRA, under Tom Barry, defeat more than 1000 British and 120 Auxiliaries about 12 miles south-west of Cork city (source: _Tom Barry Leads West Cork Flying Column To Victory at Crossbarry_ at Cork's War of Independence site).
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
Crossbarry was really two actions: Robert Kee in _Ourselves Alone_, being Volume III of _The Green Flag_ (p. 128) notes that "at Crossbarry... not only did Tom Barry and his flying column successfully ambush a convoy of nine military lorries but fought their way out of a massive attempt to encircle them afterward."
This was not the only victory won by Barry in 1920-1921, nor even his most notorious. He was also, according to _The Oxford Companion to Irish History_, responsible for killing 15 Auxiliaries at Kilmichael on November 28, 1920 -- an event which also inspired a song.
Kee, pp. 120-121, reports of this action, "After a savage fight at close quarters in which three IRA were killed and, according to Barry, the Auxiliaries made use of the notorious 'false surrender' tactics, the entire convoy was wiped out, and seventeen of the eighteen auxiliaries were killed.... [T]he first British officer on the scene... said that although he had seen thousands of men lying dead in the course of the war, he had never before seen such an appalling sight... The doctor at the inquest, an Irishman, said that there was no doubt that some of the injuries had been inflicted after death."
George Dangerfield's history of Irish rebellion, _The Damnable Question_, does not list Kilmichael or Crossbarry but on p. 319 does mention an action of 1920: "On 9 December a flying column under Tom Barry, Commandant of Cork's No. 3 Brigade, and one of the most ruthless and successful of all guerilla leaders, ambushed two lorry loads of Auxiliaries, and wiped them out in circumstances of unusual savagery."
Though the reaction was also ugly, showing how bad conditions were in Ireland at that time: "On 11 December... Auxiliaries and Black and Tans invaded Cork, looting, wrecking, and burning, with the result that the center of the city was destroyed."
Barry would later attack a police barracks in Cork (Kee, p. 128).
Calton Younger, _Ireland's Civil War_, pp. 108-109, notes a case of Barry justifying the murder of a Catholic member of the R. I. C. as he went in to mass, though it doesn't tell whether Barry was actually the assassin.
It's probably no surprise that, when Irish leaders had to decide on the Treaty granting Ireland functional independence, Barry was against it (John A. Murphy, _Ireland in the Twentieth Century_, p. 48).
Tim Pat Coogan (_Michael Collins_, p. 169) sums up Barry and Crossbarry as follows: "Barry in fact was one of the bravest men in the war and probably the most successful field commander.... [H]e achieved a spectacular success at Crossbarry, County Cork, on 19 March 1921. In a day-long engagement, encouraged by the traditional pipes of Flor Begley, Barry and a force of about a hundred men broke through a more heavily armed British encirclement of ten times that number and got away safely...." - RBW
Ironically, Barry (1897-1980) had been in the British Army in Mesopotamia (Kee, p. 70), and had shown no evidence of nationalist sympathies at that time. But he would later become a high officer of the IRA, becoming its Chief of Staff for a time in 1937.
He eventually wrote a memoir, _Guerilla Days in Ireland._
File: OLcM058A
===
NAME: Piper Who Played Before Moses, The: see The Ould Piper (File: RcTOlPi)
===
NAME: Piper's Tunes, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer goes to town "to view the pretty lasses" and sees a famous Captain and Joe Blake. Blake the piper plays the favorite tunes and variations, all named. "Get up and shake your heels, 'tis better sport than any"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1855 (broadside, Johnson Ballads 602)
KEYWORDS: dancing music
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn 11, "The Piper's Tunes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3030
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 602, "Sporting Irish Piper," E.M.A. Hodges (London), 1846-1854; also 2806 b.11(249), Johnson Ballads 603, "Sporting Irish Piper"; 2806 c.15(147), 2806 b.9(225), "The Rakes of Kildare"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Bob and Joan" (tune, per OLochlainn)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
John Murphy
NOTES: The final line of the Bodleian "The Rakes of Kildare" broadsides is "Oh, tune up the old banjo, for that's better than any." OLochlainn's town is Cove and his famous captain Burke of Grove; the broadsides town is Kildare and the famous captain Cornock of Cromwell's Fort. The Bodleian "Sporting Irish Piper" broadsides have no similar final line or famous captain, the town is Liverpool and the piper is John Murphy." The same tunes are played throughout. - BS
File: OLoc011
===
NAME: Pirate of the Isles, The
DESCRIPTION: "I command a steady band Of pirates so bold and free." The pirate rejoices at being ruler of his ship and men. He tells of his joy in the sea. At last, however, he is overtaken by a warship. Hit by a cannonball, he is dying. His crew surrenders
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1847 (Journal of William Histed of the Cortes)
KEYWORDS: pirate ship battle death
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Harlow, pp. 172-174, "The Pirate of the Isle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 74-77, "The Pirate of the Isles" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2024
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y4:026, "The Pirate of the Isles," unknown, 19C
File: SWMS074
===
NAME: Pirate Smith
DESCRIPTION: Smith scoured the seas "with a noble crew of cutthroats." "He said that grabbing booty was a Briton's pleasing duty." He'd hang foreign foemen from his lanyards. At 37 he is killed by a Spanish bullet and goes to heaven "to rest in Nelson's bosom"
AUTHOR: T.D. Sullivan (1827-1914) (source: OLochlainn-More)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: death sea ship England humorous political pirate
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 65, "Pirate Smith" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Sullivan is the author of a number of Irish patriotic poems, of which "God Save Ireland" is probably the best-known. This is one of the few non-nationalist poems I've seen from his pen. Ironically, the Smith he commemorates does not seem to be very famous; there are several Smiths with entries in Rogozinski's _The Wordsworth Dictionary of Pirates_, but none of them fit the hero of this song. - RBW
File: OLcM065
===
NAME: Pirate Song: see The Bold Pirate [Laws K30] (File: LK30)
===
NAME: Pirate, The: see Captain Kidd [Laws K35] (File: LK35)
===
NAME: Pirate's Serenade, The
DESCRIPTION: "My boat's by the tower, my bark's in the bay, And both must be gone ere the dawn of the day." The pirate waits for his bride. He asks that his roughness be excused. She shall "rule as Queen." He sees her signal that she is coming
AUTHOR: William Kennedy (source: Whistle-Binkie)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1842 (_Whistle-Binkie_)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage ship pirate
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 152-153, "The Pirate's Serenade" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Alexander Rodger, editor, _Whistle-Binkie_, Second Series (Glasgow, 1842), pp. 99-100, "The Pirate's Serenade"
Roud #2698
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.25(493), "The Pirate's Serenade," T.A. Jackson (Birmingham) , c.1860
NOTES: See two very similar broadsides for "The Pirate's Serenade" attributed to Geo. A. W. Langford Fahie and with the tune "I Am Off for Baltimore": LOCSinging, as111010, "The Pirate's Serenade," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also sb30427a, "The Pirate's Serenade" - BS
File: CrMa152
===
NAME: Piri-miri-dictum Domini: see I Gave My Love a Cherry
 (File: R123)
===
NAME: Pitcaithly's Wells
DESCRIPTION: "It fell aboot the Lammas time A fine time o' the year..." that the singer goes out and sees the girls "drink the waters clear." His eye lights on one in particular. He asks if she will marry; she refuses at first, but after a time of courting, consents
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: love courting
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 133-134, "Pitcaithly's Wells" (1 text)
Roud #5549
NOTES: Ord reports a legend that this was written, perhaps c. 1700, by the Earl of Kinnoul in honor of Jeannie Oliphant of Pitcaithly. This sounds like the usual sort of pretty legend. - RBW
File: Ord134
===
NAME: Pitgair: see Charlie, O Charlie (Pitgair) (File: Ord216)
===
NAME: Pitman's Courtship, The
DESCRIPTION: "Quite soft blew the wind from the west, The sun faintly shone in the sky, When Lukey and Bessie sat courting, As walking I chanced to espy." He reminds her that they have been together since childhood, and promises business and a fine wedding
AUTHOR: William Mitford
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay); Mitford died 1851
KEYWORDS: love courting marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Stokoe/Reay, pp.  39-40, "The Pitman's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR039 (Partial)
Roud #3058
File: StoR039
===
NAME: Pitman's Happy Times, The
DESCRIPTION: "When aw wes yung, maw collier lads, Ne man cud happier be; For wages was like sma' coals then, An' cheps cud raise a spree." The singer recalls all afford in his youth, and notes in sad amazement all the changes since -- e.g. that all children can read
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: work age children food clothes money mining
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 167-169, "The Pitman's Happy Times" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3172
NOTES: Never thought I'd see a coal miner reminiscing about the good old days.... - RBW
File: StoR167
===
NAME: Pitty Patty Poke
DESCRIPTION: Game played while patting a baby's feet: "Pitty patty poke, Shoe the wild colt, Here a nail, there a nail, Pitty patty poke"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 119, "Pitty Patty Poke" (1 text)
Roud #7850
File: Br3119
===
NAME: Pity Poor Labourers
DESCRIPTION: "You sons of old England, now listen... Concerning poor lab'rers we all must allow Who work all day at the tail of the plow. Oh, pity poor lab'rers, oh, pity them all, For five or six shillings they work the whole week." The complaints of poor workers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: poverty work
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 18-19, "Pity Poor Labourers" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE018
===
NAME: Place Where the Old Horse Died, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls a spot -- a spot he no longer visits: "The place where the old horse died." He recalls that final ride, where the horse, for no evident reason, stumbled. Rider soon arose, but the faithful horse never moved again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955
KEYWORDS: horse death burial
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 279-281, "The Place Where the Old Horse Died" (2 texts, 1 tune)
File: MA279
===
NAME: Plaidie Awa, The: see The Wind Blew the Bonnie Lass's Plaidie Awa' (File: RcWBTBLP)
===
NAME: Plain Golden Band, The [Laws H17]
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls his parting from his former sweetheart and why she gave back her engagement ring. A young man comes to her and tells her stories of the singer's falsehood. She briefly dallies with him. Having stained the ring, she must return it
AUTHOR: Joe Scott?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Ives-NewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: farewell ring infidelity lie trick
FOUND_IN: US(NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Laws H17, "The Plain Golden Band"
Doerflinger, pp. 247-249, "The Plain Golden Band" (2 texts, 2 tunes, although Laws apparently does not include the first text and tune, which are fragmentary, with this ballad)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 149-151,253, "The Plain Golden Band" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 159-162, "The Plain Golden Band" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 39, "The Plain Golden Band" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 693, PLAINGLD
Roud #1963
NOTES: Ives-DullCare: "Of all Joe Scott's ballads, this is the one most closely identified with him. Even people who didn't know the song itself would often tell me that it was about Joe's own life--that this Lizzie had jilted him and it broke his heart." - BS
File: LH17
===
NAME: Plains of Baltimore, The
DESCRIPTION: As the singer prepares to leave (Ireland?), his rich sweetheart promises to go with him and takes some of her father's money with her. They leave Ireland for America and settle down happily. Her father promises a reward when their first son is born
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: emigration father love elopement
FOUND_IN: US(MA) Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Warner 5, "Plains of Baltimore" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H553, p. 482, "Jamie, Lovely Jamie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 38, "There Was a Wealthy Farmer" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa005 (Full)
Roud #7457
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bonny Labouring Boy" [Laws M14]
NOTES: Creighton-SNewBrunswick has the money sewn into her dress: "This lovely maid was gaily decked most wondrous to behold, And in her dress a fortune sewed, five hundred pounds in gold." - BS
This is fairly typical of the versions, though the amount varies, as does the place of departure. The ending, in which the father forgives and offers more money once the son is born, seems fixed. - RBW
File: Wa005
===
NAME: Plains of Drishane, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer "roamed Eastwards to view navigations of the pleasin' grand scene" and other wonders "for this far famed dwelling station Whose proper appelation her name is Drisbane ... For grandeur it has taken the sway from them all"
AUTHOR: Sean O Tuama (Johnny Nora Aodha)? (source: OCanainn)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1978 (OCanainn)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: The singer "roamed Eastwards to view navigations of the pleasin' grand scene" and other wonders "for this far famed dwelling station Whose proper appelation her name is Drisbane." He admires each plantation, the mill for gringing corn, the huge oxen, guinea-hens, peacock and swan. The trees are matchless. The castle "has baffled molestations and Cromwell's aspirations." Strangers "ponder in amazement whilst on it they are gazing." They tell "in all these foreign places, Spain, Germany and Gaul" that "for grandeur it has taken the sway from them all."
KEYWORDS: nonballad lyric
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OCanainn, pp. 92-93,123, "The Plains of Drishane" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Groves of Blarney" (theme: extravagant praise of Cork) and references there

NOTES: This, probably consciously, outdoes "The Groves of Blarney." For example, in "Blarney" the castle is attacked by Cromwell: "her he did pommel. And made a breach in her battlement." Cromwell's "molestations" are "baffled" at Drisbane.
OCanainn: The singer "tells me that Johnny Nora Aodha is said to have composed it while going by horse and cart to Drishane for lime. On his arrival he sang the song for the man who was to sell him the lime. Tradition has it that his composition was so well receivd that he got the lime free. It's a good story and deserves to be true!" Maybe so, but to my mind it's too good of a one-upmanship story over the writer of "Castle Hyde,' the "inspiration" for "The Groves of Blarney." And Aodha's song seems to me to one up "The Groves of Blarney" which, itself, one ups "Castle Hyde." - BS
File: OCan092
===
NAME: Plains of Emu, The (The Exile of Erin II)
DESCRIPTION: The Irish prisoner sadly recalls his home in Erin. The singer, though he claims he never received "a base-earned coin," has been transported for life. He fondly recalls his mother and his Nora. He says, "The tie is unbroken on the plains of Emu."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1829
KEYWORDS: prisoner transportation separation
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 36-37, "The Exile of Erin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4354
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Exile of Erin (I)" (theme)
NOTES: Emu Plains was a prison farm outside Sydney, established to grow food for the large population of that city. - RBW
File: FaE036
===
NAME: Plains of Illinois, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer urges "all you good old farmers that on your plow depend" to "come travel west and settle on the plains of Illinois." It is alleged that Adam would compare Illinois to the Garden of Eden. The state and its residents are glowingly described
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: Bible talltale emigration farming
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
FSCatskills 89, "The Plains of Illinois" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 162-163, "El-A-Noy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 41, "El-A-Noy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 561, "El-a-noy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 42, "Elanoy" (1 text)
DT, PLAINILL*
Roud #4605
RECORDINGS:
Art Thieme, "State of Illinois" (on Thieme01) (on Thieme05)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
State of Illinois
File: FSC089
===
NAME: Plains of Mexico (I), The: see Santy Anno (File: Doe078)
===
NAME: Plains of Mexico (II): see The Banks of the Nile (Men's Clothing I'll Put On II) [Laws N9] (File: LN09)
===
NAME: Plains of Waterloo (I), The [Laws N32]
DESCRIPTION: The singer, a soldier, sees Sally lamenting for her Willie --  the wars are over but Willie has not returned. He tells her that Willie died at Waterloo after bidding her farewell, but then shows his half of a broken token and reveals himself as Willie
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Mackenzie)
KEYWORDS: brokentoken disguise mourning war soldier battle
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
Laws N32, "The Plains of Waterloo I"
Fowke/MacMillan 66, "The Plains of Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 85, "The Plains of Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 1014-1015, "The Plains of Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 126, "Plains of Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 56-57, "Plains of Waterloo" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 34, "Plains of Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 69, "Waterloo" (1 text)
Moylan 189, "The Plains of Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-Maguire 46, pp. 137-138,173, "Smith at Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 459, PLNWLOO PLNWLOO2
Roud #960
RECORDINGS:
Amos Jollimore, "The Plains of Waterloo" (on MRHCreighton)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] and references there
cf. "The Banks of the Clyde (I)" (plot, lyrics)
cf. "The Maid of Dunmore" (partial plot, lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Smith at Waterloo
NOTES: Creighton-Maritime: "I have two quite different songs by the same title." I believe Creighton's complete version and fragmentary text are both Laws N32.
Creighton's problem seems to come from the fragment's following "eighteenth of June" verse that matches no other "eighteenth of June" I've found for any Waterloo ballad or broadside; the sense of the verse -- that Willie was killed in battle -- belongs with Laws N32. In addition, the only other verse in the fragment also belongs to Laws N32.
"On the eighteenth day of June the battle was ended
Which caused many the British heroes to sigh and complain,
The drums they did beat and the cannons they did rattle
And by a French soldier your true love was slain."
Mackenzie: "The hypothesis that I have finally excogitated is that 'Waterloo' [Laws N32] is a fragmentary and modified version of the early nineteenth-century English ballad entitled 'The Mantle So Green,' [Laws N38] and that 'The Mantle So Green' is in its turn a modified version of the late eighteenth-century English ballad 'George Reilly.' [Laws N36]" Mackenzie's discussion includes a detailed examination of the three ballads. 
Online, you can get some idea of the similarities by using these texts at one of the Digital Tradition sites [searching on the DT number works, for example #459]:
Laws N32: "Plains of Waterloo" DT #459.
Laws N38: "The Mantle So Green" DT #463.
Laws N36: "George Reilly (6)" DT #592 [unfortunately, as noted there, this one "sort of stops short," before the narrator tells of George's supposed dying words "Farewell, my dearest Nancy ...." Laws reveals the end: Finally he [the narrator] puts an end to the girl's grief by revealing that he is Riley."] - BS
Obviously there is a great similarity between these broken token songs, and the Waterloo-specific versions probably *are* more recent (since the Napoleonic Wars were the last great wars before the telegraph and railroad and widespread literacy). But the vast number of songs of this type (see the mass list under Laws N36) inclines me to think that they are not all related -- but that Laws N36 and "The Mantle So Green" [Laws N38], which are among the most popular, are at the heart of the tradition. - RBW
The ballad is recorded on one of the CD's issued around the time of the bicentenial of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. See:
Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "The Plains of Waterloo" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte," Hummingbird Records HBCD0027 (2001)) - BS
File: LN32
===
NAME: Plains of Waterloo (II), The [Laws J3]
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of all the places he has fought, ending with his part at Waterloo (from which he is grateful to have emerged alive). He tells of Napoleon's success on the first two days of the battle and of Wellington's victory on the final day
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1869 (Logan)
KEYWORDS: war Napoleon battle
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND_IN: US(MW) Canada(Mar,Ont)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws J3, "The Plains of Waterloo II"
Dean, pp. 118-119, "The Battle of Waterloo" (1 text)
Mackenzie 73, "The Plains of Waterloo," "Wellington and Waterloo" (2 texts)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 117-119, "The Battle of Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 547, PLNWLOO3
ST LJ03 (Full)
Roud #1922
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "The Plains of Waterloo" (on Abbott1)
Amos Jollimore, "The Plains of Waterloo" (on MRHCreighton)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Plains of Waterloo (V)" (subject, plot)
NOTES: The notes in Laws regarding this piece are somewhat confusing. He quotes Mackenzie to the effect that this song "is plainly derived" from the much longer, more elaborate broadside piece we've listed as "The Plains of Waterloo (V)."
That the two are on the same theme is undeniable. But Bennett Schwartz, who has examined the matter with care, notes "I do not believe it was Laws's intent to consider these both the same, but rather to consider only the derivative as traditional.  I think an argument can be made that J3 is not a derivative of this broadside at all."
Schwartz adds,
There are three other broadsides in Bodleian Library site Ballads Catalogue that describe the battle and go under the name "Plains of Waterloo." I do not believe they are the source of J3 either. Specifically,
"The Plains of Waterloo" beginning "The ancient sons of glory were all great men they say" (shelfmarks Harding B15(239b), Harding B 28(76), Harding B 11(3017), Harding B11(3018), Harding B 11(3019))
"The Plains of Waterloo" beginning "Assist me you muses while I relate a story" ( Harding B25(1501)[a hard-to-read copy])
"The Plains of Waterloo" beginning "On the Eighteenth Day of June, my boys, Napoleon did advance" (shelfmarks Firth c.14(7), Firth b.25(507), Firth c.14(28), Harding B11(91), Harding B 25(1503), Harding B 11(3020), Harding B 15(239a)) [Roud #5824]
Mackenzie's opening stanza for this song is presumably characteristic:
Come all you brisk and lively lads, come listen unto me,
While I relate how I have fought through the wars of Germany.
I have fought through Spain, through Portugal, through France and Flanders too;
But it's little I thought I'd be reserved for the plains of Waterloo. - BS, RBW
Although the "Battle of Waterloo" took place on June 18, 1815, it was actually the culmination of a several-day campaign. Napoleon, who had just returned from Elba, knew that all Europe would soon turn against him. His only hope was to defeat his enemies piecemeal -- starting with the Anglo-Dutch army of Wellington (the hero of the Peninsular campaign) and the Prussian army of Blucher.
Even though Napoleon started levying troops immediately, Wellington and Blucher together outnumbered the forces at his command by better than three to two. He had to separate them. He undertook this by dividing his army into two wings, the left under Ney and the right under Grouchy. (This was probably Napoleon's worst mistake of the campaign. He left his three of his best Marshals -- Soult, Suchet, and Davout -- in minor roles, while making the uninspired Ney and the inexperienced Grouchy his field commanders).
Napoleon struck first on June 16. Ordering Ney to attack Wellington's rearguard at Quatre Bras, Napoleon took Grouchy's reinforced right and attacked Blucher at Ligny. Ney's attack accomplished little, but Grouchy beat Blucher handily at Ligny.
Napoleon had apparently achieved his objective; Blucher was forced to retreat -- which took him away from Wellington. Napoleon therefore swung the larger part of his army back to deal with the British.
Unfortunately for the French, Blucher didn't retreat far. Even worse, Grouchy didn't follow him closely. Ney's errors topped things off. Given field command by Napoleon at Waterloo (June 18), Ney was unable to dislodge Wellington before Blucher returned to the battlefield. Since Grouchy did *not* show up, Blucher and Wellington swept Ney from the field, ending Napoleon's dreams forever. - RBW
File: LJ03
===
NAME: Plains of Waterloo (III), The [Laws J4]
DESCRIPTION: A boast of the bloody victory at Waterloo, telling of Mooney, who rides a milk-white steed as he rides his troops, and of General Hill, one of thousands of casualties
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: war Napoleon battle
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws J4, "The Plains of Waterloo III"
SharpAp 139, "Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 391, PLNSWLOO*
Roud #1923
File: LJ04
===
NAME: Plains of Waterloo (IV), The
DESCRIPTION: A very confused song. The singer goes to fight the French at Waterloo. He thinks of the mountains of Britain, and his parting from his girl. He receives a letter. Now the girl recalls her lover's departure and curses the man who killed him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: soldier death Napoleon
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H608, pp. 87-88, "The Plains of Waterloo (IV)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 192, "The Plains of Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1106
NOTES: Sam Henry's text almost has to be a conflate song, combining two (or more) Waterloo ballads. Possibly they came together because both involved letters between lovers. But with only five stanzas of the combined piece, I haven't been able to identify the parts.
The best candidate seems to be Ford's song of the same name; they have similar opening lines, and Roud lumps the pieces. But the plots are different. - RBW
File: HHH608
===
NAME: Plains of Waterloo (V), The
DESCRIPTION: "On the sixteenth day of June, my boys, in Flanders where we lay," the troops are ordered to meet Napoleon at Waterloo. Napoleon urges on his men; Wellington just fights. When the British emerge victorious, they drink to King George
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1869 (Logan)
KEYWORDS: war Napoleon battle
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND_IN: Britain(England,Scotland) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Logan, pp. 106-109, "The Battle of Waterloo" (1 text)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 61-65, "The Plains of Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 299-301, "The Plains of Waterloo" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 1016-1017, "The Plains of Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LJ03A (Partial)
Roud #1106
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y1:033, "The Battle of Waterloo," James Lindsay Jr. (Glasgow), 19C
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Plains of Waterloo (II)"  [Laws J3] (subject, plot)
SAME_TUNE:
Behold He Comes (per broadside Murray, Mu23-y1:033)
NOTES: Laws mentions this piece in connection with Laws J3, "The Plains of Waterloo (II)," quoting Mackenzie's claim that this is the literary original of that ballad. Earlier editions of this index lumped the two (based on a lack of reliable texts of Laws J3 for comparison).
But, as Bennett Schwartz points out, they are not the same song as they stand now, and this piece may not even be the actual source of the Laws ballad; the material they both contain is largely commonplace. Thus we split them, though fragments might go with either one, and there will be editors who lump. - BS, RBW
Although the "Battle of Waterloo" took place on June 18, 1815, it was actually the culmination of a several-day campaign. Napoleon, who had just returned from Elba, knew that all Europe would soon turn against him. His only hope was to defeat his enemies piecemeal -- starting with the Anglo-Dutch army of Wellington (the hero of the Peninsular campaign) and the Prussian army of Blucher.
Even though Napoleon started levying troops immediately, Wellington and Blucher together outnumbered the forces at his command by better than three to two. He had to separate them. He undertook this by dividing his army into two wings, the left under Ney and the right under Grouchy. (This was probably Napoleon's worst mistake of the campaign. He left his three of his best Marshals -- Soult, Suchet, and Davout -- in minor roles, while making the uninspired Ney and the inexperienced Grouchy his field commanders).
Napoleon struck first on June 16. Ordering Ney to attack Wellington's rearguard at Quatre Bras, Napoleon took Grouchy's reinforced right and attacked Blucher at Ligny. Ney's attack accomplished little, but Grouchy beat Blucher handily at Ligny.
Napoleon had apparently achieved his objective; Blucher was forced to retreat -- which took him away from Wellington. Napoleon therefore swung the larger part of his army back to deal with the British.
Unfortunately for the French, Blucher didn't retreat far. Even worse, Grouchy didn't follow him closely. Ney's errors topped things off. Given field command by Napoleon at Waterloo (June 18), Ney was unable to dislodge Wellington before Blucher returned to the battlefield. Since Grouchy did *not* show up, Blucher and Wellington swept Ney from the field, ending Napoleon's dreams forever.
The other general mentioned in the song, Jerome, was Napoleon's younger brother. At Waterloo he commanded Ney's left, and failed completely to rout the British from their stronghold of Hougoumont. - RBW
File: LJ03A
===
NAME: Plains of Waterloo (VI), The
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of her love, a soldier. She describes his beauty. He fights in the peninsular war. He dies at Salamanca and Waterloo. She describes his last messages, then says she will remain faithful until her own death
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: battle soldier death Napoleon
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 22, 1812 - Battle of Salamanca
June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Greig #79, pp. 2-3, "The Plains of Waterloo" (1 text) 
GreigDuncan1 152, "The Plains of Waterloo" (8 texts, 7 tunes)
SHenry H15, p. 87, "The Plains of Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 191, "The Plains of Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2853
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(49), "The Battle of Waterloo" ("On the 16th day of June, my boys, in Flanders where we lay"), unknown, no date; also Johnson Ballads 2338[many illegible lines; "Written by two soldiers of the Highland Brigade"], "The Battle of Waterloo"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Waterloo
NOTES: The Sam Henry version of this song seems to conflate the battles of Salamanca and Waterloo; the hero is fighting at the first when he dies at the second. Either the song has been strangely damaged in transmission (and it shows no other signs of damage), or it was written by someone with no real understanding of the Napoleonic Wars. My guess is the latter; I suspect this was written well after its alleged date. - RBW
Harding B 11(3020)GreigDuncan1 152C verse 1 belongs to "The Plains of Waterloo (VIII)"; the other two verses belong to "The Plains of Waterloo (V)." - BS
File: HHH015
===
NAME: Plains of Waterloo (VII), The
DESCRIPTION: Singer tells about her lover who "fought in Spain and Portugal and was slain at Waterloo." When Ireland fell he joined Bonaparte, promising to return and marry. "When Bathurst was taken" he went to Waterloo. She'll have no other man.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 2000 (Moylan)
KEYWORDS: love battle soldier death Napoleon
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 190, "The Plains of Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Moylan considers this the same song as "The Plains of Waterloo" (VI), but then he argues against his own position: "Unlike most other Napoleonic songs found in Ireland and Britain, the hero of the song fights on Napoleon's side." Moylan's version of "The Plains of Waterloo" (VI) (Moylan 191) shares no lines with this ballad.
Moylan speculates that the Bathurst reference "may refer to Henry, the 3rd Earl of Bathurst, who was Secretary of State for the Colonies." There is a connection between "Bathurst" and Napoleon. The following statement is from the Napoleonic Society site: "It is our view that Liverpool, Castlereagh and Bathurst betrayed Napoleon by offering him asylum in England and then sending him off to St-Helena." Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (Foreign Secretary 1812-1822), Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (Prime Minister 1812-1827), and Henry Bathurst (Secretary of State for War and the Colonies 1812-1827) are the parties mentioned.
The ballad is recorded on one of the CD's issued around the time of the bicentenial of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. See:
Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Love at Waterloo" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte," Hummingbird Records HBCD0027 (2001)) 
Frank Harte's version resolves the Bathurst "problem." His verse is
When Badajoz was taken and our leaders all were dead,
The plain around in carnage lay to show how much we bled,
Ten thousand man lay in their gore and those who fled were few,
And we marched on to fight once more on the Plains of Waterloo.
Harte: "Badajoz ... is the capital of Badajoz province situated near the border with Portugal. The French captured it in 1811, and held it until the following year when it was retaken by the British, led by the Duke of Wellington." - BS
File: Moyl190
===
NAME: Plains of Waterloo (VIII), The
DESCRIPTION: "On the eighteenth day of June, my boys, Napoleon did advance." "The fight did last from ten o'clock until the close of day." The Belgians desert the Britons on the field but "the Prussians with the English join'd so nobly drubb'd their foe"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1856 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(91))
KEYWORDS: battle France Napoleon
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan1 153, "Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5824
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(91), "Plains of Waterloo" ("On the eighteenth day of June, my boys, Napoleon did advance"), W. Jackson and Son (Birmingham), 1842-1855; also Harding B 11(3020), Harding B 25(1503), Firth b.25(507), Firth c.14(28), Firth c.14(7), Harding B 15(239a), "The Plains of Waterloo[!]"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hanoverian March" (tune, per broadsides Bodleian Firth b.25(507), Firth c.14(28))
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(91) is the basis for the description. - BS
The song conforms to the general outline of the Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon with most of his army attacked Wellington. He came fairly close to victory, but was defeated when the Prussian forces under Blucher arrived and gave the allies a decisive edge in numbers, guaranteeing a French defeat.
It should be noted that there was no nation of Belgium at the time of Waterloo; it was a later creation. Still, the army of Wellington did contain soldiers from this part of the Low Countries -- and he didn't trust them much, and made sure to alternate them with reliable English soldiers.
The times in the song are inaccurate. There was some minor fighting in the morning around the strong British position at Hougoumont (see David Chandler, _The Campaigns of Napoleon_, Macmillan, 1966, p. 1072, but Napoleon did not begin his big push until 1:00 p.m. on June 18, to let the ground dry out (Chandler, p. 1067). Few British forces were involved until the latter attack began. And even when Napoleon began his artillery bombardment, the British were mostly hidden behind a ridge line, keeping them safe (Chandler, p. 1073).
Fighting continued at some points of the line until 8:00 or 9:00 in the evening (Chandler, p. 1090), as the light faded. By that time, Napoleon's left was completely stalled (it had been stalled all day), his center had been repulsed, and his right had been bent back into a hairpin salient and was starting to crumble (see the map on pp. 1082-1083 of Chandler).
The French army was not completely ruined, as is sometimes asserted -- indeed, it did some good rearguard fighting -- but it was definitely defeated. Napoleon turned the task of rallying the troops over to Marshal Soult and prepared to head for Paris to try to hold his government together (Chandler, p. 1090). But though France was probably physically capable of fighting on, no one except Napoleon wanted to continue the fight. He ended up riding all the way into exile, and was sent to Saint Helena. - RBW
File: GrD1153
===
NAME: Plainte du Capitaine, La (The Captain's Lament)
DESCRIPTION: French. A wind blows the ship off course. The captain climbs the mainmast and finds the way home but is thrown into the sea. He is sorry to leave his family. At his burial he wants the crew to sing that he died on the deadly sea.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage death sea ship storm children mother wife sailor mourning separation funeral
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 161-162, "La Plainte du Capitaine" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Pea161
===
NAME: Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee)
DESCRIPTION: Once the crop is gathered in, the illegal workers who harvested them can be sent back to Mexico. They are taken and separated and put on a plane across the border. The plane catches fire and crashes over Los Gatos; the Mexicans are killed
AUTHOR: Words: Woody Guthrie / Music: Martin Hoffman
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961
KEYWORDS: death disaster foreigner work political flying crash exile emigration
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Jan 28, 1948 - The Los Gatos plane crash
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Scott-BoA, pp. 367-369, "Plane Wreck at Los Gatos" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 294-295, "Plane Wreck at Los Gatos" (1 text)
DT, DEPORTE*
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Deportee" (on PeteSeeger41)
File: SBoA367
===
NAME: Plant, Plant the Tree
DESCRIPTION: Freedom's sun is rising for Ireland. "Despotic sway from France is chas'd, And church delusion's vanish'd"; Ireland needs the same. "Plant ... fair Freedom's Tree." The French will help. "Erin Go Bragh" will replace "God Save the King." Wars will end
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1790s (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: rebellion France Ireland political
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Zimmermann 5, "Plant, Plant the Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 19, "Plant, Plant the Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Evidently a reference to the events of the 1790s, when the French Revolution seemed to portend freedom for many nations. The irony is that instead it led to the Reign of Terror, and Napoleon, and not much else. Indeed, Ireland would see her freedom reduced; since 1782, she had had some internal autonomy under Grattan's Parliament (see the notes to "Ireland's Glory"). But the French were in fact very little help (see the notes to "The Shan Van Voght"), and Ireland would suffer first the 1798 rebellion and then the Union of the Parliaments. - RBW
File: Zimm005
===
NAME: Plantonio: see Pattonia, the Pride of the Plains [Laws B12] (File: LB12)
===
NAME: Platonia: see Pattonia, the Pride of the Plains [Laws B12] (File: LB12)
===
NAME: Platte River Girl, The: see Jack Haggerty (The Flat River Girl) [Laws C25] (File: LC25)
===
NAME: Pleasant and Delightful
DESCRIPTION: On a "pleasant and delightful" midsummer's morn, a sailor bids farewell to his true love. She gives him a token, and begs to come along with him. He forbids it, but promises that they will be wed "if ever I return again."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1841 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.18(276))
KEYWORDS: love farewell ring separation
FOUND_IN: Britain(England,Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
GreigDuncan1 64, "The Sailor and His True Love" (12 texts, 10 tunes)
DT, PLESDELT*
Roud #660
RECORDINGS:
Sam Larner, "Happy and Delightful" (on SLarner02)
Cyril Poacher, "A Sailor and His True Love" (on Voice02)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.18(276), "The Sailor and his Truelove" ("As a young sailor and his truelove one morning in May"), J. Jennings (London), 1790-1840; also Firth c.12(147), Harding B 17(266b), "Sailor and his Truelove"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Farewell, Charming Nancy [Laws K14]" (plot, lyrics)
cf. "The Bold Privateer" [Laws O32] (meter)
cf. "The Soldier and the Sailor" (meter)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Mary Ann
Charming Mary Ann
NOTES: This song shares many similarities with "Farewell, Charming Nancy" [Laws K14]; it is not impossible that they have a common ancestor. But the degree of difference is now so large that, until an intermediate version shows up, I must regard them as separate. - RBW
File: DTplesde
===
NAME: Please Have Mercy on a Longtime Man
DESCRIPTION: "Well I went to the Captain, with my hat in my hand, Said, 'A-Lordy, have mercy, on a longtime man.... He spit on the ground." The singer recalls the poor food, says that his parents lied about earning him a pardon, and complains of prison life
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (vollected from Louis Houston and Matt Williams by Jackson)
KEYWORDS: prison nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 88-91, "Please Have Mercy on a Longtime Man" (3 texts, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Godalmighty Drag" (lyrics)
NOTES: Jackson notes that his informants regard his three texts as three different songs. In terms of content, they are right -- each version is distinct, and while any two versions have words in common, there is hardly anything common to the three. But they have the same tune, and the rest seems to be more the result of the extreme fluidity of prison songs than anything else. Given that all three versions seem to be largely unique, it didn't seem worthwhile to split them. - RBW
File: JDM088
===
NAME: Please, Don't Burn Our Shithouse Down
DESCRIPTION: The singer pleads for his/her outhouse, chronicling the family's woes, and promises to pay [tax?].
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1733 (Thomson's Orpheus Caledonius)
KEYWORDS: bawdy family humorous scatological
FOUND_IN: Australia Canada Britain(England,Scotland) Ireland US(ubiquitous) New Zealand
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cray, pp. 109-111, "Please, Don't Burn Our Shithouse Down" (5 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 191-195, "Finest Fucking Family" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #10270
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My God, How the Money Rolls In"
cf. "My Daddy's a Delver of Dykes"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Finest Fucking Family in the Land
My Father Was Hung for Sheep-Stealing (as a Horse Thief)
File: EM109
===
NAME: Please, Mister Conductor (The Lightning Express)
DESCRIPTION: The conductor demands a boy's ticket. He has none. He went to work in the city to pay for his mother's care, but now she is dying. He has no fare, but is going to be with her; he begs the conductor to let him stay. The passengers chip in to pay his fare.
AUTHOR: J. Fred Helf (?) and E. P. Moran
EARLIEST_DATE: 1898 (copright)
KEYWORDS: mother disease age separation train help
FOUND_IN: US(So,SW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 321-325, "Please, Mr. Conductor/The Lightning Express" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 720, "Please, Mister Conductor" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 468-470, "Please, Mister Conductor" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 720A)
Roud #7389
RECORDINGS:
Fiddlin' John Carson, "The Lightning Express" (OKeh 7008, 1924)
Johnny & Albert Crockett, "Lightnin' Express" (Crown 3074, 1930)
Pete Daley's Arkansas Fiddlers, "Lightning Express" (Varsity 5078, n.d.)
Vernon Dalhart, "Lightning Express" (Banner 1594, 1925) (Challenge 165/Challenge 320, 1927) (Champion 15017, 1925) (Victor 19837, 1925)
Byron G. Harlan "Please, Mr. Conductor, Don't Put Me Off The Train" (CYL: Edison 7219, 1903)
Jim Holbert, "The Lightning Express" (AFS 4130 B2, 1940; on LC61)
Frank Hutchison, "Lightning Express" (OKeh 45144, 1927)
Bradley Kincaid, "The Lightning Express" (Melotone 12184, 1931; Vocalion 02683, 1934)
Asa Martin, "East Bound Train" (Champion 15585/Supertone 9178, 1928) (Conqueror 7837, 1931; Broadway 4086 [as Martin & Roberts], n.d.)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "The East Bound Train" (Vocalion 5174/Vocalion 5200/Brunswick 169/Brunswick 326, 1928; Supertone S-2032, 1930; rec. 1927); "The Lightning Express" (Brunswick 200, 1928; Brunswick 326, 1929; rec. 1927)
Nelstone's Hawaiians, "North Bound Train" (Victor V-40065, 1929)
Riley Puckett, "East Bound Train" (Columbia 15747-D, 1932)
George Reneau, "The Lightning Express"  (Vocalion 5056/Vocalion 14991, 1925; Silvertone 3045 [as George Hobson], 1924)
Mervin Shiner, "The Lightning Express" (Decca 46272, 1950)
Ernest V. Stoneman "The Lightning Express" (OKeh 40408, 1925) (Edison 52299, 1928)
Arthur Tanner, "The Lightning Express Train" (Puritan 9160, n.d. but prob. c. 1926)
Ernest Thompson, "The Lightning Express" (Columbia 145-D, 1924)
Wesley Tuttle, "The Lightning Express" (Coral 64068, 1950)
Dock Walsh, "The East Bound Train" (Columbia 15047-D, 1925)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Going for a Pardon" (plot)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The East Bound Train
NOTES: The sheet music of this is obscure enough (or illegible enough) that the first author is various listed as "H. Fred Delf" and J. Fred Helf. I've tentatively listed the latter in the "author" field, since it's the form Norm Cohen uses, and he's more authoritative than any of the other sources.
The memory of Delf/Helf and Moran is quite obscure; their copyright was not renewed, and we find the song being re-copyrighted in 1925 by Triangle Music Publishing, with no reference to the original authors; they credited to the universal pseudonym E. V. Body. - RBW
File: R720
===
NAME: Plooin' match here I'll insert, A: see The Tyrie Plooin' Match (File: GdD3424)
===
NAME: Plooin' Match, The
DESCRIPTION: The ploughmen meet at (Hilton) to have a contest. The various ploughmen are listed, along with the way they competed. The song concludes, "The judges cam frae far an' near... But some wad say their sicht was puir That day among the ploomen."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1911 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming racing humorous moniker contest
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Greig #163, p. 1, "The Plooin' Match" (1 text) 
GreigDuncan3 422, "The Plooin' Match" (1 text)
Ord, p. 239-241, "The Ploughing Match" (1 text)
Roud #5581
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Whistle Owre the Lave o't" (tune, per Greig)
cf. "The Fyvie Ploughmen" (subject: ploughing match)
cf. "Harrowing Time" (subject: ploughing match)
NOTES: Ord observes that "When singing this song the singer generally puts in the names of persons known to his audience.... The locus of the match has also been forgotten." And, indeed, Grieg's versions have no name. - RBW
See Ord for the names of the participants. Greig and GreigDuncan3 use letters, in sequence -- A.B., B.C., ... -- instead of names. - BS
File: Ord239
===
NAME: Plooman Laddie (I), The
DESCRIPTION: "My love's a plooman and follows the ploo, I promised to him and I'll keep it true.... What's better than a plooman?" The singer rejects many (e.g. "I micht hae gotten the miller... But the smell o' the dust wad had done me ill") and rejoices to be wed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: love courting farming rejection
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Greig #130, p. 1, "The Plooman Laddie" (1 text) 
GreigDuncan3 445, "The Plooman Laddie" (5 texts, 4 tunes)
Ord, pp. 223-224, "The Plooman Laddie" (1 text)
Roud #3447
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Husbandman and the Servingman" (theme)
cf. "The Farmer and the Shanty Boy" (theme)
cf. "Soldier Boy for Me (A Railroader for Me)" (theme)
cf. "The Rigs o' Rye" (tune, per Greig)
cf. "My Love's a Plooman" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
I Micht Hae Gotten
The Ploughman
NOTES: Ord lists this as being sung to "The Rigs o Rye." The tune I've heard isn't quite that, though it's close. - RBW
Greig's text is "a piecing together of two or three versions, none of which is complete, but each of which provides something of its own." But at Greig #135, p. 3, "[M.S. (Mrs Sangster according to GreigDuncan3)] says that the first verse 'My love is a ploughman and follows the plough, etc.,' is another song altogether from "I mith hae gotten the gairner o' yonder tree, etc.' although they were combined in our version. The songs are different, shes ays[sic], and have different tunes. This we can well believe, these songs get so mixed up." - BS
File: Ord223
===
NAME: Plooman Laddie (II), The: see My Love's a Plooman (File: GrD3446)
===
NAME: Ploughboy (I), The
DESCRIPTION: In this confused composite of floating verses, the ploughboy courts Molly, but then departs to become a soldier. He will build Molly a castle and take her away. She nonetheless rejects him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Sam Henry collection); c1810? (_English Minstrel_, according to Yates, Musical Traditions site _Voice of the People suite_ "Notes - Volume 5" - 25.8.02)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection soldier flowers floatingverses
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H780, p. 345-346, "The Ploughboy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1446
RECORDINGS:
Lizzie Higgins, "Lovely Molly" (on Voice05)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Green Grows the Laurel (Green Grow the Lilacs)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Streams of Lovely Nancy" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Blackbird and Thrush" (theme) 
NOTES: This song consists almost entirely of floating material (see the cross-references), and is fairly incoherent as a result. The largest element is "Green Grows the Laurel" (to such an extent that it's almost a version of that song), but there are plenty of other elements. The composite probably didn't circulate widely as an independent entity. - RBW
"[O]ne source credits Charles Dibdin as its author," according to Yates, Musical Traditions site _Voice of the People suite_ "Notes - Volume 5" - 25.8.02. - BS
My guess would be that Dibdin is responsible for some of the floating material; on that basis, I have not listed him in the "author" field, even as a possibility. - RBW
File: HHH780
===
NAME: Ploughboy (II), The: see The Lark in the Morning (File: ShH62)
===
NAME: Ploughboy of the Lowlands, The: see Edwin (Edmund, Edward) in the Lowlands Low [Laws M34] (File: LM34)
===
NAME: Ploughboy's Dream, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer, a ploughboy, recalls a dream: he tries unsuccessfully to plow hard ground and curses and beats his horses; an angel stops him warning "there's One that knows your crimes and sins." He warns other ploughboy lads to "let kindness your motto be"
AUTHOR: William Mason (source: broadside Bodleian Harding B 7(44))
EARLIEST_DATE: 1795 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 7(44))
KEYWORDS: warning abuse farming dream religious horse
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greig #54, pp. 1-2, "The Ploughboy's Dream" (1 text) 
GreigDuncan3 491, "The Ploughboy's Dream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1545
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 7(44), "The Plow-boy's Dream" ("I am a plow-boy stout and strong"), J. Marshall (London), 1795; also Harding B 11(3032), "The Ploughboy's Dream"
NOTES: This is surely a rewrite of the story of Balaam's Ass, applied to a farmer's situation. In Numbers 22:22-35, Balaam has been hired by the King of Moab to try to curse Israel. On the way, the donkey first turns off into a field, then crushes Balaam's foot against a rock, then stop still in the middle of the path. Balaam each time strikes it, but on the third time the donkey speaks, and an angel tells Balaam that the donkey had kept him from being killed by the angel. Balaam repents of his treatment of the donkey. The song lacks the incident of the horses talking, but the rest -- including the moral against sinning -- is the same. - RBW
File: GrD3491
===
NAME: Ploughing Match (I), The: see The Plooin' Match (File: Ord239)
===
NAME: Ploughing Match (II), The: see Then Some wi Pins (File: GrD3423)
===
NAME: Ploughman (I), The
DESCRIPTION: "The ploughman, he's a bonnie lad, And does his wark at leisure... Then up wi't noo, my ploughman lad, And hey my merry ploughman." The singer describes her ploughman's work, and the work she does to keep him well, and scorns those who scorn him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: in traditional form 1906 (GreigDuncan3); Burns rewrote it for the Scots Musical Museum
KEYWORDS: work marriage nonballad farming
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
GreigDuncan3 451, "Commend Me to the Plooman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, p. 217, "The Ploughman" (1 text)
Roud #5582
NOTES: The GreigDuncan3 tune is very close to "The Boyne Water." - BS
File: Ord217
===
NAME: Ploughman (II), The
DESCRIPTION: Singer, a ploughman, praises his fellows, his profession and his recreations.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904
KEYWORDS: work drink nonballad farming
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 84, "The Ploughman" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, PLOUGHM4*
Roud #2538
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I am a Pretty Wench"
NOTES: This is a muddled song. As collected in 1904, the singer began with a verse from "The Condescending Lass" (a song in which the lass in question rejects the idea of marrying men of various professions). He veered off immediately, however, into a praiseful description of ploughmen, and the lass is not heard from again. [Vaughan Williams and Lloyd] excised the seemingly-unconnected first verse and assigned the present title (the singer had called it "Pretty Wench"). -PJS
[For that "Pretty Wench" song, see "I am a Pretty Wench." The title "The Condescending Lass" for the poem appears to be known primarily from broadsides; the typical traditional title is either "Pretty Wench" or "I Am a Pretty Wench." - RBW]
To tell this from other songs in praise of farmhands, consider this first stanza:
"A ploughman dresses fine, he drinks strong beer ale and wine
And the best of tobacco he do smoke;
Pretty maids don't think amiss a ploughman for to kiss,
For his breath smells as sweet as a rose, a rose, a rose
For his breath smells as sweet as a rose." - RBW
It appears Roud would have Opie-Oxford2 525, "I am a pretty wench" be the verse excised by Vaughan Williams and Lloyd. Roud has other examples as well under #2538. Opie-Oxford2 notes that this song is in Alfred Williams _Folk-Songs of the Upper Thames_ (1923) and that Vaughan Williams did collect it. If we ever add one of those "The Pretty Wench" songs it should probably considered separate from "The Ploughman." - BS
File: VWL084
===
NAME: Ploughman Chiel and the Ploughman Laddie, The
DESCRIPTION: "The ploughman chiel and the ploughman laddie, Are you afraid of the ploughman laddie? Are you afraid that he'll do you wrong, Na nae a bit for he'll do me none"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming questions
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 416, "The Ploughman Chiel and the Ploughman Laddie" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #5937
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Ploughman Laddie
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan3 entry. - BS
File: GrD416
===
NAME: Ploughman Lad for Me, A
DESCRIPTION: "Where first I saw my Jockie, Was at (Huntly) feeing fair." She praises his beauty, declaring, "So a ploughman lad for me." She cares not what her parents think, and is willing to work hard alongside him; his love is worth more than riches
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1860 (broadside NLScotland L.C.Fol.178.A.2(023))
KEYWORDS: love courting farming
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 280-281, "A Ploughman Lad for Me" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(023), "The Ploughman Lads for Me," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 1852-1859 [despite the title, the song text refers "a ploughman lad," not "lads"]
NOTES: Credited to John Wilson in the NLScotland broadside -- which, interestingly, leaves blank the name of the city in which the couple meets. - RBW
File: Ord280
===
NAME: Plowboy, The: see Cupid the Plowboy [Laws O7] (File: LO07)
===
NAME: Plowboy's Courtship, The: see Queen of the May (File: SWMS190)
===
NAME: Pluie Tombe, La
DESCRIPTION: Creole French: "La pluie tombe, Crapeau chante, Oin, oin! oin, oin! oin, oin! M'a pale baigner moine, La pluie tombe, Marin-gouin crie...." As the rain falls, the frog an the mosquito call the singer into the water (and drown)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage animal bug drowning
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 203-204, "La Pluie Tombe" (1 short text, 1 tune)
File: ScaNF203
===
NAME: Plumb and Level, The
DESCRIPTION: "When Adam ruled the world" he and Eve "formed a bower to shade them from the weather's evil." "They lived in social harmony till madam longed for fruit ... And the bit she went out one morning for to meet the deevil" 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: Bible Devil food
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 472, "The Plumb and Level" (1 fragment)
Roud #5968
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.13(205), "The Tower of Babel" ("When Adam ruled the world by an order from the Grand"), unknown, no date
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Building of Solomon's Temple" [Laws Q39] (theme: Building the First Temple)
cf. "The Rules of Masonry" (theme: Building the First Temple)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Adam and Eve
NOTES: Apparently Broadside Bodleian, 2806 c.13(205), "The Tower of Babel" ... is this song but I could not download and verify it. On the small image of the broadside that is visible, the broadside has at least eight verses compared to GreigDuncan's 2 verses. The lines I can make out for verses one and two seem very close to GreigDuncan3. - BS
I was able to download it, but large portions of the scan are unreadable. It lists as a tune "The old Orange [something]" (not "flute." "Order," perhaps?). The first verse tells the story of the fall of Adam and Eve, as described above; this tale is in Genesis 3 (though it never says Eve met the Devil; she met the Serpent).
Greig's decision to file this with the Masonic songs seems justified, since it refers to the "plumb guage and level."
The next few verses refer to Noah building an ark with square guage and level, and to forty days of rain. The tale of the flood occupies Genesis 6-8, with the "forty days" being mentioned e.g. in Genesis 7:4.
The next verse, which is probably about the Tower of Babel, has been obliterated. The story of the Tower is in Genesis 11.
Then we come to Solomon. This song, like "The Building of Solomon's Temple" [Laws Q39] and "The Rules of Masonry," hints at Solomon being a mason. But the building of the Temple is described in chapters 5-8 of 1 Kings (and 2 Chronicles chapters 2-6 with a foreshadowing in 1 Chron. 28-29). But it clearly was not built by masons; it was probably designed by Phoenicians (note that this song mentions "Hiram King of Tyre," the leading Phoenician monarch), and certainly constructed by slaves.
The final verse refers to "The widow's murdered son" who "masonic power displayed." I *think* this is a reference to Jesus, who of course was considered to have been murdered. Legend, based on the fact that the gospels mention Mary but not Joseph during Jesus's adult ministry, has it that Mary outlived Joseph, making her a widow. As for Jesus showing Masonic power, John 2:19 has Jesus say, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (with verse 2:21 explaining that "he was speaking of the temple of his body"); in Mark 14:58 and parallels we read that Jesus was charged with saying "I will destroy this temple made with hands, and in three days build another not made with hands." - RBW
File: GrD3472
===
NAME: Plumb the Line
DESCRIPTION: "Well, I'm so glad I can plumb the line (x3), It takes a number one (driver/tamper) to plumb the line." "Won't you come on, buddy, we can plumb the line." The singer describes his exploits, or asks for help in his work
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (recorded from "Chinaman" Johnson and from Favid Tippett by Jackson)
KEYWORDS: work bragging prison
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 218-222, "Plumb the Line" (3 texts, 2 tunes); pp. 280-281, "Down the Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10979
NOTES: Jackson thinks that "Plumb the Line" may have originated as a tie-tamping song, and I think it nearly certain -- at least, it is certain that it has close analogies among tampers. But it seems to have become a specialized prison song.
Jackson's "Down the Line" is used for a different purpose (flatweeding rather than crosscutting), but in Jacskon's versions, the similarities are so great that they can still be treated as one song. Whether that would remain true after future evolution is another question, but given the rarity of both songs, it's not worth splitting at this time. - RBW
File: JDM218
===
NAME: Po' Boy (I)
DESCRIPTION: "My mammy's in the cold cold ground, My daddy went away... now I've gone astray. I sit here in the prison, I do the best I can, But I get to thinkin' of the woman I love; She ran away with another man." The singer tried to rob a mail train, but was caught
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: prison crime robbery punishment separation
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, pp. 30-32, "Po' Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: San030
===
NAME: Po' Boy (II): see The Cryderville Jail (File: LxU090)
===
NAME: Po' Farmer
DESCRIPTION: "Work all week, don't make enough To pay my board and buy my snuff... It's a-hard on we po' farmers, it's a-hard." The farmer describes the long day's work -- only to come home to "peas in the pot and an old jaw-bone" and fifteen cents weekly pay
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941
KEYWORDS: work farming hardtimes poverty
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 284, "Po' Farmer" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, POFARMER*
Roud #6709
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Humble Farmer" (theme)
File: LoF284
===
NAME: Po' Laz'us: see Poor Lazarus (Bad Man Lazarus) [Laws I12] (File: LI12)
===
NAME: Po' Li'l Ella
DESCRIPTION: "I'll tell you somep'n that bothers my mind: Po' li'l Ella laid down an' died." "I wouldn't a-minded little Ella dyin', But she left three chillum." "Judge, you dome me wrong, Ninety-nine years is sho' too long!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: death murder children punishment prison judge
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 278-279, "Po' Li'l Ella" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Scarborough claims this is "a favorite in East Texas sawmill districts." But I've seen no other signs of it. - RBW
File: ScNF278B
===
NAME: Po' Lil Jesus: see Poor Little Jesus (File: LxU101)
===
NAME: Po' Liza Jane
DESCRIPTION: "Go long, po' Liza Jane (x2), I turned my head to the ole grey horse, Go long po' Liza Jane." "I ast her would she marry me; She ast me wasn't I shamed." "I went up to the new-cut road, And she went down the lane."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: courting horse floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
BrownIII 456, "Po' Liza Jane" (1 short text)
Fuson, p. 172, "Liza Jane" (1 text, with a "Cindy...Cindy Jane" chorus)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 169, (no title) (1 text, with verses probably from "Raccoon," unless they just floated in, while the chorus seems to be "Po' Liza Jane")
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 237, (no title) (1 fragment, about a Yankee and a toad, which might be this or any of the songs to which the verse floats)
Roud #825
NOTES: This reminds me a bit of "Goodbye Liza Jane (I)," but based on the short text in Brown, it does not appear possible to identify it with any of the other Liza Jane songs (though Roud lumps it). - RBW
File: Br3456
===
NAME: Po' Mournah!: see Mourner, You Shall Be Free (Moanish Lady) (File: San011)
===
NAME: Po' Shine
DESCRIPTION: "You can't do me like you done po' Shine, Paid off everybody and you didn't pay Shine." About the hard times on a work crew. Shine departs seeking better work, and finally the workers are paid. Some elements float
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: work hardtimes boss travel
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MWheeler, pp. 17-18, "Po Shine" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MWhee017 (Full)
Roud #9995
File: MWhee017
===
NAME: Poacher (I), The: see The Lincolnshire Poacher (File: K259)
===
NAME: Poacher (II), The: see O'Ryan (Orion, The Poacher) (File: HHH823)
===
NAME: Poacher of Benabourd, The: see The Braemar Poacher (File: GrD2253)
===
NAME: Poacher's Fate, The [Laws L14]
DESCRIPTION: (Six) young men go out hunting. They are met by a gamekeeper, who vows to shoot one of them to end their depredations. The keeper fatally wounds "the bravest lad."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1842 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.34(118))
KEYWORDS: death poaching punishment
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland,England) US(MW,NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws L14, "The Poacher's Fate"
Kennedy 248, "The Gallant Poacher" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 351-352, "The Poacher's Fate" (1 text; tune on p. 451)
DT 351, POACHERF
Roud #793
RECORDINGS:
Walter Pardon, "The Poachers' Fate" (on Voice18)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.34(118), "Gallant Poacher" ("Come all you lads of high renoun"), Birt (London), 1833-1841; also Harding B 11(325), Harding B 11(3853), Firth c.19(49), "[The] Gallant Poacher"; Johnson Ballads 1394, "Gallant Poachers"
Murray, Mu23-y4:020, "Gallant Poachers," unknown, 19C 
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Keepers and Poachers" (plot)
File: LL14
===
NAME: Poachers, The: see Van Dieman's Land (I) [Laws L18] (File: LL18)
===
NAME: Point Maid, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer's father was a farmer, but he must leave his home, his work, and his girl. As he makes his way to the port, he thinks of drowned sailors and his lost sweetheart. He hopes to return, though he would not care if the girl were with him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: emigration separation farewell
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H42b, p. 197, "The Point Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: HHH042b
===
NAME: Poison in a Glass of Wine: see Oxford City [Laws P30] (File: LP30)
===
NAME: Pokegama Bear
DESCRIPTION: Lumbermen encounter the Pokegama bear. Morris O'Hearne tells the men to run; (they have humorous accidents). Mike McAlpin kills the bear with an axe; the grease is divided up among the men, and the meat cooked and eaten.
AUTHOR: Frank Hasty (words)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1874 (composed)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: A crew of lumbermen encounters the Pokegama bear. Morris O'Hearne, who first flushes him, tells the men to run; Jimmy Quinn runs into a porcupine. The bear heads for the swamp; O'Hearne follows, but slips and falls under it. Mike McAlpin chases down and kills the bear with an axe; the grease is divided up among the men, and the meat cooked and eaten. O'Hearne gets the skin; "Long life to you and long growth to your hair/When it's greased with the fat from Pokegama Bear"
KEYWORDS: lumbering work moniker animal logger worker humorous
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Art Thieme, "Pokegama Bear" (on Thieme06)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Vilikens and his Dinah (William and Dinah) [Laws M31A/B]" (tune & meter) and references there
NOTES: Pokegama Lake is a very wide area of the upper Mississippi River. - PJS
Paul Stamler didn't list this as a humorous item, but the versions I recall hearing (I think from John Berquist, though I've heard other Minnesotans mention it) generally have comic aspects as the loggers flee the bear. The tune seems to have wandered a bit, too, though that may just be my memory.
It should be noted that it is highly unlikely that a really dangerous bear would be encountered in Minnesota. The only bears which come anywhere near the state are black bears; a gang of loggers could certainly handle *one* black bear!  But the Pokegama region is features some of the harshest winter weather in Minnesota. Climatologist Mark W. Sealy, _Minnesota Weather Almanac_, Minnesota Historical Society, 2006, p. 55, writes of the weather station there, "The weather station at Pokegama Dam, along the Mississippi River, was established in April 1887.... Pokegama's reputation as one of Minnesota's coldest spots is bolstered by more than 30 low temperatures records, including the following: coldest temperature recorded in March... coldest-ever November temperature... and coldest-ever December temperature... Temperatures of -50 [degrees] F and colder have been recorded 30 times, the coldest being -59 [degrees] F on February 16, 1903. From January to February in back-to-back years, 1904 and 1905, Pokegama Dam recorded 31 consecutive days of temperatures below zero."
Thus one might suspect that the legend of the Pokegama Bear actually arose as an excuse to get out of the cold. - RBW
File: RcPokegB
===
NAME: 'Poleon Dore
DESCRIPTION: French-Canadian dialect song. Singer describes working in a lumber camp. Paul Desjardins falls into rapids; oars do not reach him. Napoleon Dore dives in. Both drown in a whirlpool. Their bodies are found in each other's arms. They are buried together.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Beck)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: French-Canadian dialect song. Singer first describes (at length) the pleasures and comradeship of working in a lumber camp, then tells story. Paul Desjardins falls overboard in rapids; after his workmates fail to save him with their oars, Napoleon Dore dives in, but both are caught in a whirlpool and drowned. Their bodies are found in each other's arms, and they are buried together.
KEYWORDS: lumbering work death friend logger drowning
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Beck 74, "'Poleon Dore" (1 text)
Roud #8869
NOTES: Is there something left unsaid here? I can't tell. - RBW
File: Be074
===
NAME: Poll and Sal: see When the Boys Go A-Courting (Over the Mountain, Poll and Sal) (File: SWMS312)
===
NAME: Polly and Willie: see No Sign of a Marriage [Laws P3] (File: LP03)
===
NAME: Polly Bond: see Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear) [Laws O36] (File: LO36)
===
NAME: Polly Brannigan (Molly Brannigan)
DESCRIPTION: The singer confesses that Polly Brannigan "stole me heart and I'll never be a man again." Now she has left him; he wishes that "when she got another heart she might send mine back home again." (Considering suicice, he hopes she will grieve when he dies)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: love rejection suicide
FOUND_IN: US(MW) Ireland
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 34, "Purty Molly Brannigan" (2 texts, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 41, "Molly Brallaghan" (1 text)
Eddy 153, (fifth of several "Fragments of Irish Songs")
Silber-FSWB, p. 181, "Molly Brannigan" (1 text)
DT, MOLLBRAN
Roud #13375 (and 5354)
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "Purty Molly Brannigan" (on IRTLenihan01)
NOTES: There is a sense that the singer is naive and that we are supposed, at least, to smile behind his back. For example, in Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan he asks advice of Father Mc Donald and Counsellor O'Connell who "told me promise-breaches had been ever since the world began: Now I've only one pair, ma'am, and they are corduroy! ... Must my corduroys to Molly go? ... I can't afford to lose both my heart and ould britches too." - BS 
File: E153E
===
NAME: Polly Oliver (Pretty Polly) [Laws N14]
DESCRIPTION: Polly loves a sea captain; her parents do not. She dresses as a man and follows her love. Still in disguise, she meets him at an inn. The captain wishes to sleep with her; she refuses, but appears the next day in her own clothes. The two are wed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(240b))
KEYWORDS: courting disguise marriage cross-dressing
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (17 citations)
Laws N14, "Polly Oliver (Pretty Polly)"
Belden, pp. 183-185, "Polly Oliver" (2 texts)
Friedman, p. 145, "Polly Oliver's Rambles" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H166, pp. 328-329, "Lovely Annie (II)" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 122, "Pretty Polly" (1 text)
Linscott, pp. 273-274, "Polly Oliver" (1 short text, 1 tune, ending with the meeting in the inn)
BrownII 97, "Polly Oliver" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 60, "Pretty Polly Oliver" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 195-198, "Pretty Polly" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 23, "Polly Oliver" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Peacock, pp. 344-345, "Polly Oliver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 28, "Polly Oliver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 55, "Polly Oliver" (1 text)
SharpAp 54, "Polly Oliver" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Chappell/Wooldridge II, p. 181, "Pretty Polly Oliver" (1 tune, probably of this piece though the text is lacking)
BBI, ZN2180, "One night as Polly Oliver lay musing on her bed"
DT 446, POLLOLVR*
Roud #367
RECORDINGS:
Ollie Gilbert, "Pretty Polly Oliver" (on LomaxCD1707)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(240b), "Polly Oliver's Ramble," J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819; also Harding B 17(241b), Harding B 16(205d), Harding B 11(3147), Harding B 25(1518)[some lines illegible], "Polly Oliver's Ramble"; Harding B 28(238), "Polly Oliver"; Harding B 17(241a), Harding B 16(206b), Harding B 15(241a), Harding B 15(241b), Firth c.26(50), 2806 c.17(337)[words missing], 2806 b.11(260), 2806 c.16(61), Firth c.14(169), Harding B 16(206a), 2806 c.14(10)[many illegible words], Harding B 15(240b), "Polly Oliver's Rambles"
File: LN14
===
NAME: Polly on the Shore (The Valiant Sailor)
DESCRIPTION: The sailor warns others about bad company. While out roaming, he is pressed to sea. Soon his ship meets a (French) vessel; he is mortally injured. He recalls his beloved Polly on shore, says he is dying for her, and hopes the sailors will be remembered
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1744 (The Irish Boy's Garland)
KEYWORDS: sailor love pressgang farewell warning death fight dying
FOUND_IN: US(NE) Britain(England) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Warner 57, "The Press Gang Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 87, "The Neat Irish Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, (POLSHORE) PRSSGANG
Roud #811
RECORDINGS:
George Maynard, "Polly on the Shore" (on Maynard1, HiddenE, Voice12)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Press Gang
File: Wa057
===
NAME: Polly Perkins of Paddington Green
DESCRIPTION: The singer describes beautiful Polly, whom he vainly loved. She teases and flirts, but declares, "The man that has me must have silver and gold." He gives up his courtship -- but later learns that she did not marry a lord but a "bow-legged conductor."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection money beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
SHenry H132, pp. 398-399, "Polly Perkins of Paddington Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 282-288, "The Butcher Boy" (8 texts; the "E" text is a single stanza which does not belong with the usual "Butcher Boy" versions and which does mention Polly Perkins, so it might be related to this song)
DT, PLLYPRK*
Roud #430
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Pretty Polly Perkins
Pretty Polly Perkins of Paddington Green
File: HHH132
===
NAME: Polly Primrose
DESCRIPTION: "Sweet Polly Primrose, a girl of nineteen summers-o, Sure, I love my Polly better than all the wealth I own." Now she is at the bottom of the sea; she fell off a ship in rough waters. The singer wishes he were a fish, so he might see her as a mermaid
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: death ship separation mermaid/man drowning
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H734, p. 149, "Polly Primrose" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9450
File: HHH734
===
NAME: Polly Van: see Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear) [Laws O36] (File: LO36)
===
NAME: Polly Vaughan: see Molly Bawn (Shooting of His Dear) [Laws O36] (File: LO36)
===
NAME: Polly Williams
DESCRIPTION: The singer calls the listeners to hear Polly's tragedy. Her lover grows tired of her, and takes her off to the mountains to murder her. A great manhunt finds him. The singer expects him to be condemned, and warns young women against false lovers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Lomax)
KEYWORDS: love courting murder manhunt trial
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 159-162, "Polly Williams" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burt, p. 35-36, "(Polly Williams)" (1 text, slightly shortened)
DT, POLLYWMS*
Roud #4111
NOTES: Bayard, who collected this song, reports that it is based on an actual murder committed in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, in 1810, in which the young man threw the girl's body over a cliff. Despite the song, the man is reported to have been acquitted, presumably due to the lack of direct evidence that he was the guilty party.
The girl's name was not Polly Williams; Bayard thought that the name was chosen as conventional; Dick Greenhaus suggests that it was for metrical reasons.
Burt had another take on the matter: She claims the existence of a genuine Polly Williams who was living alone with a minor boy (presumably her son) in 1790. This Polly Williams was sufficiently well-off to have taken over a 400 acre property in 1794. But Burt cannot link the two beyond that.
This song is item dF39 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: LoA159
===
NAME: Polly Wolly Doodle
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, I went down south for to see my Sal, Sing polly wolly doodle all day...." Sal is described in nonsense terms ("curly eyes and laughing hair"). Floating verses may describe the difficult journey
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1880 (Harvard "Student's Songs")
KEYWORDS: love courting nonsense floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
BrownIII 462, "Sing Polly Wolly Doodle" (1 text)
Hugill, p. 42, "Polly Wolly Doodle" (1 verse of a shanty version)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 82-83, "Polly-Wolly-Doodle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 274, "Polly Wolly Doodle" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 240, "Polly Wolly Doodle" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 434-435, "Polly-Wolly-Doodle"
DT, POLYWOLY
Roud #11799
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "Polly Wolly Doodle" (Edison N-20001, 1929)
Louise Massey & the Westerners, "Polly Wolly Doodle" (Vocalion 05296, 1939)
Pete Seeger, "Polly Wolly Doodle All Day" (on LonesomeValley)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Polly Woddle Doo" (Columbia 15200-D, 1927; rec. 1926)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fiddler's Bitch" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
The Big Fat Boss and the Workers (Greenway-AFP, pp. 250-251)
The Fiddler's Bitch (File: RL346)
The Thousand-Legged Worm (Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 51-52)
File: SRW082
===
NAME: Polly Won't You Try Me O: see Kemo Kimo (File: R282)
===
NAME: Polly-Wolly-Doodle: see Polly Wolly Doodle (File: SRW082)
===
NAME: Pommy's Lament, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer warns against moving to Australia. He was well-off when he went, but his ship is nearly wrecked. He is robbed by an outlaw. There is no good land available. After further misadventures, he finds himself breaking rocks and wishing for home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1842 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: Australia poverty hardtimes emigration robbery
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 207-208, "The Pommy's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 30-31, "The Pommy's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I've Been to Australia, Oh!" (theme)
File: MA207
===
NAME: Pomona (I), The
DESCRIPTION: Pomona leaves Liverpool "bound for the land of plenty" and is wrecked "on Blackwater's shoals" in Wexford Bay by "fictitious reckoning." The crew of thirty-five and four hundred passengers are lost.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1943 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Apr 28, 1859 - The Pomona wreck
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 62-63, "The Pomona" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7342
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Courtown Fishermen" (tune)
NOTES: April 28, 1859: _Pomona_ en route from Liverpool to New York "driven into sandbank seven miles off Ballyconigar" with nearly 400 lost (mostly emigrants). Reported in Wexford Constitution Apr 30th 1859 (source: RootsWeb.com genealogy site under shipping; Northern Shipwrecks Database; Ranson; for details see Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, p. 70) - BS
File: Ran062
===
NAME: Pomona (II), The
DESCRIPTION: Singer and crew strike Blackwater sandbank. "We launched our jovial long boat and headed for the strand. We ran her down before the wind into sweet Wexford Bay, And wasn't that a dreadful sight, all on St Patrick's Day" Two of 12 escape.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck sailor
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, p. 109, "The Pomona" (1 text)
Roud #7343
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Georgina" (subject)
NOTES: Ranson: "[The singer] said that this was a ballad about 'The Pomona,' but there is internal evidence in the ballad which disproves this statement.... It seems to me that this ballad refers to 'The Georgiana,' which was wrecked on the Blackwater Bank on March 17th, 1844." The ballad does not name the ship. For the historical reference for _Georgina_ see "The Georgina." For the historical reference for _Pomona_ see "The Pomona (I)." - BS
File: Ran109
===
NAME: Pompey: see Old Roger is Dead (Old Bumpy, Old Grimes, Pompey) (File: R569)
===
NAME: Ponsaw Train, The: see The Lake of Ponchartrain [Laws H9] (File: LH09)
===
NAME: Pont d'Avignon, Le: see Sur le Pont d'Avignon (File: FSWB390A)
===
NAME: Pony Song, The
DESCRIPTION: "Let the pony go fast as e'er it will ... What a merry ride ... snugly side by side and joining in a song. Jinkle bells, jinkle bells, jinkle all the way, Oh the funny ride we had down by Enniskea."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (Morton-Maguire)
KEYWORDS: nonballad horse music
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Morton-Maguire 7, pp. 16,102,157, "The Pony Song" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #2933
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Jingle Bells" (approximate tune, theme, and some words) 
NOTES: Morton-Maguire: "Here John remembers just a snatch of a song from his school days. The words and the tune obviously belong to 'Jingle Bells', but both have been adapted -- the last line ["down by Enniskea"] makes it 'belong' to that area [specifically, County Louth]." The words are sort of like "Jingle Bells" -- except the practically identical line "Jinkle bells, jinkle bells, jinkle all the way." Otherwise it shares no lines with the John Pierpont text of "Jingle Bells" on Digital Tradition. - BS
File: MoMa007
===
NAME: Poor and Foreign Stranger: see Wayfaring Stranger (File: FSC077)
===
NAME: Poor Auld Maid, The: see The Old Maid's Song (File: R364)
===
NAME: Poor Boy (I): see The Coon-Can Game [Laws I4] (File: LI04)
===
NAME: Poor Boy (II)
DESCRIPTION: "Very first day on the Brazos line, poor boy, on the Brazos line, Number One was a-buckin." The singer complains of the heat and hard work and wishes desperately for rest. He wishes he had listened to his parents
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966 (recorded from J. B. Smith by Jackson)
KEYWORDS: prison hardtimes work
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 61-66, "Poor Boy" (3 texts, 1 tune, but the "A" and "B" texts and the tune are "The Coon Can Game" [Laws I4])
File: JDM061
===
NAME: Poor Boy in Jail: see The Coon-Can Game [Laws I4] (File: LI04)
===
NAME: Poor Bushman, The: see Humping Old Bluey (The Poor Bushman) (File: MA125)
===
NAME: Poor Chronic Man, The
DESCRIPTION: The "poor chronic man" from Athlone goes to visit a cousin in Belfast. Along the way he meets a girl, who wines him, beds him -- then puts him to sleep and steals his clothes and money. He is taken into custody, and wishes he had never left home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1911 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(56b))
KEYWORDS: whore trick prison
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
FSCatskills 118, "The Poor Chronic Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leyden 33, "The Connaught Man's Trip to Belfast" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC118 (Partial)
Roud #3341
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(56b), "The Connaught-man" ("I am a poor Connaught man, from the town of Athlone"), Sanderson (Edinburgh), 1830-1910; also 2806 c.15(119), Harding B 40(1)[last verse illegible], "The Poor Connaughtman"; 2806 c.15(23), Harding B 19(32), "The Connaughtman's Adventures in Dublin"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Gold Watch" [Laws K41] (plot) and references there
NOTES: Leyden's Connaughtman visits Belfast; Harding B 17(56b) is about Glasgow; the other Bodleian broadsides take place in Dublin.
Leyden's text has the couple travel by steam coach, rather than steamboat, into Belfast. Leyden says that the steam train had been in operation since 1839. - BS
File: FSC118
===
NAME: Poor Dawkins: see The Eldorado Mining Disaster (File: FaE206)
===
NAME: Poor Ellen Smith (I)
DESCRIPTION: "Poor Ellen Smith, how was she found? Shot through the heart lying cold on the ground." The singer briefly outlines the facts of the murder, then claims his innocence though he expects to be convicted. (He says he would put flowers on her grave.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: murder execution
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1893 - Peter Degraph (sometimes spelled De Graff) is sentenced to die for the murder of Ellen Smith
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
BrownII 306, "Poor Little Ellen, or, Ellen Smith" (1 text)
Shellans, p. 67, "Ellen Smith" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 143, "Poor Ellen Smith" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 204-206, "Poor Ellen Smith" (2 text, of which the "A" text goes here and the "B" text with "Ellen Smith" [Laws F11])
DT, ELSMITH*
Roud #448
RECORDINGS:
Green Bailey, "The Fate of Ellen Smith" (Gennett 6702/Supertone 9372 [as Harvey Farr], 1929; rec. 1928; on ConstSor1, KMM) [2 diferent but successive matrices]
Estil C. Ball, "Poor Ellen Smith" (on LomaxCD1702)
Homer Cornett, "Poor Ellen Smith" (on USWarnerColl01)
Dykes Magic City Trio, "Poor Ellen Smith" (Brunswick 127/Vocalion 5143, 1927)
Theophilus Hoskins, "Ellen Smith" (AFS, 1937; on KMM)
Vester Jones, "Poor Ellen Smith" (on GraysonCarroll1)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Poor Ellen Smith" (on NLCR16)
Frank Proffitt, "Poor Ellen Smith" (on Proffitt03)
Hobart Smith, "Poor Ellen Smith" (Disc 6080, 1940s)
Pete Steele, "Ellen Smith" (on PSteele01, FMUSA)
Henry Whitter, "Ellen Smith" (OKeh 40237, 1924)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ellen Smith" [Laws F11]
SAME_TUNE:
George Davis, "Why Are You Leaving?" (on GeorgeDavis01)
NOTES: To distinguish this from "Ellen Smith" [Laws F11], refer to the stanza quoted in the description. This, or something similar, seems to be found in all versions of this ballad.
For historical background, see the discussion under "Ellen Smith" [Laws F11]. - RBW
In several versions of this song, the singer (presumably Peter De Graff) states that he is innocent; in some versions, he is not condemned, but instead sent to prison for twenty years and eventually freed. - PJS
File: CSW143
===
NAME: Poor Ellen Smith (II): see Ellen Smith [Laws F11] (File: LF11)
===
NAME: Poor Ellen Smyth: see Ellen Smith [Laws F11] (File: LF11)
===
NAME: Poor Fisherman's Boy, The: see The Fisherman's Boy [Laws Q29] (File: LQ29)
===
NAME: Poor Girl on the Town, The
DESCRIPTION: "I had a dear old father once, who gave me this advice," telling his son to find a wife and stay away from harlots. The son points out that his sisters might be "poor girls on the town" who become harlots. The son is then advised to patronize harlots
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968 (submitted to Logsdon by Riley Neal)
KEYWORDS: father sister brother whore warning
FOUND_IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Logsdon 45, pp. 226-227, "The Poor Girl on the Town" (1 short text)
Roud #10101
NOTES: I've given the description of this based on the text in Logsdon, but I suspect the text is damaged. My guess is that there is a change of speakers: In the original, the father advises against whores, the son argues that even his sisters might end up whores, and someone else (my gut says an uncle) says, in effect, "Oh, go ahead, if you need to, visit a whore." - RBW
File: Logs045
===
NAME: Poor Goins [Laws F22]
DESCRIPTION: Goins runs into bandits but escapes. He meets Ely Boggs, who promises to help him escape but instead turns him over to the robbers. A bandit clubs Goins to death when the latter's horse bolts
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908
KEYWORDS: murder outlaw robbery horse
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws F22, "Poor Goins"
Thomas-Makin', pp. 138-139, "Poor Goins" (1 text)
Combs/Wilgus 69, pp. 167-168, "Poor Goens" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 50, pp. 118-119, "Poor Goins" (1 text)
DT 801, GOINS
Roud #2260
File: LF22
===
NAME: Poor Hard-Working Man, The
DESCRIPTION: "I have to work so very hard To keep my family. There's eleven children and my wife... And my wife she often told me I am the daddy of them all." The grown boys work shining shoes, singing, and dancing, and the girls "dance and play and sing all day"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Mackenzie)
KEYWORDS: marriage work ordeal humorous wife family
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Mackenzie 144, "The Poor Hard-Working Man" (1 text)
Roud #3284
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Pat Malony's Family" (theme)
NOTES: Mackenzie draws the parallel in theme to "Pat Malony's Family"; the analogy is not as close as Mackenzie might have us think. Malony's family came ready made; on the other hand, the family in this song are the singer's wife and his[?] eleven children. - BS
Although seemingly found only in Canada, the contents of this song seem to imply nineteenth century Irish origin, in that the grown boys are still at home; with so little land in Ireland, the children tended to stay at home until the girls married and the oldest boy inherited upon his father's death. This had a tendency to control population, but obviously not in this care.... - RBW
File: Mack144
===
NAME: Poor Howard
DESCRIPTION: "Poor Howard's dead and gone, Left me here to sing this song." "Who's been here since I've been gone? Pretty little girl with a red dress on." "Who's been here... Great big man with a derby on" And so forth, through as many visitors as desired
AUTHOR: Huddie Leadbetter
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: nonballad death
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 63, "Poor Howard" (1 text)
Roud #11673
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Stavin Chain" (lyrics)
File: FSWB063
===
NAME: Poor Jack: see Will You Wed with a Tarry Sailor? [Laws K37] (File: LK37)
===
NAME: Poor Jeannie Sits A-Weeping: see What's Poor Mary Weepin' For (Poor Jenny Sits A-Weeping) (File: MSNR070)
===
NAME: Poor Jenny Sits A-Weeping: see What's Poor Mary Weepin' For (Poor Jenny Sits A-Weeping) (File: MSNR070)
===
NAME: Poor Jock frae the Country
DESCRIPTION: "Ae nicht I bein' half fou and better, That nicht I bein' bent for a spree, I daundered awa' to the city In hopes for some fun I micht see"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan2)
KEYWORDS: travel humorous
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan2 294, "Poor Jock frae the Country" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #5860
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan2 fragment, excluding the chorus. - BS
File: GrD2294
===
NAME: Poor Kitty Popcorn
DESCRIPTION: The story of a "loyal cat...." She spends much of the war following her soldier boy. (After) the war her master dies and we see "Poor Kitty Popcorn, buried in a snowdrift now; Nevermore we'll hear the music of her charming song, Me-owww."
AUTHOR: Henry Clay Work
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: animal death Civilwar
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Sandburg, p. 431, "Poor Kitty Popcorn" (1 fragment)
DT, KITTYPOP*
NOTES: Gag. - PJS
Well -- there are a zillion dog songs on this sort of theme. I suppose the cats deserve their chance to be disgustingly saccharine. - RBW
File: San431
===
NAME: Poor Lazarus (Bad Man Lazarus) [Laws I12]
DESCRIPTION: Lazarus breaks into the commissary and flees. The sheriff orders that he be taken dead or alive. Deputies shoot Lazarus and bring him back. He asks for a drink of water and dies. Lazarus's sister tells his mother, who recalls how troublesome he was
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: robbery death family
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Laws I12, "Poor Lazarus (Bad Man Lazarus)"
Lomax-FSUSA 86, "Po' Laz'us" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 303, "Po' Lazarus" (1 text, 1 tune, composite)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 91-93, "Po' Laz'us (Poor Lazarus)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 909-910, "Po' Laz'us (Poor Lazarus)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 179-181, "(Lazarus)" (1 text)
DT 661, (POLAZRUS?)
Roud #4180
RECORDINGS:
Bright Light Quartet, "Po' Lazarus" (on LomaxCD1701) (on LomaxCD1705)
James Carter & prisoners, "Po' Lazarus" (on LomaxCD1705)
Vera Hall, "Po' Laz'us" (AFS 1320 A2, 1937) [Note: Dixon/Godrich/Rye also identifies this AFS number with a Vera Hall recording of "John Henry"; one of them is clearly in error, but I don't know which] (AFS 4050 A1, 1940) 
Henry Morrison, "Lazarus" (on LomaxCD1705)
NOTES: The two Bright Light Quartet citations are different versions, recorded on separate dates. - PJS
File: LI12
===
NAME: Poor Lil
DESCRIPTION: Lil, a beauty, lives in a house of ill repute. Her health declines and she loses her looks; a house physician recommends Scott's Emulsion, to no avail. She loses her clientele and dies.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous whore disease doctor drugs
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 248-249, "Poor Lil" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, POORLIL1*
Roud #10310
File: RL248
===
NAME: Poor Little Ellen: see Poor Ellen Smith (I) (File: CSW143)
===
NAME: Poor Little Girls of Ontario, (The)
DESCRIPTION: "I'll sing you a song of a plaguey pest, It goes by the name of the Great North-West. I cannot get a beau at all. They all skip out there in the fall." The girl describes all the men she courted who have now headed west. She declares she will follow them
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1957
KEYWORDS: courting separation emigration
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont,West)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 147-149, "The Poor Little Girls of Ontario"; 150-152, "The Saskatchewan Girl's Lament" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
DT, GALONTAR
Roud #4513
RECORDINGS:
Ann Halderman, "A Poor Lone Girl in Saskatchewan" (on Saskatch01)
Mrs. Hartley [Ethel] Minifie, "The Poor Little Girls of Ontario" (on Ontario1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Brown Jug" (tune)
NOTES: This sounds like it ought to be a humorous song about a woman who so scares men that they head west -- but it seems to be "straight." - RBW
File: FMB147
===
NAME: Poor Little Jesus
DESCRIPTION: "It was poor little Jesus, yes, yes, He was born on Christmas... And laid in a manger...." Describes Jesus's humble birth, the song goes on to relate his death and resurrection. Stanzas end with "Wasn't that a pity and a shame?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926
KEYWORDS: religious Bible Jesus poverty
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Lomax-FSUSA 101, "Po' Lil Jesus" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 373, "Poor Little Jesus" (1 text)
File: LxU101
===
NAME: Poor Little Joe (The Dying Newsboy)
DESCRIPTION: The singer is in New York when he meets a newsboy -- "Although he was singing, he wanted for bread; Although he was smiling, he wished himself dead." The poor newsboy is ignored by the well-to-do, and is at last found dead in the street
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: death poverty hardtimes
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Randolph 716, "Poor Little Joe" (1 text plus a fragment)
JHCox 152, "Poor Little Joe" (1 text)
JHCoxIIB, #33, p. 209, "Poor Little Joe" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 482, "Poor Little Joe" (source notes only)
Roud #3111
RECORDINGS:
Red Patterson's Piedmont Log Rollers, "Poor Little Joe" (Victor 35874, 1928)
James Ragan [pseud. for Roy Harvey], "Poor Little Joe" (Challenge 394, c. 1928)
Earl Shirkey & Roy Harper [Roy Harvey], "Poor Little Joe" (Columbia 15376-D, 1928)
Arnold Keith Storm, "Poor Little Joe" (on AKStorm01)
File: R716
===
NAME: Poor Little Johnny
DESCRIPTION: The cotton is rotten, so Johnny "won't get his hunderd" (pounds) today.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940
KEYWORDS: worksong
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 742, "Poor Little Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: John Lomax recorded this from Aunt Harriet McClintock, who said it was sung in the days of slavery. - NR
File: BSoF742
===
NAME: Poor Little Kitty Puss
DESCRIPTION: Fiddle tune with lyrics: "Pore little Kitty Puss, Pore little feller, Pore little Kitty Puss, Died in the cellar." "Pore little Fido, Pore little Fidie, Pore little Fidie Died last Friday." Possible chorus: "Don't you hear them wolves a-howling..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: animal death nonballad dancetune
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 108, "Poor Little Kitty Puss" (1 text)
Hudson 146, p. 293, [no title] (1 fragment)
ST Br3108 (Full)
File: Br3108
===
NAME: Poor Little Lamb Cries Mammy: see All the Pretty Little Horses (File: LxU002)
===
NAME: Poor Little Laura Lee
DESCRIPTION: Floating stanzas of two songs which mention Laura Lee. The first seems to be a song of parting as Laura's lover goes to the wars (?), but with an "I won't marry" ending; the other perhaps involves a shotgun wedding.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: courting separation
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 102, "Poor Little Laura Lee" (2 fragments)
NOTES: The Brown texts (the only ones I've seen) are very short and perhaps unrelated; the description is partly from the headnotes. This entry probably does not adequately describe the song. - RBW
File: Br3102
===
NAME: Poor Little Sailor Boy, A: see The Soldier's Poor Little Boy [Laws Q28] (File: LQ28)
===
NAME: Poor Lonely Widow
DESCRIPTION: The "poor lonely widow" reports that "Three husbands I've had but they're all dead and buried." The first choked to death in bed, the second drank too much (?), the third hit her and she hit him back. She wonders "if anyone will marry me now."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: husband wife death loneliness oldmaid
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 228-229, "Poor Lonely Widow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1197
File: CoSB228
===
NAME: Poor Lonesome Cowboy
DESCRIPTION: "I'm a poor lonesome cowboy (x3) And a long way from home." "I ain't got no father To buy the clothes I wear." "I ain't got no mother To mend the clothes I wear." "I ain't got no sweetheart To sit and talk with me." (And so on for other missing persons)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: cowboy loneliness family
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Sandburg, p. 273, "Poor Lonesome Cowboy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Larkin, pp. 112-115, "Poor Lonesome Cowboy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 84, "The Poor Lonesome Cowboy" (4 texts, 1 tune; the "C" and "D" texts are Spanish -- "Soy Pobre Vaquero" -- but with plots similar to this piece)
Lomax-ABFS, p. 418, "Poor Lonesome Cowboy" (1 text)
DT, POORLONE*
Roud #4643
File: San273
===
NAME: Poor Lucy Anna
DESCRIPTION: hanty, Negro origin. "Oh the mounten's so high, an' de ribber's so wide, Poor Lucy Anna! De mounten's so high and de ribber's so wide, Ise just gwine ober de mountains." Sung in a slow 3/4 tempo.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Bullen, _Songs of Sea Labor_)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong
FOUND_IN: West Indies
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 378-379, "Poor Lucy Anna" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 287]
Roud #9127
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Susiana" (similar wording in some verses)
NOTES: Bullen stated that this was so mournful a song that "one suspects it of being the lament of some just sold slaves sent from one state to another without reference to any human ties they may have possessed. This chantey was very seldom used except where negroes formed a considerable portion of the crew." - SL
File: Hugi378
===
NAME: Poor Man
DESCRIPTION: "I worked all the winter time, I worked through the spring, I planted my corn and taters, Then it wouldn't rain. There ain't nothing for a poor man in this world." The singer catalogs his troubles: Drought, flood, poverty, and work every day
AUTHOR: Frank Proffitt
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: poverty nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Warner 117, "Poor Man" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 24, #2 (1975), p, 14, "Poor Man" (1 text, 1 tune, included in a memorial to Frank Profitt)
ST Wa117 (Partial)
Roud #5733
File: Wa117
===
NAME: Poor Man Blues
DESCRIPTION: "I never had a barrel of money... I'm gonna die and go to heaven, There I'll set and sing. Lord, this song ain't nothin'... But a poor man singin' the blues." The singer misses his girl. He will go home to East Virginia to stay. Other verses float
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: love separation home hardtimes poverty
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 80, "Poor Man Blues" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Boll Weevil [Laws I17]" (floating lyrics)
File: FSWB081B
===
NAME: Poor Man, O Poor Man: see Jolly Thresher, The (Poor Man, Poor Man) (File: R127)
===
NAME: Poor Man's Family, The: see Longshoreman's Strike (The Poor Man's Family) (File: FSC101)
===
NAME: Poor Man's Labor's Never Done, The: see The Brisk Young Bachelor (File: ShH69)
===
NAME: Poor Man's Song: see Jolly Thresher, The (Poor Man, Poor Man) (File: R127)
===
NAME: Poor Married Man
DESCRIPTION: "You may talk about the joys of the sweet honeymoon... But almost every case they're gone too soon." The troubles and burdens of the married man are listed; "You can tell by his clothes wherever he goes That he is a poor married man."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: marriage family hardtimes work
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 309, "Poor Married Man" (1 text plus a fragment)
Roud #16861
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Wish I Were Single Again (I - Male)" (theme)
File: Br3309
===
NAME: Poor Mary Sits A-Weeping: see What's Poor Mary Weepin' For (Poor Jenny Sits A-Weeping) (File: MSNR070)
===
NAME: Poor Mary Sits A-Weeping (I)
DESCRIPTION: "Poor Mary sits a-weeping, A-weeping, a-weeping, Poor Mary sits a-weeping All on a summer's day." "I'm weeping for a sweetheart." "Pray, Mary, choose a sweetheart." "I'll chose (X) for a sweetheart."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Linscott)
KEYWORDS: playparty courting
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Linscott, pp. 47-49, "Poor Mary Sits A-Weeping" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Lins047 (Partial)
Roud #1377?
File: Lins047
===
NAME: Poor Mary Sits A-Weeping (II): see Little Sally Walker (File: CNFM157)
===
NAME: Poor Naomi: see Poor Omie (John Lewis) (Little Omie Wise) [Laws F4] AND Naomi Wise [Laws F31] (File: LF04)
===
NAME: Poor Old Couple, The
DESCRIPTION: "There was an old couple, and they were poor."  The wife is afraid to stay alone; when the man goes away, she locks the doors and goes to bed. When he returns, she complains of his absence and asks for an (apple). He falls off the ladder. She insults him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1895 (Baring-Gould, _A Book of Nursery Songs and Rhymes_)
KEYWORDS: husband wife separation disease food age disease request dialog husband wife
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SharpAp 184, "The Poor Couple" (1 text, 1 tune)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #821, pp. 305-306, "(There was an old couple, and they were poor)"
Roud #491
NOTES: It sounds like a "spark" is some sort of supernatural creature [in the SharpAp version, after she request the fruit, "up jumped a spark and he run like a hare"], but none of my dictionaries lists any such definition. Local dialect for "spook"? Or has the lady been two-timing the "poor old fool," and is the spark her paramour? Now if she'd asked the old man to fetch a cabbage-head, we'd know for sure. - PJS
My guess is that it's an error for "up HE jumped [like?] a spark...." Or maybe it's an oblique reference to Job 5:7, "Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward." - RBW
File: BGMG821
===
NAME: Poor Old Granuaile
DESCRIPTION: Granuaile appears in a dream. She supports those jailed "in O'Connell's time in '29 ... 'we'll Home Rule get.'" She plays the patriotic tunes. She says "we'll have freedom yet." The dreamer wakes in jail.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (OLochlainn); 1870s? (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: Ireland patriotic prison dream
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
OLochlainn 3A, "Poor Old Granuaile" (1 text)
Zimmermann 77, "Poor Old Granuaile" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Anne Chambers, Granuaile, 1986, pp. 197-198, "Poor Old Granuaile"
Roud #3068
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Erin's Green Shore" [Laws Q27] (theme)
cf. "Eileen McMahon" (aisling format)
cf. "Granuaile" (aisling format) and references there
cf. "Granuwale" (theme)
cf. "Erin's Lament for her Davitt Asthore" (theme)
cf. "The Blackbird of Avondale" or "The Arrest of Parnell" (theme)
NOTES: Zimmermann 77: "This text was the new version of an older ballad (first half of the nineteenth century." There are only a few words difference between Zimmermann 77 and OLochlainn 3A. An early date for these texts is set by the mention of tunes played by Granuaile including "God Save Ireland" (1867).
Zimmermann p. 55: "At the time of the United Irishmen, Granu Waile standing for Ireland was already celebrated by broadsides in English."
Two similar but different broadsides:
Bodleian, Harding B 19(25), "Granauile" ("One morning fair to take the air and recreate my mind"), J.F. Nugent & Co. (Dublin), 1850-1899
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 507A, "Granawail" ("[Come] all you Irish hero's that's craving for liberty"), E. Hodges (London), 1855-1861
"Granuaile O'Malley (Or Grace O'Malley, or Gr.inne Ni Mhaille or Gr.inne Uaile) is among the most illustrious of O'Malley ancestors. She was a 'Sea Queen' and pirate in the 16th century." (Source: The Official Web Site of The O'Malley Clan Association) - BS
The _Oxford Companion to Irish History_ gives her dates as c. 1530-c. 1603, observes that she was married twice and imprisoned 1577-1579 -- and notes that, on the whole, she strove for peaceful relations with the English.
For a discussion of this type of song as a example of the genre known as the "aisling," see the notes to "Granuaile." - RBW
File: OLoc003A
===
NAME: Poor Old Horse (I): see Poor Old Man (Poor Old Horse; The Dead Horse) (File: Doe014)
===
NAME: Poor Old Horse (III)
DESCRIPTION: "My clothing once was linsey-woolsey fine, My hair unlinkt, and my coat it did shine; But now in open fields I'm forced for to go... Crying, 'Poor old horse, O poor old horse.'" The horse recalls the old days, and bequeathes its body to the huntsmen
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Sharp); the Stokoe/Reay versions apparently was published in Topliff before 1850
KEYWORDS: age ritual horse
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Sharp-100E 85, "Poor Old Horse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Stokoe/Reay, pp.  60-61, "The Poor Old Horse" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #90, "Poor Old Horse" (1 text)
ST ShH85 (Full)
Roud #513
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Poor Old Man (Poor Old Horse; The Dead Horse)" (plot)
cf. "Pawkie Paiterson's Auld Grey Yaud" (theme)
cf. "Mon Cher Voisin (My Dear Neighbor)" (theme)
cf. "The Old Blind Horse" (theme)
cf. "The Auld Horse's Lament" (theme)
NOTES: Hobbyhorse rituals have been commonplace in rural Britain for centuries. This song was sung as part of these rituals.
Although there are a few parallels between this song and "Poor Old Man" (notably the description of the horse's decrepitude), I believe that this is a related but separate song with a thoroughly different gestalt. As we are being splitters in this index, this song deserves its own entry. -PJS
Roud lumps the two; personally, I wonder a little if even this song might not need splitting. The description above is taken mostly from Stokoe's text; Sharp, which begins "When I was young and in my prime," has a quite distinct look -- but exactly the same plot, and apparently both were used for hobbyhorse rituals. - RBW
File: ShH85
===
NAME: Poor Old Joe: see Poor Old Man (Poor Old Horse; The Dead Horse) (File: Doe014)
===
NAME: Poor Old Lazarus (I've Got a Home; Don't You See)
DESCRIPTION: "Poor ol' Lazarus, poor as I, Don't you see? When he had a home on high, Don't you see?" ""Rich man, rich man lived so well, When he died he had a home in hell, Don't you see, don't you see?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Wings Over Jordan)
KEYWORDS: religious death Bible home
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 628, "Poor Old Lazarus" (1 text)
Roud #11929
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Dives and Lazarus" [Child 56] (subject) and references there
NOTES: Jesus's story of the rich man and Lazarus is found in Luke 16:19-31 (the Lazarus of John 11, 12 is unrelated).
It's worth remembering that this is not something that actually happened in the Bible; rather, it is a story Jesus told as a warning. - RBW
File: Br3628
===
NAME: Poor Old Maid
DESCRIPTION: "We're a lonely dismal crew, Poor old maid!/We're a lonely dismal crew/All dressed in yellow, pink and blue/Nursing the cats is all we do...." "Three scores and ten of us/And not a penny in the purse/So something must be done for us...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1876 (Christie, _Traditional Ballad Airs, vol. 1_)
KEYWORDS: loneliness poverty clothes money nonballad political oldmaid
FOUND_IN: Britain(England), US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SharpAp 229, "Poor Old Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shellans, pp. 12-13, "Poor Old Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3337
NOTES: Sharp refers to a manuscript in his collection with the additional lyrics, "We'll apply to George the Third/And our petition shall be heard./George the third unto us he said: 'And here's a penny to buy some bread.'" Sharp adds, "This is, no doubt, an allusion to the Bread Riots." He adds a verse from Christie, "But we'll apply to James our King/And to him a petition bring/That he may get us wed wi' ring/Poor auld maidens." - PJS
The "Bread Riots," also known as "Bread of Blood Riots," took place in 1816. In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, Britain's immense military spending led to an intense round of inflation, with devastating effects on the poor. The most intense uprising came in Liverpool, where protesters bore placards saying "Bread or Blood." 24 rioters were sentenced to death, though in the end only five were hanged and nine more transported.
This is in the reign of George III -- but the other side of the coin is, George III by this time was permanently insane (with what is now believed to have been porphyria); the future George IV had been regent since 1811 (and at times before that). So I rather suspect the song it older -- perhaps, as implied by Christie, to the reign of James I (1603-1625), the only significant King James of England, whose reign did see a lot of economic trouble, partly because of the high spending of Elizabeth's reign (which ended with an economic downturn) and partly because James didn't understand money at all well.
The American versions of course have none of this, and downplay the poverty; instead of the song being about a POOR ol maid, it is about a poor OLD MAID -- that is, her loneliness rather than her poverty is stressed. - RBW
File: ShAp2229
===
NAME: Poor Old Man (II)
DESCRIPTION: The poor old man warns the Connors's from Kerry that they will rue stopping in Ross Town. He barricades his door [in "real life" that apparently led to a disaster for him].
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1985 (IRTravellers01)
KEYWORDS: feud derivative
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: ()

Roud #2509
RECORDINGS:
"Pops" Johnny Connors, "Poor Old Man" (on IRTravellers01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Shan Van Voght" (form, tune) and references there
NOTES: Jim Carroll's notes to IRTravellers01: "According to the singer, this song refers to a fight that took place in the town of New Ross, Co Wexford, sometime in the nineteen-thirties, between two travelling families.... The song is a parody of 'An Sean Bhean Bhoct,' (The Poor Old Woman) [The Shan Van Voght]." - BS
File: RcPoOMan
===
NAME: Poor Old Man (Poor Old Horse; The Dead Horse)
DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Characteristic line: "For they say so and they know so... Oh, poor old (horse/man)." The sailor meets an old man with an old horse; they exchange comments about the horse's (and humanity's) fate. Alternate chorus: "And I say so/And we hope so"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1857 (Bell)
KEYWORDS: shanty horse
FOUND_IN: US(MA,NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (13 citations)
Doerflinger, p. 14, "Poor Old Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, pp. 63-64, "Poor Old Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 68-69, 84, "Poor Old Man," "The Dead Horse," "Poor Old Joe" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Hugill, pp. 554-555, "The Dead Horse" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 389-392]
Sharp-EFC, XLVII, p. 52, "The Dead Horse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 134-135, "The Dead Horse" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 406, "The Dead Horse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Smith/Hatt, p. 25, "Say Old Man" (1 text)
Bone, p. 50, "The 'Dead Horse' Chanty" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Shay-SeaSongs, p. 16, "The Dead Horse" (1 text)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 237, (no title) (1 fragment, probably this)
DT, DEADHORS*
ADDITIONAL: 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 titled "Poor Old Joe" is in Part 2, 7/21/1917.
Roud #513
RECORDINGS:
Capt. Leighton Robinson, "The Dead Horse" (AFS, 1951; on LC26)
Leighton Robinson w. Alex Barr, Arthur Brodeur & Leighton McKenzie, "Poor Old Man" (AFS 4229 B, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Poor Old Horse III" (plot)
cf. "Old Marse John" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Charleston Gals (Clear the Kitchen)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Johnny Booker" (lyrics)
cf. "The Salt Horse Song"
cf. "I Whipped My Horse"
cf. "Dumpty Moore"
NOTES: When a boarding master supplied a sailor to a ship, he received an advance from the sailor's pay (for background on this, see the notes to "Dixie Brown" [Laws D7]). Thus the sailor had to work for some weeks or months before he began to earn money for himself. This was known as "working off the dead horse." Often sailors celebrated in some way when the dead horse was finally disposed of, and this song celebrates the process. - RBW
Thirty days out, sailors would sometimes make a horse-figure from rags and tar, hoist it to the yardarm, cut it loose and let it drift away on the sea, a ritual known as "burying the dead horse." A good captain would break out a ration of rum at this time. A sailor of my acquaintance reported that 100 days out, on a U.S. Navy carrier, the men would be given a ration of two cans of beer, and this was still known as the "dead horse." - PJS
Bone says of this that it is "the only chanty I know composed definitely for entertainment." - RBW
For another version see Robert Bell, editor, [The Project Gutenberg EBook (1996) of] Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England (1857), "'The Mummers' Song' or 'The Poor Old Horse' as sung by the Mummers in the Neighbourhood of Richmond, Yorkshire, at the merrie time of Christmas" ("You gentlemen and sportsmen"). - BS
File: Doe014
===
NAME: Poor Old Robinson Crusoe
DESCRIPTION: "When I was a lad, my fortune was bad, My grandfather I did lose." As in the book, he, Robinson Crusoe, is shipwrecked, lands on an island with gun and sword. He builds a hut, lives there with Friday, until he is rescued by a passing ship.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1797 (Oh poor Robinson Crusoe sheet music, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: rescue sea ship wreck
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
GreigDuncan1 25, "Robinson Crusoe" (1 text)
Opie-Oxford2 455, "Poor old Robinson Crusoe!" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #216, p. 146, "(Poor old Robinson Crusoe)"
Roud #5805
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(66), "Robinson Crusoe," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 28(66), "Robinson Crusoe"; Johnson Ballads 2559, "Life and adventures of Robinson Crusoe"
LOCSinging, sb40455b, "Robinson Crusoe," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878; also as203020, as111820, "Robinson Crusoe"
NOTES: _Robinson Crusoe_ was written by Daniel Dafoe and published in 1719. [Based loosely on the actual adventures of a sailor named Alexander Selkirk. - RBW]
The source for the description is broadside Bodleian Harding B 28(66).
Broadside LOCSinging sb40455b: 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: OO2455
===
NAME: Poor Old Sailor, The
DESCRIPTION: An old sailor begging tells his story: his death, falsely reported, caused his wife to die of a broken heart and his daughter to wander "I know not where." A woman listening reveals herself as his daughter and she takes him home until he dies.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1846 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads 457)
KEYWORDS: age disability begging children sailor reunion
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Smith/Hatt, pp. 59-60, "The Worn-Out Sailor" (1 text)
Roud #6764
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 457, "The Poor Old Worn-Out Sailor," E.M.A. Hodges (London), 1844-1845; also Harding B 11(3099), Harding B 20(177), Firth c.12(399), "The Poor Old Worn-Out Sailor"; Harding B 11(2622), Harding B 11(2623), "The Poor Old Worn Out Sailor"; Harding B 25(1540), 2806 c.18(253), "The Poor Old Sailor"
LOCSinging, cw106810, "The Worn Out Sailor," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
NOTES: Smith/Hatt: Fowke notes that "John Moulden has located a broadside copy entitled 'The Poor Old Sailor' in the National Library of Ireland." That led me to look for the same in Bodleian.
Bodleian, Harding B 40(12), "The Poor Old Soldier" ("'Twas on a summers eve all labour was o'er"), J.F. Nugent and Co.? (Dublin?), 1850-1899 appears to be the same -- or closely related--but I could not download the text image to verify that.
Broadside LOCSinging cw106810: 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: SmHa059
===
NAME: Poor Old Slave, The
DESCRIPTION: "The poor old slave is dead and gone, We know that he is free. Disturb him not, but let him rest, Away down in Tennessee." "The poor old slave is gone to rest, No master does he fear, Disturb him not...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: slave death burial humorous wordplay
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
MWheeler, p. 118, "Th Po' Old Slave" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, POORSLAV
ST MWhee118 (Full)
Roud #10049
NOTES: The Digital Tradition has a (camp?) version of this in which the singer inserts nonsense syllables. But Wheeler's text, though short, seems to ensure that this is a parody -- or rather an expansion -- of a serious song (perhaps a spiritual). - RBW
File: MWhee118
===
NAME: Poor Oma Wise: see Poor Omie (John Lewis) (Little Omie Wise) [Laws F4] (also Naomi Wise [Laws F31]) (File: LF04)
===
NAME: Poor Omie (John Lewis) (Little Omie Wise) [Laws F4]
DESCRIPTION: John Lewis, to free himself of his pregnant sweetheart, offers to marry her but instead plans to drown her. She begs for her life, promising to go begging, but he throws her in the river. The body is found and Lewis imprisoned. (He escapes into the army.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1874
KEYWORDS: pregnancy murder rejection prison drowning
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1808 - Drowning of Naomi Wise in North Carolina
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (20 citations)
Laws F4, "Poor Omie (John Lewis) (Little Omie Wise)"
Belden, pp. 322-324, "Oma Wise" (2 texts)
Randolph 149, "Poor Oma Wise" (5 texts plus 2 excerpts and 1 fragment, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 163-166, "Poor Oma Wise" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 149A)
BrownII 300, "Poor Naomi (Omie Wise)" (5 texts plus 1 excerpt and mention of 2 more; it appears that Laws places texts "A" and "D" here, but "H" is also this song, with "F" and "G" being "Naomi Wise" [Laws F31])
Hudson 63, pp. 187-188, "Poor Omie" (1 text)
Cambiaire, pp. 30-31, "Oma Wise" (1 text)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 73-75, "John Lewis" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 793-795, "Naomi (Omie) Wise" (2 texts)
Friedman, p. 202, "Naomi Wise" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 116, "The Ballad of Naomi Wise" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 138, "Omie Wise" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 51, pp. 119-120, "Poor Omie" (1 text)
SharpAp 123, "Poor Omie" (7 texts, 7 tunes)
Burt, pp. 25-28, "Omie Wise" (1 text plus some fragments, 1 tune; also an excerpt from another Naomi Wise song, seemingly neither this nor Laws F31)
Darling-NAS, pp. 200-201, "Omie Wise" (1 text)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 42 "Ommie Wise" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 149, "Deep Water" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 225, "Omie Wise" ; p. 227, "Deep Water" (2 texts)
DT 627, OMIEWISE* OMIWISE2*
Roud #447
RECORDINGS:
Finley Adams, "Omie Wise" (AAFS 2796 B1)
Clarence Ashley, "Naomi Wise" (Columbia 15522-D, 1930; rec. 1929)
Clarence Ashley & Doc Watson, "Poor Omie" (on Ashley03)
Dock Boggs, "Little Omie Wise" (on Boggs3, BoggsCD1)
Mrs. W. R. Buchanan, "Little Omie Wise" (AAFS 2857 B3)
Ruth Clark Cullipher, "Little Onie" (AAFS 1031 A1)
Morgan Denmon, "Naomi Wise" (OKeh 45075, 1927; rec. 1926)
Minnie Floyd, "Naomi Wise" (AAFS 1301 A1)
Cleophas Franklin, "Omie Wise" (AAFS 2891 B2)
[G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "Ommie Wise" (Victor 21625, 1927; on AAFM1, GraysonWhitter01, ConstSor1)
Goldie Hamilton, "Little Omie Wise" (AAFS 2829 A1)
Aunt Idy Harper & the Coon Creek Girls, "Poor Naomi Wise" (Vocalion 04354 [or 04345], 1938)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Omie Wise" (on Holcomb1, HolcombCD1)
A. J. Huff, "Omie Wise" (AAFS 2877 B3)
Sarah Ison, "Little Omie Wise" (AAFS 2810 B1)
Aunt Molly Jackson, "Oma Wise" (AAFS 824 B2, 1935) (AAFS 3340/3341 A)
Polly Johnson, "Poor Omie" (AAFS 2760 A4)
Mrs. Esco Kilgore, "Oma Wise" (AAFS 2772 A2)
Alexander Kirkheart, "Naomi Wise" (AAFS 1700 A1)
Alec Moore, "Poor Omie Wise" (AAFS 57 B1)
Johanna Shepherd, "Omie Wise" (AAFS 1405 B2)
Lillian Short, "Naomi Wise" (AFS; on LC12)
Della Sibert, "Omie Wise" (AAFS 1486 A2)
Doug Wallin, "Omie Wise" (on Wallins1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Naomi Wise" [Laws F31] (plot)
cf. "Tragic Romance" (tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Naomi Wise
File: LF04
===
NAME: Poor Paddy Works on the Railway: see Paddy Works on the Railway (File: LxU076)
===
NAME: Poor Parker
DESCRIPTION: The singer laments, "Ye gods above, protect us widows!" She recalls her husband [Richard] Parker, "hanged for mutiny." She recalls how she was not allowed to his execution, and how she and friends dug up his grave and gave him a decent burial
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1824 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 28(42))
KEYWORDS: ship navy mutiny punishment execution husband wife burial mourning
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1797 - Nore mutiny, ending in the execution of Richard Parker and others
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland) US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
BrownII 117, Poor Parker"" (1 text)
Logan, pp. 58-64, "Death of Parker" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: C. H. Firth, _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ , 1907 (available on Google Books), p. 282, "The Death of Parker" (1 text, immediately following an anti-Parker song)
Roud #1032
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.18(83), "The Death of Parker," Angus (Newcastle), before 1826; also Harding B 28(42), "Parker's Widow," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824 (barely legible); Harding B 25(490) (only a few words legible but probably this); Johnson Ballads 2447 (semi-legible); Harding B 11(843); Harding B 11(840)=Harding B 11(841), "The Death of Parker," H. Such (London), 1863-1885; Harding B 11(844), "The Death of Parker," J Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; 2806 c.16(207)=Harding B 11(3301), J. Walker (Durham); 2806 c.13(245) (only partly legible)
NOTES: For references, see the Bibliography at the end of this note.
Living conditions in sailing ships were rarely pleasant, but conditions in the British Navy in the eighteenth century were particularly bad; pay hadn't been raised for over a century (Guttridge, p. 46), and even those pitiful amounts often went unpaid; Dugan, p. 35, says that the total arrears as of the end of 1796 exceeded 1.4 million pounds -- a figure that could be multiplied by a factor of a hundred or so to reach modern dollars. To top it all off, the sailors (most of them, of course, recruited by press gangs; Dugan, p. 58) were held in service for very long periods. And all this at a time when the British economy was teetering on the brink of collapse and revolution may have been in the air (Dugan, pp. 29-31); many of those sailors had families back home who were in extreme distress (Dugan, p. 66).
Dissatisfaction with naval policy was enough that, when the windows at Number Ten Downing Street were broken, the general feeling was that it was in response to the heavy demands of the press gang, though Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger brushed it off as "a single pebble" (Wilson, p. 278).
The result of all this, in 1797, was a series of mutinies -- at a time when Britain's very independence depended on the fleet holding off a invasion; Britain's land allies had been defeated by Revolutionary France, and the French were looking across the channel to eliminate their chief rival.
The first mutiny (April 16-May 14, 1797) took place at Spithead, the fleet base outside Portsmouth; Keegan, p. 38, describes it as "a strike (for better pay and conditions) rather than a rebellion," and most other authorities agree -- the delegates who organized it decided that officers would be obeyed and all orders respected except those for going to sea (Dugan, p. 92; Guttridge, p. 50). Even Wilson, who does his best to sweep the whole thing under the rug (he never so much as mentions the brutal treatment meted out to the ringleaders of the Nore revolt), admits that "order, maintained by the mutineers, was perfect. No seaman was permitted to go on shore without what was called 'a Liberty Ticket,' and the very idea of handing over even a single vessel to France was suppressed by the seamen themselves with resolute determination" (pp. 278-279).
The Spithead mutiny temporarily ended, after repeated attempts to browbeat the determined sailors, when pardons were offered and more money promised (Dugan, p. 104, describes about a 15% pay raise).
The pardons came quickly (Dugan, p. 112, Guttridge, p. 53). But it took parliament weeks to vote the funds, and in that time, the mutiny heated up again (Dugan, p. 112) as sailors ought better food and less brutal officers. (Theoretically, rations were supposed to be adequate and fresh food offered when possible. But the Navy farmed out these services, and the contractors were generally corrupt and supplied bad food in inadequate quantities; Dugan, pp. 56-57. Even if the contractors had been entirely honest, it would have been hard for them to do their work well, because they, like the sailors, were not getting paid what they were owed; Dugan, p. 67.)
Many officers were forced from their ships (Dugan, pp. 138-139), and an admiral imprisoned in his cabin (Guttridge, p. 58; Dugan, p. 142; Davies, pp. 53-54).
It is ironic to note that the Spithead strike was settled largely by the actions of Richard Howe (1726-1799), who previously had been co-commander with his brother William during the revolt of the American colonies; he was hauled out of retirement to deal with the Spithead problem (Dugan, p. 148). It was the last act 58 years of service to king and country.. The Spithead outcome demonstrated fully his sympathy with ordinary people against the government of George III; even went so far as to set aside the bad officers (Guttridge, p. 58). Howe showed no respect for rank in the weeding process; those pushed aside included a Vice Admiral (John Colpoys, MP, KG, and former First Sea Lord), four captains, and 102 junior officers (Dugan, pp. 168-169), an average of somewhat more than two officers per ship.
To the greatest extent possible, news of Spithead was kept quiet -- both to keep the French from acting and to prevent more widespread rebellion (Dugan, p. 130). Spithead, after all, wasn't the only fleet base in Britain. But not even the vigilance of the leading admirals could entirely silence the news (Woodman, p. 112). So the Spithead strike inspired the Nore mutiny (May 10-June 16). Not every ship had been given the same rewards as the Spithead strikers (e.g. only those at Spithead got deal with bad officers).
The ships at the Nore, and many of those at Yarmouth wanted the same terms ("We just want the same treatment as the Spithead people," an envoy told Howe -- Dugan, p. 172), including the right to dispose of officers (Guttridge, p. 69), and didn't get them, and what they got, they got slowly. Nor was it clear that the sailors at the Nore were covered by the Spithead pardon (indeed, it was eventually decided that they were not; Dugan, p. 212; Guttridge, p. 66). Left dangling in the wind, the Nore mutineers kept increasing their demands, including even calling for change in the Articles of War (Guttridge, p. 64), which was patently out of the question.
Perhaps if there had been a Howe to deal with the Nore mutineers, things might have gone better. Even a sense of unit cohesion might have helped, since it would have promoted a greater sense of "family" between officers and men -- but there was none. Spithead hosted an actual organized fleet, but the Nore was simply a place where a lot of ships gathered (Dugan, pp. 177, 227). The men at the Nore were a very mixed lot. Many of the sailors there -- including Richard Parker, the titular leader of the coming mutiny -- were "quota men." With the navy being manned so heavily, it was almost impossible to impress enough sailors, so officials in all parts of Britain had to supply a certain quota of landsmen; they found them sweeping the streets and alleys and by paying bounties. Often the men they got were marginally fit -- older and unused to sea conditions. And more than a few were radicals; Thomas Payne's _The Rights of Man_ was very popular at this time (Dugan, p. 63). Valentine Joyce, the leader of the Spithead protestors, was one such; he had been a Belfast tobacco seller before serving a sentence for sedition.
Adding to the complexity was the fact that the Nore (near the mouth of the Thames off the Isle of Sheppey) wasn't a fleet base the way Portsmouth was; it was a rendezvous point. It was not, in modern terms, a "home port" for any of the ships stationed there, and the docking facilities were limited (Herman, p. 351). The ships located there were mostly in transit, on their way to join some other fleet. There was no unit cohesion. There was no competent admiral to convey their demands, either. So they mutinied.
And, somehow, two days after the mutiny began, the disobedient crews put themselves in the hands of Richard Parker (Dugan, p. 187, tells of him being chosen delegate from _Sandwich_; later he was made "President of the Delegates of the Whole Fleet"; p. 198) He was an unusual man even in this mixed-up flotilla. He was about 30, a quota man, and seemingly a troublemaker; Davies, p. 54, calls him "a misguided man, who was undoubtedly a demagogue more interested in leading a rebellion than in correcting genuine wrongs." He had actually served at one time as a junior ship's officer, but had been cashiered and sent to serve belowdecks; Guttridge, p. 62, says that "in 1784 [he] was discharged for either disobedience or nervous disorder, perhaps both." This appears to be an error, though; Dugan says he was discharged in 1794 for rheumatism (p. 198).  Having married (in 1791?) and gone into farming, he ended up in debtor's prison (Dugan, p. 198). But even though he was a "political," as we might say these days, he had sea experience, so he was accepted -- to meet the quota. At least he knew his way around the ship. Dugan, p. 199, thinks he was given his position at the head of the mutiny because he was an intelligent, educated man; because he had that history of being court-martialed for insubordination (something that would have earned him respect from the ranks) -- and because he wanted the job.
The Nore mutiny was organized under the Admiralty's nose, with sailors on the depot ship _Sandwich_ preparing an oath and a series of demands, then convincing other ships to sign on (Dugan, pp. 179-181). Unlike Spithead, it was not a "respectable mutiny"; even at the very start, there were instances of British ships firing on other British ships (Dugan, p. 185).
Parker at one point had 13 ships of the line (Dugan, p. 262), plus auxiliaries, under his command. (Though ships joined the rebellion and gave it up at odd intervals; by the end, only two ships were still under delegate control.) Many ships were "half in" from the start -- e.g. _Circe_, watching the Dutch fleet in the Texel, had a mutinous crew on the gun deck, but held to her duty because her officers and a few loyal sailors controlled her helm and sails; Dugan, pp. 255-256. And, this time, the Admiralty took a hard line, saying all grievances had been addressed (Dugan, p. 227). Naturally the mutineers did not accept this brush-off, and continued their strike.
But the Nore simply could not support such an action; the facilities weren't there. The mutineers eventually found themselves starved out. They blockaded London (Guttridge, p. 68; Dugan, p. 264, noted that they let fresh food through) and the Admiralty cut off supplies in return (Dugan, p. 237). To make their problem worse, many of the ships in the rebellious fleet had been poorly supplied to begin with; water and candles were in short supply (Dugan, p. 262), and some ships were low on wood for the stoves.
Parker, by the time the embargo started, found himself in an impossible situation. The authorities didn't trust him -- but several of his rebellious ships were wavering; many wanted to return to government authority. Parker at one point asked the men of the _Sandwich_ if they wished to give in, and they did (Dugan, p. 243) -- and the fleet delegates responded by inducing a system where they elected a new Fleet President every day! (Dugan, pp. 243-244). If Parker gave in, he would be set aside. Dugan thinks he wanted to take the pardon but could not. 
The situation was turning into a race against time, though the mutineers had no way of knowing it: Would William Pitt's government fall, or would the mutineers starve? Voices against Pitt were numerous (Dugan, pp. 259-261), and bond prices were at record lows (Dugan, p. 265), but George III sustained his Prime Minister and the government held on by the skin of its teeth.
Gradually ships started slipping away  from the Nore assembly (Guttridge, p. 67). Even some of the delegates gave up (Dugan, p. 269). Parker himself gave up while half a dozen ships were still holding out.
The government didn't take any of that into account. Nor did they accept that this was another strike for better conditions -- at every stage, the ships had protested their loyalty to the crown, but they were treated as rebels pure and simple. And Parker was the official scapegoat.
What followed reflected very badly on Georgian justice. Parker was charged with civil offenses, but was treated as a mutineer and subjected to court-martial rather than set him before a jury (which might acquit him). The officers trying him clearly had conflicts of interest. He had no lawyer. He was denied access to evidence -- including even the transcripts of the trial. He was given only a week to prepare his defence (Dugan, p. 329), and was in a dark prison when not in court. All he could do was operate by memory. And the prosecution had assembled an absurd case; many of the witnesses called had absolutely nothing to say, since they had never met or dealt with Parker (Dugan, pp. 332-333).
Despite the unfairness of the proceedings, the verdict was just what was expected:
"The court has heard witnesses... [and] is of the opinion that the whole of the charges were fully proved against Richard Parker.
"The court, therefore have determined that the said Richard Parker shall suffer death, and that he be accordingly hanged by the neck until dead on such day, and on board such ship, as the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty shall appoint" (Dugan, p. 348).
There was, of course, no possibility of appeal, save to the King, who had a very high standard of personal sexual morality and absolutely no sympathy for anyone who did not think him the infallible viceroy of God on earth.
Dugan's version of events is extremely anti-George and pro-Parker, but even knowing that, reading his summary of the trial, I can't help but think that Parker would have been set free by a jury of the time. An honest military trial today would probably result in a bad conduct discharge and related penalties.
Logan seems to agree that the trial was a mockery, though his view is less pro-Parker than Dugan: "Parker appears from the evidence to have obtained scant justice; and there can be no doubt that, being an educated man,and rather ambitious of being an orator, he was made the mouthpiece and the tool of harsher natures, whom even in death he did not betray" (p. 62).
On the other hand, Davies, p. 55, says of the trials, "Out of about four hundred [ringleaders], most were pardoned, some were flogged or imprisoned and twenty-eight were hanged. This may be considered a moderate response by the government since, strictly speaking, all mutineers were subject to only one punishment, and that death. On the other hand, even if it had wanted to, the government could not have hanged the whole navy."
The number of executions cannot be considered precise. Dugan agrees that over 300 of the 400+ alleged ringleaders were pardoned, but cites estimates of the number hanged ranging from 24 to 36 -- though mostly toward the high end of that range. Guttridge, who has no sympathy for the mutineers, claims on p. 72 that "sixty mutineers were condemned to death, imprisonment, or flogging. Probably no more than two dozen were hanged, most of them from the _Sandwich_ [Parker's ship]." James, who is even less sympathetic (he accuses even the leaders of the Spithead mutiny of being "political animals," as if soldiers and sailors had no purpose except to be killed for their country), says on p. 315 that 59 men were hanged.
Such were the ways of Georgian justice that Parker's wife was never officially told he was on trial, and she was denied a final meeting with him. Her only communication with him after his condemnation was a letter he wrote (Dugan, pp. 351-352).
Parker was hanged June 30. At the scaffold, there was hesitation about allowing him a final speech. But he cried out to the crowd at the last, avoiding any political references and appealed for mercy for all the other leaders of the revolt (Dugan, p. 356), obviously to limited effect.
The song reportedly describes the disappearance of Parker's body fairly accurately. He was to be left in unconsecrated ground, but the widow and others stole the body and spirited it away. The authorities did catch up with her, but the church where the body was taken permitted a proper burial with appropriate ceremonies (Dugan, pp. 359-362).
Such was the navy's desire to wash away the memory of the Nore that, soon after, the _Sandwich_, where Parker has been President of the fleet, was broken up soon after (Dugan, p. 363).
Mrs. Parker outlived her husband by nearly half a century; Dugan (p. 458) reports that, in 1840, she was "seventy, blind, and friendless."
A French invasion during the period of the mutinies might well have succeeded, but the French were too confused to bring one about. England, utterly mismanaged by her government, survived by raw force and a great deal of luck.
There were any number of broadsides about the Nore and Spithead mutinies (Firth, p. 277, prints "A New Song" about Spithead, and on .p 280 has "British Tars Rewarded" on the same theme; p. 281 has "Parker the Delegate," an anti-Parker song to the tune of "The Vicar of Bray"), but few found their way into tradition, this amazingly widespread song being the primary exception. Dugan, p. 362, indeed notes that those who sold anti-Parker broadsides were attacked in the streets and their song sheets scattered and destroyed.
>>*BIBLIOGRAPHY*<<
Davies: David Davies, _A Brief History of Fighting Ships: Ships of the Line and Napoleonic sea battle 1793-1815_, Carroll & Graf, 1996, 2002
Dugan: James Dugan, _The Great Mutiny_, G. P. Putnam, 1965
Firth: C. H. Firth, _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ , 1907 (available on Google Books)
Guttridge: Leonard F. Guttridge, _Mutiny: A History of Naval Insurrection_, Naval Institute Press, 1992 (I use the 2002 Berkley edition)
Herman: Arthur Herman, _To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World_, 2004 (I use the 2005 Harper Perennial edition)
James: Lawrence James, _Warrior Race: A History of the British at War_ (Abacus, 2001)
Keegan: John Keegan, _The Price of Admiralty: The Evolution of Naval Warfare_, Penguin, 1988, 1990
Logan: Logan's _Pedlar's Pack_; see the Ballad Index bibliography for this book.
Wilson: P. W. Wilson, _William Pitt, the Younger_, Doubleday Doran, 1930
Woodman: Richard Woodman, _A Brief History of Mutiny_, Carroll & Graf, 2005 - RBW
File: BrII117
===
NAME: Poor Pat Must Emigrate: see The Irish Refugee (Poor Pat Must Emigrate) (File: OCon053)
===
NAME: Poor Rebel Soldier: see The Rebel Soldier (File: R246)
===
NAME: Poor Richard and the Serapis and Alliance: see Paul Jones's Victory [Laws A4] (File: LA04)
===
NAME: Poor Robin: see Old Roger is Dead (Old Bumpy, Old Grimes, Pompey) (File: R569)
===
NAME: Poor Rosy
DESCRIPTION: "Poor Rosy, poor gal, Rosy broke my poor heart, Heaven shall be my home. Before I stay in Hell one day, Heaven shall be my home." The singer has "hard troubles," and "trials"; (he bids farewell to Brother Robert and Sister Lucy and turns to Heaven)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 7, "Poor Rosy" (1 text, 1 tune plus a variant form)
Scott-BoA, pp. 199-201, "Poor Rosy" (1 text, probably retouched, 1 tune)
Roud #11856
File: SBoA199
===
NAME: Poor Schnapps
DESCRIPTION: A "dutch" song. Corporal Schnapps, who is perhaps not overly bright, patriotically enlists in the army. Having faced battle, horrid food, and the scorn (and spit) of southern women, he now faces the indignity of having his girl run off with another man
AUTHOR: Henry Clay Work
EARLIEST_DATE: 1864 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: humorous foreigner Civilwar battle hardtimes courting infidelity elopement
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 218, "The Yankee Dutchman" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 78, "Corporal Schnapps" (1 text)
DT, CRPSHNAP*
Roud #4872
File: R218
===
NAME: Poor Sinner, A
DESCRIPTION: "Hark, sinner, hark, while I relate, What happened in Kentucky state. A poor young woman lately died; She dropped from all her wealth and pride." Led astray by a young man, she turned ungodly. Dying, she bids farewell; her mother says she will go to hell
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: death hell
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 63, "A Poor Sinner" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, p. 73, (no title) (1 short text)
ST Br3063 (Full)
Roud #7846
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Wicked Polly" [Laws H6] (plot)
File: Br3063
===
NAME: Poor Smuggler's Boy, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a boy who is mourning his father. The father was a smuggler; caught in a storm, their ship was wrecked and his father drowned. The boy has clung to a plank and been swept ashore. A rich lady hears his complaint and adopts him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1888 (Ashton)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer, walking the beach on a stormy day, meets a boy who is mourning his father. The father was a smuggler who would, "venture out on the salt sea/For a keg of good brandy from the land of the free" (Holland). Caught in a storm, the ship has been wrecked and his father has drowned, despite the boy's efforts to save him. The boy has clung to a plank and been swept ashore. A rich lady hears his complaint, and adopts him
KEYWORDS: grief crime death drowning storm wreck father orphan
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: ()

Roud #618
RECORDINGS:
Bob Roberts, "The Smuggler's Boy" (on LastDays)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fisherman's Boy" [Laws Q29] (plot)
cf. "The Soldier's Poor Little Boy" [Laws Q28] (plot)
cf. "The Farmer's Boy" [Laws Q30] (plot)
cf. "The Fisherman's Girl" (plot)
File: RcTSmBy
===
NAME: Poor Soldier (I)
DESCRIPTION: "All out in the snow they are tonight, Far away from kin and home. God help the ones who fight for the right, And them who are done gone on. Poor soldier, hungry and cold (x2)." The girl recalls her soldier's departure and prays he is safe wherever he is
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: soldier separation nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Warner 132, "Poor Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa132 (Full)
Roud #5734
RECORDINGS:
Frank Proffitt, "Poor Soldier" (on FProffitt01)
NOTES: The Warners claim this is a Civil War song, and so does the tradition in Frank Proffitt's family. They're probably right, but there is no reason why it could not have been sung in any other U.S. war fought in a cold climate.
The musical notes in Warner comment on how irregular the tune and meter are to this piece. It's simple truth; Frank Proffitt didn't really seem to have a tune; more of a sketch which he fleshed out irregularly to fit the words. - RBW
File: Wa132
===
NAME: Poor Soldier (II), The: see The Bold Soldier [Laws M27] (File: LM27)
===
NAME: Poor Stranger: see Poor Stranger, The (Two Strangers in the Mountains Alone) (File: R059)
===
NAME: Poor Stranger a Thousand Miles from Home: see Farewell, Sweet Mary AND The Poor Stranger (Two Strangers in the Mountains Alone) (File: E082)
===
NAME: Poor Stranger Far From Home, A: see Poor Stranger, The (Two Strangers in the Mountains Alone) (File: R059)
===
NAME: Poor Stranger, The (Two Strangers in the Mountains Alone)
DESCRIPTION: The singer wanders out alone and meets a girl, also alone. Each asks why the other is there. Both have had trouble with lovers at home and so ran away. They settle down to a happy life together
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (Joyce)
KEYWORDS: courting rambling
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So) Ireland (Britain(England(South)) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Belden, p. 487, "Poor Stranger a Thousand Miles from Home" (1 text, a short item which seems to combine "The Poor Stranger," "Farewell, Sweet Mary," and perhaps some floating items)
Randolph 59, "Two Strangers in the Mountains Alone" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 107, "A Poor Stranger Far from Home" (1 text)
BrownII 138, "The Happy Stranger" (1 fragment)
SharpAp 157, "The Rebel Soldier, or The Poor Stranger" (7 texts, 7 tunes, but only "A" and probably "F" are this song; the rest are "The Rebel Soldier")
Manny/Wilson 95, "A Stranger Far From Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST R059 (Partial)
Roud #272
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lost Girl"
cf. "The Rebel Soldier" (meter, floating lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Poor Stranger
Sweet Europe
File: R059
===
NAME: Poor Thing
DESCRIPTION: "A maid all alone in a poor house did dwell.... Her hair was red and her age was nineteen -- Poor thing!" Her swain asks, "Will you fly by the light of yon star? For I am the i of the you that I are." Her father chases the man, who "flew up the flue."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Hudson)
KEYWORDS: love courting nonsense wordplay
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hudson 88, p. 215, "Poor Thing" (1 text)
Roud #4479
File: Hud088
===
NAME: Poor Toby Is Dead: see Old Roger is Dead (Old Bumpy, Old Grimes, Pompey) (File: R569)
===
NAME: Poor Tramp Has to Live, The: see Remember the Poor Tramp Has to Live (File: RcRtPTHL)
===
NAME: Poor Wayfaring Pilgrim, A: see Wayfaring Stranger (File: FSC077)
===
NAME: Poor Wee Jockie Clarke
DESCRIPTION: Jockie Clarke sells newspapers and goes ragged; his father is a drinker and a tyrant. Jockie asks his mother to make him a jacket from his father's old coat. Jockie tells his mother that he looks uncommon neat since she has made him up the jacket
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1953 (MacColl)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Jockie Clarke sells newspapers and goes ragged; his father is a drinker, a tyrant to his wife and neglectful to his children. Jockie asks his mother to make him a jacket from his father's old coat; she does and it's a beauty, keeping him warm and holding plenty of potatoes in the pockets. Jockie tells his mother, 'You'd think I'd both mother, father, and a home," and that he looks uncommon neat since she has made him up the jacket
KEYWORDS: poverty pride request clothes commerce work father mother worker
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber),England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 236, "Poor Wee Jockie Clarke" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2135
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Faither's Old Coat
Fairther's Old Coat
File: K236
===
NAME: Poor Widow
DESCRIPTION: Singing game: "Here's a poor widow, she (lives/lies) her lone... She wants a man and cannae get none." The widow or her daughter go seek a husband, "She may go round and choose her own"; the courting may or may not be successful
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1898 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: playparty courting
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H48f, p. 11, "Here's a Poor Widow" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST HHH048f (Full)
Roud #5105
File: HHH048f
===
NAME: Poor Working Girl, The
DESCRIPTION: "The poor working girl, may heaven protect her, She has such an awf'ly hard time, The rich man's daughter goes haughtily by, My God! Do you wonder at crime?" ("Her man drives his new model T And drinks rotten hooch till he's blind.")
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: work poverty hardtimes crime technology
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Sandburg, p. 195, "The Poor Working Girl" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 151, "The Poor Working Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHJohnson, p. 18, "The Poor Working Girl" (1 text)
Roud #4271
NOTES: Not to be confused with the early twentieth century pop tune "Heaven Will Protect the Working Girl" - RBW
File: San195
===
NAME: Poor, But a Gentleman Still
DESCRIPTION: "Don't think by my dress that I come here to beg, Though the sharp pains of hunger I feel; The cup of misfortune I've drained to the dregs, Though poor, I'm a gentleman still." The singer describes how he became poor, pointing out that he is still honest
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1879 (stage performance, per FSCatskills)
KEYWORDS: poverty
FOUND_IN: US(MA,SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
FSCatskills 103, "Poor, But a Gentleman Still" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 829, "A Gentleman Still" (1 text)
Shellans, pp. 84-85, "I'm Poor But a Gentleman Still" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert, pp. 151-152, "Poor, but a Gentleman Still" (1 text)
ST FSC103 (Partial)
Roud #7337
File: FSC103
===
NAME: Pop Goes the Weasel
DESCRIPTION: Words can be anything, as long as they have the phrase "Pop goes the weasel." The 1853 text talks of a weasel in a henhouse, temperance issues, and relations between Uncle Sam and John Bull
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1853
KEYWORDS: animal technology nonballad nonsense humorous political
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
Randolph 556, "Pop Goes the Weasel" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 408-409, "Pop Goes the Weasel" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 556A)
BrownIII 93, "Pop Goes the Weasel" (1 fragment)
Linscott, pp. 107-108, "Pop! Goes the Weasel" (1 tune plus dance instructions)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 176-179, "Pop Goes de Weasel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #872, p. 325, "(Up and down the city road)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 108, "(Round about the porridge pot)" (1 text)
Arnett, p. 40, "Pop Goes the Weasel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 34, "Pop Goes The Weasel" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 440-441+, "Pop Goes the Weasel"
DT, WEASLPOP* POPWEAS2*
ST R556 (Full)
Roud #5249
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y1:060, "Pop Goes the Weasel," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C, possibly a parody on another version of the piece
NLScotland, L.C.178.A.2(032), "Pop Goes the Weael", James Lindsay (Glasgow), 1852-1859
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "A Ripping Trip" (tune)
cf. "The D & H Canal" (tune)
NOTES: The history of this piece is obscure. The earliest datable printings (British and American versions from 1853) have the tune; the American version also includes the phrase "Pop goes the weasel," but has little resemblance to the modern texts such as "All around the cobbler's bench The monkey chased the weasel" (this text does not appear until the twentieth century).
The English printing (the NLScotland broadside cited) is a dance tune with no text; it hints that the music is traditional. Interestingly, printer Lindsay has another version (the Murray broadside) which does have a text -- but it appears rewritten, since it refers to "Albert and the Queen" dancing to the tune, and girls being ruined by its melody.
It is generally agreed that, in the earliest versions, the "weasel" is the tool used by hatmakers, and to "pop" it is to pawn it. - RBW
File: R556
===
NAME: Popular Gag Song
DESCRIPTION: "I was born in Jersey City In Texas way down south And that is just the reason why My voice is in my mouth." Assorted verses of contradiction, exaggeration, tautology, and nonsense, e.g. "There was people dying lately Who had never died before."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonsense talltale
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 447, "Popular Gag Song" (2 texts, but the "B" text is "The Barefoot Boy with Boots On")
Roud #6675
File: R447
===
NAME: Popular Gag Song (II): see The Barefoot Boy with Boots On (File: FSC154)
===
NAME: Popular Wobbly, The
DESCRIPTION: "I'm as mild-mannered man as can be, And I've never done no harm that I can see..." but the singer ends up in jail, where "they go wild, simply wilder over me." They "go wild" because he is a union man; he suffers much in prison
AUTHOR: Words: T-Bone Slim
EARLIEST_DATE: Early 1950s (recording - Pete Seeger)
KEYWORDS: IWW prison
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 70, "The Popular Wobbly" (1 text)
DT, POPWOBB*
Roud #9822
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "The Popular Wobbly" (on PeteSeeger05)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "They Go Wild, Simply Wild Over Me" (tune)
NOTES: The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW or "Wobblies") was a radical syndicalist labor union. Founded in the late 1800s, it fought for the 8-hour day and for "One Big Union" rather than separate unions in various crafts or industries. It achieved its greatest successes in the American Northwest, particularly in the lumber trades (although it also fought hard in the textile-workers' strike in Lowell, Mass.) and inspired many songs and poems that have entered folk tradition. While membership has declined in recent decades, the union is still active and still radical.
"They Go Wild, Simply Wild Over Me" was a popular vaudeville song of the early 1900s. - PJS
File: FSWB070
===
NAME: Pore Mournah: see Mourner, You Shall Be Free (Moanish Lady) (File: San011)
===
NAME: Pork in the Cupboard
DESCRIPTION: "Oh there's pork in the cupboard, there's beef on the shelf If no one don't eat it I'll eat it myself." The rest is all "chin music."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: floatingverses nonballad food
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, p. 91, "Pork in the Cupboard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9956
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bridle and Saddle" (lyrics)
NOTES: Most of Peacock's version is "chin music". Specifically, a text verse is "La da diddle la diddle la diddle dum da...."  Peacock explains, "'Chin' or 'mouth' music is a vocal imitation of instrumental music and is used for dancing when a fiddle or accordion is not handy. Some singers ... become so proficient that they are often called upon even when instruments are available."
Newfoundland "chin music" is like, and serves the same purpose, as Irish "lilting" and Traveller "tuning." See, for example, Hall, notes to Voice11. - BS
This is evidently a local version of "Bridle and Saddle" or one of its equivalents. Ideally, we'd have a mechanism for tracking these floating elements. But we don't, and this version is localized enough to get its own entry. - RBW
File: Pea091
===
NAME: Pork, Beans and Hard Tack
DESCRIPTION: "Our volunteers are soldiers bold, so say the people all... They leave their homes on starving pay to take the nitchies' (Indians') life." Fed poor rations, they are sent all around Canada by train, boat, and foot
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1887
KEYWORDS: soldier hardtimes Canada
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1885 - Second Metis uprising, which collapsed despite the failure of Canadian troops to defeat the enemy
FOUND_IN: Canada
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 127-129, "Pork, Beans and Hard Tack" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4516
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Riel's Song" and references there (subject)
NOTES: For the historical background to the Metis uprisings, see "Riel's Song." This song (which appeared in the University of Toronto Songbook only two years after the revolt) accurately describes the fate of the soldiers sent to pursue Riel.
Sent west by rail, the troops had to finish their trek by boat and foot, with rations even worse than they enjoyed on the train. Having reached Metis country, they had great difficulty finding the enemy, and spent time as laborers. Then they were sent back, primarily by boat, to Winnipeg. - RBW
File: FMB127
===
NAME: Portlairge
DESCRIPTION: Irish Gaelic: The singer stops in Waterford for drinks and at "the full house of women there." He is visited by four women and will take a girl with him to Carrick in the morning.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (IRClancyMakem01)
KEYWORDS:  foreignlanguage drink sex
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "Portlairge" (on IRClancyMakem01)
NOTES: The description is based on the cover notes to IRClancyMakem01 by Patrick Clancy. "Portlairge" is one of the songs his grandmother learned at her pub. - BS 
File: RcPortl
===
NAME: Portland County Jail
DESCRIPTION: "I'm a stranger to your city, My name is Paddy Flynn. I got drunk the other night; The coppers pulled me in. Had no one to... go my bail. They locked me up for ninety days In the Portland County Jail." The song describes the hard cases in prison
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: prison hardtimes
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Sandburg, pp. 214-215, "Portland County Jail" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 69, "Portland County Jail" (1 text)
DT, PORTJAIL*
Roud #9858
RECORDINGS:
Art Thieme, "Portland County Jail" (on Thieme04)
File: San214
===
NAME: Porto Rico [Puerto Rico]
DESCRIPTION: Fragment: "Must I go to Porto Rico/Must I sail the dark blue sea?/Must I fight for you, my darling/Until death shall set me free?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: love travel fight war battle death lover soldier nonballad
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1898: Spanish-American War, in which the U. S. captures Puerto Rico and other territories from Spain
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SharpAp 249, "Porto Rico" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #3659
NOTES: Barely even a fragment, but I include it on the chance it may turn out to be part of a full song that we find some day. - PJS
Roud lumps this with a fragment in Brown, which mentions Virginia rather than Puerto Rico, and which otherwise looked to me like "East Virginia (Dark Hollow)." Which just shows how mysterious the thing is.
File: ShAp249
===
NAME: Portrush Fishing Disaster (I), The
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls going to sea in fine weather. As the ship sails home, a storm blows up. The singer asks that the sailors' names not be named, buds farewell to home, and tells his friends they will meet on "yonder shore"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: death ship disaster wreck storm
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Feb. 24, 1826 - The Portrush Disaster
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H27b, p. 105, "The Portrush Fishing Disaster (I)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9047
File: HHH027b
===
NAME: Portrush Fishing Disaster (II), The
DESCRIPTION: The singer calls listeners to hear of four sailors who died at Portrush. The singer names the four. He notes that they died despite their skill; the wind was too strong. The singer hopes that the dead and their families will meet in heaven
AUTHOR: Daniel McIlreavy?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: death ship disaster wreck storm
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Feb. 24, 1826 - The Portrush Disaster
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H27c, p. 105-106, "The Portrush Fishing Disaster (II)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9044
File: HHH027c
===
NAME: Ports are Open, The
DESCRIPTION: Closed ports ruined trade. Out of work tradesmen were wrecking steam looms, and could not pay high food prices. A royal "proclamation ... [will] admit foreign grain to our markets." "Farmers quite distracted they'll go" but tradesmen will find jobs.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1815 (according to Leyden)
KEYWORDS: war commerce farming nonballad political
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Leyden 36, "The Ports are Open" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The World It May Wag" (tune)
NOTES: The song refers to the cause of closed ports as a "Corporation Bill" which "some hundreds did kill While others it kept in high station It shut up our ports against peas beans and oats And it ruined the trade of our nation." The end of the policy is a royal proclamation that "the ports will stand open Till the twenty-fourth of December So parliament then when they do meet again Hope that too the poor will remember."
Leyden: "This song was written in 1815 after the defeat of Napoleon Bonaparte at the battle of Waterloo. During the war between England and France the Government imposed severe restrictions on the import of cereals into British ports -- 'It shut up our ports against peas, beans and oats'. The price of corn was high.... Farmers invested capital in developing inferior land...; yields increased and profits rose accordingly, but the ending of the war was to change all that. British ports were once more opened and the effect on home prices was dramatic.... The song celebrates the opening of the ports. Farmers, of course, were angry.... For ordinary people, however it was a very optimistic period...."
This forecast of things to come in the near future presents a different picture of the effect of war on the economy than we see later in "The Grand Conversation Under the Rose" ("Come stir up the wars, and our trade will be flourishing") in the light of longer range harsh reality; also see the notes to "Ye Sons of Old Ireland." - BS
This is in any case a strange view of trade during the Napoleonic Wars. It is certainly true that Britain had a bad tendency to mess with Irish trade -- e.g. building up the linen industry and then destroying it.
But the real problem in the early nineteenth century was the war with France. According to Jacques Godechot, Beatrice F. Hyslop, and David L. Dowd, _The Napoleonic Era in Europe_, Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971, p. 124, the Berlin Decree was issued on November 21, 1806. The purpose of this, according to J. Christopher Herold, _The Age of Napoleon_, English edition, American Heritage, 1963, p. 179, was to defeat Britain by economic blockade.
Godechot, Hyslop, and Dowd, pp. 126-127: "After the peace of Tilsit, and for the fourth time since 1793, France and England stood alone as adversaries.... Napoleon could no longer contemplate an invasion of England [due to Trafalgar]. Ever since the two powers became active foes, each had brandished the usual economic arm. England declared the coast of France in a state of blockade, and France renewed her prohibition against the importation of British goods, a practice that had been decreed as early as 1793 under the National Convention. At the beginning, these measures had not been very effective. However, little by little, war by blockade was perfected.
"In France for nore than a century the premise had been accepted that the power of Great Britain, based upon its economic organization, was fragile. French economists... considered her system of credit abnormal. Her industry could prosper only by virtue of exportation to Europe. It ought, therefore, to be relatively easy to break down the system by excluding her exports from foreign markets; Great Britain would then be ruined and would not be slow to capitulate."
It was not the last time an enemy tried to strangle Britain, but it proved unfortunate because the French could only ban shipments to Britain -- whereas Britain could physically *stop* shipments along the coast using her navy. It also passed the Orders in Council, which barred neutrals from trading to France unless they sent their goods through Britain (which, along with impressment, was one of the leading causes of the War of 1812; see Pierre Berton, _The Invasion of Canada [Volume I], 1812-1813_, Atlantic-Little Brown, 1980, p. 45). There was a great deal of smuggling, and many of the countries of Europe found their own trade messed up (in this pre-railroad period, large shipments generally went by water or not at all). The Continental System would eventually collapse. But, before it did, it caused much hardship and poverty in Britain.
A second thing much restricting British trade was the shortage of sailors. To keep the Royal Navy up to strength, the press gangs were constantly active, grabbing sailors wherever they could find them (this would eventually be  primary cause of the War of 1812 with the United States). Even had the trade had been possible, there were not enough crews to supply all the merchant ships.
If there were no ships in Ireland, it was less because of British regulations than because of Napoleon. - RBW
File: Leyd036
===
NAME: Possim Sits on 'Simmon Tree, De
DESCRIPTION: "De possim sits on 'simmon tree And feeds himself quite fat, Put Manly on de stump for me, I'm dog he'll soon leave dat." "I now must go an' pick my toof, It akes so very bad, but since Reid's our Governor forsooth, I feels my pain so bad."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1850 (North Carolina Gazette)
KEYWORDS: animal political
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 164, "De Possim Sits on 'Simmon Tree" (1 text)
NOTES: There is no reason to think this is a traditional song; it seems to have been a political piece from the 1850 North Carolina gubernatorial election, in which Democrat David Settle Reid (1813-1891) succeeded Charles Manley. If there was a significant issue in this campaign, I have been unable to discover it.
It does appear that Manley was a rather unimportant figure, compared to the distinguished Reid, who was congressman, governor, and Senator. - RBW
File: Br3164
===
NAME: Possum Am a Cunning Thing, De: see Raccoon (File: R260)
===
NAME: Possum and the Banjo, The: see De Fust Banjo (The Banjo Song; The Possum and the Banjo; Old Noah) (File: R253)
===
NAME: Possum Song, The: see Carve that Possum (File: R276)
===
NAME: Possum Sop and Polecat Jelly: see Black-Eyed Susie (Green Corn) (File: R568)
===
NAME: Possum Up a Gum Stump
DESCRIPTION: "Possum up a gum stump, Cooney in a holler, Little gal at our house, Fat as she can waller." The first two lines are characteristic (though the animals can vary); the last two lines can seemingly be anything.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: nonballad animal
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
BrownIII 415, "Lynchburg Town" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 2 excerpts, and mention of 2 more, all with the "Lynchburg Town" chorus, but "A" and "B" have verses from "Raccoon" and "Possum Up a Gum Stump and "D" and "E" are partly "If I Had a Scolding Wife" ("Lucy Long (I)"); only "C" seems to be truly "Lynchburg Town")
Randolph 280, "Possum Up a Gum Stump" (1 short text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 161, "Possum Up a Simmon Tree" (6 texts, all of a single stanza; some are probably not this piece, but they're too short to classify)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 177, (no title) (1 fragment)
Lomax-ABFS, p. 238, "Little Gal at Our House" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7782
RECORDINGS:
Hiter Colvin, "Rabbit Up the Gum Stump" (Victor V-40239, 1930/Montgomery Ward 8148, 1939)
Henry Truvillion, "Come On, Boys, and Let's Go to Huntin'" (AFS 3983 B2; on LC8)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Uncle Reuben" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Bile Them Cabbage Down" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Lomax reports this as a "patting chant" -- sung to the accompaniment of hands clapping or slapping against the thighs. - RBW
File: R280
===
NAME: Post-Rail Song
DESCRIPTION: "Put 'em up solid, they won't come down! Hey, ma laddie, they won't come down!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: work nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, p. 138, "Post-Rail Song" (1 short text, 1 tune)
File: San138
===
NAME: Pot Wrassler, The
DESCRIPTION: The camp cook tells cowboys he spent years riding the range but "now I'm a-wrassling the pots for a change." He can make sourdough and sort the big rocks out of the beans, and doesn't wipe the frying-pan on his jeans. He's old now and prefers this life
AUTHOR: Curley Fletcher
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Curley Fletcher, "Songs of the Sage")
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer, a camp cook, tells cowboys he has put in a lot of years riding the range but "now I'm a-wrassling the pots for a change." He doesn't claim to be Delmonico, but he can make sourdough and sort the big rocks out of the beans, and doesn't wipe the frying-pan on his jeans. He's old and stiff now and prefers staying by the fire to riding and getting thrown
KEYWORDS: age disability work food nonballad cook worker
FOUND_IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Harry Jackson, "The Pot Wrassler" (on HJackson1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Punchin' the Dough" (theme)
NOTES: The cook on a cattle run was usually an old cowboy who could no longer do the work. It's hardly surprising that he looked on the cowboys as "kids" -- nor that he used his control over the chuck to keep the cowboys in line.
"Delmonico" is Lorenzo Delmonico (1813-1881), a Swiss immigrant who came to the United States in 1832 and largely established the upscale restaurant as a business form in America. - RBW
File: RcPotWra
===
NAME: Potato Bug, The
DESCRIPTION: "It's just past ten years ... Since we heard of that plague of a fly." Every morning "I'll shake every stalk" and the bugs fall into his pan. As quickly as he catches them "they'll be over the sides" and escape. He should "carry a pan of hot coals"
AUTHOR: Lawrence Doyle
EARLIEST_DATE: 1969 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: farming ordeal nonballad bug hardtimes
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 202-203, 253, "The Potato Bug" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13994
NOTES: Ives-DullCare: "[The potato bug] began arriving on the Island in significant numbers in the late 1880s." - BS
File: IvSC202
===
NAME: Potato, The
DESCRIPTION: "We have a loyal little friend, the potato," brought by Sir Walter Raleigh. Though there are varieties with fancy names, all are good. The singer hopes "our planters will plant more ... They are a vital food today in which we all must share"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: food Ireland nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 81, "The Potato" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Potato" (theme)
NOTES: Was this song written before or after 1845? The answer would be interesting.
The legend that Sir Walter Raleigh brought the potato to Europe is just that: Legend. There is no doubt that the plant came originally from South America, but no one knows who transported it across the Atlantic.
The dependence of Ireland on the potato was of course not voluntary. With the English having subdivided the Catholic lands into areas too small for proper farming, and with the rent laws making land improvements impossible (if a Catholic improved the land, his rent went up), there was no choice but to grow potatoes; it was the only food productive enough to support a family on the tiny plots the Irish were allowed.
Of course, potatoes needed little help from the growers, so the English accused the Irish of laziness -- but they had little choice. Especially with the population so high; even on improved land, it would have been hard to support the people of Ireland in the 1840s without the potato.
All that, of course, changed with the Great Hunger in the 1840s. - RBW
File: OLcM081
===
NAME: Potter and Robin Hood, The: see Robin Hood and the Potter [Child 121] (File: C121)
===
NAME: Potterton
DESCRIPTION: There's no watch or clock needed at Potterton: "It was porridge time, and sowen time, And -- Come, lads, yoke." "Wi' cauld kail and tatties Ye feed us like a pig; While ye drink tay and toddy, And hurl [drive] in yer gig"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1911 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming work food ordeal nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greig #161, p. 2, ("The folk o' the muckle toon o' Rora") (1 fragment) 
GreigDuncan3 392, "Potterton" (2 texts)
Roud #5924
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 385 quoting Robertson, _Song Notes_: ." .. a protest of servants against the treatment they got." - BS
File: GdD3392
===
NAME: Poulduff Fishermen, The
DESCRIPTION: On July 11 "a maid divine in tears approached me." Three sons had been drowned when their boat struck the wrecked Perseverance and sank. Some were rescued by "James Fitzsimmons and ... his worthy crew." The drowned men are named.
AUTHOR: Mogue Doyle
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck fishing
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 1, 1880 - "Poulduff fishermen were lost ... when their craft struck the wreck of the Perseverance" (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, p. 52)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 18-20, "The Poulduff Fishermen" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Poulduff is on the northeast coast of County Wexford. - BS
File: Ran018
===
NAME: Poulshone Fishermen, The
DESCRIPTION: A maid reports the disaster: April 3, 1863, at Courtown Harbour, four Poulshone boys drown "when a sudden squall capsized their yawl." Redmond and Kelly are rescued by "young Clancy and his crew" but Earle and Leary are lost.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1946 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck fishing
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 102-103, "The Poulshone Fishermen" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Poulshone and Courtown are on the northern coast of Wexford. - BS
File: Ran102
===
NAME: Poupore's Shanty Crew
DESCRIPTION: Describing life at the lumber camp of Tom Poupore "on the twenty-eighth of October in 1884." The crew builds a shanty. They celebrate the cook. The leaders of the team, and some of the members, are named. The singer concludes with a toast to the crew
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: logger lumbering work
FOUND_IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke-Lumbering #9, "Poupore's Shanty Crew" (1 text, tune referenced)
ST FowL09 (Partial)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lumber Camp Song" (theme, tune)
File: FowL09
===
NAME: Pourquoi: see The Bird's Courting Song (The Hawk and the Crow; Leatherwing Bat) (File: K295)
===
NAME: Powder Monkey, The (Soon We'll Be in England Town)
DESCRIPTION: Jim was powder monkey killed on board Victory. In '98 "we chased the foe right into Bourky Bay" and destroyed their flag ship Orient. Jim was killed by musket "as the fight was just on won." He asks the crew "Give a kiss to dear old mother."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia); 19C (broadside, Bodleian LOCSinging as111260)
KEYWORDS: battle navy death sea ship mother
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Aug 1, 1798 - Nelson defeats the French in Aboukir Bay, Egypt
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Creighton-NovaScotia 57, "Chanty Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, p. 148, "The Powder Monkey" (1 text, 1 tune-chorus only)
GreigDuncan1 144, "The Battle of Aboukir Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS057 (Full)
Roud #1799
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, as111260, "The Powder Monkey," unknown, 19C
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Heiland Laddie" (similar chorus)
NOTES: Creighton-NovaScotia has a verse and chorus as a chanty.
The "powder monkey" job could be handled by women and boys "whose task it was to pass gunpowder up from the magazine to the gunners" (see source for Aboukir Bay, below)
Nelson in Vanguard led the defeat of the French and their flagship L'Orient at Aboukir Bay in the Egyptian campaign in August 1798. (Source: _Nelson and the Nile; Part 3: A victory at Aboukir Bay_ by John Woolford "originally published in Military History Magazine August 1998" per the African History site) 
HMS _Victory_, while commissioned in 1778, was not in service in 1798. Nelson's [service in] _Victory_ began in 1803 and continued until his death at Trafalgar in 1805 (Source: HMS Victory site) - BS
Hugill calls this a "shore sea-song" possibly from the music-hall, believes that it dates from the 1840s, and that it bears some relationship to "Donkey Riding." - SL
File: CrNS057
===
NAME: Powder River (I - Lazy River)
DESCRIPTION: "Last time on that lazy old river... I met a girl who was more like heaven And her smile will last forevermore." He courts her and plans to take her away from the river, but a "spirit of the water" struck back; he mourns her amid the ruins of the flood
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: love courting river disaster flood death grief
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 61, "Powder River" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11076
File: FCW061
===
NAME: Powder River Jack
DESCRIPTION: A description of Powder River Jack Lee, the cowboy singer, and his wife Kitty Lee. Jack was "not a boozer, and he never cared for cards," and he "loved his pretty Kitty" -- but "the old Sky Boss was needin' One more top hand," and Jack is killed
AUTHOR: "Colorado Bill"
EARLIEST_DATE: 1946 ("Hoofs and Horns" magazine)
KEYWORDS: death cowboy recitation
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1946 - Death of Powder River Jack Lee in a car accident
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 38, "Powder River Jack" (1 text)
File: Ohr038
===
NAME: Powder River, Let 'Er Buck
DESCRIPTION: "Powder river, let 'er buck, A surgin' mass of cattle, Roundup wagons full of chuck, Horns and hooves a-rattle...." A description of the cows, horses, and cowboys to be met during a cattle drive.
AUTHOR: Powder River Jack Lee?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (recording, Powder River Jack & Kitty Lee)
KEYWORDS: cowboy horse work travel nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 40, "Powder River, Let 'er Buck" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11524
RECORDINGS:
Powder River Jack & Kitty Lee, "Powder River, Let 'Er Buck" (Victor 23527, 1930; Montgomery Ward M-4462, 1934; on AuthCowboys)
NOTES: The phrase "Powder River, let 'er buck" was the motto of a Wyoming division (comprised largely of cowboys) during World War I. Powder River Jack Lee claims to have composed the song, and there is no evidence to the contrary -- but the slogan must have come from somewhere. - RBW
File: Ohr040
===
NAME: Powderhorn
DESCRIPTION: "Out in the West you have often heard said The only good paint horse is one that is dead." The singer sets out to disprove the rule, describing the purchase of a cutting horse, Miss Aledo, that does a spectacular job
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: horse work cowboy commerce
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 70, "Powderhorn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11075
NOTES: A cutting horse is used to cut off a steer from the herd. A good horse can make a cowboy's task much easier by outguessing the cattle. - RBW
File: FCW070
===
NAME: Powers of Whisky, The
DESCRIPTION: "There's nothing like whisky Makes Irishmen frisky" and girls also, even if sick. If a maid rejects you "drink enough, you'll find charms in a dozen beside ... you'll think you're in love with each girl that you meet." Whisky can subdue any grief.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1839 (Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: love drink nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 75-76, "The Powers of Whisky" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Kinnegard Slashers" (tune, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
File: CrPS075
===
NAME: Prairie Grove
DESCRIPTION: "Come ye gallant sons of I-o-way, come listen to my song... About the gallant charge at Prairie Grove, An' we an' Southern rebels on equal numbers strove." The singer describes a federal victory, the burial of the southern dead, and their widows' mourning
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Randoph)
KEYWORDS: battle soldier death Civilwar
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Dec 7, 1862 - Battle of Prairie Grove
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 222, "Prairie Grove" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 205-207, "Prairie Grove" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 222)
Roud #4032
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Give the Dutch Room" (subject)
NOTES: The battle of Prairie Grove was one of the more confusing messes of the Civil War. It had little effect on the main war effort (though it contributed significantly to the Union conquest of Arkansas), and so is rarely mentioned in the histories. The battle came about because the Union forces of Schofield's "Army of the Frontier" were scattered.
Two divisions, under Herron, were located near Springfield, Missouri; another, under Blunt, was in an advanced position south of Fayetteville, Arkansas.
The Confederate general Hindman, observing this deployment, saw an opportunity to defeat the Unionists in detail. He took his force -- somewhat smaller than the combined Union forces but much stronger than Blunt alone -- and on Dec. 6 attacked Blunt.
Unknown to Hindman, Herron's force had been ordered forward a few days earlier. When Hindman learned that Herron was approaching, he tried to get between the two Union forces.
It didn't work. Herron managed to hold off Hindman until Blunt arrived. The Confederates -- many of them raw Arkansas troops who deserted at the beginning of the battle -- wound up abandoning the field. The battle was not a great Union success, but neither was it a great defeat. In the aftermath, they were able to occupy a large part of northern Arkansas.
This song is item dA38 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW- RBW
File: R222
===
NAME: Praise of Christmas, The: see Drive the Cold Winter Away (In Praise of Christmas) (File: Log293)
===
NAME: Praise of Kinsale, The
DESCRIPTION:  The singer is "a poor fisherman" praising "his own native town of Kinsale." There's "a Royal Hotel," races, dances, billiards, and cards. There are cold baths for fitness, hot baths for cures, "or if you're in health, just come here for a frolic"
AUTHOR: John Lander (source: Croker-PopularSongs)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1831 (Haly broadside, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: commerce gambling sports dancing nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 215-217, "The Praise of Kinsale" (1 text)
NOTES: Kinsale and Mallow are in County Cork.
Croker-PopularSongs: "This satirical song ["The Praise of Kinsale"], with the subsequent reply to it ["Kinsale versus Mallow"], are given from a broadside purchased by the Editor in 1831, at the shop of Haly, a ballad printer in Hanover Street, Cork. The were respectively entitled, 'Paddy Farrell, of Kinsale, to his Friend at Mallow;' and 'Answer of Thady Mullowny, of Mallow, to Paddy Farrell, Kinsale.'" - BS
File: CrPS215
===
NAME: Praise of Ploughmen, The
DESCRIPTION: "Ye lads and lasses a' draw near, I'm sure it will delight your ear... To sing the praise o' ploughmen." Workers at other occupations may regard themselves as better, but the ploughman feeds them. The girl choruses, "Happy is the ploughman's jo."
AUTHOR: John Anderson
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan3); Grieg reports that it was written c. 1850
KEYWORDS: farming worker food
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Greig #164, pp. 1-2, "The Praise of Ploughmen" (1 text) 
GreigDuncan3 447, "The Praise of Ploughmen" (4 texts, 1 tune)
Ord, p. 242-243, "The Praise of Ploughmen" (1 text)
Roud #5579
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Laddie That Handles the Ploo" (theme)
cf. "The Farmer is the Man" (theme)
cf. "Johnnie Cope" (tune, per GreigDuncan3)
cf. "Come All You Jolly Ploughboys" (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Britain's Isle
The Labours o' the Plooman
The Plooman
NOTES: Greig: ." .. written about the middle of last century, or perhaps somewhat earlier." - BS
File: Ord242
===
NAME: Praise of Waterford, The
DESCRIPTION: "Waterford, thow loyall cytie" has been honored by Henry II, chartered by John, affirmed by Henry III, and so forth, through Henry VIII. "Quia to semper intacta manes" ends each verse echoing the Waterford motto.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1824 (Ryland, _History of Waterford_, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: royalty political Ireland
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 312-320, "The Praise of Waterford" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Thomas Kinsella, _The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse_ (Oxford, 1989), pp. 154-155, "The Praise of Waterford"  (1 text, excerpted from Croker)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Mayor of Waterford's Letter" (structure)
NOTES: 
Croker-PopularSongs: "The motto of 'Urbs intacto manet Waterfordia' ... was conferred on the city, with other honours, by Henry VII., for the conduct of the mayor and citizens against Perkin Warbeck."
"... there was soon to be another impostor [to Henry VII's crown after Lambert Simnel (see 'The Mayor of Waterford's Letter')], Master Perkin Warbeck from Tournai, whom the men of Cork felt convinced was Richard of York, the younger of the Princes in the Tower." (Source: "The Tudors" by Neville Williams in _The Lives of the Kings & Queens of England_, ed. Antonia Fraser, University of California Press, 1995, p. 171)
Croker-PopularSongs: "The date of this composition is satisfactorily fixed, by the twentieth and twenty-second verses, to be about 1545. In the former, Henry VIIIth's present to the city of Waterford of a sword of justice in 1523, is spoken of as "lately sent;" and in the latter, the term 'our triumphant king' (which would scarcely be applied to Edward VI), must have been written subsequent to 1541, when Henry assumed the title of King of Ireland." - BS
It seems unlikely (to put it mildly) that this was a genuine folk song -- but it is an interesting curiosity, because the manuscript of it contains marginal notes. These are not uncommon in manuscripts of, say, the Bible -- but rarely in poetry!
Still, if the scribe felt the urge for footnotes, how can I resist?
"Henry the Second, that noble Kinge" -- Henry II Plantagenet, reigned 1154-1189. Henry came to Ireland in 1171, taking advantage of local strife to build an enclave on the east coast; he invaded following the invasion of his own vassal the Earl of Pembroke, known as Strongbow (see Terry Golway, _For the Cause of Liberty_, Simon & Schuster, 2000, p. 11).
The reference to his son's honor is presumably to Henry's fourth son John, the future King John. Henry, during his life, divided up his kingdom (England, much of France, and Ireland) among his four sons. John was given Ireland -- though he quickly got himself in trouble by making fun of the native chieftains's appearance (see John Harvey, _The Plantagenets_, revised edition, Fontana, 1959, p. 52). John would reign from 1199 to 1216, following the reign of his older brother Richard I (now usually known as Richard the Lion-Hearted, but at the time, he was likely to be called "Richard Yes-and-No," because he was so wishy-washy).
John's son was Henry III, who would face the rebellion of Simon de Montfort; he came to the throne as a boy, and so had a very long reign, 1216-1272.
Edward the First, reigned 1272-1307, was known for the work he did in organizing and codifying the laws of England; he did indeed grant many charters. "His son" was Edward II, reigned 1307-1327, when he was deposed.
"Edward the Third, of tryumph most abundante," was the son of Edward II, and reigned 1327-1377. His triumphs were indeed abundant, though they in the end amounted to little: He started the Hundred Years' War, in the process of which he captured the Scottish king David II (see Desmond Seward, _The Hundred Years War: The English in France 1337-1453_, Atheneum, 1978 [hereafter Seward-Hundred], p. 69) he won the great Battle of Crecy against the French in 1346 (Seward-Roses, pp. 63-68), captured Calais (see John Harvey, _The Plantagenets_, revised edition, Fontana, 1959, p. 141) and finally, after his son the Black Prince had captured the King of France at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 (see A. R. Myers, _England in the Late Middle Ages_, eighth edition, Penguin, 1971, pp. 24-25), negotiated the Treaty of Bretigny which gave England theoretical sovereignty over a third of France (see Seward-Hundred, pp. 99-101, plus the map on p. 266).
The flip side is, Edward's reign also witnessed the Black Death (Myers, pp. 23-24), which -- apart from killing a large fraction of the population -- devastated the already-strained English treasury; England captured much of France, but proved unable to hold it; by 1374, Edward was "drink-sodden and used up," (Seward-Hundred, p. 115), and there was a struggle over control of the government (Myers, pp. 28-29), which ended with the triumph of the king's son Edward the Black Prince -- who, however, died in 1376 (from what sounds rather like malaria, acquired perhaps in an invasion of Spain).
The conquest of France was already unraveling by the time of their deaths. Mike Ashley, _British Kings and Queens_, 2000, originally published as _The Mammoth Book of British Kings  and Queens_, 1998, p. 604, says that Edward's "final year was spent in much loneliness and sadness aware that the administration about him was crumbling."
With the Black Prince dead, as well as Edward's second son Lionel (dead, perhaps of overindulgence, in 1368 shortly after wedding his second wifeViolante Visconte; see Frances Stonor Saunders, _Hawkwood: Diabolical Englishman_, Faber and Faber, 2004, pp. 134-135; on page 138, Saunders mentions speculation that Lionel was poisoned to reduce English influence in Italy), the throne passed to the Black Prince's son, the boy Richard II (ascended 1377, deposed 1399, died, probably murdered, 1400).
Richard had a very difficult minority, with English conquests in France slowly being lost and his barons quarreling. It didn't help that he was without a true heir; his first marriage was childless and, when his beloved first wife died, he apparently almost went mad (Harvey, p. 156). He eventually took as his second wife a very young French princess who was years from childbearing age.
Harvey, p. 157, says that Richard made a very constructive visit to Ireland in 1394-1395, but soon after, he turned into a tyrant. When his uncle John of Gaunt died in early 1399, the last restraints on his behavior were lifted (Harvey, p. 159). Richard took over the vast Lancaster estates of John (who had ruled what was almost a kingdom within a kingdom), thus disinheriting his son Henry of Bolingbroke. Bolingbroke had already been exiled by Richard, and this was the final straw. When Richard took another trip to Ireland in 1399, Henry invaded England, and the despotic Richard had angered so many barons that Henry had no trouble taking over.
Henry ruled 1399-1413, but was never easy on the throne (Harvey, p. 163); he was not Richard's proper heir. (His claim, recall, came through Edward III's third son John, but the second son Lionel had left descendants by his first marriage. It's just that they were too young and powerless to be contenders for the succession in 1399.) He was unable to do anything about the disastrous situations in France and Ireland; it was all he could do to control his own barons and the Welsh revolt of Owen Glendower.
The song does not clearly distinguish between Henry IV and his offspring, but the "lusty Henry that conquered France" is Henry V (1413-1422). He didn't exactly conquer France, since there was still a portion that was independent -- but his battles did cause him to be declared the heir to the French throne in 1420 (Ashley, p. 611). Unfortunately, he died only two years later, leaving only a baby, the future Henry VI, as heir. (Incidentally, he was *not* lusty; many English kings left a large collection of bastards, but Henry V seems to have been almost monkish in his habits.)
If Henry  V was less than worldly, Henry VI surely qualifies as the most out-of-it King in English history to that time. (The English did not start inbreeding the way most continental monarch did until the Hannoverian Succession in 1714. As a result, English monarchs were mostly sane, if often utterly wrong-headed. There were only two major instances of genetic defectives in the English royal family: Henry VI, who was the son of Katherine of France, the daughter of Charles the Mad -- and the descendants of Henry VII, who were *also* descendants of Charles the Mad; after Henry V died, Katherine formed a common-law marriage with Owen Tudor; their grandson was Henry VII.)
The song calls Henry VI "Henry the Holly [holy], that borne was in Wyndsore." This is perhaps an attempt to cover up his notorious incapacity. But it was just that -- incapacity. He may not actually have been mentally retarded, but he certainly lacked the power of decision needed to rule (Ashley, p. 614), and at various times in the 1450s, he went mad. Inactivity was confused for piety by some, but there is no actual evidence that Henry was in any sense extraordinary in holiness. And, because he was always being pushed around by his advisors, he could be made to decree anything.
The song completely fails to note that "Edward the Strong" (Edward IV, reigned 1461-1470 and 1471-1483) deposed Henry VI (though Henry was briefly restored 1470-1471 before being re-deposed -- and, this time, killed). Edward IV was certainly the rightful King of England -- but he was merely a third cousin, twice over, several times removed, of Henry VI. He was able to take the throne only because Henry was incompetent to keep it. Thus, citing both Henry VI and Edward IV is about like citing charters from both Ahura Mazda and Ahriman -- some owe allegiance to one, some to the other, but few will recognize the authority of both.
Of course, that's nothing to calling Henry VII "Henry the Valiant." The guy never truly commanded a battle; the only major fight where he was present was the Battle of Bosworth, where he overthrew Richard III -- and most authorities agree that it was the Earl of Oxford who had field command (e.g. John Gillingham, _The Wars of the Roses_, Louisiana State University, 1981, p. 244; Paul Murray Kendall, _Richard the Third_, Norton, 1956, p. 435). Henry's primary activity was to avoid getting killed when Richard III made his death-or-glory charge which was so noteworthy that not even Shakespeare could get it wrong. (Which is amazing, since the only other thing Shakespeare got right in "Richard III" was the names "Edward," "Henry," and "George."
Valiant or not, Henry managed to take the throne (for details, see e.g. "The Rose of England.") But it was a shaky throne; he faced many revolts, and two major plus several minor pretenders. For the problems Henry faced up to the time of the first major pretender, Lambert Simnel [referred to in the song as "Lambart [who] was crowned by false advertence"], as well as how Waterford stuck by Henry, see the notes to "The Mayor of Waterford's Letter." But not even crushing two revolts (Stafford's and Lambert's) spelled peace for Henry VII; the country was just too restive and he was just too efficient about collecting taxes (it was in his reign that the infamous Morton's Fork was invented -- named for John Morton, who came to be Archbishop of Canterbury and Chancellor. The Fork was a trick used by tax collectors: If a man lived in luxury, he had money which could be taxed; if he lived in poverty, he was saving money which could be taxed). Much of the country, for one reason or another, wanted a different king.
Kendall, p. 477, says that there had been "at least three other 'feigned boys.'" But the three after Lambert were quickly dealt with. Not so imposter #5. In 1491, Henry was confronted with the most serious pretender of all, Perkin Warbeck (called "Parkin" in the song). Warbeck was an interesting case, because several witnesses said he actually looked like a member of the House of York (see Alison Weir, _The Princes in the Tower_, Ballantine, 1992, p. 239; Stanley B. R. Poole, _Royal Mysteries and Pretenders_, Barnes & Noble, 1993, p.17). It's not impossible that he was an illegitimate son of Edward IV (who sowed enough wild oats to supply an entire stable of horses), but there doesn't seem to be any evidence for this, and Weir, p. 241, thinks it unlikely. She mentions a possibility that he was Richard III's son (a possibility also mentioned by Poole, p. 17) -- but the one Plantagenet whom Warbeck did *not* resemble was the short, dark Richard III.
According to Desmond Seward, _The Wars of the Roses_, Penguin, 1995 [hereafter Seward-Roses], p. 322, "'Pierrequin Werbecque' was born in Tournai in about 1474, the son of a boatman. Weir, p. 241, says that he eventually admitted to being "the son of John Warbeck, or Osbeck, and Katherine de Faro, his wife, both converted Jews living in Tournai where John was a minor official. When Peter (or Peterkin, as he was known) was small, the family lived for a time in London, where John Warbek earned a living by suppling carpets to the royal court."
Whatever Warbeck's early history, he apparently arrived in Ireland in 1491 as the servant of a Breton silk merchant and, while walking through the streets of Cork dressed in his master's splendid clothes (Seward-Roses, p. 322; Weir, p. 242, describes him as modeling the outfits), was taken for a member of the Yorkist royal family."
Apparently that was enough for Warbeck and those around him. According to Weir, p. 236, he briefly claimed to be the Earl of Warwick, the son of King Edward IV's younger brother George of Clarence. Henry VII in his propaganda said that he also listed himself as the son of Richard III. But he soon settled upon the identity of Richard of York, the younger of Edward IV's two sons. (Probably he decided to adopt the persona of Richard, the younger of the Princes in the Tower, rather than Edward, the older, because they were close in age, or because Edward V had been known to more people. But it is interesting to note that, if the bones said to be those of the Princes are indeed theirs -- and there can be no proof either way until the British Royal Family gives permission for DNA testing -- the elder suffered from dental problems that might well have killed him. So Richard was the prince more likely to still be alive,)
Quite a few of the monarchs of Europe recognized him -- including, for a time, the King of France (Weir, p. 236). Henry finally talked Charles VIII out of supporting the pretender, but the Dowager Duchess of Burgundy, and her stepson-in-law, the Duke Maximillian, recognized him and gave him shelter in Flanders. The Dowager Duchess was the sister of Edward IV, and must have known he was a pretender (Poole, p. 17, says that she in fact helped coach him) -- but evidently would have preferred anyone to Henry VII. Apart from being an usurper, Henry VII had confiscated eher English estates, according to Poole, p. 18.
In 1493, Warbeck returned to Ireland, that hotbed of Yorkist sympathy (Weir, p. 237). Henry VII sent Lord Poynings to Ireland in 1494 to stop him. Poynings did not manage to catch Warbeck -- but he did drive him back to Flanders, plus he forced the Irish parliament to pass Poynings' Law, which all but destroyed the Irish parliament; the English crown was given the right to control its meetings and negate any legislation which affected anything outside Ireland (see Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry, _A History of Ireland_, Routledge, 1988; I use the 1993 Barnes & Noble edition; p. 103). This particular law was responsible for many of the problems of Ireland over the next three centuries.
By 1495, Henry had rounded up just about all of Warbeck's English followers (Weir, p. 237; Seward-Roses, p. 322, claims he learned who they were by bribing a former Yorkist knight), and even executed Sir William Stanley (Kendall, p. 457) -- the man who, a decade earlier, had killed Richard III and put Henry on the throne! (Seward-Roses, p. 322, considers it significant that Stanley,who always had an eye to his own profit, thought Warbeck enough of a threat to Henry as to support him. It certainly is interesting -- but I'm not convinced Stanley *did* support Warbeck. Being William Stanley, he may have simply tried to have a foot in both camps. But Henry -- unlike his relatively merciful predecessor Richard III, who always forgave the Stanleys -- wouldn't allow such things. Besides, he may have wanted Sir William's money; Poole, p. 18. For the whole Stanley mess, see the notes to "The Vicar of Bray.")
When Warbeck attempted to land in England, he was driven off (Seward-Roses, p. 323); he then headed for Waterford, but Poynings drove him back; finally, he ended up in Scotland, where James IV took him in but then came to dislike him and made him unwelcome; he headed once more for Ireland in 1497 (Weir, p. 238; Seward-Roses, p. 323). He finally managed to land in Cornwall ( which had risen in rebellion over Henry's impossible taxes), but when Henry's army arrived, Warbeck fled, was captured, and for a time was treated well. But he tried to escape, and was captured again, tortured, and placed in close confinement near the very Earl of Warwick he had once impersonated (Seward-Roses, p. 323).
Weir, p. 238, speculates that this was deliberate -- the government was trying to lure them into a conspiracy. Certainly the government detected one (even though Warwick was considered feeble-minded (Kendall, p. 349; Weir, p. 239; Seward-Roses, p. 324; Poole, p. 21 says that he was "of mediocre intelligence (if not a simpleton) and suffered from grave defects of character"), and both were executed in 1499.
As Poole, p. 21, says, Warwick's only crime was being the last (legitimate) male Plantagenet. At least, as a member of the nobility, he was merely beheaded; Warbeck was hung, drawn, and quartered. Henry at least was kind enough not to persecute Warbeck's wife (Poole, p. 22); he even gave her a pension.
Seward-Roses, p. 324, mentions Francis Bacon's belief that Warwick was killed because Ferdinand of Aragon had refused to marry his daughter to Henry VII's son until all possible Plantagenet pretenders were eliminated; as long as any were alive, there would be plots.
Before his execution, Warbeck confessed -- or at least was said to have confessed -- that he was not the son of Edward IV. Warwick's turn followed soon after (Seward-Roses, p. 324, mentions the coming of another false Warwick, named Ralph Wulford, as helping to prompt this), without any such notable confession. The last great threat to Henry VII's illegitimate kingship was done.
Could Warbeck have displaced Henry? It's an interesting question. After 1495, he had no chance. But there might have been a possibility in 1494 or 1495. So it was pretty significant when Waterford kept him from landing in Ireland.
Although one might argue that this marked the pinnacle of Waterford's career, the song does not end there. Having already praised the unwarlike Henry VII, it proceeds to the reign of his son Henry VII (reigned 1509-1547), whom it calls "Henry the Tryumphant." Pretty good for a king who never really participated in a battle. (Maybe it refers to the fact that he didn't face any rebellions.) Henry VIII was the second son of Henry VII, and did not become crown prince until his older brother died, so he was given more clerical than military training (Ashley, p. 630). Henry did lead an army to invade France, conducting a couple of successful sieges and winning the so-called "Battle of the Spurs," (Ashley, p. 631) -- but this 1513 "victory" was really only a cavalry skirmish, and Henry then allowed himself to be bought off. A much more notable victory at this time was the English defeat of the Scots at Flodden (for which see, e.g., "The Flowers of the Forest"), but Henry had no part in that; it was the Howard Earl of Surrey who commanded the English force.
It seems clear that Henry was still king at the time of this song, though, so little wonder that it buttered him up. -RBW

File: CrPS312
===
NAME: Praise, Member
DESCRIPTION: "Praise, member, praise God, I praise my Lord until I die. Praise, member, praise God, And reach the heavenly home." "Jordan's bank is a good old bank." "O soldier's fight is a good old fight." "I look to the east and I look to the west."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad soldier floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 4, "Praise, Member" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11859
File: AWG004A
===
NAME: Praises of Limerick, The
DESCRIPTION: Limerick "for true generosity, honour, fidelity ... one of us is worth ten of you [from nearby towns]." Our shopkeepers "charge us extravagant" but never "more than his conscience should bear." Our proper wives are "so dressy, so flirtish, so talkative"
AUTHOR: Dr MacDonnell (source: Croker-PopularSongs)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1793 (_Anthologia Hibernica_, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 228-230, "The Praises of Limerick" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Name is Molly Macky" (tune, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
NOTES: Croker-PopularSongs quoting the _Memoirs of Sir James Campbell_ notes that MacDonnell's satirical song was not taken well in Limerick and "the young doctor was fain to make his escape in the night time, and never return." - BS
File: CrPS228
===
NAME: Praties They Grow Small, The: see Over There (I - The Praties They Grow Small) (File: SBoA148)
===
NAME: Praties, The: see Over There (I - The Praties They Grow Small) (File: SBoA148)
===
NAME: Pray All the Member
DESCRIPTION: "Pray all the member, O Lord, Pray all the member, Yes my Lord." "Pray a little longer." "Jericho da worry me." "Jericho, Jericho." "I been to Jerusalem." "Patrol all around me." "Thank God he no catch me." "Jump along Jericho."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 35, "Pray All de Member" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11990
File: AWG035
===
NAME: Pray On
DESCRIPTION: "Pray on, pray on, Pray on them light over us, Pray on, pray on, The Union break of day. My sister, you come to see baptize In the Union break of day; My loved sister, you come to see baptize, In the Union break of day."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 97, "Pray On" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12053
File: AWG097A
===
NAME: Preacher and the Bear, The
DESCRIPTION: (Black) preacher goes hunting; he meets a grizzly bear. He climbs a tree and pleads with God (who delivered Daniel, Jonah, etc.) "if you can't help me/for goodness sakes don't help that bear" The limb breaks; he gets his razor out and fights
AUTHOR: Officially credited to Joe Arzonia
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (recordings, Arthur Collins, although he may have recorded it as early as 1903)
KEYWORDS: hunting humorous animal clergy
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 425, "The Preacher and the Bear" (2 short texts)
Shellans, pp. 80-81, "The Preacher and the Bear" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4967
RECORDINGS:
Al Bernard, "The Preacher and the Bear" (Brunswick 312, 1929; Supertone S-2057, 1930; rec. 1928) (Harmony 645-H, 1928) (Vocalion 15643, 1927)
Virgil Childers, "Preacher and the Bear" (Bluebird B-7487, 1938)
Arthur Collins, "The Preacher and the Bear" (Victor 4431, 1905) (Victor 17221, 1912; Montgomery Ward M-8128, 1939; rec. 1908 [possibly with Byron Harlan]) (Zon-O-Phone 120, 1905) Columbia A307/Standard A307/United A307, 1909; Kalamazoo 7016, n.d.; Oxford 120, c. 1911; Aretino D-608, n.d.; rec. 1905) (Columbia A2290, 1917) (Busy Bee D-27, n.d.; Busy Bee A-1076, c. 1903) (Rex 5073, c. 1913) (Edison 50520, 1919) (Silvertone 2026, c. 1920) (CYL: Edison 9000, 1905) (CYL: Edison [BA]18, 1908) (CYL: Albany 3193, n.d.) (CYL: Edison [BA] 1560, 1912) (Majestic 105, 1917) (Par-O-Ket 28, 1917) (CYL: Columbia 32720, prob. 1905)
Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet, "Preacher and the Bear" (Bluebird B-7205, 1937; Victor 27322, 1941; Victor [Canada] 27322, 1941)
Honeyboy & Sassafras, "The Preacher and the Bear" (Brunswick 585, 1931; rec. 1930)
Kentucky Thorobreds, "Preacher and the Bear" (Paramount 3036, 1927; Broadway 8128 [as Old Smokey Twins], n.d.)
John McGhee, "The Preacher and the Bear" (Gennett 6403/Challenge 392 [as George Holden], 1928)
Poplin Family, "The Preacher and the Bear" (on Poplin1)
Jesse Oakley, "Preacher and the Bear" (Supertone 9256, 1928)
Riley Puckett, "The Preacher and the Bear" (Columbia 15045-D, 1925) (Bluebird B-8083/Montgomery Ward M-7904, 1939)
Uncle Joe & his Banjo, "The Preacher and the Bear"  (Cameo 1272/Romeo 506, 1927)
Unidentified baritone [prob. Arthur Collins], "The Preacher and the Bear" (CYL: Busy Bee 241, prob. 1905)
Albert Whelan, "The Preacher and the Bear" (Zonophone [UK], 1911)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel" (theme)
SAME_TUNE:
Golden Gate Quartet, "Stalin Wasn't Stalling" (OKeh 6712, 1943)
NOTES: According to a biographer of Arthur Collins, although the song is often credited to Joe
Arzonia, he seems to have purchased the rights from the actual composer, George Fairman, a piano player who worked in the cafe Arzonia owned.
This song has become popular in the folk revival, inevitably without the reference to the preacher as a "coon" which places this in the minstrel tradition. (The Poplins use the word, though.) Its vaudeville/minstrel/coon song origins are clear in the earliest recording by Arthur Collins, a well-known performer in those genres.
Clearly Arthur Collins had little use for exclusive contracts in 1905 or thereafter.
The World War II parody, "Stalin Wasn't Stalling," has Hitler begging, "Oh Lord, if you can't help me, don't help that Russian bear." - PJS
File: RcPatB
===
NAME: Preacher and the Slave, The
DESCRIPTION: The preacher comes and tells the hungry, downtrodden workers, "You will eat, by and bye, In that glorious land above the sky. Work and pray; live on hay. You'll get pie in the sky when you die." The song calls on workers to overthrow the system
AUTHOR: Words: Joe Hill/Music: "Sweet By and By"
EARLIEST_DATE: 1911
KEYWORDS: clergy political work food rebellion labor-movement IWW derivative
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Sandburg, p. 221, "The Preacher and the Slave" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 222, "Pie in the Sky" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 856-857, "Pie in the Sky" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 146-147, "Pie in the Sky" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, p. 185, "The Preacher and the Slave" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 375-376, "The Preacher and the Slave" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 306, "The Preacher and the Slave" (1 text)
DT, PRCHRSLV*
Roud #9612
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Charlie (Charlie Craver), "You'll Get Pie In The Sky When You Die" (Brunswick 392, c. 1929)
Bud Billings [pseud. for Frank Luther] & Carson Robison: "You'll Get Pie in the Sky When You Die" (Victor V-40221, 1930)
Harry "Mac" McClintock, "Long Haired Preachers (Preacher and the Slave)" (on McClintock01) (on McClintock02)
Pete Seeger, "Pie in the Sky" (on PeteSeeger05)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sweet By and By" (tune)
NOTES: For the life of Joe Hill, see "Joe Hill." - RBW
File: San221
===
NAME: Preacher in the Pulpit (I)
DESCRIPTION: "Preacher in the pulpit, Bible in his hand (x3), Devil in the meal-sack, shaking out bran." "Oh, Lordy, come this way (x3), Never let the (devil carry?) you away."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious devil nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 342, "Preacher in the Pulpit" (1 short text)
File: Br3342
===
NAME: Preacher in the Pulpit (II)
DESCRIPTION: "Preacher's in de pulpit, Preachin' mighty bold, Preachin' for de money To save de sinner's soul." "I'm gwine de land on de shore (x3) And rest forevermo'." "When I gits in Heben, Want you to be there too; When I say, Thank God, I want you to say so too."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 343, "Preacher in de Pulpit" (1 short text)
Roud #11742
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "We Will Land on Shore" (lyrics)
File: Br3343
===
NAME: Preacher's Legacy, The
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, if poor sinners did but know How much for them I undergo, they would not treat me with contempt...." The preacher sets out to work in other areas, knowing that it will bring challenges. He hopes to go to heaven in the end
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922
KEYWORDS: clergy travel
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
LPound-ABS, 105, pp. 216-217, "The Preacher's Legacy" (1 text)
ST LPnd216 (Full)
Roud #6560
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dying Preacher (Hick's Farewell)" (theme)
NOTES: The nineteenth century seems to have seen several of these "departing-preacher-tells-folks-what's-wrong" songs. Reading this piece, I thought of a Baptist preacher who was kicked out by his congregation for being too strict. - RBW
File: LPnd216
===
NAME: Precious Jewel
DESCRIPTION: "A jewel on earth and a jewel in heaven/She'll brighten the kingdom around God's great throne." Singer mourns the girl  who promised to marry him. "The angels called her to heaven one night." Earth has troubles and treasures, but is missing one jewel
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (recording, Roy Acuff)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer mourns girl he once loved; when she was 16 they courted, and promised to marry, but "the angels called her to heaven one night." He laments that Mother Earth has troubles and treasures, but is missing one jewel. Cho: "A jewel on earth and a jewel in heaven/She'll brighten the kingdom around God's great throne...She's broken my heart and she's left me to roam"
KEYWORDS: grief loneliness courting love ring death mourning lament lover
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff, "The Precious Jewel" (Conqueror 9324, 1939/Okeh 05956, 1940)
Frank Bode, "Precious Jewel" (on FBode1)
Elton Britt, "The Precious Jewel" (Bluebird B-8666, 1941)
Delmore Bros. "Precious Jewel" (Decca 5970, 1941)
Wade Mainer, "The Precious Jewel" (Bluebird B-8887, 1941)
Esco Hankins, "The Precious Jewel" (King 648, 1947)
File: RcPrecJe
===
NAME: Precious Lord
DESCRIPTION: "Precious Lord, take my hand, Lead me on, let me stand, I am tired, I am weak, I am lost...." The sing prays that the Lord guide and protect him or her, and "lead me (home/on)" (to heaven)
AUTHOR: Thomas A. Dorsey
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (recording, Alphabetical Four)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 255-257, "" (1 text, probably partial; 1 tune)
DT, PRECLORD*
RECORDINGS:
Alphabetical Four, "Precious Lord Hold My Hand" (Decca 7546, 1938; partial version on AlphabFour01)
Elder Effie Hall & congregation "Precious Lord, Hold My Hand" (on MuSouth09, Babylon)
Five Soul Stirrers, "Precious Lord" (Bronze 103, n.d.)
Brother Joe May [Thunderbolt of the Middle West], "Precious Lord" (Specialty 815, n.d.)
Selah Jubilee Quartet, "Precious Lord" (Decca 48003, rec. 1939)
Kinsey West, "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" (on BlackAmRel1)
File: CNFM255
===
NAME: Precious Memories
DESCRIPTION: The singer looks back on events of the past: "Precious memories, how they linger, How they ever flood my soul." The singer gives thanks for the reminders
AUTHOR: probably John Wright
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Harbor Bells)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: ()

Roud #4934
RECORDINGS:
Ellis & Dixon Spiritual & Vocal Group, "Precious Memories, pts. 1 & 2" (Chess 1642, 1956)
Wade Mainer, "Precious Memories" (Bluebird B-8848, 1941)
McDonald Quartet, "Precious Memories" (OKeh 45517, 1931; rec. 1930) (Banner 32592/Melotone 12520/Perfect 12852/Conqueror 8009, 1932)
Simmons Sacred Singers, "Precious Memories" (OKeh 45299, 1929; rec. 1928)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, "Precious Memories" (Decca 48070, c. 1948)
Turkey Mountain Singers, "Precious Memories" (Bluebird B-5532, 1934)
Uncle Henry's Original Mountaineers, "Precious Memories" (Capitol 48035, 1949)
SAME_TUNE:
Dreadful Memories (by Aunt Molly Jackson and/or Sarah Ogun Gunning) (Greenway-AFP, pp. 274-275; DT, DREDMEM; Darling-NAS, pp. 385-386)
NOTES: Richard Dress writes, "Penned by Texas songwriter John Wright in 1877, this Roy Acuff hit and Wade Mainer favorite was first published in V. O. Stamps first songbook Harbor Bells in 1925.  The McDonald Quartette recorded it for Banner in 1932, the Royal Quartet for Decca in 1935, Claude Sharpe & the Old Hickory Singers for Columbia in 1945, and the Johnson Family Singers for Columbia in 1951 (crediting J. Wright)." - RBW
File: oooPrecM
===
NAME: Prentice Boy (I), The: see The Sheffield Apprentice [Laws O39] (File: LO39)
===
NAME: Prentice Boy (II), The: see The Apprentice Boy [Laws M12] (File: LM12)
===
NAME: Prentice Boy in Love, A: see The Sea Apprentice (File: HHH739)
===
NAME: Prentice Boy, The: see The Sea Apprentice (File: HHH739)
===
NAME: Prentice's Drinking Song: see My Father Gave Me a Lump of Gold (Seven Long Years) (File: R834)
===
NAME: Presbyterian Cat, The (The Cameronian Cat)
DESCRIPTION: "There was an auld Seceder's cat, Gaed hunting for a prey, And ben the house she catched a mouse Upon the Sabbath day." The cat, returning home, is condemned by her owner for violating the Sabbath, read a lesson -- and executed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1819 (Hogg1)
KEYWORDS: animal trial execution clergy
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland) US(NE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Hogg1 22, "The Cameronian Cat" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan3 689, "The Presbyterian Cat" (1 text)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 319-321, "The Cameronian Cat" (1 text)
DT, CAMERCAT
Roud #4576
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Auld Seceder's Cat
NOTES: Hogg1: "This is another popular country song, and very old.... [It] is always sung by the wags in mockery of great pretended strictness of the Covenanters, which is certainly, in some cases, carried to an extremity rather ludicrous.... The air is very sweet, but has a strong resemblance to one of their popular psalm-tunes." - BS
File: FVS319
===
NAME: Prescott's Confession
DESCRIPTION: Broadside. "Ye people all assembled here To see me suffer death, Draw near the guilty wretch and hear...." The singer denies insanity, tells how he lured his victim into the fields, describes his murder, and bids farewell
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: murder punishment execution
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 1833 - "Prescott" murders his benefactor Sally Cochran and is apprehended by her husband
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, pp. 66-67, "Prescott's Confession of the Murder of MRS. SALLY COCHRAN, By a Private Individual at the Bar" (1 text, excerpted)
File: Burt066
===
NAME: Present Time is Oors, The
DESCRIPTION: "Come, let us a' be hearty boys, the moments we are here" because we may have only a few years, "maybe only hoors" Don't bother accumulating wealth. "Let ministers say what they will" but drink, as they do, "laugh and sing, The present time is oors"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: death drink music nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 550, "The Present Time is Oors" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6026
NOTES: It is perhaps mildly ironic to observe that the singer says to ignore ministers, yet this is very much like the message of Jesus's parable of the Rich Fool (Luke 12:16-20), who builds barns for all his wealth, but then is told by God, "Fool! This very night your life is demanded of you." - RBW
File: GrD3550
===
NAME: Presidents, The (The Presidents in Rhyme)
DESCRIPTION: To the tune of "Yankee Doodle": "George Washington, first President, by Adams was succeeded, And Thomas Jefferson was next, For the people's cause he pleaded...." And so on, through as many presidents as the teacher can think up rhymes for
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: nonballad political derivative
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1789-1797 - Administration of George Washington
1797-1801 - John Adams
1801-1809 - Thomas Jefferson
1809-1817 - James Madison. War of 1812. (1815: Battle of New Orleans, fought by Andrew Jackson)
1817-1825 - James Monroe
1825-1829 - John Quincy Adams
1829-1837 - Andrew Jackson (who previously won the Battle of New Orleans)
1837-1841 - Martin Van Buren
1841 - William Henry Harrison (died in office)
1841-1845 - John Tyler (filled out Harrison's term; he was a near-Democrat in Whig's clothing, and his succession led to constitutional and legislative crises)
1845-1849 - James K. Polk (began the war with Mexico and annexed Texas)
1849-1850 - Zachary Taylor (died in office)
1850-1853 - Millard Fillmore
1853-1857 - Franklin Pierce
1857-1861 - James Buchanan
1861-1865 - Abraham Lincoln (assassinated)
1865-1869 - Andrew Johnson (a Democrat who succeeded Lincoln. The partisan Republicans in congress impeached him on trivial grounds and tried to deprive him of office, failing by only one vote in the Senate)
1869-1877 - Ulysses S. Grant (the victor, more or less, at the Battle of Shiloh in 1862)
1877-1881 - Rutherford B. Hayes
1881 - James A. Garfield (assassinated)
1881-1885 - Chester A. Arthur
1885-1889 - Grover Cleveland (first term)
1889-1893 - Benjamin Harrison
1893-1897 - Grover Cleveland (second term)
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 877, "The Presidents" (1 text)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 390-391, "The Presidents" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 877)
Roud #7542
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Yankee Doodle" (tune) and references there
NOTES: This song probably originated some time in the nineteenth century, and has been periodically extended. Randolph's version, for instance, extends into the second administration of Cleveland, but it has been extended at least as far as Franklin Roosevelt. - RBW
It's been further extended, by Oscar Brand (up through Eisenhower) and yours truly (through Bush [Senior]). No doubt the Clinton verse will be, er, interesting. - PJS
Given the political tendencies of most folk singers, I suspect Bush Junior will get some interesting verses of his own....
Another anonymous poem on this general theme, "Our Presidents" (which runs through Wilson) is found on p. 603 of Hazel Felleman's _The Best Loved Poems of the American People_. - RBW
File: R877
===
NAME: Press Gang (I), The
DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a press gang in London who ask if he'd join the fleet. He agrees after they tell "shocking lies" to him about life on board. Once on board he is flogged. He had run away from his wife but now would be happy not to go to sea again.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (ENMacCollSeeger02)
KEYWORDS: sea ship ordeal sailor pressgang lie abuse
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, PRSSGANG
Roud #662
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "The Press Gang" (on ENMacCollSeeger02)
File: RcTPrGan
===
NAME: Press Gang (II), The: see Disguised Sailor (The Sailor's Misfortune and Happy Marriage; The Old Miser) [Laws N6] (File: LN06)
===
NAME: Press Gang Sailor, The: see Polly on the Shore (The Valiant Sailor) (File: Wa057)
===
NAME: Pretoria: see Marching to Pretoria (File: Hugi425)
===
NAME: Prettiest Little Baby In The County-O: see What'll I Do with the Baby-O (File: R565)
===
NAME: Prettiest Little Song of All, The
DESCRIPTION: "When the pretty little birds are singing In the evening by the pale moonlight... It speaks to me in accents free Of one that's ever far and yet so near... The sweetest song I ever heard is one of home and mother."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: home mother nonballad separation
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 848, "The Prettiest Little Song of All" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7449
File: R848
===
NAME: Pretty Betsey [Laws M18]
DESCRIPTION: Betsey loves William; her father so despises him that he brutally abuses Betsey. With Betsey's mother's help, William is able to pay a last visit, only to have Betsey die in his arms
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952
KEYWORDS: courting abuse death
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws M18, "Pretty Betsey"
BrownII 75, "Pretty Betsey" (1 text)
DT 722, PRETBETS
Roud #1911
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Andrew Lammie" [Child 233] (plot)
NOTES: This presence of this song in Laws is rather a curiosity: Laws knows only of the copy in Brown, and the notes to that book admit of no other version -- but Laws not only lists it as traditional but as being of British origin. - RBW
File: LM18
===
NAME: Pretty Betsy the Milkmaid (Blackberry Fold) [Laws O10]
DESCRIPTION: The squire sees Pretty Betsy, and offers to marry her. She begs him not to tease a poor girl. He gives her half of a broken ring as a token. He tries to seduce her, then rape her, but she fends him off. He gives in and marries her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 25(2146))
KEYWORDS: beauty courting seduction virtue marriage
FOUND_IN: US(MW) Britain(England(All),Scotland) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws O10, "Pretty Betsy the Milkmaid (Blackberry Fold)"
Kennedy 314, "Blackberry Fold" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 23, "Blackberry Fold" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 831, BESSMILK
Roud #559
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(2146), "Young Squire" ("It's of a rich squire in Bristol doth dwell"), J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819; also Harding B 25(2147)[some illegible lines], "The Young Squire"; Harding B 28(140), "Squire and Milk Maid"; 2806 c.16(44), Harding B 25(1836), "Squire and Milkmaid"; 2806 b.11(240), Firth c.18(168), "Squire and Milkmaid" or "Blackberry Fold"
NOTES: Not to be confused with "Blackberry Grove," despite their sharing a milkmaid and blackberries. Incidentally, one of the reasons milkmaids were held in such romantic esteem was for their smooth, fair, and un-pockmarked skin, which came from their contact with cowpox and resultant immunity to smallpox. - PJS
File: LO10
===
NAME: Pretty Bird: see Little Bird (File: Fus089)
===
NAME: Pretty Boy Floyd
DESCRIPTION: "Come gather 'round me children, a story I will tell, About Pretty Boy Floyd, the outlaw; Oklahoma knew him well." The singer tells how Floyd turned outlaw when a deputy attacked his wife, and describes Floyd's many charities
AUTHOR: Woody Guthrie
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (recording, Woody Guthrie)
KEYWORDS: outlaw police robbery help
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 227, "Pretty Boy Floyd" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 296-297, "Pretty Boy Floyd" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BOYFLOYD*
Roud #11504
RECORDINGS:
Woody Guthrie, "Pretty Boy Floyd" (on Struggle2)
Pete Seeger, "Pretty Boy Floyd" (on PeteSeeger19) (on PeteSeeger41)
File: LoF227
===
NAME: Pretty Caledonia: see Canada-I-O (The Wearing of the Blue; Caledonia) (File: HHH162)
===
NAME: Pretty Caroline
DESCRIPTION: A sailor tells Caroline that her parents had "pressed me on board of a man-o-war from pretty Caroline." He has returned rich. She asks that he show the gold ring and lock of hair that would identify him. He does. They marry.
AUTHOR: G. Brown? (source: broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3147))
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3146))
KEYWORDS: courting marriage ring return sailor brokentoken
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 88, "Pretty Caroline" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3146), "Pretty Caroline," Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Harding B 11(3147), Firth b.26(129), Firth c.13(265), Harding B 11(3148), Harding B 11(3149), Firth c.12(184), "Pretty Caroline"
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(050), "Pretty Caroline," unknown, n.d.
File: LeBe088
===
NAME: Pretty Crowing Chicken: see The Grey Cock, or, Saw You My Father [Child 248] (File: C248)
===
NAME: Pretty Fair Damsel, A: see Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token) [Laws N42] (File: LN42)
===
NAME: Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token) [Laws N42]
DESCRIPTION: A girl refuses to be courted by a stranger, saying she will wait for her love. The stranger counters that he may be slain, drowned, or unfaithful; she says she will be faithful anyway. He pulls out his locket, revealing him as her lost, and now rich, love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1822
KEYWORDS: courting separation brokentoken
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England,Scotland) Ireland Bahamas
REFERENCES: (35 citations)
Laws N42, "Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token)"
Belden, pp. 148-151, "A Sweetheart in the Army" (3 texts plus references to 2 more, 1 tube)
Randolph 55, "The Maiden in the Garden" (3 texts plus 1 fragment and 1 excerpt, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 97-99, "The Maiden in the Garden" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 55A)
Eddy 51, "A Pretty Fair Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 92, "A Pretty Fair Maid in the Garden" (1 text)
Chappell-FSRA 68, "Betty Fair Miss" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 12, "Madam, I Have Gold and Silver" (1 text, starting with "Wheel of Fortune" but ending with a "Ripest of Apples" verse and ending with a Riley stanza, from this or some other ballad of this type)
Hudson 36, pp. 160-151, "A Pretty Fair Maid" (1 text); also 37, pp. 151-152, "Annie Girl" (1 text, which conflates 2 verses of "The Drowsy Sleeper" [Laws M4], 2 or 3 of "Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady)" or "No, John, No: or similar, and 3 verses probably of this)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 260-264, "The True Sweetheart," "Pretty Fair Maid," "A Pretty Fair Damsel," "A Lily Fair Damsel," The True Sweetheart" (5 texts, mostly rather short; 4 tunes on pp.423-425); in addition, p. 265, "A Soldier Boy," opens with stanzas from this song, but the conclusion is "William Hall (The Brisk Young Farmer)" [Laws N30]
SharpAp 98, "The Broken Token" (6 texts, 6 tunes)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 134-139, "Broken Ring Song" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
Creighton-NovaScotia 28, "Broken Ring" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 59, "Broken Ring Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 24, "Broken Ring Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 584-589, "Seven Years I Loved a Sailor" (3 texts, 3 tunes; the "C" text, "Flowery Garden," grafts the "Poison in a Glass of Wine" theme (cf. "Oxford City" [Laws P30]) as the ending)
Fowke/MacMillan 65, "The Sailor's Return" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 63, "The Single Sailor" (2 texts)
Leach, pp. 701-703, "A Sweetheart in the Army" (2 texts)
OLochlainn 2, "A Lady Fair" (1 text, 1 tune)
McBride 47, "The Lady Fair" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBoyle, p. 34, "A Lady Fair" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 88, "The Sweetheart in the Army" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, pp. 77-78, "Soldier, Won't You Marry Me?" (1 text, in which, despite the title, the soldier asks the girl to marry, not the reverse)
Cambiaire, pp. 64-65, "The Soldier's Return (A Pretty Fair Maid)" (1 text)
FSCatskills 22, "Johnny Riley" (1 text, 1 tune)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 80-81, "Miss Mary Belle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 68-69, "A Pretty Fair Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 326-327, "The Brisk Young Sailor" (1 text)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 104-105, "The Young and Single Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 117-118, "A Pretty Fair Miss All in a Garden" (1 text, 1 tune); also pp. 222-223 (1 tune, partial text)
JHCox 92, "A Pretty Fair Maid" (2 texts plus mention of 4 more; the "B" text includes stanzas from "Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady)")
SHenry H471, p. 317, "The Broken Ring" (1 text, 1 tune); also probably H818, pp. 317-318, "Green Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 27, "The Sailor's Return" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
DT 462,  JREILLY* JREILLY3* JREILLY5
Roud #264
RECORDINGS:
Mary Cash, "Lady in Her Father's Garden" (on IRTravellers01)
Cousin Emmy [Cynthia May Carver], "Pretty Fair Miss Out In the Garden" (Decca 24213, 1947; on ConstSor1)
Louise Foreacre, "Down in Grandma's Garden" (on Stonemans01)
Warde & Pat Ford, "The Soldier's Sweetheart" (AFS 4204 B1, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Sarah Hawkes, "Returning Sweetheart" (on Persis1)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Fair Miss in the Garden" (on Holcomb1) (on FOTM)
Maggie Murphy, "Seven Years Since I Had a Sweetheart" (on IRHardySons)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Pretty Fair Miss Out in the Garden" (on NLCR06)
Sarah Anne O'Neill, "Standing in Yon Flowery Garden" (on Voice10)
Mrs. William Towns, "A Fair Maid Walked in her Father's Garden" (on Ontario1)
Doug Wallin, "Pretty Fair Miss in a Garden" (on Wallins1)
Martin Young & Corbett Grigsby, "Pretty Fair Miss in the Garden" (on MMOKCD)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(180a), "The Loyal Sailor," J. Ferraby (Hull), 1803-1838; also Harding B 11(4354), Firth c.12(335), "Young and Single Sailor"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] and references there
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Sailor's Return
The Single Sailor
The Single Soldier
John Riley (III)
Flowery Garden
NOTES: Eddy's version of this piece may be the only one of these disguised love songs in which the man admits what he is: A creep who sneaks up on his faithful true love.
The second Sam Henry version, "Green Garden," is marked as Laws N42 but with a question mark. I understand the editors' hesitation, but there are enough links to other texts of the song that I think we can list it here. It's not as if we need another Broken Token ballad....
Paul Stamler suggested filing Art Thieme's song "That's the Ticket" here. Since this index occasionally pretends to something resembling scholarship, I couldn't bring myself to do it. But if you want to see the essence of Broken Token absurdity, that song (on Thieme03) probably sums it up as well as is humanly possible. - RBW
The last three verses of Mary Cash's version on IRTravellers01 are the "Phoenix Island" verses from "O'Reilly from the County Leitrim": as a result, the suitor is finally rejected. Jim Carroll's notes to IRTravellers01 cite another version from Mary Delaney who "had the suitor even more fimly rejected:
For it's seven years brings an alteration,
And seven more brings a big change to me,
Oh, go home young man,
choose another sweetheart,
Your serving maid I'm not here to be."
Mary Delaney's "Phoenix Island" on IRTravellers01 is even more extreme (see notes to "O'Reilly from the County Leitrim," which generally ends unfavorably for the suitor). - BS
File: LN42
===
NAME: Pretty Fair Miss All in a Garden, A: see Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token) [Laws N42] (File: LN42)
===
NAME: Pretty Fair Widow, The (Lillie Shaw II)
DESCRIPTION: Pretty widow Lillie Shaw goes out one day but does not return. A search party fails to find her, but finally traces of blood are found, and then her body. "They searched the Preston house" and find her clothes; E.B. Preston is tried and hanged
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: murder trial execution
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Warner 115, "The Pretty Fair Widow (or, Lillie Shaw)" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa115 (Partial)
Roud #4628
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lillie Shaw" (subject)
NOTES: Although there are two songs on this subject, and this one at least spread enough to be collected three times, no one seems to have found details on the fates of Lillie Shaw and Jim Wilcox/E. B. Preston.
Frank Proffit, who supplied the Warner ballad, claimed the murder took place in the 1880s in Mountain City, Tennessee. - RBW
File: Wa115
===
NAME: Pretty Four-Leaf Shamrock from Glenore, The: see The Shamrock from Glenore (File: HHH034)
===
NAME: Pretty Four-Leaved Shamrock from Glenore, The: see The Shamrock from Glenore (File: HHH034)
===
NAME: Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow, The
DESCRIPTION: "O 'twas on a bright mornin' in summer When I first heard her voice singin' low As he said to a colleen beside him, 'Who's the pretty girl milkin' the cow?'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1835 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.26(457))
KEYWORDS: love work
FOUND_IN: US(MW) Ireland
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
O'Conor, pp. 58-59, "The Pretty Maid Milking Her Cow" (1 text)
OLochlainn 57, "Cailin Deas Cruite Na MBo" (1 text, 1 tune)
McBride 14, "Cailin Deas Cruite na mBo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 13, "Cailin Deas Cruite na mBo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 40, "Who's the Pretty Girl Milkin' the Cow?" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #3139
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "Cailin Deas Cruite Na mBo" (on IRClare01)
J. W. Myers, "Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow" (Berliner 1772, late 1890s)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.26(457), "The Pretty Maid Milking her Cow," G. Walker (Durham), 1797-1834; also Harding B 25(1563), Firth c.18(163), Harding B 11(2386), Harding B 11(2846), "[The] Pretty Maid Milking her Cow"; 2806 b.11(99), "Colleen Dhas Crutha Na Mho" ("It was on a fine summer's morning"), W. Birmingham (Dublin), c.1867; also 2806 c.15(127), Harding B 19(79), "Colleen Dhas Crutha Na Mho"
Murray, Mu23-y1:029, "Colleen Dhas Crutha na Mho," James Lindsay Jr (Glasgow), 19C 
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Peistie Glen" (tune)
cf. "Cailin Deas" (tune)
NOTES: O'Conor seems more complete than Sandburg. He hears her singing and professes to be "your captive slave for the future." She is not taken in by his profession, nor by his claim that "The Indies afford no such jewel" or that he would trade "the wealth of great Omar... Devonshire's treasure ... the lamp of Aladdin" to "live poor on a mountain With colleen dhas cruthin amoe." He warns "a young maid is like a ship sailing, She don't know how long she may steer" and he asks her to marry.
Samuel Lover in _Rory O'More_ (1836) quotes this fragment: "I saw a young damsel--'twas Noreen; Her ringlets did carelessly flow Oh: how I adore you, ma voureen Ma Colleen dhas crutheen na mbho." - BS
File: San040
===
NAME: Pretty Little Bird: see Free Little Bird (File: FSWB391A)
===
NAME: Pretty Little Black-Eyed Susam: see Black-Eyed Susie (Green Corn) (File: R568)
===
NAME: Pretty Little Black-Eyed Susie: see Black-Eyed Susie (Green Corn) (File: R568)
===
NAME: Pretty Little Miss [Laws P18]
DESCRIPTION: The singer courts a young girl, eventually talking his way into her bed. In the middle of the night he prepares to leave. She reminds him of his promise to marry her. He tells her that sleeping with him was her choice. She bewails her fate
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Cecil Sharp collection); +1818 (Garret, _Right Choyse and Merrie Book of Garlands I_)
KEYWORDS: seduction separation betrayal pregnancy
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So) Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Laws P18, "Pretty Little Miss"
MacSeegTrav 67, "Too Young" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 107, "Good Morning, My Pretty Little Miss" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 49, "Good-Morning My Pretty Little Miss" (1 text, 1 tune -- an abridged composite version)
Cambiaire, pp. 57-58, "A Gentleman's Meeting (Down by Yon Riverside" (1 text, which starts out as "Pretty Little Miss" [Laws P18] but ends with 'The Foggy Dew (The Bugaboo)" [Laws O3]; Roud lists it as a version of Laws P18, but it appears that the larger part of the text is O3 -- though the material in the middle could be from either)
DT 500, PRETMISS
Roud #564
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rosemary Lane" [Laws K43] (floating lyrics)
cf. "Seven Years O'er Young" (plot)
NOTES: I place [the MacColl/Seeger song "Too Young"]  with "Pretty Little Miss" (Laws P18) because MacColl & Seeger do, explicitly citing Laws. But it has few of the plot elements of the canonical Laws version, and tacks on a couple of stanzas that I'd swear came from "Blackwaterside." - PJS
Laws himself says the song has "much textual instability," even though he quotes only four versions -- two from Sharp and two fragments from JFSS.  And his sample stanzas do look a bit like "Blackwaterside."
For additional notes on the problems with this piece, see the notes to "Seven Years O'er Young." - RBW
File: LP18
===
NAME: Pretty Mauhee, The: see The Little Mohee [Laws H8] (File: LH08)
===
NAME: Pretty Milkmaid, The: see Rolling in the Dew (The Milkmaid) (File: R079)
===
NAME: Pretty Mohea, The: see The Little Mohee [Laws H8] (File: LH08)
===
NAME: Pretty Mohee, The: see The Little Mohee [Laws H8] (File: LH08)
===
NAME: Pretty Nancy of London (Jolly Sailors Bold)
DESCRIPTION: The singer writes to tell his love of the hardships endured by sailors. He describes a horrible storm he recently endured; "a sailor must yield to whatever may come." He assures Nancy he is remembering her as best he can
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1920 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: storm sea love separation floatingverses
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond)) US(SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Randolph 78, "Pretty Nancy of London" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 568-570, "Nancy from London" (1 text, 3 tunes)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 53, "Nancy of London" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 130, "Sweet William and Nancy" (1 text, mixed with "Green Grows the Laurel" and other material)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 33, "Nancy from London" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Leach-Labrador 49, "Lovely Nancy from England" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #407
RECORDINGS:
Cyril Poacher, "Nancy of Yarmouth" (on Voice12)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ye Gentlemen of England (I)" [Laws K2]
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Tall Grow the Rushes
NOTES: Leach-Labrador 49: "This song should not be confused with 'Nancy of Yarmouth' or 'Jimmy and Nancy,' and so forth.  Although it borrows heavily from other songs, it is a distinct and separate piece."
The "green grow the laurels" verse is
  Green grow the laurels and the tops of them small,
  For love is a flower that hangs o'er us all,
  For the green leaves will wither and the roots will decay, 
  But the red rose will flourish when my love comes from sea
The "ship in distress" theme is from "Nancy of Yarmouth". The "Green grow the laurels" verse has only those four words in common with Green Grows the Laurel (Green Grow the Lilacs)  - BS
Classifying versions of this song is indeed very difficult; Roud in fact includes a number of versions titled "Nancy of Yarmouth." The title also adheres frequently to "William and Nancy (II) (Courting Too Slow)" [Laws P5]. There are some fragments beyond classification. This is the best we can do. - RBW
File: R078
===
NAME: Pretty Pear Tree, The: see The Rattling Bog (File: ShH98)
===
NAME: Pretty Peggy (II): see My Generous Lover (File: RcMGL)
===
NAME: Pretty Peggy of Derby: see Bonnie Lass of Fyvie, The (Pretty Peggy-O) (File: SBoA020)
===
NAME: Pretty Peggy-O: see Bonnie Lass of Fyvie, The (Pretty Peggy-O) (File: SBoA020)
===
NAME: Pretty Ploughboy, The: see The Jolly Plowboy (Little Plowing Boy; The Simple Plowboy) [Laws M24] (File: LM24)
===
NAME: Pretty Plowboy, The: see The Lark in the Morning (File: ShH62)
===
NAME: Pretty Polly (I) (Moll Boy's Courtship) [Laws O14]
DESCRIPTION: A married man comes courting Polly. While she is attracted, she cannot wed a married man. He offers to kill his wife; she begs him not to, promising to wait seven years for him. His wife conveniently dies just before the deadline; the two are married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1861 (Bell)
KEYWORDS: courting love marriage death floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE) Britain(England(North),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Laws O14, "Pretty Polly (Moll Boy's Courtship)"
GreigDuncan2 226, "Charming Mall Boy" (1 text)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 10-11, "Sir Arthur and Charming Mollee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Eddy 56, "Pretty Polly" (1 text, with one floating verse from "The Cuckoo" and two from "On Top of Old Smokey")
Gardner/Chickering 68, "The Charming Moll Boy" (1 text)
Logan, pp. 348-349, "Moll Boy's Courtship" (1 text)
DT 594, PRETPOL
ST LO14 (Full)
Roud #195
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Noble Lord Hawkins
NOTES: According to Stokoe (slightly amplifying Bell), "the Sir Arthur named is no less a personage than Sir Arthur Haslerigg, the Governor of Tynemouth Castle during the protectorate of Oliver Cromwell." Bell seems to be the only source for this assertion.
"Kittredge discusses the use of the cuckoo stanza (number 8 [in the Eddy text]) in Journal 30, PP7 350-j52, i 'Ballads and Songs'" (note from the Digital Tradition). - RBW
File: LO14
===
NAME: Pretty Polly (II) [cf. Laws P36]
DESCRIPTION: Willie urges Polly to go riding with him "some pleasure [to] see" before they get married. Although she is "afraid of [his] ways," she comes, only to find her new-dug grave awaiting her. Willie kills and buries her and heads home (or out to sea)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Wyman-Brockway I)
KEYWORDS: murder burial betrayal
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,So) Canada
REFERENCES: (16 citations)
Randolph 153, "Pretty Polly" (2 texts plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
BrownII 64, "The Gosport Tragedy" (3 texts plus 1 excerpt and mention of 1 more; Laws lists the "A" text as P36A, and the rest as P36B, but "D" and probably "C" are "Pretty Polly")
Brewster 64, "Pretty Polly" (1 text plus a fragment)
Leach, pp. 698-700, "The Gosport Tragedy" (2 texts, but only the second goes with this piece; the first is, obviously, "The Gosport Tragedy")
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 79, "Pretty Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 110, "Pretty Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, pp. 69-70, "Pretty Polly" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 140-141, "Pretty Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 89, "Come, Pretty Polly" (3 texts, 1 tune)
JHCoxIIA, #17A-C, pp. 73-78, "Pretty Polly," "Come, Polly, Pretty Polly" (2 texts plus an excerpt, 2 tunes; the "A" text is the full "Cruel Ship's Carpenter" version; "B" is the short "Pretty Polly (II)"; the "C" fragment is too short to tell but has lyrics more typical of the latter)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 53-54, "" (1 text, very short even by the standards of this worn-down song)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 128-134, collectively titled "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter" but with individual titles "Pretty Polly," "Dying Polly," "Pretty Polly," "Pretty Polly," "Pretty Polly," "Oh, Polly!" (6 texts; 5 tunes on pp. 395-398; of these only the "C" text has a ghost; in "D" and "E" there is no ghost but Willie's ship sinks;  these presumably should file with Laws P36, while "A," B," and "F" go here)
Lomax-FSUSA 84, "Pretty Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 143-144, "Pretty Polly" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 227, "Pretty Polly" (1 text)
DT 311, PRETPOL2*
Roud #15
RECORDINGS:
Estil C. Ball, "Pretty Polly" (on LomaxCD1701, LomaxCD1705); "Pretty Polly" (AFS, 1941; on LCTreas)
Frank Bode, "Pretty Polly" (on FBode1)
Dock Boggs, "Pretty Polly" (Brunswick 132A, 1927); (on Boggs1, BoggsCD1)
Coon Creek Girls, "Pretty Polly" (Vocalion 04659, 1939; Perfect 16102, 1935?)
Bill Cornett ,"Pretty Polly" (on MMOKCD)
Cranford & Thompson, "Pretty Polly" (Melotone 45092, 1935)
John Hammond, "Purty Polly" (Challenge 168, 1927)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Pretty Polly" (Brunswick 116, 1927)
 Ivor Melton & band, "Pretty Polly" (on Persis1)
Pleaz Mobley, "Pretty Polly" (on JThomas01)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Pretty Polly" (on NLCR13)
Jean Ritchie, "Pretty Polly" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchieWatsonCD1)
Sauceman Brothers, "Pretty Polly" (Rich-R-Tone 457, n.d.)
Pete Seeger, "Pretty Polly" (on PeteSeeger16)
Lee Sexton, "Pretty Polly" (on MMOKCD)
B. F. Shelton "Pretty Polly" (Victor 35838, 1927; on BefBlues1)
Stanley Brothers, "Pretty Polly" (Columbia 20770, 1951)
Pete Steele, "Pretty Polly" (AFS 1587/1702, 1938; on PSteele01, KMM)
Turner & Parkins, "Pretty Polly" (Superior 2635, 1931)
Jack Wallin, "Pretty Polly" (on Wallins1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. esp. "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter (The Gosport Tragedy; Pretty Polly)" [Laws P36A/B], from which this ballad is descended at a great distance
cf. "Fair Eleanor (II)" (plot)
cf. "Pastures of Plenty" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Pastures of Plenty (File: Grnw293)
NOTES: This much-shortened form of "The Gosport Tragedy" has now taken on a life of its own. Although no clear line between the two can be drawn, I tend to call the piece "The Gosport Tragedy" if it includes the ghost and "Pretty Polly" if it omits.
One of Cox's texts (the C text, which also has a tune) was called by the informant "Young Beeham." There is no basis for this in the text of the song. One has to think this the result of some sort of confusion with "Young Beacham." - RBW
Many if not most American versions are probably traceable back to B. F. Shelton's recording, which was enormously (and deservedly) popular.
According to J. M. Jarrell of Wayne Co., WV, cited by J. B. Cox in "Traditional Ballads Mainly From West Virginia," in the early 19th century one Polly Aldridge was murdered by William Chapman, who was convicted and executed in Martin Co., KY, and this ballad was being sung about the killing c. 1850. - PJS
File: LP36B
===
NAME: Pretty Polly (III): see Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight [Child 4] (File: C004)
===
NAME: Pretty Polly (IV)
DESCRIPTION: Polly will not marry the singer; his poverty would grieve her parents. He replies, "Some say I am rakey... But I'll prove... that I'm guilty of nothing but innocent love." He sets out for New Orleans to marry another, but decides he loves Polly too much
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924
KEYWORDS: love courting separation virtue rambling return
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Combs/Wilgus 133, p. 144, "Pretty Polly" (1 text)
Roud #4296
NOTES: Although this piece consists largely of floating verses, the combined effect is unique and deserves to be considered a separate song. - RBW
File: CW133
===
NAME: Pretty Polly (IX): see If I Were a Fisher (File: HHH709)
===
NAME: Pretty Polly (V): see Creeping and Crawling (File: RL033)
===
NAME: Pretty Polly (VI): see Polly Oliver (Pretty Polly) [Laws N14] (File: LN14)
===
NAME: Pretty Polly (VII): see The Irish Girl (File: HHH711)
===
NAME: Pretty Polly (VIII): see The Female Warrior (Pretty Polly) [Laws N4] (File: LN04)
===
NAME: Pretty Polly Anne: see Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight [Child 4] (File: C004)
===
NAME: Pretty Polly Perkins of Paddington Green: see Polly Perkins of Paddington Green (File: HHH132)
===
NAME: Pretty Polly, Pretty Polly, I'm Going Away: see On Top of Old Smokey (File: BSoF740)
===
NAME: Pretty Sairey: see Pretty Saro (File: R744)
===
NAME: Pretty Sally: see A Rich Irish Lady (The Fair Damsel from London; Sally and Billy; The Sailor from Dover; Pretty Sally; etc.) [Laws P9]; also "The Brown Girl" [Child 295] (File: LP09)
===
NAME: Pretty Sally of London: see A Rich Irish Lady (The Fair Damsel from London; Sally and Billy; The Sailor from Dover; Pretty Sally; etc.) [Laws P9]; also "The Brown Girl" [Child 295] (File: LP09)
===
NAME: Pretty Saro
DESCRIPTION: The singer loves Pretty Saro, but she shows no interest in him: "She wants a freeholder and I have no land." Nor can he write her a letter "in a fine hand" as he would wish to. In despair he vows to "wander by the river" (or kill himself?)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1911 (Lomax, North Carolina Booklet)
KEYWORDS: love poverty river
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (12 citations)
Randolph 744, "Pretty Saro" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune); cf. 745, "In Eighteen-Forty-Nine" (2 texts, 2 tune) and the Hudson text cited below
BrownIII 252, "Pretty Saro" (2 texts)
Hudson 48, pp. 164-165, "Pretty Saro" (1 text, beginning with stanzas from "In Eighteen-Forty-Nine" and ending with "Pretty Saro," plus mention of 1 more text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 327-328, "Pretty Saro" (2 texts, with local titles "Pretty Saro," "Pretty Sarah"; 2 tunes on p. 443)
Brewster 99, "Pretty Sairey" (1 text)
SharpAp 76, "Pretty Saro" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 39, "Pretty Saro" (1 text, 1 tune, with one stanza omitted)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 68, "Pretty Saro" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, p. 115, "Lone Valley" (1 text)
Chase, pp. 152-153, "At the Foot of Yonder Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 148, "Pretty Saro" (1 text)
DT, PRETSARO* YONDRMTN
Roud #417
RECORDINGS:
Horton Barker, "At the Foot of Yonder's Mountain" (on Barker01)
Glen Neaves, "1809" (on Persis1)
Ritchie Family, "Pretty Saro" (on Ritchie03)
Jean Ritchie, "Pretty Saro" (on RitchieWatsonCD1)
Pete Seeger, "Pretty Saro" (on PeteSeeger40)
Cas Wallin, "Pretty Saro" (on OldLove)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "In Eighteen-Forty-Nine" (floating lyrics, tune)
cf. "If I Were a Fisher" (floating verses)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Pretty Sarah
NOTES: This piece seems to break up into two families, "Pretty Saro" (which appears to be more popular) and "At the Foot of Yonder Mountain." In the latter, the woman is "Mary," not "Saro." Broadwood and Gilchrist argued that all this is based on an ancient hymn to the Virgin Mary. If so, that would argue that the "Yonder Mountain" form is older. But we all know how active some folklorists' imaginations are. - RBW
File: R744
===
NAME: Pretty Susan, the Pride of Kildare [Laws P6]
DESCRIPTION: A sailor tries to win Susie's love; she rejects him because he is poor. Instead she gives her love to a rich man. The sailor goes back to sea but never finds another woman as beautiful as Susie
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1847 (Journal of William Histed of the Cortes); before 1844 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3331))
KEYWORDS: courting poverty beauty
FOUND_IN: US(SE) Britain(England(South)) Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Laws P6, "Pretty Susan, the Pride of Kildare"
BrownII 132, "Pretty Susie, The Pride of Kildare" (1 text)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 131-133, "The Pride of Kildare" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-More 83, "Pretty Susan the Pride of Kildare" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 48, "Pretty Susan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 88, "Pretty Susan" (1 text, 1 tune)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 481, "Little Susin, the Pride of Kildore" (source notes only)
DT 724, PRETSUSI
Roud #962
RECORDINGS:
Angelo Dornan, "Pretty Susan" (on Miramichi1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3331), "Pretty Susan the Pride of Kildare," J. Howe (Hull), 1835-1843; also Harding B 17(246b), Harding B 11(3169), Harding B 11(3168), Firth c.18(89), Harding B 11(3167), 2806 c.16(68), Firth b.26(293), Johnson Ballads 3196, Firth c.16(437), Harding B 11(1717), Firth b.27(339), Firth b.25(496), Harding B 11(1110), Firth c.16(437), "Pretty Susan the Pride of Kildare"
Murray, Mu23-y1:118, "Pretty Susan the Pride of Kildare," unknown, 19C
File: LP06
===
NAME: Pretty Susie, the Pride of Kildare: see Pretty Susan, the Pride of Kildare [Laws P6] (File: LP06)
===
NAME: Pretty Sylvia: see The Female Highwayman [Laws N21] (File: LN21)
===
NAME: Pretty Three-Leaved Shamrock from Glenore, The: see The Shamrock from Glenore (File: HHH034)
===
NAME: Pretty Wench: see I Am a Pretty Wench (File: BGMG082)
===
NAME: Prickilie Bush, The: see The Maid Freed from the Gallows [Child 95] (File: C095)
===
NAME: Prickle-Holly Bush: see The Maid Freed from the Gallows [Child 95] (File: C095)
===
NAME: Prickly Bush, The: see The Maid Freed from the Gallows [Child 95] (File: C095)
===
NAME: Pride of Glencoe, The: see MacDonald's Return to Glencoe (The Pride of Glencoe) [Laws N39] (File: LN39)
===
NAME: Pride of Glenelly, The
DESCRIPTION: In flowery verse and classical allusions, the singer praises the beauty of Glenelly and the woman who lives there. He describes her appearance. He claims that all the ancient beauties made their reputations with jewelry; the woman of Glenelly is real
AUTHOR: James Devine
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: beauty nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H607, pp. 249-250, "The Pride of Glenelly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13339
NOTES: Hard to believe that anyone voluntarily sing this thing. The words are incredibly ornate, and it's littered with classical allusions. And it doesn't even *say* anything. But Sam Henry reportedly got it from a source other than the author. - RBW
File: HHH607
===
NAME: Pride of Kildare, The: see Pretty Susan, the Pride of Kildare [Laws P6] (File: LP06)
===
NAME: Pride of Kilkee, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a maid going to Kilkee. He offers her a seat and asks her home. She rejects him as a seducer. He claims to be honorable. She agrees only to marry him. "Oh, her name I won't mention at all But I'll style her the Pride of Kilkee"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1974 (Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 32, "The Pride of Kilkee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5217
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "The Kilkee Maid" (on IRTLenihan01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ar Eirinn Ni Neosfainn Ce hi (For Ireland I Will Not Tell Whom She Is)"  (tune, according Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
cf. "Seek Not from Whence Love She Came" (motif: hiding a sweetheart's name)
cf. "The Lisburn Lass" (motif: hiding a sweetheart's name)
cf. "Tons of Bright Gold" (motif: hiding a sweetheart's name)
NOTES: In spite of the line "Who would blame me to make her my own" it is not clear, at the end, that they marry.
Kilkee is in County Clare, Ireland.
For other examples of hidden names see "Ar Eirinn Ni Neosfainn Ce hi (For Ireland I Will Not Tell Whom She Is)" and "Drihaureen O Mo Chree (Little Brother of My Heart)" and its notes. Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan: "Obviously, the writer of Tom's song ["the Pride of Kilkee"] was familiar with the English version of 'Ar Eirinn Ni Neosfainn Ce hi.' Writing more than two decades after hearing these songs for the first time, I have not re-encountered them in oral tradition since, and know of no printed sources for either of them." But, in the notes to "Ar Eirinn Ni Neosfainn Ce hi," Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan: "The Clare Gaelic scholar Eugene O'Curry stated that this song was written originally about 1810 .... The song in English which Tom sings has been about for a good many years likewise, as is witnessed by the similar version which Freeman noted down in London in 1915...." - BS
File: RcPriKil
===
NAME: Pride of Logy Bay, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer is in love. His love's father comes to him and threatens to send his daughter away if the two continue to see each other. Her father arranges for her exile, but -- after many years of seeking -- the two find each other and are married.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: love exile separation reunion father
FOUND_IN: US(MA) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
FSCatskills 61, "The Pride of Logy Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 47, "The Star of Logy Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 134, "The Star of Logy Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, p. 25, "The Star of Logy Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, pp. 59-60, "The Star of Logy Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 110, "The Star of Logy Bay" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, STARLOGY*
Roud #4421
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "The Star of Logy Bay" (on NFOBlondahl01,NFOBlondahl05)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Maid of Sweet Gurteen" (lyrics)
cf. "I Am a Newfoundlander" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
I Am a Newfoundlander (File: RySm089)
NOTES: Logy Bay is in Newfoundland, a short way north of Saint John's - RBW
According to GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador site the author is "unknown, but probably Mark Walker." - BS
File: FSC061
===
NAME: Pride of Newry Town, The
DESCRIPTION: Orphans William and Mary promise to wed, but poverty forces William to sea. He is long away, and Mary (thinking him dead) weds another. He returns; Mary drops dead when he arrives. Old and new suitors do battle; William kills his rival and returns to sea
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Hayward-Ulster)
KEYWORDS: love separation sailor reunion husband death fight betrayal
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H190, pp. 420-421, "Killeavy's Pride"; H798, pp. 421-422, "The Pride of Newry Town" (2 text, 2 tunes)
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 103-106, "Killeevy's Pride" (1 text)
Roud #4390
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Susan Carr" (plot)
NOTES: In "Killeevy's Pride" (Henry and Hayward-Ulster) Mary ends as "a victim to false love in the Asylum of Belfast." - BS
File: HHH190
===
NAME: Pride of Pimlico, The
DESCRIPTION: Kitty Quinn comes to town "And made of every other lass about the place a foe Because she took their sweethearts." The men can't work, the drinkers give up drink, and the teetotalers take up alcohol. Soon there'll be 10000 victims of the Pride of Pimlico.
AUTHOR: Arthur Griffith
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS:  love humorous drink
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More, pp. 265-266, "The Pride of Pimlico" (1 text)
File: OLcM265
===
NAME: Pride of the Prairie
DESCRIPTION: "On the wild and woolly prairie, Not far from old Pueblo town, Lived a little girl named Mary, Eyes of blue and tresses of brown." A cowboy comes up and asks her to marry him. They agree, and ride off stealing kisses
AUTHOR: Words: Henry J. Breen/Music: George Botsford
EARLIEST_DATE: 1907 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: cowboy love marriage
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 25, "Pride of the Prairie" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Ohr025
===
NAME: Pride of the Shamrock Shore, The: see Mary, the Pride of the Shamrock Shore (File: Pea630)
===
NAME: Priest and the Nuns, The
DESCRIPTION: Pumping Shanty. A priest goes to France and finds seven nuns lying sick in the convent yard. He claims to be a doctor with a cane/stick that will cure them. He treats all the nuns and says he'll call again. choruses of "Ho, ho ho" and "Hal-ler-al-le-re."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1945 (Harlow)
KEYWORDS: shanty bawdy clergy trick
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Harlow, pp. 166-167, "The Priest and the Nuns" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9146
NOTES: The pattern of text and choruses is reminiscent of "Able Brown the Sailor" even though the words are completely different and for a shanty, rather tame. Harlow gives no notes or history on this, though it would be easy to imagine much coarser versions. - SL
File: Harl166
===
NAME: Prince Boys, The: see The Bold Princess Royal [Laws K29] (File: LK29)
===
NAME: Prince Charles He Is King James's Son: see The White Cockade (File: R120)
===
NAME: Prince Charlie (I): see So Dear Is My Charlie to Me (Prince Charlie) (File: HHH533)
===
NAME: Prince Charlie (II): see The Bonnie House o Airlie [Child 199] (File: C199)
===
NAME: Prince Edward Island Murder
DESCRIPTION: William Millman was "his mother's hope and joy" He "led [Mary Tuplin] astray," then murders her and sinks her body in the river with a heavy stone. The body is discovered and Millman executed on the gallows. 
AUTHOR: Mrs. C. A. Barren?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: seduction execution murder mother punishment
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Jun 28, 1887 - Murder of Mary Tuplin by William Millman
1888 - Execution of Millman
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-NovaScotia 140, "Prince Edward Island Murder" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS140 (Partial)
Roud #1837
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Millman Song" (subject)
cf. "The Murder of Mary Tuplin" (subject)
cf. "The Millman and Tuplin Song" (subject)
NOTES: This song is item dF59 in Laws's Appendix II.
Roud has at least five different numbers for this event:
Roud #1837: Creighton-NovaScotia 140, "Prince Edward Island Murder" [Laws dF59]
Roud #4129: Doerflinger, pp. 285-286, "The Millman Song" (also Ives-DullCare, pp. 180-181, "The Millman Murder Trial") [LawsdF60]
Roud #9179: Ives-DullCare, pp. 46-47, "The Millman and Tuplin Song" (also Manny/Wilson 50, "Young Millman")
Roud #9552: Shea, pp. 174-179, "The Millman Tragedy"
Roud #12463: Dibblee/Dibblee pp. 72-73, "The Murder of Mary Tuplin" - BS
File: CrNS140
===
NAME: Prince Edward Isle, Adieu: see The History of Prince Edward Island (File: Doe256)
===
NAME: Prince Heathen [Child 104]
DESCRIPTION: Prince Heathen takes a girl against her will. He rapes her and offers her  extreme cruelty, all to break her will. She never yields. At last her babe is born. After further abuse, bringing her close to death, her spirit fails; at last he acts human
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: rape abuse pregnancy
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Child 104, "Prince Heathen" (2 texts)
DT 104, PRINHEAT
Roud #3336
File: C104
===
NAME: Prince of Morocco, The (The Sailor Boy II) [Laws N18]
DESCRIPTION: A rich lady is in love with a sailor. Her father promises his daughter 12,000 pounds if she will leave her sailor. The sailor disguises himself as the Prince of Morocco to fool her father. They are married. The girl collects. The sailor reveals himself
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love disguise trick marriage
FOUND_IN: US(NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws N18, "The Prince of Morocco (The Sailor Boy II)"
Randolph 88, "The Sailor Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 61, "The Young Prince of Spain" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 63, "The Prince of Morocco; or, Johnnie" (1 text)
DT 449, PMOROCCO
Roud #554
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(64a), "The Sailor Boy," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890?
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Kitchie-Boy" [Child 252] (plot)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Poor Sailor Boy
File: LN18
===
NAME: Prince Robert [Child 87]
DESCRIPTION: Prince Robert asks his mother's blessing on his marriage; instead she poisons him. He sends for his wife. Arriving after the burial, she desires only a ring, but the mother will give nothing. She dies. From the graves grow a birch and brier which entwine.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1802 (Scott)
KEYWORDS: marriage poison murder burial ring flowers stepmother
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Child 87, "Prince Robert" (4 texts)
Bronson 87, comments only
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 453-454, "Prince Robert" (notes only)
OBB 58, "Prince Robert" (1 text)
Combs/Wilgus 26, pp. 121-123, "Prince Robert" (1 text)
Roud #55
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Harry Saunders
File: C087
===
NAME: Prince William and Lady Margaret: see Fair Margaret and Sweet William [Child 74] (File: C074)
===
NAME: Princess Royal, The: see The Bold Princess Royal [Laws K29] (File: LK29)
===
NAME: Prison of Newfoundland
DESCRIPTION: "... listen to my sad tale, While I relate the hardship attending St. John's jail." Doyle lands at "Harvey's Wharf a cargo for to land." A witness lies; Doyle is sentenced to six months. From a cell he watches "the lads and lassies" and dreams of Ireland
AUTHOR: Johnny Doyle?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: homesickness prison trial shore sailor prisoner Ireland
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Doyle3, pp. 48-49, "Prison of Newfoundland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 90, "The Prison of Newfoundland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 46-47, "The Prison of Newfoundland" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, PRSONEWF*
Roud #4409
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Prison of Newfoundland" (on NFOBlondahl02)
NOTES: Blondahl: "Mention of the Black Ball Line ... would seem to date the song in the vicinity of the late 1880's." - BS
File: Doyl3048
===
NAME: Prisoner at the Bar, The (The Judge and Jury)
DESCRIPTION: "The judge was there, the jury too, And people from afar, A fair young lad of tender youth Was a prisoner at the bar." The young man's sweetheart argues the case; she simply asks judge and jury to remember their youthful love. The prisoner is freed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (recording, Peg Moreland)
KEYWORDS: love judge trial reprieve freedom crime
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 828, "The Prisoner at the Bar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3543
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink], "Prisoner at the Bar" (Supertone 9639, 1930)
Lulu Belle & Scotty, "The Prisoner At the Bar" (Conqueror 8594, 1935; Melotone 6-03-59, 1936; Vocalion 05487, 1940)
Peg Moreland, "The Prisoner at the Bar" (Victor 21548, 1928)
Doc Williams' Border Riders, "Prisoner at the Bar" (Wheeling DW-1016, n.d.)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Geordie" [Child 209] (plot)
NOTES: Barry and Henry thought this might be a derivative of "Geordie" (Child 209). To call this a stretch is to be generous. - RBW
File: R828
===
NAME: Prisoner for Life (II), A: see Irish Mail Robber, The [Laws L15] (File: LL15)
===
NAME: Prisoner for Life, A (I - Farewell to Green Fields and Meadows)
DESCRIPTION: "Farewell (to) green fields and (green) meadows, adieu; Your rocks and your mountains I now part from you." The singer, condemned to (life in) prison, laments all the various things -- nature, friends, whatever springs to mind -- he will be separated from
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1919 (J. Lomax - Cowboy Songs)
KEYWORDS: prison separation lament
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 164, "A Prisoner for Life" (4 texts, 3 tunes, of which the "B,"  and "D" texts and the "C" excerpt go with this piece; the "A" text is "The Irish Mail Robber" [Laws L15])
DT, PRSNRLIF* PRSNRLF2*
Roud #4312
RECORDINGS:
Jules Allen, "A Prisoner for Life" (Victor V-40068, 1929)
Betty Laferty, "Farewell to Sweet Beaver" (on Crisp01)
NOTES: Ozark folklore credits this to one William Alexander, who on January 21, 1890 was convicted of murder by Isaac Parker (known as the "Hanging Judge"). Originally sentenced to death, this was reduced to life imprisonment, and the story is that Alexander was eventually freed when the dead man turned up alive!
Several scholars have pronounced this story true, or at least possible, but Laws, and others, suspect this piece to be of Irish origin. - RBW
File: R164
===
NAME: Prisoner's Hope, The: see Tramp! Tramp! Tramp! (File: RJ19214)
===
NAME: Prisoner's Song (I), The
DESCRIPTION: The singer laments his time in prison, and thinks of all that he would do if free. He recalls his crime. He misses his family and his sweetheart. He describes his hopes for freedom in complex metaphors: a ship on the sea, an eagle's wings, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (recording, Vernon Dalhart)
KEYWORDS: prison lament love family
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW,So) Ireland Canada
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
FSCatskills 100, "The Prisoner's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 746, "Meet Me Tonight" (4 texts, 1 tune, with the "C" text being probably this piece although the other three appear to go with "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight")
BrownIII 350, "The Prisoner's Song" (7 texts plus 1 fragment, 2 excerpts, and mention of 1 more; "A"-"C," plus probably the "D" excerpt, are "The Prisoner's Song (I)"; "E" and "G," plus perhaps the "H" fragment, are "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight"; "J" and "K" are "Sweet Lulur"); also probably 351, "Seven Long Years" (1 text, certainly mixed but containing elements characteristic of this song)
JHCoxIIB, #27, pp. 193-194, "The Prisoner's Song" (1 text, 1 tune, collected in 1925 and almost certainly Dalhart-influenced)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 346-351, "New Jail/Prisoner's Song/Here's Adieu to all Judges and Juries" (1, not collected by Scarborough, of "Judges and Juries," plus 6 texts from her collections: "New Jail," "I'm Going To My New Jail Tomorrow," "New Jail," "Meet Me in the Moonlight," "The Great Ship," "Prisoner's Song"; 3 tunes on pp.449-450; the "A" fragment is probably "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight"; "B" and "D" are "New Jail" types; "C" is too short to classify; "E" is a mix of floating verse, "If I had a great ship on the ocean," "Let her go, let her go and God bless her," "Sometimes I'll live in the white house, sometimes I live in town..."; "F" may well have some Dalhart influence)
Fuson, p. 143, "Meet Me in the Moonlight" (1 text)
Sandburg, pp. 218-219, "Seven Long Years in State Prison" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H746, p. 62, "Gaol Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC100 (Partial)
Roud #11730
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley & Tex Isley, "Prisoner's Song" (on Ashley01)
Wilf Carter, "The Prisoner's Song" (Bluebird [Canadian] 55-3202, 1943)
Vernon Dalhart, "The Prisoner's Song" (Victor 19427-B, 1924) (Columbia 257-D, 1924) (Perfect 12164, 1924) (Edison 51459 [as Vernon Dalhart & Co.], 1925; rec. 1924) (Brunswick 2900, 1925) (OKeh 40328 [as Tobe Little], 1925) (Bell 340, 1925) (Regal 9795, 1925) (Cameo 703 [708?], 1925; Perfect 12644/Supertone S-2000, 1930) (Apex [Can.] 8428, 1926) (CYL: Edison [BA] 4954, n.d. [as Vernon Dalhart & Co.]) (Ajax [Can.] 17115, 1925 - probably a reissue of another recording, but it's not clear which)
Kaplan's Melodists w. Vernon Dalhart, voc. "The Prisoner's Song" (Edison 51666, 1925)
Buell Kazee [untitled fragment, under "On Top of Old Smokey"] (on Kazee01)
Bill Monroe & his Bluegrass Boys, "The Prisoner's Song" (Decca 46314, 1951)
Ezra Paulette & his Beverly Hillbillies, "The Prisoner's Song" (Vocalion 03263, 1936)
George Reneau "The Prisoner's Song" (Vocalion 5056/Vocalion 14991/Silvertone 3045 [as George Hobson], 1925)
Arthur Smith, "Kilby Jail" (on McGeeSmith1)
The Texas Drifter, "The Prisoner's Song" (Panachord [U.K.] 25250, 1932)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" (tune)
cf. "Botany Bay"
cf. "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight"
cf. "New Prisoner's Song"
cf. "The Prisoner's Song (II)"
cf. "Sweet Lulur" (floating verses)
NOTES: Disentangling the sources and versions of this song is almost impossible. Cazden et al believe that it was formed by the collation of two songs, one belonging to the "Botany Bay/Here's Adieu to All Judges and Juries" family and another being a variant of "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight/I Wish I Had Someone to Love Me." Various floating verses added to the mix, and a portion of "The Red River Valley" supplied the tune. (Others say the tune is "The Ship That Never Returned." Another part of the family, the "Seven Long Years in State Prison/I'm Going to the New Jail Tomorrow" group, uses a slightly regularized form of "My Bonnie.")
Such an elaborate reconstruction can hardly be proved, but there is no doubt that this song has complex roots. The relationships between the texts can hardly be proved; I just hope we locate all of them!
Plus, of course, almost any version collected after 1924 may have been influenced by the Vernon Dalhart recording, which was certainly the first million-selling country side (exact numbers are uncertain, but sheet music sales exceeded one million, and at least two million discs were sold; some estimates put the total at 25 million or more!). The Carter Family also had "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight" version, which adds to the complications.
The Dalhart version was copyrighted in 1924 by Dalhart in the name of Guy Massey, a cousin of the singer. At one point, Dalhart claimed Massey wrote the words and he himself the tune. On other occasions, Dalhart claimed the whole song. He also said at one point that it was public domain. Dalhart managed to collect author's royalties, though -- and gave very little to Massey.
The above is mostly from Walter Darrell Haden, in his biography of Dalhart in Malone & McCulloh, _Stars of Country Music_. But he also offers a more complicated tale:
When Dalhart planned to record "The Wreck of Old 97" for Victor (he had already recorded it for Edison, and it was his biggest success to that time), they needed a flip side. To that point, Dalhart had been doing mostly operatic pieces, and didn't have much of a country repertoire. He showed the studio's music director a few lines written out (but not necessarily composed) by Massey. The Victor official, Nathaniel Shilkret, padded out the text and added a tune.
Whatever the details of authorship (and I agree with Haden that this is a slightly-patched-up folksong), it launched Dalhart on a career in which he sold an estimated 50 million discs, cut some  3000 sides totalling about 1000 different songs, and recorded under dozens if not hundreds of names - RBW
Mike Seeger classes "Kilby Jail" as being a variant of this song. The words don't look like it to me, but certainly the gestalt is the same, so I'll go along with him. - PJS
File: FSC100
===
NAME: Prisoner's Song (II), The
DESCRIPTION: The singer envies a sparrow its liberty. He describes the hard lot of the prisoners, "reduced to skin and bone," bound to ball and chain. He warns others not to keep bad company, or they'll be like him, serving 27 years in the penitentiary
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 (collected from Christina McAllister)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: The singer, a prisoner, strolls to see a sparrow, envying the bird its liberty; he imagines it saying, "Cheer up, my lads, and don't be sad; some day you will be free." He describes the hard lot of the prisoners, "strapping fellows reduced to skin and bone," bound to ball and chain. He warns others not to stay out late or keep bad company, or they'll be like him, serving 27 years in the penitentiary
KEYWORDS: captivity warning prison punishment freedom bird prisoner floatingverses
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MacSeegTrav 99, "The Prisoner's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #16638
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Prisoner's Song (I)" (subject)
cf. "The Boston Burglar" (lyrics)
NOTES: Despite the identical title and subject, this is a completely different song from "The Prisoner's Song (I)"; the latter has the distinguishing verse beginning "If I had the wings of an eagle." It does share a final warning verse with many other songs, however. - PJS
File: McCST099
===
NAME: Prisoner's Song (III), The: see Sweet Lulur (File: BrIII350)
===
NAME: Prisoner's Song (IV): see New Prisoner's Song (File: RcNPS)
===
NAME: Prisoner's Song (V), The
DESCRIPTION: "Within this prison cell so dreary, I mourn away my weary heart." The singer must forever part from "my only darling." His love sends him a rose, and thinks him innocent, though he has "no hope of pardon." He will wear the rose as he is executed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (collected by Shellans from J. Ralph Vass)
KEYWORDS: prison love separation execution flowers
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Shellans, p. 74, "The Prisoner's song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7325
NOTES: This, like almost everything else in the Vass Family repertoire, souds half-familiar; I have to think it's another of their rewrites of something else. But it's not clear what. - RW
File: Shel074
===
NAME: Private Still, The (The Gauger's Song)
DESCRIPTION: A guager believes a private (illegal) still can be found near Dublin. He asks Pat's aid, offering fifty pounds. Pat promises to lead him there. After a long trip, they see Pat's soldier brother: "They won't make him a corporal, so he's a private still"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1879 (broadside, LOCSinging sb30417b)
KEYWORDS: money drink soldier trick humorous
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
SHenry H103, pp. 55-56, "The Private Still" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-Ulster 46, "The Gauger's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-Maguire 22, pp. 51-52,112,165-166, "The Gauger's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 60, "A Private Still" (1 text)
DT, PRVTSTIL*
Roud #2342
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.14(272), "The Private Still" ("An exciseman once in Dublin at the time that I was there"), H. Disley (London), 1860-1883; also 2806 b.11(41), 2806 c.16(279), Firth b.26(131), Firth c.20(100), Harding B 11(3991), "The Private Still"
LOCSinging, sb30417b, "A Private Still," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
NOTES: Morton-Ulster: "A 'Gauger' was a member of the Revenue Police, who until their disbandment in the mid 1850s, had been charged with the suppression of illicit distillation - poteen making." - BS
Broadside LOCSinging sb30417b: 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: HHH103
===
NAME: Privates Eat the Middlin', The: see Jinny Go Round and Around (File: R272)
===
NAME: Prodigal Son (I)
DESCRIPTION: Prodigal son, starving, decides to return home. His father embraces him, saying, "Kill the fatted calf." The elder son is jealous, but the father reassures him that he will inherit. Chorus: "I believe I'll go back home/And acknowledge I've done wrong"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: homesickness jealousy home separation return reunion Bible family father brother
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 39, #4 (1995), p, 102, "Prodigal Son" (1 text, 1 tune, indirectly based on the Dock Boggs version)
Roud #4489
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "Prodigal Son" (on Boggs1, BoggsCD1)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
I Believe I'll Go Back Home
NOTES: This should not be confused with Rev. Robert Wilkins' song "That's No Way to Get Along", also a retelling of Luke 15:11-32; Wilkins' song was recorded by the Rolling Stones as "Prodigal Son." - PJS
The song "The Prodigal Son" in the Missouri Harmony does not appear to be the same piece either.
In addition to the songs mentioned above, there are a number of hymns which speak of the prodigal son (a title not found in the Bible, we might note; a few translations mention the youth's "prodigal living," but the King James Version is not one of them), and the boy's exploits occasionally come up in other songs. - RBW
File: RcPS1
===
NAME: Prohibition Boys, The
DESCRIPTION: "Here is a lesson for you prohibitioners; Some wisdom it will teach; That the prohibition boys ought To practice what they preach." The song details various prohibitionists trying covertly to acquire liquor
AUTHOR: Marshal Laughinghouse?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 309, "The Prohibition Boys" (1 text)
Roud #6632
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Prohibition Whiskey" (theme)
File: BrII309
===
NAME: Prohibition Whiskey
DESCRIPTION: "It's been ten years ago or more, If I've been rightly told, There was stealing done in Arapohoe Of whiskey old and new." A prohibitionist steals gin and passes it to his equally thirsty and dishonest friends. Brewers are warned about prohibitionists
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 310, "Prohibition Whiskey" (1 text)
Roud #6631
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Prohibition Boys" (theme)
File: BrII310
===
NAME: Promised Land, The: see Where Is Old Elijah? (The Hebrew Children, The Promised Land) (File: San092)
===
NAME: Prop of the Nation, The
DESCRIPTION: "'Who is the support of our country today, The rich or the poor?' you may ask. No, it is the man with the toil-hardened hand Who forever you'll find at his task." The song describes the various accomplishments of the worker, from farming to construction
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: work worker
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Warner 74, "The Prop of the Nation' (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa074 (Partial)
NOTES: Lena Bourne Fish, who sang this song for the Warners, thought it came from Rutherford B. Hayes's presidential campaign of 1876. There is, perhaps, some logic to this; Hayes, while not poor, was by no means as well-off as his Democratic opponent, Samuel Tilden. Hayes was also completely honest (a welcome change after the corruption of the Grant administration); it is sad to note that he became president as a result of Republican electoral chicanery in which he had no part. - RBW
File: Wa074
===
NAME: Prospecting Dream
DESCRIPTION: The singer dreams a dream of a miner's hard life. His long-tom falls in the river. His supplies are scattered. His girl is far away. His strike comes to nothing. He goes to town, gets drunk, is beaten, loses his equipment, and winds up a thief
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1854 ("Put's Original California Songster")
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer, a prospector, tells of dreaming that he had lost his equipment and provisions, struck a rich lead, written home bragging of his find, and blown all his money on a spree. He hires out as a hardware clerk, gets fired, and is caught stealing. Chorus: "Oh what a miner, what a miner was I/All swelled up with scurvy so I really thought I'd die"
KEYWORDS: mining hardtimes drink dream poverty bragging theft disease
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 56, "Propsecting Dream" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Logan English, "Prospecting Dream" (on LEnglish02)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh! Susanna" (tune)
File: FSWB056
===
NAME: Protestant Boys (I), The
DESCRIPTION: The Protestant Boys, "Orange and Blue," assemble to support the King. Appeal to William's spirit as model: "from Paypish or Frenchman ne'er to retire." "We hate [Catholics] as masters and love them as men," "God bless the people and God save the King!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1826 (_The Protestant, or True Blue_, Dublin, according to Sparling)
KEYWORDS: Ireland political religious
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 122-123, "The Protestant Boys" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 457-458, 514, "Protestant Boys"
Roud #6531
NOTES: Sparling: "In its original form dates back to 1689, but the version given is comparatively late. It is taken from 'The Protestant, or True Blue,' Dublin, 1826."
This is not the song usually referred to as "The Protestant Boys." That being the case it may be the song referred to by Colonel Blacker in Zimmermann's note below.
Zimmermann p. 297, fn 9, quoting William Archer _Marching of the Lodges_ p. 193: "William Blacker, who also denied the existence of anti-Catholic songs in the Orange Lodges, cited as 'very much the reverse of uncharitable' a line from the charter song composed in 1796 by Captain Ryan: We hate them as masters [the Catholics], we love them as men" - BS
The reference to the French also hints at a date in the period 1795-1800, since this was the time when French intervention was constantly expected; see, e.g., the notes to "The Shan Van Voght." - RBW
File: HayU122
===
NAME: Protestant Boys (II), The
DESCRIPTION: "The Protestant Boys are loyal and true." They fought bravely at Derry, the Boyne and Aughrim against James who "with masses and Frenchmen the land would enslave." "Traitors shall tremble, Whene'er we assemble, For Protestant Boys shall carry the day"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c.1895 (Graham)
KEYWORDS: battle Ireland nonballad patriotic religious
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
OrangeLark 2, "The Protestant Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
Graham, p. 11, "The Protestant Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: "The Protestant Boys" was the tune played by "The Old Orange Flute."
Zimmermann, pp. 296-297, quotes the Earl of Gosford's 1835 testimony to the House of Commons about disturbances in County Armagh: "There are very frequent disturbances there between the parties, and I have heard of parties of people going through the town and playing party tunes, which have been productive of annoyance. -- Q. What party? -- A. The Orangemen going through the town and playing party tunes. -- Q. What tunes? -- A. "Boyne Water", and "Protestant Boys", and "Croppies lie down". -- Q. Are those tunes deemed offensive by the Catholic people of that county? -- A. Yes, certainly."
The offense was freely given and advertised, as described in "The Aughalee Heroes": "It being the twelfth day of July, Our music so sweetly did play, And 'The Protestant Boys' and 'Boyne Water', Were the tunes we played going away." - BS
For the Siege of Derry, see "The Shutting of the Gates of Derry." For the Boyne, see "The Battle of the Boyne (I)." For Aughrim, see "After Aughrim's Great Diaster." - RBW
File: OrLa002
===
NAME: Protestant Maid, The
DESCRIPTION: A Protestant maid marries a Catholic who has a priest help convince her to convert. The priest plans a transubstantiation demonstration. She adds arsenic to the cake and he balks at eating it. Her husband is convinced to convert to Protestantism.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1987 (OrangeLark)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: "A pretty maid, a Protestant, got to a Papist wed" In spite of her husband's urging she would not convert. He brought a priest home to convince her. The priest planned a demonstration of transubstantiation. She agreed and volunteered to make the cake. As he prepared to eat it she told him she had added arsenic; if the cake was changed by transubstantiation, it should be harmless. The priest lefts without a taste, crying "'This is a cursed place.'" She replied, "'You are a cursed race." Her husband was convinced to convert "and quite forsake the system that's impure."
KEYWORDS: marriage trick poison ritual Ireland religious husband wife clergy food
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OrangeLark 26, "The Protestant Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Orange Flute" (subject: religious conversion)
cf. "The Banks of Dunmore" (subject: religious conversion)
cf. "Garvagh Town" (subject: religious conversion)
cf. "Rosedale Waters (The Skeptic's Daughter)" (subject: religious conversion)
cf. "Silver Jack" [Laws C24] (subject: religious conversion)
File: OrLa026
===
NAME: Proud Flora
DESCRIPTION: November 8, 1802, the Proud Flora is freighted and leaves Jamaica. In a storm they "throw out some of the lumber ... then the pipes of good wine and rich brandy we were forced to throw into the sea." They land safely the next morning.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1943 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: sea ship storm sailor
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 95-96, "Proud Flora" (1 text)
File: Ran095
===
NAME: Proud Lady Margaret [Child 47]
DESCRIPTION: Knight comes to court Margaret; he will have her or die. She says better men than he have died for her. She asks riddles; he answers and asks more. She agrees to wed, and lists her wealth.  He calls her a liar; he is her dead brother come to humble her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1803 (Scott)
KEYWORDS: death courting riddle ghost
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Child 47, "Proud Lady Margaret" (5 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Bronson 47, "Proud Lady Margaret" (3 versions)
GreigDuncan2 336, "Proud Lady Margaret" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
Dixon V, pp. 42-45, "The Bonny Hind Squire" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 162-164, "Proud Lady Margaret" (1 text)
OBB 26, "Proud Lady Margaret" (1 text)
DBuchan 49, "Proud Lady Margaret" (1 text)
DT 47, PRDMARG
Roud #37
File: C047
===
NAME: Proud Nancy: see Nancy (I) [Laws P11] (File: LP11)
===
NAME: Provincial Characteristics
DESCRIPTION: "A Connaught man Gets all that he can ... bully and batter ...." "A Munster man Is civil by plan ... to cheat you." "An Ulster man Ever means to trepan ... insolence ...." "A Leinster man Is with all cup and can ... calls t'other provinces knaves"
AUTHOR: Dr John Brenan (source: Croker-PopularSongs)
EARLIEST_DATE: between 1812 and 1825 (_The Milesian Magazine; or, Irish Monthly Gleaner_, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: Ireland humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 125-126, "Provincial Characteristics" (1 text)
File: CrPS125
===
NAME: Psalm 100: see Old Hundred (File: SBoA028)
===
NAME: Pull for the Shore
DESCRIPTION: "Light in the darkness, sailor, day is at hand!" The sailor, clinging to the old boat (presumably meaning his sinful life) is urged to "cling to self no more" and "Leave the poor old stranded wreck, and pull for the shore."
AUTHOR: Philip Paul Bliss (1838-1876)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1874 (broadside, LOCSheet, sm1874 06588)
KEYWORDS: ship religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: ()

Roud #17400
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1874 06588, "Pull for the Shore," John Church & Co (Cincinnati)/ George F. Root (Chicago), 1874 (tune)
NOTES: This song has, at best, a very limited place in tradition; I include it because it has some connection with the story of the _Titanic_. Also, it has been recorded by Tom, Brad, and Alice, which may make it known to users of the Index.
I'm surprised it isn't more popular; it wasn't in any of the four hymnals I checked (Lutheran, Methodist, Baptist, and not-sure). The tune is magnificent. Of course, the words are a bit un-hymn-like. And, with the exception of the prhrase "bright and morning star" (for which see Rev. 22:16), the words do not appear directly Bible-inspired -- though the whole thing might be suggested by Paul's shipwreck in Acts 27.
That phrase "bright and morning star" is interesting, by the way. The literal Greek text reads "the star the bright the morning." This isn't as clumsy in Greek as in English, perhaps, but I think it is an indication of the Aramaic habits of the writer. The King James Bible tried to preserve the feeling with its "bright and morning star" rendering; most of the newer translations simply say "bright morning star."
There is an interesting note on the dating: Laura Ingalls Wilder quotes this in _Little Town on the Prairie_, chapter 6. And it is sung by several men from a saloon (ironic, that). She quotes it again, in a more suitable context, in chapter 23. That is after the song was composed (1881, I believe), but not much after; either it spread quickly, or Laura misremembered where she heard it.
For more on Philip Paul Bliss, see the notes to "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning." - RBW
File: BdPuFoSh
===
NAME: Pulling Hard Against the Stream
DESCRIPTION: "In the world I've gained my knowledge, And for it have had to pay... Do your best for one another... Help a worn and weary brother Pulling hard against the stream." The singer advises helping those in need
AUTHOR: Harry Clifton (per Ives-NewBrunswick)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Spaeth); 19C (broadside, LOCSinging as110820)
KEYWORDS: nonballad help
FOUND_IN: US(SE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
BrownIII 54, "Pulling Hard against the Stream" (1 text)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 157-158, "Pulling Hard Against the Stream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 133-136, "Pulling Hard Against the Stream" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1958
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, as110820, "Pulling Hard Against the Stream," unknown, 19C
NOTES: Although the description sounds like a religious song, there are in fact no explicit Christian references in this piece. - RBW
Ives's attribution of authorship to Harry Clifton is supported by the "Song Writers of the Halls" article -- quoting _The Melodies Linger On_ by Walter Macqueen-Pope -- on Harry Clifton at Frederick Denny's _World of the Music Hall_ site. - BS
File: Br3054
===
NAME: Pullman Train, The: see The Harvard Student (The Pullman Train) (File: R391)
===
NAME: Pumpe-Vise
DESCRIPTION: Norwegian pumping shanty, with chorus in English. "Blow, blow, blow, blow! Land is coming in a-lee." Verses have no story, just general sailing rhymes. Verses are repeated twice before the chorus is sung.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Brochmann's _Opsang Fra Seilskibstiden_)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty ship
FOUND_IN: Norway
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 507-508, "Pumpe-Vise" (1 text)
File: Hugi507
===
NAME: Punch Ladle, The: see Fathom the Bowl (File: K268)
===
NAME: Punchin' Dough
DESCRIPTION: The cook points out to the cowboys that "While you're punchin' cattle I'm punchin' the dough." His life is much like theirs, except that he fights with food where they fight with animals. He intends to be "boss of this end of the show."
AUTHOR: Credited by Thorp to Henry Herbert Knibbs
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Thorp)
KEYWORDS: cowboy cook food
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fife-Cowboy/West 37, "Punchin' Dough" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, PNCHDOUG*
Roud #5098
RECORDINGS:
Jules Allen, "Punchin' the Dough" (Victor V-40263, 1930)
Harry Jackson, "The Round-Up Cook" (on HJackson1, CowFolkCD1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Budd Lake Plains" (theme)
cf. "The Pot Wrassler" (theme)
NOTES: The cook on a cattle run was usually an old cowboy who could no longer do the work. It's hardly surprising that he looked on the cowboys as "kids" -- nor that he used his control over the chuck to keep the cowboys in line. - RBW
File: FCW037
===
NAME: Punctuality
DESCRIPTION: The singer is not like "fidgety folks ... famous for being too soon." "Punctuality's all very proper"; he is always "exactly ten minutes too late." He misses trains, arrives to propose after his rival, and at death's door will take his medicine too late.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 657, "Punctuality" (1 text)
Roud #6083
File: GrD3657
===
NAME: Pup from Claodach, The
DESCRIPTION: Irish and English. The borrowed pup was so badly treated, poorly fed, homesick, and unhappy that it broke its chain and ran home, crossing "those bleak and barren ranges of Claodach"
AUTHOR: Sean Eoin O Suilleabhain (source: OCanainn)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1978 (OCanainn)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage ordeal nonballad dog
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OCanainn, pp. 94-95, "Pup from Claodach, The" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: OCanainn: [The song] "concerns a pup that was loaned to the McCarthys of Claodach, which is just over the [Cork] county bounds.... It seems that the animal was not well treated by the McCarthys and both they and Claodach come in for a fair amount of criticism in the song." - BS
File: OCan094
===
NAME: Purple Boy, The
DESCRIPTION: A girl asks her "Purple Boy" the secrets given man from "King Solomon's high Temple Throne." He cannot reveal them. "Those Ribbon rascals I would defy." She wishes she were a man "that I could join in your Orange band." Girls should choose a Purple boy.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: love ritual Ireland nonballad political
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 133, "The Purple Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
OrangeLark 33, "The Purple Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBoyle 21, "The Purple Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3478
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Dialogue Between Orange and Croppy" (subject)
NOTES: "Following an affray at Loughgall in Co. Armagh in 1795 the Orange Order was founded, while the Yeomen were also established in June 1796. These were made up mainly of men from the Orange Lodges." (source: _The 1798 Rebellion_ on the Hogan Stand site)
Zimmermann p. 19: "In some parts of Ulster, Protestant and Catholic tenants were mingled and contended for the land; the peasantry was thus divided into two camps, each having its oath-bound association. This led to a sort of religious war. At the end of the eighteenth century the Catholic "Defenders" were opposed to the Protestant "Peep o'Day Boys" or "Orangemen." The "Defenders were succeeded by the "Ribbonmen"
Zimmermann, p. 303: "Other Protestant organizations, such as ... the Royal Purple Chapter, developed parallel with Orangeism...."
Within the Orange Lodges, "Purple Marksmen" refers to one of the Master degree, above "Orange" and "Orange Marksman," of the Orange Institution (source: "The Formation of the Orange Order 21st September 1795" in the anti-Orange _Evangelical Truth_ at NIreland.com site). See Zimmermann's song references to "The Purple Marksman" [p. 315] and "The Purple Stream" [p. 303, fn. 39].
Tunney-StoneFiddle: .".. songs alluding to the ritual and secrets of the [Orange] Order are few and far between. Indeed, until 1952 when one William Coulter sang 'The Purple Boy' for Sean O Boyle, it was not sung outside the Lodge." - BS
File: TSF133
===
NAME: Purple Dress, The: see Mary Hamilton [Child 173] (File: C173)
===
NAME: Purty Molly Brannigan: see Polly Brannigan (File: E153E)
===
NAME: Push Along, Keep Moving
DESCRIPTION: The singer attempts various enterprises, all ending in failure (e.g. when he opens a "whiskey shop," his wife demands all the drink for herself); after each failure, he sets out on a new adventure. Moral/refrain: "Push along, keep moving"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1828 (The Theatrical Budget)
KEYWORDS: humorous drink work
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
JHCox 180, "The Nigger Tune" (1 text)
ST JHCox180 (Full)
Roud #5469
NOTES: According to Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.'s _The Age of Jackson_, p. 4, "the celebrate Buffo singer" George Washington Dixon was making the song "Push-a-Long, Keep Moving" popular at the time of Andrew Jackson's 1829 inauguration; Dixon also sang  "The Hunters of Kentucky" and, slightly later, "Old Zip Coon." - RBW
File: JHCox180
===
NAME: Push Boat
DESCRIPTION: The hard work and low pay of poling on the Big Sandy River are described. Much of the song is devoted to the relations between the singer and his girl, (Cynthie Jane).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: river ship work courting sailor
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 35-37, (no title) (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 567, "Push Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, PUSHBOAT*
Roud #8088
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Liza Jane" (lyrics)
NOTES: This reminds me -- very strongly -- of "Liza Jane," and the two have assorted individual lines in common. I would not be surprised if they have a common origin. But they have drifted enough that we separate them. - RBW
File: BMRF567
===
NAME: Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat, Where Have You Been?
DESCRIPTION: "Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? I've been to London to look at the queen. Pussy cat, pussy cat, what did you there? I frightened a little mouse under her chair"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1805 (Songs for the Nursery, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: dialog animal royalty
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 428, "Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #150, p. 116, "(Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been?)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 1, "(Pussy, pussy baudrons)" (1 text)
ST OO2428 (Partial)
Roud #15094
NOTES: According to the Baring-Goulds, there was an incident similar to this during the reign of Elizabeth I, and many have thought the song refers to that.
There is an English proverb, "A cat may look at a king," which is quoted, e.g., in _Alice in Wonderland_, chapter VIII, "The Queen's Croquet Ground." The idea also appears in Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #759, p. 759. Whether either is in any way related I do not know. - RBW
File: OO2428
===
NAME: Put Me In My Little Bed
DESCRIPTION: "Oh birdie, I am tired now, I do not care to hear you sing." The child asks the bird to go to sleeps, and requests, "come put me in my little bed." The singer recalls her mother telling her "never, never go astray"
AUTHOR: Words: Dexter Smith / Music: C. A. White
EARLIEST_DATE: 1870 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: orphan bird death mother
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, pp. 279-280, "Put Me In My Little Bed" (1 text)
Roud #4339
RECORDINGS:
Leake County Revelers, "Put Me In My Little Bed" (Columbia 15292-D, 1928)
NOTES: Belden's notes to this song are confused. He claims that Spaeth refers to this song in _Read 'Em and Weep_ -- but there is no such reference, at least in my copy. Spaeth does, however, mention the song in  _A History of Popular Music in America_ as one of several hits by C. A. White.
White seems to have had a thing about birds; his first big hit was "Come, Birdie, Come."
Spaeth claims that this song was the forerunner of the more popular "Put My Little Shoes Away." - RBW
File: Beld279
===
NAME: Put My Little Shoes Away
DESCRIPTION: "Mother dear, come bathe my forehead For I'm growing very weak...." The dying child bids farewell to friends and family, and asks mother to "Put my little shoes away." They were brought by Santa, and can eventually be given to the baby
AUTHOR: Samuel N. Mitchell & Charles E. Pratt?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (Chappell); probably written 1873
KEYWORDS: death clothes family
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Randolph 715, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (2 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 463-465, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 715A)
Chappell-FSRA 116, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (1 text)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 25-26, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, PUTSHOES*
Roud #4340
RECORDINGS:
Big Slim Aliff, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Decca 5329, 1937)
Wilf Carter, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Bluebird [Canada] B-4617, c. 1938; Bluebird B-9032 [as Montana Slim], 1942)
Chuck Wagon Gang, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Melotone 7-08-55, 1937)
Cramer Brothers, [pseud. for Vernon Dalhart and -- probably -- Carson Robison] "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Broadway 8071, c. 1930)
Girls of the Golden West, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Bluebird 5226, 1933)
Lester McFarland & Bob Roberts, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Brunswick 322, 1929; Supertone S-2038, 1930)
Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Decca 29645, 1955); (Brunswick 05567)
Riley Puckett, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Columbia 15125-D, 1927; rec. 1926)
Red Fox Chasers, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Supertone 9535, 1929; Montgomery Ward M-4963, 1936)
Fiddlin' Doc Roberts Trio, "Put My Little Shoes Away" (Conqueror 8208, 1933)
Vagabonds, "Little Shoes" (Montgomery Ward M-4239, 1933)
Henry Whitter, "Put Away My Little Shoes" (Okeh 45046, 1926)
NOTES: The era of this song may explain its odd request: By the time of the Civil War, factory-made shoes were available, but were quite primitive, with no left and right hand versions. Shoes thus were easily acquired, but well-made shoes were becoming more of a luxury as the factory shoes made life harder for cobblers. - RBW
File: R715
===
NAME: Put on the Skillet: see Shortenin' Bread (File: R255)
===
NAME: Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet
DESCRIPTION: "On the old farmhouse veranda there sat Silas and Miranda, Thinking of days gone by." They realize they have been married for fifty years. They leap up, forgetting the years, and go to town to celebrate all the happy times
AUTHOR: Words: Stanley Murphy / Music: Percy Wenrich
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Dean); apparently published 1909
KEYWORDS: love marriage
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Dean, p. 89, "Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet" (1 text)
DT, GOLDWED3*
Roud #5491
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet
File: Dean089
===
NAME: Put On Your Old Grey Bonnet: see Put On Your Old Gray Bonnet (File: Dean089)
===
NAME: Put the Old Man to Sleep: see Luir A Chodla (Put the Old Man to Sleep) (File: LoF191)
===
NAME: Put the Traffic Down
DESCRIPTION: "Here comes Jones with his face so cross"; drink has left him destitute. "Here comes Squire Brown," rich from selling liquor. The singer calls for an end to the liquor trade: "Put it down, put it down, put the unholy traffic down!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: drink political money
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 334, "Put the Traffic Down" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 267-269, "Put the Traffic Down" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 314A)
Roud #7790
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Yorktown Rum Seller
Old Jones
File: R334
===
NAME: Put Yer Shoulder Next to Mine and Pump Away
DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Formula verses about bringing a girl presents until she apparently allows herself to be seduced. Verse lines are repeated in choruses. Full chorus: "Put yer shoulder next to mine and pump away, pump away." (x2)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Formula verses about bringing a girl presents until she apparently allows herself to be seduced. Verse lines are repeated in choruses. Full chorus: "Put yer shoulder next to mine and pump away, pump away." (x2) Once I had a girl, had a girl, had a girl (x2) she had me in a whirl. Chorus. I brought her presents one... she said I shouldn't have done, etc. I brought her presents two... and her heart she let me woo." and so forth, until "I brought her presents nine... the baby's doing fine."
KEYWORDS: shanty courting gift cumulative
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 508-509, "Put Yer Shoulder Next to Mine and Pump Away" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 374-375]
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Roll Me Over" (tune)
NOTES: Hugill says this was popular only on British ships. Very likely gave rise to "Roll Me Over." - SL
File: Hugi508
===
NAME: Put Your Little Foot (Varsouvienna)
DESCRIPTION: "Put your little foot (x2) Put your little foot right there... Take a step to the right, Take a step to the left, But forever stay near." Further invitations to move closer follow: "Put... your arm around my waist... We will dance through the night."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1943
KEYWORDS: dancing nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Ohrlin-HBT 45, "Put Your Little Foot" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 47, 79-80, 182, 218, 230, 241, "Varsovienna" (6 tunes)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 19, 31, 38, 66, 99-100, 137, "Varsoviana" (and variant spellings) (6 tunes)
RECORDINGS:
Glenn Ohrlin, "Varsouviana" (on Ohrlin01)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Put Your Little Foot Right Out
Varsouvienne
NOTES: The "Varsouvianna" (Varsouvienna, etc.; described as a variation on the mazurka) tune is very common, and is cited sporadically in the references here. How often it bears this particular set of lyrics is less certain; few if any of the Australian versions, for instance, have words. - RBW
Ohrlin remarks that "Put Your Little Foot" was usually the cue for a fight to start. - PJS
File: Ohr045
===
NAME: Putnam's Hill: see Shule Agra (Shool Aroo[n], Buttermilk Hill, Johnny's Gone for a Soldier) (File: R107)
===
NAME: Putting On Airs
DESCRIPTION: "No use talking (x2), The truth itself declares, If you act like the folks of fashion do, You're bound to put on airs." The singer doesn't want to mix in others' affairs, but he observes how both boys and girls dress up and put on airs
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929
KEYWORDS: clothes beauty courting nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 460, "Putting on Airs" (1 text)
Brewster 82, "You've Got to Put on Airs" (1 text)
ST R460 (Partial)
Roud #3773
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Boys Around Here" (theme)
cf. "Putting on the Style" (theme)
cf. "When Young Men Go Courting" (theme)
NOTES: The last several verses of Randolph's text look almost like modifications of "Putting on the Style," but the first verse and chorus are different enough that I separate them. - RBW
File: R460
===
NAME: Putting On the Style
DESCRIPTION: A series of comments on the folly of those who put on false faces. Example: "Young man in a carriage driving like he's mad... He cracks his whip so lively just to see his lady smile, But she knows he's only puttin' on the style."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: humorous vanity pride
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,So)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Randolph 469, "Putting On the Style" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 320-322, "Putting On the Style" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 469A)
FSCatskills 109, "Puttin' On the Style" (1 text, 1 tune+variant form)
JHCox 184, "Putting On the Style" ( text)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 68, "Putting On The Style" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 24, "Putting On The Style" (1 text)
DT, PUTONSTY PUTONST2*
Roud #3767
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "Putting On Style" (Vocalion 15327, 1926) (Columbia 15082-D, 1926) (Edison 52118, 1927)
Warde Ford, "Putting on the Agony" [with half a verse of, "Our Goodman"] (AFS 4200 B3, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Pete Seeger, "Puttin' On the Style" (on PeteSeeger04); "Putting On the Style" (on PeteSeeger11)
[Ernest Stoneman &] The Dixie Mountaineers, "Puttin' on the Style" (Edison, unissued, 1927)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Putting on Airs" (theme)
cf. "Sweet Sixteen" (theme)
cf. "The Truth Twice Told" (subject)
NOTES: Cazden et al have very extensive notes about the origins of this song, which largely boil down to, "Hey, we found this song, and it belongs to us and our informant!" Nonetheless, their notes, and the existence of the several versions in Randolph, demonstrate that the song has become a true folk piece. - RBW
Seeger dates this song from the 1880s, but offers no documentation. - PJS
The version in Cox, collected in 1917, was reported to be from the informant's mother, which makes a nineteenth century date highly likely. Indeed, the first verse begins,
Eighteen hundred seventy one,
January the first,
Thought I'd write a poem,
If I could or durst.
It will be noted, however, that this verse doesn't scan as well as the others. But Randolph's informant Doney Hammontree said it was in "all the popular songbooks" in the 1890s. Still, the biggest single factor in its popularity was probably the Dalhart recording. - RBW
File: R469
===
NAME: Pytoria (Run Come See Jerusalem): see Run Come See (File: FSWB058)
===
NAME: Quack, Quack, Quack
DESCRIPTION: "There were three ducks that I once knew, Pretty ducks, fat ducks they were too, But the one with a feather curled up on his back, Oh, he ruled the others with a quack, quack, quack." The behavior of the ducks and their leader is described
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: bird
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 126, "Quack, Quack, Quack" (1 text)
Roud #7848
File: Br3126
===
NAME: Quaker (I), The
DESCRIPTION: "Verily high! Verily oh! Vivity vob like the shaker. All this wealth is awfully wrong And it terribly puzzles the quaker."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (recording, Bampton Morris and Jinky Wells)
KEYWORDS: nonballad recitation
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Bampton Morris and Jinky Wells, "The Quaker" (on Voice16)
NOTES: The current description is all of the Bampton Morris and Jinky Wells version on Voice16.
This is a dance tune. The words, which could be sung to the tune, may suggest the step. - BS
File: RcTQuak1
===
NAME: Quaker (II), The
DESCRIPTION: The Quaker is a ship with five hundred and fifty seamen. "By those blooming French dogs, we'll never be controlled." We fought them "till they could no longer stay." The war is over. A health to true girls and Lord Nelson "the best of all our crew"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (recording, Freddie James, RQMS Williams, G.W. Greening and Harry Hawkins?)
KEYWORDS: battle navy sea ship patriotic
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: ()

Roud #3093
RECORDINGS:
Freddie James, RQMS Williams, G.W. Greening and Harry Hawkins?, "The Quaker" (on Voice16)
NOTES: A ship with 550 sailors would have to be a Ship of the Line. I can't find a line battleship named _Quaker_ in any British records, pre- or post-Trafalgar. The closest I can see to a similarly-named ship is the 64-gun _Caton_. But that's hardly the most famous ship in the navy. We should probably just treat the ship name as an error. - RBW
File: RcQuak2
===
NAME: Quaker's Courtship, The
DESCRIPTION: The Quaker comes to court the girl. He offers her a ring and money; she tells him she wants a man to call her honey. He tells her she is pretty; she calls him a flatterer. He gives up; she tells him to "Find a Quaker girl to marry"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1878 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1878 x0003)
KEYWORDS: courting discrimination ring
FOUND_IN: US(MW,NE,So) Canada(Mar,Ont)
REFERENCES: (14 citations)
Belden, p. 265, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 text, lacking any reference to a Quaker but probably this)
Randolph 362, "The Courting Song" (4 texts, 2 tunes, though Randolph's "A" text is rather tenuously related to the others); 363, "I'm Going Away to Texas" (3 texts, 1 tune, the "C" text appearing to belong here; "A" is I'm Going Away to Texas" and "C" is perhaps "The Quaker's Courtship" ))
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 295-297, "The Courting Song" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 362C)
BrownIII 4, "Madam Mozelle, I've Come Courting" (1 fragment, too short to identify with certainty but perhaps this song); 8, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 text, also short)
Linscott, pp. 276-278, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 154-155, "The Quaker's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 23, "Quaker's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 158, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 text, 1 tune)
FSCatskills 36, "A Sport Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 176, "The Quaker Song" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 199-200, "Quaker's Courtship" (1 fragment, 1 tune, which might be either this or "Wheel of Fortune")
Lomax-FSNA 12, "The Quaker's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, p. 587, "Quaker's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 108, pp. 223-224, "The Quaker's Courtship" (1 text)
ST R362 (Partial)
Roud #716
RECORDINGS:
Buell Kazee, [Madam, I Have Come A-Courting] (on Kazee01)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1878 x0003, "The Quaker's Courtship," Alex Forbes (unknown), 1878 (tune) 
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Keys of Canterbury"
cf. "No, John, No"
cf. "Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady)"
NOTES: The "courting songs" listed in the cross-references have cross-fertilized heavily; one should examine texts carefully to see where a particular variant belongs.
One form of this in particular, "Madam, I Have Come A-Courting," has worn down so much that it some versions almost no elements left to allow identification. An example is Buell Kazee's version:
Madam, I have come a-courting, Oh dear, oh dear me. Come a-courting, not a-sporting....
Well if that is your desire, Fa da link dum, fa da day, You can sit and court the fire....
I've a ring worth many a shilling... You can wear it if you're willing....
I'll not have your ring or money... Want me a man to call me honey....
Intermediate texts such as Belden's, though, imply that such items probably belong here. - RBW
File: R362
===
NAME: Quaker's Wife, The
DESCRIPTION: "The (Quaker's/Baker's) wife sat doon to bake, With all her bairns about her, She baked them every one a cake...." "And then the miller sat doon to play A tune upon the spinnet." "Merrily danced the Quaker's wife, And merrily danced the Quaker."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (Montgomerie)
KEYWORDS: cook food dancing
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 87, "(The Quaker's wife sat doon to bake)" (1 text)
Roud #6479
File: MNSR087
===
NAME: Quaker's Wooing (I), The: see Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady) AND "The Quaker's Courtship" (File: E098)
===
NAME: Quaker's Wooing (II), The: see The Quaker's Courtship (File: R362)
===
NAME: Quand j'etais fille de quinze ans (When I Was a Fifteen Year Old Girl)
DESCRIPTION: French. When I was a girl all the boys came to my house to laugh and go to the ball and dance. No longer. I have a household to maintain and children to look after. Chorus: "When I was a girl, Oh! What delightful joy to be a girl fifteen."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage marriage wife youth
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, p. 581, "Quand j'etais fille de quinze ans" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Pea581
===
NAME: Quand le Boiteuse Va-t-au Marche (When the Lame One goes to Market)
DESCRIPTION: French shanty. No particular story, each verse line is repeated as a refrain. Full Chorus: "Ah! ma doue, quel trŽsor d'avoir Žpouse (2x), Un coeur tout en or!" "Oh, my dear, what treasure to have married, to have wed (2x) a heart of gold!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Hayet, _Chansons de bord_)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: French shanty. No particular story, each verse line is repeated as a refrain. Full Chorus: "Ah! ma doue, quel trŽsor d'avoir Žpouse (2x), Un coeur tout en or!" "Oh, my dear, what treasure to have married, to have wed (2x) a heart of gold!" Some of the verses are reminiscent of "The Fire Ship" in the use of naval euphemisms, i.e. (in translation) "and then he furls her petticoat, clewing up her lower sails," "then to get goin' the smart topman, send up her the main topmast."
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty bawdy
FOUND_IN: France
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 514-515, "Quand le Boiteuse Va-t-au Marche" (2 texts-French & English, 1 tune)
File: Hugi514
===
NAME: Quantrell
DESCRIPTION: "Come all you bold robbers and open your ears, Of QuantrelI the lion-heart you quickly will hear." Quantrell raids and burns Lawrence, Kansas, but allegedly he supports to the poor, and "a brave man or woman he'll never annoy."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: outlaw
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Aug 21, 1863 - Quantrill's Raiders destroy Lawrence, Kansas, killing about 150 men.
May 10, 1865 - Quantrill is mortally wounded on his way to Washington (where he hoped to stir up trouble by assassination). He dies 20 days later.
FOUND_IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 132-133, "Quantrell" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, QUANTRLL*
Roud #4094
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Charlie Quantrell" (subject)
cf. "The Call of Quantrell" (subject)
NOTES: As is so often the case with outlaw ballads, this paints much too pretty a picture. For a brief background on Quantrill (the name used in Confederate records), see the notes to "Charlie Quantrell."
To tell this song from other Quantrell pieces, consider this first stanza:
Come all you bold robbers and open your ears
Of QuantrelI the lion-heart you quickly will hear
With his band of bold raiders in double-quick time
He came to burn Lawrence just over the line.
This song is item dE33 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: LoA132
===
NAME: Quare Bungle Rye: see Quare Bungo Rye (File: Log416)
===
NAME: Quare Bungo Rye
DESCRIPTION: Sailor Jack meets a girl, who offers to sell him "old bungo rye." Jack thinks it a whiskey, and buys her basket. In it he finds a child. Jack declares the child to be "quare bungo rye," and has the child christened with that name
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1869 (Logan)
KEYWORDS: sailor drink children baby trick clergy
FOUND_IN: Britain Ireland Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Logan, pp. 416-421, "Bung Your Eye" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 305, "Bung Your Eye" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
SHenry H700, pp. 277-278, "Mind Your Eye" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 895-896, "Young Bung-'er-eye" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 39, "Jack the Sailor" (1 fragment, probably this though the chorus has swapped off somewhere, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 211-212, "Blow the Man Down" (1 text, version "F" of "Blow the Man Down" sung to the tune of "Lowlands Low") [AbEd, pp. 166-167]
DT, QUARERYE*
ST Log416 (Full)
Roud #2404
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "Bungle Rye" (on IRClancyMakem02)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Basket of Eggs" (plot and baby in basket motif) and references there
cf. "The Child in the Budget" (baby in basket motif)
cf. "The Oyster Girl" [Laws Q13] (mysterious--read female--"box" motif)
cf. "Bung Yer Eye" (chorus lyrics)
cf. "The Charming Young Widow I Met on the Train" (theme of the female leaving a baby)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Queer Bungo Rye
Quare Bungle Rye
The Exciseman
Bangeria
NOTES: Re:the mysterious box motif. The Lesley Nelson-Burns site Folk Music of England Scotland Ireland, Wales & America collection includes a page by John Renfro Davis with text for this ballad as "Quare Bungle Rye" and a note that "This is a variant of The Oyster Girl." The note goes on to cite a Bodleian broadside for The Oyster Girl. It also cites as "variants and alternate titles" The Basket of Oysters, Bungerye, Queer Bungle Rye, Quare Bungo Rye, Young Bung-'er'Eye, The Basket of Eggs, and Eggs in Her Basket.
The Oyster Maid/Basket of Eggs connection similarities are based on the motif of a sailor being fooled by a woman into taking something hidden in a basket which, in some versions, turns out to be a baby. While the parallels -- including the sexual symbolisms -- are obvious, these should be treated as three different ballads because of the differences in the punch lines.
The motif of the "box" with *censored* contents that cannot just be thrown away is even closer to the 1950 Phil Harris hit "The Thing" written by Charles R. Grean and set to the tune of "The Chandler's Wife." - BS
File: Log416
===
NAME: Quartermaster Corps, The (The Quartermaster Store)
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, it's beer , beer, beer that makes you feel so queer, In the corps, in the corps." "My eyes are dim, I cannot see, I have not brought my specs with me." Similarly, "...cheese... brings you to your knees," and so forth with other army items
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: army soldier food disease nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 272, "The Quartermaster Store" (1 text)
DT, QMCORP*
Roud #10508
File: FSWB272A
===
NAME: Quay of Dundocken: see The Isle of Man Shore (The Quay of Dundocken; The Desolate Widow) [Laws K7] (File: LK07)
===
NAME: Quays of Belfast, The: see The Isle of Man Shore (The Quay of Dundocken; The Desolate Widow) [Laws K7] (File: LK07)
===
NAME: Que Bonita Bandera
DESCRIPTION: Spanish language; Puerto Rican patriotic song: "What a beautiful flag, it is the flag of Puerto Rico"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (heard by Pete Seeger)
KEYWORDS: patriotic nonballad foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 14, "Que Bonita Bandera" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: PSAFB014
===
NAME: Quebec: see Brave Wolfe [Laws A1] (File: LA01)
===
NAME: Queen Among the Heather
DESCRIPTION: Young man, hunting, spies a girl herding sheep among the heather. He is smitten; she is "the bonniest lassie that e'er I saw." He asks her to go with him; she demurs, saying he's a squire and she but a shepherd's daughter. He perseveres and succeeds.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (recording, Harry Lauder)
KEYWORDS: courting love beauty farming lover nobility worker
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland) US(MW) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Kennedy 141, "The Queen Among the Heather" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, p. 433, "My Lovely Nancy" (1 text)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 115-117, "Herding Lambs Among the Heather" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 74, "Herding Lambs Amongst the Heather" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 51, "The Laird o' Drum" (1 fragment, listed as Child #236 but clearly a version either of this or "Heather Down the Moor"; the stanza form tentatively places it here)
Roud #375
RECORDINGS:
Harry Lauder, "Queen Among the Heather" (Victor 60010, 1910) 
Belle Stewart, "Queen Amang the Heather" (on Voice15)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.15(240), "The Blooming Heather" ("As I was coming home, from the fair of Ballymena"), unknown, n.d.; also Harding B 11(331), 2806 c.14(60), "The Blooming Heather"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Heather Down the Moor" (plot, lyrics)
cf. "Bonnie Lass Among the Heather" (subject)
cf. "The Laboring Man's Daughter (The Knight's Dream)" (plot)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Skippin' Barfit thro the Heather
Queen Amang the Heather
NOTES: This song is very close to "Heather Down the Moor (Among the Heather; Down the Moor)"; they have similar plots and occasional common lyrics. Roud lumps them. There will be versions where it is almost impossible to tell which is which. I thought about listing them as one song.
But on consideration, "Heather Down the Moor" has two characteristics rarely seen in "Queen among the Heather." First, "Heather Down the Moor" tends to follow a complex stanza pattern of eight-line stanzas with complex internal chorus and repeats (see sample with that song). "Queen among the Heather" usually has simple four-line stanzas.
"Heather down the Moor" also tends to end with the lines
But if I were a king, I would make her a queen,
The bonnie lass I met among the heather
Down the moor.
In "Queen Among the Heather," he *is* a nobleman, so that obviously isn't a concern. - RBW
Note that the Lauder recording predates not only the otherwise-earliest collection we have found for this song, but also the earliest citation we've found for its sibling, "Heather Down the Moor". - PJS
Also collected and sung by Ellen Mitchell, "Queen Amang the Heather" (on Kevin and Ellen Mitchell, "Have a Drop Mair," Musical Tradition Records MTCD315-6 CD (2001)) - BS
File: K141
===
NAME: Queen Anne
DESCRIPTION: "Queen Anne, Queen Anne, you sit in the sun, As fair as a lily, as white as a wand, I send you three letters, and pray read one, You must read one, if you can't read all, So pray, Miss or Master, throw up the ball."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 190 (Cecil Sharp collections)
KEYWORDS: playparty royalty nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose (note to) #187, p. 134 ("Queen Anne, Queen Anne, you sit in the sun")
Roud #12755
NOTES: This is connected by folklore to Anne of Great Britain (1665-1714; reigned 1702-1714), who is reported to have enjoyed sitting in the sun in gardens. But it can't have been an eyewitness account, since Anne was hardly fair of face and not particularly fair of hue. - RBW
File: BGMG186N
===
NAME: Queen Eleanor's Confession [Child 156]
DESCRIPTION: Queen Eleanor, dying, calls for two friars. King Henry decides to substitute himself and Earl Marshal. Eleanor confesses to many sins against Henry, often with the Earl. Henry reveals himself and wishes that he could tell the world what Eleanor said
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1723
KEYWORDS: trick humorous royalty disease clergy
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1189 - Death of Henry II
1204 - Death of Eleanor of Aquitaine
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber),England(Lond)) 
REFERENCES: (12 citations)
Child 156, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (7 texts)
Bronson 156, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (1 version)
GreigDuncan2 208, "Queen Eleanor" (2 texts)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 462-465, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (notes plus a text of Child A)
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 127-132, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (1 text, from "The Charms of Melody" rather than tradition)
Percy/Wheatley II, pp. 164-168, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (1 text)
BrownII 35, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (notes only)
Leach, pp. 431-433, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (1 text)
PBB 72, "Queen Elenor's Confession" (1 text)
Niles 48, "Queen Eleanor's Confession" (1 text, 1 tune)
BBI, ZN2274, "Queen Elenor was a sick Woman"
DT 156, QECONFES
ST C156 (Full)
Roud #74
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rosamund Clifford" (subject)
cf. "Fair Rosamond" (subject)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Dying Queen
NOTES: The element of fiction in this ballad is immense. Note the following:
* Eleanor of Aquitaine (1122-1204) outlived Henry Plantagenet (1133-1189) by fifteen years.
* Neither Earl Marshal nor King Henry took Queen Eleanor's maidenhead; she had previously been married to, and had two daughters by, Louis VII of France.
* Eleanor could hardly have poisoned Henry's mistress Rosamund Clifford; by the time Henry discovered Rosamund, he had placed Eleanor under house arrest.
* Many versions refer to Whitehall. Whitehall was built for Anne Boleyn in the sixteenth century, three and a half centuries after the death of Henry II (see Norah Lofts, _Anne Boleyn_, Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1979, p. 85).
If one moves the story to the time of Henry III (reigned 1216-1272), who married Eleanor of Provence, we should note that by the time the third Henry grew up, the Marshal earldom was extinct - RBW
File: C156
===
NAME: Queen Jane: see The Death of Queen Jane [Child 170] (File: C170)
===
NAME: Queen Jane (II): see The King's Dochter Lady Jean [Child 52] (File: C052)
===
NAME: Queen Jean: see The Death of Queen Jane [Child 170] (File: C170)
===
NAME: Queen Mary (Auld Maid's Lament)
DESCRIPTION: The girl (perhaps "Queen Mary") is of an age to be courting but has no suitors. She dresses well, and goes out when she can, but finds no takers. Her mother laments the girl's fate, as does the girl herself
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1898 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: loneliness courting playparty
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North)) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 62, "The Scotch Lassie" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 46, "The New Dress" (1 fragment, which appears to be this but might be "Nae Bonnie Laddie...")
DT, QUENMARY
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; note to #389, ("Queen Mary, Queen Mary, my age is sixteen") (1 short text)
Roud #6281
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Nae Bonnie Laddie tae Tak' Me Away (I)" (theme, lyrics)
NOTES: The relationship between this piece and "Nae Bonnie Laddie tae Tak' Me Away (I)" is extremely vexed -- to the extent that it is impossible to tell which fragments go with which song. Frankly, I'd probably lump them if Roud didn't split them (and then, seemingly, mis-file some of the versions -- aided and abetted by Ford, who had two songs of this type). As a starting point, playparties and courting games go with this piece; full-fledged songs with the other. - RBW
File: HHH230
===
NAME: Queen Mary's Men (New Year's Eve Carol)
DESCRIPTION: "This is good New Year's Even-night, We are all Queen Mary's men, And we've come here to claim our right, And that's before Our Lady." The singers travel the town asking for gifts of food. The offer good wishes for the residents
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: food carol
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
GreigDuncan3 641, "We Are A' Queen Mary's Men" (1 text, 1 tune)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 200, "Queen Mary's Men" (1 text)
DT, MARYMEN
Roud #4584
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Besuthian" (subject)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Orkney New Year's Eve Carol
NOTES: This song seems to be known mostly in the north of Scotland, where Catholicism held on long after the Reformation, so the refernce to "Our Lady" probably does not indicate an early date.
The reference to "Queen Mary" is not very helpful in dating. Counting backward, queens of Britain named Mary were:
Mary of Teck, wife of George V (1867-1953)
Mary II Stewart, wife of William III (joing monarchy; reigned 1689-1694; born 1662)
Mary of Modena, second wife of James II  (1658-1718); if she were meant, this would be an overtly political song, which seems unlikely
Queens Mary of England after 1400 were:
Mary I, queen regnant 1553-1558 (1516-1558)
Queens Mary of Scotland after 1500 were:
Mary Stuart, queen regnant 1542-1567 (1542-1587)
Mary of Guise, wife of James V and mother of Mary Stuart (1515-1560)
Mary of Gueldres, wife of James II (died 1463)
All of these save Mary II were Catholic (well, I'm not sure about Mary of Teck, but she's presumably too late, since she became queen in the year Greig/Duncan collected the song), but few of them are convincing candidates for the Queen Mary of the song. - RBW
File: MSNR200
===
NAME: Queen of Elfan's Nourice, The [Child 40]
DESCRIPTION: The Queen of Elfland awakens to hear her child's (wet)-nurse weeping. The Queen of Elfland asks the reason; the nurse says that she is crying for her own son. The Queen of Elfland sets the nurse on the right road home (and on to heaven).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1802/3 (Skene ms.)
KEYWORDS: separation children magic abduction
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Child 40, "The Queen of Elfan's Nourice" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's (#1)}
Bronson 40, "The Queen of Elfan's Nourice" (1 version)
GreigDuncan2 328, "The Queen o' Elfin's Nourice" (2 fragments, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #1}
OBB 7, "The Queen of Elfland's Nourice" (1 text)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 136, "(I heard a cow low, a bonnie cow low)" (1 fragment of two stanzas, with no plot; it simply mentions the lowing cow, and might be an independent item grafted into the Child ballad)
DT 40, ELFANURS*
Roud #3723
NOTES: Tradition has it that fairies much preferred to have human women nurse their babies; hence the legends about changelings and also odd stories such as this one about a human woman being kidnapped to Elfland - RBW
File: C040
===
NAME: Queen of Hearts
DESCRIPTION: "To the Queen of Hearts goes the Ace of sorrow... Young men are plenty but sweethearts few; If my love leaves me, what shall I do?" The singer talks of her wealth and family, "But I'll leave them all to go with you."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: love courting family travel
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 153, "Queen of Hearts" (1 text)
DT, QUNHEART*
Roud #3195
BROADSIDES:
Murray,  Mu23-y1:105, "The Wheel of Fortune," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C [extremely mixed, with the "Wheel of Fortune" verse, a thyme stanza, a bit of "Fair and Tender Ladies," a "Queen of Heart" verse, and more]
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Know My Love"
File: FSWB153
===
NAME: Queen of Scotland, The [Child 301]
DESCRIPTION: The Queen tries to seduce Troy Muir; he denies her. To punish him, she has him lift up a certain stone under which a serpent waits. A passing girl draws off the snake by cutting off her breast. Troy Muir marries her. Her breast regrows to suckle their son
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
KEYWORDS: seduction rejection trick animal injury rescue marriage childbirth
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Child 301, "The Queen of Scotland" (1 text)
Roud #3878
File: C301
===
NAME: Queen of the Desperadoes
DESCRIPTION: "She was a two-gun woman, Belle Shirley was her name." Belle marries Jim Reed who was killed by "Morris." She then marries Mr. Starr and "moved to Younger's Bend." Her six other husbands and her dominance over them are briefly described.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: love marriage death
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 97, "Queen of the Desperadoes" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #11090
File: FCW097
===
NAME: Queen of the May
DESCRIPTION: As summer comes, the singer (a plowboy?) meets a girl. He asks what she is doing; she answers that she is gathering may. They sit down together; the end result may be marriage or something less honorable
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1832 (Journal from the Bengal)
KEYWORDS: courting love sex marriage
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 190-192, "Queen of the May" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, QUEENMAY*
Roud #594
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Green Bushes" [Laws P2] (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Now the Winter Is Past
The Plowboy's Courtship
NOTES: This reminds me a lot of "Green Bushes" (Laws P2). The imagery is largely the same, and there are reminiscences in the wording. But the end results are different. - RBW
File: SWMS190
===
NAME: Queen Victoria's Welcome to Deeside
DESCRIPTION: "Ye hills and ye mountains surrounding Balmoral, ye groves and ye valleys, ye surely can tell." "The eighth of September will ne'er be forgotten... We ran and we jumpit... to welcome the Queen." Victoria and Albert's visit are toasted
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: home royalty
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sep 8, 1848 - Queen Victoria takes possession of Balmoral Castle
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
GreigDuncan1 139, "Queen Victoria's Welcome to Deeside" (1 text)
Ord, p. 337, "Queen Victoria's Welcome to Deeside" (1 text)
Roud #5605
NOTES: The details in the song are not really enough to date it (no real indication of place; a date on the eighth of September, but no year), but it does mention "the Queen and her consort and three bonnie bairnies," as well as mentioning that the queen's husband in Albert. Thus Queen Victoria (1819-1901; reigned 1837-1901) and Prince Albert (1819-1861) are clearly indicated.
There is one minor curiosity in the song. Balmoral had been tenanted by Sir Robert Gordon until 1847, when that worthy died unexpectedly. Victoria and Albert then leased the house. They in fact first arrived on September 8, 1848. But the song mentions only three children; by 1848, Victoria had no fewer than six: Victoria (future Empress of Germany), Edward (future Edward VII), Alice, Alfred, Helena, and Louise, with the oldest, Victoria, still a few months shy of eight years old.
One suspects a political motive to the song. This was the era of the Highland Clearances, and not everyone in northern Scotland was happy with the English monarchy....
There seem to have been a *lot* of songs written about Queen Victoria's visits to Scotland. Broadsides on the theme include:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.74(218), "The Queen's Visit to Scotland" ("The Queen is coming here they say, / To Scotland coming down"), unknown, n.d. but probably published in connection with an 1842 visit; also as Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 2781
NLScotland, ABS.10.203.01(128), "The Queen's Welcome to Scotland" [by Andrew Park] ("The queen she is coming, hurra! hurra! / To the land of the thistle, hurra! hurra!"), unknown, n.d.; same broadside as L.C.Fol.74(219b)
There are also broadsides on Victoria's trip to Ireland,  plus there is a sort of a parody on these praise ballads, Harding B 14(123), "The Queen's Return from Scotland," J. Paul (London), n.d.; also 2806 c.16(121a), "The Queen's return from Scotland," G. Jacques (Manchester), etc. - RBW
File: Ord337
===
NAME: Queen's Garden, The: see Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter [Child 155] (File: C155)
===
NAME: Queen's Marie, The: see Mary Hamilton [Child 173] (File: C173)
===
NAME: Queen's Maries, The: see Mary Hamilton [Child 173] (File: C173)
===
NAME: Queensland Drover, The: see Queensland Overlanders (File: FaE164)
===
NAME: Queensland Overlanders
DESCRIPTION: The singer reminds the listeners of the well-known life of the Queensland drover. He describes the various men who engage in the profession, and their visits to town. The chorus is a toast: "Tonight we drink the health of every overlander."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (Paterson's _Old Bush Songs_)
KEYWORDS: Australia travel work
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 164-165, "The Overlanders" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 114-116, "The Queensland Drover" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 230-233, "The Overlanders" (1 text)
DT, QNSLNDOV
NOTES: The versions of this are sufficiently diverse that I think deliberate rewriting almost certain. But there is no clear data on the relationship between the versions, so I'm lumping them. - RBW
File: FaE164
===
NAME: Queenstown Mourner, The (In the Town of Danville) [Laws H14]
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of his courtship to a fine young girl, stressing his unworthiness and poverty. They are wed even so, but the wife dies suddenly. The ballad stresses its moralistic conclusion that life is short
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (copy of broadside)
KEYWORDS: courting poverty death mourning
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws H14, "The Queenstown Mourner"
Flanders/Brown, pp. 29-33, "In the Township of Danville/The Queenstown Mourner" (2 texts, 1 tune)
DT 683, QTNMOURN
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 21, #2 (1972), p, 22, "The Queenston Warning" (1 text, 1 tune, the Sara Cleveland version)
Roud #2195
File: LH14
===
NAME: Queenstown Warning, The: see The Queenstown Mourner (In the Town of Danville) [Laws H14] (File: LH14)
===
NAME: Queer Bungo Rye: see Quare Bungo Rye (File: Log416)
===
NAME: Queer Folk i' the Shaws, The
DESCRIPTION: "I thocht unto mysel' ae day I'd like to see a Race... Sae up I gat, an wash'd mysel', put on my Sunday braws, An' ... started for the Shaws!" He likes the races, but in his ignorance ends up in trouble with the law, and vows not to return again
AUTHOR: Janes Fisher ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: racing horse drink money police prison punishment injury
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 97-99, "The Queer Folk i' the Shaws" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig #121, pp. 1-2, "The Queer Folk o' the Shaws" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 237, "The Queer Folk i' the Shaws" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
DT, FOLKSHAW*
Roud #3803
File: FVS097
===
NAME: Queer Folk o' the Shaws, The: see The Queer Folk i' the Shaws (File: FVS097)
===
NAME: Quern-Lilt, The, or, Grinding Song
DESCRIPTION: "The cronach stills the dowie heart, The jurram stills the bairnie, But the music for a hungry wame's The grinding o' the quernie." Though people rejoice in other things, the grain from the quern keeps many fed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: work food nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 245, "The Quern-Lilt, or, Grinding Song" (1 text)
Roud #3938
NOTES: Ord believes that Jamieson produced this as an imitation, or perhaps an improvement, of an actual grinding song. It seems likely enough. I know of no purely traditional collection. - RBW
File: Ord245
===
NAME: Quiet Village Tilting, The
DESCRIPTION:  The singer tells about a "false, fickle maid" he loved in Tilting. But he is hopeful. "My bright hopes though shattered, they might yet revive, And kind fortune bring me a faithful young bride"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1980 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 91, "The Quiet Village Tilting" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: LeBe091
===
NAME: Quil O'Quay: see Sir Lionel [Child 18] (File: C018)
===
NAME: Quilty Burning, The
DESCRIPTION: "Oh the burning of Quilty, you all know it well; When the barracks took fire Where the peelers did dwell." Everyone scurries to save what can be saved. "This old barracks is no harm to be gone, For many a poor fellow was shoved in there wrong"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (IRClare01)
KEYWORDS: prison fire moniker police
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1920-1921 - The Black and Tan War
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: ()

Roud #18471
RECORDINGS:
Mikey Kelleher, "The Quilty Burning" (on IRClare01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Cod Liver Oil" (tune) and references there
cf. "The Burning of Rosslea" (subject)
NOTES: Notes to IRClare01: "The incident that gave rise to this song ... took place around 1920, when the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) barracks at Quilty, a fishing village a few miles south of Miltown Malbay, was set alight by the Republicans."
"Peelers" are police. Apparently, the barracks served also as a jail. (For more on "peelers" in general, and the RIC in the context of the Black and Tan War, see "The Rineen Ambush") - BS
File: RcQuiBur
===
NAME: Quitting Time Song
DESCRIPTION: Call and response cornfield holler. "Oh oh oh oh,  I won't be here long. Oh oh oh oh, Dark don't catch me here." That's about it.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939
KEYWORDS: nonballad work
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 744, "Quitting Time Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Arwhoolie
Hoolie
File: BSoF744
===
NAME: R.F.C.
DESCRIPTION: "Come all you poor distressed people And lend a willing ear to me; Your suffering will soon be ended For now we have the R.F.C." The government is helping the poor and homeless and hungry
AUTHOR: Buddy Preston
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: hardtimes help political nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 235-236, "R.F.C." (1 text)
NOTES: This probably sounds like a New Deal song, but in fact the Reconstruction Finance Corporation was proposed by Herbert Hoover on December 8, 1931; it was approved by Congress in January 1932 and the RFC opened for business in February.
The RFC, however, was not a relief program as such; rather, it was intended to prop up the banking and insurance system. Its financing ($500 million in government money and authorization to borrow up to $2 billion more), while adequate to keep the financial system working, was not enough to actually stimulate the economy, and it was really a failed half measure.
Still, the RFC was retained until 1957. - RBW
File: ThBa13
===
NAME: Rabbit Chase
DESCRIPTION: Humorous cante-fable description of chasing a rabbit. Part of the humor is that, unlike "fox chase" songs, not much happens: The old wife wants a rabbit (though she hardly knows what one is); the old man and dog blunder around preparing to catch it
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Charlie Parker)
KEYWORDS: hunting humorous animal dog family age
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 106-107, "Rabbit Chase" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
New Lost City Ramblers, "Rabbit Chase" (on NLCR10)
Charlie Parker & Mack Woolbright, "Rabbit Chase" (Columbia 15154-D, 1927, on Cornshuckers1)
NOTES: Cohen notes that when he played this song for mountain people, they found it so amusing that they pulled out a tape recorder and taped *him*. - PJS
File: CSW106
===
NAME: Rabbit Hash
DESCRIPTION: Patting Chant: "Oh rabbit, rabbit, rabbit, Rabbit a-hash An' polecat smash; Rabbit, rabbit, rabbit a-hash. Rabbit skip an'-a rabbit hop, An' a-rabbit eat my turnip top. Oh, rabbit, rabbit, rabbit a-hash! Oh, rabbit a-hash."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: animal food nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 238-239, "Rabbit Hash" (1 text, 1 tune, though the tune is really just a single note fitted to the music)
BrownIII 168, "The Rabbit Skipped, The Rabbit Hopped" (1 short text)
Roud #10058
NOTES: This is a sort of a dubious lumping of Lomax's and Brown's versions; Brown's text consists simply of the lines "The rabbit skipped, the rabbit hopped, the rabbit bit off the turnip top," and Brown did not note it as a patting chant. But it's easy to see how it could have shifted from one form to the other.
Roud links together several rabbit songs under one number: "Mister Rabbit," "Ole Mister Rabbit (I'll Get You Rabbit)," even "Rabbit Hash." All are about rabbits raiding gardens (something they certainly do) and the attempts to punish them for it (rarely successful, even with modern technology). But the forms are quite distinct, so I split them. - RBW
File: LxA238
===
NAME: Rabbit in the Log (Feast Here Tonight)
DESCRIPTION: "Rabbit in the log And I ain't got no dog." The singer, apparently poor and a rambler, perhaps a poacher, imagines how to catch the dog and describes how he will cook and enjoy it. He will sleep in a farmer's shed, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1913 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: animal food hunting
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 166, "Rabbit in the Log" (1 fragment)
RECORDINGS:
Monroe Brothers, "Have a Feast Here Tonight" (Bluebird 7508)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Never Let Your Honey Have Her Way" (lyrics, form)
File: Br3166
===
NAME: Rabbit Skipped, The Rabbit Hopped, The: see Rabbit Hash (File: LxA238)
===
NAME: Rabbit Stole de Greens
DESCRIPTION: "Rabbit stole de greens (x2), Break down, Molly, hoo, hoo (x2)." "Big pot o' punkins, Little pot o' peas; De ole har smile To see de pot bile. Break down, Molly, hoo, hoo. (x2)"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: food animal
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 169, "Rabbit Stole de Greens" (1 text)
File: Br3169
===
NAME: Rabble Soldier: see The Wagoner's Lad (File: R740)
===
NAME: Raccoon
DESCRIPTION: "Raccoon has a bushy tail, Possum's tail is bare. Rabbit has no tail at all, 'cept a little bunch of hair." Verses about love, animals, anything at all: "Love it is a killing thing, Beauty is a blossom, If you want your finger bit, Poke it at a possum"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: animal love nonsense floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Randolph 260, "Kitty Cain't You Come Along Too?" (1 short text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 162, "De Possum Am a Cunning Thing" (2 short texts plus mention of 1 more); also 163, "The Raccoon Has a Bushy Tail" (1 text plus 2 fragments; the "C" text has the chorus of "Cindy"); also 415, "Lynchburg Town" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 2 excerpts, and mention of 2 more, all with the "Lynchburg Town" chorus, but "A" and "B" have verses from "Raccoon" and "Possum Up a Gum Stump and "D" and "E" are partly "If I Had a Scolding Wife" ("Lucy Long (I)"); only "C" seems to be truly "Lynchburg Town"); also 17, "I Wouldn't Marry" (7 text (some short) plus 6 excerpts, 1 fragment, and mention of 5 more, of which "A" appears to mix this with "Coming Around the Mountain (II -- Charming Betsey)" and "I Won't Marry an Old Maid")
Brewster 83, "Raccoon's Got a Bush Tail" (1 text)
Warner 186, "Raccoon" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 225, "The Squirrel" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 76, "The Squirrel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, p. 11,  (no title) (1 fragment, 1 tune on p. 385. A single stanza: "Jay-bird pulled a two-mule plow, Sparrow, why don't you...."; this verse seems to float but has been found in songs of this typle)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 165, "Old Bee Make de Honeycomb" (1 text, with most of the verses appearing to go here even though it has the "Old Bee" stanza also); also p. 169, (no title) (1 text, with verses probably from "Raccoon," unless they just floated in, while the chorus seems to be "Po' Liza Jane"); also sundry stanzas on pp. 169-170
Silber-FSWB, p. 398, "Raccoon's Got A Bushy Tail"; p. 401, "The Squirrel" (2 texts)
ST R260 (Partial)
Roud #3444
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Raccoon's Got a Bushy Tail" (on PeteSeeger08, PeteSeegerCD02)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Kemo Kimo" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Pains in My Fingers" (floating lyrics)
cf. "I Went to My Sweetheart's House" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Rat Coon, Rat Coon" (theme)
cf. "Bile Them Cabbage Down" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Mabel" (lyrics)
NOTES: As with all these floating-animal-verse songs, it's hard to tell where one begins and another ends. I group them as best I can.
It's interesting to note that both Randolph and the "A" text of Brown's "De Possum Am a Cunning Thing" share part of a chorus, "(Oh/Do) come along, Sandy Boy," even though this is clearly not integral to the song. Brewster's chorus is "Get along home, home, home (x3), Down the riverside." - RBW
File: R260
===
NAME: Raccoon Has a Bushy Tail: see Raccoon (File: R260)
===
NAME: Raccoon's Got a Bushy Tail: see Raccoon (File: R260)
===
NAME: Race of the Terrapin and the Deer
DESCRIPTION: The terrapin challenges the deer to a race. The deer agrees; the terrapin asks terrapins to hide by the path. When the deer calls out, "And where are you, terrapin?" the nearest terrapin answers, causing the deer to run faster till it is exhausted
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: animal racing trick recitation
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, p. 504, "Race of the Terrapin and the Deer" (1 text with musical elements)
Roud #7818
NOTES: This is a widely-known folktale, but here presented with music, so into the Index it goes. - RBW
File: Beld504
===
NAME: Race, A
DESCRIPTION: Recitation. Deerfoot John brags that he's the champion foot-racer; Windigo challenges him to a 500-yard race. Deerfoot, running stark naked and with a 40-foot starting lead, runs well, but loses. Deerfoot swears that next time he'll run with his pants on.
AUTHOR: Attributed to Long Joe, from the town of Cedar, Michigan
EARLIEST_DATE: April 28, 1878 (published in newspaper)
KEYWORDS: bragging contest clothes racing sports recitation
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Beck 36, "A Race" (1 text)
Roud #8852
NOTES: Beck quotes an informant to the effect that this is a versified news story. - PJS
File: Be036
===
NAME: Rachel Dear/The Maine Water Side
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the sad day Rachel fell into the river Maine and drowned. She is found by her cousin. Her family, friends, and sweetheart mourn. The song closes with a description of her beauty
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: river death
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H62, pp. 148-149, "Rachel Dear/The Main Water Side" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9451
NOTES: One of the Sam Henry colums claims this is a true story and gives circumstantial details, but no dates. - RBW
File: HHH062
===
NAME: Rackets Around the Blue Mountain Lake, The: see Blue Mountain Lake (The Belle of Long Lake) [Laws C20] (File: LC20)
===
NAME: Rackyman Doo (Ring-Dang-Doo (II))
DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a young fellow, and asks whether he'd like to have a game on her rackyman doo. He asks what it is; she explains that it's soft, with hairs all round and split in two. She takes him to her father's cellar, gives him drink, and asks again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: early 1960s (collected from Caroline Hughes)
KEYWORDS: sex bawdy
FOUND_IN: Britain(England), US(MW), West Indies
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MacSeegTrav 40, "Ring Dang Doo" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ring-Dang-Doo (I)" (euphemism)
NOTES: I separate this from "Ring-Dang-Doo (I)" because it doesn't contain any of the plot elements of that song -- prostitution, pox, etc. No question but they're related, of course. Also, I use the name "Rackyman Doo" because that was Hughes' title for the song. - PJS
File: McCST040
===
NAME: Radcliffe Highway: see Ratcliffe Highway AND Blow the Man Down (File: Doe114)
===
NAME: Radical Gypsy David, The: see The Gypsy Laddie [Child 200] (File: C200)
===
NAME: Raftsman Jim
DESCRIPTION: "So her pop says, 'Nay,' and he lopes right away, And bobs right back the very next day; And he shuts one eye, And looks very sly, She gives her pop the sweet bye-bye." Chorus: "There ain't no cub as neat as him, Dandy, handy raftsman Jim!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1944
KEYWORDS: ship sailor courting father
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 840, "Raftsman Jim" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: BAF840
===
NAME: Raftsmen, The
DESCRIPTION: French: "La ous-qu'y sont, tous les raftsmen?" The raftsmen are on their way to winter camp. They arrive, suffer the usual poor food, work in the woods, go home, and "to greet them come their ladies gay, Who help them spend their hard-earned pay."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925
KEYWORDS: logger work foreignlanguage worker lumbering
FOUND_IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 74-75, "The Raftsmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 171-173, "The Raftsmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 99 "The Raftsmen (Les Raftsmen)" (1 English and one French text)
Roud #2318
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Les Raftsmen" (on PeteSeeger29)
File: FJ074
===
NAME: Raftsmen's Song, The
DESCRIPTION: "I believe some dust of the wanderlust has been molded with my clay. Though I long to come to my home sweet home, it's never long I'll stay." The singer describes his travels, talks of troubles faced by raftsmen, and considers the raftsman's afterlife
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: logger work travel
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke-Lumbering #64, "The Raftsmen's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4360
NOTES: Fowke speculates that this is composed, and I think this certain; both the long lines and the style are completely un-folk-like. - RBW
File: FowL64
===
NAME: Rag Pat
DESCRIPTION: The singer is trying to make a living selling flowers. It is his only choice; father was a drunkard. One day he returns home to find mother dead. Chorus: "Flowers, bouquet, flowers I cry... My clothes don't look neat While struggling for mother and I."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: flowers drink orphan poverty
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 320, "Rag Pat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7794
File: R320
===
NAME: Ragged and Dirty Blues
DESCRIPTION: "Well I'm ragged, I'm hungry, I'm dirty too... If I clean up, sweet mama, can I stay all, all night with you?" The poor, homeless, orphaned stranger hits on the woman and complains that he wants to die. Then he decides to leave her whatever it takes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929
KEYWORDS: hardtimes hobo rambling courting train poverty
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scott-BoA, pp. 319-320, "Ragged and Dirty Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Broke and Hungry
File: SBoA319
===
NAME: Ragged Coat, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer, once poor, receives a large inheritance. As an experiment, he goes out in poor clothing -- and is despised. As soon as he displays money, he is treated kindly. He repeats the test, then notes "Many an honest heart beats beneath a ragged coat."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1850
KEYWORDS: poverty money clothes
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
FSCatskills 102, "The Ragged Coat" (2 texts, 1 tune)
ST FSC102 (Partial)
File: FSC102
===
NAME: Raggedy
DESCRIPTION: "Raggedy, raggedy are we, Just as raggedy, raggedy can be. Well we don't get nothing for our labor, So raggedy are we." Similarly, "Hungry, hungry are we"; "Homeless, homeless are we"; "Landless..."; "Pitiful..."
AUTHOR: John Handcox
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936
KEYWORDS: hardtimes poverty nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Scott-BoA, pp. 337-338, "Raggedy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 219-220, "Raggedy Raggedy" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 137, "Raggedy" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Raggedy" (on PeteSeeger13, AmHist1)
File: SBoA337
===
NAME: Raggedy Raggedy: see Raggedy (File: SBoA337)
===
NAME: Raggle Taggle Gypsies, O, The: see The Gypsy Laddie [Child 200] (File: C200)
===
NAME: Raging Can-all, The: see The Raging Canal (I) (File: San178)
===
NAME: Raging Canal (I), The
DESCRIPTION: "Come listen to my story, ye landsmen one and all, I'll sing to you the dangers of that raging canal."  When the mules trip on a stormy night, the crew faces a wreck. The usual exaggerations, e.g. the cook's dress on a pole, are employed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: canal storm humorous cook
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Sandburg, pp. 178-179, "The Raging Canawl" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 464-465, "(Erie Canal)" (2 texts, the second of which goes here; the first is "A Trip on the Erie (Haul in Your Bowline)"); pp. 471-474, "The Raging Can-all" (1 text)
DT, RAGCANAL*
Roud #6611
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The E-ri-e" (theme) and references there
NOTES: The Erie Canal, as originally constructed, was a completely flat, shallow waterway. The barges were drawn along by mules. Thus, apart from getting wet, storms posed little danger. As for needing a distress signal, one could always step off onto dry land....
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: San178
===
NAME: Raging Canal (II), The: see Coffee Grows (Four in the Middle) (File: R524)
===
NAME: Raging Canawl, The: see The Raging Canal (I) (File: San178)
===
NAME: Raging Sea: see The Mermaid [Child 289] (File: C289)
===
NAME: Raglan Road
DESCRIPTION: "On Raglan Road of an Autumn day, I saw her first and knew, That her dark hair would weave a snare That I might someday rue." "I loved too much, and by such and such Is happiness thrown away." The singer warns of the dangers of courting "an angel."
AUTHOR: Patrick Kavanagh (1904/05-1967)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1978 (Harte)
KEYWORDS: love beauty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
DT, RAGLANRD*
ADDITIONAL: Frank Harte _Songs of Dublin_, second edition, Ossian, 1993, pp. 14-15, "Raglan Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Although I know of no traditional collections, Harte thinks this is becoming a traditional song.
There is an interesting reference to "The Queen of Hearts still making tarts." Is this a reference to "Alice," or to the rhyme Carroll used as the basis for the adventures in Wonderland? It's not clear. - RBW
File: Har014
===
NAME: Ragtime Cowboy Joe
DESCRIPTION: "The roughest, toughest man by far" in Arizona is Ragtime Cowboy Joe, who got his name because "He always sings raggy music to the cattle... On a horse that is syncopated gaited." But folks are advised not to cross him; his gun will make them dance
AUTHOR: Words: Grant Clarke/Music: Lewis F. Muir and Maurice Abrahams
EARLIEST_DATE: 1912 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: cowboy music nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Fife-Cowboy/West 107, "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 107, "Rag Time Cowboy Joe" (1 text)
DT, RAGTMJOE*
Roud #11097
RECORDINGS:
Girls of the Golden West, "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" (Columbia 37724, 1947)
Ranch Boys, "Ragtime Cowboy Joe" (Decca 5074, 1935)
SAME_TUNE:
Doc Roberts, "Ragtime Chicken Joe" (Conqueror 8566, 1935)
File: FCW107
===
NAME: Railroad Bill [Laws I13]
DESCRIPTION: Railroad Bill "never worked and never will"; he drinks, steals, and travels from town to town. His career finally ends when he is shot (and/or arrested). To the very end, all he does is "ride, ride, ride"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1911 (Odum, according to Cohen)
KEYWORDS: rambling robbery crime death train
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: March 7, 1897 - Death of Morris Slater, known as "Railroad Bill"
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (12 citations)
Laws I13, "Railroad Bill"
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 122-131, "Railroad Bill" (2 texts plus many excerpts, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 384-385, "Railroad Bill" (1 text, 1 tune -- perhaps bowdlerized to eliminate Bill's death)
BrownIII 504, "A Thirty-Two Special on a Forty-Four Frame" (1 two-line fragment, with lyrics sometimes associated with this song)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 251-253, "It's Lookin' fer Railroad Bill" (2 texts plus some small pieces, which might be "Joseph Mica" rather than this)
Lomax-FSNA 304, "Railroad Bill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 118-120, "Railroad Bill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burt, pp. 201-202, "(Railroad Bill)" (1 text)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 148, "Railroad Bill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 240-242, "Railroad Bill" (2 texts)
Silber-FSWB, p. 99 "Railroad Bill" (1 text)
DT 662, (RRBILL*)
Roud #4181
RECORDINGS:
Vera Hall, "Railroad Bill" (AFS 1315 B2, 1323 A3; 1937)
Willie Hill, "Railroad Bill" (on FolkVisions2)
Frank Hutchison, "Railroad Bill" (OKeh 45425, 1930; rec. 1929)
Otis Mote, "Railroad Bill" (OKeh 45389, 1929)
Riley Puckett, "Railroad Bill" (Columbia 15040-D, 1925; Silvertone 3258, 1926)
Roba Stanley, Bob Stanley & (?) Patterson, "Railroad Bill" (OKeh 40295, 1925; rec. 1924)
Hobart Smith, "Railroad Bill" (on LomaxCD1705) (Disc 6081, 1940s)
NOTES: Burt reports that Morris Slater, known as "Railroad Bill," "terrorized" Florida and Alabama from 1894 to 1897, initially robbing freight trains, but later perhaps branching out; an Alabana deputy was killed during the saga, and Slater was blamed.
Slater was eventually surrounded and surprised in a grocery, "eating crackers and cheese"; he probably could have been taken, but the posse shot him instead.
Burt's version of the ballad specifically mentions the crackers and cheese, but Laws is rather cautious in reporting Burt's story, and I have to agree with him: I don't think we can prove Burt's Alabama version (published 1927) to be the original.
Cohen adds even more data, noting a number of the parts of "Railroad Bill" seem to precede Slater. Either there was another "Railroad Bill," or the song adapted a large number of other railrod bits. - RBW
File: LI13
===
NAME: Railroad Blues (I)
DESCRIPTION: Floating verses; "Went to the depot and I looked up on the board, It read, good times, children..."; "Where was you, mama, when the train left the shed..."; "Met a little Gypsy in a fortune telling place/She read my mind, and then she slapped my face."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (recording, Sam McGee)
KEYWORDS: railroading nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 190, "Railroad Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 402-403, "The Railroad Blues" (1 excerpted text, 1 tune -- a subset of a song collected in 1915 and printed in JAFL, with fully 80 four-line stanzas, most of which could however be treated as doubles two-line stanzas and therefore sung as a true blues. It has floating verses from everywhere, which perhaps means it should file here. I don't list it as the Earliest Date, though, because it's so anomalous)
RECORDINGS:
Jelly Roll Anderson, "Good Time Blues" (Gennett 6181, 1927) (Herwin 92014, 1927) (one of these two successive cuts is on TimesAint03)
Willie Hill, "Good Old Birmingham" (on FolkVisions2)
Daddy John Love, "Railroad Blues" (Bluebird B-6624, 1936)
Sam McGee, "Railroad Blues" (Champion 45033, 1935; Decca 5348, 1937) (on McGeeSmith1, TimesAint05)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Railroad Blues" (on NLCR03, NLCR12, NLCRCD1)
Art Thieme, "Railroad Blues and Nine Pound Hammer" [medley] (on Thieme01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Baby, All Night Long" (words)
File: CSW190
===
NAME: Railroad Blues (II)
DESCRIPTION: "I got the blues, but I haven't got the fare (x2). I got the blues, but I'm too damned mean to cry." "Some say the rolling blues ain't bad..." the singer concludes they have some other sort of blues. He laments his dead mother and sister gone astray.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: railroading death mother
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 243, "Railroad Blues" (1 text)
Roud #11646
NOTES: As with most blues, this is a rather disjointed piece; it may be a version of "Railroad Blues (I)." But as that piece is more or less a unity, and Scarborough's version has no lyrics in common that I can see, I split them. - RBW
File: ScaNF243
===
NAME: Railroad Blues (III): see Alabama Bound (II) (File: PSAFB044)
===
NAME: Railroad Boomer, The
DESCRIPTION: "Come and gather all around me, listen to my tale of woe... Take a tip from one who's travelled, never start to ramblin' round, Yu're liable to get the wandr'rin fever." The singer plans to marry, but then hears a train; he asks to be buried by the tracks
AUTHOR: Carson J. Robison
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (copyright and first recording)
KEYWORDS: train travel rambling wife abandonment
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 390-393, "" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Frank Luther and Carson J. Robison, "The Railroad Boomer" (Victor V-40139 [as by Bud Billings and Robison], 1929) (Gennett 7019/Champion 15848/Champion 45020/Supertone 9567, 1929)
NOTES: Somewhere in here, there's a joke about Robison writing a science fiction story about the future life of Woody Guthrie.
This is another of the songs in Cohen that comes from the railroad/hillbilly genre but that can't be shown to have circulated in oral tradition. - RBW
File: LSRai390
===
NAME: Railroad Boy, The: see The Bonny Laboring Boy [Laws M14] (File: LM14)
===
NAME: Railroad Bum, The: see Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) [Laws H2] (File: LH02)
===
NAME: Railroad Cars are Coming, The
DESCRIPTION: "The great Pacific railway, For California hail! Bring on the locomotive, Lay down the iron rail; Across the rolling prairies By steam we're bound to go. The railroad cars are coming, humming, Through New Mexico." Even animals rejoice when the train comes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: railroading train nonballad animal
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, pp. 358-359, "The Railroad Cars are Coming" (1 short text, 1 tune)
ST San358 (Full)
Roud #10812
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Echo Canyon Song"
NOTES: The first Transcontinental Railroad in the Unitd States was the Central Pacific, completed in Utah in May 1860. This line went from Chicago to Omaha through Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada on its way to Sacramento and San Francisco.
But it cannot be the line referred to, since the song describes travelling through New Mexico.
Two major transcontinental lines went through the southern states. The Southern Pacific went from New Orleans though Houston, San Antonio, and El Paso to Los Angeles. This might be the reference, but this line barely touches New Mexico.
The Santa Fe railroad (or the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe) fits much better: Starting from Saint Louis as the Missouri Pacific, it passed through Kansas City and then headed west and south through Kansas, a corner of Colorado, and New Mexico, through Santa Fe and Albuquerque to Los Angeles.
The Santa Fe line makes sense in another way: It replaced the old Santa Fe trail, making its opening welcome even to the animals (since they didn't have to travel it). The line reached Santa Fe in 1880, meaning that its construction was still part of living memory when Sandburg was collecting songs. - RBW
File: San358
===
NAME: Railroad Corral, The
DESCRIPTION: "We're up in the morning ere breaking of day, The chuck wagon's busy, the flapjack's in play." The singer describes the hot, dusty, dirty work of the cowboy, and the long days and long trails. He rejoices to reach the end of the trip
AUTHOR: John Mills Hanson
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Frank Leslie's Popular Monthly)
KEYWORDS: cowboy travel work food
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Fife-Cowboy/West 77, "The Railroad Corral" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 185, "The Railroad Corral" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 113, "The Railroad Corral" (1 text)
DT, RRCORRAL*
Roud #4636
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Irish Washerwoman" (tune)
File: LoF185
===
NAME: Railroad Daddy Blues
DESCRIPTION: "Every time I hear a freight train comin', Oh, I listen to the engine sob and moan. Lawd, Lawd, I've got them railroad daddy blues." The singer descries railroad life, wishes her daddy would come back, and rejoices when "my railroad daddy's home at last."
AUTHOR: Harve Burton?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: train separation reunion
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', p. 259, "Railroad Daddy Blues" (1 text)
File: ThBa259
===
NAME: Railroad Dinah Gal
DESCRIPTION: "As I went down to Simon's mill, There I found a very steep hill, The steers began to bellow and balk, And I began to cuss and talk. Railroad Dinah Gal, I'm going' over the mountains." "Me and old Dinah killed a sheep, Give old Dinah the head and feet."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: food animal railroading travel
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 493, "Railroad Dinah Gal" (1 short text)
Roud #11763
File: Br3493
===
NAME: Railroad Song: see The Dummy Line (II) (File: ScNS139A)
===
NAME: Railroad to Heaven, The: see The Road to Heaven (File: R600)
===
NAME: Railroad Tramp: see Remember the Poor Tramp Has to Live (File: RcRtPTHL)
===
NAME: Railroader for Me, A: see Soldier Boy for Me (A Railroader for Me) (File: R493)
===
NAME: Railroader, The: see Soldier Boy for Me (A Railroader for Me) (File: R493)
===
NAME: Railroadin' and Gamblin'
DESCRIPTION: Uncle Dave Macon surrealism. Singer has been in the state house and the court house; he is broke from gambling. Chorus: "Railroadin' and gamblin'/Pickin' up chips for mammy/Lawd, lawd, lawd/Take your feet out the sand, stick 'em in the mud."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (recording, Uncle Dave Macon)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: More Uncle Dave Macon surrealism. Singer has been in the state house (prison?) and the court house, and is broke from gambling despite his mother's advice. "Lawd, that preacher got, ain't that a sin/Johnny get your whiskers cut, here comes the wind." Chorus: "Railroadin' and gamblin'/Pickin' up chips for mammy/Lawd, lawd, lawd/Take your feet out the sand, stick 'em in the mud." You figure it out.
KEYWORDS: prison gambling railroading nonballad nonsense
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Uncle Dave Macon, "Railroadin' and Gamblin'" (Bluebird 8325, 1940; on RoughWays2)
NOTES: Almost certainly of minstrel origin; a few lines are in dialect. While I use the keyword "nonsense," I suspect there was meaning in the song once. - PJS
File: RcUDRaG
===
NAME: Railroading on the Great Divide
DESCRIPTION: "Railroading on the Great Divide/Nothing around me but the Rockies and sky/There you'll find me as the years roll by...." Singer wanders the country before landing on the Great Divide, and tells of the rails and ties he has laid there.
AUTHOR: Sara Carter Bayes
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (record, A. P. Carter Family)
KEYWORDS: pride rambling travel railroading work nonballad worker
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 528-529, "Railroading on the Great Divide" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
A. P. Carter Family, "Railroading on the Great Divide" (Acme 992, 1952)
NOTES: Seldom cited, composed after World War II, but it has attained sufficient circulation in the revival that I index it. - PJS
This has been credited to Janette Carter, who recorded it in 1952 with her brother Joe and her parents A. P. Carter and Sara Carter Bayes; indeed, it was listed as by Janette in the earlier editions of this index. But Cohen corresponded with Sara Carter Bayes about the composition, so I'm following his lead.
This was recorded as part of a brief reunion of A. P. and Sara Carter (strictly musical, of course), which produced a handful of sides for the Acme label. The reunion cuts were not particularly successful (according to John Atkins, article "The Carter Family" in Bill C. Malone and Judith McCulloh, "Stars of Country Music," p. 110, Acme was a small label with no distribution channel and significant quality control problems; he also regards the instrumentation as weak in the absence of Maybelle).
A. P. kept at it with Acme until 1956, but with little reward; this was just about the only memorable product of the sessions. Had they tried the reunion a decade or so later, the folk boom might well have carried them to success -- but A. P. died in 1960. - RBW
File: RcROTGD
===
NAME: Railway Spiritualized, The: see The Road to Heaven (File: R600)
===
NAME: Rain and Snow
DESCRIPTION: Singer's wife gives him trouble, runs him "out in the cold rain and snow." She comes downstairs combing her hair, saying she'll no longer be mistreated; he kills her (, lays out the body, then trembles with cold fear)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: Early 1960s (recording, Obray Ramsay)
KEYWORDS: marriage violence crime murder corpse death wife
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: ()

Roud #3634
RECORDINGS:
Dillard Chandler, "Rain and Snow" (on Chandler01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Nine Hundred Miles" (tune)
cf. "Reuben's Train" (tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Cold Rain and Snow
NOTES: The liner notes to Chandler's recording lump this with "Sporting Bachelors." I demur; that's a humorous cautionary tale, while this is a tragedy. - PJS
It seems to me I've heard this done with a somewhat humorous twist, but certainly it's a distinct song. - RBW
File: RcRaAnSn
===
NAME: Rain Come Wet Me
DESCRIPTION: "Rain come wet me, Sun come dry me, Stand back, white man, Don't come a-nigh me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: storm
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 490, "Rain Come Wet Me" (1 short text)
Roud #11605
File: Br3490
===
NAME: Rain Fall and Wet Becca Lawton
DESCRIPTION: "Rain fall and wet (Becca Lawton) (x2) Oh, brother, cry holy. Been back holy, I must come slowly, Oh, brother cry holy." ""Sun come and dry Becca Lawton." "Do, Becca Lawton, come to me yonder." "Say, brother Tony, what shall I do now?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Allen, Ware, Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 21, "Rain Fall and Wet Becca Lawton" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11973
NOTES: I have a funny feeling that, if we could actually go back and ask the composer about this, it would have something to do with Noah's flood. But it's only a feeling; neither the word "flood" nor the word "Noah" occurs in the Allen/Ware/Garrison version, and at least one of their informants claimed it had to do with a "prophetess" who baptized in the rain. - RBW
File: AWG021
===
NAME: Rain Rain the Wind Does Blow: see The Wind (Rain, Rain, the Wind Does Blow) (File: RcRRtWDB)
===
NAME: Rain, Rain My Savior
DESCRIPTION: "Takes a holy man to join  us in the army of the Lord (x2), O rain, rain a rain, my savior, Rain, rain, the Lord sent it down, O rain, rain a rain my savior, Rain, rain, the Lord sent it down." "So glad I ever started in the army of the Lord...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Chappell-FSRA 89, "Rain, Rain My Savior" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #16936
File: ChFRA089
===
NAME: Rain, Rain, Go Away
DESCRIPTION: "Rain, rain, go away, Come again some other day." Additional stanzas may have additional suggestions
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1947 (Opie & Opie); a probable ancestor quoted by Aubrey in 1687 and another by John Howell in 1659
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 435, "Rain, rain, go away" (10 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #443, p. 205, "(Rain, rain, go away)"
ADDITIONAL: Peter and Iona Opie, _I Saw Esau: Traditional Rhymes of Youth_, #161, "(Rain, rain, go way)" (1 text)
NOTES: My general assumption is that, if I learned something from other kids, with a tune, then it qualifies as "folk song." By that definition, this fits, silly as it is.
Aubrey's 1687 version, as quoted by the Baring-Goulds, is
Raine, raine, goe away,
Come again a Saterday.
Howell's version, quoted by the Opies, is
Raine, raine, go to Spain,
Faire weather come againe. - RBW
File: BGMG443
===
NAME: Rainbow 'mid Life's Willows: see Locks and Bolts [Laws M13] (File: LM13)
===
NAME: Rainbow (I), The: see Johnny German [Laws N43] (File: LN43)
===
NAME: Rainbow (II), The: see The Female Warrior (Pretty Polly) [Laws N4] (File: LN04)
===
NAME: Rainbow Willow: see Locks and Bolts [Laws M13] (File: LM13)
===
NAME: Raise 'Em Up Higher
DESCRIPTION: "Raise 'em up higher, higher, drop 'em down (c3), Never know the difference when the sun goes down." "Twenty-one hammers fallin' in a line (x3), Nobody's hammer, buddy, ring-a like mine." The singer hopes his girl hears him and talks of work
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (various recordings from prisoners made by Bruce Jackson)
KEYWORDS: prison hardtimes separation
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 275-280, "Raise 'Em Up Higher" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
NOTES: As with so much in Jackson, these songs are grouped rather arbitrarily, and some might perhaps be split off or lumped with other songs. - RBW
File: JDM275
===
NAME: Raise a Ruckus
DESCRIPTION: A slave is told by his mistress that he would be freed when she died. The promise is long in coming true, and at last the singer takes things in his own hand. Having set off (down?)river, he intends to "raise a ruckus tonight."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: slave freedom escape party
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
BrownIII 499, "Raise a Ruckus Tonight" (2 texts plus 2 fragments; the "A" text, however, is "I'll Build Me a Boat")
Lomax-FSUSA 26, "Raise a Rukus" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 253-254, "Raise a Rukus Tonight" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 299, "Raise A Ruckus Tonight" (1 text)
Roud #10054
RECORDINGS:
Charlie Bowman & his Brothers, "Gonna Raise the Ruckus Tonight" (Columbia 15357-D, 1929; rec. 1928)
Warren Caplinger, "G'wina Raise a Ruckus Tonight" (Vocalion 5222, c. 1928)
Cliff Carlisle, "Gonna Raise a Ruckus Tonight" (Decca 5774, 1939)
Bill Chitwood & his Georgia Mountaineers, "Raise Rough House Tonight" (OKeh 45236, 1928)
Hugh Cross & Riley Puckett, "Gonna Raise Ruckus Tonight" (Columbia 15455-D, 1929; rec. 1928)
Folkmasters, "Raise a Rukus Tonight" (on Fmst01)
The Georgia Yellow Hammers, "Going To Raise A Ruckus Tonight" (Victor 20928, 1927)
Georgia Serenaders [pseud. for Caplinger's Cumberland Mountain Entertainers], "Gonna Raise a Ruckus Tonight" (Supertone 9473, 1929) [this is probably the same as the Warren Caplinger recording listed above]
Mobile Strugglers, "Raise a Ruckus Tonight" (on AmSkBa)
Norfolk Jubilee Quartet, "Raise Rukus Tonight" (Paramount 12032, 1923)
Pete Seeger, "Raise a Ruckus Tonight" (on PeteSeeger05)
Southern Quartet, "Gonna Raise Rukus Tonight" (Columbia 14048-D, 1924)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Marse John" (lyrics)
cf. "My Ole Mistus Promised Me" (lyrics)
cf. "Mourner, You Shall Be Free (Moanish Lady)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Hard Time in Old Virginnie" (floating lyrics)
cf. "I'll Build Me a Boat" (lyrics)
File: LxU026
===
NAME: Raise a Ruckus Tonight (I): see Raise a Ruckus (File: LxU026)
===
NAME: Raise a Ruckus Tonight (II): see I'll Build Me a Boat (File: Br3499)
===
NAME: Raise a Rukus: see Raise a Ruckus (File: LxU026)
===
NAME: Raise a Rukus Tonight: see Raise a Ruckus (File: LxU026)
===
NAME: Rake and Rambling Boy, The: see The Wild and Wicked Youth [Laws L12] (File: LL12)
===
NAME: Rakes of Mallow, The
DESCRIPTION: "Beauing, belleing, dancing, drinking, Breaking windows, damning, sinking, Ever raking, never thinking, Live the rakes of Mallow." This self-centered life continues until "they get sober, take a wife, Ever after live in strife"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1839 (Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: drink party wine rake
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
O'Conor, p. 93, "The Rakes of Mallow" (1 text)
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 249-250, "The Rakes of Mallow" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 483-484, 514, "The Rakes of Mallow"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sandy Lent the Man His Mull" (tune, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
NOTES: Croker-PopularSongs: "In 1750, Dr Smith thus describes Mallow, which was then a very fashionable watering-place:'... Here is generally a resort of good company during the summer months, both for pleasure and the benefit of drinking the waters....'"
Sparling: "Eighteenth century. The 'Rakes' were the sons of the Protestant gentlemen who frequented the 'waters' of Mallow." - BS
Broadside Bodleian, Harding B 40(11), "The Rakes of Mallow" ("Beauing, belling dancing, drinking"), J.F. Nugent and Co.? (Dublin?), 1850-1899 could not be downloaded and verified. - BS
File: CrPS249
===
NAME: Rakes of Poverty, The
DESCRIPTION: Irish variant on "The Son of a Gambolier." The singer describes himself as "the rambling rakes of poverty... the son of a gambaleer." He likes drink, and lives shabbily, in used clothes and shoes. He wishes he had drink and sugar for all
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: drink rambling poverty
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H741, p. 50, "The Rakes of Poverty" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SONGAMB2*
Roud #2964
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Son of a Gambolier (I)" (tune) and references there
NOTES: This is so close to "The Son of a Gambolier" that I'm tempted to list them as one song. But they're usually listed as separate, so here it stands. - RBW
File: HHH741
===
NAME: Raking of the Hay: see Tossing of the Hay (File: HHH635)
===
NAME: Rally Round the Flag: see The Battle Cry of Freedom (File: MA034)
===
NAME: Rally-Roh
DESCRIPTION: Gerry Foley's stormy adventure while hunting an otter bring him to the attention of a "big vessel" captain. The captain tries but fails to lure Gerry to sea and is scolded by Gerry's wife.
AUTHOR: George Curtin (source: OCanainn)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1978 (OCanainn)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Gerry Foley tried kill a "water dog" [otter], but it escaped into the river. Gerry built a boat, loaded his rifle, and chased after the otter. After three weeks rowing he survived a gale, headed back to town, but ran into a rock on his way home. A captain of "a big vessel,' having heard of the adventure, came to Gerry's home and offered Gerry money, land and mansion to go with him to sea. When Gerry refused the offer the captain took offense, saying "I came here for you all the ways from Kinsale, And allow me to tell you, I'm not going to fail" Gerry's wife Joan -- "as you know she is wicked and terrible bold" -- scolded the captain
KEYWORDS: river storm wreck talltale animal wife
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OCanainn, pp. 54-55,122, "Rally-Roh" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: OCanainn: "A typical composition of George Curtin who picked on a minor incident that happened to his neighbor Ger Foley. The hard facts of the case were that Ger spotted an otter in the river and tried to kill it. George heard of the incident and transformed the simple event into a saga ....."
This is a ballad in the not-exclusively-Irish tradition of river and canal boat tall tales like "The Clonmel Flood" and "The Wreck of the Gwendoline." In this case we are in on the ship-building phase as well as the sinking.
The sea captain had come all the way from Kinsale, about 14 miles as the gull flies, to recruit Gerry.
The title is from the chorus: "Rally-Roh Fal-de-dah Rally Roh fal-di-dee." - BS
File: OCan054
===
NAME: Rally, Boys, Rally
DESCRIPTION: "Lead your partner up and down, I thought I heard them say, Lead your partner... I thought I heard...." "Rally, boys, rally, I thought I heard them say...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Hudson)
KEYWORDS: dancetune nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hudson 150, p. 295, "Rally, Boys, Rally" (1 short text)
Roud #4508
File: Hud150
===
NAME: Ram o' Bervie, The: see references under The Derby Ram (File: R106)
===
NAME: Ram o' Dirram, The: see The Derby Ram (File: R106)
===
NAME: Ram of Dalby, The: see references under The Derby Ram (File: R106)
===
NAME: Ram of Derby, The: see references under The Derby Ram (File: R106)
===
NAME: Ram of Diram, The: see references under The Derby Ram (File: R106)
===
NAME: Ram Song (I), The: see The Derby Ram (File: R106)
===
NAME: Ram Song (II), The
DESCRIPTION: Pius bought a small, thin ram from Jenny. The boys play cards for the ram "but playing cards for rams in Lent -- it was a mortal sin." The ram grows big and fat and is slaughtered "to pay the boys to plow up the old graveyard"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (Dibblee/Dibblee)
KEYWORDS: cards humorous animal
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dibblee/Dibblee, p. 97, "The Ram Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12451
NOTES: Did something drop out of this song in which one of the gamblers dies? Until we find another version, we can hardly tell. - RBW
File: Dib097
===
NAME: Rambleaway
DESCRIPTION: Young man meets young woman. He says he's known as "Rambleaway" (after his wandering habit). In some versions the last verse cautions girls about men like him; in others the woman slips away, and he rambles around searching for her in vain.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1891
KEYWORDS: courting rambling warning pregnancy
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South,North))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Sharp-100E 31, "Sweet Kitty" ; 75, "Brimbledon Fair, or, Young Ramble-Away" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Kennedy 166, "Ramble-away" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, RAMBLAWA
Roud #171
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Come All You Fair and Tender Girls" (theme)
cf. "When I Was Young (Don't Never Trust a Sailor)" (plot)
cf. "Yon Green Valley" (plot)
cf. "The Courting Coat" (plot, lyrics)
cf. "The Roving Shantyboy" (plot)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Derry Down Fair
Brimbledown Fair
Burlington Fair
Brocklesby Fair
File: ShH31
===
NAME: Rambler from Clare, The
DESCRIPTION: The rambler tells of beginning his career in the (County Tyrone), where (the women) first dubbed him the Rambler from Claire. Captured (by the English, he faces a stiff sentence) but escapes to America (and continues to pursue the women)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3218)); beginning 19C (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: rambling emigration
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South)) US(NE) Ireland
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
OLochlainn-More 68, "The Rambler from Clare" (1 text, 1 tune)
Zimmermann 20, "The Rambler from Clare" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 46, "The Rambler from Clare" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 59, "The Rambler from Claire" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, RMBLCLAR*
Roud #1531
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3218), "The Rambler From Clare," J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Harding B 11(3219), 2806 b.11(9), 2806 c.15(250), 2806 b.9(267)[some words illegible], Harding B 19(9)[some words illegible], Harding B 11(3217), Harding B 26(553), 2806 c.15(184), 2806 c.15(327), 2806 b.11(14), "The Rambler From Clare"
Murray, Mu23-y1:008, "The Rambler From Clair," unknown, 19C; also Mu23-y4:026, "Rambler From Clare" 
NLScotland, RB.m.169(104), "The Rambler from Clair," Robert M'Intosh (address obliterated), c.1855
NOTES: In some texts, the rambler is an Irish rebel, and is forced to flee Ireland to escape prosecution. In others, he is a deserter from the English army. In many versions, however, he is just a young man out to have as much fun with the ladies as possible.
And yes, the Warners spell it "Claire." Maybe that's the girl he was dating. - RBW
File: Wa059
===
NAME: Rambler Song
DESCRIPTION: "He rambled across the seas, to see the firstline (front line?) French, And there were all the Kapps Sigs, a-gossiping in French; And what they had to say that day is more than I can tell, But they all did promise faithfully to give the Kaiser hell."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Henry, from Dr. Finis K. Farr)
KEYWORDS: war travel France
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 250, "Rambler Song" (1 fragment)
NOTES: I suspect this is a World War I version of "The Rambling Wreck from Georgia Tech" or a related song, but with only one stanza and no tune, I can't actually equate them. - RBW
File: MHAp250
===
NAME: Ramblin' Reckless Hobo: see Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) [Laws H2] (File: LH02)
===
NAME: Rambling Beauty, The: see Nancy (II) (The Rambling Beauty) [Laws P12] (File: LP12)
===
NAME: Rambling Blues: see Rambling Round (File: CSW118)
===
NAME: Rambling Boy (I), The: see The Wild and Wicked Youth [Laws L12] (File: LL12)
===
NAME: Rambling Boy (II): see My Ramblin' Boy (File: FSWB061)
===
NAME: Rambling Boy (III), The
DESCRIPTION: Jack the sailor and his girl spend the night and stop in a Green Street tavern where he is beaten by "turks and heathens." He is taken and "transported for theivery" to Van Diemans Land. Now in "transport blue," he will write her a letter if she is true.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (IRRCinnamond03)
KEYWORDS: sex fight farewell theft transportation unemployment sailor
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: ()

ST RcRCTRaY (Full)
Roud #3083
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "The Rambling Youth" (on IRRCinnamond03)
NOTES: The description is based on John Moulden's transcription from IRRCinnamond03 included in the Traditional Ballad Index Supplement. 
There appear to be missing pieces to the story. The text says Jack "can find no employ" [is a robbery missing at this point?] and he "took ... flight" with his "darling"; after their night together "she proved my overthrow." Were the "turks [cruel men] and heathens" in the tavern police? - BS
More likely they are Catholics, I think. According to Eric Partridge's _A Dictionary of Slang  and Unconventional English_, a "Turk" was a gutter word for Irishmen. If "Turk" is used in that sense, it seems reasonable to assume that Jack is English, and Protestant, and is claiming to have been attacked by Irish Catholics. No doubt a convenient excuse.... - RBW
File: RcRCTRaY
===
NAME: Rambling Boys of Pleasure, The: see You Rambling Boys of Pleasure (Down by Sally's Garden) (File: FowM059)
===
NAME: Rambling Gambler, The: see The Wagoner's Lad (File: R740)
===
NAME: Rambling Miner, The
DESCRIPTION: "I'm only a rambling miner, I work where I like best, In the coal mines of Kentucky, Or the copper mines in the west." But wherever he goes, the singer is gambling his life in the mines. He says he is doing it "So that the women and kids may eat."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: mining rambling nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', p. 248, "The Rambling Miner" (1 text)
NOTES: It is rather unfortunate that Thomas did not preserve a tune for this piece. The first two stanzas appear to be built upon "The Roving Gambler," but the final two look like something else. - RBW
File: ThBa248A
===
NAME: Rambling Round
DESCRIPTION: Singer describes rambling around cities and towns, and his life as a migrant fruit picker. He wishes he could settle down, but "I am just a refugee/As I go rambling round, boys."
AUTHOR: Woody Guthrie
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940s (recording, Woody Guthrie)
KEYWORDS: loneliness rambling work worker migrant
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 118, "Rambling Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GORAMB
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Goodnight, Irene" (tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Rambling Round Your City
As I Go Rambling 'Round
NOTES: This song verges on the status of an autobiography of Woody Guthrie, and to the best of my knowledge has never been found in tradition. The tune is an adaption of Huddie "Lead Belly" Ledbetter's "Goodnight Irene." - RBW
File: CSW118
===
NAME: Rambling Round Your City: see Rambling Round (File: CSW118)
===
NAME: Rambling Rover: see You Rambling Boys of Pleasure (Down by Sally's Garden) (File: FowM059)
===
NAME: Rambling Sailor, The: see The Rambling Soldier (File: ShH43)
===
NAME: Rambling Shoemaker, The: see James Ervin [Laws J15] (File: LJ15)
===
NAME: Rambling Soldier (I), The
DESCRIPTION: Soldier (sailor) describes the joys of rambling the countryside (of England): "I once was a seaman stout and bold, Ofttimes I plowed the ocean... For honor and promotion." In some versions he brags that he has a license to ramble, granted by the king.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads 256)
KEYWORDS: rambling nonballad sailor soldier injury
FOUND_IN: US(SE) Britain(England,Scotland) Australia
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
BrownIII 367, "The Jolly Soldier" (1 fragment plus mention of 1 more)
Sharp-100E 43, "The Rambling Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 174-175, "The Rambling Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, p. 326, "Dicky Johnston, or, The Roving Sailor" (1 short text)
DT, RAMBSAIL* (RMBSAIL2*)
Roud #518
RECORDINGS:
Chris Willett, "The Rambling Sailor" (on Voice12)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 256, "The Rambling Sailor" ("I am a sailor stout and bold, long time I have ploughed the ocean"), J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Firth c.12(275), Johnson Ballads 1230, Harding B 11(1670), Firth b.25(378), Harding B 11(3226), Harding B 11(4288), Harding B 15(250b), Johnson Ballads 966, Johnson Ballads 559, Harding B 20(142), Firth b.34(302), "[The] Rambling Sailor"; Harding B 11(3228), "The Rambling Soldier" ("I am a soldier blithe and gay"), W. and T. Fordyce (Newcastle), 1832-1842; Firth b.26(329), Harding B 11(835), Harding B 16(221a), Harding B 11(3227), Harding B 15(251a), Harding B 15(251b), Harding B 15(252a), Harding B 20(143), Harding B 17(251a), "Rambling Soldier"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rambling Comber"
NOTES: Sharp notes that on the older broadsides, the rambler was a soldier; in the newer ones, he is a sailor. - PJS
Sharp may be right about which version is the older. The Bodleian broadsides give no clear-cut answer; however, Harding B 16(221a), "Rambling Soldier" lists the tune as "Rambling Sailor"; it also lists the author as John Morgan. - BS
In Brown's version (which is only two stanzas), it appears that he is a sailor who later enlists in the American Revolutionary army. This may be a rewrite, but the text it too short to be sure.
Ord's text says that the sailor has been granted a license to beg *because he has lost a limb.* Ordinarily I would consider this a significant enough distinction to split the songs, but the rest is the same; the lost limb appears (or fails to appear, perhaps) in only a single line. Perhaps a mixture with something like "The Forfar Soldier," or even a case of an injured veteran adopting the piece to his own case? - RBW
File: ShH43
===
NAME: Rambling Soldier (II), The: see The Son of a Gambolier (I) (File: San044)
===
NAME: Rambling Suiler, The: see The Jolly Beggar [Child 279] (File: C279)
===
NAME: Rambling Young Fellow, A: see Wrap Me Up in my Tarpaulin Jacket (File: FR439)
===
NAME: Rambling, Gambling Man: see The Roving Gambler [Laws H4] (File: LH04)
===
NAME: Randal, My Son: see Lord Randal [Child 12] (File: C012)
===
NAME: Randy Dandy O
DESCRIPTION: Capstan or pumps shanty. Chorus: "Heave a pawl, o heave away. Way ay roll an' go. The anchor's on board an' the cable's all stored, timme rollockin' randy dandy o." Rhyming verses about sailing and women.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Robinson)
KEYWORDS: shanty sailor
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar) US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Colcord, p. 116, "Galloping Randy Dandy O!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 167-168, "Randy Dandy O" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 135]
DT, RANDDAND*
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). "Galloping Randy Dandy O!" is in Part 3, 7/28/1917.
Roud #4702
NOTES: Hugill says that he and his sources cleaned this one up a good deal before printing. - SL
File: Hugi167
===
NAME: Randy Riley: see The Farmer's Curst Wife [Child 278] (File: C278)
===
NAME: Rang-a-Tang-Too, The: see The Ring-Dang-Doo (I) (File: EM182A)
===
NAME: Range Rider's Appeal, A: see The Cowboy's Prayer (II) (File: Ohr077)
===
NAME: Ranger, The: see Bold Ranger, The (File: R076)
===
NAME: Ranger's Prayer: see The Dying Ranger [Laws A14] (File: LA14)
===
NAME: Rangey Ribs, The
DESCRIPTION: Patrick Cowley deals in cattle. He recalls the sickly scrawney "Rangey Ribs" Mickey Dubh sold to him as a thoroughbred. Pat couldn't sell him. His only use was to hang the wash. But when he died neighbors came to the burial from miles around
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1986 (McBride)
KEYWORDS: death commerce humorous animal
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
McBride 58, "The Rangey Ribs" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: McBride: "The song is well known in other parts of the country and has been recorded extensively in Co. Clare. Place names matter not. The song is part of the genre popular throughout the country in which broken down cattle are ridiculed." - BS
File: McB1058
===
NAME: Ranso Ray: see Ranzo Ray (File: Hugi247)
===
NAME: Ransum Scansum
DESCRIPTION: "Ransum scansum, through yonder, Bring me a gourd to drink water. Dis way out and t'other way in, In my lady's chamber, Dis way out and t'other way in, In my lady's chamber."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: playparty nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 131, "Ransum Scansum" (2 short texts, 1 tune; the second fragment has no title, but probably should be called "Aransom Shansom")
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Do, Do, Pity My Case" (lyrics) and references there
File: ScaNF131
===
NAME: Rantin' Laddie, The [Child 240]
DESCRIPTION: The lady has "played at the cards and the dice" with the rantin' laddie; now she has a child and is scorned. She sends a letter to the rantin' laddie -- who proves to be the Earl of Aboyne. He marries her and all are happy
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1803 (Skene ms.)
KEYWORDS: love courting marriage adultery bastard cards
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(NE)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Child 240, "The Rantin' Laddie" (4 texts)
Bronson 240, "The Rantin' Laddie" (6 versions+1 in addenda)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 303-304, "The Rantin' Laddie" (1 fragment, 1 tune, a single "Rantin' Laddie" stanxa with a "hush-a-bye" chorus perhaps from the mother to her bastard baby) {Bronson's #6}
Leach, pp. 597-598, "The Rantin' Laddie" (2 texts)
Combs/Wilgus 35, pp. 127-128, "The Rantin Laddie" (1 text)
DBuchan 57, "The Rantin Laddie" (1 text)
DT 240, RANTNLAD*
Roud #103
RECORDINGS:
Willie Mathieson, "The Bonny Rantin' Laddie" [fragment] (on FSBBAL2) {Bronson's #5.1}
NOTES: The "rant" is a dance step, now found chiefly in Northumberland and surrounding areas. - PJS
File: C240
===
NAME: Rantin', Roarin', Drunk on the Way
DESCRIPTION: Singer tells of getting drunk with his friends (all of whom he names) on the way to the lumber camp at Upyongo. At the end of the season, at home, they reminisce about how they got "drunk on the way."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: drink moniker logger
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Beck 65, "Rattlin', Roarin', Drunk on the Way" (1 text)
Roud #8845
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "How We Got Up to the Woods Last Year" (lyrics)
NOTES: The "moniker song" consists mostly of listing the names of one's compatriots, and perhaps telling humorous vignettes about each; it's common among lumberjacks, hoboes, and probably other groups. - PJS
This particular song shares the general chorus with "How We Got Up to the Woods Last Year" (where it runs "Rant and roar and drunk on the way"), but the plots seem distinct enough that Roud and I both split them. - RBW
File: Be065
===
NAME: Ranting Roving Lad: see The White Cockade (File: R120)
===
NAME: Ranzo: see Reuben Ranzo (File: Doe023)
===
NAME: Ranzo Ray
DESCRIPTION: Shanty. First refrain "Ranzo, Ranzo, hurray, hurray" (or "away, away), second refrain usually "Hilo me Ranzo ray." Verses tell of destinations and cargos, i.e. "we're bound for Yokohammer, with a load o' grand pianners."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Sharp-EFC)
KEYWORDS: shanty ship commerce travel
FOUND_IN: Britain US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Hugill, pp. 247-249, "Ranzo Ray" (3 texts, 3 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 179-182]
Sharp-EFC, XIX, p. 22, "The Bully Boat" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). "Ranso Ray" is in Part 1, 7/14/1917.
Roud #327
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Huckleberry Hunting" (similar refrain)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Rando Ray
NOTES: Bone, in his notes to "Reuben Ranzo," was of the opinion that the word "Ranzo" somehow seemed to suit the action of hauling, which might explain its use in both this song and that. - RBW
File: Hugi247
===
NAME: Rap-Tap-Tap: see The Farm Servant (Rap-Tap-Tap) (File: DTraptap)
===
NAME: Rarden Wreck of 1893, The
DESCRIPTION: A train heads for Cincinnati, but the engineer dies at Rarden station after jumping from the train when he saw an open switch. The fireman is crushed in the wreck. Chorus: "Did he ever come back? No, he never came back. His fate was easily learned...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1993
KEYWORDS: train wreck disaster death
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Darling-NAS, p. 215, "The Rarden Wreck of 1893" (1 text, filed with "The Wreck of the Old 97")
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ship that Never Returned" [Laws D27] (tune & meter) and references there
cf. "The Wreck of Old 97" [Laws G2] (tune, theme)
cf. "The Train that Never Returned" (tune, theme)
File: DarNS215
===
NAME: Rare Clonmel
DESCRIPTION: The singer is leaving his home in Clonmel. He thinks of the places there he loved. "In ev'ry fight for Erin's right, Foul tyranny to quell, First in the field and last to yield Are the boys of Rare Clonmel!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS:  farewell home lyric nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 20B, "Rare Clonmel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9778
NOTES: Clonmel is on the river Suir, South Tipperary. OLochlainn-More has no information about the song. - BS
File: OLcM020B
===
NAME: Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie [Child 215]
DESCRIPTION: Willie drowns in the (Yarrow). (Details of how and why vary greatly). His lover dreams a dream of woe. She sets out and finds Willie's body, and uses her hair to pull him from the water. In many accounts she (promises to) die for sorrow
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1733
KEYWORDS: death mourning courting drowning
FOUND_IN: Britain(England,Scotland(Aber,Bord)) US(MW) Canada Ireland
REFERENCES: (12 citations)
Child 215, "Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie" (9 texts)
Bronson 215, "Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie" (9 versions)
Dixon XII, pp. 66-67, "The Water o' Gamery" (1 text)
Eddy 22, "Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow" (1 text, 1 tune, erroneously listed as Child 214) {Bronson's #4}
Leach, pp. 571-572, "Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 99, "The Braes o' Yarrow" (1 text which is mostly Child 214 but incorporates parts of Child 215)
Ord, pp. 454-455, "Willie's Drowned at Gamerie" (1 text)
Fowke/MacMillan 78, "Willie Drowned in Ero" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBB 93, "Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow" (1 text)
PBB 62, "Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow" (1 text)
DT 215, YARROW2* YARROW3*
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; notes to #425, "But think na' ye my heart was sair///?" (1 text)
Roud #206
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dowie Dens o' Yarrow" [Child 214]
cf. "Susan Strayed on the Briny Beach" [Laws K19] (plot)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Willie's Rare
NOTES: Several scholars, among them Norman Cazden, have claimed that this song is the same as Child 214, "The Dowie Dens o Yarrow/The Braes o Yarrow." Certainly there has been exchange of verses. However, I (following Leach), would maintain that there is a difference: "The Dowie Dens" is about opposition to a marriage; "Willie Drowned" is about the loss of a love.
A brief summary of the whole discussion is found in Coffin's notes in Flanders-Ancient3. It's not clear what he believes, except that the two songs are a mess and quite mixed. Which can hardly be denied.
Palgrave's _Golden Treasury_ includes a piece (item CLXIII) titled "The Braes of Yarrow," credited to J. Logan, which is clearly built upon this theme -- but it looks like a literary rewrite. Palgrave's next item (CLXIV), "Willy Drowned in Yarrow," is the real thing, though probably somewhat touched up by his (unnamed) source.
Child lists "Annan Water" as an appendix to this ballad, though it appears to me that, if it's related to any of the Child ballads, it's #216, "The Mother's Malison, or, Clyde's Water." - RBW
File: C215
===
NAME: Rare Willie's Drowned in Ero: see Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie [Child 215] (File: C215)
===
NAME: Raspberry Lane: see Rosemary Lane [Laws K43] (File: LK43)
===