Gloamin' Fa'

DESCRIPTION: The singer asks her husband to sit by her on their fiftieth wedding anniversary. She recalls their life together. Their children now are grown, except one "oor Father didna spare ... Thank God the others hae been right." She hopes they'll die together.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: age love marriage nonballad children husband wife death
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 928, "Gloamin' Fa'" (1 text)
Roud #6239
File: GrD4928

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Gloamin' Star at E'en, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of his hard work all day, but is happy when it's through: "But I maun haste awa' Where the tryst was set yestreen To meet my bonnie lassie Neath the gloamin' star at e'en." He blesses the star, and cares not for riches when he has her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: love courting work
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greig #82, p. 1, "The Gloamin' Star" (1 text)
GreigDuncan4 880, "The Gloamin' Star" (6 texts, 8 tunes)
Ord, pp. 66-67, "'Neath the Gloamin' Star at E'en" (1 text)
DT, GLOAMSTR
Roud #5569
NOTES: Quite a few versions of this open with a reference to Phoebus (Apollo); I have to think it started as a broadside somewhere. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Ord066

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Gloamin' Star, The

See The Gloamin' Star at E'en (File: Ord066)

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Glorious Exertion of Man, The

DESCRIPTION: "Gallia burst her vile shackles on this glorious day, And we dare to applaud the great deed." "Columbia ... was cleared ... Chains disappeared." "'Mong our neighbors, now, Liberty dwells ... On the rock of Man's Rights she a fortress has planned."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1796 (_Paddy's Resource_(Philadelphia), according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: America France nonballad patriotic freedom
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 14, 1789 - The Bastille is taken, marking the beginning of the French Revolution
1791-1792 - Thomas Paine publishes _The Rights of Man_
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Moylan 15, "The Glorious Exertion of Man" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Man is Free by Nature" (subject of the French Revolution)
File: Moyl015

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Glorious Meeting of Dublin, The

DESCRIPTION: October 10, 1869 many thousands gather, without disturbance, "to use all legal means to set these brave men free." Butt and Moor speak. "Five hundred thousand did stand" across Ireland in support. "No separation do we want we only seek our rights"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c.1867 [after October 1869] (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 26(219))
KEYWORDS: prisoner Ireland political
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Oct 10, 1869 - Peaceful demonstration in Dublin of about 40000 people in support of amnesty for Fenian prisoners (source: _The Times_ Oct 11, 1869, pg. 5, col. D, Issue 26565. Copyright 2002 The Gale Group)
FOUND IN:
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(219), "The Glorious Meeting of Dublin Held in Cabra ," P. Brereton (Dublin), c.1867
NOTES: October 2, 1869 at Youghall a petition for amnesty for Fenian prisoners held for sedition was presented by the Town Commissioners to John-Poyntz Earl Spencer, Lord Lieutenant General and General Governor of Ireland, without response. The meeting at Dublin followed and drew up a petition to Gladstone. Mr Butt presided and other speakers included Mr Moore M.P., Rev Mr Leverett, Mr Russell and Mr O'Donnell President of the Trade Association. (sources: The Times Oct 4, 1869, pg. 9, col. C, Issue 26559. The Times Oct 11, 1869, pg. 5, col. D, Issue 26565. Copyright 2002 The Gale Group)
The following year Isaac Butt founded the Home Government Association, which was soon replaced by the more agressive Home Rule League. (source: "Home Rule" on the Irelandseye site).
January 5, 1871 - "33 Fenian prisoners, including Devoy, Rossa, O'Leary and Luby, are released by the British in a general amnesty" (source: Irish Culture and Customs site)
See "Rossa's Farewell to Erin" for another example about the Amnesty Movement; Rossa is one of the prisoners mentioned in the Bodleian broadside and freed January 5, 1871. Others are General Thomas F Burke (as "Burk"; see "Thomas F Burke" in Speeches from the Dock, Part I at the FullBooks site [also
Burke's Dream" [Laws J16] - RBW]), McSweeney (who also appears in Brereton's broadside "Exile's Return" in Hugh Anderson, Farewell to Judges & Juries, pp. 396-397) and a difficult to read name beginning "O'Ne." - BS
File: BrdTGMoD

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Glorious Repeal Meeting Held at Tara Hill

DESCRIPTION: Dan and Steele at the Tara meeting say they won't yield without repeal of the Union. "God bless our Queen ... But in spite of all the tory clan We will repeal the Union." "In spite of Wellington and Peel We'll gain our liberation"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1843 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS:
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 15, 1843 - Repeal meeting at Tara (source: Zimmermann)
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Zimmermann 50A, "Glorious Repeal Meeting Held at Tara Hill" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Meeting of Tara" (subject)
cf. "Daniel O'Connell (I)" (subject: Daniel O'Connell) and references there
NOTES: Daniel O'Connell founded National Association of Ireland for full and prompt Justice and Repeal April 1840 (In January the Association was renamed the Loyal National Repeal Association). O'Connell argued that the Union Act of 1801 was invalid. In October Young Ireland established The Nation which supported Repeal. In 1843 O'Connell spoke to "monster" meetings attended by 100,000 or more supporters in favor of Repeal. The June meeting at Mallow was followed in August by the meeting at Tara and, in September, by a meeting at Mullaghmast. Finally, on October 7 [my sources all say October 4 - RBW], the government prohibited the meeting scheduled at Clontarf the following day. O'Connell issued a notice that the meeting was "abandoned." That ended the Repeal meetings. (source: The Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco) site entry for Daniel O'Connell; O'Connell's notice for the Clontarff meeting can be read at 1169 and Counting site)
Zimmermann 50: "Thomas Steele, although a protestant landlord, was one of O'Connell's lieutenants."
The commentary for broadside NLScotland L.C.Fol.178.A.2(065) states "The meeting at Tara, Co. Meath in the summer of 1843, is now estimated to have been attended by 750,000 people." - BS
A number which should inspire some skepticism -- 750,000 people was a tenth of the population of Ireland! Robert Kee (p. 208 of The Most Distressful Country, which is volume I of The Green Flag) mentions this estimate, but notes that it was from The Nation, which was pro-Irish. O'Connell's estimate was an even more absurd million and a half. A more realistic estimate is a quarter of a million (from Cecil Woodham-Smith, The Great Hunger, p. 11).
For additional information on the context, see the notes on "The Meeting of Tara." - RBW
File: Zimm050A

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Glorious Thing of Thee are Spoken

DESCRIPTION: "Glorious thing of thee are spoken, Zion, city of our God. He whose word cannot be broken, Formed thee for his own abode." Hearers are reminded that God is an unshakable foundation. the source of living water, seen in cloud and fire
AUTHOR: Words; John Newton (1725-1807) / Music: Franz Joseph Hadyn
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), p, 51, "Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7112
NOTES: For background on JohN Newton, see the notes to "Amazing Grace." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BdGTOTAS

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Glorious Wedding, A

DESCRIPTION: "I will sing you a song of a comical style... It's all about a wedding, a glorious affair; As I was the bridegroom, I happened to be there." The singer reports all the wild events at the wedding, and all the peculiar guests who were present
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Cox)
KEYWORDS: marriage humorous wedding drink
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
JHCox 182, "A Glorious Wedding" (1 text)
ST JHCox182 (Full)
Roud #5158
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Blythesome Bridal" (theme)
NOTES: This seems to be sort of an American version of "The Blythesome Bridal" -- not the same song, but the same idea, of a wild party. The wedding is not really part of the plot; it's just the occasion for the party. - RBW
File: JHCox182

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Glory Trail, The (High Chin Bob)

DESCRIPTION: 'Way high up the Mogollons... A lion cleaned a yearlin's bones." High-Chin Bob, who wants to ride the "glory trail," ropes the lion. But the lion is healthy, and keeps fighting. Even today, Bob's ghost(?) and the lion continue their struggle
AUTHOR: Words: Charles Badger Clark
EARLIEST DATE: 1919
KEYWORDS: cowboy talltale fight animal
FOUND IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Fife-Cowboy/West 124, "The Glory Trail" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 49, "High Chin Bob" (1 text, 1 tune)
Saffel-CowboyP, p. 155-157, "The Glory Trail" (1 text)
DT, HIGHCHIN*
Roud #12499
RECORDINGS:
Glenn Ohrlin, "High Chin Bob" (on Ohrlin01)
File: FCW124

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Gloucestershire Wassailers' Song

DESCRIPTION: "Wassail! wassail! all over the town, Our (pledge/toast) it is white, our ale it is brown." Health to the master's (animal's) body parts that he be sent a good present. Butler, "bring us a bowl of the best" else "down fall butler, and bowl and all"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1857 (Bell)
KEYWORDS: request drink nonballad wassail animal horse sheep
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Ian Bradley, _The Penguin Book of Carols_ (1999), #92, "Wassail, Wassail, All Over the Town [The Gloucester Wassail]" (1 composite text)
Roud #209
RECORDINGS:
Billy Buckingham, "The Waysailing Bowl" (on Voice16)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Somerset Wassail" (subject, one verse) and references there
NOTES: The opening verse seems common to "Somerset Wassail" and "Gloucestershire Wassailers' Song." The rest of the text seems distinct enough to warrant splitting the two.
The Billy Buckingham version on Voice16 includes verses of which this is a typical example:
Now here's a health to my master and to his right eye.
Pray God send our master a good Xmas pies,
And a good Xmas pie that we may all see.
To my wassailing bowl I'll bring unto thee.
The "right eye" is replaced by "right ear," "right arm," "right hip" and "right leg" with gifts of "happy New Year," "good crop of corn," "good flock of sheep" and "a good fatted pig."
Bell's "Gloucestershire Wassailers' Song" ("Wassail! wassail! all over the town") is like Buckingham's except that the body parts belong to named animals rather than "master." For example, "Here's to our mare, and to her right eye, God send our mistress a good Christmas pie." Bell's footnote 46: "the name of the horse is generally inserted by the singer [for 'our mare']; and 'Filpail' is often substituted for 'the cow' in a subsequent verse." (source: Robert Bell, editor, [The Project Gutenberg EBook (1996) of] Ancient Poems, Ballads and Songs of the Peasantry of England (1857)). - BS
File: RcGlWasS

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Glove and the Lions, The

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

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Glove, The

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

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Glow-Worm (Gluhwurrmchen)

DESCRIPTION: Obnoxious little piece beginning, in English, "Glow little glow-worm, glimmer, glimmer." The rest is equally pointless.
AUTHOR: Music: Paul Linke (German words by Bolten-Backers0
EARLIEST DATE: 1902
KEYWORDS: animal nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fuld-WFM, p. 246, "Glow-Worm"
SAME TUNE:
Down by the Seashore (I) (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 149)
Down by the Seashore (II) (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 149)
Grow Little Boobies (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 149)
We Are the Girls from Concordia College (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 150)
We Are the Smurthwaite Kewpie Dolls (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 150)
Glow Li'l Glow-Worm (DT, GLOWRM2)
NOTES: Emphatically not a folk-song, but the number of parodies caused me to list it here. - RBW
File: xxGluhw

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Glowerowerum

See Bonnie Buchairn (File: KinBB20)

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Go 'Way From Mah Window

DESCRIPTION: Woodchopping song: "Go 'way from mah window, Go 'way from mah door, Go 'way from mah bedside, Don't you tease me no mo'." "Go 'way in de springtime, Come back in de fall, Bring you back mo' money Dan we bofe can haul."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: work separation
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
BrownIII 439, "Go 'Way from My Window" (1 text)
Sandburg, p. 377, "Go 'Way F'om Mah Window" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, p. 198, "Go Way f'om Mah Window" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11017
File: San377

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Go 'Way from My Window

See Go 'Way From Mah Window (File: San377)

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Go And Dig My Grave

DESCRIPTION: "Go and dig my grave both long and narrow, Make my coffin neat and strong... Two, two to my head, two, two to my feet, Two to carry me, Lord,when I die." "My soul's gonna shine lie a star... I'm bound for heaven when I die."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (recording, men from Andros Island)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: Bahamas
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 350, "Dig My Grave" (1 text)
DT, GO&DIG
Roud #15633
RECORDINGS:
Unidentified men from Andros Island, "Dig My Grave" (AAFS 502 B1, 1935; on LomaxCD1822-2)
David Pryor, Henry Lundy et al, "Dig My Grave" (AFS, 1935; on LC05)
John Roberts & group, "Dig My Grave Both Long and Narrow" (on MuBahamas2)
Pete Seeger, "Dig My Grave" (on PeteSeeger04)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Little Beggar Boy" (floating verses)
NOTES: Fred W. Allsopp, in Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II, p. 159, reports an item in Harper's Magazine in 1878 with the chorus
Soul shall shine lak a star in de mornin',
Soul shall shine lak a star in de mornin';
Oh, my little soul's gwine to rise an' shine,
Oh, my little soul's gwine to rise an' shine.
Whether that is related to this I do not know. - RBW
File: FSWB350B

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Go and Leave Me

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

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Go and Leave Me If You Wish To

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

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Go Away Sister Nancy

DESCRIPTION: "Go 'way! Sister Nancy, go 'way! I don't want you to hold me. Got sugar and 'lasses in my soul, And I want brother Honeycutt to hold me!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1937 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-SongCatcher, p. 74, "(Go Away Sister Nancy)" (1 short text; tune on p. 386)
Roud #8811
NOTES: Reportedly the cry of an ecstatic in church. In Pentecostal sorts of denominations, shouting during a service is common, and in this denomination, it was usual for a neighbor to hold onto the shouter. Reportedly this woman wanted the handsome Brother Honeycutt to assume that duty rather than the female Sister Nancy. - RBW
File: ScSC074A

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Go Bring Me Back My Blue-Eyed Boy

See The Butcher Boy [Laws P24]; also My Blue-Eyed Boy (File: LP24)

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Go Down, Moses

DESCRIPTION: Moses is commissioned to free the Israelites: "Go down, Moses, Way down in Egypt's land. Tell old Pharaoh to let my people go." The firstborn of Egypt are specifically threatened; the rest is more general
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1861 (sheet music published under title "The Song of the Contrabands 'O Let My People Go'")
KEYWORDS: religious Bible freedom escape death
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
BrownIII 570, "Go Down, Moses" (1 text)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 26-27, "Go Down, Moses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 109, "Go Down, Moses" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, p. 42, "Go Down, Moses" (partial text)
Darling-NAS, pp. 354-355, "O! Let My People Go" (1 text -- an excerpt)
Silber-FSWB, p. 294, "Go Down Moses" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 247, "Go Down, Moses"
DT, GOMOSES* GOMOSES2*
Roud #5434
RECORDINGS:
Marian Anderson, "Go Down Moses" (Victor 19370, 1924) (Victor 1799, 1937)
Bentley Ball, "Go Down Moses" (Columbia A3085, 1920)
Big Bethel Choir, "Go Down Moses" (Victor 20498, 1927)
Charioteers, "Go Down Moses" (Columbia 35718, 1940; rec. 1939)
Cotton Belt Quartet, "Go Down Moses" (Vocalion 1024, 1926)
Ebony Three, "Go Down Moses" (Decca 7527, 1938)
Rev. Fullbosom, "Moses Go Down into Pharoahland" (Paramount 13078, 1931 -- possibly a recorded song/sermon)
Hampton Institute Quartette, "Go Down Moses" (RCA 27472, 1941)
Harmonizing Four, "Go Down Moses" (Vee Jay 864, rec. 1958)
Roland Hayes, "Go Down Moses" (Vocalion 1073, 1927; Vocalion 21002, n.d.; Supertone S-2238, 1931)
Rev. H. B. Jackson, "Go Down Moses" (OKeh 8804, 1930; rec. 1929)
Reed Miller, "Go Down, Moses" (CYL: Edison [BA] 3574, n.d.)
Pete Seeger, "Go Down Moses" (on PeteSeeger31)
Noble Sissle & his Southland Singers, "Go Down Moses" (Pathe 20488, 1921)
Southern Sons, "Go Down Moses" (Bluebird B-8808, 1941)
Edna Thomas, "Go Down, Moses" (Columbia 1606-D, 1928)
Tuskegee Institute Singers, "Go Down Moses" (Victor 17688, 1915; rec. 1914)
Tuskegee Quartet, "Go Down Moses" (Victor 20518, 1927; rec. 1926)
University of North Carolina Club, "Go Down, Moses" (Brunswick 3161, 1926)
University Singers, "Go Down Moses" (Cameo 530, 1924)
Virginia Female [Jubilee] Singers, "Go Down Moses in Egyptland" (OKeh 4437, 1921)
Wheat Street Female Quartet, "Go Down Moses" (Columbia 14067-D, 1925)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Song of the Contrabands
NOTES: Rev. L. C. Lockwood, described as "Chaplain of the 'Contrabands' at Fortress Munroe," [sic. -- the fort's name was Fort Monroe - RBW] collected the song, reporting that "This Song has been sung for about nine years by the Slaves of Virginia." The original has 11 verses, only a few of which seem to have made it into tradition. - PJS
Moses's specific threat against the firstborn of Egypt is made in Exodus 11:4f. and is carried out in 12:29f. The rest of this song is based loosely on the background in Exodus. - RBW
File: LxU109

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Go Down, Old Hannah

DESCRIPTION: "Go down, old Hannah, well, well, well! Don't you rise no mo'. If you rise in the mornin', Bring Judgment Day." The singer describes the dreadful conditions in the Brazos River prisons, and hopes for release in any form
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (recording, unknown artists, AFS CYL-7-1)
KEYWORDS: prison hardtimes work worksong
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Lomax-FSNA 286, "Go Down, Old Hannah" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 745, "Go Down, Old Hannah" (1 text, 1 tune)
Courlander-NFM, p. 142, "Go Down Old Hannah" (1 text, 1 tune)
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 77-75, "Should A Been on the River in 1910" (1 text, 1 tune; the first verse, about driving women and men alive, is from this song or "Ain't No More Cane on this Brazos", but the remainder is a separate piece); pp. 111-118, "Go Down Old Hannah" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Silber-FSWB, p. 71, "Old Hannah" (1 text)
DT, OLDHANN2*
Roud #6710
RECORDINGS:
James "Iron Head" Baker, Will Crosby, R. D. Allen & Mose "Clear Rock" Platt, "Go Down Old Hannah" (AFS 195 A2, 1933; on LC08) [note: the AFS reissue identified this as 196 A2; this listing comes from Dixon/Godrich/Rye] (AFS 617 A3, 685 A2, 696 A1, 717 B, all 1936)
Mose "Clear Rock" Platt, "Go Down Old Hannah" (AFS 2643 A1, 1939)
Dock Reese, "Go Down, Old Hannah" (on AschRec2)
Texas state farm prisoners, "Go Down, Old Hannah" (on NPCWork)
Unknown artists, "Go Down Old Hannah" (AFS CYL-7-1, 1933)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ain't No More Cane on this Brazos"
NOTES: The amount of common material in this song and "Ain't No More Cane on this Brazos" makes it certain they have cross-fertilized. They may be descendants of a common ancestor. But the stanzaic forms are different, so I list them separately.
The name "Hannah" refers to the sun. Jackson notes that, in some prisons, if a prisoner died or fainted in his row, he would be given no help, so the prisoners literally had to work until they dropped. On a day when it was particularly bright and hot, death in the fields was a real possibility -- hence the appeal, in some versions, "Wake up, dead man, Help me carry my row." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: LoF286

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Go From My Window (I)

DESCRIPTION: Characterized by the line "Go (away) from my window, my love, (go/do)." Rain or other difficulties may trouble the swain, but he usually gains admittance in the end: "Come up to my window, love... The wind nor rain shall not trouble thee again...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1611 (The Knight of the Burning Pestle)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection nightvisit nightvisit
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 146-147, "Go From My Window" (3 fragments of text, 1 tune)
DT, GOWINDOW*
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Drowsy Sleeper" [Laws M4]
cf. "One Night As I Lay on My Bed"
NOTES: This piece was obviously very popular in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries (Chappell reports eight sources from that period, though presumably most of these are the tune). The earliest dated text (partial, of course) appears to be that in John Fletcher and Francis Beaumont's 1611 play "The Knight of the Burning Pestle," Act III, scene v:
Go from my window, love, go;
Go from my wimdow, my dear;
The wind and rain
Will drive you back again:
You cannot be lodged here. - RBW
File: ChWI146

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Go From My Window (II)

See One Night As I Lay On My Bed (File: VWL079)

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Go Get the Ax

DESCRIPTION: "Peepin' through the knot-hole Of grandpa's wooden leg, Who'll wind the clock when I am gone? Go get the ax, There's a fly in Lizzie's ear, For a boy's best friend is his mother." The remainder of the song is equally farfetched
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: nonsense nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, p. 332, "Go Get the Ax" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: According to Sandburg, this was collected from a girl who was forced to sing it to be initiated into a sorority. One hopes it was nothing worse than that. - RBW
File: San332

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Go In and Out the Window

DESCRIPTION: "Go in and out the window (x3) As we have done before (or: "For we have gained the day")." "Go round and round the levee..." "Go forth and face your lover..." "I kneel because I love you..." "One kiss before I leave you..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1898 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: playparty courting nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) Britain(England(All),Scotland(Aber)) Ireland
REFERENCES (10 citations):
Randolph 538, "Round and Round the Levee" (3 texts plus an excerpt, 1 tune)
BrownIII 76, "In and Out the Window" (1 text)
Hudson 140, pp. 287-288, "Marching Round the Levee" (1 text)
Cambiaire, p. 136, "Susie Brown" (1 text, a mixed text which has two verses typical of "Cuckoo Waltz" or something like it and two from "Go In and Out the Window"); p. 131, "I Measure My Love to Show You" (1 text, with unusual verses but the "For we have gained the day" chorus")
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 243, (no title) (1 fragment, probably this)
Linscott, pp. 9-10, "Go In and Out the Windows" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, p. 175, "Go Out and Meet Your Lover" (1 text)
Chase, pp. 191-193, "We're Marchin' 'Round the Levee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leyden 22, "Round About the Ladies" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan8 1615, "Out and In at the Windows" (2 texts, 1 tune)
ST R538 (Full)
Roud #4320
RECORDINGS:
Kelly Harrell, "Cave Love Has Gained the Day" (Victor 23649, 1929; on KHarrell02)
Louise Massey & the Westerners, "Go In and Out the Window" (Vocalion 05361, 1939)
Pete Seeger, "Go In and Out the Window" (on PeteSeeger21)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Go Round and Round the Valley
Round and Round the Village
Marching Round the Valley
NOTES: Chase explains, "'Levee' here has no connection with flood control! It must mean a morning party or reception. (See Webster.) Such levees were held during the War Between the States to celebrate victories... 'For we have gained the day.'"
Maybe this explains why I've never heard the "levee" verses in the north. But the notes in Brown claim "Levee" is an error for "Valley."
Harrell's recording gained its odd name by studio incompetence. He sang the chorus as "Caze [='Cause] love has gained the day." The studio people couldn't figure out "Caze," and interpreted it as "Cave"!
It appears that the "Go In and Out the Window" title is rare in tradition. But that's the first verse of the song as I learned it in my youth, so there. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: R538

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Go in the Wilderness

DESCRIPTION: "If you want to go to heaven/go in the wilderness (3x)/...and wait upon the Lord." "If you want to see Jesus..." "Lord, my feet looked new when I come out the wilderness..." [secular playparty version:] "First little lady go in the wilderness..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (W. F. Allen, Slave Songs of the United States)
KEYWORDS: nonballad religious playparty Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 14, "Go in the Wilderness" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11846
RECORDINGS:
Famous Blue Jay Singers, "I'm Leaning on the Lord" (Paramount 13119/Crown 3329, 1932; Champion 50056, c. 1935; Decca 7446, 1938; on Babylon)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Gray Mare (I) (The Old Gray Horse; The Little Black Bull)" (tune, structure)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I Wait Upon the Lord
How Did You Feel When You Came Out of the Wilderness?
Ain't I Glad I Got Out of the Wilderness
NOTES: This is the song which is ancestral to "The Old Gray Mare (I) (The Old Gray Horse; The Little Black Bull)" and its kin. - PJS
Or. at least. an early member of the family. The earliest version known, that of Allen/Ware/Garrison, think it might be descended from "Ain't I Glad I Got Out of the Wilderness," which they call a Methodist hymn (though it seems to have long since gone out of their hymnals). - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: RcGITW

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Go On, You Little Dogies

See Get Along, Little Dogies (File: R178)

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Go Out and Meet Your Lover

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

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Go Personate Some Noble Lord

DESCRIPTION: A woman tells her lover to "personate some noble lord." He plays cards with the father and the daughter tips her lover to her father's cards. The father loses everything and the lover offers to trade his winnings for the daughter. The lord smiles.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: courting disguises trick gambling cards father
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan5 1017, "Go Personate Some Noble Lord" (1 text)
Roud #6721
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "South Coast" (plot elements)
File: GrD1017

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Go Round and Round the Valley

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

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Go Slow, Boys (Banjo Pickin')

DESCRIPTION: "Go slow, boys, don't make no noise, For old Massa's sleepin'. Go down to the barnyard an' wake up the boys, An' let's have a little banjo pickin'. For oh, it's almost mornin', Don't you hear the old cock crowin'?" The slaves (?) sneak off to a dance
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928
KEYWORDS: music slavery
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 278, "Go Slow, Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 427, "Have a Little Banjo Beating" (1 text); also probably 118, "Hush, Honey, Hush" (1 fragment)
Roud #7783
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Banjo Picking
File: R278

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Go Tell Aunt Patsy

See Go Tell Aunt Rhody (File: R270)

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Go Tell Aunt Rhody

DESCRIPTION: "Go tell Aunt (Rhody) (x3) The old gray goose is dead. The one she'd been saving (x3) to make a feather bed." The cause of death varies; "a pain in the head"; "somebody... knocked it on the head"; "from standing on its head"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1918 (Cecil Sharp collection); +1913 (JAFL26)
KEYWORDS: bird death mourning
FOUND IN: US(MW,NE,SE,So)
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Randolph 270, "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" (2 texts plus 2 excerpts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 230-231, "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 270A)
BrownIII 128, "Go Tell Aunt Patsy" (1 text)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 8, (no title, but the goose's owner is Aunt Patsy) (1 text); pp. 195-196, "Go Tell Aunt Tabby" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 236, "The Old Grey Goose" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 193, "Aunt Tabbie" (1 text plus an excerpt)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 257, "The Old Grey Goose" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, p. 207, "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 3, "Go Tell Aunt Nancy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 305-306, "The Old Gray Goose" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 39, "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chase, pp. 176-177, "The Old Gray Goose is Dead" (1 text, 2 tunes)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 45, "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 275, "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 404, "Aunt Rhody" (1 text)
DT, AUNTRODY
Roud #3346
RECORDINGS:
Perry Bechtel's Colonels, "Go Tell Aunt Tabby" (Brunswick 498, c. 1930)
Pickard Family, "The Old Gray Goose is Dead" (Conqueror 7517, 1930; Melotone M-12129, 1931; on CrowTold01)
Edna & Jean Ritchie, "Go Tell Aunt Rhodie" (on Ritchie03)
Pete Seeger, "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" (on GrowOn2) (on PeteSeeger47); "Aunt Rhody" (on PeteSeeger18)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Come Ye Sinners Poor and Needy" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Go Tell Young Henry [Ford] (Greenway-AFP, p. 229)
NOTES: Randolph quotes Chase to the effect that this tune was used in an opera by Jean Jacques Rousseau in 1750. The situation is rather more complex than this would imply. The most recent, and most significant, work on this subject is Murl Sickbert, Jr.'s "Go Tell Aunt Rhody She's Rousseau's Dream" (published 2000). Norm Cohen reports the following:
"In 1752, Rousseau composed 'Le Devin du village,' a pastoral opera bouffe.... [The Aunt Rhody tune appears] as a gavotte in the pantomime no. 8 (divertissement or ballet). It is danced by 'la villageoise,' a shepherdess or country girl, to music without words."
Sickbert observes that the Rousseau composition is more elaborate than the folk tune, with "two addditional parts or reprises, not one as Lomax gives it."
The tune came to be called "Rousseau's Dream," apparently by confusion: Another Rousseau score allegedly came to him while he was suffering from delirium. The title, according to Percy A. Scholes in The Oxford Companion to Music, was given by J. B. Cramer. - RBW
File: R270

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Go Tell Aunt Tabbie

See Go Tell Aunt Rhody (File: R270)

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Go Tell It on the Mountain (I -- Christmas)

DESCRIPTION: "Go tell it on the mountain, Over the hills and everywhere, Go tell it on the mountain That Jesus Christ is born." The singer describes the revelation of Jesus's birth to the shepherds and notes how God "made me a watchman"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (Fisk Jubilee Singers repertoire)
KEYWORDS: religious Christmas Jesus
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 381, "Go Tell It On The Mountain" (1 text)
DT, GOTELLMT*
ADDITIONAL: Ian Bradley, _The Penguin Book of Carols_ (1999), #25, "Go, Tell It on the Mountain" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Elizabeth Bivens, "Go Tell It On the Mountain" (on HandMeDown2)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Go Tell It on the Mountain (II -- Freedom)"
cf. "Jesus Setta Me Free" (lyrics)
File: FSWB381A

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Go Tell It on the Mountain (II -- Freedom)

DESCRIPTION: "Go tell it on the mountain, Over the hills and everywhere, Go tell it on the mountain To let my people go." The singer describes the people, clothed in various colors, coming out of bondage
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1963 (recorded by Fannie Lou Hamer)
KEYWORDS: religious freedom nonballad travel
FOUND IN: US Jamaica
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, GOTELMT2
Roud #15220
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Go Tell It on the Mountain (I -- Christmas)"
cf. "Jesus Setta Me Free" (lyrics)
NOTES: The "freedom" adaptation of "Go Tell It on the Mountain" came out of the civil rights movement of the early 1960s. I list "Jamaica" as a location in the "FOUND IN" field because this version was recorded by Bob Marley long before he became an internationally-known star, when reggae was still arguably an indigenous folk style. Does this qualify within the "folk tradition"? Eyes of the beholder, perhaps, but I wanted the fact noted. - PJS
File: DTgotelm

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Go to Berwick, Johnny

DESCRIPTION: "Go, go, go, Go to Berwick, Johnny, You shall have the horse, I shall have the pony."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1794 (Ritson, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: animal travel
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1689, "Busk and Go to Berwick, Johnnie" (1 text)
Opie-Oxford2 281, "Ride Away, Ride Away, Johnny Shall Ride" (3 texts)
ADDITIONAL: Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), p. 571, "Go to Berwick Johnnie" (2 texts)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 9, "(Go, go, go)" (1 fragment)
Roud #8693
NOTES: Opie-Oxford2: "Denham (1858) says that the Scottish version [of ("Ride away, ride, away, Johnny shall ride")], in which Johnny rides to Berwick, is a fragment of the 'good old border song "Go to Berwick, Johnny"'." ("Ride away, ride, away, Johnny shall ride") is a nursery rhyme version.
Whitelaw: "The old tune of 'Go to Berwick, Johnnie,' is usually sung to a nursery doggerel [sic] beginning "Go, go, go...." Then he prints two verses from Johnson's Museum "said to have been partly written by John Hamilton" about a raid across the border to bring back an English "bonnie lassie." The GreigDuncan8 text, and one of the Opie-Oxford2 texts seem somewhere between "nursery doggrel" and border raid song. I can't decide how to split the texts so I am lumping everything together here. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: MSNR009

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Go to Helen Hunt for It

DESCRIPTION: "Miss Helen Hunt knows all the spooks, And calls them out of dusty nooks." In case of uncertainty or loss, one is advised to turn to Miss Hunt. The song concludes when "Spain wanted money very bad." Spain had to "go to hell and hunt for it."
AUTHOR: Harry Connor?
EARLIEST DATE: 1898? (Copyright listed on undated sheet music)
KEYWORDS: political magic war
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1898 -- Spanish-American War
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 502, "Go to Helen Hunt for It" (1 text)
Roud #7641
NOTES: The final verse of this song, which reveals the true reading of the name "Helen Hunt," refers clearly to the Spanish-American War. Spain, faced with insurrection in Cuba, tried to get international support, and failed. Isolated, Spain could not give in to American demands fast enough, and the U.S. went to war -- with disastrous results for Spain. Meanwhile, the American press has utterly besmirched the Spanish reputation, leading to scornful remarks such as those found here. - RBW
File: R502

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Go To Saint Pether

DESCRIPTION: The singer orders that news be carried to "Saint Pether" (i.e. the Papacy) of the troubles facing the Catholic cause. The Pope is distressed to hear that his armies are defeated. Mary of Hungary calls for "liquor to temper me pain."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Eddy)
KEYWORDS: battle religious
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Eddy 149, "Go to Saint Pether" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST E149 (Full)
Roud #5346
NOTES: This is truly a difficult song to figure out, because so few details survive in the text. The one seemingly-identifiable figure is Mary of Hungary. The most notable woman of that name and title is Mary of Hungary and Bohemia (1505-1558), the sister of the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the wife of Louis II of Hungary.
In 1531, Mary was appointed regent of the Low Countries by Charles V. Charles was becoming involved in his great wars against Protestantism (this is, of course, shortly after Luther began his revolt, and the period in which Calvin was forming his opinions). That being the case, Mary of Hungary was involved in the persecution of Protestants. But they were Dutch Protestants, and for the most part she kept them under control. Thus it is hard to see how this song, presumably of English or Irish origin, could refer to her.
Another possibility occurring to me is that this song describes the Catholic distress after the defeat at the Battle of the Boyne (July 11, 1690). Catholics supported the former King James II (reigned 1685-1688/9) against the protestant William III of Orange, but were defeated. It may be that "Mary of Hungary" is Mary of Modena, James II's second wife, who bore him his son James the Old Pretender (it was the birth of this child that led to the Glorious Revolution of 1688; the nobility was not prepared to allow James to raise his son as a Catholic). - RBW
File: E149

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Go to Sea No More

See Dixie Brown [Laws D7] (File: LD07)

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Go to Sea Once More

See Dixie Brown [Laws D7] (File: LD07)

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Go to Sleep Little Baby

See All the Pretty Little Horses (File: LxU002)

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Go to Sleep, My Little Pickaninny

DESCRIPTION: The "little Alabama coon" is told, "Go to sleep, my little pickaninny, Brother Fox will catch you if you don't...." Fuller forms may describe the child's life and ambitions for when he grows up
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: lullaby nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 116, "Go to Sleep, My Little Pickaninny" (2 texts plus mention of 1 more)
NOTES: Brown gives two forms of this song, one a genuine song in which the baby describes its aspirations (such as they are), the second probably a pure lullaby. The full form, which is strongly racist, is probably a minstrel piece which wore down to the somewhat less offensive lullaby version. - RBW
File: Br3116

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Go To Sleepy

See All the Pretty Little Horses (File: LxU002)

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Go to Sleepy Little Baby

See All the Pretty Little Horses (File: LxU002)

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Go Wash in the Beautiful Stream

DESCRIPTION: "Go wash in the beautiful stream, Go wash in the beautiful stream, Oh, Naaman, oh, Naaman, Go down and wash, Go wash in the beautiful stream."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible river
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
BrownIII 575, "Go Wash in the Beautiful Stream" (1 fragment)
Chappell-FSRA 97, "O Naaman" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #7875
NOTES: An allusion to 2 King 5. Naaman, a soldier of Damascus, comes to Israel seeking a cure for his leprosy. He is eventually referred to the prophet Elisha. Elisha tells him to wash himself in the Jordan. Naaman argues, asking why he can't wash in the rivers of Damascus, but eventually does as he's told and is cured.
Naaman did have something of a point: The Jordan valley is not "beautiful"; it is drab, dusty, and very, very hot. - RBW
File: Br3575

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Goat's Will, The

DESCRIPTION: "Concerning a battle.. Between Larry's black goat and brave Mary McCloy." The goat, tethered outside its proper territory, will die to make amends. It makes its will (e.g. giving its teeth to a man who has none), curses McCloy, and bids farewell
AUTHOR: Hugh McCann (1869?)
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: animal death lastwill
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H119, p. 21, "The Goat's Will" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13343
File: HHH119

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God Bles the Moonshiners

See Moonshiner (File: San142)

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God Bless the Master of this House

DESCRIPTION: "God bless the master of this house with a gold chain round his neck, O where his body sleeps or wakes, Lord send his soul to rest." The listener is reminded of Christ's crucifixion, death, and redeeming blood. (A New Year's blessing is given.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1955 (recording, Frank Bond)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 272-273, "God Bless the Master of this House" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1066
RECORDINGS:
Frank Bond, "God Bless the Master Of This House" (on Voice16)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bellman's Song (The Moon Shone Bright)" (lyrics)
NOTES: This piece shares many of its words with "The Moon Shone Bright," and the general sense of the piece is very similar. But the tune and stanza form are different, so -- barring a "missing link" -- I list them separately. - RBW
File: CoSB272

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God Dawg My Lousy Soul

DESCRIPTION: "God dawg my lousy soul (x2), I'm goin' down the river And I couldn't git cross, God dawg..." Bluesy song; only the third and fourth lines change, e.g. "She put me in the bed And she covered up my head," "I'm goin' to Missouri To git me another dame"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: work love nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MWheeler, p. 25-26, "God Dawg My Lousy Soul" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10002
NOTES: Yes, you know and I know what the title of the song should really be. But it's not clear whether Wheeler or her informant (Uncle Tom Wall) cleaned it up. If the latter, it's possible that it circulated in tradition in this form. - RBW
File: MWhee025

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God Don't Like It

DESCRIPTION: A warning against drink: "Well, God don't like it, no, no!... It's a-scandalous and a shame!" "Some people stay in the churches... Tney drinkin' beer and whisky, And they say that they don't care."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1963
KEYWORDS: religious drink nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Courlander-NFM, pp. 73-74, "(God Don't Like It)" (1 text)
Roud #15642
File: CNFM073

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God Got Plenty o' Room

DESCRIPTION: "God got plenty o' room, got plenty o' room. 'Way in the kingdom, God got plenty o' room my Jesus say." "So many weeks and days have passed, Since we met together last." "Daniel's wisdom I may know." "We soon shall lay our school-books by."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 106, "God Got Plenty o' Room" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12062
NOTES: This song has more scriptural references than almost anything in Allen/Ware/Garrison, though the references are often rather loose. The reference to God having "room" is clearly to John 14:2, "In my father's house are many mansions (KJV) or "In my Father's mansion are many rooms" (variously rendered in the modern versions).
Jacob's Ladder is in Genesis 28:12, and though Jacob is not said to have prayed there, he did make a vow there in Genesis 28:20.
"Daniel's wisdom" -- there are several references to this; perhaps the most explicit is in Daniel 2, where Daniel is lumped with the Wise Men of Babylon, and perhaps 5:11-12.
Stepehn's faith and spirit are described in Acts 7:55-60.
- RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: AWG106

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God Is at de Pulpit

DESCRIPTION: "God is at de pulpit, God is at de do', GOd is always over me, While He is in de middle of de flo'. God is a God, GOd don't neber change, 'Cause He always will be king."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 568, "God Is at de Pulpit" (1 short text)
Roud #11888
File: Br3568

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God Moves on the Water

See The Titanic (III) ("God Moves on the Water") (Titanic #3) (File: CNFM076)

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God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen

See God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen (File: FSWB378A)

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God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen

DESCRIPTION: "God rest you merry, gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay, Remember Christ our savior Was born on Christmas day... Oh tidings of comfort and joy." The birth of Jesus is recounted and listeners urged to sing praise and rejoice in the new year
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1820 ("A Political Christmas Carol" is an undeniable parody of this piece)
KEYWORDS: religious carol Christmas Jesus nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
OBC 11, "God Rest You Merry"; 12, "God Rest You Merry" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Silber-FSWB, p. 378, "God Rest You Merry Gentlemen" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 249, "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen"
DT, GODREST*
ADDITIONAL: Ian Bradley, _The Penguin Book of Carols_ (1999), #26, "God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen" (1 text)
Roud #394
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Somerset Carol"
SAME TUNE:
A Political Chrismas Carol (William Hone's 1820 satire on Lord Castlereigh) (Ian Bradley, _The Penguin Book of Carols_, pp. 101-102)
NOTES: Although this song is often sung in America as if punctuated, "God rest you, merry gentlemen," there is agreement that the correct reading is "God rest you merry, gentlemen." The gentlemen are being wished merriment, not being called merry.
Bradley in the Penguin Book of Carols notes several other problems with the song: sexist language, non-Biblical details (common in traditional carols, of course), and the bad theology that "this holy tide of Christmas all others doth deface." I'm not sure I buy that last one -- yes, the essence of the Christian message is the Atonement, which is celebrated in Good Friday and Easter. But Christmas celebrates the *beginning* of the Incarnation, so surely it would be more important than any day in the calendar except Good Friday, Easter, and maybe Ascencion Sunday. So Christmas would seem to deface at least 99% of other days. Good enough for ordinary engineering purpose.
Bradley notes that this song seems to have been sung to several tunes in its early years. The common tune (the so-called "London Tune") was collected by RImbault in 1846 and seemingly first printed in connection with these words by Bramley and Stainer in 1871. - RBW
File: FSWB378A

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God Save Ireland

DESCRIPTION: "High upon the gallows tree swung the noble-hearted three, By the vengeful tyrants stricken in their bloom." The three declare, "God Save Ireland" as they prepare to die, and say that their deaths don't matter. Listeners are encouraged to remember
AUTHOR: Timothy Daniel Sullivan (1827-1914)
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (_The Nation_ Dec 7, 1867, according to Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: Ireland rebellion execution
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1867 - Imprisonment of the Fenian leaders Kelly and Deasy, and the bungled rescue
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (6 citations):
PGalvin, pp. 83-84, "God Save Ireland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Zimmermann 74, "God Save Ireland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Healy-OISBv2, pp. 137-138, "God Save Ireland" (1 text)
DT, GSAVILD*
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 522-523, "God Save Ireland" (1 text)
H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 9-10, 508, "God Save Ireland"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" (tune) and reference there
cf. "The Smashing of the Van (I)" (subject: The Manchester Martyrs)
cf. "Allen, Larkin and O'Brien" (subject: The Manchester Martyrs)
cf. "The Manchester Martyrs" (subject: The Manchester Martyrs)
NOTES: Edward Condon was one of five men tried in 1867 for the death of Charles Brett. (For this incident and the story of the "Manchester Martyrs," see the notes to The Smashing of the Van.") One of those on trial was not connected to the crime. Three others were sentenced to death. Condon was allowed to live.
At the end of his trial, Condon cried out "God save Ireland." It became a Fenian slogan.
Sullivan is the author of a number of Irish patriotic poems, of which this is probably the best-known. - RBW
File: PGa083

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God Save the King (God Save the Queen, etc.)

DESCRIPTION: Good wishes for the King of England: "God save (our Lord, or any monarch's name) the King, Long live our noble king, God save the King. Send him victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over us, God save the King." Other verses equally insipid
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1744 ("Harmonia Anglicana")
KEYWORDS: royalty political nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Chappell/Wooldridge II, pp. 194-200, "God Save the King" (1 tune plus variants, 1 partial text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 249-251+, "God Save the King"
DT, GODSAVE*
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Heil Dir in Siegerkranz
O Deus Optime (cf. Chappell/Wooldridge II, p. 195)
America (My Country 'Tis of Thee) (File: RJ19006)
My Country (Greenway-AFP, pp. 88-89)
God Save the King (The King He Had a Date) (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 115)
My Country's Tired of Me (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 159)
Can Opener, 'Tis of Thee (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 159)
Our Land Is Free (celebrating the end of transportation to Van Diemen's Land) (Robert Hughes, _The Fatal Shore_, p. 572)
God Save the Rights of Man (1798 Irish revolutionary song) (mentioned in Thomas Pakenham, _The Year of Liberty_, p. 193)
NOTES: This, obviously, has never been a true popular or traditional tune.
Given the number of songs derived from it, as well as the parodies (e.g. "The King he had a date, He stayed out very late, He was the King. The Queen she paced the floor, She paced till half past four, She met him at the door, God save the King"), it seems to me that it belongs here.
Fuld tells an interesting anecdote showing that this was once a political song. As first printed, the opening line read "God save our Lord the King." When Bonnie Prince Charlie landed in 1745, this was hastily amended to "God Save great GEORGE our King" -- with "George" printed in large type.
Prior to its adoption in Georgian times, the English used "The Roast Beef of Old England" as their anthem.
The phrase "God Save the King" is officially listed as Biblical (1 Sam. 10:24, 1 Kings 1:25, 34, 39, 2 Kings 11:12, 2 Ch. 23:11, etc.). One has to note that this is an inaccurate translation in the King James version, leading to the speculation that the acclamation actually predates the KJV. The Hebrew phrase correctly translates as "let the King live," and so is rendered "Long live the King" in almost all modern Bible translations. - RBW
File: ChWII194

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God's Going to Set This World on Fire

See Welcome Table (Streets of Glory, God's Going to Set This World on Fire) (File: San478)

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Godalmighty Drag

DESCRIPTION: "Mama and papa, O lawdy, Mama and papa, O my Lord, Done told me a lie...." "Done told me they'd pardon me... by next July." "July and August... done come and gone." "Left me here rolling... On this ole farm." "Gonna write to the Governor...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941
KEYWORDS: prison family lie pardon worksong
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Scott-BoA, pp. 309-311, "Godalmighty Drag" (1 text, 1 tune)
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 130-132, "No More Cane on the Brazos/Godamighty" (1 text, 1 tune, a mixture of this with another song Jackson calls "Godamighty" though it has almost no lyric elements in common with "Godalmighty Drag"); pp. 261-267, "Godamighty" (3 texts, 2 tunes; possibly once again separate songs but so fluid that it isn't worth separating them out)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Please Have Mercy on a Longtime Man" (lyrics)
cf. "Texarkana Mary" (lyrics)
File: SBoA309

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Godamighty

See Godalmighty Drag (File: SBoA309)

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Goin' Cross the Mountain

DESCRIPTION: "Goin' 'cross the mountain, Oh, fare thee well, Goin' 'cross the mountain, Hear my banjo tell." The singer has his kit ready, and is going to join the Union army "to give Jeff's men a little taste of my rifle ball." He promises to return at the war's end
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar fight parting
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Warner 121, "Goin' Cross the Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa121 (Partial)
Roud #4624
NOTES: Although large parts of the Appalachians were in Confederate territory, the rough terrain did not encourage slaveholding, and most of the residents remained loyal to the Union. Kentucky stayed with the North, West Virginia seceded from Virginia, and eastern Tennessee welcomed Federal occupying troops. One suspects this song came from one of those regions. - RBW
File: Wa121

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Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad

See Going Down this Road Feeling Bad (File: LxU072)

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Goin' Down to Cairo

See Black Them Boots (Goin' Down to Cairo) (File: R550)

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Goin' Down to Town

See Lynchburg Town (File: Wa181)

---

Goin' from the Cotton Fields

DESCRIPTION: "I'm goin' from the cotton fields, I'm goin' from the cane, I'm goin' from the old log hut That stands in the lane." Hard times force the singer to move north even though Dinah fears the cold. He regrets home and the old master's grave, but must go
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Fuson), from a manuscript apparently dated before 1895
KEYWORDS: hardtimes home emigration slave travel
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fuson, pp. 121-122, "Goin' from the Cotton Fields" (1 text)
ST Fus121 (Partial)
Roud #16368
NOTES: This has something of a minstrel feel, given that the singer talks about the "little patch of ground That good old master give me 'Fore the Yankee troops come down," as well as the former slave caring for Master's grave. And yet, the overall feel is quite authentic: Hard times and a hard migration. I've no idea what to make of it. - RBW
File: Fus121

---

Goin' Home

DESCRIPTION: Sung to the swinging of a pick. "Ev'rywhere I look (hanh!), Where I look this mornin'... Look like rain." The singer describes his prowess wit the pick, tells how his girl wants him home, and hopes he can win a pardon from the governor
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: prisoner chaingang work separation pardon
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 84-86, Goin' Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15035
File: LxA084

---

Goin' to Have a Talk with the Chief of Police

DESCRIPTION: The singer goes to talk with the police chief, apparently with regard to his "good girl" who has been avoiding him. He looks for her on boats and trains, hopes she will come to love him, and wishes she were not in trouble
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 950 (recording, Peelee Hatchee)
KEYWORDS: police love separation
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Courlander-NFM, p. 98, "Goin' to Have a Talk With the Chief of Police" (1 text); pp. 271-272, "I'm Going Uptown" (1 tune, partial text)
Roud #10993
RECORDINGS:
Peelee Hatchee [pseud. for Emanuel Jones], "Talk with the Chief of Police" (on NFMAla6)
NOTES: This song is so confused that I suspect it is composite. Some of it is reminiscent of "Corinna, Corinna" -- but some of it, well, isn't. - RBW
File: CNFM098

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Goin' to Shout All over God's Heaven

See All God's Children Got Shoes (File: CNFM067A)

---

Going Across the Sea

DESCRIPTION: Floating lyrics, bound by the chorus, "Going (across the sea/to Italy) before long (x3) To see that gal of mine." Sample verses: "Yonder comes a pretty little girl, How do you reckon I know..."; "Finger ring, finger ring, shines like glittering gold..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (recording, Uncle Dave Macon), but some of the floating verses show up in SharpAp 88, "Betty Anne", which was collected in 1916.
LONG DESCRIPTION: Floating lyrics, held together by the chorus, "(across the sea/to Italy) (x3) To see that gal of mine." Sample verses: "Yonder comes a pretty little girl, How do you reckon I know..."; "Finger ring, finger ring, shines like glittering gold..."; "I asked that gal to marry me... She said she wouldn't marry me If all the rest was dead."
KEYWORDS: floatingverses courting travel love nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
BrownIII 111, "Wish I Had a Needle and Thread" (7 text, of which only "E" is really substantial; it is certainly the "Italy" version of "Going Across the Sea." The other fragments contain verses typical of "Shady Grove," "Old Joe Clark," and others)
SharpAp 88, "Betty Anne" (1 text, 1 tune, with lyrics from "Shady Grove," "Fly Around, My Pretty Little Miss" and "Going Across the Sea")
Roud #11516
RECORDINGS:
Henry L. Bandy, "Going Across the Sea" (Gennett test pressing GEx14360, 1928; unissued; on KMM)
R. D. Burnett & Lynn Woodard, "Going Across the Sea" (recorded for Gennett 1929, but unissued; on BurnRuth01)
Crook Brothers String Band, "Going Across the Sea" (Victor V-40099, 1929)
Zeb Harrelson & M. B. Padgett, "Finger Ring" (OKeh 45078, 1927; rec. 1926)
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "Italy" (Brunswick 227/Vocalion 5246, 1928) (on BLLunsford01)
Uncle Dave Macon, "Going Across the Sea" (Vocalion 15192, 1926)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Train on the Island (June Apple/June Appal)" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Shady Grove" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Troubled In My Mind" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Took My Gal a-Walkin'" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Chilly Winds" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Given that both songs are almost pure collections of floating verses, it may seem improbable to link "Italy" with "Going Across the Sea." The tunes, however, are the same; under the circumstances, that seems reason enough. - RBW
File: RcItaly

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Going Around the World (Banjo Pickin' Girl, Baby Mine)

DESCRIPTION: "I'm going across the ocean (friends of mine/baby mine) (x3) If I don't change my notion." "I'm going across the sea... Say you'll love no one but me." "I'm going around the world... (with/I'm) a banjo-pickin' girl." Verses usually about courting
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1929 (recording, Burnett & Woodard)
KEYWORDS: courting love nonballad travel music money rambling
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Silber-FSWB, p. 54, "Baby Mine" (1 text)
Roud #11519
RECORDINGS:
R. D. Burnett & Lynn Woodard, "Going Around the World" (recorded for Gennett 1929, but unissued; on BurnRuth01)
Coon Creek Girls, "Banjo-Pickin' Girl" (Vocalion 04413/OKeh 04413, 1938; on GoingDown)
Pete Steele, "Goin' Around This World, Baby Mine" (on PSteele01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Crawdad" (floating lyrics)
cf. "New River Train" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Old-time singers in the Revival era tend to sing this as "Banjo Pickin' Girl," with a much more feminist feel than the earliest version known to me (sung by Burnett and Woodard). I have to suspect that someone (presumably one of the all-girl groups) touched the song up slightly. It is still clearly the same song, however. - RBW
Your suspicion is right on the nose -- it was the Coon Creek Girls. I suspect there are antecedents, possibly by Samantha Bumgarner, but I'm still looking. Incidentally, it's been much more commonly recorded as "Banjo-Pickin' Girl." - (PJS)
File: RcGAtW

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Going Back West 'fore Long

See Going West (File: FCW053)

---

Going Down the River

DESCRIPTION: Floating verses: "Hey, little girl, if you don't give me dinner/I'll buy me a boat and sail down the river" "Coon Creek's up, Coon Creek's muddy/I'm so drunk I can't stand steady" "Goodbye wife, goodbye baby/Goodbye biscuits sopped in gravy"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (recording, Dr. Smith's Champion Hoss Hair Pullers)
KEYWORDS: marriage food river dancetune floatingverses nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, DOWNRIVE
RECORDINGS:
Dr. Smith's Champion Hoss Hair Pullers, "Going Down the River" (Victor 21711, 1928)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Going Down the River" (NLCR13)
NOTES: This shouldn't be confused with any of the other "Down the River" songs. - PJS
File: RcGDtRy1

---

Going Down This Road Feeling Bad

DESCRIPTION: A series of complaints, all ending "And I ain't gonna be treated this a-way." Examples: "I'm going down this road feeling bad." "I'm going where the climate suits my clothes." "I'm tired of lying in this jail." "They feed me on cornbread and beans."
AUTHOR: Unknown, although the credits for Whitter's first recording read "Austin-Mills"
EARLIEST DATE: 1923 (recording, Henry Whitter)
KEYWORDS: prison hardtimes rambling
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
BrownIII 441, "I'm Going Down This Road Feeling Bad" (1 text)
Lomax-FSUSA 72, "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-BoA, pp. 346-347, "Goin' Down the Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 876-877, "I'm A-Goin' down This Road Feelin' Bad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 206-207, "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 60, "I'm Going Down This Road Feeling Bad" (1 text)
DT, GOINDOWN
Roud #4958
RECORDINGS:
H. M. Barnes & his Blue Ridge Ramblers, "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (Brunswick 327, 1929)
James Barton, "I'm Going Where The Climate Fits My Clothes" (OKeh 40136, 1924)
Big Bill Broonzy, "Goin' Down the Road" (on Broonzy01)
Samantha Bumgarner & Eva Davis, "Worried Blues/Georgia Blues" (Columbia 166-D, 1924)
Jack Burchett, "Chilly Winds (Lonesome Road Blues" (on WatsonAshley01)
Cliff Carlisle, "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (Perfect 12935, 1933)
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Goin' Where the Climate Suits My Clothes" (OKeh 45498, 1930)
Dillard Chandler, "Going Down The Road Feeling Bad" (on Chandler01)
Cherokee Ramblers, "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (Decca 5138, 1935)
George Childers, "Goin' Down This Road Feelin' Bad" (on FolkVisions2)
Elizabeth Cotten, "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" (on Cotten01)
Cousin Emmy [Cynthia May Carver], "Lonesome Road Blues" (Decca 24215, 1941)
Crazy Hillbillies Band, "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" (OKeh 45579, 1934)
Ollie Crownover & group "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (AAFS 3562 B2)
Warde Ford, "I'm going down this road feelin' bad / I ain't gonna be treated this a-way / Goin' down that road feelin' bad" (AFS 4206 A2, 1938; tr.; in AMMEM/Cowell)
Woody Guthrie, "Blowin' Down This Road" (Victor 26619, 1940); "I'm Goin' Down That Road Feelin' Bad" (AAFS 3418 A1)
Roy Hall's Cohutta Mountain Boys, "Going Down the Road Feeling Bad" (Fortune 170)
Rex & James Hardie, "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (AAFS 3566 A1)
Sid Harkreader, "Way Down In Jail On My Knees" (Broadway 8115, c. 1930)
The Hillbillies, "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (Vocalion 5021, c. 1926)
Theophilus G. Hoskins "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (AAFS 1519 A3)
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (AAFS 1805 B1)
Ray Melton, "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (AAFS 1347 A2)
David Miller, "Way Down in Jail On My Knees" (Perfect 12697 [as Blind Soldier]/Conqueror 7709, 1931)
John D. Mounce et al, "I'm a-Goin' Down This Road Feelin' Bad" (on MusOzarks01)
J. J. Nesse, J. C. Sutphin & Vernon Sutphin, "Lonesome Road Blues" [instrumental version] (on Stonemans01)
Pie Plant Pete [pseud. for Claude Moye], "Goin' Down the Road" (Decca 5030, 1934)
Joe Rakestraw, "Leavin' Here, Don't Know Where I'm Goin'" (on FolkVisions2)
George Reneau, "Lonesome Road Blues" (Vocalion 5029, c. 1926)
Robert Ricker, "Goin' Down This Road Feelin' Bad" (AAFS 3903 B5)
Roe Bros. & Morrell, "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (Columbia 15199-D, 1927)
Smith & Irvine, "Lonesome Road Blues" [instrumental version] (Champion 16518, 1932; on StuffDreams1)
Soco Gap Band, "Lonesome Road Blues" (AAFS 3256 B3)
Gussie Ward Stine, "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (AAFS 4103 B1)
Ernest Stoneman, "Lonesome Road Blues" (OKeh 45094, 1927; on TimesAint02)
Gordon Tanner, Smokey Joe Miller & Uncle John Patterson, "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (on DownYonder)
Henry Whitter's Virginia Breakdowners, "Lonesome Road Blues" (OKeh 40015, 1924, rec. 1923); "Goin' Down the Road Feelin' Bad" (OKeh 40169, 1924)
Williamson Bros. & Curry, "Lonesome Road Blues" (OKeh 45146, 1927)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Goin' Down this Old Dusty Road
NOTES: Botkin credits the words of this piece to Woody Guthrie, and certainly Woody sang the song. But there is every reason to believe it predates him. - RBW
Indeed it does; the Skillet Lickers included it in their skit "A Corn Likker Still in Georgia" in about 1930, and it may have been present in Black tradition before then.
Confusingly, [Warde] Ford's version is listed in the song catalog as, "I ain't gonna be treated this a-way," although the page is headed "I'm going down this road feelin' bad." He credits learning it from "Kaintucks" in Wisconsin.
Both "Worried Blues" and "Georgia Blues," as recorded by Samantha Bumgarner & Eva Davis, incorporate enough elements of "Goin' Down This Road Feeling Bad" that I classify them here.
I place the Barton record here tentatively, as I have not heard it. The title, however, is far too suggestive to ignore. - PJS
File: LxU072

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Going for a Pardon

DESCRIPTION: The pretty little girl on the train has no ticket. Her father is in prison and going blind; she is going for a pardon. The conductor lets her stay on the train. She meets the governor and is granted a pardon for her father
AUTHOR: Words: James Thornton and Clara Hauenschild / Music: James Thornton
EARLIEST DATE: 1896 (copyright)
KEYWORDS: prison father disability pardon family children train
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 316-320, "Going for a Pardon/The Eastbound Train" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph 721, "Going for a Pardon" (2 texts)
Roud #7390
RECORDINGS:
Mac & Bob (Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner), "The East Bound Train" (Vocalion 5174, 1927)
Riley Puckett, "East Bound Train" (Columbia 15747-D, 1931)
Ernest V. Stoneman, "East Bound Train" (Edison 52299, 1928) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5548, 1928)
"Dock" Walsh, "The East Bound Train" (Columbia 15047-D, 19270
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Please, Mister Conductor (The Lightning Express)" (plot)
NOTES: According to Sigmund Spaeth, A History of Popular Music in America, pp. 255-256, James Thornton was a very popular songwriter from about 1892 to 1898, producing such songs as "My Sweetheart's the Man in the Moon," "Don't Give Up the Old Love for the New," "She May Have Seen Better Days," and (especially) "When You Were Sweet Sixteen." - RBW
File: R721

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Going to Boston

DESCRIPTION: Playparty: "Goodbye girls, I'm going to Boston, (x3) Early in the morning." "Rights and lefts and play the better." "Won't you look pretty in the ballroom." The verses may describe the girls following the boys, or may just be about dancing
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (JAFL 20)
KEYWORDS: playparty dancing travel
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Randolph 526, "We'll All Go to Boston" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 297-298, "Going to Boston" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 67, "Going to Boston" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 62-64, "[Goin' to Boston]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 19, "Goin' to Boston" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 261, "Going to Boston" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 391, "Going To Boston" (1 text)
DT, GOINBSTN
Roud #3595
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Going to Boston" (on PeteSeeger21)
Art Thieme, "Going to Cairo" (on Thieme05)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Paw-Paw Patch" (lyrics)
File: SKE67

---

Going to Cairo

See Going to Boston (File: SKE67)

---

Going to Chelsea to Buy a Bun

DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a girl and introduces himself as Harmless James. When she asks to be left alone and refuses his invitation to the Bun House he follows her through the fields until she yields. They marry the next day and she has a fine son.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1829 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 25(753))
KEYWORDS: courting seduction wedding childbirth
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1352, "The Fair Maid of Chelsea" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #946
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(753), "Going to Chelsea to Buy a Bun" ("As I was going to Chelsea one day"), T. Birt (London), 1828-1829; also 2806 c.19(12), "Going to Chelsea to Buy a Bun"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Leave Me Alone
NOTES: GreigDuncan7 is a fragment; broadside Bodleian Harding B 25(753) is the basis for the description. - BS
So was the guy buying a bun, or looking to put one in the oven?
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71352

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Going to Church Last Sunday

See Farewell Ballymoney (Loving Hannah; Lovely Molly) (File: R749)

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Going to Clonakilty the Other Day

DESCRIPTION: The singer "was going to Clonakilty" and met "Dan and Miley ... and Gerry Connors and his hair." They step into a pub: "we'll fix it here." At the end the singer still has a fiver and claims someone should not brag, having been "born in the wagon"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1985 (IRTravellers01)
KEYWORDS: drink money hair
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #16694
RECORDINGS:
Mary Delaney, "Going to Clonakilty the Other Day" (on IRTravellers01)
NOTES: Jim Carroll's notes to IRTravellers01: "One of numerous pieces made up by Travellers concerning a small incident among themselves ... the details of which are probably long forgotten, leaving only a handful of verses."
I assume "being born in the wagon" is equivalent to being a Traveller. - BS
File: RcGtCtOD

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Going to German

DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "I'm going to German', I'll be back some old day (x3)." "Tell me, mama, what more can I do? I been around the world, can't get along with you." The singer says he has paid the girl's fine, but they still didn't get along. He now has a new girl
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, [Gus] Cannon's Jug Stompers)
KEYWORDS: travel love abandonment
FOUND IN: US
RECORDINGS:
[Gus] Cannon's Jug Stompers, "Going to Germany" (Victor 38585, 1929; Victor 21351, Bluebird B5413, 1930s)
NOTES: Jerry Silverman thinks this is a First World War song. but there is absolutely no hint in the song that the singer is a soldier, no mention of fighting, no mention of the Kaiser. Bob Bovee notes that, although Gus Cannon (who seems to be the ultimate source) called the song "Going to Germany," everyone sings the song "Going to German." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: RcGoToG

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Going to Heaven by the Light of the Moon

See In the Morning by the Bright Light (File: R304)

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Going to Leave Old Texas (Old Texas, Texas Song, The Cowman's Lament)

DESCRIPTION: "I'm going to leave old Texas now, They've got no use for the longhorn cow...." The singer departs to "make his home on the wide wide range." When he dies, he will "take [his] chance on the holy one."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: cowboy travel death
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fife-Cowboy/West 66, "The Trail to Mexico" (5 texts, 1 tune, of which only the "E" text goes here; "A" and "B" are "The Trail to Mexico" and "C" and "D" are "Early, Early in the Spring")
DT, OLDTEXAS
Roud #12711
RECORDINGS:
Harry Jackson, "I'm Gonna Leave Old Texas Now" (on HJackson1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" (tune)
NOTES: Often sung to the tune of "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie," but Gordon Bok's family tradition includes a different tune. - RBW
File: FCW066E

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Going to Mass Last Sunday

See Farewell Ballymoney (Loving Hannah; Lovely Molly) (File: R749)

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Going to See My Girl

See When I Get On My Bran' New Suit (File: Fus158A)

---

Going to See My True Love (Jenny Get Around)

DESCRIPTION: "The days are long and lonesome, The nights are gettin' cold, I'm goin' to see my true love 'Fore I get too old. O get around, Jenny, get around, O get around I say... long summer's day." Mostly floating verses, mostly about courting
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1955
KEYWORDS: love courting dancing floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 192-193, "[Goin' to See My True Love]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9175
NOTES: This is one of those Great Floating Verse collections; every line of this song (as printed by Jean Ritchie) can be found somewhere else: "The days are long and lonesome, The nights are gettin' cold, I'm goin' to see my true love 'Fore I get too old." "I went up on the mountain, Give my horn a blow, Thought I heard that pretty girl say Yonder comes my beau!" "Asked that girl to marry me, Tell you what she did, Picked her up a knotty pine stick And like to broke my head." And so forth.
The result reminds me most of "Train on the Island (June Apple)," but the tune is utterly different. Jean Ritchie mentions a comparison to "Napoleon Crossing the Rockies." - RBW
File: JRSF192

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Going to the Mexican War

See Coffee Grows (Four in the Middle); also Little Pink, etc. (File: R524)

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Going Up (Golden Slippers II)

DESCRIPTION: "What kind of shoes are you going to wear? Golden slippers (x2) Golden slippers, I'm a-going away... To live with the Lord. Goin' up (x13) to live with the Lord." "What kind of robes are you going to wear? Long white robes." Etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (recording, Fisk Univ. Jubilee Quartet)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad clothes
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 571, "Golden Slippers" (1 text)
Roud #11835
RECORDINGS:
Fisk University Jubilee Quartet, "Golden Slippers" (Victor 16453, 1910; rec. 1909)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "What Kind of Crowns Do the Angels Wear?" (floating verses)
NOTES: Although the editors of Brown seem to think this is the same as the standard "Golden Slippers," it clearly is something else again, though perhaps inspired by memories of the other. - RBW
File: Br3571

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Going West

DESCRIPTION: "I'm going out west before long (x2), I'm going out west where times are best." "My boy, he's gone west... and he'll never come back." "Little girlie, don't cry when I tell you goodbye." "You promised you'd marry me." "Lay your hand in mine...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966
KEYWORDS: love courting separation travel
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fife-Cowboy/West 53, "Going West" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 296, "Going Back West 'fore Long" (1 fragment, too short to classify but it might well be this piece)
Roud #5113
NOTES: Roud lumps this with "I Am Going to the West." That song, however, is a parting song, with the singer leaving because his land is ruined. The only common element is the migration theme. - RBW
File: FCW053

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Gol-Darned Wheel, The

DESCRIPTION: The cowboy boasts of his skill with horses. But a tenderfoot brings in a "gol-darned wheel" (bicycle). The cowboys get the singer to ride it, but it won't stop when he pulls on the handles. He crashes, but is glad that the "wheel" is even more damaged
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910
KEYWORDS: humorous cowboy technology injury
FOUND IN: US(SW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Ohrlin-HBT 16, "The Gol-Darned Wheel" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GDWHEEL*
ADDITIONAL: Hal Cannon, editor, _Cowboy Poetry: A Gathering_, Giles M. Smith, 1985, pp. 10-11, "The Gol-Darned Wheel" (1 text)
Roud #4043
RECORDINGS:
Glenn Ohrlin, "Gol Darn Wheel" (on Ohrlin01)
Marc Williams, "The Gol-Durned Wheel" (on BackSaddle)
NOTES: This song is item dB38 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Ohr016

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Gold

DESCRIPTION: "When the gold fever ranged I was doing well," but nonetheless the singer sets out (for California). He meets hard times, and misses his wife and family. He imagines himself at home, but wakes to find it was a dream. He returns to his miserable mining
AUTHOR: Enuel Davis?
EARLIEST DATE: 1912 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: hardtimes family loneliness dream gold warning
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, pp. 346-347, "Gold" (1 text)
Roud #7774
NOTES: Belden mentions that this was written "by Enuel Davis," who contributed other complaints about the trail to California, and sung to the tune of "Lily Dale." But in context, it appears possible that Davis was the transcriber or publisher. - RBW
File: Beld346

---

Gold Band, The

DESCRIPTION: "Goin' to march away in the gold band, in the army, bye and bye (x2) Sinner, what you gonna on that day (x2), When the fire's a-rolling behind you, In the army, bye and bye." "Sister Mary's goin' to hand down the robe... the robe and the gold band"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious army
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 85, "The Gold Band" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, p. 74, "The Gold Band" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11632
File: SCW74

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Gold Dust Fire, The

DESCRIPTION: "Ain't that a pity, oh Lord (x3), Ain't that a pity 'bout the Gold Dust men. Some got scalded, some got drowned, Some got burnt up in the Gold Dust fire"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1944 (Wheeler)
KEYWORDS: river ship disaster fire
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 7, 1882 - Explosion of the packet Gold Dust, killing 17 and wounding 47
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MWheeler, p. 41-43, "The Gold Dust Fire" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10011
File: MWhee041

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Gold Watch [Laws K41]

DESCRIPTION: A sailor sees a girl and asks her to sleep with him. After an initial show of reluctance, she agrees to a fee of five guineas. They go to supper and then to bed. When he awakens, the girl is gone -- as are his money and his gold watch
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: sex seduction robbery whore humorous
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws K41, "Gold Watch"
Greenleaf/Mansfield 52, "Gold Watch" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 417, RMBSAIL2*
Roud #1901
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Shirt and the Apron" [Laws K42] (plot)
cf. "Maggie May" (plot)
cf. "Can't You Dance the Polka (New York Girls)" (plot)
cf. "Dixie Brown" [Laws D7] (plot)
cf. "The Poor Chronic Man" (plot)
cf. "The Winnipeg Whore" (plot)
cf. "The Red Plaid Shawl" (plot)
cf. "The Rookery" (plot)
cf. "The Young Man Badly Walked" (plot)
cf. "Roving Jack the Baker" (plot, with sex roles reversed)
File: LK41

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Gold Watch and Chain (I)

DESCRIPTION: Singer tells girl that he would pawn his gold watch and chain, his ring, and his heart if she would love him again. He demands that she give back the gifts he's given her, including a lock of hair and a picture, and laments her unfaithfulness
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Ephraim Woodie & The Henpecked Husbands)
KEYWORDS: love betrayal floatingverses gift
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, GOLDWTCH
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "Gold Watch and Chain" (Victor 23821, 1933; Montgomery Ward M-7354, c. 1937)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Gold Watch and Chain" (on NLCR13, NLCREP2)
Ephraim Woodie & The Henpecked Husbands, "Last Gold Dollar" (Columbia 15564-D, 1930; rec. 1929; on LostProv1)
File: DTgoldwt

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Gold Watch and Chain (II)

See The Female Highwayman [Laws N21] (File: LN21)

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Golden Altar, The

See John Saw the Holy Number (File: Br3538)

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Golden Axe, The

DESCRIPTION: Recitation: "What you goin' to do?" Sung: "Why, knock you in the head with a golden axe!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: violence
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 284, "The Golden Axe" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #7785
File: R284

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Golden Ball, The

See The Maid Freed from the Gallows [Child 95] (File: C095)

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Golden Carol, The (The Three Kings)

DESCRIPTION: "Now is Christemas y-come, Father and Son together in one, Holy Ghost us be on...." The song announces Christmas, then tells the story of the "three kings" who came, visited Herod, saw Jesus, offered their gifts, and went home another way
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1475 (Oxford, Bodleian ms. Eng. Poet. e. 1)
KEYWORDS: Jesus Bible Christmas carol religious
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
OBB 107, "The Three Kings" (1 text)
OBC 173, "The Golden Carol" (1 text plus a tune by Vaughan Williams)
ST OBB107 (Partial)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "We Three Kings (Kings of Orient)" (subject)
NOTES: This is essentially the story told in Matt. 2:1-12. It should be noted, however, that
1. There is no reason to believe that there were three visitors. All we know is that they gave three gifts.
2. The visitors were not kings and were not wise men. They were "magi" -- Babylonian mystics and perhaps astrologers. Jews would generally consider magi to be evil sorcerers (the Greek word "magos," apart from the uses in Matt. 2:1, 7, 16, is used only in Acts 13:6, 8 of Simon Magus, a magician who claimed to be "the great power of God"). - RBW
File: OBB107

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Golden Glove, The (Dog and Gun) [Laws N20]

DESCRIPTION: A lady is to be married, but finds she prefers the farmer who is to give her away. She pleads illness and calls off the wedding. She claims she has lost a glove (which she placed on the farmer's land) and will marry whoever finds it. The rest is obvious
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 28(181))
KEYWORDS: clothes courting marriage trick
FOUND IN: Britain(England,Scotland) US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont) Ireland
REFERENCES (23 citations):
Laws N20, "The Golden Glove (Dog and Gun)"
Greig #95, p. 2, "The Golden Glove" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 166, "The Golden Glove" (7 texts, 3 tunes)
Belden, pp. 229-231, "Dog and Gun (The Golden Glove)" (1 text plus 2 extracts and fragments of 2 more, 1 tune)
Randolph 71, "With Her Dog and Gun" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 95-97, "With Her Dog and Gun" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 71A)
Eddy 64, "Dog and Gun" (2 texts)
Gardner/Chickering 73, "The Dog and the Gun" (1 text plus an excerpt and mention of 1 more, 1 tune)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 117-118, "The Dog and Gun" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 197, "Dog and Gun" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
Chappell-FSRA 60, "The Golden Glove" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hudson 43, pp. 158-159, "The Golden Glove" (1 text, lacking the beginning explaining the reason for the lady's behavior)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 227-230, "The Golden Glove" (1 text plus a fragment, with local titles "Lady Lost Her Glove," "The Dog and Gun"; 2 tunes on pp. 416-417)
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 49, "The Lady and the Glove" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 145, "The Golden Glove (or, The Dog and the Gun)" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H524, p. 328, "The Squire's Bride" (1 text, 1 (non-traditional) tune)
JHCox 121, "Dog and Gun" (1 text plus mention of 4 more, 1 tune -- but for one of the unprinted texts!)
JHCoxIIA, #20, pp. 83-84, "The Farmer and His Bride" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 62, "The Golden Glove" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 147-150, "The Dog and the Gun" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 21, "The Golden Glove" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 340-341, "The Golden Glove" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 332, DOGGUN*
Roud #141
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "Dog and Gun" (on Abbott1)
Logan English, "The Lady and the Glove" (on LEnglish1 -- several verses filled in from Wyman-Brockway I)
Martin Howley, "Golden Glove" (on IRClare01)
Bradley Kincaid, "Dog and Gun" (Bluebird B-5255, 1933)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(181), "The Golden Glove," W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Firth b.33(35), Harding B 11(3656), Firth c.17(304), 2806 c.16(12), Harding B 11(1360), Harding B 15(121b), Harding B 11(1355), Harding B 11(1357), Harding B 11(1358), Harding B 11(1359), Harding B 11(384), Johnson Ballads 1093, 2806 c.17(149), Harding B 26(221), Johnson Ballads fol. 381 View 1 of 2, Firth b.27(457/458) View 1 of 4 [torn], Harding B 17(114b), Harding B 17(115a), Harding B 11(3909), Harding B 16(331b), Harding B 25(755), Harding B 26(222), Harding B 11(1356), Firth c.18(165), Firth c.18(164), "The Golden Glove"; 2806 c.8(213), "The Lady Went a Hunting With Her Dog and Her Gun"
Murray, Mu23-y1:041, "The Golden Glove," James Lindsay Jr. (Glasgow), 19C; also Murray, Mu23-y3:046, "The Golden Glove" (also by Lindsay)
LOCSinging, as104640, "The Golden Glove," E. Hodge's (From Pitts), 19C; also as109080, "My Dog and Gun"
NLScotland, L.C.Fol70(140b), "Golden Glove," unknown, c. 1845; also L.C.Fol.178.A.(035), "Golden Glove," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 1852-1859
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Squire
The Rich Esquire
Waistcoat and Britches
NOTES: When they are married the lady expects that she will "milk my own cows." The motif of the rich woman enjoying wifely chores not common among the wealthy is also in "The Rich Lady Gay." - BS
I'll bet that lasted about a week.... Many of the versions I've seen omit that. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: LN20

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Golden Gullies of the Palmer, The

DESCRIPTION: "Then roll the swag and blanket up, and let us haste away To the Golden Palmer, boys, where everyone they say Can get his ounce of gold, or it may be more, a day...." A cheerful call to set out for the gold fields of the Palmer River
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1984
KEYWORDS: river gold
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1875 - Discovery of gold in the Palmer River in Queensland. The influx of people from all over the world meant that few grew rich -- and many starved in the inhospitable terrain
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 100-101, "The Golden Gullies of the Palmer" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Marching Through Georgia" (tune & meter)
File: FaE100

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Golden Hind, The

DESCRIPTION: Jim Harding ships on board the Golden Hind bound for Bahia. On the return trip with a cargo from Barbados the Golden Hind runs into a snow storm off Cape Race. Harding dies in the storm as the Golden Hind makes St John's.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: grief death sea ship storm sailor
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 922-924, "The Golden Hind" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9938
NOTES: Obviously not Francis Drake's Golden Hind. Bahia is on the coast of Brazil. - BS
File: Pea922

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Golden Ring Around My Susan Girl

DESCRIPTION: "Golden ring around (the/my) Susan Girl (x3), All the way around the Susan girl." "Take a little girl and give her a whirl...." "Round and around, Susan girl...." "Do-si-do left, Susan Girl...." "All run away with the Susan girl...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1963 (recording, Jean Ritchie)
KEYWORDS: dancing nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Ritchie-Southern, p. 29, "Golden Ring Around Susan Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GOLDRING
Roud #7405
File: RitS029

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Golden Ring Around Susan Girl

See Golden Ring Around My Susan Girl (File: RitS029)

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Golden Slippers (I)

DESCRIPTION: "Oh. my golden slippers am laid away, Kase I don't 'spect to wear 'em till my weddin' day... O 'dem golden slippers... Golden slippers Ise gwine to wear To walk de golden street." The singer reflects on things he cannot have now but will have in heaven
AUTHOR: James A. Bland
EARLIEST DATE: 1879
KEYWORDS: clothes religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (5 citations):
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 144-147, "Oh, dem Golden Slippers!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 172, "Raccoon Up in de 'Simmon Tree" (1 text, 1 tune, with the chorus of "Golden Slippers (I)" though the sole verse is "Raccoon up in de 'simmon tree, Possum on de ground...."); this is followed by two more versions of the 'simmon tree verse
Silber-FSWB, p. 250, "Golden Slippers" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 399, "Oh dem Golden Slippers"
DT, GOLDSLIP*
ST RJ19144 (Full)
Roud #13941
RECORDINGS:
Wolfe Ballard & Claude Samuels, "Golden Slippers" (Broadway 8036, late 1920s)
H. M. Barnes & his Blue Ridge Ramblers, "Golden Slippers" (Brunswick 313, 1929)
Harry C. Browne w. the Knickerbocker Male Quartet, "Oh! Dem Golden Slippers" (Columbia A-2116, 1916)
Vernon Dalhart, "Golden Slippers" (Durium [UK] 9-4, 1933)
Vernon Dalhart & Co. "O Dem Golden Slippers" (Edison 52174, 1928)
Vernon Dalhart & Carson Robison, "Golden Slippers" (Victor 20539, 1927) (Columbia 15181-D [as Vernon Dalhart & Charlie Wells], 1927) (Romeo 464, 1927; Conqueror 7062, 1928) (Regal 8408, 1927) (Champion 15567 [as "Oh Dem Golden Slippers"], 1928)
Dykes Magic City Trio, "Golden Slippers" (Brunswick 128, 1927)
Roy Harvey & the North Carolina Ramblers, "Oh Dem Golden Slippers" (Champion 45017, 1931)
Kanawha Singers, "Them Golden Slippers" (Brunswick 189/Vocalion 5173, 1927)
Minster Singers, "Oh! Dem Golden Slippers" (Gramophone Co. [UK] GC-4466, n.d.)
Chubby Parker, "Oh Dem Golden Slippers" (Silvertone 25102, c. 1927)
[John Wallace "Babe"] Spangler & [Dave] Pearson, "Golden Slippers" (OKeh, unissued, 1929)
West Virginia Ramblers, "Golden Slippers" (Champion 45017, 1935)
SAME TUNE:
Golden City (MWheeler, pp. 51-52)
NOTES: James A. Bland also composed "Carry Me Back to Old Virginny" and "In the Evening by the Moonlight"; for more about him, see those entries. - RBW
File: RJ19144

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Golden Slippers (II)

See Going Up (Golden Slippers II) (File: Br3571)

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Golden Vallady

See The Golden Vanity [Child 286] (File: C286)

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Golden Vanitee

See The Golden Vanity [Child 286] (File: C286)

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Golden Vanity, The [Child 286]

DESCRIPTION: A ship is threatened by a foreign galley. The ship's cabin boy, promised gold and the captain's daughter as wife, sinks the galley. He comes back to his ship; the captain will not take him from the water. (The ending is variable)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1685 (broadside)
KEYWORDS: sea battle death promise lie abandonment
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
c. 1552-1618 - Life of Sir Walter Raleigh (one of whose ships was named "The Sweet Trinity")
FOUND IN: Britain(England(All),Scotland(Aber,Bord)) Ireland US(All) Canada(Mar,Newf,Ont)
REFERENCES (60 citations):
Child 286, "The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity)" (3 texts, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #52, #55}
Bronson 286, "The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity)" (111 versions+1 in addenda)
Greig #116, p. 1, "The Lowlands O" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 37, "The Golden Vanity" (5 texts, 4 tunes) {D=Bronson's #13}
Ord, pp. 450-451, "The Lowlands Low" (1 text)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 339-347, "The Golden Vanity" (4 texts plus 2 fragments, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #108, #66}
Flanders-Ancient4, pp. ,188-263 "The Sweet Trinity or the Golden Vanity" (39 texts plus 11 fragments, 18 tunes) {E=Bronson's #71, HH=#64}
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 103-106, "The Goulden Vanitee" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #53}
Belden, pp. 97-100, "The Golden Vanity" (3 texts)
Randolph 38, "The Lowlands Low" (4 texts plus a fragment, 3 tunes) {A=Bronson's #69, D=#48, E=#51}
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 56-59, "The Lowlands Low" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 38A) {Bronson's #69}
Davis-Ballads 47, "The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity)" (4 texts plus 2 fragments, 1 tune entitled "The Turkish-Rogherlee and the Yellow Golden Tree, or Lowlands Low") {Bronson's #109}
Davis-More 43, pp. 339-343, "The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity)" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 47, "The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity)" (3 texts plus mention of 2 more)
Chappell-FSRA 21, "The Green Willow Tree" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #50}
Hudson 25, pp. 125-127, "The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity)" (1 text)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 184-189, "The Sweet Trinity; The Golden Vanity" (2 texts; the first, with no title, is from Randolph; the second has local title "The Golden Willow Tree"; 1 tune on pp. 406-407) {Bronson's #107}
Shellans, pp. 62-63, "The Lonesome Sea Ballad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Brewster 25, "The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity)" (3 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #68}
Gardner/Chickering 82, "The Lowlands Low" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #110, related to "The Arkansas Traveller"}
Flanders/Brown, pp. 230-231, "The Green Willow Trees" (1 text)
Linscott, pp. 136-137, "The Gallant Victory or Lowlands Low" (1 short text, with no hint of the Captain's refusal to save the boy; he is hauled aboard and dies, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 101-106, "The Sweet Trinity, or The Golden Vanity" (3 texts plus 2 fragments, 4 tunes) {Bronson's #44, #17, #19, #18}
Creighton-NovaScotia 10, "Sweet Trinity; or The Golden Vanity" (1 text, called "Golden Vallady" by the singer, 1 tune) {Bronson's #21}
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 6, "The Golden Vanity" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 19, "The Golden Vanitie" (2 fragments)
Colcord, pp. 154-156, "The Golden Vanity" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #45}
Harlow, pp. 35-36, "Golden Vanitee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 62-64, "Lowlands Low" (3 texts, 3 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 58-60]
Logan, pp. 42-46, "The Goulden Vanitie (Golden Vanity, or the Low Lands Low)" (2 texts)
Leach, pp. 667-670, "The Sweet Trinity or The Golden Vanity" (3 texts)
Leach-Labrador 8, "The Golden Vanity" (1 text, 1 tune)
Wyman-Brockway I, p. 72, "The Mary Golden Tree, or The Lonesome Low" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #37}
Cambiaire, pp. 93-94, "The Merry Golden Tree" (1 text)
Ritchie-Southern, pp. 74-75, "Lonesome Sea" (1 text, 1 tune) {cf. Bronson's #41, which is also by Jean Ritchie and uses the same tune but a different title and slightly different words}
McNeil-SFB1, pp. 34-36, "The Green Willow Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 409, "The Golden Vanity" (1 text)
FSCatskills 67, "The Bold Trellitee" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBB 132, "The 'Golden Vanity'" (1 text)
Warner 104, "Lowland Low (or, The Golden Willow Tree)" (1 text, 1 tune)
SharpAp 41, "The Golden Vanity" (7 texts plus 3 fragments, 11 tunes) {Bronson's #94, #93, #88, #104, #43, #46, #78, #90, #99, #39, #106}
Sharp-100E 14, "The Golden Vanity" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #1}
Niles 61, "The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 28, "The Weeping Willow Tree (The Golden Vanity)" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #94}
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 46-47, "The Golden Vanity" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #35}
Scott-BoA, pp. 138-139, "The Golden Vanity" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 38-40, "The Golden Vanity" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 82, "The 'Green Willow Tree'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 23, "The Golden Vanity" (1 text fragment, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 95, "The Golden Vanity" (1 text, 1 tune) {should be Bronson's #73, but heavily reworked}
Chase, pp. 120-121, "The Merry Golden Tree" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #74}
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 79-80, "Golden Willow Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 10, pp. 24-26, "The Lowlands Low" (1 text)
JHCox 32, "The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity)" (2 texts plus a fragment)
JHCoxIIA, #15A-C, pp. 64-69, "The Golden Vanity," "The Mary Golden Lee," "The Green Willow Tree" (3 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #38, which -- despite Cox -- he calls "The Weeping Willow Tree"; this version has two American ships "The Weeping Willow Tree" and "The Golden Silveree"}
Darling-NAS, pp. 64-66, "The Sweet Trinity"; "The Golden Willow Tree" (1 text plus a fragment)
Silber-FSWB, p. 213, "The Golden Vanity" (1 text)
BBI, ZN2370, "Sir Walter Rawleigh ha's built a Ship"
DT 286, VANTYGL1* VANTIGL2* VANTIGL3* VANTIGL4* (VANTYGL9)
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #411, "The Golden Vanity" (1 text)
ST C286 (Full)
Roud #122
RECORDINGS:
Almanac Singers, "The Golden Vanity" (General 5016B, 1941; on Almanac02, Almanac03, AlmanacCD1)
Horton Barker, "The Turkish Rebilee" (on Barker01) {Bronson's #74}
Justus Begley, "Golden Willow Tree" (AFS, 1937; on KMM)
Bill Cameron, "The Golden Vanity" (on FSB5) {Bronson's #10}
The Carter Family, "Sinking In The Lonesome Sea" (Conqueror 8644/Okeh 03160, 1936; Columbia 37756) {Bronson's #73}
Dodie Chalmers, "The Golden Victory (The Golden Vanity) (on FSBBAL2) {Bronson's #33}
Johnny Doughty, "The Golden Vanity" (on JDoughty01, HiddenE)
Warde Ford, "The Lowlands Low" [fragment] (AFS 4194 A2, 1938; in AMMEM/Cowell) {Bronson's #20}
Sam Hazel, "The Golden Willow Tree" (AFS 2095 B2, 3096 A, 3096 B1, 1939)
[Mrs.?] Ollie Jacobs, "A Ship Set Sail for North America" (AFS, 1941; on LC58) {Bronson's #86}
Paul Joines, "Green Willow Tree" (on Persis1)
Joe Kelly, "The Golden Vanity" (on Ontario1)
Paralee McCloud, "The Little Ship" (on FolkVisions1)
Jimmy Morris, "The Golden Willow Tree" (AFS, 1937; on LC58) {Bronson's #105}
New Lost City Ramblers, "Sinking in the Lonesome Sea" (on NLCR06, NLCR11)
Frank Proffitt, "Lowlands Low" [excerpt] (on USWarnerColl01)
Almeda Riddle, "Merry Golden Tree" (on LomaxCD1707)
Jean Ritchie, "The Merry Golden Tree" (on JRitchie01) {Bronson's #41}
Pete Seeger, "The Golden Vanity" (on PeteSeeger16) (Commodore 3006, n.d. -- but this may be the same recording as the General disc by the Almanac Singers)
Rob Walker, "The Lowlands Low" [fragment] (AFS 4194 A3, 1938; in AMMEM/Cowell) {Bronson's #49}
Doug Wallin, "The Golden Vanity" (on Wallins1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1086), "The Golden Vanity" or "The Low Lands Low," H. Such (London), 1849-1862
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(122a), "Lowlands Low," Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1877; also L.C.Fol.70(103b), "Lowlands Low"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Louisiana Lowlands" (lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
Sinking of the Great Ship (BrownII, #287, pp. 662-663, the "A" text)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Lonesome Low
The Merry Golden Tree
The Sweet Kumadee
The Weep-Willow Tree
The Turkish Revoloo
Cabin Boy
Lowland Sea
Ye Gowden Vanitie
NOTES: Connecting this song with actual events is impossible even if one accepts Sir Walter Raleigh as the murderous captain. The following dates may, however, provide some guidelines:
1453 - Fall of Constantinople gives the Turks good access to the Mediterranean (Lowland) Sea.
1571 - Battle of Lepanto cripples the Turkish navy.
1588 - Voyage of the Spanish Armada. Spanish navy crippled.
As far as I know, every version lists the enemy as Spanish, Turkish, or French. It should be noted, however, that the Barbary pirates were often called "Turks," since the Ottoman Empire had (often nominal) soveriegnty over them.
Incidentally, while this song does not have a historical setting, the plot has historical antecedents; Bowers, p. 24 and note, mentions a 1605 pamphlet, "Two most unnatural and bloodie Murthers: The one by Maister Cauerly... the other by mistris Browne and her servant Peter." Apparently Peter, a servant, had been promised land and the girl's hand; when her father reneged, the young couple turned to murder.
The sinking of a ship by a youth is also apparently attested: Rodger, p. 46, says that a Saracen vessel threatened the fleet of Richard I on his way to the Third Crusade, but that one report claims it was sunk by a boy with an auger. Unfortunately, Rodger does not cite any primary sources for this account, and I don't believe sinking a ship with an auger is actually possible (by that time, ships had pumps and carpenters to plug leaks). I suspect that one of Rodger's sources actually heard a distorted version of this song.
Somewhat later, at the Battle of Sluys in 1340, the English fleet of Edward III "even [had] divers who tried to sink the enemy ships by boring holes in their hulls below water," according to Seward, p. 44. Sluys was a great English victory, but if the divers accomplished anything, I haven't heard of it. - RBW
Bibliography

• Bowers: Fredson Bowers, Elizabethan Revenge Tragedy, 1940 (I use the 1977 Princeton paperback edition)
• Rodger: N. A. M. Rodger, The Safeguard of the Sea: A Naval History of Britain 660-1649 (1997; I use the 1999 Norton edition)
• Seward: Desmond Seward, The Hundred Years War: The English in France, 1337-1453, 1978 (I used the 1982 Atheneum paperback)

Last updated in version 2.5
File: C286

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Gone Long Ago

DESCRIPTION: "Where are the friends that to me were so dear? Gone long ago... Hopes that I cherished are fled from me now, I am degraded for rum was my foe, Gone long ago, long ago." The singer looks back on what drink has cost him: His wife, his youth, his virtue
AUTHOR: (based on "Long, Long Ago by Thomas H. Bayly)
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: drink warning parody
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 315, "Gone Long Ago" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7791
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Long, Long Ago!" (tune)
File: R315

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Gone to Cripple Creek

See Cripple Creek (I) (?) (File: San320)

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Gonesome Scenes of Winter, The

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

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Gonna Die With My Hammer In My Hand

See John Henry [Laws I1] (File: LI01)

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Gonna Keep My Skillet Greasy

See Keep My Skillet Good and Greasy (File: Wa122)

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Gonna Tie My Pecker to My Leg

DESCRIPTION: Usually short fragments of "The Chisholm Trail" distinguished by the unique chorus which gives this variant its title.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: bawdy
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Cray, pp. 192-194, "Gonna Tie My Pecker to My Leg" (3 texts)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 203-204, "The Old Chisholm Trail"
Logsdon 9, pp. 60-69, "Jimmie Tucker" (2 texts, 1 tune, both of which are really "The Old Chisholm Trail (II)," but in his notes are excerpts from "Gonna Tie My Pecker to My Leg")
DT, (CHISHLM)
Roud #3438
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Chisholm Trail (II)"
NOTES: Versions are lumped with the similar "Old Chisholm Trail" in Randolph-Legman I. - EC
File: EM192

---

Goober Peas

DESCRIPTION: "Sitting by the roadside, on a summer's day... Lying in the shadows underneath the trees, Goodness how delicious, Eating goober peas." The southern soldier complains about army life, the battles, and the poor equipment; goober peas are his chief comfort
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1866
KEYWORDS: food Civilwar nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 73-75, "Goober Peas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 54-55, "Goober Peas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Arnett, p. 82, "Goober Peas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 715, "Eating Goober Peas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, p. 351, "Goober Peas" (1 text)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 10, "Goober Peas" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 276, "Goober Peas" (1 text)
DT, GOOBPEAS
ST RJ19073 (Full)
Roud #11628
RECORDINGS:
New Lost City Ramblers, "Goober Peas" (on NLCREP4)
NOTES: First published in 1866 (with words credited to A. Pindar and music to "P. Nutt"!), we know from outside references that this song was popular with southern soldiers in the Civil War. It is particularly accurate as a description of the last few years of the war, when the complete breakdown of Confederate industry left the soldier ragged, and the loss of farmland and rail lines left them starving. Peanuts -- "goober peas" -- often served as an emergency ration for soldiers in Georgia and other parts of the south. - RBW
File: RJ19073

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Good Ale (I)

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, good ale, thou art my darling, Thou art my joy both night and morning." Drink encourages the singer to work, to dream, to enjoy. But also "It is you that makes my friends my foes, It is you that makes me (wear old/pawn my) clothes...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1790 (The Banquet of Thalia)
KEYWORDS: drink hardtimes poverty
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
GreigDuncan3 590, "The Braw Black Jug" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Kennedy 273, "Good Ale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Chappell/Wooldridge II, p. 179, "Good Ale, Thou Art My Darling" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GOODALE*
Roud #203
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2212), "O Good Ale Thou Art My Darling ("Long time I have been seeking thee"), H. Such (London), 1863-1885; also Harding B 25(1393), Harding B 15(225b), "O Good Ale! Thou Art My Darling"
LOCSinging, as112320, "O! Dear Grog Thou Art My Darling," L. Deming (Boston), no date
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Aul' Black Jug
NOTES: GreigDuncan3: "Learnt at Kinaldie about 1855.... Noted 19th December 1906." As Duncan writes, in the same note, his version has "some affinity in words" with "O Good Ale Thou Art My Darling." Some verses agree and the chorus is close enough that I don't think GreigDuncan3 should be split. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: K273

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Good Ale (II)

DESCRIPTION: "Good ale gars me sell my hose ... and pawn my sheen." The singer had six oxen in a plough but sold them all for "good ale." His children are ragged and might have been hanged but he has had them jailed instead.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: poverty drink nonballad children prison animal clothes
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 593, "Good Ale" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #6045
NOTES: GreigDuncan3: "'Learnt from a farmservant fully twenty-six years ago. Noted 13th September 1907." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3593

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Good Ale, Thou Art My Darling

See Good Ale (I) (File: K273)

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Good Boy, The

DESCRIPTION: "I have led a good life, full of peace and quiet. I shall have an old age, full of rum and riot. I have been a good boy, wed to work and study. I shall be an old man, ribald, coarse, and bloody." The once-good boy describes what he will now do
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: rebellion age virtue
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Sandburg, p. 203, "The Good Boy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, pp. 80-81, [no title] (1 text, tune referenced)
DT, GOODBOY
Roud #13612
NOTES: Various authors have claimed this piece (the Digital Tradition lists Lemuel F. Parton, though Sandburg merely describes him as a source; Spaeth offers Malcolm Ross and Ralph Albertson). Since versions differ dramatically in character, with only the first line or two being constant, one suspects that all these alleged "authors" are in fact customizing a generic piece. - RBW
File: San203

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Good bye Mursheen Durkin

DESCRIPTION: Molly Durkin marries Tim O'Shea. Cooney, "to keep my heart from breakin', I sailed to Americay." He finds no work in New York. He goes to San Francisco, finds gold and heads back to Ireland where "I'll marry Miss O'Kelly, Molly Durkin for to spite"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (for USBallinsloeFair, according to site irishtune.info, Irish Traditional Music Tune Index: Alan Ng's Tunography, ref. Ng #1331)
KEYWORDS: travel gold work drink America Ireland humorous rake emigration betrayal return
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
OLochlainn-More 36, "Good bye Mursheen Durkin" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MRSHDRK
Roud #9753
RECORDINGS:
Murty Rabbett, "Molly Durkin" (on USBallinsloeFair)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Muirsheen Durkin
Muirton Durkin
NOTES: O Lochlainn says "I learnt the last verse in childhood and 'invented' the other two finding nothing else but a fragment 'And now to end my story, I'll marry Queen Victorey'." What O Lochlainn remembers as the last verse appears to be the chorus. That fragment ending beats "I'll marry Miss O'Kelly" but otherwise "Molly Durkin" (on USBallinsloeFair) seems more authoritative.
In any case the description I used is from USBallinsloeFair. Here though is the description for O Lochlainn's version: Corney tires of courting and drinking locally. He goes off to roam the world. Then he tires "of all this pleasure" in Ireland and heads for New York. Now "good-bye Mursheen Durkin, Sure, I'm sick and tired of workin'" and heads for gold in California.
In Murty Rabbett's version the singer "landed in Castle Garden" in New York. That may be useful in bracketing the dates on that version. Castle Garden, before and again "Castle Clinton" at The Battery in New York, was the entry point for immigrants between 1845 and 1890 [see, for example, "Castle Garden, New York" transcribed from The Illustrated American of March 1, 1890 at Norway-Heritage site]. One problem with using "Castle Garden" for dating is that the name may have remained synonymous with "entry point for New York" long after the building became the New York Aquarium. In my own family I heard about "Kesselgarten" sixty years after it closed, although my grandfather arrived in New York thirteen years after that building became home to captive fish.
For a similar Castle Garden(s) reference see the notes to "Castle Gardens (I)." - BS
Although O Lochlainn's text seems to be the source for almost every version known today, it seems to have been pretty heavily folk processed by revival singers. And I'm not talking about the zillion ways of spelling "Mursheen/Muirsheen."
According to Soodlum's Irish Ballad Book, the tune is "Cailini Deas Mhuigheo" ("The Beautiful Girls of Mayo").
I seem to recall reading somewhere that "Murisheen Durkin" is another name for Ireland. Of course, if you read enough Irish books, *everything* is a disguised name for Ireland. - RBW
File: OLcM036

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Good for a Rush or a Rally

DESCRIPTION: "They are good for a rush or a rally, But they have no bottom to stay, But when I go out for a tally, I shear two hundred a day."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: work Australia sheep
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Anderson, p. 276, "Good for a Rush or a Rally" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: For comparison: A "gun" shearer was one who could consistently shear a "century" -- 100 sheep. The all-time record, which will likely never be broken, is held by Jackie Howe, who once sheared 328 sheep in an eight hour day. - RBW
File: MA276

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Good King Wenceslas

DESCRIPTION: On St. Stephen's Day, Wenceslas sees a poor man gathering wood, and decides to help the peasant. Wenceslas and his servant go out in the bad weather. Returning home, the servant suffers from the cold but Wenceslas miraculously keeps him warm
AUTHOR: Words: J. M. Neale / Music: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1853 (tune from Piae Cantiones, 1582)
KEYWORDS: religious royalty
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
OBC 136, "Good King Wenceslas" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 382, "Good King Wenceslas" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 254-255, "Good King Wenceslas"
DT, GOODKING*
ADDITIONAL: Ian Bradley, _The Penguin Book of Carols_ (1999), #29, "Good Kin Wenceslas" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Flower Carol (Spring Has Now Unwrapped the Flowers)" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Good King Wences (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 115)
NOTES: Fuld gives details of how J. M. Neale created words (which the editors of the Oxford Book of Carols call, with reason, "one of his less happy pieces") to the tune "Tempus adest floridum" ("Spring Has Unwrapped Her Flowers"), which had appeared in the published version of the Piae Cantiones the previous year.
Wenceslas is Saint Wenceslaus (or Vaclav, to use the non-Latinate form) of Bohemia (c. 905-c. 932), properly a Duke (since Bohemia was a duchy), who succeeded to the throne of Bohemia c. 920 and took over from the regency c. 924 but was murdered in 935.
Wenceslaus's kingdom was beset by religious conflict, and this contributed to his fall. His grandmother was Christian, as was his dead father, but his mother Dragomira and his brother Boleslav (who murdered him) were pagan. As a ruler, Wenceslaus does not seem to have amounted to much; his later reputation probably derives from his martyrdom. He is the Catholic saint of the Czech Republic (which includes Bohemia). Several later kings shared his name, including the famously incompetent Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia (1361-1419, Holy Roman Emperor from 1378 but deposed 1400).
There is no evidence that Wenceslaus ever did any of the things described in this carol, and indeed it has been noted that there are several logical flaws in the narrative; apparently it came almost whole out of Neale's head as he sought to make a song for Saint Stephen's Day.
On lyrical and theological and historical grounds, then, the song probably should be dropped. But, as Eric Routley commented (quoted by Bradley), it "contains snow and philanthropy in just the proportions calculated to make it a favorite." More to the point, it has a great tune -- though, of course, that tune has nothing to do with Wenceslaus, or Neale, or Christmas. - RBW
File: FSWB382

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Good Lordy, Rocky My Soul

See Good Lordy, Rocky My Soul (File: FSWB357B)

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Good Luck to the Barley Mow

See The Barley Mow (File: ShH99)

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Good Mornin', Blues

DESCRIPTION: "I woke up this morning' with the blues all around my bed... Went to eat my breakfast, had the blues all in my bread." The singer describes how the loss of his girl has left him lonely, in pain, and otherwise miserable
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (recording, Lead Belly)
KEYWORDS: loneliness separation
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Lomax-FSNA 311, "Good Mornin', Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 75, "Good Morning Blues" (1 text)
Roud #11687
NOTES: Another Alan Lomax special; I don't know what fraction of it is traditional. - RBW
Well, Lead Belly sang it with those words. - PJS
OK, so it's a Lomax/Lead Belly special. - RBW
File: LoF311

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Good Morning Mister Railroadman

See The Gambler (II) (File: BRaF459)

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Good Morning My Pretty Little Miss

See Pretty Little Miss [Laws P18] (File: LP18)

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Good Morning, Ladies All (I)

DESCRIPTION: Capstan shanty. Title from second chorus: "Ah-ha, me yaller gals, Good mornin', ladies all." A packet heads out "bound to hell," the crew is mostly wiped out by "Yaller Jack" (yellow fever) and take on some monkeys as a crew.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Sharp-EFC)
KEYWORDS: shanty ship disease animal
FOUND IN: Britain West Indies
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Hugill pp. 349-351, "Good Morning, Ladies All" (2 texts, 2 tunes; the "a" text is this piece, while "b" is "Good Morning, Ladies All (II)") [AbEd, p. 262]
Sharp-EFC, XVII, p. 20, "Good Morning, Ladies All" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8284
NOTES: Hugill claims that any shanty including the phrase "Good morning, ladies all" would be of Negro origin, and had collected this from Tobago Smith, a West Indian shantyman. He also speculates that this may be a rumored but as yet undocumented shanty which tells the story of a crew of monkeys taking charge of a ship, but the three verses he had weren't enough to be sure. Sharp's verses don't even get that far, but the tune is pretty much the same. Sharp says this has some affinity with "Heave Away, Me Johnnies," though I couldn't see it, except for a couple notes in the tune of the chorus. - SL
File: Hugi349a

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Good Morning, Ladies All (II)

DESCRIPTION: Pump or halyard shanty. "We are outward bound for Mobile Town, with a heave-o, haul! An' we'll heave the ol' wheel round an' round, Good mornin' ladies all!" Rest of verses on going home, spending money, women, and general good times themes.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1921 (Richard Runciman Terry's _The Shanty Book_, Pt.1)
KEYWORDS: shanty home dancing
FOUND IN: Britain West Indies
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill pp. 349-351, "Good Morning, Ladies All" (2 texts, 2 tunes; the "b" text is this piece, while "a" is "Good Morning, Ladies All (I)") [AbEd, p. 263]
Roud #8290
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Outward and Homeward Bound" (shared verses)
File: Hugi350

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Good Morning, Merry Sunshine

DESCRIPTION: "Good morning, merry sunshine, How did you wake so soon? You frightened all the stars away And shined away the moon." "I do not go to sleep, dear child, I just go round to see The little children of the east Who rise and watch for me."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 879, "Good Morning, Merry Sunshine" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #7544
File: R879

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Good Morrow, Gossip Joan

See Gossip Joan (Neighbor Jones) (File: Br3144)

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Good News

DESCRIPTION: "Good news, chariot's coming (x3), And I don't want to be left behind." "There's a long white robe in Heaven I know." The song catalogs all the things to be found in heaven; the singer hopes to achieve all
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (recording, Fisk Jubilee Quartet)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
BrownIII 572, "Good News -- Chariot's Comin'" (1 fragment)
Silber-FSWB, p. 370, "Good News" (1 text)
DT, GOODNEWS
Roud #11891
RECORDINGS:
Bobby Jean Chauteau & group "Good News, Chariot is Coming" (New Light 101, n.d.)
Dixie Jubilee Quintet, "Good News" (Brunswick 3150, 1926)
Fisk Jubilee Quartet, "Good News" (Victor 16856, 1911)
Fisk University Jubilee Singers, "Good News, the Chariot's Coming" (Columbia A2072, 1916)
Hall Johnson Negro Choir, "Good News" (Victor 36020, 1930)
Master Spiritual Singers, "Good News, the Chariot is Coming" (Hub 3018, n.d.)
Southern Four, "Good News, Chariot's Comin'! and O Mary, Doan You Weep" (Edison 50885, 1921)
Tuskegee Institute Singers, "Good News" (Victor 17663, 1914)
File: FSWB370B

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Good News -- Chariot's Comin'

See Good News (File: FSWB370B)

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Good News Coming from Canaan

DESCRIPTION: "I thought I heard my mother say, Good news coming from Canaan. I want to hear my children pray, Good news coming from Canaan."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 574, "Good News Coming from Canaan" (1 fragment)
Roud #11893
File: Br3574

---

Good News, Member

DESCRIPTION: "Good news, member, good news, member, Don't you mind what Satan say. Good news, member, good news, And I heard from heaven today." "My brother have a seal and I so glad." "Mr. Hawley have a home in paradise." "Archangel bring baptizing down."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, pp. 97-98, "Good News, Member" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12054
File: AWG097B

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Good Old Days of Adam and Eve, The

DESCRIPTION: "I sing, I sing of days grown older... Sing high, sing ho, I grieve, I grieve For the good old days of Adam and Eve." In the good old days, the town was smaller, the people bolder, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.26(81))
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND IN: US(NE,So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Belden, p. 431, "The Good Old Days of Adam and Eve" (1 text)
Leyden 7, "A New Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7836
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(763), "The Good Old Days of Adam and Eve" ("I sing, I sing, of good times older"), J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also 2806 c.17(150), 2806 c.17(152), Firth b.26(81), "[The] Good Old Days of Adam and Eve"
LOCSinging, as107360, "The Good Days of Old Adam and Eve," Pitts (London), no date
Bodleian, Firth b.26(81), "The Good Days of Old Adam and Eve" ("I sing, I sing of good times older"), J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Meditations of an Old Bachelor (The Good Old-Fashioned Girl)" (theme)
cf. "Twenty Years Ago (Forty Years Ago)" (theme)
cf. "Why Do You Bob Your Hair, Girls?" (theme)
cf. "You Must Live Holy" (theme)
cf. "In Old Pod-Auger Times" (theme)
cf. "Maurice Hogan's Song" (theme)
cf. "It Wasna Sae" (theme)
SAME TUNE:
A New Song on the Times (broadside Murray, Mu23-y3:021, "A New Song on the Times" ("You people now both high and low, pray listen to these rhymes"), unknown, 19C)
NOTES: Since this song is mostly whining about the new ways of doing things, it's not too surprising that the handful of known versions (Belden's, plus several known to and assembled by Sandy and Caroline Paton) have few lyrics in common. There is no question, though, that they're the same song. - RBW
Leyden, analyzing the before and after, dates his version to Belfast in the 1820s. Most of the discussion would do as well for the Bodleian broadsides, which share some verses with Leyden and with each other, though referring to other cities.
Broadsides LOCSinging as107360 and Bodleian Firth b.26(81) are duplicates. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Beld431

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Good Old Man (I), The

See Four Nights Drunk [Child 274] (File: C274)

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Good Old Man (II), The

See My Good Old Man (File: R426)

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Good Old Mountain Dew

DESCRIPTION: "Beside a hill there is a still Where the smoke runs up to the sky." The smell reveals that "the liquor boys are nigh." The making of the dew is described, and it is said to have been praised by scholars. The singer calls for more dew.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1916 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MA,SE) Canada(Ont) Ireland
REFERENCES (7 citations):
BrownIII 41, "The Hidden Still" (1 fragment, probably this piece)
OLochlainn 64, "The Real Old Mountain Dew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-Maguire 23, pp. 53-54,112,166, "The Mountain Dew" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 180-182, "Good Old Mountain Dew' (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 288-289, "Real Old Mountain Dew" (1 text, filed with "Old Mountain Dew")
Silber-FSWB, p. 229, "Real Old Mountain Dew" (1 text)
DT, MTDEW2*
Roud #938
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "The Real Old Mountain Dew" (on Abbott1)
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "The Real Old Mountain Dew" (on IRClancyMakem01)
John Griffin and Ed Geoghegan?, "The Real Old Mountain Dew" (on Voice13)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Are You There Moriarity" (tune, per OLochlainn)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Let the Grasses Grow
NOTES: OLochlainn: "I am told it was written by Phil O Neill of Kinsale." - BS
Robert Gogan, 130 Great Irish Ballads (third edition, Music Ireland, 2004), p. 37, on the other hand, attributes it to Samuel Lover. But I should observe that few of his song notes seem to find support in reputable sources. And, of course, it's possible that Lover published a version without actually writing it.
Not to be confused with Bascom Lamar Lunsford's "Old Mountain Dew." - RBW
File: LxA180

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Good Old Rebel, The (The Song of the Rebel Soldier)

DESCRIPTION: "I'm a good old Rebel soldier, and that's just what I am, And for this Yankee nation I do not give a damn!" The rebel tells of his history in the Confederate army. He scorns the Reconstruction governments, and proclaims, "I won't be reconstructed!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1866?
KEYWORDS: Civilwar soldier political
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 21, 1861 - First Battle of Bull Run/Manassas. Confederates under Beauregard and Johnston rout an inexperienced Federal force under McDowell.
Aug 29-30, 1862 - Second Battle of Bull Run/Manassas. Lee's army takes Pope's force in flank and rolls it up.
Apr 7 and Sept 8, 1863 - Federal attempts to retake Fort Sumter and Charleston Harbor. Both failed.
May 1-4, 1863 - Battle of Chancellorsville (which would appear to be the "Battle of the Wilderness" referred to in some texts, since Stonewall Jackson is mentioned in the immediate context). Lee defeats Hooker, but Jackson is killed
May 5-7, 1864 - Battle of the Wilderness. Lee's army mauls the Federal force under Grant and Meade, but the Federals refuse to retreat
May 11, 1864 - Battle of Yellow Tavern. Confederate cavalry commander J.E.B. Stuart mortally wounded (he died May 12).
1865-1872 - The era of the Freedmen's Bureau. Its purpose was to help former slaves to make the transition to freedom, and to give them as many opportunities as possible. Most Southerners fought it tooth and nail, and finally the Radical Republicans abandoned it in 1872
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (13 citations):
Randolph 231, "I'm a Good Old Rebel" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 216-217, "I'm a Good Old Rebel" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 231C)
Warner 193, "The Song of the Rebel Soldier"; 194, "An Old Unreconstructed" (2 traditional texts plus assorted floating stanzas and a copy of a printed text plus mention of 6(?) more, 1 tune)
BrownIII 391, "The Good Old Rebel" (2 texts plus a fragment and mention of 1 more)
Hudson 118, pp. 259-260, "I'm a Good Old Rebel" (1 text)
JHCox 77, "I'm a Good Old Rebel" (1 text)
Silber-CivWar, pp. 88-89, "Oh, I'm a Good Old Rebel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 535-540, "Good Old Rebel" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Lomax-FSNA 133, "The Good Old Rebel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 716, "I'm a Good Old Rebel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 351-353, "I'm a Good Old Rebel" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 290, "The Good Old Rebel" (1 text)
DT, UNRECON MOONSHI5*
Roud #823
RECORDINGS:
Harry "Haywire Mac" McClintock, "Uncle Jim's Rebel Soldier" (on McClintock01); "Reconstructed Rebel Soldier" (on McClintock02) [The two McClintock recordings are listed tentatively, awaiting audition. - PJS]
NOTES: Cox lists several early printers and authors who claimed to be responsible for this song. The most common attribution is to Major Innes Randolph (CSV), but is from a book published by Randolph's son in 1892. An 1890 text is attributed to J.R.T.; another, printed 1903, dedicates it to "Thad. Stevens, 1862" and claims it was sung by "Harry Allen, Washington Artillery, New Orleans, LA."
A dedication to Stevens makes a perverse sort of sense; Stevens was a humorless anti-Southern abolitionist. The 1862 date makes little sense, however. Still, something caused the song to go into oral tradition. I think we must simply regard the matter as uncertain.
"Marse Robert" is, of course, the soldiers' nickname for Robert E. Lee.
Point Lookout was a Federal prison camp in Maryland. It was an unpleasant place (the prisoners were housed in tents, and water was sometimes scarce), but the army that produced the Andersonville prison camp had no grounds for complaint!
The "darkies dressed in blue" were Blacks who joined the Federal army; their performance was not spectacular, but this was mostly the fault of bad officers. Needless to say, the Confederates hated them above all -- but at the end of the war they too were preparing to put Blacks in uniform!
The Warner text "An Old Unreconstructed" appears to belong with this piece; the lyrics are different, but the spirit and the meter are the same.
In that song, the rebels claim that their cavalry was always superior to the Federals'. This was certainly true in the early years of the war, but by the time of Brandy Station (June 9, 1863), the two forces were equally competent (the Confederates had better officers, but the Federals had better weapons), and by 1864, with Southern horses running out and Sheridan in charge of the Federal cavalry, the Union horse was probably superior.
The "cowardly blockade" refers to the Federal blockade that largely cut off the Confederates from the outside world. It was not "cowardly"; blockade was already recognized under international law. Nor did it automatically cut off the Confederates from munitions; the blockade did not really begin to bite until 1863, by which time the Confederates were fairly well equipped with weapons (often captured from the Unionists). More important was the complete Confederate failure to industrialize.
The "German immigrants" referred to are probably the Federal XI corps, composed primarily of German refugees, which suffered the worst casualties at Chancellorsville and was routed at Gettysburg. These troops were held in very low esteem by both sides. Except for some Irish formations (none larger than a brigade), I know of no other Federal forces composed entirely of "furriners." - RBW
File: Wa193

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Good Old State of Maine, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer tells how lumbering woods are "different from the good old State of Maine." The woods have "alieners and foreigners" and low wages, deep snow, harsh regulations and bad food. "I'll mend my ways and spend my days in the good old State of Maine."
AUTHOR: Larry Gorman
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Miramichi1)
KEYWORDS: lumbering ordeal nonballad
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 111-114, "The Good Old State of Maine" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 18, "The Good Old State of Maine (Henry's Concern)" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST IvNB111 (Partial)
Roud #1955
RECORDINGS:
Jim Brown, "The Good Old State of Maine" (on Miramichi1)
NOTES: Ives-NewBrunswick: The song is about the J.E. Henry & Co. sawmill and lumbering operations in the Zealand Valley, in New Hampshire. - BS
According to Manny and Wilson, the "correct" title is "Henry's Concern." - RBW
File: IvNB111

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Good Old Way (I), The

DESCRIPTION: "The good old way, the good old way, I am travelling in the good old way, And no matter where I be nor what people thinks of me...." "The Baptists in their glee may turn their back on me...." The singer condemns sinners and vows to stick with God
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Chappell-FSRA 93, "The Good Old Way" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #16937
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "O I Shall Have Wings" (lyrics)
File: ChFRA093

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Good Old Way (II), The

DESCRIPTION: "As I went down in the valley to pray, Studying about that good old way When you shall wear the starry crown, Good Lord, show me the way. Oh (mourner/sister/member), let's go down, let's go down, let's go down... down in the valley to play."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 84, "The Good Old Way" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12041
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Down in the Valley to Pray" (lyrics)
NOTES: This shares a lot of lines with "Down in the Valley to Pray," and some would perhaps lump them. But the overall form is different enough that I have split them. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: AWG084A

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Good Roarin' Fire, A

DESCRIPTION: "Wi' the day's work done," these things make the singer happy to come home: "a good roarin' fire," "your childer lep an' run," a "wife is kind an' happy," "a clean-swep' stone."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: home work fire nonballad children wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #167, p. 2, "When a Chap Comes Hame" (1 text)
GreigDuncan5 1070, "When a Chap Comes Hame" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Hayward-Ulster, p. 32, "A Good Roarin' Fire" (1 text)
Roud #6550
File: HayU032

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Good Scow Alice Strong, The

DESCRIPTION: "When running down for Cleveland On the good scow Alice Strong, The Captain's eyes grew weary." He orders the mate to take charge. "The mate was but a farmer Who'd seen service with a plow": He steers the ship on a straight course -- into another boat!
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Collected from John S. Parsons by Walton)
KEYWORDS: ship farming wreck humorous
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 165-166, "The Good Scow Alice Strong" (1 text)
File: WGM165

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Good Ship Calabah, The

See The Calabar (File: HHH502)

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Good Ship Cumberland

See The Cumberland [Laws A26] (File: LA26)

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Good Ship Jubilee, The

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

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Good Ship Kangaroo, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer goes to sea on the Kangaroo. His sweetheart gives him a token to remember her by. On his return home, he learns the she has run off with another man. He vows to go to a foreign shore and "throw [him]self away" on a foreign girl
AUTHOR: Harry Clifton (source: GreigDuncan6)
EARLIEST DATE: before 1884 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.22(95))
KEYWORDS: love separation sailor return infidelity
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) Ireland Australia
REFERENCES (4 citations):
GreigDuncan6 1211, "On Board of the Kangaroo" (5 texts, 3 tunes)
Hugill, pp. 473-476, "Aboard the Kangaroo," "On Board the Kangaroo" (2 texts, 2 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 351-353]
Meredith/Anderson, p. 60, "Aboard of the Kangaroo" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SHPKNGR*
Roud #925
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.22(95)[some words illegible], "On Board of the Kangaroo" ("Once I was a waterman, and lived at home in ease"), H. Disley (London), 1860-1883; also Harding B 11(2845), "On Board of the Kangaroo"; Firth c.12(365), 2806 c.14(48), "On Board of the 'Kangaroo'"
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(087), "On Board the 'Kangaroo,'" unknown, c.1875
NOTES: According to Peter Davison, Songs of The British Music Hall, Oak, 1971, pp. 28-29, Harry Clifton (1824-1872) was a British music hall performer who wrote more than 500 songs. His most famous is said to have been "Pretty Polly Perkins" (the tune of which was also used for "Cushie Butterfield"); Davison also mentions "Paddle Your Own Canoe" (included in the Ballad Index) "Pulling Hard Against the Stream" (also in the Index) ÒWork, Boys, Work, and Be Contented," "Barclay's Beer," and "The Weepin' Willer" (also in the Index) and prints "A Motto for Every Man" (with music by Charles Coote).
In addition, the 1868 sheet music of "The Dark Girl Dressed in Blue" is attributed to Clifton -- but Spaeth-ReadWeep does not mention his authorship, and there is a broadside which very likely precedes the 1868 publication; it is likely that Clifton modified an existing song. This may be the case with "Paddle Your Own Canoe" also (see the notes to that song). Other song in the Index attributed to Clifton but not listed by Davidson include "The Calico Printer's Clerk," "The Waterford Boys," and "Where the Grass Grows Green." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: MA060

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Good Ship Mary Cochrane, The

See The Wreck of the Rebecca (The Mary Cochrane) (File: HHH565)

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Good Ship Venus, The

DESCRIPTION: A quatrain ballad, this song describes the interminable sexual misadventures of the crew of the Good Ship Venus, whose mast is a rampant penis.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: Vance Randolph firmly dates the three versions in his "Unprintable" Collection from the Ozarks to 1890.
KEYWORDS: bawdy sex humorous ship
FOUND IN: Australia Canada Britain(England) US(NE,MW,So,SW) New Zealand
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Cray, pp. 315-318, "The Good Ship Venus" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 500-501, "Frigging in the Rigging" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, FRGGING SHPVENUS
Roud #4836
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Christopher Columbo" (lyrics)
NOTES: The limerick-form stanzas with the internal rhyme in the third line of "Good Ship" frequently migrate to "Christopher Columbo." - EC
File: EM315

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Good Woman

See The Three Butchers (Dixon and Johnson) [Laws L4] (File: LL04)

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Good-By, Mike, Good-By Pat

See I'm Leaving Tipperary (File: GrD81754)

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Good-by, Mother

See Goodbye, Mother (File: LxA592)

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Good-by, Pretty Mama

See Goodbye, Pretty Mama (File: LxA020)

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Good-bye (Goodbye My Brother)

DESCRIPTION: "Goodbye, my brother, goodbye, Hallelujah! Goodbye, sister Sally, goodbye, Hallelujah! Going home, Hallelujah! Jesus call me, Hallelujah! Linger no longer, Hallelujah! Tarry no longer, Hallelujah"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 52, "Good-bye" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12011
File: AWG052A

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Good-Bye Brother

DESCRIPTION: "Goodbye brother, goodbye, brother, If I don't see you more; Now God bless you, now God bless you, If I don't see you more." "We'll part in the body but meet in the spirit... We'll meet in Heaven in the blessed kingdom."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious separation
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 47, "Good-bye Brother" (1 text. 1 tune)
Roud #12004
File: AWG047A

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Good-bye My Lovely Annie

See Adieu Sweet Lovely Nancy (File: E153D)

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Good-bye Sweet Liza Jane

See Goodbye Eliza Jane (File: SRW211)

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Good-Looking Widow, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer, a good-looking widow, has had three husbands and is looking for a fourth. Her husbands were a tailor who was a swell, a baker who was a loafer, and another who "was some fond o' me, but mair fond o' a dram"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: marriage drink death
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1302, "The Good-Looking Widow" (4 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #7199
NOTES: Sounds like a Scottish rewrite of the Wife of Bath's Prologue. It might be interesting to sing it with "The Marriage of Sir Gawain" [Child 31], which is essentially the Wife's tale. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71302

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Goodbye Eliza Jane

DESCRIPTION: "Lookey here 'Liza, listen to me, you ain't the girl you promised to be." Disappointed that Liza "went riding with Mr. Brown," the singer declares, "Goodbye, Miss Liza, I'm going to leave you." He demands his gifts back; Mr. Brown can replace them
AUTHOR: Words: Andrew B. Sterling / Music: Harry Von Tilzer
EARLIEST DATE: 1903
KEYWORDS: courting separation betrayal
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Spaeth-ReadWeep, p. 211, "Good-bye, Eliza Jane" (partial text and tune)
Rorrer, p. 93, "Good-bye Sweet Liza Jane" (1 text)
Roud #12403
RECORDINGS:
Peerless Quartet, "Minstrels Part 4, Goodbye Eliza Jane" (Little Wonder 343, 1916)
Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers, "Good-bye Sweet Liza Jane" (Columbia 15601-D, 1930; on CPoole03 as "Goodbye Liza Jane")
NOTES: I couldn't believe this was a Harry von Tilzer song either. Amazing what a little Charlie Poole influence can do. - RBW
File: SRW211

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Goodbye Fare-Ye-Well (I)

See Blow the Man Down (File: Doe017)

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Goodbye Liza Jane (I)

DESCRIPTION: "Our horse fell down the well around behind the stable (x2), Well he didn't fall clear down but he fell, fell... As far as he was able. Oh, it's goodbye Liza Jane." Similarly "My gal crossed a bridge... but the bridge it wasn't built yet." Etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: nonsense humorous
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, p. 51, "Good-by Liza Jane" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST San051 (Full)
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Goodbye Liza Jane" (on PeteSeeger22)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Black Them Boots (Goin' Down to Cairo)"
File: San051

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Goodbye Liza Jane (II)

See Liza Jane (File: San132)

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Goodbye Liza Jane (III)

See Goodbye Eliza Jane (File: SRW211)

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Goodbye to My Stepstone

DESCRIPTION: The singer has stayed at home among loved ones for a long time, but now is leaving: "Goodbye to my stepstone, goodbye to my home, God bless the ones that I leave with a sigh; I'll cherish dear memory while I am away; Goodbye, dear old stepstone, goodbye."
AUTHOR: probably J. O. Webster
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (collected from Lela Ammons by Bascom Lamar Lunsford. Source: _Sing Out_, volume 35, #4 [1991], p. 8); J. O. Webster published his piece "Old Doorstep," the likely ancestor, in 1880
KEYWORDS: travel home farewell rambling
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 853, "The Old Stepstone" (1 texts plus 2 fragments)
DT, STEPSTON*
Roud #7453
RECORDINGS:
Floyd County Ramblers, "Step Stone" (Victor V-40331, 1930; Bluebird B-5107, 1933; on TimesAint05)
Bascom Lamar Lunsford, "Stepstones" (Brunswick 231, 1928; Brunswick 314, 1929; on BLLunsford01)
Peg Moreland, "The Old Step Stone" (Victor V-40008, 1929)
E. R. Nance Singers, "Goodbye to My Stepstone" (Champion 16316, 1931)
Three Muskateers, "Goodbye to the Step Stones" (Bluebird B-6525, 1936)
Ernest V. Stoneman and His Dixie Mountaineers, "Goodbye Dear Old Stepstone" (Edison 52489, 1929); Ernest Stoneman and Eddie Stoneman, "Good-bye Dear Old Stepstone" (ARC, unissued, 1934)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Old Doorstep
NOTES: I've seen this attributed to Woody Guthrie, but the texts in Randolph, and his references to 1890s songbooks, make it clear that the basic song predated him. - RBW
File: R853

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Goodbye, Brother

DESCRIPTION: "Goodbye, brother (x2), If I don't see you more; Now God bless you (x2), If I don't see you more." "We part in the body, but we meet in the spirit, If I don't see you more; We'll meet in the heaven, in the blessed kingdom, If I don't see you more."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad parting
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, p. 477, "Good-bye, Brother" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: San477

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Goodbye, Fare Ye Well

See Homeward Bound (I) (File: Doe087)

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Goodbye, Fare You Well (I)

DESCRIPTION: "Fare you well,Julianna, you know, Hoo row, row, row, my boys, To the westward we roll and we now coming home, Goodbye, fare you well, goodbye, fare you well." The sailors bid farewell to the whales and look forward to arriving home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1971
KEYWORDS: whaler home nonballad sailor whale
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Darling-NAS, pp. 321-322, "Goodbye, Fare You Well" (1 text)
NOTES: A great tune; I'm surprised it's not more widely collected. But hardly a good sentiment in these days. - RBW
File: DarNS321

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Goodbye, Fare You Well (II)

See Homeward Bound (I) (File: Doe087)

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Goodbye, Fare-Ye-Well (II)

See The Dreadnought [Laws D13] (File: LD13)

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Goodbye, Little Bonnie Blue Eyes

See More Pretty Girls Than One (File: CSW192)

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Goodbye, Little Bonnie, Goodbye

See More Pretty Girls Than One (File: CSW192)

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Goodbye, Little Girl, Goodbye

DESCRIPTION: "The sound of the bugle is calling, Fare thee well, fare thee well." The soldier boy sets out: "Goodbye, little girl, goodbye... In my (Virginia/blue) uniform, I'll return to you." In the din of battle, he sends a (dying?) message to the girl
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: soldier separation love
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 271, "Goodbye, Little Girl, Goodbye" (1 text)
Roud #15745
NOTES: The Brown text appears confused. It starts simply enough, with a soldier bidding goodbye to his girl. But when the battle comes, it's not clear whether the lover dies, or the lover lives and goes home, or someone else asks him to send a message. - RBW
File: Br3271

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Goodbye, Mary Dear

See I'll Be There, Mary Dear (File: RcGoMaDe)

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Goodbye, Mick

See I'm Leaving Tipperary (File: GrD81754)

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Goodbye, Mother

DESCRIPTION: "Goodbye, Mother, goodbye, Your voice I shall hear it no mo', Death done flamished yo' body...." The singer hears mother calling from the grave, wishes she were still alive, and hopes to go to heaven where there is no trouble
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: death mother burial religious
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 592-593, "Good-by Mother" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15566
File: LxA592

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Goodbye, My Blue Bell

DESCRIPTION: "Goodbye, my Blue Bell, Farewell to you. One last fond look into your eyes so blue. 'Mid campfires gleaming, Through shot and shell, I will be dreaming Of my sweet Blue Bell."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1945 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: soldier separation
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 395, "Goodbye, My Blue Bell" (1 fragment)
Roud #11331
NOTES: Brown's informant thought this came from the Spanish-American War. Possible, but probably beyond proof. - RBW
File: Br3395

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Goodbye, My Love, Goodbye

DESCRIPTION: Hauling shanty, probably Negro in origin. "I'm bound away to leave you, Goodbye, my love, goodbye. I never will deceive you, Goodbye, my love, goodbye." Given verses are all variations on the 'goodbye, farewell, we're bound away' theme.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1887 (Davis/Tozer _Sailor Songs or Chanties_)
KEYWORDS: shanty farewell separation
FOUND IN: Britain US West Indies
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Colcord, p. 62, "Goodbye, My Love, Goodbye" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 118-119, "Goodbye, My Love, Goodbye" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 102]
Roud #4709
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Goodbye, My Lover, Goodbye" (chorus form)
cf. "Shallo Brown" (similar tune and meter)
NOTES: I thought very seriously about lumping this with "Goodbye, My Lover, Goodbye," given that both have sailor versions and both are weak in the plot department. I'm still not sure, but I haven't seen any actual common lyrics, and the tunes are different. Still, it's hard to be sure about fragments. - RBW
File: Hugi118

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Goodbye, My Lover, Goodbye

DESCRIPTION: A riverman, departing for New Orleans, bids his sweetheart farewell: "I'm going away to New Orleans, Goodbye, my lover, goodbye...." "She's on her way to New Orleans... She's bound to pass the Robert E. Lee...." "I'll make this trip and make no more...."
AUTHOR: T. H. Allen?
EARLIEST DATE: 1882
KEYWORDS: river farewell work separation floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
BrownIII 274, "Goodbye, My Lover, Goodbye" (1 text plus a fragment)
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 46-47, "Good-bye, My Lover, Good-Bye" (1 text, 1 tune)
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 97-99, "Goodbye, My Lover, Goodbye" (1 text, 1 tune)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 160, "Goodbye, My Lover, Goodbye" (1 text)
Botkin-MRFolklr, p. 591, "Let Her Go By" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 152, "Goodbye, My Lover, Goodbye" (1 text)
Roud #15381
RECORDINGS:
Emry Arthur, "Goodbye My Lover, Goodbye" (Vocalion 5209, c. 1928)
Kanawha Singers, "Goodbye My Lover Goodbye" (Brunswick 242, 1928)
Bill Mooney & his Cactus Twisters, "Goodbye, My Lover, Goodbye" (Imperial 1150, n.d.)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Goodbye, My Love, Goodbye" (chorus form)
NOTES: The description above is based on the most coherent version I could find. Brown's texts, however, have nothing of this plot; both have a verse "See the train go 'round the bend... Loaded down with (railroad/Chapel Hill) men," with the other stanzas floating. Jackson's version is similar: The train comes round the bend filled with CONVICT men. It appears that the simple tune was used for all sorts of floating verse songs.
The Walton/Grimm/Murdock version seems to have been particularized for Great Lakes sailors; it begins "A farmer boy stands on the deck" and complains about all the things he doesn't know (e.g. he can't tell various types of sail apart). This may have been influenced by "Goodbye, My Love, Goodbye," which is also a sailor song, but that is a separation song, and the Walton version is a taunt, so I don't think they are the same.
This has been attributed to T. H. Allen (cf. Brown), but I don't know the reliability of the citation. - RBW
There is a parody version ["See the Steamer Go 'round the Bend"]: "See the steamer go 'round the bend, goodbye, my lover, goodbye/They're taking old Sammy away to the pen...And why are they taking old Sam to the pen?...He hit a policeman and hit him again/goodbye, my lover, goodbye." Sam Hinton credits this to his father, who liked to improvise. - PJS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: BMRF591

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Goodbye, Old Paint

DESCRIPTION: "Goodbye, old Paint, I'm a-leavin' Cheyenne." The impatient cowboy is off for Montana. He bids farewell to the girl and starts his horses on their way
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Lomax)
KEYWORDS: horse cowboy rambling
FOUND IN: US(Ro,So)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Larkin, pp. 169-170, "Goodbye, Old Paint" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 63(A), "Old Paint" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 383-385, "Good-by, Old Paint" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 195, "I'm A-Leavin' Cheyenne" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-BoA, p. 263, "Goodbye, Old Paint" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 83, "Old Paint" (3 texts, 1 tune, although the "C" text appears to be "The Wagoner's Lad")
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 275, "Goodbye, Old Paint" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 106, "Goodbye Old Paint" (1 text)
DT, OLDPAINT*
Roud #915
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Charlie [pseud. for Charlie Craver], "Goodbye Old Paint" (Vocalion 5270, c. 1928)
Emmett Brand, "Riding My Buggy, My Whip in My Hand" (on MuSouth06)
Sloan Matthews, "Goodbye, Old Paint (II)" (AFS, 1940s; on LC28)
Harry "Haywire Mac" McClintock, "Goodbye Old Paint" (Victor 21761, 1928; on WhenIWas1)
Patsy Montana, "Ridin' Old Paint" (Conqueror 8575, 1935)
Jess Morris, "Goodbye, Old Paint (I)" (AFS, 1942; on LC28, LCTreas)
Tex Ritter, "A-Ridin' Old Paint" (Conqueror 8144, 1933/Perfect 12984, 1934; on BackSaddle); "Goodbye Old Paint" (Vocalion 5493, c. 1931; Conqueror 8073, 1932; Vocalion 04911, 1939)
Pete Seeger, "Old Paint" (on PeteSeeger09, PeteSeegerCD02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wagoner's Lad" (floating lyrics)
cf. "I Ride an Old Paint"
NOTES: I classify Emmett Brand's recording here because it has to go somewhere, but it also includes material from "Rye Whiskey (Jack of Diamonds)" and "Wagoner's Lad," and a tune the collector found reminiscent of "One Morning in May." Ah, the folk process! - PJS
File: LxU063A

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Goodbye, Pretty Mama

DESCRIPTION: "I'm gonna take those shoes I bought you, Put yo' feet on de groun' (x2)." "I'm gonna leave you jes' like I foun' you, All out an' down (x2)." "I ain' gonna buy you nothin' else, When I go to town (x2)."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: separation clothes
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, p. 20, "Good-by, Pretty Mama" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15522
NOTES: The Lomaxes call this a "variant of the Tie-Tamping Chant." They offer no supporting evidence, however, and the forms of the two songs are different. So I separate them (though Roud lumps them). - RBW
File: LxA020

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Goodman's Song, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer threatens to retaliate for thin or lumpy porridge by making the oxen run or leave the land unploughed. "Wine wine wine awa', Halkie's [cow] ane and humlie's [hornless cow] twa, Wine wine wine awa"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming work food nonballad drink
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 395, "The Goodman's Song" (1 text)
Roud #5928
File: GrD3395

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Goodnight Irene

DESCRIPTION: The singer describes how he courted Irene. Now he and his wife are parted. "And if Irene turns her back on me, gonna take morphine and die." Chorus: "Irene, goodnight, Irene, goodnight; Goodnight, Irene, goodnight, Irene, I'll (get/see) you in my dreams."
AUTHOR: popular version by Huddie Ledbetter ("Lead Belly")
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (recordings, Huddie Ledbetter [Lead Belly])
KEYWORDS: love courting separation drugs suicide loneliness floatingverses
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Lomax-FSNA 315, "Irene" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 48, "Irene, Goodnight" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 307-308, "Irene (Goodnight, Irene)"
DT, IRENGDNT
Roud #11681
RECORDINGS:
Gordon Jenkins & The Weavers, "Goodnight Irene" (Decca 27077, 1950; on Weavers01)
Huddie Ledbetter [Lead Belly], "Irene" (AFS 120 A1, 1933) (AFS 120 A6, 1933) (AFS 120 A7, 1933) (Atlantic 917, 1950)
Pete Seeger, "Goodnight, Irene" (on PeteSeeger24) (on PeteSeeger43)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Dark and Dreary Weather" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Willy, Poor Boy" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Sometimes I'm in This Country" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Rambling Round" (approximate tune)
cf. "Roll On, Columbia" (tune)
NOTES: Fuld quotes the Lomaxes to the effect that Lead Belly learned the chorus of this song from his uncle. Many of the verses can also be shown to be older. To what extent Lead Belly created this song, as opposed to reshaping the materials, cannot now be determined.
The 1888 song "Irene, Goodnight," sung by the Haverly Minstrels and credited by Spaeth to "Davis" (but dated 1892), is a separate piece. - RBW
The "Davis" cited by Spaeth is Gussie L. Davis, and according to Guy Logsdon & Jeff Place the date is 1887, not 1888. They note some melodic similarity to the song sung by Lead Belly.
According to Seeger, Lead Belly said Irene was a sixteen-year-old girl he knew, who took up with a rambler. - PJS
File: LoF315

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Goodnight Ladies

DESCRIPTION: "Goodnight ladies (x3), We're going to leave you now." "Merrily we roll along, Roll along, roll along, Merrily we roll along Over the deep blue sea." "Farewell ladies, (x3), We're going to leave you now." "Sweet dreams, ladies, We're going to leave...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1847 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: nonballad farewell
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Hugill, pp. 179-180, "Goodnight, Ladies" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 258, "Goodnight Ladies" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 255-256, "Goodnight Ladies"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (partial tune)
NOTES: The notes in Fuld indicate a complex history for this song. "Farewell Ladies," containing the first verse of the piece, was printed in 1847 and credited to E. P. Christy. It seems likely enough that the Christy Minstrels used it to close programs.
The complete text, with the "Merrily We Roll Along verse" (which shates a melody with "Mary Had a Little Lamb") was published in 1867.
Fuld says that the melody is that of "I've Been Working on the Railroad," but if so, there has been a lot of embellishment along the way. 0 RBW
File: FSWB258A

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Goorianawa

DESCRIPTION: "I've been many years a shearer, and fancied I could shear... But, oh my! I never saw before The way we had to knuckle down at Goorianawa." The shearer describes the many places he has worked, then complains how Goorianawa broke his spirits
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1912 (short version in "The Lone Hand")
KEYWORDS: work sheep Australia
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 268-269, "Goorianawa" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, pp. 126-127, "Goorianawa" (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 186-189, "Goorianawa" (1 text)
Roud #9114
NOTES: Accorting to Patterson/Fahey/Seal, Goorianawa was known among shearers as a hard station to work -- bad conditions and low pay. "Banjo" Paterson had heard of this song at the time he assembled Old Bush Songs, but was unable to locate a text. - RBW
File: MA268

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Goose Hangs High, The

DESCRIPTION: "Im June of '63, I suppose you all know, General Lee he had a plan into Washington to go." Stuart loses a battle, but Lee invades Pennsylvania; Meade replaces Hooker; the Union wins: "You cannot whip the Yankee boys while the goose hangs high"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 9, 1863 - Battle of Brandy Station. Union cavalry attack Stuart's rebel horse, but are driver off
July 1-3, 1863 - Battle of Gettysburg. George Gordon Meade's Army of the Potomac holds off Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, pp. 372-373, "The Goose Hangs High" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
Roud #7763
NOTES: Belden admits that this song may not have been traditional; both texts were copies sold as pamphlets, probably by the same blind man, Jasper Kinder.
After the Battle of Chancellorsville, northern Virginia was largely denuded of supplies, which made it hard for Lee to provision his army. In addition, the North's Army of the Potomac was, for nearly the only time in the war, shrinking; a number of regiments had volunteered in early 1861 for two years, and now were mustering out. With the Union forces weak and defeated, it seemed like time to invade the North.
The Union had a bit of a surprise waiting: Until this time, Jeb Stuart's cavalry had been much superior to the Federal forces. But Joe Hooker, the Union commander, had reorganized the union horse as a single corps (as opposed to un-unified brigades and divisions). For the first time in the war, they came looking for Stuart at Brandy Station -- and fought on fairly even terms.
In the end, contrary to the song, the Union troopers were driven off, and took more casualties. But they had shown they could stand up to the Confederates -- which would stand them in good stead at Gettysburg, where they beat off an attack by Stuart. Plus they had learned a lot about Rebel movements.
As the rebel forces moved north, Lincoln and his cabinet became more and more worried about Joe Hooker, the loser of Chancellorsville, who was still in command. Finally, on June 28, they induced Hooker to resign, replacing him with George Gordon Meade (1815-1872). It was Meade who held off Lee's attack at Gettysburg. The song is again too optimistic about the aftermath, though; while Lee failed to drive Meade off his position, Lee was not routed, and Meade pursued very slowly, inflicting very little additional damage on Lee's forces.
The day after the end of the Battle of Gettysburg, July 4, 1863, Grant captured the city of Vicksburg. It was the single best week for Union arms in the entire war.
I cannot for the life of my guess what the significance of a goose hanging high might be. I would note that a "Goose Hangs High Songster" was published in 1866 -- but I haven't seen it. - RBW
File: Beld372

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Goosey, Goosey, Gander

DESCRIPTION: "Goosey, goosey, gander, Whither shall I wander, Upstairs and downstairs And in my lady's chamber." The ending varies
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1784 (Gammer Gurton's Garland)
KEYWORDS: bird
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Opie-Oxford2 190, "Goosey, goosey gander" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #89, p. 86, "(Goose-a-goose-a, gander)"
Roud #6488
NOTES: This is another Mother Goose rhyme I seem to vaguely recall hearing sung rather than recited, so I'm including it on that basis, though I'm anything but sure about this.
The early version, in Gammer Gurton's Garland, ends with instructions that the listener will find provisions in the lady's chamber; in the common version, it houses "an old man Who would not say his prayers" -- which the Baring-Goulds note is a relic of another nursery rhyme, "Old Father Long Legs."
Katherine Elwes Thomas, of the ever fertile imagination (and we know what was used as the original fertilizer) believes this refers to the militantly anti-Protestant Cardinal (David) Beaton, who in fact was thrown downstairs and killed in 1546. To be fair, it should be noted that he might be found in a lady's chamber; he was far from celibate.
The Opies suggest that the modern version might be combined from several late eighteenth century rhymes, but do not list their origin. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BGMG089

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Gordon o' Newton's Marriage

DESCRIPTION: The singer describes "this night our Gordon has brought home a young and bloomming bride." The house and tenants "wi' harmless mirth welcome our lady home" and drink her health. "Wi' Gordon's plaid the Forbes maid does now herself adorn"
AUTHOR: Alexander Moir (source: GreigDuncan3)
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: marriage drink
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 615, "Gordon o' Newton's Marriage" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6056
NOTES: GreigDuncan3, citing Bulloch, The House of Gordon: "The song celebrates the marriage of Alexander Gordon of Newton, b. 1804, and Sarah, eldest daughter of Alexander Forbes, which took place on 20 February 1844."
GreigDuncan3: "It was sung at the tenants' dinner."
GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Newton (615) is at coordinate (h3,v6-7) on that map [roughly 23 miles NW of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3615

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Gorion-Og

DESCRIPTION: Fragment: "I found the track of the wind in the trees...but never a trace of baby o." Similarly "...mist on the hill..." and "swan on the lake."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1963 (recording, Margaret MacArthur)
KEYWORDS: baby family lullaby
FOUND IN: US(NE)
RECORDINGS:
Margaret MacArthur, "Gorion-Og" (on MMacArthur01)
NOTES: This sounds like a fragment or degenerated form of a child-disappearance ballad. In the hope that the rest of it may surface some day, and because there's a thread of narrative buried in what sounds like a nursery rhyme, I include it. - PJS
I must admit that this explanation never occurred to me (the song just sounds like a lullaby) -- but it's a beautiful melody; I too hope we can find more of it. - RBW
File: RcGorion

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Gospel Boat, The

See Hide Away (Jonah and the Whale) (File: R286)

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Gospel Cannonball

DESCRIPTION: "On the great and holy Bibble, on the pages I do find, How God came down from heaven to redeem this soul of mine." The singer notes the popularity of the Bible and urges listeners to heed so they too can go to God on the Gospel Cannonball
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (recording, Wade Mainer and the Sons of the Mountaineers)
KEYWORDS: train religious nonballad derivative
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 636-637, "The Gospel Cannonball" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #18559
RECORDINGS:
Delmore Brothers, "Gospel Cannon Ball" (Decca 5970/46049, 1941)
Wade Mainer and the Sons of the Mountaineers, "The Gospel Cannonball" (Bluebird B-8349/Montgomery Ward M-8448, 1939)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wabash Cannonball" (lyrics)
NOTES: Cohen considers this derived from the "Wabash Cannonball," while admitting that none of the recorded versions use that popular tune. Certainly some of the lyrics are closely parallel. The source is unknown. It is interesting to note that, though the song talks a lot about the Bible, it never actually cites it, and the theology is, to say the least, simplified. - RBW
File: LSRai636

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Gospel Pool, The

DESCRIPTION: "Brother, how did you feel that day, When you lost your guilt and burden? I felt like the Lord God freed my soul, And the healing waters move." The healed man says that he could run (or his hands looked new), and "the green trees bowed."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious healing
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 521, "The Gospel Pool" (2 short texts)
Roud #11816
NOTES: This seems to be based, very loosely, on the healing in John 5:2-9, where a crippled man hopes to enter the healing waters of Bethzatha. But the parallel is not very close -- and the part about the healing effects of the waters is largely absent in the best manuscripts of John. - RBW
File: Br3521

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Gospel Ship (I), The

DESCRIPTION: "The Gospel Ship is sailing by, The Ark of Safety now is nigh; On sinners, unto Jesus fly... Oh, there'll be glory... when we the Lord embrace." Fathers and brothers are invited to come along; the end of the world is described
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Flanders/Brown), from a manuscript apparently dated 1831
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Flanders/Brown, pp. 75-77, "The Gospel Ship" (1 text)
ST FlBr075 (Partial)
Roud #2838
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Shout, Shout, We're Gaining Ground" (lyrics)
NOTES: Although the title of this is clearly reminiscent of "The Old Gospel Ship," the kinship consists at most of a few stray lines. It's a bit closer to Randolph's fragments, "Shout, Shout, We're Gaining Ground," which may be a free-floating chorus of this verse.
The piece itself is clearly inspired by the New Testament Apocalypse, but the language itself has almost no resemblance to the Bible (e.g. the name "Jehovah," which isn't what the Hebrews called their God anyway, is not used in the New Testament, which uses the Greek word "Lord"; nor did YHWH the Father open the sealed book; it was the Lamb, i.e. God the Son, who opened the scroll; see Rev. 6.1ff.) - RBW
File: FlBr075

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Gospel Ship (II), The

See The Old Gospel Ship (File: FSWB351B)

---

Gospel Train (I), The

See Get On Board, Little Children (File: FSWB361A)

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Gospel Train (II), The

DESCRIPTION: "Select de proper train (x3), When de bridegroom comes." "Git on board de train (x3) When de bridegroom comes." "Gwine to travel wid my Savior." "Gwine to travel home to glory."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad train
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 529, "The Gospel Train" (2 texts plus a fragment; this is the "A" text; "B" is "The Gospel Train (III)"; "C" is a fragment of "Get On Board, Little Children")
Roud #11820
NOTES: Roud lumps this with "Boundless Mercy (Drooping Souls, No Longer Grieve)" -- a clerical error, I suspect. - RBW
File: Br3529A

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Gospel Train (III), The

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, don't you hear that whistle blowin' (x3), Get on board, get on board." "Oh, it ain't no harm to trust in Jesus (x3), Get on board, get on board." "Jesus is the conductor." ""Oh! have you got your ticket ready?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1919 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad train
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 529, "The Gospel Train" (2 texts plus a fragment; this is the "B" text; "A" is "The Gospel Train (II)"; "C" is a fragment of "Get On Board, Little Children")
File: Br3529B

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Gospel Train Am Leabin' (II), De

See Get On Board, Little Children (File: FSWB361A)

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Gospel Train Am Leaving (I)

DESCRIPTION: "De gospel train am leaving For my father's mansions, De gospel train am leaving, And we all be left behind." "Oh, run, Mary, run, De gospel train am leaving, Oh, run, Mary, run, I want to get to heaben today."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: religious train nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 255, (no title) (1 short text)
File: ScaNF255

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Gospel Train is Coming (I), The (Gospel Train IV)

DESCRIPTION: "The gospel train is coming, don't you want to go (x3), Yes, I want to go." "Jesus is the engineer, don't you want to go? (x3). Yes, I want to go." "Can't you hear the bell ring...." "Can't you hear the wheel hum...." "She's comin' round the curve...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1926 (recording, Rev. Edward W. Clayborn)
KEYWORDS: train religious nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 619-624, "The Gospel Train Is Coming" (1 text plus 2 texts of "Get On Board, Little Children"; 1 tune for each of the two songs)
RECORDINGS:
Rev. Edward W. Clayborn (Clayburn, Clayton, Claiborn), "The Gospel Train is Coming" (Vocalion 1082/Melotone M12546, c.1927)
File: LSRai619

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Gospel Train Is Coming (II), The

See Get On Board, Little Children (File: FSWB361A)

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Gosport Beach (The Undutiful Daughter)

DESCRIPTION: "On Gosport beach I landed, that place of noted fame." The sailor meets a beautiful whose merchant parents threw her out. He offers to marry her, breaks a ring, and goes on his voyage. Three months later, he returns and marries her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1856 (Journal from the Catalpa)
KEYWORDS: sailor love clothes brokentoken wedding marriage
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 127-129, "The Undutiful Daughter" ( text)
Roud #1038
File: SWMS127

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Gosport Tragedy, The

See The Cruel Ship's Carpenter (The Gosport Tragedy; Pretty Polly) [Laws P36A/B] (File: LP36)

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Gossip Joan (Neighbor Jones)

DESCRIPTION: "Good morrow, Gossip Joan, Where have you been a-walking? I have for you, for you for you, for you for you... a budget full of wonders." The wonders are listed: A cow with a calf that cannot eat hay, a duck which died from eating a snail
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1720 (Pills to Purge Melancholy)
KEYWORDS: talltale animal
FOUND IN: Britain(England) US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Chappell/Wooldridge II, p. 98, "Good Morrow, Gossip Joan" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 144, "Neighbour Jones" (1 text)
Roud #1039
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Martin Said To His Man" (theme)
File: Br3144

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Got Dem Blues

DESCRIPTION: "Got dem blues, but I'm too mean, lordy, I'm too damned mean to cry. I got dem blues, Got dem blues, but I'm too damned mean to cry. Yes, I got dem dirty blues, But I'm too damned mean to cry, Yes! mean to cry, Sweet daddy! Uh-huh! Turn me down! Uh-huh!
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: nonballad floatingverses
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, pp. 232-233, "Got Dem Blues" (1 short text, 1 tune)
File: San232

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Got No Honey Baby Now

See Sugar Baby (Red Rocking Chair; Red Apple Juice) (File: ADR82)

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Got No Sugar Baby Now

See Sugar Baby (Red Rocking Chair; Red Apple Juice) (File: ADR82)

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Got the Farm Land Blues

DESCRIPTION: Farmer laments that thieves have gotten his chickens, corn, beans and the tires from his car, while the boll weevils have eaten his cotton and a storm has torn down his corn. He plans to sell his farm and move to town.
AUTHOR: probably Clarence "Tom" Ashley of the Carolina Tar Heels
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (recording, Carolina Tar Heels)
KEYWORDS: theft farming storm bug
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 68, "Got the Farm Land Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Carolina Tar Heels, "Got the Farm Land Blues" (Victor 23611A, 1930; on AAFM1, HardTimes2)
NOTES: The song is in the form of a "white blues." -PJS
File: ADR68

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Got the Jake Leg Too

DESCRIPTION: Singer wakes up in the middle of the night with "jake leg"; he can't get out of bed and feels nearly dead. His Aunt Dinah has it; a preacher drinks and gets it too. Singer warns against drinking "Jamaica ginger"; he will pray for his fellow jake-leggers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (recording, Ray Brothers)
KEYWORDS: disease warning drink
FOUND IN:
RECORDINGS:
Ray Brothers, "Got the Jake Leg Too" (Victor 23508, 1930; on RoughWays1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Jake Limber Leg Blues" (topic)
NOTES: In 1929-1930 public health authorities in the USA became aware of an epidemic of neurological disease, "jake leg", characterized by irregular, halting gait and muscular palsy, caused by impurities contained in bootleg liquor, most notably "Jamaica ginger." Jake leg inspired numerous tunes and songs among country and blues artists. - PJS
Not all Jamaica ginger was dangerous -- but one batch was very bad. MacInnis, pp. 42-43, has this report:
"Ginger Jake [was]... a popular substitute for liquor during Prohibition in the United States. This was an alcoholic extract of Jamaica ginger, and legally listed in the U. S. Pharmacopoeia as a cure for assorted ailments. It tasted so horrible that the authorities thought it would surely be safe enough to sell, but the poor bought it anyway to satisfy their need for a buzz. Sadly, in 1930 one batch was accidentally adulterated with poisonous tri-orthocresyl phosphate (TOCP). Victims' symptoms beginning with cramps and sore calf muscles but developing into a form of leg paralysis known and celebrated in song as Jake Leg."
The account in Timbrell, pp. 259-263, is similar. The disease, when first noticed, was called "1930-type of polyneuritis," and received a good deal of newspaper attention. "Foot drop" was the most common symptom (because the sufferer's foot would droop if lifted into the air), but "wrist drop' was also known. It was found mostly in the states in a band from Texas to Ohio -- supposedly Cincinnati General Hospital dealt with 400 cases in one half-year period in 1930.
"Jake" was apparently a widely-used remedy for all sorts of minor pains -- presumably because it was almost pure alcohol. Theoretically "jake" really was undrinkable in pure form -- the usual method of consumption was to dilute it with water or soft drinks. It was still pretty bad when taken with water, but Coca-Cola made it palatable. And it was cheaper than going to a speakeasy.
Although the FDA regulated and tested "jake," the tests were not very effective. The test, according to Satin, p. 177, consisted of heating it to 250 degrees Fahrenheit for three hours. This boiled off all alcohol and water. The test consisted of weighing what was left over. If it weighed enough, the jake was considered legitimate. But in fact it could contain any adulterant that didn't boil off at 250 degrees. Since Jamaica Ginger was somewhat expensive, many recipes had only a little ginger and used something else, such as castor oil, to make up the rest of the non-volatile material (Satin, p. 179). After all, no one cared about the ginger -- they were buying it for the alcohol.
Unlike a modern pharmaceutical, there was no one standard source; several different manufacturers made jake, which made it easier for one batch to become contaminated without others being affected.
One of the manufacturers of cheap "jake" was a fellow by the name of Harry Gross. But, in 1929, he had a problem: castor oil was getting expensive. He needed a substitute (Satin, p. 179). He started looking around for a chemical he could get at industrial rates. And -- because he did all the mixing himself in a secret work room -- no one really knew what he was doing (Satin, p. 181). To make things even more complicated, although the "jake" was all manufactured in Gross's secret operation, it was sold under a variety of labels -- Gross used half a dozen names, and had agreements to share others (Satin, p. 182).
As a replacement for castor oil, Gross eventually settled on a chemical called Lindol, properly tri-ortho-cresyl phosphate, or TOCP (Satin, p. 180) -- a lacquer solvent! It passed the boiling test, and it was colorless, tasteless, odorless, and mixed easily with the other components of "jake." Apparently no one realized it was dangerous -- products were not properly tested for toxicity at this time (Timbrell, p. 261). Lindol made up about 2% of the mix produced by Gross, and exposure to it was quickly found to produce "jake leg" type symptoms in animals (Timbrell, p. 260).
It generally took between seven and sixteen days for symptoms to develop (TOCP operates by killing off nerves, and it took time for the damage to accumulate; Timbrell, p. 261), which is why it took some time to diagnose the problem. A newspaper broke the story on March 7, 1830 (Satin, p. 182).
The contaminated samples were eventually traced to Hub Products, Harry Gross's company; the FDA visited him on March 17. He was minimally cooperative, but stopped shipping "jake" on March 18; he shut down his business a few weeks later (Satin, p. 184).
Gross, his brother-in-law Max Reisman, and a distributor were charged with violations of the Prohibition and Food and Drug acts (i.e. selling illiit alcohol and an adulterated substance. Satin, p. 185, is indignant that no charges were brought for their poisoning of thousands of people).
The case went to trial in March 1931. Gross and Reisman eventually (and separately) pleaded guilty to relatively minor charges, and were given suspended sentences and fines (Satin, p. 184). Because they remained relatively uncooperative, they eventually were sent to prison to serve their time (Satin, p. 185).
Estimates of those who suffered from "Jake Leg" reportedly ranged from 35,000 (Timbrell, p. 261) to 50,000 (MacInnis, p. 42), some of whom took the Jake for legitimate medical reasons rather than because they were drunks -- but there was little sympathy for the suffers, since most of them were alcoholics. This helps to explain why no compensation was paid to the victims. Also, it appears that Gross and Reisman were bankrupt; they never paid their lawyers, let alone any settlements (Satin, p. 185).
Timbrell, p. 262, cites a little bit of the Ray Brothers recording of this song, and says that there were at least ten other blues songs about Jake Leg. Satin, p. 183, says that four had been released by May 1930, and only p. 186 quotes one by the Allen Brothers. If any went into tradition, I am not aware of it.
Timbrell, p. 262, mentions several more recent incidents of outbreaks of TOCP poisoning around the world, but apparently not on the same scale as the Ginger Jake disaster.. And (as far as I know) none has inspired a song, at least in English. - RBW
Bibliography

• MacInnis: Peter MacInnis, Poisons (originally published as The Killer Bean of Calabar and Other Stories), 2004 (I use the 2005 Arcade paperback)
• Satin: Morton Satin: Death in the Pot: The Impact of Food Poisoning on History, Prometheus, 2007
• Timbrell: John Timbrell, The Poison Paradox: Chemicals as Friends and Foes, Oxford, 2005

Last updated in version 2.5
File: RcGtJLT

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Gougane Barra

DESCRIPTION: There is a green island in lone Gougane Barra." What better place for a bard? The singer thinks about past bards there, "far from the Saxon's dark bondage and slaughter." When Ireland is free some minstrel will come here a lay a wreath on his grave
AUTHOR: James Joseph Callanan (1795-1829) (source: Croker-PopularSongs)
EARLIEST DATE: 830 (_The Recluse of Inchidony_, written 1826, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: Ireland lyric nonballad patriotic
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 191-195, "Gougane Barra" (1 text)
O'Conor, p. 107, "Gougaune Barra" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Charles Gavan Duffy, editor, The Ballad Poetry of Ireland (1845), pp. 192-194, "Gougaune Barra"
Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859 (reprint of 1855 London edition)), Vol I, pp. 47-49,"Gougaune Barra"
H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 398-399, 496-497, "Gougaune Barra"
NOTES: Croker-PopularSongs: The origin of the river Lee is the lake of Gougane Barra, "about two miles in circumference," with one small island which, "in times of trouble, [was] sought as an asylum." The lake is formed "by numerous streams descending from the mountains that divide the counties of Cork and Kerry." Croker points out that Callanan is not buried at Gougane Barra, but in Portugal. - BS
There is a certain amount of confusion about this author. Most sources list his name as James Joseph Callanan, but he is also sometimes listed under the name "Jeremiah" (and, yes, it is known that it is the same guy). Most sources agree that he was born in 1795, but his death date seemingly varies; Hoagland and MacDonagh/Robinson give 1829. He wrote some poetry of his own, but is probably best known for his translations from Gaelic. Works of his found in this index include "The Convict of Clonmel," "The Outlaw of Loch Lene," "Sweet Avondu," "The Virgin Mary's Bank," "Gougane Barra," and a translation of "Drimindown." - RBW
File: CrPS191

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Goulden Vanitee, The

See The Golden Vanity [Child 286] (File: C286)

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Goulden Vanitie, The

See The Golden Vanity [Child 286] (File: C286)

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Government Claim, The

See Starving to Death on a Government Claim (The Lane County Bachelor) (File: R186)

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Gowans are Gay, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer walks out in May and meets a "proper lass." He asks what she is doing; she replies, "Gathering the dew; what need you ask?" He asks her to marry; she says it is not her task to give him her maidenhead. He returns home wondering who she was
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924
KEYWORDS: courting virginity virtue loneliness
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Combs/Wilgus 140, pp. 142-143, "The Gowans are Gay" (1 text)
Roud #4295
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Seeds of Love"
cf. "Thyme, It Is a Precious Thing"
cf. "In My Garden Grew Plenty of Thyme"
NOTES: I suspect that this is a reversal of one of the "Thyme" songs (probably a "Garners Gay" version of "Thyme (It Is a Precious Thing)"). There are many similarities. But even if it is such, the changes are enough that we have to list it as a separate song. - RBW
File: CW142

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Gown of Green (I), The

DESCRIPTION: Polly agrees "to wear the gown of green" The singer leaves "to fight our relations in North America." Many are killed. Some men foolishly buy their sweethearts toys, rings and posies; "give her the gown of green to wear, and she will follow you"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1813 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 16(106a)) [but note the 18C "answer"]
KEYWORDS: courting sex war separation death America lover soldier
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 907, "The Gown o' Green" (4 texts plus a single verse on p. 575, 4 tunes)
Roud #1085
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 16(106a), "The Gown of Green" ("As my love and I was walking to view the meadows round"), J. Evans (London), 1780-1812; also Harding B 25(766), Harding B 17(116b), Firth c.14(198), Harding B 11(1098), Harding B 11(2104), Harding B 25(766), "The Gown of Green"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Erin's Lovely Home" (tune, per GreigDuncan4)
NOTES: The description follows broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(1098).
GreigDuncan4 quoting Duncan: "Learnt fifty to sixty years ago in Kinardine. Noted 26th November 1908."
GreigDuncan4 versions share only the first two verses with the broadsides. The description is from the broadsides but GreigDuncan4 versions omit the narrative dealing with separation and North America and goes right to commentary on the fickleness of young women." One verse of GreigDuncan4 907B seems not connected to the tradition but is suggested by "the fickleness of young women" theme: "When Adam was created, and none on earth but he, And Eve she was his only bride, and full of modesty, No bed of down, I'm sure they had, but on a flowery plain, No wonder that her daughters love to wear the goons o' green."
There are broadsides answering "The Gown of Green"; see, for example, Bodleian, Harding B 25(767), "The Answer to The Gown of Green" ("As a soldier was walking all on the highway"), J. Grundy (Worcester), 18C; also Harding B 25(766), "Answer to The Gown of Green"; 2806 c.18(132), "Sequel to The Gown of Green" - BS
Roud assigns the same number to "The Gown of Green" (I) and (II). The two are obviously related though there is no overlap in story or evidence that they are fragments of some longer ballad; in fact, the wars are not the same. - BS
(In fact it's just possible that they are the same, though not likely. During the American Revolutionary War, Spain was fighting against Britain; if the hero was a sailor, or just a soldier being transported in a warship, it's just possible that he could have been in a fight with a Spaniard. Alternately, if we reverse the place where he lost the limb, Our Hero could have fought in Wellington's Peninsular Campaign in Spain, then been shipped to America to fight in the War of 1812. That happened to several regiments. - RBW)
Last updated in version 2.5
File: RcTGoGr1

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Gown of Green (II), The

DESCRIPTION: Harry meets a woman and baby. He claims to know her. He reminds her of the day "you wore the gown of green." He has returned from Portugal and Spain with gold and a pension, though he has lost a limb "saving my commander's life." He proposes.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 18C (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 25(767))
KEYWORDS: love marriage war reunion Spain baby lover sailor soldier
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
Roud #1085
RECORDINGS:
Jack Norris, "The Gown of Green" (on Voice01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(767), "The Answer to The Gown of Green" ("As a soldier was walking all on the highway"), J. Grundy (Worcester), 18C; also Harding B 25(766), "Answer to The Gown of Green" ("A sailor was walking upon the high way"); Harding B 17(278b), "Sequel to The Gown of Green" ("As a soldier was walking all on the highway"); Harding B 25(522), "The Disconsolate Maiden"
NOTES: The opening line makes Harry either a soldier or a sailor.
Roud assigns the same number to "The Gown of Green" (I) and (II). The two seem related though there is no overlap in story or evidence that they are fragments of some longer ballad; in fact, the wars are not the same. - BS
(In fact it's just possible that they are the same, though not likely. During the American Revolutionary War, Spain was fighting against Britain; if the hero was a sailor, or just a soldier being transported in a warship, it's just possible that he could have been in a fight with a Spaniard. Alternately, if we reverse the place where he lost the limb, Our Hero could have fought in Wellington's Peninsular Campaign in Spain, then been shipped to America to fight in the War of 1812. That happened to several regiments. - RBW)
File: RcTGoGr2

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Gra Geal Mo Chroi

See Gay Girl Marie [Laws M23] (File: LM23)

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Gra Geal Mo Chroi (II -- Down By the Fair River)

DESCRIPTION: The singer hears a woman wishing her lover were here. Her lover passes. The singer remarks on her beauty "like a sheet of white paper her neck and breast." He or she promises to prove true to his or her own love.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1875 (OLochlainn citing P W Joyce's _Old Irish Folk Music and Songs_)
KEYWORDS: love beauty lover promise
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Creighton/Senior, pp. 150-151, "Down by the Fair River" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 69, "Down By the Fair River" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H582, pp. 238-239, "Gragalmachree" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 13, "Gra Geal Mo Chroi" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2329
RECORDINGS:
Mikeen McCarthy, "One Fine Summer's Morning" (on IRTravellers01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.11(148), "Lovely Young Johnny" or "Gra Gal Ma Cree ," H. Such (London), 1863-1885
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Stone and Lime" (lyics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Newry Mountain
NOTES: Is this Laws M23 ["Gay Girl Marie"]? I don't believe so. There is no letter from the lover, and none of the consequences of that letter (some versions of this ballad have a line "Like a sheet of white paper her neck and breast" that may hint at a letter).
The coded name as "Grey Gram o'Chree" (Creighton-Maritime) or "Gra geal mo chroi" (O Lochlainn) is mentioned ("And her name in plain Irish is ....") once or twice, but is not the end of almost every verse as it is in Laws M23. This ballad is about a girl thinking about her lover; it is a collection of floating verses -- connected to that theme -- that I don't find in Laws M23. For example,
The moon it may darken and show us no light
The bright stars of heaven fall down from their height
The rocks may all melt, and the mountains remove
The ships of the ocean may go without sails
The smallest of fishes turn into great whales
In tha middle of the ocean there will groe an apple tree
For good measure, Creighton-Maritime adds "Come all ... Never build your nest on a green hollow tree...." lines and "I lost my own darling by courting too shy."
One point I missed in earlier contrast of this song with "Gay Girl Marie" [Laws M23] is that Laws M23 has a male protagonist ["I am a bold rover ..."] while this song is a woman's story ["If I were an empress ..."] - BS
In earlier editions of the Index, with the improbable title to guide us, however, we did lump them. See additional notes under "Gay Girl Marie" [Laws M23].
It is unfortunate that, apart from Creighton/Senior, almost none of the versions of this were available to Laws. But Laws does not list the Creighton/Senior text here. So we have now split the songs. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: CrMa069

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Gra Machree

See Gra-mo-chroi. I'd Like to See Old Ireland Free Once More (File: OLoc063)

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Gra-mo-chroi. I'd Like to See Old Ireland Free Once More

DESCRIPTION: "Last night I had a happy dream ... I thought again brave Irishmen Had set old Ireland free" Some modern heroes are named and Father Murphy and the Wexford men of ninety-eight. "It's Gra-mo-chroi, I'd like to see old Ireland free once more"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1912 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: rebellion dream Ireland nonballad patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1775-1847 - Life of Daniel O'Connell
1778 - Birth of Robert Emmet
1796 - A French fleet (carrying, among others, Wolfe Tone) sets out for Ireland
May 26, 1798 - Beginning of the Wexford rebellion
May 27, 1798 - The Wexford rebels under Father John Murphy defeat the North Cork militia
June 5, 1798 - The Wexford rebels attack the small garrison (about 1400 men, many militia) at New Ross, but are repelled
June 21, 1798 - The rebel stronghold a Vinegar Hill is taken, and the Wexford rebellion effectively ended
1803 - Robert Emmet attempts a new rebellion. The revolt is quickly crushed, and Emmet eventually hanged
Nov 24, 1867 - Hanging of the Manchester Martyrs; this year also marked the failed Fenian rising
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OLochlainn 63, "Gra-mo-chroi. I'd Like to See Old Ireland Free Once More" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST OLoc063 (Partial)
Roud #5204
BROADSIDES:
Margaret Barry, "Gra Machree" (on IRMBarry-Fairs)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Daniel O'Connell (I)" (subject: Daniel O'Connell) and references there
NOTES: This song mentions many heroes of Irish freedom, most of whom are the heroes of other songs:
For (Daniel) O'Connell, see "Daniel O'Connell (I)" and "Daniel O'Connell (II)."
For Lord Edward (Fitzgerald), the sort-of-leader of the 1798 United Irishmen, see the notes to "The Green Above the Red."
For Wolfe Tone, the Irish Protestant who helped organize the failed invasion of 1796, see especially "The Shan Van Voght."
For Robert Emmet, the rebel against the post-1798 Union, see among others "Bold Robert Emmet, "Emmet's Death," "Emmet's Farewell to His Sweetheart," and "My Emmet's No More."
For Father Murphy and his role in the 1798 rebellion, plus the Battle of Vinegar Hill, see the notes to "Father Murphy (I)" and the references there; also "Sweet County Wexford."
"Allen, Larkin, and O'Brien" were the "Manchester Martyrs," for whom see especially "The Smashing of the Van (I)." - RBW
File: OLoc063

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Grace Brown and Chester Gillette [Laws F7]

DESCRIPTION: Gillette is awaiting execution for drowning his sweetheart on a boating excursion. The singer mentions the grief of the mothers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1958 (Burt)
KEYWORDS: murder execution grief
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 11, 1906 - Murder of Grace Brown
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws F7, "Grace Brown and Chester Gillette"
Burt, pp. 32-34, "The Murder of Grace Brown" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 809, GRACBRWN
Roud #2256
NOTES: This murder also provided the model for Theodore Dreiser's "An American Tragedy" - RBW
File: LF07

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Grace Darling (I) (The Longstone Lighthouse)

DESCRIPTION: "Twas on the Longstone lighthouse there dwelt an Irish maid," Grace Darling. At dawn she saw "a storm tossed crew ... to the rocks were clinging." With her father's reluctant help, she launched a boat, rowed out, and "boldly saved that crew."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1946 (Ranson); 19C (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 13(240))
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor rescue
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 7, 1838 - Grace Darling and her father rescue nine of the crew of Forfarshire (source: Ranson)
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ranson, pp. 86-87, "The Longstone Lighthouse" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1441
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 13(240), "Grace Darling" ("Twas at the Longstone lighthouse"), unknown, no date; also Harding B 11(4158), "Grace Darling"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Grace Darling (II)" (subject)
cf. "Grace Darling (III)" (subject)
NOTES: Ranson: "Grace Darling was the daughter of the light-house keeper on one of the Farne Islands (a group of Islands, also called The Staples, seventeen in number) two miles off the N.E. coast of Northumberland.... The song has evidently been adapted for Irish audiences." - BS
According to Paine, p. 188, the Forfarshire was a steamer which carried cargo fro Hull and Dundee. Built in 1834, her last trip began on September 5, 1838, from Hull. She suffered boiler problems the next day, and the engines eventually went out completely in a storm. Her pumps also were struggling (Cordingly, p. 218.) Captain Humble nonetheless decided to continue with sails only rather than seek shelter -- even though her unpowered paddlewheels would make her far less maneuverable. She was wrecked on the Farnes shoals a little before 4:00 a.m. on September 7 (Paine, p. 188).
No one seems quite sure how many were aboard; Hudson/Nicolls, p. 90, suggests a crew of 25, with 40 passengers. They say the boat broke in two on the rocks, with the stern section (with the captain and almost all of the passengers but only part of the crew) was swept out to sea,with no survivors. Cordingly, p. 218, suggests that she carried 55 passengers and crew in addition to Captain Humble and his wife. He says on p. 219 that the twelve who were on the forward section included a women, two children, a handful of other passengers, and carpenter John Tulloch, who managed to bring the survivors to a rock. They had no food and no shelter, and were soaking wet and in danger of hypothermia. And they were about a mile from the lighthouse.
The Longstone Lighthouse was built in 1826 to replace an earlier lighthouse which had been ineffective in preventing wrecks. The Darling family had long kept the lighthouse; William Darling had succeeded his father as keeper of the old lighthouse in 1815, and then had moved to the Longstone light when it was finished (Cordingly, p. 216).
William and his wife Thomasina (who apparently was considerably older than her husband) had nine children, but only two -- Grace and one boy -- were still at home in 1838, and the boy happened to be away on the night of the storm. The Forfarshire wreck was not the only time WIlliam Darling went on a rescue mission; Cordingly, p. 217, tells how he and his sons had rescued a man from the Autumn in 1834. By 1838, however, most of the boys had moved out.
Grace Darling was apparently the first to see the wrecked Forfarshire. Because it took at least two to handle their lifeboat (a 21-foot-long coble, according to Cordingly, p. 219), William Darling had to have Grace to help him go out on his rescue mission. The gale was still blowing, and their boat was open, so this was genuinely dangerous (Cordingly, p. xii).
Three of the survivors -- a clergyman and the two children -- had died before the Darlings could reach them (Cordingly, p. 220). It took two trips, but the nine passengers still living were all brought back to Longstone (Cordingly, p. 221. Several of them helped with the rowing during the rescue).
Although William and Grace both took part in the rescue, it was Grace who became famous for her part (as Cordingly says on p. 215, "For a woman to row out to a shipwreck in a storm was unheard of, and the story received even more attention for the fact that the woman was twenty-two years old, had a pleasant face and modest manner, and had a name that might have come straight from the pages of a Victorian novel). A subscription brought her about 750 pounds in gifts, and she became a popular subject of poetry and at least four books. The lighthouse became the site of a perverse sort of pilgrimages; the myriad visitors made it hard for the Darlings even to tend the lighthouse (Cprdingly, p. 222).
According to Benet, p. 275, Grace Horsley Darling was born in 1815, making her 22 years old (and hence rather a spinster) at the time of the Forfarshire wreck. She died in 1842, still a heroine, of a cough she picked up not too long after the rescue (Cordingly, p. 223).- RBW
Bibliography

• Benet: William Rose Benet, editor, The Reader's Encyclopdedia, first edition, 1948 (I use the four-volume Crowell edition but usually check it against the single volume fourth edition edited by Bruce Murphy and published 1996 by Harper-Collins. The entry on Grace Darling, however, was deleted from the fourth edition)
• Cordingly: David Cordingly, Women Sailors and Sailors' Women, Random House, 2001 (I use the undated, but later, paperback edition)
• Hudson/Nicholls: Kenneth Hudson & Ann Nicholls, Tragedy on the High Seas: A History of ShipwrecksA & W Publishers, 1979
• Paine: Lincoln P. Paine, Ships of the World, Houghton Mifflin, 1997

Last updated in version 2.5
File: Ran086

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Grace Darling (II)

DESCRIPTION: Grace tells her father to launch the lifeboat in the storm to rescue "the shipwreck'd wanderers from the grave." He answers "'twere worse than madness." At daybreak she calls on him again to launch the boat. They launch the boat and save the crew.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1861 (broadside, LOCSinging sb20150a)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor rescue
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 7, 1838 - Grace Darling and her father rescue nine of the crew of _Forfarshire_. (source: Ranson, p. 87)
FOUND IN:
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.28(3a/b) View 8 of 8, "Parody. Grace Darling" ("Oh! dearest dad, the winds are blowing"), G. Ingram and Co. (London), no date
LOCSinging, sb20150a, "Grace Darling" ("Oh! father loved! the storm is raging"), H. De Marsan (New York), 1859-1860
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Grace Darling (I) (The Longstone Lighthouse)" (subject) and notes there
cf. "Grace Darling (III)" (subject)
NOTES: The description is based on broadside LOCSinging sb20150a.
Broadside LOCSinging sb20150a: 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.
While broadside Bodleian, Firth b.28(3a/b) View 8 of 8 is labelled "parody" it is not comical. Instead it seems a mild paraphrase. - BS
For background on Grace Horsley Darling, see the notes to "Grace Darling (I) (The Longstone Lighthouse)." - RBW
File: BdGrDa02

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Grace Darling (III)

DESCRIPTION: At night in a heavy sea the "Forfarshire" steamer strikes a rock on Longstone Island. "To pieces she flew." Grace Horsley Darling hears the cries and asks her father to go to the rescue. They launch a boat and save nine of sixty.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1858 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.12(126))
KEYWORDS: rescue drowning sea ship wreck father
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 7, 1838 - Grace Darling and her father rescue nine of the crew of Forfarshire (source: Ranson)
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #168, p. 1, "Grace Darling" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 30, "Grace Darling Our Langoleen" (1 text)
Roud #3811
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.12(126), "Grace Darling" ("I pray give attention to what I will mention"), The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1858; also Harding B 15(118a), Firth c.12(125), 2806 c.14(25), "Grace Darling"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Grace Darling (I) (The Longstone Lighthouse)" (subject) and references there
cf. "Grace Darling (II)" (subject)
NOTES: "Langoleen" is not in the Greig/GreigDuncan1 text. It is not in the Greig #168 article. GreigDuncan1 neither explains it nor says the song title is "editorial." Finally, I don't know what the word means. - BS
Partridge's Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English defines "langolee" (no terminal n) as a ninteenth century term for "the male member"; maybe this is the reason for the lack of a definition in most of the textbooks. If we assume "langoleen" is the feminine form, then perhaps it's "beloved." Or perhaps I'm speculating out of turn.
For background on Grace Horsley Darling, see the notes to "Grace Darling (I) (The Longstone Lighthouse)." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD1030

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Gracie M Parker

DESCRIPTION: Gracie Parker leaves Alberton for Saint Pierre "heavily lumber-laden." In a heavy gale "she struck a sunken rock ... And all on board were drowned." Two bodies wash up on the beach. The drowned crew are named
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship storm wreck sailor moniker
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec 16, 1893 - Schooner Gracie M Parker from Alberton, PEI stranded and wrecked in a storm in St Pierre Harbour under Captain Farrell (Northern Shipwrecks Database) (Note that the ballad has the schooner put to sea on November 15, 1893 so someone is wrong by a month)
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 49-50, "Gracie M Parker" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 136-137,254-255, "The Schooner Gracie Parker" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12469
RECORDINGS:
Mrs. Benjamin Smith, "The Schooner Gracie Parker" (on MREIves01)
NOTES: Alberton is on the north west coast of Prince, Prince Edward Island. St Pierre Harbour is on St-Pierre, a French island southwest of Newfoundland. - BS
File: Dib049

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Gradh Geal mo cridh

See Bheir Me O (File: DTnheirm)

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Grafted into the Army

DESCRIPTION: "Our Jimmy has gone for to live in a tent, They have grafted him into the army... I told them the child was too young, alas! At the Captain's forequarters they said he would pass...." The mother talks of her little boy in the army; she hopes he comes back
AUTHOR: Henry Clay Work
EARLIEST DATE: 1865
KEYWORDS: soldier mother youth humorous
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-CivWar, pp. 68-69, "Grafted into the Army" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GRFTRMY*
Roud #6596
File: SCW68

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Gragalmachree

See Gra Geal Mo Chroi (II -- Down By the Fair River) (File: CrMa069)

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Gramachree

DESCRIPTION: The singer hears the birds singing and courting as he wanders by the banks of Banna. He thinks longingly of Molly, who once said she loved him but now hates him. He says that he will be true for as long as he lives
AUTHOR: George Ogle (1739-1814)? (source: Croker-PopularSongs)
EARLIEST DATE: 1787 (Scots Musical Museum)
KEYWORDS: love betrayal
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
SHenry H204, pp. 388-389, "Gramachree" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, p. 122, "Molly, Asthore" (1 text); pp. 158-159, "Gramachree Molly" (1 text)
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 133-136, "Banna's Banks" (1 text)
ST HHH204 (Full)
Roud #4717
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 25(770), "Gramachree Molly", J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also Firth c.26(66), "Molly Ashtore"; 2806 c.8(179), Harding B 11(2435), Harding B 11(2400), "Molly Astore"
LOCSinging, sb30338b, "Molly Asthore", H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Maid in Bedlam" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Gra'-mo-chree
Mailigh Mo Store
Molly Asthore (Molly, My Treasure)
Molly Bheag O!
Grai My Chree! (Love of my Heart)
NOTES: This is apparently sometimes credited to Samuel Lover (1797-1868). Since, however, it appeared in the Scots Musical Museum before Lover was even born, we can discount this; I suspect it is a confusion with "Widow Machree."
Sir George Ogle the Younger (c. 1740-1814) was a poet and politician born in county Wexford. He served in the Irish parliament in the 1790s, and was briefly a Tory representative to Westminster. His best-known works are considered to be "Banna's Banks" (in the Index as "The Banks of Banna") and "Molly Astore" (this piece); in this Index he is also contributed "The Hermit of Killarney." - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb30338b: 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: HHH204

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Grand Conversation on Brave Nelson, The

DESCRIPTION: Heroes discuss Nelson and his victories at Copenhagen and the Nile. He is wounded and dies in the victory at Trafalgar and is returned to be buried in England. A memorial statue is erected in renamed Trafalgar Square at Charing Cross.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1867 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 20(61))
KEYWORDS: battle commerce England memorial political
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 2, 1798 - Battle of the Nile at Aboukir Bay
Apr 2, 1801 - Battle of Copenhagen
Oct 21, 1805 - Battle of Trafalgar
1843 - Nelson's Column is erected in Trafalgar Square
FOUND IN:
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 20(61), "Grand Conversation on Nelson Arose" ("As some heroes bold, I will unfold, together were conversing"), J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also Firth c.12(49), Harding B 11(1387), Johnson Ballads 2534, "Grand Conversation on Brave Nelson"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Grand Conversation on Napoleon" (structure)
cf. "The Grand Conversation Under the Rose" (structure, theme)
NOTES: The theme of commerce benefiting from war gets passing notice in "The Grand Conversation on Napoleon" and is the main theme of "The Grand Conversation Under the Rose." In this broadside it has one verse between the victories at Copenhagen and the Nile, and the final victory and death at Trafalgar:
Many a gallant youth, I'll tell the truth, in action have been wounded
Some left their friends and lovers in despair upon their native shore.
Others never have returned again, but died upon the raging main,
Causing many a mother to cry, my son, and widows to deplore.
When war was raging, it is said, men for their labour were well paid
Commerce and trade was flourishing, but now it ebbs and flows,
And poverty it does increase, tho' Britons say they live in peace,
This grand conversation on brave Nelson arose.
The reference to Trafalgar Square and Nelson's Column assures that "The Grand Conversation on Brave Nelson" was written after "The Grand Conversation of Napoleon." - BS
File: BrdGCoBN

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Grand Conversation on Napoleon, The

DESCRIPTION: Consider Napoleon's imprisonment on St Helena. Better to have died at Waterloo than be condemned by England to this "the dreary spot." His defeat at Moscow and betrayal at Waterloo are recounted. We will speak again of him when again we face the foe.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(1389))
KEYWORDS: battle exile betrayal death commerce France memorial political prisoner Napoleon
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Zimmermann, p. 192, "The Grand Conversation of Napoleon" (1 fragment)
Moylan 196, "The Grand Conversation on Napoleon" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1189
RECORDINGS:
Tom Costello, "A Grand Conversation on Napoleon" (on Voice08)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1389), "The Grand Conversation on Napoleon ("It was over that wild beaten track a friend of bold Buonapart")," J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 19(107), 2806 c.15(104)[some words illegible], "Grand Conversation on the Remains of Napoleon"; also Firth b.34(196), Firth c.16(92), Harding B 11(4086), Firth c.16(91), Harding B 11(1508), Harding B 11(253), "[The] Grand Conversation on Napoleon"; also Harding B 11(1390), "The Grand Conversation on Napoleon Arose"; Harding B 11(254), "The Grand Conversation of Napoleon"
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 192 is a fragment; broadside Bodleian Harding B 11(254) is the basis for the description.
Easily missed in passing is a one-line reference to the benefit commerce has from war: "He caus'd the money to fly wherever he did go." This theme is expanded in "The Grand Conversation on Brave Nelson" and is the main theme of "The Grand Conversation Under the Rose."
The allusion to England is as reference to the "bunch of roses" (Zimmermann p. 192). An unspoken reference is to Ireland as the "we" in "may our shipping float again to face the daring foes ... we'll boldly mount the wooden walls."
The ballad is recorded on one of the CD's issued around the time of the bicentenial of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. See:
Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "The Grand Conversation on Napoleon" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte," Hummingbird Records HBCD0027 (2001))
Harte speculates that the last line of each verse ("And the grand conversation on Napoleon arose") is a corruption of the last line of each verse of "The Grand Conversation Under the Rose" ("This grand conversation was under the rose"); that is to say, the conversation was sub rosa=secret. - BS
There seems to be a tendency in broadsides to blame Napoleon's failure at Waterloo on betrayal. "Napoleon Bonaparte (III)" blames Marshal Grouchy. This song prefers to blame Marshal Ney (1769-1815).
There is some justification for this (as there is for blaming Grouchy, who didn't march to the sound of the guns at Waterloo). Ney's performance in the Waterloo campaign was utterly pitiful.
Napoleon should have known better. Ney had performed brilliantly in the 1813 retreat from Moscow; his rearguard action had saved all that could be saved (Glover, p. 181). Napoleon had long before called him "the bravest of the brave" (Chandler, p. 830) But he was not the smartest of the smart. He had hardly any education at all, and "never made much pretense at being able to express himself in a very civil manner, or even of pssessing the thinnest veneer of culture" (Schom, p. 31). Napoleon himself had said that it would be dangerous to give Ney a significant independent command.
But when Napoleon returned from France to Elba, Ney led a body of troops against him -- and then changed his mind and joined his old commander (Schom, p. 32). Maybe Napoleon felt he owed him something. Or maybe Napoleon really had lost it. Whatever the explanation, it was a major mistake.
Once Europe became aware that Napoleon was back, they hastened to gather their armies -- but it took time for many of the forces, which could move no faster than a marching man, to reach the front (Chandler/Beckett, p. 154). The first to reach the French border were the Anglo-Dutch under Wellington and the Prussians under Blucher. Napoleon had only about 200,000 men to guard all of France (Keegan, p. 121), while the Prussians alone were bringing 100,000, and the Anglo-Dutch about 70,000 (Keegan, p. 123, although many of these were unreliable), and Austria and Russia would eventually bring at least 300,000 more. If he let them all gather, Napoleon would be swamped.
But only the Anglo-Dutch and the Prussians were in place in June 1815. Napoleon's plan was to interpose between them and defeat them in detail (Keegan, p. 122). To do this, he divided the army into three wings of roughly two corps each. Grouchy commanded the right, Napoleon the central reserve (which could reinforce either wing). The left was eventually assigned to Ney.
Appointed to command the left wing less than a week before Waterloo (Chandler, p. 1029), Ney's first task was to defeat a British rearguard while Napoleon and Grouchy fought the Prussians at Ligny. But Ney, given the chance to gobble up a few British brigades, instead stopped moving and muffed the Battle of Quatre Bras (June 16, 1815; Schom, pp. 258-259, 267-268). If he had won, it would have chewed up Wellington's army before Waterloo, making the latter battle easier for the French.
And in muffing Quatre Bras, he also contradicted Napoleon's orders to I Corps commander Jean-Baptiste Drouet Comte d'Erlon. As a result, d'Erlon didn't fight at Quatre Bras -- and didn't fight with Napoleon at the simultaneous battle at Ligny (Chandler, pp. 1034-1057, especially pp. 1051-1053; also Schom, pp. 271-272, detailing how d'Erlon was bounced around the countryside by Napoleon and Ney. At one point, he was on the brink of attacking at Ligny -- and actually turned around and marched away!). D'Erlon's presence at Ligny would probably have turned Ligny, which was a tactical win for the French despite dreadful weather, into a complete strategic victory (Chandler/Beckett, pp. 155-156). Instead, the Prussian losers -- whom Napoleon expected to retreat toward Prussia (Glover, p. 213) -- were able to regroup and show up to support Wellington at Waterloo.
Ney's disastrous performance continued at Waterloo itself, where the Marshal had tactical control of the battlefield. (Keegan, p. 126. Napoleon was feeling unwell and played very little role; Glover, p. 216.) Ney started late (see map on pp. 124-125 of Keegan), and did little except put in frontal attack after frontal attack (Glover, p. 216) -- and no one understood defensive warfare better than Wellington. If Blucher hadn't shown up, it's possible that Ney's bull-in-a-stainless-steel-plateware-shop style might have worked -- but Blucher's arrival (with Grouchy, who was supposed to watch him with 30,000 men -- Chandler, pp. 1060-1062 -- nowhere to be found; Chandler, p. 1069) doomed Napoleon.
Still, the ultimate fault is Napoleon's. He knew that Ney had all the imagination of a pithed frog; the man was simply not fit for independent command. (If you want to get a picture of Ney, think George W. Bush: Charming, aggressive, and unable to adapt to new data.) And Napoleon knew it, and he had much better commanders (notably Davout, whom he had made War Minister) available. Napoleon chose the wrong officers, and didn't exercise close control over them, and paid the inevitable price.
As for the idea that Ney sold out Napoleon -- this is a pitiful joke. When Napoleon returned from Elba, Ney led the first substantial body of troops to oppose him. He could have stopped Napoleon on the spot -- but instead rallied to his standard. And, after Napoleon fell, Ney was tried for treason and shot in December 1815 (Schom, p. 318, who notes that he actually commanded the firing squad himself). By the time of Waterloo, his only hope was for Napoleon to win. Ney's only "betrayal" lay in accepting a command he wasn't fit to exercise. And that's a crime quite a few others, including many Presidents and Prime Ministers, have been guilty of. - RBW
Bibliography

• Chandler: David G. Chandler, The Campaigns of Napoleon, Macmillan, 1966
• Chandler/Beckett: David Chandler, general editor; Ian Beckett, associate editor, The Oxford History of the British Army, 1994 (I use the 1996 Oxford paperback edition)
• Glover: Michael Glover: The Napoleonic Wars: an illustrated history 1792-1815, Hippocreme, 1978
• Keegan: John Keegan, The Face of Battle, 1976 (I use the 1993 Barnes & Noble edition)
• Schom: Alan Schom, One Hundred Days: Napoleon's Road to Waterloo, Atheneum, 1992

Last updated in version 2.5
File: BrdGCoNa

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Grand Conversation on O'Connell Arose

DESCRIPTION: Dan O'Connell is dead. His career is reviewed: MP for 18 years, supported the Reform Bill, "left our church and clergy free," opposed slavery, killed Lestaire in a duel. He would have supported Irish unity when the British were fighting in the Crimea.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1862 (broadside, Bodleian Firth c.26(87))
KEYWORDS: death Ireland memorial patriotic political
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1775-1847 - Life of Daniel O'Connell
Feb 1, 1815 - Kills D'Esterre in a duel over a political comment made by O'Connell
1823 - O'Connell's Catholic Association formed to resist the requirement that Irish Catholics pay tithes to the Anglican Church of Ireland.
July 1828 - Daniel O'Connell elected MP.
1829 - Catholic "emancipation," allowing them every political right open to Protestants of equivalent position
1840-1843 - O'Connell led the movement to repeal the act that joined Ireland and Great Britain as the United Kingdom
May 15, 1847 - O'Connell dies
1854-1856 - Crimean War
FOUND IN:
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.26(87)[final lines illegible], "Grand Conversation on O'Connell Arose" ("Come all you sons of Erin's land and mourn the loss of noble Dan"), J.O. Bebbington (Manchester), 1858-1861; also 2806 b.10(20)[some lines illegible], 2806 b.10(36), "Grand Conversation on O'Connell Arose"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Grand Conversation on Napoleon" (structure)
cf. "The Grand Conversation on Brave Nelson" (structure)
cf. "Daniel O'Connell (I)" (subject: Daniel O'Connell) and references there
cf. "Ould Father Dan" (subject)
NOTES: O'Connell on slavery: "With respect to the principles of President Tyler on the subject of negro slavery, I am as abhorrent of them as ever I was; indeed, if it was possible to increase my contempt of slave-owners and the advocates of slavery, my sentiments are more intense now than ever they were, and I will avail myself of the first practical opportunity of giving utterance to them, especially in connection with the horrible project of annexing Texas to the United States." (source: "Letter to James Haughton, February 4, 1845" at Study of Slavery, Resistance, and Abolition, Yale Center for International and Area Studies site.
Except for the line and rhyme structure and the use of the title in the last line of each verse this ballad seems unrelated to the earlier "Grand Conversation" broadsides. - BS
This item shows O'Connell as more of a visionary than usual: President Polk (the successor to Tyler) would annex Texas under the pretext of the Mexican War, and that annexation did indeed provoke the American Civil War, because it led to the collapse of the Missouri Compromise and led to the increasingly frantic attempts at conciliation which eventually failed and caused the Union to come apart.
It also shows the higher plane on which O'Connell lived: The Irish leaders of the next generation generally had no qualms against slavery; John Mitchel, indeed, actively advocated it. - RBW
File: BrdGCoOA

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Grand Conversation on Sebastopol Arose (I)

DESCRIPTION: The British defeat the Russians at Alma, Balaclava, Inkerman and Sebastopol. British generals and units are named. Incidentally, there was some help by "6,000 sons of France"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: war battle patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sept 20, 1854 - Battle of Alma
Oct 25, 1854 - Battle of Balaclava
Nov 5, 1854 - Battle of Inkerman
Sep 9, 1855 - Fall of Sevastopol following an 11 month siege
FOUND IN:
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.14(71), "Grand Conversation on Sebastopol Arose" ("You Britons all, both old and young, attend unto my song"), unknown, no date
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Grand Conversation on Napoleon" (structure)
cf. "The Grand Conversation on Brave Nelson" (structure)
cf. "Grand Conversation on Sebastopol Arose (I)" (subject)
cf. "The Heights of Alma (I)" [Laws J10] (subject: British boasting about the Crimean War)
NOTES: Except for the line and rhyme structure and the use of the title in the last line of each verse this ballad seems unrelated to the earlier "Grand Conversation" broadsides. - BS
For background on the Crimean War, and the rather inaccurate numbers in this piece, see the notes to "The Heights of Alma (I)" [Laws J10]. - RBW
File: BrdGCSA1

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Grand Conversation on Sebastopol Arose (II)

DESCRIPTION: The British and French join Omar Pasha "to seize upon Sebastopol and set poor Turkey free." They defeat the Russians at Alma when Lord Raglan leads the battle with "legions of France by the side of old Britain" and Colin Campbell leads the Highlanders.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: war battle patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sept 20, 1854 - Battle of Alma
FOUND IN:
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(224), "Grand Conversation on Sebastopol Arose" ("As the Western powers of Europe, united all together"), unknown, no date
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Heights of Alma (I)" [Laws J10] (subject: Battle of Alma)
cf. "The Kilties in the Crimea" (subject)
cf. "The Grand Conversation on Napoleon" (structure)
cf. "The Grand Conversation on Brave Nelson" (structure)
cf. "Grand Conversation on Sebastopol Arose (I)" (subject)
NOTES: Except for the line and rhyme structure and the use of the title in the last line of each verse this ballad seems unrelated to the earlier "Grand Conversation" broadsides. - BS
The Crimean War was hardly fought to "set Turkey free." The Ottoman Empire was a despotism, and remained one -- but it was considered a useful one by the Western powers, since it kept Russia from controlling Constantinople and the straights. Hence the Crimean War.
Omar Pasha (or Omer Pasha; that being the spelling used in Kinross, p. 493) is described by Kinross as an "impatient general"; he was certainly quite a character. Born in 1806 in Croatia, with the name Michael Lattas, he had been an Austrian army cadet, but then deserted to the Ottomans (Palmer, p. 55). In October 1853, he had opened the fighting against Russia (Royle, p. 81). In early 1854, though, he hesitated, leaving Silistria (the first major object of the Russian invasion) to its fate. It was the Russians who finally gave up their siege. According to Kinross, p. 498, he had only limited involvement in the siege of Sebastopol, fighting instead in the defence of Eupatoria. This may be in part because the British and French had so little use for the Turks.
He ended up being disgraced for his conduct at Kars in 1855, was rehabilitated in 1861, and died in 1870.
Lord Raglan, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars, was the original Allied commander in the Crimea; for his story, see the notes to "The Heights of Alma" [Laws J10].
Sir Colin Campbell (1792-1863) was a far better general, but socially inferior; he too fought in the Napoleonic Wars, as a junior officer of brilliant talent, but it took him more than twenty years to gain command of a regiment. The commander of the Highland Brigade, he and it gained fame together in the Crimea. He ended his career by suppressing the Indian Mutiny. For more about him, see "The Kilties in the Crimea." - RBW
Bibliography

• Kinross: Lord Kinross, The Ottoman Centuries: The Rise and Fall of the Turkist Empire, 1977 (I use the 1979 Perennial paperback edition)
• Palmer: Alan Palmer, The Crimean War (originally published as The Banner of Battle), Dorset, 1987
• Royle: Trevor Royle, Crimea: The Great Crimean War 1854-1856 (Abacus, 1999)

Last updated in version 2.5
File: BrdGCSA2

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Grand Conversation Under the Rose, The

DESCRIPTION: Mars and Minerva sit under the rose, considering the rusting implements of war. British peace has followed the war of independence in the States and the defeat of Napoleon in France. "Come stir up the wars, and our trade will be flourishing"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1821 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.17(449)
KEYWORDS: war commerce America England nonballad political gods Napoleon
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Zimmermann, p. 33, "The Grand Conversation Under the Rose" (1 fragment)
Moylan 197, "The Grand Conversation Under the Rose" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.17(449), "Grand Conversation Under the Rose," G. Thompson (Liverpool), 1789-1820; also Firth b.25(353), Johnson Ballads 848, Harding B 11(1391), Harding B 11(1392), Harding B 11(1393), Harding B 11(2479), Harding B 16(106d), Johnson Ballads fol. 27[some words illegible], Firth b.25(84), Johnson Ballads 194, Harding B 17(117b), "The Grand Conversation Under the Rose"; Firth c.16(95), "The Grand Conversation Held Under the Rose"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Land of Liberty" (tune, per broadside Firth c.16(95))
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 33 is a fragment; broadside Bodleian 2806 c.17(449) is the basis for the description. Zimmermann's reference underscores the reliance of commerce on war; after all, the broadside notes, "Napoleon did make the money fly about" [a line shared with "The Grand Conversation on Napoleon"]. The rose may be a symbol for England (cf. "The Bonny Bunch of Roses" [Laws J5]) - BS
The effect of Napoleon on commerce is, at best, a debatable point. War production certainly helped some economies at some time (look what it did for the United States in World War II!).
But the Napoleonic Wars seem to have caused not growth but recession, or at least loss of personal wealth due to inflation, in Britain (see the versions of "Ye Parliaments of England" which blame economic woes on Napoleon). Napoleon's "continental system" was an embargo on British trade which might have proved fatal had it not been so widely flouted; the British government's massive spending on its military sucked capital out of the economy and damaged internal trade. Plus the army and navy required so many men that farming and industrial production suffered; it was the desperate British need to round up sailors for the navy that caused the impressment crisis and led to the War of 1812 with the United States.
Napoleon helped make the munitions makers rich (and that may be the reference here); historian Arthur Herman, whose outlook never manages to make it much beyond the deck of a navy ship, claims that in the period of the Continental System, "Britain's economy was booming. The wheels of the Industrial Revolution were humming... War had given Britain the biggest economy... in the world" (To Rule the Waves, p. 413; compare p. 406). Possibly, if you just count total output. But ordinary people suffered.
For more background on the Continental System and its economic effects, see the notes to "The Ports Are Open." - RBW
File: BrdGCUtR

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Grand Coureur, Le

DESCRIPTION: French shanty. Verses tell of the Corsair, which sets out from L'Orient to hunt the English. She runs into bad weather, bad Englishmen, bad food. Finally sinks and the crew save themselves by floating on various unfloatable objects (guns, anchors, etc)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Hayet _Chansons de bord_)
LONG DESCRIPTION: French shanty. Verses tell of the Corsair, which sets out from L'Orient to hunt the English. She runs into bad weather, bad Englishmen, bad food. Finally sinks and the crew save themselves by floating on various unfloatable objects (guns, anchors, etc). Chorus: "Allons le gars, gai, gai! Allons les gars gaiment! / Let's go, lads, cheerily, cheerily, Let's go lads, so gaily!"
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty ship wreck
FOUND IN: France
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 422-424, "Le Grand Coureur" (2 texts-French & English, 1 tune)
File: Hugi422

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Grand Dissolving Views (I), The

DESCRIPTION: Singer, by a fireside, sees "a Grand Dissolving View" of poverty on one hand and of famous business men, authors, and monarchs. He hopes in the future rich may see the poor as brothers, and workhouses and prisons will be few.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: poverty death England nonballad political
FOUND IN:
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1394), "The Grand Dissolving Views ("While thinking of some past events at home the other night"), unknown, n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Grand Dissolving Views (II)" (subject and form)
NOTES: The first verses of "The Grand Dissolving Views" (I) and (II) are identical; the second verses are almost identical in their portrayal of a poor family and they share one more verse comparing the fates of a swindler and poor thief. The question is "which is the original and which the derivative?" For a date, an 1875 broadside for another song lists "Grand Dissolving Views" as one of the newest songs (NLScotland, RB.m.143(144), "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls," The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1875).
The famous people cited include London investment banker George Peabody (1795-1869), writers Charles Dickens (1812-1870) and Robert Burns (1759-1796), heiress and philanthropist Angela Georgina Burdett-Coutts (1814-1906), and Queen Victoria (1819-1901) - BS
File: BrdGDV1

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Grand Dissolving Views (II), The

DESCRIPTION: Singer, by a fireside, sees "a Grand Dissolving View" of past events as -- a poor worker and his starving family, a swindler going free while a starving orphan goes to jail -- and Irish heroes who "died for love of country; it was an honourable crime"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: poverty death Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Healy-OISBv2, pp. 30-32, "The Grand Dissolving views" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 19(35), "The Grand Dissolving Views" ("While thinking of some past events at home the other night"), unknown, n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "By Memory Inspired" (subject and references there)
cf. "The Grand Dissolving Views (I)" (subject and form)
NOTES: The first verses of "The Grand Dissolving Views" (I) and (II) are identical; the second verses are almost identical in their portrayal of a poor family and they share one more verse comparing the fates of a swindler and poor thief. The question is "which is the original and which the derivative?" For a date, an 1875 broadside for another song lists "Grand Dissolving Views" as one of the newest songs (NLScotland, RB.m.143(144), "The Harp That Once Through Tara's Halls," The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1875).
The heroes cited often each have ballads of their own: executed Father Murphy ["Come All You Warriors," "Father Murphy (I)," "Some Treat of David," "Father Murphy (II) (The Wexford Men of '98)," "Boulavogue"], Robert Emmett ["Emmett's Grave"], Lord Edward ["Edward (III)"], Allen Larkin and O'Brien ["Allen, Larkin and O'Brien"], O'Connell ["Daniel O'Connell (I)," "Erin's King (Daniel Is No More)"), "Kerry Eagle"] and General Meagher ["The Escape of Meagher"]; I have found no song yet for United Irishmen John and Henry Sheares [see now "The Brothers John and Henry Sheares" - RBW], or 18th century orator and member of the Irish parliament Henry Grattan [as "Henry Grattin"] (source: "Henry Grattan" and "Shears Brothers" in 1798 Rebellion at the Rathregan National School site). - BS
Several histories I've read have notes about how Irish folklore magnifies some heroes, such as Wolfe Tone and Father Murphy, and ignores the Sheares brothers. The latter are at least mentioned in "The Tree of Liberty," plus the probably-not-traditional "The Brothers John and Henry Sheares." Gratton earns a brief comment in "Ireland's Liberty Tree," which is mostly about the parliament he built up.
I do think "The Grand Dissolving Views (I)" is the original; (II) looks very much like a local adaption. - RBW
File: BrdGDV2

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Grand Falls Tragedy, The

DESCRIPTION: At 3 A.M. a flat-car, loaded with rocks, falls down an incline and crushes three workmen below. The dead workmen are named and their home told.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1975 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: death worker railroading
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 46, "The Grand Falls Tragedy" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Grand Falls is on TC-1, south of Notre Dame Bay, along the old route of Newfoundland's trans-insular railway. - BS
File: LeBe046

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Grand Hotel, The

DESCRIPTION: "There's a place in Vancouver the loggers know well, It's a place where they keep rotgut whiskey to sell. They also keep boarders and keep them like hell, And the name of that place is the Grand Hotel."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1949
KEYWORDS: logger drink
FOUND IN: Canada(West)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 180-181, "The Grand Hotel" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GRNDHOTL*
Roud #4547
RECORDINGS:
Stanley G. Triggs, "The Grand Hotel" (on Triggs1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Vilikens and his Dinah (William and Dinah) [Laws M31A/B]" (tune & meter) and references there
cf. "Farewell to Tarwathie" (tune)
NOTES: The ship "Cassiar" (referred to in the third verse) was a coastal steamer whose special duty was to carry loggers back and forth from the camps to Vancouver for sprees.
The Digital Tradition lists this as having "Farewell to Tarwathie" as its tune. Most others list "Sweet Betsy." Both fit. - RBW
File: FJ180

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Grand Mystic Order, The

DESCRIPTION: The singer dreams of his initiation into the Orange Institution. He must answer that Joshua took the Israelites unto the Promised Land. His conductor knocks in code on a door. The path through the door is dangerous and he passes other tests.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: mid-19C (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: dream ritual religious
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Zimmermann 97, "The Grand Mystic Order" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Brilliant Light" (subject and some phrases)
cf. "The Knight Templar's Dream" (subject)
cf. "The Grand Templar's Song" (subject and some phrases)
cf. "The Blackman's Dream" (subject)
NOTES: "The Loyal Orange Institution was founded after the Battle of the Diamond [at Diamond Crossroads] on September 21, 1795. The 'skirmish' was between the Roman Catholic Defenders and the Protestants of the area.... At the beginning the membership was of the labouring and artisan classes.... In the Rebellion of 1798, the Orangemen were on the side of the Crown and had much to do with the defeat of the United Irishmen.... With the rebellion at an end the lodges were to be less fighting societies, and more political and fraternal clubs.... From 1815, the Institution had been seriously affected, by internal disputes. Many of them were about lodge ritual and the attempts to form higher orders." (source: The Orange Institution - The Early Years at Grand Orange Lodge of Ireland site.)
Zimmermann p. 302: The initiation songs "evoke Moses' rod, the crossing of the Red Sea or the Jordan, and strange wanderings in darkness, barefooted, among terrifying noises, to final illumination." - BS
For the Battle of the Diamond, see the notes to "The Battle of the Diamond," "Bold McDermott Roe," and "The Boys of Wexford." Songs about the Orange Order are too numerous to list.
The statement that the Orangemen were on the side of the British in 1798 is far too simplistic; most of the rebel leadership in 1798 was Protestant -- including Henry Munro (for whom see "General Monroe") and the Presbyterian Henry Joy McCracken (for whom see "Henry Joy McCracken (I)"), who ended up in command of the Ulster rising.
What is true is that the Protestants in Ulster generally did not rise in 1798. Kee, pp. 130-131, discusses at length the reasons for this. Probably most important was the fact that they had largely been disarmed in 1797, and they didn't have any remaining organization. And they had been led to expect French intervention, and had so far been disappointed.
Plus they had reason to fear their Catholic colleagues. The United Irishmen, with their Protestant leaders, had tried to "paper over" the split, but the Wexford rebellion, which was more spontaneous, had shown extremely sharp sectarian divisions (note especially the much-discussed atrocity at Scullabogue, for which see e.g. "Kelly, the Boy from Killane"). Had the Ulster Protestants still had a military organization, they might have joined the Catholics -- but they couldn't really take part as individual rebels. So they fell back on particularism and groups like the Orange Order.
Hence this song. Joshua was, of course, the leader of the Israelites after the death of Moses, who was responsible for the conquest of Palestine. Joshua also brought a new religion. He is an obvious symbol for any religious minority with militant intentions.
It's not really an accurate picture, we should point out. The Bible seems to portray Joshua as leading a small army to defeat much larger local forces (note, e.g., the reports of the spies of the great population of Palestine in Numbers 13:28-29, and the claim in Deuteronomy 7:1 that the nations of Canaan are "mightier and more numerous" than the Israelites)-- but if the census figures in Numbers are correct, the Israelites probably outnumbered the whole population of Palestine at the time. Numbers 26:51 says that the population of fighting men shortly prior to the entry into Canaan was 601,730 (implying that there were two million or more Israelites counting women and children). Such an army could defeat any local city-state foolish enough to send out a force to fight it.
At least three explanations for this discrepancy have been offered. One is that the Hebrew word for "thousand" is in fact used with a different meaning here -- that it should mean something like "squad," of perhaps a dozen men. So, e.g. the figure in Numbers 26, instead of being read 601,730, should be something like "six hundred (or perhaps "sixty") squads, one thousand seven hundred thirty men." This explains everything, but there is no evidence for it.
Another possibility is that the Exodus was not a single event: That either there were multiple invasions of Palestine, each by a smaller group, or that there was only one, but that several local tribes eventually came to be adopted as "Jewish." The simplest form of this hypothesis is that Joshua -- who was an Ephraemite -- led the "Joseph Tribes" of Ephraem and Mannasseh into central Palestine and gradually influenced the tribes around it (Cornfeld, pp. 73-74; Wright, pp. 77-78).
A more nuanced version is that Canaan was captured in small bits and pieces over many years, with relatively small armies involved in each conquest but a roll of all those who participated over the centuries giving rise to a very high total. This fits the archaeological record: Ai was destroyed around 2400, long before the Israelites came on the scene, and never reoccupied (Wright, p. 80), Jericho around 1400 and perhaps not reoccupied until much later (Kenyon, p. 189), other cities destroyed in the period up to 1200. Joshua could hardly have lived through this entire period, but wherever and whenever he was active, he may indeed have fought against the odds. - RBW
Bibliography

• Cornfeld: Gaalyah Cornfeld, Archaeology of the Bible: Book by Book, Harper & Row, 1976
• Kee: Robert Kee, The Most Distressful Country, being volume I of The Green Flag (covering the period prior to 1848), Penguin, 1972
• Kenyon: Sir Frederic Kenyon, The Bible and Archaeology, Harper & Brothers, no date but after November 1940
• Wright: G. Ernest Wright, Biblical Archaeology, Westminster Press, 1957

Last updated in version 2.5
File: Zimm097

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Grand Old Duke of York, The

See The Noble Duke of York (File: FSWB390B)

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Grand River, The

See Three Men Drowned (The Grand River) (File: Rick129)

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Grand Roundup, The

See The Cowboy's Dream (File: R185)

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Grand Saint Pierre, Ouvre Ta Porte (Great Saint Peter, Open Your Door)

DESCRIPTION: French. A Scottish sailor is at heaven's door. St Peter refuses him: sailors belong in Hell with the rest of the demons. If I let you in you will ruin paradise. The sailor says a Scottish sailor would wipe out the devils in Hell. St Peter lets him in.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage humorous religious talltale sailor Devil Hell
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, p. 878, "Grand Saint Pierre, Ouvre Ta Porte" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Pea878

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Grand Templar's Song, The

DESCRIPTION: Grand Templars will be led by Moses's staff and Aaron's rod "to the promised land of God." Moses saw the Burning Bush and became a pilgrim. Noah loved the Free Masons and built the first ship. The singer sees lights and the serpent and finds "the Secret"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1979 (Tunney-StoneFiddle)
KEYWORDS: religious ritual
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tunney-StoneFiddle, p. 130, "The Grand Templar's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Grand Mystic Order" (subject and some phrases)
cf. "The Knight Templar's Dream" (subject)
cf. "The Brilliant Light" (subject)
cf. "Orange and Blue" (Masonic symbolism)
NOTES: The images in Tunney-StoneFiddle seem confused but become clearer when compared with other Masonic songs. For example, the line "The serpent passed me by, I bent unto the ground" are, in "The Brilliant Light" dream sequence: "I cast it [Aaron's rod] on the ground and a serpent it became When he ordered me right courteously to lift it up again. I stooped and it spit fire ... I done as those words commanded and took it by the tail." The burning bush and travels of Moses are themes shared with "The Grand Mystic Order." These images are also in "The Knight Templar's Dream." What seems to have been lost in Tunney-StoneFiddle is a first verse explaining that the images are part of a dream and an indication that Masonic rituals are being described. - BS
The story of Aaron's staff that became a serpent is told in Exodus 7:8fff., I wonder, though, if the reference here isn't to Numbers 21:6fff., where God sends serpents ("fiery serpents," in the King James Bible, though the translation is somewhat uncertain). The Burning Bush is in Exodus 3. The story of Noah is in Genesis 6:9-9:29; nowhere does it state that Noah built the first ship. - RBW
File: TSF130

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Grandfather Bryan

DESCRIPTION: Grandfather Bryan dies on St Patrick's day. The singer lists the worthless items he inherits: cloth-leather britches, broomstick with the head of a rake, blanket of cloth patches, a key with no lock .... "I'm fixed in grand style for the winter."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: death humorous nonballad lastwill
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
O'Conor, p. 121, "Grandfather Brian" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 55-56, "Grandfather Bryan" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #8248
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.15(113), "My Grandfather Brian", unknown, n.d.; also Harding B 19(41), "My Grandfather Brian"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Maurice Crotty" (tune)
NOTES: The first verse of O'Conor has lines close to first verse lines of Opie-Oxford2 155, "My father died a month ago" (" ... died ... And left me all his riches ... And a pair of leather breeches"); the themes are identical (earliest date in Opie-Oxford2 is 1894). - BS
A similar item occurs in Montgomerie-ScottishNR 172, "(My father died a month ago)." - RBW
File: Pea055

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Grandfather's Clock

DESCRIPTION: A description of the relations between grandfather and clock. The clock ran for the entire length of the old man's life, celebrating happy occasions and never complaining. "But it stopp'd -- short -- never to go again When the old man died."
AUTHOR: Henry Clay Work
EARLIEST DATE: 1876
KEYWORDS: technology family nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 76-79, "Grandfather's Clock" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 251, "Grandfather's Clock" (1 text)
DT, GRANCLOK*
ST RJ19076 (Full)
Roud #4326
RECORDINGS:
Carolina Buddies, "Grandfather's Clock" (Decca 5142, 1935)
[?] Clark & [Walter] Scanlan, "Grandfather's Clock" (Edison 50979, 1922)
Frank Crumit, "Grandfather's Clock" (Victor 19945, 1926)
Edison Male Quartette, "Grandfather's Clock" (CYL: Edison 8967, 1905)
Chubby Parker, "Grandfather's Clock" (Supertone 9732, 1930)
Tom & Roy, "Grandfather's Clock, Part 1/Part 2" (Montgomery Ward M-4242, 1933)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "My Grandfather's Cock" (tune, form)
cf. "His Grandfather's Hat" (tune, form)
NOTES: Soon after the Civil War, Henry Clay Work retired from songwriting (presumably because of the poor pay). In 1871, however, the Chicago fire burned down the offices of Root and Cady (the publishing firm), and Chauncy M. Cady asked his friend Work to write some songs to help him re-establish his business.
One of the songs Work turned in was "Grandfather's Clock," which had been gathering dust in his files for some years. The song sold some 800,000 copies, and earned Work about $4,000 in royalties (at that time, easily enough to retire on).
Folklore has it that, until this song was published, floor clocks were just "floor clocks" or "tall clocks." Since then, they have been known as "Grandfather clocks." This strikes me as more reasonable than many folk derivations, but I cannot verify this from any of my linguistic sources.
Incidentally, there was one famous instance of something rather like this actually happening, though I doubt it inspired Work's song. The story is of the famous Captain Cook and his final voyage of exploration. One of the reasons Cook was such a great explorer was that he was among the first officials to actually be able to tell longitude; in recent decades, enough astronomical data had been gathered to make it possible to navigate by the stars -- plus the chronometer (the first timepieces accurate enough to tell time while at sea) had been invented.
True chronometers were still very rare in Cook's time, since they had to be hand-made with incredible accuracy. John Harrison (1693-1776) had invented the device and built a handful; Larcum Kendall had made a handful in imitation of Harrison. Kendall's first machine, known as K-1, was used by Cook on his voyages. And, according to Dava Sobel, Longitude (new edition with a foreward by Neil Armstrong, 2005; I use the 2007 Walker paperback edition), p, 151, "Almost at the instant the captain died in 1779, according to an account kept at the time, K-1 also stopped ticking." - RBW
Parodies of this piece have been common. Paul Stamler tells us of "His Grandfather's Hat," which likely will not make it into this collection: "'His Grandfather's Hat' is a parody of 'Grandfather's Clock,' referring to candidate Benjamin Harrison [elected in 1888, but defeated in 1892], grandson of President William Henry Harrison: 'His grandfather's hat is too big for his head/But Ben puts it on just the same.'" - PJS, RBW
File: RJ19076

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Grandma's Advice

DESCRIPTION: The girl is cautioned by her grandmother to be cautious of boys. "They will flatter you and cunningly deceive." But the girl, courted by Johnny Green and Ellis Grove, thinks "If the girls... had been afraid / Grandma herself would have been an old maid"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1840 (The Lover's Harmony); supposedly also The [Winchester] Virginia Sentinal and Gazette, March 2, 1795
KEYWORDS: courting youth
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond)) Canada(Mar) US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Ireland
REFERENCES (17 citations):
Randolph 101, "Grandmaw's Advice" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Eddy 138, "Little Johnny Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 194, "Grandma's Advice" (1 text plus a fragment and mention of 3 more)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 374-375, "Die an Old Maid" (2 texts, with local titles "My Grandmother Lived on Yonder Little Green," (no title); 1 tune on p. 457)
Brewster 44, "Grandma's Advice" (2 texts plus mention of 2 more)
Linscott, pp. 243-245, "My Grandmother Lived on Yonder Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-Maritime, p. 36, "Grandma's Advice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 157, "Little Johnny Green" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 159-160, "My Grandmother" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H208, p. 258, "Grandma's Advice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 79, "My Grandma's Advice" (1 text)
JHCox 161, "Little Johnny Green" (1 text)
JHCoxIIA, #26, pp. 101-102, "Grandma" (1 text, 1 tune)
DSB2, p. 15, "My Grandmother's Advice" (1 text)
cf. Gardner/Chickering, p. 480, "Little Johnny Green" (source notes only)
DT, GRANYADV*
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 209, "Grandmaw's Advice" (1 text)
ST R101 (Full)
Roud #282
RECORDINGS:
Mrs. Wolf, "Grandmama's Advice" (on USWarnerColl01)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1857 610450, "My Grandma's Advice," Horace Waters (New York), 1857; also sm1885 04362, "My Grandma's Advice" (tune)
LOCSinging, sb30329a, "My Grand-Mother's Advice," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878; also as104760, "Grand-Ma's Lesson"; as109120, "My Grand-Mother's Advice!"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Birken Tree"
cf. "She Loves Coffee and I Love Tea" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Broadside LOCSinging sb30329a: 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: R101

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Grandmaw's Advice

See Grandma's Advice (File: R101)

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Grandmother's Chair

DESCRIPTION: After the singer's grandmother died, her will was found to grant large sums to several siblings, but to the singer, only granny's old armchair. He is far from content, but takes the chair home -- and eventually discovers a fortune hidden inside
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1880 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: money death hiding
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber)) US(MW,SE,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
GreigDuncan3 705, "Grandmother's Chair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 467, "Granny's Old Arm Chair" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 360-362, "Granny's Old Armchair" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 467A)
Warner 100, "My Grandmother's Chair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scarborough-SongCatcher, pp. 373-374, "Grandmother's Old Armchair" (1 text; tune on p. 457)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 123-125,252, "The Old Arm Chair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 204-206, "The Arm Chair" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST R467 (Partial)
Roud #1195
RECORDINGS:
[Clarence] Ashley & [Gwen] Foster, "The Old Armchair" (Vocalion 02647, 1934)
Crockett's Kentucky Mountaineers, "Granny's Old Arm Chair" (Crown 3188/Montgomery Ward M-3026 [as Harlan Miner's Fiddlers], 1931)
Frank Crumit, "Granny's Old Arm-Chair" (HMV [UK] B-4059, 1932)
Pete Daley's Arkansas Fiddlers, "Granny's Old Armchair" (Varsity 5078, n.d.)
Charlie Parker & Mack Woolbright, "The Old Arm Chair" (Columbia 15694-D, 1931; rec. 1927)
Williamson Bros. & Curry, "The Old Arm Chair" (OKeh 45146, 1927)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.28(4a/b) View 3 of 8, "Grandmother's Chair" ("My grandmother she at the age eighty-three"), R. March and Co. (London), 1877-1884; also Harding B 20(62), "Grandmother's Old Arm-chair"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Old Arm Chair
NOTES: Warner notes that this piece was printed twice in 1880 -- once, under the title "Grandmother's Chair," credited to John Read, and the other, "Grandma's/Granny's Old Arm Chair," attributed to Frank B. Carr. No definitive information about the author has been forthcoming.
Cohen, however, notes sheet music from 1841, credited to Eliza Cook (words) and William Clifton (music), but cites Spaeth to the effect that it was composed by Henry Russell (credited with singing it in the Cook/Clifton printing) in 1840.
Scarborough claims that it is of "British origin," but cites no evidence. - RBW
See one version of "Grandma's Old Arm-Chair" [Sheet Music: digital id sm1880 02996], published in Boston in 1880, attributed to Frank B Carr, at the Library of Congress American Memory site.
There are three versions of an entirely different song as "The Old Arm Chair" beginning "I love it, I love it, and who shall dare, To chide me for loving that old arm chair." This is probably the Cohen reference since the words are attributed to Eliza Cook in two cases and the music is attributed to William Clifton and sung by Henry Russell ([Sheet Music: digital id sm1841 380380], published in New York in 1841), music attributed to Henry Russell ([Sheet Music: digital id sm1840 370920], published in Boston in 1840) and with no music attribution ([Sheet Music: digital id sm1842 381990], published in Baltimore in 1842); all three are at the Library of Congress American Memory site. This is also the song in three "[The] Old Arm[-/ ]Chair" broadsides [America Singing: digital id as110050/sb30397a/as110060] at the Library of Congress American Memory site.
As to Frank B Carr, here is a note from John Hill in the DigiTrad discussion of "Fields of Athenry": "Finding the published song isn't always the end of the story. Someone recently asked if I could find the words to 'Granny's old arm chair'. I found them in the collection of the Library of Congress. Written by Frank B. Carr 'America's Motto vocalist' (whatever that was) published in 1880 in Boston. Then about 3 weeks later (by accident) I found the same song in the same collection written by John Reid. pub 1881 Boston. There were other songs by John Reid but no other by Frank B. Carr. So was the later Publication the real writer and maybe the earlier one only the performer (Although he claimed to be the writer) What was odd was they were both published in the same town... " - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: R467

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Grandmother's Old Armchair

See Grandmother's Chair (File: R467)

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Granemore Hare, The

DESCRIPTION: The boys from Maydown hunt a hare. The hare sings about the the strategy of the chase and how she has been trapped by the dogs. Dying, she blames McMahon for bringing Coyle and his dogs, changing the way the hunt had been carried out all these years.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1970 (Morton-Ulster)
KEYWORDS: death hunting animal dog
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Morton-Ulster 42, "The Granemore Hare" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2883
RECORDINGS:
Patsy Flynn, "The Grangemore Hare" (on IRHardySons)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Hare of Kilgrain" (theme: fatal hare hunt)
cf. "The Innocent Hare" (theme: fatal hare hunt)
cf. "The White Hare" (theme: fatal hare hunt)
NOTES: Granemore and Maytown are in County Armagh. - BS
File: MorU042

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Granite Mill

See The Burning of the Granite Mill [Laws G13] (File: LG13)

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Grannie Gair

DESCRIPTION: "Lang lang syne I lo'ed a lassie, Lo'ed a lassie young and fair; Then her name was Jeannie Cassie, Noo she's kent as Grannie Gair"
AUTHOR: J Imray (source: GreigDuncan4)
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: age love
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 740, "Grannie Gair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6172
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan4 text. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4740

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Granny and the Golden Ball

See The Maid Freed from the Gallows [Child 95] (File: C095)

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Granny Will Your Dog Bite?

DESCRIPTION: "Chicken in the bread tray, Scratching out the dough, (Granny/Auntie) will your dog bite? No, chile, no." Other verses may also be about chickens or involve questions: "Auntie, will your oven bake?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: bird chickens food nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
BrownIII 158, "Chicken in the Bread Tray" (1 text)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 194, (no title) (1 short text)
Roud #6389
RECORDINGS:
Floyd County Ramblers, "Granny, Will Your Dog Bite?" (Victor V-23759, 1930/Timely Tunes 1561)
File: Br3158

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Granny's Old Arm Chair

See Grandmother's Chair (File: R467)

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Granny's Old Armchair

See Grandmother's Chair (File: R467)

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Granua's Lament for the Loss of her Blackbird Mitchel the Irish Patriot

DESCRIPTION: Granua sings "My Blackbird's banished to a foreign isle ... John Mitchel brave is my Blackbird's name," tried with Reilly and Meagher and sentenced by Baron Lefroy to be transported for 14 years. O'Connell died in '47. Mitchel was transported in '48
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1848 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: transportation trial Ireland patriotic bird lament
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 27, 1848 - Judge Thomas Lefroy sentences John Mitchel (source: Zimmermann)
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Zimmermann 60, "Granua's Lament for the Loss of her Blackbird Mitchel the Irish Patriot" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(389), "The Blackbird" ("Come all you Irishmen both great and small"), H. Such (London), 1863-1885; also 2806 b.10(56), "The Blackbird"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "John Mitchel" (subject: John Mitchel)
NOTES: From National Library of Scotland commentary on broadside NLScotland RB.m.143(013), "Shiel's Rights of Man": "Granua (also spelt Grainne). The daughter of the mythical Irish warrior and folk hero, Finn McCool, Granua is also used as a symbol for Ireland - much like the figure of Britannia is employed as a symbol for Great Britain." - BS
For background on Mitchel, see the notes to "John Mitchel." - RBW
File: Zimm060

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Granuaile

DESCRIPTION: "Poor Old Granuaile," bound in chains, in deep distress, mourns the loss of the old heroes and avengers. Dan O'Connell says "I have got the bill to fulfil your wishes.... Her voice so clear fell on my ear"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: Ireland patriotic
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
OLochlainn 3, "Granuaile" (1 text, 1 tune)
Healy-OISBv2, pp. 33-34, "A New Song Called Granuaile" (1 text, probably this though printed without stanza divisions)
Roud #3034
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Granuwale" (theme)
cf. "Old Granny Wales (Granny O'Whale, Granua Weal)" (subject of Granuaile)
cf. "Sheila Nee Iyer" (aisling format)
cf. "Ar Eirinn Ni Neosfainn Ce hi (For Ireland I Will Not Tell Whom She Is)" (aisling format)
cf. "Eileen McMahon" (aisling format)
cf. "Erin's Green Shore" [Laws Q27] (aisling format)
cf. "Erin's Lament for her Davitt Asthore" (aisling format)
cf. "Poor Old Granuaile" (aisling format)
cf. "The Rights of Man" (aisling format)
cf. "The Blackbird of Avondale" or "The Arrest of Parnell" (theme)
cf. "Daniel O'Connell (I)" (subject: Daniel O'Connell) and references there
NOTES: Two similar but different broadsides:
Bodleian, Harding B 19(25), "Granauile" ("One morning fair to take the air and recreate my mind"), J.F. Nugent & Co. (Dublin), 1850-1899
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 507A, "Granawail" ("[Come] all you Irish hero's that's craving for liberty"), E. Hodges (London), 1855-1861
"Granuaile O'Malley (Or Grace O'Malley, or Gráinne Ni Mhaille or Gráinne Uaile) is among the most illustrious of O'Malley ancestors. She was a 'Sea Queen' and pirate in the 16th century." (Source: The Official Web Site of The O'Malley Clan Association)
The ballad is recorded on one of the CD's issued around the time of the bicentenial of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. See:
Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "Granuaile" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "My Name is Napoleon Bonaparte," Hummingbird Records HBCD0027 (2001))
Harte: "The older Gaelic poets when they wished to write on the wrongs that Ireland has suffered at the hands of the English since the invasion of Ireland in 1169, they often adopted the type of poem called 'The Aisling'." He goes on to describe the 'aisling' and shows that Granuaile is typical of the pattern. - BS
Power associates the aisling in particular with Aodhagan O Rathaille (c. 1670-c. 1730), and notes on p. 97 that "If any form of verse can be described as typically 18th century, then the aisling deserves this title. Essentially, the aisling means vision and the poetry... known as 'aislings' are essentially vision poems. The first poems of this kind appeared during the end of the 16th century."
By the eighteenth century, he adds, a formula had been fixed: "The poet goes out walking and meets a beautiful lady. He then describes her dress and appearance and asks her who she is. She is generally the personification of Ireland and she promises early deliverance from the foreign yoke and the return of the Stuarts to the English throne.... Aisling-poetry was always closely connected with the Jacobite movement and is mainly escapist in mode. It often abounds in classical allusions."
Power would technically deny this song Aisling-hood, since the "last aislings were written in the early 19th century and even still referred to the Stuart prince." The references to Daniel O'Connell obviously changes the picture, but the form fits -- this might be called a neo-aisling. Especially since it's in English.
Granuaile seems to have inspired a whole family of these neo-aislings, in fact -- enough that it might be called a sub-genre at least. See "The Rights of Man" and "Poor Old Granuaile," ; compare also "Erin's Green Shore" [Laws Q27] and "Erin's Lament for her Davitt Asthore."
For more on aislings, see Ben Schwartz's note to "Eileen McMahon."
OxfordCompanion, p. 410, gives Granuaile O'Malley's dates as c. 1530-c. 1603 (making her an almost exact contemporary of Elizabeth I), observes that she was married twice and imprisoned 1577-1579 -- and notes that, on the whole, she strove for peaceful relations with the English. In 1593, when in England, she supposedly met Queen Elizabeth, although no details of this meeting survive (Chambers, pp. 142-143).
Daniel O'Connell (1775-1847) was an Irish patriot who worked vigorously for Catholic freedom. He did not take part in the 1798 rebellion, but promoted Irish and Catholic rights for many years, and in 1829 saw Britain lift the ban on Catholics in parliament. One of the greatest of the peaceful Irish leaders, his tragedy is that eventually neither side trusted him. For more about his history, see the various songs named for him. - RBW
Bibliography

• Chambers: Anne Chambers, Granuaile: The Life and Times of Grace O'Malley, 1979 (I use the 1988 Wolfhound paperback edition)
• OxfordCompanion: S. J. Connolly, editor, The Oxford Companion to Irish History, Oxford, 1998.
• Power: Patrick C. Power A Literary History of Ireland, Mercier Press, 1969

Last updated in version 2.5
File: OLoc003

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Granuwale

DESCRIPTION: Granuale "the distress of Erin she sorely lamented." Irish men had fought for old England but England, in turn, "oppressed poor old Granuale." She hopes for help in "some strange nation" but mourns the loss of the green Linnet banished to St Helena
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: first half 19C (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: Ireland patriotic Napoleon
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
June 18, 1815 - Battle of Waterloo, after which Napoleon seeks sanctuary with the British and ends up exiled on St. Helena
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Zimmermann 29, "The New Granuwale" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 204, "The New Granuwale" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Erin's Green Shore" [Laws Q27] (theme)
cf. "Poor Old Granuaile" (theme)
cf. "Granuaile" (theme)
cf. "Erin's Lament for her Davitt Asthore" (theme)
cf. "The Blackbird of Avondale" or "The Arrest of Parnell" (theme)
NOTES: Granuaile is sometimes a standin for Ireland.
"Granuaile O'Malley (Or Grace O'Malley, or Grainne Ni Mhaille or Grainne Uaile) is among the most illustrious of O'Malley ancestors. She was a 'Sea Queen' and pirate in the 16th century." (Source: The Official Web Site of The O'Malley Clan Association)
Zimmermann p. 55: "At the time of the United Irishmen, Granu Waile standing for Ireland was already celebrated by broadsides in English."
For another example of Napoleon as the Green Linnet see "The Green Linnet" - BS
File: Zimm029

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Grassy Islands

DESCRIPTION: "I'm gwine away to leave you, O-o-o-o-o! I'm gwine away to the grassy islands, O-o-o-o-o!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: travel separation
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 207, "Grassy Islands" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
File: ScNF207A

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Grat for Gruel

DESCRIPTION: "There was a weaver o' the north, And O but he was cruel; The very first nicht that he was wed, He sat and grat for gruel." The wife explains that gruel cannot be had; he will have it if she must cook it in the wash-pot and he must eat it with a trowel
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (recording, Jimmy McBeath)
KEYWORDS: humorous food marriage
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Kennedy 202, "Grat for Gruel" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GRUELL*
Roud #935
RECORDINGS:
Jimmy McBeath, "Gruel" (on FSB3)
NOTES: Kennedy describes this tune as a "variant" on The Lincolnshire Poacher. There are points of similarity, but "variant" probably implies a degree of similarity not justified by the facts of the case (among other things, "Grat for Gruel" has a chorus). - RBW
No chorus in "The Lincolnshire Poacher"? What's "'Tis my delight on a shiny night/In the season of the year"? Chopped liver? - PJS
Picky, picky. "Poacher" has a single long-line chorus; "Grat for Gruel" four short lines related to the verse. - RBW
File: K202

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Grave of the Section Hand, The

DESCRIPTION: "They laid him away on the brow of the hill, Outside of the right-of-way." The section hand's many years of service are recalled. His grave will guard the track. The place of the burial is briefly described.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Dean)
KEYWORDS: death railroading burial
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dean, p. 129, "The Grave of the Section Hand" (1 text)
Roud #9584
File: Dean129

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Grave of Wolfe Tone, The

DESCRIPTION: "In Bodenstown churchyard there is a green grave ... Once I lay on that sod -- it lies over Wolfe Tone." He wakes to the sound of students and peasants who come to the grave to raise a simple monument "fit for the simple and true"
AUTHOR: Thomas Davis (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (_The Nation_, according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: patriotic political Ireland burial
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Nov 10, 1798 - Wolfe Tone (1763-1798) condemned to execution; he cuts his own throat to avoid hanging as a criminal (his request to face a firing squad had been denied)
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (5 citations):
O'Conor, p. 39, "The Grave of Wolfe Tone" (1 text)
OLochlainn-More 32, "The Grave of Wolfe Tone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Moylan 121, "The Grave of Wolfe Tone" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Edward Hayes, The Ballads of Ireland (Boston, 1859), Vol I, p. 244, "Tone's Grave"
Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 481-482, "Tone's Grave" (1 text)
Roud #9313
RECORDINGS:
Liam Clancy, "In Bodenstown's Churchyard" (on IRLClancy01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 26(690), "Wolfe Tone's Grave!", Haly (Cork), 19C
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Emmett's Grave" (tune, broadside Bodleian Harding B 26(690))
NOTES: Given Ireland's recent history, it's ironic to note that Wolfe Tone was a Protestant. For the history of the events that led to his execution, see the notes to "The Shan Van Voght." - RBW
The ballad is recorded on one of the CD's issued around the time of the bicentenial of the 1798 Irish Rebellion. See:
Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "Bodenstown Churchyard" (on Franke Harte and Donal Lunny, "1798 the First Year of Liberty," Hummingbird Records HBCD0014 (1998)) - BS
File: OCon039

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Graveyard, The

DESCRIPTION: "Who gwine to lay this body, Member, O shout glory, And who gwine to lay this body, O ring Jerusalem." "O call all the members to the graveyard." "O graveyard, ought to know me." "O, grass grow in the graveyard."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad burial
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 15-16, "The Graveyard" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11844
File: AWG015B

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Gray Cat on the Tennessee Farm

DESCRIPTION: About life on a Tennessee farm. All the singer wants is a "baby in the cradle and a pretty girl to rock it," plus meat in the sack, sugar in the gourd, a tub of lard. Ch: "Big cat spit in the little kitten's eye/Little cat, little cat, don't you cry...."
AUTHOR: Uncle Dave Macon, more or less
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Uncle Dave Macon)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Disjointed verses about life on a small farm in the Tennessee Hills. Singer says all he wants is a "baby in the cradle and a pretty girl to rock it," along with meat in the sack, sugar in the gourd, and a big tub of lard. Chorus: "Big cat spit in the little kitten's eye/Little cat, little cat, don't you cry/I do love liquor and I will take a dram/I'm gonna tell you, pretty Polly Ann"
KEYWORDS: farming drink nonballad baby family animal
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
RECORDINGS:
Uncle Dave Macon, "The Gray Cat on the Tennessee Farm" (Vocalion 5152, 1927)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Grey Cat on the Tennessee Farm" (on NLCR06)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "One Fine Day" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Mary, She Did Dream a Dream" (lyrics)
File: RcGCotTF

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Gray Mare, The [Laws P8]

DESCRIPTION: The miller gains Kate's love and is offered a large dowry. He also demands her father's gray mare. The father turns him out of the house for asking too much. When he later meets Kate, she tells him she wants no part of the man who preferred a mare to her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1825 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 28(45))
KEYWORDS: courting dowry marriage
FOUND IN: US(MW,NE) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(Scotland,England(North,West),Wales) Ireland
REFERENCES (17 citations):
Laws P8, "The Gray Mare"
GreigDuncan4 761, "Roger the Miller" (2 texts)
Belden, pp. 235-236, "The Gray Mare" (1 text plus mention of 1 more)
Eddy 63, "Young Rogers, The Miller" (1 text, 1 tune)
Gardner/Chickering 160, "My Father's Gray Mare" (1 text)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 26, "Rogers the Miller" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 278-279, "The Gray Mare" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-NewBrunswick, pp. 53-56, "Roger the Miller" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton-SNewBrunswick 79, "Roger the Miller" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 89, "Roger the Miller" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-SoFolklr, p. 718, "Young Rogers the Miller" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H90, pp. 365-366, "The Grey Mare" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 144, "Young Roger Esquire" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 34, p. 80, "My Father's Gray Mare" (1 text)
Flanders/Brown, pp. 62-64, "Gay Jemmie, The Miller" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 339, GREYMARE*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 40, #2 (1995), pp, 104-105, "John Roger the Miller" (1 text, 1 tune, from the singing of John W. Collier)
Roud #680
RECORDINGS:
Bob Atcher, "Young Rogers the Miller" (Columbia 20483, 1948)
Stanley McDonald, "Roger the Miller" (on Miramichi1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 28(45), "The Farmer's Grey Mare" ("Young Roger the miller, went a courting of late"), W. Armstrong (Liverpool), 1820-1824; also Harding B 25(1647), "Roger the Miller"; Harding B 11(1435), Harding B 11(1434), "Grey Mare"; Harding B 25(1645), 2806 c.16(50), "Roger the Miller and the Grey Mare"; Harding B 16(316b), Firth c.18(216), "Young Roger and the Gray Mare"; Harding B 11(4390), "Young Roger and the Grey Mare "
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Young Jimmy the Miller
Young Johnny the Miller
Tid the Gray Mare
File: LP08

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Grazier Tribe, The

DESCRIPTION: "Oh, ye toilers of this nation, I hope you will draw near... My pen I take to hand To try to describe a grazier tribe That now infests this land." The singer laments the British controls on Irish production and the corruption of the system
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: Ireland poverty hardtimes crime
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
PGalvin, pp. 21-22, "The Grazier Tribe" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 78, "The Grazier Tribe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2998
RECORDINGS:
Straighty Flanagan, "The Grazer Tribe" (on Voice05)
NOTES: It appears that this song refers to the period of time around the famines, when many Irish smallholders were displaced and their properties converted into large estates to graze animals rather than grow crops.
The "graziers" are, of course, the members of the English government who were devouring Ireland's subsistence.
It should be noted that, economically, this made sense. Ireland is not good country for growing crops; there isn't enough sun. It is excellent country for pastoral industries. The problem is, there were too many Irish to be supported by herding. They needed to wring every calorie they could out of the soil.
The charges in this song are technically correct; England heavily restricted Irish commerce and instituted a system of officialdom that severely restricted Irish freedom.
It should be noted, however, that this was the way all of Europe treated its colonies (including the British colonies in North America). The real problem was not the economic policies (though these did produce much poverty); rather, it was the sullen relationship between the Irish and their masters, as well as the strained relations between Catholics and Protestants -- a problem worsened by the English anti-Catholic statutes.
Understanding and compassion could have made a bad situation much better -- but that was sadly lacking. - RBW
File: PGa021

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Greasy Cook, The (Butter and Cheese and All, The Cook's Choice)

DESCRIPTION: The singer keeps company with a cook. One day she is about to send him off with cheese and butter when the master comes in. He hides in the chimney; the fire melts cheese and butter and sets them afire. The master douses him; he flees to a chorus of jeers
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: cook courting food humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) Ireland Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 108, "Butter and Cheese and All" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 251-252, "Butter and Cheese" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan4 914, "A Cook I Went a-Courtin'" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 236-237, "The Cook's Choice" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 129, "The Greasy Cook" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #510
RECORDINGS:
Harry Cox, "The Greasy Cook" (on HCox01)
Sam Larner, "Butter and Cheese" (on SLarner02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Boatsman and the Chest" [Laws Q8] (plot) and references there
NOTES: This and similar songs are sometimes traced back to a story in Boccaccio (seventh day, second story: Gianella, Peronella, and her husband). But the story is really one of the basic themes of folktale, and doubtless predates Boccaccio as well as these songs. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: CoSB236

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Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts

DESCRIPTION: "Great (big) gobs of greasy, grimy gopher guts...." The singer lists a variety of available non-delicacies, and laments, "And me without a spoon."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1988
KEYWORDS: food parody
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 133, "Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts" (1 text, tune referenced)
DT, GOPHRGTS
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Gray Mare (I) (The Old Gray Horse; The Little Black Bull)" (tune)
NOTES: People swear this is a folk song. I haven't heard it, but I can't prove them wrong. - RBW
File: PHCFS133

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Great American Bum, The (Three Jolly Bums)

DESCRIPTION: "Come all you jolly jokers if you want to have some fun And listen while I relate the tale of a great American bum." The singer rejoices getting maximum results from minimum work: "I am a bum, a jolly old bum, and I live like a royal Turk...."
AUTHOR: Harry "Haywire Mac" McClintock
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: rambling begging work
FOUND IN: US Australia
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 192-193, "The Two Professional Hums" (sic; see note) (1 text, 1 tune)
Paterson/Fahey/Seal, pp. 293-295, "Two Professional Hums" (1 text)
Sandburg, p. 183, "Shovellin' Iron Ore"; 192, "We Are Four Bums" (1 text plus a fragment, 2 tunes)
Gilbert, pp. 184-185, "The Great American Bum" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 50, "The Great American Bum" (1 text)
Roud #9833
RECORDINGS:
Vernon Dalhart, "The Bum Song" (Columbia 1488-D, 1928)
Dick Holmes, "The Bum Song" (Oriole 1324, 1928)
Eddie Kirk, "Bum Song" (Edison 52384, 1928)
Frank Luther, "The Bum Song" (Brunswick 254/Brunswick 4029, 1928)
Frank Marvin, "The Bum Song" (Romeo 719/Cameo 8296 [as Lazy Larry], 1928
Harry "Mac" McClintock, "The Bum Song" (Victor 21343, c. 1928) (Decca 5640, 1939)
Hobo Jack Turner [pseud. Ernest Hare] "The Bum Song" (Harmony 705-H/Diva 2705-G/Velvet Tone 1705-V, 1928)
"Weary Willie", "The Bum Song" (Perfect 12461/Pathe 32382, 1928; this is, surprisingly, not the same recording as the one by "Lazy Larry")
Pete Wiggins, "The Bum Song" (OKeh 41092, 1928)
SAME TUNE:
Vernon Dalhart, "The Bum Song No. 2" (CYL: Edison [BA] 5653, n.d.); Vernon Dalhart & Co., "The Bum Song, No. 2" (Edison 52472, 1929)
Jerry Ellis [pseud. for Jack Golding] "Bum Song #2" (Champion 15646, 1928; Supertone 9342 [as Weary Willie], 1929)
Harry "Mac" McClintock, "The Bum Song, No. 2" (Victor 21704, 1928) (Decca 5689, 1939)
Carson Robison Trio, "Bum Song No. 5" (Pathe 32477, 1929; Perfect 12571, 1930)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Bum Song
NOTES: "Hum" is Australian slang for "bum"; the Australian version abounds in such localizations. - RBW
File: FaE192

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Great American Flood Disaster, The

DESCRIPTION: "A terrible disaster Has come upon our land, Down where the Mississippi flows On her way so grand." People are enjoying life along the Mississippi when a great storm and floods come to bring ruin
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1987
KEYWORDS: flood river disaster
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 120-121, "The Great American Flood Disaster" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Mighty Mississippi" (theme)
File: MCB120

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Great Big Dog

DESCRIPTION: "Great big dog come a-runnin' down de river, Shook his tail an' jarred de meadow. Go 'way, ole dog, go 'way, ole dog, You shan't have my baby. Mother loves you, Father loves you, Ev'ybody loves Baby. Mother loves you...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: lullaby dog animal
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 157-158, "Great Big Dog" (1 short text, 1 tune)
File: ScNF157C

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Great Big Nigger Sittin' on a Log

See Mourner, You Shall Be Free (Moanish Lady), which has this chorus though the verses are from everywhere (File: San011)

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Great Big Sea Hove in Long Beach, A

DESCRIPTION: "A great big sea hove in Long Beach... And Granny Snooks she lost her speech." "Me boot is broke, me frock is tore... But George Snooks I do adore." "Oh, fish is low and flour is high... So Georgie Snooks he can't have I."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad sea hardtimes
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Blondahl, p. 11, "Great Big Sea Hove in" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 176-177, "A Great Big Sea Hove in Long Beach" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, p. 27, "A Great Big Sea Hove in Long Beach" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, p. 25, "A Great Big Sea Hove in Long Beach" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 77, "A Great Big Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4426
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Gaberlunzie Man" (tune & meter)
cf. "Kate's Big Shirt" (tune)
NOTES: Fowke suggests this song dates from the 1930s, when Newfoundland sailors received poor pay for their fish but had to pay high prices for flour. Long Beach is a town on the east coast of Newfoundland. - RBW
File: FJ176

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Great Big Taters in Sandy Land

DESCRIPTION: "Big yam taters in de sandy lan', Sandy bottom, sandy lan'." "Sift your meal an' save de bran, Mighty good livin' in de sandy lan'." The singer describes farming and courting in "de sandy lan'," and describes some of the local characters
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: farming nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 236-237, "Sandy Lan'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7909
NOTES: Alan Lomax says this is the same tune as "Sally Anne," and close to "Sally Goodin." Paul Stamler, who knows all three as fiddle tunes, concedes a relationship to "Sally Anne" but not "Sally Goodin." Based on the versions I've heard, I agree -- but I've only heard bluegrass versions of "Sandy Land," so that proves very little.
The final verse of the American Ballads text is "Sal's Got a Meatskin..." -- but of course this may be a Lomax insertion.... - RBW
File: LxA236

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Great Change Since I Been Born

See Things I Used To Do (File: San482)

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Great Elopement to America, The

DESCRIPTION: Mick courts Nancy Keays, "a rich farmer's daughter." Her father will not agree to the marriage. With her 500 pounds they elope. Her father searches through Ireland without success and posts a reward for their arrest, but they are safe in America.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 19C (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.8(158))
KEYWORDS: courting elopement emigration manhunt escape America Ireland father
FOUND IN:
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.8(158), "The Great Elopement to America" ("Farewell to old Ireland the land of my fathers)," Haly (Cork), 19C
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "M'Kenna's Dream" (tune, broadside Bodleian Harding B 26(201))
cf. "The Gallant Farmers' Farewell to Ireland" (words, and references there)
cf. "William and Phillis" (plot)
File: BrTGETA

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Great Getting Up Morning

See In that Great Gettin' Up Morning (File: LxU106)

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Great Gittin' Up Mornin'

See In that Great Gettin' Up Morning (File: LxU106)

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Great God A'mighty

DESCRIPTION: A chopping song with story. "He's a-choppin de new ground (x3), Great God a'mighty." The singer describes his axe blade, boasts of his ability, and discusses arguments with the captain
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934
KEYWORDS: prisoner chaingang work
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 79-82, "Great God A'mighty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15571
RECORDINGS:
Texas state farm prisoners, "Chopping in the New Ground" (on NPCWork)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Choppin' Charlie" (lyrics)
NOTES: This shares many of its verses, and its setting, with "Choppin' Charlie." But "Choppin' Charlie" has a plot of sorts, and "Great God A'mighty" is just a chopping song, so I very tentatively split them. - RBW
File: LxA079

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Great God, I'm Feelin' Bad

DESCRIPTION: "Great God, I'm feelin' bad, I ain't got the man I thought I had."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: separation nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, p. 238, "Great Gawd, I'm Feelin' Bad" (1 short text, 1 tune)
File: San238

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Great Grand-dad

DESCRIPTION: "Great grand-dad when the West was young, Barred his door with a wagon tongue." He raised 21 boys without any trouble -- but now there's a great-grandson, and of course youth being what it is, *that* one gives trouble
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Larkin)
KEYWORDS: father children family
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph 482, "Great Grand-dad" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 266, "Great Granddad" (1 text)
Larkin, pp. 83-85, "Great Grand-dad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4446
RECORDINGS:
John White, "Great Grand Dad" (Domino 4440, c. 1929; on MakeMe)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Grandma"
NOTES: You mean it isn't just the current generation of old people who complain about the young? :-) - RBW
File: R483

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Great Judgment, The

DESCRIPTION: "I dreamt that the great judgment morning Had dawned and the trumpet had blown...." The singer describes the scene before God's throne "as the lost was told of their fate" and the poor, widows, and orphans rewarded. The rich man's money does not save him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: religious death Hell
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 618, "The Great Judgment" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #4731
File: R618

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Great Northern Line, The

DESCRIPTION: "My love he is a teamster, a handsome man is he... With his little team of bullocks on the Great Northern Line." The singer describes her handsome, hard-driving, hard-swearing, flirting, madly inventive teamster love
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: work Australia
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Anderson, p. 273, "The Great Northern Line" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Knickerbocker Line" (tune & meter)
File: MA273

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Great Round-Up, The

See The Cowboy's Dream (File: R185)

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Great Ship Went Down, The (Titanic #16)

DESCRIPTION: "Titanic was a ship... Oh, it was a pleasure trip." "Titanic was her name, Atlantic was her fame, she sank about five hundred miles from shore, 1600 were at sea... went down an angry wave to rise no more." 1600 die in the "angry wave."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (recording, Cofer Brothers)
KEYWORDS: sea wreck family disaster death
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Cowboy Loye and Just Plain John, Old Time Ballads & Cowboy Songs (no date but internal evidence dates it after 1932), pp 43-44, "Titanic"
RECORDINGS:
Cofer Brothers, "The Great Ship Went Down" (OKeh 45137, 1927)

NOTES: The Cofer Brothers version of this is so generic that it might almost be a rewrite of one of the other songs, but the Cowboy Loye version has the interesting feature of mentioning Mr. and Mrst. Isidore Strauss -- the second richest couple on the ship after John Jacob Astor. I haven't met this in any other Titanic song. It is also unusual in that it doesn't shove a moral down your throat.
Thanks to John Garst for help with the Loye text.
For an extensive history of the Titanic, with detailed examination of the truth (or lack thereof) of quotes in the Titanic songs, see the notes to "The Titanic (XV)" ("On the tenth day of April 1912") (Titanic #15) - RBW
File: RcGSWD

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Great Silkie of Sule Skerry, The [Child 113]

DESCRIPTION: A lady mourns that she knows not her son's father. He appears at her bedside, revealing that he is a silkie. He prophesies that she shall marry a "gunner," who will shoot both him and her son.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1852
KEYWORDS: selkie seduction
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Hebr))
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Child 113, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" (1 text)
Bronson 113, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" (1 version, though only the fifth stanza is proper to the tune)
Leach, pp. 321-323, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" (2 texts)
OBB 31, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 27, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's (#1)}
PBB 74, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry"; 75, "Sealchie Song" (1 text)
Hodgart, p. 69, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 219, "The Great Silkie" (1 text)
DT 113, SILKIE1* SILKIE2*
Roud #197
RECORDINGS:
Art Thieme, "The Great Silkie of Sule Skerry" (on Thieme06)
NOTES: The tune to which this ballad is most often sung nowadays was composed by James Waters in the late 1950s. It was also used by Pete Seeger as the melody for his setting of Nazim Hikmet's poem about Hiroshima, "I Come and Stand at Every Door." -PJS
The fullest collection of texts and tunes for this piece is probably that of Alan Bruford, who in "The Grey Silkie" (originally published in Scottish Studies 18, 1974; also available in E. B. Lyle, ed., Ballad Studies) prints, in tolerably incomprehensible form, eight texts or fragments and two tunes.
Bruford also discusses the relationship of the song to "The Play o de Lathie Odivere" (best known now perhaps in Gordon Bok's adaption "The Play of the Lady Odivere"), having much to say, and little of it good, about this piece first published by Walter Traill Dennison in The Scottish Antiquary in 1894. Bruford doesn't quite say so, but it appears that he believes Dennison's piece to be a forgery built upon a small core of traditional material. - RBW
File: C113

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Great Speckled Bird, The

DESCRIPTION: "What a beautiful thought I am thinking Concerning the great speckled bird." The bird, though attacked by other birds, "is one with the great church of God." The bird's success is promised when God comes on the bird's wings
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Aurora Advertiser)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible bird
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Randolph 621, "The Great Speckled Bird" (1 texts plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 435-437, "The Great Speckled Bird" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 621A)
Silber-FSWB, p. 368, "The Great Speckled Bird" (1 text)
DT, GRTSPCKL* GRTSOCK2*
Roud #7444
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff & his Smoky Mountain Boys (OKeh 04252 [as Roy Acuff & his Crazy Tennesseans], 1938; Columbia 20031, c. 1945; Columbia 37005, 1947; rec. 1936)
Hall Brothers, "The Great Speckled Boatman" (Bluebird, unissued, 1938)
Holiness Church congregation, "Great Speckled Bird" (on MMOKCD)
Jack & Leslie, "The Great Speckled Bird" (Decca 5555, 1938)
Charlie Monroe's Boys, "The Great Speckled Bird" (Bluebird B-7862, 1938)
Morris Brothers, "The Great Speckled Bird" (Bluebird B-7903, 1938)
SAME TUNE:
Roy Acuff, "Great Speckle Bird No. 2" Roy Acuff & his Smoky Mountain Boys (OKeh 04374, 1938; Columbia 20032, c. 1945; Columbia 37006, 1946; rec. 1937)
Roy Hall & his Blue Ridge Entertainers, "Answer to Great Speckled Bird" (OKeh 4771, prob. 1939; recorded 1938; listed as Vocalion 04771/Conqueror 9184 in Lornell, _Virginia's Blues, Country & Gospel Records 1902-1943_)
NOTES: Usually credited to Roy Acuff (who certainly popularized it); however, a 1936 printing in the Aurora, Missouri Advertiser precedes Acuff's 1937 copyright, and there is a claim that it was written around 1934 by Guy "Uncle George" Smith. And some of Randolph's informants would date the song much earlier.
The image of the "great speckled bird" comes from Jeremiah 12:9 in the King James Bible ("Mine heritage is unto me as a speckled bird, the birds round about are against her"). This is not, however, a very apt translation of a difficult Hebrew original (which mentions, seemingly as a single subject, a hyena and a bird of prey; the ancient Greek version reads "My inheritance is a hyena's cave"); most modern versions render the verse in a way not parallel to the KJV. - RBW
File: R621

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Great Storm Pass Over, A

DESCRIPTION: A hurricane passes over Andros Island; for three days the sun is blotted out. The singer fixes his heart on Jesus; while many are crippled, wounded, or killed, he is spared. He tells sinners that the time of judgement is coming; they had better pray
AUTHOR: "Tappy Toe" (nickname, real name unknown; Andros Island sponger)
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (recording, men from Andros Island)
KEYWORDS: warning death disaster storm Caribbean Jesus
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1929 - The Bahamas are devastated by a hurricane with little or no advance warning. Many deaths and much damage results
FOUND IN: Bahamas
Roud #15622
RECORDINGS:
Unidentified men from Andros Island, "A Great Storm Pass Over" (AAFS 504 A, 1935; on LomaxCD1822-2)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Run Come See" (subject)
NOTES: While the storm described is the same one described in "Run Come See," this is an independent song. - PJS
File: RcAGSPO

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Great Titanic, The

See The Titanic (I) ("It Was Sad When That Great Ship Went Down") [Laws D24] (Titanic #1) (File: LD24)

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Greedy Gled o' Mains, The

DESCRIPTION: "There lives a farmer in this place" known for his greed. In all weather he greedily drives his crew. He is too smart for "poor silly folk" round about. "Grab a' ye can is aye the plan Wi' the greedy gled o' Mains."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: greed commerce farming nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 358, "The Greedy Gled o' Mains" (1 text)
Roud #5903
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Glead" (subject?)
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 glossary p. xlii: "gled,glead" is translated as "kite,hawk"
GreigDuncan3: "John Milne published this song in 1901 (Milne, p. 9) and commented: '[This song] was popular in the first thirty years of the [nineteenth century].'"
This song begins "There lives a farmer in this place His name ye nead na speire." GreigDuncan3 says nothing to solve the mystery for this song or for "The Glead." It seems likely to me that both songs are about the same person.
GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Mains of Pitfour (358) is at coordinate (h5,v0) on that map [roughly 28 miles N of Aberdeen] - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3356

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Greedy Harbour

DESCRIPTION: "Down in Greedy Harbour we went one time; We shipped on board with old man Ryme; The skipper and I could not combine, With him I spent a very short time." The singer buys and loses a punt, dresses a cow in silks, and drinks turpentine thinking it wine
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad talltale
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 127, "Greedy Harbour" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 114, "Grady's Harbour" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6344
File: GrMa127

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