NAME: Swan Swims Bonnie, The: see The Twa Sisters [Child 10] (File: C010)
===
NAME: Swan, The
DESCRIPTION: "On the lovely banks of the Bann as we watched the gliding swan," the singer tells Mary of his plans to go oversea. She says that she would rather be poor in Ireland than live better elsewhere. He agrees to stay in Ireland and be married there
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: home Ireland marriage separation emigration
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H475, p. 455, "The Swan" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: This is one of those songs which probably could exist only in Ireland. - RBW
File: HHH475
===
NAME: Swanee River: see Old Folks at Home (File: RJ19163)
===
NAME: Swannanoa Tunnel
DESCRIPTION: "Asheville Junction, Swannanoa Tunnel, all caved in, baby, all caved in." About the life of a steel driver: "This old hammer Killed John Henry, Couldn't kill me." The singer hopes for relief from the hard work and a chance to see his woman.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Cecil Sharp collection); +1913 (JAFL26)
KEYWORDS: railroading work separation death
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
BrownII 280, "John Henry" (2 texts plus 5 fragments, 1 excerpt, and mention of 1 more, but the "H" text and "I" excerpt are this piece and most of the rest, except the "A" text, are "Take This Hammer")
Combs/Wilgus 256, p. 166, "The Yew-Pine Mountains" (1 text, which omits the "Swannanoa Tunnel" lyrics but is otherwise so similar I have to believe it the same)
SharpAp 91, "Swannanoa Town" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 749, "Swannanoa Tunnel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 45, "Swannanoa Tunnel" (1 text)
DT, SWANNOA*
Roud #3602
RECORDINGS:
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "Swannanoa Tunnel" (on BLLunsford01) (on BLLunsford02)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Drivin' Steel" (theme, lyrics)
cf. "Take This Hammer" (floating lyrics)
cf. "If You Meet a Woman in the Morning" (form, lyrics)
NOTES: The connection between this song and "Take This Hammer" (Nine Pound Hammer) is very strong; there are so many intermediate versions that we can hardly draw a clear distinction. But the extreme versions are sufficiently different that I have listed them
separately. - RBW
Sharp's versions mention neither the tunnel nor a cave-in, but I put them here for simplicity's sake, using the mention of Swannanoa as the dividing line from "Take This Hammer." You should check out that entry too, though. - PJS
File: CW166
===
NAME: Swannanoah Town: see Swannanoah Tunnel (File: CW166)
===
NAME: Swansea Town (The Holy Ground)
DESCRIPTION: The singer is leaving (home and/or sweetheart). He describes the various troubles the ship faces on her voyage (around the Horn), including bad weather. (He writes to his girl when the ship stops in port.) At last he arrives home with great rejoicing
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: sailor ship storm parting reunion
FOUND_IN: US(MA) Ireland
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Doerflinger, pp. 152-154, "Swansea Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, p. 431-436, "Old Swansea Town Once More," "In Cameltoon Once More," "The Holy Ground Once More" (4 texts, 4 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 323-328]
OLochlainn-More 97, "The Holy Ground" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, HOLYGRND*
Roud #929
NOTES: Normally known in Ireland as "The Holy Ground" (there is even a spot in Cork called "The Holy Ground") and "Swansea Town" in the wider world. Doerflinger's text opens with a stanza not found in the Irish versions but with connections to several Appalachian songs: 
Now the Lord made the bee and the bee did make honey,
Oh, the Devil sends the girls for to spend the sailors' money."
Robert Gogan,  _130 Great Irish Ballads_ (third edition, Music Ireland, 2004), p. 152 notes that the title "The Holy Ground" normally refers to the east side of Cobh near Cork -- but admits a rumour that it once referred to a brothel in the town. He can find no confirmation of this. I would presume, in any case, that that would be "The Holey Ground." - RBW
File: Doe152
===
NAME: Swapping Boy, The
DESCRIPTION: The Swapping Boy (sets out for London to get a wife. He swaps wife, or the wheelbarrow he took her home in, for a) horse, which he swaps for a cow, and so forth, for a cheaper animal each time, until he ends with a mole which "went straight to its hole"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1784 (Gammer Gurton's Garland)
KEYWORDS: animal humorous commerce
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So) Britain(England) Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (19 citations)
Eddy 93, "The Swapping Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 256, "Went to the River" (1 text, 1 tune, a much degraded form with a different chorus and some floating verses)
BrownII 196, "Swapping Songs" (4 text plus 2 excerpts, but "E" and "F" are "Hush Little Baby"; the "C" excerpt is unidentifiable from the description)
BrownIII 131, "When I Was a Little Boy" (1 text plus mention of 2 more, with only the first verses about fetching the wife from London)
JHCoxIIB, #19A-B, pp. 166-169, "The Foolish Boy," "Johnny Bobeens" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Kennedy 312, "Wim-Wam-Waddles" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 10, "The Swapping Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cambiaire, pp. 78-79, "The Swapping Song" (1 text)
SharpAp 217, "The Foolish Boy" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 72, "The Swapping Song (The Foolish Boy)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 1, "The Swapping Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 243, "Down by the Brook" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 174-175, "The Swapping Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert, pp. 44-45, "Wing Wang Waddle" (1 text)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 70-71, "Foolish Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H732, p. 57, "My Grandfather Died" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 71, "When I was a little boy I lived by myself" (2 texts); 156, "My father he died, but I can't tell you how" (1 text) 
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #7, pp. 29-30, "(When I was a little boy)"; #115, p. 96, "(My father he died, but I can't tell you how)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 23, "(His father died)" (1 short text); 163, "O, when I was a wee thing" (1 short text, with only the verses about "When I was a wee thing" and the fetching home of a wife in a wheelbarrow)
ST E093 (Full)
Roud #469
RECORDINGS:
Anne, Judy & Zeke Canova, "The Poor Little Thing Cried Mammy" (Oriole 8044/Perfect 12685/Regal 10299, 1931); as the "Three Georgia Crackers," "Poor Little Thing Cried Mammy" (Columbia 15653-D, 1931; rec. 1930; on CrowTold01)
Harry Greening & chorus of Dorsetshire Mummers, "The Foolish Boy" (on FSB10)
Bradley Kincaid, "The Swapping Song" (Champion 15466 [as Dan Hughey]/Silvertone 5188/Supertone 9209, 1928)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Brown Dog"
cf. "Mary Mack (I)" (plot)
cf. "Old John Wallis" (lyrics)
NOTES: Eddy writes of this song, "Most texts are like the above in blending two separate songs, 'When I Was a Little Boy' and 'Swapping Song.' The first story, based, in all likelihood, upon Wat Tyler's Rebellion of 1381 in England, continues through four stanzas."
That two songs are combined here is very likely; Kennedy's version and others (including versions back to Gammer Gurton's Garland) omit the trip to London to fetch a wife, while we find a youth setting out for London to find a wife as a separate item  in _Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book_, Volume II, of c. 1744. But whether this should be tied to the Kentish rebellion of 1381 can be questioned. - RBW
Perhaps "The Swapping Boy" should be split between the Opie-Oxford2 71/Eddy/BrownIII 131 ("When I was a little boy I lived by myself") songs and the Opie-Oxford2 156/Henry H732("My father he died, but I can't tell you how") songs. The description for "My Father Died" might be: Singer inherits his grandfather's horses. He sells the horses to buy a cow and sells and buys the cow, a calf, a pig, a dog, and a cat that runs off after a rat. "My grandfather left me all he did own, And I don't know how it is, but I'm here by my lone." The end of Opie-Oxford2 156 is more disastrous: "I sold my cat and bought me a mouse, But she fired her tail and burnt down my house." - BS
In the light of the above, I suppose I should separate these two songs -- but the result would be an even worse mess than lumping them, because the combination clearly exists as a song in its own right. Since it is possible that it's one song that split, and not two that coalesced, I'm keeping them together until we can find some clearer evidence of the history. With full acknowledgment that there are two highly independent parts.
We should also note that there is a fairly precise parallel to the swapping story in German. The Grimm tale of "Lucky Hans" [#83, "Hans im Gluck," from 1818] tells of a young man who, after completing an apprenticeship, is given a nugget of gold by his master. It is heavy enough that he trades it for a horse. The horse throws him, so he trades it for a cow. The cow gives no milk, so he trades it for a pig. The pig is said to be stolen, so he trades it for a goose. He trades that for a slightly used grindstone/whetstone, hoping thereby to gain wealth -- then drops the stone in the well and gives up and goes home.
There is also at least one other English swapping rhyme, found in Peter and Iona Opie, _I Saw Esau: Traditional Rhymes of Youth_, #58, beginning, "I went downtown To meet Mrs. Brown, She gave me a nickel to buy a pickle. The pickle was sour; I bought me a flower." And so forth. - RBW
File: E093
===
NAME: Swapping Song, The: see The Swapping Boy (File: E093)
===
NAME: Swede from North Dakota, The
DESCRIPTION: Having spent a year working, the Svede decides to visit Minnesota's State Fair. He meets a Salvation Army group (refusing to work for Jesus when he learns "Yesus don't pay nothing"), winds up drunk, and returns home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: farming travel party drink clergy humorous
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ohrlin-HBT 8, "The Swede from North Dakota" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: James P. Leary and Richard March, "Farm, Forest, and Factory: Songs of Midwestern Labor," published in Archie Green, editor, _Songs about Work: Essays in Occupational Culture for Richard A. Reuss_, Indiana University, 1993, pp. 261-262, "Ay Ban a Svede from Nort' Dakota" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9845
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Reuben and Rachel" (tune) and references there
cf. "Ole from Norway" (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Svede from Nort Dakota
I'm a Swede from Minnesota
NOTES: It can at least be said that this song is well supplied with local color. The Minnesota State Fair claims (I'm not sure on what basis) to be the largest in America. (If nothing else, it produces huge traffic jams.)
Both Minneapolis and Saint Paul have areas known as "Seven Corners" (though changes in traffic patterns have reduced the number of streets and intersections); it's likely but not certain that the Minneapolis site is referred to.
The Minneapolis site, probably better known, is near Washington Avenue (which runs from the University of Minnesota to the north side of downtown Minneapolis, and is mentioned in the song). It's not the best area; bars and nightclubs are not hard to find.
Saint Paul's Seven Corners, on the west side of downtown (and so called because two street grids overlapped there, producing some very strange intersections in the 1880s), is on the same side of the Mississippi river as the State Fair, and is near a Salvation Army mission (though I've never seen a band play there). It's also an old area, but perhaps in somewhat better shape. Though some of that is the result of urban renewal; it's said to have been a pretty rough area in the 1920s
Leary and March, p. 261, think it is the Seven Corners area of Minneapolis, which was heavily Swedish, but I'm not sure they were aware that Saint Paul also has a Seven Corners. The version they print has the Swede leaving Saint Paul to visit Seven Corners, but this is not universal.  - RBW
File: Ohr008
===
NAME: Sweep Your Own Door Clean
DESCRIPTION: "I hate to hear folk talk about other folks affairs ... The man that keeps his own door clean has got enough to do." "Don't judge a man by what he wears ... Although he [sic] brought to poverty he's not been brought to shame"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: virtue nonballad clothes hardtimes
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 665, "Sweep Your Own Door Clean" (1 text)
Roud #6090
File: GrD3665
===
NAME: Sweep, Chim-nie Sweep: see Sweep, Chimney Sweep (File: K240)
===
NAME: Sweep, Chimney Sweep
DESCRIPTION: Singer tells what cleanly work he makes as a chimney sweep. He tells the girls to arise and fetch him ale, then boasts about how he can climb to a rooftop without ladder or rope, and there you can hear him halloa. He says he will work for none but gentry.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1815 (first verse found in "Cries of London")
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer tells what cleanly work he makes as a chimney sweep. Girls come to his door; although he's black as a Moor, he's capable. He tells the girls to arise and fetch him some ale, then boasts about how he can climb to a rooftop without ladder or rope, and there you can hear him halloa. He says he will work for none but gentry. "Sweep, chim-nie sweep is the common cry I keep/If you can but rightly understand me"
KEYWORDS: pride courting bragging work nonballad worksong worker
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 240, "Sweep, Chim-nie Sweep" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1217
RECORDINGS:
Bob & Ron Copper, "Sweep, Chimney Sweep" (on FSB3)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
The Chimney Sweep
File: K240
===
NAME: Sweet Ann O'Neill: see Gallows [Laws L11] (File: LL11)
===
NAME: Sweet Annie of Roch Royal: see The Lass of Roch Royal [Child 76] (File: C076)
===
NAME: Sweet as the Flowers in May Time
DESCRIPTION: "Sweet as the flowers in May/springtime, Sweet as the honey dew, Sweet as the roses in the bowers, I'm thinking tonight of you. Sweet as the rose in the garden, Sweet as the dew on the rose, I'd rather be somebody's darling Than a poor boy nobody knows."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (recording, Carter Family)
KEYWORDS: love flowers
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 832, "Sweet as the Flowers in May Time" (2 fragments)
Roud #7442
RECORDINGS:
The Carter Family, "Sweet as the Flowers in Maytime" (Victor V-23761, 1932)
NOTES: The two fragments in Randolph both have the same chorus as the Carter Family recording, but the Carter text appears to be a rewrite with some elements of "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight" or something similar. - RBW
File: R832
===
NAME: Sweet Avondu
DESCRIPTION: The singer "never more shall view Those scenes I loved by Avondu." He recalls the scenes from the mountains to the sea. He bids farewell to Clara: "No more we meet by Avondu"
AUTHOR: James Joseph Callanan (1795-1829) (source: Croker-PopularSongs)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1830 (_The Recluse of Inchidony_, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: home separation Ireland nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 127-133, "Sweet Avondu" (1 text)
NOTES: Croker-PopularSongs: "'Avondu,' says the author, means 'the Blackwater (Avunduff of Spenser).... It rises in a boggy mountain called Meenganine in [County Kerry] and discharges itself into the sea at Youghall." - BS
There is a certain amount of confusion about this author. Most sources list his name as James Joseph Callanan, but he is also sometimes listed under the name "Jeremiah" (and, yes, it is known that it is the same guy). Most sources agree that he was born in 1795, but his death date seemingly varies; Hoagland and MacDonagh/Robinson give 1829. He wrote some poetry of his own, but is probably best known for his translations from Gaelic. Works of his found in this index include "The Convict of Clonmel," "The Outlaw of Loch Lene," "Sweet Avondu," "The Virgin Mary's Bank," "Gougane Barra," and a translation of "Drimindown." - RBW
File: CrPS127
===
NAME: Sweet Bann Water, The: see The Drowsy Sleeper [Laws M4] (File: LM04)
===
NAME: Sweet Betsy from Pike [Laws B9]
DESCRIPTION: "Sweet" Betsy and "her lover" Ike set out from Pike County, Missouri for California. On the way they lose much of their livestock and property, but also have some amazing adventures. (They marry, then divorce.)
AUTHOR: claimed by John A Stone (Old Put)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1858 (Put's Golden Songster, second edition)
KEYWORDS: travel hardtimes settler
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (21 citations)
Laws B9, "Sweet Betsy from Pike"
Belden, pp. 343-345, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (1 text)
Randolph 192, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 (atypical) tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 193-196, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 192A)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 300-301, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (4 fragments, 1 tune)
Logsdon 41, pp. 215-218, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 750-751, "Betsy from Pike" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 432, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (1 text, 1 tune)
PBB 112, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (1 text)
Sandburg, pp. 108-109, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 53, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 424-426, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 173, "Sweet Betsy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 19, "Sweet Betsey from Pike" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 861-863, "Sweet Betsey from Pike" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 239, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 167-168, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (1 text)
Arnett, p. 57, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 190, "Sweet Betsy From Pike" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 603-604, "Vilikens and His Dinah -- (Sweet Betsey from Pike)"
DT 376, SWEETBET*
Roud #3234
RECORDINGS:
Crockett's Kentucky Mountaineers, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (Crown 3121, 1931)
Logan English, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (on LEnglish02)
Bradley Kincaid, "Sweet Betsy From Pike"  (Bluebird B-5321/Montgomery Ward M-4421, 1934)
Ken Maynard, "Sweet Betsey from Pike" (unissued; on StuffDreams1)
Harry "Mac" McClintock, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (Victor 23704, 1932; Montgomery Ward M-4324, 1933) [may have been released under the pseudonym 'Radio Mac']
Pete Seeger, "Sweet Betsy from Pike" (on PeteSeeger31)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Vilikens and his Dinah (William and Dinah) [Laws M31A/B]" (tune & meter) and references there
File: LB09
===
NAME: Sweet Birds
DESCRIPTION: "The birds are returning their sweet notes of spring... As I sit in the dream... For my darling far over the sea... Oh, say, does he truly love me?" "Sweet birds (x2), Oh, say that my lover is true." She recalls the day he left and promised to be true
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1911 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: bird love separation questions
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 295, "Sweet Birds" (3 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 3 more)
Roud #3766
RECORDINGS:
Richard Harold, "Sweet Bird" (Columbia 15426-D, 1929; rec. 1928)
File: Br3295
===
NAME: Sweet Blooming Lavender
DESCRIPTION: Street cry: "Won't you buy my sweet blooming lavender? There are sixteen blue branches a penny, all in full bloom." The singer tells how the plant is fresh, and how it will benefit the wearer
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1893 (Broadwood)
KEYWORDS: nonballad commerce
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond,South))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Kennedy 356, "Sweet Blooming Lavender" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; notes to #153, ("Or the Streete cryes all about") (1 fragment of this, plus an assortment of other street cries)
Roud #854
RECORDINGS:
Bill Ellson, "Will You Buy My Sweet Blooming Lavender?" (on Voice11)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lavender Girl" (theme)
NOTES: Kennedy notes that his informant, Florrie Penfold, knew several street cries but preferred this because it is "more of a song." Which indeed it is, and so is included.
Kennedy lists a number of collected versions of this piece. I doubt that all are actually the same song, but they are doubtless all lavender street calls. - RBW
File: K356
===
NAME: Sweet By and By
DESCRIPTION: "There's a land that is fairer than day, And by faith we can see it afar.... In the sweet by and by We shall meet on that beautiful shore." The singer describes the blessings and beauties that the faithful will enjoy in heaven
AUTHOR: Words: Sanford Fillmore Bennett (1836-1898) / Music: Joseph. Philbrick Webster (1819-1875)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1868
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 198-201, "Sweet By and By" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 355, "In The Sweet Bye And Bye" (1 text)
DT, SWTBYBY*
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), pp. 206-207, "Sweet By and By" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST RJ19198 (Full)
Roud #7651
RECORDINGS:
Harkins & Moran [pseuds. for Sid Harkreader w. Grady Moore], "In the Sweet Bye and Bye" (Broadway 8117, c. 1930)
Haydn Quartet, "In the Sweet Bye and Bye" (Victor 1316, 1902)
Bela Lam & his Greene County Singers, "Sweet Bye and Bye" (OKeh 45177, 1928; rec. 1927)
Uncle Dave Macon, "In the Sweet Bye and Bye" (Vocalion 5162, 1927)
Margarethe Matzenauer, "In he Sweet Bye and Bye" (Pathe Actuelle 027519, n.d.)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Preacher and the Slave" (tune)
cf. "The Cowboy's Dream" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
The Preacher and the Slave (File: San221)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
In the Sweet By and By
NOTES: Jackson writes, "It may be that the venerable old Gospel number 'Sweet By and By' is the only famous song written in a drugstore; it is CERTAINLY the only famous song written in a drugstore in Elkhorn, Wisconsin."
Johnson quotes from Bennet's papers, describing how it happened: one day in 1867, J. P. Webster (who also wrote the music for "Lorena") strolled into the Elkhorn drugstore in a grim mood. Asked what was wrong, he declared that it wasn't important; "It will be all right by and by." Sanford Fillmore Bennett, who owned the drugstore, heard the line scribbled these verses -- with the intent to write as song, according to what he said; Jackson claims it was to comfort Webster.
Personally, I probably would have gotten even more grim after reading such saccharine lyrics, but Webster at once cheered up and started to set them to music, and the music at least did well.
Since we're talking about useless Wisconsin lore, we might add that this is said to have been the favorite hymn of Charles Ingalls, the "Pa" of Laura Ingalls Wilder (it was written the year Laura was born, note, though Elkhorn is in the eastern part of the state, far from the Pepin country), and was reportedly played at his funeral in 1902 (see Donald Zochert, _Laura_, pp. 140-141). - RBW
File: RJ19198
===
NAME: Sweet Calder Burn: see Bonnie Woodha' (File: HHH476)
===
NAME: Sweet Carnloch Bay: see The Road to Dundee (File: Ord152)
===
NAME: Sweet Cider
DESCRIPTION: "Where's the mule and where's the rider? Where's the gal that drinks sweet cider? Sallie, won't you have some (x2), Sally, won't you have some of my hard cider?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1923 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 45, "Sweet Cider" (1 text)
Roud #7864
RECORDINGS:
Riley Puckett & Clayton McMichen, "Paddy Won't You Drink Some Cider" (Columbia 15358-D, 1929)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Pretty Little Black-Eyed Susan
File: Br3045
===
NAME: Sweet Clonalee
DESCRIPTION: The singer explains why he is leaving Clonalee for America. He loved a girl, but she turned instead to a wealthy old farmer. The farmer accused the singer of sheep-stealing. He leaves his parents behind and curses James Magee (presumably the farmer)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection age money emigration accusation theft sheep
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H554, p. 400, "Sweet Clonalee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7967
File: HHH554
===
NAME: Sweet County Wexford
DESCRIPTION: "On Moniseed of a summer's morning" the Shelmaliers fight British and Gorey cavalry. After driving the British back the Irish rest. "Had we the wisdom to follow after ... We'd have saved the lives of many a martyr That died in Arklow"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: rebellion battle death Ireland patriotic
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: May 26, 1798 - Father John Murphy launches the Wexford rebellion; he defeats the Camolin cavalry that night, and the next day annihilates a small militia force at Oulart
May 29, 1798 - Father Murphy leads the insurgents against Enniscorthy
June 5, 1798 - The Wexford rebels attack the small garrison (about 1400 men, many militia) at New Ross, but are repelled
June 9, 1798 - Father Murphy, trying to lead his forces into Wicklow, defeated at Arklow
June 21, 1798 - Rebel defeat at Vinegar Hill ends the Wexford rising
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
OLochlainn 79, "Sweet County Wexford" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 94, "Sweet County Wexford" (1 text, 1 tune)
Healy-OISBv2, pp. 55-56, "Sweet County Wexford" (1 text; tune on p. 21)
Roud #2997
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Boulavogue" (historical setting)
cf. "Father Murphy (I)" (subject of Father Murphy) and references there
NOTES: Moylan: "According to Denis Devereux, O Lochlainn's source for the words, this song is the original upon which P.J. McCall based his 'Boolavogue'." On the other hand, see the notes to "Father Murphy (I)."
The Irish baronies of Shelmalier, East and West, are in County Wexford. - BS
This is an unusually self-honest assessment of the course of the Wexford rebellion. Wexford itself was abandoned on May 30, and Gorey even before that, but the rebels didn't occupy the latter until June 4. The delay gave the loyalists time to organize and counterattack. (See Robert Kee, _The Most Distressful Country_, being Volume I of _The Green Flag_, p. 115).
Wexford didn't really matter; it was south of the Rebel strong points. Gorey, though, was on the way to Arklow and, eventually, Dublin. Had the rebels headed straight there, it might have given them a chance to really threaten the government. Instead, they went to Wexford, and camped on the Three Rocks hill. They beat off a small force of Meath militia, killing its commander, Colonel Watson (see Thomas Pakenham, _The Year of Liberty_, p. 177). The garrison abandoned the town (Pakenham, p. 178), and the rebels entered. (We note, incidentally, that it was in Wexford that they captured the prisoners to be brutalized at Scullabogue -- for which see "Father Murphy (II) (The Wexford Men of '98)" and "Kelly, the Boy from Killane.")
The attack on Wexford had another side effect: It caused the rebels to appoint Bagenal Harvey their commander (Kee, pp. 116-117), and he had no clue what to do; his ineptitute would contribute much to the defeat at New Ross (for which see "Kelly, the Boy from Killane" and "James Ervin" [Laws J15]).
Finally, in mid-June, the rebels headed for Arklow, which they should have occupied at least a week earlier. Repulsed (see the notes to "Father Murphy (I)"), the rebellion lost its last hint of planning, and fizzled out.
The characters cited in the song are often hard to identify. I can mention the following:
"Gowan" - "Hunter" Gowan, given his nickname because of his earlier career tracking down outlaws, who organized the "Black Mob" (a group of rebel-hunting vigilantes); he is reputed to have marched about with the finger of a rebel at the end of his sword. And worse. "Fiend" seems a suitable word for him.
"Captain Dixon" - there was a Captain Dixon, but he was a rebel sea captain; I think there is some confusion here.
"General Walpole": Presumably Colonel Walpole, ADC to Viceroy Camden? He was never a general, but he did have a brief taste of independent command, which might explain the title.
In early June, Walpole was sent from Dublin with a few hundred men and three cannon to reinforce General Loftus's troops in Wexford. This despite a complete lack of military training and experience. It showed. On June 4, as part of a plan to surround a rebel force at Ballymore, Walpole's force set out from Gorey. He did not follow the battle plan, was intercepted by the rebels, and he and most of his soldiers were killed. - RBW
File: OLoc079
===
NAME: Sweet Dakotaland: see Dakota Land (File: San280)
===
NAME: Sweet Dunloy
DESCRIPTION: The singer and his love leave Ireland for Scotland to escape her father. The father follows and has them forcibly returned to Ireland. Although the girl says she consented, the jury convicts him. After he is freed, they will go to America instead
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation father elopement prison trial punishment
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H577, pp. 439-440, "Sweet Dunloy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7962
File: HHH577
===
NAME: Sweet Europe: see Poor Stranger, The (Two Strangers in the Mountains Alone) (File: R059)
===
NAME: Sweet Evalina: see Dear Evalina (File: R823)
===
NAME: Sweet Evelena: see Dear Evalina (File: R823)
===
NAME: Sweet Evelina: see Dear Evalina (File: R823)
===
NAME: Sweet Fanny Adams
DESCRIPTION: Fanny Adams, her sister, and another girl go to play, but meet a clerk named Frederick Baker. He sends the younger children off with money for sweets, then murders Fanny. The singer grieves for her daughter, but notes that her murderer is now dead as well
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867? (broadside announcing execution of Baker)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: The singer's eight-year-old daughter Fanny Adams and her sister go to play with another girl, but they meet a young clerk named Frederick Baker. He offers the younger children money for sweets; when they have gone, he drags Fanny to the hollow. She is missed, and the searchers find her body, murdered and horribly dismembered. The mother grieves for her daughter, but notes that her murderer is now dead as well
KEYWORDS: grief rape violence abduction crime execution murder punishment death mourning children mother
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: August 27, 1867 -- Murder of Fanny Adams by Frederick Baker. Baker was hanged later in the year.
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 333, "Sweet Fanny Adams" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2152
RECORDINGS:
Vashti Vincent, "Sweet Fanny Adams" (on FSB7)
NOTES: The murder took place at Alton, in Hampshire. Cruel to relate, the expression "Sweet Fanny Adams" became part of British vernacular; in the Royal Navy it was used to refer to any dubious meat dish.
In more recent popular usage, it means "nothing"; if one doesn't get paid for a job, for example, one says one got "Sweet Fanny Adams" or "Sweet F. A." In this context, of course, it is a euphemism for "sweet fuck-all.' - PJS
File: K333
===
NAME: Sweet Fields of Violo: see Old MacDonald Had a Farm (File: R457)
===
NAME: Sweet Florella: see Jealous Lover, The (Florella, Floella) (Pearl Bryan II) (Nell Cropsey II) [Laws F1A, B, C] (File: LF01)
===
NAME: Sweet Freedom: see O Freedom (File: LxU108)
===
NAME: Sweet Genevieve
DESCRIPTION: The singer would "give the world to live again the lovely past" with Genevieve. They are older now, but he still loves her and wishes to be with her always: "O Genevieve, Sweet Genevieve... Still the hands of mem'ry weave... Blissful dreams of long ago"
AUTHOR: Words: George Cooper / Music: Henry Tucker
EARLIEST_DATE: 1869
KEYWORDS: love age
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 202-205, "Sweet Genevieve" (1 text, 1 tune)
Geller-Famous, pp. 11-13, "Sweet Genevieve" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 259, "Sweet Genevieve" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 543, "Sweet Genevieve"
DT, OGENVIEV
ST RK19202 (Full)
Roud #13643
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Silver Threads among the Gold" (theme)
cf. "When You and I Were Young, Maggie" (theme)
NOTES: Genevieve is reported to be the real-life bride of George Cooper who died shortly after their marriage. However, since no one can find the records of this marriage, this may be the usual sort of sentimental folklore. - RBW
File: RK19202
===
NAME: Sweet Girls of Derry, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer is captivated by the sweet girls of Derry. He describes them as "so comely and merry" with sweet voices. "Though I left them behind me, Full soon they shall find me in Derry again"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Hayward-Ulster)
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 76-77, "The Sweet Girls of Derry" (1 text)
Roud #6537
File: HayU076
===
NAME: Sweet Glenbush
DESCRIPTION: The singer calls on the maidens to listen to his(?) story, asking them to pity a wandering youth. He recalls his departure from Glenbush; now dreams and memories of home say to him, "Come back to sweet Glenbush"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: homesickness
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H573, p. 212, "Sweet Glenbush" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Scarborough Settler's Lament" (theme) and references there
File: HHH573
===
NAME: Sweet Hally: see Listen to the Mockingbird (File: RJ19110)
===
NAME: Sweet Heaven (I)
DESCRIPTION: "I want to go to Heaven and I want to go right; How I long to be there; I want to go to Heaven all dressed in white, How I long..." "Sweet Heaven (x3), Oh, how I long...." About heaven, the contest between the singer and Satan, and other floating themes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious devil floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 638, "Sweet Heaven" (1 text, with many floating verses, e.g. the terrapin and the toad, "I run old Satan round the stump")
Roud #11834
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Catfish (Banjo Sam)" (floating lyrics)
File: Br3638
===
NAME: Sweet Heaven (II)
DESCRIPTION: Singer is going to the racetrack; he promises to share any winnings with his sweetheart. Rest floats, e.g. "Give beefsteak when I'm hungry, whiskey when I'm dry...." Chorus: "Let her go (x2) God bless her/Though she roams over land and sea...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Tenneva Ramblers)
KEYWORDS: farewell parting floatingverses nonballad lover gambling racing food
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SharpAp 243, "Liza Anne" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7697
RECORDINGS:
Clint Howard et al, "Sweet Heaven When I Die" (on WatsonAshley01)
Arthur Smith Trio, "Sweet Heaven" (Bluebird B-7146, 1937)
Tenneva Ramblers, "Sweet Heaven When I Die" (Victor 20861, 1927)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Country Blues" (floating verses)
cf. "Dear Companion (The Broken Heart; Go and Leave Me If You Wish To, Fond Affection)" (lyrics)
cf. "Saint James Infirmary" (the "let her go" lyrics)
NOTES: This certainly has strong overlaps with "Dear Companion", paraphrasing its chorus and some of its verses. But its gestalt is different, and it has acquired a life of its own, so I split them. - PJS
I put SharpAp 243, here because its first floating verse is "Beefsteak when I'm hungry...," but it's really a mess of floaters, one of which also shows up in the "Betty Anne" version of "Shady Grove." Although it was collected in 1917, I'm not assigning that as Earliest Date for "Sweet Heaven (II)," but I note it here. - PJS
File: RcSwHeav
===
NAME: Sweet Inishcara
DESCRIPTION: "I have travelled in exile midst cold-hearted strangers" in Canada and India/Indies looking for gold and spices. The singer returns home to find his home in ruins and his sweetheart dead. He will join her. "In heaven she'll welcome her wanderer home"
AUTHOR: John Fitzgerald (source: OCanainn)
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1958 (recording, Copley 9-228-B)
KEYWORDS:  love travel return death gold Canada India Ireland
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OCanainn, pp. 48-49, "The Exile's Return" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12923
RECORDINGS:
Paddy Breen, "Sweet Inishcara" (on Voice04)
The McNulty Family, "The Exile of Cork" (Copley 9-228-B)
NOTES: When I was puzzling about the text of "The Exile of Cork" John Moulden pointed out that it belongs here. The matrix number for the McNulty Family's "Exile of Cork" is E3-CB-3235-1A.
Spottswood lists Tim Donovan, "The Exile of Cork" (on Decca 12157) with session date Apr 7, 1938 (matrix number 63574-A). If it can be verified that that recording is for this song it would establish a new earliest date (source: _Ethnic Music on Records: a Discography of Ethnic Recordings Produced in the United States, 1893 to 1942_ by Richard K Spottswood (Urbana, c1990), p. 2751).
The singer's home is "by the beautiful Lee" and finds, when he returns, that "sweet Inishcara o'er-shadows her grave." Below Cork City, the Lee flows past Inniscara and enters the Celtic Sea.
OCanainn: "This was composed some sixty years ago [c.1918]...." - BS
File: RcSweIni
===
NAME: Sweet Jane [Laws B22]
DESCRIPTION: Willie bids his Jane farewell and sets off across the sea. Three years later, having gained success as a gold miner, he returns to his southern home and marries Jane
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: separation marriage gold mining
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws B22, "Sweet Jane"
BrownII 259, "Sweet Jane" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
Combs/Wilgus 51, pp. 177-178, "Sweet Jane" (1 text)
DT 726, SWTJANE
Roud #3243
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Come Sweet Jane
Adieu, Sweet Lovely Jane
NOTES: This is a relatively rare song, and is not at all specific in its details. Where does the singer go to seek gold? We have no clue. Since he apparently goes overseas, it can hardly be the San Francisco or Klondike gold rushes (yes, a prospector might well go to those places by sea -- but it is not *overseas*). That leaves perhaps South Africa or Australia.
The singer claims also to have "lived on bread and salty (meat/lard), and never lost my health." Such a diet, if followed for long, would assuredly result in scurvy -- and, if pursued for three years, would certainly result in death. Clearly he got more vegetable matter than he let on.
If there is more to be said about this song, it must be hidden in a version I have not seen. - RBW
File: LB22
===
NAME: Sweet Jenny of the Moor: see Janie of the Moor [Laws N34] (File: LN34)
===
NAME: Sweet Jinny on the Moor: see Janie of the Moor [Laws N34] (File: LN34)
===
NAME: Sweet Kingwilliamstown
DESCRIPTION: An exile from Kingwilliamstown sails away, thinking about "childhood's days and happy hours ... old home and the friends so dear." "Shall I no more gaze on that shore or view those mountains high?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1978 (OCanainn)
KEYWORDS: exile separation Ireland nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OCanainn, p. 67, "Sweet Kingwilliamstown" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: OCanainn: "Kingwilliamstown is the name by which Ballydesmond, near the Cork-Kerry border, was formerly known." - BS
File: OCan067
===
NAME: Sweet Kitty: see Rambleaway (File: ShH31)
===
NAME: Sweet Kitty Clover
DESCRIPTION: "Sweet Kitty Clover, she bothered me so, Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!... Her face was round and red and fat, Like a pulpit cushion or redder than that. Sweet Kitty Clover, she bothered me so...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Linscott)
KEYWORDS: 
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Linscott, pp. 286-288, "Sweet Kitty Clover" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
ST Lins286 (Full)
Roud #3743
File: Lins286
===
NAME: Sweet Kumadee, The: see The Golden Vanity [Child 286] (File: C286)
===
NAME: Sweet Lily: see Oh Lily, Dear Lily (File: R731)
===
NAME: Sweet Little Birdie, The: see The Little Girl and the Robin (File: R880)
===
NAME: Sweet Londonderry (on the Banks of the Foyle)
DESCRIPTION: The singer describes the "ancient walled city," "sweet Londonderry on the banks of the Foyle." Orphaned, he works for years as a sailor. He courts a pretty girl of Londonderry. He hopes to work for her when they are married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting home sailor work
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H813, p. 468, "Sweet Londonderry" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9453
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Londonderry on the Banks of the Foyle
Lovely Derry on the Banks of the Foyle
File: HHH813
===
NAME: Sweet Loughgiel
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls leaving Loughgiel and his friends at home. He describes his early life there. He dreams of being back. He hopes someday to return, and wishes he could be as content as he was there
AUTHOR: "McWilliams"
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: homesickness
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H506, p. 214, "Sweet Loughgiel" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Scarborough Settler's Lament" (theme) and references there
File: HHH506
===
NAME: Sweet Lovely Joan: see Lovely Joan (File: ShH57)
===
NAME: Sweet Lulur
DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a policeman in Danville. "He bound my feet in cold iron, all tangled my feet in chains, But before I'd go back on my Lulur, I'll have them tangled again." He notes that "If it hadn't a-been for sweet Lulur, it was Lulur that brought be here."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1915 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: police prison love
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 350, "The Prisoner's Song" (7 texts plus 1 fragment, 2 excerpts, and mention of 1 more; "A"-"C," plus probably the "D" excerpt, are "The Prisoner's Song (I)"; "E" and "G," plus perhaps the "H" fragment, are "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight"; "J" and "K" are "Sweet Lulur")
Sandburg, p. 307, "Way Up on Clinch Mountain" (2 texts, 1 tune; the "A" text is "Rye Whiskey," but the short "B" text is perhaps this or something like it though probably composite, perhaps with "The Wagoner's Lad")
Roud #767
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Prisoner's Song (I)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Meet Me Tonight in the Moonlight" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Roud, presumably following Brown et al, lump this with "The Prisoner's Song" group. It appears to me distinct. - RBW
File: BrIII350
===
NAME: Sweet Maisry: see Lady Maisry [Child 65] (File: C065)
===
NAME: Sweet Mama
DESCRIPTION: "Sweet mama, treetop tall, Won't you please turn your damper down? I smell hoecake burning, Dey done burnt some brown. I'm laid mah head On de railroad track. I t'ought about Mama An' I drugged it back. Sweet mama, treetop tall, Won't...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: food love suicide
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 242, "Sweet Mama" (1 short text)
File: ScNF242b
===
NAME: Sweet Marie
DESCRIPTION: The man longs for Marie, but finds it hard to tell her: "Sweet Marie, come to me, Come to me, Sweet Marie, Not because your face is fair, love, to see, Every daisy in the dell Knows my secret very well, Yet I dare not tell Sweet Marie... ."
AUTHOR: Words: Cy Warman / Music: Raymon Moore
EARLIEST_DATE: 1893 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: love
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 229-230, "Sweet Marie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Geller-Famous, pp. 70-74, "Sweet Marie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11353
RECORDINGS:
Walter Morris, "Sweet Marie" (Columbia 15115-D, 1927)
SAME_TUNE:
Sweet Marie (the Racing Mare) (Meredith/Covell/Brown, p. 229)
NOTES: I am told that "[This] song was featured in the 1947 movie 'Life with Father' (William Powell, Irene Dunne, Elizabeth Taylor) based on the memoirs of Clarence Day, Jr...  (articles first appeared in _The New Yorker_ in the 1920s and were later published as three books: _God and My Father_, _Life with Father_, _Life with Mother_).  Prior to becoming the movie (and later a TV series in the 1950s), 'Life with Father' was written as a play and opened on Broadway in 1939.
"Percy French did a parody of the song with Sweet Marie becoming a racehorse.  That song is available in "The Songs of Percy French" selected and edited by James Healy (Ossian Publications/Mercier Press--1986/1996)."
Moore was a nineteenth century singer who apparently was very popular as a performer. Warman apparently came to him and asked him to perform "Sweet Marie," which Warman had written in honor of his wife. Warman eventually came up with a tune and sang it as part of the musical comedy "Africa." Ironically, it was no great success when Moore sang it -- but when he quit the play, his replacement made it a hit. - RBW
File: MCB229
===
NAME: Sweet Mary
DESCRIPTION: Dialog; young man asks sweet Mary whether he may ask her parents for her hand. She replies that they will reject his suit; he says he will die of grief. She has a way to save him; "Since my parents are both so contrary/You'd better ask me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 (recording, Horton Barker)
KEYWORDS: courting love rejection request dialog humorous
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Horton Barker, "Sweet Mary" (on Barker01)
NOTES: Should not be confused with "Farewell, Sweet Mary," although it's just possible that this may be a parody of that song. - PJS
File: RcSweeMa
===
NAME: Sweet Mary Jane: see Bright Phoebe (File: FSC070)
===
NAME: Sweet Mossy Banks of the Wey, The: see The Green Mossy Banks of the Lea [Laws O15] (File: LO15)
===
NAME: Sweet Nightingale (I), The: see Well Met, Pretty Maid (The Sweet Nightingale) (File: K089)
===
NAME: Sweet Nightingale (II), The: see The Birds in the Spring (File: RcTBiITS)
===
NAME: Sweet Omagh Town: see Omagh Town and the Bards of Clanabogan (File: TST066)
===
NAME: Sweet Portaferry (I)
DESCRIPTION: "Why should men toil foreign lands to explore, When wonder and pleasement are here at the door ... and leave Portaferry and the Kingdom of Down?" If the singer were rich he might travel but at the end he'd return home.
AUTHOR: Leslie Montgomery
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: travel lyric Ireland home
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 94, "Sweet Portaferry" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Portaferry is about 20 miles southeast of Belfast. - BS
File: OLcM094
===
NAME: Sweet Portaferry (II)
DESCRIPTION: The singer travels around Ireland but "Sweet Portaferry remains in my mind." He returns from foreign lands with "silks and fine laces" to his true love. "Then I'll whisper so fondly and I know she'll agree 'O! Sweet Portaferry, you're a dear spot to me'"
AUTHOR: Cathal O'Byrne
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: travel lyric Ireland love sailor
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 94A, "Sweet Portaferry" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Portaferry is about 20 miles southeast of Belfast. - BS
File: OLcM094A
===
NAME: Sweet Primeroses, The: see The Banks of Sweet Primroses (File: ShH51)
===
NAME: Sweet Refrain
DESCRIPTION: "A music hall was crowded in a village oÕer the sea, And brilliant lights were flashing everywhere." A minstrel sings, and a "darkey" remembers his mother and the days of his youth; he begs, "Sing again that sweet refrain"
AUTHOR: Gussie L. Davis ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Dean)
KEYWORDS: music
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dean, p. 121, "Sweet Refrain" (1 text)
Roud #4834
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, RB.m.143(124), "Sing again that Sweet Refrain," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1880-1900
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
A Minstrel from the Sunny South
NOTES: This business of a song inspiring a memory seems to have been a common idea in the late nineteenth century; Julian Jordan did it with "The Song That Reached My Heart," which treats "Home! Sweet Home! the way this song treats "Old Folks at Home (Swanee River." - RBW
File: Dean121
===
NAME: Sweet River Suir
DESCRIPTION: The river most deserving of praise is the Suir. The river "has the most devinest aspect" and the best navigators. Its shores have the most melodious bulls. "Its meandering banks so transparent pure; It far surpasses mugs, jugs, and glasses" 
AUTHOR: Phil Smith
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: river humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 84A, "Sweet River Suir" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: "The River Suir rises in the Devils Bit Mountains [North Tipperary] and flows through the limestone country of South Tipperary and North Waterford" (source: South East [Ireland] Tourism site). For other songs about the river see "The Clonmel Flood," "The Wreck of the Avondale," "The Wreck of the Gwendoline," and "Rare Clonmel." - BS
File: OLcM084A
===
NAME: Sweet Rose of Allandale: see The Rose of Allandale (File: SWMS257)
===
NAME: Sweet Rose of Allendale: see The Rose of Allandale (File: SWMS257)
===
NAME: Sweet Rosie O'Grady
DESCRIPTION: "Just down around the corner of a street where I reside, There lives the sweetest little girl that I have ever spied." The singer vows never to forget the day they met, and says that the very birds sing her name
AUTHOR: Maude Nugent
EARLIEST_DATE: 1896 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad bird marriage
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Dean, p. 62, "Rose O'Grady" (1 text)
DT, SWTROSY*
Roud #9560
NOTES: According to Spaeth, "Maude Nugent, who sang and danced at Johnny Reilly's famous place, 'The Abbey'... is officially recognized as the creator of Sweet Rosie O'Grady, althouth there is a strong suspicion that her husband, Billy Jerome, actually wrote the song." The reason for this is that she never wrote anything else of significance -- but let's be serious: This is a silly piece of work. It wouldn't take much of a songwriter to produce such a thing. It became a hit presumably because the tune is good and harmonizes well in barbershop arrangements.
Billy Jerome, according to Spaeth, p. 331, was responsible for such tremendous hits as "Bedelia," "Mister Dooley," "China Town, My China Town," "My Irish Molly, O," and "The Hat My Father Wore on Saint Patrick's Day." Not a particularly inspiring list of songs to my way of thinking.
Whoever the author, it didn't bring much money to the Nugent/Jerome household. They sold the rights for a few hundred dollars, according to Spaeth, and when the copyright was renewed, they reassigned them, resulting in much quarreling over royalties. - RBW
File: Dean062A
===
NAME: Sweet Silver Light of the Moon: see The Silvery Moon (File: R800)
===
NAME: Sweet Sixteen
DESCRIPTION: The singer talks about "the pretty girls who often may be seen 'Long about they time when they're sweet sixteen." He describes how they primp and show off and talk about boys. (He warns that they tease, or will not work.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1976 (collected by Logsdon from Riley Neal); copy in the Lomax papers probably from before 1940
KEYWORDS: youth beauty nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Logsdon 38, pp. 200-202, "Sweet Sixteen" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #10098
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Putting on the Style" (theme)
File: Logs037
===
NAME: Sweet Soldier Boy: see The Sailor Boy (I) [Laws K12] (File: LK12)
===
NAME: Sweet Sunny South (I), The [Laws A23]
DESCRIPTION: A young Southerner, armed and ready, bids farewell to family and sweetheart. He sets off for the war, hoping to return when the Yankees are driven off
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: war farewell
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW,NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Laws A23, "The Sweet Sunny South"
FSCatskills 18, "The Bright Sunny South" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 97, "The Sweet Sunny Souoth" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 76, "The Rebel Soldier" (2 texts, but only the first belongs here; the second is The Rebel Soldier)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 272-273, "Sweet Sunny South" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 49, "The Sunny South" (1 text)
DY 698, SUNNYSTH
Roud #800
NOTES: Laws, obviously, considers this piece to be of American origin. Cazden et al, however, note that the versions hardly REQUIRE a setting in the American Civil War, and that one southern version refers to a FOREIGN war. In addition, the song has been found primarily in the North. On this basis Cazden argues for an Irish rather than southern American origin.
Gardner and Chickering's text has an interesting last few stanzas which wish that "from Union and Yankee our land shall be free." This sounds rather like a particularization from perhaps Kentucky or Missouri. - RBW
Not to be confused with the sentimental song of the same name [in the Index as "Sweet Sunny South II - RBW], wherein the singer returns to his childhood home to find everyone dead and gone. The characteristic first lines of that song are "Take me back to the place where I first saw the light/To the sweet sunny south take me home." - PJS
File: LA23
===
NAME: Sweet Sunny South (II)
DESCRIPTION: "Take me back to the place where I first saw the light, To my sweet sunny south take me home." The singer (perhaps an ex-slave) describes home and how much he misses it. He hopes to return to the graves of "my little ones" "to rest and to die" among them
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: home death burial grief homesickness loneliness return family
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
SharpAp 186, "The Sunny South" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
BrownIII 400, "The Sweet Sunny South" (1 text)
Rorrer, p. 88, "Sweet Sunny South" (1 text)
DT, SUNSOUTH
Roud #772
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "Bright Sunny South" (on Boggs1, BoggsCD1)
DaCosta Woltz's Southern Broadcasters, "Take Me Back to the Sweet Sunny South" (Gennett 6176/Champion 15318/Challenge 333, 1927)
Roy Harvey & the North Carolina Ramblers, "Sweet Sunny South" (Paramount 3136, 1928)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "Take Me Home to the Sweet Sunny South" (Bluebird B-6479/Montgomery Ward M-5035, 1936)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Take Me Back to the Sweet Sunny South" (on NLCR04)
Red Patterson's Piedmont Log Rollers, "The Sweet Sunny South" (Victor 21132, 1927)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Sweet Sunny South" (Columbia 15425-D, 1929; on CPoole01, CPoole05)
Posey Rorrer and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Sweet Sunny South Take Me Home" (Edison, unissued, 1928)
Jackson Young [pseud. for Ben Jarrell], "Take Me Back to the Sweet Sunny South" (Champion 15318/Herwin 75555, 1927)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "On the Banks of the Old Tennessee" (floating lyrics)
SAME_TUNE:
'31 Depression Blues (File: Rc31DB)
NOTES: Rorrer notes sheet versions of this dating back at least to the Civil War period, and possibly to several decades before that, but gives no details.
It seems fairly clear that the original versions were about a slave who had gained his freedom by some means but now wished to be back in his old place. Songwriters of the mid nineteenth century were fond of this (propagandistic) theme. One wonders how popular it would have been had the audience been Blacks rather than Whites. - RBW
Not to be confused with  "The Sweet Sunny South (I)" [Laws A23], a Confederate soldier's farewell. - PJS, RBW
File: DTsunsou
===
NAME: Sweet Tayside
DESCRIPTION: The singer overhears two lovers. The man says it would be a "great sin" if the girl does not give him a love token. She asks what he would have; he names a ring, a garter, and a broach. She gives them, then laments that he is untrue. He then marries her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: love courting ring gift betrayal
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 118-119, "Sweet Tayside" (1 text)
Roud #5544
File: Ord118
===
NAME: Sweet Thing (I)
DESCRIPTION: "What you gonna do when the pond goes dry, honey, What you gonna do when the pond goes dry, baby?" Sundry verses about catching fish, rural life, and (presumably) sexual innuendo
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: nonballad courting sex
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Randolph 443, "Sweet Thing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 349-350, "Sweet Thing" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 443)
Lomax-FSUSA 34, "Sweet Thing/Crawdad Song/Sugar Babe" (3 texts, 1 tune)
SharpAp 245, "Sugar Babe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 62, "The Crow-Fish Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 240, "What Kin' o Pants Does the Gambler Wear" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 235, "Sweet Thing" (1 text)
Roud #4853
RECORDINGS:
Callahan Brothers, "Sweet Thing" (Decca 5952, 1941)
Lulu Belle and Scotty, "Sugar Babe" (Melotone 6-08-58/Perfect 6-08-58, 1936)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Birmingham Jail" (Brunswick 293, 1929/Supertone S-2031, 1930)
 (Banner 6401/Regal 8792/Conqueror 7363, 1929; probably the same as the Pickard Family's "Get Me Out of This Birmingham Jail," Brunswick 385, 1929; Supertone S-2068, 1930)
"T" Texas Tyler, "Sweet Thing" (4-Star 1228, n.d.)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Crawdad" (tune, lyrics, and everything else) and references there
cf. "Going Down This Road Feeling Bad" (floating lyrics)
SAME_TUNE:
Bud & Joe Billings (pseud. for Frank Luther & Carson Robison) "Birmingham Jail #2" (Victor V-40082, 1929)
NOTES: Songs with this tune and metrical pattern turn up throughout North American tradition; like the limerick, this skeleton seems to have become a favorite framework for humorous material. - PJS
This song poses a conundrum (hinted at in Paul's comment), because it merges continuously with the "Crawdad" family; they use the same tune (at least sometimes) and ALL of the same verses. Roud lumps them. Chances are that they are the same song. But the tenor of the song changes somewhat with the presence or absence of a crawdad; after initially lumping the song, the Ballad Index staff decided to split them, based solely on mention of a crawdad. Which meant, e.g., that "The Crow-Fish Man (I)" files here even though it's clearly derived from "Crawdad." So one should definitely check all versions of both to get the complete range of material. - RBW
Well, adding to the conundrum, the version of "The Crow-fish Man" in SharpAp *does* mention crawdads, so it gets filed under "Crawdad Song." - PJS
File: R443A
===
NAME: Sweet Thing (II): see Crawdad (File: R443)
===
NAME: Sweet Town of Anthony, The: see By Kells Waters (Kellswaterside) (File: HHH802)
===
NAME: Sweet Trinity, The: see The Golden Vanity [Child 286] (File: C286)
===
NAME: Sweet Violets (II): see Teasing Songs (File: EM256)
===
NAME: Sweet William (I): see The Famous Flower of Serving-Men [Child 106] (File: C106)
===
NAME: Sweet William (II): see The Sailor Boy (I) [Laws K12] (File: LK12)
===
NAME: Sweet William (III): see Lovely Willie [Laws M35] (File: LM35)
===
NAME: Sweet William (IV): see William and Nancy (I) (Lisbon; Men's Clothing I'll Put On I) [Laws N8] (File: LN08)
===
NAME: Sweet William (V): see Earl Brand [Child 7] (File: C007)
===
NAME: Sweet William (VI): see The Female Warrior (Pretty Polly) [Laws N4] (File: LN04)
===
NAME: Sweet William and Lady Margery: see Fair Margaret and Sweet William [Child 74] (File: C074)
===
NAME: Sweet William and May Margaret: see Sweet William's Ghost [Child 77] (File: C077)
===
NAME: Sweet William and Nancy: see Pretty Nancy of London (Jolly Sailors Bold) (File: R078)
===
NAME: Sweet William's Ghost [Child 77]
DESCRIPTION: (Sweet William) dies while engaged. Since he has an unfulfilled commitment, his spirit cannot rest. He goes to his sweetheart, who begs him to wed her/kiss her/etc. When she learns that he is dead, she releases him from his promise
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1740 (Ramsey)
KEYWORDS: ghost promise freedom death
FOUND_IN: US(NE,SE) Canada(Newf) Britain(Scotland(Bord)) Ireland
REFERENCES: (18 citations)
Child 77, "Sweet William's Ghost" (8 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Bronson 77, "Sweet William's Ghost" (11 versions+ 1 in addenda)
Morton-Ulster 8, "Sweet William's Ghost" (1 text, 1 tune)
Percy/Wheatley III, pp. 130-133, "Sweet William's Ghost" (1 text)
Davis-More 21, pp. 152-156, "" (1 text, so fragmentary that it might be some other ballad with intrusions from "Sweet William's Ghost")
Flanders/Brown, pp. 240-241, "Lady Margaret and Sweet William" (1 text,  taken from the Green Mountain Songster)
Flanders-Ancient2, pp. 178-183, "Sweet William's Ghost" (2 texts, the first being the Green Mountain Songster version)
BrownII 23, "Sweet William's Ghost" (1 text)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 9, "Lady Margaret" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 390-395, "Lady Margaret" (1 text, 6 tunes)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 9, "Sweet William's Ghost" (2 texts, 9 tunes) {Bronson's #3}
Leach, pp. 256-262, "Sweet William's Ghost" (1 text plus a Danish text for comparison)
Leach-Labrador 4, "Sweet William's Ghost" (1 text, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 47, "Sweet William's Ghost" (2 texts)
Gummere, pp. 203-205+348-349, "Sweet William's Ghost" (1 text)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 78-80, "Sweet William's Ghost" (1 text)
DT 77, WILIGHOS* WILIGHO2 (GHOSWILL? -- a very worn down version that might be derived from this piece)
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #428, "Sweet William and May Margaret" (1 text)
Roud #50
RECORDINGS:
Paddy Tunney, "Lady Margaret" (on Voice03)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 5(1), "Sweet William's Ghost," unknown, n.d.
NOTES: Child versions A, B, C and G end the ghost's visit with crowing cocks; in Ireland (Morton-Ulster 8 and Paddy Tunney on Voice03) the cock may be replaced by the moor cock. The ghost/cock motif accounts for the connection, by some, of "Willy O!" to Child 77. - BS
Tom Shipley, in _The Road to Middle-Earth_ (third edition), p. 210, notes that Herd's text of this (Child's B) mentioned "Middle-Earth," implying that this song might have been a small part of the inspiration of the world (though not the plot) created by J. R. R. Tolkien. Rather a stretch -- but interesting, the more so as Tolkien did have a strong affinity for folklore and folk song. - RBW
File: C077
===
NAME: Sweet Willie (I): see Earl Brand [Child 7] (File: C007)
===
NAME: Sweet Willie (II): see Come All You Fair and Tender Girls (File: WB2080)
===
NAME: Sweet Willie (III): see On Top of Old Smokey (File: BSoF740)
===
NAME: Sweet Willie and Fair Annie: see Lord Thomas and Fair Annet [Child 73] (File: C073)
===
NAME: Sweeter the Breeze (I), The
DESCRIPTION: "Take a deep seat and a faraway look, Keep him between your knees. The higher he goes, the sweeter the breeze. Keep your mind in the middle and let both ends flop!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: cowboy horse nonballad recitation
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 86, "The Sweeter the Breeze" (1 text)
NOTES: Even Ohrlin admits this is a "cross between a verse and a saying." But I suppose it might be traditional advice for a bronc rider, so here it is. (Ohrlin made up another piece with this title, not included here.) - RBW
File: Ohr086
===
NAME: Sweetheart in the Army, A: see Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token) [Laws N42] (File: LN42)
===
NAME: Sweetheart, Farewell: see I Can Forgive But Not Forget (Sweetheart, Farewell) (File: BrII166)
===
NAME: Sweetheart's Appeal to Her Lover, A: see The Lover's Curse (Kellswater) (File: HHH442)
===
NAME: Swiler's Song, The
DESCRIPTION: "Rise up me hearties with gaff and sculp, With hobnail rope and line." The singer repeatedly encourages his comrades in their tasks as they hunt seals. He admits that "many a hearty swiler sleeps 'round the Funks and Baccalieu," but still urges them on
AUTHOR: Words: Pat Byrne
EARLIEST_DATE: 1978 (Ryan/Small)
KEYWORDS: hunting nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, pp. 144-145, "The Swiler's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Sinking of the Caribou" (tune)
File: RySm144
===
NAME: Swiles of Newfoundland, The
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, the day we left St. John's, me b'ys, It was a very fine day! Our wives an' sweethearts on the quay Says they, ye'll understand." The singer complains about the bad conditions, but delights in killing "swiles [seals] in Newfoundland."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (England, Vikings of the Ice)
KEYWORDS: hunting hardtimes
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 106, "The Swiles of Newfoundland" (1 text)
File: RySma106A
===
NAME: Swine-Herders: see Hog Drovers (File: LoF207)
===
NAME: Swing Low
DESCRIPTION: "Star in the east, swing low, Star in the west, swing low, Stars shining in my breast, Swing low, chariot, swing low. "My father's gone, swing low... Angels took him...." "My mother's gone...." "I got a letter... it was sent from heaven...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (recording, Bascom Lamar Lunsford)
KEYWORDS: religious father mother
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "Swing Low" (on BLLunsford01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot"
cf. "Job, Job" (a few lines)
NOTES: Bascom Lamar Lunsford thinks this a forerunner of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," and it's likely enough that I decided to include the song even though I'm not sure how strong it is in tradition. On the other hand, it is possible that it is a filed-down version, without the strong freedom motif of the better-known song. - RBW
File: RcSwinLo
===
NAME: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot
DESCRIPTION: Black spiritual: "Swing low, sweet chariot/Coming for to carry me home"; "I looked over Jordan and what did I see/.../A band of angels comin' after me"; "If you get there before I do/.../Tell all my friends I'm a-comin' too"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1872 (publ. in Theodore B. Seward, "Jubilee Songs, as Sung by the Jubilee Singers of Fisk University")
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad slavery floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 16, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 608-610, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 28, (no title) (1 fragment of 2 lines)
Silber-FSWB, p. 353, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (1 text)
DT, SWINGLOW
Roud #5435
RECORDINGS:
Carroll Clark, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Black Swan 2024, 1921)
Cotton Pickers Quartet, "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (OKeh 8917, 1931)
Lt. Jim Europe's Four Harmony Kings, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Pathe 22187, 1919) (Pathe 020581, 1923 [as Jim Europe's Four Harmony Kings])
Fisk University Jubilee Quartet, "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (Victor 16453, 1910; rec. 1909)
Fisk University Male Quartet, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Columbia A1883, 1915; Silvertone 3294 [as Border Male Quartet], n.d.)
The Four Jacks, "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (Allen 21000, n.d. but post-wwii)
Mabel Garrison, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Victor 640, 1901)
Hampton Institute Quartette, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (RCA 27470, 1941)
Roland Hayes, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Vocalion [US & UK] 21003, n.d.; Supertone, 1931)
Hall Johnson Negro Choir, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Victor 36020, 1930)
Kanawha Singers, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Brunswick 205, 1928)
Mitchell's Christian Singers, "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (Melotone 6-04-64, 1936)
Norman Phelps & his Virginia Rounders, "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" (Decca 5247, 1936)
Paul Robeson, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Victor 20068, 1926) (HMV [UK] 8372/Victor 25547, 1937)
Pete Seeger, "Swing Low" (on PeteSeeger24)
Southern Four, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Edison 51364, 1924)
Standard Quartette, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (CYL: Columbia, no #, 1894)
Taylor Sisters, Mae Helen Blakeney, soloist, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (on HandMeDown2)
Tuskegee Institute Singers, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Victor 17890, 1916)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Swing Low"
cf. "Wade in the Water" (floating lyrics) and references there
cf. "Dawsonville Jail" (tune)
NOTES: Guy Logsdon & Jeff Place state that the songs were taught to the Fisk Jubilee Singers in 1871 by two former slaves from the Indian Territory (Oklahoma), Aunt Minerva Willis & Uncle Wallace. See "The Presbyterian", Sept. 10, 1890, and Thoburn & Wright's "Oklahoma: A History of the State and Its People."
The subtext of running away to freedom is clear throughout this song; the fact that the title is a pun on the name of the most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad, Harriet Tubman, may or may not be accidental. - PJS
File: PSAFB016
===
NAME: Swinging in the Lane: see Rosie Nell (File: San114)
===
NAME: Swinish Multitude, The
DESCRIPTION: Give me the man who bids "the sun of Freedom rise" against tyrants, and the soul who "inlists for Freedom's cause." May you "no longer unavenged be called 'The swinish multitude.'" Freedom is coming to the world. Dare to die pursuing statecraft's crimes.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1804 (_Paddy's Resource_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: nonballad political
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 80, "The Swinish Multitude" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Moylan: "Edmund Burke in his _[Reflections on the Revolution] in France_ described the common people as the 'swinish multitude'.... The phrase was adopted as a mock compliment by sympathizers with the revolution and several United Irish songs played upon the phrase." - BS
Burke's precise quote is "Learning will be cast into the mire, and trodden down under the hoofs of the swinish multitude."
Thomas Pakenham, _The Year of Liberty_, p. 173, reports that the United Irishmen of Henry Joy McCracken sang a "workingmen's song called 'The Swineish (sic.) Multitude."  If he has a source for this, it appears to be E. Thompson, _Working Class_, p. 90.  - RBW
File: Moyl080
===
NAME: Sword of Bunker Hill, The
DESCRIPTION: An old veteran, dying, bid his son to bring "the sword of Bunker Hill." Grasping the sword, in a burst of energy, he tells the boy how he captured the blade from a British officer. The old man dies
AUTHOR: "Covert"?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1949 (Flanders/Olney)
KEYWORDS: battle dying patriotic
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 17, 1775 - American defeat at the Battle of Bunker Hill
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 224-225, "The Sword of Bunker Hill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thomas-Makin', p. 88, (no title) (1 fragment, very likely not this song but associated by the informant with Bunker Hill, and it fits better here than anywhere else)
ST FO224 (Partial)
Roud #4684
NOTES: Although this song, by implication at least, praises American conduct at Bunker Hill, the record of the Colonials at that battle was in fact rather poor. Sent on the night of June 16 to garrison Bunker Hill, American troops instead occupied Breed's Hill, which was lower, less defensible, and closer to the British artillery. The British under General Gage attacked the next day. The Americans did show unaccustomed discipline, which caused the battle to last longer than usual, but ultimately the British forced them back.
The battle was a dreadful strain on the British, though, who suffered more than 1100 casualties (see Stanley Weintraub, _Iron Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire: 1775-1783_, Free Press, 2005, p. 9), compared to 441 American losses.
The "Warren" of the song is Dr. Joseph Warren, the man who had organized Paul Revere's Ride and a leading figure in the rebel forces (although not one of their commanding officers). He was killed in the battle. (It will tell you something about conditions at the time that Warren, although he worked as a physician, actually earned his degree in theology, because that was the only curriculum taught at Harvard College at the time; see Weintraub, p. 8).
I have in my collection a damaged songster, date unknown but almost certainly from the period 1865-1885, attributing this to "Covert"; in the same songster, a piece called "Follow the Drum" is credited to "B. Covert." The Flanders/Olney text is nearly identical to the songster version. - RBW
File: FO224
===
NAME: Sycamore Tree, The: see The Maid Freed from the Gallows [Child 95] (File: C095)
===
NAME: Sydney Cup Day
DESCRIPTION: Joe Thompson comes up to the singer on race day and asks him to back his horse. The singer is not interested
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1954
KEYWORDS: horse racing gambling Australia
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, p. 35, "Sydney Cup Day" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA035
===
NAME: Sylvania Lester: see Locks and Bolts [Laws M13] (File: LM13)
===
NAME: Sylvia: see The Female Highwayman [Laws N21] (File: LN21)
===
NAME: Sylvia's Request and William's Denial: see The Female Highwayman [Laws N21] (File: LN21)
===
NAME: Sympathizing with the Fenian Exiles
DESCRIPTION: Keep your mouth shut and beware spies. We visit the Fenians jailed like "dogs kept in a manger." General Burk's turnkey "is worse than a Turk." Rossa, Luby and others are named. God is watching inside the walls. Our day will come.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: exile prison political
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Zimmermann, p. 52, "A New Song Sympathizing With The Fenian Exiles" (1 fragment)
Healy-OISBv2, pp. 131-133, "(A new song sympathising with) The Fenian Exiles" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.8(40), "A New Song Sympathising With the Fenian Exiles" ("My Irish frlends [sic] aome [sic] rally round"), unknown, n.d.
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 52 is a fragment; broadside Bodleian 2806 c.8(40) is the basis for the description.
Is the topic prisoners as in the text, or exiles as in the title? If the former the date is probably before 1871; else, after. - BS
For O'Donovan Rossa and the Fenian Exiles, see "Rossa's Farewell to Erin." - RBW
File: BrdSwtFE
===
NAME: Syng Hoit Faleri (Listen Little Bosun)
DESCRIPTION: Norwegian shanty. "Listen little bosun, what I want to tell you, do you want to play dice with me? Ch: Sing high falleri, fallala-lala."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1888 (L.A. Smith, _Music of the Waters_)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty gambling
FOUND_IN: Norway
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 557-558, "Syng Hoit Faleri" (2 texts-Norwegian & English, 1 tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Hor Du Lille Baadsmand
File: Hugi557
===
NAME: T for Texas (Blue Yodel #1)
DESCRIPTION: "It's T for Texas, T for Tennessee (x2), It's T for Thelma, the gal who made a fool out of me." A lonely song for an unhappy man; he will buy a pistol and shoot the woman
AUTHOR: Jimmie Rodgers
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1928 (recording, Jimmie Rodgers)
KEYWORDS: floatingverses hardtimes murder
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
BrownIII 339, "Leave for Texas, Leave for Tennessee" (2 texts)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 71, "T for Texas, T for Tennessee" (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 152, "Mule Skinner Blues" (1 text, 1 tune, with one stanza of "T for Texas" thrown in at the end)
Roud #11743
RECORDINGS:
Jim Eanes, "Blue Yodel No. 1" (Rich-R-Tone 1058, n.d.)
NOTES: Jimmie Rodgers is apparently responsible for this song in its present form, but he built it up largely from floating verses.
To add to the fun, the Lomaxes took a verse of this and tacked it on to another Rodgers piece, "Muleskinner Blues." Given that neither song has much of a plot, it can be hard to separate the resulting hybrids.
It will show how strong was the influence of Rodgers that the song was in tradition within five years (Brown's "a" text is from 1930, and Henry's from 1934 or earlier). - PJS, RBW
File: LoF152A
===
NAME: T for Texas, T for Tennessee: see T for Texas (Blue Yodel #1) (File: LoF152A)
===
NAME: t-Oilean Ur, An
DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. The singer goes to America and sees nothing familiar: not a Christian, horse, cow, sheep, but only roaring wild animals and people. When he meets people from Ireland he realizes he would be fortunate to be home even just to find proper mourners.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1976 (OBoyle)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage emigration America Ireland
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OBoyle 19, "t-Oilean Ur, An" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The description follows O Boyle's translation. - BS
I would assume that when the singer says he saw no Christians he meant he saw no *Catholics*. This would be almost reasonable if he migrated to, say, New England, especially in the eighteenth or early nineteenth century. - RBW
File: OBoy019
===
NAME: T.V.A. Song: see The TVA (File: Arn172)
===
NAME: T'ain't Gonna Rain No Mo': see Ain't Gonna Rain No More (File: R557)
===
NAME: T'Owd Yowe wi' One Horn
DESCRIPTION: Old "yowe" (ewe) resists penning and kicks the farmhand around the yard. The butcher is sent for; the yowe charges him and breaks his legs. She is sent to fight for the king, and kills soldiers in quantity.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (collected from Dean Robinson)
KEYWORDS: farming humorous talltale animal sheep
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 82, "T'Owd Yowe wi' One Horn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1762
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Grey Goose"
cf. "The Killing of the Big Pig (Iso Sika)"
NOTES: This seems to have been collected only once, but cognate stories of big animals that are hard to kill and cook are common (see cross-references). "The Derby Ram" is also connected. -PJS
Kennedy apparently regards it as the same as the piece "The Ewie wi' the Crookit Horn" (#271 in his collection). But neither the plot, nor the words, nor the music is the same. - RBW
Then there's the "Yowie wi' the Crookit Horn," which seems to be slang for an illegal whiskey still. - PJS
File: VWL082
===
NAME: Ta Me Mo Shui (I Am Awake)
DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. The singer lies awake until cock crow though the rest of the household sleeps: he had met a banshee the night before and she had doomed him to love her "until crack of Doomsday"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1976 (OBoyle)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage love magic
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 37-39, "Ta Me Mo Shui" (1 text)
OBoyle 24, "Ta me 'mo Shui" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: If you were brought up on the stories I was brought up on, you probably just think of a banshee as a (non-human) creature whose cry causes death. Not so in Irish legend; "Bean Sidhe" is a "woman of the hills" -- a member, presumably, of the old fairy folk, the Aes Sidhe, the "people of the hills." The Bean Sidhe may be young and beautiful, or an old hag; a family may have its own special Bean Sidhe -- an immortal, who announces the death of each member of the family. Legends of a young man falling in love with one are rare, but it fits the Irish concept. - RBW
File: TST037
===
NAME: Ta Ra, Limavady
DESCRIPTION: The singer praises Limavady. He lists the boasts of other towns (e.g. "Coleraine for Kitty justly proud"), but prefers the local product ("But the girls that take the shine off both Are the girls that come from Limavady"). He asks others to praise it also
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1937 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H706, p. 180, "Ta Ra, Limavady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8007
File: HHH706
===
NAME: Ta-Ra-Ra Boom De Ay (II)
DESCRIPTION: Descriptions of how various people came to be in their present psychological and sexual states, to the tune of "Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-e"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950
KEYWORDS: bawdy sex
FOUND_IN: US(MW,NE,SW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cray, pp. 271-273, "Ta-Ra-Ra Boom De Ay" (4 texts, 1 tune)
File: EM271
===
NAME: Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-e
DESCRIPTION: The words often consist of floating lyrics. The chorus, "Ta-ra-ra(-ra) Boom-de-ay," is diagnostic. Sayers' lyrics: "A sweet Tuxedo girl I see, Queen of swell society, Fond of fun as fond can be, When it's on the strict Q.T...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1888
KEYWORDS: nonballad nonsense
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
FSCatskills 144, "Ta-ra-ra-ra Boom, Hurray!" (1 text plus many fragments, 2 tunes)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 144-146, "Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-e" (1 fragmentary text)
Gilbert, pp. 206-208, "Ta-ra-ra-boom-der-e" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 25, "Ta-Ra-Ra Boom-Der-E" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 570-571+, "Ta-Ra-Ra boom-Der-E"
RECORDINGS:
Land Norris, "Bum Delay" (OKeh 45058, 1926)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I'm the Man that Wrote Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay"
cf. "Will You Go Boom Today?" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Ta Ra Ra Boom De Ay (We Have No School Today) (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 102)
NOTES: Cazden et al present a list of the various authors who have claimed this piece while denying credit to any of them. (They concede the form "Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-e" to Henry J. Sayers, 1890; published in 1891 by Willis Woodward; cf. Spaeth, _Read 'em and Weep_, pp. 144-146.)
There was actually a lawsuit over the issue (Henry J. Sayers vs. Sigmund Spaeth et al, 1932). Fuld reports "Judge Robert P. Patterson later held that the music and words of the chorus were not original, but the first two verses were."
Randolph quotes Gilbert to the effect that the tune "is said to have originated in Babe Connors' famous St. Louis brothel" (!). Something very similar appears in a Strauss piece.
This uncertainty resulted in the comic parody "I'm the Man that Wrote Ta-ra-ra Boom-de-ay." - RBW
File: FSC144
===
NAME: Ta-ra-ra-ra Boom, Hurray!: see Ta-ra-ra Boom-der-e (File: FSC144)
===
NAME: Tacking of a Full Rigged Ship Off Shore: see Tacking Ship Off Shore (File: CrNS147)
===
NAME: Tacking Ship Off Shore
DESCRIPTION: In a storm the ship is driven toward "the lighthouse tall on Fire Island Head" but the skillful captain and crew avoid "a dangerous shoal" and "steady the helm to the open sea"
AUTHOR: Words: Walter F. Mitchell
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: sea ship storm sailor
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-NovaScotia 147, "Tacking of a Full Rigged Ship Off Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS147 (Partial)
Roud #1845
NOTES: The author, according to Creighton-NovaScotia, is "a native of Nantucket Island"; perhaps the Fire Island lighthouse is the one on the Long Island shore of New York. - BS
The title "Tacking Ship Off Shore" does not seem to be found in tradition, but it appears to be the author's title. The poem seems to have been fairly popular; _Granger's Index to Poetry_ cites five  anthologies, mostly of the sentimental sort, containing the piece. - RBW
File: CrNS147
===
NAME: Taffy Was a Welshman (I)
DESCRIPTION: "Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief, Taffy came to my house And stole a piece of beef." Taffy and the singer engage in a campaign of theft against each other -- e.g. Taffy takes a bone; the singer finds it and beats Taffy with it
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1842 (Halliwell, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: abuse food theft
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 494, "Taffy was a Welshman, Taffy was a thief" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #67, pp. 72-73, "(Taffy was a Welshman)"
DT, TFFYWLCH
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Napper" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: "Taffy" is an English twisting of the Welsh pronunciation of "David" (Daffyd), the patron saint of Wales.
The English of course had a habit of baiting the Welsh, especially on Saint David's day. And the analogy here is rather exact: When it came to a war of raids, the English -- who had the English law on their side -- could do more damage. Taffy could steal, but the Englishman could not only steal but beat Taffy.
It's not clear to me that this is a folk *song*, but the notes in Brown connect it with "Napper," which is, so I thought it had better go in the Index for reference. - RBW
See the following broadside on the same theme:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3724), "The Welshman" ("Taffy came out of the border of Wales"), unknown, n.d.)
See the following reworked broadside "signed" by J.W. Ebsworth March 1, 1895:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3724), "Taffy Up To Date," unknown, 1895 - BS
File: OOxf494
===
NAME: Taffy Was a Welshman (II): see Napper (File: Br3123)
===
NAME: Taffy Was a Welshman, Taffy Was a Thief: see Taffy Was a Welshman (I) (File: OOxf494)
===
NAME: Taglioni
DESCRIPTION: "Her mother had a nice wee dog, she used to call it Tony, And every time I kissed the girl he bit my Tagglieownie"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (IRClare01)
KEYWORDS: bawdy derivative nonballad dog
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 9, "Tagglieownie" (1 fragment)
Roud #3569
RECORDINGS:
Martin Reidy, "Tangaloni" (on IRClare01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Taglioni Coat" (line pattern and some text) and references there
NOTES: The current description is all of the Tunney-StoneFiddle fragment.
The following text is in the discussion of "As I Went Out Upon the Ice (Ag Dul amach ar an Leac Oighir dom)" at Andrew Kuntz's The Fiddler’s Companion site.
As I went out upon the ice, [or "One day as I went out to skate"]
The ice being rough and stony,
The ice it broke and down I went,
And wet my Taglioni. [or "tanlee ownee"]
Tunney-StoneFiddle: "My mother said it wasn't a nice song...."
The pattern of the four-line verse fragments, but not the bawdiness, seems based on the eight-line verse broadside "Taglioni Coat".   
Here is a verse that seems the original for the previous fragment:
One chilly day, not long ago,
I met a sad disaster,
When on the Serpentine to show,
Myself a skating master,
I circles cut, the ice gave way,
Transparent, but not stony,
It cracked, gave way, I tumbled,
And soaked my Taglioni.
but, in this case, it's clear from the context that the singer considers himself a fashion plate whose Taglioni coat is literally soaked (or maybe I'm being naive again; see the LONG DESCRIPTION at "Taglioni Coat").
Reidy's "The Tangaloni" on IRClare01 mixes the broadside eight-line verse form and story with the four-line verse verse form bawdy verses and adds a chorus.  I have included it under both songs.
"ta-glio-ni \tal'yone\ n -s [after Filippo Taglioni 1871 Ital. ballet master]: an overcoat worn in the early 19th century." (source: _Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged_ (1976)); Filippo Taglioni (1777-1871). - BS
File: RcTaglio
===
NAME: Taglioni Coat, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer left his vulgar cronies behind when he bought a Taglioni coat. His fortunes changed when the coat led him to a wealthy lady, marriage and privilege. Clothes make the man.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1856 (broadside, Harding B 14(168))
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer used to be "shabby, low and mean" with vulgar cronies, but has put that behind him. Now, wearing a Taglioni coat, he is "known in all fashionable quarters" and admired by "London's fairest daughters"  One day, ice skating, he falls into the Serpentine, soaking his coat. He is invited, by a lady with "lots of money" to go home with her, change his clothes and dry his coat. While drying his coat before her fire he proposes marriage, she accepts, they marry, and, among his advantages he gains "a flunkey, too, to curl my hair, And brush my Taglioni." Moral: to marry well "don't sport a Blouse, or Mackintosh, But try a Taglioni" 
KEYWORDS: courting marriage clothes humorous servant
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: ()

Roud #3569
RECORDINGS:
Martin Reidy, "Tangaloni" (on IRClare01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 14(168), "Taglioni Coat" ("I once was shabby, low, and mean"), W. Jackson and Son (Birmingham), 1842-1855
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Taglioni" (line pattern and some text) and references there
cf. "Umbrella Courtship" (tune, per broadside Bodleian Harding B 14(168))
NOTES: Broadside Harding B 14(168) is the basis for the description.
"ta-glio-ni \tal'yone\ n -s [after Filippo Taglioni 1871 Ital. ballet master]: an overcoat worn in the early 19th century." (source: _Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged_ (1976)); Filippo Taglioni (1777-1871). - BS
File: RcTagCoa
===
NAME: Tailing a Kangaroo: see The Old Man Kangaroo (File: MA040)
===
NAME: Tailor and the Crow, The: see Carrion Crow (File: LoF072)
===
NAME: Tailor and the Sailor, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer says she's sought by a tailor and a sailor. "I think I'll tak the sailor and let the tailor be." Tailors just sit and sew but sailors can turn a ship about and sail her. She'll wash his shirt and maybe they'll be married; or maybe not.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad sailor
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan1 57, "The Tailor and the Sailor" (2 texts)
Roud #5810
File: GrD1058
===
NAME: Tailor Ban, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer and tailor Ban are drinking buddies often mistaken for one another. They plan "a mad trip to Kilgarvin"; singer will marry Miss Foley but their alikeness will allow them some freedom. But if there's a child "let nobody ask who's the father"
AUTHOR: Sean O Tuama (Johnny Nora Aodha) (source: OCanainn)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1978 (OCanainn)
KEYWORDS: marriage disguise drink humorous
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OCanainn, pp. 76-77,123, "The Tailor Ban" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: OCan076
===
NAME: Tailor Boy, The: see The Weaver and the Tailor (File: Log407)
===
NAME: Tailor By His Trade, The: see The Wearing of the Britches (File: K215)
===
NAME: Tailor in the Tea Chest, The: see The Boatsman and the Chest [Laws Q8] (File: LQ08)
===
NAME: Tain't Gwine Rain No Mo': see Ain't Gonna Rain No More (File: R557)
===
NAME: Tak It, Man, Tak It (I)
DESCRIPTION: "When I was a miller in Fife, Losh, I thought that the sound o' the happer, said, 'Tak hame a wee flow to your wife.'" The singer lives his life, and constantly hears the temptation, upon seeing an item (especially drink) to "Tak it, man, tak it."
AUTHOR: David Webster (1787-1837) (source: Whitelaw)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1835 (Webster "small vol. of poems," according to Whitelaw)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous theft
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 15-18, "Tak It, Man, Tak It" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan3 579, "Take it, Man, Tak It" (2 texts, 1 tune)
DT, TAKITMAN
ADDITIONAL: Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), pp. 248-249, "Tak' It, Man, Tak It"
Roud #5591
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.14(13), "The Miller of Fife" ("When I was a miller in Fife"), R. McIntosh (Glasgow), 1860-1874; also Harding B 26(432), "Miller o' Fife"; Firth b.25(287), 2806 c.14(142), "Tak It, Man, Tak It" 
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Brose and Butter" (tune, per Whitelaw and broadside Bodleian 2806 c.14(142))
cf. "Take It, Bob" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Take It, Bob (File: GrD3578)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Mill and the Kiln
NOTES: Roud links this song with "The Working Chap" as found in Ord, etc. I flatly don't see it. - RBW
File: FVS015
===
NAME: Tak It, Man, Tak It (II)
DESCRIPTION: "Langsyne, fine I mind, little mair than a lad, I wrocht wi' John Jackson at Inkaboot Mill," where Jackson's daughter teases him and flirts. Asked for a kiss, she rejects him -- but at last he steals one, and in the end they are happily married
AUTHOR: Walter Towers?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 54-56, "Tak It, Man, Tak It" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5590
NOTES: Apart from the title line and the notion of temptation, this has nothing in common with "Tak It, Man, Tak It (I)" -- but I rather suspect one inspired the other. I'm not sure which way the dependence went; both have listed authors. This is clearly the less popular of the two. - RBW
File: Ord054
===
NAME: Tak' Anither Gill
DESCRIPTION: "Cattle noo are very low, and corn winna sell, But we'll aye keep oor spirits up and tak' another gill." We'll kiss the lasses; they won't go home "and tell their auld mither"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming drink hardtimes nonballad courting
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 564, "Tak' Anither Gill" (1 text)
Roud #6035
File: GrD3564
===
NAME: Take a Drink on Me
DESCRIPTION: Chorus "Take a drink on me/All you rounders, take a drink on me...." Verses float: "What did you do with that gun in your hand You give it to a rounder and he shot a good man", "If you keep on stalling, you'll make me think... your daddy was a monkey..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Charlie Poole)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Floating verses, linked by chorus "Take a drink on me/All you rounders, take a drink on me/Oh, Lord, honey take a drink on me." Verses include "What did you do with that gun in your hand/You give it to a rounder and he shot a good man", "If you keep on stalling, you'll make me think/That your daddy was a monkey and your mama was an ape"; "You see that gal with a hobble on/She's good looking just as sure as you're born"
KEYWORDS: crime drink nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 156-157, "Take a Drink on Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rorrer, p. 77, "Take a Drink on Me" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, p. 289, "Take a Drink on Me" (1 text)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 239, (no title) (1 fragment, in which the listener is urged to "take a one on me!"; it seems more likely that it's this than "take a whiff")
Silber-FSWB, p. 28, "Take A Whiff On Me" (1 text); p. 235, "Take A Drink On Me" (2 texts)
DT, DRNKONME*
Roud #10062
RECORDINGS:
New Lost City Ramblers, "Take a Drink on Me" (on NLCR01)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Take a Drink on Me" (Columbia 15193-D, 1927; on CPoole01, CPoole05)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Take a Whiff on Me" (tune, words)
cf. "Coney Isle" (lyrics)
SAME_TUNE:
Take Your Leg Off Mine (listed by Rorrer, p. 77, as a bawdy version of the above)
NOTES: This is a problem in classification. On the one hand, it's clearly a version of "Take a Whiff on Me." On the other, none of the verses of the latter show up in this song. So I call them siblings but, since we're being splitters here, different songs.
[The version on page 28 of the Folksinger's Wordbook], although it uses the "whiff" chorus, consists entirely of floating verses -- none of them the same as the verses in the Cohen/Seeger/Wood version, but many shared with common fiddle tunes. - PJS
File: CSW156
===
NAME: Take a Whiff on Me
DESCRIPTION: The singer "Walked up Ellum and... come down Main / Tryin' to bum a nickel, just to buy cocaine / Ho, ho, honey take a whiff on me." The singer devotes considerable energy to seeking women and drugs, with slight success and open disregard for the risks
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (recording, Grant Brothers)
KEYWORDS: drugs sex
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 130-132, "Take a Whiff on Me" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Lomax-FSUSA 89, "Take a Whiff on Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 186-188, "Honey, Take a Whiff on Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 277, "Oh, Ho, Baby, Take a One On Me!" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WHIFFME
Roud #10062
RECORDINGS:
Anonymous singer, "Take A Whiff On Me" (on Unexp1)
Freeny's Barn Dance Band, "Croquet Habits" (OKeh 45524, 1931; rec. 1930; on StuffDreams1)
Grant Brothers & Their Music, "Tell It to Me" (Columbia 15322-D, 1928; on RoughWays1)
Memphis Jug Band, "Cocaine Habit Blues" (Victor V-38620, 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Take a Drink on Me" (tune, words)
cf. "Tom Cat" (lyrics, form)
cf. "Cocaine Blues (I)" (subject) and references there
NOTES: "Ellum" ("Elem," "Deep Elem") refers to Elm Street in Dallas, the heart of that city's red light district. The various versions of this song, naturally, differ considerably in local color. - RBW
The recording "Tell It to Me" presents another classification problem; also known as "Let the Cocaine Be," it has a chorus "Tell it to me, tell it to me/Drink corn likker, let the cocaine be" that other "Take a Whiff on Me" songs do not, and sometimes different verses. I'm joining them primarily because many versions of "Tell It to Me" include the "Honey, take a whiff on me" refrain, but a case could also be made for splitting. - PJS
File: RL130
===
NAME: Take Back Your Gold
DESCRIPTION: The singer sees a man and a woman. She is begging him to be honorable and marry her; he refuses. He is going to be married to another. He offers money to soothe her. She says, "Take back your gold, for gold can never buy me."
AUTHOR: Monroe H. Rosenfeld & Louis W. Pritzkow
EARLIEST_DATE: 1921 (copyright assignment)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage betrayal money gold
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 820, "Take Back Your Gold" (1 text)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 183-184, "Take Back Your Gold" (1 text, 1 tune)
Geller-Famous, pp. 144-149, "Take Back Your Gold" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7427
RECORDINGS:
Walter Morris, "Take Back Your Gold" (Columbia 15101-D, 1926)
File: R820
===
NAME: Take her Out of Pity: see The Old Maid's Song (File: R364)
===
NAME: Take It Out, Take It Out, Remove It: see Crazy Song to the Air of "Dixie" (File: San342)
===
NAME: Take It, Bob
DESCRIPTION: The singer is Bob Bell, a miller fond of drink. He tries often to quit drinking but his mill seems to say "Take it Bob, take it, it's better than tea" He dreams he is dead but hears the mill say he should take the brandy meant for the mourners.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greig #81, p. 2, "Take It Bob" (1 text) 
GreigDuncan3 578, "Take It, Bob" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6041
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Tak It, Man, Tak It (I)" (tune and the temptation theme)
File: GrD3578
===
NAME: Take Me Back to the Cumberland Mountains
DESCRIPTION: "Take me back to the Cumberland Mountains, I don't like Lynchburg any more; I want to go home to our old log cabin...." The singer looks back to seeing Pap, Mammy, Uncle Mose, old dog Tray, and the various farm animals
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: home family return father mother animal
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 126-127, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: Thomas seems to have thought this was "Uncle Noah Bentley's Coon Hunting Song," but it has nothing to do with raccoons or hunting. It was said to have "the favorance of 'Sourwood Mountain,'" but with no tune, this cannot be proved.
The item has all sorts of references to other songs (e.g. "old dog Tray"), but it appears to be a matter of allusion rather than common floating material. - RBW
File: ThBa126
===
NAME: Take Me Back to the Sweet Sunny South: see Sweet Sunny South (II) (File: DTsunsou)
===
NAME: Take Me Down the Harbour
DESCRIPTION: "Take me down the Harbour on a Sunday afternoon, To Manly Beach or Watson's Bay Or round to Coogee for a day... Good old Harbour, Sydney Town, They can't beat you." The singer enjoys his girl and sailing in Sydney Harbour
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1954
KEYWORDS: Australia nonballad
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 35-36, "Take Me Down the Harbour" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Said to have been a popular music hall song in the early twentieth century in Australia. - RBW
File: MA035A
===
NAME: Take This Hammer
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells a (fellow prisoner?) to take his hammer to the captain; the singer is running away. The hammer (which killed John Henry) will never kill him. The versions show considerable variations
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: "Take This Hammer": 1915 (collected by Newman Ivey White); "Nine Pound Hammer" variant: 1927 (Sandburg; recording, Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters)
KEYWORDS: prisoner work escape nonballad worksong
FOUND_IN: US(SE) Jamaica
REFERENCES: (19 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 571-582, "Nine Pound Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 383, "John Henry" (6 texts, but the last three belong with this song)
Sandburg, p. 376, "Ever Since Uncle John Henry Been Dead" (1 text, 1 tune, which I believe belongs here although the text is too short to be sure); 457-458, "My Old Hammah" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 280, "John Henry" (2 texts plus 5 fragments, 1 excerpt, and mention of 1 more, but it appears that fragments "B," "D," "E," and "G" go here)
BrownIII 241, "Some of These Days and It Won't Be Long" (1 text plus a fragment; the "A" text shows hints of incorporating another ballad); also 240, "I Been a Miner" (1 4-line fragment, consisting of the stanza "I been a miner most of my life" and the stanza, "Big John Henry (x3) poor boy blind")
Chappell-FSRA 104, "The John Henry Hammer Song" (1 short and 1 very long text, 1 tune; the short text might be anything and the long, though it ends with these verses, includes much floating material about railroad construction)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 219, (no title) (1 short texts; neither has the "take this hammer" line, but they fit metrically and mention the hammer that killed John Henry); p. 220, "Work-song" (1 short text, 1 tune, at least related to this); p. 220, "Nine-Pound Hammer" (1 short text); p. 220, "Work-song" (1 short text, with a verse of this song although it also mentions shooting Ida in the leg)
Colcord, p. 186, "Rocks In De Mountens" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 93, "Take This Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 145, "Roll On, Buddy"; 297, "East Colorado Blues" (2 texts, 2 tunes -- both, especially the former, folk processed and expanded and perhaps derived in part from other songs.)
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 237-240, "Take This Hammer" (2 texts, 1 tune)
GreenMiner, p. 329-331, "Nine Pound Hammer" (7 texts, 2 tunes)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 100, "Spike Driver Blues" (1 text, 1 tune); p. 112, "Nine Pound Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 94-95, "Nine-Pound Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 913, "Take This Hammer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 137-138, "(John Henry)" (1 text, with a fragment of the plot of "John Henry" but many lyrics from "Take This Hammer"); pp. 285-286, "John Henry (Version III)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 234-235, "Spike Driver Blues" (1 text, filed with three texts of "John Henry"); also pp. 327-328, "John Henry, " "This Old Hammer" (2 texts)
Silber-FSWB, p. 69, "Take This Hammer" (1 text); p. 124, "Nine Pound Hammer" (1 text)
DT, NINEPND* TAKEHAMR*
Roud #4299
RECORDINGS:
Frank Blevins & his Tar Heel Rattlers, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Columbia 15280-D,  1928; on LostProv1)
Emmett Brand, "Take This Hammer" (on MuSouth06)
Carolina Tar Heels, "Roll On, Boys" (Victor V-40024, 1929; rec. 1928) [I include this here for want of a better place; its chorus is from "Nine Pound Hammer/Roll On, Buddy," but the verses are unrelated floaters]
Palmer Crisp, "Roll On, John" (on Crisp01)
 Delmore Bros. "Take It to the Captain" (King 718, 1948)
[G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "The Nine-Pound Hammer" Victor V-40105, 1929; rec. 1928)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Roll On, Buddy" (on Holcomb2, HolcombCD1)
Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Brunswick 177, 1927)
Mississippi John Hurt, "Spike Driver Blues" (OKeh 8692, 1929; rec. 1928; on AAFM3, BefBlues3, MJH01, MJH02)
Aunt Molly Jackson, "Roll On Buddy" (AFS 2548 B, 1939; on LC61)
Buffalo Johnson, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Rich-R-Tone 1023, 1952)
Buell Kazee, "Roll On John" (Brunswick 144, 1927) [a "Nine Pound Hammer" version]
Monroe Brothers, "Nine Pound Hammer Is Too Heavy" (Bluebird B-6422, 1936)
Paul Robeson, "Water Boy" (Victor 19824, 1925; HMV [UK] B-8103, 1934)
South Carolina ditch diggers, "Ten Pound Hammer" (on LomaxCD1700)
Horace Sprott, "Take This Hammer" (on MuSouth04)
Ernest Stoneman & Eddie Stoneman, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Vocalion 02655, 1934)
Sweet Brothers, "I Got a Bulldog" (1928; on TimesAint04)
Henry Grady Terrell, "Old John Henry Died on the Mountain" (on FolkVisions2)
Art Thieme, "Railroad Blues and Nine Pound Hammer" [medley] (on Thieme01)
Merle Travis, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Capitol 48000, 1947; on 78 album "Folk Songs of the Hills", Capitol AD 50; rec. 1946)
Doc Watson, "Spike-Driver Blues" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchiteWatsonCD1)
Tex Williams, "Nine Pound Hammer" (Decca 29764, 1955)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "John Henry" [Laws I1] (lyrics)
cf. "Jumpin' Judy" (lyrics)
cf. "Walking Boss" (lyrics)
cf. "Swannanoah Tunnel" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Drivin' Steel" (theme, lyrics)
cf. "Don't You Hear My Hammer Ringing" (lyrics)
cf. "Old Rattler" (lyrics)
cf. "Hammer Ring"
cf. "If I Had the Gov'nor" (theme)
cf. "Pickaxe Too Heavy" (theme)
cf. "Roll On, Boys" (lyrics, theme)
NOTES: The connection between this song and "Swannanoa Tunnel" is very strong; there are so many intermediate versions that we can hardly draw a clear distinction. But the extreme versions are sufficiently different that I have listed them separately. - RBW
Paul Stamler suggests that "Take This Hammer" and "Nine Pound Hammer" can be distinguished by the chorus (found in the latter) "Roll on buddy/Don't you roll so slow/How can I roll/When the wheels won't go."
Paul adds, ""According to the liner notes on LC61, the cited 78s (by Charlie Bowman and Al Hopkins) are the first recorded under the names 'Roll On, Buddy' and 'Nine Pound Hammer,' indicating the variant existed when these records were published. The Aunt Molly Jackson field recording dates from 1939. So I think we've established the variant's presence in tradition as early as the late 1920s. I think it's time to split 'em, with cross-referencing notes."
He's probably right. Sadly, we now have four references I can no longer check. So they remain lumped until I can find a way to get those books back. - RBW
Unfortunately, the liner notes to LC61 misled me. While it's true that the title "Roll On, Buddy" was first used by Charlie Bowman & his Brothers, his recording (placed here in earlier versions of the Index) wasn't this song. Instead, it was the one we have indexed as "Roll On, Buddy (II) [Roll On, Buddy, Roll On]." Sorry.
We can go further: Archie Green interviewed Charlie Bowman of Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, who stated that he and Al Hopkins had put together the "Roll On Buddy" variant from traditional fragments during their 1927 recording session, and the song was in fact copyrighted in their name. Bowman stated that he'd learned many of the fragments from African-American railroad workers in 1903-1905. - PJS
Norm Cohen has an extensive discussion, based on Archie Green's examination in _Only a Miner_. They note two basic elements: The "Take this hammer" stanzas, in non-rhyming couplets, and the "roll on buddy" verses, which do rhyme. They therefore suspect that Hopkins was the source of the combination. The problem is simply too great to fully explicate here; I can only recommend the discussions in Green and Cohen. - RBW
I place Robeson's "Water Boy" here for want of a better place. It contains several floating verses from this song (e.g., "There ain't no hammer that's on this mountain/That rings like mine...").  - PJS
File: FR383
===
NAME: Take Thy Old Cloak About Thee: see The Old Cloak (File: OBB170)
===
NAME: Take Your Fingers Off It
DESCRIPTION: "Take your (fingers/hands) off it, and don't you dare touch it, You know it don't belong to you." Various people try to keep others away from their sexual partners. One complains of "a house full of children and none of them mine."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: sex adultery betrayal
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 80, "Take Your Fingers Off It" (1 text)
DT, FINGROFF
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Salty Dog"
File: FSWB080
===
NAME: Take Your Time
DESCRIPTION: "Honey Baby, take your time, Please don't break this leg of mine. Don't like, an' I ain't goin' to have it no more." About a difficult family meal (?): Mama picks on Sam; Sister is out of control (doing the twist); the singer gets in trouble in town
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: food family bawdy
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MWheeler, pp. 97-98, "Take Yo' Time" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10036
NOTES: Yes, Wheeler's text reads "Please don't break this leg of mine"! But she admits that her informants were expurgating the song as they went. Under it all, it is probably a bawdy song. - RBW
File: MWhee097
===
NAME: Taking Back Gear in the Night: see Taking Gair In the Night (File: FowM018)
===
NAME: Taking Gair In the Night
DESCRIPTION: "Come all you good people, come listen you might. It's only a ditty I'm going to write,... It's all about taking your gair [=gear -- the trawls used in capelin fishing] in the night." Song lists the fishermen of Penguin Island, their boats and hardships.
AUTHOR: Jerry Fudge ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928
KEYWORDS: fishing home work sea ship shore
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Fowke/MacMillan 18, "Taking Gair in the Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 145-146, "Taking Back Gear in the Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 105, "Taking Gear in the Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2327
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Gerry Fudge
File: FowM018
===
NAME: Taking Gear in the Night: see Taking Gair In the Night (File: FowM018)
===
NAME: Taking His Chance
DESCRIPTION: Bushranger Jack Dean comes to the door of the inn and dances with May Carney. Although all know he is an outlaw, the bushmen do not betray him. But at last someone notifies the police. Dean is shot and killed as he prepares to flee
AUTHOR: Henry Lawson
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965
KEYWORDS: outlaw death police Australia
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 270-271, "Taking His Chance" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA270
===
NAME: Talcahuano Girls: see Spanish Ladies (File: ShH89)
===
NAME: Tale of a Little Pig: see There Was an Old Woman and She Had a Little Pig (File: E068)
===
NAME: Tale of a Tramp: see The Tramp's Story (File: R844)
===
NAME: Tale of Jests, A: see Little Brown Dog (File: VWL101)
===
NAME: Tale of the Trail, A
DESCRIPTION: "It ain't so far from right to wrong, The trail ain't hard to lose. There's times I'd almost give my horse To know which one to choose." The poet admits the difficulty of telling which is which, and so promises to help those who have gone astray
AUTHOR: James W. Foley
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Foley, "Tales of the Trail")
KEYWORDS: cowboy nonballad recitation
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 41, "A Tale of the Trail" (1 text)
File: Ohr041
===
NAME: Talk About Jesus
DESCRIPTION: "Talk about Jesus -- he has blessed my soul, And he is gone. Must Jesus bear the cross alone? For there's a cross for everyone And... for me." "I heard the voice of Jesus saying, Come unto me and rest." "'Tis Jesus Christ I want to hear...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 639, "Talk About Jesus" (1 text)
Roud #11935
File: Br3639
===
NAME: Talking Blues
DESCRIPTION: "If you want to get to Heaven let me tell you what to do, Gotta grease your feet in mutton stew...." The singer boasts of the ways he avoids work and easily acquires food, sex, etc. Many of the verses float
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: work nonsense animal bird nonballad courting humorous floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
BrownIII 444, "If You Want to Go to Heaven" (1 fragment, apparently this piece)
Lomax-FSNA 224, "Talking Blues" (1 text with metrical markings)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 116-117, "Jest Talkin'" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 254-258, "When de Good Lord Sets You Free" (1 text, 1 tune -- an immense composite containing elements of "Moanish Lady," "Talking Blues," and probably other materials, to the tune of "Mourner, You Shall Be Free")
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 225, (no title) (1 fragment, perhaps one of the items that inspired the Lomax mess)
Silber-FSWB, p. 80, "Talking Blues" (1 text)
DT, TALKBLUE TALKBLU2
Roud #13912, etc.
RECORDINGS:
Chris Bouchillon, "Talking Blues" (Columbia 15120-D, 1927; Vocalion 02977, 1935; rec. 1926)
Pete Seeger, "Talking Blues" (on PeteSeeger32)
Roy Shaffer, "Talking Blues" (Bluebird B-8234, 1939/Montgomery Ward M-8493, c. 1940)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. every other song with the words "talking" and "blues" in the titles
cf. "Mourner, You Shall Be Free (Moanish Lady)" (this piece is sometimes sung to a tune similar to that)
cf. "Henhouse Door (Who Broke the Lock?)" (floating verses)
SAME_TUNE:
Talking Dustbowl Blues (File: LoF225)
Talking Hard Luck (File: CSW214)
Talking Atom (DT, TALKATOM; Sam Hinton, ABC-Eagle ABC-230, 1950; on PeteSeeger19, PeteSeeger48)
Chris Bouchillon, "New Talking Blues" (Columbia 15262-D, 1928)
Hersal Brown & his Band, "New Talking Blues" (OKeh 45247, 1928)
Hersal Brown & his Band, "Talking Nigger Blues" (OKeh 45247, 1928)
Hershal Brown, "New Talking Blues No. 2" (OKeh 45337, 1929)
Hershel Brown & his Boys, "Nigger Talking Blues No. 2" (OKeh 45337, 1929)
Curly Fox, "Curly's New Talking Blues" (Decca 5185, 1936; rec. 1935)
Jesse Rodgers, "Jesse's Talking Blues" (Bluebird B-6143, 1935)
NOTES: Robert Lunn and Chris Bouchillon both claim to have written and recorded the canonical "Talking Blues," with the above-quoted lyrics; however, it's likely they acquired the form and some of the verses from anonymous African-American musicians. [Given that Scarborough's text precedes them, I'd say it's nearly certain. - RBW]
[For the items in the "same tune" list, the] discographical information lists Mr. Brown's name as "Hersal" for one record and "Hershel" for another. I don't know which is right. And I've since found one spelled "Hershal." Are we confused yet? - PJS
File: LoF224
===
NAME: Talking Columbia
DESCRIPTION: "I was down along the river, just sittin' on a rock, Lookin' at the boats in the Bonneville lock." The singer describes what he sees along the river -- and how it inspired this song. He concludes that the world should be run by electricity, not dictators
AUTHOR: Woody Guthrie
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941-2 (recording by author)
KEYWORDS: political river technology
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-FSNA 232, "Talking Columbia" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Talking Blues" (and its assorted relatives)
File: LoF232
===
NAME: Talking Dustbowl Blues
DESCRIPTION: Talking Blues about the dustbowl: The farmer sees his farm turn to dust, trades it for a Ford, heads out to California, has engine trouble, and winds up in California starving and having to beg. The song ends with sarcastic remarks about politicians
AUTHOR: Woody Guthrie
EARLIEST_DATE: April 26, 1940 (recording by author)
KEYWORDS: poverty hardtimes travel technology work political derivative dustbowl
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 225, "Talking Dustbowl Blues" (1 text)
Woody Guthrie, "Talkin' Dust Bowl Blues" (Victor 26619, 1940)
DT, DUSTBOWL
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Talking Dust Bowl" (on PeteSeeger41)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Talking Blues" (and its assorted relatives)
NOTES: Should we change "Dustbowl" in the title to "Dust Bowl"? That was Guthrie's title, and he wrote it. - PJS
Ordinarily, I'd agree. But people may well search for "dustbowl." Urk. - RBW
File: LoF225
===
NAME: Talking Hard Luck
DESCRIPTION: Talking blues, describing the singer's hard times in surrealistic terms: "I've been bawled out and balled up, held down and held up... lost all I had and part of my furniture...and if that ain't hard luck, folks, then you tell me what is."
AUTHOR: Chris Bouchillon & Lonnie Glosson (each supplying part)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Chris Bouchillon)+1936 (recording, Lonnie Glosson)
KEYWORDS: hardtimes nonsense recitation talltale
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 214-215, "Talking Hard Luck" (1 text with musical accompaniment)
DT, ARKLUCK
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley & Tex Isley, "Tom's Talking Blues (Hard Luck Blues)" (Ashley01)
Chris Bouchillon, "Born in Hard Luck" (Columbia 15151-D, 1927)
Clay Chapman, "Born in Hard Luck" (Velvet Tone 2498-V, 1932)
Lonnie Glosson, "Talking Hard Luck" (Conqueror 8732, 1936)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Talking Hard Luck" (on NLCR03, NLCR12, NLCREP1, NLCRCD1)
Buddy Starcher, "After I Lost That Job" (Starday SEP 158, c. 1960)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Born In Hard Luck
Good Place to Be From, Anyway
NOTES: This is a group of recitations on similar themes, basically grouped around the Bouchillon, Glosson, and Starcher pieces, all part of minstrel, circus and medicine-show traditions. The Ashley piece combines Bouchillon's and Starcher's with a couple of verses from "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down," while the New Lost City Ramblers stitch together Bouchillon's and Glosson's. Much of the material also shows up in the work of medicine-show artist Harmonica Frank Floyd. - PJS 
File: CSW214
===
NAME: Talking with the Social Union: see Tobacco Union (Talking with the Social Union) (File: R508)
===
NAME: Tall Pine Tree, The (The Samsonville Song)
DESCRIPTION: At the foot of the tall pine tree is a brook which runs through Samsonville. The brook powers the mill that feeds Samsonville. The singer(s) love the pine tree, where they "get a chance for to take a glance at the girls in Samsonville"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1982
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
FSCatskills 177, "The Tall Pine Tree, or, The Samsonville Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC177 (Partial)
NOTES: A parody of "The Old Pine Tree," written in 1849 by Charles White. - RBW
File: FSC177
===
NAME: Tallyho! Hark! Away!: see Bold Reynard the Fox (Tallyho! Hark! Away!) (File: DTReynrd)
===
NAME: Talt Hall
DESCRIPTION: "Come all you fathers and mothers And brothers and sisters all, I'll relate to you the history Concerning old Talt Hall." "He shot and killed Frank Salyers." Hall is taken and condemned to die. He writes to bid his brother farewell. He regrets his acts
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908
KEYWORDS: murder punishment execution crime
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Combs/Wilgus 62, pp. 157-158, "Talt Hall" (1 text)
Roud #4102
NOTES: Combs/Wilgus reports that "Talt Hall, [a] native of Kentucky... was hanged in Virginia toward the end of the nineteenth century" and that "he had on his conscience more than twenty assassinations."
This song is item dE42 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: CW157
===
NAME: Tam Barrow
DESCRIPTION: Widower Tam goes out courting a second wife. He finds that "a' the lasses blinkit blythe, but few o' them had tocher," so at last he settles on a rich widow. He soon grows tired of her and casts her out.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
KEYWORDS: wife dowry money courting abandonment
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kinloch-BBook XXIV, pp. 77-78, "Tam Barrow" (1 text)
ST KinBB24 (Full)
Roud #6217
File: KinBB24
===
NAME: Tam Bo: see Tam Buie (Tam Bo, Magherafelt Hiring Fair) (File: HHH748)
===
NAME: Tam Broon: see The King Takes the Queen (File: FSWB232)
===
NAME: Tam Brown: see The King Takes the Queen (File: FSWB232)
===
NAME: Tam Buie (Tam Bo, Magherafelt Hiring Fair)
DESCRIPTION: The (widow) attempts to hire Tam. He asks about his wages. He talks her into an increase, then asks about his diet. Satisfied, he asks where he will sleep. After turning down several offers, he agrees to sleep with, and marry, her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: worker courting marriage home bargaining
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H748, p. 263, "Magherafelt Hiring Fair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 194 (notes), (no title) (1 text, probably incomplete, but recognizably this, treated as a version of "Bargain With Me"; Kennedy also includes a portion of the Sam Henry text)
Roud #366
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Bargain With Me" (plot)
cf. "My Good Old Man" (format)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Tam Bowie
NOTES: In plot, this is identical with "Bargain With Me," but the form resembles nothing so much as "My Good Old Man." It seems to me best to keep "Tom Buie" and "Bargain With Me" separate, while noting their extreme similarity. Roud of course lumps them. - RBW
File: HHH748
===
NAME: Tam Frew's Hat
DESCRIPTION: "You've a' heard tell o' auld Tam Frew... Whase only way o' livin noo Is gaun aboot and cleanin' clocks... But the oddest o' his queerest ways -- He keeps his smiddy in his hat." Tam's hat, his behaviors, and his old age are humorously described
AUTHOR: John McLay?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1899 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: clothes humorous technology
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 65-68, "Tam Frew's Hat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13113
File: FVS065
===
NAME: Tam Gibb and His Sow: see Matty Broon's Soo (Tam Gibb and the Soo) (File: HHH671)
===
NAME: Tam Gibb and the Soo: see Matty Broon's Soo (Tam Gibb and the Soo) (File: HHH671)
===
NAME: Tam Lane: see Tam Lin [Child 39] (File: C039)
===
NAME: Tam Lin [Child 39]
DESCRIPTION: Janet goes to Carterhaugh to pull flowers. She meets Tam Lin, who makes her  sleep with him. She finds herself pregnant, and demands Tam Lin marry her. But to do so, she must rescue him from thralldom to the Elven queen. With difficulty, she does so.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1769; perhaps cited in 1549 (see notes)
KEYWORDS: magic pregnancy marriage rescue shape-changing
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland,England) Ireland US(NE)
REFERENCES: (17 citations)
Child 39, "Tam Lin" (15 texts)
Bronson 39, "Tam Lin" (4 versions plus 1 in addenda)
GreigDuncan2 330, "True Tammas" (1 text)
Dixon II, pp. 11-20, "Tam-a-Line, the Elfin Knicht" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 250-254, "Tam Lane" (1 text; tune on p. 422) {Bronson's #4}
Leach, pp. 136-141, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
OBB 2, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 41, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
PBB 23, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
Gummere, pp. 283-289+360, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
Hodgart, p. 129, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
DBuchan 27, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 163-169, "Tamlin" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 28-31, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
DT 39, TAMLIN1* TAMLIN2* TAMLIN3
ADDITIONAL: Iona & Peter Opie, The Oxford Book of Narrative Verse, pp. 32-37, "Tam Lin" (1 text)
James Kinsley, editor, Burns: Complete Poems and Songs (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #558, pp. 658-663, "Tam Lin" (1 text, 1 tune, from c. 1796)
Roud #35
RECORDINGS:
Anne Briggs, "Young Tambling" (Briggs2, Briggs3)
A. L. Lloyd, "Tamlyn (Young Tambling)" (on Lloyd3)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Seven Virgins (The Leaves of Life)" (tune)
NOTES: Carterhaugh, also mentioned as the site of magic in "The Wee Wee Man," "is a plain at the confluence of the Ettrick and Yarrow in Selkirkshire" (Scott).
The idea of gaining a lover who is changing shape has ancient roots. We find it in Ovid's "Metamorphoses," where Peleus (the father of Achilles) has the problem of coupling with his wife Thetis.
The problem was, Thetis was very attractive, and a lot of the Gods (including Zeus and Poseidon) wanted her for themselves. But there was that prophecy that her son would be greater than his father. (This is the prophecy that finally got Prometheus free of his torture, because he knew who was involved and Zeus didn't).
Once the gods knew that Thetis was the dangerous party, they decided to wed her off to a mortal so she could have a son and they could get back to the serious business of hitting on her. They chose Peleus, and held a great marriage feast (it was at that feast that Eris threw out the Apple of Discord, causing the fight between Aphrodite, Athena, and Hera which led to the Judgment of Paris, and hence to the abduction of Helen and the Trojan War).
The gods could marry Thetis off; they couldn't make her like it. Peleus found himself in the interesting position of having to locate and, in effect, capture his wife. Given help from the gods, he found Thetis in a cave and attempted to couple with her. To defeat him, she turned into a bird, a tree, and a tigress. The latter scared him off, but eventually he caught her while asleep (Metamorphoses XI.225ff.). 
Dixon quotes a possible mention of this song from Wedderburn's _Complaynt of Scotland_: He refers once to a dance of "thom of lyn," and elsewhere to the "tayl of yong tamlane." But we cannot prove that either of these is this piece, even if it's the same story. Indeed, Dixon hints that the references might be to "Tom o' the Linn," which appears to be the song we index as "Brian O'Lynn (Tom Boleyn)." - RBW
File: C039
===
NAME: Tam O'Shanter Hat, The
DESCRIPTION: "I'll sing on the Tam o' Shanter's hat For the Cameronian Rifles." "John Bull, Pat, and Sandy true, Are a' amalgamated noo." At review time we outdo the Life Guards and Royal Blues." "Tho' we lose the Cameronian name, We ne'er can lose the Cameron fame"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: pride army clothes nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan1 72, "The Tam O'Shanter Hat" (1 text)
Roud #5799
NOTES: GreigDuncan1: "The song refers to the amalgamation in 1881 of the 90th Light Infantry and the 26th Regiment of Foot to form the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles). The new uniform consisted of dark green doublet, tartan trews, and Tam o' Shanter (a flat woollen bonnet)." - BS
The amalgamation of regiments Ben mentions were part of the 1881 Cardwell Reforms. Prior to that, British regiments came in all sorts of sizes, strengths, and capabilities, because they had been raised at various times, and some had more ease keeping up their strength than others.
From a purely military standpoint, the Cardwell Reforms were logical and vital; the old way resulted in a badly disorganized army. But the troops *hated* them -- since almost all regiments were combined with at least one other, they felt their history was lost. Plus they often lost their home places -- British regiments were largely recruited geographically, and the regions they recruited from were changed.
The Cameronians, according to Ian S. Hallows, _Regiments and Corps of the British Army_, Arms and Armours, 1991 (I use the 1994 New Orchard edition), p. 282, had originally been the 26th Regiment; they were amalgamated with the 90th Regiment, the Perthshire Volunteer Light Infantry. They retained the title The Cameronians at the time. However, that name is now gone -- the Cameronians were disbanded in 1968, according to Hallows, p. 284.
According to John Baynes with John Laffin, _Soldiers of Scotland_, Brassey's, 1988 (I use the 1997 Barnes & Noble edition), pp. 158-159, the Cameronians were originally raised by Richard Cameron, and the soldiers were Covenanters. They had a distinguished history, serving with Marlborough, then later in the American Revolution, and they were with Moore in the Peninsula. They later served much time in Asia (Baynes, pp. 159-160).
The old Cameronians were the first battalion of the post-Cardwell Cameronians. This battalion was eliminated in 1947, meaning that, as a formation, the old 26th Regiment ceased to be even before the amalgamated regiment was disbanded.
Part of the problem with the amalgamated Cameronians was that the other battalion of the regiment, the Perthshire infantry, was so different. Raised in 1794, they had a history entirely unlike the Cameronians, according to Baynes, pp. 160-161.
Baynes, p. 162, says that the regiment served in Aden in 1966, then came home in 1967 to be told that it had a choice: Amalgamate with another regiment (again) or disband. They chose to disband; such companies as are left are now part of the 52nd Lowland Volunteers. - RBW
File: GrD072
===
NAME: Tam Pierce: see Tom Pearce (Widdicombe Fair I) (File: K308)
===
NAME: Tam-a-Line, the Elfin Knicht: see Tam Lin [Child 39] (File: C039)
===
NAME: Tambaroora Gold
DESCRIPTION: The singer, down on his luck, redeems himself by moving to Tambaroora and finding gold. Now he has respect, but it is only for the money. When his money is gone, his girl abandons him for someone else with Tambaroora gold.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: gold elopement abandonment work hardtimes
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 40-41, "Tambaroora Gold" (1 text, edited;  2 tunes collated into one)
Meredith/Anderson, p. 206, "Tambaroora Gold" (1 text, fragmentary; 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Wild Rover No More" (theme)
File: MA206
===
NAME: Tambaroora Ted: see Tomahawking Fred (Tambaroora Ted) (File: FaE138)
===
NAME: Tammy Chalmers
DESCRIPTION: The singer "left the kirk that patronage gae me" and his "simple flock" because "Tammie Chalmers, he's fairly diddled me." "But nocht can bring my bonnie glebe and stipend back again." He and his wife are grief-stricken.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: grief political religious clergy
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 682, "Tammy Chalmers" (2 texts)
Roud #6107
NOTES: GreigDuncan3: "This song is a satiric treatment of the Disruption of 1843 when, under the leadership of Dr Thomas Chalmers, approximately a third of the ministers of the Church of Scotland resigned their offices and endowments and formed the Free Church." -BS
There had been a long debate in the Church of Scotland in 1843 over whether a minister could be forced on an unwilling congregation. The idea is rather foreign to reformed doctrine, but of course flows easily out of the Anglican doctrine followed in England -- and England, of course, dominated parliament. So the official Church of Scotland policy allowed civil jurisdiction both over church courts and over congregations. (There were other differences between the groups, having to do with church policy and who ran congregations as well as with issues such as the treatment of the poor, but this is so nitpicky that even I don't want to dig into it. Both parties considered themselves the true Presbyterian church, but to be fair, both seem to have fallen within the limits of Calvinist theology.)
According to John Cannon, editor, _The Oxford Companion to British History_ (Oxford, 1997) p. 295, 474 out of 1203 ministers in the Scottish church quit the official body to form the Free Church. According to Rosalind Mitchison, _A History of Scotland_, second edition, Methuen, 1982, p. 383, the ministers who withdrew were mostly the more strongly evangelical, and often leaders of new parishes, which tended to draw the more radically conservative ministers. According to Fitzroy MacLean, _A Concise History of Scotland_, Beekman House, 1970, p. 204, by 1900 the Free Church (which in that year joined the "United Presbyterians" to form the "United Free Church") had more parishes than the official Church of Scotland. The two branches reunited in 1929 after Westminster abandoned its control over the Church of Scotland.
Thomas Chalmers (1780-1847) was the leader of these radical evangelicals. Prior to the split, he had worked to build up an endowment to support the various new congregations, but such an endowment could not match the government bounty given to official ministers. It sounds as if the singer in this song was swept away by the fervor of the evangelicals -- but then found that he had to survive based on nothing more than what his congregation gave him, rather than the government salary paid out of the taxes collected to support the state churches. - RBW
GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Turriff (347,386,682) is at coordinate (h5,v7) on that map [roughly 31 miles NNW of Aberdeen] - BS
File: GrD3682
===
NAME: Tammy Traddlefeet
DESCRIPTION: Tammy Traddlefeet sings "I hae been a weaver lad, for twenty years an' twa." "We weaver lads were merry blades in good times" but prices have fallen. "We'll maybe live to see the time when things'll tak' a come" and good times will return.
AUTHOR: David Shaw (source: Fenton)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1879 (Fenton)
KEYWORDS: weaving hardtimes
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
GreigDuncan3 477, "The Weaver Lad" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Andrew Fenton, editor, Forfar Poets (Forfar, 1879), pp. 61-62, "Tammy Traddlefeet"
Roud #5876
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Four-Loom Weaver" (subject) and references there
NOTES: The description follows Fenton.
Fenton: "This song was composed when wages for handloom weaving was low, and provisions very high in price, the now half-forgotten iniquity of Protection not yet having received its death blow." - BS
File: GrD3477
===
NAME: Tampa
DESCRIPTION: "Well I tamped all the way from Tampa In (21) days, buddy, in (21) days." "You got to tamp  like me." Other verses tell of various disasters: "Ada shot Shorty." "Waterworks in Georgia just burning down." "I broke my brand-new hammer."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (recorded from Jesse Hendricks, J. B. Smith, Matt Williams, Louis Houston by Jackson)
KEYWORDS: work hardtimes disaster nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 300-302, "Tampa" (2 texts, 1 tune)
File: JDM300
===
NAME: Tamping Ties
DESCRIPTION: Call and response for tie-laying. "Tamp 'em up solid...Then they'll hold that midnight mail....Well, work don't hurt me...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940
KEYWORDS: worksong railroading
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 445, "Tamping Ties" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: BRaF445
===
NAME: Tan-Yard Side, The [Laws M28]
DESCRIPTION: The singer loves a girl who lives by the tan-yard side. After a year of courtship, they prepare to be wed, but her father has him sent to sea. He vows to marry her if he ever returns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1884 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3956))
KEYWORDS: courting exile sea return
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond)) US(MA) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Laws M28, "The Tan-Yard Side"
Peacock, pp. 592-593, "The Slaney Side" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Creighton-NovaScotia 76, "Down By the Tan-Yard Side" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 25, "The Tan Yard Side" (1 text)
OLochlainn 41, "Down by the Tanyard Side" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H52b pp. 429-430, "The Slaney Side" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 585, TANYARD
ADDITIONAL: Maud Karpeles, _Folk Songs of Europe_, Oak, 1956, 1964, p. 69, "Down by the Tanyard Side" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1021
RECORDINGS:
Frank Quinn, "The Tan Yard Side" (on Voice10)
Phoebe Smith, "The Tan Yard Side" (on Voice11)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3956), "The Tan-Yard Side," H. Disley (London), 1860-1883; also Firth b.26(335), 2806 b.11(19), "The Tan-Yard Side"; Firth c.16(467), "The Tanyard Side"; 2806 c.15(330)[some lines illegible], "The Slaney Side"
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(96b), "The Slaney Side," James Lindsay (Glasgow), c.1855
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Fish and Chips" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Fish and Chips (File: OLcM250)
File: LM28
===
NAME: Taney County: see Young Companions [Laws E15] (File: LE15)
===
NAME: Tapscott: see Yellow Meal (Heave Away; Yellow Gals; Tapscott; Bound to Go) (File: Doe062)
===
NAME: Tar-ry Sailor, The: see The Saucy Sailor (Jack and Jolly Tar II) [Laws K38] (File: LK38)
===
NAME: Tardy Wooer, The: see No Sign of a Marriage [Laws P3] (File: LP03)
===
NAME: Tarland Laws, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer praises Tarland's lasses braw, hearty boys, fertile fields and high mountains that "keep aff the stormy win's." Tarland toon has a weekly fair, markets, fighters that will chase all comers. "We'll drink success ... That Tarland wins ye a' man."
AUTHOR: William Thomson (source: GreigDuncan3)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: pride bragging nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 511, "The Tarland Laws" (1 text)
Roud #5995
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; Tarland (511) is at coordinate (h0-1,v4-5) on that map [roughly 28 miles W of Aberdeen]. - BS
File: GrD3511
===
NAME: Tarpaulin Jacket: see Wrap Me Up in my Tarpaulin Jacket (File: FR439)
===
NAME: Tarriers' Song, The: see Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill (File: LoF217)
===
NAME: Tarry Sailor: see Jack the Jolly Tar (I) (Tarry Sailor) [Laws K40] (File: LK40)
===
NAME: Tarry Trousers (I): see Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady) (File: E098)
===
NAME: Tarry Trousers (II): see As I Roved Out (I) (Tarry Trousers II) (File: LoF014)
===
NAME: Tartan Plaidy, The (O My Bonnie Highland Laddie)
DESCRIPTION: "When first he landed on our strand," Prince Charlie charms all who meet him. "When Geordie heard the news belyve, That he had come before his daddy," the king sends John Cope north. Cope and Charlie play cat and mouse. Stories of the '45
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1821 (Hogg2)
KEYWORDS: Jacobites rebellion battle
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1720-1788 - Life of Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie," the Young Pretender, eldest son of James Stuart the "Old Pretender"
Jul 23, 1745 - Bonnie Prince Charlie lands on Eriskay
Jul 25, 1745 - Charlie transfers to Moidart
Aug 8, 1745 - Approximate date that firm word reaches George II's court of Charles's landing
Aug 19, 1745 - "Gathering of the Clans." Official raising of the standard at Glenfinnan
Aug 27, 1745 - Charlie expects to catch the army of General John Cope at Corriearrack, but Cope evades him and heads for Inverness. Cope from there heads to Aberdeen, to take ship south to Dunbar, moving from there to Prestonpans on Sep 20
Sep 4, 1745 - Charles enters Perth and proclaims his father King
Sep 17, 1745 - Jacobite army enters Edinborough
Sep 21, 1745 - Battle of Prestonpans. Bonnie Prince Charlie's Highland army routs the first real Hannoverian force it encounters
Apr 16, 1746 - Battle of Culloden Muir ends the 1745 Jacobite rebellion
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Hogg2 60, "O My Bonny Highland Laddie" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan1 126, "The Lad Wi' The Tartan Plaidie" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #5778
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, APS.4.95.15(2), "The Tartan Plaidie," unknown, c. 1830; also L.C.Fol.70(141), "Prince Charlie and his Tartan Plaidie," L.C.Fol.70(141a) [a trimmed version of the preceding], L.C.1270(005), "Charlie Stuart and his Tartan Plaidy," James Kay (Glasgow), c. 1845
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
When Charlie First Cam to the North
Charlie Stuart and his Tartan Plaidy
Culloden Moor
NOTES: Looking at the texts available to me, this seems to be rather a catchall piece, describing the 1745 rebellion in as much detail as the singer wants to tell. On the whole, the versions seem fairly accurate, implying literary composition somewhere along the line. This fits with the anonymity of many of the prints.
The statement that "The graceful/manly looks o' that brave laddie Made every Hieland heartie warm" is, incidentally, true -- when Charlie landed, Lochiel of Cameron (the single most important chief to support him) sent messengers to urge him to go home. But Charlie arranged a meeting, and Lochiel was swept away. So were other chiefs.
The song describes a speech Charlie made to his troops before Prestonpans. This is real, though the details are doubtless unreliable; Charlie did give a speech which inspired his forces. If Cope did the same, obviously, it didn't work.
The comment that George II "thirty thousand pounds would give To catch him in his Hieland plaidie" is correct; within days of Charlie's landing, the government offered 30,000 pounds for his capture. Charlie initially made a contemptuous offer of thirty pounds for the head of George II, though political considerations later forced him to match the Hannoverian sum (obviously no one ever collected either reward).
In using the above dates, incidentally, it should be recalled that the Catholic continent was on the Gregorian calendar, but Protestant England still on the Julian (until 1752), making English dates 11 days behind continental dates. It is sometimes very hard to know which system a particular source is using; some, indeed, switch back and forth.
The dates given here and in most places in the Ballad Index are based on British Julian dates, since this is what seems to be most common -- e.g. Culloden, by modern standards, took place on April 27, 1746, but the references above list it as April 16, because that was the day marked on Cumberland's calendar (assuming he had enough brains to know what a calendar was, which is somewhat dubious). - RBW
File: BrAPS495
===
NAME: Tarves Rant, The
DESCRIPTION: A group of bothies go on a Sunday tear. After leaving the tavern, the singer is separated from his companions, and gets in a fight with a policeman. He's thrown in jail, escapes, is caught again, and has to pay for the policeman's torn coat, plus a fine.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: drink police punishment
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Greig #81, p. 1, "The Tarves Rant" (1 text) 
GreigDuncan3 576, "The Tarves Rant" (5 texts, 3 tunes)
DBuchan 71, "The Tarves Rant" (1 text, 1 tune in appendix)
Roud #4847
RECORDINGS:
Davie Stewart, "The Tarves Rant" (on Voice05)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Woods of Rickarton" (tune, per GreigDuncan3)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Tarves Ramble
NOTES: Hall, notes to Voice05: "Tarves lies to the north-west of Aberdeen, between Old Meldrum and Nethermill." - BS
File: DBuch71
===
NAME: Tassels on Her Boots
DESCRIPTION: The singer is intrigued by the tassels on a girl's boots. He courts her; she speculates that he is sad because he always stares at the ground. He explains that he is looking at the tassels. Now they are married; he intends to tassel the childrens' boots
AUTHOR: Robert Combs
EARLIEST_DATE: 1869 (publication)
KEYWORDS: clothes courting
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 491, "Tassels on Her Boots" (1 text)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 93-94, "Tassels on the Boots" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert, p. 60, "Tassels on Her Boots" (1 partial text)
Roud #3275
NOTES: Spaeth (_A History of Popular Music in America_, p. 173) says that this was "one of a large group of songs [in the 1860s] that discussed details of feminine attire," but mentions only this and "Jockey Hat and Feather." - RBW
File: R491
===
NAME: Tassels on the Boots: see Tassels on Her Boots (File: R491)
===
NAME: Tattie Jock
DESCRIPTION: The singer worked for Tattie Jock and Mutton Peggie. One night he and nine others were caught stealing potatoes. They fought the police. One escaped to join the navy. The others are sentenced to 13 years in Botany Bay.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: fight theft transportation trial farming work food Australia police
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greig #36, p. 2, ("Ye'll hae heard o' Tattie Jock"); Greig #151, p. 2, "The Bothy Lads o' Forfar" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan3 377, "The Bothy Lads o' Forfar" (2 texts)
Roud #5915
NOTES: "The whole point of why we sing the song is that these men were only stealing potatoes -- to eat. They were fed so very bad!" (Source: Artie Trezise quoted, regarding "Tattie Jock," in Dan Milner and Paul Kaplan, _The Bonnie Bunch of Roses_ (Oak,New York,1983), pp. 117-118; the currect description is based on this text). - BS
File: GrD3377
===
NAME: Tattie Time, The
DESCRIPTION: Bothy ballad. Singer describes members of the crew harvesting potatoes, people to avoid, and humorous incidents during the harvest. He warns againt drink. When the harvest is over they scatter to their other trades such as scrap and rags
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (recorded from Ronnie White)
KEYWORDS: farming harvest work humorous moniker boss worker
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
MacSeegTrav 105, "The Tattie-Liftin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 357, "The Tattie Time" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2162
NOTES: Almost a nonballad, but there are enough bits of narrative for it to squeak through. - PJS
File: McCST105
===
NAME: Tattie-Liftin', The: see The Tattie Time (File: McCST105)
===
NAME: Tattletale Birdy, The: see The Bonny Birdy [Child 82] (File: C082)
===
NAME: Tattooed Lady, The
DESCRIPTION: "I paid a (franc/bob) to see a fair tattooed lady...." The rest of the song describes the various sights to be seen on the lady's skin. These are generally localized (e.g. in Australia they see the ANZAC logo), ending with "my home in (wherever)"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1975
KEYWORDS: nonballad parody humorous
FOUND_IN: Australia US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 230-231, "The Tattooed Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, p. 221, "The Tattooed Lady" (1 text) 
Roud #9622
NOTES: Listed as a parody on "My Home in Tennessee," and the American versions seem to support that claim. The Australian version, however, could have picked up its tune from "Les Darcy." - RBW
File: FaE230
===
NAME: Tavern in the Town
DESCRIPTION: Singer laments her lover, who courted her ardently but now goes to a tavern and courts others while leaving her pining. She hopefully anticipates dying and being buried.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1883
KEYWORDS: loneliness courting infidelity rejection abandonment
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond,South,West)) US Canada(Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES: (17 citations)
Sharp-100E 94, "A Brisk Young Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leather, pp. 205-206, "A Brisk Young Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden, pp. 478-480, "The Blue-Eyed Boy" (4 texts, though "D" is a fragment, probably of "Tavern in the Town" or "The Butcher Boy" or some such)
BrownIII 259, "I'll Hang My Harp on a Willow Tree" (2 fragments, named for that key line from "Tavern in the Town" which occurs in both fragments, but the "A" text is mostly "Pretty Little Foot")
SHenry H683, p. 393, "The Apron of Flowers" (1 text, 1 tune --  apparently a collection of floating verses including one that goes here)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 210-213, "There Is a Tavern in the Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 84-85, "There Is a Tavern in the Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 180, "There Is A Tavern In The Town" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 572-573, "There Is a Tavern in the Town"
LPound-ABS, 23, p. 62, "There Is a Tavern in the Town" (1 text; the "A" text is "The Butcher Boy")
Peacock, pp. 705-706, "She Died in Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 140-141, "The Tavern in the Town" (1 text, filed under "The Butcher Boy")
DT, TAVTOWN*
SEE ALSO:
Lomax-FSNA 229, "Hard, Ain't It Hard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 185, "Hard, Ain't It Hard" (1 text)
DT, TAVTOWN AINTHARD*
ST ShH94 (Full)
Roud #60
RECORDINGS:
Amy Birch, "Over Yonder's Hill" (on Voice11)
"Pops" Johnny Connors, "There is an Alehouse" (on IRTravellers01)
Geoff Ling, "Died for Love" (on Voice10)
Rudy Vallee, "Tavern in the Town" (Victor 24739, 1934)
SEE ALSO:
Almanac Singers, "Hard, Ain't It Hard" (General 5019A, 1941; on Almanac01, Almanac03, AlmanacCD1)
Woody Guthrie, "Hard Ain't It Hard" (Folk Tunes 150, n.d., probably mid-1940s)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.28(6a/b) View 7 of 8, "There Is A Tavern In The Town," R. March and Co. (London), 1877-1884
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Butcher Boy" [Laws P24] (plot)
cf. "The Sailor Boy (I)" [Laws K12] (lyrics)
cf. "Love Has Brought Me to Despair" [Laws P25]
cf. "I Know My Love" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Oh, Johnny, Johnny" (floating lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
There Is an Alehouse in Yonder Town
There's a Tavern in the Town
Up The Green Meadow
NOTES: The overlap between this song and the "Butcher Boy" cluster is obvious; whether they're the same song is a Talmudic question. -PJS
The 1891 sheet music credits this piece to F. J. Adams. The earliest known printing of "Tavern" (as opposed to the presumably related Cornish miners' song "There is an Alehouse in Yonder Town"), however, does not give the author's name.
Alan Lomax calls "Hard Ain't It Hard" a reworking of this piece, and I'm going along on the principle that it certainly isn't a traditional song (given that it's by Woody Guthrie). I don't think it's that simple, though; the "Hard ain't it hard" chorus clearly derives from "Ever After On." - RBW
Yes, Rudy Vallee recorded it too. And blew the lyrics, I might add [My understanding is that the people around him were trying, with great success, to crack him up - RBW]. But clearly the song remained current in pop culture as well as folk culture. It was also reputed to have been popular among collegiates. - PJS
"Hang my harp on a willow tree" may be taken from Psalms 137.2 [King James] via Thomas Haynes Bayly. Cf. "I'll Hang My Harp on a Willow Tree."
Broadside Bodleian Firth b.28(6a/b) View 7 of 8 ascribes "There Is A Tavern In The Town" to W.H. Hills. - BS
Somewhere in my youth, someone (probably school authorities) forced upon us a game, "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes." Thirty-odd years later, I recalled it for some reason, and realize that the tune is an up-tempo version of this. If the song was inflicted upon other classes than mine, it may be that the song has had some sort of horrid second life. - RBW
Amy Birch's version on Voice11 has a first line "Over yonder's hill there is an old house" but continues to be enough like "Tavern in the Town" that I put it here rather than Laws P25 or any of the other songs in this cluster. - BS 
File: ShH94
===
NAME: Taxation of America
DESCRIPTION: "While I relate  my story, Americans give ear, Of Britain's fading glory You presently shall hear." The singer tells the "true relation" or "the taxation of North America." "North, and Bute his father" propose to tax the Americas, but the Americans rebel
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Spaeth)
KEYWORDS: money patriotic
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1760-1820 - Reign of George III
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 3-5, "Taxation of America" (1 text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 477, "American Taxation" (source notes only)
Roud #3687
NOTES: After the French and Indian War (Seven Year's War, for which see "Brave Wolfe"), Britain faced both a new obligation (the need to administer Quebec) and a huge financial burden (a national debt of 122,603,336 pounds, according to Robert Middlekauff, _The Glorious Cause: The American Revolution 1763-1789_ (Oxford, 1982), p. 57. And Britain had been taxed to the hilt. So attempts were made to gain additional money from the American colonies.
It's interesting to note that the Spaeth text never says *what* tax North and Bute wished to gather. As a matter of fact, the taxes on the Americans were quite mild compared to what the British suffered, and in many cases the British actually lowered the duties (e.g. the tariff on imported molasses was cut in half) -- it's just that the administration would actually attempt to *collect* the taxes, which had been widely evaded (Middlekauff, p. 61). The amounts were trivial (the most optimistic projection was 200,000 pounds per year, according to Middlekauff, p. 62, which wouldn't even cover the interest on the British debt, and most estimates were in the 75,000 pound range).
Given the overall incompetence of this song (which seems to have been known only from broadside and perhaps the Guernsey manuscript), it strikes me as quite possible that the author didn't *know* what taxes caused the colonists to revolt. For a song on the subject that's a little closer to actual reality, see "Old Granny Wales (Granny O'Whale, Granua Weal)."
Among those mentioned in Spaeth's text of this piece:
"North": Lord Frederick North, second Earl of Guilford (1732-1792). A political success from an early age, he became First Lord of the Treasury (in effect, prime minister) in 1770; he was the leader most responsible for the increased friction between the government and the colonies, though he was perhaps more willing to compromise than the ministers under him -- certainly more so than the King he served.
North repeatedly tried to find solutions for the American problems, or failing that to resign (see, e.g., Don Cook, _The Long Fuse: How England Lost the American Colonies, 1760-1785_, pp. 294-295), but George III would not release him because North was the only man with enough clout to form a government who also would go along with George's wishes. He finally was allowed to leave office after Yorktown, when the opposition in parliament became so strong that North simply could not maintain a government. (Cook, pp. 357-358, tried to keep him on even then, but North knew the confidence motion was coming, and quit.) The American mess really wasn't his fault; it was George III's. But it was easy to blame things on North.
Ironically, North would briefly return to the government, working with Charles James Fox, in effect in opposition to George III (February 1783; Cook, p. 375); this was the government that in September finally ratified the peace with the U. S. -- though it might have come some months earlier had not the Fox/North coalition interfered with the work of the previous Shelburne government. The King hated the Fox/North team so much that he called upon 24-year-old William Pitt the Younger to form a government in December (Cook, p. 377)
"Bute his father": Presumably John Stuart, Third Earl of Bute (1713-1792). He wasn't North's father, but he was Prime Minister 1762-1763. His brief period of power, however, had little effect on colonial relations that I can see, though he was personally close to George III, to whom he had once been tutor. (Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, _Blood Royal: The Illustrious House of Hannover_, Doubleday, 1980, p. 115, even speculates that "perhaps [George III's] deep devotion for the handsome and elegant Lord Bute was not entirely platonic," though he offers no evidence for this. Given how straitlaced George III was, I rather doubt that particular implication -- especially given his myriad children.)
It's just possible that we should re-reference the pronoun and treat "his father" not as North's father but as George III's. Walter R. Borneman, _The French & Indian War_, Harper-Collins, 2006, p. 264, does say that George "idealized" Bute and implies that George may have treated him as a father-figure (George's father Frederick had died when George was 13, and in any case there was an unwritten law in the Hannoverian dynasty that fathers and their heirs always despised each other).
A third possibility is that the remark "Bute, his father" is a slam at George III's legitimacy. Middlekauff, p. 20, has much to say of Bute, "a Scot, the advisor -- not, as some whispered, the love -- of George's mother." Obviously the song might have been making the whispers explicit. However, there is no evidence of a relationship between the two -- and George III had clear resemblances to his Hannoverian ancestors.
Middlekauff adds, "For the next five years [Bute] served as the prince's tutor and friend. The friendship seems to have developed easily -- in part, we may suppose, because George craved affection and kindness and Bute responded with both. Yet... Bute held the upper hand: he was twenty-five years older, strongly opinionated, obviously intelligent, and he was in charge of the prince's education. Although Bute possessed the learning required, he was not a good teacher.... Bute himself knew much but did not understand men or human conduct.... Master and pupil then and later commonly mistook inflexibility for personal strength and character" (p. 20).
The colonies blamed Bute for the much-hated Stamp Act, but in fact it was proposed by Grenville after Bute had ceased to be Prime Minister. At worst, Bute's responsibility was indirect: As Prime Minister, he had created a plan to have the colonies pay for the troops based there (Middlekauff, p. 51). This is obviously reasonable, if you assume a standing army was needed there (and it probably was, with rebellious Canada to the north, Spanish Florida to the south, and constant conflicts with the Indians to the west as colonists kept trying to grab Indian land; Middlekauff, p. 54) -- but George III and Bute's successors refused to consult with the colonies about how to raise this money. By contrast with his predecessor William Pitt, who had been largely responsible for beating the French in Canada, Bute must have seemed a great disappointment.
"Green" (sic.): Presumably Nathaniel Greene (1742-1786), largely responsible for the success of the Colonial campaigns in the south after he succeeded Gates in 1780
Gates: Horatio Gates (c. 1728-1806), the theoretical victor at the key battle of Saratoga, though hindsight shows that he really had little to do with it; he was later appointed to command in the south, but botched matters and had to be relieved by Greene.
Putnam: Probably Israel Putnam (1718-1790), though it might be his cousin Rufus (1738-1824). Neither was a great success (in fact, both were rather disastrously bad officers), but Israel Putnam was still popular in 1779 when he was paralyzed and had to retire from the military.
Conquering Washington: Presumably you know who he is. - RBW
File: CG477a
===
NAME: Taxes, The
DESCRIPTION: "There never was such taxes in Ireland before." There are seven verses of things to be taxed. "They'll double tax the hobble skirts and table up some laws, But the devil says he'll tax them if he gets them in his claws"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: humorous political
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn 4, "The Taxes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3033
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sales Tax On the Women" (theme)
NOTES: The British government was notorious for the number of fees it charged (recall that this was the cause of the American revolution). My guess, though, is that this comes from the period of the Napoleonic Wars. For one thing, Ireland lost its independent parliament after the 1798 rising. For another, the British government, which hated deficits, had to raise revenue dramatically to keep up its war spending. The result was a long list of new taxes. - RBW
File: OLoc004
===
NAME: Tay, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer warns young men against women overly dependent upon tay (tea). He works and earns a good living, but his wife wastes the money on tay. At last he breaks kettle and pot. She attacks him; he gives in and lets her have her tay
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous husband wife fight warning
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H25a, pp. 502-503, "The Tay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1310
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wee Cup of Tay" (theme)
File: HHH25a
===
NAME: Teach the Rover
DESCRIPTION: Teach, an outlaw captain, goes to Carolina after the Act of Grace, but soon turns pirate. Finally he is overtaken by Maynard's crew. In the desperate battle that follows, Maynard boards the pirate ship and himself kills Teach
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906
KEYWORDS: pirate battle
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1717 - Act of Grace pardons most of the Jacobite leaders of the 1715 rebellion. 
1718 - Lieutenant Robert Maynard's frigate captures the pirate ship of Edward Teach. Teach is shot in the fighting
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
PBB 78, "Teach the Rover" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: C. H. Firth, _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ , 1907 (available on Google Books), p. 166, "The Downfall of Piracy" (1 text)
ST PBB078 (Partial)
Roud #8115
NOTES: Edward Teach is the actual name of the pirate usually known as "Blackbeard." This song agrees with _The General History of Pirates_ (usually attributed to Daniel Defoe, but this is now much doubted)  in describing him as quite successful and bloody, but available records (such as the log of a ship the _History_ asserts fought against Teach) seem to indicate that much of the _History's_ account is fiction.
It is also true that Teach's short career did not yield many rich prizes, and the records do not indicate that he harmed his victims.
According to Arthur Herman, _To Rule the Waves_, pp. 248-249, Teach was a Bristolman who had fought in the War of the Spanish Succession. He made his base in the maze that was North Carolina's Outer Banks, making it hard for large ships to pursue him. This kept him safe from the two Royal Navy sloops of war sent to hunt him down, but the captain of the _Pearle_ sent Lt. Maynard aboard a small boat to catch Teach. Their battle, on November 21, was fought in conditions of no wind, so apart from one broadside Teach managed to fire at the navy force, it was all hand-to-hand combat.
Reportedly Teach's body had been pierced by five pistol shots and 25 sword wounds. But the corpse was beheaded and the body thrown overboard, so this cannot be proved.
But, of course, what counts is not what actually happened but what people thought happened. David Cordingly, _Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates_, 1995 (I use the 1997 Harcourt Brace edition), p. 13, quotes the _History_ as follows:
"Captain Teach assumed the cognomen of Black-beard, from that large quantity of hair, which, like a frightful meteor, covered his face, and frightened America more than any other comet that has appeared for a long time.
"This beard was black, which he suffered to grow of an extravagant length; as to breadth, it came up to his eyes; he was accustomed to twist it with ribbons... and turn them about his ears; in time of action, he wore a sling over his shoulders, with three brace of pistols, hanging in holsters like bandoliers, and stuck lighted matches under his hat, which appearing on both sides of his face, his eyes naturally looking fierce and wild, made him altogether such a figure, that imagination cannot form an idea of a fury, from Hell, to look more frightful."
Some of this, like the part about the matches, is probably exaggerated, but Cordingly, pp. 13-14, quotes several sources supporting his long beard tied with ribbons.
There was, according to Cordingly, p. 24, a successful (but far from accurate) play from 1798 called "Blackbeard, or The Captive Princess." I don't know if it influenced this song; it doesn't sound like it would have.
According to Firth, the earliest version of this is from _The Worcester Garland_, a copy of which is in the British Library (1162.c.4 [89]). But he offers no date. - RBW
File: PBB078
===
NAME: Teams at Wanapitei, The
DESCRIPTION: "In eighteen hundred and ninety-five Away to the woods we thought we'd strike... To go to work at Wanapitei." The song briefly describes the trip to the woods, and the work -- but most of the song is devoted to the horses in the teams
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: logger work lumbering horse
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont,West)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke-Lumbering #21, "The Teams  at Wanapitei" (1 text, tune referenced)
Roud #4463
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "How We Got to the Woods Last Year" (tune)
File: FowL21
===
NAME: Teamster in Jack MacDonald's Crew, The
DESCRIPTION: Leslie Stubbs was a teamster "who came to the lumberlands his family to maintain," He complains of headache and becomes sick. MacDonald and Tom Proctor take him home to his wife in Sherman Mills. Doctor Harris cannot save him.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: death lumbering disease doctor
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Jan 23, 1908 - death of Earl Stubbs
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 165-167, 256, "The Teamster in Jack MacDonald's Crew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13997
NOTES: Ives-DullCare: "Earl Stubbs, aged 28, having contracted spinal meningitis in a lumbercamp, died at his home in Sherman Mills, Maine, January 23, 1908, and Dr Francis Harris had signed the death certificate" - BS
File: IvDC165
===
NAME: Teapots at the Fire, The
DESCRIPTION: A midnight fire at Labor Union Hall. As the fire burns to the basement the local women, who are named, have their eyes on the teapots. Now, "In every home in St John's town, If you go in today, You'll find a fancy teapot in a cupboard stowed away."
AUTHOR: John Burke
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (Blondahl)
KEYWORDS: theft fire humorous moniker
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Blondahl, p. 27, "The Teapots at the Fire" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Kelligrews Soiree" (tune)
cf. "Mariposa" (theme)
cf. "The Middlesex Flora" (theme)
cf. "The Old Mayflower" (theme)
cf. "The Irrawaddy" (theme)
File: Blon027
===
NAME: Tearin' Out-a Wilderness: see The Old Gray Mare (The Old Gray Horse; The Little Black Bull) (File: R271)
===
NAME: Teasing Songs
DESCRIPTION: A teasing song hints of a bawdy or ribald rhyme, but avoids it at the last minute, as in this example: Suzanne was a lady with plenty of class / Who knocked the boys dead when she wiggled her... Eyes at the fellows as girls sometimes do...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1615 (The Percy Folio Manuscript has one such teasing song, "A Friend of Mine.")
KEYWORDS: bawdy nonballad
FOUND_IN: Australia Britain(England) US(MW,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Cray, pp. 256-265, "Suzanne Was a Lady," "The Ship's in the Harbor," "There Once Was a Farmer," "Two Irishmen, Two Irishmen"; "Sweet Violets" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph-Legman II, pp. 649-652, "The Handsome Young Farmer" (7 texts)
DT, SWTVILT2
Roud #10404
RECORDINGS:
Anonymous singer, "Frankie and Johnny" (Zest record, matrix FJ, n.d.)
Ben Light & his Surf Club Boys, "The Girl from Atlantic City" (Hot Shots from Hollywood 0317/Hollywood Hotshots 317/Good Humor 2/Good Humor 10A/Good Humor unnumbered [the Good Humor records are anonymous]/Arrow 311/Kicks 5 /Kicks unnumbered [as "The Gal from Atlantic City"]/blank label, unnumbered [anonymoous; as "Atlantic City"], rec. 1936; on Doity1)
Anonymous singers, "Mamie Had A Baby" (on Unexp1)
Callahan Brothers, "Sweet Violets" (Perfect 6-07-51/Conqueror 8682, 1936)
Bob Dickson, "Sweet Violets" (Victor 23633, 1930)
Harry "Haywire Mac" McClintock, "Sweet Violets" (on McClintock02)
Norman Phelps & his Virginia Rounders, "Sweet Violets" (Decca 5191, 1936)
Joel Shaw, "Sweet Violets" (Crown 3271, 1932)
Dinah Shore, "Sweet Violets" (RCA Victor 20-4174, 1951)
Sweet Violet Boys [pseud. for Prairie Ramblers], "I Haven't Got a Pot to Cook In" (Vocalion 03402, 1937); "Sweet Violets" (Vocalion 03110, 1935); "Sweet Violets No. 2" (Vocalion 03256, 1936); "Sweet Violets No. 3" (Vocalion 03587, 1937)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Peter Murphy's Little Dog"
cf. "Down on the Farm"
cf. "At Brighton"
cf. "Shine Your Buttons With Brasso"
cf. "Butcher Town"
cf. "The Girl from Atlantic City"
NOTES: Legman lumps all teasing songs together under the generic title of "The Handsome Young Farmer." - EC
I do the same thing because I can't tell them apart otherwise. (Hey, I got this job because nobody else would take it, not because I knew what I was doing.) - RBW
File: EM256
===
NAME: Teddy McGraw: see Mrs. McGrath (File: MA126)
===
NAME: Teddy O'Neal: see Teddy O'Neill (File: DTtedone)
===
NAME: Teddy O'Neill
DESCRIPTION: The singer has a dreadful dream of Teddy courting another girl. She recalls where they used to meet. They cannot meet now; he has gone across the sea to seek his fortune. She would rather he were still present, even if poor
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3747))
KEYWORDS: love courting separation emigration poverty dream
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
O'Conor, p. 14, "Teddy O'Neal" (1 text)
DT, TEDONEIL
Roud #5207
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3747), "Teddy O'Neale", J. Harkness (Preston)), 1840-1866; also Firth c.22(91), Harding B 11(3645), "Teddy O'Neale"; Firth b.28(6a/b) View 6 of 8, "Teddy O'Neal"; also 2806 c.15(168), Harding B 19(30), "Teddy O'Neile"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Maggie of Coleraine" (tune)
cf. "The Girls of Coleraine" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Maggie of Coleraine (File: HHH657)
The Girls of Coleraine (File: HHH064)
NOTES: The Bodleian broadsides reverse the first two verses so that the first line is "I went to the cabin ..." and the second verse begins "I dreamt but last night ..." - BS
File: DTtedone
===
NAME: Teem Wa's, The (The Toom House)
DESCRIPTION: "Come hark a while, and I will speak Yonder's a house where I never saw reek." The young man who owns it explains that "the lasses they're so very scant." Assured that he can find a woman if he tries, he vows that there will be life in the house soon
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: home rejection
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 89-91, "The Teem Wa's" (1 text)
Roud #3859
File: Ord089B
===
NAME: Teetotal Mill, The
DESCRIPTION: Tom and Bill are "discussing the merits of brandy and gin." Tom tells of the Teetotal Mill where you go to give up drink. After a test "you're very soon cured." They go to the mill and see drunken wrecks enter and come out healthy and happy. They cheer.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1849 (broadside, NLScotland L.C.Fol.178.A.2(016))
KEYWORDS: drink dialog friend
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greig #144, pp. 1-2, "The Teetotal Mill" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 602, "The Teetotal Mill" (1 text)
Roud #5890
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.14(172)[some words illegible], "The Teetotal Mill" ("Two jolly old topers once sat in an inn"), R. McIntosh (Glasgow), 1849-1859; also Harding B 11(3751), Harding B 20(166), "The Teetotal Mill"
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(016), "The Teetotal Mill," R. M'Intosh (Glasgow), 1849
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Villikens and His Dinah" (tune, per Greig)
NOTES: Broadsides NLScotland L.C.Fol.178.A.2(016) and Bodleian 2806 c.14(172) are duplicates. - BS
File: GrD3602
===
NAME: Telegraph Wire, The
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, dear me, the world's on fire, news sent around on a telegraph wire! Lord have mercy, only think, news sent to Mexico quicker than a wink! Oh dear, what shall I do? Every year brings something new!" A catalog of marvels and changes of the modern age
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: technology
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1752 and following - Franklin's experiments with lightning
1844 - Samuel Morse installs the first electromagnetic telegraph
1857, 1858, 1866 - Cyrus Field attempts to lay a transatlantic cable. (The 1857 attempts failed, the 1858 cable was briefly operational; the 1866 cable was the first true success)
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Warner 75, "The Telegraph Wire" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa075 (Partial)
File: Wa075
===
NAME: Tell It to Me: see Take a Whiff on Me (File: RL130)
===
NAME: Tell Me What Month Was My Jesus Born In?: see What Month Was Jesus Born In? (File: CNFM245)
===
NAME: Tell My Jesus "Morning"
DESCRIPTION: "In the morning when I rise, Tell my Jesus huddy (howdy?), oh. I wash my hands in the morning glory, Tell my Jesus huddy, oh." "Morning, Hester, morning, gal." "Say, brother Sammy, you got the order." "Pray, Tony, pray, boy, you got the order."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (W. F. Allen, Slave Songs of the United States)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 15, "Tell My Jesus 'Morning'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11845
File: AWG015A
===
NAME: Tell Old Bill
DESCRIPTION: "Tell old Bill, when he leaves home this morning, Tell old Bill, when he leaves home this evening, Tell old Bill... To let them downtown coons alone...." (An hour after) Bill left he is dead/murdered and being brought home in a "hurry-up wagon"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: death whore murder
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Sandburg, pp. 18-19, "Dis Mornin', Dis Evenin', So Soon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 100-102, "Old Bill" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 78, "Tell Old Bill" (1 text)
DT, OLDBILL*
Roud #7876
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ain't No Use Workin' So Hard" (structure, refrain)
File: San018
===
NAME: Tell Your Horse's Age
DESCRIPTION: Detailed instructions for determining a horse's age from its teeth, beginning "To tell the age of any horse, Inspect the lower jaw, of course," and ending "They longer get, project before, Till twenty, when we know no more."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 ("Bit and Spur")
KEYWORDS: horse age nonballad recitation
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 74, "Tell Your Horse's Age" (1 text)
File: Ohr074
===
NAME: Temperance Song (I): see Drunkard's Doom (I), The (File: R306)
===
NAME: Temperance Song (II): see Rum By Gum (Temperance Union Song) (File: R317)
===
NAME: Tempest, The (Cease Rude Boreas)
DESCRIPTION: "Cease rude Boreas blustering killer... Messmates hear a brother sailor Sing the dangers of the sea." A storm comes up; the crew struggles mightily to survive. The mast falls, the ship leaks; they make it home and rejoice
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1827 (Journal from the Galaxy)
KEYWORDS: storm disaster ship sea
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 70-72, "The Tempest" (1 text)
Roud #949
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Storm
Cease Rude Boreas
File: SWMS070
===
NAME: Tempy: see I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground (File: BAF900)
===
NAME: Ten Broeck and Mollie: see Molly and Tenbrooks [Laws H27] (File: LH27)
===
NAME: Ten Commandments, The: see Green Grow the Rushes-O (The Twelve Apostles, Come and I Will Sing You) (File: ShH97)
===
NAME: Ten Days of Finals, The
DESCRIPTION: On successive days of final examinations, the singer's true love gives to him a special gift.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy parody humorous cumulative derivative
FOUND_IN: Canada US(MW,SW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cray, pp. 373-374, "The Ten Days of Finals" (2 texts)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" (tune)
File: EM373
===
NAME: Ten Dollar Bill, The: see The Brisk Young Butcher (File: DTxmasgo)
===
NAME: Ten Little Indians (John Brown Had a Little Indian)
DESCRIPTION: "John Brown he had a little Indian (x3), One little Indian boy." "One little, two little, three little Indians, four little, five little, six little Indians, Seven little, eight little, nine little Indians, Ten little Indian boys"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: nonballad Indians(Am)
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Randolph 594, "John Brown Had a Little Indian" (1 text)
BrownIII 136, "John Brown Had a Little Injun" (1 text)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 241-242, (no title) (1 short text, consisting of this chorus counted forward then backward; John Brown is not mentioned)
Fuld-WFM, p. 205, "Drunken Sailor (Monkey's Wedding -- John Brown Had a Little Injun -- Ten Little Injuns)"
cf. Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #597, p. 237, "(Tom Brown's)"
Roud #4993
RECORDINGS:
Doreen Elliott, "Old Joe Badger" (on Elliotts01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Drunken Sailor" (tune, floating lyrics)
cf. "Old Brass Wagon" (tune)
cf. "Ten Little Injuns" (chorus)
NOTES: Of the Mother Goose item "Tom Brown's Two little Indians," the Baring-Goulds write, "Whether or not this rhyme inspires the writing of 'Two Little Injuns...' is an interesting speculation."  I must say that they are quite close -- close enough that pure coincidence seems unlikely. - RBW
File: R594
===
NAME: Ten Little Injuns
DESCRIPTION: Ten Indians stand in a line, one goes home and there are nine. Each disappears in a new way until only one is left. The last one lives alone until "he got married and then there were none"
AUTHOR: Septimus Winner (1868), with adaptions by Frank Green and others
EARLIEST_DATE: 1868 (S Winner, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: humorous Black(s) Indians(Am.)
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 376, "Ten little nigger boys went out to dine" (2 texts); 511, "Tom Brown's two little Indian boys" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #818, pp. 304-305, "(Ten little Injuns standin' in a line)"
Roud #13512
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1572), "Ten Little Niggers" ("Ten little niggers going out to dine"), unknown, n.d.; also Firth c.16(335), Firth b.27(94), "Ten Little Niggers"; Firth c.16(334), "Ten Little Ministers" ("Ten little ministers, sitting in a line"), unknown, 1874; also Johnson Ballads fol. 386a, "A new version of a popular song"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer" (counting)
cf. "Eight Little Cylinders" (counting)
cf. "Ten Little Indians" ("John Brown Had a Little Indian") (chorus)
NOTES: Opie-Oxford2 511 is one verse "Tom Brown's two little Indian boys; One ran away, The other wouldn't stay, Tom Brown's two little Indian boys." (Opie-Oxford2 has an early date c.1744 from _Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book_).
The Opie-Oxford2 376 texts are "Ten little nigger boys went out to dine" and "Ten little Injuns standin' in a line."
Opie-Oxford2 376 lists the following names and publication dates of adaptations:
"Ten Little Niggers" Feb. 1869 [According to the Baring-Goulds, this is by Frank Green - RBW]
"Ten Little Negroes" Mar. 1869
"Ten Little Darkies" June 1869
"The Ten Youthful Africans" Sep. 1869
"Ten Little Darkies" c.1870
"Ten Little Negro Boys" Dec. 1874
The things that reduce the number vary from text to text. So, for example, for the ministers of broadside Johnson Ballads fol. 386a, the last minister "was so very Low, Everybody told him they thought he'd better go." For broadside Harding B 11(1572) the last one gets married and raises a family of ten more.
Some versions, including Winner's original, share the chorus with "Ten Little Indians" ("John Brown Had a Little Indian").
See Tim Coughlan, _Now Shoon the Romano Gillie_, (Cardiff,2001), #165, pp. 437-441, "Yeck Bitto Rom'ni Chal Churyin ap a Ruck" ["One little Gypsy boy climbing up a tree"] [Romani-English text reported by Leland, _English Gypsy Songs_ (1875)]. Coughlan: "Leland's informant seems to have been remarkably quick off the mark. [Septimus] Winner's original set was published in London in July 1868..... Also included by Leland is a second set from the pen of Hubert Smith .... ["Desh Tani Chavis Duriken," also quoted by Coughlan from Leland]. - BS
File: OO2376
===
NAME: Ten Little Nigger Boys Went Out To Dine: see Ten Little Injuns (File: OO2376)
===
NAME: Ten Stone
DESCRIPTION:  Windlass shanty. "I nebber seen de like sence I ben born! Way, ay, ay, ay, ay! Nigger on de ice an a hoein' up corn, Way, ay, ay, ay, ay! Ten stone! ten stone! ten stone de win' am ober, Jenny get along, Jenny blow de horn, as we go marchin ober!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Bullen & Arnold, _Songs of Sea Labor_)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong sailor
FOUND_IN: West Indies
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, p. 268, "Ten Stone" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 198]
Roud #9129
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Belong to that Band" (lyrics)
NOTES: This may well be related to the mess of material filed under "I Belong to that Band"; it has some of the same lines, and is utterly disorganized. But the total material found in each is simply too small to be sure. - RBW
File: Hugi268
===
NAME: Ten Thousand Cattle
DESCRIPTION: Perhaps as a result of a bad winter, "Ten thousand cattle have gone astray, Left my range and traveled away." The singer is left destitute. His girl has also left him (for another). Other verses may complain about the weather, his girl's lover, etc.
AUTHOR: Owen Wister (1888?)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904
KEYWORDS: cowboy hardtimes separation disaster
FOUND_IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Larkin, pp. 151-153, "Then Thousand Cattle" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 6, "Ten Thousand Cattle" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TENTHOU* TENTHOU2*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 35, #2 (1990), pp, 70-71, "Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle" (1 text, 1 tune, included because it's one of the relatively unexpurgated versions)
Roud #5763
NOTES: Reported to have been written by Owen Wister (1860-1938; author of _The Virginian_ plus assorted minor poetry) in 1888 based on the experiences of the dreadful winter of 1886/7 in Wyoming. - RBW
File: Ohr006
===
NAME: Ten Thousand Goddam Cattle: see Ten Thousand Cattle (File: Ohr006)
===
NAME: Ten Thousand Miles: see Fare You Well, My Own True Love (The Storms Are on the Ocean, The False True Lover, The True Lover's Farewell, Red Rosy Bush, Turtle Dove) (File: Wa097)
===
NAME: Ten Thousand Miles Away
DESCRIPTION: "Sing ho! for a brave and a gallant ship, And a fair and fav'ring breeze, With a bully crew and a captain too To carry me over the seas...."  The singer wishes for a ship to carry him to his sweetheart, transported to Botany Bay "ten thousand miles away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3763))
KEYWORDS: love separation transportation ship
FOUND_IN: Australia US(NE) Britain(England(South)) Ireland
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
Colcord, pp. 159-161, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 116-118, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 409-410, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 311-312]
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 84-85,  272-273, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 148-149, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 31-32, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 100-101, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 232-233, "Blow the Winds I Oh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 8-9, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 86, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text)
DT, THOUSMIL*
Roud #1778
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (on IRRCinnamond03)
Eugene Jemison, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (on Jem01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3763), "Ten Thousand Miles Away" ("Sing oh! for a brave and valiant bark"), J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Firth c.13(286), 2806 c.16(88), Harding B 16(286c), "Ten Thousand Miles Away"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "A Capital Ship" (tune & meter)
cf. "Ho for California (Banks of Sacramento)" (tune & meter)
cf. "The Old Palmer Song" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
The Old Palmer Song (File: PASB038)
No More Shall I Work in the Factory (File: Grnw122)
File: MA084
===
NAME: Ten Thousand Miles Away (On the Banks of Lonely River)
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls his aged mother "on the banks of a lonely river, Ten thousand miles away." He wishes he (were a little bird so he could be) with her. A letter from his sister says his mother has died; he wishes she were there. He prays for his mother
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1882 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1882 16161)
KEYWORDS: death mother loneliness separation age grief burial mourning family sister
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 697, "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
BrownII 170, "The Homesick Boy" (2 texts)
Roud #3514
RECORDINGS:
Asa Martin & Doc Roberts, "I Must See My Mother" (Champion 16568, 1933; Champion 45176, c. 1935; rec. 1932; on KMM [as Martin & Hobbs])
Fred Redden, "The Banks of Claudy" (on NovaScotia1)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1882 16161, "Ten Thousand Miles Away on the Banks of a Lonely River,"  Balmer & Weber (Saint Louis), 1882 (tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "To the West A While to Stay" (plot)
NOTES: Several of Randolph's informants credited this to a Missouri musician named Hubbard. Given the general feebleness of the song, it is quite likely that it comes from such an obscure source. The presence of the North Carolina texts, however, argues that it is not local to the Ozarks. - RBW
Broadside LOCSheet sm1882 16161: "composed by I.M. Williams" whatever that means. Is it a coincidence that the publisher is so close to the Ozarks?
[NovaScotia1] begins "In youth I craved adventure To Australia I did stray, I left my home and mother For a fortune far away, She bade me not to leave her Or to return some day To the banks of far off Claudy Ten thousand miles away." This verse is missing from LOCSheet sm1882 16161, which begins with the letter verse, followed by the dream verse.- BS
File: R697
===
NAME: Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) [Laws H2]
DESCRIPTION: The reckless hobo cannot stay still; the sound of a train keeps calling him. (He may become involved with various girls, but even they cannot hold him.)
AUTHOR: (credited to Jimmie Rodgers by John Greenway)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (recording, George Reneau)
KEYWORDS: railroading train travel rambling floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,So,SE)
REFERENCES: (16 citations)
Laws H2, "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) "
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 355-366, "Waiting for a Train/Wild and Reckless Hobo" (2 texts plus a print from Richard Burnett's songbook and a peculiar "Wabash Cannonball" mix, 2 tune)
Randolph 836, "A Wild and Reckless Hobo" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 456-457, "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home" (1 text, 1 tune, which from its form appears to go here although the plot is somewhat different; the singer misses the true love who abandoned him)
Davis-More 29, pp. 221-228, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (3 texts plus a fragment, 2 tunes;  the two longest texts, AA and DD, both contain floating material, in the case of "D" probably from this piece)
BrownII 30, "The Maid Freed from the Gallows" (4 texts, 5 excerpts, 1 fragment, plus mention of two more; the final text, M, probably combined with this piece)
BrownIII 359, "The Wild and Reckless Hobo" (1 text); 361, "Waiting for a Train" (1 short text)
Hudson 111, pp. 250-251, "The Railroad Bum" (1 text)
Fuson, pp. 128-129, "Ten Thousand Miles From Home" (1 text)
Cambiaire, pp. 3-4, "A Wild and Reckless Hobo" (1 text); p. 101, "The Railroad Bum" (1 text, which seems to be mixed with other material)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 107-108, "A Wild and Reckless Hobo" (1 text. Same source as Cambiaire's, though with differences in presentation)
Lomax-AFSB, pp. 28-30, "Ten Thousand Miles from Home" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 42, "Sam's 'Waiting for a Train'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 54, "Danville Girl" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 130, "At the Jail" (2 texts, 1 tune; the result looks to me to be a mix between this and "Logan County Jail," though it's one of those vague cases....)
DT 781, DANVGIRL (DANVILL2)
Roud #699
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "Danville Girl" (Brunswick 132B, 1927); (on Boggs2, BoggsCD1)
[Richard] Burnett & [Leonard] Rutherford, "Ramblin' Reckless Hobo" (Columbia 15240-D, 1928; rec. 1927; on BurnRuth01. KMM)
Vernon Dalhart, "Wild and Reckless Hobo" (Brunswick 2942, 1925)
Morgan Denmon, "Wild and Reckless Hobo" (Velvet Tone 2366-V, 1930); "The Wild and Reckless Hobo" (OKeh 45327, 1929)
Dixon Brothers, "The Girl I Left in Danville" (Montgomery Ward M-7337, c. 1937/Bluebird B-7674, 1938)
Bill Baker w. Bob Miller's Hinky-Dinkers, "Wild and Reckless Hobo" (Brunswick 445/Supertone S-2059, 1930)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Danville Girl" (on NLCR06)
Pine Mountain Ramblers [or Virginia Mountain Boomers], "Ramblin' Reckless Hobo" (Champion 15610, 1928; Supertone 9305, 1929)
Charlie Powers, "The Wild and Reckless Hobo" (CYL: Edison 5131, n.d.)
George Reneau, "Wild and Reckless Hoboes" (Vocalion 14999, 1925)
Pete Seeger, "Danville Girl" (on PeteSeeger02, PeteSeegerCD01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bigler's Crew" [Laws D8] (meter)
cf. "More Pretty Girls Than One" (words, tune)
cf. "Waiting For a Train (II)" (subject, some lyrics)
cf. "Ninety-Nine Years (I)" (tune)
cf. "A Thousand Miles Away" (words, tune)
SAME_TUNE:
"A Thousand Miles Away" (File: PFS213)
NOTES: I question the attribution of this to Rodgers, as it seems to take quite a few forms. It seems more likely that he used floating verses in composing his song, "Waiting for a Train." - PJS
You'll note that I didn't say I believed Rodgers wrote it -- note that it was being parodied around 1900 in "A Thousand Miles Away." Best guess is that he created a recension which became fairly popular. - RBW
Paul Stamler suggests that "The Danville Girl" subtext deserves separate listing, noting that "It has certain verses that set it apart, including the'You bet your life she's out of sight/She wore those Danville curls' and 'She wore her hair on the back of her head/Like high-toned people do.' It's also got floating verses, including some from "Gambling Man...." The difficulty, for me at least, is that none of these are characteristic of the song; I've seen versions without either verse. Thus, while the extremes are different, there is no good way to draw a line. We could simply call all texts which mention Danville "The Danville Girl" -- but there are otherwise identical versions which omit that key name. Plus, the Brown "Wild and Reckless Hobo" text is certainly a "Danville Girl" version, but Laws lists it here. - RBW, PJS
From Alan Lomax's notes to PeteSeeger02, "There are stanzas in this one from so many different hobo songs, sung in so many different ways, that one might call this the master hobo song. Actually I had some hand in mixing the verses together in _American Ballads and Folk Songs_ (Macmillan, 1934), from which this version comes." Can we say, "smoking gun"? - PJS
I wonder if that might explain the Danville Girl mixup, too.... - RBW
Naw. That was already going on when Dock Boggs recorded the song in 1927. - PJS
When I finally read Cohen's notes on this, I thought seriously about sweeping out all the previous notes, since it includes a complex analysis of sources. But I finally decided that Cohen, while authoritative, is not definitive. His opinion is that there were originally three separate songs, which he entitles "Wild and Reckless Hobo," "Waiting for a Train," an "Danville Girl." But he admits so much mixture that drawing sharp lines is impossible. Lumping is generally against our policy, but when splitting forces notes to every version, I'll do lumping. - RBW
File: LH02
===
NAME: Ten Thousand Miles from Home: see Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) [Laws H2] (File: LH02)
===
NAME: Tenaouich' Tenaga, Ouich'ka
DESCRIPTION: Canadian French: A trapper is met by an Indian, who tells him that the comrade from whom he had earlier parted has died. The Indians have (buried/brought) the body. The recurrent word "Ouich'ka" seems to be an attempt to imitate Indian dialect
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1865 (Gagnon)
KEYWORDS: death Indians(Am.) burial Quebec foreignlanguage
FOUND_IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 32-33, "Tenaouich' Tenaga, Ouich'ka" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FMB032
===
NAME: Tenderfoot, The: see The Horse Wrangler (The Tenderfoot) [Laws B27] (File: LB27)
===
NAME: Tennessee Killer, The
DESCRIPTION: "Oh I've killed men in Georgia And men in Alabam', But kill a man in Arkansas And God your soul will damn!" The singer admits to widespread murders, but was taken in Little Rock. Now he will hang. He warns others against guns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: murder punishment execution warning
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 175, "The Tennessee Killer" (1 text)
Roud #4101
NOTES: This song is item dE41 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: R175
===
NAME: Tennis Balls, The: see King Henry Fifth's Conquest of France [Child 164] (File: C164)
===
NAME: Tent Poles are Rotten, The
DESCRIPTION: "The tent poles are rotten, and the campfires dead And the possums they ramble in the trees overhead. I'm out on the wallaby, I'm humping my drum..." The singer describes the pleasures and virtues of a wanderer's life
AUTHOR: Words: Henry Lawson (various tunes used)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1984
KEYWORDS: rambling Australia
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 188-189, "The Tent Poles are Rotten" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE188
===
NAME: Tenting on the Old Camp Ground: see Tenting Tonight (File: RJ19206)
===
NAME: Tenting Tonight
DESCRIPTION: "We're tenting tonight on the old camp ground... Many are the hearts that are weary tonight, wishing for the war to cease... Tenting tonight (x2) Tenting on the old campground" The singer describes how the soldiers are lonely -- and often dying
AUTHOR: Walter Kittredge
EARLIEST_DATE: 1864
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle death home music
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 206-209, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 50-51, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hill-CivWar, pp. 222-223, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (1 text)
Arnett, pp. 86-87, "Tenting Tonight" (1 text, 1 tune)
Krythe 10, pp. 150-157, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 348-349, "Tenting Tonight" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 289, "Tenting On The Old Camp Ground" (1 text)
DT, TENTTNT* (TENTTNT2*)
ST RJ19206 (Full)
Roud #14045
RECORDINGS:
Apollo Quartet, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (Berliner 4264, 1898)
Colonial Quartet, "Tenting Tonight" (Phono-Cut 5097, c. 1913)
Columbia Stellar Quartet, "Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground" (Columbia A1808, 1915)
Haydn Quartet, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (Victor 119, 1900)
Knickerbocker Quartet, "We're Tenting Tonight" (CYL: Edison [BA] 1881, n.d.)
Mount Vernon Quartet, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (Columbia 15245-D, 1928)
Peerless Quartet, "Tenting on the Old Camp Ground" (Zon-O-Phone 892, c. 1908) (Emerson 7160, 1917) (Pathe 40032 [as "Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground"], 1916)
Pete Seeger, "Tenting Tonight" (on PeteSeeger28)
Frank C. Stanley, "Tenting Tonight on the Old Camp Ground" (CYL: Edison 8151, 1902)
Sterling Trio, "Tenting Tonight" (Little Wonder 266, 1915)
Unidentified vocal quartet "Tenting To-night on the Old Camp Ground" (Harvard 514, 1903-1906; prob. rec. 1900; Oxford 11964, c. 1906)
SAME_TUNE:
Emmett Brand, "Singing on the Old Church Ground" (on MuSouth06) 
NOTES: Civil war historian Bruce Catton says that, during the war, this piece was second in popularity only to "When This Cruel War Is Over" among the sad songs. After the war, when the defeatist tone of "Cruel War" made it seem less patriotic, "Tenting Tonight" came to be first in the veterans' hearts.
Walter Kittredge (born 1834) composed this song in 1863 while under the threat of the draft. As it turned out, he was rejected for ill health. Publishers at first rejected the song as not martial enough -- but then it was picked up by the Hutchinson Family, and the rest is history. - RBW
File: RJ19206
===
NAME: Terence McSwiney: see Shall My Soul Pass Through Ireland (File: PGa067)
===
NAME: Terence's Farewell to Kathleen
DESCRIPTION: "So, my Kathleen, you're going to leave me All alone by myself in this place." She is leaving Terence for England. He warns her against the deceitful men. He can't stop her going and when she returns "spaking such beautiful English" he "won't know" her
AUTHOR: Words: Helen Selina Blackwood, Lady Dufferin, Countess Gifford (1807-1867) 
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1860 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3764))
KEYWORDS: courting separation England nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 89, "Terence's Farewell to Kathleen" (1 text)
Roud #3826
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3764), "Terence's Farewell", A. Ryle and Co. (London), 1845-1859; also Firth b.26(248), Harding B 26(638), Firth c.26(121), 2806 c.15(333), Harding B 11(3766), Harding B 11(3767), Firth c.13(267), Firth b.27(99), "Terence's Farewell"
LOCSinging, as113450, "Terence's Farewell to Kathleen", H. De Marsan (New York), 1859-1860; also sb40522b, "Terence's Farewell to Kathleen" 
NOTES: Broadside LOCSinging as113450: H. De Marsan dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
According to [no author listed], _The Library of Irish Music_ (published by Amsco), the tune for this is "The Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow." - RBW
File: OCon089
===
NAME: Term, The: see The Dying Ploughboy (File: McCST108)
===
NAME: Terra Nova Seal Fishing
DESCRIPTION: "Ye talk o' this, and talk o' that... But list taw me -- I ken ye weel Wad like tae hear aboot the seal." The singer describes the difficulties of sailing north to the ice, the difficulties of killing adult seal; he ends by describing the types of pelts
AUTHOR: Robert Brown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Harbour Grace Standard)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship nonballad recitation
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, pp. 27-28, "Terra Nova Seal Fishing" (1 text)
File: RySm027
===
NAME: Terra Nova, The
DESCRIPTION: "One Monday morning March the tenth, it opened fine and clear." "Slob ice" was to be seen, but Captain Kean still takes the Terra Nova sealing. Blocked by a pan, three men die before they escape. The song describes the three dead men
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1967 (collected from  Norman Payne by Halpert & Fiander)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship death
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 98, "The Terra Nova" (1 text)
File: RySm098
===
NAME: Terrible Privateer, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer's ship sails from Plymouth and is intercepted by the Terrible. The fight continued until "our captain and our men being slain, We could no longer the fight maintain." Twenty-seven are held in prison until "the Carteel did fetch us away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: battle prison rescue death sea ship sailor 
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: ()

BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.12(18)[some words illegible], "The Terrible Privateer" ("You sailors all of courage bold"), printer barely legible but probably J. Pitts, Seven Dials, (n.d. but if it is by Pitts it must be from before 1844)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Captain Coulston" (plot)
cf. "Warlike Seaman (The Irish Captain)" (plot)
cf. "The Dolphin" (plot)
cf. "The French Privateer" (plot)
NOTES: There seem to have been at least two songs about this incident, this one and one called "Captain Death." Both appear on the same semi-legible Bodleian broadside, and they are printed together in the _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ by C. H. Firth available on Google Books (p. 204 in the print copy; p. 335 of the Google Books PDF file). Logan, _The Pedlar's Pack_, prints another text of "Captain Death" on pp. 30-31.
According to the online book _How Britannia Came to Rule the Waves_, by W. H. G. Kingston, this refers to an incident of the Seven Years' War. The _Terrible_, 26 guns, commanded by Captain Death (really! -- though his true name seems to have been "Osborn"), had already taken one prize, but had suffered in the fight and was defeated by another privateer, the _Vengeance_ of St. Malo; Death and half his crew were killed in the battle.
The story of the _Terrible_ so aroused the British that a subscription was raised which eventually bought the freedom of the remaining privateers.
Logan's version of the legend is even more amazing than that of the broadsides: The _Terrible_ "was equipped at Execution Dock, commanded by CaptainDeath. The appellation of his Lieutenant was Devil, and the surgeon's name was Ghost.." Logan does note that Ritson thought this catalog of coincidences "entirely void of foundation." - RBW 
File: BdTerPri
===
NAME: Terrier Dog, The
DESCRIPTION: The terrier pup has a distinguished career of extreme viciousness -- until it encounters an oversized cat. The pup's owner, seeing his dog killed, demands satisfaction of the cat's owner. She shoots him; though cured, he "never... raise[d] another pup."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1870
KEYWORDS: animal dog fight death
FOUND_IN: US(MA,SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
FSCatskills 123, "The Terrier Dog" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC123 (Partial)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Terrier Pup
File: FSC123
===
NAME: Terrier Pup, The: see The Terrier Dog (File: FSC123)
===
NAME: Terry Toole's Cabbage
DESCRIPTION: "Torbay boys and did ye hear..." a goat got into Terry O'Toole's cabbage. Terry stabbed it to death and the boys dressed it "on the sly." They chipped in for the $3.50 fine.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: animal food punishment
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, p. 100, "Terry Toole's Cabbage" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9958
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Moose Song" (plot)
NOTES: Torbay is about seven miles north of St John's - BS
File: Pea100
===
NAME: Testament, The
DESCRIPTION: "Farewell my wife, my joy in life, I freely now do give thee My whole estate" which is very meager: a piece of soap, a frying pan, a broken pail, greasy hat, old tom cat.... "Don't cry ... Another spouse comes by-and-by, with money in his breeches"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: poverty bequest lastwill death humorous nonballad husband wife
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 702, "The Testament" (1 text)
Roud #6118
File: GrD3702
===
NAME: Texarkana Mary
DESCRIPTION: "Wo, Texarcana (Ida/Mary), holl'rin, Wo, Lord. Wo, Texarkana Ida, Godamighty, God knows." "Won't you help me to call 'em." "I'm goin' crazy in the bottom." "Oh, Mary got married." "She married old Raymond." "Tell me, who is that devil?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (recorded from Jesse Hendricks by Jackson)
KEYWORDS: prison work separation marriage hardtimes
FOUND_IN: USISo)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 265-267, "Texarkana Mary" (2 texts, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Godamighty Drag" (lyrics)
NOTES: As with so much else in Jackson, it is hard to tell where one song ends and the next begins. Jackson lumps two texts together here, splitting them from the song he calls "Godamighty," even though he admits that the "B" text of "Texarkana Mary" (which never mentions Texarkana or Mary) stands between the two songs. I could make a case for filing this "B" text with that song, or lumping the whole bunch -- or splitting this and "Godamighty" into at least four songs. But because the whole thing is such a mess, I've followed Jackson's split, except that I lumped the various "Godamighty" songs. - RBW
File: JDM265
===
NAME: Texas
DESCRIPTION: "We'll travel on together Till you and I must part, So fare you well, my honey, my love, I love you to my heart." The singer says he will die when they are parted; and rejoices when she returns; "We'll travel on together... We'll settle down in Texas."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Hudson)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation reunion playparty home
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hudson 156, pp.301-302 , "Texas" (1 text)
Roud #4510
File: Hud156
===
NAME: Texas Cowboy (I), The
DESCRIPTION: "Come all you Texas cowboys and warning take by me, Don't go out to Montana for wealth or liberty." The cowboy has worked in all sorts of places, but Montana is colder, you can only work (and so get paid) for six months a year, the food is bad, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1888 (The Glendive Independent)
KEYWORDS: cowboy work hardtimes warning
FOUND_IN: US(MW,Ro,So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Larkin, pp. 65-67, "The Texas Cowboy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thorp/Fife VIII, pp. 97-103 (21-22), "The Texas Cowboy" (4 texts, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 31, "The Texas Cowboy" (3 texts, 1 tune)
DT, TXASCWBY*
Roud #4632
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink], "I'm a Texas Cowboy" (Conqueror 7883, 1931)
File: TF08
===
NAME: Texas Cowboy (II), The: see The Wagoner's Lad (File: R740)
===
NAME: Texas Cowboy (III), The
DESCRIPTION: "With a sort of careless swagger, with a movement half a stagger... Is the way the Texas cowboy seems in town." Most of the rest of the song describes how the cowboy responds to various situations
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1884 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: cowboy
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 35, "Cowboy Boasters" (5 texts, 2 tunes; this is the "D" text)
Roud #11216
File: FCS035D
===
NAME: Texas Cowboy, The: see Texas Rangers, The [Laws A8] (File: LA08)
===
NAME: Texas Idol, A
DESCRIPTION: "I'm a buzzard from the Brazos on a tear, hear me toot!" The people call him "a pirate from the pampas." He lovingly describes how he abuses and flouts the law in various small towns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1884 (Kansas Cowboy)
KEYWORDS: cowboy outlaw police
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 35, "Cowboy Boasters" (5 texts, 2 tunes; this is the "B" text)
Roud #11215
File: FCW025B
===
NAME: Texas Isle: see The Banks of the Nile (Men's Clothing I'll Put On II) [Laws N9] (File: LN09)
===
NAME: Texas Jack
DESCRIPTION: The singer will "try to tell you the reason why we are bound to roam." The singer was part of a caravan that was attacked by Indians. Only he and two other children were saved by Texas Jack. Brought up among cowboys, he knows no other life
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905
KEYWORDS: death battle Indians(Am.) rescue family
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fife-Cowboy/West 44, "Texas Jack" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TEXASJCK*
Roud #11211
File: FCW044
===
NAME: Texas Jack (II): see My Heart's Tonight in Texas [Laws B23] (File: LB23)
===
NAME: Texas Ranger's Lament: see Come List to a Ranger (The Disheartened Ranger) (File: R181)
===
NAME: Texas Rangers, The [Laws A8]
DESCRIPTION: The singer has left family and girlfriend to join a troop that finds itself fighting Indians. Many of the whites are killed; the singer describes the fight and what he left behind.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1874
KEYWORDS: battle Indians(Am.) warning army Civilwar fight violence war mother sister soldier
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 21, 1861 - First battle of Bull Run/Manasses fought between the Union army of McDowell and the Confederates under Johnston and Beauregard. (There was a second Bull Run battle a year later, but "Come All Ye Southern Soldiers" probably refers to this one, since it's the soldier's first battle)
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,NW,Ro,SE,So) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (23 citations)
Laws A8, "The Texas Rangers" (sample text in NAB, pp. 37-38)
Belden, pp. 336-339, "Texas Rangers" (3 texts plus plus mention of 5 more, 1 tune)
Randolph 177, "The Texas Rangers" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 2 tunes)
Eddy 130, "Come, All Ye Roving Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 95, "The Texas Rangers" (1 text plus mention of 2 more)
FSCatskills 20, "The Texas Rangers" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Leach-Labrador 105, "Western Ranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
McNeil-SFB1, pp.44-46, "Texas Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 234, "The Texas Ranger" (2 texts plus mention of 2 more; the "B" text is a Civil War adaption)
Hudson 96, pp. 227-228, "The Texas Cowboy" (1 text)
Fuson, pp. 191-192, "The Roving Ranger" (1 text)
Brewster 73, "The Texas Ranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 179, "Come all ye Southern Soldiers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thomas-Makin', p. 45, (no title) (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 169, "The Texas Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 134-135, "Texas Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 53, "The Texas Rangers" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 73, pp. 163-164, "The Texas Rangers" (1 text)
JHCox 63, "War Song" ( text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 161-162, "The Texas Rangers" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 274, "Texas Rangers" (1 text)
Saffel-CowboyP, pp. 180-181, "Texas Rangers" (1 text)
DT 363, TEXRANG*
Roud #480
RECORDINGS:
Cartwright Brothers, "Texas Ranger" (Victor V-40198, 1930; Montgomery Ward M-4460, 1934; rec. 1929; on AuthCowboys, WhenIWas1)
Paul Joines, "Roving Ranger" (on Persis1)
Sloan Matthews, "The Texas Rangers" (AFS, 1940s; on LC28)
Harry "Mac" McClintock, "The Texas Rangers" (Victor 21487, 1928)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "The Texas Rangers" (Vocalion 5177/Brunswick 168 [as Robert Gardner], 1927)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Texas Rangers" (on NLCR02)
Ernest Stoneman, "The Texas Ranger" (OKeh 45054, 1926); Ernest Stoneman [and Eddie Stoneman], "Texas Ranger" (Vocalion 026320)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Come All Ye Southern Soldiers" (words, structure, plot)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Texas Soldier
NOTES: Laws lists this as a native American ballad, and in its current form, it certainly is. Belden and others, however, note many similarities to British ballads; it is likely an extensive reworking of some earlier piece. - RBW
Digital Tradition notes, "Probably a rewrite of a Civil War song." Bingo; it's almost word-for-word identical to "Come All Ye Southern Soldiers," with only names, places and enemies changed. - PJS
This particular case is rather a conundrum. Paul Stamler supplies this description of "Come All Ye Southern Soldiers," known primarily from collections by Sharp in the North Carolina mountains: "Singer joins the 'jolly band' to fight for the South; their captain warns that before they reach Manassas they'll have to fight. Singer hears the Yankees coming and fears for his life; the battle is bloody and several of his comrades are lost. Singer invokes mothers, sisters, and sweethearts, and warns prospective soldiers that 'I'll tell you by experience you'd better stay at home.'"
That this is recensionally different from "Texas Rangers" is clear; I would normally agree with Paul in splitting the two. Laws, however, explicitly lumps them, and of course Roud does the same. Given how rare "Southern Soldiers" is, I decided to do the same. - RBW
File: LA08
===
NAME: Texas Song: see Going to Leave Old Texas (Old Texas, Texas Song, The Cowman's Lament) (File: FCW066E)
===
NAME: Texian Boys, The: see Come All You Virginia Girls (Arkansas Boys; Texian Boys; Cousin Emmy's Blues; etc.) (File: R342)
===
NAME: Thank You, Ma'am, Says Dan
DESCRIPTION: Courting song in which Dan says "Thank you, ma'am," whatever the girl's mother says. She invites him in; he thanks her. She allows him to marry her daughter. She will stay with her daughter; he will have to support the whole family. He thanks her
AUTHOR: Gerald  and Joseph M. Crofts?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting mother humorous
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
SHenry H184=689, pp. 469-470, "'Thank You, Ma'am,' Says Dan" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 92, "I Thank You, Ma'am," Says Dan (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3044
NOTES: It would appear that copyright on this song was claimed by the Crofts. Given the various collections containing the song, however, I wonder if they really originated it. - RBW
File: HHH184
===
NAME: That Bloody War : see Battleship of Maine (File: CSW100)
===
NAME: That Crazy War
DESCRIPTION: Singer, drafted into World War I, humorously describes awful experiences, saying everyone (including him) was just trying to avoid getting shot "in that war, that crazy war." In one version, he says that if there's another war he'll be hard to find.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Jimmy Yates & His Boll Weevils)
KEYWORDS: army war France humorous soldier
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1914 - World War I begins in Europe
1917 - U.S. enters World War I
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 102, "That Crazy War" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 275, "That Crazy War" (1 text)
BrownII 239, "That Bloody War" (4 texts, of which "C" and "D," both short, probably belong here; "A" and "B" are "Battleship of Maine")
DT, CRAZYWAR*
Roud #779
RECORDINGS:
Lulu Belle & Scotty, "That Crazy War" (OKeh 06103, 1941)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Crazy War" (on NLCREP2)
Jimmy Yates & His Boll Weevils, "Bloody War" (Victor V-40065, 1929)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Battleship of Maine" (lyrics)
NOTES: This song seems to have been adapted to fit almost every war in existence. It is fitting, though, that it apparently comes from World War I -- the stupidest, most wasteful conflict of them all.
Some of the versions in Brown hint that this ended up mixing with "Battleship of Maine," and Roud apparently lumps them. - RBW
File: CSW102
===
NAME: That Dang Boat that First Took Me Over
DESCRIPTION: Paddy leaves Ireland for Scotland "where everything is free." His father and sweetheart are unhappy and his mother is sure he'll drown. There's a storm. He asks the captain to stop the ship so he can walk home. If he ever gets home he'll not roam again.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1970 (Morton-Ulster)
KEYWORDS: farewell home parting sea ship storm Ireland Scotland humorous
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Morton-Ulster 29, "That Dang Boat that First Took Me Over" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2907
NOTES: This sounds a bit like it might be a parody on one of the songs in which an Irishman goes to Scotland and falls in love. Examples of that type include "Paddy's Land" and "The Shamrock Shore (The Maid of Mullaghmore)." - RBW
File: MorU029
===
NAME: That Dear Old Land
DESCRIPTION: "I'll sing tonight of a fairyland in the lap of the ocean set.... I'll sing tonight of Ireland's ancient days ... the dear old land, that sweet old land where the beautiful rivers flow." An exile remembers his home and its history.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: homesickness exile Ireland lament nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 70, "That Dear Old Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6368
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Scarborough Settler's Lament" (theme) and references there
File: GrMa070
===
NAME: That Is Even So
DESCRIPTION: "When first I heard the people tell Of finding gold in veins... [I] started o'er the plains." On the way west, the food runs short and the train has to winter at Salt Lake. The Mormons treat them badly. The singer advises leaving the "land of gold"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1858 (Put's Golden Songster)
KEYWORDS: gold mining hardtimes travel
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 17, "That Is Even So" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11206
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fools of Forty-Nine" (plot)
File: FCW017
===
NAME: That Last Fierce Charge: see The Last Fierce Charge [Laws A17] (File: LA17)
===
NAME: That Last Fierce Fight: see The Last Fierce Charge [Laws A17] (File: LA17)
===
NAME: That Lonesome Train Took My Baby Away
DESCRIPTION: "Woke up this morning, found somethin' wrong, My lovin' babe had caught that train and gone...." The singer asks the depot agent to shut the depot down so she cannot leave. But the girl is lost, and the train "will take you baby and run right over you."
AUTHOR: Words: Probably Charlie McCoy, influenced by the lyrics of "Cow Cow's Blues"/Tune: "Cow Cow's Blues" by Charles "Cow Cow" Davenport
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (recording, Charlie McCoy)
KEYWORDS: train separation abandonment floatingverses
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 431-434, "That Lonesome Train Took My Baby Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LONETRN
RECORDINGS:
Charlie McCoy, "That Lonesome Train Took My Baby Away" (OKeh 8863, 1931?; rec. 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cannonball" (floating verses)
File: LSRai431
===
NAME: That Old Time Religion
DESCRIPTION: "Give me that (or: It's the/that) old time religion (x3), And it's good enough for me." Verses describe those for whom it was good enough: "It was good for Paul and Silas" "It was good for the Hebrew children," "It was good for my dear parents," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1872 ("Jubilee Songs as sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers")
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
BrownIII 640, "That Old-Time Religion" (1 text)
Chappell-FSRA 91, "The Old Time Religion" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Randolph 628, "The Old Time Religion" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 438-440, "The Old-Time Religion" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 628)
Silber-FSWB, p. 362, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (1 text)
Roud #6423
RECORDINGS:
The Blue Chips, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (ARC 6-07-60, 1936)
Brother Son Bonds, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (Decca 7024, 1934)
Emmett Brand, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (on MuSouth06)
Morris Brown Quartet, "That Old Time Religion" (Bluebird B-8428/Montgomery Ward M-8765, 1940)
Columbia [Male] Quartet, "The Old-Time Religion" (Columbia A-827, 1910; rec. 1909)
Cotton Belt Quartet, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (Vocalion 1022, 1926)
Cotton Top Mountain Sanctified Singers, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (Brunswick 7100, 1929)
Dixie Jubilee Singers, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (Banner 7237/Domino 4220/Challenge 937 [as Jewel Male Quartet], 1928)
Wally Fowler, "Old Time Religion" (Capitol 2182, 1952)
Golden Eagle Gospel Singers, "Gimme That Old Time Religion" (Decca 7314, 1937)
Hampton Institute Quartet, "Ole Time Religion" (Musicraft 233, 1939)
Haydn Quartette, "The Old Time Religion" (Victor 4656, 1906)
Heavenly Gospel Singers, "Old Time Religion" (Bluebird B-8077, 1939; Montgomery Ward M-7871, n.d.)
Jubliee Quartet, "Old Time Religion" (Banner 1550/Regal 9848, 1925; Ajax 31582, n.d.)
Mellowmen, "That Old Time Religion" (Decca 28081, 1952)
Old Southern Sacred Singers, "The Old Time Religion" (Brunswick 161, 1927)
Old-Time Jubilee Singers, "That Old Time Religion" (Perfect 113/Ajax [Can.] 17041, 1924)
Original Valentine Quartet, "Give That Old Time Religion" (OKeh 8135, 1924)
Pace Jubilee Singers, "Old-Time Religion" (Victor 22097, 1929; Bluebird B-5811, 1935; rec. 1928)
Paramount Jubilee Singers, "That Old Time Religion"  (Paramount 12073, rec. 1923)
Homer Rodeheaver, "Old Time Religion" (Columbia A-3856, 1923)
Ernest Thompson, "The Old Time Religion" (Columbia 15007-D, 1924)
Tuskegee Institute Quartet, "Old Time Religion" (Victor 18075, 1916; rec. 1915)
Tuskegee Quartet, "The Old Time Religion" (Victor 20519, 1927)
Congregation of Wesley Methodist Church, "Give Me That Old Time Religion" (on JohnsIsland1)
SAME_TUNE:
Old Time Religion [parody] (DT, OLTIMREL, OLTIMR2, OLTIMR3; on PeteSeeger47)
NOTES: This piece was copyrighted in 1891 by Charlie D. Tillman -- but given that the text sung by the Fisk Jubilee Singers was printed in 1880, the claim is obviously bogus.
This seems, for all intents and purposes, to have become a parody of itself of late. All three Digital Tradition versions, for instance, are modern versions praising various improbable deities (I suspect that most of the verses are filk). It's not really surprising, given the excellent tune and the asinine lyrics of the original. - RBW
File: R628
===
NAME: That Pretty Little Gal: see The Girl I Left Behind Me (lyric) (File: R546)
===
NAME: That Rogue Reilly
DESCRIPTION: "There's a boy that follows me every day, although he declares that I use him vilely." He is like "the very shadow at my feet." Her mother sends her away to make hay but Reilly is there. Her aunt recommends a nunnery but she would rather be bothered.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1863 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3382))
KEYWORDS: courting farming
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 57, "That Rogue Reilly" (1 text)
Roud #6980
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3382), "That Raking, Ranting, Reilly", H. Such (London), 1849-1862; also Harding B 11(3231), "The Ranting Reilly"; Harding B 20(144), "Raking, Ranting Reilly"; also Harding B 11(3306), "The Rogue Reilly "
File: OCon057
===
NAME: That the Stones of the Street May Turn Up the Pig's Feet
DESCRIPTION: "That the stones of the street may turn up the pig's feet If ever I cease to the love. That the tay may come down to three ha'pence a pound If ever I cease to the love"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1979 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad parody food
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 9, "That the Stones of the Street May Turn Up the Pig's Feet" (1 fragment)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "If Ever I Cease to Love" (subject and some text)
NOTES: The current description is all of the Tunney-StoneFiddle fragment.
The fragment is a parody of the "if ever I prove false" theme floating among songs such as "When First Into this Country" and "I Live Not Where I Love."  It could be derived from "If Ever I Cease to Love" but the only line shared is "If ever I cease to [the] love." - BS
File: RcSSTUPF
===
NAME: That Tumble Down Shack in Athlone
DESCRIPTION: "IÕm a long way from home and my thoughts ever roam To ould Erin far over the sea." The singer remembers his home in Ireland, says there are people waiting there for him, and looks forward to returning to Athlone
AUTHOR: Words: Richard M. Pascoe / Music: "Monte Carlo" and Alma Sanders
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: home Ireland emigration return
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dean, pp. 66-67, "That Tumble Down Shack in Athlone" (1 text)
Roud #21716
NOTES: This song was apparently popular enough to inspire a movie in 1927, but I have no idea what the film,may have been like. - RBW
File: Dean066
===
NAME: That's All Right
DESCRIPTION: Floating verses: "Mind my mother how you're walking along/Your feet might slip and your soul be lost"; "Hush little baby don't you cry." "Jacob ladder so long and tall." Cho: "That's all right (x2) Since my soul got a seat up in the kingdom...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: mid-1960s (recording, Laura Rivers)
KEYWORDS: warning floatingverses nonballad religious mother
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Laura Rivers, "That's All Right" (on BeenStorm1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Down on Me" (floating verses)
File: RcThAlRi
===
NAME: That's Where My Money Goes
DESCRIPTION: "That's where my money goes, To buy my baby clothes, I'd do 'most any old thing To keep that woman in style. She's worth her weight in gold, My coal-black Venus, Say, boys, that's where my money goes."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: money clothes
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 464, "That's Where My Money Goes" (1 short text)
Roud #11797
File: Br3464
===
NAME: Thatchers of Glenrea, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer works in Argyle, then does a quick thatching job in Glrenrea. When it is all done, he at last is able to return to his wife in Ireland, though he has been cheated (?) of some of the money he hoped he would earn. He will not return to Glenrea
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: work home separation return reunion money
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H186, pp. 46-47, "The Thatchers of Glenrea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13358
File: HHH186
===
NAME: Then Some wi Pins
DESCRIPTION: A plowing match is described with its problems and swearing. "In spite o' a' difficulties They gaily trudged on Aft times refreshed wi' mountain dew A bannock or a scone." Prizes are announced. "The unsuccessful's never please The judges gets the blame"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: contest farming drink food ordeal nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greig, "Folk-Song in Buchan," p. 44, ("Then some wi' pins and some wi' props") (1 text) 
GreigDuncan3 423, "Then Some wi Pins" (1 text)
Roud #5940
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Ploughing Match
File: GrD3423
===
NAME: Then Turn Out You Jolly Tars: see The Mermaid [Child 289] (File: C289)
===
NAME: Then We'll Have a New Convention
DESCRIPTION: "Katy, Katy, don't you want to marry? Your mother says you shall not marry... Until we kill the turkey hen." "Then we'll have a new convention And we'll kill the turkey hen... And we'll have the rights of man."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: marriage political bird
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 370, "Then We'll Have a New Convention" (1 text); also 371, "Colonel Harry, He Was Scared" (1 fragment, probably the same as the above or a parody, though it may be mixed)
Roud #11747
NOTES: The notes in Brown connect this with the Civil War: The "convention" refers to the state conventions called to bring states out of the Union, and the song reportedly was used to recruit soldiers. Which makes sense, though it hardly explains the song. The "turkey hen" presumably refers to the Union, or to Lincoln, but this is hardly a common usage.
The "Colonel Harry" of the second Brown text is unidentifiable in context. And the two songs between them have only eight distinct lines, making it very hard to tell what's going on. But the second looks like it might be a later answer to the first: Brown #370 is a triumphant call for a convention (and hence secession); #371, which mentions a convention of "the volunteers and the drafted men" must have arisen in 1862 or later, as opposition to Confederate policies increased. - RBW
File: Br3370
===
NAME: There Ain't No Bugs on Me: see Ain't No Bugs on Me (File: CSW226)
===
NAME: There Ain't No Flies on Jesus
DESCRIPTION: "There's flies on me, There's flies on you, But there ain't no flies on Jesus."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad bug
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 201, (no title) (1 fragment)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ain't No Bugs on Me" (concept)
NOTES: There is an obvious temptation to link this to "Ain't No Bugs on Me." But, apart from the religious reference, the form seems to imply that they are separate. - RBW
File: ScNF201A
===
NAME: There Cam a Laddie Frae the North
DESCRIPTION: "There cam a laddie frae the north... And he's fa'en in love wi' a bonnie lass That lived in Dundee." He offers to take her north to his home in Strathspey. She refuses; he goes home -- then comes again, asks again, and she consents
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: love courting marriage travel home
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 103-105, "There Cam' a Laddie Frae the North" (1 text)
Roud #3951
File: Ord103
===
NAME: There Comes a Fellow with a Derby Hat
DESCRIPTION: Lost love song: "There comes a fellow with a derby hat, They say he's jealous, but what of that? If he is jealous, I am gay; I can get a sweetheart any day." The rest floats -- the blind bird, a request that the sweetheart return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love bird clothes betrayal floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 265, "There Comes a Fellow with a Derby Hat" (1 text)
Roud #15742
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Farewell He" (subject) and references there
File: Br3265
===
NAME: There Is a Fountain
DESCRIPTION: "There is a fountain of Christ's blood, Wide open stretch'd for to drown our sins, Where Jesus stands with open arms Of mercy to invite us in."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Leather)
KEYWORDS: Jesus religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(West))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Leather, pp. 197-198, "There Is a Fountain" (4 single-stanza texts, all effectively identical; 4 tunes)
ST Leath197 (Partial)
Roud #663
File: Leath197
===
NAME: There Is a Happy Land
DESCRIPTION: "There is a happy land, far far away, Where saints in glory stand, Bright bright as day, Oh how they sweetly sing, Worthy is our savior king, Loud let his praises ring." The listener is told of the pleasures of heaven and urged not to hesitate
AUTHOR: Words: Andrew Young?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1847 (Southern Harmony)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fuson, pp. 210, "The Happy Land" (1 text)
DT, HPPYLAND*
Roud #13784
RECORDINGS:
Rufus Crisp, "Brighter Day" (on Crisp01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Know a Boarding-House" (tune, form)
SAME_TUNE:
Old Soldiers Never Die (I) (File: FSWB277A)
NOTES: In the Sacred Harp (where it is given with the tune-name "Happy Land"), this melody is said to be derived from Hindu religious music. I know of no supporting evidence.
Roud lumps this with another song with the title "Happy Land," but they do not appear the same to me. - RBW
"Original Sacred Harp" gives a composition date of 1838, but with no citation; pending more research, I'm going with the earliest known printed version. Much parodied, this hymn seems to have been enduringly popular in the south. And elsewhere, as witness, "Cook House," popular among soldiers of the Lincoln Brigade during the Spanish Civil War. We've listed that, more or less, as "Old Soldiers Never Die (I)" - PJS
File: DTtiahl
===
NAME: There Is a Happy Land (II): see I Know a Boarding-House (File: R479)
===
NAME: There Is an Alehouse in Yonder Town: see Tavern in the Town (File: ShH94)
===
NAME: There Is No Place in the Height of Heaven
DESCRIPTION: "There is no place in the height of Heaven, There is no place like home, home, home, sweet home, There is no place like home. Kind friends, I bid you all farewell. I leave you in God's care. And if I never see you any more, I will see you there."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious home separation nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 548, "There Is No Place in the Height of Heaven" (2 short texts)
Roud #11825
NOTES: This steals lines from all over the place ("Home Sweet Home," "Now Our Meeting Is Over," and probably at least one unidentifiable spiritual). But it seems to be a free composition on these themes rather than a version of any of those songs. - RBW
File: Br3548
===
NAME: There Is Somebody Waiting for Me
DESCRIPTION: "Oh the moon shines bright and the stars they give light And the evening invites (you/me) to (stay/stray)." The singer describes (her)self as a bird in a cage, but happily announces "There is somebody waiting... There is somebody waiting for me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 741, "There Is Somebody Waiting for Me" (2 texts)
Roud #7394
NOTES: The first line of this, of course, is from the "Bellman's Song." Don't ask me where the rest of the song went. - RBW
I don't know where it went, but someone is waiting for it. - PJS
File: R741
===
NAME: There Lived an Old Man in Dover: see The Man of Burningham Town (File: VWL068)
===
NAME: There Lives a Man in Ardes Town
DESCRIPTION: A man "wi' little meat and sair wark" beats and starves a mare to death. Besides, "they say he beats his wife." The wives praise the dead mare and say they would have taken her themselves. Now they denounce the man but he does not let them bury her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: abuse death horse burial
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 493, "There Lives a Man in Ardes Town" (1 text)
Roud #5979
File: GrD3493
===
NAME: There Once Was a Farmer: see Teasing Songs (File: EM256)
===
NAME: There She Blows: see The Wounded Whale (File: SWMS023)
===
NAME: There She Stands, a Lovely Creature: see Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady) AND The Drowsy Sleeper [Laws M4] (File: E098)
===
NAME: There Was a Crooked Man
DESCRIPTION: "There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile, He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile, He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse, And they all lived together in a little crooked house."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1842 (Halliwell, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: home animal
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 324, "There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #224, p. 148, "(There was a crooked man)"
Roud #4826
NOTES: The Baring-Goulds suggest that the crooked man of this song was the Covenanter Alexander Leslie, and the crooked sixpence Charles I (who was willing to use the Covenanters if it would preserve his throne but had no real use for them). This is another of those "possible but hardly demonstrable" cases. - RBW
File: BGMG224
===
NAME: There Was a Fair
DESCRIPTION: "There was a fair into the toon, The lads and lasses a' were boun, Wi' glancin buckles o' their shoon, An' floories i' their waistcoats"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: clothes
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 371, "There Was a Fair" (1 fragment)
Roud #5914
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan3 fragment.
GreigDuncan3 referring to a note by Duncan: "Cf. [611 'Hey the Bonny Breistknots']." The first verse of "Hey the Bonny Breistknots" is close to the fragment here but each line is different enough that I am not convinced that these are the same song. - BS
File: GrD3371
===
NAME: There Was a Girl Her Name Was Young: see The Cruel Mother [Child 20] (File: C020)
===
NAME: There Was a Knight: see Riddles Wisely Expounded [Child 1] (File: C001)
===
NAME: There Was a Lady in Merry Scotland: see The Wife of Usher's Well [Child 79] (File: C079)
===
NAME: There Was a Lady in the East
DESCRIPTION: A lady with many suitors loves Jimmy, her father's clerk. Her father would disown her but she says she wants Jimmy more than treasure. Her father shoots her. Her mother faints and Jimmy commits suicide.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.18(76))
KEYWORDS: grief courting love murder suicide father mother money
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Peacock, pp. 726-728, "There Was a Lady in the East" (1 text, 3 tunes)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 68, "There Was a Lady in the East" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 84, "The Maid of the East" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Pea726 (Partial)
Roud #2298
RECORDINGS:
Marie Hare, "The Maid of the East" (on MRMHare01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.18(76), "The Cruel Father and Constant Lover," J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Cruel Father and Constant Lover
NOTES: Peacock claims this is Laws M19, "The Young Sailor Bold (I) (The Rich Merchant's Daughter)." ["Although the story is the same ... the texts and tunes are completely different."] I think that makes this a different ballad. And the stories are not so close either. [I agree; there is no hint of accident or mistake here, and it's a different set of suicides. Roud also splits them. - RBW] - BS
File: Pea726
===
NAME: There Was a Lady Lived in the West: see Willie o Winsbury [Child 100] (File: C100)
===
NAME: There Was a LIttle Bird
DESCRIPTION: "There was a little bird that went hop-hop-hop. I said, 'Little bird, won't you stop, stop, stop?' I opened the window to say, 'How do you do?' He shook his little tail and away he flew."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Henry, from Minnie Stokes)
KEYWORDS: bird nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 241, (no title) (1 short text)
File: MHAp241A
===
NAME: There Was a Little Man
DESCRIPTION: "There was a little man, And he had a little gun, And the ball was made of lead." The little man goes out to hunt ducks. He hits the duck in the head and brings her home to his wife to cook. (He goes out to shoot the drake, but it escapes)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1744 (Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book)
KEYWORDS: bird hunting food
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 325, "There was a little man, and he had a little gun" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #25, p. 38, "(There was a little Man)"
Roud #1289
File: BGMG025
===
NAME: There Was a Little Woman: see The Old Woman Who Went to Market (The Old Woman and the Pedlar) (File: Lins258)
===
NAME: There Was a Man and He Was Mad
DESCRIPTION: The madman spends his life jumping into things -- pudding bag, bottle of wine, bottle of beer, notched stick, etc. Finding each one unsatisfactory, he moves on to the next. Finally he winds up in a situation he cannot handle, and quits/dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Eddy)
KEYWORDS: humorous talltale
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Eddy 99, "There Was a Man and He was Mad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 321, "There was a man, he went mad" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #178, p. 128, "(There was a man, he went mad)"
ST E099 (Full)
Roud #5336
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "There Was a Man and He Was Mad" (on PeteSeeger03, PeteSeegerCD03)
File: E099
===
NAME: There Was a Man Lived in the Moon: see Aiken Drum (File: OO2007)
===
NAME: There Was A Man, He Went Mad: see There Was a Man and He Was Mad (File: E099)
===
NAME: There Was a Pig Went Out to Dig
DESCRIPTION: "There was a pig went out to dig, Chris-e-mas day, Chris-e-mas day, There was a pig went out to dig, On Chris-e-mas day in the morning." Similarly, "There was a sparrow went out to harrow," "There was a cow went out to plow," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (Ritchie-Southern)
KEYWORDS: animal work Christmas nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 28, "There Was A Pig Went Out to Dig" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1369
File: RitS028
===
NAME: There Was a Piper Had a Cow
DESCRIPTION: The piper has no food for his cow but plays her a tune for consolation. The cow is either happy enough to give the piper a penny to play "corn rigs are bonny," or tells the piper to play for money and use that to feed her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1805 (Songs for the Nursery, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: poverty food music animal humorous
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 416, "There was a piper had a cow" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #156, p. 117, "(There was a piper had a cow)"
Roud #13046
File: OO2416
===
NAME: There Was a Rich Englishman: see Jolly Thresher, The (Poor Man, Poor Man) (File: R127)
===
NAME: There Was a Rich Man Who Lived in Jerusalem: see Hi Ho Jerum (File: FSWB025)
===
NAME: There Was a Sea Captain: see The Sea Captain and the Squire [Laws Q12] (File: LQ12)
===
NAME: There Was a Watermelon
DESCRIPTION: "There was a watermelon, A-growing in the garden, And in the garden wall there was a hole. A skinny little nigger Said if he's a little bigger, He'd climb over the garden wall. He's sneak up like a rabbit, And then he'd grab it...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: food thief
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 465, "There Was a Watermelon" (1 text)
Roud #11798
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Watermelon on the Vine" (theme)
File: Br3465
===
NAME: There Was a Wealthy Farmer: see The Plains of Baltimore (File: Wa005)
===
NAME: There Was a Young Lady: see A Rich Irish Lady (The Fair Damsel from London; Sally and Billy; The Sailor from Dover; Pretty Sally; etc.) [Laws P9] (File: LP09)
===
NAME: There Was an Old Farmer: see The Twa Sisters [Child 10] (File: C010)
===
NAME: There Was an Old Frog: see Kemo Kimo (File: R282)
===
NAME: There Was an Old Lady (I)
DESCRIPTION: Floating bawdy or scatological verses to the tune of Turkey in the Straw. The chorus urges, "Come on you bastards, come on you whores, Pull up your dresses, pull down your drawers...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1953
KEYWORDS: bawdy scatological sex nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ro,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cray, pp. 253-255, "There Was an Old Lady" (1 composite text, 1 tune); see also under "Ditties," pp. 264-268, which contain other verses that fit "Turkey in the Straw"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Turkey in the Straw" (tune & meter) and references there
File: EM253
===
NAME: There Was an Old Lady (II): see Marrowbones [Laws Q2] (File: LQ02)
===
NAME: There Was an Old Man: see Old Man Came Over the Moor, An (Old Gum Boots and Leggings) (File: R066)
===
NAME: There Was an Old Miller: see The Miller's Will (The Miller's Three Sons) [Laws Q21] (File: LQ21)
===
NAME: There Was an Old Miser
DESCRIPTION: The old miser's daughter is courted by a sailor. When the miser finds out, he pays a captain to impress the boy. The girl fails to save the boy, but his ship is wrecked and he escapes to shore almost alone. He finds the girl; they are married.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1854 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.16(16))
KEYWORDS: courting sailor father pressgang wreck escape marriage
FOUND_IN: US(MA) Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
FSCatskills 48, "There Was an Old Miser" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC048 (Partial)
Roud #3913
RECORDINGS:
Chris Willett, "The Old Miser" (on Voice04)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.16(16), "Old Miser" ("It's of an old miser in London did dwell"), Swindells (Manchester), 1796-1853; also Johnson Ballads 572, "The Old Miser"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Disguised Sailor (The Sailor's Misfortune and Happy Marriage; The Old Miser)" [Laws N6]
NOTES: Although this song shows many similarities to Laws N6 (plus a slight similarity to "William and Harriet," Laws M7), Cazden et al consider the ending sufficiently different that they regard it as a separate ballad. Since the policy of this index is to split rather than lump, here it stands.
Roud, interestingly, lumps it with Laws N10, "The Silk Merchant's Daughter." - RBW
Chris Willett's version on Voice04 and Bodleian broadsides 2806 c.16(16) and Johnson Ballads 572 include the verses in the [Supplemental Tradition text, from Cazden et al] but omit the ending: no shipwreck or happy ending. - BS
File: FSC048
===
NAME: There Was an Old Nigger, His Name Was Dr. Peck
DESCRIPTION: "There was an old nigger, his name was Dr. Peck, He fell in de well an' broke his neck. De cause ob de fall was all his own, 'Case he order look atter de sick An' let de well alone!" With the "mourner, you shall be free" chorus and floating verses
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: doctor death humorous floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 197, "There Was an Old Nigger, His Name Was Dr. Peck" (1 text)
File: ScaNF197
===
NAME: There Was an Old Soldier: see The Old Tobacco Box (File: FSC143)
===
NAME: There Was an Old Woman and She Had a Little Pig
DESCRIPTION: "There was an old woman and she had a little pig, It didn't cost much 'cause it wasn't very big." Despite good care, the pig never grows up. One day it dies. The owner(s) soon follow. The song ends; "if you want any more, you can sing it yourself"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1784 (Gammar Gurton's Garland, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: animal death
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE) Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (12 citations)
BrownIII 130, "The Old Woman and Her Pig" (2 texts plus mention of 1 more)
Eddy 68, "Old Sam Fanny" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 195, "Uncle Sam Simmie" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 235, "The Old Woman and the Little Pigee" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 77, "The Old Woman and the Little Pig" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 308-310, "Tale of a Little Pig" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 207-210, "There Was an Old Woman and She Had a Little Pig" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 21, "The Old Woman and the Pig" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 42, "Little Betty Pringle she had a pig" (1 text)
BaringGould-MotherGoose #37, p. 53, "(Little Betty Winkle she had a pig)"
JHCox 175, "Old Sam Fanny" (2 texts)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 574-575, "The Little Pig" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST E068 (Partial)
Roud #746
File: E068
===
NAME: There Was an Old Woman Lived Under a Hill
DESCRIPTION: "There was an old woman lived under a hill, And if she isn't gone, she lives there still." Various endings seem to have been grafted on.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1744 (Tom Thumb's Pretty Song Book)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 541, "There was an old woman" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #4, p. 28, "(There Was an Old Woman)"
Roud #1613
File: BGMG004
===
NAME: There Was an Old Woman Tossed up in a Basket
DESCRIPTION: "There was an old woman tossed up in a blanket" with a broom, many times higher than the moon. The singer asks what she's doing. She says she is brushing the cobwebs, or clouds, out of the sky. The singer asks to go with her, or says well done.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1784 (Gammar Gurton's Garland, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: nonballad talltale
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 544, "There was an old woman tossed up in a basket" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #35, p. 50, "(There was an old woman tossed in a blanket)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 175, "(There was a wee wifie rowed up in a basket)" (1 text)
Roud #1297
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lilliburlero" (tune) (per Opie-Oxford2)
NOTES: Opie-Oxford2: "Rimbault says this song is supposed to allude to James II.... In spite of the rhyming, the original wording was probably 'tossed up in a blanket Ninety-nine [instead of seventeen or nineteen] times as high as the moon', as in the William and Mary ballad, The Jacobite tossed up in a blanket." - BS
The Baring-Goulds report an even more extravagant story, connecting this to Henry V (reigned 1413-1422) and his invasion of France. But they add "The only trouble with this story is that there doesn't seem to be a word of truth in it." I couldn't have put it better myself. - RBW
File: OO2544
===
NAME: There Was First Guid Ale
DESCRIPTION: "There was first guid ale, and syne guid ale, And second ale and some; Thirl the berry and twice as many, And scour the gate and trim, Hink-pink, and swats drink [kinds of weak beer] And guid sma' ale ahin'."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 569, "There Was First Guid Ale" (2 texts)
Roud #5895
NOTES: The current description is all of GreigDuncan3 569A. - BS
File: GrD3569
===
NAME: There Were Three Jovial Welshmen: see Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)
===
NAME: There Were Three Ravens: see The Three Ravens [Child 26] (File: C026)
===
NAME: There Were Two Birds Sat on a Stone
DESCRIPTION: ""There were two birds sat on a stone, Fa la la lal de, One flew away and then there was one, Fa la la... The other flew after, and then there was none... And so the poor stone was left all alone." The (birds/crows) then fly back
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1767 (Newbery)
KEYWORDS: bird
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #49, pp. 59-60, "(There were two birds sat on a Stone)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 19, "(There were two crows sat on a stone)" (1 text)
Opie-Oxford2 51, "There were two birds sat on a stone" (2 texts)
DT, CRAWSTAN
Roud #8906
NOTES: Sounds like "The Twa Corbies" told from the standpoint of their original perch. But there are just enough mentions of it that I thought it had better go in the Index.
Charles Kingsley quoted two stanzas of this in _The Water Babies_. (1863):
Two little birds they sat on a stone,
One swam away, and then there was one,
With a fal-lal-la-lady.
The other swam after, and then there was none,
And so the poor stone was left all alone,
With a fal-lal-la-lady.
The quotation is in chapter seven. - RBW
File: BGMG049
===
NAME: There Were Two Crows Sat on a Stone: see There Were Two Birds Sat on a Stone (File: BGMG049)
===
NAME: There'll Be a Hot Time (In the Old Town Tonight)
DESCRIPTION: A quatrain ballad, this is essentially an ever-changing collection of floating bawdy verses.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1896 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: bawdy nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 532-534, "There'll Be a Hot Time" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 203-204, "A Hot Time in the Old Town" (1 text, 1 tune -- from the sheet music)
Geller-Famous, pp. 138-143, "A Hot Time in the Old Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 278-279, "A Hot Time in the Old Town"
ST RL532 (Partial)
Roud #4324
RECORDINGS:
Edward M. Favor, "Hot Time in the Old Town" (Berliner 0791-L, 1899)
Bill Mooney & his Cactus Twisters, "Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" (Imperial 1096, n.d. but post-World War II)
Dan W. Quinn, "A Hot Time in the Old Town" (Berliner 527-Z, 1897)
Bessie Smith & her Blue Boys, "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town" (Columbia 3173-D/Parlophone R-2477 [UK], 1938)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "There'll Be a Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight" (Columbia 15695-D, 1931; rec. 1929)
SAME_TUNE:
West Wallsend Football Song (Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 253)
NOTES: Fuld points out that the earliest (1896) sheet music refers not to "the old town" but to "Old Town" (in Louisiana). This version is by Joe Hayden (words) and Theodore A. Metz (music), and involves a dance and/or camp meeting. This camp meeting version, according to Spaeth, came to be "indelibly associated with the Spanish[-American] War."
This may be true, but clearly the folk have taken things into their hands from there. - RBW
Indeed; [Dan W.] Quinn's recording, only a year after the sheet music, already calls it "The Old Town." - PJS
The cover sheet to the 1896 sheet music at LOCSheet Music B-570 [cover only] has the title as "A hot time in the old town"; the commentary notes the chorus as "There'll be a hot time in the old town tonight, ma baby" - BS
File: RL532
===
NAME: There'll Be Joy, Joy, Joy: see In My Father's House (File: San483)
===
NAME: There'll Be No Distinction There
DESCRIPTION: "There'll be no sorrow on that heavenly shore, There'll be no woes at the cabin door...." Singer describes heaven as a place without sorrow, poverty, class distinctions, racism, adultery, nagging women, or booze.
AUTHOR: Blind Alfred Reed
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (recording, Blind Alfred Reed)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
BrownIII 563, "Dar'll Be No Distinction Dar" (1 text)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 232-233, "There'll Be No Distinction There" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DISTNCTN
Roud #11883
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "There'll Be No Distinction There" (OKeh 05982/Conqueror 9572, c. 1940)
New Lost City Ramblers, "There'll Be No Distinction There" (on NCLR09)
Blind Alfred Reed, "There'll Be No Distinction There" (Victor 23550, 1931)
File: CSW232
===
NAME: There'll Never Be Peace Till Jamie Comes Hame
DESCRIPTION: Singer hears a man sing "The church is in ruins, the State is in jars, Delusions, oppressions, and murderous wars." His seven sons died fighting for James. "Now life is a burden that bows me down." "There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1819 (Hogg1)
KEYWORDS: rebellion nonballad political Jacobites
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Hogg1 38, "There'll Never Be Peace Till Jamie Comes Hame" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan1 118, "There'll Never Be Peace Till Jamie Comes Hame" (2 fragments, 2 tunes)
ADDITIONAL: James Kinsley, editor, Burns: Complete Poems and Songs (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #326,, pp. 453-454, "There'll never be peace till Jamie comes hame--" (1 text, 1 tune, from 1791)
Roud #5782
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "There's Few Guid Fellows When Jamie's Awa'" (tune, according to Burns)
cf. "My He'rt It Is Sair" (tune)
NOTES: Hogg1: "It is very like Burns, but is given in Johnson's Museum as an old song without any alterations."
GreigDuncan1: .".. expresses the point of view of supporters of the claim to the throne of the son of James II, James Stuart (the Old Pretender)." - BS
The statement about the church being in ruins is particularly true at this time. There were still Catholics in the Highlands. It has been claimed that there were Anglicans there as well. The country was officially Presbyterian, but many old men remembered the Solemn League and Covenant, some with reverence, others with horror. And William III simply did not understand the Scottish Kirk. In England, he could largely rely on the powers of the Bishops. That didn't work at all in Scotland, where there were no bishops.... - RBW
File: GrD1118
===
NAME: There's a Dear Spot in Ireland
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the "dear spot" where his aged mother lived with his brothers and sisters. Poverty has brought him over the sea. Now mother is dead. He hopes his brothers and sisters can join him; they will make a poor but honest home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: homesickness emigration mother death separation orphan home
FOUND_IN: Ireland US(MW,SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
SHenry H821, p. 220, "There's a Dear Spot in Ireland" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 134, "I Left Ireland and Mother Because We Were Poor" (1 short text)
Dean, pp. 117-118, "I Left Ireland and Mother Because We Were Poor" (1 text)
Roud #4962
File: HHH821
===
NAME: There's A Girl in the Heart of Maryland
DESCRIPTION: "In a quaint, old-fashioned garden in a quaint, old-fashioned town... Where the old Potomac's llowing, that is where I long to be." "There's a girl in the heart of Maryland with a heart that belongs to me." He asks that the parson be ready when he returns
AUTHOR: Words: Ballard MacDonald / Music: Harry Carroll
EARLIEST_DATE: 1913 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: love reunion marriage
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dean, pp. 88-89, "ThereÕs a Girl in the Heart of Maryland" (1 text)
Roud #9571
NOTES: According to Sigmund Spaeth, _A History of Popular Music in America_, MacDonald and Carroll had two big hits in 1913: This and "On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine" (the latter apparently being the first-published, since it is mentioned on the sheet music of this piece). Both produced quite a few other pop hits, though very few of them made the jump into oral tradition. - RBW
File: Dean088
===
NAME: There's a Herring in the Pan: see I Wish That You Were Dead, Goodman (File: HHH531)
===
NAME: There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea
DESCRIPTION: "There's a hole in the bottom of the sea, There's a hole (x2), There's a hole in the bottom of the sea." "There's a rock in the bottom of the sea... There's a rock in that hole in the bottom of the sea." "There's a frog in the bottom of the sea."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1923 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: nonballad cumulative
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 135, "There's a Hole in the Bottom of the Sea" (1 text)
Roud #15766
File: Br3135
===
NAME: There's a Hole in the Bucket
DESCRIPTION: Circular song, "There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza." "Then fix it..." "With what?" "Straw." "The straw is too long."  Etc., until "...too dry." "Then wet it." "With what?" "Water." "With what shall I fetch it?" "The bucket." "There's a hole..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (recording, Pete Seeger)
KEYWORDS: questions tasks dialog humorous husband wife
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, HOLEBCKT*
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Hole in the Bucket" (on PeteSeeger31) (on PeteSeeger47)
File: DTholebc
===
NAME: There's a Little Box of Pine on the 7:29
DESCRIPTION: "'Dear warden,' wrote a mother, 'how much longer must I wait'" until her boy is sent home. The warden is forced to answer, "There's a little box of pine on the 7:29 Bringing back a lost sheep from the fold." The mother and community mourn the dead sinner
AUTHOR: Jos. Ettlinger, George Brown (Billy Hill), and De Dette Lee (De Dette Lee Hill)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (copyright; recording by Tommy Reynolds an Wilie Robinson)
KEYWORDS: death train mother funeral prison
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 338-340, "There's a Little Box of Pine on the 7:29" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Asa Martin/Martin and Roberts, "There's A Little Box of Pine On The 7:29" (Conqueror 8062, 1933)
Tommy (Reynolds) and Willie (Robinson), "There's A Little Box of Pine On The 7:29" (Champion 16432/Champion 4518/Montgomery Ward 4958/Superior 2935 [as by Reynolds and Robinson], 1931)
File: LSRai338
===
NAME: There's a Little Hand Writing on the Wall
DESCRIPTION: "There's a little hand writing on the wall, There's a little hand writing on the wall, All I say and all I do, that hand writing on the wall."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 519, "There's a Little Hand Writing on the Wall" (1 fragment)
Roud #11814
NOTES: The "hand writing on the wall" is obviously an allusion to Daniel 5. But, as 5:24-28 reveal, it was not writing the actions of King Belshazzar (who, incidentally, was never King of Babylon; he was the son of the last King, Nabonidas, if he is historical at all). Rather, the hand wrote a message of condemnation.
The bit about "all I say and all I do" may be an allusion to John 8:6, 8, where Jesus writes upon the ground. A few late manuscripts say that he wrote "the sins of every one of them," though most omit (and the earliest manuscripts all omit John 7:53-8:11).
If it is not an allusion to John 8, it may be a reminiscence to John 4:29, where Jesus told the Samaritan woman "all that I ever did." - RBW
File: Be3519
===
NAME: There's a Little Wheel a-Turning
DESCRIPTION: "There's a little wheel a-turning in my heart, In my hear, yes, Lord, in my heart... O, for you, yes, Lord, for you." Remaining lines are variations on this theme
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 641, "There's a Little Wheel a-Turning" (1 short text)
Roud #11936
File: Br3641
===
NAME: There's a Long, Long Trail
DESCRIPTION: The singer misses (his sweetheart), noting that "Nights are getting very lonely, days are very long." He remembers her in dreams. Chorus: "There's a long, long trail a-winding To the land of my dreams Where the nightingales are singing...."
AUTHOR: Words: Stoddard King / Music: Zo Elliot
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: separation loneliness nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 573-574, "There's a Long, Long Trail"
DT, LNGTRAIL
RECORDINGS:
[?] Campbell & [Henry] Burr, "There's a Long, Long Trail" (Little Wonder 563, c. 1916)
John McCormack "There's a Long, Long Trail" (Victor 64694, 1917)
SAME_TUNE:
There's a Long, Long Worm A-Crawling (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 162)
NOTES: Not a proper folk song, but its popularity in World War I argues for its inclusion here. - RBW
File: DTlngtra
===
NAME: There's A Man Going Round Taking Names
DESCRIPTION: "There's a man going round taking names (x2), And he took my mother's name, And he left my heart in pain, There's a man going round taking names." Similarly with father, sister, brother, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1921 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: family death
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Sandburg, p. 447, "Man Goin' Roun'" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Randolph 606, "The Angel of Death" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, p. 591, "Man Goin' Round" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 56, "There's A Man Goin' 'Round Takin' Names" (1 text)
Roud #7548
RECORDINGS:
Carolina Tar Heels, "There's A Man Goin' Round Takin' Names" (Victor V-40053, 1929, rec. 1928)
G. B. Grayson & Henry Whitter, "There's a Man Going 'Round Taking Names" (Victor, unissued, 1928)
Paul Robeson, "Dere's a Man Goin' Round Takin' Names" (HMV[UK]8637/Victor 25809, 1937)
Kenneth Spencer, "There's a Man Goin' Roun' Takin' Names" (Sonora 1119, n.d.)
Joshua White, "There's a Man Going Around Taking Names" (Melotone 12861, 1933/Conqueror 8271, 1934)
File: San447
===
NAME: There's a Meeting Here Tonight (I)
DESCRIPTION: "I take my text in Matthew, and by the Revelation, I know you by your garment, There's a (Meeting/Blessing) here tonight." ""Brother John was a writer, he write the word of God." "Sister Mary said to Brother John, 'Brother John, don't write no more.'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 9, "There's a Meeting Here Tonight" (1 text plus a partial variatn, 2 tunes)
Roud #11854
File: AWG009
===
NAME: There's a Set o' Farmers Here About
DESCRIPTION: The work of the men hired by farmers "here about": "They yoke at sax and lowse at ten, And then at twa they do the same; At sax at nicht comes whistlin' hame, And that's the boy for me"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1911 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming work
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 385, "There's a Set o' Farmers Here About" (1 text)
Roud #5918
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 quoting Robertson, _Song Notes_: ." .. a protest of servants against the treatment they got." - BS
File: GrD3385
===
NAME: There's a Star in the East: see Rise Up, Shepherd (File: LoF253)
===
NAME: There's a Tavern in the Town: see Tavern in the Town (File: ShH94)
===
NAME: There's Bound to be a Row
DESCRIPTION: Singer has "an awful wife." "If I do everything that's right, she'll find a fault somehow." He sleeps on the sofa when she takes in a lodger. She takes his money, gives him a meager allowance, "and if I spend it all at once, there's bound to be a row"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3778))
KEYWORDS: shrewishness marriage humorous wife
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: ()

Roud #1616
RECORDINGS:
Jimmy McBeath, "Bound to be a Row" (on Voice01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3778), "There's Bound to be a Row," J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Harding B 11(3777), "Theres Bound to be a Row"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Devilish Mary" [Laws Q4] (theme)
cf. "The Wearing of the Britches" (theme)
File: RcTBTBAR
===
NAME: There's Many a Man Killed on the Railroad: see perhaps The Fate of Talmadge Osborne (File: RcTFOTO)
===
NAME: There's Nae Luck at Tullo's Toon
DESCRIPTION: "The maiden queen o' buttermilk She couldna get a man, To be revenged on the male sex, She tried the soor milk plan." At Tullo town "stinkin'" oatmeal and buttermilk force the men away.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming work food humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 394, "There's Nae Luck at Tullo's Toon" (1 text)
Roud #5927
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Come A' Ye Buchan Laddies" (some lines)
File: GrD3394
===
NAME: There's No One Like Mother to Me
DESCRIPTION: The singer thinks of his childhood home "in that cottage far over the sea" He recalls that his mother had asked him to wait but then blessed him with a kiss. "I'll go back to that home o'er the sea For there's no one like mother to me"
AUTHOR: Gussie L Davis (1885)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1885 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1885 25967)
KEYWORDS: homesickness separation nonballad mother home
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: ()

Roud #17330
RECORDINGS:
The Carter Family, "There's No One Like Mother to Me" (Decca ???, 1935)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1885 25967, "There's No One Like Mother to Me ," J. C. Groene & Co. (Cincinnati), 1885 (tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Gray Haired Irish Mother"
cf. "My Mother's Last Goodbye" (subject)
NOTES: "There's No One Like Mother to Me" and "My Gray Haired Irish Mother" are clearly related but clearly distinct. The question is: which is the original and which the derivative? 
The tunes are closely related though the rests in "There's No One Like Mother To Me" are filled with text in "My Gray Haired Irish Mother."
The theme of both songs is: an expatriot remembers his childhood in a "cottage far over the sea" and recalls especially the mother that blessed him with tears on her cheeks.
"There's No One Like Mother to Me" has two verses and a chorus. "My Gray Haired Irish Mother" has five verses and no chorus.
Here is the first verse of "There's No One Like Mother to Me"
Sadly I'm thinking tonight
Thinking of days long gone by
Memories of childhood so bright
Come back like a dream with a sigh
I'm thinking of friends and of home
In that cottage far over the sea
Oh no matter where-ever I roam
There is no one like mother to me.
and the first two verses of "My Gray Haired Irish Mother"
How sadly I'm thinking tonight of my sire-land
Thinking of scenes and of days long gone by.
Memories of childhood so bright and so airy
Come rushing back to me with many's a sigh
I'm thinking of one whom I left far behind me
In that little thatched cottage far over the sea
Oh the one only cried Barney every noon and morning
Darling won't you come back to me.
The pattern is repeated in the remaining verse of "There's No One Like Mother to Me" and the third and fourth verses of "My Gray Haired Irish Mother."
We have sheet music dated 1885 for "There's No One Like Mother to Me" (LOCSheet sm1885 25967, by Gussie L Davis). The version recorded in 1936 by The Carter Family is almost identical to that original (source: _Country Music Sources_ by Guthrie T Meade Jr, p. 324; the Bluegrass Lyrics site)
The John McGettigan recording of "My Gray Haired Irish Mother" in 1929 demonstrates that the songs co-existed. - BS 
File: BrLsm188
===
NAME: There's No One Like the Old Folks
DESCRIPTION: A father tells his wandering boy not to go away, saying, "There's no one like the old folks after all...but your dad and mother too / Will always stand by you..." But the boy goes away, never to return, while his father grieves
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (recording, Frank Stanley)
KEYWORDS: grief rejection farewell home parting father family
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: ()

Roud #17222 and 11512
RECORDINGS:
[Leonard] Rutherford & [John] Foster, "There's No One Like the Old Folks" (prob. Brunswick, c. 1930; on KMM)
Frank Stanley, "There's No One Like the Old Folks" (Manhattan 208, c. 1906; Columbia A-314, 1909)
NOTES: There *must* be a broadside or sheet music for this someplace, but I haven't found it yet. - PJS
File: RcTNOLOF
===
NAME: There's Tillydeask
DESCRIPTION: The people of Tillydeask, Piltochie, Turnerha and Dudwick's Hill "think themsel's nae sma' But they canna cope wi Elphin For Elphin capes them a'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: pride farming nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 440, "There's Tillydeask" (1 text)
Roud #5954
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; Tillydesk (440) is at coordinate (h3-4,v9-0) on that map [roughly 19 miles N of Aberdeen]. - BS
File: GrD3440
===
NAME: There's Whiskey in the Jar: see Whisky in the Jar (The Irish Robber A) [Laws L13A]/The Irish Robber B (McCollister) [Laws L13B] (File: LL13)
===
NAME: These Are All My Father's Children
DESCRIPTION: "These all my father's children (x3), Outshine the sun." "My father's done with the trouble o' the world, with the trouble o' the world, with the trouble o' the world. My father's done with the trouble o' the world, Outshine the sun."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious death nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 101, "These Are All My Father's Children" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12059
File: AWG101
===
NAME: These Temperance Folks
DESCRIPTION: "These temp'rance folks do crowd us awfully, crowd us awfully, crowd us awfully. These temp'rance folks.... they think I do not care." The singer complains about the threat to his liberty, concedes that drink has made him poor, and asks to be left alone
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: drink political
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 323, "These Temperance Folks" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 130, "Forward, Boys, Hurrah!" (1 text)
Roud #7797
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jolly Grinder" (theme)
File: R323
===
NAME: They All Love Jack
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, for 'is heart is like the sea, Ever hopen (sic), brave, an' free, And his girl must lonely be, Till 'is ship comes back. But if love's the best of all, What can a man befall? For every girl at all, They all love Jack!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1943
KEYWORDS: sailor love separation
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Doerflinger, p. 166, "They All Love Jack" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9444
File: Doe166b
===
NAME: They Locked Me Up in Bonavist' Jail: see The County Jail (File: GC147)
===
NAME: They Put Me up to Kill Him
DESCRIPTION: "They put me up to kill him, my pore old white-haired dad, I done it with a horseshoe rasp, The only thing I had." The singer describes the murder, then voices his regrets at his foolishness
AUTHOR: Lloyd Robinson?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: murder father family
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 3, 1935 - Lloyd Robinson murders his father, Robert Robinson. The younger Robinson was sentenced to life imprisonment, and allegedly wrote this song in prison
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 174, "They Put Me up to Kill Him" (1 text)
Roud #5489
File: R174
===
NAME: They Say I Am Nobody's Darling: see Nobody's Darling on Earth (File: R723)
===
NAME: They Say It is Sinful to Flirt: see Willie Down by the Pond (Sinful to Flirt) [Laws G19] (File: LG19)
===
NAME: They Sell't His Teeth to Teethe a Rake
DESCRIPTION: "They sell't his teeth to teethe a rake ... They sell't his ribs for riddle rims, His rumple banes to be claes pins. The blacksmith bocht his iron brogues, His carcase feasted the tanner's dogs."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: death horse
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 644, "They Sell't His Teeth to Teethe a Rake" (2 fragments, 1 tune)
Roud #6077
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Besuthan
NOTES: The current description is based on the GreigDuncan3 fragment.
GreigDuncan3 quoting a 1906 letter in _Aberdeen Free Press_: "['They Sell't His Teeth to Teethe a Rake'] refers to an old crofter or wandering tinker who had lost his horse, and the song goes on to tell how they disposed of his [i.e. the horse's] remains." - BS
File: GrD3644
===
NAME: They Were Standing by the Window: see The Broken Engagement (I -- She Was Standing By Her Window) (File: R771)
===
NAME: They Were Very Very Good to Me: see I Wish They'd Do It Now (File: Gil111)
===
NAME: They're Down and They're Down: see A Comical Ditty (Arizona Boys and Girls) (File: JHCox057)
===
NAME: They're Moving Father's Grave
DESCRIPTION: "They're moving Father's grave to build a sewer." Father's remains are being moved "to irrigate some posh bloke's residence"; the singer hopes  his ghost will haunt the pipes, "for they had the bleeding nerve/To muck about a British workman's grave"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: death burial worker ghost humorous
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 267, "They're Moving Father's Grave" (1 text)
DT, SEWERMOV SEWERMO2
Roud #10391
NOTES: Pity we don't have the keyword "class-struggle". - PJS
File: FSWB267
===
NAME: Thief of the World, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer loves "the thief of the world ... My heart was gone, my head was gone, my peace of mind likewise ... I'll have her up in court, I'll charge her with the felony." Her sentence: "Around my neck she'll have to hang until her dying day"
AUTHOR: Francis Arthur Fahy (1854-1935) (source: OLochlainn-More)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: love humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 63, "The Thief of the World" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Francis Arthur Fahy is probably most famous as the author of "The Ould Plaid Shawl." - RBW
File: OLcM063
===
NAME: Thimble Buried His Wife at Night
DESCRIPTION: Thimble's scolding wife dies; preparations are made for her burial. Thimble regrets that her diamond ring must stay on her finger. When an attempt is made to remove it, the dead woman walks to protect it. Thimble refuses any dealings with her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: death husband wife burial corpse ring
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 205, "Thimble Buried His Wife at Night" (1 fragment)
Roud #6494
File: BrII205
===
NAME: Things About Comin' My Way
DESCRIPTION: "Ain't got no money, can't buy no grub... Now after all my hard trav'ling, Things about comin' my way." The singer complains about all the effects of poverty: Mother's cupboard is bare, the rent is due, sister can't get a doctor
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: poverty hardtimes food disease
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 76, "Things About Comin' My Way" (1 text)
DT, COMMYWAY*
NOTES: Without the other text it's hard to be sure, but I think this is a separate song from "I've Got the Left Hind Foot of a Rabbit, Things Are Coming My Way." - PJS
Paul is right; the latter is indexed as "Things Are Comin' My Way." - RBW
File: FSWB076A
===
NAME: Things Are Comin' My Way
DESCRIPTION: "I've got the left hind leg of a rabbit, And things are comin' my way." "He said, oh me... I feel happy all the time." "How good I feel, I got possession of an automobile, And I can eat chicken and I don't have to steal, Because things are comin'..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (Sing Out)
KEYWORDS: animal nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
DT, EVMYWAY
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 26, #2 (1977), p, 20, "Things Are Comin' My Way" (1 text, 1 tune, the Bessie Jones version)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Everything's Going My Way
NOTES: Not to be confused with "Things About Comin' My Way," which is a near-blues about an out-of-luck singer who expects things to turn around. - RBW
File: SOv26n2a
===
NAME: Things I Used to Do
DESCRIPTION: "Things I used to do I don't do no mo' (x3), There's been a great change since I been born." "Chickens I used to steal I don't steal no mo' (x3), There's been a great change..." "Whisky I used to drink, I don't drink no mo' (x3), There's been...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad virtue
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, p. 482, "Things I Used To Do" (1 text, 1 tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Great Change Since I Been Born
File: San482
===
NAME: Things Impossible
DESCRIPTION: "As I was walking in a grove All by myself as I supposed," the singer meets a pretty girl who asks "To tell her when I would marry." He sets conditions: "When saffron grows on every tree," "When Michaelmas falls in February," etc., then he will marry
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1869 (Logan)
KEYWORDS: love courting humorous rejection
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US(MW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Gardner/Chickering 158, "Things Impossible" (1 text)
Logan, pp. 360-362, "Improbability" (1 text)
ST GC158 (Partial)
Roud #3686
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Wife Went Away and Left Me" (lyrics)
NOTES: This song has lyrics in common with the one indexed as "My Wife Went Away and Left Me"; both involve lists of impossible conditions. But this is a song in which the girl seeks the young man's hand; that is a song in which the man begs her to return after she abandons him. The conditions set are similar, the plots are not.
In addition, although there is a report of this song from Michigan, it seems to exist mostly in Britain, whereas "My Wife Went Away and Left Me" seems to be mostly from the southern United States. On this basis, I split them; Roud of course lumps them.
Rorrer's notes on "My Wife Went Away and Left Me" mention a song by Charles D. Vann called "Then My Darling I'll Come Back to Thee." I have not seen it, but it strikes me as possible that Vann took the English piece and rewrote it, resulting in the American version. - RBW
File: GC158
===
NAME: Thinnest Man, The
DESCRIPTION: "The (thinnest/skinniest) man I ever saw Lived over in (Hoboken), And if I told you how thin he was, You'd think that I was joking." Various tall tales about the thin man's exploits, and the dangers he faces (e.g. falling through his pants and choking)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1881 (Tom Warfield's "Helen's Babies" Songster)
KEYWORDS: humorous talltale
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 175, "The Skinniest Man I Ever Knew" (2 text, tune referenced)
Roud #15357
NOTES: The Pankakes list at least one of their versions as being to the tune of "Take Me Back to Tulsa," but as they date that song to 1941, it can hardly be the original melody.
The gag in the song seems to be widely known. For example, Peter and Iona Opie, _I Saw Esau: Traditional Rhymes of Youth_, #96, runs, "Chartlie, Charlie, in the tub, Charlie, Charlie, pulled out the plug. Oh my goodness, oh my soul, There goes Charlie down the hole." - RBW
File: PHCFS175
===
NAME: Thirteen Yule Days: see The Twelve Days of Christmas (File: FO213)
===
NAME: Thirteenth Lock, The
DESCRIPTION: A canal boat sails for the unlucky thirteenth lock. Women on shore cry. The man at the mast refuses to steer and is kicked overboard as a mutineer. A monster appears. Those on shore, including one who had lent the captain half his gold, wait in vain.
AUTHOR: Arthur Griffith (1872-1922)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: canal humorous mutiny drowning parting disaster ship talltale monster sailor
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 1, "The Thirteenth Lock" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: OLcM001
===
NAME: Thirty Days in Jail
DESCRIPTION: "Good mornin', Blues; Blues, how do you do? (x2) I just come here to have a few words with you." "Thirty days in jail... back turned to the wall... Mr. Jailkeeper, put another man in my stall." "I don't mind being in jail, but I got to stay here so long."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: prison nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Warner 174, "Thirty Days in Jail" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa174 (Partial)
Roud #7492
File: Wa174
===
NAME: Thirty White Horses
DESCRIPTION: "Thirty white horses Upon a red hill, Now they tramp, Now they champ, Now they stand still."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1849 (Halliwell) (but see NOTES)
KEYWORDS: riddle animal
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 229, "Thirty white horses" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #704, p. 275, "(Thirty white horses)"
NOTES: Chances are, if you've met this riddle, it's from Tolkien's_The Hobbit_ (p. 85 in my edition, in the chapter "Riddles in the Dark"; he uses a slightly different form). But it is much older (even Gollum calls it a "chestnut"). Tolkien's use of an item from oral tradition is not coincidence; Tolkien uses familiar riddles to imply the common ancestry of Gollum and Bilbo.
The answer is "the teeth" or "the teeth and gums."
The Opies refer this to a riddle in the Holme manuscript, "Four and twenty white Bulls sate upon a stall, forth came the red Bull & licked them all." I suppose they're related, in that the answer is the teeth (plus, in this case, the tongue). But I wouldn't consider it exactly the same (apart from the fact that neither gets the number of teeth right: A person with wisdom teeth will have 32 teeth; one whose wisdom teeth are out will have 28).
The "Thirty white horses" form goes back at least to Halliwell.
Duncan Emrich seems to think there is an American version of this; he quotes almost exactly this form on page 168 of _Folklore on the American Land_. But he cites no precise source, simply crediting much of the chapter to the research of Archer Taylor. - RBW, (BS)
File: BGMG704
===
NAME: Thirty Years Ago (The Stinger)
DESCRIPTION: "In a recent Independent I read a sketch that told of affairs and folks in Ashland way back in days of old When the Stinger ran each Sunday...." The singer looks back on his good old days as he worked for the newspaper
AUTHOR: Rush Pennypacker?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: nonballad age
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 194-196, "Thirty Years Ago" (1 text)
NOTES: Frankly, if this is the way the guy edited the newspaper, it's no wonder he's out of the job. - RBW
File: ThBa194
===
NAME: Thirty-Two Special on a Forty-Four Frame, A: see Railroad Bill [Laws I13] (File: LI13)
===
NAME: This Day (The Battle of Bull Run)
DESCRIPTION: "This day will be remembered by America's noble sons! / If it hadn't been for Irishmen, what would our Union done? / It was hand to hand we fought 'em, all in the blazing sun, / Stripped to the pants we did advance in the battle of Bull Run."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 21, 1861 - First Battle of Bull Run
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Warner 25, "This Day (or, The Battle of Bull Run)" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BULLRUN
Roud #7465
NOTES: We can only assume this song refers to the First Battle of Bull Run; presumably, had the second (fought Aug. 29-30, 1862) been meant, the song would say so.
It's hard to imagine what the Unionists were boasting of in this song. The First Battle of Bull Run was a fairly closely-fought fight, but ended with the complete rout of the Union forces. Federal commander Irvin McDowell, whose army was composed mostly of ninety-day volunteers (!), was pressured by Washington to do something before the enlistments ran out. He had no choice but to push his raw army forward. The Confederate troops were equally raw, but were on the defensive, and held off the Federals. The Union army then went completely to pieces -- but the Confederates, their forces just as badly off as the Federals, could not pursue. - RBW
File: Wa025
===
NAME: This House is Haunted: see Calliope (This House is Haunted) (File: San349)
===
NAME: This Is Halloween
DESCRIPTION: "This is Halloween, And the morn's Hallowday; If you want a true love, It's time you were away. Tally on the window-board Tally on the green, Tally on the window-board, The morn's Halloween."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: nonballad courting
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
GreigDuncan3 368, "This is Halloweven" (1 text, 1 tune)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 130, "(This is Hallowe'en)" (1 text)
Roud #5911
File: MSNR130
===
NAME: This is Halloweven: see This is Halloween (File: MSNR130)
===
NAME: This Is No My Ain House
DESCRIPTION: "O this is no my ain house." "A carle came ... claim'd my daddy's place." The "cringing foreign goose" seized it. "Was it foul, or was it fair, To come a hunder mile and mair, For to ding out [beat] my daddy's heir, And dash him with the whiggin o't?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1819 (Hogg1)
KEYWORDS: political Jacobites home royalty children
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Hogg1 37, "This Is No My Ain House" (1 text, 2 tunes)
GreigDuncan1 119, "This Is Nae My Ain Hoose" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3790
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "This Is Nae My Plaid" (tune)
NOTES: Hogg1 refers to "the allegory here of Scotland losing its rightful owner." - BS
A pretty thin allegory. The interesting question is whether it refers to the Williamite succession of 1689 or the Hannoverian of 1714.
Ewan MacColl, in "Songs of Two Rebellions," argues for 1714. Certainly some of the allusions argue that way -- e.g. the "cringing foreign goose" certainly sounds like Madame Kielmansegge, one of George I's mistresses, widely known as "the Goose." Thackerey (quoted by Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, _Blood Royal, the Illustrious House of Hannover_, Doubleday, 1980, p.26), described her as follows: "The Countess [Kielmansegge was George's Countess of Darlington] was a large-sized noblewoman, and this elevated personage was denominated the Elephant."
On the other hand, the reference to "com[ing] a hundred mile and mair" could refer either to William III's invasion of 1688 or George III's arrival in 1714. Both are hundreds of miles from London, but from the Netherlands to the Thames is only about half the distance from Hannover to England, and it's all sea distance. Most of the distance from Hannover is over land; the fastest route there (via the North Sea and the Weser) is probably three times the distance from the Texel to the English coast. - RBW
File: GrD1119
===
NAME: This Is No My Plaid
DESCRIPTION: "This is no my plaid... Bonnie though the colours be." "The ground o' mine was mixed with blue, I gat it frae the lad I lo'e." The lad who wore the plaid "is now upon a distant shore," and "his name I daurna tell," but she hopes he will return and wed her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: love clothes Jacobites separation exile
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 260-262, "This Is No My Plaid" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6720
NOTES: Neither Ford nor Whitelaw connects this with Bonnie Prince Charlie, but there seems no doubt that he is the subject; hence the "Jacobite" keyword. - RBW
File: FVS260
===
NAME: This Is the Key of the Kingdom
DESCRIPTION: "This is the Key of the Kingdon: In that Kingdom is a city; In that city is a town; In that town there is a street" all leading to "A basket of sweet flowers. The game reverses: "Flower in a basket, basket on the bed... this is the key of the Kingdom"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1923 (de la Mare)
KEYWORDS: playparty nonballad flowers
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #664, pp. 264-265, "(This is the key of the kingdom)"
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #1=#483, "This Is the Key" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Got a Key to the Kingdom" (lyric)
File: CHit483
===
NAME: This Is the Nicht My Johnnie Set
DESCRIPTION: "This is the nicht my Johnnie set, And promised to be here; Oh, what can stay his longing step? He's fickle grown, I fear." She describes how carefully she has prepared for his coming. At last he arrives and they prepare for a snug evening.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: love separation nightvisit
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 84-86, "This Is the Night My Johnnie Set" (1 text)
Ord, pp. 146-147, "This Is the Nicht My Johnnie Set" (1 text)
Roud #5553
File: FVS084
===
NAME: This Is the Night My Johnnie Set: see This Is the Nicht My Johnnie Set (File: FVS084)
===
NAME: This Is the Trouble of the World
DESCRIPTION: "I ask Father Georgy for religion, Father Georgy wouldn't give me religion; You give me religion for to run to my elder; O this the trouble of the world. This is the trouble of the world, O this is the trouble of the world."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad clergy
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Allen/Ware/Garrison, pp. 99-100, "This Is the Trouble of the World" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12057
File: AWG099B
===
NAME: This Is the Truth Sent From Above: see The Truth Sent From Above (File: Leath196)
===
NAME: This Is the Way We Wash Our Clothes
DESCRIPTION: "This is the way we wash our clothes, Wash our clothes, wash our clothes, This is the way we wash our clothes, (all on a summer's day)." Similarly, "Here we come with our dollies dear," "This is the way we comb their hair," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: playparty nonballad clothes
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 96, "The Dolly-Play Song" (1 text)
SharpAp 264, "Early Sunday Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3645
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush" (lyrics)
cf. "The Old Soap-Gourd" (form)
NOTES: This looks much like "Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush," and the two share lyrics, but the intent seems different, so I tentatively split them, pending discovery of more versions and tunes. - RBW
File: Br3096
===
NAME: This Lady She Wears a Dark Green Shawl
DESCRIPTION: "This lady she wears a dark green shawl, A dark green shawl, a dark green shawl, This lady she wears... I love her to my heart." "Now choose for your lover, honey, my love...." "Now dance with your lover, honey, my love...." "Farwell to your lover...." 
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: playparty clothes courting
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 142-143, "This Lady Dhe Wears a Dark Green Shawl" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST ScaNF142 (Partial)
File: ScaNF142
===
NAME: This Land is Your Land
DESCRIPTION: Singer, a wanderer, describes beauty of American (or other) land, sometimes with verses lamenting poverty. "As I went walking that ribbon of highway/I saw above me that endless skyway/I saw below me that golden valley/This land was made for you and me"
AUTHOR: Woody Guthrie
EARLIEST_DATE: February 1940 (composed)
KEYWORDS: patriotic nonballad rambling beauty America
FOUND_IN: US(All)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 30 "This Land is Your Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, THISLAND*
Roud #16378
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "This Land is Your Land" (on PeteSeeger41)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Lovin' Father (When the World's On Fire)" (tune)
cf. "Little Darling, Pal of Mine" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Is This Land Your Land? (Silber-FSWB, p. 315)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
God Blessed America (Guthrie's original title)
Esta Es Mi Tierra
NOTES: I include this composed song (originally an "answer song" to Irving Berlin's jingoistic "God Bless America") because it has entered into oral and aural tradition within my lifetime; it's taught in schools and camps, often as a traditional song, and is in oral currency among most of America's children.
More important, there have been dozens or hundreds of variants collected in the last forty years, in many nations and languages. These include an American Indian version: "This land is your land/But it once was my land..." Heck, my eight-year-old student wrote a couple of verses. - PJS
To me, there is no doubt that this is now a folk song. It is interesting to note, however, that unlike most folk songs, the establishment has largely managed to circulate "cleaned up" versions, so it no longer attacks the faults of the American political system....
The tune is a slight modification of "When the World's On Fire," perhaps learned from the Carter Family's recording (Victor V-40293). - RBW
No perhaps about it: Guthrie was a devoted admirer of the Carter Family. There's also a strong resemblance to another Carter Family song, "Little Darling, Pal of Mine" (Victor 21638, 1928), which we have not indexed. - PJS
File: PSAFB030
===
NAME: This Little Light of Mine
DESCRIPTION: "This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine (x3), Ev'ry day (x4), Gonna let my little light shine." The singer thanks God for gifts given every day, warns that there is no hiding from sin, and urges all to let their lights shine.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1956 (recording, Montgomery Improvement Association high school trio)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 352, "This Little Light of Mine" (1 text)
DT, LITEMINE
RECORDINGS:
W. Emmons & Mt. Olive Soul Stirrers, "This Little Light of Mine" (Fortune 1318, n.d.)
Pete Seeger, "This Little Light of Mine" (on PeteSeeger27)
NOTES: I've heard another song by this name floating around in Sunday School classes. Mercifully, I have forgotten it, but it clearly wasn't a traditional song. - RBW
File: FSWB352C
===
NAME: This May Be Your Last Time
DESCRIPTION: "This may be your last time (x3), May be your last time, I don't know." The singer travels about, observes various people and their misdeeds, and warns against the dangers of sin.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Jaybird Coleman)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 70-71, "(This May Be Your Last Time)" (1 text); pp. 229-230, "This May Be Your Last Time" (1 tune, partial text)
Roud #10965
RECORDINGS:
Rich Amerson, "This May Be Your Last Time" (on NFMAla4)
Jaybird Coleman, "May Be My Last Time, I Don't Know" (Gennett, unissued; rec. 1927)
File: CNFM070B
===
NAME: This Night We Part Forever
DESCRIPTION: "This night we part forever; Thou are nothing more to me. From thee each tie I'll sever That binds my heart to thee." She will not admit to sorrow, says she does not want his love, tells him to court another, says he blighted her hopes, and blesses him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love separation nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 159, "This Night We Part Forever" (1 text)
Roud #3630
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I'll Be All Smiles Tonight" (theme)
NOTES: Sort of an "I'll Be All Smiles Tonight" with less smiling and more griping. - RBW
File: BrII159
===
NAME: This Old Hammer: see Take This Hammer (File: FR383)
===
NAME: This Old Man
DESCRIPTION: "This old man, he played one, He played knick-knack on my thumb, With a knick-knack, paddy wack, Give the dog a bone, This old man went rolling home." Similarly, "This old man, he played two, he played knick-knack on my shoe," and on upward
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1953 (recording, Pete Seeger)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: US Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 390, "This Old Man" (1 text)
Peacock, p. 21, "Old Tommy Kendal" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, THOLDMAN*
Roud #3550
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "This Old Man" (on PeteSeegeer3, PeteSeegerCD03)
File: FSWB390C
===
NAME: This Old World
DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "This old world is full of sorrow, Full of sickness, weak and sore, If you love your neighbor truly, Love will come to you the more." Floating verses from other hymns: "We're all children of one father." "I will arise and go to Jesus." etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Darling-NAS, p. 259, "This Old World" (1 text)
ST DarN259B (Full)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (I)" (tunes)
SAME_TUNE:
Mercy O Thou Son of David (Sacred Harp, pp. 52, 56, 458)
NOTES: The background to this song is confusing. The Golden Ring lists it as a set of words for "Mercy O Thou Son of David" (listed as by John Newton). But the Sacred Harp lists three tunes for those lyrics (which it also credits to John Newton): "Charlestown," "Villulia," and "Friendship."
To make matters worse, while all of those tunes fit "This Old World," none appear (at least in my copy of the Sacred Harp) seem to exactly match it.
If this song is anything, it's a placeholder for a variety of texts. There is almost a continuous gradation from this to songs of the "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" group. - RBW
File: DarN259B
===
NAME: This Old World Ain't Going to Stand Much Longer
DESCRIPTION: "Because this ole world ain't goin' to stand much longer... Gettin' us ready for the judgment day." The singer praises his mother for teaching him to pray, warns of judgment, and points up the example of King Hezekiah
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible death
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MWheeler, p. 73-75, "This Ole Worl' Ain't Goin' to Stan' Much Longer" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Black Train Is A-Comin'" (subject)
NOTES: The story of Hezekiah's bout with sickness, God's threat, Hezekiah's repentance, and Isaiah's promise of fifteen additional years of life is told in 2 Kings 20:1-11 and briefly summarized in 2 Chronicles 32:24-26.
This story of Hezekiah is told in much the same words in "Little Black Train"; the two are certainly dependent in some way. But it may be just a case of spirituals mixing themes. The two songs appear to be independent except for that one bit of material. - RBW
File: MWhee073
===
NAME: This Ole Worl' Ain't Goin' to Stan' Much Longer: see This Old World Ain't Going to Stand Much Longer (File: MWhee073)
===
NAME: This Train
DESCRIPTION: "This train is bound for glory... If you ride it, you must be holy." "This train don't pull no gamblers..." (And so forth, through various sinners the train doesn't pull.) "This train don't pull no extras... Don't pull nothin' but the Heavenly Special."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (recording, Florida Normal Industrial Institute Quartet)
KEYWORDS: train religious
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 629-632, "This Train/Same Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 255, "This Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 593-594, "This Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 56, "This Train" (1 text)
DT, THSTRAIN*
Roud #6702
RECORDINGS:
Biddleville Quintette, "This Train is Bound for Blory" (Paramount 12448, 1927)
Big Bill Broonzy, "This Train" (on Broonzy01)
Florida Normal Industrial Institute Quartet, "Dis Train" (OKeh 40010, 1924; rec. 1922)
Garland Jubilee Singers [pseud. for Bryant's Jubilee Quartet] "This Train" (Banner 32267/Oriole 8098/Romeo 5098, all 1931/Perfect 190, 1932; on RoughWays2)
Lulu Belle & Scotty, "This Train" (OKeh 04910, 1939)
S. E. Mullis Blue Diamond Quartet, "Dis Train" (Champion 16424, 1932)
Southern Plantation Singers, "This Train is Bound for Glory" (Vocalion 1250, 1929; rec. 1928)
Sister Rosetta Tharpe, "This Train" (Decca 2558, 1939) (Down Beat 104 [as Sister Katty Marie], n.d.)
NOTES: Cohen observes that there are two basic forms of this song, the "This Train" version in the description and a type he calls "Same Train": "Same train carry my mother, same train (x2). Same train carry my mother, Same train be back tomorrow, same train."
There isn't much different in age, but Cohen argues that "Same Train" is older because it is much less interesting. I would say he is almost certainly right.
Cohen also notes the Lomax Special nature of this song. The version in _American Ballads and Folk Songs_, which probably is the source of most pop folk versions, claims to be based on a field recording by Walter McDonald, but in fact does not agree with that recording, and the later Lomax version in _Folk Songs of North America_ says it's based on  _American Ballads and Folk Songs_, but it again is rewritten. - RBW
File: LoF255
===
NAME: This Train Is Bound for Glory: see This Train (File: LoF255)
===
NAME: This Very Unhappy Man
DESCRIPTION: Bachelor decides to marry; he goes to a girl's house in his Sunday best and proposes. Her parents appear, he panics and runs, the dog chases him, he falls over a hornet's nest, and laments, "I can't begin to tell you the half of this very unhappy man."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963 (recording, Margaret MacArthur)
KEYWORDS: courting humorous father mother
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Margaret MacArthur, "This Very Unhappy Man" (on MMacArthur01)
NOTES: Not to be confused with "The Very Unfortunate Man." - PJS
File: RcTVUM
===
NAME: This World Is Not My Home
DESCRIPTION: "This world is not my home; I'm just a passing through." "Oh Lord, you know, I have no friend like you. If Heaven's not my home, then, Lord, what will I do? Angels beckon me to Heaven's open door, And I can't feel at home in this world any more."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (recording, Stove Pipe No. 1)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Warner 135, "The World Is Not My Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 354, "I Can't Feel At Home In This World Any More" (1 text)
DT, CANTHOME*
Roud #7481
RECORDINGS:
Alphabetical Four, "I Can't Feel At Home In This World Anymore" (Decca 7840, 1941; on AlphabFour01)
Carter Family, "Can't Feel at Home" (Victor 23569, 1931/Bluebird B-6257, 1936)
Pete Cassell, "I Can't Feel At Home in this World" (Decca 6077, 1942; rec. 1941)
Kentucky Thorobreds, "This World Is Not My Home" (Paramount 3014, 1927)
Collins Bros. "I Can't Feel At Home In This World" (Decca 5635, 1939; rec. 1938)
Golden Echo Quartet, "This World Is Not My Home" (Columbia 14572-D, 1931; rec. 1927)
Jessie May Hill, "This World Is Not My Home" (OKeh 8546, 1927)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "This World Is Not My Home"  (Bluebird B-6088/Montgomery Ward M-4714, 1935)
Monroe Brothers, "This World Is Not My Home" (Bluebird B-6309/Montgomery Ward M-4745, 1936)
Prairie Ramblers, "This World Is Not My Home" (Banner 33449/Melotone 13416/Conqueror 8503, 1935)
Claude Sharpe & Old Hickory Singers, "This World Is Not My Home" (Columbia 20450, 1948; rec. 1946)
Southern Sons Quartette, "I Can't Feel At Home Any More" (Trumpet 143, n.d.)
Stove Pipe No. 1, "Lord Don't You Know I Have No Friend Like You" (Columbia 210-D, 1924)
Hank Thompson, "Can't Feel At Home In The World Anymore" (Capitol 1163, 1950)
Frank Welling & John McGhee, "This World Is Not My Home" (Champion 16585, 1933; rec. 1932)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Ain't Got No Home" (structure, lyrics, tune)
NOTES: This is really a group or cluster of songs with verses that float effortlessly between them. - PJS
File: Wa135
===
NAME: Thomas and Ellen: see Lord Thomas and Fair Annet [Child 73] (File: C073)
===
NAME: Thomas and Nancy [Laws K15]
DESCRIPTION: Thomas's ship is ready for sea, forcing him to leave Nancy. She calls to him to remember his sweetheart and family. His ship is wrecked almost at once. Nancy finds Thomas's body, kisses its lips, and dies of grief
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3473))
KEYWORDS: separation wreck death 
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws K15, "Thomas and Nancy"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 54, "Thomas and Nancy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 729-732, "Thomas and Nancy" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Lehr/Best 107, "Thomas and Nancy" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 812, TOMNANCY
Roud #3232
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3473), "Thomas and Nancy," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 11(4123), Firth b.27(273), Firth b.25(109), 2806 c.16(120), Firth b.26(156), Harding B 16(287c), Firth c.13(298), Johnson Ballads 2915, "Thomas and Nancy"
Murray, Mu23-y1:119, "Thomas and Nancy," unknown, 19C
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wreck of the Lady Shearbrooke" (theme)
cf. "The Lady of the Lake (The Banks of Clyde II)" [Laws N41] (theme)
SAME_TUNE:
Gallant Hussar (per broadsides Bodleian Firth b.27(273), Bodleian 2806 c.16(120))
NOTES: Although the Bodleian broadsides list the tune as "Gallant Hussar," this doesn't really match "The Gallant Hussar (A Damsel Possessed of Great Beauty)" metrically; you can make it fit, but it's work. I suspect a different "Gallant Hussar" song is meant. - RBW
File: LK15
===
NAME: Thomas Cromwell [Child 171]
DESCRIPTION: (Someone) makes a request of (the King), who offers anything short of his crown. The petitioner asks the head of Thomas Cromwell. The king orders two earls to fetch Cromwell and have him executed.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1750 (Percy folio)
KEYWORDS: trial execution royalty nobility
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 10, 1540 - Arrest of Thomas, Lord Cromwell at the order of Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk.
July 28, 1540 - Execution of Cromwell by Henry VIII. (His fifth wife Katherine Howard, the Duke of Norfolk's niece,  is said to have put him up to it)
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Child 171, "Thomas Cromwell" (1 text)
Roud #4002
NOTES: This ballad exists only as a fragment in the Percy folio. There is a ballad in Percy's _Reliques_ called "On Thomas Lord Cromwell," but it is not the same piece.
Cromwell (c. 1487-1540) was one of Henry VIII's chief ministers; he held power for many years as a result of his willingness to serve his master's needs. As such, he was one of the main forces behind the Anglican Revolution (though Cromwell probably didn't have strong feelings on the issue either way).
Born in obscurity, he entered Wolsey's service in 1514, and grew steadily in important and influence thereafter, being elected to parliament in 1523, then entering Henry's service in 1530. Among his productions was the 1534 Act of Supremacy (making the King of England head of the English church).
Made Earl of Essex  in 1540, he arranged Henry's marriage with Anne of Cleves (wife #4); when this marriage proved an instant disaster, Henry sent him to the tower. Catherine Howard (wife #5) and her family probably helped secure his execution.
Ironically, Cromwell's great-great-nephew Oliver Cromwell would later pull down a King (though Charles I, of course, was not a descendent of Henry VIII). - RBW
File: C171
===
NAME: Thomas J Hodder, The
DESCRIPTION: Thomas J Hodder leaves Sydney. Captain Lake runs aground taking a short cut in Placentia Bay on March 8, 1952. People from Placentia Bay come out to offload Hodder. Evette also runs aground. Both are tugged free and Hodder is repaired at Burin.
AUTHOR: Lil Fitzgerald and Rose Pickett
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: sea ship ordeal
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 108, "The Thomas J Hodder" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Placentia Bay is on the south coast of Newfoundland. The song notes that Hodder is "a splendid boat, about one hundred ton" that ran from Placentia Bay to Boston. - BS
File: LeBe108
===
NAME: Thomas Murphy
DESCRIPTION: Thomas Murphy ships on The Dolphin from Liverpool to Africa. On the way home the ship springs a leak, and the crew escape in long boats. "But when our boat she struck the shore she was burst in by a wave." Of fourteen, twelve, including Murphy, are lost.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1946 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck sailor Africa
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 98-99, "Thomas Murphy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7356
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Georgina" (tune)
File: Ran098
===
NAME: Thomas o Yonderdale [Child 253]
DESCRIPTION: Thomas gets Lady Maisry pregnant and, hearing her lamenting, promises to marry her. He goes to sea and courts another woman, but a dream causes him to summon Maisry to be wed. Both prospective brides show up; he sends the other girl away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: love courting pregnancy separation dream reunion marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Child 253, "Thomas o Yonderdale" (1 text)
Bronson 253, "Thomas o Yonderdale" (2 versions)
Roud #3890
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Young Beichan" [Child 53]
cf. "Fair Annie" [Child 62]
cf. "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" [Child 73]
NOTES: Child comments, "This looks like a recent piece, fabricated, with a certain amount of cheap mortar, from recollections of 'Fair Annie,' No 62, 'Lord Thomas and Fair Annet,' No 73, and 'Young Beichan,' No 53." I'd say that pretty well sums it up. - RBW
File: C253
===
NAME: Thomas Rymer [Child 37]
DESCRIPTION: Thomas the Rhymer of Ercildoune meets the Queen of Elfland. She takes him away from earth for seven years, putting him through various rituals which no doubt instill his prophetic powers.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1800
KEYWORDS: magic prophecy abduction
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland) US(SE)
REFERENCES: (15 citations)
Child 37, "Thomas Rymer" (3 texts)
Bronson 37, "Thomas Rymer" (2 versions)
BrownII 10, "Thomas Rhymer" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 131-135, "Thomas Rhymer" (2 texts)
OBB 1, "Thomas the Rhymer" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 39, "Thomas Rymer" (1 text)
PBB 22, "Thomas Rhymer" (1 text)
Gummere, pp. 290-292+361-362, "Thomas Rymer" (1 text)
Hodgart, p. 127, "Thomas Rymer" (1 text)
DBuchan 6, "Thomas Rymer" (1 text)
TBB 35, "Thomas Rymer" (1 text)
Ord, pp. 422-425, "Sir John Gordon" (1 text, a truly curious version which retains the plot and lyrics of this song so closely that it cannot be called anything else, but with a different and inexplicable name for the hero)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 76-78, "Thomas Rymer and the Queen of Elfland" (1 text)
DT 37, TOMRHYM* TOMRHYM2 TRUTOMAS
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #136, "Thomas Rymer" (1 text)
Roud #219
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
True Thomas
NOTES: Very many of Thomas of Ercildoune's (True Thomas's) predictions are in circulation, though only a few are precisely dated or can be tied to specific events.
Perhaps the most famous prophecy dates from 1286, the year Alexander III of Scotland died. The day before Alexander's death, he had forecast that "before the next day at noon, such a tempest shall blow as Scotland has not felt for many years." When the next day proved clear, Thomas was taunted, but his forecast proved true -- Scotland would not again see peace until after the battle of Bannockburn in 1314.
Real and verifiable facts about Thomas are far fewer, but he does appear to have been a real person. "Thomas of Ercildoune" is a witness to a charter of c. 1265 (about the Haigs of Bemerside, also the subject of one of his couplets), and another Thomas, the son of "Thomas the Rhymer of Ercildoune," was an adult transacting in property in 1294.
Richard Garnett and Edmund Gosse, _English Literature: An Illustrated Record_ four volumes, MacMillan, 1903-1904 (I used the 1935 edition published in two volumes), vollume I, pp. 275-278, discusses what is known about Thomas. It credits him at least being the inspiration of Scottish poetry: "Many, perhaps most, ancient literatures claim a patriarchal founder, who from some points of view wears the semblance of a of a fable and from others that of a fact. Scotland had her Orpheus or Linus in THOMAS of ERCILDOUNE, called also THOMAS the RHYMER, who... [would] fulfil the requisites of a venerable ancestor, could we but be sure he was indeed an author. His actual existence is unquestionable. Ercildoune or Earlston is a village in Berwickshire, and ancient parchments demonstrate that two Thomases, father and son, dwelt there as landowners in the thirteenth century. The tradition of poetry appears to attach to the elder, whose appellation of 'Thomas the Rhymer' might seem decisive on the point if, by a strange coincidence, 'Rhymer' were not also another form of 'Rymour," a surname then common in Berwickshire" (pp. 275-276).
Garnett and Gosse, on p. 276, note that Robert Manning's 1338 metrical chronicle "affirms [Thomas] to have been the author  of a poem on Tristrem sufficiently popular to be habitually in the mouths of minstrels and reciters. This is strong testimony. It is thought to be invalidated by the fact that Gottfried of Strasbourg, writing his standard poem on the Tristrem story nearly a century before Thomas of Ercildoune, declares himself indebted for it to another Thomas, Thomas of Brittany, whom chronology forbids us to identify with the Rhymer. But it is by no means clear that Thomas of Brittany was a poet. Internal evidence proves Gottfried's poem to be derived from a French version."
(Garnett and Gosse do say, on p. 278, that the Tristrem poem associated with Thomas is of "small" poetic merit; "Its defects are not so much of language, as of insensibility to the beauty and significance of the story; the versification is not inharmonioius, but the poet... follows his original with matter of fact servility, and seems afraid of saying more than is set down for him: hence the strongest situations are slurred over and thrown away.")
Pp. 277-278 add that "A metrical romance composed on [Thomas's] name more that a century after his death represents him as the favored lover of the Queen of Fairy, as residing with her for three years in her enchanted realm, and as at length dismissed to earth lest he should be apprehended by the field, who is about to make his triennial visitation to Elfland, exactly like a bishop. As a parting gift the Fairy Queen endows him with the faculty of prophecy, which he turns to account by predicting a series of events in Scottish history some considerable time after they have taken place.... If, as is supposed, this original poem ended with the return of Thomas to Fairie, it cannot have been written by him, but no doubt embodies a genuine tradition respecting him."
(This description has its peculiar points, because, according to J. R. R. Tolkien's study "On Fairy Stories," pp. 7-8 in the version in _The Tolkien Reader_, the word "Fairy/Fairie" is not attested before Gower, and only once before 1450, which poses problems in describing a tale allegedly of the fourteenth century.)
Thus Thomas's place in legend is very strong. Thomas's prophecies, however, were not "collected" until 1603; it would be difficult to prove the authenticity of most of these.
Supposedly this song was the inspiration for Keats's "La Belle Dame Sans Merci." - RBW
File: C037
===
NAME: Thomas Rymer and the Queen of Elfland: see Thomas Rymer [Child 37] (File: C037)
===
NAME: Thomas the Rhymer: see Thomas Rymer [Child 37] (File: C037)
===
NAME: Thorn Rose: see Sleeping Beauty (Thorn Rose, Briar Rose) (File: HHH599)
===
NAME: Thornaby Woods: see The Nottinghamshire Poacher (File: E053)
===
NAME: Thorneymoor Woods: see The Nottinghamshire Poacher (File: E053)
===
NAME: Thorny Woods: see The Nottinghamshire Poacher (File: E053)
===
NAME: Thornymuir Fields: see The Nottinghamshire Poacher (File: E053)
===
NAME: Thorwaldsen, The
DESCRIPTION: "Twas a noble craft and a gallant crew That leaved the port that day, The sea was calm and the sky was blue As she sped on her course that day," leaving behind women and babies depending on the crew. The ship is wrecked by a winter storm on its way home.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1920 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: death drowning commerce sea ship storm wreck family sailor
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Feb 18, 1873 - Schooner _Thorwaldsen_, en route from Newfoundland to Gloucester reported missing (according to the orthern Shipwrecks Database 2002)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 143, "The Thorwaldsen" (1 text)
Roud #17755
File: GrMa143
===
NAME: Those Gambler's Blues: see Saint James Infirmary (File: San228)
===
NAME: Those Poor Convicts
DESCRIPTION: Consider the sentencing and departure of Irish convicts bound for "Vandiamonds Land": O'Reilly from Cavan, three Duffys and Bryan Seery in Mullingar. "Unto their prosecutors they never done a wrong." "Think upon those traitors that's swore our lives away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1846 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: transportation Ireland lament
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann 53, "The Sorrowful Lamentation of Those Poor Convicts" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Van Dieman's Land (I)" (tune)
NOTES: Incongruously -- considering that these are supposedly innocent men -- this ballad shares lines with "The Edinburgh Convicts" and "Botany Bay" versions of "The Boston Burglar" [Laws L16]): "A warning take by me,I'd have you quit night walking,And shun bad company." - BS
File: Zimm053
===
NAME: Those Wedding Bells Shall Not Ring Out!
DESCRIPTION: A couple is about to be married. When the sexton asks if there are any objections, a man cries out, "Those bells shall not ring out"; the bride is his wife! He stabs her, then himself, saying "She's mine till death shall set her free."
AUTHOR: Monroe H. Rosenfeld?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1896 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: marriage wedding betrayal murder suicide
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 822, "Those Wedding Bells Shall Not Ring Out!" (1 text)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 231-233, "Those Wedding Bells Shall Not Ring Out!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7435
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, RB.m.143(124), "Those Wedding Bells shall not Ring Out," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1880-1900
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fatal Wedding" (subject)
NOTES: Randolph lists an 1896 London copyright in the name of Charles W. Heid. It seems more likely, however, that the claim by Monroe H. Rosenfeld is correct. Joan Morris writes of him, "Though he was a notorious womanizer and lost most of his money to bookmakers, Rosenfeld never wrote a song without a moral."
For a selection of Rosenfeld's more noteworthy pieces, which eventually start to seem rather like potboilers, see Spaeth, _Read 'Em and Weep_, pp. 181-187.
The original sheet music claims that this is an unamplified portrayal of something that actually happened in "a western city." The exaggerated tone of the song, and the failure to provide details, leave the matter open to question. Spaeth (_A History of Popular Music in America_, p. 232) calls it a "flagrant imitation" of "The Fatal Wedding." - RBW
File: R822
===
NAME: Thou Hast Learned to Love Another
DESCRIPTION: "Thou hast learned to love another, Thou hast broken every vow." The singer recalls how she and her false love "met in scenes of pleasure," notes how he now dotes upon another, wishes they had never met, and bids "Farewell, farewell forever"
AUTHOR: Charles Slade
EARLIEST_DATE: 1842 (Journal of the Courier)
KEYWORDS: love betrayal
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 249-250, "Thou Hast Learned to Love Another" (1 text, 1 tune)
Belden, p. 211, "Thou Hast Learned to Love Another" (1 text)
Randolph 755, "The Broken Heart" (9 texts, 2 tunes, of which the "F" text is this piece)
Roud #2065
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ella Lea" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Parting Words" (floating lyrics)
File: Beld211A
===
NAME: Thought I Fell in Ten Foot of Water
DESCRIPTION: Hammering song. "Thought I fell in, Uh! ten foot o' water, Uh! (x3), Over my head, Uh! over my head. Uh!" "Jay bird sat on, Uh! a hickory limb, Uh! (x3), Over my head, Uh! over my head. Uh!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: worksong bird
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 217-218, "Work-Song" (1 short text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Scarborough says the first part of this tune is "I've Been Working on the Railroad." Not quite, though it's close. - RBW
File: ScaNF217
===
NAME: Thoughts of Long Ago, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer invites "in fancy ... a trip across the sea" in order to think of those left behind. "Can you recall, sweetheart of mine, The place where I met you?" He recalls "when we set sail." "God forbid that we'd e'er forget Our dear little Isle"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1980 (IRHardySons)
KEYWORDS: emigration home parting Ireland nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: ()

Roud #2954
File: RcToLAg
===
NAME: Thoughts on the Newfoundland Sailing Voyage
DESCRIPTION: "Heigho, my lads, for the tenth of March, And a gallant ship and crew." The singer declares that the crew will happily go to sea, brave the conditions, fill the holds, and return to Harbor Grace
AUTHOR: George T. Sheppard
EARLIEST_DATE: 1978 (Ryan/Small); reportedly written 1926
KEYWORDS: hunting ship
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 117, "Thoughts on the Newfoundland Sailing Voyage" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The lyrics of this appear to be based on "A Capital Ship" or one of its relatives; the verse form is the same and there are reminiscences in the lyrics (including an excessive fondness for "heigh-ho"). But there is no chorus; the author may not have meant it to be sung. - RBW
File: RySm117
===
NAME: Thousand Miles Away, A
DESCRIPTION: "Hurrah for the Roma railway! Hurrah for Cobb and o., An of! for a good fat horse or two to carry me Westward Ho." The singer enjoys the freedom of Australia, and boasts of the climate and of the meat it produces
AUTHOR: Charles Flower?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1894 (The Queenslander)
KEYWORDS: food nonballad horse
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 213-214, A Thousand Miles Away"" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum)" [Laws H2] (words, tune)
File: PFS213
===
NAME: Thousands Are Sailing to America
DESCRIPTION: "Your sons and brave daughters are now going away, And thousands are sailing to America." The singer addresses those staying in Ireland and describes sad partings. You raise children, try to support them, "and when they are reared sure they will go away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (Morton-Maguire)
KEYWORDS: emigration parting America Ireland nonballad family friend
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Morton-Maguire 15, pp. 37-38,107,162-163, "Thousands Are Sailing to America" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2904
RECORDINGS:
John Maguire, "Thousands Are Sailing to Amerikay" (on IRJMaguire01)
NOTES: Morton-Maguire: "This is a song from the 1880s, by which time the enforced emigration of famine times had become a ritual, almost part of growing up." - BS
We should be a little careful in how we interpret these words. There were famines in Ireland before the potato blights, and all resulted in emigration, and the rate of emigration increased with the great famines of the 1840s.
But the potato blight, which resulted in the death or emigration of almost half the population, largely solved the problem of actual starvation; with the population down to a reasonable level, there were no more Mathusian catastrophes. The real problem was that the landlords owned the land, meaning that the tenants were still working for almost no reward. As another emigration song says, "'Twas not for the want of employment at home That causes the sons of old Ireland to roam. But those tyrannizing landlords, they would not let us stay...." And so the emigrant ships were filled, and stayed full for many years even after Ireland became independent.... - RBW
File: MoMa015
===
NAME: Thousands or More
DESCRIPTION:  Singer says time passes more cheerfully since they've found a new way (drink) to drive sorrows away. He has no credit, but you will find him at home with his bottle and friend. Neither rich nor poor, he's "as happy as those that's got thousands or more"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951 (recorded from Jim Copper)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 284, "Thousands or More" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1220
NOTES: Kennedy suggests this may be a version of "Drive the Cold Winter Away". I don't hear it myself.... It's worth noting that... all versions of this song have come from one or another members of the Copper family of Rottingdean. - PJS
File: K284
===
NAME: Thra
DESCRIPTION: "Henry Thra he did invite The boys to go on Halloweve night" and get drunk and make a racket on the roads until morning. "When Thra raised up that dreadful noise He took brave Hughie by surprise." Hughie chases the boys on his horse.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (Dibblee/Dibblee)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous horse
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dibblee/Dibblee, p. 16, "Thra" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12482
File: Din016
===
NAME: Thrashing Machine (I), The
DESCRIPTION: Farmer show his servant Nell the works of his thrashing machine. He straps her into the harness, she takes the handle and turns on the steam. Nine months later, when her apron won't pin, she says she'll have him transported for his thrashing machine
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1855 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.25(339))
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Farmer show his servant Nell the works of his thrashing machine; she tells him to come into the barn where they won't be seen. He straps her into the harness, she takes the handle and turns on the steam, and they begin working the thrashing machine. Nine months later, when her apron won't pin and her drawers won't go on, she says she'll have him transported for his thrashing machine
KEYWORDS: sex punishment transportation pregnancy farming technology bawdy servant
FOUND_IN: Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 92-94, "The Thrashing Machine" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1491
RECORDINGS:
Anne [Annie] O'Neill, "The Thrashing Machine" (on FSB2, FSB2CD)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.25(339), "Thrashing Machine," E.M.A. Hodges (London), 1846-1854; also Harding B 15(330a), Firth b.27(87), Harding B 11(3808), Firth b.34(290), "Thrashing Machine"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Threshing Machine (I)" (subject, sort of)
NOTES: This doesn't seem to be a parody of "The Threshing Machine" -- the tune and meter are different, and there's no overlap in the words. You should probably check that one out anyway, though. - PJS
File: RcThraM
===
NAME: Thrashing Machine (II), The: see The Threshing Machine (I) (File: K231)
===
NAME: Three Bells, The
DESCRIPTION: "They worked all day (x2) As brave tars only do. They sought to save from wind and wave A sinking vessel's crew." "'All saved,' they cried, The shout rose high, Rose high o'er wind and wave. 'Twas a starry crew... That manned the good ship Three Bells."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1933 (supplied to Walton by Gerrit Doesburg and A. E. Baker)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck rescue
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 103-104, "The Three Bells" (1 fragment)
File: WGM103
===
NAME: Three Black Crows: see The Three Ravens [Child 26] (File: C026)
===
NAME: Three Blind Mice
DESCRIPTION: "Three blind mice (x2), See how they run (x2); They all ran after the farmer's wife. She cut off their tails with a carving knife. Did you ever see such a sight in your life As three blind mice?"
AUTHOR: Thomas Ravenscroft?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1609 (Ravenscroft's Deuteromelia)
KEYWORDS: animal disability
FOUND_IN: Britain(England) US(NE)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Linscott, pp. 283-284, "Three Blind Mice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 348, "Three blind mice, see how they run!" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #253, p. 156, "(Three blind mice, see how they run!)"
Silber-FSWB, p. 413, "Three Blind Mice" (1 text)
Fuld, p. 576, "Three Blind Mice"
DT, (THREEBLN*)
ST FSWB413A (Full)
Roud #3753
SAME_TUNE:
The (Blind/Decrepit/Myopic) Rodents (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 208)
NOTES: Fuld reports this as "the earliest printed secular song which is still extremely well known" (but compare "Greensleeves"). Fuld also prints a plate of the 1609 music -- in a somewhat pre-modern notation, and with words noticeably different from those sung today.
Neither Fuld nor any other source I have seen offers an explanation for why this bit of silliness survives when so many better pieces died out. The Baring-Goulds note that there have been attempts to link it to political events -- e.g. the Farmer's Wife is Mary I Tudor, and the mice are Protestant leaders who opposed her. None of these explanations is very convincing. - RBW
File: FSWB413A
===
NAME: Three Boocher Lads: see The Three Butchers [Laws L4] (File: LL04)
===
NAME: Three Brave Blacksmiths
DESCRIPTION: Three brave blacksmiths from County Clare refuse to work for a grabber, are thrown in jail, refuse bail, and are treated as heroes when their term is up. "Blacksmiths, whitesmiths, tradesmen everywhere, Fathers, labourers, see your model there"
AUTHOR: T.D. Sullivan (1827-1914) (source: OLochlainn-More)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1888 (_Prison Poems or Lays of Tullamore,_ according to OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: prison work Ireland patriotic political
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1888 - Maguire, Maloney and Heaney are jailed in Miltown Malbay for supporting the boycott of a local landlord (source: notes to IRClare01).
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn-More 71, "Three Brave Blacksmiths" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9768
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sing a Song of Sixpence" (tune, according to OLochlainn-More)
NOTES: OLochlainn-More: "Another of Sullivan's Land League songs." - BS
Sullivan is the author of a number of Irish patriotic poems, of which "God Save Ireland" is probably the best-known. - RBW
File: OLcM071
===
NAME: Three Brothers from Spain (Knights of Spain, We Are Three Jews)
DESCRIPTION: "We are three (brothers/dukes/knights/jews) come from Spain, Come to court your daughter Jane." "My daughter Jane is yet too young...." "It is for gold she must be sold." The (knight) turns away. The mother calls him back; he chooses the fairest
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1903 (Newell)
KEYWORDS: courting beauty playparty
FOUND_IN: US(MW,NE) Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #633, pp. 250-251, "(We're three Brethren out of Spain)"
(DT, THREDUKE mixes this with "Three Dukes")
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #353, "Three Knights from Spain" (1 text)
Roud #8251
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Three Dukes" (plot)
NOTES: This has some points of similarity with "Three Dukes," and it appears some scholars have lumped them. But even Roud, who is generally a lumper, splits them, and I do so without hesitation. - RBW
File: BGMG633
===
NAME: Three Brothers, The
DESCRIPTION: "A ship rides on the cruel wave" in sight of the Tuskar light at Carnsore. Three brothers leave shore and "steer for the vessel's side ... Then sink in the yawning wave."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor rescue
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, p. 115, "The Three Brothers" (1 text)
NOTES: Tuskar Lighthouse and Carnsore Point are on the Wexford coast. - BS
File: Ran115
===
NAME: Three Butchers, The (Dixon and Johnson) [Laws L4]
DESCRIPTION: Three butchers are riding when they hear a woman calling out. They find her naked and bound. They free her; she blows a whistle which summons robbers. Two butchers yield, but Johnson fights and is close to winning when the woman stabs him from behind
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1678
KEYWORDS: outlaw trick death fight
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England(South),Scotland) Ireland
REFERENCES: (22 citations)
Laws L4, "The Three Butchers"
Randolph 97, "Dixon and Johnson" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 74-75, "Dixon and Johnson" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 97)
FSCatskills 111, "The Three Jolly Butchers" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan2 186, "The Three Jolly Butchers" (11 texts, 6 tunes)
Kennedy 335, "Three Jolly Sportsmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 254-255, "Young Butcher Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 86, "Jackison and Dickison" (1 text)
SharpAp 60, "The Three Butchers" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
SHenry H185, pp. 128-129, "The Three Huntsmen/Wilson, Gilmore, and Johnson" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 24, "The Three Butchers" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 80, "The Three Butchers" (2 texts)
Chappell-FSRA 46, "Good Woman" (1 fragment)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 120-122, "The Three Jovial Huntsmen" (2 texts, 2 tunes, with the first being a peculiar variant in which the huntsmen all resist and Johnson kills the deceitful woman)
Creighton-NovaScotia 97, "The Three Gallant Huntsmen" (1 text, 1 tune; this resembles the Creighton/Senior version in which the huntsmen win the battle)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 37, "Johnson" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Peacock, pp. 817-818, "Jolly Butchermen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 33, "The Three Butchers" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Leach-Labrador 59, "Three Boocher Lads" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 223, "Johnson" (1 text)
BBI, ZN782, "Did you never hear of worthy butchers three"; ZN1365, "I'll tell you a story of lovely butchers three"
DT 325, BUTCHER2 BUTCHER3*
Roud #17
RECORDINGS:
Bob Scarce, "Three Jolly Sportsmen" (on FSB8)
Pete Seeger, "The Three Butchers" (on PeteSeeger16)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(206), "The Three Butchers," W. Wright (Birmingham), 1820-1827; also 2806 c.16(200), Harding B 11(4230), Firth c.17(1), Harding B 11(876), Firth c.17(2), Harding B 25(1901), Harding B 15(330b), Harding B 16(288a), "[The] Three Butchers"; Harding B 11(1767), Firth c.17(3), "Ips, Gips, and Johnson" or "The Three Butchers[!]"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Jinkson Johnson
The Three Riders
The Jolly Butchermen
The Butchers Three
Bold Johnston
Brave Johnston
File: LL04
===
NAME: Three C Railroad
DESCRIPTION: Hammer song. "Oh, baby, Uh! what you gwine to do? Uh! Three C railroad, Uh! done run through! Uh!" "My and my partner, him and me!" "Oh, baby, what you gwine to do? Seaboard Air-line (or other train) done run through."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: railroading work
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 216-217, "Work-Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: There are hints of this in some of Lead Belly's songs. But that may just be the common stuff of all railroad work songs. - RBW
File: ScNF216C
===
NAME: Three Children Sliding On The Ice: see Three Little Girls A-Skating Went (File: R588)
===
NAME: Three Crows, The: see The Three Ravens [Child 26] (File: C026)
===
NAME: Three Dogs in a Row
DESCRIPTION: "Ho, ho, ho! Three dogs in a row! Three dogs in a row! One dog's white, and so are the others, All three dogs are watching for their mother."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Henry, from Minnie Stokes)
KEYWORDS: dog mother
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 241, (no title) (1 short text)
File: MHAp241B
===
NAME: Three Drunken Maidens: see Drunken Maidens (File: Log240)
===
NAME: Three Dukes
DESCRIPTION: "Here comes (three dukes) a-ridin', a-ridin', a-ridin', Here comes a duke a-ridin' The raz-ma-taz-a-ma-tee." The duke comes to be married; the girls ask him to choose one of them. He calls them ugly; they say they're as good as he is. He chooses one.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1898 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: playparty courting nobility
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Randolph 551, "Raz-Ma-Taz-A-Ma-Tee" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 406-407, "Raz-Ma-Taz-A-Ma-Tee" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 551A)
BrownIII 68, "Here Comes Three Lawyers" (1 text)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 51, "Two Dukes A-Roving" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 13-15, "Here Come Three Dukes A-Riding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 260-262, "Here Comes a Duke A-Riding" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 242, (no title) (1 short text)
DT, THREDUK1 THREDUK2
Roud #730
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hog Drovers" (plot, lyrics)
cf. "Three Brothers from Spain (Knights of Spain, We Are Three Jews)" (plot, lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Here Come Three Kings A-Riding
File: R551
===
NAME: Three English Rovers: see Campbell the Rover (File: K269)
===
NAME: Three Flowers of Chivalry, The
DESCRIPTION: The soldiers in the Crimea are depressed, when three Irishmen spring up, recall their homes and sweethearts, and rally the troops. In battle the next day, the British are victorious, but the three heroes die
AUTHOR: Andrew Orr
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Sam Henry collection, from a book said to have been published c. 1865)
KEYWORDS: soldier death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1853-1856 - Crimean War (Britain and France actively at war with Russia 1854-1855)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H99, pp. 89-90, "The Three Flowers of Chivalry" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8146
File: HHH099
===
NAME: Three Flowers, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer met a girl with three flowers. He asked where she found them. She named each for where she found it: Michael Dwyer from the Wicklow hills, Wolfe Tone on Antrim Hill, and Robert Emmet in Dublin. She will keep them "Though all the world should fall"
AUTHOR: Norman G. Reddin (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST_DATE: 2000 (Moylan)
KEYWORDS: flowers patriotic Ireland
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 162, "The Three Flowers" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Moylan: "Michael Dwyer was a Wicklow man, a member of the United Irishmen, who fought during the 1798 rebellion, and who waged a guerilla war in the Wicklow mountains for several years afterwards." [For more on his story, see the notes to "Michael Dwyer (I)." - RBW]
Wolfe Tone: see the notes to "The Shan Van Voght."
Robert Emmet: see the notes to "Bold Robert Emmet." - BS
There is a certain asymmetry here; Tone and Emmet were killed, but Dwyer surrendered and was transported, even becoming a civic official in Australia. It would seem more logical to list someone such as Henry Joy McCracken as the third flower. But then, I'm not Irish. - RBW
File: Moyl162
===
NAME: Three Gallant Huntsmen: see The Three Butchers [Laws L4] (File: LL04)
===
NAME: Three Girls Drowned [Laws G23]
DESCRIPTION: Three young ladies, all Sunday School teachers, and a man named John Ash are on their way to church when they try to ford Gravel Run. The three girls are swept away and drowned, although Ash manages to survive
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, Vernon Dalhart)
KEYWORDS: river death drowning
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1849 - drowning of the three girls
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW,SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws G23, "Three Girls Drowned"
Gardner/Chickering 123, "Three Girls Drowned" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 210, "The Three Drowned Sisters" (1 text plus quotations from Gardner and Chickering)
Roud #3257
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "Three Drowned Sisters" (Brunswick 100, 1927)  (Columbia 15126-D [as Al Craver], 1927)
File: LG23
===
NAME: Three Grains of Corn
DESCRIPTION: "Give me three grains of corn, mother, only three grains of corn, 'Twill keep this little life I have Till the coming of the morn." The dying singer asks what Ireland has done to deserve death by famine and neglect, and notes that others are starving too
AUTHOR: Words: Amelia Blandford Edwards?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1848 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1848 431920)
KEYWORDS: death Ireland starvation poverty
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1848 - First of several Irish potato blights. Although the blights did not mean that there was no food in Ireland, prices shot up to the point that many could not afford it. Many died in the famines, and others fled to America
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Sandburg, p. 41, "Give Me Three Grains of Corn, Mother" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hudson 56, pp. 172-173, "Three Grains of Corn" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 360-363, "Give Me Three Grains of Corn, Mother" (2 texts; 1 tune on p. 454)
DT, THREEGRN* GRANCORN
Roud #4492
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1848 431920, "Give Me Three Grains of Corn, Mother", Oliver Ditson (Boston), 1848 (tune)
NOTES: Scarborough speculates, "Perhaps the American pioneer's affection for [this] song is the remembrance of the famine among the early settlers in New England, when starvation was held off as long as possible by the rationing of food, the giving of three frains of corn as each person's daily supply."
New England did face famine several times in its early existence. But this sounds strangely symbolic.
The authorship of this is slightly uncertain, due probably more to transcription errors than anything else. Hazel Felleman's _The Best Loved Poems of the American People_ attributes the words to Amelia Blandford Edwards. But broadside LOCSheet sm1848 431920 lists "words by Mrs A.M. Edmond, Music by O.R. Gross." - (RBW, BS)
File: San041
===
NAME: Three Huntsmen, The: see The Three Butchers [Laws L4] (File: LL04)
===
NAME: Three Jews, The: see Once There Were Three Fishermen (File: FSWB240A)
===
NAME: Three Jolly Bums: see The Great American Bum (Three Jolly Bums) (File: FaE192)
===
NAME: Three Jolly Butchers, The: see The Three Butchers [Laws L4] (File: LL04)
===
NAME: Three Jolly Coachmen: see Landlord, Fill the Flowing Bowl (File: FSWB229A)
===
NAME: Three Jolly Fishermen: see Once There Were Three Fishermen (File: FSWB240A)
===
NAME: Three Jolly Frenchmen: see Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)
===
NAME: Three Jolly Huntsmen
DESCRIPTION: Three jolly (Frenchmen/Welshmen/other) go hunting. Periodically they see things (barn, frog, moon) which they cannot identify. In each case they propound their theories and move on. Finally they see an owl. One says it is the "evil one"; they flee
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1613 (broadside, "Choice of Inventions, Or Seuerall sort of the figure of three"; earliest complete form 1219?)
KEYWORDS: humorous hunting nonsense
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber),Wales) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (23 citations)
Belden, pp. 246-248, "Three Jolly Welshmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 77, "We Hunted and Hollered" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 306-307, "Three Jolly Huntsmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Eddy 87, "Three Jolly Frenchmen" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 55-57, "Three Jolly Welshmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, pp. 183-184, "Three Jolly Welchmen" (1 text)
FSCatskills 152, "The Three Huntsmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 190, "Three Jolly Welshmen" (5 text, but only "A" and "B" go here; the rest are "The Bold Ranger")
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 57-58, "So We Hunted and We Hollered," "Old Circus Song" (2 texts, the second from a newspaper)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 125-126, "We Hunted and We Hallooed" (1 text)
Linscott, pp. 290-292, "Three Jovial Huntsmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 2, "Cape Ann" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 306, "Three Men Went A-Hunting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 93, "Three Men Went A-Hunting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 168, "Three Men Went A-Hunting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 529-530, "Cape Ann" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 165, "The Three Farmers" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Greig #31, p. 2, "The Hedgehog" (1 fragment)
GreigDuncan2 283, "The Hedgehog" (2 fragments, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 524, "There were three jovial Welshmen" (5 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #348, pp. 183-184, "(There were three jovial Welshmen)"
Silber-FSWB, p. 243, "Cape Ann" (1 text)
DT 315, THREWLSH* JOLLWLCH
Roud #283
RECORDINGS:
Jack Elliott, "We Went Along a Bit Further" (on Elliotts01)
George Endicott, "Three Scamping Rogues" (on FieldTrip1)
Byrd Moore & his Hot Shots, "Three Men Went A-Hunting" (Columbia 15496-D, 1929, sung to the tune of "Wish I'd Stayed in the Wagon Yard")
New Lost City Ramblers, "Three Men Went a-Hunting" (on NLCR03)
Hywel Wood, "Three Men Went a-Hunting" (on FSB10)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bold Ranger" (theme, some lyrics)
cf. "The Wild Cat Back on the Pipe Line" (theme, form)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
We Hunted and We Halloed
Look Ye There, Now
Three Jolly Hunters
The Three Huntsmen
Twas of Three Jolly Welshmen
Three Jovial Welshmen
NOTES: What appears to be a stanza of this piece is quoted in the Shakespeare/Fletcher play "The Two Noble Kinsmen" (c. 1611). In III.v.67-71, immediately after singing a snatch of "The George Aloe and the Sweepstake," the mad jailer's daughter sings,
There was three fools, fell out about an howlet,
The one sed it was an owl, the other he sed nay,
The third he sed it was a hawk,
and her bels were cut away.
A stanza in William Davenant's 1668 play "The Rivals" seems to be on the same theme, though it uses a different metrical pattern:
There were three Fools at Mid-summer run mad
About an Howlet, a quarrel they had.
The one said 't was an Owle, the other he said nay,
The third said it was a Haek but the Bells were cutt away. - RBW
The "Cape Ann" versions of the song should not be confused with Gordon Bok's recent composition of the same name. - PJS
File: R077
===
NAME: Three Jolly Sportsmen: see The Three Butchers [Laws L4] (File: LL04)
===
NAME: Three Jolly Welshmen: see Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)
===
NAME: Three Jovial Huntsmen: see Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)
===
NAME: Three Jovial Huntsmen, The: see The Three Butchers (Dixon and Johnson) [Laws L4] (File: LL04)
===
NAME: Three Knights from Spain: see Three Brothers from Spain (Knights of Spain, We Are Three Jews) (File: BGMG633)
===
NAME: Three Leaves of Shamrock
DESCRIPTION: The singer, about to leave Ireland, meets a poor girl who bids him take a message to her brother Ned: "Three leaves of shamrock... 'Take these to my brother, for I have no other. And these are the shamrock from his dear old mother's grave.'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: death mourning burial mother brother sister emigration separation Ireland
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 135, "Three Leaves of Shamrock" (1 text plus mention of 4 more)
ST BrII135 (Full)
Roud #3769
RECORDINGS:
The North Carolina Ramblers and Roy Harvey, "Three Leaves of Shamrock" (Paramount, unissued, 1927)
File: BrII135
===
NAME: Three Little Babes, The: see The Wife of Usher's Well [Child 79] (File: C079)
===
NAME: Three Little Babies: see The Cruel Mother [Child 20] (File: C020)
===
NAME: Three Little Girls A-Skating Went
DESCRIPTION: "Three little girls a-skating went, a-skating went, a-skating went, Three little girls a-skating went All on a summer day." "The ice was thin, they all fell in, they all fell in, they all fell in... Or else they've run away."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1651 (The Loves of Hero and Leander, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: playparty humorous drowning
FOUND_IN: US(MW,NE,So) Britain
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Linscott, pp. 288-289, "Three Children Sliding on the Ice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 588, "Three Little Girls A-Skating Went" (1 text)
Opie-Oxford2 99, "Three children sliding on the ice" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #32, p. 46, "(Three children sliding on the ice)"
ST R588 (Full)
Roud #3744
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lamentations of a Bad Market" (and notes there)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Six Little Girls A-Sliding Went
The Ice Was Thin
NOTES: Although most American editors seem unaware of the connection, this goes back at least to the eighteenth century in Britain, and was common in garlands in that period. It has been ascribed to John Gay and to the editor of _Mother Goose's Melody_ (Oliver Goldsmith?). However, its appearance in Tommy Thumb's storybook pretty well precludes Goldsmith's authorship, and I know of no reason to believe in Gay's.
The original air is said to have been "Chevy Chase," but this does not appear to have been the tune used in the U. S. - RBW
Opie-Oxford2, p. 19: "In The Lamentations of a Bad Market ... it is the twelfth, eighteenth, and nineteenth stanzas which are known to the world; thet tell of 'Three children sliding on the ice' [Opie-Oxford2 99, "Three children sliding on the ice"]." - BS
File: R588
===
NAME: Three Little Kittens
DESCRIPTION: Mother cat says the kittens can't have pie because they have lost their mittens. When they find the mittens they put them on to eat pie and soil them. They wash the mittens and hang them out to dry. They smell a rat close by.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1853 (New Nursery Songs, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: food animal humorous clothes
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 289, "Three little kittens they lost their mittens" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #815, pp. 303-304, "(Three little kittens they lost their mittens)"
Roud #16150
NOTES: Opie-Oxford2: "The tune is a variant of "The Seven Joys of Mary." - BS
The Baring-Goulds note that these lines are sometimes attributed to Eliza Follen, author of _New Nursery Songs for All Good Children_, but her notes call the piece traditional. - RBW
File: OO2289
===
NAME: Three Lost Babes of Americay, The
DESCRIPTION: "Come uncle, come tell me that wonderful tale ..." Three children are lost. Their father, mother and neighbors search in vain. They ask an Indian chief for help. The father, Indian chief and "two youths of [the] tribe" find the children
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: help rescue America children father mother Indians(Am.)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Peacock, pp. 30-32, "The Three Lost Babes of Americay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 50, "Babes in the Wood" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9944
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Children in the Wood  (The Babes in the Woods)" [Laws Q34] (theme)
cf. "The Lost Babe" (theme)
NOTES: The similarity to "Babes in the Woods" will be evident; it appears that some scholars lump some of them. - RBW
File: Peac030
===
NAME: Three Lovers: see Lord Thomas and Fair Annet [Child 73] (File: C073)
===
NAME: Three Maidens to Milking Did Go
DESCRIPTION: "The maidens to milking did go (x2), And the wind it did blow high and the wind it did blow low And it tossed the milking pails to and fro." The singer asks a friend to help him hunt "birds." The singer wishes luck to blackbird and thrush
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1856 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3968)); tune listed from 1828)
KEYWORDS: bird hunting courting seduction
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(All),Wales)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Kennedy 191, "Three Maidens to Milking Did Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 280-281, "Three Maidens" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 50, "The Bird in the Bush" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 160, "Two Maids Went A-Milking One Day" (1 text)
Roud #290
RECORDINGS:
Frankie Armstrong, "The Bird in the Bush" (on BirdBush1, BirdBush2)
Fred Hewett, "Three Maidens To Milking Did Go" (on Voice10)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3968), "Three Maids A Milking Would Go", W. Jackson and Son (Birmingham), 1842-1855; also Harding B 11(3815), "Three Maids A-milking Would Go"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Spotted Cow" (theme)
cf. "Kitty of Coleraine" (theme)
cf. "Blackberry Grove" (theme)
cf. "Three Maidens to Milking Did Go" (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Blackbird in the Bush
The Bird in the Lily-Bush
NOTES: Most printed versions of this are "clean," but clearly there is much going on beneath the surface.... - RBW
Indeed, there is. In fact, this is one of the few descriptions of group sex in traditional music -- unless, of course, you count "The Ball at Kerriemuir," and I'd be more inclined to describe that with the word "mob." - PJS
File: K191
===
NAME: Three McFarlands, The [Laws C18]
DESCRIPTION: A gang of teamsters "that knew not who was boss" sign up to work under the three McFarlands. The bosses drive them hard and treat them badly; the men look forward to leaving the camp and seeing the girls
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Rickaby)
KEYWORDS: work abuse boss
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws C18, "The Three MacFarlands"
Rickaby 15, "The Three McFarlands" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 826, MCFARL3*
Roud #2225
File: LC18
===
NAME: Three Men Drowned (The Grand River)
DESCRIPTION: Four men go boating on the Grand River. In rough water, they are flung from the boat; Benjamin Moore and two others drown. A boy brings word to Benjamin's parents. The singer talks about God's planning (and placing rocks in the river)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Rickaby)
KEYWORDS: river ship death drowning
FOUND_IN: US(MW) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Rickaby 34-I, (first of three "Fragments of Shanty Songs") (1 text)
Fowke-Lumbering #38, "The Grand River" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Rick129 (Partial)
Roud #3680
NOTES: This is item dC35 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Rick129
===
NAME: Three Men Went A-Hunting: see Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)
===
NAME: Three Moore Brothers
DESCRIPTION: "This is why we love the Moore brothers so well, They feed us on the farm like they do in the Rice Hotel." The Moore family hires Texas prisoners to work, and gives them extravagantly good or bad treatment
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (recorded from "Chinaman" Johnson by Jackson)
KEYWORDS: work food prison
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 53-61, "Three Moore Brothers" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
NOTES: Jackson's notes describe a large farm, almost a feudal fiefdom, run first by Tom Moore Sr. and then by his sons Steve, Tom, and Henry. Often they rented out convicts from the Texas prison system. Folklore about the family was abundant.
Jackson calls the song a cante-fable, and the two versions found by Jackson are very distinct; "Chinaman's" version is full of whistles and recitations, while Johnny Jackson's is more a straight song. But Judy McCulloh calls "Chinaman's" one of the "peskiest" things she has ever had to transcribe. Clearly the piece is very fluid. - RBW
File: JDM053
===
NAME: Three O'Donnells, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer dreams of a meeting in Innishowen "when we heard of liberty," of a barge with 24 Irish boys saying "Gainne's sons are free." A health to the O'Donnells. Father William fought at Waterloo; "He once was a bold lieutenant But he's now our clergyman"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1979 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: dream nonballad political clergy
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 145, "The Three O'Donnells" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Battle of Carrickshock" (subject: The Tithe War) and references there
NOTES: Tunney-StoneFiddle: "In fact it is an anti-tithe song from Innishowen. The hero whose praises it sings was none other than Father William O'Donnell, the Waterloo Priest, as he is still affectionately referred to in his native Innishowen." Tunney gives the biography of William O'Donnell (1779-1856), including his 1839 arrest for being in arrears of tithe on his property.
I cannot explain the references to "that meeting boys That was held at Innishowen" or "the loaded barge Going floating down the main With four and twenty Irish boys To guide her on the stream." - BS
For background on the Tithe War (the successful attempt by the Catholic Irish to stop paying a tithe to support the Protestant Church of England), see especially the notes to "The Battle of Carrickshock." - RBW
File: TSF145
===
NAME: Three Old Jews, The: see Once There Were Three Fishermen (File: FSWB240A)
===
NAME: Three Old Whores (From Winnipeg/Baltimore): see Four Old Whores (File: EM006)
===
NAME: Three Perished in the Snow [Laws G32]
DESCRIPTION: A woman and her three young children are struggling through a snowstorm. The children ask their mother to make them warm, but she cannot help. The next morning the three are found clasped in each others' arms, dead
AUTHOR: Eddie Fox
EARLIEST_DATE: 1878 (as "She Perished in the Snow")
KEYWORDS: family children death mother
FOUND_IN: US(MA,SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws G32, "Three Perished in the Snow"
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 101-102, "Three Perished in the Snow" (1 text, 1 tune)
FSCatskills 69, "She Perished in the Snow" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 715, PRSHSNOW*
Roud #1931
RECORDINGS:
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Perished in the Snow" (Brunswick 561, c. 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hush-oh-bye Baby" (plot)
File: LG32
===
NAME: Three Pigs
DESCRIPTION: "There was an old sow, she lived in a sty, And three little piggies had she." The grown pig said "Oink," the little ones "Wee! Wee!" The little pigs resolve to try to say "Oink" like grown-up pigs -- but can't do it, sicken, and die
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: animal youth humorous death
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 307-308, "Three Pigs" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4575
File: LxA307
===
NAME: Three Quarters of the Year: see The False Young Man (The Rose in the Garden, As I Walked Out) (File: FJ166)
===
NAME: Three Ravens, The [Child 26]
DESCRIPTION: (Three) ravens decide that a new-slain knight would make a nice lunch. He is guarded by hawk, hounds, and leman, who either guard the body from the birds or abandon it to its fate
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1611 (Ravenscroft)
KEYWORDS: death bird food
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland,England) US(MW,NE,SE,So,SW) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (41 citations)
Child 26, "The Three Ravens" (2 texts)
Bronson 26, The Three Ravens" (21 versions)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 435-437, "The Three Ravens" (notes plus a partial reprint of Ravenscroft)
Belden, pp. 31-33, "The Three Ravens" (2 texts, plus 2 tunes not derived from Missouri)
Randolph 9, "The Three Crows" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #18}
Davis-Ballads 10, "The Three Ravens" (17 texts, some very short; the "Q" fragment may be another song; the additional songs in the appendix are "Johnny Fill Up the Bowl"; 4 tunes entitled "The Three Ravens," "[The] Three Crows"; 10 more versions mentioned in Appendix A) {I=Bronson's #16 J=K=#17, P is not printed by Bronson}
Davis-More 13, pp. 84-88, "The Three Ravens" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownII 9, "The Three Ravens" (1 very short text)
Chappell-FSRA 5, "Three Black Crows" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #4}
Hudson 6, pp. 72-73, "The Three Ravens" (1 fragment)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 193-195, "The Three Ravens/The Twa Corbies" (1 short text, entitled "Three Old Crows" and typical of that type, plus the text from Ravenscroft for comparison)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 149, (no title) (1 fragment, mentioning three crows on a tree with an ending about a sick old horse; the whole might well be a dead horse song with a few "Three Ravens" lines, but without more text we cannot tell)
Brewster 8, "The Three Ravens" (1 text plus a fragment)
Creighton/Senior, p. 21, "The Three Ravens" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #11}
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 1, "The Three Crows" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown, p. 129, "Three Black Crows" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 243-256, "The Twa Corbies" (10 texts, many of them quite short, 3 tunes; the last two items, "I" and "J," appear to be somewhat rewritten)
Linscott, p. 289, "Three Crows" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 111-113, "The Three Ravens/The Twa Corbies" (2 texts)
Leach-Labrador 1, "The Three Ravens" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBB 67, "The Twa Corbies"; 68, "The Three Ravens" (2 texts)
Friedman, p. 23, "The Three Ravens (The Twa Corbies)" (3 texts)
PBB 28, "The Three Ravens" (1 text)
Doerflinger, p. 21, "Blow the Man Down (IV)" (this text combines the words of "The Three Crows" with the tune and metre of "Blow the Man Down")
Hugill, p. 212, "The Three Ravens" (1 text sung to the tune of "Blow the Man Down," taken from Doerflinger)
Niles 17, "The Three Ravens" (3 texts, 3 tunes, although the first piece, "Lovers' Farewell," is at best distantly related to this ballad)
Gummere, pp. 167+336, "The Three Ravens" (1 text)
SharpAp 11 "The Three Ravens" (1 short text plus 2 fragments, 3 tunes){Bronson's #16, #15, #14}
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 5, "The Two Crows (The Three Ravens)" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #15}
Chase, pp. 114-115, "The Two Ravens" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 37, "The Three Ravens"; p. 38, "The Twa Corbies" (2 texts)
JHCox 31, "The Three Ravens" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #10}
JHCoxIIA, #5, pp. 19-20, "The Crow Song" (1 short text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
TBB 36, "The Three Ravens" (1 text)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 75-76, "There Were Three Ravens" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 73-74, "The Three Ravens"; p. 74, "The Twa Corbies" (2 texts)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 173-176, "The Three Ravens"; "The Twa Corbies"; "The Three Crows" (3 texts, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #1, #8; the third tune was not known to Bronson}
Darling-NAS, pp. 26-28, "The Three Ravens (or, 'Rauens')"; "The Twa Corbies"; "The Three Crows" (3 texts)
Silber-FSWB, p. 405, "Billy Magee Magaw"; p. 215, "The Three Ravens" (2 texts)
DT 26, THRERAVN* THRERAV2* THRERAV3* THRERAV4 THRERAV5* THRERAV6 
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #117, "The Twa Corbies" (1 text)
Roud #5
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Blow the Man Down" (lyrics)
cf. "Lover's Farewell (I)" (lyrics)
cf. "The Crow Song (I)" (lyrics, theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Billie Magee Magaw
Willie McGee McGaw
Two Old Crows
Three Black Crows
NOTES: The degree of degeneration suffered by the American versions of this song is phenomenal (They are often quite silly, and if they retain the theme of the birds eating carrion, it is usually an animal, such as a horse). Brewster's longer version is, in fact, a trick upon listeners: "You may think there is another verse -- but there isn't."
If it weren't for the intermediate versions, we could hardly recognize them as one piece. But that's oral tradition -- though Belden says the song was part of the minstrel tradition in the 1860s, and Flanders-Ancient notes the inclusion of a "rewritten form in books like _Cleveland's Compendium_ of 1859." In many of these versions it is a horse, not a man, which supplies the birds' meal.
The by-blow "The Twa Corbies" is one of the handful of traditional songs in Palgrave's _Golden Treasury_ (item CXXXVI). Not sure what that says about either Palgrave or the song. Properly, "The Twa Corbies" should probably be split off, since it is recensionally different from "The Three Ravens." But this is impossible in practice, because the degenerate forms often could come from either, or indeed recombine the two. - RBW
File: C026
===
NAME: Three Rogues, The: see In Good Old Colony Times (File: R112)
===
NAME: Three Sailor Boys: see The Mermaid [Child 289] (File: C289)
===
NAME: Three Sailors of Bristol City: see Little Boy Billee (Le Petite Navire, The Little Corvette) (File: K114)
===
NAME: Three Scamping Rogues: see In Good Old Colony Times (File: R112)
===
NAME: Three Scotch Robbers, The: see Henry Martyn [Child 250] AND Sir Andrew Barton [Child 167] (File: C250)
===
NAME: Three Ships Came Sailing In: see I Saw Three Ships (File: OBB104)
===
NAME: Three Sons, The: see In Good Old Colony Times (File: R112)
===
NAME: Three Weeks Before Easter: see The False Bride (The Week Before Easter; I Once Loved a Lass) (File: K152)
===
NAME: Three Wise Old Women
DESCRIPTION: Three wise old women go walking in winter. One carries a ladder; another, a basket; "the wisest one, she carried a fan to keep off the sun." (At least) one climbs the ladder and is blown to sea. (They use the basket to bail, the fan as a sail)
AUTHOR: Mrs. E. T. Corbett, according to Felleman _The Best Loved Poems of the American People_
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: humorous animal talltale
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 130, "Three Wise Old Women" (1 text)
ST R130 (Partial)
Roud #3271
NOTES: Although hardly known in tradition, Randolph's text differs enough from the presumed original in Felleman that I have to think there was folk processing along the way. E.g., in the original, they climb the tree for fear of a bear; it seems as if the informant would remember that. - RBW
File: R130
===
NAME: Three Young Ladies: see Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie [Child 14] (File: C014)
===
NAME: Thresherman (and the Squire), The: see Jolly Thresher, The (Poor Man, Poor Man) (File: R127)
===
NAME: Thresherman, The: see Jolly Thresher, The (Poor Man, Poor Man) (File: R127)
===
NAME: Threshing Machine (I), The
DESCRIPTION: "It's all very well to have a machine To thresh your wheat and your barley clean, To thresh it and win(now) it, all fit for sale, Then go off to market so brisk and well." Singer tells of the wonders of the new threshing machine and the people who tend it
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (Gardiner manuscript)
KEYWORDS: farming technology work moniker nonballad worker
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Kennedy 231, "The Machiner's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, THRSHSNG*
Roud #874
RECORDINGS:
Jim Copper, "The Thrashing Machine" (on Lomax41, LomaxCD1741)
NOTES: While this is a non-ballad, I've included it -- mostly so that we may reference it when we get to "The Thrashing Machine", a bawdy song. - PJS
In any case, some of the stanzas have plots. - RBW
File: K231
===
NAME: Threshing Machine (II), The: see The Thrashing Machine (I) (File: RcThraM)
===
NAME: Through All the World Below
DESCRIPTION: "Through all the world below God is seen all around, Search hills and valleys through, There he's found. The growing of the corn, the lily and the thorn...." The song describes God's part in the entire universe, and how the creation praises the deity
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1825 (Columbian Harmony)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 34, "Captain Kidd-II" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 38, #4 (1994), pp, 60-61, "Captain Kidd" (1 text, 1 tune, with three-part Sacred Harp-style harmony)
Roud #6667
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Wayfaring Stranger" (tune) and references there
File: LoF034
===
NAME: Through Bushes and Briars: see Bushes and Briars (File: FSOE026)
===
NAME: Through the City Where He Rode
DESCRIPTION: "Through the city where he rode Was spotless white. He will lead me where No tears don't never fall. Oh yes, he is leading me, For I feel his hands on mine." "I shall know him by the prints Of the nails in his hands." All verses are variants on the first
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 642, "Through the City Where He Rode" (1 text)
Roud #11937
NOTES: It was Thomas (John 20:24-29) who demanded to see the marks of the nails on Jesus's hands.
The rest of the song doesn't make much sense. If the description of the city and the rider is a reference to Jesus's entry into Jerusalem, well, nowhere is there any mention of white in any of the gospel narratives. That leaves only references in the Apocalypse -- e.g. the white horse of Rev. 6:2 or the white robes of Rev. (3:4), 4:4, 6:11, 7:9, 13. Perhaps the likeliest reference is to Rev. 19:11, 14, where the King of Kings rides a white horse. No white *city*, though. - RBW
File: Br3642
===
NAME: Thurso Fishing Boat Disaster, The
DESCRIPTION: "A boat from Thurso Bay did go, out to the fishing ground... All wrapped in oilskins were the crew... In one fatal wave they drew their last breath Their bodies now roll in the wide Pentland Firth In a watery grave instead of on earth"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Jan 18, 1874 - The herring fishing boat is lost in a gale in Pentland Firth (source: GreigDuncan1)
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan1 34, "The Thurso Fishing Boat Disaster" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #3804
NOTES: The GreigDuncan1 fragment has the date as June 18, 1889. - BS
File: GrD1034
===
NAME: Thyme, It Is a Precious Thing
DESCRIPTION: The singer laments her precious thyme, which she had and lost. A sailor gave her a rose "that never would decay" to remind her of "the night he stole my bonny thyme away." She warns others against the same mistake
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: loneliness sailor seduction virginity
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, THYMEPRE*
Roud #3
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "In My Garden Grew Plenty of Thyme"
cf. "The Gowans are Gay"
cf. "Garners Gay (Rue; The Sprig of Thyme)"
NOTES: In flower symbolism, thyme stood for virginity. For a catalog of some of the sundry flower symbols, see the notes to "The Broken-Hearted Gardener."
Thyme songs are almost impossible to tell apart, because of course the plot (someone seduces the girl) and the burden (let no man steal your thym) are always identical. For the same reasons, verses float freely between them. So fragmentary versions are almost impossible to classify.
The Digital Tradition has a version, "Rue and Thyme," which seems to have almost all the common elements. Whether it is the ancestor of the various thyme songs, or a gathering together of separate pieces, is not clear to me.
The chorus, "Thyme, it is a precious thing; Thyme brings all things to your mind. Thyme with all its labours Along with all its joys, And it's thyme brings all things to an end," is quite characteristic in its lyric strength. The plot is less diagnostic. - RBW
File: DTthymep
===
NAME: Tibo (Thibault) [Laws C6]
DESCRIPTION: Tibo is one of a crew trying to clear a logjam. The logs he is on give way; Tibo is washed away and his comrade cannot keep hold of him. He leaves a widow and young children; the lumbermen make contributions for their support
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: logger death drowning
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Laws C6, "Tibo (Thibault)"
DT 808, TEBO
Roud #2221
File: LC06
===
NAME: Tickle Cove Pond
DESCRIPTION: A man hauling wood with his mare "Kitty" takes a short cut across a frozen pond. The horse hesitates to cross the weak ice. The man ignores the horse and they fall in. The man shouts for help and neighbors come to haul the mare out with a chanty song.
AUTHOR: Mark Walker ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: horse work rescue
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Blondahl, pp. 16-17, "Tickle Cove Pond" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, pp. 18-19, "Tickle Cove Pond" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, pp. 75-76, "Tickle Cove Pond" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TCKLCOVE*
Roud #7313
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Tickle Cove Pond" (on NFOBlondahl01,NFOBlondahl05)
NOTES: A "tickle" is a narrow inlet of water. Tickle Cove is on the north-east coast of Newfoundland. Also, the song has a chanty included in it that is contextualized for the narrative of the song. For a colorful explanation of Newfoundland usage, see Harold Horwood, "Newfoundland" (Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1969) 83-84. - SH
The author is named by GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador site.
If you are interested in the Newfoundland song tradition in general and the history of this song in particular be sure to read _Taking Apart "Tickle Cove Pond"_ in Canadian Journal for Traditional Music, vol. 29, 2002 by Philip Hiscock, pp. 32-68, also available in PDF format at //cjtm.icaap.org/content/29/05-Hiscock.pdf. Hiscock does not just discuss the origins of the song. From his abstract: "Nowadays, the song has certain meanings for listeners. This paper suggests they reflect contemporary beliefs and 'imaginings' about Newfoundland's past."
"The tune is derived from the Irish tune 'Tatter [i.e., Father] Jack Walsh,' which also goes by several other names in Ireland." Hiscock, p. 40.
The words of some of the songs Hiscock attributes to Mark Waller may be found at the Bonavista Bay Songs section of the Newfoundland's Grand Banks sites - BS
File: Doy18
===
NAME: Tickle My Toe
DESCRIPTION: In successive verses of this bawdy cumulative song, the singer lays his finger or touches his lady friend on the toe, knee, thigh, "funny thing," etc. With each he asks what it is and she gives a nonsensical reply.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy cumulative
FOUND_IN: US(So) Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 545-551, "Tickle My Toe" (5 texts, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Pat MacNamara, "I Left My Hand" (on IRClare01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Gently Johnny My Jingalo"
cf. "A-Roving" (plot, such as it is)
cf. "Baltimore (Up She Goes)" (theme)
cf. "Yo Ho, Yo Ho" (plot)
NOTES: Legman offers substantial notes on the history of this song in Randolph-Legman I. - EC
It can, obviously, be difficult to tell this from "A-Roving" and, especially, "Yo Ho." The reader is strongly advised to check that song as well as this. - RBW
File: RL545
===
NAME: Tiddliewink Old Man
DESCRIPTION: "Tiddliwink, old man, get a woman if you can. If you can't get a woman, get an old tin can. If it wasn't for your name and it wasn't for your shame, I'd let you have a go in a minute, young man"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1974 (recording, Jasper Smith)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad nonsense
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Jasper Smith, "Tiddliewink Old Man" (on Voice14)
NOTES: The current description is all of the Voice14 text. - BS
File: RcTidOMa
===
NAME: Tiddy High O!
DESCRIPTION: "An' now we are bound for ol' Bristol Town, Tiddy high O! high hay! Good-bye to them black gals, the yellars an' the browns, Tiddy high O! hay, high hay!" Verses give references to rum and sugar trading/loading.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Sharp-EFC)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong clothes food drink
FOUND_IN: West Indies Britain
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Hugill, p. 453, "Tiddy High O!" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 339]
Sharp-EFC, XLI, p. 46, "Tiddy I O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8288
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Haul 'Er Away (Little Sally Racket)" (character of Sally Rackett)
File: Hugi453
===
NAME: Tiddy I O: see Tiddy High O! (File: Hugi453)
===
NAME: Tiddy, the Tailor: see The Trooper and the Tailor (File: FSC139)
===
NAME: Tideo: see Jingle at the Window (Tideo) (File: R525)
===
NAME: Tidy Irish Lad
DESCRIPTION: "IÕm a tidy bit of an Irish lad, as you can plainly see, And I like a drop of the creature when I go out upon a spree." The singer boasts of Irish drink, and notes how the English need the Irish, who won the battles of Waterloo, Inkerman, and Sebastopol
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Dean)
KEYWORDS: Ireland drink soldier
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
Nov 5, 1854 - Battle of Inkerman clears the way for the siege of Sevastopol (the city fell in the fall of 1855)
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dean, pp. 64-65, "Tidy Irish Lad" (1 text)
Roud #9561
File: Dean064
===
NAME: Tie Pile Song (Duke See the Tie Pile)
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, (Duke) see the tie pile and Duke git mad, Oh, Duke see the money pile and Duke git glad, Oh Daddy, git one." "Oh, tain't no use in foolin' around, Oh, all of them ties got to go to town, Oh Daddy, git one."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: work nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MWheeler, pp. 23-24, "Duke See the Tie Pile" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10000
NOTES: Wheeler explains that the call, "Oh Daddy, git one" was the call used by rousters to tell the next person in line to pick up his tie. For this reason, I have conjectured that this is not a composition by "Duke" Sims (Wheeler's informant), but a tie-carrying call. I have named it accordingly.
Wheeler's version is more or less a standard blues form, using only four tones of the scale, but I wouldn't be surprised if there are "true" ballad versions in existence. - RBW
File: MWhee023
===
NAME: Tie-Hackin's Too Tiresome: see Rye Whisky (File: R405)
===
NAME: Tie-Shuffling Chant: see Can'cha Line 'Em (File: LxU078)
===
NAME: Tie-Tamping Chant
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, tamp 'em up solid, So dey won't come down... Oh, you can do it." Any suitable verse may be used. Last line of chorus is repeated until the task is finished.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: work worksong nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 17-19, "Tie-Tamping Chant" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15522
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Pay Me My Money Down" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: The Lomaxes quote all sorts of verses for this song. One suspects that not all actually came from their informant. - RBW
File: LxA017
===
NAME: Tiger and the Lion, The: see Bold Dighton [Laws A21] (File: LA21)
===
NAME: Tigery Orum: see Marrowbones [Laws Q2] (File: LQ02)
===
NAME: Till Cock Gets Higher
DESCRIPTION: A cante-fable, this tale with interpolated song tells of the encounter of a country boy with a prostitute, and their bargaining for price.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: bawdy whore bargaining
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph-Legman II, p. 603, "Till Cock Gets Higher" (1 text)
File: RL603
===
NAME: Tim Finnegan's Wake: see Finnegan's Wake [Laws Q17] (File: LQ17)
===
NAME: Timber (I)
DESCRIPTION: "We are trying to carry this timber to the building, Hallelujah, I don't know." "We will make doors and windows in that building, Hallelujah, I don't know." "We will build it to the glory of the Lord, Hallelujah, I don't know."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, p. 386, "Timber" (1 short text, 1 tune)
File: San386
===
NAME: Timber (Jerry the Mule)
DESCRIPTION: The singer encourages his mule, "Hollerin', Tmber, Lord, this timber's gotta roll." He complains about his miserable boss. Jerry the mule can't pull more, so the boss beats him. Jerry kills the boss. The singer wonders why he didn't kill the boss himself
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: work animal death boss
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 130, "Timber/Jerry the Mule" (1 text)
DT, JERRYMUL
File: FSWB130B
===
NAME: Timbrook
DESCRIPTION: "Timbrook has done gone and thrown the rider (x2), If you'd been there when the horses come around, You'd a swore to your maker they never touched ground." "Oh mister, oh mister, I'm risking my life To win money for you and your wife...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: racing horse gambling
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: July 4, 1878 - race between Ten Broeck and Miss Mollie McCarthy (won by Ten Broeck)
FOUND_IN: US(S0)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 881, "Timbrook" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 391-392, "Timbrook" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 881)
Roud #2190
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Molly and Tenbrooks" [Laws H27] (subject)
cf. "Old Timbrook Blue" (subject)
NOTES: Although Randoph's informant, almost certainly correctly, believe this to refer to the race that also spawned "Molly and Tenbrooks," the songs appear to be distinct (though Roud lumps them, and Cohen's notes to Randolph also seem to equate them). - RBW
File: R881
===
NAME: Time: see No Hiding Place (File: FSWB370C)
===
NAME: Time Draws Near: see My Dearest Dear (File: SKE40)
===
NAME: Time Enough Yet
DESCRIPTION: The young man begs the girl to marry; she replied that there is "time enough yet." After hearing enough of this he says he will never return. She soon asks him to come back. He replies there is "time enough yet." Girls are warned not to delay marraige
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Belden, pp. 197-198, "Time Enough Yet" (1 text plus an excerpt from 1 more)
Randolph 369, "Time Enough Yet" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #4264
File: R369
===
NAME: Time for Us to Leave Her: see Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her (File: Doe089)
===
NAME: Time Has Come, My Dearest Dear, The: see My Dearest Dear (File: SKE40)
===
NAME: Time Has Made a Change In Me
DESCRIPTION: "Time has made a change since my childhood days, Many of my friends have gone away." "Time has made a change in the old home place... Time has made a change in me." The singer notes how he has aged, and looks forward to the next world when pain will end
AUTHOR: Harkins Freye
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Lomax recording, from Helena Buggs & Alfred Hamilton); probably written in the 1920w
KEYWORDS: nonballad age
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
DT, TIMEHAS
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 35, #1 (1990), pp, 42-43, "Time Has Made a Change In Me" (1 text, 1 tune, with notes implying it was collected from tradition)
Roud #16072
File: DTtimeha
===
NAME: Time to be Made a Wife: see The Old Maid's Song (II) (File: FJ162)
===
NAME: Time to Leave Her: see Leave Her, Johnny, Leave Her (File: Doe089)
===
NAME: Times Gettin' Hard
DESCRIPTION: "Times gettin' hard, boys, Money's gettin' scarce. If times don't get much better, boys, I'm bound to leave this place." "Take my true love by the hand, lead her through the town...." The singer prepares to depart for (California?) where times are better
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg; recording by Jaybird Coleman)
KEYWORDS: hardtimes poverty exile
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Sandburg, p. 242, "Times Gettin Hard, Boys" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 117, "Times Are Getting Hard" (1 text)
Roud #15620
RECORDINGS:
Jaybird Coleman, "Times Gettin' Hard -- Work's Been Gettin' Scarce" (Gennett, unissued; rec. 1927)
Pete Seeger, "Time's A-getting Hard" (on PeteSeeger06, PeteSeegerCD01) (on PeteSeeger26)
File: San242
===
NAME: Times Gettin' Hard, Boys: see Times Gettin Hard (File: San242)
===
NAME: Tinker Behind the Door, The: see The Beverly Maid and the Tinker (The Tinker Behind the Door) (File: Pea318)
===
NAME: Tinker, The
DESCRIPTION: The lady of the manor sends for the jolly tinker, who services her, her staff (including the butler) and then rides off, "little drops of semen pitter-patting at his feet."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 
KEYWORDS: adultery bawdy Gypsy lover sex tinker
FOUND_IN: Australia Britain(England,Scotland) US(MA,MW,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Cray, pp. 29-36, "The Tinker" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 113-117, "The Jolly Tinker" (3 texts, 1 tune)
DT, JOLITINK JOLLTNK3
Roud #863
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jolly Beggar" [Child 279]
cf. "Clout the Cauldron"
cf. "The Jolly Tinker (I)"
cf. "The Jolly Tinker (III)"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Highland Tinker
The Jolly Tinker
NOTES: Randolph-Legman provides a detailed history of this ballad. - EC
This song can be told from "The Jolly Tinker" by its description of the tinker's, um, improbable physical attributes. - RBW
File: EM029
===
NAME: Tinker's Wedding, The: see The Tinkler's Waddin (The Tinker's Wedding) (File: RcTTWttw)
===
NAME: Tinkler's Waddin, The (The Tinker's Wedding)
DESCRIPTION: Amid drink and celebration, bridegroom Norman Scott is wed for the fourth time (no mention of divorce or widowerhood), to fortune-teller Meg McNeil; a cheerful brawl ensues
AUTHOR: William Watt
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford); reportedly published 1835
KEYWORDS: marriage wedding fight drink party humorous tinker Gypsy
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 1-4, "The Tinkler's Waddin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig #102, pp. 1-2, "The Tinkler's Waddin'" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 609, "The Tinkers' Weddin'" (1 text fragment, 2 tunes)
Roud #5408
RECORDINGS:
Willie Kemp and Curly MacKay, "The Tinklers' Wedding" (on Voice13)
Jimmy Scott, "The Tinker's Weddin'" (on Borders1)
John Strachan, "The Tinkler's Waddin" (on Lomax43, LomaxCD1743)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.27(397/398), "The Tinkler's Wedding" ("In June when broom in bloom was seen"), unknown, n.d.
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(141b), "The Tinker's Wedding," unknown, c. 1840-1860; also L.C.Fol.70(141)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rothesay-O" (tune)
NOTES: The work "tinker" in Britain is applied both to workers in tin (i.e., menders of pots and kettles) and "travellers," or Gypsies. In many songs, including this, it's ambiguous which is meant -- but since many or most of the travelling tinkers *were* Gypsies, it barely matters. - PJS
According to Kennedy, William Watt was born in 1792, and also wrote "Kate Dalrymple," as well as a version of "The Peddlar." The tune used is reportedly identical to "Rothesay-O," though it is not entirely clear which came first. - RBW
GreigDuncan3: "Greig gives the text [which GreigDuncan3 does not include] in Ob. [i.e., Greig] as it appears in Ford." Greig #102 commentary does not say that and there are minor spelling and punctuation differences between Greig #102 and Ford (at least in Ford's 1899 series). - BS
File: RcTTWttw
===
NAME: Tinna Clinnama Clinchama Clingo: see The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin [Child 277] (File: C277)
===
NAME: Tinnaberna Fishermen (I), The
DESCRIPTION: Tinnaberna fishermen out at nightfall November 14, 1815 are overtaken by a squall blowing them northwest. They can see "Poulder fading fastly from our view," the lighthouse at Tuskar, and the warning "bonfire on the hill" but cannot return to shore.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck fishing
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Nov 1815 - Six of seven fishing boats were lost with their crews when they were blown across the channel to the Welsh coast (source: Ranson)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 42-43, "The Tinnaberna Fishermen" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Ran042
===
NAME: Tinnaberna Fishermen (II), The
DESCRIPTION: "On the dark rocks of Wales our poor neighbors were lost ... Those tender-hearted Welshmen, we for them will ever pray That God may grant them pardon against their dying day"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1946 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck fishing
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Nov 1815 - Six of seven fishing boats were lost with their crews when they were blown across the channel to the Welsh coast (source: Ranson)
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, pp. 43-44, "The Tinnaberna Fishermen" (1 text)
File: Ran043
===
NAME: Tippecanoe
DESCRIPTION: "A bumper around now, my hearties, I'll sing you a song that is new; I'll please to the buttons all parties And sing of Old Tippecanoe." The singer details the history of Tippecanoe, and declares, "Bid Martin Van Buren adieu."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1840 (Tippecanoe Song-Book)
KEYWORDS: political nonballad derivative
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Dec 2, 1840 - William Henry Harrison defeats Martin Van Buren
Mar 4, 1841 - Harrison (the first Whig to be elected President) is inaugurated. He gives a rambling inaugural address in a rainstorm and catches cold
April 4, 1841 - Harrison dies of pneumonia, making him the first president to fail to complete his term. After some hesitation, Vice President John Tyler is allowed to succeed as President
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 397, "Tippecanoe" (1 text)
Roud #6950
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rosin the Beau" (tune) and references there
cf. "Old Tippecanoe" (subject)
cf. "Tippecanoe and Tyler Too" (subject)
cf. "Harrison Campaign Song" (subject)
NOTES: For details on the (thoroughly dirty) 1840 Presidential campaign, and the purely false picture it drew of William Henry Harrison, see the notes to "Old Tippecanoe." - RBW
File: Be3397
===
NAME: Tipperary
DESCRIPTION: "Way out in old South Dakota... Once roamed the greatest of outlaws... His name was old Tipperary, Tipperary of rodeo fame, The greatest of all the bronc riders Will never forget that great name." The horse's methods of throwing riders are recounted
AUTHOR: Tex Fletcher
EARLIEST_DATE: 1954 ("Hoofs and Horns")
KEYWORDS: horse cowboy
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 68, "Tipperary" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: According to Ohrlin, Tipperary was a great rodeo horse of the period following the First World War. Only one rider is recorded as having stayed on his back, and even that feat has been questioned. - RBW
File: Ohr068
===
NAME: Tipperary Christening, The
DESCRIPTION: Dennis is christened in Tipperary. Everyone is there. "After dancing, they went in to lunching ... They had all kinds of tea ... and everything that would please." After dinner there was speaking, match making... "they wished the next would be twins"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: childbirth dancing food party moniker twins
FOUND_IN: 
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 15, "The Tipperary Christening" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3840), "The Tipperary Christening", unknown, n.d. 
File: OCon015
===
NAME: Tipperary Far Away
DESCRIPTION: A rebel, Sean Treacy, is dying by moonlight on Talbot Street in Dublin. He asks a passing comrade to take a lock of his hair and take it to his mother in his "native home In Tipperary far away." His comrades bury him.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (IRClancyMakem03)
KEYWORDS: battle rebellion death Ireland IRA hair
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "Tipperary Far Away" (on IRClancyMakem03)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sean Treacy" (subject: the death of Treacy)
cf. "The Station of Knocklong" (for other activities of Treacy)
NOTES: According to _Phoenix Publishing Short History of the 3rd Tipperary Brigade_ on the eircom site, this song refers to Sean Treacy, shot October 14, 1920 in Talbot Street, Dublin. Treacy's body was returned to Tipperary for burial at Kilfeacle. Treacy was a member of the Third Tipperary Brigade. - BS
Perhaps the most popular of at least two and possibly three Sean Treacy songs. Robert Kee, in _Ourselves Alone_, being volume III of _The Green Flag_, p. 116, quotes another, "Our lovely Sean is dead and gone, Shot down in Talbot Street." This is said to have been adapted from an "ancient Irish lament." He does not cite a source for this statement.
For more on Treacy's short, tumultuous career, see the notes to "Sean Treacy." - RBW
File: RcTipFaA
===
NAME: Tipperary Recruiting Song, The
DESCRIPTION: "'Tis now we'd want to be wary, boys, The recruiters are out in Tipperary, boys...." The Irish youths are advised to avoid the British sergeants and the free drinks they offer. They are reminded of all the harm John Bull has done in the past
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 (Galvin)
KEYWORDS: Ireland recruiting drink soldier
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
PGalvin, p. 88, "Tipperary Recruiting Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 299-300, "Tipperary Recruiting Song" (1 text)
NOTES: It is not immediately evident what time period this song refers to. The British desperation for soldiers might seem to imply World War I -- but in 1916 Britain instituted the draft (in England; it took a little longer in Ireland); the recruiting sergeant was a thing of the past. So an earlier period is indicated. - RBW
File: PGa088
===
NAME: Tipperty's Jean
DESCRIPTION: "In a wee thacket hoosie, far doon i' the glen, There lived a young lassie, the plague o' the men." Tipperty Jean's beauty has ensnared many, but she rejects them all -- even the Laird as too old. She has enough money to live, and so marries Puir Johnnie
AUTHOR: Peter Buchan ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord); Buchan died 1881
KEYWORDS: love courting money rejection marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 283-284, "Tipperty's Jean" (1 text)
Roud #5602
File: Ord283
===
NAME: Tiranti, My Love: see Lord Randal [Child 12] (File: C012)
===
NAME: Tired o' Workin' Lyauvie's Braes
DESCRIPTION: "Tired o' workin Lyauvie's braes, An' tired o' gaun to Imphm's toon, I'll gang back to Peterhead, An' there I'll get my penny fun'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: work hardtimes farming worker
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 350, "Tired o' Workin' Lyauvie's Braes" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #5900
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan3 fragment. - BS
File: GrD3350
===
NAME: Tiree Tragedy, A: see Mo Nighean donn a Cornaig (File: K019)
===
NAME: 'Tis Not Always the Bullet that Kills
DESCRIPTION: "Please, dear Uncle, now tell me why you're sighing." The boy wonders why, if he survived the war, he is always sad. The boy's mother says that she loved the uncle, but married her sweetheart's brother when she thought the uncle dead. Both regret this
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1920 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love soldier betrayal war family
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 715, "'Tis Not Always the Bullet that Kills" (1 text)
Roud #7431
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Two Little Girls in Blue" (plot)
File: R715
===
NAME: Tis Now, Young Man, Give Me Attention
DESCRIPTION: The singer complains of his sad life. He courts and marries a girl. After seven years, he finds her untrue, but cannot gain a divorce because he can't prove her infidelity. He wishes to sail away, but hates to live his little girl (?). He dies at sea
AUTHOR: Napoleon Stetson?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: marriage betrayal sailor death ring
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 312, "'Tis Now, Young Man, Give Me Attention" (1 text)
Roud #6648
File: BrII312
===
NAME: Tis the Gift To Be Simple: see Simple Gifts (File: DarN259A)
===
NAME: Titanic (I), The ("It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down") [Laws D24] (Titanic #1)
DESCRIPTION: (Though the builders called her unsinkable), "On Monday morning... the great Titanic began to reel and rock." Rich and poor will not mix, so the poor on the lower decks drown first. The band plays "Nearer My God to Thee" and sixteen hundred people die
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (recording, Ernest V. Stoneman)
KEYWORDS: sea wreck family disaster death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (12 citations)
Laws D24, "The Titanic I"
Randolph 693, "The Great Titanic" ("B" fragment only; Randolph's "A" text is "The Titanic (IV)" ("Lost on the Great Titanic") (Titanic #4))
BrownII 287, "The Titanic" (5 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 2 more. The Laws data for this book is badly confused, but it appears the "C" and "D" texts are this song, and apparently the "E" fragment also; "A" and "B" are broadsides Laws does not classify (The first clearly based on "The Golden Vanity"; the second seems to be an adaption of this song to "There Will Be a Hot Time"), and "H" is "God Moves on the Water")
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 88-89, "The Great Titanic" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 323, "The Titanic" (1 text+2 fragments)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 60 "When That Great Ship Went Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 723, "The Ship Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, p. 77, "(The Titanic)" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 280-281, "The Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 184-185, "The Coast of Peru" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 55, "The Titanic" (1 text)
DT 616, TITANIC5*
Roud #774
RECORDINGS:
Pink Anderson, "The Titanic" (on PinkAnd1)
Vernon Dalhart, "The Great Titanic" (Champion 15121, 1926) (Radiex 4131=Grey Gull 4131 [as Jeff Calhoun], 1927)
George Reneau, "The Sinking of the Titanic" (Vocalion 5077, 1926)
Ernest V. Stoneman, "The Titanic" (OKeh 40288, 1925; rec. 1924);  "Sinking of the Titanic" (Edison 51823, 1926) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5200, 1926); "Sinking of the Titanic" (on Stonemans02)
William & Versey Smith, "When That Great Ship Went Down" (Paramount 12505B, 1927; on AAFM1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
cf. "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (tune)
NOTES: Despite this song (and other folklore), the band on the _Titanic_ did NOT play "Nearer My God to Thee" as the ship sank. Instead, they played light music to prevent panic.
The reference to rich and poor not mixing is accurate enough, though hardly unique to the _Titanic_. As with most liners of the time, the _Titanic_ carried three classes of passengers: First class, second class, and steerage, for the poorest people (mostly emigrants, and mostly jammed in their cabins as tight as sardines)
Steerage passengers, of course, were stuck far down in the ship. Dr. Robert D. Ballard's _The Discovery of the Titanic_ has a side view of the ship's plans on page 168, showing that many of the steerage passengers were four floors below the main deck, near the waterline, whereas the first class passengers were mostly above the main deck, with easy access to the lifeboats.
It showed in the casualties. According to Lincoln P. Paine's _Ships of the World_, 60% of the first class passengers survived (Ballard, p. 149, reports that every child in first class, save one, survived, and she died only because she wouldn't leave her mother, who wouldn't leave her husband). 42% of second class passengers survived, but only 25% of steerage (comparable to the 24% of the crew who survived).
Some versions of this, including Friedman's, have a reference to Paul's promise that "not a man should drown"; this is a reference to Acts 27:34, when Paul is on his way to Rome and the ship in which he is being held prisoner is driven by a storm. Friedman wonders if there might not be an earlier song which gave rise to a _Titanic_ text. It seems likely enough, and the verse about Paul is a likely survival, since it is almost irrelevant in its current place in the text.
In fact, we might even make a guess as to the source of the verse. Most recordings of this song use an approximation of Ernest Stoneman's tune. But Wade Mainer eventually recorded a version (not cited here because I don't know the album number) which uses a tune effectively identical to the one he uses for "Home in the Rock." So that could be a source for scripture references.
To tell this from the other _Titanic_ songs, consider the chorus:
It was sad when that great ship went down,
It was sad when that great ship went down.
There were husbands and wives,
Little children lost their lives,
It was sad when that great ship went down.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: LD24
===
NAME: Titanic (II), The ("The Titanic, Out on that Ocean") (Titanic #2)
DESCRIPTION: "The rich folks 'cided to take a trip On the finest ship was ever built. The cap'n persuaded these people to think This Titanic too safe to sink. Cho: Out on that ocean, The great wide ocean, The Titanic, out on that ocean, sinking down!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck family disaster death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Sandburg, pp. 254-255, "De Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4172
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: Despite this song (and other folklore), the band on the _Titanic_ did NOT play "Nearer My God to Thee" as the ship sank. Instead, they played light music to prevent panic.
This song is item dI26 in Laws's Appendix II.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: San254
===
NAME: Titanic (III), The ("God Moves on the Water") (Titanic #3)
DESCRIPTION: The story of the Titanic. The women have to watch their husbands drown. Captain Smith awakens to gunshots. Millionaire Jacob Nash cannot pay his fare (to survive). Chorus: "God moves on the water (x3) And the people had to run and pray.
AUTHOR: Blind Willie Johnson?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Blind Willie Johnson)
KEYWORDS: death ship wreck disaster religious
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 76-77, "(God Moves on the Water)" (1 text)
BrownII 287, "The Titanic" (5 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 2 more. The Laws data for this book is badly confused, but the "H" text is this song; "C" and "D" are "The Titanic (I)," and apparently the "E" fragment also; "A" and "B" are broadsides Laws does not classify (The first clearly based on "The Golden Vanity"; the second seems to be an adaption of this song to "There Will Be a Hot Time"))
DT, TITANIC4*
Roud #4173
RECORDINGS:
Blind Willie Johnson, "God Moves on the Water" (Columbia 14520-D, 1930; rec. 1929; on BWJ02, CGospel1)
Bessie Jones et al, "The Titanic" (on LomaxCD1700)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: This song is item dI27 in Laws's Appendix II. It should probably be given a proper entry, though; it seems to be the most popular of the _Titanic_ songs except for "The Titanic (I) ('It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down')" [Laws D24].
The statement 'God moves on the water" is probably an allusion to Genesis 1:2, where "the spirit of God moved on the face of the water" ("ocean" or "abyss" might be a better translation here, but of course what matters is what the King James Bible says).
Lyle Lofgren makes the interesting observation that the oldest known version, Blind Willie Johnson's, does not actually use the phrase "God moves on the water." He lets the guitar play the phrase "on the water." Lyle speculates that that there may have been an older gospel song which would have let listeners know the missing phrase. This seems not impossible (perhaps "Wade in the Water" -- there are some similarities in the tunes I have heard). But the other possibility he suggests is that the song was already well known in 1929, so Johnson didn't need to sing the words. And, indeed, the Lomaxes report collecting it in 1933.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: CNFM076
===
NAME: Titanic (IV), The ("Lost on the Great Titanic") (Titanic #4)
DESCRIPTION: The Titanic is only a few hours' sailing from shore when it strikes an iceberg and sinks. Both rich and poor are lost with the ship. Husbands gallantly stand aside to let their wives be saved. The band plays "Nearer my God to Thee" as she goes down
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck family disaster death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 693, "The Great Titanic" ("A" text only; Randolph's "B" text is "The Titanic I")
McNeil-SFB2, p. 104, "The Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TITANIC2*
Roud #3526
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
cf. "Lost on the Lady Elgin" (tune)
NOTES: This song is dD40 in Laws's Appendix I.
Despite this song (and other folklore), the band on the _Titanic_ did NOT play "Nearer My God to Thee" as the ship sank. Instead, they played light music to prevent panic.
To tell this from the other _Titanic_ songs, consider these stanzas:
The great _Titanic_ went sailing
Ninety-eight miles from shore,
It suddenly struck an iceberg
And sank forevermore.
Lost, lost on the great Titanic,
Sinking to rise no more,
A number of sixteen hundred
Had failed to reach the shore.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: R693A
===
NAME: Titanic (IX), The (Sinking of the Titanic): see Sinking of the Titanic (Titanic #9) (File: RcTitaIX)
===
NAME: Titanic (V), The (Many Hearts Surrendered to the Shipwreck) (Titanic #5)
DESCRIPTION: "The Titanic left Southhampton With all its sports and gang, When they struck the iceberg, I know their mind was changed." The story of the wreck is briefly told, with a mention of John Jacob Astor, who is credited with trying to save the women
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Gardner/Chickering)
KEYWORDS: sea wreck family disaster death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Gardner/Chickering 120, "The Titanic" (1 text)
ST GC120 (Partial)
Roud #3525
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: Perhaps best recognized by the chorus:
Many hearts surrendered to the shipwreck;
On the sea many hearts surrendered,
Crying "Nearer My God to Thee."
This even though, as we've said in the notes to all the other _Titanic_ songs, the band did not play "Nearer My God to Thee"; it played light music to prevent panic.
John Jacob Astor (1864-1912) did indeed die on the _Titanic_, though I don't know of any evidence that he was the prime mover in saving women and children. In fact, the only report I know of about his behavior while aboard was that, when the lifeboats were being loaded with women and children, he tried to make his way aboard the lifeboat holding his (trophy) wife. He had to be ordered back by the crew.
This is item dD41 in Laws's Appendix II. Roud lumps this with The _Titanic_ (VI), but I don't see any common elements except the boat.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: GC120
===
NAME: Titanic (VI), The ("Cold and Icy Sea") (Titanic #6)
DESCRIPTION: The Titanic sets out from Liverpool and sinks in the cold waters off Newfoundland. The ballad notes how both rich and poor, upper and lower classes, were lost in the disaster
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: ship wreck disaster death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
McNeil-SFB2, p. 103, "The Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TITANIC1*
Roud #3525
RECORDINGS:
Almeda Riddle, "The Titanic" (on LomaxCD1707)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: Despite this song (and other folklore), the band on the _Titanic_ did NOT play "Nearer My God to Thee" as the ship sank. Instead, they played light music to prevent panic.
Roud lumps this with The _Titanic_ (V), but I don't see any common elements except the boat.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: MN2103
===
NAME: Titanic (VII), The ("As the Moon Rose in Glory/Gone to Rest/The Watchman") (Titanic #7)
DESCRIPTION: "As the moon rose in glory... She told her sad, sad story / Sixteen hundred had gone to rest." A watchman dreams of the Titanic's fate, but cannot get anyone to save the ship or even their families. The widows and orphans are left mourning
AUTHOR: Seth Newton Mize
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (recording, Darby & Tarlton)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck family disaster death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
McNeil-SFB2, p. 105, "The Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, TITANIC3*
Roud #4779
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "The Titanic" (Acme 1000-B, mid-1950s)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Titanic" (on NLCR14, NLCRCD2)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: Despite this song (and other folklore), the band on the _Titanic_ did NOT play "Nearer My God to Thee" as the ship sank. Instead, they played light music to prevent panic.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: MN2105
===
NAME: Titanic (VIII), The ("Fare Thee Well, Titanic, Fare Thee Well") (Titanic #8)
DESCRIPTION: "It was midnight on the sea, The band was playing 'Nearer, My God, to Thee"; Fare thee well, Titanic, fare thee well." The Titanic hits an iceberg; women and children survive; men die. Jack Johnson survives because he is refused passage
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1949
KEYWORDS: death ship wreck disaster religious Black(s)
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 77-78, (no title) (1 text)
Roud #11693
RECORDINGS:
Art Thieme, "Faretheewell Titanic" (on Thieme01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: Despite this song (and other folklore), the band on the _Titanic_ did NOT play "Nearer My God to Thee" as the ship sank. Instead, they played light music to prevent panic.
This particular version, known and sung by Lead Belly, is based on the story of Black boxer Jack Johnson, who was refused passage on the _Titanic_ due to his color.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: CNFM077
===
NAME: Titanic (X), The ("Down With the Old Canoe") (Titanic #10)
DESCRIPTION: The Titanic sets sail, but sinks. The singers then draw morals, including that the hand of Man is no match for God Chorus: "Sailing out to win her fame, the Titanic was her name... Many passengers and her crew went down with that old canoe"
AUTHOR: Dorsey Dixon
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (recording, Dixon Brothers)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: The Titanic sets sail amid gaiety and laughter, but sinks. The singers then draw morals, including that the hand of Man is no match for God, and that one should obey the commands of Jesus. Chorus: "Sailing out to winter pain, the Titanic was her name/When she had sailed 500 miles from shore/Many passengers and her crew went down with that old canoe/They all went down to never ride no more"
KEYWORDS: pride death ship party disaster wreck religious Jesus
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
ADDITIONAL: Steven Biel, _A Cultural History of the Titanic Disaster_, 1996, pp. 98-99 (in the Norton edition), "Down with the Old Canoe" (1 text)
ST RcTDWtOC (Full)
RECORDINGS:
Dixon Brothers, "Down With the Old Canoe" (Bluebird B-7449, 1938; on Dixons01, Dixons04)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: This can be distinguished from the other Titanic songs by the presence of the phrase, "Down with the old canoe," and by the proportion of narrative (1 verse) to moralizing (3 verses). - PJS
In light of the song's ludicrously un-Christian attempt at theology, it should probably be noted that, at the time the _Titanic_ sank, the Germans already had an even bigger liner under construction. The _Imperator_ had a number of design flaws, but she never hit any icebergs, and was retired, quite un-sunk, in 1938 (by which time she had become the British _Berengeria_).
Lyle Lofgren thinks this is a rewrite of the Cofer Brothers song "The Titanic Was Her Name." There is some similarity in the chorus, but the rewriting is substantial; I'd be inclined to regard that as just an instance of a floating verse. But there seems no doubt that Dorsey Dixon wrote the song, because it is dated 25 years after the _Titanic_ sank, i.e. around 1937. Which is right about the time the Dixon Brothers recorded the song.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: RcTDWtOC
===
NAME: Titanic (XI), The ("The Titanic Nobly Bore Along") (Titanic #11)
DESCRIPTION: Titanic stops at Queenstown for Irish girls and boys. An iceberg floats by but "Titanic proudly bore along unmindful of her foe." Wireless operators send an SOS but help is too late. The Carpathia saves those in lifeboats and took them to New York.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1947 (Ranson)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Titanic, the pride of Belfast, leaves Southampton with millionaires and poor. She stops at Queenstown for Irish girls and boys. At night an iceberg floats by but "Titanic proudly bore along unmindful of her foe." When struck, Captain Smith has wireless operators send an SOS but help arrivesd too late. "Women and children" first saved seven hundred. The Carpathia saves those in lifeboats and takes them to New York.
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck rescue
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
McBride 67, "The Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ranson, p. 128, "The Titanic" (1 text)
Hammond-Belfast, pp. 30-31, "The Titanic" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. all the other Titanic songs (plot)
NOTES: McBride: "In the Irish Tradition there are at least eight distinct ballads on the subject.... [This] version is the one most favoured by Irish traditional singers." - BS
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: Ran128
===
NAME: Titanic (XII), The (You Landsmen All, on You I Call) (Titanic #12)
DESCRIPTION: "The Titanic called at Queenstown ... And eight hundred emigrants From Ireland sailed away." After four days "our ship struck an iceberg." The crew tries to save the women and children. Millionaires died but we mourn for our Irish lads that drowned.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1976 (IRClare01)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: ()

Roud #18475
RECORDINGS:
Jamesie McCarthy, "The Titanic" (on IRClare01)
NOTES: The Irish grief over the passengers on the _Titanic_ is easily understood. As with most liners of the time, the _Titanic_ carried three classes of passengers: First class, second class, and steerage. And steerage was mostly emigrants, and many of the emigrants Irish.
Steerage passengers, of course, were stuck far down in the ship. Dr. Robert D. Ballard's _The Discovery of the Titanic_ has a side view of the ship's plans on page 168, showing that many of the steerage passengers were four floors below the main deck, near the waterline, whereas the first class passengers were mostly above the main deck, with easy access to the lifeboats.
The steerage passengers, by contrast, were actually barricaded into their below-decks area -- a quarantine measure to prevent the spread of disease (see Wyn Craig Wade, _The Titanic: End of a Dream_, p. 22). But it meant that the third class passengers had to break down, or at least have the knowledge and nerve to talk their way past, the barriers to get off the ship!
It showed in the casualties. According to Lincoln P. Paine's _Ships of the World_, 60% of the first class passengers survived (Ballard, p. 149, reports that every child in first class, save one, survived, and she died only because she wouldn't leave her mother, who wouldn't leave her husband). 42% of second class passengers survived, but only 25% of steerage (comparable to the 24% of the crew who survived). 
Walter Lord's famous book _A Night to Remember_ (1955) gives a passenger list. Pages 207-209 catalogs the third class passengers who embarked at Queenstown (Cobh). There were 114 of them, mostly with typical Irish names. Only 40 (35%) survived.
Other sources differ slightly,  Stephanie Barczewski's _Titanic: A Night Remembered_ (Hambledon Continuum, 2004), p. 9,  says that 123 passengers boared at Queenstown, of whom 113 paid the six pound ten shilling third class fare. Obviously the presence or absence of one passenger doesn't change the casualty rate much.
For an extensive history of the _Titanic_, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the _Titanic_ songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: RcTita12
===
NAME: Titanic (XV), The ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15)
DESCRIPTION: "On the tenth day of April 1912 her whistles they did sound, Her power of motion was released, her twin screws turned around." The ship gives little attention to the dangers of the sea. The ship sinks 400 miles from cape race
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 2004 (Leach collection web site)
KEYWORDS: sea ship wreck technology
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 14/15, 1912 - Shortly before midnight, ship's time, the Titanic strikes an iceberg and begins to sink. Only 711 survivors are found of 2224 people believed to have been aboard.
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: ()

ST RcTita15 (Partial)
Roud #774
RECORDINGS:
Mrs. John Powers, "The Titanic" (MacEdward Leach Collection, Songs of Atlantic Canada, Accession # 78-054 NFLD 1 Tape 2 Track 5)
NOTES: Roud, following the Leach web site, includes this with "The Titanic (I)" ("It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down") [Laws D24] (Titanic #1). Clearly, though, it is a separate song; it lacks the chorus of Laws D24, has no lyrics in common that I can see, and includes a lot of details I haven't seen elsewhere, most though not all of them accurate.
Because this is one of the less inaccurate _Titanic_ ballads, I'm going to use it as my basis for historical notes on the wreck.
I hesitated long before deciding to include a note on the _Titanic_ disaster; after all, there are many much fuller accounts elsewhere, which are the basis for this note (for the sources used in what follows, see the annotated bibliography at the end of this essay). I've included this relatively short history to document some of the features mentioned in the _Titanic_ songs.
In what follows, I have included references to the various _Titanic_ songs, in curly brackets for lack of a better notation. For example, the _Titanic_ was, according to "The Loss of the Titanic (Titanic #13)," "The beauty of the White Star Line." The goal in building the _Titanic_ was indeed to make a very ornate ship, so where I say White Star "would make their name on comfort," this is followed by the citation {#13}, meaning that this accords with "The Loss of the Titanic." Where the songs are wrong (as, e.g., in the claim that the band played "Nearer, My God to Thee"), the citation will be {contra #1, #2...}.
It might be noted that, although there seem to be more folk songs about the _Titanic_ disaster than any twentieth century event except the Irish 1916 rebellion and its aftermath, they represent a relatively small fraction of total compositions on the subject. Ritchie, p. 205, estimates that there were "some 300 works about, or somehow associated with," the loss of the _Titanic_.
The story of the _Titanic_, in a way, begins in 1870, when the _Oceanic_ created the transatlantic passenger liner (Wade, p. 13) and made the White Star Line's reputation for luxury crossings (Brinnin, p. 241). You could argue for an even earlier date -- e.g. Brinnin, p. 4, begins his account with the _James Madison_ of 1818, which was the first packet to keep a regular schedule. But the _Madison_ was a sailing ship, and not very comfortable. Samuel Cunard had replaced the sailing ships with steamers in the following decades, but though Cunard ships were very safe in an era when wrecks were common on other lines (Brinnin, p. 245 notes that they never lost a passenger in the entire nineteenth century!), They weren't particularly enjoyable to be aboard; the idea was simply to get across the Atlantic.
The _Oceanic_ converted the trip "across the pond" from a burden to something to be enjoyed. Brinnin, p. 242, calls her "the eponymous instance of the modern ocean liner." Very long and narrow, she did not confine her passengers to the stern areas as so many earlier ships had done. Staterooms were made larger. There was steam heat. She was far from perfect; many changes had to be made after her first voyage (Brinnin, p. 243). But she had changed the whole nature of transatlantic travel.
It didn't take long for competition to become intense. Three British lines -- White Star, Inman (which was rapidly failing and would soon be taken over by American interests), and the more-established Cunard -- were joined by several German competitors and a few small fry from other countries. By the end of the nineteenth century, it was becoming almost impossible to make passenger traffic pay due to the cuthroat competition (Ramsay, p. 11). The various companies all formed alliances. The Germans had some government support. Cunard eventually turned to the government as well, offering to produce fast liners that the Royal Navy could take over as auxiliary cruisers as needed. Thus were born the _Lusitania_ and her sister the _Mauretania_ (Brinnin, p. 328fff., Ramsay, pp. 15-17; Paine, p. 330).
White Star had to respond, but its answer was different. Rather than turn their independence over to the British government (a deal with the devil that would in fact eventually pose great difficulties for Cunard during World War I), they were in effect taken over by J. P. Morgan (Wade, pp. 14-15; Butler-Unsink, p. 9), which already owned Inman and some smaller American lines and had a deal with the Germans (Brinnin, p. 325).
For all his deep pockets and his cartel-like control over several shipping firms, even Morgan had to field a competitive steamer line. The _Lusitania_ was a fine, fast ship (capable, in ideal conditions, of sustained speeds of 26 knots), but her design was radical in many ways -- long, narrow (which made the idea of using her as a warship rather silly; she would have been a lousy gun platform), and driven by the newfangled turbines.
White Star, a more conservative company, preferred not to be so daring in designing their answer. They didn't even rely on turbine-driven screws (Wade, pp. 270-271) {contra #15}. (Ironic, given that the Ismays, managers of White Star, had taken a ride on the world's first turbine-powered ship, _Turbinia_, on the day of her unveiling at Victoria's Diamond Jubilee; _Turbinia_ at the time was the world's fastest ship, by a large margin; Brinnin, pp. 307-308.) The center screw used a turbine, but the port and starboard screws used the old, less efficient reciprocating engines (Butler-Unsink, p. 16).
Rather than compete on crossing time {contra #2, #15}, White Star's ships would make their name on comfort {#13; cf. #16, which describes her one voyage as a "pleasure trip"}. White Star's new liners -- to become the _Olympic_, _Titanic_, and _Britannic_ -- would be about three or four knots slower than Cunard's. That speed difference allowed a huge savings in engine weight; to get that three knot advantage, _Lusitania_ needed 68,000 horsepower engines (Ramsay, p. 21) despite a gross tonnage of only 32,000 tons; _Titanic_, at 46,300 tons, had according to the advertisement reprinted in Ballard, p. 169, engines developing a mere 50,000 horsepower (a figure also quoted by Paine, p. 520; Ballard, p. 220, lists her as 46,000 horsepower; Barczewski, p. 3, as 55,000. Lord-Night, p. 174, says she was registered as 50,000 hp, but could reach 55,000. It is probable that the exact figure was never known; _Titanic_ never once went up to full speed). Unlike the _Lusitania_ and _Mauretania_, which had four propellers, she had only three screws {contra #15, which lists her as having two}.
The weight saved on the engines would all go into more ship -- and more comforts for the passengers. _Olympic_ and _Titanic_ were, for instance, the first liners to include swimming pools (Barczewski, p. 7); they also had Turkish baths (Brinnin, p. 362). So large were the designs that builders Harland and Wolff of Belfast {#15} had to build new slips to hold the ships -- replacing three of their old slips with just two, one for _Olympic_ and one for _Titanic_ (Wade, p. 16).
First class was so fancy that it was simply expected that its occupants would bring their servants; there were separate facilities for first class passengers and the servants of those passengers (Butler-Unsink, p. 54).
Over 3000 workers were involved in the construction of each ship (Barczewski, p. 214, who notes that the Belfast shipyard employed mostly Protestants, making _Olympic_ and _Titanic_ toys in the battle over Home Rule and the contest over relations between Ulster and the rest of Ireland. Little wonder that it was called "The Pride of Belfast" {#11}).
The potential degree of luxury available seems almost obscene today. Butler-Unsink, pp. 36-37, lists the standard load of food and kitches equipment. This included, among other things, 1000 pounds of hothouse grapes (from England, in April 1912, remember; there were no hybrid fruits that could last long enough to be shipped from a southern climate) and 100 pairs of grape scissors.
The cost of the two ships was on the order of a million and a half pounds each (see that advertisement in Ballard, p. 169). And that's 1908 pounds (I somewhere saw an estimate that it would take a half a billion 1990s dollars to build a replica). _Titanic_ was 882 feet long, her beam was 92 feet, and it was 60.5 feet from the waterline to the boat deck  (she was eight decks tall), with the funnels rising another 115 feet (cf. Paine, p. 520, and the deck plans in Wade, pp. 174-183). Lord-Night, p. 174, puts this in down-to-earth terms: "11 stories high and four city blocks long." Ballard, p. 219, reveals that _Olympic_ and _Titanic_ each were roughly two years on the slips before launching, and needed another year after that to complete.
Perhaps never in history has a class of ships been so ill-fated. _Olympic_ was the lucky one; she stayed afloat until she was taken out of service in 1935 (though she had to be heavily rebuilt after the _Titanic_ wreck, so that she became much harder to sink; Wade, p. 328). But in her two dozen years of service she had had *four* collisions with other ships: with the tug _O. L. Hallenbeck_ and with the H.M.S. _Hawke_ in 1911 (Lord-Lives, pp. 29-31; Ritchie, p. 97, notes that she was being manuevered by a harbor pilot at the time, but that doesn't change the fact that _Olympic_ literally sucked the smaller ship into a crash), with the _Fort St. George_ in 1924 (Paine, p. 376), and with the _Nantucket Lightship_ in 1934 (Paine, p. 349). When Cunard and White Star merged in 1934, Cunard promptly got rid of _Olympic_ (Paine, p. 376; Wade, p. 329).
The _Britannic_ never sailed as a liner; she was not finished at the start of World War I, and was converted to a hospital ship. In that capacity, she hit a mine in 1916 and sank in less than an hour (Paine, p. 81) -- another example of the inadequate internal subdivisions of the design.
As for the _Titanic_ -- well, we're getting to that.
The _Olympic_ was finished first, starting her maiden voyage to New York on May 31, 1911 (Wade, p. 17). The ship seemed to work well, but the designers learned a few things (mostly cosmetic) which caused the _Titanic_ to be slightly modified, primarily to add more passenger accommodations (Wade, pp. 18-19); in the process, her displacement increased by about a thousand tons. _Titanic_ could still be considered _Olympic's_ sister, but she was heavier -- the largest ship in the world at the time {#15} -- and somewhat more luxurious.
The _Titanic_ would set out on her maiden voyage on April 10, 1912 {#9, #15}. At noon, she left Southampton {#5, #9, #11, #15, contra #6, which says she sailed from Liverpool}, reached Cherbourg that evening, left France just a couple of hours later, arrived at Queenstown {#11, #12} around noon the next day, and set out for New York {#6} around 2:00 p.m. on April 11 (Lord-Night, p. 175).
It was not an auspicious start, really; there had been coal strike (Wade, p. 23; Barczewski, p. 263, notes that the strike ended April 6, but of course coal was only just starting to go back "into the pipeline"; it hadn't reached Southampton yet), causing White Star to requisition coal from other vessels, cancel their voyages, and transfer the passengers to _Titanic_. In the process, they started a small coal fire that never was entirely put out; the coal smoked the entire time of the voyage (Butler-Unsink, p. 37). Meaning that, unknown to the passengers, there was always a slight danger of a coal dust explosion (which, we note, is the most likely explanation for why the _Lusitania_ sank three years later).
Borrowing coal and shifting passengers was not unreasonable. Sailing the largest ship in the world with a raw crew was more of a problem. _Titanic_ would be going on her maiden voyage with a crew that did not know the ship; at this time, crews were mostly hired on a by-the-voyage basis (Barczewski, p. 264; cf. Wade, p. 24) -- and, on a vessel her size, they wouldn't be able to learn their way around in a day or two! Even second officer Lightoller, a veteran seaman with much experience on White Star ships, said it took him two weeks to learn his way around (Barczewski, p. 5; Butler-Unsink, p. 46). Many of the crew didn't have that much time, and though a lot of them had done at least one voyage on the _Olympic_ (Barczewski, p. 266), most didn't have his background to help them learn their way.
Even if you ignore their unfamiliarity with the ship, it turns out that only 83 of the crew were actual sailors, used to dealing with a ship at sea (Wade, p. 210). The rest were stewards and other specialists -- important for the passengers, but they couldn't really run the ship.
Nor had _Titanic_ completed anything like proper sea trials -- for instance, she had never once worked up to full speed, and done very little emergency maneuvering (Wade, p. 184). In a great irony, it is reported that, it was only as she arrived in the vicinity of the ice that she worked her way up to the fastest speed she had ever attained (Wade, p. 28). Apparently she never tested her turning radius at full speed (Lord-Lives, p. 56), and she only did one "emergency stop"; it took her three and a quarter minutes, and 3000 feet, to halt from a speed of 18 knots (Lord-Lives, p. 33) -- a speed she would exceed on her voyage across the Atlantic.
And there had never been a true boat drill conducted. There had been one partial demonstration, inadequate in every regard (Wade, p. 211). Normally drills were conducted on Sunday, but on _Titanic's_ maiden voyage, Captain Smith cancelled it to hold a religious service (Barczewski, p. 10). The passengers didn't know what to do should they need to get to the boats; worse, few of the crew knew how to lower them! (Lord-Lives, pp. 88). So, when the crisis came, the same few crewmen had to do all the work, meaning that the boats could not all be lowered at once (Lord-Lives, pp. 95-96; cf. {#9}, which says they lowered the lifeboats "one by one." It was actually one by one on each side, but close enough).
The handful of officers doing the lowering had to work so hard that, even on that cold night, they ended up sweating heavily; Officer Lightoller would take off his coat before the last boats were lowered, leaving him in dripping-wet pajamas (Lord-Night, p. 79).
Finally, the captain was not someone you'd be likely to pick to deal with an emergency situation. E. J. Smith had much experience, starting as a boy on a sailing passenger ship and quickly working his way up to mate and then captain (Barczewski, p. 162). Not satisfied with that, he transferred to the passenger liners and working his way up to command those as well. He had commanded over a dozen different liners (Lord-Lives, p. 28) when he was promoted to the pinnacle of the White Star line, the _Olympic_ (Barczewski, p. 163). He was so well-liked that White Star made it a policy for him to command new vessels (Barczewski, p. 165). On paper, he was the perfect captain for _Titanic_ {#15}; his time on _Olympic_ meant that he was one of the handful who had some real idea how her new sister ship worked.
But Smith's resume sounded better than it was. He was a good manager and diplomat -- but he had never had to deal with real problems. In an interview, he once declared, "When anyone asks how I can best describe my experience in nearly forty years at sea, I merely say, uneventful. Of course there have been winter gales, and storms and fogs and the like, but in all my experience I have never been in any accident of any sort worth speaking about" (quoted in Barczewski, p. 185; Butler-Unsink, p. 48; Lord-Lives, p. 29; Wade, p. 38. Eaton/Haas, however, note on p. 77 that his command the _Germanic_ had capsized in New York harbor in 1899. Plus there was the _Hawke_ collision. It's arguably not a bad safety record, but it isn't perfect, either).
And he didn't have a mind set suited to surprises. In 1906, aboard the _Adriatic_ -- a ship no one ever claimed was unsinkable -- he said, "I cannot imagine any condition which would cause a ship to founder" (Lord-Lives, p. 18; Tibballs, p. 227, gives a _Boston Post_ story with the quote). It is ironic to note that his second officer on the _Titanic_, Charles Lightoller, had already been through two shipwrecks! (Butler-Other, p. 58). Maybe Smith knew better, and was trying to encourage passengers -- but such statements surely encourage complacency.
Even  before the _Titanic_ set sail, it was known that there were icebergs in the North Atlantic -- though {contra #11} she had not seen any herself. A warm year had caused many to break loose from the polar cap; another liner, the _Niagara_, in fact collided with one at about the time _Titanic_ set out (Wade, p. 31).
No one in authority aboard _Titanic_ seemed worried. Though several ships had been damaged by icebergs in recent years, all had survived (Wade, p. 32). And _Titanic_ was much stronger than most of those ships. She was divided into 16 sections, designed to be watertight, with a central control on the bridge that could, in theory, instantly isolate the sections. She was designed to stay afloat if any two of the sections flooded, or if the front four (which were of course narrower) were breached (Ballard, p. 22).
This was not really such good protection as was claimed. Lord-Lives, pp. 20-22, discusses how early liners (notably the _Great Eastern_ of 1858) had been designed to be unsinkable. _Great Eastern_ had a true double hull (_Titanic_ had a double bottom but not a full double hull; Barczewski, p. 4), a true set of partitions (15 bulkheads from front to back, as on _Titanic_, but with subdivisions within each cell, as on a battleship, so she was a true honeycomb), and her divisions reached all the way up to the upper deck. Water in one section simply could not work its way into another. But this had proved very inconvenient -- a steward or passenger in one section had to go all the way to the upper deck to move to another. Gradually, the partitions dividing port and starboard sides went out of ship designs, the bulkheads were lowered so that the upper decks were not partitioned, and doors were built into the bulkheads on the lower levels.
The diagram in Ballard (p. 22) purports to shows the bulkheads on _Titanic_. The six toward the stern reach two or three decks above the waterline -- an adequate distance, though higher would have been better. But those amidships and at the bow -- the ones most likely to suffer damage! -- are much lower; most reach only one deck above the waterline, and #6 and #7 are barely higher than the water (Lord-Lives, p. 22, says they rose only 10 feet above the waterline, though his description doesn't seem to match the diagram in Ballard). Eaton/Haas, p. 18,  says that the #1 bulkhead reached "C" deck, but the #2 and #11-#15 reached only to the "D" deck, and #3-#10 reached only to the "E" deck, not much above the waterline. If the ship went down by the nose -- as _Titanic_ did -- the water could overtop the barriers, flooding at least eight to ten compartments. And the ship of course could not (and did not) survive *that*.
 Finally, the _Titanic's_ watertight doors were theoretically controlled from the bridge, and also had floats so they could automatically close if they detected water. In fact, some had to be closed manually, so making the ship watertight was *not* an instantaneous process.
Lord-Lives, p. 23, comments acidly that _Titanic_ was treated as unsinkable {#1, #2} not because she was properly built but because she looked too big to sink. "The appearance of safety was mistaken for safety itself."
Lynch/Marschall, p. 194, makes the interesting point that _Titanic's_ near-sister _Britannic_ sank when she hit a mine. That means that the damage was confined to a small area of the hull -- yet she sank anyway, and much faster than the _Titanic_. There really does seem to have been a problem with the partitioning in the _Olympic_ class ships.
One personal observation, based on looking at very many photos of the _Titanic_ in the process of writing this article: It really doesn't appear to have been all it was cracked up to be. It was opulent, yes, in a heavy-handed Edwardian sort of way. But it didn't really appear all that well-built. There is a look to good construction, and it doesn't have it. _Titanic_ had neither the hand-crafted strength of pre-nineteenth century construction, nor the technological veneer of the second half of the twentieth century. In that context, an illustration in Lynch/Marschall (p. 21) is perhaps relevant. It shows one of the anchors of the most advanced ship in the world, forged by modern metallurgy -- being hauled to the ship by horses.
(My opinion about the construction of these ships seems to be borne out by the stories of the leading liners of the time. Very many of the new ships had design problems. The _Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse_ of 1897 had "lubberly propensities," according to Brinnin, p. 317, which caused her to be nicknamed "Rolling Billy." Cunard's flagship of the period, _Lusitania_, had had to be refitted due to excessive vibrations; see "The Lusitania." _Titanic's_ record as the largest ship in the world would not last long; 14 months later, Germany's Hamburg-Amerika line would bring out the _Imperator_; Barczewski, p. 65. She was roughly 6000 tons heavier than _Titanic_, but top-heavy enough that she needed her funnels shortened and some of her fixtures replaced, plus they had to add 2000 tons of extra ballast; she also lost her figurehead due to her extreme rolling on just her third voyage; Brinnin, p. 388. After the war, Cunard took her over as _Berengaria_, but overhauled her again in 1921, and she suffered a series of fires in the late Thirties; Paine, p. 60. Luxurious the monster liners were, but they were perhaps too big for the designers of a pre-computer age.)
Interestingly, _Titanic_ was nowhere near full on her maiden voyage. (Tibballs, p. xi, thinks this is because of the coal strike, which caused many people to postpone plans since they weren't sure the ship would sail, but most sources seem to think the real reason was that people didn't want to risk taking a new ship which han't had a shakedown voyage.)
According to Wade, pp. 25-26, _Titanic_ left Southampton on April 10, 1912 with only 46% of first class berth occupied, 40% of second class, and 70% of steerage space booked. (That's 337 first class passengers, 271 second class, and 712 in third class; cf. the table in Barczewski, p. 51, which gives capacity, number carried, and number lost. Considering that _Titanic_ was taking passengers from several liners, the totals are amazingly low.) She stopped at Queenstown the next day to take on a few more.
One song {#12} refers to 800 emigrants sailing from Ireland. This presumably refers to the total third class passengers; in all, only about 125 passengers boarded at Queenstown (now Cobh, or the Cove of Cork), of which number 113 (Barczewski, pp. 9, 281) or 114 (Lord-Night, pp. 207-209) were third class, and hence presumably emigrants. (It will tell you something about the size of _Titanic_ that she could not even dock at Queenstown's pier; she had to anchor offshore and have passengers and cargo ferried aboard; Barczewski, p. 281).
The _Titanic_ did have a near-disaster at the very beginning of her life; as the _Olympic_ had sucked the _Hawke_ into a collision, _Titanic_ produced so much pull that she snapped the ropes of the _New York_. But, in this case, a collision was averted -- just barely (Lord-Lives, p. 26; Barczewski, p. 4; Tibballs, pp, 31-38).
For the first four days of the voyage, everything of course went well; the ship maintained a good speed, sailed smoothly, and everyone apparently had a fine time. Then came the "Night to Remember."
Complete details of what happened on the night of April 14-15 probably cannot be known. Captain Smith went down with his ship, as did his chief officer (second in command) Henry Wilde, who was almost invisible in the saga (except that Lightoller, who had reason to resent him, accused him of slowing the evacuation; Lynch/Marschall, p. 109. Ironically, Captain Smith had requested Wilde be transferred from the _Olympic_ so he could have a second who knew the ship; Butler-Unsink, p. 44; Lynch/Marschall, p. 76. Fat lot of good it did; as Butler-Unsink, p. 90, comments, he "demonstrat[ed] very little initiative of his own, seemingly content to pass on Captain Smith's [incomplete] instructions, but never expanding them or clarifying them... and rarely issuing any orders of his own"). Also lost was first officer William M. Murdoch, who was the officer in command on the bridge when the ship hit the iceberg and who also had charge of lowering the boats on one side (like Smith, he an officer brought over from the _Olympic_; Barczewski, p. 189. Sort of makes you wonder who was running the _Olympic_ after they took all her officers). Chief Engineer Joseph Bell and almost all of the engineering crew, who kept several boilers running to maintain electricity for the lights and pumps (Ballard, p. 25; Butler-Unsink, p. 109), were lost as well.
Many witnesses pay well-deserved testimony to the bravery of the crew in the emergency which followed. (There were four officers senior enough to stand watches, Smith, Wilde, Murdoch, and second officer Charles H. Lightoller; Butler-Unsink, p. 53. Of these, only Lightoller survived, and he did not go off in a boat; he was washed away from the wreck as she went down and was able to make his way to an overturned "collapsible" lifeboat); as {#13} says, the crew stayed with the ship and sent the passengers off. Their problem lay not in courage but in intelligence.
Instead of information from her senior officers about what went wrong, what we have is the testimony of several more junior officers (including second officer Lightoller, who however was in his cabin at the time of the collision, and fourth officer Joseph G. Boxhall, responsible for plotting of icebergs as the warnings came in and for fixing the ship's position when she hit the iceberg). We also have accounts from the junior wireless operator, of some of the lookouts, and of course numerous passengers, none of whom, however, had any part in the ship's decision-making. Plus we have the information derived from Ballard's exploration of the sunken hull (which was not very helpful, however, since the part of the starboard bow which was damaged seems to be almost entirely buried in the mud; Ballard, p. 196).
One thing is certain: the _Titanic_ did not go to its fate unwarned. One crucial safety feature she did have was a wireless, and two wireless operators, allowing one to be on duty at all times. (This wasn't just for safety; many of the first class passengers were sending messages all over the place. Barczewski, p. 11, notes that this was how the Marconi company earned its money; they didn't get paid for talk between ships.) Just on April 14, many ice warnings had come through -- one at 9:00 a.m. from the _Caronia_, one at 11:40 from the _Noordam_, two almost simultaneously around 1:45 from _Amerika_ and from White Star's own _Baltic_, one from the _Californian_ at 7:30, and one at 9:40 from _Mesaba_ -- this one for the very region in which the _Titanic_ was already sailing (Ballard, pp. 13-20; Lord-Lives, pp. 48-49). And, finally, one more from the _Californian_, which was almost next door and had been stopped by ice.
How many of these warnings were actually read by the senior officers is not clear. Ballard claims that some never reached the senior officers. It is worth remembering that wireless operators were not a proper part of the ship's crew. The shipping lines hired them from the Marconi company or one of its competitors. (This was common; many of the "staff" on the _Titanic_ were in fact employees of other companies. The restaurant staff, for example, worked for organizations such as Gatti which had bought concessions on the _Titanic_ -- Lord-Night, p. 68.)
When one of _Titanic's_ radiomen received an ice warning, he could do little except hand it to an officer, who might pay attention or might just slip it in his pocket. To add to the problems, the apparatus had broken down on April 14 -- it was unusually powerful for the time (1500 watts -- Butler-Unsink, p. 62), but probably cantankerous as a result. Senior operator Jack Phillips had repaired it (radiomen at the time had intense training in electronics and such, and Phillips, though only 25, was one of the best; Butler-Unsink, p. 61), but was far behind on commercial traffic and had at times brushed off messages from other ships in order to get it out (Wade, pp. 143-144, 254) -- the more so since that final and most important ice warning, from the _Californian_, had not been sent as a priority message (Wade, p. 255). Plus, as Lord-Lives, pp. 51-52, points out, the radiomen were not navigators; they really had no idea which messages were most important.
So we don't know how much the crew knew about ice conditions. What is clear is that Captain Smith did not adjust her course significantly in response to the warnings, and the ship did not slow down.
Based on the reports from the _Californian_ on the day of April 14, and from the _Carpathia_ and the _Mount Temple_ the following day, it appears that there was an almost-solid ice barrier across the _Titanic's_ path. There would have been almost no way through without encountering ice (cf. Lord-Lives, p. 130; Lord-Night, p. 147, and the diagrams in Ballard, pp. 198-200). Under the circumstances, the decision to proceed full speed ahead was very dangerous.
Although the ship had no hope of setting a record {contra #7}, it is possible that Captain Smith was pressured to try to make the first crossing faster than the _Olympic_ had made hers the year before (Butler-Unsink, p. 249; on p. 59, he speculates that Smith did this under pressure from White Star boss J. Bruce Ismay, who was aboard. Eaton/Haas, p. 9, however, argue that this is unlikely; if they arrived that early, they couldn't enter the harbor! And the coal supply was limited.).
If there is a fault, it's Captain Smith's for treating the ice messages utterly cavalierly. (According to Barczewski, p. 190, junior officers did not even have authority to reduce the ship's speed, though she cites no authority for this statement.) The warnings needed to be studied; it was only when the messages were combined that they showed a wide band of ice all across the ship's path (Lord-Lives, p. 53). The officers did worry about the cooling of the air and sea -- but, apparently, their chief concern was that it might freeze the fresh water supply! (Ballard, p. 19; Butler-Unsink, p. 63; Lynch/Marschall, p. 77).
Captain Smith, in fact, was asleep at the time of the collision {#3}; he was content to let junior officers take him through the ice zone, though he did tell them to call him in the event of doubtful conditions (Ballard, p. 19). He was, after all, a fairly old man by the standards of the time -- 59, and planning to retire after _Titanic_ made her maiden voyage (Lord-Lives, p. 32; Lord-Night, p. 27, says that he might not even have made this trip, except that he made a habit of captaining ships on their maiden voyages. It says something about how much the company respected him -- and about how fortunate he had been in avoiding accidents.).
The claim of {X} that "Captain Smith... must have been a-drinking" is, however, quite certainly wrong. White Star regulations forbid it (Lynch/Marschall, p. 77), and even if he were fool enough to risk his pension on his very last voyage (which he was not), he was with a party that would have spotted it had he touched liquor.
Conditions for spotting icebergs were horrible. (Lynch/Marschall, p. 79, has the interesting note that a lookout on an earlier shift had *smelled* ice -- not as strange as it sounds, since most icebergs calved off glaciers carrying soils and sometimes lichens; the wet earth would not smell like salt water. But though that lookout smelled ice, he never saw any.) It was, of course, dark, and there was no moon (Lord-Lives, p. 47) {#16}. And observers agree that the sea was very calm, with hardly any waves at all -- and one of the best ways to spot an iceberg was to see the waves lapping at it. Easton/Haas, p. 19. state as a fact (though this cannot be known) that the iceberg had recently flipped over, making the upper surface dark and harder to see. To top it all off, the lookouts in the crow's nest did not have any binoculars (Wade, pp. 169-170; Butler-Unsink, p. 44, explains how they came to be missing).
The British inquiry would conclude that binoculars are no help in spotting icebergs (Lord-Lives, pp. 59-60) -- which is sort of true, but only sort of. Yes, as any birdwatcher can tell you, it's almost always easier to spot things with bare eyes. But shifting between eyes and binoculars keeps you alert, and using the binoculars sometimes causes you to see things you wouldn't otherwise see.
It is now thought the solution to the Binoculars Problem is known: The key to the locker containing the optics was in the hands of an officer who was on the _Titanic_ from Belfast to Southampton, but was bumped in the latter city to make room for the completely ineffectual Chief Officer Wilde.(I assume this was David Blair, who was second officer until Wilde came aboard; he lost his post and Lightoller was demoted to second officer; Eaton/Haas, p. 72.) The bumped officer accidentally took the key to the locker with him, so the binoculars were left locked up. The key was auctioned off in 2007.
(Lord-Lives, p. 129, makes the interesting note that, when the _Carpathia_ was steaming toward the _Titanic_, she dodged half a dozen bergs -- and all of them were spotted from the bridge, not the crow's nest. Apparently, on that dark and calm night, the lookouts aloft were at a severe handicap. It's not clear whether this is due to their angle or, perhaps, just the weather -- on a ship making 20+ knots, or even 17 as the _Carpathia_ was doing, looking straight ahead into the wind of the ship's passage would have been very painful on that cold night.)
Very little is known about the actual iceberg. No other ship saw it with certainty (Butler-Unsink, in an illustration facing page 149, and Lynch/Marschall, pp. 92-93, have a photo of a berg taken by the _Prinz Adelbert_ that may have been it, but the only evidence was some red that might have been paint, which is hardly proof), and _Titanic_ saw it for only minutes. But the statement {#13} that it was a growler (small berg) seems to have been false, since it was big enough for chunks of ice to fall onto _Titanic's_ boat deck, more than sixty feet above the water. According to Ballard, p. 21, most witnesses stated that the berg reached only to about boat deck level. That's still pretty big.
The testimony of Frederick Fleet, who had been on lookout that night, was perhaps not as helpful as it might have been; when called before an investigating committee, he was nervous, his Cockney talk almost unintelligible, and at one point he actually said, "I ain't got no judgment" in response to a question about distances. (He would eventually commit suicide in 1965, though probably not over the _Titanic_; Tibballs, p. 516.) But he did say that he spotted the iceberg around 11:40 on the night of April 14 (Wade, pp. 166-167) {#5; contra #6, which gives the date as April 17, and Lomax's #3, which says April 13; #15 has the right date, but gives the time as an hour before the dawn}.
(Incidentally, Fleet wasn't the only person aboard to eventually kill himself; so did surviving passenger Jack Thayer, in 1945; Butler-Unsink, p. 231. And wireless operator Harold Bride retired from his job in 1913 and literally vanished; Butler-Unsink, p. 234, says that he assumed a new identity and no one knew where he went until decades after his death in 1956.)
Fleet called the bridge the moment he spotted the berg off the starboard bow. There was little time to react. What we know of the events comes mostly from helmsman Robert Hitchens -- not, perhaps, the most reliable witness; he ended up in command of Molly Brown's lifeboat, and his record in that job was of petty tyranny, lies, and panic; Lynch/Marschall, pp. 152-154, 161-163; in the end, White Star found him a job in South Africa, allegedly to silence him; Lynch/Marschall, p. 223)
According to Hitchens, First Officer Murdoch ordered the engines stopped and the ship turned to port. It was too late; moments later (Lord-Lives, p. 59, says 37 seconds later), the iceberg hit the _Titanic_ on the starboard side (Wade, pp. 171-172; Ballard, pp. 20-21). A post-mortem found that Murdoch's actions, while they seemed the natural thing to do, in fact were very unwise -- better a head-on collision, which would have destroyed the first few compartments but left the rest intact, than a glancing blow which opened many (Wade, pp. 182-183).
But many ships have hit icebergs and survived. Indeed, there hadn't been a major disaster on a passenger ship since the _Atlanic_ wreck of 1873 (Butler-Unsink, p. 73; for background on that, see "The Loss of the Atlantic (I)"). Why did _Titanic_ go down?
It is widely stated that the iceberg opened her front five (or even six) compartments. This has not, to my knowledge, ever been proved; all took on water, but it's not clear that anyone saw the leaks in all the compartments. What is certain is that it opened the fourth and fifth compartment, and at least two compartments before that. As the water rose, it went over those low bulkheads, and finally overcame the ship's buoyancy (Lord-Lives, p. 64).
In a way, it was lucky the ship lasted as long as it did. The fifth compartment contained some of the boilers, which were of course running when water started coming in. Stokers had to work like mad in the rising waters to shut down the boilers and keep them from exploding (Lord-Night, pp. 19-21; Barczewski, p. 18).
Ballard's findings do much to confirm the theory that the ship sank because the bulkheads between the allegedly-watertight sections were overtopped. The most notable finding was that _Titanic_ snapped in two on her way down (see diagrams in Ballard, pp. 204-205). The stern, obviously, still had enough buoyancy to float when the bow wanted to sink, and the strain was too much for the ship's structure. The conclusion at the time, based on what testimony was available from belowdecks and the rate the ship filled, was that the iceberg had opened a gash about 250 feet long and less than an inch high on average (Lord-Lives, p. 64).
A modern guess is that the gash itself was not so big as was thought at the time, but that the impact caused the cold steel (which would be brittle) to pop rivets and start to weep water. This is supported by the fact that recovered hull samples have a high sulfur content, which would make the steel brittle and fracture-prone (Eaton/Haas, pp. 156-157, though they try to argue away the scientific finding -- unsuccessfully, it seems to me). It wasn't a hole; it was a slow leak -- but a very large slow leak, or rather, a very large number of them (Ballard, pp. 196-197). It is also possible that the collision damaged the watertight bulkheads, so that compartments which were still watertight with respect to the ocean were not tight relative to the interior of the ship and could take in water from the compartments next to them; there was evidence of this in boiler room four (Lord-Lives, p. 65).
She picked a bad place to get hit, too. {#6} says she was off Newfoundland, {#4} claims the ship was only 90 (so McNeil's version) or 98 miles from shore (Randolph's version), but the 500 mile estimate in {#10, #16} is much closer; _Titanic's_ broadcast distress call stated her position as 41 degrees 46 minutes north, 50 degrees 14 minutes west (Ballard, p. 22). This was Boxhall's dead reckoning fix (Lynch/Marschall, p. 108), but this may have involved as many as three errors: Boxhall may have assumed a higher speed than the ship actually managed (Butler-Other, p. 62, notes that her screws used a different pitch from _Olympic's_, on which Boxhall probably based his speed estimate); ignoring the local current (Eaton/Haas, p. 20); and a failure to correct the chronometer for distance covered (Butler-Unsink, p. 242). Ballard, p. 199, moves the ship some 13.5 miles east southeast of her reported position. But the error in the estimate hardly matters in reckoning her distance from land; in round numbers, she was 400 miles from the closest land at Cape Race {#13; #15 accurately puts her 400 miles from Cape Race but gives the wrong distance to Boston}, 450 miles from St. John's (the nearest significant port), 800 miles from Halifax (the closest port truly suitable for large ships), and 1200 from her destination in New York. She was beyond the continental shelf, even though the shelf (the Grand Banks) extends unusually far out to sea in this area.
It would be some time before it was determined that the ship was in danger. The impact felt slight. Frederick Fleet initially thought the ship had merely had a "narrow shave" (Wade, p. 173). (Hence, perhaps, the report in some versions of {#1} that the ship "began to reel and rock" at 1:00 on Monday, which would have been April 15. The impact was on Sunday, April 14, but evacuation began the next day. The April 15 date is also found in {#2}.)
There was no single source which reported the damage {contra #2, which credits "Bill" with reporting the problem}; Fourth Officer Boxhall was sent on an inspection tour (Butler-Unsink, p. 70), which revealed some water coming in, and the carpenter Jim Hutchinson then reported significant water below (Barczewski, p. 16, though there is some uncertainty here, since Tibballs, p. 496, lists Hutchinson as a joiner, abd Tibballs, p. 51, says that the carpenter, unnamed, who was sent to sound the ship never reported. Butler-Unsink, p. 70, and Lynch/Marschall, pp. 91-92, say that Hutchinson was sent to sound the ship, and came back reporting water below, with a postal clerk reporting the same at about the same time).
By this time, the instruments showed a significant list. Butler-Unsink, p. 71, cites the testimony of Officer Boxhall, who reports that the commutator listed the ship as listing five degrees to the right and down two degrees at the head. This appears to have been what convinced Captain Smith that the ship was in trouble; Boxhall claims he muttered "Oh, my God" upon seeing that value.
The disaster might have been worse had not Thomas Andrews (1873-1912), the managing director of the shipyard that built _Titanic_, been aboard (he wanted to inspect her performance; Barczewski, p. 147). Captain Smith called on him to inspect the damage and estimate the situation (Butler-Unsink, p. 71). Andrews -- who seems to have been both a good people person and a highly competent engineer -- quickly realized the ship was doomed (Barczewski, p. 148; Butler-Unsink, pp. 71-72; Lord-Night, pp. 22-23, 26).
Smith, to his credit, accepted the estimate and started evacuation procedures, himself going to give instructions to the wireless crews (Lord-Night, p. 27). Andrews helped with the evacuation as best he could (Lynch/Marschall, p. 99), then reportedly went to the first class smoking room; he reportedly was not wearing a lifebelt, and apparently had no intention of trying to save himself; his body was never found (Barczewski, p. 149).
But it is clear that there had been absolutely no planning for an evacuation. Passengers apparently weren't even told to get their lifejackets and go on deck; many of them went to the purser to reclaim their valuables, as if they were threatened with a stock market drop rather than a sinking ship (Lynch/Marschall, p. 99).
According to Wade, p. 144, the first wireless distress call went out 35 minutes after the collision -- just a few minutes too late; the wireless operator on the _Californian_ had gone to bed. (This may perhaps be the origin of the comment in some versions of {#1} that the wireless or wireless lines were on fire: _Titanic_ was unable to communicate with the _Californian_. Or perhaps the reference is to _Titanic's_ brush-off of _Californian's_ ice warning. I suspect, though, that the reference to the wireless being on fire is just an error.) No one thought to send up rockets until a quartermaster at the stern of the ship noticed lifeboats leaving (he had not been told the ship was in danger!) and called the bridge. That aroused someone enough to order him to bring up the rockets (Lord-Night,p. 47). But, obviously, it took him some time to get them and bring them to the bridge of the great ship.
(We might incidentally note that the wireless distress call is said to have been the first "SOS" call at sea {#9, #11}; at first, the operators send "CQD" messages, which were the original distress code. But "SOS" had been sent recently adopted as the emergency call -- it's much easier to transmit in Morse -- and eventually the operators decided to send that; Lord-Night, p. 52. The distress call went out not long after midnight {contra #9, which says it was "about the break of day," probably confusing the beginning of the day with daybreak}.)
The statement in {#9} that the ship would "hold on to the last" does not appear to me based on an actual message from the _Titanic_; it sounds more like a message send three years earlier when the _Republic_ was sinking: "Ship's sinking, but will stick to the end" (Ritchie, p. 177). On the other hand, many crew did stay on duty very late -- e.g. the engineers kept the lights on until just seconds before the final plunge, and senior wireless operator Jack Phillips stayed at his key even after Captain Smith told him that it was "every man for himself." The _Virginian_ recorded a last faint "CQD" message at 2:17 (I'm not sure by whose clock; Butler-Other, p. 81, says that the _Carpathia_ last heard a signal at 1:50, and it by then was the closest ship other than the _Californian_ by a wide margin); that last signal was interrupted in mid-transmission (Butler-Other, p. 77). The ship is considered to have gone down at 2:20 (Butler-Other, p. 122).
Adding to the controversy is the fact that survival rates for the different groups on board were very different. Because women and children were given priority {#3, #9, #11}, they of course had a higher survival rate than men -- but the first class men did almost as well as the third class women and children. Some initial news reports apparently claimed that no one in third class survived (Tibballs, p. 237).
In fact, there were even two dogs rescued from first class (Lynch/Marschall, pp. 100-101). This being the era of the Filthy Rich, it was -- even more than today -- the era of the Completely Useless (and frequently disagreeable) Pet Dog. The _Titanic_ had kennels, and even had crew members whose task was to walk the animals. In the early stages of the evacuation, when the boats were going down half-empty, the two First Class Pooches were given spaces that could have gone to human beings.
Much of the difference in casualty rates was due to the layout of the ship. The passengers in first class were around the level of the boat deck, and were the first to reach the boats (the boats, absurdly, were at the very top of the ship, well above the main deck, which meant that there was less room for boats and that they were far above nearly every passenger on the ship).
As a result, 94% of first class women and children were saved (there is a table of casualty rates in Wade, p. 67, and a graph in Lord-Lives, p. 82). Ballard, p. 149, says that only one first-class child went down with the ship, and that because she would not leave her mother, who in turn would not leave her husband; cf. Lord-Lives, p. 83. (And, indeed, there was eventually a woman who turned up claiming to he a grown-up Loraine Allison, the little girl who was lost, but she was pretty clearly trying to get her hands on the money the two-year-old would have inherited had she lived; Lynch/Marshall, p. 214). Lord-Night, p. 105, notes that only four first class women died, and three of them decided to stay with their husbands. 31% of first class men were saved. In all, 60% of first class passengers survived. Of second class passengers, 44% lived. In steerage, the figure was only 25% -- 47% of the women and 14% of the men. The survival rate for the crew was comparable to that for third class -- 24% (212 out of 890 crew members, according to Lord-Lives; note that {#15} says with fair accuracy there were 900 crew).
It should be remembered that the third class passengers were physically blocked off from the upper decks due to quarantine regulations (steerage passengers were subjected to a physical examination before they could even board; Butler-Unsink, pp. 39-40), and in any case were many decks below the boats. (Hence the statement in {#1} that they "left the poor below.") And they had previously been strictly told to stay in their areas. There were, in fact, only seven doors connecting third class to areas with access to boats (Butler-Unsink, p. 106), and of course the steerage passengers didn't know how to find those doors or get to anywhere useful if they did find them.
Based on testimony from the survivors, they were not blocked from going to the boat deck (with some exceptions -- and of course there could have been major exceptions which simply weren't reported; see Wade, pp. 276-277, Lord-Lives, pp. 84-88). But the crew -- which obviously had to tell them what to do and guide them to the boats -- were mostly concentrated on the upper decks. By the time the third class passengers knew of the disaster and could reach the boat decks, the boats were mostly away (one witness told of a great flood of third class passengers swarming the boat deck at the very end).
Butler-Unsink, p. 105, has perhaps the best summary: "[Steward John] Hart's efforts [which helped many female passengers escape the lower decks] underscored the fact that... there really was no deliberate policy of discrimination against Third Class. What there was, and what may have been all the more insidious by being purely unintentional, was that simply no policy or procedure for looking after the Third Class passengers existed.... Somewhere in the chain of command communications had broken down, and... when Captain Smith had given no specific instructions, Chief Officer Wilde seemed incapable of initiating any action himself. The other officers [who were lowering the boats] were already thoroughly occupied and had little time to spare for wondering about what or who the captain and chief officer might have overlooked."
This had an interesting side effect: although the rule was "women and children first," or where Second Officer Lightoller was in charge, "women and children only," because of the way passengers made their way to the boats -- or, rather, didn't -- the *number* of men to survive actually was larger than the number of women: 338 adult men, compared to 316 adult women, according to Lord-Lives, p. 82. The reason a higher percentage of women survived was because there were a lot more men than women aboard -- 1667 men, 425 women.
The male survivors even included J. Bruce Ismay, the man in charge of running White Star; he had crowded into a boat at the last minute. Widely blamed for causing the disaster -- after all, he had allowed the ship to go to sea without enough lifeboats or a trained crew -- he lived another 25 years, mostly as a recluse; Lord-Lives, pp. 180-181.
(Reading the histories, I don't think Ismay should be blamed for the disaster as such -- he didn't run the ship; Captain Smith did. Ismay did bear significant blame for the lack of boats, though, which at the very least demonstrates that he hadn't properly researched the ship's capabilities. Plus he was a busybody who did nothing but get in the way during the evacuation -- one of the officers had to force him away from the boats. And, on a more individual note, when the ship's musicians were subjected to a pay cut and harsher working conditions, he pretty well blew them off; Barczewski, p. 129. So my verdict is: Criminal, not guilty; Jerk, guilty.)
The _Titanic_ myth of men standing aside to let the women live did create some problems for adult male survivors, many of whom felt pressure to justify their continued existence. Biel, pp. 28-29, notes how Lawrence Beesley, a second class male survivor, later tried to get a part in a _Titanic_ movie so he could be seen going down with the ship this time. (He was denied the role of an extra because he wasn't a member of Actor's Equity.)
One final observation on casualties: All numbers are slightly imprecise, because the lists of those aboard are slightly imperfect. (At least one man who was lost cannot ever be identified, because he went aboard using another man's stolen identification; Eaton/Haas, p. 72.) In round numbers, 1500 were lost {#9}. Lord-Night, p. 176, notes that the American inquiry put the figure at 1517, the British Board of Trade came up with 1503, and the British Enquiry 1490. Lord-Night inclines toward the middle figure. The figure of 1600 in {#1, #4, #5, #7, #16} is certainly too high, though not by much. One suspects the songs citing this figure were composed very soon after the wreck, before the enquiries had sorted things out. The other possibility is that it refers to the number of people actually on the ship when the last boats pulled away, estimated by Lord-Lives (p. 2) to be 1600. But a few of these survived, being hauled out of the water by the boats.
For the most part, the evacuation was orderly. Women and children were put in the boats, and men generally accepted it. Still, it appears that a few shots were fired. (The shots did not {contra #3} wake Captain Smith, who of course was awake to order the evacuation.) The officers had pistols, and fifth officer Lowe at one point fired a few rounds to prevent a rush on the boat (Lord-Night, p. 75; Lord-Lives, p. 99). This ended the rush, and no one was hurt in the incident. First officer Murdoch may also have used his pistol (Lord-Lives, p. 100; cf. Lord-Night, p. 76), but again, he fired in the air. So at most one passenger was killed by an officer to prevent chaos, and even this is relatively ill-documented (Lord-Lives, pp. 101-102).
The real tragedy of the _Titanic_, of course, is that everyone could have been saved had there been enough lifeboats. British Board of Trade regulations said merely that any ship over 15,000 tons had to have at least sixteen lifeboats. And the regulations were carefully enforced; Butler-Unsink, p. 38, tells of the officers getting very upset with the Board of Trade inspector because he was so thorough. _Titanic_ in fact had twenty (counting the four collapsible lifeboats that were not on davits and so were much harder to lower; two in fact were on a roof near one of the funnels and almost inaccessible; Lord-Lives, p. 97) -- but she was 46,000 tons, or three times the size envisioned when the regulation was written.
Adding more lifeboats would not have been a great hardship. More boats would have added some weight, of course, but they did not need more space; her davits were designed to carry multiple boats. Had she been fitted with a suitable number of lifecraft, and had crew competent to lower them, there was time to get everyone off. But there were boats for only 1178 people (Lord-Lives, p. 72). It was fortunate, in a way, that the ship was only half full; had she carried her full complement of 3547, there would have been boat space for only a third of them.
Making the matter worse, the lifeboats that did go out weren't full. This was not callousness or over-excitement; the lifeboat officers were not certain that fully-loaded boats could survive the drop after being lowered the long distance from the _Titanic's_ decks (Wade, pp. 132-133), or that the crew were competent to lower full boats. Plus, with the ship going down, they were trying to get every boat down before she was swamped -- meaning they didn't wait to bring in as many people as possible.
(The farce of the lifeboats may not have ended there. The boats were supposed to be equipped with oars, sails, and survival supplies. An eyewitness testified that most of these were lacking; Eaton/Haas, p. 36. It was fortunate that the sea was calm; if anyone had been thrown out of a boat, it might have been hard to rescue the lost person.)
So most of the boats that were sent off in the first hour or so were lowered half-empty -- and apparently no one ever considered using one or another boat as an elevator to send down more passengers. Toward the end, the officers were willing to put more people aboard, but with most of the passengers at the stern, there was no one around near the bow when the last boats at that end were lowered (Lord-Lives, pp. 94-95). As a result, about 400 seats in the boats that could have been filled instead were left empty.
That was not the end of the mishandling. Though the _Titanic_ did not have enough boats, she did have enough lifebelts to keep everyone afloat -- if they were rescued quickly enough from the chill waters. In fact, a few people who did not make it off the sinking ship were rescued by the boats, though many of the boats rowed away from the wreck as fast as they were able (Wade, pp. 233-235; Lynch/Marschall, p. 129, claims that Captain Smith tried to call some of the half-full boats back, but I have not seen this claim elsewhere, and in any case, none of them obeyed). 
We note that many bodies would eventually be discovered, still afloat in their lifebelts {#4}, carried northward by the current; most seem to have died of the cold (Wade, pp. 273-274; according to Lynch/Marschall, p. 176, one of the rescue ships found 17 bodies in the sea, an only one had water in the lungs, i.e. had drowned. The rest all died of hypothermia). Had more of the boats come to their rescue, it is probable that at least a few hundred more people would have survived.
When the song calls it a "cold and icy sea" {#6}, it was only the truth; the waters were at 28 degrees F, and Second Officer Lightoller, who spent time in the water before reaching an overturned lifeboat (one of a number of men who survived by swimming to Collapsible A or Collapsible B, the lifeboats that the officers were still trying to get down when the ship sank), said that it felt like being stabbed with "a thousand knives" when he went into the sea (Barczewski, p. 29; Lord-Night, p. 114). In several cases, it took only a few minutes to kill; Barczewski, on the same page, relates the testimony of several people who pulled passengers into the lifeboats only to find them already dead, or to watch them die even after they were pulled from the water. Even some people who were never in the water suffered severely from the cold (Eaton/Haas, p. 41).
A recovery ship called the _MacKay-Bennett_ (chartered by White Star in one of their few recorded instances of voluntary compassion; Butler-Unsink, p. 199) brought in over 306 bodies (Barczewski, p. 41), mostly unhurt except for sea and cold, and many more were seen by other ships (Wade, p. 274); 22 more bodies were brought in by other vessels (Barczewski, p. 42), some also charted by White Star (Eaton/Haas, pp. 99-100); the last body was picked in mid-May (Eaton/Haas, p. 105). Many recovered bodies went unidentified (Eaton/Haas, p. 105, says that 128 were buried without their names being known; Barczewski, p. 45, notes the case of a baby whose identity was not firmly established until DNA testing was used in 2002). Eaton/Haas, p. 105, calculates that 1314 bodies were never brought back to land.
What would have spared most of the grief was another ship to arrive quickly. And there was another ship in the vicinity, the freighter _Californian_. The _Californian_ had been one of the ships sending ice warnings, and in fact she had halted for the night in the face of the ice barrier; her commander Stanley Lord was still fairly new to command (he was only 34 years old; Eaton/Haas, p. 128. Butler-Other, p. 50, notes that he had commanded his first ship in 1906, but he had not moved to the _Californian_ until early 1912), and had not faced ice before. And since he was carrying freight only (there was some passenger space on the ship, but it was not occupied; the ship had been designed as a pure freighter, with the passenger space added as an afterthought late in her construction, according to Butler-Other, pp. 42-43), there was no real urgency about arriving at his destination (as witness the fact that the ship had sailed April 5, according to Eaton/Haas, p. 39. This was not a boat trying for a fast crossing -- though Butler-Other, p. 51, notes that she had had a rough voyage the trip before and had to be hurried through the preparations for her current voyage). So he decided to sit tight (Butler-Unsink, p. 159).
The _Californian's_ behavior inspired much controversy. The crew certainly saw a second ship not far from them -- though most of the observers thought it too small to be the _Titanic_. (Butler-Other, p. 55, thinks this was because they saw it only under poor viewing conditions or after it had turned.) They saw a series of rockets fired, at times roughly corresponding to when the _Titanic_ was sending off distress signals. They saw the ship to the south seemingly turn off most of its lights, and then disappear. These things happened soon after midnight. It was not until 4:00 a.m. that an officer really attempted to learn what was happening (Ritchie, pp. 32-33). The key questions are, Was this ship the _Titanic_, should the _Californian_ have done something, and could it have done something had it tried?
According to Ballard's calculations, _Californian_ was not more than 21 miles from where _Titanic_ went down, and probably closer due to drift (Ballard, pp. 200-201, following the work of Jack Grimm; cf. Butler-Unsink, p. 243). Captain Lord would later give the distance as 17-19 miles (Ritchie, p. 33). Some estimates have placed the two ships within five to ten miles of each other (Eaton/Haas, p. 151, though on p. 150 they argue for the 20 mile figure). This includes Lord Mersey's official British inquiry (Ritchie, p. 33).
There is also suspicion that _Californian's_ log was "cleaned up"; the official log has no record of seeing any rockets (when it is universally agreed that she did) -- and the "scrap log," which usually contains information to be cross-checked before being entered into the official log, is missing for that time period, even though it is usually preserved (Butler-Unsink, pp. 243-244). Butler-Unsink, p. 244, argues that the course she was on would have left her south of her official position when stopped -- i.e. closer to the _Titanic_. And Butler-Other, p. 136, notes the curious fact that Captain Lord had his officers swear out statements about the disaster even before they reached port, which he then locked in his safe. And Lord would refer to his navigation data, which most captains made public, as "state secrets" (Butler-Other, p. 137).
At the heart of the problem was the fact that the _Californian_ had only one wireless operator, who went off duty before the _Titanic_ started sending distress signals. But the officers of the _Californian_ certainly saw _Titanic's_ emergency rockets -- and ignored them until too late (Paine, p. 87). She didn't even have the excuse that she had to protect her passengers; since she was carrying only cargo (Lord-Lives, p. 134). Her inaction was at the instigation of her captain, Stanley Lord, who was trying to sleep and whose only response to the rockets was to tell his officers to try to contact the other ship by searchlight.
It's not clear why there was no response to the lights -- Lord's defenders often claim there was a third ship between the two of them and the _Californian_ never saw the _Titanic_ (Eaton/Haas, p. 127) -- but the ghost ship has never been identified (proposals have been made; none are convincing). From what I can tell, it sounds as if any ghost ship that had been where Lord's advocates say it was would have crashed straight into the ice barrier, so it is most unlikely that there was such a ship. The likely explanation for the lack of response to the Morse lamp is that the officers of the _Titanic_ had other things on their minds than sending lamp signals. _Titanic's_ wireless operators could stay at their posts; they had no other duties -- but the ship's officers were busy evacuating. (Fourth officer Boxhall had tried signalling the mystery ship; according to Lynch/Marschall, p. 109, Captain Smith's words were "Tell him to come at once. We are sinking" -- the exact words quoted in {#9}, though they are there credited to the wireless officers.)
Captain Smith did order the boats to head for the ship on the horizon, which by every reckoning but Captain Lord's was the _Californian_ (Barczewski, p. 168), but she was too far away for the disorganized rowers to reach in any reasonable time. (Apparently none of the _Titanic's_ boats were powered. They did have sails -- or at least they were supposed to, though they may have been among the emergency stores not packed -- but only a couple of sailors on the _Titanic_ knew how to sail a boat, so that was no help.)
Butler, p. 156, notes an interesting argument made by a hydrographer at the time, which said that the maximum distance at which _Titanic_ could see a ship on the horizon at night was 16 miles, and the maximum distance her boats could see one was seven miles. Since the _Californian_, based on stated positions, was certainly more than seven miles away, and probably more than 16, and since _Titanic_ and _Californian_ both unquestionably saw a ship, then either the two were closer together than Captain Lord claimed or there was a ship between the two. This, of course, was the heart of the argument.
Stanley Lord claimed that the _Titanic_ was too far away to reach in time (Eaton/Haas, p. 129). But _Californian_ had a top speed of 13.5 knots (Paine, p. 87; Eaton/Haas, p. 44). If he had reacted as strongly as the _Carpathia_, he would certainly have arrived at least half an hour before the _Titanic_ went down (that based on the ships' official positions; it would have been sooner if, as suspected, the two ships were closer together than the _Californian's_ official position indicated), allowing for much more complete rescue efforts. Condemnation of _Californian's_ skipper Stanley Lord has not quite been universal -- Butler-Unsink, p. 241, notes that some maritime unions have a strong interest in not having them condemned -- but it is widespread; if the _Californian_ was the mystery ship, there can be little doubt that Lord's behavior caused hundreds of avoidable deaths.
It is ironic to note that the _Californian_ was owned by the Leyland Line, which was owned by International Merchant Marine, which also owned White Star and the _Titanic_ (Butler-Other, p. 44). It was IMM, in fact, which had put the passenger space on _Californian_.
Of the books I have read, only Lynch/Marschall and Eaton/Haas can be considered Lordite; on pp. 190-191, the former argues, first, that the _Californian's_ reported position and the _Titanic's_ actual position were too far apart to allow easy visual contact; second, that it took the _Californian_ two hours to reach the _Titanic's_ death site (so also Eaton/Haas, p. 44, but they note that she initially steamed at a mere six knots), so she couldn't have gotten there quickly even had she responded to the pleas; third, that there may have been a third ship (this would be an alternate explanation for why witnesses on the _Titanic_ thought that there was a moving ship within five or six miles of them -- Eaton/Haas, p. 37); fourth, that many on the _Californian_ did not think the ship was big enough to be the _Titanic_, fifth, that the witnesses on both ships thought the other ship was moving even though both were stopped.
The first objection is meaningless, since it is based on one actual and one estimated position; the second is also meaningless, because the _Californian_ headed for the reported position, not the actual position (when the _Carpathia_ and the _Californian_ actually rendezvoused, it was at 41 degrees 33' N, 50 degrees 01' W, or about 15 nautical miles from where the _Titanic_ broadcast as the site of the disaster); the third is vitiated by the fact that, if there had been a third ship, the _Carpathia_ or the _Mount Temple_ should have seeen it (Butler-Other, p. 158), and never did, and no ship is logged as being in the area; the fourth may have been an illusion of distance; and the fifth may also have been an illusion, or it may have been caused by the drift of the two vessels, which would have responded to ocean currents differently.
Butler-Other, pp. 171-176, describes Lord's testimony before the British investigatory tribunal; it is confusing and sounds like the account of a man trying to cover his guilt. On the other hand, he was being badgered by several questioners about events which happened in the middle of the night. I would allow the possibility that he simply didn't remember that well.
But not one of these objections in any way overcomes the basic flaw in the Lordite position: That Captain Lord saw distress rockets and ignored them. We don't know if Lord could have helped the _Titanic_. We *do* know that he ignored an obvious cry for help.
Ritchie, p. 33, notes that the bad publicity forced Captain Lord to quit the Leyland Line. He found another job, but it was with the Nitrate Producers Steamship Company, which cannot have been as prestigious. His record there is said to be unblemished.
We should stress: Stanley Lord was not guilty of murder. He did not know what was happening. Even if he had responded immediately to the first distress rocket, he might not have been able to reach _Titanic_ in time to save everyone (Butler-Other, pp. 191-194, attempts to calculate what _Californian_ could have done had she responded at once, and estimates that he might have saved 300 more lives. I would consider this number somewhat low, because the evacuation of _Titanic_ might have been more orderly had there been word that a ship would arrive soon. But Butler is likely right that some would still have died). And if he had known with certainty that a ship was sinking near him, he would have surely done more than he did.
To repeat: Lord is innocent of deliberate murder. What he is guilty of is negligence and indifference. And, to be fair, his junior officers must bear part of the blame. To give Lord his due, he had gone to bed before the distress calls started. The junior officers made very little effort to wake him (Eaton/Haas, p. 151). There is certainly plenty of blame to spread among the _Californian's_ officers. Still, Butler-Unsink, pp. 191-194, 241-245, accuses Stanley Lord of terrorizing his officers until they couldn't act without his permision. Butler-Other, p. 199, offers as his verdict that "circumstances unconciously conspired to reveal that Stanley Lord was a man without conscience: Stanley Lord was a sociopath." I do not think Butler proves this (he says he consulted experts, but gives no details of their analysis, and I'm not sure a diagnosis at this distance is even meaningful) -- but it would explain a lot.
The Lordite controversy is covered in detail in almost every book on the _Titanic_; see e.g. Barczewski, p. 35 and after; Lord-Lives, p. 135 and following; Eaton/Haas, pp. 150-152; Ritchie, pp. 31-34; and it is the primary subject of Butler-Other. Nonetheless, it seems not to have been mentioned much in the songs, perhaps because the _Californian_ did not show up in the news stories until some time after the disaster.
Not every ship and captain was so inert. Captain Arthur Roston of the _Carpathia_ heard the distress call, and at once turned ship {#9, #11}. His was by far the most decisive and effective action of the night. Unfortunately, his ship was roughly 60 miles from the _Titanic_, and the _Carpathia_, though only nine years old, had a normal top speed of just 14 knots (Paine, p. 96 Butler-Other, pp. 22-23, notes that she was not really intended to be a liner in the usual sense -- as built, she had large cargo holds and no first-class accomodations at all, just second class and steerage. In 1905, according to Butler-Other, p. 26, she was rebuilt to take first class passengers, and her third class space was expanded at the expense of the cargo space, but of course she was stuck with her old engines.)
Captain Roston and crew gave it everything they had, and supposedly got _Carpathia_ going at 17 knots (Lord-Night, p. 141, though others have argued that she could not possibly have gotten above 16 knots; Butler-Other, p. 70. Since the ship never went that speed at any other time, we really cannot know). It still took her some three and a half hours to reach the site of the _Titanic_, meaning that the larger liner had gone down about an hour before. _Carpathia_ rescued such survivors as she could find, taking the first survivors aboartd at 4:10 (Butler-Other, p. 105) and reaching the last boat at 8:30 (or about six hours after _Titanic_ sank); by then of course the only survivors were those who had been in the boats. Indeed, some even of those pulled from the water by the boats had died; the cold and the shock (and, in a few cases, the effort of keeping a half-flooded boat afloat) proved too much.
After picking up every survivor, Captain Roston turned his ship about. She was supposed to be heading east for Europe, but he knew he had to get the survivors to land quickly. The only question was whether to head for New York (the passengers' intended destination) or Halifax (the nearest major port). After some consideration, he headed for New York {#11} (Lord-Night, pp. 160-161). It was to prove a difficult trip, both because of the crowding and because storms made some passengers fear that the _Carpathia_ too was in danger (Lynch/Marschall, p. 163).
Lord-Night, pp. 189-209, gives the official passenger list, with those lost and saved, though he notes in Lord-Lives (pp. 36-38) that there were some errors in the list. Tibballs, pp. 483-506, gives a list which includes the crew, though some are miscategorized. Most other sources content themselves with naming a handful of the "celebrity" passengers -- e.g. the very wealthy Isidor and Ida Strauss (just two of several millionaires {#6}), and American President Taft's advisor Archie Butt. (Several others big names booked passage but did not actually sail. J. P. Morgan, who ultimately owned the ship, was too ill to sail. Alfred W. Vanderbilt changed his mind so late that there wasn't even time to get his luggage off the ship; Ballard, p. 14; according to Eaton/Haas, p. 73, a servant stayed with the baggage and was lost with the ship.)
The Strausses are mentioned in the Cowboy Loye version of {#16}; they were an "elderly philanthropist" and his wife (Lord-Lives, p. 35) who owned the Macy's department store (Ballard, p. 14). They reached the deck early on, but Isador Strauss, being a man, was denied a place in the lifeboats (Butler-Unsink, p. 109, and Eaton/Haas, p. 26, in fact say that he refused to enter a boat when given a chance). His wife could have left, but she declared that she would share his fate ("We have been living together for many years; where you go, I go"), went back aboard the ship, and of course died in the wreck (Wade, p. 61).
But if Ida Strauss gets the award for Most Romantic Gesture, no passenger was given more publicity than John Jacob Astor (1864-1912) {#5; probably the "Jacob Nash" of Lomax's #3}. He was probably the richest man aboard, though he had inherited rather than earned most of the money. He kept 18 automobiles, and had raised a regiment for the Spanish-American War, allowing him to take the title of Colonel (Barczewski, p. 58), even though he had no military training (and probably less aptitude, except for the mercilessness that came from his financial background).
As the boats went off, Astor apparently asked if he could go aboard with his (much younger trophy) wife, who was pregnant. (No, they didn't have the phrase "trophy wife" in 1912, but they had the idea, and Astor was largely cast out of society; Barczewski, p. 58. Barczewski adds that the girl was visibly pregnant even though they had been married only four months. It is perhaps revealing that Madeleine Force Astor would remarry in 1918 even though it meant giving up about seven million dollars in money from a prenuptual agreement. The flip side is, at least Astor married her; other rich men pretended to be faithful and took mistresses. Benjamin Guggenheim, another of the ultra-rich passengers, had left his wife in New York to travel with his girlfriend; Butler-Unsink, p. 28.)
Second officer Lightoller, who (as noted above) survived but only by swimming to a boat, flatly refused Astor's request to join her in the boat (Barczewski, p. 25).
Astor allowed her to go in the boat without him, but said that he would meet her in the morning (Barczewski, p. 60); either he expected the ship to survive (unlikely by then) or he expected to find another boat.
Quite a few legends arose about Astor immediately after the wreck, generally very positive {#5 says "all the women he tried to save"}; Biel, p. 41, reports an account in which he is credited with saying "Not a man until every woman and child is safe in the boats." Not one of these accounts is from from an actual beneficiary of his kindness, or even a reliable witness; all were reports of people who claimed they saw something he did (Barczewski, p. 63); we cannot in any instance prove that Astor was actually the man involved.
(This "men stepped aside" legend is found, e.g., in {#4};Biel, pp. 23-25, documents that this arose in the first hours after the sinking, before any of the survivors had told their tale; the stories weren't exactly false, but it was the ship's officers, not the passengers, who controlled access to the boats, and in the end, many men did survive.)
Astor's body was one of those found by the _MacKay-Bennett_; it was in very bad shape, but he could be identified by the monograms on his clothing (Barczewski, p. 40). Lord-Lives, p. 172, observes that the Astor family did not even file any claims for damages over his death -- something that obviously would not have happened in today's litigious society.
There were, to be sure, lawsuits filed -- a lot of them, totalling about $16 million. This led to interesting problems in dealing with British and American law (after all, it was a British ship owned by an American conglomerate.) In the end, White Star paid out $664,000 (Lord-Lives, pp. 172-177).
The fate of Captain Smith, mentioned in folklore, is in fact uncertain, except that he definitely did not survive. Wade, p. 58, and Barczewski, pp. 169-171 list several reports, from suicide to rescuing other passengers at the expense of his life. (Barczewski suggests that most of the more heroic stories stemmed from some deep British urge to make him look good, and reports on p. 172 that those responsible for building his memorial were mostly passengers who had enjoyed sailing with him on other vessels.)
Butler-Unsink, pp. 251-252, examines his decisions in the ship's last hours, and (with the concurrence of a psychologist) suggests that the mental blow was so strong that he largely lost the power of decision -- we might informally say that he was in shock. (Lynch/Marschall, p. 137, says he "seemed almost in a daze, a strangely passive figure.") If so, he probably didn't do anything especially noteworthy in the last moments of the ship's life.
(Incidentally I can't help but note that Smith doesn't seem to have been the only one. There was little panic on the _Titanic_ -- but very little ingenuity once Andrews gave the bad news. Did the engineers try to rig more pumps to lengthen the ship's life? Seemingly not. Did the carpenter use the wood furnishings to try to make coracles or something to keep a few more people afloat? There is no evidence of it, though we do hear of a baker throwing deck chairs overboard in hopes people could cling to them; Lynch/Marschall, p. 134. Did anyone counterflood, to try to keep the water from overtopping the forward bulkheads? Certainly not. The sinking ship saw much heroism and very little intelligence.)
The likeliest scenario is that Smith went into the water with so many other passengers (so, e.g., explicitly Lynch/Marschall, p. 137), and -- like them -- died of exposure. It was probably an easier death than that suffered by the engineers and stokers in the lower parts of the ship, who stayed down there to keep the electricity going; they would have asphyxiated or drowned or both.
Smith somehow became a hero -- legend had it that one of his last orders was, "Be British!" In other words "Keep a stiff upper lip (even though you're about to die an agonizing death)"; it became a legendary command and inspired various poems and non-folk songs.
There is some irony in noting that the memorial to Smith cites his "great heart," "brave life," and "heroic death" (the last of which, as noted, cannot be proved) -- but does not include the name of the _Titanic_ (Barczewski, p. 180).
First officer Murdoch, the officer on watch when the ship hit the berg, also had various ends ascribed to him, including suicide (Barczewski, p. 193). Apparently Hollywood threw in some even worse charges (Barczewski, p. 199). But the best evidence is that he simply ended up in the water like everyone else, and the citizens of his home town eventually won an apology, including some cash, from the studio (Barczewski, p. 198, 202).
Surviving officers such as Lightoller, however, found their careers blighted. Wade seems to think that Lightoller was evasive before the investigating committees, but Lord considers him a decisive and capable officer, noting that he served in the Royal Navy in World War I and, as an old man, took his private boat to assist in the evacuation of Dunkirk. But he was never given a ship to command (Lord-Lives, pp. 192-193). The junior officers did no better, even though they surely could not be blamed for the outcome.
The survivor who earned the most publicity (other than Ismay) was probably "Unsinkable" Molly Brown: Margaret Tobin Brown, 1867-1932. Born poor, her husband, a mining supervisor, discovered gold in the Little Johnny Mine (Barczewski, p. 85). Molly, suddenly rich, then became active in a variety of social causes -- and became a world traveller after she and her husband drifted apart. She was in Europe when her grandson became ill, so she hurried back to the United States on the _Titanic_ (Barczewski, p. 86). When the ship hit the iceberg, she gathered some of her things (fortunately not all; no spartan, she abandoned 25 gowns, 14 hats, and 13 pairs of shoes purchased in Paris; Barczewski, p. 87).
Hustled into a lifeboat, she distributed some of the seven pairs of socks she was wearing to those who had come aboard less well-supplied (Barczewski, p. 89), and also tried to convince the quartermaster in charge of the boat to rescue those left behind. If the account in Barczewski, pp. 88-89, is even vaguely correct, his was one of the most despicable stories on that night; he refused to go back, and refused even to hand over the tiller, instead leaving it to the middle-aged Brown and one other woman to row.
Aboard the _Carpathia_, Brown tried to send out messages on behalf of poorer passengers who could not pay for wireless messages (Barczewski, p. 90). She also tried to comfort some of the grieving survivors (her skill in several languages helped), and set up a subscription to make up for their losses. It all added up to a legend -- which was confirmed in 1925, when she survived a hotel fire and helped others escape the building (Barczewski, p. 92). But Barczewski notes that the popular accounts which made her legendary were largely fictionalized.
Brown was active in relief causes in World War I, but after that fell into quarrels with her children and grandchildren, and her money dried up after her husband died in 1922 (Barczewski, p. 91)
There was one small consolation out of the _Titanic_ wreck: The British and Americans toughened regulations for liners. They had to have enough lifeboats, the crew had to know how to deal with them, they had to have full-time wireless officers, etc. (Wade, pp. 302-303). These would not prevent future disasters, as the _Lusitania_ would demonstrate just over three years later, but they made them less inherently deadly -- the loss of life on the _Lusitania_ was mostly because she sank in twenty minutes. Had she stayed afloat for more than two hours, as the _Titanic_ did, nearly everyone aboard would have survived.
Wade, p. 318, notes the additional irony that this disaster did not strike one much-oppressed community: There were apparently no Blacks aboard the ship as she sank (Biel, p. 112). Of course, this eliminates the whole plot of "Shine and the Titanic" {contra #14}.
That's just as well for Shine, given the report in the song that Captain Smith's daughter offered him her body if he would rescue her. Smith had only one child, a daughter, Helen Melville Smith -- and she was still just a girl, born in 1902 (Barczewski, p. 163); imagine what would have happened had he so much as touched a child that age! In any case, her name isn't in the passenger list in Lord-Night, and she was alive to dedicate a memorial to Smith in 1914 (Barczewski, p. 179).
"Shine and the Titanic" is also ruled out by the fact that Shine could not have swum to safety; the water, as noted, was just too cold.
Racism also tinged the stories about the people who tried to rush the boats; they were usually labelled Asian or Italian or otherwise less than Anglo-Saxon. There is absolutely no evidence for this, and much reason to think it false (Barczewski, pp. 55-56). There is one documented instance of a crewman trying to steal another crewman's life vest; since there were no Blacks aboard, he cannot have been Black, and in fact the surviving witness never said he was -- but one press report calls him a Negro (Biel, pp. 50-51).
The story of boxer Jack Johnson is more complicated; it appears that Leadbelly's song on the topic ({#8}: "Jack Johnson want to get on board, Captain said, "I ain't haulin' no coal") conflates two incidents. Lyle Lofgren tells me that Johnson was in Chicago at the time _Titanic_ sank, but according to Barczewski, p. 64, Johnson was refused passage on a liner due to his skin color on another occasion.
According to Lord-Lives, p. 8, no books on the _Titanic_ were published between 1913 to 1955. In the publishing business, _A Night to Remember_ started a _Titanic_ boom (Biel, p. 149, calls the 1955 publication of _A Night to Remember_ the biggest date in _Titanic_ history other than 1912 itself.). But the songs on the subject hardly stopped -- indeed, some time around 1970, they taught us a comic parody of {#1} ("Oh, they built another ship Called the S.S. 92... And they christened it with beer, and it sank right off the pier, Wasn't it sad when that great ship went down") in elementary school.
Ironically for the parody, the _Titanic_ was never formally christened (Lord-Lives, p. 11).
In the late twentieth century, of course, the movie "Titanic" was released. I have not seen it, but the reports I've read (e.g. in Barczewski) say that it contains many historical inaccuracies. Perhaps it will be starting a new round of _Titanic_ folklore.
Another irony is the effort which White Star went to to suppress the memory of the ship -- which obviously failed. After _Carpathia_ dropped off the lifeboats at White Star's dock in New York, White Star stripped off all identifying markings; we don't even know what became of the boats (Lynch/Marschall, pp. 166-168; Easton/Haas, p. 49, thinks they were stripped by souvenir hunters and then rotted away at the dock; Butler-Other, in the photographs section thinks they were used on other White Star ships, but of course without anyone knowing where they came from). They would probably be worth millions today.
Which brings us to one of the most vexed of all questions about the _Titanic_: What the band played on that last night.
There are a lot of misconceptions about the performance that night. For starters, the musicians were not a band as properly so understood -- they did not have a brass section. Their instruments were strings and piano.
In fact, the eight performers weren't even a group in the usual sense. They rarely if ever played together as an eight-piece ensemble (Lord-Lives, pp. 96-97). The musicians consisted of a string quartet with piano (the primary group, led by newly-engaged violinist Wallace Hartley, which played the main evening concerts and Sunday religious services), and a violin/'cello/piano trio which played mostly at receptions and in the cafes (Barczewski, pp. 130-131). They can't have been very loud (especially away from a piano), and in an emergency situation, with the ship listing and sheet music not usable, they would have to rely on things everyone knew -- and even for that, they might not have parts properly assigned. (Eaton/Haas, p. 94, claims they had all 352 pieces in the White Star music collection memorized. This is patently absurd, though presumably they could play them all.)
I can't help but note the irony that two of them had been lured away from the _Carpathia_ to serve on the _Titanic_ (Lord-Night, p. 44). Though Butler-Unsink, p. 122, reports that Hartley was once asked what he would do on a sinking ship, and he ha answered, "I would gather the band together and begin playing."
We don't even know how long they played (Lord-Lives, pp. 107-108). Going down with the ship was not really part of their job. Although musicians on German ships actually doubled as ship's stewards (Brinnin, p. 312; this had the ironic effect that German ships, unlike English, *did* play "Nearer My God to Thee" on Sundays), English ships employed specialist musicians who were not formally employees of White Star. (In fact, White Star's passenger list shows them as second class passengers.) Shortly before the _Titanic_ voyage, White Star had started contracting with an agent to supply musicians. The hiring agents booked most of the same musicians the liner companies had always employed -- but inflicted a large pay cut on them and used the difference to make their profits (Lord-Lives, pp. 114-116). White Star refused even to pay death benefits to the musicians (Lord-Lives, p. 117). However long they played, it was above and beyond the call of duty. In the end, all eight of them went down with the ship (Ballard, p. 24 -- a page which also shows a poster for the band).
Whether the musicians made attempts to save themselves cannot be known; some passengers stated that they quit playing about half an hour before the ship sank (Barczewski, p. 132) -- perhaps when the last boats left? But it is touching to quote the remark of Steward Edward Brown, who, when asked when they ceased playing, said "I do not remember hearing them stop" (Lord-Lives, p. 108). Hence, perhaps, the statement that the music "played as they went down" {#9}.
In a minor folkloric touch, Hartley's body was recovered; the face was almost beyond recognition, but he still was wearing his uniform, and his violin case was on his back, allowing identification (Barczewski , p. 139); he was buried in his home town of Colne (which he had left 17 years before) in a rosewood casket (Lord-Lives, p. 118).
Interestingly, though most reports say the musicians played either hymns or ragtime on that last night, neither was the Hartley quintet's specialty; their primary clientele was the first class passengers (worth, according to Barczewski, over $500 million in 1912 dollars!), who apparently preferred classical music -- on the night the boat went down, the evening concert included Wagner, Dvorak, and Puccini, according to Lord-Lives, pp. 43-44. Apparently some of the listeners felt the band not quite up to the task (Lord-Lives, p. 43) -- but imagine five musicians trying to play Wagner!
We might add that ship's bands of this period played largely for charity (Preston, p. 141) -- though it seems that few passengers were particularly generous.
When the ship hit the iceberg, Captain Smith apparently roused the musicians to play during the evacuation (Barczewski, p. 132). At first, they seem to have played in the first class lounge; later, they moved toward the boats (though the piano players would have been unable to play on the boat deck itself, and without the piano the group would have been quiet indeed. Perhaps -- personal speculation only -- one of the piano players took over conducting, to try to keep the group together without the piano playing rhythm?).
As for what they played, most reports agree that the band started out by playing ragtime tunes (or at least "Alexander's Ragtime Band," which had been a big hit the year before but which critics have indignantly charged isn't ragtime), mixed with other light pieces (Lord-Lives, p. 109). Butler-Unsink, p. 91, mentions "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "Great Big Beautiful Doll," "Can't You Hear Me Caroline," "A Little Love, A Little Kiss," and "Moonlight Bay," apparently based on the report of Lawrence Beesley.
According to Wade, pp. 61-62, it was a Mrs. Vera Dick who started one of the most enduring false stories. She was the one who reported that the band played "Nearer, My God, to Thee" as the ship went down {#1, #2, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #16}. Obviously, if she had been near enough to hear the band, she would have been sucked down with it; Lord-Lives, p. 109, says she was at least a quarter of a mile away. Of course, one newspaper account claimed that the sound of the hymn continued *after* the ship sank! (Barczewski, p. 137).
Lord also observes that "Nearer, My God, To Thee" has different tunes in Britain and America -- yet passengers from both sides of the ocean claim to have heard it played. Odds are that someone, probably Mrs. Dick, started the story ,and it sounded so appropriate that people thought they remembered it. Or maybe it was a transferred memory from the memorial services; "Nearer, My God, To Thee" *was* played at some of the funerals (Barczewski, p. 44), including Hartley's (Barczewski, p. 139, though Eaton/Haas, p. 32, says that the tune used at Hartley's burial was "Proprior Deo," which few would have known as "Nearer, My God, to Thee").
The single most reliable account is that from junior wireless operator Harold Bride: "The water was then coming into our cabin. From aft came the tunes of the band. It was a ragtime tune. I don't know what. Then there was 'Autumn.' Phillips [the senior wireless operator] ran aft, and that was the last I ever saw of him alive" (Tibballs, p. 97; cf. Wade, p. 63).
This statement has frequently been taken to refer to the lively hymn "Autumn." "Autumn" was considered extremely appropriate, since it contains the line "Hold me up in mighty waters." But Lord-Lives, p. 110, offers very strong evidence against this suggestion; it is unlikely the band knew it or that passengers would recognize it. Lord-Lives, p. 112, suggests that Bride's reference was in fact to Archibald Joyce's "Songe d'Autumne," popular in 1912. We cannot possibly know; the evidence is too thin. But at least this piece is a reasonable suggestion, unlike "Nearer, My God, to Thee." Eaton/Haas, p. 32, mention a suggestion by Gavin Bryars that Bride actually said "Aughton," and was misquoted.
Still, there are authorities who stand by "Nearer, My God, to Thee" -- e.g. Butler-Unsink, p. 131, and tentatively Eaton/Haas, p. 32. I have to think this is wishful thinking; though Butler-Unsink addresses the counter-claim for "Autumn," he does not acknowledge the various problems with the claim for "Nearer...."
(It is ironic to note that the sinking does seem to have inspired a publishing boomlet -- Lycnh/Marschall, p. 213, shows three editions of "Nearer, My God, to Thee" with the _Titanic_ on the cover.)
(I will add a minor speculation of my own here. Tibballs, p. 320, prints a report that a single violinist played "Nearer..." "[a]fter all his fellow musicians had been washed away." Speaking only for myself, if I were in a situation where I knew death was coming soon, I'd haul out one or another instrument and start playing -- it would be the best distraction and farewell I can think of. And Butler-Unsink, p. 57, says that there were many musicians among the third class passengers, who staged their own dances along the way. We also have tales of hymn-sings and such; Lynch/Marschall, p. 77. Could it be that one of the passengers played "Nearer..."?)
That report Tibballs cites (from the _Western Daily Mercury_) was an extensive one, printed two weeks after the accident, and it seems to have contained nearly every inaccuracy contained in the _Titanic_ songs:
A. That Murdoch shot himself (pp. 320, 326, 333 in the Tibballs reprint).
B. "Explosions" (pp. 320, 325, 326, 328, 335; an exploding boiler is mentioned in Bessie Jones's version of {#3}, but in fact the _Titanic_ crew shut down the boilers early to prevent an explosion, and Ballard saw no evidence of any such thing; if there were explosions, they were simply of compressed air and probably occured far below the surface). To be charitable, the process of shutting down the boilers did involve venting steam, which was a noisy process (it even made it hard for the wireless operators to work; Lynch/Marschall, p. 108) which someone might have interpreted as an explosion. Or, perhaps, a passenger below-decks might have heard the launching of the distress rockets and thought that was an explosion (cf. the description of the sound in Butler-Unsink, pp. 97-98; Lynch/Marschall, p. 99, calls it an unearthly roar which forced passengers to shout in order to be heard over the sound.).
C. An attempt to cross the ocean in "record time" (p. 324; cf. {#7}), when the _Titanic_ had no chance whatsoever to cross faster than the _Mauretania's_ record
D. Sundry claims to have been on "the last boat" (p. 324), when in fact the last boat was Lightoller's, which hadn't even been launched when the water rolled over it, and its passengers are well known
E. A claim that _Titanic's_ "plates were ripped open from a dozen feet in from the bow to the second funnel" (p. 327) or "from the forecastle to the bridge (p. 335), which of course would have sunk her much faster
F. Two "Italians" trying to rush the boats; one "Dago" (yes, that was the word used, which will tell you the quality of this particular report) had to be shot (pp. 329, 338)
G. Plus, of course, several stories of the "last musician" (pp. 320, 326).
Even if no one played "Nearer, My God, to Thee," there was at least one hymn directly associated with the sinking: Philip Paul Bliss's "Pull for the Shore." This was sung aboard one of the lifeboats as they rowed away from the scene of the wreck (Wade, p. 236). There was bitter logic in the words:
Pull for the shore, sailor, pull for the shore!
Heed not the rolling waves, but bend to the oar;
Safe in the life boat, sailor, cling to self no more!
Leave the poor old stranded wreck, and pull for the shore.
Harland & Wolff, which built the _Titanic_, continued to prosper into the Twenties, but the partition of Ireland and the decline of the shipping fleet cost it much business. From a peak in the tens of thousands of employees, it now has only a few hundred (one of the biggest factors in the decline of the Belfast economy), and is now Norwegian-owned; the land on which _Titanic_ was built was sold off in 2003 (Barczewski, p. 245).
Southampton, the _Titanic's_ home port, suffered more immediate losses; the larger part of the ship's crew came from there, meaning that hundreds of families lost a loved one. The _Daily Graphic_ printed a report headed "Stricken Southampton" (Tibballs, pp. 239-240). Barczewski, p. 248, notes that there was one school in the town where no fewer than 125 students had lost a close relative. On p. 264, she notes that the population in 1912 was around 120,000, meaning that more than one Southampton resident in 200 was aboard the _Titanic_ (p. 266 says that 699 of 898 crewmembers lived in the Southampton area, whilte, Butler-Unsink, p. 172, says that 80% of the crew came from the city), and more than one in 250 died aboard the ship.
Many of the _Titanic_ songs of course stress the theme of hubris and how the ship had to be punished somehow. {#10 is the most extreme, but we also find this e.g. in versions of #1}. This bit of theology did not originate with the songwriters; Biel, pp. 59-63, and at other points in the chapter labelled "Mammon," shows how preachers of the time offered this argument (which is at best dubiously Biblical -- Jesus in fact quite explicitly said that special punishments did not come to special sinners; see e.g. Luke 13:4). Biel in fact cites {#10} as an example of how this doctrine became entrenched. Butler-Unsink, pp. 222-223, also discusses the mass religious outpouring on the theme of "God did it to show that humans are incompetent worms." (To which I say, the very fact that they can come up with such notions proves that they're right: We *are* incompetent worms. But it was the complacent British Board of Trade, and the cheapskate managers like Ismay, not the engineers, who are to blame.)
There were a number of goofy ideas proposed over the years to, well, raise the _Titanic_ {#7}. Most are pre-Ballard -- the first was proposed in 1914 (Lord-Lives, p. 194) --  so they didn't realize the ship was in two pieces, and most were unworkable even with an intact ship; it seems unlikely that anything will ever come of this (though Arthur C. Clarke produced some ideas that might actually work). Nor did anyone really have any idea what to do with the ship once raised; the idea of a museum was proposed, but one wag calculated that it would be economically unviable just because of the amount of paint required for the ship (Lynch/Marschall, p. 201).
It is sad to report that scavengers *have* recovered some scrap metal -- and, reportedly, are turning it into wrist watches. Sadly, the Gods have not seen to strike these grave-robbers with the sort of punishment they deserve.
The last survivor of the _Titanic_, Elizabeth Gladys "Millvena" Dean, died at the end of May 2009, more than 97 years after the sinking. (She was only a few weeks old when the ship sank, the child of a family trying to emigrate to America.) The legend, it seems clear, will survive much longer.
>>BIBLIOGRAPHY<<
Ballard: Dr. Robert D. Ballard, _The Discovery of the Titanic_ (Warner, 1987). The standard work on the story of the _Titanic_ herself after the last survivors left her, with many photos both of the ship as she sailed and of her as was found on the bottom. But most of the material is modern and does not come into the _Titanic_ songs.
Barczewski: Stephanie Barczewski, _Titanic: A Night Remembered_ (Hambledon Continuum, 2004). One of the few books I've seen that is properly footnoted, though the author seems to have a fascination with people stories (it's perhaps revelatory that she dedicates the book to her dogs). And large sections seem to be taken almost verbatim from Lord-Lives. On the other hand, it's very useful as a counterweight to the "Titanic" movie.
Biel: Steven Biel, _Down with the Old Canoe: A Cultural History of the Titanic Disaster_ (1996; I use the 1997 Norton edition). Not really a history of the ship, but of people's reactions to the sinking. Of course, the reactions are what inspired the songs.... A caution about his accuracy, though: He calls Kirsty MacColl (Ewan's daughter, unless there are two of them) "Irish"!
Brinnin: John Malcolm Brinnin, _The Sway of the Grand Saloon: A Social History of the North Atlantic_ (1986; I use the 2000 Barnes & Noble edition). A history of transatlantic liners, regrettably lacking footnotes, but useful for background.
Butler-Other: Daniel Allen Butler, _The Other Side of the Night_ (Casemate, 2009). Unlike Butler's other book, this has no footnotes, but it's an interesting twist on the _Titanic_ story, giving its attention to the other ships in the area on the "Night to Remember."
Butler-Unsink: Daniel Allen Butler, _"Unsinkable": The Full Story_ (Stackpole, 1998). Properly footnoted, for once. Occasionally it's off the wall (e.g. it claims the band did in fact play "Nearer, My God, to Thee), but for the most part it is a clear and readable summary, and it has interesting insights into some of the key players in the tragedy.
Eaton/Haas: John P. Eaton and Charles A. Haas, _Titanic: Destination Disaster, The Legends and the Reality_, revised edition, Norton, 1996. Over-dramatic, it seems to me (it treats as fact much that can only be speculation), but with many interesting photos and lists I have not seen elsewhere. On the other hand, it seems to approve of the grave-robbing expeditions to the site, and it is Lordite. I frankly did not like this book at all. And the photos are sometimes dubious -- one shows a ship with smoke coming out of all four funnels, even though one of _Titanic's_ funnels was fake. Either the photo has been doctored or it is another ship.
Lord-Night: Walter Lord, _A Night to Remember_ (1955; I use the 1997 Bantam edition). The classic book, pre-Ballard; it is unfortunately not footnoted though widely regarded as reliable.
Lord-Lives: Walter Lord, _The Night Lives On_ (1987; I use the Avon paperback edition). Like Lord-Night, it is not footnoted. Whereas _A Night to Remember_ is about the sinking itself, _The Night Lives On_ gives much more detail about events before and after -- and, in some cases, corrects Lord's earlier book, based in part on research he himself helped inspire.
Lynch/Marschall: _Titanic: An Illustrated History_, text by Don Lynch, paintings by Ken Marschall, introduction by Robert D. Ballard, 1992; I use the 1998 Hyperion edition. A few too many illustrations, and an inconvenient format, but if a graphic can explain something, it probably has it.
Paine: Lincoln P. Paine, _Ships of the World_ (Houghton Mifflin, 1997). A general reference, used mostly to find data on the other ships (_Olympic_, _Carpathia_, etc.) involved in the _Titanic_ story.
Preston: Diana Preston, _Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy_ (Walker, 2002; I use the 2003 Berkley edition). Obviously another book about the _Lusitania_ rather than the _Titanic_, but it is properly footnoted and has useful background about the liners of the era.
Ramsay: David Ramsay, _The Lusitania: Saga and Myth_ (Norton, 2001). Used primarily for the information it gives on competition in the transatlantic trade in the early twentieth century.
Ritchie: David Ritchie, _Shipwrecks: An Encyclopedia of the World's Worst Disasters at Sea_, 1996 (I use the 1999 Checkmark paperback edition). Not specific to the _Titanic_, of course, but it has many pages on the subject, with special attention to the _Californian_ affair.
Tibballs: Geoff Tibballs, editor, _The Mammoth Book of the Titanic_ (Carroll & Graf, 2002). A selection of statements by survivors and witnesses, plus press accounts. Unfortunately, it has no index, and a minimal table of contents, so it contains a lot of useful information I couldn't cite because I couldn't find it when I was writing the relevant portions of this essay.
Wade: Wyn Craig Wade, _The Titanic: End of a Dream_ (revised edition, Penguin, 1986). This calls itself a _Titanic_ book. It's more a book about William Alden Smith and an American post-mortem on the ship's sinking. Wade seems to think Smith was a great man. He really sounds more like a demagogue populist to me, though the legislation he introduced certainly made liners safer. Wade also views the sinking of the _Titanic_ as ending some sort of Great Romantic Era. Most would consider World War I more important in that regard.
I should probably also mention Arthur C. Clarke's fictional _The Ghost from the Grand Banks_ (1990), the last solo novel from the last of the great titans of Science Fiction, and the one who always gave the most attention to the science. It's not one of Clarke's great works, and the background comes almost entirely from Ballard and Lord (which made it rather pointless to cite it), but it is gives some genuine life to some of Ballard's more clinical descriptions of the dead hulk -- and also gives some actually useful ideas about how to raise the ship. - RBW
File: RcTita15
===
NAME: Titles of Songs (Song of Songs, Song of All Songs, Song of Song Titles)
DESCRIPTION: Lyrics composed of titles or pieces of other songs, e.g. "Mickey O'Flannigan he had a Bull Pup, Down Where the Pansies Grow, Don't You Leave Your Mother, Tom, For Mary Kelly's Beau."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1863 (Foster's sheet music)
KEYWORDS: lyric nonballad parody
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Randolph 515, "Titles of Songs" (4 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 380-381, "Titles of Songs" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 515A)
BrownIII 234, "Working on the Railroad" (1 text plus two unrelated fragments, the "B" and "C" fragments probably belong with "Roll on the Ground (Big Ball's in Town)"; the "A" text is a jumble starting with "Working on the Railroad" but followed up by what is probably a "Song of All Songs" fragment)
Dean, p. 131, "Reminiscences" (1 text)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 45-46, "The Song of All Songs" (1 text)
Saunders/Root-Foster 2, pp. 339-342+450, "The Song of All Songs" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7598, 7599
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Songs of Old Ireland" (theme)
NOTES: There are actually several pieces which go under this title (Randolph's A, B, and C form one group, his D another; Dean's a third, specifically of Irish songs; Stephen Foster with Tony Pastor produced the piece printed by Spaeth in 1863, though Saunders and Root note that the lyrics are not by Pastor or Foster, and suggest John F. Poole as the writer).
All these songs have a common mechanism, however, and since it is often hard to tell one from another, I am lumping them here.
This has, of course, no relation to the Song of Songs (Song of Solomon, Canticles) in the Bible. For one thing, the Biblical book is erotic (arguably obscene), while this is clean. - RBW
File: R515
===
NAME: Tittery Nan [Laws H16]
DESCRIPTION: Joe Dimsey steals old Josiah's mare; the old man repays the younger back by recovering his horse and pummeling him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Linscott)
KEYWORDS: robbery fight thief injury
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Laws H16, "Tittery Nan"
Linscott, pp. 292-293, "Tittery Nan" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 712, TITERNAN
Roud #2194
NOTES: Laws says, correctly, that "this little piece with its gay refrain is hardly more than a nonsense song," though Linscott is of the opinion that it's based on fact. What fact she does not know.
Roud lumps this with "Titter-ni-an," as sung by Barney McCarthy. This is understandable based on the title, since he had only the sound recoding, but I would consider them separate (while allowing that "Tittery Nan" may be a bowdlerized remake). - RBW
File: LH16
===
NAME: Tittery-ry-an
DESCRIPTION: "An old  women went out to the barn Some eggs for to hunt... A mouse ran up her cunt.." She runs to her husband, begging him to turn it around so it doesn't gnaw its way out. The husband has intercourse with her until the mouse runs out her sleeve
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (collcted from Barney McCarthy by Lomax)
KEYWORDS: sex humorous animal clothes
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
ADDITIONAL: James P. Leary and Richard March, "Farm, Forest, and Factory: Songs of Midwestern Labor," published in Archie Green, editor, _Songs about Work: Essays in Occupational Culture for Richard A. Reuss_, Indiana University, 1993, pp. 256-257, "Titter-ry-an" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2194
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Titter-ni-an
NOTES: Roud, based on the title, lumps the Lomax recording of Barney McCarthy with "Tittery Nan" [Laws H16]. It is evident from the text printed by Leary and March, however, that they are in fact separate songs -- though I would allow a slight possibility that "Tittery Nan" is a thoroughly bowdlerized rewrite of this song. - RBW
File: JPLRMTRA
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