NAME: Water o' Gamery, The: see Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie [Child 215] (File: C215)
===
NAME: Water o' Wearie's Well, The: see Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight [Child 4] (File: C004)
===
NAME: Water of Tyne, The
DESCRIPTION: "I cannot get to my love, if I would dee, The waters of Tyne stand between him and me, And here I must stand with a tear in my e'e, Both sighing and sickly my true love to see." She begs for a boatman to carry her across the river
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1812 (Bell)
KEYWORDS: love separation river
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 30-31, "The Waters of Tyne" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WATRTYNE*
Roud #1364
NOTES: I've never seen this mentioned as an explanation for this song, but for much of history the Tyne, not the Tweed, marked the eastern boundary between Scotland and England -- Hadrian's Wall ended at the Tyne, and the border still stood there into the second millennium C.E. (with the complication that the independent kingdoms of Northumbria for a long time stood between what would become England and what would become Scotland, occupying what we would now call the Scottish lowlands, Cumbria, Northumbria, and even as far down as Yorkshire). The city of Newcastle, in fact, was founded in the reign of William the Conqueror (1066-1087) as the New Castle on the Tyne after Northumbria was claimed by Malcolm III Canmore of Scotland (see Magnus Magnusson's_Scotland: The Story of a Nation_, Atlantic Monthly Press, 2000, p. 66).
The current Solway-to-Tweed border was finally settled in the reign of Alexander II in the first half of the thirteenth century (Magnusson, pp. 90-92). From that time on, the Tyne no longer divided nations. Obviously this song cannot have existed in its present form at that time. But perhaps it's just possible that this represents a memory of that time. - RBW
File: StoR030
===
NAME: Water Witch, The
DESCRIPTION: Water Witch is wrecked on a Horrid Gulch reef near Pouch Cove. Pouch Cove fishermen save some. The Humane Society of Liverpool sent "Gold medals to those fishermen who never knew no fear, The Governor's lady pinned them on"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1980 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: rescue death sea ship storm wreck
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 116, "The Water Witch" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7316
NOTES: Harbour Main is at almost the southernmost point of Conception Bay. Pouch [pronounced "Pooch"] Cove is near Cape St Francis which is turned on the way from St John's to Conception Bay. - BS
The sources checked (Lehr/Best, Northern Shipwrecks Database) disagree on details of this tragedy, dating it November 25 or 29, 1873 or 1875. The casualty count also differs: nine of 20 or 11 of 24. - BS, (RBW)
This ship, incidentally, should not be confused with the American survey ship _Water Witch_, built in 1853, which served as a blockade ship during the American Civil War, but was captured by the Confederates in 1864 and later burned. - RBW
File: LeBe116
===
NAME: Water, Water, Wallflowers: see Wallflowers (File: HHH048d)
===
NAME: Water, Water, Wild Flower: see Wallflowers (File: HHH048d)
===
NAME: Waterbound (I)
DESCRIPTION: Singer can't go home because of flooding. His girl's father is mad, but the singer doesn't care "as long as I get his daughter": "If he don't give her up, we're gonna run away." He and his friends state that they're going home "before the water rises."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (unissued recording, Grayson County Railsplitters)
KEYWORDS: courting elopement flood father
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Darling-NAS, pp. 252-253, "Waterbound" (1 text)
DT, WATRBOND
RECORDINGS:
Grayson County Railsplitters, "Way Down in North Carolina" (unissued, 1929; on TimesAint05)
Art Thieme, "Waterbound" (on Thieme06)
Wade Ward & Bogtrotters, "Waterbound" (on Holcomb-Ward1)
NOTES: Yes, there's a narrative buried in there -- two of them, really. - PJS
I suspect it may have been stronger, once upon a time, but gotten rather submerged after years of the tune being used primarily as a fiddle/banjo instrumental. As Paul notes, there are two plots -- one about the rising flood and one about courting. - RBW
The Grayson Co. Railsplitters' recording is essentially identical to the canonical version sung in the folk revival, mostly learned from the Wade Ward/Bogtrotters recording. It should be noted that Fields Ward, Wade's brother, was a member of the Railsplitters, along with Sampson Ward, Eck Dunford and Ernest "Pop" Stoneman -- an old-time music all-star show if ever there was one. - PJS
File: DTwatrbo
===
NAME: Waterbound II: see Alabama Bound (Waterbound II) (File: BMRF598)
===
NAME: Watercresses
DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a damsel who has "a bunch of watercresses." She agrees to marry but "has some bills to pay" first, so he gives her money. Next day he get a letter that she's already someone's wife. "Sure you must have been greener than watercresses"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1886 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(4046))
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer, a dairy farmer, goes to town, meets a pretty girl, asks the way to Camberwell and falls in love. He proposes, citing his farm and herds; she accepts, but tells him she will need money for wedding expenses. He gives her a sovereign; they kiss and part. She sends him a letter telling him that next time he proposes, he should be certain his intended is a maiden or a widow, not a wife, and promises to repay the sovereign, someday. Refr.: "She promised she would marry me upon the first of May/And she left me with a bunch of water cresses"
KEYWORDS: courting promise money love marriage rejection beauty humorous lover wife
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar,Newf) US(So) Britain(England,Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Greig #137, p. 1, "The Bunch of Water-cresses" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 300, "The Bunch of Watercresses" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 320-321, "Watercresses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 66, "Water Creases" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 106-108, "Watercresses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 63, "The Dairy Farmer (Water Cresses)" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Peac320 (Partial)
Roud #1653
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "The Bunch of Water Cresses" (on Abbott1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4046), "Water Cresses!," H. Such (London), 1863-1885
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Park in Portadown" (theme: the married woman pretending to be single)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Watercrest
The Watercress Girl
NOTES: In [O. J. Abbott's version of] the song, the young man says he is from Belvishire. There is no such shire in England. On the other hand, Camberwell is a borough of London. - PJS
The Southwest Missouri State University site Max Hunter Folk Song Collection includes "Watercrest" ["T'was on the first of April When I arrived in town ..."], a version collected in Arkansas. In this one Mrs. Tray writes "But to think that I would marry you Upon the first of May You must think that I'm as green as watercrest's."
I don't consider this to be the same as the following ballad at Bodleian Library site Ballads Catalogue:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4047), "The Water-Cress Girl" ("While strolling out one evening by a running stream"), unknown, n.d.; also Harding B 11(1233), "The Water-Cress Girl"
In this one the singer finds Martha gathering water-cresses, they "often strolled together," marry and live happily ever after. - BS
File: Peac320
===
NAME: Waterford Boys, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer pays 5 shillings for a room and dry bread and cheese; he fight rats all night. Tavern-keeper would refund 5s for a cure for rats. "Just invite them to supper" and "charge them five shillings and never the rat will again cross your floor."
AUTHOR: Harry Clifton ?
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1879 (broadside, LOCSinging as203820)
KEYWORDS: bargaining emigration Ireland humorous
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 72, "The Waterford Boys" (1 text)
O'Conor, pp. 115-116, "The Waterford Boys" (1 text)
Roud #3107
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, as203820, "Waterford Boys," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
SAME_TUNE:
The Flaming O'Flannigans (per broadside LOCSinging as203820)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Wrestling With Rats
NOTES: According to GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador site the tune is "The Humours of Whiskey" and the dates for the author are 1832-1872.
The "Waterford Boys" title is sensible considering the first lines
Well boys, for diversion, we're all met together:
I'll tell you how from Waterford hither I came
and the last line of the chorus: "Who can compare with the Waterford boys."
Broadside LOCSinging as203820: H. De Marsan dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: GrMa072
===
NAME: Waterford Girl, The: see The Wexford (Oxford, Knoxville, Noel) Girl [Laws P35] (File: LP35)
===
NAME: Waterford Strike, The
DESCRIPTION: Waterford staff strikes for pension rights. Union "Meter Maids" cross the line. Police are scabs and a crowd is treated to an ice hockey shutout of the Police by "Fire Boys." Nevertheless, the "cops keep order, and they're taking home the pay."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1979 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: strike labor-movement worker
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1977 - Four month strike at Waterford Hospital, St John's (Lehr/Best)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 117, "The Waterford Strike" (1 text)
File: LeBe117
===
NAME: Waterloo (I) [Laws J2]
DESCRIPTION: The singer is pressed and forced to leave his sweetheart. The new Redcoat serves in Belfast, then is sent to Waterloo, where he loses an arm and a leg. Now he is at least free of the army and due a pension of thirty pounds
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: war Napoleon
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Laws J2, "Waterloo I"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 81, "Waterloo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 1020-1023, "Waterloo" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
DT 815, WATLOOX
Roud #1921
File: LJ02
===
NAME: Waterloo (II)
DESCRIPTION:
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE:
KEYWORDS:
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
The Plains of Waterloo (I) [Laws N32]
File: LN32
===
NAME: Waterloo (III): see The Plains of Waterloo (VI) (File: HHH015)
===
NAME: Waterloo (IV): see The Plains of Waterloo (III) [Laws J4] (File: LJ04)
===
NAME: Watermellon Hangin' on the Vine: see Watermelon on the Vine (File: Br3454)
===
NAME: Watermelon on the Vine
DESCRIPTION: "You may talk about your apples, your peaches, and your pears... But... The watermelon am de fruit for me." "But gimme, oh, gimme me... That watermelon hanging on the vine." The singer begs for, or makes other plans to acquire, the watermelon
AUTHOR: unknown (credited to Johnny Marvin on the Whitter recording)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1920 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: food theft floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 454, "Oh, Dat Watermilion" (2 fragments, possibly other songs mixed with this, but too short to bother classifying separately); 468, "Watermelon Hanging on the Vine" (1 text)
ST Br3454 (Partial)
Roud #11795
RECORDINGS:
Bela Lam and His Green County Singers, "Watermelon Smiling on the Vine" (OKeh, unissued, 1929)
The Monroe Brothers, "Watermellon Hangin' on the Vine" (Bluebird 6829)
Ernest Stoneman, "Watermelon Hanging on the Vine" (Edison 51864, 1926) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5191, 1926)
Uncle Dave Macon, "Watermelon Smilin' on the Vine" (Vocalion 15063, 1923)
Henry Whitter, "Watermelon Hanging on the Vine" (OKeh 40296, 1925; rec. 1924)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "There Was a Watermelon" (theme)
NOTES: Bob Black, who played with the Blue Grass Boys for a couple of years, describes this as Bill Monroe's "theme song" (_Come Hither to Go Younder_, p. 40), but obviously it preceded him. - RBW
File: Br3454
===
NAME: Waters of Dee, The
DESCRIPTION: The bride waits at home for the bride-groom. She and her maiden look for him but "he'll never win owre the waters o' Dee." At dinner the bridegroom raps at the gate. The bride gets a horse and they elope "And so they were mairriet wi' candle-light"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: elopement marriage home horse
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 617, "The Waters of Dee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6057
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "One Night As I Lay On My Bed" (theme)
File: GrD3617
===
NAME: Watkin's Ale
DESCRIPTION: A girl laments "I am afraid to die a maid." A man overhears and offers her "Watkin's Ale." She accepts. After much witty repartee, they part. Nine months later, her child is born. The moral: "It is no jesting with sharp-edged tools."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: mentioned twice in 1592 (Mundy, Chettle)
KEYWORDS: seduction pregnancy sex bawdy bastard
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, p. 265, "Watkin's Ale" (1 tune)
BBI, ZN3278A, "As Watkin walked by the way" (also "There was a maid this other day")
DT, WATKALE*
NOTES: This probably is not a traditional tune; the words are too fiendishly clever and the music too complex to have arisen in oral tradition. The song is rather frequently mentioned, however, particularly for such a bawdy piece. Chances are it was popular enough to include here. And I happen to think it too clever to omit. - RBW
File: ChWI265
===
NAME: Watty and Meg
DESCRIPTION: Watty goes to the local alehouse and complains to Mungo about Meg's nagging. Mungo recommends Watty threaten to leave her. Watty follows the advice, threatening to enlist. Meg begs him to stay and promises never to nag him. He stays.
AUTHOR: Alexander Wilson (1766-1813) in 1792 (source: Ford)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1899 (Ford); c.1800 (broadside, NLScotland RB.m.143(002))
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Watty goes to the local alehouse and complains to Mungo about Meg's nagging. Mungo recommends Watty threaten to leave her. Meg comes to get him for "bringing wife and weans to ruin, Drinking here wi' sic a crew." The nagging continues on the road and when they reach home. He bids her farewell in the morning. She begs him to stay. He says he has heard that before and this morning he will enlist: "Ower the seas I march this morning." His price for staying is that she "swear to drap your flyting." She solemnly swears "by everything that's gude, Ne'er again your spouse to scal' him" or complain about his drinking. She swears again. Watty is ecstatic. "Syne below the blankets, gloriousa, Held anither Hinney-Moon."
KEYWORDS: shrewishness sex drink dialog husband wife
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
GreigDuncan3 595, "Watty and Meg" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Ford, editor, Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland [first series] (Paisley,1899), pp. 115-124, "Watty and Meg" (omitted from the 1904 single-volume edition)
Roud #5891
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4051), "Watty and Meg" ("Keen the frosty winds were blawing"), Sanderson (Edinburgh), 1830-1910
NLScotland, RB.m.143(002), "Watty and Meg" or "The Wife Reformed," unknown, c.1800; also RB.m.143(160), "Watty and Meg" or "The Wife Reformed"
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 is a fragment; broadside NLScotland RB.m.143(002) is the basis for the description.
Ford: "Not Paisley, as is generally supposed, but Lochwinnoch, I believe, was the scene of this world-known poem.... 'Mungo Blue' was really notorious in the village scandal. His real name was Jamie Orr..... He led a joyous but short life, and went through his 'subject' by drinking and other debaucheries. His changehouse [alehouse] at Lochwinnoch.... In the east end was situated the wretched domicile of Wattie Mathie and his wife, the hero and heroine of the wonderfully graphic poem, which is true in every respect to the character of Watty, and to the flyting and tinkler nature of his wife, Meg Love." - BS
File: GrD3595
===
NAME: Watty Grimes
DESCRIPTION: Watty Grimes blames Billy McKeever for blackmailing him into leaving his family to join a raid to aid Antrim. They "spent that whole night with a bottle and glass." Watty is deserted in the field, flees, is taken, jailed in Coleraine, tried and executed.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1845 (Shield's _Songs and Ballads in use in the Province of Ulster...1845_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: rebellion execution manhunt prison trial drink gallows-confessions family
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Jun 7, 1798 - "A party of insurgents led by William M'Keiver assembled at Crew Hill, near Maghera, Co. Derry, in order to assist the United Irishmen of Antrim" (source: Moylan)
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 81, "Watty Grimes" (2 texts)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(666), "Watty Grimes" ("In the year '98, as you may understand"), The Poet's Box (Belfast), 1846-1852
File: Moyl081
===
NAME: Watty's Wooing
DESCRIPTION: "Watty Wylie was a grieve and served at Whinnyknowe, And he had gien his promise to marry Bessie Lowe," but repeatedly puts off the wedding, pleading poverty. At last she gives up on him and marries another. She is happy, but Watty is mocked
AUTHOR: William "Ryming Willie" Penman ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord); Penman died 1877
KEYWORDS: love courting betrayal rejection poverty
FOUND_IN: Britain±(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 282-283, "Watty's Wooing" (1 text)
Roud #5601
File: Ord282
===
NAME: Waukin' o' the Kilne, The: see The Miller's Daughter (The Fleeing Servant) (File: KinBB06)
===
NAME: Wave Over Wave
DESCRIPTION: The singer is a sailor who loves the sea. His wife doesn't understand why he leaves home ten months a year, with children to raise, while he "must sail the salt sea"
AUTHOR: Jim Payne
EARLIEST_DATE: 1983 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: sea children wife sailor
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 118, "Wave Over Wave" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: LeBe118
===
NAME: Waves on the Sea: see The Mermaid [Child 289] (File: C289)
===
NAME: Waxies' Dargle, The
DESCRIPTION: "Says my aul' one to your aul' one, Will ye come to the Waxies' Dargle?" The hearer hasn't a farthing to take a trip. Neither can they go to the Galway races. They agree, "When food is scarce, And you see the hearse, You'll know you died of hunger."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1982 (Soodlum's Irish Ballad Book)
KEYWORDS: food travel hardtimes poverty
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, WAXDARGL*
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Girl I Left Behind Me" (II - lyric) (tune)
cf. "Brighton Camp" (tune)
NOTES: Waxies were candlemakers (or, according to Robert Gogan, _130 Great Irish Ballads_ [third edition, Music Ireland, 2004], p.105, people who waxed bootlaces). _Soodlum's Irish Ballad Book_ declares that the Waxies' Dargle was an annual meeting of candlemakers held in Bray in County Wicklow. Gogan, however, declares that the poor waxies could not afford a visit to such a posh place, and so went instead to a beach in Dublin.
The versions I've seen don't make it clear why times are so hard in this song; it doesn't sound like a famine song. I suspect its survival has much to do with being fitted to the much-loved tune "Brighton Camp." - RBW
File: DTWaxDar
===
NAME: Way Bye and Bye
DESCRIPTION: "Way bye and bye (x2), We goin' a have a good time, Way bye and bye." "Way in Beulah land (x2), we goin' a have a good time, way bye and bye." "Meet my mother over there...." "One morning soon...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 253-254, "Way Bye and Bye" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: CNFM253
===
NAME: Way Down Below
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, a good beef steak and' a mutton chop, Way down below! Make dat nigger's lip go flip flap flop. Way down below (x2), Ole Aunt Kitty am honin' for de sea, Way down below." Verses float (e.g. "My old master promised me"); lines 2 and 4-6 are the chorus
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: slave freedom floatingverses food
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 492, "Way Down Below" (1 text)
Roud #11870
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "My Ole Mistus Promised Me" (floating lyrics) and references there
NOTES: This looks like it might have been built on the broken fragments of a sea shanty, but the verses have clearly come from tradition ashore. - RBW
File: Br492
===
NAME: Way Down by the Green Bushes: see Green Bushes [Laws P2] (File: LP02)
===
NAME: Way Down in Columbus, Georgia: see Columbus Stockade Blues (File: Wa137)
===
NAME: Way Down in Cuba
DESCRIPTION: Fragment of a shanty: "I've got a sister nine feet tall, 'Way down in Cuba, Sleeps in the kitchen with her feet in the hall, 'Way down in Cuba." "I've got a girl friend, name is Jane,
'Way down in Cuba, You can guess where she gives me a pain...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Shay)
KEYWORDS: shanty talltale
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Shay-SeaSongs, p. 95, "'Way Down in Cuba" (1short text)
Roud #8820
NOTES: I suspect this may be a broken-off fragment of a better-known shanty (Shay says it's from the Mississippi River), but with only two verses and no tune, it's hard to tell. - RBW
File: ShSea095
===
NAME: Way Down in Old Virginia
DESCRIPTION: "'Way down in old Virginia Where I was bred and born, On the sunny side of that country I used to hoe the corn." The singer recalls those happy times: "And I couldn't stay away." He recalls his old mistress and master, who were "good and kind"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Dean)
KEYWORDS: slave home work food
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 225-226, "'Way Down in Ole Virginia" (1 text)
Dean, p. 111, "I CouldnŐt Stay Away" (1 text)
ST ScaNF225 (Partial)
Roud #9578
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" (theme)
NOTES: I find it highly unlikely that this is of actual Black composition; I suspect that the woman who sent it to Scarborough was unclear or inaccurate about its source. The fact that Dean (whose repertoire is strongly northern and contains much from the stage) has it may be indicative. - RBW
File: ScaNF225
===
NAME: Way Down in Rackensack (Old Coon Dog)
DESCRIPTION: "Somebody stole my old coon dog, I wish they'd bring him back, He drove the big 'uns over the fence An' the little ones through the crack. It's gettin' out the way o' the fiddler O (x3), Way down in Rackensack."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (recording, Fiddlin' Doc Roberts)
KEYWORDS: animal dog theft
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 350, "Way Down in Rackensack" (1 text)
Roud #7627
RECORDINGS:
Bradley Kincaid, "Old Coon Dog" (Brunswick 485, c. 1930)
George "Shortbuckle" Roark, "My Old Coon Dog"(Columbia 15383-D, 1929; rec. 1928; a melange that also includes bits of, among other songs, "Whoa, Mule," "Possum Up a Gum Stump," and "Shoo Fly")
Fiddlin' Doc Roberts, "My Old Coon Dog" (Gennett 6558, 1928)
File: R350
===
NAME: Way Down in Rockingham: see Jinny Go Round and Around (File: R272)
===
NAME: Way Down in Tennessee
DESCRIPTION: "Farewell you girls of this cold countree," "I can no longer stay with you. " "I left my wife and a baby." Chorus: "Away over the ocean." "Tennessee is a-rolling." Lines are repeated three times, followed by "I'm bound/way-down for Tennessee"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Smith/Hatt)
KEYWORDS: nonballad shanty
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Smith/Hatt, p. 23, "Way Down in Tennessee" (1 text)
Roud #9415
NOTES: Smith/Hatt: Smith's comment is "A favourite with Liverpool [Nova Scotia] sailormen." - BS
File: SmHa023
===
NAME: 'Way Down Near Alpena
DESCRIPTION: "Way down near Alpena in a far-distant land, There's a hard-hearted, hard-spoken band." The men go on a spree. The singer describes their fights. Chorus: "Hurray, hurrah! For the fruit you can bet/Let's take of a drink, boys, for our credit's good yet."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Rickaby)
KEYWORDS: logger drink party fight moniker
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Beck 39, "'Way Back Near Alpena" (1 text)
Rickaby 34-II, (second of three "Fragments of Shanty Songs") (1 text)
ST Be039 (Partial)
Roud #6503
File: Be039
===
NAME: Way Down on the Old Peedee
DESCRIPTION: "Away down south, on the old Peedee, Away down in the cotton and the corn, There lived old Joe, and he lived so long That nobody knows when he was born." The song describes how the old, old slave was buried
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: slave death burial age
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 421, "Way Down on the Old Peedee" (1 text plus a possibly-related fragment)
Roud #11770
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Uncle Ned" (plot)
NOTES: This song is so like "Uncle Ned" in its ideas, and even its style, that I can't help but think it designed to take advantage of that early Foster work. But I haven't located a source. - RBW
File: Br3421
===
NAME: Way Down the Ohio
DESCRIPTION: Fragment: "Way down the Ohio my little boat I steered/In hopes that some pretty girl on the banks will appear/I'll hug her and kiss her till my mind is at ease/And I'll turn my back on her and court who I please"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE:
KEYWORDS: courting sex infidelity travel lover
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SharpAp 198, "Way Down the Ohio" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #3616
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Green Brier Shore (II)" (lyrics)
NOTES: This is very like the chorus of "Green Brier Shore (II)," itself a composite, but it lacks that song's theme of parental disapproval. And in this one, the young man's a cad. - PJS
File: ShAp2198
===
NAME: Way Down the Old Plank Road
DESCRIPTION: Floating verses, some mentioning jail, stitched together with the usual Uncle Dave Macon logic. Chorus: "Won't get drunk no mo' (x3), Way down the old plank road."
AUTHOR: Uncle Dave Macon
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (recording, Uncle Dave Macon)
KEYWORDS: prison drink humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 94, "Way Down The Old Plank Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 202, "Way Down the Old Plank Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 252, "Marina Girls" (1 short text, 1 tune)
DT, OLPLNKRD
Roud #18527
RECORDINGS:
Uncle Dave Macon, "Way Down the Old Plank Road" (Vocalion 5097, 1926; on AAFM3, RoughWays1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Fare You Well, My Own True Love (The Storms Are on the Ocean, The False True Lover, The True Lover's Farewell, Red Rosy Bush, Turtle Dove)" (words)
cf. "The Old Gray Goose (I) (Lookit Yonder)" (words)
cf. "My Wife Died on Saturday Night" (floating verse)
NOTES: I put SharpAp 252 ("Marina Girls") here only because because half of it is a floating verse that's also in this song ("Sixteen pounds of meat a week/Whisky for to sell/How can a pretty girl stay at home/The soldiers fare so well" -- note that Uncle Dave reversed the sexes!) Although it was collected in 1918, I'm not assigning it as "Earliest Date" because it's not really "Way Down the Old Plank Road," but I note the fact of the floater. - PJS
Roud makes "Marina Girls" a separate song (his item #3661), but the only known text appears to be Sharp's short fragment from Laura V. Donald; until and unless more distinct text shows up, it's hard to know how to file the thing anyway. - RBW
File: ADR94
===
NAME: Way Down upon the Swanee River: see Old Folks at Home (File: RJ19163)
===
NAME: Way Down Yonder in Pasquotank: see May Irwin's Frog Song (The Foolish Frog, Way Down Yonder) (File: Br3189)
===
NAME: Way Down Yonder on Cedar Street: see Roll, Jordan, Roll (II) (File: R303)
===
NAME: Way Downtown: see Late Last Night When Willie Came Home (Way Downtown) (File: CSW166)
===
NAME: Way Out in Idaho (I)
DESCRIPTION: A railroad man, enticed by "Kilpatrick's man, Catcher," goes to Idaho to work on the Oregon Short Line. Disillusioned by hard work and bad food, he winds up "happy, down in the harvest camps" and plans to marry a girl and bring her "back to Idaho."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (recording, Blaine Stubblefield)
KEYWORDS: railroading work marriage train travel
FOUND_IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 560-566, "Way Out in Idaho" (1 text plus a text of "The Arkansaw Navvy"="The State of Arkansas (The Arkansas Traveler II)" [Laws H1], 1 tune)
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 440, "Way Out in Idaho" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, OUTIDAHO*
Roud #16409
RECORDINGS:
Blaine Stubblefield, "Way Out in Idaho" (AFS 1634 B1, 1938; on LC61)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Son of a Gambolier (I)" and references there (tune)
cf. "The Buffalo Skinners" (lyrics, plot)
cf. "The State of Arkansas (The Arkansas Traveler II)" [Laws H1] (lyrics)
NOTES: The Digital Tradition notes that the tune for its version is a "slight variant on Son of a Gambolier." - RBW
File: BRaF440
===
NAME: Way Out in Idaho (II): see We're Coming, Arkansas (We're Coming, Idaho) (File: R343)
===
NAME: Way Out in Idyho: see We're Coming, Arkansas (We're Coming, Idaho) (File: R343)
===
NAME: Way Out There
DESCRIPTION: Singer, a hobo, jumps off a freight train, makes camp, falls asleep, dreaming "the desert sand was a milk and honey land." He awakens to the sound of a returning train; he catches it on the fly. Refrain: "It gets lonesome way out there" or similar
AUTHOR: Bob Nolan
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (recording, Sons of the Pioneers)
KEYWORDS: homesickness loneliness rambling train travel dream hobo
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Bill Boyd & his Cowboy Ramblers "'Way Out There" (Bluebird [US, Canada] B-6670, 1936; Montgomery Ward M-7193, 1937)
Callahan Brothers, "Away Out There" (Melotone 7-05-59, 1937)
Hall Brothers, "'Way Out There" (Bluebird B-6843, 1937)
Riley Puckett, "'Way Out There" (Bluebird B-8354, 1940)
Sons of the Pioneers, "Way Out There" (Decca 5013, 1934)
File: RcWOT
===
NAME: Way Out West in Kansas
DESCRIPTION: Complaints about life "Way out west in Kansas": "The sun's so hot the eggs will hatch... It'll pop the corn in a popcorn patch." The people are prone to fighting and often physically peculiar; the lack of amusements makes for a boring life
AUTHOR: Carson Robison
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (recording, Billy Murray & Ed. Smalle)
KEYWORDS: home family
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 32, "In Kansas" (2 texts, 1 tune, the "B" text being this piece while the "A" text is "In Kansas")
Roud #4455
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart & Co. "Way Out West in Kansas" (Edison 51459, 1925)
Art Gilliam (The Whispering Pianist), "Way Out West in Kansas" (Columbia 238-D, 1924)
Billy Murray & Ed. Smalle "Way Out West in Kansas" (Victor 19442, 1924)
Anna Underhill, "Away Out West in Kansas" (on FineTimes)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "In Kansas" (theme)
NOTES: There's a Gene Autry recording, "'Way Out West in Texas" (Conqueror 8193, 1933; Conqueror 9513, 1940) which is probably the same song, but as I haven't heard it I'm putting it here as a note instead of adding it to the official recordings list. - PJS
File: FCW032B
===
NAME: Way Over in the Blooming Garden
DESCRIPTION: Playparty/courting game. "Sweet peas and roses, Strawberries on the vine Way over in the blooming garden Where sweet lilies grow." "Choose you a partner and choose him to your side." "Hug him neatly and kiss him so sweetly."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: courting playparty nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 293-294, "Way Over in the Blooming Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15583
File: LxA294
===
NAME: Way Over in the Heavens
DESCRIPTION: "I wish't I had-a heard when ye called me (x3) To sit on the seat by Jesus. Way over in the heavens...." "Sister, my soul's happy...." "I have a mother in the heavens...." "Won't you be glad when he calls you...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1943
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad Jesus
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-FSNA 127, "Way Over in the Heavens" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6681
File: LoF127
===
NAME: Way Over in the New Buryin' Groun'
DESCRIPTION: "The hammer keeps ringin' on somebody's coffin (x2), Way over in the new buryin' groun'." "Somebody's dying way over yonder (x2), Way over in the new buryin' groun'." "Hearse keeps a-rollin' -- somebody's dyin'...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: death burial
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 614, "The New Buryin' Ground" (3 texts, with common verses though "A" never mentions the burying ground)
Sandburg, p. 473, "Way Over in the New Buryin' Groun'" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #11052
SAME_TUNE:
Woody Guthrie, "Union Burying Ground" (on Struggle2)
File: San473
===
NAME: Way Over in the Promised Land: see Where Is Old Elijah? (The Hebrew Children, The Promised Land) (File: San092)
===
NAME: Way Sing Sally: see Sally Brown (File: Doe074)
===
NAME: Way Stormalong John: see Stormalong (File: Doe082)
===
NAME: Way to Spell Chicken, De: see C-H-I-C-K-E-N (File: RcCHICKE)
===
NAME: Way to Wallington, The
DESCRIPTION: "O canny man, o! Shew me the way to Wallington: I've got a mare to ride, and she's a trick o' galloping." Sandy tells of his determination to reach the town; he is told he is on the road. He sets off "like the wind"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: horse travel
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 148-149, "Shew Me the Way to Wallington" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR148 (Partial)
Roud #3165
NOTES: This is said to be a pipe tune, with words defective. It looks as if it might be political -- but too little is left, at least in the texts I've seen, to make even an intelligent guess as to what. - RBW
File: StoR148
===
NAME: Way Up in Sofield: see The Sheffield Apprentice [Laws O39] (File: LO39)
===
NAME: Way Up on Clinch Mountain: see Rye Whiskey AND Sweet Lulur (File: R405)
===
NAME: Way, Me, Susiana!: see Susiana (File: Doe083)
===
NAME: Wayerton Driver, The
DESCRIPTION: "I'm a heart-broken driver, From Wayerton I came, I courted a sweetheart, Mary Dolan by name." Paul buys her a ring but she turns him down. He gets drunk and visits her again. She prefers Melvin Grant. Pretty fair maids, warns Paul, are "slyer than mice"
AUTHOR: probably Paul Kingston
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: courting ring rejection drink
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Manny/Wilson 45, "The Wayerton Driver" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MaWi045 (Partial)
Roud #9183
NOTES: Wayerton is far up the Northwest Miramichi River in New Brunswick. - BS
The note on the tune says that this derives from "The Girl I Left Behind Me," and there is in fact a strong resemblance in the shape of the melody. But the first verse, at least, is clearly based on "Jack Haggerty (The Flat River Girl)" [Laws C25]. - RBW
File: MaWi045
===
NAME: Wayfaring Pilgrim: see Wayfaring Stranger (File: FSC077)
===
NAME: Wayfaring Stranger
DESCRIPTION: The singer confesses, "I'm just a poor, wayfaring stranger / A-travelling through this world of woe." The singer plans to cross the Jordan (into heaven), there to meet with family and loved ones and live forever free from trouble and burden
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1816 (Kentucky Harmony, as "Judgement")
KEYWORDS: religious death
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,SE)
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
FSCatskills 77, "Poor and Foreign Stranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 93, "A Poor Wayfaring Pilgrim" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, p. 208, "I'm Just A-Going Over Jordon" (1 text, clearly this though it lacks the "Wayfaring Stranger" lines)
Lomax-FSUSA 97, "Wayfaring Stranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 880-881, "Wayfaring Stranger" (1 text, 1 tune, plus verses from several parodies)
Arnett, p. 32, "Wayfaring Stranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 162-165, "Wayfaring Stranger" (1 text, 3 tunes)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 124-125, "Wayfaring Stranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 15, "Wayfaring Stranger" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 352, "Wayfaring Stranger" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 22, #5 (1973), p, 21, "Wayfaring Stranger" (1 text, 1 tune, the Horton Barker version)
ST FSC077 (Partial)
Roud #3339
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley, "Wayfaring Pilgrim" (on WatsonAshley01)
Horton Barker, "Wayfaring Stranger" (on Barker01)
Linzy Hicks, "A Poor Wayfaring Pilgrim" (on USWarnerColl01)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Wayfaring Stranger" (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
Almeda Riddle, "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" (on LomaxCD1701, LomaxCD1704)
Pete Seeger, "The Wayfaring Stranger" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07b)
Vaughn's Texas Quartet, "The Wayfaring Pilgrim" (Victor V-40231, 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Dear Companion (The Broken Heart; Go and Leave Me If You Wish To, Fond Affection)" (tune)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Judgement
Wayfaring Pilgrim
File: FSC077
===
NAME: Wayward Boy, The
DESCRIPTION: The Wayward Boy has sex with a girl, who gives him "pimples thick" upon his penis in exchange for the "two little mutts up her guts."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE:
KEYWORDS: bawdy rake rambling seduction sex pregnancy disease
FOUND_IN: US(SW,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cray, pp. 86-89, "The Wayward Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, p. 146, "Two Ruby Red Lips" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10408
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fire Ship" (plot) and references there
cf. "The Girl I Left Behind Me (lyric)" (tune & meter) and references there
NOTES: Legman styles the one-stanza fragment in Randolph-Legman I by an alternate title. - EC
Not to be confused with the Charlie Poole song of the same title (Rorrer, p. 87), which does not appear to be a traditional song. - RBW
File: EM086
===
NAME: We Are A' Queen Mary's Men" (1 text, 1 tune): see Queen Mary's Men (New Year's Eve Carol) (File: MSNR200)
===
NAME: We Are All Jolly Fellows that Follow the Plough: see All Jolly Fellows That Handles the Plough (File: K241)
===
NAME: We Are Anchored By the Roadside, Jim
DESCRIPTION: Singer (a "sacker" in the lumber camps) tells Jim that times were formerly good for drinkers, but that good booze is now hard to find. He says that despite this, cold water (i.e., temperance) is not for either or them, so they will "drink the old jug dry"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (recording, Pat Ford)
KEYWORDS: drink worker logger
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, ROADJIM
Roud #5750
RECORDINGS:
Pat Ford, "We're anchored by the roadside, Jim" (AFS 4210 B2, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
File: RcWAABTR
===
NAME: We Are Coming , Father Abraam, 300,000 More: see We Are Coming, Father Abraham (File: SCW44)
===
NAME: We Are Coming, Father Abr'am: see We Are Coming, Father Abraham (File: SCW44)
===
NAME: We Are Coming, Father Abraham
DESCRIPTION: "We are coming, Father Abraham, three hundred thousand more... We leave our plows and workshops Our wives and children dear...." The song describes how those left behind are doing the young men's work so they may put down the rebels
AUTHOR: Words: James Sloan Gibbons
EARLIEST_DATE: 1862 (New York Evening Post)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar soldier
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 44-45, "We Are Coming, Father Abr'am" (1 text, 1 tune)
Saunders/Root-Foster 2, pp. 217-220+436, "We Are Coming , Father Abraam, 300,000 More" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hill-CivWar, pp. 213-214, "We Are Coming, Father Abraham" (1 text)
ST SCW44 (Full)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, rpbaasm 1180 ["words from the New York Evening Post ; music composed and arranged by S.J. Adams"], "We Are Coming Father Abraham 3000,000 More," Henry Tolman & Co. (Boston), c.1862; also rpbaasm 1184 ["set to music by P.S. Gilmore"], "We Are Coming Father Abraam Three Hundred Thousand More"; rpbaasm 1185 ["words by William Cullen Bryant music by G. R. Poulton"], "300,000 more!" (tune)
LOCSinging, sb40573b, "We Are Coming, Father Abraham," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also cw10594a, "Three Hundred Thousand More"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hold On, Abraham"
NOTES: This was originally published as a poem, "Three Hundred Thousand More," in the July 16, 1862 edition of the _New York Evening Post_.
It was so popular that at least eight musical arrangements were published, including those by L.O. Emerson (this last may have been the most popular; at least, it's the one Silber quotes), Stephen C. Foster (the Foster sheet music doesn't even mention the name of Gibbons!), and P. S. Gilmore. (For the full list, see the notes to Saunders & Root).
I don't know if this can be considered a traditional song, under the circumstances, but it certainly shows up in a lot of anthologies! - RBW
The attribution to William Cullen Bryan is also on LOCSheet Music #577 [cover only] "We Are Coming Father Abra'am 300.000 More," Oliver Ditson & Co. (Boston), 1862: "Poem by Wm Cullen Bryant Music by L.O. Emerson." Broadside LOCSheet rpbaasm 1180 commentary: "From poem first published in the New York Evening Post, July 16, 1862: We are coming, Father Abraham / James Sloan Gibbons. Cf. BAL, v. 1, p. 346. The words sometimes erroneously attributed to Wm. Cullen Bryant, or J. [!] Cullen Bryant."
Broadside LOCSinging sb40573b: H. De Marsan dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: SCW44
===
NAME: We Are Four Bums: see The Great American Bum (Three Jolly Bums) (File: FaE192)
===
NAME: We Are Jolly Fellows that Follow the Plough: see All Jolly Fellows That Handles the Plough (File: K241)
===
NAME: We Are Marching On
DESCRIPTION: "We are marching on (x2), To the land of light, To the land of love, We are marching on." "Where the angels wait At the golden gate, To conduct us there To a mansion fair...." "We are marching on, Happy pilgrim band... To the heavenly land."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 647, "We Are Marching On" (1 text)
Roud #11940
File: Br3647
===
NAME: We Are the Peckham Boys
DESCRIPTION: The Peckham boys "know our manners," spend our money, are well respected, "winners of the boys." "When you hear a copper shout, 'Put that dirty Woodbine [cigarette brand] out.'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1993 (recording, Ray Driscoll)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Ray Driscoll, "We Are the Peckham Boys" (on Voice14)
File: RcWATPB
===
NAME: We Be Three Poor Mariners
DESCRIPTION: "We be three poor mariners, newly come from the seas, We spend our lives in jeopardy, while others live at east. Shall we do dance the Round, around, around (x2)...." The singer praises merchantmen "that do our states maintain."
AUTHOR: Thomas Ravenscroft?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1609 (Deuteromelia)
KEYWORDS: ship sailor commerce nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 134-135, "We Be Three Poor Mariners" (1 partial text, 1 tune)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 120-121, "We Be Three Poor Mariners" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Noah Greenberg, ed., An Anthology of English Medieval and Renaissance Vocal Music, pp. 202-204 (1 text, 1 tune with harmonization)
NOTES: The text of this is pretty definitely not traditional (it looks like Ravenscroft hacked it up as a merchant sailor's equivalent of "We Be Soldiers Three"), but the tune, which Chappell describes as a dance tune "Brangill/Branle of Poictu," may be. - RBW
File: ShaSS120
===
NAME: We Dear Labouring Men: see We Poor Labouring Men (File: McCST103)
===
NAME: We Fought Like the Divil: see Larry O'Gaff (File: E148)
===
NAME: We Go to College
DESCRIPTION: The ladies of this quatrain ballad -- who go to college to major in bed -- recount their various sexual adventures with students, faculty, administration, and staff.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Anecdota Americana)
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous sex nonballad
FOUND_IN: Australia Britain(England) US(MA,MW,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cray, pp. 295-301, "We Go to College" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 229-230, "We Go to College" (1 text, 1 tune
Roud #10286
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
We Are the Pi Phi's
We Are from Campus Hall
We Are Whoredean
We Are from Rodeen (sic)
File: EM295
===
NAME: We Had to Walk from the Train to the Camp
DESCRIPTION: "We had to walk from the train to the camp. My shoes got dusty. The white dust came up and settled on my shoes. I looked down at them and began to cry. Never before had my shoes been dusty. It was the first time I cried."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: clothes exile war
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Jan 14, 1942 - President Roosevelt issues his Alien Registration proclamation, calling for the registration of foreigners. From there, it was only a short step to the detention of aliens. Roosevelt authorized sending Japanese immigrants to concentration camps on February 20
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Burt, p. 155, (no title) (1 short text)
NOTES: Burt reports this to be a verse by a nisei boy upon being sent to one of the American detention camps for the Japanese. It's not very good, and it surely was not perpetuated -- but, in context, it surely qualifies as a Folk piece! - RBW
File: Burt155
===
NAME: We Have Fathers Gone to Heaven
DESCRIPTION: "We have fathers gone to heaven, O do tell me if you know, Will those fathers know their children, When to heaven they do go?" Similarly with mothers, brothers, sisters, children ("Will those children know their parents")
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1967
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad family
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Combs/Wilgus 318, pp. 191-192, "We Have Fathers Gone to Heaven" (1 text)
Roud #4213
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Departed Loved Ones" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Bright Morning Stars" (theme, floating lyrics)
NOTES: This may be an expanded repetition of a single verse in "Departed Loved Ones," or that piece may be an elaboration of this. Dependence seems nearly certain -- but since this is just a set of repeated stanzas, and that one has distinct verses, they must be listed separately. - RBW
File: CW191A
===
NAME: We Have Loved Ones Over Yonder: see probably The Other Bright Shore (File: R611)
===
NAME: We Have Met and We Have Parted: see The Broken Engagement (II -- We Have Met and We Have Parted) (File: Beld212)
===
NAME: We Have the Navy
DESCRIPTION: A parody of the Federal "On to Richmond"; both begin "Well, we have the navy an' we have the men...." The song catalogs the various Southern generals and troops who fought McClellan in the Peninsula
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1866 (manuscript known to Randolph)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle patriotic parody
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Mar 17, 1862 - General George McClellan moves the first troops of the Army of the Potomac to Fort Monroe, inaugurating the "Peninsular Campaign" (the attempt to capture Richmond by proceeding up the "Peninsula" between the York and James Rivers)
May 31-June 1, 1862 - Battle of Fair Oaks/Seven Pines. Confederates under Joseph E. Johnston attack McClellan's army. The battle is roughly a draw (McClellan continued his advance), but Johnston is wounded and Robert E. Lee appointed in his place
June 25-July 1, 1862 - Seven Days' Battle - In a series of battles, Lee induced McClellan to abandon the attack on Richmond
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 212, "We Have the Navy" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 382, "Never MindYour Knapsack" (1 short text)
Scott-BoA, pp. 231-232, "On to Richmond!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7702
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "On to Richmond! (I)"
NOTES: Although details about the battle are lacking in this song, the generals mentioned clearly indicate that it refers to the Peninsular Campaign (and the fact that it quotes "On to Richmond" demonstrates that it is a parody).
The generals listed include:
Lee - Robert E. Lee, the Confederate commander. Although his tactical performance was imperfect (the Confederates took nearly 25% casualties in the Seven Days' Battle; the Federals less than 15%), his strategy was brilliant
Jackson - Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson, who had just fought a brilliant campaign in the Shenandoah Valley but performed poorly when recalled to Richmond
Longstreet - James Longstreet, Lee's second in command and leader of one of his largest divisions. His performance was not inspired, but he went on to serve as one of Lee's best corps commanders
McGruder - John Bankhead Magruder, commander of the Department of the Peninsula His division had done a fine job of slowing McClellan's advance up the Peninsula (mostly through playacting), but his performance in combat was poor; he was soon sent off to Texas.
"Butler was the Cry" - Refers to the brutal Union general Benjamin F. Butler, who commanded occupied New Orleans and came to be called "Beast Butler"
McClellan - George B. McClellan, the Federal commander, who did a fine job of training and inspiring his troops but was too cautious to lead them effectively. - RBW
File: R212
===
NAME: We Hunted and Hollered: see Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)
===
NAME: We Hunted and We Halloed: see Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)
===
NAME: We Leaves Detroit Behind Us
DESCRIPTION: "We leaves Detroit behind us, We set our canvas tight, The tug slows up and casts off, Old Erie heaves in sight. "You'd swear that whiff of D.C. feed Came clear from Buffalo." "There's no such thing as stiddy wind Around Lake Erie here."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1903 (Buffalo Express, according to Walton/Grimm/Murdock)
KEYWORDS: sailor travel
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, p. 96, "We Leaves Detroit Behind Us" (1 text)
File: WGM096A
===
NAME: We Left the Port of Sydney
DESCRIPTION: The crew leaves Sydney for Argentia with a load of coal and extra men on board. A storm comes up and sinks the ship and the passengers below deck are trapped and drowned. They had gone to Lunenburg to save money since the fishery was bad.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lehr/Best 119, "We Left the Port of Sydney" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: No names are mentioned here. Lunenburg, like Sydney, is in Nova Scotia. Argentia is on the west side of the Avalon Peninsula (about 60 air miles from St John's) - BS
File: LeBe119
===
NAME: We Live on the Banks of the Ohio
DESCRIPTION: "We live on the banks of the O-hi-o, O-hi-o, O-hi-o, Where the mighty waters rapidly flow And the steamboat sweeps along." "Ole Massa to his darkies is good... He gives us our clothers...." Slaves, being so well-treated (!), are encouraged not to "droop"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: slave work river
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 224, "We Live on the Banks of the Ohio" (1 text)
NOTES: While the editors of Brown are probably right in considering this a "plantation melody" -- i.e. minstrel propaganda to keep the slaves in line -- it's worth noting that slaves in the border region *were* generally better treated.
This wasn't because slave owners there were more enlightened. The explanation is simple: With freedom within easy reach, slaves were more likely to bolt if harshly treated. Few slaves ever escaped from the deep south -- but by the time of the Civil War, it was nearly dead in more northerly states *simply because slaves couldn't be kept*. - RBW
File: Br3224
===
NAME: We May and Might Never All Meet Here Again: see A Health to the Company (Come All My Old Comrades) (File: CrSe222)
===
NAME: We Met, 'Twas in a Crowd
DESCRIPTION: "We met, 'twas in a crowd, and I thought he would shun me." The singer meets an old lover; they say little, but both are clearly moved. She, the rich girl, could not marry him because of her mother's opposition; both are now wed to others
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation reunion mother husband wife
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H638, p. 431, "We Met, 'Twas In a Crowd" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7959
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lady Mary (The Sad Song)"
NOTES: This reminds me very much of "Lady Mary (The Sad Song)," though the form and the details are very different. There is also something of the feeling of Dickens here; see the ending of _Great Expectations_.
This is reported by Sam Henry to be quite popular, and is mentioned in John Masefield's "The Bird of Dawning." I will admit to some surprise; the song is distinctly flowery. - RBW
File: HHH638
===
NAME: We Part My Love to Meet Nae Mair
DESCRIPTION: "We part, my love, to meet nae mair, 'Tis cruel fate's decree; And a' the waes o' bleak despair This widowed heart maun dree." The singer recalls his lost love. He hopes to be reunited with her in death
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord); Ord claims a date of 1817
KEYWORDS: death separation
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, p. 364, "We Part, My Love, To Meet Nae Mair" (1 text)
Roud #4595
File: Ord364
===
NAME: We Poor Labouring Men
DESCRIPTION: "O, some do say the farmer's best, but I do need say no, If it weren't for we poor labouring men what would the farmers do?...There's never a trade in old England like we poor labouring men." The singer toasts laborers; good times will come again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 or 1966 (collected from Caroline Hughes)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: "O, some do say the farmer(baker, butcher)'s best, but I do need say no, If it weren't for we poor labouring men what would the farmers do? They would beat up all their old odd stuff until some new come in. There's never a trade in old England like we poor labouring men." After several of these verses, the singer offers a toast to labourers, saying that when the hard times pass, good times will come again
KEYWORDS: pride farming work hardtimes nonballad worker
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
MacSeegTrav 103, "We Dear Labouring Men" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WELABOUR
Roud #1394
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "We Poor Labouring Men" (on ENMacCollSeeger02)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Come All You Jolly Ploughboys" (theme, lyrics)
NOTES: MacColl/Seeger [write,] "During the years between 1790 and 1816, the English peasant was turned into a wage-labourer. The transformation was not a peaceful one; the intensification of the enclosure system, repressive poor-law legislation, extension of more rigorous application of the game-laws coupled with an unprecendented rise in the cost of living, all combined to produce a new and intense class-consciousness among the labouring poor." - PJS
In fact the process took a good deal longer than this, and it was the pressure of unemployed workers which forced the British government to open the vent by sending convicts to Australia. The Industrial Revolution began to produce unemployment in the early eighteenth century, and the unrest was not entirely eased until the dawn of the twentieth.
This song and "Come All You Jolly Ploughboys" appear to be sisters; I've no idea which came first. - RBW
File: McCST103
===
NAME: We Shall Not Be Moved
DESCRIPTION: "The Union is behind us, We shall not be moved... Just like a tree That's standing by the water, We shall not be moved." Similarly "We're fighting for our freedom, We shall not be moved"; "We're fighting for our children"; "We'll build a mighty Union."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (recording, Pete Seeger)
KEYWORDS: labor-movement nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Scott-BoA, pp. 344-345, "We Shall Not Be Moved" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 38, "We Shall Not Be Moved" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 135, "We Shall Not Be Moved" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "We Shall Not Be Moved" (on PeteSeeger01) (on PeteSeeger47)
Union Boys, "We Shall Not Be Moved" (on "Songs for Victory", Asch 346, 1944)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Shall Not Be Moved"
SAME_TUNE:
We Shall Not Be Moved -- union parodies (Greenway-AFP, p. 17)
NOTES: [Although not printed at that time, the union version of this song goes back at least to] 1941, [since] Woody Guthrie, in _Bound for Glory_, refers to singing it with Cisco Houston on Dec. 7, 1941, to break up a possible lynching of Japanese-Americans after the attack that day on Pearl Harbor.
The song was adapted from a traditional hymn, "I Shall Not Be Moved," by labor organizers working with southern tenant farmers in the 1930s. It was also adapted into an anthem of the civil rights movement in the 1960s. - PJS
Given the extreme variations in traditional versions of the hymn (one of Brown's informants actually sang the chorus as "I Shall Not Be Blue!"), we originally listed the source and its adaptions here. The civil rights version, in particular, is close to the hymn. Best to check both. - RBW
File: SBoA344
===
NAME: We Shall Overcome
DESCRIPTION: "We shall overcome (x3), Some day, Oh deep in my heart, (I know that) I do believe, We shall overcome some day." Verses about the troubles of life, and how (with help from God/brothers/etc.) they can be overcome/survived. Many modern verses known
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908 (sung in miner's union meeting in Alabama, as reported in the United Mine Workers' journal)
KEYWORDS: religious discrimination nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Scott-BoA, pp. 352-353, "We Shall Overcome" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 216, "We Shall Overcome" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 296, "We Shall Overcome" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 623-627+, "We Shall Overcome"
DT, OVERCOM*
RECORDINGS:
Mississippi Bracy [pseud. for Ishmon Bracey?] "I'll Overcome Some Day" (Okeh 8904, 1931; rec. 1930)
Pete Seeger, "We Shall Overcome" (on PeteSeeger05) (on PeteSeeger38) (on PeteSeeger48)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I'll Be All Right" (tune, structure, lyrics)
NOTES: The "common version" of this song was created by Zilphia Horton, Frank Hamilton, Guy Carawan, and Pete Seeger. In this form it became an anthem of the civil rights movement. Traces of the old spiritual survive, however, and it is of course very easy to make up new verses to fit a particular situation.
Fuld gives a detailed analysis of the musical and textual sources of the piece. Reading them, though, one cannot help but think that he has completely missed the actual sources of the black spiritual. - RBW
Isn't one of the sources "I'll Be All Right," a traditional spiritual? - PJS
It at least has associated texts, but is not mentioned as a source by Fuld, and is mentioned only tangentially in a footnote. Hence my comment. - RBW
The recent discovery that "We Will Overcome," the earlier form of the song (Pete Seeger changed "will" to "shall" because it was better for singing) was being sung as early as 1908, and in the context of a labor struggle no less, casts some ambiguity on the question of which song was the ancestor and which the descendant. See the entry for "I'll Be All Right." - PJS
File: SBoA352
===
NAME: We Shall Rise, Hallelujah
DESCRIPTION: "We shall sing until we die! We will preach and testify! In that Holy Ghost religion we shall rise, Oh hallelujah! Oh we'll sing until we die, We will preach... Till my Savior's precious face again I see... On the resurrection morning we shall meet him"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 634, "We Shall Rise, Hallelujah" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4309
RECORDINGS:
Byron Parker & his Mountaineers, "We Shall Rise" (Bluebird B-8551, 1940)
File: R634
===
NAME: We Shall Walk Through the Valley
DESCRIPTION: "We shall walk through the valley of the shadow of death, We shall walk though the valley in peace, And if Jesus himself shall be our leader, We shall walk through the valley in peace." "We will meet our Father over there...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 359, "We Shall Walk Through The Valley" (1 text)
Roud #11691
File: FSWB359A
===
NAME: We Shepherds Are the Best of Men
DESCRIPTION: "We shepherds are the best of men that e'er trod English ground." We spend freely at the ale-house. We pen our sheep safely in spite of hale, rain and snow; then "unto a jovial company good liquor for to taste"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1793 (according to Broadwood)
KEYWORDS: drink storm England nonballad sheep shepherd
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South,West))
REFERENCES: ()
Roud #284
RECORDINGS:
Fred Jordan, "We Shepherds Are the Best of Men" (on Voice20)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Ye Gentlemen of England (I)" [Laws K2] (stucture and theme:virtue and courage of an occupational group)
NOTES: Yates, Musical Traditions site _Voice of the People suite_ "Notes - Volume 20" - 15.1.04: "Fred learnt this from the song-collector Fred Hamer, who had it from Lucy Broadwood's _English County Songs_ [1893]." Broadwood said it was taken in 1793 in Gloucestershire (source: "The Shepherds' Song" in _Song Database_ at the Folkinfo site).
File: RcWSATBM
===
NAME: We Three Kings (Kings of Orient)
DESCRIPTION: "We three kings of orient are, Bearing gifts we travel afar." The three "kings" come from different lands to visit the Christ Child; they offer their gifts and explain that they have been guided by a star
AUTHOR: John Henry Hopkins, Jr.
EARLIEST_DATE: 1865 (sheet music); probably composed 1857, and there is a published edition with a dedication claiming a date of 1863
KEYWORDS: Jesus Bible Christmas carol religious
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
OBC 195, "Kings of Orient" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 627-628, "We Three Kings"
DT, WE3KING*
ADDITIONAL: Ian Bradley, _The Penguin Book of Carols_ (1999), #94, "We Three Kings of Orient Are" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Golden Carol (The Three Kings)" (subject)
SAME_TUNE:
We Three Kings (The Rubber Cigar) (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 115; DT, WE3KING2)
NOTES: The basis for this song is Matthew 2:1-12. The story has been expanded and modified heavily, however. We note the following:
1. There is no reason to believe that there were three visitors. All we know is that they gave three gifts. Their names are completely unknown. They may not even have been from the east (the orient); it was the *star* which was in the east.
2. The visitors were not kings and were not wise men. They were "magi" -- Babylonian mystics and perhaps astrologers. Jews would generally consider magi to be evil sorcerers (the Greek word "magos," apart from the uses in Matt. 2:1, 7, 16, is used only in Acts 13:6, 8 of Simon Magus, a magician who claimed to be "the great power of God"). - RBW
File: OBC195
===
NAME: We Three Kings of Orient Are: see We Three Kings (Kings of Orient) (File: OBC195)
===
NAME: We Will Always Have Our Sealers
DESCRIPTION: "We will always have our sealers While there's a ship to sail, While sturdy crews have fish and brewis, While there is rain and hail." The poet admits that there are many changes, but affirms that there will always be a need for the seal hunt
AUTHOR: Otto Kelland
EARLIEST_DATE: 1945 (Kelland, Anchor Watch: Newfoundland Stories in Verse)
KEYWORDS: hunting technology
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 155, "We Will Always Have Our Sealers" (1 text)
NOTES: This reportedly was written as Kelland watched the sealing fleet set out in 1945. An old sealer commented that the few ships sailing would be the last (apparently meaning that they would not be replaced when they broke down). Kelland wrote this piece as a counter-argument.
Obviously the truth was somewhere in between. Seal-hunting continued, and continues, but between the over-harvesting that has destroyed the herds, and the general changes in the economy, and environmental protests, it seems likely that the seals of Canada will soon be safe -- such of them as remain. - RBW
File: RySm155
===
NAME: We Will Go To The Wood, Says Robin To Bobbin: see Hunt the Wren (File: K078)
===
NAME: We Will March Through the Valley
DESCRIPTION: "We will march through the valley in peace (x2). If Jesus himself be our leader, We will march through the valley in peace." "We will march... Behold, I give myself away." "This track I'll see and I'll pursue." "When I'm dead and buried...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad death burial floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 73, "We Will March Through the Valley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12033
File: AWG073B
===
NAME: We Will Not Go to White Bay with Casey Any More
DESCRIPTION: "Tom Casey being commander Of the Saint Patrick by name," 28 men sign up to go sealing. They quickly become "jammed in White Bay Until the last of May." After many hard times, the sealers manage to return home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Murphy, Songs Sung by Old Time Sealers of Many Years Ago)
KEYWORDS: hunting wreck disaster hardtimes ship
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 16, "We Will Not Go To White Bay With Casey Any More" (1 text)
ST RySm016 (Partial)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Davy Lowston" (plot)
NOTES: Although this sounds as if it should refer to an actual event, no one seems to know the time or date. It's not clear that it's traditional, either, though Ryan and Small don't list an author, and claim there is a different version known. - RBW
File: RySm016
===
NAME: We Will Walk Through the Streets of the City
DESCRIPTION: A "Come Though Fount of Every Blessing" text, with distinctive chorus: "We will walk through the city, Where our friends have gone before, We will sit on the banks of the river Where we meet to part no more."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 562, "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" (1 short text)
Roud #11885
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing" (text)
File: Br3562
===
NAME: We Wish You a Merry Christmas
DESCRIPTION: "We wish you a merry Christmas (x3) And a happy New Year." "We want some figgy pudding (x3) And a cup of good cheer." "We won't go until we get some (x3), So bring it out here!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE:
KEYWORDS: Christmas food nonballad
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 376, "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" (1 text)
DT, MERYXMAS
Roud #230
File: FSWB376C
===
NAME: We Won't Go Home Until Morning
DESCRIPTION: "We're all met here together (x3) To eat and drink good cheer." "(For) we won't go home until morning (x3) Till daylight does appear." "We'll sing, we'll dance and be merry (x3) And kiss the lasses dear." "The girls they love us dearly (x3)..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1842 (arrangement published by William Clifton) (tune dates to 1783 or earlier)
KEYWORDS: drink friend nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Randolph 528, "We'll All Go Down to Rowser's" (3 texts plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Cambiaire, pp. 141-143, "The Game of 'Howsers'" (1 text with game instructions, seemingly most closely related to Randolph's version but probably a combination of several game songs)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 226-228, "We Won't Go Home Until Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 119, pp. 237-238, "We'll All Go Down to Rowser's" (1 text, with "Rowser's" and "Pig in the Parlor" verses)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 231-233, "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow -- (Malbrouk -- We Won't Go Home till Morning! -- The Bear Went over the Mountain)"
ST RJ19226 (Full)
Roud #4251
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Malbrouck" (tune)
cf. "The Bear Went over the Mountain" (tune)
cf. "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" (tune)
cf. "Christ Was Born in Bethlehem" (tune)"
cf. "Old Tippecanoe" (tune)
cf. "Pig in the Parlor" (floating lyrics, form)
cf. "Chickens They Are Crowing" (floating lyrics in a few texts)
cf. "I'll Never Get Drunk Any More (III)" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
The Bear Went Over the Mountain (File: DTbearmt)
Malbrouck (File: K108)
For He's a Jolly Good Fellow (File: FSWB250)
Christ Was Born in Bethlehem (File: MA189)
Old Tippecanoe (File: Wa073)
The Reformed Drinker (Logan, pp. 231-232)
I'll Never Get Drunk Any More (III) (File: CrPS096)
NOTES: The earliest dated example of this tune ("Malbrouk") comes from 1783, though there are hints that it was in circulation in France for some decades before this (it is reliably reported to have been sung to one of Marie Antoinette's children in 1781, and see the tune cited for BBI, ZN1337, "I sing not the battle (so famed) of Lepanto"). Its origin is unknown, though fanciful stories (e.g. of Spanish or even Arabic origin) are common. (Spaeth compares it with a Chanson of 1563, "Le Convoi de Duc de Guise.")
After 1783 the tune became popular in France, and was used by Beethoven in 1813, but no evidence of English versions is found until the 1840s. The American sheet music of "We Won't Go Home..." dates to 1842; the English is undated but probably dates between 1841 and 1846.
By 1854, the song was popular enough that crowds were using it to heckle Senator Douglas when he spoke in favor of the Kansas/Nebraska Act in Chicago. (Douglas said he would silence the mob if it took all night, and the crowd answered with this song.)
"For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" appears to have been first printed in 1870; "The Bear Went over the Mountain" is not attested until 1920, but is probably older.
All four of Randolph's versions mention "Rowser" or "Rowser's" in the first verse, but the only tune given is this one, three of the four are about drink (the fourth, Randolph's "D" text, could possibly be a separate piece), and the "A" text has the "We won't go home until morning" stanza.
Pound describes her text (also a "Rowser's" version) as a "game song," but offers no further details.
Linscott, in her notes to "A Bear Went Over the Mountain," claims the tune "is said to have been sung by Crusaders under Godefrey de Bouillon in the latter part of the eleventh century." Uh-huh. - RBW
File: RJ19226
===
NAME: We Won't Let Our Leader Run Down
DESCRIPTION: The Irish Parliamentary Party and Gladstone want to condemn Parnell. "Give Parnell the thing he requires, Home Rule and Prosperity ... then he will retire." "He has fought for prosperity unto the last, That is what the people say in Ireland"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1891 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad political
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Zimmermann 89, "We Won't Let Our Leader Run Down" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(671), "We Won't Hear our Leader Run Down," unknown, n.d.
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bold Tenant Farmer" (subject of Charles Stewart Parnell) and references there
NOTES: "In December 1889, Parnell became involved in a divorce that was to end his political influence and the trauma of this divorce probably hastened his early death.... Parnell managed to split the party that represented many of the people of Ireland at Westminster - the Irish Parliamentary Party. Some sided with Parnell while others did not." He married the divorced woman in June 1891 and died in October. (source: "Charles Stuart Parnell" at History Learning Site) - BS
[We should note that almost all sources spell Parnell's name "Charles Stewart Parnell."]
In fact the situation was even more complicated than the above can describe. Parnell (1845-1891), who had helped found the Land League and won major rights for Irish tenants (see "The Bold Tenant Farmer"), had for long led the Irish parliamentary faction -- which he had finally welded into a cohesive enough block that it generally held the controlling hand in the House of Commons.
Since he was in alliance with Gladstone, who wanted Home Rule for Ireland, a Home Rule bill were introduced in 1886. But the political opposition in the Lords, and the overwhelming revulsion caused by the Phoenix Park murders (for which see, e.g., "The Phoenix Park Tragedy"), caused it to go down.
And then there was Parnell's Great Indiscretion. In 1880, before his power had even reached its peak, he had begun an affair with Katherine O'Shea, the wife of Captain William O'Shea, a Home Rule M.P. (See Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry, _A History of Ireland_, p. 259). Their first child was born in 1882; although she died, they had two more children in 1883 and 1884.
Some men might have gotten away with this (Bill Clinton, anyone?). It was harder for Parnell. According to Ulick O'Connor, _Michael Collins & The Troubles_, p.16, Parnell "was a landlord and an aristocrat who challenged the aristocracy and defied the landowners. He was not witty or eloquent as traditional Irish leaders had been. He was cold and often disdainful." In other words, his power was based on his opinions, not his personality. He didn't charm anyone -- except "Kitty" O'Shea.
Exactly how Parnell and Captain O'Shea felt about each other is not entirely clear (see Robert Kee, _The Bold Fenian Men_, being Volume II of _The Green Flag_, pp. 85-86, 112-113; also Fry/Fry, p. 259). But by 1886 O'Shea resigned from Parliament, and in 1889, he divorced his wife. Parnell married her in 1891 (Fry/Fry, p. 260). If Parnell had resigned, his platform might have survived. But he didn't, and it didn't; he was voted out of office in 1890 (Martin Wallace, _A Short History of Ireland_, p. 140).
It will tell you what the politics of the time were like that a preacher in the run-up to the election of 1892 said, "Parnellism is simply love of adultery and all those who profess Parnellism profess to love and admire adultery" (Kee, p. 117).
Parnell tried to rebuild his support by a series of lectures and speeches, but collapsed and died not long after (Kee, p. 115, who writes, "He died at Brighton with his wife by his side on 10 October, and his body was brought into Kingston harbour on... 11 October, and buried in Glasnevin cemetary. The chances of Home Rule for the next twenty years were buried with him."
Despite his final failure, Parnell became part of Ireland's folklore. O'Connor, p. 18, writes, "[His] coffin was drawn in sielnce through Dublen past stricken crowds who stood in the streets in numbers that have never been equalled since.... To an extent it is true that the Irish never got over Parnell's death...." - RBW
File: Zimm089
===
NAME: We Work for Hay and Company
DESCRIPTION: "We work for Hay and Company, we do the best we can, I'll tell you what our jobs are, each and every man." The singer proceeds to do so, ending with himself: "I start at five in the morning, and it's six before I'm through...."
AUTHOR: Ron Sisson ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: logger work lumbering
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke-Lumbering #26, "We Work for Hay and Company" (1 text, tune referenced)
Roud #4466
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Holly, Crab, and I" (subject)
cf. "The Wabash Cannonball" (tune) and references there
File: FowL26
===
NAME: We'd Better Bide a Wee
DESCRIPTION: "The poor aul' folks at hame, ye min', are frail an' ailin' sair, An weel I ken they'd miss me, lad, if I came hame nae mair... I canna lea' the aul' folk, lad, we'd better bide a wee." The girl gives reasons why she must stay with her parents for now
AUTHOR: Credited to Claribel in Heart Songs
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (Heart Songs)
KEYWORDS: family mother father loneliness age
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H598, pp. 61-62, "Better Bide a Wee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13365
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(26b), "I Canna Leave the Auld Folk," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Castleroe Mill" (theme)
cf. "Betsy of Dramoor" (theme)
NOTES: According to the notes at the NLScotland site, this was quoted by Louisa May Alcott's 1886 novel _Jo's Boys_. - RBW
File: HHH598
===
NAME: We'll All Go A-Hunting Today
DESCRIPTION: "What a fine hunting day and as balmy as may And the hounds of the village will come... We'll all go a-hunting today." A lame farmer, a judge, a doctor, a parson conducting a marriage -- all leave their work to go hunting
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (collected by Kennedy)
KEYWORDS: hunting work clergy marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 263, "We'll All Go A-Hunting Today" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1172
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Hunting Priest (Parson Hogg; Sing Tally Ho!)" (theme)
NOTES: The thene of gentlemen who prefer hunting to church is an ancient complaint in Britain; "The Mourning of the Hare" is the tale of a creature which is pursued by huntsmen who do not wait for mass; it is thought to date to the fifteenth century. - RBW
File: K263
===
NAME: We'll All Go Down to Rowser's: see We Won't Go Home Until Morning (File: RJ19226)
===
NAME: We'll All Go to Boston: see Going to Boston (File: SKE67)
===
NAME: We'll Crown Them with Roses
DESCRIPTION: "We'll take up our stand for the youth of our land And weave them a garland to wear, Though no leaves of the vine in our wreath we'll entwine For we'll crown them with roses so fair." The singers will bring up their children to stay away from alcohol
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: drink flowers children
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 334, "We'll Crown Them with Roses" (1 text)
Roud #7806
File: R334
===
NAME: We'll Fight for Uncle Abe
DESCRIPTION: "Way down in old Virginny, I suppose you all do know, They have tried to bust the Union, But they find it is no go... We're going down to Washington To fight for Uncle Abe." The song describes the various attacks being made on the rebel cause
AUTHOR: Words: C.E. Pratt / Music: Frederick Buckley
EARLIEST_DATE:
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle patriotic
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 34-35, "We'll Fight for Uncle Abe" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The historical references in this song are rather confused. The second stanza refers to Grant and his Vicksburg campaign, which was in full swing in 1863. It also refers to his move to the East to command the armies against Richmond; this took place in 1864.
Finally, it mentions Grant being opposed by "General Johnson." There was no important Confederate general named Johnson. The commander at Vicksburg was Pemberton. General J.E. Johnston (with a t) did command a force in central Mississippi, and Grant had fought general A.S. Johnston at Shiloh.
The third verse refers to events BEFORE Grant made a name for himself, when George McClellan commanded the Army of the Potomac in the Peninsular Campaign. As it happened, McClellan was beaten back in the Peninsula. He fought the Confederates to a bruising draw at Antietam, but hardly "ma[de] the Rebels fly."
The third verse refers to the possibility of England and France recognizing the Confederacy. This might have happened in early 1862; both had use for southern cotton. But Antietam allowed Lincoln to issue the Emancipation Proclamation, which made the war into a crusade against slavery (to a limited extent). England could not recognize a country devoted to the preservation of slavery, and France could not go it alone.
In summary, there is no time of the war which fits all the references in the song. - RBW
File: SCW34
===
NAME: We'll Get There All the Same
DESCRIPTION: The singer promises that the temperance crusaders will "get there [to Prohibition] just the same." As examples of those who overcame equal adversity, the singer cites the oppressed Hebrews, Noah, and the American revolutionaries
AUTHOR: H. S. Taylor and J. B. Hebert?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942 (Randolph); reportedly composed 1887
KEYWORDS: drink political
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 321, "We'll Get There All the Same" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 271-273, "We'll Get There All the Same" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 321)
Roud #7795
File: R321
===
NAME: We'll Go To Sea No More: see Dixie Brown [Laws D7] (File: LD07)
===
NAME: We'll Have a Little Dance Tonight, Boys: see Buffalo Gals (File: R535)
===
NAME: We'll Have Another Drink before the Boat Shoves Off
DESCRIPTION: "We'll have another drink before the boat shoves off (2x), And we'll go to Mother Rackett's and we'll pawn our monkey jackets, And we'll have another...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: sailor drink parting
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Doerflinger, p. 167, "We'll Have Another Drink before the Boat Shoves Off" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9443
NOTES: According to Doerflinger's informant, Mother Rackett kept a waterfront saloon in Hong Kong around 1875. - RBW
File: Doe167
===
NAME: We'll Pay Paddy Doyle For His Boots: see Paddy Doyle (I) (File: Doe010)
===
NAME: We'll Rant and We'll Roar
DESCRIPTION: Sailor Bob Pittman describes his skills as a sailor, then settles down to describing his wedding plans. Having settled on a suitable wife (after much soul-searching), he makes arrangements for wedded life and bids farewell to all the other girls
AUTHOR: W. H. Le Messurier
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1880
KEYWORDS: courting marriage sea
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 132, "The Ryans and the Pittmans" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 42-43, "We'll Rant and We'll Roar (The Ryans and the Pittmans)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 12, "The Ryans and the Pittmans" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 10, "We'll Rant and We'll Roar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, p. 53, "The Ryans and the Pittmans" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, p. 51, "The Ryans and the Pittmans" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, RANTROAR*
Roud #687
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "We'll Rant and We'll Roar" (on NFOBlondahl05)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Spanish Ladies" (plot, tune, lyrics) and references there
NOTES: A Canadian rewrite of "Farewell and Adieu to you Spanish Ladies." The author's title is "The Ryans and the Pittmans," but tradition has paid little attention to that, though scholars often respect it. - RBW
Bruce Fisher's Songs of Newfoundland site points out that the song, in each version, tours a local circuit of ports and outports. - BS
File: FJ042
===
NAME: We'll Ranzo Way: see Huckleberry Hunting (File: Doe032)
===
NAME: We'll Roll the Golden Chariot Along: see We'll Roll the Old Chariot Along (File: Doe049)
===
NAME: We'll Roll the Old Chariot Along
DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "And we'll roll the (old/golden/omit) chariot along (x3), and we'll all hang on behind." Sometimes sung as a shanty, with the sailors describing what they would want on shore; alternately, "If the devil's in the way, we will roll it over him..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: shanty religious Devil
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
BrownIII 650, "We'll Roll the Old Chariot Along" (1 text)
Doerflinger, pp. 49-50, "We'll Roll the Golden Chariot Along" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 117, "Roll the Old Chariot Along" (1 text)
Sandburg, pp. 196-197, "Roll the Chariot" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 151, "Roll the Old Chariot" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 122-123]
Thomas-Makin', pp. 215-216, (no title) (1 text)
DT, ROLLCHAR*
Roud #3632
RECORDINGS:
Paul Robeson, "Roll the Chariot Along" (HMV [UK] B-4421, 1933)
SAME_TUNE:
Roll the Union On (various authors cited) (Greenway-AFP, p. 223; DT, ROLUNION)
NOTES: This song has seen very diverse use; sailors used it as a "stamp and go" shanty; Sandburg had it from Salvation Army singers, and in another form it was quoted by Laura Ingalls Wilder in chapter 11 of _The Long Winter_. I wonder what she would have done if someone told her that sailors often sang, "Oh, a night with a woman wouldn't do me any harm...." - RBW
Not to mention the next verse, "Oh, a trip to the doctor wouldn't do me any harm...." - PJS
Some versions refer to "Nelson's Blood"; since Nelson's body was preserved in a vat of liquor after Trafalgar, alcoholic beverages came to be called "Nelson's Blood."
The Union adaption quoted by Greenway was a deliberate adaption (said to have been made up "in 1937 by a Negro woman in Little Rock"), but this song has so little plot that the versions cannot properly be separated. - RBW
Sorry, but this isn't the same tune as any version of , "Roll the Union On " I've ever heard, although they may be related. "Roll the Union On, " is, I think, derived from another, separate hymn. - PJS
It doesn't fit the tune I know for "Roll the Old Chariot" either, but it's the tune cited by Greenway. - RBW
I think Greenway may be wrong; see the notes to "Roll the Union On". - PJS
File: Doe049
===
NAME: We'll Sail Away to Heaven (Like a Feather in the Wind)
DESCRIPTION: "We'll sail away to heaven Like a feather in de wind (x3), We'll sail away... We'll sail away to heaven by me by." "O, (sisters/brothers/fathers/mothers), don't be weary, weary, Lord, weary, Oh, (sisters), don't be waey, We'll sail away to heaven...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 651, "We'll Sail Away to Heaven" (1 text)
Roud #11942
File: Br3651
===
NAME: We'll Shoot the Buffalo: see Shoot the Buffalo (File: R523)
===
NAME: We'll Understand It Better By and By
DESCRIPTION: "We are tossed and driven on the restless sea of time.... In that land of perfect day, when the mists have rolled away, We will understand it better by and by." Even if lacking daily needs or faced with trials, hearers are promised eventual explanations
AUTHOR: Charles A. Tindley
EARLIEST_DATE: 1984 (Sing Out!)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad hardtimes
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 30, #3 (1984), pp, 8-9, "We'll Understand It Better By and By" (1 text, 1 tune, plus an article by Bernice Reagon about the author)
Roud #17224
File: SOWUIBBB
===
NAME: We're A' Cuttin'
DESCRIPTION: "For we're a' cuttin', Cut, cut, cuttin', For we're a' cuttin Our passage thro' this world."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 664, "We're A' Cuttin'" (1 fragment)
Roud #6091
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "We're A' Noddin'" (tune, per GreigDuncan3)
cf. "The Dodger" (structure, chorus (some words and tune))
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan3 fragment. - BS
File: GrD3664
===
NAME: We're A' John Tamson's Bairns
DESCRIPTION: "John Tamson was a merry auld carle, And reign'd proud king o' the Dee... We're all John Tamson's bairns... There ne'er will be peace till the world again Has learned to sing wi' micht and main." The singer describes how he and the company celebrate
AUTHOR: Joseph Roy ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: drink friend
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 199-200, "We're A' John Tamson's Bairns" (1 text)
Roud #6321
NOTES: There is a broadside, NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(11a), "John Tamson's Cart," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890, in which John Tamson nods off as he rides home from the fair. Usually his horse finds its way home on its own, but this time it too drops off. John's wife finds the horse and takes it home, leaving John to desperately try to figure out what happened.
I don't know that it's intended to be the same John Tamson, but there is something of the same feeling about the two. - RBW
File: FVS199
===
NAME: We're All A-Singing
DESCRIPTION: "O we're all a-singing, a-sing-sing-singing, Oh we're all singing so happy and gay. We open wide our lips with a soft fa-fa, And merrily we skip o'er the tra la la la." Other verses mention weaving, sewing, sawing, dodging....
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1943 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: nonballad music playparty
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 95, "We're All A-Singing" (1 text)
Roud #7887
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dodger" (lyrics, form)
File: Br3095
===
NAME: We're All Away to Sea: see Yellow Meal (Heave Away; Yellow Gals; Tapscott; Bound to Go) (File: Doe062)
===
NAME: We're All Bound to Go: see Yellow Meal (Heave Away; Yellow Gals; Tapscott; Bound to Go) (File: Doe062)
===
NAME: We're All Dodging: see The Dodger (File: R462)
===
NAME: We're All Nodding
DESCRIPTION: "We all are nodding, nid-nid-nodding, And falling off to sleep." "can't keep awake, we did our best, Heavy-like and weary, We have to get our rest." "It sure is late, we can't delay, We'll get our hats and bonnets and we'll all go away."
AUTHOR: Words: Jean Neal?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (McConathy's School Song Book)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 883, "We're All Nodding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 392-393, "We're All Nodding" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 883)
Roud #3122
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Whigs Are A'Rinnin'" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
We're A' Cuttin' (File: GrD3664)
NOTES: Cohen thinks this is the source for "The Dodger," and certainly the form is very similar; this song instantly reminded me of that. But that does not really mean that they are source and offspring. - RBW
File: R883
===
NAME: We're All Surrounded
DESCRIPTION: "Martha wept and Mary cried. We're all surrounded. That good old man he up and died. We're all surrounded."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1945 (Harlow)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Harlow, p. 6, "We're All Surrounded" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9164
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Marthy Wept (Mary Wept and Marthy Moaned)" (lyrics)
NOTES: Harlow gives this as an example of a Negro cotton stowing song that was adapted as a shanty. - SL
The reference to "Martha wept and Mary cried" is presumably a reference to the sisters of Lazarus who mourned over their brother in John 11. I don't have a good explanation for the "We're all surrounded" chorus (unless it's a mistake); it occurs to me that it might, just possibly, be a reference to Hebrews 12:1, where we are told that we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses (who might well include Martha and Mary). The problem, is, the King James version uses the verb "compassed about" rather than "surrounded" (the Greek means something like "having an encirclement"). There is, in fact, no instance of the English verb "to surround," in any form, in the King James Bible. - RBW
File: Harl006
===
NAME: We're Coming, Arkansas (We're Coming, Idaho)
DESCRIPTION: The singer mentions reports of a fine fountain in Arkansas/Idaho. The family heads out toward this wonderful place of health and wealth: "We're coming, Arkansas/Idaho, We're coming, ---, Our four horse team will soon be seen, Way out in ---"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1864
KEYWORDS: emigration
FOUND_IN: US(MW,Ro,So)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
Randolph 343, "Eureka!" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 279-280, "Eureka!" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 343A)
Warner 195, "Away, Idaho (We're Coming, Idaho)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Larkin, pp. 86-90, "Way Out in Idyho" (1 short text with some unusual lyrics, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 113, "Way Out in Idaho" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 156, "We're Coming, Arkansas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 47, "Way Out in Idaho" (1 text)
ST R343 (Partial)
Roud #4760
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Wait For the Wagon" (tune)
NOTES: The "Idaho" version was published in 1864 with Frank French listed as its author. Warner speculates that French rewrote an old Arkansas song to deal with the Idaho gold rush, though Cohen thinks French version original.
The only useful thing I can add is that Arkansas versions seem to prevail in Texas and Arkansas and vicinity, while Idaho is mentioned in the versions collected elsewhere. and the latter versions seem to be at least as common, though they come from areas where collection efforts have been spotty. The implication is that the Idaho variant was probably more widely known. Though that doesn't prove much. - RBW
File: R343
===
NAME: We're Coming, Sister Mary
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls a cold night in winter when he was with (his young wife) Mary when a voice came through the window, "We are coming, sister Mary." (The performance is repeated for two nights), and the singer finds Mary dead
AUTHOR: original music: Henry Clay Work (Words by Work and/or Edwin Pearce Christy)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1853 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: death dream supernatural
FOUND_IN: US(MA,MW,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
FSCatskills 84, "We're Coming, Sister Mary" (1 text plus the lyrics found in the sheet music, 1 tune)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 483, "We Are Coming, Sister Mary" (source notes only)
ST FSC084 (Partial)
Roud #4861
File: FSC084
===
NAME: We're Gonna Move When the Spirit Says Move
DESCRIPTION: "We're gonna move when the Spirit says move (x2), Cause when the Spirit says move, Then you move with the Spirit; We're gonna move." Similarly, "We're gonna singe when the Spirit says sing." "We're gonna talk" "We're gonna march"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: political religious nonballad
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 305, "We're Gonna Move When The Spirit Says Move" (1 text)
Roud #12302
NOTES: Listed in the Folksinger's Wordbook as a Civil Rights song, though I've met it as a sort of religious playparty. - RBW
File: FSWB305
===
NAME: We're Homeward Bound: see Get Up, Jack! John, Sit Down! (File: Wa071)
===
NAME: We're Marchin' 'Round the Levee: see Go In and Out the Window (File: R538)
===
NAME: We're Marching Down to Old Quebec: see Marching Down to Old Quebec (File: R519)
===
NAME: We're Marching On to War
DESCRIPTION: "We're marching on to war, we are, we are, we are, We do not care what people say, nor what they think we are, We're going to work for Jesus who did salvation bring, We're hallelujah children and we're going to see our king!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 632, "We're Marching On to War" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7560
File: R632
===
NAME: We're Off to the Wars (Arkansas War Song)
DESCRIPTION: "Come along, boys, we'll off to the wars... Yo ho, yo ho, in Dixie!" The singer promises to fight for "the 'Federate states," intends to talk about the girls, and lists his leaders who will "bring Montgomery and Lane to taw."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Allsopp)
KEYWORDS: soldier Civilwar
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), pp. 224-225
ST FORA224 (Partial)
NOTES: The references in this piece are, at best, confusing. The Confederate officers are clear: McCulloch is Ben McCulloch (1811-1862), who assembled the Arkansas troops which fought at the battle of Wilson's Creek (August 10, 1861); he would later be killed at Pea Ridge. One of the Confederate batteries at that battle was commanded by an officer named Woodruff.
But who are "Montgomery and Lane"? There were two Union generals named Montgomery; neither could have fought McCulloch. Neither was there a suitable Union officer named Lane, though James Henry Lane (1814-1866) was a fiery Kansas politician.
My guess is that there are two errors here. One is an error of hearing: "Lane" is actually "Lyon," i.e. Nathaniel Lyon, the Union captain hastily promoted Brigadier General who ran the Union forces in Missouri. He cleared northern Missouri of Confederate forces, then turned south. Finding himself trapped by superior forces, he tried a spoiling attack at Wilson's Creek and was killed.
"Montgomery" is even trickier. My shot in the dark is that this is a confusion of the two Blair brothers. Montgomery Blair, the older brother, became Lincoln's Postmaster General. Francis P. Blair, based in Missouri, was sort of Lyon's co-conspirator in saving Missouri for the Union: He raised the money and troops which Lyon used. Since Montgomery was the better-known Blair (among other things, he had argued Dred Scott's side in the famous slavery case), the southern poet might have thought it was Montgomery Blair, not Frank, who was operating in Missouri.
In any case, this song sounds very much like something one of McCulloch's volunteers might have sung before Wilson's Creek. Were it of later date, we would presumably hear more of Earl Van Down, McCulloch's superior, and of Union commander Samuel R. Curtis, who won the Battle of Pea Ridge at which McCulloch was killed. - RBW
File: FORA224
===
NAME: We're Stole and Sold from Africa
DESCRIPTION: "We are stole and sold from Africa, Transported to America, Like hogs and sheep we're marched in drove." ""See how they take us from our wives, Small children from their mothers' side." "O Lord, have mercy and look down Upon the plight of the African"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1978 (recording, Addie Graham, according to Sing Out!)
KEYWORDS: slave hardtimes
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 38, #4 (1994), p, 30, "We're Stole & Sold from Africa (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: According to Sing Out!, Addie Graham, who recorded what seems to be the only recording of this, sang it in an "Anglo-American" (i.e. White) style. And the song seems a little too carefully crafted to be a legitimate lament about slavery (someone who was actually imported from Africa would be neither a Christian nor such a good speaker of English!). The notes in Sing Out! suggest it is an abolitionist song. This strikes me as almost certainly true; the main question to me is how it managed to show up in tradition. - RBW
File: SO38n4A
===
NAME: We've Aye Been Provided For: see And Sae Will We Yet (File: FVS256)
===
NAME: We've Aye Been Provided For and Sae Will We Yet: see And Sae Will We Yet (File: FVS256)
===
NAME: We've Come to Judgment
DESCRIPTION: "We've come to judgment, O yes my Lord, In that great giving up morning; We've come to judgment...." "O where you going, sinner, with your head bowed down?" The sinner is warned of Hell and told to get with it or face judgment
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad sin
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Chappell-FSRA 88, "We've Come to Judgment" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #16935
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "In that Great Gettin' Up Morning" (lyrics)
File: ChFRA088
===
NAME: We've Done Our Hitch in Hell
DESCRIPTION: "I'm sitting here a-thinking Of the things I left behind." The singer complains of digging trenches, cooking, fighting rattlesnakes, and the rest of army life, and claims a front seat in heaven for the Third Wyoming
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: army soldier hardtimes
FOUND_IN: US(Ro)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 552-554, "We've Done Our Hitch in Hell" (1 text)
Roud #15545
NOTES: The irony of this song is that it appears the Third Wyoming never went into combat! Observe: There is reference to the digging of trenches. But only two American wars involved digging trenches: The Civil War and World War I. At the time of the Civil War, Wyoming wasn't a state (it joined the Union in 1890), and in World War I there were no rattlesnakes.
In addition, there is no reference to combat. One hates to think what the soldier would have had to say if someone had actually bothered to shoot at him. - RBW
File: LxA552
===
NAME: We've Got Franklin Delano Roosevelt Back Again: see Franklin D. Roosevelt's Back Again (File: CSW230)
===
NAME: Wealthy Farmer, The: see Father Grumble [Laws Q1] (File: LQ01)
===
NAME: Wealthy London Apprentice, The: see The Valiant London Apprentice [Laws Q38] (File: LQ38)
===
NAME: Wealthy Merchant, The: see The Boatsman and the Chest [Laws Q8] (File: LQ08)
===
NAME: Wearing of the Blue, The: see Canada-I-O (The Wearing of the Blue; Caledonia) (File: HHH162)
===
NAME: Wearing of the Britches, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer marries a girl for money, not love; they struggle over who will "wear the britches." She spends all he makes, even though he beats her black and blue. Eventually she dies; "now at last her tongue lies still/And she must wear the wooden britches."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 28(157))
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer marries a girl for money, not love, and they struggle over who will "wear the britches." Although she's small, and he can beat her in a fight, she swears she'll wear them; he's a tailor but she spends all he makes, even though he beats her black and blue. When he goes drinking she comes after him, "cursing like a dragon"; she's thrown the teapot at him, putting him on crutches. Eventually she dies; "now at last her tongue lies still/And she must wear the wooden britches." He warns young men to marry for love and work for riches
KEYWORDS: marriage warning fight abuse death burial husband wife shrewishness
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kennedy 215, "The Wearing of the Britches" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1588
RECORDINGS:
Joe Tunney, "The Tailor by Trade" (on FSB3)
Paddy Tunney, "The Wearing of the Breeches" (on IRPTunney01); "The Wearing of the Britches" (on Voice15)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(157), "The Breeches" ("Come all ye young men wherever you be"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 25(275), "The Breeches"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Struggle for the Breeches" [Broadside NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(45a), "Struggle for the Breeches," unknown, c. 1890; Murray, Mu23-y4:026, Struggle for the Breeches," unknown, 19C] (subject)
cf. "Devilish Mary" [Laws Q4] (subject)
cf. "There's Bound to be a Row" (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Tailor By His Trade
NOTES: This is so close to "Devilish Mary" I was tempted to lump them. But this song's events are different; in this one she dies, in "Devilish Mary" he leaves her. So I split them, but they're close cousins. - PJS
The temptation to lump is indeed strong. Curiously, Kennedy never mentions "Devilish Mary," and Laws never mentions this. I guess that makes them separate. - RBW
File: K215
===
NAME: Wearing of the Green (I), The
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of the dreadful fate of Ireland, the "most distressful country," where "they are hanging men and women for the wearing of the green." The singer bids defiance, and notes that the grass on the martyrs' graves grows green.
AUTHOR: some versions by Dion Boucicault (per O'Conor)
EARLIEST_DATE: c.1800 (Zimmermann but see the notes re: Zimmermann and Sparling to accomodate the Boucicault claim); 1865 (copyrights)
KEYWORDS: Ireland freedom death execution hardtimes
FOUND_IN: Ireland US(MW)
REFERENCES: (13 citations)
O'Conor, p. 69, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text)
PGalvin, pp. 84-85, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text)
Zimmermann 21B, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 33, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text, 1 tune); 35, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 17, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 fragment)
Dean, pp. 97-98, "Wearing of the Green" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 323, "Wearing Of The Green" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 628-630, "The Wearin' o' the Green"
DT, WEARGREN*
ADDITIONAL: Charles Sullivan, ed., Ireland in Poetry, p. 111, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text)
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 300-301, "The Wearin' of the Green" (1 text plus a portion of the Boucicault version)
H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 515-516, "The Wearing of the Green"
ADDITIONAL: Thomas Kinsella, _The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse_ (Oxford, 1989), pp. 257-258, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text)
Roud #3278
RECORDINGS:
John McCormack, "Wearin' o' the "Green" (HMV [UK] DA-322, n.d.)
J. W. Myers, "Wearing of the Green" (Columbia 194, 1901) (Victor 4274, 1905)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 18(476), "The Wearing of the Green" ("O Paddy dear, and did you hear the news that's going round?"), H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878; also 2806 c.16(209), 2806 b.10(215), 2806 c.15(254), "Wearing of the Green" ("O Kitty dear ...")
LOCSinging, as115040, "The Wearing of the Green" ("Oh, Paddy dear, then did you hear"), unknown, 19C; also as114610, "The Wearing of the Green"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rising of the Moon" (tune)
cf. "Benny Havens" (tune)
cf. "Flunky Jim (Gopher Tails)" (tune)
cf. "John McBride's Brigade" (tune)
cf. "Green Upon the Cape"
SAME_TUNE:
The Rising of the Moon (File: PGa035)
Benny Havens (File: R232)
The Drought (File: MCB158)
Magilligan (File: HHH052a)
A Knot of Blue and Gray (File: RcAKOBAG)
John McBride's Brigade (File: Zimm092)
The Man Behind (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 86)
Nearly Sae Will We Yet (per broadside Bodleian 2806 c.15(254))
NOTES: Probably originally associated with the 1798 rebellion, although topical versions have emerged on occasion in Irish history. An 1802 printing of "The Green Upon My Cape" is clearly related but not really the same song.
The "Napper Tandy" of some versions is an Irish patriot, James Napper Tandy (c. 1737-1803), one of the few Dublin members of the United Irishmen to escape capture. Tandy is one of those irritatingly complex figures so common in Irish history (as well as a patriot, he has been called a drunk, and after campaigning for reforms in 1784, he fled to the United States in 1793, then to France in 1797, which is how he ended up involved with the whole invasion fiasco).
Tandy apparently wasn't easy to get along with; he and Wolfe Tone had major disagreements while in France, which doubtless hurt their chances to accomplish anything. Still, he eventually managed to convince the French to give him a single ship, the _Anacreon_, and a force of about 275 soldiers; he was given arms and ammunition for many more -- he had, after all, declared that, if the French would just take him to Ireland, his presence would cause 30,000 men to rally to him.
On September 16, 1798, he landed with a company of Frenchmen in Donegal. He apparently expected to coordinate with General Humbert, but that invasion had ended a week earlier (see "The Men of the West"), and the expected rising in Mayo had fizzled.
Upon confirming the news, Tandy got drunk with some local friends in Rutland, and was carried back to the _Anacreon_ unconcious. The ship went home, and the last French invasion of Ireland was over.
Tandy was arrested (one might well say "hijacked") in neutral Hamburg late in 1798, sentenced to death, but turned over to France in 1802, where he died soon after.
A final French expedition, with Wolfe Tone aboard, was also a failure, never even making it to shore; see the notes on "The Shan Van Vogt."
The charge that the English were "hanging men and women for the wearing of the green" is the sort of half-truth that often is heard during wars. Wearing green was not a crime and wouldn't result in execution by itself -- but green was a recognized revolutionary token; wearing it would certainly get the government's attention. Which could lead to trouble.
And, of course, ordinary soldiers, especially militia, were likely to be that much harder on possible enemies. It seems likely enough that a few people died for wearing green -- but not due to official policy. And anyone who wore green in those times was definitely asking for trouble. - RBW
The note to the Bodleian broadside cited is "Sung by T.H. Glenny, at Niblo's Theatre in the Great Sensation Play of 'Arrah-na-Pogue'"
Dion Boucicault (1820-1890) was an Irish playwright. He wrote and acted in the 1865 hit Arrah-na-Pogue. "This, and his admirable creation of Con in his play The Shaugraun (first produced at Drury Lane in 1875), won him the reputation of being the best stage Irishman of his time". Source: "Dion Boucicalt" quoted from Encyclopedia Britannica Eleventh Edition Volume IV on the Theatre History site.
Sparling: [The Wearing of the Green (I)] "was a hash-up by Boucicault of an old variant [Zimmermann 21B], using most of the old words ... [in which] the land of refuge it is written from is France, and not America."
Zimmermann: "Boucicault is said to have written this version at the suggestion of his mother, who remembered some lines of the older version. (Townshend Walsh _The Career of Dion Boucicault_, p. 144)"
Hoagland: Boucicault's main change was to add a verse about the possibility of emigration to "a country that lies beyond the sea, Where rich and poor stand equal in the light of freedom's day."
There are other songs with the same title, including O'Conor p. 40 ("Farewell, for I must leave thee, my own, my native shore...") and O'Conor p. 130 by H.G. Curran ("One blessing on my native isle! One curse upon her foes..."). [The latter being indexed as "The Wearing of the Green (II)." - RBW]
The "old variant" includes specifically anti-Union sentiment dropped by Boucicault: "I care not for the Thistle [Scotland], and I care not for the Rose [England]."
Moylan 33 is the Zimmermann 21B "old variant"; Moylan 35 is Boucicault's "hash-up."
More from Moylan about Napper Tandy: "Napper Tandy was the secretary of the first Dublin Society of United Irishmen. He made his way to Hamburg after the failure of the rising but was arrested there at the instigation of the British representative, Imprisoned for two years, he was released in 1801 on condition that he left Ireland. He went into exile in France where he died, at Bordeaux, in 1803."
Broadside LOCSinging as114610: "The following is the celebrated song which created such intense excitement throughout Great Britain, and for the incorporation of which in his piece, Mr. Bourcicault' play of 'Arrah na Pogue,' had to be withdrawn."
Tunney-StoneFiddle fragment has the singer start with the Napper Tandy/hanging men and women verse, followed by
So shoulder high your hurleys boys and grasp your rifles tight
The mangy bulldog let him bark; he's got no teeth to bite
When English law can paint the moon and put the Hun to flight
Then we'll shed our rebel coats and put the hurleys out of sight
"'I learned that verse in America', he told me." - BS
Which sounds very much as if it comes from the First World War period, probably before the Easter Rebellion. - RBW
Broadside Harding B 18(476): H. De Marsan dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: PGa084
===
NAME: Wearing of the Green (II), The
DESCRIPTION: "One blessing on my native isle! One curse upon her foes!" In exile the singer thinks of Mary left behind and his parents buried in Ireland. The foe "might have let the poor man live." "But watch the hour that yet will come, For the Wearing of the Green"
AUTHOR: Henry Grattan Curran (1800-1876)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1888 (Sparling)
KEYWORDS: exile separation Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
O'Conor, p. 130, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: _Irish Minstrelsy_ by H. Halliday Sparling (London, 1888), pp. 13-14, 497, "The Wearing of the Green"
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.10(108), "The Wearing of the Green" ("One blessing on my native isle!"), unknown, n.d.
NOTES: For information about the author see The Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco) site entry for Henry Grattan Curran. - BS
File: OCon130
===
NAME: Wearing of the Green (III), The: see Green Upon the Cape (File: PGa091)
===
NAME: Wearing of the Green (IV), The
DESCRIPTION: "Farewell, for I must leave thee, my own, my native shore." The singer's father is buried in Ireland. His mother weeps but would weep more if he were a traitor, like some others. Exiles love to sing 'The wearing of the green" and think about return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1855 (Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol I)
KEYWORDS: exile farewell Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Moylan 34, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text)
O'Conor, p. 40, "The Wearing of the Green" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol I, p. 277, "The Wearing of the Green"
File: Moyl034
===
NAME: Wearing of the Horns, The: see So Selfish Runs the Hare (Horn, Boys, Horn) (File: So38n2b)
===
NAME: Weary Fairmers, The: see The Weary Farmers (File: FVS202)
===
NAME: Weary Farmers, The
DESCRIPTION: "There's some that sing o' (Comar) Fair... But the best sang that e'er was sung... It was about the term... When we will a' win free." With their contracts expired, the farm hands set out to enjoy themselves and hope to improve conditions next year
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: farming work drink
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 202-204, "The Weary Farmers" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 391, "The Weary Fairmers" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Ord, pp. 211-212, "The Weary Farmers" (1 text)
Roud #2181
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Term Time
File: FVS202
===
NAME: Weary on the Gill Stoup: see Gill Stoup, The (File: GrD3597)
===
NAME: Weasel and the Rat, The: see Fox and Hare (They've All Got a Mate But Me) (File: FlBr121)
===
NAME: Weave Room Blues
DESCRIPTION: "Working in a weave-room, fighting for my life, Trying to make a living for my kiddies and my wife, Some are needing clothing... some are needing shoes, But I'm getting nothing but the weave room blues." Singer describes horrid conditions in textile mills
AUTHOR: Dorsey Dixon
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (recording, Dixon Brothers)
KEYWORDS: factory technology weaving work worker poverty hardtimes drink
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 88-89, "Weave Room Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 128-129, "Weave Room Blues" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 125, "Weave Room Blues" (1 text)
DT, WEAVBLUE*
Roud #15150
RECORDINGS:
Dixon Brothers, "Weave Room Blues" (Bluebird B-6441/Montgomery Ward M-7024, 1936)
Fisher Hendley, "Weave Room Blues" (Vocalion 04780, 1939; rec. 1938)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Weave Room Blues" (on NLCR03)
Pete Seeger, "Weave Room Blues" (on PeteSeeger13); "Working in the Weave Room" (on PeteSeeger23)
NOTES: [According to Cohen/Seeger/Wood], many of the mill workers in North Carolina were mountain people who had come out of the hills seeking work in the 1920s. - PJS
To those not from the mills, this song doubtless sounds descriptive and perhaps bitter. But according to Doug deNatale and Glenn Hinson, in their article, "The Southern Textile Song Tradition Reconsidered," published in Archie Green, editor, _Songs about Work: Essays in Occupational Culture for Richard A. Reuss_, Folklore Institute, Indiana University, 1993, pp. 83-84, it is actually mocking and humorous, something which was more evident when Dixon performed it for his fellow mill workers.
Years later, a social history project tried to test the extent to which mill workers actually knew these mill songs. They found that only two were really part of the tradition: "Cotton Mill Colic" and "Weave Room Blues" (deNatale and Hinson, p. 95). - RBW
File: CSW088
===
NAME: Weaver (I), The
DESCRIPTION: A weaver roves out and meets a pretty maid carrying a loom under her apron. Upon learning the manŐs trade, she asks him to weave upon her loom. The remaining verses feature sexual exploits euphemized as various weaving techniques and patterns.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE:
KEYWORDS: weaving seduction bawdy
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fowke/MacMillan 61, "The Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, THE WEAVR*
Roud #2311
NOTES: According to Fowke, the song would date from the pre-industrial era when handloom weavers traveled from town to town weaving yarn that housewives had spun.
Fowke says the ballad was collected by O.J. Abbott from learned from a Dan Leahy in Marchurst, Ontario in 1890. A ten-stanza version appears in the 19th century Jones-Conklin manuscript of an American sailor. - SL
File: FowM061
===
NAME: Weaver (II), The: see The Foggy Dew (The Bugaboo) [Laws O3] (File: LO03)
===
NAME: Weaver (III), The: see One Morning in May (To Hear the Nightingale Sing) [Laws P14] (File: LP14)
===
NAME: Weaver and the Factory Maid, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer, a hand-weaver, loves a woman who works in a factory. He visits her in her bedroom despite his family's scorn. All the girls have gone to weave with steam; "If you would see them you must rise at dawn/And trudge to the mill in the early morn"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (IRRCinnamond01)
KEYWORDS: love sex factory weaving family worker technology nightvisit
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, WVFACTGL WEAVFACT (both transcribed from the recording by Steeleye Span; the former is the better transcription)
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "The Weaver and the Factory Maid" (on IRRCinnamond01) (fragment; only the first verse)
A. L. Lloyd, "The Weaver and the Factory Maid" (on Lloyd3, IronMuse1)
File: DTwvfact
===
NAME: Weaver and the Tailor, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer overhears a couple talking; "it was concerning love." The young man, a weaver, is trying to talk the girl out of her affection for a tailor. He describes all the tailor's faults. She gives in and consents to marry him. (They live happily.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1869 (Logan)
KEYWORDS: love courting dialog marriage apprentice
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Logan, pp. 407-409, "The Weaver and the Tailor" (1 text)
SHenry H199, p. 39, "The Tailor Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Log407 (Full)
Roud #13355
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rocks of Bawn" (tune)
cf. "The River Roe" (tune)
cf. "Paddle the Road with Me" (tune)
NOTES: Sam Henry discovered this piece with three different tunes in three different districts. It is not clear if it ever enjoyed popularity outside Ireland; Logan's text, while English, is a broadside. - RBW
File: Log407
===
NAME: Weaver is Handsome, The: see Disguised Sailor (The Sailor's Misfortune and Happy Marriage; The Old Miser) [Laws N6] (File: LN06)
===
NAME: Weaver's Daughter, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer is smitten by a weaver's daughter. He proposes. She demurs; her late mother taught her to wed for love not gold, and that her aged, blind father's heart would break. She vows that she and her father will not be separated until he lies in the grave
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.17(455))
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer meets, and is smitten by, a poor weaver's daughter. He proposes, saying he will make her a rich lady. She demurs, saying her late mother taught her to wed for love, not for gold, and that her aged, blind father's heart would be broken. She vows that she and her father will not be separated until he lies in the grave
KEYWORDS: courting love rejection weaving family father mother money
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond,South)
REFERENCES: ()
Roud #1277
RECORDINGS:
George Maynard, "The Weaver's Daughter" (on Maynard1, Voice05)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.17(455), "The Weaver's Daughter" ("Across the fields one sweet May morn"), J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 11(2017), "The Weaver's Daughter"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Squire and the Gipsy" (theme)
NOTES: This sounds like the first half of the story. - PJS
I agree, though there are several possible further courses for the narrative (she changes her mind, the father dies, the father dies but the suitor has changed his mind, the suitor murders the father, etc.). But there are songs where the story ends here, such as "The Squire and the Gipsy." - RBW
File: RcWeaDau
===
NAME: Weaver's Life
DESCRIPTION: Description of hard life in a weaving mill. Follows the pattern of "Life's Railway to Heaven": "Weaver's life is like an engine/Coming 'round a mountain steep." Singer describes showing newcomers "breakouts" to discourage them from working in the mill.
AUTHOR: Probably Dorsey Dixon
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (recording, Dixon Brothers)
KEYWORDS: factory weaving work technology
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 90-91, "Weaver's Life" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 15-16, "(Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad)" (1 text, plus fragments of assorted parodies, of which this is the second)
Silber-FSWB, p. 125, "Weaver's Life" (1 text)
DT, WEAVLIFE*
RECORDINGS:
Almanac Singers, "The Weaver's Song" (recorded 1941, unissued at the time; on AlmanacCD1)
Dixon Brothers, "Weaver's Life" (Montgomery Ward M-7170, 1937/Bluebird B-7802, 1938; rec. 1937)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Life's Railway to Heaven (Life Is Like a Mountain Railroad)" (tune) and references there
File: CSW090
===
NAME: Weaver's Song, The: see Weaver's Life (File: CSW090)
===
NAME: Webster of Brechin's Mare, The
DESCRIPTION: When the webster's (weaver's) old mare declares she can work no more; when the man threatens her, she faints. He skins the horse. Awakening in the night, it comes to the door; a lad kills it fears he has done murder, then discovers it is a horse
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1815 (chapbook used by Logan)
KEYWORDS: horse clothes death humorous murder
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Logan, pp. 402-405, "The Webster of Brechin's Mare" (1 text)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 154-156, "The Webster of Brechin's Mare" (1 text)
ST FVS154 (Partial)
Roud #13121
File: FVS154
===
NAME: Wedding (I), The
DESCRIPTION: "Hurrah for the wedding." Give an "Hurray" each for the bride and groom and notable attendees as well. Drinking, dancing, eating and fun. Bride and groom "stole off At the dawning of day ... nobody missed them Till P.M. at one." A grand time was had.
AUTHOR: Brian Doherty (cousin of the bride)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (Dibblee/Dibblee)
KEYWORDS: wedding dancing drink food music party humorous moniker
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 10-11, "The Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12485
File: Dib010
===
NAME: Wedding (II), The: see Patie's Wedding (II) (File: GrD3607)
===
NAME: Wedding at Ballyporeen
DESCRIPTION: The singer asks the muses' help to describe the wedding. The guests are listed. After the ceremony, the great feast is devoured. The bride is nervous; her mother tells her to be happy; she'd marry again if she could. A happy if exaggerated occasion
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(329b))
KEYWORDS: wedding humorous party mother food
FOUND_IN: Ireland Canada(Mar) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Greig 47, pp. 1-2, "The Wedding o' Ballaporeen" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 619, "The Wedding of Ballaporeen" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
SHenry H93, pp. 72-73, "The Wedding at Ballyporeen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 140, "The Wedding of Ballyporeen" (1 text)
O'Conor, pp. 63-64, "The Wedding of Ballyporeen" (1 text)
Roud #3277
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(329b), "Wedding of Ballyporeen," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 28(183), Harding B 11(3505), Harding B 11(3506), 2806 b.11(38), Harding B 16(302b), Harding B 11(3964), Harding B 28(183), Harding B 25(2020), "Wedding of Ballyporeen"; Harding B 11(4075), "The Wedding of Ballpoyreen [sic]"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Blythesome Bridal" (theme)
SAME_TUNE:
Ballinamona Ora [pr Ballymona Orah] (per broadside Bodleian 2806 b.11(38) and Greig)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Ballaporeen
File: HHH093
===
NAME: Wedding at Kouchibouguac, The
DESCRIPTION: The bride is "the primrose of Kishimaguac." The beef was from an ox that had died of old age and the rest of the food, was no better but, like everything else, was what "is common for supper in Kishimaguac" The usual wine, the usual songs, i.e., ho hum.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1948 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: wedding music party wine food humorous
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Manny/Wilson 46, "The Wedding at Kouchibouguac" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MaWi046 (Partial)
Roud #9182
NOTES: Manny/Wilson: "This is ... said to have been made up by two disgruntled souls ... who had not been invited to the wedding." - BS
Given their behavior, I can see why.
If you're wondering about the two different town names, "Kouchibouguac" is the name in the atlas, "Kishimaguac" the local pronunciation. - RBW
File: MaWi046
===
NAME: Wedding o' Ballaporeen, The: see Wedding at Ballyporeen (File: HHH093)
===
NAME: Wedding of Ballaporeen, The: see Wedding at Ballyporeen (File: HHH093)
===
NAME: Wedding of Lochan McGraw, The: see references under Bluey Brink (File: FaE148)
===
NAME: Wedding of the Frog and Mouse, The: see Frog Went A-Courting (File: R108)
===
NAME: Wedding Song, The: see Come Write Me Down (The Wedding Song) (File: K126)
===
NAME: Wedhen War An Vre, An (The Tree on the Hill): see The Rattling Bog (File: ShH98)
===
NAME: Wedlock: see When Adam Was Created (Wedlock) (File: SKE55)
===
NAME: Wednesbury Cocking, The
DESCRIPTION: Stories of cockfighting at Wednesbury. The competition is fierce, and many are the addicts of the sport and of gambling on it. The song relates many incidents, concluding when "Jack Baker he whacked his own father, and thus ended Wednesbury Cocking"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1957 (Graves, English and Scottish Ballads)
KEYWORDS: fight bird gambling sports chickens moniker
FOUND_IN: Britain
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
PBB 85, "The Wednesbury Cocking" (1 text)
Hodgart, p. 191, "The Wednesbury Cocking" (1 text)
ST PBB085 (Partial)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.19(37) view 1, "Wednesbury Cooking" (sic.), unknown, n.d.; also 2806 c.17(458), "Wednesbury Cocking"; 2806 c.17(459); Douce 3(109)=Harding B 39(43)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cock-Fight" (theme)
NOTES: The curious comment, "I'll pay thee as Paul paid the Ephesians," is hard to understand in context. Ephesus was one of Paul's favorite cities. The reference may be to Acts 19:23-41, where Paul's preaching in Ephesus caused certain locals to turn away from the cult of Artemis (a major source of income in the city). The result was a riot.
The PBB version of this is metrically strange; it does not appear possible to sing all the verses to the same tune.- RBW
File: PBB085
===
NAME: Wee Article, The
DESCRIPTION: "I 'm a jolly servant lass, my name is Mary Ann, I'm going to sing about a thing that calls itself a man; He wanted me his wife to be, he's only four foot four...." She reviles the short suitor, and details why she wants no part of such a man
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection humorous
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H833, p. 257, "The Wee Article" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2739
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Wee Daft Article
File: HHH833
===
NAME: Wee Bridelie, The
DESCRIPTION: "There was a little wee bridelie, In Pitcarles toun... There was few folk bidden to it, And as few fowk did come." The smallness of the feast is described: No meat but a sheep without a tongue, etc. When the bride goes to bed, the groom refuses to follow
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
KEYWORDS: wedding humorous betrayal
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Kinloch-BBook XXVIII, pp. 84-85, (no title) (1 text)
Roud #5508
NOTES: This strikes me as a sort of answer to songs such as "The Blythesome Bridal" and "The Ball of Kerrimuir." It's not clear whether that makes it traditional. - RBW
File: KinBB28
===
NAME: Wee Cooper of Fife, The: see The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin [Child 277] (File: C277)
===
NAME: Wee Croodin Doo, The: see Lord Randal [Child 12] (File: C012)
===
NAME: Wee Croppy Tailor, The: see The Trooper and the Tailor (File: FSC139)
===
NAME: Wee Cup of Tay, The
DESCRIPTION: "As Jack from the market came the other day, His wife she sat drinking her wee cup of tay." Jack complains "I must work hard, not a shirt to my back" while she has finery and her tea. She attacks "what money you spend in whisky and beer." They argue.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: shrewishness drink humorous husband wife accusation
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 167-169, 256, "The Wee Cup of Tay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13985
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(026), "John and his Wife on using Tea," James Lindsay (Glasgow), c. 1855; also L.C.Fol.178.A.2(054) (same publication data as the preceding, though the title is reset)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Tay" (theme)
File: IvDC167
===
NAME: Wee Cutty Pipe, The (The Derry Pipe)
DESCRIPTION: Sam asks Bill if he has tobacco, then gives a long justification based on the use of tobacco by Adam, Pharaoh, Jonah, Noah, Belshazzar, and Jason and the Argonauts. Bill concedes the point, and will continue to bring in tobacco in truckloads
AUTHOR: James O'Kane
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: drugs Bible
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H465, pp. 49-50, "The Wee Cutty Pipe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13363
NOTES: The alleged Biblical references in this song are, of course, pure nonsense. Tobacco was not known in the Old World until introduced from the New; it is not mentioned in the Bible. - RBW
File: HHH465
===
NAME: Wee Drap o' Whisky, A
DESCRIPTION: "Come fill up a bumper and hand it round here." When weary the singer's pleasure is a kiss and "a drap more" with his lassie. He resolves disputes with "a drap mair" and never complains. After a half pint more he'll go home "till farther occasion"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
GreigDuncan3 557, "A Wee Drap o' Whisky" (2 texts, 1 tune)
DT, WEEDRAP*
Roud #6033
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
A Glass o' Guid Whisky
NOTES: Bumper: [noun] "a cup or glass filled to the brim or till the liquor runs over esp. in drinking a toast"; [verb] "to fill to the brim (as a wineglass) and empty by drinking,""to toast with a bumper,""to drink bumpers of wine or other alcoholic beverages" (source: _Webster's Third New International Dictionary of the English Language Unabridged_, 1976). - BS
File: GrD3557
===
NAME: Wee Drappie O't, A
DESCRIPTION: "O, life is a journey we a' hae to gang, And care is the burden we carry alang, But though grief be our portion... We are happy a' thegither owre a wee drappie o't." The singer notes tragedies of life -- and how they are relieved by fellowship and drink
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: drink friend nonballad hardtimes
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 181-183, "A Wee Drappie O't" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig #144, p. 12, "A Wee Drappie o't" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 560, "A Wee Drappie o't" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 370-371, "A Wee Drappie O't" (1 text)
Roud #5610
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "And Sae Will We Yet" (tune, per Greig)
NOTES: Several versions of this song have a line something like, "Job in his lamentation says man was made to mourn." This may be a reference to Job 14:22, the only time the King James Bible quotes Job as using the verb "to mourn" in anything like this sense. The overall feeling, however, is more like 14:1 or even the speech of Eliphaz in 5:7. I suspect this is allusion rather than citation. - RBW
File: FVS181
===
NAME: Wee Duck, The (The Duck from Drummuck)
DESCRIPTION: "I once had a duck when I lived in Drummuck, I was quite in luck when I lived in that land." The duck, said to be related to (Nell) Flaherty's drake, is said to be very productive -- but now has been stolen. The singer will keep better guard hereafter
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: animal bird curse thief theft
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H228a, pp. 19-20, "The Duck from Drummuck" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5075
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Nell Flaherty's Drake" (plot, subject?)
NOTES: If "Nell Flaherty's Drake" is about Robert Emmet, then this song presumably is about some later freedom fighter. The song mentions "the year forty-nine," so presumably 1849 (i.e. the aftermath of the 1848 revolt) -- but the leaders of that revolt, such as John Mitchel (for whom see "John Mitchel"), William Smith O'Brien (for whom see "The Shan Van Voght (1848") and Thomas Meagher (for whom see "The Escape of Meagher") , were transported rather than imprisoned. - RBW
File: HHH228a
===
NAME: Wee Falorie Man, The
DESCRIPTION: "I am the wee falorie man A rattling roving Irishman. I can do all that ever you can." Sister Mary Ann "washes her face in the frying pan And she goes to hunt for a man." "I am a good old working man Each day I carry a wee tin can" with a bun and ham.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (_Rann Magazine_ Summer 1952, according Roud)
KEYWORDS: work food nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Hammond-Belfast, p. 13, "The Wee Falorie Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WEEFALRY*
ADDITIONAL: Peter and Iona Opie, _I Saw Esau: Traditional Rhymes of Youth_, #48, "(Sam, Sam, Dirty Old Man)" (3 short texts, one in the body and two in the notes, showing much range but seemingly indicating that there is a floating verse on which several songs of this sort are built)
Roud #5106
NOTES: Also collected and sung by David Hammond, "The Wee Falorie Man" (on David Hammond, "I Am the Wee Falorie Man: Folk Songs of Ireland," Tradition TCD1052 CD (1997) reissue of Tradition LP TLP 1028 (1959))
Sean O Boyle, notes to David Hammond, "I Am the Wee Falorie Man: Folk Songs of Ireland": "The word 'falorie' is not of Gaelic origin, but probably derives from the English word 'forlorn,' which in rural Ulster is pronounced 'fa-loorn' and is associated not only with lonliness, but with mystery. The song is used in a singing game by the children of Belfast." - BS
File: Hamm013
===
NAME: Wee House in the Wood
DESCRIPTION: "There it stood, the Wee-House-in-the-Wood," which inspires visions of folklore: English music, King Arthur, much that is gone, all revealed by a "phantom minstrel."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: home music nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 266-267, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: There are many pieces in Thomas that I don't really trust -- but there is none I more suspect of being Thomas's own work than this (and "The Singin' Gatherin'," which bears the same traits). It's anonymous, it's about Thomas's own home base, and it rather sounds like her style. - RBW
File: ThBa266
===
NAME: Wee Little Piute
DESCRIPTION: "Wee little piute, hi yi ya, Jolting cayuse. mountain trail, Strapped to the back of your ma ma ma, Gazing away o'er the pony's tail." Images of what the child sees as it travels the trail
AUTHOR: Words: Albert R. Lyman / Music: Casse Lyman Monson
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: baby family Indians(Am.) travel nonballad
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 87, "Wee Little Piute" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11203
File: FCW087
===
NAME: Wee Midgie Meer, The
DESCRIPTION: There is a horse race at Easterkirk "between twa [English] lords and weel mounted" and [Scotsman] Willie on his mare. Willie wins in the mud which "'filed [dirtied] the gentles' face." "Lord Lovat he gaed mad at that Swore he wad ride nae more"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan2)
KEYWORDS: racing England Scotland humorous horse
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greig #170, p. 1, "The Wee Midgie Meer" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 325, "The Wee Midgie Meer" (1 text)
Roud #5870
File: GrD2325
===
NAME: Wee One, The: see Rocking the Cradle (and the Child Not His Own) (File: R393)
===
NAME: Wee Pickle Tow, The
DESCRIPTION: John Grumely brings tow for his wife to spin. A spark from her pipe lights it. She refuses to spin (Eve wore leaves rather than spin), or churn butter. And he can sleep with his back to her. Then, he says, they'll sleep in separate beds.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: shrewishness marriage dialog husband wife clothes
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
GreigDuncan3 476, "The Wife and Her Wee Pickle Tow" (5 texts, 5 tunes)
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 80-81, "The Wee Pickle Tow" (1 text)
Roud #5506
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Spinnin O'ot
The Rock and the Wee Pickle Tow
NOTES: And, he pointed out, that he earns the money [Hayward-Ulster text].
From the liner notes to Margaret MacArthur, "An Almanac of New England Farm Songs," Green Linnet SIF 1039 LP (1982)} "Norman Kennedy, weaver and singer, tells me that the fine long linen fibers are separated from the flax by hackling, leaving the short coarse fibers of tow, guaranteed to give the spinner pricked fingers and short temper." - BS
I can't help but note that John Grunm[e]ly is the husband in some versions of "Father Grumble" [Laws Q1]. This almost sounds like the "prequel" to that. - RBW
GreigDuncan3: "From his mother sixty years ago. Noted 29th April, 1907." - BS
File: HayU080
===
NAME: Wee Tailor from Tyrone, The
DESCRIPTION: Mollie agrees to marry a tailor. She becomes a lady's waiting maid. The tailor accepts the lady's[?] offer of marriage, money, and gentleman's life. The marriage, in the dark, is a sham. When the light is on he sees "the lady" is Mollie. She rejects him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973 (Morton-Maguire)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: A tailor courts Mollie and she agrees to marry him. She becomes a lady's waiting maid. The tailor receives a letter, supposedly from the lady, offering her own hand and ten thousand pounds. He'd rather be a gentleman than an apprentice so he agrees. She insists the marriage be held in the dark. The marriage is a sham. When the light is on he sees "the lady" is Mollie. She rejects him: "Ah but you thought you were a gentleman, and now you see you're none"
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity wedding rejection trick humorous money
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Morton-Maguire 34, pp. 87-89,120,169, "The Wee Tailor from Tyrone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2931
NOTES: An interesting twist on the Eros and Psyche legend, isn't it?
The same trick also occurs in the Bible, in Genesis 29, where Jacob thinks he is marrying Rachel, but her father instead slips in Rachel's older sister Leah. The difference being that the customs of the time allowed polygamy, so Jacob eventually had both of them. - RBW
File: MoMa034
===
NAME: Wee Toon Clerk, The: see The Keach i the Creel [Child 281] (File: C281)
===
NAME: Wee Totum, The: see Toddlin' But and Toddlin' Ben (The Wee Little Totum) (File: Ord137)
===
NAME: Wee Toun Clerk, The: see The Keach i the Creel [Child 281] (File: C281)
===
NAME: Wee Weaver, The
DESCRIPTION: "I am a wee weaver confined to my loom." Willy loves Mary. They roam by Lough Erne and Willy proposes. "So this couple got married and they'll roam no more"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (IRTunneyFamily01)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage weaving Ireland
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 81, "The Wee Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3378
RECORDINGS:
Brigid Tunney, "The Wee Weaver" (on IRTunneyFamily01)
Paddy Tunney, "The Wee Weaver" (on Voice20)
NOTES: Lough Erne is in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. - BS.
File: RcWeeWea
===
NAME: Wee Wee Man, The [Child 38]
DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a "wee wee man," who, despite his size, proves amazingly strong. He takes the singer on a tour to his home, and shows him the finest ladies he has ever seen -- but then disappears.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1776 (Herd)
KEYWORDS: magic home
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland) US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
Child 38, "The Wee Wee Man" (7 texts)
Bronson 38, "The Wee Wee Man" (1 version)
BrownII 11, "The Wee, Wee Man" (1 text)
Randolph-Legman II, pp. 587-588, "The Wee Wee Man" (2 texts, one of them the Brown version)
Leach, pp. 135-136, "The Wee Wee Man" (1 text)
OBB 11, "The Wee Wee Man" (1 text)
PBB 11, "The Wee Wee Man" (1 text)
Gummere, pp. 293-294+362, "The Wee Wee Man" (1 text)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 198, "(THe WEe, Wee Man)" (1 text)
DT 38, WEEWEEMN
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #315, "The Wee Wee Man" (1 text)
Roud #2865
NOTES: Carterhaugh, also mentioned as the site of magic in "Tam Lin," "is a plain at the confluence of the Ettrick and Yarrow in Selkirkshire" (Scott).
Child prints as an appendix to this ballad the poem "Als Y Yod on ay Mounday," found in a single copy in British Museum MS. Cotton Julius A5, dated firmly to the fourteenth century. This is curious in a number of ways. There is no doubt that the two items go back to the same folkloric roots -- but "Wee Wee Man" seems to be purely Scottish, and "Als Y Yod" is a very difficult Northumbrian dialect.
E. B. Lyle, in "The Wee Wee Man and Als Y Yod on y Mounday" (reprinted in Lyle, Ballad Studies, 1976), examines the nature of the parallels between the two, but does not reach any clear conclusions. His suggestion is that both derive from some lost proto-romance does not strike me as compelling, though it is certainly possible. - RBW
File: C038
===
NAME: Wee Wifeikie, The: see The Wee Wifikie (File: HHH714)
===
NAME: Wee Wifikie, The
DESCRIPTION: The Wee Wifikie takes too much drink, and lies down to rest. A peddler steals her purse and cuts her hair. She awakens and finds herself changed. She thinks she is not herself. She tells her husband, who asks the minister, who reassures him all is well
AUTHOR: Alexander Watson ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1853 (Scots Musical Museum)
KEYWORDS: husband wife humorous hair drink dog theft thief disguise
FOUND_IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
SHenry H714, pp. 513-514, "The Wee Wifukie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 49-51, "The Wee Wifiekee" (1 text)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 23-26, "The Wee Wifukie" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan2 287, "The Wee Wifikie" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Opie-Oxford2 534, "There was a wee bit wiffikie And she held to the fair" (1 fragment)
ST HHH714 (Full)
Roud #5857
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Whiskey Is My Name (Donald Blue)"
cf. "The Old Woman Who Went to Market (The Old Woman and the Pedlar)" (theme, lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Wee Wifeikie
There Was a Wee Bit Wiffikie
NOTES: Grieg/Duncan mentions a pamphlet (1921) by William Walker, presenting evidence that this song was written by Alexander Watson in the years around 1775. Ford, however, credits it to one Dr. Alexander Geddes.
The song, if composed, seems to have come somewhat unraveled in tradition; the audience is too often left asking "Why?" (Why, e.g., did the peddler clip the Wifikie's hair? Steal her purse, yes, but why risk being caught cutting her hair?) - RBW
File: HHH714
===
NAME: Wee Wifukie, The: see The Wee Wifikie (File: HHH714)
===
NAME: Wee Willie Winkie Runs Through the Town
DESCRIPTION: "Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town, Upstairs and downstairs in his night gown, Rapping at the window, crying through the lock, Are the children all in bed, for now it's eight o'clock?"
AUTHOR: William Miller (source: _Songs for the Nursery_); "Air by Rev. W. B. (source: _Whistle-Binkie_)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1841 (_Whistle-Binkie_, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: nonballad children
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Opie-Oxford2 529, "Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #813, p. 303, "(Wee Willie Winkie runs through the town)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 132, "(Wee Wilie Winkie)" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: _Songs for the Nursery_ (Glasgow, 1846), p. 1, "Willie Winkie"
_Whistle-Binkie_, (Glasgow, 1878), Vol I, pp. 320-321, "Willie Winkie"; also _Whistle-Binkie_, (Glasgow, 1878), Vol II, pp. 301-302, "Willie Winkie"
Roud #13711
NOTES: Opie-Oxford2: "'Willie Winkie, as may be seen in Jacobite songs, was a nickname for William III (d.1702), and according to Robert L. Ripley the rhyme refers to that king." - BS
The Baring-Goulds also note that "Wee Willie Winkie was the nickname given to William Prince of Orange" (who became William III in 1689). But they doubt its political significance. And, if they are correct in attributing it to William Miller, they are almost surely right in questioning it. Who would be writing concealed verse about William III in the reign of Victoria? - RBW
File: OO2529
===
NAME: Wee Woman in Our Town, The: see Marrowbones [Laws Q2] (File: LQ02)
===
NAME: Week After the Fair (I), The (Jock and Meg)
DESCRIPTION: Meg has no pity: John is hung over from drinking for a week at the fair with "dandy Katie" while she was left at home. John says Meg drinks also and carried on at home that week; he got her out of jail. He proposes they don't drink until New Year.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1843 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.25(295))
KEYWORDS: infidelity drink dialog husband wife
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greig #7, p. 2, "Jock and Meg" (1 text fragment)
GreigDuncan3 585, "Jock and Meg" (10 texts, 4 tunes)
Roud #5162
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.25(295), "Week After the Fair" ("O John! what's this ye've done John?"), W. and T. Fordyce (Newcastle), 1832-1842; also 2806 c.14(34), Johnson Ballads 1678, 2806 c.14(183), Harding B 17(330a), "[The] Week After the Fair"
Murray, Mu23-y1:022, "The Week After The Fair," unknown, 19C
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(142b), "The Week After the Fair," unknown, c.1845; also L.C.Fol.178.A.2(111), "The Week After the Fair"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
John and Meg
NOTES: Commentary to broadside NLScotland L.C.Fol.70(142b): "This ballad is structured as an exchange of recriminations between a husband and wife while both are suffering from hangovers earned at their local agricultural fair. The local fair is a significant symbol of community in Scottish literature, and fairs are often portrayed as bawdy, drunken, knockabout occasions where prevailing notions of morality and respectability are forgotten."
Commentary to broadside NLScotland L.C.Fol.178.A.2(111): "This is the story of a couple who spent all their money and pawned most of their goods so that they could enjoy the Paisley fair to its full extent. Now the event is over, they are left quarrel about their decisions and behaviour but promise to start economising, but only until New Year! Both partners seem to have had romantic affairs during this period also, but they remain unconcerned about this as a couple." - BS
File: GrD3585
===
NAME: Week After the Fair (II), The
DESCRIPTION: The Fair has brought John and Meg to beggary's door. He reviews her escapades of drink and running around with other men. She says he ran around and pawned everything they owned. They agree to "tak' a drap and speak nae mair o' our faults at the Fair"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 19C (broadside, Murray Mu23-y1:047)
KEYWORDS: poverty infidelity drink dialog husband wife
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: ()
Roud #5162
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y1:047, "The Week After The Fair" or "The Discontented Pair," James Lindsay Junr (Glasgow), 19C
NOTES: Apparently broadside Bodleian, 2806 c.11(221), "The Week After the Fair" or "The Discontented Pair" ("I'm grieved to think my wife Meg, this day we are so poor"), unknown, no date is this song but I could not download and verify it. - BS
File: BdWAtF2
===
NAME: Week Before Easter, The: see The False Bride (The Week Before Easter; I Once Loved a Lass) (File: K152)
===
NAME: Week's Matrimony, A (A Week's Work)
DESCRIPTION: Monday the singer marries; Tuesday his wife sees a girl frying his "sausage"; Wednesday he finds a man in bed with her; Thursday they fight; Friday they part and she hangs herself in sorrow; Saturday he buries her and finds another
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads 289)
KEYWORDS: adultery marriage fight suicide drink bawdy wife
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Peacock, pp. 322-323, "A Week's Work" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 120, "Days of the Week" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1692
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 289, "A Week's Matrimony"("On Sunday I went out on a spree"), J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Firth c.20(135), Harding B 20(185), Harding B 11(4082), Harding B 11(4083), Harding B 11(4084), 2806 c.16(23)[some words illegible], Firth c.20(136)[some words illegible], Harding B 11(4081), 2806 b.9(271), Firth c.20(134), "[A] Week's Matrimony[!]"
Murray, Mu23-y1:088, "The Week's Matrimony," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Holly Twig" [Laws Q6] (theme)
cf. "In Duckworth Street There Lived a Dame" (imagery)
cf. "Charming Sally Ann" (imagery)
SAME_TUNE:
The Devil in Search of a Wife (per broadsides Bodleian Johnson Ballads 289, Bodleian Harding B 11(4084), Bodleian Harding B 11(4081))
NOTES: Peacock makes A Week's Work the same ballad as The Holly Twig although the only similarity is that they both account for the days of the week and both start with a marriage. - BS
File: Pea322
===
NAME: Week's Work Well Done, A: see The Holly Twig [Laws Q6]; also The Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin [Child 277] (File: LQ06)
===
NAME: Week's Work, A: see A Week's Matrimony (A Week's Work) (File: Pea322)
===
NAME: Weep-Willow Tree, The: see The Golden Vanity [Child 286] (File: C286)
===
NAME: Weeping Mary
DESCRIPTION: "Are there anybody here like Mary a-weeping? Call to my Jesus and he'll draw nigh. Glory (x5) be to my God on high." "Are there anybody here like Peter a-sinking?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1855 (Social Harp)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-FSNA 128, "Weeping Mary" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6680
RECORDINGS:
Roswell Sacred Harp Quartet, "Weeping Mary" (Bluebird B-8582, 1940)
NOTES: The reference to "Peter sinking" goes back to Matt. 14:28f. Jesus had been walking on the water, and Peter (in this account; not in the source in Mark) said, "Lord, if it's you, call me to come to you on the water." Jesus did, and Peter walked on the water for a few moments, but then started to doubt -- and sink. Jesus, of course, rescued him.
Lomax claims this is in the Sacred Harp. There *is* a song with the title "Weeping Mary" in the Sacred Harp, but it isn't the same thing. According to Jackson, the song is found in the Social Harp, though. - RBW
File: LoF128
===
NAME: Weeping Sad and Lonely: see When This Cruel War is Over (Weeping Sad and Lonely) (File: SCW42)
===
NAME: Weeping Willow (I), The: see Jealous Lover, The (Florella, Floella) (Pearl Bryan II) (Nell Cropsey II) [Laws F1A, B, C] (File: LF01)
===
NAME: Weeping Willow (II), The: see Bury Me Beneath the Willow (File: R747)
===
NAME: Weeping Willow Tree: see Bury Me Beneath the Willow (File: R747)
===
NAME: Weeping Willow Tree, The: see The Golden Vanity [Child 286] (File: C286)
===
NAME: Weevily Wheat
DESCRIPTION: "Charlie, he's a nice young man, Charlie he's a dandy." Stories about Charlie's attempts at courting and his visits to town. The mention of "Weevily wheat" and lines such as "Over the river to feed my sheep" are common
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1911
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad playparty floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (21 citations)
Randolph 520, "Weevily Wheat" (7 texts, some fragmentary or excerpted, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 397-399, "Weevily Wheat" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 520A)
BrownIII 67, "Weevily Wheat" (1 text plus a possibly-rewritten fragment)
Fuson, p. 164, "Over the River to Charlie" (1 text)
Cambiaire, p. 140, "Weevily Wheat" (1 short text)
Linscott, pp. 262-263, "Over the Water to Charlie" (1 short text, 1 tune, primarily a version of this although it incorporates a single verse of "Over the Water to Charlie")
SharpAp 167, "Charlie's Sweet" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Sandburg, p. 161, "Weevily Wheat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 286, (no title) (3 fragments)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 290-293, "Weevily Wheat" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 163, "Twistification" (1 text, 1 tune, with a counting chorus and modified verses)
Fowke/MacMillan 44, "Who'll be King but Charlie?" (1 text, 1 tune, with "Weevily Wheat" verses but obviously also some kinship to "Wha'll Be King but Charlie")
Creighton-Maritime, p. 125, "Charlie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 60-61, "[Charlie]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 72, "Over the River Charlie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 96, "Over the water and over the lea" (3 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #144, p. 115, "(Over the Water and over the lea)"
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 161, "Charley, He's a Good Ol' Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 813-814, "Weevily Wheat" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 36, "Weevily Wheat" (1 text)
DT, WEEVWHT*
Roud #729
RECORDINGS:
Granville Bowlin, "Charlie's Neat" (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
Kelly Harrell, "Charley, He's a Good Old Man" (Victor 21069, 1927; on KHarrell02, CrowTold02)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Charley, He's a Good Old Man" (on NLCR10)
Jean Ritchie, "Over the River Charlie" (on RitchieWatsonCD1)
Ritchie Family, "Charlie" (on Ritchie03)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Roll the Tater (Rolly Rolly)" (floating lyrics, meter)
cf. "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Rosey Apple Lemon and Pear" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Certain authorities have conjectured that the "Charlie" of this song is Bonnie Prince Charlie. (Alan Lomax goes so far as to derive it from the Scots "Charlie Over the Water.") It would be hard to prove either way.
Those seeking to find every version of this song should also check "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss," which I think might be another version of this song. But others disagree.... - RBW
Well, I'd say they're at least siblings; at least one version of "Weevily Wheat" has the same tune as "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss." - PJS
Creighton-Maritime matches the Weevily Wheat pattern but includes the lines "cross the water to Charlie" and -- in the chorus -- "There's none like royal Charlie." In this sense at least it's close to Fowke/MacMillan 44. - BS
Consider the song attributed to Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne (1766-1845) at Charles W. Eliot, editor, English Poetry Vol II From Collins to Fitzgerald (New York, 1910), #335, pp. 564-565, "Wha'll Be King But Charlie?" (Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne). The Fowke/MacMillan 44 chorus shares lines in its chorus ("Come round the heather, ... You're welcome late and early, Around him fling [Nairne: "cling"] your royal king, For who'll be king but Charlie?" - BS
The latter is usually called "Wha'll Be King But Charlie" (the title used in the Index) or "The News frae Moidart," and it is certainly about Bonnie Prince Charlie. And it does mix with some "Weevily Wheat" versions. (Almost everything does!) But it is definitely an independent song, and the tune I've heard (admittedly from Silly Wizard, hardly an authoritative source) is distinct. Roud lumps a whole raft of "Charlie" songs, but that's more desperation than anything else. - RBW
File: R520
===
NAME: Welcome (to Lyda Messer Caudill)
DESCRIPTION: "The banners of our county bright Are waving in the breeze; Now we are living in the light...." "In accents sweet proclaim the news... We have a worthy leader, Our superintendant dear." The singer hopes the school superintendent will lead well
AUTHOR: Edgar Hamm
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 254-255, "Welcome" (1 text)
NOTES: I can't say with certainty that this is the most trivial thing I've ever seen memorialized in song -- but, other than Edgar Hamm's other school song, "Inspiration (The Rowan County Teachers)," I haven't a better candidate off the top of my head. - RBW
File: ThBa254
===
NAME: Welcome Table (Streets of Glory, God's Going to Set This World on Fire)
DESCRIPTION: "God's going to set this world on fire... One o' these days." "I'm going to walk and talk with Jesus... "I'm going to climb up Jacob's ladder." "All you sinners gonna turn up missing." "God don't want no coward soldiers... Some of these days."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (recording, Florida Normal Quartet)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad floatingverses rejection death resurrection gods Jesus
FOUND_IN: US(SE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
BrownIII 517, "Some of These Days" (2 texts); 536, "Jacob's Ladder" (3 texts, of which the third is apparently this)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 280, "Welcome Table" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 173, "The Welcome Table" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 478-479, "God's Goin' to Set This World on Fire" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 354, "Streets of Glory" (1 text)
DT, STGLORY
Roud #11812
RECORDINGS:
Emmett Brand, "I'm Going to Cross the Rivers of Jordan, Some of These Days" (on MuSouth06)
Carter Family, "River of Jordan" (Victor 21434, 1928; Montgomery Ward M-4430, 1934; on Babylon)
Jaybird Coleman, "I'm Gonna Cross the River of Jordan - Some o' These Days" (Silvertone 5172, 1927; on Babylon)
Florida Normal Quartet, "The Welcome Table" (OKeh 40079, 1924; rec. 1922)
West Virginia Night Owls, "I'm Goin' to Walk on the Streets of Glory" (Victor 21533, 1928)
Charles Owens w. Isabel Owens, "The Welcome Table" (on NovaScotia1)
West Virginia Snake Hunters [John & Emery McClung], "Walk the Streets of Glory" (Brunswick 119, 1928, rec. 1927)
Alice Wine, "I'm Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table" (on BeenStorm1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "When I'm Gone (I)" (floating verses)
cf. "I'm Going to Ride in Pharaoh's Chariot" (form)
SAME_TUNE:
"I'm Gonna Sit at the Freedom Table" (civil rights movement song)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
I'm Gonna Tell God How You Treat Me
NOTES: This song carries several titles; I chose the one by which it's most commonly known among revival singers. While the song seems to have originated in African-American tradition, it has spread to Anglo singers as well. - PJS
Reported by Sandburg to be the favorite verse of the IWW, but evidently not of their composition.
I had originally split this song up under several titles, because the versions don't really relate much (Sandburg's and that in the Digital Tradition, for instance, appear to have no words in common whatsoever). But Paul Stamler thinks they're the same, and certainly there is continuous variation, so here they lump. - RBW
File: San478
===
NAME: Welcome, Royal Charlie (I)
DESCRIPTION: "The man that should our king hae been, He wore the royal red and green." He defeats the Hanoverians at Falkirk and Prestonpans. Since he has left a German rules and we "daurna brew a peck o' maut." Whelps sit on his throne. Charlie! drive them away.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1821 (Hogg2)
KEYWORDS: nonballad political Jacobites
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Hogg2 71, "Welcome, Royal Charlie" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
GreigDuncan1 136, "Welcome Royal Charlie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5817
NOTES: The last verse includes the lines "Though every dog maun hae its day, The right belongs to Charlie." Is this the source for the "every dog will have its day" restatement of Hamlet V.i.273-274?
Hogg2: "There are many editions of this song, which is popular all over the country, both south and north."
For references to Falkirk and Prestonpans see "Tranent Muir" and "The Muir of Culloden." - BS
Many versions of this say something like, "Oh, you've been lang a-coming." This was a great complaint of the Jacobites: James the Old Pretender had briefly made an appearance in 1715 after the Fifteen had pretty well fizzled out, but no member of the Stuart family had appeared in Britain again until Bonnie Prince Charlie showed up in 1745. By then it was almost too late; the Jacobite cause was fading. Not that the Stuarts had much choice; James was more a liability than a help to his cause due to his extreme pessimism, and Charles could hardly lead the rebellion as an infant. Besides, the British needed the War of the Austrian Succession to distract the British government. All in all, it was a tricky situation for the Jacobites. - RBW
File: GrD1136
===
NAME: Welcome, Royal Charlie (II)
DESCRIPTION: "Arouse, arouse, ilk kilted clan! Let Highland hearts lead on the van, Forward wi' her dirk in han', To fight for royal Charlie" Auld Scotia's sons would rally around him. "Welcome to our isle again"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1817 (Scots Magazine, according to Hogg2)
KEYWORDS: nonballad political Jacobites
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hogg2 72, "Welcome, Royal Charlie" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 45(15) View 3 of 3, "Welcome Charlie O'er the Main" ("Arouse, arouse, each kilted clan!"), J. Smyth (Belfast), 1813-1850; also 2806 d.31(4), "Royal Charlie"
NLScotland, RB.m.168(248), "The Landing of Royal Charlie," T. Birt (London), c.1840
NOTES: Hogg2: "Copied from the Scots Magazine for February 1817, and has the signature 'F.C. Banks of Clyde.'" - BS
File: Hogg2072
===
NAME: Well Met, Pretty Maid (The Sweet Nightingale)
DESCRIPTION: Singer invites girl to hear the nightingale; he offers to carry her pail. She demurs; "I've hands of my own." They agree to marry; now she's not afraid to go out walking or to "hear the fond tale of the sweet nightingale/As she sings in the valley below"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1776 (Journal from the _Ann_)
KEYWORDS: courting love sex marriage bird rejection seduction
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 187-188, "A New Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, p. 562, "Sweet Nightingale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 89, "An Eos Whek [The Sweet Nightingale]" (1 text + Cornish translation, 1 tune)
DT, NITINGAL
Roud #371
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Nightingale
NOTES: Kennedy's Cornish words are a revivalist translation from the English. The song has been collected from tradition several times, but positively shouts out a composed origin. Kennedy lumps it with "The Valley Below," but as the plots are notably different, I don't. They certainly share a common ancestor, though, possibly in Thomas Arne's opera "Thomas and Sally" (1761). - PJS
I doubt even that much, and the fact that Kennedy lumps them (on no basis at all that I can see) makes me doubt all his other references. The one thing I'll allow is his claim that the song has a very fine melody. I've used a title from JFSS because that's the way I learned the song.
It's very difficult to know what to do with songs of this type. Huntington thinks his text is a survival of the Corydon/Colin-and-Phyllis/Phoebe type. As Paul observes, it sounds more like a minstrel than a folk piece. But Theodore Bikel and Cynthia Gooding recorded something quite similar (under the "Well Met" title), and there are enough broadsides with similar form that I decided I needed to include the song.
The trick now is to decide which of these many pieces actually belong here, and which are orphan broadsides.... - RBW
File: K089
===
NAME: Well of Spring Water, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer met a lass on her way to a well "who at once won my admiration" (more than his mother!). He declares his love. They fall into the well. They can't remember the rest that was said but married soon after. Their daughter Maureen is like her mother.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1972 (Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
KEYWORDS: courting love marriage children derivative
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 6, "The Well of Spring Water" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5215
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "The Well of Spring Water" (on IRTLenihan01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Can of Spring Water" (form)
NOTES: There can be no doubt that this song derives from "The Can of Spring Water" but that is a seduction ballad with different details, lines and tone from this. Roud assigns the same number to both. - BS
File: RcWeSpWa
===
NAME: Well Sold the Cow: see The Crafty Farmer [Child 283; Laws L1] (File: C283)
===
NAME: Wellington and Waterloo: see The Plains of Waterloo (V) (File: LJ03)
===
NAME: Wells and Fargo Line, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of "...the men who served their time For robbing mountain stages on the Wells and Fargo Line." Among the criminals who haunted the route were Major Thompson, Jimmy Miner, Old Jim Hughes, and Black Bart
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: travel robbery prison
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 18, "The Wells and Fargo Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11083
File: FCW18
===
NAME: Went Down Town: see Deep Elem Blues (File: DTdeepel)
===
NAME: Went to the River (I)
DESCRIPTION: "I went to the river an' I couldn't get across, I jumped on a (log/alligator/nigger/possum/etc.) an' thought it was a horse."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: river floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 258, "Ease that Trouble in the Mind" (1 fragment)
BrownIII 193, "Went to the River and I Couldn't Get Across" (1 fragment)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 184-185, (no title) (3 fragments plus an item entitled "Sister Cyarline" which has a chorus and might perhaps be something else)
Roud #469
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Johnny Booker (Mister Booger)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Limber Jim" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Mary Mack (I)" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Another of those ubiquitous floating verses, filed separately because it so often *appears* separately.
Randolph's version of this has a chorus: "I went to the river an' I couldn't get across, Ease that trouble in the mind, I jumped on a log an' thought it was a horse, Ease that trouble in the mind." But he has only a single four-line stanza, so it's not clear if the verse floated into something else or if there is a complete song. - RBW
Opie-Oxford2 362, "My mother said that I never should" includes an "I came to a river and I couldn't get across" verse: "'I came to a river' has had a long life as a make-weight verse in American play-party and minstrel songs. It is first noted in 'Clare de Kitchen, or Old Virginia Never Tire' (c.1838)." (cf. "Charleston Gals (Clear the Kitchen)")
TakingOpie-Oxford2's lead, the Public Domain Music site has an entry from "Minstrel Songs, Old and New" (1883) pp 152-153 for "'Clare de Kitchen; or, De Kentucky Screamer' (1832) Words and Music by Thomas Dartmouth (Daddy) Rice, 1808-1860" with verse 2 "I went to de creek, I couldn't git across, I'd nobody wid me but an old blind horse; But old Jim Crow came riding by, Says he, 'old feller, your horse will die.'" - BS
File: R258
===
NAME: Went to the River (II): see The Swapping Boy (File: E093)
===
NAME: Went to the River and I Couldn't Get Across: see Went to the River (I) (File: R258)
===
NAME: Were You Ever in Dumbarton?
DESCRIPTION: "Were you ever in Dumbarton, Where they wear the tartan (x2), little above the knee.... My love she is so neat and small, She won't have me at all (x2), But try to get her full and then she'll marry me... Oh, if I had her, happy I would be."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1971
KEYWORDS: courting clothes travel love
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Doerflinger, pp. 307-308, "Were You Ever in Dumbarton?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9421
File: Doe307
===
NAME: Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?
DESCRIPTION: "Were you there when they crucified my Lord (x2), Sometimes it causes me to tremble, tremble; Were you there when...." "Were you there when they nailed him to the tree?" "...pierced him in the side?" "...the sun refused to shine...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (recording, Paul Robeson)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 367, "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord?" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), p. 147, "Were You There?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11409
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff, "Were You There When They Crucified My Lord" (Columbia 20550, 1949)
Fisk Jubilee Singers, "Were You There?" (on Fisk01)
Roland Hayes, "Were You There" (Columbia 69812-D, 1939)
Uncle Dave Macon, "Was You There When They Took My Lord Away" (OKeh 45522, 1931; rec. 1930)
Wade Mainer, "Were You There" (Bluebird B-8273, 1939)
File: FSWB367A
===
NAME: West River Railroad
DESCRIPTION: "We've got a little railroad And it isn't very wide. We put in twenty thousand And quite a lot beside." Few travelers take the train: "A sheriff and a parson, Three ladies... and a little red calf." After humorous incidents, all arrive
AUTHOR: Mr. and Mrs. Julian Johnson ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Flanders/Brown)
KEYWORDS: railroading train humorous money
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 198-199, "West River Railroad" (1 text)
ST FlBr198 (Partial)
Roud #5454
NOTES: Reportedly written for a home talent play, which somehow survived thirty years to be included in Flanders and Brown. (To be fair, it's much funnier than most such songs).
Apparently the song is about a locally-financed railroad which was, at best, only mildly successful.
No tune is shown, but I suspect "I Hard a Little Nut Tree." - RBW
File: FlBr198
===
NAME: West Virginia Feud Song, A
DESCRIPTION: A story of the "Lincoln County crew." Ale Brumfield is shot, perhaps by Milt Haley, but Brumfield (who survives) blames "McCoy." Later, at George Fries's house, a fight begins and many are killed. The singer blames the fight on drink
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: feud death drink
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
JHCox 40, "A West-Virginia Feud Song" (1 text)
Roud #465
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rowan County Crew (Trouble, or Tragedy)" [Laws E20]
NOTES: Cox views this as a reworking of "The Rowan County Crew," and Laws (in the notes to that song) evidently agrees. (Roud lumps them.) The resulting song is rare, and the Cox text is confused; it's not even clear who feuded with whom! The informants believed that the fight took place in 1890, near Hamlin, West Virginia. - RBW
File: LE20A
===
NAME: West-Country Damosel's Complaint, The [Child 292]
DESCRIPTION: The girl begs William to marry her; if he will not, she bids him kill her. He callously tells her to live in the greenwood. She tries, but at last begs her sister for alms. The sister drives her away. Willie finds her dead and mourns his cruelty
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1695
KEYWORDS: courting abandonment poverty death sister love
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Child 292, "The West-Country Damosel's Complaint" (1 text)
BBI, ZN2899, "When will you Marry me William"
Roud #3959
NOTES: Child is of the opinion that this is a composite piece, with the first eleven stanzas being popular and the remaining thirteen being literary. As both the tone and the rhyme scheme change in the final stanzas, he is quite possibly correct. - RBW
File: C292
===
NAME: West's Asleep, The
DESCRIPTION: "While every side a vigil keep, The West's asleep, the West's asleep." The singer laments the "slumbering slaves" in a land that demands Freedom and Nationhood. But a voice announces "'the West's awake!' 'Sing, oh hurra! let England quake!'"
AUTHOR: Thomas Davis (1814-1845) (source: Moylan; Hoagland)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1947 (Hoagland)
KEYWORDS: Ireland England nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Moylan 115, "The West's Asleep" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WSTASLEP
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 472-473, "The West's Asleep" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Brink of the White Rocks" (tune, according to Hoagland)
cf. "The Men of the West" (subject: The landing of General Humbert) and references there
NOTES: The 1798 rebellion was a very patchy thing, due in no small part to the arrests of nearly all the United Irish leaders well before it was supposed to come off. The biggest rising, in Wexford, was largely unplanned, but at least it was a rising. There was a lot of stirring in Ulster, though it accomplished very little. Connaught and Leinster, however, saw nothing of any significance at all. Until the French came. This song apparently refers to General Humber's activity (for which see especially "The Men of the West").
The O'Connors, mentioned in the song, were the hereditary kings of Connaught before the Norman invasion.
For the disastrous Battle of Aughrim, see the notes to "After Aughrim's Great Disaster." - RBW
File: Moyl115
===
NAME: Wester Snow: see Easter Snow (File: HHH066)
===
NAME: Western Boat (Let Me Fish Off Cape St Mary's)
DESCRIPTION: "Take me back to my Western boat, Let me fish off Cape St Mary's." Singer recounts good times and wants to be buried in "that snug green cove where the seas roll up their thunder"
AUTHOR: Otto P. Kelland
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: fishing sea lyric nonballad work death
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Doyle3, p. 39, "Let Me Fish Off Cape St Mary's" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 88-89, "Let Me Fish Off Cape St Mary's" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CAPSTMAR*
Roud #7301
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Let Me Fish Off Cape St Mary's" (on NFOBlondahl01)
NOTES: Cape St Mary's is now a sea-bird sanctuary at the southwest corner of the Avalon Peninsula, about 100 miles from St John's - BS
Although the printed editions seem to call this "Let Me Fish Off Cape St Mary's," I've assigned the basic title "Western Boat" on the assumption that most people know it from the recording by Gordon Bok. - RBW
File: Doyl3039
===
NAME: Western Home: see Home on the Range (File: R193)
===
NAME: Western Ocean: see Here's to the Grog (All Gone for Grog) (File: K274)
===
NAME: Western Ranger: see Texas Rangers, The [Laws A8] (File: LA08)
===
NAME: Wet Sheet and a Flowing Sea, A: see Britannia on Our Lee (File: SWMS049)
===
NAME: Wexford City (I): see The Female Highwayman [Laws N21] (File: LN21)
===
NAME: Wexford City (II): see The Wexford (Oxford, Knoxville, Noel) Girl [Laws P35] (File: LP35)
===
NAME: Wexford Girl (II), The: see My Name is Edward Gallovan (File: CrSNB092)
===
NAME: Wexford Girl, The (The Oxford, Lexington, or Knoxville Girl; The Cruel Miller; etc.) [Laws P35]
DESCRIPTION: The singer invites the girl for a walk. They discuss their wedding. Then he takes up a club and attacks her. She begs him to spare her life. He beats her to death and throws her in the river. He is taken and hanged
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1796 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.17(216); c.1700 (broadside, Bodleian Antiq. c. E.9(125))
KEYWORDS: wedding river murder trial execution
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(Scotland,England) Ireland
REFERENCES: (33 citations)
Laws P35, "The Wexford Girl (The Oxford, Lexington, or Knoxville Girl; The Cruel Miller; etc.)" (Laws gives three broadside texts on pp. 104-112 of ABFBB)
Greig #137, pp. 1-2, "The Butcher Boy"; Greig #179, p. 2, ("Mary, my dear Mary") (2 texts)
GreigDuncan2 200, "The Butcher's Boy" (6 texts, 3 tunes)
Belden, pp. 133-136, "The Oxford Girl" (2 texts)
Randolph 150, "The Noel Girl" (7 texts plus 3 excerpts and 2 fragments, 5 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 108-111, "The Noel Girl" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 150A)
Eddy 104, "The Murdered Girl" (8 texts, 2 tunes, but Laws assigns the B text to "The Banks of the Ohio" and omits the others. It would appear that Eddy's A and C texts belong here)
Gardner/Chickering 19, "The Knoxville Girl" (2 texts)
BrownII 65, "The Lexington Murder" (3 texts plus 6 excerpts, 1 fragment, and mention of 3 more)
Chappell-FSRA 63, "Nell Cropsey, III" (1 text, which despite its title does not mention Cropsey and appears to be simply a version of this song with perhaps some mixture with "Banks of the Ohio")
Hudson 30, pp. 141-143, "The Wexford Girl" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 159-164, "The Wexford Girl; Hanged I Shall Be; The Prentice Boy" (3 texts, which despite the collective title are all called "Knoxville Girl"; 1 tune on p. 402)
Shellans, pp. 68-69, "The Jealous Lover" (1 text, 1 tune, probably this but with some curious variants which hint at recomposition)
Brewster 36, "The Wexford Girl (The Cruel Miller)" (1 text)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 88-90, "Hang-ed I Shall Be" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 71, "The Miller's Apprentice, or The Oxford Tragedy" (5 texts, 5 tunes)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 56, "Wexford City" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 634-636, "The Wexford Girl" (2 texts, 2 tunes); pp. 638-640, "The Worcester Tragedy" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Mackenzie 115, "Waterford Town" (1 text)
Manny/Wilson 98, "The Wexford Lass" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 785-787, "The Lexington Murder" (2 texts)
Doerflinger, pp. 288-290, "The Wexford Girl" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 225, "The Wexford Girl" (1 text+5 fragments of another text)
Warner 7, "The Waxford Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 150-151, "Knoxville Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 737, "The Knoxville Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 327, "The Oxford Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 115-116, "Knoxville Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 90, "The Wesford Girl" (2 texts)
MacSeegTrav 75, "The Wexford Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 224, "Knoxville Girl" (1 text)
BBI, ZN1624, "Let all pretending Lovers"; ZN3196, "Young men and maidens all, give ear unto what I relate"
DT 353, CRUELMIL* OXFRDTRG* PRETPOL2; (628), WXFRDGRL
Roud #263
RECORDINGS:
Blue Sky Boys, "Story of the Knoxville Girl" (Montgomery Ward 7327, c. 1937)
Cope Brothers, "Knoxville Girl" (King 589, 1947)
Mary Delaney, "Town of Linsborough" (on IRTravellers01)
Foster & James "The Knoxville Girl" (Supertone 9260, 1928) [also issued as by Jim Burke, possibly a pseudonym for Doc Roberts]
Marie Hare, "The Wexford Lass" (on MRMHare01)
Louisiana Lou, "The Export Girl" (Bluebird B-5424, 1934)
Asa Martin & James [Doc] Roberts "Knoxville Girl" (Conqueror 7837, 1931)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "The Knoxville Girl" (Brunswick 110/Vocalion 5121, 1927)
Aulton Ray, "Maxwell Girl" (Gennett 6205/Champion 15332/Challenge 335 [as Charlie Prescott]/Silvertone 5084, 1927; Supertone 9250, 1928; on KMM [as Taylor's Kentucky Boys])
Arthur Tanner, "The Knoxville Girl" (Silvertone 3515, 1926) (Columbia 15145-D, 1927)
Mildred Tuttle, "Expert Town (The Oxford Girl)" (AFS; on LC12)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Antiq. c. E.9(125), "The Berkshire Trgedy [sic]" or "The Wittam Miller" ("Young men and maidens all give ear"), unknown, c.1700; also Firth c.17(216), "The Berkshire Tragedy" or "The Wittam Miller," unknown, 1796; Harding B 6(100), Douce Ballads 3(1b), Harding B 6(101), Harding B 6(102), Firth b.28(40a), "The Berkshire Tragedy" or "The Wittam Miller"; Harding B 6(96), "The Berkshire Trgedy [sic]" or "The Wittam Miller"; Harding B 6(98), "The Wittham-Miller" or "The Berkshire Tragedy"; 2806 c.17(40), Harding B 28(224), "Bloody Miller" ("My parents educated, and good learning gave to me"); Firth c.17(110), Harding B 11(752), Harding B 11(753), Harding B 11(754), Harding B 11(755), "[The] Cruel Miller"; Harding B 15(74a), "Cruel Miller" or "Love and Murder"; Firth c.17(109), "Cruel Miller" or "Love and Murder!"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Banks of the Ohio" [Laws F5] (plot)
cf. "Camden Town" (plot)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Oxford Tragedy
The Expert Girl
Johnny McDowell
The Prentice Boy
The Cruel Miller
The Miller Boy
Never Let the Devil Get the Upper Hand of You (Carter Family version)
NOTES: Ozark folklore links this to the murder of one Lula Noel, whose body was discovered by the Cowskin River in Missouri in 1892. The song, however, is obviously older. Doerflinger traces it to a broadside about a murder committed at Reading, England in 1774. - RBW
Botkin, following Cox (who follows Belden), traces it to a British broadside, "Berkshire Tragedy" or "The Wittam Miller", circa 1700. - NR
Laws also lists this broadside in his catalog (it is, indeed, one of the texts he prints), but adopts his title based on common traditional usage.
Laws, in fact, draws a stemma, starting from the "Berkshire Tragedy," and listing a total of seven "recensions" (p. 119), though he considers the broadside to be merely of eighteenth century date. I have a problem with the whole reconstruction, though: It's too literary. Even if one assumes the original ballad was a broadside (and I think Laws assumes this more often than is justified), it does not follow that its entire history is found in the broadsides. The song is so common that one must suspect the larger share of the broadsides to be derived from tradition, rather than being the source of tradition. - RBW
In Peacock pp. 638-640 version A the girl is pregnant, as in Laws' text of "The Cruel Miller" ( _American Ballads from British Broadsides_ chapter IV, p. 111).
Broadside Bodleian Firth b.28(40a), printed in London between 1800 and 1811, has 22 8-line verses; shelfmark Antiq. c. E.9(125), with the same text as Firth b.28(40a) has an estimated print date of c.1700. These are all clearly recognizable as the same ballad, down to the "bleeding at the nose" line. - BS
The "Love and Murder" broadsides listed here should not be confused with the other numerous broadsides of that title, many of which are versions of The Cruel Ship's Carpenter (The Gosport Tragedy; Pretty Polly) [Laws P36A/B]. ["Love and Murder" is a very common title for broadsides, which I suppose proves that cheap journalism is not a modern invention. - RBW] - BS, (RBW)
File: LP35
===
NAME: Wexford Insurgent, The
DESCRIPTION: "The heroes of Wexford have burst through their chains." The Shelmaliers lead the attack and trail the retreat. The Sassenach dragoons "have been trampled to death ... O! long in fair England each maiden may mourn."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 2000 (Moylan)
KEYWORDS: battle rebellion death England Ireland
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1798 - Irish rebellion against British rule
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 71, "The Wexford Insurgent" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: This anonymous, probably mid-19th-century piece, displays the marks of the drawing-room rather than the tap-room or cottage in its language."
_Webster's Third New International Dictionary_: sassenach: "a typical Englishman or something considered typical of England -- often used disparagingly by Scots and Irish." [Derived from the same root as "Saxon" -- an ironic description, given that the first invaders of Ireland were almost all Anglo-Norman barons and their French-speaking retainers. - RBW]
The Irish baronies of Shelmalier, East and West, are in County Wexford. - BS
File: Moyl071
===
NAME: Wexford Lass, The: see The Wexford (Oxford, Knoxville, Noel) Girl [Laws P35] (File: LP35)
===
NAME: Wexford Massacre, The
DESCRIPTION: "They knelt around the cross divine, the matron and the maid... Three hundred fair and helpless ones... Had battled for their own." The three hundred have fallen at the hands of Cromwell's English. They pray Heaven will avenge the wrong
AUTHOR: M. J. Barry
EARLIEST_DATE: 1855 (Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol I)
KEYWORDS: Ireland battle death
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Oct 23, 1641 - Outbreak of the revolt which eventually becomes "The War of the Three Kingdoms." Catholics in Ulster rebel to earn religious liberty, but commit too many brutalities against Protestants to allow peace. To make matters worse, one of their leaders, Sir Phelim O'Neill, claims authority from Charles I (see P. Berresford Ellis, _A History of the Irish Working Class_, p. 42; C.V. Wedgwood, _The King's War 1641-1647_, p. 26). Charles declares that O'Neill's commission is a forgery, but the forces arrayed against Charles in England refuse to believe this.
Nov. 29, 1641 - Battle of Julianstown. A small force of loyalist troops is scattered by rebels. The "Old English" (English immigrants who arrived before the reign of Elizabeth), afraid of the rebels, feel compelled to join their revolt. The English are forced to raise large forces to suppress the movement. They raise the money for this by selling the rights to land expected to be confiscated from rebels. The English government is now committed to punishing Ireland -- and to blaming Charles for the troubles
Aug 1642 - The English Civil War turns "hot," causing England to concentrate mostly on its internal affairs and leave Ireland to tend its own house
Oct 1642 - "Confederation of Kilkenny." The rebels try (and fail) to form a united governmental and religious front
1643 - Inconclusive fighting. The English Civil War draws off more and more English soldiers. All sides in Ireland alternate between fighting, negotiating, and calling on King Charles. In the coming years, Charles will make various deals (usually of toleration in return for troops), but none amount to anything. The Irish factions are unable to unite in any way. Assorted battles are fought, but none are decisive. The Irish have placed themselves in the worst possible position: Clearly opposed to the English, but without the organization to oppose them. As soon as there is a united English government, the Irish can expect to face its wrath.
1649 - The English execute King Charles and declare a commonwealth. England is at last united and ready to deal with Ireland.
August 1649 - Oliver Cromwell (the future Lord Protector of England) arrives in Ireland to regain control of the island. In theory, he is fighting Irish rebels; in practice, his chief opponents are royalists (as at Drogheda)
Sep 11, 1649 - Cromwell captures Drogheda. He backs this up with a massacre -- at the very least, the garrison and the Catholic clergy are killed. His enemies report that he slaughtered indiscriminately
October 1649 - Cromwell attacks and captures Wexford
May 26, 1650 - Cromwell leaves Ireland. In his absence, the struggle continues until May 1652, but the Irish/Royalist position is already doomed; they can neither agree on a plan nor find an acceptable leader. The closest thing they have to a commander, the Duke of Ormonde (1610-1688, a staunch supporter of the Stuarts who would be Lord Lieutenant under Charles II), flees to the continent in December 1650
1652 - The English parliament passes its Act of Settlement. Cromwell will significantly alter the Act in 1653, but not in a way as to benefit the Irish. The Act is such as to deprive nearly everyone alive in Ireland of at least some property. The English send in settlers to take their places. The poverty which is to afflict Ireland for centuries dates largely from this incident
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
PGalvin, pp. 96-97, "The Wexford Massacre" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol I, pp. 205-206, "The Wexford Massacre"
NOTES: In the 1630s, as Charles I found himself in more and more trouble in England, he tried to strengthen his Irish position by offering the rights to Catholics known as the "Graces" (see Mike Cronin, _A History of Ireland_, pp. 70-71). They didn't really make the Irish happy, but at least his lieutenant Wentworth was a good administrator. He was recalled in 1639, and executed 1641.
The rebellion started in Ulster as the Catholics tried to throw off the Protestants who ran the plantation and made life nearly impossible for Catholics. The rebellion probably could have been quashed easily -- except that Charles I and parliament couldn't agree on what to do, letting things get out of hand. Charles negotiated with all parties, but -- being Charles -- he never took his promises seriously.
The 1641 revolt had resulted in the death of some Protestants (and of course the tales grew with the telling). Oliver Cromwell -- who had no mercy even on the English -- was appointed in 1649 to stamp out royalists and rebels in Ireland.
Cromwell took Drogheda on September 11, 1649, and put the garrison, and the general population, to death. (Ironically, most of the population of Drogheda was English; see Peter and Iona Somerset Fry, _A History of Ireland_, pp. 154-155.) Garrisons which surrendered quickly were allowed to live, but soon after Wexford was subjected to the same treatment; according to Terry Golway, _For the Cause of Liberty_, p. 17, Cromwell killed 2000 people there, including 250 women (cf. Fry/Fry, p. 155).
Cromwell left Ireland in 1650, but later saw to it that any who had not fervently supported him was punished, usually by loss of lands (The Frys compare the residue of Irish land to "an impoverished wilderness, rather like a South African homeland").
Exactly how much damage Cromwell did is hard to tell. The Frys state that "A third of the country's Catholics had been killed" (p. 156; compare Robert Kee, _The Most Distressful Country_, being volume I of _The Green Flag_, p. 16). Cronin states that the surviving population "numbered no more than half a million"; the Frys also quote a figure of half a million.
P. Berresford Ellis, _A History of the Irish Working Class_, p. 43, quotes Leyburn's comparison with the Mongol hordes and cites (pp. 43-44) Petty's statistics that, of an Irish population of 1,448,000, "some 616,000 perished by sword, famine, and plague. Of this number 504,000 were native Irish while 112,000 were colonists. A further 40,000 decided to leave Ireland to enlist in European armies... 100,000 Irish... were sold as slaves to the West Indies and other colonies." This of course is more than half the population of Ireland, which is impossible; I've never seen anyone else quote such numbers. But it still surely qualifies as the worst genocide of the era.
And Cromwell then imposed the 1652 Act of Settlement, which pushed the entire native population into Connaught (sending them "to Hell or Connaught" -- Golway, p. 28; Cronin, p. 74); Golway reports that, before the Act of Settlement, Catholics still owned 60% of the land; afterward, only 20%. And from the time the act was passed to the time it finally went into effect was less than three years -- and the initial law had allowed less time than that! (Fry/Fry, p. 157).
Cromwell's mass deportation -- again, something not seen for thousands of years; the last to practice such a thing seems to have been the Romans with Carthage, and before that the Assyrian and Babylonian tyrants -- had the interesting effect of bringing together two long-separate groups: The native Irish and the "Old English" settlers who had arrived in Norman times suddenly found themselves on the same side -- and both opposed to the Protestants (Kee, pp. 15-16).
In his goal of making it impossible for Ireland to support the claim of Charles II, Cromwell was entirely successful. As Antonia Fraser writes in _Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration_ (Delta, 1980; first published in Britain in 1979 as _King Charles II_), p. 80, "Even if Prince Rupert's naval skills had enabled Charles to land in Ireland at one of the remaining unoccupied ports, such as Waterford, the King would have found little for his comfort on arrival. Cromwell had reduced the royal forces to a series of pitiful, isolated and beleagured fortresses."
Cromwell's other goal was to make the Protestants the dominant population in Ireland. But, of course, it didn't work; there weren't enough Protestants in Britain to occupy the land, so the same old situation prevailed; The Protestants owned the land, but their tenants were Catholic. The only effect was to reduce the tenants' rights to nothing: They could be displaced at whim. This of course assured that the tenants would spend everything they had to try to stay on their land.
Cromwell cannot be considered the sole source of the Irish problems, but he probably contributed more to them than any other man. Indeed, more than any other five or six, including even William of Orange. Little wonder that the Irish claimed that Cromwell carried about pictures of Satan, and that the story was told that he sold his soul to the Devil before the battle of Worcester in 1651 (since it turned out that he died exactly seven years after that victory). One account even tells of the portrait of the devil bowing to Cromwell -- see Daithi O hOgain, _The Lore of Ireland_, The Boydell Press, 2006, p. 133. - RBW
File: PGa096
===
NAME: Wexford Schooner, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer dreams of Kelly shot on Tara Hill. Then he dreams of "a schooner down from Wexford town cast on Wicklow's coast." Captain Laurence Murphy and the crew, who "have met a watery grave," are named.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1947 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ranson, p. 61, "The Wexford Schooner" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Wicklow county is north of Wexford. - BS
I have this funny feeling that this refers to the 1798, with Kelly being "Kelly, the Boy from Killane," wounded at the Three Bullet Gate at New Ross. The wrecked ship may be the one by which Bagenal Harvey, the commander at New Ross, tried to flee; according to Thomas Pakenham, _The Year of Liberty_, p. 268, Harvey was captured in a cave, though he doesn't mention a shipwreck. But this is only speculation based on very little information from the song. - RBW
File: Ran061
===
NAME: Wha Saw the Forty-Second
DESCRIPTION: "(Wha saw/Saw ye) the forty-second? Wha saw then gaun away? Wha saw the forty-second Marching to the (Broomielaw)?" The singer describes the equipment (often poor) and the rations assigned to the soldiers of the regiment
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (Montgomerie)
KEYWORDS: soldier travel nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 98, "(Who saw the Forty-Second)" (1 text)
DT, MARCH42*
Roud #13073
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Gallant Forty-Twa" (subject: 42nd Highlanders or Black Watch) and references there
NOTES: The Forty-Second is the famous Black Watch, which fought in the '45 Jacobite Rebellion and the Crimea and beyond.
According to Michael Brander, _The Scottish Highlanders and their Regiments_, and Ian S. Hallows, _Regiments and Corps of the British Army_, six companies were raised in the Highlands in 1729 and designated the Black Watch (Brander, p. 203). In 1739 (Hallows, p. 202) or 1740 (Brander, p. 203), it was raised to regimental strength and numbered the 43rd Infantry. In 1751, this number was changed to the 42nd (Hallows). In 1758 it was designated the Royal Highlanders (Brander).
A second battalion was added in 1780 (Brander, p. 205). This was split off in 1784 and became the 73rd Regiment, though it later rejoined the Black Watch; since 1881, they have been the Black Watch (Royal Highlanders) (Hallows).
This recombination and reorganization, part of the Cardwell Reforms of 1881, changed the character of the regiment, which until then had been a Highland force. The Black Watch's recruiting area was now designated as Fife, Forfar, and Perth, with Perth as the headquarters. These shires are almost entirely Lowland. So, while the regiment is still designated a Highland regiment, it isn't really (Brander, p. 199).
The companies which comprised the Black Watch had been raised starting around 1725 (Brander, p. 19); the name itself apparently came from the dark tartan they wore when they were amalgamated and given a common uniform.
Their record was quite impressive. Hallows lists their battle honors, which include (but are not limited to) fighting in the Carribean in the Seven Years War; much service in India; ten battles in the Peninsular Wars against Napoleon; Waterloo; battles in South Africa; awards for Alma and Sebastopol in the Crimean War; Egypt; the Sudan; in the First World War, the Marne, all three battles at Ypres, the Somme, and some troops were in Palestine; there are honors for Tobruk, El Alamein, Sicily, and Burma in the second World War, and beyond.
This may explain why the regiment is listed in the song as marching to various places. It certainly got around a lot! And few regiments were more famous.
I can't help but add that this greatest of British regiments, which held together despite service in the Crimea and the Sudan and so many other failures, has in the early twenty-first century been amalgamated into a "Super Scottish Regiment." The reason? People won't join because they refuse to go to Iraq. - RBW
File: MSNR098
===
NAME: Wha'll Be King but Charlie
DESCRIPTION: "The news frae Moidart came yestreen... For ships of war have just come in And landed royal Charlie." Listeners are called to rally, for "Wha'll be King but Charlie?" Both men and women are roused to come "to arms for royal Charlie"
AUTHOR: Carolina Oliphaunt, Lady Nairne ?
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1845
KEYWORDS: Jacobites royalty
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Aug 3, 1745 (new style dating) - Bonnie Prince Charlie arrives in Eriskay
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Fowke/MacMillan 44, "Who'll be King but Charlie?" (1 text, 1 tune, linked to this by title but with "Weevily Wheat" verses)
DT, WHAKING*
Roud #729
NOTES: The "News frae Moidart" of the first line is a reference to the arrival of Bonnie Prince Charlie in Scotland in 1745. Properly he landed on Eriskay, but that island had too few people to use as a base, so he quickly transferred to Moidart. And there the Forty-Five Rebellion was born. For this see, e.g., Frank McLynn, _Bonnie Prince Charlie: Charles Edward Stuart_, 1988 (I use the 1991 Oxford paperback edition), pp. 128-129.
The statement that "ships of war have just come in and landed royal Charlie" is a bit exaggerated. Charles's original expedition consisted of two ships, the _Elizabeth_ and the _Du Teillay_ or _Doutelle_. The _Elizabeth_ was a warship (though not a very large one), but the _Du Teillay_ carried primarily cargo. And the _Elizabeth_ was forced to fight the British ship _Lion_ on the way to the Hebrides, and dropped out of the expedition. Thus, though one might argue that Charles had set out with "ships of war," he arrived in Eriskay with one ship which was not intended to fight. (See McLynn, pp. 127-128).
Nor did all the clans "declare to stand or fall for Royal Charlie." He managed to rouse many of the clans, including notablly the Camerons and MacDonalds -- but Clan Campbell stood against him, and a rising without Clan Cambell had little hope. As events proved. As for the Lowlands supporting Charlie -- hah. A few came out; more supported the Hannoverians; most simply sat. - RBW
File: DTwhakin
===
NAME: Whack Fol the Diddle (God Bless England)
DESCRIPTION: "We'll sing you a song of Peace and Love." "'God Bless England.'" When we were savages she raised us up "and sent us to heaven in her own good time." "Irishmen, forget the past." Soon we shall be civilized. "Won't Mother England be surprised."
AUTHOR: Peadar Kearney
EARLIEST_DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: England Ireland humorous nonballad political
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
OLochlainn-More, pp. 250-251, "Whack Fol the Diddle" (1 text)
DT WHACKFOL*
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 686-688, "Whack Fol the Diddle" (1 text)
Frank Harte _Songs of Dublin_, second edition, Ossian, 1993, pp. 52-53, "Whack Fol the Diddle" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "Whack Fol the Diddle" (on IRClancyMakem03)
NOTES: Most of the charges in this song are, of course, true -- and, in fact, the final stanza has in some ways come true also; in the early twenty-first century, the Irish economy is growing much faster than the English.
I can't help but point out one irony, though: The Anglo-Irish conflicts were caused, more than anything else, by the problems between Catholic and Protestant -- and it was the English who made the Irish firmly Catholic! Celtic Christianity had been largely monastic rather than Episcopal, and had celebrated Easter according to a different calendar. It was England, at the Synod of Whitby, that forced the English Celtic church to follow the Catholic calendar, and the English invasion of Ireland was authorized by Pope Adrian IV to bring the Irish back into proper episcopal practice. The Irish have followed those English practices for over 800 years; it is the English who have abandoned them.
According to Hoagland, p. 784, Peadar Kearney (O'Cearnaigh; 1883-1942) was a member of the IRA and participated in a minor role in the 1916 Easter Rebellion. He also wrote the words to "The Soldier's Song" ("Soldiers are we Whose lives are pledged to Ireland; Some have come From a land beyond the waves"; in Gaelic, "Amhran na bhFiann"; composed 1907), one of the best-known rebel songs and a future national anthem, but a song which does not seem to have entered into tradition. Happily, since such a violent item would be reasonable as a military song but which is, frankly, completely unsuitable to be used as national anthem of a civilized country.
Other Keaney songs in this index include "Down By the Glenside (The Bold Fenian Men)," "Michael Dwyer (II)," "Fish and Chips (Down by the Liffey Side)," and perhaps "Erin Go Braugh! (I)."
According to Hoagland, the British banned the singing of three Kearney songs, "The Soldier's Song," this item, and "The Tri-Colored Ribbon." The effect, of course, was to make them more popular. - RBW
File: OLcM0250
===
NAME: Whale Song, The: see Crazy Song to the Air of "Dixie" (File: San342)
===
NAME: Whale-Catchers, The
DESCRIPTION: Singer and his shipmates sail to Greenland after whales. He describes hardships of their lives, and looks forward to arrival back home, when they will make the alehouses of London roar. When they've spent all their money, they'll go back to Greenland.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1900
KEYWORDS: ship shore work whale whaler
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 100, "The Whale Catchers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3291
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy"
NOTES: This song is distinct from "The Greenland Whale Fishery." It shares much of its final verse with a song called "Adieu, My Lovely Nancy" [indexed as "Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy"] collected from an Irish immigrant in Missouri and sung by the Copper family in Sussex. - PJS
File: VWL100
===
NAME: Whale, The: see The Greenland Whale Fishery [Laws K21] (File: LK21)
===
NAME: Whalefish Song, The: see The Greenland Whale Fishery [Laws K21] (File: LK21)
===
NAME: Whaleman's Lament, The
DESCRIPTION: "'Twas on the briny ocean On a whaleship I did go; Oft times I thought of distant friends...." The singer relates the voyage around Cape Horn and describes how Captain and officers abuse the crew. He vows to go sailing no more.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1856 (Journal from the Catalpa)
KEYWORDS: whaler hardtimes abuse
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 15-17, "The Whaleman's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2000
NOTES: Huntington does not indicate what tune he used for this song; perhaps he made it up. (He can hardly have used a tune from other versions of this song, since he doesn't list any.) The metrical form, however, strongly suggests "Jim Jones at Botany Bay." - RBW
File: SWMS015
===
NAME: Whalemen's Wives, The
DESCRIPTION: Cautionary song, warns whalemen of what their wives will do while they're "on the raging deep." Wives spend their husbands' half pay, pawn their belongings & run around with fancy men, only wanting their husbands back when their pockets are well lined.
AUTHOR: Captain R. W. Nye
EARLIEST_DATE: 1945 (Harlow)
KEYWORDS: whaler warning wife sailor
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Harlow, pp. 232-234, "The Whalemen's Wives" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9156
File: Harl232
===
NAME: Whalen's Fate: see James Whalen [Laws C7] (File: LC07)
===
NAME: Whaler's Lamentation, The
DESCRIPTION: Each of five whaling companies has a verse headed by their ship names. The verses lament destruction of their pier by storm. The chorus says "Davis Straits adieu this season, Greenland for a year goodbye" but the final verse claims the ships will sail.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1815 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: sea commerce disaster storm nonballad whaler
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Jan 12, 1815 - The Aberdeen North Pier used by whalers is damaged by storm (source: GregDuncan1)
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greig #86, p. 2, "The Whalers' Lamentation" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 12, "The Whaler's Lamentation" (1 text)
Roud #5803
NOTES: Greig: "From Mr Walker, Aberdeen, I have got a copy of a whaling song which is dated 'Spring, 1815.' It looks like a libretto intended for dramatic rendering [but see the next note re 'The Storm']. The allusions in it had been understood at the time but to us they are just enigmas. It is interesting to note, however, that the four whalers referred to in 'The Diamond Ship,' given a week ago [Greig #85], are all mentioned here." The whaling season was not lost and the ships all sailed in February and March.
This song shares its opening line with broadside Bodleian Harding B 25(1842), "The Storm" ("Cease rude Boreus [sic] blustering railer list ye landsmen all to me"), D. Wrighton (Birmingham) , 1812-1830, by George Alexander Stevens; this probably is a parody. In 1808, at Sans Pareil Theatre, London, "Woolf sang the famous "Description of a Storm" by George Alexander Stevens, which became such a familiar favorite at the Adelphi in subsequent years" (source: "The London Stage 1800-1900," Joseph Donohue and James Ellis, General Editors, at Eastern Michigan University site).- BS
File: GrD1012
===
NAME: Whaler's Song (II): see Greenland (The Whaler's Song, Once More for Greenland We Are Bound) (File: Ord317)
===
NAME: Whalers' Song (I), The
DESCRIPTION: "There she lies there she lies Like an isle on the ocean's breast...." The crew spots a whale and pursues; they take the animal. They think about returning home to New England, and remind those who use the oil of the dangers whalers face
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1853 (Journal from the Lexington)
KEYWORDS: whaler home return
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 17-20, "The Whaler's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2001
File: SWMS017
===
NAME: What a Friend We Have in Jesus
DESCRIPTION: "What a friend we have in Jesus, All our sins and griefs to bear! What a privilege to carry Ev'rything to God in prayer." The singer describes all the ways in which God can help with life's troubles and burdens
AUTHOR: Words: Joseph Medlicott Scriven (1819-1886) / Music: Charles Crozat Converse (1832-1919)
EARLIEST_DATE: Words written 1855, tune 1870 (Johnson)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad Jesus
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 364, "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" (1 text)
DT, FRNDJSUS*
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), pp. 182-183, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #16213
RECORDINGS:
Caravans, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" (States S-128, n.d.)
E. R. Nance Singers, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" (ARC, unissued, 1930)
Old Southern Sacred Singers, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" (Brunswick 172, 1927; Supertone S-2117, 1930)
Frank Welling & John McGhee, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" (Broadway 8136, c. 1931)
SAME_TUNE:
Hymn to Cheeses (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 12)
What a Friend We Have in Congress (on PeteSeeger39, PeteSeeger44)
Dump the Bosses Off Your Back (by John Brill; DT, DUMPBOSS)
NOTES: According to Johnson, Scriven had two fiancees die shortly before marriage. He ended up writing this, in 1855, for his mother. - RBW
File: FSWB364A
===
NAME: What a Trying Time
DESCRIPTION: "O Adam, where are you (x3), O what a trying time." "Lord, I am in the garden." "Adam, you ate that apple." "Lord, Eve, she gave it to me." "Adam, it was forbidden." "Lord said, walk out the garden."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious food
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 74, "What a Trying Time" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12034
NOTES: The notes in Allen/Ware/Garrison call this "a most compendious account of the fall." This does indeed sum up Genesis 3:9-24, with the sole exception that the Forbidden Fruit is nowhere called an apple. The evidence against identifying it with the apple is strong -- apples are rare in that part of the world, and they do not produce good fruit. (Even where the word "apple" is found in the English translations of the Old Testament, there is speculation that it applies to the apricot or the quince.) Most of the speculation I have seen suggests that the Tree of Knowledge was thought to be a quince or a pomegranite -- or, possibly, the Tree of Knowledge was a quince and the Tree of Life a pomegranite, since there are actual renderings of pomegranites of life in ancient art
File: AWG074A
===
NAME: What are Little Boys made of?: see What's Little Babies Made Of? (File: SKE79)
===
NAME: What Are Little Girls Made Of?: see What's Little Babies Made Of? (File: SKE79)
===
NAME: What Blood on the Point of Your Knife: see Edward [Child 13] (File: C013)
===
NAME: What Brought the Blood?: see Edward [Child 13] (File: C013)
===
NAME: What Can A Young Lassie Do Wi' An Auld Man
DESCRIPTION: Jenny curses the money that caused her mother to sell her to an old man. She cannot please him. She will try to follow her aunt Kittie's plan: "I'll cross him, I'll crack him until I have brak him." "Oh, weary's my life with a crazy old man"
AUTHOR: Robert Burns
EARLIEST_DATE: 1792 (see NOTE)
KEYWORDS: age marriage nonballad husband mother wife
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, WHATCANA
Roud #1295
RECORDINGS:
Jane Turiff, "What Can a Young Lassie Dae Wi' An Auld Man?" (on Voice15)
NOTES: Musical Traditions site _Voice of the People suite_ "Reviews - Volume 15" by Fred McCormick - 27.2.99: "I suspect however that he [Burns] re-created it from a traditional original, and my supposition is supported by the fact that he set it to a pre-existing air, which already bore the title of the present piece" [but Jane Turiff's version on Voice15 uses one of "The False Bride" tunes (for example, "I Loved a Lass" on SCMacCollSeeger01)]. - BS
The dating of this piece is slightly problematic. Ben Schwartz sent in a 1791 EARLIEST DATE based on the Burns Country web site. The Wordsworth _Works of Robert Burns_ (p. 633) also dates it to that year.
The best reference I have, however, is James Kinsley's _Burns: Complete Poems & Songs_, which dates it 1792. That is, I think, based on its publication in volume IV of the _Scots Musical Museum_.
My best guess is that the song was written 1791, published 1792 -- but I'm listing the 1792 date just in case. - RBW
File: RcWCAYLD
===
NAME: What Child Is This?
DESCRIPTION: In response to the question, "What child is this" whom Mary cradles and angels hymn, we are tols "This, this is Christ the king." The child's humble estate is described, and listeners urged to praise him
AUTHOR: Words: William Chatterton Dix
EARLIEST_DATE: 1871 (Bramley & Stainer); reportedly written c. 1865
KEYWORDS: Christmas religious Jesus nonballad
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Silber-FSWB, p. 379, "What Child Is This?" (1 text)
DT, WHATCHLD
ADDITIONAL: Ian Bradley, _The Penguin Book of Carols_ (1999), #95, "What Child Is This Who Laid to Rest" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "What Child Is This?" (on PeteSeeger37, PeteSeeger42)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Greensleeves" (tune)
File: FSWB379A
===
NAME: What Do You Think o' Me Noo, Kind Sirs?
DESCRIPTION: "I am a young man, I live wi' my mither, A braw decent kimmer, I trow, Bu when I speak o' takin' a wife, She aye gets up in a lowe." He notes that someone is needed to care for the property. He courts Betty; she answers, "Who cares for you or your kye?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: mother home age youth courting rejection humorous
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 115-116, "What Do You Think of Me Noo, Kind Sirs?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6141
File: FVS115
===
NAME: What Do You Think of Me Noo, Kind Sirs?: see What Do You Think o' Me Noo, Kind Sirs? (File: FVS115)
===
NAME: What Do You Think of My Darling?
DESCRIPTION: The singer lives on a small pension. His wife makes him do the nasty jobs around the house and "if I don't do it right it's a slap ... a kick or a clout" She drinks, gossips, is ugly and dirty. He prays "the devil like lightening might sweep her away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Dean)
KEYWORDS: shrewishness marriage drink ordeal wife
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar) US(MW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Dibblee/Dibblee, p. 102, "What Do You Think of My Darling?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dean, p. 127, "The Shrew Wife" (1 text)
Roud #9602
File: Dib102
===
NAME: What Does the Deep Sea Say?
DESCRIPTION: The big boat is coming around the bend, doing nothing but killing good men. Vicksburg was a hilly town, until the Yankee gunboats blew it down. Cho: "What does the deep sea say?...It moans and it groans, it slashes and it foams/And rolls on its weary way"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (recording, Vernon Dalhart)
KEYWORDS: battle Civilwar fight violence war river sea ship
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Nov 1862 - Union general Ulysses S. Grant begins his Vicksburg campaign. His first four attempts to reach the city fail
Apr 16, 1863 - Porter's gunboats run past Vicksburg, opening the way for Grant's final successful campaign
May 12-17, 1863 - Grant fights a series of minor battles which bring him to the defenses of Vicksburg
May 22, 1863 - Grant's attempt to take Vicksburg by storm is a bloody failure. The Union army settles down to a siege
July 4, 1863 - Lt. General Pemberton surrenders Vicksburg
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, DEEPSEA
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "What Does the Deep Sea Say" (Velvet Tone 1960-V, 1929)
Bob Ferguson (pseud. for Bob Miller) "What Does the Deep Sea Say" (Columbia 15727-D, 1932; prob. rec. 1931)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "What Does the Deep Sea Say" (Brunswick 483, 1930)
Bill Palmer's Trio, "What Does the Deep Sea Say?" (Bluebird B-5034, 1933)
Uncle Bud & his Plow Boys, "What Does the Deep Sea Say?" (Clarion 5418-C, 1931)
NOTES: Digital Tradition assigns authorship to Woody Guthrie. Given the date of Dalhart's recording, this is pretty near impossible. The McFarland-Gardner record credits this to "Miller." - PJS
File: DTdeepse
===
NAME: What Folks Are Made Of: see What's Little Babies Made Of? (File: SKE79)
===
NAME: What Gives the Wheat Fields Blades of Steel?
DESCRIPTION: "What gives the wheatfields blades of steel? What points the rebel cannon?... What breaks the oath Of the men of the south?... Hark to the answer: Slavery." The evils of slavery, and the poison and treason it causes, are described in detail
AUTHOR: Words: John Greenleaf Whittier / Music: Martin Luther
EARLIEST_DATE: 1862
KEYWORDS: slave slavery freedom political nonballad
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scott-BoA, pp. 236-237, "What Gives the Wheat Fields Blades of Steel?" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "A Mighty Fortress" (tune)
File: SBoA236
===
NAME: What Harm Has Jesus Done?
DESCRIPTION: "Tell me what harm has Jesus done you Sinners all hate him so." Jews nailed him to the tree and gave him a cup of vinegar which he drank. Gabriel in the morning will separate the "sheep on the right and the goats on the left"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1953 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious Jesus Jew violence execution dying Bible
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 174, "What Harm Has Jesus Done?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2285
RECORDINGS:
Chas Owens and family, "What Harm Has Jesus Done?" (on MRHCreighton)
NOTES: At the time of recording, Charles Owens was 99, living in a small colony of Negroes in the Maritimes; they are descendants of slaves, and Creighton theorizes that they brought this jubilee song with them from the U.S. - PJS
We should probably recall that the Romans, not the Jews, crucified Jesus.
The reference to Jesus drinking vinegar is a mistranslation, though "vinegar" is the word used by the King James Bible in all four references (Matthew 27:48, Mark 15:36, Luke 23:36, and John 19:29 all use the same word). The four Gospels also use the same word for the beverage (while disagreeing on the delivery method), but its normal usage is "sour wine" (which was less expensive than sweet), not "vinegar," though of course vinegar could be made from it. Still, the best translation would probably be something like "cheap wine." It was a painkiller -- and, in context, it might well hasten death, since alcohol is a diuretic, and dehydration is one of the main causes of death during crucifixion.
The parable of the Sheep and the Goats is in Matthew 25:31-46. In it, Jesus, not Gabriel, separates the souls into groups. - RBW
File: CrMa174
===
NAME: What Irish Boys Can Do
DESCRIPTION: "They insult an Irishman ... it happens every day." But the Irish are noble and hospitable. Think of Irish warriors, like Wellington and the 69th at Bull Run, and poets Lover and Moore. Think of Irish songs and plays. "Then, why slur upon the Irish?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1865 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 31(102))
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 23, "What Irish Boys Can Do" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 31(102), "What Irish Boys Can Do", H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864
LOCSinging, sb40474a, "What Irish Boys Can Do", H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Harding B 31(102): The subtitle is "Answer to No Irish Need Apply." Printer H. De Marsan is at 54 Chatham Street
The reference to the Civil War dates and places this song:
"And then, too, in the present war between the North and South,
Let no dirty slur on Irish ever escape your mouth;
Sure, did you ne'er hear tell of the 69th, who bravely fought at Bull-Run!
And Meagher, of the seven days fight, that was in front, of Richmond,
With General Shields, who fought so brave for the Flag Red. White, and Blue?
And anything like a bayonet-charge the Irish boys can do."
For more on the Irish in the American Civil War see the Index notes to "By the Hush." [Also "The Irish Sixty-Ninth." - RBW]
For the general issue see "No Irish Need Apply."
Broadsides LOCSinging sb40474a and Bodleian Harding B 31(102): H. De Marsan dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: OCon023
===
NAME: What is a Home Without Love?: see What is Home Without Love? (File: RcWIAHWL)
===
NAME: What is Home Without Babies?: see What is Home Without Love? (File: RcWIAHWL)
===
NAME: What is Home Without Love?
DESCRIPTION: A lonely rich man, passing a cottage window, sees a happy husband, wife, and baby. He weeps, "What is a home without baby To kiss, to tease and adore...." Alone in a mansion, with the wife who married him for his money, he repeats his lament
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recordings, Roy Harvey)
KEYWORDS: loneliness marriage baby children family husband wife
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Rorrer, p. 82, "What Is Home Without Babies?" (1 text)
Roud #15947 and 12395
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink], "What is a Home Without Love" (Conqueror 7881, 1931)
Boone County Entertainers, "What Is Home Without Babies" (Supertone 9492, 1929)
Loman D. Cansler, "What Is a Home Without Love?" (on Cansler1)
Roy Harvey, "What Is Home Without Love" (Columbia, unissued, 1927)
Roy Harvey & The North Carolina Ramblers, "What Is Home Without Babies" (Brunswick 268, 1928) (Paramount 3267, 1931)
Monroe Brothers, "What Is Home Without Love" (Montgomery Ward M-4746, 1935; Bluebird B-6363, 1936)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "What Is Home Without Babies" (Columbia 15307-D, 1928)
Red Fox Chasers, "What Is Home Without Babies" (Supertone 9492, 1929)
SAME_TUNE:
Reoording: Howard Dixon & Frank Gerald (The Rambling Duet) "Woman's Answer to 'What Is Home Without Love'" (Bluebird B-7450, 1938)
NOTES: Again, Cansler implies that this is in Randolph or Belden, but we don't seem to have indexed it, or I haven't found it. - PJS
It's not in Randolph, at least, and if it's in Belden, it's under an odd title and uses an unusual first stanza. When I indexed Rorrer, I initially omitted the song because I couldn't believe such a piece of slop was traditional. - RBW
File: RcWIAHWL
===
NAME: What Kin' o Pants Does the Gambler Wear?: see Sweet Thing (I) (File: R443A)
===
NAME: What Kind of Crowns Do the Angels Wear
DESCRIPTION: "What kind of crowns do the angels wear? The angels wear the golden crown, the golden crown, I'm bound to rest, I'm bound to rest... bound to rest with God." "What kind of robe do the angels wear?" "What kind of slippers do the angels wear?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 655, "What Kind of Crowns Do the Angels Wear" (1 text)
Roud #11835
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Can't Cross Jordan" (floating verses)
cf. "Going Up (Golden Slippers II)" (floating verses)
NOTES: The key line of these verses obviously float, but the form makes it an independent song. Barely. - RBW
File: Br3655
===
NAME: What Month Was Jesus Born In?
DESCRIPTION: "What month was Jesus born in? Last month in the year." The song details Jesus' birth in December and the humble cercumstances of his birth.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (recording, Heavenly Gospel Singers)
KEYWORDS: Bible religious Jesus
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 58-59, "(What Month Was Jesus Born In?") (1 text); pp. 245-246, "What Month Was Jesus Born In?" (1 tune, partial text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 384, "Tell Me What Month Was My Jesus Born In?" (1 text)
Roud #13975
RECORDINGS:
Vera Ward Hall, "No Room At the Inn/The Last Month of the Year" (on NFMAla5) (on LomaxCD1706); "What Month Was Jesus Born In" (on ReedWard01)
Heavenly Gospel Singers, "When Was Jesus Born?" (Bluebird B-8907, 1941; on Babylon)
Pete Seeger, "What Month Was Jesus Born" (on PeteSeeger12)
NOTES: It should be noted that there is no Biblical evidence that Jesus was born in December; indeed, those scholars who have an opinion generally think he was born in spring.
In any case, December was not always the "last month of the year"; in the classical Roman calendar, it was the tenth month, and even after this changed, it was remembered for quite some time. In addition, for much of the Middle Ages, the new year began on March 25 (approximating the equinox).
Even if we ignore all that, Jesus was Jewish, and would have used the Jewish calendar, which had no month of December. Nor was its (approximate) equivalent of December the last month of the year. - RBW
File: CNFM245
===
NAME: What Put the Blood?: see Edward [Child 13] (File: C013)
===
NAME: What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor?: see The Drunken Sailor (Early in the Morning) (File: Doe048)
===
NAME: What the Old Hen Said
DESCRIPTION: Singer hears an old hen, looking over her brood of chicks, exclaim that she loves them just as a cat loves its kittens, or a ewe its lamb. She calls them to her; they nestle in their "feather bed"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Flanders/Brown)
KEYWORDS: pride love lullaby animal chickens
FOUND_IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 185-186, "What the Old Hen Said" (1 text)
ST RcWTOHS (Partial)
Roud #5451
RECORDINGS:
Margaret MacArthur, "What the Old Hen Said" (on MMacArthur01)
NOTES: A very small narrative, but a narrative nonetheless. - PJS
File: RcWTOHS
===
NAME: What Was Your Name in the States?
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, what was your name in the States? Was it Thompson, or Johnson, or Bates? Did you murder your wife and fly for your life? Say, what was your name in the States?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: migrant travel crime
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Sandburg, p. 106, "What Was Your Name in the States?" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 861, "What Was Your name in the States?" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, NAMESTAT
Roud #4754
RECORDINGS:
Logan English, "What Was Your Name in the States?" (on LEnglish02)
File: San106
===
NAME: What Will We Do When We'll Have No Money?
DESCRIPTION: Questions and answers. What will we do when we: have no money? hawk through town; marry a tinker? sell a tin can and walk with me man; marry a soldier? handle his gun; have a daughter? take it in hand and walk with me man.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1985 (IRTravellers01)
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous nonballad money
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, WHATWILL
Roud #16879
RECORDINGS:
Mary Delaney, "What Will We Do When We'll Have No Money?" (on IRTravellers01)
NOTES: The format of each verse of Mary Delaney's version on IRTravellers01 is "What will we do when [question]? All true lovers, what will we do then? [Answer], And we'll yodel it over again." - BS
Despite which, there is no yodel in this version. Delaney was the source for the song as sung by the Silly Sisters (Maddy Prior and June Tabor), which will be faniliar to many folk fans. - RBW
File: RcWWWDNM
===
NAME: What Will You Do, Love
DESCRIPTION: He: What will you do when I sail away? She: I'll be true and pray for you. He: If I were untrue?" She: "I'd still be true but ... could not bear it!" He: If, near home, my ship were lost. She: If you were spared "I'd bless the morrow ... welcome thee"
AUTHOR: Samuel Lover (1797-1868)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1842 (Samuel Lover's novel "Handy Andy")
KEYWORDS: love questions separation sea ship dialog
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
O'Conor, p. 139, "What Will You Do, Love" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 407-408, "What Will You Do, Love?" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4223), "What Will You Do, Love?", A. Ryle and Co. (London) , 1845-1859 ; also Harding B 11(3584), "What Will You Do, Love"; Firth b.25(432), "What Will You Do, Love!"; Harding B 11(4222), "What Will You Do, Love?"
LOCSheet, sm1885 23659, "What Will You Do, Love", Grand Conservatory Pub. Co. (New York), 1885 (tune)
LOCSinging, sb40552a, "What Will You Do, Love?", H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878; also as103050, "What Will You Do, Love"
NOTES: Just what we needed. A Riley ballad before the guy has even been gone for seven years to let the girl realize what a jerk he is. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb40552a: H. De Marsan dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: OCon139
===
NAME: What Will You Give Me If I Get Up?: see Lazy Mary (She Won't Get Up) (File: R396)
===
NAME: What You Going To Do With a Drunken Sailor: see The Drunken Sailor (Early in the Morning) (File: Doe048)
===
NAME: What You Gon'er Do That Day?
DESCRIPTION: "Venus, Venus, beautiful star, Beautiful star, beautiful star, Venus, Venus, beautiful star, Oh, what you gon'er do on that day?" Similarly, "Rocks in the mountains, fall on me...." "Some to the right, some to de left...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 649, "What You Gon'er Do That Day?" (1 text)
Roud #11941
File: Br3649
===
NAME: What You Gwina Do When the World's on Fire?
DESCRIPTION: "What you gwina do when the world's on fire? I'm gonna jump in a hole o' water. What you gwina do when the water gets to boilin'? I'm a gonna kick and squeal and hollo."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: fire
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 470, "What You Gwina Do When the World's on Fire?" (1 fragment)
Roud #11789
File: Br3470
===
NAME: What'll I Do with the Baby-O
DESCRIPTION: Song describes various things to do with baby: wrap him up in calico, put him in his cradle, wrap him in the table cloth, throw him in the hayloft, hang him in the tree top, etc. Also, "How in the world do the old folks know I like sugar in my coffee-O?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: drink food humorous lullaby playparty baby floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
SharpAp 228, "What'll we do with the Baby?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, pp. 26-27, "What'll I Do with the Baby-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 162, "What'll I Do with the Baby-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 234, "Charlie, Won't You Rock the Cradle" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 407, "Prettiest Little Baby In The County-O"; 408, "What'll We Do With The Baby-O?" (2 texts)
DT, DOBABYO
Roud #826
RECORDINGS:
Coon Creek Girls, "What Do I Do With the Baby-O" (Songs from Renfro Valley - Bell, mx. 2002, n.d., postwar)
Crockett's Kentucky Mountaineers, "Sugar in my Coffee" (Crown 3075, c. 1930)
[G. B.] Grayson & [Henry] Whitter, "What You Gonna Do with the Baby?" (Victor V-40268, 1930; rec. 1929)
Happy-Go-Lucky Boys, "Whatcha Gonna Do With the Baby?" (Bluebird B-8391, 1940)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "What You Gonna Do With the Baby-O?" (King 538, 1946)
Frank Proffitt, "Baby-O" (Proffitt03)
Jean Ritchie & Roger Sprung, "What'll I Do With the Baby-O?" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchieWatsonCD1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rock-A-Bye Baby" (words)
cf. "Sugar In My Coffee" (floating lyrics)
File: R565
===
NAME: What's Little Babies Made Of?
DESCRIPTION: "What's old women made of?... Reels and jeels and old spinning wheels, And that's what old women are made of." "What's little boys made of?... Piggins and pails and puppy dogs' tails." "What's little babies made of?... Sugar and..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1844 (Halliwell, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: nonballad children
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
SharpAp 227, "What are Little Boys made of?" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 79, "What's Little Babies Made Of?" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 143, "What Are Little Girls Made Of?" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 303-304, "What Folks Are Made Of" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 76, "What are little boys made of?" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #320, pp. 175-176, "(What are little boysmade of?)"
Roud #821
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Song of All Nations" (concept)
NOTES: The notes to _The Annotated Mother Goose_ say that this has been attributed to Robert Southey, but also say that no supporting evidence has been offered. It does note that the first published version, Halliwell's, describes only what little boys and girls are made of. - RBW
File: SKE79
===
NAME: What's Poor Mary Weepin' For (Poor Jenny Sits A-Weeping)
DESCRIPTION: "Poor (Mary/Jenny/Nellie/Sally) sits a-weeping, sits a-weeping, sits a-weeping, Poor Mary sits a-weeping All on a summer's day." "What's poor Mary weeping for...." "Because she wants to see her lad." "Rise up and choose another love."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1898 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: playparty courting separation love
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(All),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 70, "(Oh, what is Jeannie weeping for)" (1 text)
DT, JEANWEEP
Roud #2118
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Sally Walker" (lyrics)
NOTES: There are versions of this which look a little like "Little Sally Walker," but the overall thrust is different enough that I had no hesitation in splitting them.
The version I know best is that recorded by Jeannie Robertson and picked up by the Fisher Family; I've used her title on that basis. - RBW
File: MSNR070
===
NAME: What's Poor Mary Weeping For?: see Little Sally Walker (File: CNFM157)
===
NAME: What's That Blood On Your Sword?: see Edward [Child 13] (File: C013)
===
NAME: What's the Lady's Motion? (Skip O'er the Mountain)
DESCRIPTION: "Skip o'er the mountain, tra-la-la-la-la (x3), Oh, she loves sugar and cheese." "What's the lady's motion, tra-la-la-la-la (x3), Oh, she loves sugar and cheese." "It's a very lovely motion...." "Yonder goes a redbird...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: food playparty
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 87, "What's the Lady's Motion" (1 text)
Roud #7885
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Monkey Motions" (form)
File: Br3087
===
NAME: What's the Life of a Man?
DESCRIPTION: Singer, walking, observes the leaves that have fallen, noting that a few days ago they were green and growing. He calls attention to the churchyard, and to those who have withered and passed like a leaf." (But man, unlike leaves, will rise to be judged.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Sharp mss.)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer, walking, observes the leaves that have fallen, noting that a few days ago they were green and growing, but a frost has withered them and a storm knocked them down. He calls attention to the churchyard, and to those who have withered and passed "like a leaf from a tree." (But man, unlike leaves, will rise again, according to scripture, and be judged.) Chorus: "What's the life of a man any more than the leaf?/A man has his seasons so why should he grieve?/For although in this world we appear bright and gay/Like a leaf we must wither and soon fade away"
KEYWORDS: age disability death nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South)) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Kennedy 264, "What's The Life of a Man?" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LIFEMAN*
Roud #848
RECORDINGS:
Mrs. William Towns, "What Is the Life of a Man Any More than the Leaves?" (on Ontario1)
NOTES: Some folks really know how to brighten up a day. - PJS
File: K264
===
NAME: What's the Matter Now?
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls how, when she was 17, Damon wooed her with "ardent flame" and a "wounded heart." When she consented to marry, he at first gave in to her every whim. But now, his response to all requests is, "What's the matter now?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1820 (New Musical and Vocal Cabinet)
KEYWORDS: love courting marriage request rejection
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, p. 255, "What's the Matter Now?" (1 text)
Roud #7757
NOTES: Even if the flowery tone were not a giveaway, the name Damon would surely prove the English broadside origin of this piece. How it wound up in tradition in Missouri neither I nor Belden could guess. - RBW
File: Beld255
===
NAME: What's the Rhyme to Porringer?
DESCRIPTION: "O what's the rhyme to porringer? Ken ye the rhyme to porringer? King James the seventh had ae dochter, And he gave her to an Oranger." "The lad has into England come And taken the crown." "James shall have his own again."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1819 (Hogg1)
KEYWORDS: royalty marriage Jacobite
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1688/1689 - Glorious Revolution deposes King James (II and VII) and replaces him with his nephew William III and his daugher Mary II
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Hogg1, pp. 218-219, ("O what's the rhyme to porringer?") (1 text)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 100, "(O what's the rhyme to porringer?)" (1 text)
DT, RHYMPORR
NOTES: Hogg1: "[This] is another ranting song [like Hogg1 33, "I Hae Nae Kith, I Hae Nae Kin"] which I have often heard sung about the same lady, or rather about the ingratitude of her husband, in whose hands she was no more than the clay is in the hands of the potter." - BS
I'm indexing this item with some qualms. The Montgomeries do not cite a source, and the handful of other references I've found, with the possible exception of Hogg1, aren't "folk."
But the context is clear: James (II of England and VII of Scotland; 1633-1701) was Catholic, but his heirs when he succeeded to the throne were his Protestant daughters Mary (1662-1694) and Anne (1665-1714). Mary was married to William of Orange (1650-1702), Stadtholder of Holland.
William, after a chaotic period in Dutch politics, seemed early in life to be almost disinherited, but gradually gained power in the 1670s. Charles II of England, meanwhile, was getting himself in a foreign policy mess, taking French money to avoid answering to Parliament for his anti-Dutch policy. William was able to take advantage in 1677 to marry the young princess Mary -- his first cousin; William was the son of James's sister.
Who just happened to be third in line for the throne. Charles II had no legitimate children, and his brother James had no sons (and neither of his daughters would leave an heir).
James II succeeded Charles II in 1685. The British were already worried -- James had been openly Catholic for 15 years. Early in his reign, he gave indications of favoring Catholics.
And then his second, Catholic, wife had a son. The "Old Pretender," potentially James III. James III was not a pretender; he was the proper heir in male descent. But he was Catholic.
Meanwhile, the French, who had been attacking the Dutch, instead sent an army into Germany. William of Orange saw the opening, and invaded England in 1688. In England, the Stuart regime collapsed like a house of cards; James "abdicated" by force in 1689. William and Mary were crowned jointly, the English succession was made officially Protestant, and a series of liberal reforms were agreed to that gave the coup the name "The Glorious Revolution."
Scotland didn't entirely agree. There was only one real battle against the invaders in 1689 (Killiekrankie), and it resulted in the death of Dundee, the leader of the anti-Orange faction. That largely calmed the revolt until 1714, when Anne, the last Stuart, died and was succeeded by the Hannoverian George I. But there were always rumbles below the surface, which would eventually result in the 1715, 1719, and 1745 Jacobite rebellions.
Obviously this item is about that. The question is, is it traditional? If the Montgomeries really found a copy in Scotland in the twentieth century, then it just about has to be, and deserves to be indexed. But mightn't they have just lifted it from Hogg? I suspect so, but there is enough doubt that I index the item.
Incidentally, this had a very small part in inspiring one of the greatest literary works of the twentieth century. According to Christopher Tolkien's notes in his father's _The War of the Ring: The History of the Lord of the Rings, Part 3_, Houghton Mifflin, 1990, p. xi, J. R. R. Tolkien admitted that this fragment inspired his poem "Errantry." Which in turn seems to have been "upgraded" to produce Bilbo's poem in Rivendell. - RBW
File: MSNR100
===
NAME: Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady)
DESCRIPTION: The young man comes to the young woman and asks her to wed. He offers her gold, silver, and land. She tells him she is not interested in these; "all I want is a (good young/handsome) man." That being offered, the two agree to marry
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1883
KEYWORDS: courting marriage money virtue playparty
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE,So) Ireland
REFERENCES: (19 citations)
Belden, pp. 506-507, "Madam, I Have Gold and Silver" (1 text)
Eddy 98, "Spanish Lady" (1 text); Eddy 131, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 text, 1 tune); possibly Eddy 132, "The Sober Quaker" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 173, "The Wooing" (2 texts, the "A" text being "The Courting Case" and "B" being probably this piece)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 154-155, "Yonder Hill There Is a Widow" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 205, "Come My Little Roving Sailor" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 55, "Come, My Little Roving Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 71, "The Quaker's Wooing" (1 text, 1 tune); also Sandburg, p. 144, "Kind Miss" (1 text, 1 tune, primarily this piece but with one verse of "The Drowsy Sleeper")
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 804-805, "There She Stands, a Lovely Creature" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H532, p. 367, "Tarry Trousers" (1 text, 1 tune -- a curious version in which, after all the business about riches and a good young man, the girl finally sends the lad off by saying she has a sailor love)
OLochlainn-More 79A, "The Tarry Trousers" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 12, "Madam, I Have Gold and Silver" (1 text, starting with this song but ending with a "Ripest of Apples" verse and ending with a Riley stanza)
Hudson 37, pp. 151-152, "Annie Girl" (1 text, which conflates 2 verses of "The Drowsy Sleeper" [Laws M4], 2 or 3 of "Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady)" or "No, John, No: or similar, and 3 verses probably of "Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token)" [Laws N42])
JHCox 158, "The Spanish Lady" (1 text)SHenry H641, p. 383, "Ripest of Apples" (1 text, 1 tune, a tiny fragment of two verses, one of which often occurs with this song while the other is associated primarily with "Carrickfergus." The tune is not "Carrickfergus")
Creighton/Senior, pp. 199-200, "Quaker's Courtship" (1 fragment, 1 tune, which might be either this or "The Quaker's Courtship")
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 194-195, "Song on Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 149, "Wheel Of Fortune" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #290, pp. 168-169, "(Madam, I have come to court you)" (a short text, which might well be "The Quaker's Wooing" with beginning and end lost, but as it stands, it has no Quakers and must be filed here)
DT, WHEELFOR* DUBLNCTY* DUBLNCT2 (VANDY2) (DUBLNCI2)
ADDITIONAL: Frank Harte _Songs of Dublin_, second edition, Ossian, 1993, pp. 48-49, "The Spanish Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #542
RECORDINGS:
Seamus Ennis, "Dublin City" (on FSB2, FSB2CD)
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y1:104, "The Wheel of Fortune," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C [an incredible mixture, with the "Wheel of Fortune" verse, though the rest seems an amalgam of thyme songs -- here spelled "time"]; also Mu23-y1:105, "The Wheel of Fortune," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C [even more mixture, with the "Wheel of Fortune" verse, a thyme stanza, a bit of "Fair and Tender Ladies," a "Queen of Heart" verse, and more]
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Keys of Canterbury"
cf. "No, John, No"
cf. "Madam, Madam, You Came Courting" (theme)
cf. "The Quaker's Courtship" (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Chester City
NOTES: Although several versions listed here mention Quakers in their titles (e.g. Eddy's text, also that printed by Sandburg), their texts make no mention of the Quaker, and so I list them here.
This obviously began life as a ballad, but was collected in New York as a playparty, and Belden also found it as a singing game. - RBW
The text in the Silber-FSWB version is extremely fragmentary, and contains almost nothing of the plot described above. All that happens is that the man and woman meet; she washes her feet and dries them, then he laments young girls' deceiving ways and sings about numbers. - PJS
What Paul describes is fairly typical. The description above is of the fullest texts, but this ballad seems to be unusually good at losing pieces of itself. Often it descends into a purely lyrical piece -- and sometimes it seems to "re-ascend" by taking on a new ending of abandonment.
The existence of the numbers chorus ("Twenty, eighteen, sixteen, fourteen...") seems to be characteristic of a particular, very widespread, sub-version.
It appears likely that we can positively date this song to at least 1822, when John Randolph of Virginia asked a niece if she had heard a ballad with the verse
What care I for your golden treasures?
What care I for your house and land?
What care I for your costly pleasures?
So as I get but a handsome man.
For some reason, scholars have claimed this verse is from "Lord Randal." But it certainly appears to belong here. - RBW
File: E098
===
NAME: Wheels of the World, The
DESCRIPTION: Spinners turn the wheels of the world. Some spinners are named with their product: Pitt, Castlereagh, Napoleon, Wellington, John Mitchell, John Bull, factory owners and the rich. "Let liberty be your bright motto and glory will turn your big wheel"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 20(190))
KEYWORDS: death suicide exile nonballad political worker Napoleon Ireland
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 200, "The Wheels of the World" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4120), "Wheels of the World" ("Come all you true sons of old Erin"), J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844[?]; also Harding B 20(190) [J. Harkness(Preston), 1840-1866], Firth c.14(127), "Wheels of the World," Firth b.27(49) [mostly illegible and probably trimmed]
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Game of Cards (II)" (subject: the elimination of Grattan's parliament)
NOTES: According to "Wheels of the World," Pitt [ "banish'd in Charon's old boat": d.1806] and Castlereagh spun the union of Ireland to England [1800] but were unhappy at the end, and Castlereagh committed suicide [1822]; Napoleon spun freedom and Wellington spun Waterloo [1815] "but if Grouchy had never been bribed sure the French would have split him in two"; John Mitchell spun to free Ireland but John Bull spun him to exile [1848]; factory owners and the rich spin to grind the poor. Broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(4120) mentions other spinners: Luther, Henry VIII, John Calvin, Nelson and the French that killed him at Trafalgar [1805], Prince Albert [1840] and Victoria: "For 300 years they've been spinning, Destruction all over the land."
There is a dating problem for broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(4120): it mentions John Mitchel's exile to Bermuda [subsequently Cape Colony and finally to Van Dieman's Land] which occurred after 1844. [I think the problem is an error in the attribution to the printer Pitts; the defaced imprint does not contain his name as it stands, merely the words "toy warehouse." Pitts also owned a toy warehouse, but the appearance of the broadside is unlike any of the other Pitts broadsides I checked. Given that this piece, if circulated in Ireland, would be considered perilously close to treason, I wonder if a printer might not try to fake the attribution. There is probably a good thesis in there somewhere, on broadside printers and their fonts and clip art collections. - RBW]
The ballad is recorded on one of the CD's issued around the time of the bicentennial of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. See:
Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "Wheels of the World" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "1798 the First Year of Liberty," Hummingbird Records HBCD0014 (1998)) - BS
It is interesting to note that, of the three legible Bodelian broadsides of this song, only one carries an actual printer's imprint, and that defaced. The Bodleian editors did manage to determine two of the printers, but one of those attributions is questionable -- and it's also interesting that this song of interest primarily to the Irish was printed on British soil.
There is much interesting history in this song, which can be dated fairly precisely by the events it mentions. The three legible Bodleian broadsides (Harding B 11(4120), Harding B 20(190), Firth c.14(127)) all have nearly the same text, and must have been printed at about the same time. The references which give us our dates are as follows:
"I'll sing you a song about spinning, it was a good trade in its time" -- This might (or might not) refer to the direct control Britain exerted over Irish textile manufacturing; for more on this, see e.g. "The Volunteers' March."
"Luther... King Henry the eighth... John Calvin" -- the founders of the three basic branches of non-Catholic Christianity: Protestant (a name falsely applied to all three types), Anglican, and Reformed/Presbyterian. In Protestant England they were mostly approved of; not so in Catholic Ireland! Thomas ("Tom") Cranmer (1489-1556) was Henry VIII's Archbishop of Canterbury; though hardly a noteworthy theologian, he was largely responsible for implementing Henry's new church. It is odd to note that the song does not mention his hard end (Mary Tudor had him burned at the stake)
"John Mitchell the brave son of Erin" -- John Mitchel (1815-1875), for whom see the song of the same name, started as a writer, and founded the publication _The United Irishman_. He ended up calling stridently for change in Ireland, and in 1848 was sentenced to transportation. Sent briefly to Bermuda, he then was moved to Australia, and escaped to the United States, there to advocate slavery and flogging of prisoners. Since his exile to Bermuda is mentioned, the song must date after 1848. (One suspects this verse, the third in all the broadside texts, has been displaced; were it moved after the seventh verse, the song would be in chronological order. On the other hand, Mitchel is the only Irishman referred to; maybe he was shoved forward as a result.)
The Lord C--n--n of all the broadsides is Lord Clarendon, i.e. George Villiers, fourth earl of Clarendon (1800-1870), the Lord Lieutenant from 1847-1852 before becoming foreign secretary. Although nominally responsible for the case against Mitchel, and the suppression of the sort-of-revolt of 1848, he had so little influence on the course of Irish history that I found only one mention of him in the histories I checked. In the broader world, his work seems to have been successful and relatively enlightened.
"Lord Nelson he was a good spinner" -- For Horatio Nelson, see e.g. "Nelson's Victory at Trafalgar (Brave Nelson)" [Laws J17]
"Billy Pitt, too, was a good spinner, and so was Lord Castlereigh... they spun the Union from Ireland" -- William Pitt the Younger (1759-1806) was an MP as early as 1781 (from a "rotten" borough) and Prime Minister while still in his early twenties (1783). He would be Prime Minister for most of the rest of his life. He tried to pass several measures to help Ireland (free trade, catholic emancipation), but all were stymied. Therefore he is remembered mostly for the much-hated Act of Union, which eliminated the Irish parliament while introducing Irish members into the British Lords and Commons.
The reference here reminds me very strongly of a similar reference in "The Game of Cards (II)," though the direction of the dependence is not clear to me.
Robert Stewart Viscount Castlereagh (1769-1822) was actually Irish (from Ulster). He entered the English parliament in 1794, and became a member of Pitt's government. His was a brilliant career; he served at various times as both war and foreign secretaries, was largely responsible for the Peninsular campaign, and helped direct the last battles against Napoleon. He was by rational standards an outstanding success -- but in Ireland he was remembered as being the actual director of the campaign for Union. In his later years, when it was clear that the Congress system for governing Europe was failing, he became despondent. The responsibilities of his offices overwhelmed him, and he had a nervous breakdown and committed suicide.
"Napoleon he was a great spinner" -- The Irish held out great hopes for Napoleon, though he never did much for them; for what encouragement and help he did give, see the notes to "The Shan Van Voght."
"Old Wellington" -- obviously the Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), winner of the Peninsular campaign and victor at Waterloo (1815), much disliked by the masses because he finally defeated Napoleon. If Mitchell's 1848 exile offers the earliest date for this song, the "Iron Duke's" death may supply the latest; two of the three broadsides have the line "Old Wellington he went a-spinning," but Firth c.14(127) patches this to "Old Wellington he now is dead"; this presumably was a topical change made 1852 or 1853, with the other versions coming from (though perhaps not printed) before 1852.
"If Grouchy had never been bribed" -- Emmanuel Grouchy (1766-1847) commanded one of the wings of Napoleon's army in the Waterloo campaign, and his failure to arrive at Waterloo may have cost Napoleon the battle. The charge that he betrayed Napoleon occurs also in "Napoleon Bonaparte (III)" (see that song for a discussion) and in "The Removal of Napoleon's Ashes," but there is no reason whatsoever to believe that it is true.
"Prince Albert" -- Albert of Saxe-Coburg (1819-1861), the husband of Queen Victoria, upon whom she doted almost irrationally. He was not particularly well-liked in England, being suspected (as in this song) of being "on the make," since he was of far less note than Victoria. But though she seems to have fallen in love first, there is no evidence that he tried to tempt her into anything. Indeed, as long as he lived, he proved a capable consort and diplomat, even if the people did not take to him.
"For the Queen has another young son That was spun in the City of Cork" -- Victoria had four sons: Edward (the future Edward VII, 1841-1910), Alfred (1844-1900), Arthur (1850-1942), and Leopold (1853-1884). Arthur later became Duke of Connaught, and is surely the child intended. The more so since Victoria visited Cork (which was renamed Queenstown at that time) in 1849, so it is possible (though hardly proved) that he was conceived in Cork.
Thus the strong internal evidence is that this piece was written between 1850 and 1852. - RBW
File: Moyl200
===
NAME: Wheelwright, The (John Hunter)
DESCRIPTION: John Hunter is apprenticed to a wheelwright. He and the master's daughter fall in love. When his apprenticeship is finished, he prepares to leave her as he seeks work. She offers to marry him and come with him. He accepts
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: apprentice love father marriage
FOUND_IN: Ireland US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H125a+b, pp. 475-476, "John Hunter (a)/John Hunter (b)/The Wheelwright" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #9058
NOTES: The notes in Henry/Huntington/Herrmann imply that there is an Irish Gaelic version of this -- possibly even two. - RBW
File: HHH125
===
NAME: When a Man's in Love [Laws O20]
DESCRIPTION: The singer asks his sweetheart to allow him into her room; she convinces him to stay by the fire. He tells her he has courted her long enough despite her parents' opposition; he will go to America. She agrees to be married (or spend the night together)
AUTHOR: Hugh McWilliams (source: Moulden-McWilliams)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1831 (according to Moulden-McWilliams)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage emigration request
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland US(MW)
REFERENCES: (10 citations)
Laws O20, "When a Man's in Love"
Dean, pp. 110-111, "The Boy of Love" (1 text, lacking the ending)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 214-215,"When A Man's In Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 59, "A Man in Love" (1 text, 3 tunes)
SHenry H211, p. 479, "When a Man's in Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, pp. 96-97, "When a Man's In Love He Feels No Cold" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 143, "When a Man's in Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 76, "When a Man's in Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 747, MANLOVE
ADDITIONAL: John Moulden, Songs of Hugh McWilliams, Schoolmaster, 1831 (Portrush,1993), p. 2, "A Man in Love"
Roud #990
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "When a Man's In Love" (on IRRCinnamond02)
A. L. Lloyd, "When a Man's In Love" (on Lloyd1)
Paddy Tunney, "When a Man's In Love" (on FSB1); "When A Man's in Love He Feels No Cold" (on Voice01); "When a Man's in Love" (on IRPTunney01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Star of the County Down" (tune) and references there
NOTES: In McWilliams's version she agrees to be married. - BS
File: LO20
===
NAME: When a Man's In Love He Feels No Cold: see When a Man's in Love [Laws O20] (File: LO20)
===
NAME: When a Woman Blue
DESCRIPTION: "When a woman blue, when a woman blue, she hang her head and cry... When a man get blue He grab a railroad train and ride." "I'm gonna lay my head, I'm gonna lay my head Down on that railroad line... Let the train roll by And that'll pacify my mind."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: train suicide
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Sandburg, pp. 236-237, "When a Woman Blue" (1 short text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 506, "Oh! When a Man Get the Blues" (1 fragment)
Roud #11808
File: San236
===
NAME: When Adam in the garden woned: see Wi' His Apron On (File: Ord105)
===
NAME: When Adam Was Created (Wedlock)
DESCRIPTION: "When Adam was created, he dwelt in Eden's shade, As Moses has related, before his bride was made." Then Eve was made from Adam's rib. The rest of the song describes the duties of wedlock, based on this account of the creation
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1918 (Cecil Sharp collection); Dumas's tune dated 1869
KEYWORDS: religious Bible marriage
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
BrownIII 53, "When Adam Was Created" (1 text)
SharpAp 193, "When Adam was Created" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 55, "When Adam Was Created" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 567-569, "Wedlock" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WEDLOK*
Roud #728
NOTES: I can't help but note that all the details here come from the "J" account of the creation (Gen. 2:4f.). In the "P" account, which occupies Genesis 1:1-2:4, men and women were created together. Make of it what you may.
Brown quotes Jackson to the effect that this derives from Chaucer's "Parson's Tale" or its folk/churchly sources.
In the Sacred Harp, this appears with the tune "Edmonds," credited to E. Dumas and dated to 1869. - RBW
File: SKE55
===
NAME: When Barney Flew Over the Hills: see Barney and Katie (File: LO21)
===
NAME: When Carbine Won the Cup
DESCRIPTION: "The race was run, the Cup was won, The great event was o'er. The grandest horse e'er trod a course Had led them home once more." A description of how Carbine and his rider Ramage (?) won the Melbourne Cup
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: horse racing
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 212-213, "When Carbine Won the Cup" (1 text)
NOTES: According to the _Encyclopedia of Australia_, the Melbourne Cup was first run in 1861; it is run on the first Tuesday in November. Carbine, who won it in 1890, is noteworthy for having carried the most weight ("10 st. 5 lb.") of any winner. - RBW
File: MA212
===
NAME: When Clon Came Home
DESCRIPTION: "At Croke Park last Sunday I hear that the Cork men faced Cavan whose fame was so dear ... but we held them and led them and beat them" The team members are named. "The Sam Maguire Cup has come home to the Lee"
AUTHOR: Paddy Meeghan (source: OCanainn)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1978 (OCanainn)
KEYWORDS: pride sports moniker
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sep 23, 1945 - Cork beat Cavan in the All-Ireland Football Championship (source: OCanainn).
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OCanainn, pp. 116-117, "When Clon Came Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: "Clon" - short for Clonakilty[?] - is not in the text. OCanainn: "Between team and reserves there were nine Clonakilty men with Cork, which explains the elation felt in Clonakilty at the result." - BS
File: OCan116
===
NAME: When Cockle Shells Make Silver Bells: see Seventeen Come Sunday [Laws O17] (File: LO17)
===
NAME: When Cockle Shells Turn Silver Bells: see Waly Waly (The Water is Wide) (File: K149)
===
NAME: When de Good Lord Sets You Free: see Mourner, You Shall Be Free (Moanish Lady) (File: San011)
===
NAME: When Fanning First to Orange Came
DESCRIPTION: "When Fanning first to Orange came He looked both pale and wan, An old patched coat upon his back An old mare he rode on. Both man and mare wa'nt worth five pounds... but by his civil robberies He's laced his coat with gold."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1826 (Raleigh Register and North-Carolina Gazette)
KEYWORDS: robbery gold political
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1738?-1818 - Life of Edmund Fanning
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 277, "When Fanning First to Orange Came" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "From Hillsborough Town the First of May" (subject)
cf. "Said Frohock to Fanning" (subject)
cf. "Who Would Have Tho't Harmon" (subject)
NOTES: One of four "regulator" songs in Brown. The regulators were a group of protesters against high taxes and fees, found mostly in North Carolina though some also were active in South Carolina.
The Regulators formally organized in 1766, when William Tryon (1725-1788) was governor of North Carolina (1765-1771) ; he defeated them at Almance in 1771. That was Tryon's way; as governor of New York (1771-1778) he was equally harsh. His successors then turned to compromise.
Fanning, a Yale graduate of 1757, was a favorite of Tryon's; after moving to North Carolina, he went from being a local attorney to a Superior Court clerk and legislator. He also built a reputation for extreme avarice, making him a particular target for the regulators (and vice versa). A loyalist during the Revolution (commanded the King's American Regiment of Foot), he died in London. - RBW
File: BrII277
===
NAME: When First I Seen This Lovely Queen
DESCRIPTION: "When first I seen this lovely queen, On her I fixed my eyes, And thought in time, while in my prime,To gain her I would try. "But all in vain; could not obtain This virgin's love at all... My portion was too small." If she remains coy, he'll seek another
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love rejection beauty
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 294, "When First I Seen This Lovely Queen" (1 text)
Roud #12199
File: Br3294
===
NAME: When First Into this Country
DESCRIPTION: The stranger arrives and finds no one cares about him. He is accused of crimes, but the only crime he admits is involvement with three girls. Forced into a harsh apprenticeship, he at last earns his freedom and marries his love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1847 (Journal of William Histed of the Cortes)
KEYWORDS: love courting work abuse freedom marriage apprentice
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond)) US
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 195-197, "When First Into this Country" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 127-128, "The American Stranger" (1 text, a somewhat confused version in which the singer seems to shift from having one girl to three back to one)
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 170-171, "The American Stranger" (1 text, 1 tune, similar to but shorter than Ord's text)
DT, WHNFRST2*
Roud #1081
RECORDINGS:
Chris Willett, "The American Stranger" (on Voice11)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.17(4) View 2 of 2, "American Strander [sic]" ("I am a stranger in this country"), G. Thompson (Liverpool), 1789-1820; also 2806 c.17(3) View 2 of 2,, "America [sic] Stranger"; Harding B 11(48), Firth b.25(273), Harding B 15(3a), Harding B 25(46), Harding B 20(237), Harding B 11(3053A), Harding B 11(3056), 2806 b.11(29), Harding B 11(49), Harding B 16(6a), Harding B 28(159), "American Stranger[!]"; Harding B 25(1845) [illegible lines], "The Stranger"; 2806 b.11(215), "Sporting Youth" ("I'm a stranger in this country from Ireland I came")
Murray, Mu23-y2:013, "The Sporting Youth," Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1856
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(019), "The American Stranger," McIntosh (Glasgow), 1849
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "When First To This Country (I)" ("When First Unto This Country" lyrics) and references there
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Irish Stranger
NOTES: This shares a first line or two with "When First To This Country," but the similarity ends by the end of the second stanza. The first few verses probably did transfer (I suspect from this song to that, since "When First To This Country" barely survived in tradition), but the two songs are clearly separate.
To add to the confusion, the song seems to exist in two forms. Huntington's gives full details of the youth's troubles. Ord's and Stokoe's, both known by the title "The American Stranger," gloss over it, and end with the singer emigrating but saying something like the lovers are "In a plentiful country, (they are/and) God bless the King." - RBW
Chris Willett's version on Voice11 takes lines found on broadside Harding B 11(48), among others, ("But to prove myself loyal, You shall come along with me, And I'll take you to America, My darling for to be.") and turns them into a chorus ("Just to prove myself royal, if you're go along with me, I will take you to America my own darling to see"); it also has a verse from Johnson Ballads 458, among others, ("The moon shall be in darkness, And the stars shall give no light If ever I prove false to my hearts delight," "In the middle of the ocean There shall grow a myrtle [or plum, or willow] tree") that float in other songs. - BS
File: SWMS195
===
NAME: When First To This Country (I)
DESCRIPTION: The singer courts Nancy, who turns him down; he steals a horse and is imprisoned. He complains of his ill-treatment, then adds "With my hands in my pockets and my cap put on so bold/With my coat of many colors, like Jacob of old"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (field recording, Gant Family)
KEYWORDS: courting love rejection prison theft thief
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 29, "When First To This Country" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 71, "When First Unto This Country" (1 text)
DT, WHENFRST*
Roud #15600
RECORDINGS:
Maggie & Foy Gant, "When First Unto This Country" (LC 65 A2)
New Lost City Ramblers, "When First Unto This Country" (on NLCR02, NLCRCD1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "In Eighteen-Forty-Nine" (floating lyrics)
cf. "When First To This Country (II)" ("When First Unto This Country" lyrics)
cf. "The Banks of the Bann (I)" [Laws O2] ("When First Unto This Country" lyrics)
cf. "The Frowns That She Gave Me" ("When First Unto This Country" lyrics) and references there
cf. "When First Into this Country" ("When First Unto This Country" lyrics) and references there
cf. "When First To This Country (II)" ("When First Unto This Country" lyrics) and references there
cf. "In Eighteen-Forty-Nine" ("When First Unto This Country" lyrics) and references there
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
When First unto this Country
NOTES: This should not be confused with the kids' song "When I First Came to This Land," written -- well, translated -- by Oscar Brand in the 1940s. -PJS
[Or with the whalers' song "When First Into this Country." - RBW]
Paul Stamler mentions the prisoner's "coat of many colors," which he believes unconnected with the rest of the song. He may be right -- considering that the person who wore the "coat of many colors" (properly a "long robe with sleeves") was Jacob's son Joseph.
However, it is worth noting that Joseph's possession of the robe (which the author presumably thought resembled prison apparel) caused his brothers to resent him; the end result was that Joseph became a prisoner in Egypt. - RBW
File: CSW029
===
NAME: When First To This Country (II)
DESCRIPTION: "[My] poor heart beat sore" on leaving Molly. She pleads to come with him: "Short trouser, and jacket, my love I'll put on" He could not stand to see her beaten "So you can't come down with me, oh no my love, no." She will wait for his return.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1951 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: love farewell separation cross-dressing sailor
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 70-71, "When First To This Country" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2732
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Banks of the Nile (Men's Clothing I'll Put On II)" [Laws N9] (theme) and references there
cf. "The Maid in Sorrow (Short Jacket)" [Laws N12] (theme)
cf. "When First To This Country (I)" ("When First Unto This Country" lyrics) and references there
File: CrMa070
===
NAME: When First Unto This Country: see When First To This Country (I) (File: CSW029)
===
NAME: When Fortune Turns Her Wheel
DESCRIPTION: "Come, fill a glass, let's drink about... To meet ye a' ance mair, my friends, A sacred joy I feel, Though far awa I noo maun stray Till fortune turns her wheel." The singer has been betrayed by love and comrades, and bids farewell to Scotland and home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1874 (Poet's Box broadside, according to GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: parting drink
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Greig 88, p. 2, "When Fortune Turns Her Wheel" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 667, "When Fortune Turns the Wheel" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
Ord, pp. 180-181, "When Fortune Turns Her Wheel" (1 text)
DT, FORTRNWH*
Roud #3798
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I'll Take This Glass into My Hands" (theme)
File: Ord180
===
NAME: When He Comes, He'll Come in Green
DESCRIPTION: "Don't cry, little baby, don't you cry. Your sweetheart will come by and by. When he comes, if he's dressed in green, Then you may know you'll be his queen." Similarly with other colors: "Dressed in blue, Then you may know his love is true," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: colors courting playparty lullaby
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
BrownIII 70, "Oh, Pretty Polly" (1 text); 71, "Don't Cry" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 163, (no title) (1 fragment)
Roud #7870
NOTES: The editors of Brown concede their two texts to be the same song, but split them anyway. They admit they don't know if the piece is a singing game of some kind, a lullaby, or something else. (Allsopp calls it a lullaby but has only one verse.) I've used both keywords because both look like they fit. It looks like a very good song for both purposes; I'm surprised it isn't more widely known. - RBW
File: Br3070
===
NAME: When He Who Adores Thee
DESCRIPTION: The singer states "though guilty to them [my foes], I have been but too faithful to thee [Ireland]!" "Oh! blessed are the lovers and friends who shall live The days of thy glory to see"; next best "is the pride of thus dying for thee"
AUTHOR: Thomas Moore (1779-1852) (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST_DATE: 2000 (Moylan)
KEYWORDS: execution Ireland nonballad patriotic
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: Sep 20, 1803 - Robert Emmet (1778-1803) is hanged
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 158, "When He Who Adores Thee" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.27(14), "When He Who Adores Thee," unknown, n.d.
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh! Breathe Not His Name" (subject: concealed allusions to Robert Emmet)
cf. "She is Far From the Land" (subject: concealed allusions to Robert Emmet)
cf. "The Man from God-Knows-Where" (subject: concealed allusions to Robert Emmet)
NOTES: Moylan: "In this song Moore paraphrases parts of Emmet's speech from the dock and has him address these sentiments to Ireland."
You can find copies of Emmet's speech on the Web. See, for example, "Robert Emmet's Speech from the Dock (Document)" quoted on wiki.politics.ie site from "Politics.ie, the Irish politics website." None of Moore's text follows Emmet's, though Emmet is speaking over the court's head: "if there is a true Irishman present let my last words cheer him in the hour of his affliction." - BS
We should probably note that there is no official transcript of Emmet's speech (see Robert Kee, _The Most Distressful Country_, being volume I of _The Green Flag_, p. 168). We don't know his precise words. It hardly matters, any more than it matters that his rebellion was ill-organized and completely inept; he could hardly have said anything more effective than what was reported, and it was that which kept his myth alive.
Moore, we should add, knew Emmet; according to Kee, Moore was "Emmet's old friend and fellow student at Trinity." Kee regards Moore as having "set the tone" for Emmet's legend. - RBW
File: Moyl158
===
NAME: When I Can Read My Titles Clear (Long Time Traveling)
DESCRIPTION: "When I can read my titles clear to mansions in the sky, I will bid farewell to every tear and wipe my weeping eye." Chorus: "I'm a long time traveling here below, I'm a long time traveling away from my home...." Other verses vary
AUTHOR: unknown (portions by Isaac Watts)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (recording, J. T. Allison's Sacred Harp Singers)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, LONGTIME
Roud #5732
RECORDINGS:
J. T. Allison's Sacred Harp Singers, "I'm A Long Time Travelling Away From Home" (Gennett 6255, 1927)
Daniels-Deason Sacred Harp Singers, "Primrose Hill" (Columbia 15323-D, 1928; on Babylon)
Denson Sacred Harp Singers, "The Ninety-Fifth" (Brunswick 287, rec. 1928)
Elder Golden P. Harris, "I'll Lead a Christian Life" (Melotone 12178, 1931; on Babylon)
Frank Proffitt, "I'm a Long Time Travelling Here Below" (on FProffitt01)
NOTES: This song, or one of the same title, is said to have been one of Abraham Lincoln's favorites. The verses are so generic that it is really hard to call it one song; it's a family held together by the refrain "Been a long time traveling here below" and (often but not always) the mansions in the sky.
The first stanza is from a poem by Isaac Watts, "The Hopes of Heaven Our Support Under Trials on Earth," and reportedly published 1809. This shows up in several forms in the shape note book (e.g. with the tunes "Ninety-Fifth," "Primrose Hill," "Akers," and "Saints' Delight") -- but all these seem to be the Watts poem, which is not (to my ears at least) nearly as strong. - RBW
As far as I can tell from reading the Sacred Harp book [a demonstrably unreliable source - RBW], Watts seems to have composed all of the lyrics.
I've placed the Daniels-Deason and Elder Harris recordings here for want of a better place; they share lyrics but use different tunes. - PJS
File: DTlongti
===
NAME: When I Die (I)
DESCRIPTION: Because the singer has found salvation, "When I die, I'll live again." He's made confession and will transgress no more. Ch: "When I die I'll live again/Hallelujah, I'll live again/Because I'm forgiven, my soul will find heaven/When I die I'll live again"
AUTHOR: James Rowe & Ernest Rippetoe
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Stamps-Baxter book, "Harbor Bells #4")
KEYWORDS: resurrection death nonballad religious
FOUND_IN: US(MA,SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Rev. Gary Davis, "When I Die I'll Live Again" (on GaryDavis02)
Watson Family, "When I Die" (on Watson01)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
When I Die I'll Live Again
NOTES: D. K. Wilgus, in his comments on Watson01, notes (speaking of this song and "The Lost Soul"): "The Watson family apparently sang these songs directly from a song book, but I have been unable to locate them in any source available to me, despite the conviction that I have met them before." Almost certainly he was remembering Davis's skeletal version, released the year before the Watson recordings were made, or the Stamps-Baxter hymnal. - PJS
File: RcWIDILA
===
NAME: When I Die (II): see Pickle My Bones in Alcohol (File: Br3038)
===
NAME: When I Die Don't Wear No Black
DESCRIPTION: "When I die don't wear no black, For if you do My ghost come a-creeping back."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: death mourning clothes ghost
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 489, "When I Die Don't Wear No Black" (1 text)
Roud #11871
File: Br3489
===
NAME: When I Dream of Old Erin
DESCRIPTION: "When the nightingaleŐs singing its sweet melodies, And the scent of the flowers perfumes the night breeze," the singer dreams of Ireland and his love. He describes his old home, repeating, "When I dream of old Erin, I'm dreaming of you."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Dean)
KEYWORDS: love separation home Ireland
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Dean, p. 97, "When I Dream of Old Erin" (1 text)
Roud #9593
File: Dean097
===
NAME: When I First Came To This Land
DESCRIPTION: Immigrant comes to the USA, gets a shack, cow, duck, wife and son, and sings about them in a cumulative fashion: "Called my wife 'Run for your life'; called my duck, 'Out of luck'", etc.
AUTHOR: Words translated by Oscar Brand from Pennsylvania Dutch song
EARLIEST_DATE: 1957 (Oscar Brand, "Our Singing Holidays")
KEYWORDS: animal cumulative emigration farming marriage nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 13, "When I First Came to this Land" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 120 "When I First Came To This Land" (1 text)
DT, FIRSTCAM
Roud #16813
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "When I First Came to This Land" (on PeteSeeger24)
NOTES: This should not be confused with the traditional "When First To This Country." - PJS
File: PSAFB013
===
NAME: When I Get On My Bran' New Suit
DESCRIPTION: "When I git on my brand-new suit, Boots to my knees, Go to see my lovely gal And kiss her when I please."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: courting clothes
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fuson, p. 158, "Going to See My Girl (fifth of 12 single-stanza jigs) (1 text)
ST Fus158A (Full)
Roud #16414
File: Fus158A
===
NAME: When I Get on Yonder Hill: see Shule Agra (Shool Aroo[n], Buttermilk Hill, Johnny's Gone for a Soldier); also "I Want You All to Be There" (File: R107)
===
NAME: When I Go Up to Shinum Place
DESCRIPTION: "When I go up to shinum place" there will be red, white and black men. "There is no need of wigwam there, He send his angels to take care, And Jesus good and kind"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious Jesus Indians(Am.)
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 171, "When I Go Up to Shinum Place" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2728
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Little Indian Maid" (theme)
cf. "Indian Hymn" (theme)
NOTES: See "Indian Hymn" for similar phrases. - BS
Presumably the title of this piece is a patronizing corruption of "shining." - RBW
File: CrMa171
===
NAME: When I Landed in Glasgow: see The Young Maid's Love (File: HHH058)
===
NAME: When I Leave These Earthly Shores
DESCRIPTION: Recitation: "When I leave this earthly shore And mosey 'round this world no more, Don't weep, don't sob; I may have found a better job." After this introduction, the speaker spends two stanzas asking for small gifts now rather than big ones after death
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1957
KEYWORDS: death recitation poverty
FOUND_IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
FSCatskills 104, "When I Leave These Earthly Shores" (1 text)
ST FSC104 (Partial)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Give Me the Roses While I Live" (theme of giving roses)
File: FSC104
===
NAME: When I Saw Sweet Nellie Home: see Seeing Nellie Home (File: RJ19229)
===
NAME: When I Set Out for Glory
DESCRIPTION: "When I set out for glory, I left this world behind, Determined for a city that's hard to find, And to begging I will go. And to begging I will go, I'll go...." Despite warnings, the singer is set on this path, and would rather be Christian than rich
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad travel begging poverty
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fuson, p. 212, "The Begging Song" (1 text)
ST Fus212 (Partial)
Roud #5426
File: Fus212
===
NAME: When I Wake in the Morning
DESCRIPTION: The singer is "surrounded by sorrow ... lovely Jimmie if you knew what I knew." "When the boys come to court ... I do them disdain ... I never will marry till [my love] comes back again"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1954 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: grief love separation nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 91, "When I Wake in the Morning" (1 text fragment, 1 tune)
ST CrMa091 (Full)
Roud #2707
RECORDINGS:
Angelo Dornan, "When I Wake in the Morning" (on MRHCreighton)
NOTES: Angelo Dornan is a major source for Creighton-Maritime and Creighton-SouthNB. Many of his songs, like this one, are fragments that are too brief for me to identify. - BS
Paul Stamler and I also puzzled over this independently. We've given up and are filing it as a loose fragment. - RBW
File: CrMa091
===
NAME: When I Was a Boy: see Old MacDonald Had a Farm (File: R457)
===
NAME: When I Was a Cowboy
DESCRIPTION: "When I was a cowboy, out on the western plains (x2), I made a half a million pulling on the bridle reins." The cowboy boasts of fighting Jesse James and Buffalo Bill. He advises, in the event of fire, abandoning the house and saving the "jelly"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: cowboy bragging outlaw fight nonsense
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 197, "When I Was a Cowboy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 379-380, "When I Was a Cowboy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 29, "When I Was a Cowboy" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #3438
NOTES: The Lomax version of this song comes from Lead Belly, and the Fife versions derive from Lomax. So it's not clear how much of this is truly traditional and how much Lead Belly. The "B" text in Fife looks a bit like a Lomax rework; it has stanzas reminiscent of "The Foggy, Foggy Dew" and "Rosemary Lane." - RBW
File: LoF197
===
NAME: When I Was a Fair Maid: see The Soldier Maid (File: DTsoldma)
===
NAME: When I Was a Little Boy (I): see Little Brown Dog (File: VWL101)
===
NAME: When I Was A Little Boy (II): see Now I Am a Big Boy (File: R358)
===
NAME: When I Was a Little Boy (III): see The Swapping Boy (File: E093)
===
NAME: When I Was a Wee Thing
DESCRIPTION: "When I was a (little girl/wee thing), About (seven) years old, I hadna worth a petticoat To keep me frae the cold." The singer travels to (Edinburgh), buys clothes, goes to the woods, and builds a kirk with the help of the birds of the wood
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (Montgomerie)
KEYWORDS: bird animal clergy clothes
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose 232, p. 151, "(When I was a little girl)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 139, "(When I was a wee thing)" (1 text)
File: BGMG222
===
NAME: When I Was a Young Girl: see All For the Men (File: LoF260)
===
NAME: When I Was A Young Man
DESCRIPTION: As a young man the singer "was drinking and a-smoking, boys, from morning unto night." When he had spent all his money he worked for more. He was enraged when he "walked into the public house and I called for a pint of the best" but got "the slop"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1995 (recording, Wiggy Smith)
KEYWORDS: drink lie
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: ()
Roud #12931
RECORDINGS:
Wiggy Smith, "When I Was A Young Man" (on Voice13)
File: RcWIWAYM
===
NAME: When I Was a Young Man (I)
DESCRIPTION: The singer proposes to his long-time sweetheart but she rejects him as an idler. "In the spring had you cropped my wing" he would have won her. He says he'll "sail the ocean o'er, For the loss of one is a gain of two And a choice of twenty more"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection farewell
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Creighton-NovaScotia 50, "When I Was a Young Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS050 (Partial)
Roud #1797
NOTES: This is one of those songs that sounds like you've heard it before; the plot is common and the images commonplace. But neither Creighton nor Roud nor I can recall another version. - RBW
File: CrNS050
===
NAME: When I Was a Young Man (II): see I Wish I Were Single Again (I - Male) (File: R365)
===
NAME: When I Was a Young Thing
DESCRIPTION: "When I was a young thing I lived with my granny, my mama was dead and my pa gone to sea." The singer always wanted to be a sailor "and follow my dada," but he finds that a sailor's life is filled with hard work.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1958 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: work sailor ship father mother orphan
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Peacock, pp. 893-894, "When I Was a Young Thing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9939
File: Pea893
===
NAME: When I Was Lost in the Wilderness
DESCRIPTION: "King Jesus handed the candle down, An' I hope dat trumpet goin' to blow me home Yer de new Jerusalem." "When Moses smote de water wid his shepherd's rod, De waters rared back...." "When Joshua ordered dat de sun stand still...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus Bible nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 652, "When I Was Lost in the Wilderness" (1 text)
Roud #11943
NOTES: Don't ask me where Brown's title came from; there is no mention of wilderness in the song.
Moses's parting of the Red Sea is described in Exodus 14; Joshua's request that the sun stand still is in Joshua 10:12-13. - RBW
File: Br3652
===
NAME: When I Was Noo But Sweet Sixteen (The Bothy Lads, The Plooboy Lads)
DESCRIPTION: Singer complains that the ploughboys are "false and deceiving-o They say all and the gang awa'." At sixteen she was "just in blooming." At nineteen she's home with her baby with no idea where the father may be.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1953 (recording, Jeannie Robertson)
KEYWORDS: seduction sex nonballad baby abandonment
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, PLOOLAD*
Roud #5138
RECORDINGS:
Jeannie Robertson, "When I Was Noo But Sweet Sixteen" (on Voice10)
File: RcWIWNBS
===
NAME: When I Was One-and-Twenty: see The Backwoodsman (The Green Mountain Boys) [Laws C19] (File: LC19)
===
NAME: When I Was Single (I): see I Wish I Were Single Again (I - Male) (File: R365)
===
NAME: When I Was Single (II)
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the gay nights he lived when single. Now married, his wife leaves him to watch the cradle and run errands. He laments that "the poor man's labor is never done."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Eddy)
KEYWORDS: marriage nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Eddy 71, "When I Was Single" (1 text)
ST E071 (Full)
Roud #5357
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Wish I Were Single Again (I - Male)"
cf. "Rocking the Cradle (and the Child Not His Own)" (plot)
cf. "Married and Single Life" (subject)
NOTES: This may be a version of "Rocking the Cradle (and the Child Not His Own)"; Eddy's fragment is too short for me to be sure. - RBW
File: E071
===
NAME: When I Was Single (III): see I Wish I Were a Single Girl Again (File: Wa126)
===
NAME: When I Was Single (IV): see Do You Love an Apple? (File: K203)
===
NAME: When I Was Young (Don't Never Trust a Sailor)
DESCRIPTION: A girl laments the loss of her virginity to a sailor, (who gives her half a dollar for "the damage I have done," and advises if she has a son to send him off to sea). She is found to be pregnant. Her parents throw her out. She warns girls against sailors
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: bawdy sailor seduction sex warning
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So,SW) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Cray, pp. 75-78, "When I Was Young" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph 806, "Don't Never Trust a Sailor" (1 text)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 74-80, "When I Was Young and Foolish" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 58, "The Lass that Loved a Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 500-501, "Home, Home, Home" (1 text, 1 tune, with a chorus probably derived from "Ambletown" or some other member of the "Rosemary Lane" family) [AbEd, pp. 368-369]
JHJohnson, p. 65, "The Lass That Loved a Sailor" (1 text)
Sandburg, p. 219, "When I Was Young and Foolish" (1 short text, 1 tune, which appears to go with this piece although the ending is missing)
Blondahl, p. 106, "The Lass That Loved a Sailor" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST EM075 (Full)
Roud #954
RECORDINGS:
Dillard Chandler, "The Sailor Being Tired" (on OldLove)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rosemary Lane" [Laws K43]
cf. "The Gatesville Cannonball"
cf. "Oh, No, Not I" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Rambleaway" (plot)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Night Hawk
The Sailor-Girl's Lament
NOTES: Randolph-Legman has extensive historical notes, separating this "inch-above-the-knee" song from "Bell Bottom Trousers/Rosemary Lane." - EC
For discussion of this song and its ancestry, see the entry on "Rosemary Lane" [Laws K43]. The pieces here may not be a unity; one might describe this as bawdy remnants of that ballad. - RBW
File: EM075
===
NAME: When I Was Young (II)
DESCRIPTION: Singer laments married life, saying when she was young she lived well and happily, but now she lives in poverty and misery. The chorus warns, "Ye'd better be a maiden as a poor man's wife."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1850
KEYWORDS: poverty marriage warning
FOUND_IN: Britain(North,West,South) Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 102, "When I Was Young" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BTTRSNGL*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 27, #1 (1978), p, 15, "It's Better to be Single Than a Poor Man's Wife" (1 text, 1 tune, the Margaret Barry version)
Roud #894
RECORDINGS:
Margaret Barry & Michael Gorman, "It's Better to be Single Than a Poor Man's Wife" (on Barry-Gorman1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Single Girl, Married Girl"
cf. "Sorry the Day I Was Married"
cf. "I Wish I Were a Single Girl Again" (theme)
cf. "I Wish I Were Single Again (II - Female)" (theme)
cf. "Do You Love an Apple?" (theme, floating lyrics)
cf. "For Seven Long Years I've Been Married" (theme)
NOTES: Obviously, this is extremely close to the songs listed as cross-references, and they have either cross-fertilized or share a common ancestor, but it has a distinctly different chorus, emphasizing being a poor man's wife, and as such I think it deserves a separate listing. -PJS
File: VWL102
===
NAME: When I Was Young and Foolish: see When I Was Young (File: EM075)
===
NAME: When I Was Young and in My Prime
DESCRIPTION: The singer boasts that when he was young, he could "fetch" a kid every time, but now that he is old, he can't get a "bit to save my soul."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE:
KEYWORDS: bawdy age sex
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 159-161, "When I Was Young and in My Prime" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Am Growing Old and Gray" (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
I Ain't So Young
When I Was in My Prime
File: RL159
===
NAME: When I Went for to Take My Leave
DESCRIPTION: Singer, leaving to fight for the Union in the Civil War, weeps to leave his child and wife, and vows that "if the Davis boys don't bind me" he will return as quickly as possible when it's over
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (recording, Loman D. Cansler)
KEYWORDS: grief Civilwar war farewell parting return separation baby family wife husband
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Loman D. Cansler, "When I Went for to Take My Leave" (on Cansler1)
File: RcWIWFTT
===
NAME: When I'm Dead and Buried: see Don't You Weep After Me (File: R262)
===
NAME: When I'm Gone (I)
DESCRIPTION: "It'll be Lawd, Lawd, Lawd, when I'm gone." "I'm gonna fly from mansion to mansion, when I'm gone." "I'll be done with troubles and trials." "I'm gonna walk and talk with Jesus." "I'm gonna set at the welcome table."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1960
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Lomax-FSNA 243, "When I'm Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Welcome Table (Streets of Glory, God's Going to Set This World on Fire)" (floating verses)
NOTES: Alan Lomax claims -- on the basis of a few words in the chorus -- that this is the same as "Don't You Grieve After Me (I)." I don't buy it. - RBW
File: LoF243
===
NAME: When Jesus Christ Was Here Below
DESCRIPTION: "When Jesus Christ was here below, He taught his people what to do, And if we would his precepts keep We must descend to washing feet." The song details the footwashing at the Last Supper
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: Jesus Bible religious
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 198-199, "When Jesus Christ Was Here Below" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7132?
NOTES: This song closely follows the account of the footwashing in John 13:1-11; the incident is not mentioned in the other three gospels or elsewhere in the Bible. - RBW
File: ThBa198
===
NAME: When Jesus Christ Was Here On Earth
DESCRIPTION: Jesus, on earth, is called a spy. He walks past a sinful crowd, hears a woman say, "I'd go prophesy." He tells Peter, James, and John, "It's written I must die/Shed my blood on Calvary/And never more to die"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (recording, I. D. Beck & congregation)
KEYWORDS: death prophecy religious Jesus
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: ()
Roud #7386
RECORDINGS:
I. D. Beck & congregation: "When Jesus Christ Was Here On Earth" (on LomaxCD1704)
NOTES: This is fragmentary, but still clearly a narrative, so I include it. - PJS
File: RcWJCWHE
===
NAME: When John's Ale Was New: see When Jones's Ale Was New (File: Doe168)
===
NAME: When Johnny Comes Marching Home
DESCRIPTION: The singer promises that Johnny will receive a hearty welcome when he returns home from the war. Everyone will turn out; all will be gay; the old church bell will ring; there will be shouting and flowers; they will wreathe his brow with laurel
AUTHOR: Words: "Louis Lambert" (Patrick S. Gilmore)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1863
KEYWORDS: home war return reunion nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (10 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 233-236, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-BoA, pp. 327-329, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, p. 94, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 51, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 130, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hill-CivWar, p. 204, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 282, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (1 text)
Thomas-Makin', p. 54, (no title) (1 text, mostly "Johnny Fill Up the Bowl (In Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-One)" but with this chorus)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 639-641, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home"
DT, JHNMARCH*
ST RJ19233 (Full)
Roud #6673
RECORDINGS:
Harry Evans, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (Emerson 7373, 1918)
Pete Seeger & Bill McAdoo, "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" (on PeteSeeger28)
Frank C. Stanley, "When Johnnie Comes Marching Home" (CYL: Edison 5003, c. 1898)
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, R.B.m169(220), "When Johnny Comes Marching Home," unknown, n.d.
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye" (tune)
cf. "Johnny Fill Up the Bowl (In Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-One)" (tune)
cf. "Snapoo" (tune)
cf. "Mademoiselle from Armentieres" (approximate tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye (File: PBB094)
Johnny Fill Up the Bowl (In Eighteen Hundred and Sixty-One) (File: R227)
Snapoo (File: EM379)
The Widow-Maker Soon Must Cave [Anti-Lincoln campaign song of 1864] (James M. McPherson, Battle Cry of Freedom, p. 790)
NOTES: Scholars continue to argue whether "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" or the doleful "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye" is the original. "When Johnny Comes Marching Home" can be firmly dated to the beginning of the Civil War, while "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye" does not appear until slightly later (1869) -- but as a traditional song. The earliest known printing is, in fact, that of "Johnny Fill Up the Bowl" (early 1863).
If I were to make a guess, I think I would put "Johnny Fill Up the Bowl" first; it's a logical tune for Gillmore to steal (and some anonymous Irishman to turn into an anti-war song). But what do I know? - RBW
File: RJ19233
===
NAME: When Johnny Went Plowing for Kearon
DESCRIPTION: Kearon, too old to plow, hires Johnny. But Kearon had an "enjyne" with the team which Johnny did not understand. Kearon tries it himself but cannot do it. Kearon gives him some instruction. "Johnny took heed to what Kearon had said" and finishes the job
AUTHOR: Lawrence Doyle
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: age farming technology humorous
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 19-20, "When Johnny Went Plowing for Kearon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 191-193,256, "When Johnny Went Plowing for Kearon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12480
NOTES: Ives-DullCare: "A story of a greenhorn's plowing mishap and how his boss decided to show him how it's done, only to wind up worse off than his pupil."
File: Dib019
===
NAME: When Johnson's Ale Was New: see When Jones's Ale Was New (File: Doe168)
===
NAME: When Jones's Ale Was New
DESCRIPTION: Stories from Jones's Bar. Various drinkers come in, each with his tale or his unruly behavior or his demand. Most are hard workers whose burdens are relieved by the ale.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1594 (stationer's register)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad landlord ritual
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MA) Britain(England(All),Scotland) Australia
REFERENCES: (10 citations)
Doerflinger, pp. 168-169, "When Johnson's Ale Was New" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 273-277, "When John's Ale Was New" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan3 561, "When Jones' Ale Was New" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 284-285, "Four Jolly Fellows" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 287, "When Jones's Ale Was New" (1 text, 1 tune)
Combs/Wilgus 166, pp. 132-133, "The Jovial Tinker (Joan's Ale is Good)" (1 text -- a heavily modified version with a floating first verse and a final verse that may imply a Civil War setting)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 245-248, "When Jones's Ale Was New" (1 text plus an excerpt from a British broadside)
Silber-FSWB, p. 231, "Johnson's Ale" (1 text)
BBI, ZN2502, "There was a jovial Tinker"
DT, JONESALE JONESAL2 JONESAL3
Roud #139
RECORDINGS:
Bob & Ron Copper, "The Jovial Tradesman" (on LomaxCD1700); "The Jovial Tradesman" (on FSB3)
Fred Jordan, "When Jones's Ale Was New" (on Voice13)
John M. (Sailor Dad) Hunt, "When Jones's Ale Was New" (AFS, 1941; on LC27)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Douce Ballads 1(105b), "Joan's Ale is New"["Jones" in the text], T. Vere (London), 1644-1680; also Douce Ballads 1(99b), "Joan's Ale is New"["Jones" in the text]; Harding B 28(139), "Joan's Ale"["Joan's" in the text]; Harding B 11(652), "When John's Ale Was New"; Harding B 16(336b), "Joan's Ale Was New"["Joan's" in the text]; 2806 c.18(169), "Joan's Ale is New"["Joan's" in the text]
Murray, Mu23-y2:014, "When John's Ale was New," Poet's Box (Glasgow), 19C
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Young Man Who Travelled Up and Down"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Jone's ale is newe
When John's Sail Was New
NOTES: The song was sung by the "jolly boys" (pace-eggers) in Overton, Lancs, as part of their Easter house-to-house ritual. - PJS
File: Doe168
===
NAME: When Mary Came Wandering Home: see Mary of the Wild Moor [Laws P21] (File: LP21)
===
NAME: When McGuinness Gets a Job: see Last Winter Was a Hard One (File: FSC098)
===
NAME: When Morning Stands on Tiptoe: see The Echoing Horn (File: K246)
===
NAME: When Mursheen Went to Bunnan
DESCRIPTION: The singer's "spirits has completely left" since Mursheen went to Bunnan. She left because he drinks. He drank with her father, who turned against her when she left. He had been "bound for the west" but now he "gave up all my palaver with Yankees"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1974 (recording, Micho Russell)
KEYWORDS: love separation drink father
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: ()
Roud #8146
RECORDINGS:
Micho Russell, "When Mursheen Went to Bunnan" (on Voice13)
File: RcWMuWtB
===
NAME: When My Blood Runs Chilly and Cold
DESCRIPTION: "When my blood runs chilly and cold, I've got to go... Way beyond the moon. Do lord, do, Lord, do remember me.... If you can't bear no crosses, you can't wear no crown.... I've got a mother in Beulah land, she's calling me...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad death
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Lomax-FSUSA 104, "When My Blood Runs Chilly an' Col'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 610-611, "When My Blood Runs Chilly an' Col'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15548
File: LxU104
===
NAME: When My Lord Went to Pray
DESCRIPTION: "Way over yonder beyond the mountain, Where my Lord went to pray, They dressed my Lord in a long white robe...." "He hewed him out a cross..." "Come and help me bear this old cross along...." The singer tells of Jesus's death and salvation
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible Jesus
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 654, "When My Lord Went to Pray" (1 text)
Roud #11944
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Never Said a Mumbling Word" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: According to Mark 15:21, etc., Jesus needed help to carry his cross, though John (19:17) says he carried his own cross. The size of the cross is not specified, and when the soldiers dressed Jesus in fine clothes, they put him in a *purple* cloak (Mark 15:20). - RBW
File: Br3654
===
NAME: When O'Connor Drew His Pay
DESCRIPTION: O'Connor (a logger), after drawing his pay, goes on a spree, starts a fire, and is arrested. Taken to "limbo" (jail), he pays his fine and they ship him (as freight) back to the woods. He swears he's "never spent his savings quite so pleasurably before"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: lumbering drink prison fire money humorous
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Beck 35, "When O'Connor Drew His Pay" (1 text)
Roud #4065
NOTES: The text is incomplete, but gives the flavor of the song. I used "prison" as a keyword only because we don't have "jail." - PJS
This song is item dC44 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Be035
===
NAME: When Our Boys Gave Up Squiddin'
DESCRIPTION: "Our boys give up squiddin', they all joined the Navy To fight for old England, her King and her Crown." The boys get their parents consent, go "up to the court-house to join up that day," leave their women and family and go to "Keep Hitler Down"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: moniker war navy patriotic family derivative England separation
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Doyle3, p. 83, "When Our Boys Gave Up Squiddin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SQUIDJI2*
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Squid-Jiggin' Ground" (tune)
File: Doyl3083
===
NAME: When Paddy McGinty Plays the Harp
DESCRIPTION: "When Paddy McGinty plays the harp you've got to get up and dance ... It's wonderful Irish music that is neither flat nor sharp When Paddy McGinty plays the harp"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (NFOBlondahl04, NFOBlondahl05)
KEYWORDS: dancing harp music nonballad
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "When Paddy McGinty Plays the Harp" (on NFOBlondahl04)
NOTES: Is this even a music hall song? There is a 1940 recording on OKEH 5849 by the McFarland Twins and their Orchestra [sources: Steven Abrams site as The Online Discographical Project; Northwest Internet Technologies copyright owner of World of Grampophones site]; "the McFarland twins, Arthur and George, were handsome blonds who played reeds and had own corny band late '30s, suddenly became more modern c'42 but never hit the big time" [Source: MusicWeb site Encyclopedia of Popular Music re Fred Waring].
Blondahl04 and NFOBlondahl05 have no liner notes confirming that this song was collected in Newfoundland. Barring another report for Newfoundland I do not assume it has been found there. There is no entry for "When Paddy McGinty Plays the Harp" in _Newfoundland Songs and Ballads in Print 1842-1974 A Title and First-Line Index_ by Paul Mercer. - BS
File: RcWPMPTH
===
NAME: When Pat Came Over the Hill: see The Whistling Thief (File: HHH710)
===
NAME: When Saint Peter's Day Was A-Dawning
DESCRIPTION: Singer describes "the deeds of the sons of Saint Patrick" at a secret society meeting. "The Harp of old Ireland played Orange Lie Down" and woke the Brunswickers. "Banish this crew that our land did pollute" and let them go to some other island.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: Ireland political
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, pp. 127-128, "When Saint Peter's Day Was A-Dawning" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: "Brunswickers" is a synonym here for "Orangemen." There is another apparent reference to Orangemen: "the Black Hare of Luther"; Luther is clear enough but I don't understand "the Black Hare" in this context [there is a reference to "these Luthers black" in Tunney-StoneFiddle: "The Defender's Song"]. "Orange Lie Down" may not be a real song; in any case, that title is a reference to "Croppies Lie Down," one of the Orange songs most resented by the nationalists. - BS
File: TSF127
===
NAME: When Shall We Be Married: see The Country Courtship (File: K127)
===
NAME: When Shall We Get Married: see The Country Courtship (File: K127)
===
NAME: When Sherman Marched Down to the Sea: see Sherman's March to the Sea (File: SBoA248)
===
NAME: When Silent Time, Wi' Lightly Foot: see The Nabob (File: Ord361)
===
NAME: When Sorrows Encompass Me 'Round
DESCRIPTION: "When sorrows encompass me 'round, And many distresses I see, Astonished, I cry, 'Can a poor mortal be found Surrounded with troubles like me?'" The weary singer hopes for peace, and expects at last to find it with Jesus
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: religious
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Warner 94, "When Sorrows Encompass Me 'Round" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, pp. 217-218, "Death-Bed Song" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 22, #1 (1973), p, 19, "When Sorrows Encompass Me 'Round" (1 text, 1 tune, from the singing of Tommy Jarrell)
ST Wa094 (Partial)
Roud #16402
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Am I Born to Die? (Idumea)" (tune)
File: Wa094
===
NAME: When That Great Ship Went Down: see The Titanic (I) ("It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down") [Laws D24] (Titanic #1) (File: LD24)
===
NAME: When the Battle it was Won (Young Jimmy and the Officer) [Laws J23]
DESCRIPTION: Jimmy deserts (in the face of the enemy!) when he hears his mother is dying. An officer arrives, hauls him from his mother's bedside, and orders him to face a firing squad. The officer may have wanted Jimmy's sweetheart (but she shoots him)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1928 (Mackenzie)
KEYWORDS: war family death trial execution
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Laws J23, "When the Battle it was Won (Young Jimmy and the Officer)"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 178, "Young Jimmy and the Officer" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 994-995, "The Deserter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 117, "When the Battle It Was Won" (1 text)
DT 553, BATLEWON
Roud #1890
File: LJ23
===
NAME: When the Boys Go A-Courting (Over the Mountain, Poll and Sal)
DESCRIPTION: The young man goes out courting; the girl thinks him too poor. He borrows his master's horse to impress her. Later, he and his (cousin) go courting together. The girls' mother kicks them out. His mistress punishes him. He keeps chasing girls
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1817 (Journal from the Herald)
KEYWORDS: love courting disguise trick sex mother apprentice
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 312-314, "Poll and Sal" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, POLLSAL*
Roud #385
NOTES: The final verses of this seem to be from "The Keyhole in the Door" or something similar, but the whole song is rather disjointed. What's clear is the motivation: The singer devotes his whole attention to courting and watching girls -- and pays for it, until at last he gets married. - RBW
File: SWMS312
===
NAME: When the Caplin Come In
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, now is the time when the men are all ready ... And live on the beach while the caplin is in." The crowd nets caplin from the beach; row boats and motor boats and horses "full breeds and ponies" haul the netted fish away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1955 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: moniker fishing commerce
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Doyle3, pp. 85-86, "When the Caplin Come In" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7318
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "When the Caplin Come In" (on NFOBlondahl02)
NOTES: Caplin are small deep water fish that come to shore in June and July to spawn. They are netted for bait, food or manure [per GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador site]. - BS
File: Doyl3085
===
NAME: When the Curtains of Night Are Pinned Back
DESCRIPTION: "When the curtains of night are pinned back by the stars And the beautiful moon sweeps the sky, I'll remember you, love, in my prayers." "When the curtains of night are pinned back by the stars And the dew drops of heav'n kiss the rose, I'll remember...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Sandburg, p. 259, "When the Curtains of Night Are Pinned Back" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 90, "Curtains of Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 196, "I'll Remember You, Love, In My Prayers" (1 text)
Roud #4367
RECORDINGS:
Emry Arthur, "I'll Remember You Love In My Prayers" (Vocalion 5206, c. 1928)
Blue Ridge Mountain Singers, "I'll Remember You in My Prayers" (Columbia 15550-D, 1930)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "I'll Remember You Love" (King 550, 1946)
Betsy Lane Shepherd, "I'll Remember You, Love, In My Prayers" (Edison 80484, n.d.)
Floyd Skillern, "I'll Remember You Love in My Prayers" (Melotone 7-07-60, 1937)
Walter Smith, "I'll Remember You Love In My Prayers" (Champion 15730, 1929)
Tenneva Ramblers, "The Curtains of Night" (Victor 21289, 1928)
NOTES: Hazel Felleman's 1936 book _The Best Loved Poems of the American People_, p. 32, has a long version of this with the title "I'll Remember You, Love, in My Prayers." That version looks very composed, but she lists no author. It's not clear whether that is the original or if it is based on traditional materials. - RBW
File: San259
===
NAME: When the Day Is on the Turn: see When the Day's on the Turn (File: Ord279)
===
NAME: When the Day's on the Turn
DESCRIPTION: "Though the house be couth and warm, And aye a blazing fire, The lang nichts o' winter Maks everybody tire." They look forward to the time when "the day be on the turn." Then "the fair maid in the evening gaes lichtly..," "the cotter sits contented," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming nonballad work
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
GreigDuncan3 545, "When the Day is on the Turn" (1 text)
Ord, p. 279, "When the Day's on the Turn" (1 text)
Roud #5598 and 6021
File: Ord279
===
NAME: When the End of the Month Rolls Around
DESCRIPTION: A coarse description of women's monthly troubles
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1963
KEYWORDS: bawdy nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cray, pp. 346-348, "When the End of the Month Rolls Around" (2 texts, 1 tune)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "As the Caissons Go Rolling Along (Field Artillery Song)" (tune)
File: EM346
===
NAME: When the Flippers Strike the Town
DESCRIPTION: "You may talk about the pancakes That your mother used to fry... But this I got to tell you... The pancakes won't be 'in it' When the flippers 'strike the town.'" The song describes the enjoyable times when the flippers come back to home and family
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (Newfoundland Ballads and Stories)
KEYWORDS: sea hunting reunion food
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ryan/Small, p. 70, "When the Flippers Strike the Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The reference is to eating seals, and to the sealers coming back from the ice with their carcasses. According to Bob Bartlett (who should know; see his biography under "Captain Bob Bartlett"), "The flesh [of the seal] is by no means disagreeable, though it has a general flavor of fish, which constitutes the seal's chief food" (see p. 54 of _The Last Voyage of the Karluk_, as told to Ralph T. Hale; published 1916; now available with a new introduction by Edward E. Leslie as _The Karluk's Last Voyage_). - RBW
File: RySm070
===
NAME: When the Golden Sun Is Setting
DESCRIPTION: "When the golden sun is setting And your face I cannot see, Will you step before the looking-glass And kiss yourself for me?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1929 (Henry, from Mary King)
KEYWORDS: love separation
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 231, (third of several "Fragments from Tennessee") (1 fragment)
File: MHAp231C
===
NAME: When the Ice Worms Nest Again
DESCRIPTION: "There's a dusky husky maiden in the Arctic, And she waits for me but it is not in vain, For some day I'll put my mukluks on and ask her If she'll wed me when the ice-worms nest again." There follows a description of a wedding feast in an igloo
AUTHOR: unknown (various copyright claims)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938
KEYWORDS: Eskimo marriage humorous
FOUND_IN: US(Alaska) Canada(NW,West)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 186-188, "When the Ice Worms Nest Again" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 189-191, "When the Ice Worms Nest Again" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 169, "When the Iceworms Nest Again" (1 text)
DT, ICEWRM
Roud #4537
RECORDINGS:
Wilf Carter, "When the Ice Worms Nest Again" (Bluebird [Canada] 58-0129, c. 1950)
Loewen Orchestra, "When the Iceworms Nest Again" (on SaskMan1)
NOTES: Often associated with Robert W. Service (who did publish the song), Fowke thinks this piece "may date back to the Klondike gold rush of 1898." It was apparently first published in 1938, by the "Yellowknife Prospector" (which credited it to four men working along the Yukon River around 1919) and by Service in "Bath-Tub Ballads." Service reported that he wrote it in Dawson in 1911 -- but Fowke reports his version shows significant differences from the "common" text and tune.
"Ice worms" seemingly first appeared in "ice worm cocktails" (a term which may go back to Service). They were simply strands of pasta with eyes drawn on -- but the legend goes that they were used to intimidate inexperienced travellers who visited the Yukon, and who thought they were actual living things.
To be sure, there are actual creatures called "ice worms" (creatures that live on glaciers, coming out mostly at night, and somehow are able to increase their metabolism as temperatures go down. It is feared that global warming will render them extinct). But, based on a National Public Radio report at the end of 2005, even now, no one knows how these creatures reproduce, or how long they live; the author of this poem probably didn't know the real creatures even existed. - RBW
File: FJ186
===
NAME: When the King Comes O'er the Water (Lady Keith's Lament)
DESCRIPTION: "I may sit in my wee croo hoose, Wi' my rock and my reel tae toil, fu' dreary," but the singer is certain things will be better "The day our king comes o'er the water." Though old, she will rant and dance when he comes -- and she again becomes Lady Keith
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1819 (Hogg)
KEYWORDS: Jacobite return exile hardtimes work nobility age
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Hogg1 27, "When the King Comes O'er the Water " (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LDYKEITH
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 42, #1 (1997), p, 118-119, "Lady Keith's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: There seem to be no traditional collections of this (unless Hogg's is one) -- but it has become fairly popular in pop folk circles (presumably because of the magnificent if hard-to-sing tune). I have indexed it on that basis.
The notes in Sing Out! state nthat this is a Bonnie Prince Charlie song. I frankly don't think so. There are no explicit references (as the song says, "there is one I will not name"), but there is no mention of a young prince, or a young prince's father. And remember that the singer was, at some time, Lady Keith, but now has lost the title. The strong implication is that she had the title in 1688 ("when Royal Stuart held the sway And none heard tell of Whig or Tory"). If the song were beng sung 1745, the singer would be probably in her seventies at least. Far more likely that she is referring to the Old Pretender, perhaps around 1715. It could even be earlier -- she refers to a "foreign King," which sounds like the Hannoverians -- but William III was known as "Dutch William," so he was foreign too.
File: Hogg1027
===
NAME: When the King Enjoys His Own Again
DESCRIPTION: The singer scorns the prognostications of prophets and the like; "all will be well When the King enjoys his own again." He points out the age and quality of the Stuart monarchy. He says he will "never rejoyes" until the king (Charles I) returns to power
AUTHOR: Words: Probably Martin Parker
EARLIEST_DATE: 1671 ("The Loyal Garland")
KEYWORDS: royalty political rebellion
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1603 - James I (James VI of Scotland), the first of the Stuart monarchs, succeeds Elizabeth I as monarch of England
1625 - Charles I succeeds James I
1628 - Charles I comes in conflict with Parliament. He is forced to grant Civil Rights (the "Petition of Rights") in return for money.
1629 - Charles I dissolves Parliament and attempts to rule England directly
1640 - Charles I is forced to summon a Parliament (the "Short Parliament") to raise money. When it refuses to grant subsidies, he dissolves it and summons what would become the "Long Parliament"
1642 - Charles attempts to arrest five members of parliament. Eventually Parliament goes to war against Charles
1645 - Battle of Naseby. Charles decisively defeated.
1646 - Charles surrenders to the Scots. They eventually give him to the English, but Charles twists and turns and escapes before the English finally get him firmly in custody.
1649 - Trial and execution of Charles I. England formally a commonwealth.
1660 - Commonwealth dissolved. Accession of Charles II
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 210-214, "When the King Enjoys His Own Again" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, KINGNJOY*
SAME_TUNE:
Come brave England, be of good cheare/England's Joyful Holiday, Or, St. Georges Day (BBI ZN559)
The Whigs are small, and of no good race/ .. The Unfortunate Whigs (BBI ZN2905)
Cheer up your hearts, and be not afraid/The Cavaliers Comfort (BBI ZN481)
All you that do desire to know/The last Newes from France (BBU ZN126)
Good people all sing and rejoyce/The Christian Conquest [over Turks at Vienna, 1683] (BBI ZN1040)
What Booker can Prognosticate/Englands Great Prognosticator (BBI ZN2787)
NOTES: An obviously political piece, evidently written in the early 1640s. (This is proved both by the politics of the piece and by the "forty years" the house of Stuart is said to have reigned.) The oldest broadside copies do not indicate a printer; no doubt they were printed secretly. After the Restoration (1660), of course, the song was openly circulated.
It's hard to say which side in the Civil War was worse. Charles tried to be an absolute monarch, claiming powers no English king had exercised since Edward I (died 1307) -- indeed, he demanded some powers no king had ever had.
Even after the Roundheads had defeated Charles's Cavaliers, he could have salvaged most of his power by simply working with Parliament. But he continued to oppose them at every step of the way. Even when on trial for his life, he refused to recognize the validity of the court.
On the other hand, the members of the Long Parliament were no great bunch either. More or less forced into rebellion, they eventually turned into an unrepresentative group of bigots (by the end of the Parliament, over half those originally elected were retired, dead, imprisoned) who sought to enforce their Puritan opinions almost as aggressively as Charles had pursued his royalist agenda. - RBW
File: ChWI214
===
NAME: When the Kye Come Hame
DESCRIPTION: The singer says "the greatest bliss" for shepherds when "his ewes are in the fold and his lambs are lying still" "'tis to woo a bonnie lassie when the kye comes hame ... beneath the spreading birch in the dell"
AUTHOR: James Hogg (1770-1835) (Bodleian notes to broadside Firth b.26(194) and others; NLScotland commentary to L.C.Fol.70(5a))
EARLIEST_DATE: 1822 (Hogg's novel _The Three Perils of Man_ and revised with music in 1823 in _Blackwood's Magazine_, according to NLScotland commentary to L.C.Fol.70(5a))
KEYWORDS: sex nonballad animal sheep shepherd
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Bord))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Charles W. Eliot, editor, English Poetry Vol II From Collins to Fitzgerald (New York, 1910), #448, pp. 765-767, "When the Kye Comes Hame" (by James Hogg)
Roud #12919
RECORDINGS:
Willie Scott, "When the Kye Comes Hame" (on Voice20)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.26(194), "When the Kye Come Hame" ("Come all ye jolly shepherds"), John Ross (Newcastle), 1847-1852; also 2806 d.31(51), Harding B 11(4129), Harding B 11(4131), Harding B 11(3410), 2806 c.14(123), Harding B 11(4132), Harding B 26(670), Harding B 26(672), "When the Kye Come Hame"
LOCSheet, sm1846 410220, "When the Kye Come Hame," G. P. Reed (Boston), 1846; also sm1876 11358, "When the Kye Come Hame" (tune)
Murray, Mu23-y4:028, "When The Kye Come Hame," unknown, 19C
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(5a), "When the Kye Come Hame," unknown, c.1875
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Blathrie O't" (tune, per broadside Bodleian 2806 c.14(123))
NOTES: The cover to broadside LOCSheet sm1846 410220 states "Written by Hogg, the Etrick Shepherd Music by Wm Rogers." - BS
File: RcWTKCHa
===
NAME: When the Logs Come Down in the Spring
DESCRIPTION: Singer is lonesome for her lover, a logger who is off in the woods. She prays for his safety, and vows that she will rush to embrace him "when the logs come down in the spring."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: loneliness lumbering lover logger separation work love
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Beck 47, "When the Logs Come Down in the Spring" (1 text)
Roud #8875
File: Be047
===
NAME: When the New York Boat Comes Down: see The Glendy Burk (File: MA109)
===
NAME: When the Old Dun Cow Caught Fire
DESCRIPTION: Friends are in a pub "playing dominoes" when it is declared that the pub is on fire. Several serious imbibers, rather than flee, head for the cellar to drink the unprotected spirits. Eventually the firemen break into the cellar -- and join the fun
AUTHOR: Harry Wincott
EARLIEST_DATE: 1893 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous fire
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
DT, OLDUNCOW*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 31, #2 (1985), pp, 40-42, "When the Old Dun Cow Caught Fire" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5323
NOTES: Mostly a popular song, of course -- but the Copper Family sang it, and what more could anyone want? Also, the idea was quite popular; there is a New Zealand song, "The Day the Pub Burned Down" (DT DAYPBBRN) on the same idea -- only more extreme, because in it, the fire brigade uses the booze to fight the fire, and are attacked by the townsfolk for doing so. "Pub Burned Down" is clearly a composed song (inspired, I suspect, by the "Dun Cow"), but it has perhaps taken on a life of its own, since the DT version has substantial variants from the version I've heard. - RBW
File: DTolddun
===
NAME: When the Outport Member's Family Comes to Town
DESCRIPTION: A family from a remote outport had a successful season fishing, so they have moved to the town that is busily waiting for them and their money. They exchange outport ways for city habits.
AUTHOR: M. A. Devine
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940
KEYWORDS: recitation money vanity
FOUND_IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Doyle2, p. 76, "When the Outport Member's Family Comes to Town" (1 text)
Roud #7319
NOTES: The social satire in this song seems to be directed more at the vanities of urban life than outport life. Outports are small fishing villages outside of the cities and there have always been marked social distinctions between the inhabitants of the two. - SH
File: Doy76
===
NAME: When the Rebels Come A-Marchin' (The Turncoat Piece)
DESCRIPTION: "When the rebels come a-marchin' I'm a Southern man, And I feed their horses my best. When the Yankees come a-marchin' I'm a Northern man, And I feed their horses what the rebels left." The singer describes how he cooperates with both sides
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar humorous horse betrayal
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', p. 68, (no title) (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Vicar of Bray" (theme)
NOTES: Collected in Kentucky, where sentiments of course were split at the time of the Civil War and where both sides occasionally were in control. - RBW
File: ThBa068
===
NAME: When the Roses Bloom Again Beside the River: see I'll Be With You When the Roses Bloom Again (File: RcIBWYWt)
===
NAME: When the Saints Go Marching In
DESCRIPTION: "O when the saints go marching in (x2), Lord I want to be in that number, When the saints...." Similarly "When the sun refuse to shine"; "When the moon goes down in blood"; "We are traveling in the footsteps of those who've gone before"; etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1896 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US Bahamas
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 236, "When the Saints Go Marching In" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 154, "When the Saints Go Marching In" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 369, "When The Saints Go Marching In" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 641-642, "When the Saints Go Marching In"
Roud #13983
RECORDINGS:
Fiddlin' John Carson, "When The Saints Go Marching In" (Bluebird B-5560, 1934)
Chosen Gospel Singers, "When the Saints Go Marching In" (Nashboro 567, n.d.)
Chuck Wagon Gang, "When The Saints Go Marching In" (Columbia 20630, 1949)
Blind Willie Davis, "When the Saints Go Marching In" (Paramount 12658, 1928; Herwin 93005 [as Blind Willie Jackson], 1929; on Babylon)
Slim Ducket & Pig Norwood, "When the Saints Go Marching In" (OKeh 8899, 1931; rec. 1930)
Eureka Jubilee Singers, "When the Saints Go Marching In" (Sharon X-507, n.d.)
The Georgia Peach [Clara Belle Gholston] "When the Saints Go Marching In" (Banner 32654/Oriole 8191/Romeo 5191/Perfect 0221 [possibly as Clara Belle Gholston]/Melotone 12571, 1933; rec. 1932; on Babylon)
Elder Ella Hall, Effie Fitts, Jennie Jackson & congregation "When the Saints Go Marching" (on MuSouth10)
Eureka Band, "When the Saints Go Marching In" [instrumental version] (on MuSouth10)
Frank & James McCravy, "When the Saints Go Marching Home" (Brunswick 196, 1928; rec. 1927) (OKeh 45435, 1930)
Monroe Brothers, "When the Saints Go Marching In" (Montgomery Ward M-7142, 1937)
Mozelle Moore, "When the Saints Go Marching" [instrumental version] (on MuSouth10)
John D. Mounce et al, "When the Saints Go Marching In" (on MusOzarks01)
Pace Jubilee Singers w. Hattie Parker, "When The Saints Go Marching In" (Victor 21582, 1928)
Paramount Jubilee Singers, "When All The Saints Come Marching In" (Paramount 12073, 1923)
Snowball & Sunshine, "When the Saints Go Marching In" (Columbia 15722-D, 1932; rec. 1931)
Horace Sprott & group "When the Saints Go Marching Home" (on MuSouth02)
Wheat Street Female Quartet, "When the Saints Go Marching In" (Columbia 14067-D, 1925)
NOTES: This song was published twice in 1896, once (according to the copyright records; no copies of the music survive) as by J. M. Black and once with words credited to Katherine E. Purvis and music by Black. (We should note, however, that Eldar Hasund, who has seen the copy which survives, does not consider it the same in either text or tune).
The song is very likely older in any case, as it was collected in Nassau by the McCutcheons in 1917 (again in a form unlike modern pop versions, though recognizably the same song and with much the same tune), and may have originated in the Bahamas. - RBW
File: LoF236
===
NAME: When the Shantyboy Comes Down: see The Lumberman in Town (File: LxU051)
===
NAME: When the Snow Was Deep (Feeding the Birds)
DESCRIPTION: "When the snow was deep, I sprinkled crumbs for the birds to eat. They would chirp for food -- The bluebirds and sparrows were in pleasant mood. They would go and come back, but not all would go, Some would stay... and eat the crumbs...."
AUTHOR: George Mefford Bell?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: bird food nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thomas-Makin', p. 255, "When the Snow Was Deep (Feeding the Birds)" (1 text)
NOTES: Reportedly written when Bell was only seven years old. - RBW
File: ThBa255
===
NAME: When the Stars Begin to Fall
DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "My Lord, what a morning (x3) When the stars begin to fall." Verses: "You'll hear the sinner moan...." "You'll hear the gambler groan...." "You'll hear the sinner pray...." "You'll hear the Christians sing...." "You'll see my Jesus come...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
Allen/Ware/Garrison, pp. 25-26, "Stars Begin to Fall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 237, "When the Stars Begin to Fall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 360, "My Lord, What A Mourning" (1 text)
DT, STARFALL
Roud #3408
RECORDINGS:
Blue Sky Boys, "When The Stars Begin to Fall" (Bluebird B-7472, 1938)
Campbell College Quartet, "My Lord What a Morning" (OKeh 8900, 1931; rec. 1930)
Pace Jubilee Singers, "My Lord What a Morning" (Victor 20225, 1926)
Frank Proffitt, "Oh, Lord, What a Morning" (on FProffitt01)
Rambling Kid and the Professor, "When the Stars Begin to Fall" (Melotone 7-08-71, 1937)
Preston & Hobart Smith, "When the Stars Begin to Fall" (on LomaxCD1704)
Sunset Jubilee Quartet, "Oh Lord What a Morning" (Paramount 12285, 1925; as Down Home Jubilee Quartette, Herwin 92008, n.d.)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sinners Will Call for the Rocks and the Mountains" (words)
File: LoF237
===
NAME: When the Stormy Winds do Blow: see Ye Gentlemen of England (I) [Laws K2] (File: LK02)
===
NAME: When the Train Comes Along
DESCRIPTION: "I may be blind and cannot see, But I'll meet you at the station when the train comes along. "When the train comes along (x2), I'll meet you at the station when the train comes along." The singer looks forward to meeting Jesus and a happy life
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (recording, Odette Jacson and Ethel Grainger)
KEYWORDS: religious train nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 633-635, "When the Train Comes Along" (2 texts, 1 tune)
ST LSRai633 (Full)
Roud #11525
RECORDINGS:
Uncle Dave Macon, "When the Train Comes Along" (Champion 16805/Champion 45105/Decca 5373/Decca 34317, 1934)
NOTES: Cohen notes that Dave Macon significantly modified this song from the usual version recorded several times in the 1920s and 1930s. In this case, though, Macon actually made the song more full and coherent. Which perhaps tells you how short most of the other known versions are. - RBW
File: LSRai633
===
NAME: When the Wild Roses Bloom Again Beside the River: see I'll Be With You When the Roses Bloom Again (File: RcIBWYWt)
===
NAME: When the Work is Done This Fall: see When the Work's All Done This Fall (File: LB03)
===
NAME: When the Work's All Done This Fall [Laws B3]
DESCRIPTION: A cowboy tells of his plans to at last go home and see his mother "when the work's all done this fall." Soon after, the cattle stampede. The cowboy controls the herd but is fatally injured in the process. He will not see his mother; he sends tokens home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1893 (published by D. J. O'Malley in _Stock Grower's Journal_)
KEYWORDS: cowboy work death mother
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So,Ro) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
Laws B3, "When the Work's All Done This Fall"
Sandburg, pp. 260-262, "When the Work's All Done This Fall" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 264, "When the Work is Done This Fall" (1 text)
Fife-Cowboy/West 81, "When the Work's All Done This Fall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 282-283, "When the Work's All Done This Fall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 97, "The Cowboy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 263, "When The Work's All Done This Fall" (1 text)
DT 371, WORKDONE*
Roud #450
RECORDINGS:
Jules Allen, "When The Work's All Done This Fall" (Victor V-40263, 1930; rec. 1929)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "The Dixie Cowboy" (OKeh 7004, 1924)
The Cartwright Brothers, "When The Work's All Done This Fall" (Columbia 15346-D, 1929)
Bill Childers, "When the Work's All Done This Fall" (OKeh 45203, 1928)
Al Cramer [possible pseud. Vernon Dalhart], "When the Work's All Done This Fall" (Broadway 8060, n.d.)
Vernon Dalhart, "When the Work's All Done This Fall" (Banner 6086/Domino 0192, 1927; Challenge 683/Challenge 688, 1928; Conqueror 7737, 1931)
J. D. Farley, "I'm a Lone Star Cowboy" (Victor V-40269, 1930; Montgomery Ward M-4300, 1933; rec. 1929; on WhenIWas2)
Harry Jackson, "When the Work's All Done This Fall" (on HJackson1)
Bradley Kincaid, "When The Work's All Done This Fall" (Gennett 6989, 1929) (Brunswick 403/Supertone S-2017, 1930)
Frank Luther, "When the Work's All Done This Fall" (Grey Gull 4264 [as Jeff Calhoun]/Van Dyke 74264 [as Jeff Calhoun]/Radiex 4264 [as Carlton Boxill], 1929; Madison 5013 [as Tom Cook], c. 1930) (Melotone M-12143 [as Phil & Frank Luther]/Vocalion 5483 [as Luther Bros.], 1931)
Claude Moye, "When the Work's All Done This Fall" (Champion 15688 [as Asparagus Joe]/Supertone 9351 [as Pie Plant Pete], 1929; Champion 45064 [as Asparagus Joe], c. 1935)
Aulton Ray, "The Dixie Cowboy" (Challenge 335 [as Charlie Prescott]/Champion 15277/Silvertone 5084, 1927; Supertone 9250, 1928) (Herwin 75552, c. 1927)
George Reneau, "When The Work's All Done This Fall" (Vocalion 15150/Vocalion 5079, 1925)
Rodeo Twins, "When the Work's All Done this Fall" (Victor V-40186, 1930; rec. 1929)
Carl T. Sprague, "When the Work's All Done This Fall" Victor 19747, 1925; Montgomery Ward M-8060, 1939; on AuthCowboys, BackSaddle)
Ernest V. Stoneman, "When The Work's All Done This Fall" (Edison 51788, 1926) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5188, 1926)
Taylor's Kentucky Boys "The Dixie Cowboy" (on WhenIWas1, KMM) [Note: As Aulton Ray sang the lead on this recording, it's possible, maybe even likely, that it is identical with the recording on Challenge/Champion/Supertone. But until I've verified that, I'm keeping them separate]
Vagabonds, "When the Work's All Done This Fall" (Bluebird B-5300/Montgomery Ward M-4442, 1934)
Frankie Wallace, "When the Work's All Done This Fall" (Romeo 913, 1929)
Frank Wheeler & Monroe Lamb, "A Jolly Group of Cowboys" (Victor V-40169, 1929; Montgomery Ward M-4470, 1934)
Marc Williams, "When the Work's All Done This Fall" (Brunswick 244, 1928; Supertone S-2054, 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Virginia Strike of '23" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
The Virginia Strike of '23 (File: LSRA591)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
After the Roundup (published by D. J. O'Malley under that title)
NOTES: The most likely author of this is D. J. O'Malley, who seems to have been responsible for the earliest printed version. But Laws does not mention the attribution to O'Malley, and notes that J. Frank Dobie attributes it to Marshall Johnson of Texas. I know of no verifiable field collection before the Carl T. Sprague recording from 1925. - RBW
File: LB03
===
NAME: When the World Is on Fire
DESCRIPTION: "The world is on fire. What are you going to do? What are you going to do When the world is on fire?" "I am going to fly... I am going home... I am going to shout." "Sinners want to pray... I am going to fly." A "very fluid" song.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 653, "When the World is On Fire" (1 text)
Roud #11789
File: Br3653
===
NAME: When the World's on Fire: see My Lovin' Father (When the World's On Fire) (File: R637)
===
NAME: When Things Go Wrong with You
DESCRIPTION: "I love you, baby, I ain't gonna lie, Without you, honey, I just can't be satisfied. Cause when things go wrong, so wrong with you, Well, it hurts me too." The singer hopes to be the girl's man, and wants to make her happy. He promises to treat her well
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: love nonballad
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 78, "When Things Go Wrong With You" (1 text)
NOTES: This comes from the singing of Big Bill Broonzy, and he probably had at least some hand in the text, but it is generally not listed as his composition. - RBW
File: FSWB078
===
NAME: When This Cruel War is Over (Weeping Sad and Lonely)
DESCRIPTION: The girl asks her soldier, "Dearest love, do you remember, when we last did meet, How you told me that you loved me...." She fears for him, but urges him to fight. She is "weeping sad and lonely... When this cruel war is over, pray that we meet again."
AUTHOR: Words: Charles C. Sawyer / Music: Henry Tucker
EARLIEST_DATE: 1863 (published by Sawyer & Thompson (Brooklyn))
KEYWORDS: Civilwar soldier separation injury battle
FOUND_IN: US Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
GreigDuncan1 103, "Weeping Sad and Lonely" (1 text)
Belden, p. 381, "When This Cruel War is Over" (1 text)
BrownIII 390, "When This Cruel War is Over" (1 text plus 1 excerpt, 1 fragment, and mention of 2 more; the one full text is the Southern adaption of the song)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 42-43, "Weeping Sad and Lonely" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hill-CivWar, pp. 232-233, "When This Cruel War Is Over" (1 text)
Arnett, pp. 88-89, "When This Cruel War is Over" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 276, "Weeping Sad And Lonely (When This Cruel War Is Over)" (1 text)
DT, WHENOVER*
ST SCW42 (Full)
Roud #3446
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 18(735), "When This Cruel War is Over" ("Dearest love, do you remember," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also Harding B 26(673), "A new song call'd When This Cruel War Is Over"[, P. Brereton (Dublin)]; 2806 c.8(225), "A much-admired American song called Cruel War Is Over"[, Haly (Cork)]
LOCSinging, sb40571b, "When This Cruel War Is Over," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also cw106550, cw106560, cw106570, cw106580, hc00032c, "When This Cruel War Is Over"
NOTES: This is widely believed to be the most popular of the war songs (at least among Union troops). After the war, however, its rather maudlin sentiments caused it to lose its place to songs such as "Tenting Tonight." (For details, as well as a sample stanza, see Bruce Catton, _Mr. Lincoln's Army_, p. 171). - RBW
Note the Irish broadsides.
There is a cover sheet, at Historic American Sheet Music, "Weeping, Sad and Lonely; When This Cruel War Is Over," Music A-4826, Duke University Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library, published by Sawyer & Thompson (Brooklyn), 1863.
See the parody broadsides: Bodleian, Harding B 31(96), "When This Cruel Draft Is Over!" ("Dearest William, they will draft you"), H. De Marsan (New York) , 1861-1864; Bodleian, Harding B 31(116), "Parody on When This Cruel War Is Over ("Och, Biddy dear, do you remember"), H. De Marsan (New York) , 1861-1864; also Harding B 31(130), Harding B 18(394)["As written and sung by Joseph Murphy, in San Francisco"], "Parody on 'When This Cruel War is Over'"
See the parody broadside LOCSinging, cw104560, "Parody on When This Cruel War Is Over," Johnson (Philadelphia), no date
"See also broadside, Bodleian, Harding B 18(564), "Yes, I Would the War Were Over. Answer to 'When this cruel war is over'"" ("Yes, I would the war were over"), C. Magnus (New York), 1863, attributed to Alice Hawthorne.
Broadsides LOCSinging sb40571b, Bodleian Harding B 18(735), Harding B 31(96) and Harding B 31(116): 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.
Broadsides LOCSinging sb40571b and Bodleian Harding B 18(735) are duplicates. - BS
File: SCW42
===
NAME: When This Old Hat Was New
DESCRIPTION: A litany of complaints about the days "When this old hat was new." Subject can seemingly vary as long as it talks about long ago. At least one version talks about the evolution of American politics (used during the 1840 campaign)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1912 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: political
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: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, p. 336, "When This Old Hat Was New" (1 text)
Roud #7841
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Mullnabeeny (Mill of Boyndie)" (the concept of "When this old hat was new")
NOTES: Although the only version of this I can pin down is Belden's, a campaign piece from the 1840 Harrison/Van Buren election, the catch phrase is much more common (see Roud #1693). It seems as if the idea was too good to let alone.
The "locos" are the "loco-foco" faction of the Democratic party, a radical group which emerged 1835. (They were so-called for the matches, or "loco-focos," they used to light candles after the Tammany Hall group tried to suppress them by turning out the gas lights at a convention.) They didn't have a clear platform so much as a desire to clean up government, monopolies, and banking.
The statement that "Van Buren was a Fed" is a reference to the Federalist party -- hardly a fair criticism, since the Democratic party did not exist in his youth. - RBW
File: Beld336
===
NAME: When This Old Hat Was New (II)
DESCRIPTION: "When my auld hat was new" at harvest the master provided drink and set a feast; his wife "gie every one their due." Now the master's wife wears fine silk. Instead of a feast harvest workers are treated like beggars and "near their hoose ye dauna gang."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greig #101, pp. 1-2, "When My Auld Hat Was New" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 540, "The Auld Hat" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #1693
File: GrD3540
===
NAME: When This Old Hat Was New (III)
DESCRIPTION: "When this old hat was new": "provisions now are twice as dear"; "men could take each other's word." "Now the people are so poor ... plenty, aye, did then abound" "The commons they are taken in, and cottages pull'd down, And Moggy has no wool to spin"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 28(56))
KEYWORDS: poverty commerce hardtimes nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 541, "I Am Now a Poor Auld Man in Years" (1 fragment)
Roud #1693
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(56), "When My Old Hat Was New ("I am a poor old man in years, come listen to my song"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 25(1408)[some words illegible], Harding B 22(228), "[The] Old Hat"
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 is a fragment; broadside Bodleian Harding B 28(56) is the basis for the description. - BS
File: GrD3541
===
NAME: When This Old Hat Was New (IV)
DESCRIPTION: "This old hat was new once" "The rich then gave out food and coals to keep the poor ... the poor did never want." "Our tars were never press'd For they did boldly volunteer." "Husbandmen ... did work both soon and late But now ... are forced to emigrate."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 2006 (Bodleian broadside indexed)
KEYWORDS: poverty emigration commerce hardtimes nonballad pressgang
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: ()
Roud #1693
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4138), "When This Old Hat Was New" ("This old hat was new once, but I cannot tell you when"), unknown, no date
NOTES: I have to think this particular "Old Hat" the work of a propagandistic poet. There was *never* a time when tars "were never pressed"; conditions in the Royal Navy were consistently worse than those in the merchant service. It is true that sailors were unusually likely to desert in the period between the American Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars (which seems the most likely date for the song). This is because inflation was eating away at the always-inadequate pay of the sailors, and dishonest contractors were feeding them garbage. These conditions improved, at least somewhat, after the Spithead and Nore mutinies, for which see "Poor Parker." - RBW
File: GrD354A
===
NAME: When Uncle Sam's Doughboy Roped a Wild Irish Rose
DESCRIPTION: An "Uncle Sam's Doughboy" goes to Ireland and pursues a "wild Irish rose" who "ran through the trees like a wild mountain deer." But now she "gets tamer each day" and is becoming willing to return to the West with him
AUTHOR: Rusty Holman (?)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: courting cowboy
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ohrlin-HBT 79, "When Uncle Sam's Doughboy Roped a Wild Irish Rose" (1 text)
File: Ohr079
===
NAME: When We Do Meet Again
DESCRIPTION: "When we do meet again (x3), 'Twill be no more to part." "Brother Billy, fare you well (c2), We'll sing hallelujah, When we do meet again."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious separation reunion nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 41, "When We Do Meet Again (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11995
File: AWG041B
===
NAME: When We Get Our Tuppence Back
DESCRIPTION: The bosses at Lithgow lower the pay rate for coal by a tuppence. The miners go on strike: "We will never work for you Till you give that tuppence back, Charlie dear." The strike is bitter, with many scabs brought in. But the miners hold firm
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: mining scab strike work Australia
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1911 - Strike at the Hoskin Mine near Lithgow, New South Wales. The miners asked for a raise of tuppence per load; mine boss Charles Hoskin responded by lowering pay rates the same amount. Hoskin brought in scabs and resorted to intimidation, but eventually the miners won.
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 208-209, "When We Get Our Tuppence Back" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE208
===
NAME: When We Were Two Little Boys
DESCRIPTION: Two boys are playing; one's hobby-horse breaks; his brother says "I couldn't bear to see you crying/When there's room on my horse for two." They become soldiers; one is wounded, the other rescues him, saying "I couldn't bear to see you dying...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1903 (recording, Billy Murray)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Two boys are playing; one's hobby-horse breaks; his brother comforts him, saying "I couldn't bear to see you crying/When there's room on my horse for two." They grow up and become soldiers; one is wounded, the other rescues him, saying "I couldn't bear to see you dying/When there's room on my horse for two." They remember when they were two little boys
KEYWORDS: love army battle fight war reunion rescue injury brother family soldier
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Dixon Brothers, "Two Little Boys" (Montgomery Ward M-7336, c. 1937)
Billy Murray, "When We Were Two Little Boys" (Monarch [Victor] 2468, 1903)
NOTES: Although the text doesn't say so, this song is almost certainly set in the Civil War. - PJS
And it has the sickeningly saccharine sound of songs of that era, too. - RBW
File: RcWWW2LB
===
NAME: When wild War's deadly Blast was blawn: see The Deadly Wars (File: SOv23n3)
===
NAME: When Will Ye Gang Awa'? (Huntingtower) [Laws O23]
DESCRIPTION: Janie asks what Jamie will bring her when he crosses the sea. He promises a new gown, then a "gallant gay." She wants only him. He submits that he has a wife and children. She is distressed; he promises to marry her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (Creighton/Senior); related text from 1827 (Kinloch)
KEYWORDS: courting clothes trick marriage
FOUND_IN: Canada(Mar) US(NE)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Child 232, "Richie Story" (9 texts; the text in the Appendix is this song)
Bronson 232, "Richie Story" (9 versions, but #9 is "When Will Ye Gang Awa'? (Huntingtower)" [Laws O23], and #7 and #8 may be as well)
Laws O23, "When Will Ye Gang Awa'? (Huntingtower)"
Creighton/Senior, pp. 217-218,"When Will Ye Gan Awa'?" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #9}
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 273-277, "Huntingtower" (2 texts, 1 tune)
DT 482, DATHOL
Roud #345
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, RB.m.143(127), "Hunting Tower, Or when ye Gang Awa' Jamie," Poet's Box (Dundee), unknown
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Richie Story" [Child 232]
NOTES: For the relationship of this song to "Richie Story" [Child 232], see the notes on that song. - RBW
File: LO23
===
NAME: When Ye Gang Awa Johnnie
DESCRIPTION: Jennie wants Johnnie to give up drinking. He is unconvinced until she cries because the children will learn to drink from him. He resolves "that never mair I'll touch the barley bree." She is happy.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: drink dialog husband wife
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 589, "Fin Ye Gang Awa Johnnie" (2 texts)
Roud #6042
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Farewell to Whisky (Johnny My Man)" (theme)
File: GrD3589
===
NAME: When You and I Must Part: see My Dearest Dear (File: SKE40)
===
NAME: When You and I Were Young, Maggie
DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls the days when he and Maggie were young -- the creek and the mill they wandered by, the meadows they wandered, the birds they heard. Now the mill is still, and the flowers are gone, but she is still just as beautiful in his eyes
AUTHOR: Words: George W. Johnson / Music: J. A. Butterfield
EARLIEST_DATE: 1866
KEYWORDS: love courting age nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(MW,SE) Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (8 citations)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 237-240, "When You and I Were Young, Maggie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, p. 159, "When You And I Were Young" (1 text)
Dean, pp. 93-94, "When You and I Were Young, Maggie" (1 text)
BrownII 137, "When You and I Were Young, Maggie" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
Silber-FSWB, p. 248, "When You And I Were Young, Maggie" (1 text)
Gilbert, p. 22, "When You and I Were Young Maggie" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 643, "When You and I Were Young, Maggie"
DT, YOUNGMAG*
ST RJ19237 (Full)
Roud #3782
RECORDINGS:
Archie Anderson, "When You and I Were Young, Maggie" (Columbia A-1447, 1913)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "When You And I Were Young, Maggie" (Okeh 40020, 1924; rec. 1923)
Frank & James McCravy, "When You and I Were Young, Maggie" (Brunswick 197, 1928; rec. 1927)
McMichen's Melody Men, "When You and I Were Young" (Columbia 15247-D, 1928; rec. 1927)
[?] Morgan & [Frank] Stanley, "When You and I Were Young Maggie" (Victor 4428, 1905)
Roy Newman's Boys, "When You and I Were Young, Maggie" (Vocalion 03598, 1937)
Will Oakland, "When You and I Were Young, Maggie" (CYL: Edison 9980, 1908) (CYL: Edison [BA] 1873 [as Will Oakland & chorus], n.d.)
Riley Puckett, "When You And I Were Young, Maggie" (Columbia 15005-D, c. 1924)
George Reneau, "When You And I Were Young, Maggie" (Vocalion 14814, 1924)
Howard Shelley, "When You and I Were Young, Maggie" (Bell 1117, c. 1923)
Walter Van Brunt, "When You and I Were Young, Maggie" (CYL: Edison [BA] 3130, n.d.)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Sweet Genevieve" (theme)
cf. "Silver Threads among the Gold" (theme)
cf. "The Old Rustic Bridge by the Mill" (theme)
File: RJ19237
===
NAME: When You Feel Like Moaning
DESCRIPTION: "When you feel like moanin', it ain't nothin' but love... It must be the Holy Ghost comin' down from above.... When you hear me prayin', that ain't nothin' but love.... When you love everybody... Do you love your preacher...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (recording, Rich Amerson)
KEYWORDS: religious clergy nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 238-240, "When You Feel Like Moaning" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10963
RECORDINGS:
Rich Amerson, "When You Feel Like Moaning" (on NFMAla4)
File: CNFM238
===
NAME: When You Go A-Courtin': see Come All You Virginia Girls (Arkansas Boys; Texian Boys; Cousin Emmy's Blues; etc.) (File: R342)
===
NAME: When You Go to Get Your Shears
DESCRIPTION: "When you go to get your shears You're not allowed to pick. The first pair that you collar, Then it's to that pair you stick. It is the boss's orders; If you do not like the trick, You can go somewhere else to look for shearing."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: sheep work Australia boss
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 281-282, "When You Go to Get Your Shears" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA281
===
NAME: When Young Men Go Courting: see Bachelor's Hall (II) (File: AF120)
===
NAME: Whene'er I Take My Walks Abroad
DESCRIPTION: "Whene'er I take my walks abroad How many poor I see; What shall I render to my God For all his gifts to me?" "No more than others I deserve, Yet God has given me more, For I have food while others starve Or beg from door to door."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1936 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious poverty
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 652, "Whene'er I Take My Walks Abroad" (1 short text plus an excerpt from a parody)
Roud #7573
NOTES: Although Randolph collected this piece in 1936, it is obviously older, as a parody was reported in 1904.
File: R652
===
NAME: Where am I to go, M' Johnnies?
DESCRIPTION: Shanty. "Where am I to go me Johnnies, where am I to go? To me way hey, hey, high, roll an' go. For I'm a young sailor boy, and where am I to go?" subsequent verses answer "way up the t'gallant yard," "around Cape Horn," "through the ice and snow," etc...
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
KEYWORDS: shanty sailor travel
FOUND_IN: Britain US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Hugill, pp. 169-170, "Where am I to go, M' Johnnies?" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 137]
NOTES: Gordon Bok's book _Time and the Flying Snow_ seems to imply that he learned this song from Hugill -- but his tune is slightly different, and his text also differs. Hugill's seems to be the only field collection; I don't know if Bok modified the song or if others did it before him. - RBW
File: Hugi169
===
NAME: Where Am I to Go?: see Where am I to go, M' Johnnies? (File: Hugi169)
===
NAME: Where Are You Going To, My Pretty Maid?: see Rolling in the Dew (The Milkmaid) (File: R079)
===
NAME: Where Are You Going, My Good Old Man?: see My Good Old Man (File: R426)
===
NAME: Where Are You Going, My Pretty Fair Maid? (I): see Seventeen Come Sunday [Laws O17] (File: LO17)
===
NAME: Where Are You Going, My Pretty Fair Maid? (II): see Rolling in the Dew (The Milkmaid) (File: R079)
===
NAME: Where Derry Meets Tyrone
DESCRIPTION: "Have you ever been to Ireland where Derry meets Tyrone?" The singer describes the beauty of the country, the "queen of nature," the kindly welcome a visitor may expect.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H601, pp. 174-175, "Where Derry Meets Tyrone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13535
File: HHH601
===
NAME: Where Did You Get That Hat?
DESCRIPTION: The singer, to inherit his grandfather's property, is required to wear grandfather's hat. Now, wherever he goes, people cry out to him, "Where did you get that hat?... Isn't it a nobby one, and just the proper style...."
AUTHOR: Joseph J. Sullivan
EARLIEST_DATE: 1888 (Copyright)
KEYWORDS: clothes humorous marriage
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Geller-Famous, pp. 42-44, "Where Did You Get That Hat?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 137-138, "Where Did You Get That Hat?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert, p. 151, "Where Did You Get That Hat?" (1 text)
ST SRW137 (Full)
Roud #4877
RECORDINGS:
Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers, "Where Did You Get That Hat" (Columbia 15097-D, 1926)
Edith Perrin, "Where Did You Get That Hat?" [excerpt?] (on USWarnerColl01)
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(97b), "Where Did You Get That Hat," Poet's Box (Glasgow), c. 1880-1900
NOTES: According to Gilbert, Sullivan, a blackface minstrel, found a very tall hat one day while rummaging through his parents' attic. He being short, he thought the tall hat would make a humorous addition to his act. To test this, he went out one day wearing the hat. A gang of urchins harassed him, asking "Where did you get that hat?" Hence this song.
We should note, however, that there are variations on this legend: All agree that Sullivan found a hat and tried it in his act -- but according to James J. Geller, the humor lay in the fact that the hat was small and Sullivan quite hefty; the hat didn't fit him. - RBW
File: SRW137
===
NAME: Where Did You Sleep Last Night?: see In the Pines (File: LoF290)
===
NAME: Where Does Father Christmas Go To?
DESCRIPTION: We know about Mary and her lamb, servant girl Maria blown through the roof, Burglar Bill of Pentonville on the scaffold, the rich man on the Continent and the poor man on the dole. But [chorus] "where does Father Christmas go to in the summertime?"
AUTHOR: Fred Schuff (source: Yates, Musical Traditions site _Voice of the People suite_ "Notes - Volume 16" - 13.9.02)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1978 (recording, Sam Bond)
KEYWORDS: Christmas humorous nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: ()
Roud #12927
RECORDINGS:
Sam Bond, "Where Does Father Christmas Go To?" (on Voice16)
NOTES: Musical Traditions note has this song written in 1926. - BS
File: RcWDFCG
===
NAME: Where Have You Been Today, Billy, My Son: see Lord Randal [Child 12] (File: C012)
===
NAME: Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight?
DESCRIPTION: Singer (presumably the mother, although it's not stated) weeps for her wandering boy, saying he was once "my joy and light". She begs the listener to find her boy and "tell him I love him still"
AUTHOR: Robert Lowry
EARLIEST_DATE: 1896 (recording, J. W. Myers)
KEYWORDS: grief loneliness rambling separation mother children
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Silber-FSWB, p. 270, "Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight?" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Henry Burr, "Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight?" (Little Wonder 226, 1915) (Resona 75016, 1919) (Standard 199, n.d.)
Vernon Dalhart, "Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight" (Columbia 15072-D, 1926; Harmony 767-H, 1928)
Edison Mixed Quartet, "Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight?" (CYL: Edison Blue Amberol 2125, n.d.)
Giddens Sisters, "Where Is My Wandering Boy?" (OKeh 45143, 1927)
Hall & Ryan, "Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight" (Globe 4066, c. 1924)
Sid Harkreader, "Where Is My Boy Tonight" (Vocalion 15075, 1925)
Harry Macdonough, "Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight" (CYL: Edison 1559, c. 1898)
J. W. Myers, "Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight?" (CYL: Columbia 31357, c. 1900) (Berliner 0918, rec. 1896)
Peerless Quartet, "Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight" (Paramount 33010, 1919)
Riley Puckett, "Where Is My Wandering Boy Tonight" (Columbia 15004-D, rec. 1924)
Unidentified baritone "Where Is My Wandering Boy To-Night" (Busy Bee 1120, c. 1906)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Blue Ridge Mountain Blues" (quotes this song)
SAME_TUNE:
Where Is My Wandering Boy (IWW) (Greenway-AFP, p. 176)
NOTES: This should not be confused with "The Wandering Boy," a different song from the looks of it. - PJS
They are indeed different, though the concept is similar. - RBW
File: FSWB270
===
NAME: Where Is Old Elijah? (The Hebrew Children, The Promised Land)
DESCRIPTION: "Where oh where is old Elijah? (x3) 'Way over in the Promised Land. He went up in a fiery chariot (x3) 'Way over in the promised land. By and by we will go and see him...." Unrelated verses on Biblical themes, e.g. "Where are the Hebrew children"
AUTHOR: Peter Cartwright?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1832 (Sacred Harp)
KEYWORDS: Bible religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
BrownIII 646, "Way Over in the Promised Land" (1 text)
Belden, pp. 457-459, "The Promised Land" (2 texts, 1 tune, the second text purporting to be a translation into an Indian language though neither Belden nor I can say which one)
Fuson, pp. 205-206, "Safe at Home in the Promised Land" (1 text)
Sandburg, pp. 92-93, "Where O Where Is Old Elijah?" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 160, "(Where, Oh, where is Elijah?" (1 short text)
ST San092 (Partial)
Roud #4213
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Paw-Paw Patch" (tune & meter)
NOTES: Elijah's transportation to heaven in a fiery chariot is described in 2 Kings 2:11.
Absalom's rebellion against his father David occupies 2 Samuel 15-18 (Absalom's death occurs in 18:9-18); the extended story of David's sin and its consequences, including the rebellion, occupies 2 Samuel 11-19.
According to the Sacred Harp, the tune is by Peter Cartwright (1785-1872), and is known as "Hebrew Children." No author is listed for the words, however, and the versions show strong variations. Fred W. Allsopp, in _Folklore of Romantic Arkansas_, Volume II, p. 160, says that it has been sung by "professional minstels." - RBW
File: San092
===
NAME: Where Moyola Waters Flow
DESCRIPTION: The singer describes the "little cot I've never seen" (!) at home by the Moyola. Living in America, he misses Ireland, "Where a dear old mother's mourning As she keeps the home fires burning For the emigrants returning."
AUTHOR: James O'Kane
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: emigration separation homesickness
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
SHenry H787, p. 215, "Where Moyola Waters Flow" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: HHH787
===
NAME: Where O Where Is Old Elijah?: see Where Is Old Elijah? (The Hebrew Children, The Promised Land) (File: San092)
===
NAME: Where Shall I Be?: see O Where Will Ye Be? (File: ChFRA083)
===
NAME: Where the Bravest Cowboys Lie
DESCRIPTION: The singer, a mountain resident, courts a girl; she agrees to marry him if he becomes a cowboy. Despite his parents' advice, he takes to the trail -- and suffers cold, snow, and Indian attacks. The singer wishes to "fly to where the bravest cowboys lie."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: love courting travel cowboy fight death Indians(Am.)
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fife-Cowboy/West 55, "Where the Bravest Cowboys Lie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11086
NOTES: I have to suspect that the Fife version of this piece is a fusion of two pieces, one in which an Indian attack was foiled and another in which it succeeded. (The introduction, about loving the girl, might even be a third piece). As the song stands, it doesn't really make sense. But since I can't identify the earlier pieces, I have to list it as one. - RBW
File: FCW055
===
NAME: Where the Gadie Rins (I)
DESCRIPTION: The singer wishes she were "Where the Gadie rins." She recalls her (ane/twa) richt love(s). "The ane he was killed at the Lowrin fair, and t'ither wis drowned in Dee." She has twice been a bride but never a wife. She recalls her mourning
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: love marriage death wife mourning
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Ord, pp. 347-348, "Oh! Gin I Were Where Gaudie Rins" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Ord347 (Full)
Roud #(5404)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Where the Gadie Rins" (II), etc. (tune, chorus)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Where the Gaudie Rins
NOTES: The melody "Where (the) Gadie Rins" is said to be a common pipe tune in Scotland. (MacColl and Seeger date it to 1815; Ord suspects the eighteenth century.) Like some other pipe tunes (e.g. "The Flowers of the Forest), it seems to have picked up various texts.
One may suspect that, like some fiddle tunes, it had a mnemonic verse or two. All the texts seem to have a lyric similar to:
Oh, gin I were whaur the Gadie rins,
The Gadie rins, the Gadie rins,
Oh, gin I were whaur the Gadie rins
At the back o Bennachie
or
But there's meal and there's ale whaur the Gadie rins,
The Gadie rins, the Gadie rins,
But there's meal and there's ale whaur the Gadie rins
At the back o Bennachie.
Ord calls the air "one of the best-known songs in the North of Scotland," but says that most people know only fragments of verses. This text gets pride of place as the only one I've heard recorded.
The "Lowrin fair" or "Lowren'-fair" is described by Kinloch as "a market held at Lawrence-kirk, in Mearnshire."
This has one of the saddest themes I can think of for a woman prior to the twentieth century, when it was hard to accomplish anything when unmarried:
Noo it's twice I hae been a bride,
Hae been a bride, hae been a bride,
Noo it's twice I hae been a bride,
But a wife I'll never be.
I cannot help but note the similarity of this to a couplet composed by Margaret of Austria to lament her fate:
Ci gist Margot la gentille demoiselle
Mariee deux fois,et si mourut pucelle.
("Here lies Margot, the willing bride, Twice married, but a virgin when she died." See Garrett Mattingly, _Catherine of Aragon_, 1941 [I use the 1990 Book-of-the-Month club edition], p. 17). - RBW
File: Ord347
===
NAME: Where the Gadie Rins (II)
DESCRIPTION: Singer finds that his girl's "kilt (is) short and I could see." She tells his he's being unfair; she's going home to her mother. He muses that when her mother finds out what he's done, he'll have to fly. He laments that he can't go and see her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1962 (collected from Maggie McPhee)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer takes his girl on his knee; "her kilt was short and I could see." She tells his he's being unfair; they've slept together, but he doesn't care, so she's going home to her mother. If her baby's a boy, she'll call him Jock. He tells her to go home, and muses that when her mother finds out what he's done, he'll have to fly. He laments that he can't go and see her, and says he'll live with his mother until he dies "at the back o' Bennachie." Chorus: "There's meal and there's ale whaur the Gadie rins/At the back o' Bennachie."
KEYWORDS: sex rejection parting pregnancy baby lover mother
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MacSeegTrav 46, "Where Gadie Rins" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #(5404)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Back o' Bennachie
I Wish I Were Where Gadie Rins
NOTES: The melody "Where (the) Gadie Rins" is said to be a common pipe tune in Scotland. (MacColl and Seeger date it to 1815; Ord suspects the eighteenth century.) Like some other pipe tunes (e.g. "The Flowers of the Forest), it seems to have picked up various texts.
One may suspect that, like some fiddle tunes, it had a mnemonic verse or two. All the texts seem to have a lyric similar to:
Oh, gin I were whaur the Gadie rins,
The Gadie rins, the Gadie rins,
Oh, gin I were whaur the Gadie rins
At the back o Bennachie
or
But there's meal and there's ale whaur the Gadie rins,
The Gadie rins, the Gadie rins,
But there's meal and there's ale whaur the Gadie rins
At the back o Bennachie. - RBW
I was tempted to use "The Back o' Bennachie" as the title for the main entry; however, there seem to be several songs under that name (including versions of "Locks and Bolts") whose plots are quite different from this one, and from each other. So I stuck with Maggie McPhee's title. - PJS
File: McCST046
===
NAME: Where the Grass Grows Green
DESCRIPTION: "I'm Denny Blake, from County Clare" to sing in praise of Erin. The Irishman is painted poor but "his heart and hospitality Has much to do with that." He's foolish but not vicious and has a weakness for drink. Wish for "better days to Erin"
AUTHOR: Harry Clifton (1824-1872)
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(4145))
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad patriotic poverty
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 144, "Where the Grass Grows Green" (1 text)
Roud #8213
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4145), "Where the Grass Grows Green", Hopwood and Crew (London), 1840-1866; also Firth b.25(186), Harding B 26(674), "Where the Grass Grows Green"; 2806 c.8(246), 2806 c.8(308), "The Grass Grows Green"
LOCSinging, as105770, "I Can't Forget Old Erin Where the Grass Grows Green", unknown, 19C
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(4145) notes "written and sung by Harry Clifton, Words and Music published by Hopwood & Crew 42, New Broad Street, London"
For information about Harry Clifton, early music hall singer and song writer, see Mudcat Cafe and Frederick Denny's World of the Music Hall sites entries for Harry Clifton - BS
File: OCon144
===
NAME: Where the Moorcocks Grow (The Mountain Stream; With My Dog and Gun)
DESCRIPTION: The singer sets out "with my dog and gun o'er the blooming heather." He meets a girl, and begs her to marry him, offering to give up roving if she does. She decides to wait "another season," both to test his love and to gain her parent's consent
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: rambling courting love marriage
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) Ireland
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Kennedy 136, "The Mountain Stream" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H32, pp. 269-270, "Where the Moorcocks Grow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, pp. 20-21, "The Mountain Streams Where the Moorcocks Crow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-SongsThunder, p. 181, "The Mountain Streams" (1 text)
OBoyle 18, "The Mountain Streams" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DOGNGUN
Roud #2124
RECORDINGS:
Eddie Butcher, "The Mountain Streams Where the Moorcock Crows" (on IREButcher01)
Sheila Stewart, "Mountain Streams Where the Moorcocks Crow" (on Voice17); "MyDog and Gun" (on SCStewartsBlair01)
Brigid Tunney, "The Mountain Streams" (on IRTunneyFamily01)
Paddy Tunney, "The Mountain Streams" (on FSB1; as "The Mountain Streams Where the Moorcocks Crow" on Voice06); "The Mountain Streams Where the Moorcocks Crow" (on IRPTunney02)
NOTES: Kennedy, based mostly on the affinity of this piece with "The Corncrake," argues that the song comes from Ayreshire in Scotland; Henry claimed that "the song was composed about 70 years ago [i.e. c. 1855] by a roving sportsman in honour of a young lady of Letterloan." I know of no solid evidence for either claim. - RBW
File: K136
===
NAME: Where the River Shannon Flows
DESCRIPTION: "ThereŐs a pretty spot in Ireland, I always claim for my land, Where the fairies and the blarney Will never, never die." The singer recalls the land and the girl by the Shannon. He will not send a letter; he will sail home himself with news of his return
AUTHOR: James I. Russell
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (from Russell's production "The Irish Serving Girls")
KEYWORDS: love home reunion Ireland
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Dean, pp. 112-113, "Where the River Shannon Flows" (1 text)
DT, RSHANNON
Roud #9579
NOTES: Another of Dean's pop songs; the Digital Tradition says that it was recorded by none other than Bing Crosby! - RBW
File: Dean112
===
NAME: Where the Soul Never Dies (Canaan's Land)
DESCRIPTION: "Kind friends there'll be no sad farewell There'll be no tear-dimmed eyes Where all is peace and joy and love And the soul of man never dies." Singer is bound to Canaan's land. A love-light guides his way; a rose blooms there, etc.
AUTHOR: William M. Golden (Dolden?)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (songbook, publ. by R. E. Winsett, Dayton, TN)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer says s/he is on the way to Canaan's land, where the soul never dies. A love-light guides his way; a rose blooms there for him/her, and there s/he will spend eternity. His/her life will end in deathless sleep, and s/he'll reap eternal joys. Ch.: "Kind friends there'll be no sad farewell/There'll be no tear-dimmed eyes/Where all is peace and joy and love/And the soul of man never dies"
KEYWORDS: farewell death dying nonballad religious
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, CNAANLND
Roud #5722
RECORDINGS:
Anglin Twins, "Where The Soul of a Man Never Dies" (Vocalion 04692=Conqueror 9243, 1939, rec. 1938)
Blue Sky Boys, "Where The Soul Never Dies" (Bluebird B-6457, 1936)
Burchfield Brothers, "Where the Soul Never Dies" (Capitol 40011, 1947)
Jim & Sarah Garland, "Canaan Land Where The Soul of Man Never Dies" (AFS 2022 B, 1938)
Jack & Leslie "Where The Soul of Man Never Dies" (Decca 5589, 1938)
Oak Ridge Sacred Singers, "Where The Soul Never Dies" (Supertone 9501, 1929)
Renfro Family, "Where the Soul Never Dies" (Kentucky 600, n.d.)
Rev. M. L. Thrasher & his Gospel Singers, "Where The Soul Never Dies" (Columbia 15271-D, 1928)
NOTES: The song is typically sung in parts, with one part singing a simplified chorus under the main words: "No sad....farewells/No tear.....dimmed eyes/Where all.....is love/And the soul.....never dies." In that form it's become popular in bluegrass, folk-revival and C & W circles (following Hank Williams' recording). - PJS
File: DTcnaanl
===
NAME: Where the Sun Don't Never Go Down
DESCRIPTION: "I want to see my mother sometime (x2), where the flowers will bloom forever, and the sun don't never go down... Don't you feel like shouting sometimes, sometimes?" Repeat with father, brother, sister, Savior
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1950 (recording, Dock Reed)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad family
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Warner 88, "Where the Sun Don't Never Go Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, p. 72, "(The Sun Will Never Go Down)" (1 text); p. 238, "The Sun Will Never Go Down" (1 tune, partial text)
ST Wa088 (Partial)
Roud #5717
RECORDINGS:
George Herod, "O, The Sun Don't Never Go Down (Don't you feel like cryin' some time)" (on MuSouth07)
Dock Reed, "Where The Sun Will Never Go Down" (on NFMAla5) (on ReedWard01)
File: Wa088
===
NAME: Where the Wattles Are Blooming (Holiday Song)
DESCRIPTION: "Sunshine is over the meadow, Sunshine is over the hill..." "Come with me, merry and free, Gay as a bird on the spray, Grief and care, come if you dare, We will be happy today." "Come where the wattles are blooming, Down in the flowery glade"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1987
KEYWORDS: lyric nonballad
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 182-183, "Where the Wattles are Blooming"; "Holiday Song" (2 texts, 1 tune)
NOTES: Meredith/Covell/Brown compares this to the William Blake poem "The Echoing Green." - RBW
File: MCB182
===
NAME: Where They Were: see The Old Barbed Wire (I Know Where They Are) (File: San442)
===
NAME: Where Was You Last Night?
DESCRIPTION: "Oh, where was you last night (x3), Under them bilers sleeping." "I wend in the valley, Lord, I didn't go to stay, Under them bilers sleepin, My soul got happy... Under them boilers..." "The head mate hollered and the captain squalled..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
MWheeler, pp. 77-79, "WHere Wuz You Las' Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10026
NOTES: Almost all the lyrics of this song have parallels elsewhere (e.g. from "Down in the Valley to Pray," "The Bayou Sarah," and others), but the "Under them bilers [boilers] sleeping" chorus seems unique, so I have listed the song separately. - RBW
File: MW077
===
NAME: Where'd You Get Yo' Whisky?: see Jinny Go Round and Around (File: R272)
===
NAME: Where's Your License?
DESCRIPTION: "The inspector of traps said, 'Now, my fine chaps, We'll go license-hunting today.'" The inspectors set out to find illegal traps and diggers. But they find few traps, and the illegal diggers all make their escape
AUTHOR: Charles Thatcher
EARLIEST_DATE: 1854
KEYWORDS: hunting escape technology law
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 102-103, "Where's Your License?" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA102
===
NAME: Which Side Are You On?
DESCRIPTION: The Union comes to town to protect the miners from boss J.H. Blair. The workers are told "In Harlan County, there are no neutrals there," and asked, "Which side are you on (x4)." They are reminded "Us poor folks haven't got a chance unless we organize."
AUTHOR: Words: Florence Reece / Music: Traditional
EARLIEST_DATE: 1941 (recording, Almanac Singers) (reportedly composed 1931)
KEYWORDS: mining labor-movement nonballad boss
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Scott-BoA, pp. 342-343, "Which Side Are You On?" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 94, "Which Side Are You On?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 170-171, "Which Side Are You On?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 134, "Which Side Are You On?" (1 text)
DT, WHCHSIDE*
Roud #15159
RECORDINGS:
Almanac Singers , "Which Side Are You On?" (on Almanac04, PeteSeeger1, PeteSeeger48) (on Selma)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "I Am a Union Woman" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
I Am a Union Woman (by Aunt Molly Jackson) (File: Arn174)
NOTES: The radical National Miners' Union (N.M.U.) attempted to organize miners in the 1930s, but were defeated by the mine owners after bitter and bloody conflicts. The United Mine Workers of America (U.M.W.), part of the Congress of Industrial Organizations (C.I.O.) succeeded a few years later, again after terrible struggle. - PJS
File: SBoA342
===
NAME: Whigs Are A'Rinnin', The
DESCRIPTION: "Saw ye Holyrood? Saw ye him there? Saw ye him there? Saw ye him sittin' In his muckle chair? For the Whigs are a' rinnin' Rin, rin, rinnin', For the Whigs are a' rinnin' Fast awa' hame"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: nonballad political Jacobites
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan1 137, "The Whigs Are A'Rinnin'" (1 fragment)
Roud #5818
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "We're a' Noddin'" [i. e. presumably "We're All Nodding"] (tune according to GreigDuncan1)
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan1 fragment.
GreigDuncan1: "Holyrood is the royal palace in Edinburgh." - BS
According to McLynn: Frank McLynn, _Bonnie Prince Charlie: Charles Edward Stuart_, 1988 (I use the 1991 Oxford paperback edition), p. xix, the one real Jacobite occupation of Edinburgh came during the 1745 rebellion, The Jacobites took Edinburgh of September 17, 1745. Clennell Wilkinson _Bonnie Prince Charlie_, (Lippincott, no copyright listed but after 1932), p. 93, says that Charles went to Holyrood almost at once. So the likeliest date for this song, by far, is September 1745. - RBW
File: GrD1137
===
NAME: While Gamekeepers Were Sleeping
DESCRIPTION: Singer has a dog. "She'd run a hare of a moonlit night, While gamekeepers were sleeping." A policeman catches him poaching but he gets off with a trick. The policeman retires. Poacher gives him broth for his sick wife and a pup. Now he is also a poacher.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1977 (recording, Bob Roberts)
KEYWORDS: poaching hunting healing trick dog animal police wife
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, GAMESLEP
Roud #363
RECORDINGS:
Bob Roberts, "While Gamekeepers Were Sleeping" (on Voice18)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping" (lyrics)
NOTES: The first verse is "Dogs and Ferrets" [indexed as "Gamekeepers Lie Sleeping" - RBW] but the plot is entirely different. - BS
Many versions share more than the first verse; many scholars lump them, and I did so also until Ben pointed out the differences. But that song is entirely about poaching and success in that venture. The characteristic of this is the subversion of the gamekeeper. - RBW
File: TcWGaLSl
===
NAME: While Hanging Around Town
DESCRIPTION: The singer (a G.I.) gives a woman ten dollars for sex, then nine days later suffers the wages of sin.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1947
KEYWORDS: bawdy disease soldier whore
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SW)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Cray, pp. 194-195, "While Hanging Around Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, HANGARND*
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fire Ship" (plot) and references there
cf. "The Strawberry Roan" (tune & meter)
File: EM194
===
NAME: While I'm at the Wheel
DESCRIPTION: Poem, apparently based on Harlow's experiences aboard the Akbar when she encountered 30 days of heavy weather while carrying coal from Australia. Written as if addressing the ship, each verse begins "Ship of the seas..." and ends with "I'm at the wheel."
AUTHOR: Frederick Pease Harlow
EARLIEST_DATE: 1946 (_American Neptune_, v.1)
KEYWORDS: nonballad sailor ship storm
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Harlow, pp. 235-238, "While I'm at the Wheel" (1 text)
File: Hugi235
===
NAME: While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks
DESCRIPTION: "While shepherds watched their flocks by night, All seated on the ground, The angel of the Lord came down" to announce the birth of Jesus. They are directed to find the child in the manger in Bethlehem
AUTHOR: Words: Nahum Tate (1652-1715)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1696 (Tate and Brady)
KEYWORDS: Bible Jesus religious
FOUND_IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
OBC 33, "While Shepherds Watched" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 611, "Mary Bowed" (1 short text, with a verse "I wonder where Sister Maryy's gone... She's gone to some new buryin' ground For to lay her feeble body down" and a second verse from "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks")
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), p. 322, "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night" (1 text)
Donagh MacDonagh and Lennox Robinson, _The Oxford Book of Irish Verse_ (Oxford, 1958, 1979), pp. 1-2, "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night" (1 text)
Ian Bradley, _The Penguin Book of Carols_ (1999), #99, "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks By Night" (1 text)
Roud #936
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 7(4), "While Shepherds Watch'd", J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 7(38), Harding B 7(17), Harding B 7(35), "While Shepherds Watched"; Harding B 45(3) View 3 of 3, "While Shepherds Watch'd Their Flocks by Night"; Harding B 7(37), "Watched Their Flocks"; Douce adds. 137(51), "Christmas Hymn" ("While shepherds watch'd their flocks by night"); Douce adds. 137(45), "While Shepherds"; Firth b.26(538), [None] ("While shepherds watch'd their flocks by night"); Harding B 7(79), "While Shepherds Watch"
LOCSheet, sm1843 390300, "While Shepherds Watch'd Their Flocks by Night", A. Fiot (Philadelphia), 1843; also sm1880 18274, "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night!"; sm1879 16295, sm1883 22668, "While Shepherds Watched" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
While Shepherds Washed Their Socks (Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 38, 158)
NOTES: An unusual nativity hymn, in that every word of it comes from Luke, without reference to the conflicting account in Matthew. The song is essentially a paraphrase of Luke 2:8-14. It successfully nuances its way around a major variant in the text in 2:14; this is probably luck, as the inaccuracy of the Received Text and the King James Bible in this passage would not have been known in the seventeenth century.
In the Sacred Harp, this is set to the tune "Sherburne," credited to Daniel Read; the Missouri Harmony also uses this tune, though without credit.
I must admit to finding Hoagland's claim that this song is Irish rather funny. Yes, Nahum Tate was born in Dublin -- but he spent his entire working career in England, and became Poet Laureate in 1692. Apart from this song, he was most noteworthy for abusing Shakespeare, primarily by grafting happy endings onto the Tragedies. I'd have to say his place in Pope's _Dunciad_ was deserved. - RBW
File: OBC033
===
NAME: While Shepherds Were Watching Their Flocks By the Night
DESCRIPTION: "While shepherds were watching" angels shouted "Cheer up, faithful shepherds, and be not afraid ... The saviour is born." "I went to behold him. I asked them his name. His name it was Jesus; from Bethlehem came"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1972 (recording, George Dunn)
KEYWORDS: carol Christmas religious shepherd Jesus
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(West))
REFERENCES: ()
Roud #16898
RECORDINGS:
George Dunn, "While Shepherds Were Watching Their Flocks By the Night" (on Voice16)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks" (subject)
NOTES: Like "While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks," this is clearly based on Luke 2:8-14. I can't help but suspect there is some sort of relationship between the two. A rewrite for a different sect? A retranslation of a version translated into Welsh or some such? To this I have no clue. - RBW
File: RcWSWWTF
===
NAME: While the Boys in Blue Were Fighting: see Break the News to Mother (File: GrMa179)
===
NAME: While the Organ Pealed Potatoes: see I Know a Boarding-House (File: R479)
===
NAME: Whinny Knowes, The: see The Echo Mocks the Corncrake (File: HHH018b)
===
NAME: Whip and the Spurs, The
DESCRIPTION: "'One hundred pounds,' the master said, 'To you, my boy, I'll pay If you win this race for me in which you ride today.'" Horse and rider are eager for the task. In the race, the horse does fairly well; at last the rider spurs her, and she wins
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: horse racing
FOUND_IN: Australia
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 93-94, "The Whip and the Spurs" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA093A
===
NAME: Whip Jamboree (Whup Jamboree)
DESCRIPTION: Stanzas on the life of a sailor, characterized by the line "(whip/whup) jamboree." The lash is likely to be prominently mentioned, as is the sailors' happiness upon seeing the girls (whores?) of home.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1940 (Smith/Hatt)
KEYWORDS: sailor ship hardtimes punishment home whore
FOUND_IN: US(SE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
BrownIII 230, "Whip Jamboree" (1 short text, linked to this song only by the chorus line)
Smith/Hatt, p. 13, "Arriving Back at Liverpool" (1 fragment)
Harlow, pp. 106-108, "Johnny Get Your Oatcake Done (Jamboree)," "Early in the Morning" (2 texts, 1 tune - second text "Early in the Morning" has different words though a similar theme, Harlow says it was sung to the same tune but when bound for London)
Hugill, pp. 382-384, "Jamboree" (4 texts, 2 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 290-292]
Sharp-EFC, IX, pp. 10-11, "Whip Jamboree" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WHIPJAMB* WHIPJAM2*
Roud #488
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Jinny, Keep Yer Ringtail Warm
Jinny Git Yer Oatcake Done
Bristol Channel Jamboree
NOTES: "Jinny" is alternately spelled "Jenny" in the choruses. The versions that Hugill give have a bit more coherent storyline (just a bit) involving coming home (or at least to port), meeting up with Jinny and briefly deciding to stay, then taking off to sea again. - SL
File: Br3230
===
NAME: Whip-poor-will: see Whippoorwill (File: R833)
===
NAME: Whippoorwill
DESCRIPTION: "In the starry night so soft, Listen to the whippoorwill, Forest shades repeat his song... Sadness fills and thrills his lay, Singing all the summer away... Whippoorwill, sad whippoorwill." A description of the sad times evoked by the bird's sad call
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1942
KEYWORDS: bird nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Randolph 833, "Whip-poor-will" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 532-534, "Whippoorwill" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 833)
Roud #7445
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Where the Whippoorwill Is Whispering Good-night" (theme)
cf. "The Whip-poor-will's Song" (theme)
NOTES: I had difficulty deciding whether this should or should not be identified with "The Whip-poor-will's Song" as recorded by Uncle Eck Dunford. The theme is the same, and both work around the call of the bird. But they haven't a word in common other than "Whip-poor-will," so I split them. - RBW
File: R833
===
NAME: Whirly Whorl, The
DESCRIPTION: Bridesmaid describes a bride's problems with an elderly groom. The bride modestly turns her back, then her front, but he gives no comfort. She berates her mother for marrying her to an old fool, and vows to find a young man "to play at the whirly whorl"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
KEYWORDS: age disability marriage sex wedding bawdy
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: ()
Roud #12573
RECORDINGS:
Anne Briggs, "The Whirly Whorl" (on BirdBush1, BirdBush2, Briggs3)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Maids When You're Young Never Wed an Old Man" (theme) and references there
File: RcTWW
===
NAME: Whiskey For My Johnnie: see Whiskey Johnny (File: Doe015)
===
NAME: Whiskey Is My Name (Donald Blue)
DESCRIPTION: A smith has a drinking wife, often found drunk in the street. One day, as his wife is asleep, he is called out to rescue her. He finds a drunken woman who looks so like his wife he cannot tell them apart. His wife quits drinking as a result
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: drink husband wife
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland) Ireland
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 47-49, "Donald Blue" (1 text)
Greig #77, p. 2, "Donal' Blue" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 581, "Donald Blue" (10 texts, 10 tunes)
SHenry H835a, p. 512, "Whiskey Is My Name"; H835b, pp. 512-513, "Whiskey Is My Name/The Blacksmith" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Ord, pp. 52-53, "My Name is Donald Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST HHH835 (Full)
Roud #3799
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.14(117), "Donald Blue" ("My names Donald Blue, you ken me fu' we'll"), unknown, no date
Murray, Mu23-y3:014, "Donald Blue," unknown, 19C
NLScotland, RB.m.168(145), "Donald Blue," unknown, c. 1870
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wee Wifikie"
cf. "Peggy in the Mornin'" (tune, per GreigDuncan3)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Smith's Drunken Wife
NOTES: Greig: "Like other lays with an 'in the mornin'" owreword, it sings to a variant of 'Johnnie Cope.'" - BS
Ford too lists this as being sung to "Johnnie Cope," but his text will not fit that tune without drastic violence, and Ord uses another tune.
John Baynes with John Laffin, _Soldiers of Scotland_, Brassey's, 1988 (I use the 1997 Barnes & Noble edition), p.105, lists "Donald Blue" as a lights-out tune for several Scottish regiments, including the famous Black Watch; it's not clear which melody is meant. - RBW
Broadsides Murray , NLScotland RB.m.168(145) and Bodleian 2806 c.14(117) are triplicates. - BS
File: HHH835
===
NAME: Whiskey Johnny
DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Characteristic line: "Whiskey, Johnny, / Whiskey for me Johnny." The song details the sailor's love affair with whiskey: "Whiskey is the life of man / It always was since the world began...." "Whiskey killed my dear old dad..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1909 (mentioned in 1867)
KEYWORDS: shanty drink nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(MA,NE,SW) Canada(Mar,Ont)
REFERENCES: (17 citations)
Doerflinger, pp. 15-16, "Whiskey Johnny" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 64-65, "Whiskey, Johnny" (1 composite text, 1 tune)
Bone, p. 82-83, "Whis-key John-nie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, pp. 49-50, "Whiskey Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 21, 63-66 "Whiskey" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Hugill, pp. 274-280, "Whisky Johnny" (4 texts & several fragments, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 202-206]
Sharp-EFC, XLVIII, p. 53, "Whiskey For My Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 151-152, "Whisky Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shay-SeaSongs, p. 55, "Whiskey for My Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 403, "Whiskey Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Smith/Hatt, p. 30, "Whiskey For My Johnnie" (1 text)
Mackenzie 106, "Whisky Johnny" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Darling-NAS, pp. 311-312, "Whiskey Johnny" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 486-487, "Whisky Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 231, "Whiskey Johnny" (1 text)
DT, WHSKJHN* WHISKJON*
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). "Whisky for My Johnny" is in Part 3, 7/28/1917.
Roud #651
RECORDINGS:
Bob Roberts, "Whisky Johnny" (on LastDays)
Minster Singers, "Whiskey Johnny" (Victor 61147, n.d., prob. c. 1903)
Capt. Leighton Robinson w. Alex Barr, Arthur Brodeur & Leighton McKenzie, "Whiskey Johnny" (AFS 4232 B1, 1939; on LC27 as "Whisky Johnny"; in AMMEM/Cowell)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Rise Me Up from Down Below" (chorus, theme)
cf. "Supen Ut, En Dram Pa Man" (similar theme)
NOTES: Hugill specifies four versions of this, each with a distinct story line though all using the same refrain: a) The advantages & disadvantages of drinking; b) the Shanghaiing version; c) The limejuice skipper; and d) the Crab, Crayfish or Lobster version (i.e. "The Sea Crab"). Harlow cites yet another version, of a barber and a lady who are trying to impress one another and who eventually do get together despite the barber's drunkenness. - SL
File: Doe015
===
NAME: Whiskey Seller, The
DESCRIPTION: "Of all the crimes that ever has been, Sellin' whiskey is the greatest sin...." The troubles caused by liquor-sellers are described: "You rob the strong man of his strength" "You rob the statesman of his brains" "You rob the children of their bread"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: drink hardtimes nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 312, "The Whiskey Seller" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 263-265, "The Whiskey Seller" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 312)
DT, WHSKSELL
Roud #7789
RECORDINGS:
New Lost City Ramblers, "Whiskey Seller" (on NLCR08)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Little Brown Jug" (tune)
File: R312
===
NAME: Whisky in the Jar (The Irish Robber A) [Laws L13A]/The Irish Robber B (McCollister) [Laws L13B]
DESCRIPTION: The robber finds a victim on the road, whom he relieves of his valuables. He returns to his sweetheart's home and goes to sleep. He is awakened by the law. He reaches for his pistol, but the girl has rendered it useless. He is taken (and hanged/escapes)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1855 (broadside, Murray Mu23-y1:137)
KEYWORDS: robbery prison love trial punishment execution death gallows-confession outlaw
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland) US(Ap,MW,NE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland Australia
REFERENCES: (14 citations)
Laws L13, "Whisky in the Jar (The Irish Robber A) [Laws L13A]/The Irish Robber B (McCollister) [Laws L13B]"
Meredith/Anderson, p. 51, "Whiskey in the Jar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 51, "Gilgarrah Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 139-140, "McCollister" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 117, "There's Whiskey in the Jar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 88, "Whiskey in the Jar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 6, "Whisky in the Jar" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H792, p. 122, "Whiskey in the Jar" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 12, "There's Whiskey in the Jar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 368-369, "There's Whiskey in the Jar" (1 text)
MacSeegTrav 90, "Whiskey in the Jar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 107-108, "Captain Devin" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 201, "Whiskey In The Jar" (1 text)
DT 326, GILGARRY KILGARMT*
Roud #533, 534
RECORDINGS:
Seamus Ennis, "Whiskey in the Jar" (on Lomax42, LomaxCD1742)
Lena Bourne Fish, "Gilgarrah Mountain" [excerpt] (on USWarnerColl01)
Warde Ford, "McAllister" (AFS 4196 B2, 4196 B3; in AMMEM/Cowell)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 612A , "Whiskey in the Jar," E.M.A. Hodges (London), 1846-1854; Harding B 11(980), "Sporting Hero" or "Whiskey in the Bar," J. Cadman (Manchester), 1850-1855; also Firth c.17(314)[some words illegible], "The Sporting Hero", Harding B 15(372a), Harding B 11(4152), 2806 b.10(109), "Whiskey in the Jar"
LOCSinging, as113620, "There's Whiskey in the Jar," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also sb40503b, "There's Whiskey in the Jar"
Murray, Mu23-y1:137, "Whiskey in the Jar," Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1855
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(123b), "There's Whisky in the Jar," Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1871
NOTES: In the Australian version, Colonel Pepper or his equivalent becomes Sir Frederick Pottinger, a local policeman laughed at for his inability to capture Ben Hall. For background on Pottinger, see the notes to "Ben Hall." - RBW
Paul Stamler comments on the "McCollister" texts of this song, "I think this deserves splitting, as although it's related to 'Whisky in the Jar,' it is missing the betrayal theme -- at least in this version."
Paul goes on to provide this description of the Warde Ford version: "McCollister [McAllister] sees two merchants and robs them. As he's walking up to the gallows, he says, "I have robbed many but I never killed any/And I think it is a shame to be hanged for stealing money."
However, the versions cited by Laws *do* include the betrayal; it appears that the characteristic of the "B" texts is rather the hanging, plus perhaps the robber's name. But it is almost impossible to distinguish short versions of the songs, so we continue to lump them. - PJS, RBW
In addition, Murray, Mu23-y1:131, "The Sporting Hero," Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1852, states "Along with this song, and in the same style, the Poet['s Box] has that splendid song, called 'Whiskey in the Jar.' Generally those who buy the one, buys the other, you see." "The Sporting Hero" is another version of "Whiskey in the Jar" with a new ending: [The singer meets] Molly and shoot[s] her dead, forgive[s] her because "though Molly has deceived me, yet I thought it not her intention, Though she has proved faithless to me, a sporting hero, I have left her far sleeping far behind, and I have nothing more to fear, O." He ends by recommending himself to girls who "want a fancy man."
In broadside Bodleian, Firth c.17(314), "The Sporting Hero" ("I am a sporting hero, that never yet was daunted"), J. Bentley (Bradford), n.d. Molly is not murdered and the self-advertisement at the end goes on for more verses.
Broadside LOCSinging as113620: J. Andrews dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: LL13
===
NAME: Whisky You're the Devil
DESCRIPTION: Whiskey leads the singer astray. "We're on the march and off to Portugal and Spain" "The French are fighting boldly, men dying hot and coldly ... love fare thee well" A mother threatens to haunt the singer if he takes her daughter from her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1959 (IRClancyMakem01)
KEYWORDS: courting war separation drink Spain nonballad mother soldier ghost
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Moylan 180, "Whiskey You're the Devil" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Hugill, p. 454, "Whisky, You're My Darling" (1 fragment, 1 tune - taken from the Journal of the Folk Song Society, 1924. He only gives one verse, which deals with emigration to America, and which is filed here only tentatively)
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "Whisky You're the Devil" (on IRClancyMakem01)
NOTES: The references "now, brave boys, we're on the march and off to Portugal and Spain" and "the French are fighting boldly, men dying hot and coldly" seem to be a reference to the Peninsular campaign of the Napoleonic wars. On the other hand, it's a stretch to imagine a consistent story line: the chorus has whiskey leading the singer "O'er the hills and mountains and to Amerikay" - BS
The above is actually barely possible; soldiers in the Peninsula might have been sent to fight the United States in the War of 1812. But it's much easier to believe that it would happen in a songwriter's head than to an actual soldier. - RBW
Moylan attributes this to 1809 on the basis of something found in Winstock's _Songs and Music of the Redcoats_. I have searched that book at length and cannot identify the basis for this attribution, so I have not changed the Earliest Date. - RBW, (BS)
The ballad is recorded on one of the CD's issued around the time of the bicentenial of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. See:
Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "Whiskey in the Jar" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte," Hummingbird Records HBCD0027 (2001)) - BS
File: RcWYTD
===
NAME: Whisky, You're My Darling: see Whisky You're the Devil (File: RcWYTD)
===
NAME: Whisper Your Mother's Name
DESCRIPTION: The singer is "seated one day in a beautiful cafe" when he sees his sister in the street. His mother's words, "If you should see your sister, do not reproach her, Dwayne," cause him to invite her back to her still-faithful love and her mother's grave
AUTHOR: Lottie Gilson?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1896
KEYWORDS: reunion sister brother mother family separation
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 98-100, "Seated One Day in a Beautiful Cafe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4774
NOTES: Popularized by Lottie Gilson (1869-1912), a tragicomic singer of the 1890s. This piece entered her repertoire in 1896. McNeil speculates that this may be the only traditional song to have a person named "Dwayne" as a hero; given the piece's overblown sentimentality, one is inclined to hope so. - RBW
File: MN1098
===
NAME: Whispering Hope
DESCRIPTION: "Soft as the voice of an angel... Hope with a gentle persuasion, Whispers her comforting word." "Hope for the sunshine tomorrow After the shower is gone." "Whispering hope, how welcome thy voice, Making my heart in its sorrow rejoice."
AUTHOR: "Alice Hawthorne" (Septimus Winner)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1868
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 241-245, "Whispering Hope" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
The Blue Sky Boys, "Whispering Hope" (Bluebird 8401, 1940)
NOTES: Alice Hawthorne was a leading pseudonym of Septimus Winner; he also listed her as the author of "Listen to the Mockingbird." (The name was a tribute to his mother.) For some reason, Winner published such trivia as "Oh Where Oh Where Is My Little Dog Gone" under his own name. - RBW
Is there any indication that this entered tradition, as we use the term? Or, to put it bluntly, are you sure this belongs in the Index? - PJS
If the question is, can it be proved that this song was popular in oral tradition, the answer is no. However, the material in Jackson claims to be bestsellers in popular music, and so presumably widely played in parlors. That strikes me as sufficient reason for inclusion. A lot of kids must have suffered through this song in their lives. - RBW
File: RJ19241
===
NAME: Whistle, Daughter, Whistle
DESCRIPTION: The mother offers her daughter a (cow) if she will whistle. The daughter says she cannot. The request is repeated with (sheep, etc.); each time the daughter refuses. Finally the mother offers a man; the daughter engages to whistle with all her might
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1868 (Notes & Queries); a manuscript copy from 1740 has been alleged (this is probably a copy known to Halliwell)
KEYWORDS: dialog mother bargaining children
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So) Britain(England) Ireland
REFERENCES: (11 citations)
Randolph 109, "Whistle, Daughter, Whistle" (1 text plus 2 fragments, 2 tunes)
Sharp-100E 59, "Whistle, Daughter, Whistle" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 186, "Whistle, Daughter, Whistle" (1 text plus mention of 2 more)
Lomax-FSNA 107, "Whistle, Daughter, Whistle" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 134, "Whistle, Daughter, Whistle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 138-139, "Lolly Too Dum" (2 texts, 1 tune, with the first actually being this song)
Opie-Oxford2 128, "Whistle, daughter, whistle" (3 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #255, p. 158, "(Whistle, daughter, whistle)"
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 219-220, "Spin, Meine Liebe Tochter" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 343, "Whistle, Daughter, Whistle" (1 text)
BBI, ZN1781, "Mother let me Marry, I long to be a Bride"
ST R109 (Partial)
Roud #1570
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Lazy Mary (She Won't Get Up)" (theme)
cf. "La Jeune Fille Sans Amant (The Young Girl Without a Lover)" (theme)
cf. "Sixteen Years, Mama" (subject)
NOTES: This song has a close German parallel known, e.g., as "Spinn Spinn"; note that this was actually collected in Pennsyvania and printed in Henry. - RBW
[Sharp reports of his version,] "The words given me by the singer were a little too free and unconventional to be published without emendation, but the necessary alterations have, nevertheless, been very few and unimportant." - PJS
File: R109
===
NAME: Whistling Rufus
DESCRIPTION: Whistling Rufus goes to parties whatever the weather. After devouring the chicken and wine, he settles down to whistling, producing a sound that makes the spectators think "the angels' harps were a-playing."
AUTHOR: Words: W. Murdock Lind/Music: Kerry Mills
EARLIEST_DATE: (tune composed 1899; words are later)
KEYWORDS: Black(s) music
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So,SW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 285, "Whistling Rufus" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 241-243, "Whistling Rufus" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 285)
DT, WHSTRFUS*
Roud #5065
SAME_TUNE:
My Mother Told Me that She Would Buy Me a Rubber Dolly If I'd Be Good (cf. Spaeth, _A History of Popular Music in America, p. 299)
File: R285
===
NAME: Whistling Thief, The
DESCRIPTION: Pat visits Mary and whistles to announce his arrival. Mary's mother hears, and rejects Mary's explanations (the dog is howling at the moon, pigs can see the wind, etc.). The mother forces Mary off to bed, pointing out that she hasn't lost her ears
AUTHOR: attributed to Samuel Lover
EARLIEST_DATE: 1839 (Songs and Ballads)
KEYWORDS: love courting mother
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
SHenry H710, pp. 264-265, "The Whistling Thief" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 154, "The Whistling Thief" (1 text)
DT, PATHILL*
Roud #2738
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.11(210), "The Whistling Thief," The Poet's box (Glasgow), 1864; also Harding B 11(1366), Firth b.25(430), Harding B 11(4156), Harding B 11(4157), Firth c.20(106), Firth c.26(241), "The Whistling Thief"
LOCSinging, sb40586a, "The Whistling Thief," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
When Pat Came Over the Hill
NOTES: Broadside LOCSinging sb40586a: H. De Marsan dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: HHH710
===
NAME: White Cal, Yaller Gal, Black Gal: see She Gets There Just the Same (Jim Crow Car) (File: DarNS355)
===
NAME: White Captive, The: see Olban (Alban) or The White Captive [Laws H15] (File: LH15)
===
NAME: White Cockade, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer describes her handsome young love. He has taken the white cockade and joined Prince Charlie's armies. She promises to sell her possessions to equip him well. Some versions describe how Prince Charles was displaced
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1803 (_Scots Musical Museum_ #272)
KEYWORDS: love Jacobites separation
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1745-1746 - Jacobite rebellion of 1745
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,NE,So) Australia Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (9 citations)
Hogg2 18, "The White Cockade" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan1 124, "The White Cockade" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph 120, "Prince Charles He Is King James's Son" (1 text)
Combs/Wilgus 144, p. 149, "Ranting Roving Lad" (1 text -- from West Virginia, but still with clear traces of Scots dialect)
Linscott, pp. 115-118, "Virginia Reel" [medley of "The Irish Washerwoman," "The White Cockade," and "Yankee Doodle"] (1 tune for each of the three melodies, plus dance instructions); p. 120, "The White Cockade" (1 tune)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, p. 88, "The White Cockade" (1 tune)
DT, WHTECOCK*
ADDITIONAL: James Kinsley, editor, Burns: Complete Poems and Songs (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #306,, p. 423, "The White Cockade" (1 text, 1 tune, from 1790)
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 181-182, "The White Cockade" (1 text, translated from the Gaelic with some lines surely inspired by "King William was King James's Son"; the rest is not the usual "White Cockade" though it has similarities; I rather suspect two-way translation)
ST R120 (Full)
Roud #709
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads fol. 26, "The White Cockade" ("My love was born in Aberdeen"), J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 11(3341), Harding B 11(4160), "The White Cockade"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "King William is King James's Son" (lyrics)
cf. "The Old Settoo" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
The Green Cockade (Healy-OISBv2, pp. 40-41)
The Wind Blew the Bonnie Lass's Plaidie Awa' (File: RcWBTBLP)
The Old Settoo (File: OLcM026A)
NOTES: The white cockade was, of course, a Jacobite emblem. Bonnie Prince Charlie (Charles Edward Stuart, 1720-1788) was the son of James (III), himself the son of James II, the English king deposed in 1689/90.
This piece is often found as a fiddle tune. It may be that it lost its words because people dared not sing a Jacobite song, but liked the melody. But this is probably beyond proof. - RBW
File: R120
===
NAME: White Coral Bells
DESCRIPTION: "White coral bells upon a slender stalk, Lilies of the valley (line/grace) my garden walk. Oh don't you wish that you could hear them ring? That will only happen when the (angels/fairies) sing."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1916 (as "May Bells," in the "Fourth Year" volume of the "Hollis Dann Music Course")
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 268, "White Coral Bells" (1 text)
NOTES: One of the tiny handful of songs in my mother's singing tradition. Seems to be a genuine folk song, even if no one knows what it's supposed to be about.
Jack Manischewitz, who did the research leading to the 1916 date for the May Bells variant, has found a number of people who also know the song from early life. He notes that the 1916 publication listed no author, although authors were listed for most of the other pieces. This would imply, at minimum, that the copyright had expired by 1916, which would hint at a nineteenth century origin. - RBW
File: PHCFS268
===
NAME: White Fisher, The [Child 264]
DESCRIPTION: Willie learns that a "popish priest" fathered his wife's baby. She tells Willie to cast the babe in the sea; he instead gives the child to his mother. Willie's wife weeps for the babe and reviles him; Willie tells her the babe is alive; both are happy
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1878
KEYWORDS: pregnancy bastard death drowning return adultery abandonment disguise clergy infidelity
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
Child 264, "The White Fisher" (1 text)
Bronson 264, comments only
DBuchan 60, "The White Fisher" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 197, GreigDuncan8 Addenda, "The White Fisher" (3 texts, 1 tune)
DT 264, WHITFISH
Roud #3888
NOTES: Bronson notes that Child's view of this ballad is distorted by his single text, and believes that it should be modified in view of the collections by Grieg. - RBW
File: C264
===
NAME: White Folks Go to College: see Hard to Be a Nigger (File: LxA233)
===
NAME: White Folks in the Parlor
DESCRIPTION: "White folks in the parlor, Talking 'bout jelly and jam... Didn't say a word about ham." "Ham, ham, ham is good and sweet... Nothing better'n old ham meat." "Possum in the corn fields... Rabbit say, 'You dirty dog,' Possum blew the horn."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: animal food
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 476, "White Folks in the Parlor" (1 short text)
Roud #11864
File: Br3476
===
NAME: White Hare, The
DESCRIPTION: Near Oldham town lived an old white hare that has escaped beagles and greyhounds. Jim Smith or Jemmy the huntsman and Tom the whipper-in take out horsemen and beagles to hunt this hare. "There was twenty good beagles that caused this hare to die"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908 (recording, Joseph Taylor)
KEYWORDS: death hunting animal dog horse
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES: ()
Roud #1110
RECORDINGS:
Joseph Taylor, "The White Hare" (on Voice18)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 16(306a), "White Hare," unknown, n.d.; also Harding B 11(3425), Firth c.19(105), Harding B 11(1725), "White Hare"
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Creggan White Hare" (subject)
cf. "The Innocent Hare" (theme: fatal hare hunt)
cf. "The Hare of Kilgrain" (theme: fatal hare hunt)
cf. "The Granemore Hare" (theme: fatal hare hunt)
cf. "The White Hare" (theme: fatal hare hunt)
NOTES: The town in the Bodleian broadsides is Maxfield or Maxwell. Oldham is in Lancashire, England. I don't know about Maxwell or Maxfield. - BS
File: RcTWhiHa
===
NAME: White House Blues (I): see Mister McKinley (White House Blues) (File: LoF143)
===
NAME: White House Blues (II)
DESCRIPTION: Singer says Hoover let the country go to ruin; now Roosevelt's "doing his best," but times are still hard -- long hours for poor wages (if they're working at all), bad clothes, poor food. The refrain says of Hoover, "Now he's gone, I'm glad he's gone."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE:
KEYWORDS: poverty hardtimes political
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: 1929-1933: Presidency of Herbert Hoover
1933-1945: Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 228, "White House Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 382-383, "White House Blues" (1 text)
DT, WHITHOU2*
RECORDINGS:
New Lost City Ramblers, "White House Blues" (on NLCR09) (on NLCR12)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Mister McKinley (White House Blues)" (tune, structure, words)
NOTES: The Great Depression is generally considered to have extended from the stock market crash of 1929 to the beginning of World War II in 1939. However, it is worth noting that conditions for farmers had already been depressed for several years before this. - PJS (This was due in part to the revival of European agriculture after World War I. In Minnesota, the political side effects are still felt to some extent today, in the relative strength of third party politics. Minnesota voted for Roosevelt in all four of his elections -- the first time the state had ever voted for a Democrat. Quite a sea change. - RBW)
This song is obviously a topical adaptation of "Mister McKinley (White House Blues)." -PJS
In one sense this song is unfair; Herbert Hoover was not the cause of the Depression (which began very shortly after he came into office; if any President is to be blamed, it is his predecessor, Calvin Coolidge). On the other hand, Hoover (a conservative Republican) took only the most hesitant steps to help the poor, so he arguably does deserve their scorn. - RBW
File: CSW228
===
NAME: White Man, Let Me Go
DESCRIPTION: The Indian begs to be allowed to return to his land: "Let me go to my home in the far distant west... Let me go to my father... Let me go to the hills... Let me go to... my dark-eyed maid... And there let my body in ashes lie low"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1844 (Journal from the Marcus)
KEYWORDS: Indians(Am.) lament homesickness
FOUND_IN: US(MW,SE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Australia
REFERENCES: (5 citations)
BrownIII 270, "The Indian Hunter" (1 text)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 180-181, "The Indian Hunter" ( text)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 32-34, "White Man, Let Me Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 164-165, "White Man, Let Me Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 228-229, "White Man, Let Me Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FJ032 (Partial)
Roud #2055
NOTES: The notes in Brown cite Kittredge to the effect that this was printed in 1835. The source involved, however, is not listed. - RBW
File: FJ032
===
NAME: White Marble Stone, The
DESCRIPTION: "Sister Dolly light the lamp, and the lamp light the road, And I wish I been there for to yedde Jordan roll." "O the city light the lamp, the white man he will sold, And I wish...." "O the white marble stone, and the white marble stone...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1866 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 42, "The White Marble Stone" (1 text, 1 tune with a variation)
Roud #11996
NOTES: My guess (only a guess) is that this refers to the "white stone" given to the believers in Pergamum who "conquer" in Revelation 2:17. The King James Version does not use the word "marble" to descibe this stone, but interestingly the word "stone" used in this verse is unusual (psephos, used elsewhere only in Acts 26:10 of casting a vote. It also refers to small round stones that might be used on an abacus -- as opposed to some random rock you find in the ground.
The use of the word in this context is significant: when voting for or against conviction, a Greek juryman would drop a white stone to acquit, a black one to convict. Thus to give someone a white stone (psephos) was to declare not guilty.
There is no reason to think that the stones mentioned in the Apocalypse were marble. It may just be a sort of logic: "If God is giving out a stone, it must be a high-quality one."
Don't ask me if slaves would know about the use of the word psephos, and if so, how the would have found out. I needed three Biblical concordances (Youngs, for the KJV, Kohlenberger's, for the NRSV, and Moulton & Geden for Greek) and two grammars (Bauer and Liddell & Scott), plus some knowledge for Greek history, to write this note. - RBW
File: AWG042A
===
NAME: White Oak Mountain: see The False Young Man (The Rose in the Garden, As I Walked Out) (File: FJ166)
===
NAME: White Paternoster: see Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John (I) (File: FO033)
===
NAME: White Pilgrim, The
DESCRIPTION: "I came to the tomb where the white pilgrim lay And pensively stood by his tomb, And in a low whisper I heard someone say How peaceful he sleeps there alone." The pilgrim's farewell to his family after his call, and his courage in death, are recalled
AUTHOR: Rev. Jonathan Ellis?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1850 (Sacred Harp)
KEYWORDS: religious death clergy disease request travel children family wife
FOUND_IN: US(MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
BrownIII 542, "The Lone Pilgrim" (1 text plus a fragment)
Hudson 81, p. 209, "The White Pilgrim" (1 text)
Randolph 619, "The White Pilgrim" (2 short texts plus 2 excerpts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 433-434, "The White Pilgrim" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 619)
Brewster 97, "The White Pilgrim" (1 text in two parts, the second tells the sorrows of the widow)
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 205, "(The White Pilgrim)" (1 fragment)
Roud #2841
RECORDINGS:
Aunt Molly Jackson, "The Lone Pilgrim" (AAFS 2580 B, 1939)
Buell Kazee, "The White Pilgrim" [fragment] (on Kazee01)
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "The Lone Pilgrim" (AAFS 1826 A3, 1935)
Doc Watson & Gaither Carlton, "The Lone Pilgrim" (on Watson01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Braes of Balquidder" (most common tune)
cf. "Lily Dale" (alternate tune)
NOTES: It's not absolutely clear whether this was originally called "The White Pilgrim" or "The Lone Pilgrim"; Randolph's notes imply the latter, but the notes in Brown and Hudson seem to imply the reverse. The best argument is perhaps the text in Brewster, which is exremely full (seemingly a basic text and a sequel), which was learned probably around 1870 by O. F. Kirk; in that, it's called the "White Pilgrim."
At least two authors are listed: The Reverend Ellis (elsewhere called Elder John Ellis), mentioned above, fl. 1789; he is said to have set it to the tune Lily Dale; he's also listed as writing it in 1838. But the Sacred Harp (in which it's listed as "The Lone Pilgrim") credits it to B. F. White in 1850.
A reasonable supposition is that Ellis wrote the words and White set a new tune, but that's not proof of anything.
Randolph also mentions a clergyman called "The White Pilgrim" (after his clothing, not his skin color) who lived before the Civil War. Paul Stamler found a reference to a "White Pilgrim" named Joseph Thomas who lived around 1835.
For complete arguments, see D. K. Wilgus's article "The White Pilgrim: Song, Fact, and Legend" -- an item I, unfortunately, have not seen. - RBW
It's clear that "The White Pilgrim" and "The Lone Pilgrim" are essentially the same song, although one is told in third person while the other is in first. - PJS
File: R619
===
NAME: White Slave, The
DESCRIPTION: A pretty girl, who works in a laundry and sleeps in the street because she is so poor, is recruited to be a prostitute with promises of wealth. Five years later, she has lost her looks and is diseased. Who is to blame? "The boss who pays starvation wages"
AUTHOR: Words: Joe Hill (Music by Leo Friedman?)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1913 (Songs to Fan the Flames of Discontent)
KEYWORDS: IWW whore money disease
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
DT, WHITSLAV
Roud #7990
NOTES: For the life of Joe Hill, see "Joe Hill."
Although not the best-known of Hill's songs, I'd have to say that I regard it as the best of those I know. It is also quite true-to-life.
While reading Steve Oney's _And the Dead Shall Rise: The Murder of Mary Phagan and the Lynching of Leo Frank_ (2003; use the 2004 Vintage Books edition), especially pp. 56-60, describing conditions in Atlanta in the years leading up to 1913 (when Mary Phagan was murdered and this song was written). Child labor was the standard in the town -- the factory in which 13-year-old Mary worked employed primarily teenage girls, paying them no more than ten to fifteen cents an hour and working them 56 hours a week -- and there was a vast prostitution industry. Had Mary not been murdered, this might have been her story: She was very pretty, and the only choices life held for her (unless she managed to find a rich man to marry her) were life in the factory or prostitution.
At the time she died, the Atlanta papers were carrying advertisements calling for the ending of the White Slave trade (Oney, p. 57). I gather that, for a while after Mary was murdered, there was speculation that she had been attacked because she refused to join the prostitution industry. I don't know what Joe Hill knew about this -- but I wonder if it didn't somehow inspire his song. - RBW
File: DTwhitsl
===
NAME: White Steed, The: see The Wonderful Grey Horse (File: Zimm044A)
===
NAME: White Wings
DESCRIPTION: "White wings, they never grow weary, They carry me cheerily over the sea, Night comes, I long for my dearie, I'll spread out my white wings and fly home to thee." The singer longs for his Maggie Darrow, and hopes the winds will carry him to her.
AUTHOR: Banks Winter ?
EARLIEST_DATE: 1927 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love bird reunion
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 779, "White Wings" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Geller-Famous, pp. 48-52, "White Wings" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert, pp. 144-145, "White Wings" (1 text)
ST R779 (Full)
Roud #1753
SAME_TUNE:
Black Socks (Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 34-35)
NOTES: Randolph quoted Jay House to the effect that this song was written by Banks Winter in 1884. Gilbert offers the story that Winter bought it from another singer for $20. James J. Geller lists this other singer as Joseph Gullick, and dates the composition to 1882. Little supporting evidence is offered for either story.
The title is reported to derive from the novel _White Wings_ by William Black. (The final wife of the great Shawnee leader Tecumseh was also named, in translation, "White Wing," but I doubt many people in the late nineteenth century knew that.) - RBW
So *this* is what "Black socks, they never grow dirty" is a parody of! - PJS
File: R779
===
NAME: White-Headed Boy, The: see Cupid Benighted (File: FO180)
===
NAME: Whitney's Camp
DESCRIPTION: "It's of a brave young shantyboy, brave-hearted, true, He left his home near Ottawa and to Whitney's camp did go." He will return home when winter ends. "He worked until that fatal day When a hanging limb fell down on him and squashed him to the clay."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1964 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: logger death lumbering work derivative
FOUND_IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fowke-Lumbering #35, "Whitney's Camp" (1 fragment, tune referenced)
Roud #4468
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Harry Dunn (The Hanging Limb)" [Laws C14] (tune, plot)
NOTES: Fowke notes the obvious similarity of this song to "Harry Dunn." The similarity extends to the tune; it is clear that the one is modeled on the other. And, since this song is known only from Nelson Lewis's one fragment, this is probably the parody. - RBW
File: FowL35
===
NAME: Whittingham Fair: see The Elfin Knight [Child 2] (File: C002)
===
NAME: Who Am Dat a-Walkin' in de Corn?
DESCRIPTION: "Who am dat a-walkin' in de co'n?.... How long O Lawd, nobody knows, I pray I'll rise on judgment day...." The singer mentions several who might be among the corn: "Joshua de son ob Nun Er King David come to fight Goliar," Petuh, Gabriel, God
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924
KEYWORDS: religious Bible nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Combs/Wilgus 325, p. 192, "Who Am Dat a-Walkin' in de Corn?" (1 text)
Roud #4304
File: CW192
===
NAME: Who Built the Ark?
DESCRIPTION: Amalgamation of floating verses about Noah, the ark, the animals, etc.. Noah builds the ark from hickory (hemlock, gopherwood), leads the animals two-by-two. Chorus: "Who built the ark? Noah, Noah," sometimes "The old ark's a movin', a-movin', a movin'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: travel sea ship flood Bible religious floatingverses humorous gods
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 222-223, "Norah" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 158, "No-e in the Ark" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5355
RECORDINGS:
The Four Wanderers, "Animals Coming In" (Victor 23370, 1932; rec. 1929; on CrowTold01)
A. A. Gray & Seven Foot Dilly, "The Old Ark's a-Moving"(Vocalion 5458, 1930; on CrowTold02, Babylon)
Norfolk Jubilee Four [or Quartet] "Who Built the Ark?" (OKeh 4400, 1921; Parlophone [Australia] A2062, n.d.)
Governor Alf Taylor & his Old Limber Quartet, "Brother Noah Built an Ark" (Victor 19451, 1924)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Uncle Noah" (subject)
cf. "One More River to Cross" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Old Ark's A-Moverin'" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: This shares verses and choruses with so many other Noah songs that it's hard to parse it out, but the distinguishing mark of the "Who built the ark?" chorus is a useful delineator. The Gray-Dilly version, despite the title, is not "The Old Ark's A-Moverin'"; the verses are quite different, and so is the overall tone. As a final note, it's only appropriate that a song about Noah should be composed entirely of floating verses. - PJS
File: RcWBTA
===
NAME: Who Dat?
DESCRIPTION: "Who dat tappin' at de window? Who dat knockin' at de do' Mammy tappin' at de window, Pappy knockin' at de do'."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: lullaby nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 154, "Who Dat?" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #11597
File: ScNF154A
===
NAME: Who Did Swallow Jonah?
DESCRIPTION: "Who did (x4), Who did swallow Jo-Jo-Jonah?... Who did swallow Jonah down?" "Whale did... swallow Jonah whole." "Noah in the arky... bailed." "Daniel... in the lion's den." "David... killed Goliath."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1912 (recording, Fisk University Jubilee Quartette)
KEYWORDS: Bible religious humorous
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 196, "Jonah and the Whale" (1 text)
BrownIII 346, "Jonah and the Whale" (6 texts and/or fragments, but only the "D" and "E" texts and the "F" fragment are this piece; "A" and "B" are "Jonah and the Whale (Living Humble)" and "C" is "Hide Away")
Silber-FSWB, p. 386, "Who Did Swallow Jonah" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Fisk University Jubilee Quartette, "Peter on the Sea" (Edison Amberol 978, 1912)
Mustard and Gravy, "The Whale Did, I Know He Did" (Bluebird B-7905, 1938)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Daniel in the Den of Lions" (on NLCR16)
North Carolina Cooper Boys, "Daniel in the Den of Lions" (OKeh 45174, 1927; on CrowTold02)
Utica Institute Jubilee Singers, "Peter on the Sea" (Victor 21925, 1929)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Hide Away (Jonah and the Whale)" (subject) and references there
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Daniel in the Den of Lions
The Whale Did, I Know He Did
NOTES: This may actually be two songs; I have a recording by the Brandy Snifters claiming to derive their piece from two 78s, "Daniel in the Den of Lions" by the North Carolina Cooper Boys and "The Whale Did, I Know He Did" by Mustard and Gravy. The verses of this collated version, however, are almost all found in the Folksinger's Wordbook text, though with differences in order. Pending more examples, I'm treating the piece as a unity.
The story of the fish (NOT a whale!) which swallowed Jonah is related in Jonah 2. The Hebrews in the fiery furnace ("Shadrack, Meshak, Abindigo" -- all misspelled, be it noted) are a reference to Daniel 3. The story of Noah and the Ark (actually two stories collated) is in Genesis 6-8. David and Goliath (again, two stories collated) occupy 1 Samuel 17. - RBW
Listening to "Daniel in the Den of Lions," it's clearly the same song as, "Who Did Swallow Jonah?" - PJS
But that still leaves the mystery of "The Whale Did, I Know He Did." - RBW
I'd guess that "The Whale Did" is essentially the same song, with the title changed. - PJS
File: FSWB386B
===
NAME: Who Is At My Window Weeping: see The Drowsy Sleeper [Laws M4] (File: LM04)
===
NAME: Who Is My Neighbor?
DESCRIPTION: "'Who is my neighbor?' Hear the poor Jew cry. 'Who will a-yescort me? Help me ere I die.'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious Jew
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 60, "Who is my Neighbor?" (1 text)
Roud #7845
NOTES: The editors of Brown do not seem to have noted the connection with the parable of the Good Samaritan, but it seems to me nearly certain that this is an excerpt from a song about that story. - RBW
File: Br3060
===
NAME: Who Is on the Lord's Side
DESCRIPTION: "Let me tell you what is nat'rally the fact. Who is on the Lord's side, None o' God's children nebber look back, Who is on the Lord's side." "Way in the valley, who is... Way in the valley...." "Weeping Mary...." "Mourning Martha." "Risen Jesus."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 56, "Who Is on the Lord's Side" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12015
NOTES: The phrase "Who is on the Lord's side" comes from Exodus 32:26, though I'm not sure it's a context I'd like to quote -- Moses is encouraging the Levites to consecrate themselves by killing their relatives! - RBW
File: AWG056
===
NAME: Who Is Tapping at My Bedroom Window?: see The Drowsy Sleeper [Laws M4] (File: LM04)
===
NAME: Who is the Lady?
DESCRIPTION: Dan'l Mooney's father died and left him money if, the will said, he would marry. He sees a lady and thinks "if she would only wed me I'd be happy." He'd give her diamonds, they'd go to Ireland, they'd have a baby boy who'd become "just like his old Papa"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1972 (Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
KEYWORDS: marriage lastwill money Ireland
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 7, "Who is the Lady?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5227
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "Who is the Lady?" (on IRTLenihan01)
NOTES: Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan: "American music-hall whimsey." - BS
File: RcWITLad
===
NAME: Who Killed Cock Robin?
DESCRIPTION: "Who killed Cock Robin? I, said the sparrow, with my little bow and arrow." "Who saw him die? I, said the fly, with my little streaky eye." Various creatures, mostly birds, describe their parts in the death and burial of Cock Robin
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1744 (Tom Thumb's Pretty Song Book volume II)
KEYWORDS: bird death burial
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES: (10 citations)
SharpAp 213, "Cocky Robin" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 74, "Tommy Robin (Cock Robin)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, pp. 56-57, "Who Killed the Robin?" (1 text)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 66, "The Death of Cock Robin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 87, "Cock Robin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 177-178, "Cock Robin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 69-70, "Who Killed Cock Robin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 110, "Who killed Cock Robin?" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #22, pp. 36-37, "(Who did kill Cock Robbin?)"
DT, COCKROBN*
Roud #494
RECORDINGS:
Edith Harmon, "Who Killed Poor Robin?" (LC AAFS 2907 A2, 1939)
Buell Kazee, "Cock Robin" (on Kazee01)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Who Killed Poor Robin?" (on NLCR17, NLCRCD2)
NOTES: Wild theories swirl about this piece -- e.g. that it is linked with political ministry of Robert Walpole (which ended in 1742), or that it is a retelling of the Norse Balder legend (!). However, there are European analogues, and earlier illustrations which may belong with the story, so any theory must be considered speculative at best. Chase reports that it is a Shoshone night chant.
The Baring-Goulds argue that the piece must go back to Middle English times, because it rhymes "owl" and "shovel." This, however, appears to be in error on two counts: First, the ancient spelling "shouel" was not pronounced "showel" (in Old English, it's "scofl"). And there are English dialects which confuse "v" and "w." - RBW
File: SKE74
===
NAME: Who Killed Cock Robin? (II)
DESCRIPTION: Questions and answers. "What came of 82?": The name. "Whence came the shout of freedom?": o'er the Atlantic. "Who drove the people mad?": Pitt. "Who picketed the Croppies?": Captain Swayne. "When shall [Union] be repealed?": When the people are united.
AUTHOR: "Ierne" (R.R. Madden) (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1887 (Madden's _Literary Remains of the United Irishmen of 1798_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: rebellion violence Ireland nonballad patriotic questions
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Moylan 168, "Who Killed Cock Robin?" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: There are thirty-eight verses. The form follows "Who Killed Cock Robin?" Each verse has a question and an answer about eighteenth and nineteenth century Irish history. More villains than heroes of that period are among the answers.
Here is an example of the form (Dublin Town Major Sirr [for whom see "The Major"] is the villain again):
Who shot Lord Edward?
The Major said demurely,
I took my aim securely,
I shot Lord Edward!
[The references to "82" is to] April 16, 1782 [when] Henry Grattan moved a declaration of the independence of the Irish parliament. Grattan: "Ireland is now a nation!" (source: "Henry Grattan" at the Ireland Information Guide site). [See also the notes to "Ireland's Glory." - RBW]
Pitt and Union are discussed, among other places in this index, in the notes to "The Game of Cards" (II).
Captain Swayne appears briefly in "The Song of Prosperous," in which he dies in the fire. He is one of the people accused of "pitch capping": filling a cap with boiling pitch and putting it on a peasant's head. (source: "The Search for Weapons" in _1798 Rebellion_ at Rathregan National School site). - BS
Madden's pen-name of "Ierne" is one of the sundry ancient names for Ireland. - RBW
File: Moyl168
===
NAME: Who Killed Poor Robin?: see Who Killed Cock Robin? (File: SKE74)
===
NAME: Who Killed the Robin?: see Who Killed Cock Robin? (File: SKE74)
===
NAME: Who Said I Was a Bum?
DESCRIPTION: Singer, called a bum, takes exception to the name. He tells of life as a hobo, says "I never work, I never have, and I never will by gum/I know I'm a hobo, but who said I was a bum?" My shoes are worn, my pants are torn, there's holes in both my knees."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: c. 1927 (recording, Carson Robison)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Singer is called a bum, but takes exception to the name. He tells of life as a hobo, says "I never work, I never have, and I never will by gum/I know I'm a hobo, but who said I was a bum?" "Whenever I see a stack of wood, I go the other way" He also notes that "My shoes are worn, my pants are torn, there's holes in both my knees" and that the wind blows through his BVDs
KEYWORDS: poverty pride work nonballad hobo
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (0 citations)
RECORDINGS:
Frank Luther, "Who Said I Was A Bum?" (Victor 21686 [as Bud Billings], 1928) (Broadway 1226, 1929)
Carson Robison, "Who Said I Was a Bum?" (Herschel Gold Seal 2021, c. 1927)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "You Wonder Why I'm a Hobo" (subject, attitude)
File: RcWSIWAB
===
NAME: Who Will Care for Mother Now?
DESCRIPTION: "Why am I so weak and weary? See how faint my heated breath.... Tell me, comrades, is this death?" The dying soldier asks "Who will care for mother now?" He hopes someone will care for her, and hopes to die as a soldier should
AUTHOR: Charles Carroll Sawyer
EARLIEST_DATE: 1865
KEYWORDS: soldier death mother Civilwar
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 76-77, "Who Will Care for Mother Now?" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WHOCARE*
NOTES: The fact that this song achieved some success probably tells us more about the nineteenth century than about the quality of the song. - RBW
File: SCW76
===
NAME: Who Will Play the Silver Whistle?: see The Silver Whistle (File: K009)
===
NAME: Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot
DESCRIPTION: Floating verses found in sundry other songs: "Oh who will shoe your pretty little foot, And who will glove your hand...." "(Papa) will shoe my pretty little foot, (Mama) will glove my hand...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: (undatable as the key lyrics probably predate the song as an independent entity)
KEYWORDS: floatingverses clothes nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (20 citations)
Bronson 76, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (23 versions, of which #6, #7, #9, #10, #14, and #15 must be placed here)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 149-150, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (2 fragments)
Flanders-Ancient2, pp. 174-177, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (2 fragments, one of which is probably "The Lass of Roch Royal" but the second being "Pretty Little Foot"; 1 tune)
Randolph 18, "Oh Who Will Shoe My Foot?" (8 texts, 5 tunes; the "B" and "H" versions are of this sort) {H=Bronson's #7}
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"); also 301, "High-Topped Shoes" (2 texts, both mixed; "A" is mostly "Pretty Little Foot" with verses from "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down" while "B" is a hash of "Don't Let Your Deal Go Down," ""More Pretty Girls Than One," "In the Pines," and others); also 306, "By By, My Honey" (1 text, mostly this though with several floating verses, e.g. from "Lonesome Road")
Hudson 13, pp. 91-93, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (1 fragments, of which "A" is the "Pretty Little Foot" with a chorus from "Careless Love" and "B" is two "Pretty Little Foot" stanzas artificially and wrongly extracted from "Wild Bill Jones")
Davis-Ballads 21, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (21 texts, every one of which is this piece rather than the longer ballad; additional texts appear in the Appendices, though some of these file with other songs; 4 tunes, of which the first 3, "Lass of Roch Royal," "Love Gregory," "and "Lass of Roch Royal," are among the pieces which belong here; 22 more versions mentioned in Appendix A) {#21A=Bronson's #9, #21U=Bronson's #10}
Scarborough-SongCatcher, p. 124, (no title) (1 fragment, filed under Child #76 along with a text of "New River Train/Honey Babe" and a version of "I Truly Undertand That You Love Some Other Man")
Brewster 13, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (1 text plus 8 fragments; the "A" text is "Fare You Well, My Own True Love"; "B"-"I" are "pretty little foot" fragments of one to three stanzas)
Fuson, p. 131, "The Gambling Man" (1 text, built around "The Roving Gambler (The Gambling Man)" [Laws H4] but also with these verses)
Friedman, p. 78, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (3 texts, 1 tune, with the "B" text belonging here)
Niles 31, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (2 texts, 2 tunes, the second clearly "The Lass of Roch Royal" but the first goes here)
Sandburg, 98-99, "Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot" (3 texts, 1 tune; the "A" text goes here) {Bronson's #14}
Lomax-FSNA 109, "Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot" (1 text, 1 tune, with some additional stanzas which might be from "Fare You Well, My Own True Love" but which one has to suspect of being Lomax additions)
JHCox 13, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (2 texts, with the "B" text being a short fragment of this song)
Darling-NAS, pp. 269-270, "Who Will Shoe" (assorted sample stanzas)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 65, "Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rorrer, p. 92, "When I'm Far Away" (1 text, with an altered form: "Who will shoe your little foot (x3) When I am far away?")
Silber-FSWB, p. 191, "Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot?" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; note to #50, (no title) (1 text)
Roud #49
RECORDINGS:
Frank Bode, "Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot?" (on FBode1)
Carolina Tar Heels, "Who's Gonna Kiss Your Lips, Dear Darling" (Victor 40100, 1929)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "When I'm Far Away" (No known Columbia release; recorded 1930)
Pete Seeger, "Poor Boy" (on PeteSeeger18)
Arthur Smith, "Green Valley Waltz" (on McGeeSmith1)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lass of Roch Royal" [Child 76]
cf. "Fare You Well, My Own True Love (The Storms Are on the Ocean, The False True Lover, The True Lover's Farewell, Red Rosy Bush, Turtle Dove)"
cf. "Mary Anne"
cf. "My Dearest Dear" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Lover's Lament" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Who's Gonna Love You, Honey?" (theme)
cf. "Six Months in Jail Ain't So Long" (theme)
cf. "Must I Go to Mississippi?" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: It is common to classify any song containing the "pretty little foot" stanzas as part of "The Lass of Roch Royal" [Child 76]. However, they have been widely associated with at least two other songs (designated in the Ballad Index as "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)" and "Mary Anne"). In addition, the stanzas can simply float.
For that matter, the verses are not an required part of "Roch Royal"; many versions (e.g. of the "Lord Gregory" group) omit them, and they are not an integral part of the plot of that ballad.
For this reason we have decided to classify these verses separately. If these verses stand in isolation, they will be listed here; if they are part of a longer ballad, they will be listed with that ballad. Note, however, that any particular fragment containing these verses could be part of one of the longer ballads.
Note also that some of the ballads listed under the other titles could have been misclassified by the authors and belong here. - RBW
I classify [the Seeger recording "Poor Boy"] here for want of a better place. - PJS
File: C076A
===
NAME: Who Would Have Tho't Harmon
DESCRIPTION: "Who would have tho't Harmon, that hum drum old fox, Who looks so bemeaning with his tousled locks, Would have had resolution to stand to the tack?" The speakers (Ned [Fanning] and Frank [Nash] ?) lament the troubles the regulators cause
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: political nonballad
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownII 280, "Who Would Have Tho't Harmon" (1 text)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "From Hillsborough Town the First of May" (subject)
cf. "When Fanning First to Orange Came" (subject)
cf. "Said Frohock to Fanning" (subject)
NOTES: One of four "regulator" songs in Brown. The regulators were a group of protesters against high taxes and fees, found mostly in North Carolina though some also were active in South Carolina.
The Regulators formally organized in 1766, when William Tryon (1725-1788) was governor of North Carolina (1765-1771) ; he defeated them at Almance in 1771. That was Tryon's way; as governor of New York (1771-1778) he was equally harsh. His successors then turned to compromise.
Edmund Fanning (the "Ned" of the song?), a Yale graduate of 1757, was a favorite of Tryon's; after moving to North Carolina, he went from being a local attorney to a Superior Court clerk and legislator. He also built a reputation for extreme avarice, making him a particular target for the regulators (and vice versa). A loyalist during the Revolution (commanded the King's American Regiment of Foot), he died in London
"Frank" is probably Francis Nash, the county clerk. - RBW
File: BrII280
===
NAME: Who'll Be King but Charlie: see Wha'll Be King but Charlie (File: DTwhakin)
===
NAME: Who's Goin' to Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot: see Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot (plus related references, e.g. The Lass of Roch Royal [Child 76]) (File: C076)
===
NAME: Who's Gonna Love You, Honey?
DESCRIPTION: "Who's gonna love you, honey, when I'm away? Who's gonna stay and say sweet things every day? Who's gonna look into your eyes divine? Who's gonna kiss those lips that I call mine?... Who's gonna love you when I'm gone?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love separation questions
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
BrownIII 302, "Who's Gonna Love You, Honey?" (1 short text)
Roud #16862
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot" (theme)
File: Br3302
===
NAME: Who's Gonna Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot?: see Who Will Shoe Your Pretty Little Foot (plus related references, e.g. The Lass of Roch Royal [Child 76]) (File: C076A)
===
NAME: Who's That at My Bedroom Window?: see The Drowsy Sleeper [Laws M4] (File: LM04)
===
NAME: Who's That Knocking?: see The Drowsy Sleeper [Laws M4] (File: LM04)
===
NAME: Who's the Fool Now?: see Martin Said To His Man (File: WB022)
===
NAME: Who's the Pretty Girl Milkin' the Cow?: see The Pretty Girl Milkin' Her Cow (File: San040)
===
NAME: Whoa Back, Buck
DESCRIPTION: The experiences of a poor farmer. He describes his fieldwork methods ("Sometimes I plow my old grey horse..."), the crops, his gal's big feet, the dances they went to together, etc. Possible chorus: "Whoa back, buck! And gee! by the lamb!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: work horse farming poverty floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Randolph 281, "Couldn't Raise No Sugar Corn" (1 text, 1 tune, which might be separate since it lacks the chorus)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 187, "Last Year Was a Fine Crap Year" (1 text)
Lomax-FSUSA 67, "Whoa Buck" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax- FSNA 282, "Whoa Back, Buck" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, pp. 168-169, "Whoa, Back, Buck!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, p 72-73, "Oh, My God, Them 'Taters" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #10060
RECORDINGS:
Anne, Judy, & Zeke Canova, "Whoa Back Buck" (Romeo 5043, 1931; Regal MR 457 [as "Whoa Buck, Whoa" by Three Georgia Crackers], c. 1931 )
Lulu Belle & Scotty, "Whoa Back Buck" (Conqueror 9587, 1940)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Song of the Pinewoods" (floating lyrics)
cf. "I'm a Rowdy Soul" (floating lyrics)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Tighten on the Backband
NOTES: The Lomaxes credit this to Lead Belly, with some new material of their own. (What else is new?) However, the fragment in Randolph strongly implies that Lead Belly did no more than reshape traditional materials -- and then the Lomaxes reshaped THAT.
It is on this basis that I include Greenway's song "Oh, My God, Them 'Taters" here. Greenway's song is just a fragment; it is possible that it is part of a longer song -- or that the Lomaxes borrowed its lyrics. - RBW
File: LxU067
===
NAME: Whoa Buck: see Whoa Back, Buck (File: LxU067)
===
NAME: Whoa Mule (The Kickin' Mule)
DESCRIPTION: The singer describes courting and the dangers of a kicking mule which "kicked the feathers off a goose," etc. The stubborn mule Simon Slick is often mentioned. The chorus will generally contain the instruction "Whoa, mule."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1924 (recordings, Bill Chitwood & Bud Landress, Sid Turner, RIley Puckett)
KEYWORDS: animal courting talltale humorous
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (7 citations)
BrownIII 513, "The Kicking Mule" (1 text)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 186, "Whoa, Mule!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster 84, "Simon Slick" (2 texts, longer than most, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 231, "The Kickin' Mule" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 62-63, "Whoa, Mule, Whoa" (1 text, tune referenced)
Shellans, pp. 76-77, "The Kicking Mule" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SIMONSLK*
Roud #3774
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff, "Whoa Mule" (Capitol 2738, 1954)
Clarence Ashley & Tex Isley, "Whoa Mule" (on Ashley01)
Loman D. Cansler, "Kickin' Maud [or Kickin' Maude]" (on Cansler1)
Bill Chitwood & Bud Landress, "Whoa Mule" (Silvertone 3050, 1924; Brunswick 2811, 1925)
Al Clauser & his Oklahoma Outlaws, "Whoa, Mule, Whoa" (Melotone 7-08-63, 1937)
Elisha Cox, "Whoa Mule" (AAFS 547 A2)
Vernon Dalhart, "Go Long Mule" (Banner 1416 [as Bob White], 1924; Banner 32130 [as Sid Turner], 1931) (Pathe 32068/Perfect 12147 [both as Sid Turner], 1924)
J. D. Dillingham & O. J. Light, "Whoa, Maude, Whoa" (AAFS 899 B2)
Samuel Clay Dixon, "Whoa, Mule, Whoa" (AAFS 1749 B3/1750 A1)
Carl Fenton & his Orch. "Go Long Mule" (Brunswick 2683, 1924)
Leonard C. Fulwinder, "Whoa Mule, Whoa" (Victor V-40270, 1930; Aurora [Canadian] 238, c. 1932)
Georgia Yellow Hammers, "Jonnson's Old Grey Mule" (Victor 20550, 1927); "The Sale of Simon Slick - Pts. 1 & 2" (Victor V-40069, 1929)
Happiness Boys (Billy Jones & Ernest Hare, "Go Long Mule" (Columbia 194-D, 1924)
The Hillbillies, "Whoa! Mule" (OKeh 40376, 1925)
Hinson, Pitts & Coley, "Whoa Mule Whoa" (Bluebird B-7438, 1938)
Paul Holland, "Whoa, Mule, Whoa" (AAFS 3217 A1)
Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters [or John Hopkins], "Whoa, Mule" (Brunswick 179, 1927)
International Novelty Orch. "Go Long Mule" (Victor 19442, 1924)
Matilda Keene, "Whoa, Larry, Whoa" (AAFS 979 B1)
Louisiana Lou, "Go Long Mule" (Victor 23858, c. 1934; Bluebird 5749, 1935; rec. 1933)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "Johnson's Old Grey Mule" (Bluebird B-6584/Montgomery Ward M-7006, 1936)
Bert Martin, "Whoa, Mule" (AAFS 1479 B2)
Chubby Parker, "Whoa Mule, Whoa" Gennett 6120/Silvertone 5011, 1927; Supertone 9189, 1928) (Conqueror 7892, 1927)
Pickard Family, "Thompson's Old Gray Mule" (Oriole 1502/Challenge 990/Jewel 5562, 1929; Conqueror 7736, 1931; Broadway 8179 [as Pleasant Family])
Riley Puckett, "Johnson's Old Gray Mule" (Columbia 150-D, 1924); "Whoa Mule" (Columbia 15040-D, 1925; Silvertone 3258, 1926)
Prairie Ramblers, "Jim's Windy Mule" (Conqueror 8648, 1936; Vocalion 03587, 1937 [as Sweet Violet Boys])
Hobart Ricker, "Whoa, Mule, Whoa" (AAFS 3904 B4)
Pete Seeger, "Old Grey Mule" (on PeteSeeger08, PeteSeegerCD02)
Shelton Brothers, "Johnson's Old Gray Mule" (Decca 5161, 1935) (King 646, 1947); "Go Long Mule" (Decca 5422, 1937)
Roba Stanley [or Stanley Trio] "Whoa! Mule" (OKeh 40271, 1925)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Johnson's Old Gray Mule" (Columbia 15221-D, 1928; rec. 1927); "Whoa, Mule, Whoa" (Bluebird B-5591, 1934)
Sid Turner, "Go 'Long Mule" (Perfect 12147, 1924)
Tom Watson [pseud. for Gid Tanner & Riley Puckett], "Johnson's Mule" (Harmony 5095-H, n.d.)
Ukulele Bob Williams, "Go Long Mule" (Paramount 12247, 1925; rec. 1924)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Going Down to Cairo" (words)
NOTES: Every version of this I've heard sung uses the Lomax chorus, "Whoa, mule, I tell you, Miss Liza, you keep cool; I ain't got time to kiss you now; I'm busy with my mule." It doesn't seem to show up much in tradition, though (it is found in the Brown text in a slightly different form). - RBW
Trying to sort out "Whoa, Mule," "Johnson's Old Grey Mule," and related songs is Excedrin Headache #1927. We've lumped them for want of a better solution.
This shouldn't be confused with a fiddle piece, "The Kickin' Mule," made popular by Fiddlin' John Carson; that one has a different tune. - PJS"
File: LoF231
===
NAME: Whoa, Mule, Whoa: see Whoa Mule (The Kickin' Mule) (File: LoF231)
===
NAME: Whoa! Ha! Buck and Jerry Boy
DESCRIPTION: "With a merry little jog and a gay little song, (Spoken: Whoa! Ha! Buck and Jerry Boy!), We trudge our way the whole day long... We'll reach Salt Lake some day or bust." The singer thinks of the girl up ahead and the dances along his journey
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1952 (recording, L. M. Hilton)
KEYWORDS: travel courting dancing nonballad
FOUND_IN: US
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Lomax-FSNA 172, "Whoa! Ha! Buck and Jerry Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 21, "Whoa! Ha! Buck and Jerry Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WHOAHAW
Roud #6692
RECORDINGS:
L. M. Hilton, "Whoa! Ha! Buck and Jerry Boy" (on Hilton01)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Turkey in the Straw" (portions of tune)
File: LoF172
===
NAME: Whole Hog or None, The
DESCRIPTION: Vignettes of people who go "the whole hog or none," e.g. boxer Heenan, who never gave Sayers any peace, and Brigham Young, who had sixty wives
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1919 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: fight marriage humorous
HISTORICAL_REFERENCES: April 17, 1860 - Boxing match between John C. Heenan and Tom Sayers, stopped by spectators after 42 rounds. The bout was the last official bare-knuckle fight
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Randolph 513, "The Whole Hog or None" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7596
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Heenan and Sayers" [Laws H20] (subject)
cf. "Rory of the Hill" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Rory of the Hill (File: Zimm075) per broadsides Bodleian 2806 b.10(137), 2806 c.8(278)
The Hale Rick-Ma-Tick (broadside NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(93a), Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1879; apparently first published 1872)
File: R513
===
NAME: Whoop 'Em Up, Cindy
DESCRIPTION: Floating verses, often praising Cindy: "Went up on the mountain top, give my horn a blow...; "Higher up the mountain top, greener grow the cherries..." Chorus: "Whoop 'em up, Cindy, Lord/I love Cindy, Lord/Whoop 'em up, Cindy, Lord, Lord/Gone forevermore"
AUTHOR: Uncle Dave Macon
EARLIEST_DATE: 1926 (recording, Uncle Dave Macon)
KEYWORDS: courting love nonballad floatingverses
FOUND_IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Fuson, p. 159, "I Give My Horn a Blow" (eleventh of 12 single-stanza jigs) (1 text, perhaps from this though it's just a floating verse)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 196, "Whoop 'Em Up, Cindy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 255-256, "Whoop 'Em Up Cindy" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Warren Caplinger's Cumberland Mountain Entertainers, "Saro" (Brunswick 241, c. 1928)
Uncle Dave Macon, "Whoop 'Em Up, Cindy" (Vocalion 15323, 1926); Uncle Dave Macon & the Fruit Jar Drinkers, "Whoop 'Em Up Cindy" (Vocalion 5009, 1926)
Kirk & Sam McGee, "Whoop 'Em Up Cindy" (on McGeeSmith1)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Whoop 'em Up, Cindy" (on NLCR02)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Cindy"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Saro (not to be confused with "Pretty Saro")
NOTES: This song has less in common with "Cindy" than one might imagine; few if any verses show up in both. But with floating-verses songs like this, you always need to look at the whole family. - PJS
File: CSW196
===
NAME: Whoopee, Ti Ti Yo, Git Along, Little Dogies: see Get Along, Little Dogies (File: R178)
===
NAME: Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing, The
DESCRIPTION: A customer and a prostitute engage in oral sex, "each trying to get their guns off first into the other's heads," until he offers to give it "the boar-hog grind."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1976 (recorded by Logsdon from Riley Neal)
KEYWORDS: bawdy whore sex
FOUND_IN: US(So,SW)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph-Legman II, pp. 601-603, "The Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing" (3 texts)
Logsdon 23, pp. 145-148, "The Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WHBELLS*
Roud #10093
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fatal Wedding" (tune)
SAME_TUNE:
Carolina Twins, "The Boarding House Bells Are Ringing" (Victor 21575, 1928)
NOTES: Either the Carolina Twins' recording is a cleaned-up version of "The Whorehouse Bells Were Ringing" or, more likely, the original of which this is a parody. There is also song called "The Convent Bells Are Ringing," of unknown relationship. - PJS
Logsdon thinks "Whorehouse" is a direct parody of "The Fatal Wedding," with which it shares a tune, but I incline to think there was an intermediate version. "The Boarding House Bells Are Ringing" strikes me as a reasonable candidate.
Logsdon's informant Riley Neal confesses that this song is "just plumb nasty." I incline to agree; most bawdy songs theoretically have a humorous element, but this one strikes me as existing only to disgust. - RBW
File: RL601
===
NAME: Whose Old Cow
DESCRIPTION: "Twas the end of roundup the last day of June, Or maybe July I just don't remember...." The signer describes the the gathering for the roundup. When the herds gathered, "Nig" Add separates the herds. An unknown brand puzzles him; he claims the cow
AUTHOR: N. Howard Thorp
EARLIEST_DATE: 1908
KEYWORDS: cowboy work
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Thorp/Fife XXI, pp. 247-250 (42-44), "Who's Old Cow" (2 texts, though they look at best marginally related)
Roud #8045
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Brands
NOTES: This is another Thorp poem that does not seem to have made any mark in oral tradition. Its racist tone ("White folks [are] smarter'n Add"), as well as its somewhat forced diction and the obscure use of branding terms, probably guarantee continued obscurity. - RBW
File: TF21
===
NAME: Whummil Bore, The [Child 27]
DESCRIPTION: A servant has waited on the king for seven years without ever seeing the princess. One day, peering through a hole in the wall (the whummil bore), he sees her being dressed. He greatly enjoys the sight, but can't stay long.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1825
KEYWORDS: clothes servant
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Bord)) US(SE)
REFERENCES: (6 citations)
Child 27, "The Whummil Bore" (1 text)
Bronson 27, "The Whummil Bore" (1 version)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 437-438, "The Whummil Bore" (notes plus the "With my glimpy" chorus)
Davis-More 14, pp. 89-91, "The Whummil Bore" (1 text)
DT 27, WHMLBORE
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #354, "The Whummil Bore" (1 text)
Roud #3722
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Keyhole in the Door" (plot)
NOTES: Bertrand Bronson discusses origin of this piece in "The Interdependence of Ballad Tunes and Texts" (first printed in the _California Folklore Quarterly_, II, 1944; see now MacEdward Leach and Tristram P. Coffin, eds, _The Critics and the Ballad_. The relevant discussion is on pages 89-91.
Bronson states that "'The Whummil Bore' appears to me a by-blow of a serious romantic ballad." He then notes a melodic similarity to "Hind Horn" (Child 17), as well as a similar subplot, and proposes that "Hind Horn" is the source for "The Whummil Bore."
The existence of the Virginia text found in Davis seems very suspicious, and I considered the possibility that it is actually some other song (either "Hind Horn" or "The Keyhole in the Door"). But it's much too clean for the latter, and -- though fragmentary -- too full for the former. Call it a curiosity. - RBW
File: C027
===
NAME: Why Can't Paddy Be a Gentleman?
DESCRIPTION: "Being told Pat couldn't be a gentleman" I'll ask why not? "Hasn't Ireland got her colleges" and won't he "greet you with a smile?" "You cannot give the reason why, I see it in your face ...actions make a gentleman, no matter what the birth"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 9, "Why Can't Paddy Be a Gentleman?" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.11(213), "Why Can't Paddy Be a Gentleman?", unknown, n.d.
NOTES: There is, of course, a one word answer to the question in the title: "Catholicism." A fair number of people of Irish ancestry did in fact achieve at least landlord status, and some even entered the nobility. But nearly all, after the time of Tyrconnell, were Protestant. - RBW
File: OCon009
===
NAME: Why Do You Bob Your Hair, Girls?
DESCRIPTION: "Why do you bob you hair, girls, It is an awful shame To rob the head God gave you To bear the flapper's name." The singer proclaims that "short hair belongs to me," and maintains that women with long hair will be commended by God
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1930 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: hair
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES: (4 citations)
[Randolph 644, "Why Do You Bob Your Hair, Girls" -- deleted in the second printing]
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 442-443, "Why Do You Bob Your Hair, Girls?" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 644)
BrownIII 56, "Why Do You Bob Your Hair, Girls" (1 text)
DT, WHYBOBHR*
Roud #7842
RECORDINGS:
J. E. Mainer's Mountaneers, "Why Do You Bob Your Hair Girls?" (Bluebird B-6792/Montgomery Ward 7131, 1937)
Blind Alfred Reed, "Why Do You Bob Your Hair Girls?" (Victor 21360, 1928); compare "Why Don't You Bob Your Hair Girls-No. 2" (Victor V-40196, 1930)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Good Old Days of Adam and Eve" (theme) and references there
cf. "The Bobbed Hair" (theme)
NOTES: Needless to say, there is no scriptural rule mandating long hair -- Paul (1 Cor. 11:15) calls long hair a woman's pride, but nowhere requires it; indeed, in 11:6, he offers shaving the head as an alternative to wearing a veil!
It's hard to imagine how such a heavy-handed piece came to be traditional -- but I suppose anyone stupid enough to believe the arguments it contains could also think them persuasive.
According to the Digital Tradition, this is by Blind Alfred Reed. Norm Cohen reaffirms this, and credits Reed also with the sequel. I can't prove this false -- but why would a blind man produce such a piece? - RBW
File: Br3056
===
NAME: Why Don't Father's Ship Come In: see The Gentle Boy (Why Don't Father's Ship Come In) (File: GrMa113)
===
NAME: Why Don't They Do So Now?: see I Wish They'd Do It Now (File: Gil111)
===
NAME: Why Don't You Love the Old Love?
DESCRIPTION: The singer is a stranger to this country. When an old love's back is turned she can love whom she pleases. "To me she gives nothing, Who loved her so dear" "I'll dress you my darling And take you away. Into New York we'll be sailing"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1974 (Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection floatingverses emigration
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 33, "Why Don't You Love the Old Love?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5216
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "Why Don't You Love the Old Love?" (on IRTLenihan01)
NOTES: There are floating lines rather than floating verses. Lines like "You can love whom you please", "When first to this country A stranger I came", and "Green grow the rushes And the tops of them small" are combined with lines that don't float. Some verses don't seem to float at all. - BS
File: RcWDYLTO
===
NAME: Wi' His Apron On
DESCRIPTION: After Eve broke "the great command" she kissed Adam "with his apron on." Everywhere now a pretty maid happily kisses her love with his apron on. At Mason Lodge meetings each appears after "five steps that he must take" with his jewels and apron on.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(1b))
KEYWORDS: love courting marriage Bible ritual clothes
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Greig #40, p. 2, ("When Adam in the garden woned"); Greig #148, p. 2, "Wi' His Apron On" (2 fragments)
GreigDuncan3 471, "Wi' the Apron On" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Ord, p. 105, "Wi' His Apron On" (1 text)
Roud #5969 and 5970
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(1b), "Adam in the Garden" ("When Adam in the garden was"), J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819; also 2806 c.18(2), "Adam in the Garden"; Harding B 25(1231), "On Masonry"
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
I Kissed My Love wi' His Apron On
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Harding B 17(1b) is the basis for the description. - BS
Roud splits Ord's text from Greig's and the others. At first glance this appears reasonable; the majority of versions refer to Adam and Eve in the garden, and Ord's doesn't. But it appears that Ord's version has simply lost the initial verses.
The mention of an apron in this context is interesting. The story of the Fall of Man is in Genesis 3, and in it, after they eat of the Tree of Knowledge, they use fig leaves to sew themselves some sort of clothing. The clothing is mentioned in Genesis 3:7. "Aprons" is the rendering of the King James Bible, but elsewhere it tends to use "girdle" (four of the five other uses; the fifth uses "armor"). The Geneva Bible rendered it "breeches," a reaching also given by Wycliff ("brechis"). The New Revised Standard and Revised English Bibles read "loinclothes." Thus it seems quite likely that this is a deliberate reference to Genesis. (Not that you would likely have doubted it if I hadn't written this long note.) - RBW
File: Ord105
===
NAME: Wi' the Apron On: see Wi' His Apron On (File: Ord105)
===
NAME: Wicked Captain, The
DESCRIPTION: The Nancy had a gallant crew but none loved the wicked captain who never prayed. He fell ill when "God laid his hands on the sinful man." Even when "fever burned on his aching brow And gnawed his heart within" he never prayed.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: disease ship religious
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 678, "The Wicked Captain" (1 text)
Roud #6101
File: GrD3676
===
NAME: Wicked Girl, The: see Wicked Polly [Laws H6] (File: LH06)
===
NAME: Wicked Polly [Laws H6]
DESCRIPTION: Polly lives a frolicsome life, saying, "I'll turn to God when I grow old." Suddenly taken ill, she realizes "'Alas, alas! my days are spent; It is too late for to repent.'" She dies in agony and is presumably sent to hell; young people are advised to heed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1925 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: disease death Hell warning
FOUND_IN: US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES: (17 citations)
Laws H6, "Wicked Polly"
Belden, pp. 460-464, "The Wicked Girl" (3 texts plus a fragment possibly of this ballad)
Randolph 596, "Wicked Polly" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 416-417, "Wicked Polly" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 596A)
Eddy 140, "Wicked Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 21-23, "Wicked Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 136, "Wicked Polly" (1 text)
BrownIII 62, "The Wicked Girl" (3 texts plus mention of 1 more)
Chappell-FSRA 115, "Sold In Hell" (1 text)
Shellans, p. 95, "Wicked Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster 66, "Wicked Polly" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 569-570, "Wicked Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 35, "Wicked Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 86, "I'll Tell You What I Saw Last Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 47, pp. 111-112, "Wicked Polly"; pp. 113-114, "Wicked Polly" (2 texts)
DT 646, WICKDPOL* WICKDPL2*
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 160 (1 fragment, no title)
Roud #505
RECORDINGS:
New Lost City Ramblers, "I'll Tell You What I Saw Last Night" (on NLCR05)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dying Boy" (plot)
cf. "A Poor Sinner" (plot)
cf. "Death is a Melancholy Call" [Laws H5] (theme)
cf. "The Lost Soul" (theme)
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
The Unfortunate Girl
Awful, Oh, How Awful
Young People Hark
A Sad Parting
NOTES: The girl's name in this version [Cohen/Seeger/Wood] is not Polly but Mary. -PJS
In Songs the Whalemen Sang, pp. 306-308, Huntington prints a piece called "Terrible Polly." Neither he nor I can decide if it's an adaption of this song or not, so I decided to list it here in these notes.
Barry wrote a study of this piece and "Death is a Melancholy Call," treating them as variants (male and female, presumably) of the same piece. The moral is of course the same, and they use the same metrical form -- but I can't see any actual dependence in the lyrics. - RBW
File: LH06
===
NAME: Wicked Stepmother, The: see The Juniper Tree (The Wicked Stepmother, The Rose Tree) (File: Cha047)
===
NAME: Wicklow Rangers, The
DESCRIPTION: A 14 year old boy from Carlow meets a colonel, who enlists him in the Wicklow Rangers. He leaves his girl. Her friends tell her not to worry. He and a comrade are shunned by two milk-maids. If he survives his enlistment he will return to his girl.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1840? (Bunting); before 1884 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(336a))
KEYWORDS: love soldier separation youth
FOUND_IN: Ireland
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
OLochlainn 18, "The Girl I Left Behind Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #689
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(336a), "The Wicklow Rangers" or "The Girl I Left Behind Me" ("Come all you handsome comely maids"), H. Disley (London), 1860-1883; also Harding B 11(795), "The Wicklow Rangers" or "The Girl I Left Behind Me"; 2806 c.7(25), "The Girl I Left Behind Me"; Harding B 26(217), "The New Girl I Left Behind Me"
LOCSinging, as104470, "The Girl I Left Behind Me," unknown, 19C
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian 2806 c.7(25) is somewhat dated by having the singer enlisted by Colonel Whitty "to serve the queen unto some distant land."
OLochlainn cites an 1840 source: "Bunting, 1840, No. 57." I guess this is _The Ancient Music of Ireland_, editor Edward Bunting, (Dublin, Hodges and Smith, 1840). However, that may only be a reference for the tune since Bunting appears only to deal with Gaelic music, and that, possibly without words. Confirmation will have to wait until someone sees the book (there is a 2000 Dover unabridged edition). - BS
OLochlainn's tune is the one usually associated with "The Girl I Left Behind Me (II - lyric)."
Carlow town is in County Carlow, Ireland. County Wicklow is adjacent.
The text in every copy I have seen is sung in part from the boy's point of view ["... Colonel Reilly listed me ..."] and, in part, from the girl's point of view ["So now my love is gone from me I own I do not blame him ..."].
Broadside LOCSinging as104470 appears to be the same as Bodleian 2806 c.7(25) printed by P. Brereton (Dublin).
The description is based on broadside Bodleian Harding B 17(336a). - BS
File: OLoc018
===
NAME: Wictory Shall Be Mine: see Victory Shall Be Mine (File: Wa176)
===
NAME: Widdicombe Fair (I): see Tom Pearce (Widdicombe Fair) (File: K308)
===
NAME: Widdicombe Fair (II)
DESCRIPTION: Singer goes to a fair at Widdicombe (or Coldingham, Ratcliffe or Monaghan). There he meets with a jolly beggar and his wife. The singer then lists all the pairs of beggars he's met at the fair
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1826 (Tait's Magazine)
KEYWORDS: commerce begging moniker wife husband nonballad
FOUND_IN: Britain(England(South,West)) Ireland
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Kennedy 289, "A-Going to the Fair" (1 text plus assorted fragments in appendices, 1 tune)
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 28-29, "Craigbilly Fair" (1 text)
DT, COUDFAIR DONNYBRK*
Roud #666
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Tom Pearce (Widdicombe Fair I)" (lyrics)
cf. "Under the Greenwood Tree" (form) and references there
ALTERNATE_TITLES:
Widdliecombe Fair
The Beggars of Coldingham Fair
The Beggars of Ratcliffe Fair
Beggars of Coudingham Fair
Monaghan Fair
Widdliecombe Fair
NOTES: Variants of this song are used as the chorus for "Tom Pearce (Widdicombe Fair I)." It lacks, however, the plot about the horse, so I've separated them. - PJS
Looking at this, I can't help but think there is a cumulative version somewhere in its ancestry. But I haven't found it. Some of the versions, such as that of the McPeake family, also feel a bit like "Dame Durden."
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 265-267, prints a piece, "The Humours of Donneybrook Fair" (listed as by Charles O'Flaherty), which looks as if it might be a recomposed version of this -- but it's much too wordy to be traditional. - RBW
File: K289
===
NAME: Wide Mizzoura, The: see Shenandoah (File: Doe077)
===
NAME: Widgegoara Joe: see The Backblock Shearer (File: MA038)
===
NAME: Widow by the Sea: see The Widow in the Cottage by the Sea (File: R702)
===
NAME: Widow in the Cottage by the Sea, The
DESCRIPTION: "In my cottage by the seashore I can see my mansion home... Where with pleasure I have roamed." The singer recalls her family, and thinks how they would mourn if they saw her now. Now her love is dead, and she is "a widow in the cottage by the sea."
AUTHOR: C. A. White
EARLIEST_DATE: 1868 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: death family home poverty
FOUND_IN: US(SE,So) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES: (3 citations)
Randolph 702, "The Widow in the Cottage by the Sea" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownII 114, "In a Cottage by the Sea" (1 text plus mention of 4 more)
Leach-Labrador 123, "Widow by the Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1743 and 4327
RECORDINGS:
[Walter "Kid" Smith & the] Carolina Buddies, "In a Cottage By the Sea" (Columbia 15537-D, 1930)
Fred Stanley, "The Cottage by the Sea" (Columbia 15559-D, 1930)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.28(33d), "All Alone. Cottage by the Sea," J. West (Brighton), n.d.; also Harding B 11(3565), "The Cottage by the Sea" ("Just one year ago to day love")
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "Dear Companion (The Broken Heart; Go and Leave Me If You Wish To, Fond Affection)" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: In a curious twist, the key final lines of this song ("All this time I"m left a widow At the cottage near the sea") wind up in a British lost love song, "Blue-Eyed Lover" (MacSeegTrav 59), which in desperation I filed with the "Dear Companion" family. Which probably says more about lost love songs than about this piece.
Note also that Roud has two pieces frequently known by this name, and while they appear distinct, I don't always agree with the way he files the pieces. - RBW
In the Bodleian broadside we have a few more details. In the first verse the widow explains that the marriage was "just one year ago to day love ... I changed a mansion for a cottage" and another verse "He lost his life upon the ocean."
Of Roud's broadside entries for #4327 the ones starting "Childhood days now pass before me" are for a different song, which can also be found at Bodleian and American Memory; those starting "Just one year ago to day love" are probably the Bodleian version of this song. - BS
File: R702
===
NAME: Widow Machree (I)
DESCRIPTION: "Widow Machree, pray then open your door ... And show me the easiest plank in your floor." "Didn't old Adam loan From his rib" to "manufacture ... the first female" "As you owe man a rib, I lay claim to that same." A marriage proposal.
AUTHOR: Charles Lever (1806-1872)
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1860 (broadside, LOCSinging as114990)
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 53, "Widow Machree" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, as114990, "Widow Machree" ("Widow Machree, pray then open your door"), J Andrews (New York), 1853-1859
NOTES: The Samuel Lover and Charles Lever "Widow Machree" ["Widow Machree (II)"] are not the same song: they share rhyme scheme, verse structure, and theme, but no verses. Which is derived from the other? - BS
Or are they both, perhaps, derived from a common literary source? - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging as114990: J. Andrews dating per _Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song_ by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: OCon053
===
NAME: Widow Machree (II)
DESCRIPTION: "Widow Machree, it's no wonder you frown," your black gown is unbecoming. Summer is coming and birds and rabbits all go in pairs.In winter it would be a sin to be cold and alone. "Take my advice ... take me"
AUTHOR: probably Samuel Lover (1797-1868)
EARLIEST_DATE: before 1842 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(4195)); 1842 (Samuel Lover's novel "Handy Andy")
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad clothes
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: ()
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4195), "Widow Machre" ("Widow Mackree it's no wonder you frown ..."), Birt (London), 1833-1841; also 2806 b.11(125), Harding B 11(4194), Harding B 11(4196), "Widow Machree"
LOCSinging, cw106740, "Widow Machree" ("Widow Machree, it's no wonder you frown"), George S. Harris (Philadelphia), 19C; also as115000, "Widow Machree"
NOTES: This "Widow Machree" is attributed to Samuel Lover at the Bartleby.com site. The Samuel Lover and Charles Lever "Widow Machree" ["Widow Machree (I)"] are not the same song: they share rhyme scheme, verse structure and theme, but no verses. Which is derived from the other?
_Handy Andy_ is a novel Samuel Lover published in 1842. Lover's novel has ballads and poems scattered throughout. The context for "Widow Machree" in the novel is that it is a supposedly well known song called for by a company of listeners. Lover does not claim authorship for a character in the novel as he does for some other _Handy Andy_ poems. Is Lover including a ballad already in circulation? He seems to be doing just that with his fragment of "Ma Colleen Dhas Crutheen na Mbho" ("The Pretty Girl Milking Her Cow") in the 1836 novel _Rory O'More_. - BS
We note the existence of at least one broadside which appears to be older than _Handy Andy_; is it possible that Lever and Lover both worked from some earlier piece? Alternately, did Lover publish the song before writing _Handy Andy_, and then incorporate it into his own work to promote/celebrate its popularity? - RBW
File: Bdsdwdmc
===
NAME: Widow Malone
DESCRIPTION: "Did ye hear of the widow Malone, Ohone? Who lived in the town of Athlone alone?" All the rich men courted her but she was modest and none could see her alone. Lucius O'Brien from Clare boldly kisses her and she agrees to marry.
AUTHOR: Charles Lever (1806-1872)
EARLIEST_DATE: 1855 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 b.11(114))
KEYWORDS: courting marriage humorous
FOUND_IN:
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
O'Conor, p. 62, "Widow Malone" (1 text)
Roud #15892
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.11(114), "Widow Malone", The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1855; also 2806 c.8(175), Harding B 18(744), "Widow Malone"
LOCSinging, sb40549b, "Widow Malone", H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
NOTES: Broadside LOCSinging sb40549b: 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
Published by Lever in _Charles O'Malley, the Irish Dragoon_, and published in the twentieth century in Stevenson's _Home Book of Verse_ and Woods's _Treasury of the Familiar._ - RBW
File: OCon062
===
NAME: Widow of Westmoreland's Daughter, The
DESCRIPTION: The widow's daughter reports losing her maidenhead to a grenadier guard. The mother wants it back; the guard invites the girl to his wedding. The bride asks about her; she proves to have slept with another man. The guard marries the daughter instead
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
LONG_DESCRIPTION: Widow prays her daughter might keep her maidenhead, but the daughter comes back having lost it to a Grenadier guard. The mother scolds; the daughter returns to the Grenadier, demanding her maidenhead back. The Grenadier obliges her by "put[ting] her head where her feet was before," then invites her to his wedding; the girl runs back to her mother and tells the story, saying she's a maiden again. The mother, not pleased, goes to the wedding with the daughter; the bride asks who it might be. The Grenadier replies that it must be the widow's daughter who ran home and told; the bride says she'd never do that; she lay with a man for 11 nights and never told anyone. The Grenadier at this point dumps the bride in favor of the widow's daughter "who ran home and told her mummy"
KEYWORDS: sex wedding humorous bawdy mother trick virginity wife
FOUND_IN: Britain(England,Scotland)
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Kinloch-BBook I, pp. 1-3, "The Widow o' Westmoreland" (1 text)
DT, WIDWSTMO
Roud #228
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "The Widow of Westmoreland's Daughter" (on Lloyd1); "Widow of Westmorland's Daughter (on BirdBush1, BirdBush2) (Lloyd3)
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Country Girl (The Fair Maid of the West" (theme of regaining maidenhead)
NOTES: Lloyd notes that the song, never printed as of the time of recording [not quite true; Kinloch printed it in 1827 - RBW], had been offered to F. J. Child but was rejected for indecency. - PJS
File: DTwidwst
===
NAME: Widow's Cruisie, The
DESCRIPTION: His hearers knew he was a fool but he "tried the Psalms." "He tell't the story aff wi glee ... Aye the wifie wi her vessle." Then he'd wish them all into glory, assuring them of plenty and "meal an' eelie [oil] to be yer dainty"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad religious clergy
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 683, "The Widow's Cruisie" (1 text)
Roud #6108
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 quoting William Walker: "'About a minister who preached always when in a strange pulpit the same sermon on the text - "the widow's cruisie."' See 1 Kings 17.8-16." In that passage Elijah, hiding from Ahab during a drought, is told by God to go to a widow He has commanded "to sustain thee." When Elijah asks her for "a morsel of bread" she says she has only a handful of meal in a barrel and a little oil in a cruse which is insufficient for her and her son; she plans to use the oil to bake the meal into a cake for their last meal before they die. Elijah asks her to make the cake for him and then make it for herself and her son; if she would do that the barrel and cruise would be filled until the drought breaks. She does and the three survive the drought. - BS
[With the slight complication that the boy "died" -- or at least slipped into a coma -- in the aftermath of the famine, and was revived by Elijah via what sounds like artificial respiration. There is also the curiosity that the widow lived in Zarephath in Sidonian Phoenicia rather than Israel -- a curious place for an Israeli prophet to go.]
[The nitpicker in me also has to note that, on that diet, Elijah, the widow, and her son would all have ended up with scurvy. - RBW]
File: GrD3683
===
NAME: Widow's Lament, The
DESCRIPTION: "My sister, hear and I will relate The troubles I have seen, What sorrows I have seen of late Which are the fruit of sin." "My father" has beaten her brutally; her baby daughter and husband died of disease. She looks forward to meeting and praising God
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: disease death family religious
FOUND_IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Fuson, pp. 138-139, "The Widow's Lament" (1 text)
ST Fus138 (Partial)
Roud #4287
NOTES: Sort of a modern paraphrase of the first two chapters of the Book of Job. No sign of what happened to the next forty.
Fuson's orthography (which may come from the manuscript) is rather deceptive. The second stanza is given as
My father laid his chastening rod,
The stroke has not been light;
But sure he has been a faithful God,
A judge that will do right.
However, it is clear that it is her oh-so-faithful God who has been abusing her; meaning that the first line should probably be understood as "My Father laid his chastening rod." Not that the Bible observes such distinctions (neither Biblical Greek nor Biblical Hebrew had upper- and lower-case letters), but it's the way the people who write pieces like this usually write. - RBW
File: Fus138
===
NAME: Widow's Old Broom, The: see Courting the Widow's Daughter (Hard Times) [Laws H25] (File: LH25)
===
NAME: Widow's Plea, The
DESCRIPTION: The singer enters a court where a youth is on trial. There is no question of his guilt, but his mother rises to beg for mercy. The prosecutor asks the judge to silence her, but he refuses. The judge grants the boy clemency based on the mother's plea
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1934 (Detroit News)
KEYWORDS: mother children trial punishment mercy
FOUND_IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Gardner/Chickering 146, "The Widow's Plea" (1 text)
ST GC146 (Partial)
Roud #3672
File: GC146
===
NAME: Wife and a Biggin o' Yer Ain, A
DESCRIPTION: "It's gran' to hae a wifie and a biggin [building] o' yer ain." The singer enjoys "to see my wifie wi' the bairnie on her knee" and his hearth at evening. He has been in wealthy lodgings but "it wisna half sae cosy as this biggin' o' my ain"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: home farming nonballad baby wife
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
GreigDuncan3 546, "A Wife and a Biggin o' Yer Ain" (1 text)
Roud #6022
File: GrD3546
===
NAME: Wife and Her Wee Pickle Tow, The: see The Wee Pickle Tow (File: HayU080)
===
NAME: Wife Bereaved of her Husband, A
DESCRIPTION: "My head and stay is loof (sic.) away And I am left alone. My husband dear, who was so near, Is took away and gone." The wife confesses her grief, admits she cannot rest, and says she will turn to Jesus
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1938 (Belden), from a diary of the Civil War era
KEYWORDS: husband wife death loneliness
FOUND_IN: US(So)
REFERENCES: (1 citation)
Belden, p. 467, "A Wife Bereaved of her Husband" (1 text)
Roud #7956
File: Beld467A
===
NAME: Wife in Wether's Skin, The: see The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin [Child 277] (File: C277)
===
NAME: Wife o' Gateside, The
DESCRIPTION: "Ye've a' heard tell o' the wife o' Gateside (or Denside) ... poisoned her maid (or guid-dother [daughter-in-law]) to keep up her pride, And the Deil he is sure o' the wife o' ...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST_DATE: 1910 (GreigDuncan2)
KEYWORDS: murder poison mother
FOUND_IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES: (2 citations)
Greig #129, p. 3, ("Ye've a' heard tell o' the wife o' Gateside") (1 fragment)
GreigDuncan2 207, "The Wife o' Gateside" (2 fragments)
Roud #5837
CROSS_REFERENCES:
cf. "The Laird o' Cockpen" (tune, according to Greig)
NOTES: The current description is based on the GreigDuncan2 fragments.
GreigDuncan2 cites A.H. Miller, _Haunted Dundee_ (Dundee, 1923) for an account of the trial. Margaret Warden, died September 8, 1826. Mrs. Smith, whose son George may have been the father of Warden's unborn baby, was tried for murder and a "Not Proven" verdict returned. - BS
File: GrD2207
===
NAME: Wife o' Kelso, The: see Marrowbones [Laws Q2] (File: LQ02)
===
NAME: Wife of Auchtermuchty, The: see Father Grumble [Laws Q1] (File: LQ01)
===
NAME: Wife of Kelso, The: see Marrowbones [Laws Q2] (File: LQ02)
===
NAME: Wife of the Free, The: see The Wife of Usher's Well [Child 79] (File: C079)
===