Andrew Jackson's Raid


DESCRIPTION: "When forces were marched, four thousand brave men, On the fourteenth of March to Fort (Stratton) again...." Jackson reviews the men and has them attack Fort William. The singer toast congress and soldiers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: war battle soldier patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 30, 1813 - beginning of the "Creek War." Creek Indians attack Fort Mims and kill many of the inhabitants. Tennessee militia officer Andrew Jackson calls out the troops in response
Nov 3, 1813 - Tennessee forces under John Coffee destroy the Indian city of Tallishatchee
Nov 9, 1813 - Jackson destroys Indian forces at Talladega (Alabama)
Jan 22-27, 1814 - Series of small defeats for the Tennessee forces
March 27, 1814 - Battle of Horseshoe Bend. Jackson and Coffee decisively defeat the Creeks
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, p. 297, "Andrew Jackson's Raid"
Roud #7954
NOTES: Although Belden's (apparent) fragment does not say *which* Jackson was the general in this song, it seems evident that it was Andrew Jackson. The reference to the Tallapoosa River (in Alabama), at which the Battle of Horseshoe Bend was fought, seems to establish this.
Jackson, in the period before the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, had had a frustrating war. (Indeed, his entire military career had been pretty frustrating; according to Mahon, pp. 199-200, "except as a boy during the Revolution, he had neither seen combat nor led troops in anything but frill. His practical experience as a soldier was negligible, and his theoretical knowledge even more so.")
Jackson, the major general commanding Tennessee militia since 1802, had raised troops in Tennessee (Borneman, p. 136), but for a long time had to just sit and not use them (Borneman, p. 137). Washington did not trust him, because he had had some involvement with the rebellion of Aaron Burr (Mahon, p. 198). Eventually the government tried to send the troops, but not Jackson, south; fortunately for him, a local politician managed to have Jackson given charge (Borneman, p. 138). So Jackson left Tennessee -- and at Natchez was given orders to disband his troops! (Borneman, p. 139). Rather than turn them loose on the spot, Jackson paid to bring the troops back to Nashville as a unit (Borneman, p. 140); somehow, he seems to have acquired the nickname "Old Hickory" in the process (Borneman, p. 141).
Back in Nashville, two of his subordinates ended up in a duel, which later led to a tavern brawn in which Jackson ended up with a bad shoulder wound (Borneman, pp. 141-143). He was still recovering when the Creek War broke out.
The Creeks had the usual complaints against the Americans: The settlers were encroaching on their lands. The causes are complex and hard to pin down, though it's clear that Tecumseh helped inspire his mother's people (Borneman, pp. 143-144). It's also clear that not every Creek leader wanted to be involved; it was a band of mostly young warriors called the Red Sticks who rebelled (Hickey, p. 147), and many Creeks stayed loyal.
The war started with a running campaign between a force of American militia and a band of Creeks headed by Peter McQueen and allied loosely with the British and Spanish; this fight came to be called the Battle of Burnt Corn (Borneman, pp. 144-145; Hickey, p. 147). Americans in the area of the Alabama and Tombigbee rivers hastily built and moved into stockades. One such stockade was Fort Mims, not far north of Mobile, which seems to have held at least 200 people, and most estimates place the number around 300. It was attacked by Creeks led by Red Eagle (William Weatherford); by the end, nearly everyone inside the stockade had been killed (Borneman, pp. 145-146; Hickey, p. 147).
The Americans responded by raising several small armies to control the Indians. Jackson led one of these. And he was by far the most aggressive commander, so his forces saw most of the action. His first move after building Fort Strother to serve as a base was to send his subordinate John Coffee to the Indian settlement of Tallushatchee/Tallishatchee/Tallashatchee in northeastern Alabama.
Hickey, p. 138, describes what followed as a re-enactment of Hannibal's famous victory at Cannae, inducing the Indians to attack his center then cupping his flanks around them to encircle and slaughter the force. Coffee's troops killed every Indian who opposed them (Borneman, p. 147). This caused the Indians of Talladega, obviously frightened, to join the American side. Red Eagle promptly took his forces to attack the settlement, which was some distance south of Fort Strother. Jackson led about 2000 men south and defeated the thousand or so Indians -- though this time the larger part of the Indian force escaped (Borneman, pp. 147-148; Hickey, p. 148).
The other prongs of the American offensive finally got moving at about this time, though the accomplished very little. Jackson's troops, meanwhile, were leaving for home; they had signed up for only a few months of service, and their enlistments expired around this time. Plus he was finding it almost impossible to get supplies from his contractors (Hickey, p. 149). At one point, he had only about 130 men at Fort Strother, and when he did get more in January 1814, they were raw and barely able to fight; Jackson tried an offensive with them, but suffered small but irritating strategic defeats (Borneman, p. 149). Still, unlike most other leaders in the Creek War, he was fighting, and not retreating; he finally was sent several additional regiments of somewhat better-trained troops.
On March 14, 1814, Jackson took almost his whole army out of Fort Strother. Borneman estimates his force at 4000 (p. 150), as in the song, though other estimates (e.g. Hickey, p. 149) put his army at 3000. The Creeks had chosen a strong defensive position at Horseshoe Bend on the Tallapoosa River, with the river on three sides and a stout stockade crossing the nexk of the bend.
The song mentions that Jackson failed to knock down the wall with his small artillery train; Borneman notes that he had only one field gun, too small to do any good. But a force of Cherokees swam the river, brought back canoes, and allowed Coffee to get a small force behind the stockade; Jackson then attacked in front. The Indians were slaughtered almost to the man (Borneman, pp. 150-151; Hickey, p. 151). Morison, p. 394, reports that 557 Creeks were killed, while Jackson lost only 26 of his own soldiers and 23 of his Indians. Red Eagle, who was elsewhere, had had enough, and urged his people to give in (Borneman, p. 250).
The Creek War had the usual outcome of a war between whites and Indians: The Indians were induced to sign a treaty giving up most of their land (Hickey, p. 151).
Worse was to come. Jackson probably could not have won at Horseshoe Bend without the Cherokee. The Cherokee had also been guaranteed independence by a treaty made in 1791. As President, Andrew Jacskon would order the Cherokee displaced and send them along the Trail of Tears (Morison, pp. 450-451). But, hey, who cares if you're truthful, reliable, law-abiding, or in favor of peace if you're President of the United States? - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: Beld297

Andrew Lammie [Child 233]


DESCRIPTION: Lord Fyvie's trumpeter Andrew Lammie, the fairest man in the county, and Tifty's Annie, are in love. When Annie's father hears of this, he complains to Fyvie; he wants his daughter to marry better. She is adamant; her brother kills her for her effrontery
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1806 (Jamieson)
KEYWORDS: love death family poverty
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber,Hebr)) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Child 233, "Andrew Lammie" (3 texts)
Bronson 233, "Andrew Lammie" (16 versions+3 in addenda)
GreigDuncan5 1018, "Tifty's Annie" (13 texts, 16 tunes)
Greig #16, p. 1, "Mill o' Tifty's Annie" (1 text)
Mackenzie 12, "Andrew Lammie" (1 text)
DT 233, MILTIFTY* MILTIFT2*
Roud #98
RECORDINGS:
Lucy Stewart, "Tifty's Annie" (on LStewart1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Pretty Betsey" [Laws M18] (plot)
cf. "Charlie Mackie" (lyrics, form, themes)
cf. "The Dowie Dens o' Yarrow" (tune, per GreigDuncan5)
cf. "The Death of Mill o' Tiftie's Annie" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Mill o Tifty's Annie
NOTES: Ord and Greig have a song, "Charlie Mackie," which looks like a by-blow of this song. The plot is different -- the wealthy girl's parents don't want her wed to Mackie, though he finds his way to her in the end. But not only is the scansion the same, but many of the lines of "Charlie Mackie" are obviously corrupt derivatives of those found in "Andrew Lammie."
There is, apparently, a certain amount of truth in this song: We know little with certainty of Agnes Smith (nicknamed Nannie, hence Annie), save that her grave gives her date of death as January 19, 1673 (or, in other authorities, 1631; the stone, according to Child, eventually became illegible). However, legend has it that she was courted by Andrew Lammie, Lord Fyvie's trumpeter. Fyvie, desiring the girl herself, had Lammie transported to the West Indies. He made it back, but by then she had died, and he himself died cursing Lord Fyvie.
Another legend, according to Peter Underwood's Gazeteer of British, Irish, and Scottish Ghosts, has it that Lammie's ghost still appears to trumpet the deaths of the Lords of Fyvie. Indeed, Underwood lists many ghosts found at Fyvie, perhaps related to a curse laid by Thomas the Rhymer. - RBW
Greig's text is in four fragments with Greig's comments. The fragments fit Duncan's complete text at GreigDuncan5 1018A.
The non-fragmentary versions in GreigDuncan5 (1018A, 1018B and 1018Q) are about as long as Child 233C and are close to that version.
I was not able to read broadside Bodleian, 2806 c.11(1), "Andrew Lammie" or "Mill of Tifty's Annie" ("At Mill of Tifty lived a man, in the neighbourhood of Fyvie"), Brander and Co. (Elgin), n.d. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C233

Andrew Marteen


See Henry Martyn [Child 250] AND Sir Andrew Barton [Child 167] (File: C250)

Andrew Martine


See Henry Martyn [Child 250] AND Sir Andrew Barton [Child 167] (File: C250)

Andrew Roo


DESCRIPTION: A shepherd has sex with a maid. After she leaves he changes his name and appearance (lame, blind in one eye). She returns in six months, pregnant, looking for the shepherd. She says, "If you werena half blind, I would swear it was you"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: sex disguises disability trick pregnancy shepherd
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1467, "Andrew Roo" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #7185
File: GrD71467

Andrew Rose


DESCRIPTION: Captain Rogers of the Martha Jane has British sailor Andrew Rose whipped and tortured. "Then the captain trained his dog to bite him" and Rose dies. When he arrives at Liverpool Rogers is arrested, convicted, and sentenced to be hanged.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: murder execution sea ship ordeal sailor
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 12, 1857 - Captain Rogers was executed for the murder of Andrew Rose (source: Times of London).
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf) US Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Peacock, pp. 825-826, "The Ordeal of Andrew Rose" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, pp. 156-157, "Andrew Rose" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan1 6, "Andrew Ross" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, ANDRROSS* ANDRROS2*
Roud #623
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Captain Rodger's Cruelty
NOTES: According to the Mariners site, regarding the sleeve notes of "Farewell to the Days of Sail", an LP by Mike Stanley, "Andrew died of his injuries. The master, mate, and bo'sun were tried for the murder in Liverpool. The master, Captain Rodgers was found guilty and hung at 'Joe Gurk's' (Walton Prison)."
GreigDuncan1: "The trial of Captain Rodgers took place at Liverpool in 1857."
Captain Rogers was executed Saturday, September 12, 1857. ["Execution of Captain Rogers," The Times of London, Monday, Sep 14, 18576; pg. 9; Issue 22785; Start column: E. (Copyright 2002 The Gale Group)] - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Pea825

Andy McElroe


DESCRIPTION: Brother Andy writes home about his deeds with the relief expedition, leading charges for Wolseley and frightening the Mahdi. Newspapers and government despatches tell a different story, but "we won't believe a word against brave Andy McElroe."
AUTHOR: William Percy Finch (1854-1920)
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: bragging army war Africa humorous soldier
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1885 - The Relief Expedition under General Garnet Joseph Wolseley fails to rescue Chinese Gordon from the siege of Khartoum (Mar 13, 1884-Jan 26, 1885) by the Dervishes led by the Mahdi, Mohammed Ahmed.
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
O'Conor, p. 85, "Andy M'Elroe" (1 text)
NOTES: Sources: Re author--Oldpoetry site. Re historical references--The River War by Winston S Churchill, ch. 1-3, and "The Mahdist Jihad 1881-1885" at the OnWar site. - BS
Charles George "Chinese" Gordon (1833-1885) actually began his military career in the Crimea, but went to China in 1860, where he was instrumental in suppressing the Taiping rebellion. This gained him a high military reputation, though it's not clear how well he earned it; his one clear skill was in military engineering.
Gordon went to Egypt in 1873, working there at surveying and establishing control of the Nile until 1880. He performed various jobs over the next four years, spending part of the time rebuilding his health. (Stokesbury, p. 264, acidly remarks that he was "one of those legendary Englishmen who, like mad dogs, went out in the noonday sun," adding that "he had spent most of his career on leave of absence.") OxfordCompanion, p. 427, says he had "great talents as a military engineer and as a commander of irregular troops," and notes that he helped put down slavery in Egypt. But then came the Sudan Rebellion.
The Sudan, at that time, was theoretically a province of Egypt, which meant that it was part of a British client-state -- though the British pretended they didn't run Egypt, and Egypt had never really managed the Sudan, except for a few spots along the Nile. As Farwell puts in on p. 271, "Britain's politicians tried hard to avoid any responsibilty for the problems of the Sudan, but they found it impossible. They compromised by doing as little as they could and this proved too little in the end and only magnified the problem." Instead of really addressing the situation, they picked one of their many excess officers almost at random and lent him out.
Their choice for this role was William Hicks (1830-1883), who, according to Farwell, p. 271, had had an undistinguished career in India and was retiring as a colonel when the army's Practical Jokes department decided he as a good fit for Sudan.
Mohammed Ahmed (1840?-1885), El Mahdi (the local name for the Messiah -- properly pronounced with a fricative, i.e. Makhdi) had meanwhile started a rebellion (1882). Hicks -- who by now was being called "Hicks Pasha" (Stokesburg, p. 264), set out to suppress him, but his troops -- many of them convicts and with few trained officers -- were annihilated by the dervishes in 1883 (Farwell, p. 272).
El Mahdi now had control of almost the entire Sudan; even those who did not consider him the Messiah could hardly oppose him.
The British gathered another local army, under Valentine Baker, who had ruined his own career by assault on a young woman; Farwell, p. 273. He had been cashiered -- which of course made him highly available for service in Sudan. But he wanted to rebuild his reputation. Instead of defending the port of Suakin, which was his job (Farwell, p. 274), he took another of those ill-managed colonial armies out into the field. it was slaughtered at El Tib on February 6, 1884 (Farwell, p. 274). Soon after, the fortified post of Sinkat was captured (Farwell, p. 276).
Britain finally was forced to send European troops. Gerald Graham brought 3000 soldiers (Farwell, p. 276), and though he was too late to save the garrison of Tokar (Farwell, p. 277), he did win an easy victory at El Tib. He then won a much harder battle against the "Fuzzy-wuzzies" (so named for their frizzy hair. And, yes, according to Farwell, p. 277, this is the battle about which Kipling wrote his poem; the regiment whose square they broke was none other than the Black Watch (Farwell, pp. 277-278), but Graham was able to retrieve the situation -- barely. (I should note that Haswell, p. 108, seems to refer Kipling's poem to a Sudanese fight at Abu Klea.)
There was, however, no coordination between this force and the rest. Graham had a limited mission, fulfilled it as best he could, and then was forced to sit tight near the coast. The Gladstone government meanwhile decided to evacuate central Sudan (Stokesbury, p. 265), and chosen Gordon, not Graham, to do it (Farwell, p. 278)..
It was a poor choice. Stokesbury, pp. 264-265, points out, "He was deeply religious and more than a little eccentric, he certainly had a martyr fixation, and he was the worst possible choice for a mission involving, in effect, capitulation.
Gordon didn't understand the Mahdi cult, and in his ignorance thought he could put it down. Instead, he ended up besieged in Khartoum (Farwell, p. 279).. He might still have escaped -- a path out via Berber was still open. But Haswell, p. 108, says that Gordon "afflicted with a death wish, had never really tried to escape." On May 28, 1884, Berber fell, and Gordon was well and truly trapped. And Britain had a problem. It had wanted out. Instead, it had more troops in harm's way than before the campaign began, and one of them a hero.
Unfortunately, the British public was divided. Gladstone opposed a relief expedition; the Conservatives and seemingly the people favored it. It took months to reach a decision (Farwell, pp. 279-280); General Wolseley (1833-1913), Britain's best colonial general (OxfordCompanion, p. 998), didn't get his orders until September 19.
And Khartoum was 1200 miles from the mouth of the Nile (Farwell, p. 282), and the river itself was the only source of water for almost all that length. And the cataracts meant that boats couldn't just sail up and down the river. And communications were terrible. It's hard to fault anything Wolseley did in particular, but he didn't manage to get troops to Khartoum until January 28, 1885 -- and the city had fallen a mere two days before.
After that, the British withdrew for real. Gordon was dead, and Wolseley was never again given a field command (Chandler/Beckett, pp. 191. 193). Even though the Mahdi died in 1885 (and Lord Kitchener later despoiled his tomb; Chandler/Beckett, p. 208), it was not until 1898, after a three-year campaign, that Kitchener regained control of Sudan for the British by winning the battle of Omdurman (Chandler/Beckett, p. 206).
(In that regard, it's interesting to note that the British are long gone from Sudan. But, as of 2009, the great-great-grandchildren of the Mahdi are still significant in Sudanese politics.)
The official report on Khartoum probably should have read something like "Army slaughtered by official stupidity." But the memory the British people kept was rather different. As Morris puts it on p. 310, "[I]n England the Spirit of Empire was perhaps most popularly symbolized by the visin of General Gordon, that Galahad or Gabriel of the later Victorians, standing tuileless, unarmed, fresh-faced, almost radiant, at the head of the stairs in his palace at Khartoum, while the ferocious Madists in the hall below, brandishing their assegais, prepared to murder him. (There was, as a matter of fact, another version of the scene, which had Gordon on the landing blazing away with a revolver at the advancing savages: but it was the image of martyred British innocence that most people preferred.)"
There is at least one broadside specifically about the death of Gordon: NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(100b), "Death of Gen. Gordon" ("Across the vast Soudan was borne"), unknown, n.d. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: OCon085

Andy's Gone with Cattle


DESCRIPTION: "Our Andy's gone with cattle now, our hearts are out of order." Faced with a drought, Andy takes the herds away; the people left behind are lonely for the cheerful, clever drover. The singer hopes that it rains soon so that Andy may return
AUTHOR: Henry Lawson
EARLIEST DATE: 1964
KEYWORDS: separation loneliness hardtimes
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Manifold-PASB, p. 174, "Andy's Gone with Cattle" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, ANDYCATL
NOTES: This is one of those semi-folk songs. Obviously it is composed. But it has been sung by many people in Australia. Some of those people learned it in school, where it is the "standard" Lawson piece. But however it attained popularity, it is probably widespread enough to deserve inclusion here. - RBW
File: PASB174

Ane Madam


DESCRIPTION: Norwegian halyard or capstan shanty. Brief storyline of sailors going ashore and finding that the proprietor of the inn they last visited has barred the door against them. Other verses describe hoisting sails, etc. Sung to the tune of "Blow the Man Down."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Brochmann's _Opsang Fra Seilskibstiden_)
KEYWORDS: shanty sailor foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Scandinavia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 215-216, "Ane Madam" (2 texts, both in Norwegian and English)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Blow the Man Down" (tune)
cf. "Rosabella Fredolin" (tune)
cf. "Dar Gingo Tre Flickor" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Annie Madam
NOTES: Hugill says this was the most popular of all of Scandinavia halyard shanties. Two versions are given -- the first was a halyard shanty and the second was used at the capstan. - SL
File: Hugi215

Aneath My Apron


DESCRIPTION: The singer's cows go astray on a may morning; she follows and finds a "burr stack to my apron." Now her apron rides high; "there's a braw lad below my apron." Father, mother, friends all ask what she has beneath her apron
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
KEYWORDS: pregnancy clothes animal
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Kinloch-BBook XXI, pp. 71-72, (no title) (1 text)
GreigDuncan7 1493, "Under Her Apron" (8 texts plus a single verse on p. 538, 6 tunes)
ST KinBB21 (Full)
Roud #899
NOTES: This is another of Kinloch's songs with no source listed and no background information. But it looks traditional. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: KinBB21

Anford-Wright, The


See The Loss of the Amphitrite [Laws K4] (File: LK04)

Angel Band


DESCRIPTION: Singer's life is nearly over; his trials are done, his triumph has begun. His spirit sings; he hears the noise of wings. Chorus: "Oh come, angel band, Come and around me stand, Bear me away on your snowy (snow-white) wings, To my eternal home"
AUTHOR: Lyrics: Rev. Jefferson Hascall [occasionally spelled "Haskell"]; Tune: William B. Bradbury
EARLIEST DATE: 1860 (lyrics in "Melodeon"), 1862 (tune, in "Golden Shower")
KEYWORDS: age farewell death dying nonballad religious
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, ANGLBAND
Roud #4268
RECORDINGS:
Carl Butler & the Webster Brothers, "Angel Band" (Columbia 21353, 1955)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Bear Me Away On Your Snowy Wings" (Bluebird B-5560, 1934; Montgomery Ward M-4851, 1935)
Uncle Dave Macon, "O Bear Me Away On Your Snowy Wings" (Vocalion 5160, 1927)
Smith's Sacred Singers, "My Latest Sun Is Sinking Fast" (Columbia 15281-D, 1928)
Stanley Bros. "Angel Band" (Mercury, 1955)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Bear Me Away On Your Snowy Wings
File: DTanglba

Angel Gabriel, The


DESCRIPTION: Gabriel is sent to Mary to announce that she will bear God's son. Mary is surprised at these tidings, but is assured they are true. Things come true as forecast. Listeners are enjoined to behave well as a result
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1639 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: prophecy religious Bible childbirth
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
OBB 106, "The Angel Gabriel" (1 text)
OBC 37, "The Angel Gabriel" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST OBB106 (Partial)
Roud #815
NOTES: This ballad gives a brief, but accurate, account of the events in Luke 1:26-2:20. The only unscriptural detail is Mary's betrothal by lot to "an old man," Joseph, a detail found only in the apocryphal Gospels.
This should not be confused with another "Angel Gabriel" carol. This one begins with these lines:
The angel Gabriel from God
Was sent to Galilee
Unto a virgin fair and free
Whose name was called Mary.
The other Gabriel carol, which I have heard sung (by Maddy Prior I think) but which does not seem to be traditional, begins
The angel Gabriel from heaven came,
His wings as srifted snow, his eyes as flame. - RBW
File: OBB106

Angel of Death, The


See There's A Man Going Round Taking Names (File: San447)

Angel's Whisper, The


DESCRIPTION: "A baby was sleeping, its mother was weeping." Her husband, Dermot, is fishing in a storm. She prays that the angels always watching over her baby would now watch over her husband. He returns safely in the morning.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1847 (Journal of William Histed of the Cortes)
KEYWORDS: fishing sea storm religious baby husband wife return reunion
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 239-240, "Angels Whisper" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 34, "The Angel's Whisper" (1 text)
GreigDuncan5 1074, "The Angel's Whisper" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol II, p. 115, "The Angel's Whisper"
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 408-409, "The Angel's Whisper" (1 text)
ST OCon034 (Partial)
Roud #2061
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 151, "The Angel's Whisper", J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 11(3366), Firth c.26(36), Firth b.34(99), Johnson Ballads 1407, Firth c.26(288), Firth b.26(369), Harding B 11(1427), Firth b.25(68), Harding B 11(442), 2806 c.13(104), Firth b.28(38), Harding B 11(64), "[The] Angel's Whisper"
LOCSheet, sm1883 09445, "The Angels' Whisper", Carl Prufer (Boston), 1883 (tune)
LOCSinging, sb10009a, "The Angel's Whisper", J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also as100320, "Angel's Whisper"
NOTES: O'Conor and some web sites make the author Thomas Moore (1779-1852). Other sites make the author Samuel Lover (1797-1868); Hoagland also lists Lover as the author. The PoemHunter site, for example, lists 145 poems by Moore and does not include this one. The broadsides have no attribution.
How reliable are O'Conor attributions? See also "Barney Brallaghan."
Broadside LOCSheet sm1883 09445:sheet claims the words are by Samuel Lover.
[Granger's Index to Poetry also lists it as by Lover, but with no original publication; the only citation is Hoagland. - RBW]
Broadside LOCSinging sb10009a: 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
Last updated in version 2.5
File: OCon034

Angels Roll Dem Stones Away


DESCRIPTION: "Sister Mary she come weepin', Just about de break o' day, Lookin' for my Lord, And he's not there, say!" "He's gone away to Galilee, Angels rolled dem stones away It was on one Sunday mornin', Angels rolled dem stones away."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: Bible religious Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 552, "Angels Roll Dem Stones Away" (1 short text)
Roud #11877
NOTES: Although the general outline of the resurrection story is the same in all four Gospels (one of the few parts of the life of Jesus they do agree on), this song appears to be derived primarily from Matthew:
In Matthew 28:1, Mary Magdalene and the "other Mary" seek Jesus; in 28:2, the angel rolls the stone away; in 28:7, he is said to have gone to Galilee.
In Mark 16:1, Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James, and Salome come to the tomb. In this account, the stone is already rolled back, and they speak to a "young man," not an angel, in 16:5; he tells them (16:6) that Jesus is on his way to Galilee.
In Luke 24:1, the women are unnamed (but cf. 24:10), the tomb is already open, two "men" (not angels) greet the women, and there is no mention of Jesus going to Galilee; indeed, the apostles stay in Jerusalem until driven out in Acts.
In John 20:1, Mary Magdalene alone visits the tomb, and the stone is already moved, but she doesn't talk to anyone (human or angelic) there; it is only after Peter and the Beloved Disciple arrive (and leave -- John 20:2-10) that two angels speaks to Mary. The disciples seemingly return to Galilee in Chapter 20, but only after meeting the disciples in Jerusalem. - RBW
File: Br3552

Angels We Have Heard on High


DESCRIPTION: "Angels we have heard on high Sweetly singing o'er the plains...." The shepherds are asked why they rejoice. They say to come to Bethlehem to find out
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: Christmas religious nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 378, "Angels We Have Heard On High" (1 text)
DT, ANGONHI*
File: FSWB378C

Animal Fair


DESCRIPTION: "I went to the animal fair, the birds and the beasts were there.... The monkey he got drunk and sat on the elephant's trunk; The elephant sneezed and fell on his knees And what became of the monk, the monk, the monk...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: animal nonsense
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph 451, "The Hamburger Fair" (1 fragment)
BrownIII 180, "The Animal Fair" (1 text)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 241, "Animal Fair" (1 short text)
Sandburg, pp. 348-349, "Animal Fair" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, p. 69, "(Animal Fair)" (1 partial text)
ST San348 (Full)
Roud #4582
File: San348

Animal Song


DESCRIPTION: "Alligator, hedgehog, anteater, bear, Rattlesnake, buffalo, anaconda, hare." Similar stanzas list additional animals, with absolutely no commentary; it just lists species, often quite improbable (South Guinea hen, dodo, ibex, glowworm, snail)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Gardner/Chickering)
KEYWORDS: animal nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Gardner/Chickering 198, "Animal Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3710
NOTES: Songs of this type typically are used for teaching, but given the strange and disorganized list of creatures, I doubt that is the case here. - RBW
File: GC198

Ann o' Drumcroon


DESCRIPTION: The singer says that the girls around him are no match for the beauty of Ann, pure, artless, shy, true, sweet, and otherwise sickeningly likeable. But he must go over the sea and bid her farewell; he sighs for Ireland and for Ann
AUTHOR: Andrew Orr
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting beauty separation emigration
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H26a+246, pp. 248-249, "Ann o' Drumcroon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13338
NOTES: In this particular instance, the song's author Andrew Orr did emigrate (to Australia). Whether the rest of the song is historical is not clear; it's interesting that he wrote at least one other song (Mary, the Pride of Killowen) with the same plot but a different heroine. - RBW
File: HHH026a

Anna


See The Banks of Banna (File: SWMS236)

Anna Lee (The Finished Letter)


DESCRIPTION: "I have written him a letter Telling him that he is free"; she wrote it when she heard that he had been "out riding With that saucy Anna Lee." But the girl regrets her words; she concludes "I'll tell him I still love him If he'll court Miss Lee no more."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (Belden; Randolph reports that this copy was written in 1873)
KEYWORDS: love courting betrayal separation rejection
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Belden, p. 213, "The Finished Letter" (2 texts)
Randolph 775, "Anna Lee" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownII 143, "Annie Lee" (1 text plus an excerpt from 1 more)
Rorrer, p. 82, "Jealous Mary" (1 text)
Roud #474
RECORDINGS:
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Jealous Mary" (Columbia15342-D, 1928; on CPoole04)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ella Lea" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Have Finished Him a Letter
File: R775

Annachie [Gordon]


See Lord Salton and Auchanachie [Child 239] (File: C239)

Annan Water


DESCRIPTION: Our hero is off to Annan Water; he must "cross the drumlie stream the night, or never mair I see my honey." But his horse grows tired, and the ferryman will not take him; at last he tries to swim Annan, and drowns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1802 (Scott)
KEYWORDS: separation flood death
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Child 215, "Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, or, The Water o Gamrie" (1 text as an appendix to that song)
Leach, pp. 695-697, "Annan Water" (1 text)
OBB 92, "Annan Water" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #336, "Annan Water" (1 text)
Roud #6562
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Mother's Malison, or, Clyde's Water" [Child 216]
NOTES: This is printed by Child as an appendix to Child #215, "Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow, Or, The Water O Gamrie." To me, though, it appears closer to Child #216 -- though by no means the same song. And there are enough reports of it that it perhaps deserves a separate entry. - RBW
File: L695

Annie


DESCRIPTION: The singer grieves for the loss of Annie. "My friends and relations they do all they can For to part me and Annie, that's more than they can." Annie hears him and promises, since she loves him, to go with him to Lincolnham shores.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: courting elopement love family
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-NovaScotia 15, "Annie" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS015 (Full)
Roud #1791
NOTES: This has so many floating lines ("The thoughts of you, Annie, still run through my head"; "I rise in the morning, my heart full of woe"; "My friends and my relatives they do all they can For to part me and Annie, that's more than they can") that it's hard to think of this as an independent song. But as an assembly, it seems to be unique.
The tune doesn't seem to match any of the parallels, either; it reminds me a little bit of "Farewell to Tarwathie" -- but only a little. - RBW
File: CrNS015

Annie Dear, Good-Bye


DESCRIPTION: A soldier dying on the Sudan battlefield sends a message to Annie. He recalls the battle led by General Steward and Barney Bey. He tells her to comfort his mother, blesses Annie, dies and is buried in "a soldier's grave in a foreign land"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: love battle death burial Africa soldier
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jan 17, 1885 - The Battle of Abu Klea, Sudan (source: "Egypt 1882-1885, Sudan 1896-97" at the Gloucester Regiment site [The Glorious Glosters])
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #104, p. 2, "Annie Dear, Good-Bye" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 109, "Annie Dear, Good-Bye" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #5770
ALTERNATE TITLES:
A Soldier on the Battlefield
NOTES: Churchill describes Abu Klea as "the most savage and bloody action ever fought in the Soudan by British troops." (Winston Churchill, The River War (London, 1997), pp. 42-43).
Greig #106 refering to the lines in Greig #104 "By General Stewart we were led, Who was wounded on that day; Brave Barney Bey who fought and died In the thickest of the fray": "[John Ord] writes 'Re song "Annie dear, good-bye": this is another music hall song. The "Barney Bey," and "Brave Barney Boy" are simply corruptions of 'Burnaby' -- the gallant Colonel Fred Burnaby, who fell in the Soudan. Such is fame when his very name is already forgotten."' - BS
Abu Klea was part of the campaign to rescue "Chinese" Gordon in Khartoum (for background on that, see "Andy McElroe"). The British General Wolseley was leading a force down the Nile -- but, in Sudan, the Nile makes a great bend, and Wolseley thought to cut off the bend (see Byron Farwell, Queen Victoria's Little Wars, 1972 [I use the 1985 Norton edition], p. 288).
General Stewart was given the larger part of Wolseley's force to make this desert mark. According to Farwell, p. 289, "On 17 January 1885 ten thousand Dervishes led by one of the Mahdi's best generals struck Stewart's column near some wells at a place called Abu Klea, forty-five miles from Korti.... Stewart's men were in the traditional square when the Dervishes crashed into them. At one point the square broke, but the lines closed again and all the Dervishes who had penetrated the square were killed. The Dervishes lost about 1,100 men; British casualties were nine officers and sixty-five other ranks killed and nine officers and eighty-five other ranks wounded. Among the killed was the dashing Colonel Burnaby."
Stewart pressed on, but was attacked again seven miles from the Nile. This time, it was Stewart who was mortally wounded (Farwell, pp. 289-290). This was to prove a disaster for the British; they made it to the Nile, but the inexperienced officer now in command hesitated for three days, and those three days doomed Gordon and Khartoum. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD1109

Annie Franklin


See Bad Girl's Lament, The (St. James' Hospital; The Young Girl Cut Down in her Prime) [Laws Q26] (File: LQ26)

Annie Girl


See Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token) [Laws N42]; also The Drowsy Sleeper [Laws M4] and Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady) (File: LN42)

Annie Laurie


DESCRIPTION: "Maxwelton's braes are bonnie Where early fa's the dew, And it's there that Annie Laurie Gied me her promise true." The singer describes all of Annie's beautiful and wondrous traits, concluding, "And for bonny Annie Laurie I wad lay me doon and dee."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1823 (Sharpe's "Ballad Book")
KEYWORDS: love courting beauty nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 150, "Annie Laurie" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 101, "Annie Laurie"
DT, ANNLAURI*
Roud #8179
RECORDINGS:
Edison Quartet, "Annie Laurie" (CYL: Edison 2201, c. 1897)
Corinne Morgan, "Annie Laurie" (Victor Monarch 4039, c. 1902)
Marie Narelle, "Annie Laurie" (CYL: Edison 9422, 1906)
Standard Quartette, "Annie Laurie" (CYL: Columbia 2236, rec. 1895)
Nevada Vanderveer, "Annie Laurie" (Bell S-77, c. 1923)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1857 631330, "Amie Laurie," J. F. Browne (New York), 1857 (tune); also sm1883 06654, 1883 (tune)
Murray, Mu23-y1:121, "Annie Laurie," unknown, unknown
NLScotland, L.C.Fol. 178.A.2(056), "Annie Laurie," James Lindsay (Glasgow), c. 1855; also L.C.Fol. 178.A.2(062),
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Annie Lawrie
NOTES: Legends about this song are much more common than verifiable facts. The story is that William Douglas (who allegedly wrote the poem) fell in love with Annie Laurie, a member of a rival clan some time between 1685 and 1705. The poem is said to have been published at the time, but (according to Fuld) no printing prior to Sharpe's of 1823 has been found.
The tune is almost certainly the work of Lady John Scott, and was published in 1835. Spaeth thinks she wrote the words as well, but Scott was born in 1810, and admitted herself that the first verse was older, and the second also based on ancient materials. At most, Scott deserves credit for the third verse.
Dr. William Mahar claims this is one of the six most popular songs of the Civil War era. I've no idea what his evidence for this was; I've never seen it mentioned in any Civil War history. I do find myself surprised; I've seen de-Scotticized versions, and they just don't work very well. - RBW
Murray Shoolbraid lists various sources for the song, broken out by the tune-types, the "old" tune and the Scott tune. Shoolbraid lists the following as versions of the "old" tune:
? Wm. Douglas of Fingland, c. 1700.
Sharpe Ballad Book (1824), no. xxxvii (reprint, p. 108).
Ford Song Histories (1900), 24.
SSCA (1870), 45; BSS (1875), 438.
Chambers SSPB 309 (+ music); Ross CSS (1887), 369; Crockett Minstrelsy of the Merse (1893), 213.
Shoolbraid adds, "How old this 'old' version is is a good question. Lady John Scott told Moffat that it was written (i.e. forged) by Allan Cunningham, who imposed other fabrications on poor Cromek. The 2nd stanza derives from the old version of 'John Anderson,' in the Merry Muses, and A.C. certainly had access to a copy. Sharpe's first printing (1823) is pretty late for a song of 1700.
For the Scott tune, Shoolbraid lists
Ford Song Histories (1900), 28.
SS I.4 (+ m.); BSS (1875), 439; Wood's Songs of Scotland III.24 (+ m.); Gleadhill 80 (+ m.); Crockett Minstrelsy of the Merse (1893), 213 (tune [by Lady John Scott] previously used by her for the ballad of "Kempy Kaye"). Ross CSS (1887), 369. B&F 20 (+ m.); Allan's Sc. Songs, 11 (+ m.), anonymous (merely subtitled "The Favourite Scotch Ballad, as sung by Jenny Lind"). Dun & Thomson VMS III.89 (+ m.) (anon.).
The tune [by the authoress] is in Manson (1846), II.151.
Other words include Crawford's "My Mary Dear."
Shoolbraid summarizes the data thus:
"There are two texts to consider, that of the 'original,' and that of Lady John Scott. The first seems to appear for the first time in Sharpe's Ballad Book of 1824, though it has been asserted that it appeared in an Edinburgh newspaper in the early 18th century. That original was reprinted in Allan Cunningham's collection of Scottish songs [The Songs of Scotland, Ancient and Modern (1825), vol. III p.256], where he tells us he found it in Sharpe.
Lady JS found it in Cunningham, and noticed that a tune of hers previously intended to suit the old ballad of Kempy Kaye would fit this very nicely - with a little polishing. She altered the first stanza, altered the second some more, and made a completely new third; sang it to her hosts, and it was approved. This was in 1834 or 1835. Later she published it along with others of her composition to raise money for widows and orphans of soldiers killed in the Crimea. It became very popular, being sung by Jenny Lind, among others, but she withheld acknowledgement of the authorship until February 1890, when she confessed in a letter to the Dumfries Standard.
"Lady John Scott's version is the familiar one referred to by Spaeth et al. The original, credited to Douglas, cannot be traced any farther back than Sharpe. It is not impossible that it lurks in a corner of some obscure paper [and we must remember that not every issue is extant]; but the authoress herself is said to have told Moffat that it was a forgery by Allan Cunningham. If this is true, we can see where AC got it: the second verse derives from an old version of 'John Anderson, My Jo,' to be found in The Merry Muses of Caledonia (1799-1800), and Cunningham certainly has access to a copy. AC was quite a practised forger: he gulled Cromek into publishing the Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song (1810), most of which seems to be by AC himself.
"Robert Ford (Song Histories, 1900, 23-31) goes into some detail on all this, reproducing a letter written by a descendant of the Anna Laurie of the song, by which the story of its original composition is made clear; it is to be assumed that the writer got her facts right, at least in regard to family tradition. One way out of the impasse is to say that Moffat misunderstood Lady John Scott's reference to Cunningham, and that the tradition about Douglas is true; notwithstanding the problems about Cunningham's unreliability and the long interval between composition and publication by Sharpe. Lady John, after all, did not find the Sharpe copy; the only other alternative, that Cunningham planted it on Sharpe, is very unlikely. On the whole, therefore, I give the palm to Douglas, though I admit the story is still a bit mirky." - MS, (RBW)
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FSWB150A

Annie Lee


See Anna Lee (The Finished Letter) (File: R775)

Annie Mackie


DESCRIPTION: "By there cam' a miller lad, Wi' a' his wheels sae knackie [free-running] O, He wan her up in wedlock's bands, I lost my Annie Mackie O"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: courting betrayal miller
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1196, "Annie Mackie" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #6803
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan6 text. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD61196

Annie Moore


DESCRIPTION: The singer hears a young man, distracted, lamenting his slain Annie Moore. He tells how the Protestants were marching. Soldiers were dispatched and fired on the marchers. Annie was slain. The Protestants and her family lament and treat her as a hero
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: death soldier religious love burial funeral mourning
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
SHenry H191, pp. 142-143, "Annie Moore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leyden 40, "Annie Moore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-Ulster 39, "Annie Moore" (1 text, 1 tune)
OrangeLark 16, "Annie Moore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2881
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.11(174), "Ann Moore" ("As I walked out one evening in the month of sweet July"), unknown, n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Daniel O'Connell (I)" (subject: Daniel O'Connell) and references there
NOTES: Morton-Ulster's text and quotations from news accounts have the year as 1835. Bodleian broadside 2806 b.11(174) has 1836. - BS
Whereas Sam Henry's text has the date "forty-five."
Of course, there was frequently trouble on July 12 in Ulster. Is it possible that the story originated in 1835 and was updated to describe more recent events?
The 1820s-1840s were a period of significant gains for Catholic rights in Ireland. 1829 saw Catholic "emancipation," allowing them every political right open to Protestants of equivalent position. The 1830s saw reforms in education and taxation. In 1840, Daniel O'Connell formed the National Repeal Association, to press for the repeal of the Anglo-Irish Union.
By 1843, though, things were getting out of hand. In 1843, the government foolishly banned a Repeal rally. Soon after, O'Connell was arrested, and convicted by an all-Protestant jury.
Pressures were building up; they would result in a rebellion in 1848. (The famines, of course, added to the pressure.) Toss in the famines of 1845, and riots would be a natural consequence. . - RBW
File: HHH191

Annie of the Vale


DESCRIPTION: "I'm lonely and weary, Without thee I'm dreary, Sighing for thy sweet melting voice." The singer begs, "Come, come, come, love, come... Dear Anna, sweet Anna of the vale." He will go to be a soldier; if he dies, he hope to meet her in heaven
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: love separation soldier rejection
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, pp. 222-223, "Annie of the Vale" (1 text)
Roud #7950
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Reason Why" (tune, per broadsides Bodleian Harding B 11(3238), 2806 c.15(284) and Firth b.28(13) -- assuming that's the same "Annie of the Vale")
File: Beld222

Annie Young, The


DESCRIPTION: Annie Young and Man Alone are in a storm at night "bound on the Labrador" on August 24, 1935. Annie Young is last seen about 11. Five of the eight men lost are named.
AUTHOR: Walter Hayman, brother of the lost cook
EARLIEST DATE: 1977 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: death sea ship storm wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 24, 1935 - wreck of the Annie Young en route from Fox Island to Labrador
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 2, "The Annie Young" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The August Gale (I)" (subject)
cf. "The August Gale (II)" (subject)
NOTES: [For background on this storm, see the notes to "The August Gale (I)" - BS, RBW]
File: LeBe002

Anniversary of the Shutting of the Gates of Derry


DESCRIPTION: The closing of Derry's gates, the seige and its relief are recounted with the names of the Protestant leaders who fought "till James was knocked up and their foemen were gone." They "gained for the nation ... a free constitution and Protestant laws"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1987 (OrangeLark)
KEYWORDS: battle rescue death Ireland moniker patriotic religious
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OrangeLark 7, "Anniversary of the Shutting of the Gates of Derry" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Shutting of the Gates of Derry" (subject: the siege of Derry) and references there
File: OrLa007

Another Fall of Rain (Waiting for the Rain)


DESCRIPTION: "The weather had been sultry for a fortnight's time or more; The shearers had been driving might and main...." After so much work the shearers are tired and desperate for a break. At last the rain came, allowing them to relax and rest up
AUTHOR: a literary version is credited to John Shaw-Neilson
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Paterson's _Old Bush Songs_)
KEYWORDS: sheep work
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 154-155, "Another Fall of Rain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 134-135, "Another Fall of Rain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 174-177, "Another Fall of Rain" (1 text)
DT, FALLRAIN*
NOTES: The original Shaw-Neilson poem, "Waiting for the Rain" (the probable but not quite certain original) was rather long and involved, and even the version printed by Paterson has generally been severely shortened by tradition. The basic plot, however, survives. That the song is relatively recent is shown by the fact that the shearers were paid during the rain. Shearers were paid by the piece, and until the Shearers' Union gained the concession that they be paid when they could not shear, rain meant only hardship. - RBW
File: MA154

Another Man Done Gone


DESCRIPTION: "Another man done gone... from the county farm.... I didn't know his name.... He had a long chain on.... He killed another man.... I don't know where he's gone."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (recording, Vera Hall)
KEYWORDS: prison escape murder
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Scott-BoA, pp. 307-309, "Another Man Done Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 95, "Another Man Done Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax- FSNA 288, Another Man Done Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 67, "Another Man Done Gone" (1 text)
Roud #10065
RECORDINGS:
Vera Hall, "Another Man Done Gone" (AFS 4049 A4, 4049 B, 1940; on LCTreas, LC04)
Pete Seeger, "Another Man Done Gone" (on PeteSeeger05) (on PeteSeeger27)
Willie Turner, "Now Your Man Done Gone" (on NFMAla1)
File: LxU095

Another Man's Wedding


See The Nobleman's Wedding (The Faultless Bride; The Love Token) [Laws P31] (File: LP31)

Anson Best


DESCRIPTION: "As I sit by the fireside a-thinking Of my brother who's far, far away...." Anson Best is offered a paper and threatened with death if he doesn't sign. It is a confession to the murder of Vera Snyder. He is sentenced to death. His family mourns
AUTHOR: Ben Best?
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Gardner/Chickering)
KEYWORDS: murder trick lie trial prison punishment accusation
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1920 - Conviction of Anson Best for the murder of Vera Schneider
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Gardner/Chickering 145, "Anson Best" (1 text)
ST GC145 (Partial)
Roud #3669
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Red River Valley" (tune)
NOTES: This appears to be a family song: The author is listed as the Reverend Ben Best, brother of Anson Best, and the only known version is from Mrs. Clyde Best (whose relationship with Anson and Ben Best is not listed by Gardner and Chickering, but note the name).
The family maintained that Anson Best was innocent of the murder of Vera Schneider, and coerced into signing a confession he had not read. I know of no evidence either way. - RBW
File: GC145

Anstruther Camp


DESCRIPTION: The singer describes the winter he spent in Anstruther, working under Archie Patterson, who "could see daylight coming almost any hour at night." The crews work very long hours and enjoy the food. The singer urges women to marry shanty boys
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: lumbering work travel
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke-Lumbering #13, "Anstruther Camp" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FowL13 (Partial)
Roud #4370
File: FowL13

Answer to the Gypsy's Warning


See The Gypsy's Warning (File: R743)

Answer to Youghal Harbour


DESCRIPTION: Near Yougal Harbour the singer meets Mary of Cappoquin again. She tells him that she had his baby. He reminds her that her parents had rejected him. He leaves her again "in grief bewailing" to return to his girl "in sweet Rathangan, near to Kildare"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 28(20))
KEYWORDS: love infidelity rejection separation baby lover
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn 8, "Youghal Harbour" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2734
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(20), "Answer to Youghall Harbour," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 11(2180), 2806 b.9(227), 2806 b.11(205), Harding B 25(2128), Firth b.27(11/12) View 1 of 2 [partly illegible], 2806 c.15(163), 2806 c.15(17), 2806 b.11(204), Harding B 19(3), "Youghal Harbour" ("As I roved out on a summer's morning")
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Youghall Harbour"
NOTES: Yougal, County Cork, is on the Celtic Sea coast. Cappoquin is in County Waterford, about 15 miles north of Yougal. Rathangan is in County Kildare, about 100 miles north-east of Yougal as the crow flies. - BS
File: OLoc008

Antelope, The


See The Loss of the Antelope (File: RcLoOTAn)

Anti-Confederation Song


DESCRIPTION: Newfoundland defiantly rejects union with the "Canadian Wolf." The promises made by the confederation are listed and rejected. "Would you barter the rights that your fathers have won... For a few thousand dollars of Canadian gold."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: Canada patriotic political
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1867 - Canadian Act of Confederation
1869 - Newfoundland electors refuse to join the Canadian Confederation
1949 - Newfoundland unites with Canada
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 28-29, "Anti-Confederation Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 7, "An Anti-Confederation Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, p. 69, "Anti-Confederation Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 42, "The Anti-Confederation Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 105-107, "An Anti-Confederation Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FJ028 (Partial)
Roud #4518
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "An 1861 Anti Confederation Song" (on NFOBlondahl04)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The 'Antis' of Plate Cove" (subject)
File: FJ028

Anti-Fenian Song, An


DESCRIPTION: "In the morning by my side Sat the darling of my pride... When the news spread through the land That the Fenians were at hand...." The singer and his fellows -- "English, Irish, Scot, Canuck" -- "will drive the Fenians back"
AUTHOR: unknown (Music by George F. Root)
EARLIEST DATE: 1932
KEYWORDS: patriotic Canada battle political
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 31, 1866 - Some 1200 Fenians under General O'Neill invade the Niagara area
June 2, 1866 - The Fenians victory at Lime Ridge near Ridgeway
June 3, 1866 - Canadian forces under Colonel Peacock assemble to deal with the Fenians. The Fenians opt to flee Canada
FOUND IN: Canada(Not)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 102-105, "An Anti-Fenian Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4519
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Fenian Song (I)"
cf. "The Fenian Song (II)" (subject)
cf. "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" (tune) and references there
NOTES: For the historical background to this silly idea (the Fenians wanted to hold Canada hostage to make England free Ireland), see the notes to "A Fenian Song (I)."
The only real result of the Fenian invasion was to cause the Canadians to realize the need for greater organization. This gave greater impetus to the drive for Confederation, which was enacted -- not without significant opposition! -- in 1867. - RBW
File: FMB102

Anti-Gallican, The


DESCRIPTION: "The Anti-Gallican's safe arrived, On board of her with speed we'll hie." They will "sail the ocean o'er"; "No ships from us shall run away," even though "The Spaniards... We'll take their ships and make them slaves." The men hasten to their duty
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1882 (Bruce/Stokoe)
KEYWORDS: ship war sailor pirate
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 158-159, "The Anti-Gallican" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR158 (Partial)
Roud #3169
NOTES: According to Stokoe, the Anti-Gallican was fitted out as a privateer, sailing from Newcastle in 1779 but returning without a prize.
Although apparently written about a ship, I find references on the web to a pub (probably several) with the same name. Given that the chorus is "To the Anti-Gallican haste away," could said pubs have encouraged the continued singing of the song? - RBW
File: StoR158

Anti-Rebel Song, An


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, now the rebellion's o'er, Let each true Briton sing: 'Long live the Queen in health and peace, And may each rebel swing." Sir Francis Head is blessed, as is Canada; it is hoped that "Mac" (Mackenzie) will be hanged
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1838 (Cobourg "Star" newspaper)
KEYWORDS: rebellion patriotic Canada nonballad crime
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Nov 1837 - Rebellion breaks out in Canada
Dec 7, 1837 - Loyalist forces begin the march which results in the utter defeat of Mackenzie's forces
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 74-75, "An Anti-Rebel Song" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Un Canadien Errant" (subject)
cf. "Farewell to Mackenzie" (subject)
cf. "The Battle of the Windmill" (theme)
NOTES: In 1828, William Lyon Mackenzie was elected to the British parliament on a platform of better, less oligarchic government for Canada. Parliament expelled him. He was re-elected in 1832, and expelled again.
By 1837 the Canadians were so desperate that they rose in rebellion. But they had no organization and few weapons, and Governor Sir Francis Bond Head had little trouble suppressing the rebellion.
Passions among the victorious patriots were high, as pieces like this one (published in a Tory newspaper on February 8, 1838) shows. Mackenzie and others fled to the United States; several of their followers were executed. Mackenzie himself remarked that they were "not hung for treason, but because [I was] not forthcoming." - RBW
File: FMB074

"Antis" of Plate Cove, The


DESCRIPTION: A fight breaks out during an election to confederate Newfoundland with Canada. Details of the clash between "cons" and "antis" are told by the singer, who is against confederation.
AUTHOR: Mark Walker
EARLIEST DATE: 1940
KEYWORDS: political patriotic Canada
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1867 - Canadian Act of Confederation
1869 - Newfoundland electors refuse to join the Canadian Confederation
1949 - Newfoundland unites with Canada
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Doyle2, pp. 44-45, "The 'Antis' of Plate Cove" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 43-44, "The Antis of Plate Cove" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4554
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Anti-Confederation Song" (subject)
NOTES: Mainland Canada achieved "Confederation," and self-government, in 1867. Many of the provinces, especially in the Maritimes, were against Confederation (it was, after all, largely the result of internal politics in "Canada" -- Ontario plus Quebec), but most joined by 1870. Newfoundland, however, rejected confederation in 1869, and did not finally join Canada until 1949. - RBW
Doyle [refers this piece to the election of] 1869. "Cons" were for confederation and "antis" where those against. He also mentions that Plate Cove is in Bonavista Bay. Confederacy was not achieved until 1949 with a very slim margin at the polls. - SH
File: Doy44

Anything (I)


DESCRIPTION: "One day while walking down the street A fine young man I chanced to meet... And as he walked he swung his cane And our subject was just anything." The singer explains that she was asked to sing a song, and when she asked which, she was told "Anything"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: courting music humorous
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 449, "Anything" (1 text)
Roud #4648
NOTES: The lyrics of this sound very much like a parlor song, but no one seems to have recovered the original. The other possibility, of course, is that it is a chastened version of "Anything (II)." - RBW
File: R449

Anything (II)


DESCRIPTION: A teamster meets Susan Jane. She asks his trade. He says "tonight I could drive anything." She invites him to "come hitch your horse to my machine." She says "I see your horse is good and keen, But look he's stuck on my machine."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1963 (Ives-NewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: sex horse bawdy
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 94-97, "Anything" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1952
NOTES: Could this possibly be a bawdy by-blow -- or even the original -- of "Anything (I)"? I don't know; if so, it has been mixed up with the "When first to this country" fragment. - RBW
File: IvNB094

Apple Sauce and Butter


DESCRIPTION: "Apple sauce and butter spread out on the floor, I am going to marry dat pretty yellow gal that came from Baltimore, For she is sweeter than 'lasses, she's sweet as any pie; I am going to marry that pretty yellow gal that is coming bye and bye."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love courting marriage food
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 488, "Apple Sauce and Butter" (1 short text, said to have been collected in similar form from two different singers)
Roud #11867
File: Br3488

Appleby Fair


DESCRIPTION: Every year the Travellers are at the horse fair in Appleby Top. Some horses have "seen better days" and take knacker prices. A few sold "good stuff" and Dan Mannion "kept trotting horses which have brought him great fame" and his daughter "a posh car"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1985 (IRTravellers01)
KEYWORDS: commerce nonballad horse
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
Roud #16699
RECORDINGS:
"Rich" Johnny Connors, "Appleby Fair" (on IRTravellers01)
NOTES: Jim Carroll's notes to IRTravellers01: "The small town of Appleby in Cumbria has held an annual fair every June since ... 1684 .... Nowadays it is solely for horses."
"Rich" Johnny Connors's version relies heavily on Traveller slang which is translated in the notes. "Knacker prices" may be Traveller slang for slaughter-house prices but it's an expression I've heard many times before. - BS
File: RcAppFair

Apprentice Boy (I), The [Laws M12]


DESCRIPTION: The apprentice loves a noble lady. When her parents learn, they send him away. But he prospers in a foreign land and returns to England to claim his bride. At first she rejects him, thinking him a nobleman, but he reveals his identity and the two are wed.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1813 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(156a))
KEYWORDS: courting separation reunion marriage apprentice
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So,SE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England) Ireland
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Laws M12, "The Apprentice Boy"
Randolph 121, "The Apprentice Boy" (1 text)
SHenry H729, pp. 446-447, "The Apprentice Boy/Covent Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 26, "Cupid's Garden" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 31, pp. 74-76, "The Prentice Boy" (1 text)
BrownII 104, "The Sailor Boy" (5 texts, mostly short, plus excerpts from 4 more and mention of 2 more and 1 very short fragment; of which "L" appears to mix this song with Laws K12)
Leach-Labrador 22, "The Apprentice Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 25, "The Prentice Boy" (1 text)
Creighton-NovaScotia 45, "Prentice Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 87, "The Prentice Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell-FSRA 70, "Cupid's Garden" (1 text)
Roud #903
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(156a), "The Lady Who Fell in Love with a Prentice Boy", J. Evans (London), 1780-1812; also Firth c.18(119), "The Lady Who Fell in Love with a Prentice Boy"; Harding B 21(35), "The Lady and 'Prentice Boy"; Harding B 28(137), 2806 c.17(85), "Cupid's Garden" ("As down in Cupid's garden with pleasure I did walk, I heard two loyal lovers so sweetly for to talk"); Harding B 28(40), "Cupid's Garden" or "The 'Prentice Boy"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Castle Gardens" (theme)
NOTES: In Leach-Labrador and the Bodleian broadside the sailor wins a lottery.
Do not confuse this with another set of broadsides "The Lovers Meeting"/"Convent Garden"/"The Convent Garden Rambler"/"Cupid's Garden" which begins "As down in [Cupid's/Convent] garden with pleasure I did go, All for to view the flowers that in the garden grew" at Bodleian. This one has a sailor and Nancy, no apprentice, no lady, no lottery, and he sails away promising to return: see "Cupid's Garden (I) (Covent Garden I; Lovely Nancy III)"- BS
File: LM12

Apprentice Boy (II), The


See The Bramble Briar (The Merchant's Daughter; In Bruton Town) [Laws M32] (File: LM32)

Apprentice Boy (III), The


See The Sheffield Apprentice [Laws O39] (File: LO39)

Apprentice Sailor, The


See The Sea Apprentice (File: HHH739)

Apprentice, The


See The Diverting Show (File: GrD4886)

Apron of Flowers, The


See Waly Waly (The Water is Wide) (File: K149)

Ar Eirinn Ni Neosfainn Ce hi (For Ireland I Will Not Tell Whom She Is)


DESCRIPTION: Singer's intended lives with her rich parents by the Avonmore river. She would marry him "without riches or no earthly store." They meet in Glandore. He dreams of their marriage. They would sail away, if necessary. Until then he won't reveal her name.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1972 (Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
KEYWORDS: courting Ireland nonballad travel river
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 14, "Ar Eirinn Ni Neosfainn Ce hi" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5240
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "Ar Eirinn Ni Neosfainn Ce hi" (on IRTLenihan01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Pride of Kilkee" (tune; motif: hiding a sweetheart's name)
cf. "Eileen McMahon" (aisling format)
cf. "Granuaile" (aisling format) and references there
cf. "Tons of Bright Gold" (motif: hiding a sweetheart's name)
NOTES: Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan translates the title, which is also the last line of all but the last verse, as "For Ireland I will not tell whom she is." "... some versions of the song carried intimations of carnality." The song is classified as a reverdie. "The classification refers to the greenwood setting in which the poet encounters the beautiful maiden much as in an aisling" [except that this is not a vision song]. See the notes to "Eileen McMahon" and references there for a discussion of aisling. [Also the notes to "Granuaile." - RBW]
The Avonmore River flows through County Wicklow. Glandore is in County Cork. Maybe that's part of the code.
There is a Gaelic version with translation at "An Eirinn Ni Neosainn Ce Hi" at the Makem site. The story is less detailed than Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 14.
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan: "The Clare Gaelic scholar Eugene O'Curry stated that this song was written originally about 1810 .... The song in English which Tom sings has been about for a good many years likewise, as is witnessed by the similar version which Freeman noted down in London in 1915...."
Reverdie: "a song-type in which the poet is approached, in pastoral surroundings, by a beautiful otherworldly woman who symbolizes spring and Love....[It is] an old French poetic form pre-dating the political aisling form used in 18th century Irish poetry. French influence on Irish poetry took place during the Middles Ages when Norman-French families were granted estates in Ireland by the English crown." (source: Michael Robinson, "Danny Boy -- The Mystery Returns! , or, The Young Man's Dream" at The Standing Stones site. The article gives a clear example of the form with a reference to "A Young Man's Dream" and information on the form from Bruce Olson). While there are countless non-political Irish songs in which a young man meets a beautiful woman, the essential element of a reverdie is that the meeting must take place in a dream. - BS
File: RcAENNCH

Ar Hyd Y Nos


See All Through the Night (Ar Hyd Y Nos) (File: FDWB410B)

Araby Maid, The


DESCRIPTION: "Away on the wings of the wind she flies...." "'Tis an Araby maid who hath left her home To fly with her Christian knight." The song tells how she leaves her home and her faith for love, and notes "None can sever them now but the grave."
AUTHOR: Rev. T. G. Torry Anderson (1805-1856) (Source: Charles Rogers, _The Modern Scottish Minstrel_, volume IV)
EARLIEST DATE: 1857 (Rogers); reportedly composed 1833
KEYWORDS: love courting
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan5 1007, "The Araby Maid" (4 texts, 3 tunes)
Ord, p. 312, "The Araby Maid" (1 text)
Roud #6725
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Turkish Lady" [Laws O26]
cf. "Young Beichan" [Child 53]
NOTES: The absence of dialect in this song makes me think it is composed. So does the abject stupidity
[Later: This would appear to be confirmed by the inclusion of the song in "The Modern Scottish Minstrel." Thanks to Jim Dixon for finding this. Ben Schwartz later confirmed the data from GreigDuncan5] - RBW
GreigDuncan5 quoting Greig: "There is a story that Bishop Torry's grandson, Tom Torry, fled with the Arab maid." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Ord312

Aran's Lovely Home


See Erin's Lovely Home [Laws M6] (File: LM06)

Aranmore Disaster, The


DESCRIPTION: The boat carrying "lads ... coming from the Scottish harvest fields" lands at Burton Port. Passengers reembark "for the Island but they never reach the shore ... The little boat ... did sail but only one of the score survived to tell the tale"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1948 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck sailor
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Nov 9, 1935 - "... a ferry carrying passengers from Burtonport to Aranmore struck the rock near the pier on Aranmore.... Their boat struck in darkness and 19 of the 20 aboard were lost." (source: Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, p. 209)
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ranson, pp. 125-126, "The Aranmore Disaster" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bold Jack Donahoe" (tune) and references there
NOTES: Ranson: Tune is "The Wreck of the Eliza" on p. 56.
Burtonport is on the northwest Donegal coast. Aranmore is a nearby island. - BS
File: Ran125

Arbour Hill


DESCRIPTION: "No rising column marks the spot Where many a victim lies." The blood shed there makes claims for justice. We will be satisfied with freedom without retribution. The ground is unconsecrated but the dead are consecrated by patriot tears.
AUTHOR: Robert Emmet (1778-1803) (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST DATE: 2000 (Moylan)
KEYWORDS: rebellion execution Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Moylan 154, "Arbour Hill" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Moylan: "Many rebels were executed and buried at Arbour Hill in Dublin after the rebellion had been suppressed. Robert Emmet wrote this piece after a visit to the site of the croppy graves." - BS
For Emmet see of course the notes to "Bold Robert Emmet" and the various other Emmet songs. - RBW
File: Moyl154

Arch and Gordon


DESCRIPTION: "When Archie went to Louisville (x3), Not thinking that he would be killed." "When Gordon made his first shot, O'er behind the bed Arch did drop." "Hush now Guv'nor, don't you cry, You know your son Arch has to die."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1956
KEYWORDS: death murder father children
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 84-85, "Arch and Gordon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4130
NOTES: This may be based on a historical incident, but there is so little detail left in the song that there is little hope of recovering it; it is hardly possible to look up every Governor Brown in American history.
The final stanza, "Now you see what a sporting life has done, It has killed Guv'nor Brown's only son," gives a clue to what is going on: Archie Brown presumably seduced Gordon's wife/sister/girlfriend/X (somehow the song makes me think of homosexuality, though I can't even guess why), and Gordon killed him in revenge.
This piece is item dF61 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: AF084

Archangel Open the Door


DESCRIPTION: "I ax all them brothers round, Brother, why can't you pray for me, I ax... why can't you pray for me? I'm gwine to my heaven, I'm gwine hone. Archangel open de door." "Brother, take off your knapsack, I'm gwine home...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 32, "Archangel Open the Door" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11987
NOTES: The New Testament nowhere says that an archangel will open the door to heaven; indeed, it says that Peter has the keys of heaven (Matt. 16:19). This song may perhaps be inspired by 1 Thessalonians 4:16, where it says that an archangel's call will accompany the last judgment, when "the dead in Christ will rise first." Elsewhere, though, we read that Jesus himself is the door (well, the gate) of the sheep (John 10:1-9) and has the keys of "death and Hades" (Rev. 1:18).
It is worth noting that the word "archangel" (meaning chief or first angel or messenger) occurs only twice in the Bible, both in the New Testament: 1 Thes. 4:16, Jude 9. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: AWG032A

Archie o Cawfield [Child 188]


DESCRIPTION: Archie is in prison for raiding. His brothers wish they could rescue him, and at last set out with ten men. Archie laments to his brothers that he is to die. The brothers break down the doors and escape the pursuing forces
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1780 (Percy papers)
KEYWORDS: borderballad prisoner escape rescue family brother punishment
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland) US(NE)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Child 188, "Archie o Cawfield" (6 texts)
Bronson 188, "Archie o Cawfield" (7 versions)
Greig #75, pp. 2-3, "Johnnie Ha" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 244, "Johnnie Ha" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 509-516, "Archie o Cawfield" (2 texts)
OBB 140, "Archie of Cawfield" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 84, "Archie o' Cawfield" (1 text)
Warner 191, "Bold Dickie and Bold Archie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 172-175, "Bold Dickie" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #4}
DBuchan 34, "Archie o Cawfield" (1 text)
DT (187/188), (JOCKSIDE) JOHNWEBB*? BOLDARCH* BOLDARC2*
ADDITIONAL: Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 146, "The Bold Prisoner" (reproduction of a broadside page containing this and "The Land We Live In")
Roud #83
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Billy Broke Locks (The Escape of Old John Webb)" (tune & meter, theme)
cf. "Jock o the Side" [Child 187] (plot)
NOTES: Child notes, "This ballad is in all the salient features a repetition of 'Jock o the Side' [Child #187], Halls playing the parts of Armstrongs."
Many American versions of this (Linscott's "Bold Dickie," Warner's "Bold Dickie and Bold Archie," and perhaps the variant printed by Barry in BFSSNE; the Gardner/Chickering text is still fairly Scottish) have taken on some American color, and it is possible that they are actually American inventions which have mixed with the British song. Or they may have seen influence from "Billy Broke Locks." The whole family is rather a mess.
Linscott claims that "It is known that the song was *not* sung by women." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C188

Arctic Ice and Flippers


DESCRIPTION: "There's a halo round the margin of the sea, And 'tis there, if I correctly guess, will be The Arctic Ice..." where the seals are found. "We'll get the flippers yet old-timers say." The singer looks confidently at the Terra Nova and expects a good haul
AUTHOR: A. C. Wornell
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (Wornell, Rhymes of a Newfoundlander); reportedly written 1937
KEYWORDS: hunting ship nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 137, "Arctic Ice and Flippers" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: RySm137

Ard Tack


DESCRIPTION: "I'm a shearer, yes I am, and I've shorn them sheep and lamb," but the singer gets in trouble on a station that is also a vineyard. As he shears, he sips the "pinkie" between sheep -- and eventually passes out while holding a sheep
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (Lahey)
KEYWORDS: sheep work drink humorous
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 266-268, "The Hardest Bloody Job I Ever Had" (1 text)
DT, ARDTACK*
File: PFS266

'Ard Tack


See Ard Tack (File: PFS266)

Ardlaw Crew, The


DESCRIPTION: In 1880 the singer joins the Ardlaw crew. The crew are described by name, task, and characteristics. At term end it's "fare-ye-well to Ardlaw, Nae langer we maun stay, We will tak' our budgets on our back On the twenty-sixth o' May"
AUTHOR: Gordon M'Queen (source: Greig)
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming work moniker nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #92, pp. 1, "The Ardlaw Crew" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 411, "The Ardlaw Crew" (1 text)
Roud #5651
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Jack Munro" (tune, per Greig)
cf. "The Hairst o' Rettie" (subject: harvest crew moniker song) and references there
cf. "The Boghead Crew" (subject: harvest crew moniker song)
cf. "The Kiethen Hairst" (subject: harvest crew moniker song)
cf. "The Northessie Crew" (subject: harvest crew moniker song)
NOTES: Notes to IRClare01: "A budget is a bag or knapsack used for carrying tools."
GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Mid Ardlaw (411) is at coordinate (h6-7,v9-0) on that map [roughly 37 miles N of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3411

Are You Happy or Lonesome


See Happy or Lonesome (File: RcHOL)

Are You There, Moriarity?


DESCRIPTION: "I'm a policeman sheikh or a pip or a peak, And the girls around my beat, So nice and clean they say, That's him... I'm a handy fellow at a custard, I take it into 'custardy,' And the kids all cry as I go by, 'Are you there, Moriarity?'"
AUTHOR: Words: Edward Harrigan / Music: David Braham (1838-1905)
EARLIEST DATE: 1876 (sheer music, LOCSheet, sm1876 07624)
KEYWORDS: police humorous
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Anderson, p. 149, "Are You There, Moriarity" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1876 07624, "Are You There Moriarty!," Wm. A. Pond (New York), 1876(tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Good Old Mountain Dew" (tune, per OLochlainn)
NOTES: For background on Harrigan and Braham, see the notes to "Babies on Our Block." - RBW
File: MA149

Are You Tired of Me, My Darling?


See Will You Love Me When I'm Old? (File: R824)

Arise and Bar the Door-O


See Get Up and Bar the Door [Child 275] (File: C275)

Arise, Arise


See The Drowsy Sleeper [Laws M4] (File: LM04)

Arizona


DESCRIPTION: "The Devil was given permission one day To select him a land in his own special way." After a long, difficult search, he settles on Arizona, and sets out to make some "improvements": cacti, skunks, heat. He then leaves, thinking that is beats Hell
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: Devil Hell humorous
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 401-402, "Arizona" (1 text)
Fife-Cowboy/West 27, "Hell in Texas" (3 texts -- one each for Texas (a version of "Hell in Texas"), Arizona , and Alaska, 1 tune)
Roud #5104
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hell in Texas" (theme)
NOTES: This song and "Hell in Texas" clearly are related; one probably suggested and influenced the other. But there is no way to clearly demonstrate which came earlier, so I list them separately. Roud, unsurprisingly, lumps them. - RBW
File: LxA401

Arizona Home


See Home on the Range (File: R193)

Arkansas Boys


See Come All You Virginia Girls (Arkansas Boys; Texian Boys; Cousin Emmy's Blues; etc.) (File: R342)

Arkansas Navvy, The


See The State of Arkansas (The Arkansas Traveler II) [Laws H1] (File: LH01)

Arkansas Sheik, The


See Come All You Virginia Girls (Arkansas Boys; Texian Boys; Cousin Emmy's Blues; etc.) (File: R342)

Arkansas Traveler (II), The


See The State of Arkansas (The Arkansas Traveler II) [Laws H1] (File: LH01)

Arkansas Traveler, The (fiddle recitation)


DESCRIPTION: A series of remarks between a traveller and an Arkansas farmer, interspersed with fiddle playing. The traveller will ask a question (e.g. "Say, farmer, where does this road lead?"), the farmer will answer unhelpfully ("to the end") and fiddle
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1847
KEYWORDS: fiddle recitation nonsense humorous
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Randolph 346, "The Arkansas Traveler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 284-287, "The Arkansas Traveler" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 346)
BrownIII 330, "Arkansas Traveler (I)" (1 fragment)
FSCatskills 90, "The Arkansas Traveller" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
JHCox 179, "The Arkansaw Traveller" (1 text)
JHCoxIIB, #34, p. 210, "The Arkansaw Traveler" (1 tune with a description of the conversation between fiddler and traveler but no actual text)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 10-13, "The Arkansas Traveller" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 267-271, "The Arkansas Traveller" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 216-219, "Arkansas Traveler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 33, "The Arkansas Traveller" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 107-108, "Arkansas Traveler"
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), pp. 46-53, texts of both "The Arkansas Traveler" and "The State of Arkansas," with folktale variants, a reproduction of a painting of the fiddler and traveler, and background information
Roud #3756
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink] & his Square Dance Band, "Arkansas Traveler" (OKeh 06296, 1941)
The Blue Ridge Duo [possibly a pseudonym for George Reneau?], "Arkansas Traveler" (Edison 51422, 1924)
Boone County Entertainers [Red Fox Chasers], "Arkansas Traveller" (Supertone 9163, 1928)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Arkansas Traveler" (OKeh 40108, 1924)
H. N. Dickens, "The Arkansas Traveller" (on Stonemans01)
Jess Hillard, "Arkansas Traveller" (Champion 16333, 1931)
Earl Johnson & his Dixie Entertainers, "Earl Johnson's Arkansas Traveller" (OKeh 45156, 1927)
Uncle Dave Macon, "Arkansas Travellers" (Vocalion 15192, 1926)
Clayton McMichen & his Georgia Wildcats, "Arkansas Traveler" (Melotone [Canada] 93031, 1933)
Clayton McMichen & Dan Hornsby [or McMichen's Melody Men], "The Original Arkansas Traveler, pts. 1 & 2" (Columbia 15253-D, 1928)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Arkansas Traveller" (on NLCR16)
Steve Porter, "Arkansas Traveller" (Pathe 20670, 1921)
[Steve] Porter & [Ernest] Hare, "Arkansas Traveler" (Edison 51010, 1922) (Grey Gull 4112, 1927)
George Reneau, "Arkansas Traveler" (Vocalion 14813, 1924)
Pete Seeger, "Arkansas Traveller" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07b)
Jilson Setters [pseud. for James W. "Blind Bill" Day], "Arkansaw Traveler" (Victor 21635, 1928)
Hobart Smith, "Arkansas Traveler" (Disc 6079, 1940s)
Harry Spencer, "The Arkansaw Traveler" (Columbia 21, 1901; Harvard 21, c. 1903; Columbia A406, 1909 [anonymous]; Oxford 21, c. 1911)
Len Spencer, "The Arkansaw Traveler" (Victor 1101, 1902; Victor 16199-A, c. 1909) (CYL: Edison 8202 [as "The Arkansas Traveler"], 1902) (CYL: Edison [BA] 3745 [as "The Arkansas Traveler"], n.d.)
John Stone, "Arkansas Traveler" (AFS 3372 B2, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Gid Tanner & Riley Puckett, "Arkansas Traveller" (Columbia 15017-D, 1925; rec. 1924.)
Gordon Tanner, Arthur Tanner, Art Rosenbaum & Larry Nash, "Arkansas Traveler" (on DownYonder)
Tennessee Ramblers, "Arkansas Traveller" (Brunswick 225, 1928; Supertone S-2083, 1930)
Unidentified artists, "The Arkansaw Traveller" (Silvertone 21, c. 1915) (possibly Len Spencer, but a different recording from his 1902 Victor)
Unidentified artists (possibly Len Spencer) "Arkansaw Traveler" (CYL: Everlasting 1399, n.d.)
J. D. Weaver "Arkansas Traveler" (OKeh 45016, 1925)
SAME TUNE:
[Len] Spencer & [Ada] Jones, "Return of the Arkansaw Traveler" (CYL: Albany Indestructable/Columbia 3108, c. 1910)
Len Spencer, "Return of the Arkansas Traveler" (CYL: Edison 10356, 1910)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "New Arkansas [Arkansaw?] Traveller" (Columbia 15623-D, c. 1931)
NOTES: Randolph says "Both words and music are usually credited to Colonel Sandford C. Faulkner [d. 1875]"; Allsop mentions Faulkner's name but also mentions other possibilites. The sheet music in Jackson is credited to one Mose Case, but we know how reliable such claims are. - RBW
Usually the fiddler only plays the "A" part of the tune; at the end of a few versions the traveller plays the "B" part, and the two become friends.
This was a popular minstrel-show sketch in the 1900s, pitting the smart country man against the city slicker.
The [Folksinger's Wordbook] text turns one of the classic jokes from the spoken skit into sung verses. Frustratingly, they give no sources, so the origins of this version are unknown. The chords given are not the usual chords played with the tune. - PJS
File: FSC090

Arkansaw Traveller, An


See The State of Arkansas (The Arkansas Traveler II) [Laws H1] (File: LH01)

Arlin's Fine Braes


DESCRIPTION: "I've travelled this country both early and late, And among the lasses I've had mony a lang sit." The singer recalls his wild ways as a young ploughman. Having had various misadventures, he warns listeners to settle down and work rather than rambling
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1877 ("The Carse of Pommaize," broadside from Poet's Box, Glasgow, according to GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: work farming rambling warning
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #118, p. 2, "The Carse o' Pommaize" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 415, "The Carse o' Pommaize" (7 texts, 3 tunes)
Ord, p. 250, "Arlin's Fine Braes" (1 text)
Roud #517
RECORDINGS:
Jimmy McBeath, "Arlin's Fine Braes" (on Voice20)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Erin-go-bragh" (tune, per GreigDuncan3)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Carse o' Braemese
The Carse o' Brindese
Earth of Braemese
Ireland's Fine Braes
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian, 2806 c.11(131), "The Carse of Pommaize" ("I have rambled this country both early and late"), The Poet's box (Glasgow), 1860 or 1865 could not be downloaded and verified. From the blurry small image I can see it seems to be this ballad. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Ord250

Arm Chair, The


See Grandmother's Chair (File: R467)

Armoured Car, The


DESCRIPTION: "You must appreciate a hound so great to the sport." Doyley's Armoured Car "never yet lost a hunt." In '21 "he sent a sworn declaration to the Harriers Association" that he would win. His victories are recounted. Black and Tans could not stop him
AUTHOR: Sean O'Callaghan (source: OCanainn)
EARLIEST DATE: 1978 (OCanainn)
KEYWORDS: hunting dog
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OCanainn, pp. 46-47,121, "The Armoured Car" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: OCanainn: "The Armoured Car is ... the nickname given to the original Ringwood, the dog bred by the famous Conny Doyle of Fair Hill." - BS
File: OCan046

Army Life


See Gee, But I Want to Go Home (File: LxU039)

Army Song, The


DESCRIPTION: "A is for the Army that's not afraid to die ... C is for Christ ... Z is for ... A and stands for something, whatever it may be But the name of this peculiar song is the Army A B C"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Leach-Labrador)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious wordplay
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leach-Labrador 68, "The Army Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #159
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Logger's Alphabet" (subject) and references there
NOTES: Leach-Labrador: "It is the Salvation Army Alphabet.... The music director of the Salvation Army has no record of this song." - BS
File: LLab068

Aroostook War, The


DESCRIPTION: "Ye soldiers of Maine, your bright weapons prepare: On your frontier's arising The clouds of grim war." "Your country's invaed!" "Then 'Hail the British!' Does anyone cry? 'Move not the old landmarks,' The settlers reply."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Gray); supposedly written 1839
KEYWORDS: political soldier
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1839 - the "Aroostook War"
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Gray, pp. 156-157, "The Aroostook War" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Maine Soldiers' Song" (subject: Aroostook War)
cf. "Maine Battle Song" (subject: Aroostook War)
NOTES: When the American Revolution ended, one issue left unsettled was the border between what became the American state of Maine (then still part of Massachusetts) and New Brunswick in Canada. Initially it wasn't much of a problem; there simply weren't enough people in Maine for it to be an issue (there had been provisions in the 1783 treaty between the United States and Britain for a boundary commission, but the commission couldn't figure out what the treaty-makers had intended; Morison, p. 407). Eventually, in the late 1837s, the issue turned into a major boundary dispute.
Brebner/Masters, p. 196, suggests, "The bloodless 'Aroostook War' that brought troops on both sides of the border in 1839 may have been colored by Maine's delighted discovery that beyond miles of her unpromising forest uplands the Aroostook Valley contained broad fertile lands as well as fine trees, but the urgent problem was that its waters and the logs they carried reached the ocean through the St. John in New Brunswick."
Jameson, p. 28, says, "Aroostook Disturbances. In 1838 a band of lawless men, chiefly from New Brunswick, trespassed upon that territory which is watered by the Aroostook, and which was then claimed by noth Great Britain and the United States. The Governor of Maine drafted troops [almost certainly including the man who wrote this song] and drove off the intruders. The President sent General Winfield Scott to the Aroostook country. He arranged that it should be occupied as before, each government holding part, while the other denied its legal right."
Brebner/Masters, p. 150, declares, "The 'Aroostook War' of 1839 came as near as might be to reality, but no lives were lost in spite of raids and counterraides and defense measures which involved Maine and the American Congress on one side, and New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Great Britain on the other." McNaught, p. 104, mentions "sporadic 'warfare' between competing lumbermen of Maine and New Brunswick," without mentioning this conflict in particular.
This was not the only border disturbance of the period; an even more serious problem is the subject of "The Battle of the Windmill." The Webster/Ashburton treaty of 1842 at last settled the boundary and ended the problems although McNuaght, writing from a Canadian standpoint, thinks that it gave "a northward thrust to Maine that placed a grave impediment in the path of proposed railway connections between Quebec and New Brunswick -- a concession which left a legacy of serious railway difficulties for British North America." One doubts the composer of this song would agree -- or care.
The Biblical quote, "Move not the old landmarks," is sort of a conflation of several passages, which the King James Bible gives as
* "Thou shalt not remove thy neighbour's landmark, which they of old have set by thy inheritance." (Deut. 19:14)
* "Remove not the ancient landmark, which thy fathers have set" (Proverbs 22:28)
* "Remove not the old landmark; and enter not into the fields of the fatherless" (Proverbs 23:10)
We might also note Deut. 17:17, "Cursed be he that removeth his neighbour's landmark."
Of course, the problem in this case is that there was no landmark, or settled boundary -- but one suspects that politicians wouldn't let mere facts stop them from whipping up the militia. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: Gray156

Around a Western Water Tank


See The Dying Hobo [Laws H3] (File: LH03)

Around Cape Horn (I)


See Rounding the Horn (File: VWL090)

Around Cape Horn (II)


See A Long Time Ago (File: Doe037)

Around Her Neck She Wore a Yellow Ribbon


DESCRIPTION: The girl wears a yellow ribbon around her neck "For her lover who was far, far away." In May and December she scatters yellow flowers on a grave "for her soldier who was far, far away." (In other versions she may be pregnant and face abandonment)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: love separation death burial pregnancy abandonment
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Arnett, p. 149-150, "Around Her Neck She Wore a Yellow Ribbon" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHJohnson, p. 115, "Yaller Ribbon" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 145, "Round Her Neck She Wore A Yellow Ribbon" (1 text)
DT, (YLLORBBN)
Roud #10642, etc.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "All Around My Hat"
SAME TUNE:
The Scarlet Bonnet (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 159)
NOTES: The versions of this song I know run the gamut. Arnett's is a lament for a lost soldier. In Johnson's text, she has had a child by the missing man. In the Digital Tradition version, the song is angry, and the child is clearly illegitimate, and her father is prepared to guard her with a shotgun. The latter version is considered by the DT editors to be an "All around My Hat" variant -- but it seems to be simply a stronger version of the Johnson text. - RBW
I think this one and "All Around My Hat" are, at the least, siblings, and more likely fraternal twins. - PJS
That they share genetic material is clear. But they have also evolved independently, and this one exists in far more diverse forms. - RBW
File: Arn149

Around the Corner


DESCRIPTION: "Around the corner behind the tree A sergeant Major said to me, 'Oh, how'd you like to (marry) me? I would like to know, For every time I look into your eyes, I feel I'd like to go Around the corner....'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: humorous wordplay
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Silber-FSWB, p. 241, "Around the Corner" (1 text)
NOTES: Clearly the infinite recursion was not invented by inept computer programmers. - RBW
File: FSWB241B

Around the Hills of Clare


DESCRIPTION: In the past the singer had thought the Saxon bands could be driven from his home, but now "these days are past." He is leaving home, parents, sister, and girls. He looks forward to the day when "home we'll all repair" to "the hills of Clare"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1981 (IRClare01)
KEYWORDS: grief emigration farewell Ireland nonballad family home
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #18467
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "Around the Hills of Clare" (on IRClare01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Magpie's Nest" (tune)
File: RcAtHoC

Around the Horn


See Rounding the Horn (File: VWL090)

Around the World and Home Again


See The Sailor's Way (File: Doe109)

Arrival of "Aurora," "Diana," "Virginia Lake," and "Vanguard," Loaded


DESCRIPTION: "All welcome to the northern fleet That just arrived today, Pounds filled up with prime harp seals." The accomplishments of Captain Kean, Captain Barbour of the Diana, Captain Knee of the Virginia Lake, and of the Vanguard are listed
AUTHOR: possibly Johnny Burke
EARLIEST DATE: 1978 (Ryan/Small)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 731, "Arrival of 'Aurora,' Diana,' 'Virginia Lake' and 'Vanguard,' Loaded" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "First Arrival -- 'Aurora' and 'Walrus' Full" (ships, theme)
cf. "Arrival of the 'Grand Banks' and 'Virginia Lake' With Bumper Trips" (theme, ships)
cf. "The Sealer's Song (II)" (ships)
File: RySm073

Arrival of the "Grand Banks" and "Virginia Lake" With Bumper Trips


DESCRIPTION: "The Grand Lake, boys, is coming in, With bunting grand, Manned by a crew of hardy lads Who belong to Newfoundland." The Grand Lake and the Virginia both return to port with large hauls of seal pelts and fat
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Old Home Week Songster)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 71, "Arrival of the 'Grand Banks' and 'Virginia Lake' With Bumper Trips" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "First Arrival -- 'Aurora' and 'Walrus' Full" (ships, theme)
cf. "Arrival of 'Aurora,' Diana,' 'Virginia Lake' and 'Vanguard,' Loaded" (theme, ships)
cf. "The Sealer's Song (II)" (ships)
File: RySm071

Arriving Back at Liverpool


See Whip Jamboree (Whup Jamboree) (File: Br3230)

Arsenic Tragedy, The


See Henry Green (The Murdered Wife) [Laws F14] (File: LF14)

Arthur


DESCRIPTION: French. Arthur, a poor boatman, loves a Black girl who lives in a castle. Her mother locks her in a tower far away. When a knight came to ask for her hand she sobs and takes out a handkerchief with Arthur's name. She makes her last sigh.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage grief courting abduction mother Black(s)
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 3, "Arthur" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: LeBe003

Arthur a Bland


See Robin Hood and the Tanner [Child 126] (File: C126)

Arthur Bond


DESCRIPTION: The singer tells the "praises of young Arthur Bond." He comes to Armagh for a race. Many horses stumble on the course, but Bond, riding Kate Kearney, succeeds easily. He drinks a toast to his mare
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: racing horse
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H783, p. 34, "Arthur Bond" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9219
File: HHH783

Arthur Clyde


DESCRIPTION: Singer, dying, confesses to his sister that he murdered and buried her former lover, Arthur Clyde, because he could not bear to see Clyde with her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (recording, Loman D. Cansler)
KEYWORDS: murder death dying sister lover
FOUND IN: US(So)
Roud #15752
RECORDINGS:
Loman D. Cansler, "Arthur Clyde" (on Cansler1)
NOTES: Cansler states he learned this from his family, and has not heard it elsewhere. - PJS
File: RcAClyde

Arthur Curtis's Horse


DESCRIPTION: "Arthur Curtis lost his horse; I'm sorry that they parted. But people say for the want of hay To the other world he started." A few of the men help Arthur get rid of the dead horse and he vows to "get another one just as good" and finish hauling wood.
AUTHOR: Frank O'Hara
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Ives-NewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: death lumbering recitation horse
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 76-77, "Arthur Curtis's Horse" (1 text)
Roud #1949
File: IvNB076

Arthur McBride


DESCRIPTION: The singer and his cousin Arthur McBride meet a recruiting party (on Christmas). The young men do not wish to join the army; they aren't interested in going overseas to be shot. The sergeant blusters; the Irish boys beat up the soldiers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(2131))
KEYWORDS: army fight recruiting humorous
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland,England)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Greig #176, p. 1, "Arthur M'Bride" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 78, "Arthur McBride" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Ord, pp. 306-307, "The Recruiting Sergeant" (1 text)
PBB 93, "Arthur McBride" (1 text)
DT, ARTMCBRD* ARTMCBR2
Roud #2355
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2131), "Arthur Mc. Bride" ("I had a cousin one Arthur Mc. Bride"), J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Firth c.14(112), "Arthur M'Bride"; Harding B 25(82), "Arthur Macbride"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Arthur McBride and the Sergeant
Teddy O'Brown
File: PBB093

Arthur Nolan


See Alec Robertson (I) (File: MA065)

Arthur's Seat


DESCRIPTION: The singer is poor and forsaken. She fantasizes: "I will to some other land Till I see my love will on me rue" She wishes she had never been born or died young. She wishes her baby were born and she were dead. She waits for Death to end her weariness.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c.1701 (broadside, NLScotland Ry.III.a.10(056))
KEYWORDS: poverty courting pregnancy nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Child 204 Appendix, "Arthur's Seat Shall Be My Bed, etc., or, Love in Despair" (1 text)
GreigDuncan6 1167, "Arthur's Seat" (1 text)
Roud #6851
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, Ry.III.a.10(056), "Arthur's Seat Shall be my Bed, &c." or "Love in Despair," unknown, c.1701
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Waly Waly (The Water is Wide)" (lyrics: two verses)
cf. "Jamie Douglas" [Child 204] (lyrics: one verse)
NOTES: The two verses shared with Child's text of "Waly, Waly, Gin Love Be Bony" are neither common floaters nor verses shared with "Jamie Douglas": one is the title verse ("Now Arthur-Seat shall be my bed ....") and the other the Martinmas wind reference ("Martinmas wind, when wilt thou blow ...).One verse ("Oh, oh, if my young babe were born, And set upon the nurse's knee, And I myself were dead and gone! For a maid again I'le never be") is shared with Child 204 A, C and E. - BS
It is interesting to find this in Aberdeenshire. The best known Arthur's Seat is in Holyrood Park in Edinburgh. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD51167

As Bell and Blow


DESCRIPTION: Bell and Blow are in love and go walking in April. Simon courts Miss but "knew he'd acted wrong in Not having dared to steal a kiss"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 894, "As Bell and Blow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6232
File: GrD4894

As Broad as I was Walking


DESCRIPTION: The singer sees a pretty maid "lamenting for her love." He courts her "in a rude and rakish way." She bids him stop, "crying out, Young man, for shame." Her lover is gone; she vows that if she can't enjoy him, "I will rejoice in a sweet and single life."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(196a))
KEYWORDS: courting loneliness separation oldmaid
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 230-231, "As Broad as I was Walking" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1198
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(196a), "Modest Maid," J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819; also Johnson Ballads 915[last verse illegible], "Modest Maid"; Harding B 25(1310), "Nancy's Love for her Sailor"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] and references there
NOTES: This really, REALLY reminds me of a Riley/Broken Token ballad. But since the stanza form does not match the more common Riley ballads, and since there is no reunion at the end, I have to classify it on its own.
The title, I imagine, is a corruption of "Abroad as I was Walking." - RBW
File: CoSB230

As I Gaed in Tae Bonnie Aberdeen


DESCRIPTION: In Aberdeen the singer throws a rock at a sleeping old lady's head and runs away. She chases him with a stick "and I wondered if she'd strick me" He runs away again and "now I hear that she is dead And buried ...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: violence escape death humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1707, "As I Gaed in Tae Bonnie Aberdeen" (1 text)
Roud #13138
File: GrD81707

As I Gaed ower a Whinny Knowe


See Seventeen Come Sunday [Laws O17] (File: LO17)

As I gaed owre yon heich heich hill


See Blawin' Willie Buck's Horn (File: GrD81640)

As I Go Sing


DESCRIPTION: "As I walk the hills my heart is light, and as I go I sing." Her brothers urge the singer to seek wealth; her mother warns her of dying an old maid. She says she will never wed -- but allows she might if a certain man comes courting
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love family oldmaid
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H661, p. 259, "As I Go I Sing" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6899
File: HHH661

As I Roamed Out


See Seventeen Come Sunday [Laws O17]; also The Banks of Sweet Primroses (File: LO17)

As I Rode Down Through Irishtown


See The Crimean War [Laws J9] (File: LJ09)

As I Rode Out


See The Banks of Sweet Primroses (File: ShH51)

As I Roved Out (I) (Tarry Trousers II)


DESCRIPTION: The singer overhears a girl talking to her mother. The mother wants her daughter to marry a farmer, but the girl prefers a sailor. (The girl and the sailor are happily wed; she tries to persuade him to go to sea no more.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1848 (Journal from the Nauticon)
KEYWORDS: lover courting mother sailor
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South)) Canada(Mar,Newf) US
REFERENCES (7 citations):
SharpAp 133, "Tarry Trousers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 96-99, "The Tarry Trousers" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 212-214, "Tarry Trousers" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 31, "As I Roved Out" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 495-496, "Anchors Aweigh, Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 14, "As I Roved Out" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 414, TARYTROU* TARYTRU2*
Roud #427
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Mother's Admonition
File: LoF014

As I Roved Out (II)


See Trooper and Maid [Child 299] (File: C299)

As I Roved Out (III)


See Seventeen Come Sunday [Laws O17] (File: LO17)

As I Roved Out (V)


See The False Young Man (The Rose in the Garden, As I Walked Out) (File: FJ166)

As I Roved Out (VI)


See The Deluded Lover (File: K150)

As I Roved Out One Evening


DESCRIPTION: A son, against his parents' wishes, plans to cross the sea "in search of gold." He is afraid, if he stays, King George will be defeated. His love has wed another leaving him under oath not to wed any girl in Ireland. He leaves for the East Indies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 25(345))
KEYWORDS: infidelity separation Ireland
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 41, "As I Roved Out One Evening" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2752
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(345), "The Carrick Lovers ("As I roved out one morning I heard a mournful cry"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824
NOTES: Carrick on Shannon is in County Leitrim, Ireland. - BS
File: CrSNB041

As I sat at my spinning wheel


See My Spinning Wheel (File: GrD81861)

As I Sat on a Sunny Bank


See I Saw Three Ships (File: OBB104)

As I Sit Here Alone


DESCRIPTION: "As I sit here alone in the old shearer's hut...I wonder, is it worth goin' on." The shearer describes the hard work, the injuries, the poor pay, the lack of respect for inferior workers. He concludes , "I KNOW it's not worth goin' on."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1987
KEYWORDS: work hardtimes sheep
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 146-147, "As I Sit Here Alone" (1 text)
File: MCB146B

As I Staggered From Home Yesterday Morning


DESCRIPTION: As singer staggers out, his wife (counting up his meager cash) tells him their life would be better if he quit drinking -- they'd soon be "rich as a Jew." He tells her that drink does him a world of good, and he intends to continue
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (recording, Pat Ford)
KEYWORDS: drink wife
FOUND IN: US(MW)
Roud #15472
RECORDINGS:
Pat Ford, "As I staggered from home yesterday morning" [fragment] (AFS 4210 B3 & 4211 B3, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
NOTES: Both [Pat Ford] recordings contain the same fragment, but are different takes. - PJS
File: RcAISFHY

As I Strolled Out One Evening


See Down By Blackwaterside (File: K151)

As I Walked Forth in the Pride of the Season


DESCRIPTION: A man promises to marry a maid he meets. He says he is poor and her "low degree" is no cause for concern. They kiss and fall asleep. When he wakes he finds her not a virgin and says they'll never marry.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: grief courting sex virginity warning floatingverses
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 422-423, "As I Walked Forth in the Pride of the Season" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Pea422 (Partial)
Roud #9785
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The False Young Man
NOTES: [Despite Peacock's subtitle "The False Young Man," this is] not "The False Young Man (The Rose in the Garden, As I Walked Out)." - BS
Peacock's final stanza is the floating "ripest of apples" lyric; it's not clear which of the several songs which include the verse is the source. - RBW
File: Pea422

As I Walked Oot One Sabbath Mornin'


DESCRIPTION: "As I walked oot one Sabbath mornin' As I gaed oot by the break of day I spied a handsome and fair young damsel, She was walking like a lady gay"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: beauty travel
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1799, "As I Walked Oot One Sabbath Mornin'" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #13000
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan8 fragment.
The GreigDuncan8 notes suggest that this might be "Young Munro" or "William Taylor" [Laws N11]. I don't see the "Young Munro" connection but "William Taylor" often includes a verse like "She arose early in the morning, Early by the break of day, There she espied o'er William Taylor, Walking with his lady gay" [Broadside Bodleian Harding B 25(2069), "William Taylor" ("William was a youthful lover"), unknown, no date]. - BS
I also thought of "William Taylor," based on the meter as much as the contents. The words make me think more of a broken token song -- but that's no help, given how many such there are. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81799

As I Walked Out (I) (A New Broom Sweeps Clean)


DESCRIPTION: A young man tells a girl, "Alas, I'm tormented, for love I must die." He begs her to come away with him. She tells him, "Were I to say yes, I would say 'gainst my mind." He curses her unkindness; he will marry a girl who loves him if he marries at all
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection
FOUND IN: Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H109, p. 357, "As I Walked Out" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 40, "A New Broom Sweeps Clean" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST HHH109 (Partial)
Roud #2751
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "If I Were a Fisher" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Bodleian, Harding B 25(1325), "A New Broom Sweeps Clean" ("Why talk you of marriage, I have little wit"), Angus (Newcastle), 1774-1825; also Harding B 17(209a), "A New Broom Sweeps Clean" shares only its title, one similar verse, and dialog theme with this song. The similar verse -- with potential for floating -- is "I think it no wonder maids are fickle in their minds, Young men will deceive them be they ever so kind; They will court with strange sweethearts, be they ever so mean, It is an old saying that a new broom sweeps clean." - BS
File: HHH109

As I Walked Out (II)


See The False Young Man (The Rose in the Garden, As I Walked Out) (File: FJ166)

As I Walked Out in the Streets of Laredo


See The Streets of Laredo [Laws B1] (File: LB01)

As I Walked Out One May Morning


See The False Young Man (The Rose in the Garden, As I Walked Out) (File: FJ166)

As I Walked Through the Meadows


DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a young woman. She says she has come to gather may. He asks to go with her; she refuses, for fear of being led astray. He kisses her; they wander through the meadows as he picks may. Next morning he marries her to preserve her reputation.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: courting sex wedding
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sharp-100E 53, "As I Walked Through the Meadows" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Roud #594
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Handful of May
NOTES: Although it's never made explicit, especially in Cecil Sharp, I know a line of asterisks when I see one! -PJS
File: ShH53

As I Wandered by the Brookside


See I Wandered by the Brookside (File: CrMa035)

As I Was A-Walking (I)


See The Mantle So Green [Laws N38] (File: LN38)

As I Was A-Walking Down Ratcliffe Highway


See Ratcliffe Highway (File: Doe114)

As I Was Going into the Fair of Athy


See The Old Petticoat (File: RcOldPet)

As I Was Going to Banbury


See A Leg of Mutton Went Over to France (File: Pea014)

As I Was Going to Darby


See The Derby Ram (File: R106)

As I Was Walkin' Down Wexford Street


See The Croppy Boy (I) [Laws J14] (File: LJ14)

As I Was Walking


See As I Was Walking Down In Yon Valley (File: GrD1004)

As I Was Walking Down In Yon Valley


DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a girl. Seven years ago her parents forced her lover across the sea. She looked for him in America until she ran out of money. The singer says her lover is dead. She says she'll never marry. He reveals that he is her lost lover. They marry.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: love marriage separation reunion lie father mother sailor
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #23, p. 1, ("As I was walking down in yon valley") (1 text)
GreigDuncan5 1004, "As I Was Walking" (9 texts plus a single verse on p. 612, 5 tunes)
Roud #6277
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] (plot) and references there
cf. "The Banks of Claudy" [Laws N40] (plot)
cf. "A Bonnie Laddie, But Far Awa (theme: parents drive lover away)
cf. "Oh Cruel" (plot)
cf. "The Single Sailor" (tune, per GreigDuncan5)
File: GrD1004

As I Was Walking o'er Little Moorfields


See A Leg of Mutton Went Over to France (File: Pea014)

As I Was Walking Through the Wud


DESCRIPTION: The singer builds a church in a wood, helped by all the animals: one with a horn dug stones, another brought them home, a hare rang the morning bell, a lark sang. "Hymen was the high priest, An' Choral was the clerk"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: religious animal bird
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #22, p. 2, ("As I was walking through the wud") (1 text)
GreigDuncan8 1637, "As I Was Walking Through the Wud" (1 text)
Roud #13064
NOTES: Hymen came to be known as the god of marriage, symbolized by torch and veil. He was a late addition to the Greek pantheon, his name coming from the chant of a wedding song. He was a very minor god; the mention here might be derived from Shakespeare rather than Greek myth. The reference to "Choral" is not to a Greek or Roman God; perhaps it refers to a Greek chorus.
There are several stories of animals by one means or another locating a church (for examples see Jacqueline Simpson and Steve Roud, A Dictionary of English Folklore, Oxford, 2000, p. 68), and any number of tales of animals helping with a task, but I can't recall one of them building a church. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD1637

As I Went by the Luckenbooths


DESCRIPTION: "As I went by the Luckenbooths I saw a lady fair... 'Oh, have you seen my lost love, With his braw Highland men?" "But when the minister came out Her mare began to prance, Then rode into the sunset Beyond the coast of France."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (Montgomerie)
KEYWORDS: beauty love nonballad Jacobite
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 114, "(As I went by the Luckenbooths)" (1 text)
DT, LUCKBOTH
NOTES: This is an odd little piece, since half of it is just the description of the beautiful girl ("The smile about her bonnie cheek Was sweeter than the bee; Her voice was like the bird's song Upon the birken tree"). But the other half looks strongly Jacobite. On that basis, after much hesitation, I decided to include it.
Murray Shoolbraid, in his Digital Tradition notes, observes, "M[offat] says this is a spectral or 'ghostie' ballad, a great favourite of children in the 17th and 18th centuries [which I greatly doubt]." I doubt it too. (That is, I doubt the supernatural element, barring the discovery of a more explicit version). - RBW
File: MSNR114

As I Went Down in the Valley to Pray


See Down in the Valley to Pray (File: Br3553)

As I Went Down to Newbern


DESCRIPTION: "As I went down to Newbern, I went there on the tide, I just got there in time To be taken by Old Burnside." The singer complains of his treatment and bets that the Yankees will run every time they fight the Confederates
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1913 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar prisoner
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Feb. 7, 1862 - Burnside's North Carolina expedition approaches Roanoke Island
Feb. 8, 1862 - Burnside defeats Henry Wise's local troops to capture Roanoke Island
Mar. 14, 1862 - Burnside takes New Bern
Apr. 26, 1862 - Burnside captures Beaufort
July 3, 1862 - Burnside and some 7500 of his troops are transferred to the Army of the Potomac
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownII 282, "As I Went Down to Newbern" (1 text)
Roud #6641
NOTES: This short little item looks both fragmentary and composite; the first part is about the Union occupation of northeastern North Carolina, but the second is a boast against the Yankees. They might belong together, but I suspect the final stanza was grafted in after the New Bern song lost most of its verses. - RBW
File: BrII282

As I Went Down to Port Jervis


DESCRIPTION: The singer sees a mother with her two soldier sons who are bound for battle. She wishes they were not leaving, and tells how she tried to keep them out of the army. The son(s) tell of their hard service, but say not to worry until they are dead!
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1982 (Cazden et al)
KEYWORDS: war battle mother children farewell
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
FSCatskills 12, "As I Went Down to Port Jervis" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
DT, PRTJRVS*
Roud #1924
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Crimean War" [Laws J9] (tune, lyrics, plot, theme)
NOTES: The singers from whom Cazden et al collected this song generally felt it was a Civil War song. It can, however, be directly linked to "The Crimean War" [Laws J9]. Roud lumps the two, and I'm tempted to do the same -- but Cazden et al consider it separate, and they have heard the actual performances of the Catskills singers.
Still, you'd probably better see both songs. The Ives-New Brunswick version of "The Crimean War," e.g., is described by Cazden et al as being the same as that of "As I Went Down to Port Jervis."
This may mean less than it says, however; the Gardner/Chickering tune of "The Crimean War" is not the same as "Port Jervis" -- but similar; both are 6/8, both follow similar rhythms, both avoid the use of the fourth (causing Cazden et al to show it with no flats even though it's in F -- a confusing bit of notation). The primary difference is that the Cazden versions are true pentatonic; Gardner/Chickering do have one instance of a (major) seventh. - RBW
File: FSC012

As I Went Out One Summer's Day


See Bonny Wee Lass (As I Went Out One Summer's Day) (File: HHH763)

As I Went Up the Silver Lake


DESCRIPTION: "As I went up the silver lake, There I met a rattlesnake, He did eat so much cake That he had the tummy ache."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: animal food
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 188, "As I Went Up the Silver Lake" (1 text)
Roud #15769
File: Br3188

As Now We Are Sailing


DESCRIPTION: "As now we are sailing out of Sheet Harbour Bay And ... Scaterie." When the singer leaves the Labrador factory "I pray ... I'll come back here no more" and have "a chance for a wife"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: factory worker ship
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-NovaScotia 100, "As Now We Are Sailing" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #1810
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Captain Conrod" (tune)
NOTES: Sheet Harbour is on the Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia and Scaterie Island is off Cape Breton. Creighton-Nova Scotia: "[The singer] tells me it was written about a schooner that took men to Labrador to work in a lobster factory." - BS
File: CrNS100

As Off to the South'ard We Go


See Heave Away Cheerily (File: Hugi310)

As Robin Was Driving


DESCRIPTION: "As Robin was driving his wagon along, The trees in full blossom..." Robin sees a "fair damsel" and offers her a ride. When she asks his name, he says, "But as for the other one, I dare not tell For fear this young damsel should chance for to swell."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (collected from "Blue" Fisher by Butterworth)
KEYWORDS: courting sex pregnancy
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Butterworth/Dawney, p. 8, "As Robin Was Driving" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1396
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Bonny Robin
NOTES: The notes in Butterworth/Dawney imply this has been expurgated -- presumably of verses in which Robin convinces the girl to lay down with him, since he fears that she will get pregnant. The notes also state that there are other versions of the song -- but do not cite any. Roud shows none, and I have not seen the song elsewhere. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BuDa008

As Susan Strayed the Briny Beach


See Susan Strayed on the Briny Beach [Laws K19] (File: LK19)

As Sylvie Was Walking


DESCRIPTION: Sylvie, walking by the river, weeps for her lover. A young man asks the matter; she tells him that she's been deserted. She says her love will weep for her (after she dies). Astonishingly, the young man is not the departed lover, and nothing else happens.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911
KEYWORDS: loneliness love abandonment lament lover dream
FOUND IN: Britain(England (South)) Australia
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, p. 14, "As Sylvie Was Walking" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SYLVWALK* GRENGRO3
Roud #170
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Once I Had a Sweetheart
A Maiden Sat a-Weeping
NOTES: The song was collected from an 80-year old woman in Australia in 1911. She had emigrated in 1855, and had learned the song in her native Gloucestershire, so [it must have been in existence by 1855]. - PJS
I'm inclined to think that this is a conflate ballad: The opening comes from a Riley ballad, the rest from a lost love song of some kind, with perhaps a little of "Green Grow the Laurel" in the mix to provide floating lyrics. (The Digital Tradition editors file their "Once I Had a Sweetheart" text with "Green Grow," but this is more than a stretch, as is the attribution to D. Adams, since Cynthia Gooding recorded it in 1953!) - RBW
File: VWL014

As the King Went A-Hunting


See Jolly Thresher, The (Poor Man, Poor Man) (File: R127)

As We Were A-Sailing


See The Female Warrior (Pretty Polly) [Laws N4] (File: LN04)

As Welcome as the Flowers in May


DESCRIPTION: "Last night I dreamed a sweet, sweet dream, I thought I saw my home, sweet home." The singer dreams of seeing his parents and his sweetheart Bess, who tell him they've been waiting and that he's "as welcome as the flowers in May."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, McFarland & Gardner)
KEYWORDS: home separation dream father mother family
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 856, "As Welcome as the Flowers in May" (1 text)
Cambiaire, p. 101, "You're As Welcome as the Flowers in May" (1 text)
Roud #4347
RECORDINGS:
Bud & Joe Billings (pseuds. for Frank Luther & Carson Robison) "You're as Welcome as the Flowers in May" (Victor V-40039, 1929)
Mr. & Mrs. Hugh Cross, "You're as Welcome as the Flowers in May" (Columbia 15259-D, 1928)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "You're as Welcome as the Flowers in May" (Brunswick 108/Vocalion 5128, 1927; Supertone S-2037, 1930)
John McGhee, "You're As Welcome As The Flowers In May" (Supertone 9674, 1930)
Connie Sides, "You're as Welcome as the Flowers in May" (Columbia 15008-D, rec. 1924)
Frank C. Stanley, "You're As Welcome as the Flowers in May" (Imperial [UK] 44923, c. 1906)
Frank Welling & John McGhee, "You Are As Welcome as Flowers in May" (Perfect 5-12-59, 1935)
NOTES: Despite the similarity in titles (perhaps inspired by a common saying), this appears to have no relationship at all with the Sam Henry song "You're Welcome as the Flowers in May."
Dan J. Sullivan in 1902 published a song "You're As Welcome As the Flowers In May"; I don't know which of the two traditional songs of that title, if either, it represents. - RBW
Perhaps one of the recordings is responsible for the Randolph entry? It wouldn't be the first time. - PJS
File: R856

Ash Grove, The (Llwyn On)


DESCRIPTION: Welsh/English. The singer describes the beauty of the ash grove, which "alone is my home." The singer broods on dead friends, but rejoices to see them in the ash grove.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage home friend
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 336, "The Ash Grove" (1 English text text)
DT, ASHGROV1* ASHGROV2*
File: FSWB336B

Ashland Strike, The


DESCRIPTION: "I had a job; was well content And pleased in every way." "...The men, like me, I know, were satisfied with their own jobs, Then came the C.I.O." The singer describes the misery of the Ashland Strike, and hopes never again to hear of the C.I.O.
AUTHOR: Billie Menshouse?
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: strike labor-movement
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 240-241, (no title) (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Picket Line Blues" (subject)
NOTES: We tend to think of "folk" songs as pro-union, but of course most unions find some employees opposed to their tactics. This is the song of such a man -- and, like many songs in Thomas, there is no evidence that it is actually traditional. - RBW
File: ThBa240

Ashland Tragedy (I), The [Laws F25]


DESCRIPTION: Three robbers break into the Gibbons house. Fanny Gibbons, a friend, and Bobby Gibbons are killed. The robbers (fail in an) attempt to burn the house. One is lynched, the others sentenced to hang. Three locals are killed by soldiers guarding the robbers
AUTHOR: Elijah Adams wrote either this or "Ashland Tragedy I" (Thomas lists "Ashland Tragedy II"; Cox seems to prefer "Ashland Tragedy I")
EARLIEST DATE: 1918
KEYWORDS: murder robbery execution revenge children
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1884 - Ellis Craft and William Neal hung for their part on the "Ashland Tragedy" (the third robber, George Ellis, had earlier been lynched)
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Laws F25, "The Ashland Tragedy I"
JHCox 36, "The Ashland Tragedy" (1 text)
Burt, pp. 58-59, "The Ashland Tragedy" (1 text)
DT 737, ASHLANDM
Roud #2263
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ashland Tragedy (II)" [Laws F26]
cf. "The Ashland Tragedy (III)" [Laws F27]
NOTES: Cox offers details on this crime, and notes that his informant learned it from a printed sheet some five years after the event. It is likely that this (or perhaps "The Ashland Tragedy II") was a broadsheet distributed at the execution of the two murderers.
Cox's text of this piece begins,
Dear father, mother, sister, come listen while I tell
All about the Ashland tragedy, of which you know full well,
'Twas in the town of Ashland, all on that deadly night,
A horrible crime was committed, but soon was brought to light.
There seem to be no extant tunes for this item, but I suspect it belongs to the "Charles Guiteau" tune family. - RBW
File: LF25

Ashland Tragedy (II), The [Laws F26]


DESCRIPTION: Three robbers break into the Gibbons house. Fanny Gibbons, a friend, and Bobby Gibbons are killed. The robbers (fail in an) attempt to burn the house. One is lynched, the others sentenced to hang. Three locals are killed by soldiers guarding the robbers
AUTHOR: Elijah Adams wrote either this or "Ashland Tragedy I" (Thomas lists "Ashland Tragedy II"; Cox seems to prefer "Ashland Tragedy I")
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: murder robbery execution revenge children
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1881 - Ellis Craft and William Neal hung for their part on the "Ashland Tragedy" (the third robber, George Ellis, had earlier been lynched)
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws F26, "The Ashland Tragedy II"
Thomas-Makin', pp. 156-158, "The Ashland Tragedy" (1 text)
DT 806, ASHLAND2
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ashland Tragedy (I)" [Laws F25]
cf. "The Ashland Tragedy (III)" [Laws F27]
NOTES: It's not clear to me why Laws accords this full status as a traditional ballad; as with The Ashland Tragedy (III), the only source is Thomas. Her text begins,
Come dear people from far and wide
And lend a willing ear to me
While I relate the cruel facts
Of Ashland's greatest tragedy. - RBW
File: LF26

Ashland Tragedy (III), The [Laws F27]


DESCRIPTION: A loose account of the murder of three children (Fanny and Bobby Gibbons and Emma Carico) in the Gibbons home in Ashland. It describes the crime at some distance and with some inaccuracies and generalities
AUTHOR: Bill Terrell?
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: murder children
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1881 - Ellis Craft and William Neal hung for their part on the "Ashland Tragedy" (the third robber, George Ellis, had earlier been lynched)
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws F27, "The Ashland Tragedy III"
Thomas-Makin', pp. 160-162, ("The Murder of the Gibbons Children") (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 802, ASHLAND3
Roud #2265
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ashland Tragedy (I)" [Laws F25]
cf. "The Ashland Tragedy (II)" [Laws F26]
NOTES: It's not clear to me why Laws accords this full status as a traditional ballad; as with The Ashland Tragedy (II), the only source is Thomas. Her text begins,
Oh have you heard the story,
It happened long ago,
Of the Gibbons's children murder
And Emma Carico. - RBW
File: LF27

Asleep at the Switch


DESCRIPTION: Tom the switchman has to work though his boy is dying at home. In his grief he falls asleep at the switch. A disaster is barely averted when daughter Nell, bringing good news, throws the switch. Tom is found dead of grief, but Nell is rewarded
AUTHOR: Words: Charles Shackford; several tunes, including Shackford's, are used
EARLIEST DATE: 1897 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: train death family disease rescue grief
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 686, "Asleep at the Switch" (1 text)
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 276-281, "Asleep at the Switch" (1 text plus excerpts from other poems with the same title as well as a copy of the sheet music cover, 1 tune)
Roud #7370
RECORDINGS:
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Asleep at the Switch" (Brunswick 461, 1930)
Ernest V. Stoneman, "Asleep at the Switch" (OKeh 45044, 1926)
NOTES: Cohen notes that (at least) two other poems were written with the title "Asleep at the Switch" before Shackford published his piece in 1897. The earliest was by George Hoey, and that poem appears to have been the most popular in the wider world; it is the only one of the three cited in Granger's Index to Poetry. - RBW
File: R686

Aspell and Carter


DESCRIPTION: John Aspell drowns trying to save young Carter from drowning in a lake near St John's
AUTHOR: John Burke (1851-1930)
EARLIEST DATE: 1977 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: rescue drowning death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 1902 - drowning at Quidi Vidi (per Lehr/Best)
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 4, "Aspell and Carter" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Dates for John Burke are from GEST Songs of Newfoundland and Labrador site. - BS
File: LeBe04

Ass and the Orangeman's Daughter, The


DESCRIPTION: Thomas Gready's ass is auctioned to an Orangeman to pay the tithe. The ass is confined and starved. Orangeman's daughter tries to have him "relinquish Popery." The cross-marked ass refuses. She threatens to whip the ass. "A multitude of asses" frees him.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.34(4))
KEYWORDS: Ireland political talltale animal
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Zimmermann 46B, "The Ass and the Orangeman's Daughter" (1 text)
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 114-115, "The Ass and the Orangeman's Daughter" (1 text)
Roud #6543
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.34(4), "The Ass and the Orangeman's Daughter," J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also 2806 c.15(253), 2806 b.10(150), "The Ass and the Orangeman's Daughter"; 2806 b.9(169), 2806 b.9(222)[some words illegible], "The Tipperary Ass"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Battle of Carrickshock" (subject: The Tithe War) and references there
NOTES: The last verse raises a number of points.
Now to conclude and finish, long life to every ass,
May they live to be united, likewise to bear the cross.
We will toast a health to all our friends, likewise our gracious Queen,
May the asses meet in multitude once more in College Green.
Professor Thomas Bartlett in The 1798 Irish Rebellion quoted on the BBC site: "The Society of United Irishmen, founded in 1791, embraced Catholics, Protestants and Dissenters in its aim to remove English control from Irish affairs."
Donkeys have a cross-shaped patch of dark hair on their back. In political ballads this mark is taken as a sign that donkeys are Roman Catholic.
The toast to Queen Victoria makes 1837 an earliest possible date for this broadside.
Zimmermann, commenting on the last line: "The Irish Parliament House ... stood on the N. side of College Green, Dublin." - BS
Despite the mention of the Queen, I suspect the song dates from a few years before 1837. That was indeed the year Queen Victoria came to the throne, but the Tithe War was nearly over by then. The election of Daniel O'Connell and his followers to parliament, followed by tithe riots in 1830-1831, led the British government in 1833 to cease taking the tithe by force; in 1838, the Tithe Rentcharge Act took the tithe off the backs of the (mostly Catholic) peasants and put it on the back of the (mostly Protestant) landlords, though it wasn't until 1869 that Gladstone disestablished the Anglican church in Ireland.
Thus I suspect the song dates from 1830-1832; perhaps it was modified for publication. Alternately, it might refer to the Queens of George IV (reigned 1820-1830, and regent before that) or William IV (reigned 1830-1837). Adelaide, the wife of William IV, was popular enough but hardly notable.
If the reference is to the wife of George IV, though, things become really interesting. George's first wife was the widow Maria Fitzherbert -- a Catholic! Since George had married her in secret, the marriage was held illegal and she never sat on the throne, but she was George's wife in Catholic eyes.
George's slightly more official wife was Charlotte of Caroline of Brunswick, whom he married in 1795. It is said that he was drunk at their wedding, and they were rumoured to have slept together only once.
This is all very speculative, to be sure, but a reference to "The Queen" during the reign of George IV could thus be a highly charged political statement. - RBW
File: Zimm046B

Ass's Complaint, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a Catholic ass with the mark of the cross on his back complaining about having been sold to a Brunswicker. His MP master has turned on the ass for supporting Repeal. The singer wishes the ass may soon be stabled in College Green
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c.1830 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: Ireland political talltale animal
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Zimmermann 46A, "The Ass's Complaint of the Union" (2 texts)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, as110720[some words are illegible], "The Papist Ass," unknown, 19C
Bodleian, Harding B 26(495)[some words are illegible], "The Papist Ass," P. Brereton (Dublin), n.d.
NOTES: Zimmermann, commenting on the last lines, "May he shortly be able in comfort to be seen, Placed in that splendid stable at home in College Green": "The Irish Parliament House ... stood on the N. side of College Green, Dublin."
Zimmermann 35: "'Brunswicker' was then more or less synonymous with 'Orangeman' or simply 'Protestant'."
Donkeys have a cross-shaped patch of dark hair on their back. In this broadside the ass claims it as a sign bestowed at the birth of Jesus that can not be claimed by any "Brunswicker."
Broadsides LOCSinging as110720 and Bodleian Harding B 26(495) are duplicates. - BS
Zimmermann's dating for this piece seems to be based on the internal evidence: It clearly reflects the conditions in the years from about 1828 to 1832, as Daniel O'Connell (whose basic issue was "Repeal" of the Uninon between Britain and Ireland) and his supporters worked their way into parliament.
For more on this situation, see the notes to "Fergus O'Connor and Independence." - RBW
File: Zimm046A

Astrologer, The


DESCRIPTION: A servant girl comes to consult an astrologer; he bids her come upstairs. She says she will not go upstairs with any man. He points out that she lay with her master not long before. (She flounces out -- but only after displaying the coin her master paid)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (Kinloch)
KEYWORDS: sex commerce prophecy
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Kinloch-BBook X, pp. 37-39, "The Astrologer" (1 text)
DT, ASTROLGR*
Roud #1598
File: KinBB10

At a Cowboy Dance


DESCRIPTION: "Get yo' little sage hens ready, Trot 'em out upon the floor -- Line 'em up there, you cusses! Steady!" The caller coaxes and cajoles the cowboys through the motions of a square dance.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1889 (James Barton Anderson's "Breezy Western Verse")
KEYWORDS: dancing cowboy nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fife-Cowboy/West 105, "At a Cowboy Dance" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, p. 415, "An Idaho Cowboy Dance" (1 text)
Roud #11095
File: FCW105

At Barnum's Show


DESCRIPTION: Concerning the odd events and strange animal behaviors seen at Barnum's circus. Chorus: "If you want to have some fun, I'll tell you where to go, Go see the lion stuffed with straw At P. T. Barnum's show."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927
KEYWORDS: animal humorous
FOUND IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 450, "At Barnum's Show" (1 text)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 67-68, "P. T. Barnum's Show" (1 text)
Roud #7600
NOTES: Many of the lyrics to this song are the sort of thing you would expect to find in "Animal Fair," but there are enough references to Barnum that the piece must be considered, at the very least, a rewrite. - RBW
File: R450

At Brighton


DESCRIPTION: A teasing song with the omitted or hinted word occurring only once every four lines, rather than the more usual two. This begins with an old gent at Brighton swimming around the government pier, suggesting an English origin.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: bawdy
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph-Legman II, p. 649, "The Handsome Young Farmer" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Teasing Songs"
File: RL649

At Sullivan's Isle


DESCRIPTION: "I'll tell you, George, in meter, If you will attend the while, How we forced out Saint Peter At Sullivan's fair isle."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: battle
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 28, 1776 - Clinton and Parker's failed assault on Charleston
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fuson, p. 196, "At Sullivan's Isle" (1 fragment, sixth of seven "Quatrains on the War")
ST Fus19gB (Full)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sir Peter Parker" (subject)
NOTES: There isn't much here to serve as a basis for dating the song, but the reference to Sullivan's Isle clearly takes us to Charleston Harbor. Revolutionary War or Civil War? We simply cannot tell. I'm guessing the Revolutionary War, because of the reference to "Saint Peter." There was no "Saint Peter" that I know of involved in the Union assaults on Fort Moultrie and Fort Sumter, but the name might refer to Peter Parker, co-commander of the Revolutionary battle.
For details on that fiasco, see "Sir Peter Parker." - RBW
File: Fus19gB

At the Boarding House


See I Know a Boarding-House (File: R479)

At the Boarding House Where I Live


See I Know a Boarding-House (File: R479)

At the Foot of the Mountain Brow


See The Foot of the Mountain Brow (The Maid of the Mountain Brow) [Laws P7] (File: LP07)

At the Foot of Yonder Mountain


See Pretty Saro (File: R744)

At the Gate Each Shearer Stood


See The Lachlann Tigers (File: FaE136)

At the Jail


See Logan County Jail (Dallas County Jail) [Laws E17] (File: LE17)

At the Sign of the Apple (The Twig So Tender; The Tavern)


DESCRIPTION: "Once upon a time I visited A hostess neat and slender, A golden apple was her sign, Hung by a twig so tender, Do did-dle de la, la la la la, Hung by a twig so tender...." When the singer asks for a bill, (s)he is told there is none
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: whore
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Belden, p. 258, "At the Sign of the Apple" (1 text)
Randolph 669, "The Twig So Tender" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #7365
NOTES: Randolph had but a single verse of this, and Belden only two, and neither is very revealing. Based on Randolph, I guessed it was about a visit to a whorehouse. Belden's additional verse just adds to the mystery; note the genders in the second line:
I asked my host to name my bill,
He smiled, and then said, "Nay, sir."
That house I'll always patronize
Whene'er I go that way, sir. - RBW
File: R669

At Twenty-One


See Twenty-One (File: HHH033)

Atching Tan Song (I), The


DESCRIPTION: Travellers' cant. Travellers arrive at an illicit camp, but awake in the morning to find their old pony impounded by the farmer. They ransom it and move on, finding water for the children
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (recorded from Frank Copper)
KEYWORDS: hardheartedness travel farming foreignlanguage horse children Gypsy migrant
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Kennedy 337, "The Atching Tan Song" (1 main text plus 1 in the notes, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Atching Tan Song (II)"
NOTES: The song is macaronic, combining Travellers' cant with English. This shares some lyrics (references to "tent-rods, ridge-poles, and kittles") in the first verse with "The Atching Tan Song (II)", but they seem otherwise separate.
An "atching tan" was a stopping place; it was common practice for Travellers to camp in an unauthorized place, then let their horses into a farmer's field after dark with the intention of retrieving them before dawn. Often as not, they were caught and the horses impounded. - PJS
File: K337

Atching Tan Song (II), The


DESCRIPTION: Travellers arrive at a likely camping spot; a policeman arrives and tells them to move on. Although it's the middle of the night, they do
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 or 1966 (collected from Caroline Hughes)
KEYWORDS: hardheartedness travel police Gypsy migrant
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MacSeegTrav 130, "The Atching Tan Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Atching Tan Song (I)"
NOTES: his shares some lyrics (references to "tent-rods, ridge-poles, and kittles") in the first verse with "The Atching Tan Song (I)", but they seem otherwise separate.
An "atching tan" was a stopping place; it was common practice for Travellers to camp in an unauthorized place, then let their horses into a farmer's field after dark with the intention of retrieving them before dawn. Often as not, they were caught and the horses impounded. - PJS
File: McCST130

Atisket, Atasket (I Sent a Letter to My Love)


DESCRIPTION: "Atisket, Atasket (or: I tisket, I tasket"), A green and yellow basket, I (wrote/sent) a letter to my love And on the way I dropped it." "A little puppy picked it up And put it in his pocket, It isn't you, it isn't you, But it is *you*."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1879 (Illustrated National Nursery Songs and Games)
KEYWORDS: playparty courting
FOUND IN: US(MA) Britain(England(No,So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Fuld-WFM, pp. 113-114, "Atisket, Atasket"
cf. Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 806, "Hunt the Squirrel (Itisket, Itasket)" (1 text, 1 tune)
cf. Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #630, p. 250, "(I sent a letter to m love)"
ST BAF806A (Full)
Roud #7896
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hunt the Squirrel" (floating lyrics, playparty form)
NOTES: There is confusion about the origin of this piece. Botkin links it to the playparty "Hunt the Squirrel." There is, however, no lyric similarity; the point of contact is that both are used with the English "drop glove" game. (For other "Drop Glove" verses, which actually mention gloves, see Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #647, p. 258, "(I've a glove in my hand).")
Fuld explicitly denies the English connection, pointing our that the earliest appearance was in Rosenwig's 1879 collection, where it was titled "I Sent a Letter to My Love." Even there, however, it is listed without an author. The Rosenwig text does not contain the "Atisket" words; these are first mentioned by Hofer in 1901.
It can be said that the two songs have cross-fertilized; see the "little dog at home" stanza, found in both "hunt the squirrel" and "Atisket."
The pop version of this song, of course, was recorded by Ella Fitzgerald. - RBW
File: BAF806A

Atlanta Blues


See Make Me a Pallet on Your Floor (File: Handy190)

Au Bois, Mesdames (To the Woods, My Ladies)


DESCRIPTION: French. "To the woods, my ladies...Who is strolling in woods so shady? 'Tis the shepherdess a-strolling...Now then, embrace her, speak words cajoling."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 (BerryVin)
KEYWORDS: courting seduction sex nonballad shepherd foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: US(MW) Canada
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BerryVin, p. 19 (1 text + translation, 1 tune)
NOTES: I tentatively call this a nonballad; it almost has a plot, but not quite. It probably had one once. - PJS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BerrV019

Au Bord d'une Fontaine


See A La Claire Fontaine (File: FJ134)

Au Clair de la Lune (By the Pale Moonlight)


DESCRIPTION: French. A man (Harlequin?) asks his friend Pierrot to lend him a pen and open the door, Pierrot suggests he ask the brunette next door. "Someone looked for a pen,... I don't know what was found / But I do know that those two shut the door behind them"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1860 (recording, Leon Scott de Martinville), but the song is usually dated to the 18th century or before
LONG DESCRIPTION: French. A man (Harlequin?) asks his friend Pierrot to lend him a pen and open the door, that he may write a note by moonlight. Pierrot responds that he's in bed and doesn't have a pen; he suggests that his friend ask the brunette next door. He does, and "in the light of the moon you can barely see anything / Someone looked for a pen, someone looked for a flame / ...I don't know what was found / But I do know that those two shut the door behind them". (In one version, there's also a verse about not opening the door to a baker or a cobbler.)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage sex nightvisit friend
FOUND IN: US(MW) Canada France
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BerryVin, p. 52, "Au clair de la lune (In the Glow of Moonlight)" (1 text + translation, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Leon Scott de Martinville, 1860
NOTES: The first line of the song's second verse appears as the first known sound recording that has been reproduced, Leon Scott de Martinville's 1860 phonautograph record. Because it was extensively used as a child's beginning piano piece, "Au Clair de la Lune" is widely known in the USA. In some versions, the song references the French version of Commedia Dell'Arte via the names (Harlequin, Pierrot, and presumably Columbine), but it's not known whether these were oiriginally part of the song, or later graftings. - PJS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BerV052

Au Revoir to Our Hardy Sealers


DESCRIPTION: "Our gallant ships are going, where rude Boreas is blowing." "Oh, farewell, and may God bless you... May kind Heaven hover o'er you... Terra Nova's sons and daughters truly bid you au revoir." The singer hopes the sailors find success in the ice
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Murphy, Songs of Newfoundland from Various Authors)
KEYWORDS: ship sailor hunting
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 102, "Au Revoir to Our Hardy Sealers" (1 text)
NOTES: Reading this, I can't help but think it's based on something else -- but I can't tell what. - RBW
File: RySm102

Auchnairy Ball, The


DESCRIPTION: "Jean Shearer she was there, And vow but she was nice, She had a tweedle in her tail [or "She had a feestle in her arse"] 'It wad 'a grun spice" [or "Wad grun Jamaica spice"]
AUTHOR: Johnnie Willox, Fridayhill (source: GreigDuncan3)
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: dancing bawdy
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 626, "The Auchnairy Ball" (2 fragments)
Roud #6063
NOTES: The following songs are all one or two verses or fragments with a verse beginning "[so-and-so he/she] was there": "Mary Glennie," "Jean Dalgarno," "The Singing Class" and "The Auchnairy Ball." Should two or more be considered the same song? - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3626

Auction Block


See Many Thousand Gone (Auction Block) (File: FJ030)

Auction of a Wife


See Sale of a Wife (File: HHH226)

Augathella Station


See Brisbane Ladies (File: FaE162)

Aughalee Heroes, The


DESCRIPTION: Orangemen from County Antrim march from Portadown to Lurgan celebrating the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne. They are greeted like heroes "that soon made the rebels subdue." At Aughalee the brandy flows with toasts to the boys or King William.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Hayward-Ulster); mid-19C? (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: pride Ireland political
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 1 or 12, 1690 (Old Style or New Style dates) - Battle of the Boyne. William III defeats the forces of James II to firmly establish his control of Ireland
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Zimmermann 98, "The Aughalee Heroes" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 127-128, "The Aughalee Heroes" (1 text)
OrangeLark 23, "The Aughalee Heroes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Graham, p. 10, "The Aughalee Heroes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6546
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "The Aghalee Heroes" (on Voice08); "Aghaloe Heroes" (on IRRCinnamond01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Battle of the Boyne (I)" (subject: The Battle of the Boyne) and references there
File: Zimm098

August Gale (I), The


DESCRIPTION: The captains and crews of four ships lost are cited. Only the Annie [Young q.v.] is mentioned by name.
AUTHOR: Billy Wilson
EARLIEST DATE: 1976 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: death sea ship storm wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 25, 1935 - "Placentia Bay was hit by a severe storm ... which claimed the lives of forty fishermen."
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 5A, "The August Gale" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The August Gale (II)" (subject)
cf. "The Annie Young" (subject)
NOTES: The August Gale was off shore of the US and knocked out telephone and telegraph lines crossing Cape Breton.
"A number of vessels were lost including the Joyce Smith with 21 lives, 19 of whom were Newfoundlanders. The Halifax Daily News later reported that the August Gale was one of the worst in the history of Nova Scotia. Early in the morning of August 25, the August Gale crossed the Cabot Strait. Because communications had been severed because of the storm, no advance warning of the approaching storm was available....
The most severe destruction was reserved for ships at sea. According to Robert Parsons in Lost at Sea, the Vienna of Burnt Island was lost with a crew of six, the Hilda Gertrude of Rushoon went down with seven men, the Ella May of Rencontre West (six men), Annie Jane of Isle of Mort (4 men), Red Harbour's John Loughlin (8 men) and Fox Harbour's Annie Healey (7 men)."
Source: Bruce Whiffen site, copyright August 23, 1999, Bruce Whiffen, quoted with permission of copyright owner.
Northern Shipwrecks Database lists fifteen ships lost in Newfoundland waters -- between Cape Race and one at Prince Edward Island -- on August 24-25, 1935. You can use the reports of wrecks to follow the storm from Ramea in the southwest, around the south and east coast, up to Goose Cove just south of St Anthony. - BS
File: LeBe005A

August Gale (II), The


DESCRIPTION: The "storm on Thursday" comes up suddenly and "all the boats were on the ground around Placentia Bay"
AUTHOR: John Burke
EARLIEST DATE: 1976 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: death sea ship storm wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 25, 1935 - "Placentia Bay was hit by a severe storm ... which claimed the lives of forty fishermen."
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 5B, "The August Gale" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The August Gale (I)" (subject)
cf. "TheAnnie Young" (subject)
NOTES: [For background on this storm, see the notes to "The August Gale (I)" - BS, RBW]
Lehr/Best describes the storm at Placentia Bay. The captains and crews of four ships lost are cited. Only the Annie [Young q.v.] is mentioned by name. - BS
File: LeBe005B

Aul' Eppie Ironside


DESCRIPTION: "Auld Eppie Ironside, Perdaddlum, perdaddlum, And auld Louie Urquhart Perdaddlum, perdaddlum"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS:
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1880, "Aul' Eppie Ironside" (1 fragment)
Roud #13573
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bread and Cheese to Rorie" (tune, per GreigDuncan8)
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan8 fragment.
GreigDuncan8: "A coarse song." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81880

Aul' Meldrum Toon


See Oh Cruel (File: GrD3513)

Aul' Sanners an' I


DESCRIPTION: "Aul' Sanners an' I lay doon to sleep Wi' twa pint stoupies at our bed feet; An' lang ere the mornin' we drank them dry, An' fat dar ye think o' aul Sanners and I? ... There's time aneuch yet to be toddlin' hame"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 591, "Aul' Sanners an' I" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #6043
ALTERNATE TITLES:
When Sanners an' I Lies Doon to Sleep
NOTES: The current description is based on the GreigDuncan3 entry 591A. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrF3591

Aul' Widow Greylocks


DESCRIPTION: The singer loves and planns to marry Dally Still. When his farm fails he asks rich Widow Graylocks for help. She agrees only if he will marry her. They marry but his life became miserable. He says he will desert the widow and cross the sea.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan7)
LONG DESCRIPTION: The singer loved and planned to marry bonny Dally Still. He bought a farm but his livestock died and crop failed. He asked rich Widow Graylocks for help but she said she'd help only if he married her. "So I gave her my hand, oh why did I agree" Dally would not speak to him and "I'm scorn'd when I gae to the mill or the kirk The lasses they despise me" "Fin I drink wi' my friends, they say I've been to blame" As "my auld wife lies snorin' by me" and he cannot forget Dally he decides "I'll leave the country and gang across the sea"
KEYWORDS: age poverty love marriage bargaining emigration abandonment farming money hardtimes derivative wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #114, p. 2, "Aul' Widow Greylocks"; Greig #116, p. 2, "Aul' Widow Greylocks"; Greig #119, p. 3, "Aul' Widow Greylocks" (4 texts)
GreigDuncan7 1365, "Aul' Widow Greylocks" (5 texts plus a single verse on p. 512, 1 tune)
Roud #6264
NOTES: Greig #114: "The song is evidently a parody of 'Auld Robin Gray.'"; Greig #116: "a gentleman, who now writes me: -- '"Aul' Widow Greylocks," as now furnished, undoubtedly suggests parody, but there is no such suggestion in the form I know, tho' there might be imitation.'"
Greig #119 text is "some verses of a song which suggest a connection with one of the versions of the 'Widow' given in [#116]."
Greig #116 [1910] has a correspondent supplying a "Widow" text "sung some seventy years ago." "Auld Robin Gray" was written in 1774. But Greig speculates that "as between 'Aul' Widow Greylocks' and 'Auld Robin Gray,' I take the former to be the earlier of the two, or would at least maintain that the 'Widow' is *not* founded on 'Robin' either as parody or imitation.... ["Robin"] could not have been generally known until at least about the close of the 18th century, while both versions of 'Widow Greylocks' given above can be traced back at least to the early part of the 19th century. I find it impossible to believe that, in the time available, a song could have been made and have got into such widely-parted versions." Part of Greig's rationale is that "folk-song does not borrow from literary song: it is the other way about."
I believe "Aul' Widow Greylocks" is suggested by "Auld Robin Gray" and would immediately call it to mind [Greig #116 also notes a similarity of tune in one version of "Widow"]. The first verse of "Widow" parallels "Robin" and the third line is shared. The themes of the failing farm and the sources of rescue are parallael with a few lines of "Robin" echoed by "Widow." The proposals are similar with pressure applied by the old folks. From that point on the stories take different routes to their sad endings - again with similar lines - but the story in "Robin" has no betrayal and there is no question of the "heroine" of that tale abandoning her marriage. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71365

Auld Bachelor, The


See The Old Bachelor (I) (File: RcTOB)

Auld Carle wi' His Beard, The


See Old Man Came Over the Moor, An (Old Gum Boots and Leggings) (File: R066)

Auld Carle, The


See Old Man Came Over the Moor, An (Old Gum Boots and Leggings) (File: R066)

Auld Den o' Mains, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer says "I meet my bonnie lassie in the Auld Den o' Mains" by the Dichty River. He prefers her to miser's treasure and merchant's gains. "Oor fathers met our mithers there ... and oor bairns they'll go coortin' there"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #179, p. 1, "The Auld Den o' Mains" (1 text)
GreigDuncan4 926, "The Auld Den o' Mains" (1 text)
Roud #6146
NOTES: Den of Mains on the Deichty River is in Forfarshire, near Dundee. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4926

Auld Eddie Ochiltree


DESCRIPTION: Auld Eddie, a blue-gown beggar, comes to town and is greeted and cared for by the townsfolk. He foretells who is to be married next and makes other predictions. All are happy to see the cheerful wanderer
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1869 (Logan)
KEYWORDS: begging rambling
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 218-221, "Auld Eddie Ochiltree" (1 text)
Logan, pp. 166-171, "Auld Eddie Ochiltree" (1 text)
ST FVS218 (Partial)
Roud #5637
NOTES: Ford and Logan both describe the blue-gown beggars, a special order appointed by the Catholic kings of Scotland to pray for them. Not surprisingly, this order died out long ago -- but Walter Scott's The Antiquary mentions a blue-gown beggar actually named Eddie Ochiltree. Obviously there is some sort of dependence involved. - RBW
File: FVS218

Auld Fisher's Farewell to Coquet, The


DESCRIPTION: "Come bring to me my limber gad I've fished wi' mony a year, An' let me ha'e m weel-worn creel An' a' my fishing gear...." The singer goes fishing one more time, recalls sixty years of fishing on the Coquet, and bids a farewell.
AUTHOR: Robert Roxby & Thomas Doubleday?
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: fishing farewell
FOUND IN: Britain(England(BNorth))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 134-135, "The Auld Fisher's Farewell to Coquet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3160
File: StorR134

Auld Fite Naig, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer says, "Ae day I was pitten to Rakie's to work at a stem-mull," ordered to mind the work, forego the silly nonsense, "and blawin' aboot my auld fite naig [white pony], its risin' twenty twa"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: work nonballad horse
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1773, "The Auld Fite Naig" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13020
File: GrD81773

Auld Gardener's Wife, The


DESCRIPTION: Soldier Willie dreams his sweetheart is an old gardener's wife. She confirms that her wedding will be the next day. Willie convinces her to sleep with him. When she asks to go with him in the morning he takes her. He taunts the gardener on the way.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: age infidelity marriage sex dream soldier gardening abandonment
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #161, pp. 1-2, "The Auld Gardener's Wife" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan6 1262, "The Auld Gardener's Wife" (13 texts, 13 tunes)
Roud #6303
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Spring Garden
File: GrD61262

Auld Hat, The


See When This Old Hat Was New (II) (File: GrD3540)

Auld Horse's Lament, The


DESCRIPTION: An old horse, "turned out to die," remembers "when I was a foalie ... brisk and jolly." He threw "young Mr Galloper" when he was abused, so he was sold to a dealer who wore his life away. He warns people to "lay something in store" for their own old age.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: age warning abuse ordeal lament horse
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 492, "The Auld Horse's Lament" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #5980
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Poor Old Horse (III)" (theme of a weary old horse) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Auld Mare's Lament
File: GrD3492

Auld Johnny Grant


DESCRIPTION: When the singer, forty-two, was young "lads cam' flockin'"; now she's "beginnin' sair to fear a man I'll never get." Yesterday old Johnny Grant asked her to marry. Though he is lame, "yet he may prove good and kin'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage oldmaid disability
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1376, "Auld Johnny Grant" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7243
File: GrD71376

Auld Lang Syne


DESCRIPTION: Recognized by the first line "Should auld acquaintance be forgot" and the chorus "For auld lang syne." Two old friends meet and remember their times together, ending by taking "a cup o' kindness."
AUTHOR: Adapted by Robert Burns
EARLIEST DATE: 1797
KEYWORDS: drink friend
FOUND IN: Britain US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 381, "Auld Lang Syne" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 115-117, "Auld Lang Syne"
DT, AULDLANG* AULDLNG2*
ADDITIONAL: James Kinsley, editor, Burns: Complete Poems and Songs (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #240, pp. 353-354, "Auld lang syne" (1 text, 1 tune, from 1788)
Roud #13892
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads fol. 15, "Auld Lang Syne" ("Should auld acquaintance be forgot"), J. Catnach (London), 1822; also 2806 c.17(10), Johnson Ballads 260, Harding B 11(3613), Firth b.27(413), Johnson Ballads 155A, Harding B 11(3297), Harding B 16(8a), Harding B 36(29), "Auld Lang Syne"; Harding B 11(1172), Harding B 25(86), 2806 c.14(75), 2806 c.17(11), Harding B 11(2948), Harding B 11(1831), 2806 c.17(12), "Auld Langsyne"
LOCSinging, sb10012b, "Auld Lang Syne," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also as100470, as100480, "Auld Lang Syne"
SAME TUNE:
Bohunkus (Old Father Grimes, Old Grimes Is Dead) (File: R428)
On Mules We Find Two Legs Behind (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 202; DT, MULEBEHD)
We Made Good Wobs Out There (Greenway-AFP, p. 182)
The Fish It Never Cackles Bout (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 156)
The Salem Murder (Burt, pp. 87-88); cf. the song on the suicide of Crowningshed which follows
The Wake of Bevington (File: PalWa052)
NOTES: This is a song that Burns rewrote (the putative original is in the Digital Tradition as AULDLNG3; compare also the broadside NLScotland, Ry.III.a.10(070), "Old Lang Syne," unknown, dated 1701 though there is no reason for this dating on the sheet); Fuld traces the "Should Auld Acquaintance" text to 1711 in James Watson's Scots Poems. Burns's own version was published in the Scots Musical Museum in 1796/7. This had a mostly traditional first verse, with the remainder by Burns, but by error the wrong melody was printed and has become the "traditional" tune.
Murray Shoolbraid offers these additional notes upon this topic:
"The Museum text is half-and-half, 2-3 being by Burns (about youthful days on the braes etc.) and the rest (seemingly) an old fragment. One can dispute this of course, for this old text first appears in SMM. Previously we have the 1711 version, 'Should old acquaintance be forgot / And never thought upon,' attributed to Sir Robert Aytoun (1570-1637/8), one of the first Scots poets to write in English (knighted by King James 1612; buried in Westminster Abbey). A bit later (1720) Allan Ramsay uses the incipit to start his own poem 'Should auld acquaintance be forgot,/ Though they return with scars?/ These are the noble hero's lot,/ Obtain'd in glorious wars.'
"These old versions go to the old tune printed in SMM: The songs that predate Burns [and B's words too] go to the old melody: in Mitchell's ballad opera The Highland Fair (1731), earliest in print in Playford's Collection of Original Scotch Tunes (1700), also sans title in Mgt Sinkler's MS., 1710 (the versions differ). The SMM version is from Neil Stewart's Scots Songs, 1772.
"So the tune is correct; it was Burns's Edinburgh publisher Thomson (Scotish Airs, 1799) who reset the words to another tune, I Fee'd a Lad at Martinmas, otherwise called The Miller's Wedding/Daughter. This is the one we all sing it to today." - (MS), RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb10012b: 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
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FSWB381B

Auld Lang Syne (II)


See On Longside Road (Auld Lang Syne) (File: Ord172)

Auld Luckie


See Auld Luckie of Brunties (File: Ord246)

Auld Luckie of Brunties


DESCRIPTION: "It's a' ye rovin' young men, come listen unto me, And dinna gang to Brunties toon The lasses for to see; Auld Luckie she's a wily ane, And she does watch the toon," fining visitors for vice. She traps a young couple bundling. He wishes her in hell
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: sin money punishment escape food nightvisit
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #178, p. 1, "Auld Luckie" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 373, "Bruntie's" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 246-247, "Auld Luckie of Brunties" (1 text)
Roud #5577
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Lucky Duff
NOTES: GreigDuncan3: "The farm of Bruntyards Gamrie, Banffshire (see map), was farmed by Mrs Annabella Duff (Auld Luckie) the widow of the former farmer, James Duff, from 1883 to 1893.... The song was reputedly written by a local poet called Shaw."
GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Bruntyards (373) is at coordinate (h6,v7-8) on that map [near Banff, roughly 37 miles NNW of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Ord246

Auld Maid's Lament, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer wonders why her cousin has her choice of men while she has none. She kissed Donald once and when they met again he turned his head. Fancy clothes do not help. Perhaps there's no lad "decreed for me"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: clothes oldmaid
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #17, p. 1, "The Auld Maid's Lament" (1 text)
GreigDuncan7 1375, "The Auld Maid's Lament" (4 texts plus a single verse on p. 515, 2 tunes)
Roud #6283
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "When I Was Little Jeanikie" (tune, per GreigDuncan7)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Old Maid's Lament
File: GrD71375

Auld Man and the Churnstaff, The


See Marrowbones [Laws Q2] (File: LQ02)

Auld Man's Mare's Dead, The


DESCRIPTION: "The auld man's mare's dead (x3), A mile aboon Dundee." "She had the fiercie and the fleuk... On ilka knee she had a breuk, What ailed the beast to dee?" The beast's decrepitude, and the old man's mourning, are described in repetitive detail
AUTHOR: Patrick Birnie?
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: horse death disease
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 280-282, "The Auld Man's Mare's Dead" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan3 494, "The Auld Man's Mear's Deid" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #5880
File: FVS280

Auld Man's Mear's Deid, The


See The Auld Man's Mare's Dead (File: FVS280)

Auld Man's Song, The


See O! Why Should Old Age So Much Wound Us? (File: GrD3548)

Auld Matrons [Child 249]


DESCRIPTION: Willie comes courting at Annie's door; she assures him that Matrons (an old woman by the fire) can do nothing. But Matrons summons the sheriff, who comes to take Willie -- only to have Willie escape by calling on his brother John, a fantastic fighter
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: courting seduction nightvisit age police rescue
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Child 249, "Auld Matrons" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 612-614, "Auld Matrons" (1 text)
DT 249, OLDMATRN
Roud #3915
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Adam Bell, Clim of the Clough, and William of Cloudesly" [Child 116]
NOTES: This seems to be either descended from or heavily influenced by the Robin Hood tradition, or specifically (in Child's view) "Adam Bell." One rather hopes it is the latter; the rescue by John, if anything, weakens the ballad. - RBW
File: C249

Auld Merchant, The


DESCRIPTION: An old merchant of Fife wants to marry a virgin. He meets a widow who claims falsely that her daughter is a virgin; she lists eight prior lovers. Her mother tells her to "look a wee shy" in bed to fool the merchant.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: courting sex virginity lie trick mother age
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1503, "The Auld Merchant" (1 text)
Roud #7165
File: GrD71503

Auld Quarry Knowe, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, weel I mind the joys we had, In youth's bright sunny days... But better far I mind the time... When daffin' wi' my Jessie On the auld quarry knowe." Now old, both he and his wife are past their prime, but still he recalls the happy days
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage age nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 141-142, "The Auld Quarry Knowe" (1 text)
GreigDuncan4 927, "The Auld Quarry Knowe," GreigDuncan8 Addenda, "The Auld Quarry Knowe" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #6147
File: FCS141

Auld Robin Gray


DESCRIPTION: Jamie leaves Jenny to earn enough to be married. Her family has bad luck. Robin Gray supports them and asks Jenny to marry. Jamie's ship is wrecked and Jennie assumes he is dead. She marries Robin. Jamie returns too late.
AUTHOR: Lady Anne Lindsay (Barnard) (1750-1825)
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (Herd); before 1801 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 14(4))
KEYWORDS: age poverty courting love marriage rescue wreck father mother sailor
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (6 citations):
GreigDuncan7 1364, "Auld Robin Gray" (2 fragments)
Peacock, pp. 482-483, "Old Robin Gray" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Scottish Songs (Edinburgh, 1829), Vol II, pp. 301-303, "Auld Robin Gray"
David Herd, editor, Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc. (Edinburgh, 1870 (reprint of 1776)), Vol II, pp. 196-197, ("When the sheep are in the fauld, and the kye at hame")
Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #376, "Auld Robin Gray" (1 text)
Charles W. Eliot, editor, English Poetry Vol II From Collins to Fitzgerald (New York, 1910), #328, pp. 557-558, "Auld Robin Gray" (by Lady Anne Lindsay)
ST Pea482 (Partial)
Roud #2652
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 14(4), "Auld Robin Gray", Fowler (Salisbury), 1770-1800; also Harding B 25(88), Firth b.27(516), Harding B 11(7), Harding B 11(162), Firth b.26(412), "Auld Robin Gray"
Murray, Mu23-y4:029, "Auld Robin Gray", John Ross (Newcastle), 19C
NOTES: Original text is on Bartleby.com with the attribution. The date is 1794 per site for Early American Secular Music and Its European Sources, 1589-1839.
Per site for The First Hypertext Edition of The Dictionary of Phrase and Fable [this] was written to an old Scotch tune called "The bridegroom grat when the sun gaed down."
Chambers: "The ballad was written early in the year 1772 ...." Chambers confirms that the "fair authoress, then a very young lady, was induced to write it, by a desire to see an old plaintive Scottish air, ('The Bridegroom grat when the sun gaed down,') which was a favourite with her, fitted with words more suitable to its character than the ribald verses which had hitherto, for want of better, been sung to it." - BS
Broadside Bodleian, Firth b.25(24), "The Death of Auld Robin Gray," J. T. Burdett (London), c. 1855, seems to be some sort of a by-blow of this, since the characters are Robin Gray, Jamie, and Jenny, but it manages a happy ending by having Robiin die so that Jamie and Jenny are still available for each other.
Stanley J. Kunitz and Howard Haycraft, Editors, British Authors Before 1800: A Biographical Dictionary, H. W. Wilson, 1952 (I use the fourth printing of 1965), give a fairly full account of the origin on this piece on p. 27:
Anne Lindsay (1750-1825) was one of the daugbhters of James Lindsay, fifth earl of Balcarres, who lived in Fife. At the age of 21, she heard a ballad with "improper" words, which she rewrote and published anonymously as "Auld Robin Gray" in 1771.
After a long period as an old maid, married Andrew Barnard, whom she accompanied to South Africa in 1793. Her Journal and Notes were probably her most important writings other than this song. When he died, she returned to Britain. In 1822, she finally admitted her authorship of this poem in a letter to Sir Walter Scott, and described how she came to write it. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Pea482

Auld Seceder's Cat, The


See The Presbyterian Cat (The Cameronian Cat) (File: FVS319)

Auld Soldier, The


See The Old Tobacco Box (File: FSC143)

Auld Song from Cow Head, The


See The Unquiet Grave [Child 78] (File: C078)

Auld Tammy Barra


See Tam Barrow (File: KinBB24)

Auld Warrack's Plough Feast


DESCRIPTION: The lads and lasses had fun at old Warrack's plough feast. The plough chain broke and everyone helped fix it to end the job. At supper Warrack confesses "I never had a lawfu' wife, Nor yet a lawfu' son But I fell foul o' Maggie Thows"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: sex farming food party wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 634, "Auld Warrack's Plough Feast" (3 texts)
Roud #6073
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 p. 675 has the third text which was used for the descriptioon.
GreigDuncan3: "William Warrack (born at Towie) was farmer at Nains of Towie in 1851, when he was sixty-eight."
GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Mains of Towie (634) is at coordinate (h1,v4) on that map [roughly 33 miles W of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3634

Auld Wife and Her Cattie, The


DESCRIPTION: "There was an aul' wifie, she clippit her cattie For takin' a moosie on Christenmas day, And oh fat befell the silly auld bodie The half o' her cattie was clippit away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad animal
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 690, GreigDuncan8 Addenda, "The Auld Wife and Her Cattie" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #6112
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Carrickfergus" (tune, per OLochlainn)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
There Was an Auld Wifie
NOTES: The current description is all of GreigDuncan3 690A. One version mentioned by Duncan has the last line as "eaten that day" instead of "clippit away." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3690

Auld Wife Ayont the Fire, The


See The Auld Wife beyont the Fire, The (File: CW128)

Auld Wife beyont the Fire, The


DESCRIPTION: An old widow with many daughters wants "snishing/spruncin" (sex). They say she is too old and toothless. They will let her seek sex if she can break a nut with her teeth. They give her a pistol bullet instead of a nut; she cannot break it and wastes away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: family sex bawdy age trick
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland) US(Ap)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan7 1423, "The Auld Wife Ayont the Fire" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Combs/Wilgus 128, pp. 135-136, "The Old Wife" (1 text)
Roud #4294
File: CW128

Auld Wife to the Bell-Rope Ran, The


DESCRIPTION: Apparently unrelated verses: The old wife rang the bell so loud the singer thought the building would fall; it's a shame "servant lassies a' get lads" but gentle ladies don't; it's awful to allow a lad to have a lass working for a fee.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1514, "The Auld Wife to the Bell-Rope Ran" (1 text)
Roud #7173
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Monymusk Lads" (lyrics)
NOTES: I guess the problem in the third verse is that the lad can only have a girl that's on a six-month contract. For "fee" see "South Ythsie." - BS
Much of the material in this song also shows up in "The Monymusk Lads." Determining the nature of the mixture probably requires more text than we have. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71514

Auld Yule


DESCRIPTION: An old man tells the singer his story. When he first arrived he was well received. Then, sixty years ago, someone called him "Papist Knave." Then a more fashionable man arrived. He expects to see hard times until he dies. Then "Auld Yule he vanished"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: political religious
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 539, "Auld Yule" (1 text)
Roud #6017
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 quoting "the introduction and commentary" to the poem from Aberdeen Buchan Association Magazine No. 17 (January 1916): " ... The adoption of the Gregorian Calendar (New Style), to correct the cumulative deficiencies in the Julian Calendar (Old Style), came late into England and Scotland, and was resented much by the common people. It was adopted in England in 1758, when eleven days were omitted after the 2nd September, so that what should have been the 3rd, was counted the 14th. The year 1800, which was a leap year (old style) was made a common year, thus making a total of twelve days' difference between the new and old styles of reckoning. In Scotland, in outlying districts the old style was kept up as regards popular festivals (Yule and New Year's Day particularly) till within living memory. The poem before us is a lament for the passing of Auld Yule, who is personified as an old wandering outcast, met by the author." - BS
In defence of the common people, it should be noted that they often were charged rent for the eleven days that were removed from the calendar. Less defensible is their case that the whole thing was a Catholic plot. We do see some effects of the calendar shift in songs such as the Cherry Tree Carol, where the birth of Jesus is listed on some date in early January. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3539

Aunt Dinah's Quilting Party


See Seeing Nellie Home (File: RJ19229)

Aunt Jemima's Plaster


DESCRIPTION: Aunt Jemimah survives by selling sticking plaster. With it she might catch a thief, keep a wayward husband from straying, etc. Chorus: "Sheepskin and beeswax Makes an awful plaster, The harder you try to get it off, The more it sticks the faster."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1891
KEYWORDS: humorous commerce trick
FOUND IN: US(Ap,NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph 414, "Sheepskin and Beeswax" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 354-355, "Sheepskin and Beeswax" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 414)
BrownII 271, "Aunt Jemima's Plaster" (2 texts)
JHCoxIIB, #23, pp. 23-25, "Aunt Jemima's Plaster" (1 text, 1 tune)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 233, (first of four "Fragments from Maryland") (1 fragment, which I link to this on the basis of the mention of Aunt Jemima)
ST R414 (Partial)
Roud #974
RECORDINGS:
Margaret MacArthur, "Aunt Jemima" (on MMacArthur01)
Skyland Scotty, "Aunt Jemimah's Plaster" (Conqueror 8308, 1934)
NOTES: Said to be a version of "Bees wax," a song sung by (but perhaps not written by) Dan Emmett. Cohen says it was written by Septimus Winner, but lists other claims of authorship. - RBW
File: R414

Aunt Maria


DESCRIPTION: "Old Aunt Maria (Jack-a-ma-rier) Jumped in the fire. Fire too hot, Jump in the pot. Pot so black, (S)he jumped in a crack. Crack so high, (S)he jumped in the sky. Sky so blue, (S)he jumped in a canoe. Canoe so shallow, (S)he jumped in the tallow." Etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Henry, from Minnie Stokes)
KEYWORDS: lullaby nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
BrownIII 134, "Jack-a-Maria" (1 text)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 705, "Aunt Maria" (1 text, 1 tune)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 242, (no title) (1 text)
Roud #11418
File: BSoF705A

Aunt Nancy


See Go Tell Aunt Rhody (File: R270)

Aunt Rhody


See Go Tell Aunt Rhody (File: R270)

Aunt Sal's Song (The Man Who Didn't Know How to Court)


DESCRIPTION: "A gentleman came to our house, He would not tell his name." He comes to court, but acts ashamed. He sits silent next to the girl. Finally he gives up, saying courting isn't worth it. The girls laugh at the "ding-dang fool [that] don't know how to court."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935
KEYWORDS: courting humorous
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
BrownIII 15, "Courting Song" (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 101, "Aunt Sal's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 233-234, "[Aunt Sal's Song]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 140-141, "The Bashful Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, HOWCOURT
Roud #776
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Johnson Boys" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Not Know How to Court
Bashful Courtship
File: LoF101

Aunt Tabbie


See Go Tell Aunt Rhody (File: R270)

Aupres De Ma Blonde


DESCRIPTION: French language. "Aupres de ma blonde, Qu'il fait bon, fait bon, fait bon... Qu'il fait bon rester. Au jardin de mon pere Les lauriers sont fleuris."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1883 (Charles Guillon, "Chansons Populaires de l'Ain")
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage France
FOUND IN: France Canada(Que)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 329, "Aupres De Ma Blonde" (1 text)
DT, AUPRBLND*
ADDITIONAL: Charles Guillon, "Chansons Populaires de l'Ain" (1883; available on Google Books), pp. 515-516 (1 French text, 1 tune)
File: FSWB329A

Aura Lea


DESCRIPTION: "When the blackbird in the spring On the willow tree Sat and rock'd, I heard him sing, Singing Aura Lee." In praise of a "maid of golden hair." The singer describes how even the bird praise her. He begs her hand in marriage
AUTHOR: Words: W. W. Fosdick / Music: George R. Poulten
EARLIEST DATE: 1861
KEYWORDS: courting love nonballad lyric
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 14-17, "Aura Lea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuld-WFM, p. 117, "Aura Lea--(Love Me Tender)"
DT, AURALEE*
ST RJ19014 (Full)
NOTES: At times like this, one wishes we had a keyword, "Great-tune-lousy-words."
Originally published as a minstrel tune in 1861, verses were printed by both Union and Confederate presses, and the first important parody ("Army Blue") was used by the West Point class of 1865.
As for what Elvis Presley did with the tune, the less we say of that here, the better. - RBW
File: RJ19014

Aurore Bradaire


See Aurore Pradere (File: LxA220)

Aurore Pradere


DESCRIPTION: Creole French. "Aurore Pradere, belle 'ti fille (x3), C'est li mo 'oule, s'est le ma pren." The singer praises the beauty of Aurore, and says that she is what he wants and will have. He describes what others say of her, but as for him, he still wants her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: love courting foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p.110, "Aurore Bradaire" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 121, "Aurore Pradere" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 220-221, "Aurore Pradere" (1 text plus translation, 1 tune)
File: LxA220

Australia (Virginny)


DESCRIPTION: "When I was a young man, my age seventeen, I ought ha' been serving Victoria our Queen, But those hard-hearted judges, how cruel they've been, To send us poor lads to Australia." To please his girlfriend, the singer turns outlaw, and winds up transported
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1969 (collected from Bob Hart by Rod & Danny Stradling, according to Patterson/Fahey/Seal)
KEYWORDS: transportation courting work outlaw
FOUND IN: Australia Britain(England(Lond,South))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 12-13, "Australia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 47-48, "Australia" (1 text)
Roud #1488
RECORDINGS:
Bob Hart, "Australia" (on BHart01, HiddenE)
Cyril Poacher, "Australia" (on Voice04)
NOTES: Yates, Musical Traditions site Voice of the People suite "Notes - Volume 4" - 19.8.02: "Originally an 18th century song about transportation to the American State of Virginia. Later broadside printers changed it to Australia, to suit the then current destination of transports." - BS
This is at least possible (with the footnote that no one was ever transported to the *state* of Virginia, but rather to the *colony*). Though Virginia did not receive a high number of transportees. The transport system arose around 1650, and by the time the American colonies had been closed off by the Revolution, only about 50,000 prisoners had been sent (see The Oxford Companion to British History, article on "Transportation"). And most of these went to the West Indies (see Samuel Eliot Morison, The Oxford History of the American People, p. 82), with only a handful to Virginia, Maryland, and New England. And many of *them* were Jacobite refugees exiled in the aftermath of the 1745 rebellion. (Plus, of course, a lot of Jacobites came voluntarily; see, e.g. the notes to "Flora MacDonald's Lament.") - RBW
File: FaE012

Australia for Me!


See Give Me a Hut (File: MA137)

Australia's on the Wallaby


DESCRIPTION: "Our fathers came to search for gold, The claim it proved a duffer. The syndicates and bankers' bosses made us all to suffer.... Australia's on the wallaby, Listen to the cooee." Most of the song is devoted to the animals the settler sees
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Old Bush Recitations)
KEYWORDS: animal Australia
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 199-200, "Australia's on the Wallaby" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 70-71, "Australia's on the Wallaby" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 286-287, "Australia's on the Wallaby" (1 text)
DT, WALLABB2*
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Freedom on the Wallaby" (tune, theme)
NOTES: Some feel that this is a parody, others a forerunner, of Henry Lawson's more political "Freedom on the Wallaby." - RBW
File: MA199

Automobile Trip Through Alabama


DESCRIPTION: Narrative: surreal description of speaker's trip through Alabama in an talking Ford filled with "Loco-Pep" gasoline. They fight off biting insects and a rattlesnake; the car falls to pieces, then reassembles itself. Incorporates bearhunt tall-tale
AUTHOR: probably Red Henderson
EARLIEST DATE: 1920s (recording, Red Henderson & Emmett Bankston)
KEYWORDS: travel hunting technology humorous nonsense recitation talltale
FOUND IN:
RECORDINGS:
Red Henderson & Emmett Bankston, "Automobile Trip [or Ride] Through Alabama, pts. 1 & 2" (OKeh 45283, c. 1929; rec. 1928)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Automobile Trip Through Alabama" (on NLCR13, NLCRCD2)
File: RcATTA

Autumn Dusk/Coimfeasgar Fogmair


DESCRIPTION: "It was on an autumn twilight, I watched the seagulls glide, When the fairest of all maidens Stole softly by my side." He describes her beauty and how they met and embraced. He wishes he were still with her
AUTHOR: English words: George Graham (?)
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Morris)
KEYWORDS: love beauty
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H831, p. 235-236, "Autumn Dusk/Coimfeasgar Fogmair" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: HHH831

Autumn to May


See Little Brown Dog (File: VWL101)

Auxville Love, The


See Love Has Brought Me to Despair [Laws P25] (File: LP25)

Ave, Maris Stella (Hail, Star of the Sea)


DESCRIPTION: A French/Quebecois song of praise to the Virgin Mary (sung in Latin): "Ave, maris stella, Dei Mater alma, Atque semper virgo, Felix coeli porta (x2)" "Sumus illud Ave Gabrielis ora, Funda nes in pace, Mutans Hevae nomen."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad Quebec foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 19-20, "Ave, Maris Stella" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FMB019 (Full)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1871 11058, "Ave maris stella," Balmer & Weber (Saint Louis), 1871 (tune); also sm1873 01284; sm1877 05005; sm1873 01284; sm1882 13480
NOTES: According to Fowke/Mills, this song was adopted as the quasi-official hymn of the French colony in Canada at the suggestion of Louis XIII, and is still sung on special occasions by the Acadians.
The original Latin text is longer and older than the commonly sung version; it has been dated as early as the seventh century. It is perhaps typical of the Marian cult that only one of the images of the poem (the visitation by Gabriel, Luke 1:26f.) is biblical. The others are either from the creed (the trinitarian imagery) or directly from Catholic legend (Mary's eternal virginity, etc.) or apparently specific to the poem (e.g. the reference to the "maris stella" -- the "of-the-sea star"). - RBW
File: FMB019

Average Boy, The


DESCRIPTION: A southern alphabet song: "A is the green apple with bites all around, B is the ball that is lost on the ground, C is the cigarette making him pale... Yell is the yell he emits all the day, Z is for zeal he shows in his play."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 874, "A Is for Apple Pie" (4 texts, but only the "D" text goes here)
Roud #7539
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Logger's Alphabet" (subject) and references there
NOTES: The title of this song refers, of course, to all the traits found in the "average boy." - RBW
File: R874A

Average Rein


DESCRIPTION: The rider, on the advice of the cowboys, bridles the horse "Lumberjack" with an "average rein." As a result, he is thrown. He determines thereafter to seek better advice
AUTHOR: Johnny Baker
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: horse cowboy trick
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ohrlin-HBT 94, "Average Rein" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Ohrlin explains that bronc riders always tried to determine how much rein a horse would need (the length of leather depended on the horse's tricks). Usually the rider asked other cowboys -- but, of course, they might not be entirely honest. - RBW
File: Ohr094

Avondale Disaster (I), The (The Mines of Avondale) [Laws G6]


DESCRIPTION: Flames are seen outside the Avondale mines; the miners' families realize there is a fire below. The two men who enter the mine find all the miners suffocated. Over one hundred men die
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: mining disaster death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sept 6, 1869 - The fire in the Avondale coal mines near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The fire blocked the only exit route and consumed all the oxygen in the tunnels. A total of 110 miners died, with 76 found in one ineffective shelter.
FOUND IN: US(MA) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Laws G6, "The Avondale Mine Disaster I"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 60, "Mines of Avondale" (1 text)
Leach-Labrador 106, "The Mines of Avondale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 783-785, "The Avondale Mine Disaster" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 307, "The Avondale Mine Disaster" (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 64, "The Avondale Mine Disaster" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 215-218, "The Avondale Mine Disaster" (1 text)
DT 713, AVONDAL1
Roud #698
RECORDINGS:
John J. Quinn, "The Avondale Mine Disaster" (AFS, 1946; on LCTreas)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Avondale Disaster II" [Laws G7] (subject)
NOTES: Much the more common of the Avondale Disaster songs (which Laws calls independent ballads, though there are strong similarities between the two which may imply common influence), this one is characterized by the fairly fixed first stanza, "Good Christians all, both great and small, I pray you lend an ear / And listen with attention while the truth I will declare; / When you hear this lamentation it will cause you to weep and wail / About the suffocation in the mines of Avondale." - RBW
File: LG06

Avondale Disaster (II), The [Laws G7]


DESCRIPTION: A fire in the Avondale Mine kills 110 miners. Relatively few details of the disaster and rescue are given, with the focus being on the plight of the bereaved families.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Gardner/Chickering)
KEYWORDS: mining disaster death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sept 6, 1869 - The fire in the Avondale coal mines near Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The fire blocked the only exit route and consumed all the oxygen in the tunnels. A total of 110 miners died, with 76 found in one ineffective shelter.
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws G7, "The Avondale Disaster II"
Gardner/Chickering 122, "The Avondale Disaster" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 784, AVONDAL2
Roud #3250
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Avondale Disaster I (The Mines of Avondale)" [Laws G6] (subject)
NOTES: Laws lists only two versions of this ballad, one of those from manuscript. The first stanza is superficially similar to "The Mines of Avondale," but differs in detail: "Come, friends and fellow Christians, and listen to my tale, And as I sing, pray drop a tear for the dead of Avondale." - RBW
File: LG07

Awa' tae Cyprus


DESCRIPTION: "They're starving noo in Scotland, in England and Ireland tae; I canna bide nae langer here, so now I must away." The singer is going to Cyprus "to open a public hoose." Gold lies at your feet. If he gets rich he may come home "wi' a Pasha to my name"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: emigration farewell drink hardtimes nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #132, p. 2, "Awa' tae Cyprus" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 537, "Awa' tae Cyprus" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #6015
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Cyprus
File: GrD3537

Awake Awake (Awake Sweet England)


DESCRIPTION: "Awake, awake, sweet England, sweet England now awake, And do your prayers obediently." Listeners are told to repent, reminded that worms will eventually eat their flesh, reminded that wealth is useless after death, and blessed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Leather)
KEYWORDS: Bible religious burial nonballad carol
FOUND IN: Britain(England(West))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leather, pp. 194-195, "Awake, Awake" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Leath194 (Partial)
Roud #2111
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Moon Shines Bright (The Bellman's Song)" (lyrics)
NOTES: Several verses of this are shared with "The Moon Shines Bright (The Bellman's Song)," and they probably have some sort of common ancestry. But this strikes me as even more gloomy somehow. - RBW
File: Leath194

Awake, Awake, You Drowsy Sleeper


See The Drowsy Sleeper [Laws M4] (File: LM04)

Away Down East (I)


DESCRIPTION: "There's a famous fabled country never seen by mortal eyes... And this famous fabled country is away down east." A man sets out to seek the place, and eventually is tricked into jumping off an east-facing cliff. His mother mourns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Linscott)
KEYWORDS: talltale travel trick suicide mother
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Linscott, pp. 158-160, "Away Down East" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 533-535, "Away Down East" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST BNEF533 (Partial)
Roud #3726
File: BNEF533

Away Down in Sunbury


DESCRIPTION: "O massa take that brand new coat And hang it on the wall, That darkie take that same old coat And wear 'em to the ball. Oh, don't you hear my true love singing, Oh, don't you hear 'em sigh, Away down in Sunbury I'm bound to live and die."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: home clothes nonballad dancing
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 99, "Away Down in Sunbury" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12056
File: AWG099A

Away in a Manger


DESCRIPTION: "Away in a manger, no crib for a bed, The little Lord Jesus lay down his sweet head." The baby never complains even amid the noise of the cattle. The singer asks that Jesus protect him/her and all children
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1885 ("Little Children's Book: for Schools and Families")
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus animal Christmas
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 373, "Away In A Manger" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 120-121+, "Away in a Manger"
DT, AWAYMNGR*
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), p. 111, "Away In A Manger" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ian Bradley, _The Penguin Book of Carols_ (1999), #10, "Away In a Manger" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Flow Gently Sweet Afton" (tune)
NOTES: Although often called "Luther's Cradle Hymn," it is known that this is not by Martin Luther, and apparently is a purely American creation. Johnson, who usually gives some sort of background even if inaccurate, has nothing whatsoever to say about the piece. Fuld gives such details as are known.
Several tunes are in use; the usual American form is a relative of Jonathan Edwards Spilman's "Flow Gently Sweet Afton."
Ian Bradley, in The Penguin Book of Carols, admits that this is "one of the most unScriptural" of popular carols (though he follows this up with a fierce defence of its place in the tradition). This is nothing less than the truth; the only part with Biblical authority is the manger (Luke 2:7, 12, 16); there is no proof there were animals in the vicinity. - RBW
File: FSWB373B

Away Out On the Mountain


DESCRIPTION: "I packed my grip for a farewell trip; I kissed Susan Jane goodbye at the fountain. 'I'm going,' says I, 'to the land of the sky, Away out on the mountain.'" The singer describes mountain life -- the wind, the animals; he will feast on meat and honey
AUTHOR: Kelly Harrell
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (copyrighted by author)
KEYWORDS: food animal nonballad travel farewell
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 318, "Away Out On the Mintain" (1 text)
Roud #15887
RECORDINGS:
Bud Reed, "Away Out On The Mountain" (on Reeds01)
Frankie Marvin, "Away Out On The Mountain" (on Edison 11006, 1929)
Riley Puckett, "Away Out On The Mountain" (on Columbia 15324-D, 1928)
Jimmie Rodgers, "Away Out On The Mountain" (on Victor 21142, 1927)
NOTES: Pity we don't have a keyword "travelogue." - PJS
File: Br3318

Away with Rum


See Rum By Gum (Temperance Union Song) (File: R317)

Away, Idaho


See We're Coming, Arkansas (We're Coming, Idaho) (File: R343)

Away, Rio!


See Rio Grande (File: Doe064)

Awful Wedding, The


See The Nobleman's Wedding (The Faultless Bride; The Love Token) [Laws P31] (File: LP31)

Awful, Awful, Awful


See Death is a Melancholy Call [Laws H5] (File: LH05)

Ay Ban a Svede from Nort' Dakota


See The Swede from North Dakota (File: Ohr008)

Ay waukin O


See Aye Wauking, O (File: GrD5933)

Ay, Ay, Willie Man


DESCRIPTION: Willie, are you awake [waukin]? "Annie's got new strings till her aul' apron" [is pregnant]. "Turn to yer bonnie lassie wi' her short apron.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: sex nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1724, "Ay, Ay, Willie Man" (1 text)
Roud #13142
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Smith's a Gallant Fireman" (tune, per GreigDuncan8)
File: GrD81724

Aye She Likit The Ae Nicht


DESCRIPTION: The man gets into bed, knocks the bottom boards over the woman's head, gives her his "hairy peg." She likes it. (Refrain: "Lassie, let me in, O") When he comes down, the "auld wife" is standing there; she lifts her clothes and says "Laddie, put it in"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (collected from Maggie McPhee)
KEYWORDS: sex nightvisit bawdy humorous mother
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MacSeegTrav 41, "Ae She Likit The Ae Nicht" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #135
RECORDINGS:
cf. "Let Me In This Ae Nicht" (chorus, theme)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Courting the Widow's Daughter (Hard Times)" [Laws H25] (plot)
NOTES: This has a good deal in common with "Let Me In This Ae Nicht," aka "Cold Haily Windy Night," but as the plots are quite different, MacColl & Seeger split them, and so do I. - PJS
I'm glad you added that note, though, or I might have lumped them. (Roud did.) I almost wonder if this isn't "Let Me In This Ae Nicht," with an ending related to "Courting the Widow's Daughter" [Laws H25). - RBW
File: McCST041

Aye Wauking, O


DESCRIPTION: "I'm wet and weary!" I would "rise and rin" to meet her. "I lang for my true lover" in summer and at sleep. "Feather-beds are soft, Painted rooms are bonnie; But a kiss o' my dear love Is better far than ony." Friday night is long in coming.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1829 (Chambers); presumably known to Burns in 1790
KEYWORDS: courting love nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan5 933, "Simmer's a Pleasant Time" (3 fragments, 3 tunes)
ADDITIONAL: James Kinsley, editor, Burns: Complete Poems and Songs (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #287, pp. 404-405, "Ay waukin O" (1 text, 1 tune, from 1790)
Robert Chambers, The Scottish Songs (Edinburgh, 1829), Vol I, pp. 126-128, "Aye Wauking, O" (2 texts)
Roud #6749
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Hexhamshire Lass" (some verses) and references there
cf. "Katy Cruel" (some verses) and references there
NOTES: For other references to "wet and weary" see "Rise up Quickly and Let Me In (The Ghostly Lover)." Other non-ghostly night-visit songs are noted there.
Chambers has two texts. His first, "the original," is the source of the DESCRIPTION; the other, "Aye Waukin', Oh!" is "as altered by Burns." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD5933

Aye Work Awa'


DESCRIPTION: "Fortune favours them wha work aye wi' a busy haun'." Help yourself; look before you leap; don't speak ill of others; "never say that ye're ill-used"; "never let your tongue wag up and down"; life is a fight "to the very grave"
AUTHOR: Joseph Wright (source: GreigDuncan3)
EARLIEST DATE: 1890 (_Whistle-Binkie_, according to GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: virtue warning work nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 655, "Aye Work Awa" (1 text)
Roud #6084
File: GrD3655

Aylesbury Girl, The


See Haselbury Girl, The (The Maid of Tottenham, The Aylesbury Girl) (File: K176)

B'y' Sara Burned Down


See The Bayou Sara (File: DTBayous)

Baa Baa Black Sheep


DESCRIPTION: "Baa baa, black sheep, have you any wool?" The sheep replies that it does, and details what might be done with it
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1744 (Tom Thumb's Pretty Song Book)
KEYWORDS: animal sheep nonballad clothes
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #16, p. 33, "(Bah, Bah a black Sheep)"
Opie-Oxford2 55, "Baa, baa, black sheep" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 593-594, "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star -- (ABCDEFG; Baa, Baa, Black Sheep; Schnitzelbank)"
Roud #4439
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1871 10570, "Baa, baa, black sheep," G. D. Russell & Co (Boston), 1871; sm1881 04227, "Ba-a, ba-a, black sheep," Geo. Molineux? (unknown), 1881 (tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" (tune)
NOTES: Although the lyrics of this are older than "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," and indeed are older than the oldest known form of the music ("Ah! Vous Dirai-Je, Maman," published 1761), text and tune, according to Fuld, were not united until 1879.
The 1881 sheet music credits this to C. M. Wiske, but I would suspect that is the arrangement. The 1871 sheet music is credited to Charles Moulton, but it's a different tune (don't ask me why everyone suddenly got the idea to set this to be music)
According to the Baring-Goulds, Katherine Elwes Thomas (who could always be relied upon to find expansive explanations when simple ones would do) reads this as a complaint against the exactions of the English royalty and nobility. The Opies mention the taxes on the wool trade which began in 1275 -- and became one of the main sources of money for the Crown, so that might be the same reference. But to refer a poem seemingly first encountered in 1744 to a tax which was significant mostly in the period prior to the Reformation is something of a stretch, it seems to me. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BGMG016

Baa-Baa Black Sheep (II)


See All the Pretty Little Horses (File: LxU002)

Babbity Bowster


DESCRIPTION: Game: "Wha learned you to dance, Babbity Bowster, Babbity Bowster? Wha learned you to dance, Babbity Bowster, brawly." "My minie learned me to dance." "Wha gae you the keys to keep?" "My minne gae me the keys to keep."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1862 (Chambers)
KEYWORDS: dancing nonballad mother
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber,Bord))
REFERENCES (7 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1717, "Bob at His Bowster" (1 text)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 89, "(Who learned you to dance)" (1 text)
DT, BABOWSTR
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 36, "Babbity Bowster"
Robert Chambers (Edited by Norah and William Montgomerie), Traditional Scottish Nursery Rhymes (1990 selected from Popular Rhymes) #58, p.40, "Babbity-Bowster")
Robert Ford, Children's Rhymes, Children's Games, Children's Songs, Children's Stories (Paisley, 1904 (2nd edition, "Digitized by Google")), pp. 61-63, "Bab at the Bowster"
A. Nimmo, Songs and Ballads of Clydesdale (Edinburgh, 1882 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 194, "Babity Bowster"
Roud #8722
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bee Baw Babbity" (derivative, per Opie-Game)
File: MSNR089

Babcock Bedtime Story, The


DESCRIPTION: A cante-fable: Old El, crippled and without resource, is sentenced to the poorhouse. His wife must go to another poorhouse. They are preparing to part for the last time. The song (to the tune of Loch Lomond) recalls their happy times together, now gone
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1982
KEYWORDS: injury poverty work separation husband wife age
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
FSCatskills 176, "The Babcock Bedtime Story" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC176 (Partial)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Loch Lomond" (tune & meter, some words) and references there
File: FSC176

Babe of Bethlehem, The


DESCRIPTION: A nativity hymn, generally following the Lukan story, and beginning: "Ye nations all, on you I call, Come, hear this declaration, And don't refuse the wond'rous news Of Jesus and salvation...."
AUTHOR: William Walker?
EARLIEST DATE: 1835 (Walker's "Southern Harmony")
KEYWORDS: Christmas religious Jesus Bible
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
BrownIII 554, "Babe of Bethlehem" (1 fragment)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 757, "The Babe of Bethlehem" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, BABEBETH*
Roud #11878
NOTES: The sundry references:
"As was foretold by prophets old, Isaiah, Jeremiah." -- Many prophecies of the Messiah are found in Isaiah (e.g. Isa. 7:14f.; also the "servant" prophecies of Isa. 53, etc.). The only prophecy of Jeremiah quoted about Jesus (as opposed to being quoted BY Jesus), however, is in Matt. 27:9-10 -- and this is actually a prophecy of Zechariah! Thus Jeremiah cannot be held to have foretold Jesus.
"To Abraham the promise came, and to his seed for ever" -- Gen. 15:5, 22:17; also Gen. 26:4, Isa. 51:2, etc.
"A light to shine in Isaac's line" -- cf. Gen. 21:12=Rom. 9:7=Heb. 11:18; also Gen. 26:4
"God's blessed word made flesh and blood, assumed the human nature." -- John 1:1f.
"They found no bed to lay his head, but in the ox's manger... But in the hay the stranger lay, with swaddling bands around him" -- Luke 2:7
"On the same night a glorious light to shepherds there appeared, Bright angels came in shining flame, they saw and greatly feared" -- Luke 2:9
"The angels said: Be not afraid, although we much alarm you, We do appear good news to bear, as now we will inform you." -- Lukw 2:10f.
"When this was said, straightway was made a glorious sound from heaven" -- Luke 2:13
"Each flaming tongue an anthem sung" (not associated with the birth of Jesus; see Acts 2:3)
"At Jesus' birth be peace on earth" -- loosely paraphrased from Luke 2:14
"To Bethlehem they quickly came, the glorious news to carry, And in the stall they found them all, Joseph, the Babe, and Mary." -- Luke 2:16
The shepherds then return'd again to their own habitation" -- Luke 2:20 - RBW
File: BSoF757

Babes in the Greenwood, The


See The Cruel Mother [Child 20] (File: C020)

Babes in the Wood (II)


See The Three Lost Babes of Americay (File: Peac030)

Babes in the Woods, The


See Children in the Wood, The (The Babes in the Woods) [Laws Q34] (File: LQ34)

Babies on Our Block


DESCRIPTION: "If you long for information or in need of merriment, Come over with me socially to MurphyÕs tenement." The singer catalogs all the myriad Irish babies living in the area, who join in singing "Little Sally Waters"
AUTHOR: Words: Edward Harrigan / Music: David Braham
EARLIEST DATE: 1879 (original publication)
KEYWORDS: baby family
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dean, pp. 91-92, "Babies on Our Block" (1 text)
Roud #9572
NOTES: According to Sigmund Spaeth, A History of Popular Music in America Random House, 1948, pp. 186-187, the late 1870s saw a series of musical skits called the Mulligan series. "January 13, 1879, was the historic date of the opening of the full-sized Mulligan Guard Ball,which ran right on to the end of that season.... [T]he Mulligan Guard Bal maybe considered the real revelation of what was thereafter known as the Harrigan and Hart style...."
"Harrigan himself represented thebrains and energyof thetroup, writing dialogue and the song lyrics, casting and directing every production, acting and singing the leading roles and often also serving as manager. Braham composed all themusic and conucted the orchestra in the pit. Tony Hart continued to be the foil to Harrigan's characterizations and was particularly good as a female impersonator...."
"The Mulligan Guard Ball contained, in addition to its parent song, such musical hits as The Skidmore Fancy Ball (a satirical treatment of a colored company), We're all Young Fellows Bran New, Singing at the Hallway Door, and The Babies on Our Block. The latter was the definitive forerunner of The Sidewalks of New York, giving a detailed picture of life in the humbler sections of the metropolis,with actual quotations from old Irish song scattered throughout the music."
I read somewhere that Braham (1838-1905) was the father-in-law of Harrigan. - RBW
File: Dean091

Baby Baby Bunting


See Bye Baby Bunting (File: Br3112)

Baby Livingston


See Bonnie Baby Livingston [Child 122] (File: C222)

Baby Please Don't Go


DESCRIPTION: The prisoner begs his girl not to abandon him: "Now your man done gone (x3) To the county farm." "Baby, please don't go (x3) back to Baltimore." ""Turn your lamp down low." ""You know I loves you so." "I beg you all night long."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (recording, Joe Williams)
KEYWORDS: love separation prisoner abandonment
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Courlander-NFM, pp. 108-109, "Baby, Please Don't Go" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 65, "Baby, Please Don't Go" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Sam Montgomery, "Baby Please Don't Go" (ARC 6-11-55, 1936)
Tampa Red, "Baby Please Don't Go" (Decca 7278, 1937, rec. 1936)
Joe Williams, "Baby Please Don't Go" (Bluebird B-6200, 1936, rec. 1935)
File: CNFM108

Baby, All Night Long


DESCRIPTION: Floating blues verses; "I'm going to the depot/Look up on the board"; "If I had listened/To what mama said," etc. Chorus is "All night long/Baby, all night long/Got the Richmond blues/Baby, all night long."
AUTHOR: unknown (credited to Ada Jones & Shelton Brooks on the Stanleys' recording)
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (recording, Roba & Bob Stanley)
KEYWORDS: loneliness rambling railroading lyric nonballad floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 172-173, "Baby, All Night Long" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 74, "All Night Long" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
[Clarence] Ashley & [Gwen] Foster, "Baby, All Night Long" (Vocalion 02780, 1934)
[Richard] Burnett & [Leonard] Rutherford (Columbia 15314-D, 1928; rec. 1927; on BurnRuth01, KMM)
Clint Howard & Fred Price, "The Richmond Blues" (on Ashley02, WatsonAshley01)
Frank Hutchison, "All Night Long" (OKeh 45144, 1927)
Earl Johnson & his Dixie Entertainers, "All Night Long" (OKeh 45383, 1929; rec. 1927)
Miles & Bob Pratcher, "If It's All Night Long" (on LomaxCD1703)
[Leonard] Rutherford & [John] Foster, "Richmond Blues" (on KMM)
Roba & Bob Stanley, "All Night Long" (OKeh 40295, 1925; rec. 1924)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "All Night Long" (words)
cf. "Railroad Blues (I)" (words)
SAME TUNE:
Byrd Moore, "All Night Long" (Gennett 6686, 1928/Conqueror 7259 [as by Oscar Craver], 1929)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Richmond Blues
NOTES: The Oscar Craver recording uses the same tune and structure, but most of the lyrics are variants on "Mary Had a Little Lamb" verses. - PJS
File: CSW172

Babylon Is Fallen (II)


See Babylon Is Falling (File: R229)

Babylon Is Falling


DESCRIPTION: "Way up in the cornfield where you hear the thunder, That is our old forty pounder gun, When the shells are missin' then we load with pumpkins, All the same we make the cowards run." The slave rejoices to triumph over the master
AUTHOR: Henry Clay Work?
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle slave
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph 229, "Babylon Is Falling" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, p. 103, "Babylon is Fallen" (1 text)
DT, BBLNFALL
Roud #7706
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Kingdom Coming (The Year of Jubilo)" (theme)
NOTES: Not to be confused with the hymn, "Babylon Is Fallen." - RBW
File: R229

Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie [Child 14]


DESCRIPTION: An outlaw accosts (three) sisters, demanding that one of them marry him on pain of death. As all refuse, he kills all but the youngest. She accidentally learns that he is their brother. The outlaw usually then kills himself in remorse.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1803 (Scots Magazine)
KEYWORDS: brother sister outlaw crime incest
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland,England) US(NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (20 citations):
Child 14, "Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" (6 texts)
Bronson 14, "Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" (8 versions plus 2 in addenda)
GreigDuncan2 199, "The Bonnie Banks o' Airdrie" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
BarryEckstormSmyth p. 72, "Babylon" (1 fragment)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 61-63, "The Burly, Burly Banks of Barbry-O" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 213-222, "Babylon" (4 texts, 3 tunes) {A=Bronson's #8, C=#5}
Davis-More 9, pp. 68-71, "Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" (1 text)
BrownII 8, "Babylon; or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" (1 text)
OBB 57, "Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" (1 text)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 18-19, "The Bonny Banks of Virgie O" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3, but the texts differ noticeably}
Greenleaf/Mansfield 4, "The Bonnie Banks of the Virgie, O" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #4}
Peacock, pp. 809-811, "The Bonny Banks of Ardrie-O" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 3, "Bonny Banks of Virgie-O" (1 text, 4 tunes) {Bronson's #3}
Leach, pp. 88-90, "Babylon, or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" (2 texts)
Niles 11, "Babylon; or, The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 71, "Three Young Ladies" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3, but with different information about the collector and informant}
MacSeegTrav 6, "Babylon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gummere, pp. 188-189+344, "Babylon; or The Bonnie Banks o Fordie" (1 text)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 58-59, "Babylon; or, the Bonnie Banks o Fordie" (1 text)
DT 14, VIRGIBNK* VIRGIBN3* BONFARDY
Roud #27
RECORDINGS:
Ken Peacock, "Bonnie Banks of the Virgie-O" (on NFKPeacock)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bonnie Hind" [Child 50] (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Bonny Farday
The Rocky Banks of the Buffalo
Baby Lon
NOTES: If one one interested in reproductive biology, there is an amazing amount of information hinted at in this song....
Jolly, p. 94, has an interesting observation regarding incest: she quotes Jared Diamond to the effect that "people seem to choose mates who are almost, but not quite, like themselves. In fact, people like people who look a bit like their parents, right down to earlobe size."
Similarly, Jones, p. 67 (on the basis of "T-shirt experiments," in which women smelled the used clothing of men) notes "a preference by women for partners who smell rather, but not too much, like their own fathers." On p. 191, Jones notes that "sheep have a drive to copulate with someone who looks like their mother [I must admit I'd love to know how *that* experiment was performed!], and to a lesser extent the same is true for men."
But it should be recalled that parents share 50% of their genes with their children, and siblings also share 50% of their genes. Assuming (as is likely) that sexual preference is conditioned genetically rather than by environment (the latter being more or less the Freudian assumption), one's siblings would be the most desirable sexual partners, one's parents being less desirable simply because they are too old.
So why isn't there more incest? Apparently that's hard-wired, too. People have a built-in "aversion" to falling in love with people they grow up with. Presumably this is a semi-instinctive incest taboo: The deep-down emotional assumption seems that these people are siblings or parents or offspring (so Edward Westermarck; cited by Ridley-Red, p. 283, and Ridley-Agile, pp. 171-173).
But Ridley cites another study (Ridley-Red, p. 281), "two siblings reared apart are surprisingly likely to fall in love with each other if they meet at the right age" (cf. Ridley-Agile, p. 173). The reference is to M. Greenberg and R. Littlewood, "Post-adoption incest and phenotypic matching: Experience, personal meanings, and biosocial implications," in the British Journal of Medical Psychology, 68:29-44, 1995.
There does seem to be anecdotal evidence for this; newspaper reports say that Britain in 2008 started to work on laws to make sure adopted children knew about any relatives they had. This was in response to a case of two twins separated in infancy; they met when they grew up, fell in love, and were married before anyone realized they were siblings. Similarly, Jones, p. 133, talks about various laws being considered to deal with the case where the child of sperm donation encounters a half-sibling -- which, in this era when tens of thousands of children are born this way, is likely to be increasingly common in future. But the particular cases cited may be just isolated incidents, not a rule.
And incest stories are not unusual in folklore. Note for instance the many brother/sister matings in the pagan Greek religion, and in other early multi-diety faiths. Or consider the story that King Arthur had a child by his sister (something with no historical basis; as the notes to "King Arthur and King Cornwall" [Child 30] show). This seems to be a subject with deep roots in human psychology.
I have not seen Greenberg and Littlewood to know if Ridley is describing it correctly, let alone to know if the conclusions are justified. But it may be less surprising than it sounds. Evolutionary success consists in conserving one's genes. This means that the evolutionary ideal is to marry someone related at about the first or second cousin level -- close enough to share a lot of genes, not so close as to have a particularly high risk of reinforcing dangerous recessives.
(There does seem to be one side footnote to this, mentioned by Jolly, p. 95, and by Judson, pp. 52-53. They note that there are many variants in the genes of the MHC, or major histocompatibility index -- and that people apparently can tell, by smell, who shares their MHC genes; women don't want to be involved with men who are too close in MHC. But, of course, brother and sister need not share MHC genes -- given the size and complexity of the gene group, they very likely will not -- it's just that the odds are higher than among strangers.)
It is interesting to note that surveys have shown that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but ugliness is not -- that is, almost everyone agrees that certain people are ugly, but not everyone agrees on who is attractive. It is further interesting to note that -- insofar as this has been studied -- we seem to find attractive people who appear to share our own genetic traits. (I can't remember where I read this. The bit about beauty and ugliness came from a very poor newspaper summary of research done at a local college.)
Obviously a sibling is the closest relative we can find within our generation. If siblings are raised separately, they will not feel the raised-together taboo, so the shares-my-genes attraction will produce a tendency to fall in love. At least, that seems the logical implication of the data. And hence songs such as this and "Sheathe and Knife" and "Lizie Wan."
For this to happen, the siblings, it appears, would have to be separated by the age of three; otherwise, the aversion kicks in. But Ridley adds that the aversion seems to be stronger in females. If the brother is older (as seems to be the case, e.g., in "Lizie Wan," and probably in this song), he might have left the household before the girl reached the "aversion threshold."
In that context, it's worth remembering that sons of noble families were often sent away from their homes to be raised and trained in arms. In England, noble siblings were rarely raised together in the Middle Ages. So -- assuming all this hypothesizing is correct -- incestuous love affairs would be much more common among the nobility than the common folk. Indeed, there was a rumor that Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, the fifth son of George III who later became King of Hanover, fathered a child on his sister Sophia; see Sinclair-Stevenson, pp. 123, 128. Sinclair-Stevenson thinks it impossible that Cumberland was actually the father, but it hardly matters if he was; the point is that he could have been. (A *really* dirty part of my mind notes that George III -- like his descendant Nicolas II of Russia -- long forced his daughters of marriageable age to stay at home with him. But George's daughters, at least, managed affairs -- see Sinclair-Stevenson, p. 124).
An even stronger instance of brother-sister incest occurs in the Bible, no less. Very few female members of the Davidide royal family are mentioned in the Bible, and those that are are usually passed over quckly -- except one. 2 Samuel, chapter 13 (one of the chapters that seems to have been written by an immediate witness -- some suspect the priest Abiathar), details the rape of David's daughter Tamar by her half-brother Amnon; the next several chapters are devoted to the dreadful after-effects of that rape.
The Inca royal family was famous for brother-sister marriages -- although this may be somewhat exaggerated. The Incas did not have written records (Mason, p. 111), so their history was preserved in oral tradition -- and that tradition was then transcribed by the Spanish, and in conflicting form (Mason, pp. 113-115). Several early Emperors supposedly married their sisters, but the first one fully historic emperor, Yahuar Huacac, did not do so (Mason, p. 117). It was not until Topa Inca Yupanqui that we have a fully documented case of brother-sister marriage (Mason, p. 129), and he did not die until 1493. Mason says that he established the rule for later emperors -- but there were only three more, according to the list on p. 111 of Mason: Huyana Capac (1493-1525), Huascar (1525-1532), and Atahuallpa (1532-1533). Thus there was probably enough outbreeding in the Inca line to avoid immediate collapse -- especially since the chosen monarch was often not the old emperor's eldest son.
The Habsburg fanily was also known for its incest -- ironic, for an oh-so-Catholic dynasty; they seemed to welcome marriages within the prohibited degrees. To be sure, these were partly marriages of policy. Elliot, p. 272, shows a genealogy of the monarchs of Spain and Portugal. Portugal's Sebastian I (died 1578) was the son of John of Portugal and Juana of Spain. John was the son of John III and Catherine; Juana was the daughter of Charles V and Isabella. John III was the son of Emmanuel of Portugal and Maria daughter of Ferdinant and Isabella of Spain. Catherine was the daughter of Philip I of Habsburg and Juana daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain. Charles V was also the daughter of Philip I and Juana, and Isabella his wife was also the daughter of Emmanuel and Maria.
A normal person, not inbred, has eight great-grandparents. Sebastian was so inbred that he had four: Emmanuel was his father's father's father and his mother's mother's father; Philip I was his father's mother's father and his mother's mother's father; Maria was his father's father's mother and his mother's mother's mother, and Juana was his father's mother's mother and his mother's father's mother.
What's more, because Maria and Juana were sisters, instead of the usual 16 great-great-grandparents, Sebastian had only six great-great-grandparents!
This situation would recur a century and a half later with the last Habsburg King of Spain, Carlos II, known as "the Bewitched" because he was so mentally and physically handicapped. He wasn't bewitched; he was inbred. Like Sebastian, he had only four great-grandparents, because his father Philip IV (himself an inbred descendent of Charles V) had married his niece Mariana of Austria (Elliott, p. 357, or see the genealogy on p. 136 of Elliott). The Wikipedia entry on Carlos says that he was more homozygous than the offspring of a brother/sister mating. (That is, there was so much inbreeding in his ancestry that he had more duplicates of particular genes than the children of a brother/sister match.) With Carlos the Bewitched, the Spanish Habsburgs died out, because they had inbred themselves to death.
The ultimate example of incestuous royal families, though, is surely the Ptolemaic Dynasty, which ruled Egypt from the time of Alexander the Great until the Roman conquest. Ptolemy II, late in life, would marry his sister Arsinoe II, and Ptolemy IV took up with his sister Arsinoe III.
And then there are the children of Ptolemy V. The older son, Ptolemy VI Philometer (which means "loving his mother"!), married his sister Cleopatra II; they had a daughter Cleopatra III. The second son of Ptolemy V was Ptolemy VIII Physcon, who in his turn married Cleopatra II and then, while she was still alive, her daughter Cleopatra III. Their children were Ptolemy IX Lathyrus, Cleopatra IV, and Ptolemy X Alexander. Ptolemy Alexander would later marry Cleopatra Berenice, the daughter of Ptolemy Lathyrus and Cleopatra IV. (This did have genetic effects, to be sure. The later Ptolemies were mostly immensely, grotesquely fat and diseased. On the other hand, Cleopatra VII -- "the" Cleopatra, of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony fame, whose mother and grandmother were non-Ptolemies -- was certainly accomplished and probably quite beautiful.)
Later, Cleopatra VII would marry a couple of her brothers, but that was political. In the cases of Arsinoe II and Cleopatra III, their royal brothers and uncles married for love, or at least lust. Thus, historically, royal incest seems not to have been all that uncommon. Probably more common than the above would imply, given how strongly it would be hushed up! - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: C014

Bachelor Blues


DESCRIPTION: Singer laments his bachelor life. He sends a letter to his girlfriend, proposing that she share his lot; she answers by telegram, refusing. He replies, "If you don't like my bait, you need not to bite my hook"
AUTHOR: Steve Ledford
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (recording, New Lost City Ramblers)
KEYWORDS: loneliness courting rejection bachelor
FOUND IN: US(SE)
RECORDINGS:
Bill Carlisle, "Batchelor's Blues" (Vocalion 02879, 1935)
Steve Ledford, "Bachelor Blues" (Bluebird B-7626, 1938)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Bachelor Blues" (on NLCR13)
File: RcBacBlu

Bachelor's Complaint, The


See A Bachelor's Lament (File: JHCox160)

Bachelor's Hall (I)


DESCRIPTION: About the sad life of a bachelor: "Bachelor's Hall, what a queer looking place it is, Keep me from such all the days of my life." The singer describes the mess and squalor of the place, and the pitiful lives of its inhabitants.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1942 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: bachelor loneliness
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 475, "Bachelor's Hall" (1 text)
Roud #7031
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Bachelor's Lament" (subject, lyrics)
cf. "Married and Single Life" (subject)
NOTES: There is another "Bachelor's Hall" which describes the good life in the Hall: "No woman to scold you, No children to bawl, Always stay single, keep Bachelor's Hall."
As I have only one version of this text, I cannot really determine the relationship between the two -- but the present text is not in the same meter as the other.
Charles Dibdin wrote a piece called "Batchelor's Hall" in 1794, but I haven't found a text of that, either. - RBW
File: R475

Bachelor's Hall (II)


DESCRIPTION: "When young men go courting they'll dress up so fine," meet the girls, dress up -- and end up worn out, (broke), and claiming, "I believe it's the best to court none at all, And live by myself and keep bachelor's hall," where neither wife nor children nag
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (recording, Fiddlin' John Carson)
KEYWORDS: courting bachelor
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,SE) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Abrahams/Foss, p. 120, "Bachelor's Hall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 183, "Bachelor's Hall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, p. 133, "Bachelor's Hall" (1 text)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 35, "Bachelor's Hall" (1 text, 1 tune, with a first verse that seems to have floated in from "The Wagoner's Lad")
Peacock, pp. 237-238, "Bachelor's Hall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 36, "Bachelor's Hall" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 337, "When Young Men Go Courting" (1 fragment, probably this)
Darling-NAS, p. 273, "Bachelor's Hall" (1 text)
DT, BACHHALL
Roud #385
RECORDINGS:
Fiddlin' John Carson, "The Batchelor's Hall" (OKeh 45056, 1926; rec. 1925; on TimesAint04 as "Bachelor's Hall")
Earl Shirkey & Roy Harper [pseud. for Roy Harvey], "Keep Bachelor's Hall" (Columbia 15429-D, 1929)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Putting on Airs" (theme)
NOTES: There is another "Bachelor's Hall" which describes the difficult life in the Hall: "Sure when I think what a burning disgrace it is, Never at all to be getting a wife, See the old bachelor gloomy and sad enough...."
As I have only one version of #1, I cannot really determine the relationship between the two -- but the present text is not in the same meter as the other.
Charles Dibdin wrote a piece called "Batchelor's Hall" in 1794, but I haven't found a text of that, either.
Gardner and Chickering's text is rather confusing and perhaps composite; it starts by talking about *girls* and the troubles of marriage -- "When young girls get married, their pleasure is all gone; They doubt on their prospects, their troubles come on." But it ends with the warnings found in this song. It appears that their text is either a fusion of two songs or an incomplete attempt to convert this piece to a woman's point of view.
Jean Ritchie's version also hints at that, but with a different first verse. - RBW
File: AF120
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