Ca'eries Hae Sookit the Kye Dry, The

DESCRIPTION: The calves have sucked the cows dry but even if they all go dry "there's milk in the beddie where I lie"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: nonballad animal mother
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1454, "The Ca'eries Hae Sookit the Kye Dry" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7281
File: GrD71454

Cabbage and Goose

See Sale of a Wife (File: HHH226)

Cabin Creek Flood, The

DESCRIPTION: "A sad and mournful history Of which I now will speak Concerning that awful storm That flooded Cabin Creek." Five hours of rain washes away the miners' homes. The government and neighboring towns send relief
AUTHOR: James W. Day ("Jilson Setters")?
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: flood disaster death
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 106-107, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: Although certainly based on a historical incident, the few details in the song and in Thomas's account do not let me locate it in historical records. - RBW
File: ThBa106

Cadence Count

See Sound Off (Cadence Count, Jody Chant) (File: LoF317)

Cadger Bruce

DESCRIPTION: "The lottery would hae been complete Had cadger [traveling dealer] Bruce gane there to see't Or Jamie Birse the lousy breet Had he been there in the mornin'." Many people -- smiths, ploughmen, ... -- did go and "the lottery it's raised muckle din"
AUTHOR: Peter McCombie (source: GreigDuncan3)
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: commerce nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 621, "Cadger Bruce" (1 text)
Roud #6059
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Baldyvin (621) is at coordinate (h2,v6) on that map [near Alford, roughly 23 miles W of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3621

Cahan's Shaden Glen

DESCRIPTION: The singer goes rambling and sees beautiful "Eliza of Cahan's shaden glen." Hecourts her, but "She will not condescend; I have no gold in store." He wishes her well and departs, wishing he could have gained her favor
AUTHOR: Francey Heaney?
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection beauty
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H538, pp. 364-365, "Cahan's Shady Glen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6882
NOTES: Very possibly not traditional; Sam Henry did not list a source, and no other traditional versions are known. - RBW
File: HHH538

Cailin Deas Cruite Na MBo

See The Pretty Girl Milkin' Her Cow (File: San040)

Cailin Gaelach, An (The Irish Girl)

DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. The singer thinks of how nice it would be to have an Irish girl by his side. One morning, herding his cows, he sees a vision of a woman. He will care for the herds well because young women marry when they see a well cared for herd.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1976 (OBoyle)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage marriage farming nonballad animal
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OBoyle 7, "Cailin Gaelach" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: O Boyle does not translate the text. There is a text on DruidStone site in Gaelic with English translation. The description follows that translation. O Boyle's conclusion that "men marry for the sake of cattle" disagrees with that translation. - BS
File: Oboy007

Cailin Rua, An (The Red-Headed Girl)

DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. The singer praises his beautiful red-headed girl even though she drained his purse by drinking his ale and spending in the market on fancy shoes and ribbons instead of food and even though she ran off with the shop-boy. He prefers her to wealth.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1976 (OBoyle)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage love infidelity nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
OBoyle 8, "Cailin Rua, An" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, ANCAILIN
NOTES: O Boyle summarizes the text in English but does not translate it. There is a Digital Tradition text in Gaelic with English translation that is compatible with O Boyle's summary. The description follows the Digital Tradition translation. - BS
File: OBoy008

Cain and Abel (When the Great Day Comes)

DESCRIPTION: "Well, the Good Book says that Cain killed Abel, Yes, Abel, That he hit him in the head with the leg of a table." In the lion's den, Daniel tells the "cullud men" to get their white robes. "Oh, Lord, I'se ready, I'll be ready when the great day comes."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious murder nonballad clothes
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 557, "Can and Abel" (1 short text)
Roud #11827
RECORDINGS:
Cotton Belt Quartet, "We'll Be Ready When the Great Day Comes" (Vocalion 15263, 1926) [tentative identification; I have not heard the record - PJS]
File: Br3557

Cain Killed Abel

DESCRIPTION: A shanty about cane-cutting (!). "I was a cane-cutter but now I'm at sea, Stoop it, and top it, and load it, my boys; Once Cain killed Abel, but it won't kill me." "I worked very hard until I went to sea/" ""This cutting of cane it isn't much fun."
AUTHOR: Words: Merv Lilley / Music: Chris Kempster
EARLIEST DATE: 1964
KEYWORDS: work shanty nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 200-201, "Cain Killed Abel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, p. 171, "Cane Killed Abel" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE200

Cairistiona

DESCRIPTION: Scots Gaelic. The singer calls to Cairistiona, "Will you answer my cry?" After courting her, he went across the sea for years, and returns to find her dead.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Kennedy-Fraser)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage love separation return death
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Hebr))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Kennedy 5, "Cairistiona (Christina)" (1 text+English translation, 1 tune)
Kennedy-Fraser II, pp. 182-184, "Caristiona" (1 text+English translation, 1 tune)
NOTES: Kennedy somehow fails to note the connection between his piece and that in Kennedy-Fraser (the minor difference in names seems small excuse; the tunes are rather different, but both irregular, which probably hastened the process of change), but they share lyrics and plot; I do not doubt they are the same. - RBW
File: K005

Cairn-o'-Mount

DESCRIPTION: The singer rides out and hears a girl singing, "The Cairn-o'-Mount is bleak and bare, An' cauld is Clochnabane." The man offers her wealth and land if she will marry him. She promises to be true to her Donald. He reveals himself as Donald, and rich
AUTHOR: Alexander Balfour
EARLIEST DATE: c.1847 (according to Christie, 1876)
KEYWORDS: love courting disguise trick
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 106-109, "Cairn-o'-Mount" (1 text)
Greig #55, pp. 1-2, "Cairn-o'-Mount" (1 text)
GreigDuncan5 1042, "Cairn o' Mount" (11 texts plus a single verse on p. 629, 8 tunes)
Ord, pp. 436-437, "Cairn-o'-Mount" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: W. Christie, editor, Traditional Ballad Airs (Edinburgh, 1876 (downloadable pdf by University of Edinburgh, 2007)), Vol I, pp. 26-27, "The Laird Abeen the Dee" (1 tune)
Roud #3794
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] (plot) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Scotland's Queen
The Mills o' Dye
Clochnaben
NOTES: Christie: "The Ballad was written from the singing of a farm servant in Buchan about the year 1847." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FVS106

Caitilin Ni Uallachain (Cathaleen Ni Houlihan)

DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. Irish nobles wander, banned, hoping for "the coming-to of Kathaleen Ny-Houlihan." She would be queen "were the king's son at home here." It is a disgrace that she is vassal to the Saxon. May he who led Israel through the waves save her
AUTHOR: Sparling: "A Jacobite relic translated [by James Clarence Mangan, 1803-1849] from the Irish of William Hefferan, called William Dall, or Blind William"
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (Duffy)
KEYWORDS: Ireland rebellion patriotic foreignlanguage nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1798 - Irish rebellion against British rule
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Zimmermann, p. 31, "Caitilin Ni Uallachain" (1 fragment)
Scott-BoA, pp. 94-96, "Caitilin Ni Uallachain (Cathaleen Ni Houlihan)" (1 text, 1 tune; no translator listed)
ADDITIONAL:
Charles Gavan Duffy, editor, The Ballad Poetry of Ireland (1845), pp. 89-90, "Kathaleen Ny-Houlahan"
Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol I, pp. 231-232, "Kathaleen Ny Houlahan" (1 text, translated by J.C. Mangan)
H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 141-142, 504, "Kathaleen Ny-Houlahan"
Charles Sullivan, ed., Ireland in Poetry, p. 62, "Kathaleen Ny-Houlahan" (1 text, translated by James Clarence Mangan, 1803-1849)
Thomas Kinsella, _The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse_ (Oxford, 1989), pp. 273-275, "Kathaleen Ny-Houlahan" (1 text) [translated by James Clarence Mangan]
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 31 fn. 73 is a fragment in Irish and English; Duffy/Sparling's translation by Mangan is the basis for the description.
Zimmermann p. 31 refering to "Caitilin Ni Uallachain": "In the eighteenth century poets were clinging to the hope that [help] would arrive from France or Spain, and they frequently alluded to a fleet bringing back to Ireland the Stuart king and his mighty allies"
Zimmermann p. 55, Sparling p. 141: Caitlin Ni Uallachain as a secret or coded name. for Ireland. - BS
Kinsella attributes the original Irish to William Hefferman.
The image of Ireland as a lady wronged was very popular in Ireland (even though no one can seem to agree on the spelling). This lyric was one of the first examples. In 1902, William Butler Yeats and Lady Augusta Gregory staged the play "Cathleen ni Houlihan," about the 1798 rebellion. Sir John Lavery painted Lady Lavery, with harp, as Kathleen in 1923. This beautiful image came to be used on Irish money and can be seen in Sullivan, p. 63.
My original description applies to Scott's English version: "Our hopes run high, the time is nigh To make the text of war. Our plans are laid, our weapons made, And soon our guns will roar." The [Irish] rebels prepare for war, calling upon Jesus to bless (and free) Cathaleen Ni Houlihan (=Ireland) - RBW
File: SBoA094

Cake, Cake, and Cairneyquhing

See The Lass o' Gonar Ha' (File: GrD4724)

Calabar, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer calls "dry-land sailors" to hear of the (Calabar), sailing the (Strabane canal). The food runs out. They hit mud, and throw off the captain's wife to lighten ship. They fight off a "pirate" scow. The captain says he'll take the train next time.
AUTHOR: John Trainor (1910) (OLochlainn-More)
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: canal humorous food disaster wreck
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (5 citations):
SHenry H502, pp. 98-99, "The Cruise of the Calabar" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-More 17, "The Cruise of the Calabar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hammond-Belfast, pp. 32-33, "The Cruise of the Calibar" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CALABARR
ADDITIONAL: Frank Harte _Songs of Dublin_, second edition, Ossian, 1993, pp. 16-17, "The Cruise of the Calabad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1079
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The E-ri-e" (theme) and references there
cf. "The Wreck of the Mary Jane" (theme and first line)
cf. "The Wreck of the Varty" (theme and first line)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Manchester Canal
The Wreck of the Calibar
The Good Ship Calabah
The Strabane Fleet
NOTES: Sort of an Irish version of "The E-ri-e." It doesn't follow that it's older, though; there are references to steam.
Harte makes the interesting comment that he never encountered a serious canal song, adding that a canalman told him that the worst danger on the canal boats was fleas! Harte's statement is a little strong -- there are a couple of minor canal disaster songs in the American tradition -- but he isn't far wrong. - RBW
Also collected and sung by David Hammond, "Cruise of the Calabar" (on David Hammond, "I Am the Wee Falorie Man: Folk Songs of Ireland," Tradition TCD1052 CD (1997) reissue of Tradition LP TLP 1028 (1959)) - BS
File: HHH502

Calder's Braes

DESCRIPTION: The narrative tells that the young man was present at the storming of Seringapatam (the capital of Tippoo Sahib, sultan of Mysore) which took place in 1798. He returns safe home but finds that his lass has died.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1806 (C. Randall, chapbook _The Bonny Lass of Calder Braes_, according to GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: love war separation return death Scotland India soldier
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan1 95, "Calder's Braes" (1 fragment)
Roud #5790
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Logan Water" (tune, broadsides Bodleian Harding B 11(3238), 2806 c.15(284) and Firth b.28(13))
NOTES: The description is quoted from the GreigDuncan1 summary of the 1806 chapbook The Bonny Lass of Calder Braes. The GreigDuncan1 fragment is one verse sung by the soldier who "left to face my country's faes, My weeping maid on Calder's Braes." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD1095

Caledonia (I)

See Jamie Raeburn (Caledonia) (File: MA085)

Caledonia (II)

See Canada-I-O (The Wearing of the Blue; Caledonia) (File: HHH162)

Caledonia (III -- Jean and Caledonia)

DESCRIPTION: "Sair, sair was my heart, an' the tears stood in my een As I viewed my native hills an' I thought upon my Jean." Pressed by poverty (?), the two sadly part; he promises to be true, and wed no other, and someday to come back to marry her
AUTHOR: William Lockhart (source: Whitelaw, but see NOTES)
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (Whitelaw)
KEYWORDS: love separation emigration poverty
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 237-239, "Jean and Caledonia" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan8 1522, "Farewell to Caledonia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, p. 116, "Jean and Caledonia" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), p. 90, "Native Caledonia"
Roud #3801
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Erin's Flowery Vale (The Irish Girl's Lament)" [Laws O29] (plot) and references there
cf. "Johnnie Doyle" (tune, per GreigDuncan8)
cf. "The Dusky Glen" (tune, per Whitelaw)
NOTES: Apparently broadside Bodleian, 2806 c.11(64), "Caledonia O" ("Sair, sair was my heart"), J. Lindsay (Glasgow), 1851-1910 is this song but I could not download and verify it.
Ford has seen two versions. "Whitelaw's book includes a song of two double stanzas bearing on the same theme, and with some lines nearly identical, but ours is a much more interesting, a fuller, and more individual performance." Whitelaw's text matches Ord's -- with some spelling differences -- and, from what I could tell, broadside Bodleian, 2806 c.11(64). The two versions have almost the same two first verses; they share no other lines but the description above describes them both. GreigDuncan8 is the Ford version.
Whitelaw: "This popular strain was written by William Lockhart." That leaves the origin of Ford's version in doubt, as well as the question of "which came first." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FVS237

Calendar Rhymes

DESCRIPTION: Rhymes detailing the months of the year, e.g. "January brings the snow, Makes our feet and fingers glow"; "February brings the rain, Thaws the frozen lake again"; and so on to "Chill December brings the sleet, Blazing fire and Christmas treat"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: probably of various ages; nearly all published in nineteenth century nursery rhyme books
KEYWORDS:
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #329, p. 180, "(January brings the snow)"; #336, p. 182, ("February brings the rain"); #341, p. 182, ("March brings breezes, loud and shrill"); #354, p. 185, ("April brings the primrose sweet"); #359, p. 186, ("May brings flocks of pretty lambs"); #371, p. 188, ("June brings tulips, lilies, roses"); #377, p. 189, ""Hot July brings cooling showers); #383, p. 190, ("August brings the sheaves of corn"); #389, p. 190, "Warm September brings the fruit"); #393, p. 191, "Fresh October brings the pheasant"); #402, p. 193 ("Dull November brings the blast"); #412, p. 194, ("Chill December brings the sleet")
Roud #1599, 1954
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Months" (Flanders and Swann parody incorporating some of the traditional elements; DT JANMONTH)
NOTES: Some of the verses of this are slightly similar to "The Months of the Year"; Roud to some extent combines them, and it is likely enough that "The Months" swallowed some of these rhymes. But that song is so different in form that I have split them.
Even with that separated out, this is a very amorphous item, and may not have been sung or assembled in particular form. But tracking each fragment individually is hopeless. - RBW
File: BGMG329

Calibar, The

See The Calabar (File: HHH502)

Calico Printer's Clerk, The

DESCRIPTION: In Manchester, the singer met Dorothy Drew at a ball in 1863. They danced and while "doing Varsoviana [he said] "I love you." While she visited "a near relation" he read that she had married -- "danced away with" -- "Jones, a calico printer's clerk"
AUTHOR: Harry Clifton (source: GreigDuncan8)
EARLIEST DATE: 1865 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.27(412))
KEYWORDS: courting infidelity love marriage dancing
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1900, "The Calico Printer's Clerk" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #13210
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.27(412), "Calico Printer's Clerk" ("In Manchester, that city"), The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1865; also Harding B 16(180a), "The Calico Printer's Clerk"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rock the Cradle, John" (tune, per GreigDuncan8)
NOTES: GreigDuncan8 is only the chorus; broadside Bodleian Firth b.27(412) is the basis for the description. - BS
For background on Harry Clifton (1824-1872), see the notes to "The Good Ship Kangaroo." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81900

California

See Ho for California (Banks of Sacramento) (File: E125)

California Bloomer

DESCRIPTION: Singer describes Miss Ella, an educated female gold-miner who has "taken two degrees" and wears bloomers to show her knees. He'll leave for the States soon. Cho: "Take your time, Miss Ella, do And I will rock the cradle Give the ore all to you"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1854 (Put's Original California Songster)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer describes Miss Ella, an educated female gold-miner who has "taken two degrees" and wears bloomers so that she can show her knees. He describes her crossing the plains and washing her feet in a brook; she has also done some successful panning for gold dust. He says he'll leave for the States as soon as he can. Cho: ."..Take your time, Miss Ella, do/And I will rock the cradle/Give the ore all to you"
KEYWORDS: return travel clothes mining work worker
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1849 - California gold rush begins
FOUND IN: US(SW)
RECORDINGS:
Logan English, "California Bloomer" (on LEnglish02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Lucy Long (I)" (rune)
cf. "Lucy Long (II)" (tune)
NOTES: In the late 1840s Amelia J. Bloomer designed the loose trousers, gathered at the knees, that immediately were called "bloomers." They were widely popular among young women, whom it freed up to be far more physically active than they could be in the long dresses of the time. Men viewed them with alarm and derision, calling the women who wore them "bloomer girls," not a complimentary term. - PJS
File: RcCalBlo

California Blues (Blue Yodel #4)

DESCRIPTION: "I'm going to California where they sleep out every night (x2), I'm leaving you, mama, You know you don't treat me right." The singer claims he has a home everywhere he goes. He refuses to worry, and will ride the blinds if he has no railroad fare.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952
KEYWORDS: separation travel train
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 505, "The California Blues" (1 text)
Roud #11804
NOTES: Although Brown's text is obviously a popular Blue Yodel, the version recorded apparently did not include a yodeling part. - RBW
File: Br3505

California Boys

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

California Brothers, The

See The Dying Californian (I) (File: R183)

California Joe

DESCRIPTION: "Well, mates, I don't like stories," so the singer tells his: of rescuing an orphan teenager when riding with Jim Bridger. She says she will love him, then her uncle takes her to his home. She is told Cowboy Jack is dead, but at last they are reunited
AUTHOR: Captain Jack Crawford, "The Poet Scout"
EARLIEST DATE: 1886 (Crawford, in The Poet Scout)
KEYWORDS: cowboy love rescue orphan reunion drowning
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So,SW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Larkin, pp. 136-139, "California Joe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logsdon 30, pp. 173-181, "California Joe" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CALIFJOE
Roud #4645
NOTES: Crawford describes this as a true story written in the year California Joe died (1876), though he does not explicitly identify California Joe.
The Concise Dictionary of American Biography notes that John Wallace "Captain Jack" Crawford (1847-1917) served in the Union army from 1862, and "succeeded Buffalo Bill Cody as chief of scouts" [in the 1876 Sioux campaign]. It adds that he wrote "sincere but banal verse." This last description seems to be true: Granger's Index to Poetry cites only three of his poems, none of which is cited more than once. The three are this poem, "The Death of Custer," and (get this) "Broncho versus Bicycle." It appears Crawford is remembered primarily for his scouting work; I couldn't find his name or descriptions of his writings in any literature or poetry references.
Additional information about Crawford can be found ing Logsdon.
Western scout Jim Bridger (1804-1881) was part of many exploratory expeditions from 1822 to 1868. - RBW
File: Lark137

California Stage Company, The

DESCRIPTION: "They started as a thieving line." The shortcomings of the California Stage Company are described. Passengers are crowded into dirty, smoky cars; passengers must often help push or walk. The singer urges listeners to rise up against the Company.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1858 (Put's Golden Songster)
LONG DESCRIPTION: The shortcomings of the California Stage Company are described. Passengers are crowded into dirty, smoky cars; women must sit in tobacco spit while men talk politics and swear; it's dusty, and passengers must often help push or walk. The singer urges listeners to rise up against the Company. Cho: "They started as a thieving line In eighteen-hundred-and-forty-nine All opposition they defy So the people must root hog or die"
KEYWORDS: travel technology ordeal nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1849 - Beginning of California gold rush
FOUND IN: US(SW)
Roud #8060
RECORDINGS:
Logan English, "The California Stage Company" (on LEnglish02
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Dandy Jim of Caroline" (tune)
NOTES: Again, we need the keyword "bitching," plus, perhaps, "squalor." - PJS
File: RcCaStCo

California Trail

DESCRIPTION: A complaint about the troubles of the trail to Mexico: Bad food (e.g. antelope steak), having to cook with buffalo chips rather than wood, fires that burn cooking women, Indians, people who shirk guard duty, etc. The singer advises giving up
AUTHOR: unknown (Credited in Thorp to "Montana Kate" Childs, 1869)
EARLIEST DATE: 1900
KEYWORDS: warning travel hardtimes
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thorp/Fife IV, pp. 58-60 (15-16), "California Trail" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8051
File: TF04

Calinda

See Michie Preval (File: CNFM166)

Calino Casturame

See Callino Casturame (Colleen Og a Store; Cailin O Chois tSiure; Happy 'Tis, Thou Blind, for Thee) (File: HHH491)

Call John the Boatman

DESCRIPTION: The singer orders, "Call John the Boatman." A storm is rising, and he is needed -- but he sleeps too soundly for even the tempest to rouse him: "Well, the louder that you call him, the faster he'll sleep."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: sailor storm
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Doerflinger, p. 173, "Call John the Boatman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9433
File: Doe173

Call My Little Dog

DESCRIPTION: "Call my little dog. What shall I call him? Call him Ponto, Call him Carlo, Call him J-A-C-K."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: nonballad dog
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 138, "Call My Little Dog" (1 text)
Roud #15765
File: Br3138

Call of Home, The

DESCRIPTION: "Across the foaming ocean... In a corner of old Ireland there's a spot that's dear to me." The singer recalls the cottage where he was born. The ocean has called him away, and now he lives in a great dirty city. He cannot go home, but wishes it well
AUTHOR: Jean Currie ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: homesickness emigration
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H674, p. 219, "The Call of Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Scarborough Settler's Lament" (theme) and references there
File: HHH674

Call of Quantrell, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer calls his hearers to rise; Penick's Union forces are coming, "But the Quantrell they seek shall be far, far away." The singer promises that, when Penick flags, they will turn on him and regain their territory
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1896 (Immortelles)
KEYWORDS: outlaw Civilwar
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 21, 1863 - Quantrill's Raiders destroy Lawrence, Kansas, killing about 150 men.
May 10, 1865 - Quantrill is mortally wounded on his way to Washington (where he hoped to stir up trouble by assassination). He dies 20 days later.
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, pp.353-354, "The Call of Quantrell" (1 text)
Roud #7771
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Quantrell" (subject)
cf. "Charlie Quantrell" (subject)
cf. "Bold Reynard the Fox (Tallyho! Hark! Away!)" (form"
NOTES: As is so often the case with outlaw ballads, this paints much too pretty a picture. For a brief background on Quantrill (the name used in Confederate records), see the notes to "Charlie Quantrell."
To tell this song from other Quantrell pieces, consider this first half-stanza and chorus:
Up! Up! comrades, up! The moon's in the west,
And we must be gone ere the dawning of the morn;
The hounds of old Penick will find out our nest,
But the Quantrell they seek shall be far, far away....
Cho: Rouse, my brave boys, up, up and away,
Press hard on the foe ere the dawning of day;
Look well to your steeds so gallant and [i.e. in?] chase,
That they may never give o'er till they win in the race."
Based on both form and content, I think this was inspired by "Bold Reynard the Fox (Tallyho! Hark! Away!)" or one of its relatives.
Belden says that W. R. Penick, who pursued Quantrill, was eventually a Missouri brigadier. Based on Boatner's Civil War Dictionary, however, he did not attain that rank in Union service. Either he was a brigadier only by brevet (though even that is probably excluded by his absence from Phisterer's Statistical Record of the Armies of the United States), or he was only a state brigadier, with a lower national rank. Or he may have been a colonel who had command of a brigade without appropriate rank. - RBW
File: Beld353

Callino Casturame (Colleen Og a Store; Cailin O Chois tSiure; Happy 'Tis, Thou Blind, for Thee)

DESCRIPTION: Gaelic, verses telling the blind to be happy because they cannot be dazzled by the beauty of the girl he loves, apparently in vain
AUTHOR: English words by Douglas Hyde
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (title known to and music arranged by William Byrd, died 1623)
KEYWORDS: love beauty
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
SHenry H491, p. 225, "Happy 'Tis, Thou Blind, for Thee" (1 text, 1 tune -- the Hyde translation set to music by Sam Henry, with very unhappy results. The various components may be traditional; the result is not)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 84-85, "Calino Casturame, or Colleen Oge Astore" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 267-259, "Colleen Oge Asthore" (1 text)
NOTES: According to Hoagland, this is the tune used for "The Croppy Boy," though she doesn't say which "Croppy Boy" poem she means.
Hoagland also claims that Shakespeare refers to this in Henry V, act IV, scene iv (line 4, I believe, though she doesn't say so). I don't buy it, though. The text of the First Folio is corrupt here, and the claim rests on a conjectural emendation. Editors don't even agree on the emendation. It's hard to accept a claim of dependence based on a text that isn't even secure! - RBW
File: HHH491

Calliope (This House is Haunted)

DESCRIPTION: "This house is haunted, this house is haunted, It fairly makes my blood run cold."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: ghost supernatural nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, p. 349, "Calliope" (1 short text, 1 tune)
File: San349

Calomel

DESCRIPTION: The singer describes how the doctor makes regular visits and with equal regularity prescribes Calomel. He comments, "I'm not so fond of Calomel," and asks, "How many patients have you lost? How many patients have you killed Or poisoned with your Calomel?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (Belden); Brewster's manuscript copy was dated 1832
KEYWORDS: doctor medicine humorous disease
FOUND IN: US(MW,SE)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Belden, pp. 441-442, "Calomel" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 334, "Calomel" (1 text)
Hudson 91, p. 217, "Calomel" (1 text)
Brewster 69, "Calomel" (2 texts)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 203-204, "Calomel" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 54, pp. 126-127 "Calomel" (1 text)
DT, CALOMEL(*)
Roud #3770
NOTES: Calomel (Hg₂Cl₂, or Mercury (I) chloride) was one of the first tools in the physician's repertoire that actually did what it was supposed to do. Of course, given what it was used for (a purgative), it is questionable whether it was often needed. In addition, it contains mercury, which is poisonous. David L. Heiserman, Exploring Chemical Elements and their Compounds, TAB Books, 1992, p. 280, notes that it is now used as a fungicide and insecticide -- and yet it was used on (or, rather, in) human beings! - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: SWM203

Calton Weaver, The

See Nancy Whisky (File: K279)

Calvary

DESCRIPTION: Story of Jesus' crucifixion told from the point of view of one of his grieving followers. Jesus carries his cross to Calvary, where he is crucified, suffers, and dies without complaint. There is darkness over the earth, but Jesus is resurrected.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1968 (recording, Dock Boggs)
KEYWORDS: grief execution punishment resurrection death dying Easter ordeal Bible religious supernatural clergy Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE)
Roud #12169
RECORDINGS:
Dock Boggs, "Calvary" (on Boggs3, BoggsCD1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Saw You My Savior?" (plot)
NOTES: This should not be confused with the Sacred Harp hymn of the same name. - PJS
Based on Paul's description, it would appear that this song generally follows the passion account of John rather than the other three gospels -- e.g. Jesus carries his own cross (John 19:17; compare Mark 15:21, etc., where Simon of Cyrene carries the cross) and makes no complaint (compare John 19:25-30 to, e.g., Mark 15:34). - RBW
File: RcCalva

Cam' Ye By the Salmon Fishin'

See Salmon Fishers (File: MSNR078)

Cambric Shirt, The

See The Elfin Knight [Child 2] (File: C002)

Camden Town

DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a pretty girl, asks her to sit by him (and proposes marriage; they make love); she refuses to marry a man who has led her astray, whereupon he pushes her into the river to drown (or she drowns herself, whereupon he is seized with remorse)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (collected from William Hughes)
KEYWORDS: courting sex rejection seduction river violence murder death drowning suicide lover
FOUND IN: Britain(England) Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MacSeegTrav 76, "Camden Town" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #564
RECORDINGS:
Mary Delaney, "In Charlestown There Lived a Lass" (on IRTravellers01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wexford Girl (The Oxford, Lexington, or Knoxville Girl; The Cruel Miller; etc.)" [Laws P35] (plot)
cf. "Down by Blackwaterside" (plot)
NOTES: This seems to be an amalgamation of "Down by Blackwaterside" and "The Wexford Girl," but as it shares few words with either song, and the denouement is quite different, I classify it separately. - PJS
Roud lumps it with "Pretty Little Miss" [Laws P18], and that, given its textual state, is possible. But, when in doubt, we split. - RBW
Mary Delaney's version on IRTravellers01 includes a verse from "The Silvery Tide"; specifically "Now as Willie, he went out walking, He went out to take fresh air, And he seen his own love Mary In the waves of the silvery tide." - BS
File: McCST076

Came Ye O'er Frae France

DESCRIPTION: Geordie [George I] is ridiculed. "Jocky's gane to France, And Montgomery's lady" to learn to dance. He'll return with "Sandy Don," "Cockolorum," "Bobbing John, And his Highland quorum" "How they'll skip and dance O'er the bum o' Geordie!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1819 (Hogg1)
KEYWORDS: nonballad political Jacobites royalty
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Hogg1 53, "Cam Ye O'er Frae France?" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan1 120, "Cam Ye O'er From France?" (1 text)
DT, CAMFRANC*
Roud #5814
NOTES: Hogg1: "'Montgomery's lady' may have been the lady of Lord James Montgomery, who was engaged in a plot in 1695, and who, it is likely, would be connected with the Jacobites. Neither can I tell who 'Sandy Don' and 'Cockolorum' are; but it is evident that by 'Bobbing John' is meant John. Earl of Mar, who must, at the time this song was made, have been raising the Highlanders."
GreigDuncan1: "From a manuscript book owned by William Walker. "Jacobite Song, from an old chapbook - about 1796-8." - BS
The level of sarcasm in this song is obviously high. "Geordie Whelps" is George I -- a likely target for sarcasm even from his supporters, given that he was old, fat, ugly, and spoke no English. As for what the Jacobites thought, well, there are limits to what we can repeat....
"And his bonnie woman": There are wheels within wheels on this one. George I's wife, whom he married when he was still just the heir to the duchy of Hanover, was Sophia Dorothea of Luneburg (see Christopher Sinclair-Stevenson, Blood Royal, the Illustrious House of Hannover, Doubleday, 1980, p. 31). But George I grew tired of her after she bore him two children, and after being ignored long enough, she had an affair with one Count Philip Konigsmarck. It was discovered, Konigsmark was made to vanish, and George I was officially divorced from Sophia Dorothea. He also had her imprisoned for the rest of her life (Sinclair-Stevenson, pp. 39-44).
That left George I free to carry on with his mistresses, who were widely regarded as extremely ugly. Thackerey (quoted by Sinclair-Stevenson, p.26), describes them as follows: "The Duchess [Madame Schulenberg, made Duchess of Kendal by George] was tall, and lean of stature, and hence was irreverently nicknamed the Maypole. The Countess [Madame Kielmansegge, George's Countess of Darlington] wasa large-sized noblewoman, and this elevated personage was denominated the Elephant." Schulenberg also was nicknamed "the goose," and so George I came to England "riding on a goosie."
The nickname "Bobbing John" for the Earl of Mar was well-earned. The first Jacobite rebellion, such as it was, came in the aftermath of the 1707 passage of the Act of Union between England and Scotland. It wasn't so much a rebellion as a scream of protest, and naturally went nowhere, even though Louis XIV of France supported it. The Earl of Mar enthusiastically supported Queen Anne at this time (Sinclair-Stevenson, p. 50).
When George I showed up, though, Mar changed his tune and gathered many Highland chiefs to rebel (Sinclair-Stevenson, pp. 45-47). Hence the "Highland Quorum."
Ewan MacColl says that the "blade" who would "drive a trade at the loom o' Georgie" is the Count Koningsmark. This seems nearly certain: Count Philip Christopher von Konigsmarck (the spelling used by Sinclair-Stevenson, p. 27) had an affair with Sophia Dorothea, the wife of George I, in the early 1690s (Sinclair-Stevenson, pp. 36-39). George I was understandably miffed (though you can hardly blame the wife of such a creature for seeking something more nearly resembling a human being). Fortunately there was already a royal heir, the future George II. Konigsmark was made to disappear (Sinclair-Stevenson, pp. 40-41). George demanded and got a divorce from his wife, and, at 28, she was locked up (Sinclair-Stevenson, pp. 42-43). She would spend the remaining 32 years of her life under guard. George I's dynasty was not actually harmed (though there were a few Jacobite remarks that his children were not his), but it was certainly embarrassed.
The rumours of illegitimacy about George II, the son of George I, were almost certainly false; he was in many ways like George I, though not quite as bear-like. Indeed, he was far more like his father than his mother, since she was said to be quite pretty and gay -- two words that no one has ever applied to *any* Hannoverian that I can recall. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: DT

Cameloun

DESCRIPTION: "It's Tarvis parish that I cam frae... To the Fyvie lands in the mornin'." The singer works at Cameloun, where they make him rise too early and feed him dreadful food. He lists the people he works with. If any ask about him, he says to say he is gone
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: food hardtimes work farming
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig, "Folk-Song in Buchan," pp. 72-74, "Cameloun"; Greig #16, p. 2, "Cameloun" (2 texts, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan3 389, "Cameloun" (6 texts, 4 tunes)
Ord, pp. 260-261, "Cameloun" (1 text)
Roud #5592
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Pitgair" (tune, per Greig)
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Cameloun (389) is at coordinate (h4,v8) on that map [roughly 25 miles NNW of Aberdeen] - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Ord260

Cameron's Gotten's Wife Again

DESCRIPTION: "Cam'ron's gotten's wife again Cam'ron's gotten's wife again ... Before he risk his life again"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: husband wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1730, "Cameron's Gotten's Wife Again" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #13130
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan8 fragment. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Gr81730

Cameronian Cat, The

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

Camp at Hoover Lake, The

DESCRIPTION: "The first day of September we were all at hand For to go to the shanty at Sheehan's command." The crew leaves families to work at Hoover Lake. They live in a shanty built "like a nest of mudhens." The workers in the camp are described
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: work logger lumbering moniker
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke-Lumbering #19, "The Camp at Hoover Lake" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4373
NOTES: For melodic reasons, Fowke suggests that this is composite. It's hard to tell from the lyrics, which are typical of logger songs, but she's probably right. - RBW
File: FowL19

Camp on de Cheval Gris, De

DESCRIPTION: French-Canadian dialect song. Singer visits his abandoned lumber camp and reminisces. He recalls his friend Johnnie reading a letter over and over, and discovers it's a love-letter. He tells Johnnie he's never revealed the letter's secret.
AUTHOR: William Henry Drummond
EARLIEST DATE: 1897 (Drummond, The Habitant)
LONG DESCRIPTION: French-Canadian dialect song. Singer visits his old lumber camp, now abandoned, and addresses this song to his old friend, Johnnie, reminiscing about the crew and the times they had. He recalls Johnnie reading a letter over and over, and one day finding the letter himself, reading it, and realizing it's a love-letter. He dreams they are back together, but awakens to find himself back in the old camp with his grandson. He tells Johnnie he's never revealed the letter's secret.
KEYWORDS: love return lumbering work logger moniker friend dream
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Beck 73, "De Camp on de Cheval Gris" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: William Henry Drummond, M.D., _The Habitant and other French Canadian Poems_, Putnam, 1897, pp. 112-117, "De Camp on de 'Cheval Gris''" (1 text)
ST Be073 (Partial)
Roud #8847
File: Be073

Camp on McNeal, The

DESCRIPTION: Times and names of the crew that worked one winter for A and R Loggie. While times don't seem very hard "some of the boys ... brought with them the flu"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Ives-NewBrunswick)
KEYWORDS: lumbering moniker logger disease
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 58-60, "The Camp on McNeal" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1945
NOTES: Ives-NewBrunswick: "McNeal Brook flows through the wilderness between the Little Sevogle and the Little Southwest Miramichi Rivers....around 1920 Arthur and Stanley MacDonald put in a winter there in one of the camps of A & R Loggie Ltd of Loggieville." - BS
File: IvNB158

Campaign of 1856, The

DESCRIPTION: "Old Benton had a daughter, Fair Jessie was her name, The Rocky Mountain ranger A-courting her he came." "Buck and Breck, neck and neck, A yoke of oxen true, Pulling to the Kansas log -- Gee, whoa, haw!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: courting political
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, p. 341, "The Campaign of 1856" (1 text of two stanzas, perhaps not from the same song)
Roud #7838
NOTES: Belden has no actual proof that this piece (pieces?) connects to the Campaign of 1856, let alone that it is a campaign song, but there is little doubt that it comes from that era. "Buck and Breck" are James Buchanan and his Vice President, John C. Breckinridge. The "Kansas Log" is the problem of "bleeding Kansas," a burning issue that neither president Pierce nor president Buchanan ever solved.
The first verse quoted by Belden is another matter. It might be unrelated to the 1856 campaign, although it clearly describes John C. Fremont (1813-1890), the Republican candidate of 1856 (the first Republican presidential candidate, in fact).
Fremont made his reputation as a western explorer; hence his common title "The Pathfinder" and the reference in the song to the "Rocky Mountain Ranger." Fremont married Jessie Benton (1824-1902), the daughter of Thomas Hart Benton (1782-1858).
Benton and Fremont had an interesting relationship: Benton didn't like the younger man sniffing after his daughter, so he managed to have Fremont explore the Des Moines river. But John and Jessie Fremont married secretly after his return in 1841. Benton then became a strong supporter of Fremont and helped arrange for other expeditions. - RBW
File: Beld341

Campanero, The

DESCRIPTION: The sailor complains about the conditions on the Campanero. "The skipper is a bulldozer... The mate he wants to fight." He finally concludes that getting married -- even getting married twice -- is better than serving on that ship
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Fragment in Frothingham, _Adventure_)
KEYWORDS: shanty sailor abuse humorous
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Doerflinger, pp. 84-85, "The Campanero" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 471-472, "The Handy Bandy Barque" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 349-350]
ST Doe084 (Partial)
Roud #3094
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Campanayro
File: Doe084

Campbell the Drover

See Campbell the Rover (File: K269)

Campbell the Rover

DESCRIPTION: "The first day of April I'll never forget; (Three) English (lasses) together they met." They offer Campbell a spree in a pub, then leave him to pay the bill. He escapes by tricking the landlord and leaving him with his thumbs plugging a cask
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: drink trick party landlord
FOUND IN: Ireland Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Kennedy 269, "Campbell the Rover" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 126-127, "Three English Rovers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 68, "Campbell the Drover" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DROVCAMP
Roud #881
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Irishtown Crew" (tune & meter)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Three English Blades
Three English Rovers
Campbell the Drover
File: K269

Campbell's Mill

DESCRIPTION: The singer wanders out and sees a pretty girl. He goes up to her and courts her. She refuses to give her name, and asks why he is talking to her. He offers to marry her and take her away from the mill. She refuses; she has a love and is no match for him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting beauty rejection
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H762, p. 368, "Campbell's Mill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leyden 10, "Campbell's Mill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6884
NOTES: Leyden: In 1830, Campbell's Mill "was the last building on the town side of Belfast and beyond was open countryside ...; it finally ceased trading as the Irish Flax Spinning Co Ltd in about 1920."
In Leyden's version, taken from SHenry H762, the maid "works in Campbell's Mill." Leyden comments that "It makes a welcome change in a traditional song that not only does the girl rebuff the advances of this 'fine well looking gentleman' for her lover's sake, but also because she has the security of a trade." - BS
File: HHH762

Campbells Are Coming, The

DESCRIPTION: "The Campbells are coming, o-ho, o-ho! (x2), The Campbells are coming from bonnie Loch Lomond...." Argyle leads the van; the pipes sound. The singer expects them to win honor and success
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1748 ("A Choice Collection of 200 Favorite Country Dances")
KEYWORDS: Scotland soldier nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
GreigDuncan1 116, "The Campbells Are Comin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 281, "The Campbells Are Comin'" (1 text)
Fuld, pp. 157-158, "The Campbells Are Coming"
DT, (CAMPBLL* -- the Burns text)
GreigDuncan1 116, "The Campbells Are Comin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: James Kinsley, editor, Burns: Complete Poems and Songs (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #314, p. 432, "The Campbells are comin" (1 text, 1 tune, from 1790)
ST FSWB281B (Full)
Roud #5784
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Yankees Are Coming" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
The Yankees Are Coming (File: Hud124)
The Camlachie Militia/The Russians are Coming (broadsides Murray, Mu23-y2:002, "The Camlachie Militia," ("The Russians are coming, oh dear, oh dear!"), Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1855; same broadside as NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(49); [in broadside Murray, Mu23-y1:074, "The Russian in Glasgow," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C, this is given the tune "Joanne of Paris," but it's clearly this song; another Murray broadside, broadside Murray, Mu23-y1:075, "The Russians Are Coming," James Lindsay (Glasgow), probably c. 1855), does not appear to be the same piece]
NOTES: Various theories have been offered about the historical significance of this song, which was certainly in existence by 1745. One has it that it concerns the suppression of the 1715 Jacobite rebellion; another, that it is concerned with the events around Mary Stewart's deposition. These theories and others like them are, at best, possible.
Robert Burns rewrote the song for the Scots Musical Museum (#299), keeping chorus and one verse. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: FSWB281B

Camphor Song, The

DESCRIPTION: "The old man went to the barn, To get some corn to fed some pigs." A pig is lying on the ground. The old man tries to revive it. The pig jumps on him. Sister Sal brings camphor to revive him. "He has never been to feed them hogs since."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Henry, collected from Mrs. Samuel Harmon)
KEYWORDS: animal injury humorous farming
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 7-8, "The Camphor Song" (1 text)
NOTES: Camphor -- C(10)H(16)O -- is the characteristic component of mothballs. It thus can be used both to revive a person (in small quantities) and to hurt animals (usually in larger doses). - RBW
File: MHAp007

Camping in the Bend

See Four Little Johnny Cakes (File: PFS276)

Camptown Races

DESCRIPTION: "De Camptown ladies sing dis song, Doo-da! Doo-da! De Camptown racetrack five miles long... Gwine to run all night! Gwine to run all day I'll bet my money on the bob-tail nag...." The singer describes the races and how he won a "pocket full of tin"
AUTHOR: Stephen C. Foster
EARLIEST DATE: 1849
KEYWORDS: racing money nonballad horse
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 39-42, "Gwine to Run All Night or De Camptown Races" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 419, "Camptown Races" (1 fragment)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 41-42, "Camptown Races" (1 text, 1 tune, plus the parody "'Lincoln Hoss' and Stephen A.")
PSeeger-AFB, p. 40, "The Camptown Races" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 34, "Camptown Races" (1 text)
Saunders/Root-Foster 2, pp. 477-478+496, "Camptown Races Arranged for the Guitar" (1 text, 1 tune, probably not arranged by Foster)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 270, "Camptown Races" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 158-159, "(De) Camptown Races--(Sacramento)"
DT, CAMPTWN*
ST RJ19039 (Full)
Roud #11768
RECORDINGS:
Kanawha Singers, "De Camptown Races" (Brunswick 337, 1929)
Pete Seeger, "Camptown Races" (on PeteSeeger24)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Lincoln Hoss and Stephen A." (tune)
NOTES: Spaeth (A History of Popular Music in America, p. 107) notes that a "folk-song" called "Hoodah Day" is very similar to this song, and speculates that it or "Sacramento" could have been the original of the Foster song. Fuld, however, notes that no verifiable printing of either piece predates the Foster song. - RBW
File: RJ19039

Can Cala Me

See Padstow May Day Song (File: K086)

Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight?

DESCRIPTION: The tramp asks to be allowed to spend the night in the barn, adding that he had no tobacco or matches. He explains how he used to live a settled life, but then a stranger came to town and made off with his wife and son.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (recordings, Charlie Poole, George Reneau)
KEYWORDS: abandonment rambling poverty hobo request
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Randolph 841, "Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight?" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 502-504, "Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight?" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 841A)
BrownIII 356, "May I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight, Mister?" (2 texts)
Rorrer, p. 70, "Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight Mister" (1 text)
Cambiaire, pp. 117-118, "May I Sleep In Your Barn To-Night, Mister" (1 text)
Leach-Labrador 93, "The Tramp" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #768
RECORDINGS:
Clarence Ashley & Tex Isley, "Can I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight, Mister?" (on Ashley01)
Gene Autry, "May I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight Mister?" (Conqueror 7765, 1931)
Boone County Entertainers, "May I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight, Mister" (Supertone 9182, 1928)
Jeff Calhoun [pseud. for Vernon Dalhart], "May I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight, Mister?" (Grey Gull 4118, 1927)
Kentucky Mountain Boys, "May I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight, Mister?" (Supertone S-2027, 1930)
[Walter "Kid" Smith & the] Carolina Buddies, "May I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight Mister" (Perfect 160, 1930)
Harry "Mac" McClintock, "Can I Sleep In Your Barn?" (Victor V-40264, 1930)
Frank McFarland & Robert Gardner, "May I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight" (Brunswick 203, 1928; Supertone S-2027, 1930; rec. 1927)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight Mister" (Columbia 15038-D, 1925; on CPoole02)
Red Fox Chasers, "May I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight Mister?" (Gennett 6547/Supertone 9182, 1928)
George Reneau, "May I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight, Mister?" (Vocalion 15149, 1925)
James Roberts, "May I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight Mister?" (Conqueror 7254 [as Joe Reeves], 1929; rec. 1928) (Banner 32205/Perfect 12726/Romeo 5074/Conqueror 7765 [as Joe Reeves], 1931)
Ernest V. Stoneman and Fiddler Joe [Samuels], "May I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight Mister?" (Okeh 45059, 1926); Ernest V. Stoneman, "May I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight Mister?" (Challenge 153/Challenge 312/Gennett 3368/Herwin 75530, 1926)
Tennessee Mountaineers [Charlie Poole?] "May I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight, Mister" (Broadway 8146, rec. 1929)
Jim Whalen, "May I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight, Mister?" (Champion 15545, 1928)
Kid Williams & Bill Morgan [pseuds. for Walter Smith & Lewis McDaniel], "May I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight Mister?" (Perfect 160, 1931)
Marc Williams, "Can I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight, Mister" (OKeh 45467, 1930)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Tramp's Story" (plot)
cf. "The Lehigh Valley" (plot)
cf. "The Deserted Husband" (theme)
cf. "Red River Valley" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Let Me Sleep in Your Tent Tonight, Beal (Greenway-AFP, pp.137-138; fragment, perhaps from Greenway, in Burt, p. 187; the song is said to have been written by Odel Corley when he was 11 years old. For Manville Jenckes, the villain of the song, see the notes on "Chief Aderholt")
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Honest Tramp
Can I Sleep In Your Barn Tonight, Mister?
NOTES: Carson J. Robison credits this to E. V. Body, but "Body" gets credit for too many things for the attribution to amount to much. - RBW
File: R841

Can of Grog, The

DESCRIPTION: "When up the shrouds the sailor goes And ventures on the yard, The landsman who no better knows Believes his lot is hard." The sailor describes his hard life, but notes the comfort the sailors take in grog
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (Journal from the Ann)
KEYWORDS: sailor hardtimes drink
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 73-74, "The Can of Grog" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2023
File: SWMS073

Can of Spring Water, The

DESCRIPTION: Singer meets a lass on her way to a well. He asks her parents' name. She rejects his advance but he seduces her. Subsequently she marries someone else but has a baby to go with her to the well.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1900 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 19(64))
KEYWORDS: seduction sex marriage children
FOUND IN:
Roud #5215
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 19(64), "The Can of Spring Water" ("One evening in May as I carelessly strayed"), J.F. Nugent & Co. (Dublin), 1850-1899; also 2806 c.15(35)[barely legible], "The Can of Spring Water"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Well of Spring Water" (form)
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Harding B 19(64) is the basis for the description. - BS
File: BdCaSpWa

Can the Circle Be Unbroken?

See Will the Circle Be Unbroken (File: R635)

Can Ye Sew Cushions

DESCRIPTION: "O can ye sew cushions, And can ye sew sheets, Can you sing ba-loo-loo When the bairn greets?" "And hee and baw, birdie, and he and baw, lamb... My bonnie wee lamb." (The singer talks of the child's future life.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1803 (Scots Musical Museum)
KEYWORDS: nonballad baby
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 135, "(O can you sew cushions)" (1 text)
DT, SEWCUSHN* CUSHION2
Roud #5527
NOTES: Insignificant as this item sounds, it's had some pretty big names associated with it; both Burns and Lady Nairne are said to have worked on it. Murray Shoolbraid's Digital Tradition notes give information on a putative Gaelic source; I have not been able to check this. - RBW
File: MSNR135

Can You Rokker Romany?

DESCRIPTION: "If you jump up on my barrow, I'll take you for a ride. And maybe in the springtime you can be my bride." Can you speak Romany, play the fiddle, eat prison food, cut the wood, break a horse, sleep with a girl and make someone not Romany?
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1864 (Wandsworth, according to Coughlan)
KEYWORDS: sex fiddle food nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Tim Coughlan, Now Shoon the Romano Gillie, (Cardiff,2001), #15, p. 214, "Can You Rokra Romany?" [from Wandsworth]
RECORDINGS:
Peter Ingram, "Can You Rokker Romany?" (on Voice11)
NOTES: The text in Voice11 translates the Romany words into English (for example, "rokker" is translated as "speak"). The description relies on that translation. - BS
Coughlan #15 is a single verse corresponding to Ingram's second verse. For a more general discussion see Coughlan, #15-22, pp. 214-225. Coughlan #15 is the earliest of these citations. - BS
File: RcCYRRom

Can'cha Line 'Em

DESCRIPTION: Work song/shout, with chorus, "Ho, boys, can'cha line em? (x3) See Eloise go linin' track." Many of verses are on religious themes ("If I could I surely would Stand on the rock where Moses stood"; "Mary, Marthy, Luke, and John, all... dead and gone")
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (recording, Allen Prothero)
KEYWORDS: railroading work religious worksong
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Lomax-FSUSA 78, "Can'cha Line 'Em" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 14-17, "Tie-Shuffling Chant" (1 text with extra verses, 1 tune)
Cohen-LSRail, p. 646, "Track Linin'" (1 text)
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 446, "Track Lining Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, p. 97, (no title, but compare "The Captain Can't Read" on the previous page) (1 text)
Darling-NAS, p. 328, "Jack the Rabbit" (1 text)
Roud #10070
RECORDINGS:
Henry Hankins, "Lining Track" (AFS 2946 A1, 1939; on LC61)
Allen Prothero, "Track-Lining Song" (AFS 179 A1; on LC8)
T. C. I. Section Crew, "Track Linin'" (Paramount 12478, 1927)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Oh, Mary, Don't You Weep" (floating verses)
NOTES: Since this is one of those wonderful songs that is "adapted and arranged" (usual translation: "completely fouled up") by the Lomaxes, I can't tell if it comes from the same roots as "Can't You Line It?" There are almost no similarities beyond the titles, but that doesn't mean much. - RBW
Looking at the lyrics of the Prothero field recording, they seem to have almost nothing in common with, "Can't You Line It?" as summarized in the latter's description. I'd guess the songs are, at best, distantly related. - PJS
The Darling "Jack the Rabbit" text looks rather different (indeed, the feeling is almost closer to "Grizzely Bear") -- but it has a line similar to this one, so I'm sticking it here for now, more in desperation than anything else.
Cohen's "Track Linin'" song also has the "Jack the rabbit" line, so it files here on hte same basis.
According to Cohen, this is one of only two railroad worksongs released on a commercial 78 (the other being "Section Gang Song"). He thinks they may be the earliest worksong recordings of any sort. - RBW
File: LxU078

Can't Cross Jordan

DESCRIPTION: Can't cross Jordan and you can't go around," with chorus "They've taken my Lord away, away... Oh, tell me where they've laid him." Also floating verses: "What kind of shoes does a Christian wear?" "As I went down in the valley to pray." Etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad floatingverses Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 558, "Can't Cross Jordan" (1 text plus a fragment)
Roud #11879
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Christ Was Born in Bethlehem" (floating verses)
cf. "Down in the Valley to Pray" (floating verses)
cf. "What Kind of Crowns Do the Angels Wear?" (floating verses)
NOTES: From the looks of this, the Brown text has swallowed up lyrics from almost everywhere. The chorus, "They've taken my Lord away, Tell me where they've laid him" is an allusion to John 20:13, 15.
The reference to Ezekiel walking into heaven defeats me; while Ezekiel probably holds the record for strange visions, there is no report of him going directly to heaven; that description fits only Enoch (Gen. 5:24), Elijah (2 Kings 2:11), and Jesus himself (Acts 1:9).
The rest of the song -- about 75% of the whole, in the Brown text -- is floating material. Some of it is fairly characteristic of particular songs (see the cross-references), but much is too generic even to classify. - RBW
File: Br3558

Can't Help But Wonder

See I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound" (File: FSWB052)

Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound

See I Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound" (File: FSWB052)

Can't They Dance the Polka

See Can't You Dance the Polka (New York Girls) (File: Doe058)

Can't Ye Hilo?

DESCRIPTION: Shanty. "Young gals, good gals, bad gals, O! Cho: Young girls can't ye Hilo? I will take 'em all in tow, Cho: Young girls can't ye Hilo?" Other verses have rhymes about dancing and women in general.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Robinson in _The Bellman_)
KEYWORDS: shanty dancing
FOUND IN: West Indies
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Hugill, p. 265, "Can't Ye Hilo?" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 194-195]
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). "Young Girls, Can't You Hilo? is in Part 3, 7/28/1917.
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Jean Francois de Nantes
NOTES: The word "hilo" in this case seems to refer to some sort of dance or jamboree. - SL
File: Hug265

Can't You Dance the Polka (New York Girls)

DESCRIPTION: The sailor meets a girl, who offers to take him home to her "family." He sits down to dinner, is drugged, and goes to bed with the girl. In the morning he awakens to find himself naked and without his money. He is forced to go to a boarding master
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1882
KEYWORDS: sailor whore robbery drink drugs shanghaiing
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Doerflinger, pp. 58-60, "Can't They Dance the Polka!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, pp. 108-109, "Can't You Dance the Polka?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 37-38, "Can't You Dance the Polka?" "Santy" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 369-376, "Away Susanna!" "Can't Ye Dance the Polka?" "The New York Girls" (4 texts, 4 tunes -- also includes a fragment from the Swedish shanty book _Sang under Segal_ titled "Seafarers", the words being the same as Hugill's first version of "Can't You Dance the Polka")
Silber-FSWB, p. 87, "Can't You Dance the Polka" (1 text, which appears truncated, with an ending in which the girl puts off the man by saying she has a husband)
DT, NYGIRLS* (NYGIRLS2? -- this looks like a modern parody; compare Silber's version)
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). Robinson called his version (in Part 1, 7/14/1917) "Oh My Santi"; the verse has with words very similar to "My Irish Jaunting Car" though the meter, tune, and chorus are from this song.
Roud #486
RECORDINGS:
Bob Roberts w. Peter Kennedy, "Can't You Dance the Polka?" (on LastDays)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Gold Watch" [Laws K41] (plot) and references there
NOTES: The Martin Churchill mentioned in the last verse of some versions was a boarding master of the mid-Nineteenth century. (For background on boarding masters, see the notes to "Dixie Brown" [Laws D7]). - RBW
File: Doe058

Can't You Line It?

DESCRIPTION: "When I get to Illinois, I'm gonna spread the word about the Florida boys. Shove it over! Hey, hey, can't you line it?...." The singer complains about hard times and high prices, and describes the conditions in which he works
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Hurston, Mules and Men)
KEYWORDS: work hardtimes railroading
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Lomax-FSNA 293, "Can't You Line It?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 746, "Can't You Line It?" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Zora Neale Hurston, _Mules and Men_ (New York,1990 (paperback edition of 1935 original)), pp. 264-266, "Can't You Line It?" (with tune)
Roud #10070
File: LoF293

Canada I O

See Canaday-I-O/Michigan-I-O/Colley's Run I-O [Laws C17] (File: LC17)

Canada-I-O

See Canaday-I-O/Michigan-I-O/Colley's Run I-O [Laws C17] (File: LC17)

Canada-I-O (The Wearing of the Blue; Caledonia)

DESCRIPTION: When her love goes to sea, a lady dresses as a sailor and joins (his or another's) ship's crew. When she is discovered, (the crew/her lover) determine to drown her. The captain saves her; they marry
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(1982))
KEYWORDS: love separation betrayal disguise cross-dressing sailor rescue reprieve marriage
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf) Ireland Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (8 citations):
SHenry H162, pp. 333-334, "Canada[,] Hi! Ho!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig #77, pp. 1-2, "Caledonia" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 227, "Pretty Caledonia" (11 texts [including 3 verses on p. 537], 8 tunes)
Ord, pp. 117-118, "Caledonia" (1 text)
Leach-Labrador 90, "Canadee-I-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 48, "Wearing of the Blue" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 109, "She Bargained with a Captain" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
DT, CANADIO3* CALEDONIA*
Roud #309 and 5543
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "Canadie-I-O" (on IRRCinnamond03)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1982), "Kennady I-o," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Firth c.12(329), Harding B 11(2039), "Lady's Trip to Kennedy"; Harding B 25(1045), "The Lady's Trip to Kennady"; Firth c.12(330), "Canada Heigho"; Firth c.13(240), Firth c.12(331), Harding B 11(2920), 2806 c.16(72), "Canada I, O"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Canada Heigho!!
Kennady I-o
Lady's Trip to Kennady
The Isles of Daniel
NOTES: Based on similarity of title, some connect this song with "Canaday-I-O, Michigan-I-O, Colley's Run I-O" [Laws C17]. There is no connection in plot, however, and any common lyrics are probably the result of cross-fertilization. (Leach-Labrador has a report that "Canaday-I-O" was written in 1854 by Ephraim Braley using this song as a pattern.)
The Scottish song "Caledonia" is quite different in detail -- so much so that I'm tempted to separate it from the "Canada-I-O" texts (Roud, surprisingly, does split it; "Canaday-I-O" is his #309; "Caledonia" is #5543). But the plot is too close to allow us to distinguish.
There is a curious anachronism in most of the "Canada-I-O" texts, in that the girl concludes by saying something like "You see the honor that I have gained By the wearing of the blue." However, the British navy did not adopt a uniform for ordinary sailors until 1857 -- this being, of course, the familiar blue serge and white duck (see Arthur Herman, To Rule the Waves, p. 455). This being after the date of the earliest broadsides, it presumably is an intrusive element. - RBW
I don't believe anyone else has said that Creighton-SNewBrunswick fragment belongs here (it is Roud #2782). Here is all of Creighton-SNewBrunswick: "She bargained with a captain Her passage to go free, That she might be his comrade To cross the raging sea"
The usual arrangement in Canada-I-O is "She bargained with a sailor [or the sailors], All for a purse of gold." However, broadside Bodleian Firth c.12(330) has the following wording:
[...]
She was courted by a sailor
Twas true she loved him dear,
And how to get to sea with him
The way she did not know.
[...]
She bargained with a captain
All for a purse of gold
And soon they did convey the lady
Down into the hold.
[...]
The plot continues as usual, with the captain coming to her rescue. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: HHH162

Canada, Hi! Ho!

See Canada-I-O (The Wearing of the Blue; Caledonia) (File: HHH162)

Canaday I-O

See Canaday-I-O/Michigan-I-O/Colley's Run I-O [Laws C17] (File: LC17)

Canaday-I-O, Michigan-I-O, Colley's Run I-O [Laws C17]

DESCRIPTION: A group of lumbermen suffers a winter or cold and poor conditions. When winter ends, they joyfully return to their homes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 Gray's ""The Jolly Lumbermen" version)
KEYWORDS: logger work separation lumbering
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,NE) Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Laws C17a, "Canaday I-O"; C17b, "Michigan I-O"; C17c, "Colley's Run I-O (The Jolly Lumbermen)"
Gray, pp. 37-40, "Canaday-I-O" (1 text, plus sample stanzas from "The Buffalo Skinners," "Canada-I-O (The Wearing of the Blue; Caledonia)," and a railroading song all built on the same pattern); pp. 41-43, "The Jolly Lumbermen" (1 text, from Shoemaker)
Rickaby 8, "Michigan-I-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 105, "Michigan--I-O" (1 text plus mention of 2 more, 1 tune)
Fowke-Lumbering #2 , "Michigan-I-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 181-183, "Canaday-I-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 773-775, "Canaday I. O. (The Buffalo Skinners)" (2 texts, but only the second goes with this piece; the other belongs with "The Buffalo Skinners" [Laws B10a])
Friedman, p. 415, "Canaday-I-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 68-69, "Canaday-I-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thorp/Fife XV, pp. 195-218 (31-33), "Buffalo Range" (6 texts, 2 tunes, though the "B" text is "Boggy Creek," C and D appear unrelated, and E is "Canada-I-O")
Lomax-FSNA 57, "Canada-I-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 569-570, "Canada I O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Beck 1, "Michigan-I-O" (2 texts); 2, "Coolie's Run-I-O" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 179-181, "Canaday I-O" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 104, "Canada-I-O" (1 text)
DT 377, CANADIO* CANADI2 CANADIO2 CANADIO
Roud #640
RECORDINGS:
L. Parker Temple, "Colley's Run I-O" (AFS, 1940s; on LC28)
Lester Wells, "Michigan I-O" (AFS, 1938; on LC56)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Buffalo Skinners" (Laws B10a)
cf. "Boggy Creek or The Hills of Mexico" [Laws B10b]
cf. "Shanty Teamster's Marseillaise"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Jolly Lumbermen
NOTES: The text known as "Canaday-I-O" is credited by Fowke and by Eckstorm to one Ephraim Braley, who worked in the Canadian woods in 1853. Leach, in his notes to his #109, "Canadee-I-O," states that he based his song on the piece we have indexed as "Canada-I-O (The Wearing of the Blue; Caledonia)"-- though that song too appears to have been quite new at the time. Alan Lomax apparently accepts this interpretation, but also mentions the Scots song "Caledoni-o," which is also mentioned by Leach. Gray also links this song to "Canada-I-O (The Wearing of the Blue; Caledonia)," and argues that that song came first, then this, and that this gave rise to "The Buffalo Skinners."
Probably the whole complex deserves a more thorough examination than it has gotten. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: LC17

Canadee-I-O

See Canada-I-O (The Wearing of the Blue; Caledonia) (File: HHH162)

Canadian Boat Song, A

DESCRIPTION: "Faintly as tolls the evening chime, Our voices keep tune and our oars keep time.... Soon as the woods on shore look dim, We'll sing at St. Anne's our parting hymn." An encouragement to and prayer for good rowing when there is no wind
AUTHOR: Thomas Moore
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1804
KEYWORDS: river nonballad
FOUND IN: Canada
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 60-61, "A Canadian Boat Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 151, "Canadian Boat Song" (reproduction of a broadside page with "The Pretty Plough Boy," "The Spotted Cow," and "Canadian Boat Song")
Charles W. Eliot, editor, English Poetry Vol II From Collins to Fitzgerald (New York, 1910), #489, p. 819, "A Canadian Boat-Song" (by Thomas Moore)
ST FJ060 (Partial)
Roud #13847
NOTES: Moore's poem is sung to a French folk tune, "Dans mon chemin j'ai rencontre," but the result does not qualify as a voyageur piece and does not seem to have circulated extensively in oral tradition. (Granger's Index to Poetry cites three anthologies, but none of them folk-influenced.)
Moore wrote it after a visit to Canada during which he sailed from Kingston to Montreal. The winds on this trip were so poor that the sailors were obliged to row the whole way; hence the poem. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FJ060

Canal Dance, A

See One Night in Cleveland (A Canal Dance) (File: OHSOnNCl)

Canaller's Lament, The

DESCRIPTION: "I shipped aboard a fat old tub, Two mules were on the tow, She hauled the length of the Erie Canal." "The name she bore was Prickly Heat, The captain's name was 'Scratch.'" The singer describes the crew of the canaller, often in racist terms
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1952 (collected from Robert Collen by Walton)
KEYWORDS: ship travel moniker
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 168-169, "The Canaller's Lament" (1 text)
NOTES: I tagged this as a moniker song, even though few names are actually named; the singer describes the crewmen; it seems that he just didn't bother to learn their names.
Walton did not indicate a tune, but several of the verses are reminiscent of "True-Born Irish Man (With My Swag All on My Shoulder; The True-Born Native Man)"; I suspect that was the melody used. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: WGM168

Candlelight Fisherman, The

DESCRIPTION: Singer, a fisherman, tells how his father taught him to test the wind at night by sticking a candle lantern outside: "Open the pane and pop out the flame/To see how the wind do blow". He tells how he does it, and advises listeners to do the same
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (recorded from Phil Hammond)
KEYWORDS: fishing technology work humorous nonballad father wife worker
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Kennedy 219, "The Candlelight Fisherman" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CANDLEBLO*
Roud #1852
RECORDINGS:
Phil Hammond, "The Candlelight Fisherman" (on FSB3)
Bob Roberts, "The Candlelight Fisherman" (on BRoberts01, HiddenE)
NOTES: The joke is that while one is testing the wind with the lantern, its light attracts fish. Doing this, of course, is against the law. - PJS
Kennedy adds another joke along the lines of the "Arkansas Traveller": If the wind blows out the candle, it's blowing too hard to go out; if the wind doesn't blow out the candle, there isn't enough wind to sail. - RBW
File: K219

Candy Man

DESCRIPTION: Blues, often bawdy, about the exploits of the Candy Man. The candy man's candy almost certainly gets its possessors in trouble, but many still seek it.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (recording, Mississippi John Hurt)
KEYWORDS: nonballad bawdy floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Darling-NAS, p. 298, "Candy Man Blues" (1 text)
DT, SALTYDOG
RECORDINGS:
Mississippi John Hurt "Candy Man Blues" (OKeh 8654, 1929 [rec. 1928]; on MJHurt01, MJHurt02) (on MJHurt03)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Salty Dog" (assorted references)
NOTES: Neither text nor melody of this is fixed; it may not be one song (but with blues, who can really tell?). - RBW
File: DarNS298

Candy Man Blues

See Candy Man (File: DarNS298)

Cane Creek Massacre, The

DESCRIPTION: "The boys have lived in peace upon the farm, A mother's care had shielded them from harm...." "So was their mother shot by cowardly hand.... Their youthful blood was on the hearthstone spilled." The (Mormon) singer blames the Christians
AUTHOR: James H. Hart
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: murder mother children
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Burt, pp. 113-114, "The Cane Creek Massacre" (1 partial text)
File: Burt113

Cane-Cutter's Lament, The

DESCRIPTION: "How we suffered grief and pain Up in Queensland, cutting cane." The singer describes the hard working conditions and the bad boss. He is particularly upset with the food and the Chinese cook. He vows never again to cut cane in Queensland
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: work cook Australia
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 202-203, "The Cane-Cutter's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE202

Cannily, Cannily

DESCRIPTION: "Cannily, cannily, bonnie wee bairnikie, Don't you cry now, my little pet. Hush-a-bye, now, your daddy is sleeping; It's no time tae wauken him yet." Daddy needs his sleep, as soon he will go driving his engine. In time, the child will have its own engine
AUTHOR: Ewan MacColl
EARLIEST DATE: 1954 (MacColl-Shuttle)
KEYWORDS: lullaby work
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
MacColl-Shuttle, p. 22, "Cannily, Cannily" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 410, "Cannily, Cannily" (1 text)
DT, CANNLY*
File: FSWB410A

Cannon Ball, The

See The Cannonball (File: CSW116)

Cannonball Blues

See The Cannonball (File: CSW116)

Cannonball, The

DESCRIPTION: Floating verses; singer says he will catch the train called the Cannonball (from Buffalo to Washington), his girl left him, and he's leaving her. More or less.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Lesley Riddle; recorded by the Carter Family)
KEYWORDS: love farewell rambling train travel abandonment floatingverses lover
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 413-425, "Cannonball Blues/Whitehouse Blues" (2 texts, 2 tunes, the first being "Mister McKinley (White House Blues)" and the second the "Cannonball Blues," plus a version of a song called "Mr. McKinley" from _The Week-End Book_, which is so different that I would regard it as a separate though perhaps related song, probably not traditional)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 116-117, "The Cannonball" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 463, "Cannonball Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, (CANONBL3 adapted by Bruce Phillips?)
Roud #4759
RECORDINGS:
The Carter Family, "The Cannon Ball" (Victor V-40317/Bluebird 6020/Montgomery Ward 4742, 1930)
Kilby Snow, "The Cannonball" (on KSnow1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Mister McKinley (White House Blues)" (words, tune)
cf. "Joking Henry" (tune)
cf. "That Lonesome Train Took My Baby Away" (floating verses)
File: CSW116

Canny Miller and His Wife, The

DESCRIPTION: When the miller returns home his wife hides her lover. Claiming illness she sends the miller out to buy gin as a cure. He puts on the lover's trousers, discovers fifty pounds, confronts his wife and decides he could not have made as much money milling.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: adultery clothes money drink humorous husband lover wife miller disease
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan7 1459, "O Poor Man the Miller" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Logan, pp. 388-392, "The Canny Miller and His Wife" (1 text)
Roud #7152
NOTES: Logan [1869]: "'The Canny Miller and his Wife' has ostensibly been written to records a local event in the neighborhood of Edinburgh, seemingly about fifty years ago." Logan's version of 25 verses seems "literary" when compared to the GreigDuncan7 11 verse text. The outlines of the story are preserved in GreigDuncan7 along with six lines of text, three lines that are close, and isolated references to the lover as "spark" and the lover's watch. In Logan the wife claims to have bought the trousers for him at auction and the miller seems to accept her explanation ["with his wife he is content"] while in GreigDuncan7 he says the trousers are "Spark's as that ye know And after him ye'll tramp and go." "Spark" refers to the lover and is sometimes his name. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71459

Canny Newcassel

See Canny Newcastle (File: StoR043)

Canny Newcastle

DESCRIPTION: "'Bout Lunnon aw'd heard sec wonderful spokes, That the streets were a' covered wi' guineas." The singer describes the sights in London, mentions seeing King George, recalls being robbed, and declares he likes his home better
AUTHOR: Thomas Thompson
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay); Thompson died 1816
KEYWORDS: travel home humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 43-45, "Canny Newcassel" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR043 (Partial)
Roud #3060
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Mountains of Mourne" (plot)
NOTES: Stokoe/Reay calls this song by two different names: The first page labels it "Canny Newcastle" at the head; the name at the top of the complete text is "Canny Newcassel," in the chorus the town is spelled "Newcassel," and the end notes file it as "Canny Newcassel." - RBW
File: StoR043

Canso Strait

DESCRIPTION: The crew is finishing a quiet voyage when a gale blows up. The drunken captain decides to take advantage of the storm by getting up the best speed possible. The alarmed sailors at last mutiny to get things back in control
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: sailor ship drink storm rebellion
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Doerflinger, pp. 183-184, "Canso Strait" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 871-872, "The Drunken Captain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 40, "The Drunken Captain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 31, "The Drunken Captain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 107, "Canso Strait" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 194, "In Canso Strait" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 170-171,244-245, "The Drunken Captain" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CNSOSTRT*
Roud #1815
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Drunken Captain (I)" (subject)
NOTES: This song, erroneously titled "Casno Strait," is item dD52 in Laws's Appendix II.
Manny and Wilson, in their notes on "The Cedar Grove" [Laws D18] note that Canso Straight "was between Nova Scotia and the Island of Cape Breton. Now, by the magic of modern engineering, there is no straight, but a causeway has been built to connect the island and the mainland." - RBW
File: Doe183

Cant-Hook and Wedges

See Wrap Me Up in my Tarpaulin Jacket (File: FR439)

Cantie Carlie, The

DESCRIPTION: James, a widower, is tired of lying alone. He courts Bell Grant, young enough to be his granddaughter, and she agrees to marry. A storm delays the bride's trip from Aberdeen. Finally they reach the church and are married. "And ten months brings a son"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: age courting sex wedding travel storm humorous baby
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig 16, p. 3, "The Cantie Carlie"; Greig 174, pp. 1-2, "The Cantie Carlie" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan3 618, GreigDuncan8 Addenda, "The Cantie Carlie" (6 texts, 4 tunes)
Roud #6055
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Wanton Carlie
NOTES: The wedding has "December linked to June." When Bell finally arrives "tho' he was near four score Lap like a spainin' lamb." When the parson is delayed he would take Bell to bed, but she refuses -- and threatens to call the whole thing off -- until the bride's maid proposes that the three of them sleep together for warmth with her as chaperon. The last verse concludes "Fair fa' the Cantie Carlie, The bride she lov'd him dearlie; May they get babies yearlie, -- I ha'e nae mair to say."
GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Auchronie (618) is at coordinate (h1,v8) on that map [roughly 9 miles W of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3618

Canuck's Lament

DESCRIPTION: "When you're sitting around in a dirty old shack, You can't keep your mind from wanderin' back To the happy old days... When we hunted all day and gambled all night." The poet describes the life he used to lead, and the quarrels he used to have
AUTHOR: J. K Trout
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: cowboy recitation
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ohrlin-HBT 92, "Canuck's Lament" (1 text)
File: Ohr092

Cap Stone, The

DESCRIPTION: "Have you heard the revelation Of this latter dispensation...." The poet tells how the Saints are persecuted in Illinois and Missouri, and describes how they will work "till we make Nauvoo as Eden"
AUTHOR: W. W. Phelps
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (Times and Seasons)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad abuse
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1830 - Joseph Smith founds the Latter-Day Saints
1831 - The Saints settle in Kirtland, Ohio. Later in the year, Smith chooses Independence, Missouri as the Holy City
1840 - The Saints found their town of Nauvoo, Illinois
1844 - Smith is killed by a mob at Nauvoo, to be succeeded by Brigham Young
1846 - Many Mormons leave Nauvoo for Council Bluffs, Iowa
1847 - Brigham Young leads the Mormon vanguard to Great Salt Lake
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, p. 457, "The Cap Stone" (1 text)
Roud #7835
File: Beld457

Cap'n Paul

DESCRIPTION: Captain Paul and the seven men of the Big Mariner set out from Kennebunk(port) for the West Indies. The ship foundered in a gale; the six crewmen were drowned and only Captain Paul was saved
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Flanders/Olney)
KEYWORDS: sea storm wreck drowning death
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Flanders/Olney, pp. 241-242, "Cap'n Paul" (1 text)
ST FO241 (Partial)
Roud #4685
NOTES: Charles L. Cooke, who gave this song to Helen Flanders, said it was about his great-grandfather, Jeremiah Paul. - RBW
File: FO241

Cap'n, I Believe

DESCRIPTION: "Cap'n, I believe, Cap'n, I believe, Cap'n, I believe, believe, believe I'll die. (Spoken): Oh, no, you ain't gonna die. Come on with that motah."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: railroading death nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, p. 363, "Cap'n, I Believe" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
File: San363

Cape Ann

See Three Jolly Huntsmen (File: R077)

Cape Breton Murder

DESCRIPTION: In Cow Bay on December 8, 1874 "this young man was led like a sheep to slaughter ... He was wilfully murdered"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: murder
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-Maritime, p. 191, "Cape Breton Murder" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2717
NOTES: Creighton-Maritime: The singer "said this happened during a riot." - BS
File: CrMa191

Cape Cod Girls

DESCRIPTION: "Cape Cod Girls they have no combs, Heave away, heave away! They comb their hair with codfish bones...." "Heave away and don't you make a noise, For we're bound for Australia." Sundry lyrics on the oddities of Cape Cod girls
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: shanty sailor separation nonballad talltale
FOUND IN: US(NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Colcord, p. 91, "The Codfish Shanty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, 196, "South Australia" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 152-153]
Creighton-NovaScotia 120, "Hanstead Boys" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 23, "Cape Cod Girls" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shay-SeaSongs, p. 84, "Cape Cod Girls" (1 text)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 561-562, "Cape Cod Shanty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 244-245, "Cape Cod Girls" (1 text, tune referenced)
Darling-NAS, pp. 316-317, "Cape Cod Girls" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 96, "Cape Cod Girls" (1 text)
DT, CAPCODGL
Roud #325
RECORDINGS:
Charity Bailey, "Cape Cod Girls" (on GrowOn2)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "South Australia (I)"
cf. "Round the Bay of Mexico" (lyrics)
NOTES: There is no true dividing line between this song and "South Australia"; they merge into each other. However, the difference in local colour and focus is enough that they should be separated. Some versions of "South Australia" even have a rudimentary plot, and the tune can be somewhat different. The problem is classifying the intermediate versions.... - RBW
File: LoF023

Cape Cod Shanty

See Cape Cod Girls (File: LoF023)

Cape St Mary's

See Western Boat (Let Me Fish Off Cape St Mary's) (File: Doyl3039)

Capital Ship, A

DESCRIPTION: Parody of fo'c'sle song; describes miserable conditions on the "Walloping Window Blind," including descriptions of the officers. They are stranded for a time on the "Gulliby Isles"; they commandeer a Chinese junk and escape, leaving its crew on the island
AUTHOR: Charles Edward Carryl?
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Untermeyer, _The Golden Treasury of Poetry_)
KEYWORDS: ship wreck humorous parody sailor moniker nonsense
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 243, "A Capital Ship" (1 text)
DT, CAPSHIP
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (tune)
cf. "Ho for California (Banks of Sacramento)" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Walloping Window Blind
NOTES: This is basically a nonsense parody of "Ten Thousand Miles Away"; I suspect it was composed by some collegiate character in the 1890s or so. - PJS
Except for the date (I believe it's somewhat earlier that that), that seems indeed to be the story. - RBW
File: FSWB243

Cappy, or The Pitman's Dog

DESCRIPTION: A pitman lives near Newcastle with his family and their dog, "Weel bred Cappy, famous au'd Cappy, Cappy's the dog, Tallio, tallio." Cappy and owner set out for town. A robber attacks Cappy. The owner returns home, and is amazed to find the dog alive
AUTHOR: Words: William Mitford
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay); Mitford died 1851
KEYWORDS: animal thief dog death
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 84-85, "'Cappy'; or, The Pitman's Dog" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3145
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Body in the Bag" (theme)
File: StoR084

Capt. Frederick Harris and the Grates Cove Seal Killers of 1915

DESCRIPTION: "Attention all, both great and small, A tale I have to tell Of Captain Frederick Harris And young Florizel." The singer lists various seal hunters, tells of the beginning of their voyage, and wishes them success
AUTHOR: Joshua Stanford
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Stanford, Fifty Years of My Life in Newfoundland)
KEYWORDS: ship hunting moniker
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 101, "Capt. Frederick Harris and the Grates Cove Seal Killers of 1915" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: From internal indications, it appears that the Florizel of this song is not the passenger ship described in "The Wreck of the Steamship Florizel." - RBW
File: RySm101

Captain Abram Kean

DESCRIPTION: "We should not forget the Commodore, The old king of the sailing fleet." "With unerring aim and judgment rare He would strike each sealing patch." "For fifty years he butted the ice." "So we should not forget... The late Captain Abram Kean"
AUTHOR: Otto Kelland ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Kelland, Anchor Watch)
KEYWORDS: sailor hunting nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 146, "Captain Abram Kean" (1 text)
NOTES: The notes in Ryan/Small tell us that Kean died in 1945, at the age of 90, and that he captained sealing expeditions for over fifty years, bringing in more than a million animals.
His fame can be told by the number of Newfoundland tales mentioning him -- among those indexed in this collection, "First Arrival -- 'Aurora' and 'Walrus' Full," "Arrival of 'Aurora,' 'Diana,' 'Virginia Lake,' and 'Vanguard,' Loaded," "The Sealer's Song (II)," "The Terra Nova," "The Swiler's Song," "Captains and Ships," and "A Noble Fleet of Sealers" -- though only the last two appear to be traditional, and "Captains and Ships" mentions Kean only briefly while "A Noble Fleet of Sealers" appears to get his first name wrong.
Kean was not always as successful as this piece might imply, though; "The Terra Nova" is the story of how three men under his command died. - RBW
File: RySm146

Captain Barnwell

See Sarah Barnwell (File: GrD2218)

Captain Bill Ryan Left Terry Behind

DESCRIPTION: "Terry is a fine young man, But he has lots of 'chaw.'" As several ships, including Terry's Esquimaux, get stuck in the ice, Bill Ryan abandons Terry "To paddle his own canoe."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship disaster
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 32, "Captain Bill Ryan Left Terry Behind" (1 text)
ST RySm032 (Partial)
Roud #12532
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Paddle Your Own Canoe" (tune)
File: RySm032

Captain Bob Bartlett

DESCRIPTION: "A rugged Newfoundlander as ever sailed the seas, He was born and raised in Brigus in the bay." Bartlett's career as a sealer, then as captain, is told, as is his work with Admiral Peary. "He's resting now at Brigus where his grave o'erlooks the bay."
AUTHOR: Otto Kelland?
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Kelland, Anchor Watch)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship exploration
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1875-1946 - Life of Robert Abram Bartlett
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, pp. 83-84, "Captain Bob Bartlett" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ballad of Captain Bob Bartlett, Arctic Explorer" (subject)
cf. "The Roving Newfoundlanders (I)" (brief mention of Bob Bartlett)
NOTES: Robert Bartlett (born 1875 in Brigus, Newfoundland; died 1946 in New York City, but his grave and monument are at his home in Brigus) is now remembered mostly as an arctic explorer -- Robert Peary, the alleged discoverer of the North Pole, took him on three expeditions; in 1913-1914 Bartlett, as commander of the Karluk, was wrecked, and saved his expedition by a sledge trip to Alaska; in 1926, he was on the ship that carried Robert Byrd's plane to Spitzbergen for Byrd's flight toward the pole, though Bartlett was not to be in the plane. But it appears that he was known in Newfoundland even before his polar work; several of the poems in Ryan/Small, including some supposedly written before Peary's explorations, mention him.
It is possible that some of this is by confusion with his uncle John Bartlett, who also worked with Peary for a time, or his cousin Sam Bartlett, who carried Josephine Peary north to meet her husband Robert in the arctic in 1900; Sam took the young Bob Bartlett as mate on that expedition (Bryce, p. 212). There was also a cousin, Moses Bartlett, who went on three arctic expeditions and whom Bryce, p. 294, says "had a fabulous reputation as an ice pilot, and like many of the Bartletts from Brigus, Newfoundland, including his second cousin, Bob, he had an equal reputation as a hard drinker."
(I note, however, that Niven, p. 40, says that Bob Bartlett was a teetotaler! My guess is that Bartlett did not drink while on duty, and as captain, he was always on duty when his ship was at sea.)
Ironically, Moses Bartlett would captain the ship that took Frederick A Cook, Peary's great rival, to the arctic on the trip where Cook claimed to reach the North Pole (Bryce, pp. 298, 849).
Rounding out the famous Bartletts was Bob's uncle Isaac Bartlett, who in 1871 had captained the Tigress and rescued George Tyson's party of survivors of Hall's ill-fated Polaris (Henderson-Fatal, p. 220). According to Loomis, p. 265, Isaac Bartlett told the story of the Hall rescue story so often to young Bob that the youth snuck away whenever Isaac showed up -- but Bob still went on to become a sealer and arctic explorer. (For more on these expeditions, see the notes to "Hurrah for Baffin's Bay.")
The song's mention of Bartlett and Peary is significant. Bartlett figures very strongly in the question of Peary's 1909 trip to the pole. Bartlett served as commander of the Roosevelt, Peary's ship, and the explorer gave Bartlett much credit for keeping the ship afloat in his 1905 expedition, when the ship barely made it home with her hull badly damaged.
But Bartlett wanted to be part of the group that made the Pole. Peary developed a system -- really, the only possible system at the time -- of working with a large support crew that wasn't intended to reach the Pole; they just shuttled supplies. In 1909, using this system, he made one more attempt for the Pole. (He had made several failed attempts in the past, but this was almost sure to be his last; Peary was too old and broken-down, and his financial backers too tired of the whole business, for him to have much hope of another chance if the 1909 expedition failed.)
When Peary reached up his northermost supply stop, Bartlett was with him, and expected to be one of those on the crew that went to the Pole. But Peary left him behind -- disappointing the young captain so much that he actually started to set out for the Pole himself, on foot, before coming to his senses.
The fact that Peary left him behind is highly indicative. There are no proper witnesses to the last part of Peary's journey. As noted, Peary dropped off various men along the way, resupplying the remaining sledges from theirs.
As the party reached the final stages, only three men were left who could read a sextant and hence measure the latitude: Peary, Bartlett, and Ross Marvin. Marvin was dropped at the next-to-last stop, leaving Peary with a signed statement of his position -- but he never made it home; apparently he was murdered by the Inuit (see Bryce, p. 698; Henderson-True, pp. 218-219). Then Peary got rid of Bartlett. Peary's crew on the last leg of his trek consisted of "Commander" Peary himself (whose correct Naval title was not "Commander" but merely "Civil Engineer"), his servant Matthew Henson, and a handful of Inuit. In other words, by leaving Bartlett behind, Peary had made sure that no one could verify his claimed position.
Somewhere in Bryce (I lost my note on this, and the index is no help) is Henson's explanation for this: Bartlett was a slow sledger, and had damaged his legs, meaning that he should not continue. There are very strong reasons to think this not true: Bartlett was in good enough shape that he actually started to walk to the pole, and he had broken trail for much of the trip north. On p. 878, Bryce notes that Bartlett made it back from where he parted from Peary in 24 days. Another of Peary's sledgers, Borup, needed 23 days to sledge back from a point more than two degrees further south. And Bartlett sledged just fine during the Karluk voyage. So Henson's explanation simply doesn't hold up.
Incidentally, those records of position used by Bryce are from Peary, and while Peary noted the positions where the others left, he listed his own return time without listing his own farthest north! It's as if he hadn't yet decided whether to pretend he had reached the Pole.
And, once the National Geographic Society had accepted his alleged proofs, he kept them under lock and key; not even a congressional committee was allowed to keep them overnight. And Peary's records, it was noted, show none of the grease and grime one would expect of someone keeping a diary while on a polar trek, eating greasy pemmican and having no way to wash. (Though Bryce, p. 879, notes that Peary's diary is so full of egotistical statements that it's hard to imagine why he would have included them in a fake record. His only explanation is that Peary was unwilling to throw anything away -- unless it argued against his polar claim.)
The map in Roberts, p. 141, is strongly illustrative. Peary left land at a northern point on Ellesmere Island, roughly 500 miles south of the North Pole. Bartlett turned back 133 miles south of the Pole -- roughly a quarter of the remaining distance. It took Bartlett 18 days to cover the distance back to land, and six more to return to the Roosevelt. Peary, who would have had to cover at least 250 additional miles had he reached the pole, arrived back at the ship two days later (Roberts, pp. 142-143).
To manage that Peary, in that last part of the trip in which he travelled with no other companion who could read a sextant, claimed to cover distances which no other sledging party ever managed; indeed, they were more than twice his own average for the rest of the trip. For part of the distance, he was claiming fifty miles a day (Roberts, p. 148). Roberts notes that the best average distance ever recorded on a verified trek was 36.6 miles per day.
And Peary, who had damaged his feet and lost eight toes due to frostbite, made this claim even though he generally had to ride in a sledge rather than operating under his own power (see Bryce, p. 442, Henderson-True, p. 214); Bryce, p. 852, writes, �as Henson attested, he was not much more than a load of freight."
Any objective observer would say that it was Bartlett, not Peary, who should have made the final run to the Pole. He was fitter, younger, as determined as Peary, and at least as competent. But even if Peary wasn't planning to cheat, he wanted to be the only "white man" to reach the Pole. (Bryce, p. 296. And, yes, Peary does seem to have been that sort of a racist; in years of travelling with the Inuit, he never learned their language, and some of the things he said about his faithful Black assistant Matthew Henson are frightful -- even though Henson, as his memoirs show, was in many ways a wiser and better man than Peary.)
It must have been truly wearing for Bartlett, who accompanied Peary on many speaking tours -- and was given a bunch of silver medals at the time when Peary was given gold (Bryce, p. 489). Talk about adding insult to injury! If Peary did in fact make it to the pole, then Bartlett certainly could have done so also -- and Peary could not have piloted the Roosevelt far enough to make the run for the pole possible. So who deserves more credit?
It appears Peary had pulled the same trick on Bartlett during his previous (1905-1906) expedition toward the Pole (see Fleming, pp. 340-343). Little is made of Peary's lack of documentation on that trip, since he did not reach the Pole, and apparently had no hopes of reaching it by the time he left the last of his support crew behind. The best he could hope for was a new "Farthest North," to encourage his financial backers -- and even his claim to that is dubious (Bryce, pp. 853-854, who notes also the inadequacy of his equipment).
The classic book on this subject, according to Berton, is Peary at the Pole: Fact or Fiction? by Dennis Rawlins. See also Berton, especially pp. 577-582. Rawlins convinced Berton -- and Rawlins's extremely negative tone may have contributed to Berton's own harsh statements. Indeed, Rawlins's violent anti-Peary tone may have lessened the book's effect (Bryce, p. 757). Still, the evidence is strong: Peary never made the Pole. And, unlike other Arctic expeditions, he didn't gather any useful scientific data. Nor did he care.
But that's Peary's story, not Bartlett's. Even in that, and in Peary's war with Frederick Cook over who reached the Pole first, Bartlett stands out (e.g. when Peary tried to destroy Cook's equipment to render his claim unprovable, Bartlett helped hide some of the equipment from Peary's wrath; Bryce, p. 415).
The flip side is, Bartlett in 1910 took another ship, the Beothic, north to investigate some of Cook's records (Bryce, pp. 908-909). Bryce thinks Bartlett was doing Peary's dirty work at this point, destroying rather than investigating. Bryce, p. 920, goes so far as to state, "If Peary had a 'co-conspirator' in his fraudulent claim to the North Pole, it was Bob Bartlett, and his autobiography shows that he either was a clumsy liar or had an incredibly poor memory." Bryce, it will be clear, favors the former interpretation. I am inclined to disagree; the impression I get from Bartlett's writings is of a man who often acted before he thought, and suffered for it; this would help explain why Peary was able to lead him around by the nose.
The real key to Bartlett's reputation, and the criticism of the same, is the Karluk voyage. This time, there was no Peary; the expedition was chartered by Vilhjalmur Stefansson, but he abandoned the ship early on, leaving Bartlett in charge of the show. The Karluk was intended to take Stefansson and his scientists to explore the western portions of the Canadian arctic. The ship was trapped in the ice, and Stefansson proceeded to take a few scientists and leave. Bartlett, his sailors, the remaining scientists, and the Karluk and drifted west until they were close to Wrangel Island off Siberia, where the ice smashed the ship's hull. Bartlett managed to get the men on the ice, brought them (or most of them) to Wrangel Island, then set off for Alaska to find rescue.
Not all the men he left behind lived, though. Three scientists and a sailor, who apparently did not trust Bartlett, set off on their own, and vanished. Four sailors, including the Karluk's first and second mates, ended up on the uninhabitable Herald Island; their bodies would not be found for years. Two scientists died on Wrangel Island of dietary diseases, and one sailor died of a gunshot wound (probably murder); nearly everyone else, except for the expedition's handful of Inuit, ended up with severe frostbite and lost teeth or toes or other flesh. Of six scientists, 13 sailors including Bartlett, one trapper, and five Inuit (including a family of husband, wife, and two young daughters) on the Karluk when she sank, only one scientist, seven sailors, the trapper, and the five Inuit lived to return home.
How much of this is Bartlett's fault? It's hard to tell. Mirsky says on p. 289, "Had Bartlett not been there, it is doubtful if any would have come out of that nightmare alive." In his defence, he *did* lead the sledging voyage which eventually resulted in the rescue of the survivors, and this was certainly heroic. Not one man died in his presence, and only four were under his orders at the time of their deaths (and even they were on a sledging trip, and were lost due to an order given by one of the scientists, not Bartlett).
The other side of the coin is, he left his men on Wrangel Island with no proper authority (the only officer left was an engineer, who seems to have had no skill in handling men and who separated himself from the majority of the survivors once they started slipping out of control). Yet Bartlett had little choice; shortly before the Karluk sailed, he had fired his first officer (Niven, p. 21, though she does not explain the circumstances). This left him without competent assistance, and caused him to spend most of his time on duty -- which cannot have helped his performance under crisis. Under the pressures of arctic survival, the effect of leaving the men without a real commander was disastrous. And of course those three scientists had decided to set out on their own rather than continue in his presence.
Even before the ship was finally trapped, Bartlett had once run her aground (Niven, p. 33).
To be fair, Bartlett had little control over his crew; they were offered low pay and recruited rather late in the game; Niven, pp. 20-21, says they were inexperienced, of poor character (two were under assumed names and one was an open drug user), and mostly ill-equipped.
I can't help but note how much the whole story resembles that of the Jeannette, told in the notes to "Hurrah for Baffin's Bay" (and more fully in Guttridge). Bartlett and crew also noted the resemblances (see especially Bartlett-Karluk, pp. 93-94). But they did little to avoid it, except that Bartlett made the decision to leave most of his men at Wrangel Island (where their chances of survival were best) and seek rescue on his own; the Jeannette crew, by contrast, had all sought to return to land together, and ended up with even heavier casualties than the Karluk.
Bartlett would eventually publish two books of his experiences, The Last Voyage of the Karluk (cited here as Bartlett-Karluk) and The Log of "Bob" Bartlett (1928). Both are highly dramatic; Bartlett-Karluk begins "We did not all come back," while the Log tells us that "I have been shipwrecked twelve times. Four times I have seen my own ship sink, or be crushed to kindling against the rocks. Yet I love the sea as a dog loves its master who clouts it for the discipline of the house." Several of the Karluk survivors (and one of the dead scientists) left journals; the one surviving scientist, William Laird McKinlay, also produced a heavily-researched book praising Bartlett.
On the whole, the impression I have of Bartlett is of a man of some skill but rather greater enthusiasm. He saved the Roosevelt, he rescued many of the men from the Karluk -- but if he had not gotten into such fixes in the first place, he wouldn't have had to save anything.
Stories from Bartlett-Karluk may illustrate this. In chapter III, Bartlett saw a polar bear and actually took the Karluk off her course to shoot it. Shooting at bears was pretty natural at the time -- a seal hunter certainly had no worries about ecology! -- but it was a waste of time and fuel with no particular reward except that he had a hide to take home and a little extra food for the dogs. (And it's worth remembering that the Karluk was wrecked because the ice trapped her before she had made enough distance east. Anything that delayed her added to the disaster.) Similarly, in chapter VII, he reports refusing treatment after a bad skiing accident lest everyone realize that he was "such a duffer."
Perhaps my favorite, though, is from chapter IX, where he decided to clean out his clogged cabin stove by firing it with flashlight powder. He ended up blowing pieces of the stove all over the room. There is also a story of a reporter feeding Bartlett dinner to try to get his opinion on whether Peary had reached the Pole in 1909. Bartlett thought he probably had, or near enough -- but his language in describing being left behind was so salty that he was kicked out of the club where they were dining (see Fleming, p. 384).
When it came to describing how the Karluk was lost (Bartlett-Karluk, chapter 11), Bartlett is surprisingly reticent; he devotes a single paragraph (p. 88) to the subject, simply noting that the ice crushed the ship's side and the pump. No explanation of why the Karluk was so damaged when few other ships suffered such damage in Arctic exploration (the Arctic was a graveyard of ships, but few were destroyed solely by ice; usually they were trapped and abandoned). Niven (pp. 117, 123) shows that the Karluk stayed afloat for about 21 hours after her hull was breached, without help of pumps; was it not possible that the ship could have been saved? Why, after months on the ice, was the ship not better prepared to be evacuated? Much that was useful went down with the vessel.
And why, why, why did he not make better command arrangements when he left the crew behind to seek rescue? The troubles on the island were almost solely due to bad leadership -- plus the fact that the people who knew something about survival in the arctic (the Inuit and the trapper John Hadley) had no authority.
Some of this was initially the fault of Viljalmar Stefansson, the expedition commander who had purchased the Karluk as part of his arctic expedition, but who then had bought many of the wrong supplies and caused them to be loaded in an extremely haphazard manner. He also assembled most of the inadequate crew. But Stefansson had abandoned the expedition shortly after the Karluk was frozen in, giving Bartlett the opportunity to straighten things out. So why the mad rush at the last moment? And why did he have so much trouble with so many members of the ship's company?
To be fair, Bartlett seems not to have liked speaking ill of anyone. He never publicly questioned Peary's claim to have reached the Pole, and in the Last Voyage he does not say much about the problems he had with the scientists. Maybe the ship's problems were worse than he lets on. Niven, pp. 8-9, notes that Bartlett considered the Karluk completely unsuitable for the voyage, demanded (and got) many repairs done on her, and had repeatedly told Stefansson that he would need additional equipment.
I'm truly not sure what to think. Given those shipboard frictions, perhaps it's not a surprise that not everyone wanted to follow Bartlett back home. But his record is certainly more contradictory than these poems would indicate -- or than Bryce's blanket condemnation would allow.
Fleming, p. 422, sums up the later part of his life as follows: "Robert Bartlett never got over his experience with Peary. He returned to the Arctic again and again. Some of his voyages were sucessful but others -- like the Karluk expedition -- were harrowing failures. He wrote a few books, the last of which sold so badly that its earnings failed to cover his tobacco allowance.... He died on 26 April 1946." - RBW
Bibliography

Bartlett-Karluk: Robert A. Bartlett (as set down by Ralph T. Hale), The Karluk's Last Voyage (originally published 1916 as The Last Voyage of the Karluk; I used the 2001 Cooper Square expedition with a new introduction by Edward E. Leslie). This, I think, gives a pretty good feeling for Bob Bartlett the intense but slightly loopy officer. Instead of a new introduction, it could really have used an index!
Berton: Pierre Berton, The Arctic Grail:The Quest for the north West Passage and the NorthPole, 1818-1909 (Viking, 1988). This is almost snarlingly negative, but it is a solid, widely-respected summary of exploration of the Canadian Arctic.
Bryce: Robert M. Bryce, Cook & Peary: The Polar Controversy, Resolved (Stackpole, 1997). Its thousand-plus pages spend more time on the political and legal jousting between Cook and Peary than anything else, and the index is pitiful in reference to its size, making it very hard to use, but the sheer bulk means that it contains a lot of information.
Fleming: Fergus Fleming, Ninety Degrees North: The Quest for the North Pole (Grove, 2001). A bit informal, but a thoroughly readable account of the various Polar expeditions.
Guttridge: Leonard F. Guttridge, Icebound: The Jeanette Expedition's Quest for the NorthPole (1986; I used the 2001 Berkley edition). This doesn't even mention Bartlett in the Index, but given that the Karluk's story was so close to the Jeanette's, it's a useful control on any arctic exploration story.
Henderson-Fatal: Bruce Henderson, Fatal North: Adventure and Survival Aboard USS Polaris, the First U. S. Expedition to the North Pole New American Library, 2001. Not really about Bartlett, and I'm not sure sure how much to trust it in light of Henderson's other book, but it has a lot about Arctic survival.
Henderson-True: Bruce Henderson, True North: Peary, Cook, and the Race to the Pole (Norton, 2005) is an attempt to demonstrate that Frederick Cook beat Peary to the North Pole. It doesn't do much for Cook's case, it seems to me, but it has quite a bit about Peary and Bartlett.
Loomis: Chauncey Loomis, Weird and Tragic Shores: The Story of Charles Francis Hall, Explorer (I used the 2000 Modern Library edition, which has some new introductory work not by the author but which is essentially unchanged from Loomis's 1968 edition). This is the story of Hall, not Bob Bartlett, but it gives some information on Bartlett's family background.
McKinlay: William Laird McKinlay, The Last Voyage of the Karluk, (originally published as Karluk: The Last Great Arctic Story, 1976); I use the 1999 St. Martin's Griffin paperback. The one full-length of a Karluk survivor other than Bartless
Mirsky: Jeannette Mirsky, To the Arctic: The Story of Northern Exploration from the Earliest Times to the Present, revised edition, Knopf, 1948. It's much too kind to the various wackos who headed for the North Pole, but it's also pretty comprehensive up to the 1920s. In an interesting note, Bryce, pp. 721-722, notes how the legal wrangles between the Peary and Cook factions actually caused portions of this book to be modified for publication; it still ended up in court.
Niven: Jennifer Niven, The Ice Master: The Doomed 1913 Voyage of the Karluk (Hyperion, 2000). Much more coherent than Bartlett's own accounts, though I often felt that Niven just didn't quite understand the Arctic. (She is a Californian, and clearly doesn't understand ice, snow, or cold -- she doesn't even know the difference between a "sled," a "sledge," and a "sleigh.") And the lack of an index is a major shortcoming -- often I found that something she said late in the book suddenly caused something earlier on to become important, but I couldn't find the earlier reference.
Roberts: David Roberts, Great Exploration Hoaxes (Sierra Club, 1982; I use the 2001 Modern Library edition with an Introduction by Jan Morris) covers much more than arctic exploration, and is perhaps a little one-sided in situations where balance might be better, but it has much useful information on Peary and Cook.

Last updated in version 2.5
File: RySm083

Captain Bover

DESCRIPTION: "Where hae ye been, ma canny hinny, Where hae ye been, ma winsome man? I've been to the norrad, Cruising sair and lang; I've been to the norrad, cruising back and forrard, But daurna come ashore For Bover and his gang."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: pressgang home
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, p. 90, "Captain Bover" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3147
NOTES: According to Stokoe/Reay, "Captain [John] Bover was the commander of the press-gang on the Tyne for many years, but appears to have carried out harsh laws as leniently as he could to be effective. He died 20th May 1792."
Ray Fisher sang this fragment alongside "The Weary Cutters," but the connection seems to be a casual one. - RBW
File: StoR090

Captain Burke [Laws K5]

DESCRIPTION: The singer ships on Captain Burke's Caroline, carrying a cargo of slaves. Sent aloft to reef sail in a storm, he and three others are hit by lightning and lose their sight. The singer wishes he could return to sea
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: sailor storm disability
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Laws K5, "Captain Burke"
Creighton-NovaScotia 54, "Captain Burke" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ranson, pp. 24-25, "The Blind Sailors" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 556, CAPBURKE
Roud #834
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "By the Lightning We Lost Our Sight" [Laws K6]
NOTES: Ranson's version makes the captain's name Gibson, the ship the Gallant, and [has] differences in wording that are strange but not strange enough to make me consider this not to be Laws K5. - BS
File: LK05

Captain Calls All Hands, The

See Our Captain Calls All Hands (Fighting for Strangers) (File: Pea416)

Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon [Child 178]

DESCRIPTION: (Captain Carr) decides to take a castle, calling upon the lady who holds it to surrender and lie by his side. She refuses (despite the appeals of her children). Carr burns the castle and slaughters the inhabitants
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1755
KEYWORDS: death murder fire family
FOUND IN: Britain(England,Scotland(Aber)) US(NE)
REFERENCES (17 citations):
Child 178, "Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon" (9 texts)
Bronson 178, "Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon" (6 versions)
GreigDuncan2 231, "Edom O' Gordon" (3 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
Percy/Wheatley I, pp. 140-150, "Edom o' Gordon" (2 texts, one a fragment from the Percy folio and the other Percy's published text, drawn partly from other sources
Flanders/Olney, pp. 134-139, "Adam Gorman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 173-184, "Captain Car, or Edom O Gordon" (2 texts, 1 tune; the "B" text is from "The Charms of Melody" rather than tradition)
Leach, pp. 488-491, "Captain Car, or, Edom o Gordon" (1 text) {Bronson's #6, which he places in an appendix}
Friedman, p. 256, "Captain Car (Edom o' Gordon)" (2 texts)
OBB 77, "Edom o Gordon" (1 text)
PBB 46, "Edom o Gordon" (1 text)
Gummere, pp. 146-150+332, "Captain Car, or Edom o Gordon" (1 text)
Hodgart, p. 111, "Captain Car (Edom o' Gordon)" (1 text)
DBuchan 53, "Edom o Gordon"; 54, "Edom o Gordon" (2 texts)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 103-107, "Captain Car" (1 text)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 73-75, "Sick, Sick" (2 tunes, partial text) {Tune I is listed as Bronson's #2, but recast; Bronson does not print Chappell's tune II)
BBI, ZN3329, "It befell at martynmas, When wether waxed colde"
DT 178, ADAMGRMN*
Roud #80
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Corgraff
NOTES: Said to be the "sick tune" referred to, e.g., in "Much Ado about Nothing," III, iv, 42. This text, first found in the British Museum manuscript Cotton Vespasian A25 (late sixteenth century) is associated with a piece found in several lute books beginning no later than 1597. The events described are dated by Ritson to 1571; a piece labeled "Sick, sick" was licensed in 1578. - RBW, AS
The actual event this is said to have been based on is the attack of Captain Ker (an agent of Sir Adam Gordon, brother of George Gordon, earl of Huntly) upon the Forbes stronghold at Towie on October 9, 1571 (during the minority of James VI, when the Regency had great difficulty controlling the country).
The song, however, is by no means an accurate account of the assault -- which is curious given that the song seemingly came into existence so soon after the event. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: C178

Captain Coldstein

See Captain Coulston (File: HHH562)

Captain Colson

See Captain Coulston (File: HHH562)

Captain Colstein

See Captain Coulston (File: HHH562)

Captain Colster

See Captain Coulston (File: HHH562)

Captain Conrod

DESCRIPTION: The singer drunkenly signs aboard "a brig called the Mary belonging to Starr." He goes below and finds the mate has finished his brandy. The captain gives them "salt cod and religion" to eat. "To hell with Starr's Mary and Captain Conrod"
AUTHOR: Harry Rissal ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton/Nova Scotia)
KEYWORDS: ship ordeal drink food sailor shore
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Smith/Hatt, p. 14, "The Mary" (1 text)
Creighton-NovaScotia 108, "Captain Conrod" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST SmHa014 (Partial)
Roud #1816
RECORDINGS:
Edmund Henneberry, "Captain Conrod" (on NovaScotia1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "As Now We Are Sailing" (tune)
NOTES: [This song is item] dD51 [in Laws's Appendix II].
Creighton-NovaScotia: "According to the singer, this was composed by Harry Rissal, a seaman with whom Mr Henneberry's brother sailed. Starr was the name of a well-known Halifax firm, in sailing ship days, and Captain Conrod a Halifax man." Creighton's Introduction puts an early date of 1929 on her collecting this song. Smith/Hatt Introduction claims Smith's songs were "sung aboard vessels out of Liverpool, Nova Scotia in the '70's, '80's and '90's." I suppose it's possible that the attribution is correct. - BS
Looking at the text of this, I have to think it was intended to be sung to the Derry Down tune (in fact, it looks like a parody of "Red Iron Ore"). But Creighton's tune is not the Derry Down tune. - RBW
Really two songs in one. The song refers to Halifax, N.S., but it was collected in Devil's Island, nearby. - PJS
File: SmHa014

Captain Coulson

See Captain Coulston (File: HHH562)

Captain Coulston

DESCRIPTION: Captain Coulston's ship sails for America (carrying Irish emigrants?). She is overtaken by pirates. Following a desperate fight, Coulston and crew defeat the pirate; his wife shoots the pirate chief. They take the pirate ship to America as a prize
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1886 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 b.10(58))
KEYWORDS: pirate battle emigration
FOUND IN: Ireland Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
SHenry H562, pp. 113-114, "Captain Coulston" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ranson, pp. 78-79, "Captain Coulston" (1 text, 1 tune)
McBride 15, "Captain Colster" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CAPTCOUL
Roud #1695
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "Captain Coldstein" (on Abbott1)
Brigid Tunney, "Captain Colston" (on IRTunneyFamily01)
Paddy Tunney, "Captain Coulson" (on Voice12)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.10(58), "Captain Colston", H. Such (London), 1863-1885; also Firth b.26(492), Firth c.12(62), Harding B 11(534), Harding B 19(95), 2806 c.15(193), "Captain Colston"; Firth b.25(41/42), "Captain Colston" or "The Pirate Ship"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Terrible Privateer" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Captain Colstein
Captain Colston
Captain Coulson
NOTES: Early versions of this song, such as Sam Henry's, make no mention of emigration; this may have been a later addition.
All versions seem to reveal a not-very-smart pirate: He demands the passengers give up their valuables, and then he'll sink them. In such a context, what choice was there but to fight? - RBW
File: HHH562

Captain Devin

See Whisky in the Jar (The Irish Robber A) [Laws L13A]/The Irish Robber B (McCollister) [Laws L13B] (File: LL13)

Captain Don't Feel Sorry for a Longtime Man

DESCRIPTION: A composite song, in many ways more a religious musical than a performance. The singer writes to his mother asking for prayers. He asks his captain for pity. He laments a life term. One singer prays as another recites the Lord's Prayer
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (recorded from Marshall Phillips, Ebbie Veasley, and Theo Mitchell by Jackson)
KEYWORDS: prison hardtimes mother religious
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 132-142, "Captain Don't Feel Sorry for a Longtime Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: This song, as given by Jackson, could not be sung by fewer than two singers, and really needs three or more. It uses elements of many other songs, such as "Please Have Mercy on a Longtime Man," "Godalmighty Drag," an Old Rattler song, and probably a work or hammer song, plus a religious item. Even though the components are commonplace, I can't recall seeing anything like the combined result in the annals of folk song; I frankly am somewhat dubious about counting it as such. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: JDM132

Captain Doorley and the Boyne

DESCRIPTION: John Doorley, 18, son of a wealthy farmer, joined the United men against the Orange at Naas, Timahoe, Prosperous, and Kilcullen. The target of a Yeoman manhunt, he was wounded at the Boyne: "Four hours I lay bleeding and my Nancy at my side"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1798 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: battle rebellion manhunt Ireland patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 26, 1798 - John Doorley of Lullymore leads about 5000 rebels to occupy Rathnagan, County Kildare (source: an article by Mario Corrigan, published by Kildare County Council, at Kildare Community Network site)
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Zimmermann 14, "Captain Doorley and the Boyne" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 57, "Captain Doorley and the Boyne" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 19(90), "John Doorly -- a Song of 1798" ("I hope you'll pay attention and listen unto me"), J.F. Nugent & Co. (Dublin), 1850-1899; also 2806 c.15(177), "John Doorly -- a Song of 1798"
NOTES: Zimmermann's has "no indication" of the tune used but lists a 1798 tune that fits the ballad. - BS
Rathangan (as it is usually spelled) is on the boundary between Kildare and King's County (now County Offaly). It was little more than a village, and its occupation had little significance except to expand the rebel-occupied territory toward the west. Unfortunately, the rebels needed to move east, toward Dublin, if they wanted to help the cause.
Even more unfortunately, the town had a garrison, which the rebels attacked. According to Thomas Pakenham, The Year of Liberty, pp. 133-134, the attackers (estimated as 5000, though most such estimates were high) killed two yeoman officers and 26 privates. After they surrendered.
To be sure, when the place was retaken (Pakenham, pp. 167-168), there seems to have been a counter-massacre. But it's understandable why the British would pursue the rebel forces.
The Boyne is a long day's march, or a somewhat shorter ride, north of the town, so Doorley may have been pursued the whole time. - RBW
File: Zimm014

Captain Dwyer

DESCRIPTION: Ireland is ending the slavery binding it "Since Cromwell and his damned decree." Captain Dwyer's exploits against the cavalry and Captain Byrne are recounted: skirmishes at Hackettstown and Keadun bog avenging Stratford, Baltinglass and Dunlavin.
AUTHOR: R. R. Madden (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST DATE: 1887 (Madden's _Literary Remains of the United Irishmen of 1798_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: army battle rebellion Ireland patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1798 - Irish rebellion against British rule
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Moylan 144, "Captain Dwyer" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Michael Dwyer (I)" (subject of Michael Dwyer) and references there
NOTES: The Oliver Cromwell reference is to the August 1652 Act of Settlement of Ireland and its consequent expropriation of Irish lands. [For background on Cromwell's subjection of Ireland, and the horrors it caused -- it was perhaps the worst atrocity committed by anyone from the time of the Roman Empire until the Twentieth Century, attempting to push all the native Irish into Connaught -- see the notes to "The Wexford Massacre." - RBW]
Hackettstown, Stratford-on-Slaney, Baltinglass and Dunlavin are in County Wicklow.
Moylan: "Michael Dwyer was a Wicklow man, a member of the United Irishmen, who fought during the 1798 rebellion, and who waged a guerilla war in the Wicklow mountains for several years afterwards." This song, unlike the others, deals with his activities in May and June of 1798. "The village of Stratford-on-Slaney was attacked on the 24th of May. Hackettstown was attacked the following day, and again one month later on the 25th of June." Dwyer's was appointed Captain commanding a company on June 24.- BS
For more on Dwyer, see the notes to "Michael Dwyer (I)" or "Michael Dwyer (II)." - RBW
File: Moyl144

Captain Fowler

DESCRIPTION: Orangeman Captain Dick Fowler arrives in hell. Fowler says that if a croppy brings him water he will "own to him I've done great wrong." Beelzebub explains that no croppy can help him: "it was for Freedom those boys fell And heaven is their station"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1970 (Healy's _Mercier Book of Old Irish Street Ballads_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: death humorous patriotic Devil
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Moylan 39, "Captain Fowler" (1 text)
NOTES: Moylan: "Richard Fowler was a distiller living in Dunlavin, who in November 1797 had been condemned in the Union Star as 'a notorious informer and one of those principled murderers, orangemen'." Moylan lists other "activities" contributing to Fowler's reputation. - BS
I can't help but think this is inspired by the story of the Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke 16:19-31), for which see, e.g., "Dives and Lazarus" [Child 56]. I can't prove it, though. - RBW
File: Moyl039

Captain Glen/The New York Trader (The Guilty Sea Captain A/B) [Laws K22]

DESCRIPTION: A ship sets out to sea; many of the crew become ill. The captain has a dream which causes him to reveal his dreadful crimes to the boatswain. In the face of a severe storm, the boatswain reveals the captain's sins. He is tossed overboard; the storm abates
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1794
KEYWORDS: ship crime execution revenge storm
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England,Scotland) US(MA,SE) Ireland
REFERENCES (14 citations):
Bronson (57 � Appendix to "Brown Robyn's Confession"), 10 versions
Laws K22, "Captain Glen/The New York Trader (The Guilty Sea Captain A/B)"
Greig #130, pp. 2-3, "Captain Glen" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 191, "Captain Glen" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 72-73, "The New York Trader" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's 10}
Chappell-FSRA 35, "Captain Glen" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #3}
Logan, pp. 47-50, "Captain Glen's Unhappy Voyage to New Barbary" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 396-397, "New York Trader" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 55, "Captain Glen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 90, "Captain Glen" (1 text); 91, "The New York Trader" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 697-698, "William Glen" (1 text)
Ranson, pp. 76-77, "The Cork Trader" (1 text)
BBI, ZN2534, "There was a ship, and a ship of fame"
DT 563, NYTRADR WILLGLEN
ST LK22 (Full)
Roud #478
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2902), "The New York Trader," T. Birt (London), 1828-1829; Harding B 11(2700), Johnson Ballads 220, Johnson Ballads 569, Harding B 11(2163), 2806 b.11(232), Harding B 11(2699), Firth c.13(204), "The New York Trader"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Brown Robin's Confession" [Child 57] (Jonah theme)
cf. "Cruel Ship's Carpenter, The (The Gosport Tragedy; Pretty Polly)" [Laws P36A/B]
cf. "The Pirate"
cf. "The Sailor and the Ghost"
cf. "The Man and the Two Maidens"
cf. "Willie Was As Fine a Sailor" (Jonah theme)
cf. "Willie Grahame" (Jonah theme)
cf. "Bonnie Annie" [Child 24] (Jonah theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
William Guiseman
Sie William Gower
There Was a Ship
NOTES: See also Creighton and MacLeod Gaelic Songs in Nova Scotia 38, pp. 120-121, "Uilleam Glen (William Glen)" which alternates Gaelic and English verses. The English verses are close enough to Creighton-NovaScotia to be considered the same ballad.
The theme of the sailor thrown overboard to calm a storm sent by God is found in Jonah 1.1-16.
Ranson's version seems mangled with one four line stanza, three of five lines and three of six; no tune is supplied which, in Ranson's case, probably means the ballad was recited. Further, the contributor seems to be recalling the ballad as she remembers it from her late husband. The version has a few elements from the beginning of "Captain Glen": the number of the crew is mentioned (but only 34), and the captain is named (William Gore). From that point on couplets, rather than verses, and a few compressed single lines follow Catnach's "New York Trader" broadside at Bodliean Firth c.13(204). - BS
This may not be the only song about Captain Glen's misdeeds. The National Library of Scotland has an item, broadside NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(46a), "Captain Glen" ("As I was walking to take the air, To see the ships all sailing O"), unknown, c. 1890, describes Captain Glen seducing Betsy Gordon and abandoning her -- but he returns to her later. This has now been indexed as "The Noble Duke O'Gordon."
The idea of the sea raging against a criminal aboard a ship is, of course, a popular theme going back all the way to the Biblical book of Jonah. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: LK22

Captain Grant

DESCRIPTION: Singer, an apprentice in Northamptonshire, takes to highway robbery and is imprisoned in Edinburgh. Escaping, he hides in a wood, but is betrayed by a woman and reimprisoned. He prays for mercy on his soul and for his wife and children.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (Romani-English fragment reported by Merrick) and 1909 (English text reported by Sharp), according to Coughlan);
KEYWORDS: captivity betrayal crime execution prison punishment robbery escape gallows-confession family outlaw prisoner
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
MacSeegTrav 91, "Captain Grant" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CAPTGRNT*
ADDITIONAL: Tim Coughlan, Now Shoon the Romano Gillie, (Cardiff,2001), pp. 411-412, "Captain Grant the Highwayman" [English text reported by Sharp]
Roud #1286
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Bold Captain Grant
NOTES: See also Tim Coughlan, Now Shoon the Romano Gillie, (Cardiff,2001), #159, pp. 411-412, "If you Diks up a Funy'Chel" [Romani-English fragment reported by Merrick]. - BS
File: McCST091

Captain Henry Thomey

DESCRIPTION: "Upon the past I'm thinking, To it my heart is linking, When fifteen thousand hardy men Trod the frozen floe. Oh, those days were merry And everyone felt cheery When men sailed 'long with Terry and Thomey long ago."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Murphy, The Seal Fishery)
KEYWORDS: hunting nonballad moniker
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 15, "Captain Henry Thomey" (1 single-stanza text)
NOTES: Based on the very short form in Ryan/Small, this isn't really a moniker song -- but the whole thing is about Henry Thomey, who apparently headed sealing expeditions for nearly sixty years. Monikerish enough. Whether it's traditional I don't know; no author seems to be known, but there is no collection information either. - RBW
File: RySm015

Captain Holler Hurry

DESCRIPTION: "The Captain holler hurry, Goin' to take my time... Say he makin' money, And I'm tryin' to make time. Say he can lose his job, But I can't lose mine. I ain't got time to tarry, Just stop by here. Boys if you got long You better move along."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1950 (recording, Willie Turner)
KEYWORDS: prison work
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Courlander-NFM, pp. 106-107, (no title) (1 partial text); pp. 265-266, "Captain Holler Hurry" (1 tune, partial text)
Roud #10989
RECORDINGS:
Willie Turner, "Captain Holler Hurry" (on NFMAla6)
File: CNFM106B

Captain James (The Captain's Apprentice)

DESCRIPTION: (Captain James) has a servant who commits a "trifling offense." James ties him to the mast, abuses him, starves him, and leaves him to die of thirst, torture, and exposure. Brought to trial, James thinks money will save him, but he is hanged
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1768 (Journal from the _Two Brothers_)
KEYWORDS: ship sailor death murder crime punishment trial execution
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond)) US(MW) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 54-59, "Captain James" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 132, "The Cabin Boy" (1 text)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 88, "Captain James" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST SWMS054 (Partial)
Roud #835
RECORDINGS:
Harry Cox, "Come All You Men Throughout This Nation" (on Voice12)
NOTES: Although the versions of this I've seen don't clearly state that the vessel in this story was a navy ship, the picture here fits the British navy. The captains, in this era, were almost entirely isolated from their crews, and they weren't really examined for fitness for promotion. Many were incompetent, and many were barbaric.
An extreme example of the latter was Hugh Pigot of H. M. S. Hermione, who killed at least two of his sailors with the cat, at least once ordered fourteen sailors flogged on the same day, and after giving an impossible order which resulted in injuries to two young sailors, had them thrown overboard. The result was a mutiny -- but while Pigot was killed, the admiralty officially stood by him.
A summary of Pigot's career is given in Guttridge in pp. 75-82. On pp. 75-76, he reports, "Hugh Pigot came from a family whose wealth and political influence (his father had been on the board of the British Admiralty) were possibly factors in his attainment of naval command at the age of twenty-two. It would be said in Pigot's defence that he was a skillful if ill-tempered officer who demanded proficiency from inferiors and too readily believed he could flog it out of them."
Guttridge,p. 76, speculates that his assignment to the remoteness of the tropics may have affected his mind: "[H]is average of two floggings a week on HMS Success, a punishment rate not really excessive, was to worsen rapidly after he transferred his command to the 32-gun frigate Hermione early in 1797."
In the autumn of 1797, during a storm, Pigot ordered some canvas taken in, and decided the men were working too slowly. "He threatened to flog the last man down. In the scrambling descent three mizzentopmen missed their footing and plunged to their deaths. Pigot ordered the bodies thrown overboard and blamed a dozen men for clumsiness aloft and had them all flogged" (Guttridge, p.77). Since the ship had a crew of about 170, that means he in one day injured or killed almost 10% of his men -- a patently unsustainable rate. And, indeed, the crew mutinied that night and killed him; Guttridge says "the intruders practically fought each other to get at him." Repeatedly stabbed, he was then thrown overboard, perhaps still alive (since some men reportedly heard his cries; Guttridge, p. 78). I'd consider it a measure of his inhumanity that he actually thought he might be worth rescuing.
Unfortunately, Pigot's insanity had infected the crew, and three more officers were killed before the bloody spree ended. When things calmed down a little, a series of mock-trials were held, and most of the remaining officers executed (Guttridge, p. 79). Apparently one of the mutineers also raped the wife of the boatswain, who was one of those murdered (Cordingly, pp. 99-101).
The crew, realizing they had no hope of mercy, headed for Venezuela, where they begged asylum (claiming falsely to have set their officers adrift). One suspects they got it because their ship was valuable, not because anyone believed them.
The British eventually managed to recover and hang some two dozen of the mutineers (Guttridge, p. 81), though most were not ringleaders. Over a hundred managed to avoid recapture by the British (Guttridge, p. 87); many probably ended up in the United States. The Hermione itself, renamed Santa Cecilia by the Spanish, was eventually retaken by the British, though her career was over; returned to Portsmouth in 1802, she was soon paid off, and broken up in 1805 (Paine, p. 243).
Compare also the captain described in "The Flash Frigate (La Pique)."
It was largely the behavior of officers that eventually led to the Spithead mutiny (which resulted, among other things, in many officers being transferred or put ashore; for details on Spithead, see "Poor Parker"). Captain James may not have been real (none of the books I've read seem able to trace him), but he was true-to-life.
Incidentally, an incident almost parallel to this happened within a year of the recorded text from the Two Brothers -- involving none other than John Paul Jones! According to Morison's biography (p. 17), Jones (then known simply as John Paul) was in 1769 the commander of the John; he had aboard a carpenter named Mungo Maxwell. (Truly. Mungo Maxwell. That's what it says.) Jones became so upset with him that he had him flogged. Maxwell filed charges against Jones, and while they were dismissed, Maxwell died on a voyage soon after. Jones faced a murder charge in consequence, though he was acquitted. - RBW
Bibliography

Cordingly: David Cordingly, Women Sailors and Sailors' Women, Random House, 2001 (I use the undated, but later, paperback edition)
Guttridge: Leonard F. Guttridge, Mutiny: A History of Naval Insurrection, Naval Institute Press, 1992 (I use the 2002 Berkley edition)
Morison: Samuel Eliot Morison,John Paul Jones, 1959 (I use the 1981 Time-Life edition)
Paine: Lincoln P. Paine, Ships of the World: An Historical Encylopedia, Houghton Mifflin, 1997

Last updated in version 2.5
File: SWMS054

Captain Jim Rees and the Katie

DESCRIPTION: "Captain Jim Rees said when the Katie was made, Arkansas City goin' to be her trade." The remaining verses describe the life and plans of a river worker, perhaps on the Kate Adams
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: sailor work river
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MWheeler, pp. 10-12, "Captain Jim Rees and the Katie" (1 text, 1 tune); pp. 20-21, "She Leaves Memphis" (1 text, 1 tune); also perhaps p. 22, "Vicksburg Round the Bend" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MWhee010 (Full)
Roud #9997
NOTES: According to Wheeler, James Rees ran a steamboat manufacturing company from 1854. In the aftermath of the Civil War, he built several boats for use on the southern Mississipi and offered them to southern firms on credit.
Three boats on the Mississippi were named Kate Adams. The second was responsible for a run from Helena, Arkansas to Memphis (ninety miles) in less than five and a half hours. The third was said to be the subject of this song, and the Jim Rees was the son of the founder of the Jim Rees Duquesne Engine Works.
Wheeler's second text, "She Leaves Memphis," has only the one verse in common with her first -- but since it's the key verse, and all the others are the sort of generic items one expects of bluesy songs, I concluded they were the same.
Even more complicated is the case of "Vicksburg Round the Bend." The first stanza is generic, with different cities being used; the second is standard blues, the third is found also in "What Does the Deep Sea Say," the fourth is the "Katie" verse, and the fifth is from "The Katie and the Jim Lee Had a Race."
More than anything else, these two versions (and even the first) show the difficulty of classifying songs of this type. These may be distinct in their origins, but they have cross-fertilized to the point where no clear line can be drawn. - RBW
File: MWhee010

Captain Jinks

DESCRIPTION: "I'm Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines, I feed my horse on corn and beans And court young ladies in their teens Though a Captain in the army." Jinks describes his money troubles, his fancy clothes, army training, and perhaps his life with the girls
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (JAFL 24)
KEYWORDS: clothes courting money pride soldier army playparty marines
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Randolph 547, "Captain Jinks" (2 short texts, 1 tune)
BrownIII 84, "Captain Jinks" (1 fragment)
Cambiaire, p. 139, "Captain Jinks" (1 short text)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 47-48, "Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert, p. 61, "Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines" (1 fragmentary text); pp. 86-87 contains a parody about Mrs. Jinks
Silber-FSWB, p. 38, "Captain Jinks" (1 text)
DT, CAPTJINK
Roud #4858
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Captain Jinks" (on PeteSeeger21)
NOTES: Randolph states that this song dates back to the Civil War era, and there are reports of public performances as early as 1901. Few substantial details seem to exist, though.
The earliest dated account of the song in tradition seems to be that of Laura Ingalls Wilder, who reports her father singing in in 1872 (Little House in the Big Woods, chapter 7) and, more significantly, in 1879 (By the Shores of Silver Lake, chapter 15). Laura also sang a parody at the latter time -- the same one mentioned by Gilbert:
I am Mrs. Jinks of Madison Square,
I wear fine clothes and curl my hair,
The Captain went on a regular tear,
And they kicked him out of the army.
This would seem to imply a song well-established in tradition -- but we should note that Wilder was writing sixty years later, and that her account is in any case not actual autobiography but fiction based loosely on her life. - RBW
File: R547

Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines

See Captain Jinks (File: R547)

Captain John

See Johnny the Sailor (Green Beds) [Laws K36] (File: LK36)

Captain Kidd (II)

See Through All the World Below (File: LoF034)

Captain Kidd [Laws K35]

DESCRIPTION: Captain Kidd tells the tale of his wicked life. His early sins include the murder of William Moore and one of his ship's gunners. He repents for a time, but slides back into piracy. Finally captured, he has been sentenced to death
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1701 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: execution gallows-confession pirate
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1699 - Arrest of Captain William Kidd in Boston
May 23, 1701 - Execution of Captain Kidd
FOUND IN: US(MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (23 citations):
Laws K35, "Captain Kidd"
BrownII 116, "Captain Kidd" (1 text)
Chappell-FSRA 27, "The Pirate" (a single confused stanza, but clearly this song)
Hudson 100, p. 238, "Kidd's Lament" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 129, "Captain Kidd" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 131-134, "Captain Kidd" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 837-839, "Captain Kidd" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, pp. 141-144, "Captain Kidd" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, 449, "Captain Kidd" (1 text, 1 tune); "Samuel Hall" (1 text, 1 tune -- same tune and format as Kidd, but substituting other names and nonsense rhymes)
Mackenzie 110, "Captain Robert Kidd" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 366, "Captain Kidd" (1 text)
PBB , "Captain Robert Kidd" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 501-504, "Captain Robert Kidd" (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 5, "Captain Kidd-I" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 72, p. 160, "Captain Kidd" (1 text)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 187-189, "The Ballad of Captain Kidd" (1 text)
Gilbert, p. 43, "Captain Kidd" (1 partial text)
JHJohnson, pp. 73-75, "The Ballad of Captain Kidd" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 200, "Captain Kidd" (1 text)
BBI, ZN1837, "My name is Captain Kid who has sail'd, &c."
DT 413, CAPNKIDD* CAPNKID2
ADDITIONAL: C. H. Firth, _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ , 1907 (available on Google Books), p. 134, "Captain Kid's Farewel to the Seas; Or, The Famous Pirate's Lament" (1 very detailed text, with the tune listed as "Coming Down")
Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; notes to #87, "Told How a Crew Was Cursed" (1 short text)
Roud #1900
BROADSIDES:
LOCSinging, as101900, "Capt. Robert Kidd," unknown (Boston), 19C; also as101910, "The Dying Words of Capt. Robert Kidd: a Noted Pirate, Who Was Hanged at Execution Dock, in England"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bold Kidd, the Pirate" (subject)
SAME TUNE:
Admiral Byng and Brave West (C. H. Firth, _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ , 1907 (available on Google Books), p. 210)
NOTES: One of the tunes for this song is also used for the American hymn "Wondrous Love"; another is used for the English hymn "Come Ye that Fear the Lord." -PJS, RBW
The Missouri Harmony has a song, "Captain Kid" (sic.), which has still another set of lyrics (not "Wondrous Love"), but the sheet music is so cramped that it is literally impossible to match the text with the tune. It's the standard tune, though. - RBW
Several of the ballad versions note that, after murdering William Moore, Kidd killed the gunner. According to Friedman, Moore *was* the gunner; Kidd killed him because he was allegedly planning a mutiny. - PJS
There is a lot more to this story than we find in this song. Although the British hung Captain Kidd as a pirate, the view of him in the song is probably too harsh. In his own mind he was a privateer, if perhaps an overly zealous one. Hendrickson, p. 214, sums up his character as follows: "Rather than a ruthless pirate, [he was] a man not without a conscience but lacking in cunning and shrewdness -- certainly not a man possessing a criminal mind. Captain Kidd was more dupe than demon, more political victim than swashbuckling pirate king."
This may be over-generous, but it shows how complex the situation was. Herman comments on p. 247, "Kidd had fallen victim of a new, less tolerant attitude toward the time-honored tradition of theft at sea. A few years earlier, Kidd's exploits would have been business as usual." Similarly, Cordingly, p. xiv, described the reign of Charles II (1660-1685) as the period when buccaneers were most active in the Caribbean. But by 1701, Britain was doing all it could to stop piracy; the gibbeted bodies of pirates were displayed all along the Thames to try to discourage potential pirates (Ritchie, p. 1)
The truth is, there was a long history of piracy in the British navy. Francis Drake, the second man to circumnavigate the globe, made his profit by preying on the Spanish, e.g. (Cordingly, pp. 28fff.; Rodger, p. 244).
As long as England was a self-sufficient nation, without colonies, and its enemies such as Spain had colonies, this made perfect sense. It was only in the seventeenth century that Britain began to find trade more profitably than raiding, and so started to suppress piracy (Ritchie, p. 128). Similarly Hendrickson, p. 214, "In the seventeenth century, England had difficulty controlling manufacture and trade in the growing colonies. The colonies resented interference from the mother country and turned increasingly to pirates [for their needs].... But the powerful East India Company, with its fleet of great merchant ships, claimed it was being jeopardized by pirates. King William... appointed the loyal Earl of Belomont as governor of New York and Massachussetts. His specific aim as to halt piratical abuses."
William Kidd (or Kid; this is the spelling preferred by Firth) was born in the middle of this transition period. Few details of his early life survive, but he was said to come from Greenock, Scotland, and to have been born around 1645 (so Ritchie,p. 27; DictPirates; and all three biographical dictionaries I checked; Zacks, p. 9, makes him 42 in 1696, and on p. 60 says he was born in 1654. Clifford, p. 5, also gives the date 1654, and lists his birthplace as Dundee).
His father is said to have been a Presbyterian minister (so Ritchie, p. 27; Clifford claims Kidd's father was "a sea captain who died when Kidd was very young"), which would accord with the statement in the song that Kidd's parents "taught me well to shun the gates of hell." But the extent to which his faith influenced his early career simply cannot be known; we don't have the information.
Clifford, p. 5, believes Kidd spent time as a petty officer in the Royal Navy -- but no petty officer would know how to navigate a ship.
By 1689, Kidd was a buccaneer in the Caribbean (Ritchie, p. 29). In that confused region, with different islands ruled by different powers, semi-official piracy still flourished. In that year, seemingly with some official encouragement, he took command of the Blessed William, technically a privateer (Kidd in fact had helped capture her, and she was manned, in effect, by volunteers; Zacks, pp. 62-63) but part of a relatively regular navy flotilla (the lines between regular and irregulars were much less clearly drawn in remote stations); Ritchie, p. 30.
Trouble began when his crew didn't like how he ran his ship; they soon deposed him (Ritchie, p. 32; Zacks, p. 72). Kidd and his former vessel ended up chasing each other around the Atlantic. But Kidd did good work in New York during the confusion resulting from the ouster of James II in 1689 (Zacks, p. 79ff.); he used his new ship to help bluff the old governor out of his post.
Kidd went on to marry a well-to-do young New York widow in 1691 (Ritchie, p. 36; Zacks, pp. 82-83, describes the complications of their courtship and her inheritance, and Clifford, p. 23, notes that they married only four days after her previous husband died, but none of that affects Kidd's story much). They would have a daughter, Sarah, named for her mother (Zacks, p. 11).
Kidd seems to have been a perfectly respectable citizen; among other things, he served on a Grand Jury for a time (Zacks, pp. 90-91). Though it was hard to be entirely respectable in New Yorkin this period; the place was a favorite pirate hang-out, where no one asked many questions about where goods came from (Clifford, pp. 32-33).
Eventually life on land paled, though we have no clue as to why (Clifford, p. 23); in 1695 Kidd went to England to seek a privateer's licence (Ritchie, p. 40; Zacks, pp. 91-93, thinks he actually tried to gain a captain's commission in the Royal Navy, but given his low social status, this is almost too absurd an idea to contemplate). He did not get either warrant at this time; a shortage of trained sailors forced the British navy to grab every hand it could find. So no letters of marque were issued during this period (Ritchie, pp. 42-43).
There were ways around this. According to Bryant, p. 34, "By 1698, the loss of revenue and trade brought about by the smugglers and pirates had reached such large proportions that the English government was moved to action. But since the Royal Navy was fully occupied in the war with Louis XIV, a private company was organized to hunt down and destroy some pirates.... [Among its stockholders] were King William [of Orange], Lord Bellomont.... Lord Chancellor Somers, [and] the Duke of Somerset...." What it really came down to was, Kidd and some acquaintances came up with a way around the restrictions on privateers: They would offer up their ship for purposes of hunting the pirates. In return, they wanted to have a much freer hand in dealing with the booty they captured (Zacks, pp. 102-104).
We will meet Bellomont again; he was not born a member of the nobility, but was a soldier who had helped bring Charles II back to the throne; he had been rewarded with a title, but had little property to support it (Clifford, p. 34). His poverty, and his desire to do something about it, would play a large role in what followed.
(In an interesting aside, the man who dreamed up this scheme, and who introduced Kidd to his other patrons, was one Robert Livingston. According to Zacks, p. 100, he was of the Livingston family that, a century and a half earlier, had produced Mary Livingston, one of the "four Maries" who went with Mary Stewart when Mary went to wed the king of France.)
Initially, the goal of Bellomont's group seems to have been to have a relatively small number of shareholders, to keep the profits high. This proved unfeasible; too many people, including King William, had to approve the venture. So more partners were brought in and the charter rewritten (Ritchie, pp. 50-55). To get King William's assent to the whole deal, he was given a 10% stake.
Raising the money was difficult enough that Kidd sold his old ship, the Antigua (Zacks, p. 105). What's more, he signed what Zacks, p. 104, describes as a performance bond for twenty thousand pounds. Apart from his land in New York, much of which was really his wife's property, he was betting everything he had -- and if he failed, even the land might be forfeit, unless his wife could have the marriage dissolved. (Zacks thinks this is proof that Kidd either intended to cheat or to turn pirate. He ignores the possibility that Kidd was tricked -- which, given that Kidd was starry-eyed enough to hope for favors from the British government, seems to me quite possible.)
To make his problems worse, his backers were slow to come up with their parts of the funding, meaning that he lost a significant amount of his capital to interest on debts he piled up while he waited (Zacks, p. 106).
Kidd's ship, the Adventure Galley, was still new; it was designed for it task and built in 1695. It was, by the standards of the time, quite an unusual vessel; in the century since the Spanish Armada had seen its oared vessels thoroughly out-maneuvered by the race-built English sailing ships, oared ships had almost disappeared from the seas. And the Adventure Galley did have a full sailing rig -- but it also had oars, and was designed for rowing (Ritchie, p. 58; Zacks, p. 105). This would make it easier to maneuver in combat and close with a pirate, which was its purpose (Clifford, p. 6, calls it the "first ship ever built by the British to hunt pirates") -- but it also probably resulted in a cramped, slow ship in ordinary conditions. And she was ill-equipped for sailing in the tropics, where wooden hulls were constantly under attack; her planking was thin, and there was no metal coat (Zacks, p. 119). One suspects, given how leaky she was, that the wood was also of low quality.
But she could certainly fight, being armed with over 30 cannon (32, according to Zacks, p. 9; 34, according to DictPirates, Paine, and Clifford, p. 45). On the other hand, Clifford seems to say that her guns were four-pounders -- very light artillery indeed; even field artillery was usually in the six-pound to twelve-pound range, and a ship of the line would carry 24-pounders or heavier. (To be sure, Zacks, p. 119, believes at least some were sixteen-pounders.) Paine estimates her at 285 tons, DictPirates at 300; Zacks and Clifford give the improbably precise figure of 287 tons -- a fairly large ship for the time; even a ship of the line was generally under 1500 tons.
Finding a crew was problematic. Given the naval crisis, Kidd was only allowed to take 70 men from England, and only half of them were permitted to be experienced sailors (Ritchie, pp. 58, 63; Zacks, pp. 105-106). This was more than enough to sail the vessel, but not nearly enough to fight her efficiently; for that, Kidd needed about 150 men. So it was decided that she would sail to his old stomping grounds in New York to pick up more crew.
As he started on his way to America, Kidd showed some of the arrogance that would eventually get him in trouble; as he was leaving England, he refused to accord proper recognition to naval vessels. He nearly lost his ship as a result; Ritchie, p. 61, and did lose some of his better crew members; Zacks, pp. 107-108; Clifford, p. 50. Plus the whole business was starting to look pretty under-the-table; Zacks, pp. 106-107, thinks Kidd's backers were trying to get him out of the country fast so he could be out making money rather than get stuck in something as tedious as fighting off a French invasion fleet intent on restoring James II.
My sources disagree about exactly what happened in New York. Ritchie says that the war with France had caused something of a depression in New York, making it easy to recruit crew. But Kidd was signing crewmen to the standard privateer's "no prey, no pay" contract: They received a percentage of the booty, but no other pay except in the event of injury (Ritchie, pp. 58-59).
Recall that a high percentage of the profit had already been promised away to expedition's financers (including that 10% promised to King William). Ritchie thinks that this wasn't a problem; Kidd found his crew. But DictPirates says that Kidd promised 60% of the booty to his men, and 60% to his backers -- obviously not a possibility. Clifford, p. 36, also says the backers were promised 60%. Zacks, p. 14, has an even more extreme equation: All the crew combined were to be granted only a quarter of the booty; Clifford, p. 47, also says the crew would get only 25% (with no data on the other 15%) -- and adds that privateering crews usually would get 50% of the take. Since there were 150 men, a 25% share for the crew meant 1 part in 600 for each man. So when Kidd, on the voyage over, captured a French vessel judged to be worth 350 pounds, each man would have gotten just over half a pound. Given the length of the voyage, that works out to pennies a day at best. Few sailors were interested.
Zacks, p. 14, claims that Kidd then turned the arrangement on its head: The sailors would get 75%, the backers 25%. This, we note, was cheating the crown -- hardly a good idea. But, whatever Kidd did, he finally pulled together a crew -- though, according to Zacks, p. 16, quite a few of them were "known pirates."
One of the key members of this crew was William Moore, who was appointed gunner. This meant that he was responsible for training the ship's crew in the proper handling and use of the ship's guns (Ritchie, p. 70). Zacks, p. 16, describes him as a known troublemaker, who had attacked his captain at age 18; he also spent time in prison in the Caribbean. Zacks speculates that Kidd wanted a "belligerent" gunner.
On September 6, 1696, the Adventure Galley left New York bound for Madeira, the first stop on the way around the Cape of Good Hope (Ritchie, pp. 69-70). In this period, he seems to have followed the rules against piracy scrupulously; he could have attacked several ships safely (Ritchie, p. 70), but refrained when they proved to be from friendly countries. In fact, he gave one disabled British ship sails and a mast (Zacks, p. 24) that he would later sorely miss (Ritchie, p. 90).
He first found himself in trouble a little later, when he ran into a naval squadron in the South Atlantic commanded by Commodore Thomas Warren. The squadron had gotten lost, and suffered heavily from scurvy, and had been under-manned even before that; they wanted to requisition some of Kidd's crew (Clifford, pp. 62-63). Kidd managed to slip away (apparently by rowing when the fleet was becalmed; Clifford, p. 64) -- but he didn't dare stop at the Cape of Good Hope, since that was where the fleet was headed. Needing supplies himself, and also facing an outbreak of scurvy, he set sail for Madagascar (Ritchie, pp. 77-79). The crew, who hated the idea of being impressed into the Navy, was probably thrilled. But Warren would remember being abandoned.... (Zacks, p. 38).
Madagascar, at this time, was a haunt mostly of pirates; European attempts at colonization had largely failed (Ritchie, p. 82). And there was enough trade with India sailing around Cape Horn to support a fair number of predators.
Kidd stopped at the island of Mohilla to careen his ship -- and lost about thirty of his men to disease (Ritchie, p. 91; Zacks, p. 120, describes it as bloody dysentery, and says about 40 men died). The tropics at this time were still very deadly for Europeans. Kidd managed to find a few replacements, but Ritchie hints (p. 92) that the new men were even rougher than the old; Clifford, p. 66, believes they were veteran pirates, and that they changed the feelings of the crew: The majority were now in favor of actual piracy.
So far, the expedition had been a financial disaster: With no prizes taken since they left New York, Kidd would be in trouble with his bosses. And the absence of loot also made the crew restless. Clifford, p. 70, notes that at the end of her first year at sea, the men had made effectively nothing -- less than a piece of eight per man. Bryant, p. 35, writes, "As their search in the Indian ocean for pirates and booty proved futile, the crew became mutinous, demanding that the ship devote its time to a little pirating on its own account...." According to Ritchie, p. 94, "When Kidd rounded the horn [of Africa -- the region now known as Somalia] and turned due west into the Gulf of Aden, he was all but announcing he had turned pirate." He first tried stalking an East India convoy, but it was too strong to attack (Ritchie, pp. 97-98).
By this time, the Adventure Galley "was now 'leaky and rotten' and the men pumped water daily" (Ritchie, p. 99), even though they had made several stops to careen and repair the ship. Between the loss of men, the hot weather, the lack of prizes, and the state of the ship, Ritchie is of the opinion that morale was terrible. Clifford, p. 69, says that a visitor to the ship saw a crew very disrespectful of their captain. Zacks, p. 127, notes that Kidd didn't have any authorization from anyone of importance in the Indian Ocean (e.g. the East India Company or one of the local Moslem rulers), so it was almost impossible for him to visit a decent port; that can't have helped morale either. Under all these pressures, Kidd stopped an English ship in Indian waters. He took her captain hostage as a guide, and his men, by abusing the crew, managed to find a small amount of cash (Ritchie, pp. 99-100). It was a relatively minor act, but it was piracy.
Men were starting to jump ship (Ritchie, pp. 101-102). "Confronted with a desperate situation, Kidd had to do something quickly, and it appears he set out to make a big strike as fast as possible" (Ritchie, p. 102). He blundered into a fight with a small Portuguese squadron (Zacks, pp. 139-141), fled, then managed to capture the smaller Portuguese ship (which had out-sailed its larger companion; Ritchie, p. 103). This too was piracy, since Portugal was not at war with England -- though fighting a ship from a Catholic nation wasn't likely to get Kidd in trouble, and he could at least argue that the Portuguese started it.
By this time, reports of Kidd's piracy were common and very exaggerated (Zacks, pp. 142-143). Yet when Kidd met an actual English ship, the Thankfull, he once again let it pass (Ritchie, p. 104). And when he encountered an East India Company ship, the Loyal Captain, he again refused to attack her -- though the crew wanted to seize the ship (Ritchie, p. 105; Clifford, p. 71; Zacks, p. 147, gives a substantial but undocumented account of how he faced the crew down).
It was in this context that the problem with William Moore arose. Moore had already caused a little trouble. When the Adventure Galley overtook a small ship named Mary, Kidd had stopped her and spent much time talking to her captain in his cabin. While his back was turned, members of the crew, including Moore, had ransacked the Mary. It didn't yield much, and according to Zacks, p. 134, Kidd actually made them return much of what they had taken (evidence that Kidd was not yet committed to piracy). But refusing them even this small bit of booty can't have made the crew any happier.
Later, the Adventure Galley spotted a Dutch ship, and Kidd refused to attack it. Moore was discussing with some of the crew how it might be taken. Kidd overheard and flew into a rage. "Moore... when called a 'lousy dog,' had the temerity to reply, 'If I am a lousy dog, 'tis you who have made me so! [Kidd] ...hit Moore such a smart blow on the head with a wooden bucket that next day the gunner died" (Bryant, p. 35; there are circumstantial accounts in Zacks, p. 149, and Clifford, pp. 72-74, though they do not entirely agree with the accounts in other sources. Certainly there is no authentic and contemporary record of what was said that day; all is from later recollection.)
If the description in Clifford, pp. 73-74, is correct, it sounds as if Kidd was formally in the right: Moore was openly mutinous. Properly, Kidd should have given orders for Moore's execution -- but this raises the possibility that his orders might not have been obeyed (according to Zacks, p. 148, the agreement Kidd had signed with his sailors gave him relatively limited powers; he had to get a vote of the men even to punish a mutineer!). It was a dreadful situation, thought Kidd's response was certainly unwise.
With the crew more upset than ever, Kidd finally got lucky -- or so he thought. Kidd's mistake arose in part because of the tendency at the time to fly false flags. Soon after, while himself flying French colors, he encountered a ship called the Rupparell (Ritchie, pp. 106-107). He stopped the ship and tricked the captain into showing a French pass. The ship in fact wasn't French, but since she had passed herself off as such, Kidd felt entitled to take her. Finally his men earned something worth having -- it even gave him a second ship, which eventually was renamed the November. But it was rather a sharp bit of business.
It wasn't the last time false colors would get Kidd in trouble. It was on January 30, 1698 that they spotted the Quedah Merchant (Ritchie, p. 108; the ship is sometimes called simply the Quedagh; so Herman, pp. 246-247, or the Quedagh Merchant, Clifford, p. 84, contra Ritchie, Bryant, Paine, p. 6). It was quite a prize -- Zacks, p. 155, calculates it at at least fifty thousand pounds, or twice the amount supplied by Kidd's investors. Of course, there was also the crew to pay....
Since Kidd was flying a French flag, the Quedah Merchant did the same, and sent over a French pass when called upon to show her papers (Clifford, p. 84; Zacks, pp. 151-152). France was clearly an enemy of England, and Kidd took her -- but in fact she was carrying Indian cloth. So he was arguably guilty of again attacking a British ship. Certainly a ship of a British ally. (According to Clifford, p. 86, he came to realize this, and later tried to return the vessel, and Zacks, p. 156, says he tried to talk the crew into not holding the ship. But this sounds like an after-the-fact apology to me.)
Worse, the ship had been under the control of Muklis Khan, a high official at the Indian court (Ritchie,p. 127; Clifford, pp. 134-135). Taking it didn't just cost the East India Company money; it got them in hot water with the locals they had to deal with. They were already in trouble with the locals, and struggling to maintain their monopoly (Ritchie, pp. 128-134); Kidd made their problems much worse. They would not forget -- and they wanted a scapegoat. Kidd apparently was the one chosen (Ritchie, p. 137; Clifford, p. 136).
It was about the end of his voyage. Already the ship had been out longer than he planned, and between the state of his ship, and the fact that everyone was after him, it would be hard to take another major prize. Kidd managed to pick up a few more small ships after the Quedah Merchant (Ritchie, p. 109), meaning he by now had a small fleet at his disposal -- but only the Adventure Galley was really a fighting ship. And she was no longer in fighting shape; her pumps were always active (manned mostly by slaves; Clifford, p. 85), and Ritchie, p. 110, thinks she was now too slow to catch a merchantman. And she might not survive even a moderate storm (Ritchie, p. 111. It makes you wonder a bit about Kidd's ship-handling if he couldn't keep her in seaworthy shape for just two years. Though Zacks, p. 105, notes that she was built in five weeks and may not have been properly constructed and caulked.)
Kidd took his motley fleet out of the Indian Ocean and headed back to the pirate haunt of Madagascar. This is a noteworthy point, because if Kidd had really been trying to work with the authorities, he could have gone to a British port. (To be fair, every time he had tried that in India, he had gotten in trouble.) Instead, he arrived at the island of Saint Marie, off Madagascar, in April 1698, and assured the pirates who watched the entrance to the harbor that he was "as bad as they" (Ritchie, p. 116). It took some time for all his ships to arrive (Clifford, p. 120, says that the Quedah Merchant arrived some five weeks after the Adventure Galley), but they all showed up eventually.
The crew then insisted on a distribution of the spoils (Clifford, p. 121), and there was much grumbling at how much Kidd held back for his sponsors. The crew went to far as to loot one of their own smaller vessels, which ended up sinking (Ritchie, pp. 118-119).
The crew did more than just take their money. They also quit. Maybe they were sick of Kidd, maybe they didn't think they were getting paid enough; maybe they just wanted more treasure. But a large majority (nearly 100 of the 117 remaining sailors, according to Ritchie, pp. 124-125) left Kidd to serve aboard the pirate ship Resolution, commanded by Robert Culliford. Ritchie describes it as if they just voted to quit, but Clifford, pp. 122-123, describes it in terms of mutiny: The men raided the property, threatened Kidd, and headed off to join Culliford. You have to give them a certain credit for foresight, because Culliford was to be very successful -- and even managed to cop a pardon when he arrived home. (This part of the story seems to have been pretty obscure; Firth, p. 348, thought Culliford followed Kidd to the gallows, as he probably should have.)
Whatever Kidd had hoped to do at this point, the loss of his crew meant he didn't have much choice now but to head for home; although he could and did recruit local slaves to do most of the shipboard work, he didn't have enough sailors to do any more fighting.
It also meant he had to give up on the leaky Adventure Galley, There wouldn't be enough men to man the pumps (Clifford, p. 124). The crew beached the ship, burned it to recover the relatively valuable iron fittings and cannon, and set out for New York in the former Quedah Merchant, now renamed the Adventure Prize (Ritchie, p. 126). It was a curious decision: The loss of his specialized ship would surely not go over well with his backers, and the design of the Adventure Prize was highly recognizable as an Indiaman (meaning that, unless Kidd had taken it from pirates, he must have captured it by his own piracy; Clifford, p. 124).
It was a while before he was able to sail, though we don't know the exact date (Ritchie, p. 160). Ritchie thinks that Kidd fabricated a narrative during this time to explain his deeds (cf. Clifford, p. 125): He admitted to taking two legal prizes, and beyond that, every action forced upon him had been at the behest of his crew. And he destroyed his log so it could not be used against him (Ritchie, p. 125; Clifford, p. 161, says Kidd claimed the crew stole it).
Clifford, however, notes a major problem with this line of argument: Kidd still had a significant amount of loot (Clifford, pp. 145, 148). If the crew had truly mutinied, would they have left him with so much? And could he, as he apparently claimed, have realized so much money for selling the fittings of the Adventure Galley after she was abandoned (Clifford, p. 161)? Kidd, it seems to me, was on a cleft stick: If he came back with money, he was in trouble with the Crown; if he came back with none, he would answer to his investors. It is, perhaps, a measure of his devotion to his family that he came home at all.
While Kidd was gone, the laws against piracy, which previously had been difficult to enforce, had been made much stiffer (Ritchie, pp. 151-155, etc.). And Kidd's was only the first of many ships sent to stop the pirates (Ritchie, p. 159). The government might have forgiven mere failure; it would not forgive a privateer turned pirate. Kidd was officially declared a pirate at this time.
There are many rumors about Kidd's return voyage -- Clifford mentions stories of men murdered and a mutiny suppressed. There does not seem to be any hard evidence of this, and Kidd probably didn't have enough men for the costly mutiny described.
Kidd did not sail back directly to either England or New York; his first stop in the New World was the island of Anguilla, where he picked up water and some fresh food (Ritchie, p. 165). He then headed to the Dutch port of Saint Thomas, apparently to avoid the Royal Navy. After some more flitting around the Antilles, he sold his ship and some of his goods (Ritchie, pp. 166-167) and transferred to a vessel he bought, the Saint Antonio. The Quedah Merchant was finally fired in the islands (Ritchie, p. 168).
Kidd then headed for New York, occasionally stopping along the coast to get rid of cargo, and apparently negotiating with Lord Bellomont, one of his original financial backers and now colonial governor (Ritchie, pp. 177-180). Being granted an official post seemed to have done something to Bellomont's memory; he certainly did not welcome Kidd with open arms. He had an interesting problem: He could accept Kidd's account of what happened, take his share of Kidd's profits, and try to get Kidd a pardon for whatever crimes he was considered to have committed -- or he could turn Kidd in.
Ritchie, p. 180, estimates that Bellomont could make on the order of a thousand pounds for cooperating with Kidd, and on the order of 13,000 if he himself turned Kidd in. Plus he would strengthen his political position by making himself look tough on piracy (Clifford, pp. 156-157). A scrupulous man might have hesitated -- but a scrupulous man probably wouldn't have gotten tied up in Kidd's adventure anyway. As Kidd arrived to present his case to the colony's council, Bellomont had him seized (Ritchie, p. 182) and imprisoned in Boston (Ritchie, p. 183; Clifford, p. 162). So strictly was he guarded that not even his wife was allowed to see him (Clifford, p. 178)..
So great was government interest in making Kidd a symbol that a special ship was sent to transport him to England (Ritchie, p. 184), though it had to turn back before crossing the Atlantic (Ritchie, p. 185). He finally was sent to England in 1700 aboard the Advice (Ritchie, p. 192). The trip being urgent, the ship sailed in winter, and a harsh winter at that (Clifford, p. 179), with the result that Kidd became very sick (Ritchie, p. 193). Clifford adds that he was kept in solitary confinement to make sure he didn't reveal any of his high-placed backers' embarrassing secrets.
By this time, Kidd had even been discussed in Parliament (Ritchie, p. 188-192) -- he came to be a pawn in the contest between Whigs and Tories (Ritchie, pp. 202-203).
In April, Kidd's testimony was taken by a Board of Examiners. He was asked to sign off on the transcript, then placed in solitary confinement in the notorious (and thoroughly unsanitary) Newgate Prison, unlike most other naval captives, who were sent to Marshalsea (Ritchie, pp. 196-199). His confinement nearly killed him; after a while, he had to be granted somewhat more liberty to keep him alive (Ritchie, pp. 200-201). After a time, he was called upon to testify before Parliament. What he said is unfortunately not recorded, since the MPs eventually washed their hands of him (Clifford, p. 181), but it ended with him being ordered to stand trial (Ritchie, pp. 203-205).
It wasn't much of a trial; it lasted only two days: May 8-9, 1701 (Ritchie, p. 206). Under the rules of the time, Kidd was not given a lawyer (Ritchie, p. 206). Nor was he given full access to the documents used against him; the government did give him access to some, but others that might have helped his cause could not be found, and Kidd was given no help in searching for them (Ritchie, p. 208).
Kidd was charged with piracy and murder, and was tried along with several others accused simply of piracy. (Ritchie, p. 211, who notes that the "judges were activists -- in Kidd's case, active on the side of the prosecution").
The trial did not, however, proceed according to the script, because the procedures of the time required a prisoner to plead innocent or guilty first, without benefit of a lawyer or anything else. Kidd didn't want to play this game; he wanted details of the case, and assistance, before entering a plea (hardly unfair, given that he had not been given particulars of the charges against him! -- Ritchie, p. 212). After much jousting, and being informed that not pleading was equivalent to a guilty plea, he gave in and said "not guilty" -- which meant that the trial could proceed and Kidd's needs basically ignored (Ritchie, p. 213).
Kidd was tried initially for the murder of William Moore (Ritchie, pp. 213-216; Clifford, p. 198, notes that the indictment charged him with murder with "malice aforethought" -- i.e. first degree murder, which of course was absurd). Kidd could hardly contest that Moore was dead; his arguments were that he had the right to discipline his sailors (which was true, and the discipline could even include death, particularly in the case of mutiny) -- yet, at the same time, that he was sorry Moore had died.
Witnesses were presented showing that Moore was not engaged in mutiny at the time Kidd killed him, and that Kidd killed him in passion. Kidd disputed this (Clifford, p. 210), but was told "You will not infer that if he was a mutineer it was lawful for you to kill Moore" (Clifford, p. 213). Since this was the basis of Kidd's defence, he hadn't much to say after that. He tried again to make his point during the summary made by one of the justices, and that was what we would call the instructing of the jury. But further statements by the defence were not allowed.
The first jury then left to decide Kidd's fate. A second jury was empaneled, and proceeded to try Kidd and others for piracy, primarily with regard to the Quedah Merchant. The jury was still hearing the charges when, after only about an hour, the first jury returned and convicted Kidd (Ritchie, p. 217; Clifford, p. 214). There was no appeals process, except for the King's mercy. Nonetheless, Kidd continued his defence on the other charge. Kidd offered his privateering commission, information about the false passes offered by the Quedah Merchant's crew, and other evidence; some of the others on trial tried to claim that they had been under the King's pardon (Ritchie, p. 218-219).
Unfortunately for Kidd, much of his defence rested on the French passes offered by the Quedah Merchant and other ships, and Kidd had given them to Lord Bellomont, and Bellomont wasn't about to given them back (Clifford, pp. 199-200).
The second jury came back even faster than the first one; in half an hour, Kidd had received his second conviction of a capital crime, and all but three of the others their first.
That still left two counts of piracy, meaning two more juries were empaneled and the trial went on. The result, of course, was more convictions, and finally the sentence (Ritchie, p. 220). When asked to give a reason why he should not die, all Kidd could reply was, "I have nothing to say, but that I have been sworn against by perjured and wicked people." All were sentenced to death (Ritchie, p. 220).
By modern standards, it was an absurdly unfair trial -- though it was not atypical of the justice of the day.
On May 10, King William III -- who earlier had held a share in Kidd's venture -- approved the death sentence (Ritchie, pp. 220-221). The execution was scheduled for May 23, 1701.
Kidd did try one more trick: He claimed to have a large sum hidden in the West Indies, and appealed to Robert Harley, Speaker of the House, and others to set him free to recover it for them (Ritchie, p. 221). The appeal went nowhere. Its main effect was to start a legend of buried gold that people keep hunting for (Ritchie, p. 232); indeed, it eventually gave rise to the whole notion of treasure maps and such, as exemplified in books such as Treasure Island. But Kidd's voyage did not take enough prizes to produce such a vast treasure (Ritchie, p. 238, has a list of other captains who earned far greater sums), and much of what he did take was recovered by the authorities (Ritchie, pp. 230-231). Ironically, British justice was so inefficient that Coji Babba, the man whose complaints against Kidd made the East India Company so angry at him, was unable to get satisfaction for his claim (Ritchie, p. 232).
It seems pretty clear that Kidd genuinely believed in his innocence; unlike most of the other pirates, he refused spiritual consolation and adamantly maintained his innocence (Ritchie, p. 225). The ordinary (chaplain) of Newgate was still after him for a confession as he started on his way to the gallows. He didn't give it. Herman, p. 247, reports that Kidd was thoroughly drunk when hanged (cf. Ritchie, p. 225, Clifford, p. 240) -- but still managed a thoroughly defiant proclamation of his innocence (Ritchie, p. 226; Clifford, p. 243).
Luckily for him, this apparently didn't take long enough for him to sober up, since the first rope used to hang him broke (Paine, p. 7; according to Clifford, p. 244, the hangman was also drunk). Kidd fell dazed to the ground, supposedly finally repented, then was successfully re-stretched (Ritchie, p. 226; Clifford, pp. 244-245). From Wapping, his body was taken to the side of the Thames and tied into its gibbet (Ritchie, p. 227).
Ironically, the man who had gotten Kidd into most of his trouble, Lord Bellomont, had died weeks earlier, on March 5 (Ritchie, p. 229), though apparently word of this did not reach London until after Kidd's death. Bellomont had for a time imprisoned Mrs. Kidd, but she managed to regain her freedom, and even remarried; she lived until 1744 (Ritchie, p. 229).
Ritchie, p. 2, reports that a ballad about Kidd's death circulated immediately, but it is not clear which song is meant. Clifford, p. 245, quotes a broadside which is clearly this song, though not much like the common versions of the song. Not that it's much more accurate (e.g. it includes the error "Robert Kidd").
Versions of this song often print a line such as "Now to execution('s) dock I must go, I must go." This should read "Execution Dock"; Execution Dock was a place in Wapping where pirates were often hung (Zacks, p. 2). Clifford notes the irony that it was within sight of the spot where the Adventure Galley started its ill-fated voyage (Clifford, p. 245).
Rumors about wealth left hidden by Kidd have of course been many, and the source of a lot of the pirate legends we know today. Poe's "The Gold Bug," for instance, is about decoding a message leading to Kidd's hidden gold (though it strikes me as almost impossible -- Kidd does not sound literate enough to produce Poe's message). But, as Clifford notes on p. 260, despite many hunts, "no gold was ever found" from Kidd's alleged buried treasure.
Clifford's book, which was published in 2003, is about the hunt for the wreck of the Adventure Galley at Saint Marie. Roughly half the book is about Kidd's history (and seems to feature no original research, though he uses sources I haven't seen); the other half is about the search for the ship -- or, rather, mostly about the fights Clifford had with the Madagascar government to get permits to search. In the end, Clifford found what he thinks was the Adventure Galley (though the evidence he offers seems to me to fall slightly short of proof). There doesn't seem to have been anything of great value left on the ship, though Clifford's search was brief due to all those problems with the government.
You have to wonder, a little, if Britain knew what it was starting. Piracy in Kidd's day was still relatively gentlemanly, with pirates simply after wealth. But starting around the time of his death, nearly every country renounced it. Only in the eighteenth century did pirates start to fly the skull and crossbones, meaning that they truly had no allegiance to anyone, while England and other countries devoted significant naval forces to stopping pirates (Ritchie, pp. 234-238). Their success was, for a time, limited -- but the rise of steamers and the need for a coaling port meant the effective end of piracy by the mid-nineteenth century. (At least until Sonalie revived it in the twenty-first.)
Modern debate about Kidd has, it seems to me, been rather irrelevant to the issue of how we should view Kidd, because most of it is, well, modern. Was he guilty of piracy by the standards of the day? Pretty definitely yes. But did he regard himself as a pirate? Probably not -- even his most extreme actions were done under pressure from the crew. I would have to say that he deserved some punishment, but hardly death. On the other hand, there were few punishments except death at this time.... - RBW
Bibliography

Bryant: Samuel W. Bryant, The Sea and the States: A Maritime History of the American People, Crowell, 1947
Clifford: Barry Clifford with Paul Perry, Return to Treasure Island and the Search for Captain Kidd, Morrow, 2003
Cordingly: David Cordingly, Under the Black Flag: The Romance and the Reality of Life Among the Pirates, 1995 (I use the 1997 Harcourt Brace edition)
DictPirates:Jan Rogozinsky, Pirates, Facts on File, 1995 (reprinted 1997 by Wordsworth as The Wordsworth Dictionary of Pirates; this is the edition I used). References are to the article on [Captain William] Kidd.
Firth: C. H. Firth, Publications of the Navy Records Society , 1907 (available on Google Books).
Hendrickson: Robert Hendrickson, The Ocean Almanac, Doubleday, 1984
Herman: Arthur Herman, To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World, 2004 (I use the 2005 Harper Perennial edition)
Paine: Lincoln P. Paine, Ships of the World, Houghton Mifflin, 1997. References are to the article on the Adventure Galley.
Ritchie: Robert C. Ritchie, Captain Kidd and the War against the Pirates, Harvard University Press, 1986
Rodger: N. A. M. Rodger, The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain 660-1649 (1997; I use the 1999 Norton edition)
Zacks: Richard Zacks, The Pirate Hunter: The True Story of Captain Kidd, Theia, 2002

Last updated in version 2.5
File: LK35

Captain Old Blue

DESCRIPTION: The singer warns the sheriff not to bother "Captain Old Blue." The song describes the various outlaws who work in the Snake River area
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (apparently mentioned in an article by Harry Oster)
KEYWORDS: outlaw moniker police
FOUND IN: US(Ro)
ST PrivCOBl (Partial)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dreary Black Hills" (tune)
NOTES: David Wahl sent me a copy of this text, along with discussion by those who knew it. It does not appear to have been published in any collection, but apparently made it into oral tradition in eastern Oregon and Idaho.
Newell Stubblefield wrote to the Idaho Farmer magazine about the piece, saying that it was written by the father of one John Bare.
"Old Blue" was apparently an outlaw named Bruce Evans, who was active in Wallowa County, Oregon in the 1880s. He committed several murders, was apprehended, but escaped from prison and was not found again. - RBW
File: PrivCOBl

Captain Osborn

DESCRIPTION: "There was once a gay maiden, Her name was fair Kate. She traveled the Big Waters Both early and lave." Many court her; she loves only Captain Osborn. But he speaks in anger, and her love turns cold. He is married and has a daughter anyway
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: courting river children music
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 33-34, (no title) (1 text, probably somewhat confused)
File: ThMa033

Captain Robert Kidd

See Captain Kidd [Laws K35] (File: LK35)

Captain Shepherd

DESCRIPTION: Captain Shepherd sails to St Pierre. In a storm he stops at Bonne Bay where he is turned in for smuggling liquor. The police find no evidence. Shepherd gets another schooner. The singer hopes this fall "dis brave, undaunted man will have a drop to sell"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Leach-Labrador)
KEYWORDS: crime sea ship drink police
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leach-Labrador 83, "Captain Shepherd" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LLab083 (Partial)
Roud #9977
NOTES: Leach-Labrador: "It is a local song of the Prohibition era ... St Pierre: an island off the southeast coast of Newfoundland belonging to France. During prohibition it became a wholesale warehouse supplying rum-runners all along the coast." - BS
File: LLab083

Captain Strachan

DESCRIPTION: "Here's a health to Captain Strachan" and his men. Three leagues from Aladdin Strachan sees the 36-gun frigate Moselle with 500 men out of Marseille. In the battle they board the Moselle, hoist the English colors and take the prize to Gibraltar.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: battle navy war
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 990-991, "Captain Strachan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9814
NOTES: Speculation! This seems to be about the Napoleonic Wars. Admiral Sir Richard Strachan -- pronounced Strawn -- one of Nelson's sea captains, engaged in a number of important battles.
On November 2, 1805, in Caesar with eight other ships, [Strachan] captured four French warships that had escaped from Cadiz into the Bay of Biscay after the Battle of Trafalgar. The ships -- the Duguay-Trouin, Formidable, Mont Blanc, and Scipion -- were taken to Gibraltar (source: Houghton Mifflin Ships of the World site re HMS Implacable [the British renamed Duguay-Trouin "Implacable"]; 1911 Edition Encyclopedia site re Trafalgar; Decision at Trafalgar by Dudley Pope,p. 92).
That seems likely to be the battle intended here. But there are problems with this speculation: (1) There is only one French warship in the ballad and the warships named Moselle during the Napoleonic wars were British, not French, with 24 and 18 guns) (source: PlusNet webspace site re Index of 19th Century Naval Vessels) (2) The battle seems to take place outside Marseille -- that is, in the Mediterranean -- rather than at Cap/Cabo Ortegal at the northwest corner of the Iberian peninsula.
This battle is the only reference to Strachan in The Naval Achievements of Great Britain, From the Year 1793 to 1817 by James Jenkins; there are no references there to Moselle. A quick scan of the London Times for the period of the Napoleonic Wars turned up no clues and no references to Crockett, Captain Strachan's second in command for the ballad.
As for the site of the battle "three leagues from Alladin" that is most likely a corruption of a real or imagined place on the Mediterranean coast of Africa.
Maybe this ballad is putting a positive spin on an attempted blockade of Rochefort by Strachan in 1808. In this case one French ship was crippled in a gale and returned to Rochefort but the other French ships made it safely to Toulon. This story ends near Marseille but Strachan's part takes place even farther north than his 1805 battle. Source: Britannia Rules by C. Northcote Parkinson (Sutton, 1992) p. 135.
It would be nice to have a broadside for this one that might resolve the conflicts. Incidentally, Admiral Strachan's adversary in the Bay of Biscay after Trafalgar was Admiral Villeneuve [the loser at Trafalgar - RBW]; Roud's broadside database cites "Captain Villineuve's Whimsical and Laughable Tale" starting "Long had Gallia been forc'd by Britannia to bow" which may refer to that battle or may not -- he was on the losing side of a number of other important battles -- or may have nothing to do with this Villeneuve at all. - BS
In addition to the Strachan references cited above, he also figures in "Admiral Strachan's Victory," on p. 304 of C. H. Firth, Publications of the Navy Records Society , 1907 (available on Google Books). It refers to another fight by Strachan, on November 4 of an unnamed year. - RBW
File: Pea990

Captain Thompson

DESCRIPTION: The singer boards Captain Thompson's ship Fame to America. They escape stormy seas and "a mount of ice" off Newfoundland and land safely at Quebec. He thinks of Ireland and hopes to see his family again "and live together peacefully in love and liberty"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: emigration separation sea ship ordeal Canada Ireland family
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn-More 72A, "Captain Thompson" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2373
File: OLcM072A

Captain Ward and the Rainbow [Child 287]

DESCRIPTION: Captain Ward asks the king to grant him a place to rest. The king will not grant a place to any pirate (though Ward claims never to have attacked an English ship), and commissions the (Rainbow) to deal with Ward. Ward defeats the Rainbow
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1733 (broadside, Bodleian Douce Ballads 1(80b))
KEYWORDS: ship pirate battle royalty
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
c. 1604-c. 1609 - Career of Captain John Ward. A fisherman from Kent, Ward's first notable act was his capture of a royal vessel in 1604.
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond,West),Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Mar,Newf) US(MW,NE,SE) Ireland
REFERENCES (20 citations):
Child 287, "Captain Ward and the Rainbow" (1 text)
Bronson 287, "Captain Ward and the Rainbow" (11 versions)
Greig #128, p. 2, "Captain Ward and the Rainbow"; Greig #114, p. 3; Greig #117, pp. 2-3 (3 texts)
GreigDuncan1 39, "Captain Ward and the Rainbow" (3 texts, 2 tunes) {A=Bronson's #8, B=#6}
Ranson, pp. 49-50, "Saucy Ward" (1 text)
Butterworth/Dawney, pp. 38-39, "Saucy Ward" (1 text, 1 tune)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 347-363, "Captain Ward and the Rainbow" (2 texts plus a fragment and a version from the Forget-me-not Songster and a possibly-rewritten broadside, 2 tunes, plus extensive notes on British naval policy) {Bronson's #9, #10}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 204-206, "Captain Ward and the Rainbow" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #11}
Flanders/Brown, pp. 242-244, "Captain Ward and the Rain-Bow" (1 text from the Green Mountain Songster)
Flanders-Ancient4, pp. 264-270 "Captain Ward and the Rainbow" (2 texts, 1 tune, the first text being the Green Mountain Songster version)
Gardner/Chickering 83, "Captain Ward" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 840-841, "Captain Ward" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell-FSRA 22, "Captain Ward and the Rainbow" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 670-673, "Captain Ward and the Rainbow" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 362, "Captain Ward and the Rainbow" (1 text)
Logan, pp. 1-10, "Captain Ward" (1 text)
BBI, ZN949, "Gallants you must understand"; ZN2410, "Strike up you lusty Gallants"
DT 287, WRDRNBOW* WRDNBW2*
ADDITIONAL: C. H. Firth, _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ , 1907 (available on Google Books), p. 30, "Captain Ward and the Rainbow" (1 text)
Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 145, "A Famous Sea Fight Between CAPTAIN WARD and the RAINBOW" (reproduction of a broadside page)
ST C287 (Full)
Roud #224
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Douce Ballads 1(80b), "A Famous Sea-Fight Between Captain Ward and the Rainbow" ("Strike up ye lusty gallants)", T. Norris (London), 1711-1732; also Harding B 4(107), "A Famous Sea-Fight Between Captain Ward and the Rainbow"; Harding B 4(108), "A Famous Sea Fight Between Captain Ward and the Rainbow"; Firth c.12(8), "Famous Sea Fight Between Capt. Ward and the Gallant Rainbow"; Harding B 11(831), "Capt. Ward and the Rainbow" ("Come all you English seamen with courage beat your drums"); Firth c.12(6), "Captain Ward"; 2806 c.16(334), Harding B 11(4034), Firth c.12(7), "Ward the Pirate[!]"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Outlaw Murray" [Child 305] (theme)
cf. "Sir Andrew Barton" [Child 167] (theme)
SAME TUNE:
Captain Ward (per broadside Bodleian Douce Ballads 1(80b))
The Wild Rover (per broadside Bodleian Firth c.12(6))
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Jolly Mariner
NOTES: Compare with this broadside for a different ballad on the same subject: Bodleian, Wood 402(39), "The Seamans Song of Captain Ward, the Famous Pyrate of the World, and an English[man] Born" ("Gallants you must understand"), F. Coles (London), 1655-1658; also Douce Ballads 2(199a), Wood 401(79), "The Seamans Song of Captain Ward, the Famous Pyrate of the world and an English Man Born" - BS
Although the "historical" Captain Ward was active during the reign of Britain's King James I, the context sounds more like that in the time of Charles I. The religious and political situation, as well as financial interests, dictated that Charles should have been allied with the Protestants of the Netherlands and Germany against Spain -- but instead Charles implicitly supported Spain while quarreling with the Dutch about herring fishing.
The result was an undeclared war between many of Charles's sailors and Spain. And many of the fighters, like Ward or the later Captain Kidd, thought right was on their side. Indeed, the Earl of Warwick was creating a group of pirates who were carefully trained according to Calvinist principles -- Puritan raiders (Herman, p. 157f.)
This would also explain why the king was trying to crack down: Piracy had gotten completely out of hand in his father's reign. Ritchie, p. 140, writes, "Only the most inept pirates ended their lives on the gallows during the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries. The nadir of English concern and ability to control piracy came during the reign of James I. Taking no special pride in the Royal Navy and abhorring the expenses generated by the fleet, James sold some of his ships and let most of the others rot at the docks. The resulting growth of piracy in and around English waters caused the Dutch to request permission to send their ships into English waters to attack the brigands. Bereft of means to do the jobs, James acquiesed."
Stokesbury, p. 47, notes that the strong navy of Elizabeth was down to 37 ships by 1607, and most of them in poor repair; he attributes this to the corruption of the Treasurer of the Navy, Sir Robert Mansell. As a result, Stokesbury declares on p. 48, "[T]his was the high point of the era of piracy; the Moorish pirates in particular, raiding out of ports on the North African shore, virtually ruled the sea. Thousands of sailors were enslaved, and there was a waste of about seventy English merchant ships a year to pirates. In some cases they were so bold that they even raided along the southern English coasts, seizing peasants, whom they carried off to slave markets. Not since the days of the Norsemen had there been such a scourge at sea."
BarryEckstormSmyth, however, try to relate the whole thing to the politics of James I -- and to the opposition to that king. Of course, Charles I generated even more opposition, and talking about events in his father's reign might make the discussion slightly safer. The drawback is that the historical Captain Ward was dead by then.
DictPirates, p. 360, gives Ward's dates as 1553-1623; he was imprisoned for piracy in England in 1602, impressed in 1603, turned pirate, and took to the Mediterranean. In 1606, he took service with the ruler of Tunis. In 1607, his fleet suffered a series of setbacks. He may have tried to buy a pardon from the King of England, but the idea failed. He turned to Islam and lived more or less happily ever after.
If we accept that Ward was active at the very start of the reign of James I, that gives us still another scenario, which ties in with the death of Elizabeth I and the accession of James I. Elizabeth of course spent much of her reign at war with Spain; famous incidents in this war were the voyage of the Spanish Armada and Drake's circumnavigation of the globe. Semi-official piracy was one of Elizabeth's key weapons against the Spanish; her ships captured Spanish treasure ships and interfered with Spain's attempts to build a stronger navy.
But all wars come to an end. Ritchie, p. 13, notes that peace was made with Spain in 1603, the year James I succeeded to the English throne. And suddenly English privateers who had been attacking the Spanish had to become either unlicensed pirates or join someone else's service. If Ward kept raiding the Spanish after peace was made, that might explain the King's attitude toward him.
The comment about the captain being king upon the sea does date to the reign of James I -- but, according to Rodger, p. 349 and Herman, p. 144, it was not made by Ward but by one Peter Easton (or Eston). Easton, who took over the pirate fleet of Richard Bishop in 1611, did so much damage that he was offered a pardon in 1612, refused it, saying, "I am, in a way, a king myself." The next year, he was offered a lordship in Spain, which he took.
There is one other source which might perhaps have influenced this song a little, although the names are reversed (that is, the Captain Warde involved is not the pirate but his victim). A Flemish pirate named John Crabbe became famous along the Channel in the early fourteenth century, and his first noteworthy prize was a ship called the Waardebourc captained by John de Warde (McNamee, p. 209). - RBW
Greig #114 (before Greig recognized this as a "Captain Ward and the Rainbow" fragment): "... a ballad about Wallace and the Red Reiver...." The reference is to the 1298 capture of the pirate Richard Longoville, a.k.a. the Red Reiver, by William Wallace (see the Wikipedia article "William Wallace"). - BS
Bibliography

DictPirates:Jan Rogozinsky, Pirates, Facts on File, 1995 (reprinted 1997 by Wordsworth as The Wordsworth Dictionary of Pirates; this is the edition I used)
Herman: Arthur Herman, To Rule the Waves: How the British Navy Shaped the Modern World, 2004 (I use the 2005 Harper Perennial edition)
McNamee: Colm McNamee, The Wars of the Bruces: Scotland, England and Ireland 1306-1328, Tuckwell, 1997
Ritchie: Robert C. Ritchie, Captain Kidd and the War Against the Pirates, Harvard University Press, 1986
Rodger: N. A. M. Rodger, The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain 660-1649 (1997; I use the 1999 Norton edition)
Stokesbury: James L. Stokesbury, Navy & Empire, Morrow, 1983

Last updated in version 2.5
File: C287

Captain Webster

DESCRIPTION: Webster wishes to marry a poor girl, but his parents tell him that he must marry a wealthy woman. The young man bids farewell to his sweetheart, then kills himself. Parents are warned against placing undue emphasis on money
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1968 (recording, Sara Cleveland)
KEYWORDS: suicide love money poverty mother father
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 21, #2 (1972), p, 14, "Captain Webster" (1 text, 1 tune, the Sara Cleveland version)
Roud #5713
RECORDINGS:
Sara Cleveland, "Captain Webster" (on SCleveland01)
NOTES: The notes to the Sara Cleveland record suggest that this is a localization of a British original, though the editor (Kenneth S. Goldstein) cannot suggest an original. I have to agree; the feeling is old, but I cannot locate a true forerunner of the piece. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: RcCapWeb

Captain Wedderburn's Courtship [Child 46]

DESCRIPTION: (Captain Wedderburn) sees a fair lady, and wishes to sleep with her. She takes an instant dislike to him, and will consent only if he can answer her riddles. He answers them, and the two are wed.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1783 (New British Songster)
KEYWORDS: courting riddle marriage contest
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,NW,SE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland Australia
REFERENCES (25 citations):
Child 46, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (3 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #8}
Bronson 46, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (26 versions)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 93-99, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (2 texts plus 2 fragments, one of which might be "Riddles Wisely Expounded" or something else, 2 tunes; all the texts are rather damaged and even the full ones consist mostly of the riddles); p. 451 (1 tune) {B.II=Bronson's #12, C=#9; the tune on p. 451 is #17}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 43-46, "A Strange Proposal" (1 text)
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 299-315, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (3 texts plus two fragments, 5 tunes; the "A" text and the F fragment and tune are mixed with "Riddles Wisely Expounded" (Child 1) and the "I" and II" texts and tunes are "I Gave My Love a Cherry")
Creighton/Senior, pp. 21-25, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (3 texts, 3 tunes) {Bronson's #19, #20, #21}
Creighton-Maritime, p. 6, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 48, "Mr. Woodburn's Courtship" (2 texts, 2 tunes; the "B" text is short and in the first person; it shows signs of deliberate modification) {Bronson's #24, #15}
Leach, pp. 158-162, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (3 texts)
Leach-Labrador 3, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 6, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Creighton-NovaScotia 3, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #22}
Mackenzie 4, "Six Questions" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #13}
Friedman, p. 137, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (2 texts, but the second is "I Gave My Love a Cherry")
FSCatskills 124, "The Rich Merchant's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ord, pp. 416-420, "The Laird o' Roslin's Daugher, or, Captain Wed
GreigDuncan4 842, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (11 texts, 6 tunes)derburn's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #6}
DBuchan 48, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (1 text)
TBB 1, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (1 text)
SHenry H681, p. 490, "The Keeper of the Game" (1 text, 1 tune)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 44, "Mister Woodburren" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 152-153, "The Chicken and the Bone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 53-55, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #17}
DT 46, CAPWEDER* THREESIX*
ADDITIONAL: Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), pp. 70-72, "Captain Wedderburn"
Roud #36
RECORDINGS:
Willy Clancy, "The Song of the the Riddles" (on Voice01)
Logan English, "Bold Robington's Courtship" (on LEnglish01)
Seamus Ennis, "Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (on FSB4)
Warde Ford, "Many Questions/Captain Wedderburn's Courtship" (AFS 4196B, 1938; in AMMEM/Cowell) {Bronson's #26}
Pat MacNamara, "Mr Woodburren's Courtship" (on IRClare01)
Thomas Moran, "Captain Woodburn (Wedderburn's Courtship)" (on FSBBAL1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(1143), "Lord Roslin's Daughter's Courtship," Stephenson (Gateshead), 1821-1850
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Gave My Love a Cherry"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Devil and the Blessed Virgin Mary
The Six Dishes
It's I Must Have
NOTES: Many versions of this song tell a rather confused story, with the following plot outline:
1. Captain Wedderburn sees the Laird o' Roslin's daughter and says, more or less, "Gotta have her"
2. He asks her to marry him; she says, "No; it's time for supper."
3. Immediately upon turning him down, she gets on his horse, goes to his lodging-house, and prepares to go to bed with him.
4. Pause: The lady says, "Before I do this, you have to answer my questions." She proceeds with the riddle game.
5. Captain Wedderburn answers the riddles, and they are married.
It will be evident that steps 4 and 5, as they are found in these texts, should precede step 3.
It's also worth noting that the lady's riddles seem to be older than the song itself (the riddles are found in "I Gave My Love a Cherry," which as "I Have a Yong Suster" dates to 1430 or earlier).
My suggestion was that steps 4 and 5 were a later addition to the song. Alternately, the song has become disordered. Don Duncan counter-proposes that the song is a rape ballad -- she is forced on the horse, and to the lodging-house, and the riddles are her last attempt at a defense. The happy ending is a later touch-up.
None of this can be proved, and none of the suggestions is altogether convincing. But it is not unlikely that the song has changed its form somewhere along the line.
Because scholars so often confound this with "I Gave My Love a Cherry," one should see that song also for the complete list of songs sometimes associated with this ballad.
Another curiosity concerns the name "Wedderburn." This is an old Scottish name (consider the author of the Complaynt of Scotland) -- but the OxfordCompanion, in its thousand large pages of biographies, lists only one Wedderburn, that being Alexander Wedderburn (1733-1805).
Cook, sketches him on pages 183-184: he "had a quick mind and was known as one of the most intelligent, formidable debaters in Parliament.... At the same time, he was one of the nastiest, most unscrupulous, most ambitious politicians of the time.... He grew up in Edinburgh and began his career in the Scottish law. Handling a case in court at age twenty-four, he became so abusive of the court president... that an apology was demanded by the entire bench. Instead, Wedderburn withdrew from the Scots bar and decamped for London.... Lord North decided politically that it would be better if Wedderburn... were inside the government rather than in opposition. For his part, Wedderburn was not inhibited by principles and could readily lend his debating talents to any side of any question. He was appointed solicitor general."
That was in 1771. In 1778, he became attorney-general. Eventually, tempted by Pitt, he joined the government as Lord Chancellor, finally retiring with an earldom in 1801. He wasn't very nice, either -- Weintraub, p. 35, tells of him questioning Benjamin Franklin for an hour and a half -- and keeping the 68-year-old Franklin standing the whole time. Weintraub, p. 126, also mentions that he nearly fought a duel over a simple remark about politics.
Unscrupulous enough for this song, obviously, but he was never a captain, and since �Captain Wedderburn" was circulating by 1783, he can't have been the original subject, right?
Well, sure, but there is one other thing. To what earldom did George III appoint him in 1801? The earldom of -- Rosslyn. (So, at least, the Oxford Companion, which in general I have found to be reliable; Weintraub, p. 345, says he became "1st Earl Loughborough in 1801"). - RBW
Bibliography

Cook: Don Cook, The Long Fuse: How England Lost the American colonies 1760-1785, Atlantic Monthly Press, 1995
OxfordCompanion: John Cannon, editor, The Oxford Companion to British History, Oxford, 1997
Weintraub: Stanley Weintraub, Iron Tears: Amerca's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire: 1775-1783, Free Press, 2005

Last updated in version 2.5
File: C046

Captain Went Below, The

DESCRIPTION: "O, the captain went below, For to light the cabin lamp, But he couldn't light the lamp Because the wick was too damn' damp, Heave-ho, you sons of glory, The Golden Gates are passed."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1948 (Shay)
KEYWORDS: sea travel
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Shay-SeaSongs, p. 125, (no title) (1fragment)
Roud #9637
File: ShaS125A

Captain William Jackman, A Newfoundland Hero

DESCRIPTION: "The fierce winds blow among the cliffs Of rugged Labrador." Jackman is on the beach in a snowstorm and hears cries from a wreck on a reef "some hundred fathoms from shore." He swims to the wreck 27 times and rescues all on board.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Murphy, Songs of Our Land, Old Home Week Souvenir)
KEYWORDS: rescue storm wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Oct 9, 1867 - The Loon/Sea Clipper wreck
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 145, "Captain William Jackman, A Newfoundland Hero" (1 text)
Ryan/Small, pp. 29-31, "A Newfoundland Hero" (1 text)
ST GrMa145 (Partial)
Roud #6349
NOTES: The site for the Captain William Jackman Memorial Hospital in Labrador City states "On October 9, 1867, during the worst storm of the decade, two ships collided. The Loon quickly sank and The Sea Clipper was able to save the passengers and crew of the smaller ship. Soon the strong gales drove the injured ship into a reef near Spotted Island, Labrador. Twenty-seven people on-board were in peril of their lives.
Captain Jackman was visiting the island and as [he] and his host went for an evening walk, they noticed the troubled ship. Few people knew how to swim in that day; however, Jackman was an avid swimmer. He made 27 trips through the cold October waters and each time brought a survivor to shore. The storm had claimed 42 ships and 40 lives; however, all were saved from The Sea Clipper because of the exploits of Captain Jackman."
Greenleaf/Mansfield has the date as October 29, 1866 and notes that Jackman's "health was broken. Queen Victoria sent him a medal." [The Dictionary of Canadian Biography notes that Jackman, born in 1837, died at the age of 39. - RBW]
The October 9, 1867 date is confirmed by Northern Shipwrecks Database 2002. - BS
File: GrMa145

Captain with His Whiskers, The

See O! They Marched Through the Town (The Captain with His Whiskers) (File: Wa069)

Captain's Apprentice, The

See Captain James (The Captain's Apprentice) (File: SWMS054)

Captain's Lady (I), The

DESCRIPTION: Small boats land in Wild Bay among Blacks; the crews, including the captain's lady, are captured, stripped, and driven. Joseph, a Black slave crewman, saves them. He is freed, and the captain's lady returns safely to London.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: captivity return escape sea ship slavery Black(s) rescue
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 775-776, "The Captain's Lady" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9799
NOTES: Not to be confused with the Burns fragment of the same name. - RBW
File: Pea775

Captains and Ships

DESCRIPTION: "To Harvey's I'll start and to Bowring's I'll go, I'll name all the ships and the captains also." He names ships, captains, and companies, and wishes them all good luck.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: moniker commerce fishing sea ship work nonballad
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Doyle3, p. 19, "Captains and Ships" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 865-866, "Captains and Ships" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 97-98, "Captains and Ships" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ryan/Small, pp. 76-77, "Captains and Ships" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Doyl3019 (Partial)
Roud #7291
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Some Ships in Port" (catalog of ships)
File: Doyl3019

Capture and Destruction of Sebastopol

See Sebastopol (Old England's Gained the Day; Capture and Destruction of Sebastopol; Cheer, Boys, Cheer) (File: SmHa041)

Car Ferry Marquette and Bessemer No. 2

DESCRIPTION: "Loud roared the dreadful doomday And stormy was the night When the car ferry Bessemer 2nd Left the port called Canneaut. With two and twenty sailors...." "Let us all unite together... for the loved ones We will never see again." Captain and others die
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (collected from William E. Clark by Walton)
KEYWORDS: death storm ship wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec 7(?), 1909 - loss of the _Marquette and Bessemer No. 2_
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, p. 223, "The Car Ferry Marquette and Bessemer No. 2" (1 fragment)
NOTES: Details about this particular shipwreck seem rather fuzzy. All the sources I've checked agree that the ship involved was very strong, and still fairly new. Most ships avoid the Lakes in December, but this particular vessel was thought solid enough to stand up to even a December storm. Yet she disappeared in 1909, and there is no real information on what happened to her. The wreck has not been located (as of 2008), and is considered one of the most sought-after of the lost ships of the Great Lakes.
Beyond that, accounts differ slightly. Ratigan, p. 232, calls the ship the Bessemer & Marquette No. 2, and says it set out from Conneaut, Ohio to Port Stanley, Ontario on December 9, 1909. He says that 36 crewmen were lost.
Berman, p. 253, agrees with Walton in calling her the Marquette and Bessemer No. 2. He gives no date for the sinking except "December 1909." He says that 31 lives were lost.
Walton/Grimm/Murdock says only that all aboard were lost. It lists the ship as five years old, but Berman says it was built in 1905, which would make it four years old, and Ratigan also says it was four years old.
The ship is enough of a mystery that I found five web sites with details about the ship and the wreck. All seem to suspect the same problem: The Marquette and Bessemer No. 2 was a car ferry, designed to take on fully-loaded railroad cars and transport them across the lakes. This was possible because she had wide doors in the back of her hull, not much above the waterline. This would be no problem if the doors sealed tight, but it is suspected that they did not, and that the doors flooded in the 1909 storm.
Bourrie, pp. 180-188, produces a far more dramatic tale. His speculation is that a storm hit, and the ship was unable to make port, and wandered around the lakes for many hours, and as a result the crew mutinied. They then abandoned the ship in a lifeboat, which was found with ten men aboard, but all dead.
The evidence for this is very thin -- the fact that Captain McLeod's body, when it was found much later, seemed to have been injured, and the men in the lifeboat were ill-dressed for the weather and had seemingly stuck a knife into the rail of the boat. Bourrie thinks a good prosecutor could sell this tale to a jury; I think he'd be laughed out of courts. All that is certain is that everyone aboard -- believed to have been no fewer than 30 and no more than 36 men -- died. - RBW
Bibliography

Berman: Bruce D. Berman, Encyclopedia of American Shipwrecks, Mariner's Press, 1972
Bourrie: Mark Bourrie, Many a Midnight Ship: True Stories of Great Lakes Shipwrecks, University of Michigan Press, 2005
Ratigan: William Ratigan, Great Lakes Shipwrecks and Survivals, revised edition, Eerdmans, 1977

Last updated in version 2.5
File: WGM223

Carcasho

DESCRIPTION: In winter 1916 a 73-year old Labrador trapper goes out to see to his traps. He gets lost and spends the night camping away from home and has a fight with a wolverine. The next day a search gang finds him and takes him home to Lelette.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Leach-Labrador)
KEYWORDS: rescue hunting ordeal animal
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leach-Labrador 69, "Carcasho" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LLab069 (Partial)
Roud #9985
NOTES: Leach-Labrador: "This is a local song composed immediately after the event it celebrates." - BS
Leach adds that Carcasho (=carcajou) is Canadian French for a wolverine. - RBW
File: LLab069

Cardinals Be Damned, The

See Son of a Gambolier (II) (File: EM327)

Careless Love

DESCRIPTION: A young girl's lament for having loved unwisely, worrying what her mother will say when the girl returns home, wearing her apron high (i. e. pregnant).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (JAFL)
KEYWORDS: sex seduction pregnancy lament
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Randolph 793, "Careless Love" (3 texts, 1 tune. The "B" text is, however, derived mostly from other materials -- it does not even have the "Careless Love" refrain -- of which "Little Pink" seems to be the most important)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 498-500, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 793A)
Randolph-Legman II, pp. 648-650, "Careless Love" (2 texts)
Warner 167, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hudson 13, pp. 91-93, "The Lass of Roch Royal" (1 fragments, of which "A" is the "Pretty Little Foot" with a chorus from "Careless Love" and "B" is two "Pretty Little Foot" stanzas artificially and wrongly extracted from "Wild Bill Jones")
Sandburg, p. 21, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 20, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 309, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 901-902, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
MWheeler, pp. 89-90, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 138-139, "(Careless Love)" (fragments of two texts); pp. 272-273, "Careless Love" (1 tune, partial text)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 11, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune)
Handy/Silverman-Blues, p. 55-57, "Careless Love" (1 text, 1 tune, with a verse from "Free Little Bird" and others added by blues composers)
Silber-FSWB, p. 163, "Careless Love" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 162-163, "Careless Love"
DT, CARELOVE*
Roud #422
RECORDINGS:
Slim Barton & Eddie Mapp, "Careless Love" (QRS R-7088, 1929)
Dock Boggs, "Careless Love" (on Boggs3, BoggsCD1)
Anne, Judy & Zeke Canova, "Reckless Love" (Oriole 8044/Perfect 12685/Regal 10299, 1931)
[Tom] Darby & [Jimmie] Tarlton, "Careless Love" (Columbia 15651-D, 1931; rec. 1930)
Delmore Brothers, "Careless Love" (Bluebird B-7436, 1938)
Johnny Dodds w. Tiny Parham, "Careless Love" (Paramount 12483, 1927)
Fats Domino, "Careless Love" (Imperial 5145, 1951)
Four Southern Singers, "Careless Love" (Bluebird B-8392, 1940; rec. 1933)
Blind Boy Fuller, "Careless Love" (Vocalion 03457, 1937/Conqueror 9012, 1937/Melotone 8-02-66, 1938; rec. 1937)
W. C. Handy, "Careless Love" (AFS 1620 B3, 1938)
Ed Hudson, "Careless Love" (Champion 16464, 1932/Champion 40086, 1936; rec. 1931)
Johnson Brothers, "Careless Love" (Victor 20940, 1927)
Lonnie Johnson, "Careless Love" (OKeh 8635, 1928)
Lulu Johnson, "Careless Love Blues" (Vocalion 1193, 1928; Supertone S-2227, 1931; [as Lulu Williams] Banner 32387/Oriole 8119/Perfect 195/Romeo 5119, all 1932; all of these rec. 1928)
Ruth Johnson, "Careless Love" (Paramount 13060, 1931)
Asa Martin, "Careless Love" (Melotone 5-11-63/Oriole 5-11-63 [as by "Martin & Roberts"], 1935)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Careless Love" (Vocalion 5125, 1927)
Brownie McGhee, "Careless Love" (on McGhee01, DownHome)
Byrd Moore & his Hot Shots, "Careless Love" (Columbia 15496-D, 1929)
Eva Parker, "Careless Love" (Victor V-38020, 1929; rec. 1928)
Riley Puckett, "Careless Love" (Columbia 15747-D, 1932; rec. 1931) (Bluebird B-5532/Montgomery Ward M-4507, 1934)
Pete Seeger, "Careless Love" (on PeteSeeger18)
Bessie Smith, "Careless Love Blues" (Columbia 14083-D, 1925) (Columbia 3172-D/Parlophone [UK] R-2479, 1938 -- I'm going to guess this is a different (electrical) recording from 14083-D)
Ernest V. Stoneman, "Careless Love" (Edison 52388, 1928) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5530, 1928)
Georgia White, "Careless Love" (Decca 7419, 1938)
Lee Wiley, "Careless Love" (Decca 132, 1934)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Butcher Boy" [Laws P24] (floating lyrics)
cf. "Waly Waly (The Water is Wide)"
cf. "Dink's Song" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Every Night When the Sun Goes In" (floating lyrics)
cf. "I Have No Loving Mother Now" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
I Have No Loving Mother Now (Kelly Harrell & Henry Norton, Victor 20935, 1927; on KHarrell02)
Loveless Love (Noble Sissle & his Sizzling Syncopators, Pathe 20493, 1921; Katherine Handy, Paramount 12011, 1922; Alberta Hunter w. Henderson's Dance Orch., Paramount 12018, 1922; Billie Holiday, OKeh 6064, 1941; Bob Wills & his Texas Playboys, Vocalion 04387, 1938)
NOTES: The "Loveless Love" lyrics seem to have been written by W. C. Handy in 1921, using the tune and structure of "Careless Love". He also seems to have claimed "Careless Love" at times, but in other contexts he called it a folk song. So do I. One online biography of Handy called it an 18th-century English folk song ("Dear Companion"?) which by the early 1800s had become a Black rivermen's song. No references, unfortunately. But Wheeler associates the song with the Ohio packet Dick Fowler, running between Cairo and Paducah. - PJS
File: R793

Carey's Disguise

DESCRIPTION: Carey's friends advise him that the best disguise would be to "dress as a lady and pass as Miss Grady." His wife shaves his every hair and glues on a wig. He dons a "chimese," etc. His wife wears his suit and moustache and smokes "a mild Havannah"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: cross-dressing disguise clothes
FOUND IN:
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(89), "A new song on Carey's disguise" ("Before he could go from his head to his toe"), unknown, no date
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Phoenix Park Tragedy" (possible subject: the Phoenix Park murders) and references there
NOTES: The description follows broadside Bodleian Harding B 26(89).
Speculation only: This may be a sarcastic reference to James Carey's "disguise" trying to escape into exile. If so, this is another reference to the Phoenix Park murders of May 1882 and the subsequent arrest, trial and executions in 1883. Carey was the Crown's key witness/informer and was assassinated by Patrick O'Donnell in July 1883 on board the "Melrose Castle." (There is more information, and references to other ballads on the subject, at "The Murder of the Double-Dyed Informer James Carey.") [Also, for the full list, "The Phoenix Park Tragedy" - RBW.]
"The Assassination of Carey", The Times, Aug 2, 1883, p. 7, Issue 30888 column E, Copyright 1883, The Times, Article CS118408450, Copyright 2002 The Gale Group: the article mentions Carey's disguise before the "Melrose Castle' assassination but does not explain the nature of the disguise. On the Melrose Castle Carey boarded as J Power with 2 of his children, and his wife boarded as Mrs Power with 5 children.
Tom Corfe, The Phoenix Park Murders (London, 1968) says that Carey simply shaved off his beard as a "disguise" but that he spoke so freely that he was identified out of his own mouth by O'Donnell, who just happened to be on board (p. 258). There is no mention of a disguise for his wife and children, beyond the assumption of aliases. - BS
File: BdCarDis

Caristiona

See Cairistiona (File: K005)

Carle He Cam' Ower the Craft, The

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

Carle o' Killyburn Braes, The

See The Farmer's Curst Wife [Child 278] (File: C278)

Carle Sits Upon the Sea

See Quo' the Haddock to the Skate (File: GrD81644)

Carlie, Can Ye Hushle Ony?

DESCRIPTION: Jenny, "nae regarded by naebody," invites John to cuddle, and then to "hushle." She has a baby but says she regrets it. He reminds her of her encouragement. At the naming the parson tells John it is not his. John promises to "put a trick upon her"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: seduction sex marriage childbirth
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1382, "Carlie, Can Ye Hushle Ony?" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #7244
NOTES: We can assume that the couple marry. When the parson says, "This bairn's no been got by you, The lassie young she does you truckle, This is the wye she does you cuckol'," he clearly intends to turn those tables.
GreigDuncan7: "Circa 1860." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71382

Carmagnoles, The

DESCRIPTION: In 1793 the French planted "a symbol of great Liberty." In 1794 "they gave to Flanders liberty." June 1 the French convoy was saved from British attack. The Batavian line extends freedom to the Netherlands. Kings and drones will "tumble unlamented"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1796 (_Paddy's Resource_(Philadelphia), according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: battle navy rebellion England France freedom
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1793 - French Revolution: France declares war on Great Britain and Holland (source: Moylan)
June 1-3, 1794 - "[Admiral] Villaret-Joyeuse's squadron was attacked off Ouessant by Admiral Howe and lost seven ships in the three-day battle. Nevertheless he kept the way clear for the hundred grain transports to reach the port of Brest, which was on the verge of starvation. (source: Moylan)
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Moylan 20, "The Carmagnoles" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Moylan: "The 'Great Batavian Line' refers to the regime established by the French revolutionaries in the Netherlands." - BS
Moylan's description of the battle pretty well sums up the result of the June 1 battle: It helped the current French government survive. But the British name for the battle reveals something about how the winners felt about the result: They called it "The Glorious First of June." And the French losses would weaken their fleet for years, and the psychological blow was also significant. - RBW
File: Moyl020

Carnabane

DESCRIPTION: "When I was young and foolish still, Amerikay ran in my head, I from my native country strayed..." He recalls how friends took their parting from him. When he arrives in St. John's, he will drink and stop grieving, but still think of home and his girl
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: emigration separation farewell
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H100a, pp. 188-189, "Carnabane" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13545
File: HHH100a

Carnal and the Crane, The [Child 55]

DESCRIPTION: A carnal (crow) and a crane discuss various stories of Jesus, such as the roasted cock that crowed, the miraculous harvest of grain, and the adoration of the animals. (These accounts often became separated in tradition.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: bird Jesus religious carol
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
4 B.C.E. -- Death of Herod the Great, whose actions motivated much of the plot of this song
FOUND IN: Britain(England(West,South))
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Child 55, "The Carnal and the Crane" (1 text)
Bronson 55, "The Carnal and the Crane" (3 versions)
Leather, pp. 188-189, "The Carnal and the Crane" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBB 102, "The Carnal and the Crane" (1 text)
OBC 53, "The Carnal and the Crane"; 54; "King Herod and the Cock"; 55, "The Miraculous Harvest" (3 texts, 3 tunes) {#53=Bronson's #1; compare #3; #55=Bronson's #3; this melody is said to be the English hymnal tune "Capel"}
DT 55, PHARMKNG* PHARMKN2*
Roud #306
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Saint Stephen and Herod" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Herod and the Cock
King Pharim
NOTES: Child refers to this ballad as being "fixed in its present incoherent and corrupted form by print." Incoherent it generally is -- there is no actual plot, just an introduction and a series of stories. But it is worth noting that Child's version (a conflation of three printed texts) is longer than any of the dozen or so traditional versions, and of his printed texts, "c" is significantly shorter than the others. There appears little chance of reconstructing the original. We can only look at the sources of what still exists.
The rough outline of Child's thirty stanza version would be as follows:
I. The singer overhears a crane instruct a carnal (crow) about Jesus
II. Jesus was born in a manger, between an ox and ass
III. The mother of Jesus was a virgin, "Conceived by the Holy Ghost."
IV. Jesus slept in a manger, not a golden cradle nor silken sheets
V. The Wise Men met King Herod, who declared that, if their story is true, the roasted cock in the dish would crow. It did.
VI. Herod ordered the massacre of children under two, causing Mary, Joseph, and Jesus to flee to Egypt
VII. They halted along the way because Mary was weary, and the wild animals came to adore them; the lion, which comes first, is declared the king.
VIII. The family met "an husbandman" sowing his grain, and Jesus caused the grain to miraculously grow to maturity. The husbandman tells Herod that Jesus came by as the seed was sown, causing Herod's men to turn back because Jesus had (they assume) passed by nine months earlier
IX. For the sake of the massacred innocents of Bethlehem, hearers are told not to "forbid" or "deny" little ones.
Of these sections of the song, III, V, VII, and VIII are entirely non-Biblical -- and they constitute almost two-thirds of the song. Indeed, they represent more than two-thirds if we omit the introductory verses about the crane and crow.
INCIDENT II, that Jesus was laid in a manger, is canonical; Luke 2:7, 12, 16 refer to the baby in the manger. The ox and ass beside him are not Biblical (neither the word "ox" nor the word "ass" appears in the infancy narratives of Matthew and Luke) -- but obviously perfectly possible. The mention is probably derived from the Gospel of the Pseudo-Matthew; and indirectly from Isaiah 1:3 and the Greek (mis)translation of Habbakuk 3:2. Chapter XIV of Pseudo-Matthew not only mentions the animals but describes them as worshipping Jesus (Cartlidge/Dungan, pp. 27-28; Barnstone, pp. 395-396).
INCIDENT III, that "the mother of Jesus [was] conceived by the Holy Ghost," is the beginning of the purely non-Biblical material. The Bible says nothing -- nothing! -- about the parents of Mary. (To be sure, some people have claimed that the genealogy of Jesus in Luke 3:23-38 is in fact a genealogy of Mary. But this is absurd -- not only does the genealogy say that it is the genealogy of Jesus, not of Mary, but Luke 1:36 calls Mary a kinswoman of Elizabeth, and Luke 1:5 says that Elizabeth was of the Aaronite priesthood. So Mary presumably is also an Aaronite.)
So where did the claim that Mary was born of the Holy Spirit come from?
From a non-canonical gospel, that's where. To be specific, the Protevangelium Jacobi, or Infancy Gospel of James.
There is significant dispute about this book. I have five translations (Barnstone, Cartlidge/Dungan, CompleteGospels, FunkEtAl, Hone), and they have three different chapter-and-verse systems (this even though Barnstone doesn't even give chapter numbers). Hone knew a suggestion that the book was composed in Hebrew, the only scholar cited by Jordan who allows this possibility is Wake (Jordan, p. 6). Jordan, p. 1, discusses the possibility that the book is by James the brother of Jesus, or James son of Zebedee, or the "other" James of Mark 15:40 (said to be the author in the Gelasian Decree of c. 495 C.E.) -- but goes on to note that the author does not seem to know Palestinian geography. Barnstone, p. 385, quotes Ron Cameron to the effect that the Protevangelium is full of allusions to the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. The weight of evidence for a Greek original frankly appears overwhelming.
Jordan on p. 2 cites three scholars who thought the Protevangelium might be from the first century -- but goes on to note nine others who date it to the late second century (which still makes it early for an apocryphal gospel). I can add that CompleteGospels, p. 381, dates it to the middle of the second century. Barnstone, p. 384, says that the book can hardly have been written before 150 C.E. (and adds on pp. 383-384 that Jerome, translator of the Vulgate, condemned it). FunkEtAl, p. xvii, follow Cameron in dating it roughly 150-225 C.E. Harnack proposed to date it to the fourth century (Jordan, p. 6), but this late date can be set aside; the latest possible date is the end of the third century, since Papyrus Bodmer V, found in Egypt and forming the basis for Cartlidge/Dungan, is dated paleographically to around 300 C.E. This seems, however, to be the only early copy; the other manuscripts cited in Tischendorf's nineteenth century Greek edition are all tenth century or later (Jordan, p. 3).
Barnstone, p. 384, notes manuscripts in Greek, Syriac (Aramaic), Armenian, Ethiopic (proto-Amharic), Georgian, and Old Church Slavonic. Jordan, p. 6. also mentions a Sahidic Coptic text -- but says the majority of manuscripts are in Greek or Slavonic. In 1980, de Strycker counted 140 Greek manuscripts (Jordan, p. 6) -- an amazing number for a non-canonical work. Even more amazing, parts of it turn up in Greek lectionaries.
Interestingly, Barnstone, pp. 384-385, says that "No Latin manuscript survived the early condemnation of the book in the west." However, much of its content was preserved in the Gospel of the Pseudo-Matthew, which is in Latin, so the material could have been passed on to European singers that way.
The book begins with the story of the birth of Mary. Mary's mother is Anna (an interesting name, since Anna is the Greek form of Hannah, and in 1 Samuel 1, Hannah is barren until she visits the temple and prays for a child; in due time, she bore Samuel). Anna is married to Joachim. We are told that both are righteous and chaste, and both are ashamed at the fact that they have no children. Finally, Joachim goes out into the desert to pray about it, while Anna prays at home.
While they are separated, an angel appears to each. It promises Anna that she will have a daughter. But it is the annunciation to Joachim which is really interesting. I'm going to cite all five translations, with their page number and their chapter/verse number if they have one:
Hone, p. 26, 4:4 -- "The Lord God hath heard thy prayer, make haste and go hence, for behold Anna thy wife shall conceive."
FunkEtAl, p. 266, 4:2 -- "Joachim, Joachim, the Lord God has heard your prayer. Go down; behold, your wife Anna has conceived [shall conceive]."
CompleteGospels, pp. 384-385, 4:4 -- "Joachim, Joachim, the Lord God has heard your prayer. Get down from there. Look, your wife Anna is pregnant."
Barnstone, p. 386, "Joachim, Joachim, the Lord God heard your prayer. Go down from here; for behold, your wife Anna is pregnant."
Cartlidge/Dungan, p. 11, 4:4 -- "Joachim, Joachim, the Lord God heard your prayer. Go down from here; for behold, your wife Anna is pregnant."
The difference between "to be(come) pregnant" and "to conceive" is translational. The difference in verb tenses is not; as FunkEtAl implies (and CompleteGospels says in a note on p. 385), the manuscripts differ on whether Anna *already is* or *will become* pregnant.. Greek tenses do not correspond exactly to English, but the Greek future indicative corresponds pretty closely to the English future tense. The future tense of Hone and [FunkEtAl] is a description of something to happen after the present. The present tense of FunkEtAl (non-bracketed), CompleteGospels, Barnstone, and Cartlidge/Dungan indicates that Anna is already pregnant. And, since Joachim has been in the wilderness for weeks, he is not the father -- implying that the Holy Spirit is.
As to which is the superior reading, I note that the modern editions all say "is pregnant." This includes Cartlidge/Dungan, which is directly translated from the oldest manuscript, Bodmer Papyrus V. The probability is high that "is pregnant" is the original reading.
It should be added that none of this bears any connection to Hebrew law. Virginity is valued, of course, but not celibacy. Once Mary and Joseph were betrothed, there was no reason for them not to sleep together. Indeed, having children approached the status of duty. But there were a number of early Christian sects (all of them, of course, extinct) which believed sex to be evil. Evidently our author was of that school. The obsession with virginity continues throughout the Protevangelium:
At the age of three, Mary is consigned to the Temple, where she stays until she reaches menarche at age 12 (CompleteGospels, p. 387; Hone, p. 28, etc.). Since menstruation is ritually impure, she then has to leave. By lot, Joseph is assigned to be her husband (CompleteGospels, p. 387; Hone, p. 29, etc.) -- even though, in this account, he is already old and has children (the source of the "Joseph was an old man" item in "The Cherry-Tree Carol" [Child 54]) and is afraid of being a laughing-stock. But he is convinced to accept Mary as his wife.
Then Mary gets pregnant.
Of course, there is no reason under Jewish law why she shouldn't be pregnant; she is betrothed. But that's too simple for our author, since he and we know that she is pregnant by the Holy Spirit. So he contrives to have Mary's virginity tested, claiming that she and Joseph had been separated for months. And, yes, she's still a virgin (CompleteGospels, p. 391; Hone, p. 32, etc.) And, after Jesus is born, a woman named Salome checks -- and, yes, Mary is still a virgin (CompleteGospels, p. 393; Hone, p. 34, etc.)
Of course, the mere fact that an extra-canonical book with a radical view of sexuality said that Mary, like Jesus, was born of a virgin didn't make it church doctrine. Other than the Protevangelium, I don't know of any other early Church Father who even discusses the matter. It began to be an issue around the turn of the second millennium C.E., but was then still a matter of debate. Bettenson, p. 271, notes that St. Anselm (1033-1109), for instance, believed Mary was born in sin. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) believed her to have been born in sin but to have lived a sanctified life. Duns Scottus (died 1308) believed in the full-blown Immaculate Conception. In 1483, the Pope had to caution both sides not to go too far, since the matter was not settled.
The Catholic Church finally made its decision in 1854. In that year -- before Papal Infallibility, we might note, "[Pope] Pius IX on his sole authority... [issued] the Definition of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, welcomed by the Archbishop of Trani because it made her 'the complement of the Trinity and above all our co-redemptress.' No Protestant could accept such blatant Mariolatry" (Christie-Murray, p. 198).
The actual statement, on p. 271 of Bettenson, reads in part, "we [i.e. Pius IX] with the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and with our own, do declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the Virgin Mary was, in the first instant of her conception, preserved untouched by any taint of original guilt, by a singular grace of Almighty God, in consideration of the singular grace and privilege of Almighty God, in consideration of the merits of Christ Jesus the savior of mankind." This was on pain of "lawful penalties if [those who disagree] shall dare signify, by word or writing or any other external means, what they shall think in their hearts."
I have to add that, ten years later the Church would declare that science said what the Pope said, not what the facts said (Article II of the Syllabus of Errors of 1864; Bettenson, p. 272).
Pius IX of course made his declaration long after the "Carnal" was written (and by doing it the way he did it, made dead sure that no non-Catholic could even consider the Immaculate Conception). But even before his pronouncement, the doctrine -- with its complete lack of Biblical foundation -- was dead in Protestant circles. This would seem to imply that the "Carnal" is either a Catholic product or predates the Reformation. On its face, the former would seem more likely -- but this is far from sure. There was a famous compilation of tales, the "Golden Legend," which contains much of this material. William Caxton published an English edition in 1483, and it contains the story of the Immaculate Conception of Mary. Since the Golden Legend was in print in English before the Bible, it might have inspired something.
INCIDENT IV, in terms of Biblical content, is equivalent to Incident II.
INCIDENT V, the wise men meeting Herod and declaring the birth of the Savior, starts with a Biblical story; the Magi (a word far better translated "Astrologers" or "Diviners" than "Wise Men") saw a star in the eastern sky and came to Herod (Matthew 2:1-7). But Matthew makes no mention of roasted cocks -- instead, Herod tries to trick the Magi into finding the pretender for him. The tale of the cock proves to have a very complex history. (Witness the fact that the device is used in three different ballads in diverse ways: In this one, in "Saint Stephen and Herod" [Child 22], and in "The Wife of Usher's Well" [Child 79]).
We first find a roasted cock coming to life, according to Nagy, p. 7, in the Acts of Peter, in which, at the Last Supper, Jesus orders the cock to follow Judas out as he goes into the night to betray Jesus (an incident building on John 13:26-30). The bird follows, reports on Judas's activities, and is rewarded by being sent to Heaven. (The Acts of Peter liked this sort of thing; Peter also brought a dried fish to life, according to Nagy, p. 21).
The problems with this are myriad (and I'm not talking about whether miracles happen or not, since the authors of these pieces had no doubts on that score). For starters, the gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke date the Last Supper to Passover day, in which case the meal would have had lamb, not a cock. But even if one accepts that the Last Supper took place on Passover Eve, as in John, there is no sign in that gospel that a bird was served. Plus, according to Barnstone, p. 426, the Acts of Peter is an Encratite work (that is, it holds to the view that all sexual activity is sinful), and it seems to have originated in the east; it is little quoted in the west. Nagy, p. 14, reports that Melchisedech Thevenot (d. 1692) brought back the tale from Coptic oral tradition.
The first version of the roasted cock crowing a message is often stated to go back to the Gospel of Nicodemus (also known, after what is probably its oldest section, as the Acts of Pilate). Judas, having betrayed Jesus, was fearful that Jesus would rise again and prepared to hang himself. His wife assured him that that would no more happen than that the cock would crow three times. The cock, of course, then did its thing. The Gospel of Matthew says that Judas did hang himself (27:4), although Acts gives him a different ending (1:18).
The Gospel of Nicodemus is variously dated; Hone, who gives a full translation, on p. 63 mentions scholars who thought it from the third century. Barnstone (who quotes only snippets), declares on p. 359, that it is from the third or fourth century. Sisam, p. 171, dates it to the fourth century. Nagy, p. 8, says it is from the early fifth century with some material from earlier dates; this seems to be based on the date of the earliest manuscript (Nagy, p. 9). FunkEtAl, p. xvi, claims "The original AcPil was probably written in Greek sometime during II/III CE" (i.e. probably around 200 C.E.), but this is the date of only a portion of the work -- and not the relevant portion; the whole came later. Versions exist in both Greek and Latin, with Latin texts apparently the more common.
This contradictory dating is somewhat peculiar, since the work contains an internal date. Funk, p. 305, and Barnstone, p. 362, both translate the prologue to the Acts (omitted, oddly, from Hone's translation). This says that the whole was assembled by one Ananias in the "eighteenth year of the reign of our emperor Flavius Theodosius," Since Theodosius I "the Great" reigned only 16 years (379-395 C.E.), this must be his grandson Theodosius II (reigned 408-450 C. E.), making the year 426 C.E. This is confirmed be the fact that the eighteenth year of Theodosius is listed as being the ninth indiction. The indictions were a fifteen year cycle created in the reign of Diocletian (abdicated 305), and the ninth indiction corresponds to the year 426 (roughly; the indictions did not run from January to January but from a time in mid-fall).
Whoever put together the work in 426 didn't know his history. He cites earlier records with four date pegs:
* The nineteenth year of the Emperor Tiberias
* The nineteenth year of Herod King of Galilee
* The high priesthood of Caiaphas
* The fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad
It is worth noting that the only date in the New Testament is in Luke 3:1, the fifteenth year of Tiberias. That is 29 C.E., implying that Jesus was crucified in 30 C.E. So the nineteenth year of Tiberias (33 C.E.) is a possible year for Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea to testify about the crucifixion (which is the primary content of Nicodemus). But:
Herod Antipas became King (actually Tetrarch) of Galilee on the death of his father Herod the Great in 4 B.C.E. (Josephus/Marcus/Wikgren, p. 459; this is Antiquities XVII.188-191, or XVII.viii.1 in the pre-Loeb numbering). Thus Herod the Tetrarch's nineteenth year was 15/16 C.E. -- *before* the Crucifixion!
Joseph Caiaphas was High Priest from 18-36 C.E. (according to a whole bunch of data in Josephus which I won't bother to cite). He thus was High Priest during Pontius Pilate's entire tenure of office as procurator, probably being retired when Pilate was recalled.
The Olympic Era began in 776 B.C.E., and each Olympiad was four years long. Thus the year 1 C.E. was the first year of the 195th Olympiad. The fourth year of the 202nd Olympiad would be 28 CE -- another date before the Crucifixion!
Thus, although our four pegs are within twenty years, no two of the three precise pegs points to the same year! One error of this sort might be brain cramp or scribal error; two such strongly implies forgery.
Nonetheless, the number of copies shows that people were reading Nicodemus in the Middle Ages. The whole breaks up into three basic parts: The passion of Jesus, accounts of the resurrection by Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, and the Harrowing of Hell. According to Nagy, p. 9, the Harrowing of Hell is a second century tale appended to the others in perhaps the fifth century.
The Gospel of Nicodemus is well-known in the west; there are two translations into Middle English, one poetic and one prose. Hulme knew of four manuscripts of the verse translation, all from the fifteenth century (Hulme, p. xv), which are distinct enough to imply a significantly earlier original., and nine manuscripts of the prose translation (Hulme, p. xxxii), although only four of these apparently originally contained the whole thing (Hulme, p. xxxiii). These may be different translations; the earliest English text goes back to the twelfth century. And we find English works based on the Nicodemus book; Sisam, p. 171, observes that the York play of the Harrowing of Hell (found in a manuscript of c. 1450) is founded on the Gospel of Nicodemus.
But as best I can tell from a search of Hulme, the tale of Judas and the cock was never found in the English versions of Nicodemus. Nor, based on the section heads, is it found in the text translated by Hone. Nagy, pp. 13-14, declares that it is not found in the Latin versions, nor in the "A" family of the Greek text -- nor in most of the "B" manuscripts; her best estimate (based on incomplete published data) is that only two of thirty "B" group manuscripts contain it. However, Constantin von Tischendorf, the greatest scholar of Biblical and related manuscripts ever to live, had a text of the Judas tale in his version of the Gospel of Nicodemus (Nagy, pp. 15-16).
Child, in his notes on "Saint Stephen and Herod" [Child 22], says that the "ultimate source of the miracle of the reanimated cock is an interpolation in two late Greek manuscripts of the so-called Gospel of Nicodemus." But, as the above demonstrates, this can hardly be true, since the story would not be known in Western Europe. The ballad versions must come from some other, Western, source (perhaps one of the many analogs of Child 22 which Child mention), with the Coptic version perhaps being the source of the Nicodemus insertion.
Nagy, the most recent scholar of the problem known to me, seems not to have a clear opinion on the source of this legend as found in the English ballads. I rather suspect a floating folklore motif, perhaps derived from a French tale; this would explain how the same miracle managed to occur in three different settings.
INCIDENT VI. The flight into Egypt. Herod is looking for Jesus, so the Holy Family heads for Egypt. This is straight out of Matthew (2:15-17). This is somewhat problematic historically (Egypt was a sort of closed colony of Rome, so it would be hard for anyone to get there, and Josephus never mentions such a massacre; the whole thing seems just to be a way for "Matthew" to get in another Bible citation and set up a parallel between Moses and Jesus). But at least the story is canonical.
INCIDENT VII. The Adoration of the Beasts. We already found a sort of an example of this in the Gospel of the Pseudo-Matthew, mentioned above under Incidents II and III. In the Adoration, we are dependent entirely upon Pseudo-Matthew. There is some disagreement about this book. Cartlidge/Dungan, p. 27,. thinks it might be from the third or fourth century. Barnstone, p. 394, says eighth or ninth century -- one of the widest gaps in dating I can ever recall. The Cartlidge/Dungan dating may be due to the fact that it claims to have been translated into Latin by Jerome, who also translated the Vulgate (the official Bible of the Catholic Church), and who was almost the only Christian scholar of the first millennium to understand Hebrew. But it is evident that he did not in fact create the Latin version, which to my semi-trained self seems to be from about the sixth or seventh century.
It is at least agreed that the book is in (and was likely composed in) Latin, and is largely based upon the Protevangelium Jacobi, but with some additional material, including the Adoration.
Joseph, Jesus, Mary, and their attendants (e.g. Joseph's earlier sons) rest during their flight to Egypt. They are resting by a cave when dragons (yes, dragons) come out of the cave. Jesus gets out of Mary's lap and stands before them; the dragons halt and worship him. Lions and leopards then show up and follow them (Pseudo-Matthew, chapters XVIII and XIX; Cartlidge/Dungan, pp. 29-30; Barnstone, pp. 396).
Why a procession of dragons, lions, and leopards are not sufficient to keep Herod away is never explained.
INCIDENT VIII. The Miraculous Harvest is a favorite of illustrators. The infant Jesus, who is still fleeing Herod, tells a farmer who is sowing grain to stop; the grain miraculously matures, and the farmer begins to harvest it. Herod's soldiers arrive, are told Jesus passed when the grain was sown, and turn back.
This tale is not found even in the apocryphal gospels, according to James, p. xli. the earliest illustration of this is "on a thirteenth-century cope of English work now at Anagni."
The idea of a "miraculous harvest" might have a vague New Testament root; the Parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:3-8 and parallels) refers to the sower harvesting thirty, sixty, or a hundred-fold. At this period, a typical harvest is said to have been sevenfold, and an excellent one was tenfold; thus the sower did harvest miraculously. But not instantly. The story gets even more exaggerated in the Infancy Gospel of Thomas -- here the eight-year-old Jesus himself sows one seed of grain and gets back a hundred measures (Thomas 12:1-2; FunkEtAl, p. 251; Cartlidge/Dungan, p. 39; Barnstone, p. 401; CompleteGospels, p. 376 says Jesus sowed one "measure" of grain instead of a single seed). But here again it happens only after the crop has had a full season to grow. The idea of the instant harvest may simply have been an extension of the phrase "Miraculous Harvest" -- but it is definitely an extension.
INCIDENT IX: Derived from 19:14 and parallels -- although the motivation is different; in the Gospels, the disciples are trying to keep the children from being healed by Jesus, and there is no mention of the Massacre of the Innocents. (The Massacre of the Innocents, in fact, is mentioned only in Matthew, Chapter 2; there is no hint of it anywhere else in the Bible.)
There is one other irony about the ballad as found in tradition. Although Child's text correctly refers to the King who tries to kill Jesus as "Herod," in many of the traditional texts this becomes "Pharaoh," "King Pharaoh," or "King Pharim." The confusion is perhaps understandable -- the names are somewhat similar, and Pharaoh oppressed Moses and the Israelites in the Old Testament.
By the time Herod was born, native Egyptian kings had ceased to rule Egypt; the people in charge were the Macedonian dynasty of the Ptolemies. The title "Pharaoh" was extinct, but if anyone could be called Pharaoh, it would be the Ptolemaic monarch.
And the Ptolemaic monarch, in 40 C.E. when Herod became monarch of Judea, was none other than Cleopatra (officially Cleopatra VII). And Cleopatra and Herod hated each others' guts. Herod once advised Mark Antony that the way to gain control in Rome was to kill Cleopatra (Josephus/Marcus/Wikgren, p. 91; Antiquities XV.191=XV.vi.1 in the older editions), and Cleopatra tried to deprive Herod of his throne (Josephus/Thackeray, p. 169; Jewish War I.361= I.xviii.4 in the older editions). Herod, although he had initially supported Antony (who had helped establish him on the throne) in the Civil Wars, eventually turned against Antony, and did so early enough to make peace with Octavian and retain his throne. No doubt his treatment at the hands of Cleopatra made his betrayal easier for him.
To be sure, the source for Josephus's comments is the history of Nicolas of Damascus (Tarn/Griffith, p. 276), and Nicolas was a servant of Herod's, so we are probably getting mostly Herod's side. But the modern sources I checked all seem to think Herod's and Cleopatra's mutual loathing was real. To call Herod "Pharaoh" would be very insulting to him. - RBW
Bibliography

Barnstone: Willis Barnstone, editor, The Other Bible, Harper & Row, 1984
Bettenson: Henry Bettenson, editor, Documents of the Christian Church, 1943, 1963 (I use the 1967 Oxford paperback edition)
Cartlidge/Dungan, David R. Cartlidge and David L. Dungan, translators and editors, Sourcebook of Texts for the Comparative Study of the Gospels, second edition, Society of Biblical Literature, 1972 (despite being a second edition, this is simply a spiral-bound copy of a set of typescripts, and several texts shown in the table of contents are not included; presumably some later version added these materials, necessarily changing the pagination)
Christie-Murray: David Christie-Murray, A History of Heresy, Oxford, 1976
CompleteGospels: Robert J. Miller, editor, The Complete Gospels (Annotated Scholars Version), revised third edition, Harper Collins, 1994
FunkEtAl: Robert W. Funk, editor, New Gospel Parallels, Volume Two: John and the Other Gospels, Fortress Press, 1985
James: Montague Rhodes James, A Descriptive Catalog of the Manuscripts in the Fitzwilliam Museum, C. J. Clay and Sons/Cambridge, 1895 ("Digitized by Google")
Jordan: Chris Jordan, "Protevangelium Jacobi (PJ): An Introduction," online article, undated but after 1998
Josephus/Marcus/Wikgren: Ralph Marcus and Allen Wikgren, translators, Josephus: Jewish Antiquities: Books XV-XVII, the eighth volume in the 10 volume Loeb translation of Josephus (and #410 in the Loeb Classical Library), Harvard University Press, 1963
Josephus/Thackeray: H. St. John Thackeray, translators, Josephus: The Jewish War: Books I-III, the second volume in the 10 volume Loeb translation of Josephus (and #203 in the Loeb Classical Library), Harvard University Press, 1927
Hone: William Hone, The Apocryphal New Testament: Being All the Gospels, Epistles, and Other Pieces Now Extant, 1820. This has been republished, often with modifications and expurgations, many times; a copy of the 1847 edition is available on Google Books. Because reading paper is easier than reading PDFs, my references are to the 1979 Bell edition published as The Lost Books of the Bible with a new (and not very useful) preface by Solomon J. Schepps. The actual book appears to be a facsimile copy of one of the older editions (probably that of 1926)
Hulme: William Henry Hulme, The Middle-English Harrowing of Hell and Gospel of Nicodemus Early English Text Society series, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co, 1907 ("Digitized by Google")
Nagy: Ilona Nagy, "The Roasted Cock Crows: Apocryphal Writings (Acts of Peter, The Ethiopic Book of the Cock, Coptic Fragments, The Gospel of Nicodemus) snd Folklore Texts," in Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore, issue: 36/2007, pages 7-40, at�www.ceeol.com.
Sisam: Kenneth Sisam, editor, Fourteenth Century Verse and Prose, Oxford, 1925
Tarn/Griffith: W. W. Tarn, Hellenistic Civilization, third edition revised by Tarn and G. T. Griffith, 1952 (I use the 1966 Meridian paperback)

Last updated in version 2.5
File: C055

Carnatogher's Braes

DESCRIPTION: The singer says that no place on earth as dear as his old home by Carntogher's Braes. He recalls life and friendship there. "But cruel fate has ordered it that I must sail the seas"; he expects to return home once he has made his fortune
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Sam Henry collection; the Derry Journal may have printed the song a few years earlier)
KEYWORDS: emigration poverty home
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H237, p. 189, "Carnatogher's Braes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13546
File: HHH237

Carnlough Shore

DESCRIPTION: The singer describes a trip through Ireland. He stays then days with Jon McNeil, surrounded by kind people, then visits Pat McGavrock on Stony Hill. He says that, come the next summer, he will visit Stony Hill again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1937 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: rambling music
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H686, pp. 160-161, "Carnlough Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13458
NOTES: This sounds to me like a piece a rambling fiddler would make up to please his current host. - RBW
File: HHH686

Carol for Saint Stephen's Day, A

See Saint Stephen and Herod [Child 22] (File: C022)

Carol of the Cherry Tree

See The Cherry-Tree Carol [Child #54] (File: C054)

Carol of the Twelve Numbers, The

See Green Grow the Rushes-O (The Twelve Apostles, Come and I Will Sing You) (File: ShH97)

Carolina Crew, The

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

Carolina Lady

See The Lady of Carlisle [Laws O25] (File: LO25)

Caroline

DESCRIPTION: Creole French, in hopes of winning Caroline: "AIne, de, trois, Caroline, ca ca ye comme ca ma chere (x2), Papa di non, mamman di non, C'est le moule, c'est le ma pren...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage love
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 111, "Caroline" (1 short text, 1 tune)
File: AWG111A

Caroline and Her Young Sailor Bold (Young Sailor Bold II) [Laws N17]

DESCRIPTION: Wealthy Caroline loves a poor sailor. The sailor tries to discourage her, but she disguises herself and follows him to sea. She "proves true" even in a shipwreck. In time she returns home and gains her father's permission to marry her young man
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(4391)); found in 1840 in a journal from the Walter Scott
KEYWORDS: poverty sailor courting cross-dressing marriage wreck father
FOUND IN: US(SE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(Scotland) Ireland
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Laws N17, "Caroline and Her Young Sailor Bold (Young Sailor Bold II)"
Greig #163, pp. 1-2, "Caroline and Her Young Sailor Bold" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 176, "Caroline and Her Young Sailor Bold" (3 texts, 4 tunes)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 196-198, "Caroline the Rich Merchant's Daughter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 103-105, "The Nobleman's Daughter" (1 text plus a portion of another, 1 tune)
BrownII 102, "A Rich Nobleman's Daughter" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 329-330, "Caroline and Her Young Sailor Bold" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 29, "Caroline and Her Young Sailor Bold" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 33, "Caroline and Her Young Sailor Bold" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn-More 39, "Caroline and Her Young Sailor Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 448, CAROSAIL
Roud #553
RECORDINGS:
Sarah Makem, "Caroline and her Young Sailor Bold" (on LastDays)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(4391), "The Young Sailor Bold. Answer to the Gallant Hussar," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 16(44a), Firth c.12(241), Firth c.12(242), Harding B 11(542), 2806 c.15(182), Harding B 19(42), "Caroline and Her Young Sailor Bold[!]"; Harding B 20(204), Harding B 16(268a), Johnson Ballads 2987, "[The] Young Sailor Bold"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bonnie Lass o' Benachie" (plot)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Young Sailor Bold
File: LN17

Caroline and Her Young Sailor Boy

See Caroline and Her Young Sailor Bold (Young Sailor Bold II) [Laws N17] (File: LN17)

Caroline of Edinborough Town [Laws P27]

DESCRIPTION: Caroline's parents do not approve of her suitor Henry, so the two of them run off to London to be married. It is not long before her husband grows sick of her, abuses her, and goes off to sea. After some wandering, she drowns herself in the sea
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(3065))
KEYWORDS: courting elopement abuse abandonment separation suicide
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Britain(Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (24 citations):
Laws P27, "Caroline of Edinburgh Town" (Laws gives a broadside text on pp. 91-92 of ABFBB)
Greig #70, p. 1, "Caroline of Edinburgh Town" (1 text)
GreigDuncan6 1151, "Caroline o' Edinburgh Toon" (9 texts, 5 tunes)
Randolph 50, "Caroline of Edinborough Town" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Eddy 59, "Caroline of Edinburgh Town" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 13, "Caroline of Edinburg (sic.) Town" (1 text)
Dean, p. 53, "Caroline of Edinburg Town" (1 text)
Linscott, pp. 183-185, "Caroline of Edinboro Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 69, "Caroline of Edinboro' Town" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 16, "Caroline from Edinboro Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 28, "Caroline of Edinboro Town" (1 text)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 99-100, "Caroline of Edinborough Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H148, pp. 411-412, "Blooming Caroline of Edinburgh Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-Maguire 28, pp. 70-71,115,167-168, "Blooming Caroline from Edinburgh Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 112, "Caroline of Edinburgh Town" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
JHCoxIIA, #19, pp. 81-82, "Fair Caroline" (1 text, 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 137-141, "Lovely Caroline" (1 text plus portions of another, 1 tune)
BrownII 124, "Caroline of Edinburgh Town" (1 text plus 1 excerpt)
Chappell-FSRA 51, "Henry Was a High-Learnt Man" (1 text, in which "Edinborough" becomes "Winton Goldburg"!)
Hudson 31, pp. 143-145, "Edinburgh Town" (1 text)
Ord, pp. 186-187, "Blooming Caroline o' Edinburgh Town" (1 text)
MacSeegTrav 51, "Caroline of Edinburgh Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 29, "Edinburgh Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 342, CAROEDIN* CAROEDN2*
Roud #398
RECORDINGS:
Charles Ingenthron, "Caroline of Edinboro' Town" (AFS; on LC14)
Tom Lenihan, "Caroline of Edinburgh Town" (on IRClare01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3065), "Poor Caroline of Edinburgh Town," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 11(3063), Harding B 16(207b), Harding B 11(3064), "Poor Caroline of Edinburgh Town"; Harding B 11(4395), Firth c.12(183), Harding B 11(1208), "Poor Caroline of Edinboro' Town"; Harding B 11(544), "Caroline o' Embro' Town"; Firth b.26(371), "Caroline of Edinboro' Town"; Firth c.26(276)[some lines illegible], Firth c.26(48), "Caroline of Edinbro' Town"; Johnson Ballads 2148a, "Carroline of Edinborough Town"
NLScotland, APS.3.96.25, "Carroline of Edinborough Town," P Brereton (Dublin), c.1865
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Crossing the Plains" (tune)
File: LP27

Caroline the Rich Merchant's Daughter

See Caroline and Her Young Sailor Bold (Young Sailor Bold II) [Laws N17] (File: LN17)

Carrickfergus

DESCRIPTION: "I wish I were in Carrickfergus, Only for nights in Ballygrand. I would swim over the deepest ocean... my love to find." "I wish to meet a handsome boatsman To ferry me over, my love to find." Since (she) is gone, the singer will drink, forget, (and die)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: love separation drink
FOUND IN: US Ireland Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Sandburg, p. 323, "Fond Affection" (1 short text, perhaps derived from "Dear Companion (The Broken Heart; Go and Leave Me If You Wish To, Fond Affection)" but which in the absence of a tune reminds me strongly of this piece)
SHenry H641, p. 383, "Ripest of Apples" (1 text, 1 tune, a tiny fragment of two verses, one of which often occurs with this song while the other is associated primarily with "Wheel of Fortune." The tune is not "Carrickfergus")
Peacock, pp. 475-476, "Love is Lovely" (1 text, 1 tune, strongly composite, starting with a verse perhaps from "Peggy Gordon," then the chorus of "Waly Waly (The Water Is Wide)," two more which might be anything, and a conclusion from "Carrickfergus")
DT, CARRKFRG
NOTES: Frequently heard as an instrumental, but probably originally a song as the lyrics show little variation. - RBW
File: San323

Carrickmannon Lake

DESCRIPTION: Singer meets the "Venus of the north" at Carrickmannon's lake. He says, "Give me my way or else I'll stray." She tells him to depart. He would leave Killinchey for her sake and go to North America. He warns other young men to shun the lake.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (recorded by Richard Hayward)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection Ireland
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Richard Hayward, Ireland Calling (Glasgow,n.d.), p. 17, "Carrickmannon Lake" (text, music and reference to Decca F-3125 recorded Aug 12, 1932)
Roud #5177
RECORDINGS:
Sarah Anne O'Neill, "Carrickmannon Lake" (on Voice04)
NOTES: Killinchey and Carrickmannon Lake are in County Down.
The date and master id (GB-4734-1) for Hayward's record is provided by Bill Dean-Myatt, MPhil. compiler of the Scottish National Discography. - BS
File: RcCarLak

Carried Water for the Elephant

DESCRIPTION: Singer has no money to see the circus; he's told that he can get in free if he carries water for the elephant. He does (although he can't fill it up), gets his ticket and sees the animals in the menagerie, who make appropriate noises
AUTHOR: Probably Leroy Carr
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (recording, Leroy Carr)
KEYWORDS: poverty work humorous animal
FOUND IN: US
RECORDINGS:
Leroy Carr [& Earl "Scrapper" Blackwell], "Carried Water for the Elephant" (Vocalion 1593, 1931 [rec. 1930]; on CrowTold02)
File: RcCWfTE

Carrier's Song, The

DESCRIPTION: About the roads of Australia: "It's strange to know the once good tracks we can no longer trust, sir... Dust! Dust! Dust! Along the roads there's nothing there but dust, dust, dust." He calls for rain, and soon "nothing there but rain, rain, rain"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1984
KEYWORDS: travel nonballad
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 104-105, "The Carrier's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bow Wow Wow" (tune) and references there
File: FaE104

Carries and Kye (Courting Among the Kye)

DESCRIPTION: The singer hears a lad and lass talking. He is courting her; she tries to hold him back, pointing out that she is still young and that she has no dowry. She offers to introduce him to another. He says he wants none but her; they marry.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: love courting dowry marriage
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #68, p. 2, "Cauries and Kye" (1 text)
GreigDuncan4 878, "Carries and Kye," GreigDuncan8 Addenda, "Carries and Kye" (19 texts, 12 tunes)
Ord, pp. 37-39, "Courting Among the Kye" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3785
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Ox May Droon in the Meadow
File: Ord037

Carrigaline Goalers Defeated, The

DESCRIPTION: "For ages hold on record Kinalea with ecstacy ... defeating with the greatest bravery The goalers that were famed upon the banks of Onnabuoy" The crowd, predictions of the outcome and newspaper reports are described, but not the contest.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1829 (Cork broadside, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: pride sports Ireland
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 155-158, "The Carrigaline Goalers Defeated" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Roving Journeyman" (tune, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
cf. "Bold Thady Quill" (subject of hurling) and references there
cf. "The Victorious Goalers of Carrigaline and Kilmoney" (subject of hurling, plus these particular games)
NOTES: Croker-PopularSongs: "A reply to the preceding song ["The Victorious Goalers of Carrigaline and Kilmoney"], on the defeat of the aforesaid 'Victorious Goalers of Carrigaline and Kilmoney,' by a party belonging to Tracton, a neighboring district, which match appears to have been played in the ensuing spring [1829]." - BS
File: CrPS155

Carrion Crow

DESCRIPTION: "A carrion crow (kangaroo) sat on an oak, To my inkum kiddy-cum kimeo, Watching a tailor mend a coat...." The tailor tries to shoot the crow, but misses and kills his old sow. The family mourns the dead animal
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1796 (Francis Grose papers)
KEYWORDS: animal bird death talltale nonsense hunting
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Belden, pp. 270-271, "The Carrion Crow" (2 texts)
Brewster 62, "The Tailor and the Crow" (2 texts)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 244-246, "The Carrion Crow" (2 texts plus 1 fragment, 2 tunes)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 133, "The Carrion Crow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 156, "The Tailor and the Crow" (1 text); "The Carrion Crow" (2 texts)
Linscott, pp. 185-186, "The Carrion Crow" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 222, "The Carrion Crow" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Lomax-FSNA 72, "The Kangaroo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 87, "A carrion crow sat on an oak" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #172, p. 127, "(A carrion crow sat on an oak)"
DT, CARCROW CARCROW2 KANGROO*
Roud #891
RECORDINGS:
Otis High, "Captain Karo" [referred to in notes as "Carrion Crow"] (HandMeDown1)
Margaret MacArthur, "Carrion Crow" (on MMacArthur01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 12(10), "Carrion Crow" ("As I went forth one May morning"), J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819 ; also 2806 c.18(55), "The Carrion Crow"
LOCSinging, as112630, "Sly Young Crow," L. Deming (Boston), 19C
NOTES: A rhyme often said to be from the time of Charles I (ascended 1625; executed 1649) reads, "Hie hoe the carryon crow for I have shot something too low I have quite missed my mark, & shot the poore sow to the harte Wyfe bring treakel in a spoone, or else the poore sowes harte wil downe."
The odds are high that this is related to "Carrion Crow." The question is, how did it originate?
It has been suggested that it is an allegory on Charles's reimposition of high church ritual (and consequent dismissal of Calvinist clergy).
This was certainly a complicated question. Religious tensions were strong from the moment James VI and I succeeded Elizabeth I in 1603. England was split between Catholics, Anglicans, and Presbyterians/Puritans, and Catholics hoped James would be sympathetic because he had been tolerant in Scotland and was the son of a Catholic, while Presbyterians hoped he would by sympathetic because Scotland was Presbyterian.
But James was a natural Anglican who wanted to unite his two peoples under one church (Fry/Fry, p. 165), and was eventually convinced that repression was necessary (Magnusson, p. 409). The bitterly disappointed Catholics were once again forced to hope for a change of regime. The Gunpowder Plot, which was linked to Catholics, although most of course had no part in it, took place in 1604 (Davies, p. 205) -- one of two Catholic plots that year (Magnusson, p. 409).. But James faced just as much pressure from the other side -- the Puritans and Presybyterians who wanted episcopal church organization eliminated.
James was famous for his belief in episcopacy --"no bishop, no king," he declared (Davies, p. 68). He was even willing to contemplate reunion with Rome -- as long as Rome gave up its claim to be sovereign over kings (Davies, p. 203). Calvinist doctrine bothered him far more than Roman practice, despite his Presybterian background (Ashton, p. 212). In 1604, he called the famous Hampton Court conference to try to achieve some sort of peace with the radicals -- but in the end James told the Puritan delegates "that he would make them conform to existing usage or harry them out of the land" (Davies, p. 68; Magnusson, p. 412). The only constructive result of the Hampton Court Conference was that it was decided to produce an improved translation of the Bible (Ashton, p. 213) -- a translation we know as the Authorized Version or King James Bible.
In 1617, James tried to take his English church into Scotland -- visiting his native land for the first time since becoming King of England, and bringing with him an organ (horrors!) and a set of doctrines known as the Five Articles. These went over like a lead baptismal font (Magnusson, p. 414).
To the very end of the Janes's reign (he died in 1625), the Puritans were a real nuisance. To try to keep them from political preaching, "in 1622 instructions were issued that preachers should adhere strictly to their texts, that their afternoon sermons should be confined to some part of the catechism, or a text from the Creed, the Ten Commandments, or the Lord's Prayer" (Davies, p. 72).
All this took place against the backdrop of the Thirty Years' War, which had stared in 1618 and cranked up Catholic/Protestant tensions even higher. James tried to stay out of the war, and even be a peacemaker, but it takes two to make a peace.... (Kishlansky, pp. 92-93).
The situation became even more extreme when Charles I ascended. There were two reasons: Charles I's wife, and his Archbishop of Canterbury.
It had been James I who appointed William Laud (1573-1645) Bishop of St. David's; prior to that, he had been Dean of Gloucester. But it was Charles I, the son of James VI and I, who really gave Laud's career a boost, translating him to be Bishop of Bath and Wells in 1626, then Bishop of London in 1628, then Archbishop of Canterbury in 1633 (OxfordCompanion, p. 562).
And Laud instituted something which approached a reign of terror for those not enamored of High Church behavior. Among his reactionary reforms were the "wearing of the surplice, bowing at the name of Jesus, and the churching of women after child-birth," plus moving the communion table "to the east side of the chancel and protect[ing]it by rails" (Wedgwood-Peace, p. 105); he prosecuted violators in ecclesiastical courts.
"It is difficult to see Laud himself through the mass of invective aimed at him. It is undoubtedly true that he was blamed for much of which Charles himself was guilty, yet it was Laud who proclaimed that resistance to the doctrine of the divine right of kings would bring damnation as its punishment. He was equally ruthless and tactless, a hard, masterful man; but he was not vindictive and he was personally upright" (Kunitz/Haycraft, p. 312).
In 1637, Charles went so far as to impose a prayer book, similar to the English Book of Common Prayer, on Presbyterian Scotland. Folklore has it that on July 23, 1637, a woman named Jenny Geddes, offended by the prayer book, declared, "Daur ye say mass at my lug?" and started a riot (Magnusson, pp. 418-419). Whether true or not, the imposition of the book led to the drafting and accepting of the Solemn League and Covenant (OxfordCompanion, p. 256).
OxfordCompanion, p. 191, argues that the opposition to Laud was because he was Arminian -- that is, he did not believe in predestination to grace, or rather, arbitrary and capricious damnation by God. Laud's Arminianism does appear to have represented a theological change; the earlier Anglican archbishops seem to have been more Presbyterian, according to Ashton, p. 282. And it it certainly true that Presbyterians utterly oppose Arminianism, but it is not an inherently Catholic doctrine; Jacob Arminius [1560-1609] belonged to the Reformed church and taught at Leiden, according to Christie-Murray, pp. 165-166. And Methodists, who are about as un-Catholic in ritual as you can get, are Arminian. It was Laud's mumbo-jumbo that the Covenanters could not escape; it's just that, having gone in for rebellion, the Covenanters weren't going to stop with half measures; they brought in *all* of Calvinist doctrine, not just the parts about low-church worship.
James I had tried, to an extent, to play both ends of the religious spectrum. His daughter Elizabeth, the "Winter Queen," was married to a Protestant German prince (there is some additional background on this in the notes to "The Vicar of Bray"). Poor Elizabeth, the "Winter Queen," would see her husband cast off his throne, and all of Germany cast into the horrid many-sided conflict we call the Thirty Years War -- although among her descendants were the Hannoverian monarchs of England who reign to this day. But, at the time, her marriage mostly brought calls for Britain to intervene in the continent.
That was no part of James's plans. He hoped to balance off his daughter's Protestant marriage by marrying his oldest son to a Catholic (Kishlansky, p. 92). That failed when the boy died -- but James passed the idea on to his eldest surviving son, the future Charles I.
And Charles I agreed with the idea. Worse, he had actually snuck out of the country in one of his attempts to do so: In 1623, while he was still Prince of Wales, Charles made "a total and absolute commitment to the 'Spanish Match.' As a result, [he and the Duke of Buckingham] departed incognito for Madrid in March 1623 to conclude the natch personally" (Kenyon, p. 88). The marriage did not actually happen at that time, leaving Charles feeling betrayed (Kenyon, p. 89). But he still married a Catholic, Henrietta Maria of France (1609-1669) in 1625 (OxfordCompanion, p. 463). Some scholars blame her for certain of Charles's policies (OxfordCompanion, p. 464), although Charles was quite capable of being stupid on his own. She did not really bring Catholicism back to England -- but many feared she would.
Charles also imposed an unprecedented Act of Revocation on Scotland. Such Acts were common when monarchs came of age -- a new king revoked some egregious acts made in his minority. But Charles had never been a minor king -- the first Stuart to succeed to the Scottish throne as an adult in two centuries -- so his right to impose such revocations was dubious.
A more cautious monarch might have revoked only a few minor grants. Not Charles. Firm in his belief in Divine Right, he passed an act which covered new classes of property -- and which went all the way back to 1540! (Ashton, pp. 296-297), during the reign of James V, Charles's great-grandfather. Much of what he reclaimed was church land. There was fear -- false but understandable -- that he would give it back the the Catholics, or at least to Anglicans. The Scots Presbyterians began to watch and worry. The more so since Charles, although "Scottish," had been only three years old when James VI and I had moved the family to London (Magnusson, p. 420); Charles had never been back, and would not go to Scotland to be crowned until eight years after he ascended! (Magnusson, p. 421).
As this was going on, Buckingham, the man who had gone to Madrid with Charles, was stumbling into more trouble. For details about George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, see the notes to "A Horse Named Bill," which has also been connected to him. In this context, suffice it to say that he came to power under James VI and I, then after Charles came to the throne, led an expedition to Spain (which had become The Enemy again after the marriage alliance fell through), and was in trouble with Parliament when he conveniently was assasinated.
After his fall, the Howard family increased in power -- and many of them were Catholics. Loyalist to the core, but Catholic. It added still more to the worries (Kishlansky, pp. 94-95).
As support for a link between Buckingham and crows, there is another verse from about this period, cited under #355 in Opie-Oxford2, which runs, "There was Two Craws sat on a stane, Ane flew awa & there remain'd ane." This too is said to refer to Buckingham (and presumably Charles), but obviously that would be hard to prove, and so would be any link to "Carrion Crow."
Charles also appointed a bishop as Lord Treasurer in 1636 (Ashton, p. 298). This certainly wasn't any help to Catholics -- but after a long period of mostly secular high officials, the Scots saw it as another move away from Presbyterianism and toward episcopacy.
Charles I made his problems worse by trying to rule without parliament. It wasn't really one man rule; Charles relied heavily on Laud and on his de facto Prime Minister, Thomas Wentworth (1593-1641), whom Charles made Earl of Strafford. But eventually Charles, who had not summoned a parliament from 1628 to 1640, had to call what became the "Long Parliament"; he had been defeated by the Scots (yes, his own subjects!) and needed to raise money (OxfordCompanion, p. 594).
What he raised instead was a rebellion. Strafford was impeached on vague charges by the House of Commons (Wedgwood-Peace, p. 272). Strafford went on trial before the Lords, and because the charges were mostly trumped up, gave a very good defence of himself (OxfordCompanion, p. 894). Since acquittal seemed likely, the Commons took emergency action, passing an act of attainder against Strafford (Wedgwood-Peace, p. 413). In other words, they declared him guilty of being someone they didn't like, and executed him for it. It will tell you how pathetic Charles I was that he refused to sign the act until Strafford himself asked the king to do it, in order to avoid making Charles's position worse (Wedgwood-Peace, pp. 427-428).
But Charles's sacrifice of his most able subordinate did not help him significantly. The Long Parliament had tasted blood. Laud's case was next: "[T]he long drawn out trial of Archbishop Laud had gratified his more vindictive enemies and served, though not very adequately, to keep before the public the knowledge that Presbyterians and sectaries alike abominated the episcopal church. But once again, as with Strafford, the prosecutors found that the law strictly interpreted could not be stretched to find the Archbishop guilty" (Wedgwood-War, p. 384). The trial lasted from 1641 to 1644; in the latter year, they finally gave up and attainted him, as they had Strafford; Laud was executed in January 1645. To the end, he protested that he opposed reunion with Rome (and his papers proved he meant it; Wedgwood-War, pp. 400-401; OxfordCompanion, p. 562). But it was certainly hard to tell from his actions.
By now, parliament was growing accustomed to attainders, and was purging itself of members willing to compromise. Nor was Charles I showing any signs of backing down himself; his belief in the Divine Right of Kings to be Really Really Stupid was unshaken to the end, even though (it should be noted) there is absolutely no Biblical basis for this idea; indeed, in the books of Samuel and King we find numerous kings of Israel and Judah condemned, and a few even executed by the people. Finally Parliament attainted *him*, and he was executed in 1649 (OxfordCompanion, p. 191).
So if the original verse was about religion and church-state relations in the early seventeenth century, we have many possible dates:
* If the song is from shortly after 1604, it is probably about the Gunpowder Plot (which misfired)
* If it is from 1623-1625, it is probably about Charles's Spanish marriage (which misfired)
* If it is from 1625-1627, it is probably about Buckingham's Spanish expedition (which misfired), or perhaps about Charles's marriage to Henrietta Maria
* If it is from around 1641, it might refer to Strafford or Laud (in which case it might imply that Parliament missed the big target to focus on the small)
* If it is from around 1645, it might refer to Laud
* If it is from around 1649, it might refer to Charles I himself.
* If it is at some other time after 1618, it might refer to the Thirty Years War, which was almost always a very hot topic because it pitted Catholics against Protestants
All of these are possible -- but all of them are stretches. Several of the sources (Opie-Oxford2 and several online sites) think the song was from c. 1627, although none say why. The best guess, then, is that it is a reference to Buckingham. It is certainl true that his expedition certainly "missed his mark" -- but then the second claim, that it is about high church practices, is false. Or could it be that the versifier though Buckingham's assassin should have aimed for Charles? These are the sorts of questions that make all these attempts to find political subtexts in short songs rather difficult -- particularly when you consider that the song just possibly *might* be about a carrion crow....
There is another caution. The text of this that is said to be "from the reign of Charles I" is found in British Library MS. Sloane 1489. But this is not a dated manuscript. I've seen dates for it as early as 1600 (which clearly means it cannot be about Charles I, although it might just possibly be about his father), and dates around 1627 are common. But the only absolute date we have for the manuscript is that it is from the Sloane Collection. Hans Sloane was born in 1660 (BarkerEtAl, p. 14) and died in 1753 (BarkerEtAl, p. 17), with his large collection becoming one of the chief components of the British Library. The other contents of Sloane 1489 seem to imply an early seventeenth century date, but we cannot assume any particular date. It is for this reason that we show the "earliest date" for this song as that of the 1796 Grose papers. Although I suppose 1753 would be safe.
For some reason, this seems to have been made into a music hall song. George Leybourne (1842-1884) rewrote this as "The Tailor and the Crow"; a version of this can be found in Sing Out magazine, Volume 30, #3 (1984), pp, 45-46, which has notes linking the song with the behavior of Charles II. The comments, however, are based on a comment by Purslow, which may have been misunderstood. - RBW
Bibliography

Ashton: Robert Ashton, Reformation and Revolusion 1558-1660, 1984 (I use the 1985 Paladin edition)
BarkerEtAl: Nicolas Barker and others, Treasures of the British Library, Harry N, Abrams, 1988
Christie-Murray: David Christie-Murray, A History of Heresy, Oxford, 1976
Davies: Godfrey Davies, The Early Stuarts: 1603-1660 (Oxford, 1937)
Fry/Fry: Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry, The History of Scotland, 1982 (I use the 1995 Barnes & Noble edition)
Kenyon: J. P. Kenyon, Stuart England (The Pelican History of England 6) (Pelican, 1978)
Kunitz/Haycraft: 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)
OxfordCompanion: John Cannon, editor, The Oxford Companion to British History, Oxford, 1997
Magnusson: Magnus Magnusson, Scotland: The Story of a Nation, Atlantic Monthly Press, 2000
Wedgwood-Peace: C. V. Wedgwood, The King's Peace 1637-1641, 1955 (I use the 1969 Collier paperback edition)
Wedgwood-War: C. V. Wedgwood, The King's War 1641-1647, 1958 (I use the 1991 Book-of-the-Month Club edition)

Last updated in version 2.5
File: LoF072

Carroll Ban

DESCRIPTION: Carroll is sentenced and hung in Wexford. He had "fought the Saxon foemen by Slaney's glancing wave" and now "the silent churchyard blossom blooms softly over him."
AUTHOR: John Keegan Casey (1846-1870)
EARLIEST DATE: 1978 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: rebellion execution trial memorial patriotic Ireland
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1798 - Wexford Rebellion
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 17, "Carroll Ban" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: I do not know if "Carroll Ban" refers to an historic person. - BS
I believe it does, given the nature of John Keegan Casey's work (he also wrote "The Rising of the Moon"). But I can't find a 1798 hero named "Carroll." Perhaps it's a code name? - RBW
File: LeBe017

Carrowclare

See Killyclare (Carrowclare; The Maid of Carrowclare) (File: HHH298)

Carry Him To the Burying Ground (General Taylor, Walk Him Along Johnny)

DESCRIPTION: Pulling shanty. Internal chorus: "Walk him along, John, Carry him along... Carry him to the burying ground." Refrain: "Way-ay-ay you storm and blow (you Stormy)...." Some texts refer to General Taylor, others to Dan O'Connell or Old Stormy.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Sharp-EFC)
KEYWORDS: shanty burial battle floatingverses
FOUND IN: Britain West Indies
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Hugill, pp. 78-80, "Walk Me Along, Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEb, pp. 72-73]
Sharp-EFC, XXXIII, pp.38-39, "General Taylor" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GENTAYLR
Roud #216
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Stormalong" (lyrics)
cf. "Dig My Grave With a Silver Spade" (lyrics)
cf. "Deep Blue Sea (II)" (lyrics)
cf. "Santy Anno" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Walk Him Along, John
NOTES: This is recognized much more by its tune than by its verses, which float freely. The most obvious source is "Stormalong" (which shares so much with some versions of this song that Roud lumps them), but there are also "silver spade" lyrics from "Dig My Grave With a Silver Spade" or "Deep Blue Sea (II)"; lyrics about General Taylor from "Santy Anno" or something similar, and one or another Daniel O'Connell song. There are probably others I haven't noticed. - RBW
File: Hugi078

Carry Me Back to Old Virginny

DESCRIPTION: "Carry me back to old Virginny, There's where the cotton and corn and tatoes grow." The former slave yearns to return to the old master and the old plantation, there to "wither and decay."
AUTHOR: James A. Bland
EARLIEST DATE: 1878
KEYWORDS: Black(s) slave exile
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 43-46, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Krythe 11, pp. 158-176, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 164-165, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny"
ST RJ19043 (Full)
Roud #15431
RECORDINGS:
Lucy Gates & the Columbia Stellar Quartet, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" (Columbia A6015, 1917)
Zack [Hurt] and Glenn [?], "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" (OKeh 45212, 1928)
Harry McClaskey, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" (Gennett 4532, 1919)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" (Brunswick 475, 1930)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Way Down in Old Virginia" (theme)
NOTES: James A. Bland (1854-1911), one of the leading songwriters of the 1870s, was a university-educated Black (born in New York) who spent many years in England. That he stooped to produce such a piece of nostalgia for slavery says something about the commercial climate of the time (the piece was probably written in 1875 and was published in 1878).
Bland also wrote "[Oh, dem] Golden Slippers" and "In the Evening by the Moonlight."
Until very recently this was the state song of Virginia -- though the official title was changed to "Carry Me Back to Old Virginia." Apparently the people of the state could handle the idea of people yearning for slavery, but couldn't accept a slight mispronunciation. - RBW
File: RJ19043

Carryin' Sacks

DESCRIPTION: "I'm goin' up the river to carry them sacks (x3), I'll have your lap full of dollars when I get back." "I asked my sugar for a little kiss..." "You go back up the river and carry some sacks, (x3), You can get my kisses when the boat gets back"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: work love separation money
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MWheeler, pp. 29-30, "Carryin' Sacks" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1005
NOTES: A ballad in miniature, though it really is more of a blues, and I suspect no two singers would do it quite the same way. - RBW
File: MWhee029A

Carse o' Pommaize, The

See Arlin's Fine Braes (File: Ord250)

Carter and the Erie Belle, The

DESCRIPTION: "In the late month of November upon a low'ring day The schooner called Carter stood across the Georgian Bay." On the last trip of the season, a storm blows up; they go aground. The tug Erie Belle tries to help, but its boiler explodes; the crew is killed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (collected from Dave Remington and others by Walton)
KEYWORDS: ship death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Nov 1883 - The _J. N. Carte_r grounding and _Erie Belle_ explosion
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 226-227, "The Carter and the Erie Belle" (1 text)
File: WGM226

Cartin Wife, The

See The Wife of Usher's Well [Child 79] (File: C079)

Carve That Possum

DESCRIPTION: Concerning a possum hunt and the pleasures of eating the animal. Recipes may be offered, as may details of the hunt. The listener is urged to "Carve that possum" and/or "Carve it to the heart."
AUTHOR: Sam Lucas
EARLIEST DATE: 1875 (sheet music published)
KEYWORDS: hunting food animal
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 276, "The Possum Song" (3 short texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 237-238, "The Possum Song" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's )
Roud #7780
RECORDINGS:
Harry C. Browne w. Peerless Quartet, "Carve Dat Possum" (Columbia A-2590, 1918; rec. 1917)
Uncle Dave Macon and his Fruit Jar Drinkers, "Carve That Possum" (Vocalion 5151, 1927; on GoingDown)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sail Away, Ladies" (tune of the verse)
NOTES: Norm Cohen describes tune of this as "basically the spiritual 'Let My People Go.'" If he means the song I know by that title, I don't see the resemblance. - RBW
File: R276

Casadh an tSugain (The Twisting of the Rope)

DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. Singer is drunk. He complains that he had come to this place "full of love and hope But the hag she forced me out with the twisting of the rope." "How many fine girls waste for taste of man in bed ... But the hag she drove me out ..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1979 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage seduction escape trick drink nonballad tasks
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tunney-StoneFiddle, pp. 149-151, "Twisting of the Rope, The" (1 text)
NOTES: Translation is by Paddy Tunney, who includes the tale upon which the song is based. The story, which helps explain the song, may be summarized as follows: Singer asks for shelter on a rainy night but there are only two women in the house and he forces his way in. He claims he means no harm. The older woman asks him if he is able to twist a grass rope they need made. His pride hurt that his ability might be doubted, he agrees to twist the rope. As the rope grows too long to fit in the house, he must take it through the door and out into the street. The older woman slams the door in his face. - BS
File: TSF149

Casey Jones (I) [Laws G1]

DESCRIPTION: Casey Jones's train is late with the mail. He is pushing the train as fast as he can when he sees another train ahead. There is no time to stop. Casey tells his fireman to jump; he himself dies in the wreck
AUTHOR: Original text by Wallis/Wallace/Wash Saunders/Sanders (?); "Official" text copyrighted 1909 by Newton & Siebert
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: death train wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Apr 30, 1900 - Death of John Luther "Casey" Jones, of the Illinois Central Railroad, near Vaughan, Mississippi
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,SE,So,SW)
REFERENCES (19 citations):
Laws G1, "Casey Jones"
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 132-157, "Casey Jones" (4 fairly complete texts plus many tunes an the cover from the 1909 sheet music, 1 tune)
BrownII 216, "Casey Jones" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
Hudson 87, pp. 214-215, "Casey Jones" (1 text, quite dissimilar to the popular version, focusing on the bad conditions and Casey's heroism)
Friedman, p. 309, "Casey Jones" (7 texts, mostly fragmentary)
Sandburg, pp. 366-368, "Casey Jones" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 75, "Casey Jones" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 301, "Casey Jones" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 34-36, "Nachul-Born Easman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 249-250, "Casey Jones" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 106-109, "Casey Jones" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHJohnson, pp. 90-92, "Casey Jones" (1 text)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 185-186, "(Casey Jones)" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 59, pp. 133, "Casey Jones" (1 text)
JHCox 48, "Mack McDonald" (1 text, clearly "Casey Jones" even though the engineer's name has been changed)
Darling-NAS, pp. 209-213, "Casey Jones"; "Casey Jones"; "Kassie Jones" (3 text, with the first two being here"Joseph Mica" and the third being the full "Kassie Jones" text of Furry Lewis)
Geller-Famous, pp. 231-234, "Casey Jones" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuld-WFM, p. 165+, "Casey Jones"
DT 633, CASEJONE
Roud #3247
RECORDINGS:
Arthur "Brother-in-Law" Armstrong, "Casey Jones" (AFS 3987 B4, 1940)
DeFord Bailey, "Casey Jones" (Victor 23336, 1932/Victor 23831, 1933; rec. 1928)
Al Bernard, "Casey Jones" (Brunswick 178, 1927/Supertone S-2044, 1930)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Casey Jones" (OKeh 40038, 1924; rec. 1923)
Arthur Collins & chorus, "Casey Jones" (CYL: Indestructible 3163, 1910)
[Arthur] Collins & [Byron] Harlan "Casey Jones" (Columbia A907, 1910)
Elizabeth Cotten, "Casey Jones" (on Cotten03)
County Harmonizers, "Casey Jones" (Pathe Actuelle 020670, 1921) (Pathe 20670, 1921) [these are separate issues; the Actuelle is a lateral-cut record, while the other is vertical-cut]
Vernon Dalhart, "Casey Jones" (Oriole 454 [as Dick Morse], 1925) (Victor 20502, 1927; rec. 1925)
Jesse James, "Southern Casey Jones" (Decca 7213, 1936)
Fred Kirby & the WTB Briarhoppers "Casey Jones" (Sonora 3040, n.d. but post-World War II)
Wingy Manone & his orchestra, "Casey Jones (The Brave Engineer)" (Bluebird B-10266, 1939/Mongomery Ward M-8354, 1940)
John D. Mounce et al, "Casey Jones" (on MusOzarks01)
Billy Murray w. the American Quartet, "Casey Jones" (Victor 16843, 1910) (CYL: Edison 10499, 1911) (CYL: Edison [BA] 1550, 1912) (CYL: Edison [A] 450, 1910)
Riley Puckett, "Casey Jones" (Columbia 113-D [as George Riley Puckett], 1924)
George Reneau, "Casey Jones" (Vocalion 14813, 1924)
Bob Skiles Four Old Timers, "Casey Jones" (OKeh 45225, 1928)
Pete Seeger , "Casey Jones" (on PeteSeeger13)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Casey Jones" (Columbia 15237-D, 1928; rec. 1927)
Wilmer Watts & the Lonely Eagles, "Knocking Down Casey Jones" (Paramount 3210, 1930; on TimesAint02)
Fred Wilson, "Casey Jones" (Harmony 5118-H, 1930)
Jack & Tom Wilson, "Casey Jones" (Diva 2480-G, 1927)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Joseph Mica (Mikel) (The Wreck of the Six-Wheel Driver) (Been on the Choly So Long)" [Laws I16]
cf. "Casey Jones (II)" (bawdy parody)
cf. "Casey Jones (IV) (Casey Jones the Union Scab)"
cf. "Ben Dewberry's Final Run" (lyrics, theme)
cf. "J. C. Holmes Blue" (form, lyrics)
cf. "Steamboat Bill" (tune)
cf. "Duncan and Brady" [Laws I9] (lyrics)
cf. "Peggy Howatt" (tune)
cf. "The Big Combine" (tune)
cf. "E. P. Walker" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Casey Jones (IV) (Casey Jones the Union Scab) (File: FSWB102)
Come On You Scabs If You Want to Hear (by Odell Corley) (Greenway-AFP, p. 138)
Casey Jones the Rooster (Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 109-110)
The Big Combine (on Thieme03)
NOTES: John Luther Jones was brought up in Cayce, Kentucky (hence his nickname).
Joe Hill (pseud. for Joseph Hilstrom) wrote a parody of this song, entitled "Casey Jones the Union Scab," based on the Southern Pacific strike of 1911. -PJS
This piece shows the power of song: Mrs. Jones, who died in 1958 at the age of 92, spent half a century disclaiming the accusations of infidelity in the song. Fireman Simeon Webb lasted almost as long, dying in 1957 at age 83.
In reading Laws's notes to "Casey Jones" and "Joseph Mica" [Laws I16], it seems clear to me that there is no true distinction between the ballads. Laws files the more complete forms here, and the fragments and related pieces under "Joseph Mica." How does one decide which pieces to put where? I'm really not sure.
To make matters worse, Laws has garbled the entry and the information about Lomax and Sandburg. I did the best I could, but one should check "Joseph Mica" for additional versions.
Cohen offers a reasonable explanation for this: There was an existing train song, possibly "Jay Gould's Daughter," which Saunders adapted to apply to Casey Jones -- but it was a blues ballad, without a strong plot. The 1909 version converted this to a true ballad -- but, fragments being what they are, it's not really possible to distinguish the two.
Cohen also lists several alternate nominees for the title of the "original" Casey Jones.
Laws distinguishes "Jay Gould's Daughter" as a separate song (dI25); I think this distinction hopeless; it is just another worn down version, and should be filed with "Joseph Mica." - RBW
It should be noted that Furry Lewis' "Kassie Jones" is a fragmentary stream-of-consciousness incorporating a single verse from "Casey Jones" and many floating verses, including a couple from "On the Road Again". - PJS
Cohen (whose main text is the Lewis version) notes that Lewis recorded the song ten times, with none of the texts being entirely the same. - RBW
File: LG01

Casey Jones (II)

DESCRIPTION: In this bawdy parody of the familiar copyright song, Casey goes to a whorehouse and has sex with ninety-eight whores until his powers fail him. He takes a shot of whiskey, finishes the remaining two, and dies.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1923
KEYWORDS: bawdy contest death
FOUND IN: US(So,SW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cray, pp. 154-158, "Casey Jones" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 471-476, "Casey Jones" (6 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #3247
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Casey Jones (I)" [Laws G1] (tune, characters) and references there
NOTES: Legman offers extensive notes and an early bawdy text of the ballad dating to 1923 in Randolph-Legman I. - EC
File: EM154

Casey Jones (III)

See Joseph Mica (Mikel) (The Wreck of the Six-Wheel Driver) (Been on the Choly So Long) [Laws I16] (File: LI16)

Casey Jones (IV) (Casey Jones the Union Scab)

DESCRIPTION: Casey Jones keeps working when the rest of the workers strike. (Someone puts railroad ties across the track, and) Casey is killed. St. Peter hires him, but "Angels' Union # 23" sends him to Hell, where the Devil puts him to shoveling sulfur
AUTHOR: Words: Joe Hill
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (according to Stavis/Harmon)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Casey Jones, an engineer on the Southern Pacific, keeps working when the rest of the workers go on strike. (Someone puts railroad ties across the track, and) Casey's engine derails, killing him. In heaven, St. Peter hires him to scab on the musicians, but "Angels' Union # 23" sends him to Hell, where the Devil puts him to shoveling sulfur -- "That's what you get for scabbing on the S. P. line"
KEYWORDS: strike violence train murder death railroading labor-movement Hell scab worker Devil derivative
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1911 - Southern Pacific workers strike
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Greenway-AFP, p. 186, "Casey Jones, The Union Scab" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 376-377, "Casey Jones, the Union Scab" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 102, "Casey Jones (Union)" (1 text)
DT, UNCASJON*
ADDITIONAL: (Barrie Stavis and Frank Harmon, editors), _The Songs of Joe Hill_, 1960, now reprinted in the Oak Archives series, pp. 8-10, "Casey Jones the Union Scab" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Harry "Mac" McClintock, "Casey Jones (The Union Scab)" (on McClintock01 - two versions) (on McClintock02)
Pete Seeger , "Casey Jones" (on PeteSeeger1, PeteSeeger48)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Casey Jones (I)" [Laws G1] and references there (tune, characters) and references there
NOTES: For the life of Joe Hill, see "Joe Hill."
According to Stavis and Harmon, this was written in 1911 in response to a strike in California. The song was specially printed on playing card sized broadsides, which made it easier to spread around the country. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FSWB102A

Casey's Whiskey

DESCRIPTION: Casey and the singer get drunk and meet policeman Flannigan. They invite him to have a drink. Although "drinking's against the law." Flannigan doesn't notice the bottle is empty. He takes Casey in but lets the singer go as too much of a handful.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous police
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-NovaScotia 73, "Casey's Whiskey" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS073 (Partial)
Roud #1806
NOTES: This song is item dH51 in Laws's Appendix II. - BS
File: CrNS073

Cashel Green (I)

DESCRIPTION: The singer is out walking when he sees a pretty girl. He tells her she has ensnared his heart. She says that that's his problem; men are always using lines like that. He promises to be faithful. She agrees to marry him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting beauty marriage
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H647, p. 462, "Cashel Green (I)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9461
File: HHH647

Cashel Green (II)

DESCRIPTION: In 1878, landlord Campbell permits a race on Cashel Green. The race is won by the horse of McCloskey, "that youth of fifteen." The singer praises the horse and rider, describes the collection of bets, and wishes all well
AUTHOR: Francis Heaney ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: racing horse gambling
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H154, p. 33-34, "Cashel Green (II)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13353
File: HHH154

Cashmere Shawl, The

DESCRIPTION: A man criticizes a girl for ostentatiously wearing a cashmere shawl. She answers that she got it "by my hard earnings." Besides, he is dressed like a dandy himself. He says "with pride you are gone to the devil for wearing the cashmere shawl".
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: pride vanity clothes dialog
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 777-778, "The Cashmere Shawl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9942
File: Pea778

Casro, Manishi-O

DESCRIPTION: Travellers' cant. Singer asks a girl to come with him and takes his bagpipes out. After three or four years she has borne him four children; he brags of woman and children. She too brags; they can visit the public house and have money because of his pipes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (recorded from Davie Stewart)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Travellers' cant. Singer, riding through town, spies a girl. He asks her to go away with him and takes his bagpipes out; after glowering once at him, she goes. First they bed down in a barn, then in a Travellers' camp. After three or four years she has borne him four children; he calls all travellers and hawkers to look at him, for now he goes to town and plays his pipes, and has a woman and children. She brags about him in turn; she goes with him to the public house, and has money from his playing the pipes
KEYWORDS: pride courting love bragging travel music foreignlanguage children family lover Gypsy
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Kennedy 341, "Casro, Manishi-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2156
NOTES: The title translates as "Greetings, woman-o." - PJS
File: K341

Cassville Prisoner, The

DESCRIPTION: "To old Cassville they did me take, But did not chain me to an iron stake, The faults they swore was more than one, To send me on to Jefferson. Jefferson didn't bother my mind, It was leavin' you behind, To run around with other boys...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1921 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: prison crime separation
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 147, "The Cassville Prisoner" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5485
NOTES: "Jefferson" refers to Jefferson City, the long-time home of the Missouri State Penitentiary. - RBW
File: R147

Castaways, The

See The Silk Merchant's Daughter [Laws N10] (File: LN10)

Castle by the Sea, The

See Lady Isabel and the Elf Knight [Child 4] (File: C004)

Castle Gardens (I)

DESCRIPTION: The singer, "convicted and... forced to go," leaves Ireland for America. He yearns for Ireland "where the dear little shamrock grows." He would return for his sweetheart, but she dies (of grief?) and is buried by the singer's father
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1954
KEYWORDS: emigration transportation death Ireland
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 81-82, "Where the Green Shamrock Grows" (1 text)
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 54, 149-150, "Castle Gardens" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #16061
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Apprentice Boy" [Laws M12] (theme)
NOTES: Meredith and Anderson connect this with "Covent Gardens" (properly "The Apprentice Boy," Laws M12), but the plot (at least of their first version), although it has some similarities, is distinct. - RBW
Both Tunney-SongsThunder and Meredith/Anderson pp. 149-150 have the singer "evicted" by a landlord for owed back rent, rather than "convicted" as in Meredith/Anderson p. 54. While Meredith/Anderson p. 54 might lead you to believe that it is the singer's sweetheart that died and was buried by his father's side, Meredith/Anderson pp. 149-150 hints and Tunney-SongsThunder confirms that it is the singer's mother that died and was so buried.
Tunney-SongsThunder includes the lines .".. the wind is blowing fair Full sail for Castlegarden"; in both Meredith/Anderson versions the line is "We're/I'm bound for Castle Gardens...." Castle Garden, before and again "Castle Clinton" at The Battery in New York, was entry point for immigrants between 1845 and 1890 [see, for example, "Castle Garden, New York" transcribed from The Illustrated American of March 1, 1890 at Norway-Heritage site]. One problem with using "Castle Garden" for dating is that the name may have remained synonymous with "entry point for New York" long after the building became the New York Aquarium. In my own family I heard about "Kesselgarten" sixty years after it closed although my grandfather arrived in New York in 1903.
For a similar Castle Garden(s) reference see the notes to "Good bye Mursheen Durkin." - BS
File: MA054

Castle Hyde

DESCRIPTION: By Blackwater side the singer admires Castle Hyde's charming meadows, warbling thrushes, sporting lambkins, fine horses; foxes "play and hide," wild animals "skip and play," and trout and salmon rove. Whereever he rides he finds no equal to Castle Hyde.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1947 (Hoagland), with lyrics dating to the nineteenth century at least
KEYWORDS: nonballad lyric animal travel
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Tunney-SongsThunder, p. 67, "Castlehyde" (1 fragment)
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 254-255, "Castlehyde"
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(3740), "Castle Hyde" ("As I rode out on a summer's morning"), J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 11(3739, Johnson Ballads 283[many illegible words], Firth c.26(96), Firth c.21(11), Firth b.25(486)[some illegible words], Harding B 11(323), Harding B 11(552), 2806 c.18(60), "Castle Hyde"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Last Rose of Summer" (tune, per Hoagland)
cf. "Groves of Blarney" (tune and theme, per Hoagland)
cf. "The Groves of Blarney" (theme: extravagant praise of Cork) and references there
NOTES: Tunney-SongsThunder is a fragment; broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(3740) is the basis for the description.
The Tunney-SongsThunder fragment is verse 5 of Hoagland [two lines of which are not in the Bodleian broadsides]. Hoagland's comment on "Castlehyde": "This song is commonly regarded as a type of the absurd English songs composed by some of the Irish peasant bards who knew English only imperfectly.... In burlesque imitation of this song, Richard Alfred Milliken of Cork composed the famous 'Groves of Blarney'; this song -- working as a sort of microbe -- gave origin to a number of imitations of the same general character." On p. 362 "Milliken at a party declared he could write a piece of absurdity that would surpass 'Castle Hyde'.... The Groves of Blarney was the result and Millikin became famous for it."
Castle Hyde is near River Blackwater in County Cork.
Croker has the beginning of the story. "An itinerant poet, with the view of being paid for his trouble, composed a song in praise (as he doubtless intended it) of Castle Hyde, the beautiful seat of the Hyde family on the river Blackwater; but, instead of the expected remuneration, the poor poet was driven from the gate by order of the then proprietor, who from the absurdity of the thing, conceived that it could be only meant as mockery; and, in fact, a more nonsensical composition could scarcely escape the pen of a maniac." (source: Thomas Crofton Croker, Popular Songs of Ireland (London, 1886), p. 137) - BS
File: TST067

Castle of Dromore, The (Caislean Droim an Oir)

DESCRIPTION: "October winds lament around the Castle of Dromore, But peace is in her lofty halls...." The mother comforts her child: none cannot threaten them, and Mary is watching. She bids the child "take time to thrive" before moving on to adult tasks
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (recorded by Richard Hayward)
KEYWORDS: lullaby nonballad children foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Scott-BoA, pp. 154-155, "The Castle of Dromore (Caislean Droim an Oir)" (2 texts (1 English, 1 Irish Gaelic), 1 tune)
DT, CASTDROM
ADDITIONAL: Richard Hayward, Ireland Calling (Glasgow,n.d.), p. 5, "The Castle of Dromore" (text, music and reference to Decca F-2266 recorded Feb 6, 1931)
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "The Castle of Dromore" (on IRClancyMakem02)
NOTES: This song has always suggested a political subtext to me. -PJS
Really?
This song exists in both English and Irish versions; both have been claimed to be original. As best I can tell, the correct Gaelic title is "Caislean Droim an Óir." - RBW
The date and master id (GB-2647-1/2) for Hayward's record is provided by Bill Dean-Myatt, MPhil. compiler of the Scottish National Discography. - BS
File: SBoA154

Castlepollard Massacre, The

DESCRIPTION: Castlepollard fair was peaceful "until the Peelers were brought out to raise a riot there ... their chief he bade them fire." The "murderers" were sent to jail but freed after "a sham trial"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1831 (_Dublin Evening Mail_,August 8, 1831, according to Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: violence death Ireland political police
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 21, 1831 - "Seventeen people were killed by the police at Castlepollard ... in one of the bloodiest affrays of the Tithe War. An inquest followed but the policemen were finally acquitted of the charge of murder." (source: Zimmermann)
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Zimmermann 40, "A New Song Called the Castlepollard Massacre" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Battle of Carrickshock" (subject: The Tithe War) and references there
cf. "Dicky in the Yeomen" (subject: Castlepollard)
NOTES: The context is "The Tithe War": O'Connell's Catholic Association was formed in 1823 to resist the requirement that Irish Catholics pay tithes to the Anglican Church of Ireland. The "war" was passive for most of the period 1823-1836, though there were violent incidents in 1831 (source: The Irish Tithe War 1831 at the OnWar.com site)
Zimmermann p. 18: "In the early 1830's a veritable state of insurrection prevailed in Leinster and Munster, when the military and the police were called in to assist in collecting the tithes or seizing and auctioning the cattle or crops of those who refused to pay."
Sir Robert Peel established the Royal Irish Constabulary in 1812 and its success led, in 1829, to the Metropolitan Police Act for London. Originally the term "Peeler" applied to the London constabulary. (source: Sir Robert "Bobby" Peel (1788-1850) at Historic UK site.)
Castlepollard is in County Westmeath, about 50 miles northwest of Dublin. - BS
There was certainly a tendency for police to fire on crowds in Ireland. But I checked six histories without finding an account of this particular tragedy, at least under this title. One suspects more was going on than the song reveals. - RBW
File: Zimm040

Castlereagh River, The

DESCRIPTION: "I'm travelling down the Castlereigh, and I'm a stationhand...." The singer mentions all the stops he's made, and all his reasons for leaving (non-union Chinese workers, an arrogant boss, etc.). He advises, "So shift, boys, shift...."
AUTHOR: claimed by A.B. "Banjo" Paterson
EARLIEST DATE: 1892 (The _Bulletin_)
KEYWORDS: Australia work travel
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 45-46, 83-84, "The Old Jig-Jog"; p. 57, "Travelling Down the Castlereagh; pp. 210-211, "A Bushman's Song" (4 texts, 4 tunes)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 132-133, "Travelling Down the Castlereigh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 290-293, "A Bushman's Song" (1 text)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 158-159, "Travelling Down the Castlereigh" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CSTLREAG
Roud #8399
RECORDINGS:
John Greenway, "The Castlereagh River" (on JGreenway01)
NOTES: Paterson's title for this was "A Bushman's Song" -- but it is perhaps noteworthy that few traditional singers knew it by that title.... Joe Cashmere, when he supplied a version of the song to John Meredith, believed he learned it before Paterson published the song. But, as Paterson/Fahey/Seal note, it's hard to prove it predated Paterson. - RBW
File: MA045

Castleroe Mill

DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a girl on Lammas Day. He tells her that he has saved up enough to emigrate to Canada, and asks if she will go with him. She cannot leave; her parents are "on the decline." He departs but hopes he can return to her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection father mother emigration age
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H22b, p. 361, "Castleroe Mill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4719
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "We'd Better Bide a Wee" (theme)
cf. "Betsy of Dramoor" (theme)
File: HHH022b

Castles in the Air

See English Miner, The (The Coolgardie Miner, Castles in the Air) (File: MA115)

Castration of the Strawberry Roan, The

DESCRIPTION: The roan's owner, tired of it siring equally stubborn offspring, decides to put an end to the matter by gelding the beast. They rope it down, and a cowboy commences the operation. Before it can be completed, the roan bites off the owner's own equipment
AUTHOR: probably Curley Fletcher
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (Legman, _The Horn Book_, cites the Sons of the Pioneers recording)
KEYWORDS: horse humorous bawdy injury derivative
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Logsdon 13, pp. 86-96, "The Castration of the Strawberry Roan" (3 texts, of which "A" is this, 1 tune)
Roud #10089
RECORDINGS:
Anonymous [Sons of the Pioneers], "Strawberry Roan" (no label, number 204-A, n.d. but probably late 1940s)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Strawberry Roan" [Laws B18] (tune, character of the Roan)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Emasculation of the Strawberry Roan
NOTES: The story of this song apparently begins in a fit of pique.
According to Logsdon, Curley Fletcher wrote the original "Strawberry Roan" as a poem, to which a melody was later added. But Fletcher the chorus/bridge, which was the work of Fred Howard and Nat Vincent. So he produced this extremely scatological parody to get back at them.
How traditional it is is an open question. The Sons of the Pioneers recorded it, anonymously, and Baxter Black sang Logsdon a variant on that. Legman, on p. 404 of The Horn Book, considers it one of the few genuine songs on a "private party" 78. But I suspect the Sons of the Pioneers recording is the source for nearly all of the few versions collected.
Logsdon's entry on this song includes two other Strawberrry Roan variants that could not be sung in polite society. One was simply a more detailed saga of riding the roan; the other is about a visit to a whorehouse and is basically "Kathusalem (Kafoozelum) (II)" adapted to cowboy circumstances. These two might be traditional, but until I find additional collections, I'm merely going to note them.
File: Logs013

Cat Came Back, The

DESCRIPTION: (Old Mister Johnson) makes many attempts to rid himself of his cat -- blowing it up, shipping it away, etc. But in every instance "The cat came back the very next day... They thought he was a goner, but the kitty came back...."
AUTHOR: probably Henry S. Miller
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (recording, Fiddlin' John Carson); the Miller text is dated 1893
KEYWORDS: animal separation return humorous
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph 444, "The Cat Came Back" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 350-352, "The Cat Came Back" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 444)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, p. 147, "The Cat Came Back" (fragmentary text, partial tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 400, "The Cat Came Back" (1 text)
DT, CATBACK CATBACK2
Roud #5063
RECORDINGS:
Yodeling Slim Clark, "The Cat Came Back" (Continental 8063, n.d.)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "And The Cat Came Back" (Okeh 40119, 1924)
Riley Puckett, "The Cat Came Back" (Columbia 15656-D, 1931; rec. 1930) (Decca 5442, 1937)
Fiddlin' Doc Roberts, "And The Cat Came Back" (instrumental) (Challenge 307, 1927; Silvertone 8179, 1928)
NOTES: Spaeth, in A History of Popular Music in America, says that Henry S. Miller's version of this song was popular in 1893; presumably it was written about that time. - RBW
File: R444

Cat Came Fiddling Out of a Barn, A

See The Fly and the Bumblebee (Fiddle-Dee-Dee) (File: Lins196)

Cat Has Kittled in Charlie's Wig, The

See The Grey Cat Kittled in Charlie's Wig (File: MSNR040)

Cat's Eye

DESCRIPTION: "I was going up the hill, I met a girl on a bicycle, Run her into the garden wall, Smashed her tire and broke her fall," and more rhymes like that. The chorus likens Jim to a cat eating fish-bones, scratching, on the fence at night, a "cat's eye"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Leach-Labrador)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad nonsense animal food
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leach-Labrador 108, "Cat's Eye" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LLab108 (Partial)
Roud #9972
File: LLab108

Cat's Got the Measles and the Dog's Got Whooping Cough, The

DESCRIPTION: Floating verses; "Cat's got the measles and the dog's got whooping cough, doggone/Doggone a man let a woman be his boss, doggone my time" "I ain't good looking... but my main occupation's takin' women from their monkey men...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Walter Smith)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Floating verses; "Cat's got the measles and the dog's got whooping cough, doggone/Doggone a man let a woman be his boss, doggone my time" "I ain't good looking and my teeth don't shine like pearls, doggone..." "...but my main occupation's takin' women from their monkey men, doggone my time"
KEYWORDS: sex bragging floatingverses nonballad
FOUND IN: US
RECORDINGS:
Papa Charlie Jackson, "The Cat's Got the Measles" (Paramount 12259, 1925)
New Lost City Ramblers, "The Cat's Got the Measles and the Dog's Got Whooping Cough" (NLCR14, NLCRCD2)
Walter "Kid" Smith, "The Cat's Got the Measles and the Dog's Got Whooping Cough" (Gennett 6825/Supertone 9407 [as by Jerry Jordon], 1929)
NOTES: Other than the similarity in title, this song has nothing in common with "Sow Took the Measles", not even enough for a cross-reference. - PJS
File: RcCGTMDG

Catalpa, The

See The Fenian's Escape (The Catalpa) (File: FaE056)

Catch of the Season

DESCRIPTION: "Now we are facing a wonderful future, Gone are the winters we've always endured": unemployment insurance for fishermen. After 20 weeks of rated hauls, "sit back and do nothing for the rest of the year"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (NFOBlondahl02, NFOBlondahl03, NFOBlondahl05)
KEYWORDS: fishing unemployment political humorous nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1957 - Canada extends unemployment insurance to fishers (see notes)
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Catch of the Season" (on NFOBlondahl02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Unemployment Insurance" (theme)
NOTES: Source of Historical Reference: History of Newfoundland and Labrador Summary Chronology of Events by Dr. Melvin Baker (Royal Commission on Renewing and Strengthening Our Place in Canada, March 2003), available as bakerchronology.pdf as a research paper at the Newfoundland and Labrador government site of the Royal Commission on Renewing and Strengthening Our Place in Canada
Blondahl02, NFOBlondahl03, and NFOBlondahl05 have no liner notes confirming that this song was collected in Newfoundland. Nevertheless, this seems so much in the Newfoundland style that I am "finding" it there.
There is no entry for "Catch of the Season" in Newfoundland Songs and Ballads in Print 1842-1974 A Title and First-Line Index by Paul Mercer. - BS
File: RcTCOTSe

Catfish, The (Banjo Sam)

DESCRIPTION: "Catfish, catfish, goin' up stream, Catfish, catfish, where you been? I grabbed that catfish by the snout, I pulled that catfish inside out, Yo-ho! Banjo Sam." Other verses also tall tales, usually involving animals, e.g. the terrapin and the toad
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1918 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: animal nonsense talltale floatingverses fishing humorous music
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
BrownIII 182, "The Catfish" (1 text plus 3 fragments)
SharpAp 251, "The Jackfish" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 98, (no title) (1 single-stanza text, regarding the terrapin and the toad, which could be from this or almost anything else); also p. 199, (no title) (1 fragment, probably from this though it's too short to tell)
Roud #7010
RECORDINGS:
Poplin Family, "Catfish" (on Poplin01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Turkey in the Straw" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Sweet Heaven" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Jack Was Every Inch a Sailor" (fish story)
NOTES: This is complicated, because every one of Brown's verses is associated with "Turkey in the Straw." But the three texts all lack that chorus, and "A" has a "banjo Sam" chorus line of its own. And apparently all had a different tune. When in doubt, we split. - RBW
For some reason, this song makes me think of "Whoa Back Buck," but not quite enough for a cross-reference. It almost certainly derives from minstrel sources, and shouldn't be confused with the popular "Catfish Blues." - PJS
File: Vr3182

Cathedral of Rheims

DESCRIPTION: "It's midnight, and as by the hearth The fading embers glow, And visions they come to me... Of Europe and her mighty war." The singer notes in particular the suffering of Belgium, and the palace of Rheims. He begs God, "Bring peace to then once more."
AUTHOR: Words: John J. Friend
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Gray)
KEYWORDS: war nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Gray, pp. 190-191, "Cathedral of Rheims" (1 text)
NOTES: Rheims (also spelled Reims) is one of the oldest and most storied cities in France. Legend has it that Clovis the Frank was baptized there in 496, marking (in effect) the beginning of the Frankish Empire (Webster's, p. 1005). Archbishop Tilpinus of Rheims seems to have been inspired the name of the Archbishop Turpin of the Song of Roland (Roland/Sayers, p. 18). We have a record of Charlemagne leaving gifts to the Archbishopric in his will (Einhard, p. 88). French kings were crowned there starting with Philip Augustus (Webster's, p. 1005); even in medieval times, the policy seems to have been inviolate: You weren't king until you went to Rheims, and once you were crowned there, all succession questions ended. (This would be key during the Hundred Years's War, at the time of Jean Darc.)
That history was not enough to protect it during World War I, when nothing was sacred. The city is east and somewhat north of Paris, and was directly in the path of the Schlieffen Plan for attacking France. 35 days after the start of the beginning of German mobilization, the Kaiser himself exulted to know that Rheims was under siege (Keegan, p. 112). The town, in fact, was near the pivot of the attack, in the area of Hausen's Third Army (Stokesbury, p. 51), which was the easternmost of the three armies which constituted Schlieffen's great wheel. The Third Army, strong because it was part of the wheel and relatively rested because it had less ground to cover than the Second and First armies to the west, probably hit harder than any other force in the German advance.
Eventually the Germans made it past the city (see the map on Keegan, pp. 124-125). But after the great Battle of the Marne saved Paris, the Germans shortened their lines. Rheims fell back into French hands -- but just barely. The French front ran just north of it; Rheims was actually inside a small salient into the German trench lines. According to Keegan, p. 126, the French battle plans were frequently "hindered by their need to hold Rheims, recaptured on 12 September."
And the city was not to enjoy calm. In the fighting around the city, it was "subjected to devastating bombardment in the days that followed; the damage done to its famous cathedral, outside which stands the statue of Joan of Arc, would cause as much discredit to the invaders as the sack of Louvain a month later" (Keegan, p. 126).
The relief of Rheims did not end the city's ordeal. After the Marne, the Germans and the Allies engaged in the "Race to the Sea" -- a contest to get a force around the enemy's eastern flank. Both sides threw all their available reserves (including the new units they continued to mobilize) into the Race. The eastern part of the front was left quiet, which meant that "From Rheims to the Swiss fronter, therefore, the Germans... [were] carrying out Moltke's order of 10 September to 'entrench and hold' the positions held after the retreat from the Marne" (Keegan, p. 179). Rheims remained "within range of German artillery for most of the war" (Keegan, p. 185).
Nor was this the end of major operations in the area. In February 13, the French tried an offensive between Rheims and Massiges; as Baldwin notes on p. 54, "the French gained yards and lost thousands, though the Germans, too, died in droves." Another attempt was made in September 1915 (Stokesbury, pp. 98-99), with an equal lack of results in terms of ground gained and an equally long result in terms a Frenchmen killed because their leaders belonged to the Donald Rumsfeld school of "we'll do it the same brainless way until it works." The 1915 Rheims offensives were supposedly coordinated with the British (Liddell Hart, p. 195). That served only to prove that two inept offensives are just as ineffective as one.
One presumes this poem was written in response to the situation in 1914 or 1915 (since it was published by 1916), But Rheims was still not safe. The third of the great Ludendorff Offensives of 1918 was just west of Rhiems (see the map on p. 396 of Keegan), and left the city in a salient; the fifth offensive was to be centered on the city itself (Stokesburg, pp. 278-279). The fifth offensive failed, and Rheims held, but the fight did further damage.
That was, finally, the last. When the Ludendorff Offensives burned out in July 1918, the Germans were still far from Paris, and their army was nearly used up, and over the next few months, the Americans started to arrive in force. Hindenburg, the theoretical German commander in chief, was yelling at his subordinate Ludendorff, "Make peace, you idiot!" (Stokesbury, p. 280), but it would be three months and more before the peace came. Rheims was finally safe, but many more soldiers would die before the French and Germans had their chance to dictate a peace of retribution. - RBW
Bibliography

Baldwin Hanson W. Baldwin, World War I: An Outline History, Harper & Row, 1962
Einhard: Lewis Thorpe, translator: Einhard and Notker the Stammerer: Two Lives of Charlemagne, 1969 (I use the 1976 Penguin edition). Of the two lives, Einhard's is by far the more important; he was a member of Charlemagne's court -- hence the citations from it.
Keegan: John Keegan, The First World War, Alfred A. Knopf, 1999
Liddell Hart: Sir Basil Liddell Hart, A History of the World War 1914-1918, 1970 edition with news maps published as Liddell Hart's History of the First World War, Papermac, 1997
Roland/Sayers: The Song of Roland, translated and with an introduction by Dorothy L. Sayers, Penguin, 1957
Stokesbury: James L. Stokesbury, A Short History of World War I, Morrow/Quill, 1981
Webster's: Webster's New Geographical Dictionary, Webster's, 1972

Last updated in version 2.5
File: Gray191

Catherine Berringer

DESCRIPTION: Broadside account of a murder: "Muse breathe the Dirge o'er Delia's tomb...." "She from the man she once did love... received the fatal cup... And drunk the poison up." "O Bernard t'was a barbarous deed." The girl hopes others will mourn her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: murder poison
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Burt, pp. 36-37, "An Eulogy on the Death of MISS CATHERINE BERRINGER who was poisoned by her lover" (1 text, excerpted)
NOTES: Don't ask me why the girl is named Catherine but called Delia (and the poem uses the name "Delia" at least twice). Whatever the girl's real name, it's at least as dreadful as the quoted sections -- and pretty definitely not traditional. - RBW
File: Burt036

Catherine Etait Fille (Catherine was a Girl)

DESCRIPTION: French. Catherine is the king's daughter. Her mother is a Christian but her father is not. Her father finds her praying. She says that she prays to God, but he does not. He kills her with his sabre. Catherine is in heaven, but her father is not.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1949 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage murder religious father royalty questions violence crime death discrimination Hell
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 154-155, "Catherine Etait Fille" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Laura McNeil, "Catherine Etait Fille" (on MRHCreighton)
NOTES: The description is based on the translation in the notes to MRHCreighton. - BS
There are a number of early Christian legends about this sort of martyrdom. (Interesting that the name "Katherine" is from Greek "katharos," "pure.") This one doesn't ring any bells as written, though. - RBW
File: CrMa154

Cathie and Me

DESCRIPTION: "The sun kissed the brow of lovely Ben Ledi And wrapt it in raiment of rainbowlike hue" as the singer strolls with Cathie. They enjoy the charms of nature, and he thanks the fates that brought them together
AUTHOR: Walter Towers
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Ord); reportedly published by Towers in 1885
KEYWORDS: love nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ord, pp. 59-60, "Cathie and Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5570
File: Ord059

Cats on the Rooftops

DESCRIPTION: Stanzas on how various animals (people, military stuffed shirts, politicians) "revel in the joys of fornication"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1950
KEYWORDS: sex animal soldier bawdy nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SW) Canada Britain
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cray, pp. 368-372, "Cats on the Rooftops" (3 texts, 1 tune)
DT, CATSROOF* CATROOF2*
Roud #10258
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John Peel" (tune)
File: EM368

Cattie Rade to Paisley, The

DESCRIPTION: The cat rode to Paisley on a harrow tine and lept home on the singer's mare. It was on a windy Wednesday, if the singer remembers rightly
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: nonsense animal
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #154, p. 2, ("The cattie rade to Paisley") (1 text)
GreigDuncan8 1676, "The Cattie Rade to Paisley" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers (Edited by Norah and William Montgomerie), Traditional Scottish Nursery Rhymes (1990 selected from Popular Rhymes) #41, p. 33, ("The cattie rade tae Paisley, tae Paisley, tae Paisley")
Roud #13023
File: GrD81676

Cattie Sits in the Kiln Ring, The

DESCRIPTION: "The cattie sat in the kiln-ring, Spinning, spinning, And by cam a little wee mousie, Running, running." Cat and mouse converse about their activities: The cat spinning a sark for its kit; the mouse cleaning and thieving. (The cat eats the mouse)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (Montgomerie)
KEYWORDS: animal clothes food money
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 195, "(The cattie sat in the kiln-ring)" (1 text)
DT, CATSPIN
File: MSNR195

Catting the Anchor

DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Moderate 3/4 tempo. "Pull one and all. Hoy, hoy. Cherry men! On the cat fall! Hoy, hoy. Cherry men! Answer the call! Hoy, hoy! Cherry men! Hoy. Hau-lee. Hoy! Hoy! Oh cherry men!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Robinson in _The Bellman_)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919)."Catting the Anchor" is in Part 2, 7/21/1917.
File: RobCatAn

Cattle Call

DESCRIPTION: The singer describes his life while "singing [his] cattle call": "When the new day is dawning I wake up a-yawning, Drinkin my coffee strong." "Each day I do ride o'er a range far and waide... I don't mind the weather, my heart's like a feather...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: cowboy work
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fife-Cowboy/West 111, "Cattle Call" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11089
File: FCW111

Cattleman's Prayer, The

DESCRIPTION: "Now, O Lord, please lend Thine ear, The prayer of the cattleman to hear." He prays, "Won't you bless our cattle range," and asks for good weather, adequate forage, safety from fires, good prices, and many offspring for the cattle
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1885 (Socorro [N.M.] Bullion)
KEYWORDS: cowboy religious nonballad animal
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fife-Cowboy/West 126, "The Cattleman's Prayer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 51, "The Cowman's Prayer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5101
RECORDINGS:
Carl T. Sprague, "Cowman's Prayer" (Victor 21402, 1928)
File: FCW126

Caul's Takin' Me, Gudeman, The

See The Miller's Daughter (The Fleeing Servant) (File: KinBB06)

Cauld Blaws the Win' Ower the Knock and the Bin

DESCRIPTION: It's winter and the singer has lost his home. He is in the cold. His wife wept after the loss and died
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: poverty death husband wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #7, p. 2, ("Cauld blaws the win' ower the Knock and the Bin") (1 fragment)
GreigDuncan8 1925, "Cauld Blaws the Win' Ower the Knock and the Bin" (1 fragment)
Roud #16134
NOTES: At least part of the text is to be found in William Lewery Blackley, A Review of Bishop Percy's Folio Ballad Manuscript (London, 1867), apparently only in the 1953 reprint, p. 14, according to Google Books. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81925

Cauld Kale in Aberdeen (I)

DESCRIPTION: "Ilka lad has got his lass" but the singer would not trade his cask for all the girls in Bogie. Johnnie Smith's wife is stingy with his drink; the singer would duck her in a bog. He'll drink with anyone but would duck every snarling wife.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1829 (Chambers)
KEYWORDS: shrewishness drink nonballad wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1872, "The Cogie" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Scottish Songs (Edinburgh, 1829), Vol I, p. 276, "Cauld Kail in Aberdeen"
Archibald Bell, Melodies of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1849 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 104-105, "Cauld Kail in Aberdeen"
Roud #13578
NOTES: There are at least five versions of "Cauld Kale in Aberdeen"; I have made each a separate Traditional Ballad Index entry:
(I) Chambers labels this the "earliest" and, with the GreigDuncan8 fragment, it may be the only one of the five that entered the oral tradition. At some point it must have been widely available in print since Duncan says, "Mrs Gillespie remembers the next verse, just as in the books: 'Sanny Smith', etc." and doesn't bother to continue the quote or even name the song.
(II) The Herd version, printed by Maidment from Herd, and by Farmer from Sharpe's Ane Pleasant Garden. I don't know if this was collected from an oral source.
(III) The Gordon version which was printed in Johnson's Musical Museum and many times after that.
(IV) The Reid version.
(V) The Nairne version.
These versions share the same tune and the first two lines ("Cauld kail [cabbage, broccoli?] [cabbage soup, possibly with other greens or oatmeal -RBW] in Aberdeen, And castocks [kail stalks] in Strabogie"); the Gordon version took the second two lines of version (I) as well ("Ilka lad has got his lass, Then see gie me my cogie [[drinking] bowl]!"). Otherwise, they share nothing except the word "cogie," which appears in all, usually in connection with drink. I have excluded songs that share only the tune and the title line.
Dick writes, "The peculiarity of this song, of which there are so many versions, is that it was known for at least sixty years before the tune was printed. It is cited in Ramsay's Miscellany, 1725, but the music originally was printed in the Museum, 1788, with the Duke of Gordon's verses which Burns communicated. That the Museum tune is the old air I do not doubt; for (1) George Thomson and Burns had a long correspondence about a new song for the tune, and both refer to it as a well-known air; and (2) there are verses in the precise rhythm and measure as old as the beginning of the eighteenth century" (source: James C. Dick, Notes on Scottish Song by Robert Burns (London, 1908 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 31-32 [quotes the first two verses and chorus], 94-95).
The background of each entry is discussed in its entry.
GreigDuncan8: "Not traditional. Mrs. Gillespie remembers the next verse, just as in the books: 'Sanny Smith', etc."
The GreigDuncan8 fragment of four lines is the chorus of Chambers's first verse: "Then see gie me my cogie, sirs, I canna want my cogie; I wad na gie the three-gird stoup [cask] For a' the queans [lasses; he previously said that each lad may have his lass but he will have his cogie] in Bogie." Chambers's second verse [notice "Johnnie Smith"] is: "Johnnie Smith has got a wife, Wha scrimps him o' his cogie; Gin she were mine, upon my life, I'd douk [duck] her in a bogie [bog]."
Rogers quotes Chambers's first verse and says it was first published anonymously in Dale's Scottish Songs (source: Charles Rogers, The Scottish Minstrel; The Songs of Scotland Subsequent to Burns (Edinburgh, 1885 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 14) [Joseph Dale? (c.1750-1821)]
Bell starts with the first two of Chambers's three verses and adds four of his own. The Chambers version is the basis of the description. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81872

Cauld Kale in Aberdeen (II)

DESCRIPTION: Cold cabbage of Aberdeen is "warming" but to no end. Aberdeen, why woo a lass to whom it means nothing, whatever it means to you. Women of Bogingicht love to dance and are not so shy they can't get better playthings than out-of-date old folks.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1729 (according to Maidment)
KEYWORDS: age courting dancing humorous nonballad nobility
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
ADDITIONAL: David Herd, editor, Ancient and Modern Scottish Songs, Heroic Ballads, etc. (Edinburgh, 1870 (reprint of 1776)), Vol II, p. 205, "Cauld Kale in Aberdeen"
James Maidment, Scotish Ballads and Songs (Edinburgh, 1859 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 19-20, "The Cald Kail of Aberdeen"
John Stephen Farmer, editor, Merry Songs and Ballads, Prior to the Year 1800 (1897 ("Digitized by Google")), Vol V, p. 265, "Cald Kaill of Aberdene"
Roud #8502
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Cauld Kale in Aberdeen (I)" (tune and some lines) and references there
NOTES: For the origin of the five different versions of "Cauld Kale in Aberdeen" and some background on common elements of the song, see the notes to "Cauld Kale in Aberdeen (I)" - (BS, RBW)
Farmer has his text "from Ane Pleasant Garden (c. 1800); edited by C Kirkpatrick Sharpe."
Maidment: "'The oldest song to this tune,' says Stenhouse, 'that I have met with is the following. The author is anonymous, but the song was collected by Herd, and printed in his second volume in 1770 [sic]; but he told me it was much older.' In the Library of the Faculty of Advocates, there is a collection of fugitive pieces of poetry ... found amongst the papers of James Anderson, ... who died in 1728. Amongst these occurs the under-mentioned song, which proves it must have been composed at least before Anderson's demise, and, indeed, the handwriting affords tolerable proof that it was written at the commencement of last century.
"From the language, the authorship may be safely assigned to an Aberdonian, and we suspect the song refers to the first Earl of Aberdeen, who died 20th April 1720, in the eighty third year of his age. That the object of the song was to ridicule an old man for wooing a young lass, is evident, and probably the ancient nobleman, whose wife ... predeceased him, had been flirting with some of the youthful beauties of his native county. As the name is specially given, there cannot be much difficulty in identifying the hero with the Sir George Gordon of Haddo, born 3rd October 1637, who was Lord Chancellor of Scotland from 1682 to 1684, and who was created Earl of Aberdeen ... 1682, to him and the heirs-male of his body. Bog of Gight, or Bogengight, was the ancient designation of the seat of the ducal family of Seton-Gordon. It is now termed Gordon Castle... The Bogie is a river in western Aberdeenshire...."
"Lord Lewis Gordon ... in the '45 ... declared for Prince Charles.... When all the Pretender's hopes were blasted at Culloden ... [he] fled to France, where he died in 1754. [For a song about him, see "Lewie Gordon (Lewis Gordon)" - RBW.] One of his sisters, a young lady of great beauty, became the third wife of William Earl of Aberdeen, which gave rise to the following lines in the well-known song of 'Cauld Kail in Aberdeen, and Custocks in Strathbogie:' Now, Aberdeen, what did you mean, Sae young a maid to woo, sir? I'm sure it was nae joke to her, Whate'er it was to you sir! For lassies now are na sae blate, But the ken auld folks out o' date, And better playfair can they get Than custocks in Strathbogie" (source: Fraser's Magazine (London, 18668 ("Digitized by Google")), Vol. LXXIII, p. 575).- BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BdCKAb2

Cauld Kale in Aberdeen (III)

DESCRIPTION: The singer prefers dancing with a lass to drinking all night. He describes different (national) dances. Every lad has a lass "save yon auld doited fogey." The dancers rest and drink, "And try ilk ither to surpass, wishing health to every lass"
AUTHOR: Alexander, Duke of Gordon (1743-1827) (source: Eyre-Todd)
EARLIEST DATE: 1788 (The Scots Musical Museum, #170)
KEYWORDS: age courting dancing drink nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Scottish Songs (Edinburgh, 1829), Vol I, pp. 276-278, "Cauld Kail in Aberdeen"
George Eyre-Todd, Scottish Poetry of the Eighteenth Century, (Glasgow, 1896 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 43-45, "Cauld Kail in Aberdeen"
Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), pp. 237-238, "Cauld Kail in Aberdeen"
Roud #8502
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Cauld Kale in Aberdeen (I)" (tune and some lines) and references there
cf. "Cauld Kale in Aberdeen (II)" (tune, two verses and subject) and references there
NOTES: For the origin of the five different versions of "Cauld Kale in Aberdeen" and some background on common elements of the song, see the notes to "Cauld Kale in Aberdeen (I)" - (BS, RBW
Eyre-Todd: "Famous chiefly as the patron of Robert Burns ... the representative of the ancient house of Gordon and Huntly ... raised two Highland regiments for the King.... The song is believed to have been a satire on an aged nobleman who had sought unsuccessfully to woo a young lass [see 'Cauld Kale in Aberdeen' (II)]."
"The second volume of the [Johnson's] Museum, issued in the spring of 1788, included 'Cauld Kail in Aberdeen,' notified as composed by 'the D of G" (source: Charles Rogers, The Book of Robert Burns, (Edinburgh, 1889 ("Digitized by Google")), Vol. I, p. 341). - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BdCKAb3

Cauld Kale in Aberdeen (IV)

DESCRIPTION: "There's cauld kail in Aberdeen ..." but naething drives awa' the spleen Sae weel's a social cogie" "Whene'er I'm fasht wi' worldly cares, I dron them in a cogie." Let's sing an old Scots song: that's never wrong "when o'er a social cogie"
AUTHOR: William Reid (1764-1831) (source: Graham)
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (Whitelaw)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
ADDITIONAL: George Farquhar Graham, The Popular Songs of Scotland, (Edinburgh, 1887("Digitized by Google")), p. 143, "Cauld Kail in Aberdeen"
Gems of Scottish Songs, (Boston, 1894 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 75, "There's Cauld Kail in Aberdeen" (1 tune)
Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), p. 238, "Cauld Kail in Aberdeen"
Roud #8502
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Cauld Kale in Aberdeen" (I) (tune and some lines) and references there
NOTES: For the origin of the five different versions of "Cauld Kale in Aberdeen" and some background on common elements of the song, see the notes to "Cauld Kale in Aberdeen (I)" - (BS, RBW)
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BdCKAb4

Cauld Kale in Aberdeen (V)

DESCRIPTION: Will married Mary but left her rocking a borrowed cradle to drink. Their money had been spent on drink. Reeling home one night he falls off the bridge over Bogie, prays to be saved and gives up drink. "Now Mary's heart is light again"
AUTHOR: Carolina Oliphaunt, Lady Nairne (1766-1845) (source: Rogers)
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (Whitelaw)
KEYWORDS: drink hardtimes injury river
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
ADDITIONAL: Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), pp. 256-257, "Tee-total Song"
Charles Rogers, Life and Songs of Baroness Nairne with a Memoir and Poems of Caroline Oliphant the Younger, (Edinburgh, 1905 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 225-226, "Cauld Kail in Aberdeen"
Roud #8502
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Cauld Kale in Aberdeen" (I) (tune and some lines) and references there
NOTES: For the origin of the five different versions of "Cauld Kale in Aberdeen" and some background on common elements of the song, see the notes to "Cauld Kale in Aberdeen (I)" - (BS, RBW)
Whitelaw has no attribution. Since Whitelaw has confirmed attributions for the other songs I have found in this book I take this to mean that Baroness Nairne's authorship was not well known in 1845. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BdCKAb5

Cauldrife Wooer, The

See The Brisk Young Lad (File: FVS294)

Cauries and Kye

See Carries and Kye (Courting Among the Kye) (File: Ord037)

Cavalilly Man, The

DESCRIPTION: "As from Newcastle I did pass, I heard a blythe and bonny lass That in the Scottish army was, Say, 'Prithee let me gang with thee, man.'" She begs her Cavalier to let her come with him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1670 (The Dancing Master)
KEYWORDS: love separation
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Chappell/Wooldridge II, pp. 22-27, "Cavalilly Man" (1 tune, partial text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Banks of the Nile (Men's Clothing I'll Put On II)" [Laws N9] (plot) and references there
SAME TUNE:
Hi-ho, my heart it is light/The Well-shaped West-Country Lass (BBI ZN1153)
Hie hoe, pray what shall I do/Roger, the West Country Lad (BBI ZN1154)
From the tap in the guts of the honourable stump/A Litany from Geneva (BBI ZN936)
NOTES: The text in Chappell/Woolridge is incomplete, so it is impossible to tell if this is actually a cross-dressing song along the lines of "The Banks of the Nile." The plot, however, is obviously similar.
The reference to a "Cavalilly" (i.e. a Cavalier) is clearly a reference to the Cavaliers, supporters of Charles I in the English Civil War of the 1640s.
This is another song which cannot be shown to exist in tradition. Its use for several broadsides, however, argues for its presence here. - RBW
File: ChWII026

Cavan Buck, The

DESCRIPTION: Going to Lord Farnham's to join a July 12 Orange walk, Walker's buck has a fight with MacNamee's bulldog. The buck asks for mercy. He would even dress in green. The goat is let go but the dog follows and kills him. MacNamee wishes for more such dogs.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1970 (Morton-Ulster)
LONG DESCRIPTION: July 12 Walker's buck is dressed in purple robes, given "a word and a sign," and sent to Lord Farnham's to join the Orange walk. On the way he meets MacNamee's bulldog and explains his mission. The dog, claiming to be sent by Sarsfield, challenges him but the buck won't fight because he might ruin his finery. The dog attacks anyway. The buck asks for mercy. He would even dress in green. The bulldog doubts the goat's sincerity but releases him. The goat runs home to Walker. He tells his story and, despite Walker's urging, runs away (probably forgetting his oath to dress in green). The dog follows and kills him. MacNamee says if he had fifty more dogs "just half as well inclined as he, I'll give you my oath in Cavan town, an Orange walk you ne'er would see"
KEYWORDS: fight death humorous political talltale
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Morton-Ulster 38, "The Cavan Buck" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2882
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Peeler and the Goat" (tune, according to Morton-Ulster)
NOTES: The Orange Walk on July 12 celebrates the victory by William of Orange at the Boyne in 1690. Orangemen dress in their colors, sing Orange songs, and march. As can be imagined, the "other side" was often offended.
The choice of a buck to represent the Orange is standard. Having an [English] bulldog represent the other side seems a strange use of a symbol; apparently even the goat was taken in until told that the bulldog, in this case, represented Sarsfield: the primary hero on the other side of the Battle of the Boyne. [For the career of Sarsfield, see the notes to "After Aughrim's Great Disaster." - RBW]
Morton-Ulster: "Many attempts have been made to stop the marches in the past, especially at times of strained relations in the community. The 1820s constituted such a time. The mention of Lord Farnham would suggest that this song comes from that period. Farnham was a staunch and convinced Protestant." - BS
File: MorU038

Cave Love Has Gained the Day

See Go In and Out the Window (File: R538)

Cavehill Diamond (I), The

DESCRIPTION: "In Ireland's ancient days" when Belfast was small Mary herded sheep on Lagan side. Prince Dermoid hunted deer on Cave Hill. He loved Mary whose eyes were brighter than the Diamond. She asked that he bring her the diamond. Trying, he fell to his death.
AUTHOR: Robert Hanna (source: Leyden)
EARLIEST DATE: c.1890-1918 (J Nicholson ballad sheet, according to Leyden)
KEYWORDS: courting request death royalty
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leyden 4, "The Cavehill Diamond" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3579
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cavehill Diamond (II) (subject of the Cavehill Diamond)
cf. "Belfast Mountains (The Diamonds of Derry)" (subject of the Cavehill Diamond)
cf. "Belfast Town" (subject of the Cavehill Diamond)
NOTES: See "Belfast Mountains (The Diamonds of Derry)" for the background for the Cavehill Diamond.
Leyden: "[Hanna] was obviously inspired by the much older ballad 'Belfast Town', from which he plagiarized the second and third verses." - BS
File: Leyd004

Cavehill Diamond (II), The

DESCRIPTION: There was a feud between Magennis and O'Neill. Princess Ellen, Red Hugh O'Neill's daughter, loved Magennis. She disappeared when she was to wed old Earl James. After three years Magennis went to consult a holy hermit living on Cave Hill. It was Ellen.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c.1890-1918 (J Nicholson ballad sheet, according to Leyden)
KEYWORDS: courting feud reunion separation disguise royalty
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leyden 5, "The Cavehill Diamond" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cavehill Diamond (I) (subject of the Cavehill Diamond)
cf. "Belfast Mountains (The Diamonds of Derry)" (subject of the Cavehill Diamond)
cf. "Belfast Town" (subject of the Cavehill Diamond)
NOTES: The Diamond, though in the title, is never mentioned in the text; I suppose we are to take Princess Ellen as the diamond of the title. See "Belfast Mountains (The Diamonds of Derry)" for the background for the Cavehill Diamond. - BS
For Red Hugh O'Neill, see the notes to "O'Donnell Aboo (The Clanconnell War Song)." This seems to be the only song linking the O'Neills to the Cavehill Diamond. - RBW
File: Leyd005

Cavenagh Hill

DESCRIPTION: "I'm bidding adieu to old Ireland." The singer recalls "childhood days that I spent Around dear old Cavenagh Hill," hunting fields, poteen and the football team from Scotshouse town. Years have passed. He has news that a huntsman, McCabe, has died.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1980 (IRHardySons)
KEYWORDS: emigration farewell death hunting sports drink Ireland nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #17896
RECORDINGS:
James Halpin, "Cavenagh Hill" (on IRHardySons)
NOTES: Notes to IRHardySons: "This might not be a Fermanagh song; the village of Scotshouse is just over the Monaghan border on the R212, south of Clones." - BS
File: rcCavaHi

Caviar Comes from Virgin Sturgeon

DESCRIPTION: This quatrain ballad extols the virtues of caviar as an aphrodisiac; reports that the singer's parents were a lighthouse keeper and a mermaid; and details the sex lives of various denizens of the deep
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous animal
FOUND IN: Australia Canada Britain(England) US(MW,So,SW)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Cray, pp. 240-243, "Caviar Comes from the Virgin Sturgeon" (3 texts, 1 tune)
JHJohnson, pp. 124-126, "The Ballad of The Virgin Sturgeon" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 157, "The Virgin Sturgeon" (1 text)
DT, VRGNSTRG* VRGNSTR2* VRGNSTR3*
Roud #10131
RECORDINGS:
Anonymous singers, "The Keeper of the Eddystone Light" (on Unexp1)
Charley Drew, "Caviar Comes from Virgin Sturgeon" (Party 6A/Musicraft Party 6A/Gala 2101, n.d. but probably 1939-1940)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Reuben and Rachel" (tune)
cf. "The Keeper of the Eddystone Light" (theme)
NOTES: While the recording on "The Unexpurgated Folk Songs of Men" is [listed as] "Eddystone Light," it's mostly this song. Of course, they overlap so heavily that the distinction is fishy. - PJS
File: EM240

Cawsand Bay

DESCRIPTION: A ship is preparing to depart when a lady hails the ship. She demands the release of (Henry Grady), one of the sailors. The Captain objects, but she offers his discharge. The two depart and live happily ever after
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1920 (Oxford Book of Ballads)
KEYWORDS: love sea freedom reunion ship
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
OBB 168, "Cawsand Bay" (1 text)
C. H. Firth, _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ , 1907, p. 328,"Cawsand Bay" (1 text)
ST OBB168 (Partial)
Roud #2107
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jolly Plowboy (Little Plowing Boy; The Simple Plowboy)" [Laws M24]
File: OBB168

Caze Love Has Gained the Day

See Go In and Out the Window (File: R538)

Cease Rude Boreas

See The Tempest (Cease Rude Boreas) (File: SWMS070)

Cecil Gone in the Time of Storm

DESCRIPTION: In 1933, young Cecil sails to Mastic Point; he vanishes. After eight days they search. Cecil's mother finds the boat but not him; singer says Cecil's been drowned, and the mother falls on the ground in agony, asking God to make peace with his soul
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (recording, Frederick McQueen & group)
LONG DESCRIPTION: In 1933, young Cecil decides to sail to Mastic Point; he gets in the boat and sets off, but vanishes. After eight days his family and friends search; his uncle says he made it as far as Nicholas Town, but he hasn't been seen since. Singer meets Cecil's mother, who says she's found the boat but not him; singer says Cecil's been drowned, and the mother falls on the ground in agony, asking God to make peace with his soul
KEYWORDS: grief travel death drowning mourning sea ship disaster storm wreck family mother
FOUND IN: Bahamas
RECORDINGS:
Frederick McQueen & group, "Cecil Gone in the Time of Storm" (on MuBahamas2)
NOTES: Although Frederick McQueen certainly shaped the song into its most-sung form, Samuel Charters notes that there is evidence Willie Bullard from Long East Cay was singing the song in the 1930s. As a result, I've left the author field "Unknown." - PJS
File: RcCGITOS

Cecilia

DESCRIPTION: French. Cecilia's father sends her away; the bargeman asks her to embrace. She refuses; her father would beat her. He asks who would tell her father. "The forest birds," the girl replies. The bargeman regrets that the birds have been taught to talk.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 (BerryVin)
LONG DESCRIPTION: French. Cecilia's father sends her away; the bargeman transporting her falls in love with her and asks her to embrace. She refuses, saying that if she consented her father would beat her. "And who but you would tell him?" asks the bargeman. "The forest birds," the girl replies. "Do birds talk?" asks the bargeman. "Yes, they speak both French and Latin," says the girl. The bargeman regrets that the birds have been taught to talk. Chorus: "Ah-ah-ah-ah, ah-ah-ah,
KEYWORDS: love sex travel humorous animal bird father
FOUND IN: US(MW) Canada(Que)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BerryVin, p. 54, "Cecilia" (1 text + translation, 1 tune)
File: BerV054

Cedar Grove, The [Laws D18]

DESCRIPTION: The "Cedar Grove" sails from London to America. She runs aground off Canso because the helmsman cannot violate discipline. The captain, two crew members, and a passenger are lost, and the ship sinks
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Mackenzie)
KEYWORDS: sea wreck death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Nov 20, 1882 - Wreck of the Cedar Grove off Saint Andrew's Island near Canso, Nova Scotia. She was on her way from London to Halifax
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Laws D18, "The Cedar Grove"
Doerflinger, pp. 186-187, "The Loss of the Cedar Grove" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 89, "The Cedar Grove" (1 text)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 136-139, "The Cedar Grove" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 9, "The Cedar Grove" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 687, CEDARGRV
Roud #1959
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Maid of Timahoe" (tune)
cf. "The Loss of the Albion" [Laws D2]
NOTES: Naval discipline dictated that the helmsman could not speak or be spoken to. Normally this was a good idea -- it prevented distractions -- but here it proved disastrous. (For a similar mix-up, see, of all things, Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark.)
Doerflinger considers this to be derived from "The Loss of the Albion." - RBW
Manny/Wilson: "The song is said to have been written by James A Dillon, author of the Rescue of the E A Horton." - BS
I have a note (which was included in prior editions of the Index) stating that the song is by Captain Cale Maitland. I can't find my source for this statement, so I have removed the name from the Author field, but presumably I had some reason for putting it there, so I am leaving the author unknown. - RBW
File: LD18

Cedar Swamp

DESCRIPTION: "Way low down in the cedar swamp, Waters deep and muddy, There I met a pretty little miss...." The singer builds a home for the girl, who is "a honey"; "Makes me work all through the week, And get stove-wood on Sunday."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (copyright, Jean Ritchie/Geordie Music)
KEYWORDS: work playparty
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ritchie-Southern, p. 76, "Cedar Swamp" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST RiSo076 (Partial)
Roud #7408
NOTES: I rather suspect this is derived from "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" or one of its myriad relatives, but the lyrics are different, and the tune, while it could be related, is a few notes shorter in the chorus, so I am splitting them without hesitation. - RBW
File: RiSo076

Celebrated Working Man, The

See In the Bar-Room (The Celebrated Working-Man) (File: RcITBRCW)

Cetch in the Creel, The

See The Keach i the Creel [Child 281] (File: C281)

Chahcoal Man

DESCRIPTION: A street cry? "O-o-o-oh, lil' man, Go get yo' pan, Tell-a yo' mam Hyeh come de chahcoal man-n-n. Chahcoal!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: work commerce nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, p. 459, "Chahcoal Man" (1 short text, 1 tune)
File: San459

Chain Gang Special

See Buddy Won't You Roll Down the Line (File: ADR98)

Challenge, The

DESCRIPTION: "She was at a noble wedding" and sees a young lawyer. He ignored her. She sends him a letter challenging him to a duel. He is advised by a friend to attend the duel: "faint heart never won fair lady." At dawn "the young lady came, it seems" [end of text]
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: love wedding lawyer fight
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 847, "The Challenge" (1 text)
Roud #6221
NOTES: The line "faint heart never won fair lady" goes back to Don Quixote, and even there, is is called an old saying. It became cliche enough that Gilbert made it the chorus in a song of platitutes in Iolanthe.
Could this somehow be related to Iolanthe? After all, it involves (among much Gilbertian intricacy) the possibility of a duel between Earls Tolloller and Mountararat over the right to court Phyllis. And Phyllis is supposed to make a choice among nobles over who will win her love.
Even more closely parallel, but more obscure is a tale of the marriage of "Berkshire Lady," Frances Kendrick (born 1687?), which is called the "Sword-Point Wedding." That sounds very much like this, but what would a Berkshire story be doing in Scotland? And I have found no real documentation of the story -- just a few Internet references. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4847

Chamber Lye

DESCRIPTION: In the original text -- the song was updated to the first world war -- a Confederate agent asks the ladies of Montgomery, Alabama, to save their night water, so that saltpeter necessary for the manufacture of gunpowder might be extracted.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: scatological bawdy Civilwar derivative
FOUND IN: US(So,SW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph-Legman II, pp. 659-662, "Chamber Lye" (1 text)
Cray, The Erotic Muse (1st edition ), pp. 140-141, 17, "Chamber Lye" (1 text)
Roud #8391
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "O Tannenbaum (Oh Christmas Tree)" (tune) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
John Harloson's Saltpeter
NOTES: Said to date from 1864 and a request made in either Selma or Montgomery, Alabama.
By the later portion of the 20th Century, this ballad had apparently fallen out of oral currency. - EC
In earlier editions of the Index, I questioned the truth of the report about the song coming from Alabama, simply because Union troops were so late in reaching central Alabama. But the request need not have been local to that area. Saltpeter (needed to make black powder) was not available in many parts of the South, and Isaac M. St. John (1827-1880), chief of the Mining and Nitre Bureau, did appeal to southern women to save the contents of their chamber pots.
Saltpeter had always been a useful product. Even in ancient times, it was used by fullers and dyers; it helped fix colors, and also helped create some otherwise hard-to-achieve hues. We still use it today for things such as reducing the pain of sensitive teeth (Field, p 171), although it is now possible to produce it artificially.
It appears that saltpeter in ancient times was not a precise term. It seems to have been used most often for potassium nitrate, KNO3, but other nitrates such as sodium nitrate (NaNO3, sometimes called "Chile saltpeter" or "caliche") were sometimes used before chemistry became more precise. For many purposes, the difference between nitrate types was rather minor; it was the nitrate, not the metal to which it was attached, that gave the "bang" -- and also contained the nitrogen which made waste materials a good fertilizer. (Note that ammonium nitrate, NH4NO3, which might have been considered a saltpeter by the ancients, is still used as a fertilizer and as the basis for explosives! Sodium nitrate does not make as good a gunpowder as potassium nitrate, since it is more likely to absorb water and degrade, but the two are relatively easy to convert; see Bown, p. 148)
But natural saltpeter was rare. Early on, it was discovered that it could be manufactured from animal wastes. Mammal urine contain urea (CO(NH2)2), and bird droppings contain uric acid (C5H4N4O3), both of which could be reacted with alkalis to produce saltpeter. The usual method was to place the droppings on an alkaline soil and then going through various purifying steps (Bown, pp. 28-33).
As early as Roman times, then, we see dyers collecting their own urine, plus whatever others wanted to donate. This was adequate for cloth manufacture, but it left no excess.
And then the demand skyrocketed. The reason is simple: Black powder (gunpowder) consists of sulfur, charcoal (carbon), and saltpeter.
From the start, saltpeter was the largest component; Roger Bacon's formula in the thirteenth century was five parts charcoal, five parts sulfur, seven parts saltpeter (so Emsley, p. 412). But it was quickly found that more saltpeter was better; Ashdown, p. 361, says that "Schwartz, a German Frank, perfected it about a century [after Bacon]." This would mean that Edward IV, for instance, would use the more modern formulation -- and, indeed, when he invaded France in the 1470s, we find that he had need to carry with him "hundreds of shot of stone, barrels of gunpowder, sulphur, brimstone, saltpetre" (Jenkins, p. 104). It's not clear why sulfur is mentioned twice and charcoal not at all (perhaps the English expected to make the charcoal on the spot?), but it is clear that no one expected local supplies of saltpeter or sulfur to be adequate.
By the time the use of gunpowder was widespread, the saltpeter made up two-thirds to three-quarters of the total (the modern formulation is 75% saltpeter, 15% charcoal, 10% sulfur, according to Field, p. 177), yet it was the hardest component to find and to purify. With limited natural supplies. saltpeter had to be manufactured on a large scale.
Which meant -- let's face it -- that a lot of waste had to be gathered and processed. According to Bown, pp. 33-34, it was Charles I of England who in 1626 made what was apparently the earliest proclamation ordering people to collect the contents of their chamber pots. (It almost makes you wonder if that's why they rebelled against him.) The result was the institution of the "saltpetermen" or "petermen" (Bown, pp. 36-38) -- people whose intrusive behavior hardly endeared them to the population. It's interesting to note that, in later usage, the word "peterman" came to mean a thief. France also had such an institution, although Jaffe, p. 82, says that the great chemist Lavoisier was able to have them abolished by coming up with better methods for producing saltpeter.
Bown, p. 47, goes so far as to argue that France lost the Seven Years' War in part due to saltpeter shortage. I have not seen this claim advanced in any of the usual histories of the period, however.
After a time the dirty business was exported, mostly to India (Bown, p. 40), where there were lots and lots of people -- which meant both lots of human waste and lots of unemployed people to process it. Later, an even more concentrated source was found in the bat and bird guano found in Latin America (Darrow, p. 216, says that Chilean saltpeter began to be exported in 1830; see also "Tommy's Gone to Hilo"). Bown, p. 149, implies that caliche was in use even before that, being used to make gunpowder during the Napoleonic Wars. It wasn't until the twentieth century that the Haber process made it possible to extract atmospheric nitrogen. Until then, a country had to either import nitrates or mine or make them from local, er, materials.
A nation at war burned through its supplies quickly. During the Napoleonic Wars, Britain is said to have imported 20,000 tons of saltpeter a year (Bown, p. 48).
The Confederacy probably needed even more. The standard charge of a Civil War rifle musket was 60 grains, or 4 grams. So that's 3 grams of saltpeter. A typical infantryman carried 40 rounds when going into battle -- 120 grams. (He would often fire far more rounds than that, to be sure.) Let's say that there were 75,000 Confederate soldiers at Gettysburg (which is about right). The typical soldier probably fired about 65 rounds. So that's 75,000 soldiers times 65 rounds times 3 grams, or 14,625,000 grams. 14,625 kilograms. 15 tons of saltpeter just for the *infantrymen* in one single battle. Artillery, which took much larger charges, would have required even more.
And the Confederacy spent the entire war under Union blockade. Importing by land was impossible; whatever they had had to come in by sea. Initially blockade runners could bring in some. But the blockade tightened as the war progressed. By 1863, the blockade was pretty tight. That left domestic manufacture as the only source of saltpeter. Hence the collection of slops from Confederate bedrooms -- and hence this song.
Incidentally, even the replacement of gunpowder with smokeless powders did not eliminate the need for nitrates. Nitroglycerin and its successors required nitric acid, and this too was derived from saltpeter and its relatives. Cordite, for instance, the propellant in British firearms, consisted of nitroglycerin and guncotton (both of which required nitrates to manufacture) plus vaseline. During World War I, therefore, nitrates once again became an issue -- Germany had the Haber process, but the Entente powers were still using Chilean saltpeter, according to Darrow, p. 215.
(As a matter of fact, some historians, cited by Bown, p. 218, speculate that Germany did not dare start World War I until the Haber process guaranteed their nitrate supply. I grant that, until 1914, the Germans hadn't pushed diplomatic crises so hard -- but World War I came about largely because of the ineptitude of Wilhelm II of Germany and Franz Joseph of Austria, and what are the odds that either of them made such calculations?)
(Haber's work would earn him the Nobel Prize in chemistry, and it was surely deserved. The award had to be given almost in secret, however, because he had spent the bulk of the Great War working on poison gas -- many forms of which also used nitrogen. He was not someone you would want to know; his role in gas warfare actually led his first wife to commit suicide -- Bown, p. 226.)
There was a brief time after the Battle of Coronel when Graf Spee's German fleet had driven the English away from Chile. Britain moved instantly to crush Graf Spee's fleet (which they would do at the Battle of the Falkland Islands). Most histories of World War I viewed this as an issue of prestige, but Darrow, p. 216, argues that the saltpeter was needed for the war effort, and Bown, p. 192, thinks this was a reason for the swift British response, though he admits there is no evidence for this. Bown, p. 198, argues that the infamous "shell shortage" of 1915 was also due to nitrate bottlenecks, though most histories simply assert "manufacturing difficulties." My guess is, British factories had enough nitrates for the amount of shell they actually were able to provide but would not have had enough to make all the weapons the generals wanted -- note that, according to Bown, p. 200, nitrate exports from Chile increased 50% during the War even though Germany was completely cut off from the market. At one time, according to Bown, p. 201, there was a 300% price premium during the war.
Even in the period after the Great War, Darrow (p. 229) notes that the United States maintained a Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory. As late as the 1920s, Chile was still supplying almost a third of the world's nitrates (Darrow, p. 230), though refinements of the Haber process were rapidly making more available, and new research also allowed nitrogen to be extracted from coal as it was converted to coke. It wasn't until 1926 (according to the numbers in Darrow, p. 233) that the nitrate business really began to decline -- the stocks of the companies fell by more than 50% in that year. - RBW
Bibliography

Ashdown: Charles Henry Ashdown, European Arms & Armor (I use the 1995 Barnes & Noble edition, which appears to be a reprint though no information is given on the original publication)
Bown: Stephen R. Bown, A Most Damnable Invention: Dynamite, Nitrates, and the Making of the Modern World, Dunne, 2005
Darrow: Floyd L. Darrow, The Story of Chemistry, Chautauqua Press, 1928
Emsley: John Emsley, Nature's Building Blocks: An A-Z Guide to the Elements, Corrected edition, Oxford, 2003
Field: Simon Quellen Field, Why There's Antifreeze in Your Toothpaste, Chicago Review Books, 2008
Jaffe: Bernard Jaffe, Crucibles: The Story of Chemistry, from ancient alchemy to nuclear fission, fourth revised edition, 1948 (I use the 1976 Dover paperback)
Jenkins: Elizabeth Jenkins, The Princes in the Tower, Coward McCann, & Geoghan, 1978

Last updated in version 2.5
File: RL659

Chaming Woman

See Woman Charming Woman, O! (File: GrD1069)

Champagne Charlie

DESCRIPTION: "I've seen a deal of gaiety throughout my noisy life; With all my grand accomplishments I ne'er could get a wife... For Champagne Charlie is my name (x2), Good for any game at night my boys." The singer details his drunken life
AUTHOR: Music by Alfred Lee/Words by Lee and/or George Leybourne
EARLIEST DATE: 1864
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad courting
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 47-52, "Champagne Charlie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gilbert, pp. 60-61, "Champaign Charlie" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Blind [Arthur] Blake, "Champaign [sic] Charlie Is My Name" (Paramount 13137/Crown 3357, 1932; on BefBlues3)
NOTES: This is one of several songs developed as vehicles for George Leybourne (real name: Joe Saunders; c. 1842-1884), a singer and actor who made a living spoofing the life of upper-class British society. As "Heavy Swell," Leybourne exaggerated the hard-drinking, hard-gambling life of the young London dandy -- but only slightly.
Of all the songs Leybourne used, this was the most popular. It is, however, questionable whether he actually had a hand in the lyrics; many believe that they, like the tune, come from Alfred Lee. In America, it also received two new texts, one by H.J. Whymark and another by George Cooper. - RBW
File: RJ19047

Champion He Was a Dandy

DESCRIPTION: Michael McCarthy bets that his twenty-pound bulldog Champion can beat all comers. He matches him with a black-and-tan terrier to fight in a ring in the bog. The terrier kills the bulldog. McCarthy kicks the terrier into the bog for revenge
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960s (recording, Jack Elliotr)
KEYWORDS: fight death gambling dog
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
Roud #12934
RECORDINGS:
Jack Elliott, "Champion He Was a Dandy" (on Voice18)
File: RcChHWaD

Champion of Court Hill, The

See The Champion of Coute Hill (File: LeBe018)

Champion of Coute Hill, The

DESCRIPTION: William White meets Kate and convinces her to "try our skill" on Coute Hill. Though "manys a time he said to me 'No one I love but thee'," he marries Belle Madel, leaving her "ruined right, by William White, the champion of Coute Hill"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: infidelity marriage sex lover
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Lehr/Best 18, "The Champion of Court Hill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 75, "In Smiling June the Roses Bloom" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LeBe018 (Partial)
Roud #7066 and 9209
NOTES: Is this "Coute Hill" or "Court Hill"? From Last Name Meanings site re "Coote": (origin: Local) Welsh Coed, a wood; Cor. Br., Coit and Cut. Coot-hill or Coit-hayle, the wood on the river." OLochlainn 67 and some -- but not all -- broadsides for "Nell Flaherty's Drake"/"Nell Flagherty's Drake" begin "My name it is Nell, quite candid I tell, I live near Cootehill I'll never deny..." (source: Bodleian Catalog; for example, see shelfmarks Firth b.27(148), Harding B 26(461), Harding B 15(216b); a Clonmell counter-example is Bodleian shelfmark 2806 b.11(218), and O'Conor p. 14 makes it "a cool hill"). - BS
Of course, there is always the possibility that someone just made a typographical error on a survey map somewhere.... - RVW
File: LeBe018

Chance McGear

DESCRIPTION: Young Chance McGear, against his parents' advice, becomes a logger. While he and his partner are loading logs, one swings around and strikes him in the head, killing him. The logging company sends his body back to his parents.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: lumbering logger work death family
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Beck 60, "Chance McGear" (1 text)
Roud #4054
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Harry Dunn (The Hanging Limb)" [Laws C14]
cf. "Boy Killed by a Falling Tree in Hartford" (plot)
cf. "The Substitute (plot)
NOTES: This song is item dC32 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Be060

Chandler's Wife, The

DESCRIPTION: (The tailor's boy) goes to the chandler's shop; he hears a "knock, knock, knock" overhead. He surprises the chandler's wife with the apprentice boy. Men should either watch their wives or give them so much (knock, knock, knock) that they want no more
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (recording, Warde Ford)
LONG DESCRIPTION: (The tailor's boy) goes to the chandler's shop; finding no one there, he hears the sounds of sex (a "knock, knock, knock") overhead. Running upstairs, he surprises the chandler's wife with the apprentice boy. She offers the interloper sex whenever he's so inclined. The moral is drawn that men should either lock their wives up, tie them down, or give them so much (knock, knock, knock) that they want no more
KEYWORDS: sex adultery infidelity promise bawdy humorous apprentice
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 157, "The Chandler's Wife" (1 text)
DT, CHNDWIFE* CHNDWIF2
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "The Tailor Boy" (AFS 4204 A1, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Farm Servant (Rap-Tap-Tap)" (plot)
cf. "The Jolly Barber Lad" (theme)
cf. "The Coachman's Whip" (theme)
cf. "The Lincolnshire Poacher" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Tailor's Boy
NOTES: I'm astonished to not find this in the Index -- I could have sworn it was there. - PJS
Yes, but aren't you glad that *you* got to write the description? :-)
I am surprised that it's not in Cray. There are similar plots, of course, but nothing I recognize as the same song. - RBW
File: FSWB1567A

Change Islands Song

DESCRIPTION: Describes the work of the men from Change Islands as they move up north along the coast. Activities include fishing, hunting seals, and canning berries -- but there is a scarcity of everything this time. Only the fishing improves a little later.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: work hunting fishing hardtimes
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 124, "Change Islands Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, p. 61, "Change Islands Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 93-95, "The Change Islands Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6343
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Merman (Pretty Fair Maid with a Tail)" [Laws K24] (tune)
NOTES: Change Islands is near Fogo Island on the east coast in Hamilton Sound. Most of their excursions seem to be to the very northern tip of the island and "across the Strait" which would be Labrador. Many personal names are mentioned in the song to make it more authentic. - SH
File: Doy61

Changing Berth

DESCRIPTION: Fury sails for the Brewery at one o'clock. The mate is drunk so the frightened nipper has to steer. After nine hours they land, thankful to have avoided "the cowld Torrid Zone Or the deserts of Nova Zimbley." They jump to the bank and walk home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: river commerce ordeal humorous sailor
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn-More 51A, "Changing Berth" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9779
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The E-ri-e" (theme) and references there
File: OlcM051A

Chanson d'un Soldat (Song of a Soldier)

DESCRIPTION: French. The singer, a soldier, deserts for love of a brunette; in the process of deserting, he kills his captain. He is captured by his comrades; before they shoot him, he confesses his love for the brunette, and asks them not to tell his mother
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1956 (recording, Mrs. Louis Amirault, on NovaScotia1)
KEYWORDS: love army desertion crime execution murder punishment death foreignlanguage lover mother soldier rejection
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
RECORDINGS:
Mrs. Louis Amirault, "Chanson d'un Soldat" (on NovaScotia1)
File: RcChduSo

Chanson de L'Annee du Coup

DESCRIPTION: French. The governor asks the messenger what is the news. He reports a disaster, territory taken and people slain. The governor warns the people to prepare to flee
AUTHOR: J. B Trudeau
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (St. Louis Weekly Reveille)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage battle death warning Indians(Am.)
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 1780 - Indians attack the trading post at St. Louis (founded 1764 and occupied by the Spanish 1771). Thirty inhabitants are killed.
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, pp. 519-520, "Chanson de L'Annee du Coup" (1 text)
NOTES: Acording to Belden's notes, the Indians who attacked St. Louis did so at the instigation of the British -- but with French Canadian support. The people blamed the Spanish commander. This seems awfully complicated for an event of 1780, and such hints as I can find in the histories don't mention the fact -- but that's not proof. - RBW
File: Beld519

Chanson de la Grenouillere ("Song of Frog Plain," Falcon's Song)

DESCRIPTION: French: "Voulez-vous ecouter chanter Une chanson de verite?" Describes the Metis defense of their land against the English. Singer Pierre Falcon tells how the Metis defeated and pursued the English invaders
AUTHOR: Pierre Falcon
EARLIEST DATE: 1939
KEYWORDS: Canada battle foreignlanguage
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 19, 1816 - Battle of Seven Oaks. Some 70 Metis horsemen under Cuthbert Grant encounter 28 Hudson's Bay Company men under Governor Semple on Frog Plain. Only six of Semple's men survive
FOUND IN: Canada
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 121-123, "Falcon's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Riel's Song" and references there (subject)
NOTES: The Métis (French-Indian half-breeds; they called themselves Bois-Brules) had a difficult time in Canada, as neither English nor Indians, nor even the Voyageurs, had much use for them.
The Métis for a time gave as good as they got. When, in 1811, Lord Selkirk tried to establish a colony (mostly Scots who had lost their homes to sheep farms) on the Red River, the Métis constantly harassed the colony, and burned it more than once.
The Battle of Seven Oaks marked the climax of their efforts. Pierre Falcon (born 1793) was reported to be one of the Métis involved in the attack, and to have composed the song that very night. Whatever its origins, it became a Métis anthem, and was sung during Louis Riel's 1870 uprising (for which cf. "Riel's Song"). - RBW
File: FMB121

Chanson de Louis Riel (Riel's Song II)

DESCRIPTION: "C'est au champ de bataille, j'ai fait ecrir' douleurs. On couche sur la paille, ca fait fremir les coeurs." Riel's letter from prison describes his grief and pain and asks friends and family pray for him and the country he fought for
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1963 (recording, Joseph Gaspard Jeannotte)
LONG DESCRIPTION: The singer, on the battlefield, cries in pain; he gets a letter from his mother but has no pen or ink to reply. He dips his penknife into his own blood and writes to her; she falls on her knees weeping. He tells her that since everyone has to die someday, he prefers to die as a brave
KEYWORDS: Canada war prison execution foreignlanguage grief army battle fight rebellion violence separation death family mother Indians(Am.)
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1870 - Louis Riel's first uprising
1884 - Riel's second uprising/Northwest Rebellion
1885 - Riel hanged
FOUND IN: Canada(West)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke/MacMillan 8, "Chanson de Louis Riel" (1 French and 1 English text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Joseph Gaspard Jeannotte, "Chanson de Riel" (on Saskatch01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Riel's Song" and references there (subject)
NOTES: From Fowke/MacMillan - "Louis Riel, the leader of the Métis in both the Red River Rebellion in 1870 and the Northwest Rebellion in 1885, was taken prisoner when his followers were defeated at Batoche on 12 May 1885. He was tried, sentenced to death, and hanged in Regina jail on 16 November 1885. Since then his career has inspired books, plays, and an opera and the Saskatchewan Métis still talk and sing of him.
Mrs. Cass-Beggs got this song from Joseph Gaspard Jeannotte, an old Métis living at Lebret, Saskatchewan. He said that Riel had composed it while in jail, which may well be true for he is known to have written other poems and songs. It appeared first in Mrs. Cass-Beggs' Eight Songs of Saskatchewan (Toronto, 1963). English words by Barbara Cass-Beggs."
Though attributed to Riel, the song has no reference to him, the Métis, or to the rebellion. It is written in the form of a letter from a prisoner to his mother as he is facing execution. - SL
Although the subject is similar, and both songs are attributed to Riel himself, the plot of this one is utterly different from that of "Riel's Song." You should look at that one too, though -- and see RBW's extensive notes there. - PJS
File: FowM008

Chanson des Metamorphoses, La

See Les Metamorphoses (Metamorphoses) (File: Pea788)

Chanson sur le Desastre de Baie Ste-Anne (Song on the Baie Ste-Anne Disaster)

DESCRIPTION: French. The fishermen of Baie Ste-Anne and Escuminac go out expecting to return but the sudden storm takes 35 lives. Hearers are told to be prepared to meet God suddenly. Life is like a large ocean and each day we go toward eternity as in a light boat.
AUTHOR: Jerry Hebert of Lagaceville (Manny/Wilson)
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage fishing sea ship storm wreck death religious warning
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 19, 1959 - 22 salmon boats and 35 crewmen from Escuminac lost in a storm (Manny/Wilson)
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Manny/Wilson 17b, "Chanson sur le Desastre de Baie Ste-Anne" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Manny/Wilson: "Baie Ste-Anne is the French-speaking settlement south of Escuminac." A source for information about the disaster is The Ecuminac Disaster by Roy Saunders. - BS
The Escuminac tragedy was one of those defining moments for its community. Manny/Wilson report that performers sang no fewer than five songs about it at the 1959 Miramichi Folk Festival, and another in 1960 -- one, in fact, a tribute to the area by one of the drowned men. Of these six, they reported three, including this one. - RBW
File: MaWi017b

Chant of the Coal Quay, The

DESCRIPTION: "The Coal Quay market in my native town O! that's the dwelling where 'tis easy telling If your sense of smelling is not up to snuff." There are second-hand bookstands, organ monkeys, "animals in congregation," and other assorted riff-raff
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad animal
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn-More 84B, "The Chant of the Coal Quay" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: OLcM084B

Chanty Song (I)

See So It's Pass (File: CrNS056)

Chanty Song (II)

See The Powder Monkey (Soon We'll Be in England Town) (File: CrNS057)

Chapeau Boys

DESCRIPTION: "I'm a jolly good fellow, Pat Gregg is my name. I come from Chapeau, that village of fame." The singer and others hire out "to go up the Black River... for to cut the hay." Most of the song describes the trip to and from the farm
AUTHOR: Patrick Gregg
EARLIEST DATE: 1957 (Fowke); probably composed c. 1875
LONG DESCRIPTION: Men from Chapeau hire out to Caldwell Farm for haying; they travel by boat, then on foot, stopping to play fiddle on the way. They walk 16 miles to Reddy's, 46 to the Caldwell; they arrive exhausted. Singer praises the food at the Caldwell; after haying, they pack up and head for the woods to fell the pine. The singer hopes for a good drive and arrival home, but ends the song and prepares to roll into bed
KEYWORDS: travel work food farming lumbering dancing fiddle logger worker
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Ont,Que)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fowke-Lumbering #14, "The Chapeau Boys" (1 text plus some excerpts, 1 tune)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 80-82, "The Chapeau Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FowL14 (Partial)
Roud #1885
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "The Chapeau Boys" (on Lumber01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Building a Slide" (lyrics)
NOTES: Chapeau is located on Allumette Island in the Ottawa River just north of Pembroke. Fowke estimates the song comes from the 1890s, but without documentation I won't make that the official earliest date. - PJS
Particularly since Fowke elswehere estimates the date as c. 1869! - RBW
Ives-NewBrunswick: "Chapeau ... is about a hundred miles up the Ottawa River valley, and, according to the best information available, one Pat Gregg made the song up early in the 1880s." - BS
File: FowL14

Charge at Fredricksburg, The

See The Last Fierce Charge [Laws A17] (File: LA17)

Charge the Can Cheerily

DESCRIPTION: "Now coil up your nonsense 'bout England's great Navy, And take in your slack about oak-hearted Tars, For frigates as stout, and as gallant crews have we." The singer boasts of the successes of the War of 1812
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1948 (Shay), apparently from a broadside
KEYWORDS: navy bragging ship battle
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 19, 1812 - the 44-gun U.S.S. Constitution defeats and captures the 38-gun H.M.S. Guerriere in the north Atlantic
Oct 25, 1812 - the 44-gun U. S. S. United States, commanded by Stephen Decatur, defeats the 38-gun H. M. S. Macedonian in the mid-Atlantic
Dec 29, 1812 - U. S. S. Constitution defeats the 38-gun H. M. S. Java off Bahia, Brazil
Feb 24, 1813 - U. S. S. Hornet defeats H. M. S. Peacock
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 167-169, "Charge the Can Cheerily" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ye Parliament of England (I)" (theme, ships)
NOTES: This is about as accurate as the German claim to have won the Battle of Jutland based on tonnage sunk: It's true -- and completely ignores the broader facts. The American frigates of the United States class (which included among others the Constitution) were much stronger and heavier (and more expensive) than the standard British 38-gun frigate (Pratt, pp. 55-57). Thus they won most of the ship-to-ship battles they fought. (Most, but not all; Hickey, p. 216, notes how the President ran aground and lost her speed, and not even Stephen Decatur could save her from the Endymion, the Pomone, and the Tenedos, which captured her on January 15, 1815. Hickey, p. 217, also notes the defeat of three smaller American ships -- Frolic, Syren, and Rattlesnake -- and the disappearance, for unknown reasons, of the Wasp).
Good as the American frigates were, they were not ships of the line, and survived the war only by fleeing when a major British battleship came in sight (or failed to flee and were defeated, as in the case of the Wasp in another context). By the end of the War of 1812, nearly every American ship was blockaded in port (Mahon, p. 122, gives a catalog). They had hurt the British about as much as a stinging fly -- and, if the war had kept on, the British (with Napoleon safely on Saint Helena) would doubtless have turned and swatted them.
The Americans could perhaps console themselves with the fact that they made the British merchant fleet miserable; Hickey, p. 218, notes that American privateers caused a spike in insurance rates for ships sailing between Britain and Ireland; according to one paper at the time, the rates were three times higher than during the Napoleonic Wars!
The song itself quotes "of Lawrence the spirit, 'Disdaining to strike while a stick is left standing.'" The dying captain James Lawrence said, "Don't give up the ship!" Why did he say it? Because H. M. S. Shannon was blowing Lawrence's Chesapeake to fragments -- something the poet fails to note. (For details, see the various "Chesapeake and Shannon" songs, especially "The Chesapeake and the Shannon (I)" [Laws J20]. For additional background on the naval aspects of the War of 1812, see also "The Constitution and the Guerriere" [Laws A6].)
Among the people mentioned in the song:
Dacres - James R. Dacres (1788-1853), commander of the Guerriere. His defeat was not held against him; he later commanded the Tiber, which captured the Leo (Jameson, p. 181) and he eventually rose to the rank of vice admiral (Heidler/Heidler, p. 141)
Carden - John Surman Carden, commander of the Macedonian. Like Dacres, the British accepted his explanation for his defeat, and he eventually became an admiral (Heidler/Heidler, p. 82).
Hull - Isaac Hull, commander of the Constitution in the fight against the Guerriere (Jameson, p. 318; see also "The Constitution and the Guerriere" [Laws A6]).
Decatur - Perhaps the greatest American naval hero of the early part of the century; he commanded the United States against the Macedonian (Paine, pp. 538-539).
Jones - John Paul Jones, America's first significant naval captain, dead 20 years by the time of the War of 1812 (Jameson, p. 341).
Lawrence - James Lawrence, who commanded the Hornet when she beat the Peacock (Paine, p. 251), but then led the Chesapeake to destruction against the Shannon (again, see "The Chesapeake and the Shannon (I)" [Laws J20]).
Bainbridge: Evidently the poet couldn't think of any other naval heroes, so he stuck in a disaster. William Bainbridge (1774-1833) had his ship Retaliation captured during the Quasi-war with France -- the first U. S. Navy officer to surrender his ship (Heidler/Heidler, p. 30). He also commanded the Philadelphia when she was captured by the Barbary Pirates (Pratt, p. 67, declares, "It was an accident, and William Bainbridge who commanded the frigate was never blamed for it." But why wasn't he taking soundings?). He at least proved his courage in the War of 1812, being commander of the Constitution when she beat the Java; he was twice wounded in that action -- but the ship had been badly handled and suffered far more damage than in its other battles and had to return to port for repairs. And that lone victory of his was sort of an accident; according to Hickey, p. 216, he had tried to trade the Constitution for the President in 1814, even offering $5000 for the right to command the latter ship. Lucky for him Captain John Rogers turned him down. - RBW
Bibliography

Heidler/Heidler: David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler, editors, Encyclopedia of the War of 1812, 1997 (I use the 2004 Naval Institute Press edition)
Hickey: Donald R. Hickey, The War of 1812: A Forgotten Conflict, University of Illinois Press, 1989, 1995
Jameson: J. Franklin Jameson's Dictionary of United States History 1492-1895, Puritan Press, 1894
Mahon: John K. Mahon, The War of 1812, 1972 (I used the undated Da Capo paperback edition)
Paine: Lincoln P. Paine, Ships of the World: An Historical Encylopedia, Houghton Mifflin, 1997
Pratt: Fletcher Pratt, A Compact History of the United States Navy, third edition revised by Hartley E. Howe, Hawthorn Books, 1967

Last updated in version 2.5
File: ShaSS167

Charge to Keep, A

DESCRIPTION: "A charge to keep I have, a God to glorify, A never-dying soul to save, And fit it for the sky. Arm me with jealous care, As in thy sight to live, Thy servant, Lord, prepare, A strict account to give. To serve the present age, My calling to fulfill...."
AUTHOR: Words: Charles Wesley
EARLIEST DATE: 1851 (Songs of Zion)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 522, "A Charge to Keep" (1 fragment)
Roud #11817
NOTES: This, like many shape note hymns, appears with a bewildering variety of tunes. William Walker apparently printed it to "Carolina." "Songs of Zion" put it to "Kentucky." And in the Sacred Harp, it is called by the text-title "A Charge to Keep"; it's said to have a tune by Paine Denson.
For the life of Charles Wesley, author of the lyrics of this piece, see the notes to "Jesus Lover of My Soul." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Br3522

Charity Seed, The/We Never Died in the Winter Yet

DESCRIPTION: The singer hears two people discussing "Wealthy people and their greed" and farmers with good crops "all applying for the charity seed." In good times, food is plentiful, but the bad brought "great distress"; now Gladstone will repair the matter
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: food poverty hardtimes money farming
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H766, p. 43, "The Charity Seed/We Never Died in the Winter Yet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13357
NOTES: This is a curious song, seeming to refer to the potato famines-- but with other references arguing for a later date (perhaps 1869). The famines of 1845-1851 saw the British government try, ineptly and with insufficient commitment, to supply relief -- but the results were not sufficient to the problem. (For details, see the notes to "Over There (I - The Praties They Grow Small)".)
Frankly, given the technology of the time, the British probably could not have saved all the people who starved -- but they certainly could have done more, and done it more efficiently. The blame for this, however, did not fall on Disraeli, but on Sir Robert Peel (Disraeli opposed Peel's measures, but did not become Prime Minister until 1868).
Disraeli served as Prime Minister twice: 1868 and 1874-1880, and was twice replaced by Gladstone, who served 1868-1874, 1880-1885 (plus 1886 and 1892-1894).
The best date for this song in its current form is thus 1869, when the newly-elected Gladstone put a final end to the corn laws (the original law, passed 1815, had forbid imports of grain except in conditions of extreme famine; modified slightly in 1828, Peel had managed to get the rates reduced in 1846, in response to the famine, but a slight duty remained until Gladstone ended it).
Incidentally, dying in winter (or spring) was a genuine problem for those dependent on the potato, since they had effectively no other food. Although most peasants had enough land to grow a year's worth of food, the potatoes would often rot by the end of that time. - RBW
File: HHH766

Charles Augustus (or Gustavus) Anderson [Laws D19]

DESCRIPTION: Anderson, the singer, is about to be hanged. He had had a good childhood, but went away to sea on the "Saladin." There he joined in a conspiracy with one Fielding; they murdered the ship's captain and others. Now he must pay the price
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Mackenzie)
KEYWORDS: sea execution mutiny
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1844 - The Saladin mutiny
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Newf) US(NE)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Laws D19, "Charles Augustus (or Gustavus) Anderson"
Doerflinger, pp. 290-293, "Charles Gustavus Anderson" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 158, "Fielding" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 867-868, "Charles Augustus Anderson" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 109, "Charles G Anderson" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 196-197, "Saladin Mutiny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 113, "Charles Augustus Anderson" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 197-198,243, "Charles Gustavus Anderson" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 352, SLDNMTY2*
Roud #646
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "George Jones" [Laws D20] (subject)
cf. "Saladin's Crew" (subject)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Charles Gustavus Anderson
NOTES: The story of the Saladin mutiny is roughly as follows: The pirate Fielding, taken aboard the Saladin out of charity, convinces part of the crew to mutiny against Captain "Sandy" Mackenzie. (Mackenzie seems to have been a harsh officer, but the Fieldings -- a father and son -- probably hoped to capture the money stored on the ship.) Mackenzie and five others are killed, and the conspirators, realizing that they might be next, turn against the Fieldings and throw them overboard. The ship, left without an experienced navigator, is wrecked off Halifax; the remaining conspirators are executed.
Most sources date the mutiny to 1844; Laws says 1843, but I'm guessing this is one of the many typos in his song list.
The four men executed were Charles Anderson, George Jones, John Hazelton, and William Trevaskiss. Three of the four have ballads about them. This one, about Aderson, is the most popular; George Jones is also well-known; "Saladin's Crew," about Hazelton, was found only by Helen Creighton.
Creighton quotes an account from the 1924 Acadian Recorder that seems to imply that all three songs were written by a "Mr. Forhan" who saw the mutineers hanged when he was six years old. - RBW
File: LD19

Charles G Anderson

See Charles Augustus (or Gustavus) Anderson [Laws D19] (File: LD19)

Charles Gibbs

DESCRIPTION: The pirate admits, "No pity have I ever shown, Lord, who would pity me, But here I lie and long to die." He tells of his adventures with his "bloody knife."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (collected from Charles Tillett)
KEYWORDS: pirate prison
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1831 - Death of Charles Gibbs
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Chappell-FSRA 28, "Charles Gibbs" (1 fragment)
Roud #16892
NOTES: A native of Rhode Island, Charles Gibbs served in the War of 1812, then turned Argentine privateer and, eventually, pirate. He quickly became notorious for his brutality, and serious efforts were made to capture him. An attempt in 1821 failed, but he was taken and hanged in 1831. If the stories of his torture and rape of those he captured are true, the punishment probably was deserved. - RBW
File: CFRA028

Charles Giteau

See Charles Guiteau [Laws E11] (File: LE11)

Charles Guiteau [Laws E11]

DESCRIPTION: Charles Guiteau, having assassinated President Garfield, is unable to escape the law. His insanity defense is rejected, and he is sentenced to die.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: murder execution gallows-confession madness
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 2, 1881 - James A. Garfield is shot by Charles Guiteau, who thought Garfield owed him a patronage job. Garfield had been president for less than four months
Sept 19, 1881 - Death of Garfield
June 30, 1882 - Hanging of Charles Guiteau
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,So,SE)
REFERENCES (18 citations):
Laws E11, "Charles Guiteau"
Belden, pp. 412-413, "Charles Guiteau" (1 text)
Randolph 134, "Charles Guiteau" (2 texts plus 3 excerpts or fragments, 3 tunes)
Eddy 128, "Charles Guiteau, or, The Murder of James A. Garfield" (1 text)
BrownII 249, "Charles Guiteau" (4 texts, 3 fragments, plus 1 excerpt and mention of 3 more)
Chappell-FSRA 111, "Charles Guiteau" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Hudson 101, pp. 238-239, "Charles Guiteau" (1 text plus mention of 3 more)
Friedman, p. 230, "Charles Guiteau" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 56-59, "Charles Guiteau" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Combs/Wilgus 58, pp. 186-187, "Charles J. Guiteau" (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 142, "Charles Guiteau" (1 text, 1 tune, claiming to be a transcription of the earliest recorded version by Kelley Harrell -- but in fact the text has been slightly modified)
LPound-ABS, 65, pp. 146-148, "Charles Guiteau or James A. Garfield" (1 text, joined with "The Murder of F. C. Benwell")
Burt, pp. 226-227, "(Charles Guiteau)" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 192-193, "Charles Guiteau" (1 text plus a fragment of "James Rodgers")
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 48 "Charles Giteau" (sic) (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 290, "Charles Guiteau" (1 text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 478, "Charles Guitea" (source notes only)
DT 623, CGUITEAU*
ST LE11 (Full)
Roud #444
RECORDINGS:
Loman D. Cansler, "Charles Guiteau" (on Cansler1)
Kelly Harrell, "Charles Giteau" (Victor 20797B, 1927; on KHarrell02, AAFM1)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Charles Guitau" [instrumental version] (on Holcomb1)
Wilmer Watts, "Charles Guiteaw" (Paramount 3232)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Murder of F. C. Benwell" [Laws E26] (tune & meter)
cf. "Jack Rogers" (form and meter)
cf. "Gustave Ohr" (meter)
cf. "George Mann" (meter)
cf. "Ewing Brooks" [Laws E12] (tune & meter)
cf. "The Fair at Turloughmore" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Big Jimmie Drummond" (lyrics)
cf. "Mister Garfield" (subject)
SAME TUNE:
The Murder of F. C. Benwell (file: LE26)
Jack Rogers (file: Dean050)
Gustave Ohr (file: E121)
George Mann (file: E122)
Ewing Brooks (file: LE12)
A New Song on the American War (probably to this tune; in: Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 159, "A New Song on the American War" (reproduction of a broadside page)
NOTES: The song probably derives from "The Lamentation of James Rodgers" (executed Nov. 12, 1858) or one of its kin (e.g. "My Name it is John T. Williams") - PJS, RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: LE11

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Ca'eries Hae Sookit the Kye Dry, The

Cabbage and Goose

Cabbage Head Song, The

Cabin Boy

Cabin Boy, The

Cabin Creek Flood, The

Cadence Count

Cadger Bruce

Cahan's Shaden Glen

Cailin Deas Cruite Na MBo

Cailin Gaelach, An (The Irish Girl)

Cailin Rua, An (The Red-Headed Girl)

Cain and Abel (When the Great Day Comes)

Cain Killed Abel

Cairistiona

Cairn-o'-Mount

Caitilin Ni Uallachain (Cathaleen Ni Houlihan)

Cake, Cake, and Cairneyquhing

Calabar, The

Calder's Braes

Caledonia (I)

Caledonia (II)

Caledonia (III -- Jean and Caledonia)

Calendar Rhymes

Calibar, The

Calico Printer's Clerk, The

California

California Bloomer

California Blues (Blue Yodel #4)

California Boys

California Brothers, The

California Joe

California Stage Company, The

California Trail

Calinda

Calino Casturame

Call John the Boatman

Call My Little Dog

Call of Home, The

Call of Quantrell, The

Callino Casturame (Colleen Og a Store; Cailin O Chois tSiure; Happy 'Tis, Thou Blind, for Thee)

Calliope (This House is Haunted)

Calomel

Calton Weaver, The

Calvary

Cam' Ye By the Salmon Fishin'

Cambric Shirt, The

Camden Town

Came Ye O'er Frae France

Cameloun

Cameron's Gotten's Wife Again

Cameronian Cat, The

Camp at Hoover Lake, The

Camp on de Cheval Gris, De

Camp on McNeal, The

Campaign of 1856, The

Campanero, The

Campbell the Drover

Campbell the Rover

Campbell's Mill

Campbells Are Coming, The

Camphor Song, The

Camping in the Bend

Camptown Races

Can Cala Me

Can I Sleep in Your Barn Tonight?

Can of Grog, The

Can of Spring Water, The

Can the Circle Be Unbroken?

Can Ye Sew Cushions

Can You Rokker Romany?

Can'cha Line 'Em

Can't Cross Jordan

Can't Help But Wonder

Can't Help But Wonder Where I'm Bound

Can't They Dance the Polka

Can't Ye Hilo?

Can't You Dance the Polka (New York Girls)

Can't You Line It?

Canada I O