Fireball MacNamara's Address to his Pistols


DESCRIPTION: MacNamara talks to his pistols on the morning of a battle. He tells how he will kill foes. He fought at Vinegar Hill. Steel, not words, will "drive foreign foes from the land" "One eloquent blow ... Would gain you more glory than ages of speech"
AUTHOR: Michael Hogan (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST DATE: 1880 (Hogan's _Lays and Legends of Thomond_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: battle rebellion nonballad patriotic
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Moylan 128, "Fireball MacNamara's Address to his Pistols" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Moylan: "John 'Fireball' MacNamara ... was a noted duellist and adventurer. He was reputed to have taken part, incognito, in the battle of Vinegar Hill [June 21, 1798; see, for example, the references for 'Boulavogue'], and he seconded Daniel O'Connell during the latter's duel with D'Esterre in 1815 [see references for 'Kerry Eagle']." - BS
File: Moyl128

Firelock Stile


DESCRIPTION: A woman is crossing Firelock Stile, she catches her clothes on a nail. A man is dazzled by the sight; she says if he'd like to play, the price is 20 guineas. Six weeks later "she gave him some fire to keep him from cold." He curses her and warns others.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1953 (recorded by Harry Cox)
LONG DESCRIPTION: As a woman is crossing Firelock Stile, a nail catches hold of her clothes, and various private parts are exposed. A young man is dazzled at the sight; she tells him she's amazed at his gaze, but if he'd like to play, the price is 20 guineas. He would, he pays, they do, and six weeks later "she gave him some fire to keep him from cold." The young man curses her and warns others. Chorus: "On her rump-a-tump tooral tooral laddie-dy/Rump-a-tump tooral tooral day"
KEYWORDS: disease sex warning commerce bawdy whore
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Kennedy 173, "Firelock Stile" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, FIRELOK
Roud #1780
RECORDINGS:
Harry Cox, "Firelock Stile" (on FSB2CD)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fire Ship" (plot) and references there
NOTES: A stile was a wooden "stepping-over" place used for crossing fences; per Kennedy, it afforded prostitutes a chance to display their charms without being arrested for indecent exposure. "Firelock," of course, refers to the effect of the clap the young man catches. - PJS
File: K173

Fireman Save My Child


See No More Booze (Fireman Save My Child) (File: San208)

Fireship, The


See The Fire Ship (File: EM068)

First Arrival -- "Aurora" and "Walrus" Full


DESCRIPTION: "The first arrival from the ice Has just come in today; The good old ship Aurora And her colors waving gay." The ship arrives full of seals on Saint Patrick's Day. Captain Kean is celebrated. The Walrus is the next to arrive
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Old Home Week Songster)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 72, "First Arrival -- 'Aurora' and 'Walrus" Full" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Arrival of the 'Grand Banks' and 'Virginia Lake' With Bumper Trips" (theme, ships)
cf. "Arrival of 'Aurora,' Diana,' 'Virginia Lake' and 'Vanguard,' Loaded" (theme, ships)
cf. "The Sealer's Song (II)" (ships)
File: RySm072

First Arrival from Sea Fishery S. S. Fogota, 1912


DESCRIPTION: "The first arrival from the front Is just come in today; The little ship Fogota WIth her colors waving gay." The Fogota had set out early and taken a fine load of seal. Now they return to cheers. The singer wishes captain and crew well
AUTHOR: apparently Johnny Burke
EARLIEST DATE: 1912 (Burke's Ballads)
KEYWORDS: ship travel hunting return
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 82, "First Arrival from Sea Fishery S. S. Fogota, 1912" (1 text)
File: RySm082

First Come in it was a Rat, The


See Frog Went A-Courting (File: R108)

First Day Of Christmas, The


See The Twelve Days of Christmas (File: FO213)

First Families of Fall River


DESCRIPTION: "Old Roger Corey, old Doctor Turner, old Frank Brayton, old Hannah Leighton, old Mary Carter, old Squire Brightman, Buck Ben Durfee, and old Oliver Read! ... Long Gesh, short Gesh, corner Gesh, and Gesham's Gesh...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Linscott)
KEYWORDS: nonballad moniker
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Linscott, pp. 198-199, "First Families of Fall River" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3732
NOTES: The ultimate moniker song (i.e. list of people associated with a particular place or occupation): This doesn't even really say who they are; it just lists their names. - RBW
File: Lins198

First Good Joy That Mary Had, The


See The Seven Joys of Mary (File: FO211)

First Night's Courtship, The


DESCRIPTION: "When I was a big boy, wi' the thoughts o' the joy," the youth meets Maggie at the fair. After some persuasion, they return to her barn. Her father comes out raging, but they have locked the barn. They flee when he seeks another entrance
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Gardner/Chickering)
KEYWORDS: courting sex father children home
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Gardner/Chickering 167, "The First Night's Courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST GC168 (Partial)
Roud #3706
NOTES: Though seemingly known only from the Michigan collection, this song originated in Scotland and still retains its Scots feeling. I'm surprised it isn't more widespread. - RBW
File: GC168

First Noel, The


DESCRIPTION: "The first Noel the angels did say Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay." The shepherds and the Wise Men see signs and come to see and pay homage to the King (Jesus)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1823 (Gilbert, "Some Ancient Christmas Carols")
KEYWORDS: Jesus Christmas religious
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (5 citations):
OBC 27, "The First Nowell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 376, "The First Noel" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 226-227, "The First Noel"
DT, FRSTNOEL*
ADDITIONAL: Ian Bradley, _The Penguin Book of Carols_ (1999), #77, "The First Nowell" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "The First Noel" (on PeteSeeger37, PeteSeeger42)
SAME TUNE:
No L (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 203)
NOTES: Allegedly based on a Cornish carol found in manuscript in 1817, and perhaps printed in eighteenth century broadsides. - RBW
File: FSWB376A

First Nowell, The


See The First Noel (File: FSWB376A)

First of the Emigrants, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer is leaving England for Australia. He describes how the voyage began, and the difficult passage itself. Now settled in Australia, and prosperous, he prepares to go back to England in far better style than he left
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: emigration travel ship money return
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Doerflinger, pp. 149-151, "The First of the Emigrants" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 523-525, "Bound to Australia" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 383-384]
DT, FRSTEMIG*
Roud #9434
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Jock Stewart (The Man You Don't Meet Every Day)" (tune, meter, chorus)
File: Doe149

First Time I Met Her, The (Down in the Valley, Down in the Dark Alley)


DESCRIPTION: "The first time I met her, she was all dressed in white, All in white (x2), She gave me such a fright, Down in the (valley/dark alley) where nobody goes." Each time we see her, she is in a different color, telling stages of her baby's birth and death
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966 (Palmer)
KEYWORDS: colors clothes baby death
FOUND IN: Britain(England(West))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Roy Palmer, _The Folklore of Warwickshire_, Rowman and Littlefield, 1976, pp. 151-153, "The First TIme I Met her" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10123
NOTES: Palmer's version of this is rather explicit (interesting for a song sung by a group of 13-year-old girls), and the two versions cited by Roud are also from sources likely to produce rough versions -- and yet I seem to recall, somewhere in the past, running across a clean version. So I suspect this is a parody, even though I don't know what it is a parody of. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: RPFW153A

First Time I Saw My Love, The


See My Generous Lover (File: RcMGL)

First Time that I Saw My Love, The


DESCRIPTION: The first time the singer saw his love was in a storm. The next time she smiled and passed him by. They marry but despite her efforts they have no sex. She prepares to leave. They have sex. She says, "I've seen a misty morning Turn out a bonnie day"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: marriage sex husband wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1369, "The First Time that I Saw My Love" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #7241
NOTES: The last line is very close to the usual last line of "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" (specifically, "For a cloudy morning brings forth a shining day).
Is this the musical inspiration for Ewan MacColl's "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"? The tune of GreigDuncan7 1369a is not like MacColl's. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71369

Fish and Brewis


DESCRIPTION: In summer we fish and jig squid. In spring we log and "make just enough to have fish and brewis. If the cutting is bad then we'll go in the hole, there's no other redemption but live on the dole"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: fishing lumbering hardtimes nonballad food
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 123-124, "Fish and Brewis" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9962
NOTES: Peacock: "Brewis (pronounced 'brews' in Newfoundland) is hard-tack soaked overnight in water, boiled up with cod-fish the following morning, and garnished with 'scruncheons' (bits of fried pork fat). Fish and brewis is supposed to be the traditional Sunday breakfast in some parts of Newfoundland. I [Peacock] personally find it virtually indigestible at any time of the day. It is one of those national dishes like the Scotch haggis which mercifully has passed from popular usage so that its peculiar attributes may be more fully appreciated at infrequent ceremonial meals." - BS
Of course, un-soaked hardtack was also nearly inedible (especially to those with poor teeth); its only virtue was that it didn't decay. Something had to be done to make it swallowable, even if the result tasted like, well, wet flour. - RBW
File: Pea122

Fish and Chip Ship, The


DESCRIPTION: A fresh-water crew sets out "on a four-wheeled craft ... with a cargo of fried fish" The ship hits a Christmas tree. The wind blows off the skipper's wooden leg. The crew gets drunk on engine oil. The ship sinks but the crew escapes and saves the cargo.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1977 (recording, Bob Roberts)
KEYWORDS: commerce ship wreck humorous talltale sailor
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
Roud #1854
RECORDINGS:
Bob Roberts, "The Fish and Chip Ship" (on Voice02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The E-ri-e" (theme) and references there
File: RcTFaCSh

Fish and Chips (Down by the Liffey Side)


DESCRIPTION: John and Mary stop at Rabiotti's for fish and chips. They walk down George's Street. Mary plays Rule Britannia on her melodeon, then "The Soldier's Song." Sunday they plan to marry "with the whole afternoon for our honeymoon Down by the Liffey's side"
AUTHOR: Peadar Kearney
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (OLochlainn-More)
KEYWORDS: courting wedding river food music Ireland humorous river
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
OLochlainn-More, pp. 249-250, "Fish and Chips" (1 text, tune referenced)
DT, LIFFSIDE*
ADDITIONAL: Frank Harte _Songs of Dublin_, second edition, Ossian, 1993, p. 13, "Down by the Liffey Side" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Tan-Yard Side" (tune) [OLochlainn 41]
NOTES: The Liffey River runs about 80 miles from County Wicklow through Dublin to Dublin Bay. - BS
Peadar Kearny wrote, among other things, the Irish national anthem "The Soldier's Song" and "Whack Fol the Diddle (God Bless England)." For more on him, see the notes to "Whack Fol the Diddle (God Bless England)."
There is an interesting note in Harte, saying that most people "have a verse or two" of this, but not the whole song. And, indeed, Ben's description of the song (which I augmented) misses much of the text as given by Harte, including Mary's shift from playing "Rule Britannia" to playing "The Soldier's Song." Kearney's original text (with its not-so-subtle reference to his own most famous piece) is thus rather political, but it appears that the song as it has gone into tradition is much less so. - RBW
File: OLcM249

Fish of the Sea, The


See Song of the Fishes (Blow Ye Winds Westerly) (File: LxA496)

Fisher Song


See The Pittenweem Fisher-Wife's Song (File: GrD81760)

Fisher Who Died in His Bed, The


DESCRIPTION: "Old Jim Jones the fisher, the trapper, the trawler, ... the fish-killin' banker ... died in his bed." Song tells about his trawling, trapping, catching cod, salting, tobacco chewing, sailing, "his fishing days ended...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: death fishing sea ship memorial nonballad
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 127-128, "The Fisher Who Died in His Bed" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4551
File: Pea127

Fisherman Hanged the Monkey, The


DESCRIPTION: "There was a ship came on the coast, And a' the crew o' her was lost, Except the monkey climbed the mast, She ran ashore sae funky O ... The fishermen hanged the monkey O."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: death wreck animal
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan1 26, "The Fisherman Hanged the Monkey" (2 fragments, 2 tunes)
Roud #5806
File: GrD1026

Fisherman of Wexford, The


DESCRIPTION: The rule that none fish Wexford Bay St Martin's Eve was broken once: "upon that holy day Came a wondrous shoal of herring." Against women's cries the men went out to "sweep the Bay"; only two boats are saved when "a human shape" waves them back to shore.
AUTHOR: John Boyle O'Reilly
EARLIEST DATE: 1948 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck fishing supernatural recitation
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Nov 10, 1762: 70 are lost in Wexford Bay fishing disasters (source: Ranson; Bourke in _Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast_ v1, p. 52)
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ranson, pp. 21-23, "The Fisherman of Wexford" (1 text)
NOTES: Ranson: The ballad states that "Upon St Martin's Eve no net shall be let down ... within the scope of Wexford Bay." No one knows when or how the rule was established. "Down to recent years no fisherman would dare put to sea on St Martin's Eve. This ballad is very popular on the Wexford coast. I have never heard it sung, but it is often recited." - BS
File: Ran021

Fisherman Yankee Brown, The


DESCRIPTION: "My boys, if you will listen, I'll sing you a little song... He is a well-known fisherman... He's a very noted lawyer, and his name is Yankee Brown." From New York, he came to Beaver Island in [18]79. His exploits catchin huge fish and being a preacher
AUTHOR: possibly Frank McCauley
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (collected from Pat and Dan Bonner by Walton)
KEYWORDS: talltale fishing
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 187-189, "The Fisherman Yankee Brown" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Dan Bonner, "The Fisherman Yankee Brown" (1938; on WaltonSailors; the text is different in many particulars from the text in Walton/Grimm/Murdock even though it is from the same informant)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lumber Camp Song" (tune)
NOTES: The notes in Walton/Grimm/Murdock say this is sung to the tune of "The Shanty Boys in the Pine," which is indexed as "The Lumber Camp Song," though they don't say whose version of that widespread song. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: WGM187

Fisherman's Alphabet, The


DESCRIPTION: "'A' for abundance, this we all need ..." boats, caplin, dawn... zephyr. Chorus: "So merry... are we No mortals on earth are like fishers at sea; Blow high or blow low we're jogging along. Give us a fair cull and there's nothing goes wrong."
AUTHOR: Words: Chris Cobb
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: nonballad wordplay fishing
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 125-126, "The Fisherman's Alphabet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #159
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lumberman's Alphabet" (Theme and structure)
NOTES: To "cull" is to grade fish. - BS
File: Pea125

Fisherman's Boy, The [Laws Q29]


DESCRIPTION: A poor boy, cast adrift, wanders alone, crying that his mother died and his father was lost at sea. At last a kind woman takes him in and has her father find him work. The boy serves well until he grows up
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1856 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(1211))
KEYWORDS: orphan family servant
FOUND IN: US(MW,So) Canada(Newf) Britain(England,Scotland(Aber)) Ireland
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Laws Q29, "The Fisherman's Boy"
Greig #52, p. 2, "The Fisherman Boy" (1 text)
GreigDuncan5 961, "The Fisherman Boy" (7 texts, 10 tunes)
Eddy 67, "The Fisherman's Boy" (1 text)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 99, "The Poor Fisherman's Boy" (1 text)
DT 537, FISHBOY
Roud #912
RECORDINGS:
Micho Russell, "Poor Little Fisherboy" (on Voice02)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1211), "Fisherman's Boy," W. Jackson and Son (Birmingham), 1842-1855
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Soldier's Poor Little Boy" [Laws Q28] (plot)
cf. "The Farmer's Boy" [Laws Q30] (plot)
cf. "The Fisherman's Girl" (plot)
cf. "The Poor Smuggler's Boy" (plot)
File: LQ29

Fisherman's Daughter (I), The


DESCRIPTION: "I've been caught in a net by a dear little pet... She's a fisherman's daughter, lives over the water, She's going to be married next Sunday to me." He describes her beauty, her cheeriness, her singing. He looks forward to the wedding
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love courting marriage fishing
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 786, "The Fisherman's Daughter" (1 text)
Roud #7417
NOTES: I somehow doubt this song originated in the Ozarks. - RBW
File: R786

Fisherman's Daughter (II), The


See Sweet William of Plymouth (File: Grd1078)

Fisherman's Girl, The


DESCRIPTION: A poor girl is crying out in the street. She has lost parents and friends, and is left alone. As she passes a fine house, the owner calls her in. It proves to be her brother, and she is allowed to live happily there
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads fol. 119)
KEYWORDS: brother mercy orphan poverty
FOUND IN: US(MW) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Eddy 66, "The Fisherman's Girl" (1 text)
Warner 144, "The Fisherman's Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greig #54, p. 2, ("Down in the lowlands a poor girl did wander") (1 text)
GreigDuncan5 1077, "The Fisherman's Girl" (1 text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 479, "The Fisherman's Girl" (source notes only)
ST E066 (Full)
Roud #2809
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads fol. 119, "The Poor Little Fisherman's Girl" ("It was down in the country a poor girl was weeping"), J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also Harding B 16(208c), Firth c.12(328), Firth c.12(328), "The Poor Little Fisherman's Girl"; Firth c.12(447), "The Fisherman's Girl"
NLScotland, APS.4.86.5, "The Fisherman's Girl" ("Down in the Country A poor girl did wander"), unknown, c.1830
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Soldier's Poor Little Boy" [Laws Q28] (plot)
cf. "The Fisherman's Boy" [Laws Q29] (plot and some lines)
cf. "The Farmer's Boy" [Laws Q30] (plot)
cf. "The Poor Smuggler's Boy" (plot)
cf. "The Orphan" (theme)
File: E066

Fisherman's Luck


See The Frog (Fisherman's Luck) (File: MCB279)

Fisherman's Son to the Ice Has Gone, The


DESCRIPTION: "The fisherman's son to the ice has gone, On the quarter deck you'll find him; His belt and sheathe he has girded on...." The singer tells of finding and taking the seals, then returning to "Fair Terra Nova's daughters"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Murphy, Songs Sung by Old Time Sealers of Many Years Ago)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship reunion derivative
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 134, "The Fisherman's Son to the Ice Has Gone" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Minstrel Boy" (form)
NOTES: No tune is indicated for this, but -- as the lines quoted show -- it is patently a seal-hunting version of "The Minstrel Boy." - RBW
File: RySm134

Fisherman's Son to the Ice is Gone, The


See The Sealer Lad (The Fisherman's Son to the Ice is Gone) (File: RySm069)

Fishermen of Newfoundland, The


See The Flemings of Torbay [Laws D23] (File: LD23)

Fishermen's Song (We'll Go to Sea No More)


DESCRIPTION: "O blithely shines the bonnie sun Upon the Isle of May, And blithely rolls the morning tide Into St. Andrew's Bay." "When haddocks leave the Firth of Forth, And mussels leave the shore, When oysters climb up Berwick Law, We'll go to sea no more."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (Montgomerie)
KEYWORDS: fishing food
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 184, "(O blithely shines the bonnie sun)" (1 short text)
NOTES: This occurs in several anthologies of fishing poems, and I'm pretty sure I met is somewhere in the dim and misty past. I can't find any folk collections, other than the perhaps dubious one in Montgomery, but on the other hand, no one seems to know who wrote this. So I am, very hesitantly, indexing it.
It is ironic to note that this is largely coming true: Pollution and overfishing have nearly destroyed the fish stocks around the British Isles, and the small fishing vessels are nearly as extinct as the fish.
The Isle of May is a speck of land just about halfway between the north and south shores of the Firth of Forth, right at the spot where the Firth opens into the North Sea. It is thus the gateway from the Firth into the open ocean. - RBW
File: MSNR184

Fishes, The


See Song of the Fishes (Blow Ye Winds Westerly) (File: LxA496)

Fishing Blues


DESCRIPTION: Singer describes pleasures of fishing, boasting, "I'm going fishing, you're going fishing. You can bet your life, your (lovely/ugly/loving) wife I'll catch more fish than you...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (recording, Henry "Ragtime Texas" Thomas)
KEYWORDS: fishing
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 106, "Fishing Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Henry Thomas, "Fishing Blues" (Vocalion 1249, 1928; on AAFM3)
NOTES: The song is not in blues form; Henry Thomas was more of an African-American "songster" than a blues singer, tracing his musical style back to pre-blues traditions, including playing a rack of quills. - PJS
File: ADR106

Fishing on the Labrador


DESCRIPTION: The A&J Humby lands two fishermen at Goose Cove and heads for Labrador to hunt seals and trap cod. The crew are all named. They had a good summer. "We're a crowd of bold sharemen."
AUTHOR: Moses Harris
EARLIEST DATE: 1976 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: fishing hunting sea ship moniker
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 37, "Fishing on the Labrador" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The one line refrain is shared with "A Crowd of Bold Sharemen," an entirely different ballad about a summer of conflict. A shareman shares in expenses and profits. - BS
File: LeBe037

Fishy Crab, The


See The Sea Crab (File: EM001)

Fishy, Fishy in the Brook


DESCRIPTION: "Fishy, fishy in the brook, Daddy catch him on a hook, Mommy fry him in a pan, Johnny eat him like a man."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (Baring-Gould-MotherGoose)
KEYWORDS: fishing food
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #876, p. 326, "(Fishy, fishy in the brook)"
Roud #16338
File: MGMG876

Fit Comes On Me Now, The


See I Must And Will Get Married (The Fit) (File: SKE53)

Fit, The


See I Must And Will Get Married (The Fit) (File: SKE53)

Fit's Come Owre Me Noo, The


DESCRIPTION: Daughter and mother discuss the pros and cons of marriage and spinsterhood. Daughter has been courted by many and finally Willie comes and marries her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan7)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Daughter: "The miller and the mautman And Jack that holds the ploo'" are after me. Mother: You don't know the trouble of marriage and children. Daughter: I am tired of working for you. Mother: You have not worked hard yet; when you marry you will have to do whatever your husband says. Daughter: He can't ask more than I can do; "I mean to have a man"; don't you remember our old aunt who lived in a garret with just a cat and parrot. Willie takes her to church and they marry.
KEYWORDS: courting marriage wedding dialog mother
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1336, "The Fit's Come Owre Me Noo" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #441
NOTES: It's tempting to lump GreigDuncan7 with "I Must And Will Get Married (The Fit)" based on its theme and structure. However, it shares no non-chorus lines with that song. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71336

Fitch-Austin Feud, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, come and listen to my story Concerning that fierce, bloody fight Between the Fitch and Austin families." The Austins set out, armed, to repair a telephone pole; the Fitches, unarmed, resist. Several are killed. The singer warns against feuding.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: feud death technology
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 23-24, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: It seems most unlikely that this piece had any circulation in tradition; it's not good poetry, and quite confusing (at least if you don't know the participants). But with no source indicated, here it files. - RBW
File: ThBa023

Five and a Zack


DESCRIPTION: "I've been a few miles, I've crossed a few stiles, I've been round the world, there and back." He recalls is the place where the sanctimonious timekeeper "stung me for five and a zack." He expects to go to hell, with his complaint written on his tombstone
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1964
KEYWORDS: money boss death Hell burial
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Manifold-PASB, p. 96, "Five and a Zack" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: A "zack" is a sixpence. - RBW
File: PASB096

Five Bob to Four


DESCRIPTION: The singer complains of MacRose, "a little podgy," who lowered the daily rate for threshers from five bob to four. The singer curses him: "I hope his cows the measles take, his hens refuse to lay...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1955
KEYWORDS: money work curse
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 59-60, "Five Bob to Four" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA059

Five Constipated Men (in the Bible)


DESCRIPTION: "There were five, five, constipated men, In the Bible, in the Bible, There were five... in the five books of Moses": "Cain... who wasn't Abel"; Balaam, who couldn't "move his ass," Moses, who took two tablets, Samson, who brought the house down, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1999 (Digital Tradition)
KEYWORDS: humorous scatological Bible
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, FIVECMEN
NOTES: Although this does not seem to have been printed anywhere, and I know no field collections, it seems to be fairly well known in, shall we say, certain circles. Rather surprising, given that it's relatively clean.
What it is not is accurate. Of the five (or six) men mentioned, only three are in fact characters in the Five Books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy):
* Cain and Abel are described in the first part of Genesis 4.
* Balaam is the primary subject of Numbers 22-24; his journey with his donkey (the word used in most modern translations), in which the donkey stopped moving to avoid an angel invisible to Balaam, causing that prophet much (temporary) anger, is in 22:21-35
* Moses is of course mentioned throughout the Bible; the cutting of the two tablets of stone is first mentioned in Exodus 24:12 (although the King James Bible uses the word "tables" there, not "tablets"; the KJV never calls the carved stones of the commandments "tablets")
* Samson's story is in Judges, not the Five Books of Moses; he is the subject of Judges 13-16, with his destruction of the Philistine banqueting hall being told at the end of chapter 16
* Solomon again is not mentioned in the Books of Moses; his story occupies much of 1 Kings (almost all of chapters 3-11, and a big chunk of chapters 1 and 2 as well). It is retold in the early chapters of 2 Chronicles. The reference to him "sitting" for forty years is unclear -- he reigned for forty years (1 Kings 11:42), but that's not sitting. Although it should be admitted that he didn't do much except raise taxes and chase women.
* Some versions apparently add a sixth constipated man, Titus. This isn't even Old Testament, let alone from the Books of Moses. Titus is mentioned by Paul about nine times in 2 Corinthians (in chapters 2, 7, 8, and 12), and twice in Galatians 2; also in 2 Timothy 4:10, and he is the supposed recipient of the letter to Titus (although mentioned only in 1:4). Acts 18:7 also refers to a "Titius Justus," but the manuscripts disagree here (the two best read "Titius," several others read "Titus"; most late manuscripts omit the name; the King James Bible follows those which omit it). - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: DT5cmen

Five in the Bed


DESCRIPTION: "Two at the foot, Two at the head, And one in the middle Makes five in the bed."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fuson, p. 158, "Five in the Bed" (sixth of 12 single-stanza jigs) (1 text, probably just a floating verse)
Roud #16413
File: Fus158B

Five O'Clock is Striking


See My Boyfriend Gave Me An Apple (File: Hamm011)

Five-and-Twenty Masons


DESCRIPTION: "Five-and-twenty masons went to build a house." They built windows but no door. When they reached the ceiling they stopped [no roof?]
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: work humorous nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1697, "Five-and-Twenty Masons" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13038
File: GrD81697

Five-Gallon Jar, The


See The Big Five-Gallon Jar (File: Doe111)

Flag of the Free


DESCRIPTION: "Could we desert you now, Flag of the free, When we a solemn vow, Flag of the free, You from all harm to save, Made when we crossed the wave, And you a welcome gave...." The Irish immigrants promise to support the American flag against tyrants
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: Civilwar freedom patriotic nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scott-BoA, pp. 224-225, "Flag of the Free" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Eileen Aroon" (tune)
cf. "Robin Adair" (tune)
File: SBoA224

Flag with the Thirty-Four Stars, The


See The Northern Bonnie Blue Flag (File: SBoA218)

Flambeau d'Amour (Torch of Love)


DESCRIPTION: French. A father puts his daughter in a tower to keep her from her lover. She lights a torch to signal him to come to her. He tries but drowns in a storm. She finds his body. She cuts her vein to mix their blood and bring him back to life. She dies.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage courting drowning suicide sea storm father lover
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 671-672, "Flambeau d'Amour" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The belief that blood not only sustains but *is* life is ancient; the Bible, e.g., says so in Leviticus 17:11, 14. And, of course, in Christian belief, the shedding of Jesus's blood brought life to those otherwise doomed.
There is also the interesting point that to mingle blood is often to make a covenant -- the girl's sacrifice might also be a pledge of fidelity.
Other folk beliefs might also be involved, e.g. the belief that the blood of virgins could cure various diseases, such as leprosy. - RBW
File: Pea671

Flash Frigate, The (La Pique)


DESCRIPTION: "I sing of a frigate, (a frigate of fame/La Pique was her name/do not mention her name), And in the West Indies she bore a great name," but she is a horrible place to serve; the crew is worked hard and punished severely. Listeners are urged to avoid her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (Firth)
KEYWORDS: sailor hardtimes ship punishment
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 178-180, "The Flash Frigate" (1 text, 1 tune, which nowhere mentions the ship's name)
ADDITIONAL: C. H. Firth, _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ , 1907 (available on Google Books), p. 316,"The Fancy Frigate)
ST ShaSS178 (Partial)
Roud #2563
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dreadnought" [Laws D13] (tune)
NOTES: Many versions of this song, including Shay's, do not give the ship's name -- some, indeed, explicitly say the name is secret. But Shay says, without hesitation, that the song describes H. M. S. La Pique, described as a "blood ship" for its hard discipline.
The ship had a long career in the West Indies. According to Terrence Grocott's Shipwrecks of the Revolutionary & Napoleonic Wars, in 1798 she was captained by David Milne and helped capture La Seine but ran aground in the process. Milne would later undergo a court-martial for losing La Seine (which ship he had been given after the loss of his own), but was acquitted.
Milne's discipline may nonetheless have had some effect; he was in the vicinity of Portsmouth at the time of the Spithead mutiny, and in fact became a hostage of the delegates, but La Pique is not listed as one of the mutinous ships in Appendix III of James Dugan's The Great Mutiny (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1965), though on p. 190 Dugan quotes a letter saying there was a mutiny aboard.
For a seemingly fictional account of another "blood ship," plus information about the horrid case of the Hermione, see the notes to "Captain James (The Captain's Apprentice)."
A new British Pique, a 40-gun frigate captured by Charles Ross, was in service by 1805.
The final complaint, that working the ship leaves sailors invalids, is quite true; sailors' work was hard at the best of times, and often left men crippled; on a ship which ignored the human needs of the men, such injuries were naturally more common. - RBW
File: ShaSS178

Flash Jack from Gundagai


DESCRIPTION: The singer describes all the places he has sheared -- and some of the problems he's faced. He declares, "They know me round the country as Flash Jack from Gundagai." When possible, he prefers "Shearing for old Tom Patterson on the One Tree Plain."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Paterson's _Old Bush Songs_)
KEYWORDS: sheep work rambling Australia
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 146, "Flash Jack from Gundagai" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 134-135, "Flash Jack from Gundagai" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 243-245, "Flash Jack from Gundagai" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "Flash Jack from Gundagai" (on Lloyd3, Lloyd10) (Lloyd4, Lloyd8)
File: FaE146

Flash Packet Worts, The


DESCRIPTION: Apparently derived from "The Dreadnought," and describing a Great Lakes ship. "We're in a flask packet, a packet of fame, She hails from Oswego, and the Worts is her name." Apparently the voyage is up-Lakes, since they pass through the Welland Canal
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 2002 (Walton/Grimm/Murdock)
KEYWORDS: sailor ship
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 100-101, "The Flash Packet Worts" (1 fragment)
File: WGM100

Flash Stockman, The


DESCRIPTION: "I'm a stockman by me trade, And me name is Ugly Dave, I'm old and grey and I've only got one eye...." The stockman boasts of his amazing skill at his trade -- so great that "You can cut me fair in two, For I'm much too bloody good to be in one."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933
KEYWORDS: bragging horse work Australia
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 166-167, "The Flash Stockman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 224-225, "The Flash Stockman" (1 text)
File: FaE166

Flash Sydney Shearers, The


DESCRIPTION: "You've heard of the flash Sydney shearers, They're the flashest of men out of town." The singer tells of how they boast and fail to perfom: "He'll whip anything in creation, And ends up whipping the cat." Returning to town, they go on the dole
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1996 (Patterson/Fahey/Seal)
KEYWORDS: work hardtimes sheep
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 183-185, "The Flash Sydney Shearers" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Springtime It Brings on the Shearing, The (On the Wallaby Track)" (form)
File: PFS183

Flat Bill Beaver Cap


See The Beaver Cap (File: R355)

Flat River Girl, The


See Jack Haggerty (The Flat River Girl) [Laws C25] (File: LC25)

Flat River Raftsman, The


See Jack Haggerty (The Flat River Girl) [Laws C25] (File: LC25)

Fleeing Servant, The


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

Fleischmann's Yeast


See Uncle Joe and Aunty Mabel (File: EM374)

Flemings of Torbay, The [Laws D23]


DESCRIPTION: Two "fine young men" of Torbay are cast adrift for six days. They are unconscious by the time they are rescued by the coal ship "Jessie Maurice." Cared for by the captain, they are taken to Quebec
AUTHOR: Johnny Burke
EARLIEST DATE: 1920 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: sea rescue fishing
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May, 1888 - Rescue of the two Torbay sailors
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Laws D23, "The Flemings of Torbay"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 141, "The Fishermen of Newfoundland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 912-915, "The Flemings of Torbay" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Leach-Labrador 76, "Flemings of Torbay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 115, "The Flemmings of Torbay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 202-203, "The Flemings of Torbay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, pp. 50-51, "The Fishermen of Newfoundland; or, the Good Ship Jubilee" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 322, FLMTORBY
Roud #1821
NOTES: Schooners left manned dories in different strategic places to fish. Getting lost from the schooner was almost a constant hazard. - SH
According to the notes in Creighton-Nova Scotia, the end of this story was not quite as happy as the song might imply; the two brothers both had their legs amputated. Creighton's informant said that Queen Victoria herself paid for artificial legs, but Creighton could not verify this; the Flemming brothers were dead and Johnny Burke no longer remembered the details. - RBW
File: LD23

Flemmings of Torbay, The


See The Flemings of Torbay [Laws D23] (File: LD23)

Flies Are On the Tummits, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer has been farming all his life but "the only thing that flourishes is the damnation weeds." Flies are on his turnips... his live stock "eat me up and never turn out right." "No matters what I sell is cheap, but what I buy is dear"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1976 (recording, Ted Laurence)
KEYWORDS: farming hardtimes nonballad animal bug chickens horse sheep
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
Roud #1376
RECORDINGS:
Ted Laurence, "The Flies Are On the Tummits" (on Voice20)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Seven Cent Cotton and Forty Cent Meat" (theme of poor living for farmers)
cf. "The Turnip-Hoer" (them of a turnip farmer's life)
NOTES: Roud lumps this with "The Turnip-Hoer," with which it shares some lyrics, but Ben Schwartz and I both consider the general plots distinict enough to split them. "The Turnip-Hoer" is about the singer's employment history; "The Flies Are On the Tummits" about the hard life of a farmer.
Widespread growing of turnips, incidentally, was a relatively recent practice; for details, see the notes to "The Turnip-Hoer." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: RcFAOtT

Flim-A-Lim-A-Lee


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

Flodden Field [Child 168]


DESCRIPTION: King James vows to fight his way to London. Queen Margaret tries to prevent him, and Lord Thomas Howard supports her. James vows to punish them when he returns -- but he never returns; the English slay him and twelve thousand men at Flodden
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1597 (see NOTES)
KEYWORDS: war royalty family promise death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 9, 1513 - Battle of Flodden. James IV and the pride of Scotland's chivalry die in battle with the Earl of Surrey's English army
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Child 168, "Flodden Field" (1 text plus long appendix)
Roud #2862
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Flowers o' the Forest" (subject)
NOTES: Child's only text of this is from Deloney's Pleasant History of John Winchcomb. E. K. Chambers, English Literature at the Close of the Middle Ages, Oxford, 1945, 1947, observes that Thomas Deloney (1543?-1600?) may well have printed the text with some "improvements." It would be very interesting to know what was Deloney's source -- it might well have been nearly contemporary with the actual battle of Flodden.
King James IV was unusually long-lived for a Stewart king; he lived all the way to forty (1473-1513). But it wasn't for lack of trying; he twice went to war with England. The first attempt, in support of Perkin Warbeck, was in 1502, and accomplished nothing.
To cement the post-1502 peace, James IV married Margaret Tudor, the elder daughter of England's King Henry VII. (This was the marriage that eventually brought the Stewarts to the throne of England.) But that didn't prevent his warmongering. In 1513, the new English king Henry VIII was away in a sort of a mock campaign against France. James decided to go to war.
Unfortunately for James, the defense of the border was in the hands of Thomas Howard, then Earl of Surrey (1443-1524). Surrey was the son of John Howard, Richard III's Duke of Norfolk, and had fought for Richard III at Bosworth. But with Richard dead, Howard was given a partial pardon (being given the Surrey earldom though not the Norfolk dukedom). This may have been because, with Richard and the elder Howard dead, Surrey was the best soldier in England.
Surrey wanted to go to France with Henry (according to Garrett Mattingly, Catherine of Aragon, 1941 (I use the 1990 Book-of-the-Month club edition), p. 155, he was "choking with rage and grief" at not being allowed to join the invasion). But he ended up getting his chance to fight.... It was Surrey who led the army which intercepted the invading Scots.
The English and Scottish forces are believed to have been about equal in size, but Surrey outmaneuvered the Scots and inflicted a crushing defeat, killing James, the cream of his army, and about a third of his troops -- a defeat which came to be commemorated in the popular lament "The Flowers o' the forest.". Surrey lost perhaps 5%-10% of his own men.
Scotland -- as always when a new monarch came to the throne -- was plunged into chaos. The border was safe for many years. Surrey received the Norfolk dukedon, which has remained in the Howard family ever since. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C168

Flora


See The Lonesome (Stormy) Scenes of Winter [Laws H12] (File: LH12)

Flora MacDonald's Lament


DESCRIPTION: "Over hill and lofty mountains Where the valleys were covered with snow... There poor Flora sat lamenting... Crying, 'Charlie, constant Charlie, My kind, constant Charlie, dear.'" She hopes to meet him again, and repeats her refrain
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1779 (_The True Loyalist; or, Chevalier's Favourite_, according to GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: Jacobites love separation beauty royalty
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1720-1788 - Life of Charles Edward Stuart, "Bonnie Prince Charlie"
1722-1790 - Life of Flora MacDonald
1745-1746 - '45 Jacobite rebellion led by Bonnie Prince Charlie
Apr 16, 1746 - Battle of Culloden. The Jacobite rebellion is crushed, most of the Highlanders slain, and Charlie forced to flee for his life.
Jun 28-29, 1746 - Aided by Flora MacDonald, and dressed as her maidservant, Charles flees from North Uist to Skye in the Hebrides.
1774-1779 - period of Flora MacDonald's residence in North America
FOUND IN: US(SE) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan1 132, "Flora MacDonald" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 368, "Flora MacDonald's Lament" (1 text)
Roud #5776
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Twa Bonnie Maidens" (subject)
cf. "Skye Boat Song (Over the Sea to Skye)" (subject)
cf. "Flora's Lament for her Charlie" (theme)
cf. "So Dear Is My Charlie to Me (Prince Charlie)" (theme)
NOTES: This is one of those ironic little songs because it's so false-to-life. It is apparently not the same as James Hogg's poem of the same title, and the editors of Brown seem to think it was inspired by Flora MacDonald's brief and unhappy visit to what was in the process of becoming the United States.
The problems with this song include the fact that Bonnie Prince Charlie never showed any actual evidence of involvement with Flora MacDonald (1722-1790). The love of his life, if he had one, was Clementina Walkinshaw, who bore him his only child, Charlotte the shadow Duchess of Albany. Charles and Clementina had met in early 1746, before Charles met Flora (Wilkinson, p. 157) His later marriage (in 1772) was a political match, and produced no children -- indeed, Charles apparently beat his wife as much as he slept with her. Charles also ended up having a brutal quarrel with Clementina, so Flora was probably lucky that there was no relationship.
By the time Charles and Flora met, the Battle of Culloden had been lost and the Forty-Five was over. (For background on the whole Forty-Five, see the notes to "Culloden Moor.") Culloden had taken place on April 16. It was on June 21, while on the island of South Uist, that Charles and a handful of companions arrived at the home of 24-year-old Flora MacDonald.
According to Kybett, p. 227, she was unusually accomplished for a herdsgirl, having studied Latin and French as well as Gaelic and English. (But then, she was the stepdaughter of Clanranald; Brumwell/Speck, p. 233.) Her residence in South Uist was temporary, and she wished to return to Skye.
McLynn, p. 280, reports that "Miss MacDonald was at first taken aback by the audacity of the scheme and declined to be involved. The prince won her around. Though the best efforts of romantic novelists have not been able to work up anything remotely sexual between Charles and Flora, it is clear that the famous magnetism once again did its work.... Flora already had a passport to go to Skye and she was known to be returning within days. The authorities would certainly become suspicious if she asked for a passport for a manservant to accompany her, but would not jib at a female attendant."
Charles would, for a brief time would become "Betty Burke," and with the help of Flora -- and a lot of luck, for the first patrol to stop them was headed by Flora's stepfather (McLynn, p. 280) -- he managed to stay out of British hands. Charles and Flora were together for ten days "although she had barely spent that many hours in his company" (Kybett, p. 236).
"Flora MacDonald was arrested ten days later.... Flora was transported by ship to London and imprisoned.... As it happened, her fortitude and calm demeanor under questioning in London won her much respect and admiration, so that by the time she was released under the general amnesty a year later, Flora MacDonald had become a heroine" (Kybett, p. 237). Nonetheless she had spent six months in custody (Magnusson, p. 626)
When they parted, "[Charles] bade a courtly farewell to his savior Flora, 'For all that has happened, I hope, Madam, we shall meet in St James's yet.' But they were not destined to meet again, in London or any other place" (McLynn, p. 287).
Flora certainly did not spend her whole life mourning; in 1750 married another MacDonald (the son of MacDonald of Kingsburgh; Magnusson, p. 626); they went to America in 1774. During the Revolutionary War, her husband was (ahem) a British loyalist, and was commissioned a brigadier. He was captured by the rebels in 1776. Flora, reduced to poverty and reportedly with two of her children dead, sold most of her valuables and returned to England in 1779, where she died in 1790; her husband was released and followed in 1781. Her son Hugh died in North Carolina in 1780 (Kybett, p. 137).
The song also reports that "Flora's beauty is surprising, like bright Venus in the morning"; this too seems to be a bit of romanticism. There is a portrait in Jacobite costume by Allan Ramsay the son of the author of the Tea Table Miscellany which is now in the Bodleian Library (reproduced, e.g., facing page 216 of Wilkinson, in the photo insert in Kybett, and on p. 180 of MacLean -- though that copy is too small and dark to be useful), and another by Richard Wilson (Brumwell/Speck, p. 233) -- which, not being in Jacobite attire, seems never to get reproduced. While she was not ugly, I doubt she would win a beauty contest. I do have to note the irony of Ramsay, who became King's Painter in 1760 (Brumwell/Speck, p. 320), having painted the Jacobite heroine.
Nonetheless Flora's memory came to be venerated. Magnusson, p. 626, reports that every bit of her burial stone in Skye was taken off by pilgrims; a new stone had to be put up in 1955. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: Br3368

Flora, the Lily of the West


See The Lily of the West [Laws P29] (File: LP29)

Flora's Lament for her Charlie


DESCRIPTION: Flora and Charlie go "out for to gaze, On the bonny, bonny banks of Benlomond." Both are leaving and they will never meet again. She describes him. "My true love was taken by the arrows of death, And now Flora does lament for her Charlie"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c.1849 (broadside, NLScotland RB.m.168(178))
KEYWORDS: love separation Scotland nonballad Jacobites
FOUND IN: Ireland
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y3:013, "Flora's Lament For Her Charlie," R. McIntosh (Glasgow), 19C.
NLScotland, RB.m.168(178), "Flora's Lament for her Charlie," R. McIntosh (Glasgow), c.1849
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "So Dear Is My Charlie to Me (Prince Charlie)" (subject)
cf. "Loch Lomond" (verses) and references there
cf. "Flora MacDonald's Lament" (theme)
NOTES: Broadside NLScotland RB.m.168(178) is the basis for the description.
The first two verses are very close to "Loch Lomond," as described in the notes to that song.
The commentary to broadside NLScotland, RB.m.168(178) notes that, after her involvement in Charles's escape, Flora "was tracked and was imprisoned by the Hanoverians and she spent a year in the tower of London. She was eventually released in 1747 and died in 1790." Charlie is Charles Edward (1720-1788), grandson of James II. - BS
There are several of these "Flora's Lament" type songs, some of which may in fact be the same. (This looks rather like "Flora MacDonald's Lament with a "Loch Lomond" preface tacked on.) This one gets one thing mostly right: Charles Stuart and Flora MacDonald never did meet again. But it was hardly along-sundered love; Flora married as early as 1750. For details, see "Flora MacDonald's Lament,"- RBW
File: BdFLfhC

Florence C. McGee, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer calls hearers to learn of the Florence C. McGee. The ship sets out from Tampa in 1894, heading up the Atlantic coast, when a storm strikes. She runs aground and is wrecked. The owners come to observe their loss
AUTHOR: Llewelyn Murphy?
EARLIEST DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: ship storm wreck
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownII 286, "The Florence C. McGee" (1 text)
Roud #6639
File: BrII286

Florizel, The


See The Wreck of the Steamship Florizel (File: Doy31)

Floro


See Sheepcrook and Black Dog (File: HHH030a)

Flow Gently Sweet Afton


DESCRIPTION: "Flow gently, sweet Afton, among thy green braes, Flow gently, I'll sing thee a song in thy praise. My Mary's asleep by thy murmuring stream." The singer praises the river, and bids it not to disturb Mary's sleep
AUTHOR: Words: Robert Burns
EARLIEST DATE: 1793 (The Scots Musical Museum)
KEYWORDS: river love
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 253, "Flow Gently Sweet Afton" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 228, "Flow Gently Sweet Afton"
DT, FLOWAFTN*
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Away in a Manger" (tune)
NOTES: Burns obviously had a tune for this, but the common melody was copyrighted in 1838 by Jonathan Edwards Spilman.
Available records do not seem to indicate whether Burns wrote this song before or after the death of his beloved Mary Campbell. - RBW
File: FSWB253A

Flower Carol, The (Spring Has Now Unwrapped the Flowers)


DESCRIPTION: "Spring has now unwrapped the flowers, Day is fast reviving, Light in all her growing powers Towards the light is striving." Hearers are urged to praise God, who brings flowers to life in the spring -- and also resurrects humanity
AUTHOR: (translation claimed by the authors of the Oxford Book of Carols)
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (OBC; tune from Piae Cantiones, 1582)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad flowers
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
OBC 99, "Flower Carol" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 59, "The Flower Carol" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Good King Wenceslas" (tune)
NOTES: Properly this does not belong in the Index at all, since it is not folk song. Its inclusion is based on a curious mistake by Jean Ritchie. She and her family grew up singing "Good King Wenceslas," presumably for its tune. She wanted to include it in her songbook. But she had read the critique of J. M. Neale's "Wenceslas" text (see the notes to that song; I for one would consider them dead-on). So, instead of including "Wenceslas" in her book, which at least had the virtue of being traditional in her family, she included this text from the Oxford Book of Carols.
The irony is that the "Spring Has Now Unwrapped the Flowers" is no more original than "Good King Wenceslas" (since it's a translation), and it's also quite feeble -- and, apparently, it is even more recent than Wenceslas!
Just like "Good King Wenceslas," however, the tune (one of many great tunes from the Piae Cantiones) has carried "The Flower Carol" far: checking my collection of pre-1960 hymnals (which covers most although not all major denominations), none contain it, but it seems to be, um, popping up in many newer hymnals.
The text of this has very little of the Bible in it; flowers are not a common subject in either the Old or New Testament the word "flower" is used only 32 times in the King James Bible, very many of them in descriptions of cultic furnishings (in Exodus, chapters 25, 37, where in every case the New Revised Standard version renders "petals" rather than "flowers"; 1 Kings chapter 6). The only passage which reminds me even vaguely of this is Song of Songs 2:12, where "the flowers appear on the earth; the time of singing has come. But the Song of Songs is a love poem (or, rather, probably an anthology of them), not a song of praise. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: RitS059

Flower o' Northumberland, The


See The Fair Flower of Northumberland [Child 9] (File: C009)

Flower of Benbrada, The


DESCRIPTION: "One evening fair, to take the air, By Curraghlane I chanced to stray." He sees a beautiful woman, comparing her to goddesses. "This lovely fair beyond compare, She now intends to go away." He will not tell her name, but hopes he has praised her truly
AUTHOR: Francey Heaney
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: beauty emigration
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H537, p. 239-240, "The Flower of Benbrada" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9476
NOTES: Although the author refuses to give the name of the emigrating beauty, Sam Henry says she was one Lizzie Donarghy, who went to America at an uncertain date.
The references to the classic goddesses in this song are unusual. The reference to Flora, who makes things blossom, is not rare, but I don't recall ever seeing a song referring to Hebe, the daughter of Zeus and Hera who symbolized youth and was a cup-bearer to the Olympians. I can't remember mention of Proserpine, either.
The mix of names is itself interesting -- Flora was a Roman goddess with no Greek counterpart; Hebe is a Greek name (Latin Juventas); Proserpina is the Latin name of Greek Persephone. - RBW
File: HHH537

Flower of Breakshill, The


DESCRIPTION: "Some sing o' the maidens sa blythsom and free" but the singer praises "the flower of Breakshill." He praises her modesty and virtue, "her sweet smiling face Where roses and lilies are rivalled in grace"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1914 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: virtue beauty nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 721, "The Flower of Breakshill" (1 text)
Roud #6158
NOTES: GreigDuncan4 seems to be a fragment.
GreigDuncan4: "Brakeshill is a farm to the north of Mintlaw near Old Deer." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4721

Flower of Corby Mill, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer sets out to praise the Flower of Corby Mill. He describes meeting her on his was to Butler's Fair. At the fair, he and his friends drink deep and toast the girl. He refuses to name her lest her parents be angry, but she is a mill worker.
AUTHOR: William Brownlee (source: Tunney-SongsThunder)
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: beauty drink
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
SHenry H612, pp. 242-243, "The Flower of Corby Mill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 176-178, "The Flower of Corby Mill" (1 text)
McBride 30, "The Flower of Corby's Mill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-Maguire 26, pp. 67-68,114,167, "The Maid of Colehill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2928
NOTES: Tunney-SongsThunder: "Corby Mill was almost certainly situated on the Clough River and was built in 1789 by Ben Shaw."
While the place names are changed Morton-Maguire notes "this song is obviously a close relation to that given the title of 'The Flower of Corby Mill." In the last verse of Morton-Maguire "she says herself she'll marry me."
Other hidden name songs include "The Flower of Benbrada," "The Lovely Banks of Mourne," "The Santa Fe Trail," "Ar Eirinn Ni Neosfainn Ce hi (For Ireland I Will Not Tell Whom She Is)," "The Pride of Kilkee" and "Drihaureen O Mo Chree (Little Brother of My Heart)" - BS
File: HHH612

Flower of Corby's Mill, The


See The Flower of Corby Mill (File: HHH612)

Flower of Craiganee, The


See Craiganee (File: HHH749)

Flower of Dunaff Hill, The


See The Flower of Sweet Dunmull (File: HHH001)

Flower of France and England, O, The


DESCRIPTION: "As I was on my rambled, I came from Dover to Carlisle..." The singer goes to "The Grapes" to lodge. One of the serving girls is very pretty -- "the flower of France and England,O"; they are much attracted to each other and before long are married
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1876 (Christie)
KEYWORDS: beauty courting marriage travel
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greig #134, p. 1, "The Flower of France and England O" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan4 719, "The Flower of France and England" (2 texts)
Ord, pp. 188-190, "The Flower of France and England, O" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: W. Christie, editor, Traditional Ballad Airs (Edinburgh, 1881 (downloadable pdf by University of Edinburgh, 2007)), Vol II, pp. 42-43, "The Flower of France and England, O" (1 tune)
Roud #5532
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Corbshill" (tune, per GreigDuncan4)
cf. "The Banks of Sweet Dundee" (tune, per GreigDuncan4)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
One Night in My Parading
NOTES: Most scholars believe that the reference in the third line of the song to the town being "full of rebels" refers to the Jacobite Rising of 1745 (and Prince Charles's army did indeed spend time in Carlisle). But there is no other hint of this, and indeed, there were earlier conflicts (going back to the Wars of the Roses and even before) which might cause the singer to find "rebels" (i.e. people who disagreed with his politics) in Carlisle. - RBW
Greig/GreigDuncan4 have the "rebels" line as "The place being full of revels"; Christie, with the usual caveats, has "rebels." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Ord188

Flower of Glenleary, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, Crossgar's sunny hills are bespangled with flowers," but the singer yearns for Mary, the flower of Glenleary. He describes her beauty, and asks, "Fair maid of my dreams, did we meet here to sever?" He prays that she will be his
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H22a, pp. 232-233, "The Flower of Glenleary" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7986
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Braes of Balquhidder" (tune)
File: HHH022a

Flower of Gortade, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer calls upon the muses to describe the Flower of Gortade. He compares her to many classical queens and beauties. The girl, Margaret O'Kane, must leave for America, and hopes Ireland will someday welcome her back
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: beauty emigration
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H178, pp. 233-234, "The Flower of Gortade" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-StoneFiddle, pp. 120-121, "The Flower of Gortade" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2740
NOTES: This is a strange piece in many ways. Sam Henry credits it to "[the] local blind poet Kane, in honor of his sister," but his text seems composite: four eight-line stanzas of classical allusions in praise of the woman, and then two first-person stanzas in which she prepares to depart.
In addition, the classical allusions are rather a mess. Homer is called a great poet, but one who "sang of Athenians and Spartans so bold." Spartans are certainly mentioned in the Iliad -- Helen of Troy was properly Helen of Sparta, and Menelaus became King of Sparta was her husband. Mentions of the Athenians and Athens are few, however. Menestheus King of Athens brought fifty ships to Troy, but was so obscure a figure that the Greeks couldn't even agree if he died there.
In the next few lines, the poet commits the common abomination of referring to Greek goddesses by their Latin names.
Hector is described as having "consorts" (plural), but he had only one wife, Andromache.
The story then shifts to the story of Susanna, which is Biblical/Apocryhal (one of the Additions to Daniel). And so it goes. - RBW
File: HHH178

Flower of Magherally, The


DESCRIPTION: "'Twas on a summer's morning, The flowers were a-blooming-0, Nature all adoning... I met my love near Banbridge town, My charming blue-eyed Sally-o." The singer describes her beauty, wishes he could offer her wealth, and hopes to marry her even without it
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting beauty
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
SHenry H220, pp. 243-244, "The Flower of Magherally, O!" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 59, "The Flowers of Magherally" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBoyle 11, "The Flower of Magherally" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3009
NOTES: This instantly made me think of "Sally in Our Alley." The metrical form is quite close, and there are a few similar phrases in the tune, but there really doesn't appear to be kinship. - RBW
File: HHH220

Flower of Northumberland, The


See The Fair Flower of Northumberland [Child 9] (File: C009)

Flower of Sweet Dunmull, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer says he dwells in Ireland, and describes the beautiful scenes from the hill of Dunmull. From there he can see the ship to take him away. He could survive leaving it all, but how can he part from Nancy? He hopes someday to return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1923 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: emigration separation farewell home
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H1, p. 191, "The Flower of Sweet Dunmull" (1 text, 1 tune)
McBride 31, "The Flower of Dunaff Hill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2744
File: HHH001

Flower of Sweet Erin the Green, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer supposes her true love is "far from sweet Erin the green." He "vowed to be constant and true." She denied him and now blames herself for their separation. She warns maids "never your true love despise." She sees no peace but "yon dark silent grave"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1970 (Morton-Ulster)
KEYWORDS: love sex separation Ireland nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 144-145, "The Flower of Sweet Erin the Green" (1 text)
Morton-Ulster 22, "Erin the Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-Maguire 42, pp. 131-132,172, "Erin the Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2790
File: TST144

Flower of Sweet Strabane, The


DESCRIPTION: (The singer recalls meeting "Martha, the Flower of Sweet Strabane.") If he were King of Ireland, he would wish nothing better than her hand; she is the fairest girl he has seen. But she rejects him; he sails to America to start a new life
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (Grieg); the notes in IRMBarry-Fairs says it was published in a Derry newspaper in 1909
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection emigration beauty
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Greig #87, pp. 1-2, "Sweet Straeban" (1 text)
GreigDuncan4 722, "The Flower of Sweet Straeban" (1 text)
SHenry H224a, pp. 390-391, "The Flower of Sweet Strabane" (1 text, 1 tune)
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 58-59, "Martha, the Flower of Sweet Strabane" (1 text)
DT, FLWRSTRB*
ADDITIONAL: Richard Hayward, Ireland Calling (Glasgow,n.d.), p. 9, "The Flower of Sweet Strabane" (text, music and reference to Decca F-3374 recorded Dec 31, 1932)
Roud #2745
RECORDINGS:
Margaret Barry, "The Flower of Sweet Strabane" (on IRMBarry-Fairs)
McBride 32, "The Flower of Street Strabane" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: According to Sam Henry, this was composed in the 1840s -- it could hardly be much earlier given its current contents. Henry was of the opinion that it fell into two families, the first including the introductory verse about meeting Martha, the second beginning with the stanza about being King of Ireland. - RBW
McBride: "[John] McGettigan would have been responsible for its popularity as he recorded it on a record and was therefore taken back from America by returned emigrants in the 1930's and 40's."
The date and master id (GB-5416-1/2) for Hayward's record is provided by Bill Dean-Myatt, MPhil. compiler of the Scottish National Discography. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: HHH224a

Flowers o' the Forest, The


DESCRIPTION: Based on a pipe tune lamenting the battle of Flodden: "I've heard them lilting, At the yowes milking, Lasses a-lilting... Noo they are moanin On ilka green loaning. The flowers o' the forest are a' wede away." The song grieves for the men lost
AUTHOR: Words: Jane [Jean] Elliot (1727-1805)/Music: Traditional
EARLIEST DATE: 1803 (tune probably dates to the sixteenth century)
KEYWORDS: battle death mourning separation Scotland
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 9, 1513 - Battle of Flodden. James IV and the pride of Scotland's chivalry die in battle with the Earl of Surrey's English army
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
DT, FLWRSFOR*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 22, #3 (1973), p, 1, "The Flowers of the Forest" (1 text, 1 tune, the Norman Kennedy version, supplied with extremely inaccurate notes)
Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #197, "The Flowers of the Forest" (1 text)
Roud #3812
RECORDINGS:
Helen Blain, "Flowers o' the Forest" (Pathe 20017, 1916)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Flodden Field [Child 168]" (subject)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Lament for Flodden
File: BdFlOTF

Flowers of Edinburgh (I), The


DESCRIPTION: The singer mourns the loss of her bonny lad, driven away by her parents and "rival foes." She will board a ship "to that distant shore, To meet my lovely darling swain." "The bells shall ring and sweet birds sing, To grace and crown our nuptial day"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1804 (Scots Musical Museum, according to GreigDuncan4 830)
KEYWORDS: love separation sea ship nonballad father mother
FOUND IN:
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(7), "The Flowers of Edinburgh" ("My love was once a bonny lad"), unknown, no date
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Bonnie Laddie, But Far Awa (theme: parents drive lover away)
NOTES: As in the case of "The Flowers of Edinburgh" (II), reported by Greig, "The song appears to have been written as words for the well known dance tune 'The Flowers of Edinburgh'; the name of the song is not in the text."
Apparently broadside Bodleian, 2806 c.11(195), "Flowers of Edinburgh" ("My love was once a bonny boy"), H. Such (London), 1863-1885 is this song but I could not download and verify it. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BrdTFlEd

Flowers of Edinburgh (II), The


DESCRIPTION: "In by Clatt" Colin meets Felex singing "Flowers o' Edinburgh." He falls in love, takes her in his arms, but is rejected. She says "it's liberty I crave." He says "nought but her favour can yield my heart delight" She relents. They marry.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: love marriage rejection music
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #73, p. 1, "The Flowers of Edinrurgh"[sic] (1 text)
GreigDuncan4 830, "The Flowers of Edinburgh" (4 texts)
Roud #6248
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Flowers of Edinburgh" (I) (tune, per Greig)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
As I Cam in by Clett
NOTES: Greig: "The song appears to have been written as words for the well known dance tune 'The Flowers of Edinburgh'."
GreigDuncan4: Clatt is northwest of Alford on the road to Huntly." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4830

Flowers of Edinrurgh, The


See The Flowers of Edinburgh (II) (File: GrD4830)

Flowers of Fochabers, The


DESCRIPTION: "It was on the bonnie banks o' Spey To muse I sat me down." The singer sees a beautiful girl, the flower of Fochabers. He asks her to take pity on him. She turns him down. He declares that, when he dies, it will be for Petty Clapperton
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: beauty love rejection
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ord, p. 204, "The Flower of Fochabers" (1 text)
Roud #5538
File: Ord204A

Flowers of Magherally, The


See The Flower of Magherally (File: HHH220)

Flowery Garden


See Pretty Fair Maid (The Maiden in the Garden; The Broken Token) [Laws N42] (File: LN42)

Flowery Nolan


DESCRIPTION: At seventy one, Flowery Nolan, "a terror to all men," decides to marry. He marries the only acceptable candidate. When he tells his wife they would not sleep together -- "you are only but my serving maid" -- she goes home to her father's house.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1985 (IRTravellers01)
KEYWORDS: age marriage sex rejection husband wife
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #16693
RECORDINGS:
Mikeen McCarthy, "Flowery Nolan" (on IRTravellers01)
NOTES: Jim Carroll's notes to IRTravellers01: "Arranged or 'made' marriages were very much an accepted part of rural life in Ireland up to comparatively recent times... Women from poor house-holds which were unable to support the whole family would readily marry older farmers looking for a housekeeper, or maybe widowers with young children to care for."
IRTravellers01: Mikeen McCarthy tells, on the record, that Flowery Nolan was an old bachelor who only talked about getting married until he was 71. Then he advertised for a wife and the song tells how it went. The moral: "Never marry an old man Till you're fed up of your life, Or then you'll be coming home again Like Flowery Nolan's wife." - BS
File: RcFlowNo

Floyd Collins [Laws G22]


DESCRIPTION: Floyd Collins is trapped in a cave from which a rescue party cannot free him. He tells his parents that he had dreamt this would happen. At last, still trapped, he dies
AUTHOR: Worrds: Andrew Jenkins
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: disaster dream death family
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jan 30, 1925 - Floyd Collins is trapped in a "sandhole" cave near Mammoth Cave, Kentucky, where he is caught by a landslide. He was discovered by his brother the next day, but attempts to rescue him failed
Feb 16, 1925 - Collins is found to be dead
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,Ro,SE)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Laws G22, "Floyd Collins"
BrownII 212, "Floyd Collins" (1 text plus 2 excerpts)
Gardner/Chickering 125, "Floyd Collins" (2 texts)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 82-83, "Floyd Collins" (1 text)
Thomas-Makin', pp. 110-111, "The Doom of Floyd Collins" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 223-224, "Floyd Collins" (1 text)
DT 769, FLOYDCOL
Roud #1940
RECORDINGS:
Fiddlin' John Carson, "The Death of Floyd Collins" (Okeh 40363, 1925)
Vernon Dalhart, "Death of Floyd Collins" (Victor 19821, 1925)(Columbia 15031-D [as Al Craver or Dalhart Texas Panhandlers], 1925) (Banner 1613, 1925; Conqueror 7068, 1928) (Edison 51609 [as Vernon Dalhart & Co.], 1925) (Gennett 3197Champion 15048, 1926; Challenge 160/Challenge 315, 1927; rec. 1925) (Bell 364, 1925) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5049 [as Vernon Dalhart & Co.], prob. 1925) (Regal 9916, 1925)
Vernon Dalhart, "Floyd Collins Waltz" (Victor 19997, 1926) [a bizarre recasting of 'Death of Floyd Collins' in waltz time, with truncated verses]
Charlie Oaks, "The Death of Floyd Collins" (Vocalion 15099, 1925; Vocalion 5069, c. 1927)
Harry Smith, "The Death of Floyd Collins" (OKeh 45260, 1928)
NOTES: As the dates of the recordings show, this is really a popular song. But the number of versions collected show that it did become a folk song.
There are various claims about the authorship of this song. Brown quotes Thomas to the effect that it was written by one Adam Crisp. Laws, following Wilgus, accepts the attribution to Andrew Jenkins, who wrote other songs which became traditional. The attribution to Jenkins seems certain, however. Paul Stamler cites the statement of OKeh records A&R man Polk Brockman, who commissioned the song from Jenkins.
The 1925 sheet music (published by Shapiro Bernstein & Co and copyrighted by P. C. Brockman) credits the words to Rev. Andrew Jenkins and the music to Mrs. Irene Spain. Irene Spain was Jenkins's daughter. I would suspect that Jenkins fit the tune himself but put her name on it so the copyright could be held longer. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: LG22

Floyd Frazier (Ellen Flannery) [Laws F19]


DESCRIPTION: Floyd Frazier kills Ellen Flannery and hides her body. A search is started after her orphaned children are found crying. Her body is discovered, and Floyd is arrested. He confesses to the crime; the singer hopes he will be hanged
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909
KEYWORDS: murder children orphan
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws F19, "Floyd Frazier (Ellen Flannery)"
Combs/Wilgus 68, pp. 155-157, "Floyd Frazier" (1 text)
DT 735, FLOYFRAZ
Roud #695
File: LF19

Flunky Jim (Gopher Tails)


DESCRIPTION: Jim, the son and "flunky" of the farm, has shabby clothes, but intends to get a new ones with money from gopher tails. His father says his clothes are too small, but he has almost enough tails to buy new clothes, after which he will hand down his old ones
AUTHOR: Words: Dan Ferguson
EARLIEST DATE: 1963 (recording, Mel Bowker)
KEYWORDS: poverty clothes farming hunting hardtimes family father animal
FOUND IN: Canada
Roud #4555
RECORDINGS:
Mel Bowker, "Flunky Jim", also listed as "I Am the Flunky of the Yard (Gopher Tails)" (on Saskatch01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wearing of the Green (I)" (tune) and references there
NOTES: During the Depression of the 1930s, the Canadian government offered a bounty on gopher tails to encourage trapping them. Mel Bowker, who recorded this song, was the grandson of Dan Ferguson. - PJS
File: RcFluJim

Fly and the Bumblebee, The (Fiddle-Dee-Dee)


DESCRIPTION: "Fiddle-dee-dee, fiddle-dee-dee, The fly has married the bumblebee, Says the fly, says he, 'Will you marry me, and live with me, sweet Bumblebee?'" The fly promises not to sting the larger insect. Parson Beetle marries the two. All ends happily
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1740 (Wiltshire MS, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: bug marriage clergy courting
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Linscott, pp. 196-198, "Fiddle Dee Dee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 88, "A cat came fiddling out of a barn" (2 texts); 168, "Fiddle-de-dee, fiddle-de-dee" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #179, pp. 128-129, "(A cat came fiddling out of a barn)"; #276, p. 164, "(Fiddle-dee-dee, fiddle-dee-dee)"
Roud #3731
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Frog Went A-Courting" (theme)
NOTES: In the Mother Goose "cat came fiddling" texts, it is not a fly but a mouse that marries the bumblebee. It's not clear which combination is more original -- the wedding of two insects is less utterly illogical, so it might be an improvement, but the mouse might also come in by way of confusion with "Frog Went A-Courting" or the like. - RBW
File: Lins196

Fly Around My Blue-Eyed Gal


See Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss (File: CSW066)

Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss


DESCRIPTION: Dance tune: "Fly around my pretty little miss/Fly around my daisy/Fly around my pretty little miss/You almost drive me crazy." Floating verses: "The higher up the cherry tree/The riper grow the cherries..." "Going to get some weevily wheat..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (collected by Cecil Sharp, but some of the floating verses also show up in SharpAp 88, "Betty Anne," which he collected in 1916)
KEYWORDS: love dancing nonballad floatingverses dancetune
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 66, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 286, "Fly Around, My Blue-Eyed Girl" (4 texts, but the "D" text is mostly "Shady Grove"); also 78, "Coffee Grows on White Oak Trees" (7 texts plus 1 excerpt and mention of 1 more, but almost all mixed -- all except "H" have the "Coffee grows" stanza, but "A" also has verses from "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss"; "and "C" through "H" are mostly "Little Pink"; "B" is mixed with "Raccoon" or some such)
Hudson 145, p. 293, [no title] (1 fragment, the single stanza "The higher up the cherry tree")
SharpAp 268, "The Higher Up the Cherry Tree" (1 text, 1 tune); also 88, "Betty Anne" (1 text, 1 tune, with lyrics from "Shady Grove," "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" and "Going Across the Sea")
Darling-NAS, p. 254, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 39, "Fly Around My Blue-Eyed Gal" (1 text)
DT, BLUEYEGL*
Roud #5720
RECORDINGS:
Frank Blevins & his Tar Heel Rattlers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15210-D, 1927; on TimesAint01, LostProv1)
Frank Bode, "Susanna Gal" (on FBode1)
Samantha Bumgarner, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 146-D, 1924)
The Hillbillies, "Blue Eyed Girl" (Vocalion 5017, c. 1926)
Clint Howard et al, "Pretty Little Pink" (on Ashley02, WatsonAshley01)
Buell Kazee, "Dance Around My Pretty Little Miss" [fragment] (on Kazee01)
Bradley Kincaid, "Pretty Little Pink" (Brunswick 464, 1930) (Supertone 9666, 1930) (one of these is on CrowTold01, but we don't know which)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on NLCR03, NLCR11, NLCRCD1)
Lee Sexton, "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" (on MMOKCD)
Hobart Smith, "Fly Around, My Blue-Eyed Girl" (on LomaxCD1702)
Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers, "Fly Around My Pretty Little Miss" (Columbia 15709-D, c. 1931; rec. 1928)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Weevily Wheat" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Coffee Grows (Four in the Middle)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Up and Down the Railroad Track" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Missus in the Big House" (meter)
cf. "Seventeen Come Sunday" [Laws O17] (floating lyrics, some tunes)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Blue-Eyed Girl
NOTES: My guess is that this is a modified version of "Weevily Wheat." But Paul Stamler thinks it's separate, and certainly it's picked up a lot of floating material. So we classify the two separately.
This should not be confused with Laws P18, "Pretty Little Miss." - RBW
File: CSW066

Flyin' U Twister, The


See Bad Brahma Bull (The Bull Rider Song) (File: FCW68B)

Flying Cloud, The [Laws K28]


DESCRIPTION: Singer Edward (Hollohan) abandons the cooper's trade to be a sailor. At length he falls in with Captain Moore, a brutal slaver. Moore later turns pirate. When his ship is finally taken, the remaining sailors are sentenced to death
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1894 (Wehman)
KEYWORDS: sailor slavery pirate execution gallows-confession
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,NE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (27 citations):
Laws K28, "The Flying Cloud"
Gray, pp. 116-123, "The Flying Cloud" (2 texts)
Greig #118, p. 1, "William Hollander" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 44, "William Hollander" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Belden, pp. 128-131, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doerflinger, pp. 135-139, "The Flying Cloud" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 173, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 223-225, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text plus 1 fragment)
Creighton-NovaScotia 62, "Flying Cloud" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 842-845, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Leach-Labrador 58, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 111, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 223-226,245, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, pp. 145-147, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, p. 586, "The Flying Cloud" (1 tune, included in Hugill's entry on "Dixie Brown"; he states that it has been used for several forebitters, "Arthur Hollander" [i.e. "The Flying Cloud"], "Girls of Cape Horn" ["Rounding the Horn"], "The Sailor's Way," and "Go To Sea Once More" ["Dixie Brown"])
Rickaby 41, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dean, pp. 1-2, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 778-781, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 411, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 2, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text, 1 tune)
FSCatskills 115, "The 'Flying Cloud'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 9, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text, 1 tune)
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 183-186, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 504-507, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 845-847, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 98-100, "The Flying Cloud" (1 text)
DT 409, FLYCLOUD*
Roud #1802
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "The Flying cloud" [fragment] (AFS 4202 B1, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Clifford Wedge, "The Flying Cloud" (on MREIves01)
NOTES: Doerflinger notes that there is no pirate ship known to have carried the name "The Flying Cloud." He suggests that the story is based on the book The Dying Declaration of Nicholas Fernandez, based loosely on the life of one of Benito de Soto's pirate crew (Fernandez was executed in 1829). Doerflinger shows the title page of the book on p. 336.
Laws and others, though, note that most of these elements are commonplace.
Belden lists various other ships called by the name, but they were all legitimate vessels, including the clipper mentioned below that set the record, anchor to anchor, sailing from New York to San Francisco.
I wonder if the pirate's name "Moore" might have been inspired by the Moors, since the Barbary pirates were sometimes called (not very correctly) Moors.
The song feels fairly old, but the impression may be false. Most of the earliest references seem to be from about 1890, as if the song were composed in the 1880s or so.
Jonathan Lighter speculated, "My impression is that the song very possibly originated in the 1880s or a bit earlier, perhapsÊin a dime novel as no early broadside has ever been discovered. The evocative name 'Flying Cloud' may have been chosen because the fame of the real ship had long been forgotten by the general public."
If so, then the ship name was inspired by the clipper Flying Cloud, built 1851 (Howe/Matthews, p. 190), which twice set records for the New York-to-San Francisco run in the 1850s (Howe/Matthews, p. 192, notes that the record set on her fourth voyage still stood [as of 1926], and she also had a record on the Hong Kong crossing). Though to call a slaver by that name hardly seems a fitting tribute.
(Horace Beck explains this by positing that the slaving verses are not integral to the piece; he speculates that the whole thing is a composite of two songs. I agree that many versions include some verses, such as the description of the ship, which are somewhat odd and interfere with the thrust of the song. But this doesn't help much, because we're still left wit the Flying Cloud as a pirate.)
There is another possibility, though. Chapellen devotes a long chapter to slavers and privateers (combining the two because they had similar characteristics). He notes on p. 130, "The great American deity, 'Speed,' had no more devout worshipers than the designers and builders of privateers and of the small slaving craft that followed them.... [T]he ability to sail fast was the prime requirement of both privateers and slavers." In this context, it's interesting to note that the ship of this song was both a slaver and a pirate -- and pirates, of course, were essentially privateers minus a letter of marque.
The reason slavers needed speed was that they were illegal in both the United States and Britain. Britain of course bad banned slavery by the early nineteenth century, and while the United States did not, it did ban importing slaves from Africa. On page 154, Chapelle explains, "In the development nof fast-sailing craft, the slave-trade did not have any effect until after the War of 1812... The period of the specially designed slaver can be placed as between 1820 and 1855." Again, on page 161, "The necessity of speed in a slaver was obvious, once the cruisers [appointed to stop the trade] became active. There was also the very high mortality among the slaves from over-crowding during a long voyage, and so speed and profits went hand in hand."
Thus, if the song does date from the post-Civil War period, a likely reason for using the name Flying Cloud for the ship is that it would invoke the speed of the famous clipper.
If the song is slightly later still, and was first written only shortly before the Wehman broadside, I would note that a famous Great Lakes ship called the Flying Cloud had been wrecked in 1890 (Shelak, p. 118). - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: LK28

Flying Colonel, The


DESCRIPTION: "With a shit-eating grin on his face," the terrified pilot of a stricken bomber brings his plane home while other crew members bail out.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: Probably World War II vintage
KEYWORDS: bawdy war desertion technology flying
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cray, pp. 404-406, "The Flying Colonel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10401
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ship that Never Returned" [Laws D27] (tune & meter) and references there
cf. "The Wreck of Old 97" [Laws G2] (tune)
NOTES: Internal references would date this to the WW II saturation bombing campaign upon Germany. This seems to be one of the few air force songs to have achieved oral currency apart from mimeographed or Xeroxed songbooks. - EC
File: EM404

Flying Dutchman, The (Vanderdecken) [Laws K23]


DESCRIPTION: The crew has just escaped a harsh wind on a dark night when the Flying Dutchman appears. The fearful captain orders the crew to take in the sail. The Dutchman fails, as always, in its attempt to enter Table Bay. The sailors pity doomed Vanderdecken
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1881
KEYWORDS: storm ghost ship supernatural
FOUND IN: US(MA) Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Laws K23, "The Flying Dutchman (Vanderdecken)"
Doerflinger, pp. 148-149, "The Flying Dutchman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ranson, p. 45, "The Flying Dutchman" (1 text)
DT 406, FLYDUTCH*
Roud #1897
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.13(92), "The Flying Dutchman", H. Such (London), 1863-1885; Harding B 11(963) [last verse illegible], "The Flying Dutchman"; Firth c.26(130), "The Flying Dutchman!"
File: LK23

Flying Trapeze, The


DESCRIPTION: "Once I was happy, but now I'm forlorn, Like an old coat that is tatter'd and torn." The singer's young girlfriend has left him for a trapeze artist. This man, who "flies through the air with the greatest of ease," induced her to run away and join his act
AUTHOR: George Leybourne and/or Alfred Lee
EARLIEST DATE: 1868
KEYWORDS: love abandonment sports betrayal
FOUND IN: US(MA,So)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 69-72, "The Flying Trapeze" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 748, "Once I Was Happy" (1 text plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 63-65, "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 338-340, "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 270, "The Man On The Flying Trapeze" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 230, "The Flying Trapeze"
DT, FLYTRAP2* (FLYTRAPZ*)
Roud #5286
RECORDINGS:
Aaron Campbell's Mountaineers, "Man on the Flying Trapeze" (Chamption 45038, 91935)
Harry "Mac" McClintock, "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" (Victor 21567, 1928)
Walter O'Keefe, "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" (Victor 24172, 1932)
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(124a), "Flying Trapeze," Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1874
NOTES: Credited to George Leybourne (for whom see the notes on "Champagne Charlie"), but this song, like that one, may be mostly the work of the "arranger," Alfred Lee. Or the tune may be borrowed; at least, Johann Strauss used it as an "English Folk Melody" in 1869. - RBW
File: RJ19069

Fod


DESCRIPTION: "As I went down to the mowin' field Hu-ri tu-ri fod-a-link-a-di-do, As I went down... Fod! As I went down... A big black snake got me by the heel." The injured singer sits down and watches a woodchuck fight a skunk (and complains about the smell)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (recording, Henry King & family)
KEYWORDS: animal nonsense humorous injury dancing fight
FOUND IN: US(SW,So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Lomax-FSNA 213, "Fod" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 222, "Fod" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, p. 159, "A Mighty Maulin'" (twelfth of 12 single-stanza jigs) (1 text, perhaps from this though it's just a loose verse)
ST LoF213 (Full)
Roud #431
RECORDINGS:
Henry King, "Fod!" (AAFS 8)
Henry King & family, "Fod" (AFS 5141 B2, 1941; on LC02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "(I Can't Be) Satisfied" (words)
cf. "Springfield Mountain" (words)
NOTES: Roud catalogs this as a version of Springfield Mountain. Oy.
I stuck Fuson's single stanza ("As I went down to my old field, I heard a mighty maulin'; The seed-ticks was a-splittin' rails, The chiggers was a-haulin'") here because it sounds like it might be a loose verse of something similar, and because there is nothing else much like it. Round gives it its own number, 16395, but it's probably a floating verse from something. - RBW
File: LoF213

Fog-bound Vessel, The


DESCRIPTION: On payday Molly meets her boyfriend Villiam. He leads her away, kills her, and sails away. Her ghost wakes him and brings a fog that stopps his ship. The captain thinks Vill is the cause. Avenged, Molly disappears. Moral: girls, leave your money home
AUTHOR: W.H.C. West (source: GreigDuncan2 citing Fowler)
EARLIEST DATE: before 1886 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(2474))
KEYWORDS: courting murder money burial sea ship humorous ghost sailor derivative
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan2 202, "Vill, the Ship's Carpenter" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15.3
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2474), "Molly the Betray'd" or "The Fog-bound Vessel" ("In a kitchen in Portsmouth, a fair maid did dwell," W.S. Fortey (London), 1858-1885; also Firth b.27(226), "Molly the Betrayed" or "The Fog Bound Vessel"; Firth c.13(207), "Molly the Betrayed"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cruel Ship's Carpenter (The Gosport Tragedy; Pretty Polly)" [Laws P36A/B] (subject of parody) and references there
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(2474) is the basis for the description.
GreigDuncan2: "This is a parody of [The Gosport Tragedy] which appeared on broadsides."
As expected in a parody this ballad almost shares some lines with the original. For example, "...he led her o'er hills and down walleys so deep, At length this fair damsel began for to veep" and "...ve've no time to stand, And he took a sharp knife into his right hand; He pierced her best gown, till the blood it did flow, And into the grave her fair body did throw."
The "Young Villiam valked vith her" "dialect" is found in other "comical" parodies. See, for example, "All Around My Hat" - which refers to a pre-1834 broadside with the line "All around my hat, I vears a green villow" (the singer, selling vegetables from his cart, tells how his "hangel" was sent over for seven years for thievery) - and "Vilikens and his Dinah (William and Dinah) [Laws M31A/B]" (Dinah's suicide follows a threat by her father to marry or lose her inheritance). What dialect is this taken to be? In some cases, at least, it is Jewish: see, for example, broadside Bodleian Firth b.28(10a/b) View 5 of 8, "The Vindow Man" ("You'll guess my line of pizness by the things upon my back"), R. March and Co. (London), 1877-1884, which includes the line "I couldn't speak a plessed vord of anything but Yiddish." [Note that Yiddish, being a German dialect, shares the German trait of pronouncing "w" as "v" - RBW] Maybe the dialect should generally be taken to indicate any Germanic-speaker, but money plays a central part in each of these songs. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: FrD2202

Fogan MacAleer


DESCRIPTION: "There lived in bonny Scotland a man named MacAleer ... he had the queerest notions ... don't you know what I mean?" He asks the blacksmith's help to buy Lauchlan Ban's mare. The blacksmith tricks MacAleer so that he marries Ban's daughter Mary instead.
AUTHOR: Lawrence Doyle
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: marriage bargaining trick humorous horse father derivative
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ives-DullCare, pp. 156-159, 245, "Fogan MacAleer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13989
RECORDINGS:
Joseph Walsh, "Fogan MacAleer" (on MREIves01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Jolly Barber Lad" (see Notes)
NOTES: Ives-DullCare refers to "the Scottish custom of having a go-between approach the prospective bride's father to arrange for a marriage." Ives finds a manuscript of "a song called 'The Jolly Barber' which was clearly Doyle's model for this song." The key fragment here is "don't you know what I mean?"; the song is apparently indexed here as "The Jolly Barber Lad."- BS
File: IvDC156

Foggy Dew (I), The (The Bugaboo) [Laws O3]


DESCRIPTION: The singer courts the girl and takes her to bed "to keep her from the foggy dew." In the morning they go their separate ways. In due time the girl bears a son. The further course of the song varies; in some texts he marries her, in some she dies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1815
KEYWORDS: courting seduction weaving pregnancy bastard
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,Ro,SE,So,SW) Britain(England,Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Newf,Ont) Australia
REFERENCES (21 citations):
Laws O3, "The Foggy Dew (The Bugaboo)"
GreigDuncan7 1495, "The Foggy Dew" (8 texts, 8 tunes)
Randolph 105, "The Foggy Dew" (4 texts plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 99-101, "The Foggy Dew" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 105A)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 257-263, "The Foggy Foggy Dew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cray, pp. 61-64, "The Foggy Foggy Dew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logsdon 38, pp. 203-206, "The Boogaboo" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 137, "The Foggy Dew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cambiaire, pp. 57-58, "A Gentleman's Meeting (Down by Yon Riverside" (1 text, which starts out as "Pretty Little Miss" [Laws P18] but ends with 'The Foggy Dew (The Bugaboo)" [Laws O3]; Roud lists it as a version of Laws P18, but it appears that the larger part of the text is O3 -- though the material in the middle could be from either)
Sandburg, pp. 14-15, "Foggy, Foggy Dew"; 460-461, "The Weaver" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Combs/Wilgus 107, pp. 183-184, "The Bugaboo" (1 text)
Kennedy 174, "The Foggy Foggy Dew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 43, "The Foggy Dew-I"; 44, "The Foggy Dew-II" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 123-125, "The Foggy Dew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 518-519, "Foggy Dew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, pp. 37-38, "Foggy, Foggy Dew" (1 text, 1 tune)
PBB 83, "The Foggy Dew" (1 text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 126-137, "The Foggy Dew" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 159, "The Foggy, Foggy Dew" (1 text)
BBI, ZN2840, "When first I began to court" (?)
DT 333, FOGGYDEW* FOGGDEW2 FOGGDEW5 BOGLEBO*
Roud #558
RECORDINGS:
Bob Atcher, "Foggy, Foggy Dew" (Columbia 20538, 1949)
Phil Hammond, "The Foggy Dew" (on FSB2, FSB2CD)
Bradley Kincaid, "The Foggy Dew" (Decca 12024, n.d.)
A. L. Lloyd, "The Foggy Dew" (on Lloyd3, Lloyd5)
Pete Seeger, "Foggy Dew" (on PeteSeeger32)
Doug Wallin, "The Foggy Dew" (on Wallins1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sligo Town" (theme, floating lyrics)
cf. "Boodie Bo" (theme and many lines)
NOTES: This ballad should be [called] "The Foggy, Foggy Dew" to distinguish it from the Irish lyric love song "The Foggy Dew."
The original of this ballad is traced to a broadside ballad dating to 1815 in the collection of the antiquarian bookseller John Bell of Newcastle now in the King's College Library. See A.L. Lloyd, Folk Song in England (London, 1967). - EC
It will be observed, however, that the item ZN2840 in the Broadside Index dates to 1689. I have not been able to verify whether this is actually "The Foggy, Foggy Dew" itself or something similar. - RBW
In the very closely related "Boodie Bo" the singer has Boodie Bo dress in white (like a ghost) to frighten the girl he had courted unsuccessfully. When they go to bed and she starts to leave Boodie Bo returns and frightens the girl again. The story continues from there. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: LO03

Foggy Dew (II), The


DESCRIPTION: The singer goes out one morning and spies a beautiful girl. He asks her to marry. At first she hints of another lover, but when he approaches her again, she agrees to marry "if I know that you'll be true."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910
KEYWORDS: love courting
FOUND IN: US(MA) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
FSCatskills 76, "The Foggy Dew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 520-521, "Foggy Dew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 147, "The Foggy Dew" (1 text)
ST FSC76 (Partial)
Roud #973
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf."The Foggy Dew (III)" (tune)
NOTES: Although there are occasional similarities of both text and tune, this piece is not to be confused with Laws O3, "The Foggy Dew (The Bugaboo)." - RBW
File: FSC76

Foggy Dew (III), The


DESCRIPTION: "As down the glen one Easter morn" the singer is passed by a silent army who raise the green flag over Dublin. The Irishmen who died fighting for others had better died fighting for Ireland. "But the bravest fell ... who died at Eastertide"
AUTHOR: Canon Charles O'Neill (1919) (source: "The Foggy Dew" in _Wars & Conflict 1916 Easter Rising Rebel Songs_ by Franke Harte on the BBC site)
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (IRClancyMakem03)
KEYWORDS: battle rebellion Easter Ireland patriotic derivative
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Apr 24, 1916 (Easter Monday) - beginning of the Easter Rebellion
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
DT, FOGGDEW4*
ADDITIONAL: Frank Harte _Songs of Dublin_, second edition, Ossian, 1993, pp. 70-71, "The Foggy Dew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #973
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "The Foggy Dew" (on IRClancyMakem03)
Liam Clancy, "The Foggy Dew" (on IRLClancy01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Foggy Dew" (II) (tune)
cf. "The Boys from County Cork" (subject)
NOTES: By the time of World War I, most of the people of Ireland were basically loyal to the British crown; they wanted Home Rule, but as part of the British Empire (see, e.g., "Home Rule for Ireland"). Very many of them volunteered for the British army, and very many of them died in the trenches of Flanders.
A relative handful of the Irish wanted complete independence; naturally none of them volunteered. A handful of that handful, led by Padraig Pearse, planned rebellion (see the notes, e.g., to "The Boys from County Cork").
On Easter Monday, April 24, 1916, a small force (probably between a thousand and 1500 men) attacked Dublin. The center of the rebellion was the General Post Office, where Pearse read the proclamation of independence (which, since he read it in Irish, was mostly ignored by the Anglophone population). Over the building rose two flags: One, the harp on a green background, the traditional Irish flag; the other was the new tricolor whose orange and green bands stood ironically for a united Ireland.
The whole thing was a fiasco. The rebels surrendered April 29. At first, the people cursed and spat at them -- after all, they had ruined Dublin and killed about 250 civilians. Had the British left bad enough alone, imprisoning the rebels but no more, all might have been well. But they started court-martialling the commanders on the spot; three leaders including Pearce were executed May 3, and twelve more in the next nine days. Gradually public opinion began to change: the fool rebels became martyrs for Ireland, and when the next rising came, after the war, Britain could not brush it aside.
It says something about Irish politics that this song is allowed to be a slur on the memory of the Irishmen who fought for Britain in World War I. Unlike the Dublin rebels, the loyalist Irish killed no civilians -- certainly no Irish civilians! Their casualty rates during the war were higher (the Easter Rebellion saw 64 rebels killed and 12 executed, meaning the casualties were somewhere between 4% and 8%; roughly 11% of the soldiers in the British Army died during World Was I), and the wounds more frightful. And the loyalists spent years in trenches and mud, and died of gas and shrapnel and hanging on barbed wire rather than clean deaths by bullet. The British loyalists did not intrigue with the authoritarian regime of Wilhelm II. This is clearly the song of a man who had not been a soldier and had never been to Flanders.
Which just shows how hard it is to be objective. As an American, I can't see that it would have mattered whether Ireland was independent or the Irish still part of Great Britain, as long as they enjoyed the same rights as British citizens. (Which, admittedly, they never had.) They would probably have been better off economically, too.
The Irish however *do* see a difference. But Harte writes, "At this present time one hears the revisionists of Irish history express doubts as to whether the Easter Rising was really necessary or whether the men who fought and died might not have done so for the highest motives[;] this song tolerates no ambivalence but gives the full praise due to those men who gave their lives for our freedom." This of course does not change the fact that the song is unfair -- but it shows how important the Rising and related events are to Ireland.
(To give Harte his due, in the notes to the next song in his book, the un-traditional "When Margaret Was Eleven," he says, "There was a certain sadness about the soldiers of the 1914-1918 war[;] they never quite got the glory they felt they deserved for their exploits on behalf of the crown. Their glory was overshadowed by the action of the men who stayed at home and fought for the freedom of their own country.")
The two men mentioned in the song are, of course, Padraig Pearse, the organizer of the rebellion, and Eamon de Valera, a lesser leader who survived because he was an American citizen; he would eventually become the primary leader of the hard-line anti-English faction, helping lead Ireland to its Civil War but also guiding its destiny for many decades thereafter. For the stories of both men, see again the notes to "The Boys from County Cork."
Some versions also mention Cathal Brugha, who was one of the most extreme nationalists. Since the song was written in 1919, Canon O'Neill could hardly know that Brugha would eventually die in rebellion against Ireland's freely elected government -- but he did; see the notes to "The Death of Brugh."
According to Robert Gogan, 130 Great Irish Ballads (third edition, Music Ireland, 2004), p. 46, Canon O'Neill wrote this after attending the meeting of the first Irish Dail (parliament) and noting how many members were in British custody. Though it should be noted that this was a Sinn Fein assembly, with Unionist MPs instead going to London. It was a difficult time. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: RcTFDIII

Foggy Mountain Top


DESCRIPTION: Floating fragments: "If I was on some foggy mountain top/I'd sail away to the west...." "If I'd listened to what my mama said/I would not have been here today/Lying around this old jail cell/Just a-weeping my poor life away"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: love prison floatingverses nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
[Randolph 799, "If I Was On Some Foggy Mountain Top" -- deleted in the second printing]
BrownIII 365, "The Foggy Mountain Top" (1 text)
SharpAp 112, "The Rocky Mountain Top" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 42-43, "Foggy Mountain Top" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 66, "Foggy Mountain Top" (1 text)
DT, FGGYMTTP
Roud #11735
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "The Foggy Mountain Top" (Victor V-40058, 1929)
Carter Sisters & Mother Maybelle, "Foggy Mountain Top" (Columbia 20920, 1952)
Monroe Bros., "On Some Foggy Mountain Top" (Montgomery Ward M-4749/Bluebird B-6607, 1936)
New Lost City Ramblers, "On Some Foggy Mountain Top" (on NLCREP1, NLCRCD1) (NLCR16)
Ola Belle & Bud Reed, "Foggy Mountain Top" (on Reeds01)
NOTES: Some versions of this never-entirely-coherent song seem to have mixed with "The False Young Man, (The Rose in the Garden, As I Walked Out)" to yield mixed forms such as "White Oak Mountain." It can be hard to tell, with shorter versions, which is which. - RBW
File: CSW042

Foggy, Foggy Dew


See The Foggy Dew (The Bugaboo) [Laws O3] (File: LO03)

Folk o' the Muckle Toon o' Rora, The


See Potterton (File: GdD3392)

Folkestone Murder, The


DESCRIPTION: (Switzerland John) asks Caroline to walk with him. Her mother tells her she should take her sister Maria along. He stabs both girls and cuts their names into the turf. The murderer is taken and sentenced to death; in the last verse he bids farewell
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Gardiner ms.)
LONG DESCRIPTION: (Switzerland John) asks Caroline of Dover to walk with him to Shorncliffe Camp; she agrees, but her mother tells her it's not fit for them to walk alone, and that she should take her sister Maria along. They go, but before they reach Folkestone he stabs both girls to death despite their entreaties for mercy and cuts their names into the turf. Their parents grieve; the murderer is taken and sentenced to death; in the last verse he bids farewell, tells others to take warning, and hopes to meet Caroline in heaven
KEYWORDS: grief courting violence warning crime execution murder punishment death gallows-confession family
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
August 3, 1856 - Caroline and Maria Beck murdered in Folkestone
January 1, 1857 - Tedea (Dedea?) Redanies hanged for the crime
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South)) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kennedy 320, "The Folkestone Murder" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 61, "Maria and Caroline" (1 text)
Leach-Labrador 11, "Mary and Sweet Caroline" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #897
NOTES: Although the song is not properly a gallows-confession, the last verse is (it seems tacked on, and is similar to the warnings found at the end of many songs of this type). - PJS
File: K320

Folks on t'Other Side the Wave, The


DESCRIPTION: "The folks on t'other side the wave Have beef as well as you, sirs." The listener (clearly England) is reminded that the Americans are much like them, but will resist attacks on them -- and can hold off the English simply by running away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776
KEYWORDS: political warning rebellion
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scott-BoA, pp. 62-63, "The Folks on t'Other Side the Wave" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Published as a broadside in 1777, this piece was a highly accurate portrayal of the situation in the American Revolutionary War. Most of the colonists were actually loyal to Britain, but would fight if their rights were threatened. What is more, the colonists could win the war simply by not giving up.
This latter assessment was a good prediction of the way the war was fought. The British won the majority of the battles of the war -- but the fact that they were fighting thousands of miles from their bases meant that the Americans needed to win only ONE decisive battle. It took the colonials six years, but they finally did win such a battle -- at Yorktown. - RBW
File: SBoA063

Foller de Drinkin' Gou'd


See Follow the Drinking Gourd (File: Arn062)

Follom Brown-Red, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh it's of a noted brown-red cock in Follom he did walk." Tom Kelly takes his cock to Lurgan to fight. It wins. The owners and trainers are named.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973 (Morton-Maguire)
KEYWORDS: fight gambling moniker chickens
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Morton-Maguire 11, pp. 25-26,104,159-160, "The Follom Brown-Red" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2922
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cock-Fight" (theme)
cf. "The Kildallan Brown Red" (theme)
File: MoMa011

Follow Me Up to Carlow


DESCRIPTION: "Lift, Mac Cahir Oge, your face... Curse and swear, Lord Kildare! Feagh will do what Feagh will dare -- Now, FitzWilliam, have a care...." The singer hails the Irish rebels and their victory over FitzWilliam
AUTHOR: Words: P. J. McCall
EARLIEST DATE: 1962
KEYWORDS: Ireland rebellion battle bragging
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1569-1573 - First "Desmond Rebellion"
1579-1583 - Second "Desmond Rebellion"
1580 - Feagh MacHugh defeats Lord Grey of Wilton at Glen Malure
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
PGalvin, pp. 90-91, "Follow Me up to Carlow" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, FLLWCRLO
NOTES: The rebellions of the sixteenth century occurred at a time when English rule in Ireland was still very weak and incomplete, and began not as battles between Irish and English but as civil wars between Irish chieftains. The English, to preserve their power, often interfered with these quarrels.
An example was the conflict between the Earl of Ormond and the Earl of Desmond. Both were summoned to London, but Ormond was soon freed, while Desmond (Gerald Fitzgerald) and his cousin, James FitzMaurice Fitzgerald, spent time in English prisons.
The flashpoint came in 1569, when the Englishman Sir Peter Carew claimed certain of the holdings of Fitzgeralds and the Butlers in Carlow. The problem was made worse when, in 1570, the Pope excommunicated Elizabeth of England. FitzMaurice started a rebellion (quashed in 1573), though Desmond himself, crippled and irresolute, took no part.
Desmond spent some time in a sort of protective custody, but eventually escaped and was briefly frightened from his lethargy. He tried to create a strong position, and Elizabeth's new deputy, William FitzWilliam, did not at that time have the strength to oppose him.
FitzMaurice fled Ireland in 1575, having been set aside by his cousin Desmond. But he returned in 1579 with foreign aid (though only about 300 soldiers reached Ireland; the remaining 3000 men he had been promised had been frittered away before FitzMaurice set sail). FitzMaurice was soon killed, but the Europeans continued to meddle, and new forces landed. Desmond was finally forced into rebellion, and the English forced to send reinforcements, but the rebellion was put down by 1583.
The battle of Glen Malure was an extremely minor by-blow of the second rebellion, and led to nothing. It was, however, one of the few Irish triumphs of the campaign. The story is that the tune was composed on the spot; whether true or not, P. J. McCall added the words to commemorate the event. - RBW
File: PGa090

Follow the Drinking Gourd


DESCRIPTION: A guide to slaves fleeing to freedom. Various landmarks are described, and the listeners are reminded, "For the old man is a-waiting for to carry you to freedom." Above all, they are reminded to "follow the drinking gourd."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Texas Folklore Society)
KEYWORDS: slave freedom
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 227-228, "Foller de Drinkin' Gou'd" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 62, "Follow the Drinkin' Gourd" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 99-100, "The Drinking Gourd" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, FOLGOURD
Roud #15532
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Follow the Drinking Gourd" (on PeteSeeger46)
NOTES: The "Drinking Gourd" is, of course, the Big Dipper, pointing north to the Ohio River, New England, Canada, and freedom. - RBW
File: Arn062

Fond Affection, A


See Dear Companion (The Broken Heart; Go and Leave Me If You Wish To, Fond Affection) (File: R755)

Fond of Chewing Gum


DESCRIPTION: The singer "fell in love with a pretty little girl" who was "fond of chewing gum." He describes their courting, always recalling the gum. When they are to be wed, she cannot say "I do" because her mouth was full of gum. Now he avoids gum-chewers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1915 (Pound)
KEYWORDS: courting love marriage separation food humorous
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Randolph 368, "Fond of Chewing Gum" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 297-299, "Fond of Chewing Gum" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 368A)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 158, "Chewing Gum" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 239, "Chewing Gum" (1 text)
Roud #3714
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "Chewing Gum" (Victor 21517, 1928)
Lake Howard, "Chewing Chewing Gum" (Perfect 13128/Melotone M-13355/Oriole 8449, 1935; on CrowTold02)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Chewing Gum" (on NLCR10) (on NLCR12)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Railroader for Me (Soldier Boy for Me)" (floating verses)
NOTES: The Carter Family version of this song includes a number of floating verses ("I wouldn't have a lawyer/Now here's the reason why/Every time he opens his mouth/He tells a great big lie"; "Mama don't 'low me to whistle/Papa don't 'low me to sing/They don't want me to marry/I'll marry just the same"). Their absence in the Randolph text implies that they are intrusions. - RBW, (PJS)
File: R368

Fooba-Wooba John


See Martin Said To His Man (File: WB022)

Foolish and Young


DESCRIPTION: Foolish and young, the singer "courted for sport and married for fun." His wife nags and beats him. He won't cry if she dies and won't marry again. Women made fools of Samson, Solomon, Adam and Jacob. Beat her before you marry and she may be a good wife
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1832 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 25(670))
KEYWORDS: shrewishness marriage warning violence Bible humorous nonballad wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1299, "Foolish and Young" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #7197
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(670), "Foolish and Young" ("Ye sons of Mars, that fought at the wars"), J. Marshall (Newcastle), 1810-1831
NOTES: As the song states, women repeatedly made a fool of Samson; first there was the Philistine girl from Timnah, whom he sought in marriage; he ended up killing off most of her clan (Judges 14:1-15:7). Then he hooked up with a prostitute in Gaza, and would have been trapped in the city if he hadn't broken down the gates (Judges 16:1-3). And then there was Delilah, who learned the secret of his strength and betrayed him (Judges 16:4-23).
Solomon "loved many foreign women" (1 Kings 11:1). He clearly married them for diplomatic reasons (after all, his harem was larger than any reasonable man would want or need -- 1 Kings 11:3 says 700 wives and 300 concubines!). But, naturally, the foreign wives were allowed to maintain their own religions, and according to 1 Kings 11:4, these wives "turned [Solomon's] heart after other gods." The author of Kings blames the breakup of the Davidic Empire on this idolatry (1 Kings 11:11) -- although Solomon's excessive taxes, useless building projects, and bloated but inefficient military, plus the King's own inattention to the needs of good government surely played a greater part.
Adam of course was induced by Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:1-13).
It's less clear how women made a fool of Jacob. He did end up with two wives, Leah and Rachel, and two concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah -- and those complicated domestic arrangements did produce some family rivalries (see especially Genesis 30). But Jacob didn't really bring that on himself; he wanted only Rachel, and the rest followed from trickery by his father-in-law Laban and rivalry between the sisters Leah and Rachel (see Genesis 29). From what we can tell, people just kept shoving girls into his bed -- and he didn't argue too hard.
It is ironic to note that one of the most extreme Biblical cases of making a mistake over a girl isn't mentioned: David's adultery with Bathsheba. This is told in 2 Samuel 11-12, but most of the rest of that book is devoted to working out the disastrous consequences -- and the whole problem of Solomon is a direct result, since Solomon (who was clearly a worse king than the Bible wants to admit) was the son of David and Bathsheba. Like father, like son.... - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71299

Foolish Boy, The


See The Swapping Boy (File: E093)

Foolish Frog, The


See May Irwin's Frog Song (The Foolish Frog, Way Down Yonder) (File: Br3189)

Foolish Shepherd, The


See The Baffled Knight [Child 112] (File: C112)

Foolish Young Girl, The


See I Love You, Jamie (File: GrD51168)

Fools of '49, The


See The Fools of Forty-Nine (File: San107A)

Fools of Forty-Nine, The


DESCRIPTION: Crowds head for California and the gold fields. En route they suffer poverty, hunger, and disaster -- and few find gold. "Then they thought of what they had been told, When they started after gold: That they never, in this world, would make their pile."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1855 (Put's Original California Songster)
KEYWORDS: poverty hardtimes gold mining
FOUND IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Sandburg, p. 107, "(The Fools of '49)" (1 text found under "Sweet Betsy from Pike")
Scott-BoA, pp. 184-185, "The Fools of Forty-Nine" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, FOOLS49
Roud #8058
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "That Is Even So" (plot)
File: San107A

Foot and Mouth Disease, The


DESCRIPTION: An Englishman plunders a girl's father's land, leaving only the sheep he thinks have "foot and mouth" disease. If the singer marries her they can "save the herds and my father's life." The diseases "from England Were the cloven hoof and the dirty tongue"
AUTHOR: Joseph Plunkett (per OLochlainn)
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: marriage farming hardtimes England Ireland patriotic sheep father disease
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn 8A, "The Foot and Mouth Disease" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3069
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Youghal Harbour" (tune)
File: OLoc008A

Foot of the Mountain Bow, The


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

Foot of the Mountain Brow, The (The Maid of the Mountain Brow) [Laws P7]


DESCRIPTION: Jimmy woos Polly with a promise to work hard. He offers her crops, horses, and servants. She says he spends too much time and money at the inn. He observes that the money is his and he will do with it as he will. He leaves her; she regrets her words
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1913 (OLochlainn); c.1867 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 b.9(179))
KEYWORDS: courting money rejection
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Laws P7, "The Foot of the Mountain Brow (The Maid of the Mountain Brow)"
Dean, pp. 83-84, "The Maid of the Logan Bough" (1 text)
Gardner/Chickering 39, "The Foot of the Mountain Bow" (1 text)
FSCatskills 27, "The Maid on the Mountain Brow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 74, "At the Foot of the Mountain Brow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 45, "Maid of the Mountain Brow" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 42, "The Maid of the Mountain Brow" (1 text)
SHenry H84+H688, p. 364, "The Maid of the Sweet Brown Knowe" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 19, "The Maid of the Sweet Brown Knowe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 85-86, "The Maid of the Sweet Brown Knowe" (1 text)
MacSeegTrav 52, "The Maid of the Sweet Brown Knowe" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 494, BRNKNOWE
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 282-283, "The Maid of the Sweet Brown Knowe" (1 text)
Roud #562
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "The Maid of the Sweet Brown Knowe" (on IRClancyMakem01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.9(179), "The Maid of the Sweet Brown Howe," P. Brereton (Dublin), c.1867; also 2806 c.8(236), 2806 c.8(294), "The Maid of Sweet Brown Howe"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Largy Line" (tune)
cf. "Roll Me From the Wall" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
The Largy Line (File: HHH781)
File: LP07

Footboy, The


DESCRIPTION: A father learns his daughter loves a servant. He dismisses the servant, plants a ring on him, and has him arrested for robbery and hanged. The daughter climbs onto the gallows with him, stabs herself, and asks that they be buried in the same grave.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Fowke/MacMillan)
KEYWORDS: love ring robbery execution death betrayal trick suicide servant
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke/MacMillan 80, "The Footboy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3580
RECORDINGS:
cf. "Mary Acklin (The Squire's Young Daughter) [Laws M16]" (ring plot)
cf. "William Riley's Courtship" [Laws M9] (plot)
cf. "Henry Connors" [Laws M5] (plot)
cf. "Jock Scott" (plot)
NOTES: [A] similar story line to "William Riley," "Henry Connors," and "Mary Acklin" except that in none of those songs is the young man executed or does the girl kill herself.
According to Fowke/MacMillan, [this] song uses a metre and type of repetition more often found in older ballads. The fact that the servant is hanged suggests that it dates from an earlier periods than those in which the man is transported. The term "footboy" for a young manservant has a medieval flavour: it was in common use at the time of Shakespeare but had largely disappeared by the nineteenth century. - SL
File: FowM080

Footprints in the Snow


DESCRIPTION: Singer goes to visit his girlfriend, but she's gone out for a walk. He follows her footprints in the snow, finds her, and proposes. She accepts, and he says he'll never "forget the day/When Mary (Lily) lost her way/I found her footprints in the snow"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1876 (sheet music -- probably not the original)
KEYWORDS: courting love marriage
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, FTPRINTS
Roud #2660
RECORDINGS:
Big Slim Aliff, "Footprints in the Snow" (Decca 5316, 1937; rec. 1936)
Buckley & Skidmore "Footprints in the Snow" (Continental 8030, n.d.)
Cliff Carlisle, "Footprints in the Snow" (Decca 5720, n.d.; Decca 46105, 1947; rec. 1939)
Dusty Ellison & his Saddle Dusters, "Footprints in the Snow" (4-Star 1155, n.d. but post-World War II)
Rambling Red Foley, "I Traced Her Little Footprints in the Snow" (Conqueror 8304, 1934)
Bogue Ford, "Footprints in the snow" (AFS 4209 B1, 1939; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Clint Howard et al, "Footprints in the Snow" (on Ashley02, WatsonAshley01)
Bradley Kincaid, "Footprints in the Snow" (Varsity 8038, 1939) (Majestic 6011, 1947)
Bill Monroe and his Bluegrass Boys, "Footprints in the Snow" (Columbia 37151 1946; Columbia 20080, n.d.,; rec. 1945) (Decca 28416, 1952)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 2837, "Footprints in the Snow" ("Some lovers like the summer time, when they can stroll about"), unknown, n.d.; also Harding B 11(1660), Harding B 11(1661), "I Traced Her Little Footmarks in the Snow"
NOTES: This has become a bluegrass standard, and I suspect it was composed by one of the "brother acts" of the 1930s, possibly the Monroe Bros.? - PJS
Touched up, perhaps. But it's older, as the sundry recordings show (and that's not a complete list -- Vernon Dalhart also recorded the piece). - RBW
Broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(1660) states "This song is the sole Copyright of Mr. Geo. Lewis....,29,Quay Street, Manchester.
Country Music Sources by Guthrie T Meade Jr with Dick Spottswood and Douglas S. Meade (Chapel Hill, 2002), p. 214 states "Harry Wright, w&m[words and music],1880s/Geo. Russell Jackson, wds, C.W.Bennett,m,1886; Ref: (1)WCS[Wehman's Collection of Songs(NYC:Henry J. Wehman,1884-94),42 issues](July, 1891);....."
Steve Roud, in a BALLAD-L note: "A copy of the sheet music obviously came up on Amazon at some point in the past.... in fact it's there twice, as 1876 and 1878 [for Harry Wright]." In fact it's there [link no longer active] three times: as "I traced her little footmarks in the snow. [Song, begins: 'Some lovers like'.]" in 1876, and as "Footmarks in the Snow ... for the Pianoforte" and as "I traced her little footmarks in the snow. [Song.]" in 1878.
Incidentally, the 1931 record by Bernice (Si) Coleman and the West Virginia Ramblers ("Footprints in the Snow" on West Virginia Hills Old Homestead OHCS-141) uses words much closer to the broadsides than those on the later records I have heard by Bill Monroe (and, consequently, by Flatt and Scruggs).- BS
As noted above, the sheet music link is dead, and I have not found another. Searching the American Memory site failed to turn up another copy of the sheet music. It did, however, give a link to an item in the Duke University collection called "Footprints ON the Snow" (currently found at http://tinyurl.com/tbdx-FootOnSnow). The words are by J. B. Murphy, music and piano arrangement by J. Henry Whittemore (who also published the piece), from 1866. It clearly is not the same song, but there are occasional similarities. I wonder if it didn't inspire Wright to produce his song. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: DTftprin

Footprints on the Dashboard


DESCRIPTION: A father asks if the singer was the one who did the pushin', and left footprints on the dashboard upside down. The singer replies it was he, and now he has trouble passing water, "so I guess we're even all around."
AUTHOR: unknown (music by Antonin Dvorak)
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (music published 1894)
KEYWORDS: bawdy humorous disease sex
FOUND IN: Australia US(MA,So,SW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Cray, pp. 239-240, "Footprints on the Dashboard" (1 text, tune cited)
Randolph-Legman II, pp. 702-703, "Footprints on the Dashboard" (4 texts)
DT, HUMORESQ*
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fire Ship" (plot) and references there
cf. "Humoresque" (tune)
NOTES: This is sometimes incorporated bodily into "Humoresque." - EC (As see, e.g., the Digital Tradition version - RBW)
File: EM239

For A' That and A' That (I)


DESCRIPTION: "Be gude to me as lang's I'm here, I'll maybe win away' yet, He's bonnie coming o'er the hills That will tak' me frae ye a' yet, For a' that and a' that, And thrice as muckle's a' that...." She describes her love, and hopes he will make her well-to-do
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: love courting
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ord, p. 196, "For A' That and A' That" (1 text)
Roud #5536
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Man's A Man For A' That" (lyrics, stanza form)
NOTES: Ord thinks this Burns's model for "A Man's a Man for A' That." Certainly the form of the verses, and the "For a' that and a' that" chorus in line five of each verse reveal kinship. In addition, the Burns song is reported to be based on an item "The Jolly Beggars." Plus, this is a rare piece; so it's possible that the relationship goes the other way -- i.e. this might be a rewrite of the Burns song designed to be less political. Or, rather, less *overtly* political, perhaps reminding listeners of the other version.... - RBW
File: Ord196

For A' That And A' That (II)


See A Man's A Man For A' That (File: FSWB297A)

For He'll Plough the Furrows Deep


DESCRIPTION: "For he'll plough the furrows deep And he'll ramble up and doon Wi' his tearin' scythin' order For to mow yer meadows down"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: farming nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1087, "For He'll Plough the Furrows Deep" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #6775
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan6 fragment. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD61087

For He's a Jolly Good Fellow


DESCRIPTION: "For he's a jolly good fellow (x3), Which nobody can deny." (Other verses, if any, come from the other versions of this song)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1870 (tune dates to 1783 or earlier)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad floatingverses
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 250, "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" (1 text, with verses from all parts of the "Malbrouck" family)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 231-233, "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow -- (Malbrouk -- We Won't Go Home till Morning! -- The Bear Went over the Mountain)
DT, JOLLGOOD*
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "We Won't Go Home Until Morning" (tune) and references there
NOTES: For the history of this tune, see the entry on "We Won't Go Home Until Morning." - RBW
File: FSWB250

For I'm Nae Awa' to Bide Awa'


DESCRIPTION: The singer says he's not going to stay away. "Your laddie with the tartan plaid He'll come again to see you"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: courting parting
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #51, p. 2, ("For I'm nae awa' to bide awa'") (1 fragment)
GreigDuncan8 1853, "For I'm Nae Awa' to Bide Awa'" (1 fragment)
Roud #13959
NOTES: GreigDuncan8: "Cf. the similar verse given, perhaps mistakenly, as version E of [GreigDuncan2] 257 'My Ain Kate'." Maybe so, but that verse has nothing of the lines quoted in the description.
Greig's informant: "My mother says she often heard the verse sung at the end of 'Mormond Braes,' but does not know whether it had any connection with that song or not." I think the verse does not fit as an ending -- even as a surprise happy ending -- to "Mormond Braes." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81853

For Seven Long Years I've Been Married


DESCRIPTION: "For seven long years I've been married, I wish I had lived an old maid... My husband won't work at his trade." She complains about how hard her life is; her husband has broken his promises and wasted her wealth on drink
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (Gardner/Chickering)
KEYWORDS: husband wife drink poverty hardtimes marriage warning technology
FOUND IN: US(MW,SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Gardner/Chickering 44, "Seven Long Years" (1 text)
BrownIII 29, "Seven Long Years I've Been Married" (2 texts)
Roud #724
RECORDINGS:
Kelly Harrell, "For Seven Long Years I've Been Married" (Victor 21069, 1927; on KHarrell02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Single Girl, Married Girl"
cf. "Sorry the Day I Was Married"
cf. "I Wish I Were a Single Girl Again" (theme)
cf. "I Wish I Were Single Again (II - Female)" (theme)
cf. "Do You Love an Apple?" (theme, floating lyrics)
cf. "When I Was Young (II)" (theme)
NOTES: Kelly Harrell's version of this song appears to be modernized (it mentions automobiles and their failings), and the whole thing may be an update of one or another of the songs in the cross-rederences -- but it doesn't follow the standard pattern of any that I recognize, so I am forced to file it separately.
The notes in Brown say that this piece is found in Randolph's Ozark Folksongs, II 417. It's not in the second edition, however. It is true that a song on that page has been deleted -- but the deleted song is "Beautiful Brown Eyes." - RBW
File: RcFSLYBM

For Six Days Do All That Thou Art Able


See Six Days Shalt Thou Labor (File: Br3228)

For the Day Is A-Breakin' In My Soul


See Bright Morning Stars (For the Day Is A-Breakin' In My Soul) (File: Shel089)

For the Fish We Must Prepare


DESCRIPTION: Summer is near. "For the fish we must prepare." Fix traps, trawls, lines, clothes, yoke goats and fix fences so goats don't eat the catch, spay hens, catch and freeze bait, get government seed for the garden.
AUTHOR: Chris Cobb
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: fishing nonballad work gardening animal
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 130-131, "For the Fish We Must Prepare" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9963
File: Pea130

For the Orange and Blue


DESCRIPTION: "I was into a cat with laquer And I didna min on you Or I never wad forsake you For the orange and blue ... She's changed the green and yellow For the orange and blue"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1838, "For the Orange and Blue" (1 fragment)
Roud #13607
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Stone and Lime" ("change the green and yellow for the orange and blue") and references there
File: GrD81838

For the Victory at Agincourt


See The Agincourt Carol (File: MEL51)

For the Walk So Neat, and the Dress So Gay


See The Gallant Soldier (Mary/Peggy and the Soldier) (File: HHH782)

For Your Diversion I'll Sing a Sang


DESCRIPTION: "For your diversion I'll sing a sang, For my diversion it'll no be lang For your diversion my song's begun And for my diversion my song is done"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1651, "For Your Diversion I'll Sing a Sang" (1 text)
Roud #13055
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan8 text. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81651

Foreign Lander


DESCRIPTION: "I've been a foreign lander full seven long years and more...." The singer has "conquered all my enemies," but is defeated by his love's beauty. He offers illustrations of how faithful he is, and would give anything to marry her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1955 (Ritchie)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation travel soldier
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 64-66, "[I've Been a Foreign Lander]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5711
RECORDINGS:
Martha Hall, "Foreign Lander" (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
NOTES: The Ritchie versions of this song mention a "Queen Ellen." England never had a "Queen Ellen"; in fact, I know of no Queen Ellen of any nation.
England did, however, have three Queens Eleanor: Eleanor of Aquitaine (wife of Henry II), Eleanor of Provence (wife of Henry III), and Eleanor of Castile (first wife of Edward I). - RBW
File: JRSF064

Foreman, Well Known Jerry Ryan, The


See Jerry Ryan (File: Doyl3068)

Forfar Sodger, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer grows up in Forfar, where he is rather a cut-up. After many adventures, he joins the army. He loses a leg in the Peninsular War, but it does not bother him; "Snug in Forfar now I sit, And thrive upon a pension."
AUTHOR: David Shaw
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Ford); author Shaw died 1856
KEYWORDS: soldier injury money
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 163-166, "The Farfar Soldier" (1 text, 1 tune); cf. pp. 166-168, "The Perthshire Pensioner" (1 text, a Crimean War item adapted from the above and probably not a folk song in its own right)
Greig #74, pp. 1-2, "The Sailor Boy's Farewell" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan1 69, "The Forfar Sodger" (15 texts, 13 tunes)
DT, FORFARSL*
Roud #2857
SAME TUNE:
The Perthshire Pensioner (Ford-Vagabond, pp. 166-168)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Forfar Soldier
The Forfarshire Sodger
The Sodger
In Forfar I Was Born and Bred
NOTES: It will be obvious that the author of this song did not in fact have to live off the sort of pension paid by the British government in the early nineteenth century....
At least some versions of the song mention the singer being taught the "rule of three." This is a statement about proportions -- in effect, "if a is to b as c is to d, what is d?" (an equation in three known and one unknown term, hence the name). In modern fractional notation, we would say that a/b=c/d, and that the rule tells us that d=bc/a. A trivial calculation today, but it let minimally educated people calculate such things as the price of a fraction of a pound when the price for a whole pound was known. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: FVS163

Forget Thee No!


DESCRIPTION: "Forget thee -- no! how could I ever? Forget the one my heart admires? No by my soul I'll swear I'll never Forget thee until life expires"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1835, "Forget Thee No!" (1 short text)
Roud #13602
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan8 text.
GreigDuncan8: apparently a verse for a valentine or album. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD1835

Forget You I Never May


DESCRIPTION: "Fare thee well, for once I loved you Even more than tongue can tell, Little did I think you'd leave me, Now I bid you all farewell." The singer tells how (s)he loved him, asks why he is unkind, and ends, "I'll forgive you, But forget you I never may."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: love betrayal farewell
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 737, "Forget You I Never May" (1 text)
BrownII 154, "You Are False, But I'll Forgive You" (3 texts)
Roud #460
RECORDINGS:
Buell Kazee, "You Are False But I'll Forgive you" (Brunswick 217, 1928/Supertone S-2047, 1930)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Can Forgive But Not Forget (Sweetheart, Farewell)"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
You Were False
Fare Thee Well
NOTES: Roud links this with a large number of other lost-but-not-forgotten love songs. In most cases, however, the link seems more thematic than textual. - RBW
To me this reeks of a Victorian parlor-song origin. I expect the sheet music to turn up any day now. - PJS
File: R737

Forglen (Forglen You Know, Strichen's Plantins)


DESCRIPTION: The singer comes across young lovers who are preparing to part. The man wishes he did not have to go, but he has no choice. He praises her in many lyric ways, some not obviously complimentary: "Your love is like the moon That wanders up and down."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: love separation parting
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1547, "Strichen's Plantins" (30 texts, 19 tunes)
Greig #2, pp. 1-2, "Strichen's Plantins"; Greig #4, p. 3, "Strichen's Plantins" (2 texts)
Ord, pp. 79-80, "Forglen You Know" (1 text)
Roud #6286
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Curragh of Kildare" (lyrics, form)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Forglen's Plantins
Forglen's Woods
In Strichen You Know
In Brigtown You Know
NOTES: Versions of this take whole stanzas from the "Curragh of Kildare/Winter It Is Past" family; whether there is dependence I don't know.
The reference to David and his family being banished probably refers to 1 Samuel 22:3-4; although David himself had fled Saul three chapters earlier, this is the first reference to his family going into exile (in Moab).
The reference to Lazarus appears to be the Lazarus of Luke (16:19-31), not the Lazarus of John, even though Luke's Lazarus is simply the subject of a parable, not a real person; this is not the only instance in traditional song of this Lazarus being treated as real. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Ord079

Forsaken


DESCRIPTION: The singer's lover went away and is now "blest with a partner whom you love" but cannot love him more than the singer. "May she prosper in your arms." "I hope my dear you'll try and shun The road that leads to hell" but God's judgement is coming soon.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: infidelity love parting nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1178, "Forsaken" (1 text)
Roud #6812
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Forsaken Lover" (II) (theme and one verse)
NOTES: The verse shared by "Forsaken" and "A Forsaken Lover" (II) seems an unlikely floater: "I little thought when we did part That you would prove unkind But distance does [indifference know/a difference make] [That/Since] you have changed your mind" - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD61178

Forsaken Folk Maun Live


DESCRIPTION: In the chorus the singer says "forsaken folk" may live in woe and pain and she is "one of them." She refuses the gardner's choice of flowers. But the future may be better.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: love flowers gardening nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1182, "Forsaken Folk Maun Live" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6806
NOTES: GreigDuncan6 has two verses splintered from floating verses of "Seeds of Love" ("The gardner o this garden He gae me choices three The violet, garland, the primrose But I refused the three"), "The Dark-Eyed Sailor" ("Perhaps a misty morning Will grow a bonnie day") and, with a stretch, "The Cuckoo" (admittedly, "If I am forsaken, I'll not be forsworn" is not "Although I be cast down Yet they cast me not away"); the chorus does not seem to have floated here. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD61182

Forsaken Lover (II), A


DESCRIPTION: A letter to a lover who proved untrue after going away: "Another maid has filled your arms The place that once was mine." "But I'll not try to buy your love... Since all is false you've said to me It is best for us to part."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: infidelity love parting nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1179, "A Forsaken Lover" (1 text)
Roud #6813
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Forsaken" (theme and one verse)
NOTES: The verse shared by "Forsaken" and "A Forsaken Lover" (II) seems an unlikely floater: "I little thought when we did part That you would prove unkind But distance does [indifference know/a difference make] [That/Since] you have changed your mind" - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD61179

Forsaken Lover, A


See On Top of Old Smokey (File: BSoF740)

Forsaken Mother and Child, The


See The Fatal Snowstorm [Laws P20] (File: LP20)

Fort Thomas Murder, The


See Pearl Bryan (III) [Laws F3] AND Pearl Bryan (IV) (File: LF03)

Fortification of New Ross, The


See The Entrenchment of Ross (File: CrPS262)

Fortune My Foe (Aim Not Too High)


DESCRIPTION: "Fortune my foe, why dost thou frown on me? And will thy favour never better be?" The singer laments the sad fortune that has stolen his love away, and hopes for ease. Notable primarily for the tune, often cited under the title "Aim Not Too High"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1610 (W. Corkine's Instruction Book for the Lute)
KEYWORDS: love separation nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 76-79, "Fortune" (1 tune, with partial texts of "Fortune My Foe" and "Aim Not Too High")
BBI ZN912, "Fortune my foe, why dost thou frown on me"
DT, FORTFOE*
ST ChWI076 (Full)
SAME TUNE:
A Caveat for Young-men/Give ear to me you youngmen whilst I write (BBI ZN963)
The Great Assize../Here is presented to the eye (BBI ZN1135)
The Disturbed Ghost/Good Christain people all pray lend an ear (BBI ZN992)
A Looking- Glass for Traytors [executed Dec. 3, 1678]/Let all bold Traytors here come take a view (BBI ZN1614)
The true manner of the Kings Tryal/King Charles was once a Prince of great state (BBI ZN1578)
A Pill against Popery/Kind countrymen give ear unto these lines (BBI ZN1565)
A Godly Guide of Directions/Good people all I pray you understand (BBI ZN1034)
Newes from Hereford..Earthquake [Oct. 1, 1661]/Old England of thy sins in time repent (BBI ZN2135)
The Godly Mans Instruction/Good people all I pray hear what I read (BBI ZN1031)
Sad News from Salisbury. Dreadful Frost and Snow.. 23d. of December, 1684/Good Christians all that live both far & near (BBI ZN999)
Dying Tears [death of Henry, son of K. Chas. I, 13 Sept., 1660]/Great are the wonders that our God has done (BBI ZN1072)
The Bloody-minded Husband... John Chamber/Good people all I pray attend, and mind (BBI ZN1025)
The Bloody Murtherer..James Selbee/All you that come to see my fatal end (BBI ZN115)
The Gunpowder Plot/True Protestants I pray you to draw near (BBI ZN2674) [cf. in this Index "Guy Fawkes"]
The Downfall of Pride/In London liv'd a wealthy merchants wife (BBI ZN1439)
The Distressed Gentlewoman/Good people all, I pray you now draw near (BBI ZN1032)
The Royal Court in Mourning.. Death.. King William/England, thy Sun have shined many years (BBI ZN828)
The Young-Mans A. B. C./Accept dear Love, these shadows of my grief (BBI ZN6)
..Strange and Wonderful Storm of Hail.. 18th of May 1680../Good Christians all attend unto my ditty (BBI ZN997)
Criminals Cruelty.. Tho. Wise.. murdered Elizabeth Fairbank.. executed.. Oct. 1684/Oh! this would make a stout heart lament (BBI ZN2048)
Englands Miseries..preserving ..Royal Brother.. last horrid Plot/Old England now rise up with one accord (BBI ZN2134)
Looking-glass for a Christian Family/All you that fear the Lord that rules the sky (BBI ZN133)
Looking-Glass for all true Christians/O hark, O hark, methinks I hear a voice (BBI ZN2012)
The Despairing Lover/Break heart and dye, I can no longer live (BBI ZN449)
The Young Man's Counsellor/All you that to begin the world intend (BBI ZN149)
[Title lost. Naval Warfare of 1692]/To God alone, let us all Glory give (BBI ZN2641); C. H. Firth, _Publications of the Navy Records Society_ , 1907 (available on Google Books), p. 114
The Kentish Wonder/You faithful Christians, whereso'er you be (BBI ZN3008)
The Young- Mans Repentance/You that have spent your time in wickedness (BBI ZN3127)
Dying Christians friendly Advice/You mortal men who vainly spend your youth (BBI ZN3073)
Truth brought to Light/Amongst those wonders which on earth are shown (BBI ZN178)
A Lamentable List.. Prodigious signs.. 1618.. 1638/You who would be inform'd of forraine news (BBI ZN3147)
A Warning for Swearers/All you that do desire to hear and know (BBI ZN124)
A True Relation of the Great Floods/Oh, England, England! 'tis high time to repent (BBI ZN2002)
[missing title, Fire on London bridge]/It grieves my heart to write such heavy news (BBI ZN1510)
The Hartford-shires Murder/All melting hearts come here and.. (BBI ZN93)
A wonderfull wonder/Look downe, O Lord, upon this sinful land (BBI ZN1715)
Death's loud Allarum/Lament your sinnes, good people all, lament (BBI ZN1599)
You that the Lord have blessed with riches (BBI ZN3134)
Now to discourse of man I take in hand/A discourse of Man's life (BBI ZN1982)
What woeful times we have now in our land/A Looking- Glass for all true Protestants (BBI ZN2812)
Behold, O Lord, a Sinner in distresse/A Godly Song, entituled, A Farewell to the world (BBI ZN400)
Give thanks, rejoyce all, you that are secure/A Sad and True Relation of a great fire or two (BBI ZN972)
Brave Windham late/Iohn Flodder and his Wife,... burning Town of Windham. .xi day of June 1615 (BBI ZN448)
Who please to heare such news as are most true/The lamentable burning..Corke..1621 (BBI ZN2912(
All Christian men give ear a while to me/The Judgement of God..John Faustus (BBI ZN59)
Aim not to high in things above thy reach/An excellent song..consolation for a troubled mind (BBI ZN37)
As I lay slumbering in my bed one night/St. Bernard's Vision (BBI ZN224)
Ay me, vile wretch, that ever I was born/complaint and lamentation of Mistresse Arden of Feuversham in Kent (BBI ZN369)
Listen a while dear friends I do you pray/sad judgement..Dorothy Mattley.. 1660 (BBI ZN1698)
You disobedient children mark my fall/Save a Thief from the Gallows (BBI ZN3006)
Kind countreymen, and our acquaintances all/The lamentation of Edward Bruton [Mar. 18, 1633] (BBI ZN1563)
Now, like the swan, before my death I sing/.. lamentation of..John Stevens..[executed Mar. 7, 1632 (old style)] (BBI ZN1933)
England, give prayse unto the Lord thy God/A joyfull new ballad..Victory obtained by my Lord Mount-joy.. 2 of December last [1601] to [Jan. 9, 1602] (BBI ZN825)
I pray give ear unto my tale of woe/..cruel murder.. upon..Abraham Gearsy (BBI ZN1320)
Great God that sees all things that here are don/Anne Wallens Lamentation,. murthering ..husband...22 June 1616 (BBI ZN1077)
Vnhappy she whom fortune hath forlorne/Lamentation ..Master Pages Wife of Plymouth [1609?] (BBI ZN2697)
Titus Andronicus's Complaint/You noble minds, and famous martial wights (Percy/Wheately I, pp. 224-229; BBI ZN3085)
NOTES: As a song, this is of no particular note, but the tune was immensely popular, and sustained numbers of broadsides (see the Same Tune list; these more often list the tune as "Aim Not Too High," but many give both titles; in any case, it's the same melody). This popularity, rather than the not-demonstrably-traditional and quite banal text, explain the song's inclusion here.
Chappell claims that Shakespeare alludes to this song in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act II, Scene iii. I can't find anything that strikes *me* as an allusion to the song, though. - RBW
File: ChWI076

Forty Years Ago


See Twenty Years Ago (Forty Years Ago) (File: R869)

Forward, Boys, Hurrah!


See These Temperance Folks (File: R323)

Foundering of the Asia, The


See The Wreck of the Asia (File: RcWreAsi)

Foundling Baby, The


See The Basket of Eggs (File: VWL018)

Foundling Child, The


See The Basket of Eggs (File: VWL018)

Four and Twenty Tailors


DESCRIPTION: Four-and-twenty tailors chase a snail (ending in defeat); depending on the version, four-and-twenty others (blind men, young maids, auld wives) have equally unlikely adventures
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1784 (Gammar Gurton's Garland, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: humorous talltale fight animal
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Kinloch-BBook XIII, pp. 48-49, (no title) (1 text)
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 271-272, "Neerie Norrie" (1 text)
GreigDuncan8 1699, "Quo the Man to the Jo" (8 texts, 5 tunes)
Greig #14, p. 2, "The Man to the Green Joe" (1 fragment)
Opie-Oxford2 495, "Four and twenty tailors" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #90, p. 86, "(Four and twenty tailors)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 143, "(Four-and-twenty Highlandmen)" (1 text)
DT, TAILOR4
Roud #1036
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hey the Mantle!" (style)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Back o' Benachie
Quo' the Man to the Green Jo
NOTES: This is a very amorphous piece; the Digital Tradition version has very little in common with Kinloch's except the initial reference to the Hunting of the Snail, and the meters are different. There seems to be a whole genre of Improbable Scots Songs, many of which are not traditional. But there are so many references in the DT text that I imagine the piece belongs in the Index.
It is perhaps significant that the "heroes" of this alleged "adventure" are tailors, since tailors were regarded as the most feeble of all workers; see, e.g., the notes to "Benjamin Bowmaneer"; also the notes in Opie-Oxford2 trying to explain why it took nine, or four-and-twenty, or some other number of tailors to make a man. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: KinBB13

Four Brothers, The


See I Gave My Love a Cherry
 (File: R123)

Four Drunken Maidens


See Drunken Maidens (File: Log240)

Four Horses


DESCRIPTION: "There was a young fellow who first drove a team" of four horses, which he kept well. He drove them to a fair, paid his bills. He and his team had a good reputation. He drove them home and left them to rest, thinking "Straight way is the best"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (recording, Hockey Feltwell)
KEYWORDS: work virtue horse
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
Roud #12929
RECORDINGS:
Hockey Feltwell, "Four Horses" (on Voice05)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Vilikens and his Dinah (William and Dinah)" [Laws M31A/B] (tune) and references there
File: Rc4Horse

Four in the Middle


See Coffee Grows (Four in the Middle) (File: R524)

Four Jolly Fellows


See When Jones's Ale Was New (File: Doe168)

Four Little Johnny Cakes


DESCRIPTION: "Hurrah for the Lachlan, come join me in my cheer, For that' the place to make a cheque At the end of every year." When not working as a shearer, the singer enjoys "Camping in the bend" with the cakes he has cooked and the books and such he has "shook"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Paterson's _Old Bush Songs_)
KEYWORDS: sheep food work
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 276-279, "Four Little Johnny Cakes" (1 text)
DT, FOURJOHN*
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Camping in the Bend
The Shearer's Song
File: PFS276

Four Maries (Marys), The


See Mary Hamilton [Child 173] (File: C173)

Four Nights Drunk [Child 274]


DESCRIPTION: Our goodman comes home drunk for several nights. Each night he observes an oddity -- another man's horse, boots, sword, etc. Each time his wife says it is something else. Finally he sees a man's head; she explains that, too -- but the head has a beard
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 [Herd]
KEYWORDS: humorous trick adultery drink bawdy dialog disguise husband wife
FOUND IN: Australia Canada(Ont,Mar) Britain(England(Lond,West),Scotland(Aber,Bord)) Ireland US(All) Bahamas
REFERENCES (38 citations):
Child 274, "Our Goodman" (3 texts)
Bronson 274, "Our Goodman" (58 versions)
GreigDuncan7 1460, "Our Gudeman" (5 texts, 2 tunes) {A=Bronson's #3, B=#20)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 315-317, "Our Goodman" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
Linscott, pp. 259-262, "Our Goodman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders-Ancient4, pp. 63-71, "Our Goodman" (5 texts plus 2 fragments)
Belden, pp. 89-91, "Our Goodman" (2 texts)
Randolph 33, "I Went Home One Night" (2 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #19, #46}
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 60-63, "i Went Home One Night" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 33B) {Bronson's #46}
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 53-57, "Four Nights Drunk" (5 texts, 1 tune)
Eddy 25, "Our Goodman" (1 text)
Davis-Ballads 43, "Our Goodman" (6 text, one of which is in an appendix because of dialect; 5 tunes entitled "Hobble and Bobble," "The Old Man," "Home Comes the Old Man," "Down Came the Old Man") {Bronson's #8, #39, #6, #7, #56}
Davis-More 38, pp. 299-304, "Our Goodman" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownII 42, "Our Goodman" (2 texts plus mention of 2 more)
Chappell-FSRA 19, "Our Goodman" (1 text)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 14-16, "Four Nights (Our Goodman)" (1 text)
Hudson 22, pp. 122-123, "Our Goodman" (1 short text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 231-236, "Our Goodman" (4 texts, with local titles "Three Nights of Experience," Three Nights of Experience," "I Called To My Loving Wife," "Parson Jones"; 3 tunes on pp. 417-418) {Bronson's #29, #54, #50}
Brewster 22, "Our Goodman" (1 fragment)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 91-92, "Our Goodman" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #44}
Leach, pp. 653-657, "Our Goodman" (1 text)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 35-39, "Four Night Drunk or The Cabbage Head Song" ; "Ole Lady" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Friedman, p. 445, "Our Goodman" (2 texts)
Cray, pp. 11-23, "Four Nights Drunk" (4 texts, 3 tunes)
Niles 57, "Our Goodman" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 38, "Our Goodman" (4 texts plus 1 fragment, 5 tunes) {Bronson's #55, #53, #15, #58, #30}
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 26, "Our Goodman" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version) {Bronson's #30}
Chase, pp. 118-119, "Home Came the Old Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
DBuchan 61, "Our Goodman" (1 text)
JHCox 28, "Our Goodman" (3 texts)
SHenry H21ab, p. 508, "The Blin' Auld Man/The Covered Cavalier" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 255-258, "Shickered As he Could Be" (1 text, told in the third person ("This bloke I know") rather than first person)
TBB 38, "Our Goodman" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 108-110, "Our Goodman" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #36}
Darling-NAS, pp. 78-80, "Three Nights Drunk"; "Our Goodman" (2 texts)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 22, "Four Nights Drunk" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 233, "Four Nights Drunk" (1 text)
DT 274, DRUNK5NT GOODMAN2* GOODMAN3
Roud #114
RECORDINGS:
Jo Jo Adams, "Cabbage Head, Parts 1 & 2" (Aristocrat 803, rec. 1948)
Anonymous singer, "The Merry Cuckold" (on Unexp1)
Thomas C[larence] Ashley, "Four Night's Experience" (Gennett 6404, 1928; Challenge 405 [as Tom Hutchinson], c. 1928)
Emmett Bankston & Red Henderson, "Six Nights Drunk, pt. 1/pt. 2" (OKeh 45292, 1929; rec. 1928) {Bronson's #32}
Harry Cox, Mary Connors, Colin Keane [composite] "The Cuckold's Song (Our Goodman)" (on FSB5, FSBBAL2)
Jack Elliott, "The Blind Fool" (on Elliotts01)
John B. Evans, "Three Nights Experience" (Brunswick 237, 1928)
Blind Lemon Jefferson, "Laboring Man Away from Home" (Paramount, unissued, rec. 1927)
Earl Johnson & his Dixie Entertainers, "Three Nights Experience" (OKeh 45092, 1927)
Coley Jones, "Drunkard's Special" (Columbia 14489, 1929; on AAFM1, BefBlues3) {Bronson's #33}
Colon Keel, "The Three Nights Experience" (AFS 2709 B1, 1939)
Lena & Sylvester Kimbrough, "Cabbage Head Blues" (Meritt 2201, 1926)
A. L. Lloyd, "Shickered As He Could Be" (on Lloyd2)
J. E. Mainer & Band, "Three Nights Drunk" (on LomaxCD1701) {Bronson's #38}
Wade Mainer, "Three Nights in a Barroom" (Blue Ridge 109, n.d.)
Mustard and Gravy, "Five Nights' Experience" (Bluebird B-7905, 1938)
Chris Powell & the Five Blue Flames, "Last Saturday Night" (Columbia 30162, 1949)
Orrin Rice, "Our Goodman" (AFS; on LC12) {Bronson's #31}
Pete Seeger, "My Good Man" (on PeteSeeger24)
George Spicer, "Coming Home Late" (on Voice13)
Will Starks, "Our Good Man" (AFS 6652 A1, 1942)
Gid Tanner & his Skillet Lickers, "Three Nights Drunk" (Bluebird B-5748, 1934)
Gordon Tanner & Smokey Joe Miller, "Four Nights' Experience" (on DownYonder)
Tony Wales, "Our Goodman" (on TWales1)
Sonny Boy Williamson [pseud. for Rice Miller] "Wake Up Baby" (Checker 894, 1958)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Eleven More Months and Ten More Day" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Five Nights Drunk
Seven Nights Drunk
Home (Hame) Drunk Came I
The Jealous Hearted Husband
The Old Man Came Home One Night
When I Came Home Last Saturday Night
The Good Old Man
Arrow Goodman
Kind Wife
Parson Jones
NOTES: According to Joseph Hickerson, archivist at the Archive of American Folk Culture, Library of Congress, who has studied the ballad, this is the most commonly recovered Child ballad, surpassing even "Barbara Allen" (Child 84). - EC
I have to note that alcohol consumption inhibits sexual performance (even while making men think they are capable of more than they are). Maybe, if Our Goodman came home sober more often, he wouldn't have to worry so much about what his wife was doing while he was in his cups. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C274

Four O'Clock


DESCRIPTION: "Baby, I can't sleep, and neither can I eat; Round your bedside I'm gwine to creep. Four o'clock, baby, four o'clock, I'll make it in about four o'clock."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: courting nightvisit
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 274, "Four O'Clock" (1 short text, 1 tune)
NOTES: A "creeper" song -- that, according to Scarborough, being the southern name for a night visitor. - RBW
File: ScNF274A

Four Old Whores


DESCRIPTION: Two, three, or four whores, sometimes from Baltimore, Winnipeg, or Mexico, compare the size of their vaginas with extravagant boasts.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939
KEYWORDS: bawdy bragging contest humorous lie nonballad whore
FOUND IN: Australia Canada Britain(England,Scotland) US(MA,MW,NE,NW,So,SE,SW)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Cray, pp. 6-11, "Four Old Whores" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 121-123, "Four Old Whores" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Logsdon 28, pp. 167-168, "All Night Long" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, OLDWHORE OLDWHOR2*
Roud #5666
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Three Old Whores
Three Old Whores from Mexico
Three Old Whores from Winnepeg
NOTES: Technically, this is not a ballad in that it tells no story. The women merely top each other's boast. - EC
Legman, in The Horn Book (pp. 414-415) connects this with "A Talk of Ten Wives on their Husbands' Ware," which occurs in the Porkington manuscript of about 1460 and waas pubished by Furnivall in 1871. on this basis he regards this as "the oldest surviving erotic folksong in English." But the only verse Legman quites is clearly modern, so the identification must be considered unproved. - RBW
File: EM006

Four Pence a Day


DESCRIPTION: "The ore is waiting in the tubs, the snow's upon the fell." The washer lads must be at work early in the day. The singer's poor parents could not send him to school, so he must work for four pence a day. He hopes his boss will develop a conscience
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (recording, Ewan MacColl)
KEYWORDS: work worker poverty boss hardtimes mining
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
MacColl-Shuttle, p. 6, "Fourpence a Day" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 130, "Four Pence a Day" (1 text)
DT, FOURPENC*
Roud #2586
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl, "Four Pence a Day" (on Lomax41, LomaxCD1741)
Pete Seeger, "The Washer Lad" (on PeteSeeger23, AmHist1)
NOTES: Although printed in at least five different collections, it appears that the only source for this is John Gowland of Yorkshire. And it appears no other songs were collected from him. Could he possibly be the author? - RBW
File: FSWB130A

Four Seasons of the Year, The


DESCRIPTION: "The spring is the quarter, the first that I'll mention, The fields and the meadows are covered with green." The singer catalogs the seasons: Spring (and Valentine's day), the busy summer, the hunting season of autumn, the chill winter, and repeat
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Leather)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England(West))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leather, pp. 207-208, "Four Seasons of the Year" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Leath207 (Partial)
File: Leath207

Four-Leaved Shamrock, The


DESCRIPTION: "I'll seek a four-leaved shamrock In all the fairy dells" and use its magic to cure the world of tears and aching hearts, mend estrangement between friends and see that "vanished dreams of love" return.
AUTHOR: Samuel Lover
EARLIEST DATE: before 1846 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.16(203))
KEYWORDS: magic healing nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
O'Conor, pp. 137-138, "The Four-Leaved Shamrock" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.16(203), "The Four Leaved Shamrock", J. Paul and Co (London), 1838-1845; also Harding B 11(3888), Johnson Ballads 562, Harding B 11(1250), Firth b.25(599), Johnson Ballads 417, Harding B 11(1249), "The Four Leaved Shamrock"
LOCSinging, sb10120b, "The Four-Leaved Shamrock", H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878; also as104540, as104080, as201070, "[The] Four-Leaved Shamrock"
NLScotland, RB.m.143(139), "The Four-Leaved Shamrock", Poet's Box (Glasgow), c.1880
NOTES: Broadside NLScotland RB.m.143(139): The text includes the statement that "This is supposed to be one of Sheilds' productions." The commentary states "It is not clear who Shields is, but this piece was in fact written by the Irish songwriter, painter and novelist, Samuel Lover (1797-1868)." That agrees with the O'Conor attribution.
Broadside LOCSinging sb10130a: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: OCon137

Four-Loom Weaver, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer, a weaver, laments hard times -- his clothes are worn out, his furniture repossessed, his family starved and keeping alive by eating boiled nettles. His wife states that if she had clothes to wear she would go to London and confront the wealthy
AUTHOR: Joseph Lees (source: Elbourne)
EARLIEST DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.27(270))
KEYWORDS: poverty unemployment weaving hardtimes starvation wife worker
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
MacColl-Shuttle, pp. 4-5, "The Four Loom Weaver" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, FOURLOOM*
ADDITIONAL: Roger Elbourne, Music and Tradition in Early Industrial Lancashire 1780-1840 (Totowa, 1980), pp. 79-83, 141-142, "Jone o' Grinfield"
Roud #937
RECORDINGS:
A. L. Lloyd, "The Poor Cotton Wayver" (on IronMuse1)
Ewan MacColl, "The Four Loom Weaver" (on Lomax41, LomaxCD1700, LomaxCD1741) (on IronMuse2)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.27(270), "Joan o' Grinfield!" ("I'm a poor cotton weaver, as many a one knows"), J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Harding B 11(1878), Harding B 20(80), "Joan O'Grinfield[!]"; Firth c.26(2), Firth c.26(177)[some words illegible], "Jone o' Grinfield"; 2806 c.17(197), "Joan o' Greenfield and Bailiffs"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Tammy Traddlefeet" (subject)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
John o' Grinfelt
NOTES: The period 1819-1820, following the Napoleonic Wars, brought unemployment and starvation to much of the English working class. - PJS
"Some years were better than others, but contemporaries unanimously agreed that weavers were worse off than any other group of workers. The years 1807-8, 1811-12, and 1816-21 were particularly severe, and in 1826 there were reports of near famine." (source: Roger Elbourne, Music and Tradition in Early Industrial Lancashire 1780-1840 (Totowa, 1980), p. 7.) - BS
According to MacColl-Shuttle, this is attributed to "John o' Greenfield." - RBW
Elbourne quotes Bamford, writing about "Jone o' Grinfield" in 1849. Elbourne discusses the candidates for author ("apparently Jone never existed") but it's never clear to me which broadside he is discussing since he also mentions another broadside (see Bodleian, 2806 c.16(70), "Jone o' Grinfilt" ("Says Jone to his wife on a wot summer's day"), J. Wheeler (Manchester), 1827-1847; also Harding B 25(1008), "Jone o'Greenfield's Ramble"; 2806 c.17(201), "Jone's Ramble"; Harding B 25(1007), "Jone's Ramble From Grenfelt to Owdham").
Bamford's informant, Joseph Coupe, a neighbor and possible co-creator of the "Joan O'Grinfilt" and his wife Margaret characters, said there were thirteen songs, the first of which was written early in the 19th century. See, for example, broadsides:
Bodleian, 2806 c.17(198), "Joan a' Gre'nfield's Journey to See the King" ("Says Joan o' Gre'nfield I'll tell you what, sirs"), G. Thompson (Liverpool), 1789-1820);
Bodleian, Harding B 16(118b), "Joan o' Grinfilt's Visit to Lunnun, to See What the State Doctor Intends to do for the Nation" ("Sed Joan eawt o' Grinfilt I've news for to tell "), unknown, no date;
Bodleian, Harding B 16(118c), "Joan o' Grinfilt's Visit to Mr. Fielden, with a Petition to the Queen to Fill Every Hungry Belly" ("Ses Joan o' Grinfilt I'll tell yo what Nan"), unknown, no date [but reference to "euwr young queen" makes the date no earlier than 1837];
Bodleian, Harding B 16(118c), "Jon o' Grinfield Turned Tee-totaler ("Says Joan out of Grinfield I feel very loam"), unknown, no date [but reference to Queen Victoria makes the date no earlier than 1837];
Bodleian, 2806 c.17(200), "Jone o' Greenfield Turned Stone Craker" ("Sez Jone eawt o' Grinfilt au tell thee whot Nan"), Swindells (Manchester), 1796-1853; also 2806 c.17(199), "Jone o' Greenfield's Lamentation" or "The Unfortunate Poverty Knockers"
- BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: DTfourlo

Fourpence a Day


See Four Pence a Day (File: FSWB130A)

Fourth Day of July, The


See The Cuckoo (File: R049)

Fox and Goose, The


See The Fox (File: R103)

Fox and Hare (They've All Got a Mate But Me)


DESCRIPTION: The singer laments, "Six wives I've had and they're all dead," noting "Oh, the fox and the hare, the badger and the bear And the birds in the greenwood tree And the pretty little rabbits engaging in their habits Have all got a mate but me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1918 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: animal love wife shrewishness marriage fight
FOUND IN: US(NE,SE)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Flanders/Brown, p. 121, "Fox and Hare" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 205, "Dey All Got a Mate But Me" (1 fragment, 1 tune, probably this though it consists of little more than the "they've all got a mate but me" lines)
BrownIII 172, "The Weasel and the Rat" (1 fragment, so similar in form that I file it here though it omits the mention of a mate: "Weasel and the rat, Mosquito and the cat, Chicken and the bumble-bee; The old baboon, the fuzzy little coon; They all went wild but me.")
SharpAp 239, "The Tottenham Toad" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FlBr121 (Full)
Roud #1140 and 3624
NOTES: Flanders and Brown claim this is from the romance of Reynard the Fox. If so, it's evolved a bit in the course of half a millennium.
The versions in fact are very diverse, and probably include material inherited from multiple sources. The key line is the one about "They all have a wife/mate but me." Mentions of six wives or six weeks of quarrelling with a single wife are also common. - RBW
File: FlBr121

Fox and His Wife, The


See The Fox (File: R103)

Fox and the Goose, The


See The Fox (File: R103)

Fox and the Grapes, The


DESCRIPTION: "A hungry fox one day did spy Some rich ripe grapes that hung so high And to him they seemed to say, 'If you can get us down, you may.'" After an hour of trying, the fox admits failure, "Then he went away, and he swore that the grapes were sour."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Flanders/Brown)
KEYWORDS: food animal
FOUND IN: US(NE) Canada(Ont,West)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Flanders/Brown, p. 247, "The Fox and the Grapes" (1 text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 479, "The Fox and the Grapes" (source notes only)
ST GC479a (Full)
Roud #3713
RECORDINGS:
Wellington Thompson, "A Hungry Fox" (on Saskatch01)
NOTES: This is, of course, a retelling of Aesop's fable, "The Fox and the Grapes"; Cass-Beggs also refers to Maria Edgeworth's 1833 book of instructive stories for children, although she isn't clear about whether this story is there. She notes that [Welllington] Thompson reported learning the song as a small boy in Ontario (he was born in 1866). - PJS
File: GC479a

Fox and the Lawyer, The


DESCRIPTION: "The fox and the lawyer was different in kind... The lawyer loved done meat because it was easy to chaw, The fox... would take his blood raw." The fox goes out to take a hen. Pursued to his den, he says the fight is not fair; the hunter doesn't care
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: animal lawyer hunting
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 70, (no title) (1 text)
ST ScaNF070 (Partial)
NOTES: Scarborough's informant claimed this was sung by slaves. This strikes me as unlikely; while they often told stories about foxes and chickens, the first verse about lawyers strikes me as a graft -- and why would slaves preserve it? - RBW
File: ScaNF070

Fox Chase, A


See The Duke of Buckingham's Hounds (File: Br3218)

Fox Hunt, The


See Bold Reynard the Fox (Tallyho! Hark! Away!) (File: DTReynrd)

Fox River Line, The (The Rock Island Line) [Laws C28]


DESCRIPTION: The singer (and men of many nations) work in George Allan's camp without earning any money. He decides to get another job
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: logger poverty boss work
FOUND IN: US(MA) Canada(Mar,Ont,Que)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Laws C28, "The Fox River Line (The Rock Island Line)"
FSCatskills 93, "The Rock Island Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-NovaScotia 116, "Fox River Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke-Lumbering #11, "The Rock Island Line" (2 texts, tune referenced)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 119-123, "The Scantling Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 41, "The Scantaling Line" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 655, ROCKISL
Roud #643
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The New Limit Line" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Margineau Line
The Keith and Hiles Line
NOTES: Manny/Wilson: "Mr Brown [the singer] credits this song to Larry Gorman, but Sandy Ives, who should know, says he does not believe Larry wrote it. Still it seems to have some Gorman touches. Similar songs are sung in all parts of the Northeast, with names altered to suit." - BS
Not to be confused with "The Rock Island Line" as sung by Lead Belly. - RBW
File: LC28

Fox Walked Out, The


See The Fox (File: R103)

Fox Went Out on a Starry Night, A


See The Fox (File: R103)

Fox, The


DESCRIPTION: Fox goes hunting on a (chilly) night. It goes to the farmer's yard and takes a goose. The farmer and wife are aroused; the farmer sets out after the fox. Fox escapes home with its kill; the fox family celebrates with a fine dinner
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1810 (Gammer Gurton's Garland)
KEYWORDS: animal food hunting
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) Britain(England(Lond,South),Scotland(Aber)) Ireland Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (25 citations):
Randolph 103, "The Fox Walked Out" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 135-137, "The Fox Walked Out" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 103A)
Eddy 91, "The Fox" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 192, "The Fox and the Goose" (1 text)
BrownIII 129, "The Fox and the Goose" (4 texts plus mention of 1 more)
Brewster 77, "The Fox" (1 fragment)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 248-250, "The Fox" (2 texts plus 1 fragment, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 12-13, "The Fox and the Goose" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 119-120, "Fox and Goose" (1 text)
Linscott, pp. 202-204, "A Fox Went Out on a Starry Night" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, pp. 181-182, "Old Man Fox" (1 text)
SharpAp 226, "The Old Black Duck" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Logan, pp. 291-293, "The Fox" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 499, "Father Fox" (3 text fragments, 2 tunes)
Kennedy 301, "Old Daddy Fox" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, p. 749, "The Fox" (1 text)
SHenry H38, p. 29, "The Fox and His Wife" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 163, "The Fox" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCoxIIB, #21, pp. 172-173, "The Fox" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 171, "A fox jumped up one winter's night" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #116, p. 96, "(Old Mother Widdle Waddle jumpt out of bed)"
PSeeger-AFB, p. 80, "The Fox" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 400, "The Fox" (1 text)
DT, FOXOUT
ADDITIONAL: Brown/Robbins, _Index of Middle English Verse_, #1622, 3328
ST R103 (Full)
Roud #131
RECORDINGS:
Blue Ridge Highballers, "Darneo" (Columbia 15132-D, 1927)
Harry Burgess, "The Hungry Fox" (on Voice18)
Cyril Biddick with chorus, "Old Daddy Fox" (on Lomax41, LomaxCD1741)
Pete Seeger, "The Fox" (on PeteSeeger09, PeteSeegerCD02) (on PeteSeeger18)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Daddy Fox
Old Mother Hippletoe
The Fox and the Grey Goose
Up, John, Get Up, John
NOTES: The earliest version of this piece appears to have been a Middle English poem found in British Museum MS. Royal 19.B.iv, and is thought to date from the fifteenth century. About as old is a strange version in Cambridge MS. Ee.1.12 with an extended prologue about the fox's raids but with lyrics closer to most modern versions. It is reasonable to assume that this, and perhaps even the British Museum text, are rewritings of documents still older.
It should perhaps be noted that foxes are asocial animals; the males do not take part in raising the young. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: R103

Foxes, The


See Bold Ranger, The (File: R076)

Frae the Martimas Term


DESCRIPTION: "Frae the Martimas term in the year ...twa Till Whitsunday's wind blew a half year awa."
AUTHOR: John Ker (Carr?) (source: GreigDuncan3)
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming work
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 365, "Frae the Martimas Term" (1 fragment)
Roud #5908
NOTES: Candlemas [February 2], Whitsunday [May 15], Lammas [August 1] and Martinmas [November 11] were the four "Old Scottish term days" "on which servants were hired, and rents and rates were due." (Source: Wikipedia article Quarter days). [With, of course, the non-trivial footnote that Whitsun was a movable holiday that rarely fell May 15. - RBW]
The current description is all of the GreigDuncan3 fragment. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3365

Frances Silvers


See Frankie Silvers [Laws E13] (File: LE13)

Frank Dupree [Laws E24]


DESCRIPTION: Frank Dupree, the singer, gets in trouble when he steals a diamond from an Atlanta jewelry store. As he leaves, he shoots a policeman and drives off. He is arrested and sentenced to death when he returns to his sweetheart Betty
AUTHOR: Probably Andrew Jenkins
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (recording, Blind Andy [Jenkins], Rosa Lee Carson)
KEYWORDS: robbery murder love prison execution
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec 15, 1921 - Frank Dupree robs an Atlanta jewelry store
Sept. 1, 1922 - Dupree hanged
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Laws E24, "Frank Dupree"
BrownII 247, "Frank Dupree" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 396, "Dupree" (2 texts, but only the first is E24; Laws considers the second to be I11)
DT 794, DUPREE1 DUPREE2
Roud #2253
RECORDINGS:
Blind Andy [Jenkins], "Frank Dupree" (OKeh 40446, 1925)
Rosa Lee Carson, "Frank Du Pree" (OKeh 40446, 1925)
Vernon Dalhart, "Frank Dupree" (Columbia 15042-D, 1925)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Dupree" [Laws I11] (plot)
File: LE24

Frank Fidd


DESCRIPTION: Frank Fidd was as gallant a tar As ever took reef in a sail ... One night off the Cape of Good Hope" a rope catches Frank by the heels and his head is bashed. His dying words are "Safe moored in Felicity Bay I'll ride by the Cape of Delight"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Mackenzie)
KEYWORDS: death sailor injury
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Mackenzie 94, "Frank Fidd" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3281
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Tom Bowling" (theme)
NOTES: Mackenzie: "The same phraseological method that is employed [in the song of Tom Bowling] is used in narrating 'The Life and Death of Frank Fidd.'" Mackenzie includes Frank Fidd among "that brave group of sailors" including Tom Bowling. You can see and hear "Tom Bowling" by Charles Dibdin (1745-1814) at the Lesley Nelson-Burns site Folk Music of England Scotland Ireland, Wales & America collection site. - BS
File: Mack094

Frank Gardiner


DESCRIPTION: "Frank Gardiner he is caught at last; he lies in Sydney jail...." The song details the deeds of this daring bushranger, then tells how he was taken after the death of fellow bushrangers Ben Hall and Gilbert
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1954 (collected by Meredith from Ina Popplewell); fragments are reportedly found in Bradhsaw's _The Only True Account of Frank Gardiner, Ben Hall and Gang_ from before 1900
KEYWORDS: outlaw prison
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1830 - Birth of Francis Christie in New South Wales. He later took the name Frank Gardiner, and was known as "the Darkie" for his part-Aborigine ancestry
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, p. 30, "Frank Gardiner" (1 text, 1 tune, with a confused ending)
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 86-87, "Frank Gardiner" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 58-59, "Frank Gardiner" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 84-86, "Frank Gardiner He Is Caught at Last" (1 text)
DT,FRNKGARD*
Roud #9117
NOTES: According to Harry Nunn, in Bushrangers: A Pictorial History (Ure Smith Press, 1979, 1992), p.113, Frankie Gardiner was "the illegitimate son of a Scottish free settler and an Irish-Aboriginal servant girl, Born Frank Christie at Goulburn in 1830, he was befriended by an old man from whom he took the name Gardiner." He turned to crime in his teens, was caught, was sentenced to five year in Pentridge in 1850, escaped, was caught again, and was sentenced to seven years of hard labor. According to George Boxall, The Story of the Australian Bushrangers, Swan Sonnenschein & Co, 1899 (I use the 1974 Penguin facsimile edition), p. 193, he served half the sentence, was given a ticket-of-leave, and once again fled.
According to Fahey, he also claimed higher morals than most bushrangers; an 1862 newspaper published a letter in which he claimed never to have taken the last of a poor man's money, and to have discharged those from his gang who did such things! The letter was signed,
Fearing nothing, I remain, Prince of Tobymen,
Francis Gardner, The Highwayman.
(Boxall, p. 201, prints the whole letter and notes the misspelling of Gardiner's name but believes it an error made by the paper.)
Ben Hall (d. 1865; for whom see "The Death of Ben Hall" and "Ben Hall"), who also disdained violence, was associated with the Gardiner gang. Other members included Johnny Dunn (d. 1866), Johnny O'Meally (d. 1863), and John Gilbert (d. 1866). These were among the leaders of the gang that committed one of the most famous crimes in Australian history, the Eugowra Rocks robbery of 1862.
Despite the implication in some versions of the song that Gardiner would be executed, he was condemned to prison. (The confusion may arise from the fact that many versions are reconstructed from fragments.) Having served 10 years of a 32 year sentence, he was released in 1874 (known as the "year of clemency"; Nunn, p. 117). He went into voluntary exile in America (he is said to have opened a saloon in San Francisco).
Gardiner himself was much longer-lived than most of his gang; legend says that he died in a poker game in Colorado in 1903. - RBW
File: MA030

Frank Gardiner He Is Caught at Last


See Frank Gardiner (File: MA030)

Frank James, the Burglar


See The Boston Burglar [LawsL16] (File: LL16)

Frankie


See Frankie and Albert [Laws I3] (File: LI03)

Frankie and Albert [Laws I3]


DESCRIPTION: Frankie discovers her husband (Albert/Johnnie) involved with another woman. She shoots him. Depending on the version, she may be imprisoned or allowed to go free
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Copyright as "He Done Me Wrong" by Hughie Cannon)
KEYWORDS: infidelity murder bawdy betrayal execution jealousy judge prison trial
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,SE,So,SW) Australia
REFERENCES (34 citations):
Laws I3, "Frankie and Albert"
Belden, pp. 330-333, "Frankie and Albert" (1 text, composite)
Randolph 159, "Frankie and Johnny" (6 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 166-170, "Frankie and Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 159A)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 477-484, "Frankie and Johnny" (5 texts, 1 tune)
Eddy 108, "Maggie Was a Lady" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
BrownII 251, "Frankie and Albert" (3 texts plus 2 excerpts and mention of 4 more; 4 of these were called "Frankie Baker" by the informants, but none of the texts appear to use that name in the body of the song)
Chappell-FSRA 111, "Frankie and Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hudson 65, pp. 189-191, "Frankie" (1 text)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 80-84, "Frankie and Albert" (4 texts plus 2 excerpts, 2 tunes)
Cambiaire, pp. 5-8, "Frankie Baker" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 761-765, "Frankie and Albert (Johnnie)" (2 texts)
Friedman, p. 211, "Frankie and Albert (Frankie and Johnny)" (2 texts)
Cray, pp. 137-149, "Frankie and Johnnie" (4 texts, 1 tune)
PBB 113, "Frankie and Albert" (1 text)
Sandburg, pp. 76-77, "Frankie and Albert"; 77-81, "Frankie and Johnny"; 82-82, "Frankie Blues"; 84-85, "Josie"; 86, "Sadie" (5 texts, 6 tunes)
Lomax-FSUSA 88, "Frankie and Albert" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 305, "Frankie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 103-110, "Frankie and Albert" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 58 "Frankie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, pp. 148-149, "Frankie and Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 31-36, "Frankie and Johnnie" (1 text with variant stanzas, 2 tunes)
JHJohnson, pp. 33-38, "Frankie and Johnnie" (1 text)
Courlander-NFM, pp. 182-184, "(Frankie and Albert)" (1 text)
JHCox 46, "Maggie Was a Lady" (2 texts)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 64, "Frankie And Johnny" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 177, "Frankie And Johnny" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 233-235, "Frankie and Johnny"
DT 316, FRANJOHN* FRANJON2
~~~~~
Versions of "Leaving Home," the Charlie Poole song:
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 144-145, "Leaving Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rorrer, p. 72, "Leaving Home" (1 text)
DT 316, FRANJON3*
Roud #254
RECORDINGS:
Gene Autry, "Frankie and Johnny" (OKeh 45417, 1930) (Velvet Tone 7063-V/Clarion 5026-C, 1930)
Emry Arthur, "Frankie Baker, pts. 1 & 2" (Vocalion 5340, 1929)
Al Bernard, "Frankie and Johnny" (Brunswick 2107, 1921)
James Burke, "Frankie and Johnnie" (Superior 2590, 1931)
Frank Crumit, "Frankie and Johnnie" (Victor 20715, 1927)
[Tom] Darby & [Jimmy] Tarlton, "Frankie Dean" (Columbia 15701-D, c. 1931; rec. 1930)
Slim Dusty, "Frankie and Johnny" (Regal Zonophone [Australia] G25403, n.d.)
Dykes Magic City Trio, "Frankie" (Brunswick 127/Vocalion 5143, 1927; on RoughWays1)
Louise Foreacre, "Frankie was a Good Girl" (on Stonemans01)
Roscoe Holcomb, "Frankie and Johnny" (on Holcomb2)
Mississippi John Hurt, "Frankie" (OKeh 8560, 1928; on AAFM1, RoughWays2)
Billy Jones, "Frankie and Johnny" (Edison 52284, 1928)
Frankie Marvin, "Frankie and Johnny" (Brunswick 400/Crown 3076, 1930)
McMichen's Melody Men, "Frankie and Johnny" (Decca 5418, 1937)
Nick Nichols, "Frankie and Johnny (The Shooting Scene) Part 1"/"Frankie and Johnny (The Courtroom Scene) Part 2" (Columbia 2071-D, 1929)
Luther Ossenbrink: "Frankie and Albert" (Conqueror 7879 [as Arkansas
Woodchopper], 1931); "Frankie and Johnny" (Champion 15852 [as West Virginia
Rail Splitter]/Supertone 9569 [as Arkansas Woodchopper], 1929; Champion
45058 [as West Virginia Rail Splitter], 1935) (Supertone S-2590 [as Arkansas
Woodchopper], 1931)
Charley Patton, "Frankie and Albert" (Paramount 13110, 1931; rec. 1929)
Riley Puckett, "Frankie and Johnny" (Columbia 15505-D, 1930; rec. 1929) (Bluebird B-8277, 1939)
Carson Robison, "Frankie and Johnny" (QRS 1014, c. 1929)
Jimmie Rodgers, "Frankie and Johnny" (Victor 22143, 1929; Montgomery Ward M-4309/Bluebird B-5223, 1933; Montgomery Ward M-4721, c. 1935)
Mike Seeger, "Frankie" (on MSeeger01)
Pete Seeger, "Frankie and Johnny" (on PeteSeeger17)
Bessie Smith, "Frankie Blues" (Columbia 14023-D, 1924)
Mamie Smith & her Jazz Hounds, "Frankie Blues" (OKeh 4856, 1923)
Leo Soileau & his Aces "Frankie and Johnny" (Decca 5133, 1935)
Leonard Stokes, "Frankie and Johnny" (Montgomery Ward M-4309, 1933)
Ernest Thompson, "Frankie Baker" (Columbia 168-D, 1924)
Welby Toomey, "Frankie's Gamblin' Man" (Gennett 3195, 1926/Challenge 232, 1927)
Edith Wilson w. Johnny Dunn's Original Jazz Hounds, "Frankie" (Columbia A3506, 1921)
~~~~~
Versions of "Leaving Home," the Charlie Poole song:
New Lost City Ramblers, "Leaving Home" (on NLCR02, NLCRCD1)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Leaving Home" (Columbia 15116-D, 1926; on CPoole01, CPoole05)
Swing Billies, "Leavin' Home" (Bluebird B-7121, 1937)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Boll Weevil" [Laws I17] (tune)
cf. "Dark Was the Night, Cold Was the Ground" (lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
Billy Vest, "Frankie & Johnny - No. 2" (Banner 32762, 1933); "Frankie and Johnny No. 2" (Melotone M-12691, 1933)
NOTES: Various theories have been proposed to explain the origin of this ballad. One theory connects it with the story of Frankie Silvers [Laws E13]. Another links it to the murder of Allen Britt ("Al Britt"= "Albert") by Frankie Baker in St. Louis, MO, on Oct. 15, 1899 (she was jealous of his relationship with Alice Pryor). (This murder was documented in the October 19, 1899 edition of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.) Versions have shown a tendency to take on local color and even be connected with local events. - RBW, EC
Legman offers extensive documentation for the ballad in Randolph-Legman I. - EC
Researcher Rusty David, of St. Louis, suggests that while the details of the current ballad support the Frankie Baker/Allen Britt story, in fact the ballad predates this murder, and describes a killing that took place in the same red-light district of St. Louis sometime around 1865-70. When the Baker/Britt killing took place, according to David, the earlier ballad was modified to fit the new events. He bases this suggestion on having found traces of the ballad before 1899. -PJS
Belden catalogs scholars who date the origins of the song before 1899, listing:
* Thomas Beer (who offers a date before 1863, and cites a date in the 1840s for the original murder). Belden finds no authority for these claims
* Sandburg (claims widespread currency by 1888)
* Niles (claims it predates 1830, but without evidence)
* Orrick Johns (early 1890s)
* Tyrrel Williams (pre-Civil War), but Cohen says his evidence for this is "very weak"
* George Milburn ("long before 1899," using names other than Frankie and Albert)
Fuld, however, lists the first occurrence of the tune as 1904 (with documentation), and notes that the "Frankie and Johnny were lovers" version first appears in 1925.
The song "Leaving Home," recorded by Charlie Poole and others (and properly called "Frankie and Johnny"), is not actually a "Frankie and Johnny" text; it was written by the Leighton Brothers and Ren Shields and copyrighted in 1912. If it entered oral tradition, it is as a result of the Poole recording or some such similar source. It is, however, included under this entry because it is based on "Frankie and Johnnie" and often treated as a variant of that song.
Adding all this up, the verifiable facts appear to be as follows:
Whatever the earlier history, it seems certain that a canonical Frankie and Albert emerged from the Frankie Baker (1876-1952) and Al Britt (1882/3-1899) affair. The Leighton/Shields song supplied the names "Frankie and Johnny," which are now well-established. It is possible that "The Boll Weevil," or one of its musical relatives, contributed a tune at some point; not all "Frankie and Albert" texts are to this melody, but the usual "Frankie" tune sung today is close to "Boll Weevil." (Thanks to Paul J. Stamler for pointing this out.)
Frankie Baker, in her trial, claimed that Al Britt threatened her with a knife, and she shot him in self-defence. She was acquitted, but later left the area to try to find peace, and worked odd jobs for the rest of her life. She eventually sued Hollywood because of their treatments of the Frankie legend. - RBW
File: LI03

Frankie and Johnnie


See Frankie and Albert [Laws I3] (File: LI03)

Frankie and Johnny


See Frankie and Albert [Laws I3] (File: LI03)

Frankie Baker


See Frankie and Albert [Laws I3] (File: LI03)

Frankie Blues


See Frankie and Albert [Laws I3] (File: LI03)

Frankie Silvers [Laws E13]


DESCRIPTION: The singer, Frankie Silvers, has been condemned to die for murdering her husband. She describes the deed and its consequences with horror: "This dreadful, dark, and dismal day Has swept all my glories away." "But oh! that dreadful judge I fear...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1886 (Lenoir Topic, quoting the "Morganton paper")
KEYWORDS: murder husband wife punishment execution
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec 22, 1831 - Frankie Silver(s) murders her husband Charles Silvers in North Carolina
July 12, 1833 - Frankie Silver(s) is hanged
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE,So)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Laws E13, "Frankie Silvers"
Randolph 158, "Frankie Silver" (1 short text, 1 tune)
BrownII 301, "Frankie Silver" (1 text)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 48-50, "Frances Silvers" (1 text)
Burt, pp. 17-18, (no title) (1 text)
DT 776, FRANSILV
Roud #783
RECORDINGS:
[Clarence] Ashley & [Gwen] Foster, "Frankie Silvers" (Vocalion 02647, 1934?)
Clarence Ashley & Tex Isley, "Frankie Silvers" (on Ashley01)
Byrd Moore & his Hot Shots, "Frankie Silvers" (Columbia 15536-D, 1930; rec. 1929); "Frankie Silver's Confession" (Gennett, unissued, 1930)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Frankie Silver" (on NLCR04)
NOTES: This incident has frequently been reported as the inspiration for "Frankie and Albert" also; see the notes to that song.
Brown has extensive background notes on this murder, without clear conclusions as to why Frankie Silvers murdered her husband, noting that the jury apparently believed the motive was jealousy.
In Brown's and Randolph's texts, the judge who convicted Frankie Silvers is called "Judge Daniels," but Randolph reports that he was actually named John R. Donnell.
A recent book, The Untold Story of Frankie Silver by Perry Deane Young, puts the whole thing in a rather different light. Lyle Lofgren gives me the following facts from the book; I cannot vouch for the accuracy of Young's information:
Frances Stewart married Charles Silver in 1829, when both were 17; they lived near Toe River (Kona), North Carolina. They had a daugher Nancy in 1830. Charlie apparently was fond of drink and other women. On December 22, 1831, they quarreled. Charlie went for a gun; Frankie killed him with an ax.
Had Frankie simply notified the authorities at that point, all might have been well. But she burned his body and hid the remains, claiming that he had gone hunting and never come back. When the physical evidence was found, she was charged with murder. Having denied the crime, she couldn't plead self-defence, and her request for clemency were denied. She was executed on the date listed. - RBW
File: LE13

Franklin


See Lady Franklin's Lament (The Sailor's Dream) [Laws K9] (File: LK09)

Franklin and His Bold Crew


See Lady Franklin's Lament (The Sailor's Dream) [Laws K9] (File: LK09)

Franklin D. Roosevelt


DESCRIPTION: "Franklin Roosevelt took his seat About one year ago; He cannot please the world, That we all well know." "I esteem our worthy President." "He has given work to laboring men." "We're on the verge of better times." The singer encourages unions, religion
AUTHOR: James W. Day ("Jilson Setters")
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: political nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1929-1933 - Presidency of Herbert Hoover
1933-1945 - Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 245-246, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: This is presumably the song recorded by Setters on Library of Congress recording 1010B1, but I haven't heard it. - RBW
File: ThBa245

Franklin D. Roosevelt's Back Again


DESCRIPTION: "Just hand me my old Martin, for soon I will be startin... Since Roosevelt's been re-elected, we'll not be neglected." Singer praises Roosevelt's re-election, celebrates legal liquor and the end of moonshine, and returning prosperity.
AUTHOR: Bill Cox
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (recording, Bill Cox and Cliff Hobbs)
KEYWORDS: drink hardtimes nonballad political
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1933-1945 - Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 230-231, "Franklin D. Roosevelt's Back Again" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 287, "Franklin D. Roosevelt's Back Again" (1 text)
DT, FDRBACK*
RECORDINGS:
Bill Cox, "Franklin D. Roosevelt's Back Again" (Melotone 07-02-61/Oriole 07-02-61, 1937; OKeh 05896 [as Bill Cox & Cliff Hobbs], 1940; 1940; rec. 1936)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Franklin Roosevelt's Back Again" (on NCLR09, AmHist2, NLCRCD1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Democratic Donkey is Back In His Stall" (subject matter)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
We've Got Franklin Delano Roosevelt Back Again
NOTES: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, an anti-Prohibition Democrat, was elected to his second of four terms in 1936, carrying all but two states. - PJS
As poetry, this is about as bad as a song can get. But as a reflection of the attitude of its time, it is obviously highly accurate. - RBW
"As poetry, this is about as bad as a song can get." Oh yeah? Ever listen to "MacArthur Park"? - PJS
No, I haven't. Sounds like I should be glad.... - RBW
File: CSW230

Franklin Expedition, The


See Lady Franklin's Lament (The Sailor's Dream) [Laws K9] (File: LK09)

Franklin In Search of the North-West Passage


See Lady Franklin's Lament (The Sailor's Dream) [Laws K9] (File: LK09)

Franklin Slaughter Ranch


See The Wandering Cowboy [Laws B7] (File: LB07)

Franklin the Brave


See Lady Franklin's Lament (The Sailor's Dream) [Laws K9] (File: LK09)

Franklin's Crew


See Lady Franklin's Lament (The Sailor's Dream) [Laws K9] (File: LK09)

Fraserburgh Meal Riot, The


DESCRIPTION: Charlie is warned to run because the fisher wives are shouting. It will be a bloody morning. Charlie runs away from town across the dyke. We have to fight so "the meal will be doon in the mornin'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan2)
KEYWORDS: violence commerce food
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #147, p. 1, ("Charlie, Charlie, rise and rin"); Greig #149, p. 2, "Meal Riots" (2 fragments)
GreigDuncan2 240, "The Fraserburgh Meal Riot" (2 fragments)
Roud #5844
NOTES: GreigDuncan2: "The song probably relates to the riot that took place on 6 March 1813. A mob, in which a fisherwoman played a prominent part, turned back a cart carrying grain belonging to Charles and George Simpson, grain dealers in Fraserburgh, which was being taken to the harbour to be shipped on board the sloop Resolution at a time when popular feeling demanded that it should be kept for the local market. When Charles Simpson made a move to continue the attempt to ship the grain, he was pelted with mud and stones and pursued by the mob." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD2240

Fred Sargent's Shanty Song


DESCRIPTION: "In eighteen hundred and seventy-one, To swamp for a go-devil I begun, 'Twas on the banks of the Eau Claire, We landed there when the ground was bare. Tra-la-la-la...." The loggers get up, get dressed, go to work; the singer toasts the boss
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Rickaby)
KEYWORDS: logger work drink
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Rickaby 21, "Fred Sargent's Shanty Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Rick092 (Partial)
NOTES: This is probably a particularization of some other shanty song. But with only three verses (the introductory formula, the verse about getting up in the morning, and the conclusion toasting Fred Sargent), what remains is almost all the particularized parts, and so cannot really be identified. - RBW
File: Rick092

Free a Little Bird


See Free Little Bird (File: FSWB391A)

Free America


DESCRIPTION: "The seat of science, Athens, And earth's proud mistress Rome, Where now are all their glories?" The writer advises Americans to "guard their rights" and fight back against European tyranny.
AUTHOR: words: Joseph Warren?
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: political patriotic freedom derivative
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Arnett, pp. 14-15, "Free America" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 14-16, "Free America" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 537-538, "Free America" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 337-338, "Free America(y)" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 284, "Free America" (1 text)
DT, FREEAMER*
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The British Grenadiers" (tune) and references there
File: Arn014

Free Americay


See Free America (File: Arn014)

Free At Last


DESCRIPTION: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God a'mighty, I'm free at last!" "One of these mornings bright and fair, I'm gonna put on my wings and try the air." "Old Satan's mad because we're glad...." "I wonder what old Satan's grumblin' bout...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious freedom nonballad floatingverses Devil
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
BrownIII 624, "Old Satan's Mad" (5 text, of which the short "A" text is probably "Free at Last"; "B" is a variation on "Down By the Riverside (Study War No More)"; "C" has the "Old Satan's Mad" stanza but a "climbing Zion's walls" chorus; D" is an unidentifiable fragment perhaps related to "I Belong to that Band; and "E" is also a fragment, perhaps of "Free At Last")
Randolph 302, "The Devil's Mad and I Am Glad" (1 fragment, possibly this one)
Silber-FSWB, p. 368, "Free At Last" (1 text)
Roud #10974
RECORDINGS:
Dock Reed & Vera Hall Ward, "Free At Last" (on NFMAla2) (on Babylon)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "All My Sins Been Taken Away" (lyrics)
cf. "Hand Me Down My Walkin' Cane" (lyrics)
NOTES: The versions of this all seem rather fragmentary, and some may be floating bits of other songs. The line "Satan is mad and I am glad" seems to be about as characteristic of this song as anyrhing, but it also floats. - RBW
File: FSWB368A

Free Gardener, The


DESCRIPTION: "Old Adam was the gardener ... A fig-leaved apron he sewed and put on ... who would na wish a free gardener to be?" Eve asked to be a gardener. He said "no woman on earth my secrets should gain." "She made him leave the garden a ploughboy to be"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: Bible wordplay worker
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 473, "The Free Gardener" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #5972
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Old Adam Was a Gairner
NOTES: If it's not clear from my description, Adam's secrets ("I early obtained them by Heaven's decree"), those of the free "gardener" are really those of the Free Mason: "We're noble fellows and our aprons are blue, We toil in our garden, we plant and we sow, Kings are our companions, how noble are we! Then who would na wish a free gardener to be?" Women cannot know those secrets. After all, Eve "made him eat the apple, She made him go bound when he might have gone free...."
GreigDuncan3: "'From her [Mrs Beaton] early note-book, this being dated April, 1867.'" - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Gr3473

Free Little Bird


DESCRIPTION: "I'm as free little bird as I can be (x2), I'm as free at my age as a bird in a cage, I'm as free little bird...." "Take me home, little birdie, take me home...." "Oh, I won't build my nest on the ground...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Dykes Magic City Trio)
KEYWORDS: nonballad courting bird home
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Fuson, p. 130, "Free Little Bird" (1 text)
Shellans, p. 24, "Pretty Little Bird" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 268-269, "Free a Little Bird" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 391, "Free Little Bird" (1 text)
Roud #7690
RECORDINGS:
Allen Brothers, "Free a Little Bird" (Victor V-40266, 1930; Bluebird B-5668, 1934; rec. 1928)
Clarence Ashley, Clint Howard et al: "Free Little Bird" (on Ashley03, WatsonAshley01)
Cousin Emmy [Cynthia May Carver], "Free Little Bird" (Decca 24216, 1947)
Dykes Magic City Trio, "Free Little Bird" (Brunswick 129, 1927; on CrowTold01)
John Hammond, "Free A Little Bird As I Can Be" (Challenge 332 [as William Price], 1927)
Austin Harmon, "Free Little Bird" (AAFS 2887 A1)
Roscoe Holcomb, "I'm a Free Little Bird" (on Holcomb1, HolcombCD1)
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "Free Little Bird" (AAFS 1778 B2) (AAFS 3244 A2)
Clayton McMichen's Wildcats, "I'm Free a Little Bird as I Can Be" (Decca 5574, 1938)
Ridgel's Fountain Citians, "Free Little Bird" (Vocalion 5389, 1930; rec. 1929)
[Leonard] Rutherford & [John] Foster, "I'm As Free a Little Birdie As Can Be" (Gennett 6746, 1929; on KMM)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I'm Alone, All Alone (I)" (lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
Clayton McMichen's Georgia Wildcats, "Free a Little Bird As I Can Be No. 2" (Decca 5701, 1939)
Roane County Ramblers, "Free a Little Bird - 1930 Model" (Columbia 15498-D, 1930; rec. 1929)
File: FSWB391A

Free Mason Song


DESCRIPTION: "Come all ye free masons ... And wear a badge of innocence." Noah's ark, the binding of Isaac, Moses on Mt Zion are recounted. St Peter keeps heaven's door "and there's no one to enter in exceptin' they are pure"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 28(29))
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leach-Labrador 63, "Free Mason Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LLab063 (Partial)
Roud #1179
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(29), "Freemason's Song" ("Come all you Freemasons that dwell around the globe"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 11(1116), Harding B 25(1232), "A Mason's Song"; Harding B 28(270), Firth b.26(469), "[The] Masonic Hymn"; Harding B 28(139), Harding B 28(10), "A Celebrated Masonic Hymn"; Harding B 11(1638), Harding B 11(563), "The Celebrated Masonic Hymn"; Harding B 25(689), "The Freemason's Hymn"; Harding B 28(240), "The Free Masons Song"; Firth b.25(81), "Free-Mason's Anthem"; Harding B 17(99a), "Freemasons"; Harding B 11(3590), Firth c.21(35)[some illegible words], 2806 c.16(253), Johnson Ballads 2512, Johnson Ballads 2022, 2806 c.17(137), Harding B 15(113b), "Freemason's Song"; Firth b.27(495), "Freemasons' Song"; Harding B 25(1038)[mostly illegible], "Knights Templars of Malta"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bible Story" (themes, lyrics)
cf. "Freemason's Song (II)" (subject, themes)
NOTES: The story of Noah's flood is found in Genesis 6-8; Abraham's near-sacrifice of Isaac is in Genesis 22:1-14. Moses never climbed Mount Zion, which is of course *inside* Israel; the reference is to Deuteronomy 34:1-5, where Moses went up Mount Nebo, saw the which the Israelites would possess, and died. - RBW
File: LLab063

Free Salvation (The Resurrection)


DESCRIPTION: The expulsion from Eden is briefly told: "Man at his first creation / In Eden God did place... But by the subtle serpent / Beguiled he was and fell / And by his disobedience / Was doomed to death and Hell." The rest of the song tells of Jesus's passion
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1842 (Wesleyan Psalmist)
KEYWORDS: Bible religious Jesus death
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
FSCatskills 79, "The Resurrection" (1 text plus an excerpt from the Wesleyan Psalmist version, 1 tune)
ST FSC079 (Partial)
Roud #4608
NOTES: Most of this song is paraphrased directly from the Bible:
* The "subtle serpent": Gen. 3:1
* "by his disobedience was doomed": Rom. 5:19
* "was doomed to death": cf. Gen. 2:17, 3:2
* "rugged thorns": Mark 15:17, etc., John 19:1
* "sepulchre, as being near at hand": John 19:41-42
* "to Mary he appeared": John 20:11f. (the other gospels are less explicit)
* "go tell them I am risen... I'm going to my Father's": John 20:17 (in Mark 16:6-7 it is an angel that announces Jesus's resurrection; Jesus never appears on stage)
* "Go preach to all the nations": Matt. 28:19
* "Begin this in Jerusalem": Luke 24:47
* "I will be with you...": Matt. 28:20 - RBW
File: FSC079

Free Silver


DESCRIPTION: "Laboring men please all attend While I relate my history, Money it is very scarce...." "The farmer is the cornerstone, though he is cruelly treated. Bryan is the poor man's friend...." "We'll arise, defend free silver's cause...."
AUTHOR: James W. Day ("Jilson Setters")
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: money political nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 7, 1896 - William Jennings Bryan gives his "Cross of Gold" speech calling for a silver currency
1896, 1900, 1908 - Bryan's three runs for the presidency
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 191-192, (no title) (1 text)
NOTES: William Jennings Bryan (1860-1925) was a curious mix of genius and fool. A genuine peacemaker and friend of the poor, and a brilliant speaker, he had neither economic nor scientific sense (as he demonstrated by serving as prosecutor in the Scopes trial).
By the 1890s, farmers oppressed by debt were begging for a loosening of the money supply, and their proposed solution was free coinage of silver. That they needed relief is beyond question; that free silver was the answer is unlikely. Even J. Franklin Jameson, Dictionary of United States History 1492-1895, Puritan Press, 1894, p. 480, writing *during* the Panic of 1893, write that "The crisis of 1893 seems to have been rather due to financial legislation than to an unsound condition of the business of the country." More recent experts have generally agreed: The imbalance caused by silver and gold being arbitrarily linked at an unnatural exchange rate led to an unstable monetary supply and led to disaster.
It should be noted that silver had been legal tender from 1792 (Jameson, p. 600). The problem with free silver was not silver-as-currency, it was with the notion of an irrational, non-floating exchange rate between silver and gold.
But Bryan adopted the cause of free silver, and his famous "Cross of gold" speech ("you shall not press down upon the brown of labor this crown of thorns, you shall not crucify mankind upon a cross of gold") swept the 1896 Democratic convention and made Bryan the youngest serious presidential candidate in history.
But while Bryan inspired fervent devotion in certain circles, the country was basically conservative, and he lost in 1896 -- and by wider margins in 1900 and 1908. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: ThBa191

Free Slave, The


DESCRIPTION: "I stand as a free man beside the northern banks Of old Erie, the freshwater sea, And it cheers my very soul to behold the billows roll And to think, like the waves, I am free." The slave recalls the abuse he suffered, but he is safe under British laws
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (recording, E. R. Nance Singers)
KEYWORDS: slavery freedom
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1793 - Sale of slaves outlawed in Canada
1833 - Slavery abolished in the British Empire
FOUND IN: Canada
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 96-98, "The Free Slave" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4520
RECORDINGS:
E. R. Nance Singers [or Traphill Twins], "Sweet Freedom" (Brunswick 565/Supertone S-2813, 1931)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "O Freedom"
NOTES: This may be a version of "O Freedom"; at least, Ed Trickett sings a version of "O Freedom" with many of the same words. But this text is highly detailed, whereas "O Freedom" is usually rather vague. - RBW
File: FMB

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle


DESCRIPTION: "They say that freedom is a constant struggle (x3) Oh Lord, we've struggled so long, We must be free, we must be free." Similarly, "They say that freedom is a constant crying..." "constant sorrow..." "constant moaning..." "constant dying..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: freedom nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Silber-FSWB, p. 298, "Freedom Is a Constant Struggle" (1 text)
File: FSWB298

Freedom on the Wallaby


DESCRIPTION: The singer sees freedom in the Australian outback, and recalls how Australia was settled by freedom-loving British citizens. Having built homes, they find the government trying to control them. He calls on citizens to rebel
AUTHOR: Words: Henry Lawson
EARLIEST DATE: 1891
KEYWORDS: Australia political freedom
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Manifold-PASB, pp. 166-167, "Freedom on the Wallaby" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, WALLABBY*
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Australia's on the Wallaby"
NOTES: While this piece is assuredly by Henry Lawson, it is not clear whether it is an adaption or a forerunner of "Australia's on the Wallaby." - RBW
File: PASB167

Freedom Triumphant


DESCRIPTION: When the Bastille fell French soldiers joined in the battle for freedom. "From France now see LIBERTY's TREE Its branches wide extending" and the "swine ... unite, and swear they'll bite Their unrelenting drivers"
AUTHOR: Zimmermann: "Madden ascribed this song to a United Irishman named Thomas Storey"
EARLIEST DATE: 1796 (Zimmermann's text is from _Paddy's Resource_, Belfast, 1796, published by United Irishmen)
KEYWORDS: rebellion France political
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Zimmermann 4, "Freedom Triumphant" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 14, "Freedom Triumphant" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Zimmermann: "The word 'swine' is used affectionately ... perhaps an allusion to the 'swinish multitude' denounced by Edmund Burke (Reflections on the French Revolution) and vindicated by Tom Paine (The Rights of Man)." A United Irishmen song, "The Swinish Multitude," was "sung by them as they marched to the Battle of Antrim Killen." (source: a review of The Decade of the United Irishmen--Contemporary Accounts 1791-1801 by John Killen; the review is by John Russell on the Irish Republican News site for December 18, 1997). See broadside Bodleian, Harding B 5(97), "Edmund Burke, to the Swinish Multitude" ("Ye base swinish herd, in the stye of taxation"), unknown, n.d.
Zimmermann points out that lines, including the first four, "were borrowed from the famous Orange ballad "The Battle of the Boyne"
"The Battle of the Boyne" begins
July the first, in Oldbridge town,
There was a grievous battle,
Where many a man lay on the ground,
By cannons that did rattle
"Freedom Triumphant" begins
The fourteenth of July, in Paris town,
There was a glorious battle,
Where many a tyrant lay on the ground
By cannons that did rattle
Zimmermann's tune is "Boyne Water." - BS
The sad irony is, of course, that this song was obsolete by the time it was published. By 1796, France had been through the Reign of Terror (1793-1794) and the Directory of 1795 was already losing public support; in 1796, a young fellow by the name of Napoleon was named to his first major command in Italy.
Ireland in that year would see the first of the fiascos that clustered around the 1798 rebellion; this was the year of the Bantry Bay invasion (for which see especially the notes to "The Shan Van Voght"). - RBW
File: Zimm004

Freehold on the Plain, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer reports that he is now a "broken-down old squatter, my cash it is all gone." He once had a fine holding, a mansion, and a good wife -- but he turned to speculation, and now "I've lost that little freehold on the plain."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Paterson's _Old Bush Songs_)
KEYWORDS: commerce poverty rambling Australia
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 174-175, "The Freehold on the Plain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 166-167, "Freehold on the Plain" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Little Joe the Wrangler" [Laws B5] (tune) and references there
File: FaE174

Freemason King, The


See The Building of Solomon's Temple [Laws Q39] (File: LQ39)

Freemason's Song (I), The


DESCRIPTION: "In the year of eighteen hundred and three I took a notion a Freemason to be." For his initiation he has to ride a goat, sit on a chair and "they threw me a sign from the nose to the chin saying This is our sign since Freemasons begin."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1862 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: ritual humorous
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 114, "The Freemason's Song" (1 text)
Roud #17746
NOTES: Greenleaf/Mansfield notes that "When a man was initiated into the Freemasons he was supposed to ride a goat for five hundred miles, they said"; "This is a variant of 'The Freemason' popular on stage in the sixties." - BS
File: GrMa114

Freemason's Song (II)


DESCRIPTION: Freemasonry began in the garden where Adam's fig leaf was his mason's apron. King David and Noah were freemasons. "Now come over the mountain you maidens all, bring a square and rule along" because a freemason "will secure you on a cold winter's night"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-Maritime, p. 175, "Freemason's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1179
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Free Mason Song" (subject, themes)
NOTES: This and the "Free Mason Song" are very similar, recounting Biblical events and connecting them to masonry. Roud lumps them. As there are no exact parallels, we split them -- but it's a close thing. - RBW
File: CrMa175

Freemasons' Song


DESCRIPTION: Freemasons meet in a Lodge. "Our secrets to none but ourselves shall be known." The singer praises buildings: they "will always proclaim What honour is due to a Freemason's name." Others deride us; "let every true brother these vermin despise"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: work nonballad ritual
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #156, p. 1, "Freemasons' Song" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 466, "Freemasons' Song" (1 text)
Roud #5964
NOTES: It is technically true that the Masons had secrets -- rituals, handshakes, and even a so-called secret code of a very simple sort, based on a tic-tac-toe grid and an x, so that, e.g., the letter "o" was "|-|"; the letter "i" was "|-."; and the letter "w" was "\/" (for details, and clearer drawings -- the above are not quite right -- see Fred B. Wrixon, Codes, Ciphers, & Other Cryptic & Clandestine Communications, Barnes & Noble, 1998). But few of these secrets were really very secret. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3466

Freight Train


DESCRIPTION: "Freight train, freight train, run so fast/Please don't tell what train I'm on/So they won't know where I've gone." Rest of song gives singer's wishes for her burial "at the foot of old Chestnut Street."
AUTHOR: Elizabeth Cotten
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (composed c. 1905?)
KEYWORDS: train burial death nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 521-523, "Freight Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 120, "Freight Train" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 63, "Freight Train" (1 text)
DT, FRGHTRN
RECORDINGS:
Elizabeth Cotten, "Freight Train" (on Cotten01) (on Cotten03)
Pete Seeger, "Freight Train" (on PeteSeeger34)
NOTES: Though not folk in origin, it was so widely recorded in the Sixties that it did seem briefly to go into oral tradition, though I suspect it's nearly dead as a folk song by now.
The popularity of the song seems to have been due partly to its use as a fingerpicking exercise. It is ironic to note that Elizabeth Cotten herself was left-handed, but instead of playing a left-handed guitar, she played a right-handed guitar flipped 180 degrees (i.e. she had her left hand on the fretboard, but with the bass strings on top and the treble on the bottom). So effectively none of the people imitating her style are actually imitating her technique. - RBW
File: CSW120

Freight Train Blues (I)


DESCRIPTION: "I hate to hear that engine blow, boo-hoo (x2), Every time I hear it blowin' I feel like ridin' too." The singer wants to travel to forget her man. She asks to ride the blinds; the brakeman says no. She compares how men and women get the blues
AUTHOR: Thomas Dorsey and Everett Murphy
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (copyright); also recordings by Trixie Smith and Clara Smith
KEYWORDS: train separation
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 446-449, "Freight Train Blues (I)" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: LSRai446

Freight Train Blues (II)


DESCRIPTION: "I waas born in Dixie in a boomer's shack, Just a little shanty by the railroad track...." "I got the fright train blues... When the whistle blows, I got to go...." The singer tells of how the rails have always ruled his life; he cannot outgrow them
AUTHOR: John Lair
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (recording, Red Foley)
KEYWORDS: railroading rambling love
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 524-527, "Freight Train Blues (II)" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 22, #2 (1973), p, 19, "Freight Train Blues" (1 text, 1 tune, apparently learned from tradition by Derroll Adams)
Roud #16393
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff and his Smoky Mountain Boys, "Freight Train Blues" (Vocalion 04466 [vocal by Sam Hatcher], 1936) (Columbia 37598 [vocal by Acuff], 1947) [It appears that some releases of this song, including Columbia 20034 and 37008, used the same record number for the Hatcher and Acuff masters]
Richard O. Hamilton, "Freight Train Blues" (on USWarnerColl01)
File: LSRai524

Freight Wreck at Altoona, The


See The Wreck of the 1262 (The Freight Wreck at Altoona) (File: DTwrck12)

Freighting from Wilcox to Globe


DESCRIPTION: "Come all you jolly freighters who travel upon the rooad That ever hauled a load of coke from Wilcox to Globe!" A tale of a bad trip, with everything overpriced, and having a mule stolen. The singer hopes to go into business and treat them as they did him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: work travel hardtimes commerce
FOUND IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fife-Cowboy/West 20, "Freighting from Wilcox to Globe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8016
File: FCW020

French Privateer, The


DESCRIPTION: The Irish ship goes to sea, and after four days overtakes a Spanish ship, which they defeat. They prepare to pursue the defeated ship, but a French privateer come in sight. They sink the French ship, but the Spaniard escapes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: ship sea battle escape pirate
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H560, pp. 112-113, "The French Privateer" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ranson, pp. 33-34, "The Spanish Privateer" (1 text)
Roud #690
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "The American and Irish Privateer" (on IRRCinnamond03)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Warlike Seamen (The Irish Captain)" (plot, lyrics) and references there
cf. "The Terrible Privateer" (plot)
cf. "Captain Coulston" (plot)
cf. "The Dolphin" (plot)
NOTES: On the face of it, the fact that Sam Henry's version of this song involves battles with both French and Spanish would seem to date the piece. It doesn't; the English were at war with both on several occasions. Even if one ignores the Spanish Armada era (when France wasn't formally at war), the British faced a Franco-Spanish coalition during parts of the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, and the early stages of the Napoleonic Wars (the fleet which fought Nelson at Trafalgar had both French and Spanish ships, e.g.).
Huntington notes several similar songs which may be related. He seems to have missed the most famous, the Copper Family song "Warlike Seamen," which Roud lumps with this (and with others such as "The Dolphin"). Much of that piece is identical to the second half of this song, though this appears to be some sort of cross-fertilization, since they have distinct openings. It would appear that this sort of patriotic song was common, and they mixed heavily. - RBW
The Ranson ballad is only slightly different from SHenry H560. An American, rather than French, ship interferes. Eventually the American ship flees but the Spanish prize is lost.
In Cinnamond's version "our ship the Amazon") is defeated but "then bespoke our captain boys, 'We'll make them mind the time Neither Yankee, French nor Spaniard could fight our Irish boys.'" SHenry ("neither French nor Spanish can fight our Irish boys") and Ranson ("neither Yankee, Dutch nor Spaniard can match our Irish play"), each with a different result for our privateer, end with the same tag line.
Cinnamond's version makes the name of the ship Amazon and, as I hear it, the captain's name "Colvin." Maybe there is a real-life connection to this report of a Co Antrim wreck near Bangor by Bourke in Shipwrecks of the Irish Coast v2, p. 8: "The privateer Amazon was wrecked in Ballyholme bay near Bangor on 25-2-1780. Some of her cannon were recovered and one stands at Bangor where Captain Colvill is buried. The 14 gun Amazon had fought a battle with a Spanish brig off Bangor." In this connection you can read Captain George Colvill's headstone at Bangor Abbey, Co Down, or by referring to Memorial M1231 at the National Maritime Museum (UK) site; it refers to the wreck. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: HHH560

Frenchmen, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer says the French and General Humbert were "too late again" at Killala Bay. He fights at Castlebar, where 700 Frenchmen help chase Lord Roden's cavalry, and when Cornwallis drives the French out, leaving Tone and Teeling to be martyred.
AUTHOR: Pete St John (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST DATE: 2000 (Moylan)
KEYWORDS: army battle rebellion France Ireland
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
December 1796 - The French fleet is driven from Bantry Bay by "near-hurricane weather"
August 22, 1798 - A French force of 1070 French troops, under General Jean-Joseph-Amable Humbert lands at Killala Bay and defeats a garrison at Kilalla, County Mayo.
August 27, 1798 - The French and rebels route the British, "notably the Fraser Fencibles and Roden's Dragoons," at Castlebar, County Mayo.
September 8, 1798 - With Cornwallis guarding Dublin and under attack by General Lake at Ballinamuck, County Longford, the greatly outnumbered Humbert surrenders. The French prisoners were sent to Dublin and then repatriated. The Irish officers, including Teeling [and Matthew Tone], were hanged as traitors.
(source: "In the Footsteps of General Humbert: The French Invasion of Ireland, 1798" by Bill Peterson in _The Napoleonic Wargaming Club Newsletter_, Sep 2001, at the Wargames Club site)
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Moylan 116, "The Frenchmen" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Men of the West" (subject: The landing of General Humbert) and references there
cf. "Henry Munroe" (character of Bartholomew Teeling)
NOTES: Moylan: The song was written in the 1980s. - BS
For the story of General Humbert's invasion, see the notes to "The Men of the West." For the overall strategic situation, see "The Shan Van Voght." - RBW
File: Moyl116

Frere Jacques (Are You Sleeping; Brother John)


DESCRIPTION: French: "Frere Jacques (x2), Dormez-vous (x2), Sonnez les matines (x2), Din din don (x2)." English: "Are you sleeping (x2), Brother John? (x2), Morning bells are ringing (x2), Ding ding dong (x2)."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1811 (melody in "Le Clw du Caveau...")
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND IN: US France
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 412, "Frere Jacques (Brother John)" (1 English and 1 French text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 268, "Brother John" (1 text, tune referenced)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 237-238
DT, FRERJACQ*
SAME TUNE:
Turkey Dinner (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 21)
Next Thanksgiving (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 21)
Perfect Posture (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 74)
NOTES: Fuld reports that a manuscript copy of this tune was made c. 1780 (under another title); the melody was published in 1811. Words and music were first published together in 1860. - RBW
File: FSWB412F

Fresh Peanuts!


DESCRIPTION: Extended street cry: "Fresh peanuts! Is the best of all, They's raised in the summer and dug in the fall. I got fresh peanuts! The singer boasts of their quality, his work in preparing them, and his prices.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: commerce food nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Warner 184, "Fresh Peanuts" (1 text)
Roud #16405
NOTES: Perhaps this is a token of how times have changed since the Warners collected this in 1940. The singer doesn't have sales, nor bulk discounts; he declares
I'll sell a whole five cents worth for just one nickel,
I'll sell a whole ten cents worth for one little dime.
A whole twenty-five cents worth for a quarter of a dollar. - RBW
File: Wa184

Friar and the Nun, The


See One Misty, Moisty Morning (File: OO2359)

Friar in the Well, The [Child 276]


DESCRIPTION: A friar solicits a girl; she is afraid of hell. The friar points out that he can pray her out. That promise, plus cash in advance, wins her consent, but she -- claiming her father is coming -- causes him to fall into a well, dampening his ardor
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1719 (Pills; tune in "The Dancing Master," 1651)
KEYWORDS: humorous trick
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Child 276, "The Friar in the Well" (2 texts)
Bronson 276, "The Friar in the Well" (3 versions)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 296-297, "The Maid Peeped out at the Window, or, The Friar in the Well" (1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Kinloch-BBook VII, pp. 24-29, "The Friar" (1 text)
BBI, ZN219, "As I lay musing all alone"
DT 276, FRIARWEL* FRIARWL2*
Roud #116
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Harry the Tailor" (plot)
File: C276

Friendless Soldier Boy, The


See The Soldier's Poor Little Boy [Laws Q28] (File: LQ28)

Friends and Neighbors (Virginia's Alders)


DESCRIPTION: The singer reports, "Friends and neighbors, I am now going to leave you..." He says that, despite what people think, it is not for any wrongdoing. He simply wants to go home to "the handsome young girl I left behind" among Virginia's alders
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1982 (Cazden, Haufrecht, Studer)
KEYWORDS: love separation rambling farewell
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
FSCatskills 35, "Friends and Neighbors" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC035 (Partial)
Roud #4603
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Virginia's Alders
NOTES: This song is sung to the shape note hymn "Nettleton" (one of several settings for "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing"). Cazden et al report that it has only been collected twice: From their informant George Edwards, and from a recording of another Catskills singer, Frank Edwards, who may have been related to George. - RBW
File: FSC035

Friends of Temperance


DESCRIPTION: "Friends of temperance, lift your banners, Wave them in the air, Sing ye now your glad hosannahs, Sing them loud and clear. Lo, the hour of victory cometh, See the dawning day. Rouse ye, drunkards, break your bondage, Dash your cups away!"
AUTHOR: Arthur Bittenger?
EARLIEST DATE: 1875 (printing known to Randolph)
KEYWORDS: drink
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 326, "Friends of Temperance" (1 text)
Roud #7800
File: R326

Frigging Fusileers, The


DESCRIPTION: A mock boast in which the singer(s), "the heroes of the night," brag they are ever eager for beer and women.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: bawdy sex drink
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 518-522, "The Frigging Fusileers" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Foreskin Fusileers
The Fucking [Foreskin] Fusileers
File: RL518

Frigging in the Rigging


See The Good Ship Venus (File: EM315)

Frisch Aug, Alle Mann an Deck (Lively There, All Hands on Deck)


DESCRIPTION: German shanty. Sentimental song about a ship facing a storm. Describes efforts to make the ship fast, sounds and images of the storm, thoughts of loved ones, and how hard the sailor's lot is compared to those on shore. Ch: "Holla-hi, holla-he, holla-ho!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Baltzer's _Knurrhahn_)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty ship storm
FOUND IN: Germany
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 535-537, "Frisch Aug, Alle Mann an Deck" (2 texts-German & English, 1 tune)
File: Hug535

Frisky Jim


See Happy, Frisky Jim (File: R431)

Fritz Truan, a Great Cowboy


DESCRIPTION: "Over the divide a great cowboy did go, To ride broncs in heaven at the big rodeo. I've watched him ride since I was fifteen, Up till the day he became a marine." Truan's skill is remembered; the poet "bet[s] Fritz got a hundred before they got him."
AUTHOR: Larry Finley
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: cowboy horse soldier death recitation
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1945 - Death of Fritz Truan during the battle for Iwo Jima
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ohrlin-HBT 35, "Fritz Truan, a Great Cowboy" (1 text)
NOTES: According to Ohrlin, Truan won sundry world championship events in 1939 and 1940, but joined the Marines during World War II and perished. - RBW
File: Ohr035

Frog and the Mouse (I), The


See Frog Went A-Courting (File: R108)

Frog and the Mouse (II), The


See Kemo Kimo (File: R282)

Frog and the Mouse, The


See Frog Went A-Courting (File: R108)

Frog He Went A-Courting, A


See Frog Went A-Courting (File: R108)

Frog He Would A-Wooing Go, (A)


See Frog Went A-Courting (File: R108)

Frog in the Middle


DESCRIPTION: Children's game: "Frog in the middle And can't get out. Take a stick And punch him out."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: playparty animal
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 130, (no title) (1 short text)
Roud #14047
NOTES: I suspect that there is a good deal more to this game than Scarborough describes. But until we find another version, we're left guessing, e.g., as to how one becomes the "frog" (whom she describes as a child in the middle of a circle, and poked out into the ring). - RBW
File: ScaNF130

Frog in the Spring, The


See Frog Went A-Courting AND Kemo Kimo (File: R108)

Frog in the Well


See Kemo Kimo (File: R282)

Frog Went A-Courting


DESCRIPTION: Frog rides to ask Miss Mouse to marry him. She is willing but must ask permission of Uncle Rat. Rat's permission received, the two work out details of the wedding. (Some versions end with a cat or other creature devouring the participants)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: perhaps 1549 (Wedderburn's "Complaynt of Scotland"); there is a reference in the Stationer's Register of 1580 to "A Moste Strange Weddinge of the Frogge and the Mouse"; Ravenscroft's 1611 _Melismata_ has "The Marriage of the Frogge and the Movse" which is certainly this
KEYWORDS: animal courting love marriage request
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So,SW) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England(West),Scotland(Aber)) Ireland
REFERENCES (48 citations):
Leather, pp. 209-210, "The Frog and the Mouse" (2 texts)
Belden, pp. 494-499, "The Frog's Courtship" (7 texts in 3 groups, 2 tunes; several of the texts are short, and IB at least appears to be "Kemo Kimo")
Randolph 108, "The Frog's Courtship" (5 texts plus 5 excerpts, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 139-141, "The Frog's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 108A)
BrownIII 120, "The Frog's Courtship" (7 texts plus 13 excerpts, 2 fragments, and mention of 5 more; "Kemo Kimo" in appendix)
Hudson 136, pp. 282-283, "The Frog's Courting" (1 text plus mention of 9 more)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 244-248, "The Frog He Went A-Courting" (3 texts, the first two, with local titles "Frog Went A-Courting" and "Frog Went Courting" and tune on p. 420, are this song; the third item, "The Gentleman Frog," is separate, probably part of the "Kemo Kimo"/"Frog in the Well" family)
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 46-48, "Frog Went A-Courtin'"; p. 48, (no title); pp. 48-50, "Mister Frog) (3 texts, 1 tune)
Brewster 42, "The Frog Went A-Courting" (5 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 4 more, 3 tunes -- one of them of the "Kitty Alone" type)
Eddy 44, "The Frog and the Mouse" (5 texts, 2 tunes)
Gardner/Chickering 189, "The Frog's Courtship" (2 texts plus an exceprt and mention of 5 more, 3 tunes)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 40, "The First Come in it was a Rat" (1 text)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 250-254, "The Frog and the Mouse" (3 texts plus 4 fragments, 2 tunes)
Creighton-NovaScotia 89, "It Was a Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 83, "The Frog and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 155, "A Frog He Would a Wooing Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 11-13, "Gentleman Froggie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 199-202, "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 294, "The Frog and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan8 1669, "Ki-Ma-Dearie" (5 texts, 5 tunes)
McNeil-SFB2, pp. 41-43, "Frog Went A-Courtin" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 25, "Frog Went A-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 86, "The Toad's Courtship" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 170-171, "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
FSCatskills 142, "Missie Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 220, "A Frog He Went A-courting" (11 texts, 11 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 75, "The Frog and the Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune -- a composite version)
Sandburg, p. 143, "Mister Frog Went A-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-BoA, pp. 339-341, "The Mouse's Courting Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 32 "King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 310-313, "Frog Went A-Courtin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 571-572, "The Frog in the Spring" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 722, "Frog Went A-Courting" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 56, "Froggie Went A-Courtin'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 48-49, "Froggie Went A-Courting" (1 text)
JHCox 162, "The Frog and the Mouse" (3 texts plus mention of two more including some excerpts, 1 tune)
JHCoxIIB, #22A-E, pp. 174-182, "Mr. Mouse Went A-Courting," "The Frog and the Mouse," "Frog Went A-Courting," "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 5 tunes)
Opie-Oxford2 175, "A frog he would a-wooing go" (3 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #69, pp. 77-79, "(There was a frog liv'd in a well)" (a complex composite with a short version of "Frog Went A-Courting" plus enough auxiliary verses to make an almost complete "Kemo Kimo" text)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 193, "(There dwelt a puddy in a well)" (1 text, very long, containing a full "Frog Went A-Courting" version plus sundry "Kemo Kimo" type verses)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 142-143, "The Wedding of the Frog and Mouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 403, "Frog Went A-Courtin'" (1 text)
BBI, ZN3249, "It was a frog in a well"
DT 306, FRGCORT2* PUDDYWL2
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II, p. 194 (1931), "A Frog Went Courting" (1 text)
Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 55-57, "The Frog and Mouse" (2 texts)
Robert Chambers (Edited by Norah and William Montgomerie), Traditional Scottish Nursery Rhymes (1990 selected from Popular Rhymes) #237, pp. 138-142, "Puddy He'd a-Wooin Ride"
Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 174, "The Frog and Mouse" (reproduction of a broadside (?) page with a tune)
Roud #16
RECORDINGS:
Albert Beale, "A Frog He Would a-Wooing Go" (on FSB10)
Anne, Judy, & Zeke Canova, "Frog Went A-Courtin'" (Brunswick 264, 1928; on CrowTold02)
Elizabeth Cronin, "Uncle Rat Went Out to Ride" (on FSB10)
Drusilla Davis, "Frog Went A-Courting" (AFS 347 B, 1935)
Otis High & Flarrie Griffin, "Froggie Went A-Courtin'" (on HandMeDown1)
Bradley Kincaid, "Froggie Went A Courting" (Champion 15466 [as Dan Hughey]/Silvertone 5188/Silvertone 8219/Supertone 9209, 1928)
Adolphus Le Ruez ,"The Frog and the Mouse" (on FSB10)
Pleaz Mobley, "Froggie Went A-Courting" (AFS; on LC12)
Chubby Parker, "King Kong Kitchie Kitchie Ki-Me-O" (Columbia 15296D, 1928; on AAFM1, CrowTold01) (Supertone 9731, 1930) (Conqueror 7889, 1931)
Annie Paterson, "The Frog and the Mouse" (on FSB10)
Uncle Don, "Frog Went A'Courting" (Conqueror 9013, 1938)
Unknown artist(s), "A Frog He Would A-Wooing Go" (Harper-Columbia 1162, c. 1919)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Kemo Kimo" (occasional floating lyrics)
cf. "I Ask That Gal" (tune)
cf. "The Bear in the Hill" (plot)
cf. "The Fly and the Bumblebee (Fiddle-Dee-Dee)" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
There Was a Puggie in a Well
There Lived a Puddie in the Well
The Frog's Wooing
Kaimee, Dearie
Y Broga Bach (Welsh)
NOTES: The Complaynt of Scotland refers to a song "The frog cam to the myl door" (see E. K. Chambers, English Literature at the Close of the Middle Ages, Oxford, 1945, 1947, p. 181); this is widely thought to be this song, but of course this cannot be proved.
The notes on this song in Cazden et al (pp. 524-532) constitute probably the best succinct summary available on variants of this piece.
Spaeth has a note that the original version of this was supposed to refer to the Duke of Anjou's wooing of Elizabeth I of England. If the second known version (1611, in Melismata, reprinted in Chappell) were the oldest, this might be possible -- there are seeming political references to "Gib, our cat" and "Dick, our Drake." But the Wedderburn text, which at least anticipates the song, predates the reign of Queen Elizabeth by nine years, and Queen Mary of by four. If it refers to any queen at all, it would have to be Mary Stuart.
Those who want a version of this piece which does not involve inter-species hanky-panky are advised to try J. A. Scott's version (or other American texts); in this, both creatures are mice. Of course, it does end with the cat interfering with the festivities.
In addition to "pure" texts of this song, some there exist versions which have gotten mixed with "Martin Said to His Man." The versions I've seen are often titled "Kitty Alone" ; the first such text seems to have been in Gammer Gurton's Garland (1784), which has clearly a "Frog" plot but the form (and some of the exaggerations) of "Martin." - RBW
The second of Chambers's (1870) texts is a from a 1630 copy of the 1580 text of "a ballad of a most strange wedding of the frogge and the mouse." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: R108

Frog Went Courting, A


See Frog Went A-Courting (File: R108)

Frog, The (Fisherman's Luck)


DESCRIPTION: Swagman Paddy, out of food, decides to catch a fish. The only possible bait is a frog -- but a snake swallows the frog before Paddy can catch it. Paddy gets the snake drunk and retrieves the frog. The snake, wanting another drink, brings another frog
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1938 (recording, Dixon Brothers)
KEYWORDS: food animal humorous hardtimes recitation
FOUND IN: Australia US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 279-281, "The Frog" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Dixon Brothers "Fisherman's Luck" (on Montgomery Ward M-7855, c. 1938)
Mike Seeger, "Fisherman's Luck" (on MSeeger01)
File: MCB279

Frog's Courtship, The


See Frog Went A-Courting (File: R108)

From Hillsborough Town the First of May


DESCRIPTION: "From Hillsborough town the first of May Marched those murdering traitors. They went to oppose the honest men That were called Regulators." Hamilton leads the regulators to raid the town
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: political rescue
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Apr 30, 1768 - Arrest of Regulator leaders Harmon Husband and William Butler
May 3, 1768 - Rescue of the arrested leaders
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownII 278, "From Hillsborough Town the First of May" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "When Fanning First to Orange Came" (subject)
cf. "Said Frohock to Fanning" (subject)
cf. "Who Would Have Tho't Harmon" (subject)
NOTES: One of four "regulator" songs in Brown. The regulators were a group of protesters against high taxes and fees, found mostly in North Carolina though some also were active in South Carolina. For more on the Regulators, see the notes to "When Fanning First to Orange Came."
The notes in Brown relate this song to the 1768 raid on Hillsborough town: The authorities seized assorted items for back taxes, Regulators went to retake the items, Husband and Harmon were arrested, and Ninian Bell Hamilton led a raid to rescue the leaders. This is almost certainly the true setting -- but we note that Husband and Harmon aren't mentioned in the extent text of the song; the only people named are Hamilton and Edmund Fanning. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BrII278

From Liverpool 'cross the Atlantic


See The Stowaway (File: GrMa051)

From Ogemaw


DESCRIPTION: The song, in its entirety: "I'm a ramblin' wreck of poverty/From Ogemaw I came/My poverty compels me/To split wood in the rain/But in all kinds of weather/Be it wet or dry/I'm bound to gain an honest living/Or lay me down and die"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: poverty lumbering work logger nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Beck 24, "From Ogemaw" (1 text)
Roud #8860
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Walk the Road Again"
NOTES: This fragment may be part of another song, but it's impossible to tell. - PJS
Looks to me more like an agglomeration of common lines, e.g. from "Son of a Gambolier" or one of its offspring and "I Walk the Road Again" (though it might be a much-worn-down version of the latter) - RBW
File: Be024

From Rocks and Sands and Barren Lands


DESCRIPTION: The singer asks to be saved "from rocks and sands and barren lands" and "big guns and women's tongues"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1653, "From Rocks and Sands and Barren Lands" (1 text)
Roud #13049
NOTES: Presumably a a fragment of a soldier's song. A colonial war seems the most likely setting -- perhaps the Boer War? - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81653

From Surabaya to Pasoeroean


DESCRIPTION: Javanese sea shanty. "Sum go coolie ah-e-ah ang, sor Sourabaya, Hoo-e la-e-la-e-la." Used as a capstan shanty, Harlow says he took it down from the coolies singing and can't vouch for the correctness of the words.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1945 (Harlow)
KEYWORDS: shanty foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Indonesia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Harlow, p. 114, "From Surabaya to Pasoeroean" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Harl114

Frostit Corn, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh I am a young farmer hard set by the frost ... like to ruin us a'." Maybe that hardship was intended "for to humble oor pride" If the singer marries he won't be able to pay the laird but "If I should hae naething else I will aye hae a wife"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: poverty marriage ordeal work farming landlord
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 436, "The Frostit Corn" (1 text)
Roud #5951
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Johnnie Cope" (tune, per GreigDuncan3)
NOTES: GreigDuncan3: "'September 1907. Heard about 1850.'" - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3436

Frowns That She Gave Me, The


DESCRIPTION: "When first to this country a stranger I came, I placed my affection on a beautiful dame." ""Oh Susan... Won't you leave your old parents?" "Oh William, that never would do." "Take warning by me, Never place your affections on a green growing tree"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: love courting family floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 752, "The Frowns That She Gave Me" (1 text)
Roud #4296
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "When First To This Country (I)" ("When First Unto This Country" lyrics) and references there
cf. "Oh No, Not I" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: This is another of those all-floating-verse pieces -- the first lines are from "The Banks of the Bann," then material that reminds us of "Green Grow the Lilacs" and others; then verses asking the girl to leave home that could be from anywhere, then the remark "Since it is no better I'm glad it is no worse," and finally a bit from "Oh No, Not I." - RBW
File: R752

Frozen Charlotte


See Young Charlotte (Fair Charlotte) [Laws G17] (File: LG17)

Frozen Girl, The


See Young Charlotte (Fair Charlotte) [Laws G17] (File: LG17)

Frozen Logger, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a waitress. She recognizes him as a logger, and tells him the sad tale of her amazing logger lover. One night he forgot his Mackinaw, and at last, "at a thousand degrees below zero, it froze my logger love."
AUTHOR: James Stevens (1892-1971)
EARLIEST DATE: 1951
KEYWORDS: love logger death talltale
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Lomax-FSNA 61, "The Frozen Logger" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 30, "The Frozen Logger" (1 text)
DT, FROZLOGR*
ADDITIONAL: Walker D. Wyman, _Wisconsin Folklore_, University of Wisconsin Extension (?), 1979, pp. 35-36, has a version, quite different from the Weavers text, which he apparently thinks is traditional folklore
Roud #5470
NOTES: There is a good deal of uncertainty about the author of this. Not that there is any question that the author's name was pronounced "James Stevens"; all seem to agree on this. But different sources have spelled it "Stevens" or "Stephens."
Research by Abby Sale and others supports the theory that the author was the James Stevens whose dates are cited above; he also wrote the classic book Paul Bunyan in 1925. The "Stephens" spelling may possibly be by confusion with the Irish author James Stephens.
According to Sing Out!, Volume 37, #3 (1993), p. 72, Stevens based this on an actual lumberjack tall tale. But, of course, Stevens also claimed his Paul Bunyan stories come from that source -- and many of them clearly came out of his head.
It may be questioned whether this is a folk song. I would not so count it, despite its inclusion in Lomax. Nonetheless, the versions have been folk processed to a certain extent -- notably in the first verse, where the original version read "A six foot seven waitress." Somebody (the Weavers?) converted this to the unremarkable "A forty year old waitress," and of course this has been common since, even though the line is banal and does nothing to enhance the tall tale aspects of the song.
There is some interesting science (or, perhaps, lack of science) here. There is, of course, no such temperature as a thousand degrees below zero, in either the Farenheit or Celsius scales; Absolute zero is at -459.7 degrees Farenheit -- and anything not made of helium (which is everything more complex than a single atom) will have frozen rock-solid far warmer than that.
But it is in fact not unlikely that the logger was hard to freeze. Assume the logger's girl was, in fact, 79 inches tall. This would make her at least 15 inches taller than the average woman of Stevens's time. That's 23% taller. Presumably her lover is also about 23% taller than average. (For the time, that makes him an inch or two above seven feet.).
And that brings in what is called the "square-cube law" or "the law of squares and cubes": That the surface area of an shape increases as the square of its linear dimension, but the volume increases as the cube of its linear dimension. In simpler terms, as something gets bigger, its surface area gets smaller relative to its volume. By a lot.
Which is significant, because the heat generated by a body is roughly proportional to its volume, but heat loss is roughly proportional to surface area. The fact that the logger was very big did make him significantly less vulnerable to cold (though more vulnerable to heat). So while this is a tall tale, it's a little less tall than it might have been.- RBW
File: LoF061

Frugal Maid, The


See I've Two or Three Strings To My Bow (File: HHH070)

Fuck 'Em All


See Bless 'Em All (File: EM386)

Fucking Machine, The


DESCRIPTION: A sailor/airman/engineer marries a sexually insatiable woman, and builds a machine to service her. He cannot stop the machine, which continues to function until the woman is killed and the machine destroys itself.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: bawdy sex wife husband death technology
FOUND IN: Australia Canada Britain(England) US(MW,SW) New Zealand
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cray, pp. 392-394, "The Fucking Machine" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GRTWHEEL*
Roud #10237
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Great [Bloody] Wheel
The Bloody [Great] Wheel
NOTES: Most often set to the familiar hymn tune "Old Hundred." - EC
File: EM392

Fugitive's Lament, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer longs for home, sweetheart, family. He is a fugitive because he committed a murder. Distinguished by the chorus: "I'm riding along out on the lone prairie/The rangers are searching for me/I'm riding away from my home in Texas/A fugitive ever to be"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1935 (recording, Delmore Bros.)
KEYWORDS: homesickness loneliness violence rambling separation travel crime murder manhunt death police cowboy
FOUND IN: US
RECORDINGS:
Delmore Brothers, "The Fugitive's Lament" (on Montgomery Ward 4752, c. 1935; on WhenIWas2)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wandering Cowboy (I)" [Laws B7] (plot)
File: RcTFugLa

Full Loads to the Sealers


DESCRIPTION: "And here's grand success to the sealers, The pride of our city and town, Who face the doghood on the ocean, And with bat like heroes knock down." The singer bids success to the sealers and hopes they have happy reunions at home
AUTHOR: Johnny Burke
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Burke's Ballads)
KEYWORDS: hunting reunion
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 122, "Full Loads to the Sealers" (1 text)
NOTES: Most of Burke's songs are intended to be sung to a traditional tune. This particular text fits many melodies, and doesn't have the hints of parody found in many Burke pieces. It fits "Rosin the Beau," for instance. But I have this feeling it's sung to "The Badger Drive" (which, admittedly, is close to "Rosin"). - RBW
File: RySm122

Fuller and Warren [Laws F16]


DESCRIPTION: [Amasa] Fuller has become engaged to a woman, who however chooses to abandon him for [Paul] Warren. Fuller accuses Warren of saying that he (Fuller) was already married, and shoots him. He is sentenced to hang
AUTHOR: sometimes attributed to Moses Whitecotton
EARLIEST DATE: 1874
KEYWORDS: murder trial execution
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jan 10, 1820 - Amasa Fuller shoots Paul (Palmer?) Warren in Lawrenceburg, Indiana. Fuller was later hanged.
FOUND IN: US(MW,NE,Ro,So,SW) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Laws F16, "Fuller and Warren"
Belden, pp. 302-307, "Fuller and Warren" (3 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Randolph 143, "Fuller and Warren" (1 text plus 2 excerpts, 1 tune)
Hudson 66, pp. 191-193, "Fuller and Warren" (1 text)
Brewster 100, "Fuller and Warren" (2 texts plus an excerpt and mention of 4 more)
Larkin, pp. 127-130, "Fuller and Warren" (1 text, 1 tune)
Flanders/Olney, pp. 174-175, "Fuller and Warren" (1 text, 1 tune)
Burt, pp. 51-52, "(no title)" (1 text plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 205, "Fuller and Warren" (1 text)
LPound-ABS, 49, pp. 116-118, "Fuller and Warren" (1 text)
JHCox 45, "Ye Sons of Columbia" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 148-151, "Fuller and Warren" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 704, FULLWARR
Roud #694
RECORDINGS:
Anna Underhill, "The Indiana Hero" (on FineTimes)
NOTES: Although this song is sometimes attributed to Moses Whitecotton, Belden has information that Whitecotton wrote a *different* poem about this particular event.
The reference to the hanging of Haman on the gallows so high is an allusion to the Biblical book of Esther (especially 7:10). The story of Samson and Delilah is told in Judges 16:4-22. The references to Eve causing Adam's fall are obviously to Genesis 3.
The reference to "Genesis, Judges, Samuel, Kings, and Job" seems confused; the texts in Belden apply it to various doctrines, and I can't see how the books listed combine to teach any of the doctrines cited. - RBW
File: LF16

Funeral Hymn, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, carry me away to the graveyard After a long time suffering, Where every day will be Sunday, by and by, By and by, by and by, Where every day will be Sunday, by and by." "So fare you well, dear (father/mother/brothers/etc.), I am going home to glory."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: religious death nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fuson, p. 207, "A Funeral Hymn" (1 text)
ST Fus207 (Partial)
Roud #16370
File: Fus207

Funeral Train, The


DESCRIPTION: "The funeral train is coming, I know it's going to slack, For the passengers are all crying and the train is creped in black." "You belong on that funeral train... Oh, sinner, why don't you pray." The singer looks forward to taking the train to heaven
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: religious death train nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 262, "The Funeral Train" (1 text)
File: ScaNF262

Fust Banjo, De (The Banjo Song; The Possum and the Banjo; Old Noah)


DESCRIPTION: Noah sets out to build the ark, despite the scorn of his neighbors. "Ham... couldn't stand the racket... soon he had a banjo made, the first that was invented." He took the hair of the possum's tail to string it; the possum remains bare-tailed to this day
AUTHOR: Irwin Russell?
EARLIEST DATE: 1878 (Christmas Night in the Quarters)
KEYWORDS: flood ship animal music Bible
FOUND IN: US(Ap, So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 253, "The Banjo Song" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
JHCox 181, "Old Noah" (1 text)
ST R253 (Partial)
Roud #5467
NOTES: The versions of this display extreme variation, and may even be separate songs. Reports are few enough, however, that I decided to lump the things just because there wasn't enough evidence to split them cleanly.
The attribution to Irwin Russell is from Felleman's The Best Loved Poems of the American People, which sometimes has some very strange attributions. Her version seems to come straight out of a minstrel show; the question then is whether it is the original or if Russell worked from an earlier song. - RBW
File: R253

Future Plans (The G-Man)


DESCRIPTION: "When I grow up, I think I'll be A G-Man brave and bold, Or maybe a fearful pirate, And bury lots of gold." The singer lists other job possibilities: sailor, diver, jockey, doctor, apple-cart-pusher. Finally he says, "I just think I'll wait and see."
AUTHOR: Billie Menshouse?
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: work nonballad youth
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', p. 256, (no title) (1 text)
File: ThBa256B
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