New-Mown Hay, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer walks out "one May morning" and spies "a pretty sweet maid All on the new-mown hay." She convinces him not to ravish her at once; "You'll spoil my maiden gown." She eludes him; he advises men not to worry about spoiling gowns
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1845 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(2661))
KEYWORDS: seduction trick clothes
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,West)) Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Bronson 112, "The Baffled Knight" (40 versions) -- but #26-33 (his Appendix A) are "The New-Mown Hay," which we tentatively separate, and #34-#39 (his Appendix B) are "Katie Morey" [Laws N24] which is certainly separate
Kennedy 184, "The New-Mown Hay" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MORNDEW3*
Roud #11
RECORDINGS:
William Rew ,"The New-Mown Hay" (on FSB2CD)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2661), "New Mown Hay" ("As I walked out one May morning"), J. Pitts (London), 1819-1844; also Harding B 16(168b), "New Mown Hay"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Baffled Knight" [Child 112]
NOTES: As far as the plot goes, this is exactly identical to "The Baffled Knight" [Child 112], and some (e.g. Bronson, Roud) have grouped them together. Kennedy, however, argues that they are separate, and the verse form implies he is right. To me, this looks like a cross between "The Baffled Knight" and "Rolling in the Dew (The Milkmaid)." - RBW
Separate from "The Baffled Knight"? Naah. Never mind "verse form" -- look at Kennedy's verse 3. I call that a smoking gun. - PJS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: K184

New-Slain Knight, The [Child 263]


DESCRIPTION: A man sees a girl sleeping under a hedge. He tells her of a dead man in her father's garden. His description makes her think it is her love. She wonders who will care for her. The man offers to do so. She refuses him till he reveals himself as her lover.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1878
KEYWORDS: trick disguise love death
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Child 263, "The New-Slain Knight" (1 text)
GreigDuncan5 1049, "The New-Slain Knight" (1 fragment)
Roud #3887
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lass of Roch Royal" [Child 76] (floating lyrics) and references there
cf. "John (George) Riley (I)" [Laws N36] (plot) and references there
cf. "The Three Ravens" [Child 26]
File: C263

Newburgh Jail, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer is arrested while in a bar. Held without trial for some time, he moves back and forth among prisons. At last he makes his escape (despite the shooting of the guards). He intends to keep moving and not be taken again
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960
KEYWORDS: prison escape trial
FOUND IN: US(MA)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
FSCatskills 166, "The Newburgh Jail" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FSC166 (Partial)
Roud #4606
NOTES: This song is item dE53 in Laws's Appendix II. - RBW
File: FSC166

Newburgh Salmon Dinner Song, The


DESCRIPTION: The men of Ythan are the best at their work. They win the best prizes at the Aberdeen cattle show and their marksmen always win good prizes. To see them at their best "come down whan they're met her first salmon to prie [taste] An mussels and toddy"
AUTHOR: William Forbes
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (McConnochie)
KEYWORDS: pride farming fishing drink food nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan3 516, "O Canny an' Cute Men Ye'll Meet by the Dee" (1 fragment)
ADDITIONAL: Alex. Inson McConnochie, editor, The Book of Ellon (Ellon, 1901 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 103, "The Newburgh Salmon Dinner Song"
Roud #6000
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Contented Wi' Little" (tune, per McConnochie)
NOTES: The Ythan, Dee and Don are rivers that flow into the North Sea near Aberdeen. Newburgh on Ythan is "a coastal village in Aberdeenshire, Scotland (source: Wikipedia article Newburgh, Aberdeenshire ). - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD3516

Newcastle Is My Native Place


DESCRIPTION: "Newcassel is my native place, Where my mother sighed for me... Where in early youth I sported... But, alas! those days are gone and past." The singer tells of growing up, taking his first job, getting married -- and regrets the woe of the latter
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: youth home work courting marriage lament drink
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 190-191, "Newcastle Is My Native Place" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR190 (Partial)
Roud #3180
NOTES: This is a rather strange mix: Almost every line of it recalls happy days -- but the singer is grousing anyway. - RBW
File: StoR190

Newfoundland


See Bound Down to Newfoundland [Laws D22] (File: LD22)

Newfoundland and Sebastopol


DESCRIPTION: "Success to France and England! Hurray my boys hurray! Sebastopol is taken And we've nobly gained the day" on September 8, 1855. The battles are recounted. "Here's to the memory of our soldiers ... of that dreadful battle Of September, fifty-five"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: army battle war England France Russia memorial
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Sep 9, 1855 - Fall of Sevastopol following an 11 month siege
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 152, "Newfoundland and Sebastopol" (1 text)
Roud #17747
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sebastopol (Old England's Gained the Day; Capture and Destruction of Sebastopol; Cheer, Boys, Cheer)" (subject, theme)
NOTES: Greenleaf/Mansfield['s version] has no mention of "Newfoundland" in the text. - BS
File: GrMa152

Newfoundland Disaster (I), The


DESCRIPTION: Captain Randall, commander of the Bill, abandons his voyage and rescues twenty-five survivors of the Newfoundland from the ice. Seventy-seven are lost.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1960 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: rescue drowning sea ship wreck
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
March 1914 - Wreck of the Newfoundland (Northern Shipwrecks Database)
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Peacock, pp. 967-968, "The Newfoundland Disaster" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ryan/Small, pp. 94-95, "The Newfoundland Disaster (I)" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Pea967 (Partial)
Roud #9932
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. Pat Maher, "The Story of the Sealing Vessel, The Newfoundland" (on NFMLeach)
cf. "The Newfoundland Disaster (II)" (subject)
cf. "In Memorial of 77 Brave Newfoundland Sealers" (subject)
NOTES: Maher, on NFMLeach, does not sing the ballad but tells the story and tells a ghost story relating to that wreck. - BS
File: Pea967

Newfoundland Disaster (II), The


DESCRIPTION: "Come all ye sons of Newfoundland And shed a tear or two While I relate the hardships great Befell this steamship's crew." The Newfoundland is trapped by a gale, and "nearly 80" men are killed. Listeners are asked to mourn the heroes
AUTHOR: apparently George Humbey
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (Harbour Grace Standard)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship disaster storm death
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, p. 96, "The Newfoundland Disaster (2)" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Newfoundland Disaster (I)" (subject)
cf. Pat Maher, "The Story of the Sealing Vessel, The Newfoundland" (on NFMLeach)
cf. "In Memorial of 77 Brave Newfoundland Sealers" (subject)
File: RySm096

Newfoundland Hero, A


See Captain William Jackman, A Newfoundland Hero (File: GrMa145)

Newfoundland Sailor, The


See Oh, No, Not I (File: DTmarryn)

Newfoundland Sealing Song


DESCRIPTION: The Greenland and Travan arrive at Harbour Grace "Chock up to every hatch" with fur seals pelts. On March 10 Greenland heads north again for hooded seals and "when the day was done Twice seven thousand pelts was flagged." "So now we're home for Easter"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1950 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: hunting sea ship shore sailor
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 198-199, "Newfoundland Sealing Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2719
NOTES: Harbour Grace on Conception Bay and Green's Pond on the Northern Peninsula are Newfoundland outports. - BS
File: CrMa198

Newhills


See Newmill (File: Ord257)

Newlyn Town


See The Wild and Wicked Youth [Laws L12] (File: LL12)

Newmill


DESCRIPTION: "It was to Newmill, ayont the hills, Last term I did fee." The master is a miser who feeds and rewards his workers badly: "I chased the barley roun' the plate, And a' I got was three." The master tries to cheat him for his work; he departs happily
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming hardtimes food money trick
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #92, p. 2, "Newmill" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 381, "Newhills" (4 texts, 3 tunes)
Ord, pp. 257-258, "Newmill" (1 text)
Roud #5588
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; Newhills (381) is at coordinate (h1,v9) on that map [roughly 5 miles NW of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Ord257

Newry Highwayman, The


See The Wild and Wicked Youth [Laws L12] (File: LL12)

Newry Prentice Boy, The


See The Bonny Sailor Boy [Laws M22] (File: LM22)

Next Market Day, The


DESCRIPTION: Woman going to the market meets a man. He gives her three guineas to pay for the yarn, that he might play her a new tune.She goes home with the tune in her head. She will seek him "by land or by sea/Till he larns me that tune called the next market day"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan7)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Young woman going to the market at Comber, with three hanks of yarn to sell for her mother, meets a young man (apparently a musician), and dallies. He gives her three guineas to pay her mother for the yarn, that he might play her a new tune. They sit together; they gaze lovingly into each other's eyes, and she goes home with the tune in her head. She vows to seek him "by land or by sea/Till he larns me that tune called the next market day"
KEYWORDS: courting love sex commerce music
FOUND IN: Ireland Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan7 1428, "The Neist Market Day" (1 text)
Hayward-Ulster, p. 45, "The Comber Ballad" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 158 "The Next Market Day" (1 text)
Roud #6547
RECORDINGS:
Seamus O'Doherty, "The Next Market Day" (Columbia 33289-F, n.d.)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Stonecutter Boy" (plot)
cf. "The Haselbury Girl (The Maid of Tottenham, The Aylesbury Girl)" (plot)
cf. "The Mower" (plot)
cf. "The Wanton Seed"
cf. "The Bonny Bush o' Broom' (seduction theme and three guinea payment)
File: FSWB158B

Next Monday Morning


DESCRIPTION: The singer meets a young girl who says she will be married next Sunday (or other day). He asks her age; she is (12/16/other). He tells her she's too young to marry. She replies that she will be married that day and describes the festivities. End of story.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1850
KEYWORDS: marriage wedding age
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South,Lond),Scotland) Ireland Canada(Mar,Newf) US(Ap,MW,NE,SE)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Sharp-100E 38, "The Sign of the Bonny Blue Bell" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 137, "Next Monday Morning' (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 173, "I'm Going to Get Married Next Sunday" (1 text)
SharpAp 143, "I'm Going to get Married next Sunday" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 165-166, "[I'm Going to Be Married on Monday]" (1 text plus 1 fragment, 2 tunes)
Peacock, p. 559, "Monday Morning" (1 text, 1 tune)
Opie-Oxford2 464, "On Saturday night shall be my care" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #161, p. 119, "(On Saturday night shall be my care)"
DT, NEXTMOND* NEXTMON2*
Roud #579
RECORDINGS:
W. Guy Bruce, "As I Walked Out One Morning In Spring" (on FolkVisions1)
Harry Cox, "Next Monday Morning" (on HCox01)
Mrs. Edward Gallagher, "I'm Going to Get Married" (on NovaScotia1)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(1654), "I Shall Be Married on Monday Morning" ("As I was walking one morning in spring"), Williamson (Newcastle), c.1845
ALTERNATE TITLES:
I'm Going to be Married on Sunday
NOTES: The Brown text lacks the objection to the girl's youth. Perhaps a deliberate American adaption, where the availability of land meant that teenagers, especially in mountain areas, did marry quite young? - RBW
Perhaps, but the version in Sharp has the objection. - PJS
File: ShH38

Next Song on the Programme, The


DESCRIPTION: "The next song on the programme will be a dance Sang by a female gentleman Sitting on a corner of a round table, Picking carrots out of a sultana pie. Nancy Carter, she's the Tartar And I'm a tomato"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1977 (recording, Albert Smith)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad nonsense paradox food
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
RECORDINGS:
Albert Smith, "The Next Song on the Programme" (on Voice14)
NOTES: The current description is almost all of the Voice14 text. - BS
File: RcNSOTP

Niagara Falls


DESCRIPTION: "Don't you hear the water rolling?/Ho, ho, ho.../That we're riding off in trouble/Ho, ho, ho...)" Later verses take the form, "Don't you go and tell our father (mother, sister)/.../That we're riding off in trouble..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (Cecil Sharp collection)
KEYWORDS: lumbering work disaster worksong
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SharpAp 166, "Niagara Falls" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3640
NOTES: Sharp notes, "The words of the song refer to men on a logging raft, which has got out of control and is drifting toward Niagara Falls." - PJS
File: ShAp2166

Nice Little Jenny from Ballinasloe


DESCRIPTION: The singer meets and falls in love with Jenny. He declares his love. She says she is "never inclined to disdain or to tease" but she already has a lover and he has a large dog and gun. The singer bows out. "For ever I'll mourn for beauteous Jane Curran"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1835 (From a Waterford chap-book, according to Sparling)
KEYWORDS: courting rejection beauty dog lover
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
OLochlainn-More 92, "Nice Little Jenny from Ballinasloe" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 326-328, 513, "Nice Little Jane from Ballinasloe"
Roud #5305
NOTES: Ballinasloe is in County Galway, Ireland. - BS
File: OLcM092

Nice Piece of Irish Pig's Head, A


DESCRIPTION: Irish pig's head is a better meal than Christmas goose, spring lamb, beef, mutton, turkey, or ham. It has been used to pay the rent. Frenchmen eat frog, Englishmen eat beef but give Pat pig's head cabbage and spuds, even as a spread for a wedding.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (recording, "Maurice")
KEYWORDS: food nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #12932
RECORDINGS:
Maurice, "A Nice Piece of Irish Pig's Head" (on Voice07)
NOTES: This probably consists of making the best of necessity. Even before the potato blights of the 1840s, so many Catholics were on such small farms that they could raise nothing but potatoes. Anything else, including meat discarded by the landlord, would be a treat. Yes, the boar's head was sometimes called a delicacy (see "The Boar's Head Carol"), but that seems to be mostly because the rest of the boar came with it.... - RBW
File: RcNPOIPH

Nickety Nackety


See The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin [Child 277] (File: C277)

Nicky Tams


DESCRIPTION: Singer works as a plowman, always wearing his nicky tams. He courts "bonnie Annie," who admires his nicky tams. A wasp flies up his pants in church; he won't go again without them. He thinks about other jobs, but he'll never forget wearing his nicky tams
AUTHOR: G. S. Morris
EARLIEST DATE: 1930s (composed)
KEYWORDS: courting clothes farming work humorous bug worker
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland, England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MacSeegTrav 107, "Nicky Tams" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1875
RECORDINGS:
Jimmy McBeath, "Nicky Tams" (on Voice05)
Jimmy Scott, "Nickie Dams" (on Borders1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Berryfields of Blair" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
The Berryfields of Blaie (File: K339)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
A Pair of Nicky Tams
NOTES: According to MacColl & Seeger, "Nicky tams," aka "yorks," "yaks," or "wull-tams," were leather thongs worn buckled just below the knee, to prevent the trouser legs from dragging in the mud. They were essential parts of a ploughman's attire. - PJS
File: McCST107

Nid de Fauvettes, Le (The Warbler's Nest)


DESCRIPTION: French. I hold this nest of baby warblers. They cannot escape. Their father and mother try to rescue them and I return them. Teach them to fly here and, next year, to sleep in the oak and they will compose songs of youth.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1959 (Peacock)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage lyric nonballad bird
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Peacock, pp. 791-792, "Le Nid de Fauvettes" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: Pea791

Nigger in the Woodpile


See Old Dan Tucker (File: R521)

Nigger Tune, The


See Push Along, Keep Moving (File: JHCox180)

Night Before Larry Was Stretched, The


DESCRIPTION: "The night before Larry was stretched (hanged), the boys all paid him a visit." They come to commiserate with Larry, the most gallant, sporting -- and rebellious -- of the lot. He dies gallantly, "grow[s] white" at the name of King William, and is buried
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1813 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads 377); the tune seems to have been in use by 1803 (implied by its use in Jemmy O'Brien's Minuet, published in _Paddy's Resource or the Harp of Erin_)
KEYWORDS: rebellion execution Ireland funeral
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1688-1702 - Reign of William III of Britain, whose victory at the Boyne (1690) solidified British rule over Ireland
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (8 citations):
PBB 95, "The Night Before Larry Was Stretched" (1 text, 1 tune)
Hodgart, p. 208, "The Night before Larry was Stretched" (1 text)
OLochlainn-More 52A, "The Night Before Larry Was Stretched" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, LARRYSTR*
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 289-292, "The Night Before Larry Was Stretched" (1 text)
H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 475-477, 514, "The Night Before Larry Was Stretched"
Thomas Kinsella, _The New Oxford Book of Irish Verse_ (Oxford, 1989), pp. 261-263, "The Night Before Larry Was Stretched" (1 text)
Frank Harte _Songs of Dublin_, second edition, Ossian, 1993, pp. 38-40, "The Night Before Larry Was Stretched" (1 text, 1 tune)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 377, "The Night Before Larry Was Stretch'd"[last 5 lines missing], J. Evans (London), 1780-1812; also Harding B 28(199), "Night Before Larry Was Stretch'd"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Skipper's Wedding" (tune)
cf. "Saint Patrick of Ireland, My Dear!" (tune)
cf. "Jemmy O'Brien's Minuet" (partial tune)
SAME TUNE:
Saint Patrick of Ireland, My Dear! (File: CPS028)
Cats' Eyes (broadside NLScotland, L.C.1269(170b), "Cats' Eyes," Poet's Box (Glasgow?), 1858
Crafty Codger, or The Placehunter Out (Healy-OISBv2, pp. 111-113)
To G. K. Chesterton (Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), p. 692)
NOTES: Sparling, p. 514: "Hitherto the 'Night' has, through carelessness or ignorance, been printed incomplete, even by Graves, but the present version is unmutilated. It has been obtained by the careful collation of very many old chap-books and ballad-sheets." OLochlainn-More 52A is essentially the same as Sparling.
[Regarding the authorship:] Handy Andy is a novel Samuel Lover published in 1842. Discussing authorship of street ballads, a character says, on page 468, "'The Night Before Larry Was Stretched' was done by a bishop they say." (The edition is in the Irish Literature series published by PF Collier and Son, under The Selected Writings of Samuel Lover, Vol 6, Handy Andy part 2).
Sparling, p. 514: "Dublin street song, wrongly attributed to Dean Burrows; the only thing at all certain as to its origin is that he did not write it [supported by a reference to A.P. Graves].... The real writer was probably William Maher, best known as 'Hurlfoot Bill,' a worthy of the type he so well describes." - BS
File: PBB095

Night Express, The


DESCRIPTION: "One day I met a little girl beyond the railroad bridge" and asks her about her life and what she is doing there. Her father is an engineer on the train. He asks if she worries about her father. The girl says that God will protect him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1893 (Locomotive Engineer's Monthly Journal)
KEYWORDS: father children train virtue questions railroading family mother gods
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 567-570, "The Night Express" (2 texts, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
[Wilmer] Watts & [Frank?] Wilson, "The Night Express" (Paramount 3007/Broadway 8113 [as by Watts & Wiggins], 1927)
Wilmer Watts & the Lonely Eagles, "Bonnie Bess" (Paramount 3277, 1931; on TimesAint05)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Bonnie Bess
NOTES: No relation to either version of "My Bonny Black Bess." That one's about a horse. - PJS
File: RcTNiExp

Night Guard, The


DESCRIPTION: As cowboys relax around the fire, the night guard sings to the cattle and thinks of his sweetheart. At dawn, one of the steers attacks the guard's horse, which throws him; he is killed by the steer. The girl grieves and seems to grow old prematurely
AUTHOR: Unknown, possibly Jack Webb
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (recording, Jack Webb)
KEYWORDS: grief love death work animal lover cowboy worker
FOUND IN: US
Roud #11522
RECORDINGS:
Jack Webb, "The Night Guard" (Victor V-40285, 1930; on AuthCowboys, MakeMe, WhenIWas2)
File: RcTNiGua

Night Herding Song


DESCRIPTION: The tired cowboy advises the herd, "O slow up, dogies, quit your roving around, You've wandered and trampled all over the ground." He tells how, whatever method he uses, he can never keep the cattle still. He again urges the cattle to relax
AUTHOR: Harry Stephens
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Lomax)
KEYWORDS: cowboy work animal request
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Larkin, pp. 26-29, "Night Herding Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 193, "Night Herding Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fife-Cowboy/West 82, "Night-Herding Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Saffel-CowboyP, p. 214, "Night-Herding Song" (1 text)
DT, NITEHERD*
Roud #4444
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "Little Dogies" (on PeteSeeger09, PeteSeegerCD02)
Marc Williams, "Night Herding Song" (Brunswick 497, c. 1931; on MakeMe)
File: LoF193

Night I Stole Old Sammy Morgan's Gin, The


DESCRIPTION: Singer steals a jug of gin from Sammy (Sandy) Morgan, drinks it all, and hallucinates -- seven bears, an owl taking tickets, an ape in britches -- before passing out. When he awakes, "someone had stole my head/And left an elephant's there instead"
AUTHOR: C. E. (Hank) Snow
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1936 (composed)
KEYWORDS: theft drink animal humorous
FOUND IN: Can(West)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, MORGNGIN
RECORDINGS:
Hank Snow, "The Night I Stole Old Sammy Morgan's Gin" (RCA Victor 21-0356, 1950; rec. c. 1947)
Stanley G. Triggs, "Sandy Morgan's Gin" (on Triggs1)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Sandy Morgan's Gin
NOTES: The Canadian country singer Hank Snow apparently wrote this before he first recorded in 1936, but didn't record it until 1947; before 1961, however, it had entered oral tradition, as Triggs notes "I learned this song in a logging camp in the Kootenays but know nothing of its origin." - PJS
File: DTMrggin

Night Last Ook Fan Growing Late, Ae


DESCRIPTION: A man rides to the gate with a letter from the ploughman singer's student son. He is proud "I've a scholar i' my kin" but thinks the letter may mock him, or maybe not. In the end it doesn't matter.
AUTHOR: William Lillie (source: GreigDuncan3)
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: father youth
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 675, "Ae Night Last Ook Fan Growing Late" (1 text)
Roud #6099
File: GrD3675

Night of the Ragman's Ball, The


DESCRIPTION: The ragmen and women have a ball with fights, music, food and drink, and more fights. Many are named. "Black eyes they were in great demand, not to mention split heads at all, So anyone wants to commit suicide let them come to the Ragman's Ball"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1913 (OLochlainn)
KEYWORDS: fight dancing drink food music party humorous moniker
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
OLochlainn 62, "The Night of the Ragman's Ball" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Frank Harte _Songs of Dublin_, second edition, Ossian, 1993, pp. 42-45, "The Ragman's Ball" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3006
File: OLoc062

Night Visiting Song


DESCRIPTION: Young man comes visiting his love's window, bidding her admit him. She does, and a good time is had by all until daybreak, when they part at the crowing of the cock
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: sex nightvisit chickens
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, NITEVIST
RECORDINGS:
Norman Kennedy, "Night Visiting Song" (on BirdBush2)
Louis Killen, "The Cock" (on BirdBush2)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Grey Cock" (motif)
NOTES: Lloyd notes that night-visiting and bundling were common customs in country villages until the rise of Puritanism, and that bundling was still remembered in the Orkneys. The mention of the cock's crowing provides a link to "The Grey Cock." - PJS
File: DTnitevi

Nightcap, The


DESCRIPTION: Phoebus, after a tiring ride, unhitches his horses for the night and asks Thetis for something worthwhile to drink. She gives him a cruiskeen of poteen and he goes to sleep happily ignoring the dampness of his bed.
AUTHOR: Thomas Hamblin Porter (source: Croker-PopularSongs)
EARLIEST DATE: c.1820 (written in 1817 and printed in "a Dublin newspaper or magazine," according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: drink gods horse
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 92-94, "The Nightcap" (1 text)
NOTES: Phoebus (Apollo), among his other tasks, drove the sun. The reference to Thetis is peculiar; as far as I know, she had nothing to do with Apollo. I suspect the reference is rather to Themis, who helped to care for Apollo in his youth. - RBW
File: CrPS092

Nightengale, The


See Green Grows the Laurel (Green Grow the Lilacs) (File: R061)

Nightingale (II), The


See One Morning in May (To Hear the Nightingale Sing) [Laws P14] (File: LP14)

Nightingale (III), The


See Well Met, Pretty Maid (The Sweet Nightingale) (File: K089)

Nightingale in the East, The


DESCRIPTION: "On a dark lonely night on the Crimea's dark shore, There had been bloodshed and strife on the morning before." "Miss Nightingale" comforts the wounded and dying. "One of heaven's best gifts is Miss Nightingale."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1860 (Bodleian broadsides Harding B 11(2707) and Harding B 11(2708))
KEYWORDS: war injury nonballad
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1853-1856 - Crimean War (Britain and France actively at war with Russia 1854-1855)
Nov 5, 1854 - Battle of Inkerman clears the way for the siege of Sevastopol (the city fell in the fall of 1855)
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Leslie Shepard, _The Broadside Ballad_, Legacy Books, 1962, 1978, p. 155, "Nightingale in the East" (reproduction of a broadside page)
Roud #2655
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian,Harding B 11(2707), "The Nightingale in the East," A Ryle & Co. (London), 1845-1866; also Harding B 11(2708) [an issue nearly identical to the preceding; they may be part of the same run with a stop-press correction undertaken partway through the run]; Firth c.17(208), "The Nightingale in the East," W. S. Fortey, London, 1858-1885; Firth c.14(70), H. Such, London, 1863-1885
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Cottage and Water Mill" (tune, according to Bodleian broadside Harding B 11(2708))
NOTES: Florence Nightingale (1820-1910) was one of the few genuine heroes of the Crimean War; in 1854, she took a company of nurses to the Crimea, and her efforts beginning at the Battle of Inkerman at least slightly reduced the death toll (the Crimean War saw many new technologies come into play, and was fought by generals who did not understand them; the result was high casualty totals, often involving severe wounds -- and the British and French, fighting at the end of a long supply line, had too few surgeons, too few supplies, and a dreadful lack of camp sanitation. Almost any wound could be a death sentence in such conditions. Florence Nightingale couldn't cure all the problems, but she at least showed what might be possible if someone tired).
This song seems to have been quite popular with the broadside publishers; it came out soon after the war, There seems to be only one reference to it in tradition, and that dubious. When in doubt, we index -- but my doubts are pretty strong. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: BdNiItEa

Nightingale, The [Laws M37]


DESCRIPTION: A rich girl's parents force her poorer lover to sea aboard the Nightingale. When the ship sinks in a gale, the boy's ghost appears to the girl and accuses her parents of leaving his body to rot in the Bay of Biscay
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1847
KEYWORDS: ship love poverty death ghost wreck
FOUND IN: US(MA) Canada(Mar) Britain(Scotland,England(North)) Ireland Australia
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Laws M37, "The Nightingale"
GreigDuncan1 18, "The Nightingale" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Doerflinger, pp. 304-305, "The Nightingale" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H75a, p. 145, "The Nightingale (I)" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 589, NGALEWRK
Roud #1093
BROADSIDES:
Murray, Mu23-y4:029, "The Nightingale," John Ross (Newcastle), 19C
File: LM37

Nightingales Sing, The


See One Morning in May (To Hear the Nightingale Sing) [Laws P14] (File: LP14)

Nimrod's Song, The


DESCRIPTION: "Come all ye friends of Newfoundland Who have a mind to roam O'er the wild and stormy ocean...." The crew sails from Newfoundland to the ice. They have great trouble and sorrow. The crew are listed. The singer hopes Captain Barbour will find a better ship
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Murphy, Songs Sung by Old Time Sealers of Many Years Ago)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship hardtimes moniker
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ryan/Small, pp. 74-75, "The Nimrod's Song" (1 text)
NOTES: Not related to "The Wreck of the Nimrod," which obviously is about a shipwreck....
Despite this song, the Nimrod was by no means a failure as a sealer; Chafe reports that she set a record in 1871 with 28,087 seals. It's a good name for such a ship; Nimrod was "a mighty hunter before the Lord" (Genesis 10:9).
She also had a distinguished later career: Built in Scotland in 1865, Nimrod eventually was fitted out for Ernest Shackleton's 1907 Antarctic expedition. She returned to England in 1909, and Shackleton sold her a year later to finance future expeditions, including the ill-fated Endurance expedition of 1914. - RBW
File: RySm074

Nine Bonnie Laddies


DESCRIPTION: "My jolly auld mither rejoices tae see Nine bonnie laddies a-courtin at me There's tailors and sailors and sodgers a' three But it's the bonny mason laddie that I'm gaun wi'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: courting
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 844, "Nine Bonnie Laddies" (1 fragment)
Roud #6222
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan4 fragment. - BS
Related, perhaps, to "The Bonnie Mason Laddie (I)"? - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4844

Nine Hundred Miles


DESCRIPTION: "I'm a walking down the track, I've got tears in my eyes, Trying to read a letter from my home. If that train runs me right I'll be home tomorrow night." The singer will pawn anything or do whatever is needed to get home (to his sweetheart)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (JAFL)
KEYWORDS: train love separation home
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Cohen-LSRail, pp. 503-517, "Reuben's Train/Train 45/900 Miles" (2 texts plus exceprts equivalent to about three more, 2 tunes; the first text is close to "Reuben's Train," the second to "Nine Hundred Miles," but the article is mostly devoted to showing how the two songs mix)
BrownIII 285, "The Midnight Dew" (1 text, with an unusual introductory verse but most of the rest goes here)
Lomax-FSUSA 73, "900 Miles" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 464, "900 Miles" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 53, "Nine Hundred Miles" (1 text)
DT, MILES900
Roud #4959
RECORDINGS:
Fiddlin' John Carson "I'm 900 Miles from my Home" (OKeh 40196, 1924)
George & Bobby Childers, "Five Hundred Miles" (on FolkVisions2)
Woody Guthrie & Cisco Houston, "Nine Hundred Miles" (on AschRec2)
Riley Puckett, "Nine Hundred Miles from Home" (Columbia 15563-D, 1930)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Rain and Snow" (opening lines of tune)
cf. "Reuben's Train"
NOTES: Some versions of "Reuben's Train," such as the Grayson/Whitter "Train 45" recording, are so mixed with this song that it's literally impossible to tell whether they are versions of this song or that; those interested should consult the references to both songs. - RBW
"Five Hundred Miles," composed by Hedy West and popular in the 1960s folk revival, is essentially a rewrite of this song with a different tune, but several overlapping verses. - PJS
File: LxU073

Nine Miles from Gundagai (The Dog Sat in the Tuckerbox)


DESCRIPTION: The singer tells of his time as a bullock driver. His worst experience happened nine miles from Gundagai, in a cold storm, with the team bogged, the fire out, (the crew fighting). As a final insult, the dog sat (or "shat") in the tuckerbox
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1956
KEYWORDS: Australia hardtimes dog
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Meredith/Anderson, pp. 95-96, "Nine Miles from Gundagai" (1 text with no title given)
Fahey-Eureka, p. 184, "Nine Miles from Gundagai" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, GUNDAGRD*
Roud #10221 AND 9121
RECORDINGS:
John Greenway, "The Dog Sat in the Tuckerbox (Nine Miles from Gundagai)" (on JGreenway01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bill the Bullocky" (lyrics)
NOTES: Gundagai was a town of no particular account in itself. Its position at the midpoint of the Sydney-Melbourne road has, however, made it the setting for many folk songs.
A statue in Gundagai commemorates a dog sitting forlornly on a tuckerbox (food box), guarding it for his master.
John Greenway, however, points out the falseness of this picture. He notes that bullock drivers and swagmen "kept dogs only to have something to kick."
He also notes, delicately, "That's what this song is about: a bullock driver who had the ultimate in bad luck -- not only did his wagon axle break and the team get bogged in the mud and his matches get soaked in the rain, but his dog capped the climax by s...itting (there is an aspirate missing) IN -- not ON -- the tucker box!" - RBW
File: MA095

Nine Pound Hammer


See Take This Hammer (File: FR383)

Nine Times a Night


DESCRIPTION: A handsome sailor named "Nine Times a Night" arrives in London after a voyage and is seen by a"handsome rich widow." She entices him to marry her. He "trimmed her sails" five times; she wonders why he can't manage the nine times of his name
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1982 (the broadsides are almost certainly Victorian if not earlier)
KEYWORDS: sex bawdy marriage sailor humorous
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, NINETIME*
Roud #18411
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(555), "9 times a night," unknown, n.d; also Harding B 17(219a), "9 times a night," unknown, n.d.
NOTES: Field collections of this seem to be relatively few; I might have suspected A. L. Lloyd of writing it had it not been for the broadsides. It's interesting to note that these generally don't admit of a printer -- perhaps to avoid prosecution?
WARNING: Clinincal biology ahead. Sort of graphic, and also one of the areas of science some religions find offensive.
There are sound reasons of evolutionary biology why human males cannot do it "nine times a night." It has to do with something called "sperm competition" -- or, rather, the human lack of same. You can read about this in such places as Dawkins, pp. 203-211, and (with a more gruesome side quest into infanticide among monkeys) in Ridley, pp. 213-226.
Dawkins, p. 210, has an interesting little graph, of the ratio of body mass to testes mass in primates -- in effect, of how much sperm each species produces. The interesting thing about this ratio is that the species above average all engage in extremely high levels of sexual activity. Ridley's numbers: "a female gorilla will mate about ten times for every baby that is born [whereas] a female chimp will mate five hundred to a thousand times" (p. 217)
This correlates closely with behavior. Male gorillas, which have small testes and low sperm production, keep harems of (if they're lucky) six or so females. These harems are stable; the female will have no other mate while part of one. So the male doesn't have to have much sperm; if the female get pregnant, he knows he's the father.
It's very different in chimpanzees. Male chimps have been observed to murder the offspring of a female who has not mated with them. The only way for the female to prevent this is to mate with as many male chimps as possible, so that all the males might be the father of her child. So the males inevitably have evolved to produce as much sperm as possible in order to try to out-reproduce everyone else. Fatherhood, for chimps, is partly a matter of luck -- but partly a matter of being able to really take advantage of opportunity when it's offered.
This has been shown in many other species. Gibbons are monogamous and have small testes. Monkeys have all sorts of sexual patterns, with sperm production correlating with the number of partners.
Humans -- well, on the graph they are on the low end of the scale. Not as low as gorillas, but definitely among the species that don't engage significantly in sperm competition. That doesn't necessarily mean that we are meant to be monogamous, but it *does* imply fixed pair bonds -- if not lifelong monogamy, then at least something like (polygamous) marriage or serial marriage: Any male "expects" to have near-exclusive access to a female at the time she conceives. So there is no advantage to a male in doing it "nine times a night"; if the first one or two don't do it, the woman probably is at the wrong time of her cycle to conceive.
The conclusion is somewhat ironic: If women want men able to do it "nine times a night," they have to share their favors around a lot more. And, in that case, they wouldn't *need* someone capable of "nine times a night"; they just need the ability to attract lots of men.
And there is a down side: Chimps, because they engage so heavily in sperm competition, average only seven seconds from the beginning of contact to ejaculation! (Roach, p. 285). Allowing them four times as long to get out after that, "nine times a night," for a chimp, still totals only five minutes and fifteen seconds.
And, yes, I know full well I'm spoiling the song....
One thing that bears thinking about is that the human reproductive system seems to be changing rapidly. At least, Jones, p. 104, reports that a tenth of human sperm carry chromosome errors, and fully a third are abnormal in this or some other way. Such extreme rates of defect apparently have not been found in other species; chimpanzee sperm, for instance, seem to be fine. This clearly implies some sort of change is clearly happening. Maybe more and more women are demanding "nine times a night," and the testes are struggling to keep up as best they can....
As for the actual statistics, Judson, p. 31, notes that the typical human male stores sperm equivalent to one and a half ejaculations. So if Jack really did manage five times in one night, he had three times the average male capacity. Although Jones, p. 103, notes the curious fact that, when spouses are reunited after a relatively long separation, the male's output doubles (he is not clear on whether this is semen or sperm). On p. 105, Jones adds that a man who ejaculates six times in the course of 24 hours is "firing blanks" by the end -- i.e. although he may still be producing seminal fluid, of actual sperm there are almost none.
Interestingly, being a sailor helps, and for reasons not related to just having a lot of biological pressure to work off. Sailors generally ate a lot of fish, and fish is rich in zinc -- and zinc is important to the production of seminal fluid, according to Emsley, pp. 48, 69. A sailor might also have had higher exposure to other chemicals which might enhance sexual performance, but in this regard, much depends on where he actually sailed.
Finally, in the days of sail, sailors were unlikely to bathe, especially in hot water -- regular baths in hot water can dramatically reduce sperm production (Jones, p. 120). And they generally dressed in loose clothing, and would not have encountered much extreme heat at sea. Heat depresses sperm production; fertility is lower in summer even in fairly cool climates (Jones, pp. 213-214). Thus a sailor, for many reasons, is likely to be more sexually effective than a landsman. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: RcNinNig

Nine-Thirteen Men, The


DESCRIPTION: "A famous oldtime racing crew... rowed the old 'Blue Peter' in the time of nine-thirteen." They set a record in the Regatta Day race on Quidi Vidi Lake. The singer wishes "those men of nine-thirteen," who are listed, will "ferry souls where Jordan rolls"
AUTHOR: "L.E.F. English, O.B.E."
EARLIEST DATE: 1964 (Blondahl)
KEYWORDS: racing sports moniker
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Blondahl, pp. 116-117, "The Nine-Thirteen Men" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Blondahl: "The 'BLUE PETER' made her record 'voyage' across Quidi Vidi Lake (pond), St John's, during the summer Regatta of 1901; her time of 9 minutes 13 4/5 seconds has never been surpassed, or even equalled." - BS
File: Blon116

Ninety and Nine


DESCRIPTION: "There were ninety and nine that safely lay In the shelter of a fold, But one went out on the hills astray." It is asked, are not 99 enough? "But the shepherd made answer...I go to the desert to find my sheep." He faces great trials in finding the sheep
AUTHOR: Words: E. C. Clethane / Music: Ira D. Sankey
EARLIEST DATE: 1876 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: religious sheep separation reunion
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: _Sing Out_ magazine, Volume 24, #2 (1975), p, 15, "Ninety and Nine" (1 text, 1 tune, the Frank Proffitt version)
NOTES: The story of the shepherd leaving 99 sheep to find one is found in Matthew 18:12-13, Luke 15:4-6 (and also is saying #107 in the apocryphal Gospel of Thomas). On the other hand, it feels a lot like John 10, in which Jesus is the Good Shepherd (and in 10:9 Jesus is hte gate of the sheep).
The feeling of the song sort of mixes the two gospel versions. In Matthew, the sheep "wanders" (King James version "goes astray"); in Luke, the sheep is lost. In Matthew, the shepherd seeks the sheep on the mountains (somewhat similar to the song); in Luke the sheep is in the wilderness (=desert). There may be a hint of Mark 6:31ff., where the disciples go by ship to a "desert place" (to be understood "deserted place").
Proffitt's version mentions "gates of gold." There is no such quote in the Bible. In Rev. 21:21, the heavenly Jerusalem has gates of pearl and streets of gold. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: SOv24n2a

Ninety-Eight


DESCRIPTION: "Ho! cease our mourning." The victories and defeats of 1798 are recalled. "Let the strife renew ... No longer dally, wake up and rally... What if defeated? Death comes -- then greet it -- Why all must meet it, aye, soon or late."
AUTHOR: "Ned of the Hill" (source: Moylan)
EARLIEST DATE: 1898 (according to Moylan)
KEYWORDS: battle rebellion death nonballad patriotic
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Moylan 74, "Ninety-Eight" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Cappa Hill" (tune)
cf. "Anach Cuain" (tune)
NOTES: The "Ned of the Hill" is of course not Edmond O'Ryan, the hero of the song of that name, who died a century before 1798.
The timing of this call for rebellion is strange; by 1898, Irish nationalism had gone relatively quiet, and Gladstone had made his first attempts to pass Home Rule (though they had failed and cost the Liberals control of the British parliament). But, of course, there were always die-hards. - RBW
File: Moyl074

Ninety-Nine Blue Bottles


See Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer (File: R456)

Ninety-Nine Bottles of Beer


DESCRIPTION: Need I really tell you? "Ninety-nine bottles of beer on the wall, Ninety-nine bottles of beer, Take one down and pass it around, Ninety-eight bottles of beer...." And so on, ad nauseum, drunkenness, or exhaustion
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1910 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MW,So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph 456, "Ninety-Nine Blue Bottles" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 190, "Ninety-Nine Blue Bottles" (1 text)
DT, BOT99*
Roud #7603
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Eight Little Cylinders" (counting)
cf. "Ten Little Injuns" (counting)
NOTES: Randolph's and Brown's texts, obviously, refers to "blue bottles" rather than "bottles of beer"; might this be an attempt to clean up the song for a temperate audience?
I will admit amazement that neither Randolph nor Brown seems to know this in its common form -- but then, they probably were born in the days before school buses took students on field trips. - RBW
File: R456

Ninety-Nine Years (I)


DESCRIPTION: Singer, while gambling, thinks about how the woman he loves ran away with another man. He kills him (or her), is arrested and imprisoned. He has served forty years, but "still has ninety-nine." When the train rolls by with the woman he loves, he cries
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (recording, Jess Hillard)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer sits down to gamble, thinking about how the woman he loves has run away with another man. He does something (kills her? kills her lover?), is arrested, tried and sentenced to prison. He has served forty years, but "still has ninety-nine." When the train rolls by with the woman he loves, he hangs his head and cries
KEYWORDS: grief jealousy infidelity love violence crime murder prison punishment trial lover prisoner
FOUND IN: US(SE)
RECORDINGS:
Callahan Brothers, "Ninety-Nine's My Name" (Perfect 7-04-63, 1937)
Graham Bros. "Ninety Nine Years [pts. 1 & 2]" (Victor 23654, 1932) 2/23/32
Jess Hillard, "Ninety-Nine Years" (Champion 16398, 1932; Champion 45091, c. 1935; rec. 1931) (Champion 16617, 1933; rec. 1932)
Steve Ledford & Donald Nicholson w. Carolina Ramblers String Band, "Ninety-Nine Years" (Perfect 12787, 1932)
[Asa] Martin & [Bob] Roberts, "Ninety-Nine Years" (Banner 32426/Melotone M-12436/Perfect 12799/Vocalion 5486 [as Glen Fox & Joe Wilson]/Conqueror 7967, 1932)
Lester McFarland & Robert Gardner [Mac and Bob] "Ninety-Nine Years, Parts1 & 2" (Brunswick 588, 1932)
Fiddlin' Doc Roberts Trio, "Ninety Nine Years" (Banner 32609/Melotone 12520, 1932)
Vagabonds, "Ninety Nine Years" (Victor 23820/Bluebird B-5282/Montgomery Ward M-4307, 1933)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Ten Thousand Miles Away from Home (A Wild and Reckless Hobo; The Railroad Bum) [Laws H2]" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Elton Britt, "The Answer to 99 Years" (Conqueror 8288, 1934)
NOTES: There is another song with the same title; that one can be identified by its opening lines, "The courtroom was crowded/The judge waited there" and by the line "Ninety-nine years, boys, is almost for life." - PJS
File: Rc99Year

No Balls at All


DESCRIPTION: A young maiden weds a man with no balls at all. Her mother advises her to seek comfort from a young man. She does, and a "bouncing young baby was born in the fall to the wife of the man who had no balls at all."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1918
KEYWORDS: baby bawdy humorous husband wife
FOUND IN: Australia Britain(England) US(MW,So,SW)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Cray, pp. 158-162, "No Balls at All" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman II, pp. 677-678, "No Balls at All" (1 text)
DT, NOBALLS*
Roud #10136
RECORDINGS:
Anonymous singers, "No Balls at All" [two versions, by different singers] (on Unexp1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "An Old Man Came Over the Moor (Old Gum Boots and Leggings)"
cf. "I Wouldn't Have an Old Man"
cf. "Maids, When You're Young"
cf. "My Husband's Got No Courage in Him"
cf. "What Can a Young Lassie"
cf. "The Mormon Cowboy (II)"
cf. ""The Strawberry Roan" (tune, some versions)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
No Hips at All (marginally cleaned-up version)
NOTES: This is one of a large group of traditional songs and ballads dealing with May-December marriages. - EC
File: EM158

No Bread for the Poor


See The Orphan Girl (The Orphan Child) (File: R725)

No Depression in Heaven


DESCRIPTION: Singer describes the Great Depression in apocalyptic terms, predicting the end of the world. He says he is going to heaven where there's no Depression.
AUTHOR: J. D. Vaughan, according to Bill C. Malone, _Don't Get above Your Raisin'_
EARLIEST DATE: 1936 (recording, Carter Family); reportedly written 1932
KEYWORDS: poverty hardtimes religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Asch/Dunson/Raim, p. 116, "No Depression in Heaven" (1 text, 1 tune)
Cohen/Seeger/Wood, p. 227, "No Depression in Heaven" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Carter Family, "No Depression in Heaven" (Decca 5242, 1936; Montgomery Ward 8006 [as "No Depression"], 1939)
Charlie Monroe & his Kentucky Pardners, "There's No Depression in Heaven" (RCA Victor 20-2055, 1946)
New Lost City Ramblers, "No Depression in Heaven" (on NLCR09, NLCRCD1)
SAME TUNE:
No Disappointment in Heaven (on Boggs2, BoggsCD1)
NOTES: The Great Depression is generally considered to have extended from the stock market crash of 1929 to the beginning of World War II in 1939. However, it is worth noting that conditions for farmers had already been depressed for several years before this. [Due in part to the revival of European agriculture after World War I. In Minnesota, the political side effects are still felt to some extent today, in the relative strength of third party politics.]
This is a reworking of the hymn "No Disappointment in Heaven". - PJS
File: ADR116

No Dominies For Me, Laddie


DESCRIPTION: A young minister proposes to the singer. She rejects him because he is poor. He said he would "fleece the flock" to become rich. She fears he might die young, leaving her and the children poor. Then she meets and happily marries "a gentleman dragoon"
AUTHOR: Rev. Nathaniel Mackay (source: Chambers)
EARLIEST DATE: 1776 (Herd)
KEYWORDS: age poverty marriage rejection humorous clergy soldier
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
GreigDuncan4 872, "But For Your Sake I'll Fleece the Flock" (1 text)
Logan, pp. 319-324, "No Dominies for Me Laddie" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Robert Chambers, The Scottish Songs (Edinburgh, 1829), Vol I, pp. 142-144, "Nae Dominies For Me, Laddie"
Peter Buchan, Gleanings of Scarce Old Ballads (Norwood, 1974 (reprint of 1891 Aberdeen reissue of 1825 Peterhead edition)), pp. 172-175, "Nae Dominies for Me, Laddie"
Roud #6244
NOTES: Chambers [1829]: "Written by the Rev Nathaniel Mackay, Minister of Crossmichael, in the Stewartry of Kirkeadbright, some time during the last century. He is not known to have written any other piece of merit." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4872

No Hidin'-Place


See No Hiding Place AND Sinner Man (File: FSWB370C)

No Hiding Place


DESCRIPTION: "There's no hiding place down there (x2), I ran to the rock to hide my face, The rock cried out, 'no hiding place.'" "The rock cried out, 'I'm burning too... I want to go to heaven the same as you." "Sinner man he stumbled and fell...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad Hell
FOUND IN: US(SE) Bahamas
REFERENCES (2 citations):
BrownIII 616, "No Hidin'-Place" (2 texts, but the "B" text appears to be "Sinner Man")
Silber-FSWB, p. 370, "No Hiding Place" (1 text)
Roud #3408
RECORDINGS:
Marian Anderson, "Dere's No Hidin' Place Down Dere" [medley with "Every Time I Feel the Spirit"] (Victor 2032, 1940)
Carter Family, "There's No Hiding Place Down Here" (Montgomery Ward M-4547, 1935)
Hampton Institute Quartette, "There's No Hiding Place Down Here" (Victor 27472, 1941)
Lulu Belle & Scotty, "There's No Hiding Place Down Here" (Conqueror 9695, 1941)
David Pryor et al, "Time" (AAFS 505 A1, 1935; on LomaxCD1822-2)
NOTES: I am slightly hesitant about including the recording of "Time" under this title. However, it has the recurrent verse, "I went to the rock...The rock cried out 'No hiding place,'" which is close enough for me. - PJS
File: FSWB370C

No Irish Need Apply


DESCRIPTION: "I'm a decent boy just landed From the town of Ballyfad; I want a situation, yes, And want it very bad." He applies for various jobs, but is told time and again, "No Irish need apply." (At last he attacks one of the bosses and gains a job)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Dean)
KEYWORDS: emigration discrimination Ireland nonballad work fight
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Dean, p. 65, "No Irish Wanted Here" (1 text)
Greenway-AFP, pp. 41-42, "No Irish Need Apply" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 364-366, "No Irish Need Apply" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 292, "No Irish Need Apply" (1 text)
DT, NOIRISH*
Roud #1137
RECORDINGS:
Pete Seeger, "No Irish Need Apply" (on PeteSeeger07, PeteSeeger07a, AmHist1)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "An Irish Laborer" (subject)
cf. "The Honest Irish Lad" (subject)
cf. "What Irish Boys Can Do" (subject)
NOTES: This is a bit of a conundrum, because this song seems to occur in two fairly distinct forms, which we might call "No Irish Need Apply" and "No Irish Wanted Here." In many of the former versions, the Irishman attacks the prejudiced employer. In some of the latter, there is none of that; the worker appeals to the work the Irish did in the Civil War to save the Union.
I was seriously tempted to split the two. But they have common lyrics; while I suspect a deliberate rewrite somewhere along the line, it is not really possible to tell where to draw the line. - RBW
File: DTnoris

No Irish Wanted Here


See No Irish Need Apply (File: DTnoris)

No Letter in the Mail


DESCRIPTION: Singer hasn't received an answer to his love-letter. He has written that he was wrong and to blame, and that he loves her truly. He walks down the road, saying if he doesn't get a letter in the mail, he'll "bid this world goodbye"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1940 (recording, Happy-Go-Lucky Boys)
KEYWORDS: loneliness love abandonment suicide lover
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
Roud #11577
RECORDINGS:
Roy Acuff, "No Letter in the Mail" (Conqueror 9810, 1941/OKeh 06585, 1942)
Happy-Go-Lucky Boys, "No Letter in the Mail Today" (Bluebird B-8467, 1940)
Bill Monroe & His Blue Grass Boys, "No Letter in the Mail" (Bluebird B-8611, 1941)
Martin Young & Corbett Grigsby, "No Letter in the Mail" (on MMOK, MMOKCD)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Letter that Never Came" (theme)
File: RcNLITM

No Man Can Hinder Me


DESCRIPTION: "Walk in, kind savior, no man can hinder me" (x2). "O, no man, no man, no man can hinder me" (x2). "See what wonder Jesus done." "Jesus make de dumb to speak." "Jesus do most anything." "King Jesus ride a milk-white horse."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus healing
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 10-11, "No Man Can Hinder Me" (1 text, 2 tunes)
Roud #11853
NOTES: Most of the miracles cited in this song are attested: Jesus raised Lazarus in John 12; he made a crippled man walk in John 5, Mark 2:3-12 and parallels; he makes the blind see in John 9:1fff., Matthew 9,27fff., Mark 10:46fff. and parallels, etc.
The case of curing a man who was dumb is more interesting. There is only one detailed miracle of this sort, in Mark 7:31-37. In this account, the man is deaf and has "an impediment in his speech." When Jesus treats him, he begins to speak "plainly" (Greek orthws, i.e. rightly, properly, following the straight course). Thus the man Jesus cured was not actually mute but rather incomprehensible. Still, there is a short account of Jesus casting out a demon responsible for making a man mute in Matt. 9:32-33=Luke 11:14, (Don't ask me why dumbness is caused by a demon and requires an exorcism, while blindness is a genuine medical condition which is cured by physical means.) - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: AWG010

No More Auction Block


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

No More Booze (Fireman Save My Child)


DESCRIPTION: "There was a little man... He went to the Saloon on a Sunday afternoon And you ought to heard the bartender holler, No more booze... No more booze on Sunday... Got to get your can filled on Monday. She's the only girl I love.... O fireman, save my child."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: drink nonsense
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Sandburg, pp. 208-209, "No More Booze (Fireman Save My Child)" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, NOBOOZE*
RECORDINGS:
Radio Mac [pseud. for Harry McClintock], "Fireman Save My Child" (Victor V-40234, 1930)
File: San208

No More Cane on the Brazos


See Ain't No More Cane on this Brazos (File: LxA058)

No More Cane on this Brazos


See Ain't No More Cane on this Brazos (File: LxA058)

No More Good Time in the World For Me


DESCRIPTION: A composite lament of a man serving a life term. He laments his time on the Brazos, tells a girl not to wait, thinks about the time ahead of him, wishes he had a buddy or could escape, and says he will be hard to find if he does escape
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (recorded from J. B. Smith by Jackson)
KEYWORDS: prison hardtimes separation
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 147-151,"No More Good Times in the World For Me" (1 text plus a fragment, both from the same informant; 1 tune)
NOTES: This song, and several others by J. B. Smith, brilliantly illustrates the problem of classifying Black prison songs. This is clearly a personal song by Smith, who was serving a life term for killing his girlfriend, but the themes and many of the words come from other songs. Given the extent of Smith's rewriting, I classified it separately, but there is no good way to file such things. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: JDM147

No More Rain Fall for Wet You


DESCRIPTION: "No more rain fall for wet you, Hallelu, hallelu, No more rain fall for wet you, Hallelujah." "No more sun shine for burn you." "No more parting in the kingdom." "No more backbiting in the kingdom." "Every day shall be Sunday."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 46, "No More Rain Fall for Wet You" (1 text, 1 tune); "I Want to Go Home" (1 text, without a real tune; although the authors list this as a separate song, the tune is only a chant, and most of the words go with the preceding, so I lump them.)
Roud #12002 and 12003
File: AWG046A

No More Shall I Work in the Factory


DESCRIPTION: "When I set out for Lowell, some factory for to find, I left my native country And all my friends behind." The worker lives a life driven by the factory bell. She plans to leave the factory and go home. She will soon be married and live a freer life
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1915 (JAF Vol. 28)
KEYWORDS: work worker hardtimes home weaving factory technology
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Greenway-AFP, pp. 122-124, "The Lowell Factory Girl" (1 text); pp. 125-126, "No More Shall I Work in the Factory" (1 text)
Lomax-ABFS, pp. 331-332, "The Factory Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 128, "The Factory Girl" (1 text)
DT, NOMOFACT
RECORDINGS:
Dorsey Dixon, "The Factory Girl" (Testament t-3301, a version adapted by Dixon from a version sung by his sister Nancy)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A Laundry Song" (lyrics)
cf. "The Laddie Wi' the Tarry Trews" (theme)
NOTES: The oldest version of this song seems to be the "Lowell Factory Girl" text quoted in the description; this broadside is very full. Greenway believes this version originated before 1840; the wages mentioned fit 1830, and the Panic of 1837 killed off many of the small New England farms, meaning that the factory girl would have no home to which to return.
The localized "Lowell Factory Girl" gradually spread and generalized, producing the more universal text "No More Shall I Work in the Factory." As the latter consists almost entirely of verses found in the former, however, they can surely be considered one song.
This should not be confused with the J. A. Phillips song "The Factory Girl" (c. 1895), which begins, "She wasn't the least bit pretty, And only the least bit gay." - RBW
File: Grnw122

No More Will the Shamrock


DESCRIPTION: The singer says if he forgets his lover the shamrock will not seem green and the morning will not be wet with dew. He tells her to keep his heart and not break it. When they die "the sweet recollection of you" will remain.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: love lyric
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1360, "No More Will the Shamrock" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #7238
File: GrD71360

No More, My Lord


DESCRIPTION: "No more, my Lord (x2), Lord, I'll never turn back no more." "I found in him a resting place And he has made me glad." "Jesus is the man I am looking for, Can you tell me where he's gone?" "Go down, go down in the floweryard And... you may find him...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE,So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
BrownIII 567, "Gwine Down to Jordan" (1 short text); 617, "No More! No More!" (1 short text)
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 15, (no title; the first line is "I'm gwine down to Jordan -- Hallelu!") (1 fragment, which could be anything; I'm filing it here in desperation based on the similarity to Brown's title)
Scott-BoA, pp. 312-313, "No More, My Lord" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #15975
RECORDINGS:
Jimpson, "No More, My Lord" (LoC, 1947; on Babylon)
Sister Marie Knight, "I'll Never Turn Back No More" (Candy 4002, n.d. but post-World War II)
NOTES: According to the editors of Brown, this may have inspired W. C. Handy's "I'll Never Turn Back No More." - RBW
File: SBoA312

No More! No More!


See No More, My Lord (File: SBoA312)

No Payday Here


DESCRIPTION: "I used to weigh, two hundred, two hundred, now I'm skin and bone." "Well I asked the captain... Did the payroll come? What the hell you care, partner, I don't own you none." The singer complains about the conditions in his prison
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966 (recorded from J. B. Smith by Jackson)
KEYWORDS: prison hardtimes
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Jackson-DeadMan, pp. 164-166, "No Payday Here" (1 text)
File: JDM164

No Room at the Inn (I)


DESCRIPTION: "When Caesar Augustus had raised a taxation, He assessed all the people that dwelt in the nation." Mary and Joseph go to Bethlehem, but cannot find a place at the inn. They eventually find a stable, where Jesus is born
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1833 (Sandys)
KEYWORDS: religious Bible Jesus Christmas childbirth
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
OBC 114, "No Room at the Inn" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 374, "No Room at the Inn" (1 text)
NOTES: I find it hard to believe that this is actually a traditional song; the wording is too ornate and contorted.
The details in this song are either fictional or derived from Luke 2; the birth narrative in Matthew plays no part. Of course, we should also note that the account in Luke 2 is incorrect; there is no record of this particular census, and even if there had been such a census (possible, given the available documentation, but unlikely), the Romans would not allow such a mess in a frontier province threatened with Parthian invasion. - RBW
File: FSWB374A

No Room at the Inn (II)


DESCRIPTION: Song/story -- Mary and Joseph find no room at the inn; the staff treats them haughtily. They return to the stable holding their mule; the animals treat them better than humans had, making room for Mary to give birth, breathing on Jesus to keep him warm
AUTHOR: Song segment unknown; story by Vera Ward Hall
EARLIEST DATE: 1945 (interview with Vera Ward Hall)
KEYWORDS: hardheartedness poverty travel childbirth Bible religious animal family Jesus
FOUND IN: US(SE)
Roud #13974
RECORDINGS:
Vera Ward Hall, "No Room at the Inn" (on LomaxCD1706)
NOTES: It probably need not be pointed out that the account of Jesus's birth in Luke (the source for all the incidents mentioned) does not say that the staff of the inn in Bethlehem mistreated Mary and Joseph; it merely says there was no room there.
The behavior of the animals in the stable is equally fictitious; the Lukan account not only doesn't mention animals, it doesn't even explicitly mention a stable! We call it a stable simply because it contained a "manger" (though the Greek word, phatne, feed-trough, sometimes extends to mean a stable). - RBW
File: RcNRATI2

No Room for a Tramp


See Willy, Poor Boy (File: CSW112)

No Sign of a Marriage [Laws P3]


DESCRIPTION: The girl says she has been waiting long enough for marriage. Her sweetheart, who thinks marriage too "confining," suggests she find someone else. She does, and invites him to her wedding. He tries to talk her out of the marriage, but it is too late
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: courting wedding infidelity rejection
FOUND IN: US(SE,So) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Laws P3, "No Sign of a Marriage"
GreigDuncan4 895, "The Tardy Wooer" (15 texts, 10 tunes)
Ord, pp. 83-84, "The Tardy Wooer" (1 text)
Randolph 111, "Polly and Willie" (2 fragments, 1 tune)
Warner 149, "Indeed Pretty Polly" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownII 203, "No Sign of a Marriage" (2 texts)
Peacock, pp. 542-544, "A Lad and a Lass" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 725, NOSIGN
Roud #582
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Pretty Polly
In London There Lived a Man and a Maiden
Down in Yon Meadow
In London of Late
When a Man's Married
NOTES: This is another of the pieces that Laws assigns to Britain on little evidence (there is a mention of a promise of "five hundred pounds"). The only versions known to Laws or the editors of the Brown collection are the two North Carolina texts in Brown.
It may be, however, that this was an error in the printed edition of Laws, because there *is* a British equivalent in "The Tardy Wooer." I initially split these following Laws -- but in fact they even share lyrics, and so are now lumped. - RBW
GreigDuncan4 quoting Gillespie: "Learned from mother fifty years ago. Noted 1905." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: LP03

No Sir! (No Sir!)


See No, John, No (File: R385)

No Surrender (I)


DESCRIPTION: The song is about the breaking of the seige of Derry. "Walker's zeal, and Murray's steel Came in their need to cheer them, And sallies from open gate, Soon taught their foe to fear them" The Defenders held the city until relieved by "Browning's vessel"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1987 (OrangeLark)
KEYWORDS: battle rescue death starvation patriotic youth
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Jul 28, 1689 - Browning's ships break the 105 day seige of Derry (source: Kilpatrick [see Notes])
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
OrangeLark 5, "No Surrender" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Shutting of the Gates of Derry" (subject: The Siege of Derry) and references there
NOTES: OrangeLark: "'No Surrender' is a phrase often used in Ulster. The song traces its origin to the Seige of Derry and names a few of the city's defenders who have been memorialized in Apprentice Boys Clubs." The chorus is "Then raise the cheer, to freemen dear, And toast each brave defender; For nought imparts to Derry hearts A thrill like 'No Surrender!'"
See Historical References to "The Boyne Water" for a summary of the war in Ireland between James II and William of Orange. [Or see the detailed duscussions under "The Shutting of the Gates of Derry" and "The Battle of the Boyne (I)." - RBW]
The Protestant Plantation of Ulster was created after the 1607 "Flight of the Earls" -- heads of the Ulster clans -- to Rome allowed James I to declare their lands forfeit to the Crown. In the Plantation, the City of Londonderry was fortified and gated walls built around it. When James II brought troops from Ireland [to England,] Londonderry was left unguarded. On December 7, 1688, Lord Antrim's Catholic "Redshanks" camped outside the city. With the city government undecided as to how to handle the situation, thirteen young "Apprentice Boys" seized the gate keys, drew up the drawbridge and locked the four gates. Antrim's troops withdrew. Lord Mountjoy's Protestant regiment was allowed to garrison the city.
To escape the war, residents surrounding areas flooded into the city. Reinforcements sent by William to relieve Derry in April turned away. Then James's attempt at negotiating with Derry failed. Colonel Murray led Protestant troops to the gate, which was opened for them, and the Derry government, which had been willing to negotiate with James, was overturned. Reverend George Walker and Colonel Henry Baker were appointed joint Governors. The seige began "in earnest" on May 5, 1689. On July 28 three ships on the Foyle broke the seige bringing food; captain of the Mountjoy was Michael Browning, who was killed in the battle. The beseigers left on August 1, 1689. (source: Cecil Kilpatrick, "The Seige of Derry: A City of Refuge" at the Canada-Ulster Heritage site) - BS
File: OrLa005

No Surrender (II)


DESCRIPTION: "Behold the crimson banner float" recalling "when Derry's sons ... sung out, 'No Surrender!'" and "her 'Prentice hearts the gate who barred" "Long may that crimson banner wave ... while Derry's sons alike defy Pope, Traitor, or Pretender"
AUTHOR: Lieut. Colonel William Blacker (1777-1853)(written 1817, source: Sparling)
EARLIEST DATE: c.1895 (Graham)
KEYWORDS: battle Ireland patriotic youth
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Dec 7, 1688 - The "Apprentice Boys" close the Londonderry gates against Lord Antrim's "Redshanks" (source: Cecil Kilpatrick, "The Seige of Derry: A City of Refuge" at the Canada-Ulster Heritage site)
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Graham, p. 3, "No Surrender" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: H. Halliday Sparling, Irish Minstrelsy (London, 1888), pp. 451-452, 495-496, "No Surrender"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "No Surrender (I)" (subject)
cf. "The Shutting of the Gates of Derry" (subject) and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Crimson Banner
NOTES: The chorus ("Then here's to the boys that fear no noise And never will surrender, The gates we'll close against her foes On Eighteenth of December") uses the Gregorian Calendar (adopted in England in 1752) date, adding eleven days to the anniversary of December 7, 1688.
"This fraternity [The Apprentice Boys Of Derry] celebrates twice anually. This happens first at the "Closing of the Gates". Later comes the "Relief of Derry" parade .... The flag of the Apprentice Boys is a crimson banner, representing the blood that flowed in Derry for freedom and liberty. The Crimson banner is flown from the Memorial Hall in the city and from St Columb's Cathedral, which was built before the siege." (Source: Wikipedia article Apprentice Boys of Derry)
Sparling: "Written to a very fine old Irish melody (Joyce, p. 83)...." I don't recognize Graham's tune. "Joyce" is P.W. Joyce and the book Ancient Irish Music (Sparling, p. xxvii, refers to the 1878 edition. - BS
For the background of the Siege of (London)derry, see the notes to "The Shutting of the Gates of Derry"; also "No Surrender (I)". Blacker, in addition to this song, wrote the very well known "The Battle of the Boyne (I)." - RBW
File: Grah003

No to be Married Ava


DESCRIPTION: "Our Girzie was noo thirty-six, Though some rather more did her ca', And ane quite sae auld to get married Has little or nae chance ava." The old maid finds herself teased, and desperately offers to wed any man, whatever his faults, rather than stay unwed
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (according to Ford)
KEYWORDS: oldmaid courting husband
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 308-310, "No to be Married Ava" (1 text)
GreigDuncan7 1379, "I'd Raither Be Married to Something" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), pp. 66-67, "The Old Maid"
Roud #7161
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Old Maid's Song (I)" and references there
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Wooed and Married and A'
NOTES: Whitelaw [1845]: "This humorous ditty, to the tune of 'Woo'd and Married and A'', was composed about the year 1826 or 1827 by a young probationer of the Church of Scotland, a native of Ayrshire, who is now settled as a minister of a parish in Aberdeenshire."
Ford: "The song first appeared, says the editor of Ayrshire Ballads, in a small weekly publication issued at Kilmarnock, in 1827.... [it] was latterly improved and set out in every-day Scotch, by Dr. A. Crawford...." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: FVS308

No Use to Rattle the Blind


DESCRIPTION: This song is part of a cante-fable in which the wife warns her lover that the husband is at home by singing a song.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: bawdy nightvisit husband wife infidelity
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 342-345, "No Use to Rattle the Blind" (3 texts, 1 tune)
NOTES: This plot first appears in 1353 in Boccaccio's Decameron, Day VII, Tale I. It is Type 1419H in the Aarne-Thompson inex "Types of the Folktale" (Helsinki, 1961). - EC, RBW
Legman gives extensive notes to the folktale and cante-fable in Randolph-Legman I. - EC
File: RL342

No-e in the Ark


See Who Built the Ark? (File: RcWBTA)

No, John, No


DESCRIPTION: The man asks the girl if she will marry. She informs him that her father has told her to answer all men's questions "No." After several exchanges, he asks something like "Do you refuse to marry me? Do you want me to leave?" She, of course, answers "No."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Sharp)
KEYWORDS: courting questions rejection
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,So) Britain(England(South))
REFERENCES (11 citations):
Randolph 385, "No Sir! No Sir!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Eddy 48, "No, Sir" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 138, "No Sir" (1 text, 1 tune)
BrownIII 14, "No, Sir" (2 texts plus mention of 2 more)
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 98, "'No, Sir, No!'" (1 text, 1 tune)
Fuson, p. 81, "No, Sir; No" (1 text)
Sharp-100E 68, "O No, John!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 161, "Uh-Uh, No" (1 text, 1 tune, probably with more than a little of "Wheel of Fortune" mixed in)
Silber-FSWB, p. 345, "No John" (1 text)
BBI, ZN2244, "Pretty Betty, now come to me" (?)
DT, ONOJOHN*
Roud #146
RECORDINGS:
Ron & Bob Copper, "No, John, No" (on FSB1)
Sam Larner, "No Sir, No Sir" (on SLarner02)
Pete Seeger, "No Sir No" (on PeteSeeger14)
Stoneman Family, "The Spanish Merchant's Daughter" (Victor V-40206, 1928; on AAFM3)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Keys of Canterbury"
cf. "Wheel of Fortune (Dublin City, Spanish Lady)"
cf. "The Nonsense of Men" (theme)
File: R385

No, Lassie, No


See Oh! No, No (File: Ord136)

No, My Boy, Not I


See Oh, No, Not I (File: DTmarryn)

No, Never, No


DESCRIPTION: "They sat by the fireside, his fair daughters three, They talked of their father who sailed on the sea." Each list the gift she will give if he never again goes to sea. But he dies in a storm. Each verse ends with the phrase, "No, never, no."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Heart Songs)
KEYWORDS: death drowning gift father children sailor separation
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Botkin-NEFolklr, pp. 556-557, "No, Never, No" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: BNEF556

No, No, Never


See Wild Rover No More (File: MA069)

Noah Built the Ark


DESCRIPTION: "Noah built his ark and he built it on the ground, the Lord sent a flood and turned it around. The door flew open and the beasts walked in." The story of the Flood, with chorus, "And I cannot stay away, my Lord, And I cannot stay away."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: Bible ship flood religious
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Thomas-Makin', p. 212, "Noah Built the Ark" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Old Uncle Noah" (subject) and references there
NOTES: For background on the Noah story, see the notes to "Old Uncle Noah."
This may be related to one of the other Noah songs, but it's short enough that it's hard to tell.. - RBW
File: ThBa212

Noah, Noah


See Old Uncle Noah (File: E075)

Noah's Ark (I)


DESCRIPTION: Floating spiritual verses, most of which refer to inequities between the rich and the poor and the inevitability of death. Refrain refers to Noah and the ark but most of the verses don't mention it at all
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1920
KEYWORDS: death nonballad playparty religious
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 36, "Noah's Ark" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3639
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Let the Dove Come In" (lyrics)
cf. "All My Trials" (lyrics)
cf. "De Fust Banjo (The Banjo Song; The Possum and the Banjo; Old Noah)" (theme)
File: WB2036

Noah's Ark (II)


See Old Uncle Noah (File: E075)

Noble Duke O'Gordon, The


DESCRIPTION: Betsy, a servant to Duke of Gordon, is seduced and made pregnant by Captain Glen. Lady Gordon suspects the Duke. Betsy names Captain Glen. When Glen returnd from sea he sends for a priest and marries Betsy. Betsy "is as happy as the duchess of Gordon."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan1); 19C (broadside, NLScotland L.C.Fol.70(46a))
KEYWORDS: marriage seduction accusation pregnancy sailor servant
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan1 53, "The Noble Duke O'Gordon" (13 texts, 9 tunes)
Roud #5807
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(46a), "Captain Glen" ("As I was walking to take the air"), unknown, c.1890
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bonnie Lass o' Fyvie" (tune, according to GreigDuncan1)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Bonnie Betsy Gordon
There Cam' a Ship
Bonnie Jeannie Gordon
NOTES: GreigDuncan1: Version B was from "about fifty years ago. Noted 29th July 1907." - BS
It's probably just coincidence that the captain in this song has the same name as the guilty officer in "Captain Glen/The New York Trader (The Guilty Sea Captain A/B)" [Laws K22] -- but perhaps one suggested the other. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD1053

Noble Duke of York, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, the Noble Duke of York, He had (ten) thousand men, He marched them up to the top of the hill And he marched them down again. And when they were up, they were up, And when they were down they were down...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1894 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: army nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE) Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (5 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1592, "The Grand Old Duke of York" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
BrownIII 99, "The Duke of York" (1 text)
Opie-Oxford2 549, "Oh, the brave old Duke of York" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #201, p. 138, "(Oh, the brave old Duke of York)"
Silber-FSWB, p. 390, "The Noble Duke of York" (1 text)
ST FSWB390B (Full)
Roud #742
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "A-Hunting We Will Go" (tune of some versions)
NOTES: Since the Dukedom of York is usually bestowed upon the Prince of Wales's oldest brother (that is, the second son of the reigning monarch), or other fairly senior prince, there have been a lot of them in history, and many of them important. This makes it hard to be certain which Duke of York (if any) might be the subject of this little satire. I've seen suggestions over the years, but not one was convincing enough for me to remember it until I had to write this entry.
The standard suggestion seems to be that it was Frederick Augustus (1763-1827), second son of George III, who was made a soldier in spite of what was regarded at the time as a clear lack of ability in this department. The Baring-Goulds even specify the hill as Mount Cassel in Belgium. But even they admit the rhyme does not resemble actual events -- and the Opies quote Burne's account of York's campaigns, which points out that Frederick of York's army never came within ten miles of Mount Cassel.
In any case, I can imagine candidates going back all the way to Richard, Duke of York from 1415. Or maybe even his uncle, who was killed at Agincourt and who was treated as something of a buffoon by later historians -- a Tudor account has it that he fell and was smothered because he was so fat, although contemporary sources do not support the (Barker, p. p. 303)
(We should note that the Shakespeare characterization of Richard of York, in the Henry VI plays, is all wrong. He *was* rightful King of England, but he never sought the throne until Margaret of Anjou forced him to do so. Hence a sufficiently anti-Lancastrian partisan could have mocked him for his hesitation. On the other hand, Shakespeare in Henry V is at least as close to the truth about Edward Earl of York as were the Tudor historians.)
If we assume that the Noble Duke is indeed Frederick Augustus, as is widely assumed, we should note that his description of him is a little unfair. Perhaps it was just his general appearance. Sinclair-Stevenson, p. 119, who notes that he was groomed from an early age to be an officer, quotes Lord Cornwallis's description of him: "The Royal Person whom I saw does not give much hope, further than a great deal of good nature and a very good heart. His military ideas are those of a wild boy of the Guards."
As a field commander, he was genuinely poor. Frederick fought in Flanders from 1793 to 1794, when he was defeated at Turcoing and recalled. He also had a bad experience in the Low Countries in 1799.
Being a prince, however, he eventually was made a field marshal (Chandler/Beckett, p. 146). And, having achieved that rank, he proved himself a good manager, enacting needed reforms in the army when commander-in-chief (Chandler/Beckett, pp. 147-148). Keegan/Wheatcroft, p. 337, say that "As commander-in-chief... from 1798 until his death, he proved an efficient administrator and... apparently not a corrupt one. He was called 'the soldier's friend,' though probably not by the soldiers themselves."
Similarly Brumwell/Speck, p. 432, "Long ridiculed as the hapless 'Grand Old Duke of York'... [he] has more recently received recognition for his role in reforming the British army that was to emerge victorious during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars."
Chandler/Beckett, p. 141, credits him with helping impose the manual of maneuver used during the Napoleonic Wars (before that, local commanders drilled their men pretty much as they liked) and on pp. 142-143, with working to somewhat limit commission by purchase (although he couldn't eliminate it -- given the massive expense of the Napoleonic Wars, the government needed the money!).
But the public doesn't remember administrative accomplishments. What it would remember about the Duke of York was his failures in the field and, perhaps, a scandal involving his mistress and the purchasing of commissions (Keegan/Wheatcroft, p. 337; Brumwell/Speck, p. 432). Which might well be enough to make him the target of this song.
There is a biography by A. H. Burne, which I have not seen, entitled The Noble Duke of York.
Gomme describes this as the music for a game, "Find the Ring."
There is a nursery rhyme, "The King of France went up the hill" (Opie-Oxford2, #173; Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #209, p. 144) which looks as if it might be a parody of this -- although the Opies date it to the reign of Charles I. (Apparently it is from one of the Sloane manuscripts, which would certainly make it sixteenth or seventeenth century -- but they do not quote the Sloane form.) If the Sloane form is indeed the inspiration for the York version, then the parody is presumably the other way. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: FSWB390B

Noble Duke, The [Laws N15]


DESCRIPTION: A girl's lover has been pressed to sea. She carefully disguises herself as a duke -- with such success that the ship's crew is afraid of her. She accuses her lover of robbery. He denies it. She reveals herself, and there is a happy reunion
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: pressgang cross-dressing ship trick reunion disguise
FOUND IN: US(Ap,SE) Ireland
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Laws N15, "The Noble Duke"
SHenry H584, p. 331, "The True Lovers' Departure" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT 803, NOBLDUKE*
Roud #238
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Simple Ploughboy
The Pretty Ploughboy
File: LN15

Noble Fisherman, The, or, Robin Hood's Preferment [Child 148]


DESCRIPTION: Robin goes to sea as a fisherman. He is scoffed at as a lubber, but when the fishing vessel is approached by a French ship of war his prowess with the bow permits the fishermen to take it and its cargo of gold.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1663 (garland); a song that was likely this one was entered into the Stationer's Register in 1631
KEYWORDS: Robinhood ship battle
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (5 citations):
Child 148, "The Noble Fisherman, or, Robin Hood's Preferment" (1 text)
Bronson 148, comments only
OBB 124, "The Noble Fisherman or Robin Hood's Preferment" (1 text)
BBI, RZN15, "In summer time when leaves grow green"
ADDITIONAL: Stephen Knight and Thomas Ohlgren, editors, _Robin Hood and Other Oudlaw Tales_, TEAMS (Consortium for the Teaching of the Middle Ages), Medieval Institute Publications, Western Michigan University, 2000, pp. 581-591, "Robin Hood's Fishing" (1 text, primarily from the Forresters manuscript rather than the broadsides used by Child)
Roud #3958
NOTES: For background on the Robin Hood legend, see the notes on "A Gest of Robyn Hode" [Child 117].
Child mentions, in his notes on this ballad, that the romance of Eustac(h)e the Monk also has an episode in which the her goes to sea. A stronger parallel might be the tale of Hereward the Wake, Hereward too takes on the disguise of a fisherman (chapter 25). Both the Hereward tale and Eustace's story are considered sources for the Robin Hood legend. But I would incline to consider the Hereward tale a more likely source for this later ballad, even though the parallel may not be as close. The tale of Eustace survives in only a single manuscript, and is unlikely to have been well known in the late sixteenth or early seventeenth century; Hereward's tale was always popular.
Chambers, p. 131, notes the existence of a ship Robyn Hude at Aberdeen in 1438, which is another interesting nautical link (cf. Knight/Ohlgren, p. 581), but the significance of this is unclear.
For additional details on the Eustace version, see the summary in Cawthorne, pp. 121-131, or the translation in Knight/Ohlgren. For Hereward, see Linklater, pp. 238-239, Baldwin, pp. 35-26, or, again, the translation in Knight/Ohlgren.
Knight/Ohlgren, p. 582, suggest that this is sort of a "Robin Hood and the Potter" [Child 121] converted to a sea setting; they give it relatively high praise for one of the late ballads. It is true that Robin goes incognito and takes up a trade -- but the direction of the song is completely different. And I am not impressed with the internal logic of the piece.
The first few verses of this often contain a sort of an ode to the saior's life, calling it a profitable calling. It can hardly have been more profitable than being an outlaw, if the "Gest" is accurate describing Robin's fortune. I suspect these have floated in from a song praising fishermen. Possibly a fisherman decided that he wanted his own Robin Hood ballad.... - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: C148

Noble Fleet of Sealers, A


DESCRIPTION: "There's a noble band of sealers being fitted for the ice, They'll take a chance again this year though fat's gone down in price...." The ships set out to take the seal. When they get back to St. John's, the sailors hope for good luck and good food
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1955 (Doyle)
KEYWORDS: hunting ship travel
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 162-164, "A Noble Fleet of Sealers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle3, pp. 10-11, "A Noble Fleet of Sealers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, pp. 74-75, "A Noble Fleet of Sealers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ryan/Small, pp. 114-115, "A Noble Fleet of Sealers" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST FMB162 (Partial)
Roud #4530
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Ferryland Sealer"
cf. "The Old Polina" (tune)
NOTES: This song bears many resemblances, in the first verse and the melodic pattern, to "The Ferryland Sealer" -- which also derives from eastern Canada. But this piece has a different chorus, and the latter verses are different, so I tentatively distinguish them. - RBW
File: FMB162

Noble Huntly


DESCRIPTION: "Noble Huntly great in fame And great in warlike story" has called for volunteers to prepare to repel a Bonaparte invasion. "What needs we o' our fleets to voust [boast]? Should he invade our British coast We'll show him soldiers to his cost"
AUTHOR: William Lillie (source: GreigDuncan1)
EARLIEST DATE: 1803 (_The Aberdeen Journal_, according to GreigDuncan1)
KEYWORDS: recruiting war Scotland Napoleon nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan1 74, "Noble Huntly" (1 text)
Roud #5797
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Tullochgorum" (tune, according to GreigDuncan1)
cf. "Simon and Janet" (subject: the threatened invasion by Napoleon)
NOTES: GreigDuncan1: "Major-General the Marquis of Huntly (George Gordon, later the 5th Duke of Gordon) was in command of the Northern Military District at this time [1803] and inspected volunteers in Aberdeen on November 22." - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD1074

Noble Man, The


See A Gentleman of Exeter (The Perjured Maid) [Laws P32] (File: LP32)

Noble Ribbon Boys, The


DESCRIPTION: "It was on the first of May, my boys, in the year of thirty-one," 63 Ribbonmen went to the commons to fight Billies. On June 5 300 marched unchallenged to the commons. A health is drunk to those in jail and the "Manual and Platoon ... secrecy" is cited.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1831 (Zimmermann)
KEYWORDS: violence Ireland political
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Zimmermann 39, "The Noble Ribbon Boys" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 19: "In some parts of Ulster, Protestant and Catholic tenants were mingled and contended for the land; the peasantry was thus divided into two camps, each having its oath-bound association. This led to a sort of religious war. At the end of the eighteenth century the Catholic "Defenders" were opposed to the Protestant "Peep o'Day Boys" or "Orangemen." The "Defenders were succeeded by the "Ribbonmen," (song [Zimmermann] 39). In parts of counties Tyrone and Monaghan, according to Carleton [p. 19 fn. 14: W. Carleton's Autobiography, p. 83], the whole Catholic population was affiliated to Ribbonism, and it would have been dangerous to avoid being involved in the system." Zimmermann 34, "Owen Rooney's Lamentation": "My prosecutor swore so stout I was the man he saw, That encouraged all the Ribbonmen that came from Lisbellaw."
Zimmermann: "The 'Billies' were the Orangemen, whose hero was William of Orange." - BS
For another song of the Defenders and Peep o' Day Boys, see "Bold McDermott Roe." For other songs of the Ulster conflicts of this period, see "The Battle That Was Fought in the North," "Owen Rooney's Lamentation, "The Lamentation of James O'Sullivan," and possibly "March of the Men of Garvagh." - RBW
File: Zimm039

Noble Skewball, The


See Skewball [Laws Q22] (File: LQ22)

Nobleman and Thrasher, The


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

Nobleman, A


DESCRIPTION: "A nobleman lived in a mansion, And he courted his own serving maid." He bursts into her bedroom and tries to seduce her. She refuses his advances; she fears pregnancy. He promises to care for her in that case. She refuses again; he marries her
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1985 (recording, Cathie Stewart)
KEYWORDS: courting nobility rejection clothes marriage servant
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
Roud #6326
RECORDINGS:
Cathie Stewart, "A Nobleman" (on SCStewartsBlair01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Broom of Cowdenknows" [Child 217] (plot) and references there
NOTES: Somewhat reminiscent of the story of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville. Edward, who couldn't see a pretty girl without trying to get into bed with her, attempted to seduce the blonde widow of Sir John Grey, but she allegedly said that she was not good enough to be his wife, but too good to be his mistress. So he married her -- to the great detriment of England, sine the marriage arguably added two more phases to the Wars of the Roses (by irritating the Earl of Warwick, which caused the unrest of 1470-1471, and because Edward, when he died in 1483, left only a teenage son with impossibly grasping relatives as his heir, leading to the usurpation or Richard III).
Of course, no one really knows if Elizabeth Woodville said that, and even if she did, it's probably too early to have inspired this song, since Edward and Elizabeth married in 1464. - RBW
File: RcANoble

Nobleman's Daughter, The


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

Nobleman's Wedding, The (The Faultless Bride; The Love Token) [Laws P31]


DESCRIPTION: A man disguises himself to attend the wedding of the girl he loved before he went away. He sings a song that reminds her of her unfaithfulness and promises to return her love token. She swoons and returns to her mother's home. She dies before morning
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1855 (Petrie)
KEYWORDS: disguise wedding infidelity death grief hardheartedness jealousy love marriage
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber)) US(MA,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf) Ireland
REFERENCES (16 citations):
Laws P31, "The Nobleman's Wedding (The Faultless Bride; The Love Token)"
Belden, pp. 165-166, "The Faultless Bride" (1 text)
SharpAp 105, "The Awful Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H60a, pp. 400-401, "An Old Lover's Wedding"; H60b, p. 401, "The Laird's Wedding" (2 texts, 2 tune, the second mixed with "All Around My Hat")
Greig #24, pp. 1-2, "The Orange and Blue" (1 text)
GreigDuncan6 1199, "Down in Yon Valley" (24 texts, 14 tunes)
Ord, pp. 132-133, "The Unconstant Lover" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 164, "The Nobleman's Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Butterworth/Dawney, p. 4, "All Around My Hat" (1 text, 1 tune)
McBride 1, "Another Man's Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Creighton/Senior, pp. 158-159, "Green Willow" (1 text, probably this piece though not so listed by Laws)
Greenleaf/Mansfield 75, "The Nobleman's Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 691-697, "Nobleman's Wedding" (4 texts, 3 tunes)
Karpeles-Newfoundland 30, "The Nobleman's Wedding" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, pp. 142-143, "To Wear a Green Willow" (1 text)
DT 509, NOBELWED
ST LP31 (Partial)
Roud #567
RECORDINGS:
Eddie Butcher, "Another Man's Wedding" (on Voice06, IREButcher01)
Sara Cleveland, "To Wear a Green Willow" (on SCleveland01)
Maude Thacker, "The Famous Wedding" (on FolkVisions1 -- a very confused version)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
The Green Willow Tree
The Forsaken Lover
The Inconstant Lover
The False Bride
NOTES: According to Hazlitt's Dictionary of Faiths & Folklore, to wear the willow meant that one had been forsaken by a lover.
Norman Ault's Elizabethan Lyrics claims that the first mention of wearing green willow comes in a poem by John Heywood (1497?-1580?): "All a green willow, willow, willow, All a green willow is my garland." The manuscript, BM Add. 15233, is dated c. 1545. We also find the notion in Shakespeare's "Othello," IV.iii, and in Salisbury's "Buen Matina" (1597).
Roud lumps this with "All Around My Hat." That's *really* a stretch. - RBW
The "Awful Wedding" subgroup ("I'll tell you of an awful wedding"), despite the similarity in titles, is *not* "The Fatal Wedding." - PJS, RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: LP31

Nobody Cares for Me


See I Wish I Was a Little Bird (Nobody Cares for Me) (File: San338)

Nobody Coming to Marry Me


See My Father's a Hedger and Ditcher (Nobody Coming to Marry Me) (File: BrII185)

Nobody Knows


DESCRIPTION: The singer complains of being misunderstood: "Nobody knows how heavy my load, Nobody knows how thorny my road, Nobody knows cares if I'm troubled in the way, How dark the night, how dark the day." Only Jesus, who understands, will help
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: religious Jesus nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Warner 171, "Nobody Knows" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa171 (Partial)
Roud #7488
RECORDINGS:
Sue Thomas, "Nobody Knows" (on USWarnerColl01)
NOTES: As Warner notes, this is NOT "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen." - RBW
File: Wa171

Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen


DESCRIPTION: "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen, Nobody knows but Jesus." "Sometimes I'm up, sometimes I'm down, Oh, yes, Lord, Sometimes I'm almost to the ground...." The rest of the song describes the singer's life, usually in spiritual terms
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1865 (diary of William Francis Allen; printed 1867 in Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 55, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Had" (1 text, with some rather unusual verses but clearly this; 1 tune)
BrownIII 615, "Nobody Knows" (1 short text)
Arnett, p. 110, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" (1 text, 1 tune)
Greenway-AFP, p. 97, "Nobody Knows" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 358, "Nobody Knows The Trouble I've Seen" (1 text)
Fuld, pp. 391-391+, "Nobody Knows de Trouble I've Seen"
DT, NBDYKNWS
Roud #5438
RECORDINGS:
A. W. Adams, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" (OKeh 8361, 1926)
Marian Anderson, "Nobody Knows de Trouble I've Seen" (Victor 19560, 1925; rec. 1924)
Louis Armstrong, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" (Decca 2085, 1938)
Mildred Bailey w. Alec Wilder, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" (Columbia 35348, 1939)
Cotton Pickers Quartet, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" (Conqueror 8360, 1934; rec. 1931)
Vernon Dalhart, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I See" (Edison [BA] 3470, 1918)
Elkins Sacred Singers, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I've Seen" (Cameo 830, 1925)
Excelsior Quartet, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I See" (OKeh 4636, 1922)
Fisk University Jubilee Singers, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I See" (Rainbow 724, c. 1922)
Caroline & May Floyd, "Nobody Knows de Trouble I See" (Champion 15103, 1926)
Jimmie Gordon's Vip Vop Band ("Nobody Knows the Trouble I See", Decca 7764, 1940; rec. 1939)
Musical Artists Quartet, "Nobody Knows de Trouble I've Seen" (Columbia 1953-D, 1929; rec. 1928)
Paramount Singers, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I See" (Trilon 234, n.d. but probably c. 1939)
Paul Robeson, "Nobody Knows de Trouble I've Seen" (Victor 20068, 1926)
Southernaires Male Quartet, "Nobody Knows de Trouble I've Seen" (Decca 2859, 1939)
Edna Thomas, "Nobody Knows de Trouble I Sees" (Columbia 1863-D, 1929; rec. 1928)
Tuskegee Institute Singers, "Nobody Knows the Trouble I See" (Victor 18237, 1917; rec. 1915)
File: Arn110

Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out


DESCRIPTION: Singer recalls once living high, but is now broke; friends no longer come around. " If I ever get my hands on a dollar again/Gonna hold onto it till that eagle grins." " If I ever get back on my feet again/Everybody wants to be my long lost friend"
AUTHOR: probably Ida Cox - B. Feldman
EARLIEST DATE: Jan. 1929 (recordings, Aunt Jemima Novelty Four & Pinetop Smith)
KEYWORDS: poverty drink hardtimes friend
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, DOWNOUT
Roud #18521
RECORDINGS:
Aunt Jemima Novelty Four, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (Brunswick 7056, 1929)
Louis Jordan & his Tympani Five, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (Decca 29018, 1954)
Julia Lee & her Boyfriends, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (Capitol 1009, 1950; rec. 1947)
Bessie Smith, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (Columbia 14451-D, 1929; Columbia 37577, 1947)
Pinetop Smith, "Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out" (Vocalion 1256, 1929)
NOTES: There seems to be some uncertainty about the authorship of this piece; the Digital Tradition lists it as by "Jimmy Cox." Given that it came out in early 1929, it might almost have been an anthem for the Great Depression -- except that hardly anyone could buy records then.
I was surprised at the lack of traditional collections. Maybe it's the unusual melody -- my traditionally-tuned voice finds it hard to follow the intervals despite hearing the song many times. - RBW
File: RcNKYWYD

Nobody's Business


DESCRIPTION: Singer confesses to all sorts of infractions -- rambling, drinking, gambling -- but says it's "nobody's business if I do." He says he might even kill somebody; his girlfriend "runs a weenie stand..." and drives a Cadillac, but it's all nobody's business
AUTHOR: Porter Grainger, Clarence Williams, Graham Prince, Everett Robbins?
EARLIEST DATE: 1911 (JAFL)
LONG DESCRIPTION: Singer confesses to all sorts of infractions -- rambling, drinking, gambling -- but says it's "nobody's business if I do." He says he might even kill somebody; morphine, cocaine and women will drive him out of his mind; his money goes to buy his girlfriend fancy clothes; "she runs a weenie stand/way down in no man's land" and drives a Cadillac, but it's all nobody's business
KEYWORDS: sex murder clothes gambling rambling drink nonballad whore
FOUND IN: US
RECORDINGS:
Emry Arthur, "Nobody's Business" (Vocalion 5230, 1927)
Jerry Behrens, "Nobody's Business" (OKeh 45564, 1932)
Warren Caplinger's Cumberland Mountain Entertainers, "Nobody's Business" (Brunswick 294, 1929; Brunswick [Canada] 224, 1928)
Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Jordan & his Tympany Five, "Ain't Nobody's Business If I Do" (Decca 27200, c. 1950)
Alberta Hunter, "T'ain't Nobody's Biz-ness" (Paramount 12018, 1923)
Mississippi John Hurt, "Nobody's Dirty Business" (OKeh 8560, 1928; on MJHurt01, MJHurt02)
Earl Johnson & his Dixie Entertainers, "Ain't Nobody's Business" (OKeh 45092, 1927, on Rough2)
[Billy] Jones & [Ernest] Hare, "Nobody's Business" (CYL: Edison [BA] 5115, n.d.)
Lulu Belle & Scotty, "It Ain't Nobody's Bizness" (OKeh 04962, 1939)
Sara Martin w. Fats Waller "'Tain't Nobody's Bus'ness If I Do" (OKeh 8043, 1923; rec. 1922)
Charles Nabell, "Nobody's Business" (OKeh 40389, 1925)
Riley Puckett, "Nobody's Business" (Bluebird B-6103, 1935; Bluebird B-8621, 1941)
Roy Sexton & his Arizona Hoedowners, "Nobody's Business" (Old Timer 8013, n.d.)
Bessie Smith, "Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do" (Columbia A3898, 1923)
Leo Soileau & his Aces, "Nobody's Business" (Decca 5101, 1935)
Walker's Corbin Ramblers, "Nobody's Business" (Vocalion 01648, 1934)
Lena Wilson, "Tain't Nobody's Business If I Do" (Victor 19085, 1923)
Jimmy Witherspoon, "Ain't Nobody's Business, Pts. 1 & 2" (Supreme 1506/Swing Time 263, 1947)
NOTES: This shouldn't be confused with Will E. Skidmore & Marshall Walker's 1919 "It's Nobody's Business But My Own," which concerned the extracurricular activities of a deacon. Skidmore and Walker copyrighted that song (and Bert Williams recorded it on Columbia A2750 the same year), but the JAF reference precedes that copyright, so it's likely they arranged and adapted a traditional piece. And, while I have not seen the sheet music to the copyrighted version, I strongly suspect it doesn't contain all the verses listed above. - PJS
File: RcNobBu1

Nobody's Darling


See Nobody's Darling on Earth (File: R723)

Nobody's Darling on Earth


DESCRIPTION: "I'm out in this bleak world alone, Walking about in the streets... Begging for something to eat." The orphan lost mother at a very young age. Now "I'm nobody's darling on earth; Heaven have mercy on me, For I'm nobody's darling, Nobody cares for me."
AUTHOR: Will S. Hays
EARLIEST DATE: 1870 (sheet music)
KEYWORDS: orphan poverty hardtimes begging
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Randolph 723, "I'm Nobody's Darling on Earth" (3 texts, 2 tunes)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 471-472, "I'm Nobody's Darling on Earth" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 723A)
Fife-Cowboy/West 56, "Red River Valley" (3 texts, 1 tune, the "B" text belonging here)
Spaeth-WeepMore, pp. 21-23, "Nobody's Darling" (1 text, 1 tune, plus the sequel "They Say I Am Nobody's Darling")
Roud #4338
RECORDINGS:
Cumberland Ridge Runners, "Nobody's Darling" (Conqueror 8162, 1933)
Grayson & Whitter, "Nobody's Darling" (Gennett 6304/Champion 15395 [as by Greysen Thomas & Will Lotty ], 1928)
Kelly Harrell, "Nobody's Darling on Earth" (Victor 20657, 1927; on KHarrell02)
J. E. Mainer's Mountaineers, "Nobody's Darling on Earth" (Bluebird B-6460, 1936)
Wade Mainer & Zeke Morris, "Nobody's Darling on Earth" (Bluebird B-6423 [as "Nobody's Darling but Mine"]/Montgomery Ward 5028, 1936)
North Carolina Ridge Runners, "Nobody's Darling" (Columbia 15650-D, 1931; rec. 1928; on LostProv1)
SAME TUNE:
Gene Autry, "Answer to Nobody's Darling" (Melotone 6-08-51, 1936) (Conqueror 8685, 1936)
Gene Autry, "That's Why I'm Nobody's Darling" (Conqueror 8808, 1937)
Patsy Montana & the Prairie Ramblers, "Woman's Answer to Nobody's Darling" (Perfect 6-08-52/Conqueror 8655 [as Salty Holmes w. the Prairie Ramblers], 1936)
Tex Ritter, "Answer to Nobody's Darling But Mine" (Champion 45197, 1935)
NOTES: Note that the Autry and Montana recordings [in the "Same Tune" field] have successive catalog numbers, and both were "answer" songs to the main entry. The record company was clearly milking this song for all it was worth -- and getting fresh copyrights, to boot. - PJS
The Fifes consider their "Little Darling" text ("Come sit by my side, little darling, Come lay your cool hand on my brow, And promise me that you will never Be nobody's darling but Mine") to be a Red River Valley variant. As, however, the chorus does not fit the "Red River Valley" tune, and the rest of the words go with this piece, I classify it here.
Spaeth (in Weep Some More, pp. 40-41) has another piece, "Driven from Home," which has the same theme and some of the same words, but no chorus; I can't tell if it's the same or not, or if it's traditional. - RBW
I suspect, without having heard the recordings, that "Nobody's Darling But Mine" is a Same Tune variant. - PJS
File: R723

Noel Girl, The


See The Wexford (Oxford, Knoxville, Noel) Girl [Laws P35] (File: LP35)

Nonsense of Men, The


DESCRIPTION: "I hate to be teased by the nonsense of men," so the girl accepts her mother's advice to always say "No" to men. But young piper Donnelly wins her heart; after many requests, "I mistook and said Yes!" She lives happily and advises others to say "Yes."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection marriage
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H472, pp. 258-259, "The Nonsense of Men" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1459
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "No, John, No" (theme)
File: HHH472

Nonsense Saw


DESCRIPTION: Nonsense rhymes showing how to pronounce "Arkansas": "I love a girl from Arkansaw, Who can saw more wood than her Maw can saw." "I sing a saw Of maid I saw In Arkansaw." "Her maw can saw, Her paw can saw, And she can saw In Arkansaw."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Allsopp)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonsense wordplay nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Fred W. Allsopp, Folklore of Romantic Arkansas, Volume II (1931), pp. 195-196, "Nonsense Saw" (2 texts)
ST FORA195 (Partial)
NOTES: Allsopp reports that there were problems in the 1840s with the pronunciation of "Arkansas." Hence this poem (or complex of poems). It's not clear that they were ever sung, but Allsopp reports that they were genuinely popular. - RBW
File: FORA195

Noo I'm Just a Lassie in Want o' a Man


DESCRIPTION: The singer "would like to get marriet as sune as I can; I hae a' the perfections a man's heart could wish." She has oiled her hair, put her glasses away and bought a new gown. "Folk'll try mony a plan Fan they hae ony hope o' ensnarin' a man"
AUTHOR: Mrs Will of Alehousehill (source: Greig)
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: courting clothes hair nonballad oldmaid
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #38, p. 1, ("I hae looked in the glass"); Greig #41, p. 3, "("Noo I'm just a lassie in want o' a man") (2 texts)
GreigDuncan8 1915, "Noo I'm Just a Lassie in Want o' a Man" (1 text)
Roud #16133
File: GrD81915

Noo, I'm a Braw Lassie


DESCRIPTION: The singer reviews her assets and skills: "I think a bit laddie could hardly de better Than tak me and mak' me his wife." She would marry a soldier, sailor, butcher, baker, sweep, mason,.... Nobody here wants her: "it's needless to stan ony langer"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: nonballad oldmaid
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1387, "Noo, I'm a Braw Lassie" (1 text)
Roud #7246
File: GrD81387

Noomanally Shore, The


See The Eumerella Shore (File: MA155)

Nor Will I Sin


DESCRIPTION: "Nor will I sin by drinking gin And cider, too, will never do Nor brewer's beer my heart shall cheer Nor sparkling ale my face to pale. To quench my thirst I'll... bring Clean water from the well or spring... I pledge... hate To all that can intoxicate"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1903 (Pinesville Democrat)
KEYWORDS: drink promise
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Randolph 336, "Nor Will I Sin" (1 fragment)
Roud #7808
File: R336

Nora Daly


DESCRIPTION: Singer meets Nora Daly driving a donkey-cart on the way to the fair near Miltown Malbay. They part for fear of her father. "After years abroad sojourning" he returns to County Clare and they marry happily.
AUTHOR: Tomas O hAodha (Tom Hayes)(1866-1935) of Miltown Malbay (source: notes to IRClare01)
EARLIEST DATE: 1974 (recording, Micho Russell)
KEYWORDS: love marriage return reunion separation father
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #8002
RECORDINGS:
Micho Russell, "Nora Daly" (on Voice01)
File: RcNoraDa

Nora Darling


See Barney McCoy (File: R776)

Nora McShane


See Norah McShane (File: HHH157)

Nora O'Neal


DESCRIPTION: "I'm lonely tonight, love without you... I love you dear Norah O'Neal." The singer's love he can never conceal. The nightingale's song reminds him of her. He says he will see her tomorrow; they will kiss. "I'll never be lonely again"
AUTHOR: Will S. Hays
EARLIEST DATE: 1869 (broadside, NLScotland L.C.1269(158a)); reportedly composed 1866
KEYWORDS: courting love nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
O'Conor, p. 141, "Nora O'Neal" (1 text)
Hayward-Ulster, pp. 63-64, "Norah O'Neale" (1 text)
Roud #4976
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.26(298)[some words illegible], "Norah O'Neal" ("Oh! I'm lonely to night, love, without you"), T. Pearson (Manchester), 1850-1899; also Harding B 11(3772), "Norah O'Neill"
LOCSinging, as109760, "Nora O'Neal," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
NLScotland L.C.1269(158a), "Norah O'Neil," Poet's Box (address illegible), 1869
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Shamus O'Brien" (sequel to this song)
NOTES: Source: Re author -- "The Music of William Shakespeare Hays 1837-1907" on PD Music site. - BS
William Shakespeare Hays was of course an American (born and died in Kentucky), as songs such as "Little Old Log Cabin in the Lane" attest, so this song is obviously "stage Irish" -- and yet, it seems to appear almost entirely in Irish collections. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging as109760: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: OCon141

Norah


See Who Built the Ark? (File: RcWBTA)

Norah Darling


See Barney McCoy (File: R776)

Norah Darling, Don't Believe Them


DESCRIPTION: The singer must leave Norah "but I leave my heart with thee." He tells her not to forget him or to believe another suitor's "flattering wiles," "tale of love" or "treacherous whispers."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: courting love separation nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
O'Conor, p. 149, "Norah Darling, Don't Believe Them" (1 text)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, 2806 c.8(258), "Norah Darling, Don't Believe Them", unknown, n.d.
File: OCon149

Norah Magee


DESCRIPTION: "Oh Norah, dear Norah, I can't live without you... Come back to old Ireland, the land of our childhood...." The singer laments the absence of Norah, gone over the sea, and hopes she will return someday to Ireland.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love separation Ireland emigration
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H778, p. 387, "Norah Magee" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4718
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland L.C.Fol.70(86b), "Norah Magee," Poet's Box (Dundee), c. 1890
NOTES: Sam Henry observed that this song was "in great vogue" around 1870, but I know of no other field collections. I do find myself strongly reminded of "Barney McCoy" -- but the similarity is at a level far removed from the details of the songs.
Poverty, of course, forced many Irish to migrate to America, and not just in the nineteenth century. It's not usual for the girl to go without the boy, but it's not unknown, either. And men need the chance to sing lost love songs, too. - RBW
File: HHH778

Norah McShane


DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls leaving (Ballymoney), and admits to being "as wretched can be" in the new land. He misses buttermilk, the old mud house, peat fires, and of course Norah McShane. Even with no money, it was a better life than this
AUTHOR: Eliza Cook (?)
EARLIEST DATE: 1841 (broadside, LOCSheet sm1841 380630); supposedly written 1838
KEYWORDS: emigration homesickness separation
FOUND IN: Ireland US9Mw)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
SHenry H157, p. 207, "Norah McShane" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, pp. 50-51, "Nora McShane" (1 text)
Dean, p. 105, "Nora McShane" (1 text)
Roud #9059
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2717), "Norah Mc.Sheen" or "I Am Leaving Ballimoney," J. Harkness (Preston), 1840-1866; also 2806 c.15(9/10)[some illegible words], "Norah MacShane"; Harding B 11(3881), 2806 b.11(10), Firth c.26(16), Harding B 11(56), Harding B 11(1814), "Norah M'Shane"
LOCSheet, sm1841 380630, "Norah McShane," C. E. Horn (New York), 1841; also sm1850 650070, sm1850 471280, "Norah McShane" (tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Scarborough Settler's Lament" (theme) and references there
cf. "Lake Chemo" (parody)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Nora McShane
NOTES: The LOCSheet broadsides note "poetry by [Miss] Eliza Cook" and music attributed either to W. J. Wetmore or Charles Horn Junr. - BS
File: HHH157

Norah O'Neale


See Nora O'Neal (File: OCon141)

Nordfeld and the Raleigh, The


DESCRIPTION: The "Nordfeld" and the "Raleigh" are two ships wrecked close together in the Strait of Belle Isle. The singer tells of the scavenging of both ships and remarks that had he or his listeners been there, they would have partaken in the spoils.
AUTHOR: George Williams
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Greenleaf/Mansfield)
KEYWORDS: wreck ship
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Aug 1922 - Wreck of the Raleigh
FOUND IN: Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greenleaf/Mansfield 142, "The Nordfeld and the Raleigh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Doyle2, p. 47, "The Nordfeld and the Raleigh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Blondahl, p. 64, "The Norfeld and the Raleigh" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6346
NOTES: The HMS Raleigh was a new light cruiser on a tour of the United States and Canada when the captain was persuaded to go off course through the Strait of Belle Isle for some good fishing. It wrecked near the Point Amour lighthouse in Labrador. For these and other details, consult David J. Molloy, The First Landfall: Historic Lighthouses of Newfoundland and Labrador (St. John's: Breakwater, 1994), pp. 94-96. Currant Island, the author's home, is on the Newfoundland side just south of the Strait and not particularly close to the events in the ballad. - SH
File: Doy47

Norfeld and the Raleigh, The


See The Nordfeld and the Raleigh (File: Doy47)

Norfolk Girls, The


DESCRIPTION: "Our topsails reef'd and filled away, All snug aloft we know... Here's a health to all the Norfolk girls, And Portsmouth maidens too." The singer talks of the labors and dangers of a life at sea, always recalling the Norfolk girls and Portsmouth maidens
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1948 (Shay)
KEYWORDS: sailor work battle
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Shay-SeaSongs, pp. 172-177, "The Norfolk Girls" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST ShaSS172 (Partial)
File: ShaSS172

Norlan' Laddie, The


DESCRIPTION: "A Norlan' Johnnie" woos "a Southlan' Jenny." He is so bashful he can hardly speak "till blinks o' her beauty and hopes o' her siller" force him to speak. She agrees to go with him. It's not clear whether or not he backs down (see NOTES)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: courting money
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 864, "The Norlan' Laddie" (1 text)
Roud #6226
NOTES: The GreigDuncan4 text is missing lines. The last two lines comment that Southern lasses "are a' for dressing" but Northern lasses "mind milking and threshing." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4864

North Carolina Hills, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, the North Carolina Hills, How majestic and how grand, With their summits bathed in glory Like our Prince Immanuel's land." The singer repeatedly praises their beauty and their peoples; he must depart, but hopes to return
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Brown)
KEYWORDS: home nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
BrownIII 402, "The North Carolina Hills" (1 text)
Roud #11757
File: Br3402

North Country Maid, A


DESCRIPTION: "A north country maid to London had strayed Although with her nature it did not agree." She laments the home she has left behind, its trees, its fields, its people. She hopes soon to be able to return home
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
LONG DESCRIPTION: A maid from northern England (Westmoreland), who has strayed to London, wishes she were home; she sings the praises of the north country and its ways; she vows that she'll not marry until she returns, preferring to wed a north country man. She hopes to return in less than a year. Chorus: "The oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree/They flourish at home in my own country"
KEYWORDS: homesickness rambling
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 14-15, "O the Oak, and the Ash, and the Bonny Ivy Tree" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan5 1058, "My Ain Countrie" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 62, "The Oak And The Ash" (1 text)
DT, NCNTRYMD* NCNTRYM2*
Roud #1367
NOTES: This looks like the source for the "oak and the ash" lines that appear in the choruses of many versions of "Rosemary Lane," "Ambletown," "Bell-Bottom Trousers," and other members of that most tangled of song families, typically with no relevance to those songs' plots. If I had my guess, I'd say the recombinant chorus was grafted onto those songs' common ancestor at some point early in its evolution. - PJS
For the complex relationship between this song, "Ambletown," and "Rosemary Lane" [Laws K43], see the notes to the latter song. - PJS, RBW
This song does not seem to have any "plot relationship" to the other two traditional songs; the common element is simply the chorus ("Oh the oak and the ash and the bonny ivy tree They flourish at home in my own country"). The language of this piece, however, hints at literary origin; indeed, it looks like a typical pastoral. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: LK43B

North Highlands, The


DESCRIPTION: "Down in yon meadow, I chanced for to spy A bonnie young lassie that pleased my eye.... Bonnie lassie, come to the North Hielands wi' me." He offers lands and wealth; she says her parents would object. He turns to go; she consents to go with him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: love courting money father mother separation
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Greig #55, p. 1, "The North Highlands" (1 text)
GreigDuncan4 853, "The North Highlands" (12 texts, 8 tunes)
Ord, p. 87, "Bonnie Lassie, Come to the North Hielands" (1 text)
Roud #5565
File: Ord087

North Star (II), The


See The Merchant's Only Son [Laws M21] (File: LM21)

North Star, The


DESCRIPTION: North Star sails from Ireland for America. On December 8, "close to the wild Welsh shore the North Star struck, that very night, upon that fatal rock ... Out of near five hundred passengers, but twenty-one were saved"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1900 (broadside, Bodleian 2806 b.9(261))
KEYWORDS: drowning sea ship wreck sailor
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ranson, pp. 94-95, "The North Star" (1 text, 1 tune)
RECORDINGS:
Bodleian, 2806 b.9(261), "The North Star", J.F. Nugent & Co. (Dublin), 1850-1899; also Firth b.27(109/110) View 1 of 2, "The North Star"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Vivandeer" (tune)
NOTES: Ranson: Tune is "The Vivandeer" on p. 112. - BS
File: Ran094

Northamptonshire Poacher, The


See The Lincolnshire Poacher (File: K259)

Northern Bonnie Blue Flag, The


DESCRIPTION: Northern answer to "The Bonnie Blue Flag": "We're fighting for our Union, We're fighting for our trust.... Hurrah, hurrah, For equal rights, hurrah! Hurrah! for the good old flag That bears the stripes and stars."
AUTHOR: (various)
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Belden)
KEYWORDS: Civilwar parody patriotic nonballad derivative
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Belden, p. 382, "The Flag with the Thirty-Four Stars" (1 text)
Scott-BoA, pp. 218-219, "The Northern Bonnie Blue Flag" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7760
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Bonnie Blue Flag" (tune & meter) and references there
NOTES: This is actually a complex of songs rather than a single piece; various poets evidently made answers to "The Bonnie Blue Flag." I've lumped them because they all had, at best, only the weakest holds on tradition.
The version in Scott, which gives this entry its title, is listed as by Isaac Ball, and is a very short piece praising the freedom fighters of the North. I doubt that it is traditional at all.
Belden's "Flag with the Thirty-Four Stars" technically came from oral tradition, but the informant probably learned it from print; there are just too many names to remember them all. Among them:
"McClellan of Bold Antietam Fame": George B. McClellan (1826-1885), who took over the Army of the Potomac after First Bull Run and led it to defeat in the Seven Days' Battle and marginal victory (despite overwhelming superiority) after Antietam. The approving mention of McClellan (and Burnside) probably dates the song to late 1862; the list by 1863 would have been very different.
"Hooker, Sigel, Kenly too": Joe Hooker (1814-1879), was in late 1862 the Army of the Potomac's most aggressive corps commander. He would go on to failure in high command.
Franz Sigel (1824-1902) commanded German troops all over the place, and almost always disastrously. The troops never gave up on him; hence perhaps the approving mention.
Kenly: The Union had a general John Reese Kenly (1822-1891), who commanded troops in the Shenandoah Valley but who managed to not be involved in most of the big battles. His name is hard to explain. I suspect he might have been confused with Phil Kearny (1814-1862), who though only a division commander was widely regarded as the best officer in the Army of the Potomac -- but he was killed before Antietam. There was also a General E. R. S. Canby who held important posts in the west, but while he also spent time in the east, it was mostly in administrative posts.
"Foote, Dupont, Rosecrans": Flag Officer Andrew Hull Foote (1706-1863) had led the fleets that attacked Forts Henry and Donelson in early 1862, giving the Union its first major successes in the war. Wounded at Fort Donelson, he never really recovered. It is interesting to note that U. S. Grant, the land commander at Donelson, is not mentioned -- another hint that the song is from 1862, when Halleck shelved him.
Dupont: Samuel F. DuPont (1803-1865), another naval officer, commander of the fleet that took Port Royal (November 1861). In 1863 he failed to capture Charleston (the War Department gave him impossible orders), so his start too was clouded.
Rosecrans: William S. Rosecrans (1819-1898). An officer of promise as a subordinate, he had successfully defended Corinth (October 1862). After that, he was given charge of the Army of the Cumberland, where he proved less successful, fighting a bloody draw at Stones River (December 1862) and losing Chickamauga (September 1863).
"Halleck, Burnside, Butler too": Henry W. Halleck (1815-1872) was theatre commander in the west, and after Grant's successes at Henry and Donelson had led the slow advance to Corinth. He was then brought to Washington as General-in-Chief. On paper, his results looked good; in reality, he was far too cautious and never managed to get the Union war machine in gear. He was much more effective as (de facto) chief of staff under Grant. But in late 1862, he still looked like a winner.
Burnside: Ambrose Burnside (1824-1881) had led the successful attacks on the Carolina coast in 1862. He then joined the Army of the Potomac, and failed at Antietam, but was given command of the whole army and led it to defeat at Fredericksburg and the Mud March (late 1862/early 1863) -- still more evidence of a late 1862 date. Burnside's real problem seems to have been a complete inability to react to changing circumstances.
Butler: Benjamin F. Butler (1818-1893), a political general who was perhaps the worst soldier ever to wear a Major General's stars. In 1862, however, he had "captured" New Orleans (the entire work had in fact been done by Farragut's fleet), and so was an official hero. He was also earning a reputation among the occupied as "Beast" Butler.
"old South Mountain side": The Battle of South Mountain (Sept. 14, 1862) was the first real engagement of the Antietam campaign. McClellan, possessed of Lee's "lost order," knew that Lee's army was scattered behind the South Mountain range, with only a few troops to guard the passes. McClellan, who could have destroyed Lee's army by attacking boldly, instead brought minimal force to bear, forced the passes only because Lee had such weak forces there -- and then sat for two days when he could have defeated Lee piecemeal.
South Mountain did not drive Lee from the north; rather, it gave him time to concentrate his forces at Antietam. Where McClellan again failed to destroy him. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: SBoA218

Northessie Crew, The


DESCRIPTION: "As I gaed up to Aikey Fair, 'Twas for to get a fee; A farmer frae St Fergus Came steppin 'owre to me." The singer hires on for the season, "as I hae deen afore." A few of the crew are named and described.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: farming work moniker nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Greig #16, p. 2, "The Northessie Crew" (1 text)
GreigDuncan3 412, "The Northessie Crew" (1 text)
Roud #5933
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Hairst o' Rettie" (subject: harvest crew moniker song) and references there
cf. "The Boghead Crew" (subject: harvest crew moniker song)
cf. "The Kiethen Hairst" (subject: harvest crew moniker song)
cf. "The Ardlaw Crew" (subject: harvest crew moniker song)
NOTES: Greig: "... 'The Northessie Crew' ... was composed last summer [1907]. When ... it gets taken up and sung over Buchan we shall have pleasure in printing it as a full-fledged song. Meantime we pick a few verses by way of specimen." These five verses are the basis for the description.
GreigDuncan3 has a map on p. xxxv, of "places mentioned in songs in volume 3" showing the song number as well as place name; North Essie (412) is at coordinate (h5-6,v1) on that map [roughly 33 miles N of Aberdeen]. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3412

Northumberland Bagpipes, The


DESCRIPTION: "A shepherd sat him under a thorn, He pulled out his pipes and began for to play, It was on a midsummer's day in the morn." A girl comes by, hears him piping, and declares, "Iy thou wilt pipe, lad, I'll dance to thee."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1701 (broadside NLScotland, Ry.III.a.10(060))
KEYWORDS: music dancing
FOUND IN: Britain(England)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 32-34, "The Northumberland Bagpipes" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR032 (Full)
Roud #3055
BROADSIDES:
NLScotland, Ry.III.a.10(060), "The Merry Bagpipes," unknown, 1701
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Maggie Lauder" (theme)
SAME TUNE:
March Boyes (per broadside NLScotland, Ry.III.a.10(060))
File: StoR032

Northumberland Betrayed by Douglas [Child 176]


DESCRIPTION: Northumberland flees to Scotland and is taken into custody. Despite his protestations of virtue, he is passed from hand to hand, ending in the custody of Douglas. Percy sets sail, believing he will be freed, but ends up under the control of Lord Hunsden
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1765 (Percy)
KEYWORDS: nobility rebellion escape trick ring wife betrayal prison
FOUND IN: Britain
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Child 176, "Northumberland Betrayed by Douglas" (1 text)
Percy/Wheatley I, pp. 279-294, "Northumberland Betrayed by Douglas" (2 texts, one being that in the Reliques and the other being the manuscript copy)
Flanders-Ancient3, p. 171, "Northumberland Betrayed by Douglas" (1 fragment, similar to the Child text but so short that it might, from its text, be something else -- e.g. some texts of "Mary Hamilton" have rather similar lyrics; the singer apparently knew more of the song but would not repeat it)
OBB 129, "Northumberland Betrayed by Douglas" (1 text)
Roud #4006
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Rising in the North" [Child 175] (subject)
cf. "The Earl of Westmoreland" [Child 177] (subject)
NOTES: For the background to Northumberland's flight to Scotland, see "The Rising in the North" [Child 175]. Having arrived in Scotland, Northumberland became a valuable pawn -- and in a nation with a child king and no real government, he wound up being passed back and forth until he came into Douglas's hands.
The Countess of Northumberland, in exile in Flanders, raised money to ransom him. But the English matched the ransom, and Northumberland was turned over to Lord Hunsdon in late 1571 and executed in 1572.
For the complete details of these proceedings, see the notes in Child.
Those desiring to see how Percy converted the manuscript text into the published text, see Nick Groom, The Making of Percy's Reliques, Oxford English Monographs, 1999, pp. 127 ffff. -- though Groom is far too sympathetic to Percy's hack-work. - RBW
File: C176

Norway Bum, The


DESCRIPTION: "I'm a bum and addicted to rum." His father drove the singer from home because "I loved a fair lass far beneath my own class." They married; his wife and child died in a fire in Norway. "To drown sorrow I plunged into rum... And now I am only a bum"
AUTHOR: Joe Scott?
EARLIEST DATE: 1965 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: grief love marriage death mourning drink wife children
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ives-DullCare, pp. 119-121, 251, "The Norway Bum" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13992
NOTES: Ives-DullCare: "No one was killed in the fire that destroyed much of Norway, Maine, in 1894, and there is no evidence to show that the song is based on a real person or incident, but, since Scott was not given to fiction, we can be reasonably sure that he thought his source ... was factual." - BS
File: IvDC119

Norwegian Collier, The


DESCRIPTION: Fragment: "In the early hours of morning in the foggy atmosphere Our ship was swiftly ploughing through the foam, When a big Norwegian collier, sailing from Quebec, Ran straight into our liner, bound for home,..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1948 (Ranson)
KEYWORDS: sea ship wreck sailor
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ranson, p. 127, "The Norwegian Collier" (1 text)
File: Ran127C

Nose On My Old Man, The


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, it's the nose that grows on my old man And it's wonderful to see -- It will live for years in my garden of misery. For it's the one red nose that the boozer knows.... Amid the drink and curse there can be no worse Than the nose on my old man!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fahey-Eureka, pp. 232-233, "The Nose on My Old Man" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: FaE232

Nose, Nose, Jolly Red Nose


See Of All the Birds (File: ChWI141)

Nose, Nose, Nose, Nose


See Of All the Birds (File: ChWI141)

Not a Word of "No Surrender"


DESCRIPTION: The singer hears two Orangemen complain "we're ruined by Emancipation; ['Popish Daniel'] O'Connell brave and all his men They're a terror to the nation." About this, he hears not a word of "No Surrender"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1955 (IRRCinnamond01)
KEYWORDS: political Ireland
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1829 - Irish Catholic Emancipation Act passes supported by Daniel O'Connell and the Catholic Association
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #6987
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "Not a Word of 'No Surrender'" (on IRRCinnamond01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Kerry Eagle" (subject: Daniel O'Connell) and references there
cf. "Our Orange Flags May Gang to Rags" (subject and some lines)
NOTES: The Catholic Emancipation Act allowed Catholics to sit as MPs and made Catholics eligible for most public offices but disenfranchised many poor Irish (source: "Catholic Emancipation" on The Peel Web site). [I would consider it clearer to say that it failed to enfranchise many poor Irish; at this time, the poor were generally disenfranchised in all of Britain. - RBW]
This song shares a theme and at least four lines with GreigDuncan3 691, "Our Orange Flags May Gang to Rags": "May the old Devil take partial Peel Why did he yield to popish Donnell [Daniel] And Wellington great laurels won How soon he's run for to join O'Connell." Nevertheless, the rest of the songs sharing no line or chorus, I think they should be separate.
GreigDuncan3 p. 685, quoting Edwards, A New History of Ireland: "The reversal of Tory policy on the issue of Catholic emancipation can be ascribed to O'Connell's methods. Wellington, the victor of Waterloo, who became Prime Minister in 1828, was obliged to considre what would be the full consequences of a resort to force in Ireland over the Catholic question. The climax came when O'Connell was returned as a member of parliament for Clare and at the bar of the House of Commons refused to take the declaration against transubstantiation and the anti-Catholic oath of allegiance. Tory feelings were aroused to an intense heat, but in their wisdom, Wellington and his home secretary and political heir, Sir Robert Peel, forced George IV to give way."
"No Surrender" is a reference to the defiant declaration attributed to the Williamites defending Derry in 1688-1689. See "No Surrender (I)" and references there. - BS
See also "The Shutting of the Gates of Derry," plus the many Daniel O'Connell songs cited under "Daniel O'Connell (I)." - RBW
File: RcNaWoNS

Not Know How to Court


See Aunt Sal's Song (The Man Who Didn't Know How to Court) (File: LoF101)

Not So Young As I Used to Be


See If I Were As Young As I Used to Be (Uncle Joe) (File: R434)

Not the Swan on the Lake


DESCRIPTION: "Not the swan on the lake or the foam on the shore Can compare with the charms of the maid I adore." The singer praises the girl and her beauty, comparing her to Venus (the planet!), and says he "feast[s]... on the smiles of my love."
AUTHOR: words translated by Ewan MacLachlan
EARLIEST DATE: 1937 (Sam Henry collection; earlier text in Whitelaw 1844)
KEYWORDS: love beauty nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H707, p. 227, "Not the Swan on the Lake" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #1525
File: HHH707

Not Weary Yet


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, me no weary yet (x2), I have a witness in my heart, Me no weary yet." "Since I been in the field to fight." "I have a heaven to maintain." "The band of faith are on my soul." "Ole Satan toss a ball at me." "He think the ball would hit my soul."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious devil nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 12, "Not Weary Yet" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #11850
File: AWG012

Not-Brown Maid, The


See The Nut-Brown Maid (File: OBB069)

Nothing At All


DESCRIPTION: The singer goes with his daddy to court Kate. He and she are too shy to speak at meeting, or proposal, or answering the parson at the wedding. The problem disappears within a week of the wedding and they offer their assurance to other young folks.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Firth b.25(271))
KEYWORDS: courting wedding humorous
FOUND IN: Ireland
Roud #1607
RECORDINGS:
Robert Cinnamond, "Derry Down Dale" (on IRRCinnamond02)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth b.25(271), "Nothing At All" ("In Derry Down Dale, when I wanted a mate"), J. Ferraby (Hull), 1803-1838; also Harding B 28(233), Harding B 25(1382)[many illegible words], "Nothing At All"
LOCSinging, sb30352a, "Nothing At all," H. De Marsan (New York), 1864-1878
NLScotland, L.C.1269(152a), "Nothing At All," Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1855

CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Vilikens and his Dinah (William and Dinah) [Laws M31A/B]" (tune & meter used in IRRCinnamond02) and references there
cf. "Things I Don't Like to See" (tune according to broadside NLScotland, L.C.1269(152a))
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Firth b.25(271) is the basis for the description: IRRCinnamond02 ends with the "love, honor, obey" at the wedding coming to "nothing at all."
Broadside LOCSinging sb30352a: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
File: RcNoAtAl

Nothing To Do With Me


DESCRIPTION: The singer will not denigrate others or interfere in business that has nothing to do with him. The rest of the song is gossip about his neighbors. A policeman, he hints, takes bribes. A girl married to an old man has a baby, he hints, not her husband's.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1966 (recording, Martin Gorman)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad police infidelity accusation
FOUND IN: Britain(England(Lond))
Roud #5315
RECORDINGS:
Martin Gorman, "It's Nowt To Do With Me" (on Voice14)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2958), "Nothing To Do With Me!" ("Kind friends for what I'm going to say on you I will not frown"), unknown, n.d.; also Firth c.26(252), "Nothing To Do With Me"
NOTES: Broadside Bodleian Firth c.26(252) says "Sung by Harry Barber and George Gordon." - BS
File: RcNTDWM

Nothing Too Good for the Irish


See Nothing's Too Good for the Irish (File: Wa029)

Nothing's Too Good for the Irish


DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls his grandmother's last words. She describes, with the full force of prejudice, the roles reserved for each people (e.g. "Negroes to whitewash, Jews for cash"), then turns to her own people, concluding, "Nothing's too good for the Irish"
AUTHOR: J. J. Goodwin/[Monroe H.] Rosenfeld (source: Spaeth, _A History of Popular Music in America_, p. 608)
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Dean); Spaeth lists it as published in 1894
KEYWORDS: death foreigner humorous
FOUND IN: US(MA,MW)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Dean, p. 102, "Nothing Too Good for the Irish" (1 text)
Warner 29, "Nothing's Too Good for the Irish" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa029 (Partial)
Roud #7468
NOTES: Presumably the same as the 1894 song by J. J. Goodwin and Rosenfeld, but I can't prove it
The chorus, in John Galusha's version at least (and also in Dean), may be the most concentrated dose of racism I've ever seen:It stereotypes *everyone*. - RBW
File: Wa029

Nottalin Town


See Nottamun Town (File: WB2006)

Nottamun Town (Nottingham Fair)


DESCRIPTION: The narrator goes to Nottamun Town, meets odd and mad people, and sees impossible and paradoxical sights: "In Nottamun town, not a soul would look up, not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down to show me the way to fair Nottamun town."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1865 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 18(687)
KEYWORDS: madness nonsense paradox
FOUND IN: US(Ap,So) Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (9 citations):
Wyman-Brockway II, p. 6, "Fair Nottiman Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 446, "Nottingham Fair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 302-305, "Nottingham Fair" (3 texts, 1 tune)
SharpAp 191, "Nottamun Town" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Sharp/Karpeles-80E 69, "Nottamun Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-SingFam, pp. 105-106, "[Nottamun Town]" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ritchie-Southern, p. 5, "Nottamun Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Abrahams/Foss, pp. 8-9, "Nottamun Town" (1 text, 1 tune, called "Nottamun town" in the header though "Nottalin Town" in the notes and Index)
DT, NOTTMUN*
Roud #1044
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 18(687), "The Old Gray Mare" ("As I was a going to Nottingham fair"), H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also Harding B 18(214), "The Gray Mare"
LOCSinging, sb30373a, "The Old Gray Mare" ("As I was a going to Nottingham fair"), H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864; also sb20153a, "The Gray Mare"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Black Phyllis" (lyrics)
cf. "Paddy Backwards" (theme, lyrics)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Nottalin Town
NOTES: There were several episodes of mass insanity in Europe, probably caused by ingestion of ergot, a mold found on rye with hallucinogenic properties. - PJS
I have also heard this song explained as the effects of the delirium caused by the plague. (Indeed, MacInnis, pp. 217-218, suggests that some alleged plague outbreaks were in fact mass cases of food poisoning, although this strikes me as extreme.) This was formerly one of the explanations offered for the affliction of St. Vitus's dance (Runes/Schrickel, p. 974), which is associated with outbreaks of madness similar to the ergot outbreaks. Compare also the song "Black Phyllis," which uses some of the same words and which appears to be about syphilis.
The problem with both the ergot and plague hypotheses is that the sufferer would be rather unlikely to survive unless the outbreak was extremely mild -- which, admittedly, can sometimes be the case; Timbrell, p. 244, mentions an hypothesis that the Salem witch madness was encouraged by the sensations experienced people who had eaten a very small amount of bad grain, and Le Couteur/Burreston, p. 241, agree that the symptoms fit. The suggestion was apparently first made by Lindda Caporael in 1960 (Satin, p. 109), and has gained widespread although not universal support.
But relatively minor cases such as the possible instance in Salem are unusual; ergot is recognizable, and people normally ate it only if they had no choice. Usually, when ergotism hit, it hit hard. Several of the outbreaks of ergotism arose because of the conditions of the Little Ice Age, which caused many bad harvests and forced people to use old flour or non-cereals to make bread. Le Couteur/Burreston, p. 240, note accounts in the literature of 40,000 allegedly dead of ergotism in France in 994, and 12,000 deaths in 1129. Kelly, p. 62, thinks there were probably major outbreaks of ergotism in Europe in 1315-1322, a period of extremely wet, cold weather -- although he adds that some of the symptoms peope experienced were probably the result of starvation or vitamin deficiency.
Ergot, according to Satin, p. 96, is so-called because it resembles the leg spur of a rooster.
MacInnis, p. 213, reports that "Ergot replaces the seeds of rye, producing a purple lump that looks to the French like a cockspur, or ergot. The ergot looks quite unlike the true grain, but it was so common people thought it was part of the rye plant, until the 1850s when the true nature of ergot was understood." This even though, according to Le Couteur/Burreston, p. 239, ergot was first observed to cause problems for cattle during the Persian period (c. 400 B.C.E.). Satin, p. 96, reports that in really bad years (typically very rainy years) as much as a quarter of the grain harvest might be replaced by ergot.
Ergot, according to MacInnis, pp. 213-214, contains ergotamide (guess where the name comes from!) and a few other "active ingredients," which are related to LSD (the chemical diagrams on Le Couteur/Burreston, pp. 242-243, show that basic lysergic acid, LSC, ergotamine, and ergotamide all have the same basic structure of four carbon-and-nitrogen rings, differing only in the nature of one extended side chain) and have similar properties. Thus it can result in hallucinations. MacInnis, p. 215, notes that ergot had medical uses, especially for pregnant women, but was very tricky: "Just the right amount of the purple grain would hasten contractions; a little more and ergot was an efficient abortifacient; a little more and the woman suffered gangrene and convulsions." Ergotamine has also been used to treat migraine headaches in recent years (Timbrell, p. 247).
But getting the dosage right is tricky, since the amount of ergotamine varies with the batch, and errors can be fatal. another chemical usually found in ergot, ergometrine, constricts blood vessels, causing a gangrene-like condition which destroys the extremities (Timbrell, p. 244). Ergot contains other alkaloids which are apparently just plain poison. But it should be noted that alkaloids taste bitter; it would be easy to learn to avoid them. According to Le Couteur/Burreston, p. 238, the full list of symptoms associated with ergotism includes "convulsions, seizures, diarrhea, lethargy, manic behavior, hallucinations, vomiting, twitching, a crawling sensation on the skin, numbness in the hands and feet, and a burning sensation becoming excruciatingly painful as gangrene from decreased circulation eventually sets in."
Le Couteur/Burreston add on p. 239 that wet storage conditions (which would be particularly common during the Little Ice Age) could encourage the mold to grow even after the grain was harvested.
It is true that some hallucinations caused by ergotism were bizarre. Satin, p. 99, reports that people during the 1951 French epidemic would jump out of windows because they thought they could fly; others thought they were on fire. But this was based on eating a few baguettes made with relatively mildly contaminated flour. Even so, four people died. At higher dosages, there would have been a lot more deaths and fewer hallucinations.
Under the circumstances, possibly a better hypothesis to explain this song is that people were eating poppy products, rather than rye, to *avoid* ergotism. This too could lead to hallucinations.
Saunders, pp. 8-9, describes the symptoms: "Bread was also made from poppyseed, which had the effect of producing a 'drugged and paranoid' state. This was surely preferable to the effects of eating bread made with mouldy or contaminated grain, which could lead to ergotism (St Anthony's Fire), a disease which attacked the muscular system and induced painful spasms. Eventually, the contracting muscles cut off circulation of the blood to the extremities, which became gangrenous. One of the side-effects of ergotism was mind-bending hallucinations -- nature's gift, perhaps, to sufferers, who would otherwise have had to watch their limbs fall off in a state of sober despair."
Saunders, p. 141, also mentions that extreme hunger could produce hallucinations. And hunger was of course very common during the Little Ice Age.
MacInnis, p. 220, adds that ergotism also affected horses, causing them to come down with blind staggers; he wonders if this did not have effects on some military effects. On p. 221, he notes a major, although isolated, outbreak of ergotism as recently as 1951. Le Couteur/Burreston mention major outbreaks in Russia in 1926-1927 and in Britain in 1927.
Jean Ritchie thinks the song is from a mummer's play and not intended to be understood.
This song merges almost continuously with "Paddy Backwards," and there are probably fragments which might go with either song. - RBW
Broadsides LOCSinging sb30373a and Bodleian Harding B 18(687) are duplicates.
Broadsides LOCSinging sb20153a and Bodleian Harding B 18(214) are duplicates.
Broadsides Bodleian Harding B 18(687) and LOCSinging sb30373a: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: WB2006

Nottingham Fair


See Nottamun Town (File: WB2006)

Nottinghamshire Poacher, The


DESCRIPTION: The poacher goes out with his dogs to hunt. (One of his dogs is wounded, but) he catches a deer and takes it to a butcher to skin. When he attempts to sell the meat, he is arrested and tried, but finally set free. He vows to continue poaching
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: before 1839 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 17(311b))
KEYWORDS: dog poaching trial accusation revenge animal judge
FOUND IN: US(MW) Britain(England)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Eddy 53, "Thornymuir Fields" (1 text, 1 tune)
Kennedy 259, "The Old Fat Buck" (1 text, 1 tune)
MacSeegTrav 96, "Thornaby Woods" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST E053 (Full)
Roud #222
RECORDINGS:
Anne Briggs, "Thorneymoor Woods" (on Briggs2, Briggs3)
Jasper Smith, "Thornymoor Park" (on Voice18)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 17(311b), "Thorney Moor Wood" ("In Thorney moor woods in Nottinghamshire"), J. Catnach (London), 1813-1838; also Harding B 11(3803), Firth c.19(58), "Thorney Moor Wood"; Harding B 25(1898), "Thorney-moor Woods"; Harding B 11(2692), Firth b.34(206), "The Lads of Thorney Moor Wood"; Johnson Ballads 887, Harding B 28(237), Firth c.19(57), "The Lads of Thorney Moor Woods"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Lincolnshire Poacher" (theme)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Thorny Woods
Thornymoor Woods
NOTES: [MacColl and Seeger report that] "Thorneyhaugh-Moor Woods is in the Hundred of Newark, Nottinghamshire, and was once part of Sherwood Forest." - PJS
File: E053

Nova Scotia Sealing Song


DESCRIPTION: In 1894 Director goes sealing, "bound for Yokahama." Before rounding Cape Horn they stop for seals at Staten Island where "for eighteen days we were hove to." They make Cape Flattery in sixty days. Now they are in Victoria waiting to finish the voyage.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1952 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: hunting sea ship shore ordeal sailor
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-Maritime, p. 200, "Nova Scotia Sealing Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2720
NOTES: Staten Island is Isla de los Estados, east of the Argentinian part of Tierra del Fuego. Cape Flattery is on the northwest coast of Washington state across the Strait of Juan de Fuca from Vancouver Island; Victoria is on Vancouver Island. - BS
File: CrMa200

Nova Scotia Song


See Farewell to Nova Scotia (File: FJ044)

November Keady Fair


DESCRIPTION: The singer takes his nanny goat to the November fair at Keady. He sells her for half-a-crown. "She was nineteen times at Jim's auld buck." Now that she's gone he'll miss her wagging tail, her nipping kale in the garden, and their rows at the fireside.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1988 (McBride)
KEYWORDS: nonballad animal separation
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
McBride 56, "November Keady Fair" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #5311
NOTES: Keady is in County Armagh. - BS
The Irish had a rule that a young man could not marry until he had land -- a fairly effective means of population control, since it resulted in a lot of late marriage. It's one reason there are so many songs about lonely young Irishmen out looking for girls. Makes you wonder if this guy didn't come up with a substitute....
The rows at the fireside are also not unreasonable. By the mid-nineteenth century, especially in Connaught, the land had been subdivided into so many small holdings that those who were relatively fortunate enough to own an animal would perforce keep it with them in their hovel (often little more than a sod shack). Pigs were more often kept than goats, from what I've read, but obviously goats were possible too. Though, in that context, it would be unlikely that the house would have kale; all land would go to potatoes. - RBW
File: McB1056

Now Go and Leave Me If You Wish


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

Now I Am a Big Boy


DESCRIPTION: "When I was a little boy My mother kept me in, But now I am a big boy, Fit to serve the king." "I can fire a musket, I can smoke a pipe, I can kiss a big girl At ten o'clock at night."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1842 (Halliwell, according to Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: youth mother family
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Randolph 358, "Now I Am a Big Boy" (2 texts, both fragmentary, and the "A" text appears to be "Shady Grove")
Opie-Oxford2 73, "When I was a little boy" (1 text)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose, p. 27, note 5, "(When I was a little boy)"
Roud #7623
NOTES: The Opies think this a prototype for a wide variety of self-identification songs. That there are many such is obvious, but it's hard to tell which are related, let alone which is the original. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: R358

Now I Am a Big Boy (II)


See Shady Grove (File: SKE57)

Now Our Meeting Is Over


DESCRIPTION: "Fathers, now our meeting is over; Fathers, we must part. And if I never see you any more, I'll love you in my heart. And we'll land on shore, Yes, we'll land on shore, We will land on shore, And be saved forevermore." Repeat with mothers, brothers, etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Lomax)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad family
FOUND IN: US(MA,SE)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Warner 84, "Fathers, Now Our Meeting Is Over" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-ABFS, p. 571, "Now Our Meeting's Over" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, MEETOVER
Roud #5716
RECORDINGS:
Dillard Chandler, "Meeting Is Over" (on Chandler01)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "There Is No Place in the Height of Heaven" (floating lyrics)
File: Wa084

Now the War Is Over (Mussolini's Dead)


DESCRIPTION: The text: "Now the war is over, Mussolini's dead, He wants to go to heaven with a crown upon his head, The Lord says no, he's got to stay below, All dressed up and no where to go."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1955 (on Lomax collection)
KEYWORDS: death war humorous political religious gods
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1945 - Death of Mussolini
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
DT, WAROVR
ST DTwarovr (Full)
Roud #12945
RECORDINGS:
Scottish children, "Now the War is Over" (on Lomax43, LomaxCD1743)
NOTES: Well, it's a narrative, and it was collected from folk tradition, so what more do you want? Pity we don't have a keyword for rope-jumping songs. - PJS
Mussolini was deposed as Duce of Italy in 1943 (following the Allied invasion, in a staged coup which induced him to resign), but was "liberated" by German commandos led by Otto Skorzeny. He then set up a puppet republic in the north of Italy -- but the key word is "puppet"; he was purely and simply a German tool. (And there is reason to think he didn't like it much.)
In April, 1945, as the German resistance crumbled, the former il Duce was caught by Italian partisans, "tried," and executed. It's rather unfair that this song picks on him, rather than Hitler, who died just weeks later; Mussolini brooked no opposition, but he didn't build any concentration camps, either.
The explanation may lie in the composition of the British army: There were probably more Scots, proportionally, in Italy than on any other front. The North African army was disproportionately composed of Commonwealth forces, while the "British" force in Normandy eventually consisted of one Canadian and one British army. The British army in Italy had probably the highest proportion of home-grown units, including Scots.
Murray Shoolbraid notes that this is an update of a World War I rhyme in which the Kaiser is the intended victim:
When the war is over and the Kaiser's deid
He's no gaun tae Heaven wi' the eagle on 'is heid,
For the Lord says No! He'll have tae go below,
For he's all dressed up and nowhere tae go.
That version probably didn't endure as well, for the simple reason that the Kaiser survived World War I; he didn't die until 1941. - RBW
File: DTwarovr

Now the Winter Is Past


See Queen of the May (File: SWMS190)

Now Winter Has Diminished


DESCRIPTION: "Now winter has diminished, Our shanty life is finished, From the woods we are banished." "At near approach of summer. We will select our timer... and make... rafts of pine." They will travel the river to market, where the lumbermen will drink and party
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1962 (Gard/Sorden)
KEYWORDS: river logging travel drink
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Robert E. Gard and L. G. Sorden, _Wisconsin Lore: Antics and Anecdotes of Wisconsin People and Places_, Wisconsin House, 1962, p. 110, "(no title)" (1 text, presumably from Wisconsin although no source is listed)
NOTES: Gard/Sorden were told that this was the "favorite ballad" of some group of Wisconsin loggers. I don't recall encountering any other copies, however.
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GaSor110

Now, My Bonny, Bonny Boy


See The Bonny Boy (I) (File: FSC037)

Now, Wullie was as Nice a Lad


See Willie Was As Fine a Sailor (File: MaWi101)

Number Nine


See The Wreck of Number Nine [Laws G26] (File: LG26)

Number Ninety-Nine


See Jinny Go Round and Around (File: R272)

Number Twelve Train


DESCRIPTION: "Number Twelve train took my baby, I could not keep from cryin'. (x2)" The singer's woman left him; he grieves so much he thinks he is dying. He vows that his next girl "will have to do what poppa say."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1973
KEYWORDS: love abandonment loneliness
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Silber-FSWB, p. 81, "Number Twelve Train" (1 text)
File: FSWB081A

Numerella Shore, The


See The Eumerella Shore (File: MA155)

Nurse Pinched the Baby, The


DESCRIPTION: When the nurse pinches the baby, "Mother [goes] down to the beer saloon to pray." When she catches "the rage from Doctor Dye-O," the same thing happens
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Eddy)
KEYWORDS: drink baby humorous
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Eddy 137, "The Nurse Pinched the Baby" (1 short text, 1 tune)
ST E137 (Full)
Roud #5337
NOTES: Agnes Amelia Ransom Burton (died 1969) reported that she learned this song from her father before 1900, which is the earliest mention of the song from tradition. Although it isn't very evident from Eddy's fragment, it appears to be a mock temperance song. - RBW
File: E137

Nut-Brown Maid, The


DESCRIPTION: The man claims that women, given the chance, are never true. The woman cites the case of the Nut-brown Maid. They play through the story. The woman will follow her man, even to the greenwood, and will fight for him, etc. The ballad ends by praising women
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1707 ("The Muses Mercury"); earlier found in Arnold's "Chronicle" of c. 1521 and in Richard Hill's manuscript (Balliol Coll. Oxf. 354) before 1537
KEYWORDS: infidelity love dialog outlaw
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Percy/Wheatley II, pp. 31-47, "The Not-Browne Maid" (1 text)
OBB 69, "The Nut-Brown Maid" (1 text)
ST OBB069 (Partial)
NOTES: Given its elaborate stanzaic structure, regular alternation of speakers, and elaborately formal language, it seems clear that this should be accounted a literary rather than a folk production. I know of no version in oral tradition.
A parody of this song, "The New Nutbrowne Maid," occurs as early as 1520. Obviously this makes the original even older. The earliest date depends on the age of Arnold's Chronicle, which is undated. The latest date I have seen is the 1521 date cited above. Garnett and Gosse's English Literature: An Illustrated Record, which prints a facsimile, dates the Chronicle to 1502/3.
There is a possibility that Queen Elizabeth herself heard this piece; according to J. C. Holt, Robin Hood, revised edition, Thames & Hudson, 1989, p. 140, one Robert Langham was present when Elizabeth heard an entertainment in July 1575 at the Earl of Leicester's palace of Kenilworth which featured the "The Nut Brown Maid."
Garnett is also quite effusive about the merits of the piece, but adds that "One famous ballad stands out prominently from the rest as being, so far as is known, the invention of the anonymous writer. It is The Nut Brown Maid...." The only anonymous ballad? Uh-huh.
Percy's version, from what I can tell, appears to come from the Chronicle text, only with several of Percy's pet archaizing tricks (he did at least improve the punctuation to something resembling sense).
A facsimile of the Richard Hill manuscript is now available at the Balliol Library manuscripts resource at the Bodleian web site; go to http://image.ox.ac.uk/list?collection=balliol and scroll down to MS. 354. This song is on folios 210-213. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: OBB069

Nuts in May


See Gathering Nuts in May (File: R561)

Nutting Girl, The


DESCRIPTION: A young girl goes out to gather nuts. A farmer stops plowing and begins to sing. The girl hears his sweet voice, and "what nuts she had got, poor girl, she threw them all away." They lie together, then go their ways. The song warns girls against dallying
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1895; tune 1792 (Bunting)
KEYWORDS: courting seduction music harvest farming sex pregnancy
FOUND IN: Britain(England(South),Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (4 citations):
Kennedy 186, "The Nutting Girl" (1 text, 1 tune)
GreigDuncan7 1475, "A-Nutting I'll Not Go" (4 texts, 3 tunes)
Copper-SoBreeze, pp. 214-215, "The Nutting Maid" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, NUTGIRL*
Roud #509
RECORDINGS:
Warde Ford, "A Nutting We Will Go" [incomplete] (AFS 4200 A2, 1938; in AMMEM/Cowell)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Battle of Harlaw" (tune, per GreigDuncan7)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Lie Owre
Young Jackie
NOTES: The recording lists "Our Goodman" as an alternate title for Ford's recording, but "Our Goodman" it ain't. - PJS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: K186

Nutting Maid, The


See The Nutting Girl (File: K186)

O A Iu, Nach Till Thu Dhomnaill (O A Iu, Will You Not Return?)


DESCRIPTION: Gaelic. The singer meets Donald while traversing the moors. They flirt, "he threatened to tear my chemise to shreds.... That was not what you promised me ... a ceremony of marriage."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Creighton-Maritime)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage courting promise accusation worksong
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-Maritime, pp. 178-179, "Gaelic Milling Song" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: The description is based on the translation of Creighton/MacLeod 69 in Gaelic Songs in Nova Scotia which is the same Gaelic text as Creighton-Maritime. Creighton/MacLeod: "There is a more complete version of this song in Craig's 'Orain Luaidh,' p. 66."
Creighton explains "this is a work song, used for milling, or shrinking, cloth." - BS
File: CrMS178

O Adam


DESCRIPTION: Dialog, in which Eve convinces Adam to eat the tree of knowledge. God orders them out of the garden. They lament, and hope to work their way back to Heaven
AUTHOR: W. W. Phelps
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (Times and Seasons)
KEYWORDS: religious dialog punishment
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Belden, pp. 455-456, "O Adam" (1 text)
Roud #7834
NOTES: The story of the expulsion from the Garden of Eden occupies Genesis 3.
Belden (who calls this a "mystery play") notes that the ending of this song is "curiously unbiblical," and links it with Mormon doctrine. That it is Mormon there is no doubt, and it is true that there is no evidence in Genesis that humans can ever return to the Garden (in ordinary Christian theology this is a form of the Pelagian heresy). But I've seen equally non-biblical statements in hymns used by most Protestant denominations. - RBW
File: Beld455

O Blessed Lord


DESCRIPTION: "O blessed Lord, in the way thou hast gone, Lead him straight to that land above. Give him cheer everywhere to the sad and the low. Fill my way every day with love...." The singer prays for love, help, hope, and guidance
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Chappell-FSRA 98, "O Blessed Lord" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #16940
NOTES: I suspect this of being an "occasional" item (though I vacillate between thinking it's for a baptism and for a funeral). But I can't prove it. - RBW
File: ChFRA098

O Bonnie Annie, Gin Ye Had Been Cannie


DESCRIPTION: "O bonnie Annie, gin ye had been cannie, Ye micht 'a been lady o' Lessendrum, But O bonnie Annie, ye never was cannie, Ye've gotten but Lesley's second son"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad nobility
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1191, "O Bonnie Annie, Gin Ye Had Been Cannie" (1 fragment)
Roud #6777
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan6 fragment. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD61191

O Bonny Sandy


DESCRIPTION: Sandy's term day is near. His girl would follow him but it would ruin her name. He says another man will be hired and she'll find another man. She says she would follow Sandy instead -- "he's a handsome fellow" -- but she doesn't like his drinking
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: love separation farming drink dialog
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 902, "O Bonny Sandy," GreigDuncan8 Addenda, "O Bonny Sandy" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Roud #6256
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Term Lilt" (two verses) and notes there
NOTES: GreigDuncan4: "There is some similarity to the opening verses of 'Nellie Douglas' in Ord, p. 123." The similarity is really limited to the opening lines of Ord ("It's, O and alas, and O wae's me, The term time is drawing so near to me") and the theme of a female servant leaving a man behind. However, that ballad ends happily.
The GreigDuncan4 text is not clear in that in some verses the girl is leaving and in other verses Sandy is leaving. The story makes no sense unless Sandy is leaving.
Seasonal hiring of servants and farm workers usually was for six months, beginning May and November, and the term day marked the end of the employment period. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4902

O Brothers, Don't Get Weary


DESCRIPTION: "O Brothers, don't get weary (x3), We're waiting for the Lord. We'll land on Canaan's shore (x2), When we land on Canaan's shore, We'll meet forevermore."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 95, "O Brothers, Don't Get Weary" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12051
File: AWG095A

O Bud


DESCRIPTION: "I don't like no farmer's rule, says, 'Get up in the morning With the dog-goned mule.' Oh Bud, Bud, Bud, Bud, O Bud." "I'm going up the maple, Coming down the pine, Looking for a woman Got a rambling mind."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1941 (Warner)
KEYWORDS: work
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Warner 175, "O Bud" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST Wa175 (Partial)
Roud #7491
File: Wa175

O Bury Me Beneath the Weeping Willow


See Bury Me Beneath the Willow (File: R747)

O But Ye Are Wan, Lassie


DESCRIPTION: "Ye're wan [pale], lassie, lying in a stange bed or with a strange man." "A juggie and a wee pap spoon, Ye see what's got by man"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1905 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: sex pregnancy nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1794, "O But Ye Are Wan, Lassie" (1 text)
Roud #13022
File: GrD81794

O Canada!


DESCRIPTION: "O Canada! Terres de nos aieux...." "O Canada! Our home and native land." Both French and English versions praise the beauties and freedoms enjoyed by Canada, the "true North."
AUTHOR: French Words: A. B. Routhier / Music: Calixa Lavalee / English Words: Dr. R. Stanley Weir
EARLIEST DATE: 1880 (English words composed 1908)
KEYWORDS: Canada patriotic nonballad foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Canada
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Fowke/Mills/Blume, pp. 114-116, "O Canada!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 340, "O Canada!" (1 text)
File: FMB114

O Canny an' Cute Men Ye'll Meet by the Dee


See The Newburgh Salmon Dinner Song (File: GrD3516)

O Daniel


DESCRIPTION: "You call yourself church member, You hold your head so high, You praise God with your glitt'ring tongue, But you leave all your heart behind. O my Lord delivered Daniel, O Daniel... O why not deliver me?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 94, "O Daniel" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12050
File: AWG094B

O David


DESCRIPTION: "O David, yes, yes, My little David, yes, yes, And he killed Goliath...." "My little David... Was a shepherd's boy...." "He killed Goliath... And he shouted for joy...." "O David... Play on, David...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1939 (Thomas)
KEYWORDS: Bible religious
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Thomas-Makin', pp. 204-207, "David, David, Yes, Yes" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSNA 130, "O David" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #6683
NOTES: The story of David and Goliath (actually *two* stories, carefully blended together, in one of which David is Saul's aide/court musician and in another he is a shepherd visiting the battle) is found in 1 Samuel 17. - RBW
File: LoF250A

O Dinna Cross the Burn


DESCRIPTION: Willie's sweetheart asks him to stay with her -- "your folks a' ken ye're here the nicht, And sair they wad me blame -- instead of crossing the stream and going home in a storm. He leaves and is drowned. She goes crazy with grief.
AUTHOR: Words: William Cameron, music by MacGregor Simpson (source: GreigDuncan6 quoting _Lyric Gems_)
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan6)
KEYWORDS: grief madness love death drowning storm
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan6 1243, "O Dinna Cross the Burn" (1 text)
Roud #6770
NOTES: GreigDuncan6: "Lyric Gems prints the song noting that it is by William Cameron, music by MacGregor Simpson. The note adds that, 'The song tells a melancholy story, but a true one, of an incident that happened on the river Stinchar in Ayrshire." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD61243

O Du Glade Sjoman (O Ye Merry Seamen)


DESCRIPTION: Swedish shanty. Verses are of contented sailors sailing out with fond farewells to their sweethearts, and of the faith they have in their ship to bring them home again. Each stanza is repeated as a chorus.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Sternvall, _Sang under Segel_)
KEYWORDS: foreignlanguage shanty sailor farewell
FOUND IN: Sweden
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Hugill, pp. 493-495, "O Du Glade Sjoman" (2 texts-Swedish & English, 1 tune)
File: Hugi493

O Fare Thee Well, My Dearest Dear


See Fare You Well, My Own True Love (The Storms Are on the Ocean, The False True Lover, The True Lover's Farewell, Red Rosy Bush, Turtle Dove) (File: Wa097)

O Fathers, It's High TIme You All Are Ready


DESCRIPTION: "O Fathers, it's high time you all are ready, When this world is at an end.... Oh, we do believe in bein' ready (x2), when this world is at an end." Similarly with mothers, brothers, sisters, children
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Henry, from Granville Gadsey)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MHenry-Appalachians, pp. 216-217, "O Fathers, It's High Time You All Are Ready" (1 text)
File: MHAp216

O Freedom


DESCRIPTION: Recognized by its praise of freedom and the lines "And before I'd be a slave, I'd be buried in my grave, And go home to my Lord and be free." Most versions simply praise freedom; one speaks of the slave's dead mother
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931
KEYWORDS: religious freedom slave slavery mother death nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Scott-BoA, pp. 239-240, "Oh, Freedom!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-CivWar, p. 33, "Oh Freedom" (1 text, 1 tune)
Lomax-FSUSA 108, "O Freedom" (1 text, 1 tune)
Darling-NAS, p. 354, "O Freedom" (1 text)
Silber-FSWB, p. 295, "Oh Freedom" (1 text)
DT, OHFREEDM
Roud #10073
RECORDINGS:
John Handcock, "No More Mourning (Oh Freedom)" (AFS 3238 A1, 3238 A2, 1937)
Montgomery Gospel Trio, "I'm So Glad" [medley of that song -- 'I'm so glad I'm fighting for my rights' -- and "O Freedom"] (on WeShall1, DownHome)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Free Slave"
File: LxU108

O Gin I Had a Canty House


DESCRIPTION: The singer has a humble but happy cottage with no cares and "yon sweet lass the mistress o't"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: love marriage home nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1271, "O Gin I Had a Canty House" (1 text)
Roud #7187
File: GrD71271

O Gin That I Were Mairrit


DESCRIPTION: "I'm now a lass of thirty-three, As clever a hizzie as ye'll see, And feint a ane a'er courtit me...." "(O gin that I were mairrit, mairrit, mairrit... I raley would do weel, O." The old maid lists her property and describes her skills
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1930 (Ord)
KEYWORDS: age loneliness marriage dowry clothes nonballad oldmaid
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ord, pp. 39-40, "O Gin That I Were Mairrit" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #3786
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Wonder When I Shall Be Married" (theme, lyrics)
cf. "The Old Maid's Song (I)" and references there
NOTES: This, to me, feels so close to "I Wonder When I Shall Be Married" that I thought seriously about lumping them. But while the feeling is exactly the same, there aren't many words in common, and the ones that are are the sort you almost have to use in songs like this. - RBW
File: Ord040

O God, Our Help in Ages Past


DESCRIPTION: "O God, our help in ages past, Our hope for years to come, Our shelter from the stormy blast And our eternal home!" The singer hopes for help and protection from God, who has existed since before the world came to be
AUTHOR: Words: Isaac Watts (1674-1748) / Music: Credited to William Croft (1678-1727)
EARLIEST DATE:
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(NE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), p. 35, "O God, Our Help in Ages Past" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #17837
NOTES: Isaac Watts (1674-1748) has been called the "father of English hymnody". His father was a Calvinist preacher who sometimes ended up in prison for his radical beliefs; his mother was from a Huguenot family, and sometimes took little Isaac with her when she visited his father in prison (Johnson, p. 34).
An excellent student and quick learned (Kunitz/Haycraft, p. 554), Watts studied Greek and Hebrew as well as Latin (Johnson, p. 34), and eventually became a pastor of a non-conformist church, but had to resign the post in 1712 because of ill health (Johnson, p. 34), having apparently made earlier attempts to give up a post which he could not fill properly (Kunitz/Haycraft, p. 554). He spent the rest of his life working for Sir Thomas Abney as tutor and chaplain.
He is credited with writing some 600 hymns, among the most famous being this, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," "Hush, my dear, be still and slumber," and perhaps "Joy to the World." He also produced the well-known line "When I can read my titles clear to mansions in the sky," although that was taken in many different directions after his time.
NewCentury, p. 1141, notes that, in addition to his hymns and books of religious instruction, Watts produced "'How doth the little busy bee,' one of his pioneering instructive poems for children." I would suggest that it did better at nauseating than instructing children; the only reason I can see for remembering it is that it inspired Lewis Carroll's "How Doth the Little Crocodile."
Kunitz/Haycraft, p. 554, makes the interesting comment that Watts was "almost if not quite a Unitarian, and extremely liberal in social as well as religious views" -- an attitude seemingly not known to many of the conservative denominations which sing his hymns. He also experimented significantly with meter and poetic forms, although these experiments seem to be forgotten.
Ironically for one of nine children, he never married and had no offspring of his own (Kunitz/Haycraft, p. 554).
Works of his in the Index include "O God, Our Help in Ages Past," "Through Every Age, Eternal God" (indexed as "Highbridge"), and perhaps "When I Can Read My Titles Clear (Long Time Traveling)," "On a Dark and Doleful Night," and "Joy to the World." - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: BdOGOHIA

O Happy Is The Man, That Has No Beast


DESCRIPTION: The man with no beast, or place to house it, is free of responsibilities.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: humorous nonballad animal
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1654, "O Happy Is The Man, That Has No Beast" (1 text)
Roud #13050
NOTES: GreigDuncan8: "In the year 1830, a John Henderson [who lived in the 'moss o' Savock'] was tried for smuggling, at the J.P. court, Old Deer. He bought himself off by [a] bit of special pleading in rhyme [adducing his poverty]...." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81654

O Hard Fortune


See Kind Fortune (File: KaNew074)

O I Believe in Jesus


See I Belong to that Band (File: Br3583)

O I Hae Seen the Roses Blaw


DESCRIPTION: "O, I hae seen the roses blaw, The heather bloom, the broom and a'... Yet Mary's sweeter on the green...." The singer praises the girl, wishes he could win her, says he would love anywhere she is, and declares he will wander till she loves him
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: love rejection
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, pp. 16-17, "Oh! I Ha'e Seen the Roses Blaw" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR016 (Partial)
Roud #2617
File: StoR016

O I Shall Have Wings


DESCRIPTION: "O I shall have wings, beautiful wings, I shall have wings some day, Bright wings of love from God above, Carry my soul away." "O hallelujah to the lamb, I shall have wings someday, Jesus made me what I am...." The singer looks forward to heaven
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Chappell-FSRA 94, "The Good Old Way" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #16938
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Good Old Way (I)" (lyrics)
NOTES: It is perhaps worth noting that nowhere in the Bible are angels promised wings; indeed, the word "wing" occurs only five times in the New Testament (it's more common in the Old Testament, but usually is used either of birds' wings or in a metaphorical sense). - RBW
File: ChFRA094

O Jamie Man Tak My Advice


DESCRIPTION: "If you get a wife like mine You'll rue it till you dee." The singer's wife nags when he would drink and breaks teapots on his head. He warns Jamie against considering beauty: "look ye for ane that's mild an' meek"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: shrewishness violence drink nonballad husband wife abuse
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1296, "O Jamie Man Tak My Advice" (1 text)
Roud #7143
File: GrD71296

O Janet Bring Me Ben My Sunday Coat


DESCRIPTION: The singer asks that Janet bring his fine clothes, boots, "cutty pipe," and "snuffy boxes" for his appearance at the House of Lords, "the father o' the taxes." She says "Ye'll be lookin' like mortality Come out amon' the grave stanes"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: travel clothes dialog nonballad nobility
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 502, "O Janet Bring Me Ben My Sunday Coat" (1 text)
Roud #5987
NOTES: I have to think this is a reference to some political event. But with so little to go on, it's hard to imagine what. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3502

O Johnnie, My Man


See Farewell to Whisky (Johnny My Man) (File: K272)

O Johnny Come to Hilo


See Johnny Walk Along to Hilo (File: Doe072a)

O Johnny Dear, Why Did You Go?


See Springfield Mountain [Laws G16] (File: LG16)

O Kings


DESCRIPTION: "O Kings, you've heard the sequel Of what we now describe; It isn't just and equal To tax this wealthy tribe."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1931 (Fuson)
KEYWORDS: money nonballad royalty
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Fuson, p. 195, "O Kings" (1 fragment, fourth of seven "Quatrains on the War")
ST Fus196D (Full)
File: Fus196D

O Lillie, O Lillie


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

O Little Town of Bethlehem


DESCRIPTION: The quiet little town of Bethlehem is described, with the note that "the everlasting light" shines in its streets. The song describes the reactions of those who know of the event, and prays for the help of the holy child
AUTHOR: Words: Phillips Brooks (1835-1893)
EARLIEST DATE: 1874 ("The Church Porch")
KEYWORDS: Christmas religious nonballad Jesus
FOUND IN: US Britain
REFERENCES (6 citations):
OBC 138, "O Little Town" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 378, "Oh Little Town of Bethlehem" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, p. 402, "O Little Town of Bethlehem!"
DT, LTTLTOWN*
ADDITIONAL: Charles Johnson, One Hundred and One Famous Hymns (Hallberg, 1982), p. 132-133, "O Little Town of Bethlehem" (1 text, 1 tune)
Ian Bradley, _The Penguin Book of Carols_ (1999), #55, "O Little Town of Bethlehem" (1 text)
NOTES: This poem is sung to different tunes in Britain and America.The American tune is by Lewis H. Redner (1830-1908), but in Britain it is usually sung to "The Ploughboy's Dream" ("Forest Green"). There is a third tune by Walford Davies, rarely sung in Britain and hardly at all in America.
Philiips Brooks was most noted as a preacher; he had several volumes of sermons published. Of his poems, only four are mentioned in Granger's Index to Poetry, and this is the only one to be widely reprinted.
Bradley notes that Brooks was one of the few hymnwriters to actually visit the holy land. - RBW
File: FSWB378B

O Lizzie Lass I've Lo'ed Thee Lang


DESCRIPTION: The singer says he has loved and been true to Lizzie. He asks her to go with him "amang the heathery hills o' Dee. I'll row thee in my tartan plaid And keep the winter's cauld frae thee"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906 (GreigDuncan7)
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan7 1358, "O Lizzie Lass I've Lo'ed Thee Lang" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7236
File: GrD71358

O Logie O Buchan


See Logie o Buchan (File: SWMS197)

O Lord, Won't You Come by Here?


See Come by Here (File: Br3621)

O Lulu


See O, Lula! (File: LxU077)

O Madam, I Have a Fine Little Horse


See The Courting Case (File: R361)

O Mary Stands a-Weeping


See What's Poor Mary Weepin' For (Poor Jenny Sits A-Weeping) (File: MSNR070)

O Mary, Come Down!


DESCRIPTION: Shanty, though just barely, really more of a call-out. "Oh Mary, come down with your bunch of roses, come down when I call, oh Mary. Oh Mary come down!"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1961 (Hugill)
KEYWORDS: shanty worksong
FOUND IN: West Indies
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Hugill, p. 368, "O Mary, Come Down!" (1 short text, 1 tune) [AbEd, p. 277]
Harlow p. 29, "A Sing Out" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #9165
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Blood Red Roses" (lyrics)
NOTES: The text of this looks very like a fragment of "Come Down You Roses/Blood Red Roses." But the tune looks different, and there is no chorus, and the purpose is different. Susan Lawlor split them, and I am very tentatively going along. - RBW
File: Hugi368

O Mither! Ony Body


DESCRIPTION: A girl would "rather lie through life my lane Than cuddle wi' a weaver." But a weaver is her only offer though she tries everything "that some ane might come to her aid." Failing at all she takes the weaver: "Sma' fish are better far than nane"
AUTHOR: Alexander Rodger (1784-1846) (source: Whistle-Binkie)
EARLIEST DATE: 1846 (_Whistle-Binkie_)
KEYWORDS: courting marriage rejection weaving
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan3 478, "O, Mither, Onybody!" (1 fragment)
ADDITIONAL: Whistle-Binkie [, First Series] (Glasgow, 1846), pp. 57-58, "O Mither! Ony Body"; also Whistle-Binkie, (Glasgow, 1878), Vol I, pp. 128-129, "O Mither! Ony Body"
Roud #5973
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Sir Alexander McDonald's Reel" (tune, per Whistle-Binkie)
NOTES: The description follows Whistle-Binkie.
Apparently broadside Bodleian, 2806 c.11(180), "O Mither! Ony body" ("O mither, ony body!"), The Poet's box (Glasgow), 1865 "To the tune of: Sir Alexander McDonald's reel," is this song but I could not download and verify it. Fortunately, a readable image of the same broadside is available as reference GC 398.5 GLA at "Mitchell Library, Glasgow Collection" at The Glasgow Story site. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3478

O Mither! Onybody


See O Mither! Ony Body (File: GrD3478)

O Muckle Deil Fat Has Come o' Ye


DESCRIPTION: Devil take the thieves that steal our strays. Take them immediately to Hell for they might find the exit gate from purgatory. The singer offers the Devil "guid whisky" to "take the villains frae our sight" whoever they are (Donald Boutcher?)
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: theft farming humorous nonballad animal Devil
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 676, "O Muckle Deil Fat Has Come o' Ye" (1 text)
Roud #6100
File: GrD3676

O My Ain Wullie


DESCRIPTION: "O my ain Wullie, an' sae dearly's I love ye." The singer loves none better and "Over the salt seas I wad venture" to please him.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: love nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1849, "O My Ain Wullie" (1 text)
Roud #13594
File: GrD81849

O My Bonny Highland Laddie


See The Tartan Plaidy (O My Bonnie Highland Laddie) (File: BrAPS495)

O My Honey, Take Me Back


DESCRIPTION: "O my honey, take me back, O my dahlin', I'll be true. I am moanin' all day long; O my honey, I love you." "I have loved you in joy and pain, In de sunshine and de rain, O my honey, heah me do, O my dahlin', I love you."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1927 (Sandburg)
KEYWORDS: love abandonment
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Sandburg, p. 239, "O My Honey, Take Me Back" (1 short text, 1 tune)
File: San239

O Naaman


See Go Wash in the Beautiful Stream (File: Br3575)

O Neebor Man


DESCRIPTION: "O neeborman will ye come doon" to join me in a meal. We'll eat and drink "helter welter on the table." The piper will play and we will twist to the Reel o' Bogie.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: dancing drink food nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1875, "O Neebor Man" (1 text)
Roud #13575
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Battle of Sheriffmuir" (tune, per GreigDuncan8)
File: GrD81875

O No, John


See No, John, No (File: R385)

O potent ally Glendronach


See Glendronach (File: GrD3570)

O Row Thee in my Highland Plaid


DESCRIPTION: Donald asks "Lowland lassie wilt thou go" to the snow-covered hills where "the hardy shepherd tends his sheep?" He describes how they will spend the seasons. While "Lowland lads may dress mair fine" he boasts "an honest heart" She agrees to marry him.
AUTHOR: Robert Tannahill (1774-1810)
EARLIEST DATE: c.1838 (Ramsay)
KEYWORDS: courting lyric sheep
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan4 865, "Lowland Lassie, Wilt Thou Go" (1 text, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: Phillip A Ramsay, The Poetical Works of Robert Tannahill (London, c.1838), pp. 53-54, "O Row Thee in my Highland Plaid"
Roud #6227
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Young Donald and His Lowland Bride
File: GrD4865

O Sally, My Dear


See Hares on the Mountain (File: ShH63)

O Saw Ye the Lass Wi' the Bonnie Blue Een


DESCRIPTION: Donald says, "O saw ye the lass wi' the bonnie blue een? Her smile is the sweetest that ever was seen." He describes her home in the valley. He will meet her "when night overshadows her cot in the glen"
AUTHOR: Richard Ryan (source: Whitelaw)
EARLIEST DATE: 1833 (Cartee); before 1835 (broadside, Bodleian Harding B 11(2757))
KEYWORDS: courting beauty nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan8 1842, "Hey to the Lass Wi' the Bonny Blue Een" (1 text fragment, 1 tune)
ADDITIONAL: C. Soule Cartee, The Souvenir Minstrel (Philadelphia, 1833 ("Digitized by Google")), p. 138, "Oh! Saw Ye the Lass"
Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845), p. 74, "Oh, Saw Ye the Lass"
Roud #13598
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2757), "Oh Saw Ye the Lass Wi' the Bonny Blue E'en" ("Oh, saw ye the lass wi' the bonny blue e'en?," G. Walker (Durham), 1797-1834
LOCSinging, as110030, "O Saw Ye the Lass Wi' the Bonnie Blue Een," L. Deming (Boston), no date
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Jock Robb" (tune, per GreigDuncan8)
NOTES: GreigDuncan8 is a fragment; broadside Bodleian B 11(2757) is the basis for the description. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81842

O Shepherd, O Shepherd


DESCRIPTION: Shepherd's wife offers a breakfast of bacon and beans if he will come home; he refuses, he must tend his sheep. She offers a dinner of pudding and beef, then a supper of bread and cheese. Finally she offers clean sheets and a pretty lass. He accepts.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1906
KEYWORDS: marriage sex food dialog humorous wife shepherd
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber),England(South))
REFERENCES (3 citations):
GreigDuncan7 1513, "The Shepherd's Wife" (1 text)
Vaughan Williams/Lloyd, pp. 74-75, "O Shepherd, O Shepherd" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, SHEPWILD SHEPWIFE (cf. the notes to BONSTJON)
Roud #1055
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Greensleeves" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Bonnie Saint John (DT, BONSTJON)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Shepherd, O Shepherd
NOTES: This seems to exist in two forms, "O Shepherd O Shepherd" and "The Shepherd's Wife." The two have identical plots, but the latter -- at least as recorded by Gordeanna McCulloch, based on the version in Herd -- *feels* much bawdier, as well as more fun. (Anne Gilchrist thinks it may be derived from a singing game, and it does have rather that feel.)
The distinction is so strong that I thought of calling them separate songs, but I can't imagine a clear dividing line.
The tune of the "O Shepherd O Shepherd" versions is described as a "modal version of Greensleeves." This is a bit strong; the tune has been altered in more ways than the simple removal of accidentals. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: VWL074

O Shout Away


DESCRIPTION: "O shout (2), O shout away, And don't you mind, And glory, glory, glory in my soul. And when 'twas night I thought 'twas day, I thought I'd play my soul away...." "O Satan told me not to play,..." "And everywhere I went to pray,.. something was in my way"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad Devil
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 71, "O Shout Away" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12030
File: AWG071

O Sweetly Sings the Burnie


DESCRIPTION: "O sweetly sings the burnie As it wimples doon the glen Where I meet my bonnie lassie When her minnie disna ken"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan4)
KEYWORDS: courting nonballad mother river
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan4 800, "O Sweetly Sings the Burnie" (1 fragment)
Roud #6122
NOTES: The current description is all of the GreigDuncan4 text.
"Burnie" is probably stream.
This fragment seems not to be from William Neish's "The Burnie's Sang," which has as the seventh line of the first verse, "Oh hoo sweetly sings the burnie"; The eighth line is "At the breakin' o' the day." (Source: Robert Ford, The Harp of Perthshire: A Collection of Songs, Ballads, and Other Poetical Pievces (Paisley, 1893 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 389-390). - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD4800

O Tannenbaum (Oh Christmas Tree)


DESCRIPTION: German Christmas song, known in English as "Oh Christmas Tree." In praise of the evergreen's ability to keep its needles all year long: "O tannenbaum, o tannenbaum, Wie treu sind deine blatter...."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1799 (tune, "Melodien zum Mildheimischen Liederbuche"; lyrics published 1820)
KEYWORDS: Christmas nonballad foreignlanguage
FOUND IN: Germany
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Silber-FSWB, p. 374, "Oh Tannenbaum (Oh Christmas Tree)" (1 text)
Fuld-WFM, pp. 355-357, "Maryland, My Maryland -- (O Tannenbaum, O Tannenbaum!; Lauriger Horatius)"
ADDITIONAL: Ian Bradley, _The Penguin Book of Carols_ (1999), #56, "O Tannenbaum" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Maryland! My Maryland" (tune)
cf. "Chamber Lye" (tune)
cf. "The Kinkaiders" (tune)
cf. "General Lee's Wooing" (tune)
cf. "Mule" (tune)
SAME TUNE:
Maryland! My Maryland (File: RJ19130)
Chamber Lye (File: RL659)
The Kinkaiders (File: San278)
General Lee's Wooing (File: SBoA233)
Lutefisk, O Lutefisk (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 20)
O Tom the Toad (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 50)
P.S. 52 (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 102)
National Embalming School (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 125)
New Mexico, We Love You (Pankake-PHCFSB, p. 251)
Mule (File: MHAp225)
NOTES: Ian Bradley, in The Penguin Book of Carols, attributes the "O Tannenbaum" words to Ernst Anschüaut;tz in 1824, but Fuld offers the 1820 date, and I'm more inclined to trust him. - RBW
File: FSWB374B

O Tell Me Will Ye Go


DESCRIPTION: "O tell me will ye go bonnie lassie O Where the Ugie waters flow?" The singer tells Jean "nae langer we'll be twa" and you will forever be "Ugie's peerless queen"
AUTHOR: Peter Still (1814-1848)
EARLIEST DATE: 1845 (Still)
KEYWORDS: courting lyric
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan4 863, "Ugie's Bonny Queen" (1 fragment)
ADDITIONAL: Peter Still, The Cottar's Sunday, and Other Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (Philadelphia, 1845), pp. 207-208, "O Tell Me Will Ye Go"
Roud #6254
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Kelvin Grove" (tune, per GreigDuncan4 and Still)
cf. "The Shearin's Nae for You" (tune) and references there
NOTES: "The River Ugie (Scottish Gaelic: Uisge Uigidh) or Ugie Water is a river in Scotland. Located in the north east, it flows into the North Sea on the east coast at Peterhead, a little north of Aberdeen." (source: "River Ugie" at the Wikipedia site) - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD863

O That Lang Term Whitsunday


DESCRIPTION: "O that lang term Whitsunday will soon part's a', Then wha'll be my darling when Johnnie's awa'"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan8)
KEYWORDS: courting separation farming nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan8 1796, "O That Lang Term Whitsunday" (1 short text, 1 tune)
Roud #12996
NOTES: Candlemas [February 2], Whitsunday [May 15], Lammas [August 1] and Martinmas [November 11] were the four "Old Scottish term days" "on which servants were hired, and rents and rates were due." (Source: Wikipedia article Quarter days ). [With, of course, the non-trivial footnote that Whitsun was a movable holiday that rarely fell May 15. - RBW]
The current description is all of the GreigDuncan8 text. - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: GrD81796

O the Bonny Fisher Lad


DESCRIPTION: "O, the bonny fisher lad That brings the fishes frae the sea; O, the bonny fisher lad, The fisher lad gat haud o' me." The youth lives in Bamboroughshire; the singer met him while gathering cockles. She vows she will have the fisher lad
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1900 (Stokoe/Reay)
KEYWORDS: love courting
FOUND IN: Britain(England(North))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Stokoe/Reay, p. 103, "O the Bonny Fisher Lad" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST StoR103 (Full)
Roud #3150
File: StoR103

O the Oak, and the Ash, and the Bonny Ivy Tree


See A North Country Maid; also Ambletown, Rosemary Lane [Laws K43] (File: LK43B)

O To Be in My Bed and Happit


DESCRIPTION: The singer would be in bed, "lockit in my lovie's arms" with the "household sleepin sound," the door locked, the key turned "and the night to be seven years long"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan5)
KEYWORDS: love sex nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan5 938, "O To Be in My Bed and Happit" (1 text)
Roud #6753
File: GrD5938

O Ugie Tho Nae Classic Stream


DESCRIPTION: The singer praises Ugie "tho nae a classic stream" and "hast nane to gar thee glide Amang the rivers sung wi' pride"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1914 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: pride river nonballad
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 517, "O Ugie Tho Nae Classic Stream" (1 text)
Roud #6001
NOTES: "The River Ugie (Scottish Gaelic: Uisge Uigidh) or Ugie Water is a river in Scotland. Located in the north east, it flows into the North Sea on the east coast at Peterhead, a little north of Aberdeen" (Source: Wikipedia article River Ugie ). - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3517

O Waly Waly


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

O Wha's at the Window


DESCRIPTION: Jamie Glen has come sixteen miles to take Jeannie away. "There is mirth on the green an the ha There's fiddling an flinging an dancing an singin Bit the bride's father's gravest ava" because "she'll aye be awa." It seems the wedding will go on.
AUTHOR: words by A. Carlisle, music by R.A. Smith (source: GreigDuncan3)
EARLIEST DATE: 1917 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: wedding dancing music father
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 612, GreigDuncan8 Addenda, "O Wha's at the Window" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #2590
File: GrD3612

O What a Parish (The Parish of Dunkeld)


DESCRIPTION: "O what a parish, a terrible parish, O what a parish is that o' Dunkeld, They hangit their minister...." After rebelling against the organized church, the people turn the site into a meeting place; the singer wishes that all parishes saw such fellowship
AUTHOR: Adam Crawford ?
EARLIEST DATE: 1904 (Ford)
KEYWORDS: clergy humorous execution friend party
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Ford-Vagabond, pp. 217-218, "O What a Parish" (1 text)
DT, PARDUNK*
Roud #13081
NOTES: Ford suspects that this song was originally written not of Dunkeld but of Kinkell, where he claims events similar to this actually took place. He offers no dates, however. - RBW
File: FVS217

O Where O Where Has My Little Dog Gone


DESCRIPTION: "Oh where Oh where is my little dog gone, Oh where Oh where can he be?..." The singer describes the dog, then his tastes... lager beer, the dog, and of course sausage -- but "Dey makes um mit dog und dey makes em mit horse, I guess dey makes em mit he."
AUTHOR: Septimus Winner (1826-1902)
EARLIEST DATE: 1864
KEYWORDS: dog death food humorous
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (6 citations):
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 57-60, "Der Deitcher's Dog" (1 text, 1 tune)
Spaeth-ReadWeep, p. 29 (fragments filed under "The Orphan Boys")
Opie-Oxford2 139, "Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone?" (2 texts)
Baring-Gould-MotherGoose #873, p. 326, "(Oh where, oh where has my little dog gone?)"
Fuld-WFM, p. 406, "Oh Where, Oh Where Has My Little Dog Gone (Zu Lauterbach)"
DT, LITTLDOG*
ST RJ19057 (Full)
RECORDINGS:
Al Hopkins & his Buckle Busters, "Where Has My Little Dog Gone" (Brunswick 187/Vocalion 5183 [as the Hill Billies], 1927)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Dunderbeck" (theme)
SAME TUNE:
The Jackarse Eat It on the Way (Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 296-297)
NOTES: Septimus Winner for some reason put his own name on this piece and used the pseudonym Alice Hawthorne for his other hits ("Listen to the Mocking Bird" and "Whispering Hope"). Using the tune of the German song "Lauterbach," ("Zu Lauterbach"; "Zu Lauterbach Hab' Ich Mein Strumpf Verloren"; first published 1847), he created this ode (?) to an unfortunate dog.
"Deitcher" is, I believe, dialect for "German" ("Deutscher").
The Opies have notes about the history of this song on college campuses, but somehow fail to note the link between Septimus Winner and Alice Hawthorne. - RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: RJ19057

O Where Will Ye Be?


DESCRIPTION: "O where will ye be when the first trumpet sounds? O where will ye be when it sounds so loud? When it sounds so loud as to wake up the dead?" The singer will be "among the holy," "among the angels," wearing "a royal diadem," etc.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1938 (Chappell)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(SE)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Chappell-FSRA 83, "O Where Will Ye Be?" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #12344
RECORDINGS:
The Carter Family, "Where Shall I Be?" (Victor Vi-23523, recorded 1930)
NOTES: The imagery here seems to be a bit of a conflation. The "first trumpet" phrase is suggested by Revelation 8:7, but that trumpet brings hail and fire mixed with blood. The trumpet as a symbol of resurrection is more reminiscent of 1 Thessalonians 4:16.
This seems to break up into at least two subfamilies. The Chappell text is a confident boast of salvation. The Carter Family version is much less certain; the singer is worried ("Where shall I be?") and warns of the world's sins.- RBW
File: ChFRA083

O Who Will Play the Silver Whistle?


See The Silver Whistle (File: K009)

O Will Ye Gang, Love, and Leave Me Noo?


See The Rashy Muir (File: GrD61215)

O-o-oh, Sistren an' Bred'ren


DESCRIPTION: "O-o-oh, sistren an' bredren, Don't you think it is a sin For to go to peel potatoes An' to cas' away de skin? De skin feeds de pigs, An de pigs feeds you, O-o-oh, sistren an' bredren, Is not dat true?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1925 (Scarborough)
KEYWORDS: food animal
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Scarborough-NegroFS, p. 189, "O-o-oh, Sistren an' Bred'ren" (1 text, 1 tune)
NOTES: About as close as traditional music gets to an ecology song, when you think about it. - RBW
File: ScaNF189

O, Derry, Derry, Dearie Me


DESCRIPTION: The singer recalls Derry in the springtime. He remembers the sights, swimming in the Moyle, wandering among the bogs. Even in London, he smells the peat and the sea; he wishes he were home
AUTHOR: James Warnock
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: homesickness
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H536, p. 209, "Oh, Derry, Derry, Dearie Me" (1 text, 1 tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Scarborough Settler's Lament" (theme) and references there
File: HHH536

O, Foo Will I Get Hame


DESCRIPTION: Jeannie Deans borrows money to buy a coat for her son but spends it on brandy. She sells her own clothes and the meal at home -- blaming rats and mice -- for drink. She has been shamed at church. She is afraid of falling into the river. "Will I win hame?"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1908 (GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: drink nonballad river clothes food animal
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (1 citation):
GreigDuncan3 583, "O, Foo Will I Get Hame" (2 texts, 2 tunes)
Roud #3135
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Ask My Feet and Then My Noddle
NOTES: GreigDuncan3 compares this to "I'm Often Drunk, and Seldom Sober" but it shares no verses and one line of the chorus with that song. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: GrD3583

O, Jeanie Dear


DESCRIPTION: "O, Jeanie dear, the flow'rs, the flow'rs are springing... the lark is winging... And to my ravished ear his wondrous singing Is all of love... and you." The singer details how nature rejoices in Jeanie -- and he rejoices even more
AUTHOR: Words: Andrew Doey
EARLIEST DATE: 1934 (Sam Henry collection)
KEYWORDS: love bird nonballad
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
SHenry H545, pp. 225-226, "O, Jeanie Dear" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #7974
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Danny Boy (The Londonderry Air)" (tune)
File: HHH545

O, Lula!


DESCRIPTION: "Oh, Lula, oh Lord, gal, I want to see you so bad. Gonna see my long-haired baby (x2), Well, I'm goin' 'cross the country To see my long-haired gal." The singer tells how Mr. Treadmill had Mr. Goff pay the boys off; now he is home and happy with his girl
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1935 (Hurston, Mules and Men)
KEYWORDS: train love
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Lomax-FSUSA 77, "O, Lula!" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-RailFolklr, p. 447, "O Lulu" (1 text)
ADDITIONAL: Zora Neale Hurston, _Mules and Men_ (New York,1990 (paperback edition of 1935 original)), pp. 261-263, "Going To See My Long-Haired Babe" (with tune)
File: LxU077

O, Waly, Waly (II)


See Fair and Tender Ladies (File: R073)

O! Alle! O!


DESCRIPTION: Wheat-cutting song: "Watch me whet my cradle, O! Alle! O!" "I'll make it beat de beater, O! Alle! O!" "Watch me throw my cradle... I'se been all over Georgia... The storm clouds arising..."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (White)
KEYWORDS: work nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Darling-NAS, pp. 325-326, "O! Alle! O!" (1 text)
File: DarNS325A

O! Blarney Castle, My Darling


DESCRIPTION: Freemason Cromwell mounts a battering ram, grape shot, and bullets against Blarney castle. The Irish have bows and arrows. Cromwell "made a dark signal" freezing the defenders. He and his soldiers walk across the lake. He gives Jeffreys the Castle
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1827 (_Cork Southern Reporter_, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
KEYWORDS: battle rebellion magic Ireland patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1641-1653 - Irish Confederate Wars (Irish Roman Catholics rebellion against Protestant British settlers) (source: _Irish Confederate Wars_ at Wikipedia)
August 1651 - Roger Boyle, Lord Broghill defeats the Irish at Blarney after the Battle of Knocknaclashy (source: Croker-PopularSongs).
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Croker-PopularSongs, pp. 144-148, "O! Blarney Castle, My Darling" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "O, Hold Your Tongue, Dear Sally!" (tune, according to Croker-PopularSongs)
NOTES: Croker-PopularSongs: "Upon the allusion made to Oliver Cromwell in the second and sixth verses, it is necessary to remark that, according to the popular belief of the Irish peasant, Cromwell was endowed with supernatural powers; and that the fraternity of Freemasons, which was said to be founded by him, were supposed, from the secrecy and ceremonies obseved by them, to be dabblers in the black art."
Croker-PopularSongs: "The name of Cromwell, although associated both in song and story with the taking of Blarney Castle, is obviously used for that of his partisan, Lord Broghill (afterwards the Earl of Orrery). Cromwell, if indeed he ever was at Blarney, could only have paid it a short and peaceable visit."
Croker-PopularSongs: "The Editor has no doubt that this song, and ['Saint Patrick's Arrival'], came from the same pen." See that song if you are interested in Croker's speculations there. However, Croker notes that the song has been "unceremoniously appropriated by Father Prout [Rev Francis Sylvester Mahony (1804-1866)]." Croker prints alternative verses from Father Prout's version. In both versions the castle is given by Cromwell to Jeffreys but, according to Croker, the Jeffreys family purchased the estate from the crown (source: "Blarney Castle" in The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 14, No. 396, Saturday, October 31, 1829, on the Project Gutenberg site quoting Croker, Researches in the South of Ireland) - BS
For some background on the horrors inflicted on Ireland by Cromwell, see "The Wexford Massacre."
The fear and hatred Cromwell inspired is reflected in later Irish culture; mothers would threaten their misbehaving children: if they didn't stop, "Oliver Cromwell will get you." - RBW
File: CrPS144

O! Let My People Go


See Go Down, Moses (File: LxU109)

O! Molly Dear Go Ask Your Mother


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

O! They Marched Through the Town (The Captain with His Whiskers)


DESCRIPTION: The girl looks out her window as the soldiers march by. Her eye seizes upon the captain, though she conceals this from her parents. Later they meet at the ball. Though the soldiers later depart, the girl hopes that they will soon return with her captain
AUTHOR: Words: Thomas Haynes Bayly / Music: Sidney Nelson ?1926 (Randolph; referred to in song in 1863)
EARLIEST DATE: before 1865 (broadside, LOCSinging sb10059b)
KEYWORDS: courting love soldier
FOUND IN: US(NE) Ireland Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Warner 69, "The Captain with His Whiskers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph 228, "The Captain with His Whiskers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Randolph/Cohen, pp. 214-215, "The Captain with His Whiskers" (1 text, 1 tune -- Randolph's 228)
GreigDuncan1 87, "The Captain With His Whiskers" (1 text, 1 tune)
SHenry H660, p. 273, "The Captain with His Whiskers" (1 text, 1 tune)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, p. 38, "The Captain with His Whiskers" (1 tune)
DT, CAPTWHSK*
Roud #2735
RECORDINGS:
Aaron Campbell's Mountaineers, "The Captain with his Whiskers" (Chamption 45038, 91935)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Firth c.14(314), "The Captain With His Whiskers" ("As they marched thro' the town with their banners so gay"), The Poet's Box (Glasgow), 1867; also 2806 c.8(256), Firth b.28(5a/b) View 4 of 8, "The Captain With His Whiskers"; Harding B 15(38b), "The Captain With the Whiskers"; Firth c.14(312), "The Captain With His Whiskers, Took a Sly Glance at Me"
LOCSinging, sb10059b, "The Captain With His Whiskers," H. De Marsan (New York), 1861-1864
NOTES: Although the original version of this song makes no mention of facial hair, it is the revised version ("The Captain with His Whiskers") that seems to have captured the popular fancy. - RBW
Broadside LOCSinging sb10059b: H. De Marsan dating per Studying Nineteenth-Century Popular Song by Paul Charosh in American Music, Winter 1997, Vol 15.4, Table 1, available at FindArticles site. - BS
Last updated in version 2.4
File: Wa069

O! Why Should Old Age So Much Wound Us?


DESCRIPTION: "Why should old age so much wound us?" The singer is happy with his "auld wife sitting by" surrounded by children and grandchildren. They are not wealthy and never had schemes to be wealthy. He hopes their simple home will last the rest of their lives.
AUTHOR: John Skinner (1721-1807) (source: Rogers, _The Modern Scottish Minstrel_, Vol. 1, published by Project Gutenberg)
EARLIEST DATE: 1809 (Skinner, _Poems_, according to GreigDuncan3)
KEYWORDS: age home nonballad family money
FOUND IN: Britain(Scotland(Aber))
REFERENCES (2 citations):
GreigDuncan3 548, "The Auld Man's Sang" (4 texts, 3 tunes)
ADDITIONAL: John Skinner, Songs and Poems (Peterhead, 1859), pp. 74-76, "The Old Man's Songs"
Roud #6024
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Dumbarton's Drums" (tune)
File: GrD3548

O'Brien O'Lin


See Brian O'Lynn (Tom Boleyn) (File: R471)

O'Brien with His High-Water Pants


DESCRIPTION: "My name is OBrien from Harlem, I am an Irishman as you may see." As he travels around New York, people observe him and cry out, "There is O'Brien with his high-water pants." He does not seem to notice that he is being teased
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1922 (Dean)
KEYWORDS: clothes humorous
FOUND IN: US(MW)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Dean, p. 92, "O'Brien with His High-Water Pants" (1 text)
Roud #9573
File: Dean092

O'Donnell Aboo (The Clanconnell War Song)


DESCRIPTION: "Proudly the note of the trumpet is sounding, Loudly the war-cries arise on the gale... On for old Erin -- O'Donnell Aboo!" Tirconnell, and all Ireland, are urged to join O'Donnell in his fight against the English
AUTHOR: Words: Michael Joseph McCann (1824-1883)
EARLIEST DATE: c. 1843 ("The Nation")
KEYWORDS: Ireland patriotic battle rebellion
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
1594 - outbreak of war between the Irish of Ulster and the invading English. (England had already conquered most of Ireland and was attempting to enforce Protestantism. At this time Ulster is still independent, and is fighting to remain so.) The next few years see heavy guerilla war, with both sides devastating the others' property. On the whole the Irish have the best of it, as Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, fights the English when he can and carefully buys time (with parleys and even requests for a pardon) when he cannot
1598 - Tyrone and "Red Hugh" O'Donnell, by a pincer movement, defeat the English at Yellow Ford (this is the first major success of Irish arms). Tyrone is able to call on the rest of Ireland to rebel; he is very nearly the de facto King
1599 - Essex leads an army to Ireland. Outmaneuvered by Tyrone (who uses as "scorched earth" policy to starve out the English), he wastes his army on garrisons which Tyrone besieges and defeats piecemeal. Essex, miserably defeated, goes home to England (without permission), bursts in on Elizabeth -- and winds up completely out of favor (so much so that he eventually raises a failed rebellion).
1600- Essex is replaced by Mountjoy, who sets out to isolate the Irish by building strong positions around Ulster. Tyrone's position worsens as Mountjoy's blockade pinches the people who form his power base.
1601 - Battle of Kinsale. Some 4000 Spanish troops had landed in September but let themselves be besieged at Kinsale. Tyrone, O'Donnell, and the Spanish are defeated by the English. O'Donnell (whose over-aggressiveness provoked the action) flees to Spain and abdicates his title to his brother Rory (Ruaidri).
1602 - Rory O'Donnell surrenders in December
1603 - Tyrone makes peace with England (March 30). The English have already destroyed the O'Neills; Tyrone retains only his English title. The English now rule most of Ireland. Rory O'Donnell also becomes an English lord, Earl of Tirconnell.
1607 - Tyrone, Rory O'Donnell and other Irish leaders go into exile (Tyrone had been summoned to London and feared to come). The English seize their lands in Ulster and begin colonization. Later known as the "Flight of the Earls," this was popularly regarded as the end of Irish hopes, though in fact the 1603 capitulation broke the Irish resistance
1608 - O'Doherty's Rebellion. Sir Arthur Chichester, who was responsible for the government of Ulster, had proposed a limited colonization. O'Doherty's revolt was a pinprick, but it convinced London to take over Ulster and suppress the natives.
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (6 citations):
O'Conor, p. 98, "O'Donnell Abu" (1 text)
PGalvin, pp. 12-13, "O'Donnell Aboo" (1 text, 1 tune)
Silber-FSWB, p. 319, "O'Donnell Aboo" (1 text)
Healy-OISBv2, pp. 34-35, "O'Donnell Abu!!" (1 text; tune on p. 20)
DT, ODNLABU
ADDITIONAL: Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 507-508, "O'Donnell Aboo" (1 text)
RECORDINGS:
The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, "O Donnell Aboo" (on IRClancyMakem03)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Harding B 11(2769), "O'Donnell Abu," H. Such (London), 1863-1885; also 2806 b.10(216), "O'Donnell Abu"
NLScotland, L.C.Fol.70(75a), "O'Donnell Aboo!," unknown, c.1875
SAME TUNE:
New Words to the Tune of "O'Donnel Abu" ("Workers of Ireland, why crouch ye like ravens") (Kathleen Hoagland, editor, One Thousand Years of Irish Poetry (New York, 1947), pp. 717-718)
NOTES: Zimmermann, p. 112 fn. 100, "According to The Nation, 28th January, 1843, "O'Donnell Abu" was meant to be sung to the tune 'Roderick Vick Alpine Dhu' (the 'Boat Song' in Walter Scott's Lady of the Lake); it became famous with another tune composed by Joseph Haliday." - BS
First published c. 1843 as "The Clanconnell War Song." The NLScotland site accepts the attribution of the tune to Haliday; few other sources cite a composer.
Robert Gogan, 130 Great Irish Ballads (third edition, Music Ireland, 2004) says that "Abu" is shorthand for "Go Bua!" ("to Victory!").
"Red Hugh" O'Donnell's hatred of England was based on a personal experience; as a teenager, the English had gotten him drunk and taken him prisoner. He escaped a few years later (1591), but the unfair imprisonment affected his opinions for the rest of his life (see Peter and Fiona Somerset Fry, A History of Ireland, pp. 127-128).
The "O'Neill" of the song is Hugh, third Baron of Dungannon and second Earl of Tyrone, one of the greatest Anglo-Irish barons of the time (1551-1616). He became O'Neill in 1593 when his brother Turlough resigned him the position. Prior to that, he had held the barony of Dungannon from 1569 and the Tyrone earldom from 1587 (see Mike Cronin, A History of Ireland, p. 56).
Hugh O'Neill cooperated with the English more than this song might imply. He was more comfortable with English than Irish ways, having lived in Kent when his father was murdered by his half-brother Shane O'Neill, who succeeded to most of the O'Neill lands before the English suppressed him (see Terry Golway, For the Cause of Liberty, p. 17; Fry/Fry, pp. 117, 125). Many historians think he was initially loyal, but the threat to his position (Tudor bureaucracy looked likely to overcome the ancient clan loyalties) eventually pushed him toward rebellion. If the rebellion could be said to have a commander (a debatable point), he was it.
The English grip on Ireland still wasn't strong in the aftermath of the rebellion, which is why Tyrone was permitted to keep his earldom after 1603. But in 1607 he was summoned to London (Cronin, p. 64). Too many Irish chiefs had been summoned to London and never returned. Instead of answering the summons, he fled.
The irony is, until the rebellion, Ulster was almost entirely free of English influence. The Flight of the Earls opened Ulster to settlement -- and of course many immigrants came, mostly from Scotland. So this campaign eventually produced the Troubles that still divide Ireland. Don't ask me why an Irish nationalist would write about this most destructive of Irish failures.
It does reveal something about the typical pattern of Anglo-Irish relations, though: The British solved one problem (a bunch of rebellious noblemen) and created another (the Ulster plantation). - RBW
File: PGa012

O'Donnell Abu


See O'Donnell Aboo (File: PGa012)

O'Donnell the Avenger


DESCRIPTION: Phoenix Park defendants are convicted by informer Carey's testimony. O'Donnell kills Carey on the ship Melrose Castle bound for Africa. O'Donnell is tried for the murder, convicted and executed. "As a martyr for his native land quite bravely he did die"
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: betrayal murder trial execution Africa Ireland patriotic
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Chronology of the Phoenix Park murders (source: primarily Zimmermann, pp. 62, 63, 281-286.)
May 6, 1882 - Chief Secretary Lord Frederick Cavendish and the Under Secretary Thomas Henry Burke are murdered by a group calling themselves "The Invincible Society."
January 1883 - twenty seven men are arrested.
James Carey, one of the leaders in the murders, turns Queen's evidence.
Six men are condemned to death, four are executed (Joseph Brady is hanged May 14, 1883; Daniel Curley is hanged on May 18, 1883), others are "sentenced to penal servitude," and Carey is freed and goes to South Africa.
July 29, 1883 - Patrick O'Donnell kills Carey on board the "Melrose Castle" sailing from Cape Town to Durban.
Dec 1883 - Patrick O'Donnell is convicted of the murder of James Carey and executed in London (per Leach-Labrador)
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (1 citation):
O'Conor, pp. 27-28, "O'Donnell, the Avenger" (1 text)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Phoenix Park Tragedy" (subject: the Phoenix Park murders) and references there
NOTES: Zimmermann p. 62: "The Phoenix Park murders and their judicial sequels struck the popular imagination and were a gold-mine for ballad-writers: some thirty songs were issued on this subject, which was the last great cause to be so extensively commented upon in broadside ballads." - BS
File: OCon027

O'Donovan Rossa's Farewell to Dublin


See Rossa's Farewell to Erin (File: OLoc034)

O'Dooley's First Five O'Clock Tea


DESCRIPTION: "O'Dooley got rich on an aqueduct job And he made a considerable pile." O'Dooley celebrates with a series of parties. Someone spikes the tea at one such event, and mayhem (or at least silliness) follows. O'Dooley vows revenge
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1988 (Prairie Home Companion Folk Song Book)
KEYWORDS: drink humorous party
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Pankake-PHCFSB, pp. 29-31, "O'Dooley's First Five O'Clock Tea" (1 text, 1 tune)
DT, DOOLYTEA*
Roud #12778
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "The Irish Jubilee" (theme)
NOTES: Traditional? I'm not sure. This sort of drunken-Irishman song was amazingly common, and of course the Pankakes give no source information. - RBW
File: DTdoole

O'er the Crossing


DESCRIPTION: "Bending knees a-aching, Body wracked with pain, I wish I was a child of God, I'd get home by and by. Keep praying, I do believe, We're a long time waging of the crossing." The singer's mother has been long climbing. Thunder and lightning give warning
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1867 (Allen/Ware/Garrison)
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Allen/Ware/Garrison, p. 72, "O'er the Crossing" (1 text, 1 tune plus a variant strain)
Roud #12031
File: AWG072

O'er the Hills and Far Away (I)


DESCRIPTION: (Jocky) the piper "learned to play when he was young," but "the a' tunes that he could play Was o'er the hills and far away." Rejected by Jenny, he laments his fate, declares "I'll never trust a woman more," and intends to spend his life playing the pipes
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1709 (_Pills to Purge Melancholy_, per Opie-Oxford2)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection music dancing
FOUND IN: Britain Australia
REFERENCES (6 citations):
Logan, pp. 330-334, "O'er the Hills and Far Away" (1 text)
Meredith/Covell/Brown, p. 248, "(O'er the Hills and Far Away)" (1 fragment)
Opie-Oxford2 507, "Jockey was a piper's son" (1 text)
DT, OVRHILL4*
ADDITIONAL: Allan Ramsay, The Tea-Table Miscellany: or, A Collection of Scots Sangs (in three vols) (London, 1733 (ninth edition) ("Digitized by Google")), Vol. I, pp. 192-194, "O'er the Hills and Far Away" ("Jocky met with Jenny fair") (1 text)
Alexander Whitelaw, A Book of Scottish Song (Glasgow, 1845 ("Digitized by Google")), pp. 145-146, "Jocky Met Wi Jenny" (1 text)
ST Arn017 (Full)
Roud #8460
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Over the Hills So Far Away" (lyrics)
SAME TUNE:
The Hubble Bubble (Logan, pp. 196-198)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Jockey's Lamentation
NOTES: It has been conjectured that this is descended from one or another version of "The Elfin Knight," with which it shares a few scattered lyrics and perhaps a plaintive feeling. But it is more likely that it was inspired by, rather than descended from, the older ballad, as this appears to have been originally a broadside.
Pieces with this name are common; John Gay had one in the Beggar's Opera. This version is characterized by the lines quoted in the description, which seem to show up even in the degenerate forms such as "Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son" (which appears to be nothing more than a dance tune; compare the Baring-Gould text). RBW
Opie-Oxford2: "According to J.W. Ebsworth (Roxburghe Ballads) this was written by P.A. Motteux for D'Urfey's comedy, The Campaigners, 1698, but it is not in the published version of the play."
Whitelaw (1845): "The song here given is, with the exception of the chorus, not properly a Scottish production, being rather a London imitation of Scottish song, brought out about the beginning of the last century...." - BS
Last updated in version 2.5
File: Arn017

O'er the Moor amang the Heather


See Heather Down the Moor (Among the Heather; Down the Moor) (File: HHH177)

O'er the Water to Charlie


See Over the Water to Charlie (File: Lins262)

O'Halloran Road, The


DESCRIPTION: The singer thinks half a century back to "a cold Saint Patrick's Day, With my father and my mother then And children we just numbered ten." He thought they were lost until "I heard my father say, 'Here's the O'Halloran Road! This is the way [home]'"
AUTHOR: Dan Riley
EARLIEST DATE: 1996 (Ives-DullCare)
KEYWORDS: home lyric family father travel
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Ives-DullCare, pp. 237-239, 252, "The O'Halloran Road" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #13993
NOTES: Ives-DullCare: "Gavin's Cross ['And when we came to Gavin's Cross Us children thought that we were lost'] ... is present day Bloomfield Corner ... where the O'Halloran Road branches off from the Western Road."
Bloomfield Corner is near the north coast of Prince County, Prince Edward Island. - BS
File: IvDC237

O'Houlihan


DESCRIPTION: "One day while walking down the street, I met O'Houlihan." O'Houlihan offers to place a bet on the races for the singer; the horse wins, but O'Houlihan never produces the cash. O'Houlihan finds other ways to bilk the singer. The singer promises revenge
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1987
KEYWORDS: gambling trick clothes revenge
FOUND IN: Australia
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Meredith/Covell/Brown, pp. 189-191, "O'Houlihan" (1 text, 1 tune)
File: MCB189

O'Reilly from the County Leithrim


See O'Reilly from the County Leitrim (File: HHH580)

O'Reilly from the County Leitrim


DESCRIPTION: The singer sees a pretty girl and asks her to marry; she says she prefers to live single. He calls her beautiful, and wishes he had her somewhere else. She turns him down again; he is foolish to ask. He says his heart will break, and leaves
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1909 (Joyce); c.1835 (broadside, Bodleian Johnson Ballads 340)
KEYWORDS: love courting rejection beauty
FOUND IN: Ireland Canada(Newf)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
SHenry H580, pp. 357-358, "Farewell, Darling" (1 text, 1 tune)
OLochlainn 94, "O'Reilly from the County Leithrim" or "The Phoenix of Erin's Green Isle" (1 text, 1 tune)
Leach-Labrador 128, "Young Riley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Roud #4720
RECORDINGS:
Eddie Butcher, "Youghal Harbour" (on IREButcher01)
Mary Delaney, "Phoenix Island" (on IRTravellers01)
Martin Reidy, "O'Reilly from the County Kerry" (on IRClare01)
BROADSIDES:
Bodleian, Johnson Ballads 340, "Young Riley ("As I was walking through the county of Cavan"), Frederick Edwards (London), c.1835; also 2806 b.9(31), "O'Reilly from the Co Cavan" or "The Phoenix of Erius Green Isle," P. Brereton (Dublin), c.1867; Harding B 26(486), "O'Reilly from the Co. Kerry" or "The Phoenix of Erin's Green Isle"
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Peggy Gordon" (lyrics in common with the "Youth and Folly" texts)
ALTERNATE TITLES:
O'Reilly from the County Kerry
When First I Came to County Limerick
NOTES: "O'Reilly from the County Leitrim" shares many lines with "John (George) Riley (II) [Laws N37]." The difference between the ballads is that in this one the man is not the Reilly she has been waiting for for five years so she won't go with him to Pennsylvania.
Maybe this is what Laws N37 points to for "John (George) Riley II": "According to Cox, this is a modified form of the "Young Riley" ballad found on broadsides by Catnach, Such, no. 83, and Fortey, no. 341 (Harvard VI, 186)."
The lyrics of the first four verses of Pete Seeger's "John Riley" on PeteSeeger02 [John (George) Riley (II) [Laws N37]] and Martin Reidy's "O'Reilly from the County Kerry" on IRClare01 are very close. As noted above, the ballad endings are completely different; in the middle, Seeger's Pennsylvania is "Phoenix Island" here.
Mary Delaney's "Phoenix Island" on IRTravellers01 ends with the rejected suitor wishing to witness the girl's funeral and the girl answering that that will not happen.
Also collected and sung by Kevin Mitchell, "O'Reilly from the County Cavan" (on Kevin and Ellen Mitchell, "Have a Drop Mair," Musical Tradition Records MTCD315-6 CD (2001)) - BS
File: HHH580

O'Reilly the Fisherman


See Riley's Farewell (Riley to America; John Riley) [Laws M8] (File: LM08)

O'Reilly's Daughter


DESCRIPTION: The narrator "shags" landlord or bartender O'Reilly's daughter, then assaults father, mother or both.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1928 (Russell)
KEYWORDS: bawdy sex family mother father homosexuality
FOUND IN: Australia Britain(England) Ireland US(MW,Ro,So,SW) New Zealand
REFERENCES (7 citations):
Cray, pp. 101-105, "O'Reilly's Daughter" (2 texts, 1 tune)
Randolph-Legman I, pp. 137-140, "One-Eyed Reilly" (3 texts, 1 tune)
Logsdon 53, pp. 249-252, "One-Eyed Riley" (1 text, 1 tune)
Botkin-AmFolklr, p. 838, "(One-Eyed Riley)" (1 text, 1 tune -- a fragment of a raftsman's song, so short that it might be this or something else. The lyrics are different, but the feeling is similar)
Silber-FSWB, p. 172, "Reilly's Daughter" (1 text)
DT, REILLY1*
ADDITIONAL: Charles Edward Russell, _A-Rafting on the Mississip'_,, 1928 (republished 2001 by the University of Minnesota Press), p. 207, One-Eyed Riley" (1 short text, 1 tune, probably bowdlerized)
Roud #1161
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "I Went Down to New Orleans"
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Reilly's Daughter
NOTES: Annotator Legman (pp. 138-139) includes the text of "The Rover," which he dates to 1790, as the forerunner of the modern bawdy ballad. The "C" text in Randolph-Legman I is only coincidentally "One-Eyed Reilly." - EC
This exists in an extremely bowdlerized version [in which the singer wants to "marry" rather than "shag" the daughter, and in which the daughter is the only one to receive his attentions], which was made popular by the Clancy Bros. in the 1960s. The [Silber] entry is that song. - PJS - RBW
Logsdon observes that T. S. Eliot included a verse of this in The Cocktail Party.- RBW
Last updated in version 2.5
File: EM101

O'Ryan (Orion, The Poacher)


DESCRIPTION: "O'Ryan was a man of might when Ireland was a nation." A poacher, he gives a meal to St. Patrick and is promised a place in heaven in return. Told there is good hunting there, he accepts. Now the other constellations fear his shillelagh
AUTHOR: Charles G. Halpine (per O'Conor)
EARLIEST DATE: 1901 (O'Conor)
KEYWORDS: hunting food humorous
FOUND IN: Ireland
REFERENCES (2 citations):
SHenry H823, pp. 58-59, "O'Ryan" (1 text, 1 tune)
O'Conor, pp. 23-24, "The Poacher" (1 text)
Roud #13364
NOTES: Needless to say, the mythology in this song is distorted (as is the astronomy, for that matter; Venus, Mars, and Orion follow separate courses. Even so, the author must have known some astronomy, as he mentions "a lion, two bears, a bull, and cancer" among the constellations -- i.e . Leo, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Taurus, and Cancer the crab).
The story of Orion varies according to different sources, but it is generally agreed that the goddess Eos, not Aphrodite, went after him, and in the end it was Artemis who killed him.
The timing is also wrong, even if you allow that "Ireland was [once] a nation" (it wasn't). Saint Patrick was active in the fifth century of the Christian Era, and we have references to Orion as far back as Homer (Iliad xviii.488 mentions his place in the constellations, and Odysseus encounters his spirit in Odyssey xi.572). - RBW
File: HHH823

O'Shaughanesey


See Brakeman on the Train (File: LLab099)

O'Shaughnessy


See Brakeman on the Train (File: LLab099)

Oak and the Ash, The


See A North Country Maid; also Ambletown, Rosemary Lane [Laws K43] (File: LK43B)

Oak Grows Big, The


DESCRIPTION: "The oak grows big, The pine grows tall; You are my choice Among them all."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1929 (Henry, from Mary King)
KEYWORDS: love playparty
FOUND IN: US(Ap)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 231, (second of several "Fragments from Tennessee") (1 fragment)
NOTES: Although I don't recognize this and can't find another version, I would bet a good deal that it is part of a singing game. - RBW
File: MHAp231B

Oaks of Jimderia, The


See Long Eddy Waltz, The (File: FSC132)

Oats and Beans


DESCRIPTION: Playparty ."Oats, (peas/and), beans, and barley grow... Do you or I or anyone know... How oats and beans and barley grow." The farmer plants the seed and waits for harvest; young couples marry and must obey each other.
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1898 (Gomme)
KEYWORDS: playparty marriage farming
FOUND IN: Britain(England(All), Scotland)
REFERENCES (3 citations):
Linscott, pp. 46-47, "On the Green Carpet" (1 text, 1 tune, which seems to mix "Green Carpet" and "Oats and Beans)
Montgomerie-ScottishNR 84, "(Oats and beans and barley grows)" (1 text)
DT, OATSBEAN (OATSPEAS*)
Roud #1380
ALTERNATE TITLES:
Oats, Peas, Beans
Oats and Beans and Barley Grow
NOTES: Gomme has a table (Volume II, p. 11) showing the distribution of the various crops: Oats, beans, barley, wheat, groats, hops. The second Digital Tradition version comes close to the status of parody. - RBW
File: DToatsbe

Oats and Beans and Barely Grow


See Oats and Beans (File: DToatsbe)

Oats, Peas, Beans


See Oats and Beans (File: DToatsbe)

Ocean Burial, The


DESCRIPTION: The dying sailor speaks of his loved ones and pleads with his shipmates not to be buried at sea. They do it anyway
AUTHOR: Words: Rev. Edwin H. Chapin
EARLIEST DATE: 1839 (Southern Literary Messenger; set to music 1850)
KEYWORDS: burial death dying sailor
FOUND IN: US(Ap,MW,NE,SE,So) Canada(Mar,Newf)
REFERENCES (8 citations):
Doerflinger, pp. 162-163, "The Ocean Burial" (1 text, 1 tune)
Friedman, p. 437, "The Ocean Burial" (1 text)
RJackson-19CPop, pp. 139-143, "The Ocean Burial" (1 text, 1 tune)
JHCox 55, "The Ocean Burial" (1 text)
BrownII 261, "The Ocean Burial" (1 text)
Linscott, pp. 245-248, "The Ocean Burial" (1 text, 1 tune)
Peacock, pp. 151-152, "Bury Me Not in the Deep Deep Sea" (1 text, 1 tune)
cf. Fuld, pp. 396-398, "Oh, Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie"
ST FR437 (Full)
Roud #3738
RECORDINGS:
Eugene Jemison, "The Ocean Burial" (on Jem01)
BROADSIDES:
LOCSheet, sm1850 470190, "The Ocean Burial," Oliver Ditson (Boston), 1850 (tune)
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie" [Laws B2] (rework of this piece)
NOTES: The 1850 sheet music of this piece credits the entire thing to George N. Allen. Since the poem was published under Edwin H. Chapin's name (as "The Ocean Buried!"), this must mean that Allen set the music. Allen's tune, however, is NOT what we know as "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie." Nor is it the related tune Gordon Bok calls the "Texas Song" (see the index entry on "Going to Leave Old Texas (Old Texas, Texas Song, The Cowman's Lament)."
To add to the confusion, Belden lists the author as William H. Sanders, based apparently on Fulton and Trueblood's Choice Readings.
The singer Ossian Dodge is reported to have been performing the piece as early as 1845. I have been unable to determine the tune he used.
On the whole, I think we must list the author of the music to this piece as "unknown."
Laws does not include this piece as one of his ballads, but gives a text (from oral tradition!) in NAB, pp. 80-81. - RBW
And just to add to the confusion, see the sheet music for "The Sailor Boy's Grave" in the Lester Levy collection, where the boy asks *not* to be buried on land, but rather "let me sleep 'neath the silent waves/The sea-nymphs watching over me." That is credited to "J. Martin, Esq. (of Clifton)," and carries a date of 1841; it seems to be an "answer song" to "The Ocean Burial," although the latter had apparently not yet been set to music. The tune is not the same as "Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie," and is in fact rather dull. - PJS
References for "The Sailor Boy's Grave":
LOCSheet, sm1841 381040, "The Sailor Boy's Grave," F. D. Benteen (Boston), 1841; also sm1841 381050, sm1845 401960, "The Sailor Boy's Grave" (tune)
LOCSinging, as112080, "The Sailor Boy's Grave," Thos. G. Doyle (Baltimore), 19C - BS
File: FR437

Ocean is Wide, The


DESCRIPTION: "The ocean is wide an' you cain't step over it, I love you true, an' you cain't help it." "Sure as the grass grows round the stump, You're my darlin' sugar lump." "The ocean is wide, an' you cain't jump it, If your folks don't like it, they can lump it."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1926
KEYWORDS: love playparty nonballad
FOUND IN: US(So)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Randolph 580, "The Ocean Is Wide" (1 text)
MHenry-Appalachians, p. 238, (no title) (1 short text, "The ocean is wide, The sea is deep, And in your arms I love to sleep." The form looks different from Randolph's, but with only three lines and a similar theme, I don't see how to split them)
Roud #7669
File: R580

Ocean Queen


DESCRIPTION: Ocean Queen is lost in rough weather in winter on George's Banks. The crew are all drowned. The captain's wife is left alone; "there's fathers, sons, and brothers that drowned in the deep."
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1932 (Creighton-NovaScotia)
KEYWORDS: drowning death mourning sea ship storm wreck wife family sailor disaster
HISTORICAL REFERENCES:
Nov 27, 1851 - The Ocean Queen, out of Gloucester, sinks at George's Bank (Northern Shipwrecks Database)
FOUND IN: Canada(Mar)
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Creighton-NovaScotia 136, "Ocean Queen" (1 text, 1 tune)
ST CrNS136 (Partial)
Roud #1835
NOTES: Although the Northern Shipwrecks Database may have found the original wreck described in this song (see the Historical References), there are difficulties. Berman does not list the wreck; neither does Hudson/Nicholls, though the latter is not intended to be comprehensive.
What's more, Ratigan', pp. 196-198, prints a different song (reportedly by Kate Weaver) about the wreck of a ship named Ocean Queen (which, in this case, perishes by fire). But Ratigan says there was no known disaster involving an Ocean Queen. Ratigan, p. 195, thinks the ship involved was actually the G. P. Griffith, which burned (according to Berman, p. 245) with the loss of 286 lives on June 17, 1850 -- almost the same time as the George's Bank wreck, note. One has to think there is confusion in there somewhere -- though more likely involving Ratigan's song than this one.
Incidentally, the name Ocean Queen seems to have been singularly ill-fated (a mariner might perhaps explain this on the grounds that the name would be an offense to the sea goddess); in addition to the ships listed above, Guttridge, p.120fff., tells of a mailship, the Ocean Queen, which suffered an attempted mutiny in 1864 -- almost the only genuine mutiny in American nautical history. - RBW
BibliographyLast updated in version 2.5
File: CrNS136

Och Hey! Johnnie, Lad


See Hey How Johnny Lad (File: BrHHJL)
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