Highland Lad and Lawland Lass, The


DESCRIPTION: A couple argue. He is bound to fight for Charles. She is unhappy that he would leave her so freely. He assures he he will be true and finally convinces her that he should go. She sends him off to fight for Charles, "procure renown" and return to her.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1821 (Hogg2)
LONG DESCRIPTION: The Highland Lad says "the pipers play" and it is time "for freedom and our prince to fight." Jenny complains that he would "so freely part." He says king and country outweigh his love. She says Whigs will mock her for trusting him. He says he will always be true and when he returns "Charles shall reign, and she's be mine." She concedes that she would not want "your manly courage stay." He praises "your charms, your sense, your noble mind" and says his "sole delight shall br My prince's right and love of thee." She sends him off to "procure renown, And for your lawful king his crown" before he returns to his Jenny.
KEYWORDS: dialog political Jacobites separation
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Hogg2 106, "Lawland Lassie" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan1 123, "Lowland Lassie" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: James Kinsley, editor, Burns: Complete Poems and Songs (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #578,, p. 683-684, "Highland Laddie" (1 text, 1 tune, from the Scots Musical Museum)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Highland Laddie" (tune and structure)
NOTES: The alternate lines for the male part are "[My] bonny lassie, Lawland lassie" and for the female part "[My] bonny laddie, Highland laddie."
The GreigDuncan1 and Burns texts are almost identical.
GreigDuncan1: "This text combines stanzas found in two separate songs, both sung to the tune 'Bonny laddie, Highland laddie'.... St. 1 occurs in 'A Song' beginning 'The bonniest lad that e'er I saw' and sts. 2-3 occur in 'The Highland Lad and Lawland Lass' beginning 'Trumpets sound and cannons roar'." I have kept it with the latter since the GreigDuncan1 version retains the dialog form. - BS
The Burns and Grieg/Duncan forms may be alike, but they are much worn down from the full form found in the description. The Burns form has only six stanzas -- two for the girl, then two for the guy, then two more for the girl. What's more, it never mentions Charles. That, to be sure, may have been a factual correction, since Bonnie Prince Charlie's father was still alive at the time of the 1745 rebellion -- even had the revolt succeeded, Charles would not have been King for many years. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD1123

Highland Lad, The


DESCRIPTION: he singer says "I'll follow up my Highland lad." "I've been in Inverness Commend me to the Highland lad He wears the Highland dress." She describes his uniform: scarlet coat, green philabeg [kilt], sky-blue ribbons
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: clothes nonballad soldier
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 528, "The Highland Lad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6007
File: GrD3528

Highland Laddie (I)


See Hieland Laddie (File: Doe050)

Highland Laddie (II), The


DESCRIPTION: "Princely is my lover's weed, Fu' his veins o' princely blude." "Brows wad better fa' a crown" "a hand the sceptre bruiks," "a hand the broad sword draws." "He'll wake the snorers round the throne, Till frae his daddie's chair he blaw"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1810 (Cromek)
KEYWORDS: rebellion return nonballad Jacobites
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Hogg2 63A, "The Highland Laddie" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: R. H. Cromek, Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, (London, 1810), pp. 150-153, "Highland Laddie"
NOTES: The alternate lines are minor variations on "Bonnie laddie, Highland laddie." In this case the subject is clearly Bonnie Prince Charlie himself.
"Cromek died [1812] shortly after the issue [1810] of Remains of Nithsdale and Galloway Song, which was mostly written by Cunningham, though palmed upon Cromek as recovered antiques." (source: J. Ross, The Book of Scottish Poems: Ancient and Modern, (Edinburgh, Edinburgh Publishing Co, 1878), "Allan Cunningham 1784-1842," p. 738; other sources agree)
Cromek: “The Highland Laddie seems to be the son of James VII [the “Old Pretender” James Francis Edward Stuart]"; in other "Highland Laddie" fragments that Cromek prints it's clear that Charlie is the Highland laddie.
Cromek: "It is printed from the recitation of the young girl who contributed 'Derwenwater' [but see the note above on Cunningham]." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Hog2063A

Highland Laddie (III), The


DESCRIPTION: "I canna get my mare ta'en, Master had she never nane, Take a rip an' wile her hame, Nought like heffing by the wame"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1821 (Hogg2)
KEYWORDS: nonballad horse
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hogg2 63B, "The Highland Laddie" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The current description is all of the Hogg2 63B fragment, omitting the "Bonnie laddie, Highland laddie" lines. Hogg says of it, "I think it probable that this had, likewise [to Hogg2 63A], been a Jacobite song, but I do not remember any more of it." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Hog2063B

Highland Laddie (IV)


See The Highland Lad and Lawland Lass (File: GrD1123)

Highland Maid, The


DESCRIPTION: "Again the laverock seeks the sky And warbles dimly seen... Nae mair can cheer this heart forlorn, Or charm the Highland Maid." "My true love fell by Charlie's side." Her home is lonesome, her sleep troubled; the girl hopes to join him in the grave
AUTHOR: William Blair (b.1800) (source: Greig)
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: Jacobites death battle soldier separation
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #44, p. 2, "The Highland Maid" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 130, "The Highland Maid" (5 texts, 4 tunes)
Ord, p. 297, "The Highland Maid" (1 text)
Roud #2183
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Harp that Once through Tara's Halls" (tune)
NOTES: GreigDuncan1 has the tune as "The Maid in Bedlam," "originally called 'Will ye go to Flanders' ... found in Ireland and called 'Molly Astore' ... also 'Grammachree.'"
Greig: "'The Highland Maid' I have always heard sung to a tune which is practically the same as 'The Harp that once through Tara's Halls.'" - BS
Ord repeats the attribution of this to William Blair, but lists him as being born in 1880. This is clearly an error in date.. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Ord297

Highland Mary


DESCRIPTION: "Ye banks, and braes, and streams around The castle o' Montgomery, Green be your woods... For there I took the last fareweel O' my sweet Highland Mary." The singer recalls their love and their parting and laments her death
AUTHOR: Words: Robert Burns
EARLIEST DATE: 1792 (original publication)
KEYWORDS: love courting separation farewell death
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1786 - Romance between Robert Burns and Mary Campbell. They met in spring and pledged faith at their parting in May; Campbell died that autumn, probably of typhus
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar) Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Creighton/Senior, p. 161-162, "Highland Mary" (1 texts, 1 tune, including 3 stanzas not part of the Burns poem)
DT, HIGHMARY
Roud #1095
RECORDINGS:
Brigid Tunney, "Burns and His Highland Mary" (on IRTunneyFamily01)
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.1270(001), "Highland Mary," unknown, c. 1845; also RB.m.143(029), "Highland Mary," unknown, c. 1890
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Katharine Ogie" (tune)
cf. "Burns and His Highland Mary" [Laws O34] (subject)
NOTES: The Brigid Tunney song on IRTunneyFamily01 is mis-titled. On the recording itself Brigid Tunney identifies the song as "Highland Mary." - BS
File: CrSe161

Highland Soldier, The


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

Highlanders' War-Cry at the Battle of Alma, The


DESCRIPTION: The Highlanders fight "where the Gaul and the Briton their legions unite To tread on the neck of the Czar." Their war cries "give wings to the slaves of the Czar." "And the tyrants shall tremble to hear That 'Cry' in the battle again"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: war death Russia nonballad patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sept 20, 1854 - Battle of Alma. The allies win an expensive victory over the Russians
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan1 159, "The Highlanders' War-Cry at the Battle of Alma" (1 text)
Roud #5828
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Heights of Alma (I) [Laws J10]" (subject) and references there
NOTES: GreigDuncan1: "The Royal Highlanders, the Cameron Highlanders and the Sutherland Highlanders under the command of Sir Colin Campbell played a prominent part of the battle." - BS
For background on the Battle of Alma, see "The Heights of Alma (I)" [Laws J10]. For Sir Colin Campbell (the one and only competent general in the Crimea) and his Highland Brigade, see also "The Grand Conversation on Sebastopol Arose (II)" and especially "The Kilties in the Crimea." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD159

Highlands! The Highlands, The


DESCRIPTION: "Though bleak be your clime and though scanty your fare My heart's in the Highlands, oh! gin I waur there!" The singer thinks about his mother in her cottage "croonin', 'Haste ye back, Donald, to leave us na mair."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: homesickness travel nonballad mother home
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 522, "The Highlands! The Highlands" (1 text)
Roud #6004
ALTERNATE TITLES:
My Heart's in the Highlands
NOTES: This is one of a group of songs in which mother waits in her cottage (or so the son believes) for her son who is far away; for example, "Cottage With the Horsheshoe o'er the Door," "My Gray Haired Irish Mother," and "There's No One Like Mother To Me" (and, lacking the cottage, songs like "When the Work's All Done This Fall"). - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3522

Highly Educated Man, The


See I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago (Bragging Song) (File: R410)

Highway Robber, The


See The Highwayman Outwitted [Laws L2] (File: LL02)

Highwayman Outwitted, The [Laws L2]


DESCRIPTION: A highwayman stops a merchant's daughter. When she dismounts, her horse runs home with her money. He abuses her and strips her, then has her hold his horse as he bundles up his gains. She jumps on the horse and rides home, still naked but with his money
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1820 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.18(142))
KEYWORDS: outlaw escape clothes
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf) Britain(England)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Laws L2, "The Highwayman Outwitted"
Logan, pp. 133-136, "The Maid of Rygate" (1 text)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 21, "The Highway Robber" (1 text)
Peacock, pp. 226-228, "The Rich Merchant's Daughter" (1 text, 2 tunes)
MacSeegTrav 89, "The Highwayman Outwitted" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 682, HIOUTWIT
ST LL02 (Full)
Roud #2638
RECORDINGS:
Wiggy Smith, "There Was a Rich Farmer at Sheffield" (on Voice11)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.18(142), "The Highwayman Outwitted by the Farmer's Daughter," J. Pitts (London), 1802-1819; also Harding B 11(92), Firth c.17(17), "The Lincolnshire Farmer's Daughter"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Crafty Farmer" [Child 283; Laws L1]
NOTES: It's just possible that this has a real-life origin, though I doubt it: David Brandon, in Stand and Deliver! A History of Highway Robbery, pp. 29-31, reports that one Isaac Atkinson held up a young woman, who -- apparently thinking he wanted something harder to recover than her money -- threw a bag of coins in the ditch. Atkinson, instead of either pursuing his seduction or doing anything to control the girl, simply jumped off his horse to pick up the coins.
The girl then flew away on her horse, and by chance his horse followed. She was able to report where she had left him, and he was taken and hanged.
Brandon, however, cites no sources; I almost wonder if his tale wasn't based on this, or perhaps on something like "The Crafty Farmer" and/or "Lovely Joan." - RBW
File: LL02

Hill o' Callivar, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer advises to "Ask her for to be your wife and tak' her at her will And tak' her for a ramble on the Callivar Hill." The site "wad mak' your heart contented." He's old now but he'd "drink the health o' Scotland yet and Forbes Arms Hotel."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 507, "The Hill o' Callivar" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5992
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; Coiliochbhar Hill (507) is at coordinate (h1-2,v5) on that map [near Alford, roughly 28 miles W of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3507

Hills Above Drumquin


DESCRIPTION: "Drumquin, you're not a city, but you're all the world to me." The singer has seen the Scottish Highlands and Lowlands but "always toiled content" because at the end of the day his heart goes back to Drumquin.
AUTHOR: Felix Kearney (source: Tunney-SongsThunder)
EARLIEST DATE: 1951 (Tunney-SongsThunder)
KEYWORDS: nonballad lyric
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 68-70, "Hills Above Drumquin" (1 text)
Roud #9320
NOTES: Drumquin is in County Tyrone. - BS
File: TST068

Hills and Glens, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer was born "on North River's sloping bank" and lived 40 years among "the hills and glens around St Ann's. He taught, opened a store, and loses two sons and a cousin in the army "killed in France ... while fighting the Germans"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: war death soldier children
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-Maritime, p. 210, "The Hills and Glens" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2726
NOTES: Creighton-Maritime: "The war referred to is that of 1914-1918" - BS
File: CrMa210

Hills o' Ballyboley, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer recounts the pleasures of life in Ballyboley: The birds, the flowers, the friends. He says that no such flowers grow elsewhere. Even now, grown old, he remembers the beauties of the place
AUTHOR: William Hegan
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H511, pp. 157-158, "The Hills o' Ballyboley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13454
File: HHH511

Hills o' Gallowa', The


DESCRIPTION: The singer and his lassie "softly slid the hours awa' Till dawnin'" If he were with her "amang the hills o' Gallowa'" he would blythely steer through life in spite of the world's gloom. "Oh bury me ... amang the hills o' Gallowa'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: love Scotland nonballad lover burial
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 504, "The Hills o' Gallowa'" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #5989
File: GrD3504

Hills o' Trummach, The


DESCRIPTION: "The hills o' Trummach pe ill to clim' Pe ill to clim' pe ill to clim', The hills o' Trummach pe ill to clim', Tre hoey an' tre hoey."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 531, "The Hills o' Trummach" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6010
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Braes o' Mar" (tune, per GreigDuncan3)
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan3 entry. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3531

Hills of Cumberland


DESCRIPTION: The singer meets "the Rose of Cumberland" who invites him to sit and talk; she babbles. He explains that he is from a nearby village "where there are maidens just as handsome" and advises her to let her beauty speak for her rather than her mouth.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973 (Dibblee/Dibblee)
KEYWORDS: courting beauty rejection
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 110-111, "Hills of Cumberland" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12458
NOTES: This is a Prince Edward Island song not to be confused with the similar ballad Bodleian, Harding B 11(1205), "The Blooming Rose of Cumberland," W. Stephenson (Gateshead); , 1821-1838 ; also Harding B 25(220), "The Blooming Rose of Cumberland." Cumberland Hill is near Dundas near the east coast of Kings, Prince Edward Island. - BS
File: Dib110

Hills of Dan, The


DESCRIPTION: "The world is not one garden spot Or pleasure ground for man; Few are the spots that intervene Such as the Hills of Dan." The singer recalls the weather and the friends now buried; though he departs, he hopes in the end to "rest Amid the Hills of Dan"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1947 (Greensboro Daily News)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 403, "The Hills of Dan" (1 text)
Roud #11759
NOTES: Although the only collections of this seem to be from North Carolina, it *really* sounds Irish to me. - RBW
File: Br3403

Hills of Donegal, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, Donegal, the pride of all, My heart still turns to thee...." The singer describes how he left Donegal, looking back the while, and sailed away via Lough Foyle. He wishes he could return to his old home
AUTHOR: James Moore ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: homesickness emigration
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H196, p. 120, "The Hills of Donegal (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10685
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Scarborough Settler's Lament" (theme) and references there
File: HHH196

Hills of Glenshee, The


See The Lass of Glenshee [Laws O6] (File: LO06)

Hills of Glensuili, The


DESCRIPTION: An exile curses "those tyrannical laws that bind our native land" and thinks about the birds, fields, and dances of Glensuili. He has left his harp there to remind those left behind of him. He hopes "the time soon come around when I'll return"
AUTHOR: Michael and Brigid McGinley (source: notes to IRPTunney02)
EARLIEST DATE: 1963 (IRPTunney02)
KEYWORDS: exile separation Ireland nonballad patriotic harp
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Tunney-SongsThunder, pp. 97-99, "The Hills of Glensuili" (1 text)
McBride 36, "Glenswilly" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5087
RECORDINGS:
Paddy Tunney, "The Hills of Glenswilly" (on IRPTunney02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Hills of Tandragee (I)" (form, lyrics, tune)
NOTES: Loch Suili and Gleann Suili (Glenswilli), mentioned in the song, are in Donegal, Ireland.
This is the same song, with only place names and a few words changing the political viewpoint, as "The Hills of Tandragee (II)." The tunes of McBride 36, and Morton-Ulster 41, "The Hills of Tandragee" are very similar. Morton-Ulster: "Here's a fairly modern Orange song ["The Hills of Tandragee"], and a great favorite among 'the brethren' because they can all join in on the last line of each verse. Dick Bamber, who gave it to me, is generally credited as the writer, but he tells me this is not correct. An old lady who lived beside him in Ballylisk near Tandragee, 'wrote it years ago.' It is a parody of a song she had on an old 78 r.p.m. record called 'The Hills of Glenswilly'. Just how long ago she wrote it he doesn't remember, but he says she gave it to him and he was the first to sing it in public. Now it's an Orange standard." These songs are not to be confused with "Craiganee," sometimes called "The Hills of Tandragee"; there is no love interest here.
Also collected and sung by Kevin Mitchell, "The Hills of Glen Swilly" (on Kevin and Ellen Mitchell, "Have a Drop Mair," Musical Tradition Records MTCD315-6 CD (2001)) - BS
File: TST097

Hills of Mexico, The


See Boggy Creek or The Hills of Mexico [Laws B10b] (File: LB10B)

Hills of Tandragee (I), The


DESCRIPTION: The singer says to those who see him leave Tandragee that he hopes the Orange flag will soon fly over its hills. He thinks about the birds and fields of Tandragee. He hopes for peace in Ulster and that "the time soon come around when I return"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1970 (Morton-Ulster)
KEYWORDS: emigration farewell Ireland nonballad patriotic
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Morton-Ulster 41, "The Hills of Tandragee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2884
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Hills of Glensuili" (form, lyrics, tune)
NOTES: This is the same song, with only place names and a few words changing the political viewpoint, as "The Hills of Glensuili." The tunes of McBride 36, "Glenswilly," and Morton-Ulster 41 are very similar.
Morton-Ulster: "Here's a fairly modern Orange song, and a great favorite among 'the brethren' because they can all join in on the last line of each verse. Dick Bamber, who gave it to me, is generally credited as the writer, but he tells me this is not correct. An old lady who lived beside him in Ballylisk near Tandragee, 'wrote it years ago.' It is a parody of a song she had on an old 78 r.p.m. record called 'The Hills of Glenswilly'. Just how long ago she wrote it he doesn't remember, but he says she gave it to him and he was the first to sing it in public. Now it's an Orange standard."
These songs are not to be confused with "Craiganee," sometimes called "The Hills of Tandragee"; there is no love interest here. - BS
File: MorU041

Hills of Tandragee (II), The


See Craiganee (File: HHH749)

Hills of Tyrone, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls watching the sun rise this morning in Tyrone. He is already far away, ready to sail away. He reports that his heart is breaking at leaving home, friends, girl. He says he will always regard it as the fairest place on earch
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: emigration farewell
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H609, p. 199, "The Hills of Tyrone" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-Maguire 4, pp. 6,101,156, "Behind Yon Blue Mountain" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2925
File: HHH609

Hillsville, Virginia


See Sidney Allen [Laws E5] (File: LE05)

Hilo, Boys, Hilo


DESCRIPTION: Halyard shanty. "The blackbird sang unto the crow, Ch: Hi-lo boys Hi-lo! I'll soon be takin' you in tow, Ch: Oh! Hilo somebody below." Other verses have the birds talking to each other or to the crew.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong bird
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 254-255, "Hilo, Boys, Hilo," "Hilo, Come Down Below" (2 texts, 2 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 185-186]
Roud #8291
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Crow Song (I)" (lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
Shallow Brown (II) (File: Hugi257)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Hilo Somebody Below
Hilo Somebody Hilo
NOTES: Both [of Hugill's] versions are of Negro origin and likely began as cotton-hoosier's songs. - SL
Several verses, indeed, appear to be derived from "The Crow Song (I)." One suspects that this is an adaption of that for use at sea -- or perhaps the reverse. - RBW
File: Hugi254

Hilo, Come Down Below


See Hilo, Boys, Hilo (File: Hugi254)

Hilo, Johnny Brown


See Sally Brown (File: Doe074)

Hilo, My Ranzo Way


See Huckleberry Hunting (File: Doe032)

Hind Etin [Child 41]


DESCRIPTION: Lady Margaret is lured by a sound to Elmond's Wood, where (Akin/Etin) keeps her while she bears 7 sons. The eldest seeks to know why his mother is sad, then accomplishes (a reunion with her family, a pardon for his father, and) a churching for all.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1828 (Buchan); Danish versions are said to date to the sixteenth century
KEYWORDS: pregnancy captivity children escape
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Child 41, "Hind Etin" (3 texts)
Bronson 41, "Hind Etin" (2 versions)
Greig #157, p. 1, "Young Aiken" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 331, "Young Aiken" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #2}
Leach, pp. 141-148, "Hind Etin" (2 text -- 1 from Danish)
OBB 36, "Hynd Etin" (1 text)
PBB 21, "Hind Etin" (1 text)
DBuchan 28, "Hind Etin" (1 text)
DT 41, HINDETIN*
Roud #33
File: C041

Hind Horn [Child 17]


DESCRIPTION: Jean gives Hind Horn a ring that will tell him if her love remains true. When the ring fades, he sets out for court disguised as a beggar. He shows her the ring, and her love returns. "The bridegroom has wedded the bride but... Hind Horn took her to bed"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1825 (Motherwell)
KEYWORDS: magic love wedding
FOUND IN: US(NE) Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (20 citations):
Child 17, "Hind Horn" (9 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #23}
Bronson 17, "Hind Horn" (23 versions plus 2 in addenda)
Greig #80, pp. 1-2, "Hynd Horn" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan5 1022, "Hynd Horn" (17 texts plus 2 fragments on pp. 621-622, 13 tunes)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 73-80, "Hind Horn" (1 text (with two variant forms) plus a fragment, 2 tunes); pp. 479-481 (additional notes and fragments) {Bronson's #4, #5}
Flanders/Olney, pp. 47-48, "Hind Horn" (1 short text, properly titled "The Jolly Beggar," which might be "Hind Horn" [Shild #17] or "The Jolly Beggar" [Child #279] or a mix; 1 tune) {Bronson's #18}
Flanders-Ancient1, pp. 223-225, "Hind Horn" (1 short text, properly titled "The Jolly Beggar," which might be "Hind Horn" [Shild #17] or "The Jolly Beggar" [Child #279] or a mix; 1 tune) {Bronson's #18}
Creighton/Senior, pp. 11-17, "Hind Horn" (3 texts plus 2 fragment, 3 tunes) {C=Bronson's #17, E=#22}
Creighton-Maritime, p. 5, "Hind Horn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 5, "The Beggarman" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #21}
Karpeles-Newfoundland 4, "Hind Horn" (1 text, 2 tunes) {Bronson's #2}
Ives-DullCare, pp. 72-73,246,252, "The Old Beggar Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 55, "The Old Beggar Man (Hind Horn)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach, pp. 96-100, "Hind Horn" (2 texts)
OBB 35, "Hynd Horn" (1 text)
Niles 12, "Hind Horn" (1 text, 1 tune, plus a single stanza which might be this ballad -- but could be something else)
Gummere, pp. 260-262+357, "Hind Horn" (1 text)
DBuchan 44, "Hind Horn" (1 text)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 59-61, "Hind Horn" (1 text)
DT 17, HINDHORN HNDHORN2* HNDHORN3*
Roud #28
RECORDINGS:
Edmund Doucette, "The Old Beggar Man" (on MREIves01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Kitchie-Boy" [Child 252] (lyrics)
cf. "The Bird's Courting Song (The Hawk and the Crow; Leatherwing Bat)" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
The Bird's Courting Song (The Hawk and the Crow; Leatherwing Bat) (File: K295)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Pale Ring
The Jeweled Ring
The Beggar at the Wedding
NOTES: For Bronson's proposed relationship between this song and "The Whummil Bore" [Child 27], see the entry on that piece.
Literary historians have connected this ballad with the thirteenth century romance "King Horn" (who lost his kingdom to Saracens, then won it and his sweetheart back after heroic adventures) -- but if so, there has been a lot of folk processing along the way.
Child mentions the romance, but notes that the ballad contains only the "catastrophe" of the written epic.
The Horn legend found in "King Horn" appears in various forms. "King Horn" itself is listed as "the earliest of the extant romances in [Middle English]" (Dickins/Wilson p. 29). Similarly Sands, p. 15, "With the tale of Horn and the fair Rymenhild we have the earliest extant English romance. This distinction it can claim; other distinctions, especially technical and esthetic, are hard to come by. Yet Horn possesses consderably more interest than a good number of competent pieces: it can be regarded as the prototypic Middle English romances." Bennett/Gray, p. 135, say "The oldest extant romance is probably King Horn: oldest both in its manuscript form and in date of composition." This probably explains why it is so often cited (e.g. Sands, pp. 17-54 gives the whole romance. with modernized orthography; Dickens/Wilson on pp. 30-33 give lines 1107-1212 from the Harley MS.; ).
There even seems to be a reference to it in another romance; according to Bennett/Gray, p. 125, an item called the "'Laud' Troy Book" mentions near the end
Of Havelok, Horne and of Wade,
In romaunces that of hem ben made.
(The references are presumably to "Havelock the Dane," "King Horn," and an unknown epic of "Wade." Wade seems to have been an important character in Old English and Germanic folklore, according to Wilson, pp. 16-19, but all that survives is scattered references.)
Wilson, p. 27, suggests that the story of Horn is based on an actual historical event, but if so, it has been lost from actual history.
The romance of "King Horn" exists in three manuscripts (Dickens/Wilson, p. 30; Sands, p15): Cambridge University Library Gg.4.27.II (late XIII century, according to Dickens/Wilson; c. 1250 according to Sands), Bodleian Laud Misc. 108 (early XIV century, according to Dickens/Wilson), and B.M. Harley 2253 (early XIV century, again according to Dickens/Wilson), the latter the famous source of the "Harley Lyrics." The Cambridge manuscript is, however, considered by Sands to be the best as well as the oldest copy (Dickens/Wilson prefer Harley). The original composition is dated c. 1225 based on the language; the dialect seems to place it in the south or the midlands (Sands p. 15).
The legend also appears in a French epic, "Horn et Rimel," and there is a second English version, probably of the fourteenth century, called "Horne ChildeÓ (Dickins/Wilson, p. 29). Benet, p. 516, says that "Horne Childe" is "generally called The Geste of King Horn. The nominal author is a certain Mestre Thomas." (However, Bennett/Gray, p. 135, argue that "the later and longer Anglo-Norman romance of Horn by one Thomas is clearly related to [i.e. derived from] some version of this poem."
Sands, p. 15, makes the interesting note that "King Horn" "lacks chivalrous ideas" -- a hint, perhaps, of folk rather than courtly origin. Keen, p. 131, observes that it shows some aspects typical of tales of the period: "Medieval authors had a passion for disguises; the irony of the situation in which enemies or livers met incognito seems to have endlessly delighted them. So one will find Hind Horn coming to the presence of his beloved Rimenheld in the guise of an old woman... and Ippomedon tourneying before his lady in a series of disguises."
According to Garnett/Gosse, volume i, p. 115, "King Horn is another romance with a Scnadinavian groundwork going back to thetime of the expeditions of the Danish Vikings before their conversion to Christianity." Dickens/Wilson, pp. 29-30, amplify this: "the story is usually supposed to be based on events which took place during the Anglo-Saxon conquest or the Viking raids. This is plausible enough, but any basis in fact that there might originally have been can now distinguished from the mass of folk-tale with which it has been overlaid, nor is it possible to localize the events." We might conjecture, however, that the "Suddene" of the poem (although often interpreted as some such place as the Isle of Wight, according to Sands, p. 16) is in fact Sweden. (Which in turn hints that Horn might be the Scyld Scefing of Beowulf, but that has little to do with the matter of this ballad.
Garnett and Gosse, p. 115, add that the piece has "no great poetical merit." In support of this we might note that the meter is so irregular that scholars have not even managed to agree on whether it's supposed to be trochaic or iambic! Bennett/Gray, p. 135, have a possible explanation for this, describing the piece as consisting of "just over 1,500 short and rather jerky lines in a metre probably deriving -- like Layamon's Brut -- from the old English alliterative measure."
Sands, p. 16, explains this on the grounds that it is "a transitional piece. It contains the rhymed couplet introduced from the French, but does not lengthen the two- and three-stress lines taken over from the Old English half-line into the usual tetrameter line of later romances. It hovers between the older trochaic rhythm and the coming iambic and never really favors one over the other, a feature perhaps which prompts Kane to remark that the prosody 'sometimes looks and possibly is incompetent.'" - RBW
The magic stones of the ring in "King Horn" make the wearer invulnerable; Horn is to look at the ring just to remind him of her (French/Hale, "King Horn," ll. 541-576) He happens to return to Westernesse after seven years when "word bigan to springe Of Rymenhilde weddinge" (French/Hale, ll. 1007-10180. The rest of the story, including the return of the ring in the wine horn (French/Hale, ll. 1159-1170) agrees well enough with the plot, for example, of Child 17B.
The magic stones of the ring in "Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild" have the property of changing color, as in the ballad, when Rimnild changes her mind or loses her maidenhead (Mills, ll. 565-576)) It happens that when seven years have passed that Horn notices that the stones have changed color (Mills, ll. 836-840). Here too, the ring is returned in a wine cup (Mills, ll. 994-996).
Child notes the similarities in plot between the ballad and "Horn Childe and Maiden Rimnild." However, he denies that "the special approximations of the ballads to the romance of Horn Child oblige us to conclude that these, or any of them, are derived from that poem." He goes on further to say "It is often assumed, without a misgiving, that oral tradition must needs be younger than anything that was committed to writing some centuries ago; but this requires in each case to be made out; there is certainly no antecedent probability of that kind." - BS
Several other ballads also derive loosely or from Middle English romance, or from the legends that underlie it, examples being:
* "King Orfeo" [Child 19], from "Sir Orfeo" (3 MSS., including the Auchinlek MS, which also contains "Floris and Blancheflour")
* "The Marriage of Sir Gawain" [Child 31], from "The Weddynge of Sir Gawe and Dame Ragnell" (1 defective MS, Bodleian MS Rawlinson C 86)
* "Blancheflour and Jellyflorice" [Child 300], from "Floris and Blancheflour" (4 MSS, including Cambridge Gg.4.27.2, which also contains "King Horn," and the Auchinlek MS, which also contains "Sir Orfeo")
Of these ballads from romances, this is the only one that really seems to have gone solidly in tradition ("Sir Orfeo" came from tradition, but in circumstances that make a minstrel origin a strong possibility).
Child has a very extensive discussion of the relationship between this ballad and the literary romances.
Incidentally, it appears that some of the language of "King Horn" influenced J. R. R. Tolkien. - RBW
Greig: "The tune to which 'Hynd Horn' is sung seems to be the original form of 'Logan Braes,' and is associated with many other songs and ballads. As far as my records show, it is the most common folk-tune we have." - BS
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: C017

Hingin' on the Nail


DESCRIPTION: The singer, forty-four, has spent her life "hinging on the nail." She thinks she's not too bad looking though "the shadow o' my former sel'." She doesn't care about looks or brains "if only he would act his part, and ease me aff the nail"
AUTHOR: Alexander G Murdoch (1843-1891) (source: Greig #160)
EARLIEST DATE: 1877 (Murdoch's _The Laird's Lykewake and Other Poems_, according to Greig #160 and GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: oldmaid
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #89, p. 2, "Hingin' on the Nail" (1 text)
GreigDuncan7 1380, "Hingin' on the Nail" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #6271
File: GrD71380

Hinky Dicky, Parlee-Voo


See Mademoiselle from Armentieres (File: RL513)

Hinky Dinky Parley-Voo?


See Mademoiselle from Armentieres (File: RL513)

Hiram Hubbard


See Hiram Hubbert [Laws A20] (File: LA20)

Hiram Hubbert [Laws A20]


DESCRIPTION: Hiram Hubbard is captured and brought to trial. Although he is not guilty of anything, he is tried and convicted on the evidence of his captors. He makes a will and is summarily shot. (He is reported to have been ninety miles from the crime scene.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909
KEYWORDS: trial execution lastwill trial Civilwar
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Laws A20, "Hiram Hubbert"
Combs/Wilgus 48, pp. 171-172, "Hiram Hubbert" (1 text)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 77, "Hiram Hubbard" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 367, HIRAMHUB*
Roud #2208
RECORDINGS:
Jean Ritchie & Doc Watson, "Hiram Hubbard" (on RitchieWatson1, RitchiteWatsonCD1)
NOTES: Reported to be "an echo of the guerilla warfare in the [Kentucky/Tennessee?] Highlands during the Civil War" (indeed, the RItchie text refers explicitly to rebels) This strikes me as not unlikely. These regions were filled with Unionists who did not like the fact that their states had put them into the Confederacy. It took the Union two years to get troops to Knoxville. Until they did, there was generally trouble between the locals and the Confederate government.
I have not located any actual references to a Hiram Hubbard who was executed in this period. - RBW
File: LA20

Hirdie, The


See The Herd Laddie (The Herdie) (File: Ord269)

Hireing Fairs of Ulster, The


See The Hiring Fairs of Ulster (File: OLcM025)

Hireman Chiel, The


DESCRIPTION: A baron's son disguised as a laborer wins the heart of a young lady. Her parents do not approve, but they escape together and at last the young man reveals his station.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (GreigDuncan5)
LONG DESCRIPTION: A baron's son, told by his father to marry, disguises himself as a laborer to find a lady who will marry for love. He sees a beauty at a castle gate, and gets himself hired by the grieve. The lady falls in love (of course), and writes him a letter to arrange a meeting. They meet, declare their love, and arrange to meet again by night, with the young man's assurances not to wrong her honor. They begin meeting every night, and her parents become suspicious. She tells the young man of her father's threats to hang him, and he scoffs at them. But they are overheard and confronted by her mother. The young man departs, telling the mother her daughter is still marriageable. A nobleman courts and wins the young lady, but as they are going to be married the young man reappears and the two lovers escape. The father pursues them to the young man's home. His identity revealed, the young man asks the father's blessing, saying, "Seven years I served for her sake, But now I've got my fee."
KEYWORDS: courting disguise nobility worker love virginity family
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Ord, pp. 480-486, "The Hireman Chiel" (1 text)
Greig #67, pp. 1-2, "The Hireman Chiel"; Greig #146, pp. 1-2, "The Hireman Chiel" (2 texts)
GreigDuncan5 1055, "The Hireman Chiel" (11 texts plus a fragment on p. 636, 7 tunes)
DBuchan 64, "The Hireman Chiel" (1 text, 1 tune in appendix)
ST DBuch64 (Full)
Roud #5624
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Errol on the Green" (tune, per GreigDuncan5)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Baron Turned Ploughman
NOTES: That last section ("Seven years I served for her sake, But now I've got my fee") sounds to me very much like an echo of the story of Jacob, Rachel, and Laban (Gen. 29:15-30) -- but I suppose it could be coincidence. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: DBuch64

Hiring Fair at Hamiltonsbawn, The


DESCRIPTION: At the Hamiltonsbawn hiring fair the singer hires for six winter months to Tom McCann. After one good meal, the food "no human eye could stand," the work is hard, the fleas unbearable at night. "My trousers got too wide ... my hair got like a wig"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1970 (Morton-Ulster)
KEYWORDS: humorous hardtimes farming food bug work clothes bug
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Morton-Ulster 23, "The Hiring Fair at Hamiltonsbawn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2890
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bad Luck Attend the Old Farmer" (subject: hiring fair servant's half-year term hard times)
NOTES: Morton-Ulster: "If you travel the road from Armagh City to Tandragee, you pass through the snug town of Hamiltonsbawn.... Hiring fairs were in full swing up to fifty years ago and the one at 'the Bawn' is remembered as recently as forty years ago [c.1929].... May and November seem to have been the months favoured for 'hiring'; no doubt because May marked the beginning of the harvest season and November heralded preparation of the ground and planting." - BS
File: MorU023

Hiring Fair, The


DESCRIPTION: On the way to Strabane, or Antrim, singer meets a maid on the way to the hiring fair. He offers his umbrella to keep her from the rain. They stop for drinks and miss the fair. They spend the night, marry next day, and have been happy since.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (IRTunneyFamily01); c.1845 (broadside, NLScotland L.C.1270(018))
KEYWORDS: courting marriage drink work travel
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
McBride 39, "The Hiring Fair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-Ulster 24, "The Hiring Fair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Morton-Maguire 14, pp. 34-35,106,162, "The Strabane Hiring Fair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2905
RECORDINGS:
Michael Gallagher, "The Hiring Time" (on IRTunneyFamily01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Feeing Time (I)" (plot)
NOTES: This follows the same general story line as "The Maid of Lismore" but ends happily. - BS
The similarity to "The Feeing Time (I)" is even greater; it's esentially the same plot, and there are some common lyrics as well. They maybe the same song. But it clearly falls into Scottish and Irish families, so -- with some hesitation -- I've allowed them to stay separate. - RBW
File: RcHiriFa

Hiring Fairs of Ulster, The


DESCRIPTION: In May there are hiring fairs for servants in Ulster. Plough boys, dairy maids, cowboys and shoe boys, labouring boys and kitchen maids are interviewed by farmers. "The servants' wages now should rise" to offset rising prices
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Hayward-Ulster); 19C (broadside, Bodleian 2806 c.7(31))
KEYWORDS: work nonballad money
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
OLochlainn-More 25, "The Hiring Fairs of Ulster" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 89-90, "The Hireing Fairs of Ulster" (1 text)
Roud #6533
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.7(31), "The Hireing Fairs of Ulster" ("Good people all atention [sic] pay"), P. Brereton (Dublin), c.1867
LOCSinging, as105370, "The Hireing Fairs of Ulster," P. Brereton (Dublin), n.d.
NOTES:
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Hiring of the Servants" (subject)
cf. "Copshawholm Fair" (subject)
NOTES: Broadsides LOCSinging as105370 and Bodleian 2806 c.7(31) are duplicates. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: OLcM025

Hiring of the Servants, The


DESCRIPTION: "The time of the hiring is coming." Working conditions on Irish farms are hard and "not like the day of the good old time." Farmers are warned that Ireland's youth are going to England for better wages; "You must double their wages or give up your land"
AUTHOR: Patrick O'Sullivan (source: broadside Bodleian 2806 c.8(218))
EARLIEST DATE: 1976 (recording, Jamesy McCarthy)
KEYWORDS: farming England Ireland nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #12936
RECORDINGS:
Jamesy McCarthy, "Come To the Hiring" (on Voice20)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.8(218), "The Hiring of the Servants" ("Young men and maidens draw near for awhile"), unknown, n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Spailpin Fanac" and references there
cf. "The Hiring Fairs of Ulster" (subject)
File: RcHirOTS

Hirrum Tirrum


DESCRIPTION: The singer would visit a lass at night. She says her modesty won't permit that. He convinces her she has nothing to fear. She leaves the door open for him so he can come at any hour. They go to bed. "I stole her virgin bloom, And then I left her alone"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: seduction sex virginity dialog nightvisit abandonment
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 773, "Hirrum Tirrum" (5 texts, 3 tunes)
Roud #6189
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Rise and Let Me In
Come Canny!
NOTES: GreigDuncan4: "From Peter Murray at Tillyorn about sixty years ago. Noted 24th July 1907." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4773

His Jacket Was Blue


See Jacket So Blue, The (The Bonnet o' Blue) (File: FSC43)

His Lordship Had a Coachman


DESCRIPTION: His Lordship discharges coachman John. John claims to be the finest coachman alive. To demonstrate, "I'll drive you all around Belfast town, And I won't go through a street." His Lordship agrees John can keep his job if he succeeds. John keeps his job.
AUTHOR: Fred Ginnet (source: Leyden)
EARLIEST DATE: 1989 (Leyden)
KEYWORDS: humorous wordplay servant unemployment
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leyden 9, "His Lordship Had a Coachman" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Leyden: "The song dates from 1888 when the Lord Mayor was Sir James Horner Haslett." The trick to the song is that it "takes us all around Belfast without going through a single street!" So, the tour goes up Rugby Road, down Agincourt Avenue, South Parade, Carrickfergus Way, King Street Mews, Glengall Place, and the like. - BS
Jonathan Bardon, A History of Ulster, Blackstaff Press, 1992, first mentions Haslett on pp. 382-383 as MP for West Belfast, defeated in the "home rule" election of 1886 by Catholic votes. He became Lord Mayor not too long after, for he greeted Queen Victoria when she visited the city in 1888. He later went back to parliament as the member from North Belfast, and died in office in 1905. - RBW
File: Leyd009

His Wants


See Rye Whiskey; also The Rebel Soldier (File: R405)

Historian, The


See I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago (Bragging Song) (File: R410)

History ob de World, De


See Walkin' in the Parlor (File: Wa177)

History of Prince Edward Island, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of the "dismal fate" of the Island. He complains that the rich folk of Canada have "made us slaves and sold Prince Edward Isle." He tells of a time of troubles and of many leaving their homes. At last he too must depart
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1950 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: Canada lament exile political patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1867 - Prince Edward Island declines to join the newly-formed Canadian Confederation
1873 - Prince Edward Island joins Canada
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Doerflinger, pp. 256-257, "The History of Prince Edward Island" (1 text)
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 120-121, "Prince Edward Isle, Adieu" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 108-110, "Prince Edward Isle, Adieu" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 230-233,253, "Prince Edward Isle, Adieu" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4517
NOTES: According to Doerflinger, Prince Edward Island has a long history of trouble with government. The original settlement left the island owned primarily by a handful of absentee landlords who had little sympathy for the common people. When the Canadian Confederation was formed, PEI at first opted out. When Confederation was at last passed, a number of Islanders fled to New England.
Despite their fears, Confederation was probably good for PEI. The Canadian government bought out the absentee landholders, allowing the local residents the chance to own the land.
Various poets have been suggested as the author of the verses. Larry Gorman, naturally, has been mentioned -- but it hardly sounds like his work. Other candidates include Larry Doyle and "a schoolteacher named Fitzgerald." - RBW
Ives-DullCare: "Briefly ... it is a ... view of the political situation around 1880.... The song has been a significant presence in Island folklore for over a century." - BS
File: Doe256

History of the World


See Walkin' in the Parlor (File: Wa177)

Ho Boys Ho


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

Ho for California (Banks of Sacramento)


DESCRIPTION: The "plot" of the song varies widely, according to its use by pioneers, sailors, or gold-diggers. The chorus is fixed: "(Then) Ho! (boys), Ho! To California go! There's plenty of gold in the world, we're told, on the banks of the Sacramento"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1849 (Journal of William F. Morgan of the La Grange)
KEYWORDS: gold shanty travel
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1849 - California gold rush
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,NE) Australia Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (17 citations):
Eddy 125, "California" (1 text, 1 tune)
Warner 70, "Ho, Boys, Ho" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doerflinger, pp. 68-70, "Sacramento" (3 texts, 2 tunes, though the last of these derives its verses from "Rolling in the Dew (The Milkmaid)")
Colcord, pp. 105-106, "Sacramento" (1 text, 1 tune)
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 39-40, "Banks of Sacramento" (1 composite text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 109-110, "Banks of Sacramento" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 106-114, "California," "Sacramento" (7 texts-1 in German, 3 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 95-100]
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 82-83, "The Banks of Sacramento" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 110-111, "California"; 111, "The Banks of Sacramento" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Smith/Hatt, p. 37, "On the Banks of the Sacramento" (1 text)
Lomax-FSUSA 42, "Sacramento" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, p. 91, "Banks of the Sacramento" (1 fragmentary text, in which the singer seeks girls rather than gold; 1 tune)
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 174-176, "The California Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 88, "Sacramento" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 158-159, "(De) Camptown Races--(Sacramento)"
DT, SACRMNTO* SACRMNT2*
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). "Sacramento" is in Part 2, 7/21/1917.
Roud #309
RECORDINGS:
Logan English, "Sacramento" (on LEnglish02)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ten Thousand Miles Away" (tune)
cf. "A Capital Ship" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Californi-O
Blow, Boys, Blow for Californi-O
Der Hamborger Veermaster
Der Hamborger Vullrigger
NOTES: Possibly created and certainly popularized by the Hutchinson Family (who published a text in their 1855 songbook), versions of this song are found throughout the U.S., and are well-known among sailors.
The texts are diverse (Hugill, for instance, has a version in which a sailor courts a girl and winds up with a venereal disease), but most seem to be related to the California gold rush. The tune is a variation on "Camptown Races," perhaps in turn based on "A Capital Ship." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: E125

Ho-Hum, Nobody's Home


See Hey, Ho, Nobody Home (File: FSWB412G)

Hob-Y-Derri-Dando


DESCRIPTION: Welsh shanty often sung mixing English verses and the Welsh chorus. The translation of the Welsh version has a chorus something like "Jane, sweet Jane, full of charm, the birds are singing merrily."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Welsh shanty often sung mixing English verses and the Welsh chorus. The translation of the Welsh version has a chorus something like "Jane, sweet Jane, full of charm, the birds are singing merrily." The most common English verses featured nonsense rhymes about "Davy Davy" from Nevin and various members of his family. However other versions also borrowed from "Sally Brown" among others. The English verses sung to this were also often put to the tune of another Welsh shanty, "Mochyn Du.
KEYWORDS: shanty foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Britain Wales
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 525-528, "Hob-Y-Derri-Dando" (4 texts-English & Welsh, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Mochyn Du" (English verses often interchanged with this)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Hob-Y-Derrin-Dando
File: Hugi525

Hoban Boys, The


DESCRIPTION: On the night of October 27, a hurricane blows in. The next day, the singer sees the wrecks of the Minnie and Lilly & Jim. The singer's own Mayflower has been towed to St Pierre and looted; they pay the fee to the French, clear customs, and head home.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1976 (Lehr/Best)
KEYWORDS: sea ship storm wreck
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lehr/Best 51, "The Hoban Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: "The Hoban Boys" text mentions no year. My guess is that it refers to the October 28, 1921 storm but, while there is documentation for damage by that storm in Trinity Bay and Conception Bay (Fred Martin's site has a list of those losses) and Robert Parsons mentions damage at Hermitage Bay and Fortune Bay, I find no information about losses in between, at Placentia Bay.
Northern Shipwrecks Database, and that database's owner -- David Barron -- also has no specific information about ships lost on that date; he recommends I review microfilm of local papers for that week. I contacted a Placentia Bay newspaper, The Southern Gazette, but they have no information about the storm (they started publication in 1975) and thought "only the Telegram or the defunct Daily News would have recorded that info." The Telegram has not responded to my inquiry.
Neither Ms. Lehr nor Ms. Best could pin down the year for this storm; Ms. Best, noting that "sometimes dates in songs are imperfectly remembered and passed on, as you will no doubt realise" wondered why I would take the dates mentioned in the ballad so literally. Obviously, that's a good point. Even for such a famous sinking as "The Loss of the Atlantic," for which I've seen six distinct versions, Ranson [Songs of the Wexford Coast] p. 88 has the sailing date from Liverpool April 18 -- rather than March 20 -- for a wreck that occurred on April 1; Ranson's other version has the sailing from Queenstown on March 21 -- as should be -- but the departure from Liverpool as March 14.
Any further research will have to be done in Newfoundland. - BS
"The Old Mayflower" also mentions a ship named Mayflower being looted. Whether that describes the same event as this I do not know. - RBW
File: LeBe051

Hobbies, The


DESCRIPTION: In praise of hobbies, "for each has a hobby from cobbler to king." Some have unfortunate hobbies (e.g. "The hobbies of scolds are their husbands to tease,") some have the hobbies of courting; "The Americans'... hobby is Madison, peace, and free trade."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: political sports patriotic nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1809-1817 - Presidency of James Madison
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1914, "Hobbies" (3 texts)
Greig #50, p. 1, "Hobbies"; Greig #51, pp. 2-3, "Hobbies" (3 texts)
Arnett, p. 36-37, "The Hobbies" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5632
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Imphm" (tune, per GreigDuncan8)
cf. "The Wee Window" (tune, per GreigDuncan8)
NOTES: Greig quoting his correspondent in 1908: "I have sung it hundreds of times during the last 50 years...." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Arn036

Hobbleton and Jinnikie


DESCRIPTION: "Hobbleton and Jinnikie Be kind to Peter Din." "Ye needna ca' me b.a. [GreigDuncan8: black arse], Ye never saw my skin"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: bawdy nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1723, "Hobbleton and Jinnikie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13141
File: GrD81723

Hobie Noble [Child 189]


DESCRIPTION: The singer tells how Hobie, an Englishman exiled to Scotland, was convinced by the traitor Sim of the Mains to raid England. Warned of Noble's coming, the land-sergeant (whose brother Noble had killed) takes him. Noble is hanged at Carlisle
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1775 (Percy)
KEYWORDS: borderballad fight punishment execution revenge
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Child 189, "Hobie Noble" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 516-519, "Hobie Noble" (1 text)
Friedman, p. 252, "Hobie Noble" 1 text)
OBB 139, "Hobbie Noble" (1 text)
DT 189, HOBINOBL
Roud #4014
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Jock o the Side" [Child 187] (characters)
File: C189

Hobo Bill's Last Ride


DESCRIPTION: "Riding on an eastbound freight train, speeding through the night, Hobo Bill, a railroad bum, was fighting for his life." Bill dies alone and is found with a smile on his face, but none mourn; "he was just a railroad bum who died out in the cold."
AUTHOR: Waldo O'Neal (born 1908, according to Cohen)
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Jimmie Rodgers)
KEYWORDS: death hobo
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 393-396, "Hobo Bill's Last Ride" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7513
RECORDINGS:
Gene Autry, "Hobo Bill's Last Ride" (Supertone 9702)
Frank Marvin, "Hobo Bill's Last Ride" (Banner 773/Domino 4601/Jewel 6024/Challenge 785/Romeo 1388/Conqueror 7592 [all as Frankie Wallace], 1930) (Brunswick 474, rec. 1930)
Jimmie Rodgers, "Hobo Bill's Last Ride" (Victor 22421, 1930; rec. 1929/Montgomery Ward 4210)
File: LRai393

Hobo Diddle De Ho


See Old Bob Ridley (Hobo Diddle De Ho) (File: R499)

Hobo from the T & P Line, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer, a hobo, gets a job in (Wellford). He courts the boss's daughter; the boss calls him "a bummer, all dressed up." Bidding farewell to the daughter, he sets off down the road with tears in his eyes, vowing to return
AUTHOR: Almoth Hodges & Bob Miller?
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Almoth Hodges w. Bob Miller's Hinky Dinkers)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer, a hobo, lands in (Wellford), is hired by a boss who gives him easy work and treats him well. He and the boss's daughter court; the boss calls him in, saying, "They say you're a bummer, all dressed up." Singer tells boss he does his work well; if the boss doesn't like it, he'll leave. Bidding farewell to the daughter, he sets off down the road with tears in his eyes, vowing to return
KEYWORDS: grief courting love rambling work boss worker hobo
FOUND IN: US(SW)
RECORDINGS:
Almoth Hodges with Bob Miller's Hinky Dinkers, "The Hobo from the T & P Line" (Brunswick 399 [in two parts], probably 1930; rec. 1929; Part 1 is on Rose1)
Clayton McMichen, "Bummin' on the I. C. Line" (Varsity 5097, 1930s)
Mary Sullivan, "The T & P Line" (AFS 5099 A, 1941; on LC61)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Farmer's Boy [Laws Q30]" (plot) and references there
NOTES: The "T & P" was the Texas and Pacific Railroad. - PJS
File: RcTHFTPL

Hobo's Grave, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer comes upon a hobo's grave. The wolves howl over it; the box cars roll on, but the hobo, his father's only son, his mother's pride, lies at rest. There's no stone to mark the spot, no one to watch over it, "none to direct the money or the checque"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1957 (recording, Tom Brandon)
KEYWORDS: loneliness grief burial death mourning hobo
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont)
Roud #4825
RECORDINGS:
Tom Brandon, "The Hobo's Grave" (on Ontario1)
NOTES: The lyrics sound like a commercial "hobo song" from the 1920s, or perhaps a poem, but so far I haven't been able to locate a source from that period. Tom Brandon says he learned it from his brother, who worked in northern Ontario in the 1930s.
The reference to "the money or the checque" suggests the hobo may have been a "remittance man," perhaps an English ne'er-do-well shipped off to Canada and supported by an allowance so that he wouldn't embarrass his wealthy family. - PJS
File: RcHobGra

Hobo's Last Ride (I), The


DESCRIPTION: A hobo lifts his dying partner Jack into a boxcar, then reminisces about their past. He is keeping his promise to take Jack back home to be buried. He sighs for the old days and "for his pal so cold/Who was taking his last long ride"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Buell Kazee)
LONG DESCRIPTION: A hobo lifts his dying partner Jack into a boxcar, then reminisces to him as they ride about the places they've been and the lines they've ridden. He is keeping his promise to take Jack back home to be buried, and laments the doctor who was "too busy with the wealthy folks/To doctor a worn-out bum." As the train rolls east, he sighs for the old days and "for his pal so cold/Who was taking his last long ride"
KEYWORDS: grief poverty rambling train travel burial death dying friend hobo
FOUND IN: US(SE) Canada
RECORDINGS:
Buell Kazee, "The Hobo's Last Ride" (Brunswick 330, 1929; Supertone S-2056, 1930)
Goebel Reeves, "The Hobo's Last Long Ride" (MacGregor 858, n.d.)
Hank Snow, "The Last Ride" (RCA Victor, c. 1959)
Art Thieme, "The Hobo's Last Ride" (on Thieme03)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Dying Hobo" [Laws H3] (plot)
NOTES: Despite the obvious similarity in plot, this is an entirely separate song from "The Dying Hobo."
The Kazee and Reeves recordings use a tune that Kazee composed as a setting for a poem by A. L. Kirby, which he said he found in a book of Northwest poems. Hank Snow's recording, cited above, uses a different tune, possibly composed by Ted Daffan. To confuse things, Snow recorded another song called "The Hobo's Last Ride," which we have indexed separately as "Hobo's Last Ride (II)."- PJS
File: RcTHLR

Hobo's Lullabye


DESCRIPTION: "Go to sleep you weary hobo, Let the town drift slowly by. Listen to the steel rails humming, That's the hobo's lullabye." The hobo is urged not to think about tomorrow, to ignore the police (who will not be found in heaven), and to remember mother's love
AUTHOR: Goebel Reeves
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (recording, Goebel Reeves)
KEYWORDS: hobo rambling lullaby
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 410, "Hobo's Lullabye" (1 text)
DT, HOBOLULL*
Roud #16629
RECORDINGS:
Goebel Reeves, "Hobo's Lullabye" (Champion 45181, 1936); (Vocalion 02828, 1934)
NOTES: Although composed, this has become so popular that I think it qualifies as a genuine folk song. Woody Guthrie, for instance, was very fond of it, and many people must have learned it from his singing. - RBW
File: FSWB410C

Hoboes Grand Convention, The


DESCRIPTION: "If you give me your attention, A few facts I will mention Concerning a convention That was held last fall." The hoboes gather in Montreal, and have a quiet convention, "For every bum was loaded To the neck with alcohol."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Flanders/Brown)
KEYWORDS: hobo party drink
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Flanders/Brown, pp. 51-52, "The Hoboes Grand Convention" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, HOBOCONV*
ST FlBr051 (Partial)
Roud #5445
NOTES: Unlike most hobo songs, this one is clearly unsympathetic to the hobos; it equates them directlly with bums and indirectly with thieves. - RBW
File: FlBr051

Hobson, the Cobbler


See The Cobbler (I) (File: R102)

Hoe-Cake, The


See Jinny Get Your Hoecake Done (File: Fus158C)

Hoffnung, De


DESCRIPTION: Hugill lists this as a German version of "Long Time Ago." Translated text tells of a captain making a deal with the devil to get him to port on time. The Devil complies but then the Captain gets the best of him by splicing his tail to the anchor.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
KEYWORDS: shanty sailor Devil bargaining trick
FOUND IN: Germany
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 104-105, "De Hoffnung" (2 texts-German & English)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Long Time Ago" (tune, chorus)
cf. "Tying a Knot in the Devil's Tail" [Laws B17] (theme)
File: Hugi104

Hog and Tarry


DESCRIPTION: "Hog an tarry, baloo bonny, Hog an tarry, hishy ba; Hog an tarry, baloo bonny, Hog an tarry, hishy ba"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1907 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: lullaby
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1555, "Hog and Tarry" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #13516
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Blacksmith" (tune, per GreigDuncan8)
NOTES: GreigDuncan8: "Spelling doubtful -- possibly should be 'Hogin': meaning unknown. No more words remembered, but one other verse says: 'He's a sailin' on the sea'."
The current description is all of the GreigDuncan8 text. - BS
How about "Whig and Tory"? Odd words for a lullaby, I grant, but I can imagine a Jacobite mother singing something about "Baloo, my bairnie, Whig and Tory cannae get ye...." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81555

Hog Drovers


DESCRIPTION: Playparty. "Hog drovers (x3) we air, A-courtin' your daughter so handsome and fair. Kin we get a largin' here?" The father turns them down. Others (gold miners, cowboys, etc.) ask for her hand. Most are rejected; one (a farmer?) may be acceptable
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1898 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: courting playparty rejection father children
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Randolph 555, "Hog Rovers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hudson 148, pp. 296-297, "Hog Drovers" (1 text)
Lomax-FSNA 207, "Hog Drovers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, pp. 810-812, "Swine-Herders (Hog Drovers)" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LoF207 (Full)
Roud #3596
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Three Dukes" (plot, lyrics)
NOTES: Randolph reports that this is based on the Irish game "The Nine Daughters." - RBW
File: LoF207

Hog Rovers


See Hog Drovers (File: LoF207)

Hog-Eye (I)


See Roll the Boat Ashore (Hog-eye I) (File: San380)

Hog-eye (II)


See Sally in the Garden (File: CSW067)

Hog-Eye Man (I), The


DESCRIPTION: The Hog-Eye Man [read: "The Vagina-hungry Man"] meets Sally or Jenny or Molly who is lying in the grass or the sand and who does good service with him.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922
KEYWORDS: bawdy shanty sex
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 401-404, "The Hog-Eye Man" (8 texts, 1 tune)
Colcord, p. 104, "The Hog-Eye Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 54-55, "The Hog-Eye Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 269-272, "The Hog-Eye Man" (3 texts & several fragments, 3 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 199-200]
Sharp-EFC, V, p. 6, "The Hog-Eyed Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 410-411, "The Hog-Eye Man" (1 fragment, 1 tune, evidently bowdlerized)
DT, HOGEYEMN*
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). "The Ox-eyed Man" is in Part 4, 8/4/1917.
Roud #331
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sally in the Garden" (the "clean" version of this piece)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Ox-Eye Man
The Hogs-Eye Man
The Hawks Eye Man
Oh, Who's Been Here?
NOTES: Ed Cray explains "hog-eye man" as one deeply interested in sex. Sandburg explains a "hog-eye" as the barges that traveled from the Atlantic ports around Cape Horn to San Francisco. A "hog-eye man" would therefore be a crewmember of such a barge.
Give the length of the voyage around the Horn in the 1850s, the two definitions may not be mutually exclusive. - RBW
"Oh, Who's Been Here?" is quoted by Hugill, from a shanty which Cecil Sharp gave in the Journal of the Folk Song Society. Hugill only quotes one line, which has the same melody and very similar words as "Hog-Eye Man" though not the usual "Hog-eye" chorus. - SL
File: RL401

Hog-Eye Man (II)


See Roll the Boat Ashore (Hog-eye I) (File: San380)

Hog-eyed Man (III), The


See Sally in the Garden (File: CSW067)

Hog-tub, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer is invited home by his "pretty young lass." She pushes him in the hog-tub and, had not a friend come by to save him, he would have drowned. He takes his love to a dance. He defends kissing: if bad it would not have approval of parsons and ladies.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1846 (Halliwell, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection rescue dancing Bible humorous
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Opie-Oxford2 298, "It's once I courted as pretty a lass" (1 fragment)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #282, pp. 165-166, "(It's once I courted as pretty a lass)"
Roud #1273
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.33(36), "The Hog-tub," unknown, n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Kissing's No Sin (I)" (theme, lyrics)
NOTES: Opie-Oxford2 298, "It's once I courted as pretty a lass" has only the first verse. The description is from broadside Bodleian Firth b.33(36). - BS
There is a very complicated situation here, with "The Hog-Tub" sharing lyrics with "Kissing's No Sin (I)," which shares them with "The Mautman." I have no idea how these strands are to be disentangled. For more, see the notes to "Kissing's No Sin (I)." - RBW
File: OO2298

Hogan's Lake


DESCRIPTION: "Come all you brisk young fellows that assemble here tonight, Assist my bold endeavors while these few lines I write...." The singer tells of the exploits of the logging gang Bill and Tom Hogan led to Hogan's Lake
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1957 (Fowke-Lumbering)
KEYWORDS: logger work
FOUND IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Fowke-Lumbering #6, "Hogan's Lake" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 174-176, "Hogan's Lake" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 20, "Hogan's Lake" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FMB174 (Partial)
Roud #3682
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "Hogan's Lake" (on Lumber01)
File: FMB174

Hogs in the Garden


DESCRIPTION: "Hogs in the garden, catch 'em, Towser; Cows in the corn-field, run, boys, run! Cats in the cream-pot, run, girls, run; Fire on the mountain, run, boys, run!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1843 (Only True Mother Goose's Melodies)
KEYWORDS: animal
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #660, p. 260, "(Hogs in the garden, catch 'em, Towser)"
File: BGMG660

Hokey Pokey


DESCRIPTION: We kneel on the carpet, then stand to choose a lover. The baby sits on its mother's knee crying for "hokey-pokey": a penny a lump, "that's the stuff to make you jump" and fall.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad children
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1573, "Hokey Pokey" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13519
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Here's Three Beggars" (tune, per GreigDuncan8)
cf. "This Pretty Girl of Mine" (one verse)
NOTES: I would not consider this the same as the horrid "Hokey Pokey" game they inflicted upon us in elementary school in Minnesota in the 1960s. I have no idea if this song inspired that, or if the school version was just some well-intentioned teacher's nightmare project. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81573

Hold My Hand, Lord Jesus


DESCRIPTION: "Hold my hand, Lord Jesus, hold my hand (x2), There's a race that must be run, And a vict'ry to be won. Every hour, give me power, to go through." The devotion of the singer to Jesus is emphasized
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Warner 169, "Hold My Hand, Lord Jesus" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LORDJSUS*
Roud #7487
RECORDINGS:
Sue Thomas, "Hold My Hand, Lord Jesus" (on USWarnerColl01)
File: Wa169

Hold My Mule


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

Hold On


See Keep Your Hand on the Plow (File: LxU111)

Hold On, Abraham


DESCRIPTION: "We're going down to Dixie, to Dixie, to Dixie... To fight for the dear old flag.... Hold on, Abraham... Uncle Sam's boys are coming right along." The song catalogs soldiers and generals who are fighting to recover the South for the Union
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1915
KEYWORDS: Civilwar battle nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 529-530, "Hold On, Abraham" (1 text)
Roud #15567
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "We Are Coming, Father Abraham"
NOTES: The chorus of this song implies kinship with "We Are Coming, Father Abraham," but the verses are completely different.
The mention of 600,000 enlistees does not exactly match any of Lincoln's calls for enlistments (the closest was the 1861 authorization of a 500,000 man army; Phisterer, p. 4), but two levies in the summer of 1862 (one for 300,000 three year volunteers and one for 300,000 nine month volunteers; Phisterer, pp. 4-5) totalled 600,000 men.
A date of late 1862 also fits the list of generals mentioned in the song, all of whom were in senior posts in 1862 (but often replaced by 1863). Among those listed:
"General Grant": Ulysses S. Grant, eventual Union high commander, who by late 1862 had already captured Fort Henry and Fort Donelson as well fought as the bloody battle of Shiloh (Jameson, p. 274).
"Our Halleck": Henry W. Halleck, who never actually fought a battle as a Union general, but was Grant's theatre commander and received credit for all victories in the west. A good organizer, the one time he led armies in the field (Corinth campaign, late spring 1862), he showed so little initiative that he took almost a month to cover 20 miles in the face of slight resistance (Catton, p. 291). Despite this, he was promoted to command of all Union armies in July 1862 (McPherson, p. 488). He held the post until 1864, when Grant took over the job (Boatner, p. 367).
"Bold Kenney": There was no Union General Kenney (the index in Phisterer, p. 332, lists Kennedy, Kennett, Kent, no Kenney). The reference is probably to General Philip Kearny, who although only a division commander was probably the most aggressive and competent officer in the Army of the Potomac (Catton, p. 401; Freeman, volume II, p. 133). He was killed at Chantilly on Sept. 1, 1862 (Boatner, p. 449).
"General Burnside": Ambrose Burnside, commander of the Army of the Potomac in the final months of 1862. A complete incompetent, he lost the Battle of Fredericksburg and was returned to subordinate roles for the rest of the war (Jameson, p. 94).
"Picayune Butler": Benjamin F. Butler, called "Old Picayune" (apparently a reference to a female character, "Picayune Butler," in the minstrel song of that title;there was also a banjo player named John Picayune Butler).
Butler was a complete incompetent, but he managed to remain a general for years because of his political connections. In late 1862 he was commander of occupied New Orleans, and so brutal and corrupt that the southerners called him "Beast Butler" (Catton, p. 341) and accused him of stealing spoons with his own hands (Boatner, p. 109). - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: LxA529

Hold Out to the End


DESCRIPTION: "All them Mount Zion member, they have many ups and downs, But cross come or no come, for to hold out to the end. Hold out to the end, hold out to the end, It is my 'termination for to hold out to the end."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 57, "Hold Out to the End" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12016
NOTES: Inspired, I suspect, by chapter 13 of Mark, or its parallels -- Jesus's apocalypse shortly before his arrest. Mark 13:13 reads, in the King James translation. "He that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: AWG057A

Hold the Fort


DESCRIPTION: "Ho, my comrades, see the signal, Waving in the sky; Reinforcements now appearing, Victory is nigh. 'Hold the Fort, for I am coming,' Jesus signals still...." The "great Commander" will defeat Satan's "mighty host."
AUTHOR: Philip Paul Bliss (1838-1876)
EARLIEST DATE: 1880
KEYWORDS: religious battle nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Silber-CivWar, pp. 82-83, "Hold the Fort" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 363, "Hold the Fort" (1 text)
DT, HOLDFRT2*
RECORDINGS:
Chautauqua Preachers' Quartette, "Hold The Fort" (Columbia A1585, 1914)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hold the Fort (Union Version)"
SAME TUNE:
Hold the Fort (Union Version) (File: PSAFB020)
Storm the Fort, Ye Knights (Darling-NAS, pp. 371-372)
Columbia's Daughters (by Harriet H. Robinson; Darling-NAS, p. 358)
NOTES: Inspired by, though hardly based on, a Civil War event. After Atlanta had fallen to the Union, Sherman set up a supply dump at Allatoona. A Confederate force under General French attacked this base on October 5, 1864, and called upon Union General Corse to surrender. Soon after, General Sherman send a simple message to Corse: "Hold the fort; I am coming." Corse held out, and Sherman's troops arrived in time to drive off French.
For more on Philip Paul Bliss, see the notes to "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning." - RBW
File: SCW82

Hold the Fort (Union Version)


DESCRIPTION: Rewrite of traditional hymn: "Hold the fort, for we are coming/Union men be strong/Side by side we battle onward/Victory will come"
AUTHOR: Tune by Philip Paul Bliss (1838-1876); words attributed to English transport workers, late 19th century and said to have been circulated by the Knights of Labor
EARLIEST DATE: 1955 (recording, Pete Seeger)
KEYWORDS: labor-movement nonballad worker derivative
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
PSeeger-AFB, p. 20 "Hold the Fort" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 372-373, "Hold the Fort" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 138, "Hold the Fort" (1 text)
DT, HOLDFORT*
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Hold the Fort" (on PeteSeeger01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hold the Fort" (tune) and references there
File: PSAFB020

Hold the Wind


DESCRIPTION: "Hold the wind (x3), Don't let it blow." "You may talk about me just as much as you please... I'm gonna talk about you on the bendin' of my knees." The singer assures us that (s)he, at least, has been redeemed, and plans to enjoy Heaven
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Sparkling Four)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Lomax-FSNA 247, "Hold the Wind" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11946
RECORDINGS:
Famous Garland Jubilee Singers, "Hold the Wind" (Banner 32249, 1931; Conqeror 8354 [as Bryant's Jubilee Singers], 1934)
Sparkling Four, "Hold the Wind" (OKeh 8741, 1929)
Southern University Quartet, "Hold the Wind" (Bluebird B-5846, 1935)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "On My Journey (II) [Mount Zion]" (floating verse)
File: LoF247

Hold the Woodpile Down


DESCRIPTION: Original and floating verses: "Saw my love the other night/Hold the woodpile down/Everything wrong and nothing was right...." Chorus: "But I was a-travelling, travelling/As long as the world goes round/For the backyard shine on the Georgia line/Hold...."
AUTHOR: unknown (verses possibly Uncle Dave Macon)
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (recording, Sam Patterson Trio)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Original and floating verses: "Saw my love the other night/Hold the woodpile down/Everything wrong and nothing was right/Hold the woodpile down"; "Gave her a little kiss to make her happy/Gave me a little love lick and in came her pappy"; "Come to town the other night/Heard a lot of noise and seen a big fight/Police running and jumping all round/Load of moonshine done come to town"; "Down in the packinghouse, stole a ham/Folks don't know how bad I am/Carried it home and I laid it on the shelf/I'm so bad, I'm scared of myself." Chorus: "But I was a-travelling, travelling/As long as the world goes round/For the backyard shine on the Georgia line/Hold the woodpile down."
KEYWORDS: courting drink humorous nonsense floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 210-212, "Hold That Woodpile Down" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Uncle Dave Macon & his Fruit Jar Drinkers, "Hold That Wood-Pile Down" (Vocalion 5151, 1927)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Hold That Woodpile Down" (on NLCR03)
Sam Patterson Trio, "Haul De Woodpile Down" (Edison 51644, 1925)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Roll the Woodpile Down" (chorus)
NOTES: This song is a conundrum. The verses are pure minstrel (Uncle Dave played minstrel shows in his youth), but the chorus is almost identical to that of "Roll the Woodpile Down," a chanty from African-American riverboat workers: "Rolling, rolling/Yes, rolling the whole world around/That brown gal of mine's down the Georgia line/And we'll roll the woodpile down." Other versions of "Hold the Woodpile Down" say, "Black gals shine on the Georgia line", which is closer to the chanty form. -PJS
I'll admit that I would have classified this as a "Dave Macon-ised" version of "Roll the Woodpile Down" -- but Paul has probably examined the matter more than I have. - RBW
File: CSW210

Hold Your Hands, Old Man


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

Hold Your Light


DESCRIPTION: "What make ole Satan da follow me so? Satan hain't nothin' all all for to do with me. (Run Seeker.) Hold your light (Sister Mary), Hold your light (Seeker turn back), Hold your light on Canaan's shore."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad Devil
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 10, "Hold Your Light" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11851
File: AWH010A

Hold-Up at Eugowra Rocks, The


See The Morning of the Fray (File: FaE084)

Hole In The Wall, The


DESCRIPTION: "On a Saturday night the crowd were invited to be there on Sunday to open the ball ... I'll title the harbour 'The Hole In The Wall.'" The singer, a stranger on this shore, "saw at a glance that the girls they were plenty ... We danced the whole night."
AUTHOR: Peter Leonard
EARLIEST DATE: 1955 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: dancing party shore
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Doyle3, pp. 69-70, "The Hole In The Wall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 52, "The Hole in the Wall" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4416
NOTES: Lehr/Best: The song "refers to the village of Little Bona in Placentia Bay." - BS
File: Doyl3069

Holland Handkerchief, The


See The Suffolk Miracle [Child 272] (File: C272)

Holland is a Fine Place


See The Lowlands of Holland (File: R083)

Holland Song, The


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

Hollin, Green Hollin


DESCRIPTION: "Alone in the greenwood I must roam, Hollin, green hollin, A shade of green leaves is my home, Birk and green hollin." "Where nought is seen but boundless green." "A weary head a pillow finds." "Enough for me... To live at large with liberty."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (Montgomerie)
KEYWORDS: home rambling nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 116, "(Alone in the greenwood I must roam)" (1 text)
NOTES: This doesn't sound much like a folk song, but it apparently made some popular poetry anthologies, so I thought I'd better include it for future reference. - RBW
File: MSNR116

Holly and the Ivy, The


DESCRIPTION: "The holly and the ivy, when they are both full grown, Of all the trees that are in the wood, The holly bears the crown." The holly's attributes are detailed; each ties to a reason Mary bore Jesus
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1861 (Sylvester's "Christmas Carols")
KEYWORDS: religious Christmas Jesus nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
OBC 38, "The Holly and the Ivy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 383, "The Holly And The Ivy" (1 text)
Bronson 54, "The Cherry Tree Carol" (version #29 contains a scrap of "The Holly and the Ivy")
DT, HOLLYIVY*
ADDITIONAL: Walter de la Mare, _Come Hither_, revised edition, 1928; #228, "The Holly and the Ivy" (1 text)
Ian Bradley, _The Penguin Book of Carols_ (1999), #78, "The Holly and the Ivy" (1 text)
Roy Palmer, _The Folklore of Warwickshire_, Rowman and Littlefield, 1976, p. 145, "(The Holly and the Ivy)" (1 text)
Roud #514
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Holly Bears a Berry" (theme, lyrics)
NOTES: This clearly derives from the same roots as "The Holly Bears a Berry," and a strong case could be made that they should be considered one song. [Indeed, Kennedy lumps them. - PJS. As does Roud. - RBW] As, however, both are circulated in fairly fixed forms, I decided to separate them.
Elizabeth Jenkins, The Princes in the Tower (Coward, McCann, & Geoghan, 1978), p. 32, for some reason quotes this song in connection with the 1464 marriage of England's King Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. She does not, however, justify the inclusion in any way I can see. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FSWB383

Holly Bears a Berry, The


DESCRIPTION: "The holly she bears a berry as white as the milk/And Mary bore Jesus who was wrapped up in silk"; similarly "... berry red as the blood/...to do sinners good", "green as the grass/...who died on the cross."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Dunstan)
LONG DESCRIPTION: "The holly she bears a berry as white as the milk/And Mary bore Jesus who was wrapped up in silk", similar verses for "The holly bears a berry as red as the blood/...to do sinners good", "green as the grass/...who died on the cross." Cho.: "And Mary bore Jesus Christ our Saviour for to be/And the first tree that's in the greenwood it was the holly"
KEYWORDS: religious Christmas Jesus nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Kennedy 91, "'Ma Grun War 'n Gelynen [The Holly Bears a Berry]" (1 text, 1 tune)
OBC 35, "Sans Day Carol" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bronson 54, "The Cherry Tree Carol" (version #27 contains "The Holly Bears a Berry")
Ritchie-Southern, p. 42, "The Holly Bears a Berry" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, HOLLYBR*
Roud #514
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Holly and the Ivy" (theme, lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Sans Day Carol
NOTES: This clearly derives from the same roots as "The Holly and the Ivy," and a strong case could be made that they should be considered one song. [Indeed, Kennedy lumps them. - PJS] As, however, both are circulated in fairly fixed forms, I decided to separate them. - RBW
Agreed. Norma Waterson, incidentally, places this as a spring carol, appropriate between Passiontide and Easter. Kennedy's Cornish words are a revivalist translation from the English. - PJS
According to the Oxford Book of Carols, the title the "Sans Day Carol" does not mean "Carol Without a Day," nor is it a reference to [All] Saints' Day; rather, the song was taken down as St. Day in Cormwall.
Jean Ritchie learned this in the United States, but it was not from her family tradition; I have not listed it as found in the Appalachians, because she does not give full details about the source of her version. - RBW
File: K091

Holly Bough, The/The Maid of Altibrine


DESCRIPTION: "In Altibrine there lives a maid, a maid of beauty rare, The violet or primrose with her never could compare." He praises her beauty, and offers to take her away. The girl (?) says that her dowry is too small. He says that the holly will never fade
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting beauty dowry
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H111, pp. 229-230, "The Holly Bough/The Maid of Altibrine" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7981
File: HHH111

Holly Twig, The [Laws Q6]


DESCRIPTION: The singer finds that his new wife is a scold and a nag. He recounts his misery day by day. After a few days he goes to the woods and cuts a (holly twig), (whipping her so hard her soul is sent to hell). (A devil/her father comes to take her back).
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1760 (_West Country Garlands_)
LONG DESCRIPTION: On Monday the singer marries; on Tuesday he cuts a holly stick; on Wednesday he beats her with the stick until it breaks. On Thursday she takes sick (presumably from the beating); he says if she isn't better by tomorrow the devil can take her. On Friday the devil takes her. On Saturday the bells toll her death and the singer is jolly. On Sunday he relaxes alone, saying "Here's good luck to a week's work's end."
KEYWORDS: husband wife abuse violence death
FOUND IN: Britain(England(West,South)) US(Ap,MW,SE,So)
REFERENCES (12 citations):
Laws Q6, "The Holly Twig"
Randolph 367, "I Married Me a Wife" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 184, "The Holly Twig" (2 texts)
Chappell-FSRA 43, "The Holly Twig" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Hudson 58, pp. 174-175, "The Holly Twig" (1 text)
SharpAp 53, "The Holly Twig" (3 texts, 3 tunes)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 246, "The Holy Twig" (sic.) (1 text, which the singer knew to be defective and in which the wood, rather than being holly, is willow)
Shellans, pp. 16-17, "The Brisk Young Bachelor" (1 text, 1 tune)
Niles 59, "The Unwilling Bride" (1 text, 1 tune, listed as Child 277 but appearing to me to be more similar to this ballad)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 78-79, "On Monday Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 72-73, "Scolding Wife" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 520, HOLLYTWG*
Roud #433
RECORDINGS:
Ollie Gilbert, "Willow Green" (on LomaxCD1707)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin" [Child 277] (plot)
cf. "A Week's Matrimony (A Week's Work)" (theme)
cf. "The Old Gray Goose (I)"
cf. "I Had a Wife"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
A Week's Work Well Done
A Bachelor Bold and Young
File: LQ06

Holmes Camp


DESCRIPTION: "It was early last April when the logging was done I went to Fort Francis to join in the fun. My intentions were good -- one drink and no more...." But he (and others) get drunk; he hits on a girl, is rejected, has a headache, vows not to get drunk again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1963 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: logger drink rejection
FOUND IN: Canada(West)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke-Lumbering #48, "Holmes Camp" (1 text, tune referenced)
Roud #4562
File: FowL48

Holy Babe, The


See Children Go Where I Send Thee (File: LoF254)

Holy Ground Once More, The


See Swansea Town (The Holy Ground) (File: Doe152)

Holy Ground, The


See Swansea Town (The Holy Ground) (File: Doe152)

Holy Is the Lamb of God


DESCRIPTION: "O holy Lord, holy my Lord, holy Lord, Holy is the lamb of God. I was in the dark and I could not see... Till Jesus brought this light to me." "If you talk about shouting here below... Just wait till you get upon the other shore."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Chappell-FSRA 97, "Holy Is the Lamb of God" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #16939
NOTES: The most famous reference to the Lamb of God is of course John 1:29, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world." Though the Lamb as an actual being, as opposed to a metaphor, is found in the Apocalypse only, starting at Rev. 5:6. - RBW
File: ChFRA097

Holy Nunnery, The [Child 303]


DESCRIPTION: Willie's parents vow that he shall not marry Annie. Told of this, Annie vows to become a nun and never kiss a man again. After seven years, Willie can bear no more; he dresses as a woman and goes to see Annie in the nunnery. She will not break her vow
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1828 (Buchan)
KEYWORDS: love separation father mother clergy disguise cross-dressing
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Child 303, "The Holy Nunnery" (1 text)
Leach, pp. 686-689, "The Holy Nunnery" (1 text)
Roud #3886
File: C303

Holy Twig, The


See The Holly Twig [Laws Q6] (File: LQ06)

Holy Well, The


DESCRIPTION: Mary sends Jesus out to play. He meets a group of noble children, who scorn him as poor. Jesus bitterly runs home to Mary. She urges him to curse/damn them. Jesus, as the worlds's savior, realizes he cannot do so
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1828 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads 1484)
KEYWORDS: abuse Jesus poverty
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,West))
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Leach, pp. 690-691, "The Holy Well" (1 text)
Leather, pp. 186-187, "The Holy Well" (1 text, 2 tunes)
OBB 110, "The Holy Well" (1 text)
OBC 56, "The Holy Well" (1 text, 2 tunes)
PBB 9, "The Holy Well" (1 text)
ST L690 (Partial)
Roud #1697
RECORDINGS:
Wiggy Smith, "The High-Low Well" (on Voice11)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 1484, "The Holy Well" ("As it fell out one May morning"), T. Wood (Birmingham), 1806-1827; also Douce adds. 137(12), Harding B 7(10), "The Holy Well"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bitter Withy" (plot)
NOTES: Holy wells are just what they sound like: wells which are considered holy for one reason or another. England has quite a few of them, especially in the Celtic regions of Cornwall and Wales, according to Nigel and Mary Kerr, A Guide to Medieval Sites in Britain, Diamond Books, 1988, p. 75. And those happen to be the areas of Britain where this song is attested (although the Kerrs note that many of these holy wells were probably regarded as magical even before Christianity penetrated the area).
The curiosity is the mention of them in Palestine. There are wells with historical significance, such as Beersheba, site of an agreement between Abraham and the Philistines (Genesis 21:22-34, with a parallel agreement between Isaac and the Philistines in Genesis 26:26-33). Chapter 4 of John also mentions Jacob's Well, held in great esteem by the Samaritans, and in Chapter 5 we hear that the pool of Bethzatha/Bethesda had healing powers -- but it isn't a well, and it doesn't seem to have been venerated. Jesus also used the pool of Siloam for a cure in John 9, but again, it isn't a well and it isn't described as holy.
Of some historical significance is the well of Bethlehem, which David wished he could drink from during his days in the wilderness (2 Samuel 23:13-17). This probably had the greatest historical significance of any of the wells.
But none of them are in Galilee, where Jesus grew up.
These and other sites eventually came to be considered pilgrimage sites by Christians (even though the identification of most of them is extremely, and I do mean EXTREMELY, dubious). But they weren't holy wells at the time (even if one believes that they are now). The whole concept is an anachronism. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: L690

Home Brew Rag


DESCRIPTION: "Well, I've never been drunk but about one time, And it think it was on home brew; If you ever drink any brew yourself, You know just what it'll do.... Ick-poo, home brew, We know what we'll do." The singer proposes a little drink to test the brew
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Roanoke Jug Band)
KEYWORDS: drink
FOUND IN: US(SE)
ST RcHoBreR (Full)
RECORDINGS:
Roanoke Jug Band, "Home Brew Rag" (OKeh 45393, 1929)
Lowe Stokes & His North Georgians, "Home Brew Rag" (Columbia 15241-D)
File: RcHoBreR

Home Brew Song, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer "makes the whiskey That some people calls home brew." He is arrested and taken for trial to Newcastle. Condemned by a woman's testimony, he is sentenced to $200 or 6 months. He chooses bug-ridden prison because "they feed on bread and tea"
AUTHOR: Frank O'Hara (Manny/Wilson)
EARLIEST DATE: 1947 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: crime prison trial food drink humorous bug
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Manny/Wilson 21, "The Home Brew Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST MaWi021 (Partial)
Roud #9192
SAME TUNE:
Manny/Wilson: "The Home Brew Song was written in Prohibition Days by Frank O'Hara of Grey Rapids while he was serving a term in the County Jail for selling home brew." - BS
File: MaWi021

Home Came the Old Man


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

Home I Left Behind, The


DESCRIPTION: "An Irish boy he sat alone by Susquehanna shore" thinking sadly of "the home he left behind." He recalls summer, dances, and a girl in Ireland. He and his widowed mother were driven from home "when landlord, bailiffs and police broke in our cottage door"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1987 (Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan)
KEYWORDS: homesickness emigration separation dancing hardtimes America Ireland nonballad mother landlord
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Munnelly/Deasy-Lenihan 46, "The Home I Left Behind" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5235
RECORDINGS:
Tom Lenihan, "The Home I Left Behind" (on IRTLenihan01)
File: RcHILBh

Home in that Rock


DESCRIPTION: "I've got a home in(-a) that rock, don't you see, don't you see? Up between earth and sky, Though I heard my savior cry, 'You've got a home....'" The fates of Dives and Lazarus are alluded to, or David, or Judas, or the happy fate of Noah
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1920 (recording, Biddle University Quartet)
KEYWORDS: Bible religious
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
BrownIII 608, "Little David" (1 short text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 355, "Home In That Rock" (1 text)
Roud #12209
RECORDINGS:
Elder Charles Beck, "I Got a Home In That Rock" (Eagle 103, n.d.)
Biddle University Quartet, "I've Got a Home In That Rock" (Pathe 22400, 1920/Perfect 11225, 1925)
Birmingham Jubilee Singers, "Home in that Rock" (Columbia 14163-D, 1926)
Carter Family, "God Gave Noah the Rainbow Sign" (Victor V-40110, 1929) (Conqueror 8693, 1936)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers "Got a Home In That Rock" (Bluebird B-6539, 1936)
Otis Mote, "Home in the Rock" (OKeh 45429, 1930)
Paul Robeson, "I Got a Home In-a Dat Rock" (Victor 21109, 1927)
Smith's Jubilee Singers, "I've Got a Home in That Rock" (Sterling 1503, n.d.)
Marshall Smith, "Home in the Rock" (Columbia 15080-D, 1926)
Kid Williams & Bill Morgan [pseuds. for Walter Smith & Lewis McDaniel], "When He Died He Got a Home in Hell" (Homestead 16094, c. 1929; Conqueror 7739, 1931)
NOTES: The editors of Brown think that their "Little David" version is linked to "Little David, Play On Your Harp." That may perhaps have asserted some influence, but the final line, "He got [or "lost," in the case of Judas] a home in that rock, don't you see?" strikes me as the key characteristic.
The parable (not an actual historical event!) of the rich man ("Dives") and Lazarus is found in Luke 16:19-31. The story of Noah's flood is in Genesis 6-8, with the covenant of the rainbow in Gen. 9:12-17. - RBW
File: FSWB355A

Home on the Mountain Wave, A


DESCRIPTION: Chorus: "Ha ha my boys, these are the joys of the noble and the brave, who love the life in the tempest's strife and a home on the mountain wave." Several verses basically describing the thrills of sailing, especially in stormy weather.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1860 (Broadside)
KEYWORDS: sailor storm foc's'le
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Harlow, pp. 214-216, "A Home on the Mountain Wave" (1 text)
Roud #9152
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Mountain Wave
A Bold Brave Crew
NOTES: This is found on two broadsides in the Bodleian collection, published in New York and Philadelphia. - SL
File: Harl214

Home on the Range


DESCRIPTION: "Oh give me a home where the buffalo roam...." The singer praises the land of the west, "Where the sky is not cloudy all day." Details vary from version to version, and besides, you all know the song anyway....
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1873 (lyrics published in Smith County [KS] Pioneer)
KEYWORDS: cowboy home
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Randolph 193, "Home on the Range" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Larkin, pp. 166-168, "Home on the Range" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 62, "Home on the Range" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 108, "Home on the Range" (3 texts, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 26, "Home On The Range" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 49, "Home on the Range" (1 text)
Saffel-CowboyP, pp. 178-179, "Home on the Range" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 273-274, "Home on the Range"
DT, HOMERANG
Roud #3599
RECORDINGS:
Jules Allen, "Home On The Range" (Victor 21627, 1928; Montgomery Ward M-4343, 1933)
Arkansas Woodchopper [pseud. for Luther Ossenbrink], "Home on the Range" (Supertone 9571, c. 1929)
Black Bros., "Home on the Range" (OKeh 45572, 1932)
Vernon Dalhart, "Home on the Range" (Brunswick 137, 1927)
Hank Keene, "Home on the Range" (Bluebird B-5241/Montgomery Ward M-4397, 1933)
Frank Luther Trio, "Home on the Range" (Banner 32966/Perfect 12975 [both as Buddy Spencer's Trio], 1933; Conqueror 8273 [as Buddy Spencer Trio], 1934)
Frank Luther & Carson Robison, "Home on the Range" (Columbia 2642-D, 1932)
Ken Maynard, "Home on the Range" (Columbia test recording, c. 1930; on MakeMe, WhenIWas2)
Patt Patterson & Lois Dexter, "Home on the Range" Perfect 12650, 1930 [as "A Home on the Range"]; Conqueror 7711, 1931)
Red River Dave, "Home on the Range" (Sonora 1063, n.d.)
Roy Rogers, "Home on the Range" (RCA Victor 21-0077, 1949)
Pete Seeger, "Home on the Range" (on PeteSeeger17, CowFolkCD1)
SAME TUNE:
Toys, Beautiful Toys (Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 32-33)
Alaska: Home on the Snow (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 243)
Frank Luther & Trio, "Home on the Range Part 5/Part 6" (Decca 1429, 1937)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Western Home
Arizona Home
NOTES: Various candidates have been proposed as the author of this piece, e.g. Daniel Kelley and Dr. Brewster Higley (1873; for this story, see Fuld), "C.O. Swartz... and other prospectors" (1885), and probably others. Given the feel of the piece, it seems likely that there is only a single author -- but I'd have a hard time saying WHICH single author.
Various adaptions have been published over the years, e.g. "Arizona Home" by William and Mary Goodwin (1904), but none depart far from the original form. - RBW
File: R193

Home Rule for Ireland


DESCRIPTION: Hearers are urged to join the Home Rule Movement. Mr Butt and other leaders are named. Gladstone thought that the church bill would suffice, "but Paddy wants to rule himself." America and France support Home Rule. Butt leads "his little band" of MPs
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: Ireland nonballad patriotic political
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Zimmermann, p. 61, "Home Rule" (1 fragment)
Healy-OISBv2, pp. 145-146, "Home Rule" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 13(340), "Home Rule for Ireland" ("Come all you sons of Erin"), unknown, n.d.; also 2806 b.10(224), Firth c.16(407)[first nine lines illegible], "Home Rule for Ireland"
NLScotland, L.C.1270(009), "Home Rule for Ireland," unknown, n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Loyal Song Against Home Rule" (subject: the quest for Home Rule) and references there
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 61: "Constitutional agitation had been revived in 1869 through meetings demanding an amnesty for the Fenian prisoners. A 'Home Government Association for Ireland', created in 1870 [founded by Isaac Butt], became the 'Irish Home Rule League' in 1872 and soon met with great success as the Irish Parliamentary Party. Broadside ballads praised its leaders, and looked once more for encouragement from overseas." [see also "The Glorious Meeting of Dublin" and references there].
The leaders of the movement named in the broadside are, besides Butt, are John Martin and Shea, Dr Cummins and Galbraith; the "little band" of Home Rule MPs are not named.
The reference to Gladstone and the church refers to his 1869 move disestablishing the Church of Ireland in 1869 so that Catholic farmers did not have to pay tithes to that church. In 1885 Gladstone announced his support for Irish Home Rule. (sources: "Gladstone and Home Rule 1886" in Northern Ireland Timeline at the BBC site; "Gladstone and Ireland" at the History Learning site)
Zimmermann p. 61 is a fragment; broadside NLScotland L.C.1270(009) is the basis for the description. The NLS probable period of publication as 1840-1850 is obviously incorrect when the broadside refers to events after 1870. - BS
The initial organization of the Home Government Alliance was rather ironic, as it included Protestants upset about the disestablishment of the Protestant Church (Kee, p. 61; also the notes to "The Downfall of Heresy").
If Kee is to be believed, the Home Rulers were right about Gladstone: "Gladstone seems at first to have imagined that he could solve the problem of Ireland forever by two measures: first, By disestablishing the Irish Protestant Church and, second, legislating to compensate a tenant financially on eviction" (p. 58). The first measure came into force in 1869, and was welcomed in Ireland (although hardly by Conservatives in England). The second took the form of the first Land Bill, passed in 1870. But it corrected only a few minor abuses: Evicted tenants had to be paid for improvements they had made, but they could still be evicted. Something stronger was needed.
The mention of the Church Bill dates the song after 1869. The lack of reference to the second Land Bill, and of Gladstone's Home Rule proposal surely dates it before 1886 -- and the lack of reference to Parnell probably dates it very early in that period. Isaac Butt had been a moderately important figure since 1848, when he defended Smith O'Brien and some of his confederates. But it wasn't until 1869 that he became a major political force, urging a program of constitutional reform.
Butt was convinced (correctly) that the Irish economy was badly mismanaged. The famine years of the 1840s "led Butt to realize that it was not enough simply to blame the laisez-faire policies of the government. It was the fundamentally unsound relationship between landlord and tenant that lay at the root of the trouble" (Lyons, p. 147).
Butt was entirely right about the economic program -- but, like many others after him, he confused political freedom with an efficient society. He didn't really have a program, except a parliament for Ireland. On that basis he managed to recruit a number of Irish MPs -- but he couldn't hold them together in Westminster (Kee, pp. 64-66. This was especially so since he had to work part-time, and wasn't really in position to head a party). From 1875, when Charles Stewart Parnell made his maiden speech declaring Ireland to be "not a geographical fragment but a nation," Butt was a spent force.
Home Rule nearly took care of Gladstone, too. He introduced the bill in 1886 -- and it split the Liberal party; a block of about fifty M.P.s, headed by Joseph Chamberlain, bolted (Massie, pp. 235-238). For about twenty years, Britain had what amounted to four political parties: Orthodox liberals (committed to social reform and home rule), Conservatives (opposed to social reform and home rule), the Irish delegation (which often split many ways; the most important faction, led by John Redmond, believed in home rule, though many were liberal on other issues), and the Chamberlainites (the "Liberal Unionists," who were liberal on social issues but adamantly opposed to Home Rule). It made Britain nearly ungovernable, except when the Chamberlainites managed to extract liberal concessions from the Conservatives. The Conservatives developed a policy of "killing Home Rule with kindness" (Kee, p. 111), but kindness wasn't really their specialty.
A few years later, Parnell died (October 10, 1891), and Kee (p. 115) writes that "The chances of Home Rule for the next twenty years were buried with him"; see also the notes to "We Won't Let Our Leader Run Down." For the future course of the Home Rule movement, see the notes to ÒA Loyal Song Against Home Rule.Ó
Chamberlain, in addition to splitting the liberal party and postponing home rule, had one more dubious gift to give to Britain: His younger son, Neville Chamberlain. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: BrdHoRuI

Home, Boys, Home


See Ambletown; also Rosemary Lane [Laws K43] (File: LK43A)

Home, Dearie, Home


See Ambletown; also Rosemary Lane [Laws K43] (File: LK43A)

Home, Home, Home


See When I Was Young; also Rosemary Lane [Laws K43] (File: EM075)

Home, Sweet Home


See Home! Sweet Home! (File: RJ19080)

Home! Sweet Home!


DESCRIPTION: "'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam, Be it ever so humble there's no place like home." The singer yearns to return to that "lowly thatched cottage" which brings peace of mind
AUTHOR: Words: John Howard Payne
EARLIEST DATE: 1823
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 80-82, "Home! Sweet Home!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Dean, p. 120, "Home, Sweet Home" (1 text)
Gilbert, p. 87, (no name; a partial text of a parody)
Krythe 3, pp. 40-61, "Home, Sweet Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 254, "Home, Sweet Home" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 274-275, "Home! Sweet Home!"
DT, HOMSWEET
ADDITIONAL: (no author listed), "The Vocal Companion_, second edition, D'Almaine and Co., 1937 (available from Google Books), p. 33, "Home! Sweet Home" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #9597
RECORDINGS:
The Breaux Freres, "Home Sweet Home" [in Cajun French] (Vocalion 2961B, 1934; on AAFM2)
Elizabeth Cotten, "Home Sweet Home" (on Cotten03)
Edward Franklin, "Home Sweet Home" (Columbia 44, 1901)
Frank Jenkins, "Home Sweet Home" (Silvertone 5080, 1927)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner, "Home Sweet Home" (Brunswick 475, 1930)
Margarethe Matzenauer, "Home, Sweet Home" (Pathe Actuelle 027519, n.d.)
McMichen's Melody Men, "Home Sweet Home" (Columbia 15288-D, 1928)
Royal Hawaiians, "Home Sweet Home" (Broadway 8100, c. 1930)
DaCosta Woltz's Southern Broadcasters, "Home Sweet Home" (Supertone 9162, 1928)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.28(7a/b) View 7 of 8, "Home, Sweet Home" ("Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam"), R. March and Co. (London), 1877-1884; also Harding B 25(854), Harding B 11(1564), Firth c.17(40), Harding B 11(2341), Harding B 11(4032), "Home, Sweet Home"
LOCSheet, sm1851 490710, "Home, Sweet Home" ("'Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam"), Firth, Pond and Co. (New York), 1851; also sm1851 670130, sm1852 510930, sm1852 692100, sm1883 17251, sm1883 21656, "Home, Sweet Home" (tune)
LOCSinging, as105460, "Home, Sweet Home," J. Andrews (New York), 1853-1859; also sb20169b, "Home, Sweet Home"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "There Is No Place in the Height of Heaven" (floating lyrics)
cf. "The Song That Reached My Heart" (recalls this song)
NOTES: Krythe gives extensive notes on the career of John Howard Payne (1791-1852), actor, playwright, poet, minor American diplomat, expatriate, and man with absolutely no idea how to manage his affairs. This song was originally part of an operetta, "Clari, the Maid of Milan," which Payne sold for fifty pounds in 1823.
The music to the opera "Clari" was by Henry Rowley Bishop. Some have questioned, however, whether he wrote the music for this particular song. It has been claimed that it is an old French tune. The 1837 Vocal Companion printing (the earliest I have found of the music) does credit it to "Bishop."
The sheet music sold hundreds of thousands of copies, but of course none of the proceeds went to the composers.
J. Franklin Jameson's, Dictionary of United States History 1492-1895, Puritan Press, 1894, p. 486, gives this biography of the lyricist:
Payne, John Howard (1792-1852), was an author and actor of considerable merit and fame at home and abroad. He is eminent as the author of "Home, Sweet Home," which he comosed for his drama, "Clari, or the Maid of Milan." His renown as a song-poet was unsurpassed. He was U. S. Minister to Tunis from 1841 to 1845 [Tyler administration] and again from 1851 to his death [Fillmore administration]. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging as105460: J. Andrews dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: RJ19080

Homesick Boy, The


See Ten Thousand Miles Away (On the Banks of Lonely River) (File: R697)

Homespun Dress, The


DESCRIPTION: "Yes, I am a southern girl, and glory in the same, And boast it with far greater pride than glit'ring wealth or fame...." The girl proudly boasts that, though her dress is homespun and her clothing poor, it is all southern and better than northern finery
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Southern Poems of the War)
KEYWORDS: clothes Civilwar patriotic
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Belden, p. 360, "The Homespun Dress" (1 text)
Randolph 215, "The Southern Dress" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 380, "The Homespun Dress" (2 texts plus a reprinting of a printed version)
Hudson 125, pp. 265-266, "The Homespun Dress" (1 text)
Scott-BoA, pp. 229-230, "The Homespun Dress" (1 text, tune referenced)
Arnett, pp. 78-79, "The Homespun Dress" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, CNFEDGAL*
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), p. 224, "The Homespun Dress" (1 short text)
Roud #4504
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bonnie Blue Flag" (tune & meter) and references there
cf. "Young Ladies in Town" (theme)
NOTES: The authorship of this piece is disputed; several sources list a Lt. Harrington, killed at Perryville (Oct 9, 1862); others credit the song to Carrie Bell Sinclair. The notes in Brown contain an extensive, but inconclusive, discussion, which consists mostly of citations of unauthoritative sources. - RBW
File: R215

Homestead Strike, The


DESCRIPTION: "We are asking one another as we pass the time of day Why men must have recourse to arms to get their proper pay." The union workers go on strike; the company hires Pinkertons to break it. The result is bloodshed
AUTHOR: J. W. Kelly?
EARLIEST DATE: 1942
KEYWORDS: labor-movement fight hardtimes strike
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
July 1, 1892 - Declaration of the Homestead Strike (one of many strikes taking place about this time). The Amalgamated Association of Iron and Steel Workers strikes Carnegie's Homestead Steel Works in Pennsylvania, trying to win the right to collective bargaining.
Relations between the Union and management has, until this time, been fairly good, but manager Henry Clay Frick decided the expiration of the current contract was a good opportunity to break the union. He cut wages and refused to negotiate.
July 6, 1892 - Frick brings in 300 Pinkertons (the "paid detectives" of the song) to battle the strikers and relatives (who number about 5000). Twenty people were killed in the ensuing battle, in which the Pinkertons were repelled (and, without exception, injured)
July 9, 1892 - Frick convinces Pennsylvania Governor Pattison to send in 7000 militia to break the strike
July 15, 1892 - Despite appeals from all over the world (including President Cleveland), the Homestead Mill is re-opened by scabs
Nov 14, 1892 - The Homestead workers give up their strike. They have made no real gains (except in public opinion), and many have lost their jobs to scabs
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Gilbert, pp. 198-199, "A Fight for Home and Honor " (1 text)
DT, HOMESTD*
Roud #7744
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Homestead Strike Song" (on PeteSeeger47)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Father Was Killed by the Pinkerton Men" (subject)
NOTES: The Homestead Strike was one of the bitterest labor disputes in American history, as shown by both this song and "Father Was Killed by the Pinkerton Men."
A contemporary account gives this summary description (Jameson, p. 310):
Homestead Riots. On the final refusal of the workingmen's association to accept certain changes in the wage scale, the proprietors of the Carnegie Steel Mills, at Homestead, PA., closed the works July 1, 1892. The employes declared a strike about the same time. A mob prevented the sheriff from placing pickets in the mills. July 6 a body of 300 Pinkerton detectives arrived. A bloody fight between these men and the strikers immediately took place, resulting in considerable loss on both sides. The Pinkertons surrendered. The Pennsylvania militia was then ordered out and remained at Homestead to protect the mills. Many of the strikers were arrested and indictments were found against them."
Note that this description (written no later than 1894) reters to the events as "riots."
The Homestead Iron Works was partly owned by Andrew Carnegie but was run by Henry Clay Frick (1849-1919), who was a robber baron's robber baron. PresElections, p. 1725, describes his behavior: "The management's contract with skilled workers was to expire on June 30 [,1892]. Despite apparent national prosperity, Frock lowered the wage rates of about one-sixth of the labor force in proposed new contracts. His refusal to negotiate, or accept full unionization produced a strike and over-reaction on both sides early in July. Strikers left the building talking of violence; management locked out employees. Barbed wire, observation towers, and private guards, later including Pinkertons, protected strikebreakers."
The strike was so bitter that Nevins/Commager, p. 327, refer to "a pitched battle on the banks of the Monongahela."
Unfortunately for workers, a quirk of fate turned the public against them. On July 23, a nut named Alexander Berkman attempted to assassinate Frick. Berkman injured but did not kill Frick, and the public blamed the union even though Berkman was a lone wolf who had nothing to do with the Homestead laborers (PresElections, pp. 1725-1726). Frick went on to give $25,000 to the re-election campaign of President Benjamin Harrison, whose administration had refused to intervene.
The strike was doomed, especially since strikebreakers had succeeded in resuming partial production at the mill. Eventually, after months of struggle and suffering, the strikers gave in. Many lost their jobs, and the remainder had to accept Frick's pay cuts. All they had succeeded in doing was leaving a blot on people's memories which would still be remembered two generations later (Hofstadter, p. 244). - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: Gil198

Homeward Bound (I)


DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Characteristic line: "Goodbye, fare you well, goodbye, fare you well... Hurrah, my boys, we're homeward bound." While the rest of the shanty usually tells a story about sailors' return, the stanzas are often compiled from floating verses
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (from the log of the Minerva)
KEYWORDS: shanty reunion
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW) Canada(Mar,Newf) Britain(England,Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (19 citations):
Doerflinger, pp. 87-89, "Homeward Bound" (3 texts, 1 tune. The first text is largely "Outward and Homeward Bound"; the third partakes of "Rolling in the Dew" and "Ratcliffe Highway"")
Walton/Grimm/Murdock, pp. 50-52, "Homeward Bound" (1 text, 1 tune)
Bone, p. 117, "Homeward Bound" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, pp. 113-114, "Good-bye, Fare You Well!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 119-121, "Homeward Bound" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 120-124, "Goodbye, Fare-Ye-Well" (8 texts-5 English, 2 Norwegian, 1 French, 2 tunes. Version c's verses are from "Blow the Man Down," version d's are from "The Dreadnaught") [AbEd, pp. 103-106]
Shay-SeaSongs, p. 85, "Goodbye, Fare You Well" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 140-141, "Homeward Bound" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Doyle2, pp. 63, "Homeward Bound" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, p. 29, "Homeward Bound" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 165, "Homeward Bound" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 23, "Homeward Bound" (1 text, 1 tune)
Smith/Hatt, p. 34, "Goodbye, Fare Ye Well" (1 text)
Creighton-NovaScotia 37, "Homeward Bound" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 103, "We're Homeward Bound" (1 text)
GreigDuncan1 5, "Good-Bye, Fare Ye Well" (2 texts, 1 tune)
SHenry H53a, p. 97, "I'm Going Home" (1 text, 1 tune - a fragment, probably of this song)
DT, GDBYFWL*
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). We're Homeward Bound" is in Part 4, 8/4/1917.
Roud #927
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "Homeward Bound" (on ENMacCollSeeger02)
Capt. Leighton Robinson w. Alex Barr, Arthur Brodeur & Leighton McKenzie, "Goodbye, Fare You Well (Homeward Bound)" (AFS 4229 A, 1939; on LC27 as "Homeward Bound"; in AMMEM/Cowell)
W[illiam] H. Smith, "Goodbye, Fare You Well" (on NovaScotia1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Et Nous Irons a Valapariso" (partial tune and chorus)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Goodbye, Fare You Well
Ved Ankerhioning (Anchor Song) [Norwegian versio]
As-tu-connu le Pere Lancelot [French version]
The Glasgow Lasses
NOTES: Horace Beck in his book Folklore and the Sea (Mystic Conn.: Mystic Seaport Museum, 1985), p. 137, explains that this chanty was sung by British sailors as they "walked the capstan round" bound for home. Other ships hearing this would give them mail and messages to take with them. On American ships "Shenandoah" was sung instead. - SH
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Doe087

Homeward Bound (II -- Loose Every Sail to the Breeze)


DESCRIPTION: "Loose every sail to the breeze, The course of my vessel improve... Ye sailors I'm bound to my love." The sailor rejoices to be going home to his faithful Emma. He toasts the ship and the wind which carries her home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1795 (Journal from the Joseph Francis)
KEYWORDS: sailor sea home
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Huntington-Whalemen, pp. 52-53, "Loose Every Sail to the Breeze" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2016
NOTES: Huntington thinks this a traditional song, but his tune, at least, can hardly be regarded as traditional. It requires a range of two full octaves. Some singers could handle this, but probably not enough to keep the song current. - RBW
File: SWMS052

Homeward Bound (III)


See Get Up, Jack! John, Sit Down! (File: Wa071)

Honest Farmer, The


DESCRIPTION: "I saw an honest farmer, his back was bending low, Picking out his cotton... until the merchant come.... That he might pay them some." "Goodbye boll weevil, for you know you've ruint my home." Weary, and poor, his wife advises him to trust in the Savior
AUTHOR: Probably Fiddlin' John Carson
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (recorded by Fiddlin' John Carson)
KEYWORDS: farming hardtimes bug
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
DT, BOLWEEV3*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 22, #5 (1973), p, 22, "The Honest Farmer" (1 text, 1 tune, the John Carson version)
Roud #17582
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Palms of Victory (Deliverance Will Come)" (form)
File: SOv22n5a

Honest Girl (I Went to Church Like an Honest Girl Should)


DESCRIPTION: "I went to church like an honest girl should, And the boys come too, Like other boys would." I come home like an honest girl should, And the boys came too.... She ends up pregnant and has a baby, "And the boys denied it, just like boys would."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Henry, collected from Mrs. Samuel Harmon)
KEYWORDS: courting pregnancy abandonment lie
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 28-29, "Honest Girl" (1 text)
NOTES: This may be the best five-stanza summary of the relationship between the sexes I've ever seen. - RBW
File: MHAp028

Honest Irish Lad, The


DESCRIPTION: "My name is Tim McNare, I'm from the County Clare In that lovely little isle across the sea." The singer loved Ireland, but his farm could not support his family. Now in America, he can find no work. He still hopes to bring his family to join him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1956
KEYWORDS: poverty emigration family separation unemployment
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 89-91, "The Honest Irish Lad" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4522
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "No Irish Need Apply" (subject)
cf. "An Irish Laborer" (subject)
File: FMB089

Honest Working Man, The


DESCRIPTION: "Way down in East Cape Breton, where they knit the sock and mitten, Cezzetcook is represented by the husky black and tan. May they never be rejected, and home rule be protected, and always be connected with the honest working man."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Fowke/MacMillan)
KEYWORDS: work fishing
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fowke/MacMillan 31, "The Honest Working Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, HONSTWR*
Roud #4535
NOTES: Written as a piece of irony aimed at the importation of surplus labor in the summer months.... Referred to in several sources as "the national anthem of Cape Breton workers." - SL
File: FowM

Honey Babe (I)


See New River Train (File: AF073)

Honey Babe (II)


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

Honey, Take a Whiff on Me


See Take a Whiff on Me (File: RL130)

Honkytonk Asshole


DESCRIPTION: "I hang out in bars and bother the dollies, I peak when I'm not spoken to." The singer describes his performance in bars, and tells how he gets thrown out of the place as "bad for business.'
AUTHOR: Baxter Black
EARLIEST DATE: 1989 (Logsdon)
KEYWORDS: drink work
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Logsdon 61, pp. 275-277, "Honkytonk Asshole" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #10111
NOTES: Logsdon thinks this a typical example of modern bawdy songwriting. This strikes me as unlikely; it's dirty, but it's much too much like pop-country whining-because-I'm-on-the-road songs. - RBW
File: Logs061

Honour of a London Prentice, The


See The Valiant London Apprentice [Laws Q38] (File: LQ38)

Hook and Line


DESCRIPTION: "Gimme the hook and gimme the line; Gimme the girl you call Caroline." Possibly part of the same song: "Set my hook and give it a flip; Caught old (name) by the lip."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: fishing courting nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fuson, p. 157, "Hook and Line" (third of 12 single-stanza jigs) (1 fragment); also possibly p. 157, "The Hook" (the fourth jig)
ST Fus157 (Full)
Roud #13943
File: Fus157

Hooker John


DESCRIPTION: "Oh me Mary she's a sailor's lass. Ch: To me Hooker John, me Hoo-john! Oh we courted all day on the grass (Ch) "Full Ch: Way Suzanna Oh way, hay, high, high, ya! Johnny's on the foreyard, Yonder way up yonder!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
LONG DESCRIPTION: "Oh me Mary she's a sailor's lass. Ch: To me Hooker John, me Hoo-john! Oh we courted all day on the grass (Ch) "Full Ch: Way Suzanna Oh way, hay, high, high, ya! Johnny's on the foreyard, Yonder way up yonder!" Verses continue with other girls, "Flora she's a hoosier's friend, Sally she's a nigger's gal" etc.
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong courting
FOUND IN: West Indies
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 290-291, "Hooker John" (2 texts, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 214-215]
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Ooker John
File: Hugi290

Hooly and Fairly (I)


DESCRIPTION: "Doun in yon meadow a couple did tarry": the wife drank and the husband complained that she drank his liquor also. Not only did she sell all her clothes for drink, but all his as well. When drunk she insulted him and their children.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (Whitelaw)
KEYWORDS: shrewishness drink children husband wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan3 584A,584B, "Hooly and Fairly" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), p. 29, "Hooly and Fairly"
Roud #5654
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hooly and Fairly (II)" (subject) and references there
NOTES: The theme, chorus and a few lines in the first verse are the same as in "Hooly and Fairly (I)" but the verses are different. In fact, while this version ends each verse "gine my wifie wid drink hooly and fairly" Baillee's song ends each verse differently asking only in the first verse that she drink hooly and fairly; other verses wish that she feast, spend, dress, strike, sleep timely, and speak "hooly and fairly." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3584

Hooly and Fairly (II)


DESCRIPTION: Singer wonders why he married; his wife drinks and calls him cheap. She dines out and dresses well while he must wear rags. She overdresses, fails to keep house, and sleeps too much. He wishes he were single, and that she would live "hooly and fairly"
AUTHOR: Joanna Baillee (source: Whitelaw)
EARLIEST DATE: text 1751 (published in "Yair's Charmer" as "The Drucken Wife o' Gallowa'"); melody 1759 (The Caledonian Pocket Companion, same title); both together under title "Hooly and Fairly," 1757 (Thirty Scots Songs for Voice and Harpsichord)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer wonders why he married; his wife drinks canary wine and calls him cheap. She dines with her gossiping friends, goes to fairs, "bridals," and preachings well-dressed while he must wear rags. She overdresses in church, fails to keep house, and sleeps while the neighbors are waking. She won't take advice, arguing with the minister. He wishes he were single, and that his wife would drink/spend/dress/speak "hooly and fairly"
KEYWORDS: shrewishness marriage clothes drink nonballad wife
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan3 584C, "Hooly and Fairly" (1 text)
MacSeegTrav 111, "Hooly and Fairly" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), p. 30, "Hooly and Fairly"
Roud #5654
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hooly and Fairly (I)" (theme, chorus and a few lines in the first verse)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Drucken Wife o' Gallowa'
NOTES: The singer is a kvetch. "Hooly" = "slowly, softly, gently." Joanna Baillie (1762-1851) was a child prodigy who composed verses before she could read; in addition to writing songs, for forty years she was a dramatist for the London Theatre. - PJS
"Hooly and Fairly (I)" seems the basis for Baillee's rewrite.
Whitelaw: "Written by Joanna Baillee for George Thomson's collection of Scottish melodies." [Is this George Thomson, A Select Collection of Original Scotish Airs for the Voice in 5 volumes (London,1804-1818)?] - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: McCST111

Hooraw for the Blackball Line


See The Black Ball Line (File: LxA489)

Hoosen Johnny


See The Old Gray Mare (The Old Gray Horse; The Little Black Bull) (File: R271)

Hootchy-Kootchy Dance, The


DESCRIPTION: "There's a place in France/Where the women wear no pants" and similar bawdy verses. Cho: "Do what your mama says and do what your papa says/But don't split your pants, doin' the hootchy-kootchy dance"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1893
KEYWORDS: sex clothes bawdy nonballad
FOUND IN: US
RECORDINGS:
Anonymous singer "The Hootchy-Kootchy Dance" (on Unexp1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bonaparte's Retreat" (sometimes used as a C part for that tune)
NOTES: Yes, you know it. This is the piece that is *always* used in a cartoon as the music when anything having to do with Arabia, Egypt, belly dancing, snake charming or Muslims in general is depicted. Originally a Tin Pan Alley song, popular at the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, where exotic dancers adopted it instantly; Sol Bloom, entertainment director at the Exposition, claimed he wrote it, but it has also been connected to traditional tunes in Iraq and Algeria. The title usually associated with the tune is "The Streets of Cairo." (See http://tinyurl.com/tbdx-HKDance for more history.) It's a tune nearly everyone in America knows, and many older Americans (and maybe kids?) know the "women wear no pants" verse. A folk song if ever there was one. - PJS
With the ironic footnote, based on the Streets of Cairo site above, that those of Arabic culture will NOT know the tune. It is, in a way, a false stereotype. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: RcTHoKoD

Hop High Ladies (Uncle Joe)


DESCRIPTION: Floating verses ("Did you ever go to meeting, Uncle Joe?" "Every time you turn around you jump Jim Crow"). Characterized by the refrain "Hop high ladies, (the cake's all dough/Three in a row), Don't mind the weather when the wind don't blow"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (recording, Henry Whitter)
KEYWORDS: nonballad dancing dancetune floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Randolph 252, "Jump Jim Crow" (1 text, 1 tune, a short text with the chorus of "Jump Jim Crow" and other material that might float)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 219-220, "Jump Jim Crow" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 252)
BrownIII 85, "Hop Light, Ladies" (2 fragments)
Hudson 147, pp. 293-294, [no title] (1 text, a square dance sample with a lot of material appropriate to that setting but with a chorus that seems to place it here)
Lomax-FSNA 116, "Uncle Joe" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 64-65, "Hop High Ladies, the Cake's All Dough" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 33, "Uncle Joe" (1 text)
DT, HOPUPLAD*
Roud #6677
RECORDINGS:
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Hop Light Lady" (OKah 45011, 1925)
Uncle Dave Macon, "Hop Light Ladies The Cake's All Dough" (Vocalion 5154, 1927)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Hop High, Ladies" (on NLCR10) ; "Hop High, Ladies, the Cake's All Dough" (on NLCR12)
Fiddlin' Powers and Family, "Did You Ever See the Devil, Uncle Joe?" (OKeh 45268, 1927)
Riley Puckett, "Hop Light Ladies" (Bluebird B-5514, 1934)
Red Fox Chasers, "Did You Ever See The Devil, Uncle Joe" (Gennett 6461/Champion 15522, 1928)
Doc Roberts, "Did You Ever See the Devil Uncle Joe" (Perfect 12724, 1931; Melotone 12390, 1932; Conqueror 8136, 1933)
Oliver Sims, "Hop About Ladies" (Columbia 15103-D, 1926)
Ernest V. Stoneman, "Hop Light Ladies" (Edison 52056 [may also have been listed as by the Dixie Mountaineers, same record number], 1927)
Henry Whitter, "Hop Light Ladies and Shortenin' Bread" (OKeh 40064, 1924)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Miss McCleod's Reel " (tune)
cf. "Jump Jim Crow" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Randolph has a report that this song has been heard as far afield as Delhi, India, but seems to be referring to "Jump Jim Crow" (of which his version has just the chorus). - RBW
File: R252

Hop High Ladies, the Cake's All Dough


See Hop High Ladies (Uncle Joe) (File: R252)

Hop Light, Ladies


See Hop High Ladies (Uncle Joe) (File: R252)

Hop-Joint, The


DESCRIPTION: "I went to the hop-joint And thought I'd have some fun, In walked Bill Bailey With his forty-one! (Oh, baby darlin', why don't you come home?)" Bailey, or somebody, shoots the singer in the side: "Don't catch me playin' bull In the hop-joint any more!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: cards drugs violence injury murder
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, pp. 90-91, "The Hop-Joint" (1 text, apparently incomplete, plus a fragment; 1 tune); also some additional lyrics on p. 91
ST ScaNF090 (Partial)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home?" (some lyrics; character of Bill Bailey)
NOTES: Scarborough's source apparently had a great deal of trouble acquiring a complete text of this song, and the resulting fragments are difficult to interpret.
It also is a peculiar composite; quite a few lines, and of course the main character, are reminiscent of "Bill Bailey, Won't You Please Come Home?" (though it's not clear whether that song, from 1902, was the inspiration of this or derived from it); the feel seems more like "Duncan and Brady," and of course there are lots of stories of violence in drug-houses. We really need more information than we have. - RBW
File: ScaNF090

Hop-Pickers' Tragedy, The


DESCRIPTION: A group of hop-pickers on their way from work approaches (Larklake) Bridge in a horse-drawn vehicle. The horses shy; the vehicle plunges over the bridge into the River Medway with great loss of life
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973 (recording, Jasper Smith)
KEYWORDS: death drowning farming harvest work disaster horse worker
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Oct. 20(?), 1853 - The Medway accident
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond,South))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MacSeegTrav 120, "The Hop-Pickers' Tragedy" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1729
RECORDINGS:
Jasper Smith, "Hartlake Bridge" (on Voice08)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
There Was Four-and-Twenty Strangers
NOTES: [On October 20, 1853,] A horse-drawn brake carrying a party of hop-pickers plunged over Hartlake Bridge into the River Medway. Thirty people, including four children, were drowned. The dead included Travellers, Irish, and English.
[MacColl and Seeger write,] "In spite of being very well known among Kent and Surrey Travellers, the song does not appear to have been printed at any time." - PJS
Regarding the date of the event, Hall, notes to Voice08, re "Hartlake Bridge" cites Mike Yates as source for an October 1858 date. Yates, Musical Traditions site Voice of the People suite "Notes - Volume 8" - 1.3.03 also has the date as October, 1858. - BS
It appears this is a misreading. I found a reference to the accident in the October 29, 1853 edition of the London Illustrated News. It claims 32 people were killed. As of this writing, a citation may be found at http://tinyurl.com/tbdx-MedwayTrag. (It's in section 39 of the page; use a find command to look for "Medway." The headline is "'The Upper Great Hartlake Bridge over The medway, The Scene of the Late Accident' Collapse of a bridge killing thirty two men women and children, hop pickers on their way home"). - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: McCST120

Hop, Old Squirrel


See Peep Squirrel (File: ChFRA119)

Hopalong Peter


DESCRIPTION: Nonsense song. "Old mother Hubbard and her dog were Dutch/A bow-legged rooster and he hobbled on a crutch/Hen chawed tobacco and the duck drank wine/The goose played the fiddle on the pumpkin vine" and similar verses.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1937 (recording, Mainer's Mountaineers)
KEYWORDS: nonsense animal chickens drink wordplay
FOUND IN: US(MW,SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
BrownIII 160, "Get Along, John, the Day's Work's Done" (1 text, of only three lines, but two of them correspond to this song)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 104-105, "Hopalong Peter" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CSW104 (Full)
RECORDINGS:
Fisher Hendley & his Aristocratic Pigs, "Hop Along Peter" (Vocalion 04780, 1939, on CrowTold01)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "Hop Along Peter" (Bluebird B-6752 [as Mainer, Morris & Sherrill?]/Montgomery Ward M-7131, 1937)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Hopalong Peter" (on NLCR10, NLCRCD1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hallelujah"
cf. "Johnny Fell Down in the Bucket" (technique)
cf. "I'll Rise When the Rooster Crows" (lyrics)
cf. "Hannamaria" (theme)
NOTES: Although most people who hear this song probably think this is about a lagomorph, probably a rabbit (thanks to Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit), this may not be the case. Pamela J. Chance of North Carolina knew about it from her father, Winton Lewis Chance of Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (born July 27, 1920); his version gives the chorus as
Hop along a PeeDee, Hop along a PeeDee,
Where you goin'? Where you goin'?
She notes the following:
"[Winton Chance] was taught this song by his father, Floyd Alden Chance of Indiana when Win was a boy. Win's mom's name was Alma Nellie (Weber) Chance. The family lived in Napoleon, Indiana where they ran the general store and then moved to Muncie, Indiana. Alma ran a pie shop in Muncie from their home.... on the edge of the Ball State University campus. Floyd's side of the family was English, (possibly Scottish) and Alma's side German. Germans use the name 'PeeDee' orÊ'PeeDeeÊdinks' for a small frog."
This might indicate a German origin for the song, but a similar word in fact occurs in English; according to Alexander Warrack, The Scots Dialect Dictionary, Waverly Books, 2000, p. 397, a paddock (also spelled puddock) is a frog or toad. There is even a version of "Frog Went A-Courting" titled "Puddy He'd A-Wooing Ride." So an original in which the word was "peedee" or perhaps "paddock" or even "paddy" is not unlikely, with that form later corrupted to "Peter."
A number of verses to this song rely on the "unexpected final word." For example, a common first verse runs
Old Uncle Peter, he got tight,
Started up to Heaven on a stormy night.
The road being rough and him not well,
He lost his way and he went... to...
(Chorus)
Hopalong Peter, where you going (x2)
Hopalong Peter, won't you bear in mind
I ain't coming back till the gooseberry time. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: CSW104

Hopkin Boys, The


See The Rifle Boys (File: GrD1089)

Hopping Down in Kent


DESCRIPTION: "Some say hopping's lousy. I don't believe it's true," but then the singer describes the hoppers' hard life, poor wages, and bad food. And when the money's spent "don't I wish I'd never went A-hopping down in Kent"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1975 (recording, Mary Ann Haynes)
KEYWORDS: harvest work hardtimes
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
Roud #1715
RECORDINGS:
Mary Ann Haynes, "Hopping Down in Kent" (on Voice05)
NOTES: Hops are picked in September. Most hoppers in Kent were the poor and unemployed from London. "At the hop industry's peak more than 80,000 people poured into Kent every autumn. Whole families came and there are many records of families visiting the same gardens for several generations." (source: "History of Hop Picking in Kent" in A History of Hop Growing in Kent and the South East at the National Hop Association of England site; the article describes hopping and some of the terminology used in the song) - BS
File: RcHoDIKe

Horn of the Hiram Q, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer describes a whaling trip -- he was the best man aboard, and the "worst of them was you." Cho: "With a yo ho and there she blows; Steer for her tail and you'll fetch her nose, with a la-de-da, and a how d'ye do, and hark for the horn of the Hiram Q"
AUTHOR: L. E. Richards
EARLIEST DATE: 1945 (Harlow)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Mostly nonsense, written in dialect. Singer talks of a whaling voyage -- he was the best man aboard, and the "worst of them was you." Cho: "With a yo ho and there she blows; Steer for her tail and you'll fetch her nose, with a la-de-da, and a how d'ye do, and hark for the horn of the Hiram Q"
KEYWORDS: whaler humorous nonballad nonsense
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Harlow, pp. 227-228, "The Horn of the Hiram Q" (1 text)
Roud #9155
NOTES: I'm just guessing that this is a piece of composed poetry because it is in the section of Harlow's book where he's including things like excerpts from the Wizard of Oz (see "Hurrah for Baffin's Bay"). The author is given as L.E. Richards and I couldn't make any further determination who that might be. However, it does *not* appear to be Laura E. Howe Richards (daughter of Julia Ward Howe). She wrote a good bit of poetry, but this piece doesn't seem to be one of hers. -SL
File: Harl227

Horn, Boys, Horn


See So Selfish Runs the Hare (Horn, Boys, Horn) (File: So38n2b)

Hornet and the Peacock, The


DESCRIPTION: "King George says [to the Peacock] 'To America go / The Hornet, the Wasp is the British king's foe.'" However, the Hornet defeats the Peacock: "The Peacock now mortally under her wing / Did feel the full force of the Hornet's sharp sting/"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Eddy)
KEYWORDS: sea battle
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1760-1820 - Reign of George III of Britain
1812 - Battle between the U.S.S. Hornet and the H.M.S. Peacock off the coast of South America. The American ship won
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Eddy 107, "The Peacock that Lived in the Land of King George" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
DT, HRNTPEAK
Roud #5339
NOTES: What seems to be the most widely distributed text of this ballad runs, "The peacock that lived in the land of King George / His feathers were fine and his tail very large / He spread out his wings like a ship in full sail / And prided himself on the size of his tail... The hornet doth tickle the British bird's tail." Hornet and Wasp were American ships.
The battle between U.S.S. Hornet and H.M.S. Peacock was strange. The Hornet was commanded by James Lawrence, a brash young officer barely in his thirties. On February 24, 1812, cruising off Brazil, the 18-gun Hornet spotted H.M.S. Espiegle, another 18-gun ship, off Brazil (see Walter R. Borneman, 1812, The War That Forged a Nation, p. 112).
Before the two ships could engage, another 18-gun brig, H.M.S. Peacock, showed up. Peacock, unlike Espiegle, wanted to fight. It was a bad decision; she had to strike her colors after only a quarter of an hour. And she was so badly damaged that Lawrence quickly abandoned the prize and took off Peacock's crew. (According to Fletcher Pratt, A Compact History of the United States Navy, p. 82, the Peacock sank even before the crew could get off. John K. Mahon, The War of 1812, p. 123, notes that the only three Americans who died in the battle were drowned on the Peacock as she sank.)
Lawrence's reward was a promotion to full captain. That also meant was due command of a frigate. The frigate he received (Borneman, p. 113) was the ill-fated U.S.S. Chesapeake (for its story, see the notes to "The Chesapeake and the Shannon (I)" [Laws J20]). - RBW
File: E107

Horrors of Libby Prison, The


DESCRIPTION: "Did the soldier dream of plenty on the Richmond prison floor? Did he dream that he was marching with his own brave army corps?" The singer describes the starvation and wretched conditions in southern prisons and hopes for release
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar soldier prisoner food death
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 59-63, "The Horrors of Libby Prison" (1 text)
NOTES: I rather doubt that this is an actual song, though Thomas describes it so; it's too long and plodding to survive in oral tradition. Nonetheless conditions in Confederate prisons were always bad; they hadn't enough to feed their own soldiers, so how could they feed prisoners?
Although the song refers to Libby Prison (and Pemberton Prison), I doubt it is based on anyone's actual experiences at that place; the song seems to describe the fate of enlisted men, but Libby Prison (in Richmond, on the James River, the former warehouse of Libby and Sons) was reserved for officers, and was largely shut down after May 1864. - RBW
File: ThBa059

Horse Named Bill, A


DESCRIPTION: "I had a horse, his name was Bill And when he ran, he couldn't stand still. He ran away one day And also I ran with him." Nonsense verses about the singer, his girlfriend, her cat, birds, balloons, and all else that comes to mind
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: animal nonsense
FOUND IN: US(MW,SW)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Sandburg, pp. 340-341, "A Horse Named Bill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 69, "The Horse Named Bill" (1 text, 1 tune)
Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 174, "A Horse Named Bill" (1 text, tune referenced)
Silber-FSWB, p. 241, "A Horse Named Bill" (1 text)
DT, HORSEBIL
Roud #6674
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Dixie" (tune) and references there
NOTES: Sandburg describes the tempo of this as "with lucid intervals if possible." The tune is the same as the first part of "Dixie." - RBW
I incline to the opinion that Sandburg wrote most of these verses. - PJS
Certainly a fair possibility, though he clearly started with some piece of craziness which he amplified (compare the "Crazy Song to the Air of 'Dixie'") - RBW
Verse 1 of Sandburg is similar to verse 4 of Opie-Oxford2 355, "There was a monkey climbed a tree" (earliest date in Opie-Oxford2 is 1626).
Sandburg: "I had a horse, his name was Bill And when he ran, he couldn't stand still He ran away, one day And also, I ran with him"
Opie-Oxford2 355: "There was a horse going to the mill, When he went on, he stood not still."
Unlike "Horse Named Bill," all of Opie-Oxford2 355 is of this type. For another example, "There was a crow sat on a stone, When he was gone, then there was none."
Halliwell 26, ("There was a monkey climb'd up a tree") [The Nursery Rhymes of England] is the same as Opie-Oxford2 355. Halliwell says "it appears ... that these verses were written in 1626, against the Duke of Buckingham." - BS
Halliwell's reference appears to be to the couplet
There was a navy went to Spain,
When it returned, it came back again.
If this indeed was written in 1626, then it is presumably a reference to the failed attack on Cadiz ordered by, yes, Buckingham.
That's George Villiers, whom James VI and I made Duke of Buckingham. Villiers was a handsome young man (born 1592) when James -- who inclined to homosexuality -- noticed him in 1616. In fact, it appears several men-about-the-court gave him money to outfit him, intending to wave him under James's nose. According to Kishlansky, p. 96, "It was money well spent." Not only did Villiers eventually earn himself a Dukedom (something that should have been impossible, since he wasn't a member of the royal family), he also gained grants for his relatives (Kishlansky, p. 97)
Plus he became a major influence on the government -- so much so that, he was in a position to set policy that violated James's own goals. One of these errors -- taking Prince Charles to Spain in a failed attempt to arrange a marriage -- was so bad that some historians (e.g. Fry/Fry, p. 167) think that Buckingham had to have James killed to avoid blame. Whatever the truth of this, when Charles I succeeded his father in 1625, Buckingham retained influence -- but was impeached by the commons in 1626. He was assassinated in 1628 (Cannon, entry on "Buckingham, George Villiers, 1st Duke of").
According to Kishlansky, p. 89, Buckingham became the most hated man in England -- so hated that even his funeral procession had to be surrounded by armed guards, and it took place in the middle of the night (Kishlansky, p. 90).
The Cadiz expedition was one of those expensive fizzles that were an English specialty in this period. According to Stokesbury, p. 48, "[In 1625] England launched a great expedition against Cadiz, but it turned out to be a dismal affair. Failing to destroy the Spanish shipping, Lord Wimbledon decided to take the city instead. He landed his troops, who unfortunately but happily found the storage center for all the wine bound for the Indies. The troops immediately drank themselves into a blind stupor, and they were with great difficulty gotten back aboard ship before the Spanish could round them up."
However, there were quite a few times when the English attacked, or at least proclaimed their intention to attack, Spain. Francis Drake had once raided Cadiz safely, in 1587 (Stokesbury, pp. 23-24) -- which resulted in a lot of English expeditions to Spain intended to emulate Drake. But if ever there as a human activity where trying to repeat just what was done before doesn't work, it's commerce-raiding.
Buckingham's failed expedition was one of many reasons why Charles I came under extreme pressure in his early years. Parliament's complaints against Charles would almost instantly result in the passage of the Petition of Right (Smith, p. 320). This did not solve Charles's problems, but "One grievance was soon removed when the Duke of Buckingham was murdered by a malcontent lieutenant, "John Felton, who blamed Buckingham for his personal disappointments" (Kishlansky, p. 89). Charles I was overcome with grief. There was national rejoicing." Obviously any minister that unpopular would have been an easy target for scurrilous broadsides.
Folklorists seem to have a thing about Buckingham. Opie-Oxford2, #181, mentions a suggestion that he is the Georgie Porgie of "Georgie Porgie Pudding and Pie"; there has also been a an attenpt to link him with "A Carrion Crow." In both cases it is possible to imagine a link between the poem and the career of Buckingham. But in neither case is the link compelling. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: San340

Horse Racing Song


DESCRIPTION: "It is of three north noble country dukes from the Newmarket came." They visit "Lord Framplin's halls" to see his horses. The "poorest duke" wagers 30,000 pounds. The riders taunt each other. Lord Framplin's horse wins the race
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (Butterworth Collection)
KEYWORDS: horse racing gambling nobility
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Butterworth/Dawney, pp. 20-21, "Horse Racing Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1392
File: ButDo020

Horse Shit


DESCRIPTION: "A pilot of great reknown" attempts intercourse with a young woman, and fails in successive tries. The name derives from the refrain.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: bawdy nonballad pilot sex
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cray, pp. 42-43, "Horse Shit" (1 text)
Roud #10137
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Monk of Great Renown"
NOTES: This technically is not a ballad at all. - EC
As Ed notes, this is really a simplified version of "The Monk of Great Renown." He classifies them separately because this one has taken on odoriferous life of its own. Also, the versions of this piece seem to have lost the theme of abusing the girl to death found in some texts of "The Monk." - RBW
File: EM042

Horse Teamster, A


DESCRIPTION: Brady, a horse teamster driving for Cooley, comes to the skidway and asks for a tow. The teamster protests that his horses are stiff and lame, but Brady insists. The horses balk despite all his whipping; eventually he's hauled out by another team
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Beck)
KEYWORDS: lumbering work horse
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Beck 32, "A Horse Teamster" (1 text)
Roud #4055
NOTES: In the early days, the teamsters in the pinewoods drove oxen, later horses and (less often) mules. - PJS
This song is item dC30 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: Be032

Horse Trader's Song, The


DESCRIPTION: "It's do you know those horse traders, It's do you know their plan? (x2) Their plan it is for to snide you And git whatever they can; I've been all around the world." About the tricks and travels of horse traders
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: horse commerce travel trick
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph 495, "The Horse-Traders' Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 355-357, "The Horse-Trader's Song" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 495)
Lomax-FSNA 168, "The Horse Trader's Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5728
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Hang Me, Oh Hang Me (Been All Around This World)" (tune, floating lyrics)
NOTES: Clearly a specialized adaption of "Hang Me, Oh Hang Me" -- but the difference in plot makes them separate songs. - RBW
File: R495

Horse Traders' Song, The


See The Horse Trader's Song (File: R495)

Horse Tramway, The


See Riding on the Tramway (File: Leyd015)

Horse Wrangler, The (The Tenderfoot) [Laws B27]


DESCRIPTION: A young fellow decides to try cowpunching. The foreman assures his that it is an easy job, but the young man soon finds reason to disagree. Hurt by a fall, he gives up the job or is fired
AUTHOR: words credited to D. J. O'Malley (but see below); tune "The Day I Played Base Ball"
EARLIEST DATE: 1894 (Miles City, Montana Stock Growers' Journal, credited to "R. J. Stovall")
KEYWORDS: cowboy injury work horse humorous
FOUND IN: US(MA,NW,So) Canada
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Laws B27, "The Horse Wrangler (The Tenderfoot")
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 96-97, "The Tenderfoot" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 274-275, "The Tenderfoot" (1 text, 1 tune)
Thorp/Fife III, pp. 44-57 (13-14), "The Tenderfoot" (7 texts, 4 tunes)
Fife-Cowboy/West 72, "The Tenderfoot" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ohrlin-HBT 19, "Cowboy's Life" (1 text, 1 tune)
Logsdon 17, pp. 118-122, "The Skewbald Black" (1 text, 1 tune)
LPound-ABS, 82, pp. 176-178, "Breaking in a Tenderfoot" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 114, "The Tenderfoot" (1 text)
DT 599, TNDRFOOT
ADDITIONAL: Hal Cannon, editor, _Cowboy Poetry: A Gathering_, Giles M. Smith, 1985, p. 28-29, "D-2 Horse Wrangler" (1 text)
Roud #3246
RECORDINGS:
Slim Critchlow, "D-Bar-2 Horse Wrangler" (on Critchlow1, BackSaddle)
Glenn Ohrlin, "The Tender Foot" (on Ohrlin10)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Day I Played Base Ball" (tune)
NOTES: The authorship of this piece is uncertain. Lomax credits it to D. J. O'Malley (writing under the name R. J. Stovall); in 1932 O'Malley emphatically claimed authorship, claiming to have written in the piece in 1893. Logsdon apparently has no hesitation about crediting it to O'Malley; neither does Cannon. Sam Hinton heard a story that the real R. J. Stovall gave O'Malley a $5 hat for the right to publish the song under his name (so Sing Out!, volume41, #2 [1996], p. 134). However, the song was also claimed by an R. D. Mack, and Thorp's 1921 edition credits it to "Yank Hitson, Denver, Colorado, 1889." Perhaps more significantly, Thorp reports collecting it in Arizona in 1899.
In support of O'Malley's authorship, we note that O'Malley is also credited with "Charlie Rutledge," which also appeared in the Miles Ciry journal in the 1890s. On the other hand, O'Malley has also been credited with "Little Joe the Wrangler," and the evidence is strong that Thorp wrote that. - RBW
File: LB27

Horse-Thief, The


See Wild Rover No More (File: MA069)

Horse's Complaint, The


See The Drunkard's Horse (File: R318)

Horsey Song


See All the Pretty Little Horses (File: LxU002)

Horsham Boys


DESCRIPTION: Jarvis and James go to the pub and treat all the local low-lifes to drink, in the hope of buying their votes for Jarvis in the Parliamentary election. The rogues drink and smoke with the voters all night; the singer remonstrates with his fellow citizens
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 ("A Parliamentary History of Horsham, 1295-1885" by William Albury)
KEYWORDS: drink political
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1847 - John Jarvis stands for Parliament
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
RECORDINGS:
Tony Wales, "Horsham Boys" (on TWales1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Buffalo Gals" (tune)
File: RcHorBoy

Horsie, The


See I Am Gaun to the Garret (File: Ord058)

Hostler Joe


DESCRIPTION: Hostler Joe and pretty Annie wed and have a child. After four years, though, a stranger lures Annie away from her home with promises of fame and fortune. Her beauty wins her fame, but both fade in time. Joe arrives as she is dying
AUTHOR: Words: George Robert Sims
EARLIEST DATE: 1890 (Randolph)
KEYWORDS: death beauty marriage abandonment children
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 830, "Hostler Joe" (1 text)
ST R830 (Partial)
Roud #7440
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Ostler Joe
NOTES: If I were to use one word to describe this piece of moralizing tripe, the word would be
"sickening." Randolph remarks, "It is often recited by people of the same kind who recite 'The Face on the Barroom Floor.'"
Based on Hazel Felleman's The Best Loved Poems of the American People, it appears that the author's title of this is "Ostler Joe." But since Randolph's appears to be the only traditional collection (if it is truly traditional -- note the lack of a tune), I use his title. - RBW
File: R830

Hot Ash-Pelt, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer McGuire leaves the farm for the asphalt crew. A peeler insults the men, and the singer knocks him into the boiler. They pull him out but the tar won't come off; now he hangs in the National Museum, "an example of the dire effects of hot ash-pelt"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (collected from John McLaverty)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer McGuire leaves the farm to be boss of the asphalt crew. A peeler (policeman) asks to light his pipe on the boiler fire; he insults the men, and the singer hits him, knocking him into the boiler. They pull him out and scrub him, but the asphalt won't come off; now he hangs by his belt in the National Museum, "an example of the dire effects of hot ash-pelt"
KEYWORDS: fight violence work humorous boss worker police technology
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland) Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kennedy 225, "The Hot Ash-Pelt" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacColl-Shuttle, pp. 26-27, "Hot asphalt" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, HOTASPLT
Roud #2134
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(70a), "Hot Ashfelt," unknown, c. 1890
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Napoleon Crossing the Alps" (tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Hot Asphalt
NOTES: Although we tend to think of paved roads as a modern contrivance (with, perhaps, the exception of the Roman roads), paving has been around for quite a while. The first modern paved roads were built by John Loudon McAdam (1756-1836), who as paving commissioner of Bristol from 1806 began using crushed rock to build solid surfaces ("macadam").
The idea caught on quickly; by the mid-nineteenth century, most "turnpikes" in the United States were paved. (A fact which could have important historical effects, e.g. during the Civil War. It's often stated that the Battle of Gettysburg took place where it did because it was a road center -- which is true, but there are plenty of road centers in Pennsylvania. Gettysburg was especially noteworthy because no fewer than three turnpikes -- the Baltimore, Chambersburg, and York Pikes -- met there.)
The earliest macadamized roads were made simply of rock, but by the end of the century, bitumen was being used as a binder, requiring a device to keep the asphault hot. - RBW
File: K225

Hot Ashfelt


See The Hot Ash-Pelt (File: K225)

Hot Asphalt


See The Hot Ash-Pelt (File: K225)

Hot Corn, Cold Corn (I'll Meet You in the Evening)


DESCRIPTION: Stanzas about drink, courting, drink, slavery, drink (you get the idea). Recognized by the themes of the chorus: Corn, a demijohn, evening meetings: "Hot corn, cold corn, bring along a demijohn (x3), I'll meet you in the (morning/evening), Yes, sir."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (recording, Arthur Collins)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad courting floatingverses
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph 267, "I'll Meet You in the Evening" (2 texts, 2 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 228-230, "I'll Meet You in the Evening" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 267A)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 164-165, "Hot Corn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4954
RECORDINGS:
Fiddlin' John Carson, "Old Aunt Peggy, Won't You Set 'em Up Again?" (OKeh 40108, 1924)
Arthur Collins, "Hot Corn" (Columbia A-493, 1909; rec.1907) (CYL: Columbia 33075, 1907)
[Asa] Martin & [James] Roberts, "Hot Corn" (Champion 16520, 1932; Champion 45065, 1935) (Melotone 6-03-52 [as Fiddlin' Doc Roberts Trio], 1936; rec. 1934) [One of these discs is on KMM, but I don't know which]
Fiddlin' Doc Roberts Trio, "Hot Corn" (Perfect 6-03-52, 1936)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Hot Corn" (on NLCR03)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Black-Eyed Susie (Green Corn)" (floating lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Green Corn
NOTES: It is possible that this song and "Black-Eyed Susie (Green Corn)" spring from the same sources, since they share lyrics and themes. However, they have evolved far enough apart that I feel I have to split them. - RBW
I place the Fiddlin' John Carson record here for want of a better place. - PJS
File: R267

Hot Cross Buns


DESCRIPTION: "Hot cross buns! Hot cross buns! One a penny, two a penny, Hot cross buns! If your daughters do not like them, give them to your sons...." Else, "eat them yourselves"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1797 (_Christmas Box_, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: food commerce nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(England,Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1686, "Hot Cross Buns" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 84, "Hot Cross Buns!" (2 texts)
Roud #13029
NOTES: Opie-Oxford2: "This was formerly a street cry, as mentioned, for instance, in Poor Robin's Almanack for 1733." - BS
As the Opies note, this began life as a street cry. But the tradition of hot cross buns at Eastertide has become so strong that it appears the piece has gone into tradition. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: OpOx084

Hot Nuts


DESCRIPTION: To a chorus beginning "Hot nuts. Hot nuts. Get 'em from the peanut man," we hear descriptions of various men's nuts, and various girls' reaction to same. All verses end with the exclamation "Nuts!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (recording, Lil Johnson)
KEYWORDS: bawdy nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cray, pp. 344-346, "Hot Nuts" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
Lil Johnson, "Get 'Em from the Peanut Man" (Champion 50002, 1935) (Vocalion 03199/Vocalion 03241, 1936); "Get 'em from the Peanut Man (Hot Nuts)" (Champion 50002, 1935) (ARC 6-5-58/Vocalion 03199, 1936)
Georgia White, "Get "em from the Peanut Man" (Decca 7152, 1936)
SAME TUNE:
Georgia White, "New Hot Nuts" (Decca 7631, 1939)
Lil Johnson, "Get 'em from the Peanut Man (The New Hot Nuts)" (Vocalion 03241, 1936)
File: EM344

Hot Time in the Old Town, A


See There'll Be a Hot Time (In the Old Town Tonight) (File: RL532)

Hound Dawg Song, The


See The Hound Dog Song (File: R512)

Hound Dog Song, The


DESCRIPTION: "Ev'ry time I come to town, The boys keep kickin' my dog around, Makes no diff'rence if he is a hound, They gotta quit kickin' my dog around." The details of the tussle between dog and people is described, ending when the dog's owners counterattack
AUTHOR: Words: Ebb M. Oungst; music: Cy Pekins (according to the Edison comnpany)
EARLIEST DATE: 1912 (sundry sheet music publications)
KEYWORDS: fight dog injury
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Randolph 512, "The Hound Dog Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 357-360, "The Hound Dog Song" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 512)
Lomax-FSNA, "The Hound Dawg Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 253-254, "The Hound Dog Song" (1 text)
DT, KICKDAWG*
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), pp. 196-198, "The Ozark Dog Song" (1 fragment plus extensive folklore about whether the song is from Missouri or Arkansas)
Roud #6690
RECORDINGS:
American Quartet & Byron G. Harlan, "They Gotta Quit Kicking My Dog" (Victor 17065, 1912)
Byron G. Harlan, "Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dawg Aroun'" (Columbia A-1150, 1912) (Edison Amberol 1023, 1912)
Gid Tanner and His Skillet Lickers, "Ya Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Aroun'" (Columbia 15084-D, 1926)
Cy Stebbins, "They Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dawg Aroun'" (Vocalion 14378, 1922)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
You Gotta Quit Kickin' My Dog Around
NOTES: This was the campaign song of Champ Clark, [representative] from Missouri, during his campaign for President of the United States. He lost. -PJS
As a matter of fact, James Beauchamp "Champ" Clark was never even nominated for the Presidency, though he came very close. As Congressman from Missouri, he had been a leader in the fight to strip the Speaker of the House of his dictatorial powers in that chamber. This made him an obvious candidate for the Presidency in 1912. But the Democratic Party required that candidates receive two-thirds of the votes of the nominating convention delegates, and Clark -- though he was the clear favorite among the candidates -- never did gain that many votes (this was in the days when most delegates were chosen by caucus). Eventually his support started to fail, and a series of deals made Woodrow Wilson the Democratic nominee.
With the Republican Party split between the factions of Taft and Theodore Roosevelt, the Democratic nominee's election was assured. Thus Clark was only a rule change away from being elected President -- but not a single person ever voted for him in a national election.
Randolph heard a story which based this on a pre-Civil-War incident in Forsyth, Missouri. Proof is, of course, lacking, and if the attribution to Oungst and Pekins is correct (which I don't quite believe), it seems unlikely to be true. - RBW
File: R512

Hourra, Mes Boues, Hourra!


DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Sailor is gathering strawberries and feeding them to a girl. Her mother arrives; he says he's using the berries to fix her teeth. The mother wants her share too, but the sailor says they're only for girls of 15. The old ones are for the captain.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty bawdy food
FOUND IN: Canada France
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 137-138, "Hourra, Mes Boues, Hourra!" (2 texts, 1 tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Derriere chez nous y a z'un petit bois (Behind Our House There is a Little Wood)
NOTES: If sung in French, the text is full of bawdy double entendres. This was possibly derived from a French-Canadian folk song with a similar story. - SL
The correct title of this piece is Hourra, Mes Boués, Hourra!
File: Hugi137

House Carpenter and the Ship Carpenter, The


See The Daemon Lover (The House Carpenter) [Child 243] (File: C243)

House Carpenter, The


See The Daemon Lover (The House Carpenter) [Child 243] (File: C243)

House o' Glenneuk, The


See The Pedlar (I) (File: FVS126)

House of Mr Flinn, The


DESCRIPTION: Flinn is tall and thin, his wife short and fat. She eats the beef leaving him the bone. She lashes him with tongue and fists. He tries to control her but she beats him down and takes to drinking gin. Don't let a woman have her way.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: shrewishness violence drink drink dialog humorous husband wife food
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1288, "The House of Mr Flinn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7142
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Scolding Wife (I)" (theme)
cf. "The Scolding Wife (IV)" (theme)
NOTES: The title comes from the chorus ("By all the houses I have seen for grumbling and for din It beats them all to flindersticks the house of Mr Flinn") and the last line of each verse which is a variation on the chorus line. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71288

House of the Rising Sun, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer laments, "There is a house in New Orleans / They call the Rising Sun / It's been the ruin of many a poor girl / And me, O God, I'm one." She tells of her troubled childhood, laments that she cannot escape her life, and warns others against it
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (recording, Ashley & Foster)
KEYWORDS: whore lament gambling drink husband father mother
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 250-253, "The House of the Rising Sun" (5 texts, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 151, "The Rising Sun Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
PSeeger-AFB, p. 18, "House Of The Rising Sun" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 184, "House Of The Rising Sun" (1 text)
DT, HOUSESUN*
Roud #6393
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff & his Smoky Mountain Boys, "The Rising Sun" (Vocalion 04909, 1939)
Almanac Singers, "House of the Rising Sun" (General 5020B, 1941; on Almanac01, Almanac03, AlmanacCD1)
Clarence Ashley & Doc Watson, "Rising Sun Blues" (on Ashley03, WatsonAshley01)
[Clarence] Ashley & [Gwen] Foster, "The Rising Sun Blues" (on Vocalion 02576, 1933)
Homer Callahan, "Rounder's Luck" (Melotone 6-02-59, 1936; rec. 1935)
Dillard Chandler, "Sport in New Orleans" (on Chandler01)
Tom Darby & Jimmie Tarlton, "Rising Sun Blues" (Columbia 15701-D, c. 1931)
Woody Guthrie, "House of the Rising Sun" (on AschRec2)
Esco Hankins, "The Rising Sun" (King 650, 1947)
Daw Henson, "The Rising Sun Blues" (AAFS 1508 B2)
Roscoe Holcomb, "The Rising Sun" [LP] or "House in New Orleans" [CD] (on Holcomb-Ward1, HolcombCD1)
Bert Martin, "The Rising Sun Blues" (AAFS 1496 B2)
Pete Seeger, "House of the Rising Sun" (on PeteSeeger18)
Georgia Turner, "The Rising Sun Blues" (AAFS 1404 A1)
NOTES: Legman offers extensive, if rambling, notes in Randolph-Legman I. - EC
While this song is generally associated in the public mind with African-American tradition, it clearly circulated in the Anglo-American community extensively; Clarence Ashley said he learned it from his grandmother. - PJS
Tex Alexander in 1928 recorded a song with the "Rising Sun" title, which we took for a time to be the earliest reference. But Mark R. Fletcher sends me information making it clear that this is a different piece with the same name. - RBW
File: RL250

House That Jack Built, The


DESCRIPTION: Jack built his house." "This is the malt that lay in the house that Jack built" "This is the sack that held the malt that lay in the house that Jack built" ....
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1780 (J. Marshall, according to Opie-Oxford2)
LONG DESCRIPTION: "Jack built his house" The master of hounds chases the fox that killed the cock that woke the priest that married the man that married the maiden that milked the cow that tossed the dog that tossed the dog that worried the cat that killed the rat that gnawed the string that tied the sack that held the malt that lay in the house that Jack built.
KEYWORDS: cumulative nonballad marriage farming animal clergy home
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Opie-Oxford2 258, "This is the house that Jack built (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #30, pp. 44-45, "(This is the house that Jack built)"
Roud #12921
RECORDINGS:
Charlie Wills, "The House That Jack Built" (on Voice18)
NOTES: The Opies believe that this has been parodied more than any other nursery poem/song. They note parallels or translations into other languages -- apparently Danish, French, and German. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: RcTHTJBu

House-Burning in Carter County, The


DESCRIPTION: A mother sets out from home to get some mullen oil, but -- despite her child's encouragement to hurry -- stays to talk. Before she returns, her house catches fire and her children die in each other's arms. The mother is told they are at rest
AUTHOR: James W. Day ("Jilson Setters")?
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: fire death children mother
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 108-109, (no title) (1 text)
ST ThBa108 (Partial)
Roud #13945
File: ThBa108

Housekeeper's Tragedy, A


See The Housewife's Lament (File: FSC097)

Housewife's Lament, The


DESCRIPTION: The housewife complains of her never-ending war against dirt: "Oh life is a toil and love is a trouble, Beauties will fade and riches will flee, Pleasures they dwindle and prices they double...." At last she dies "and was buried in dirt."
AUTHOR: probably Eliza Sproat Turner (see NOTES)
EARLIEST DATE: 1871 (Arthur's Lady's Home Magazine," Volume 37)
KEYWORDS: work wife lament death burial dream
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,SE)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
BrownIII 312, "A Housekeeper's Tragedy" (1 text plus an excerpt)
FSCatskills 97, "Life Is a Toil" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 67, "The Housewife's Lament" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 184, "The Housewife's Lament" (1 text)
DT, HSEWFLAM
Roud #5472
RECORDINGS:
Loman D. Cansler, "The Housekeeper's Complaint" (on Cansler1)
NOTES: Earlier editions of the Index listed this as by H. A. Fletcher, which a question mark; I am no longer sure where I found this information. Jim Dixon gives what seems much more likely to be accurate information:
"THE HOUSEWIFE'S LAMENT [your title] was written as a poem titled A HOUSEKEEPER'S TRAGEDY by Eliza Sproat Turner. It appeared in her book Out-of-Door Rhymes (Boston, J. R. Osgood & Comp., 1872; reprinted Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott Company, 1903). The latter edition can be seen at Google Books...
"The earliest printing I can find was in Arthur's Lady's Home Magazine, Volume 37 (Philadelphia: T. S. Arthur & Sons, April, 1871 [also on Google Books]), page 241, where it appears without attribution:
"A year later, it appeared in Locomotive Engineers' Journal, Volume 6, No. 7 (Cleveland, Ohio: Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, July, 1872 [once again on Google Books]), page 310, with the correct attribution:
"I don't know who set it to music, or when." - (RBW)
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FSC097

How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?


DESCRIPTION: Times are hard; goods used to be cheap, but they're now exorbitant. Schools are bad, but all children are sent nonetheless. Prohibition, although good, is inappropriately enforced. Preachers and doctors are corrupt.
AUTHOR: Blind Alfred Reed
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (recording, Blind Alfred Reed)
KEYWORDS: hardtimes nonballad money
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Darling-NAS, pp. 383-384, "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
New Lost City Ramblers, "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" (on NLCR09, NLCRCD1)
Blind Alfred Reed, "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" (Victor V-40236, 1929; on HardTimes1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rigs of the Times" (subject)
NOTES: Pity we don't have a keyword "bitching." - PJS
File: RcHCPMSS

How Can I Be Merry Now?


DESCRIPTION: "As I went up thro' Union Street, I spied an apple as green as a look, The outside was fair, but the inside was rotten, And fin love's oot o' sight it'll soon be forgotten ... how can I be merry now? My poor heart's heavy since my love's gone"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1200, "How Can I Be Merry Now?" (1 short text)
Roud #6801
NOTES: The current description is based on the one GreigDuncan6 verse. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD61200

How Can I Keep from Singing


DESCRIPTION: "My life flows on in endless song Above earth's lamentation... It sounds an echo in my soul, How can I keep from singing." The singer notes all the troubles swirling around, but refuses to be influences by such things
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1868 (New York Observer and Chronicle, according to John Garst)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 353, "How Can I Keep From Singing" (1 text)
DT, KEEPSING*
NOTES: My original notes on this mentioned it as a Quaker song, based on liner notes on an album that shall remain nameless (and certainly it fits Quaker doctrine regarding the individual conscience, plus there is that line about "When friend (Friends?) by shame are undefiled..."). But John Garst has found out more about it:
"The text was first published with a tune by Robert Lowry in Bright Jewels for the Sunday School, 1869. The text alone, entitled Always Rejoicing, was published in the New York Observer and Chronicle, August 27, 1868 (information from Barbara Swetman). The text was submitted to the Observer, apparently as an original work, by 'Pauline T.' The song has nothing to do with Quakers, who did not sing hymns in their early days, except that Doris Plenn's Quaker grandmother knew it. One of the stanzas sung by Pete Seeger, beginning "When tyrants tremble, sick with fear," is by Doris Plenn. It is a protest of McCarthyism." - JG (RBW)
File: FSWB353A

How Can I Keep My Maidenhead


See My Mither Built a Wee, Wee House (File: GrD81727)

How Can I Leave You


DESCRIPTION: "The maiden was wealthy, the lover was poor." She rejects him because "wealth came between them." He says the difference means nothing to him. She leaves. Two years later "she'd lost all her riches," and asks his forgiveness. He takes her back.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: poverty love rejection parting reunion money
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1837, "How Can I Leave You" (1 text)
Roud #13605
File: GrD81837

How Come That Blood?


See Edward [Child 13] (File: C013)

How Dry I Am


DESCRIPTION: "How dry I am/How dry I am/Nobody knows/How dry I am"
AUTHOR: Music: Edward Rimbault, adapted by Tom A. Johnstone; Words: Will B. Johnstone
EARLIEST DATE: 1921 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fuld-WFM, pp. 279-280, "How Dry I Am"
RECORDINGS:
Bar Harbor Society Orchestra, "Old Timers" (Vocalion A-14315, 1922)
Wise String Orchestra, "How Dry I Am" (Vocalion 05360, 1939)
NOTES: This fits Dave Para's definition of folklore perfectly: What everybody knows, and no one gives a second thought. I'm astonished it's not listed in any books we've indexed thus far.
Fuld describes the melody as an adaptation of the hymn "(O) Happy Day," published in the 1855 "Wesleyan Sacred Harp." A short version of the song appeared in the musical "Up in the Clouds", and we've listed that as "Earliest Date." The complete song was published in Gaskill & Ernest's "Good Fellow Songs," published in 1933 -- just in time for Repeal. - PJS
File: RcHDIA

How I Love the Old Black Cat


DESCRIPTION: "Who so full of fun and glee? Happy as a cat can be, Polished sides so nice and fat, How I love the old black cat! Yes I do." The boys try to sick dogs on the cat, but the girl (?) rescues it. She prefers it to other pets
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: animal nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 147, "How I Love the Old Black Cat" (1 text)
Roud #15767
File: Br3147

How I Wish I Was Single Again


See I Wish I Were Single Again (II - Female) (File: E070)

How I Wish They'd Do It Now


See I Wish They'd Do It Now (File: Gil111)

How Long Blues


DESCRIPTION: "How long, how long Has that evening train been gone, How long, Baby, how long, how long?... How long will it be Before you learn to quit mistreating me?" The singer complains about his lost woman and the travelling he has done.
AUTHOR: Leroy Carr?
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (recordings, Tampa Red's Hokum Jazz Band, Gladys Bentley); perhaps 1921 (recorded by Daisy Martin)
KEYWORDS: loneliness separation travel
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 437-440, "How Long, How Long Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 314, "How Long Blues" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, HOWLONG*
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 25, #1 (1976), p, 39, "How Long" (1 text, 1 tune, from Mable Hillery, which is a somewhat dubious relative; it has this general tone and many similar lyrics but also has much floating material and a different final line); Volume 38, #4 (1994), pp. 40-41, "How Long Blues" (1 text, 1 tune, the original Carr/Blackwell version)
RECORDINGS:
Shelley Armstrong [Bumble Bee Slim] , "How Long, How Long Blues" (Champion 50008, 1935)
Gladys Bentley, "How Long - How Long Blues" (OKeh 8612, 1928)
Leroy Carr [and Scrapper Blackwell], "How Long -- How Long Blues" (Vocalion 1191, 1928; Vocalion 1241, 1929; Banner 32557/Oriole 8166/Perfect 0215/Romeo 5166, 1932)
Jed Davenport, "How Long How Long Blues" (Vocalion 1440, 1930)
Folkmasters, "Rising Sun" (on Fmst01) [This is *not* "House of the Rising Sun," but a Brownie McGhee partial rewrite of "How Long Blues"]
Bertha "Chippie" Hill w. Baby Dodds' Stompers "How Long Blues" (Circle J-1003, n.d.)
Wingy Manone & his orchestra, "How Long Blues" (Bluebird B-10749, 1940)
Daisy Martin, "How Long? How Long?" (OKeh 8009, 1921, possibly this song)
Tampa Red's Hokum Jug Band, "How Long How Long Blues" (Vocalion 1228, 1928)
SAME TUNE:
Leroy Carr, "How Long, How Long Blues Part 2" (Vocalion 1279, 1929; Banner 32557/Oriole 8166/Perfect 0215/Romeo 5166, 1932; rec. 1928); Carr later released additional "How Long" sequels
Leroy Carr w. Earl, "Scrapper" Blackwell, "The New How Long How Long Blues" (Vocalion 1435, 1930)
NOTES: I have not heard the Daisy Martin recording; it may be a different song. If it's the same, however, that shoots Carr's authorship in the foot. - PJS
According to Cohen, Martin's recording is "not closely related"; neither is a song recorded in 1928 by Alberta Brown, "How Long." Cohen of course does note some earlier materials which may have inspired Carr.
Cohen adds that their June 1928 recordings "inaugurat[ed] a major change in the nature of recorded blues music. Smoother, more urbane than most of the country blues that preceded them, more polished, and considerably more danceable, their style was immediately emulated." The result was to make piano-and-guitar blues much more common. - RBW
Except that they *didn't* get much more common, unless Carr and Blackwell were doing them. It's a difficult combination. - PJS
Carr and Blackwell alone were responsible for quite a few; the 1994 article in Sing Out! quotes William Barlow's The Emergence of Blues Culture as saying the two had to re-record the song three times because the master kept wearing out! It was one of the best-selling "race" records of the period.
Carr unfortunately died in 1935 of alcohol abuse; he was only 30 years old. This probably means that a number of questions about this song will never be answered. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: LoF314

How Long, How Long Blues


See How Long Blues (File: LoF314)

How Many Biscuits Can You Eat?


DESCRIPTION: "How many biscuits can you eat, this mornin', this mornin'? (x2) Forty-nine, and a ham of meat, this mornin'." Discussion of food, work, etc., with many floating verses ("Ain't no use me workin' so hard," "If you get there before I do").
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (recording, Humphrey Bate)
KEYWORDS: food nonballad work
FOUND IN: US(SE)
Roud #7876
RECORDINGS:
Dr. Humphrey Bate & his Possum Hunters, "How Many Biscuits Can You Eat?" (Brunswick 232, 1928)
Gwen Foster, "How Many Biscuits Can I Eat" (Bluebird B-8082/Montgomery Ward M-7859 [as "How Many Biscuits Can You Eat"], 1939)
Grandpa Jones, "How Many Biscuits Can You Eat?" (King 740, 1948)
Pickard Family, "How Many Biscuits Can You Eat" (Coast 253, n.d.)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Crawdad" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Crawdad (File: R443)
NOTES: This is pretty definitely built about "Crawdad," or one of its relatives, and manages to be even sillier than that silly song. But it's been recorded enough that I finally decided it went in the Index. - RBW
File: RcHMBCYE

How Many Miles to Babyland?


See How Many Miles to Babylon? (File: HHH040a)

How Many Miles to Babylon?


DESCRIPTION: Singing game: "How Many Miles to (Babylon)? (Three) score and ten. Can I get there by candlelight? Yes, and back again." The rest of the song may refer to the pleasures of "Babyland" (Henry text), or to courting, or traveling -- or something else
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1805 (Songs for the Nursery, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: playparty travel nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(England(All), Scotland) US(NE)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
SHenry H40a, p. 12, "How Many Miles to Babyland?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Linscott, pp. 18-19, "How Many Miles to London Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 26, "How many miles to Babylon?" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #146, p. 115, "(How many miles to Babylon?)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 81, "(How many miles to Glasgow Lea?)" (1 text)
Roud #8148
NOTES: Sam Henry was of the opinion that the original text of this song referred to "Babyland," with "Babylon" as a corruption. Gomme, however, has nineteen texts (though a handful may not be this piece), and seven refer to Babylon, three to Banbury (Cross/Bridge), a couple of others to variants on Bethlehem, a few to London, and none to Babyland.
As secondary evidence, I note that Lewis Carroll quoted the piece, referring to "Babylon," in Chapter XVIII ("Queer Street, Number Forty") of Sylvie and Bruno. Carroll quotes quite a few popular lyrics -- and generally seems to have tried to use the best-known forms.
In defence of Sam Henry, there is a piece called "Babyl-land" with several sheet music settings, by Jeannette Amidon (LOCSheet, sm1877 04182, "Baby-land," Wm. A. Pond (New York), 1877 (tune)) and Gerrit Smith (LOCSheet, sm1884 24704, "Baby-land," Wm. A. Pond (New York), 1884 (tune)). But these really look like by-blows to me. I have to think "Babylon" is original even though it's hard to explain.- RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: HHH040a

How Many Miles to Banbury?


See How Many Miles to Babylon? (File: HHH040a)

How Many Miles to Glasgow Lea?


See How Many Miles to Babylon? (File: HHH040a)

How Many Miles to London Town?


See How Many Miles to Babylon? (File: HHH040a)

How Old Are You, My Pretty Little Miss?


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

How Paddy Stole the Rope


DESCRIPTION: Paddy and Mick rob a church. They need rope to bind the loot. Paddy climbs the bell rope to the top, cuts the rope above himself and falls. Mick climbs up, cuts the rope beneath himself and can't get down. The boys are caught and thrown in jail
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: prison robbery unemployment humorous
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
O'Conor, pp. 68-69, "How Paddy Stole the Rope" (1 text)
McBride 57, "Paddy Stole the Rope" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Hazel Felleman, Best Loved Poems of the American People, p. 474, "How Paddy Stole the Rope" (1 text)
ST OCon068 (Partial)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 20(65), "How Paddy Stole the Rope," unknown, n.d.
File: OCon068

How Sad Was the Death of My Sweetheart


See Saint James Infirmary (File: San228)

How Sadly My Heart Yearns Toward You


See Broken Ties (I'm Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes) (File: BrII156)

How Sweet the Rose Blaws


DESCRIPTION: "How sweet the rose blaws, it fades and it fa's; Red is the rose and bonnie, O! It brings to my mind what my dear laddie was; So bloomed -- so cut off was my Johnnie, O!" Peace is come, but the singer's love is dead. She will meet him soon (in death)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: love soldier death flowers
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ford-Vagabond, p. 176, "How Sweet the Rose Blaws" (1 text)
Roud #13166
NOTES: This is almost the only song in Ford which is offered entirely without comment. Whatever that means. - RBW
File: FVS176A

How Tattersall's Cup Was Won


DESCRIPTION: "Fair, every heights are gleaming Beneath the sun God gave, Great waves of life are swaying Along the wheel-worn wave." A very detailed description of the race, listing many of the horses as well as the rider who was thrown and killed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1968
KEYWORDS: racing death horse
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 249-253, "How Tattersall's Cup Was Won" (1 text)
NOTES: Meredith and Anderson believe this piece pertains to the race in which Alec Robertson was killed. This is quite reasonable, but the accident plays a relatively minor role. - RBW
File: MA249

How Tedious and Tasteless the Hours


See Greenfields (How Tedious and Tasteless the Hours) (File: San154)

How We Got Back to the Woods Last Year


See How We Got Up to the Woods Last Year (File: FowL45)

How We Got Up to the Woods Last Year


DESCRIPTION: "Come all you lads that would like to hear How we got up to the woods last year." The singer and colleagues gather (to go logging). They hire a coach and feel grand. They perhaps get drunk. They arrive.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1957 (Fowke)
KEYWORDS: travel drink logger
FOUND IN: Canada(Ont,Que)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fowke-Lumbering #45, "How We Got Up to the Woods Last Year" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Fowke/MacMillan 22, "How We Got Up to the Woods Last Year" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3676
RECORDINGS:
O. J. Abbott, "How We Got Back to the Woods Last Year" (on Lumber01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Conroy's Camp" (tune, lyrics, theme)
cf. "Rantin', Roarin', Drunk on the Way" (lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
Conroy's Camp (File: FowL46)
NOTES: This is about as interesting as the description implies; even Fowke admits that the song lacks "any dramatic incident."
The chorus is shared, in general form, with "Rantin', Roarin', Drunk on the Way" -- but the plot is different; it appears to be simply a case of the cross-fertilization so common among lumbering songs. - RBW
File: FowL45

Howard Carey [Laws E23]


DESCRIPTION: The singer, Howard Carey, recalls his happy youth. But he left home and parents and, despite his mother's warnings, turns to a dissolute life. Blaming his fate on whiskey and bad women, he kills himself
AUTHOR: probably Joe Scott
EARLIEST DATE: 1948 (Manny/Wilson)
KEYWORDS: suicide drink family
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
May 5, 1897 - "Howard Carrick, a woodsman, aged 33, hanged himself in his room at Annie Siddal's boarding house in Rumford, Maine..." (source: Ives-DullCare)
FOUND IN: US(NE) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Laws E23, "Howard Carey"
Dibblee/Dibblee, pp. 59-60, "Howard Kerry" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ives-DullCare, pp. 131-132,247, "Howard Carey" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manny/Wilson 22, "Howard Carey" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 834, HOWCAREY*
Roud #9191
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Howard Carragher
NOTES: Ives-DullCare is unequivocal about the author being Joe Scott. - BS
Manny/Wilson attributes it without hesitation to Scott as well. They note, however, what appear to be allusions to British material. Their background notes that this is described as "the true story of Howard Carey (variously spelled Kerrick, Currie, Carrick...) who was born in Grand Falls on the Upper St. John River. Howard led a wandering life, went to the bad, and finally hanged himself in Rumford Falls, Maine." - RBW
File: LE23

Howe o' Fife, The


DESCRIPTION: "Comin' thro' the Howe o' Fife, I met a lass, she was sae blythe, She smiled on me sae couthily, My he'rt gaed pit-a-patter"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: courting
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 871, "The Howe o' Fife" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #6228
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan4 text. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4871

Howes o' Glenorchy, The


DESCRIPTION: "In the howes o' Glenarchy there is a bit ground, The more that you toil it, more pleasure is found"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: sex nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1442, "The Howes o' Glenorchy" (1 fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #7273
NOTES: The current description is based on the GreigDuncan7 fragment.
GreigDuncan7: "The words are stated to be indelicate." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD71442

Howes o' King-Edward, The


DESCRIPTION: "Though lovely the land where in childhood I wandered," the singer looks back on a different, more gloomy world. He recalls happy days of the past; now, "O, changed are the Howes o' King-Edward to me!"
AUTHOR: William Cruikshanks (died 1868)
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ord, pp. 339-340, "The Howes o' King-Edward" (1 text)
Roud #3942
File: Ord339

Hu, Hu, Hu!


DESCRIPTION: German shanty. Translation: "Oh the bosun's great big fid boys, Hu, hu, hu, hu, hu! Is as long as a tops'l yard boys. Hu... Ch: Yaw, yaw, yaw we'll sing boys, an' we'll heave away (x2)."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Baltzer, _Knurrhahn_)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty
FOUND IN: Germany
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 536-537, "Hu, Hu, Hu!" (1 text, 1 tune -- a translation only; Hugill says the original was too rough)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Reise, Reise!
File: Hugi536

Huckleberry Hunting


DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Characteristic line: "To me, Hilo, me Ranzo boy!" Boys and girls went huckleberry hunting, with the boys naturally chasing the girls. In the end a boy proposes to a girl (perhaps after seeing her garter)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917
KEYWORDS: shanty courting
FOUND IN: US(MA) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Doerflinger, p. 32, "Huckleberry Hunting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Colcord, p. 69, "Huckleberry Hunting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Harlow, pp. 88-89, "Hilo, My Ranzo Way" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 249-250, "We'll Ranzo Way" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 181-182]
Sharp-EFC, XIV, p. 17, "Huckleberry Hunting" (1 text, 1 tune)
Mackenzie 102, "The Wild Goose" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, (RANZORAY* -- the text here is very similar to Doerflinger's, but the tunes are so different that one wonders if they could be the same shanty)
ADDITIONAL: Captain John Robinson, "Songs of the Chantey Man," a series published July-August 1917 in the periodical _The Bellman_ (Minneapolis, MN, 1906-1919). "Huckleberry Picking" is in Part 1, 7/14/1917.
Roud #328
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ranzo Ray" (floating lyrics, form of chorus)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Sing Hilo, Me Ranzo Ray
The Wild Goose Shanty
File: Doe032

Huckleberry Picking


See Huckleberry Hunting (File: Doe032)

Hudson River Steamboat


DESCRIPTION: "Hudson River steamboat, sailing up and down, New York to Albany or any river town, Choo choo to go ahead, Choo choo to slack her...." Sketches of places one would pass and things one might see from the steamboat
AUTHOR: perhaps adapted by John Allison?
EARLIEST DATE: 1955
KEYWORDS: river ship nonballad technology
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Lomax-FSNA 40, "Hudson River Steamboat" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, HUDSNRVR
Roud #6671
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Hudson River Steamer
File: LoF040

Hugh Hill, the Ramoan Smuggler


DESCRIPTION: The singer, a member of Hill's smuggling crew, recalls how Dixon betrayed them. A cutter captures Hill's ship, but when the crew is brought to trial, no proof is available; Hill and crew go free and will smuggle more
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1933 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: trial punishment ship escape
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H494, pp. 127-128, "Hugh Hill, the Ramoan Smuggler" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13372
NOTES: One of the less-intelligent British colonial policies was to cut off all sorts of external (and even internal) trade. This made smugglers like Hugh Hill heroes. There really weren't many of them, though -- Ireland didn't have enough excess income to support a large smuggling industry. - RBW
File: HHH494

Hugh of Lincoln


See Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter [Child 155] (File: C155)

Hugh of Lincoln and The Jew's Daughter


See Sir Hugh, or, The Jew's Daughter [Child 155] (File: C155)

Hugh Spencer's Feats in France [Child 158]


DESCRIPTION: Hugh Spencer is sent to the king of France to know whether there be peace or war; answer: War. The French queen challenges him to joust with her knight. French horses and spears are inferior but he wins, then fights others until the king sues for peace.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1750 (Percy folio)
KEYWORDS: royalty war France knight fight
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1337-1453 - Hundred Years' War between Britain and France
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Child 158, "Hugh Spencer's Feats in France" (3 texts)
Roud #3997
NOTES: In trying to figure out what this song is about, we have the following clues from the texts of the ballad (which is known only from the three texts printed by Child, respectively from the Percy Folio, from another text in the Percy papers, and from a Scottish version collected in Aberdeenshire by Joseph Robertson; it has never been found in modern tradition):
In Child A, B the hero is Hugh Spencer and he is English. In Child C, he is "Sir Hugh," or "young Sir Hugh," and is Scottish.
In all versions, Hugh is sent to France.
In Child B, Hugh is accompanied by Hugh Willoughby and John of Atherly.
In Child A, C, the unnamed Queen of France argues with Spencer. In Child B, the Queen is Maude.
In Child A, the French King is Charles.
Child A mentions a battle fought at Walsingham.
The English King is not named in A or B, nor the Scottish King in C.
Child says that there were "many Hugh Spencers" in English history, but this is somewhat exaggerated. No doubt there were many of that name -- but none of great fame. OxfordCompanion, p. 883, lists only one Spenser (the poet Edmund Spenser) and two Spencers, neither named Hugh and both too late for the song. Even Child implicitly admits the lack of noteworthy Spencers, for the only Hugh Spencer he mentions is "the younger of the favorites of Edward II."
However, this is not the usual name for this man. Child calls him Hugh Spencer, and Doherty consistently gives the family name as "de Spencer" (e.g. p. 65), but in OxfordCompanion, p. 289, he is Despenser. Similarly in Prestwich (e.g. p. 80), Hutchison (e.g. p. 98), Saul (e.g. pp. 431), Harvey (p. 131), Myers (e.g. p. 18), Phillips (e.g. p. 9), and Wilkinson (e.g. p. 125)
The first Hugh Despenser of any significance lived in the reign of King Henry III. That king appointed him to the noteworthy post of Justiciar in 1260 (Powicke, p. 162), and he spent a second brief term as Justiciar a little while later . However, the Justiciar -- in effect, the regent when the King left the country -- should not have been able to leave the realm. In any case, this Despenser was killed at Evesham a few years later (Powicke, p. 202) -- while opposing the King! (Hutchison, p. 95).
This Despenser is unlikely because there was no King Charles of France at this time; Louis IX was the French King from 1226-1270, and he was succeeded by Philip III (1270-1285) and then Philip IV (1285-1314). There was not to be a King Charles until Charles IV (1322-1328); later on, Charles V reigned 1364-1380 (and was regent for some time before that) and Charles VI (reigned 1380-1422).
Better candidates are the Hugh Despensers, father and son, who were important in the reign of Edward II (reigned 1307-1327). The elder was, according to Hutchison, p. 95, the son of the Despenser of Evesham; he was born around 1261 (Phillips, p. 418). His son Hugh the Younger was about Edward's age; they had, in fact, been knighted on the same day (Hutchison, p. 103). This would mean he was born around 1284.
The elder Despenser was of some note as a soldier, having fought at Bannockburn and elsewhere (Hutchison, p. 95). He had also been one of the commissioners who arranged for Edward II's marriage to Isabella of France (Phillips, p. 117). But by the time Charles IV took the throne of France, he was too old to be a champion -- although hardly as old as Froissart claims; that less-than-reliable writer says he was ninety at the end of Edward's reign; (Froissart I. 10; Froissart/Jolliffe, p. 16). Still, if the Spencer of the song is based on a Despenser, it almost certainly is the younger.
It is ironic to note that, according to Phillips, p. 363, Edward and the younger Despenser apparently disliked each other at first. That would change over time.... Edward II was a king who was always dependent on favorites. His first had been Piers Gaveston, who however had been murdered in 1312. Over the next decade, Edward relied on a small circle, but gradually the Despensers came to the fore. And the younger Despenser was even appointed to a mission to France (Phillips, p. 384). But, although our records are incomplete, it proved a very short visit, if indeed he made it to Paris at all.
The single strongest argument against the possibility that the younger Hugh Despenser is the Hugh Spencer of the ballad is the fact that everyone except Edward II hated the Despensers. Despenser the younger was suspected of a sexual liason with the King -- indeed, Queen Isabella eventually openly accused him of it (Doherty, p. 96). To be sure, Phillips, p. 98, offers evidence against it, and even offers some reason to think Edward had a relationship with Despenser's wife, not Despenser himself. Phillips, pp. 102-103, sums up the evidence about Edward's sexuality: He had several children by his wife, and seemingly a shadowy illegitimate child as well. Phillips also notes that the King of France, who was unusually anti-homosexuality in a time when homophobia was normal, let Edward marry his daughter. It seems highly unlikely that he was exclusively homosexual.
If Edward had a homosexual love affair, it was much more likely that it was with his earlier favorite, Piers Gaveston. Even Phillips, p. 102, admits "It is impossible to be certain of the true nature of the relationship between Edward II and Gaveston, whether sexual, a formal bond of brotherhood, or simply a very close friendship." What is certain is that Gaveston was exalted above everyone else in the land, and Edward really liked being around him. Surely many suspected a sexual element. But if Edward had one homosexual affair, it was easy to assume he had two -- and that meant Despenser. Given the attitudes of the time, would an accused homosexual have been exalted as a champion of England?
Nor was this the only reason the younger Despenser was so disliked; he and his father were both extremely grasping, and used their favor with the king to gain extensive lands and wealth (Prestwich, p. 89). As Myers says on p. 18, "The Despensers were abler and less greedy than is sometimes supposed..... But Edward's government was, on the whole, inept, and the Despensers were widely hated as covetous and oppressive." As early as August 1321, Edward II had been forced to exile the pair and take away their holdings (Prestwich, p. 90).
Despenser the Younger proceeded to turn pirate. It is true that he preyed mostly on non-English ships (Hutchison, p. 107), and piracy at this time was considered far more honorable than it later became -- but it was hardly a nobleman's work, and the French were not his sole target; his biggest prize was Genoese (and caused a diplomatic incident).
Edward's treatment of the Despensers resembled the King's behavior with Gaveston a decade before: Edward had exiled his favorite, then stupidly called him back. The Despensers followed the same script: Edward II turned on his opposition soon after, and recalled the Despensers in 1322 (Hutchison, p. 111). It had been a very short exile.
In some ways, they were actually more problematic than the previous favorites: "Compared with Gaveston, whose influence seems to have been over the person of the king rather than the day-to-day business of government, there was much more reason to accure [the younger] Despenser of acting as if he were king" (Phillips, p. 442).
As administrators, they seem to have been competent enough (Hutchison, p. 118, notes useful reforms passed by the parliament of 1322) -- but their goal was self-aggrandizement, not good government. "Their success in 1322 revived the Despensers' appetite for land and wealth; they had not learned their lesson from the previous rising against them" (Prestwich, p. 93). The father became Earl of Winchester (Prestwich, p. 94); the son was given more than three dozen land grants which made him lord of almost all of South Wales (Hutchison, p. 117); a royal ship was named La Despenser (Prestwich, p. 94).
According to Prestwich, p. 104, after the defeat and execution of the Earl of Lancaster and his supporters, "Edward II had at his disposal the greatest territorial windfall that any medieval English monarch enjoyed. The estates could have been used to create a new loyal following: instead, the benefits of royal favour were shared out by a small clique of the Despensers and their cronies in a period of tyrannical rule." The elder became Earl of Winchester; the younger, although he was not actually granted the title of Earl, collected almost all the lands of the Earldom of Gloucester and a big chunk of Lancaster lands (Phillips, p. 418) -- and almost all in Wales and the Marches, making it worth more than equivalent lands scattered around the nation, which is what most Earls had.
There was, to be sure, a quarrel between England and France at the time. Edward I of England (reigned 1272-1307) and Philip IV of France (reigned 1285-1314) had had many quarrels over the borders of the English province of Guyenne in southwestern France. But when Edward II succeeded his father, he went through with a marriage with Philip's daughter Isabella, and for a time the two nations were friendly (Prestwich, p. 85). Two sons, Louis X (reigned 1314-1316) and Philip V (1316-1322) succeeded Philip, but the third of Philip's sons, Charles IV (1322-1328) eventually ended up quarelling with his brother-in-law and his chief minister Despenser the Younger.
Phillips, p. 43, notes that "The accident of the survival of part of Despenser's personal archives shows that he was centrally involved with the administration of Gascony during the time of the Anglo-French war there in 1324-1325."
Under Despenser, tensions between France and England heated up over affairs in Gascony (Phillips, pp. 455-457); the two nations ended up in a small-scale war, the "War of St. Sardos" -- really a border squabble that got out of hand. A party in Gascony attacked St. Sardos, a town that was being fortified by the French, and hanged a French officer (Phillips, pp. 461-462). The French called for satisfaction, didn't get it, and Edward's half-brother the Earl of Kent made a hash of the embassy which followed (Hutchison, p. 125).
Without planning it, Edward and the Despensers found themselves at war with France, but the conflict was no English victory; the French occupied La Reole (Seward, p. 24). The English ended up buying a peace; Edward II supposedly paid some 90,000 pounds to keep his remaining lands in Guyenne (Ormrod, p. 14).
Nor did either Despenser command in the war; Edward II had originally planned to lead the English army, but then decided to turn the command over to the Earl of Surrey (Phillips, p. 468). Indeed, Phillips, p. 428, suggests that Despenser could not safely have gone to France at this time.
Meanwhile, hostility was growing between Queen Isabella, King Edward, and the Despensers (Hutchison, p. 128). Edward, during the French wars, had taken away some of her land (Phillips, p. 466). The Despensers cut back on her allowance and planted an open spy in her household (Hutchison, p. 129). Phillips, p. 482, thinks that hostility between the Queen and the younger Despenser began by at least 1322, although she may not yet have turned against her husband himself.
Late in the reign of Edward II, at the height of the Despenser power, Queen Isabella went on a diplomatic mission to her brother Charles IV to end the War of St. Sardos. At one time Edward and Despenser were supposed to come to formalize the agreement made (Phillips, p. 475). But again Despenser did not come to France; instead it was decided to send Edward II's son Edward. And, once Isabella was joined by her son (the future Edward III), she refused to come home, claiming that he had not only deprived her of her privileges but of her conjugal rights. She had become, in Hutchison's words (p. 127), "the dominating personality in a miscellaneous group whose sole binding agent was its hartred of the power and pride of the Despensers."
Natually Charles IV took his sister's side, but at this point, the younger Despenser took a hand. He did not travel to France to fight -- but he did offer flattery and money to Charles IV (Froissart I.7; Froissart/Jolliffe, p. 10). It worked well enough that Isabella had to head off to Hainault to raise her invasion.
This raises an interesting possibility. There is no hint of this in the ballad, but perhaps if we change the Queen OF France to the Queen FROM France, we might have an explanation for the quarrel in the ballad between Queen and Spencer. Possible -- but without proof. Doherty, p. 100, thinks the Despensers may have encouraged Edward II to distrust his queen, but this too is beyond proof. We do know that she made many accusations against them (Doherty, p. 101).
And the Despensers were responsible for guarding against an invasion (Doherty, pp. 88-89). Unfortunately their efforts failed; as Doherty notes on p. 89, Edward had made so many enemies that many lords were willing to secretly turn their backs on him.
Support for Edward collapsed almost instantly (Doherty, pp. 90-91). The London mob attacked and murdered suspected supporters of the Despensers (Hutchinson, p. 135). Adam Orleton, the Bishop of Hereford (who just might be the Bishop of Hereford of the Robin Hood saga; see the extensive notes to "A Gest of Robyn Hode" [Child 117]) preached against Despenser the Younger.
The elder Despenser was captured and given a mock trial (Prestwich, p. 97, calls it a "deliberate parody" of the Earl of Lancaster who had been executed in 1322, and Phillips, p. 513, says it was modelled on that procedure). He was not granted the right to answer the charges against him -- on the almost-reasonable grounds that he had made a law denying the accused the right to address their charges (Phillips, p. 512). He was executed as a traitor and his head ordered to be displayed at Winchester even before Edward II was captured (Doherty, pp. 92-93), which shows how much the Despensers were hated.
The younger Despenser was taken not long after -- and knew he could expect no mercy (the summary of the charges against him occupies almost all of page 517 in Phillips; it appears to me that there were at least 13 capital charges and as many more which would probably result in severe fines or punishment).
Faced with charges that would clearly end with him being executed with torture, Doherty (p. 105) thinks he tried to kill or starve himself. The conspirators who had overthrown Edward II concluded that he might not live to face a show trial in London, so he was tried in Hereford. Froissart I.13 (Froissart/Jolliffe, p. 20) says he made no answer to the charges (which Doherty, p. 106, interprets to mean that he was not allowed to reply. This seems likely, since he was tried before most of the same judges who had tried his father; Phillips, p. 516).
Naturally he was condemned to death by the most extreme means possible. Froissart/Joliffe's version has it that,in the initial stages, his genitals were cut off and thrown into the fire because of his alleged sexual relations with Edward II (Phillips, p. 518 n. 382 thinks the real purpose was to indicate the destruction of his family line, also symbolized by the removal and destruction of his coat of arms). Doherty's description is more like a standard drawing and quartering -- but there is no doubt; Despenser was tortured to death. His head was then displayed on London Bridge.
Despite the cruel end, Dohery, p. 107, declares that "Nobody would mourn de Spencer." The rebels then set about deposing the king, finally inducing him to abdicate so that his son, rather than someone else, would be raised to the throne (Dockray, pp. 112-113, etc.; Prestwich, p. 98). Prestwich, pp. 98-99, thinks that his abdication was not part of the original plan; Isabella and Mortimer hoped to rule in his name. But that didn't work, so he became an embarrasment. In 1327, after at least one attempt at rescue (Doherty, p. 117), the decision was made to murder Edward II. The grisly tale that he was killed with a red-hot poker up the anus does not appear until later (Prestwich, p. 99, although Philipps, p. 32, notes that the tale that Edward was homosexual and killed in this way is now universally know in England), but it is effectively certain he was killed in 1327.
Not all of the problems in Edward II's reign wer the fault of the Despensers, who merely took advantage of the opportunities Edward II offered, but it appears absolutely no one approved of their actions. It is hard to imagine making a song about them.
We should note that this was not the end of the Despenser family -- for instance, Saul, p. 102, mentions an Edward Despenser who became a Knight of the Garter in the reign of Richard II, and his younger brother became Bishop of Norwich (although he loved to fight and would be known for leading a failed military expecdition which resulted in his impeachment; Saul, p. 106). Richard made Thomas Despenser Earl of Gloucester (Saul, p. 382), presumably because his the family had married into the Gloucester earldom. But these Despensers were minor figures.
It was a decade after the deposition of Edward III that the real war with France began, when the new French king, Philip VI of Valois, confiscated all of Guyenne (Ormrod, p. 19). But there is no hint of a champion challenging him prior to the war -- let alone scaring him off.
It is interesting, although perhaps not very relevant, that King Edward III himself challenged Philip of Valois (Philip VI) to a single combat (Prestwich, p. 173). Nothing came of that, of course; Philip in 1339 was about 45 years old, and wearing out, whereas Edward III was 32, and very tall and strong, and was also a very stout fighter -- he won several large tournaments in the 1340s, and supposedly was still a better-than-average combatant as late as 1359 (Prestwich, p. 205. Seward, p. 39, has a different version of this, in which Edward offered single combat or a combat between a hundred knights of each side -- but does not cite a source). But the challenge to combat between Edward and Philip of course was given only *after* the war had started.
This whole business of tournaments to settle conflicts between nations is, of course, very old; we see an instance of it during the quarrel between David and Ishbaal in 2 Samuel 2:12-17 (where, however, all the participants died and nothing was settled).
On the whole, the simplest explanation for this song is probably that it is fiction, and the name Hugh Spencer is coincidence. But we cannot rule out the possibility that it is a conflate song. The first part, we might conjecture, is about Hugh Despenser the Younger, but the story of the Feats in France dates either from the reign of Henry V (in which case Henry himself might be the hero) or from the reign of Edward III -- in which case John Hawkwood or Robert Knowles (both semi-outlaws who led robber bands but were regularly employed by the state) strike me as strong candidates.
In this connection, it is interesting to note that Charles V reigned in France during the latter part of the reign of Edward III, and Charles VI reigned for most of the reign of Richard III (the successor of Edward III) and all of the reigns of Henry IV and Henry V. Both, however, have drawbacks -- Charles V's reign saw France recapture most of the English conquests in France, and Charles VI was mad for almost his entire reign, so he could hardly have directly contested with Hugh Spencer. For more on Henry V, and the Hundred Years' War in general, see the notes to "King Henry Fifth's Conquest of France" [Child 164]. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: C158

Hughie Grame [Child 191]


DESCRIPTION: Hugh the Graeme is taken for horse thieving. Many pray for his life, but the Bishop (of Carlisle) is bitterly opposed and has his way. (Hugh is executed.) The reason is that the Bishop has seduced Hugh's wife, and the horse stealing was in retaliation
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1803 (Scott; reference in Ritson, 1790)
KEYWORDS: execution revenge adultery robbery
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North),Scotland(Aber,High))
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Child 191, "Hughie Grame" (9 texts)
Bronson 191, "Hughie Grame" (7 versions)
Dixon XV, pp. 73-76, "Sir Hugh, the Graeme" (1 text)
GreigDuncan2 271, "Sir Hugh the Graeme" (2 texts, 1 tune) {Bronson's #4}
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 98-99, "Hughie the Graeme" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
OBB 143, "Hughie the Graeme" (1 text)
BBI, ZN287, "As it befel upon one time"; ZN1008, "Good Lord John is a hunting gone"
DT 191, HUGRAME* HUGRAME2*
ADDITIONAL: James Kinsley, editor, Burns: Complete Poems and Songs (shorter edition, Oxford, 1969) #342, pp. 474-476, "Hughie Graham" (1 text, 1 tune, from 1792)
Roud #84
RECORDINGS:
Ewan MacColl, "Hughie the Graeme" (on ESFB1, ESFB2) {Bronson's #6}; Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger, "Hughie Grame" (on SCMacCollSeeger01) {for tune cf. Bronson's #4}
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Gallant Grahams" (lyrics)
cf. "Druimionn Dubh" (tune, according to Burns)
File: C191

Hughie Wricht


DESCRIPTION: Hughie Wricht was Groosie Norie's son. His uncle, also Hughie Wricht, told the singer the story [apparently about Hughie's drinking, adventures, and, finally, taking the "teetotal pledge"].
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1652, "Hughie Wricht" (1 fragment)
Roud #13048
NOTES: GreigDuncan8 quoting Middleton's Selection: "Hughie 'lang had lik'd the yill [ale],/ Water seldom cross'd his throttle' but he took the 'teetotal pladge' after the adventures he had one Hallowe'en." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81652

Hullaballo-Balay


See Hullabaloo Belay (File: FSWB084A)

Hullabaloo Belay


DESCRIPTION: Shanty. Characteristic line: "Hullabaloo belay, Hullabaloo bela belay." The singer's mother keeps a boarding house. With the boarders at sea, Shallo Brown courts the mother. She runs off with Shallo (but returns the next day). The father pines away
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: Early 1950s (recording, Richard Dyer-Bennet)
KEYWORDS: shanty home mother father abandonment death jealousy adultery infidelity return humorous
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Hugill, pp. 484-485, "Hullaballo-Balay" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 84, "Hullabaloo Belay" (1 text)
DT, HULLABOO*
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Shallo Brown (Shallow Brown)" (character)
cf. "Ali Alo" (similar tune and chorus)
File: FSWB084A

Humble Farmer, The


DESCRIPTION: "I saw a humble farmer, His back was bending low, A-pickin' out the cotton, Along the cotton row." The ragged farmer meets the merchant, who demand, "Pay me all you owe." The farmer cannot pay it all; he hopes for an extension until next fall
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1924 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: work poverty hardtimes farming
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 213, "The Humble Farmer" (1 text)
Roud #6709
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Farmer Is the Man" (theme)
cf. "Po' Farmer" (theme)
cf. "Down on the Farm (III)" (theme)
File: Br3213

Humble Village Maid Going a-Milking, The


DESCRIPTION: Maid going milking rejects advances of rich suitor "for Edmund he's the lad I love He won my heart,she said, And he has promised for to wed his humble village maid"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: poverty courting love marriage rejection money
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 77, "The Humble Village Maid Going a-Milking" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: GrMa077

Humoresque


DESCRIPTION: An omnibus of disparate stanzas, bawdy and scatological, set to Dvorak's familiar piano composition.
AUTHOR: unknown (music by Antonin Dvorak)
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (music published 1894)
KEYWORDS: bawdy scatological humorous
FOUND IN: Australia Britain(England) US(MW,SW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Cray, pp. 235-239, "Humoresque" (4 texts, 1 tune)
DT, HUMORESQ*
Roud #10262
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Footprints on the Dashboard" (tune)
NOTES: The late Supreme Court Associate Justice William O. Douglas claims that he and fellow Yale Law School professor Thurman Arnold wrote at least one of the verses to this in the early 1930s. See Douglas's Go East, Young Man (pp. 171-172). - EC
File: EM235

Humours of Donnybrook Fair (I), The


DESCRIPTION: "To Donnybrook steer, all you sons of Parnassus, Poor painters, poor ... To see what the fun is": pig hunts, fights, horse races, tradesmen of all kinds, tinkers, singers, dancing dogs, pickpockets, barbers, whisky. "There's naught more uproarious"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1839 (Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: commerce sports drink food music begging humorous nonballad animal dog horse
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 184-189, "The Humours of Donnybrook Fair" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 265-267, "The Humours of Donnybrook Fair"
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding Harding B 25(28), "The Humours of Donnybrook ("To donnybrook steeer [sic] all ye sons of parnassus"), unknown, n.d.
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ballynafad" (tune, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
NOTES: Donnybrook is less than three miles from Dublin. - BS
Parnassus is a mountain near Delphi in Greece, considered sacred to Apollo and the muses. Hence the soms of Parnassus are artists, poets, and the like.
According to Partridge's Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, the term "donnybrook" for a fight is originally Australian and comes from c. 1920, but it derives from the reputation of Donnybrook Fair for wild events such as those described here. - RBW
File: CrPS184

Humours of Donnybrook Fair (II), The


DESCRIPTION: Dermot O'Nolan M'Figg, "that could properly handle a twig" goes to Donnybrook Fair intent on dancing. At each tent he "took a small drop." He sees his Kate dancing and clubs her partner, who, she explained, is her cousin. They are reconciled.
AUTHOR: Charles O'Flaherty (1794-1828) (source: Hoagland)
EARLIEST DATE: before 1886 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(937))
KEYWORDS: fight dancing drink humorous
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 390-392, "The Humours of Donnybrook Fair"
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(937), "The Donnybrook Jig" ("Oh, 'twas Dermot O'Nolan M'Figg"), W.S. Fortey (London)), 1858-1885
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian B 11(937) is the basis for the description.
Donnybrook is less than three miles from Dublin. - BS
According to Partridge's Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, the term "donnybrook" for a fight is originally Australian and comes from c. 1920, but it derives from the reputation of Donnybrook Fair for wild events such as those described here. - RBW
File: Hg10390

Humours of Glasgow Fair, The


DESCRIPTION: At dawn Willock wakes Tam to go to the fair with Jenny and Maggy. There was "funning and sporting," drinking, music and shows. They spend the night at Luckie Gunn's. "Ne'er saw ye sic din and guffawing -- Sic hooching and dancing was there"
AUTHOR: John Breckinridge (source: Whitelaw and GreigDuncan4)
EARLIEST DATE: 1823 (Hutchison citing Glasgow chapbook MU25-f.12:12, according to GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: commerce sports drink food music humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan4 887, "The Sun Frae the Eastward was Peepin'" (1 fragment)
ADDITIONAL: Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), pp. 212-213, "The Glasgow Fair "
Robert Ford, editor, Vagabond Songs and Ballads of Scotland [first series] (Paisley,1899), pp. 198-204, "The Humours of Glasgow Fair"
Roud #6260
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1336), "Glasgow Fair" ("O, the sun frae the eastward was peeping"), J. Wright (Edinburgh), no date
NOTES: "This ditty, descriptive of 'The Humours of Glasgow Fair' was popular as a street song some twenty-five years ago.... The fair of Glasgow is held annually, and has been so from time immemorial, on the second week of July that includes a Monday" (Whitelaw, 1845).
GreigDuncan4: "Cf. Peter Ross, The Songs of Scotland, pp. 376-9, "Glasgow Fair," where the song is attributed to John Breckenridge, a compositor in Glasgow about 1820."
Apparently broadside Bodleian, 2806 c.11(218), "Humours of Glasgow Fair" ("O, the sun frae the eastward was peeping"), The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1866 is this song but I could not download and verify it. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4887

Humphrey Marshall


DESCRIPTION: "Oh General Humphrey Marshall Who weighs all of three hundred pound, To fetch here safe your message, On that purpose I am bound." "Humphrey Marshall he's our boss, Brave as hell and big as a hoss."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar nonballad soldier
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 55-56 (no title) (2 very short fragments)
NOTES: Humphrey Marshall (1812-1872) was a Confederate politician (a Kentuckian, he served in congress as a Whig 1849-1852 and as a Know-Nothing in 1855-1859 as well as in the Confederate congress 1864-1865).
Marshall, who had graduated West Point (barely) but resigned after only a year of military life, was appointed a Confederate general in 1861, and -- in an interesting sidelight to Thomas's narrative about General Garfield -- fought against that Union general in early 1862.
Marshall had originally tried to keep Kentucky neutral in the Civil War, and only "went south" after his hopes failed. He probably received appointment because the Confederates needed Kentucky officers for recruiting purposes; this caused Marshall to be given a command during Bragg's 1862 invasion of Kentucky.
His record, however, was apparently not very distinguished; his weight is mentioned in both my biographic sources, and he is said to have been a poor disciplinarian. He finally resigned from the Confederate army in 1863 (he had already quit once in 1862), perhaps because he couldn't acquire a meaningful command. - RBW
File: ThBa055

Humping Old Bluey (The Poor Bushman)


DESCRIPTION: "Humping old bluey it is a stale game... You're battling with poverty, hunger, sharp thorn -- Things are just going middling with me." The shearer complains about the life after the shearing is over
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1964
KEYWORDS: rambling sheep Australia
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, p. 125, "Humping Old Bluey" (1 text, 1 tune)
Manifold-PASB, p. 142, "Humping Old Bluey" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MA125

Humpty Dumpty


DESCRIPTION: "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall, Humpty Dumpty had a great fall. Threescore men and threescore more Cannot place Humpty Dumpty as he was before." (Or, ... All the kings horses And all the king's men Couldn't put Humpty together again.)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1810 (Gammer Gurton's Garland)
KEYWORDS: death riddle
FOUND IN: Britain(England,Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1681, "Humpty Dumpty" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 233, "Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #670, pp. 268-269, "(Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall)"
Roud #13026
NOTES: These days, we all know this from Lewis Carroll -- though, interestingly, we don't use his last line ("Couldn't put Humpty Dumpty in his place again," which Alice correctly notes doesn't scan). It's found in the chapter "Humpty Dumpty" in Through the Looking Glass. But the first form quoted here is that found in Gammer Gurton's Garland, which according to the Baring-Goulds is the first appearance of the rhyme in print.
They claim, however, that the rhyme is much older as a riddle (presumably it ended with a question asking who Humpty was, the answer being "an egg"). The Opies, p. 10, cite a version from Saxony in which Humpty becomes Humpelkin-Pumpelken (with umlauts on the u's) and a Danish version about Lille Trille. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BGMG670

Humpy Hargis


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

Hundred Years Ago (I), A


DESCRIPTION: Shanty or windlass song, "A hundred years is a very long time, Oh, aye, oh, A hundred years on the Eastern Shore, A hundred years ago." "Ol' Bully John from Baltimore, Oh, aye, oh, I knew him well, that son-of-a-whore, A hundred years ago."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: sailor work shanty
FOUND IN: US(MA,NE) Britain
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Colcord, pp. 67-68, "A Hundred Years on the Eastern Shore" (1 text)
Harlow, pp. 62-63, 150, "A Long Time Ago (version 3)," "A Hundred Years Ago" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Hugill, pp. 101, "A Long Time Ago" (1 text, version "g" of "A Long Time Ago") [AbEd, p. 92]; pp. 509-511 "A Hundred Years Ago" (2 texts, 2 tunes) [AbEd, pp. 375-376]
Sharp-EFC, LII, p. 57, "A Hundred Years on the Eastern Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Sandburg, p. 485, "A Hundred Years Ago" (1 text, 1 tune, curiously listed as a religious song!)
DT, HUNDAGO*
Roud #926
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Yankee John, Stormalong (Liza Lee)" (lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Tis Time For Us to Go
File: San485

Hundred Years Ago, A


See A Long Time Ago (File: Doe037)

Hundred Years on the Eastern Shore, A


See A Hundred Years Ago (I) (File: San485)

Hung My Bucket on de White Folks' Fence


DESCRIPTION: "Hung my bucket on de white folks' fence, Hain't seen my bucket sense. Oh Lawd! Oh Lawd! Old Aunt Dinah, well she bounce around, Leave her wooden leg on de ground, Save her meat skin, lay dem away, To grease her wooden leg every day."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: theft dancing
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 475, "Hung My Bucket on de White Folks' Fence" (1 short text)
Roud #11801
File: Br3475

Hungry Army (I), The


DESCRIPTION: Having fought with his sweetheart, the Irishman enlists in the army. He quarrels with his NCOs, then is sent off to (China?) in a boat too small and ill-equipped for the soldiers. Sent into battle, he is injured and discharged
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Sam Henry collection); c. 1856 (broadside NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(054))
KEYWORDS: soldier battle injury disability
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H92, p. 86, "The Hungry Army" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1746
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 b.11(27), "The Hungry Army" ("The wind in thundering gales did roar"), unknown, n.d.
Murray, Mu23-y1:097, "The Hungry Army," James Lindsay (Glasgow), 19C
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.178.A.2(054), "The Hungry Army," James Lindsay (Glasgow), c.1856
NOTES: The notes to broadside Bodleian 2806 b.11(27) make the subject "War, Opium War, 1840-1842, Ireland"
Broadside Murray Mu23-y1:097 has the site of the war in China and the battle simply "on the field of battle."
Broadside NLScotland L.C.Fol.178.A.2(054) has the site of the war in Russia, rather than China; the singer is wounded November 5 at Inkerman. - BS
File: HHH092

Hungry Army (II), The


DESCRIPTION: The singer enlists and is sent to Ballarat. The men are so thin a strong wind "blew the lot away"; the singer gets a medal for surviving. He eats cabbage broth. Utensils are only used to cut hair. Sent to drill still strong recruits, he is beaten.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1886 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.25(254))
KEYWORDS: army ordeal starvation Australia humorous
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
Roud #1746
RECORDINGS:
Walter Pardon, "The Hungry Army" (on Voice14)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.25(254), "The Hungry Army" ("When I was young and in my prime"), W.S. Fortey (London), 1858-1885; also Firth c.19(219), 2806 c.8(288), "The Hungry Army"
NOTES: Hall, notes to Voice14: "Servicemen also have the gift of moaning, and 'The Hungry Army', set in mid-nineteenth century Australia, is a typical squaddie beef at conditions and authority."
Ballarat is in Victoria, Australia, about 65 miles east of Melbourne. - BS
According to Andrew and Nancy Learmouth, Encyclopedia of Australia (article on Ballarat in the second edition), the Ballarat region was not opened for settlement until 1837, during a drought. The population remained small until the 1851 gold rush; in 1851 "a septuagenarian digger named John Dunlop discovered the richest field of all, at Ballarat" (see Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore, p. 562). I suspect that this is what brought Ballarat to the broadside-writers' attention -- especially since the British government charged the large fee of 30 shillings a month for a gold license (Hughes, p. 562),meaning that they needed some sort of law and order in the area. But gold rushes are almost always attended by squalor, since there are few supplies in the area. Hence, presumably, this song. But we note that it has mentions absolutely nothing about Australia except the name "Ballarat." I assume it is in fact an older piece adapted to the Australian gold rush.
Roud lumps this with "The Hungry Army (I)." But while the theme is the same, the plot is different enough that Ben Schwartz and I both believe it should be split. - RBW
File: RcHunAr2

Hungry Confederate Song, A


DESCRIPTION: "The streets are all lonely and drear, love, And all because you are not here, love, if you were here, you would shed a sad tear And open your cupboard to me." The singer describes his woeful condition and wishes that he had stew or cornbread or something
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (Hudson)
KEYWORDS: food love
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hudson 114, p. 257, "A Hungry Confederate Song" (1 text)
Roud #4498
NOTES: Hudson lists this as a Civil War song, and certainly it fits that conflict, in which Southern troops in particular often went hungry -- but there is no actual evidence in Hudson's text that it is a Civil War song, and neither he nor I knows another version to settle the claim. - RBW
File: Hud114

Hungry Fox, A


See The Fox and the Grapes (File: GC479a)

Hungry Hash House


DESCRIPTION: "I'm a boarder and I dwell in that second-rate hotel. If I stay here long, I think I'll go insane...." "Well, she promised she would meet me when the clock struck seventeen...." "She's my darling, she's my daisy. She's hump-backed and she's crazy...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (recording, Uncle Dave Macon)
KEYWORDS: poverty hardtimes home disease nonballad nonsense madness food
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW,SE,So,SW)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Randolph 478, "The Boarding-House" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 371-373, "The Boardinghouse" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 478)
Sandburg, p. 207, "She Promised She'd Meet Me" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, pp. 220-221, "Hungry Hash House" (1 text, 1 tune)
Rorrer, p. 74, "Hungry Hash House" (1 text)
Gilbert, pp. 191-192, "The All Go Hungry Hash House" (1 text)
DT, HASHOUSE*
Roud #11719
RECORDINGS:
Arkansas Charlie [pseud. for Charlie Craver], "That Old Go Hungry Hash House" (Vocalion 5401, 1930)
Binkley Brothers' Dixie Clodhoppers, "All Go Hungry Hash House" (Victor 21758, 1928)
Charley Blake, "Hungry Hash House" (Supertone 9534, 1929)
Cofer Brothers, "All Go Hungry Hash House" (OKeh 45099, 1927)
Bill Cox, "Hungry Hash House Blues" (Champion 15792, 1929)
Uncle Dave Macon, "All Go Hungry Hash House" (Vocalion 15076, 1925)
New Lost City Ramblers, "Hungry Hash House" (on NLCR13)
Charlie Poole & the North Carolina Ramblers, "Hungry Hash House" (Columbia 15160-D, 1927; Velvet Tone 2492-V/Clarion 5432-C [both as Pete Harrison & his Bayou Boys], 1932; rec. 1926; on CPoole03)
Ernest V. Stoneman, "The Old Go Hungry Hash House" (Okeh 45062, 1926); "All Go Hungry Hash House" (Victor 20237, 1926); [Ernest Stoneman &] The Dixie Mountaineers, "All Go Hungry Hash House" (Edison, unissued, 1927) (Edison 52350, 1928) (CYL: Edison [BA] 5528, 1928)
Gordon Tanner, Smokey Joe Miller & Uncle John Patterson, "Lonesome Hungry Hash House" (on DownYonder)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" (tune) and references there
cf. "Sara Jane" (tune, floating lyrics)
NOTES: The verse "She's my darling, she's my daisy, She's humpbacked and she's crazy... She's my freckled-faced consumptive Mary Ann" floats (e.g. Charlie Poole uses it in his version of "I Was Born About Ten Thousand Years Ago (Bragging Song)"), and it also appears in "Sara Jane." Paul Stamler thinks that the most likely source, so we are now, somewhat tentatively, listing lose citations of that verse there unless we can determine their source. See, however, "Dennis McGonagle's Daughter Mary Ann." - RBW
File: San207

Hungry Hash House Blues


See Hungry Hash House (File: San207)

Hunt the Buffalo


See Shoot the Buffalo (File: R523)

Hunt the Squirrel


DESCRIPTION: "Hunt the squirrel through the wood, I lost him, I found him; I have a little dog at home, He won't bite you, He won't bite you, And he *will* bite you."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Linscott)
KEYWORDS: playparty animal hunting dog
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Linscott, pp. 37-38, "Lucy Locket" (1 text, 1 tune, which has the "I Wrote a Letter" verse, the "Little dog" verse, and the "Lucy Locket" verse but which is said by Linscott to use the "Hunt the Squirrel" game)
Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 806, "Hunt the Squirrel (Itisket, Itasket)" (1 text)
ST BAF806 (Full)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Atisket, Atasket (I Sent a Letter to My Love)" (floating lyrics, playparty form)
cf. "Lucy Locket" (floating lyrics)
NOTES: Botkin, following Newell, lumps this with "Atisket, Atasket." There is, however, little contact in the lyrics; if they are connected, it is because both are used as platforms for the "drop glove" playparty game. For details, see the notes on "Atisket, Atasket (I Sent a Letter to My Love)."
Linscott has still a different version, opening with the verse "Lucy Locket lost her pocket, Kitty Fisher found it, There was not a penny in it, only ribbon 'round it." This also occurs in nursery rhymes (see Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #279, p. 165, "(Lucy Locket lost her pocket)"). But the second verse is the "I wrote a letter to my love," and the third is "I have a little dog at home" -- plus she says the game is "Hunt the Squirrel." So I file the piece here. Possibly it should be with "Atisket, Atasket (I Sent a Letter to My Love)." Or maybe the two should be lumped.... - RBW
Verse 1 of Linscott is the same as Opie-Oxford2 312, "Lucy Locket" (earliest date in Opie-Oxford2 is 1842). - BS
This is also the name of an English country dance. - PJS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BAF806

Hunt the Wren


DESCRIPTION: "Let's go to the wood, said Robin-the-Bobbin, Let's go to the wood, said Richard to Robin. Let's go to... said John Tullane, Let's go to... said everyone." They hunt, kill, and eat the wren, and argue over disposing of the body
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1744 (Tommy Thumb's Pretty Song Book, Volume II)
KEYWORDS: wren hunting foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Bord),Wales) US(NE)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Kennedy 78, "Helg yn Dreean [Hunt the Wren]" (1 Manx Gaelic text+translation, 1 tune, plus fragments and a text of "The Cutty Wren" in the notes)
LPound-ABS, 117, pp. 235-236, "Let's Go to the Woods" (1 text)
Linscott, pp. 230-233, "Let's Go to the Woods or The Hunting of the Wren" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 447, "We will go to the wood, says Robin to Bobbin" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #29, p. 41-44, "(We will go to the Wood)"
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 16, "The Hunting of the Wren" (1 text)
DT, HNTWRN2 HUNWREN2
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 37-38, "The Hunting of the Wren"
Roud #236
RECORDINGS:
Jack Elliott, "Billy the Bob" (on Elliotts01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Wren (The King)" (subject)
cf. "Billy Barlow" (form)
cf. "Cricketty Wee" (form)
cf. "The Cutty Wren" (form, subject)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Robin-the-Bobbin
NOTES: Many have identified this song with "Billy Barlow," "Cricketty Wee," or (especially) "The Cutty Wren," but while the form is similar, and in the latter case even the subject is the same, the plot is distinct enough that the Index splits them.
In some cases, e.g. the Kennedy text, I'll admit this is doubtful, but some of the Digital Tradition texts are more distinct, and even pick up pieces of "The Wren (The King)." In another Digital Tradition text (HNTWRN2), the plot doesn't even involve a wren; it's just a bunch of kids(?) finding a bird's next; that one seems to have some "Billy Barlow" in its ancestry (or, more likely, the reverse).
In the case of the Opie "We Will Go to the Wood" text, it seems not unlikely that someone took a "Cutty Wren" text and made it a nursery song. This might explain the complex relationship between the texts.
For a little information, and a lot of speculation, on the history of wrenning, see the notes to "The Wren (The King)." - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: K078

Hunter from Kentucky, A


See The Hunters of Kentucky [Laws A25] (File: LA25)

Hunter's Log Camp


See Burns's Log Camp (File: Doe217)

Hunter's Song, The


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

Hunters of Kentucky, The [Laws A25]


DESCRIPTION: The hunters of Kentucky are praised and offered as a specimen based on their performance at the Battle of New Orleans
AUTHOR: Samuel Woodworth
EARLIEST DATE: 1822 (published 1826)
KEYWORDS: war patriotic bragging
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jan 8, 1815 - Battle of New Orleans. Although a peace had already been signed, word had not yet reached Louisiana, which Pakenham sought to invade. Andrew Jackson's backwoodsmen easily repulsed Pakenham's force; the British commander is killed in the battle.
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MA,MW,NE,So)
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Laws A25, "The Hunters of Kentucky"
Belden, pp. 298-299, "The Hunters of Kentucky" (1 text plus 2 fragments, 1 tune, but the "A" fragment and part of "C" is "Pakenham")
Randolph 666, "A Hunter from Kentucky" (1 short text, 1 tune)
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 93-94, "The Hunters of Kentucky" (1 text)
Rickaby 40, "The Hunters of Kentucky" (1 text (Woodworth's original) plus a fragment, 1 tune)
Sandburg, pp. 427-429, "The Hunters of Kentucky or Half Horse and Half Alligator" (1 text, 1 tune)
Scott-BoA, pp. 113-117, "The Hunters of Kentucky" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 163-164, "The Hunters of Kentucky" (1 text)
Arnett, pp. 34-35, "The Hunters of Kentucky" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 288, "Hunters of Kentucky" (1 text)
DT 369, HUNTKENT*
Roud #2211
RECORDINGS:
Bob Atcher, "Hunters of Kentucky" (Columbia 50484, 1948; rec. 1947)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Battle of New Orleans" [Laws A7] (subject)
cf. "Pakenham" (floating lyrics)
cf. "Unfortunate Miss Bailey" (tune)
NOTES: Samuel Woodworth's only other noteworthy composition was "The Old Oaken Bucket." His novels and plays are mercifully forgotten.
For a Creole account of this battle, see Courlander-NFM, pp. 167-168 (an untitled piece which appears to be about the Battle of New Orleans).
For the general background of the final campaigns of the War of 1812, see the notes on "The Siege of Plattsburg." For the Battle of New Orleans itself, see The Battle of New Orleans" [Laws A7].
It should probably be noted that the Kentucky and Tennessee militia weren't all that great in themselves; in a series of Indian engagements in 1814, they showed a disastrous tendency to fall apart. Some of them, in fact, were routed at New Orleans -- only to be saved when general Pakenham refused to take advantage of the opening. But Andrew Jackson executed some of the deserters, and managed to tighten discipline. - RBW
File: LA25

Huntin' for Fun


DESCRIPTION: "Ain't no use in foolin' around, Too many cops in this old town." The singer advises going to the country for corn liquor and women, more common there than in town. "Just fill up your belly and roll in the leaves, Sing and whistle and do as you please."
AUTHOR: probably adapted by John Daniel Vass
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (collected by Shellans from John Daniel Vass)
KEYWORDS: drink courting police nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Shellans, p. 52, "Huntin' for Fun" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7332
NOTES: Shellans notes the similarity of this tune to a military cadence, though he does not state whether informant John Daniel Vass was ever in the military. Nonetheless, given the nature of the material collected from Vass, and the degree of repetition in this piece (in essence, it consists of a threefold repetition: No drink in this town, go to the country; No women in this town, go to the country; No fun in this town, go to the country) I have to suspect that Vass put it together himself based on the cadence chant. - RBW
File: Shel052

Hunting Ballad


See Shoot the Buffalo (File: R523)

Hunting for a City


DESCRIPTION: "I am hunting for a city, to stay a while (x3), O, believer got a home at last."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 18, "Hunting for a City" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #11840
File: AWG018A

Hunting for the Lord


DESCRIPTION: "Hunt till you find him, Hallelujah, And a-hunting for the Lord. till you find him, And a-hunting for the Lord."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 13, "Hunting for the Lord" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11848
File: AWG013B

Hunting of the Cheviot, The [Child 162]


DESCRIPTION: Percy, Earl of Northumberland, goes deer hunting into Earl Douglas' land of (Cheviot/Chevy Chase), in defiance of a warning from Douglas. In battle they earn each other's respect, but both die, along with many of their men.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1765 (Percy; mentioned in "Wit's End" in 1617 and in the Stationer's Register in 1624)
KEYWORDS: battle hunting death nobility
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1388 - Battle of Otterburn. Scots under Douglas attack England. Although Douglas is killed in the battle, the Scots defeat the English and capture their commander Harry "Hotspur" Percy
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North),Scotland) US(NE,SE)
REFERENCES (20 citations):
Child 162, "The Hunting of the Cheviot" (2 texts)
Bronson 162, "The Hunting of the Cheviot" (10 versions)
Percy/Wheatley I, pp. 20-35+notes on pp. 51-52, "The Ancient Ballad of Chevy Chase"; pp. 249-264, "The More Modern Ballad of Chevy Chace" (sic.) (2 texts)
BarryEckstormSmyth pp. 243-248, "Chevy Chase" (1 text)
Flanders-Ancient3, pp. 135-144, "The Hunting of the Cheviot, or Chevy Chase" (1 text, from "The Charms of Melody" rather than tradition)
Davis-Ballads 34, "The Hunting of the Cheviot" (1 text)
Davis-More 31, pp. 239-244, "The Hunting of the Cheviot" (1 text, 1 tune) {Bronson's #5}
Leach, pp. 446-463, "The Hunting of the Cheviot" (3 texts)
Friedman, p. 276, "Chevy Chase" (1 text, 2 tunes) {approximating Bronson's #1, #4}
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 1-3, "Chevy Chase" (1 text, 1 tune) {cf. Bronson's #6, also from Stokoe's collection but differing in one note}
OBB 128, "Chevy Chase" (1 text)
PBB 71, "Chevy Chase (The Hunting of the Cheviot)" (1 text)
Gummere, pp. 105-115+325-327, "The Hunting of the Cheviot" (1 text)
Hodgart, p. 96, "Chevy Chase (The Hunting of the Cheviot)" (1 text)
TBB 21, "The Hunting of the Cheviot" (1 text)
HarvClass-EP1, pp. 93-101, "Chevy Chase" (1 text)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 43-45, "Chevy Chase" (1 text)
Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 90-92, "Chevy Chase" (1 tune, perhaps linked to this piece)
BBI, ZN980, "God prosper long our Noble King"; ZN982, "God prosper long our noble king" (?)
DT 162, CHEVCHAS*
Roud #223
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Battle of Otterburn" (subject)
cf. "Lord Thomas and Fair Annet" [Child 73] (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Of Turkey lately I did read/The Patient Wife betrayed; Or, The Lady Elizabeths Tragedy (BBI ZN2124)
Give o'er you rhiming Cavaliers/ Bloody News from Chelmsford (BBI ZN971)
In bloody town of Newberry/...Shuff of Newberry (BBI ZN1413)
In Popish time when Bishops proud/The King and the Bishop ((BBI ZN1452)
In searching ancient chronicles/A pleasant history of a Gentleman in Thracia (BBI ZN1461)
Strange news, strange news, I here have write/..Relation from the Faulcon.. Mr Powel [a ghost] (BBI ZN2405)
Amongst the Forresters of old/The Unfortunate Forrester ...Lord Thomas.. fair Elener (BBI ZN173)
God prosper long our noble King, and send him quickly o'er/Hunting-Match (BBI ZN986)
When as my mind was fully bent/ Bloudy News from Germany (BBI ZN2821)
All you which sober minded are/Terrible News from Branford (BBI ZN155)
All tender hearts that ake to hear/The Spanish Virgin (BBI ZN97)
God prosper long our noble king, His Turks and Germans all/An excellent new Ballad (BBI ZN983)
God hath preserved our Royal King/The Royal Patient Traveller [Charles II] (BBI ZN978)
NOTES: Child opines that this is based on the same events as "The Battle of Otterburn" (Child #161) rather than some other border battle between Percies and Douglases. The historical Henry Percy (Hotspur) fought [and] was captured [by the Scots], but did not in fact die at Otterburn in 1388 or at any other battle with Scots but was instead slain in battle with Henry IV's forces. - KK
In addition, Harry Hotspur was never Earl of Northumberland. His father (the first of five generations of Henry Percys of Northumberland) was the first Earl, and lived until 1408. Hotspur was killed in 1403, and thus never succeeded to the title, although Hotspur's son became the second Earl.
However, none of the various Earls Percy died in battle with the Scots. The first Earl was a traitor against Henry IV; the second (d. 1455) and third (d. 1461) were casualties of the Wars of the Roses, and the fourth was killed by the people of his own Earldom because he had not supported Richard III at Bosworth. (Richard, despite his later reputation, was loved in the north of England for being fair and honest and keeping the Scots away from the borders.)
As E. K. Chambers, comments (English Literature at the Close of the Middle Ages, Oxford, 1945, 1947, p. 162), "The Hunting is even more remote from historical verity than Otterburn. The scene is laid in the Cheviot hills, where not Hotspur but Earl Percy goes to hunt, in defiance of Douglas, and the event is put in the reign of Henry IV [1399-1413] rather than Richard II [1377-1399]. Douglas is killed by an arrow, Percy by Sir Hugh Montgomery, Montgomery himself by another arrow. But the battle is called Otterburn. King Henry avenges i in that of Homildon Hill (1402)."
Izaak Walton's Compeat Angler refers to this tune (Chapter II), although in a strange list mixing folk songs ("Johnny Armstrong," "Chevy Chase") and art songs ("As at Noon Dulcina Rested," "Phyllida Flouts Me").
Sir Philip Sidney, in his Apologie for Poetrie of 1595, write, "I neuer heard the olde song of Percy and Duglas (sic.), that I found mot my heart mooued more then with a Trumpet." It is not possible, however, to tell whether this is a reference to "The Battle of Otterburn" [Child 161] or "The Hunting of the Cheviot" [Child 162]. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: C162

Hunting of the Wren, The


See Hunt the Wren (File: K078)

Hunting Priest, The (Parson Hogg; Sing Tally Ho!)


DESCRIPTION: The singer will tell of the priest "with constitution strong," who regularly goes out "to 'Tally ho, the hounds, sir.'" He will interrupt anything -- a sermon, a wedding -- when he hears the sound of the hunt.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: clergy hunting
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H222, pp. 29-30, "The Hunting Priest" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1861
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "We'll All Go A-Hunting Today" (theme)
NOTES: The thene of gentlemen who prefer hunting to church is an ancient complaint in Britain; "The Mourning of the Hare" is the tale of a creature which is pursued by huntsmen who do not wait for mass; it is thought to date to the fifteenth century. - RBW
File: HHH222

Hunting Seals


DESCRIPTION: "With knife and fork, with kettle and pan, With spoon and mug, and glasses.... For we are swoilers fearless, bold, As we copy from pan to pan, sir." The singer describes hunting seals, facing polar bears, and enticing girls with furs
AUTHOR: probably James Murphy
EARLIEST DATE: 1978 (Ryan/Small)
KEYWORDS: hunting courting animal
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 133, "Hunting Seals" (1 text, tune referenced)
NOTES: The original manuscript of this lists the tune as "The Rigs O Barley" -- i.e. presumably Burns's "Corn Rigs and Barley Rigs." The verse fits the first four lines of that tune, and the chorus of this fits the last four lines of the verse, but the chorus of "Corn Rigs" has to be omitted. - RBW
File: RySm133

Hunting Song


DESCRIPTION: The singer tells about hare-hunting dogs. When Timer hunts the hare, "she knows that her life's nearly run." When the formal hunt is over too soon, Gay-Lad "will go by himself on the mountain and will hunt by the light of the moon"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973 (Morton-Maguire)
KEYWORDS: hunting nonballad dog animal
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Morton-Maguire 10, pp. 23-24,104,158-159, "Hunting Song" (1 text fragment, 1 tune)
Roud #2932
File: MoMa023

Hunting Tale, A


See The Sally Buck (File: SKE70)

Huntingdon Shore


DESCRIPTION: The singer narrates preparations for a fishing journey to Huntingdon Shore. Conditions aboard and the itinerary are described. They meet girls on Round Island, Labrador but the singer insists that the place can't compare with the Huntingdon Shore.
AUTHOR: Doyle (A fisherman of St. John's and not the editor of the collection)
EARLIEST DATE: 1940
KEYWORDS: fishing work travel
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Doyle2, p. 23 , "Huntingdon Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lehr/Best 53, "The Huntingdown Shore" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4415
RECORDINGS:
Omar Blondahl, "Huntingdon Shore" (on NFOBlondahl05)
NOTES: Said to have been composed in the 1860s. - SH, RBW
"Young Goodridge," according to Doyle, was a renowned merchant of the time. - SH
Lehr/Best: "The Huntingdown or Huntingdon shore was a fishing area on the Labrador coast." - BS
File: Doy23

Huntingdown Shore, The


See Huntingdon Shore (File: Doy23)

Huntsman's Horn, The


DESCRIPTION: "The sturdy boys from Newton and the boys from College Land" hunt hare in Kilnacran. The hounds are named as well as the landmarks passed. At least two hare are killed. A health to Ned Crudden and Comely who "did bring the cup to old Loughgar"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1979 (IRHardySons)
KEYWORDS: death hunting animal dog horse moniker Ireland
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #12920
RECORDINGS:
James and Paddy Halpin, "The Huntsman's Horn" (on IRHardySons)
Big John Maguire, "The Huntseman's Horn" (on Voice18, IRHardySons)

CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Fair of Rosslea" (subject: competitive hare hunt from the huntsman's point of view)
cf. "Killafole Boasters" (subject: competitive hare hunt from the huntsman's point of view) and references there
NOTES: The hunt takes place in the area around Lough Erne, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. - BS
File: RcHuntHo

Hurling Down the Pine


See The Lumber Camp Song (File: Doe210)

Huron Carol, The (Jesous Ahatonhia)


DESCRIPTION: The Christmas story in Indian terms: "'Twas in the moon of wintertime when all the birds had fled That mighty Gitchi Manitou sent angel choirs instead. Before their light the stars grew dim, and wand'ring hunters heard the hymn...."
AUTHOR: Father Jean de Brebeuf (English text by J. E. Middleton, 1926)
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1642
KEYWORDS: Christmas Jesus religious Indians(Am.)
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1634 - the Jesuit Jean de Brebeuf leads the first missionary party to evangelize by living among the Hurons
1639 - Father Jemore Lalemant founds the mission of Ste-Marie.
FOUND IN: Canada(Que)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fowke/Johnston, pp. 130-132, "The Huron Carol (Jesous Ahatonia)" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 29-31, "The Huron Carol" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Une Jeune Pucelle" ("A Young Maiden") (tune)
NOTES: Having been unable to teach the Indians old Catholic hymns, Father Brebeuf created this song for the Hurons in 1641 or 1642 (long after the first permanent missions to the Hurons were created in 1625). They sang it every Christmas until 1648, when the Hurons were attacked by Iroquois (the Hurons had by then been badly weakened by the white man's diseases).
In a twist of irony, few Hurons showed to that time had shown any interest in Catholicism; Catholic ways were very different, the French themselves brought disease, and often they looked down on native ways.
To an exent, the Iroquois attack changed that. The Iroquois set out starting in 1645 to destroy all their neigbours (which they would succeed in doing by 1655); the Huron were the 1648 victims.
This caused some Hurons to turn Catholic. The Iroquois were winning with the white man's weapons; perhaps the Hurons thought the white man's religion might answer. But it was too late; Huronia was destroyed in 1649. (A severe blow to the French settlement, which was closely allied to the Hurons.)
Father Jean de Brébeuf and Father Gabriel Lalemant (the nephew of Jérôme Lalemant), the leading spirits of the Jesuit missions, refusing to flee to safety, were captured, tortured, and killed. (We should note that they were not tortured for their faith; the Iroquois simply tortured captives as part of a policy of terror.)
Even then, the song continued to be sung in Huron circles; it was collected by another Jesuit, Father de Villeneuve, and was translated into French (as "Jesus est ne") as well as English.
"Gitchi Manitou" -- in other Algonquian-language-family traditions, Keeche Keeche Manitou -- is "The Great, great Spirit... the master of life... [who] leaves the human race to their own conduct, but has placed all other living things under the care of [lesser] Manitos" (from the notes of the early explorer David Thompson, though he was writing of the Cree, not the Huron; the Huron language is part of the Iroquoian family, which is not Algonquian, so there appears to be some cultural contamination here). - RBW
File: FJ130

Hurrah for Baffin's Bay


DESCRIPTION: Nonsense song. Ch: "Avast belay, Hurrah for Baffin's Bay! We couldn't find the pole, because the barber moved away. The boat was cold we thought we'd get the grip so the painter put three coats, upon the ship! Hip, hip! Hip, hip! Hurrah for Baffin's Bay!"
AUTHOR: Theodore F. Morse/Music: Vincent Bryan
EARLIEST DATE: 1903 (Broadway "Wizard of Oz")
KEYWORDS: sailor nonsense nonballad humorous
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Harlow, pp. 230-231, "Baffin's Bay" (1 text)
Roud #9157
NOTES: From the 1903 Broadway production of "The Wizard of Oz." It was performed by the comedy team of Fred A. Stone and David C. Montgomery (and may have been written with them in mind). - SL
And a surprisingly topical item it is, because there was a "polar push" going on, but the participants had a pretty astounding record of failures. At the time this was written, the quest for the North Pole was looking much like the quest for the Northwest Passage fifty years earlier, or the quest to climb Mount Everest forty or fifty years later: Lots of attempts, little luck -- and the prospects for success rather poor.
Indeed, Mirsky observes (p. 293) that "In the recent history of Arctic Exploration undue stress was laid on the attainment of the North Pole. In 1896 Nansen showed conclusively by the Fram's drift across the polar basin that the Pole lay somewhere on a shifting, ice-covered sea, at a point that had to be mathematically determined." In other words, by the time this song was written, everyone knew that the North Pole was sea, not land; there would never be a base or research station there.
It's interesting to note that the serious quest for the North Polebegan relatively late (though earlier than the quest for the South Pole); people had been seeking the Northwest Passage for years before they really started looking for the Pole. (For background on the quest for the Passage, see the notes to "Lady Franklin's Lament (The Sailor's Dream)" [Laws K9].) Indeed, the first two serious Northward Nuts (Elisha Kent Kane and Charles Francis Hall) started their careers searching for Franklin's lost expedition. Charles Francis Hall managed to bring home some Franklin artifacts and tales, as well as relics from Frobisher's very first Northwest Passage quest -- but he also started a ridiculous story that Franklin's second-in-command Crozier was still alive as late as 1860.
The Pole expeditions never produced the casualties that the Franklin expedition did -- but only because no one was willing to send so many men.
The first fairly modern attempts to reach the pole were made in the early nineteenth century by the British Navy. The first, in 1818, was commanded by David Buchan in the Dorothea, with John Franklin in the Trent as his second-in-command. The goal was to go forward by ship, but they made it only about to the north end of Spitsbergen. They gave up after a long summer, their ships much battered but with the crews intact (Fleming-Barrow, pp. 52-55).
The second naval attempt, in 1827, was made by William Edward Parry, the Admiralty's darling boy for his near-conquest of the Northwest Passage in 1819. This time, the ship Hecla was only to take them to Spitzbergen; from there they would proceed with sledges and small boats. They quickly discovered that the polar ice was not smooth, so the sledges were slow, and that the ice had a southward drift. The expedition set a new record for "Farthest North" that would stand for half a century (Fleming-Barrow, pp. 239-240), but finally had to return.
That ended naval attempts at exploration; there just wasn't the money for more expeditions with such feeble results. When polar exploration resumed, it was largely done by amateurs, who found amazing ways to get in trouble.
It probably didn't help that, where the Northwest Passage expeditions were led by sober men like Parry and Franklin, many North Pole expeditions were organized by fruitcakes like Elisha Kent Kane, who had little contact with reality. (It is probably not coincidence that, when Farley Mowatt published a book about arctic exploratoin in the 1960s, it was entitled The Polar Passion; Bryce, pp. 944-945). In the expedition Kane commanded, he faced multiple near-mutinies, ended up eating rats, and finally lost his ship (Berton, pp. 250-258, 273-295). His problems may even have been genetic; reading histories of the Mormons, I find that his brother Thomas Leiper Kane was also given to wild plans, grandiose notions, and illnesses that sound psychosomatic. (T. L. Kane was not an explorer, but he mediated between the U. S. Government and the Mormons, and later became a Civil War general, with limited success.)
Charles Francis Hall had no relevant training (he was an engraver who had run a no-account newspaper in Cincinnati) and was given to prophetic dreams, quarrels with everyone, and perhaps a mild case of bipolar disorder; on an earlier expedition, he had murdererd one of his crew, but was never prosecuted because no one could figure out which jurisdiction the case fell under (Henderson-Fatal, p. 44). At one point, he tried to forbid his sailors from cursing (Henderson-Fatal, p. 69), which has to be one of the most quixotic orders ever given.
Robert Peary, who came later, wasn't given to visions, but he was secretive to the point of paranoia, and so obsessed that he refused to have his toes treated for frostbite on one expedition. He ended up losing eight toes -- and being forced to stop anyway; see Berton, p. 525. Fleming-North, p. 284, calls him "probably the most unpleasant man in the annals of polar exploration," noting that in his youth he liked to trip his grandfather just to see the old man fall down. Bryce, p. 871, quotes an observer who said, "Peary strikes me as a man who never smiles except when he thinks it would be rude not to."
The Pole really did seem to lure people who were in it for the glory. This was utterly unlike the Northwest Passage expeditions, which had strong scientific components (John Franklin's Journey to the Polar Sea, for instance, which describes his disastrous 1819 expedition, notes that he was instructed to "register the temperature of the air at least three times in every twenty-four hours; together with the state of the wind and weather and any other meteorological phenomena. That I should not neglect any opportunity of observing and noting down the dip and variation of the magnetic needle, and the intensity of the magnetic force; and should take particular notice whether any, and what kind or degree of, influence the Aurora Borealis might exert on the magnetic needle..." and so forth. See the introduction to Franklin's work, p. 28 in the 2000 Brassey edition with introduction by James P. Delgado). Peary's sole goal, by contrast, was to reach the Pole. So strong was Peary's obsession that, when he heard of other attempts, he gave orders to his subordinates to automatically discount them -- see Henderson-True, p. 210.
Hall's third expedition, 1871-1873, in the ship Polaris, shows how badly a polar expedition could fail: They made an incredible push northward, heading up Baffin Bay to the Kane Basin between Ellesmere Island and Greenland, then continuing up the Kennedy Channel to reach the north shore of Greenland at the place now called Hall Basin.
But the expedition crew by then was in near-total disarray, with a drunken ship's captain and a rebellious scientific staff (Henderson-Fatal, pp. 42-45, notes that this conflict started before they even really reached the ice). Although George Tyson, clearly the best of the officers under Hall (though, unfortunately, he had no real role; Hall had hired him as a sort of spare captain), thought that Hall was emergetic, persevering courageous, and unselfish (Henderson-Gatal, p. 48), he also wondered how any expedition could survive such divisions. It is clear that Hall, who of course had no experience of military command, was unable to exert control. Yet, as events proved, the other senior officers (captain Buddington and senior scientist Bessels) were even worse. It was a disaster for the expedition when, in November 1871, Hall died.
Almost a century later (1968), Chauncey Loomis led an expedition that excavated Hall's grave -- and found he had been poisoned with arsenic.
Unlike the Franklin Poisoned By Lead theory, this doesn't seem to have been questioned, though it's not clear if it was murder or accident -- though Henderson-Fatal, p. 71, reports an ominous incident in which Captain Buddington, before Hall set out on his last sledge voyage, says that Hall won't live long. For the story, see Loomis, especially the epilogue starting on p. 303, which describes the trip to conduct the Hall autopsy. A shorter summary can be found in Berton, pp. 390-394. A third vivid account is found in Fleming-North, pp. 138-141. In Berton and Fleming, the pages before and after describe the horrid plight of the crew on the expedition, giving rather more detail than Loomis, who devotes most of his work to Hall himself.
Other than Hall, most of the members of the expedition eventually made it home, but the Polaris was lost and the crew suffered extreme privations.
The 1879-1882 expedition of the Jeannette was worse. Lincoln R. Paine's Ships of the World (entry on the Jeanette) tells of how the former H.M.S. Pandora was sold to U. S. Navy Lt. George W. de Long. The ship was renamed for the sister of James Gordon Bennett, editor of the New York Herald, which had earlier sent reporter Henry M. Stanley into Africa to find Dr. Livingstone (Guttridge-Ice, p. 21) and who had also sent a reporter on de Long's one previous arctic expedition, to search for Hall's Polaris (Guttridge-Ice, p. 14). Bennett loved to publish exploration stories, so he decided to fund a new polar venture. At least, he promised to fund it. In practice, he demanded that de Long keep the cost under control, causing a lot of dangerous corner-cutting (Guttridge-Ice, pp. 41-44, etc.) The ship's boilers were inefficient, she had divided objectives, she didn't acquire a tender until the last minute, and she really wasn't designed to withstand the ice. Some changes were made before she sailed, including strengthening of the sides -- but certainly not enough (Guttridge-Ice, pp. 55-56).
The ship's voyage began on July 8, 1879 (Guttridge-Ice, p. 2). On August 28, 1879, Jeannette set out through the Bering Straight, to try to reach the Pole from western Canada. (They were seeking the alleged open Polar Sea, even though the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey determined in that year that such a sea almost certainly did not exist.; Guttridge-Ice, p. 80).
After numerous delays for this and that, the Jeannette finally passed through the Bering Strait. It was late in the year, and coal was relatively low (de Long was rather profligate with fuel; he had gone through too much on the Polaris rescue mission and had used it up at a prodigious rate pushing toward the Arctic; Guttridge-Ice, pp. 15, 63), but de Long didn't hesitate; he tried to make it as far north as possible even after the ice started to close in (Guttridge-Ice, pp. 80-81). He made little northward progress, and within days, the ship was trapped in the ice (Guttridge-Ice, p. 83).
It wasn't long before the ship sprung the first of several leaks (Guttridge-Ice, p. 114); it took all the ingenuity of chief engineer George Melville to rig enough pumps to keep the ship afloat (Guttridge-Ice, pp. 115-128, etc.) -- and even with all his exertions, much of the ship was flooded and many supplies destroyed, plus, until Melville managed a wind-powered pump, they were burning irreplaceable coal. And they were trapped in a trap they would never escape. They could perhaps have tried to leave the ship to reach Wrangel Island (which, until then, had been known as "Wrangel Land," because it wasn't until de Long passed north of it that it was demonstrated to be an island). They had sighted it just before they became trapped (Guttridge-Ice, pp. 79-81), and it would still have been within reach. But de Long wasn't ready to abandon ship for an unexplored island; not yet. (And, though he couldn't know it, Wrangel Island would prove very inhospitable for the crew of the Karluk thirty years later; see the notes to "Captain Bob Bartlett." Of course, de Long would have had his expedition in better shape than Bartlett had he abandoned immediately.)
The next summer, when they hoped to get free of the pack, they were able to make some repairs (Guttridge-Ice, p. 133 and following), but the ice had carried them north; it never quite thawed enough to let them loose. By the summer of 1881, they were passing north of the New Siberian Islands, several of which they had discovered and named (Guttridge-Ice, pp. 157-158). In June 1881, the ice finally destroyed the Jeannette (Guttridge-Ice, p. 163). The islands nearby were far too cold and small to support them; the crew sledged painfully over the ice, then upon reaching open water set out for home in three smaller boats they had hauled with them (Guttridge-Ice, pp. 185-190). Fleming-North, pp. 221-229, tells how they were separated in bad waather. One boat simply vanished. Two landed near the outlet of the Lena river in Siberia, but not together. The crew led by engineer Melville managed to survive. De Long and his party starved to death; in all, over half the crew was killed.
The story of Andrew Greely's party, which set out shortly after the Jeanette went missing, was similar. Greely and his party of 25 was sent to explore northern Ellesmere Island, gathering scientific data and perhaps making a run for the pole. They were supposed to stay several years, with supplies arriving in summer. They were ill-equipped for the task; it was mostly an army signal corps expedition, and few men had arctic experience (Guttridge-Sabine, p. 7).
Even though the expedition had to sail north to their base at Lady Franklin Bay, was little inter-service cooperation (Greely had boats, but no navy men; apart from one former seaman and a sergeant brought up on Cape Breton, no one even knew how to manage a boat! -- Berton, p. 459). Greely had a congressional appropriation to outfit his party, but it was too small and long-delayed; it was nearly impossible for Greely to acquire the supplies he required with the money he had available (Guttridge-Sabine, pp. 39-47). He had a hard time finding the officers and specialists he needed. Finally, on deadline, the party set out despite not really being ready.
It didn't take long for trouble to arise. Greely had a strange notion of discipline (reading Guttridge-Sabine, pp. 117-118, and other passages, he seems to have been the sort who felt that forcing people to obey silly and arbitrary orders promoted military order; Berton, p. 437, calls him a martinet and humorless -- very bad for an expedition in the arctic, where initiative is key). He sacked his second in command (Guttridge-Sabine, pp. 64-66) almost the moment the expedition arrived at its destination, then (p. 118) started taking duties away from the doctor/naturalist. When trouble came, he was in a position where he had no intelligent subordinates whose advice he could trust.
The first supply ship, which was supposed to arrive in 1882, never showed up; the army bureaucracy in effect placed all the arrangements in the hands of a private, who was given conflicting orders and had no useful experience (Guttridge-Sabine, pp. 92-97); the ship he chartered was blocked by ice, and he gave up after caching a bare handful of the supplies he had brought (Guttridge-Sabine, pp. 100-101). Not long after, the private would die of a drug overdose (Guttridge-Sabine, p. 203).
The next year's supply expedition was bigger -- it included the Proteus, which had brought the expedition north in the first place, and the naval vessel Yantic -- but the Yantic was neither fitted nor supplied for the ice (Guttridge-Sabine, p. 130), and the Proteus ended up "nipped"; she sank with most of her supplies (Guttridge-Sabine, p. 138). Plagued by indiscipline in the transport's crew (her excellent complement of two years earlier having been replaced by a different and more mutinous bunch; see e.g. Guttridge-Sabin p. 139), it took some effort just to get the relief expedition home; they left no supplies (Guttridge-Sabin, pp. 144-146).
After two years without contact, Greely decided to abandon Fort Conger, the base on northern Ellesmere. This was written into his instructions: If he hadn't been resupplied by September 1, 1883, he would depart. After 721 days at their base, Greely decided to leave just a little early, on August 9 (Guttridge-Sabine, p. 152; Berton, p. 448). Greely can hardly be blamed; while there was still sufficient food for at least another year, the men were unhappy (especially with him, as it would prove), and travel in the arctic winter was never easy.
What followed showed the disastrous effects of inadequate planning; Greely did not really know what course to take, and made assorted errors along the way. He took too many records and equipment (which could always have been recovered from Fort Conger at a later date) and too few rations. Plus, being the nut case he was, he insisted on hauling along his heavy dress uniform (Berton, p. 458). Had everything gone exactly as planned, he had just enough food to get to where he was going (Guttridge-Sabine, p. 157)
But nothing ever goes according to plan in the arctic. The engineer in charge of keeping the motorboat's engine running was an alcoholic, and Greely couldn't keep him sober (Berton, p. 459; Guttridge-Sabine, p. 158, 162, etc.). Greely eventually decided to take passage on an ice floe, leading the rest of the edition to discuss mutiny (Berton, p.. 460; Guttridge-Sabine, p. 163-164). Greely himself fell in the water, and though he was rescued, many of the party thought he should have been left to drown (Guttridge-Sabine, p. 164). His failed planning caused one of the boats to be destroyed (Guttridge-Sabine, p. 173). Even his most reliable sergeant described this part of the trip as "madness" (Guttridge-Sabine, pp. 198-199). The map in Guttridge-Sabine, p. 213 shows how the ice drove them around the Kane Basin as they tried to get to the island of Cape Sabine; twice they came within sight of it only to have the ice turn them around).
As all this went on, the Yantic headed south on September 15 (Guttridge-Sabine, p. 171), and the war department decided not to send further help (Guttridge-Sabine, p. 184).
Greeley's crew came ashore south of their destination at Cape Sabine, with sone of the men starting to become ill from their ordeal (Berton, p. 462). They had perhaps three months' worth of food to last the entire arctic winter (Berton, pp. 463-464). They built a shelter that was more cave than hut (25 feet long, 18 wide, but only 5 feet high; Guttridge-Sabine, p. 222), and basically prepared for rescue or death. (They hoped at first to be able to sledge to the Greenland side, but the ice, for once, never closed over the passage, and they were too debilitated to try the remaining boats; Guttridge-Sabine, p. 239).
By New Year's, the doctor was amputating a soldier's foot and fingers due to frostbite (Guttridge-Sabine, p. 226). They had lived at Fort Conger for two years without scurvy, but now, with little fresh food, the traces began to appear; when the first man died on January 18, 1884, it was of a mix of scurvy and starvation (Guttridge-Sabine, p. 234; Berton, p. 469).
Ironically, Greely, a failure until this point, managed to be a good fairly leader at this time (Berton, p. 472), rationing the food and keeping the the men relatively sane (Berton, pp. 467). But they slowly died off due to malnutrition. There were several instances where men stole food (Berton, pp. 467, 470, 473, etc.); in the end, they had to execute the worst thief, who had enlisted under an assumed name to hide his history (Berton, p. 475; Guttridge-Sabine, p. 272, notes that he was not really given a trial, simply shot -- though he admits that, in the circumstances, the formality of a court-martial "was out of the question"). On the last day before rescue, when the tent by the burial plot (to which they had moved their base, Guttridge-Sabine, p. 266) fell in, no one was strong enough to put it up again. And it was later shown that someone had engaged in cannibalism (Berton, pp. 484-485). It was probably the doctor, since it was skillfully done and ceased at about the time he died (none of the men who died after him had any flesh removed), but Guttridge-Sabine, pp. 271, 275, offers a few cryptic hints that others might have been involved.
By early June, the deaths were happening almost daily, and the survivors had no strength left to bury the corpses; the last one was simply pushed out into the snow. When they were finally rescued in the fourth week of the month, only seven men were still alive, and one of them was the man who had had his feet amputated; he would soon after die of his injuries, leaving only six. Out of 25 who had set out. Apparently only two were still relatively mobile when found. Greely was the only officer to live.
A constant theme, from exploratory party after exploratory party, is men who went out of control. Some of this, no doubt, is commanders who didn't know how to command (even Peary was a civil engineer, not a line officer). But I wonder a little about seasonal affective disorder. In any case, in 1903, the quest for the polehad a worse record than the quest for the Passage had been when Franklin set out.
No wonder, then, that the repeated Polar expeditions became the subject of mirth: What sane person would risk what the explorers had been through? Besides, there were all the mad inventor types the quest encouraged: Peary was mailed ideas for building a wooden tunnel to the pole, for building a pipe to transport hot soup, and to fire himself to the pole by cannon (Henderson-True, p. 185; compare Fleming-North, p. 353).
In 1904, about the time this song came out, Peary founded the Peary Arctic Club with the declared mission of "altering... public opinion so that existing prejudice against Arctic work would be lessened" (Henderson-True, p. 159). You almost wonder if it was cause and effect.
Note that the Pole was not reached until 1908 at the earliest, five years after this song was performed -- and it was probably much later. The first person we are certain saw the North Pole was Roald Amundsen and the crew of the dirigible Norge, which flew over the pole in 1926.
This was days after Robert Byrd's attempt to fly over the Pole. Although he claimed success, the evidence is against him (for Byrd's failure, see Roberts, pp. 155-168).
Roberts, pp. 159-160, summarizes the case against Byrd: In trials, his plane never exceeded 75 miles per hour, and was slower with landing skis, but his flight time of only fifteen and a half hours meant he had to average 87 miles per hour to reach the pole. He returned with an engine leaking oil, which would have forced him to turn around as soon as it was noticed, whether he had reached the Pole or not. And his only sextant had been broken, so that, even if the readings were accepted, the instrument's error could not be checked.
It was very Peary-like: No one could prove he didn't make it, but there was no good evidence and the claim required travel speeds while unobserved which Byrd had never managed while observed. Byrd's claim isn't as outrageous as Peary's -- he claimed a tailwind helped him out, which at least means he acknowledged the problem -- but the probability is low. And he went to great lengths to hide his records; Roberts, p. 164. Bryce, p. 921, makes the interesting point that the man who "verified" Byrd's record was the same one who "'proved,' and improved, Peary's observations at the 'Pole.'"
The following list shows key dates in the quest for the North Pole (adapted from Berton, p. 637 and following).
1818 - David Buchan's expedition from Spitzbergen (two ships, the other commanded by Lt. John Franklin)
1827 - William Edward Parry's expedition from Spitzbergen passes the latitude of 82 degrees N
1860-1861 - An American expedition under Isaac Hayes seeks (and naturally fails to find) the "Open Polar Sea"; it also produces some hideously inaccurate maps (Berton, pp. 353-364; Fleming-North, pp. 61-78)
1871-1873 - North Pole expedition of the Polaris (Hall's third northward expedition, but the first devoted to the Pole rather than Franklin), which features the death of Hall and the stranding of half his crew; see description above
1875-1876 - British naval expedition under George Nares. This is the last try by the British navy, and it does briefly set a new Farthest North record -- but scurvy, which the Admiralty thought it had solved, forces the expedition home a year early (Berton, pp. 413-429; Fleming-North, pp. 161-186)
1879-1882 - Jeannette expedition, described above. All told, 20 out of 33 involved die.
1881-1884 - Adolphus Greely explores Ellesmere Island and his team sets a new "farthest north" record, but only six of 25 survive (due mostly to American government errors), and at least one man was guilty of cannibalism
1886 - Robert Peary fails to cross Greenland (crossing Greenland may not sound like a big deal, but the island is all glacier; there is no life at all for hunters to harvest, and the Inuit wouldn't go near the interior. Had Peary succeeded, it would have been a testimony to his techniques; also, there was at the time a hope that Greenland might provide a route to the Pole). Peary also claims to chart shoreline later shown not to exist
1888 - Fridtjof Nansen crosses Greenland
1891-1892 - Another Peary expedition to Greenland. He doesn't chart any more territory -- and makes off with sacred and irreplaceable Inuit artifacts which he sells entirely for his own profit. Later he will lure six Inuit back to "civilization" where they will become the victims of "scientific" experimentation; all will die young, and it will be decades before their bones are returned north for burial
1893-1895 - Nansen, using a new type of boat (the Fram) and later sledges, sets a new Farthest North but does not reach the pole
1897 - Salomon Andree tries and fails to reach the pole by balloon. He and his crew make it back to the uninhabited islands of Franz Joseph Land but die there; their bodies are not discovered for more than thirty years
1898-1902 - Another Peary expedition fails -- this time leaving Peary with damaged feet
1899-1900 - Abruzzi expedition sets another Farthest North record but doesn't approach the Pole
1901-1902 - Ziegler/Baldwin expedition from Norway fails to reach the pole
1903-1905 - Ziegler/Fiala expedition, again from Norway, fails with the loss of the ship America
1905-1906 - Peary fails again
1908-1909 - Peary claims to reach the Pole (April 6, 1909). So does Dr. Frederick Albert Cook (April 21, 1908).
Examination of the incomplete records of Cook and Peary makes it unlikely that either ever made the Pole -- but Peary saw to it that Cook's instruments and many of his records were lost, making it impossible for him to offer proper evidence for his claims. (In fact, Bryce, p. 848, notes that Peary began a six-part plan to discredit Cook the moment he learned the doctor had set out for the pole. To make things even harder for Cook, an accident also destroyed many of his photos -- Bryce, pp. 335 -- but these probably would not have affected the case, since they were taken before his run for the pole.)
In addition, Edward Barrill, who had accompanied Cook on an expedition to Mt. McKinley (Bryce, p. 280, etc.), released a report claiming Cook never made the summit (Henderson-True, pp. 267-269, offers evidence that Barrill's account was made up after the fact and that he was paid by Peary supporters to concoct it,and Bryce, p. 797, notes that he *was* paid a great deal for producing it, but Fleming-North, p. 386, offers evidence that Cook's description doesn't match reality, and Roberts,pp. 120-124, covers attempts to retrace Cook's actual footsteps, which allowed them to take photos which matches Cook's but from points other than where he said he took them). With Cook's claim definitely unprovable, and with his reputation damanged, Peary's equally unprovable claim was accepted almost by default (for details on this, see the notes to "Captain Bob Bartlett").
So did Cook or Peary reach the pole? The controversy continued for years, with Cook's supporters and his descendents fighting to clear his name until the last of them died out. Cook's case is much weakened by his lack of observations; indeed, there are charges that he could not so much as use a sextant to find his latitude (Bryce, p. 860fff.). Peary's partisans also stuck to their guns, and the National Geographic Society apparently still refuses to re-examine the matter; they initially accepted Peary's claim -- after all, they had supported his expedition; in fact they never really tested his data. Forty years later, just discussing the matter was enough to get Walt Gonnason thrown out of their offices (Bryce, p. 747). They still maintain that attitude; the eighth edition of their World Atlas (no copyright date but released after 2000) still lists him as the first to reach the pole (Roberts, pp. 153-154, considers this to be the result of loyalty to its own reputation).
Of other authorities I checked, Henderson-True thinks Cook made it and Peary may have. Asimov does not state an explicit opinion but strongly implies that Peary made it and Cook didn't. Berton thinks neither did (though Berton, whose general policy is to consider everyone a disreputable idiot, does make the observation that, though Peary didn't reach the Pole, he came closer than anyone else to go there solely by muscle power, without support from aircraft, and returning under his own power; see p. 624.) Roberts of course is sure that neither Cook nor Peary made it. Fleming thinks Peary didn't but doesn't see why it matters (a view more meaningful in hindsight: We now know there is no land under the pole, so there is no real distinction between 88 or 89 or 90 degrees north. But Peary *didn't* know that -- in fact, he reported seeing land that wasn't there -- and he wasn't doing science anyway). The 1972 edition ofWebster's Geographical Dictionary did not mention Peary and says the Pole was first crossed by foot and dogsled 1968-1969, though the 1998 edition credits Peary with reaching the Pole while admitting the claim is disputed.
Bryce, p. 876, makes an interesting observation. On p. 864, he hypothesizes that the navigationally-challenged Cook might have tried to reach the Pole by "following the magnetic meridian." This in fact would not work, but Cook might have throught it would. This allows two possibilities: That he was trying to cheat all along -- or that he tried his meridian trick, came back thinking he had made it, learned when he returned that his method was not adequate -- but tried to revive his claimed once he realized that Peary's 1909 effort had not reached the Pole. But, as Bryce points out, his behavior would have been much the same either way, so we can't tell which is true. I will admit that I find much of Cook's behavior incomprehensible,making me wonder if he was entirely sane; it's interesting that several other witnesses cited by Bryce (pp. 844, 901), including Roald Amundsun thought the same thing -- and, indeed, the Arctic was good at driving people mad; see again "Lady Franklin's Lament (The Sailor's Dream)" [Laws K9]. Bryce, however, does not accept this explanation
Bryce's first conclusion on Peary (p. 880) is that "All of Peary's ations after April 6, 1909... give every inication of a guilty man trying to shield his greatest deceit from the spotlight of any impartial investigation. Moreover, evidence preserved by Peary himself shows thatall his expeditions before 1909h ad produced exaggereated or false claims." Interestingly, though Bryce absolutely rejects Cook's claim to have reached the Pole, he considers his story of attaining it far more plausible than Peary's (p. 916).
At this time, the matter probably cannot be settled by direct evidence; we must rely on the (very strong) indirect evidence. It seems unlikely that either Cook or Peary made it to the pole.
But I would make a secondary observation: We don't let athletes who use steroids earn credit for winning races. Nor are candidates who commit vote fraud generally allowed to win elections. Why shouldn't Peary be held to the same standard? Did he reach the Pole? Maybe. Did he lie (to the Inuit), cheat (Bartlett, whom he had promised to take to the Pole) and steal (from Cook and from the Inuit -- taking at various times their meteorites, their people to be museum exhibits, and, for his last expedition, their much-needed dogs; Bryce, p. 332)? Yes. Indeed, at one point, his behavior could be called murder, since he refused to allow a doctor to treat Inuit who needed help (Bryce, pp. 319-320). By today's definitions, he was guilty of abduction and perhaps even rape of underage girls (Bryce, p. 341) and child pornography (Roberts, between pages 100 and 101, reprints one of his nude photos of a 14-year-old Inuit girl). Bryce, p. 854, reports that some Inuit labelled him "the great tormentor" for decades. His behavior should disallow his claim.
Incidentally, the first people to stand at the Pole may not have arrived (by plane) until 1953 (Roberts, p. 166). And, although trips to the North Pole are now almost routine (since a traveler in trouble can always radio for help and be rescued by air), the arctic has not entirely relented since Peary's time. Alfred Wegener, who did noteworthy work on meteorology and lunar craters and who invented the modern theory of Continental Drift in the period before the first world war (though it did not come to be accepted until decades after his death) sought evidence for his theories in Greenland, and died there in 1930 when the expedition ran into trouble (Asimov, p. 595; Gribbin, p. 448). And, of course, no less a man than Roald Amundson died on the polar cap while searching for the survivors of another wreck (Asimov, p. 561; Mirsky, pp. 314, 317). - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: Harl230

Hurrah, Hurrah, Hurrah!


DESCRIPTION: German shanty. Sailors arrive in David street in Hamburg where they can buy girls for five pennies. Song enumerates various girls and their attributes. The sailors spend all the money and go back to sea.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty sailor whore sex money
FOUND IN: Germany
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 138-140, "Hurrah, Hurrah, Hurrah!" (2 texts-German & English, 1 tune)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Wat Wi Doht
David Straat
File: Hugi138

Hurrah, Lie!


See Martin Said To His Man (File: WB022)

Hurrah, Sing Fare Ye Well


DESCRIPTION: Shanty. "We're bound away to Callyo, Hurrah sing fare ye well. Oh fare ye well, me Liverpool gal, Hurrah sing fare ye well." Verses have vague courting, whoring, and sailing themes.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
KEYWORDS: shanty separation farewell
FOUND IN: US Britain
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 119-120 "Hurrah, Sing Fare Ye Well" (1 text, 1 tune) [AbEd, pp. 102-103]
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Goodbye, Sing Fare You Well
Fare Ye Well
My Bonnie Young Girl
File: Hugi119

Hurry Up, Harry


See The Lumber Camp Song (File: Doe210)

Husband Lamenting the Death of the Wife, The


DESCRIPTION: "Come, my dear friends, and mourn with me In my afflicted state. I am bereaved, as you may see, Of my dear loving mate." He tells his grief, notes how the children miss their mother, and says it is God's will
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Belden), from a diary of the Civil War era
KEYWORDS: husband wife death loneliness orphan
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, p. 467, "The Husband Lamenting the Death of the Wife" (1 text)
Roud #7957
File: Beld467B

Husband With No Courage In Him, The


See My Husband's Got No Courage in Him (File: K213)

Husband-man and the Servant-man, The


See The Husbandman and the Servingman (File: K226)

Husband's Departure, The


DESCRIPTION: The husband prepares to go to war against the south. His wife tries to dissuade him. He says she would not respect him if he were a coward. He finally convinced her and departs
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: husband wife battle Civilwar dialog
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, pp. 378-39, "The Husband's Departure" (1 text)
Roud #7761
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rolling Stone" [Laws B25] (form, lyrics)
NOTES: Sort of a cross between "The Rolling Stone" (which Belden lists as a probable source) and Lovelace's "To Lucasta, Going to the Wars." - RBW
File: Beld378

Husband's Dream, The


See The Drunkard's Dream (I) (File: R307)

Husbandman and the Servingman, The


DESCRIPTION: A husbandman and a servingman meet and discuss their occupations. The servant describes all the rich people he associates with; the husbandman details the pleasure of a good season in the fields. The servingman wishes he had chosen the other occupation
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1843 (Broadwood)
KEYWORDS: work dialog farming servant
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Kennedy 226, "The Husband-man and the Servant-man" (1 text, 1 tune)
cf. Chappell/Wooldridge I, pp. 282-283, "Paul's Steeple, or I Am the Duke of Norfolk" (1 tune, partial text, said by Kennedy to be this piece)
DT, HUSBSERV
Roud #873
RECORDINGS:
Mummers from Symondsbury, "The Symondsbury & Eype Mummer's Play & The Singing of the Travels" (on Lomax41, LomaxCD1741, FSB9)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Farmer and the Shanty Boy" (plot)
cf. "The Plooman Laddie (I)" (theme)
cf. "Soldier Boy for Me (A Railroader for Me)" (theme)
cf. "Buttercup Joe" (subject, a few phrases)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Singing of the Travels
NOTES: Kennedy claims that Chappell's piece "I Am the Duke of Norfolk" is this tune. This overstates the case -- Chappell's tune is similar but not identical in the tenor line. And neither tune is the one I know. "I Am the Duke of Norfolk" is, however, a popular tune; it is cited many times in the Broadside Ballad Index (ZN338, ZN1208, ZN1839, ZN2168, ZN2570, ZN2671, ZN2955). - RBW
File: K226

Hush Alee


DESCRIPTION: "I sit up all night with the fire burning bright, While rocking my baby to sleep, Singing, 'Hush a-le la lee, hush a-lo lee, Your daddy will come by and by, So close your eyes and go to sleep, Your dear mother she is tired, Singing hush alee..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: lullaby nonballad father mother
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
SHenry H591b, p. 6, "Hush Alee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 343, "Hush, Little Babbie" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, HUSHALEE*
Roud #2158
NOTES: It's far from certain that these songs are the same. Kennedy, who knew the Henry collection, did not equate them, speculating instead that "Hush, Little Babbie" came from a Gaelic original.
But both the Kennedy and Henry texts are from Northern Ireland, and they share lines and somewhat similar choruses. I decided to equate them.
The text cited in the description is from Henry. Kennedy's version has a curious floating segment, "Where are you going, my old man, Where are you going, my honey?" - RBW
File: HHH591b

Hush and Baloo, Babie


DESCRIPTION: "Hush and baloo, babie, Hush and baloo; A' the lave's in their beds -- I'm hushin' you"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1870 (Chambers)
KEYWORDS: lullaby baby
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1548, "Hush-a-Baloo"; GreigDuncan8 1549, "Oh Hush-a-Baloo"; GreigDuncan8 1550, "Hush and Baloo, Babie" (3 short texts, 2 tunes)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Popular Rhymes of Scotland (Edinburgh, 1870 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 13, ("Hush and baloo, babie")
Roud #13514
NOTES: "The favourite old Scottish term for a lullaby is the baloo." (source: Ewan McVicar, Doh Ray Me, When Ah Wis Wee (Edinburgh, 2007), p. 9)
The current description is all of the Chambers text, which is very close to GreigDuncan 1550. Roud lumps GreigDuncan8 1548, 1549 and 1550 together. What text there is is very close and the most "complete" text is the one quoted in the description. There seems little point, just considering the texts, in separating them. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD1548

Hush You (The Black Douglas)


DESCRIPTION: "Hush you, hush you, Little pet you, Hush you, hush you, Dinna fret you, The Black Douglas Shall not get you."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (Montgomerie)
KEYWORDS: lullaby
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 137, "(Hush you, hush you)" (1 text)
NOTES: Whether this is a traditional song I do not know -- but it's old enough to have folklore about it. Unfortunately, I don't remember the source, but the tale went as follows:
A singer, high in a castle, was singing "The Black Douglas shall not get you" to her bairn, when Douglas, who was raiding the castle and had come up behind her, announced, "I'm not so sure of that."
Probably too good to be true, to be sure.
The Douglas family arose to prominence in the reign of Robert I Bruce (King of Scotland 1306-1329); Sir James Douglas (died 1330) was Bruce's right-hand man, and I seem to recall one version of the above story in which he was the Douglas involved.
But James Douglas was not a "Black Douglas"; at the time, there was but the one Douglas family. His descendants became Earls of Douglas. It was the second Earl, another James, who died young at Otterburn (for which see "The Hunting of the Cheviot [Child 162]"). He had no direct heir, so the Douglas family split into Red and Black branches.
The Black Douglases were the stronger -- indeed, they were the strongest family in Scotland, probably stronger than the King. For half a century, they were a constant menace, until James II killed William Douglas (the eighth earl) in 1452. His brother James succeeded as ninth earl, but was driven into exile a few years later, and the Douglases were finally broken.
Thus this piece, if real, would have to date from between 1388 and 1455. Probably it comes from the earlier end of that period, in the period of the most intense border wars -- which were not really battles between England and Scotland; like Otterburn, they were between the Percies of Northumbria and the Douglases of Lothian. - RBW
File: MSNR137

Hush-a-Ba Baby On a Tree Top


See Rock-A-Bye Baby (File: Wa190)

Hush-a-Ba Baby, Dinna Mak' a Din


DESCRIPTION: "Hush-a-ba baby, dinna mak' a din": "ye'll get a fishie when the boats come in" or "ye'll get a piece when the baker comes in"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (Maclagan)
KEYWORDS: food lullaby nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber,High))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1561, "Hush-a-Ba Baby, Dinna Mak' a Din" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: R.C. Maclagan, "Additions to _The Games of Argyleshire_" in Folk-Lore, (London, 1905 ("Digitized by Google")), Vol. XVI, p. 453, ("Hush-a-baa baby, dinna mak' a din")
Roud #13510
NOTES: The GreigDuncan8 verse is the "fishie" one. Compare this to the "Dance To Your Daddy" line "You shall have a fish and you shall have a fin, You shall have a coddlin' when the boat comes in." McVicar considers this fragment a version of that song; however, his other versions do not have a "hush-a-ba baby" line (see Ewan McVicar, Doh Ray Me, When Ah Wis Wee (Edinburgh, 2007), pp. 15-17). - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81561

Hush-a-Ba Baby, Lie Doon


DESCRIPTION: "Hush-a-ba baby, lie doon, Your mammy's awa to the toon And when she comes back ye'll get a wee drap -- Hush-a-ba baby lie doon"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: lullaby baby mother
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1554, "Hush-a-Ba Baby, Lie Doon" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #13515
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan8 text. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD1554

Hush-a-Bye, Baby


DESCRIPTION: The singer is forty-five with a young wife who "loves to go out on a spree" leaving him to watch the baby. One night he goes out for a stroll while the baby is sleeping and "my dear wife I spied hugging a soldier sixteen"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Leach-Labrador)
KEYWORDS: infidelity marriage baby wife
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Leach-Labrador 115, "Hush-a-Bye, Baby" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST LLab115 (Full)
Roud #9971
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rocking the Cradle (and the Child Not His Own)" (theme)
cf. "Unhappy Jeremiah (The Brats of Jeremiah)" (plot)
File: LLab115

Hush-a-bye, Baby, On The Tree Top


See Rock-A-Bye Baby (File: Wa190)
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